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The New Conformity	March 1, 2010, 5:04PM
by: quirky_one
Not long ago, the businessman was an admired symbol of success. Today conforming nonconformists cut him down to size. The businessman is a loser, an anonymous cog. He has not reclaimed his identity, announced his specialness. As the rising tide of nonconforming conformity crests into a tidal wave, the roles that once symbolized respectability and normalcy (e.g., the corporate player) become targets of ridicule. As a result, almost everyone is an aspiring celeb, remixologist, or rock star biding time on the tradingroom floor. They are announcing themselves to the world as individuals dedicated to the establishment of their own fleeting narratives and recorded legacies. By regulary pursuing activities that function primarily as channels to proclaim difference, mixing ongoing performance with their everyday responsibilities and deliberately seeking a place for themselves in the global mass culture - intentionally signalling their specialness. The obsessive marketing of one's "individuality" as celebrity can be found all over the world. Jean-Marie Messier was dubbed "France's first rock star CEO" by Fortune. He wrote a book called J6M.COM where he tells us in this modest tome,"Never having to answer to a higher authority, that is what guided me. I have been lucky. At each turn in my career, I have succeeded in increasing my independence." Not long ago such crass egotism and dismissal of the idea that there might be a higher authority thatn the successful CEO would have been shocking. But in the age of new conformity, he's just very special. Reality TV further spreads the ideology of new conformity. Everyone could and should sperate themselves from the crowd, be more themselves. Losers are those who are content to stick to the crowd. Winners are those who reinvent themselves to stand out. Reality TV pulls us even further into the dreamy world of externalized perpetual performance and internal normalcy that is the hallmark of the new confromity. The message is clear: With a little tweaking, you, too can be a more and better you.
topic: Philosophy
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Human for Humanity's Sake	January 4, 2010, 5:26PM
by: Sgath
This is something I wrote nearly 5 years ago, which I am posting to give you some food for thought. What is life? An atheist would likely describe it in terms of reproduction, eating, adaptation, pleasure, and survival. A philosopher might consider it the soul, or the power that guides the unity of matter in an organism. There are as many working definitions as there are interpretations as to what makes life tick, and what makes the human life what it is. What if humanity, through technological means, suddenly ascended its biological limitations and achieved immortality? What drastic changes would shake the Earth with thisnew concept of life? The prospect of transferring consciousness from carbon to silicon-based machines is not a new one; it has been the buzz of science fiction for decades. As Hans Moravec, a research professor at the Robotics Institute of CMU suggested, “it will soon be possible to download human consciousness into a computer”(Moravec 1988). Given the explosion of computer technology in the last four decades, it should be inevitable within this millennium for humanity’s need to survive to be quenched absolutely. Though the idea of getting an infinite amount of time in which to live and grow can seem tempting, it would prove disastrous to all life on this planet. Important people would be the first to benefit, and step into the confines of a cold, calculating machine. In practice, leaders that can live forever can lead forever. Terrorists that can live forever, can terrorize forever. Life on Earth is not ready to live forever. If humanity could truly step beyond its body into a new mechanical one, would it lose anything? Indeed, the human body, even the brain itself is mechanical, guided and powered by electrical impulses, but is that all there is? Leaving behind the human brain may mean leaving behind the human soul, only to be born again in unpredictable and potentially lifeless ways. Without death, how can human beings even be alive? Everything living dies. In a world without all the drab, pain, and drama of human experience, how could life yearn towards spirituality or art, when it is fuelled by these things? The human mind has far too much to lose, to explore unknown environments. Imagine a world where Adolf Hitler won World War Two. Now imagine a world in the not too distant future, where a man such as Hitler, having conquered the Earth and subduing all resistance, is immortal. He resides somewhere in a computer, perhaps issuing orders to his armies, perhaps leading them in some monstrous machine. There are back up copies of his consciousness in case some desperate ‘terrorist’ force should manage to destroy his metallic body. This man can theoretically rule the entire planet with an iron fist for an amount of time not even imaginable to ancient Rome. There is no argument that by transferring human consciousness into a machine, humanity could preserve its best thinkers, its greatest saints, and its most brilliant artists. However, in a real life application, it is more likely politicians would have themselves immortalized, not to mention the social conflicts that could arise between humans and ‘ascended’ humans, or “posthumans” as Hayles more accurately put it(qtd. in Christmas and Mcgee 2003). Not only the best, but the worst of humanity would be preserved. This would eliminate the ability for change, and improvement. Since the very first atomic bomb, the destructive potential of mankind has been blatantly apparent. Humanity has always had a tendency to use its technological discoveries for destructive purposes. Indeed, devices such as RADAR and the internet were first used for military purposes. Technology always increases the most under the threat of war such as the first splitting of the atom. If the human mind were ready to transfer itself into a computer, it would be mature enough and advanced enough not to use its technology towards destructive purposes. It would take centuries for the maturity of humankind to reach the maturity of its technology, and considering the rate at which technology is improving, this is not likely to change. Einstein once said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”(qtd. in Quote Garden 2005). Humanity is not ready to move to another level of existence, when it has not reached the potential of the level it is at. Whatever it is that makes the human experience unique, it is certainly greatly influenced by the human brain. It contains the mind, shelters it, and helps define it through the movements therein. If the mind were transferred into another container, another shelter, or suddenly another set of movements, the mind would not be the same. It would merely become some computer spitting out all the things the mind had once learned, but lacking whatever essence, whatever soul that mind contained. This religious perspective obviously includes assumptions such as the brain not being just a computer that spits out things. In the case that it is not, humans would be throwing away their very souls as they know them in trade for a flavourless existence. When the opportunity arises, humanity should turn its back on forsaking itself. It has plenty of time to grow, improve, and evolve far beyond any imagination. It does not need clumsy technology to lock it in a static, unchanging state. To attempt to answer the question of what life is, the most dominant common characteristic between all living things is that all of them die. There is no worm, rodent, or whale that does meet its death. There is no organism that is not decaying as it grows; entropy affects all things. Human consciousness inside a computer does not need to corrode, it can be transferred to a new disk, or a new hard drive from which to remain static and stale. Since the very basic principles of life such as death are not a part of this ‘conscious’ existence, how can it even be considered alive? It does not fit the most common definitions. Philosophically it may be alive; it may be the guiding force behind the computer it inhabits, but still it will not die. Without this common trait with humans, this new robotic human would be drastically different. Without pain, could a being appreciate pleasure? Without the value of death, could a being appreciate the value of life? From a mind transferred into a computer, there may come a life form that disregards any sense of morality. Indeed, it may have no qualms in killing other beings that get in its way simply because it does not appreciate the value of that life. If humans give up their sense of value towards life, what is the point in wanting to live forever? As far as is currently known, the concepts of beauty and the creation of art are strictly human things. Could conscious machines have a concept of art, or would it simply rate it on written aesthetic principles? The love of mystery and knowledge in mankind is a unique thing. There is no telling how the concept of beauty and art would change with a brain no longer guided by its conscious and unconscious workings or its right and left hemispheres. Art comes from some chaotic mixture of chemicals, or some madly firing synapses that scratch and glide along neurons at an insane speed, with insights that are even more insane. In the confines of a silicon computer, with a silicon brain, would there be the same chaos that pulls humanity towards beauty and art? As Nietzsche, the nihilistic German philosopher once said “One must have chaos in one’s soul to give birth to a dancing star”(Nietzsche ch.5). What dancing stars can humanity create without the chaos of the organic brain? What beauty can humanity see, without a soul to say ‘I have seen it all before, and it touches me like the fire in the cosmos’? Humankind must not give up that chaotic state in which miracles of comprehension are created, for they may never be created once trapped in an eternal state of computation made of cold, hard metal. It is only a matter of time before humans discover a mode in which to transfer their minds across the organic veil of mammalian life into a silicon machine. The brain has already been discovered to closely resemble modern computers. When the option of such a transfer becomes available, humanity must be clear in its wishes to grow and evolve before it immaturely seals its fate in metal. It must be ready for such a transfer. It will not likely be ready until a very long time after the actual discovery of the technology. Given an unlimited amount of time in a mechanized reality, politicians could brutally rule indefinitely. It is hard to imagine how a logical, thinking, fallible organism could dream of a system of mind that is limited by no deadline. Without death, humans are little more than monsters, shadows of beings that once loved and lived and shiver against stone walls. Minds in silicon would be mere ghosts of the organic world in which they once lived. Without the tragedy of transience, beauty and art seems to be something totally incomprehensible, and entirely lost. Considering all of these things, any human that still wants to be immortal under the explored terms has no appreciation of what makes him or her a human being. That is what humanity needs, a little more appreciation, and a few less hasty decisions.
topic: Essays
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Happy Holidays...	December 25, 2009, 11:12AM
by: eon
Happy Holidays to all! Have fun, be safe and all of that good stuff.
topic: Site News
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Review of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2	October 31, 2009, 8:38PM
by: King.of.Damned.Souls
Hello, everyone and welcome to the crazy King's psycho reviews. My first review will be of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Playstation 3. Being a big Marvel fan, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this game. I'm going to give this game an 8/10, and I'll tell you why by breaking it down into categories. Graphics: 10/10. This game has stunning visuals, backed by amazing character detail. Story: 8/10. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 follows the Marvel Civil War storyline for the first half of the game, which I loved because that is one of my favorite storylines in the entire Marvel Universe, but broke off into its own story, which kind of disappointed me. Gameplay: 10/10. Amazingly fluid fighting, spot-on character specific abilities, and the new fusion abilities blew me away. I have to say this is the highlight of the game. Voices: 10/10. An amazing job well done on the voices. Voice actors like David Kaye, whom anime fans may recognize as Sesshomaru from Inuyasha or Treize Kushrenada from Gundam Wing, or as Optimus Prime from Transformers Animated, Steve Blum, who plays Wolverine in Wolverine and the X-Men, and Spike from Cowboy Bebop, and last but certainly not least, Crispin Freeman, whom most recognize as Itachi Uchiha from Naruto or Alucard from Hellsing. And finally, music: 8/10. The music is incredible, but sometimes tends to be a bit weak in certain areas. In conclusion, I will start rating games overall as a Drop, Rent, or Buy. I rate this a Rent, only because the game is short, even if you play both sides. We're talking 15-20 hours to play both sides if you speed run. If you take your time, however, to find everything in the game, you're looking at a good 40 or so hours. Thank you. You are now free to move about your psyche.
topic: Game Reviews
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BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA	October 9, 2009, 10:37AM
by: Ellen
Horace Miner From Horace Miner, "Body Ritual among the Nacirema." Reproduced by permission of the American Anthropological Association from The American Anthropologist, vol. 58 (1956), pp. 503-507. ________________________________________ Most cultures exhibit a particular configuration or style. A single value or pattern of perceiving the world often leaves its stamp on several institutions in the society. Examples are "machismo" in Spanish-influenced cultures, "face" in Japanese culture, and "pollution by females" in some highland New Guinea cultures. Here Horace Miner demonstrates that "attitudes about the body" have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacireman society. The anthropologist has become so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different peoples behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic customs. In fact, if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe. This point has, in fact, been expressed with respect to clan organization by Murdock. In this light, the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go. Professor Linton first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago, but the culture of this people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Creel the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east.... Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which as evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people's time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique. The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of the powerful influences of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls. While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. I was able, however, to establish sufficient rapport with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me. The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm. The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is placed in the charmbox of the household shrine. As these magical materials are specific for certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of the people are many, the charm-box is usually full to overflowing. The magical packets are so numerous that people forget what their purposes were and fear to use them again. While the natives are very vague on this point, we can only assume that the idea in retaining all the old magical materials is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body rituals are conducted, will in some way protect the worshipper. Beneath the charm-box is a small font. Each day every member of the family, in succession, enters the shrine room, bows his head before the charm-box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font, and proceeds with a brief rite of ablution. The holy waters are secured from the Water Temple of the community, where the priests conduct elaborate ceremonies to make the liquid ritually pure. In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, and below the medicine men in prestige, are specialists whose designation is best translated "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber. The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact that these people are so punctilious about care of the mouth, this rite involves a practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures. In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year. These practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client. The holy-mouth-man open the clients mouth and, using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. If there age no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the supernatural substance can be applied. In the client's view, the purpose of these ministrations is to arrest decay and to draw friends. The extremely sacred and traditional character of the rite is evident in the fact that the natives return to the holy--mouth-men year after year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to decay. It is to be hoped that, when a thorough study of the Nacirema is made, there will be careful inquiry into the personality structure of these people. One has but to watch the gleam in the eye of a holy- mouth-man, as he jabs an awl into an exposed nerve, to suspect that a certain amount of sadism is involved. If this can be established, a very interesting pattern emerges, for most of the population shows definite masochistic tendencies. It was to these that Professor Linton referred in discussing a distinctive part of the daily body ritual which is performed only by men. This part of the rite involves scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument. Special women's rites are performed only four times during each lunar month, but what they lack in frequency is made up in barbarity. As part of this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour. The theoretically interesting point is that what seems to be a preponderantly masochistic people have developed sadistic specialists. The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size. The more elaborate ceremonies required to treat very sick patients can only be performed at this temple. These ceremonies involve not only the thaumaturge but a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the temple chambers in distinctive costume and head- dress. The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that it is phenomenal that a fair proportion of the really sick natives who enter the temple The concept of culture ever recover. Small children whose indoctrination is still incomplete have been known to resist attempts to take them to the temple because "that is where you go to die." Despite this fact, sick adults are not only willing but eager to undergo the protracted ritual purification, if they can afford to do so. No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained admission and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift. The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In everyday life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions. Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household shrine, where they are ritualized as part of the body-rites. Psychological shock results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso. A man, whose own wife has never seen him in an excretory act, suddenly finds himself naked and assisted by a vestal maiden while he performs his natural functions into a sacred vessel. This sort of ceremonial treatment is necessitated by the fact that the excreta are used by a diviner to ascertain the course and nature of the client's sickness. Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men. Few supplicants in the temple are well enough to do anything but lie on their hard beds. The daily ceremonies, like the rites of the holy-mouth-men, involve discomfort and torture. With ritual precision, the vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing ablutions, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained. At other times they insert magic wands in the supplicant's mouth or force him to eat substances which are supposed to be healing. From time to time the medicine men come to their clients and jab magically treated needles into their flesh. The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men. There remains one other kind of practitioner, known as a "listener." This witchdoctor has the power to exorcise the devils that lodge in the heads of people who have been bewitched. The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children. Mothers are particularly suspected of putting a curse on children while teaching them the secret body rituals. The counter-magic of the witchdoctor is unusual in its lack of ritual. The patient simply tells the "listener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember. The memory displayed by the Nacirerna in these exorcism sessions is truly remarkable. It is not uncommon for the patient to bemoan the rejection he felt upon being weaned as a babe, and a few individuals even see their troubles going back to the traumatic effects of their own birth. In conclusion, mention must be made of certain practices which have their base in native esthetics but which depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body and its functions. There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. Still other rites are used to make women's breasts larger if they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation. A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hyper-mamrnary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee. Reference has already been made to the fact that excretory functions are ritualized, routinized, and relegated to secrecy. Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturition takes place in secret, without friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants. Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves. But even such exotic customs as these take on real meaning when they are viewed with the insight provided by Malinowski when he wrote: "Looking from far and above, from our high places of safety in the developed civilization, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of civilization." References Linton, Ralph. 1936. The Study of Man. New York: D. Appleton-Century. Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1948. Magic, Science, and Religion. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press. Murdock, George P. 1949. Social Structure. New York: Macmillan.
topic: Essays
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New Comment Notifications by Email	October 2, 2009, 10:10PM
by: eon
A new feature has been added which will make it a little easier to keep track of your DS account without having to log in: Comment notifications by email. Here's the skinny on how it works: If you have logged out or have been idle for more than 15 minutes and receive a new comment on DS, an email will be sent to your registered email address letting you know about it. You will only receive emails about individual comments sent directly to you. This means you won't be pestered about things like broadcast messages, group invites, etc.. As a measure against potential abuse (or just too much email), no more than one email will be sent to you per 30 minute period. Extra emails will just be dropped (they won't queue up or anything like that). Each email you receive will give you an updated list of all members who have sent you unread comments. This behavior is enabled by default. However, if you do not wish to receive email notices, it is easy to disable. Just go to your Control Panel and then scroll down the page to the 'Email Notices' section. Change the setting to 'Off' and you won't be sent any more notices. I hope you find this useful and . . . Enjoy.
topic: Site News
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Poetry and Short Story Contests	September 11, 2009, 5:19PM
by: Sgath
Short Story Contest by Klarth Calling all writers! Do you toil endless hours crafting works of prose? Do you want to share your work with others in a constructive environment that fosters healthy discussion? Well, look no further, the Literature Forum is proud to welcome you into its ranks! And what's more, you have a chance to win a full year's supply of Andromeda premium Membership. Andromeda, you say? What's that? If you don't know, then I'd bet you'd like to, and if you do, I'd bet you want more. So check out our Short Story Contest, which is accepting entries until September 30th. As usual, all the relevant information can be found here. Good luck, and good reading! New Poetry Contest! After the success of the first contest and the amount of contestants that took part, I've decided to start another! Prizes include 30 days andromeda time for the winner and 10 days for the runner up. If you didn't get a chance to take part last time, or you didn't win, well now is your chance! Drop by the Poetry Forum and check it out. Recent Poetry Contest Winners 1st Place - Ozymandias We burn like paper cranes in the stale furnace of ennui head on fire with the kudzu cancer blues we enter in droves into the belly of the sea for lack of a better death to pursue call me sick call me unprepared call me a prophet in need of repair call me the architect lost in his plans call me a fool honey, call me the lamb just call me what I am we lock ourselves away in space-age melanoma boxes in mute scorn of the star that gifted us with vision and wealth we cry for release just like a monsoon in a matchbox then stagger to the grave for a handshake and a toast to our health take me to heaven man, take me to hell take me to the mountain where the angels fell take me to tomorrow so I won't be so blue take me away honey, take me in you we grovel before wise men and we grow drunk on their words though they ain't said nothing that the coyote ain't done we're marked for death before we've even begun smote by the moon and burning in the heat of the sun 2nd Place - Illmortal's "If I were you" If I were you Then I would gladly loan to me a dollar or two So I could eat And maybe get just one good night of sleep But I'm not And I'm stranded like a castaway in this town And you seem so unwilling to help a fellow when he's down If I were you That's what I'd do If I were you I wouldn't be out on these streets the whole night through Yeah I'd have a job And a pretty wife that I could come home to But I don't And I have twenty cents left to my name And you're the only one left here that I have to blame If I were you That's what I'd do Sir it's not my way to take from you the things I haven't earned I wish I could go back and heed the lessons I have learned But I can't So you'll gladly put your money in this sack Yes sir this thing is loaded And I have the hammer back If I were you That's what I'd do 3rd Place - Satchell's "Exercise in Beauty" There exists in this world a serene beauty that arrives without leaving. Awoken just as you are, spread as far as your eye lashes may reach. A singing in the woodwork- A chime in the wind- A flicker in the tongue- The magic of this world, twisted and fractured, curled and laced between the seams of life. Steam filtered between the gaps, between truth and fable. Back-light and full of luster, the clouds whispered, "Gunpowder muskrat." "Excuse me?" He said.
topic: Current Events
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The man that is LaVeyan Satanists	September 3, 2009, 7:34AM
by: Syn
On Walpurgisnacht of 1966, Anton Szandor LaVey began the Church of Satan. Beforehand, he had given lectures from his home, the infamous Black House, charging two dollars for admittance. He formed a "Magic Circle" with his closest associates, with ceremonial magic. It was suggested to LaVey that he had enough material to start an organized religion. The Church of Satan attracted a great deal of publicity. Its use of nude women as altars, and performances of a Satanic wedding and funeral service, brought it much attention. Anton LaVey shaved his head and wore a white clerical collar, sometimes even wearing horns to complete the image of the Devil incarnate. His flamboyant personality attracted many followers and admirers. In 1969, LaVey published The Satanic Bible, which, even to this day, remains the most authoritative literature on the subject of LaVeyan Satanism, outlining the basic concepts, philosophy and rituals of the religion. A companion book, The Satanic Rituals, published in 1972, presents an array of rituals associated with Satanism throughout the ages, but not necessarily central to the Church's belief system. LaVey also released other literature to further expand on the ideology, namely The Satanic Witch (previously published as The Compleat Witch), and 2 essay anthologies: The Devil's Notebook and Satan Speaks! Since its inception, many individuals sought to recreate LaVey's success by founding new organizations claiming the throne of "true" Satanism, but most were short-lived and ceased to exist altogether. Some, however, have gained remarkable success, allegedly due to the founders' previously strong relations with the Church of Satan. The reasons for the breakaway from LaVey's church were cited as being a difference in ideology, or commercialization of the institution, thus seeking to recreate its previous underground and elitist status. One notable example is the formation of the Temple of Set in 1975 by former Church of Satan member Michael Aquino, who cites disagreement over LaVey's atheism. Aquino believed in a living deity, whom he called Set. The other major organization affiliated with LaVeyan ideology is the First Satanic Church, founded in 1999 by Anton LaVey's daughter, Karla LaVey. She argues that, after her father's death, the church moved away from his original modus operandi, and shifted towards a commercial money making machine. Thus, the First Satanic Church is considered a re-founding of the original one. Today, the Church of Satan is still viewed as the de facto representation of LaVeyan Satanism in the public eye, and fresh publications are released, applying Satanic philosophies to topics of contemporary interest.
topic: Essays
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Free Prizes! A Cooking Contest and a Poetry Contest	August 30, 2009, 11:46PM
by: Sgath
Cooking Contest: As connected as we are, most people don't really get to experience foods outside of our own region. Sure, everyone has food network, but that's only one vision of what food is. I propose a contest. Show us a food near and dear to you. Redefine our idea of food. Challenge our preconceptions of what constitutes a sandwich. Now is your chance to rock someone's world. The winner will be chosen by popular vote, and will recieve 30 days of Andromeda time for their account, and their entry will be posted in the DS Cooking Show. The food section is running a contest ending Sunday, September 6th. Post a recipe and the method for making it Here. It can have pictures, or videos, or anything inbetween. All that i ask is that you take the opportunity to show me what you like, and how to make it. How you do that is up to you. Full rules and more can be found at the link above. Poetry Contest Do you dream of being a famous poet someday? Do you write tirelessly through the night attempting the convey a fleeting image of the beauty and ceaseless drama of life and our surroundings? The Dead Poets Society forum is having a poetry contest, so come and show off your skills as a poet! Prizes include 30 days of Andromeda time for your Darkstarlings account, and the runner up receives 10 days. Winners will have their poems featured on the forum as contest winners. To check out the details and to submit your poem, click here.
topic: Current Events
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New Site Theme	August 18, 2009, 1:38PM
by: eon
Thanks to a.better.kiss for our first original site theme, "Grey Deco". To try it out, go to 'Control Panel' and on the 'Edit Profile' page look under the 'Site Theme' selections for 'Grey Deco'. If you decide to use it, be sure and drop by a.better.kiss's profile and say thanks. If you'd like to design your own site theme, see the previous news post!
topic: Site News
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