Calendar
Ongoing:
Ansel Adams at 100
(SF MOMA)
September 8 & 9:
Belle & Sebastian (Warfield)
Monday, September 10:
Modest Mouse (Warfield)
Tuesday, September 11:
Mike Watt (Bottom of the Hill)
October 12 & 13:
Widespread Panic (Greek Theatre)
Top Searches/ Fave Links:
Bill Hangley meets George Bush
Gorgeous Guy
@ 4th & Market
Icy Hot Stuntaz
PortaBush
Hyakugojyuuichu
Hamotam
Watt/ Mascis wreck
photos (see 06/20 entry)
That
Bitch Stole my HTML
I'm a Cow
Road to Springfield
::e m p t y a g e:: not just uncut, not just unedited... not even spell-checked.
friday, august 31
Talk about viral... The Ballmer video was nowhere to be seen on Blogdex yesterday (well that's just not true, I'm sure it was *somewhere*) when I linked to it. Today it's the number two link. (Note that one of the links is on one of my all-time favorite sites, fury)
i've got a bike you can ride it if you like it's got a basket with bells and rings and things to make it look good.Critical Mass is today. Justin Herman Plaza, 5:30 in the pee em
Here's a fluffy channel four piece of crap news story on the SUV tagging movement, Changing the Climate.The other night Tim, Harp and I were walking home from eating at a Thai place in the Haight. We passed a massive Ford SUV, complete with running lights, extra gas can, two spare tires, an iron bumper a wench, and nary a scratch, nick, or even speck of dust. This monstrosity had, quite obviously, never been off-road. Harp scrawled "I'm changing the climate" on the window with her finger. Direct action, nobody gets hurt, no property damage, no vandalism. Perhaps that's a more effective method in terms of making people think.
But to be honest, I see nothing wrong with slapping a sticker on SUVs. Not a damn thing. You fuck up my air, I fuck up your ride. I think direct action has to be re-directed. Instead of going after corporations, activists should go after their customers. Don't get pissed at Nike, get pissed at the person who wears Nikes. Take awawy the customers and you take away the problem.
Tobacco companies are a good example. The left has been railing against tobacco companies for ages, and in recent years, Big Tobacco has been on the retreat. But the real gains in the non-smoking movement (did I mention I quit a few weeks ago?) have coma about because smokers have been reduced to pariahs in our society. This began in the late 80s, picked up steam in the 90s, and is churning into full force today. People who support Shell oil, drive SUVs, support sweatshops, etc., etc., etc., need to be treated similarly. Make these people fucking outcasts, target the consumer. That's my rant for the day...
Cool article on Maverick's in today's Chron.
thursday, august 30
I can't believe this man runs one of the largest companies in the world. Another crazy Ballmer video, this time to music.
Although the writer doesn't actually mention the books he's talking about until you get almost to the end of the story, Salon has a piece on "Our Band Could Be Your Life," by Michael Azerrad today. I keep on recommending this book to people, it's just that good.
22 very short stories.Written some time ago by yours truly. Don't be intimidated by the number, it should take you 5 minutes, tops, to read.
Internet layoffs seen leveling off / Fewer firings lately, report says.Well no shit. There have to be jobs around in the first place before you can lay people off.
Who the in fuck downloads this shit? I mean, 8 million users? That has to be bullshit.
In this year's Bay Guardian Best of's, one of the items I wrote up was the Web St. building, which was one of the most blatently arrogant fixtures on Market Street. The company went out of business (or was bought out by E*Trade) before ever moving in. I noticed recently that the building now has E*Trade propaganda all over the sides. But now E-Trade is closing its San Francisco office. I think that place must be cursed.
wednesday, august 29
Holy shit. Was Citizen Layne plagerized?
Since it seems like all the hep cats (the hipsters, the cool kids, the in crowd, the reggie and veronicas) these days are either at Burning Man, packing for Burning Man, trying to find a ride to Burning Man, buying vast quantities of drugs to take to Burning Man, bitching because they can't get time off of work for Burning Man, searching for vans that will make it through the desert to Burning Man, lamenting the popularity of Burning Man, telling me how much cooler it was four years ago at Burning Man, stocking up on liquid latex for Burning Man, or putting things in their asses in tribute to Burning Man (actually I don't know wnyone doing that last one), it seems like a good time to once again have a look at Chillin' Woman, updated for 2001.And in other non-Black Rock news, have a look at Dangerous Chunky burning her own man, which, to be completely incestuous with my hyperlinks, I found on dangerous monkey!
Fire forces evacuation of Trinity County town / Hundreds flee 'totally chaotic' scene in historic Weaverville: About 1,300 firefighters scrambled to contain the blaze as helicopters and air tankers battled it from above before darkness fell.A crazy story in today's Chron, but what really grabbed my attention is this wildfire cam, image updated every two hours.
Write a song, win Belle and Sebastian tickets from Matador. It's got to include a line from one of their songs , and reference the city in which you hope to see them. I was thinking something like "hey you've been used, you're confused/ write a song I'll sing along/ if you're a record company shill/ you'll headline a Portland bill." Or something.
tuesday, august 28
Yannis Kontos has some of the best photography I've ever seen online. Particularly interesting to me was "The Fall of Milosevic" series. The NATO bombing images are pretty powerful.
hamotam is the band from party town.
The last Mercury Rev album was truly a thing of beauty. Phenominal release. Here's a sampler of some of the stuff on the new album (and opus 40 & goddess quicktimes)
Say it ain't so, Danny.
Blogger has been refusing to publish for me today. Frustrating.
Josh gave me a shoutout yesterday. Thank you sir.
Metafilter has been back since the 20th and I had not even noticed. Funny how you can break web habits quickly.
First came Blogdex, which in and of itself is tres cool. And now there's Blogdexter, another amazing utility for the blogging community. (even if I do only have two links)
monday, august 27
As usual, this week's This Modern World is great.
This Windows parody is really clever. It won't make you laugh, but you'll probably smirk.
I dove into Our Band Could Be Your Life over the weekend, and already I'm on page 147.I've read the chapters on Black Flag, the minutemen, and Mission of Burma. I'm well into the chapter on Minor Threat. Typically the non-fiction I read focuses on political/social history or current socio-economic events. Which may be why I'm finding this to be the most entertaining piece of non-fiction I've read in some time. And inspiring.
From Andy: Disgruntled web designers strike back?Note: If nothing on this page seems out of the ordinary, then it's already been fixed.)
I'd heard this U-Haul rumor, but it seemed too juicy to be true. Could there really be a U-Haul shortage in the Bay Area? Two people told me about it, seperately, on Friday, so it is becoming the talk of the town. But was it true? The only source I heard cited was fuckedcompany. In a word, sorta. A Lexis search turned up 19 articles. Interestingly, Sacramento, San Diego, and Los Angeles papers all had articles claiming their cities were on the receiving end of the Great Bay Area Exodus. And although one article did quote a local U-Haul manger as saying he was running out of trucks, it doesn't appear that there are no U-Haul trucks in San Francisco, as the rumor goes. The passage I saw over and over was this: "moves out of the Bay Area using U-Haul outnumbered moves in by anywhere from 12.7 percent to 43 percent in various cities." Peep it on USA Today here.
Henry Norr's column today is right on the mark. In my opinion, one of the reasons hardware makers are suffering from the current tech downturn is because software hasn't bloated tremendously in the past two years. The programs have gotten bigger, in terms of size, but the processor power and RAM that shipped in '99 machines is more than enough to handle today's applications. Whatever, I'm rambling. Good column, check it out.
sunday, august 26
I was searching for a menu online for Ploy II, a Thai restaurant on Haight that delivers. I didn't find it on Yahoo, but I did come across something, well, equally interesting...
(for a menu to enjoy with happy meal on Haight Street click here. I suggest the appetizer number 4.)
friday, august 24
" I would like to thank the honorable police and judges and all those who worked to arrest dog lovers and to confiscate short-legged dogs in this city."
What!?! Definitely not one of my Iran memories. (thanks Harp!)
eNormicom, it's 2000 all over again.
From Rob:
Here's a Tony Gwynn ( the best hitter we'll probably ever see) quote on Smoltzie from last nights game . This gives me chills (also-- uh- hmmm, you need to "sport" some Braves links and such on emptyage. which , BTW, I read every day. Great site, Mat.)"We were sitting in the dugout trying to figure out how to approach [Smoltz]," Gwynn said. "Now that he's a closer, you don't know if he's trying to pitch, trying to nibble, or is he power pitching, is he going to come right at you? It'll be interesting to see what happens because in my mind, that guy is a closer."
Tony Gwinn. Yes, a genuine team player. No more of those these days. But also a big nerd. I've never been able to get past that. Great ballplayer, big nerd. Give me Barry. Actually, don't.
It was weird, at the Braves-Giants game, I was really torn as to who to pull for, and was a little disappointed to see the Braves win. I'm going native, and it's hard to root for the best team AOL can buy. "You've Got Baseball."
More scary clowns.
What a dumb ass.
Hmmm... Sure, it's layoffs in the Bay Area. But it's a bunch of lawyers. I can't decide if that's bad news or not.
Go away you lying piece of shit. You shall not be missed.
thursday, august 23
"Hurrah. Jesse Helms has been a vicious racist politician... He has been against everything good, decent and positive for America." -- Hooray for Morris Dees, who isn't afraid to speak the truth, even in Montgomery, Alabama.
I'm keep seeing Raytheon IP addresses in my site statistics. What's more, the IPs are always slightly different. Is it a dynamic IP, or are multiple Raytheon employees checking the site? Should I be concerned? Does it have anything to do with my participation in this? I mean, no offense, gentle Raytheon readers. I'm *very* glad you come by. Yet you have to admit, your company can be kinda scary. Let me know.But in all honesty, I'd love to have one of these badass laptops. Or one of these. I could really use one of the latter, in fact.
I can't believe I missed this party schools article the other day. UGA is only number 12? What a gyp. (thanks tommy!)
Blogger is two today.
It's a shame theExaminer doesn't put fresh content online. It's all a dollar short, so to speak. Because, despite the fun I've poked at it from time to time, I'm genuinely rooting for it to succeed. The Chronicle, although it's a good (not great) paper, is about as unique to San Francisco as McDonalds and Coca Cola. Great reporters, Matier and Ross, do not a local paper make. the Examiner, on the other hand, does capture the zany zeitgeist of Babs by the Bay. Sure, it's, er, easy to pick on. But the screaming headlines, Hearst-ian (that's William Randolph, not the current media corporation) muckraking and Krazy Kolumnists--Hunter S. Thompson, PJ--suit it to our city. Today, for example, I loved the front page. It was some OUTRAGED! article or another on the state of Mid-Market. But in the center of the page was an editorial cartoon. One of the characters was saying "pass the bong" or "share the bong." Whichever, the paper not only had the chutzpah to run a cartoon on the front page, they ran one with a drug reference. Outstanding.
Office rents nationwide have followed the trend in San Francisco and San Jose, dropping for the first time since the last Bush administration.
I've heard of the dead voting, after all I'm fron the South originally. But writing letters on Microsoft's behalf?
wednesday, august 22
If I haven't linked to Temporality.org before, it's an oversight. Be sure to read There Ends Our Beginnings. Or at least some of it, it's quite long (I have not finished it yet).
This is too funny, and is aldo from Dave. You gotta see the URL, so here it is: http://www.bayarea.com/category/employment/
I cen't believe I forgot to pimp this... My dear friends Jeff Saunders (my best man) and Matthew Rampy, beverage party czar, are putting on the visuals tonight at Jezebel's, 510 Larkin @ Turk. I've seen most of the video myself, and it's pretty amazing. Go, go, go.
Are You a Left-Wing Wacko? I must have missed this the first time around.
Huh. One of the mailing lists I'm on (but never contribute to) is featured in 8 days a week .
Dave sez "Man, first Survivor, now this.": Eight Arrested for Defrauding McDonald's Corp. and its Customers in Promotional Prize Contests(thanks Dave!)
In my never-ending quest for vanity, I've changed the throbber in IE to my smiling (sorta) visage:
You can do the same. I love Macs.
Hoo-Fucking-Ray. Exit the turtle.
This curser love bunny Flash game is just too addictive. It took me several times to make it through. Warning: if you win, you see boobies. Semi-safe for work, depends on your working environment.Update: I found this on fipilele, but it's hosted on b3ta, along with many other fine Flash products.
Riding my bike home through the needle exchange, I'm always struck by how many "regular" people are there, sipping juice, eating Ramen, and swapping needles. People my age, obviously educated and employed. Junkies. It always makes me think of three friends of mine, Payce, Tony and Jon, and wonder how those guys are. I haven't talked to any of them since 1996. I haven't talked to Jon since 1995, when he moved to be closer to a steady supply of heroin. All of them, Payce in particular, were bright kids with good futures. But all of them were pretty into heroin, it was one of the things that defined who they were. I'm desperately thankful that I never got into that scene. It's fast, the descent.
I've somehow managed to ride my bike to work for the past five months without having a major spill. Until today. It was my fault. I'm embarrassed, but here's what happened.First let me set the stage. It's a rainy morning. The sky's grey and the streets are slick. Not too many people are on their bikes this morning, at least not on Market street. I rode alone all the way from 7th down to Beale. That's where I ran into trouble.
I took a right on Beale, going around a car that was also turning. A pedestrian steps in front of me, no big deal, as his movement will carry him past me before I reach him. Still I touch my brakes. He hears it, looks up at me, and freezes like a deer in the highway. Idiot. I hit my brakes hard, and swerve, but still run into him. I hit his backpack, which swung him around, and sent me over my handlebars into the street. I landed on my back.
I got up and looked at the guy. "You alright," I asked, a stupid question since he was standing over me, obviously unhurt, and I was sprawled out in the street.
"I'm fine," he says. "You need to be more careful." I mumble something about it being an accident. He then tells me that accidents happen due to carelessness, and as a cyclist, I've got a responsibility to watch out for him. At first this doesn't really register with me. then all the sudden it hits me, what he's just said. Admittedly the accident was my fault. He was in the crosswalk, but he had also stepped right in front of me without looking. And had he not stopped, well, there would have been no issue. But he was scared, he stopped, he got hit, and I went over the handlebars. I pointed out to him the fallacy of his arguement. He in turn proceeds to explin how it was, indeed, my fault, and he bore no responsibilty. I'm still getting up at this point, and once on my feet, I change tactics.
"Fuck you."
He becomes indignant. Curses back at me. We begin to yell at each other. He offers his opinions on my ancestory and sexual habits, while heading towards the curb. We continue to curse at each other, neither backing down. I continue my litany of "fuck you, asshole." It's all I've really got at this point.
But then, he raises the bar. As it's ending, I'm yelling at him over my shoulder, while riding down the street slowly. He's walking down the sidewalk. Numerous people are looking at us, although they are continuing on their way while doing so. Still, people are watching. This, I think is what inspired him. The tribal fear that if he doesn't posture, he'll lose face. One of the oldest fears. "Come on. You want to fight? Take off your helmet and I'll kick your ass."
This is a business guy. A weenie man. I'm approximately 200 feet away, but I turned around and headed straight back for him at this point. I stop my bike just as the front tire hits the curb and remove my helmet. He continues to berate me. I berate his ass right back. I switch tactics and go from "you watch where you're going," and "you shouldn't have stopped right in front of me," to plain old every day "fuck you." I stick to this phrase. Now that I'm right there, however, it's obvious that he has no interest in fighting. My helmet is still off. I'm posturing like a stupid angry monkey.
I was wrong. I was completely wrong. But I felt like he was too. Not that that makes me right in any way. My leg hurts now, as does my wrist. My back was sheilded by my backpack. A bummer of a morning.
Today's Bay Area business victims are AOL employees in Santa Clara, retailer The Gap, Intuit, and all kinds of dot-com employees.
the dot-com fallout and tanking economy has even affected BART. Either taht, or management is trying to bluff the union.
tuesday, august 21
The Mercury News has a story on Craigslist's Missed Connections.Yes, Gorgeous Guy gets a mention. As per the requirement for all journalists covering the Gorgeous Guy, the story gets some facts wrong, or at least one key one.
Here's the obligagtory inside story on the Industry Standard, and history of the pub.
Also today:More on Excite's pending doom.
...and of course it wouldn't be a San Francisco news day if we weren't reminded that the sky is falling.
monday, august 20
In today's Bay Area deathwatch file: ExciteAtHome.
"Mat Honan's work investigates the nuances of pixels through the use of stopframe motion and close-ups which emphasize the Symbiotic nature of digital media. Honan explores abstract and underlying scenery as motifs to describe the idea of cyber-intuitive artifice. Using erudite loops, vectors, and neo-fascist images as patterns, Honan creates meditative environments which suggest the expansion of culture."Yeah! the market-o-matic is astoundingly astute.
Want to read other people's email? If they have a Hotmail account, it's easy.
Open Mics around the Bay area.
The NY Times has a really enjoyable article on digital music. Although it isn't overly informative, it's well written and enhousiastic.
First, the bad news. (Although if you read this top to bottom, which I'f guess you do, this'll be last. For a happier, read, go back and read the top item again.) Tech sector recovery far off, experts say. But note that today's paper also sports an article that says the experts are all full of shit. Who to believe?
friday, august 17
And you thought *you* hated clowns. Were I one of these kids, I'd *never* go back to the circus again.
Craigslist now has a best of section. I love bulletin boards.
Coming soon to a table near you: cloned chickens.
I don't know how I missed this yesterday (saw it last night): Mystery DNA Is Discovered in Soybeans by Scientists. Yummy. Mystery DNA. And just when I was beginning to warm (a teeny tiny bit) to GMO food. Mystery DNA. WTF!?! I just don't get Monsanto, it's got to be the most unashamedly evil. I mean, even the name sounds evil. Monsanto. It sounds like a supervillian. "Help, Spiderman, Monsanto is ravaging the city!"
Genghis Khan's grave? Cool.
The Industry Standard folded yesterday. This is seriously depressing to me. And the bad news for the Bay Area economy continues. Even for the blue chips. Even for the brokerages (and it's worth noting that I work next door to a fancy new Schwab building which has been under construction for a long time and is just finishing. A reminder of better days). Even for the tourism industry. And the market's down. Great.Man, The Standard, Gone. Simply amazing.
thursday, august 16
Every missed connections post (that wasn't actually a missed connection) ever, summarized.
33 indie rock boy rules. -- No comment.
An unbelieveably cool gif found on fipilele.
C A M B O R G :: A Digital Camera Enhanced HumanThis is a super-cool site. As cameras continue to shrink, you can expect more of this type of thing. But the thing I like about camborg (what I've seen) is that it really isn't about voyeurism. Or at least not exclusively. This is most definitely art first, tittilation second.
Mike Watt (the "Road Dog"?) is playing Alaska on August 18th. According to Watt, this means he will have played all 50 states... I'm sorta surprised that it took until now.
The economy here continues its tailspin. Yet moredepressing news in today's paper. Want more? Here ya go. Still not enough? Try this. Just another day in the Bay area...But hey, at least somebody's hiring.
Safety Tips from Anubis. Much better than those weenie SuperFriends safety tips that used to come on Saturday mornings. (But of course, when you're talking safety tips, nothing beats these.)
If you haven't seen this truth in advertising movie before, it's a fantastic little short. (thanks Rob!)
wednesday, august 15
This list of Liberal Friendly and Unfriendly Places is a pretty cool resource. I think it's interesting that cities that are considered conservative are almost all shitholes. Wonder why that is.
Oh my. They're trying to turn our beloved constitution into the Boy Scout handbook. Don't allow homophobic zealots, scared of their secret sodomy urges, to write intolerance back into the U.S. Constitution. The last time it was in there (to this scale) it led to a rather nasty war that we wouldn't want to repeat, but will, because, you know, "first they came for the Jews," and all that. I'm not going to be a party to ignorance, intolerance and hatred just to make Jesse Helms feel better about his occasional desire to bugger Trent Lott, nor should you. And this is to say nothing of the alarming trend to "constitutionalize" every anti-liberty, right-leaning cause du jour that crosses the transom. I think I'm gonna go home, kick back, burn a couple of flags, and use my powers as a Universal Life Church minister to marry a gay couple.
Juleit wants to hump RomeoK marry her 2morrow
" DESPICABLE: deserving to be despised, contemptible. That's Webster's New World College Dictionary speaking. Want a clear reference picture? Try a mug shot of Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. We could also add the word "coward" to the list used to describe Worthington and his actions last week."That's from the Oakland Tribune's lead editorial yesterday. Words are not minced. (Here's my account of my lone encounter with Worthington.)
Mark Morford's column is great today (and I don't just say that because it reminds me somewhat of something I wrote for the Bay Guardian).But (unlike Morford, I think) I'm not gleeful about it. The economy here in the Bay Area is in a freefall, and it's just getting worse. Reading the business section of the Chronicle or the Merc these days is like reading the obituaries. Layoffs, salary cuts, forced vacations, plunging profits, foreclosures. I've got friends struggling to find work, and the prospects aren't good. It's a hard time in San Francisco right now, and I've got a feeling that the bad times are spreading.
tuesday, august 14
On Monday, August 27, Ironminds will celebrate its second anniversary and bid you goodbye for now. Thank you for a wonderful two years. It’s been a fun ride, and now editors Andy Wang and James Morrow are turning their attention to New York Metropolis, the alternative weekly newspaper that’s debuting later this month.:::sigh:::
Stickernation, from Srini (Unamerican), is way cool. For everyone who doesn't have a laser printer of their own. Now, go get to tagging you rapscallion.
"Mat, This series is top notch. Even if you are not a baseball fan (and God help you if you are not) it's worth reading because it's about broken dreams in America. -- Ezra" Well said and right on. Thanks EZ.
From an 1882 review of Leaves of Grass in The Atlantic:
Every one imbued with the "primal sanities" must be revolted by this offense, and protest against it. Fortunately, however, the chief damage done will be to the author himself, who thus dishonors his own physical nature; for imperfect though the race is, it still remains so much purer than the stained and distorted reflection of its animalism in Leaves of Grass, that the book cannot attain to any very wide influence.Doh!
Seen Salon's front page today? Desperate times.
In my continuing series of crank comments, here's another: Analysts are all idiots. I'm still waiting for Brill's to come out with a stock pundit scorecard. All analysts ever seem to do is yappity yap about whatever the prevailing trend of the day is in pleasant sound bytes, while throwing in one or two "outrageous" comments. The brokerage houses just keep on trotting these nimrods out, too. Yes, yes, it will be a while before the technology sector recovers. Any ninny can tell you that. all analysts are dipshits. All of them. They should be driven from their Manhattan lofts on a rail, made to wear theglobe.com stock certificates across their naked backs as badges of shame. Thank God for people like Ken Kurson whose existance, prominance, and batting average must torture your average Merril Lynch analyst.
When you put up one of those free "welcome to the web" personal homepages, you sort of expect that the company providing it isn't doing so out of altruism and an abiding passion for the Internet. After all, it ain't 1997 anymore. So you expect the floating ads and the popups and shameless self-promotion. So this Web bugs thing that's in today's Times (which means it will be in every other paper in the country as well) seems like much ado about nothing. Duh. The free hosts are tracking who visits their servers? What a stupid article. Get over it, you use the Web, you're being tracked. I'm all for privacy. I'm an advocate of privacy, but this seems like a silly thing to let twist your panties. It's just stats. But AOL, still evil. Always evil AOL.
South Korean men draped in national flags snip off their pinky fingers with straw cutters in a televised demonstration in Seoul.
I know it's famous, and I'm sure some Webhead will flame me for this, but $4771? Come on. It's just a coffee pot.
monday, august 13
WARNING: this is pretty offensive (or was to me). When I was posting the link below, I did a google image search for bikini, and stumbled across a teen modeling site. I simply can't imagine what kind of parents let their kids participate in shit like this. For starters, you've got all the standard modeling industry shit--drugs, unhealthy lifestyle, poor self image, etc. But on top of that you're throwing kids into that mix. Children. Many of the images on the site are clearly inappropriate given the models' ages. Others are just flat-out creepy in a Jon Benet kind of way. I was glad to see that Ashcroft nailed the child pornographers' ring. I just wish he'd add teen modeling agents to his hitlist.
Forget any preconceived notions you may have about what I look like, how old I am, or what my gender is. Ignore any images you might have seen on my cam page. It was all a bog hoax. I thought that if I posed as a 28 year-old male magazine editor living and working in San Francisco, people would take me more seriously. But certain events have led me to change my mind.I am, in fact, a 17 year-old female from the midwest. I am both attractive and impressionable. My birthday is coming up in a week, and if you would like to curry favor with me, you may do so via my Wish List. For those who remain unconvinced, here is a picture of me in a bikini:
The Picassos from the film Pirates of Silicon Valley are for sale on eBay. Sure they're reproductions, but still very cool.
Happy Birthday Fidel!
friday, august 10
This Shins song is one of the most beautiful things I heard in a long time. Look for the "Double Nickels" allusion. (via watt list)
BBC News:Children asked to jump for science
Schools across Britain are being asked to let children jump together in their playgrounds to help kick start Science Year. At 11am on 7 September, children will jump for a minute in a nation-wide experiment. Scientists want to measure the impact on machines used to monitor earthquakes.you can't make shit like this up.
Matt Welch's story on the Condit/Levy story is one of the better pieces of media crit. I've read in a while. It's not what you think.
" We're Jeff and Tracy. We're Your Good Neighbors. We Smoke Pot." Suffice it to say that when I saw the full page ad in the Bay Guardian a couple of weeks ago, I was a little taken aback, if pleased. I've long felt that if only silent majority of pot smokers would come out of the closet, the wrong-headed prohibition laws--which fill our prisons with the wrong people--would be over. As Jeff and Tracy point out, the vast majority of pot smokers are business people, teachers, firemen, accountants, lawyers, salesmen and Presidents of the United States of America.
With Socks gone from the Whitehouse and Garfield slowly fading into obscurity, there is a growing need for kitty superstars. Meet Rufo the cat. Be sure not to miss the sounds page.
thursday, august 9
Oh my. I just love the Wunderblog.
Sources: Bush to allow limited stem cell funding
California is prison country. 249,000 and counting.
My uncle came into town unexpectedly yesterday, and we went out to dinner together. He lived here about ten years ago, and we were talking about where he lived and where he worked, etc. He asked me to point out where I worked (we were at the top of the Hilton in the hotel bar so you could see all around the city). I tried to point out my building, but it was obscured by another and could not. In any case, he says "Oh well that looks like it's very close to where I worked. I was building the 301 Howard Building at the corner of Howard and Beale." At this point I nearly fell out of my chair, as that's where I work now... A strange coincidence in a city this size.
Somebody, please! Give these dogs a home!Really, I'm not being sarcastic for once. This story touched my cold black little heart. Contact info for the Humane Society in Ft. Piece can be found here.
Copy-proof CDs coming? I give them about a month on the market before they're cracked.
There's a pretty cool article in this week's LA Weekly on Nels Cline
wednesday, august 8
Britt and Tiff make a triumphant return to Craigsglist, and post a schedule while they're at it. They're gonna be at Belle & Sebastian, I'm gonna be at Belle & Sebastian, are you? (Of course, they were also at the Strokes, who I have to admit are growing on me, but still remind me wayyyy too much of Lou Reed)
The "Who Cares What You Think" email from Bill Hangley seems to have taken on a life of it's own... Every day I get more and more search requests for it. It's now been in the New York Daily News, Hotline (the political junkie's rag of choice), the Manchester (UK) Guardian, Rocky Mountain News, Salon, Slate, and (according to Slate, I couldn't find it) The New York Times. Who cares what Bill thinks? Apparently a lot of people do.
So if you come to this site regularly, you know that I've got a thing for, er, unusual Flash videos. A Frightened Boy, by Joel Veitch certainly falls into that category.
I use Zagat constantly. The print version, on the web, and on my Palm (via vindigo). I dig the snappy little reviews and at-a-glance information. But until today I'd never seen these reviewer outtakes. Some highlights: Buy a six pack and eat at Burger King instead; Feminist man-haters that make animal-friendly food; Great portions. Car was stolen from lot; and my personal favorite They put the salmon in salmonella. Ba-da-bing!
Oddcast's Virtual Hosts are amazingly cool Flash creations, which you can manipulate in a wide variety of ways. I particularly enjoyed the dubya host. (via kerns)
What a great way to start the morning. Modest Mouse is coming to San Francisco, and I found out (indirectly) via Jeremiah's freakscene.net about what looks to be an amazing book called Our Band Could Be Your Life, which documents the punk/ indie/ alternative/ scene in the '80s, with chapters on Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Husker Du, Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, Mudhoney, and Beat Happening... I'm a big dork. aren't I?
tuesday, august 7
It wasn't that long ago that finding an apartment her in SF required extreme measures--rental resume's, credit reports, and cash on hand were the rule of the day for just going to view a place not too long ago. Exchanging sex for rent was not unheard of. Now, I wonder if anyone even lives here anymore. Oh well, I guess it could be worse.
Do you live in District 5? There's going to be a District 5 Town Hall meeting on the
MUD campaign tonight from 7 to 9 pm at the San Francisco Park Branch Library at 1830 Page Street. Matt Gonzalez is scheduled to be there, but word is he's not going to make it in time.
Speaking of MUD, I saw Bruce Brugmann eating lunch today at Lightening Foods. He had a MUD lapel button on. Which was good, because otherwise I might not have known where he stood on the issue.
So... is the one minute show performance art, or just a really, really quick exhibition? And more to the point, who pays for the burrito? Man, they are so hip in Oaktown.
Oh this is too funny. Wholesale electricity prices jump from 3-45 dollars per megawatt hour to 1000 dollars per megawatt hour in Texas. Welcome to deregulation, buckaroos. Hope you enjoy the price-gauging, Texas style.
Job postings for Web designers and engineers are down 83 percent since last year. Network, sysadmin, tech-support and software-engineering jobs are down 66 percent. -- A nice article by Joyce Slaton
monday, august 6
Yaaaaaay!!!! The clones are coming, the clones are coming!
Wow. Steve Ballmer is a complete dweeb. (found via the amazing blogdex.)
Found on Pigdog, Jenna Bush, Super Lesbian: "We were all pretty drunk and the guys kept egging Jenna on to make out with her good friend," the paper quotes the student as saying. "The two of them sat on a couch and began to kiss. The guys were cheering. But as I watched them, they really got into it. They were tongue-kissing and it went on for quite a while."
BBC staff are told not to call Israeli killings 'assassination'. Horseshit.
Got plans Friday night? This should be tres cool. From the always-excellent Julie Lisa.
Get those assholes off the sidewalk.
Like many of you, I've gotten home late, and had to drive around for half an hour to forty-five minutes looking for a parking space. and yes, I have, on occasion, parked on the sidewalk when I couldn't find a space anywhere. But now it looks like the board of Supes is going to double the fine for sidewalk parkers. Now, like I said, when it comes to parking on the sidewalk, I'm one guilty motherfucker. I'm among the guiltiest of the guilty, in fact. I can't even count how many times I've pulled up on curb, eased my car between two driveways, and then ducked out to my apartment before anyone has a chance to call me on it. Then I typically jump out of bed at 6 am, move the damn thing, and go back to sleep. It's wrong, but I've done it.
Having said that, I'm all for upping the fine. If you park on the sidewalk, you're an asshole. And it doesn't matter in the slightest if you're in a driveway or not. Blocking the sidewalk is blocking the sidewalk. Nevermind that when you block the sidewalk you're forcing children and the handicapped to walk in the street. The point is that everyone's tax dollars pay for the sidewalk, and dammit, they should all be able to use it.
I look at it like speeding. I hate speed limits. But I think that they're probably neccessary to keep all of us from being killed by moronic sixteen year-olds in Maximas. Sometimes, I'm going to be in a masive hurry, and II'm going to speed, and i'm going to gamble that I'm not going to get caught. But if I do get caught, I'm willing to pay the fine, I'm glad it's there to keep everyone from driving 85 mph. Same thing with the sidewalks. Park on them if you have to; if you're in big hurry; if you're too lazy to keep on looking for a space. But be a fucking adult about it and don't bitch about having to pay the fine.
saturday, august 4
"I wanted to hug this movie." -- Roger Ebert, in a four-star review of Ghost WorldThe new movie based on the graphic novel by Dan Clowes. It's directed by Terry Zwigoff, who also brought you Crumbphew... I'm all linked out now.
"94 year old Brazilian actress Dercy Goncalves during her interview with Reuters at her apartment in Rio de Janeiro, July 27, 2001. The aging actress is going to pose nude for the first time ever for the September issue of the Brazilian edition of the adult entertainment Penthouse magazine." (thanks patrick & andy)
friday, august 3
An excellent Joy of Tech cartoon for all those disappointed with Apple's latest product offerings, or lack thereof.
Don't forget, no matter how much they try to hide it, he's not really President. He's simply a crook.
Hmmmm... Well here's a new way to browse CNN stories.
Wait a second. Did I read that correctly? "The speech came a day before Bush will leave Washington for a monthlong vacation."A month? What a fucking joke.
I got something in the mail about this, then promptly forgot. But an article in today's Chron reminded me that SFMOMA is exhibiting some of Ansel Adams early works. Looks very cool.
Great shot from SF Gate's day in pictures. The monkey one (two previous) is pretty darn good too.
thursday, august 2
eBoy Tres cool.
Tim sent me a link to theyrule0001, and quite frankly it's one of the best Web sites I've seen in six months to a year. The site is a Flash-based, relationship database that graphically illustrates how incestuous the corridors of power are. "They Rule aims to make some of the relationships of the elite of the US ruling class visible." You have to see this site. Really, it's just stunning. I'm completely in awe, and I can't even imagine how much work went into it.
SirCam leaked Ukrainian secret documents, says this ZDnet story. I don't know about you, but I've gotten so much SirCam mail that I figured some sensitive material had to have been released. Unfortunately, I got none of it. Unless I get some in the next few days here, which is becoming more and more unlikely, there go all my million dollar bribery plans. Shoot. (thanks yet again to dave, who has taken the reigns of honan.net today.)
Yeah! Here's a tres cool space invadors style game, except instead of aliens attacking it's geri halliwell. (thanks again dave)
Kevin Fox has put up a Weblogger Purity Survey. Fox is one of my favorite web loggers. Fury is on my daily list. (thanks dave!)
I've been pretty opposed to most of the plans I've seen to revitalize mid-Market, the Tenderloin, etc., as most of them seem to consist of little more than "let's get the poor people and homeless out of here and we'll figure things out from there." But this story on a plan to revitalize Sixth St. seemed like a really goood idea to me, and a positive step that will help the neighborhood without hurting those already in need.
emplive.com has an amazing feature called In the Studio with Built To Spill. Essentially, they talk to Doug Martsch, Scott Plouf, Brett Nelson and Phil Ek (longtime BTS/ Modest Mouse producer) about the songwriting process. The site also has a cool chronology of punk feature with items on Black Flag and the minutemen. (thanks bart)
wednesday, august 1
Well thank goodness somebody in the BSA has begun to exhibit some basic human decency: Boston Boy Scouts allow gay leaders.
Napster: The Motion Picture. Note the mouse rating.
I installed Tropico today... Cant. Stop. Playing.
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I just saw Microshaft's Password-protected Bra ad for the first time. Apparently the company is much cooler in Europe than they are here.
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