Check out this brief video interview with Jake Kotze in which he explores the possible synchronistic elements present in the events of 9/11, pop culture and history, including Stargate, 2001 A Space Odyssey, freemasonry, the pyramids and all sorts of other gangster shit. Thanks to Reality Sandwich for the knowledge. If you don’t have that shit bookmarked you’re losing at the internet.

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute short, part animation, part monologue, that deals with the ecological, social, and personal impact of the linear mode of consumption and production found in Western capitalist society. Though it deals with some pretty heady shit, it’s tone is somewhat maternal, with host Annie Leonard taking the role of kindly kindergarten teacher. But the subject matter is anything but lighthearted. Here are some of the facts:

• 80% of the world’s forests are gone.
• 2000 trees a minute are cut down in the Amazon alone. That is 7 football fields a minute!
• The U.S. has less than 4% of its forests left.
• 40% of our waterways are undrinkable.
• The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population and 30% of the waste.
• 75% of global fisheries have been fished beyond capacity.
• 100,000 synthetic chemicals are used in production today.
• Bromated Flame Retardants (BFR) neurotoxins (toxins to brain) are in computers, mattresses, pillows.
• Food with highest level of contaminants is mother’s milk.
• 200,000 people a day are moving to cities from environments that no longer support them.
• U.S. industry *admits* to 4 billion pounds of toxic pollution released per year (likely far more).
• We see more ads in one year than people 50 years ago saw in a lifetime. 3,000 ads a day!
• Average house size has doubled in the U.S. since the 1970’s.
• Average American creates 4.5 lbs. garbage a day — an amount doubled from 30 years ago.
• For every one garbage can you put out at the curb, 70 cans were filled by all the processes needed in order to make it.
• 99% of all those things we buy are not in use after 6 months.

For a more hard-hitting, and depressing breakdown of The Story of Stuff and it’s related harsh realities, check out Jill Ettinger’s ‘The Wasted Years” over at Reality Sandwich. You’ll never look at your pillow the same way again…

 Interesting article over at Reality Sandwich by Sean Donahue titled “Antibiotics, Counterinsurgency and the Myth of Contagion,” taking a look at the somewhat telling correlations between the methods used by the Western World  in treating two of their most favorite afflictions, terrorism and disease: 

We operate on the idea that the biggest threats we face come from the outside — bacteria, viruses, and parasites entering our bodies through cuts and bug bites and contaminated food; terrorists sneaking across our borders. And so we seek to eliminate those threats using the most potent weapons and strategies available, from broad spectrum antibiotics to the cruise missiles and laser guided bombs the military uses to secure “full spectrum dominance” on the battlefield.But those approaches are backfiring. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics has spurred the evolution of newer, more virulent diseases. The medical establishment’s primary response has been to develop new antibiotics that in turn spur the evolution of stronger bacteria. Large scale bombing, urban firefights, house to house searches, and the detention and torture of suspected insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to upsurges of violent resistance in both countries.These failures require a reexamination of some of our fundamental assumptions about how the world works – and that re-examination has the potential to be a catalyst for some important cultural shifts 

That shit is word. Now excuse me while I get some Synergy all up in my shit     

If you’ve taken a moment to download Issue #8 of the amazing Synthesis Digital (which of course you have) and read Ryan Prado’s amazing cover story on post-emo hellions Circa Survive, you might find yourself wondering what the F all this shit about Daniel Pinchbeck and 2012 and apocalypse is all about. The above video is something of a primer to Pinchbeck’s bizarre, but somewhat enthralling view of the future and the past. For more check out his new website, Reality Sandwich.