What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
This sentence was attributed by several sources to Christopher Hitchins:
Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
"Mommie Dearest", Slate, 20 October 2003, ISSN1091-2339, quoted in Michael Shermer, "The Skeptic's Skeptic," Scientific American, November 2010, p. 86. This quotation, often taken as original, is actually a translation of the Latin phrase "Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur."
"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." appears by itself in God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007).
Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
-- Christopher Hitchins
But:
This quotation, often taken as original, is actually a translation of the Latin phrase:
"Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur."
.............................................
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The 8/8/88 rally, shot by the news crew of Geraldo Rivera. It should be noted exclusive copyright for this footage belongs to Nikolas Schreck, and many thanks to him for letting it remain posted.
After the interviews is a Geraldo at Large segment on skinheads, although this is totally unconnected with the rest of the video and was only included because I was unable to cut it off with my windows movie maker.
Charles Manson explains why Michael Moynihan (Blood Axis) and Boyd Rice (NON) are just rock stars who dress up in military costumes, and absolutely nothing more.
LARRY WESSEL'S ICONOCLAST really captures pop culture at it's best.
LARRY WESSEL'S ICONOCLAST is epic in length but I left wanting to see more! When this film comes to your city, don't miss it!"
-Rodney (Rodney on The ROQ) Bingenheimer,
KROQ FM
The Mayor of The Sunset Strip
BOYD RICE IN ICONOCLAST, A NEW DOCUMENTARY
BY LARRY WESSEL
OCTOBER 22, 2011
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR OASIS
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
Synopsis
Boyd Rice may be the only person alive who's been on a first name basis with both Charlie Manson and Marilyn Manson.
His career has spanned more than three decades, during which time he has remained at the epicenter of underground culture and controversy.
Rice first came to prominence in the 70's as one of the founders of the genre known as Industrial Music and soon gained a reputation for live shows that were deemed the most abrasive, minimalist and loudest concerts ever staged (his shows regularly clocked in at 130 decibels, whereas a jet plane taking off was a mere 113 decibels). As early as 1980, he was already hailed as The Godfather of Noise Music.
Since then, Rice has extended his creative pursuits to numerous fields, even lecturing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, despite being a high-school dropout.
'My life', says Rice, 'is a testament to the idea that you can achieve whatever the hell you want if you possess a modicum of creativity and a certain amount of naivete concerning what is and isn't possible in this world. I've had one man shows of my paintings in New York, but I'm not a painter.
I've authored several books, but I'm not a writer. I've made a living as a recording artist for the last 30 years, but I can't read a note of music or play an instrument. I've somehow managed to make a career out of doing a great number of things I'm in no way qualified to do.'
Larry Wessel's documentary, ICONOCLAST is a 4 hour long tour de force, 6 years in the making; an in depth expose of Boyd Rice's life career and personal obsessions.
No mere documentary, ICONOCLAST is more of a roller coaster ride through the fevered mind-scape of one of the most controversial and unique artists of the modern age.
Ex-head of the church of satan, friend
of Charles Manson, mentor of Marilyn Manson, descendant of Jesus Christ,
social darwinist, neo-pagan, founder of noise core, electronic pioneer
and alleged crypto-fascist; Boyd Rice's CV is as impressive as it is
controversial.
Since the mid 70's he has produced some of the
most challenging and original recorded music in history. The sheer
emotion, untamed structure and raw, uncompromising sounds are made all
the more intriguing by the accompaniment of fascistic imagery and
occultist aesthetics.
NON is perhaps his most famous music
project. NON's last record, 'Children of the black sun' was released on
Mute records in 2002 and tended toward the dark ambient sound of his
other projects. The next record 'Back to mono' is a return to the
abrasive noise of his early years and is to be released this Summer.
Survive the Jive caught up with Boyd at the recent Short circuit
festival in Camden to find out about the new record from NON 'Back to
Mono' and Boyd's new book 'Twilight Man'
It is 50 years since the first breast enlargement using silicone implants. Today it rates as the second-most popular form of cosmetic surgery worldwide, undergone by 1.5 million women in 2010.
It was spring 1962 when Timmie Jean Lindsey, a mother-of-six lay down on the operating table at Jefferson Davis hospital in Houston, Texas. Though the operation boosted her self-confidence - and she enjoyed the extra attention - she had never planned to have a breast augmentation.
Lindsey had been to hospital to get a tattoo removed from her breasts, and it was then that doctors asked if she would consider volunteering for this first-of-its-kind operation.
Fifty years on she remains delighted with the results, though there is no stopping the passing of time, she says.
"You would think they would stay real perky, but no - they are just like
a regular breasts, they begin to sag over the years. That surprised me.
I figured they'd just stay where they were."
The surgeons were two ambitious pioneers, Frank Gerow and Thomas Cronin.
It was Gerow who had first come up with the plan for a new kind of breast implant.
"Frank Gerow squeezed a plastic blood bag and remarked how much it felt like a woman's breast," says Teresa Riordan, author of Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that have Made Us Beautiful.
It was the decade in which Playboy magazine and Barbie launched, and film stars played a big role too.
"The busty look of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell and also Dior's New Look of 1957, really emphasized this curvy silhouette, and got women thinking about augmenting their breasts," says Teresa Riordan.
"Falsies" - basically stuffed bras - were popular, but increasingly women wanted something more.
Marilyn: Did she or didn't she?
There have been many advances over the decades, like 3D-imaging, and implants that are increasingly rupture-proof - and the range has widened.
"In the early days, we only had four choices or sizes - large, medium, small and petite. Now we have over 450 choices," says Biggs.
Around the world, breast enlargement is now the second-most popular cosmetic surgery operation, after liposuction (the removal of fat). In many countries - including the UK - it is the most popular operation.
Witness airs weekdays on BBC World Service. You can download a podcast of the programme or browse the archive.
