Watching boing boing tv today I leaned that it is David Silverman, the Simpson’s director, who mans this most dangerous instrument.

I had seen and enjoyed a video clip from what looks like burning man of a man playing “Oops I did it again” (Britney Spears). The accompanying text on the YouTube video does not mention David Silverman, so I am now wondering if Silverman is really the only Tubatron player in the world, or if there is another doing this at burning man.

But whoever it is - it’s definitely worth watching.

Posted by Merlin Silk - October 26th, 2007

I ran across a little thought here and wanted to see what we can do with it.

That quote is from the course in miracles and for all fast readers of this course here is the location of the quote: T-9.I.13.5 and the quote itself i…

“As long as you believe that fear is possible, you will not create.”

When I first read this I was about to read right past it because it is kind of self evident, right?

But then I had the thought if it is possible to make the conclusion also the other way: if my creation I intend does not work, does that mean I have fear?

And I had to answer that with a resounding YES!

In other words I found myself a nice meter with which I can easily and without fail evaluate my fear level. Want to know if I am fear-free in an area - just create something and see if it comes to be.

If not, then back to the drawing board, so to speak.

Just the viewpoint alone of using the failure of a creation to measure remaining fear brings such a nice exterior viewpoint that makes creation a lot easier and nicer.

Posted by Merlin Silk - October 13th, 2007

I got this story of Vernon Howard in an e-mail and thought I better share it …

A king once ruled over a nation of unhappy people. Wanting to help his subjects, the king asked a wise man, “Is there a way to relieve my people of their sorrows?”

“Yes, there is,” replied the wise man. “As you know, just outside of town there is a height known as the Mountain of Truth. Ask everyone to leave their troubles at the base of the mountain. That is all they need do.”

The King issued a joyous proclamation. Everyone was invited to bring his problems to the Mountain of Truth at once. Every kind of difficulty could be left there, including Sorrow, Conflict, Fear, Tension, Worry and Hostility.

At the end of twenty-four hours, the king was stunned. Out of his thousands of subjects, only ten had left their miseries at the mountain.

“This is incredible,” he told the wise man. “I don’t understand. Everyone assured me he wanted to get rid of unhappiness.”

The wise man nodded. “I knew this would happen, but also knew you would never believe me until you saw for yourself. You see, most people secretly love their suffering. Conflict and hostility provide excitement, a false feeling of life. Our first task is to show them the difference between artificial life and true life.”

Posted by Merlin Silk - October 12th, 2007

This great photo of Cartier Bresson (click for larger version) illustrates nicely the story told by Jeremy lassen in

The Growling Bear

This is the story of his encounter with the GeStaPo after he had created and posted his art that depicted Fuehrer Bush together with weapons - lots of weapons - certainly a story worth reading.

Certainly not quite there yet as in Bresson’s picture, but - at least emotionally - approaching it.

(GeStaPo = Geheime Staats Polizei = Secret Government Police)

Posted by Merlin Silk - October 11th, 2007

Let’s be civilized about this, shall we? I have to admit that I don’t quite agree with you on this - but we as civilized people should be able to agree to disagree, shouldn’t we?

Or something like…

“I would like to kill you!” - “OK, Sir, don’t let’s be too harsh about this. As I kind of disagree with this, can we talk about this for a moment?”

Today’s anarchistic message from Larken Rose…

Dear Subscriber,

People often lament the lack of “civil discourse” when it comes to political matters, and suggest that we should all just “agree to disagree,” and respect each other’s opinions.

For most topics of discussion, I would whole-heartedly agree. For example, people ought to be able to disagree on who the best NFL quarterback is without getting into fist-fights, or debate the zoological classification of the panda bear without having a shootout.

However, there are actually times when “civility” is a BAD thing. For example, if someone said to you, “In my humble opinion, your family should be murdered,” would you merely “agree to disagree”? Perhaps, if he was only opining what he thought SHOULD happen, you could just politely ignore him. But if he actually advocated your family’s extermination, and set about trying to make it happen, should you deal with him “civilly”? Hell, no. When he decided to advocate the initiation of violence, HE ended any hope of civility.

And so it is with almost ALL modern political discussions. For example, almost everyone in the country advocates that I be forcibly robbed to pay for things THEY want. (The Democrats and Republicans differ somewhat on WHICH things they want my stolen money to fund, but they are completely in agreement that I should be coerced into funding things that I don’t want to fund.) While that’s not as bad as advocating the murder of my family, it’s still pretty darn bad. To treat their “opinion” civilly is to give it a level of respect that it doesn’t deserve, which is an indirect way of CONDONING the evil they suggest.

Their “opinion” is not equally valid. It doesn’t deserve respect. Their “opinion” is the advocacy of VIOLENCE, and to treat it as anything else is an affront to justice. I’m constantly amazed how many people suggest that I should be robbed, controlled, extorted, harassed, insulted, and possibly imprisoned or killed, only to then get offended when I call them NAMES (like “fascist”). So I’ll make this offer to everyone: if you don’t advocate the initiation of violence against me (and against lots of other people), I won’t call you a fascist, or a statist, or a collectivist, or a Nazi. (In other words, if you stop BEING those things, I’ll stop CALLING you those things.)

Amazingly, people treat “political” opinions as if they are of no more consequence than a personal preference: whether you prefer chocolate or vanilla, or whether you prefer classic music to rock. But a “political” opinion, by definition, is about what VIOLENCE you believe “government” should use against everyone, including me. Don’t advocate my enslavement or oppression, and then get offended if I call you names as a result.

Again, it would be an insult to justice NOT to react with condemnation and castigation to those who advocate unjustified violence. (Would you tell a Nazi who is advocating mass murder, “Well, your opinion is equally valid”?) I have no intention of letting anyone feel like it’s OKAY for him to hold the “opinion” that innocent people should be terrorized, robbed and harassed. But since pro-tyranny, anti-freedom sentiments are so popular these days, people get shocked when I verbally “attack” them for holding such views.

Well, get used to it. I believe that anyone who actually values freedom OUGHT to condemn evil, no matter how popular or mainstream the evil may be. The only other option is to treat anti-human, unjust, pro-violence, statist tripe as if it’s an okay view to hold. It’s not.

So before you whine about the lack of civility in my messages, check to see if the ones I’m being “uncivil” to are advocating my forced enslavement. If so, I couldn’t care less if I offend them.

Sincerely,
Larken Rose

Posted by Merlin Silk - October 8th, 2007

I always thought that break dance is this wild flying through the air and rotating on your head kind of thing - and maybe this is what the real break dance is.

Even though that fascinates my immensely this other kind of break dance is even more intriguing - and I think it actually deserves the name ‘break’ dance more.

These two examples I found are very surprising as the performers seem to be total nerds who nobody would suspects of such mastery of their body.

Here they are…

and…

isn’t that amazing?

Posted by Merlin Silk - October 7th, 2007

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