Showing posts with label insanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insanity. Show all posts

16.3.10

oil and water: Canada's conundrum

it's hard to think about life without the energy sources we currently use. just last night I drove 25 minutes alone in my car to a remote point break to surf powerful overhead waves at sunset. I love surfing and would not be able to do it without a car.

I ride my bike to work everyday. the reasons for it have more to do with pleasure and convenience than wanting to avoid using fossil fuels. riding my bike is not enough.

when will  shit hit the fan? how much longer will our ecosystem sustain us before it starts to sputter in fits of exhaustion?

the video below highlights how Canada is managing its oil sands and water resources. the management style is that old one where maximizing profit trumps any other considerations -as opposed to valuing profit, people and environment equally.

I've said this before and I reckon most of you who come here would agree, that we as people are not separate from environment. we must come to terms with this fact and act accordingly.

the environmental movement has been painted with a green brush and many people see that colour and disassociate themselves, thinking that they are not green, that their values are red or blue.

but the environment is where we live.

it is our food, shelter and comforter. without it we won't survive, nor will our children. my son included.

what are we going to do?


H2oil animated sequences from Dale Hayward on Vimeo.

12.3.10

whacked

fuck Karl Rove
fuck Open Carry
fuck the American war on Iraq
fuck American economic policy

we have to be able to see that our leaders are some crazy fucking ego maniacs who could give two shits about "The American People"

25.11.09

blind faith: part 1

science

beware of scientists who use the phrase:
"we used to believe that ____,
but now we now for certain that_____"
next generation's scientist
will likely use
the same phrase again
with new
cockamamie
discoveries.
why don't we
listen
to our own
intuition?
why don't we understand,
that the same breath
we breathe,
is the same wind
blowing
through trees?
beware of
blind faith

11.11.09

remember: the halifax explosion

bombs have no positive attributes







these photos are of my neighborhood. it was completely flattened during the explosion.

"The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows" section of the Halifax Harbour. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured. This is still the world's largest man-made accidental explosion.

At 8:40 in the morning, the SS Mont-Blanc, chartered by the French government to carry munitions to Europe, collided with the unloaded Norwegian ship Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to carry relief supplies. Mont-Blanc caught fire ten minutes after the collision and exploded about twenty-five minutes later (at 9:04:35 AM).All buildings and structures covering nearly 2 square kilometres (500 acres) along the adjacent shore were obliterated, including those in the neighbouring communities of Richmond and Dartmouth. The explosion caused a tsunami in the harbour and a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres."

9.10.09

friction free connection

"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe ... We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us." Albert Einstein

I would take this idea into a smaller arena in the sense of how we think of ourselves in terms of body and mind. our culture tends to see body and mind as two separate forms, dependent on each other only for the basics of oxygenated blood flow. but is this really so? can our mind function at its peak analytics if our bodies too are not at their peak?

there's no Utopian movement. there will be no critical mass towards a humanizing of our race. there can be however individual and independent change. each and everyone can choose how to move through the space and time in which he finds himself. I am only now learning that and only daily work will allow me to discover more.

I squandered my twenties in drink and inaction, actions that were a cause or perhaps caused, my dysthimic downs. and it is only in the last few months that I am beginning to see what is possible. I am not referring to social achievements or feats of strength. I am referring to a refining of my own skills and abilities. whether it be striking keys or riding waves or even riding my bike to work. the more I realize the interconnectedness within me and with our greater ecosystem the more I reduce the friction with which I move through time and space.

dig?

2.10.09

brion and bill...

...dreamed a machine to transcend the threshold where their drug addled analytics end and something else all together begins. today these two would be considered terrorists to be profiled and watched. bill talked often of his recipes for homemade botulism and other weapons of mass terror. and why? who knows. bill was a trust fund kid. perhaps they had too much. bill didn't only outlive his peers, he hurried them to their deaths with debauched pleasure, his own Constitution superhuman in its ability to stay high for nine decades. dream machine is all that's left. and iggy pop.

10.6.09

Rashoman

Rashoman is probably one of the best films in terms of examining the human condition and our inhumanity. Janus Films has just remastered it and apparently it's going to be making the rounds in theaters. For those of you in SF and NYC please take advantage as I very much doubt we'll get the pleasure here in Halifax. Kurosawa is by far my favourite film director (I'm not much of a film buff) and Toshiro Mifune never disappoints.

25.5.09

death



keep on runnin

13.5.09

MP and mental illness

in my current job I work on projects that assist developing countries with mental health infrastructure. this includes basics like legislation and policy to protect people with mental illness, but also training and education, administration and development of clinical programs.

the challenge with mental illness is that there is a lot stigma attached to it whether it be for cultural or religious reasons. unlike cardiovascular illness, the treatment of mentally ill by the public is almost always at arms length and with a lot of accompanying fear.

MP as I understand became schizophrenic. this disease usually appears during adolescence (13 to 25 years of age) and is very difficult to treat. I don't know much about Peterson but it will be interesting to see how the surf media portrays his condition.

Searching for Michael Peterson Trailer from jolyon hoff on Vimeo.

19.3.09

"the traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids".

Pope Benedict XVI

only one conclusion can be drawn from this statement. the world we live in is absolutely absurd and paradoxical. there are over 22 million HIV infected people in Africa. that's two thirds of Canada's entire population. and the best way to deal with it is through abstinence and prayer?


9.2.09

phelps, kellogs, SNL, hypocracy

I'd like to dedicate this here clip to tres arboles who wrote a great rant about Kellogs dumping Phelps for smoking weed.




legalize marijuana already. this is getting ridiculous. the United States has more people incarcerated than any country on earth. yes even more than the axis of evil communist countries. of course business being business and profit margins the main priority, jails are a "good" way to make money. bullshit.

I support Michael Phelps. He's an amazing athlete. Oh and in case you didn't know, marijuana is not a sports enhancing drug. who gives a shit if Phelps wants to get stoned.

3.2.09

6.1.09

Prayer = War

I'm over it! It's time to stop pretending and lying that religion is the way to save our souls or whatever. It's bullshit. Religion is to blame for most of the current violent conflicts world wide. From the Lord's Resistance Army's despicable tactics in Northern Uganda, to the still ongoing genocide in Darfur, to the Palestine Israel conflict, to the Muslim vs. Christian terrorism in the Philippines there's war for a god. Then there's the more subversive stuff like the Christian Right in North America and who knows what else.

If you really want to make a change in the world then STOP PRAYING. Religion sets up hierarchies and divides us based on blind faith and archaic ideology. Religion causes hatred and breeds war. Religion takes our money, our self worth, our ancestral beliefs, our cultures. The decimation of hundreds of indigenous and First Nations tribes in the Americas and the Caribbean are because of religion.

What should you believe in then if not your God? Believe in your breath. Believe in your ability to choose and to give and to love. Believe that we are in this moment and that this moment is what we have. Believe in Peace and tolerance.

Current Religious Wars:

Afghanistan:……Extreme, radical Fundamentalist Muslim terrorist groups, non-Muslims. Osama bin Laden heads a terrorist group called Al Quada (The Source) whose headquarters were in Afghanistan. They were protected by, and integrated with, the Taliban dictatorship in the country. The Northern Alliance of rebel Afghans, Britain and the U.S. attacked the Taliban and Al Quada, establishing a new regime in part of the country. The fighting continues.

Bosnia:……Serbian Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholic), Muslims. Fragile peace is holding, due only to the presence of peacekeepers.

Côte d’Ivoire:……Muslims, Indigenous, Christian. Following the elections in late 2000, government security forces “began targeting civilians solely and explicitly on the basis of their religion, ethnic group, or national origin. The overwhelming majority of victims come from the largely Muslim north of the country, or are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants…”
A military uprising continued the slaughter in 2002.

Cyprus:……Christians, Muslims. The island is partitioned,creating enclaves for ethnic Greeks (Christians) and Turks (Muslims). A UN peace keeping force is maintaining stability.

East Timor:……Christians, Muslims. A Roman Catholic country. About 20% of the population died by murder, starvation or disease after they were forcibly annexed by Indonesia (mainly Muslim). After voting for independence, many Christians were exterminated or exiled by the Indonesian army and army-funded militias in a carefully planned program of genocide and religious cleansing. The situation is now stable.

India:……Animists, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs. Various conflicts that heat up periodically producing loss of life.

Indonesia, province of Ambon:……Christians, Muslims. After centuries of relative peace, conflicts between Christians and Muslims started during 1999-JUL in this province of Indonesia. The situation now appears to be stable.

Iraq:……Kurds, Shiite Muslims, Sunni Muslims, western armed forces. By mid-2006, a small scale civil war, primarily between Shiite and Sunni Muslims started. The situation appears to be steadily degenerating.

Kashmir:……Hindus, Muslims. A chronically unstable region of the world, claimed by both Pakistan and India. The availability of nuclear weapons and the eagerness to use them are destabilizing the region further. More details Thirty to sixty thousand people have died since 1989.

Kosovo:……Serbian Orthodox Christians, Muslims. Peace enforced by NATO peacekeepers. There is convincing evidence of past mass murder by Yugoslavian government (mainly Serbian Orthodox Christians) against ethnic Albanians (mostly Muslim).

Kurdistan:……Christians, Muslims. Assaults on Christians (Protestant, Chaldean Catholic, Assyrian Orthodox).

Macedonia:……Macedonian Orthodox Christians, Muslims. Muslims (often referred to as ethnic Albanians) engaged in a civil war with the rest of the country who are primarily Macedonian Orthodox Christians. A peace treaty has been signed. Disarmament by NATO is complete.

Middle East:……Jews, Muslims, Christians. The peace process between Israel and Palestine suffered a complete breakdown. This has resulted in the deaths of thousands, in the ratio of three dead for each Jew. Major strife broke out in 2000-SEP. Major battle in Lebanon during mid-2006. No resolution appears possible.

Nigeria:……Christians, Animists, Muslims. Yourubas and Christians in the south of the country are battling Muslims in the north. Country is struggling towards democracy after decades of Muslim military dictatorships.

Northern Ireland:……Protestants, Catholics. After 3,600 killings and assassinations over 30 years, some progress has been made in the form of a ceasefire and an independent status for the country.

Pakistan:……Suni, Shi’ite Muslims. Low level mutual attacks.

Philippines:……Christians, Muslims. A low level conflict between the mainly Christian central government and Muslims in the south of the country has continued for centuries.

Russia,Chechnya:……Russian Orthodox Christians, Muslims. The Russian army attacked the breakaway region. Many atrocities have been alleged on both sides. According to the Voice of the Martyrs: “In January 2002 Chechen rebels included all Christians on their list of official enemies, vowing to ‘blow up every church and mission-related facility in Russia’.”

South Africa:……Animists, “Witches”. Hundreds of persons, suspected and accused of witches practicing black magic, are murdered each year.

Sri Lanka:……Buddhists, Hindus. Tamils (a mainly Hindu 18% minority) are involved in a war for independence since 1983 with the rest of the country (70% Sinhalese Buddhist). Hundreds of thousands have been killed. The conflict took a sudden change for the better in 2002-SEP, when the Tamils dropped their demand for complete independence. The South Asian Tsunami in 2004-DEC induced some cooperation. The situation in mid-2006 is degenerating.

Sudan:……Animists, Christians, Muslims. Complex ethnic, racial, religious conflict in which the Muslim regime committed genocide against both Animists and Christians in the south of the country. Slavery and near slavery were practiced. A ceasefire was signed in 2006-MAY between some of the combatants. Warfare continues in the Darfur region, primarily between a Muslim militia and Muslim inhabitants.

Thailand:……Buddhists, Muslims. Muslim rebels have been involved in a bloody insurgency in southern Thailand — a country that is 95% Buddhist. The army has seized power and has agreed to talks with the rebels.

Tibet:……Buddhists, Communists. Country was annexed by Chinese Communists in late 1950’s. Brutal suppression of Buddhism continues.

Uganda:…. Animists, Christians, Muslims. Christian rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army are conducting a civil war in the north of Uganda. Their goal is a Christian theocracy whose laws are based on the Ten Commandments. They abduct, enslave and/or raped about 2,000 children a year.

-List obtained from religioustolerance.org.

16.12.08

good things

here's a good piece of Jamaica culture via U Roy from the late 1970's. these days there's Armageddon in Haiti, genocide in Darfur, cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe, food riots in Bolivia, mass exodus of migrant workers back to their impoverished homelands all over Europe and Asia... and I live here in this little bubble. free to surf and enjoy a life not of my choosing but indeed of my design.

we choose every day no? I vacillate sometimes but more times I begin to know what I want and which way to go.

easy -go easy. don't tread hard on the land. I heard that advise from so many Rasta singers and thinkers. "tread light pon de land." in some Rastafarian beliefs the individual is the I and the creator/creation is the I. therefore to be free, to achieve enlightenment you must be I and I. you must be one. you must tread lightly upon the earth and respect your fellow man.

5.8.08

work vs. the I

Yesterday I awoke to the pattering of a third day’s endless rain. The dog was whining, hungry and a bit confused by her new surroundings. My neck hurt from the foam pillow. I made my way to the coffee maker. The lake view from the cottage window was like you’d dream of if you dreamt of a wooded lake cottage in Nova Scotia. The house was set high on the hill surrounding the lake. The back yard dropped steeply towards the water. The other bank was lined with big stones and trees and brush thick like jungle.

After breakfast I pulled the plastic two man kayak into the warm water. I stood in the centre of the boat and rocked back and forth a little to test its tipping point. Once satisfied that I could stand without rocking too much I cast off with one end of the two headed paddle in my palm and the other pushing through the water. I paddled around the lake checking out the lily pads and the rocky far shore. I went around a bend to see if I could spot the beaver who’d made his home from the timber on the hillside. No luck. Maybe my brother was right; I’m too noisy in the woods.

When we arrived home I called to check the buoy readings; four feet at eight seconds and hardly any wind. I loaded up the log and wetsuit and made the irie drive to the coast. It’s not often that I listed to Marley these days but he seemed appropriate. I parked on the bluff and walked out to check the point –knee high and glassy. The other side of the headland a zoo- complete with lots of donkeys. I slid for two leash-less hours on the 9’6” -floating just inches above the rocks and going as slow as is I reckon is possible to move on a wave. No matter whether the waves are head high or barely rideable, the feelings of connectedness to the I and to the greater natural world are the same. Peace.

No I’m back to work and the song Work comes back to haunt me after yesterdays living. The Rasta uses a word called “livity.” No doubt it could be used in many ways but for me what always rang clear was its definition relating to quality of life. I am disillusioned with the working life. I’ve known this since I was 19 years old when I had my first serious job working at a public library. We spend a majority of the waking hours of our life doing someone else’s bidding (and they too for someone else). We are disconnected from nature, from the power of our minds and bodies to overcome the adversity of survival, from weather, from the senses. I know what you’re thinking. Get over it. This is how things are. Or perhaps you’re the person telling me to get up and do something. “If you don’t like it then do something” you say. Maybe I will.

Last week I locked this page because I didn’t want to continue on with it. Sometimes it feels that it’s more pretentious than I feel comfortable with. I cancelled access to it for a couple of days and I received an email that inspired me to keep it going. However, I still have a gnawing feeling that it needs to come to an end. There are many great things about the WWW. But as you all know it is virtual –and in every way and sense of the word. I often sit in front of this screen reading about exciting things, adventures, ideas, and pursuits. But what I am reading is usually short and illustrated (as websites should be) and does little to really make me think beyond the immediate idea. Some argue that our quick access to information will make us evolve into beings who no longer have the ability to engage in complex abstract thought. We simply won’t have the ability. Worse than forgoing abstract thought is foregoing our bodies, the vessel for our thoughts and emotions, friendships, adventures, etc. Sitting in front of this screen day and day out does little for my body. We are defined by how we spend our time.

work

10.6.08

sliding magnets

“Mr. Travieso,
come and see me in my office”
I walk in, sit down
it’s sterile, dead-like
“you wanted to see me?”

“you didn’t slide your magnet to the
OUT position today at lunch.
Can you explain why?”

I’m dumbfounded

the magnet board is the keeper of order
the board is white and pristine
model of virtue
names ordered in magnetized strips
some of them have lady bug magnets
I have a red dot about ¾ inches in diameter
I slide the dot in the morning
I slide the dot when I leave
my office door is next to the magnet board

I walk into my office
there’s marker on my pressed shirt from
bumping into S. Jones
“lunch back @ 1” message
no one will know
when Jones is coming back

what do I do here?
where goes my time between magnet slides?
I could be sliding waves
slicing watermelon
building cabinets

“please make sure this doesn’t
happen again Mr. Travieso.
We must all obey the rules. That’s why we
have rules”

I leave for the day and
forget
to slide my magnet
-red dot still in the IN
position

one less thing to do tomorrow

23.5.08

What the F-k?

Anybody ever been to Butler, Missouri? Are there lots of car jackings there? Please tell me that it’s a dangerous place because otherwise nothing makes sense. In a BBC story today I read that a car dealership is giving away a free handgun with the purchase of a vehicle. You can opt for a gas card instead of the gun but so far only two people have opted out: one Canadian guy and an old man. What the fuck is going on down there? You can’t hunt with a tiny handgun. They are made to KILL PEOPLE. I think I need a drink and a heavy dose of Bukowsky to get me though the day. “War All the Time.”

21.5.08

bees knees


Sitting rotting. Like a mango tree in the bush, full bloom and bees stuffed falling from flower to flower drunk. No –not bounty -‘s the wrong idea. More like a rat in the alley after heavy rains -musta got into some bad run off like green antifreeze from so many cabs.

“People nah walk again yuh know Rasta. Dem a sit an niam Babylonian food an get fat an weak. Dem come like foul. When dem reach a fi dem slautah age inna six weeks dem fat you know breddah. Drugs inna dem system dem ‘ave weak heart and dem soon dead if man nah kill dem right away and trow dem inna fry pan seen.”

Yes like that. Sitting -getting fat. Mind off like the drivers at rush hour. We have one time around that we’re aware of. Why not make the best of it? Oops running late from my lunch break. Spent too long at the magazine stand looking at all the purty pictures of all the perty peoples doing fun things on neat stuff. Oh man do they have it good. OK. Trodding now through the public gardens back to the box from whence I came before such vial distractions... one floor full of people that couldn’t hack it outside for whatever mental reason/s. Maybe one day I’ll be on their floor instead?

Been here at these keys with these thoughts and the clock just froze. I checked the battery but it’s hard wired. No mistake here. Time has stopped so as I have to wait before my life begins. No I know I ain’t the only one with a weird thing about work. It’s just that I never really dug it from ever since. Maybe one job in one summer past.

Me and troy would cruise around in the truck between jobs not talking and iration on the mind. We’d get to the house and we’d have that yard wired. Clean lines line riding a fixed on the daily commute. He would mow and blow off one and I would weed wack and edge. Then we’d switch it up on the next. 15 minutes flat for the standard beach and riverside three bedroom family homes. One time a lady came out and told us that her neighbour who collected exotic reptiles had lost two king cobras a few days before. “No they haven’t found ‘em yet. Ya’ll boys be careful.” Another time Troy and I moving from one job to the next, focused, we see the gas station full and backin up with everyone stressed. We call the boss and he says “you boys finish the accounts for today? They’re evacuatin cause there’s a big storm comin. Hurry and finish and bring the damn truck back!” He must have gone mad. We turned tail, took the truck back right then and there and tried to paddle out through the storm surge. I drifted about four blocks without punching through the inside. Troy caught one bomb. Wonder where he’s at now?

Best get back to work eh. Lest I get what I wish for.

Bored too? Drop me a line and tell me what you’re up to.