Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

My big thing in life is consent. I've been involved in a number of projects that push human behavior even farther than BME does (like EroticDeath.com, a contact site for “murders seeking victims” and vice-versa, currently offline), but for all of them the thing that unifies them is consent. I feel very strongly that if someone can give clear and informed consent for an act that doesn't harm anyone else — even if it harms them — they should be permitted to do so… and if consent can not be given for an action, it needs to be very carefully considered. That's part of the reason I get so angry when people try to censor BME (and a part of why I'm vegan, which may give me neurological blessings).

Speaking of not giving consent in the most extreme of cases — death — is this story via Boing Boing on a parasitic twin murder (you may not agree with my choice of word) that's a just little disturbing. That's not just a “birth defect” as they call it in the MSNBC article — the second head smiled, responded, blinked, and as I understand it appeared to be sentient. This raises an interesting question — if it will improve your life, can you murder your [handicapped] siblings without their consent?

Obviously the question is a lot more complicated than just that, but that is a part of it. Well, if that's already starting to give you nightmares, try and focus on the picture below. The goal of the game is, as it often is on my page, to try and figure out exactly what you're looking at. The answer will be in one of the next BME/HARD updates.

Other than that, the guys that did the expose on Jeff Gannon want to talk to me. Luckily I blabber about my past so openly that I don't think there's anything I have to worry about.

A few days ago I mentioned being on a bus with a Mormon missionary. The story I forgot to include was of his conversation with the guy from Guadalajara. The local guy had brough along a bunch of Modelo-brand beer and had generously offered to share it with others, which turned into a chat about beer around the world. After talking about different brands of Mexican beer for a while, the American guy said to him — with complete sincerity and a straight face — “Yeah, we have pretty good beer in the States as well… some of the best kinds are Miller Lite and Coors Lite.”

The Effects of American Beer

The guy on the left in the picture above looks suspiciously like my Mormon co-passenger. I suppose realizing that a number of people were looking at him incredulously and that the conversation had abruptly ended, he clarified his statement — “but we'll drink anything if it'll get us drunk.”

Maybe I've drank a little bit too much Québécois Apocalypse Beer, but I don't think I could get drunk off anything ending with a four letter synonym for “light”, no matter how much I drank.

In any case, real Americans do cocaine.

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DISCLAIMER: This is a humorous entry. There are tons of good microbrews in America. Just avoid anything ending in “LITE”.