Pluto's realm

It is really Plutonium that will reign here for thousands of years. It is extremely toxic and highly chemically reactive, half-life of Plutonium-239 is over 24,000 years. Plutonium is appropriately named after Pluto, god of the dead and ruler of the underworld.

elenafilatova.com

Earth hour

SO i had a busy sturday, lots of marshalling, great fun but hard riding, and it was hot. By the time i got home i was finished, went to lie down a bit.

Woke up at 20h30 sharp. I was muggy headed, and wifeys guests were leaving and so on, truth be told i never realised i had forgotten anything.

I wasn't going to "celebrate" anyway ... strikes me as another of those mass distraction exercises our leaders seem to enjoy so much. My take is if you want to make a change, ground all pvt jets, and switch off the US military. Simple. Share a ride to work, get a bike, switch off lights, walk to the shops ... damn so many BETTER ways to make a contribution.

To stumble around in the dark for an hour means fuckall, less than. Crikey we been doing that and calling it load shedding. Except that COSTS money. go figure.

I guess awareness plays a part, but a lie to justify another lie is silly.

Anyways, the point of this post was at 20h30, some kind of energy woke me up very sharply, literally like someone switched the lights on. I wonder how much damage was done by this event to the power grids.

Election madness

So election time is coming up and the bullshit is in full swing.

Then i find this story: on IOL

"However, if it was carried out by an individual with no political ties, there would be no option of a fine and the offender would face up to two year's imprisonment."

So an image of zuma is more valuable to south africa than the lives of all those destroyed by violence and road (lack of safety). A taxi driver can purposefully drive over a schoolgirl, and walk out on bail, and have all sorts of mitigating factors, and still have rights, but don't fdeface an election poster, then you will get nailed.

Makes me think, one day all along the local main road several groups had election posters put up on the streetlamp poles. The next day, all were removed except for those containing that fucking wankers face.

I mean, if i were a judge, that would be evidence that the other posters had been removed by the only group who's hadn't. Logic.

The total chaos is sickening. I can't get over the double standards, lying, bullshit, evasion, etc from the anc.

Election madness

Another mass hysteria ....

And hot off the press, this almost identical report from hundreds of miles away.

Priests asked to chase away 'evil spirits'
march 25 2009 at 11:37AM

By Nondumiso Mbuyazi

Classes at Suleman Patel Secondary School, in Inanda, had to be suspended again on Tuesday after pupils became hysterical.

The mass hysteria, which affected more than 20 pupils and a teacher, began last Friday.

School principal, Nonhlanhla Zulu, said the pupils, who seemed to be possessed by evil spirits, were screaming hysterically and behaved aggressively towards anyone who tried to subdue them. She has asked local priests to hold a prayer meeting at the school on Thursday.
'They were screaming, jumping up and down and crying'

Department of Education spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa said district officials would be deployed to the school to assess the situation, and they would advise the teachers on a way forward. He said: "Writing of exams will continue and we will ensure the pupils don't miss out on any of the work."

On Monday, a teacher and several pupils had to be admitted to hospital after they became violent, injuring themselves and anyone who dared to go near them.

Police spokesperson Captain Jabulani Zwane said when they arrived at the school, the pupils were wild and uncontrollable.

A parent said she suspected that one of the pupils in the school was a devil worshipper, saying she feared the pupil's peculiar behaviour might affect more pupils.

"It starts with just one person and in no time the other students will be doing the same thing," she said.

Zulu said pupils were about to write their first-term exams when they became hysterical.

"They were screaming, jumping up and down and crying. Some pupils were punching themselves in the stomach, complaining of strange movements in their bellies," she said.

Mbali Myeza, 18, a Grade 11 pupil who was also affected by the hysteria, said she was still terrified of going back to the classroom. She said she was about to write her economics paper when she suddenly became weak and dehydrated.

"I felt hot and I couldn't feel my arms and legs. I felt like I was standing alone in a dark tunnel and there was this huge snake which was heading towards me," she recalled.

She said when she finally regained consciousness, she could not remember what had happened. "It was like I had had a long dream, but I couldn't remember what I had dreamed about," she said.

Zulu said this was not the first time the school had been plagued by the bizarre behaviour. "There were two matric boys who had the same problem last year, but after they left we thought everything would be back to normal," she said.

Zulu said after the incident, they called in priests to pray for the pupils. She said she hoped classes would resume tomorrow after a mass prayer meeting.

"We urge all the local pastors to come to our school on Thursday where we will be praying for the pupils, teachers, school and the community," she said.

Earlier this month, 90 Windsor Secondary School pupils in Ladysmith were taken to hospital, after suffering from dizzy spells and fits.
This article was originally published on page 3 of Daily News on March 25, 2009

Mass Hysteria

People in groups often experience strange effects of the group. In the 60's there was much research into the mass mind, zener cards and such. That mostly fizzled, 50/50 success means little to science.

And then you get THIS.

Quotes:

"He said when paramedics had arrived at the school they had found several "patients" hyperventilating while others were having "seizures".

"At least 10 of the pupils were in serious condition and various medical tests were conducted.

"Police were also called to the scene and conducted drug tests on 10 of the pupils.

"Nothing medically wrong could be found with any of the pupils and all the narcotics tests were negative. Scientifically, we don't know what is wrong with these children," he said, adding that the cause of the hysteria was unknown."

So scientifically inexplicable.

More quotes:

"Within moments of the unexplained attack - the fifth to occur since February - about 25 pupils in various classes and grades were affected and started screaming hysterically, fainting and convulsed as they succumbed to the strange occurrence.

The attacks came two weeks after a pupil at the school committed suicide. It is said the hysteria affected schools in Sunnyside and Laudium last week."

Fifth since February? THAT's news, why have i only read of 1?

"The attacks came two weeks after a pupil at the school committed suicide. It is said the hysteria affected schools in Sunnyside and Laudium last week.

Many reported seeing visions.

At least one of the visions was believed to be that of the boy who committed suicide.

Confirming it was the fifth "attack" since February, principal Gerhard Olivier said: "We are at our wits' end. We do not know what is happening or why this is happening."

He said the hysteria had gripped the entire school.

He declined to comment on the suicide, but said Satanism items had been discovered around the school recently and they were believed to be some of the causes."

Everything else aside, this story alone shatters the conventional scientific world view. This cannot be made up by all these kids, all "planning" to pretend to faint at the same time. Aside from the fear they must feel, there is a definite unexplained element here.

The report hinted that a "group experienced in these things" was being brought in, echos of twilight zone.

The santity of life - George Carlin

"But you know, the longer you listen to this abortion debate, the more you hear this phrase 'sanctity of life.'" You've heard that, 'sanctity of life.'" You believe in it? Personally, I think it's a bunch of shit. Well I mean, life is sacred? Who said so? God? Hey if you read history, you realize that God is one of the leading causes of death, has been for thousands of years. Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, all taking turns killing each other because God told them it was a good idea. The sword of God, the blood of the lamb, vengeance is mine, millions of dead motherfuckers, all because they gave the wrong answer to the God question.

'You belive in God?'

'No.'

*BANG* Dead.

'You belive in God?'

'Yes.'

'You belive in my God?'

'No.'

*Bang* Dead.

'My God has a bigger dick than your God!' That's how it is, isn't it? Thousands of years, and all the best wars too, the bloodiest, most brutal wars fought all based on religious hatred, which is fine with me. Anytime a bunch of holy people want to kill each other, I'm a happy guy. But don't be giving me all this shit about the sanctity of life. I mean, even if there were such a thing, I don't think it's something you can blame on God. No, you know where the sanctity of life came from? We made it up! You know why? Cause we're alive! Self-interest. Living people have a strong interest in promoting the idea that somehow life is sacred. You don't see Abbott and Costello running around, talking about this shit, do you? We're not hearing a whole lot from Mussolini on the subject. What's the latest from JFK? Not a god damned thing, cause JFK, Mussolini, and Abbott and Costello are fucking dead. They're fucking dead, and dead people give less than a shit about the sanctity of life. Only living people care about it, so the whole thing grows out of a completely biased point of view. It's a self-serving, man-made bullshit story. It's one of these things we tell ourselves so we'll feel noble. Life is sacred, makes you feel noble.

Well let me ask you this, if everything that ever lived is dead, and everything alive is going to die, where does the sacred part come in? I'm having trouble with that. Because even with the stuff we preach about the sanctity of life, we don't practice it. Look at what we kill. Mosquitos and flies, because they're pests! Lions and tigers, because it's fun! Chickens and pigs, because we're hungry. Pheasants and quail, because it's fun, and we're hungry. And people! We kill people, because they're pests... and it's fun!

And you might have noticed something else, the sanctity of life doesn't seem to apply to cancer cells, does it? You never see a bumpersticker that says 'save the tumors' or 'I brake for advanced melanoma.' No, viruses, mold, mildew, maggots, fungus, weeds, e. coli bacteria, the crabs, nothing sacred about those things. So at best, the sanctity of life is kind of a selective thing. We get to choose which forms of life we feel are sacred, and we get to kill the rest. Pretty neat deal, huh? You know how we got it? We made the whole fucking thing up! Made it up, the same way we made up the death penalty. We made them both up, the sanctity of life and the death penalty. Aren't we versatile?!"

Peace conference postponed

IOL

Johannesburg - Convenors of the SA Peace Conference, which was scheduled to start on Friday, have postponed it because of the controversy surrounding the attendance of the Dalai Lama.

"Given that the purpose of the conference is peace, the convenors don't want to put the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in a position where there will be conflict," Irvin Khoza, one of the committee members, told a media briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The government refused to grant the Dalai Lama a visa, saying it did not want to remove the world's attention from the 2010 Soccer World Cup preparations.

_______________________________________________________________________

WOOT!!! Wonderful!! Bloody marvellous!!!!

*singing and dancing in the streets*

Brilliant, through their own stupid narrow mindedness, they have scuppered their own selfish agenda.

Dalai Lama drinks from SA's Cup of anxiety

Look at that heading, after SA decides to not let him into the country. South Africa has become the embarassment of the world. I stand ashamed. Although, once gain, being south african, we have Tutu, and De Klerk even, both idiots, but their intentions are good. Tutu speaks with his conscience, which is an embarrasing trait sometimes, but oh so preferable to the well groomed deception of others.

Quote: "This decision is not against the Dalai Lama. The South African government has nothing against the Dalai Lama. We have, in fact, on a few previous occasions hosted him in the country."

Masebe confirmed that the presidency had received a letter from Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, protesting at the refusal to grant the Dalai Lama a visa.

In the letter, Tutu reiterated that he would boycott the conference if the Dalai Lama was barred.
... the South African government has, in our view, acted unconstitutionally

"The SA World Cup Committee 2010 requested the three Nobel Peace Prize laureates - namely, myself, Nelson Mandela and F W De Klerk - to issue the invitation to the peace conference as part of the World Cup celebrations," he wrote.

"I cannot understand why the Dalai Lama's visa application of 4 March, through the SA High Commissioner in New Delhi, has not been granted as yet.

"Any assistance from your office in this regard will be greatly appreciated.

"Should His Holiness be denied a South African visa, and so be prevented from attending the South African peace conference, I would reluctantly have to reconsider my own participation in it."

De Klerk is also to pull out if the refusal is not overturned.

"The decision to refuse the visa makes a mockery of the whole purpose of the peace conference," he said in a statement.

"South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democracy and should not allow other countries to dictate to it regarding whom it should and should not admit to its territory - regardless of the power and influence of the country."

It had not been intended that Mandela would attend the conference, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said.

PS
Oh yeah, we let robertFUCKINGmugabe in to buy his fat wife clothes, but we refuse the Dalai Lama? (I cannot think of another human being who ranks as highly as Mandela??)

Go Shell ...

No really ... fuckoff.

The Guardian

Shell will no longer invest in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power because they are not economic, the Anglo-Dutch oil company said today. It plans to invest more in biofuels which environmental groups blame for driving up food prices and deforestation.

Executives at its annual strategy presentation said Shell, already the world's largest buyer and blender of crop-based biofuels, would also invest an unspecified amount in developing a new generation of biofuels which do not use food-based crops and are less harmful to the environment.

...

Until recently, Shell's investment in wind power featured prominently in its corporate advertisements. FoE said the company's move heralded a slightly more honest approach. "Shell is at least being a bit more honest about the fact they are a fossil fuel company. It has seen the limitations of the greenwash it was putting out a few years ago."

Capitalism

I keep reading updates, about the world financial situation and meltdown, and many of the commentators point out how capitalism has failed, Marx is laughing, and we need a new system now.

I disagee. Capitalism has worked, well too. It has achieved it's long term goal of over capitalisation. 

In the beginning there was natural resource. The resource was common, and shared by all. Then came barter, and soon after, trade.

This was a rabbit's hole, where resource now became abstract.

This abstract money grew, sucking resource up faster than before, without returning any value to the resource. The system of trade which has led to this fall origionated in Babylon, the land called Iraq. It's taken 3000 years, to find all the money on the other side of the globe, and attacking it's home mercilessly. It has now sucked itself up. Money has trwisted money to the degree that money bars no relation to itself. The MONEY i get paid, is not the same as the money i buy bread with. It's value has lessened.

While most people seems to think of this as an accident, an error, this was always the goal, to control everything. It's worked. You may not agree, but you're not legally entitled to a tenth of this planet, as some are.

Think Bike Educational Posters

http://www.thinkbike.co.za/projects/schools-campaign/educationalposters

The politics of climate

OK, so we all know about the incconvenient truth by Al Gore. I posted recently about 36 less convenient truths that Al Gore ignores.
Now i have found the nails for the global warming coffin. I would like to state categorically that global warming is a political and not scientific phenomena, and i as a human am quite humbled that despite the amount of crap we have thrown at the planet, it still maintains it's equilibrium.
Obviously planet earth is sick, pollution is choking her, and she is certainly not pristene anymore, BUT, she maintains the equilibrium, that is MOST important.

Most of what has been produced about the "facts" of global warming stems fom this graphic:



It's alarming, very. But, as with many things, it's not worth a damn. Global warming is most certainly man made, more like man made UP.

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2008/8/11/caspar-and-the-jesus-paper.html

From the Bishopshill Blog:

"There has been the most extraordinary series of postings at Climate Audit over the last week. As is usual at CA, there is a heavy mathematics burden for the casual reader, which, with a bit of research I think I can now just about follow. The story is a remarkable indictment of the corruption and cyncism that is rife among climate scientists, and I'm going to try to tell it in layman's language so that the average blog reader can understand it. As far as I know it's the first time the whole story has been set out in a single posting. It's a long tale - and the longest posting I think I've ever written and piecing it together from the individual CA postings has been a long, hard but fascinating struggle. You may want to get a long drink before starting, and those who suffer from heart disorders may wish to take their beta blockers first."

Rewilding

I was pointed towards this post on rewilding by Aquila ka Hekate.
A very well written article by Kinoo Doodaym on the ideas around REWILDING, not only a good introduction to the subject, but comprehensive too.

"Human animals evolved to live in small egalitarian groups and live a leisurely lifestyle. We're not supposed to work 40+ hours a week just for mere survival and a few useless trinkets. We're supposed to work half that or less and thrive. A typical hunter-gatherer can feed five people working two hours a day on subsistence. We're supposed to interact with the rest of the world, instead of shielding ourselves away from the rest of life. Part of my motivation is spiritual/religious. We're supposed to have real connections to family and friends, not just superficial relationships and MySpace "friends". Hunter-gatherers spend a lot of time hanging out with their friends and family, telling stories and playing games of chance."

MAN

Again, thanks to Mickeyz for this reminder:

Henry David Thoreau sez: “If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.”

Murray Bookchin sez: “The notion that man must dominate nature emerges directly from the domination of man by man … The plundering of the human spirit by the marketplace is paralleled by the plundering of the earth by capital.”

Udookashun

The national education system is a "disaster," the Afrikaans teachers union SAOU told the ANC on Thursday.

It emphasised that the success rate of pupils who started in Grade One in 1995 was only 24 percent, union general secretary Chris Klopper told reporters.

"There were 1,2 million pupils who got lost along the way, we want to know what happened to them."

Klopper was speaking after meeting African national Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and other senior party officials in Johannesburg.

Klopper said 1,5 million pupils started in Grade 1 in 1995 and only 360,000 completed matric in 2007.

"The same happened with the 1996 intake and matric results in 2008." The success rate for 2008 was only 22 percent, he said.

IOL
________________________________________________________________________

Cry, the beloved country.

Further, this is obviouly something close to my heart, and with 3 kids, 2 in school, i'm seeing the down side all the time.

I was going to make a post entitled the "Misconception of condoms". My dughter (12) comes home the other day, and tells how she was learning about HIV and AIDS. Now for some strange reason, she picks up on this topic as IMPORTANT. Something in the way it's presented certainly stands out for her.

Already i get told: "i know about SEX" her emphasis not mine. And that condoms are for when you want to make babies.

STOP THE FUCKING BUS .... WHAT?

So, we have this 12 year old girl, who got the idea that sex is ok before marriage, that its important, and she completely misunderstands the use od condoms.

We very quickly mended the damage, but she's a smart girl, with a good broad knowledge of the subject (our bitch had puppies a while ago) and parents who take an interest in her work, and she got it wrong anyway.

Something is wrong with that entire scenario.

Exactly the same happened with voting. "Well you see, dad, that voting is about PARTIES, like, um, the ANC, and you have to go and vote for them."

She could not name a single other political party. She came home recently with a woksheet describing the bantu civilisations as having having huge cities which rivalled those of Europe. No, they didn't. That's a lie. They had many things perhaps, but comparing 18th century Africa with 18th century Vienna, well you see what i'm getting at.

I dropped out of school, because i could smell the lies and hypocrisy. Not really my finest moment, but the point is kids KNOW value, and they're not getting it.

Famous faces

Although i would urge you to look at the full image.

Every now and again soething astounding comes along. This is it.

Josef Stalin and Leonardo da Vinci are deep in conversation, Vladimir Putin rests his legs next to a sprawled Mike Tyson, while Margaret Thatcher – clutching her handbag – looks on with disdain.

This extraordinary painting depicting 103 figures from world history in striking detail has become the latest internet hit.

Message boards have erupted with contests to identify all those featured, who range from instantly recognisable figures like Gandhi to some more obscure figures such as Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler who limped out of the Beijing Olympics in the summer.

An element of mystery also surrounds that origins of the picture, which appears to have drawn inspiration from Raphael's Renaissance fresco The School of Athens.

While the figures in Raphael's painting were all ancient philosophers, there appears little to connect the characters in the recent work which finds room for historical greats like Napoleon as well as Bill Gates, the bespectacled face of modern success.

But eagle-eyed observers have spotted clues to the painting's provenance in some of those depicted.

Many of the figures in the painting – including Chinese communist leaders and poets – have little profile outside of Asia.

And the inclusion of Juan Antonio Samaranch, the career bureaucrat and former International Olympic Committee chairman would be inexplicable unless the artist came from China, where Mr Samaranch is well-known as the man who awarded Beijing the 2008 Games.

Another clue comes from the three undistinguished men in contemporary dress who survey the scene from behind a wall at the top right of the picture.


See how many you can identify:

Answers

Let Me Chew My Coca Leaves

New York Times
By EVO MORALES AYMA

Published: March 13, 2009

La Paz, Bolivia

THIS week in Vienna, a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs took place that will help shape international antidrug efforts for the next 10 years. I attended the meeting to reaffirm Bolivia’s commitment to this struggle but also to call for the reversal of a mistake made 48 years ago.

In 1961, the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs placed the coca leaf in the same category with cocaine — thus promoting the false notion that the coca leaf is a narcotic — and ordered that “coca leaf chewing must be abolished within 25 years from the coming into force of this convention.” Bolivia signed the convention in 1976, during the brutal dictatorship of Col. Hugo Banzer, and the 25-year deadline expired in 2001.

So for the past eight years, the millions of us who maintain the traditional practice of chewing coca have been, according to the convention, criminals who violate international law. This is an unacceptable and absurd state of affairs for Bolivians and other Andean peoples.

Many plants have small quantities of various chemical compounds called alkaloids. One common alkaloid is caffeine, which is found in more than 50 varieties of plants, from coffee to cacao, and even in the flowers of orange and lemon trees. Excessive use of caffeine can cause nervousness, elevated pulse, insomnia and other unwanted effects.

Another common alkaloid is nicotine, found in the tobacco plant. Its consumption can lead to addiction, high blood pressure and cancer; smoking causes one in five deaths in the United States. Some alkaloids have important medicinal qualities. Quinine, for example, the first known treatment for malaria, was discovered by the Quechua Indians of Peru in the bark of the cinchona tree.

The coca leaf also has alkaloids; the one that concerns antidrug officials is the cocaine alkaloid, which amounts to less than one-tenth of a percent of the leaf. But as the above examples show, that a plant, leaf or flower contains a minimal amount of alkaloids does not make it a narcotic. To be made into a narcotic, alkaloids must typically be extracted, concentrated and in many cases processed chemically. What is absurd about the 1961 convention is that it considers the coca leaf in its natural, unaltered state to be a narcotic. The paste or the concentrate that is extracted from the coca leaf, commonly known as cocaine, is indeed a narcotic, but the plant itself is not.

Why is Bolivia so concerned with the coca leaf? Because it is an important symbol of the history and identity of the indigenous cultures of the Andes.

The custom of chewing coca leaves has existed in the Andean region of South America since at least 3000 B.C. It helps mitigate the sensation of hunger, offers energy during long days of labor and helps counter altitude sickness. Unlike nicotine or caffeine, it causes no harm to human health nor addiction or altered state, and it is effective in the struggle against obesity, a major problem in many modern societies.

Today, millions of people chew coca in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and northern Argentina and Chile. The coca leaf continues to have ritual, religious and cultural significance that transcends indigenous cultures and encompasses the mestizo population.

Mistakes are an unavoidable part of human history, but sometimes we have the opportunity to correct them. It is time for the international community to reverse its misguided policy toward the coca leaf.

Evo Morales Ayma is the president of Bolivia.

Bernard_d'Espagnat

Bernard d'Espagnat

"There must exist, beyond mere appearances … a 'veiled reality' that science does not describe but only glimpses uncertainly. In turn, contrary to those who claim that matter is the only reality, the possibility that other means, including spirituality, may also provide a window on ultimate reality cannot be ruled out, even by cogent scientific arguments."


"The doctrine that the world is made up of objects whose existence is independent of human consciousness turns out to be in conflict with quantum mechanics and with facts established by experiment."