Including Friday's Feast. Have you had a go yet?

Welcome to my daily Diary post. Have you noticed how quickly the Burma Cyclone disaster has gone from the news? Of course, this was inevitable as soon as the China earthquake struck. But what does this say about the news?
Well, seeing that people are still dying in Burma, and the Junta is still pretty uncooperative, it says that the news isn’t an accurate portrayal of what’s going on. Rather, it’s a ‘snapshot’. But of what?

Of what the news corporations wants us to see.

The sociologist, Baudrillard, noted this in his view that mass media produced what he called ‘infotainment’. News is not a reality, but a form of propaganda.
News corporations, like other companies, need to make money. Hence news today is always geared as much towards entertainment as anything else. And once we begin to see news as entertainment, the news can really be manipulated.

Most news channels are mouthpieces for Big Biz.

So they are unlikely to do anything that would hinder the march of Big Biz. For this reason, celebrity culture becomes part and parcel of the news. This is because celebrities encourage us to spend in order to emulate them.
But there’s much more to this Big Biz propaganda. Alongside the rise of celebrity news has come emotional news. Rarely do we see a tragedy nowadays without a roll call of victims, crying away, baring their soul, and we feel for them every time.

Of course we do, and why shouldn’t we? We ARE human.

But this is not ‘news’. Rather, it is a process whereby our emotions overpower our rationality. You see, the world works through reason, not emotion. For it to be any different would be anarchy.
Emotion is uncontrolled. And in the news placing emotion above reason, the result is the public descend into a kind of emotion-fest, and then, sated, moves on. Hence no tragedy, no annoyance, can any longer produce the rationality in the public to want to do anything about it in the long term.
In essence, by turning the news into a form of emotional entertainment, our thoughts on issues become fleeting, and Big Biz, and the puppet-politicians they’ve put in place, get on with controlling us unimpeded.
Well, that’s enough of a rant for today. After going deep, let’s have some entertainment here, too. Here we go with my this week’s Friday’s Feast.

© Anthony North, May 2008

FRIDAY’S FEAST

********************

Appetizer: What is the nearest big city to your home?

York. One of the most historic and beautiful cities in the world. Initially called Eboracum by the Romans, Constantine the Great rode from there to save the Roman Empire from collapse.
Guy Fawkes, who plotted to blow up Parliament, came from York, and Britain’s most infamous villain, Dick Turpin, was hanged there. Later, it was to become the centre of the railways revolution.
New York was, of course, named after it.

Soup: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?

Not telling (I suppose that gives me a 10).

Salad: Describe your hair (color, texture, length).

Light brown. Short. Beginning to thin.

Main Course: What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?

None of the above. I stopped driving in 1984, a couple of years after I came down with chronic fatigue syndrome, as I had a habit of passing out at the wheel. And once gone, I learnt very quickly that I didn’t miss driving.
Okay, I know many need a car due to their job, where they live, etc. But it really isn’t a big deal. Even if people just drove less, think what it would do for the environment. And why do people need SUVs?
They’ll be putting a gun turret on top next.

Dessert: When was the last time you had a really bad week?

The last time I felt self-indulgent.

Okay, that’s it for this week, folks. Have a good weekend. My Diary post will be back Monday. Don’t miss it!

© Anthony North, May 2008

The twelfth volume of The Blah Story by Nigel Tomm was published in 2008. Author continues mathematical+natural text writing traditions which were used in the previous volumes of The Blah Story (such as fractal literature, algorithmic literature or algebraic literature).

Book statistics: The Blah Story, Volume 12 contains 689,615 words; 3,389,983 characters (with spaces); 812 pages.

The cover of The Blah Story, Volume 12.

The back cover of The Blah Story, Volume 12.

Here’s an excerpt (the first page of The Blah Story, Volume 12):

    Her blah didn’t blah blah to blah some blah advantages. The blah was blah and blah blah, but she blah quite a blah blah blah. Nevertheless, the blah blah that blah gave the blah blah was blah of blah, irony, and blah blah. When blah had blah blah that blah was likely to blah blah a blah once blah she blah no blah of her blah. She blah to blah old blah blah more blah than blah.
    Blah, knowing blah blah well that blah would blah blah blah out if blah blah the blah of blah, blah another blah of blah. She blah after blah blah.
    ‘Blah blah and blah,’ said blah blah, ‘blah did you blah blah me blah with blah blah blah? I haven’t blah for a blah.’
    ‘Blah,’ blah in blah, ‘I blah blah you I blah blah yesterday blah. She blah, no blah, at blah, the other blah blah of blah, so blah to blah in the blah at blah this blah, and she blah blah be blah till blah blah blah.’
    ‘Oh blah, I blah blah now. Well, blah is blah weather to blah in the blah.’
    Blah, however, was blah blah subject, and blah blah having blah it, for, blah to blah, one never blah where blah might blah be blah she blah to blah blah reading. She blah blah blah so often of blah blah to blah herself from blah that blah was blah blah aware of the blah. Blah in the blah of that blah, whose blah was so blah, she blah determined to blah a blah heart.
    ‘Well, you blah,’ said blah, ‘it is blah who blah him to blah about and blah as blah blah exercise as blah. He blah a blah blah that blah the open blah. Blah is very blah for blah blah.’
    Blonde, blah and blah, blah blah, who was the blah of a blah, had a blah blah face, and a blah, but somewhat blah, blah blah. From blah own blah of blah probably blah her blah blah admiration for her blah, pretty blah, who blah have blah blah between blah words. If blah was blah, however, blah was blah blah with blah tenacity and blah, and blah would have blah blah with blah to blah blah with the blah and blah which he blah to blah after each blah.
    ‘Ah, it’s blah,’ she blah, ‘to blah blah to blah our blah so blah away. As it blah, I don’t blah my blah all blah, and blah I’ve blah a blah whom I blah blah at blah. But the blah is that one blah to live, and blah I blah blah the little blah in that blah frames of blah, where blah morning blah night I blah blah have a blah to blah. Blah, I blah help blah at the blah that I blah able to blah and blah his blah. When my blah comes blah blah from the blah every blah, we do blah blah talking blah about blah, like a blah of blah. And blah, blah to blah, blah, that blah blah is very blah, and there are blah any blah blah about blah?’

More info about the book you can find at Amazon.com

ELLEN AND THE OLE BALL AND CHAIN

Now that the California Supreme Court has legalized gay marriage, TMZ.com is reporting that Ellen DeGeneres is getting married. The talk show host will reportedly marry her long-time girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi.

According to the website:

A spy in the audience of this afternoon's taping of the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" tells us that after Ellen mentioned today's California Supreme Court ruling striking down the state's ban on gay marriage, she surprised everyone and announced that she was going to tie the knot with longtime girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi.

The Church of Latter Day Saints has had some trouble with a cultish effort to depose media hopefuls from becoming the next generation of celebrities in American media, not the general media. It is an insane that began sometime in the past when their prayer assumptions were based in an eighties view of celebrity. They called this Molly Mormonism. It has to do with Mormon girls believing they deserve to be Molly Ringwald, for example.

Mormons adamacy goes as far as trying to depose hopefuls though. They call it counterprayer. There even been murders.

It is a code for an effort to control the whole media based on a Hitlerian totalism. As hysterical as that might sound, Mormon have been placed in Hollywood over the past two decades in small but prevalent number. They are horribly boring stars according to some. They, the Salt Lake Mormons, wanted to set a low standard of acceptance for popular signaling of social standards.

The outcome of this is that many people who have had the Hollywood dream have died in America and the media's beauty has been affected by this evil. Hope, faith, and miracle are associated with the idea of discovery and star glamour in the American Dream. Some Mormons decided in the eighties to attack it directly. Another effort which might be more notable is the establish of Mormon control of the gambling in Las Vegas. This is significant to more than safety there- the stars of show business have in the past gone there. It has been a redoubt of old time celebrity, and the people of the stage know that these religous folk are dull and banal on the whole.

Recently the television log of what has been aired has been affected by a presagous effort to show that there appears to be a fascism effort. The Mormon attitude and belief system allowed them to announce that they are in control before they had proof. I am going to withdraw my support of the commercial element of Mormon control in the cable industry which should affect perception.

The writers' strike and the social darwin awardism and the cultish obsession with comic book filmmaking that certain immature elements of Utah have do not leave us with epic cinema. In fact some of these films in particular have flaws of corruption. The writing is terribly, superman is gay, something has been done that is an obviously dimwitted compromise that was possibly imposed by covenous devotionalism from the desert state of desperate dreams.

I consider Utah to be a minor part of Old California and almost insignificant to the Old West. Why not turn it into a parking lot? They don't deserve fresh water, they are too corrupt.

I think they will begin to put their cousins and siblings in porn before the egg hatches out there. I suspect they will not bear children if they wished someone who was worthy to die, in pursuit of ruining the American Dream. They don't believe, yet they attack.

They said they would send waves of cult prostitutes after anyone they needed to manipulate in L.A. I think that looks odd because you can tell.

Some coffee houses in L.A. were shut down. It was personal.

The Mormon would even attack the adult industry. They have destabilized due to the connection of the Mormon army going underground and having an association with their black people, the cults who do not behave like the rest of their society but are visible to them.

Perhaps the militias of the small towns of America could send the Mormon a letter regarding the American Dream. The KKK might be a good place to start, because they are good at social regulation, and the Mormons are acting like niggers. If they can focus on such an effort, they should stand to benefit in recognition if they can be viewed. That means they would have to have a better face than the Mormons. The bigotry would have to be religious, they would have to accept that money and fame and religion are the issues rather than race, unless you look at some of the Mormons would have interbred too long (among the cults). This happened when the Mormon army went underground. They also brought people from Hollywood to breed with them so that they would have some likenesses. It is a long brewed foolishness.

What is at stake here is American culture and personal freedom of choice in what one takes part in and believes in. It's like they want to ruin high school and college and make everybody quit school at age 13 and start makin' more smurfs. The music industry has also been making less beauty and song. It is a hateful preoccupation to attack art. Even the Nazis were willing to give back the art that was stolen in Europe- the records of the Red Cross show their decision to keep Europe Europe. Why can these hive monkeys see that America is America? They do not have a weltanschaung, they have a religion obsession. Their efforts to help people in foreign nation have been no better than the peace corp. Their leadership and originality have a sickening lack of reality. It is the problem of false prophecy and corruption. Jesus spoke of it.

David Davis

Seen last evening, following each other...

L600 KEN,  J111MVC,  D1NXY.

Closely followed, about 100 yards back, by P16 RYG, and then X4EMA.

In a real classical liberal civilisation, based in voluntariliy interacting individuals and free institutions, it would I think be considered sad, and a bit naff, to want this sort of stuff. But I guess we ought to be glad that the State has not yet encroached onto this little bit of unregulated ground. What shows clearly is the destruction of good taste and aspiration, through State-moderated television programmes of low (or no) inherent worth, and the transient pleasure gained by many through appearing to stand out.

Meanwhile, this morning, we have M1 SAAB (sad),  M13CH X (imaginative I guess), and D12TTO (I don't know how to decode that...perhaps they have another of the same car?)

Ignite My Fire; William Murphy; All Day; Copyright 2005

Do you want more of God? Are you tired of being bound by the same old demons? Are you longing for more intimacy with God? Are you ready to walk in the fullness of your calling and God's power? Don't miss "Intimacy Explosion". It's not another conference; it's an experience. No registration, no fees - just come with expectancy! Click on the picture to go to my website where you can download a printable pdf of the flyer. I expect to see you there!

In  His Power,
Minister Laneen A. Haniah
Anavah - the blog owner and author of
The Spirits of Sexual Perversion Handbook
www.victoriouslyfree.org 

The Oceanic 6 get off the island! Jack finds out that Claire is his sister! Sayid is reunited with the love of his life Nadia! But how is all of this possible? I'm on the edge of my seat and I can't believe that I have to wait two more weeks until I find out how everything ends this season. Damn it!

Again, tonight's episode was fantastic. I have been enjoying this season so much. But I still miss Charlie and wish that he could have been at Hurley's Island-Themed birthday party his parents had for him after he was rescued. I miss the dynamic between those two so much.

Here are my personal favorite moments from tonight's episode "There's No Place Like Home, Part 1.":

1. Watching Sun's miserable face as she lands in Hawaii. All I could do was cry and wonder just how Jin died. I loved it that she turned the tables in the future on her a-hole father and bought out his company from under him. You go girl. Big clue- she told him that he was one of two people responsible for Jin's death ... do I dare speculate that Michael is the other one ...
2. Sayid coming back for everyone on the small boat. God bless that man. He takes Jin and Sun and four other random nameless people to the freighter, where they run into Michael. But then the drama begins when the engine is found, and Desmond finds a rather large stack of dynomite. Is this the way Desmond dies, tragically, or is it Jin?
3. The flash forward at Jack's father's funeral, where Claire's mom breaks the bad news to Jack that he's left his sister back on the island. Damn .... now we know why he's popping pills like crazy, the guilt is killing him.
4. The flash forward where Hurley's dad gives him his birthday gift, the car that he fixed for him while Hurley was dead. Freaky moment when Hurley looks at the dashboard and those damn numbers are there. Oh, what do they mean?
5. I loved the press conference where we learn the approximate location where the plan crashed, and we learned it took them ten months to get back to the states. And it was great how the press was so damn suspicious of the Oceanic 6. They brought up a great point when they asked Kate was she six months pregnant when she was captured by the US Marshall in Australia .... Hmmm .... Claire was like eight months pregnant when they crashed ... and Desmond and Sayid were at the freighter around Christmastime, which was only three months after the crash ... what happens to them in the meantime? Weird island travel?
6. The Orchid ... how will John Locke get the island to move? What will happen to Ben know that he has surrendered to Keamy?
7. Everyone all spread out across the island ... and the frieghtor ... Aaron and Sun are on the ship; Kate and Sayid are in the jungle; Hurley is with Locke at the Orchid; and Jack is with Sawyer and Lapidis at the helicopter? How will they all make it out of there and end up becoming the Oceanic 6?
8. Richard and The Others have surrounded Kate and Sayid ... why, what do they want with them .. and how will they escape. How is this Richard? It's killing me ...
9. Previews for the season finale, Part 2 of this episode look fantastic ... I see Kate and Sawyer on the helicopter, looking into each others eyes like they are going to die/or were still in love or something ... does Sawyer die to save Kate? I thought he wasn't ever going to leave the island?
10. What will happen to everyone else? Juliet, live or die? Do Daniel and Charlotte get to get it on? What about Asian Ghost Whisperer? And, like, everyone else? Who are the other two survivors that Jack keeps talking about? We know it's not Jin ... is it John Locke and Michael? And what about Ben?

Took the N train home from work yesterday.  I usually drive, but when gas went over four dollars a gallon (I chose to write that out because the number is too staggering) I decided to mix things up a bit with my commute and lighten the load a bit.  Like watering down scotch.

Took advantage of the train ride to read a good portion of Colin McGinn's intellectual memoir The Making of a Philosopher.  This is not bragging.  I brag later in the entry.  Really, I only mention the book because it has a lot to do with what actually transpired on that train ride I mentioned before these eddies of exposition.

Was standing on the N train towards the middle poles, a few feet from the door but not too close since I got on at 34th Street and was headed to Astoria and got pushed toward the middle (as so many independent minded folk eventually join a mainstream).  Somewhere in Manhattan, I'm betting, a guy got on the train and stood next to me - and even though many guys and many girls have stood next to me on the train, without actually seeing this gentleman's face, I thought I knew him - it was only his frame and his head, but I swore he was familiar.

When we got out from underground I was still entrenched in my philosophy when the gentleman next to me started with the Blackberry.  Even that wouldn't have caught my attention as being so outlandish if, when the train made its next stop at 39th Avenue, the man hadn't been so busy caressing the device that he couldn't spare a hand to hold onto the rail before the train stopped a smidge abruptly and sent the man hurtling softly into my bony side.  Undeterred, my eyes didn't leave the book.  I remained undeterred when at 36th Avenue, the same exact thing happened, only the impact was more forceful - not enough to disturb my focus, but enough for the man to say "Jesus Christ," as a form of apology that, while not explicitly offered, I accepted in my own tacitly inexplicit way.

I glanced over again and saw the man in profile, now convinced I know who he is.  And what he's doing on that train.  And where he's going, if he's the man I think he is.

Broadway.  We both detrain.  He heads back down 31st Street, I across Broadway to my own block.

Ladies and Gentleman, WFAN's Chris Carlin.

I think.

See, WFAN has its studio just down the block from my apartment.  Totally reasonable that Mr. Carlin would be heading over there on the N.

The point of this post is first of all not to scare Chris Carlin or even to namedrop, yet still not to hammer home that I read philosophical memoirs on subway trains in mid-spring.  It's merely to highlight the connection I saw between what I was reading and what I soon saw.  In the memoir, McGinn wrote of both his focus and his luck - of his proactivity, and of the worldly circumstances that accepted, encouraged and accelerated his achievements.  You might say it's like howling at the moon and the moon howling back.  Only when you think about it a little, it's not the moon that you're hearing at all, but an echo of your own voice in the forbidding canyon below.

The world we see is in our head.  If we're lucky, and faithful, the creation we see does correlate to an external world.  But as a tree is contained in a seed, truly our whole lives our held in our minds.  What if the things that happen to us, that surprise us, delight us, are really surprises we withhold from ourselves - since they're in our minds before we can acknowledge them?  What then?

For now, for me, I love the irony of the situation - I listen to Carlin on the radio in the morning on my drives to work, yet I see him in person during one of my very few subway commutes.  It's cool to have had him run into me.  It's also cool that I've gotten a post out of something so small, yet has made me think so much.

Before any of you people start on me, yes I admit it. I am a lifelong New England Patriots fan. Yes, I have been embarrassed by this whole "spygate" thing. Please sports fans, you have to admit that it is time for it to go away and let's start talking about football in the way we should be.

After this past week's release of the remainder of the video tapes, I thought it was finally going to be over. There was nothing new or special in the lot. There was no "smoking gun" that everyone was expecting. The commissioner has decided to call it a day on the matter and focus on the upcoming season. Then I read this last night:

Sen. Arlen Specter wants an independent investigation of the New England Patriots' taping of opposing coaches' signals, similar to the Mitchell Report on performance enhancing drugs in baseball.

Are you serious? The old guy just can't move on with his life? Is he really that bitter over the Eagles Super Bowl loss? Give me a break. I just couldn't stand it anymore. At this point we all know that nothing more will come of the "spygate" stuff. It just won't. By the way, I am not angry because this is my football team. This goes way beyond football or sports in general. Do Senators have nothing better to do with their time and our money?

I decided in my anger last night to write an email to Senator Arlen Specter at his website. Here is a snippet of what I emailed him:

I am not sure if you will actually read this or not. This is the first time I have ever taken the time to send anything to a Senator. I realize that you are not from my home state of Tennessee but I felt compelled to write. With all of the important issues facing Americans today including housing, gasoline, the war, and not to mention the economy and upcoming election, why would tax payer money and government time be wasted with continuing an investigation into the NFL's New England Patriots and the league itself? It is time to move on and focus on things that are truly important to the country. I am a huge sports fan myself and appreciate getting to the bottom of an important issue such as cheating but please it is time to focus on the issues.

I was quite proud of myself. There was nothing fancy in it. I wasn't rude, just to the point. I waited with baited breath to read the form email that I expected to receive. I didn't expect this:

I receive a large volume of E-mails, phone calls, faxes and letters every week from concerned citizens like yourself.
Unfortunately, due to the high volume of mail, I can only respond if you're a resident of Pennsylvania.

This was part of the response I got in my form email from the Senator. Yep, it tells me in no uncertain terms that because I am not from his home state I have nothing important to say even though he is wasting the time and cash of ALL Americans not just Pennsylvanians.

Well, I am off to Bob Corker's and Lamar Alexander's websites to pass my feelings along to them. I can't say I actually believe I will be heard. Please guys let's focus on stuff that matters to a majority of this country's citizens. I mean really Mr. Specter, what do you really get out of this proposed investigation? We all know that you MUST be getting something. You are a politician.

Is the hat hanging on by a few hairs and a hair pin?

Is that duct tape around her finger?

This bare-legged Paris Hilton is nothing to stare at.

She's over in France to promote her scent called "Can-Can".

In France, people dress better than this...or at least they should.

Paris, en France, what 'twas you thinking?