A Storm's a-Comin'

"And I looked, and beheld a pale horse, and he that sat upon him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

- Revelation 6:8

"Deja vu all over again"

Libyan Rebels, 2011

Mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan War, circa 1985

"They never learn." - Fire Marshall Bill, In Living Color, circa 1991

Empire of the Sun

Sleep my baby, at my breast,

’Tis a mother’s arms round you.

Make yourself a snug, warm nest.

Feel my love forever new.

Harm will not meet you in sleep,

Hurt will always pass you by.

Child beloved, always you’ll keep,

In sleep gentle, mother’s breast nigh.

Sleep in peace tonight, sleep,

O sleep gently, what a sight.

A smile I see in slumber deep,

What visions make your face bright?

Are the angels above smiling,

At you in your peaceful rest?

Are you beaming back while in

Peaceful slumber on mother’s breast?

Do not fear the sound, it’s a breeze

Brushing leaves against the door.

Do not dread the murmuring seas,

Lonely waves washing the shore.

Sleep child mine, there’s nothing here,

While in slumber at my breast,

Angels smiling, have no fear,

Holy angels guard your rest.

- Suo Gan, a Welsh lullaby

Hindsight is 20/20...

"If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith."

- Albert Einstein

Warriors Without Borders

On April 11, 1994, 2,500 Tutsis were slaughtered in a Catholic school, named the Ecole Technique Officielle, outside of Kagili, Rwanda, after the UN forces withdrew from the compound. The Hutu militias had been outside for days taunting the Tutsis and even hacking a few to death with machetes and axes directly in front of the UN forces, who refused to intervene because the rules of engagement given to them by their command only allowed them to fire in self-defense and not in the defense of others (especially Africans, as an exception could be made for white people if need be).

A scene repeated in the Rwandan Genocide thousands of times

This particular massacre was but one of many in those 100 days in 1994 that cost an estimated 800,000 lives. As usual, the world watched the slaughter with something bordering on indifference finding critical rhetoric instead to be the appropriate response.

This publication believes that it is fair to say that the nations of the world have been entirely useless when it comes to doing what is right. Our governments watch as villages are being pillaged in Darfur, Indigenous Peoples are being victimized in Central America, and dolphins, whales, gorillas, and other animals are being slaughtered for sport and profit. Those same governments are, of course, more than ready to dish out the violence when oil prices and the Dow Jones are at stake, however, because that is truly sacred. It is for this reason, therefore, that this publication is announcing, for the first time, an idea that I hope will manifest in a solution (albeit a temporary one and just a stepping-stone in furtherance of a nobler one) that will pick up the ball where every nation-state in modern times has dropped it.

The proposal is simple: a dedicated group of ex-military from around the world will volunteer their time and services to intervene and come to the aid of people (and animals) anywhere who are being brutalized and victimized and who are incapable of defending themselves.

This fighting force would answer to no government and never take sides in political struggles (other than to protect those caught in the crossfire). It would be funded completely by donations from concerned citizens around the world who will donate on-line via the group's website. The force's logistical support command will procure the necessary weapons, ammunition, supplies, and transportation solely using the donated funds.

The group's supporters across the world will vote on-line for where they believe the force is most needed at the moment and the Command will focus its operations in support of that directive. In many ways, the organizational structure would be very similar Doctors Without Borders' although the modus operandi would be different. Click here to read about Doctors Without Borders' History and Principles for a better idea of how this organization would work.

The rules of engagement will be straightforward: the force's members will shoot-to-kill in the defense of targeted civilians/protected animal populations. Borders, jurisdictions, and political considerations will be completely disregarded.

An admirable legacy

It is my belief that most of the rogues around the world that commit atrocities will quickly buckle when they come face-to-face with a group of organized, battle-hardened soldiers who operate with a single vision, absolute dedication, and purpose, and who execute their mission with calculating deliberation for most of those rogues are just bands of thugs - not professional soldiers. Ideally, once we establish the proper precedent in the first few missions, in most cases the opposition will discontinue their slaughter once they hear the force is on its way, if it doesn't result in the downright disappearance of that sort of thing around the world altogether in a short amount of time.

This is an opportunity to actually make a difference for millions of people and threatened populations all over the world when our governments have been too selfish and cowardly to sack up and do what needs to get done. In this new Information Age where Twitter and Facebook have been used to orchestrate revolutions that overturned established dictatorships, why can't we harness those same tools to coordinate and support direct action when it's clearly needed?

If you agree with this proposal or are willing to become a part of the effort, please become a "follower" of this blog so that we can see if we can get this thing off the ground. If it works, it may be just a small step towards a more peaceful world where all beings can live in harmony with one another. Until then, lock and load because we've got some work to do.

Signed,


JB, March 8,2011

"This is a good day to die. Follow me." - Chief Low Dog of the Oglala Souix, 1881, before the Battle of Little Bighorn

-----
Notes from July 21, 2011:

I should add that since the posting of this entry I've come to understand that this kind of proposal is not really the right solution for a number of reasons. I considered removing the post entirely but then decided against it on the grounds that it was an honest portrayal of my ideas as of March 8, 2011. The offer, however, is closed. We shall seek to ease suffering through other more powerful and long-term means.

I'll Fly Away

Some glad morning when this life is o'er,
I'll fly away;
To a home on God's celestial shore,
I'll fly away

I'll fly away, Oh Glory
I'll fly away;
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly away

When the shadows of this life have gone,
I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I'll fly away

I'll fly away, Oh Glory
I'll fly away;
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly away

Just a few more weary days and then,
I'll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I'll fly away

I'll fly away, Oh Glory
I'll fly away;
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly awaySend "I'll Fly Away" Ringtone to your Cell

Lesson #2: How to Dance

As a part of this publication's ongoing series designed to elevate the human condition, the second episode in this saga is dedicated to the ancient art of dancing.

So, without delay, click here to learn how to dance.

Apocalypse Now

"The horror. The horror."


- Colonel Kurtz, Apocalypse Now

The General's Assessment

"Mr. President, I'm not saying we won't get our hair mussed. I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops! Depending on the breaks."


- General Buck Turgidson, Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Bilbo's Last Song

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship’s beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
the wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
beneath the ever-bending sky,
but islands lie behind the Sun
that I shall raise ere all is done;
lands there are to west of West,
where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar,
I’ll find the heavens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last.
I see the Star above my mast!

- J.R.R. Tolkein

Lesson #1: How to Walk

As a part of this publication's attempt to elevate the human condition we believe it is important to relearn some of the things that we take for granted but which we may, in fact, be doing terribly wrong.

Perhaps the most egregious of errors will be corrected in this lesson, the first of a yet-undetermined-part series.

So, to proceed with Lesson #1, click here to learn how to walk.

The Worst of the Worst

This publication prides itself on presenting what it considers to be the finest in cinema, literature, comedy, and social commentary. Occasionally, however, it becomes impossible to resist presenting the absolute worst in the aforementioned categories. This post is one such circumstance.

Today's homage is to absolute cinematic garbage - two of the worst fight scenes ever filmed.

Click here to watch Captain Kirk battle a monster in a vicious battle to the death.

Then click here to watch a fight scene from an 80's martial arts B-movie that makes Kickboxer IV: The Aggressor look like Masterpiece Theatre.

OPSEC

Colonel Lucas: Your report specifies intelligence/counterintelligence with ComSec I-Corps.

Captain Willard: I'm not presently disposed to discuss those operations, sir.

Colonel Lucas: Did you not work for the CIA in I-Corps?

Captain Willard: No, sir.

Colonel Lucas: Did you not assassinate a government tax collector in Quang Tri province, June 19th, 1968? Captain?

Captain Willard: Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation... nor would I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in fact exist, sir.


-Apocalypse Now

Heart of Darkness

Colonel Kurtz: Are you an assassin, Willard?

Willard: I'm a soldier.

Colonel Kurtz: You're neither! You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks....to collect a bill.


-Apocalypse Now

こんな夢を見た ("I had such a dream")

Here are screenshots from Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, Dreams...

Foxes holding their weddings when it rains

Foxes live under the rainbows


"The snow is warm...the ice is hot..."


The Snow Demon

The Ultimate Toy

Fokker Dr.I, with a price-tag of only $200,000!!!

How I Learned to Love the Bomb

"Well, boys, I reckon this is it - nukular combat toe-to-toe with the Rooskies." - MAJ T.J. "King" Kong, Dr Strangelove

During the Cold War the United States kept nuclear-armed bombers in the skies 24 hours a day, ready to strike in the event of a Soviet attack. Bombers were only one of the available delivery methods, however.

Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs, the most sophisticated of which was the Minuteman III (450 of which are still operational and capable of being launched within 1 minute), could deliver a W87 nuclear warhead packing the explosive power of 475 kilotons of TNT (to put this in perspective, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was measured at about 15 kilotons), by climbing to an altitude of 3.7 million feet (almost 100 times higher than a 747's cruising altitude on a trans-continental flight) and then re-entering the atmosphere at a speed of 15,000 MPH to detonate within 150 meters of its intended target.

Test launch of an LGM-25C Titan II from an underground silo, 1960s

Initially, ICBMs were designed to carry only one warhead but technological improvements led to the development of the Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle, or MIRV, in 1970, which could deliver up to ten warheads on a single missile. The Peacekeeper, at a throw weight of 96 tons, a range of over 5,200 miles, and at a cost of $70 million each, was one such missile, which could deliver the combined explosive power of 3,000 kilotons of TNT (the equivalent of 200 times the explosive power detonated over Hiroshima in 1945).

Testing of the Peacekeeper MIRV at Kawajalein Atoll

The largest thermonuclear device ever detonated was the Tsar Bomba, detonated by the Soviet Union on October 30, 1961. Originally designed to have a 100 megaton yield, it was ultimately reduced to a 50 megaton yield out of concern about nuclear fallout (???). The final product was over 3,000 times as powerful as Little Man, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and had the equivalent of a quarter of the explosive power of the 1883 Krakatoa explosion, which was heard 3,000 miles away by people on the island of Mauritius. The Tsar Bomba produced a fireball 5 miles in diameter that almost destroyed the bomber that dropped it. It was such a powerful explosion that it could cause third-degree burns 62 miles away from ground zero and broke window panes 560 miles away.

The Tsar Bomba's fireball

So, would you like to play a game? :)

Yo, Adrian!

"Yo, Adrian...it's me, Rocky...so, uh, how about maybe you and I, I mean, we'll go out together and get somethin' to eat, I don't know, maybe laugh a little bit, who knows, ya know?"

-Rocky

The Antikythera Mechanism

In 1901 divers unearthed treasure from an ancient Roman shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera. Among the findings was a remarkable little mechanical device that defied current understandings about the technological capabilities of the Ancient World.

It took over 100 years to decipher the extremely complicated device's purpose: an astronomical clock that calculated the celestial movements of planetary bodies and that could predict eclipses with incredible precision.

Ultimately this was only accomplished by the use of an enormous X-ray that created a 3-D image of the device's mechanism which allowed scientists to see its design and ascertain its function. While most scholars have marveled at the clock's technological sophistication (which does raise serious questions about our understanding of the development of human civilization) and at how they could've collected the data required to design the device (which raises similar questions) this publication believes that the most relevant question that it presents is: Why were these ancient people so interested in tracking the movements of celestial bodies and in predicting future eclipses that they would expend the energy to build such a complicated device?

Unfortunately our guesses about the importance of celestial movements is colored by our own beliefs about their importance. It must be considered, however, that to the Ancients, the movements of the planets and the dates and times of eclipses were not important for their value in determining agricultural cycles or for scheduling rituals to please the Gods, as is commonly believed. Perhaps Ancient Man recognized the influence that celestial bodies and their relative positions to Earth had on phenomena and were, therefore, very interested in being able to predict what that influence would be and when.

For an amazing video of how the clock worked, click here to see a reconstruction made out of Lego. Click here to watch more detailed videos about the discovery of the clock, its deciphering, and efforts to replicate it.

Interestingly, the ancient Greeks were not the only ones with a keen interest in astronomy. The Chinese, Mayans, Celts, and other civilizations with varying degrees of technological prowess were all very interested in the movements of in the Heavens. The question must be asked then: What have we forgotten?

Consciousness and the Power of Intention

350 years ago René Descartes and his contemporary Sir Isaac Newton set back human evolution by centuries. Each in their own fields of philosophy and science, respectively, proposed new theories that fundamentally altered Man's understanding of his place in the Cosmos.

In the span of a few decades all the superstition and fantasy of Medieval Europe – it's elves, faeries, nymphs, trolls, and nature spirits - had been discarded like childhood toys and Man awakened to his highest self. Stonehenge became nothing more than a collection of interestingly-placed rocks and the new god of Rationalism assumed its eventual place on the altar of ideals.

With one fell swoop Man had become separate from his environment. He, like all the other objects in this three-dimensional plane, was now subject to its discernible and unbreakable Laws. Now in order to make a change in this world of sticks-and-stones an object had to be pushed, burned, thrown, kicked, or somehow physically altered. And what of Man's seemingly unique capacity for self-awareness? Well, there lay an explanation for that as well: his consciousness was some strange coincidence of nature that appeared in his brain when it reached a certain degree of complexity, allowing him to perceive the material world and comment upon it. Other than that, it's only purpose was to facilitate his rational thought so that he could navigate the Universe intelligently.

What was perceived at the time, however, as a great leap forward in Man's understanding was none other than a substantial retreat for the evolution of his Consciousness for with the superstition and fantasy had been thrown out all the Magic and Purpose of his existence. What special meaning could there be to this giant clock of a universe? Possibly none at all. For the more devout it may be to simply worship God, the Creator, out of fear of being smitten for failing to do so. Other than that, it was a hard-scrabble existence in which Man had to scratch out a living on an obscure blue planet suspended in the cold vacuum of empty space which, like each of us in turn, would ultimately be consumed by the inevitability of Death.

Our civilization has maintained this world view since the “Enlightenment” and suffered heavily for it. In the past few centuries we have almost polluted our home to the point of environmental collapse and have come close on a few occasions to annihilating ourselves and our fellow inhabitants of this planet in a thermonuclear firestorm. But there has been another victim of this Great Leap Forward: our own sense of happiness.

As of 2007, 22.2 million Americans were on the drug Prozac, and anti-depressant, making it the third most popular drug in the country. A number of questions arise from this startling fact: 1) “What did Ancient Man do without Prozac? Did an enormous percent of the population just lay around all day wallowing in sadness?“ and 2) “Why is there such a great need for psychiatric medication?”

Regarding the second question, the medical community will answer that Man's brain is a complicated supercomputer regulated by chemicals which, occasionally, may get out of whack. When that happens it's the function of medical science to recalibrate the chemical balance of the computer to restore order. Accordingly, every deviation from perfect happiness and predictability is the function of a chemical imbalance and can be remedied with a little tinkering (which may result in the need for a little more tinkering to compensate for the tinkering but that's OK).

The answer to the first question may be impossible to answer but one suspects that if for the 100,000 years of modern human history before the invention of Prozac much of the species was crippled by depression and Restless Leg Syndrome we would've heard about it. Surely there must be a hieroglyphic on the wall of some Egyptian pyramid showing people moping about in a dark room touching the wall in desperation. Its discovery is probably right around the corner.

Or perhaps the answer to both questions is the same: Ancient Man wasn't depressed like Modern Man because his world wasn't bleak and meaningless. It was magical, hyper-intelligent, and filled with Purpose.

This gets to the the crux of the problem created in the “Enlightenment” and illustrates the critical difference between the modern world view and that of Ancient Man. The modern world is a meaningless one of objects suspended in space, of which we are but one, hoping not to be hit by a bigger object before we ultimately vanish from existence. To the Ancients, however, the world was an eternal Cosmic Mystery, its purpose unknowable but Divine, with Man an integral part of its ever-developing Destiny and transforming with it. He was not only a participant but a Co-Creator. Through its Collective Consciousness, of which he was a separate yet inextricably linked part, the World was constantly re-inventing itself.

In a World created out of Consciousness everything was possible: There were no Laws of Thermodynamics that had to be adhered to. The seemingly vast distance between objects was recognized as simply an Illusion and if Consciousness were underlying it all then Man was not the only manifestation with self-awareness. Trees had a markedly different yet equally real awareness. A volcano had its own spirit and personality and something as vast as the Sea, an organism composed of an enormous amount of diverse Life, had its own consciousness and was a force to be reckoned with.

In this magical world, what Modern Man would perceive as dead and inanimate matter was nothing of the sort. But perhaps Ancient Man was a fool, beating a drum for rain, ignorant of meteorology and the effect of warm, rising, moist air in a low-pressure system? And now, Modern Man, with his barometers and weather-measuring equipment has finally cracked the code and achieved dominance over atmospheric conditions, if even just by being able to predict them accurately and bring an umbrella?

In the end, it is Modern Man that is the fool – unaware of his own Power, unconscious of the awareness that surrounds him, lumbering around with his clunky machines and measuring devices. But what evidence is there to support the power of Consciousness?

One interesting series of experiments was done by a Japanese scientist, Dr Masaru Emoto, who showed that by sending various intentions to water that the crystalline structure of the sample would change and become apparent when frozen. Consider these two samples:

This water sample was told, “You fool”

This water sample was given love and thanks

Dr Emoto published his results in various books including, Messages from Water (Vol. 1 and 2) and The Hidden Messages in Water. The images are stunning and the implications earth-shattering especially considering that the human body is 78% water. Aficionados of heavy metal music, then, may want to reconsider their musical taste when they see that this is what water molecules look like when exposed to heavy metal:

In a fascinating extension of Emoto's experiments, Lynne McTaggart, author of The Field and The Intention Experiment, is now using the power of the Internet to coordinate for people all across the world to focus their intention on specific goals at specific times with renowned scientists devising and overseeing the experiments. Visit the website at www.theintentionexperiment.com for details.

What these experiments have shown, and will continue to show, is that human intention has the power to affect physical reality. In a world created by Consciousness, it is not a difficult leap to make.

What, then, may be the Purpose underlying it all? Perhaps the Hindus have got the right idea: that the Universal Self has created an elaborate game of hide-and-go-seek to amuse itself and, as the seemingly separate manifestations of that Soul our role is to rediscover our true identity.

Even without understanding the Purpose, however, there is one thing we can gain from an understanding of the role of Intention and Consciousness in our lives: the power to determine our Destiny. Our internal dialogue is not merely commenting on an external world – it is creating it. When we seize the power of our Mind we seize the Power of Creation instead of being led around as a dog is on a leash for our casual thoughts over time become Intention.

Perhaps this is what the Buddha truly meant when he said, “With our thoughts we create the world.” It is a simple concept and yet one that may be the most difficult to truly understand.