An extensive photo collection of military women from around the world.
Switch from the French fusilier to Iranian traditional headdress. See the China PLA in formation. Brazil with the retro-graphics. South Korea about to rip an eye out with marital arts.
A project of mine–ilovebees:The Reality of Alternate Reality–is honored to be featured in a mínima, a major new media magazine. Their June issue focuses around “Monographic Video Games.”
In addition to a mínima, you can read about lovebees on CAPitALLism.org. There I detail how I infiltrated a Microsoft media campaign by pretending to be a part of their campaign. Over 100,000 unique visitors came to my website in belief that they were participating in a Microsoft-sponsored game styled after Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG).
ARG is this millennium’s newest form of gaming, which interacts with the real world as part of its fiction. The game is not a certain preset medium, but can interact with you anyway it wants (e.g. email, mail, phone calls, websites, paid actors, etc).
Starting July 2004, Microsoft created an ARG gamed called ilovebees, which was a guerrilla advertising project designed to increase hype for their upcoming video game Halo 2.
Here’s where I come in. In July and August of 2004, CAPitALLism.org was “hacked” and the webmaster was “kidnapped.” After a few leads, ARG players linked the hacking of CAPitALLism.org to the hacking of Microsoft’s ilovebees website. In a brief and special moment of time, players were convinced that CAPitALLism.org was part of the real game. Each day, fans poured into CAPitALLism.org by the tens of thousands, scouring its content in search of clues to help beat the game and solve its puzzles.
ilovebees: The Reality of Alternate Reality documents the experience in a unique way. It is presented as the final words of Aubepine–the fictional CAPitALLism webmaster–who has been kidnapped from his Tokyo hotel, trying to tell the story of the strange experiences surrounding his site’s hacking.
The piece presents a world that subverts those realities scripted by scripts above.
June a mínima - 200 pages/5€:
http://www.aminima.net/numero16.htm
ilovebees:The Reality of Alternate Reality:
http://CAPitALLism.org/capisce/ilovebees.php
Do you have a hard time saying you are part of a group? Are you a curious observer, but never a true believer in a particular tribe? Do others similar to you feel uncomfortable saying that they are similar to you?
If you agree, you may be a member of “we-the-we-less.” We-the-we-less come together only in an abstracted meta-level of awareness, which smoothes out the contradictions and paradox with a group that dislikes groups. We-the-we-less do not bond in a particular group, but rather in the process of understanding groups. We-the-we-less distrust nationalism and like-us-ism.
Consider now the following test. Imagine how you would feel participating in each action:
*Attending a drum circle
*Attending a missionary event with evangelical Scientologists
*Attending a gay male dance club
*Attending the Super Bowl
*Attending a peace rally against war
*Attending a conference for deaf people
*Attending an after-hours work event with coworkers
*Attending an alcoholics anonymous meeting
*Attending a family reunion
How do these groups make you feel?
Would you feel happy being there, but would feel uncomfortable telling others in your life that you were happy being there?
If this is the case, then you are living a lie to those people you’d feel uncomfortable telling. The lie could be self-serving or self-conforming. Omission of information is a mask.
Alternatively, would you feel uncomfortable participating in one of the groups? Why is that? Is there something about the group that frightens, unsettles, or crosses your boundaries? Does this discomfort reveal a problem with the group or a problem with you?
If you feel that you are one of the we-the-we-less, are there certain groups that make you more comfortable than others? Why is that?
Let the nutcracking begin.
The South Central Farms, with their 350 families, were evicted this week. I have been personally involved with the farmers, holding a Manifesto Workshop fundraiser there in April.
The short story: Land owner Ralph Horowitz, along with several others land owners, owned a 14-acre plot of land in the warehouse district of South Central. The City of Los Angeles reclaimed this land under eminent domain law, and paid Horowitz and the others about 5 million for the land. The plot was supposed to be turned into a trash incinerator plant, but city residents protested the claim, saying they did not want this in their community. The land became fallow, filling up with garbage and junked automobiles.
Soon the LA foodbank thought the land would be a good place for a community farm. The government agreed, and invited what was to become the South Central Farmers onto the land. They cleaned up all the junk, and eventually the land produced fruits and vegetables. Owls and lizards made homes there. The air turned cooler.
A few years ago, Horowitz repurchased the land for the strangely low price of 5 million dollars in a closed “back door” auction. Normally, public land is supposed to be offered in a public auction, but it was sold directly to Horowitz without giving anyone else (not even the land’s current government-sponsored residents) a chance to bid. The South Central Farmers appealed the legality of the sale up to the US Supreme Court, but they would not hear the case. Horowitz eventually said he’d gladly sell the land–for 16 million dollars–to the farmers. After much grassroots organizing, appeals, and threats of eviction, the farmers eventually raised the money to buy the land… at which point Horowitz refused to sell… by this time he developed a personal vendetta for the farmers: Their effective grassroots organizing had cost him much embarrassment.
On Monday June 12th, police surround the farms to execute an eviction order. 50 people were arrested, most famously actress Daryl Hannah, who had been holding a hunger strike in a tree on the farm. Bulldozers started demolishing immediately. I went to the scene, but police would not let anyone near. The land is scheduled to be cleared and turned to a Wal-Mart warehouse.
Mayor Villaraigosa, who had been of little help during the process, finally came out against Horowitz that day: “I understand a businessman’s need to invest and make a profit. I also have a high respect for and will defend property rights. That is the spirit under which we all operated when trying to negotiate and resolve this issue. But I also believe that we are called upon by a sense of community and civic duty to do the just and right thing. I had hoped that the landowner would have heeded that call.”
The farmers’ struggle has received international attention. Many people outside the United States have a hard time understand how 350 hard-working poor people can be evicted. In many countries, land rights favor tenants rather than landlords. Not so in the US, where laws are biased towards a contractual interpretation of property, and deed holders can evict people under loitering or trespassing laws.
What should the 350 farmer families do in response, especially as the farms have provided them a primary means of feeding their families? Horowitz knows how they should respond. “I feel that the gardeners have been on the land for 14 years, almost 15 years for free. After 15 years, you say thank you.”"
The South Central Farms are still trying to fight. You can visit their progress on their website: http://www.southcentralfarmers.com
Wikipedia’s information about squatting rights in different countries (the farmers technically became squatters when the land was pulled out from underneath them): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatter
Link to the Manifesto Workshop that I held in the farms: http://www.m-y-manifesto.net/events/20060403
Ralph Horowitz’s office number: 310-440-7878
Ralph Horowitz’s office Address: 11911 San Vicente Blvd, Ste. 310 Los Angeles, CA 90049
After people die, aside from heaven, hell, or nothing… there are two dominant theories of rebirth that you are likely familiar with:
Transmigration - The belief that people return to another life species of a “higher” or “lower” quality (depending upon the virtue of their present life).
Reincarnation - Generally, the belief that people go through internal tranformations and return as new human beings. One can only escape this cycle of death and rebirth by becoming enlightened or reaching a profound kind of self-realization.
Under these philosophies, one’s life is influenced by free will and the predetermination of past lives.
Given the likelihood that the recent fallen jihadist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had not reached enlightenment before the bombs fell upon him; it would appear that some gushing mother and father, proud of their darling newborn, now has the reincarnation of a celebrity jihadist on their hands.
If the newborn Zarqawi is somehow identified (similar to the identification process that Tibetan monks undergo to determine the latest reincarnation of the Dali Lama) should the identified baby be put to death? or ought one to give the baby a chance to redeem his or herself from its blood-soaked past? I venture to say that of all the people who advocate punishment by beheading or the electric chair, 0% of them believe in rebirth.
If a child says, “Mommy, I was killed in a past life,” or “Mommy, I was a mass murderer in a past life,” how does one respond?
Some parents might put their kids on medication, call a detention center, or simply ignore it… alienating themselves from their “innocent” child. These responses are unduly harsh.
If your child says “I was evil in a past life,” perhaps it is better to respond that “Evil has no axis. Evil is the absence of empathy.” And after saying so, together, parent and child, go and give some of your time and money to those less fortunate, helping other predetermined murderous babies from being ostracized. In addition, choose to live under less-than-perfect conditions of comfort so as not to abstract yourself from the conditions of others, which increases empathy. And finally, lobby your local school board to have basic semiotics taught in classrooms as soon as possible.
Otherwise, bat boy lives!
On June 8th, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq’s most-wanted terrorist, was killed when US warplanes dropped 225-kilogram bombs on his isolated safehouse.
Many have likened this to victories over Hitler in World War Two. Following are fragments from the period’s most famous speeches. May they inspire with the collision of insight.
From Bush’s Statement on Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi:
Zarqawi’s death is a severe blow to al Qaeda. It’s a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity for Iraq’s new government to turn the tide of this struggle. A few minutes ago I spoke to Prime Minister Maliki. I congratulated him on close collaboration between coalition and Iraqi forces that helped make this day possible. Iraq’s freely elected Prime Minister is determined to defeat our common enemies and bring security and the rule of law to all its people.
From Churchhill’s V-E day Speech to the Crowds:
My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.
But there is another foe who occupies large portions of the British Empire, a foe stained with cruelty and greed-the Japanese.
From Hoover’s V-J Radio Address:
And so on V-J Day we take renewed faith and pride in our own way of life. We have had our day of rejoicing over this victory. We have had our day of prayer and devotion. Now let us set aside V-J Day as one of renewed consecration to the principles which have made us the strongest nation on earth and which, in this war, we have striven so mightily to preserve.
Those principles provide the faith, the hope, and the opportunity which help men to improve themselves and their lot. Liberty does not make all men perfect nor all society secure. But it has provided more solid progress and happiness and decency for more people than any other philosophy of government in history. And this day has shown again that it provides the greatest strength and the greatest power which man has ever reached.
We know that under it we can meet the hard problems of peace which have come upon us. A free people with free Allies, who can develop an atomic bomb, can use the same skill and energy and determination to overcome all the difficulties ahead.
Links:
Churchill V-E Day Speech (to the crowds): http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/YrVictry.html
Truman V-J Day Speech: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/calendar/viewpapers.php?pid=129
Bush V-Z Day Speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060608.html
Any person can stay in LAND and use it. LAND is technically owned by the person participating in LAND; however, a participator must guarantee than any person can use their LAND.
LAND is signified by the cairn:
The cairn makes the space unfamiliar. The cairn transforms land into LAND. In this way all LAND is connected in a virtual space although it is rooted in a physical space. It is similar to entering the doors of a Chicago Wal-Mart but strangely exiting the doors of a China Wal-Mart… for all Wal-Marts homogenize a unique community: Once inside the smily store, you could forget where you were if you forgot where you came from. Unlike Wal-Mart, LAND seeks to reconnect to land and make it available to those without it.
Planning a vacation? Pictures of other LAND locations can be found here.
Planning on sharing? If you own land and wish to add more LAND to the planet, contact N55, the creator of the project. They can add your position to their directory, and you can be a proud new owner of a geodesic cairn.
N55 is a non-profit group that provides technical and creative manuals for altering reality. They are also fans of writing all their project names in CAPS LOCK.
Rumspringa is the Amish rite of passage. The word literally means “running around” in Pennsylvania German.
Amish children are raised in highly austere conditions, but when they turn 16 they enter Rumspringa and go hog wild, indulging in sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll.
After a few years of all night raves and painting the barn red, they can choose to either return to their roots, or leave the Amish community altogether.
The Amish believe that Rumspringa helps you become informed, and that only informed adults can choose Christ, and that only those who choose Christ can enter a state of heaven.
The Amish option to choose goes against the current Christian fundamentalist politic. The Christian Taliban would rather outlaw choices and options to choose from, such as a gay’s right to marry, or a woman’s right to choose abortion.
Of course Christ would rather that Pat Robertson “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:13-17, Matthew 22:15-22, Luke 20:20-26), seperating church and state, keeping followers away from politics.
For all their quirks, and however limited, the Amish seek the importance of encouraging choice, even if it risks losing what you have. If anything, their kids sure know how to throw a party.
The Amish drawing is copyright and used permission of the talented Jen Wang: http://jenwang.net