party with a star!

This is an actual ad that showed up on myspace.



Win a night out with Vanilla Ice.

And not the Vanilla Ice you remember. Not Ice Ice Baby. No, this is Thug Vanilla Ice. Notice the tatts and the buffness. And he's standing on broken up concrete blocks. That's his house, yo. Thug Vanilla Ice is street and that's his hood he's standing on.

He'll kick your ass if you say Ice Ice Baby or remind him in any way of his unfortunate big pants past.

Despite his new thug look, he's keeping the stupid name, Vanilla Ice. He doesn't want to be remembered as that guy, but he doesn't want to give up the name cause without that, he wouldn't even be a washed up celebrity that people can make fun of.

Oh yes, good times.

party with a star!

This is an actual ad that showed up on myspace.



Win a night out with Vanilla Ice.

And not the Vanilla Ice you remember. Not Ice Ice Baby. No, this is Thug Vanilla Ice. Notice the tatts and the buffness. And he's standing on broken up concrete blocks. That's his house, yo. Thug Vanilla Ice is street and that's his hood he's standing on.

He'll kick your ass if you say Ice Ice Baby or remind him in any way of his unfortunate big pants past.

Despite his new thug look, he's keeping the stupid name, Vanilla Ice. He doesn't want to be remembered as that guy, but he doesn't want to give up the name cause without that, he wouldn't even be a washed up celebrity that people can make fun of.

Oh yes, good times.

Virginia Tech and Columbine and others like it

Lot of people want to paint the kids that did these as evil psychos. Write them off that way. It's easy. Helps keep the black from bleeding into the white. Many people want to say that evil maniacs just exist and we can't stop them so we should all be armed. That way, when the evil psychos start shooting, we can shoot back.

But really, do we want everybody carrying a gun? Think about the last time you drove your car in traffic. Remember what you thought of those other drivers? Now, give them all guns too. Doh!

I think this article does a good job examining why kids take guns to school and start shooting. It's not because they are foaming at the mouth maniacs. It's not because their liberal teachers instilled a hatred of rich people and America in them. It's because they got pushed to the point that they felt they had no alternative.

I have a lot of empathy of these kids. I was very like them in high school. It sucked for me. I was angry a lot. I don't think I was ever going to take my dad's shotgun to school and start killing motherfuckers, but I did often daydream/fantasize about turning into Conan and chopping some people up with a battle axe.

I think that we will be seeing even more of these in the future. The people in charge just don't seem to get it. They'll add more security guards and metal detectors and freak out when the goth kid writes bad poetry that his uptight english teacher finds. But they won't understand what the problem is.

We're just rats and there are too many of us. Too many jammed in the schools and the offices, being forced to behave in un-natural ways. Being forced to slowly kill ourselves to temporarily get by. And we know it. And eventually, that shit is just too much to handle.

Virginia Tech and Columbine and others like it

Lot of people want to paint the kids that did these as evil psychos. Write them off that way. It's easy. Helps keep the black from bleeding into the white. Many people want to say that evil maniacs just exist and we can't stop them so we should all be armed. That way, when the evil psychos start shooting, we can shoot back.

But really, do we want everybody carrying a gun? Think about the last time you drove your car in traffic. Remember what you thought of those other drivers? Now, give them all guns too. Doh!

I think this article does a good job examining why kids take guns to school and start shooting. It's not because they are foaming at the mouth maniacs. It's not because their liberal teachers instilled a hatred of rich people and America in them. It's because they got pushed to the point that they felt they had no alternative.

I have a lot of empathy of these kids. I was very like them in high school. It sucked for me. I was angry a lot. I don't think I was ever going to take my dad's shotgun to school and start killing motherfuckers, but I did often daydream/fantasize about turning into Conan and chopping some people up with a battle axe.

I think that we will be seeing even more of these in the future. The people in charge just don't seem to get it. They'll add more security guards and metal detectors and freak out when the goth kid writes bad poetry that his uptight english teacher finds. But they won't understand what the problem is.

We're just rats and there are too many of us. Too many jammed in the schools and the offices, being forced to behave in un-natural ways. Being forced to slowly kill ourselves to temporarily get by. And we know it. And eventually, that shit is just too much to handle.

Behavioral sink

Behavioral sink

In 1958, ethologist John B. Calhoun conducted over-population experiments on rats on a farmland in Rockfille, Maryland which resulted in the publication of an article titled Crowding into the Behavioral Sink (Scientific American, 206: 139-148) a study of behavior under conditions of overcrowding. This study has become a touchstone of urban sociology and psychology in general; the term has passed into common use.

Calhoun provided a cage of rats with food and water replenished to support any increase in population, but the cage was fixed at a size considered sufficient for only 50 rats. Population peaked at 80 rats and thereafter exhibited a variety of abnormal, often destructive behaviors; his conclusion was that space itself is a necessity. Subsequent studies involving humans have shown it is not mere lack of space that causes the behavioral sink; it is the necessity for community members to interact with one another. When forced interactions exceed some threshold, social norms break down. Thus social density is considered more critical than geometric spatial density.

Notable conditions in the behavioral sink include hyperaggression, failure to breed and nurture young normally, infant cannibalism, increased mortality at all ages, and abnormal sexual patterns. Often, population peaks, then crashes. Actual physical disease, mental illness, and psychosomatic disorders increase. There are eating disorders; in human populations, drug and alcohol use rises.

The only known counter to the effect of the behavioral sink is to reduce the frequency and intensity of social interaction.

Behavioral sink

Behavioral sink

In 1958, ethologist John B. Calhoun conducted over-population experiments on rats on a farmland in Rockfille, Maryland which resulted in the publication of an article titled Crowding into the Behavioral Sink (Scientific American, 206: 139-148) a study of behavior under conditions of overcrowding. This study has become a touchstone of urban sociology and psychology in general; the term has passed into common use.

Calhoun provided a cage of rats with food and water replenished to support any increase in population, but the cage was fixed at a size considered sufficient for only 50 rats. Population peaked at 80 rats and thereafter exhibited a variety of abnormal, often destructive behaviors; his conclusion was that space itself is a necessity. Subsequent studies involving humans have shown it is not mere lack of space that causes the behavioral sink; it is the necessity for community members to interact with one another. When forced interactions exceed some threshold, social norms break down. Thus social density is considered more critical than geometric spatial density.

Notable conditions in the behavioral sink include hyperaggression, failure to breed and nurture young normally, infant cannibalism, increased mortality at all ages, and abnormal sexual patterns. Often, population peaks, then crashes. Actual physical disease, mental illness, and psychosomatic disorders increase. There are eating disorders; in human populations, drug and alcohol use rises.

The only known counter to the effect of the behavioral sink is to reduce the frequency and intensity of social interaction.

A couple of articles for you to read

Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water
Is everything for sale? Even our water? Do you want a corporation to be in charge of this most precious and life giving element?

Corporations only have one real rule and that is 'make money for the shareholders'. They should not be in control of our water.

The Secrets of the Christian Right's Recruiting Tactics

So you know what is up when they come knockin at your door.
Preying on loneliness and fear. Isn't that nice?

A couple of articles for you to read

Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water
Is everything for sale? Even our water? Do you want a corporation to be in charge of this most precious and life giving element?

Corporations only have one real rule and that is 'make money for the shareholders'. They should not be in control of our water.

The Secrets of the Christian Right's Recruiting Tactics

So you know what is up when they come knockin at your door.
Preying on loneliness and fear. Isn't that nice?