Making your own outrageous outfit can be time-consuming, so Prepare for the Playa events make it easy to load up on eye-catching gear you won’t find on the shelves at Old Navy. These flea-markets-on-acid are a chance for burner-based businesses to connect, says Nikki Doran, one of the three Prepare for the Playa organizers, but they’re also educational: Playa U how-to workshops put seasoned burners in touch with newbies to go over everything from shower construction and bike lighting to poi-twirling.

Full Story: Wired

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U.S. Forest Service officers pointed weapons at children and fired rubber bullets and pepper spray balls at Rainbow Family members while making arrests Thursday evening, according to witnesses.

“They were so violent, like dogs,” Robert Parker told reporter Deborah Stevens of the libertarian-oriented, Round Rock, Texas-based We the People Radio Network [www.wtprn.com] after the incident.

“People yelled at them, ‘You’re shooting children,’” Parker said during an interview on the network’s “Rule of Law Show.”

About 7,000 people have arrived at the gathering near Big Sandy in the Wind River Mountains for the annual Gathering of the Tribes, a seven-day event of fellowship, partying including illicit drug use, praying, and living on the land.

They camp on Forest Service land around the country every year, but the Rainbow family’s nonhierarchical methods — no one can speak for the Rainbows, much less sign a land use permit — often have stymied their relationships.

But rarely do the tensions escalate into violence.

Full Story: Jackson Hole Star Tribune

(Thanks Wes!)

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Whereas the Netherlands and the United Arabic Emirates « fatten » their beach with billion of euros to build their short-living polders and their protective dams for a decade, the project «Lilypad» deals with a tenable solution to the water rising! Actually, facing the worldwide ecological crisis, this floating Ecopolis has the double objective not only to widen sustainabely in offshore the territories of the most developed countries such as the Monaco principality but above all to grant the housing of future climatic refugees of he next submerged ultra-marine territories such as the Polynesian atolls. New biotechnological prototype of ecologic resilience dedicated to the nomadism and the urban ecology in the sea, Lilypad travels on the water line of the oceans, from the equator to the poles following the marine streams warm ascending of the Gulf Stream or cold descending of the Labrador.

More images and info: Vincent Callebaut

(via Grinding, via Posthuman Blues, where I missed it the first time ’round)

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There are many reasons to doubt that the Seasteading Institute will realize its vision of floating cities in the sea; but there are at least two reasons to think that seasteading may prove to be more successful than past efforts to escape the grasp of the world’s governments. First, the project’s planners are pragmatic—at least by the standards of their predecessors—pursuing an incrementalist strategy and focusing primarily on solving short-term engineering problems. Second, they recently announced a half-million dollar pledge from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, giving them the resources to begin serious engineering and design work. While there are many obstacles to be overcome before they will have even a functioning prototype—to say nothing of a floating metropolis—their project doesn’t seem as obviously hopeless as most of the efforts that have preceded it.

Full Story: Ars Technica

(via GPOD)

Previously on Technoccult

(The founders of the Seasteading Institute would do well to study the problems of Pitcairn)

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Tired of the United States and the other 190-odd nations on Earth?

If a small team of Silicon Valley millionaires get their way, in a few years, you could have a new option for global citizenship: A permanent, quasi-sovereign nation floating in international waters.

With a $500,000 donation from PayPal founder Peter Thiel, a Google engineer and a former Sun Microsystems programmer have launched The Seasteading Institute, an organization dedicated to creating experimental ocean communities “with diverse social, political, and legal systems.”

“Decades from now, those looking back at the start of the century will understand that Seasteading was an obvious step towards encouraging the development of more efficient, practical public-sector models around the world,” Thiel said in a statement.

Full Story: Wired

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Senator and presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain has rocked the political world by announcing his intention to bring his campaign to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert this summer, during the counter-cultural art event known as Burning Man.

“While our opponents would callously ignore them, this proud American believes that even temporary cities deserve the attention of the President of the United States,” said McCain senior staffer Mark Dosenberner. “We are proud that Black Rock City will be a stop on the ‘Straight Talk Express’ tour this summer.”

Full Story: Burning Man.

I think this might tip me over to the McCain camp. It shows that he truly values liberty.

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Step 1: Make sure you are eligible
Step 2: Declare independence
Step 3: Get recognized
Step 4: Join the club (the UN)

Full Story: Foreign Policy.

(via Disinfo).

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I’m visiting my parents in Wyoming for the holidays, and here’s an appropriate regional news story that’s making international news:

Descendants of the American Indian chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse yesterday declared their independence from the United States, announcing they were withdrawing from treaties signed with the federal government 150 years ago.

The Lakota Indians, whose territory includes parts of Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, sent a delegation to the State Department in Washington to deliver the news.

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,” said Russell Means, an Indian rights activist.

The tribal group said it was unilaterally pulling out from a series of treaties signed in the 19th century that it described as “worthless words on worthless paper” because they had been “repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life”.

Mr Means said the new country would issue passports and driving licences, and its citizens would live tax-free.

From: The Telegraph.

Regional Coverage: Rapid City Journal.

Lakota Freedom Delegation.

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The Prestes Maia building in downtown São Paulo, abandoned for 12 years, had become a haven for drugs and prostitution. Then, in 2002, more than 400 homeless families, in cooperation with a local group called the Downtown Homeless Movement, occupied the 22-story building. Conditions were crowded and difficult—the building lacks electricity and running water—but residents established a free library, cinema, and educational and social activities.

The Brazilian Constitution recognizes the right to housing and states that all property must serve a “social function.” But in São Paulo, where slums and homelessness are common, an estimated 400,000 housing units are unused. The Downtown Homeless Movement, which has reclaimed more than 30 buildings in São Paulo, is just one of many groups reclaiming abandoned buildings across Brazil. At Prestes Maia, residents have fought eviction with protests, road blockades, and legal battles. After years of struggle, they have won either new housing or assistance from the government.

From: Yes Magazine.

(via Hit and Run).

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Jesse Walker reviews Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations:

The patron saint of such projects is Joshua Norton I, the San Francisco eccentric who in 1859 declared himself the emperor of the United States. He issued his own currency, which local businesses honored; he made royal proclamations, which the local newspapers printed; according to legend, he once managed to stop an anti-Chinese riot merely by standing in front of the mob and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. I can’t endorse all of his policies—the fines he levied on anyone he overheard calling the city “Frisco” were an unconscionable interference with freedom of speech—but his reign was altogether far less bloody than that of his two rival emperors in the east, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. When he died in 1880, tens of thousands of people attended his royal funeral.

Full Story: The American Conservative.

See also: Footnotes to History’s guide to micronations.

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On MindliftTV.

(Thanks Popjellyfish).

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Full Story: Wired.

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Details here.

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Tons of video footage from esoZone.

esoZone videos on Altertube.

esoZone on Grey Pod (stay tuned!).

Plus:

Fenris’s pics from esoZone.

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Including Foolish People, Rex Church, Paul Laffoley, and Freeman himself. Plus: Freeman’s UFO encounter on the way to esoZone.

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Torrent.

Direct Download.

From the New Introduction:

Join the Party

This is the record of the AAAZ, the Antarctic Astral Autonomous Zone, that occurred on the night of August 31st - September 1st, 1987.

Hakim Bey is the author of Temporary Autonomous Zone. It’s a cultural milestone for a wide variety of subversives from anarchists, occultists, vandal artists, and freaky festival people. The main idea of TAZ was to create exactly what it sounds like TAZ is about: creating places that serve as alternative realities to the prevailing system of control. Specific times and spaces designated to let chaos free, and allow psychological and social mechanisms to self regulate and mutate beyond the confines of so-called consensus reality.

The focus is on having individuals find and establish meaning on their own terms. Creating a TAZ requires face to face interaction and dialog, in a sense, creating an art form which is impossible to ever fully record or understand. In the void where stagnancy and boredom once ruled, wild fantasies called real life take root. The elusive genuine article, with no possible televised reenactments.

Before TAZ’s thought virus would reach the anti-capitalists and the rave scene as it did in the 90’s, many of the people who recognized the value of Bey’s work were few and far apart. Mail order culture was the primary mode of communication with the underground for many people in the 80’s. The postal world seen within the pages of High Weirdness by Mail by Ivan Stang has now mostly migrated to cyberspace, where many of these fringe cultures have exploded into bonafide phenomenas. In the meantime, the mutants who were plugged into the paper trail of fresh ideas were yearning for an opportunity to encounter a TAZ. This meant finding a ‘Zone’ which was totally unexpected.

It was decided to meet astrally or in dreams, at a specific sacred space in Antarctica. Bey sent invites out to his network, and arranged for everyone who participated to send him their experiences, which he would then compile and send back out. What you end up with is an compilation of rare works by an all-star cast of individuals who comprised the occulture before there was a word for it. In this instance, the media created here facilitated a syncing up of communal experiences, and was an essential component of the AAAZ, yet not the AAAZ in itself.

The objective reality of astral projection is inconsequential to the AAAZ. What is of importance is the narrative, lives encouraged to be lived mythically, drawing those lives together in the process. Then again, for those who do entertain astral experiences as accepted facets of reality, the AAAZ was most likely one of the earliest documented records of shared lucid dreams and consciousness. It is historically important for occultists, and personally fulfilling for those who got to participate in it.

The AAAZ is a window into the past, where long distance communications were laced with art and magic, and the viability of a tangible occult community was seemingly infinitesimal. This book provided my endeavors with a deeper sense of purpose to what I have been developing with esoZone, and PDXocculture, an open group in Portland, OR for individuals with esoteric interests. It was as if my magic was supplemented by ancient spells spoke at the AAAZ, spells that were finally close to reaching total fruition. “Find the Others”, Leary’s famous phrase, has become irrelevant. More people are networked than ever before, and they are well on their way to having an alternative reality subsume the toxic aeon preceding it.

This is a rare work that has only been previously released to the original participants. It is provided in its first reprinting to the participants of esoZone as a bonus gift, and as a memetic primer. Be sure to look out for works by Coil, Shirley Maclaine, James Koehnline, Ivan Stang, Feral Faun (aka Apio), Reverand Crowbar (aka Susan Poe), Trevor Blake, and of course Hakim Bey. All notables to be sure, but I can think of someone more important.

This is where you come in.
The coincidences you are experiencing as part of esoZone ARE REAL.
All the doorways of the venue have been transmuted into portals.
They lead twenty years into the past from Portland [Land of Portals] to the Antarctican AAAZ.
As you navigate the space of esoZone, you may notice dimensional leakage.
It is no accident and a very special effect. Have fun with it.
Interact with entities and your awareness of the past and present places, slipstreaming into the future.

Tell your friends.

If you are up for it, during the exact 20 year anniversary of the AAAZ, on the night of Aug. 31st, take an astral voyage. Bring your memory back to esoZone, and the experiences you had within it, and use the doorway Portals to the AAAZ of 87. The rest of this book should prep you for the journey.

This time, there will be no zine compiling the experiences. Take advantage of our Aeon. Post about your adventures online wherever you normally post, and if you do not have a space for that, start an account on Irreality.net. Your words will find their proper destination, and be part of a grand chain of events that leads to something currently inconceivable, twenty more years down the line.

Danny Chaoflux
New Alamut, Portal Palace
July 2007

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But in an analysis of the organization’s tax filings by Charity Navigator, a New Jersey-based nonprofit watchdog group, the Black Rock Arts Foundation earned an “exceptionally poor” rating. The analyst found errors in reporting, a low revenue-to-grant ratio that showed artists receive on average 27 cents for every $1 spent - less than half the industry standard - and a conflict of interest involving David Best, a local artist best known for his intricate temples that rise at Burning Man.

Sandra Miniutti, an analyst at Charity Navigator who reviewed the filings at the request of The Chronicle, said donors to the foundation should be concerned by its poor practices.

“This is not a financially healthy organization,” Miniutti said. “If I were a donor, I’d think long and hard before I sent money their way.”

Full Story: SF Gate.

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Thursday 8/9/07 pre-party at the Goodfoot, plus pics from night 1 (8/10/07) by Vincent Al Keen.

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If you’ve been putting off buying your tickets, do it now, space is limited! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/11610

The full schedule is now available, so start planning your weekend - http://www.esozone.com/schedule

See you soon!

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But Burning Man is rife with the products of corporations, and always has been. And has always had to be. The prepared food items and bottled water we live on out there; the portajohns our wastes go in after eating that food and drinking that water; the tents we sleep in, the pipe and metal domes we lounge under, the clothes we wear, either exotic or normal—all sold to us not for fellow-feeling but by monied interests, usually corporate, who just want our cash. For Burning Man to be truly free of the products of corporate commerce, it would be a zone we could survive in for at most a few hours, and grimly at that.

Full Story: Reason.

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Sadly I won’t be able to attend:

Sat thru Wed, August 18-22, 2K7, the week after esoZone in Portland, you should come to the Mystic Mountain Magick Meadow Retreat. After all of the workshops and events in esoZone, wouldn’t you like to spend more Quality time with all of these people you met and networked with in PDX? Wouldn’t you like to continue to meet even more like-minded people along the I-5 corridor? Aren’t you tired of always hearing a bunch of Talk about networking with other Magi, but very little Action? Haven’t you been meaning to get away for at least a few days with like-minded folk in the Mountains, working Magick?

Here’s the simple solution:

As I mentioned a few days ago, I am inviting other Experienced Magi to join me in my yearly Retreat in a location that is absolutely perfect for what will eventually host a yearly gathering of up to several hundred Magickal Practitioners. Not everyone will be able to stay all the way through Wed, but coming for a few days is better than not coming at all! We will be setting up a Temporary Autonomous Zone on Sat, with Closing ceremonies done on Wed.

There have been a few questions as far as what this event will be about, what to bring and expect, etc.:

The T.A.Z. will basically be a “Free Play Zone”.

It will be very Magickally Active–I do some of my most intensive Magick during my Retreats.

There will be plenty of opportunities for both Alone & Social Time.

One Intent I have for this year’s Gathering is to discuss all of these Networking projects that have been gathering Momentum, e.g. the I-5 Occulte’ Empyre, the Willamette Valley Magick Network, etc.

Some of the things that I like to do include Relaxing, Resting, Reflecting, Recuperating, ReCreating, ReJuvenating, Reading, Meditating, Trancing, Journeying, Magicking, Sharing, Teaching, Learning, Exploring, Hiking, Playing, Nothing, Slacking, Just Be-ing, etc…

The few Expectations I have for the Mystic Mountain Magick Meadow Retreat would include:

…no noisy machines, electronics, motors, music, etc. (although natural noises are encouraged!)
…encouraging Physical Safety
…self-reliance/bring what you will need–Sharing is encouraged, but not mandatory
…shedding Identities and truly Retreating for a time in the Mountains
…Respect others’ Space
…being a “Drama Free Zone”
…to Play Nice

To join us for the 2nd Annual Mystic Mountain Magick Meadow Retreat, please respond here or email me at

xi_o_teaz AT chaosmatrix DOT org

In a couple of weeks, we will be setting up a meeting place so that we can all drive to the Retreat together on Saturday afternoon (and then you may leave whenever you wish, should you need to leave early, etc).

Looking Forward!

Agape!

“Know Thy Selves”

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When Bob Dylan sang, “To live outside the law you must be honest,” he probably wasn’t thinking of seventeenth-century pirate captains. Nonetheless, his dictum seems to apply to them. While pirates were certainly cruel and violent criminals, pirate ships were hardly the floating tyrannies of popular imagination. As a fascinating new paper (pdf) by Peter Leeson, an economist at George Mason University, and “The Republic of Pirates,” a new book by Colin Woodard, make clear, pirate ships limited the power of captains and guaranteed crew members a say in the ship’s affairs. The surprising thing is that, even with this untraditional power structure, pirates were, in Leeson’s words, among “the most sophisticated and successful criminal organizations in history.”

Full Story: The New Yorker.

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Each Burning Man has a different theme, chosen by Harvey. This year’s theme is “The Green Man.” Burning Man, an extravaganza characterized by the consumption of huge quantities of fossil fuel, has discovered environmentalism. It is attempting to offset the 28,000 tons of carbon it estimates the event generates (counting all those flights and long drives for its far-flung attendees), and the organization is belatedly switching to biodiesel generators to provide most of the event’s electricity.

Most controversially, the organization wants to bring as many green-energy companies as possible into what Harvey calls a world’s fair of clean tech. Google (Charts, Fortune 500) is going to help produce an online 3-D search service called Burning Man Earth.

Full Story: Business 2.0.

For those seeking a small, free alternative, Autonomous Mutant Fest starts this weekend. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to make it down there this year, but I believe Nick Pell and some other esoZone/Portland Occulture folks will be on hand.

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Friday is the last day to buy esoZone tickets at the current price before the next price bump. Buy your tickets now.

We’d also like to announce that the following artists will be performing at esoZone:

Mouth of Infinity

Acroyear

Synchronicity Frequency

DJ Dreamcode

ZenseiderZ

Stay tuned, more artists are TBA!

See you in August.

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