/ 19 May 2004

Snuff porn, pizza, bunnies and UFOs

The recent videotaped beheading of a United States “contractor” in Iraq appears to have been nothing more than an act of psy-ops digital snuff porn. Despite appearances of it being just a simple act of video barbarism by “terrorists”, there are many questions about this incident (which conveniently emerged just as videos and pix of US troops using prisoners as sex toys began appearing) that the mass media aren’t asking.

Read, for instance, the report of the e-mails from the US consulate to Berg’s family, prior to his death, clearly stating that the man was “being detained by the US military”: US Consulate E-mails.

Here’s a news report stating that his family was convinced he was being held illegally by the US military, and that the FBI had visited them prior to his death. This is tucked away inside Berg Held by US Military.

Then the death video appears to have been uploaded from London, not Iraq: Death Video.

And you might want to ask yourself why the US translation of the death video’s audio uses the words “al-Qaeda” when there is no mention of al-Qaeda in the original. This little fact emerged on CNN, in an interview with CNN’s editor for Arab affairs. Read the transcript for yourself, midway down the page at No al-Qaeda Connection CNN Transcript.

Then there’s the rather strange “coincidence” that Berg has a connection to one of the alleged 9/11 hijackers, who used his computer. Read CNN’s Berg Encounter with ‘Terrorist’.

As for the US troops and sex pix, rather than picturing some isolated prison where these acts happened by accident, you might want to read about how torture is being “contracted out” by the US military at The Israeli Torture Template.

As you might begin to suspect, there is sufficient cause to suggest you don’t have to be paranoid or a conspiracy theorist to start doubting much of the official versions of events these days.

On to the really important things — like pizza! The geeks among you will have read the classic cybernovel Snow Crash, and will recall the unfortunate hero whose job it was to deliver pizzas for the Mafia (who’d exact a violent price on the delivery people if the pizzas were late getting to customers). For a range of true-life stories involving pizza delivery, settle in for some odd and fascinating reading at Real Pizza Delivery Stories.

I personally prefer my gore to be filmic and fictional. Whether it’s the squished-eyeball-between-toes scene in Kill Bill Volume 2 (which South Africa’s film distributors haven’t bothered releasing here yet) or other equally gross-out scenes, you’ll find a range of yummy cinematic trailers, discussions and kindred spirits at the charmingly named horror-movie site Oh My Gore!.

And for all your bad movie information — as in “real” bad movies, which tend to be amazingly great fun to watch — go look over B-Movie Central. Slightly more creepy in its focus is this next site, which shows you actresses playing dead in various films. Go look up your favourite actress and see her sprawled, at The CineMorgue.

There’s that old Steve Wright line about “I bought some powdered water — but I’m not sure what to add”, and in a similar vein, just exactly what do you add to “dehydrated water”? Go stare thoughtfully at a site apparently selling just this: Buy Dehydrated Water!.

Want a rather odd cartoon to contemplate? Have a look at Non Sequitur.

Let’s give you a reality check on some well-known historical figures who have been hiding in plain sight. At first I was a little skeptical — mainly about Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts — whereas Lewis Carrol’s preferences are fairly well known. Still, this should irritate the hell out of your history teachers, if you’re in school and any of these come up. Take a look at Some Famous British Paedophiles.

Those of you who read or saw Fight Club will recall the cheerfully simple methods of making soap. This simplicity carries through into a wide range of goodies for which you’d otherwise be forking out. You could always just avoid buying the packaged gunk that’s blinded untold numbers of animals during testing, which the TV ads try and sell you, and simply make your own. After all, just because you’re a hippie vegan is no reason not to look as svelte and smooth as the bulimic bimbos in the adverts, so go find some useful beauty recipe’s at Make Your Own Cosmetics.

Staying with the make-your-own-stuff theme, by now a lot of you will have noticed that it’s rather difficult getting machine-shops to make barrels and parts for your customised weaponry, without awkward questions. Take a look at this rather neat software that allows you to create and design parts without having to spend hours on the process: Online Machine Shop.

There’s a rather classic book that is blatantly racist and nasty, but which is still a great read for those of you into slightly sci-fi and/or imaginative fiction with large dollops of brutality. The book is a big underground hit — mainly because the FBI gave it a huge amount of publicity by suggesting that it was one of the reasons for the supposed Oklahoma City bomber carrying out the bombing in the first place. Read a review of The Turner Diaries. The online version of the book moves around a lot — but it might be found at Turner Diaries. Read the blisteringly appalled obituary piece from The Guardian about the Turner Diaries author at Goodbye, Good Riddance.

Now there’s a series of books that are allegedly Christian in nature, dealing with the “end times” according to the Bible — I’ve seen a few of them starting to appear in local bookshops. The series is called Left Behind, and oddly enough, they tend to share a similar approach to the genocidal madness of the Turner Diaries. Read Left Behind – Turner Diaries Lite.

Moving on to other atrocities: some of you may have noticed a bizarre low-budget TV show that’s been on our screens for a few weeks now, featuring a local celebrity, who should have known better, playing the straight guy to a magician. Yeah, it looks about as exciting as it sounds. Welcome to radio with pictures, and excitement not equaled since Sunday nights on Springbok Radio with Test the Team. Rather than stare at the screen wishing for an early death, go find out all the secrets at Free Magic Tricks Revealed.

UFOs featured in mainstream media this past week. How? The Mexican Air Force, shooting with infrared film, filmed footage of a cluster of UFOs in flight. Download the 700k film as reported on US TV.

Naturally the debunkers moved swiftly into action. Despite the obvious fact that they are UFOs in the truest sense of the word (that is, unidentified flying objects), clearly move in a coherent and intelligent fashion and were captured on military infrared film (therefore this isn’t someone’s backyard-and-thrown-dustbin-lid level of video) the excuses and lies began pouring out from tame scientist puppets, calling it — by turns — “space junk”, “ball lightning” and “atmospheric gas”. Look at LA Daily News and Associated Press. Then the media spin continued — with “weather balloons’ (look at Canadian report). Download the short film and decide for yourself.

Gear change. One of the rather right-wing local sites online has an article on 10 years of South Africa’s democracy. Because we’re a democracy, I figure all views are acceptable — even ones I may not agree with. Go have a look at Ten Years after Apartheid: The Raw Facts. Alternatively, go have a look at the often rude things people have written on toilet walls, at The Writing’s on the Stall.

Related to last week’s comets and asteroid focus, we now have a date for the end of the world. Looking on the bright side, it’s real close. How does next month fit in with your holiday plans? If the date and story are true, then keep an eye for sudden power failures, satellite outages, disappearances of politicians and some stuff becoming visible in our skies. The Apocalypse Now meme is continuing to spread on the net and for a quick summary look at First Impact June 18-20. And now read the ongoing thread that’s causing all the fuss — starting at page 17 of it, at Aussie Bloke Post. Or to begin reading from page one — and watch out for the bad language, click here.

If there’s any truth to this, then you’ll see it by the abrupt movement and sudden “holidays” of top government officials worldwide, towards undisclosed venues. Personally I don’t mind, I think humankind could do with a flush, disinfection and a reboot.

And if you thought it couldn’t get any weirder, take a look at this news report: Astronomers Hatch Plan to Move the Earth from Orbit.

And in case you missed it, not only has “teleportation” been achieved, it’s already gone a step further — read Teleportation to Multiple Recipients.

Then finally, just when you really thought it couldn’t get any weirder, watch the awesome The Exorcist in 30 Seconds as Re-Enacted by Bunnies.

Until the next time, if my own excesses don’t get me.