Paranormal Article - Eastern State Penitentiary

We could hardly pick a creepier, scarier or more imposing place for our paranormal article this month for Halloween than Eastern State Penitentiary.

A lot of places report to be the most haunted. Eastern State is one and believe us, it's the REAL DEAL. Haunted to the T. Haunted up the wazoo. Pick your euphemism. It has ghosts.

Every manner of paranormal activity is reported here: unexplained noises, disembodied voices, orbs, flashing lights, strange mist, full body apparitions, EVP's, shadow people, abnormal EMF readings...you name it.

This building is so scary it's extremely difficult to walk around and tour it in the broad sunshiny happy light of day. It's long hallways and endless gaping black cells will test the heartiest of people.

It is historically famous as the world's first penitentiary. Prisoners were kept penitent through forced silence, which in effect made every single cell solitary confinement resulting in driving the prisoners stark raving mad from isolation. Doorways were kept low so prisoners would have to bow their heads in penance for their sins. The design for the prison and methodologies of incarceration were copied around the world and hailed as a brilliant alternative to the barbaric conditions of the prison standards of the day.

The prison was in operation for over a hundred years, 1829-1971 and housed a few notable inmates. Bank robber Willie Sutton was here and even staged an escape attempt through a 90 foot tunnel. Al Capone swore to his dying day that a former mobster was haunting him at night and constantly complained of paranormal events in his cell.

As the last of the inmates of the 1970's were transferred out to other local prisons, they complained that the dark shadows seemed to grow as their numbers shrank. They couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.

Several movies have had scenes filmed here, including 12 Monkeys with Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis.

Most of the prison is crumbling, peeling apart and is a mess. It is REALLY SUPER SPOOKY and CREEPY.

Tours are available daily so you can experience it for yourself. Bring your cameras and your digital recorders for an amateur ghost hunt. Odds are you will get something.

This is a typical inmate hood that was used for silence and isolation

A look down an imposing and sinister hallway

Unlike the other dank dark cells, Al Capone lived the life of luxury behind bars.
Lamps, special seating, a desk, a heater. And ghosts...

Eastern State in the 1880's when Philadelphia was still far away and mostly farmland

Have you ever been there? What did you experience?

War of the Worlds

When Orsen Welles scripted the War of the Worlds broadcast, based on the novel by H.G. Wells, about a Martian invasion of Earth, we wonder if he knew what he was doing and intentionally scared the hell out of people.

Back in 1938 when this broadcast occurred, TV wasn't yet invented and ALL Americans listened to the radio for news and entertainment. The WotW's program mixed both in such a way, that the news segment was thought to be real. People thought that Martians had landed in the garden spot of Earth - Grover's Mill, New Jersey.

His format deviated from the norm as far as it didn't deviate from the norm! People had NEVER EVER heard a FAKE news broadcast. It wasn't presented as entertainment, per se. Up front there was a brief reference to a later year, however late comers to the broadcast thought, rightfully so, that they were listening to a genuine newscast. How would they have been able to differentiate? It's not like everyone that was listening was an idiot, incapable of discerning the truth.

The best/worst part? The local population abandoned Grover's Mill by the hundreds, scared to death, while others flocked there in droves creating a scene not unlike what was described on air - screaming masses and flashing police lights. It seemed real both on the radio and in person!

It made Welles famous.

The opening of the broadcast...

The Art Gallery - Henry Fuseli 1741-1825

Some gothic art for Halloween....

Titania and the Fairies, 1793

The Shepards Dream, 1793


The Nightmare, 1781




The Night Hag Visiting the Lapland Witches, 1796




Lady Macbeth, 1784

Conspiracy Theory of the Month - October 2009

MARS

and it's anomalies....

The United States and Russia started sending probes to our neighbor planet in the 1950's and 60's. The NASA Mariner program was successful. Mariner 4 sent back 22 black and white pictures and Mariner 9 sent over 7,000 in 1972. In 1976, Viking I & II sent a combined 60,000 images back for analysis and bonus! they were the first successful landers! Other notable missions, include: The Russian Phobos series, and NASA's Mars Observer in 1993, The Pathfinder and lander Sojourner in 1997 and The Mars Global Surveyor in 1998.

Phobos 2 caused an international uproar when it was lost broadcasting a long 10-mile, elliptical shadow from the surface of Mars. The Mars Observer was also lost under mysterious circumstances and in fact, the success rate for getting equipment back and forth from Mars is low.

The Viking photos revealed something incredible on the surface of Mars in an area called "Cydonia". A Face. A Pyramid. A City and More. Viking frame 35A72 (35th day of orbit, craft A, 72nd picture) blew everyone who saw it away. A face, clear as day. NASA said this was a "trick of light and shadow" and "a fluke". Only it reappeared in frame 70A13. 35 orbits later. Some trick! What's in Cydonia? A face, a trapezoidal building dubbed "The Fortress", a cluster of structures called "The City" and among other anomalous objects a pyramidal structure, named D&M after the 2 NASA engineers who discovered it.

Why would NASA cover-up evidence, discredit their own photos, send up subsequent missions to debunk evidence of an alien culture? Is it for the same reason they cover it up here on Earth? Fear of a societal breakdown? Fear of the social upheaval of such a truth? Fear of the religious and political fallout?

Is there anything else on Mars besides this Cydonia mess?

Well, besides, The Tower, a free-standing monolith, casting its large shadow, straight out of 2001? There's a structure nicknamed "The Port", objects called "glass tubes", there's 2 more faces, each larger than the last, carved in ginormous fashion, there's a Patterson-film-Sasquatch-look-a-like-thing, the "Storm Trooper" skull helmet, numerous humanoid looking skulls and the "Coke Can." WTF is going on up there?!

Something to ponder - Mars is dead. The asteroid(s) that wiped it out left 3 HUGE craters between 30 kilometers and 100 kilometers across. Each one a planet killer. The one that killed the dinosaurs on Earth left one only 10K across. What kind of life was lost leaving us the barren ruins of today?

And is the real reason NASA would cover up alien evidence on Mars is not because of potential social upheaval but because it brings them face to face with our own mortality?

It is easy to think of Mars today..a ruin. It is harder to imagine it teaming with the life that was lost millenia ago to the colossal asteroid impacts.

Face on Mars (Viking Photo 35A72)

Another Face on Mars

The Storm Trooper Helmet

Sasquatch?

The Tower

The City and region of Cydonia

Vincent Price

Vincent Price passed away this day in 1993, and like Edgar Allen Poe who was also known for working with the macabre genre, it is so fittingly close to Halloween, when they are showing all his thrillers on TV. It reminds us of our childhood Saturdays watching "Creature Double Feature" on ABC. He would scare the heck out of us in all those Roger Korman B movies based on the Edgar Allen Poe novels.

Could you forget the wild and terrified eyes of the girl left behind in the Pit and the Pendulum? House of Wax, the original, was terrifying when you realized the secret and ewww..remember the giant silverfish of terror known as "The Tingler"? Vincent Price's distinctive voice and demeanor carried all those movies. For a calm, cool and collected guy we thought he was a psychopathic murderer and were scared to death half the time. Remember, The House on Haunted Hill, The Masque of the Red Death or The House of Usher?

His cameo in Edward Scissorhands reminded us of how much time had passed, he had aged so. The Thriller voice-over was and is a perfect legacy. Especially this time of year.

However, our favorite part he ever did? The insane archaeologist in the Brady Bunch episode when they were in Hawaii!

Catch his other work: Laura, Song of Bernadette and The Ten Commandments, amongst others. He was an awesome actor.

Top Mystery Spots

Known as mystery spots or gravity hills, these are places in nature where the laws of physics do not apply as we currently understand them. In these places, cars roll backwards uphill, brooms stand on end and people are able to balance themselves on a chair 3 feet off the ground perched on a one inch ledge. Amazing stuff. We went to the Michigan Mystery Spot once and witnessed this crazy phenomena for ourselves. Members of our party reported feeling lightheaded and sick afterwards. We also went to the gravity hill in Moncton, Canada and were in the car when we put it in neutral and took a backwards ride up a hill. Now, whether or not it's just optical illusion isn't even the point. This stuff is super wild and better than a haunted hayride.

Take a road trip and see for yourself.

Magnetic Hill in Moncton, New Brunswick.

The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA

Mystery Hill in Marblehead, OH

Gravity Hill in Bedford, PA

Mystery Hill in Blowing Rock, NC

News Roundup - 10/22/2009

Stuff you might have missed:

Love Him or Hate him, at least Michael Moore has a plan. An action plan.

This is the saddest story of the year. Another Rainforest Tribe goes extinct. For the tribe whose just lost their elder and now numbers less than five people on the entire planet, 2012 is now.

It's a nice day for a mass wedding! 20,000 people married in one ceremony.

A lost Da Vinci painting is found. The first in over 100 years to be authenticated.

Is Cedars Sinai the country's worst hospital?

Dr. Zahi Hawass. What can we say? This fucking guy never fucking stops! He is on a crusade, a one-man wrecking crew. He is balls out right now. We've said it a million times. We love this guy as much as we hate him. First, he has no right to keep the Giza Monuments to himself. They belong to mankind, not Egypt. And he hates Jews. He's an ass. Secondly, his passion is unwavering, his convictions so strong, his love of country immeasurable and you know, the fact that he is correct on this stolen artifacts thing, leave us shaking our heads. We just can't totally hate him. It's a fact that Britain, Germany, France, Everyone stole artifacts from Egypt for years. The 19th and 20th centuries were open field days to any "explorer/archaeologist" that wanted to take anything. Hawass, has a wish list and he wants the Egyptian goods back from The Louvre in Paris, the Rosetta Stone from London (Come on! It's the ROSETTA STONE!! - How could he not want that back?), and a bust currently residing in Boston. Dr. Hawass retires soon and his legacy, damn everyone who gets in his way, will be the returning to Egypt it's antiquitical history. We'll see.

What Zahi wants from Berlin.
What Zahi wants from London.
And what he got back from France.

Update: Unlike France, who relented immediately, Germany has started with a war of words, basically telling Mr. Hawass that Germany is better suited for the display and care of the statue and that Egypt is not a good place for it. Um. We can hear Zahi screaming for blood from here....Now, he will never stop. Way to go, Germany! Your paperwork for the statue better be up to and above par or you're going to know the wrath of The Pharaoh Hawass!

Archeology Site of the Month - October 2009

Templo Mayor

Tenochtitlan (Mexico City)

We know the Aztec Capital City of Tenochtitlan as Mexico City, smog capital of the world, where on average twenty people a day drop dead on the street from smog related respiratory illnesses. Seriously.

That is nothing compared to what happened here in 1487. No less than 20,000 people had their still-beating hearts ripped from their bodies in a 4-day human sacrificial period. The Aztecs themselves place the number at over 80,400. The occasion? Re-consecration and re-dedication of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan - The Templo Mayor. It is estimated that at one point 19 separate altars in the city were executing 1 prisoner every 2 minutes for 24 hours a day for the 4 day festival. Rivers of blood flowed down the steep incline of the double pyramid steps of Templo Mayor.

We chose this UNESCO World Heritage Site as this months article because of the human-sacrifice-creepy-it's Halloween time factor. However, in it's heyday it must've been a super- majestic impressive site (when not dripping with blood).

The city of Tenochtitlan was grand. It was larger than every city in Europe except Paris and Venice. Twice as big as Seville, more than 50,000 people traded here daily. It was laid out in an impeccable grid like districts that would've made Pierre L‘Enfant proud. The largest city in Mesoamerica, it's population was over 200,000.

And it was an island! At least three wide causeways linked it to the mainland.

The Templo Mayor was built upon the spot where a Mexican God gave the people a sign that they had reached the promised land. The eagle on a cactus eating a snake is still the symbol of the city.

The precinct surrounding The Temple was sacred and encompassed over 4,000 Square meters. There was a priest sanctuary, a ball court and other huge pyramid temples, such as the Temples for the Great God Quetzalcoatl and one for The Sun.

The House of the Eagle Warriors was excavated in the early 1980's. This room has staircases decorated with intricately carved eagle head sculptures. The Eagle Warriors were privileged and dedicated to the founding God of Mexico. Privileged as in this was the ultimate first class lounge, man-cave, gentleman's bar, guy's hangout. These guys had all the best food, drink and girls there were to offer. There were numerous other temples, rooms and ball fields for them to enjoy as well. They were probably second only to the priests who had even better food, drink and girls. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The most striking feature of Templo Mayor was the double sided staircase, dual temple at the top, each dedicated to a different god. The founding God and the God of rain and agriculture. The Temple took 200 years to build and about 10 minutes for the Conquistadors to burn. They were quite a bunch of guys, those Spanish.

Although the Spanish were amazed to find a city, a real city, in the jungles, it didn't stop them from killing everyone. And although these people actually had a government- a King!- like Europe! And a religious structure like The Vatican (priests and all!). They wanted the gold. Was Tenochtitlan, El Dorado? No. Then kill everyone and move on. You would think that a people with a trained warrior class (army) and an ability to sacrifice thousands of enemy warriors in a few days time that also had a literal thirst for blood that was unrivaled and unparalleled to this day, would've taken the Conquistadors with one arm tied behind their back. No. The Aztec legends regarding Quetzalcoatl held them back.

During a religious ceremony, Conquistador Alvarado, successfully massacred 10,000 Aztec nobles trapped in the sacred district. The Aztecs captured almost 70 men, sacrificing them immediately and tossing their heads back to the Spanish. To no avail. The Spanish sacked Tenochtitlan and razed it in 1521 after seizing it's ruler Moctezuma II. They rebuilt the city Mediterranean style as it remains to this day as Mexico City. The second largest metro area in the Americas with a population of over 19 million.

The Templo Mayor was only re-discovered after workers building an underground subway system in the 1970's literally dug some of it up. The remains are protected under UNESCO.

Interesting note: The biblical Cain, father of Enoch, named a city after him. The only city on earth with the name Enoch is Tenochtitlan. Taking off the first T, which is a prerequisite letter to almost every Aztec word, and the last "titlan", which means "city of", it would seem obvious. Considering the mark of Cain factor, as American Indians are incapable of growing facial hair, a growing academic crowd is calling out in favor of this being the City of Enoch, built by Cain who was punished to roam the Earth and was marked by God. Only those who are stubbornly holding onto the antiquated idea that there was no pre-Columbia contact would oppose the thought of such an idea.

End Note: Confused between the Maya, The Aztecs and The Inca?

The Mayans lived first, building AMAZING pyramids and leaving an incredible astronomical legacy. They disappeared from Central America over 1,000 years ago.

The Aztecs were with us in Central/Northern Mexico, apparently sacrificing every living thing that was within distance of them, until the Conquistadors wiped them out in the 1500's.

The Inca lived in South America and built amazing cities like Machu Picchu in Peru. They disappeared when the Spanish arrived as well.

Errol Flynn

Best. Leading Man. Ever.

Errol Flynn starred in dozens of major Hollywood films between 1935 and 1959, including some of the best of all time: Captain Blood (with Basil Rathbone), Robin Hood (The first of 8 films with leading lady Olivia DeHaviland), Dodge City (Best barroom brawl of all time), They Died with Their Boots On (with a young handsome Ronald Reagan), The Sea Hawk.

Most of the time his co-star was Olivia, but guaranteed his other co-star was Alan Hale. You may know his son - Alan Hale, Jr as The Skipper. The Hale - Flynn combination was the best.

Errol Flynn was everything you wanted in a leading man - handsome, sexy, debonair, suave, confident and a smooth voice that could woo the ladies and was strong enough to rally and command the men.

The expression "In Like Flynn" was coined when Flynn "got away" with having sex with underage girls on his boat. 17 year old girls and consensual sex - not Polanski stuff. Whatever. He liked to sail and have sex with everyone that would have him. Rumored to be a girl raping, gay communist - we have to say - We Don't Care. His movies rock. That shit was made up years after he died anyway. Well, except for the girls.

This year marked the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1909 and the 50th anniversary of his death in 1959. There are numerous YouTube Errol Flynn montages to commemorate the occasion.

In a travesty of justice, the Academy has said he will never ever receive a posthumous Award. They've ruled on it after being petitioned about a hundred times from family and fan clubs.

We recommend any movie he's ever starred in. Captain Blood is our favorite. The Sea Hawk has remarkably awesome special effects for the times. All of them are worth the time.

El Milagro de los Andes

Miracle in the Andes

This day, October 13, in 1972, a Fairchild FH-227 plane chartered by an Uruguayan Rugby Team, crashed into a remote and desolate mountain glacier peak, over 12,000 feet up in the Andes.

What happened over the next 76 days has been described as unmitigated hell, and what happened on December 22, 1972 as a miracle.

Of the 45 people on board, 12 died in the crash itself and another 5 the next day from their injuries. On the 8th day another person died of complications from a broken leg and then the worst thing possible happened, on the 16th day of the ordeal, an avalanche swept down the mountain in the middle of the night taking another 8 lives in one shot.

The 16 survivors were left stranded on a blinding-white below-freezing glacier in deplorable conditions – not enough food for anybody, no heat, no winter clothes, jackets or boots, no sunglasses, a radio with dying batteries that after a few days reported that the search was called off and after a few days even the cigarettes ran out– it was enough to drive anyone mad. They had only the broken fuselage of the plane to shelter in. They ripped everything apart to make blankets, goggles, warmer clothing. They pulled together whatever supplies they had and they rationed. It would never be enough. After weeks, they had no choice but to strip the frozen flesh of the deceased and use that as a food source, ala the Donner Party.

Although there was a woman who survived well into the ordeal, she refused to eat the dead, citing religious reasons and died of starvation. However, it was religious reasons that made the others eat. They reasoned that the true sin would be to die and not even try to live (The Church agreed with them almost immediately after the rescue and forgave them of any sins on the mountain, including cannibalism). The only people rescued off the mountain in December 1972 were 16 of the rugby players, the heartiest, youngest victims, and the strongest – mentally and physically.

As in EVERY single story of survival against all odds, the young men rescued themselves. Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa trekked for 10 days over unyielding mountain passes and through the most unhikable, unnavigable terrain on the planet and in one of the most incredible survivor stories ever told – finally made their way down the mountains and to running flowing water and found a man who helped them. “I have come from a plane that crashed in the mountains” was what Nando wrote on a piece of paper that the man had threw at them from across the raging river waters that separated the men from true rescue. It has since become the title of the best-selling book he wrote about it.

The rescue itself was an ordeal. No one believed the rural ranchers – how could anyone survive on a mountain for almost 80 days without food or water? And how to rescue them? Helicopters can’t fly that high up into altitude. But they did. (Miracle) Within a few days, two of them picked up half the survivors (Miracle) and the rest the day after (Miracle). Rescuers were astonished at the horrific conditions the victims had lived in. Every single survivor was treated for something – altitude sickness, malnutrition, scurvy, broken bones, frostbite and dehydration - just to start. And yet - what a miracle! That anyone survived such conditions is so hard to believe, even to this day.

What do we live for? Why do we struggle to survive in such conditions and not give up? Everyone has a reason to live and each of the Andes crash survivors lived to marry, have children and careers and enjoy the rest of their life.

Dr. Robert Canessa continued his studies and became a world renowned pediatric cardiologist. A few years ago, he used his political pull to requisition a used EKG machine from the States for use in his hospital in Montevideo, Uruguay. This act alone has saved countless other lives. He is a fascinating man and you can learn more about him at: robertocanessa.com

The 1993 movie, Alive, captures the pain, horror, tragedy of the crash, the overwhelming beauty and brutality of the mountain and the will and desire to live of the survivors. It is a beautiful film. The voice over by John Malkovich is wonderful and so are the end credits as the Ave Maria plays over the majestic splendor of the scenery and the Cross Memorial that was placed years after in memory of the dead.

Survivors at the Moment of Rescue

What would you have done?

News Roundup - 10/11/2009

News you might have missed this week:

Helen Keller Statue Unveiled at Capital Hill
Helen Keller will forever be remembered as the wild little girl learning to cope in this world and finally succeeding, and that is how she is memorialized now in bronze at Capital Hill in Washington, but few know she was a suffragette who marched for women's rights and fought for the rights of the disabled and the poor.

USA Today article


Annual Autumn Raptor Migrations Underway
Keep an eye out for hawks, falcons and eagles flying overhead until mid-November.
Hawk Mountain, 40 minutes west of Kutztown is featured in this MSNBC article.

MSNBC article


And finally, the piece de resistance!
Zahi Hawass the last Great Pharaoh of Egypt Threatens the Louvre!

We love this guy as much as we hate him. This time, as always, Mr. Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, a.k.a Head Honcho, has told the Louvre to return artifacts that were looted years ago. Classic Zahi!

Read more

Update:
France Relents! Surprise!

The Art Gallery - Peter Max

We know Peter Max has a rep for being some kind of crazy hippie who draws hippie art, and that's cool but we know for a fact what a serious artist he is. And what a Patriot! We had the pleasure of meeting Peter at the Valley Forge National Historical Park unveiling of his commemorate portrait update of "Washington Crossing the Delaware." He is a fabulous guy. He donates the money from the sales of his Statue of Liberty art to the preservation of the statue itself and is a one man crusade to restore it.

Author of the Month - October 2009

EDGAR ALLEN POE

Poe is famous for his mastery of the macabre and the mysterious. If you've ever read his books, you'll never forget the beating heart of guilt in the "Tell-Tale Heart." How sad he died, under still unexplained circumstances, this day in 1849, yet appropriate for the Halloween season when his stories are told and re-told everywhere including spooky camp fires. His poem "The Raven" is a hauntingly beautiful example of one of his most famous works.

In his time, he was a famous literary critic and also published cryptograms in newspapers, a tradition now in most daily newspapers. This hobby influenced his work "The Gold Bug."

His stories and works speak for themselves and they are timeless, classic pieces. Poe lived and died almost twenty years before the Civil War. He was a HUGE early influence on literature and many future writers to come. It is a fact that Edgar Poe created the modern detective story. Arthur Conan Doyle, mastermind of the Sherlock Holmes stories, credited Poe for wholly re-inventing the genre. Poe pioneered science fiction and the short story format with Jules Verne and H.G.Wells counting themselves admirers and fans of Poe's work each praising Poe as ahead of his time. Poe also was the first person in America to write for a living full time. He was successful, famous and popular in life.

He is buried in Baltimore where every January 19th (Poe's Birthday), the Poe Toaster leaves cognac and roses at his grave. This mysterious man has created a legend of itself for his annual midnight homage of Poe.

Not all was gloom and doom in Poe's work. His love poems are lovely. Here's an excerpt from "The Bells"

"Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! From the molten-golden notes, And an in tune, What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, Of the bells, bells, bells,bells, Bells, bells, bells- To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!"


For fun road trips:

Visit the Edgar Allen Poe National Historical Site in Philadelphia. Or...

The Edgar Allen Poe memorial in Baltimore. Or....

The Edgar Allen Poe NY Cottage.

Read more of his work:
Poe Stories

Read about his life:
wikipedia article

Christopher Walken's reading of The Raven:

Update:

Poe "Funeral" to be held in Baltimore - Finally a fitting and deserving honor!
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/10/160-years-late-poe-will-get-a-grand-funeral.html

Causes

Action Links to Charities and Causes

Happy St. Francis Feast Day
- Patron Saint of Ecology and Animals.

Help People:
Donate to The International Red Cross. There is a great need right now across the world for help: the Samoa Tsunami, The Philippines’ Typhoon, The Indonesian Earthquake, the Sydney Dust Storm…

Help Children:
This organization raises money to help Native American kids go to college.

Help Animals:
Celebrate World Animals Week (10/4-10/10) and donate to:

The World Wildlife Fund

Help the Planet:
Celebrate World Rainforest Week (10/11- 10/17) and donate to:

The Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund

"The good we do for ourselves, dies with us.

The good we do for others, is and will always be immortal."

News Roundup - 10/4/2009

News you might have missed this week:

The Earth Gets a Bum Deal. Why soft TP is hard on the planet.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Is the water fountain at your school a toxic mess?

Wayne Gretzky resigns as coach. Are his coaching days over for good?

Long live The King! The King Abdullah Science and Technology Center, that is. Joyful progress and good news update for the women of Saudi Arabia...for once.

23 Employees at 1 Company have committed suicide. Wow. We thought our day job sucked. WTF is going wrong at France Telecom?

Person of the Month - October 2009

Mohandas Gandhi

"Christ gave us the goals, Gandhi the tactics."

Martin Luther King, 1955

Today is the 140th anniversary of Gandhi's Birthday and October 2nd is also known as The International Day of Non-Violence as way to honor one of the greatest examples of humanitarianism that ever lived.

For those of you who know the name and the image but not the entire back story, here's a synopsis:

Gandhi was married off in traditional Indian fashion by the age of 13. His wife was all of 14 (cougar!). He went to London where he earned a law degree at age 19 in 1891. From there, Gandhi traveled to South Africa where he raised hell for years, fighting the racial discrimination that plagued the Indians living there. He staged protests, got beaten, arrested, tortured, starved and so did his wife!

All this did was set the stage for his return home to India where he led his country in a fight against the British Colonial rule for independence.

Gandhi staged 2 very successful Fuck You's to the British Empire on top of a war movement so radical and new it confused everybody. Non-violence. First he encouraged all the Indian people to start weaving their own cloth and clothing. This infuriated the British who were losing money hand over fist. They attacked Gandhi and his followers in a massacre, that totally backfired on the British and made them lose face, so to speak, with the rest of the world. Killing unarmed peaceful protesters was bad.

Next came the Coup De Grace. The Great Salt March in 1930. He organized thousands of people and marched for months over hundreds of miles to the sea to make salt for themselves. The Brits arrested over 60,000 people in one shot. But it worked. Support back home failed and the British capitulated shortly after WWII and gave India back to itself.

Gandhi never held public office or title. He negotiated peace with the Muslims and Hindus until the day he was shot and killed on 1/30/1948.

He is THE iconic figure for world peace, humanitarianism, non-violence, vegetarianism, service and faith. His quotes and philosophies are life-changers if you allow them to be.

The intro to the movie "Gandhi" says it all:
(we think it is based on an actual broadcast at his funeral)

"The object of the massive tribute died as he had always lived, a private man without wealth, without property, without official title or office. Mahatma Gandhi was not the commander of armies, nor the ruler of lands. He could not boast any scientific achievement nor artistic gift, yet men, governments, dignitaries from all over the world have joined hands to pay homage to this little brown man in a loin cloth who led his country to freedom. In the words of General Marshall, The American Secretary of State, "Mahatma Gandhi has become the spokesman for the consciousness for all mankind. He was a man who made simple truth and humility more powerful than empires." And Albert Einstein added, "Generations to come will scarce believe that one such as this ever in flesh and blood walked this Earth."

Mahatma, as he is often called is Sanskrit for "Great Soul". Here are but a fraction of our favorite quotes.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”


Thank you, Bapu (Father). May your immortal words for peace and wisdom continue to influence future generations.







"They will have my dead body..not my obedience"
From the Academy Award Winning "Gandhi"

Happy Birthday Jimmy Carter

He is one our favorite ex-Presidents for all the humanitarian work he has done over the years.

Here is a partial list of the accomplishments, achievements and awards he has earned:

Gold medal, International Institute for Human Rights, 1979
Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace Prize, 1979
International Human Rights Award, Synagogue Council of America, 1979
Conservationist of the Year Award, 1979
Harry S. Truman Public Service Award, 1981
Ansel Adams Conservation Award, Wilderness Society, 1982
Human Rights Award, International League of Human Rights, 1983
World Methodist Peace Award, 1985
Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, 1987
Liberty Medal National Constitution Center, 1990
Spirit of America Award, National Council for the Social Studies, 1990
Physicians for Social Responsibility Award, 1991
Spark M. Matsunaga Medal of Peace, US Institute of Peace, 1993
Humanitarian Award, CARE International, 1993
Conservationist of the Year Medal, National Wildlife Federation, 1993
Rotary Award for World Understanding, 1994
National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award, 1994
UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, 1994
Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Award, Africare, 1996
Humanitarian of the Year, GQ Awards, 1996
Kiwanis International Humanitarian Award, 1996
Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, 1997
United Nations Human Rights Award, 1998
The Hoover Medal, 1998
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999
International Child Survival Award, UNICEF Atlanta, 1999
William Penn Mott, Jr., Park Leadership Award, National Parks Conservation Association, 2000
Zayed International Prize for the Environment, 2001
Jonathan M. Daniels Humanitarian Award, VMI, 2001
Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 2001
Nobel Peace Prize in 2002
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album 2007
Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award, Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, James Madison University 2009

We know he wasn't a popular President, but that list kind of says it all, don't you think? How many Presidents have earned a Grammy award and a Nobel Prize?

Happy World Vegetarian Day!

Over 1 million Americans go vegetarian EVERY year.

In the words of Sir Paul McCartney: "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat." YGB!

Order your FREE Go Vegetarian Kit from PETA:
http://www.peta.org/vsk/

Thaaaaank ewwwwe!

Our Phavorite Phillies Players

Part 4 of a series....finale

Shane Victorino
Philadelphia Phillies
#8 Outfielder

We think Shane Victorino is the best! He received over 15 million votes this year to put him in The All-Star Game which completely and utterly shattered the record for most votes cast.

Shane has been an All-Star, a Gold Glove Award Winner and a World Series Champion. This kid came out of Hawaii, about 10 years ago, holding the state record for being the fastest runner in the 100m, not to mention consistently kicking ass in the 200m and 400m, hence the nickname The Flyin' Hawaiin'.

Shane hit a triple last night to help the Phillies clinch the Division Title!

CONGRATULATIONS to the

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST CHAMPIONS 2009