The Integratron

Experience a quartz crystal sound bath inside a storied, all-wood sound-chamber. 

THE INTEGRATRON IS A PARABOLIC dome-shaped structure in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California.

Construction began in 1954 from the design of aeronautical engineer and ufologist, George Van Tassel, who built the dome after allegedly receiving instructions from extraterrestrials from Venus known as “The Council of Seven Lights.” During this UFO encounter, Van Tassel claims that he was invited aboard a Venusian spaceship and given explicit instructions on how to create a machine that could rejuvenate living cell tissues.

Van Tassel chose the Integratron’s site due to its supposedly powerful geomagnetic energy (though there is no scientific evidence of any such energy), which he believed could be amplified within a wooden parabolic structure. As such, the building was constructed without the use of any nails, consisting only of plywood and fiberglass held together by wood dowels and a 1.5-ton cement ring serving as the keystone. Using these materials, and influenced by the theories of Nikola Tesla and sacred geometry, Van Tassel believed that the Integratron was more than a building and would serve as a combination of a time machine, rejuvenation machine, and an anti-gravity device.

Though Van Tassel worked on the Integratron until his sudden death in 1978, he was never able to test his own creation. His hard work paid off, however, as the building is so structurally sound that it withstood the infamous Landers Earthquake of 1992, which measured as a 7.3 on the Richter scale.

The Integratron was purchased in 2000 by two sisters, Nancy and Joanne Karl, who have been exploring the building’s rejuvenating sonic capabilities through their popular “sound baths.” During the half-hour sound baths, visitors listen to seven musical notes on quartz crystal singing bowls, with each note devoted to the major energy centers–or chakras–of the body.

The bowls are created by crushing and heating 99.99-percent pure quartz to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and spinning it in a centrifugal mold. The purity of sound from the bowls, coupled with the acoustics of the all-wood paraboloid, is said to have “alternative” healing powers. 

After the sound bath, visitors can stand and speak in the center of the room and experience the resonance of their own voice reverberated back to them. They can also check out an exhibit on the building’s history, or go outside and enjoy a seat in the shade. 

For the adventurous soul, travel three miles on unpaved roads to Giant Rock, one of the world’s largest free-standing boulders and the site of Van Tassel’s popular “Giant Rock Spacecraft Conventions,” which helped fund the Integratron’s construction.

Giant Rock:

THIS SEVEN-STORY GIANT BOULDER HAS attracted UFO conferences, Hopi spiritualists, and the engineers of a “rejuvenation machine.” 

Geologically speaking, Giant Rock—located in California’s Mojave Desert—is roughly seven stories high and covers almost 6,000 square feet. Some say it is the largest freestanding boulder in the world.

This seems apropos:

Bringing Eye Contact back to the 21st Century with the Texting Hat  

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Okay, so maybe this isn’t a real thing yet… but, c’mon, you know it’s coming! With the tagline “Bringing eye contact back to the 21st century” the Texting Hat is here to solve all your phone zombie problems. What a great invention. You look like you actually care when in reality who gives a f#@k!

Right now they’re not for sale, but the Texting Hat website encourages you to just make your own goddamned hat:

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Vintage Circus Posters  

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The circus, as it we think of it today, originated in Britain in 1768 by inventor Philip Astley. Astley presented shows that included horse riding tricks, acrobats, music and clowns. None of these elements were new to the British public, but Astley was the first to combine them into a single show.

Astley did not call his “Amphitheatre of Equestrian Arts” a circus. That title was awarded to a later rival’s show in 1782, and became the generic term.

In 1793 Englishman John Bill Ricketts brought the circus to the U.S., opening in Philadelphia.

The traveling circus tent was invented by American Joshua Purdy Brown, replacing the usual wooden construction with a full canvas tent. His system became commonplace by the mid 1830s.

The unique character of the American circus emerged: a traveling tent-show coupled with a menagerie and run by businessmen. It was very different model from European circuses, which for the most part remained under the control of performing families.

P. T. Barnum improved on the circus format, introducing circus trains as transport between towns. He also introduced the “freak” show, exhibiting people who were excessively tall or short, fat or thin, or with medical conditions that gave them unusual appearances. Barnum’s format became popular in Europe around the 1900s.

The number of horse riding performances gradually declined in favor of clowns, acrobats, gymnasts and jugglers, stunt acts such as fire eaters and acts involving animals. The incorporation of animals in circus acts or in menageries has almost ceased after concerns over the standards of their accommodation, training and elements of their performances.

These posters, drawn from the Circus Museum in the Netherlands, demonstrate some of the wide-ranging themes used by European circuses across the 20th century.

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1915

“Circus Strassburger”

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1923

“Circus Busch. The Sensational! Marino, Destroyer of cars. The strongest driver in the world.”

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Circa 1918

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1932

“Looping the loop in the open ring. Laughing in the face of death! The World Champion Nic. Diavolo. Circus Maxo.”

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New Walls at the Fort

Fort Gibraltar is a replica fort in Winnipeg. The old walls were torn down after an inspection deemed them to be unsafe. New temporary walls have been put up that are 8 feet high. The old walls were 16 feet high.

Some history:

Fort Gibraltar was founded in 1809 by Alexander Macdonell of Greenfield of the North West Company in present-day Manitoba, Canada. It was located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in or near the area now known as The Forks in the city of Winnipeg. Fort Gibraltar was renamed Fort Garry after the merger of North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, and became Upper Fort Garry in 1835.

Currently:

Old wall

Temporary wall