Future Imperfect

"If I lead will you follow?"

2008-02-28T23:23:00.000-01:00

"It's embarrassing when you try to overthrow the government and you wind up on the Best Seller's List." - Hoffman

2008-02-27T23:23:00.001-01:00

In the spirit of Abbie Hoffman's Steal this Book comes StealThisWiki. I'm not necessarily that kind of radical, but there are some useful and/or interesting tips in there.

Dr. Steel is more my type of culture jamming.

Damnation Alley

2008-02-27T23:23:00.000-01:00

The Ten Best Post-Apocalyptic Survival Vehicles

I don't know if I fully agree with their list, but it makes for some good discussion material.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men

2008-02-22T23:23:00.002-01:00

I work with CCTV a lot so I know its reach.

Here's a translated German how to:
IR ASC - infrared light against surveillance cameras
and a couple from from Make:
Temporarily blind surveillance cameras
Building an (IR) infrared-veil

4...8...15...16...23...42

2008-02-22T23:23:00.001-01:00

Yeah, I watch it. Even though most of the character interaction/development is complete tripe, a lot of the ideas incorporated are fun.

Lost

My man is Locke.

Looks good

2008-02-22T23:23:00.000-01:00

The Signal

Spell With flickr

2008-02-18T23:23:00.000-01:00

Spell with flickr

The Spies Who Love You

2008-02-17T23:23:00.000-01:00

The Spies Who Love You
A work by by Mark Fiore

Another music memory

2008-02-16T23:23:00.002-01:00

Until I have time to dig deeper and publish something more interesting, here's singly the biggest, most influential hardcore band from my past:
The Exploited

Dogs of War!

G.B.H.

2008-02-15T23:23:00.000-01:00

Another blast from the past. I'm reacquiring a taste for my old hardcore bands, maybe becuase things look as shitty as they did under that shithead, Ray Gun.
I have a fond recollection of standing around a bonfire in the middle of a Kansas cornfield, drinking beers and bullshitting with the lead singer Colin. I remember busting his chops over how I thought it sounded too influenced by heavy metal.

Lori Nix

2008-02-13T23:23:00.002-01:00

"...Lori Nix who photographs epic scenes of destruction and grandeur, natural wonders and glittering metropolises, magnificent architecture and heroic landscapes that all have one thing in common—they're all fake." (Cool Hunting article)

Heavy duty mind hacks

2008-02-13T23:23:00.001-01:00

History of psychological interrogation and torture
McCoy discusses how these techniques were researched and developed by some of the most distinguished cognitive scientists of the time and were reflected in now uncovered CIA documents, including the 1961 'Manipulation of Human Behavior' research summary, the 1963 KUBARK interrogation manual, and the 1983 'Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual'.

(Post at Boing Boing with further links)

No Fly List

2008-02-08T23:23:00.000-01:00

I've done this word gag in other lives before, but it amuses me so here it is again.
From Terry Gilliam's Brazil. More poignant now than ever.

Poor Mr. Buttle.

"Oh no, not me."

2008-02-06T23:23:00.001-01:00

Isn't it a little crazy that we can all agree that companies spend a lot of money every year on advertising yet we think that we're not susceptible to its power?
If advertisements aren't an effective form of brainwashing then why would anyone want to drone them at children to and from school?

The school district that approved McDonald's-sponsored report cards has a hot new partnership with Bus Radio, a friendly company that advertises to kids as they ride to school! (Article)

It's too bad that schools are so strapped for cash that they'd remotely consider this a good idea. It goes to our weird fetus worship cult..."Save the Infant, Sacrifice the Child."

Scott Listfield

2008-02-06T23:23:00.000-01:00

An astronaut in every painting.
Article at Wired

Tazer Glove

2008-02-06T11:23:00.000-01:00

"From simple everyday parts you can make this glove which has two modes. Mode 1 is a constant output of slightly over 300 v. while Mode 2 takes a few seconds to charge, but gives off a much more painful shock. All that voltage from a simple AA battery, Yay science."
Instructables

Music from the Past - Conflict

2008-02-02T23:23:00.000-01:00

One of the more influential albums from my youth, Conflict's Ungovernable Force.
From Wikipedia: "The Ungovernable Force is an album by the U.K punk rock band Conflict. It was released in 1986 by Mortarhate Records. Considered by many to be the band's most coherent and complete representation of their politics and aesthetic, it has become an enduring classic in anarchist punk music culture."

One of the most important songs on that album for me was the acerbic humor of Force or Service. I try to keep it in mind as what not to be when carrying out my duties. While I'm not a police officer, my job does often require me to use police powers. Funny how this shit winds up.

Apologies to a friend across the water, but I'm sure he gets it.

Force or Service
A quiet sunny day, the scene is suburban
Not much going off, in fact it's a boring one
Ready and waiting in Bristol fashion
For my radio to bleep and I will jump into action
PC Caring's off duty for a while
A right prat he is, always helpful and a smile
Nineteen, well hard, DM's and truncheon
Headcase 'ere and I've got some lunch

'Headcase' fuck me there goes me radio
It must be a riot if they're calling for backup
I'm at the scene Sarge, what's going down?
There's a darkie in defiance, get that nigger off me, kill 'im
Don't do it in the open, kick his teeth in later
I thought I'd taught you police operations
Take him away out the eyes of the media
Then kill the bastard kill 'im
Make sure you don't bruise him
Oh, doesn't matter you won't see the bruises anyway
He's in the van, pile in everyone, c'mon, c'mon
That's it lads
Ha, ha, ha, I love it, let me have him
Let me kill him, yeah, nice one lads
Now if you wanna get overtime, you better take my advice
Promotion or demotion? Just never step out of line
You want to make sure? Sure we can discuss a price
But keep it shut, keep the image nice
We nick the unemployed, for they are just lazy
Scrounging off us taxpayers, it must be crazy
Join the force and give a helping hand
Because the rules of the force are the laws of the land

(Police Policy)
The CND are communists, we're sick of petty pacifists,
Greenham dykes, Trotskyites, Greenpeace and the rest of it
Rioters, muggers, looters, shooters, niggers are the cause of it
Repatriation for the nation, the simple way to deal with shit
Rastas, punks, mods and hippies, students, queers and dirty pakis
Demanding more than nothing less, but never want to work for it
Miners, printers, paddies, pickets, givin' it all the demo bit
We'll smash them back with our attack, because we're the guys to deal with it

You're here to serve? Protect the nation?
Stop all the foreigners' illegal immigration
You help old ladies across the road
Even if she has got a face like a toad
You re-assure, protect the rich from the poor
To hell with muggings, rapists and the whores
Maintain law and order, keep the public at large
The police is your profession: that's right, eh Sarge?

I don't care where you come from!

2008-01-26T23:23:00.002-01:00

I want to know who you work for!

Bruce Schneier link about Corporate Spying

........begin session........

The quote something I came up with that I've been saying for sometime now. It is a distillation of what I think the near future holds for us. It is globalization in the hands of the machines we call corporations.

I knew this article was coming from some of the cyberpunk I was reading in the 80's. Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, J.G. Ballard, and Alvin Toffler are the three most influential voices in my knowledge of "things to come." The article discusses one of the reasons I gravitated toward intel. Knowledge acquisition, data mining, due diligence, investigation...regardless of what it's called, it's one of the key corporate functions of the future. Although I am one now to a certain degree, I didn't intend on being a company spook. It has long been of interest to me the mechanics of intelligence and investigations. It may stem from an acceptance that while I have a set of beliefs and opinions, without knowledge of EVERYTHING, truth is malleable therefore the best I can hope for is that my truth is better than yours.
As I had mentioned in a previous post, I've worked in intelligence and can tell you that in and of itself it's usually pretty mundane work close up, but the end product in the hands of operational people can end up fucking a lot of people up in one form or another. Aggregate knowledge can be shaped into corrupt forms by outside forces that don't want truth but to promote an agenda.

I always ask myself "who benefits?"

........end session........

If you can play on the fiddle
How's about a British jig and reel?
Speaking King's English in quotation
As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust water froze
In the generation
Clear as winter ice
This is your paradise

There ain't no need for ya
There ain't no need for ya
Go straight to Hell boys
Go straight to Hell boys

Y'wanna join in a chorus
Of the Amerasian blues?
When it's Christmas out in Ho Chi Minh City
Kiddie say papa papa papa papa papa-san take me home
See me got photo photo
Photograph of you and Mamma Mamma Mamma-san
Of you and Mamma Mamma Mamma-san
Lemme tell ya 'bout your blood bamboo kid.
It ain't Coca-Cola it's rice.

Straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Oh Papa-san
Please take me home
Oh Papa-san
Everybody they wanna go home
So Mamma-san said

You wanna play mind-crazed banjo
On the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A.?
In Parkland International
Hey! Junkiedom U.S.A.
Where procaine proves the purest rock man groove
and rat poison
The volatile Molotov says-

PSSST...
HEY CHICO WE GOT A MESSAGE FOR YA... SI...
VAMOS VAMOS MUCHACHO
FROM ALPHABET CITY ALL THE WAY A TO Z, DEAD, HEAD

Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Straight to Hell

Oh Papa-San
Please take me home
There ain't no need for ya,
There ain't no need for ya

Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys

Can you cough it up loud and strong
The immigrants
They wanna sing all night long
It could be anywhere
Most likely could be any frontier
Any hemisphere
No man's land
Ain't no asylum here
King Solomon he never lived round here

Straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys
Go straight to Hell, boys

Oh Papa-San
Please take me home
Oh Papa-San
Everybody, they wanna go home now

FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft

2008-01-26T23:23:00.001-01:00

THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.
The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network. (Article)

Klockwerks

2008-01-26T23:23:00.000-01:00

Klockwerks

Images

2008-01-24T23:23:00.002-01:00

Detroit Public Schools Book Depository/ Roosevelt Warehouse
by sweet juniper at flickr

2008-01-24T23:23:00.001-01:00

Let the End Times Roll
With global warming hogging the limelight, and Nostradamus predicting our impending demise, This excerpt from Radar Magazine's February issue explores the other apocalyptic scenarios threatening to do us in. (Radar Magazine)

"Rockabilly Westworld"

2008-01-24T23:23:00.000-01:00

Rockabilly Westworld: Zombie Karaoke Elvis-bot

23

2008-01-16T23:23:00.001-01:00

23 (Wikipedia)
23 (fUSION Anomaly)
23 (23 Skidoo)

Good to know

2008-01-16T23:23:00.000-01:00

What's the matter?

2008-01-14T23:23:00.001-01:00

Pierre Matter @ the Opera Gallery

freud's Horse

Copper and bronze
140 x 120 x 40 cm 55.1 x 47.2x 15.7 In.

Do you get it now?

2008-01-14T23:23:00.000-01:00

For those who are new to my stuff, I'm former intelligence with the U.S. Army, so stuff like this tends to catch my attention.

Suicide Bombing Makes Sick Sense in Halo 3
I can't do those things. I haven't got enough time to practice as they do: I'm an adult, with a job and wife and kid, so I get maybe an hour with Halo on a good day. I wind up sucking far, far more than most other Halo 3 players, and despite the best attempts of Xbox Live to match me up with similarly lame players, I usually wind up at the bottom of my group's rankings -- stumbling haplessly about while getting slaughtered over and over again.
So after a few weeks of this ritual humiliation, I got sick of it. And I devised a simple technique for revenge. (More...)

This also reminds me of this:

Michael Corleone: I saw a strange thing today. Some rebels were being arrested. One of them pulled the pin on a grenade. He took himself and the captain of the command with him. Now, soldiers are paid to fight; the rebels aren't.
Hyman Roth: What does that tell you?
Michael Corleone: It means they could win.

Social weaponizing of my phone

2008-01-13T23:23:00.001-01:00

"Grup, grup" this you little shit.

I heard this piece on NPR:
Teens Turn 'Repeller' into Adult-Proof Ringtone
and thought "Hey, I've got a phone that'll play mp3's!" If I can't hear the noise, then I can purpose the tone to its original use.
Great for clearing a space on a noisy train as school lets out.

Brainwave Generator

2008-01-13T23:23:00.000-01:00

Moderately hack your brain by modifying your brain state.

Theory Behind BrainWave Generator
EEG and the brain's state EEG (Electroencephalography) technology is used to measure brain's electrical vibrations from the surface of the scalp. The resulting EEG pattern will contain frequency elements mainly below 30Hz. The frequencies are categorized into four states as follows:

State Frequency range State of mind
Delta 0.5Hz - 4Hz Deep sleep
Theta 4Hz - 8Hz Drowsiness (also first stage of sleep)
Alpha 8Hz - 14Hz Relaxed but alert
Beta 14Hz - 30Hz Highly alert and focused

The dominant frequency in the EEG pattern determines what shall be called the current state of the brain. If the amplitude of the alpha range frequencies is highest, then the brain is said to be in the alpha stage. Note, that other frequencies still exist and it is impossible to give any "exact frequency your brain is operating on". However, later references to the brain states use the simplification of assuming that such a single frequency exists.

State	Frequency range	State of mind
Delta	0.5Hz - 4Hz	Deep sleep
Theta	4Hz - 8Hz	Drowsiness (also first stage of sleep)
Alpha	8Hz - 14Hz	Relaxed but alert
Beta	14Hz - 30Hz	Highly alert and focused

Brainwave Generator

The Men Who Fell

2008-01-12T23:23:00.001-01:00

This looks promising.

The Men Who Fell
"Prisoners Explore Industrial Underground City in Scifi Indie" at io9

Vintage Future

2008-01-12T23:23:00.000-01:00

Vintage Future
Retro-futuristic resources for Carnegear

Read Finnish?
Carnegear

Gone with the Blastwave

2008-01-10T23:23:00.000-01:00

Fairly entertaining, disturbed, gallows humor, post-apocalyptic/red-vs-blue comic.

Click to zoom

Gone with the Blastwave

Quicksilver

2008-01-09T23:23:00.003-01:00

While I customize considerably larger machines, like my modified, custom, rat-rodded '63 Fairlane, I thought there might be some lessons here I can apply.

"Quicksilver" Retro-Future Scooter from appliances and scrap metal

Read Polish?

2008-01-09T23:23:00.002-01:00

Outpost

Brass Goggles

2008-01-09T23:23:00.001-01:00

Brass Goggles
The lighter side of Steampunk

Andrew Severynko

2008-01-09T23:23:00.000-01:00

Andrew Severynko
Contemporary sculpture artist

Body Hacking - Exercise

2008-01-07T23:23:00.001-01:00

exrx.net

Excellent exercise instruction site and it's free. No hard sell of supplements and the rest of the bullshit. Clear instructions, detailed programs, theory behind the exercises. Created by sports medicine folks.

Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea

2008-01-07T23:23:00.000-01:00

Those that have followed me down the rabbit hole may remember that I had mentioned this documentary narrated by John Waters before. I still haven't had a chance to see it, but I really like the idea and I hope some day to visit the Salton Sea.

Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea

Survival in the Wasteland - Dog (Cat) Food

2008-01-06T23:23:00.001-01:00

Will eating pet food kill me?
The answer at LiveScience.com

From the article I also learned that a good deal of fire retardant is made of piss. (Actually urea can be synthesized, which is not quite as humorous.)

Survival in the Wasteland - General

2008-01-06T23:23:00.000-01:00

You wake up late because the radio does not come on. Outside there is only the sound of the wind, and of the birds in the trees. The roar of jumbo jets coming into land is absent.

And, most shockingly, so is the everpresent rumble of traffic. As the day wears on, the full, horrible, bizarre truth dawns: you are completely, utterly alone.

Article inspired by the recent release of "I am Legend."
What would really happen if you were the last person on Earth?

Joe Strummer - London Calling (BBC World Service)

2008-01-05T23:23:00.001-01:00

"Mid 1960s and in the heat of an African night a teenage boy fiddles with the dial on his father’s short-wave radio in a desperate bid to find the sound of home. Through the crackle of reception he picks up the UK chart run down and is amazed that even in the middle of the night, in the middle of Africa he is receiving radio form Britain. This was Joe Strummer’s introduction to BBC World Service radio. He had been visiting his father who was working in Malawi and as he recalls:‘It was fantastic to be undeniably receiving radio from Britain. Ever since then I've always wanted to spin records on the World Service’"

Playlists and links to the archived shows here.

Stormy weather

2008-01-05T23:23:00.000-01:00

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Members of a Czech art group who hacked into television broadcasting with images of a hoax nuclear explosion were charged and will have to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Thursday...

...In December, the project was awarded the NG 333 prize for young artists by Prague's National Gallery together with a cash prize of 333,000 koruna (US$18,350). (Article)

Local Boys

2008-01-04T23:23:00.001-01:00

Dropkicks

Post Apocalyptic Rockabilly

2008-01-04T23:23:00.000-01:00

Spiced Ham

2008-01-03T23:23:00.002-01:00

As long as the SPAM holds out, you won't have to go after the slow and sick ones.

SPAM

Abandoned But Not Forgotten

2008-01-03T23:23:00.001-01:00

"ABANDONED, HISTORICAL and UNUSUAL locations throughout various states and countries."
Link

BackyardMetalcasting.com

2008-01-03T23:23:00.000-01:00

BackyardMetalcasting.com
...Melting and casting metal yourself.

Lady Wasteland

2008-01-02T23:23:00.001-01:00

Good stuff

This is the adventure of Lady Wasteland. A story rooted in the misfortune of individuals left to scour a vast wasteland in search of their own private destiny. Each character: a fragment, a survivor, a wanderer. In a god-forsaken landscape after the collapse of civilized society, we find a generation left for dead, fueled by revenge, apathy, absurdity, and the need to find a piece of food.

Lady Wasteland Homepage

The "Tiny Tim" Welder

2008-01-02T23:23:00.000-01:00

A homemade micro welder from junk around the house.
(Link)

Dame de voyage

2007-12-30T23:23:00.001-01:00

The Sex Singularity
When Machines Surpass Human Hotness

Pygmalion enhances its City Babe line with TruFeeling, an automatic preferences learning technology that tailors itself to repeat customers by tracking their motions, heartbeat, and other responses. The system, designed to increase revenue by turning tricks faster, successfully increases the average daily customer turnover rate (CTR) from 58 to nearly 75. Marketing tagline: “TruFeeling: It knows what you like.”

Maybe

2007-12-30T23:23:00.000-01:00

Ranger Rick

2007-12-29T23:23:00.002-01:00

Hua!

As a former US Army Ranger, Drill Instructor and an adviser / trainer to the Bosnia & Herzegovina Army (1996-97) under the US State Department "Train & Equip Program." I have always enjoyed sharing with soldiers my personal experiences and tips & tricks on how to survive & thrive in a military outdoor environment through field expedient know-how. (From the website)

Some good outdoorsman tips here.

Cousin Silas

2007-12-29T23:23:00.001-01:00

Cousin Silas
I don't listen to his stuff...it gives me the creeps. However, when used as ambient for something Ballardian, he's often exactly the right fit.

80 Grit Art

2007-12-29T23:23:00.000-01:00

80gritArt is art and useful objects forged from used material once destined to landfill or recycling centers. 80gritArt strives to spark the imagination and attempts to give people a whimsical new perspective on discarded objects. After all, the purest and simplest form of Earth conservation is giving expired or obsolete discarded junk a new life. All sculptures are made from reused material. Everything is printed on used paper bags. We use telephone wire to tie the tags on the art, and bicycles to collect the stuff. Even the weld wire is from used stainless bicycle spokes! (From the website)

Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean

2007-12-28T23:23:00.001-01:00

(Article)

Also...

>>>The North Pacific Gyre (also known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre) is a swirling vortex of ocean currents comprising most of the northern Pacific Ocean. It is located between the equator and 50º N latitude and occupies an area of approximately ten million square miles (34 million km²). <<< (Wiki P)

Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

2007-12-28T23:23:00.000-01:00

This is a pretty good list. I've seen maybe 40% of these.

Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

Survival Research Laboratories

2007-12-27T23:23:00.001-01:00

Survival Research Laboratories was conceived of and founded by Mark Pauline in November 1978. Since its inception SRL has operated as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to re-directing the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations in practicality, product or warfare. Since 1979, SRL has staged over 45 mechanized presentations in the United States and Europe. Each performance consists of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of socio-political satire. Humans are present only as audience or operators. (From the website)

Vehicle ideas

2007-12-27T23:23:00.000-01:00

From -
The Art of Burning Man 99

The Road

2007-12-26T23:23:00.000-01:00

All Things Considered, November 7, 2006
Alan Cheuse reviews The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The book is about a father and son journey undertaken amidst a post-atomic apocalypse.
Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' on NPR

Quiet Earth

2007-12-24T23:23:00.000-01:00

"Dedicated to genre film and everything Post Apocalyptic."

Vault

2007-12-22T23:23:00.001-01:00

The Vaults are a series of massive underground fallout shelters developed by Vault-Tec in the mid-21st century.

The vaults initially appeared as a haven for the endangered U.S. population. However, there were not nearly enough Vaults to achieve the task. The true reason for these 'shelters' was that in fact they were a series of sociological experiments conducted by a group known as the Enclave. Each Vault was set up with different conditions and observed to see how the dwellers within coped with varying conditions and the pressures of isolation.
("Vault", The Vault - a Fallout Wiki)

Neo Ruins

2007-12-22T23:23:00.000-01:00

Neo-Ruins: Lithographs of post-apocalyptic Tokyo

You Maniacs! You blew it up!

2007-12-21T23:23:00.000-01:00

........begin session........

To those who've read my previous blogs I offer an explanation.
Since I was of an age to be aware of things such as "style", "aesthetic", and "taste" I had been drawn to tales and images of society's collapse, destruction, decay, and ruin.
"Blank Maxine" thinks it's my embrace of the redeemed hero as icon. I think that's a part of it. I think it's also a desire for an "I told you so" or as Charlton Heston put it "You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"
You see, I believe in doing the right things...environmentally conscious living, generosity to my fellow man, compassion to the downtrodden, acceptance of divergent philosophies, and so on...But I really suspect that we'll end up screwing it up as a whole. I have faith in the individual, but when you put a group of this type of monkey together, all hell breaks loose.

What'll one find here? Retro-future dystopias. Evidence of a dying earth. Rantings of an indignant Road Warrior. Off the grid how-tos.

Photographs, art, news, projects, notes, and miscellaneous ephemera from the wasteland.

This will be short. It's a bit early and I've gotta get to the vault for some exercise and projects.

.........end session.............