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[It is not often one discovers lucidity, especially in those most uncanny of places.  But sometimes, like Rasputin, one falls upon a lucky break, and the wheels of fortune turn in your direction, or not.  Today we are so blessed, dear readers! Our very own snake charmer, DA - Disaffected, has provided us with just such a window on the future.  And just like Rasputin, the Tzar of Russia and the Hegemon of Amerika will do well to take notice.  Let us step gingerly into the magical land of  ambrosia as we inhale the sweetness of DA's screed. kC]

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May 9, 2013… The weather is perfect after a miserable two weeks of cold spring wind and rain here in Altai Krai.  It is a balmy 26^o C  (low 80s F) sun high in the sky, with not a serious gust of wind anywhere to be felt.  It is Victory Day across Russia.  The successful end to the “Great Patriotic War.”

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`(Thought experiment on a string)

So, some modern Japanese alchemists have been busy at work finding a solution to our fossil fuel problem – Methane Hydrate.  Methane?  Holy farts, Batman!  We can fart ourselves to freedom!  Alternatively, if we were to extract all the methane from human bodies, perhaps we could make the windmills turn.  Surely, we must be able to come up with a technology, hook it up to the average toilet, and if one sits there broken-hearted… Well… there you have it.

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[We never stop to reflect on the solitude that comes with the anonymity of living in the modern city, but we cannot stop from judging the solitude of living close to nature 'far from the maddening crowd.'  Well, Michele Benoit (JC) has given us a chance here to reflect upon both. Enjoy her offering in the swirl of chaos surrounding us - kC]

Hermits fascinate us. Our voyeurism goes apoplectic and we want to know every detail of how this bizarre soul lived. Human’s equal and  opposite reaction, eh?

We also love a great story and to make myth. One that comes out of the remote woods of Maine is the North Pond Hermit. Seems this fellow stepped out of society and stayed there, for 27 years. By public accounts, Christopher Knight, the aforementioned hermit, disappeared into the woods when he was 20 years old, and only emerged when he was arrested for a break-in at a local camp–something he admits he did over 1000 times during his solitary life, to gather food, clothing, and other necessities to live.

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God do we Americans love spectacle… we just eat it up.  Whether it’s a North Korean standoff, Mexican drug lords, or two young Chechen disaffected intellectuals roaming the streets of Cambridge ready to die rather than be tortured at Guantanamo, we just love spectacle and melodrama. Hollywood can’t keep up with reality!  Actually, it can.  It does. It creates our reality.  You remember ARGO, right?  Art is life.  Well, most of our daily melodrama is produced and brought to you in large measure by Hollywood, the same ownership, the same investments, the same power players controlling the news, the press, the movies and the music.

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I am a sick man. … I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man…  I used to be in the government service, but am no longer. I was a spiteful official. I was rude and took pleasure in being so… When petitioners used to come for information to the table at which I sat, I used to grind my teeth at them, and felt intense enjoyment when I succeeded in making anybody unhappy. I almost did succeed. For the most part they were all timid people — of course, they were petitioners. (Dostoyevsky, Notes From Underground)

According to a recent Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report from the World Economic Forum, Russia was voted among the top three most-unfriendly countries for tourists!  Is this surprising?

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Sometimes the world makes sense… but most often it does not.  This is particularly true when you have trouble believing the accepted narrative.  The correct word is not conspiracy or paranoia, it is simply by DerektheRed…

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We in the West took the Aristotelian project way too seriously.  We shoved a rocket up its ass, and now we wonder why there are drones flying overhead.  We will be forever watching our backs because of that dumb move!

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