Why 23?

The Number 23 movie comes out today. It’s a creepy story starring Jim “I play creepy guys” Carrey. In it, Jim is a regular guy who receives a book of paranoid ravings about the number 23, becomes a 23rdian,and then ends up in that paranoid world himself.

Where did they come up with that idea? The 23 enigma has been in the underground conscious for quite some time. Some believe that those who see the number 23 around them is a harbinger of new wealth. Some believe that it is a sign of conspiracy or other sign of cosmic consciousness. I know that ideawas spread by Robert Anton Wilson’s book, “Cosmic Trigger,” which also spread the cult of Discordianism. Twenty-three is the number of the Goddess Discordia. Wilson said that he did not uncover the 23 enigma, but that William S. Burroughs did, after 2 disasters happened on the same day: a ferry boat, helmed by a Capt. Clark, sank after 23 years of good luck; and a flight 23 helmed by another Capt. Clark crashed on the same day. Afterwards, Burroughs kept a scrapbook ofthese 23 incidents for years.

Some people have very personal stories of 23. One man found the number 23 all around this death of his father. And another has found that 23 is being used to market Dr. Pepper to us, of all things.
Having studied Chaldean numerology, I’m going to tell you a secret: the number 23 is a good luck number of publishing–like the number 32, which all 23rdians count as a 23. It knows how to get itself noticed!

Well, I’ve googled “23″ here at 23rd Mandalation. We’ve been at this for almost a year now, and so far the number 23 has come up 6 times, 212 and 2012 3 times, and 32 also 3 times. I guess our time of wealth has not yet come.

Germ Theory.

You probably do not think of germs as a theory. Ever since you were little and asked your mom why you have to wash your hands or cover your mouth when you cough, she said “Germs.” At first you didn’t believe her. You couldn’t see the germ, so how did you know it was there? But eventually, you were brainwashed into belief.

I would like to point out now, that you still haven’t seen them. And even if you did, through a microscope or on television, you still looked at it through some kind of contraption. Truly, germs could be just as real as UFo’s, the moon landing, or the loch ness monster.

Even if they do exist, who is to say that germs are “bad” and make you sick, anyway? There are supposedly billions of germs living inside you right now, and you may or may not be sick. Consumption of germs are even marketed to us in the form of yogurt. [More] Also, if germs are the cause of illness, why do some people get sick, and some not?

Theories abound. At one point, the Catholic Church believed that illness was sin, and did not allow doctors to heal people, because sickness was “the will of God.” A great-great grandchild of that idea is the New Age claim that illness is due to unhappiness for one reason or another. [Read more.] Personally, I feel that is materialist and shallow viewpoint, especially if the illness is severe.

The huge pharmaceutical industries have been built up around the theory of germs. It is in their interest to keep the belief going. They have even made sure that children are not allowed in school without “proper” vaccinations of strange goo which will be sure to kill the tiny monsters, but may also make the young children ill.[More.]

A great deal of ill health can be blamed on poor diet, exercise, sleep/rest, and stress levels. But the giant pharmacorps can’t make money on selling carrots and pom juice and a shorter work day, so germs are pushed instead.

Louis Pasteur disavowed his own germ theory before he died. [More.] I, for one, am not ready to stop washing my hands. But I am ready to eat more carrots and possibly try some pom juice.

My Prophecy Comes to Pass, Sort Of

In early January 2004, a bunch of us at happy hour were discussing the usual crap like rock & roll, pop culture, current events. We talked about the upcoming Superbowl half-time show, which we all dissed as being retarded and Nuremberg Rally-like. I said at the time, “I predict that within a couple of years Britney Spears will perform topless at half-time.” Well, not a couple of years but a mere coupla weeks later it wasn’t Ms. Spears but Janet Jackson who let it all loose at the Superbowl spectacle. This past weekend, Britney finally got her turn to let it all loose in public, and in a big way. It wasn’t a big event like the Superbowl, but there it was nonetheless, Britney getting out of a car baring her uncovered private region (aka “snatch”) for all the world to see. (Talk about your media distractions–see previous post).

Killer Whale Attacks!

I was just down at the pantry at work, getting my morning Coke, and on the TV was CNN spending about five minutes on yesterday’s old news of a killer whale attacking its trainer during a show at Sea World in California. Does this warrant so much coverage? The guy didn’t even croak. Another distraction/head game the cryptocracy is pulling, trying to get us not to think about really important things? Killer Whales, The New Sting Rays! (and sting rays were the new alligators, which in turn were the new sharks). As James Shelby Downard would say, ‘It’s an aaah-cult charade!”

New Age Conspiracy

Perseus Alderpax* enumerates the ways that New Age philosophies may keep us from the truth and could be as used COINTELPRO**, the FBI’s counterintelligence programs, to hypnotize us into a false sense of happiness that keeps us from getting too close to the truth, according to in his Oct. 16 blog, complete with his own list of links that give historical back-up.

*use Find and hit October 16 to get past a very nice list of truth movies, if you don’t have myspace
**Man, those FBI guys are snappy linguists and should go into business naming new designer drugs.

Get Ready For Your One-World Religion

“It’s clear that the global transformationalists are promoting the Earth Charter as the “new scripture.” At the presentation of the Ark, and its “new gospel” contents, we can expect that it will be endorsed by the U.N. The halls of the United Nations has long been a haven for New Age one-world religion spirituality. Former Secretary-Generals like Dag Hammarskjold (founder of the U.N. Meditation Room), U Thant and former Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller have long been outspoken advocates of a new pantheistic global spirituality, using the U.N. as a vehicle to spread their doctrine.” Rest of interesting article is here.

Deja Connu

I must have been 11 or 12 years old, the first time I went to a Pembroke Arts Festival. It’s held in August, and I still remember how the sun coming through the musty yellow tents tinged the art work. In the photography section, I saw an 8×10 photo of the shadow of some stairs making an interesting pattern on a building. A voice in my head said, “You are going to meet that photographer.” I told my voice no way, it was out of its mind–I was only a kid, and that was done by an adult and I wouldn’t know him. The Pembroke Arts Fest features artists from the whole area, not just the town.

About three years later, I developed a crush on a kid in my study hall. He was a junior. We had a competition of who could make the best brownies–which we would eat, hushed in the blue cafeteria-cum-study hall. He invited me over, and I eventually went naked in the woods behind his house to get small branch of an apple tree to make into a magic wand. When we came back in, he showed me his portfolio, including the photograph of staircase’s shadow, which I had seen earlier.

The next time that same voice came into my head was when I turned 19. I had just bought a comic book from a friend who owned a struggling comic shop. I couldn’t leave without buying anything. So, I just grabbed a Fantastic Four Annual, and went to the park to read it. The last story, I believe was about Super Skrull, and  on the last panel was a bunch of kids holding Super Skrull figures.
It was very postmodern. And the voice once again said I was going to meet the person who wrote that story. I said Nah. I had planned to give up my whole comics thing and start a radio show for my college.

But then a month later, my best friend badgered me into going to Marvel with him for an internship. I figured, what the heck. I’ll just go in and see what kind of fun I could have in the interview. I ended up working there for 2 1/2 years, and the writer of that Super Skrull story, Len, became the love of my young life. Even though we were only together for a couple of years, I carried a torch for him for another 10 years.

Len, an internet and zine aficionado of the early ’90’s, walked in the door carrying the mail. The gang of us moochers, (roommate, roomie’s gf, and me) were lounging around, drinking and watching bad sf on the big tv. We looked up as Len proudly did show and tell with a zine on newsprint with some kind of black fetus art on the cover: “See this zine? This is not about UFo’s–this is about who believe in UFo’s! Hah hah!” and he retired to his room to enjoy.

Fourteen years later, I met the love of my adult life through an ad I placed online. We were in his bedroom, and he showed me a zine he had edited (and to a large degree written) in the early ’90’s. The cover of it showed a large black fetus. He said, “This is not only about UFo’s–this is about people who believe in UFo’s!”

And I said, “I’ve seen this magazine before…”

Does this happen to other people? What do these wrinkles in the fabric of my life mean? Where do these voices in my head–which I also seldom believe–come from?

Face On Mars Debunked

Too bad.

JFK’s 911 “Conspiracy” Doodle

A strange Associated Press article about presidential scribblings makes a bizarre reference to a John F. Kennedy doodle in which he seemingly predicted a “9-11 conspiracy” 40 years before it happened. Read all about it right here.

Nuclear Apocalypse Milder Than Expected

Iran was expected to ignite World War III on the anniversary of the prophet Muhammad’s journey to Heaven on his winged horse (hmm, we don’t have a cryptozoology, category) which this year fell yesterday, or Aug. 22. I had read about this in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago. Interesting article. Here’s that link.