Over worked and Over stressed is Killing Us All

I have been working far too hard to recover from a financial costly and emotionally taxing relationship, which is now almost two years in my past. In the meantime, as I cope with the stress of lost relationship and new surroundings I have spent the last two years working 11 different jobs, occupying Minneapolis, and moving 8 times between three states (Minnesota, Maine and North Dakota). To top it off I am still a practicing visual and performance artist doing miniature art hunts all across the country, teaching art classes and performing live art battles. You can learn all about my artistic projects at my Bearded Bunny Art Blog. To make things even more stressful, the image above is a panel I did for my daily web comic called King of the Pill which has been one of those endeavors that has basically taken up all my free time for this entire year. That WAS the free time that I previously used to use to blog on Zombie Robot Frosting. Every time I plan to sit down and write a blog post here I remember all the things I need to do that have a higher priority and I neglect this blog. I am working on trying to fix that.

Needless to say, one of the ways I cope with stress is to keep myself busy. However, all these projects stress my out. It seems I use stress to fight stress, like fighting fire with fire. And I am getting burnt.......out. As one example, my car (which needs a check up- it has been over a year) looks like a bomb exploded in it. I have half cleaned it a dozen times and I really need to clean it out. My last half-clean revealed a rotten and liquefied green pepper I had forgotten about months ago. I still need to do my taxes.

Now, I would hate for this blog to be a monthly post of complaints and whining. Especially since that is not what this blog is about. This blog is about health, immortality and technology. Although, I think technology has been replaced with activism the last few years. I seem to blog a lot more about protesting and human rights than I do about nanotechnology and robots these days. But, two incredibly bright spots in my recent life has been:

Yoga and Daniel Pinchbeck 


My plan is to write another blog post called, Yoga and Daniel Pinchbeck. If I follow my claim those words will be a link to that post when it is done. But basically I have been enjoying yoga as a great physical and mental break from all of my stress. It has really grounded me and made me feel a lot more calm. On a similar level I got a book on tape from my friend Lauryn Whitmer (she writes a really great blog called Seeking Synchrony) of Daniel Pinchbeck's "Reality 2.0" and it has been great. I have subsequently been watching and listening to a lot of lectures and interviews by Pinchbeck and it has open my mind to a lot of new thoughts regarding the energy shift of 2012, life on earth, human history, psychedelics, advanced alien forms and shamanism. Basically, I love all of these topics and Daniel Pinchbeck's books toss everything at you and your mind is always racing to keep up, which is exactly how I like it. Next post I will talk a more about both Yoga and Pinchbeck's work and why these two things in combination have been a great help to me in the last few months.

Monsanto and Whole Foods

cartoon by William Hessian

This cartoon is in response to recent reports about the content of GMOs in Whole Foods products. It is scary to think how pervasive Monsanto and other genetically modified organisms have made it into the food we eat. Over 90% of all foods in a typical grocery store in the United States have some amount of GMO content, usually found in the oils.

Now we have yet another hoop to jump through if we want to stay healthy:

non GMO
Gluten Free
no TransFat

But I am up for the task. Are you?

Are GMOs (genetically modified organisms) safe to eat?

Yes, GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are unsafe for your health and here is why.

1. GMOs is linked to the growing spread of autism (studies in rats have indicated that this is most likely true. soruce: http://throughtheeyesofautism.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/autism-and-genetically-modified-foods/)

2. GMOs reduce the resource diversity of crops and produce worldwide. This is especially dangerous because the lack of diversity in our food source is not well prepared to fluxuate with the increasingly unpredictable climate change. Diversity is essential for global food security.

3. GMO pollution. Once GMOs become inbred with natural or organic organisms you cannot reverse the process. As the winds, water, insect, animals and soil carry GMO particles to other farms it contaminates and cross breeds with those varieties thus bastardizing all of our food.

4. GMOs over multiple generations increase infertility and sterilization in those who eat it. (Some have suggested that GMOs are actually a tool to curb over population on the planet).

Did you know that studies done when rats were fed with GMO soy most of the rats lost the ability to have babies in three generations? Less than 15% of the rats who wear able to produce offspring produces very small sickly babies. If humans react similar to GMO tainted food, we are currently inbetween the 1st and 2nd generations.

Here is another scary thing: Approximately 75% of all food products in an average United States grocery store has some kind of GMO in them. Mostly in the soybean oil, cottonseed oil and other vegetable oils. (Source is the 2/9/12 radio broadcast on Coast to Coast AM http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2012/02/09)

Monsanto, Kraft and other large corporations who make large profits from GMO based foods have run massive campaigns to spread disinformation about the safety and/or necessity of GMOs. Here are some links about Monsanto and disinformation:
http://www.disinfo.com/2011/12/monsantos-gm-corn-linked-to-organ-failure/


Monsanto's Round-Up is proven to cause major medical problems in those exposed to it.

http://permaculture.org.au/2011/12/08/argentinian-report-identifies-major-medical-problems-associated-with-roundup-ready-soy/


Round Up the cause of birth defects
http://tommytoy.typepad.com/tommy-toy-pbt-consultin/2011/06/washington-the-chemical-at-the-heart-of-the-planets-most-widely-used-herbicide-roundup-weedkiller-used-in-farms-and.html

So...

Are GMO (genetically modified organisms) bad for me?

Absolutely.


basic overview of GMOs: http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/

Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey Smith.

King of the Pill: new content every day

Have you been looking for a free family friendly web comic to read? Looking for an online adventure with goofy characters set in a fantasy world? A web comic that updates every single day. In 2012there will be 365 new panels in 365 days!).

If those things sound good to you, you should be reading King of the Pill:




You get to follow the PG adventures of Jasper who has taken a pill that has given him the power of the Face of Many Hands. It is a glorious upgrade. Now Jasper will meet a bunch of crazy characters who are all up to mysterious things, and then he must embark on a crazy quest across the planet. If you like goofy stories, funny comics, and bright and colorful worlds, this is a comic for you.



Come read the funny web comic adventure King of the Pill today. I endorse it, because I am the one who makes it! It is also why I have not had the time to post new content on this blog lately. Please help spread the word and support my one year web comic venture! Thanks for your support and readership!

Skyrim, Wincredible & a Brutal Cage Fight: Christmas Time in the Midwest

Three Themes of Christmas in the Midwest
The snowflakes begin to gently fall on the highway in front of me as I make me drive from St. Paul to Minnetonka for work. Today I leave a few hours early because I've got some Holiday shopping to do, and only a few days left to do it. It is always the frantic few days before Christmas when I still have all my shopping to do that I really start to get int the Christmas spirit. I even turn on the Christmas tunes in the car. On my way down I-494 I pass three huge and notable billboards. The first is:



Skyrim the billboard! For those of you unaware Skyrim is a fantasy video game that has surpassed $650 Million in retail sales. Over 10 million copies have been sold. People all across the world are entering and experiencing this massive game with dragons, werewolves and all sorts of adventures. I have forbidden myself from all time sink video games, because I have too little time as it is. I do admit to spending time learning all about the game, and being interested in it, even if I myself do not want to spend the endless time or money playing it.

The second billboard said: WINCREDIBLE! This billboard showed a very happy fellow that seemingly just won a lot of money at the casino. Mystic Lake Casino to be specific.

The third, and probably most attention getting sign of them all was a big black screen with illuminated vibrant red text advertising: BRUTAL CAGE FIGHT! It continued to tell you when and where.

Video games, Gambling and Violence! The three themes of Christmas in the Midwest apparently. Nothing festive or holiday like at all on all three billboards. Simply an invitation to enter a fake world, the illusion of winning money, or the chance to watch people bash each others face in. In an effort not to be hypocritical, I want to be clear that all three of these things I have enjoyed in my life; video games, gambling and violence. Having said that, I am still surprised and bewildered that these are the floating images in the sky during this holiday season. The billboard signs make me both sad and happy.


The Glorious Toy Isles
The huge non-holiday signs did not damper my rare holiday spirit, as I was off to get gifts for my little nephews. This meant I get to browse the toy isles. For anyone that has ever been with me in a department store knows that I have an uncontrollable urge to browse the toy isles. I do not buy much, but I love toy culture. Today, I have both an excuse to browse those isles, but also to buy things. Oh happy day.

If my shopping strategy was a little more scheduled and organized I would probably try to buy all of my gifts from local artists like sock creatures, wood carved animals or figurines made of sculpy clay. If I was really planning ahead I could make all the gifts myself. But, procrastination sends me to the mall instead. And part of me loves it. I love crowds of people, and isles of toys. I even enjoy trying to navigate the crowded isles and listening to the kids yelling: "I want that, and that and that and this!"

Just getting to browse the Star WArs toys, Hot Wheel cars, and Pokemon puts a smile on my face. It reminds me of being a kid, and I still love all these things. Even if they aren't part of my personal mythology anymore.

However, walking down the halls of the mall I have to ask the question:


When did Christmas Start to Stink?

The Christmas stink, which may actually be more appropriately called "mall stink", is the most extreme and upsetting standing between the Ambercrombie & Fitch store and the Pretzel Time store. The gas cloud of cologne mixed with the doughy smell of the pretzels is enough to turn my stomach fluids to cottage cheese. The smell fight is so disgusting I have to stop and admire the horridity (i know its not a word, but its needed here) of it all. Every single food shop is shooting their smells like missiles into the hallways trying to lasso me in as I walk by. For some reason; maybe because I rarely visit malls these days, or because each store has their scent cannons turned up to level 11, or maybe I have just become over sensitive to the smells, or maybe because all these smells are intermingling to create a nasty hybrid monster smell: everything is just gross. Good thing I can weave from one side of the hall to the other avoiding the smelliest of the shops, while on my search for the perfect toys.

Capitalism Greed
I am a abnormally fast walker to start with, and an even faster walker when I only have 60 minutes before work and a list to complete. I enjoy the tables of young teenagers laughing and flirting with each other, the families and kids traveling in packs all linked together holding hands, the kiosk worker who is flying some airplane around the mall trying to land it on the fountain, it is this hustle and bustle of the holidays that I really like. But I feel like a fraud. For those of you who know me, or read this blog: I am an activist, I am part of the Occupy movement, and I am basically a hippie (or at least hippie in training). Peace man!

The receipts that pile up in my pocket make me feel guilty. The economy is terrible, unemployment is way up, and many people have lost their homes or jobs since last Christmas. I have been fortunate enough to find work wherever I go, although underpaid and under appreciated; I still have work and a little money to spend. Wandering through this maze of capitalism that we call a mall makes me both sad and happy. To me, the American consumerism model is not a sustainable system and I know that I am pouring my hard earned money into the pockets of the 1% and not into my community where I should be putting it. I can find solace in the fact that the rest of the year I am pretty good about spending my money at farmers markets and buying from self represented artists, but during my annual holiday lapse, while fun, it is against my beliefs. I know I can do better.

Snowflakes on the Plush Doll
I rush out of the mall with a bag full of toys, I feel guilty and satisfied. I zigzag through the cars that fill up the giant mall parking lot. As I do, I notice that a perfect snowflake has landed on this tiny little plush animal. The stuffed animal has HUGE anime eyes and the snowflake sits delicately on its fur. I stop right there, almost unsure if the snowflake was real. I admire its miniature delicate beauty. It is magically perfect, and sitting completely in the center of this little creatures forehead. A third eye. As the little snowflake melts away, it seems to also melt away my anxiety for the holidays and even melt away a bit of my guilt. It reminds me of how incredible the small things are, and how little time we have to enjoy them. It makes me both sad and happy.

Happy Holidays.


If you enjoy this article please considered subscribing to my blog in the sidebar or check out my art blog. You might also enjoy my Occupy Rant, and quit drinking soda forever

A Sheep or a Rebel: Occupy

Heroes and Villains
What an exciting time to be alive. The weight of centuries of oppression, exploitation and bad decisions are forcing the common people of the world out into the streets. We live in a time where there are definable (although arguable) villains, and a chance for us (yes you) to be a hero. The most important part of this growing Occupy movement is that we are all on the same team and we are the good guys. From every country and every part of the world; the protesters, the stay at home moms, the gas station clerks, the police, the laborers, the working, the children, the elderly, the homeless on the corner, the teachers, the small business owners are all on the same team. Right now the most important part of this movement is to spread awareness all across the globe that the 99% needs to be in this together, and invite them to the dance. This is the rally call! The 'dance' that I am referring to is the public streets of every city, and if you cannot get to the streets then the dance can be done in solidarity at home and on the internet. Joining the 'dance' is being an active member of the 99% and standing against the 1% of the population that controls the majority of the wealth and power in this world.

The Maze
As the illusion of the middle class (American Dream)luxuries fade, and the walls of the financial maze start becoming more and more clear, we are realizing first and foremost, that we are trapped. We spend way too much of our time working jobs we do not like, for pay that is too little, consuming entertainment that does not make us smarter or challenge us, we eat food that makes us sick, our medicine makes us sicker, we spend too much money on education, our education does not give us the opportunities we deserve, and the corporations show profits while we wade in pools of debt and watch our homes get foreclosed on. We are in a maze, paying tolls and taxes at every corner, while being chased down by the dogs of debt. We are treated like sheep, or cash cows. Often times we are running this maze with our families and our neighbors, our bosses and our friends. Even those who would be considered wealthy, successful or privileged in our society are running this maze and while they may be further ahead than others they are caught just the same.

Escaping the Maze

The maze exists and it is a worldwide problem. The maze has been cleverly built by the 1%, and there is no exit. If you are in a maze with no exit, is there any hope? Yes, there is. The thing is, we are taught to think independently and laterally while forgetting that we can think and act vertically as a community. Because the walls of the maze, while thick and strong, only go so high. With teamwork we can climb the wall and we can escape the maze. This is why Occupy is so important. Time is of the essence, as we must escape before the 1% builds a roof over the maze and makes it a true jail.

Why Occupy?
A lot of people ask: why occupy? A lot of people want to know what the endgame is. When will we leave? What do we want? If you read the paragraphs above you know that there are some huge problems right now. 99% of the people on this planet are trapped in a system that exploits them and benefits the 1%. You have also read that there is a way out of this system, and that way is teamwork and a collaborative effort to climb up and over these oppressive walls. The Occupy movement (as of November 2011) is a gathering of people who realize that the maze exists and that want to escape the system and give power back to the 99%. The Occupy movement seeks to expose the system to more people and seeks to discuss ways and structures that will help us over the walls and also plans for what we do when we do get over those walls. Currently we are a crowd of people puddling up in the maze, figuring out how to stand on each other. We are building infrastructure. We are building the metaphorical steps that will help ourselves and the rest of the 99% over the walls.

What is next for the Occupy Movement?
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, right now we need more people. Outreach is the most important. The Occupy crowd needs to grow. The more people the more impact. Different parts of the maze will be revealed, more connections will be made, new answers will be provided and solutions will be explored and carried out. I am the 99% and this blog post and the poster I created is just two of many ways I am joining the fight. I ask you to join Occupy and help now. If I am already preaching to the choir (hello fellow Occupier) then I ask you to use this post as a catalyst to continue your work. Solidarity.

Help Now
Join the fight right now, by spreading this message using the share buttons below. Like it on facebook. Plus it on Google+. Share it on Twitter. You can also show your support with an I AM THE 99% poster. Put it in your car, house window, or work cubicle. If you have a chance, get to the nearest Occupy gathering near you and get involved. Meet new people. Join a committee. Together we can change the world.

I AM THE 99%

I have just thrown together a simple free printable sign, "I AM THE 99%" to be use for people who occupy at home. The idea is to get people to post 99% solidarity signs at work, at home, in their cars. A lot of people are in favor of the movement, and I think we should all show our support by hanging the number 99 everywhere. Hanging up this sign means that you stand with the Occupy movement wherever you may be.

A lot of people have busy lives, work many jobs, have young kids, families, or medical conditions which makes it hard for them to get out and Occupy. This sign is just one way to Occupy at Home. Join in, show your support.

I will be making all of the colors available in printable PDFs very shortly.