OVO

Ship. July 2011. Pencil.

OVO: What was the day of your first car accident?

JM: It was Tuesday, August 5th, 1986.

OVO: What happened?

JM: I was in South Carolina, staying at Polly’s Island with my mother for a week. My boyfriend had gone down with me. We were going to Murtle Beach; he was going to go to a skateboard park. We’d taken his mother’s station wagon. I was driving because he was getting his skateboard ready or something. It was a highway like Alcoa Highway [Knoxville, Tennessee], with a lot of dangerous intersections. I was going about 50 miles an hour when we came upon an intersection where there was a big Bronco and an old Pontiac. The Bronco pulled out and cleared the intersection in front of us. The woman in the Pontiac pulled up to the intersection, did not stop, and pulled onto the highway right in front of us. We hit her. The front left of her car and the front right our car collided. We ended up in the median, in the ditch. I was wearing the lap part of my seat but not the shoulder harness, and my face flew into the steering wheel. I knocked out seven bottom teeth. My boyfriend was not wearing his seat belt. He hit the windshield with his head and cut his head up badly. When we impacted with her I hit my mouth and I slung my body against the door. I had glass in my face from the windshield. Her window was down and we could see her. We were conscious and she was conscious. My boyfriend rolled down his window and leaned his head out the window and said “you okay?” She said yes, that she was okay. We sat in the car for… seconds. A woman came up to his window and asked “Do you want me to call an ambulance?” We said yes. We went to the hospital. I stayed the night but I don’t think he did. I had surgery the next day. I’d sprained my arm, my back and my neck, and I’d knocked my teeth out.

OVO: How did that change you?

JM: It made me a much better driver. I don’t trust anybody anymore. I don’t think anybody knows what they’re doing. As far as when anybody gets behind the wheel I don’t think people have their right minds. This woman that hit us had been driving for five years. She was 65. She got her license when she was 60 and she didn’t know what she was doing. I don’t take for granted that people are going to stop at stop signs. I slow down all the time. The biggest change in me is that I’m a horrible passenger. I get antsy when I have to sit in the passenger seat and I tell people what to do. I tell people to slow down. I’ve learned not to feel bad about telling people when I’m uncomfortable. I’ve been in a car with people who were going to fast and I’ve said you’ve got to slow down or I‘m getting out of the car. Because I know that you can die and that’s changed my life completely. Facing what I thought was my own death. I thought I was going to die.

(from OVO 13 TRAVEL January 1992)

TESTES-3 was the phone number & name of the first phone station (or “line,” as we called it) that Richard, Sumu Pretzler & I created & co-operated. It was operated anonymously & centered around an answering machine that was used to receive input & to play output made from edited versions the input. It didn’t attract much attention until its third month when it came to the notice of reporter Franz Lidz.

As partially explained in his “Underground Telephone Network” article, Lidz tried to get us to agree to an interview by leaving messages via TESTES-3. Given that we considered anonymity to be essential to our functioning communally produced participatory phenomenon we reacted cautiously to his request, in a way that we thought to be consistent with our principles.

Rather than let Lidz interview us, we thought that it would be more appropriate if he interviewed the TESTES-3 callers to help make them realize that they were TESTES-3 as much as we were (albeit in a different way). We played the recording of Lidz’ proposal as our outgoing tape for a while, adding our own disguised voice suggesting that people leave their phone numbers so that we could forward them to Lidz – thus enabling him to contact them. We compiled the responses onto one tape (mixing in our own phone numbers with theirs so that we could test how Lidz would follow through – if at all). We then telephoned Lidz, &, after a brief explanation in our nasal & rhythmically regulated TESTES-3 voice, played the recording for him to write the information from. Contrary to Lidz’ claim in his article we know he didn’t try calling them all because he never contacted us at the home numbers that we provided him with.

Some trouble did ensue for us when Lidz told the phone company that we were using his voice on our answering machine without his knowing who we were. A phone company employee called us & explained that is was a violation of FCC &/or Public Service Commission regulations for us not to identify ourselves on our tape. I tried to explain, in a roundabout way, that it was important to us to continue unidentified. A solution was reached when it was realized that someone could publicly take responsibility for being connected with our outgoing messages without that someone having to be anything more than a cooperative front. The obvious candidate for such a position was Lidz since he was the one who had stirred up the trouble in the first place. We suggested this to him (again via the phone & in our disguised voice) and he agreed. The ironic climax to this was that many of our tapes referred callers to Lidz (c/o his newspaper) for more information about us – without Lidz every knowing who we were.

We had originally wanted our phone station & number to be VD-RADIO but we had been told that number wouldn’t be available until June or July, so we started with TESTES-3 instead. As the availability time approached, we decided that with VD-RADIO rather than keep it cloistered at the center between the three of us we would make our end of the project open to more people. In order to do this, we thought that it would be best for us to be no longer anonymous.

Our idea was to give Lidz such a sensational interview that the resultant spectacular article would broaden our base of participants with notoriety. We started by revealing that we were TESTES-3 to a woman named Joan who was an acquaintance of ours & who had been one of the earliest TESTES-3 callers. We asked her to be our accomplice. We called Lidz & robotically told him that if he were to be at the Western-most phone booth of two phone booths at the comer of a particular intersection in Baltimore at a certain time & date that he would receive further instructions.

When he arrived at the phone booth Joan was already waiting in the one adjacent. She called his booth & told him she was right next to him & that she was supposed to take Lidz in her car to a parking lot next to the downtown prison. He obliged by going with her & she lied by telling him that she didn’t know who we were & that she had simply called TESTES-3 & we had convinced her to cooperate. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Lidz, Sumu Pretzler followed than in his camper van.

Joan got lost & finally pulled into a convenient parking lot. Sumu pulled in next to her, had them get out of Joan’s car and into his van. They were required to put on special vision complicating glasses in order to be permitted to go any further towards the interview. Lidz put on glasses with lenses made from prisims which substantially abstracted his perception of space. Joan was given diffraction glasses. It was night-time – so the distortions were further aggravated by the main light sources being headlights & street lights. They were both given paper hats (in the form of papal hats) to wear. Sumu drove them around town, playing specially chosen music on the tape player, on a labyrinthian long ride to confuse their sense of whereabouts, until his van broke down.

The breakdown forced him to call another TESTES-3 accomplice, John Ellsberry, who had to go to where the van was to give it a hot-shot. Sumu finally made it to the complex of alleys behind where our TESTES-3 headquarters were where he let Lidz & Joan out & hand-led them through a pedestrian alleyway to where Richard & I awaited them. The alleyway was dark & deserted. At the beginning of a short dead-end, Richard & I stood wearing the same types of hats that they were & diffraction glasses & were holding flashlights under our chins to heighten the dramatic lighting. John’s camera flashes added to their already substantially distorted vision as he took photos of Joan & Lidz being nudged down a trash-filled stairwell into a decrepit basement.

In order to reinforce the impression that TESTES-3 was a guerrilla operation we had made the house seem even more derelict than it already was. The basement came with a rotten floor with large holes in it that was dangerous to walk across and, just a few minutes before, half of the building’s power had blown out, so we hadn’t needed to alter anything down there. The basement to first floor steps were very narrow & the walls were spray-painted. At the top, the kitchen was made invisible by a gauzy hanging (and by darkness) which directed them through another slightly wider hallway toward the front steps leading to the second floor.

At the end of this hallway, there was ordinarily a wide entrance into a living room on the right which we had covered with a precariously balanced approximately 8‘x6′ wall covered with graffiti. As Lidz felt his way gingerly down the hallway (the prism glasses made walking very difficult) he touched this wall & it fell with a gigantic crash breaking various things in its path. That was even better than anything we’d planned. We guided them up to another floor & took them into my bedroom where the TESTES-3 machine was hidden. They were directed to sit on a large water-bed as yet another contribution to the feeling of lost equilibrium. They rolled around awkwardly on the bed with the only light in room being a strobe.  The whole time Richard & I had been speaking sparsely in our clipped & quasi-inhuman voices.

By now the impression that we had made was so bizarre that Richard threw a bit of contrast in by offering them beers & asking them if they’d like to listen to the Rolling Stones. Lidz asked if it was okay for him to take his glasses off – saying they were giving him a headache. I put on a Creature of the Black Lagoon mask & Richard put on a ski mask & we consented to the removal of the glasses. Lidz’ semi-restored (the strobe was still strobbing) normal vision revealed two men in masks rather than the two bespectacles & be-hatted figures had seen fragmented previously. We showed him the TESTES-3 machine & tamed on the monitor as a call came in. Our outgoing message tape had someone singing “they’re coming to take me away, hoho, heehee, haha… ” montaged with a multitude of other materials – yet another facet to add to the surreal feeling of the whole situation.

Sumu Pretzler returned from parking his vehicle & we all adjourned to a different bedroom where an overhead where an overhead light was on. We removed our masks & the interview began. The room had been rigged with tape-delay & we punctuated the atmosphere by blowing though noise-makers that echoed like pterodactyls flying in a canyon.

Needless to say, we expected Lidz to go into great detail about the ordeal he had been put through to get his story. Imagine our surprise when the ironic climax to all this was that Lidz didn’t mention our Lidznap at all. The joke was on us.

(from OVO 12 SCIENCE November 1991)

Israel News: ‘Saint with Pure Semen’ Imprisoned

Former Defense Ministry employee says his semen is holy liquid, physical contact with him heals body and soul. Number of women fall under his influence after he tells them he is one of 36 righteous people in Judaism.

Los Angeles Times: Sex Allegations Against Rabbi Roil Israel’s Orthodox Community

Sexual harassment by religious leaders and homosexuality among rabbis.

Chicago News: Dad Could Be Jailed for Taking Girl to Church

Last month, Joseph Reyes violated a court order when he took his young daughter to services at Holy Name Cathedral. The court order– which states Reyes cannot expose the toddler to any religion other than Judaism– came down after Reyes, 35, baptized his daughter without his wife’s permission. His wife is Jewish and he converted, but the couple is in the middle of a bitter divorce. Reyes says he was a practicing Catholic when he married his wife, Rebecca. He converted to Catholicism after his daughter’s birth. Now, he says his estranged wife and the court is interfering with his right to expose his daughter to both religions.

New York Times: British High Court Says Jewish School’s Ethnic-Based Admissions Policy Is Illegal

Britain’s Supreme Court declared Wednesday that it was illegal for a Jewish school that favors Jewish applicants to base its admissions policy on a classic test of Jewishness — whether one’s mother is Jewish.

The Freethinker: Cycle Lanes Removed to Appease Jewish Neighborhood Group

A CYCLE lane “war” has broken out in the New York Hasidic enclave of Williamsburg. The lanes, covering 14 blocks of the neighbourhood were sandblasted away last week after Jewish zealots complained that scantily-clad hipster cyclists were distracting them from holy thoughts. According to this report, cyclists attracted to the area made it difficult for the Hasids to obey religious laws forbidding them from staring at members of the opposite sex in various states of undress.

BBC News: Rabbi ‘Offered Cocaine for Sex’

Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, of Upper Park Road, Salford, rented an apartment where he could “relax and have a party”, Manchester Crown Court heard. Police raided the Salford flat and discovered a total of 101 grams (3.6oz) of cocaine and more than £17,000.

Haaretz Israel News: Brazil to Extradite to Israel ‘Rabbi’ Suspected of Child Abuse

A self-appointed rabbi accused by Israeli officials of burning and cutting toddlers as part of a purification ritual will be extradited from Brazil, an official said Thursday. Elior Noam Chen will be picked up Oct. 27 in Brasilia by two Israeli agents, a Brazilian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Toronto Sun: Dad Convicted After Trying Home Circumcision on Son

A Vancouver-area man has been convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm for a botched amateur circumcision he attempted on his four-year-old son. However, Justice Marion Allan acquitted the man, who along with his family can’t be identified under a publication ban, of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.

First of a series that never ends (etc.).  As is so often the case, a rabbi becomes a ‘rabbi’ when they are caught doing something wrong.  There are no black swans: that bird you see over there is not really black, or not really a swan.  There are no bad rabbi: that man you see over there sucking blood from a baby’s mutilated penis is not really bad, or not really a rabbi.  Much of the animal remains in the man.  It takes religion to bring out the monster.

Human-powered hovercraft. Yes way.

Steam Boat Willy

eTec, a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc., is working with Nissan North America to deploy approximately 5,000 electric vehicles and 12,750 charging stations in five U.S. markets, including Oregon.

Portland Lands Major Upgrade to Electric Vehicle Infrastructure : Gas 2.0

“I couldn’t find a folding bicycle I liked. So I made one myself.”

Student Invents Bicycle Which Folds Into 26-Inch Wheel Circumference For James Dyson Prize | UK News | Sky News

January 1992. 200 numbered copies. 52 pages, 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Black & white photocopy.

Car crashes, psychotopography of Disneyland, the astral convention.

Front Cover.
Indicia.
Introduction.
Interview with Jennifer Murrian about her car crash.
The Psychotopography of Disneyland by Ignatz Topo.
Interview with Yael Ruth Dragwyla. I had intended to interview Yael in OVO 1 (1987). This interview was transcribed from a telephone call. When Yael describes how to learn about a place she suggests going to the library: it is much more likely now that she would suggest going online. I have succeeded in remembering to look at my hands in a dream, and I have succeeded in looking at my hands in a dream. Yael later wrote the ‘Brag of the Female SubGenius,’ which had a significant influence on the Church of the SubGenius. I do believe that if you think intently about something you will ‘go there’ in your dreams. But I have more faith in seeing something beyond my body’s capacity by way of television than by astral travel. Yael and Hakim Bey hosted the Astral Convention in 1988. I said I couldn’t go because I didn’t believe in astral travel, and instead suggested they hold the convention inside my head so I could at least watch. This comment was quoted by Hakim Bey in the book Akashic Record of the Astral Convention, A.A.A.Z. Contributors to the Akashic Record include Peter Christopherson, Jhon Balance, Hakim Bey, Yael Dragwyla, James Koenline, Tutor Turtle, Ivan Stang, Feral Faun, David Crowbar and others.
Calendar.
Index, Table of Contents and Reference.
Received.
Catalogue.
PLN Benefit Tape Advertisement.
Advertisements to reprint in other zines.
Paid advertisement.
Back Cover.

OVO is a collection of new works in the public domain edited and published by Trevor Blake since 1987. New issues are in progress.

In 1934, the socialite and actress Dorothy Hale took a roadtrip through Connecticut with 2 old friends, writer Claire Boothe Luce and sculptor Isamu Noguchi. They drove in a special car Noguchi had designed with his drinking buddy, futuristic inventor Buckminster Fuller. The car was called the Dymaxion.

Dorothy Hale and the Dymaxion Car « Lisa’s History Room

A man has climbed up a BBC building using a pair of vacuum gloves he built himself, in a stunt for a new BBC One science show. Inventor Jem Stansfield, the presenter of Bang Goes The Theory, used an everyday vacuum cleaner to construct the kit.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Man climbs building with vacuum gloves

I know something special about this image.

File:Dorothy Hale and Isamu Noguchi.jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

small sized self moving fully functional atomic power plants with a small reactor inside. [OGRE]

English Russia » Russian Mobile Nuclear Power Plants

OGRE Mark 1 by Trevor Blake. Drawn in Sketchup, rendered in the style of the videogame Battlezone. Based on OGRE by Steve Jackson Games. A paper model is in the works. Previous OGRE links here and here.

This is the German military ocean-going vessel that docked in Portland, Oregon in January 1936.

MaritimeQuest – Emden

Over 37 years ago Juliane Koepcke survived a two mile free fall, landing virtually unscathed in the middle of the rainforest. But that wasn’t the end of her ordeal. She spent ten days in the juggle before finding rescue.

Yeah I’m free, free fallin’ | MetaFilter

the first fully-functional stealth flying wing: the Horten Ho IX.

The First Stealth Flying Wing | MetaFilter

125 years of roller coasters

Woooooooooaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhh! | MetaFilter

When the military designs a folding bicycle, that’s the stuff.

Montague Paratrooper- Tactical Folding Mountain Bike

what we need more in critical moments of existence: when we are without roof, without place of residence, excluded from the society.

encore heureux + G studio: ‘room room’ emergency architecture