[UPDATED] SECRET PLANS BREACHED; REROUTE TO CONTINUE

Aight, so update on my birthday bizzash: my parents were almost open to me having a nice drunken time the weekend of the 10th, but now 1) they're hesitant and 2) it looks like they're not going outta town.

We may need an alternate venue.

Can anyone suggest anything?

UPDATE: Corbin has suggested Oly on Saturday Dec. 11th. Adam Foley is having a show with Manimal, Weed, and Cower at his place, then maybe we'd hit up Corbin/Sam/Duncan/Liam's?

Thoughts, anyone?

MEDIAFIRE in full action

THIS SONG IS SICK!! (check out the bon iver redo)

BURN! 1969

It is a film that is based around the events that happened in Guadeloupe. Essentially Marlon Brando an American actor stars in a film that portrays the abuses of colonial powers, producing a beautiful crituque of how to supress a revolution and subjugate colored people. I was unaware that Marlon Brando, our fourth greatest male actor of all american film according to Time Magizine, was politically oriented. He refused to recieve an Oscar for his performance in The Godfather and instead had a native american take the stage and address the issues surrounding the wounded knee standoff and native american's role in the film industry.

"Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me. But if there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing." Marlon Brando

"Hollywood is run by Jews; it is owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of—of people who are suffering. Because they've exploited—we have seen the—we have seen the Nigger and Greaseball, we've seen the Chink, we've seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we've seen everything but we never saw the Kike. Because they knew perfectly well, that that is where you draw the wagons around." Larry King, who is Jewish, replied, "When you say—when you say something like that you are playing right in, though, to anti-Semitic people who say the Jews are—" at which point Brando interrupted. "No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say 'Thank God for the Jews.'" In 1946, Brando showed his dedication to the Jewish desire for a homeland by performing in Ben Hecht's Zionist play "A Flag is Born".

a set of facts that i found...from national geographic's article: Parting the Waters

with responses from my friend uri who will be joining the blog soon!

The sea of galilee supplies 1/3 of israel's fresh water

True

since 1967 israel has blocked syria's access to the lake's shoreline

Syria has more natural water resources than any other bordering country of Israel. Including Israel. The euphrates and tributaries of it make it self reliant. Its water management infrastructure/ political systems are undeveloped and could be a problem as the country develops ( i.e.city growth and expansion).

Syria is still at war with Israel from 1967- they are still enemies. Syria actively supplies attacks on Israel.
Maps of the golan heights minefields (the second most densely mined area in the world after only Korean DMZ) have still not been turned over to Israel as mandated by international law when a country conquers territory from another. That is why when hiking in the area you are never supposed to leave the trail. I attached a common sign you will see in northern Israel.




water flows from mount Hermon

Mt. Hermon and the entire golan plateau is a military stragetic necessity because of its relative height in the area.


The region has been going through a 6 year drought

The Kineret (See of galilleee) goes down every year and with it the allowable per capita water allocation to Israelis.


in the past five decades the Jordan River has lost more than 90% of its flow, which flows to the Sea of galilee-- Israel's national water carrier has a damned the sea of galilee diverting water from the jordan river.

First part of the statement- JR flows from the SG not to (technically it emerges above the Sea and flows out too). Second, this is how aquefers other water management systems work- they use dam systems to regulate flow of water precisely because it is a precious resource.

according to Oregon state university "of the 37 actual military conflicts over water since 1950, 32 took place in the middle east; 30 of them involved israel and its arab neighbors. of those practically all were over the jordan river and the tributaries

I want to see a list of these conflicts. Isreal has not been involved in more than 10 official conflicts since independence. Only other user of Jordan river is the country of Jordan now at peace with Israel. This is trying to paint the picture that Israel engages its enemies not in self defense but in the form of a resource colonizer. Look at the conflicts Israel has engaged in and it is clear.

armed conflicts over the Jordan began in 1948 with the founding of israel. source of israel's water supply have lain out side of its borders


israel sees water as a national security issue and a resource to guard jealously

For every country in the Middle East it is.

israel settlers get water from merkorot--which has drilled 42 deep wells in the west bank--to supply israel and settlers

Israel has developed the entire water system the Palestinians in the West Bank use.

according to a 2009 world bank report, israel uses four times as much water per capita as palestinians

Since Israel has controlled West Bank and Gaza Palestinian per cap. consumption has risen and Israeli consumption has decreased. Still Israelis do use more water than the palestinians- not causal connection. As the most developed country in the region they also use more than the rest of their neighboring countries and every other country in Africa and the middle east.

west bank palestinians, under islraeli military rule, have largely been preveneted from digging deep wells--palesitinians are forced to purchase water for 1$ a cubic yard--in effect buying back the water that is taken underneath them by merkorot

Israelis purchase their water as well and are harshly fined if they go over their allocated amount. They system is universal. Israel has modernized palestianian territory water system and provided more than the Oslo agreed amounts.

What do you think--what would you say?

( this is an excerpt from an email correspondence)
Dante,

There are biases from every point of view and it is our challenge to interprete the biases and the facts and put them together to understand the overall story. There is no "Israeli standpoint", within Israel there consists every opinion on these subjects and when I talk with you I present my own. This freedom of thought and dialogue can only happen in an open society where various opinions and information channels are available to the population.

I have many video clips that I would like to watch with you so we can together evaluate if such basic freedoms are provided to the Palestinian people, and if not, what messages they are taught and surrounded by. These messages, in a closed society, are provided by the leadership to the people forming their belief system and ultimately their actions. Therefore, the final question stands, 'In a closed society what is the message from the leadership to the people? And is it conducive to peace?'

The article (with holocuast horrors and "palestinian equivalents") you sent me is a popular way to attack Israel, and I think answers to the core of your "why" questions.

Graphic marketing such as this must be evaluated as follows. 1) If these photos are real. 2) If they are taken and portrayed in the context of the situation. 3) What are the intentions of both sides involved- the reason for the situation 4) Is the situation a trend or policy?

I will not respond to the first three steps becuase clearly this type of ad is not geared for critical analysis and it does not confront the fundamental point being made. I do not have enough information on the specific pictures and circumstances. So I will skip to number four in light of the more general context of Israel's relationship with the Palestinian people.

Israel has no policy of extermination. No policy of targeting civilians. Israel has the best military in the region and leads the world in urban warfare combat. Compared to all modern militaries in the world Israel has the least civilian deaths to combatant ratio. Before engagements Israel calls homes and neighborhoods to clear out civilians. The military sends air leaflets to notify civilians and routinely abandons missions where civilian lives will knowingly be lost.

War, all war, is ugly. Civilians die in war. Mistakes are made. Plans are not executed correctly. Unwanted harm is inevitably done.

What makes the Nazi comparisons so hurtful particularly to Israel is the obvious connection between Jews and the Holocaust. Unlike Israel, the Nazis did have a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. As one of the most powerful armies in Europe they did use their resources to segregate and annahilate large populations in Europe. Most of my father's family was victim to such a policy.

To the core, these holocaust fotos answer all your why questions. It is not about land - when given land attacks get worse and terrorist groups are emboldened. And it is not about resources- palestinians are provided all humanitarian necessities as quantified by the UN, including water. Look at Israel's immediate enemies. Iran publicly calls for the annihilation of Jews. Hezbollah, Hamas, the list goes on with the outward haters. Look up their charters. Look up their leaders. It is very clear. They don't even try to hide their intentions, they spell it out clearly and announce what they want in their public speeches.

Land, resources, economic opportunity can be solutions to problems for palestinian people. The wars being faught are not against the palestinian people. They are agianst those who control their opinion, restrict their basic liberties and freedom of thought.

The answer to the why question: Look at Israel, its constant condemnation by the world community, moreso than any other country- ever. More than N. Korea. Myanmar. Iran. China. USA. These disputes are not simply surface issues (like settlements) the world makes it out to be. No country is misrepresented, deligitimized, targeted like Israel.

Does Israel make mistakes? Yes. Does it have policies I disagree with? Yes. Do some citizens discriminate? Yes. Do some soldiers kill innocent people? Probably.
Are these issues unique to Israel? No.

Why? The hatred toward Israel is for what makes makes it unique. The only Jewish majority country in the world.
And that my friend is a much bigger and scarier question. "Why" past here is one of the oldest questions in the world. A legacy that has endured for thousands of years. One that I am a part of and you are not.

We have to get together to speak face to face. We both want the same thing- Justice. Through critical thought, analysis and compassion we can find a way to get there.

Not quite Thanksgiving yet but I' probably won't see you.
Thanks for being in my life,
Enjoy the holiday.

Google envisions its own town

Just saw this in the newspaper today--google is officially building its own community living

With google around do we have privacy?

HERE IS THE ONE I INTENDED...



and the older one...if you wants to see

I'm starting my own tv show!

Here's the Pilot. Directed, edited and made awesome by Nathaniel Buechler.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1592501784282

Court to Issue Warrant for Assange

Not sure if anyone saw this bullshit flow through the news...

I guess if you did not know Julian Assange is a rapist and molestor. A warrant has been put out, by two women filing at the exact same time, for his arrest so that they can interigate him.

My favorite record of the year

Whirl - Distressor EP



I think these guys will appeal to all yallz. So stoked I discovered them-- my friend I run a download blog with is actually pressing the vinyl! Dreamy vocals, huge lush guitars and a really, reallllly warm production. Chris, I played this for you when we drove back from Oly after Halloween. You can legitly (ie, with band's permission) download the songs for free HERE.

Green School

My friend Colin just posted this on my wall.

Sorry excuse of a snake

http://vodpod.com/watch/1552999-bad-ass-texas-rabbit-video

I think we have decided to do this for like a month or so--looks nice ehh?

Asa's 23rd Birthday Shindig Brainstorm

This is me last year. In this photo I have just downed a Colt .45 40 in under five minutes. I am dressed as Princess Leia and doing the "invisible blowjob" motion. Please don't let this happen again this year.

Aight, so my 23rd is Thursday, December 9th, and my parents leave the next morning. So, you're all invited over Friday the 10th, natch.

Food for thought:
-My neighbors can be puds if noise gets too loud, but I think this is rarely an issue with us...Ben (Eisenhardt) had a ludicrous jock party May of last year and somehow no one ever called the cops
-A theme would be nice.
-Regardless, it's a potluck. Bring some fine-ass food, preferably vegetarian!
-If you're drinking, you're sleeping over. Period. At least, that's the way I'd like to keep it.

Please, contribute thoughts and ideas! I really haven't had a good birthday party in like two years, and I haven't had a good birthday party with my NW friends since probably 2004.

Halloween: A (Attempted) Haiku

These spliffs are mad real
When interspersed with good beer
Have me crossfading

A neat little vignette from a TAL I just listened to.


and a cool cover song dante and i heard on NPR the other day.

Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, "you owe me." Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky.

-hafiz

Sangha

I've been meaning to write a post for a while, and an email Dante sent me today made me realize that I should probably just do it. There are a few things I've been meaning to address.

The idea of Sangha has been on my mind a lot for the past month or two. Sangha is a Pali/Sanskrit word that describes one of the Three Refuges (a.k.a. the Three Jewels) that make up manifestation along with Dharma and Buddha. This triumvirate has some conceptual parallels. For Buddha: first person manifestation (I), art/aesthetic value, Plato's "the Beautiful"; for Sangha: second person manifestation (We), moral/cultural (shared) values, Plato's "the Good"; for Dharma: third person manifestation (It), science/objective truth (facts), Plato's "the True." In Buddhist practice, the Sangha is the group of people who practice Buddhism, i.e. the community of shared support that everyone can rely on (but the concept can obviously extend beyond that narrow definition and into any community of similarly intentioned people).

One of the questions Dante asked me in his email was what I do to improve and grow. Some of this is painfully obvious: I make very intentional decisions about what I eat and how I exercise, decisions that have paid off many times over so far in my life in regards to health and wellbeing. Also, not so obviously, for about the past five years I've cultivated the ability for compassionate introspection, which allows me to investigate whatever's going on in my life with curiosity and compassion. This really started with non-violent communication, which focuses on identifying feelings and their stimuli as the first steps toward honest resolution and acceptance of emotions. This by itself has gotten me a long way as well, and the first-person practice allows an easy transition into second- and third-person compassion, i.e. empathy. At a certain point I realized that this could only take me so far, and I started using HoloSync (which I've had conversations about with some people; basically, meditation tapes that stimulate brain wave patterns typical of experienced meditators. The results are pretty much identical to those of classical mediation) this past summer and just this past month started a daily meditation practice after a waning in HoloSync use. There is a unifying thread here: everything I practice on a daily basis I make non-negotiable (within reason) and pursue with the clearest intention and joy possible.

The problem, however, that I started to come to terms with in the past month or two is a serious lack of Sangha in my life. Pretty much everything I'm passionate about and practice and pursue regularly I do almost exclusively by myself, with a few exceptions here and there. I've been used to this for years, however, and I think I started to forget how powerful it is to have a community in which to pursue what you love. This blog is certainly a Sangha, but there are clear limits of distance that stop it from being as effective as it could be. When I hear about everyone else having conversations and hanging out I'm overjoyed sort of vicariously, but it tends to remind me how far away I am from the people that understand me the most. (Incidentally, once I started to investigate those feelings they started to resolve and I'm feeling better about the situation now than I did a few weeks ago; but still, the distance remains.) I remind myself, however, that there is a payoff at the end of this separation: the big Sangha in the sky (that sounds trite, but it won't in a minute).

Last week my friend Colin had a friend in town from the Bay area, a girl named Chloe who I'd met briefly this summer. The three of us were hanging out, and conversation turned to spiritual practice (she's a practicing Buddhist), intention, and community. Long story short, we had a conversation that I'd needed to have for a long time, and it brings me to my next point: a challenge to all of us.

Years ago, when we would spend ungodly numbers of hours in cars and on farms with nothing else to talk about, conversation would turn, generally speaking, to the multitude of ways in which society could collapse. So we tried to figure out the best way to deal with the possibility of apocalypse, and the general conclusion was: buy land. Build a community. Make it sustainable. Stock up. There were a lot of these conversations (I know Tevon and I spent a week straight talking about that shit when we were on our farm in New Zealand), and they haven't stopped since. But at a certain point (probably a series of points) I (and I think I can safely assume We) started to realize that there is a "better" way to live, one that can maximize human, cultural, and ecological (Buddha, Sangha, Dharma, anyone?) potential, and that this is actually the same thing as preparing a life based around the coming apocalypse. What a happy coincidence! But it's hard to maintain vision when lives move quickly and passions and motivations change even quicker. With that as a given,

Fuck That.

We have a tremendous, unavoidable responsibility to ourselves and to the world to design our lives and our lifestyles from the ground up exactly as we would have them. Why? Because we can. Because there's absolutely no reason not to. Because we have an exceedingly talented and creative group of people that have the capacity for truly transformative personal and cultural change. We are obligated to settle for nothing less than an idyllic, life-affirming vision of the future that radiates compassion and love in its every action and movement, that strives for perfection, however unattainable, every day of every year. So ask yourself: what did I do today that moved me closer to my highest potential? What did I do today to move someone else closer to theirs? And what am I doing that will have a lasting, building, cumulative impact on the manifestation of a brighter future? Are you honest with yourself about your short and long term commitments? Is it really that hard to get off of the computer and spend twenty minutes engaging in contemplative practice? Is it worth getting angry and upset and living with daily dissatisfaction? Is it worth giving less than everything for what you believe in?

I've asked myself this again and again for the past few months, and the answers have become less disappointing the more I ask and the more I organize my life in a way that cultivates compassion, intention, and love. I haven't been this happy and certain about and open to my future for a long time. So look inside, and be honest with yourself. There is no better time than right now, and there never will be. We have the opportunity to create a beautiful life, and a beautiful Sangha, but it will take vision and commitment. It's time to stop compromising our intentions and our future, and reaffirm out commitment to the future that we all know is possible.

Share Shit

On Asa's suggestion i created a mediafire account, linked to a group email to use just in case. The address is sharedblogemail@gmail.com, and thus, the username for mediafire is sharedblogemail. the password for both of these is: bitillidie, sorry mikail. so yeah, we can share files and shit. i just put up the Lesnar Velasquez fight where brock gets his shit rocked.

to get it all you have to do is sign in and go to my files and hit download. click here.

chris.

Hampshire in a nutshell

From One Taste, by Ken Wilber:

"In this regressive atmosphere, as David Berreby puts it, writing in The Sciences: 'Americans have a standard playbook for creating a political-cultural identity. You start with the conviction that being a member of your group is a distinct experience, separating you from people who are not in it (even close friends and relatives) and uniting you with other members of the group (even if you have never met them). Second, you assume that your own personal struggles and humiliations and triumphs in wrestling with your trait are a version of the struggles of the group in society. The person is political. Third, you maintain that your group has interests that are being neglected or acted against, and so it must take action - changing how the group is seen by those outside it, for instance.' It's not that such action is bad. It's just that, taken in and by itself, it is massively alienating and fragmenting, a type of pathological pluralism that astonishingly believes that acceptance of my group can be accomplished by aggressively blaming and condemning exactly the group from which I seek the acceptance."

How Dropbox and Mediafire work

Both, basically, allow us to host files that we can than then give download links to each other for.

In retrospect, I think Mediafire is the best for this.

We need a functional email address for a username and then a password that can be given to everyone. The account will then be a central database in which we can upload anything for the rest of us to download (though I think having a free account limits the individual upload size to 100 MB).

Favor to Ask

I have a favor to ask. I was just walking back from class and thinking: wouldn't it be great if I could get feedback on how I come across to other people? And then I thought: I bet I can. So long story short, I think it would be awesome if anybody here was willing to basically narrate me to me. I've been focusing lately on being super intentional about how I live day to day, from activities I choose to (or not to) engage in to how I interact and relate with people, and it would be super helpful to get a view from the other end. Obviously I haven't been around for a while, but I think everyone knows me well enough to have some observations. I find it really hard to get real, personal feedback and I couldn't think of better people to ask for it. I don't want this to be a mutual masturbation exercise, so honesty is the name of the game. If I'm an asshole, I'd love to hear about it. If my dick is my best characteristic, I'd love to hear about it. I'm pretty hard to offend these days. If you don't have time or don't feel like saying anything, that's totally cool too. E-mailing me is probably the best way to do this, mine is mattbaranmickle@gmail.com, which I think everyone has. Many thanks in advance.

World of Jenks MMA

Up and coming filmmaker--andrew Jenks has made some cool shit and has got something going with this series

this one follows the life of an mma fighter

Spots of Genius Architecture

click to see more of the house and location

Mondragon Corporation

this morning at work my friend Ricardo was in a conference meeting with these people:

Based in Spain, Mondragon is a massive cooperative that is completely worker owned. It embodies a healthy worker corporation realtionship. Each worker is a worker-owner and has one vote. they vote on on many things including the pay ratio of their bosses which cannot exceed 9:1...anyways, maybe some one is interested

good ideas...

Corbin, this is the man that won the TED prize in 2006, Cameron Sinclair



and to follow this link is a listing of all of the TED talkers and their subjects

Design-Led Community Building

Project H Design in rural North Carolina.



Chris, Dante - This connects to our ferry conversation this morning. I wrote down their 6 design principles; they were concise, direct and ran parallel to our evolving model of community design/build.

Excited about connecting design with education. Excited about the "Learning Landscapes" - outdoor elementary school classrooms that educate through games. Excited about retooling shop class to focus on community projects.

Must be modeled after the Rural Studio in Alabama. Recommend checking them out.

Reggae better than Jesus? Ask this kid...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd5yN43TqCk&feature=player_embedded

Elizabeth Smart

Elizabeth smart, the girl who was kidnapped in 2002 by crazy-fucking-mormon Brian Mitchell began testimony today in a Utah court. Anyone familiar with Under the Banner of Heaven should remember the situation. Some of her testimony: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50632966-76/smart-viti-yes-elizabeth.html.csp

Photo Tutorials

Told Dante about this - great website, with a ton of basic and complex photography tips, worthy of hours of use. It is awesome!

Link: www.Digital-photography-school.com

I learned how to put HDR photo's together, or, at least started learning. Complicated stuff, but here is my first crack at it.

Thanksgiving

I am heading up to Bainbridge on the Wednesday before thanksgiving, leaving the following saturday morning. I think last year we ended up planning a night where we could all meet up ... I would be excited for that to happen again. When all are people going to be home? When and where would be a good place to meet up?

dropbox & mediafire

DropBox

MediaFire

Asa, I'm Making a post for these two. I need you, though, to further explain their relevance and application in regards to the blog and our lives--RE EDIT THIS WITH WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

Hobo Fights round 2

A series of Acid drawings

This makes me think of last year with Dante...

weekend

Saturday Morning

Sup kids.

Here's that Nickelodeon-based hip-hop mixtape I've been playing.



Sample of the goods:

dragon ball pee

worst show ever

Bully Beat Down Season 3

i think i just watched the first episode of season 3. the show's host obliterates the first bully--i'll post the full once its available: some how it changes his life...

November 13th and 14th Mountain Climb

on the second weekend of november i'm working and planning on bringing a large group peopleup to a high elavation to catch a glimpse at a winter sunrise--if all works out on the morning of the 14th we'll wake up early--the clouds will have dropped below our elavation and we'll be perched above them--i'll be bringing some friends from bellingham who also have some (other's have none) technical climbing skills--and chris is finding a good location so that we can all have a informal skill share and colaboration--all are invited for those who can make it --any ideas, suggestions are desired

sorry the post is rushed i'll refine it later...

List of unsolved problems in physics

Acting upon Ben's threats, here are more quandaries to ponder...

Mortgage/Banking Crisis - Boiled Down

You all should listen to this if you want a very succinct and well rounded description of the mortgage crisis that brought down the world economy. This american life teamed up with some NPR financial guys to do the story. LISTEN HERE

And.... another TAL episode on the banking crash in layman's terms. LISTEN HERE

all you need to do is select the play episode option.