Category: Burning Man

Summer Union 2016: Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Vera

9/3/2016

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Some

Part 10 of 13

“You feeling the way I do Reb?”
“’Bout?”
“Virginia.”
“Yes and no.”
“Yes?”
“Time to be on our way to Virginia.”
“No?”
“Virginia.”
“That’s real clear Johnny.”
“I know.”
“Say more.”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Sunny

“Do you remember when I mistook West Virginia for Virginia?”
“By the Potomac.”
“Right.”
“That was ‘65 and ’62 Johnny.”
“It’s like that.”
“Vera Reb.”
“Faith?”
“You know that one ‘eh?”
“It’s Russian.”
“Okay.”
“How’d you know Vera Gus?”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Day

“Fire.”
“Talking around a fire.”
“Right.”
“What am I to keep the faith in Gus?”
“Jonathan Rebel.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“Hmmm,” Johnny paused: “that’s becoming.”
“Let’s add Vera to our Virginia trip Reb.”
“Done.”

*Next Up: The Union 2016 summer series continues on Sunday 11 September with part 11, Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Bring the Boys.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Summer Union 2016: Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Nobody Home

8/26/2016

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Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Strong

Part 9 of 13

“Not killing each other is a clear beginning.”
“A strong one Reb.”
“Biblical.”
“A commandment.”
“One we tested Yank.”
“So we know our subject.”
“True.”
“Aesop was moral,” continued Gus, “as his tales always had a teaching turn.”
“Like the Bridled Horse.”
“What’s that?”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Urge

“An Aesop story about a Horse, Stag and Man.”
“Tell it.”
“A Horse was having problems sharing a meadow with a Stag.”
“Deer had antlers.”
“Right – so the Horse got with the Man and, with the help of the bridle, the two chased the Stag away.”
“Man rode the Horse.”
“Yes.”
“To a happy ending.”
“For the Man.”
“What did the Man do Johnny?”
“The Horse was pleased, thanked the Man, and expected to be unbridled: the Man said he liked the new arrangement.”
“The Man kept the Horse bridled.”
“You got it.”
“That’s moral.”
“Aesopic.”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Fly

“I feel like flying Reb.”
“That’s just the Turkey feathers talking.”
“Or Virginia calling.”
“I hear ya Yank.”
“Time to get maybe.”
“Berryville.”
“Right.”
“We ready?”
“Seems so.”
“Let’s take another look in Gus.”
“With ya Reb.”

Next Up: The Union 2016 summer series continues on Sunday 4 September with part 10, Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Vera.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Popular Belief in the Strong Man: Burning Man Edition Arendt Footnotes #4

8/25/2015

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(AF4 ~ fourth in a series)

The Strong Man Fallacy

Hannah Arendt, who survived the “strong man” Adolph Hitler, notes that history is filled with examples of strong men become impotent; this is because they did not know how to enlist the help of the many.

The Human Condition
Section 26: The Frailty of Human Affairs
(Page 188, bold added)

Action, as distinguished from fabrication, is never possible in isolation; to be isolated is to be deprived of the capacity to act. Action and speech need the surrounding presence of others no less than fabrication needs the surrounding presence of nature for its material, and of a world in which to place the finished product. Fabrication is surrounded by and in constant contact with the world: action and speech are surrounded by and in constant contact with the web of the acts and words of other men. The popular belief in a “strong man” who, isolated against others, owes his strength to his being alone is either sheer superstition, based on the delusion that we can “make” something in the realm of human affairs – “make” institutions or laws, for instance, as we make tables and chairs, or make men “better” or “worse” (14) – or it is conscious despair of all action, political and non-political, coupled with the utopian hope that it may be possible to treat men as one treats other “material.” (15)

14. Plato already reproached Pericles because he did not “make the citizen better” and because the Athenians were even worse at the end of his career than before (Gorgias 515).

15. Recent political history is full of examples indicating that the term “human material” is no harmless metaphor, and the same is true for a whole host of modern scientific experiments in social engineering, biochemistry, brain surgery, etc., all of which tend to treat and change human material like other matter. This mechanistic approach is typical of the modern age; antiquity, when it pursued similar aims, was inclined to think of men in terms of savage animals who need be tamed and domesticated. The only possible achievement in either case is to kill man, not indeed necessarily as a living organism, but qua man.

The Man burns in 11 days.

Next Up: Arendt Footnotes #5, Montesquieu’s Rapports and Human Passions, Tuesday 1 September.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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The Artist Objects: Burning Man Edition Arendt Footnotes #3

8/18/2015

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Arendt Footnotes #3 ~ The Artist Objects

(AF3 ~ third in a series)

The Artist Objects

The third to last paragraph in Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition also contains the book’s final footnote; its focus is art and modern man:

(Page 323, bold added)
Needless to say, this does not mean that modern man has lost his capacities or is on the point of losing them. No matter what sociology, psychology, and anthropology will tell us about the “social animal,” men persist in making, fabricating, and building, although these faculties are more and more restricted to the abilities of the artist, so that the concomitant experiences of worldliness escape more and more the range of ordinary human experience. (footnote 87)

87. This inherent worldliness of the artist is of course not changed if a “non-objective art” replaces the representation of things; to mistake this “non-objectivity” for subjectivity, where the artist feels called upon to “express himself,” his subjective feelings, is the mark of charlatans, not of artists. The artist, whether painter or sculptor or poet or musician, produces worldly objects, and his reification has nothing in common with the highly questionable and, at any rate, wholly unartistic practice of expression. Expressionist art, but not abstract art, is a contradiction in terms.

The Man burns in 18 days.

Next Up: Arendt Footnotes #4 and The Popular Belief in a Strong Man, Tuesday 25 August.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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1776: Gus Kotka, Johnny Reb and the Dandies of Harlem Heights

9/15/2014

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War Cry Heal Union: The series (9 of 10)

Once upon a time …

“Hey Gus.”
“Hey Reb ~ Where we at?”
“Once Upon A Time.”
“Once Upon A Time?” Gus quizzed, “you said we’d meet Somewhere next time.”
“I did,” Reb confirmed, “and tomorrow's Somewhere …”

Once Upon A Time Green Bean

“Great … then what’s with the green bean?”
“It’s a kitchen Gus.”
“Okay …”
“There’s a Dandy story here,” assured Reb, “and it’ll make our Somewhere time better.”
“A dandy one ‘eh?”
“The Dandies of Harlem Heights.”
“No kidding?” crafted Gus, “… then what goes with Once Upon A Time?”
“Burners …” offered Reb.”
“Burners?”
“… They like art.”
“Who’s Art?”
“… C’mon Gus ~ this way.”
“Sure thing Reb ~ though who’s Art? …”

Once Upon A Time Do Not Stop

“… Hey Reb ~ wait-a-Sec.”
“What now Yank?”
“Are we in Art's dream?”
“You can say that.”
“Then how come you and I are different?”
“Whatcha’ mean Yank?”
“Once Upon A Time? …” thought Gus, “How’d you do this?”
“I’m a composite Spirit,” answered Johnny Reb, “and you’re an individual Spirit Gus.”
“Okay …”
“You get to do your Spirit thing, be that US Army Private, 99th Indiana Infantry Regiment - ”
“Volunteer.”
“Yes, Volunteer Augustus Kotka, killed skirmishing the siege of Atlanta, 11 August 1864.”
“And you Reb? … How’d you die?”
“All the Johnnies Gus.”
“All? … You mean all the deaths?”
“Yes ~ and all the lives too.”
“Which is why you can do more …”
“Right.”
“It’s like …” Gus reasoned, “you’re a Macro and I’m a Micro Spirit.”
“Right again.”
“One more thing … Is that a piñata?”
“… Gus ~ C’mon …”

Once Upon A Time 48 Stars

“… Gus ~ Here we are.”
“What kind of flag is that?”
“’Merican.”
“The stars Reb …”
“Forty-eight.”
“Lots ~ so where are the Dandies?”
“Here, in the map.” [Richard Hanser, The Glorious Hour of Lt. Monroe, 1976:87.]
“Map’s too small Reb.”
“I know … I just wanted to say something.”
“Good ~ I like listening.”
“Sure you do …”
“I do ~ speak your peace Johnny.”
“The Stripes,” started Reb, “they represent the 13 Colonies in Rebellion.”
“Yes ~ and the Spirit of ’76.”
“And that Spirit had bodies … you know, humans.”
“Of course.”
“In the map are four American Rebels: a General, Colonel, Major and Lieutenant.”
“Officers.”
“Yes: Washington, Knowlton, Leitch and Monroe.”
“George and James for Washington and Monroe: who’s Knowlton?”
“Thomas Knowlton, Connecticut.”
“Say more …”
“Bunker Hill, 1775.”
“With ya’ now.”
“In the map it’s more than a year later,” Reb continued, “16 September 1776 and the New York Battle of Harlem Heights.”
“Who’s Leitch?”
“Andrew Leitch, Virginia … he’d been in New York four days.”
“Had been … what happened?”
“Washington has Knowlton’s Rangers skirmishing –”
“I know Skirmish.”
“– Against some Brits. Knowlton then leads the Rangers and the Third Virginia Regiment on a flanking movement. Knowlton is shot scouting the Brits; Major Leitch, as second in command, steps into the spot Knowlton was just in to assess the situation …”
“That’s the right move.”
“… Right Yank ~ ‘cept the Brits had the range and put three shots into Leitch.”
“Did they die? ~ Then I mean?”
“Knowlton on the field and Leitch thirteen days later.”
“Yankee Doodle Dandy Rebels ~ Knowlton and Leitch.”
“Yes, a Stripe for Connecticut …”
“… And a Stripe for Virginia.”
“Soldiers like Washington and Monroe,” Reb continued, “who give witness to such moments, often feel they were fighting …”
“For something.”
“… And not Against something Gus: Yankee Doodle Dandies fought For Free Speech and Enumerated Representation, you know, like our Nowhere chat,” Reb flickered, “~ Oh’oh …”
“What?”
“Time to go.”
“Already?”
“Heard a Noise.”
“Whatcha’ hear?”
“Squeak.”
“Who’s Squeak?”
“… Gus ~ Tomorrow's Somewhere.”
“I’m with ya’ Reb …”

Video: Yankee Doodle: Music of the American Revolution
~
*Tomorrow ~ US Constitution Day, 17 September 2014, the War Cry Heal Union summer series finale: Gus Kotka, Johnny Reb and Antietam 17 September 1862.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Homeostasis: Publius’ (Ultralow) THC Political Cannabinoid Science

9/5/2014

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The Cannabis Papers by Publius

The Cannabis Papers: A citizen’s guide to cannabinoids (2011)
By Publius

Welcome Homeostasis!
Burning Man Edition

Today’s science roundup looks at four 2014 articles on how the cannabinoid system (CS) modulates our health through homeostasis. The line-up links to CS PubMed articles discussing: hippocampus inhibition and excitation, pain relief from a Chinese herb (thunder God vine), GABA pain dis-inhibition, and brain protection from a single ultralow dose of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

The annual Burning Man festival in Black Rock City (NV) was last week; participants test their CS by enduring two Black Rock extremes ~ art and nature ~ which create space for mind and body to catch a glimpse of … spirit.

I. Hippocampus Homeostasis (Inhibition and Excitation) and the CS (Endos)
“Endocannabinoids (eCBs) modulate both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in hippocampus via activation of pre-synaptic cannabinoid receptors. Here, we present a model for cannabinoid mediated short-term depression of excitation (DSE) based on our recently developed model for the equivalent phenomenon of suppressing inhibition (DSI). … Finally, we explore under which conditions the combination of DSI and DSE can temporarily shift the fine balance between excitation and inhibition. This highlights a mechanism by which eCBs might act in a neuro-protective manner during high neural activity.”
Cannabinoid-mediated short-term plasticity in hippocampus.
Zachariou M, Thul R.
J Comput Neurosci. 2014 Aug 16. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 25123173 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Related citations

II. Homeostasis (Pain Relief) and CS CB2 Signaling
“Celastrol, a major active ingredient of Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. (thunder god vine), has exhibited a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammation, anti-cancer and immunosuppression. … Taken together, our results demonstrate the analgesia effects of celastrol through CB2 signaling and propose the potential of exploiting celastrol as a novel candidate for pain relief.”
Celastrol attenuates inflammatory and neuropathic pain mediated by cannabinoid receptor type 2.
Yang L, Li Y, Ren J, Zhu C, Fu J, Lin D, Qiu Y.
Int J Mol Sci. 2014 Aug 6;15(8):13637-48. doi: 10.3390/ijms150813637.
PMID: 25101848 [PubMed - in process] Free Article
Related citations

III. Homeostasis (GABA Pain Dis-inhibition) and the CS
“At the cellular level, opioids and cannabinoids are hypothesised to activate descending analgesia through an indirect process of 'GABA disinhibition'-suppression of inhibitory GABAergic inputs onto output neurons which constitute the descending analgesic pathway.”
Descending modulation of pain: the GABA disinhibition hypothesis of analgesia.
Lau BK, Vaughan CW.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014 Jul 24;29C:159-164. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.07.010. [Epub ahead of print] Review.
PMID: 25064178 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Related citations

IV. Homeostasis (CS CNS Protection) from a Single Ultralow Dose of THC
“In our previous studies, we found that a single ultralow dose of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; 0.002 mg/kg, three to four orders of magnitude lower than the conventional doses) protects the brain from different insults that cause cognitive deficits. … Our results suggest that an ultralow dose of THC that lacks any psychotrophic activity protects the brain from neuroinflammation-induced cognitive damage and might be used as an effective drug for the treatment of neuroinflammatory conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases.”
Ultralow doses of cannabinoid drugs protect the mouse brain from inflammation-induced cognitive damage.
Fishbein-Kaminietsky M, Gafni M, Sarne Y.
J Neurosci Res. 2014 Jul 16. doi: 10.1002/jnr.23452. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 25042014 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Related citations

Video: Cannabinoid Profiles - THC, THCA, THCV, CBD, CBG, CBN, CBC & Terpenes

Once Upon A Time ...

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

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Summer Union 2016: Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Vera

Summer Union 2016: Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Nobody Home

Popular Belief in the Strong Man: Burning Man Edition Arendt Footnotes #4

The Artist Objects: Burning Man Edition Arendt Footnotes #3

1776: Gus Kotka, Johnny Reb and the Dandies of Harlem Heights

Homeostasis: Publius’ (Ultralow) THC Political Cannabinoid Science

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