Sunday, 29 June 2008

I am still shaking and sweating...

I woke up with a lot of difficulty. Had half of my breakfast, jumped on my bike and cycled to the station one eye closed, one eye hurting yet open. Sunday is a good day to cycle in the morning, but not a good day to wake up early and go to work. Can't complain thou. It's one more of those jobs I do. I'm off to hyde park to play games and talk to people. A regular fun day in the life of a promo girl. No quite.

Who's on today? We ask each other. Bangles. haha. And it's my break! Cool. It was pretty amazing to see them live. I sang manic monday, walk like an egyptian, all tunes with them. They rock. I had me burger and went back to work. Rather good sunny day, I thought. But I didn't really know what was waiting for me around the corner...

Stranglers are on at 19:15! Ha! I like The stranglers. No, no. I LOVE The Stranglers! I suddenly realized what was about to happen. Shivers up my spine. I was about to see The stranglers!!!! But hold on. Am I? I had my hour off already. hummm... I've got a plan. I repeat "The stranglers are great" all through the day like a drunken parrot. I look into the event manager's eyes at 19:15. I look deeper into his eyes. He holds my hands and whispers: Go.

I run like an idiot to the tent where they are and as soon as I enter it, out of breath, I feel the energy of that place exploding my brain like a cosmic convulsion. They are all yang, manly, ubber alpha rock skillfully orchestrated, lusty rock that is. they love it!! And we love it extra. They start with "Get a grip on Yourself" and I nearly faint. It's just too much. Waves of heat emanating from their instruments. So manly. They gang rape our musical brains with a classic after the other. They played all my favourites! Strange Little Girl, Nice N' Sleezy, Always the Sun, Walk on by, and of course... Golden Brown! The crowd started cheering and clapping and screaming in the middle of the song, no waiting til the end, as they looked at each other with an accomplished smile on their faces, all of us wanting to say that was intense, that was pure rock n' roll. We're taken, loved up, sweating devotion.

The older guys around me were very surprised with my love for The Stranglers, me singing all the lyrics. One of them shouted at me: "you're too young! How come?" hahaha. but they were proud and happy to see me enjoying their favourite band. The Stranglers were then, now, always, everyone's favourite band.

Sunday, 15 June 2008

Monday, 5 May 2008

http://www.sutemos.net + 3tronik



http://www.sutemos.net

subjective music reviews, articles, free electronic music

Thursday, 1 May 2008

Albert Hofmann dies - Bike day Part II

Albert Hoffmann died of a heart attack on tuesday the 29 April 2008, ten days after "Bike Day", aged 102. Very interesting life. We're all very grateful for it. If R.A.W. was alive he would recite this little poem in Hoffmann's honour:

I never saw a purple cow
I never hope to see one
But I'll tell you this anyhow:
I'd rather see than be one

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

http://www.channel4.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Hofmann was disappointed when his discovery was removed from commercial distribution. He remained convinced that the drug had the potential to counter the psychological problems induced by “materialism, alienation from nature through industrialisation and increasing urbanisation, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a mechanised, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and meaningful philosophical foundation of life”.

LSD, my problem Child

Friday, 25 April 2008

Me laughing, ya know.

Aaahhhh… Today I finished me uni thing. Handed in. Done. I got me bike and went to the supermarket, wind of freedom on my face, laughing, got lost in the back streets, laughing, playing rude tunes as loud as me phone allowed, laughing, thinking of berries. I could throw meself on the ground and listen to all me tunes in someone’s front garden if I wanted to, me face on the grass, laughing. Happy days. I’ve got nothin’ to do!

The worker boyz removing the east London line right by me house looked more orange today. And funny, and cute. Sometimes we chat but it’s like having a conversation with a friend travelling by tube. After a while the line drops like it was never there. Very cute in orange thou.

It’s me and me berries, now.

Saturday, 19 April 2008

Bicycle Day



On April 19, 1943 Dr. Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 µg of LSD, which he hypothesized would be a threshold dose, based on other ergot alkaloids. After ingesting the substance Hofmann was struggling to speak intelligibly and asked his laboratory assistant, who knew of the self-experiment, to escort him home on his bicycle, due to the lack of available vehicles during wartime restrictions. On the bicycle ride home, Hofmann's condition became more severe and in his journal he stated that everything in his field of vision wavered and was distorted, as if seen in a curved mirror. Hofmann also stated that while riding on the bicycle, he had the sensation of being stationary, unable to move from where he was, despite the fact that he was moving very rapidly. Once Hofmann arrived safely home, he summoned a doctor and asked his neighbor for milk, believing it may help relieve the symptoms. Hofmann wrote that despite his delirious and bewildered condition, he was able to choose milk as a nonspecific antidote for poisoning.[5] Upon arriving the doctor could find no abnormal physical symptoms other than extremely dilated pupils. After spending several hours terrified that his body had been possessed by a demon, that his next door neighbor was a witch, and that his furniture was threatening him, Dr. Hofmann feared he had become completely insane. In his journal Hofmann said that the doctor saw no reason to prescribe medication and instead sent him to his bed. At this time Hofmann said that the feelings of fear had started to give way to feelings of good fortune and gratitude, and that he was now enjoying the colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind his closed eyes. Hofmann mentions seeing "fantastic images" surging past him, alternating and opening and closing themselves into circles and spirals and finally exploding into colored fountains and then rearranging themselves in a constant flux. Hofmann mentions that during the condition every acoustic perception, such as the sound of a passing automobile, was transformed into optical perceptions. Eventually Hofmann slept and upon awakening the next morning felt refreshed and clearheaded, though somewhat physically tired. He also stated that he had a sensation of well being and renewed life and that his breakfast tasted unusually delicious. Upon walking in his garden he remarked that all of his senses were "vibrating in a condition of highest sensitivity, which then persisted for the entire day".

Bicycle Day

Picture thanks to Fraser@UP! parallel-youniversity

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Big flying paradox

Man, when you’ve got stuff to do... Ah, I’ve got stuff to do but it is soooo hard to concentrate. Man, when you have stuff to do the world blooms in all its exquisiteness! Like now! Sooo many interesting things happening and I have to be here, doing my final project for this module at uni, talking codes, writing long reports, making a website, so considerate, thinking of elderly users. Aaaahh! All blossoms!

Paradoxes everywhere! It’s quite a good technique. If you want to make your life very very exciting get yourself a huge commitment. A massively boring one too. Instantly that special someone you always fancied will get in touch and suggest you two meet this week, a fantastic musician will write you a message asking you to collaborate on this magical piece, but it has to be now, your best mate needs your advice on what to do about this astonishingly intricate situation that makes you smile but takes 2 hours to be briefly touched on its slimy surface, your lemon detox + Chi Kung starts to produce a deep effect and you suddenly feel like climbing trees, your mailbox is flooded with the most amazing videos of new scientific discoveries that will change human reality forever and you… you need to concentrate.

Help.

And when you hand your project in, when you’re not committed to it anymore, everything is cold withering sarcasm, nobody is available, your computer crashes.

Like my granddad used to say, if you want something done, do it yourself or ask a busy person.

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

My neighbour

Me, I’m this liquid celluloid, and things don’t hurt anymore. Can’t remember what happened. Was it yoga? I don’t know. I was a creeping westerner learning how to breathe and bang, all gone. I do sometimes feel something happening on the surface. Something that reminds me of something really bad or something really good. But me, I laugh. I love my shadows. I told myself I knew I were you, but every time I tried to tell you, you flew away.

That’s also why I don’t write here anymore. ☺

That sweeping love, oh, that feeling you give me, I melt inside. I could run in the cold rain, the freezing air stabbing my lungs, like I did many times before, just to throw stones at your window. No. Now I won’t run in the cold rain anymore. Now you’re my neighbour. I can’t drink your coffee, I won’t drink your wine, and amazingly, that kind of made you mine. How funny it is. Now that I know the way, I don’t want to go anymore. Now I will turn this cosmic convulsion inside me into rays of life, butterflies of all colours, the wisdom of an old carp. None. I won’t run, and now you live right by me. Life is funny.

You and all your faces. You were blond and obedient once, a long time ago. You were brown and loud and superficial, off you head. I loved you then. You were strong and suddenly weak, so I had to leave. I’m sorry. Now you’re tall and sweet and clever, and I would run in the cold rain to get to you in other times, but now I sit here and turn your love into rays of all colours. My neighbour.

Friday, 28 March 2008

Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) to Live to Witness the Singularity

Ray Kurzweil, the famous inventor, is trim, balding, and not very tall. With his perfect posture and narrow black glasses, he would look at home in an old documentary about Cape Canaveral, but his mission is bolder than any mere voyage into space. He is attempting to travel across a frontier in time, to pass through the border between our era and a future so different as to be unrecognizable. He calls this border the singularity. Kurzweil is 60, but he intends to be no more than 40 when the singularity arrives.

If I were you I would keep reading it on http://www.wired.com/

Thursday, 6 March 2008

Time travellers from the future 'could be here in weeks'

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor of The Telegraph

The first time travellers from the future could materialise on Earth within a few weeks. Physicists around the world are excitedly awaiting the start up of the £4.65 billion Large Hadron Collider, LHC - the most powerful atom-smasher ever built - which is supposed to shed new light on the particles and forces at work in the cosmos and reproduce conditions that date to near the Big Bang of creation.

Continues on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Thanks to fraser@parallel-youniversity's UP! for letting me know and for the picture.

Friday, 15 February 2008

The Year of the Rat

Chinese New Year this time around is the Year of the Rat, which brings with it the promise of prosperity. The Chinese admire the rat for its quick mind and ability to gather valuables and save them for the future. Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, the year ahead should offer many opportunities to acquire wealth, as well as the ability to make choices that enable us to provide comfort for a long time to come.

Since the rat sign is the first in the Chinese zodiac calendar, we may feel the energy of a cycle beginning. We may also feel a pioneering
spirit that helps us to forge ahead with a completely new endeavor. Looking beyond Western culture’s distaste for rats, we may be able to
appreciate their ability to thrive in less than ideal conditions. This quality might offer us hope that whatever challenges we may face will only serve to make us stronger and more able. The rat’s ability to solve problems is well-known, so we can choose to enjoy any challenge that helps us keep our minds sharp while also making life more of a game. A competitive nature may develop within us, leading us to use the rat’s ability to focus on priorities. The rat can also remind us to be less worried about pleasing everyone we meet and more focused on our goals.

We should be aware of the rat’s habit for collecting and not allow ourselves to become so focused that we neglect those around us. Being constantly on the alert for opportunity can be stressful, so we can make the decision to balance our pursuit of prosperity with the enjoyment of good food and atmosphere and the people we trust to offer us both support and space. With the energy of challenge and possibility, the year is likely to be exciting without being explosive. The Year of the Rat is sure to offer the type of enjoyable challenges that will enable us to become all we can possibly be.

[ From DailyOM ]

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

Padmasambhava

I know so little but want so much. Sometimes it seems the world is my pray. Blindly I move in it, seeking, searching for the satisfaction of my desires, in the drunkenness of a partial mind, set up by the previous beat of my desiring heart. Thus I link my future with my past, upon the bridge of my appetites. But who am I that thread this path of questions?

In this talk Danavira uses and adapts verses from the excellent 'Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness' by John Reynolds (Station Hill Press 1989). Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2001

Wednesday, 6 February 2008

La di da

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

David Bohm

Bohm was alarmed by what he considered an increasing imbalance of not only 'man' and nature, but among peoples, as well as people, themselves. Bohm: "So one begins to wonder what is going to happen to the human race. Technology keeps on advancing with greater and greater power, either for good or for destruction." He goes on to ask:
What is the source of all this trouble? I'm saying that the source is basically in thought. Many people would think that such a statement is crazy, because thought is the one thing we have with which to solve our problems. That's part of our tradition. Yet it looks as if the thing we use to solve our problems with is the source of our problems. It's like going to the doctor and having him make you ill. In fact, in 20% of medical cases we do apparently have that going on. But in the case of thought, it's far over 20%.

In Bohm's view:
...the general tacit assumption in thought is that it's just telling you the way things are and that it's not doing anything - that 'you' are inside there, deciding what to do with the info. But you don't decide what to do with the info. Thought runs you. Thought, however, gives false info that you are running it, that you are the one who controls thought. Whereas actually thought is the one which controls each one of us.
Thought is creating divisions out of itself and then saying that they are there naturally. This is another major feature of thought: Thought doesn't know it is doing something and then it struggles against what it is doing. It doesn't want to know that it is doing it. And thought struggles against the results, trying to avoid those unpleasant results while keeping on with that way of thinking. That is what I call "sustained incoherence".

Bohm thus proposes in his book, Thought as a System, a pervasive, systematic nature of thought:
What I mean by "thought" is the whole thing - thought, felt, the body, the whole society sharing thoughts - it's all one process. It is essential for me not to break that up, because it's all one process; somebody else's thoughts becomes my thoughts, and vice versa. Therefore it would be wrong and misleading to break it up into my thoughts, your thoughts, my feelings, these feelings, those feelings... I would say that thought makes what is often called in modern language a system. A system means a set of connected things or parts. But the way people commonly use the word nowadays it means something all of whose parts are mutually interdependent - not only for their mutual action, but for their meaning and for their existence. A corporation is organized as a system - it has this department, that department, that department. They don't have any meaning separately; they only can function together. And also the body is a system. Society is a system in some sense. And so on.

Similarly, thought is a system. That system not only includes thoughts, "felts" and feelings, but it includes the state of the body; it includes the whole of society - as thought is passing back and forth between people in a process by which thought evolved from ancient times. A system is constantly engaged in a process of development, change, evolution and structure changes...although there are certain features of the system which become relatively fixed. We call this the structure.... Thought has been constantly evolving and we can't say when that structure began. But with the growth of civilization it has developed a great deal. It was probably very simple thought before civilization, and now it has become very complex and ramified and has much more incoherence than before.
Now, I say that this system has a fault in it - a "systematic fault". It is not a fault here, there or here, but it is a fault that is all throughout the system. Can you picture that? It is everywhere and nowhere. You may say "I see a problem here, so I will bring my thoughts to bear on this problem". But "my" thought is part of the system. It has the same fault as the fault I'm trying to look at, or a similar fault.
Thought is constantly creating problems that way and then trying to solve them. But as it tries to solve them it makes it worse because it doesn’t notice that it's creating them, and the more it thinks, the more problems it creates. (P. 18-19)

Bohm Dialogue
To address societal problems in his later years, Bohm wrote a proposal for a solution that has become known as "Bohm Dialogue", in which equal status and "free space" form the most important prerequisites of communication and the appreciation of differing personal beliefs. He suggested that if these Dialogue groups were experienced on a sufficiently wide scale, they could help overcome the isolation and fragmentation Bohm observed was inherent in the society.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bohm

http://www.david-bohm.net/