Tuesday, November 30, 2004

[Reppin my click]. Guys take pictures of themselves in posse stance, then submit to reviews on the authenticity of their urbz. Some go for maxxin brands; some go for .. um, uh, hmm..
Oh shit. Holla at Bifurcated Rivets, bussin' eights all up in this heezy. You know he aint frontin' busted kicks.
GuitarBot acccompanys at Julliard recital (NYTimes)
Here's the site from it's maker, Lemurbots, that features more pictures, and a very cool video of GuitarBot in action (QuickTime, 15.7MB).
I'm not sure why, but watching this thing play is hilarious. It's just ... wrong. It needs a pumpkin head and flailing arms or something. I love it.
Do-Re-Mi by Woody Guthrie (free, mp3, Amazon.com login required)
An index of songs (with RA samples) about Route 40. The America's Golden Highway site also has a general Road Songs index.
Tribute to American folksinger and Woody Guthrie pal Cisco Houston (1918-1961) with mp3s and photos.
Cisco often sang "I Ain't Got No Home", but now that has been remedied. Welcome to the small, but growing, Internet Home of Cisco Houston: www.ciscohouston.com. This fine folksinger, the definitive interpreter of Woody Guthrie's songbook as well as the genuine voice of the rails and plains, is an underappreciated giant. Our web site will offer photos, reviews, articles, essays and original writing about the life, career, and music of a great American troubadour, all in the hope of restoring an appropriate magnitude to his reputation.
AntiDarwinism gaining foothold in public schools

Monday, November 29, 2004

The OnLine Picasso Project is an exhaustive catalog of Picassos paintings, indexed by year. Awesome.
The weirdest holiday-themed commercial I've ever seen. Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah (flash). Music by Ween. The even stranger .mov commercial is here.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Listen to the entire Futureheads album online

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

The Daily Jive Hero of the Week is Stephen Truszkowski of Middletown, Delaware. The 13-year old student is taking an active part in democracy by voicing his political beliefs and he's getting harrassed by beaurocrats for "disruption". Despite intense pushback, he's standing up for his right to free speech. Way to go, Stephen! This kid is setting an example.

"I think they violated my rights because I wore the shirt to express my opinion, that we shouldn't have gone to war," Truszkowski said. "I'm not saying I don't respect the soldiers, but I think what Bush is doing is inappropriate."
Him name is Hopkin Green Frog.
What the hell have I been doing that I havn't seen this yet? Brilliant.
Happy Thanksgiving, Americans!
Using computers to detect art fraud. (/.)
Tablet PC Boombox project (from hackaday)
Wha?!
A nice list of 20 strange and wonderful books.
On January 20, 2005, Turn your back on Bush. (via Bifurcated Rivets)
For a time, Mercer Motor Cars of Trenton, New Jersey made the greatest sports cars in the world.

More great old racers on these Bond Tea Cards.
Streetmemes.com
I love it when stuff like this happens. God bless him. Have fun with it, Juan.
Democrats in a Fighting Mood. Good.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Coming this Holiday Season: Dubya: The Movie (via memepool)
If you're tired of the same old Christmas music that gets played year after year, download The Hound's Christmas show (WFMU radio broadcast from Dec 1990) and hear surf, hillbilly, country and blues Christmas music that hasn't (at least yet) been appropriated as mall shopping soundtrack. (3+ hours. 43megs of highly compressed mp3)

Monday, November 22, 2004

Soviet Battle Station Skif, (80's StarWars response) pictures posted.

Friday, November 19, 2004

A strange Dutch nautical-themed claymation film. (3 minutes, wm/qt) Interesting, but I'm not sure what to make of it. This was apparently done by an absurdist theatre troop who travels by ship. Link found on the brazzaville page - a band that also wants to do a tour by retrofitting an old tanker by burning used vegatable oil. Godspeed, Brazzaville. I'd like to see a concert on a ship.
Download Brazzaville's music here. It's good.

It's easy to be a Beatles Fan, but tough to be a Beatles-Rip-Off-Band Fan.
This isn’t a good record, it’s not really worth seeking out. It’s certainly not worth the time I spent scrubbing the mold and mildew out of the grooves and off of the cover. But the album was so strange, so "goofy" that I couldn’t help but haul the whole battered and stained mess home with me. It had obviously spent many years face-down on the floor in the corner of a damp basement somewhere west of Route 40 for many years. Surprisingly, the LP wasn’t warped, and it cleaned up rather quickly with a hot rag and soapy water. The strange decision to turn the Beatles’ I Love Her into a cha-cha finger-snapper was an interesting listening experience but that track alone can’t salvage the audacity and "we’re here to rip you off" nonchalance that oozes from this album’s very soul.
It's great finding strange stuff at thrift stores. Even better is posting on the net to brag about what you found.
The Knockoff Project
317x
(I've been on the lookout for this one)
A very cool biped robot. Nbot, A fancy wheeled balancer. Finally, Legway, an on-the-cheap lego balancing wheeler (with build instructions and BrickOS source code)
It's refreshing to see true heroes in Neocon-America's war on journalism.
Mr. Taricani, a gray-haired 55-year-old who has won several awards, including four Emmys, added: "I wish all my sources could be on the record, but when people are afraid, a promise of confidentiality may be the only way to get the information to the public, and in some cases, to protect the well-being of the source. I made a promise to my source, which I intend to keep."
I've typically steered clear of digital communications policy issues, which always lead down dark, twisted passages of bandwidth carving and zoning, but the deference of public benefit to corporate profit is getting to be outrageous. Philadelphia recently announced a plan to provide citywide broadband access, and the plan is under attack, and won't happen if profiteers get their way. At issue is the fact that bandwidth is a public property, but it's being leased as if it's private.

If this passes, people who can't afford internet access will still be prohibited, and the corrupt, price-fixing cable companies and dsl providers will still be the only choice that people willing to pay will have to go to. This stagnates economic and educational growth and robs the internet of its power to reach people all so one private company can make profit.
Something has to be done about these corporate criminals.

Translation: cities and towns can't provide for-fee broadband (like a Wi-Fi hotzone) if it competes with a company already providing a similar service (even wired services like DSL or cable modems).
The bill would replace the state's ten year old telecom bill, which expired last year. Each bill defined the rules of how telecom providers can compete. House Bill 30 includes a number of other items, such as benefits to education and to rural areas through funds created by telecom companies, and a requirement of high-speed Internet access for everyone in the state by 2008.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

A Plague of Toadies (NYTimes)

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Deftones fantastic cover of the Cure's "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" (MTV UK/RealAudio)
Propaganda Remix Project
A hilariously bad Pseudochristian fundamentalist cartoon. Try to put the shitheeled message aside and view this as lowbrow art. A more sinister, menacing grandpa I have never witnessed. Any grandpa that goes around spouting that kind of junk deserves to have his eye put out. And how about the Arabs that have to
Space-age pop: listeners guide, liner notes, personalities.
Solid Smoke

Monday, November 15, 2004

The top 100 trainwrecks of the 20th century.
Stupid Creatures makes strange sock monsters out of your socks.
"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said aformer senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency andto the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of thosesoft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White Houseas a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president'sagenda."
[Why?] The utterly comprehensive database of actresses who smoke, both onscreen and IRL.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Space art from children's books
[Apes of Wrath] The Amazing Comic Gorilla Cover Index
This guy has a fantastic online collection of comic cover scans, but only gorilla-themed covers make the cut. In persuit of completeness, he can be a bit lax. I spotted a chimp under "P". Don't take this for granted, though. This site is as worth as much time as you can give it, Congorilla. Who knew that this even existed?

Friday, November 12, 2004

Paranoid of the song's overt chickenhawk accusations, Bush's Secret Service is harrassing a group of high school students for performing the legendary 1963 Bob Dylan masterpiece "Masters of War" at a talent show.

Admirably, the school principal is standing behind the students on this one.

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made will never buy back your soul

Cabrera said Secret Service agents questioned him for 20 minutes and took a copy of the lyrics. They did not ask to speak to any of the students but they did question a teacher who had supervised a student protest that was held at the school last weekend.
Author Salmon Rushdie slams U.S. Book snooping via Ashcroft's Patriot Act.
An interesting little piece on John Le Carre meeting Arafat in 1982 from the Guardian, who also has an interactive history of the conflict.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Red Plague: Election results by average state IQ (from the ever-reputable H. Stern Public Policy Institute)
The Ministry of Fake-ass Rightist Propaganda Department of Homeland Security mysteriously lowered to Yellow today, and now barricades in DC are being taken down. The fact that the alert was just as mysteriously raised in August - BEFORE THE ELECTION. No justifications were given either time. No terrorist activity took place. Millions and millions fooled.
Get out of jail free fax.
1M L337, dUd3Z!! G1V M3 YR W4Ar3Z!! L33T H4x0R 0N J30P4RdY W4G0Rz $1337! (1K R0B07z)
Red States: Where's the cultural bang for your moral-issues buck? It doesn't matter nearly as much to your elected as it did a couple of weeks ago. Try not to feel so foolish - they'll replay the tape for you next election, until then, you'll get some censorship, if you're lucky. Morals-be-damned, it's money-time. Thanks, Rubes.

Mr. Wittman echoes Thomas Frank, the author of "What's the Matter With Kansas?," by common consent the year's most prescient political book. "Values," Mr. Frank writes, "always take a backseat to the needs of money once the elections are won." Under this perennial "trick," as he calls it, Republican politicians promise to stop abortion and force the culture industry "to clean up its act" - until the votes are counted. Then they return to their higher priorities, like cutting capital gains and estate taxes. Mr. Murdoch and his fellow cultural barons - from Sumner Redstone, the Bush-endorsing C.E.O. of Viacom, to Richard Parsons, the Republican C.E.O. of Time Warner, to Jeffrey Immelt, the Bush-contributing C.E.O. of G.E. (NBC Universal) - are about to be rewarded not just with more tax breaks but also with deregulatory goodies increasing their power to market salacious entertainment. It's they, not Susan Sarandon and Bruce Springsteen, who actually set the cultural agenda Gary Bauer and company say they despise.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Find your local Ghost Town.
ilunga: The most untranslatable word
Anchored in love divine: The Original Carter Family (courtesy of the Man in Japan, KidofTokyo)
Microsoft is going to try to out-Google Google by launching their revamped MSN search engine this Thursday
Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller interviews author Tom Wolfe (!) (mp3, 32MB)
One creepy neo-con America-hater out, hundreds to go... The justice statue can finally be unveiled.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

This statistical look at evidence of fraud during last week's elections is absolutely staggering.
At what point do we admit that the U.S. is no longer a democracy? 3893 votes for Bush when only 800 voted in the precinct? A 700% increase Bush vote in a Dem county? Apparently, this is the Christian type of fraud and lying that we're told the Democratic party needs to reach out and embrace. No thanks.
Leonardo DaVinci's Robot
A S.F. Bookshop is reorganizing its entire inventory by sleeve color. (from McSweeneys)

Monday, November 08, 2004

Why the Personal shouldn't be Political (NYTimes), by Gary Hart (!)

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Evidence mounts that the vote may have been hacked.

Friday, November 05, 2004

I'd like to send this one out to all of our Republican readers.
It looks like Diebold chief Walden O'Dell made good on his promise to 'deliver' Ohio to Bush. Some ghost votes were found (and officially counted) as Bush votes. This calls for an end-to-end disection, open examination, and validation of Diebold's code, which of course will never happen.
The bumpkinization of democracy: A really telling graphic on vote distribution.
Milo Grow's civil war letters
Blue State Revolutionaries: If this isn't a call to arms, I don't know what is. New Jersey Attacked!
I'm not sure what to think about this. Sounds desperate, but I'm all for any hope whatsoever.

Thursday, November 04, 2004


Dear Reader(s), 'bots, Project Echelon, and various TIA beta crawlers: That's it for the politicking for a while. The Jive Editorial staff needs to get back to the no-guarantee Daily Jive masthead mission. That means more freaks, outsider art, misuse of technology, and holy handgrenades.

The first Chembuster (CB) I ever saw was the one Don Croft sent me back in 2002. The very first day I set it up on the patio, we had a black helicopter visit us at 2 AM, hovering loudly about 150 feet overhead, and shining the brightest search light imaginable-going around and around our place- in an obvious attempt to both intimidate and video tape us inside our home using special infrared technology (which is standard equipment today, even on local police helicopters). A chembuster will produce an intensely blue orgone field that is easily seen on any infrared radar weather map. You probably won't get a visit from a black helicopter when you set up your CB because there are too many CB's out there now and they generally don't bother with the helicopter routine anymore, but you can still see the blue orgone field centered over your house if you go to a weather web site and click on the infrared maps for your area. You will be surprised to see that the orgone field extends outward for many miles.
Blue State citizens:
Join our new movement, tentatively titled 'Let Them Eat Corn', that calls for the immediate secession of blue states from the totally incompatible red state union. Under separation agreement, they're free to eat all the corn they want, wear pastel eagle print sweatshirts, hold tent revivals, fix their tractors, and define 'morality' any way they choose, including those definitions which encompass killing lots of people. They may continue to fawn over cheaply produced items printed with an image of the American flag like rubes at their first medicine show.

The Red States will be prohibited access to Blue state finance, trade, digital technology, entertainment, photography, and measurement and numbering systems. Unless we want corn, ham, or fertilizer. We're good people, though - we'll let them have medicine per a reasonable cross-border drug trade agreement. Sacrifices will be made for those living in the as-yet-unnamed Blue State nation. We may have to give up things like Skoal, plate collecting, Nascar stickers, roadsign shooting, Soldier of Fortune magazine, and the occasional barbeque sauce recipe. These reminders of a dark time are just too painful. Refugees from red states are welcome, provided they sign an agreement saying something to the effect of 'I will never, ever, ever do anything that stupid ever again. x____ (Note: Many of you are signing an 'x' here - a signature is also acceptable)" Our first mandate should be to put our scientists to work on a viable corn substitute. We'll also need a new flag. They can have the old one, which they fundamentally abducted years ago anyway.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

The fight continues.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

MSNBC is running a live voting problem map. Like with the other maps you see on the news sites, red isn't good.
A federal court reversed last night's decision and is allowing Republican poll challengers to interrogate voters at the polls today.
Do the right thing.
Get out there and go on record as helping to put an end to four years of corruption and criminal ineptitude. Vote like it's personal.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Tomorrow:
- Bring a photo I.D.
- Go EARLY. If you encounter a problem, you'll have all day to sort it out. If you go at 7pm, you risk not being counted if things aren't running smoothly.
- if you suspect fraud, or have difficulty of any kind, please call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
- if they can't find your name on their roster - you have the right to ask for, fill out, and submit a PROVISIONAL BALLOT. Your vote will ostensibly be counted later once irregularities are sorted out.
- Get a stub or receipt if your polling place offers one. Ask for one before you vote.
- If you absolutely NEED to argue with hecklers, paid Republican thugs, racist vote-intimidators, gun nuts, wackjob fundamentalists, Halliburton VPs, or any miscellanious variety of illiterate backcountry pro-Bush hick, make sure you VOTE FIRST and ARGUE LATER - preferably away from the polling line. Their sole tactic is to get you asked to leave or even hauled away from the polling location - even for a minor disturbance - before you can cast your vote. They aren't interested in your opinion - They want to identify you as a Democrat by baiting you into a discussion or argument, then get you removed once you've taken the bait as a hindrance to orderly procedure. If you say even one thing deemed to be peace-disturbing, you'll be denied your right to vote, no matter how sensible your position, or how fervently you were baited into the discussion/argument. If you see anyone being baited, tell them quietly what tactics are being used, and tell them to ignore the bait.
- Vote!
"We've succeeded in suckering them," he said. "We've got a little extra cash on the table, so we're going to go down there and just taunt them a little bit."
It's hard to know who the Karl Rove is talking about, but it might be you.

Mr. Rove, who is the chief suspect among Internet conspiracy theorists and some Democrats who claim Mr. Bush received answers in the presidential debates via a hidden earpiece, stood on the sidelines in Manchester happily checking his BlackBerry. At one point his mood was so festive that he even cupped his hand over his mouth and pretended to be transmitting lines to the president.

Oh Karl-with-a-K! What a stitch! Your devil-may-care wit is as sharp as your chin. You really must stop. Really. Stop. After calling half of the country "suckers" shouldn't you move on to writing a speech about how Bush is going to unify the country or something? You can stop howling now. C'mon Karl. That belly laugh of yours could hurt someone once it gets moving- besides, if you keep going on like that, all of your cake is going to fall out.

"Terrorist networks around the world," Mr. Rove intoned, as if he were sending instructions to Mr. Bush. "We will confront them and stay on the offensive."

You've got a terrorist bit, Karl!? Damned edgy!- especially since your boss hasn't caught the guy who did this to us. And Bin Laden is now comfortable to the point where he can whip up videos bragging about the attacks whenever the fancy strikes him... And he also threatened more of the same, didn't he? Don't you think that joking about terrorism might be going too far? You know, a lot of our citizens ... well ... got killed in that attack. And their families are still suffering, and Bush's response was to let members of Bin Laden's immediate family LEAVE THE COUNTRY on chartered planes THE NEXT DAY without being questioned, and here you are ironically joking about it. Maybe back off on the terrorist schtick, huh Karl? No?!! Really?! You think it's good material and you're going to keep using it? That's pretty bold, Karl. Do I think Osama had a latte' after he taped that? How should I know, Karl? C'mon Karl, that's pushing it, isn't it? What's that Karl? You say you've got some Iraq jokes too? Jeez, I don't know... Nine American marines just got killed yesterday, buddy. That's a pretty sore subject, but hell.. I don't know how any of this backstage campaign posturing stuff works. What's that? I agree: It does seem that most of those dupes will eat anything you feed them, but I have to admit at least a little surprise in how brazenly you're handling this. I would have thought that just by calling Americans "suckers", you would have sent some pretty strong signals that your team is cynical to the point of being downright evil, but you're the handsomely paid professional spin guy. I'm just a voter.
Some hope for democracy from Talkingpointsmemo
(reprinted in its entirety)

Received yesterday from a reader down in the trenches ...
Still in Florida.
This was one of the most moving, meaningful days of my life.
My job is to get people to the polls and, more importantly, to keep them there. Because they’re crazily jammed. Crazily. No one expected this turnout. For me, it’s been a deeply humbling, deeply gratifying experience. At today’s early vote in the College Hill district of East Tampa -- a heavily democratic, 90% African American community — we had 879 voters wait an average of five hours to cast their vote. People were there until four hours after they closed (as long as they’re in line by 5, they can vote).
Here’s what was so moving:
We hardly lost anyone. People stood outside for an hour, in the blazing sun, then inside for another four hours as the line snaked around the library, slowly inching forward. It made Disneyland look like speed-walking. Some waited 6 hours. To cast one vote. And EVERYBODY felt that it was crucial, that their vote was important, and that they were important.
And there were tons of first time voters. Tons.
Aside from some hassles from the Republican election commissioner ( … [ed.note: Here the letter writer describes various shenanigans intended to exacerbate the difficulties of waiting hours in line to vote. I’ve censored this detail to preserve the anonymity of the writer.], I actually had an amazing experience. No, actually, in a way because of that I had an amazing experience. Because these people know that the system that’s in place doesn’t want them voting. And yet they are determined to vote.
The best of all was an 80 year old African American man who said to me: “When I first started I wasn’t even allowed to vote. Then, when I did, they was trying to intimidate me. But now I see all these folks here to make sure that my vote counts. This is the first time in my life that I feel like when I cast my vote it’s actually gonna be heard.”
To see people coming out — elderly, disabled, blind, poor; people who have to hitch rides, take buses, etc — and then staying in line for hours and hours and hours... Well, it’s humbling. And it’s awesome. And it’s kind of beautiful.
Sometimes you forget what America is.
I think there’s hope.
ES

Mama's don't let your sons grow up to be doctors.
The NY Times on Oct. 19 published a long article on a subcontractor, Widemeyer Communications, that over the summer consulted the SSS on how a Medical Draft could be started up with minimal attention. The SSS said 36,000 doctors and nurses would be taken in the first batch of draftees. Why would Bush need so many? 36,000 is a huge number.
The main worry for young people is that beyond Iraq, Bush and Cheney are following the neocon plan that would involve the invasion of still more countries, such as Syria and Iran. In fact, Wesley Clark charges in his book
Winning Modern Wars, that a senior Pentagon official told him in 2001 that there was a 5-year plan to topple 7 countries: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. Assuming Libya is now off the list, that still leaves five countries.