Friday, September 26, 2008

Psychedelic Mind Tools Revisited

"The waves of mass psychedelic utopianism have come and gone, but the hippie movement of the late 60s echoes in the rave scene of the 90s. And there's a small but devoted community of scientists, spiritual seekers, artists and grown-up hedonists exploring the value of these drugs.

The "Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics" conference. held in New York Sept 19-21, sought to present an older and wiser psychedelic movement. focusing on medicine, art. spirituality and culture. It drew around 300 people, a mix of academic and hippie types, with the white button-down shirts slightly outnumbering the dreadlocks and the NASA T-shirts.

Psychedelics are "the most powerful psychiatric medicine ever devised" said psychotherapist Neal Goldsmith. who curated the speakers. But because the way they work as medicine--when used in the proper setting--is by generating mystical experiences, "science has to expand". Solid research, he added, could change government policy, which classifies psychedelics as dangerous drugs with no accepted medical use."

Read more of Steven Wishnia's report on the Horizons conference at AlterNetLink.

Thanks to Gaby for sending me this article.
Thanks to Ron Cobb for the cartoon.

Friday, September 19, 2008

SunTzu's Art of War: Know Thy Enemy

"Ana raicha Al Qaeda" is colloquial for "I'm going to the toilet". A very common and widespread use of the word "Al- Qaeda" in different Arab countries in the public language is for the toilet bowl. This name comes from the Arabic verb "Qa'ada" which means "to sit" pertinently on the "Toilet Bowl". In most Arabic homes there are two kinds of toilets: "Al-Qaeda", also called the "Hamam Franji" or foreign toilet, and "Hamam Arabi" or "Arab toilet" which is a hole in the ground. Lest we forget it, the potty used by small children is called "Ma Qa'adia" or "Little Qaeda".

So, if you were forming a terrorist group, would you call yourself "The Toilet"?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Fresh New FLURB!

Bizarre and prolific sci-fi author Rudy Rucker has once again released selections from his private collection of weird, barely legal and transgressive assaults on the status quo by himself and his Aegean stable of literary companions. Yes, Friends of the Real, even in today's New Dark Ages of Bush, Cheney and McCain, some fresh new Flurbish Flowers can push their way thru the mind-numbing concrete of Mass Media Hypnosis. FLURB. FLURB. FLURB. It's good for you. Especially noteworthy is Bruce Sterling's " Computer Entertainment Thirty Five Years From Today." Read FLURB or be tossed to the curb. It's that simple.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Tantric Jihad! the video



From Bruce Damer's God Farm Doctor Jabir issues a fatwa that exhorts us to improve on heaven and create a better world.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Quantum Tantra Romp

QUANTUM TANTRA ROMP

Found it on Nick Herbert's blog
Exercise my underdog.
Got the message, did the math
Venerate your pussycat.

Here's an easy path to God
Exercise my underdog.
Quantum physics in one's lap
Venerate your pussycat.

Cuppa coffee, pint o' grog
Exercise my underdog.
Some tabs of E, a steaming bath
Venerate your pussycat.

Petting in the Heisenfog
Exercise my underdog.
Then Reality pet us back!
Venerate your pussycat.

Once we'd got a taste of THAT
Venerate your pussycat.
Who wouldn't want to do it better?
Exercise my Irish Setter.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

First Beam at LHC

CONGRATULATIONS CERN!
Sept 10, 2008 
1:23 AM PDT
It's a proton, Lots of them.
450 GeV
"And then did all the Muses sing
Of sending protons round the ring."

Friday, September 5, 2008

Arse Elektronika

Digital vulvas, orgasmatrons, sexual congress with aliens plus a keynote speech "What is Sex?" by Rudy Rucker at this four day convention (Sept 25-28, 2008) in San Francisco on the intersection of technology, human imagination and that squishy, emotional egg and seed stuff. What comes out of this conference may be more important for the future of mankind than the Democratic and Republican Conventions combined.

Thursday, September 4, 2008