Having taken over movies, television and
animation, comics have never been cooler. Now, WIRED.co.uk picks
out the best and worst of the week’s titles for your reading
pleasure.
This week, a hard luck detective is trapped in a universe he
never made, in Howard the Duck #1, Nova and the Hulk
have a wild trip in Nova Annual #1, and Red Sonja
gets a modern makeover in Altered States: Red Sonja
#1.
By: Matt Kamen,
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/comics-of-the-week-reviewed-for-13-march/
h+: Hi good morning, I’m here talking with JeRm La Haine, founder of music act Transhuman Unit.
JeRm, can you just say a few words about who you are and what you are doing?
Jerm La Haine: I’ve been doing music production and graphic design for just under twenty years now. Currently I’ve been getting lots of positive attention for my new record label Collective Conscious Records.
I started the record label because I wasn’t happy with any of the offers i got from other record labels. It’s a way I can release my own stuff on my own terms. After the first couple releases people started getting interested in the label. I’ve even started working out deals with some artists. I recently released a few tracks with Lonnie Dangerous and Collective Conscious Records is getting ready to release an album by Young Boy Hybrid. Currently Collective Conscious Records has eighteen releases available and we have several more on the way this year.
h+: You are part of a number of different groups including Transhuman Unit. Can you tell me a bit about how TU in particular got started?
JLH: I just started writing some material while I was in my previous band DV8RZ. When that band split I decided to release the material I had been writing just to see what people thought of it. I didn’t really expect too much, but i ended up getting a really positive response from people.
h+: How did you first hear about transhumanism?
JLH: I’ve always been a fan of science fiction literature and film. Things like robotics and computer science has always been interesting to me as well. I’m not sure where I first heard the term transhumanism, but the whole idea or concept seems to have always been a part of my life because of my interests.
h+: Transhuman Unit explores are dark side theme, exploring a possible dystopian future. Is this the probable future you imagine?
JLH: I think that there is a possibility that things could go either way. We could just as likely work our way into a beautiful utopia where technology, humanity and nature are more balanced at the very least. Currently I don’t think we are in a very good state. Some areas of our world could be seen as very dystopian, couldn’t they? They could potentially get worse if aspects of life aren’t changed.
With my music I kinda focus on that. When I got to the point where I had a few songs, but I didn’t have any lyrics I thought to myself, what should I say? So I began just writing my thoughts and about my interests. This is just what came out. This sort of psychedelic warning of some potential terrible future I guess.
h+: Can you list some influences whether books, music, artists, etc.?
JLH: I guess some of my biggest creative influences would be films like Ghost In The Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Lawnmower Man, Robocop, Blade Runner, Hackers, The Matrix, stuff like that. Movies that kinda play with the idea of potential dystopian or even utopian future. Musically I think some of my biggest influences would be Ministry, Massive Attack, Fear Factory, Android Lust, Front Line Assembly, David Bowie and the bug among others. I also feel comic books really influence me creatively. The visuals and the storylines both. I often listen to music while i read so I sort of create a soundtrack for my reading sessions. I still have a collection even at my old age.
h+: You create music as well as producing visual art. Can you summarize the various artistic projects you are currently involved with?
JLH: Currently my main musical project is IAIO. A duo of myself and Shawn Bowen. We have released several singles including our debut Transhumanism Suspended. We are currently working on our first full length album it should be out by next winter. Once the product for the IAIO album is wrapped up Ill begin production on the next Transhuman Unit album.
I also do graphic design for Astral Vision Design. I often do album art for other bands, but I have also done artwork for video games as well as film. Currently I’m working with a few start up companies helping them with branding, but all of that is just sort of my day job I guess.
h+: Tell me about the new project a bit more. What is Transhumanism Suspended about?
JLH: IAIO started when I met Shawn Bowen online. I heard his other band Didges Christ SuperDrum and really liked them so I asked about remixing a track for them. I ended up doing a couple remixes and then before we knew it Shawn and I began creating original works of our own and decided that what we wanted to share what we are making with people.
“Transhumanism Suspended is about the fact that instead of using technology for the intention of Transhumanism we seem to be using it to actually de-evolve and de-humanize society in general.”- Shawn Bowen
h+: You currently are living in Bakersfield, out in the central valley of California. The area isn’t known for cutting edge arts and culture or technology. Can you comment on the scene in Bakersfield and beyond and how being outside the big city environment influences what you do?
JLH: I actually live in Tehachapi, Ca. Its a little rural mountain town about 45 minutes outside of Bakersfield. There isn’t even a computer store out here. It’s madness, but then again we do have the internet and I can order anything I want and have it delivered (by a drone soon) so it does’t really effect me too much. I really have nothing to do with the scene. I did in the early 90s into the early 2000s. It was the only real way at the time to network, collaborate and share your work with others. I’m glad I got to experience it really. It made me who I am, I guess you could say. But once the internet really took off and social networks became a part of everyones live things kinda shifted to a new way. Shawn lives in Florida and I live in a tiny Southern California town and we are constantly collaborating on art and music projects nearly every day. When we have something we really dig on, we just share it online on Facebook and the Collective Conscious bandcamp. It’s great. We can work really fast and we can release the stuff we make just as quickly. As far as my area influencing me. I guess living in a big city and then moving to a rural area has made me realize I prefer being in a quiet slow paced sort of environment. I’m a very calm, quiet, reserved kind of person. I like studying and working in isolation. The city is great to visit, check out museums, shops, go see a band play, that sort of thing, but I really prefer the quiet life. I’m a much happier and more productive person living in this sort of area.
h+: Regarding the name of your new project IAIO, a name of God, and the use of the Cross of Lorraine, the emblem of the Knights Templar, can you comment on the religious significance (if any) to you of these names and symbols? Are you aware of the growing movement of Christian Transhumanism? How does this tie in with transhumanism and the techno-future aspect for you?
JLH: I hadn’t heard of Christian Transhumanism until today. I guess my personal religious beliefs would be on the optimistic side of agnostic. I think there is something that we can’t define beyond this I guess. The symbolism really has multiple meanings. To me, music is my religion in a way. It’s my way of life. It is part of who I am. So calling the band “god” or using a cross as the symbol of the music is just me saying that this is my “bible” this is my “faith” so to speak. The way this ties in with technology is this, I really think it is important that we keep morality in science. I love science, its a very big part of my life, but we have to make sure we hold on to our “humanity” while we work our toward whatever objective we are trying to reach.
At the same time many artists that sound the way I do or create art similar to mine sort of focus on the negative too much, they use satanic imagery and lyrics, that sort of thing and I wanted people to know that I have nothing to do with that sort of thing. Though some of the lyrics in my songs could possibly be seen as being negative, they are more a sort of warning or maybe some sort of self criticism and I hope people see it as that and not as something sinister.
The post Interview: JeRm La Haine — On Transhuman Unit and his new project IAIO appeared first on h+ Media.
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/interview-jerm-la-haine-on-transhuman-unit-and-his-new-project-iaio/
2 billion people use cell phones every day. But how safe are these ubiquitous devices? Several people have begun legal cases claiming they contracted cancer from their phones. With scientists still studying the long-term effects of cell phones on health, the questions over their safety are still worth asking.
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/do-cell-phones-give-you-cancer/
The International Energy Agency has released
data showing that mankind’s carbon emissions did not increase
in 2014.
The surprise announcement marks the first time in 40 years that
emissions have remained stable in the absence of a major global
economic crisis. The total amount of CO2 emitted was 32 gigatonnes
– the same as in 2013.
By: Duncan Geere,
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/carbon-emissions-did-not-rise-in-2014/
Funding portal Patreon has announced plans to take care of
complicated new VAT payments for creators selling their content
within and across Europe using the platform. The move comes in
response to a large and ongoing outcry against recently implemented
EU-wide tax revisions that ironically negatively affect the small
businesses they were created to protect.
Since 1 Jan 2015, any business of any size selling digital
content across the EU must now file a tax return in the destination
country, rather than the one the company is located in. Many small
traders have been left with the harsh choice of incurring vastly
increased accounting costs to abide by the rules or closing their
businesses.
By: Matt Kamen,
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/patreon-turns-taxman-to-take-burden-off-eu-sellers/
 |
The USDX has been rising steadily since last summer…but why? Can it be sustained? Is the dollar due for a fall, and if so, what is going to take its place. Join James and Alfred for their weekly conversation on finance and politics as they discuss the dollar, the Fed, the Eurozone, the yuan, the SDR, and the fate of the global economy. |
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/interview-1014-financial-survival-why-the-dollar-is-rising-and-how-it-will-fall/
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/ukraine-coup-corruption-and-catastrophe/
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/fallacy-game-emailgate-barbie-spy-new-world-next-week/
EGG HARBOR CITY — A special meeting to discuss the possibility of ending city water fluoridation has been rescheduled for 7 p.m March 25.
It was originally set for March 5, but was cancelled for snow.
Fluoride is currently added in tiny amounts of about .7 parts per million, Water Department Superintendent Jerry Gleason has said.
It is used to strengthen teeth as they develop in young children, and to help prevent cavities for people of all ages.
Some opponents of water fluoridation say they have seen proof it harms human health, but the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and scores of other medical and dental organizations support the practice.
Health organizations say fluroide, which is naturally occuring in much of the nation’s water supply, has no medical downside in the proper amounts.
Gleason has run the city’s water and sewer department more than 23 years, and has said he is the person who suggested the meeting. He’s been overseeing the fluoridation process all that time, and said he is not against it for medical reasons, just for practical ones related to running the plant and preventing waste.
Giving up the addition of fluoride will not save much money. The city spent $2,872 on the chemical last year in the form of hydrofluorosilicic acid, according to Gleason.
Egg Harbor City began fluoridation in the 1950s, when dental products and care were much less sophisticated than they are today.
Egg Harbor City and the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority are the only water providers in our region who fluoridate water.
New Jersey American Water calls itself neutral on the issue, according to a statement on its web site, and has only fluoridated in response to community request.
IF YOU GO:
Egg Harbor City Council special meeting on the possibility of ending water fluoridation from city water, 7 p.m. March 25 at the Egg Harbor City Municipal Building, 500 London Avenue, Egg Harbor City.
Permanent link to this article: https://news.truthjuice.co.uk/index.php/new-date-for-egg-harbor-city-meeting-to-decide-fluoride-issue/
Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images (Council of Guardians)
According to Slate’s William Saletan, Iran’s “Council of Guardians” wrote the follow letter to US congress following a message sent by 47 US congressmen to Iran.
March 11, 2015
Dear senators:
Thank you for your letter of March 9 explaining your system of government. We were unfamiliar with the complexity of your laws. For three years we have been negotiating a nuclear energy agreement with your president. We now realize our mistake. As your letter makes clear, the authority to establish such agreements on behalf of your country rests with your Congress.
We are in your debt for this clarification. Moreover, your letter has prompted us to undertake a broader study of the American political system. What we have learned has opened our eyes. For 35 years, we have treated you as an adversary. Our intelligence agencies told us that your culture and your political system were radically different from ours. We now understand that we were misled. Your country is much like ours. Indeed, your Republican Congress is much like our revolutionary Islamic councils. We are brothers.
Your letter explains that our discussions with your president have been in vain because “anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” which can easily be cast aside by a future president or Congress. Under your Constitution, as you point out, “the president may serve only two 4-year terms, whereas senators may serve an unlimited number of 6-year terms.” Therefore, the ultimate authority to make and interpret your country’s policies resides with you, not with your president. As you note, “President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most of us will remain in office well beyond then—perhaps decades.”
We were delighted to read this sentence. What you have described—a circle of overseers who work in perpetuity to restrain the president—is very familiar to us. Our president, like yours, is limited to two consecutive four-year terms. His powers are also severely circumscribed. He has a national security council, but he and his council do not establish our nation’s policies.
In our system, true power lies with the chamber that oversees the president. For you, this chamber is the Senate, controlled by your Republican caucus. For us, it is the Council of Guardians. Members of our council, like members of your Senate, serve six-year terms. The council may veto any legislation, which, in its judgment, violates our republic’s guiding body of law. For us, that body of law is Sharia.
Our intelligence agencies told us that in your country, the guiding document is your Constitution. Recently, however, we watched videos from your “Conservative Political Action Conference.” Several of your senators spoke there about the abomination of homosexual marriage and the importance of protecting religion. Our assessment is that your senators interpret your Constitution in accordance with the Christian Bible, just as our council applies our Constitution in the light of the Holy Quran. We particularly enjoyed the speech of your senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, who called on your government to fight for Christians abroad. This is in agreement with our own policy of coming to the aid of faithful Muslims everywhere.
We are in great admiration of Sen. Cruz. In our republic, he would be an Ayatollah Uzma. We appreciate his signature on your letter and his steadfastness in correcting your president. Many of us were dismayed to learn that Sen. Cruz was criticized in your country for withholding the government’s operating funds in order to block the implementation of a health care law. Some Americans even called the senator a hostage taker.
We also very much admire the principal author of your letter, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Sen. Cotton, like many of our young militiamen, served in combat in Iraq and believes that he is an instrument of God. Some may consider him too young to assert dominion over your country’s foreign policy, at 37 years of age and with only two years of political experience. But we in Iran appreciate his vigor. He reminds us of the young men who seized your embassy here in 1979, two years after he was born. Those brave young revolutionaries did not wait for guidance from their elders.
In Iran, all educational institutions are governed by our Cultural Revolution Council, which safeguards the faith of the people. We have been unable to locate such a council in your federal government. However, we recently learned that the state board of education in Sen. Cruz’s state, Texas, controls through its purchasing power the content of textbooks throughout your country. The board has used this power to limit the teaching of evolution and promote the celebration of your country as a Christian nation. Our cultural council protects Islam in the same way.
Our system, like yours, has its critics. Some portray our Council of Guardians as unelected ideologues who override the will of the people. The charge is absurd, as your own experience demonstrates. In your country’s three most recent elections, which together produced your Senate’s entire current membership, the other party’s nominees won 5 million more votes than yours did. Nevertheless, you control the chamber. The true will of the people, as you know, is to follow those of us who understand what is best.
Thank you once again for this enlightening exchange. Prompted by your letter, our council has decided to end the talks with your secretary of state and dismiss nuclear inspectors from our country. We look forward to working with you in the future on other matters of common interest, such as prayer, capital punishment, and troops in Iraq.
Sincerely,
Council of Guardians
The Islamic Republic of Iran
The post Iran political hardliners reply to the 47 US congressmen appeared first on Exposing The Truth.
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