shake it
like a polaroid picture
1.31.2002
Andy's Lost page is a brilliant idea. I'd thought about putting up a page with people's names who I've lost touch with for Google to find (and hopefully, for them to find if they searched on their names). But nothing like this. I never thought of anything this elaborate. I've got to say, though, I'm a little bummed that I'm in "coworkers" and not "friends." (and I'm bummed that I heard about it from andre instead of the man himself). So on second thought, scratch that thing about "friends" after all. Where's the enemies column...
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How to be a thug.
It's the bomb, yo.
"Since when is pointing out something that happened a cheap shot? For a real history of the "cheap shot" do a search for "Clinton, Hillary"..."
Good one, Oliver.
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I'm getting plastered at Plastic today, they didn't like my article in that it didn't do what they wanted it to do. You can only do so much, in my book, and I thought I did a great job. But that's neither here nor there. What's worrisome is the email I keep getting for something I wrote two years ago. Something I probably should not have. I wrote something satirical, and, quite frankly, offensive. I was trying to make a point, but the point was lost in my unnecessarily harsh words. In brief: I was born and raised in the South, I love the South and I honor the South. But I do think that the South is seriously fucked up in many respects, a lot of which are just distractions from the real problems there: namely education and economic opportunities for all. You achieve that and most other things fall into place. However, that's not what I said, and that's not how it's been taken, and so today, many, many people are very, very angry with me. If you're one of them, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry. It was over the top, I admit. But have a look at what I wrote, and ask yourself if there's any possible way--being a Southerner myself whose entire family is from the South--I could have been serious. Do what you want with the battle flag in your home and at memorials for the dead. I've got ancestors who were veterans myself. Probably more than many of those who have rallied round the flag. Yet I didn't think it should have been on Georgia's state flag. I still don't. But nor do I believe the things I said were true, as they would obviously have to apply to me equally as a Southerner. I was trying to make a point that it's a perception that the flag creates. I failed, I guess. In any case, I'm off to get fresh air on what's turning out to be a bad day.
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Wow. Wil Wheaton cleaned the hell up at the bloggies. I wonder how much of that is due to his celebrity?
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"This is the smoking gun," declared Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Enron. You're already sick of it. You could care less. But not me. I can't get enough. Why? Because I think it just might be that evil Dick Cheney's ticket back to Wyoming. Where he'll just rule secretly. Rather than out in the open. Did you see the cover of the February Vanity Fair? He's got this evil "yeah, we both know I'm the Anti-Christ. but just try to prove it bucko" look on his mug, while he's seated with Dubya and Colin on either side of him. Now, Dubya, God bless him, is probably ignorant of all these satanic goings on (although he did sacrifice hundreds of lives on the alter of pancuronium bromidein his native state in order to gain power and perhaps to curry favor with his Dark God Dick). I mean, really, does Dubya look clued in? I tend to think of Dubya more as the willing agent of evil, rather than as evil itself. Now Powell, on the other hand. What kind of Faustian bargain did this poor sap make? Er.... Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.
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Bruce put up some really cool band photos from the 80s, including images of dead milkmen, firehose, mike watt, salem 66, throwing muses, the neats, and the original lineup of dinosaur jr. (thanks bruce!, via wattlist)
Ezra kisses posters.
1.30.2002
I had totally forgotten about this....
Harp and I went shopping Sunday. We rotate grocery stores, ever since Falettis was torn down, we haven't had a regular store. We tend to rotate between Trader Joes, Cala, Real Foods (all in the neighborhood), and Andronicos and Whole Foods (both of which are too expensive), and, about one out of every three trips, we go to Rainbow, which I wrote was the best grocery in San Francisco two years ago (scroll a little more than halfway down. next to the sepia picture of some sort of tubers, where it says "produce, produce, produce.... ahhhh... that's it). Rainbow can be overpriced, and so socially concious as to make me feel positively Republican when I go there. But as much as I complain about it to Harper, they really do have the most kick-ass natural foods supermarket in the United States there. It's really quite an amazing place. Six kinds of kale. Who knew?
Anyway. There's something else I love and hate about Rainbow, which is that all of the Co-op workers are Punker Then Thou. Rainbow is DIY straight-edge vegan punk nirvana. Not Nirvana the band, though. No, no, no. They were on DGC. No Rainbow for you. Where was I? Oh yeah. Punk rock at Rainbow.
So I'm at Rainbow, right (and keep in mind this is no hole in the wall, Rainbow is easily larger than many full on Supermarkets I've been to), sorting through the big containers of liquid, looking for the dish soap, which I will squirt into a little plastic bottle and pay for by weight. Buying in bulk. No packaging. All that. Well I'm getting the soap, and all of the sudden I hear this very familiar drum beat/ guitar track come on.
And it's "Cashout," from "The Argument," right? And I'm like "Fugazi! Fugazi!" And so I pop the top on the container I was filling even though it wasn't full and go scampering all around to try to find Harper because, you know, I'd never heard Fugazi in a grocery store before and I was a little excited, right? And I'm like "Fugazi! Fugazi!" all up and down the aisles. And so I find her, over by the bins of rice, and I start to say "Fugazi! Fugazi!" and she's just all "I know, I know." And I'm like "Fugazi! Fugazi!" again in case it didn't register with her the first time, and although she was enthoused, she didn't begin to share in my level of Special Thrill. And I didn't really havemuch to say because they were playing Fugazi in the grocery. I mean, when do you hear Fugazi playing anywhere?
And so I guess the point of this is that I love Rainbow.
"Fugazi! Fugazi!"
yeah!
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oh. my.
It's a new design for SF Gate.
I think I like it. I definitely like wider size.
This story about GMO corn overtaking Mexico reads like a bad science fiction movie, except that it's real. Good thing it's been conclusively tested for safety in humans now that it's taking over, right? What's that? Oh. Well then, er... I'm sure those alarmists are as wrong as they are evil. Let's roll.
(via mefi)
Ezra sez: FYI, Mat, Harper, Jeff, Matthew, and I WILL NOT be reading poetry tonight. We are whooped. Next week. Announcement to come...
(He is correct, as always. Except when he contradicts me. Let's roll.)
And what I want to know is, where was the National Guard? I mean, what's the good of having armed guards with M16s if they aren't shooting people?
The memo underscores the broad kinship between Enron and the administration in drafting official policy.
Were Cheney Al Gore, He'd have already been indicted.
Oh shit. Where's Deion when you need him? (via ezra)
Jibangus is as wrong as it is evil. Let's roll. (via kool bobby)
Dark Horizons has a review up of Episode II. Yes, that Episode II.
There's an article in the Summit Daily News on my cousin Sherri's business, Colorado Mountain Wellness.
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Goopymart posts some of the coolest stuff to filepile. I'm gonna see if I can talk him into designing something for my site.
Finally, a safe, beautiful bridge, rather than that flimsy monstrosity that connects Treasure Island with Oakland.
Or, they start a Web log.
"I have discussed this with my family and we are all prepared to die on this land before we allow it to be stolen from us. How should we be prepared to die? Are you planning to burn us out like they did at Waco, or will you have snipers shoot us through our windows like the Weavers at Ruby Ridge? "
Yes, exactly. (via mefi)
1.29.2002
Ondrea Barbe Photography Great site. I wish I knew Flash :::sigh:::::
USA Freedom Corps, 4000 hours, huh? We'll see.
The second part of my Plastic story is up.
I just looked at my bike route video again.... This CD was one of the ones stolen when Harp's car was broken into. Bummer.
Speaking of great bands, this new White Stripes video is the latest meme. If you haven't seen it, it's really cool. (via filepile)
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King Herod died from gangrene of the genitalia? I'm guessing that smelled really bad.
Here's My Morning Jacket's site and a couple of mp3s on epitonic
The pix of King Coffey eating a steak for Roky Erickson are up.
There's only one kind of banter I want to hear. - Jeff Saunders
I went to see My Morning Jacket, Mike Watt, and Eyes Adrift last night at Slims. My Morning Jacket was spectacular. When they started, and I first heard Jim James' voice, my initial reaction was "oh no, not another Grandaddy clone." This was completely unfounded. Although James voice is similar to Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, or Neil Young, it ends there. MMJ is a melange of 70s inspired rock sounds, everything from country rock to arena rock to reggae. I'm not doing them justice, I never am able to describe bands I like well. Go see them.
Watt was, as always, amazing and inspirational. He's one of the greatest musicians, songwriters, and performers drawing breath today. That this man's talent isn't universally recognized is a travesty. Whenever I see him, I feel like I'm watching Coltrane or Mingus at a small venue somewhere. You're glad to see him somewhere small, but you feel guilty because you know he should be playing at Shoreline.
Eyes Adrift was one of the mot inconsistent acts I've ever seen, perhaps they haven't played together enough yet. It took Curt Kirkwood a couple of songs to get warmed up, but when he did he was on fire. His performance was top notch. The songs were beautiful, one was immediately haunting. I was incredibly impressed. They had a few songs they should ditch, but they'll figure that out. Bud Gaugh is an amazing drummer, he's really tight and really talented. He actually reminds me a lot of kool bobby, both in the way he sounds and the way he moves. And then there was Krist Novaselic. Novaselic had some good songs, the lyrics were kind of funny, even. But Eyes Adrift suffered horribly from witty stage banter. Perhaps because they're new, Eyes Adrift took a lot of time between each song. This time tended to be filled with Novaselic's interminable yapping. When I saw Nirvana, one thing I remember about the show was coming away thinking "Man, Krist Novaselic should really just shut-up." This was much worse. Not that Kirkwood's banter was much better. But... Sheesh. (Bud, meanwhile, had great banter. Spectacular. He didn't say a word.)
Admittedly, I'm from the no-banter school of music fandom. The best banter I've ever heard came from Bob Mould, who said "Hi, I'm Bob Mould. Thank you, goodnight." In between he gave one hell of an intense performance. Every time I'd start to get into Eyes Adrift, the song would end, and the banter would begin. Krist, save the banter for the courtroom, brah.
What was it about the house that made it my dream home?
Perhaps it was the floor-to-ceiling mirrors and orange shag carpet that greeted you at the entrance. Or the urine-colored tiles that covered the stairs and the living room, whose floors slanted toward a drain in the middle of the room. Or the black-felted bedroom with its glow-in-the-dark-crucifix platform bed, perfectly angled for whipping. Or perhaps it was the meth lab, or the pot-growing sun room. Or the "dungeon" in the basement where five years before the former owner had fatally torched his lover. Or perhaps it was the small things, like the five-gallon can of lubricant, or the collection of penis stretchers, the trapeze, the electronic enema, the little hole allowing someone in the kitchen to watch people in the basement, the names of Satan's helpers spray-painted on walls or the hawk droppings that caked the surfaces of the upstairs bedrooms.
(via ezra)
1.28.2002
The world's most brilliant revisionist history (thanks Eric!)
GHZ now
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It's funny that every news organization in the world is reporting that Cheney is fighting the GAO to keep from having to reveal who attended his nefarious energy policy meetings. Every news organization, that is, except FOXNews.com "We don't report, you can't decide."
(and actually, foxnews does report it. in little bitty type. down at the bottom of the page. under the heading "standing their ground." gopnn. spin free zone my ass.)
I wish it had snowed here...
I have no idea what the original source of this is. I found it on filepile:
HOW TO EXPLAIN ENRON TO YOUR CHILDREN:
Feudalism - You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.
Fascism - You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
Communism - You have two cows. Your neighbors help take care of them and you share the milk.
Totalitarianism - You have two cows. The government takes them both and denies they ever existed and drafts you into the army. Milk is banned.
Capitalism - You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
Enron Venture Capitalism - You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
Ezra, Matthew, Harper and I will all be doing a poetry reading at Sacred Grounds Cafe on Wednesday evening. This is news to them. (So, get to writing, kids).
Also: Sacred Grounds, a proud member of the 117, is the best coffee house in San Francisco. It's exactly what a coffee house should be. It's comfy, it has food, it's got electronet access, it has an open mike and supports local musicians and writers, it even puts out its own compilations. And. Good Coffee.
All in all it reminds me of a smaller Jittery Joes, where I used to get my morning buzz every afternoon.
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At the height of the energy crisis, [Ken Lay] addressed The Chronicle editorial board where he explained, with a smug smile, why California deserved its precipitous decline. Much of what he said about the sale of energy went over my head. Now I know why. I only launder clothes, not money.
I've found that I'm using my Google Toolbar (which, by the way, is an exceptional add on to IE if you don't already have it) in an unexpected way. My toolbar has become my default dictionary. This was something that just sort of evolved.
Something you may not know about Google is that it automatically spell-checks words you've misspelled. Google wll ask you "did you mean [Correct Spelling]" if you flub a word. So when I'm not sure how to spell something, I usually just type it in my Google Toolbar. Furthermore, the top entry for any word you type on Google is the word's definition. (Look in the blue bar if you don't see what I mean.) So if you just want to look a word up, all you have to do is type it in the toolbar. Handy, eh?
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Harper: "Isn't that pretty much admitting guilt?" No, my dear, it isn't admitting it, and that's pretty much the whole point. Admit nothing. Carry on as if you've done nothing improper. As if it's all on the up-and-up and responding to these allegations would be beneath you. As if you've got more pressing matters, what with the war and all, than hashing out details as to whether or not you've done something completely crooked and reprehensible, chuckling in the eerie glow of your oil lamps while Californians hunker frightened in the dark, sending all their money to your pal Ken Lay in a desperate effort to get the juice going again. As if you aren't really Satan's earthly agent come to despoil and poison our planet and feast on the blood of the poor and helpless.
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1.25.2002
The Official Ninja Homepage
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Blogger Pro is out. I'm thinking about going for it. This, despite the fact that I'm looking into moving away from Blogger as a publishing system alltogether. Why? Because for the past two years (there were other blogs, before this one) Evan Williams has provided me with a simple, no-nonsense method to publish my content every day. And he's done so for free. $35. That's less than it would cost for Harper and I to go to the movies (drinks and popcorn included, natch).
My Balmy Alley page is up. To be quite honest, I'm less than happy with it, particularly the photography. I'm probably going to start all over again on it.
Oh no! Sad news. Goodbye, little man.
Scandalous. Not to mention incredibly stupid and impossibly backwards. What is this, 1950? What are these guys so threatened by? I've read about this party before, and even linked to articles on it, but I've never seen these pictures before today. I almost wish I still had not. (thanks watt)
Great Watt poster (thanks greg!)
Batman named president of Ball Memorial Hospital
My Plastic story is on OJR today. I was really happy with it. And Mr. Fouts gave it a great headline.
My dad's side of the family is from a little town in south Alabama (or L.A. as we used to call it. Think about it. It'll come to you) called Eufaula. My grandmother lived there until just a few months ago when she moved to Macon, Ga. (or Maconga, as we used to call it. If you have to think about that one, you need to go back to bed) My dad is planning on moving back to Eufaula when he retires. My family has lived there for over a century. So, when I got married, my folks ran a wedding announcement in the Eufaula Tribune. They also got me a subscription. Although I rarely read it--it usually went straight to the recycle bin--I did love to sit down tieh the Trib on occassion, just because stories like this one make the front page there. Oh, to live in small town America again. Someday, someday.
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The Modesto Bee went after mom-and-pop shops after it lost Montgomery Ward as an advertiser. Although the practice is completely different, the concept is actually quite similar to microads, in that with banner dollars drying up, online publishers should go after smaller advertisers as well.
Wait a second. Ambassador Montezuma is suppossed to be less offensive? With those legs? (thanks Geoff!)
Uncle Tupelo is one of my favorite bands. No Depression is one of my favorite albums. I love Son Volt. I love Wilco. But neither for me will ever equal Uncle Tupelo. You gotta have Jeff and Jay together. And so, I'm not really too sad to hear that Farrer left Son Volt. Fairly or not, I always thought of Son Volt as "Jay," while I always thought of Wilco as "Jeff." And so, I'm pretty happy to hear that the two of them at least seem to be talking again. That's something, at least. Now, how about another album?
Also, note Eyes Adrift. See you there.
1.24.2002
sweet
Britt and Tiff get Fired!
I live just down the street from Alamo Square Park. It's a mere 4.5 blocks down Fulton Street, in fact. But, despite my photofetish, I've never before taken a picture of one of the most famous views, not just of the city, but in all the world. It's a total money shot. How this oversight occurred, I have no idea.
So, dear readers, allow me to present what I like to call the Full House Opener:
as always, click to enlarge
My old friend and sometimes editor Annalee has a great article on the cute invastion in this week's Bay Guardian. The gist:
These days cuteness has lost any subversive edge it might have had back in the days when raves and manga in the United States were still mostly the purview of underground culture enthusiasts. Cute is a consumer item, a mainstream aesthetic.
Hey! That's Kool Bobby's ass! (via ezra)
Driving back across the bay today, I popped in an old CD, and listened to one of my favorite songs from high school -- Paid in Full, the seven minutes of madness mix. It was glorious, driving over the Bay Bridge in the bright sunlight, looking out at the Golden Gate, and hearing Eric B again, for the first time. He was my favorite DJ when I was younger, and when I heard him again today--for the first time in several months-- it occured to me how many DJs sound a lot like him today, while so very, very few, if any, did back in the 80s.
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I'm off to go meet with the folks at Guerrilla News Network today.
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Scientists say 10,000 gallons of oil from 1989 Exxon Valdez spill lingers under shoreline and continues to affect wildlife
More on Woz' new company. From Henry Norr.
Ever heard of Bohemian Grove? You know the place. It's where the Illuminati gather during the off-season. Yet Bohemian Grove actually exists. Whether or not it's where the Bushies meet for anal sex, I'm not going to speculate. Personally, I always thought that sort of thing was confined to the Skull and Bones Club.
Regardless, the legend of Bohemian Grove grew considerably over the weekend when a poor misguided soul who had been listening to (no surprise here) talk radio went off his nutter and attacked the place Chuck Norris Octagon style.
Admittedly, some of the shenanigans at Bohemian Grove are a little freaky. But isn't that what being a rich, white patriarch is all about? Your right to dress up in silly costumes and act out kooky rituals?
So come on, Mr. Phantom Patriot. Leave the big owl idol alone. Let the Bushies and company have their secret forest fun. God knows they need it after those long days of bombing the shit out of brown people. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some care to cremate.
Is that Jeff Saunders? I'm pretty sure it is.
Well crap. I see I'm not the only one with this plan. I'm not quite sure why I didn't figure that lots of others would be looking at a grad school route until the recession's over. I guess that means admissions will be harder than I expected.
Sorry for the NYT link. But peep the boys in trechcoats. I'm pretty sure they attend the Eddie Bauer School of Modeling Poses.
1.23.2002
Being Poor is not a crime.
Newsom's panhandling proposal is the most contentious issue to hit San Francisco since I've been here. Even moreso than public power. But the thing is, Newsom has one thing on his side: a plan. Nobody else has shit. Empty slogans (see above) won't accomplish anything. Me, I'm against his proposal. Fining and jailing poor people doesn't get them off the streets (except temporarily, and would anyone argue that we need to start jailing the homeless?) But I don't have a plan, other than bussing the homeless to Hollywood. All I can do, at this point, is throw rocks. And that solves nothing.
But the noise the glass makes when it comes crashing down sure is pretty.
Everyday people, tracking everyday things.
I met Woz once, at Mac OS X's debut at Elite Computers in Cupertino (yeah, I know I am). I've also read a book about him, and another book about Jobs. Plus there's all sorts of apocryphal stuff out there on the Web about him, some of which I choose to believe. But between all of that, I've come away with one conclusion about Woz: he's a damn nice guy. Yes, yes, sure, he's brilliant, he invented the personal computer, he wrote Atari Breakout, he's a genius. Sure. I'm with you, G. But how often do you come across someone whose done all that, and who not only isn't an egomaniac, but is also a damn nice person? Woz. He's a hero to me.
This Picture to HTML converter is simply the raddest thing ever.
This page has a new permanent address:
http://www.honan.net/index.php
Please update your bookmarks.
p's
-Mat
Also, note the new commenting system and random image display in the upper righthand navv bar. PHP, yes!
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A powerful story from Ezra today. "My First Lesson in Love and War Crimes"
Damn. The hospital called, and needed Harp to come into work. Bad for me, worse for her, good for you. I guess. So while I'm sitting here, munching Edamame, and searching for a free sound recording program, I figure I can rewrite my post that went ka-plooey.
I was the typical kid with a chip on his shoulder. The cool kids, the popular kids, the football players, and their braindead ilk, shunned me, and so I shunned them right the fuck back. In junior high, I was way into creative endeavors. ( Always had been. Even as a kid, I was submitting poetry and drawings to Highlights. ) But by the time I was in 8th grade or so, I had wised up to the fact that this wasn't going to win me any friends, or get me that first kiss. In fact, if anything, it was just going to earn me even more scorn and derision from the aforementioned "let's go throw a ball around, bump into each other a bunch, and then take a shower together before we throw a party and don't invite kids that aren't also on the football team or old Alabama money," crowd. I didn't know what to do. I was an awkward kid, and had no self confidence whatsoever. And to top it all off, I had the sneaking suspicion that daddy never understood.
And so, I did what most kids like me that age do, I turned to drug use, indie rock, and juvenile delinquency. What fun. Bashing mailboxes on warm southern nights. Riding in the back of a pickup truck, cranking the pixies, and hucking eggs at the cars parked at a party we weren't invited to attend. Urinating in the jocks' gatorade in the locker room, and then sticking around to watch them drink it after practice. Joyriding in cars. Breaking windows. Sneaking onto the golf course at night, tearing up the greens, joyriding the carts into ponds, and shitting in the holes. And Halloween. Oh. Halloween. What fun. What fun. Smashing Pumpkins, even if they were a country band, I'd love them for their name, and the memories it invokes. What fun.
There were more serious things too. There were fights and beatings and drug deals and driving around Montgomery at seventeen on six hits of acid, watching the Christmas lights turn the streets into a carnival, oblivious to the threat I posed to other drivers and pedestrians. But for the most part, my fun was harmless to anyone other than myself and my poor mother. I was just wild. (And thank God. Otherwise I'd probably be one of those pathetic souls acting out my childhood well into adulthood. Everyone needs wild days.) I was just always the guy who never wanted to be chicken. I was just down for whatever. I was just a dumb ass. (And it took trips to the hospital and jail for me, and rehabs, prison, and mental homes for friends before I realized how stupid I was.)
And then there was Kmart.
I was never much of a thief. I had problems with stealing. I was against it. Although, I certainly didn't mind sharing in the fruits of others' theft. I'm sure I sipped a thousand swallows of purloined vodka before I ever hit 16. But.
A bunch of my friends took to stealing CDs from Kmart. After several weeks of watching my friends' music collections swell, with no consequences, I got greedy. I wanted in. "Besides," I reasoned, "Kmart is a giant chain store, they have tons of money, it's not like I'm stealing from a local merchant." And so. And so I did. The five finger discount. Hoo-ray.
And one Sunday when I was sixteen, I was in Kmart with my friends Mike and Lawson. We were busy slicing the bottom of longboxes (remember CD longboxes?) with razors and cramming them into our clothes when I noticed a woman staring at us. We figured we were slick, so we decided not to worry. But I worried. Something was up. There was a bad vibe in the store. And so as we left, I hung back in the Valentine's Day specialty aisle, and there, amid the heart-shaped boxes, greeting cards and candy, I stashed my purloined CDs. It's important to note I did this first. I headed out, and as I did,. I saw Mike walking out the front door. Lawson had already split. Then I heard a voice over the intercom calling for a ladder at the front of the store, and three men bolted out the front door.
I was no dummy. I knew what was up. So I strolled to the counter, bought a pack of cigarettes (As I always did when I was stealing stuff. I never stole things and left. I figured it would look suspicious. I always lingered around, bought something, and then left.) and split. Outside, I saw Lawson lying on the ground with a guy on top of him. I think he must ave tried to run. Mike was standing closer to the door, watching. There was a guy standing next to him, with Mike's arm in his left hand, and a stack of CDs in his right. Fuck.
And they had the whole thing on tape. They had everything on tape. They had tapes of several weeks of sullen teenages in army clothes sulking into their store and lingering around the CD section. And they had a suspiciously empty metal section, even though metal wasn't really well in the Rome, Georgia Kmart. And on closer inspection they saw the kids stashing CDs. And they knew we'd be back, so they waited, and got us. And because they were incredibly cool, they didn't arrest us, they only made us return the CDs. I say us because Mike and Lawson told them who I was, not that I blame them. And then they told us that we weren't allowed back into Kmart. Ever.
And so, I've been thinking about that a lot the past few days. And I have to say, I'm sorry Kmart.
Man, Harper's a vegetarian (well, fishitarian I guess). So, I've got much respect for King Coffey. For him, this is a major sacrifice.
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Harper just got back into town. And IE crashed when I wrote a long, and I dare say entertaining, post chronicling my adventures as a shoplifitng youth. So I'm very sorry. but you shant be seeing many updates here today. If any, after this. But I will return tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow.
Thank Goodness. I can loiter in a place of business without fear once again.
I just don't get it
(thanks Brad!)
1.22.2002
Monkey do
From the Nation:
The people bilked in Enron's sudden implosion were not only the 12,000 employees whose 401(k) savings disappeared while Enron insiders were smartly cashing out more than $1 billion of their own shares. The other losers are working people across America. Enron was effectively owned by them. On June 30, before the CEO abruptly resigned and the stock price began its terminal decline, 64 percent of Enron's 744 million shares were owned by institutional investors, mainly pension funds but also mutual funds in which families have individual accounts. At midyear, the company was valued at $36.5 billion, having fallen from $70 billion in less than six months. The share price is now close to zero. Either way you figure it, ordinary Americans--the beneficial owners of pension funds--lost $25-$50 billion because they were told lies by the people and firms they trusted to protect their interests. (via mefi)
What do you expect?
Seriously, what do you expect? I'm about to try and do some major site overhauls, and although this space is for me, I want to know why you're here. I mean, I know that you're probably killing time at work, but what exactly does this site have that others don't. If anything? Aside from an unemployed webflunkie that is.
What do you like best, posts like a) this, b) this or c) this? Or is it the mix? Comments appreciated.
I uploaded the circumcar to photographica.
Tyson bites Lewis.
God bless the wayback machine. Which is responsible for preserving one of my all-time favorite stories: Start Up, Shut Down, Drop Out, the story behind GettingIt.com where I was an editor.
If you're having trouble with Blogger today (I wasn't but Ezra and Helen Jane were) Ev says to sign out and then back in again. FYI: that usually solves the majority of my blgger problems.
I wrote a long screed in response to Richard Poe's attack on pigdog. But then, Pigdog put up its own defense. And, quite honestly, Poe freaks me out, what with the defense of hate crimes, and guns, and Robert E Lee. so I checkened out and pulled it. Why? Because,um. Because, er. Because I'm chickenshit.
KaZaa returns under new ownership
Who is John Galt? Ken Lay.
Bravo. My biggest beef with Ayn Rand isn't that she became the poster woman for right wing, "fuck the poor," let the markets regulate themselves, Republican party reptiles everywhere. It's that her books are boring as hell. Bore. Ring.
What? I'm an expert now?
Harper has a new commenting system. Leave her a note.
And Mac, thanks for getting me off my ass to get that installed. Of course, I couldn't do it until I switched servers. So, thanks Michal too.
1.21.2002
Mmmmm..... Midi
I created several gifs that I'm going to rotate into the top right corner. The beautiful thing about them is that you can download them, put them on your page, and link to my site. Were you so inclined. Which I'm not saying you are. But it'd be pretty nice.
This, I can't believe. MLK's famous "I have a dream" speech was given, to some extent at least, off of the cuff. This is just amazing to me, that one of the greatest (if not the? It's certainly up there) oratorical achievements of the 20th century wasn't completely scripted.
But then again, the great ones always write their own speeches. Right, Dubya? (via mefi)
Rob Morse has strong words for Ken Lay. And I completely agree. If Ken Lay doesn't serve hard time, after the catastrophe he caused for his workers, his investors, and the economy as a whole (while pocketing millions), something is seriously fucked up with the American justice system.
The California vs. Texas grudge match contiunues, this time with a federal prosecutor from San Francisco overseeing the investigation of Enron. I'd just like to point out that while Texas might have the money, oil, and president on their side, we have truth, justice, and incredibly strong ganja.
Dance Dance Revolution is subculture at its finest. If you've never seen it, you've missed a hell of a show.
Harp has a funny entry today.
1.20.2002
They don’t have septic tanks. What they do have are long pieces of narrow plastic pipe stretching from their trailers to ditches they’ve dug to serve as catch basins. Once water and human waste drop from the pipe into the ditches, it flows toward a makeshift lagoon about 100 yards from McMeans’ trailer. 'The judge has told me either to get a septic tank, move or go to jail,' said McMeans, who said he injured his back in 1989. He said his monthly disability check is 'about $600, and my trailer costs $300.'"
Poverty in Alabama.
The Christmas Tree is coming down today. It's gonna be today for a few reasons. 1) I'm pretty sure Sunset Scavenger picks them up on Mondays. 2) Harp's out of town. This sort of thing upsets her. Best if it just disappears while she's away and then I'll tell her it went to live with another family, a nice one that lives in Des Moines and has a big yard with lots of other trees and a small boy named Frederick who will water it every day and take it on long walks around the neighborhood. 3) Steve's coming for a visit, which means I won't have to drag it out alone. It's not his brute physical strength I need (thank God! I'd be in deep shit were that the case), it's his moral support and confirmation that none of the neighbors are looking. 4) There's no way in hell this tree is still going to be here in February.
Goodbye tree. I enjoyed smelling you.
As noted earlier, I've switched hosts. I've already noticed a faster load time. I'll be able to run scripts that I couldn't before. Plus, I'm pretty psyched to be doing business with Michal.
Chance that a "GMO-free" food product studied last April contained no genetically modified ingredients : 1 in 5
great...
Some large corporations are good.
1.19.2002
Blessing of the animals
Woo-hoo!
New host! Hopefully, this should mean faster page load times.
1.18.2002
This tells us that the scandal yardstick our political and media culture currently uses is bent like a pretzel. You say your president may have finagled a real estate deal many years ago? Time to name a special prosecutor! He lied about his sex life? Draw up the articles of impeachment! But tell us that a high-profile corporation donated millions of dollars to legions of politicians, including the president; bent the government to its will; lined the pockets of its executives while dodging all taxes; then went bankrupt, vaporizing thousands of employees' retirement accounts? Nah, that's no "political scandal." Come on -- where're the bimbos?
Scott Rosenberg on the "Enron isn't a political scandal" spin that's gotten serious play in the last few days.
Images of the congalese volcano
Screw Red Bull and Vodka, gimme a Mountain Comfort. Now that's a sweet and tasty caffinated beverage.
Happy Birthday Jeff!
You old fart. Only 9 more years to 40!
Operation Enduring Pretzel
1.17.2002
FOUND magazine: We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. anything goes...
I love found photos and found objects. So naturally, I *love* Found magazine, which is all that and a platter of audio. And, lucky day, it comes in dead tree form also.
I put up a Presidio Pet Cemetery mini-site on my shiny new host. This is a temporary address. Eventually, (as soon as the transfer goes through with Network Solutions. Goodbye, NovaHosting, Hello, Cornerhost) the address will be at http://www.honan.net/PetCem/index.html. But for now... it is what it is.
Tim Cavanaugh has a hillarious story on War Blogs in OJR. I dig a lot of the sites he mentions, but some of the warblogs do tend to be, well, a bit on the pompus side.
Ezra's confessional site has taken off in a big way. I'm assuming something must have been posted to missed connections...
send mazie (a 70 year old grandmother) a birthday card
Zippy the pinhead is to stay in San Francisco . I wasn't even aware that we were in danger of losing him. But damn, i'm glad we're not. (Thanks Joe!)
I rode my bike to the Presidio Pet Cemetery today. Took lots of pictures, which I'm going to post later today.
A tearful Lewinsky turned to HBO Executive Vice President Sheila Nevins and complained, "You said they were going to be nice!"
(thanks Dave!)
This is the thing. If someone knocks on your door, you either know that person or you do not. If you know that person, who better, than you, to judge the appropriateness of answering the door naked? And if you don't know them, if it is a solicitor or a summoner or some other annoyance, what better way to drive them off than by introducing them to The Royal Philharmonic, so to speak.
And i've got to ask, is this really a problem? Just because one guy likes to be naked, apparnatly in the privacy of his own home, you want ban answering the door naked alltogether?
Preposterous. This is lifestyle legislation at its worst, and apprantly, the good Rep. Pelote has already realized it as she is backpeddling like mad, away from what she said and into the realm of what she "meant."
But do say hello to Chandra for me...
Fiore's new cartoon pokes fun at Ken Lay.
"The name is one of the most famous names in the world," says Mr. Binladin's Swiss lawyer, Juerg Brand. "We think that people are able to distinguish between Osama and the rest of the family."
Oh come on now. That's just naive. If you're name was Hitler, and you made pants, you wouldn't call them Hitler Pants, now would you? Sorry, pal, but sometimes, you just have an unfortunate name.
We all have to go, sometime, somehow. Death is, as they say, a part of life. Despite your regimen at 24 hour fitness, despite all the fiber, despite the good cholesterol and lowfat diet. You're going to die. Yep. We all are. Deal with it.
But please, don't let me go out like this guy.
1.16.2002
A Cover for Steve Jobs, a Faux Pas for Time
So, what you're saying, when you say that San Francisco is prepared, is that it actually isn't prepared? Great. Atlanta, of course, where I moved here from, is well-prepared And Las Vegas? Less prepared
Like the new look? Lemme know. Below. And to the right.
The truth about Coincidence Design. Nice work, Dave.
Next up, we're gonna get those whiskey rebellion bastards.
[cough - cough]
*ahem*
(and be sure to follow that Argentina link)
I wish I were more like you fuckers.
Me too.
Lite-Brite
(also filepile)
Like an old sweet song.
Does anyone else find it slightly odd that a story about a misprint contains a misprint? See 2nd graf, 13th word.
Tools is the most useful new site I've come across in a while. (via filepile)
Mark Morford is, by far, my favorite columnist writing today. I don't think anyone else, anyone, is a consistently funnier writer. I can't even remember how long I've subscribed to The Morning Fix, now. But however long it's been, Morford has transformed, over time, from a columnist to a familiar friend. Sort of. In a non-creepy sort of way, I mean. One who chats me up in the mornings, saying witty and outrageous things, just as I'm getting good and caffeinated. Morford is funny because his hyperbole stems from honesty.
Sure, that "we respond to your email" crap is chumpsville. And there are a lot of times I disagree with him. Or just don't understand what the hell his point is. Or he's a bit too touchy feely. But day in and day out, I enjoy his stuff. I was depressed and outraged when he was suspended last year, and half-afraid that he might not be back. (well, depressed may be stretching it a bit. but certainly disspirited.) Because every once in a while, his columns grab me. Sometimes because they're sincere, sometimes because they're scathingly funny.
Today one of those days.
One law enforcement source we talked to claimed to have seen photos and insisted, "There was nothing inadvertent about what was going on between them and the dogs."
Er... Yeah. Okay. Um. I'm completely grossed out and feel like I need a bath now.
I don't post deeply personal things. That's not something I want to do. And besides, the last thing the world needs is another navelgazing white boy from the burbs blithering about his feelings. Getting all Chicken Soup for the Soul on your ass makes me feel petty.
So, obviously, with a lead-in like that, I've got some soup to sell you. There. You've been forewarned.
Harper left this morning to go visit her parents for a week. Not only is she the coolest woman I've ever met, the thing that I love most in this world, and the source of all my happiness (trust me, I used to be a grumpy fucker), but she's also my very best friend. The best friend I've ever had.
And so when she left this morning, it was really hard for me. Which was odd, because usually I look at a week as chump change. "What do you mean you're going to miss me? It's only a year." That's always been my attitude.
But not with Harper.
I just... I can't stand to be apart from her. At all. I enjoy her so incredibly much, and she makes me so very happy. And this morning, before she left, I started to cry. Because I already missed her, and I just didn't want to see her go. Even for a day.
I miss you, Harper. I love you.
Fuck him.
I'm not a get tough on crime kind of guy. Nor do I tend to rally round the flag. Patriotism, in fact, makes me a little uncomfortable. I've lived in Islamic countries, twice. Once in a nation bordering Afghanistan. Furthermore, I now live in JWL's backyard. Or, rather, he lived in mine. I belong to the ACLU. I vigorously (and always have) oppose the death penalty. Above all else, politically and socially, I believe in human rights.
But I also believe in responsibility. You have to be responsible for your actions. JWL actively engaged in human rights violations. He has to pay the piper for doing that. Have we forgotten what thugs the Taliban were?
And before you sing me a song of the Northern Alliance. Or Chevron's misconduct. I agree with you. Completely.
But the guilt of many doesn't exonerate the guilt of one. JWL has to pay for his sins.
1.15.2002
I've been trying to come up with something clever to leave on jish's voice mail. But since I can't, I think I'll just stick to the familiar and go with something stupid.
Oh. My. God.
Idaho motorists may drive lawfully under marijuana's influence
In overturning an impaired driving conviction, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a loophole in Idaho law means marijuana users can drive legally as long as they don't drive erratically and can pass a field sobriety test.
I think the rabbit has gone mad
Get his ass, Gray.
I just uploaded more Presidio images.
photo: jeff saunders
"I want to remind you that your greatest achievement will not be what you build, but what you avoid building."
The Presidio has a unique challence among national parks: self sufficeincy. It's unique in other ways too. It's an urban park. People live in the park. It used to be a naval base. Thus, the Presidio Trust has been established to please a variety of interests, make the land mixed use, and, yes, make money.
I'd feel a lot better about the Presidio Trust if the Fisher family wasn't involved. They've got a track record of brutalizing the environment. I hope for the best, for the Presidio, but I fear the worst.
Happy Birthday, Plastic!
1.14.2002
Ladies and gentlemen, as long as fuckheads like this exist (and there are thousands of them, on both sides), the world will never be a safe place.
A heartfelt post from Mac.
I can't help but feel, after seeing this picture, that Bush missed his true calling.
Jay Freni is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I also consider his mother and brother to be good friends as well. Andrew, his younger brother, has been playing drums since I met him, probably since he was in junior high school.
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jay on the phone, and he told me that Andrew was moving to England to work on his band, adom. Today, Jay sent me a great writeup on Adom from Creative Loafing. The businessman angle is bizarre to me. Yet it's also a tres interesting concept. Good luck Andrew.
I'm posting this with a request that if you do follow this link, you'll show Jeff some respect, and not flame him. In fact, I'd hope that you'll respect him for a) expressing his opinions and b) sticking by them in the face of criticism. I, for one, respect him for that. I ran this by him before posting it. I'd also like to point out that "beakdip's banter" is really only intended for a small circle of friends and family. It doesn't have the traffic my site, or Ezra's, does.
Jeff's Thursday post really bothered me. And I made comments to reflect that. Since then, I've been criticized for speaking up as I did by more than one person. Not, I should note, by Jeff. (Nor am I mad at Jeff, upset with Jeff, or offended by Jeff. I just disagree with him. Tremendously so. This is no way means that I don't love him dearly.)
Was I wrong? Did I handle this badly? To me, after all, the comments section is your own little "letters to the editor" page. People have disagreed with my posts on my comments section, and I've (usually) stuck to my guns, though in one or two cases they've moved me to change my mind (As Mac did over the weekend).
Blogs are publications, in my opinion. Sure, they're personal. But if you're presenting an opinion, particularly one that you know might be controversial anyway, should you expect flak in the comments?
I don't know, quite honestly... My opinion is that you should be prepared to accept the consequences of what you say in the same forum that you express them in. Matthew made the case to me over the weekend, however, that Jeff is just trying to express himself, and I came along and crapped all over him. Which I did. But was doing so wrong?
I dunno.
Just when I was starting to feel better, here comes Harley Sorensen.
About damn time.
If you can go to jail for graffiti, you should go to jail for spoiling and poisoning our public land. And as an avid cyclist and nature lover, I've got to say, I'm psyched about the mountain bikers getting fined for trail cutting. If everyone cut trails (particularly here, it isn't like the GGNRA is in the boonies, for crying out loud. It's in a major metroplolitan area), the GGNRA would soon be a mud flat. Fair's fair.
Daneane has a good point. It's not like this is the first time Dubya's showed up with his face messed up either...
New Scientist ties to infuse some facts into the pot debate. Without, er, getting into what I said about bonnie prince harry, this is a well done page. It admits that pot isn't totally safe, but, as we all know, it isn't causing drain bamage either. (via plastic)
By now, you've doubtlessly heard that Stephen Ambrose has been accused of, well, liberating texts from other authors. Here's a side-by-side look at some of the texts in question.
Phew. Dick Cheney almost became president. Officially, I mean.
1.13.2002
I took a lot of (in my opinion) great pictures this weekend. Particularly in the presidio. I'm going to put several batched up over the next few days. But here's one set, on photographica, of hippie hill in Golden Gate Park.
The post immediately following mine made me laugh.
The Prince Harry post? Deleted, after I started feeling like a bad influence on the children. And it's all about the children.
Shrub squirms uncomfortably. Er... Ken Lay.... Never met the guy... Unless I have.. Er.... Look! Puppies!
(via Oliver)
1.11.2002
"I reckon that being good is about the easiest thing in the world for a lazy man."
*t-o-u-c-h-é*
Round two of my interview with Carl Steadman is up on Plastic. Look for a complete story package in OJR at a later date.
I used to read Bobblog fairly regularly, and then fell out of the habit. I'm back in again. Number 10, number 8. Yes. Yes.
Mon dieu
Now here's a contest I can actually win. Write a song about the guardsman who shot himself in the ass? No problem. I'll have five by Monday.
San Felipe, I hear you calling my name.
magullo says: I am an idealist. I'd like the government to represent its constituents, not to enrich itself and friends. I'd like a president who doesn't hide a DUI conviction (or a friend's massive business troubles) until it explodes at the last minute. I like people who are upfront about what they do, even when they've made a mistake. Specially when they've made a mistake. I'd like the government to act as it asks the rest of us to act. I'd like to see some decency in American politics. I am, as I said, an idealist.
Well said.
It never ceases to amaze me how little respect Bush has for the democratic process and the constitution. Of course, since he was installed, rather than elected, I guess I really shouldn't be so surprised.
Hopefully (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully) Coincidence Design is not a real company.(thanks Hampton)
1.10.2002
Wrote is a spectacularly cool site that puts up old news stories. Really old news stories. As in 1894.
It's not easy, being green.
Really. I always imagined the universe to be more of a burnt sienna.
If Clinton had been involved in the Enron debacle and associated scandal, Rush and company would have been agititating for his arrest and prosecution by now. Also, I've always thought that "the big 5" were utterly useless. Now, however, I see that they can be quite useful for covering up criminal activity.
cuter than kitties (via filepile)
I've answered this a few times, but just on email. So for the record, it's: Alan Ginsberg, Bill Hicks, Che Guevara, d. boon, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, and Leon Trotsky.
look up at the bar across the top of the page if this leaves you clueless
I've pointed it out before, but I'll point it out again. Oliver Willis is the definitive source for Enron news.
You Have a Very Bad Hotel is back up again on a mirror site. Hoo-ray. If you don't know about this, a little back story might be in order.
Anything Goes at Show on Bodily Functions
I don't really have a pithy rejoinder for that one. I mean, the headline contains the phrase "Bodily Functions." Okay okay, I do have a pithy rejoinder. That headline is like when you say Budweiser. (and if you're too young to get that joke, or you've never been to a Georgia Tech home game, I guess an explanation is in order.) Bad Mat, bad.
Congratulations, Nevada!
When The Smoke Clearz, on the Geurila News Network is one of the best videos I've seen in a long, long time. It, along with Crack the CIA AND The War Conspiracy are all Sundance Selections. Peep em. Particularly Crack the CIA, it's a story every American should hear.
In the last week, I've had three files make FilePile's top 30. I'm psyched.
Oh my... I just filled out an online form for some part time freelance work. I submitted it and copied myself. When the copy came into Eudora, I noticed that I had typed "I have worked at an aditor at several...." Yeah. Go Mat. I'm definitely not getting that job.
B3 d t k s u- f i o x-- e l- c- via MeFi.
The only lesson I've learned form San Mateo is what too many Bobos can do to perfectly good farmland. Sure, San Mateo doesn't have a homeless problem. But I've got a news flash for you Mark Simon, it doesn't have anything else either! I mean sure, it has McMansions and chain stores, but it doesn't have an urban area. Guess what Mark: San Mateo wouldn't have a homeless problem no matter what kind of program it has in place. Even if it didn't have a program. Why? Because it's the suburbs, you nitwit!
I love how this is presented as a throwaway line:
Yes, San Francisco's problems are different -- the city has an estimated 7, 300 homeless individuals to San Mateo County's 800.
Yeah Mark. Minor difference. I know you try to cover your ass in the last two grafs, but you don't. Suburban solutions won't serve city problems.
Dude. There's no way I'm prepared to suffer through El Nino again this soon. No. Way.
What the hell is with this anyway? I mean, nobody had ever even heard of El Nino before the late 90s, and now he's back again? Is he bringing La Nina with him again? Fuck this. I'm moving to the desert.
1.9.2002
The South has changed. In my lifetime, particularly the 80s and 90s, it has undergone a radical transformation. No longer an economic and cultural wasteland, it's chock full of industry and bustling cities. Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, New Orleans, cities on the make all. It's become overwhelmingly suburban, and has shifted dramatically from a Democratic stronghold to a Republican one.
And something else has happened as well. It's inherited the problems once associated with the Northeast. If you live in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, or Kentucky, you're breathing some of the filthiest air in the country. You're breathing air with more particulate matter (mostly sulfate and nitrates which cause lung damage) than anywhere else in the nation. More that New York, more than New Jersey, more than Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New England, California or Ohio. And guess what? You've got a different kind of pollution too. The pollution that comes from automobile emissions. Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, and Chattanooga sport some of the highest low-level ozone pollution on the planet. And to topit all off, the heat makes it worse. Meaning if global warming does exist, things are going to get exponentially worse. Cheers.
So here's the rich part of the story. Here's the part of the story where you think to yourself, "hmmmm. perhaps the White House really doesn't have my best interests at heart. perhaps there is something more important than empty promises about taxes and $300 checks in the mail." The Bush administration wants to remove the teeth from the the Clean Air Act. It also wants to scrap programs that would make cars more fuel efficient right away in favor of long term pipe dreams. In other words, between industry and auto-overloaded suburbs, the air you breath in the South is about to get dirtier. Much dirtier.
Why does this happen? How can this happen in the twenty first century, when we understand what causes cancer? Because the Bush administration is little more than a front for its campaign contributors who are overwhelmingly associated with the energy industry.
But hey, the South is solidly Republican. And according to Republicans, corporations do a good job of policing themselves, and there's no such thing as global warming. Which means you've got nothing to worry about. Right?
and er.... sorry for the nytimes links. couldn't be helped. i guess that's why it's the paper of record, huh?
Todd Gitlin's piece on MoJo very much captures how I feel about the post 09/11 political environment. The right won't admit America can do anything wrong, the left won't admit it can do anything right.
To quote Gitlin:
Insofar as we who criticize U.S. policy seriously want Americans to wake up to the world—to overcome what essayist Anne Taylor Fleming has called our serial innocence, ever renewed, ever absurd—we must speak to, not at, Americans, in recognition of our common perplexity and vulnerability. We must abstain from the fairy-tale pleasures of oversimplification. We must propose what is practical—the stakes are too great for the luxury of any fundamentalism. We must not content ourselves with seeing what Washington says and rejecting that. We must forgo the luxury of assuming that we are not obligated to imagine ourselves in the seats of power.
Future serial killers of america. Just lovely. This country is going to hell. Who sets puppies on fire? Puppies? Sick fucks.
Phil's Macworld: Keynote Scorecard is brilliant. Brilliant, I say.
Ahhhhh!, part III (via mefi)
i've sworn not to link to the new york times because they've got such obnoxious ads. and i've violated that oath repeatedly since making it. i feel bad for it. but as long as i'm at it, zin. yes. couldn't agree more. i'll take a zin over a merlot or pinot any day. and over a cab on most.
Good news Blogger users. Ev says a fix is coming tomorrow.
I've gotten a lot of positive reposnses to my blog4me post. More than I expected, to be honest. I appreciate everyone who has written, and I promise I'll make a decision soon, I'm being really indecisive this morning, and, quite frankly, I'm a lazy cat. But now I'm thinking of letting multiple people have access, or giving several different dayss of the week to different people.
The new iMac gives hope not to just a jaded and ever-staid, geeky, uptight computer industry, but to the Internet culture overall. And it's only about 1,500 bucks. Still not exactly chump change, but did I mention it's also a really powerful computer that does lots of stuff?
Mark Morford loves the new iMac. And I do too.
Modest Mouse is coming to town March 1
The crazy cat lady saga continues
Gavin Newsom has lost my vote for mayor.
1.8.2002
An Interview With Carl, Of Sorts
This is part of a story I'm working on for OJR.
A friend of mine (and Jeff's) killed himself on Friday. I haven't spoken to him in several years, and I don't know what his situation was. But he was a good friend, and I thought the world of him. I knew his family, and they were all good people too. He left behind a wife and three children. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
I'm going to Baja in a few weeks, and rather than letting my site fester, I'm trying to work out a web log exchange. Here's how it works: you blog for me while I'm in Mexico, and then when it's time for you to take a break, I blog for you. Hell, this could be a whole new movement. A new era. The dawning of a new day and a new, um... something fancy. Whatever. Just follow the link if you think you might be interested.
I hate linking to the nytimes sitre because it's just a big ad ho-rama. But it's 1:43 in the morening, I can'st find this tory anywhere else, and it's outrageous.
As in:
Top federal regulators have recommended informally that the White House relax one of the nation's most contentious air pollution regulations, a provision that requires power plants to upgrade pollution control equipment when they upgrade their operations.
Such a move has long been pushed by energy and industry groups — many of whom have been big supporters of President Bush — who say that current rules impose billions of dollars in extra costs that unfairly block utilities from modernizing to make plants more energy efficient.
Environmental groups have been equally vehement in their support of the current regulations, saying that any relaxation would amount to the biggest rollback of the Clean Air Act since its passage 30 years ago.
sigh.....
Bush...
Congratulations Sister
:::and good luck:::
1.7.2002
"But you're a writer *and* a photographer. You could write for them."
Thanks Mom. I think I'll write for the New Yorker too while I'm at it.
I found this helen jane photo site via comments on Ezra's site. This is similar to what I'd like to do with my (forthcoming. one day. I swear.) redesign. Alas, I have no skills. Kerns? Hook me up willya?
Images from the cataract falls hike.
I love election fraud
The year-end Google Zeitgeist is out.
I uploaded one of my favorite Doug Martch songs it's called "5 on 3."
Speaking of Time, here's the cover.
From a friend:
Actually.. I just got a copy of next week's "Time" Magazine... it has the
new innovation on the front cover... and you're
right... it's a new IMac with a Flat screen. The CPU looks kind of like a
mushroom cap... about the size of a ballcap... and then a "lamp" arm
(moveable in all directions) connected to a flat screen monitor. All-in-one
jobby... the benefit being that it does all the things you want... DVD, CD
Burner, connects with the IPod, and has built-in video editing software.
Looks pretty cool.
At the same time, Macworld has presented its share of flops, including the Power Mac G4 Cube at the New York show in July 2000. Price noted that despite the good reviews, the Cube never took off and was eventually discontinued.
Actually, Apple presented that, dumbass. It presented it at Macworld. and the Cube, despite being overpriced and too hard to expand, remains the coolest damn computer to come out since oh, I don't know... the iMac?
Optimistic report on Bay Area economy / Productivity will push strong growth, study says.
Well hoo-fucking-ray.
Today's a big day for Apple. Let's hope so, at least. My predictions:
*Flat panel iMac, possibly with some sort of removable screen that
functions as a wireless tablet via AirPort, possibly a G4 system too
*1GHz G4 desktops
*OS 10.2
* Some sort of photo-editing/management software a la iTunes & iMovie
(iPhoto? nahhh... too obvious)
*price break on the iPod
*Very remote: An Apple branded PDA, but not the iWalk.
1.6.2002
Going hiking at cataract falls today. It's a redundant name, and always seems a bit silly to me. It's like "waterfall falls." For some reason, most people I mention that to don't seem to be aware of that definition of cataract.
1.5.2002
Steve told me about the National Park Services sites being down. I've got to generate a story out of this.
Slick, the circumcar is number eight on Filepile's top 30
Mahir Bin Laden?
I uploaded a picture of my neighbor's car to Filepile where it has already generated 20 comments. Yippee.
1.4.2002
As if Nadar didn't have enough to worry about.
Yaaay! Everyone loves Tipsy.
yet more on Queen Agnes B. That second link is via rob.
Speaking of New Year's Eve, here are some pictures I took. I'm the guy with the shaved head.
New Year's Eve was amazing. It was great hanging out with lots of friends and listening to some amazing music. As expected, Jason Knight put up an amazing set. But Queen Agnes B (who is part of that Sister SF collective I posted about a few weeks ago) was mindblowing. Incredibly hard. But don't take my word on it, have a listen. (thanks Tim and Ezra!)
And for more, here's the DNA Lounge Audio Archive.
OBL gets the suave treatment.
Seriously, where amI going to see him striking a pose like that? On a runway? At a cocktail party? He looks like Regis in that suit.
" Athens, Ala., veterinarian Bruce Young calls his cow Five Legs for good reason: She has an extra leg growing out of her butt"
1.3.2002
I'm not quite sure what this whole social network explorer thing on blogdex is all about. But in any case, I'm quite happy to be in the same company as boingboing.net
Cool! My old boss and Electronet celebrity Brooke Biggs has a blog (and surprise surprise, it's infinitely better written than my own): the bitter shack of resentment. Check it out.
In my former hometown of Montgomery Alabama, it's snowing. This is not an oft-experienced phenomena for most Southerners, particularly Alabamans. The entire time I grew up in Montgomery, I think I remember it snowing (and sticking) twice. Thus, i'm proud to present "Winter Driving Tips for Southern Drivers" (via Fark)
Take the Radiohead Collective Member Test.
I just discovered Sam Brown's explodingdog.com. You make the caption, he draws the picture. I sent him something from one of my 22 very short stories. I hope he picks it.
Panhandle: another great Mark Fiore cartoon.
Johnnie Royale has a great article on Pigdog today. Even if he does wimp out in the 9th graf (and yes, I say that just to provoke the pigdogs).
Bring it on pigdogs!
Wait, no....
On second thought, please don't. Please. Really. No, really, please do not bring it on. I was just kidding. I was only joshing. I've got so much left to live for. I've heard stories, and witnessed your cruelty firsthand. Or at least over the electronet. I couldn't help it! El Destino made me do it! I ran out of gas! I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault, I swear to God!
Er.... Look! Over there! It's a chicken playing tic-tac-toe!
This whole iWalk thing has gotten completely out of hand. Even mefi has climbed aboard Steve Jobs crazy hype train.
Neil McAllister speculates on a Palm, Apple, and Be merger. It's a nice idea, but it's not happening. Sure, Palm is loaded down with old Apple executives, and yes, Be and Apple are nice and snuggley. But if Jobs wants a PDA, he's going to build one, not buy it. In the Newton, he still has the most advanced handheld operating system on the planet--even if it was discontinued. Nothing, and I mean nothing, touches Newton's handwriting recogniton engine to this day.
If Apple rolls out a PDA, it will be something similar to Kevin Fox's speculative iPad, something closer to a tablet than a handheld. It won't be a Palm bastard either, it'll be a machine all its own.
Of course, I could be wrong...
1.2.2002
My Q&A with Trent Reznor is up.
I haven't been updating much lately, but I promise to get things underway again now that the holidays and new year have passed. There were all kinds of things I wanted to post, but didn't. Most notably: our trip to Muir Woods.
I've been to Muir Woods a few times before, always with visitors from out of town, but I'd never gone during the winter. To my pleasant surprise, it turns out that Muir Woods is Coho country, and it just happens to be spawning season. In fact, Redwood Creek is the last (the last!) wild salmon run in California. Tragic. I had my camera with me, and I shot a couple of slips of the Coho making their way upstream. I'd never seen salmon spawning in the wild before, and it's a positively amazing sight. It looks hard on TV (or the electronet, in this case), but that's nothing compared to how difficult it looks IRL. In other words, the videos don't do the fish justice.
These are large files, and I didn;t take the time to embed them. So to download them, I'd suggest that you Control-Click (or right click if you have a pc, or multi-button Mac Mouse) on the link below and save the files directly to your hard drive. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for a while as they download.
Video 1
Video 2
Wanna help the Coho? Check out SPAWN
There is no question we had what looked like the biggest failure of the intelligence community since Pearl Harbor but what we are learning now is it wasn’t a failure, it was a directive. Now I am not part of the conspiracy nut crowd that believes George Bush came up with a plan for an attack on the United States to save his popularity. There is no evidence of that. That is completely outside of any evidence I have seen. But what we find is something that, in a way, where the effect is just the same – and it’s chilling. Which is that they blinded the intelligence agencies and said you cannot look at the Saudis. Now the question is why . . .
This captures my sentiments pretty well. I do not, and cannot, believe that any President of the United States--even an illegitimate one who came into office via election fraud and cronyism--could have any foreknowledge of such a devastating attack. However, several months ago, in running down an urban myth sent to me via email, I found it peculiar that when I did a lexis search for bin Laden, the first references I found were to:
1) A 1987 San Antonio Business Journal article about a pilot for the Bushes and other elite Texans who made his connections with them after ferrying Sheik Salom bin Laden around Europe for several years.
2) A 1990 Washington Post article on US arms trade with Saudi, and the bin Laden family's connection.
3) A 1992 Houston Chronicle article on a Federal investigation into James R. Bath, who represented the bin Laden family in the United States, and owned a five percent interest in Arbusto, Dubya's oil bidness.
Now, I don't for a second think that Dubya is connected to September 11. And I think that conspiracy theories to the contrary are reckless and irresponsible. But I do think he has, in a very direct matter yet probably unwittingly (as if he were capable of wittingly accomplishing anything), assisted in financing terrorism. the two families are too close, and there are entirely too many financial connections, for Bush to not have indirectly sent money to OBL.
Happy New Year.
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