To powerless figureheads … *OY!*

My only content-less post.

“What’s that?”
“Dude, can I rip it?”
“Where’s the smoke?”
“Um, sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave.”

An unbearable amount of questions from curious passer-bys has driven me to the creation of this post. But why na3s, WHY?!? Over these past 3 months I have been drinking Yerba Maté out of a Gourd with a fancy contraption called a Bombilla. When you put these together, they strongly resemble a Hookah-Pipe or fancy Tobacco Pipe to the untrained eye. After carrying this object around town, It became apparent to me that most people are incredibly perceptive to their immediate environment. When a foreign object is in perspective, people immediately recognize it as ‘unknown’ and are even quicker to label it; many times wrongly label it. Well the time has come for some Edumacation.

So what is a Gourd and Bombilla?

A Gourd is basically a container varying in size, and generally composed of hollowed out organic matter, such as Wood or a Coconut. However, it has more recently been made out of modern materials such as a Steel Thermos, a Plastic Sports Bottle or even a Glass Gourd. A Bombilla is a fancy name for a straw with a filter at the end. It prevents loose tea from entering the straw so you only drink the yummy brew. This is used because many prefer loose tea opposed to tea bags for economic purposes and also because it is nice to mix teas.

How does it work?

1. Well, first you gotta get some Loose Yerba Maté tea available at your local health food store. Then you have to obtain a a Gourd and Bombilla found on ebay or various stores online (Google it). An alternative to a Gourde and Bombilla is empty teabags or a tea-ball Warning: These alternatives aren’t as enjoyable!
2. If using a Gourd, you may want to read information on how to cure a Gourd first, as to ensure the highest quality flavor.
3. Place in between a tablespoon and a lot, depending on how many times you think you are going to refill your container.
4. place a small amount of cold water into the container, just enough to soak all the tea leaf. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes.
5. Boil some water. Then let it cool down for about 5 minutes and then pour into your Gourd (or coffee mug if you are going to be using a tea-ball). Note: Boiling water makes Maté taste bitter.
6. You are now ready to enjoy! Suck on the straw if using a Gourd and Bombilla or simply take a sip if you are using one of the alternative methods.

Why Maté

There are plenty of reasons why I personally chose to start drinking Maté, the most obvious was to eliminate Coffee from my diet. Drinking Maté out of a Gourd with a Bombilla also helped me with my hand-to-mouth habit, which led to me quitting cigarettes. There are more healthy benefits and advantages of drinking Yerba Mate, but honestly, I am too lazy to list them all. If you are interested, just click that link (the one on the last sentence dummy.)

From Daily Kos:

This Florida based Gulfstream II jet aircraft # N987SA crash landed on September 24, 2007 after it ran out of fuel over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula it had a cargo of several tons of Cocaine on board now documents have turned up on both sides of the Atlantic that link this Cocaine Smuggling Gulfstream II jet aircraft # N987SA that crashed in Mexico to the CIA who used it on at least 3 rendition flights from Europe and the USA to Guantanamo’s infamous torture chambers between 2003 to 2005.

Question, so now that it is out in the open that the war in drugs is nothing but a sham (and has been, um, since the beginning). Who is going to go to jail for this incident? And when are they going to let out the hundreds of thousands of people who fill our prisons for selling drugs? In reality, good ole USA street slangin’ wouldn’t haven’t been possible without the CIA’s successful attempts to flood our country full of mind numbing narcotics and create a generation of addicts.

Another question, why do we pay our taxes? was our tax money used to fly this jet?

I’m not guilty. *You’re* the one that’s guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You’re the one who’s guilty. I mean, c’mon, let’s kick the ballistics here: Ain’t no Uzi’s made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way.
- New Jack City

“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.”
-Adolf Hitler

Wake up!

It would appear that Coca-Cola is better at manipulation and propaganda than Fox News.I do have to hand it to Coca-Cola, the ability manipulate almost anyones perception through means of mass media is nothing easy to come by. How does one Coca-Colonize a country, usurp water sources from 3rd world communities, promote misleading Health statements, exploit Child Laborers, destroy the environment and commit a large list of crimes that even Charles Manson would find hard to meet, all while still convincing people to give you money for that same product. It is rather perplexing. “We just reamed you, your family and friends in the behind, wanna buy a Coke?”

An excerpt from Coca-ColaBottling.co.id from an article entitled Someone told me that sugar in soft drinks make kids hyperactive possibily demonstrates methods used to control perceptions:

Sugar causing hyperactivity is a myth that is believed by many people but it is not true. After a large amount of studies, it is clear that sugar does not cause children to be hyperactive. One reason why children may seem more active after consuming a sugar-filled product is because their environment raises their energy levels. Eating cake at a birthday, drinking soft drinks with a group of friends, eating candy at a party, these activities make kids very excited, regardless what types of food they consume.

The source of the above statement

Maybe these studies were funded by Coca-Cola, the Food Lobbiests or the FDA. Regardless if this particular study was biased or not, the article falls to cite the variables and circumstances of the testing. Nowhere on that site does it mention anything about extended sugar usage, age groups or controlled groups. And I mean, the scientist who conducted the studies looks like this:

I am not one to judge someone based on looks, but it looks to me like someone scanned a high-school yearbook from 1968. Does this person even exist? I mean… come on!

Um, I vote for a second opinion:

Refined (processed) sugars may have some effect on children’s activity. Because refined sugars and carbohydrates enter the bloodstream quickly, they produce rapid fluctuations in blood glucose levels. This might trigger adrenaline and make a child more active. Sometimes, falling adrenaline levels bring on a period of decreased activity

Source: Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia (nih.gov)

Umm… Let’s forget the fact that ‘Might’ or ‘May’ is in every other sentence for a moment (because maybe its written like that by pressure of the Food Lobby or other entity of interest. Just a theory) It is obvious that this more credible study states that yes the increased consumption of sugar may indeed cause hyperactivity, while Coca-Colas renditions say Not true.

The grammatical content and accuracy of any study could be argued for hours. So for the sake of salvaging this post and staying on coarse with it’s original intention, I ask you you check out some content which might be considered by some as corporate propaganda? I assure you it can be frightfully entertaining.

Including such favorites as:
“How can I get my child to drink more?”
and
“Drinking right is the key to exercising right!”
and
“Do you know that the only way our brains get energy is through sugar?”
And we mustn’t forget…
“I’ve heard that soda is not good for our health, is this true?”

Maybe the biggest mistake mankind has made in the past 20 years is to trust global corporations with their education.

Wthout further adieu, I include a satirical image, something my satirical/controversial posts never lack…

Note: It took me almost an hour to locate this photo, maybe the Coca-Colonizers stripped the internet of all dissent.

The World is a bold project started in 2006 2005 set out to artificially create a set of islands shaped as Planet Earth. These islands, likely to be encrusted with platinum and children-mined diamonds, are to be located off the shore of Dubai India within the Arabian Gulf Persian Gulf. It has elaborate plans to possess it’s own transportation system, commercial shopping centers and marinas. Islands are available to private investors for insane amounts of money, probably a total of which is enough to solve world hunger 30 times over. Investors are already jumping on this ‘prime’ real-estate, with the most recent sale being as high as $28 million to a Chinese Businessman. Tip:If any of you millionaire readers want to buy into this, you better hurry, because ‘The World’ has already been 90% reclaimed.

birds eye view of The Word in April 2007

If that weren’t enough, ‘The World’ tenants have the ability to Terraform their islands into the desired size, perfectly fulfilling their desires and needs. (image below)

An excerpt from the TheWorld.ae:

An array of island parcels means an array of possibilities. Engineered to be flexible and designed to be unforgettable – a blank canvas in the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf. An incomparable destination, The World is a collection of private islands that form a singular expression of exclusivity. Located off the coast of Dubai’s most desirable address, and created by Nakheel, Dubai’s premier developer, The World is quickly evolving into a one-of-a-kind destination and investment opportunity.

One of the The World’s Principles is ‘exclusivity’. This really ticks me off, hence my satirical approach to this editorial: Due to the increasing power and limited numbers of the Wealthy Class, it is hard for these powerful individuals to feel as though they are ’special’ or ‘unique’. Because now that everyone in the ‘elite family’ own a Yacht, Ferrari, Game Room, Mansion and the Genomes to Several Endangered Species, these people’s ego has finally surpassed their rate of consumption to a point where nothing is good enough. A manifestation of uncertainty is created within those who have relied on money, power and material goods for happiness their entire lives. The void within them has not been filled, and probably won’t be until they press the red button and kill us all. As an attempt to salvage and further fuel their incredibly superficial self-worth, they must obtain their own private island. A perfect example of the diminishing morality of Planet Earths most rich and powerful people.

Am I supposed to feel sorry for them or something?

So my question is, what happens when the water level rises a couple feet or a wave comes? Insurance scam?

There couldn’t be any better of a metaphor to correctly frame the premise of ‘The World’ other than quicksand

thanks Laurie =)

2007 isn’t even over yet, but it would be pretty damn hard for anybody else to create a science-fiction as immersible as what I am about to share with you! But first, I’m going to rant the apparent differences between Commercial and Independent media. (skip the next paragraph if you don’t care).

Traditional television and it’s disruptive, incoherent nature have been miserably failing to the likes of ‘user generated’ video media. It would be my (presumptuous?) assumption that people are simply tired of reality television shows, sitcom’s repetitive story-lines and sugar-coated premises with no present-day relevance; besides the fear factor. Nothing too surprising, the commercialism that fuels it’s creation has diluted it’s quality. While in the inter-world, YouTube offers user-generated content that cannot be persuaded by profit.

‘Afterworld.tv,’ is a prime example of this tantalizingness we know and love as ‘Independent Media.’ It is an on-going Cross-Platform Science-Fiction Internet Series that took off with a quiet bang early 2007. Took me 8 months to stumble-upon this Sci-Fi series, but only 3 hours, 30 cups of Maté and a lot of ‘wow’ factor to zip through all 53 episodes (and rising). Every second I was on the edge of my seat, intensely involved and interested in it’s mind-blowing take on the end of the world. If you are like me, and delve into the end-of-the-world type sci-fi, this is right up your dark alley!

Each episode of Afterworld is 3-5 minutes long. Each one a tastefully and masterfully digitally animated wonder manufactured to leave you hanging from a 1000 foot cliff; every damn time. The creators release a new episode daily, Monday through Friday, with a recap video every Saturday.

A little background on ‘Afterworld:’ Afterworld is a premise based on the life of a man named Russel Shoemaker from Seattle. Russ takes a business trip to New York, one that is supposed to change his family’s financial life forever. Radical change was in his future, but not the way he expected. Upon waking up in his 4 star hotel room and making a trip to the lobby, he was shocked when there was nobody around. It didn’t take this frightened city-slicker long to figure out an unknown and very mysterious event had occurred which resulted in the disappearance of 99% of the population, and the extinction of technology and electricity. At first Russ is scared and lost, without a plan. But as time goes on, he finds other ’survivors’ and learns more about his own humanity. His decision to make a 3000 mile voyage back Seattle to reunite with his family comes quickly; and this ill-planned voyage becomes a discovery of the truth, accompanied by a plethora of clues that obscurely outline the cause of ‘The Fall.’

Watch the very first episode below, you’ll be hooked like a heroine addict. (minus the track marks) fish. (that was bad)

Remember, new episode shorts are released Monday-Friday! (I just watched episode 54, can’t wait for 55!!!!)