Word Soup

Last night I had the opportunity to hear Jo Ann Beard read from her upcoming new untitled book. I hadn't heard of her, so I took the time to read her heart-wrenching short story The Fourth State of Matter before I left. She refuses to be pigeon-holed as either a fiction or non-fiction writer, which I think is fantastic.

From a piece on her at Metroactive:

"ONE AFTERNOON IN 1991, Jo Ann Beard went home early from her job as managing editor of a space-physics journal at the University of Iowa. While she was agonizing over her unfaithful husband, her beloved dying collie and the family of rambunctious squirrels nesting in the upstairs bedroom, a deranged graduate student walked into the physics department at the university and opened fire, gunning down six of Beard's colleagues, among them her boss, a close friend.

This horrific event lies at the heart of Beard's story "The Fourth State of Matter," which appeared in the June 1996 fiction issue of The New Yorker under the rubric Personal History. The piece was also selected for Best American Essays of 1997 and probably won Beard a contract for her first book, The Boys of My Youth, a collection of autobiographical narratives in which "The Fourth State of Matter" shimmers like a jewel in a spindly tin crown."

Last week I attended a reading by The World According to Garp author John Irving, who told the crowd he writes his novels by coming up with the very last sentence first. According to Irving, story elements may change several times over but this final line never wavers.

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"Some people think my visions are very weird and hard to understand. To me they are natural and flow freely from my mind. I don’t know when it developed, as I’ve been creating and visualizing imaginary worlds ever since I was a child. Now as an adult I paint my feelings and emotions—it is like poetry with paint.. . . . I paint whatever I imagine and don’t compromise or lie to myself. In this way I maintain purity of thought and the originality of my work."

See official website or this commentary from the artist.

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Merc shop Blackwater, under fire for indiscriminate murder of civilians, has made almost one billion dollars since they began working in Iraq on your dime. Keep in mind nobody there likes these guys -- not the troops and not the Iraqis. As many videos attest, they're psychotic overgrown sandbox bullies who think they're fighting Cobra.

From the Washington Post:

"In last week's incident, Blackwater guards shot into a crush of cars, killing at least 11 Iraqis and wounding 12. Blackwater officials insist their guards were ambushed, but witnesses have described the shooting as unprovoked. Iraq's Interior Ministry has concluded that Blackwater was at fault. . . According to federal spending data compiled by the independent Web site FedSpending.org, however, the State Department's Blackwater contracts vastly exceed those of the Pentagon. Since 2004, State has paid Blackwater $833,673,316, compared with Defense Department contracts of $101,219,261."

If we include our vast privatization efforts there, I can only imagine this nation's companies are making multiple hundred billions in this "war for freedom and rainbows" or whatever the fuck we're calling it this week on CNN....while you subsidize them.

Think of the countless insured kids, high speed trains, improved bridges and educational brainpower that money could buy -- and then just bury it in a pit and set it ablaze, because this nation's largest industries run your government and could care fucking less about what you think.

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These shitheel scammers aren't even trying anymore. From my inbox:

"Your Online Banking Is Bloked

Because of unusual number of invalid login attempts on you account, we had to believe that, their might be some security problem on you account.

So we have decided to put an extra verification process to ensure your identity and your account security.

Please click on continue to the verification process and ensure your account security. It is all about your security.

Thank you."

Not even bright enough to cut and paste an existing scam pitch by someone who can speak English and/or spell.

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(Via)

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Oh look! Now three of this nation's 301,139,947 residents gives a shit that corporations have completely hijacked reality via the use of think tanks and hired sock puppets who spew disinformation under the guise of objective analysis.

"Now it’s in the Bell interest to attack Google on any front and impugn their credibility wherever they can. That way, when Google enters a debate on an issue of more central concern to the Bells, Google’s credibility, the Bells hope, will be diminished as they are criticized as hypocrites, or monopolists or some such. Enter Cleland, who works for the Bells. Since 2006, he has run with the Bell talking points about Google, spending endless time criticizing them on his blog. Earlier this summer, he published a report slamming the Google purchase of DoubleClick, an area of economic research somewhat afield from his background in traditional telecom issues."

The three of us really should get together for lunch sometime. We can exchange stories on how quickly we bore people by trying to explain to them that the nation's government has completely collapsed -- replaced by armies of policy sock puppets with talking points and metal gears where their hearts should be.

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The Sex PIstols are too punk to go to their rock and roll hall of fame induction, but have no qualms about re-recording a track for the Guitar Hero video game.

Total anarchy. Crazy fuckers.

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We're only a hairline fracture away from still smacking each other with sticks and using stones to count. From the Chicago Tribune:

"First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.

Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind."

Over the weekend, white extremist Web sites and blogs across the Internet filled with invective about the Jena 6 case, which has drawn scrutiny from civil rights leaders, three leading Democratic presidential candidates and hundreds of African-American Internet bloggers. They are concerned about allegations that blacks have been treated more harshly than whites in the criminal justice system of the town of 3,000, which is 85 percent white.

David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, last week announced his support for Jena's white residents, who voted overwhelmingly for him when he ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana governor in 1991."

Have we reached this civilization's golden age yet? Fighting over skin color, the flatness of the earth and evolution in 2007? Maybe this civilization's enlightenment peaked in 1976 with Laverne and Shirley and now we're sliding backwards into the primordial soup.....

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A good read on the worthlessness of diamonds.

"The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., incorporated in South Africa."

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DJ Sara is 8, and DJ Ryusei is 5.

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Yes, ok Microsoft god damnit, I have bent to your almighty, coordinated marketing assault and have folded in utter and total acknowledgement that I am but a video game geek-disciple in your relentless, miserable, church of hype.

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I mean really, who doesn't want a do-it-yourself poseable David Hasselhoff complete with attachable chest hair?

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I feel like the President should maybe have a rudimentary understanding of the legal ramifications of using half-psychotic mercenaries during the occupation of a foreign country, considering we've spent a trillion dollars in taxpayer funds (on Blackwater alone) to finance their indiscriminate killing of civilians -- but that's just me.

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"A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.

Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.

"I'm just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master's degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job," Bitterman said."

The Des Moines Register

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"Juan Thompson and the Aspen Institute hosted a symposium on July 21, 2007 on the work of the late writer Hunter S. Thompson who created his own genre of writing with Gonzo Journalism and changed American political reporting forever with his book Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72.

Thirty-five years later journalists Carl Bernstein, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, Loren Jenkins of NPR, John Nichols of The Nation and others came together in a symposium moderated by Professor Douglas Brinkley to discuss the effect of Hunter’s work on political reporting and American politics."

Ninteen clips of free streaming video available here (via).

I hear the folks at NPR always get stupid with peyote use at these things.

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New "The View" co-host doesn't "believe in evolution, period." Also isn't sure whether the world is flat or not.

I suggested Noam Chomsky as the new View co-host but nobody ever listens to me....

As funny perhaps is watching the cable news networks laugh at this when they spent the week talking about OJ with nary a scant mention of our failure to re-establish Habeas Corpus. I guess dumb is subjective.

Tech blogs and websites spent the last two days fawning and bowing to the idea of quicken on steroids. I think one or two might have mentioned the phone industry's attempt to get complete immunity from constitution sodomy of any kind, but I'm fairly sure more time was spent staring up the ass end of some idiot's stale iPhone opinion.

I have this aching suspicion that nobody in this country actually discusses things that matter because the vast majority of the population either aren't very bright, or are empathically challenged and solely focused on their own welfare. Combined with a media that's little more than a lobotomized lap dog to advertisers, I think we could be on target to reach epic, mantle-rattling levels of dumb by say -- 2013.

It's a crazy theory I'm working on and I still need to check my math....

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Tiger’s Nest Monastery, perched precariously on the edge of a 3,000-feet-high cliff in Paro Valley, is one of the holiest places in Bhutan. A collection of wild temples and monasteries here. More images from Bhutan here.

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As a long time Tool and A Perfect Circle fan, it's great to see Frontman Maynard James Keenan working on a little side project under the name Puscifer. He's released a couple of film tracks under that project name, and has an album set for release this October 30. This is how he explains the upcoming project:

"[It's a ]multifaceted, multimedia, multi-artist, multi-personality project. It involves film, music, digital video, garments, feminine hygiene products, coffee, pet supplies, websites, blogs, artist collaborations, a few office supplies, and a grip on the idea that chaos is good and that change is inevitable.” He goes on to explain the ‘higher purpose’ of Puscifer, saying "I'm on a mission. I've been assigned to be the guardian of a highly classified, highly effective Sonic Weapon of Mass Disruption. This sonic technology when 'unleashed,' if you will, causes parts of the anatomy to vibrate uncontrollably. Not unlike when someone yawns, everyone in the surrounding area will be affected. If executed properly, the subjects will be temporarily distracted from their duties. Their bodies will appear to be abducted by the Soul Train, as if J-Lo were auditioning for the 'Thriller' video. Awe inspiring. Don't speak a word of it."

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Fleming makes some very cool insect sculptures out of glass. An interesting gallery is viewable here.

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From a recent concert:

"Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. Steal away! Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin’. Because one way or another these motherfuckers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that that’s not right."

Of course he's also been releasing his tracks as open source mixable material, the result of which is a new double-album full of remixes entitled: The Limitless Potential."

This is in contrast to an artist like Prince, whose solution for illegal downloading is to sue everyone, even operations like the Pirate Bay in Sweden who have proven immune to U.S. litigation.

The difference being I think that Reznor sees the future and understands technology well enough to grok that music and film are never going to be securely locked ever again, and the music industry needs to adapt, create new innovative business models, or die.

Prince on the other hand, isolated in his purple womb of toe sucking or whatever the fuck, looked up one day, discovered piracy, and figured that standing in the middle of the raging river with his lawyer was a legitimate option.

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"A Bosnian couple are getting divorced after finding out they had been secretly chatting each other up online under fake names.

Sana Klaric, 27, and husband Adnan, 32, from Zenica, poured out their hearts to each other over their marriage troubles, and both felt they had found their real soul mate.

The couple met on an online chat forum while he was at work and she in an internet cafe, and started chatting under the names Sweetie and Prince of Joy.

They eventually decided to meet up - but there was no happy ending when they realised what had happened.

Now they are both filing for divorce - with each accusing the other of being unfaithful.

Ananova

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This video shows random American-hired mercs in Iraq shooting aimlessly at Iraqi civilians on highways (not graphic). For a real snapshot of American intellect, take a gander at some of the YouTube comments.

One of the biggest stories of the Iraq war is our outsourcing of violence to these goons, who make billions, lack oversight, and help American politicians soften casualty statistics.

Now Blackwater, one of the largest mercenary groups we use in Iraq, has seen their license revoked by the Iraqi government:

"The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.

"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said."

Your tax dollars at work.

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Frankly, John Coulthart's stuff is precisely the kind of dark, detail mad obscura I'd draw -- were I actually able to.

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A new take published online by Dark Horse Comics (completely free).

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I interviewed the new CEO of Seattle based ISP Speakeasy this week.

I remember the days when I used to play Counterstrike against that company's former CEO and former content boss, both of whom created a hip, strange and very cool ISP that catered to gamers, malcontents and power users. Since then they've shifted gears, the rebels have departed cash in hand, and the company is now part of......well......Best Buy. Users frequently slam the company for selling out, but talking to their CEO made it pretty clear the company's evolution was necessary, given that the well-lobbied government essentially made it impossible for such strange animals to survive.

Really though: what hope do small, consumer-focused ISPs have against companies that are able to turn the Department of Justice into a public relations vessel? I'm not sure the company had a choice. Nothing tells the story of the changes at Speakeasy better than screenshots of the company's website back in 2001 and today.

I mean they spelled "site map" wrong back then. Crazy fucking rebels.

I also talked to AT&T this week about the phone company's TV and next-gen broadband plans, and whether they're ambitious enough. I managed an entire interview without my consumer-advocacy tourettes flaring up to chastise them for the absolutely wretched things they do on the lobbying and disinformation fronts....

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"The 12-week-old macaque - who was abandoned by his mother - was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province. After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless - until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon. The blossoming relationship helped to revive the macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary.Now the unlikely duo are never far from each other's side.

Daily Mail.

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If you're looking for pure entertainment, take a moment and subscribe to the American Family Association newsletter. The "family values" group spends the majority of its time ushering forth their vision of morality by whining about the evil homosexual agenda (TM) and circulating videos of girls dressed in their skivvies.

I've been a member for years, and I usually write Congressmen to argue the exact opposite of whatever I'm told to do in the e-mail. This week it's a Carl's Junior TV spot that's upsetting the moral crusaders of destiny, and they urge readers to bombard local TV stations with verklempt evangelical angst:

"In another ad, a scantly-clad woman gyrates to a countdown of things she wants a man to do to her. All the time, she is eating a "patty melt" sandwich. Click here to see this ad (Warning: This ad is offensive and provided only for the purpose of educating our members)."

They used to host these videos themselves, and when you tried to access them, they were always completely throttled by members doing uh, research. They've since apparently learned themselves about the YouTubes. This is one of the groups that bombards the FCC with indecency complaints via what I call "outrage-o-matic" web forms, making it seem like there's way more uptight jackasses in America than there actually are.

The FCC then misrepresents the volume of complains when it cracks down on indecency and hands out fines, because current FCC boss Kevin Martin is trying to score political points via social Conservatives for a post-FCC political career.

I just fired off an e-mail using their form that demands my local station air more videos of vixens gobbling cheeseburgers.

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More papercraft here.

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I love them Internets. I could care less for web 2.0 and social networking for alcoholic albinos -- but I love how broadband video has impacted authority accountability in the brick and mortar world.

"A car-mounted video camera — more commonly used by police than against them — captured a loud and threatening confrontation in this tiny St. Louis County community that left an officer on suspension and the whole world able to listen in. The picture doesn't show much, but the audio part of the recording, posted on Google Video and YouTube on the Internet, brought more than 300 protest calls to St. George Police Chief Scott Uhrig."

The video is here, in which the officer, who clearly has been buying real estate in crazy town, says he'll just make up reasons to arrest the kid.

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Martin Klimas.

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via

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via

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Ah, remember when the Department of Justice wasn't employed by AT&T's PR department and just spent their time doing "justicey" stuff like shoving machine guns in the face of illegal immigrant Cuban children?

Those were the days.

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I can't make it a day without being reminded that nobody in this culture is ever wrong any more.

Politicians certainly weren't out hunting for sex in bathrooms. Companies certainly aren't admitting to error when they strike a settlement for defective tires.Your buddy Joe certainly isn't going to admit error about last season's NFL predictions.

Nobody is wrong. Ever. Men like Bill Kristol make a killing being professionally and perpetually wrong.

If we were utterly and completely full of shit, we just kind of ignore it in the hopes nobody brings it up. I was under the impression that it was the press's job in part to call everyone (companies, politicians, you and I) on their bullshit so that the truth is made clear, but I was apparently wrong about that.

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For almost eight years I've worked for one of the Internet's largest tech-forum communities essentially in the role of the guy holding the chart.

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link

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""Hello, how long does it take to build a cable car?"

"There's cocaine all over my clothes! There's cocaine everywhere!"

"My roommate has been passed out for two days."

"There's pig balls on the street."

A selection of customer calls to San Francisco's new 311 service, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Dear god, why is it that every time I enter a gas station now, there's some nitwit engaged in an epic battle of dumb with a new gas station hire as they collectively try to hash out lotto parlance?

Not that I give a damn that people want to throw their money at the state, but the fact that I've got to sit eight customers deep in line waiting to buy gas for my car while mullet-man talks you through this special quick-pick-six-power-niner-blast-hot-roto-fusion-super-fever lotto lingo we've developed annoys the ever loving crap out of me.

Head to Vegas, Atlantic City, or a reservation to go get professionally fucked like an American should.

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From an AlterNet piece on Americans and vacations:

"Our mythology claims the work ethic makes America great, but does it? We have the highest productivity in the world because we work more overtime -- 40 percent of Americans work 50 hours a week and some workweeks typically run 60 to 70 hours.

Workers in France, Ireland, Norway and Holland are more productive than American workers; Germany and Britain lag slightly behind, and all of them have more vacation time than we do."

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So I'm reading the new Warren Ellis novel Crooked Little Vein, and there's a chapter in it where the protagonist gets a chance to hang out with some Macroherpetophiles. Or, you know, people who fantasize about having sex with giant lizards.

My interest doesn't run deep enough for me to go actually investigate whether this sexual subculture actually exists, but yeah, the novel is a real page turner.

I do note that Warren has posted someone's gallery of lizards having sex with cars at his blog. The safest of the bunch (because it lacks an engorged smaug phallus) is posted below:

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Radiohead has delayed their 2007 album until 2008, but this track has been purged from their collective musical esophagus and leaked to the Internets. Arpeggi is actually an old track that's been performed for some time, but it does show up on leaked tracklists that I've seen.

I still can't ride a NYC subway without Kid A and OK Computer playing on one of my cerebral channels, but I'm joining a growing number of people who wish the band would stop the musical masturbation and release an album that just punches you in the nose -- or at least marginally accosts you with rude language and a wink at your privates a la Paranoid Android.

Arpeggi is very much more of the same weepy, wispy, elf-vomit they've already produced seven fold. I like a little teeth in my self-absorbed minor-chord kvetching, thanks -- it's really time to shift gears or relegate the band permanently to the land of the marginally interesting, disaffected, experimental jerk off.

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BigRigJig from this year's Burning Man.

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