ChurchOfBodMod

Tuesday, September 18, 2001

A number of people who sent donations and membership requests and emails to the Church over the past year have not gotten replies, or got replies months after they sent the emails. I'm sure that some of you have been watching the turmoil in the Church in an attempt to address this and other issues over the past month.

I've very pleased to say that this all seems to be straightened out — emails are getting replied to generally within 24 hours, and donations are being processed within about 72 hours. Cudos go out to Bryan, Beki, Steve, Agni, and everyone else who's been working hard to keep the church responsible to its members.

A few days ago I sent my “monthly donation” in to them, and included a joking note that said it was intended to make sure there'd be “pizza and dancing girls” at the next Church meeting. I was actually only half joking though — this recent catastrophe has very strongly reminded me that one of the wonderful things about living in the free world is that we have the right to believe what we want to and that we have the right to have a party to celebrate that, without having to worry about being dragged into a public square and be beheaded.

Now more than ever, celebrate your freedoms!

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Now this is scary.

Tuesday, September 18, 2001

I just removed the user who's page this is from, but please note — when a user is deleted for this reason, I back up the account first, and will hand over full details to the authorities if it comes to that. This is for two reasons — first, because any asshole coward that uses IAM to issue murder-suicide threats deserves whatever they get, and second, because it would be a whole lot worse if the authorities used something like this to seize all IAM records.

This is an example of a recent post from his page (I've shortened it for clarity):

okay, now its time to die
2001/09/17 20:44 i dont know why i am writing this, nobody reads it anyway, and if the cops see it , ill go to jail or some shit... [snip] the only option is to either move far away, or just die. i may not die in war, but i certainly will not die alone... [snip] i havent had any other thoughts since i found out she went to the cops. all i think is KILL.

Oh, and to any would-be criminals of any kind. It's one thing to post about your crimes after you do them, but posting about your crimes before you do them is moronic.

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The Archaic Revival

Sunday, September 16, 2001

Terrence McKenna said that the reason we are drawn to body piercing, abstract expressionism, surrealism, jazz, rock and roll, and pschedelic journeys is “nostalgia for the archaic”… That something in us recognizes that there is something inherantly wrong (perhaps “sick” would be a better word) with the time and culture we're living in. By pursuing these things we are reaching back to the “last sane moment” in our history… A time, as he put it, on the “mushroom dotted plains of Africa”.

It's something to think about — is body modification a road to salvation, or is body modification a symptom of being on the road to salvation?

"As we break out of the infantile obsessions of the marketplace, what we discover is that in the body there are Niagaras of beauty. Alien beauty, alien dimensions that are part of the self, the richest part of life."

Oh! I almost forgot — I had my first IAM related dream yesterday (at least that I remember). I should have written about it this morning, because most of it has faded. I was hosting some sort of IAM BBQ, but it wasn't here. It was in a big house, loosly modelled after Steve's place in Phoenix, but not quite the same.

It was later in the evening, and the party was starting to clear out — I think there might have been something that initiated it, but that might just be me thinking of when the police showed up at the September 2nd BBQ. I was sitting on a couch and from behind me, angst addict jumped over from behind the couch and (I think) sat down right beside me.

She says to me, “we're going to be really hot together”.

I'm of course shocked, because in the dream I'm (as well as real life) I'm dating Rachel, who for some reason wasn't either at the BBQ or in the room, I don't know which. My memory on what happened next is sort of fuzzy, but it was a short awkward “are you insane?” type conversation, and then I think I woke up.

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Working, yes…

Sunday, September 16, 2001

The update is crawling along… The plaigerism bot crashed, so it delayed everything a little — there are now well over TWO THOUSAND experiences in the tongue section alone. I'm still going to do my best to get the experience update and the forums all up by the time I go to bed today.

I got this picture below from one of my favorite car sites. It was snapped at the Frankfurt Motor Show… It's a 2001 Peugot Moonster concept (obviously they'll never actually make this car, it was the result of an internet design contest).

Anyway, check out SuperCars.net for more from the show, including the new Lamborghini (which still looks a lot like a Diablo to me). I suspect that because they have the Lambo pictures is why their site is crawling right now…

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Kit Cars

Saturday, September 15, 2001

I saw an article, I think on MSNBC somewhere, listing “10 things to do” in this time. One of them was to urge your congressperson to increase Alternative Fuel initiatives (solar power, wind power, electric cars, etc.). I wish I'd had the sense to shoot video of it, but we got to see the new 30-story high wind generator in Pickering a while ago, and it's an incredible sight. NOW magazine here in Toronto is sponsoring a contest where they're giving away an electric Dauphine (I think that's what it's called) by FeelGoodCars. I saw one in person (it was getting a stereo installed) about six months ago; they're really pretty little things.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about kit cars again, and remembered how perfect these things are for electric retrofitting. There are always lots for sale on eBay at decent prices. Retrofitting is generally a five to ten thousand dollar investment though as far as know though, but over time, it equals out.

I've always been a fan of the Scarab. This is actually not a full car, it's the front suspension and steering from a VW Beetle, and then any old motorcycle welded to the front. Even if not converted to run on alternative fuels, it's a relatively low-consumption vehicle.

This is a March Hare — there were a few other vehicles in the same vein, most notably the Meyers-Manx SR that attempted to take the “vibe” of a dunebuggy and create an all-season exotic car. Another real easy electric conversion — there are adaptors allowing big electric engines to be bolted straight to the VW tranny and wiring kits as well. This is the type of conversion that can be done in a home garage.

The rights to the Invader GT molds are actually currently owned by an electric car company, along with the old Kelmark molds. Unlike the March Hare, it's running on a full-length wheelbase and has lots of room for batteries. Personally I think it's kind of ugly (the shot above is from a flattering angle), but it sure is exotic.

Of course, if you just want to go stupid-fast, you can't really go wrong with a big V8.
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