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MonthJanuary 2008

Rob Walker on Yo Gabba Gabba

January 19, 2008 /

I don’t even have kids but I still love the Yo Gabba Gabba clips I’ve seen, and so have all the other childless people I’ve forwarded the clips on to.

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” began appearing on the cable channel Nickelodeon in August, and with remarkable speed it has acquired fans who are preschoolers and fans who are old enough to be their parents. Whether this is because of business strategy, cultural factors or both, you can gauge the transgenerational appeal through the ancillary merchandise: by December, hoodies and T-shirts — for children and for adults — were available from the trendsetting boutique Kidrobot and at Barneys New York. Charles Rivkin, the president and chief executive of Wildbrain, which produces the show, says, “I challenge you to find another preschool show that four months after going on the air is actually selling adult apparel at Barneys.”

Full Story: New York Times Magazine.

In his “Murketing” e-newsletter, Walker also notes:

I was interested to learn that Yo Gabba Gabba is produced by a company that also happens to have an ownership interest in Kid Robot, the “designer toy” boutique/company. This arrangement means that as an entertainment property, Yo Gabba Gabba is particularly well positioned to make the most of its dual audience with its collateral product.

Philip Pullman: New Brand of Environmentalism

January 19, 2008 /

“[…] Environmentalists need to know something about basic storytelling in order to make their words effective. Samuel Johnson apparently said something I find very useful to remember: “The true aim of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.” Research is much easier than writing, so the temptation is to shove all the research in. But page after page after page of the stuff goes by and, of course, people stop reading. I suppose the real story, the basic story, the story I would like to hear, see, read, is the story about how connected we are, not only with one another but also with the place we live in. And how it’s almost infinitely rich, but it’s in some danger; and that despite the danger, we can do something to overcome it.

[…] Environmentalists also tell a story about us and ourselves and our place in the universe. In a sense it’s a religious story, because that’s the big question of religion. Why are we here? What is here, what does it consist of? What have we got to do now we are here? What responsibilities does being conscious place on us? And those are questions which the environmental movement, over the past 25 years, and certainly since the global warming issue has come up, has been very much engaged in. What does it mean to us to be conscious of what we are doing to the world? Some people attempt to maintain a state of denial: “It’s not happening”, or “It is happening, but it’s natural and it’s nothing to do with us”, or “It’s happening but we can fix it with technology.” All these are attempts to deny responsibility for it; to deny anything that they might have to do.”

(via Telegraph)

Smoke Weed In Moderation

January 19, 2008 /

“That, at least, is the consensus of a new paper in Neuropharmacology:

There is a general consensus that the effects of cannabinoid agonists on anxiety seem to be biphasic, with low doses being anxiolytic and high doses ineffective or possibly anxiogenic. Besides the behavioural effects of cannabinoids on anxiety, very few papers have dealt with the neuroanatomical sites of these effects. We investigated the effect on rat anxiety behavior of local administration of THC in the prefrontal cortex, basolateral amygdala and ventral hippocampus, brain regions belonging to the emotional circuit and containing high levels of CB1 receptors. THC microinjected at low doses in the prefrontal cortex (10 ?g) and ventral hippocampus (5 ?g) induced in rats an anxiolytic-like response tested in the elevated plus-maze, whilst higher doses lost the anxiolytic effect and even seemed to switch into an anxiogenic profile. Low THC doses (1 ?g) in the basolateral amygdala produced an anxiogenic-like response whereas higher doses were ineffective.

In other words, a good high works in the prefrontal cortex and ventral hippocampus while a bad high turns on the amygdala. As most pot smokers eventually discover, there is a fine pharmacological line between comic relaxation and vague paranoia.”

(via The Frontal Cortex)

(see also “Is Weed The New Prozac?”)

Podcast round-up

January 18, 2008 /

Out There Radio: The Psychedelic Torchbearers.

Adam Gorightly: George Mortimer of Media Underground.

Ripple: John Shirley.

G-Spot: Dead Unicorn.

Point of Inquiry: Colin McGinn.

Point of Inquiry: Aubrey de Grey.

Occult of Personality: Jason Augustus Newcomb.

Occult of Personality: Modern Mythology with Christopher Knowles.

The Viking Youth: Someday You Will Be Dead

Viking Youth: Still Doomed in 2008.

Tracy Twyman: Mind-Controlled Sex Slaves update

January 18, 2008 /

Tracy Twyman provides several links and resources for more information on sexual mind control, from speed seduction to erotic mind control stories to conspiracy theories.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about mind-controlled sex slaves. An aborted podcast interview on the subject last night made me think about it again. I wrote the original article The Stepford Whores for Hustler in 2001, and put the unabridged version of the article, along with transcripts of the interviews (Cathy O’Brien, Mark Phillips, Noreen Gosch, Ted Gunderson, John DeCamp, Pamela Freyd) on the web a couple of years later. After all these years those articles continue to bring in hits every day. Many of these people are interested in reading about the conspiracy theories surrounding the alleged Project Monarch. But many of these hits are from people looking for instructions on creating mind-controlled sex slaves. I can tell by the search terms they use to find the website that this is what they are looking for. These are the creepy ones. In other words, the person who came to my website either already has someone in captivity, or is planning to kidnap them, then raping and torturing them until their personality fragments, and then using hypnosis to program said captive/s to be the perfect sex slave. Often these hits come from countries like Nigeria and Thailand with huge human trafficking industries. These are the really creepy ones.

Full Story: Tracy Twyman.

For other perspectives check out:

Reason’s interview about human trafficking skeptic Laura Maria Agustin.

Downfall of a Seducer, an article about the speed seduction industry.

Ancient Egyptian Medicine

January 17, 2008 /

“Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) medicine was incredibly advanced. The Ancient Kemetic People were probably the first people in the world to have based their knowledge off of careful and astute observations, as well as trial and error. By careful observation, early doctors or physician priests of ancient Kemet began healing practices that were world renowned. Theirs was a medical system that was developed over three thousand years and gave much toward the advancement of medical science worldwide, and any monarch or noble to have an Egyptian physician in their employ was a mark of high status. There was not the exact separation of Physician, Priest and Magician in Ancient Kemet that we think of today. Many times there was crossover from one “specialty” into that of another. An example of this would be that i would not be considerd at all unusual in antiquity for a patient to receive treatment for a dog bite, for example, whereby this would be bandaged up with a paste of berries and honey and an incantation would be given to the patient to be said over the wound. He or she might recieve it written on a piece of papyrus as well and choose to wear it as a type of magical amulet. Magic however was not always a part of the healing arts. Many scholars think that the Ancient Kemetic People were overly superstitious and thought that all injury and illness was caused by “demons” or curses. This definitely was not the case.”

(Ancient Egyptian Medicine via The Ancient Egyptian Virtual Temple)

 

 

 

FBI Wants Instant Access to British Identity Data

January 17, 2008 /

“Senior British police officials are talking to the FBI about an international database to hunt for major criminals and terrorists. The US-initiated programme, “Server in the Sky”, would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across the Atlantic. Allies in the “war against terror” – the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – have formed a working group, the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy. Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network. One section will feature the world’s most wanted suspects. The database could hold details of millions of criminals and suspects.

The FBI is keen for the police forces of American allies to sign up to improve international security. The Home Office yesterday confirmed it was aware of Server in the Sky, as did the Metropolitan police. The plan will make groups anxious to safeguard personal privacy question how much access to UK databases is granted to foreign law enforcement agencies. There will also be concern over security, particularly after embarrassing data losses within the UK, and accuracy: in one case, an arrest for a terror offence by US investigators used what turned out to be misidentified fingerprint matches.”

(via The Guardian)

links for 2008-01-17

January 17, 2008 /

Tattwas flash cards

January 17, 2008 /

prithivi

Ikipr has scanned and uploaded a set of Tattwas flash cards:

Long ago my friend’s dad’s bookshelf used to be a place of wonder. Old Occult text from the 60’s and 70’s. Crowley Books with hippie fairies on the cover, versions of things I had never seen, books I would begin to read and later aquire myself to finish. Among the things we found there were a set of Tattwa ?flash cards.’ They were not the typical set of 5 tatwas but instead 22 hebrew letter corresponded combinations of the initial 5 tattwas. Our friend’s dad just gave them to us, he had been handed them on the street during the 80’s, never knew what they were, never used them, didn’t know where they came from either. Suprised the hell outta me since I knew he had the Golden Dawn book Regardie wrote laying around somewhere.

Info and Download: Phase II.

Updated download link: Tattwas

The Pleiades Carved by Prehistoric People in the Alps

January 17, 2008 /

“Two groups of man-made cup markings carved on a pair of boulders found in the Italian Alps may represent the Pleiades star cluster, according to the archaeo-astronomer Guido Cossard. The carvings have been found near the Plan des Sorci?res – literally ‘The witches’ plateau’ – at Lillianes, in Val d’Aosta (Italy). According to Mr Cossard, who made the discovery, the series of cup markings have the same shape as the famous star cluster, and it may represent ‘the most ancient star map ever found’. “Even the archaeo-astronomical orientation of the site is a confirmation, because it’s clearly aligned to the rising point of the Pleiades,” added Cossard.”

(via Archaeo News)

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