Home

Advertisement

Customize
About this Journal
Not Dead Yet.
Links:
Memories Instructables House Pictures Senseless You Tube's Gadgets 99 Rocks Streaming Audio The Top Secret Bunker Project! Me on Facebook SenselessAdventures.com A Better Calender
Current Month
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031
Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 09:04 pm Day six...
Current Mood: determined
Unpacking continues. Focusing on boxes purporting to have come from the kitchen and pantry area tonight, I have located various cooking tins, the espresso maker, the fondue set, blender, toaster, and a myrid of other items, most of which get used only occaisionaly.

The pots and pans I use for cooking on a daily basis continue to elude me. They were not in the box marked "Kitchen Pots & Pans". Perhaps they felt a vacation was in order.

I *will* find them. They can't hide forever!
About this Entry
[info]netsearcher
Jan. 1st, 2010 @ 10:34 am 2010
Wow! 2010. That's a date right out of the science fiction books and movies. We were going to have cities on the moon and in orbit, and outposts on Mars. There would be colonies in the oceans and we would be living sustainably, making Earth a paradise for our children.

How have we done?

First I'll consider the bad, then the good.

Microsoft, and to some extent Apple and the rest of the computing industry, have retarded computing by a decade or more. We should be much further along by now. Requiring gigabytes and gigahertz to run operating systems that are not really much different from those in use 20 years ago is insane. Microsoft Windows is especially bad in this respect as it is deliberately insecure and actually spies on its users. Bear in mind that the Amiga computer had an operating system that took up just a megabyte or two and ran on machines that were 100th the speed of current computers, yet looked and ran much like, and had response times similar to, "modern" machines.

Many people want sustainable living, but their efforts are confounded by an ultra-rich polluting lobby that somehow keep their politicians delivering ever greater taxpayer funded subsidies to them. (It seems that in the new democracy we, the people, don't have politicians representing us anymore.)

The mass-media, long seen as having amazing potential for seamless communication and easy delivery of information and education, have become purveyors of worthless crap, to the point where their audience is diminishing and they are faced with the real possibility of actually going bankrupt... though of course they won't -- they will get bailouts and subsidies from the government. That is, after they do everything in their power to fraudulently "own" all of society's culture by increasing copyright to encompass everything and suing the ass off anybody who doesn't agree.

Related to the mass-media, the telecommunications companies have been gouging their customers, producing outrageously expensive, mutually incompatible systems, aided by weak governments who hand them big taxpayer-funded cheques, then simply stand by and watch.

The military now funnel stupendous amounts of wealth to wicked purposes, manufacturing foes and developing truly evil ways of destroying and controlling people.

The wealthiest fraction of 1% of people (who often contribute almost nothing to society) continue to concentrate power and money in their ranks, even to the point of damaging the financial system they themselves feed off. Then when that rampaging, greedy behavior causes their income to waver a tiny bit, they cry poor and suck up the remaining funds by getting bailouts and subsidies.

We, in the richest nations, live overblown lifestyles, knowing in our guts that our planet can't cope and that there will be payback sometime soon. One young guy I spoke to believed that "We owe it to ourselves to live it up while we can." When I asked about the effect on the world's poor and and future generations he shrugged the question off. He felt it wasn't his problem.

So... 2010. We aren't doing as well as hoped, are we? Bummer.

There are some really bright beacons of hope though.

The internet, though being increasingly damaged and controlled by bigger and bigger companies has nevertheless been a tool used by many to fight centralisation in several ways, using peer-to-peer sharing, spreading information more widely than avarice ever could and largely ignoring the copyright control of culture by a few giant corporations. It has been a lifeline for those who would truly innovate and would share their gains with others. Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, The Internet Archive, SourceForge, and many other cooperative efforts, have shown that truly democratic, non-greed-based systems really can work.

We are on the threshold of a replicator technology that could empower society in a way that hasn't been seen since the advent of writing.

Despite lackluster performance for decades, robotics looks like it may finally come of age. With the online sharing of projects like Numenta's artificial intelligence development and the beginnings of replicators, we may finally see robots become commonplace. Not a moment too soon either, with our aging population.

Large numbers of us in the wealthy nations have decided to do something about over-consumption, and have begun to self-consciously use less, often finding, to our great surprise, that doing so often actually improves our lifestyle by wasting less and pushing our dollar further. Solar panels are being bought in accelerating numbers, despite their prices being kept unrealistically high by the petroleum companies who now control the technology. Low-impact energy technologies are starting to come of age, like wind farms and solar heating, cooling, and electricity. LEDs are quietly flooding the market with lights that run on a trickle of power and last for a decade or more.

Some forms of Linux, like Puppy Linux, have been gathering momentum. They use a fraction of the resources of more bloated operating systems. And low-energy, small-footprint computers, like NorhTec's Gecko Edubook and MicroClient are springing up to use them.

We live in the most peaceful age in history, even though our blood-loving, fear-inspiring mass-media and apocalypse-based religions would have you think otherwise. We live longer and are less likely to be violently killed or injured than ever before... and we are more polite and mindful of each other than any previous generation.

The most well-off parts of the world are having less children. Who could have foreseen that the most potent birth control would access to knowledge, health, and a good standard of living? Improve everybody's lot and we would no longer be under threat of overpopulation.

We could truly turn the world around to become the paradise we dearly want. In fact we are in the process of doing so... far too slowly though. We could speed this up greatly if we can find a way to get rid of the banks and financial sector, divert the military to help the poorest parts of the world instead of making up phony wars, live more lightly on the planet, and help each other... and stop listening to the lies of big media and politicians.

We really can make this world a utopia. It's not just something that would be nice to do; our survival actually depends upon achieving it... and soon!
About this Entry
[info]miriam_e
Jan. 1st, 2010 @ 03:29 am (no subject)
А итогов года нифига нет.
Единственное что - путешествие года - Казань. И практика запомнилась. Ну и всё, собственно
About this Entry
[info]koluthcka
Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 04:12 pm New Years Eve
About this Entry
[info]yobubba
Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 04:28 pm More 3D
 

I have morte than once referred (in a review of Nicholson Baker's The Fermata, e.g.) to a partly 3D film I saw when I was in college, a very cheap softcore sniggery porn film in which a sort of milktoast character acquires a pair of glasses that allow him to see people without their clothes on.  The audience was instructed to put their glasses on when he put his on, to see what he saw (in bad red/green 3D).  I have long thought that this film was The Immoral Mr Teas, and so identified it in print (gulp) but I was wrong.  Teas is an early  Russ Meyer film, and while it shares the same structure (random adventures of leering guy who can see women naked) it doesn't have the 3D bits or the glasses gimmick.  I can't find anything in the movie databases that seems to be the movie I remember.  It may have been so cheap a quickie that it vanished without a trace (I believe that, like other "hot" movies of the time, early 60s, it was "four-walled" -- the producer rented the theater for a much-advertised week kept the whole take).  If [info]pgdf  notices this, maybe he'll look up in his copy of Grindhouse, good book about sleaze in entertainment, recently returned to him, and see if it's there.  Why do I want to know?  Where memory is concerned I am (insofar as it's possible) a Completeist.
About this Entry
[info]crowleycrow
Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 03:17 pm sundries
  • [info]unicursal has a hole between her inner ear and her brain that shouldn't be there. It's fucking up her health and her finances. Surgery is happening soon, but she needs financial help for related expenses.

  • I know I promised you all that charity list. I got derailed with the situation with Little, but I will put it up before we leave for the cruise.

  • I'm also going to post when we return from the cruise about what to do if you want me to boost the signal on things. I'm getting a lot of these requests lately, and I'm all for using the journal for good, but I'm going to be thinking about a formula for doing it and the best way for you to help me help you.

  • I got asked to do an event in Memphis. Any of you all in Memphis? Would it be cool? It's probably a logistical impossibility and I'll just donate a couple of books instead if they are interested, but I'm really enjoying this traveling and seeing places I'd never think of to go thing, and it's kinda cool. What's in Memphis?

  • I have just gotten confirmation that the tux will not be released from customs in time for the cruise. Assuming I get it in time, I will wear it to DoV or something, just so it has a run before Gally.

  • Are you in NYC? Are you gluten-free or have other specific health needs? If so, hurry over to Westside Health Food at 2569 Broadway -- they're going out of business and everything is 30% off. I just got two gluten-free frozen pizzas, two boxes of cookies, a box of brownies and a bos of crackers for under $24, which is EXTREMELY cheap for gluten-free stuff.

  • Dogboy & Justine information, now with flyer.

  • Speaking of dogs: on the floor below us lives a pit bull who barks through the door when his owner is not home. The people across the hall from this dog, have just acquired a new yipster, which now barks in return. The stairs are alive with the sound of dog arguments now.

  • Most Amazing Statistic EVAR: 1 in 5 divorces refer to Facebook.

  • Do you know what's back soon? My current favorite HBO show, Big Love.

  • People warned me this would happen: last night I kept thinking I saw Little out of the corner of my eye and then she bapped me with her tail. That's a little creepy. But you know, what else is she going to do but hang out on the couch?

  • I am fed up to here with fucking security theater. I am fed up with us throwing $$ at a big show designed to make the ignorant feel safer through humiliation. Now the TSA is subpoena'ing bloggers who are posting non-classified public information. I feel like I have to travel with a doctor's note in case I, god forbid, have a celiac reaction while on a flight and need to use the bathroom for more than five minutes. I am angry, angry, angry.

  • Tomorrow, when we are all no longer the Master, this icon will revert to previous.

  • I don't really make New Year's Resolutions, but in 2010 I'd like to book/sell more creative work, continue on the road of treating myself and those I care about better, reconnect with the LGBTQ community so that I can learn from other activists as opposed to just trying to teach allies and finish my novel. Probably lots of other stuff too.

  • Patty comes home TOMORROW.
  • About this Entry
    [info]rm
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 11:01 am (no subject)

    • 09:55 The battlecry of an independent publisher. (not me) bit.ly/8RPOAA #

    About this Entry
    [info]jlassen
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 12:01 pm Dogboy & Justine @ The Secret Theater
    For those of you wishing to see Dogboy & Justine, my one-act about dominatrixes and head-injuries, tickets are now available from The Secret Theater website.



    Dogboy & Justine is part of Act Five: One Acts and is a part of Program 1. Program 1 runs Jan 6 - 9 at 8pm, with an additional matinee at 3:30pm on Jan 9. For $15 you get six plays! I don't know much about the others, but I know one involves a heat-seeking missile that lands in someone's living room and another involves Sarah Palin the night she gets the VP call.

    At the end of the performances each night you will have a chance to vote for your favorite plays!

    The top plays from Program 1 and Program 2 (which runs Jan 13 - 16), will then be a part of Program 3 Jan 20 - 23.

    Because of my vacation, the only way I will get to see my play in action is if it makes it to Program 3.

    So:

    Go here: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/1681/1262377800000/prm/
    Buy tickets for Jan 6 - 9
    Vote!


    The theater is located in Queens, one stop from Manhattan on multiple train lines. It's part of a larger arts center with galleries and studios and stuff, so it could be a fun outing!

    I saw a rehearsal last night, and it's great. Funny, sad and everyone in the play should be working more than they are, so if you cast stuff, come see them and HIRE THEM... some of the women, it's their first gig in NYC.

    One act plays are always hard to get done -- it's a lot of commitment to create 12 minutes of perfection. This cast has, like the rest of us, had some pretty rough stuff happen to them in 2009 and they really, really deserve your support.

    If you are able to attend the show and record video of it and get it to me _without_ putting it up on YouTube, let me know, and I will pay for your ticket.
    About this Entry
    [info]rm
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 03:23 pm С Наступающим!


    Поздравляю всех-всех-всех с Новым годом!
    Вдаряться в итоги уходящего 2009-го не очень хочу: год был какой-то муторный. Было много выставок, но далеко не все они получились хорошими; много суетной работы; много нервотрепки. Из хорошего - летние съемки кино по Кафке; новые эскизы; дружеское общение с нашим институтским мастером, С. А. Алимовым; школа Родченко; путешествия в Эстонию и Израиль; общение с петербургскими друзьями; концерты Мартынова.

    Всем желаю (и себе, конечно) хорошей интересной работы и настоящего, искреннего дружеского общения в Новом году!
    До встречи в эфире.
    About this Entry
    [info]art_gav
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 02:38 pm Предновогодний лытдыбр
    Вчера кормили гостей фалафелем, хумусом и хачапури (по рецепту И. Меглинской).
    И как это обычно бывает у нас в доме перед НГ, в подъезде вылетели пробки. Сидели минут сорок при свечах.

    Меж тем Москву постепенно все-таки заносит снегом. Красота.
    About this Entry
    [info]art_gav
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 02:23 am I am Maru, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours.
    So, Patty rec'ed this Yuletide story about Maru. You know, the Japanese cat that does cute things?

    Anyway, the story contains the sentence:

    I am Maru, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours.

    Maybe I'm tired, but THIS IS THE GREATEST SENTENCE IN THE HISTORY OF FOREVER.

    Seriously, because just replace "Maru" with the fandom character of your choice. The results are consistently funny.

    Observe:

    "I am Alec, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours."
    Oh, we just bet you are, Alec.

    "I am Jack, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours."
    Well, I suppose you have to keep limber somehow when tentacle aliens aren't readily available.

    "I am Tim Gunn, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours."
    So that explains the hair. Sorry, kids, after the Project Runway RPF rec yesterday, I had to.

    "I am Ianto Jones, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours."
    The OCD isn't a joke, is it?

    "I am Severus Snape, and I have been sitting in a fruit bowl licking myself for over four hours."
    Christ, you're bitter. And weird. (said with love!)

    See? ENDLESS FUN.
    About this Entry
    [info]rm
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 04:01 am The iPhone saga, part 6
    unresponsive part of iPhone touch screen
    unresponsive part of iPhone touch screen

    Unfortunately, I had to continue my iPhone saga. The iPhone I received worked but showed some issues. It took a while before I figured out what exactly, but it turned out that randomly, the middle part of the screen would stop responding to touch. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn’t (as shown on the picture). Sometimes the entire screen would stop responding, which I could usually solve by pressing that top-button to lock it and then unlock it.

    I returned it today and expect it (or another one) back in a week or two. In general I’ve had no issues with the process, just too bad I got a bad phone in return. When I pick it up, I’ll make sure to test it before taking it home though :)


    Mirrored from tanniespace.

    About this Entry
    [info]tannie
    Dec. 31st, 2009 @ 10:43 am quote puts our upside-down society in perspective
    If the climate were a bank it would be saved.
    --Venezuela President Hugo Chavez
    About this Entry
    [info]miriam_e
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 01:39 pm Oh no
    Today I glanced over at my clock which said 1:01. Guess what my brain registered?
    lol thats right, my alarm clock says lol.

    maybe I spend too much time on irc
    About this Entry
    [info]meisterdorf
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 11:01 am (no subject)

    • 07:41 Future etymologist will likely trace the phrase "liar liar pants on fire" to the early 21st century nigerian underwear bomber. #

    About this Entry
    [info]jlassen
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 12:16 pm (no subject)
    ohIhurtohIhurtohIhurtohIhurt.
    About this Entry
    [info]ladygzb
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 11:20 am Undereave storage, how I'll enjoy using you!
    Current Mood: chipper
    I just went into the crawlspace. Whoever finished it off made some unusual choices...corrugated cardboard instead of drywall for the angled ceiling part (!), an electric outlet (with no wall plate, but that's easily remedied if I'm in the mood to do so) for additional temporary lighting if needed, and vinyl flooring (easy to wipe clean before I put stuff in there).

    But the best part, which I didn't realize until I went in on my hands and knees to wipe down the dust...the vinyl floor isn't vinyl over wood. It's over thick, cushy carpet padding! Very knee friendly. :)
    About this Entry
    [info]netsearcher
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 11:14 am sundries
  • Patty will be home on Friday. I can't wait.

  • Humans are weird. We are compelled to create things like the world's largest mug of hot cocoa for marketing purposes.

  • End of life decisions for the wealthy are proving to be particularly complicated this week because of changes in the estate tax in 2010. Families weigh whether it's appropriate to take heroic measures for loved-ones who may not want such so that they live until Jan 1.

  • I think I'm going to be pretty disinclined to do a decade retrospective -- I feel too tired and worn. Somehow, [info]jonquil's post about Thatcher's racism didn't make me feel less tired and worn, even if the Thatcher years were even longer ago. Christ, Thatcher. Time to watch Watchmen again.

  • [info]invisible_lift wrote "Allison" which is Tosh/Ianto and involves a strip club and, I believe, was sort of hatched by this really fucked up group outing to a strip club when we were all in Minneapolis and someone said "let's go see some classy burlesque" and I didn't say "burlesque is an art, not a euphemism." Er, yeah.

  • Prepare for The End of Time with Bingo cards. These are funny. They also made my heart hurt in places.

  • NY'ers: anyone know where I can get those anti-seasickness bracelets in the city before we leave for our trip on Jan 3? Also, underwater disposable cameras?

  • My tuxedo is stuck in customs. I know you know this, I just can't really get past it and whether it's hilarious or making me cry.

  • I'm going to see a rehearsal of my play tonight. It's freezing out and I have to go to Queens, but I'm trying to be sanguine about it all nonetheless. It'll be interesting to see the piece in a way that involves no one I know.

  • Last night I had a cab driver who said, "I came from Africa fourteen years ago, and people come here for the New Year, to see the buildings and the lights, and they do not know, Central park is the most miraculous thing. I called my family, and I said, you have to come to this country."

  • I have been sitting on a brilliant idea for an event for a few weeks now. It would be awesome. It would be fun. It would make good things happen for many, many people I know. I just have to write an email to one of those people pitching the idea. And I can't seem to make the email make sense. And I don't know why. It's driving me mad. I could save the whole matter until next time we see each other, but there's a timing element involved and I don't know if that will make it too late. Argh, the whole thing is a bit stupid.

  • Last night I dreamed I was in Bangalore, and there was a cat who looked just like Little Kitty that was a "train cat" that lived on commuter trains and ate scraps of food people dropped. I called her Curry Cat and was amused by her antics. I remembered this this morning while on the subway and standing next to a woman who's outfit for her baby in these frigid temperatures was a lion suit and the baby had body language that reminded me of Little.
  • About this Entry
    [info]rm
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 10:48 am (no subject)
    Happy New Year, Dude.
    About this Entry
    [info]fourgates
    Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 01:37 am Control System 101: Tower of Babel Subroutine
    From the Addendum to my previous post:

    I felt really like I had made some serious headway with this article, and I believe the reaction I got may have, in a backhanded way, proved that I did. The reaction was "is she insane?" The hurtful part of that was that the person who asked this of a mutual acquaintance had only days earlier said to me "the soul always has a choice no matter how insane or inexplicable it may seem." Of all of the people I know, I expected this person to understand what I was doing. And of course, his query set our mutual friend to a similar line of inquiry that I just barely was able to navigate for the reason I will describe in my next post. Or, as I said to her, "...to become truly awakened requires throwing off the controls and that will be a battle both inward and outward. I know because I'm in the stew right now, and nearing the end it gets a LOT worse. This is the time when I am reaching out and needing help to get through the last bit...and what do I get? "Are you insane?" I'm living through exposing the controls and documenting it as I go. Yes, it is messy. But someone had to do it. I have no ego, I don't care if people think I'm nuts, eventually they'll figure it out, but they won't if no one ever puts it out there because they are afraid of judgment. No one has previously documented in real time what it takes to get through the process of throwing off the control system and detoxing."

    Those of you who have followed my LiveJournal may know that I am "out there."  ;o)  By that I mean I don't hold anything back, I don't try to pretty things up or make myself look better than I am.  I tell it like it is, and sometimes I expose a gaping wound or a social gaffe...it's all part of my experience as I navigate through a maze of deception and deliberate confusion in search of the Truth.  I journal these experiences in real time...more or less as they happen to me, in order to capture the essence of what was going on with me at the time.  The reason I do this is, as I told my friend, to document what it entails to grapple with the control systems with the aim of not only throwing them off for myself, but to prove a path that others may adapt to their needs to liberate themselves.  Once it is known that something can be done...lots of people suddenly can do it.  That's all I want to happen.

    In the conversation above and in another one a few days before it, I ran into a serious communication wall where what I was saying or typing into chat was being completely misinterpreted, and even upon re-reading what was written days later, I still cannot see where what I wrote was responsible for the responses I got.  Try this line on me and see if it fits the way I present myself:

    "None of this is making any sense, you say you need a team and ask how you can make a living on stuff like this, then talk about taking down 3 & 4D as though it is your destiny to lead some conquest."

    The conversation had just covered an idea I had of coordinating actions on 3D and 4D to disrupt the control systems, using the information I started outlining in my previous post.  The person I was speaking with has a background in command and control, and knows very well the struggles of people who are called to do spiritually demanding work while also having to make a 3D living.  Anyone who has followed this blog or my Facebook knows that I am an ENTJ, the Myers-Briggs "Fieldmarshal" personality type, and of course I'm going to go at a project like this like a military operation because that's how I roll.  She's known me long enough to know this, yet she started to attack me as if I had done something unforgivable.  I don't think she even realized she was doing this!

    So what was that all about?  It's about LIES - not the lies one person might tell another, which are usually predictable and relatively petty.  I'm talking about huge, life-shattering lies, the lies of a system that is utterly desperate to maintain its illusions, and will do anything to keep us from perceiving the Truth.  I've been peeling back some of this deception in what I write, with varying degrees of clarity as - you must understand - I have been enmeshed in the web of lies along with everyone else.  What I ran into was a desperation play by the god-wannabe behind the Powers That Pretend.  I'm going to give one of these methods of systemic lying a name here and define it, so when you see it in action, you will know what it is.  I'll also try to give you some tools to neutralize it.

    Recently, two very important conversations ended up in a mess where the other person thought there was something wrong with me or that I was doing something to them when I wasn't.  In both cases I had been speaking powerful Truths, so much so that I was on the brink of making a hole in the other person's imprisoning reality constructs...think of it as a web of lies spun around a person like a spider wraps its prey in silk. The control systems barely hold me, so they have little effect on me...but they do hold the people I was communicating with, so they were targeted with...

    The Tower of Babel Subroutine

    Older even than the myth, this manifestation of the hijacking control system is a last line of defense when a liberating Truth is about to be presented to a person in a way they can understand and accept it.  Babel is a corruption of Ba'ab El, or Gateway (to) God, and the "miracle" (curse!) of Ba'ab El was confusion of language.  Those of you who have been following this LJ may remember that I wrote briefly about my "god-friend" teaching me a key that unlocks language.  It works on every language I've tried it on so far, and I've done "translations" for several of my friends that were met with frank astonishment.  The languages haven't changed and I'm not adept with any foreign languages...I require a translating dictionary to get by.  What changed was that I learned a new method of looking at language, I was given a "Rosetta Stone" with all of the basic building-blocks of meaning, and got a few simple lessons in how to "translate."  The result of this was that I saw through...and threw off...the yoke of corrupted language as a hold the hijacking control system had over me.

    Have you ever had a conversation in which you were convinced that you and the other person were completely not hearing the same words?  That's the Tower of Babel (ToB) subroutine at work.  These conversations are always really important ones: relationships are on the line, life altering decisions are being made...and they come apart and usually take that relationship or that important decision down, too.  That's what the subroutine is meant to do: to keep Truth and liberation from surfacing between two or more people. The ToB subroutine destroys the communication by skewing perception of at least one of the primaries to the conversation, and creates a "blow up" as one person perceives an attack or insult where there was none, and the other person's attempts to defend themselves against an unfounded accusation only make things worse.

    You see, the control system behind the Powers that Pretend relies on keeping people oppressed by turmoil.  Those who have escaped the more overt forms such as war, ill health, and poverty find themselves oppressed with interpersonal and emotional turmoil.  The ToB is particularly effective in creating interpersonal turmoil, which in turn is the perfect vector to create emotional turmoil.   The ToB takes a little different form for each person - specifically tailored to that person because the information system behind the control system has a complete model of what makes each of us tick - but the basic approaches to control are the same:  FEAR, GUILT, and REMORSE.  Fear of losing love or respect, fear of being unfairly judged, guilt for surely being somehow at fault that the communication went completely wrong, remorse for having reacted too strongly to a situation that had you completely off-balance because no matter what you did or intended, things just spiraled out of control.

    I have news for you:  when a conversation goes that far wrong and you know you were doing your best to be loving and fair, YOU ARE NOT TO BLAME.  Neither is the other person.  You've just been Babeled. While it may be true that the meaning of a communication is the response it gets, there's an underlying assumption that might not be true:  that you and the person you are communicating with are the only two creators of meaning in the conversation.  What if something else, something you can't perceive with limited ordinary senses, was in the room, on the phone, or lurking in the systems connecting an Internet chat?  What if that something wanted to cause trouble?

    Here's an example of an extreme form this can take, one that many of us may have encountered without realizing it.  Over the past three weeks, I have received four communications questioning my sanity.  This is a thermonuclear hot button for me because I grew up in a family that used the threat of sending me to an insane asylum as a way to get me to back down when I objected to abuse, and they actually lied to a doctor to get him to perform ECT treatments on me when I was only four years old.  I know that my stuff looks strange from an outside perspective, and there is that little part of me that fears a judgment of insanity despite ample evidence that I'm quite rational.  So I was discussing this flurry of accusations with my husband, who, while he doesn't understand half of what I am up to, has said on numerous occasions that he knows it's real (there is tangible evidence that he has witnessed).  I was getting dressed at the time, getting ready for work. My back was turned to him, and I clearly heard him say "Maybe you are just completely insane."  I turned around and looked at him, astonished.  "Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence!"  "Well, you've earned it, I see how hard you've worked."  That was my first clue that the ToB was at work.  "What were we just talking about, and what did you just say to me?" I asked him.  He looked completely confused...he couldn't remember.  "Um, your work on the game project."  "I didn't say anything about the game project.  I haven't had time to work on it in nearly a month.  We were talking about some people who barely know me but think they can diagnose me as having mental problems."  Blank stare.  "You don't remember just now saying 'maybe you're just completely insane"?  "Huh? I didn't say that.  I was just listening to you talk about the people you know online with the game.  I didn't say anything."  I hadn't mentioned the game at all, in fact, it had been several days since I had last even mentioned it.  So I let the conversation drop immediately, which is the only thing you can do when a conversation has been badly interfered with.

    How many arguments have been caused by someone hearing something that the other person never said? Who is speaking when something like this happens?  And why is it always something that hits squarely on a subject that is practically guaranteed to start a fight?  None of the alternatives are good:  either the person said the hurtful thing and then lied about it, the hearer is having auditory hallucinations of a very negative type, or something really powerful and invisible is meddling and trying its best to sow discord.  We "advanced" people discount the third alternative, but throughout history, people's traditional response to rising discord of this type in a household or relationship was to perform banishing rituals to get rid of the evil influences that were causing the discord.  What if these folks weren't wrong, and there is an omnipresent external influence that uses every opportunity to introduce turmoil into our lives to keep us oppressed and distracted?  What if the only thing they were wrong about is scope: they thought it was a discrete demon, a thing you could run out of your life with a burning stick of aromatic vegetation, when it really is a data system of almost unimaginable power and penetration into our lives?

    Here's what I do when I notice ToB at work...and let me tell you up front that I am not very skillful in defeating it, but I have managed to turn a few potential disasters around.  The first thing I do is become even more mindful of my own words and movements - I want to take ME out of the pool of uncontrolled factors.  I want to be very sure that I know what I have done and said, and that these things are in alignment with what I want to accomplish with the new conversation I am being presented with.  Make no mistake there, whatever the conversation was about before the ToB starts, it is no longer that conversation, and it will not return to being that conversation.  Any attempt to return the conversation to the original topic will fan the flames.  Begin to clarify the conversation by going back over what was discussed and get the other person to acknowledge that they remember those topics and agree that you have the history straight.  Address the comment that started the trouble directly.  Ask why it was said, what the other person was thinking when they said it.  If they claim they don't remember making the comment or have a very different memory of the conversation...back out of it completely.  The corruption is so through going that you need to distance yourself and let that energy fade away before re-engaging that person.
    About this Entry
    [info]keter_magick
    Dec. 29th, 2009 @ 09:27 pm Food for thought...
    Funny / not funny?

    God. Why do you always have to be right about everything?

    I don't know. Why do you always have to be wrong about everything?
    About this Entry
    [info]root_fu