Friday, April 28, 2006

Hear Neil talk about it in his own words (and suffer through the inane line of questioning from the bubblehead with the mic.)
Listen to Neil Young's new anti-war album 'Living With War' on TrueMajority.com
"We don't all have to believe what our president believes
to be a patriot" -- Neil Young

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

A collection of William Burroughs book covers

Tuesday, April 25, 2006



Firecracker label ad art gallery at crackerpacks.com.

Monday, April 24, 2006

A break for codebreakers on CIA Mystery (NYTimes)
For nearly 16 years, puzzle enthusiasts have labored to decipher an 865-character coded message stenciled into a sculpture on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. This week, the sculptor gave them an unsettling but hopeful surprise: part of the message they thought they had deciphered years ago actually says something else.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

A great editorial/manifesto from Bomp!'s Greg Shaw, who passed away in 2004, on the state of rock'n'roll music today. Written in 2000, and worth reading.
I have seen the future, and his name is BubbRubb.
With all of the recent talk of administration shake-up, there's intense speculation over who will assume the soon-to-be vacated slots in a desperate attempt to salvage the wreckage they've inflicted on the country and the world over the past 6 years. I hearby nominate BubbRubb to every single position.

Not convinced? Let's compare!

Mission:
Bush Administration: Inept, incompetent and inexcusable blundering. Have no idea what they should do when they get to work.
BubbRubb: Will tell you exactly what you need to be doing the first thing in the morning: "Cooking breakfast for somebody." Probably for BubbRubb himself.

Illegal activities:
Bush Administration: Covers illegal, politically-motivated backstabbing with phony excuses about unannounced intel release, while countless backroom dealings are still shrouded in unwarranted secrecy. Corruption charges brought weekly.
BubbRubb: Has never exposed Valerie Plame or any other CIA agent. Never took direction from Dick Cheney. Muffler parts totally legal.

Public Relations:
Bush Administration: Press Secretaries constantly making jaw-droppingly inane excuses for policy disasters, corruption.
BubbRubb: Press Secretary (Lil-Sis) makes plausible excuses: "Its just for decoration. That's it and that's all."

Spending:
Bush Administration: Offers Americans no evidence of benefit from lavishing multibillion dollar energy conglomerates with sweetheart deals, tax breaks, and favorite-son policymaking!
BubbRubb: Offers tangible, direct evidence of spending! Wooo-WOOOOT!

Relations:
Bush Administration: Burned every diplomatic bridge erected by prior administrations in foreign policy, ruthlessly alienating all but the most ideologically entrenched cronies and bought allies. Raked up the coals, doused them in $3.19 per gallon gasoline, burned again.
BubbRubb: Briefly burned rubber.

Vision:
Bush Administration: A majority believes he has steered this country off-course.
BubbRubb: Briefly steered his '88 Camaro into the oncoming traffic lane. Immediately course-corrected.

Freedom of the Press:
Bush Administration: Has a contempt for the free press never before witnessed in this country's history. Q: Your First Amendment rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution? A: "It's just a goddamned piece of paper."* (*Actual quote! December 2005).
BubbRubb: Offers press complete, transparent access to all decisionmaking.

Labor:
Bush Administration: Puts Americans out of work.
BubbRubb: Puts muffler shops to work.

Polls:
Bush Administration: 35% approval rating (Who the hell are these people?)
BubbRubb: Exactly 2 naysayers. "Woo-WOOOOT!!!!"

The Jive Call:
Americans, get behind me! BubbRubb for every Administration post!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

American Gothic, story of , and an NPR piece on same (including a photo of the models)
New American Gothic
Forgotten Toilets (via gmt+9)
Toilets come in all shapes and sizes, and various states of decay. If you have any friends who enjoy looking at pictures of old toilets, then please refer them to this web-page. Also, it would be nice to make this page a collective gallery...

Friday, April 21, 2006

Rolling Stone's cover feature "Worst President In History?" got it wrong with the inclusion of that question mark.

Calamitous presidents, faced with enormous difficulties -- Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Hoover and now Bush -- have divided the nation, governed erratically and left the nation worse off. In each case, different factors contributed to the failure: disastrous domestic policies, foreign-policy blunders and military setbacks, executive misconduct, crises of credibility and public trust. Bush, however, is one of the rarities in presidential history: He has not only stumbled badly in every one of these key areas, he has also displayed a weakness common among the greatest presidential failures -- an unswerving adherence to a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy, thus preventing any pragmatic adjustment to changing realities. Repeatedly, Bush has undone himself, a failing revealed in each major area of presidential performance.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

"My wheelbarrow skills are unstoppable."
This, and more claimed at wheelbarrowfreestyle.com

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Edgar Leetig, the father of modern velvet painting (via Barracuda)
Touched by Leeteg's generosity and thrilled with the quality of the paintings, Decker wrote to Leeteg, ordering at least ten paintings a year for an indefinite amount of time--for any price within reason. This standing order would stay in place for the rest of Leeteg's life. Decker would eventually own over 200 Leeteg velvet paintings.

Another article here

The market for his work ain't what it used to be.
The ball-point pen portrait is the new black velvet painting: American Ball-Point Pen folk art gallery.
HusbandOnStrike. Some strikers take to the streets when their demands aren't met. This guy takes to his roof.
A photo-essay of the strike here. No word yet on whether Billy Bragg is going to show up and sing solidarity songs.

Welcome to HusbandOnStrike.com. Home of the National Association of Desperate Husbands! My Mission Is To Get My Wife To Remove The Children From Our Marriage Bed! My Bedroom Should Be A Den Of Love And Not Some Dungeon Filled With Diapers And Toys!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Walmart's new envirocentrism: Sheep's clothing or the real deal? An interview with CEO H. Lee Scott from Grist.

Monday, April 17, 2006

New Liberation Plotted!
Kind of like New Coke, but with tanks, and about a billion times more expensive (cost deferred to future generations).
Hairbrained or Cockamamie? You decide!

The Iraqi government, when it is finally formed, will also need to demonstrate that it is in charge of its own seat of government. “It will be the second liberation of Baghdad,” said Daniel GourĂ©, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank. “The new government will be able to claim it is taking back the streets.”

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Bird Gang: Brooklyn's Pigeon Coops and the Men Who Flock Them (massappeal)
Some of Jerry’s counterparts spend $30,000 on single racing pigeons. Some have three or four assistants watching their coops in shifts throughout the day. “I don’t let a lot of people up on my roof,” said Jerry. “For instance, if I let you up there, you might bring your friend with you, and he’s thinking about how he can get back up. A lot of people steal pigeons, believe it or not. There’s envious people, like with anything else.”

Friday, April 14, 2006

"If I were younger, and the situation required it, I would wear a mohawk.'
Zak: 80 year old punk rock singer.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Hours of fun await you on this mp3 page full of seriously misguided music. Genuine oddities from the probe.

Often too drunk to remember old lyrics or read new ones, when Jimmy Reed was in the studio his wife Mary (known as Mama) would whisper the next line directly in his ear. Her voice, though, would occasionally get picked up on the microphone, such as in this, one of Reed's biggest hits.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

An on-the-scene accident report
(swf embedded audio)
Hot Glue Art
Damn. Why didn't I think of this?

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Max, the 70 year old flatfoot dancer (youtube vid link)

Friday, April 07, 2006

Worst President Ever
Bush N.C. audience split between a one brave, honest guy and a bunch of drooling shill buffoons.

"I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration," Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Bush on stage. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."

Bush defended the National Security Administration's surveillance program, saying he authorized the program to protect the country.

"You said would I apologize for that?" Bush told him. "The answer is absolutely not."

...

Despite a couple tough questions, the president got plenty of easy ones. One woman requested a picture with him and another asked about how young people can get involved to help. One questioner simply told the president people are praying for him and another said he has a friend from Iraq who is grateful that he has made the country safer.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Gospel of Judas discovered (NYTimes)

As the findings have trickled down to churches and universities, they have produced a new generation of Christians who now regard the Bible not as the literal word of God, but as a product of historical and political forces that determined which texts should be included in the canon, and which edited out.

For that reason, the discoveries have proved deeply troubling for many believers. The Gospel of Judas portrays Judas Iscariot not as a betrayer of Jesus, but as his most favored disciple and willing collaborator.

Darmothgar: Yo Blorgh... what's up? Hail evil. I'm calling to see if you're still cool to make the photo shoot at 3.
Blorgh: 3?! I thought the OneNess said it was at 4:30.
Darmothgar: Nope. Definitely 3. I just checked with Cathleen down at Lasting Memory Photography. We'd better conference in the One to see if he's gonna have his mom's car after, because he said he'd give me a ride to Walmart when we're done. If he can't remember the shoot, I just know he's gonna screw the ride thing up.
Blorgh: Good thinkin... Hey, what are you wearing this time?
Darmothgar: I was thinkin' the Corpse Brigade ensemble with pentagram accents and the 5" spikes. Maybe some blood from the eyesockets... How about you?
Blorgh: I've got this light blue 3-button jacket I was gonna try. Cuffless with short lapels.
Darmothgar:
Blorgh: Nah! I'm just messin' with you, man! I'm gonna do the whole Mountain DethKonqueror and HandAxe thing ... like at Tony's barbeque.

The (new, improved) 10 most ridiculous Black Metal pics of all time according to Ruthless Reviews.
A small gallery of Japanese paper-cut art of Shoto Kimura

If you're in or around Philadelphia this Saturday, check out the Jive's Hillbilly House band - Jet Weston and the Atomic Ranch Hands - at Whiskey Dix on N.7th St. I'll be playing upright bass --joe
Sonic Grenades! (via Hackaday, where they teach you how to do other useful things, like reversing the hand rotation of travel alarm clocks)










Worldmapper creates really interesting maps by applying statistical data to geographic maps.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

The Jive doesn't often post environmental news, but the Bush administration's latest is so stunning in its wrongheadedness, I couldn't let it lie. These people are so brazen as to post a massive gain in the number of wetlands, because they've started counting such things as golf course ponds and development drainage runoffs, none of which provide the benefits of natural wetlands, which protection acts have been enacted to safeguard.

But the report contends that the losses were offset by creating more than 715,000 acres of new wetlands, mainly artificial ponds that do not provide the same environmental benefit as wetlands.

Federal officials hailed the results as a positive sign.

Monday, April 03, 2006

George W. Bush as the New Richard M. Nixon: Both Wiretapped Illegally, and Impeachably by John Dean @ FindLaw

Indeed, here, Bush may have outdone Nixon: Nixon's illegal surveillance was limited; Bush's, it is developing, may be extraordinarily broad in scope. First reports indicated that NSA was only monitoring foreign calls, originating either in the USA or abroad, and that no more than 500 calls were being covered at any given time. But later reports have suggested that NSA is "data mining" literally millions of calls - and has been given access by the telecommunications companies to "switching" stations through which foreign communications traffic flows.

In sum, this is big-time, Big Brother electronic surveillance.