The Shame of Gaza

In these times, where everythings goes upside-down, who fights for rights, dignity and justice is a pityless terrorist while the oppressor is a peaceful democratic who is just forced to defend himself against the 'evil outthere'.
If you think for example that the effects of the artigianal Kassam rockets (2 Israeli dead in two days) can sincerely be equate to the destructive power of one of the most technological and powerful army in the world (more than 350 Palestinians dead in two days), well, go on watching the tamed TV news and thinking that apartheid is good for Palestinians (and they haven't the right to defend themself and their dignity)

Earth from the Sky: the stunning photos of Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Sometimes to get great photos, 'just' changing one's point of view it's all it needs...Yann Arthus-Bertrand did exactly that and then collected his incredible works in the book 365 Days, the Earth from the Sky. See few examples below, starting from the first one, an acacia tree, symbol of life, in the Tsavo national park, Kenia and visit Yann's site here

Happy Holidays!!

The Shamanic Art of Tom Perkinson

Tom Perkins is an interesting visionary artist inspired by the native American culture. In his own words:

I call this style of painting Visionary. It has its roots in surrealism which I explored in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. In these paintings, I investigate Southwestern subject matter, including Native American art, sand paintings, pottery, weavings, Kachina figures, and the bright colors and drama of Native American dances and ceremonies. I simply start a painting with washes of color and let it develop into what it becomes, all the while participating in an intuitive mode, allowing a "state of flow" to occur as I paint. I am looking for figures to appear, and as I find them, I develop them in a chosen direction.

Read about him here and see some of his paintings here

2 Books Deserving Attention...

W.Chapkis and Richard J. Webb

Dyeing to Get High:

Marijuana as Medicine

Marijuana as medicine has been a politically charged topic in this country for more than three decades. Despite overwhelming public support and growing scientific evidence of its therapeutic effects (relief of the nausea caused by chemotherapy for cancer and AIDS, control over seizures or spasticity caused by epilepsy or MS, and relief from chronic and acute pain, to name a few), the drug remains illegal under federal law.
In Dying to Get High, noted sociologist Wendy Chapkis and Richard J. Webb investigate one community of seriously-ill patients fighting the federal government for the right to use physician-recommended marijuana. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) is a unique patient-caregiver cooperative providing marijuana free of charge to mostly terminally ill members. For a brief period in 2004, it even operated the only legal non-governmental medical marijuana garden in the country, protected by the federal courts against the DEA.
Using as their stage this fascinating profile of one remarkable organization, Chapkis and Webb tackle the broader, complex history of medical marijuana in America. Through compelling interviews with patients, public officials, law enforcement officers and physicians, Chapkis and Webb ask what distinguishes a legitimate patient from an illegitimate pothead, good drugs from bad, medicinal effects from just getting high. Dying to Get High combines abstract argument and the messier terrain of how people actually live, suffer and die, and offers a moving account of what is at stake in ongoing debates over the legalization of medical marijuana.

Timothy Leary

Leary on Drugs: New Material from the Archives!Advice, Humor and Wisdom fromthe Godfather of Psychedelia

Psychedelic guru, Timothy Leary was a psychologist who experimented, wrote and lectured about his investigations of mind-expanding drugs. Here is a collection of just some of his effusive output, much of it written as it happened.
Follow Leary as he drops acid at a prison with inmates, raises his children while the adults are "swimming on a sea of jewels," becomes incarcerated, escapes prison, and generally expounds upon the politics of mind-altering substances before and after they become "controlled substances" in the U.S.A.

The Visionary Art of Alexandre Segrégio

The 'arts gallery' of the current issue of one of my preferred magazines, Shaman's Drum, is dedicated to the fascinating work of the Brazilian visionary artist Alexandre Segregio. Since 1981 Segregio is involved with the Uniao do Vegetal, one of the so-called 'ayahuasca churches' of Brasil. Inspired by his participation in ayahuasca rituals, he very well depicts the magical atmosphere of the Amazonian forest, its rich fauna and flora and the powerful spirit world evocated during ceremonies by indigenous shamans. Unfortunately Segregio's site misses some of the beautiful paintings shown on Shaman's Drum, so I had to wander here and there on the web to find and post some of them here.
(click on images to biggify)

The mission of MAPS

In a possible better future the stupid and criminal taboo on drugs, the denying of cannabis and entheogens to suffering people and the profanation of sacred plants will be seen of one of the worst shames of current times. MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) is a membership-based no-profit research and educational organization which assists scientists to design, fund, obtain approval for and report on studies into the risks and benefits of psychedelic substances, MDMA and cannabis.
MAPS' mission is to sponsor scientific research dedicated to develop psychedelics and cannabis into FDA-approved medicines.

Happy Birthday Keef!!

Today our beloved Keith Richards turns 65...Happy fx%xing! birthday, old shaman!

Great Gif of the day: BUSH...OES!

Veni Vidi Vici

Veni Vidi Vici, a funny short animation created by Will Burdett and David Bryan for their final degree project whilst studying 3D Animation at the University of Hertfordshire in 2008.

DOG FISH - Creative VW Commercial

Very funny commercial for SpaceFox Volkswagen...Lol!!

Dog-Fish - Volkswagen SpaceFox - The funniest videos clips are here

Creative Lunch Boxes

Funny, creative lunch boxes by designer Emma Smart. They fold out making a nice little place-settings.

(via boingboing)

Bettie Page R.I.P.

Considered the queen of pin-ups and a seminal icon of the erotic/fetish imagery, Bettie Page died in Los Angeles on thursday from pneumonia, after suffering a heart attack few days ago. Bettie posed for Playboy as Miss January 1955 and soon her image was gracing record albums, calendars, postcards and posters.
In 1959 she became a 'new born christian' and gave up her activity as model, enjoying a renaissance of sorts just in the 1980s, thanks to the renewed popularity amongst a new generation of fans.
She will be remembered as the most photographed (erotic) model of the modern history and for her wide, candid smile that lightened even the most audacious pictures...

Animal Pin-ups

The hilarious entries of the Animal Pin-ups contests on Worth 1000.
See other 'girls' here and here

Burning Spear: African Postman (live)

One of the real reggae living legends, Burning Spear and his magnificent band performing live the old classic African Postman. Relax & enjoy!

For Alexis

The 15 years old Alexis Grigoropoulos has been killed on saturday night by a cop in the 'alternative' zone of Exarchia in Athens. Many witnesses confirm that it was a cold blood murder, not an accidental killing during a fighting between a police patrol and a group of young anarchists as said by (police) ufficial sources. Since then Athens and other Greek towns are burning: thousands of protesters face police and show their anger destroying cars, super-markets, banks and luxury shops.

It isn't a novelty: the Greek police is particularly violent, expecially against young, 'alternative' people, drugs users and drop-outs in general and many talk about torture (and even homicides) against immigrants in police stations. Evidently this time the 'bottom of the bucket' broke down. We hope there will be justice for Alexis and the thugs in uniform will pay.

Rest in Peace Alexis, this is for you. A better world's possible

Good Old Times Pot

(from Discovery site:)

Nearly two pounds of still-green plant material found in a 2,700-year-old grave in the Gobi Desert has just been identified as the world's oldest marijuana stash, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany.
A barrage of tests proves the marijuana possessed potent psychoactive properties and casts doubt on the theory that the ancients only grew the plant for hemp in order to make clothing, rope and other objects.

Lead author Ethan Russo told Discovery News that the marijuana "is quite similar" to what's grown today. The size of seeds mixed in with the leaves, along with their color and other characteristics, indicate the marijuana came from a cultivated strain. Before the burial, someone had carefully picked out all of the male plant parts, which are less psychoactive, so Russo and his team believe there is little doubt as to why the cannabis was grown.
What is in question, however, is how the marijuana was administered, since no pipes or other objects associated with smoking were found in the grave.
"Perhaps it was ingested orally," Russo said. "It might also have been fumigated, as the Scythian tribes to the north did subsequently."

We already knew that: cannabis is without doubt one of the older psychoactive plant used by humanity. After all, did you know that in the ancient Rome were 793 'hash - and opium - shops'? Evidently the modern prohibitionists must accept the fact that cannabis is with us since long, long time and is here to stay also in the near and far future!

RIP, Forrest J Ackerman

RIP, Forrest J Ackerman, the pioneering science fiction fan, editor and writer who coined the term "sci-fi," founded Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, 4e left the party on December 4, at 92, after a long illness. of heart failure at home at the legendary Ackermansion in Los Feliz in Los Angeles.
Among those who grew up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland was author Stephen King. Other childhood readers included movie directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Steven Spielberg, who once autographed a poster of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" for Ackerman, saying, "A generation of fantasy lovers thank you for raising us so well."
Ackerman was a celebrity in his own right, once signing 10,000 autographs during a three-day monster-movie convention in New York City.
This, after all, was the man who created and wrote the comic book characters Vampirella and Jeanie of Questar and was the ultimate fan's fan: a man who actually had known Lugosi and Karloff and whose priceless collection of science-fiction, horror and fantasy artifacts ran to some 300,000 items.
(from boingboing)

Beautiful Fractal Art

Giovanni C. is an astounding Italian digital artist (and as he says, 'a chaos artist and also a carbon-based bipedal life form descended from an ape'.)
He makes particularly creative and psychedelic fractals: if you like this kind of art, don't miss his colourful site

Monumental Video Projection

Great examples of video projection on 3D objects (from Snotr)

The Fantastic Art of Madeline Von Foerster

Born in San Francisco in a family with German, Austrian and Russian cultural origins, Madeline Von Foerster attended art school in Mannheim, Germany, for a time before returning to the S. Francisco area to complete school at the California College of Arts and Crafts.

Visit her fascinating site here

Strange, Exotic Endangered Species

See and learn about 20+ Exotic endangered species like the Mexican walking fish, the hairy-nose wombat, the Glass Frog or the Lord Howe Island stick insect

on webecoist

The Luminescent Fungi of Japan

During the rainy season in some of the Japanese forests is possible to see strange, luminescent fungi growing on the trunk of trees. Through a chemical reaction produced by an enzyme, these fungi emit a light that shines on a greenish tone.

The reason for the phenomenon of still bioluminescent fungi has not been scientifically explained, but is believed to be a response to the need for survival: the shining attracts insects that help to disperse spores in an environment where the dispersal of wind is very limited.

(read more on rincondelmisterio)

LEAP: Cops with a Cause

If you think that you can find a good cop just in the "good cop/bad cop" game during police interrogation, you have to re-think about that.

(From the LEAP web site:)

Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs. Although those who speak publicly for LEAP are people from the law enforcement and criminal justice communities, a large number of our supporting members do not have such experience. You don't have to have law enforcement experience to join us.By continuing to fight the so-called "War on Drugs", the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical and more effective public policy.Please consider joining us and helping us to achieve our goals: 1) to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current policies, and 2) to restore the public's respect for police, which respect has been greatly diminished by law enforcement's involvement in enforcing drug prohibition.

I strongly invite my blog readers to visit LEAP site and give your support joining this association of brave people and activists fighting the good fight.