Terrorists are idiots...

Portrait of the Modern Terrorist as an Idiot
The recently publicized terrorist plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, like so many of the terrorist plots over the past few years, is a study in alarmism and incompetence: on the part of the terrorists, our government and the press.

Terrorism is a real threat, and one that needs to be addressed by appropriate means. But allowing ourselves to be terrorized by wannabe terrorists and unrealistic plots -- and worse, allowing our essential freedoms to be lost by using them as an excuse -- is wrong. (Schneier on Security)

And so are oil execs...

Yes Men Strike Oil
After noting that current energy policies will likely lead to "huge global calamities" and disrupt oil supplies, Wolff told the audience "that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil," said a Yes Men press release. (Wired)

Legoland Needs Women!

Help the Chaotic Nipple in his quest to lean on the powers that be to increase the number of female characters in Legos.
I'm actually really for this. While I'm not a Legoist myself, I think it would be particularly good for child development. Legoland is a microcosm of what can be, and if boys don't see women well represented in fantastic societies and girls don't have icons and totems to play with in their toys, they'll devalue the roles of women in Gulliver's world.

• Sign the Petition

Counter Program

The psychology of banner ads
The research concludes that repeated exposure to a product via banner ads generates a positive feeling towards that product. (Article)

It's not just that one has to DEProgram, but with the ubiquity of one needs to actually continuously counter program. Knowing that THEIR ads make a positive subliminal impression, one has to actively develop a program to undo the input.
"What's the harm of a little positive feeling toaward THEIR product?"
It's not you making the decision is what.
Advertisements do a few things that we take for granted today, but are absolute bullshit if you think about them:

• Ads lie to you about THEIR product - Regardless of the quality of product, they will tell you theirs is the best. Even when their product is sub par and THEY know it, they will dress it with colors and catch phrases to convince you otherwise.
  
Decide based on your own experience.

• Ads lie to you about reality - Imagine your perception of the world outside of your home. Imagine success and happiness. Imagine a happy family. Does it resemble an ad? Now think of your life. Does it compare? The reality is that no one lives like they do. The reality is that we all are a little less clean, a little less smiley, a little less pure. Embrace it.
  We're all in this together.
• Ads demoralize you - THEY do not want you happy. THEY convince you that you're unhappy. But they have the solution. Buy their fabric softener and your kids will have white teeth, your body odor will smell like flowers, your spouse will be nondescriptly attractive, and every weekend you will get away with guys hunting and fishing or gals in the spa after a fantastically fun day of shopping.
  Who lives like that?!?
  
• Ads invade your mind constantly, without your consent - On the side of a bus. The top of a web page. In the background TV. Subliminal programming works best when the subject is unaware of the message. When you think you're not subject to the message, that is when you are most vulnerable. No one is immune.
  
Admit and be aware of THEIR ability to crawl into your headspace; this is the foundation of your psychic self-defense.

We wait for the signs of mind control that we've learned from the movies, but the reality is that programming is more pedestrian in nature. Image impression isn't like Alex strapped in a chair with his eyes pried open. Nor is the chemical reinforcement some super-compound concoction dreamed up at Edgewood.
No, THEY don't need to focus so intently on you. THEY can be patient. THEY can hit you when you're first looking around as an infant, seeing colors, making associations. THEY can use the chemistry of desire...fats, sugars, caffeine, phenylethylamine (PEA)...to reinforce THEIR message.
THEY tell you that "You deserve a break today" because nobody "understands" you but THEM. THEY know what you've been through and do THEY have the pick me up for you. And it's only 99 cents on the value menu. THEIR signs are all bedecked in the Reds, Yellows, and Oranges designed to stimulate the impulse reaction in the optical regions of the neural cortex. THAT familiar clown that was your friend as a child and beckons you back to that safe time and promises comfort because you're having a tough time.
And when you do the right thing...

Ron English

When you make that decision to reward your toil and troubles...
When you act as THEY knew you would...
You consume. You give over the little tickets known as money that represent life energy spent acquiring the little tickets.
Yes.
Very good.
Very good indeed.
And to make sure the cycle is completed, the chemicals are ingested. Those chemicals that stimulate the endorphins. Those chemicals that satiate the fundamental cravings for high energy food. Sure, THEIR stuff will kill you in the long run, but that doesn't matter as long as you have the brief illusion of happiness through THEIR product now. THEIR stuff doesn't actually provide long lasting energy and why should it. THEY want you back as soon as possible to consume again.
And again.
And again.
More.
Faster.
And when all is said and done...you get to consume Big Pharma's meds. Nothing that will cure, just keep you going until the next refill.

No, THEY don't have to inject you. THEY don't have to kidnap you and hook you up to machines. THEY don't have to look like aliens or men-in-black.

All THEY have to do is quietly get into your head and make you feel just a little...
bit...
unhappy...
:(

Links

• Propaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English
• Virtual Hypnotist - Write your own scripts to rewrite your internal software
• Download your own subliminal software to take the edge off

Archibald "Harry" Tuttle - Ghost in The Machine

Harry Tuttle: My good friends call me Harry.

OK. Here's the gig. They collect and collate data that we all volunteer without actually thinking about what they can do with that data. It's your information, but they sell it to as many processors as they can who then use that data to fine tune the advertisement (rather than fine tuning the product) to convince you that you need it. They also sometimes give it or sell it to the government, who is in turn breaking no laws in acquiring the information about you. Mix that with your communications records and standard government files and THEY've got you by the balls.
I've been trying to come up with a good common name that everyone could use to confuse the data miners. A ghost in the machine. Of course we won't win, but for your own quiet amusement when you sign up for that discount card at your favorite grocery store. Then the name came to me...Archibald "Harry" Tuttle or just Harry Tuttle.
Trow all your old cards out and start over. Every time you get a discount on that loaf of bread, just image how many boxes of feminine hygiene products and beef jerky Harry's buying at the very same instant.
Central Services won't know what hit them.

NAME: ARCHIBALD TUTTLE T47/215
OCCUPATION: HEATING ENGINEER
STATUS: BELIEVED DECEASED

EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown
DISTINGUISHING MARKS: None
SMOKES: Yes

KNOWN ALIASES: Harry Tuttle, Harold Tuttle, A. H. Tuttle, A. Harry Tuttle, A. Harold Tuttle III, Harry S Tuttle, Terry Huttle

KNOWN ACCOMPLICES: Gillian Layton (deceased), Samuel Lowry (inoperative), "Pluto," "Father Christmas" (real names unknown)

CHARGED WITH: Freelance Subversion, Deconstructive Behavior, Reckless Creation of Suspicion Among the Greater Public, Stealing Work from Qualified Personnel, Practicing Heating Engineering without a License, Failing to Complete Necessary Work Orders, Wasting Ministry Time and Paper(From Brazil@PythoNET)

Harry Tuttle: Bloody paperwork. Huh!
Sam Lowry: I suppose one has to expect a certain amount.
Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can't make a move without a form.

Tuttle in action


A suggested alias (each piece of data references something in Brazil):
Harry Tuttle
27 Archibald Street Apt. B6
Yourtown, ST
47215

1984

By The Surveillance Camera Players

The Surveillance Camera Players website

Tip from Penn and Teller's Bullshit! - Big Brother
Check it out if you've got a half hour to kill. Should be required viewing.

Revisiting Dr. Steel

Imagine the sort of influence a celebrity could have if they weren’t simply overcompensating and looking for the world’s attention as a result of some deeply rooted feeling of insecurity. - Dr. Steel

Interview with Doctor Steel

The Four Guys interview Dr. Steel
The Four Guys set off a few days ago on a dangerous mission to find the hidden fortress of Dr. Steel, a self made master of music mystical mastery. We searched the heights of the Himalayas and the dirty streets of South Boston in search of the ultimate truth that Dr. Steel held hidden away in his dark dungeon. (More...)

Dr. Steel's website and world domination toys
Dr. Steel at Myspace

I signed up and got my card and some stickers free! Balls! A person could spend a lot of time at the website. Lots of tunes, animations, etc.

If you're curious what this guys sounds like, here's a couple of pretty neat clips.
Fibonacci Sequence

Back and Forth

Prank the Monkey

Never trust a man in a suit
by Justin Becker
Issue 9.9
Wed, February 28, 2007

If you’ve ever wanted to punk Ashton Kutcher, receive handcrafted gift boxes from Charles Manson, or pay for highway tolls with oranges, there’s a way to do it, and it’s easier than you think: Just wear a suit.
When you wear a suit, everybody trusts you right away. ‘Why would some freeloader be wearing a suit? He must be trustworthy,’ ” says Sir John Hargrave. “That’s how these corporate criminals get away with it. They’re wearing suits.”
(more at Boston's Weekly Dig)

• A link to Hargrave's site ZUG - The World's Only Comedy Site

And I own a pretty damn good suit.
(Blank Snag @ work)

The Yes Men

I've been of the opinion that while massive marketing campaigns can get an idea about reality into the popular consciousness, by most products very uselessness this idea is short lived. Additionally, popular culture is so easily undermined because its grip on reality is so tenuous. Built on fantasy and illusion of the consumption machine, "mainstream" culture is ripe for pranking and hoaxing. I have a particular penchant for fucking with peoples ideas about "reality" and turning their assumed truths on their head. I actually toyed with bumping over the Psyops while in the service, but it was not to be.
This leads me to the Yes Men. Some folks who have managed to present themselves a corporate types representing companies at some presentation or another, only to take it to absolute extremes to point out the inherent absurdity of the system.
An example:

At the International Payments Conference on April 28, 2005 'Dow representative' Erastus Hamm unveiled Acceptable Risk, the Acceptable Risk Calculator, and the Acceptable Risk mascot — a life-sized golden skeleton named Gilda — to an audience of about 70 banking professionals. (Yes Men at Wikipedia)

There's more videos and fun stuff at their website.

The Yes Men movie (about an hour and a half long).

If you don't have time for that right now, here's a six minute video of "Jude Finisterra of Dow Chemical" on BBC accepting responsibility for the Bhopal disaster.