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This madness has to stop, and the fastest way of doing that is to elect John Kerry, not because he will be different but because in most key areas - Iraq, the "war on drugs", Israel/Palestine, free trade, corporate taxes - he will be just as bad. An opinion piece by Naomi Klein in today's Guardian.
comment posted at 5:55 AM on Jul-30-04

Bush using powerful mind altering anti-depressants to control depression, erratic behavior. ... "It's a double-edged sword," says one aide. "We can't have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally." ... note Yes this is bias-filter but it is highly unlikely the author of the article is making up the story, since using the names of prominent people (Stanford psychiatrists, etc) to promote a false story would instigate a serious law suit not only from the professors/psychiatrists mentioned in the article, but possibly from Bush himself.
comment posted at 9:56 AM on Jul-29-04

How To Insult Gay Men And Women At The Same Time: Isn't Arnold Shwarzenegger getting a bit of a free ride? Sixties hero Paul Krassner (who notoriously described LBJ avidly fornicating JFK's bullet holed cranium on Air Force One) may be mellower and less forthright but his instincts seem as acute as ever. Btw, what other 60s yippies and figureheads are still relevant?
comment posted at 2:39 PM on Jul-27-04
comment posted at 5:04 PM on Jul-27-04

Backyard Third World

John F. Kennedy saw it and pronounced it a shame on our nation. Lyndon B. Johnson tried to change it. The "compassionate conservatives" have exacerbated it. I wanted to share it with you. Isn't it time for real change? Hasn't the exploitation of this place and these people gone on long enough?
comment posted at 9:36 AM on Jul-26-04
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comment posted at 1:58 PM on Jul-26-04

I've seen it happen where these types of managers have the nerve to hold this type of book up in front of a group of people and imply the problem is the workforce for not choosing to be happy about poor leadership. From an Amazon review of Fish!. I've been motivated with that twice. A friend of mine was encouraged to take The Flight of the Buffalo and another is going to a sponsored Dale Carnegie class. So, who's moved your cheese?
comment posted at 7:16 AM on Jul-26-04

In the early 70's explosion of singer-songwriters, one great one's career was tragically cut short, just over 30 years ago. His lyricism, humor, unpretentious manner, and ear for a hook are sadly missed and rarely remebered these days. The recent release of archival material might help revive interest.
comment posted at 7:24 AM on Jul-26-04

Poll Shows Growing Arab Rancor at U.S. Arab views of the United States, shaped largely by the Iraq war and a post-Sept. 11 climate of fear, have worsened in the past two years to such an extent that in Egypt -- an important ally in the region -- nearly 100 percent of the population now holds an unfavorable opinion of the country, according to two polls due out today... More within
comment posted at 6:25 AM on Jul-24-04

Eyeballoverload can be described as follows: "Nick Spark is a California-based photographer who specializes in montage or composite photography. This is a technique in which dozens, if not hundreds, of photos are seamlessly pasted together to create a unified image. The result is a balanced, yet highly detailed view of reality... albeit slightly enhanced."
comment posted at 6:04 AM on Jul-23-04

The Great American 'Garage Mahal' - cars, houses and garages of the American super-sized new affluent class grow ever larger : "three separate two-car garages attached to his $750,000 brick abode: one for his son Brandon, one for his wife, Janice, and one for him. His garages' many amenities include carpeting, cable TV, speakers wired to the home stereo system and a bathroom. "I've always liked garages and I don't think you can have enough of them," " Mr. Bernard said."
comment posted at 10:13 AM on Jul-22-04

'Enemy Contact. Kill 'em, Kill 'em'. The Price of Valor. Invisible Casualties. The Psychological Effects of Combat. The Psychological Consequences of Killing: Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress. Soldiers, Self-Defense, and Killing in War - (PDF). Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment with Special Emphasis on the Gulf War. Military Leaders’ Obligation to Justify Killing in War. And, from last year, come The Killer Elite, From Hell to Baghdad - The Killer Elite Part II, and The Battle for Bagdhad - The Killer Elite Part III--Evan Wright's Rolling Stone articles recently published as Generation Kill. They are well worth re-reading in this context.
comment posted at 8:46 AM on Jul-21-04

Living Myths.
comment posted at 5:17 PM on Jul-19-04

Fountains of Youth and Health : periodic, therapeutic fasting and caloric restriction. Ben Franklin wrote of this, and most religions advocate periodic fasting. In the "Fasting Worm Study", earthworms became nearly immortal. Recent research underscores the health benefits, which do not require overall caloric restriction (a "fast and gorge" cycle works too) for humans. Fasting shows promise for the treatment of most addictions, Cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, Gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, Uterine fibroid tumors, Back and neck problems, high blood pressure, arthritis and joint pain, depression, perhaps Huntington's Disease... Here's a clinic which specializes in medically supervised water only fasts and offers recent studies and writings on the subject (PDF, .doc, and .htm format). Fasting seems to be very good for your brain overall. Meanwhile, inside : the benefits of caloric restriction, which seems to dramatically slow many age-related diseases.
comment posted at 11:10 AM on Jul-19-04
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comment posted at 6:24 PM on Jul-19-04

Touching, sad, chilling account of obesity in America People outside the US have this view of us as disgustingly, morbidly obese...and it can be true. This article from the Washington Post Sunday Magazine (free registration may be required) put a touching, terrifying, human face on one of America's biggest problems.
comment posted at 10:43 AM on Jul-19-04

Today, it is 35 years since Apollo 11 landed on the moon. For detailed records of the events of that day, read the Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal. You can also take a look at the National Air and Space Museum's Apollo collection, or view photos from The Apollo Archive Image Gallery. Today, Neil Armstrong (who had meant to say "one small step for a man") leads a mostly private yet busy life, while Buzz Aldrin maintains a somewhat more public profile. Michael Collins, the much lesser-known astronaut who stayed in lunar orbit that day, went on to become Director of the National Air and Space Museum. As for those of you who still think the moon landing was faked, give it another think. Happy 35th Moon Shot Day! (Can you believe it?! The f-ing moon!!)
comment posted at 6:23 AM on Jul-17-04

heartwarmingfilter: Alice's Adventures under Ground, Lewis Carroll's illustrated first edition. (via SomeRandomRomanian)
comment posted at 1:09 PM on Jul-16-04

Singer Songwriter Devendra Banhart recently assembled an amazing mix of music exclusively for Arthur Magazine entitled “Golden Apples of the Sun,” (Pitchfork review) which has the high task of defining the West-cost based "freakfolk" scene. Featuring brilliant new artists (such as the breathtaking Joanna Newsom, Iron and Wine, and Vetiver, among others), it was limited to 1000 copies (all of which are sold out). There should be a second edition, but in the meantime you can listen to the whole album on this player.
comment posted at 10:19 AM on Jul-14-04
comment posted at 10:25 AM on Jul-14-04

They Might Be Giants' latest music video, directed by Strong Sad and The Cheat.
comment posted at 10:34 AM on Jul-14-04

Blavatsky Net - Theosophy.
comment posted at 11:58 AM on Jul-13-04

ONE AFTERNOON IN THE LATE 1970's, deep in the labyrinthine interior of a massive Gothic tower in New Haven, an unsuspecting employee of Yale University opened a long-locked room in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and stumbled upon something shocking and disturbing.

Shocking, because what he found was an enormous cache of nude photographs, thousands and thousands of photographs of young men in front, side and rear poses. Disturbing, because on closer inspection the photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual: sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp metal pins. The case of the Ivy League posture photos.
comment posted at 9:24 AM on Jul-13-04

Mark Mothersbaugh's Beautiful Mutants, a slideshow of Rorschach-like manipulated images of faces from long ago set to his music, is currently on tour. I'm checking it out to see how his art compares with his music work in DEVO and movie soundtracks -- hopefully it comes close.
comment posted at 7:42 PM on Jul-12-04

Are comic bookser...I mean Graphic Novels the new novel?
comment posted at 9:17 AM on Jul-12-04

Press Box Red For 50 years, Lester Rodney was a forgotten footnote in perhaps the most controversial American sports story of the 20th century: Jackie Robinson and the breaking of baseball's color barrier. Now, the 93-year-old Rodney is getting his due. In the decade before Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rodney was the sports editor of the Daily Worker, a newspaper (the FBI files are here on .pdf) better known as the house organ of the American Communist Party. With strident editorials and feature stories about what he dubbed "The Crime of the Big Leagues," Rodney was an early, often lonely voice in the struggle to end segregation in baseball. But Rodney's contribution was never acknowledged, because of that "sickening Red tinge". Many baseball historians were staunchly anti-communist, and didn't want to acknowledge the contributions of the Communist Party. So Rodney's role (.pdf file) was left out of the official story. With the publication of his biography, Rodney's place in baseball's epochal story has introduced him to a new generation of admirers. "I wanted that ban to end because it was so unfair; I saw the tragedy of these great black ballplayers, like the catcher Josh Gibson, who didn't get a chance to play. It's unimaginable today, but look at Barry Bonds: Imagine if he had been born earlier and been unable to play." (login details for LATimes story in the main link: sparklebottom/sparklebottom)
comment posted at 8:17 AM on Jul-12-04
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comment posted at 11:03 AM on Jul-12-04

Transparent grab for power or genuine threat?
comment posted at 2:25 PM on Jul-11-04

I Gave My Cat an Enema .
comment posted at 9:15 AM on Jul-9-04

Play it loud! The Polyphonic Spree. This is just great for a bit of Friday distraction. It sounds as if it's right out of the Sixties.
Enjoy!
comment posted at 6:38 AM on Jul-9-04
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comment posted at 7:22 AM on Jul-10-04
comment posted at 2:58 PM on Jul-10-04

"Untitled Inspirational Memoir" by American [White] Idol '03 Clay Aiken hits #9 on the Amazon bestseller chart. It will be published (presumably with a title) in November. Order yours today. Or, run home and mail off your Great American Novel -- or at least your own dashed-off U.I.M. -- to Random House, publisher to the stars.
comment posted at 11:49 AM on Jul-8-04

Follow the blooming of the Corpseflower. The Titan opened about halfway during the course of the morning and afternoon yesterday, giving off stronger waves of odor as the day progressed. The peak odor and opening was in the early evening and by 10PM the pulses of odor became less strong. The daily progress of the Amorphophallus Titanum.
comment posted at 5:31 AM on Jul-8-04

wheely wheely clevver
comment posted at 7:30 PM on Jul-6-04

No Circles [ flash, game, addicting ]
comment posted at 7:28 PM on Jul-6-04

Health-care costs shoot up, millions in U.S. left gasping "...there are signs of growing frustration. The Gallup Organization reported in January that for the first time since 1992, when Americans are polled about urgent health problems facing the country, the cost of health care is No. 1, ahead of issues such as cancer, obesity, and smoking..."
comment posted at 10:27 AM on Jul-4-04

The Stop Bush Project
...a documentation of anti-Bush sentiment from around the world expressed through graffiti, placards, flyers and other spontaneous, 'guerilla' means.
comment posted at 10:48 AM on Jul-3-04
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comment posted at 3:25 PM on Jul-3-04

The Walkman turns 25: the Sony Walkman hit the streets on July 1, 1979. History, photos and more at the Walkman Museum.
comment posted at 1:04 PM on Jun-30-04