Impossible X

Impossible X  

by Michael Flarup  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/logo-projects/michael-flarup.html  

Author: http://dribbble.com/flarup

Halations

Halations  

by Daniel Kong (icickle)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/daniel-kong.html  

Author: http://icickle.deviantart.com/

Enamel works by Eugeny Matko

http://im-possible.info/english/art/applied_art/eugeny-matko.html#001  

Author: http://artmatko.com

Floors 2

Floors 2  

by Andreas Aronsson  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/andreas-aronsson.html#floors2

Dr Who tackles climate change, corporate power and the world food crisis

The Green Death screened in 1973 was a slice of effective Green Party politics, very enjoyable (other than the dodgy hair cuts).

Evil corporation, illegal waste dumping, insane computer (who quotes Nietzsche and hums to Wagner), hippie heros and giant killer maggots.

In short perfect viewing.

The BFI notes:

Unusually, the hazard in The Green Death comes not from extraterrestrials, but

Attune

Logo project by Dhidesign  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/logo-projects/dhidesign.html

Creation

Creation  

by Leonardo Dentico  (leox912)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/leonardo-dentico.html  

Author: http://leox912.deviantart.com/

Logo of application Optical Illusions

http://im-possible.info/english/art/logotypes/page5.html#optical-illusions

Increasingly confident Cameron's Christmas message celebrates Mrs Thatcher

Snoopy Escher

Snoopy Escher  

by Kristel Marion (K-heartmusic) 

http://im-possible.info/english/art/escher-inspired/kristel-marion.html  

Author: http://k-heartmusic.deviantart.com/

Chateau Impossible

Chateau Impossible  

by Mark Empire (empire539)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/mark-empire.html  

Author: http://empire539.deviantart.com

Side Trip From Merída-- Beautiful Campeche... How Safe?

Lovely Campeche... ready for tourists to start arriving

We picked the Yucatán for our December vacation for a few reasons-- from curiosity about the Mayan culture to the warm weather; it's around 90-something by mid-day, although the early mornings and nights are cool. We rented an indoor-outdoor living house in ancient downtown Merída, the capital of the province. The house is so alluring, whole days pass when no one even thinks about unbolting the big doors and gate and going out. The house is it's own biosphere. And it feels very safe (not counting the damn mosquitos). In fact, we picked the Yucatán because of it's reputation as a safe haven in the never-ending Mexican violence maelstrom. But that was before we read about eleven decapitated bodies found just outside Merída a few years ago.

Yesterday we took an ADO bus-- a nice comfy one-- from Merída to the capital of the next province over Campeche. The city is also Campeche and it's sleepy, charming, a world heritage site and all painted and cobbled and ready to be discovered by tourists. But tourists are mostly afraid of Mexico in general so Campeche, just two and a half hours from Merída, is still sleepy. They don't care; they found oil off the coast. About 200,000 people live in the gem of a baroque colonial city, which was founded in 1540 on top of the ruins of an old Mayan city Canpech. Anyway, back to the bus. It was around $20 each way if I remember correctly and it took about 3 hours to get back because the nice highway stops every now and then for construction and you have to trundle along slowly in one lane-- harder in the dark. And police roadblocks stop you and search the vehicles, ostensibly looking for Guatemalan "illigals" who would like to get jobs in the glittery tourist mecca, Cancún. But Roland told me that Los Zetas, a paramilitary drug cartel, sometimes pull buses over and rob everyone. It made for some excitment every time we got pulled over. But nothing happened. Apparently, Los Zetas-- or some facsimile thereof-- were busy just north of where we were yesterday.

Three U.S. citizens traveling to spend the holidays with their relatives in Mexico were among those killed in a spree of shooting attacks on buses in northern Mexico, authorities from both countries said Friday.

A group of five gunmen attacked three buses in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz on Thursday, killing a total of seven passengers in what authorities said appeared to be a violent robbery spree.

...Rocha said the other bus passengers killed in the attacks were a young Mexican couple, who left behind a three-month-old baby boy, who survived the attack. A bus driver was also killed.

Five gunmen who allegedly carried out the attacks were later killed by soldiers.
Earlier in their spree, the gunmen shot to death three people and killed a fourth with grenade in the nearby town of El Higo, Veracruz.

On Thursday, the U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros, a Mexican border city north of where the attacks occurred, said in a statement that "several vehicles," including the buses, were attacked, but did not specify what the other vehicles were.

The consulate urged Americans to "exercise caution" when traveling in Veracruz, and "avoid intercity road travel at night."

On the other hand, Merída is nicknamed the city of peace, the real estate market is booming, and the food is yummy, ... but I feel like I should report on that next time.

Santa Claus and impossible chimneys

http://im-possible.info/english/art/cartoons/unknown.html

Early Christmas present for students everywhere Lib Dem vote shredded to 45 votes

Westbourne ward by-election result in full from Brighton and Hove is worth a look, a Tory ward where little has changed but look at the Lib Dem wipe out, the European Citizens Party will soon be ahead of them.



Con 1027 39.2% +0.7%

Lab 826 31.5% +3.2%

Green 645 24.6% +0.6%

Lib-Dem 45 1.7% -5.5%

UKIP 36 1.4% +1.4%

TUSC 26 1% +1%

EC 13 0.5% -0.7%



Turnout 2618 35.1%

Swing 1.3% Con

Westbourne by-election result

Sorry that we didn't win but an encouraging result in a non target ward, Greens in Brighton and Hove continue to do well.

#westbourne by-election result Brighton and Hove #Conservative1,027, #labour 826, #greenparty 645 #greenparty

Cartoons by Antonio de Oliveira

http://im-possible.info/english/art/cartoons/antonio-de-oliveira.html  

Authors blog: http://6vqcoisa.blogspot.com/

Impossible books

Impossible books by Gary Barwin  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/gary-barwin.html  

Author - http://serifofnottingham.blogspot.com

Occupy London tank on the streets of London!

Occupy London are preparing if necessary to ship out of St Paul's I am told and have occupied an old magistrates court.

Occupy inspire, it was great to get down a couple of times including giving an economics chat and I was also pleased to talk to Occupy Newcastle after an invite in October.

Great resource, great resistance.  The structures of a failed economy need transforming and these

Danger Lurks For Airline Passengers-- Germs Are Out To Get You

Last week Lee Rogers, a Los Angeles-based physician running for Congress, explained why he would work to ban airport x-ray body scanners. The health concerns are legitimate and powerful and the risks are imposed on us by government. There's another more immediate health risk involved with flying and this one isn't imposed by government. Today's Wall Street Journal runs through the viruses and bacteria that wait in prey for airline passengers, especially at this time of the year. And all government has done are make some toothless recommendations to the airlines-- recommendations the bottom-line oriented airlines routinely ignore.

Air travelers suffer higher rates of disease infection, research has shown. One study pegged the increased risk for catching a cold as high as 20%. And the holidays are a particularly infectious time of year, with planes packed full of families with all their presents--and all those germs.

Air that is recirculated throughout the cabin is most often blamed. But studies have shown that high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters on most jets today can capture 99.97% of bacterial and virus-carrying particles. That said, when air circulation is shut down, which sometimes happens during long waits on the ground or for short periods when passengers are boarding or exiting, infections can spread like wildfire.

One well-known study in 1979 found that when a plane sat three hours with its engines off and no air circulating, 72% of the 54 people on board got sick within two days. The flu strain they had was traced to one passenger. For that reason, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an advisory in 2003 to airlines saying that passengers should be removed from planes within 30 minutes if there's no air circulation, but compliance isn't mandatory.

Much of the danger comes from the mouths, noses and hands of passengers sitting nearby. The hot zone for exposure is generally two seats beside, in front of and behind you, according to a study in July in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A number of factors increase the odds of bringing home a souvenir cough and runny nose. For one, the environment at 30,000 feet enables easier spread of disease. Air in airplanes is extremely dry, and viruses tend to thrive in low-humidity conditions. When mucous membranes dry out, they are far less effective at blocking infection. High altitudes can tire the body, and fatigue plays a role in making people more susceptible to catching colds, too.

Also, viruses and bacteria can live for hours on some surfaces--some viral particles have been found to be active up to a day in certain places. Tray tables can be contaminated, and seat-back pockets, which get stuffed with used tissues, soiled napkins and trash, can be particularly skuzzy. It's also difficult to know what germs are lurking in an airline's pillows and blankets.

Research has shown how easily disease can spread. Tracing influenza transmission on long-haul flights in 2009 with passengers infected with the H1N1 flu strain, Australian researchers found that 2% passengers had the disease during the flight and 5% came down within a week after landing. Coach-cabin passengers were at a 3.6% increased risk of contracting H1N1 if they sat within two rows of someone who had symptoms in-flight. That increased risk for post-flight disease doubled to 7.7% for passengers seated in a two-seat hot zone.

...[S]ome basic precautions passengers can take to keep coughs away.

Hydrate. Drinking water and keeping nasal passages moist with a saline spray can reduce your risk of infection.

Clean your hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. We often infect ourselves, touching mouth, nose or eyes with our own hands that have picked up something.

Use a disinfecting wipe to clean off tray tables before using.

Avoid seat-back pockets.

Open your air vent, and aim it so it passes just in front of your face. Filtered airplane air can help direct airborne contagions away from you.

Change seats if you end up near a cougher, sneezer or someone who looks feverish. That may not be possible on very full flights, but worth a try. One sneeze can produce up to 30,000 droplets that can be propelled as far as six feet.

Raise concerns with the crew if air circulation is shut off for an extended period.

Avoid airline pillows and blankets (if you find them).

...You think the plane is bad? Security checkpoints harbor a host of hazards as well, researchers say.

People get bunched up in lines, where there is plenty of coughing and sneezing. Shoes are removed and placed with other belongings into plastic security bins, which typically don't get cleaned after they go through the scanner.

A National Academy of Sciences panel is six months into a two-year study that is taking samples at airport areas to try to pinpoint opportunities for infection.

With limited resources, airports and airlines have asked researchers to help figure out where best to target prevention, said Dr. Mark Gendreau of Boston's Lahey Clinic Medical Center who is on the panel.

Check-in kiosks and baggage areas are other prime suspects in addition to security lines, he said.

8 new artworks by Vadim Dubinin

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/vadim-dubinin.html#archaic

'Blood of the Amazon' must see film!

Indigenous defence of the world is so important!  Please spread the word about Nicola Peel's film Blood of the Amazon.

It charts the journey of a women from Pulborough, Sussex down the Amazon from Ecuador looking at the damage oil companies are doing.

The Amazon is us, indigenous people are in the frontline of action to challenge the destruction of the planet.

Must significantly they are

ACME delivery - Escher

ACME delivery - Escher  

by Kim Hoppy  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/cartoons/kim-hoppy.html  

http://kimhoppy.deviantart.com/

Fiberart impossible triangle

Fiberart impossigle triangle  

by Katie Chui (Alondra-chui)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/applied_art/katie-chui.html  

http://alondra-chui.deviantart.com/

Penrose triangle

Penrose triangle  

by Renan R. Rodrigues  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/renan-rodrigues.html  

http://renanrdgs.deviantart.com/

Ascending and Descending

Computer version of Escher's "Ascending and Descending" by chocobosROK  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/rendered_escher/chocobosrok.html  

http://chocobosrok.deviantart.com/

Seeing Flower

Seeing Flower  

by C.M. Calvert (gnosisisongoing)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/calvert.html  

http://gnosisisongoing.deviantart.com/

Keith Thomas trashes the Research Excellence Framework

University research in the UK is an increasingly absurd pursuit, all about government targets that discourage publishing substantial pieces of work according to Keith Thomas:


We must press for changes to the Research Excellence Framework (REF), formerly the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). In my experience, this operation, though initially a stimulus, has in the longer run had appalling

Waterfall in Minecraft

Escher's waterfall, which was created in Minecraft by Nemecle  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/minecraft.html#nemecle-waterfall  

http://nemecle.deviantart.com/art/Escher-waterfalls-in-minecraft-updated-272333658

Ever Wonder What Medical Doctors Have To Say About Airport X-Ray Body Scanners?

Dr. Lee Rogers is the Simi Valley surgeon running for the L.A.-area House seat which GOP fossil Buck McKeon is still clinging to. Although his campaign has focused like a laser beam on the economy, jobs and housing, it's always fascinating when he gets into topics that sit at the intersection of politics and medicine. This week his campaign called for a ban on airport body scans.

"Currently, there are about 250 body scanners that use X-rays placed in American airports by the Transportation Security Administration which have screened millions of passengers. Last year, a report by the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety, which includes the European Commission, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Energy Agency, and the World Health Organization, concluded that pregnant women and children should not be subject to the scanning, even though the radiation dose from body scanners is small. The Committee also stated that governments must justify the additional risk posed to passengers and should consider other technologies to achieve the same end without the use of radiation. Recently, the European Commission banned the use of X-ray body scanners in all European Union airports, citing the health and safety concerns.”

“The TSA’s use of these devises violates an important principle in radiation safety: humans should not be radiated unless there is some possible medical benefit. The devices used for security screening are not subject to FDA regulations for safety, unlike X-ray machines in a doctor’s office. Additionally, TSA officers are prohibited from wearing radiation dosimeter badges, as worn by healthcare workers to track their radiation exposure.”
 
“It is obvious that the use of this risky X-ray technology is the result of the culture in Washington. The manufacturer of the X-ray device is a California company called Rapiscan Systems which has more than tripled their lobbying cash in the past 5 years. The health and well being of our citizens should not be for sale.”

“As Congressman, I would work to stop the use of radiating devices for human screening that serve no medical benefit and I call on others in Congress to do the same. I would ensure that any future research on X-ray screening devices for humans meets the same ethical and safety standards that are required of medical devices emitting radiation. I would also fight to allow workers who operate X-ray machinery for baggage screening to wear radiation detector badges for their safety.”

Escher did it

Escher did it 

by JSDesign  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/jsdesign.html  

http://jsdesign.deviantart.com/

Me vs Universe

Me vs Universe  

by Daniele di Nicuolo (KoT4)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/cartoons/daniele-di-nicuolo.html  

http://kot4.deviantart.com/

Escher inspired images in FortressCraft

Images were create in computer game FortressCraft by Not2Mention  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/fortresscraft.html 

http://not2mention.deviantart.com/

Images with Futurama characters

One point




Water Wheel 



by Kaspired  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/escher-inspired/kaspired.html  

http://kaspired.deviantart.com/

A floor cover with impossible triangles

A floor cover with impossible triangles by MRHDesign  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/applied_art/mrhdesign.html  

http://mrhdesign.deviantart.com/

LOWKEY(ft. ADNAN AL-RADHI) - SOUNDTRACK TO THE STRUGGLE (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

Since this was your favourite track on the CD (apart from Cradle OfCivilisation). It is only right that you are part of the video. Youare loved and missed by us all. Sleep well Adooni."Buy HardCopy 'SOUNDTRACK TO THE STRUGGLE' Here:http://www.soundtracktothestruggle.com/Produced by Beatnick & K SalaamiTunes: http://bit.ly/r1x6umFollow Lowkey on www.twitter.com/lowkeymusic1To join Lowkey on

Mérida-- In The Heartland Of The Mayan People... Or What's Left Of Them

Roland loves Guatemala, especially the people, and he's always pushing that we go down there. We're about the leave for the other half of the Mayan homeland, Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. We rented a house with our friends Helen and Michael for a few weeks in Mérida, the sleepy, romantic, tropical old colonial capital. I have a very queasy feeling about the Mayan people, primarily because how horrifically they're been treated by my government which-- let's be real-- represents me.

Roland and Helen seem to always feel validated when some NY Times travel writer does a piece on one of our destinations. My response is always "Yecchhhh." These Times travel writers are clueless and always between a year and ten years late to any travel trend. But Helen and Roland both forwarded me the lame, even embarrassing 36 Hours in Mérida story from two weeks ago. Like all their "36 Hours In" stories it's written by an idiot for idiots and is never anything like our own excursions to the same places. If we happen to eat in one of the same restaurants or go to one of the same sites they recommend, it's either a coincidence or despite their recommendation. "Yucatecans," the piece begins, "are fiercely proud of their culture, sprinkling their Spanish with Mayan words and quick to recount the stories of resistance and revolution that set this region apart from the rest of Mexico for centuries." Nothing, though about the exploitation and slaughter of Mayans in our own lifetimes, and not by Spanish conquistadors, but at the direction of our own glorious CIA. More of that below, from a post I ran this weekend at DownWithTyranny. The Times travel section isn't political and they continue that Mérida is "one of the safest in Mexico, is an architectural jewel, and has one of the country’s largest historic centers outside Mexico City. Block after block of houses dating to the mid-19th century and earlier are in the midst of a restoration boom, and the city’s cultural and restaurant scenes are flourishing." We rented a house in the middle of town and all I can think of is resting, relaxing and, at some point, when I'm rested and relaxed-- the weather is balmy and the temperature around 90-- we'll go explore the old Mayan ruins in the vicinity-- on the Mexican side of the border.


It's always very sad to be writing about Guatemala-- sad and, as an American, shameful. What we've done to the people of that country is beyond conceivable and probably damns every single one of us to a special collective circle of hell. Last summer, in the context of our heroic unleashing of the hounds of hell on Libya, we looked at Glen Yeadon's observations of the bloody U.S. intervention in Guatemala in 1953

In 1953 the CIA also intervened in Guatemala, and regarded the action as a success. For what reasons they regarded the operation as success can be only guess at for what followed was a bloody civil war that lasted 36 years. Once again this intervention fits the model perfectly. The legally elected government of Arbenz was reform minded. The center piece of his reforms was land reform. In an overwhelmingly rural nation only 2.2% of the population owned 70% of the land. Prior to the 1944 revolution and ousting of the dictatorship of Ubico, the army was used to rope farm labors together for delivery to low-land farms where they were kept as debt slaves. The expropriation of large uncultivated tracts of land to landless peasants, improvement in the rights of unions and other social reforms were hurting the bottom line of United Fruit. Arbenz even constructed a port on the Atlantic to compete against the port controlled by United Fruit, likewise a public hydro-electric plant was constructed for the same reasons.

The position of United Fruit inside Guatemala was essentially one of a country within a country. United Fruit owned the country's telephone and telegraph systems, administered the country's only Atlantic port, monopolized banana exports and a subsidiary owned the rail system. In the US United Fruit had close ties to the Dulles brothers, various state department officials, congressmen and the US Ambassador to the UN. The former CIA Director, Walter Bedell Smith was seeking an executive position with United Fruit at the same time he was planing the Guatemala coup. He later was named to the board of directors of United Fruit.

The first plan to oust Arbenz was given by Truman as a response to Guatemala receiving arms from Czechoslovakia and the implied communism threat but was canceled. After the election of Eisenhower the plan was put into effect. The Guatemala coup also provides and ideal example of how the CIA manipulates the American opinion. After first being tried in Guatemala this technique has been employed throughout South America. It involves the CIA planting an article in the foreign press the article is then picked up by the news wires and newspapers in other countries. Besides the obvious multiplier effect upon the potential audience it has the appearance of an independent world opinion. Incidentally it was the same tactic that Bush tried to use against Clinton in the 1992 election.

The immediate after effects of the coup was draconian, within four months 72,000 was labeled as communist, many who were tortured and murdered. It is known that the U.S. Ambassador John Peurifoy had a long list of names of leaders that the successor government was to assassinate. Agrarian reform was stopped and the land already expropriated was given back to United Fruit. Union leaders turned up dead. Three quarters of the population was disenfranchised by barring illiterates from the polls and all political parties, unions and peasant organizations were outlawed...

The blood bath and carnage that followed for the next 36 years can only be described as horrific A genocidal war was carried on against the native Indians. Murders, kidnappings and disappearances became widespread and everyday occurrences as right wing death squads roamed the countryside. The report on Guatemala as a first step to reconciliation states that the army is blamed for over 200,000 deaths and disappearances. Below are some extracts from that report:

"Of the 42,000 deaths investigated in the report, the army was found to be responsible for 93 percent. Three percent were the work of the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, and 4 percent were unresolved. The report found that 29,000 of the investigated deaths involved summary executions.

Most of the victims were civilians and Mayan Indians... [T]he government of the United States, through various agencies including the CIA, provided direct and indirect support for some state operations."

It was "clearly genocide and a planned strategy against the civilian population," said Christian Tomuschat, a German citizen who heads the three-member commission. "Government forces... blindly pursued the anti-communist fight, without respecting any legal principle or even the most elemental ethical or religious values."

In 626 massacres, the report found that government forces "completely exterminated Mayan communities, destroyed their dwellings, livestock and crops." The guerrillas were blamed for 32 such massacres, the report said."

Guatemala also provides us with the first example of the right wing death squads that have became so much a part of South American politics. Those death squads and the dictators that employ them are products of the CIA-Military intelligence system of the US. They lead directly to the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.

In reading Corey Robin's new book, The Reactionary Mind I came across a review he wrote for the London Review of Books in 2004 of Greg Granlin's Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War. How could any serious examination of the reactionary mind-- particularly the American reactionary mind-- not deal with the enormity of what was visited (by reactionary minds) on the Mayan native people of Guatemala, the ones whose ancestors had managed to escape being slaughtered in previous centuries by Spanish imperialists? And whose reactionary mind-- albeit an extraordinarily weak one-- would be better to start with than Ronald Reagan's?

On 5 December 1982, Ronald Reagan met the Guatemalan president, Efraín Ríos Montt, in Honduras. It was a useful meeting for Reagan. ‘Well, I learned a lot,’ he told reporters on Air Force One. ‘You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries.’ It was also a useful meeting for Ríos Montt. Reagan declared him ‘a man of great personal integrity... totally dedicated to democracy’, and claimed that the Guatemalan strongman was getting ‘a bum rap’ from human rights organisations for his military’s campaign against leftist guerrillas. The next day, one of Guatemala’s elite platoons entered a jungle village called Las Dos Erres and killed 162 of its inhabitants, 67 of them children. Soldiers grabbed babies and toddlers by their legs, swung them in the air, and smashed their heads against a wall. Older children and adults were forced to kneel at the edge of a well, where a single blow from a sledgehammer sent them plummeting below. The platoon then raped a selection of women and girls it had saved for last, pummelling their stomachs in order to force the pregnant among them to miscarry. They tossed the women into the well and filled it with dirt, burying an unlucky few alive. The only traces of the bodies later visitors would find were blood on the walls and placentas and umbilical cords on the ground.

Amid the hagiography surrounding Reagan’s death in June, it was probably too much to expect the media to mention his meeting with Ríos Montt. After all, it wasn’t Reykjavik. But Reykjavik’s shadow-- or that cast by Reagan speaking in front of the Berlin Wall-- does not entirely explain the silence about this encounter between presidents. While it’s tempting to ascribe the omission to American amnesia, a more likely cause is the deep misconception about the Cold War under which most Americans labour. To the casual observer, the Cold War was a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, fought and won through stylish jousting at Berlin, antiseptic arguments over nuclear stockpiles, and the savvy brinkmanship of American leaders. Latin America seldom figures in popular or even academic discussion of the Cold War, and to the extent that it does, it is Cuba, Chile and Nicaragua rather than Guatemala that earn most of the attention.

But, as Greg Grandin shows in The Last Colonial Massacre, Latin America was as much a battleground of the Cold War as Europe, and Guatemala was its front line. In 1954, the US fought its first major contest against Communism in the Western hemisphere when it overthrew Guatemala’s democratically elected president, Jacobo Arbenz, who had worked closely with the country’s small but influential Communist Party. That coup sent a young Argentinian doctor fleeing to Mexico, where he met Fidel Castro. Five years later, Che Guevara declared that 1954 had taught him the impossibility of peaceful, electoral reform and promised his followers that ‘Cuba will not be Guatemala.’ In 1966, Guatemala was again the pacesetter, this time pioneering the ‘disappearances’ that would come to define the dirty wars of Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil. In a lightning strike, US-trained security officials captured some thirty leftists, tortured and executed them, and then dropped most of their corpses into the Pacific. Explaining the operation in a classified memo, the CIA wrote: ‘The execution of these persons will not be announced and the Guatemalan government will deny that they were ever taken into custody.’ With the 1996 signing of a peace accord between the Guatemalan military and leftist guerrillas, the Latin American Cold War finally came to an end-- in the same place it had begun-- making Guatemala’s the longest and most lethal of the hemisphere’s civil wars. Some 200,000 men, women and children were dead, virtually all at the hands of the military: more than were killed in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Nicaragua and El Salvador combined, and roughly the same number as were killed in the Balkans. Because the victims were primarily Mayan Indians, Guatemala today has the only military in Latin America deemed by a UN-sponsored truth commission to have committed acts of genocide.

And one more thing from Corey Robin about what this whole reactionary mind actually wrought for us-- us being Americans... American taxpayers... we, us... you and me. What we defeated in Guatemala and Latin America wasn't "Communism." It was, in Robin's words, "the defeat of a continental social democracy which would allow citizens to exercise a greater share of power-– and to receive a greater share of its benefits-– than historically had been their due... [and] the defeat of that still elusive dream of men and women freeing themselves, thanks to their own reason and willed effort, from the bonds of tradition and oppression." Remember what we saw about the end of serfdom in Russia last week? The U.S. fought hard to preserve that in Guatemala into very recent times.

[I]n Latin America, Grandin shows, it was the left who took up the Enlightenment’s banner, leaving the United States and its allies carrying the black bag of the counter-Enlightenment. More than foisting on the United States the unwanted burden of liberal hypocrisy, the Cold War inspired it to embrace some of the most reactionary ideals and revanchist characters of the 20th century.

According to Grandin, the Latin American left brought liberalism and progress to a land awash in feudalism. Well into the 20th century, he shows, Guatemala’s coffee planters presided over a regime of forced labour that was every bit as medieval as tsarist Russia. Using vagrancy laws and the lure of easy credit, the planters amassed vast estates and a workforce of peasants who essentially belonged to them. Reading like an excerpt from Gogol’s Dead Souls, one advertisement from 1922 announced the sale of ‘5000 acres and many mozos colonos who will travel to work on other plantations’. (Mozos colonos were indebted labourers.) While unionised workers elsewhere were itemising what their employers could and could not ask of them, Guatemala’s peasants were forced to provide a variety of compulsory services, including sex. Two planters in the Alta Verapaz region, cousins from Boston, used their Indian cooks and corn grinders to sire more than a dozen children. ‘They fucked anything that moved,’ a neighbouring planter observed. Though plantations were mini-states-– with private jails, stockades and whipping posts-– planters also depended on the army, judges, mayors and local constables to force workers to submit to their will. Public officials routinely rounded up independent or runaway peasants, shipping them off to plantations or forcing them to build roads. One mayor had local vagrants paint his house. As much as anything Grandin cites, it is this view of political power as a form of private property which confirms his observation that by 1944 ‘only five Latin America countries-– Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia-– could nominally call themselves democracies.’

Tory Councillor attempts to have Hospital Campaigner arrested

Marc Green, an anti-cuts and Green Party activist from Windsor was threatened with arrest (Marc is holding the anti-Heatherwood closure banner on the left)



On Saturday 10 December the campaign to Save Heatherwood Hospital took a strange and sinister turn as Castle Without Councillor George Bathurst attempted to have Heatherwood Hospital Campaigner Marc Green arrested.



Windsor and

Gifts from the game Cosmics

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/cosmics.html

The Penrose Triangle

The Penrose Triangle  

by Vlad Kumpan  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/vlad-kumpan.html  

http://dart.fine-art.com/aqd-asp-i_141889-buy-artlistinginfo.htm

SEEKING VOLUNTEERS: ISLAMIC ECOLOGY: BECOME A WISDOM IN NATURE COMMUNITY ACTIVIST!

Great to have worked with WIN the past, a good network

 

Deadline: Monday 20th February 2012; Start date: Flexible/by early spring 2012.


Want to be part of an action network based on Islamic principles?

Wisdom In Nature (WIN) is a pioneer of local Islamic ecological activism in the UK, and is actively inviting applications from anyone in the London or Brighton region to volunteer within

Green Party condems Euro-Zone deal as car crash

Euro-zone Summit: Green Party calls for sustainable economics that puts society, democracy and jobs first.



09 December 2011

The Green Party has dismissed current solutions to the Euro-zone crisis as short-sighted, economically unsustainable and tantamount to an attack on European democracy.

Current solutions to the sovereign debt crisis all amount to the same thing: the poorest

Penrose Place

Penrose place  

by Mattia Nelli  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/mattia-nelli.html  

http://www.mattianelli.com/

Images by Paisley Straenj

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/paisley-straenj.html  

http://www.facebook.com/paisleystraenj

Computer images by Noemi Titarenco

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/noemi-titarenco.html  

http://noemi.ro/

Advertising of Conrad Treasury Casino

http://im-possible.info/english/art/advertising/conrad-treasury.html

That's what she lived for, and that's what she died for.

April Bright -
posted Jun 7, 2010 5:04 PM by Jabulani Son



"Traditional ownership to Country for my Mum was everything ~ everything. It was the songs, the ceremony, the land, themselves, their family ~ everything that life was all about. This place here was her heart. That's what she lived for, and that's what she died for."


Transcript of Maranunga [Marranunggu] Proceedings,

Endless staircase

Endless staircase  

by Alex Eylar  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/sculpture/alex-eylar.html#staircase2  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8344872@N05/5518848101/

Greens declare war on Osborne as he threatens to chop up wildlife

For 15 months, we have observed with growing concern this government's failure to live up to its promise to be the "greenest ever". Now, following the chancellor's autumn statement, we can say that the coalition is on a path to becoming the most environmentally destructive government to hold power in this country since the modern environmental movement was born.As George Osborne sat

Broken Republic is poetic anger

Broken Republic by Arundhati RoyHamish Hamilton, 2011

Arundhati Roy's Broken Republic isn't just about India and it certainly isn't an apology for the Maoists, it's about the whole world.

Roy's poetic anger shines through. The Maoists are fighting a forgotten war on the side of the indigenous whose land is being stolen by mining corporations. Roy is often critical of the Maoists, but her

Scholar's Stairway

Scholar's Stairway  

by James Gurney  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/james-gurney.html  

http://jamesgurney.com

Caroline Lucas has had the biggest influence on political agenda

GREEN MP NAMED BIGGEST INFLUENCER IN UK POLITICS THIS YEARGreen MP Caroline Lucas has been recognised by a prestigious political body as the MP who has most influenced the political agenda in 2011.Since her election to the constituency of Brighton Pavilion in 2010, the UK's only Green MP has made a significant impact through her work on a range of issues - from putting pressure on the

Dominican Republic to abolish indigenous people

Just got this from Intercontinental Cry




A new piece of legislation has been proposed in the Dominican Republic that would effectively erase the country's Indigenous population---the Taino.

According to a recent article on Dominican Today, the "Dominican Republic Electoral Law Reform" Bill identifies just three ethnicities for the country's new citizen ID cards. Those ethnicities are

Osborne biofuel expansion will kill!

Dear friends,the UK Government is consulting on the level of subsidies for all types of electricity which they class as renewable – including biomass power stations and electricity from biofuels (including palm oil). Their proposal is to continue to support biomass on an unlimited scale – even more than at present as far as co-firing of biomass with coal is concerned. They also propose  to

Economic Democracy for the Occupy generation

A number of us are supporting a motion to support Economic Democracy for the next Green Party conference in the spring,  Peter Tatchell has set the ball rolling and thanks to his work we now have the following proposal:


To help prevent a repeat economic meltdown, we need greater economic democracy, participation, transparency, decentralisation and accountability. There are four ways we could

Impossible triangles

Impossible triangles  

by Eduardo Gusmão  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/eduardo-gusmao.html

I Hope You Used Up All Those American Frequent Flier Miles-- I Wish I Had

AMR filed for bankruptcy early this morning in New York City. Their Frequent Flier miles are now what is called "a general unsecured claim" and it's far from certain that they'll be useable. Or maybe they'll make a deal-- like a million miles for an upgrade to business class or an extra checked bag-- maybe even a roundtrip on a day you don't want to fly to a destination you would never want to go. Rothschild, Inc., one of the sleaziest and most predatory Wall Street financial firms anywhere in the world is their financial advisor. Rothschild specializes in advising their clients how to screw everyone, especially consumers. From their press release:

"But as we have made clear with increasing urgency in recent weeks, we must address our cost structure, including labor costs, to enable us to capitalize on these foundational strengths and secure our future. Our very substantial cost disadvantage compared to our larger competitors, all of which restructured their costs and debt through Chapter 11, has become increasingly untenable given the accelerating impact of global economic uncertainty and resulting revenue instability, volatile and rising fuel prices, and intensifying competitive challenges.

"Our Board decided that it was necessary to take this step now to restore the Company's profitability, operating flexibility, and financial strength. We are committed to working as quickly and efficiently as possible to appropriately restructure American so that it can emerge from Chapter 11 well-positioned to assure the Company's long term viability and its ability to compete effectively in the marketplace," Horton stated.

Sounds like the first target will be the airline's labor unions. Bloomberg reminds us that American was the last major airline in the United States to resist filing for Chapter 11 in an effort to shed contracts, a move that analysts said left it less nimble than many of its competitors. They had to sit out "a round of mergers that dropped it from the world’s largest airline to No. 3 in the U.S."

They'll be operating normally and they claim that they'll honor all Frequent Flier miles. Board chair Gerard Arpey is retiring and Thomas Horton has been named new chairman and chief executive. Last year American was the only major carrier not to turn a profit and looks like it will announce losing numbers for 2011 as well.

Impossible board game

Impossible board game  

by Zomboy  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/zomboy.html  

http://www.bluebutter.com/

Don't ask is Ferguson a racist? (because he will sue your arse!)

Niall Ferguson is suing over the review of his latest book on the imperial legacy (see below).  Empires work by stealing peoples land, removing their rights and then lying about what has happened.  You can call this civilization if you like



You can judge Ferguson by this on indigenous peoples in America, where he notes simply:


The Apache and the Navajo had all sorts of admirable traits.

TIME FOR A GREEN PARTY TRADE UNION LIAISON OFFICER

I have decided to support this motion to go to the next Green Party of England and Wales conference in the spring.


GREEN PARTY TRADE UNION LIAISON OFFICER

This conference believes that the Green Party England Wales (GPEW) shares
many positive common aims and objectives with individual Trade Unions and
the Trade Union movement as a whole in defending workers conditions and
public

Reversed World

Reversed World  

by Strimmer  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/strimmer.html  

http://demiart.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=174651

Impossible construction

Impossible construction  

by Fineasapie  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/fineasapie.html  

http://media.photobucket.com/image/impossible%20figure%20escher/Fineasapie/impossible_4.jpg

Levels

Levels  

by Andreas Aronsson  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/andreas-aronsson.html#levels

Visit Ancient, Exotic Mali? Safety Revisited

Amanar restaurant, smack in the center of Timbuktu

Almost 3 years ago to the week, I posted a story I wrote from Mali, How Safe Is Mali For American Tourists? At the time, I concluded that it was very safe and I even made light of the State Department prohibition on Peace Corp volunteers traveling to Timbuktu or anywhere north of there-- not that really is anything other than the vast wastes of the Sahara Desert north of there anyway. But Timbuktu is one of the best destinations in Mali and a major reason to travel to that country. Turns out, though, the State Department knew what they were talking about. Four tourists were kidnapped from a central Timbuktu restaurant, Amanar, in broad daylight and one was executed when he refused to get into the kidnappers' truck in front of the restaurant. The dead man was German and the three now missing are from Sweden, Holland and South Africa. The government of Mali ordered a plane to evacuate foreigners back to Bamako, the capital.

Until a few years ago, Timbuktu was one of the most visited destinations in Africa, but it is now one of the many former tourist hotspots in Mali that have been deemed too dangerous to visit by foreign embassies because of kidnappings by the local chapter of al-Qaida.

Friday's incident comes after two French citizens were grabbed in the middle of the night from their hotel in the Malian town of Hombori on Thursday. French judicial officials have opened a preliminary investigation into their kidnappings.

Neither kidnapping has yet been claimed by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, whose members have kidnapped and ransomed more than 50 Europeans and Canadians since 2003.

If Friday's kidnapping is by AQIM, it will mark the first time they have taken a hostage inside of Timbuktu's city limits. Thursday's kidnapping would be another first-- the first hostage taking south of the Niger River.

In October the State Department issued a new travel alert warning against all travel to the north of the country due to kidnapping threats against Westerners.

The Department of State notes that the U.S. Embassy in Bamako has designated northern regions of Mali as "restricted without prior authorization" for purposes of travel by U.S. government employees, contractors, grantees, and their dependents.  Prior to traveling to these areas, U.S. government employees in Mali are required to have the written approval of the U.S. Ambassador to Mali. This designation is based on the presence of AQIM, as well as banditry in the region. This restriction does not apply to travelers who are not associated with the U.S. government, but should be taken into account when planning travel. The restriction is in effect for the regions of Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu.

U.S. citizens are specifically reminded that these areas include the Timbuktu site of the popular Festival au Desert music festival, as well as the sites in the regions of Kidal and Gao where many other musical and cultural festivals are traditionally held between December and February. It should be noted that-- in addition to the potential terrorist and criminal threats-- these festivals are located in particularly remote locations, and the Malian authorities would have extreme difficulty rendering assistance should an emergency occur at any of them.

And it isn't only the U.S. State Department warning tourists away from Mali. European countries have been telling their nationals since April that Mali is too dangerous to visit.

• We advise against all travel to the northern provinces of Mali. This includes the provinces of Kidal, Gao, Koulikoro (north of Mourdiah), Ségou (north of Niono), Tombouctou (including the city of Tombouctou (Timbuktu)), Mopti, and areas bordering Mauritania east of Nioro in the Kayes province.

• There is a high threat from terrorism in Mali. Terrorists have been involved in kidnaps in the region, on a number of occasions leading to the murder of the hostages.  We believe that further kidnap attempts are likely.

• On 19 April the Embassy of France in Bamako (Mali) alerted its nationals of a “very high risk” of being kidnapped in Mali and Niger particularly between the city of Mopti and the border with Burkina Faso.

• There have been reports of kidnap threats against westerners attending festivals in Mali.  The festival in Anderamboukane, which takes place in an area of Mali that we advise against all travel to was postponed earlier in the year due to security concerns. In 2009 a British national who attended this festival was subsequently kidnapped and murdered. Bookings are already being taken for 2012 festivals in areas of northern Mali to which we currently advise against all travel.

Classic impossible figures

Images by Joao Rod (Hamol)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/joao-rod.html  

http://hamol.deviantart.com/

Impossible building

Impossible building  

by Alexander Muzychenko  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/alexander-muzychenko.html  

http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/898372/post128792798/

Impossible construction

Impossible construction  

by Hypics  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/hypics.html  

http://hypics.com/optical-illusion-impossible-graphics/

Anamorphic images of impossible figures

Anamorphic images of impossible figures by Denis Bryantsev  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/anamorphic/denis-bryantsev.html  

http://artmagistr.deviantart.com/

Feed the world tour continues!

November 20 Glasgow Hosted by Scottish Socialist Party 2pm, Creation Studios16 Trongate Glasgow G1 5EU

November 21 Newcastle hosted by Newcastle University International Development Society, 6pm at Room 2.22 at the Old Library Building (Research Beehive), Newcastle University ( entrance from Queen Victoria Rd near and opposite RVI – also possible from Claremont Rd or Claremont Walk.

Screenshots from ColecoVision console game Illusions

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/illusions.html

SwirlySpace logo

Logo of SwirlySpace company  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/logotypes/page5.html#swirlyspace

OCCUPY BRISTOL' CAMP OUT ON CAPITA PICKET LINE

ANTI-CAPITALIST PROTESTORS FROM THE 'OCCUPY BRISTOL' CAMP AT COLLGE GREEN HAVE CAMPED OVERNIGHT ON THE ANTI-CAPITA PICKET LINE OF 500 CWU MEMBERS ON STRIKE AT THE TEMPLE MEADS-VICTORIA STREET ROUNDABOUT SITE.



CWU Bristol Branch Secretary Dave Wilshire said:



"'Occupy Bristol' and our Bristol Capita members are fighting the same battle. Capita is a money-rich employer that is

Arundhati Roy speaks to occupy (video) please share

Going to be writing about her book on the war in India, 'Broken Republic' for Green Left Weekly soon.

Great activist and impressive novelist.

Safety at Sea

Safety at Sea  

by Roberto Mattiello  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/roberto-mattiello.html

Impossible triangle

Impossible triangle  

by Kopfinger 

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/kopfinger.html#triangle



The image is based on photo http://rifka1.deviantart.com/art/Formal-Garden-67449802

Nun who fought for Tribal rights beheaded

Just had this from one of my friends in India

'This is an odd story, but rather resonant. A Catholic Nun who was fighting for Tribal rights was beheaded by a group of men, after receiving threats from the local coal mafia.




I think this illustrates another aspect of "Dirty Coal"'


Catholic nun Valsa John (52), who was involved in a movement against displacement of tribal people by coal

When Dali and Escher Met

When Dali and Escher Met  

by Geoff Treagus  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/geoff-treagus.html  

http://www.redbubble.com/people/gtreagus

Reoccupy Wall Street!

Statement from Occupy Wall Street


To occupy is to embody the spirit of liberation that we wish to manifest in our society. It is to exercise our freedom to assemble. We are creating space for community, values, ideas, and a level of meaningful dialogue that is absent in the present discourse.Liberated space is breaking free of isolation, breaking down the walls that literally and

Egg

Egg  

by Nils O. Brusli (Enobee)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/nils-brusli.html  

http://enobee.deviantart.com/

Economics for Occupy (Alternatives to Capitalism) Derek Wall @ #occupystpauls

The Bridge

Screenshots from computer game The Bridge  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/the-bridge.html  

http://filer.case.edu/tat22/TheBridgeSite/

Photos of impossible triangle

Photos by Melanie Aldrich (melliloquence)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/sculpture/melanie-aldrich.html  

http://melliloquence.deviantart.com/

Impossible figures and stairs

Images by kitkat93  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/kitkat93.html  

http://kitkat93.deviantart.com

Never forget the millions killed in futile wars!

I met Heather Tanner in the early 1980s, she was in her 80s and told me of how she became a life long anti-war activist because her beloved brother was killed a minute or two before the end of the first world war, the 11 minute, of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, a ritual date that through its neatness killed him. Never forget!







Come you masters of warYou that build

Impossible triangle

Impossible triangle  

by DevilTraitor  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/deviltraitor.html http://deviltraitor.deviantart.com/

PhD students occupy against Euro dictatorship

Greece and now Italy are ruled by European bank-o-crats.

Democracy has ended.

To keep the  bond markets happy no doubt a coup in Britain would be appropriate.

European voters have no say, schools, hospitals, clinics shut, wages slashed, so derivative markets can continue.

Nice to see phd students occupy in protest at European Council President Herman Van Rompuy:

Herman Van Rompuy,

Schrödinger's Cat

Series of artworks "Schrödinger's Cat" by Jie Qi  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/jie-qi.html  

http://web.media.mit.edu/~jieqi/

Impossible towers

Impossible Towers by Dennis Rose  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/dennis-rose.html  

http://www.artmajeur.com/?go=artworks/display_list_galleries&login=griffins

Artworks by Andrew Pastushenko

Artworks with impossible figures by Andrew Pastushenko 

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/andrew-pastushenko.html  

http://artnow.ru/ru/gallery/3/23256.html

Impossible triangles in space

Images by Gard  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/gard.html  

http://www.gardgallery.com/

Images for Laboratorio de la Fabricación Exhibition

Images by Marta Veludo  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/posters/marta-veludo.html  

http://www.martaveludo.com/

This saturday ULU 'Feed the world without destroying the planet: A seminar on food sovereignty'

November 12, 11-5.30

Registration 10.30.



University of London Union,

Malet Street, London WC1



Organised by Socialist Resistance and Green Left

http://socialistresistance.org/ http://greenleftblog.blogspot.com/



Agenda

11- 1.30 Introductory plenary

1.30-2.30 Lunch

2.30-4.00 Workshops

Women and Food Sovereignty

Agribusiness and the supermarkets

Land rights not Land grabs

Protest and we will maim you?

Rubber Bullets agreed for use by police at Student Demonstrations 



Responding to the Met Police's statement on the potential use of ‘baton rounds' (similar to rubber bullets) at this week's student protests over tuition fees, Green Party Mayoral Candidate Jenny Jones said: "Any officer that shoots a student with a baton round will have to answer to the whole of London.

"How did we come to

So if capitalism doesn't work what do you suggest instead!

Great to speak at Occupy London on capitalism and alternatives, I argued capitalism is innately flawed but the commons provides a democratic and ecological alternatives.

 Lets not be dogmatic but lets look at how collective and ecological property rights might work.



Marx is excellent on the 'macro' how commons were destroyed and the possibility of their restoration.

Video of Caroline Lucas MP speaking at Occupylsx

Great speech.

'We will fight it every step of the way' 'biggest lie of all is there is no alternative'

oh and catch me tomorrow.

'What is capitalism and what are the alterantives' 2pm, Occupy London at St Pauls.

See you there!

Impossible tower

Impossible Tower  

by Geet Lord  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/geet-lord.html  

http://geetlord.deviantart.com/art/impossible-tower-3465339

Green Left backs Mark Campbell as UCU secretary

“"Green Left puts full support behind Mark Campbell as a candidate in the up coming UCU General Secretary Election. The group recognises the need for trade unions to have active, rank and file leadership, responsive to grass roots activists and that as a General Secretary candidate, Mark embodies this within UCU.We welcome Mark’s decision, if elected, to only draw his lecturer’s salary, and

Wooden garden sculpture

Wooden garden sculpture of impossible cube  

by English Garden Carpentry Company  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/sculpture/egcc.html  

http://www.egcc.biz/chelsea/chelsea2006/escher.htm

Love Triangle

Love triangle  

by surreal-junkie  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/surreal-junkie.html  

http://surreal-junkie.deviantart.com/

'Greens continue to prosper where Labour fears to tread'

Caption Ed Milband speech bubble 'I wish I had Caroline's vision and radicalism'?



This is worth reading from the Brighton Politics Blogger, glad to see my party growing and standing for justice and change:



Bravely, four weeks after the event, when he knew which way the tide was running, and taking his lead from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ed Miliband has come our, unequivocally in

Wooden Triangle

Wooden Triangle  

by Cornelia Mladenova  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/cornelia-mladenova.html  

http://photoshopworkshop.wordpress.com/

Caroline Lucas at Occupy London today

And I am running a little workshop on 'capitalism' tuesday 2pm.

Lots happening tomorrow, just cut and pasted this to tempt you'all.



Sunday 6th November


11am Tent City University at St Paul’s – ‘Reflections: a media perspective’ - Three weeks into the occupation, deputy comment editor of the Guardian, Libby Brooks and special correspondent Audrey Gillan review mainstream media coverage

Logo of Perspecta

Logo of Perspecta by Elixir Design  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/logotypes/page5.html#perspecta  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elixirdesign/

Mosaic impossible triangle

Mosaic impossible triangle  

by Elemare  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/elemare.html  

http://www.pxleyes.com/photoshop-pictures/impossible/

'What is capitalism and what are the alternatives?' Discussion Tuesday, 8th Nov at 14:00 Occupy the London Stock Exchange St Pauls

I have organised the following event.



'What is capitalism and what are the alternatives?' Discussion Tuesday, 8th Nov at 14:00 Occupy the London Stock Exchange St Pauls



Caroline Lucas has been down to speak a couple of times.



Incidentally my argument is for common pool property rights see Karl Marx and Elinor Ostrom.



A good discussion can be found here if this is a new concept 

Endless staircase with Futurama characters

Endless staircase with Futurama characters  

by Go-a-Green-a  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/go-a-green-a.html  

http://go-a-green-a.deviantart.com/

Homage to Escher

Homage to Escher 

by Can van de Goor  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/cas-van-de-goor.html  

http://casvandegoor.blogspot.com/

Cynosys Global

Logo project by Maximilian  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/logo-projects/maximilian.html  

http://www.worth1000.com/entries/72850/impossible-quadrangle

Caroline Lucas speaks 'We are the 99% Rally and March at Occupy London Stock Exchange'

We are the 99% Rally and March at Occupy London Stock Exchange


2pm, Saturday 5th November - Steps of St Pauls, London

We stand for progressive alternatives to making the majority pay for a crisis they did not create. The Rally starts at 2pm and will be followed by a peaceful march to Parliament



Speakers include:

Caroline Lucas MP

John Pilger

Seumas Milne (Guardian)

Kate Hudson -

Myself drawing ...

Myself drawing...

a series of artworks by FinalFantasyEva  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/finalfantasyeva.html  

http://finalfantasyeva.deviantart.com/

Respected Elder Delfin Payaguaje, visits SOAS

Respected Elder Delfin Payaguaje, visits SOAS





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Location School Of Oriental and African Studies

Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, WC1H

London, United Kingdom



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Created by: Native Spirit Foundation, Amy Woodrow Arai



---

Installation with impossible figures

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/installations/emily-pelsing.html  

http://www.emilypelstring.com/StrangeShapes.html

UCATT GENERAL SECRETARY CANDIDATE MOUNTS LEGAL CHALLENGE

UCATT GENERAL SECRETARY CANDIDATE MOUNTS LEGAL CHALLENGE




OVER ELECTION BAN



Michael Dooley, a nominated candidate for the General Secretary election in construction union UCATT, is to mount a legal challenge over a ban imposed on him from standing for election. Three members of the UCATT general council and three members of its executive council, including President John Thompson, formed a

Scottish Green Party reject ‘green’ claims of charity involved in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

The Scottish Green Party, yesterday condemned the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a British charity implicated in human rights violations in Israel. At its annual conference in Aberdeen, delegates unanimously supported a motion against the JNF and called for its charitable status to be revoked.

In May of this year, David Cameron resigned as honorary patron of the JNF, the first time in the

Does Dean of St Paul's resignation statement show church cares more about profit than prophets?

Original to be found here.


"The past fortnight has been a testing time for the Chapter and for me personally. It has become increasingly clear to me that, as criticism of the cathedral has mounted in the press, media and in public opinion, my position as Dean of St Paul’s was becoming untenable. In order to give the opportunity for a fresh approach to the complex and vital questions

The Organ Grinder

The Organ Grinder  

by Carl Glover  (Brain Poop)  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/carl-glover.html  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34239598@N00/

Occupy 'shows that it is still possible to save our species from extinction.'

Hugo Blanco is the historic leader of the Peruvian indigenous.

He led a successful peasant revolution for land rights in 1961 when peasants were being killed by land owners.

Praised by Che,  Hugo then a leader of the Fourth International, was captured and placed on death row and only lived due to an international campaign of solidarity launched by figures like Sartre.

Now in the his late 70s

Poster of computer game Rock 'n' Roll

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/rocknroll.html

Hugo Blanco 'Se extiende la rebelión mundial contra el neoliberalismo''

Se extiende la rebelión mundial contra el neoliberalismo

Hugo Blanco

La inició Mohamed Bouazizi, el vendedor ambulante de Túnez, quien se volcó encima un líquido inflamable y se prendió fuego, como protesta porque la policía le quitó su mercancía. Las llamas de ese fuego están incendiando el mundo capitalista.

Primero provocaron la insurrección del pueblo tunecino que derribó al

Endless staircase from Torres

Endless staircase  

by Magnus Konze  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/sculpture/magnus-konze.html  

http://www.3-hirn-verlag.de/wie-von-escher.html

£178,000 salary is shameful as cuts bite deep

Excellent stuff from Don Grimes, incidentally it disgusts me how much University Vice-chancellor's get paid as well, all about inequality, all about 1%, so proud that the Green Party is making noise about this.



Sir

The announcement that B&NES Council is to retain the post of Chief Executive (2010-2011 salary £178,000 per year plus pension benefits) and also pay a 'head-hunting' fee of £

Caroline Lucas 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.”

Lol it is the same Green Party, nice article from the FT though. Caroline is very sensible on confidence and supply, coalition is not always the way to power!



The banner in Caroline Lucas’s office is uncompromising: “Well-behaved women rarely make history.” It seems an odd epithet for this neat, well-spoken 50-year-old in a sensible grey outfit.

But Ms Lucas, the first Green MP in

Arch

Arch  

by Pappengeimer  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/pappengeimer.html#arch

Additional maps for computer game Lux Delux

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/lux-delux.html

Outrageous, unfair and morally reprehensible" fumes Penny Kemp of The Green Party.

Outrageous, unfair and morally reprehensible" fumes Penny Kemp of The Green Party.

More than £1.3 billion has been taken away from council's annual spending on help for the over 65's, pensions are losing value,  nurseries are closing and millions are living in fuel poverty and we see a  49% pay rise for Britain's top bosses: THEIR average salary hits £2.7m while the UK's average

Bangkok Under Water

I lost count of how many times I've been to Thailand years ago. It's been one of my favorite countries for decades and-- aside from specific Thailand trips-- any time I go to Asia, I always try to spend at least a week in Bangkok or Phuket or Chiang Mai. A few weeks ago we saw how there is a big threat of flooding and of Bangkok sinking into the sea, but we looked at predictions that Bangkok would be underwater by 2030. Looks like the timetable got moved up by two decades!

Severe flooding in Thailand on Friday threatened central areas of Bangkok, a bustling capital barely above sea level and facing inundation at the next high tide predicted at 13 feet.

Residents who decided to stay in their homes despite government pleas to get out waited anxiously to see if the highest tide, forecast for Saturday afternoon, would overwhelm defenses along the Chao Phraya River and its many canals.

Bangkok's outer suburbs were already submerged but the central city had been largely spared the misery Thailand has been suffering for months in the nation's worst flooding since 1942.

...The high tide Saturday, the Red Cross said, will put "extreme pressure" on Bangkok's elaborate system of dikes and other flood defenses.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered work crews Friday to cut channels in roadways to allow faster water drainage, according to the state-run MCOT news agency. But the plan was rejected late in the day in favor of dredging canals and using pumps, the Bangkok Post reported.

Health concerns were rising with the water.

Bangkok residents waded through murky waters without knowing what lurked within, the risk of infection and communicable disease worrying health officials. The government sent out crocodile hunters after reports of crocodiles and snakes in the filthy floodwater.

"We were hearing disturbing reports of dangerous animals such as snakes and crocodiles appearing in the floodwaters and every day we see children playing in the water, bathing or wading through it trying to make their way to dry ground," said Annie Bodmer-Roy, spokeswoman for the humanitarian agency Save the Children.

With the Chao Phraya River overflowing its banks, virtually all the city's best hotels are having flooding problems and the old airport-- mostly used for domestic flights these days-- is also flooded. The main tourist areas (Silom and Sukhumvit) are having serious flooding problems. We're talking about a multi-billion dollar industry. Now we rent an apartment (on the river) when we're in Bangkok but one of the hotels we used to always stay at-- the Shangri-La-- reports that their 70-90% occupancy rate for this time of the year is now down to 30%.

UPDATE: Worst Flooding In Generations

Thais are making the best of it but... what else could they do? The flooding has gotten worse, both around Bangkok and in the city itself. Extensive damage to automotive parts factories, computer parts factories and a major pharmaceuticals center are starting to impact the worldwide supply chain, a quarter of the country's rice crop has been wiped out, and the death toll rises every day.

Thousands of people in Thailand have been living in filthy floodwater for some three months-- the most devastating flood the country has seen in decades caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains. More than 400 people have died in the Thailand floods, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.

As a protracted battle to stay dry unfolds until the massive pool of stinking water and garbage drains into the Gulf of Thailand, which could take months still, even simple things like disposing of human waste can become complicated.

Tourism is the only thing that's dried up in Bangkok and now it's beginning to impact Phuket and other tourist areas in the southern part of the country. And things could well get worse.

Advertising of Casino di Venezia

Advertising of Casino di Venezia  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/advertising/casino-di-venezia.html 

David Cameron to St Pauls Occupy 'Go home, you are an embarrassment.'

"I'm very concerned about the continuation of this protest meaning that St Paul's is not open to the public," Cameron told reporters in Perth on the sidelines of a Commonwealth leaders' summit.

"It's a key national site, it's a key tourist site. It's very important in the whole history, psyche of our country... I think the pressure is on to try and deal with this and deal with this

Rev Fraser Dyer 'Why I am resigning from St Pauls'

You say 'cut back', we say 'liberation theology'



Dear Bishop Michael, 

I appreciate what a difficult couple of weeks the Dean and Chapter have had following the occupation of the cathedral precinct by protestors campaigning against corporate greed. You have been much in my thoughts and prayers as you have navigated the complex issues with which you have been presented, and the

Lessig and Zirin debate occupy!

Lawrence Lessig's original article:
Something More Than Polarizationhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/something-more-than-polar_b_1030476.html

Dave Zirin's response:
Memo to Lawrence Lessig: The Tea Party Is No Answer for Occupy USAhttp://www.thenation.com/blog/164188/memo-lawrence-lessig-tea-party-no-answer-occupy-usa

Lessig's response to Zirin:http://www.thenation.com/article/

Screenshots from MMORG game Club Penguin

http://im-possible.info/english/art/games/club-penguin.html

Impossible tree

Impossible tree  

by Jordan Rogers  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/jordan-rogers.html  

http://jordanrogersillustration.blogspot.com

Beforetime people

Our descendants will view us as 'beforetime people' who despoiled the earth before respect for the land, sea and life was restored. 



At Maizab Kaur (Bramble Cay) in the Torres Straits, it is believed that the 'beforetime people' over fished the turtles and over exploited the sea birds.



New rules were established to protect the turtles and the sea birds.



The ecological crisis is a

Deep Green Resistance 'Occupy the Machine – Stop the 1%, Literally'

Deep Green Resistance is not my way of thinking however the letter is worth a read!




Occupy the Machine – Stop the 1%, Literally


Our Bodies Will Be Our Demand


Open Letter to the Occupy Movement


The Occupy Movement is beautiful. We support it and though we are
small, we are participating all over the country. We invite all
occupiers to read, give feedback, and if you feel moved to do so

Mumia Abu-Jamal 'The Occupation' 'like vampires at blood bank'

Mumia Abu-Jamal 'The Occupation'



In Lower Manhattan’s Zucotti Park (renamed ‘Liberty Square’ by the demonstrators), the cast of thousands swell in rebellion against the betrayals by the banks, Wall street’s relentless greed, the plague of joblessness and the craven servility of the political class–both Republicans and Democrats–to their moneyed masters.

In short, the central focus of their

Impossible ring with intersecting objects

Impossible ring with intersecting objects  

by William Dudziak  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/william-dudziak.html  

http://www.dudziak.com/picture.php/impossible_ring_with_intersecting8551

OCCUPY ATTACKED WITH BATON ROUNDS AND TEAR GAS

America cops break up Occupy Oakland with violence.

USA is run for 0.1%



On Tuesday evening at 5pm Occupy Oakland gathered at the foot of the Oakland Library on 14th Avenue before setting off on a march past the jail and onward to Frank Ogawa Plaza. The peaceful gathering swelled as it marched through downtown, growing upwards of 1,000 people strong. Along their route were police from 17

St Pauls who received £40m puts money before faith

Even I was shocked.  Protest is always framed negatively.  The media has echoed the claim that St Pauls is losing revenue from the occupy protest.

This will be used no doubt to legitimate the cops going in with the usual violence.

Yet its clear that the occupy protest is not blocking the steps to St Pauls and if anything with lots of people coming to look, it might even raise visits.

Ha

Artworks by Grace Marty

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/grace-marty.html  

http://gracemarty.com/

COP17 and ECOSOCIALISM

http://okmsocialist.blogspot.com/2011/04/okms-views-on-climate-change.html COP17 and ECOSOCIALISM 

COP17 is a big meeting where representatives from capitalist governments will talk about how to stop climate change without disturbing the operation of the capitalist system. Indeed, there is evidence that one of the main agendas in Durban – come December – will be the attempt to make

Green the factories the Lucas way!

Limited Seating FREE ADMISSION***

Screening & Panel Discussion:

“We Have Always Done It This Way”

Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS

Tuesday 22 November 2011, 5.30 – 8.30pm

Please register: sertucevents@tuc.org.uk / 020 7467 1220





You know the media stereotype; a unionised workforce, portrayed as living in the past, is threatened with large scale redundancies and it

Artworks by Andrew Friedman

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/andrew-friedman.html

Three artworks by Jens Malmgren

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/jens.html#intensive-illusions

Cover of album by John Pantry

Cover of the secong vinyl album "Nothing is impossible" by John Pantry  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/cd/john-pantry.html

A World of Time

A World of Time  

by Lawrence Hickman  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/lawrence-hickman.html  

http://www.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?ArtID=14997

Darren Doherty permaculture tour!

Currently on tour in Europe, Australian Permaculturist
Darren Doherty is a foremost authority on water harvesting
and soil regeneration in large-scale landscapes.  


 Time: October 23, 2011 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm 


Location: Biodynamic Agricultural College, Emerson
Organized By: Belinda 07957 450 681 or Nir 0781 503 5262 


 Event Description:
Farming for the Future
Permaculture, Community and

UCATT election for General Secretary: Financial appeal: Friends of Mick Dooley

Just got this from my good comrade Jerry Hicks, spread the word!





I know times are very difficult and things are tight, but please take a look at this finacial appeal and consider making a donation. Also, please forward on to those who you consider would have an interest and that may be sympathetic to the request.

UCATT election for General Secretary: Financial appeal: Friends of Mick

Sign Caroline Lucas's petition for tax justice

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18996

Quote:
Created by:Caroline LucasTAX JUSTICEResponsible department: Her Majesty's TreasuryWe applaud campaigns by trade unions, church groups, and civil society demanding tax justice and join them in calling on the Government to take action to identify those avoiding and evading tax. Firstly, the Chancellor should force all

Scroll

Scroll  

by Irina Kuznetsova  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/irina-kuznetsova.html#scroll

Belvedere by V. Chistyakov

Belvedere  

by V. Chistyakov  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/escher-inspired/chistyakov.html  

http://kvaclub.ru/tram07.html

Tattoo with impossible cube

Tattoo by Timothy B. Boor  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/misc/tattoo/timothy-boor.html  

http://www.tattoonow.com/tattoos/Missouri/tattoos_43932.html

7 new artworks by Vadim Dubinin

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/vadim-dubinin.html#room6

New Scandal hits the Met as officer lied under oath

“Words fail me” says Jenny as another police scandal unfurls




Jenny Jones, Green Party candidate for Mayor of London and a member of the London Assembly who sits on the MPA, demanded answers as to how a police officer could take part in a trial under a false name. “Words fail me” says Jenny. “This is extremely serious as senior officers must have known Det. Con Jim Boyling was lying under

Caroline Lucas 'Early day motion 2265: SUPER-STRENGTH WHITE CIDER'

GOVERNMENT MUST ACT TO CURB BRITAIN'S DRINK PROBLEM- MP campaign to target availability of cut price alcohol and protect local pubsThe Government must overhaul its "ineffective and incoherent" policy on alcohol if it is to get to grips with the UK's drink problem, reduce the long term social and health impacts of alcohol, and protect the hospitality trade, said the Green MP today.Caroline Lucas,

Don't stop

Advertising image of Snickers  

by Frank Skullboy  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/advertising/snickers.html  

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Snickers-Dont-Stop-Print/2085634

Train

Train  

by Angelika Plynova  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/angelika-plynova.html  

http://www.artrf.ru/pa/web/group.php?gid=113

Cage

Cage  

by Andreas Aronsson 

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/andreas-aronsson.html#cage

Illusionary architecture

Illusionary architecture  

by Thomas de Bos  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/thomas-de-bos.html  

http://www.debosdesign.nl/portfolio/illusionary-architecture/

Jill Stein will launch her Presidential Campaign, can she beat Obama?

 have not got a hold on the ins and outs of who is going for the Presidency at present but Howie, who sent me this, is a fantastic guy, ha I really want Elinor Ostrom to go for it!  Any how if you are in Boston take a look, I backed Cynthia last time really lovely human being not like a US politician!



Jill Stein for President Media Advisory



Jill Stein will launch her Presidential

We Are Revolting! 40 years of queer activism

LBGT rights are human rights, looks like a good event, spread the word.







Saturday 22nd October 2011 

2pm-6pm 

Bishopsgate Institute 

  

The Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA) is holding a free event to acknowledge and commemoratethe unsung heroes and heroines of LGBT activism, protest and cultural resistance over the last four decades.


Speakers include:

Dr Matt Cook

Relativity by Sergey Ivakhnenko

Escher's Relativity  

by Sergey Ivakhnenko  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/rendered_escher/sergey-ivakhnenko.html  

http://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=243976

Images by George L. gregory

http://im-possible.info/english/art/computer/george-gregory.html  

http://www.bountifulknight.com

Caroline Lucas camps at occupylsx protest

The Occupy London Stock Exchange protest has entered its third day today, with a number of activists having established a tented encampment outside St Paul's Cathedral in the City.


Pavilion MP and Green party leader, Caroline Lucas, is planning to visit the camp later today. She commented:



"As awareness increases of the injustice and unsustainability of the global economic system, more and

#OccupyLSX initial statement

Posted on October 16, 2011 by occupylsx


At today’s assembly on the steps of St Paul’s, #occupylsx agreed the initial statement below. Please note, it’s a draft statement at this stage and it will always be a work in progress.

1 The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.

2 We are of all ethnicities,

‘A Poetic Concept of Identity’: An Interview with Mapuche Poet David Aniñir Guilitraro (Ramona Wadi/Upside Down World)

FROM ALBORADA




[The culture of Mapuche poetry has evolved into three distinctive forms: traditional, intellectual and urban. David Aniñir Guilitraro, an urban Mapuche poet from Santiago, has created a literary realm which connects the history of the Mapuche struggle to the social problems which the people face today. Guilitraro describes his book, Mapurbe, as ‘a poetic concept of

Prison? A film by Charlie Ryder followed by Q&A

Time
23 October · 18:00 - 21:00




Location
King Square Art Space

12 - 13 King Square, BS2 8JX

Bristol, United Kingdom








More info

In October 1993 Charlie Ryder took part in a violent protest to shut down the BNP headquarters in Welling South East London. Two months later he was featured on crime monthly a program which appealed for some of Britain's most

WWF to war against indigenous in India?

India is the subject of huge battles.

All of those of us who support indigenous and respect nature are pleased that new forest laws restore commons.

However in practice the commons is still being eroded.

A recent change has seen commons extended for forests across the whole of India.

But there is a worry that groups like the WWF will attack commons rights as a means of 'conservation'.

'

Peter Tatchell Occupy London Stock Exchange video

'Jesus had two dads and he turned out fine'

This amused me.  I am big on this, religious prophets or messiahs or however you term, them seem to have been rather chilled about sexual morality, happy to admit we are varied and flawed.

They were rather less chilled about injustice, war, cruelty and hatred.

Too often for their more 'fundamentalist' followers, it is the other way around.

War is holy and gay sex is evil.  In fact all

Ascending and Descending

Computer version of Ascending and Descending 

by Dustin Andrew  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/rendered_escher/dustin-andrew.html

'Sad Affair' Marxman

Marxman superb. 

Think Britain is a democracy with free speech, this track was banned by the BBC in 1993, acid test for the left in Britain is the memory of Ireland and imperialism



Once upon a time there wasIrish ways and irish lawsVillages of irish bloodwaking to the morning goodBut england and her soldiers camestarted centuries of shameRaped our women stole our graincalled this land a

Feed the world without destroying planet!

Feed the world without destroying the planet


A seminar on food sovereignty

November 12, 11-5.30Registration 10.30.

University of London Union, Malet Street, London WC1

Organised by Socialist Resistance and Green Lefthttp://socialistresistance.org/     http://greenleftblog.blogspot.com/


Agenda11- 1.30 Introductory plenary 1.30-2.30 Lunch2.30-4.00 WorkshopsWomen and Food

Life's confusing boxes

Life's confusing boxes  

by Monique Martin  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/pencil/monique-martin.html  

http://moniqueart.com

Artworks by Dmitry Oskes

My girlfriend




Lets The Good Times Roll  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/various/dmitry-oskes.html  

http://illustrators.ru/users/id470/portfolio

Dale Farm: Common sense should prevail says Green Party

The Green Party is disappointed at the announcement that the eviction at Dale Farm should go ahead despite the ten years of wrangling over the site and the apparent refusal of Basildon Council to find alternative sites.

The Homes and Communities Agency have offered alternative land in Basildon, subject to planning permission but Basildon Council will not halt the eviction until the

Sky Castle

Sky Castle  

by Alex Kuranov  

http://im-possible.info/english/art/montage/alex-kuranov.html  

http://www.photosight.ru/photos/1565499/

Give Wall Street back to the indigenous!

Why I Am Occupying Wall Street


By John BirdOctober 11, 2011




I feel like I have been waiting for this moment an entire lifetime. More like a hundred lifetimes when I count the 500 years and lifetimes of all our indigenous ancestors who went to their graves wondering if justice would ever again prevail on Turtle Island.


My great grandfather Heavy Runner (Blackfeet) must have gone