[Note: Initially this seemed to be coming off Toronto Island Airport]
This is a different airport than the one you fly into internationally (this is coming off the Toronto Islands it looks like). I don't know what the source of the smoke is, but to put it into context size-wise, the CN tower is over 1,800 feet high and they are about the same distance away. There are also a number of fuel holding silos for the tankers that dock there.
If a single country can figure out how to do inexpensive space travel, they stand poised to be the dominant force of the 21st century. Not so much in terms of “victory”, but in terms of deciding what humanity is to become. The primary reason for this is advanced materials and manufacturing that are made possible when you put your “factories” into a micro-gravity environment. They potentially allow us to build hugely more powerful… everything. Whoever maintains that lead gets to decide the course of the next stage in human history as we colonize the solar system and then the galaxy beyond.
At 9:30 AM EST Monday morning Burt Rutan's civilian Spaceship One will launch, carried aloft by the White Knight, the first totally privately funded and developed manned space mission. Spaceship one will fly to 62 miles in height, the boundary of where our little planet ends and the vast reaches of outer space begin. CNN should be playing it, and there is a live webcast over at MSNBC assuming they don't get flooded with viewers. There is more info over on the Scaled Composites page as well.
Seriously, how much more exciting could the future be? This is an awesome time to be alive… We are simultaneously watching the governments of superpowers bring their nations to the verge of collapse with the ignorance of war, while at the same time watching the passion of small groups of single individuals rocket us into a new era. We humans have done amazing things before, but this is the only path that will allow us to become Gods, to become immortal, and to survive our sun's death billions of years from now.
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A good friend of mine that is a tattoo artist believes that a small percentage of his clients are demons a la the movie Frailty. While he's tattooing them he becomes aware of their sins and is deeply shaken by it. I know another artist who left the industry out of fear for his own soul because he felt that some of their evil was flowing into him when he worked on them. Alex Binnie said “when you open the flesh you let something in”, but that “something” flows both ways. There are at least three murderers that I know of that have been on the cover of BME, one of them a serial killer and another a child rapist and murderer. There are approximately a dozen current IAM members who have murdered, and about double that number that have committed violent rape (note: before you freak out, that's to be expected in a group this large).
Anyway, the reason I'm writing this here is I'd like to get your experiences. I will commit to keeping your identity anonymous (but I hope you'll not hide your identity from me because I want to try and keep the BS-level to a minimum). I believe that demonic encounters (define as you see fit) are not at all uncommon and that they're something many artists have gone through (whether you want to explain them on a religious level or just a “bad vibes” level). If you can, please answer the following questions:
- Describe your encounter with the demon — how did you know what they were? How did it hit you? Was it just a "feeling", or a series of visions, or something that triggered in other senses?
- What did they look like in real life? Did the mod they ask for reflect their nature (or the opposite) in any way?
- Do you identify beings of other "types" as well?
- Does this come to you only when opening the flesh, or does it come at other times?
- What did you do when you found out? Did you tell them? Did they know?
- What is your personal spiritual/religious view of the world? Did these events change them?
- What, if any, is your explanation for the encounter? (ie. Genuine religious experience, "bad vibes" amplified by a hangover, whatever).
Any other directions you'd like to expand are valid. I'd prefer if responses were emailed to me at media@bmezine.com (although if you'd rather IM me that's fine too). Again, you are more than welcome to write me anonymously, but if you can tell me who you are it would be immensely appreciated and I will keep your identity out of the article unless you explicity permit me to use it.
Note: If you think the above is nuts, please don't bother writing me about it. I'm perfectly aware that not everyone can see demons, and of course it must seem like madness to them.
Before I get into that, can anyone tell me why Paul Johnson was wearing US prison garb in his execution and hostage videos? (more, more)
As has been shown by the many sad interviews with the impoverished families of dead US soldiers, the majority of those dying are America's poor. They join the military machine often because they have no other way of escaping from poverty, only to discover that they've just traded one misery for another. Al Lorentz, currently stationed in Iraq, writes urging the draft be reinstated,
I find it patently un-American and unpatriotic to place the burden of war on a small stratum of society. War is a sad event that, in a great nation like the United States, should be shared equally.There is the issue of whose children shall actually go and do the fighting and dying. I notice that the children of our political elite are not here with us in Iraq. We need to draft, right now, the children of every politician in our federal government and every executive in our military industrial complex. We must also draft the wife or husband of each politician and defense contractor.
They will be put into frontline combat units in the most dangerous areas. They could, for instance, be used as shock troops in operations like Najaf and Fallujah. After all, if it's good enough for our kids and spouses, it's got to be good enough for theirs.
These spouses and kids need to serve on a "first in, last out" basis. They will be required to roll up their sleeves and take the anthrax and other experimental injections and drugs that the soldiers do. They will go to war with the same equipment the rest of us use, and if there is a shortage of items like body armor, boots or uniforms, they will be at the end of the receiving line.
During war, those “helping the war along” with political action, supplying arms, gasoline, whatever, become monstrously wealthy while simultaneously living in total luxury and safety. With billions being spent on the war, every dead American soldier makes some company other million dollars. How is that right? Here's what I see: idealistic brave young people dying to make traitors rich, tricked with the aid of an ignorance the rich have worked very hard to ensure through the destruction of the rural economy, the school system, and every other tool of the people.
I was watching CNN yesterday and they were talking about some program the US government has started to help soldiers' familes donate money to properly supply the troops with the things they need… I guess it's no problem to come up with billions for Halliburton, but the men and women who are sacrificing their lives aren't worth that much. Does no one see how wrong it is to try and “trick” their equally poor communities into paying the bills that the government can't pay because they've already handed it all to wealthy buddies?
Two weeks from today is BMEFEST!!!
Date: July 2, 2004
Location: Lamport Stadium, Toronto (King and Dufferin)
More info is on Blake and Badur's pages (and they deserve the credit for the success). We're expecting something like 400 to 800 people this year, and you will have to sign in with an IAM identity so don't think that you can gate-crash! Guests are fine, but officially it's one guest per member, so if you're going over that check first please (expired accounts are fine as long as they are still on the site).
I should let people know that MuchMusic is planning on being there, as will Guiness since there's a world record attempt (at least one that I know of) being done. There are a number of surprise guests in the works, and there are bands, vendors, a charity art auction, a beer tent, and of course tons and tons of wonderful people (which is the real reason for having it of course)!
Oh, and there are lots of shirts too… Below is the main one (which we have in lots of colors), and there are also ones for the Pain Olympics, for ModCon (what?), and for the various bands that are playing. Don't worry about requesting a shirt on the RSVP list by the way, it's got to be first-come-first serve (but we have lots). We'll get a full info page up with directions (driving and transit), full event details, and all that by Monday (well, Monday during the day some time).
