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As I Lay Dying: The Sound of Truth
- Andrew Schwab CCM Magazine
- 2007 6 Dec
Metalcore fave As I Lay Dying isn't simply one of the most influential faith-fueled bands in the general market—the way Project 86's Andrew Schwab sees it, the band is "the template for those who would follow." This in mind, Schwab donned his guise as a mild-mannered reporter for CCM Magazine and delivered this insightful story. ...
Cornerstone 2006. The sun sunk over the mosquito-infested tree-line as I approached the main stage natural amphitheater. As I rounded the crest of bandana-ed/pierced/hair-dyed bodies to catch my first glimpse of the stage, I felt a sense of anticipation that you could nearly cut with a blade.
Perhaps it was the fact that night was falling. Or perhaps it was the 1200 Marshall half-stacks on the stage that had the kiddies all riled up. It could have even been the ego ramps and banners that completed one of the most elaborate stage settings I have seen since Slayer.
The air of anticipation.
Then again, maybe it was something a bit more profound, unbeknownst even to the band about to take the stage, who donned the aforementioned metallia (yes, I said metallia—my new descriptor for metal paraphernalia). I was analyzing the curious buzz of thousands of drones inside my mind when As I Lay Dying then took the stage—minus their lead singer—for a lead-laden intro.
Classic double-bass infused with double guitar solos and riffage. The hive began to rumble with expectation. Bodies swirled in mass. Arms flew. Chaos. It bordered on phenomenon.
As the show crescendoed to the singer's entrance, I asked myself, "What makes this band so special?" After all, their supposed genre—metalcore—had become the new, nü-metal, albeit a few steps still from finished. It had become the sound of every local opener from Kalamazoo to Petaluma. Yet this band had seemingly stayed a cut ahead of the glut.
From my vantage point, when front-man Tim Lambesis took the stage, I saw a younger, tougher, more handsome Glenn Danzig. Smoke swirled around his gladiator-like frame, as his quintessential, longhaired, Thor-of-a-self appeared 12 feet tall. His growls careened off the hillside like 200 chainsaws cutting through iron rails.
For an hour this band solidified itself as the "it" band of the moment in heavy music.
Pretty much every successful rock band has a charismatic front-man. As I Lay Dying is no exception. But more than just charisma, a crafty, wise philosophy has propelled career sales past half a million. They have toured with everyone from Killswitch Engage to In Flames, playing major slots on everything from "Sounds of the Underground" to "Ozzfest" to "Warped Tour."
Their new release, An Ocean Between Us, is a continuation of their pummeling sound, with more polarity, more melody and more brutality all at once. It debuted in the Top 25 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, scanning almost 35,000 copies its first week.
But this band is more than just stats. It is a new template for what heavy bands of belief can accomplish if the vision is sound. They are an example of sound decision-making and career direction at an apex.
In speaking to Tim Lambesis—we had crossed paths many times prior to this on festival stages—I realized soft-spoken demeanor and contrite spirit might just be the foundation for this band's impact.
Andrew: Talk about where you went sonically on the newest, fourth release.
Tim: We have always been lumped in with hardcore bands, but our approach has always been decidedly metal. The technicality has always appealed to us with metal, along with the melody. This album isn't just all screaming or breakdowns; we really tried to explore dynamics a bit more this time. The heavy moments are heavier. The darker moments are darker. But the singing is definitely more present. Take a song like "Within Destruction" versus a song like "Forsaken." "Destruction" is almost thrashy—the opposite of melodic. The other is almost entirely sung vocally.
Andrew: How has the process of crafting your music changed since your inception in 2001?
Tim: In the early days I wrote most of the songs. Not just the lyrics and vocals, but the music, too. If you listen to our early material, you sense that one person was behind most of it. Not that I dislike playing guitar or writing, but it's so much more interesting to have the entire band's input on the songs. That's how we try to do things now. It makes the album much more compelling from front to back. And I don't think you can listen to two or three tracks to understand exactly where we are going with this release. You have to listen to the whole album to get a sense of the entire picture.
Andrew: How has the band evolved from a spiritual standpoint?
Tim: Funny how you say "evolved." When I was coming up listening to music being made by Christians seven or eight years ago, I watched bands be very vocal about their faith early in their careers, only to "tone it down" as they achieved more success. That always bothered me—like they changed who they were to get "bigger."
We have always taken the opposite approach. We wanted to make music that was the best it could be and build a solid reputation as musicians and songwriters by going through legitimate channels. Then, if we could earn people's respect, we could share our beliefs in such a way so it would be received more openly. We are more outspoken about our faith now than we ever have been before.
I definitely feel like there is an intelligent way to present what you believe. We just want to be smart and not alienating. There are a lot of Christians who turn people off, and there is a right way and a wrong way to portray faith.
You can preview the new disc, An Ocean Between Us, as well as watch As I Lay Dying's latest video at asilaydying.com. It will be well worth your time.
Andrew Schwab is lead vocalist and lyricist for the band Project 86. He is also the author of three books, as well as an independent journalist. Visit him online at myCCM.org/andrewschwab, andrewschwab.com and project86.com.
© 2007 CCM Magazine. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Click here to try a free issue.


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Jun 6 2019, 07:47 AM Bởi: CandyTshirt
I'm literally wearing that shirt as I'm on the toilet reading this right now lol. A man of great taste. For what it's worth I got this on Redbubble and it's been one of the best shirts I own. Colour barely faded over a year and a half, pretty comfy and once got me a compliment from an old lady at a farmer's market. 10/10 would recommend. Zen AF Yoga shirt. I got it on Redbubble, but the listing seems to be gone now. If you google os shirts you'll probably find some similar ones though. Can't speak for the latter, but for people on the spectrum were often engaged by repetitive/mundane tasks when neurotypical people wouldn't be, and seeing as Runescape is about how many hundreds of hours you can spend doing the same thing, it's not surprising there's a big overlap between ASD and Runescape.
Buy it: Zen AF Yoga shirt
From: LynShirt
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Item Code: R1986-R38715
Comes out from the garden of the wavy ocean, Coral is known to be a stone of mystic subtlety. A symbol of felicity and delight, it is evoked from an ocean layer in a variety of the colors. Getting into this entrancing treasure helps the holder to enjoy life to its widest. Ancient folks believe that this joyous gem is related to the planet Mars for its fiery red suffuse. As an organic body of natural creatures, it is mineralized and now is utilized as a considerable precious gemstone. Coral silver jewelry helps out to appease the sentiments of a wearing being which helps him to bring amity to within. It is too known to invoke the power of insight, mind's eye and visualisation. It holds a colossal power which helps to expedite the knowled...Click to Continue »


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The Ribadiso recreational area features different leisure areas: a picnic area and barbecues, sports grounds, a bar and children's playground. The large number of pontellas (small bridges) over the River Iso create a beautiful setting.
The recreational area's swimming area is one of the points of reference included in the "Val do Iso" Route promoted by the Municipality of Arzúa.
+info: turismo.concellodearzua.com


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Zimmerman bail revoked
Just breaking, via USA Today:
A judge has revoked the bond of the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and ordered him returned to jail within 48 hours.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said Friday that George Zimmerman misled the court about how much money he had available when his bond was set for $150,000 in April. Prosecutors claim Zimmerman had $135,000 available that had been raised by a website he set up.
Prosecutors also say he failed to surrender a second passport.
The defense says the finances are an innocent misunderstanding.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.


text:
Illustrated by Richard Kaufman
184 pages
Hardbound with Dust Jacket • 8.5"x11" • 1979
Lying in a dark undisturbed drawer for decades lay Harry Houdini's copy of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, a book written by Reginald Scot in 1584. It is the first book in the English language to describe sleight of hand tricks, and Houdini's copy was very special because it held the key to a mystery which fascinated magicians for centuries. Just who did Reginald Scot obtain all his information from - who was the magician who gave away some of the greatest and most closely guarded secrets of conjuring? The answer lay in the barely legible notes Houdini had scribbled in the margins. 'Shakespeare's copy, see in rear cover,' read Houdini's less than cryptic message. Inside the back of the book were William Shakespeare's handwritten notes of about fifty tricks and sleights, some of which appeared in The Discoverie of Witchcraft.
The secret is now fully revealed for the very first time: the young Will Shakespeare, while having just fathered a child, needed money, so he took the job.
In a story as exciting as any detective novel, author Richard Kaufman deciphered Shakespeare's ridiculous scribbling...and has written this book, which includes forty-five effects by Shakespeare (some lousy ones, too - he wasn't always clever), and another twenty contributions from some of the world's greatest cardmen, including: Derek Dingle, Edward Marlo, Jon Racherbaumer, Harry Lorayne, Gene Maze, Darwin Ortiz, Ken Krenzel, Bill Simon, Phil Goldstein, and Russell Barnhart....
Even while Shakespeare is spinning in his grave, over seven-hundred animated illustrations that seem to move combined with Richard Kaufman's superb text will clearly teach you many fine card routines you will be proud to add to your repertoire.
This is the first book published by Kaufman and Greenberg


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Connie and Leon Weichman had just finished branding some calves Monday when Connie's niece texted her the news: TransCanada, the Alberta-based company that wants to build an oil pipeline through the middle of the United States, had finally agreed to reroute it away from the Nebraska Sandhills where the Weichmans live and ranch.
The couple had been looking forward to this moment for almost four years, but the victory was less than they'd hoped for. TransCanada's agreement with the Nebraska state legislature would keep the pipeline out of the Sandhills, an ecologically sensitive prairie that overlies the Ogallala aquifer. But it wouldn't do anything to prevent the next route from swinging close enough to the Weichmans' property to endanger their land. And it wouldn't protect Nebraska ranchers outside the Sandhills, who are equally dependent on regional groundwater.
Connie Weichman, a middle-aged woman with graying hair and silver-rimmed glasses, doesn't consider herself an environmentalist and had never before participated in local politics. But along with a steadily growing group of Nebraskans—most of them also first-time activists—she and her husband played a key role in moving the pipeline route out of the Sandhills. Last week the State Department extended the pipeline review process by a year to study alternative routes through Nebraska. Four days later, TransCanada announced it would forgo the Sandhills route.
Environmental groups throughout the nation have celebrated these events as a significant achievement in their battle to stop the pipeline, which would funnel up to 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. But they also agree that the unlikely activists from Nebraska helped turn the tide.
Ken Winston, a policy advocate in Nebraska's chapter of the Sierra Club, said the Nebraska coalition included concerned citizens from throughout the state.
"This is a movement that has come from Nebraskans, and it's large spread," Winston said. "Their involvement cut across the political spectrum…. Even if they reject the label, they are truly environmentalists in the best sense of the word."
The Weichmans' entry to activism began in 2008, when TransCanada offered to pay them for a two-mile easement on their property. At first they said no, fearing that diluted bitumen—a special kind of heavy crude produced from tar sands oil—might leak from the pipeline into their groundwater. When the company threatened to take their land using eminent domain, they finally accepted the offer. But by then they also were ready to join the fight against the Sandhills route.
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It seemed like an impossible task. The Sandhills' sparse population gives residents little political clout: Holt County, where the Weichmans live, is home to just 10,500 people, equal to one percent of the population of Rhode Island spread over an area twice as large. The ranchers were more accustomed to fighting blizzards than foreign corporations, and long days of physical labor didn't leave them much time for organizing.
But Connie Weichman persisted. She began writing letters to state senators. She spoke with reporters and drove four hours each way to Lincoln to testify at public hearings.
"People took a stand up here, and they're fighting for their land," she said. "You could say we're like the pioneer people in a way, trying to preserve what [we have]."
Many of the Weichmans' neighbors became similarly involved. Cindy Myers, a nurse who lives nearby, started writing op-eds for a local newspaper in 2009. A year later, she joined her first anti-pipeline rally in Nebraska. After that she said everything just "snowballed."
Almost before she knew it, Myers had flown to Washington, D.C. to meet with her state representatives. She visited the capital again on November 6 to join the anti-pipeline rally at the White House. "It was so inspiring," she said. "So many people came up to me and said, 'You're from Nebraska—thanks for what you're doing. It's because of you that this issue is alive.'"
The original pipeline route wouldn't have crossed Myers' land, but she had grown up with a piece of that prairie landscape in her backyard and she was determined to protect it. The Sandhills, she said, was the "best playground" any child could have, a bizarre mix of desert and water, with dry dunes crisscrossed by meandering streams. Water pools in low-lying areas, creating instant oases of lush grass. A hundred feet away, desert yucca plants have colonized the tops of sand dunes. Locals call the fine white sand "sugarsand," and when the land erodes from drought or overgrazing, the dunes shift, forming new hills and valleys.
As a kid, Myers sledded down the dunes in winter and caught sand lizards in the summer. When she got thirsty, she pulled apart the irrigation pipes that sometimes rested on the ground and drank what she needed.
No oil pipeline had ever crossed the Sandhills, and the idea that TransCanada wanted to install a 36-inch pipeline in this delicate terrain made her furious. Our water is "the best in the country…and we want to keep it that way," she said.
A Place with Roots
Twelve thousands years ago, the region now known as the Sandhills was a forest of trees. Then the land was plunged into several cycles of extreme rainfall and drought. Grains of sand blew in during the dry times, piling up into enormous dunes.
The most recent wet cycle began about 650 years ago. As the climate shifted, the sand soaked up rain like a giant sponge. Seeds took root, transforming the region into a prairie. Today, the Sandhills stretch across north-central Nebraska and cover about a third of the state. The sand near the region's western edge is piled 400 feet deep in some places, and a rancher might have to dig 100 feet before hitting water. At the region's eastern edge, where the Weichmans live, the ground is much wetter, with a shallow sand layer and a high water table.
Many families in the Sandhills go back four, five, even six generations. They've learned to survive in a land of extremes, where temperatures can top 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and dip to 20 below zero in the winter. Kyle Graham, a wildlife biologist who has worked in the Sandhills for more than a decade, said people don't end up in this place by accident. Those who stay have deep roots in the area and truly understand "the capacity of the land."
"You can't separate the water from the land and the people," Graham said. "It's an odd place that's hard to understand."
Leon Weichman's parents bought the family ranch in 1949. Aside from serving in the Vietnam War, he has spent his entire life in the Sandhills.
Connie Weichman grew up on a ranch 25 miles away. Her grandparents bought the land in the 1930's and managed to eke out a living through the lean years of the Dust Bowl. "They were just [the kind of] people tough enough to endure the hardships that came with pioneering out here," she said.
Connie's father and two brothers still ranch nearby. Two of her three children are ranchers, including a daughter who raises cattle in Oklahoma and a son who will eventually take over the Sandhills ranch.
A faded ribbon on a barbed-wire fence marks the place where the Keystone XL would have crossed the Weichman property. On a cold September morning, Connie Weichman parked her truck close to that spot and began digging a hole to show a visitor how close the water table lies to the surface—and how vulnerable it would be to an oil spill.
In springtime the meadow would be literally underwater, she said, but September was the dry season and finding water took a bit of work. Again and again she plunged a postholer—a double-handled device that resembles two shovels connected at the base—into the ground, scooping up clumps of soil as easily as spooning sugar. There are thousands of fence posts on the ranch, all of them dug this way.
With the sun high in the sky, the scene looked like something from a postcard, or a John Deere commercial without the tractors. Fields stretched in every direction, with grass so green it hurt the eyes. Here and there stood short rows of trees called shelterbelts, which act as windbreaks during blizzards.
The sandy soil became increasingly soggy as Weichman dug. After 40 inches a trickle of black mud bubbled from the bottom of the hole and she stopped. More water oozed out over the next few minutes, and Weichman said it would continue to rise throughout the day.
The ranchers use the groundwater, unfiltered and untreated, for their homes and their cattle. Several years ago, when the Weichmans spent some time in Lincoln for medical reasons, Connie complained about the gritty taste of city water. Before long, friends from home showed up in Lincoln toting coolers of "good ol' Holt County Water."
Like most Sandhills residents, the Weichmans credit the Ogallala aquifer as the source of their groundwater, but technically they're drinking from the High Plains aquifer, which in many places lies above the Ogallala. Jim Goeke, a respected Nebraska hydrogeologist, recently appeared in a TransCanada ad to assure Nebraskans that an oil spill couldn't possibly contaminate the entire Ogallala aquifer, which extends across eight states and is protected in many areas by layers of impermeable or semi-permeable rock.
But in an interview with InsideClimate News, Goeke also said he agrees with other experts who say an oil spill in the Sandhills could contaminate groundwater from the High Plains aquifer.
The precise name of the aquifer is of little importance to the Weichmans. All they want is to protect their water source.
"Without our water, I guess we're pretty much done," Connie Weichman said. "Our livelihood depends on it."
A Sustainable Prairie
On a windy afternoon in late September, biologist Kyle Graham drove his pickup through a section of the Sandhills near the town of Valentine, 100 miles northwest of the Weichmans' ranch. The prairie there is covered in a thick layer of yellow and brown grasses, even though there's very little soil on the ground. The sandy grasslands are interspersed with low valleys as green as the Weichmans' ranch, each irrigated by the water that drains through the higher dunes. In the spring and fall, Graham said the wetland valleys "are completely packed with waterfowl"—everything from whooping cranes and geese to small, hard-to-identify birds that explode out of the prairie like feathered rockets.
The Sandhills are one of the last native prairies left in the United States, and there's more wildlife there now than anytime over the past 200 years, Graham said. Much of the credit for that thriving ecosystem goes to the ranchers' careful management of the land. Both wildlife and cattle depend on a healthy grassland, so it's a "win-win situation" for everyone, he said.
In the old days, herds of bison helped sustain the prairie by barreling through "like a train," churning up the soil and fertilizing the grass with their dung. Today, the ranchers' cattle perform that role. Too few cattle, and the soil doesn't get the nutrients and aeration it needs. Too many cattle, and the soil erodes from overgrazing.
Graham and the ranchers see the Sandhills as a system that works, a place where humans have learned to live in a sustainable relationship with nature. For the Weichmans, however, taking care of the land now means protecting it through the political process as well as with the family's physical labor.
Connie Weichman plans to keep monitoring developments on the pipeline and she said she won't hesitate to call her state senators if necessary. Right now she's especially interested in a bill the legislature is considering to give the state control over how oil pipelines are sited in Nebraska. The bill wouldn't apply to the Keystone XL pipeline, but she wants it in place before another pipeline comes through her state.
Cindy Myers also intends to keep scrutinizing the Keystone XL. The citizens of Nebraska have "flexed their muscles," she said, and will continue to be vigilant.
"I foresee a rebellion whichever route is chosen," she said. "Nebraskans all over now know the power of the people, and the pipeline fight will not be over."
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text:
The House resumed from April 6 consideration of the motion that Bill C-245, An Act to amend the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
House of Commons Hansard #92 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was firearms.


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Climate change poll: Most want to prepare, few want to pay
WASHINGTON — A new national survey says 82 percent of Americans want to prepare now for rising seas and stronger storms from climate change. But most are unwilling to spend the money to keep the beach where it is.
The poll by Stanford University found that only 1 in 3 people favored the government spending millions to construct big sea walls, replenish beaches or pay people to leave the coast.
The options the majority preferred were making sure new buildings were stronger and reducing future coastal development.
Three in 5 people want those who are directly affected by rising seas to pay for protection, not the entire American public.
Survey director Jon Krosnick said Americans seem fatalistic about global warming.


text: Hungarian artist; born at Szekesfejervar 1870. He was educated at Budapest, Milan, and Paris, being in the last-named city a pupil of J. P. Laurens and of B. Constant. His first work, "The Cathedral of Notre Dame," attracted attention at the exposition in Budapest in 1896, while his etchings are especially valued in London and Vienna. His best-known works are: "Peasant Mowing," "A Lane in Dort," and "The Island of Capri," in the historical art museum of Budapest; and "The Smithy," owned by Archduchess Isabella.


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| Verified Pay
|Full-time, Part-time
| 908 N Pine Ave
Ocala, Florida
About this job
Get more of what you want.
Serving up big, juicy burgers such as our award-winning, 100% Angus™ beef Thickburgers™ has brought Hardee's not only consumer and media accolades but big career opportunities, too. We are definitely not the Hardee's you used to know. By giving consumers more of what they want, our financial performance keeps us a leader in the quick-service restaurant industry.
Get more of what you want: from first-rate training and development programs to a supportive and team-oriented atmosphere where hard work is recognized. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, we have the right job for you.
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Diversity is the inspiration for our success and yours. Hardee's is an equal opportunity employer.
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text:
Surefire's Barry Dueck Shoots Stage 2
Barry Dueck, Texas MultiGun Heavy Division Winner shoots Stage 2, The Battle of the Bulge.
was last modified: May 4th, 2015 by Dueck Defense
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Rapid Transition Sight™ - Rear$125.00
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text:
The Resort Earrings are boldly elegant with light weight wood components, hand beaded embellishments and fun orange embellishments.
Hand painted lightweight wood components and hand beaded embellishments are hung on gold finished ear posts. Approximately 1" x 3 1/2".
Each pair of earrings are handmade with love; enjoy the slight variations that make your pair unique.


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A Joint Investigative Report by East County Magazine and Liberty One Radio
By Miriam Raftery
September 11, 2009 (San Diego) – "Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon," Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.
The device was stationed by San Diego County Sheriff deputies at a recent town hall forum hosted by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in Spring Valley and at a subsequent town hall with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego). The Davis Rally drew an estimated 1,300-1,500 people, including vocal conservative and liberal protest groups. (photo credit: Mike Russell)
A public records search conducted by East County Magazine has confirmed that the device is an LRAD 500-x manufactured by San Diego-based American Technology Corporation (ATC). Capable of use as an effective loudspeaker, the LRAD also has the ability to emit a deafening tone aimed at incapacitating and dispersing a crowd without use of lethal force.
"It's very concerning," Kevin Keenan, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said. " It is fine for the Sheriff's Department to have new less-than-lethal weapons, but for their interactions with individuals these still-dangerous weapons need to be used only as substitutes for firearms. They can't be used as just another tool on the tool belt. As we've seen with tasers and pepper spray, these types of weapons are being used to subdue people even though they pose the risk of serious physical harm."
He added, "Even more concerning is having these weapons for public order policing. I can imagine no situation, or am not aware of any situation that's ever happened in San Diego County or is likely to happen that would justify using these weapons for public order policing to control a crowd. The main effect of having those weapons at public events is to chill people and chill free speech and free association."
LRADs were developed by ATC at the request of the U.S. Navy after the attack on the U.S.S. Cole as a means of dissuading hostile invaders. ATC founder Elwood "Woody" Norris is a pioneer in sound technology who has also been instrumental in development of ultra-sound and ground penetrating radar.
Cruise ship Captain Michael Groves successfully repelled pirates off the Somali coast using non-lethal weapons including an LRAD. Groves has since filed suit against Carnival Cruise Line, claiming he suffered permanent hearing loss as a result, the BBC has reported. Navy News describes the LRAD as "louder than a jet engine" and helpfully explains that it overwhelms its targets with "sound so loud they hear it inside their heads."
ATC initially sold LRADs primarily to the U.S. military, but has since sold products internationally and domestically. The company and its representatives have not limited sales to military, maritime and law enforcement personnel, however. Local lifeguards and even Liberty One Radio are among potential customers to whom ATC's sales force has attempted to peddle LRADs.
Liberty One Radio host Mike Copass, a former Democratic Congressional candidate who ran against Davis, tried to interview the Sheriff's officer who appeared to be in charge of the device, which was mounted on a Rhino all-terrain vehicle. But Magallanez said the official "acted as if he didn't know what it was."
East County Magazine contacted Lieutenant Anthony Ray at the Lemon Grove sheriff substation. "I was the incident commander," said Ray, who confirmed that the device was an LRAD but was not sure of the model. "It's a really loud speaker," he said, adding that the device is used to assure that announcements can be heard over the din of a crowd. "We'll often use a helicopter, but this is something portable," he explained. The device has also been present at a sand-castle building competition in Imperial Beach and could be deployed at any large event locally, since the Sheriff's office is sometimes subcontracted by other cities within San Diego County to provide security.
Asked if he was aware that the device had a deterrent capability that includes a directed sound loud enough to cause hearing loss, he replied, "You mean like they use in Iraq? I can't imagine we'd do that, because it would hurt our own people at the same time…I can't believe that we would use the kind of thing on a crowd that the military does," he said, adding that the deputy on the Rhino was not wearing protective earphones. "There were deputies right in front, too," he observed, but added that he would have to "go home and look this up on Google" to learn more.
In an interview last week with newly appointed Sheriff Bill Gore, formerly the Undersheriff, East County Magazine posed the following questions about LRADs.
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That's not the primary purpose.
ECM: They're also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They've been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That's a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won't be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
He indicated that he did not consider LRAD technology to be a non-lethal weapon, such as tasers and pepper spray, then deferred other questions on this topic pending results of a public records request submitted by ECM.
However, Defense Update, a British defense contracting publication, lists LRADs as "non-lethal directed energy weapons. The publication states: "LRAD works like a highly directional, high power megaphone, able to blast sounds (such as crowd-dispersal instructions in Arabic) in a narrow beam and with great clarity at a deafening 150 decibels (50 times the human threshold of pain). LRAD can also create deafening noises which can incapacitate people within 300 meters by "firing" short bursts of intense acoustic energy."
An article from Atomic Scientists at describes the device's "ear-piercing siren" and confirms it has been used by U.S. Marines in Fallujah. The device has also been used by New York City Police for crowd control during the Republican National Convention. A technology article at GovPro.com states that the LRAD system "transmits powerful deterrent tones, by which piercing sound can cause pain, nausea, disorientation and possibly even hearing damage."
Our records search confirmed that the Sheriff's Deparment purchased an LRAD 500-X and on-site training instruction for $37,500 on July 21, 2008 supplied by the Lorimar Group, which signed an LRAD reseller agreement with ATC in 2006. In responses to questions asking whether the deterrent sound feature has been deployed locally or whether any complaints of harm have been received, the Sheriff's office responded that no such records are available.
The manufacturer's specifications indicate that "The superior voice intelligibility and clarity of LRAD 500X provides a directional audio beam that can communicate with 100% intelligibility over 88 dB of background noise beyond 300 meters and capable of communicating over 2000 meters away in a benign environment. LRAD 500X operators have the ability to issue clear, authoritative verbal commands, followed with powerful deterrent tones to enhance response capabilities." Moreover, the spec sheet indicates the device has a frequenty range of +/- 5dB over a 500 to 5kHz range, with a maximum volume of 148dB at 1 meter continuous and over 95 dB at 300 meters.
Ironically, the devices positioned at healthcare reform rallies hosted by Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa have the potential to cause serious health harm if its sonic crowd control feature is deployed, one medical professional informed East county Magazine. Dr. Mike Copass Sr. (father of radio personality Mike Copass) confirmed that "148 db, the max sound of the 500x ATC LRAD, will damage/destroy human hearing and damage, potentially, the brain."
That detail hasn't deterred sales. ATC media and industrial relations representative Robert Putnam informed Liberty One Media that "Business is looking really good." He said thousands of LRAD models have been sold worldwide, hundreds have been sold in California, and that two or three units have been sold within San Diego County, but declined to release agency names.
At least one use of an LRAD deterrent sound system used against a civilian crowd of demonstrators by riot police in the former Soviet-block nation of Georgia has been recorded on video.
In an interview with East County Magazine, Putman initially denied that the Sheriff's office had been sold an LRAD made by ATC. But when informed that Sheriff's documents confirm the purchase, he said the company uses distributors—raising the question of how many more devices have been sold—and to whom. "ATC has 95% of the LRAD market which we helped create. Before, there was really no acoustic hailing and warning device," he added.
Putnam objected to the term "sonic cannon", responding, "It's not a sound cannon. It gets their attention and hopefully gets them to comply."
He also denied that the company's LRADs can cause hearing problems or other health concerns. "No, not true," he said. "You'd have to be in close proximity for several minutes in order to have any damage at all. If you willingly stand in that beam for an extended situation, then that's your choice. There's no way a large crowd would stay." He said the company provides hands-on training to customers and has not had any lawsuits filed over damaged related to LRADs. The company is now offering a hand-held model, he added, which costs about $5,000 and can emit noise levels up to 135 dB. The device can also be adapted to have a high-powered light, infrared night vision, or the ability to translate commands into a foreign language.
Bullhorns are ineffective in large crowds, carrying only 20-25 yards and suffering distortion, he said. "With our LRAD, you are good to up to three kilometers. The 500-x is good for about a kilometer or a kilometer and a half." Activation of the deterrent tone is a function of the volume control, not a separate switch, he confirmed. "But they are also highly directional, so people operating them don't get anywhere near."
He defended use of the technology as a non-lethal way to provide warnings and to prevent innocent people from being harmed, such as fishermen who venture too close to a military vessel, international border, or nuclear station. "The whole point is to save lives," he said. "If you're a bad guy and keep coming, or wear protective headgear and keep coming, then you know they are not there innocently and you ratchet up the response."
He also revealed potential new domestic uses for the LRAD technology. "We are also excited to save wildlife," Putnam said. "We are working on trial tests to clear birds out of runways because when a jet is taking off or landing, that's when it is most vulnerable to a bird strike." Such technology could potentially save passenger and crew lives as well. He also predicts the technology could be useful to prevent bird deaths from drinking tainted water at mining tailing ponds or flying into wind turbine blades at wind farms, as well as preventing damage to solar panels from bird defecations. Birds would not suffer damage unless exposed to the deterrent signal tone for several minutes, added.
Seattle Weekly has warned that an LRAD device could be "an extremely attractive implement of torture in the wrong hands—or an equally alluring engine of light terrorism in others. Imagine how easily a miscreant could trash any sort of outdoor gathering."
That concern raises troubling questions about just how closely ATC screens potential buyers of its long-range acoustical devices.
San Diego Life Guard Mike Russell told Liberty One Radio that life guards were approached by ATC about purchasing an LRAD unit similar to the LRAD-500x seen at the Susan Davis rally. An ATC sales represented "tried to sell it to the Lifeguard service for focused warnings in the middle of crowds or in the water," he recalled, adding that the equipment was not purchased due to the high cost.
Asked by East County Magazine whether the sales rep disclosed the unit's weapons capacity, Russell replied, "I was just told that it could be used "like an audio laser-beam" to speak to an individual or small group up to 300 yards away, without disturbing the people all along the beach. This seemed like great potential, people entering ripc urrents, or even in rip currents, could be communicated with, without disturbing the rest of the beach with the traditional loud speakers." He added, "I wasn't informed about any dangers to hearing, but I was just listening to the sales pitch guy indirectly…Perhaps the senior staff were informed." A call to a senior lifeguard official was not returned by press deadline.
Liberty One Media (a politically progressive media outlet currently posting podcasts online while raising funds to purchase a broadcast station) sent an e-mail to ATC inquiring about purchasing an LRAD for use at concerts. The manufacturer sent sales literature, including a technical specification sheet, without warning about potential weapons usage—or inquiring about backgrounds of those seeking to purchase the product.
The ACLU's local director voiced serious concerns over ATC's efforts to market acoustic weapons to lifeguards and radio stations. "I think it's inappropriate for commercial or private use, " Keenan concluded. "There should be laws restricting it to law enforcement or military purposes."


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(January 9th, 2016: So this post is super popular, but probably not for the right reasons. Some of you are here for porn: this is not porn. It has never been porn, and it was my mistake for swearing in this post. So it's been edited for swearing to cut down on that traffic.)
Even the name sounds foreign. Hear it properly in Arabic, with its deep, swallowed sounds at center of the word, سعيدي and it's hard to imagine a further away place. Saudi Arabia is, on the one hand, on the frontiers of Western imagination, a closed off, secret place associated with hot weather, sand dunes, and terrorists. It can seem baffling to an outsider, a walled off portion of the world beyond normal rules and comprehension. But like all human societies, the rules of geopolitics still apply. Figuring it out – and guessing its next move – is merely a matter of getting your facts down.
Arabia's really hot
Arabia is one of the most God-forsaken places on Earth. It's a super hard place for humans to live, and ranks with Antarctica in its desolation. That the word "Arab" and "desert" are nearly synonymous is no accident, and Arabic as a language still feels constrained to the sands, as if it's only natural in a hot, dry place.
Its complications stem from that. Arabia is divided into three topological zones – the vast, shitty sandy deserts, the slightly less miserable but equally dry mountain ranges, and the handful of relatively temperature mountain clusters.
And its geography makes water hard to find
In the sandy deserts, life is almost impossible. Thanks to the oases and wells scattered under the surface, people have made do for thousands of years in clusters of tents and small villages. The mountain ranges trap some moisture and allow a bit of pasture, but are only marginally less rough than the desert sands.
Because it was so hard to find even water, let alone food, the scattered peoples of the desert spent a great deal of time and energy finding and securing both. They had less time to think about esoteric ideals, like wondering if rape was bad or if bad was even worth worrying about at all. Culture was based upon chauvinistic strength as each group of people gathered into family-based tribes. Tribes that went against this grain were quickly wiped out. Literally, only the strong survived.
Around particularly large oases, towns and villages formed. But if that oasis dried up, that community was fucked and everyone either fled or died in rapid order. Water security was so difficult to guarantee that as soon as a civilization got going it fell apart because of lack of rain. The famous Iram of the Pillars (located in western Oman) was once a major trading city, but died a quick death as soon as its well went dry, consigned to the dust heap of legend.
Yemen was an exception, but may as well have been an island. Its power could never extend into the desert wastes. Patrolling, supplying, and securing the desert was a vast sink of money and it was far better for the kings of Yemen's various dynasties to fight one another or to go looking for slave girls in Ethiopia. It's for good reason that Yemen's early history is far more tied up with the Horn of Africa than it is with Arabia.
These three zones made it hard to take over the whole thing
Arabian geography is not disposed to social or political unity. In the west are a series of mountains in varying degrees of miserable and tolerable. These were relatively easy to travel through and unify, but so poor it was often not worth it.
In the central and eastern deserts, communities clung to oases and wells, surviving by networks of traders bringing goods in and out. Only in two places – Oman and Bahrain – did proper civilizations form. Bahrain had a lovely fresh water oasis that remains in use to this day. Oman had a set of mountain ranges that trapped moisture and recharged wells all along its coast. Both, however, were isolated by the deserts and found it far cheaper to communicate and expand via sea. It's no accident Oman's empire went into Africa, to Zanzibar and Tanzania, rather than geographically closer central and western Arabia.
Imagine you're in charge of two buildings. You can't call or signal the other building because they can't hear or see you and you don't have a phone or the Internet. You have to physically send someone over there to find out what the fuck they're doing and to tell them what they should be doing. But it takes six months to get a message back and then forth. Your messenger may well die along the way, too, and it'd take months to find that out. Meanwhile, your second building is paralyzed with indecision – they've got calls only you can make. How long until that second building says fuck it and starts doing things on their own? How long until your appointed manager decides he can get away with start his own company and pocketing the profit himself?
Arabia is the same way. The west, the Hejaz, was connected to the old centers of civilization up north via roads and trade routes. An army from Syria or Egypt could come down to Yemen by land and reasonably expect not to die of heat exhaustion on the way. But eastern Arabia may as well be on Tatooine inside George Lucas's head. In between, it's even worse, more like Frank Herbert's Dune, full of nasty things that itched to kill travelers.
Islam created a resource where before there were none
Prior to Islam, hardly anyone bothered with Arabia. Alexander the Great thought of conquering it on a whim before he died in Babylon. Rome sent troops and then pulled out as soon as they got a good look.
Persia often just said, "Mine" in regards to the Gulf coast and nobody felt like disputing it.
Islam, therefore, proved to be a boom to this otherwise hostile landscape. One of Islam's main stipulations is that you must visit Mecca before you die if you can afford it. As Islam gathered converts, more and more came to Mecca and dumped heaps of cash on an otherwise unappealing place.
The holy city, therefore, was the first must-have resource Arabia ever possessed. Suddenly, regional powers had a reason to invade.
And invade they did
Nobody but a Muslim power could benefit from Mecca's pilgrims and the legitimacy the city bestowed (Nothing says "God loves me" like being charge of a holy city). Attack from the east was physically unfeasible (although, be it noted, not impossible), so only powers with bases in Syria and Egypt could move into the Hejaz. Unfortunately for Yemen, they often kept going south until they reached Aden. But they dared not waste their time trying to extend themselves over the whole peninsula. Not only would their armies likely die out, but there was nothing of value out there.
Meanwhile, in the desert, the natives remained restless
Competition in the sands was fierce. Fighting over wells and water resources sucked up most of their time. Tribes lived by raiding one another and any settled communities to get manufactured goods like coffee pots and weapons. But while they accepted Islam, this hardly made them any more peaceful or enlightened. Their isolation from the mainstream discussions about Islam kept them from developing their religion in line with Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran.
This isolation also convinced them of their superiority as a culture, especially as they noticed that nobody but their culture group could survive in their desert. All their bad (and good) habits were eventually declared to be bestowed and sanctified by God, from cousin marrying to woman whipping. Nothing shut up the kids when they dared question their parents' values by saying God wanted them to marry the hideous unibrow in the family.
And so it went until the 20th century
Without technology, people couldn't get at the water deep underground. Without water, they couldn't afford to build cities and develop industries where they could manufacture goods for trade. Without trade, they couldn't get the technology to get the party started. It was a thrilling cycle.
People did try to unify the place, but found that rather hard
Tribes organized and battered one another, occasionally achieving supremacy but always collapsing under their own weight and infighting.
And it all boiled down to the lack of water and food
A successful tribe, having driven out their enemy or, better yet, butchered them all, naturally divided the spoils amongst themselves and their allies. These spoils were, more often than not, water and food. This increased their survivability and made them prone to winning the next battle, since they were in better health than their enemies.
A tribe could snowball this and end up with quite a bit of territory. But a critical breaking point was invariably reached. Either the tribe overpopulated, and found themselves ironically weakened by all their success, or their own members started to get greedy, causing infighting rival tribes took advantage of.
Had a tribe gotten super lucky and actually put together a near-kingdom, they'd quickly pose a threat to the nearby great power occupying Mecca. That great power would then roll into the desert, smoke out a few oases, and retreat again, leaving the tribes in disarray to start over. So even if a tribe got to the point of nearly settling the interminable wars of the interior, some foreigner would roll in and screw it all up.
Because reading and writing outside of religious studies weren't priorities for the tiny populations of the desert, history in the interior is fuzzy. We know for a fact that this happened at least twice to the Saudi family, who built two kingdoms in the 18th and 19th century and then saw them collapse from internal squabbling or Turkish invasion.
Meanwhile, outsiders carved up those bits worth carving
The Ottomans in the Hejaz developed rail lines to Mecca and Medina to help facilitate the cash flow brought by pilgrims from all over the Muslim world. Until the 1930s, this was the only reason for a great power to bother. When Britain fought Turkey in World War I, it outsourced the Arabian front to Arab tribes since Mecca had almost no value to them as a Christian power.
Britain, meanwhile, grabbed the east the same way as the Persians in antiquity – by sailing in and saying "Mine," taking over with minimal effort. A Political Agent in Bahrain oversaw the entire Gulf and his main duties seem to have been to complain about the weather and remark on how boring his post was.
But oil changed the game quite suddenly
In the 1930s, geologists found Arabia's second must-have resource. By this time, the Saudis had gotten lucky and had set up another proto-state, even securing Mecca and Medina. The collapse of the Ottoman Turks meant no outside power was hovering overhead, ready to intervene.
The new imperial power in town, Great Britain, had a different set of priorities entirely. Seeing no value from Arabia, Britain desired only quiet frontiers with its mandates in Jordan and Iraq. Anyone who ruled the interior had to provide that. The Saudis took the hint, and when some of their more hardcore warriors, the Ikhwan, started to raid British territories, the Saudis turned on them with a vengeance and wiped them out. Britain was duly grateful and sought not to interfere in Saudi's nascent kingdom.
With Britain keeping neighboring powers out, the Saudi family got critical breathing space. When oil was found, it duly set up companies and oil derricks. Britain was not bothered with grabbing any of this up – they'd found plenty in Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, and Iran, all British holdings at the time. Only the U.S. was willing to invest in the horrible Arabian desert.
And so the state of Saudi Arabia was born
Without oil, Saudi would no doubt have collapsed yet again into anarchy, given enough time. Water and food are simply too scarce there to allow a proper state, which have to have dense populations, to survive. But oil allowed the Saudis to buy up heaps of technology to come in and change the environment while at the same time buying off the tribes, families, and regions who otherwise might have challenged them.
The fact that they had more money than God made everything possible. Rebellion was a thing of the past. The tribesmen, ever hungry, were happy to be given free meals.
And free meals led to free everything else
With each passing year, the Saudi family had to up the ante for their subjects. By the 1970s, it wasn't enough to just be fed, and the Saudis started to build free houses, offer free education all the way through university, and set up free health care centers. With their small population and massive oil income, they could import all of this from the outside world.
As Britain withdrew from the Middle East in 1971, America stepped in to secure oil supplies. Once more, Saudi could count its borders safe as America's fleets and armies guaranteed their integrity. In addition to oil income, which they did hardly any work for, Saudis could also write off national defense. Everything was easy street.
But the nature of their ruling system meant they could change little else
The Saudis were blood-stained conquerors who'd won their kingdom by killing everyone who stood in their way. Upon finishing that, desert tradition required them to dole out the spoils to their new subjects. Rebellion was stifled so long as these spoils arrived on time and in sufficient quantity. Change of leadership was out of the question for everyone concerned.
So the culture got frozen in time
The Saudis, too, had not gone through the same process as other Arab and Muslims states. These had encountered foreign cultures, fought and lost wars against them, and learned a great deal about what works and what doesn't. Saudis, many of them illiterate, had little to no memory of their failed proto-states and knew only that God have given them oil and with it loads of money. They could be forgiven for suffering from cultural and religious arrogance, even xenophobia.
The ruling system was therefore entirely based on the supposedly supreme values of the desert. Although the ruling family always came first, they had to delegate, and so power was dispersed to those most conservative and most traditional.
Quickly, this resulted in myth-making and fantasy as Saudis basically made up their own history to justify their modern decisions (and they must have been quite pleased their ancestors were mostly illiterate fucks who might otherwise have contradicted them). What was already a hardline form of Islam became totalitarian, seizing radio, TV, press, and education. It then started to spread to other countries, believing their superior culture needed only to be exposed to the ignorant masses to establish supremacy.
In the meantime, technology made a terrible environment rather palatable
Air conditioning, deep well pumps, desalination, cars, airplanes – all of it made the environment less important than it had been. Riyadh, once just a barely-there oasis (the g-string of the Arabian world) barreled into a multi-million person city, complete with malls, parks, highways, and airports. Babies that used to die of heat exhaustion in the tent went on to adulthood. Families that had two dozen kids expecting only five to make it instead sent them all off to free university. The population exploded and cities appeared from the dust.
The east-west divide became far less important strategically as roads and air links allowed the Saudi government to send directives at little cost. All modern technology was used to justify and sanctify Saudi culture and to degrade both foreign cultures and any Muslims who didn't follow the Saudi way of life. As we've seen, the buckets of cash allowed Saudi to think God really did favor them.
And a weird place was formed
Saudi Arabia has all the trappings of a proper country – a single language, ethnic group, religion, etc. It's physically united through roads and airports and its national army can travel to and fro without harassment. It has all the ministries a country should.
But scratch the surface, and you'll find the desert. In order to keep power, the Saudi royal family has, with each generation, needed to keep bribing at higher and higher levels. By the 1980s, food, housing, education, and healthcare weren't enough; disposable income for toys, hookers in Thailand, and maids from the Philippines was the next step.
Alas, Saudi culture doesn't mesh well with much besides living in a desert tent. Few Saudis knew how to do much more than pray, live in the desert, and judge people for not praying the right way. As immigrants set up businesses and industries, it was obvious Saudis had no idea how to do these jobs properly.
So Saudi's government made jobs out of thin air, allowing Saudis to work for – well, the government itself. Short hours and long holidays helped empty out the office and nobody expected anything to actually be done. Can't read or write? No problem! In the Ministry of Education you need only find the door. (Oh, it's that one over there). It was just another way of giving handouts to key tribes. A job was a bribe; in exchange, you were loyal.
This worked for a long time because oil meant Saudi didn't have to compete in anything
From the 1970s until the 2000s, Saudi didn't have to be good – or even competent – at any of its supposed industries or businesses. Everything needed could be imported from abroad. Technology was overseen by foreign experts who took fat, tax free paychecks. Businesses of strategic importance were managed by immigrants. Saudis themselves needed only visit the ATM, as far the government was concerned (and the ATMs were probably installed by guys from Pakistan).
This isn't to say individual Saudi citizens weren't gifted and intelligent people – many of them took advantage of the free university education offered and became bright people in their own right. The problem, these gifted folks weren't enough to run the country. The vast majority of citizens had no incentive to learn how to do anything except spend money and give lip service to their religion and culture. It created a skills gap of epic proportions.
The result is that the Saudi economy doesn't know how to do anything
Saudis don't have the education level to run their own country. Massive numbers of immigrants keep the system humming along. Those few qualified Saudis that exist won't be promoted over more loyal or better connected Saudis who don't know a goddamn thing because the royal family doesn't value proper education. Properly educated people would notice the Saudi ruling system is bullshit and making things worse; even well-educated Saudi royals have probably noticed that.
The staggering ignorance still doesn't matter – for now
So long as oil remains the primary income and immigrants remain willing to come into the country to work for tax free salaries, Saudis can get away with knowing nothing and doing less. Their regional security is still secured by the United States – Iraq's foray into Kuwait ended the era of cross border invasions in the Middle East for at least this generation. So they can be isolated, dumb, and indolent.
But the oil money isn't going as far as it once did
Oil money is used by the government to purchase loyalty. But the price is being inflated rapidly. Food, housing, healthcare, and education weren't enough even in the 1980s – fun and entertainment had now entered the equation. The level of fun and entertainment have become inflated with each passing year, as well. One car's not enough – most people want two cars. And not Nissans anymore. They want Landcruisers. Oh, also, they don't want to pay for gas.
It's gotten so bad that it's predicted, by the 2020s, Saudi may actually need to import oil to cover all its losses in the energy sector. With gas, electricity, water, and air conditioning all subsidized, it's no wonder Saudi is a horrifically wasteful place.
As salaries for worthless government workers go up, too, so also do prices in the Saudi economy. The workers produce nothing and don't increase wealth – only the oil income does that. Inflation ravages and so the government has to pump ever more generous paychecks into the system.
The Saudi government says it realize this
Economic diversification and Saudization are the key words of the past decade. Attempts to reform this or that, to globalize education, to make Saudi workers more productive run up against the hard expectations Saudis have spent nearly forty years developing. Saudis want a lot and to work little. They refuse in large numbers to take jobs that offer anything less.
And it all stems from the fact that the most important value to the Saudi royal family is blind loyalty through blind piety
God wants the Saudis in charge, and if you love God you must love the royal family too. Screw everyone who says otherwise because they're for sure going to Hell. This is the basic theme taught by the Saudi education system.
People who fail to follow these rules face immediate and harsh punishment. They're not just going against the king, but against God, so honestly, to many religious people, no punishment is severe enough.
And so the Saudis have fucked themselves
To reform, Saudi must open the door to critical thinking to allow creative problem solving. Alas, when you open that door, you can't shut it again. Critical thinking will notice asinine habits of Saudi society – like women being unable to drive, like people working very little but getting a whole lot because of family connections, like setting up farms in the middle of a sandy desert. It will notice all these problems stem from the bribes doled out by the ruling family and that the central problem is the royal family itself.
And that's when you get a revolution
A clever monarchy reforms itself out of power but keeps many of the privileges. It does so at the pace its society is modernizing. Britain did that quite well and so the House of Windsor continues to enjoy Buckingham Palace. The French Bourbons, on the other hand, didn't.
But unfortunately for the House of Saud, it's impossible to tell just how quickly society is modernizing. Normally, you can get the feel of things through a free press or pop culture or even the Internet. But all those sources are controlled or regulated into oblivion, so even if Saudi's government was watching carefully, they'd see nothing. It's also happening at a pace unimagined before. Britain had the whole Industrial Age to flip from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary one. Saudi may have just ten or twenty years.
Worse, the currency of the realm is still conservatism. Challenging this results in quick pushback from the religious folks, who are hardly above outright rebellion. The Shah of Iran could tell stories of what happens to a guy who modernizes too fast for his peoples' liking.
Right now, bribes and fear keep the locals in line
If only Emperor Palpatine had used the Death Star to destroy planets and shower them with free gift cards, he'd probably have lasted a great deal longer. This is essentially the Saudi model. You can be arrested for anything even remotely anti-government or anti-Islam, and once in jail you'll be raped as much and for as long as the police like with nary a peep from the press. But smile at the king's portrait and say sternly conservative things about Islam and you'll get a lovely new car.
But the regions are not as united as they appear
Saudi is still a classic kingdom, with nobles and everything. There's a culture divide between east, west, and center. In the west, long attached in some form to civilization, people are more likely to realize the Saudi system is not all its cracked up to be and that Islam has variant forms. In the east, once under Persian influence, Shi'a Muslims are well aware their government thinks they're going to Hell and that they sit on most of the kingdom's oil reserves. Only in the center – in Riyadh – where the Saudis originally came from and where people were most isolated – is loyalty most assured.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
Failure to introduce critical thinking into their culture will make Saudi non-competitive in a generation. Oil money only goes so far; it's a finite well that doesn't have to run out to become ineffective. As soon as Saudi cannot pay some ridiculous food or wedding bills to even a few citizens, they risk a cascade of complaints that could tear their kingdom apart. So Saudi must do something.
But critical thinking will invariably challenge everything Saudi society believes in. You can't get a creative problem solving engineer who won't notice working for a retarded royal cousin is bullshit. Additionally, Saudi's official brand of culture is afraid of everything and convinced anything not Saudi is evil. Upon learning that nations don't fall when couples kiss in public (or that flogging people is a terrible crime deterrent), Saudi citizens will reject the official culture and the government's central legitimacy will be lost.
The likely future
Saudi probably won't reform or, if it does, will reform poorly. The Saudi royal family is supposed to be ordained by God to rule; they're not going anywhere. Saudi society isn't ready to question their religion and culture in a way that doesn't involve fighting, arrests, and civil unrest. The incentives to change just aren't there. Forward-thinking royals will experiment here and there; one of them might be become a king. But all of them will be thwarted by the system they themselves created.
What will happen is the oil money will start to fail to solve society's ills. Crime will go up; disobedience will increase. It will be a Saudi form of the 1960s, but far worse, as Saudi is still a tribal society. Tribes will pull away from the House of Saud as they are no longer bribed. They'll support tribes that they think will restore the artificially imposed balance.
And nobody will know what the fuck they're doing
Tribes will lie to acquire power. Saudi will either crush them, making more enemies and spiraling violence further, or will lose to them, at which point they'll inherit all the same problems. A new tribe won't solve the fundamental issue: Saudis will want more and more and the oil money will be able to deliver less and less. That attitude won't change except after hard times realign Saudi society.
The odds are in the government's favor – for now
The degree of violence used will entirely depend on the Saudi government. Right now, they're far more likely to shoot on protesters or murder their enemies than negotiate. The National Guard, essentially a giant tribal bodyguard, is blood-connected to the ruling house and well-armed. Regular army units are treated as yet another jobs-but-really-bribes scheme and are terrible soldiers.
But they've got a problem – the United States
Alas, America's values have changed. As the guarantor of Saudi security, America's opinion counts. If the Saudi government turns on its people, like Syria, America will threaten all kinds of high hell, enough so as to scare members of the military and security services. The Saudi royal family, or at least part of it, could be shunted aside by these pro-American forces, like Hosni Mubarak was.
So the fight will be Saudi vs. Saudi
America will ensure nobody gets involved except Saudis. It will also quickly pick a side; whether it favors stability or reform will depend on the personality in the White House. But it will secure its interests, the oil exports, rapidly and effectively. It may well end up securing just the oil fields and letting Saudi society atomize and rot further afield. That alone would secure American interests.
There are, in other words, no good futures for Saudi Arabia
Saudi must reform, but can't because to do so will probably destroy the royal family itself. The only way to change Saudi Arabia fundamentally is through a deep and long lasting trauma. It's too late for the king to do anything.
Will it be a bang or a whimper?
Eventually, a trauma must realign Saudi society. The question comes, how big? Will it be a civil war? A running terror campaign? A 60s-style cultural revolution? Will the House of Saud die at home or in exile? Will they go peacefully or by machine gun? Regardless, it can't last. Change is coming. The Saudis can only hope to mitigate the disaster.
The timeline is also up for grabs. One can guess in the next ten years or twenty that something big will happen there. But it certainly will happen long before the oil runs out. Saudi won't suddenly wake up one day and find themselves broke. Societies don't work that way. They'll fall apart another way.


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Story highlights
Unusual art pops up in unexpected places throughout Busan's Gamcheon village
In 2009, artists and students were invited to decorate the houses and streets
Pastel homes and public buildings have historic roots
Village is the headquarters of the Taegeukdo religion
The first-time visitor quickly notices the pretty pastel houses and curious sculptures placed at intervals throughout the town – but the quaint facades and works of modern art signal merely the tip of the fascinating story behind a little known hillside labyrinth in Busan known as Gamcheon village.
Not on any standard travel itinerary, the village offers a stark contrast from the glitzy skyscrapers of "new Busan" or even the bustling markets of "old Busan."
Instead, the eerily quiet village is a destination for a different type of traveler – one that's not driven by foodie discovery or lazing on the beach, the primary reasons Koreans vacation in Busan.
Instead, Gamcheon lures travelers with an interest in art and history.
Religious roots
The village has an unusual origin story.
Many accounts say Gamcheon began as a slum town in the 1950s filled with refugees from the aftermath of the Korean War, but the village actually owes its beginnings to an ascetic religious community called Taegeukdo, an obscure religion birthed during political upheavals in Korea in the early 1900s.
Although relatively scarce today, members of the Taegeukdo religion believe that the meaning of the universe can be found through a philosophy of "great polarity," which incorporates the concepts of yin and yang.
The swirling blue and red Taegeuk symbol has been important throughout Korea's history – it's the symbol in the center of today's South Korean flag.
In 1955, during the rebuilding phase that followed the Korean War, the city of Busan ordered some 800 families of the religious movement to move into designated area on a nearby hillside.
The religion's headquarters also moved. It remains the preeminent landmark of the village today.
Meaningful layout, artistic rebirth
Unlike other area villages that sprang up in ad hoc fashion, Gamcheon's multi-tiered communal layout was meticulously planned.
"By building the houses in tiers so that no house blocks any house behind it, the architectural layout of the village adheres to the Taegeukdo teaching of allowing others to prosper," says Kim Kye-young, a local representative of the Taegeukdo religion.
Gamcheon's art-themed makeover began in 2009, when it hosted a public art project and invited art students and artists to "decorate" the village.
While the villagers had for decades painted their own homes in pastel hues, artists added dozens of colorful touches throughout town, attaching nicknames such as "Korea's Machu Picchu" (bizarre choice) and "Korea's Santorini" (closer).
While the view is best from a high vantage point called "Sky Garden," where the village information center is located (only Korean brochures and guides are available), the real delight lies in getting lost in the village's maze of alleyways.
Each alley leads to a different surprise, from bird sculptures on roofs to Murakami-like playful installations in abandoned houses.
The quirkiest surprise is "The Little Prince," from the French novel of the same name, sitting atop a fence, staring forlornly out at the Busan Harbor alongside his fox.
Getting around
It's almost impossible not to get lost. Each alley leads to three or four others.
One way to maintain your bearings is to "follow the fish" – painted schools that "swim" throughout the streets. Look closely and you'll spot tiny people sitting on top of the fish, or kicking them in the eye.
"Photographers come and fall head over heels in love with the village," says In Sik Kim, a local tour guide.
"But the villagers don't like the fact that so many people are traipsing through their houses, and many of them are moving away. The houses don't sell though, so they just abandon them."
More than 300 local houses are estimated to be empty.
Artists are stepping in to turn many of them into exhibition spaces.
Some have been transformed into cafes and restaurants run by the town. Profits go back to the villagers.
Small, quiet and mostly hidden from the tourist path, Gamcheon isn't ready for a flood of visitors. It prefers the occasional trickle that it has today.
"I don't think fat foreigners can fit through these alleyways," says another guide when asked about tours for foreigners.
"They'll have to watch their heads every step, too. It'll be very uncomfortable."
How to get there
In Busan, take the subway to Toseong-dong Station or Goejeong Station, then take a taxi to Busan Gamjeong Elementary School (taxi will cost approximately $2.50).
Tour company Jane Tour & DMC offers day tours in English from $300; +82 70 7393 2428
Gamcheon Culture Village, 10-13 Gamcheon-2-dong, Saha-gu, Busan, South Korea; +82 70 4219 5556; Sky Garden village information center open daily, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
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Rupert Murdoch is in love with the iPad. It's not hardware. It's not the software. It IS THE FUTURE!. The future of newspapers, he says. Well, Rupert, here's some news for you: The WSJ iPad app sucks kangaroo balls.
Other pearls by Rupert:
I'm old, I like the tactile experience of the newspaper, (but) if you have less newspapers and more of these, that's OK. It doesn't destroy the traditional newspaper, it just comes in a different form.
No, you are wrong. The medium defines the presentation of the content, which is the reason why your publication in the iPad sucks so much. Because the WSJ has tried to apply print concepts into a touch platform, using the wrong formats and adding no advantages. But don't worry: The New York Times nad most publications out there are really bad too. Not as bad, but really bad.
The iPad does have the potential to save newspapers, but not the way you are doing it. [The Australian]