Just learned today that MySpace bought out iLike which was a music sharing service that I, er, used to like.
But since Rupert Murdoch is the anti-christ (he owns MySpace along with Fox "News") I'm sure that I'd lose sleep (or my lunch) knowing that his slimy little gollum fingers were all over my music.
So sayonara iLike. So sorry you had to sell out and make yourself all icky.
I was interviewed a few weeks ago on a net radio show called "All Things Health" on the subject of one of my latest passions -- biodegradable plastics. I recently started doing sales for the Beijing-based startup BDP Green Technology which produces compostable bags that safely dissolve back into the earth. Usable for shopping, trash, packaging and a variety of other uses, this technology is completely safe for the environment!
This is one of those essays that just hits the nail on the head. Its written from an English perspective but its reasoning applies to all western democracies. Trillions are being wasted on imaginary threats while the most profoundly terrifying one is being virtually ignored:
"What does it give us? Our wars make us less safe. We would be better protected
from terrorism and global instability if the UK's armed forces stopped going
abroad to make trouble. No one in office can produce a coherent account of why
this money is needed: the ministry's budget is sustained by the greed of contractors
and nostalgia for imperium long passed. We could cut defence spending by 90%
and suffer no loss to our national security. Instead, the MoD has just dropped
its spending on climate change research."
Here's to your search for a bunker. Hope its on high enough ground. Read the essay.
Being a 24-7 computer guy I've got three backup drives with millions of files. For some reason I got to finally sorting through the gigabytes of old songs and found some old gems that are worthy of posting to the site.
There are 20+ new (old) songs now in the multi-categoried Rarities XYZ section ready for downloading. You'll just need to log-in as they're only for the hard core fanatics.
Chinese for 'electric dance' Dian TiaoWu is a new collection of original breakbeat DJ tracks that I've mixed into a full length release.
I've heard some folks say that my music tends to be a little on the dark side -- well, I think this CD will put those notions to rest, for this is about as fun and funky as I can get. There ARE some dramatic moments, but its all about getting you outta your seat and shakin yer bacon.
This one really blew my mind. Being a casual student of history I've always thought that the 20th century was the most barbaric on record. But Steven Pinker blows a hole thru that paradigm with a lot of chunky stats that you'll be chewing on for days.
An on-going, semi-written essay floating around in the circuitry of my cellphone deals with the new age philosophy about an impending "shift in consciousness" -- the notion that humanity could experience a 100th monkey shift into another realm of consciousness.
Most of the descriptions are left wanting and really never escape the new age circuit because they sound, well, new-agey. But I've been fascinated by this mime... wondering if it was just a fad that sells workshop tickets or if there's an underlying reality being described. That perhaps the rather large number of psychonauts, self-help gurus, fringe scientists, and undoubtedly brilliant futurists are really on to something.
Its profoundly obvious that the need for such a shift exists. For we're a little too paralyzed to deal with the parallel crises we're facing and like Einstein said, we can't solve a problem at the same level of consciousness at which it was created.
Along comes Jill Bolte Taylor.
I can't remember the last time I heard someone describe reality and consciousness so succinctly, gently waving back and forth between intuitive to intellectual. There's a lot to what she's saying that could be the missing key. Pure, simple recognition that all of our problems have been fostered by left brain perception.
And maybe, just maybe, if we allow ourselves to dance in the right a little bit more we can see the inherent Oneness of the universe and thereby put an end to all of the systems, habits and technologies that are tearing that Unity apart.
Since I started doing some sales work with a new biodegradable plastics company here in Beijing, my mind has been a target for all things "clean tech".
So when a friend turned me on to his brother's blog -- The Future is Being Built Now -- I felt spurned to make a post, drop a link and twinkle some neurons on the subject.
We're at a critical juncture as a species.
Climate change has already started, we're creating the planet's sixth mass extinction event, clean water is running out and of course, to make matters worse, economic chaos is spreading like a virus on a warm petri dish.
On the other hand, we're also experiencing a massive surge in clean technology that can liberate us from the earth-destroying methods of the past. Micro wind generators, electrolysis water (that will eventually eliminate all forms of toxic cleansers), paint on solar cells and of course, my current favorite, compostable plastic from starch... these are just a few of the new inventions reaching fruition right now.
Of course, we can't just kick back and wait for a new gizmo to wipe away all of the mess we've made, but its extremely exciting to be witnessing a real shift towards green technology. The future IS now and we all need to participate in advancing this civilization along to its next phase -- when the ape-man grows up and stops shitting where he eats.
At last, a decent narrative on the Wall Street Con that has become the world's biggest collapse since the Great Depression. Thanks to Rolling Stone for once again laying out the sneaky bastards who created this mess to roast in the sun. (Er, the sun of truth, if not justice.) Read it and weep.
For years the slogan of this site was "In the Last Days of the Empire" which is increasingly becoming more obvious in the mainstream, even if the people caught up in the media hologram still haven't figured it out yet.
I have the kind of mind thats pretty good at noticing patterns. Its very helpful in my job, allowing me to create speedy work-flows. Its also good at detecting societal trends. There are many things that I saw coming years before they happened (and wish I had been able to monetize, especially when it comes to internet stuff like, you know, youtube, facebook and sh** like that). The collapse of the American enterprise is something that seemed utterly obvious to me at least 10 years ago, if not more. Only now is it manifesting in such extremely visible terms.
Yes, its true we have an entirely different representative in the big house on Pennsylvania Ave, but this may only help create a kindler, gentler crash landing. For the system itself hasn't changed and its the system itself that is in danger. Honestly, I know I'm not really THAT unique in my assessment. Maybe I've just been more vocal about it, as friends and family can attest.
Getting to the point. Every now and then someone comes along that is able to synthesize so many disparate ideas and "data bits" into a coherent flow to help the rest of us express our deep-seated intuition about the "state of things" -- that person right now is Dmitry Orlov.
He's an unusual chap.
More Evidence
As stories pile up providing additional evidence of collapse, I'll post them here.
Being born in Russia (then the USSR) he migrated to the US at the age of 12. A perfect age to become fluent in both languages and cultures. What is interesting about him is that he went back and forth repeatedly during the collapse of the Soviet Union. His observations about the disintegration of that empire and ours is breathtaking. This is a man who has seen collapse first hand and also knows American culture in a way unique to those who aren't born there, for immigrants never reach full immersion and are often the most inciteful when it comes to our idiosyncracies.
I hope this pitch is sufficient. I should probably just make a bold, direct statement in a desperate attempt to get you to actually read his speech or download the podcast -- this is the best thing I've read in years about the sh** we're in and the storm that's coming. Here's hoping we all find a way to steer clear of the hurricane.
Just read this essay yesterday that puts the "economic fluctuations" into better perspective. One could call it "historical perspective" but that's not quite accurate since what is unfolding in the present is unlike anything ever experienced. Nevertheless the author makes a very profound argument that this is no minor hiccup, its a a gargantuan shift into something as yet, unknown:
Yet, what's happening is a historic movement of long duration that is inducing
the end of a world and that will revolutionize our ways of thinking and living.
We still have our hearts and our minds in the "Ancien Régime" that
fashioned our behaviors. It's a real revolution that is erupting. And no person,
no government plan, can determine its conclusion or what type of society it
will produce. And the first condition for all attempts to channel it to avoid
the most lethal consequences is to become aware of its nature, to situate it
in a historic perspective. For what is happening - the "crisis" is
but a symptom of the transformation that is at work - is a change in landmarks,
in values, in our modes of thinking and producing, of believing and loving -
of which history over its long duration supplies us with a few examples.
To some this is vindication. Many have been anticipating the collapse of so many 19th century "ideals of capital", yet usually can only imagine 19th century solutions -- ideals of a world without the "control of capital".
Few can imagine where this unanticipated change of direction is taking us, but some already know the destination.
The answer to that cryptic statement is much more than my fingers can bear at the moment, and is much more worthy of dialogue anyway. In the meantime, read the essay because its certainly a far more advanced perspective of our current storm.
Happy to announce the release of some new DJ tracks through Juno Records in the UK.
They currently have twelve tracks up, including a DJ version of Atoms Dance. These tracks are currently not available anywhere else, including my site. Visit their site to download or click below to have a listen! (Note: most of these tracks are now apart of the FREE mix CD Dian TiaoWu.)
Archetype Apocalypse was produced almost entirely with Ableton Live during 2008 in Beijing, China. It is available as a FREE GIFT TO YOU with the hope that you will not despair that its the end of the world. (Not.)
Right-click on the 'down arrows' below to download singles and click on the other arrows to listen; or get the whole album.
I chose the name Atomic so long ago because of all things mysterious in this life, the new knowledge of the quantum world ranked supreme. For perhaps nothing in the physical world is as bizarre and without quantification as the sub-atomic realm.
Particles become waves or solids depending on the point of the observer, time and space become meaningless as sister particles behave simultaneously across vast distance... this is the realm of the truly strange and yet, its supposed to be what WE'RE all made of, right? How can we and everything else seem so solid when the smallest realms are just made of fuzzy possibilities?
if you haven't read anything about it and feel overwhelmed at where to start, What the Bleep? is a decent documentary that can at least visually explain whats going on in the sub-atomic realm. The film spins off into inter-personal, new-age drift that won't appeal to some, but its important that they tried.
Because the gap between what we know about the structure of atomic reality (that the whole universe is one giant energy field) and the way we behave (treating every one and thing as external and separate) is so large that we're in need of a major consciousness shift that can incorporate what science has shown us and can finally put an end to all of the petty divisions that are ruining this planet.
There may already BE a philosophy that balances out these new scientific perceptions - the world's religions. For haven't they been telling us all along that we're one and should treat each other as ourselves? True, but something more is needed... a way to incorporate the state of our social world into the explanation. Perhaps even a conspiracy view of history (of which I am a believer)?
David Icke does that better than anyone I've seen, so here's his video. Hope you have enjoyed the setup:
Chinese for 'electric dance' Dian TiaoWu is a new collection of original breakbeat DJ tracks that I've mixed into a full length release.
