_{(Warning: Lots of swearing)}

Watch Bill Hicks

I love him!

Men In Motion by Francois Rousseau
I saw this book yesterday at Chevalier’s Books in the Larchmont neighborhood.

Beautiful male dancers & gorgeous photographs…Oh my!

Coconut Milk
Coffee
Sugar
Vanilla
I just brewed a small (but strong) pot of Colombian coffee
and after it cooled I poured it in the blender with
1 can of coconut milk. Added some sugar and vanilla.
Blended it I heated it up again in the pan.
This made the most creamy rich yummy and delicious latte ever!!!

This blog is really fun! Check it out:)

Tiny House Blog

Documentary about a man who leaves Mexico to earn money for his family. Beautiful music and film quality.
http://www.meteorfilms.org/

The Atlas of True Names reveals the etymological roots, or original meanings,
of the familiar terms on today’s maps of the World, Europe, the British Isles and the United States.

For instance, where you would normally expect to see the Sahara indicated,
the Atlas gives you “The Tawny One”, derived from Arab. es-sahra “the fawn coloured ,desert”.

The ‘True Names’ of 3000 cities, countries, rivers, oceans and mountain ranges
are displayed on these four fascinating maps,
each of which includes a comprehensive index of derivations.

Etymology, (OGr. etymon “true sense” and logos “speech, oration, discourse, word”)
is the study of the origin and history of words.

http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html

A friend of mine sent me the link for this lighthearted fun religion called Pippism.

I thought it was really cute and sweet so I joined.
Here are some of the ideas behind Pippism.

PIPPISM is the modernized religion (belief system)* based on the philosophy and teachings of the child, Pippi Longstocking, born 1945, who is the embodiment of:
01. Taking personal freedom for granted
02. Being kind / loving to and easy on oneself
03. Going with the flow and walking the talk
04. Having a good time with oneself (and one’s friends)
05. Being appreciative of life
06. Applying humor and playfulness wherever possible
07. Enjoying the simplicity and free offers of life
08. Taking things as lightly as possible, giving oneself the benefit of the doubt
09. Looking for gifts in life’s challenges; huge challenges, huge gifts
10. Getting original, creative, fun ideas—and trying them out
11. Doing what one feels like doing—with fun & ease
12. Living, dressing, and looking how one feels like
13. Being friendly / generous towards, and trusting of as many people and animals as possible
14. Being silly, brave, childlike, cheeky, sweet, and strong—preferably at the same time
15. Communicating as honestly, humorously, and positively as possible
16. Having fun working, cooking, and cleaning
17. Being good at making new and fun things happen (may benefit marriages)
18. Trusting and enjoying life’s abundance
19. Believing in infinite paths to wellbeing and fun
20. Teasing the people who are after your money / freedom
21. Gracefully and gratefully letting go of the outworn, and quickly forgetting (forgiving), on to the next adventure…

Beware of Wikipedia

“The one who controls the search results controls the searcher” may be an apt motto for our era. The sad truth about the Internet is that what started as a liberating multiplicity of informational sources has dwindled to a handful of knowledge-monopolies with Google and Wikipedia leading the pack. While we cling to the founding myth of the World Wide Web – that an information society would mean a world informed by a diversity of information – the reality is a nightmare. The online world has become a trash heap of distorted information collected by soulless bots to serve advertising. And as declining numbers of Americans turn to libraries for wisdom, the Internet has increasingly become the primary, and sometimes only, source of education for whole communities. But relying on the Internet for all of our information needs is a dangerous development when it functions to homogenize thought.

When I encountered a dog-sized rodent digging in my compost bin one night I asked a friend if he’d ever seen such a creature. He told me that it was called a nutria and explained that it originated in South America, was originally imported as a source of cheap fur and now lived wild in the Pacific Northwest. Fascinated, I went online to learn more. A Google search led me to a Wikipedia page where I read, to my great alarm, the precise words and facts my friend had used to describe the animal. It was apparent that he had done the same Google search, clicked on the same Wikipedia page, and had simply recited to me the information he found there. Of course, I didn’t blame my friend for telling me what he knew but I was troubled that we had both “discovered” the same facts written by an anonymous poster.

Wikipedia is a particularly unreliable source of knowledge and yet, because of a rumored secret-deal with Google, it ranks highly on many searches. But if you searched Google for knowledge about Theology and read any of the 16,000 Wikipedia pages edited by Essjay, an anonymous contributor who claimed to hold two PhDs, then you may wish to seek your nearest library… and fast. Because it turns out that Essjay was lying about his credentials: he is actually 24, doesn’t hold any advanced degrees, and has no specialized knowledge of the subjects upon which he wrote. But the damage has already been done. Unknown millions are now walking the earth repeating the fabrications of an overzealous geek. And while Essjay’s contributions may have been unmasked anonymous users continue to edit the 2,000,000 English pages in Wikipedia that are unreliably informing the curious at the same time as they homogenize thought. Even the U.S. military has joined in the Wikipedia fabrication game, one researcher recently revealed over 80,000 edits by users at military servers.

A couple years ago, the U.S. Government’s National Center for Education Statistics conducted a nationwide survey and discovered that 87% of American adults are unable to “compare viewpoints in two editorials” because they lack the necessary reading proficiency. It was alarming news for which no one seemed to offer sufficient explanation. But maybe the answer is staring us in the screen: perhaps adults are losing the ability to compare multiple viewpoints because they are exposed to fewer viewpoints each day than before. To the growing number of people who read only the Internet there seems to be a tremendous agreement on truth: it’s whatever Google and Wikipedia say. But if the one who controls the search results controls the searcher then we find ourselves approaching the danger of a tyrannical consensus.

We face a terrible future unless, with courage, we are willing to disagree, to ignore the easy truths and to search the hidden places for knowledge. What we need now are adventurers of truth and seekers of wisdom in the wilderness of thought who share their discoveries offline. When the most exciting truths can only be found with the computer off and in discussion with friends then we will have won the war against homogeneity and will be closer to controlling our future.

Micah White is a Contributing Editor at Adbusters Magazine and an independent activist. Micah White

Commit Facebook Suicide

In defense of Heidegger

I like these boots! I especially like the red. I didn’t realize they made red! Today I got a pair in black from my mother & brother (birthday treats!). I am breaking them in right now. They are very cute and have a zipper on the inside.