Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Woodstock to Altamont
Lots of high weirdness in the 'press' this week, as the baby boomers are aging and coming clean about what they have done. For instance former French President Jacques Chirac was taken aback by George W Bush's religious reasoning for invading Iraq:
Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”
In other muderous crank news Paul Krassner, first publisher of Robert Anton Wilson writes about taking acid with 'Squeaky' Fromme, one of Charles Manson's most devoted followers who later attempted to assassinate then US president Gerald Ford and is soon to be released from prison.
Squeaky and I stared silently at each other for a while -- I recalled that Manson had written, "I never picked up anyone who had not already been discarded by society" -- and eventually my eyes began to tear. There were tears in Squeaky's eyes too. She asked me to try on Charlie's vest. It felt like a bizarre honor to participate in this family ceremony. The corduroy vest was a solid inch thick with embroidery -- snakes and dragons and devilish designs including human hair that had been woven into the multi-colored patterns.
But the strangest of recent boomer revelations comes from the eternally suprising freak-film director John Waters writing eloquently about his sincere support for one of Charles Manson's followers, who did kill someone, to be released on parole:
Leslie Van Houten always seemed the one that could have somehow ended up making movies with us instead of running with the killer dune-buggy crowd. She was pretty, out of her mind, rebellious, with fashion-daring, a good haircut, and a taste for LSD -- just like the girls in my movies. Instead of being a "good soldier" for Charlie and participating in the murders of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca, which she certainly believed was the right thing to do at the time, I wish she had been with us in Baltimore on location for Pink Flamingos the day Divine ate dog shit for real (our own cultural Tate/La Bianca).
As Hunter said, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
...
Squeaky Photo by Dick Schmidt
Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”
In other muderous crank news Paul Krassner, first publisher of Robert Anton Wilson writes about taking acid with 'Squeaky' Fromme, one of Charles Manson's most devoted followers who later attempted to assassinate then US president Gerald Ford and is soon to be released from prison.
Squeaky and I stared silently at each other for a while -- I recalled that Manson had written, "I never picked up anyone who had not already been discarded by society" -- and eventually my eyes began to tear. There were tears in Squeaky's eyes too. She asked me to try on Charlie's vest. It felt like a bizarre honor to participate in this family ceremony. The corduroy vest was a solid inch thick with embroidery -- snakes and dragons and devilish designs including human hair that had been woven into the multi-colored patterns.
But the strangest of recent boomer revelations comes from the eternally suprising freak-film director John Waters writing eloquently about his sincere support for one of Charles Manson's followers, who did kill someone, to be released on parole:
Leslie Van Houten always seemed the one that could have somehow ended up making movies with us instead of running with the killer dune-buggy crowd. She was pretty, out of her mind, rebellious, with fashion-daring, a good haircut, and a taste for LSD -- just like the girls in my movies. Instead of being a "good soldier" for Charlie and participating in the murders of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca, which she certainly believed was the right thing to do at the time, I wish she had been with us in Baltimore on location for Pink Flamingos the day Divine ate dog shit for real (our own cultural Tate/La Bianca).
As Hunter said, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
...
Squeaky Photo by Dick Schmidt
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Talking shit
It’s Continence Awareness Week
What is normal?
Most people pass a bowel action on most days. This may vary from person to person. Most people should spend less than 5 minutes in the toilet. The motion should be easy to pass, you should not need to strain. The stool should be soft, formed and smooth and you should feel empty when you are finished. You should be able to get to the toilet in time to pass your motion.
How can I help myself?
Drink 6-8 glasses of fluid every day - mostly water. Have 25-35 grams of fibre every day - 10-12 serves of fibre every day; that is 2-3 fruit serves, 4-5 serves of vegetable or salad, 2-3 serves of grain and cereal, and a serve of nuts or legumes. Take exercise every day, walking or any other aerobic activity helps the bowel to empty.
What if ignore this advice?
Chronic constipation is the worst and most common crime against life and mankind--a crime unconsciously committed, and one whose full enormity is not yet fully realized. It stands accused of being one of the principal causative factors of all physical and mental diseases. I know as a fact, from my practical experience with thousands of chronically diseased, that the life of man, and the extent of his mental and spiritual capabilities are largely influenced by the condition of the alimentary tract.
...
Rant link courtesy Dangerous Minds
Image is stolen
* It really is Continence Awareness Week
...
Rant link courtesy Dangerous Minds
Image is stolen
* It really is Continence Awareness Week
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Voodoo psychonomics
It’s best to remain positive about illness and medical procedures suggests a recent article in New Scientist. In ‘The science of voodoo: when mind attacks body’ Helen Pilcher summarises some research into the medicalistation of 'pointing the bone'.
Plicher writes that like witchdoctors; medico's, medical procedures and studies can adversely influence patients physical well being by suggestion alone. Two different factors are discussed when describing the power of the mind to produce negative physical symptoms. The first is nocebo the converse of placebo, when being informed about the undesirable effects of an inactive (dummy) substance, produces the described symptoms. The second is psychogenic illness where witnessing the symptoms displayed by one person creates expectancies in others resulting in a similar display. Psychogenic illnesses are often enacted en mass and are found to have no biological basis. The ability of the mind to produce negative physical consequences is memorably summarised by a great quote from a doctor that 'bad news promotes bad physiology'.
However one might want to be careful about just what kind of good news one chooses to use to promote 'good physiology'. As research by Joanne Wood et al. recently published in Psychological Science (summarised here, I have read the original but it requires access) studied the use of affirmations. They suggest that statements of self-worth that contradict other held self-beliefs do more harm than good. That is if you are low on self-esteem, telling yourself that you're beautiful and everybody loves you will simply trigger an avalanche of further self doubt as your other, overwhelmingly negative self-perceptions are activated by the reminder of yourself and the discrepancy just created.
Perhaps the same is true for disease, in such a case you may fare best with moderately positive thoughts about specific aspects of yourself. Rather than 'I am the picture of radiant health' perhaps: 'My trusty T-cells are winning the battle against this virus'. The mind is powerful and complex; we want to negate curses, not fulfill them.
...
Wood et al. (2009) Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others. Psychological Science: 20, 7, pp 860 - 866
Image by Jeremy Burgin
Plicher writes that like witchdoctors; medico's, medical procedures and studies can adversely influence patients physical well being by suggestion alone. Two different factors are discussed when describing the power of the mind to produce negative physical symptoms. The first is nocebo the converse of placebo, when being informed about the undesirable effects of an inactive (dummy) substance, produces the described symptoms. The second is psychogenic illness where witnessing the symptoms displayed by one person creates expectancies in others resulting in a similar display. Psychogenic illnesses are often enacted en mass and are found to have no biological basis. The ability of the mind to produce negative physical consequences is memorably summarised by a great quote from a doctor that 'bad news promotes bad physiology'.
However one might want to be careful about just what kind of good news one chooses to use to promote 'good physiology'. As research by Joanne Wood et al. recently published in Psychological Science (summarised here, I have read the original but it requires access) studied the use of affirmations. They suggest that statements of self-worth that contradict other held self-beliefs do more harm than good. That is if you are low on self-esteem, telling yourself that you're beautiful and everybody loves you will simply trigger an avalanche of further self doubt as your other, overwhelmingly negative self-perceptions are activated by the reminder of yourself and the discrepancy just created.
Perhaps the same is true for disease, in such a case you may fare best with moderately positive thoughts about specific aspects of yourself. Rather than 'I am the picture of radiant health' perhaps: 'My trusty T-cells are winning the battle against this virus'. The mind is powerful and complex; we want to negate curses, not fulfill them.
...
Wood et al. (2009) Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others. Psychological Science: 20, 7, pp 860 - 866
Image by Jeremy Burgin
Monday, August 3, 2009
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