Interview questions span the intractable, the thoughtless, and the inane – test some skills to find out if a candidate can do the job… the interview only tests patience and personality.

Fuck the popularity contest – pay me, I’ll be your slave for a while.

Walls
Table
Shadows and cats
Green eyes
Many eyes
Millionfold eyes
The woman
Nervous scattered cravings
Inflamed life
Swollen lamps
Dancing shadow
Little shadow
Great shadow
THE SHADOW
Oh—the leap over the shadow
It tortures [me] this shadow
It martyrs [me] this shadow
It devours me this shadow
What desires this shadow
Cocain
Outcry
Animals
Blood
Alcohol
Pains

- Kokain by Sebastian Droste
from Empire of Ecstasy

You can probably survive for: a week without food, a few days without water, a few minutes without air.

If addiction is the easily-subverted basis for perpetuating life, what would happen if you quit everything – the cocaine, the heroin, the marijuana, the sex, the religion, the television, the dreams, the hope, the love, the ego, and the pursuit of happiness?

… and could you survive having everything that you desire?

If you want to be happy, you must be a happiness machine.

- The Operator

… [T]hings that are familiar are—generally speaking—less risky. This is the same impulse that makes us buy the same soap or automobile over and over again: It’s worked in the past, so it’s likely a safe bet again today. With recognizable people, that positive feeling, that sense of comfort, often feels like a warm glow.

- A warm glow in Bangkok
We’re Only Human
2010-01-29

… and what could be more familiar than the little voice at the back of your skull with its constant reminders: strange is dangerous, different is strange, any deviation is different, and you must not deviate from the master plan.

… and if it’s easy, take some more.

I came across this really awesome guide to being a junkie and/or mainlining all kinds of fun crap – apparently there is some debate about just how effective this opioid-operator’s manual is, but it’s really only missing some commentary on the finer points…

Tip #1: Euphoria Loves Company

Not sure whether you’ve scored a sixteenth of an ounce of pure or just some heavily-cut rat poison? This is where the buddy system comes in handy.

Give your buddy a sizable dose and roll your buddy’s body on the floor until he or she stops responding.

If your buddy comes back around, it’s good shit.

If your buddy does not awaken after a few kicks, proceed to Tip #2.

Tip #2: You Better Recognize

Is the emergency operator there to save you, serve you, or control you?

Take your time and ponder the deep questions – there will be plenty of time to sit back and chill out while the emergency operator has you on the line.

No worries if you miss a few instructions: your buddy won’t notice.

Note: If your buddy starts breathing, hang up immediately and proceed with Tip #1 from the “So You Want To Avoid Jail Time” pamphlet. If your buddy becomes very cold or begins to turn a deep shade of purple, proceed with Tip #4 from the “Evading Arrest and Capture” guidebook.

Tip #3: Support Your Local Bodega

Wow! Using recreational drugs sure is hard work!

… and you can’t do your job properly without good tools. Remember to visit your local bodega for fresh supplies every time you shoot up: supporting your local underground drug paraphernalia economy is just one of the many ways that you make life in your community better as a junkie.

Don’t forget: You have to peel apart the wrapper on your syringe to get it out. Chewing, stomping, drop-kicking, and burning the wrapper are not as effective as a simple peeling motion completed with your left thumb firmly against the base of the syringe tube or plunger against your left index finger while you gently peel away the clear plastic side of the wrapper held snugly between your right thumb and right index finger.

Tip #4: Be More Inconspicuous

Nothing affirms your worth as a human being more than arguing over needle disposal with the orderlies and reception staff at your local hospital – but remember: they can summon law enforcement at any time.

Keep your discussions with hospital staff brief (you can make use of colorful gestures to cut down on talk-time).

If you are particularly skilled in the ways of opiate requisition, you can complain of kidney stones: make lots of noise and, while providing a urine sample, prick your finger to discharge blood into the cup so the staff will have to give you more drugs. A convincing performance will net you approximately 1-2 doses of the pharmacist’s special reserve stash (and remember: the pharmacist is the connoisseur of dope).

So they don’t want you to leave your needles with them – it’s not your problem. You can dispose of your kit in a variety of ways and they will be none the wiser (consider the potted plants in the waiting room – be creative!).

Tip #5: It’s Like Injecting Pure Awesome

Pure, fresh water is one of the most potent drugs known to man.

Did you know that your body is made up of almost 70% water?

Injecting large amounts of water directly into your circulatory system will instantly produce a bracing episode of ecstatic joy – be ready for the time of your life!

Tip #6: Don’t Always

Don’t always do nothing – some of the best advice you’ll ever receive.

Tip #7: HIV – It’s Not For Everyone

Contrary to what you may have heard, Human Immunodeficiency Virus is not for everyone.

Most people are naturally immune, so try not to worry about it too much. The odds that you will be struck by lightning while falling out of a dirigible into a lagoon filled with sharks are far greater than the likelihood that you will ever have to remember what “HIV” stands for.

As you can see, however, some people are not immune. Take note of the woman in this illustration: from the languid musculature of her physiognomy to the half-hearted, broken smile she wears (not to mention her choice of the color purple as the mainstay of her couture) she obviously has HIV.

So remember: HIV is nothing to worry about. Watch out for AIDS, though. You probably already picked it up from sharing needles (just like the “Take Charge, Take Care” guide warned you). Don’t you wish you’d picked up this useful treasure trove of knowledge before you decided to inject foreign substances in your body?

Tip #8: Hepatitis Don’ts

If you have hepatitis A through to hepatitis F, it is inadvisable for you to drink regularly, take over the counter pain medications, or breathe onto food at the buffet line. It is also a bad idea for you to actively persuade or coerce other people to come into contact with your secretions.

What you can do, though, is more heroin (which has long been known to cure a variety of diseases). It is probably also OK for you to have just a few more bottles of MD 20/20 from time to time or inject alcohol into your femoral artery – your doctor can tell you more about safely administering alcohol intravenously (or you can refer back to Tip #5 after you acquire a wood or grain alcohol – preferably industrial grade quality or better).

Tip #9: You Know What You Have To Do

Are you some kind of nobody? No way! If you’ve been keeping up with the handy tips provided herein, you’re already well on your way to total enlightenment and the ability to work miracles simply by thinking about them.

A lifetime of depression is a total waste – do what you gotta do and make it stop right away!

Tip #10: Treatment – Everybody’s Doing It

When you’re out of money and it’s hard to score (or when your tolerance builds up and you can’t afford a decent dose anymore because that rat-bastard scag baron you’ve been buying from has started slanging WEAK shit that barely even works and you wonder why someone doesn’t just STAB HIM IN THE EYES with a handful of rusted woodscrews for this OBVIOUS BREACH OF TRUST and his ongoing failure to maintain the very-important potency of your contractually-obligated supply) you can always take a stroll down to the methadone clinic: they’ll hook you right up (and who says you can’t take your regular dose right along with that tasty pink syrup they’re always just giving away?). Yum!

Keep an open mind to Narcotics Anonymous and other 12-step programs. Sure, it’s boring and sometimes even a bit un-cool to attend… but the coffee is free, and you’ll have a chance to swap stories and make connections with people just like yourself.

Will you go to the next meeting right away, or did you forget Tip #1 already? You need all the buddies you can get!

Congratulations, reader. You are now ready to administer your own intravenous drugs! You’ve taken charge and you’ve taken care, but how much can you take?

I digress (in fact, that’s about all I’ve done here) – but give the manual a read if the idea of a government entity instructing individuals on the proper administration of illicit substances fascinates you at all.

The tone of the manual was certainly a conscious choice on the part of the writer, though the words seem geared toward the mitigation of personal responsibility for negative consequences insofar as the reader is concerned (“it’s perfectly OK that you want to inject caramelized sugar and weird chemicals into your arm, just be careful”) and the choice of admonitions (“You deserve good medical care, regardless of your drug history.”) suggest that the writers are attempting to gain the trust of the reader (this notion is support by the use of slang throughout) but – and this is where the good intentions which make such fine pavement come into play – shooting up isn’t going to be a risk-free process (despite all the advice on preventing infection, washing hands, avoiding shared needles, etc) and the decision to frame the pursuit of addiction in encouragement really does not sit well.

You have made a decision – one which is very clear to most everyone (if not yourself) – when you elect to inject yourself with recreational substances… you’ve forcibly ejected yourself from society. You are not entitled to anything beyond what others might offer you out of sympathy. You do not have any right to dispose of your used syringes at hospitals – the hospitals have mandates to accept your waste out of concerns for public health.

The “Take Charge, Take Care” materials might do better to stress taking care and care only – the worst mode of failure for care is injury to the addict. To instruct the addict to “take charge” with a notion of entitlement or special dispensation is irresponsible (what are the odds the junkie will get it right?) and an insult to anyone whom the latter might elect to abuse or defraud in the deluded pursuits of his or her addiction.

Racism within the military has long been an important tool to justify the destruction and occupation of another country. It has long been used to justify the killing, subjugation, and torture of another people.

Racism is a vital weapon employed by this government. It is a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank, a bomber, or a battleship. It is more destructive than an artillery shell, or a bunker buster, or a Tomahawk missile.

While all those weapons are created an owned by this government, they are harmless without people willing to use them. Those who send us to war do not have to pull a trigger or lob a mortar round. They do not have to fight the war, they merely have to sell the war.

. . .

We need to wake up and realize that our real enemies are not in some distant land. They’re not people whose names we don’t know, and cultures we don’t understand.

The enemy is people we know very well and can identify.

- Mike Prysner of Iraq Veterans Against War

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

- Laurence J. Peter

People who are insulated from the results of their choices will inevitably choose cause for others’ regret.

Sterile insect technique is a method of biological control, whereby millions of sterile insects are released. The released insects are normally male as it is the female that causes the damage, usually by laying eggs in the crop, or, in the case of mosquitoes, taking a bloodmeal from humans. The sterile males compete with the wild males for female insects. If a female mates with a sterile male then it will have no offspring, thus reducing the next generation’s population. Repeated release of insects can eventually wipe out a population, though it is often more useful to consider controlling the population rather than eradicating it.

- Sterile insect technique at Wikipedia
2009-12-24

Techniques (action of releasing an inert actor to compete with potent actors) applied to the biological sphere have direct political, sociological, and psychological corollaries.

Subversion: Repurpose influential organizations to defuse potential opposition.

The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was founded in the wake of the November 18, 1978 deaths of members of the group Peoples Temple and assassination of Congressman Leo J. Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana. CAN is now owned and operated by associates of the Church of Scientology, an organization that the original founders of CAN strongly opposed. Prior to its hostile takeover, CAN provided information on groups that it considered to be cults, as well as support and referrals to exit counselors and deprogrammers.

- Cult Awareness Network at Wikipedia
2009-12-24

[Similarities to action of Glyptapanteles and other zombism-inducing parasitoids]

Exterminate rational analysis: Disseminate easily-falsified information to weaken the position of those who do not accept the official story.

Do you see the difference between conspiracy theories and real theories now? Basically, the definition of a conspiracy theory is that it is false, yet people continue to believe in it despite all evidence to the contrary.

- Has a Conspiracy Theory ever been Proven True?
2008-05-21

[Note the cognitive kill switch for veracity applied within the phrase conspiracy theory - there can be a proven conspiracy and there can be a proven theory but there cannot be a proven conspiracy theory so far as the commenter's bias is concerned]

Influence consumer behavior: Paid representatives make use of social interactions and relationships in which their relation to the advertiser remains undisclosed to promote products.

They [individuals bringing product to events] were invited guests, friends or relatives of whoever organized the get-togethers, but they were also – unknown to most all the other attendees – ”agents,” and they filed reports. ”People could not believe they weren’t pork!” one agent related. ”I told everyone that they were low in fat and so much better than pork sausages.” Another wrote, ”I handed out discount coupons to several people and made sure they knew which grocery stores carried them.” Another noted that ”my dad will most likely buy the garlic” flavor, before closing, ”I’ll keep you posted.”

- The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders by Rob Walker
New York Times
2004-12-05

[Note that there is no effective way to screen - or regulate - the nature of undercover marketing's corporation-backed confidence scam]

Successful application of the sterile insect technique in its various incarnations will reduce opposition, defuse opposing viewpoints, and create an ideal environment for continued exploitation of extant relationships.

The supposed Information Age should rightly be known for what it is: the advent of an unprecedented stream of disinformation made possible by those who might make the seemingly-harmless mistake of confusing a stratagem with a tactic: Do not be deceived – such foolishness will surely bring destruction to our species.

Here’s how it breaks down: Goals first. Then strategy. Then tactics.

Goal: Win the war.

Strategy: “Divide and conquer.”

Tactics:

1. CIA spies gather intelligence.
2. Navy Seals knock out enemy communications.
3. Paratroopers secure the airports.
4. Armored Divisions race in and divide the opposing army’s forces.
5. Drone attacks take out the enemy leadership.
6. An overwhelming force of infantry invade.
7. Hand-to-hand combat.

- Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics
by John Furgurson
2009-11-01

via The Internet is Just a Fad

Note: “Question whether war is appropriate” is a losing tactic.

Nocturnal Urban Survival [Revised]

Goal: Survive; secondary objectives: food, shelter, alcohol.

Strategy: Paint the town red.

Tactics:

1. Consume alcohol.
2. Prepare with appropriate equipment: bladed weapons, small firearms. Class IIIa (or better) armor recommended where available.
3. Consume alcohol.
4. Proceed from home location to urban location.
5. Consume alcohol.
6. Create violent, unexpected, and chaotic disturbances to dissuade unwanted interaction with indigenous occupants of urban location; mimic intoxication; kick non-existent opponents; deploy funky dancing; engage in raucous laughter.
7. Consume alcohol.
8. Requisition foodstuffs from street vender.
9. Wander aimlessly to unknown location.
10. Consume alcohol.
11. Seek nearest public restroom to de-allocate foodstuffs, alcohol.
12. Locate home location.
13. Wander aimlessly to unknown location.
14. Consume alcohol.
15. Correctly locate and proceed to home location.

Yes, all this time there really was a master plan.

Today’s lesson of the day: you can probably survive being shot (particularly if you do not go into shock unnecessarily) – but if you can avoid being shot, you should probably try that first.

Do this:

You’ve Been Shot

Other than a cranial vault shot, you can survive most wounds if you get focused, get aggressive and eliminate the threat, Valone said. Move to a tactical position, get help on the way, and assess and treat your wounds.

Tactical Positioning

When taking a position of cover, concealment or both, consider whether help will be able to find you, Valone said. And consider any option available — officers have survived by standing behind a pole or lying next to a curb. Valone has his trainees use a fire hydrant in simulation training.

When positioned, check your weapon and do combat breathing to get your heart rate down and clear your tunnel vision, Valone advises. His version is to inhale through your nose for four seconds, hold for four, exhale for four, and cycle through this three times.

Calling for help

Give your location, what happened, a threat description and the resources needed. “It’s basic stuff, but you have to know it inside and out because you won’t be thinking,” Valone said. Self assessment is to look for any additional holes.

Valone advised officers to repeatedly re-evaluate their position and threat, and “Don’t give up until your backup gets there.”

- Expo: Bang! You’ve Been Shot at Officer.com
2009-11-03

… not this:

Retired Army Col. Greg Schannep, an aide to Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, who was on the post to attend a graduation service, told the Fort Hood Sentinel that he heard “three or four volleys of shots, with eight to 12 shots in each volley.”

“Initially, I thought it was a training exercise,” he said. But then, “a soldier came running past me and said, ‘Sir, there is someone shooting.’

“As he ran past me, I saw blood on his back,” Schannep told the base paper. “I don’t think he even knew he had been shot.”

- Gunman kills 12, wounds 31 at Fort Hood
2009-11-05