Anonymous vs. Scientology protest in LA today

Posted by Xeni Jardin, February 10, 2008 7:30 PM |USE THIS LINK TO GET FULL STORY AND A TIP OF THE HAT TO BOINGBOING.NET permalink

Sean Bonner writes on Blogging.la (where he and other contributors have been covering this story for weeks):

Since I first posted about Anonymous Vs. Scientology I've been following it rather closely which you've probably noticed. When the Feb 10th call to action I knew things were getting interesting. Then Newsweek picked up the story and photos started trickling in from other protests around the world this morning. I've been following the coordination efforts and planning to attend the protest today to take photos and see how many people would actually show up. In fact when I posted asking how many people you all thought might be there the response seemed to imply that most people thought no one would really show up. As Mack posted this morning that was pretty far off, and from my count over 300 people were there.

Link to full post with photos. Images: Sean Bonner.

Below, a "Frosty Ice Co." truck presumed to be a Scientology mobile surveillance unit, with cameras inside, to document the protestors -- some of whom were masked, others not.

Ronald McDonald insanity

About This Video Be sure you fasten your seatbelt. I warned you!!!
UPDATE: Click on "more" to download the mp3!

Ron... (more)
Added: January 01, 2008
UPDATE: Click on "more" to download the mp3!

Ronald remix mp3: http://rapidshare.com/files/82140535/... (if link is expired, please send me a msg)
MIRROR (thanks terogweth!): http://dertah.diinoweb.com/files/rano...

Original song (first part) mp3: http://rapidshare.com/files/85822070/... (thanks KuresunaZero!)
MIRROR: http://dertah.diinoweb.com/files/UN_O...

Original song (2nd part) mp3: http://rapidshare.com/files/87319553/... (thanks, akira54vv!)
MIRROR: http://dertah.diinoweb.com/files/COOL...

Another wacky Ronald McDonald clip from nicovideo. No words can describe this.

This is a remix of "U.N. Owen was her?" from 'The Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil' (a freeware game made by ZUN) soundtrack. (thanks UnicornFire, for the correction)

No, I didn't make this, and yes, I now know this same video was posted on Youtube just a few hours before I posted it. We both got it from nicovideo.jp. It seems the other video was featured on some prominent Japanese site so thats why it has x10 the views this one has.

M.C.ドナルドはダンスに夢中なのか？最終鬼畜道化師ドナルド・Ｍ
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1919148 (less)






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16KpquGsIc

Horizon: Psychedelic science by Bill Eagles

Link to "Psychedelic Science" video This is in Google format
47 min 49 sec - May 4, 2007

In the late 1960s, human experiments with psychedelic drugs were brought to a halt. Government reacted to the anarchy of the hippy ... all » counter-culture. The drug-crazed Charles Manson slayings came to symbolise public fear of the street use of LSD. Funding ceased, and the few researchers who battled on were ostracised. But lost in the blanket ban were remarkable research projects in the field of psychiatry that held out new hope for the treatment of schizophrenia and alcoholism. Bill Eagles' extraordinary film tells the story of a handful of dedicated scientists who have struggled to make psychedelic research respectable again. In the USA, psychiatrists Rick Strassman and Charles Grob, and neuroscientist Deborah Mash each quietly began investigations with unknown psychedelic compounds, to avoid the alarm bells of LSD. Strassman pursued the Federal Drug Administration for permission to do safety trials of DMT. Mash works on treating cocaine addicts, achieving success with Ibogaine, a psychedelic derived from a West African plant. Their success hinges on the patient having a 'peak' experience, entering the realm of the mystical or religious. The early researchers had spotted this. Now it was dramatically reinforced by unique new evidence from Brazil. Unable to work in the USA, Grob visited Brazil to track down the ritual use of Ayahuasca, a leaf rich in the powerful DMT. For centuries it has been used amongst the shamans of the Amazon. But today, in urban Brazil, tens of thousands of men, women and children are taking the drug as part of an ecstatic Christian cult experience. The Brazilian Government asked Grob to look at long-term damaging effects of the drug. Instead, he found no evidence of toxicity or brain damage, and also that long-term users functioned better in their community. In 1992 Brazil legalised ritual use of Ayahuasca. The FDA took careful note. Then in the early 1990s, leading lights of the US computer industry began admitting that many breakthroughs in Silicon Valley in the 70s and 80s had been inspired by regular psychedelic drug use. Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis, and founding father of Microsoft, Bob Wallace, reveal on camera the psychedelic influence on their creativity. This anecdotal evidence raised support for the psychedelic researchers. Now Strassman has received approval from the FDA for research into LSD itself.

Guy in Polar bear suit arrested during Greenpeace protest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKbr-ZbRl-Y

A Greenpeace activist was recently arrested for protesting in front of the US Department of the Interior while wearing an awesome polar bear suit. He was trying to draw attention to the Bush Administration’s delay in issuing a final Endangered Species Act listing for the polar bear due to global warming. Link to Greenpeace blog post.

But guess who made the costume? The exceedingly talented artisan Lionel,

... and in this Boing Boing post about how to make an Animatronic Lion Mask with stereo night vision and amplified hearing.

Lionel named this polar bear suit prototype "Snowshine." (thanks, Marianne Shaneen!)

Violets are Blue, Now Roses are Too

Recently we reported on rainbow colored roses from the Netherlands, that were causing quite a craze in Tokyo, Japan. The craze has apparently not worn off, as one Japanese company has developed something quite new and original.

Suntory Ltd., who also produces alcohol, created the world’s first genetically modified Blue roses, which they will begin to sell next year.

purple_rose.jpg

“As its price may be a bit high, we are targeting demand for luxurious cut flowers, such as for gifts,” he said. The exact price and commercial name for the blue rose have not been decided.

They created the flowers by implanting the gene that leads to the synthesis of the blue pigment Delphinidin in pansies. The pigment does not exist naturally in roses.

"One got Fat "Part Two

Edward Everett Horton narrates this tale of bicycle safety. What makes this film unique is that the study taken during this film was done with the children riding there bikes while WEARING MONKEY MASKS. Truly an unusually surreal class room film. Made only more weird because of the fact that Eddy Horton would narrate something like this.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kBcQ1bNCTY

"One Got Fat": 1962 bike safety film uses macabre monkey masks

1963 Bicycle Safety Film entitled "One Got Fat".
A group of monkey-masked kids decide to ride their bikes to the park for a picnic. Along the way, one by one, the kids are knocked out of the ride due to careless or unsafe riding.
Narration by Edward Everett Horton of "Fractured Fairytales" (Old Rocky and Bullwinkle) fame.

Roger says: "Here's a review of an extremely weird vintage bicycle safety film from 1962 in which a group of kids show us the dangers of disobeying bicycle safety rules - all while wearing some of the creepiest monkey masks you'll ever see."

The typeface used in the title is excellent.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgAMkMmsfg