Friday, September 19, 2008

physiological importance of the pinneal gland

The Principia Discordia tells us that the pinneal gland is very important. Cool but I didn't really understand the reference. Why people would place this supposed third eye in a gland? Wikipedia said that the cells you'd find in a dissected pinneal gland seem to be closely related to eye cells. I let it go.

Two days ago while taking a nap, I had a vivid dream. The viewpoint appeared in a sunny graveyard, next to an empty hole in the ground that occupied the space directly in front of an old, granite headstone. I found myself there, besides a stooped, hooded figure w/ wide-brimmed hat. He gestured with his left hand to a space in front of us, where a small ball of living, pink flesh appeared. It hung steady 6(ish) feet off the ground. As my mysterious companion wiggled his fingers, it unfolded like a flower. This unfolding revealed that the ball had a cavity inside, a cavity which was filled with black, aetheric vapor.

Recently, my hermit time has brought on deep, midbrow sensations that I had never felt before. More lately, these uncanny vibes have occurred while I sit typing, or contort my body into yoga poses. I decided that perhaps, this third eye activity had a known physiological manifestation. Pinneal gland? I trust the Taoist hsien's wisdom, and they do indeed have much to tell us on the subject.

From what I've read so far, they call the pinneal gland one of "9 gems that distill essence". The melatonin it synthesizes, late at night and early in the morning, is one of the self-begotten longevity medicines that Taoist sages cultivate. Hmm. Melatonin is a powerful anti-oxidant, which means it dismantles "free radicals" and prevents them from destroying one's DNA. What an evil thing to call those troublesome oxygen molecules. Melatonin is also a hormone that keeps you happy.

I have been skipping sleep, lately. This first chapter of Ohio University has important distractions- homework, fun, etc.- and it felt like I had to just keep going. Now I am re-prioritizing. For purposes of life improvement/extension, I have to maintain a core period of darkness and relaxation so my third eye can distill more essence.

Monday, September 15, 2008

They Live (the movie)

Greetings, Noble Savages.

The other day someone linked to this article on the Monkeysphere, which is funny and cute and still explains a lot about homo sapiens sapiens sapiens. The Monkeysphere happened to mention They Live, a film about learning to see the "real" reality and the subtle forces of control controlling us ignoramuses. (Ignorami?)

I had had a hectic day bucketing tropical depression water out of the sump and pouring it down the sewer drain in the basement, and then installing the new sump pump Sharqi got at the hardware store (taking a taxi there, as the buses don't run on Sundays). Then, I helped spread gravel that a friend brought over into the puddles out by the street--to make a less muddy parking/walking surface, and give our friend something to do with the gravel they didn't want. (Even better than freecycle, it's friendcycle!)

Late that afternoon, I had a couple hours to recharge, with the house to myself even! As I've been craving movies lately (I think my brain is tired), I took the opportunity to watch They Live. It was OK. Not a must-see, but still entertaining. It's too simple to be very intellectually engaging, but an interesting and fun portrayal of a Philip-K.-Dick style "learning to see the Matrix" kind of story. It owes a lot to PKD! A lot of the acting is that kind of pseudo-acting sometimes put on by soap opera actors & professional wrestlers. There was an absurdly long drawn out brutal fistfight between two of the main characters. I get the feeling the director meant it to be absurd, but a lot of troglodyte ignorami would just cheer and/or groan in sympathy as they beat the crap out of each other. All to get him to try on those sunglasses.

Wouldn't it be nice if it were so easy to "wake up" that we could just put on special sunglasses, and see that all the signs and ads everywhere really say things like "OBEY" or "NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT" or "CONSUME", or one of my favorites, "MARRY AND REPRODUCE"?

The movie does have some subversive content; pirate broadcasters who've learned to "see" hack the TV signals and try to spread the word about how there's no middle class any more, and we're all under the control of the secret power elites. In the 20 years since They Live came out, though, I see that not much has really changed in society. Except, the 80s are back in fashion.

The most fun stuff was seeing the difference between "normal" reality and the real reality, where the ads and products are all full of mind control messages, and the uptight rich people turn out to be ugly aliens. The second most fun stuff was the glorious, totally naive/not ironic, 80s-ness of all the fashion. Whew! Those were the days.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

od arises

Randoming through the internet, I see a post by some delusion person:

As leader of the Zombanian delegation to your planet, I am hereby announcing my people's endorsement of Barack Obama as the nominee for the Democratic party.

When he makes his first state visit to Zomba, I will be proud to crown (then) President Obama with the Golden Colander as well as the equally coveted platinum egg-whisk.

"Zombans unite! You have nothing to lose but your marbles..."

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If President Obama ever makes it to central zomba proper, he'll be more likely welcomed with rotting tomatoes. Unless he makes the ice caps stop melting. Then I'll part with my golden colander. I refuse to give up the platinum egg-whisk, however.