MonthFebruary 2008
The other day a clip of an Obama supporter failing to be able to name a single accomplishment on the part of Obama spread throughout the blogosphere. It was a disappointing moment – could have named a few things. And I think Hillary supporters would have a much harder time coming up with any accomplishments. So I’m glad to read this part of last night’s debate in Texas where Obama summarized his accomplishments (and mention that he’s the real experienced client):
Well, I think actions do speak louder than words, which is why over the 20 years of my public service I have acted a lot to provide health care to people who didn’t have it, to provide tax breaks to families that needed it, to reform a criminal justice system that had resulted in wrongful convictions, to open up our government and to pass the toughest ethics reform legislation since Watergate, to make sure that we create transparency in our government so that we know where federal spending is going and it’s not going to a bunch of boondoggles and earmarks that are wasting taxpayer money that could be spent on things like early childhood education.
You know, I think if you talk to those wounded warriors at Walter Reed who, prior to me getting to the Senate, were having to pay for their meals and have to pay for their phone calls to their family while they’re recovering from amputations, I think they’ve said that I’ve engaged not just in talk, but in action.
Remember when Ben told Michael ”We’re the good guys?” And remember when Juliet told Jack that killing people is a big no-no in Others society? And remember how the Others actually really resent being called ”the Others”? Well, I recently discovered a group of people over at Wikipedia.org (Official Research Tool of Crackpot Lost Theorists everywhere!) that could really relate to Ben and the rest of his misunderstood friends. Meet the Cathars, a Gnostic sect of Christianity considered heretics by The Roman Catholic Church and were horribly persecuted. Like most Gnostics — Christians who really want to be Buddhists — Cathars believe that God is actually bad; that human beings are spirits trapped inside the corrupting matter of flesh; and that Satan is actually Good for wanting to liberate us with enlightenment. Cathars don’t view death as a punishment for sin, but a natural part of an individual’s spiritual progression. Not incidentally, Cathars took a dim view of murder, as it had profound consequences for a soul’s journey. And Cathars didn’t call themselves Cathars. ”Cathars” was a derogatory term, imposed on them by their enemies. Instead, Cathars called themselves by another name: The Good People.
[…]
According to Wikipedia (Official Research Tool For Crackpot Lost Theorists Everywhere!), Shambala is ”a hidden mystical kingdom” in Tibetan Buddhism. Various Eastern-infused esoteric traditions in the West (read: New Age, Occult, ”Mystery Sect” religions) consider Shambala to be ”inhabited by a mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity.” Even more provocative is this: ”Some early twentieth-century occultists… view Shambala as a source of negative manipulation by an evil or amoral conspiracy.” Shambala lore is linked to Agartha, a mystical lost city at the center of world, inhabited by enlightened, possibly eternal beings known as The Old Ones who — get this — KIDNAP HUMAN CHILDREN AND RAISE THEM AS THEIR OWN!
“Two Tucabia residents have been jailed for contempt of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and sentenced to nine months jail in Victoria after refusing to remove offensive material from their protest website. A warrant for the arrest of Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine was issued on November 28, 2007 after a lengthy court battle was launched by Brent Gray and David Bottrill, members of a religion called Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), in the State’s anti-discrimination court. The court found Legg and Devine guilty under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act anti-discrimination legislation pertaining to racial and religious vilification after they published information on their website, gaiaguys.net.”
(via The Daily Examiner. Hat Tip: Abrahadabra)
“Please be upstanding for one of the most insane, yet lovable characters to cross the Null’s path, Yoshiro Nakamatsu, better known as Dr NakaMats. The good doctor is the brains behind such innovations as the floppy disc, the CD, the digital watch and the fax machine, but he’s also so much moreDubbed the ?Edison of Japan’, Dr NakaMats is possibly the most prolific inventor in history. Whilst Thomas Edison – commonly regarded as the king tinkerer – invented some 1,093 gizmos and gadgets, Yoshiro Nakamatsu has well over 3,000 innovations to his name.
He even received the IgNobel Prize for Nutrition in 2005. This was after he took photos of everything he ate for 34 years to analyse what made a healthy meal. Dr. NakaMats has also invented his own range of ?Nutri-Brain’ health foods which, despite tasting like seaweed, he claims contain up to 55 essential ingredients that prolong life.This strange Japanese fellow is currently at the ripe old age of 79, but that’s not slowing him down. He plans to live until he’s 144, and who’s to say he won’t?”
(via Null Hypothesis)
(See also: Interview With Dr. Nakamatsu via What a Great Idea)
Key points:
The bracelet is just a bracelet
The freighties are NOT from 2007/2008.
The flashforwards are “real” and not alternate realities
Find 815 may not be canon
The English professor at Wake Forest University wants to be clear that he is not “romanticizing” clinical depression and that he believes it is a serious condition that should be treated.
But he worries that today’s cornucopia of antidepressants – used to treat even what he calls “mild to moderate sadness” – might make “sweet sorrow” a thing of the past.
“And if that happens, I wonder, what will the future hold? Will our culture become less vital? Will it become less creative?” he asks.
[…]
We can picture this in the primitive world. While the healthy bodies of the tribe were out mindlessly hacking beasts or other humans, the melancholy soul remained behind brooding in a cave or under a tree. There he imagined new structures, oval and amber, or fresh verbal rhythms, sacred summonings, or songs superior to even those of the birds. Envisioning these things, and more, this melancholy malingerer became just as useful for his culture as did the hunters and the gatherers for theirs. He pushed his world ahead. He moved it forward. He dwelled always in the insecure realm of the avant-garde.
This primitive visionary was the first of many such avant-garde melancholics. Of course not all innovators are melancholy, and not all melancholy souls are innovative. However, the scientifically proved relationship between genius and depression, between gloom and greatness suggests that the majority of our cultural innovators, ranging from the ancient dreamer in the bush to the more recent Dadaist in the city, have grounded their originality in the melancholy mood. We can of course by now understand why.
Counter arguments: Hedonistic Imperative.
The book John Locke brings Ben at the beginning of tonight is VALIS by Philip K. Dick. It’s difficult to summarize, or to overstate, the importance of Dick, and of VALIS in the modern occulture.
Philip K. Dick was a science fiction author, responsible for the stories that became Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and Total Recall (amongst many others). His work frequently speculated as to the nature of reality, and frequently with the subjects of control, authority, and paranoia. VALIS was one of his final works, a semi-autobiographical book based largely on the mysterical experience/mental breakdown he experienced.
Notably, VALIS deals heavily with gnostic themes. Wikipedia on Gnosticism:
Gnosticism refers to a diverse, syncretistic religious movement consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect spirit, the demiurge, who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God. The demiurge may be depicted as an embodiment of evil, or in other instances as merely imperfect and as benevolent as its inadequacy permits. This demiurge exists alongside another remote and unknowable supreme being that embodies good. In order to free oneself from the inferior material world, one needs gnosis, or esoteric spiritual knowledge available to all through direct experience or knowledge (gnosis) of God. Jesus of Nazareth is identified by some Gnostic sects as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnosis to the Earth. In others he was thought to be a gnosis teacher, and yet others, nothing more than a man.
Gnosticism could bridge the seemingly contradictory Buddhist and Catholic themes of the show.
More:
The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick, an online comic about Dick’s experience by Robert Crumb.
“A rare documentary of science fiction on American television. During half an hour you will watch a synthesis of what was the first forty … all ? years of the science fiction production for television. From precursors as “Rocky Jones, Space Ranger”, “Space Patrol” and “Flash Gordon”, to cult series of Irwin Allen (“The Time Tunnel”, “Lost in Space”, “Journey to the Botton of the Sea” and “Land of Giants”). The documentary will glimpse at the best of the genre and bring a surprise that will please very much the fans of “Star Trek”. The phenomenon is remembered through a 14 minutes special tribute with a collection of hilarious out-takes of funny goofs made by the actors that was wonderfully edited and given to the cast members as souvenirs. The scenes had been selected from all the three seasons.”
(via Voodoo Who Do)
(Star Trek Inspirational Poster courtesy of Ecosphere)
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