Tea Leaves LA

CONSPIRACY FRIDAY*: THE YOUNG TURKS AND ALEX JONES GO TO...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:09:28 -0800

CONSPIRACY FRIDAY*: THE YOUNG TURKS AND ALEX JONES GO TO WAR

Obviously, I’m never going to wholeheartedly endorse Alex Jones and his Al-Gore-hating, HAARP-obsessed theories, but I WILL agree with him that The Young Turks are a bunch of privileged posers who couldn’t be more mainstream if they tried. After TYT-affiliated Tina Dupuy spewed her inaccurate bile about the Occupy movement, I now gleefully agree with anyone who is against them.

The war is trite and childish, like most Internet battles. Alex Jones and TYT both tout themselves as the “Number one alternative news source in the country”. Sadly, only Alex Jones is right, if you’re comfortable lumping a conspiracy site in with “alternative” news. According to alexa.com, Infowars is ranked #1,723 globally and #511 within the US. TYT is ranked #20,631 in the US and #71,456 globally.

The main reason I wanted to share this was to address the fact that many of the young, hip alt news sources that have cropped up, specifically around the Occupy movement, are full of upper-class corporate sharks who will say anything to secure a mainstream media job. Alex Jones might be a crazy, but he’s right about the marketing and manipulation that goes into presenting a controlling, corporate outlet as alternative or progressive.

So, point to Jones. Thanks for attempting to expose the lamestream media.

(Approximate modern translation) Darling, though I have scant...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:22:05 -0800

(Approximate modern translation)

Darling, though I have scant leisure yet remembering my promise I thought it go convenient to certify you briefly as to how our affairs stand. As touching a lodging for you we have gotten one through my Lord Cardinal’s means, the half of which could not have been found around here, for all causes, as this bearer shall more show you. As touching our other affairs I assure you there can be no more done, nor more diligence used, nor all manner of dangers better both foreseen and provided for, so that I trust it shall be hereafter to both our comfort, the specialties whereof were both too long to be written, and hardly to be sent through a messenger. Wherefore till your coming here, I keep something in store trusting it shall not be long to, for I have caused my lord, your father, to make his position with speed, and thus for lack of time darling, I make an end of my letter, written with the hand of him who wishes he were yours

H.R.

Though it does not belong to a gentleman to take his lady in the place of a servant, however, in following your desires, I willingly grant it, that so you may be more agreeably in the place that you yourself have chosen, than you have been in that which I gave you. I shall be heartily obliged to you, if you please to have some some remembrance of me. B.N.R.I. de R.O.M.V.E.Z.

Henry R.

Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

The King Decrees: That whereas she is the sweetest, most...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:27:05 -0800

The King Decrees:

That whereas she is the sweetest, most beautiful woman in the realm; and whereas she is loved by him as no other, Queen Sally be venerated forever.

(George Carlin, to his partner Sally)

Diego, my love, Remember that once you finish the fresco we will...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:34:05 -0800

Diego, my love,

Remember that once you finish the fresco we will be together forever once and for all, without arguments or anything, only to love one another.

Behave yourself and do everything that Emmy Lou tells you.

I adore you more than ever. Your girl, Frida

(Write me)

Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera

Hey June, That’s really nice June. You’ve got a way...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:40:06 -0800

Hey June,

That’s really nice June. You’ve got a way with words and a way with me as well.

The fire and excitement may be gone now that we don’t go out there and sing them anymore, but the ring of fire still burns around you and I, keeping our love hotter than a pepper sprout.

Love John

Johnny Cash to June Carter

Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, I sought out a few...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:51:08 -0800

Happy Valentine’s Day!

To celebrate, I sought out a few love letters written throughout history by famous writers, musicians and other notable figures. To start, I chose Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved” letter. Partial transcript below.

6 July, morning

My angel, my all, my own self — only a few words today, and that too with pencil (with yours) — only till tomorrow is my lodging definitely fixed. What abominable waste of time in such things — why this deep grief, where necessity speaks?

Can our love persist otherwise than through sacrifices, than by not demanding everything? Canst thou change it, that thou are not entirely mine, I not entirely thine? Oh, God, look into beautiful Nature and compose your mind to the inevitable. Love demands everything and is quite right, so it is for me with you, for you with me — only you forget so easily, that I must live for you and for me — were we quite united, you would notice this painful feeling as little as I should …

… We shall probably soon meet, even today I cannot communicate my remarks to you, which during these days I made about my life — were our hearts close together, I should probably not make any such remarks. My bosom is full, to tell you much — there are moments when I find that speech is nothing at all. Brighten up — remain my true and only treasure, my all, as I to you. The rest the gods must send, what must be for us and shall.

Your faithful

Ludwig

45 years ago, American researchers discovered the Madrid Codices...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:40:20 -0800

45 years ago, American researchers discovered the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain… (more)

Take a look at them:

Treatise on Statics and Mechanics: http://goo.gl/p9Wmu.
Treatise on Static Fortification and Geometry: http://goo.gl/hwBRj.

(via: thecultofgenius)

The ‘Pompeii’ of the Western Front: Archaeologists find the...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:37:38 -0800

The ‘Pompeii’ of the Western Front: Archaeologists find the bodies of 21 tragic World War One German soldiers in perfectly preserved trenches where they were buried alive by an Allied shell

The bodies of 21 German soldiers entombed in a perfectly preserved World War One shelter have been discovered 94 years after they were killed.

The men were part of a larger group of 34 who were buried alive when a huge Allied shell exploded above the tunnel in 1918, causing it to cave in.

Thirteen bodies were recovered from the underground shelter, but the remaining men had to be left under a mountain of mud as it was too dangerous to retrieve them.

Nearly a century later, French archaeologists stumbled upon the mass grave on the former Western Front in eastern France during excavation work for a road building project.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099187/Bodies-21-German-soldiers-buried-alive-WW1-trench-perfectly-preserved-94-years-later.html#ixzz1mEoj3pK7

(via: staysandstories)

Conspiracy Friday*: The 13th

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:38:00 -0800

Happy Friday the 13th! You’ll be pleased to now that this is the first of THREE Friday the 13ths this year, occurring exactly 13 weeks apart. Though there are often three Friday the 13ths in a year, this year is particularly rare because it’s a leap year. A year like this won’t occur again until 2040.

And if that isn’t enough rare superstition for you, keep in mind that it’s also 2012, the Year of Impending Mayan Doom. Yay! Bad luck for everyone!

The origin of this unlucky day and number is appropriately shrouded in mystery (because most of the stories you’ve heard are complete fabrications). Many claim superstitions about the number 13 date back to Babylonian times, so we’ll start there.

The Code of Hammurabi allegedly omits the 13th law because Babylonians believed the number brought bad luck. This is absolutely untrue. The original manuscript contained no numbers, and it was actually the 1910 translation by L.W. King that omitted the 13th law. Other translations, such as Robert F. Harper’s, include the number 13.

Another popular myth is that the superstition dates back to Norse mythology. It is said that when the mischievous god Loki showed up uninvited to a dinner, making him the 13th guest, one of Odin’s sons, Baldr, was accidentally killed. I skimmed the Prose Edda this morning, specifically the tale of Baldr’s death and while Loki does crash the dinner party, there is no mention of the number of guests in attendance.

And that brings us to the Christian/Biblical ties to Friday the 13th. Everyone knows there were 13th guests at the Last Supper, which is why Judas betrayed Jesus. There are also claims that biblical tragedies often occurred on Friday. Eve gave Adam the apple on a Friday, the Great Flood began on a Friday, and Jesus was executed on a Friday. If anyone can find actual historical evidence to support any of these Friday claims, I will buy you an army of unicorns (standard shipping rates apply).

Fast forward to 1906. A Boston businessman and author named Thomas W. Lawson published a book in serial form that became surprisingly popular. Friday, the Thirteenth tells the story of a greedy stock broker who sends Wall Street into a panicked financial frenzy on a Friday the 13th in 1907. Lawson’s serial novel is the actual origin of our modern superstitions about this date. Many academics agree that attempts to root the superstition in ancient times began after this novel was well-known.

As the father of Friday the 13th, Lawson wasn’t exempt from the bad luck surrounding the date. In 1907, a schooner named after him sank on Friday the 13th, the same date he modeled his novel around.

Quite a coincidence, right? It’s up to you to decide which superstitions to believe and which ones to ignore. So I wish you all a safe Friday the 13th, and keep an eye out for black cats, ladders, and deranged killers in hockey masks.

“Spitzer captured the range of activities happening in...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:58:00 -0800

“Spitzer captured the range of activities happening in this violent cloud of stellar birth. We have evidence that the massive stars are triggering the birth of new ones in the dark filaments, in addition to the pillars, but we still have more work to do.”
—Joseph Hora
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has captured a new view of an area in our galaxy called Cygnus X. It is the most active area for star formation in the Milky Way.

The lower left and right boxes on the bottom image show brand new stars, which show up as red dots due to the heat they emit that burns up the surrounding dust cloud. The lower right box also shows a luminous blue variable, visible as a blue dot within the red orb.

Primate Uprising Update: Meet Kanzi. He’s a bonobo, a...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:23:01 -0800

Primate Uprising Update:

Meet Kanzi. He’s a bonobo, a species in the Great Ape family that was previously known as the pygmy chimpanzee. Scientists who study primates know that apes and chimpanzees often use twigs and leaves for tools, but Kanzi is going one step further into “human” territory.

He can make a fire. He gathers kindling, breaks it up, strikes a match, then cooks some food over the open flame.

They’ve mastered fire, ladies and gentlemen. Prepare to walk out your front door one day to see cigarette-smoking chimps driving cars down your street. It’s coming.

Disney Princesses have become a popular subject for...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:13:00 -0800

Disney Princesses have become a popular subject for photographers who want to reveal the ugly horrors of our society, specifically consumer-driven, Disneyfied pop culture. Re-imagining the squeaky clean, inherently sexist Disney princesses and putting them in grotesque or morbid portraits seems to be a photography trend that isn’t losing steam anytime soon.

Parisian photographer Thomas Czarnecki released a series called “From Enchantment to Down”, depicting the princesses as captured, passed out or just down on their luck.

An artist in Belgium named Bruno Vilela has a similar series, Dead Princesses, that shows princesses after a homicidal demise.

Dina Goldstein’s “Fallen Princesses” series was a huge hit on the Internet by giving the princesses problems faced by the modern female (watching your weight, plastic surgery pressures, loneliness, etc).

The Literacy Foundation used photos of sickly, hospital-ridden fairytale heroes to promote reading.

Miwa Yanagi’s “Fairytales” are easily the creepiest. The ghoulish black and white photos are a macabre throwback to the original Grimm fairytales.

Graphic designer Vahram Muratyan has turned his online travel...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:35:35 -0800

Graphic designer Vahram Muratyan has turned his online travel journal into a book that celebrates the culture of two of the most exciting cities on Earth, New York and Paris. He uses basic graphics and clever taglines to compare and contrast the differences between the cities.

Click here to see more prints.

It’s Stuff Like This That Will Cause the Rise of the...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:58:01 -0800

It’s Stuff Like This That Will Cause the Rise of the Apes

Scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center have created the world’s first chimeric monkeys. Three healthy rhesus monkeys were born recently, each created by “gluing” embryonic stem cells from several different genome types together. The cells didn’t fuse —as scientists predicted would happen, based on chimeric mice experiments— but instead worked together to form a normal, healthy monkey fetus.

The experiment provides valuable insight into the limitations of stem cell therapy, especially methods that could eventually be used on humans. Even so, the “success” of producing genetically-altered monkeys sets a dangerous precedent for the human race’s stance on bioethics. Should we continue playing God by creating hybrid monkeys? Altering the genes of mice is one thing, but messing with our closest relatives might not be the best idea.

If the primates do rise up, I hope they like reading about themselves on Tumblr. I really want to make it clear that I’m against manipulating and creating hybrid primates, and I’m totally on their side. Go Team Primate.

The Antichrist Will Come, according to the Family...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:09:00 -0800

The Antichrist Will Come, according to the Family International

Everyone’s favorite hippie-loving, child-abusing cult, the Family International (formerly known as the Children of God), have some REALLY amazing music videos to spread their message across the globe. And by ‘amazing’, I mean ‘batshit crazy’.

I have no idea when the Family made this video, or how successful it was in educating the masses about the impending evil of Satan, who will rise to power and create a New World Order. I only know that the end result is funny as hell.

Warning: there’s some bad special fx around 1:40, when a man morphs into the demonic entity known as the ANTICHRIST. It’s pretty scary…

The European Southern Observatory recently captured the sharpest...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:16:54 -0800

The European Southern Observatory recently captured the sharpest image of the Omega Nebula ever taken from the ground.

The Omega Nebula is one of the most well-known stellar nurseries, a birthplace for stars which are visible in the new image.

The first drawing of the nebula was by John Herschel in 1833.

connaissez-vous dan bradley ou cbswork?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:29:17 -0800

I don’t know Don Bradley/cbswork, but I just researched him and his beliefs and found his story very interesting!

I’ll post an article about him today. Since he and I are in roughly the same area, perhaps I could arrange to meet him in the near future.

Thanks for asking a question!

They Have Come for teh Internets...Man Your Battle Station

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:48:55 -0800

It’s American Censorship Day! To celebrate, your elected officials in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill that will censor the Internet into useless oblivion.

The Protect-IP Act, currently in the Senate, and the new Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House both set dangerous precedents that allow the government to regulate, control and censor the online realm. It will also pressure service providers into monitoring their customers and providing any pertinent information to police.

All sites that rely on user-generated content (like Facebook, Tumblr, Google, and every other search/social-networking site you can name) will be liable for any copyright infringement committed by its users. It will give the government the power to cease traffic to a site before they are proven guilty for infringement.

Tumblr began a huge campaign against the bills this morning, “censoring” users’ dashboards and directing them to a site that allows them to call their Representatives. They are currently averaging 3.6 calls per second. Other user-oriented sites like Reddit have called upon their communities to make their voices heard. If you’re scared to call, send an email. Just do something, anything, to let Congress know you oppose their oppressive legislation.

The opposition camp isn’t just hackers and /b/ frequenters. The techno-giants who rely on an open, user-oriented web to make their billions have come out against the legislation. Companies including Facebook, Mozilla, Google, Twitter and eBay sent a letter of opposition to Congress. They believe the bills would restrict technological innovation and put an end to advances in the medium.

Joe Biden spoke out against the bills, saying they would cause a stagnant, less secure cyberspace, with less trust between nations. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls SOPA “the worst piece of IP legislation we’ve seen in the last decade”. Harvard Business School fellow James Allworth said SOPA “contains provisions that will chill innovation. It gives private corporations the power to censor. And best of all, it bypasses due legal process to do much of it.”

Everyone should be against these restricting and oppressive bills. Please take a few minutes today to let your congressional representatives know that you are strongly opposed to bills that censor the Internet.

Beautiful Time-Lapse Video of the Earth at Night, Taken from the...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:45:57 -0800

Beautiful Time-Lapse Video of the Earth at Night, Taken from the International Space Station

National Geographic Milky Way Map Click through to explore the...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:58:37 -0800

National Geographic Milky Way Map

Click through to explore the Outer Arms.