dutch baklavah

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

i guess we'll just have to adjust

"i am half inclined to think we are all ghosts, mr. manders. it is not only what we have inherited from our fathers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. they are not actually alive in us; but there they are dormant, all the same, and we can never be rid of them. whenever i take up a newspaper and read it, i fancy i see ghosts creeping between the lines. there must be ghosts all over the world. they must be as countless as grains of the sands, it seems to me. and we are so miserably afraid of the light, all of us." /henrik ibsen, "ghosts," 1881
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via laist:

A group of classical musicians on their way to a Riverside Philharmonic concert this weekend were on the 91 freeway as the fire literally crossed it. They took this video (it gets crazy at 47 seconds in) and being orchestra geeks, most appropriately gave it the soundtrack of Shostakovich's Symphony #10 (Mvt 2).

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pitchfork interviews fleet foxes:

JT: There's a nice contrast between the morbidity and the pastoral [of the fleet foxes cover].

RP: Exactly. When I just looked at it, I thought, "Pretty." And it seems that way with all his paintings, like "The Fall of Icarus"-- some guy with a plow, and then you can barely see Icarus falling from the sky and landing in the water. Or he has that painting, "The Tower of Babel", and it's just crumbling because you can tell the foundation was laid wrong. I just like that duality, the fact that it's not what you think it is at first. And it's nice to have an album with people defecating coins on the cover.

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this guy makes a lot of cool street art all over the world:

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Alexandros Vasmoulakis also makes cool art:

related: radiohead - just

"My current body of work is an allegory about memory's power to hold us back or move us forward. The central character in this parable is a 6 x 10 foot linocut of an Everyman, who has lost it all and wanders the plains with all his belongings strapped to his back. He navigates a world in crisis by learning from his past. The remainder of the characters that he encounters are individuals lost in regret. I have developed these paintings and prints during the American housing and credit crisis of the past year. In contemplating where we are and where we might be, I have found myself looking back at history, remembering the Great Depression, and considering what effects it had on the American psyche. The uncertainty that existed then is present now, and I am addressing the kind of escapism through nostalgia that can occur in the midst of calamity. Every character that the Everyman sees is gripped by this need to escape their present circumstance. They are people lost in a memory at the very point when they should be paying attention to what lies ahead. Many different artists have inspired the flavor of this world including the photography of Walker Evans, the films of the Cohen brothers, the music of Tom Waits and the theatre of Robert Wilson. [via]

related: the uw history department gives good reasons for declaring a major in history:

History gives you the cultural background to function effectively in contemporary society. In a globalizing world, history provides you with an in-depth knowledge of societies from the distant past to the contemporary era. It enables you to function as an informed citizen and leader.
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times online says:

Claudia Castillo gets windpipe tailor-made from her own stem cells

Martin Birchall, of the University of Bristol, a British member of the team, said: “This is the first time a tissue-engineered whole organ has been transplanted into a patient. I reckon in 20 years’ time it will be the commonest operation – it will transform the way we think about surgery.”

related:

On July 19, 2006, Bush used his veto power for the first time in his presidency to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The bill would have repealed the Dickey Amendment, thereby permitting federal money to be used for research where stem cells are derived from the destruction of an embryo.

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thomas friedman ponders hilary clinton as the next secretary of state:

I covered a secretary of state, one of the best, James A. Baker III, for four years, and one of the things I learned during those years was that what made Baker an effective diplomat was not only his own skills as a negotiator — a prerequisite for the job — but the fact that his boss, President George H.W. Bush, always had Baker’s back. When foreign leaders spoke with Baker, they knew that they were speaking to President Bush, and they knew that President Bush would defend Baker from domestic rivals and the machinations of foreign governments.

That backing is the most important requirement for a secretary of state to be effective. Frankly, Obama could appoint his dear mother-in-law as secretary of state, and if he let the world know she was his envoy, she would be more effective than any ex-ambassador who had no relationship with the president.

When it comes to appointing a secretary of state, you do not want a team of rivals.

in related news, very powerful world leaders are still really, willingly, uninformed and angry at everyone but themselves.

"America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always," the deputy of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden said.
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via huffington post:

Cheney, Gonzales Indicted By South Texas Grand Jury

A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.
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more articles via ny times:

a sea of unwanted imports

But the inventory glut in Long Beach is not limited to imported cars. There has also been a sharp drop in demand for the port’s single largest export: recycled cardboard and paper products.

This material typically goes to China, where it is used to make boxes for new electronics and other products that are sent back to the United States. But Chinese factories reacting to sharply falling demand are slowing production, so they need less cardboard. Tons of paper are piling up recycling businesses around the port, the detritus of economies on hold.

use of antipsychotics in children is criticized

The committee’s concerns are part of a growing chorus of complaints about the increasing use of antipsychotic medicines in children and teenagers. Prescription rates for the drugs have increased more than fivefold for children in the past decade and a half, and doctors now use the drugs to settle outbursts and aggression in children with a wide variety of diagnoses, even though children are especially susceptible to their side effects.

in conclusion:

david bowie & arcade fire - wake up

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

ya rly

"architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space." /ludwig mies van der rohe

"in architecture the pride of man, his triumph over gravitation, his will to power, assume a visible form. architecture is a sort of oratory of power by means of forms." /friedrich nietzsche
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Nakheel Tower is a skyscraper that is proposed to be built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by developer Nakheel. The project was previously called Al Burj [Arabic for "The Tower"]. The proposed tower would be 1,400 m (4,593 ft) tall, making it the world's tallest structure if built.
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via ny times:

12-Year-Old’s a Food Critic, and the Chef Loves It

An Australian couple seated beside him struck up a conversation — he had no idea how much the financial collapse here was affecting the Australian dollar! — and a young couple on the other side of his table insisted, against his polite but firm protestations, on buying him a chocolate mousse. In turn, he recommended that they try the arugula salad.

In the Shadow of a Long Past, Patiently Awaiting the Future

“A man without history is a man without humor,” said Galal Amin, an economist and author who has written about Egypt’s modern decline. “A man with history is more likely to have humor, because he is more likely to see the irony in things, how things were and how they turned out to be. And patience.”

“When other people talk about hoping to see something happen soon, they probably mean within the next few months,” said Aly Salem, an Egyptian playwright. “For an Egyptian, it could mean in the next 50 or 60 years. An Egyptian has a particular pace. His pace is different than an American’s. And a long history can do this.”

for books, is obama the new oprah?

He added that despite not being the chosen one (yet), he was heartened by Mr. Obama’s interest in history. “When people write history, they do not think that it will have any impact on world events,” Mr. Cohen said. “So the idea that we now have a president-elect who is reading multiple books of history and is reading them to shape how he will approach his presidency, I think is inspiring to historians everywhere and augurs well for his presidency. If those who forget history are condemned to repeat it, President Obama seems to really be trying to learn the lessons of history and any historian, whether he reads their book or not, should be very pleased by that.”
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flashlight worthy offers handpicked book recommendations on hundreds of topics.
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via fact magazine:

"beware" of bonnie 'prince' billy

We haven't heard it yet, but (his record label) Domino seem to be getting very excited about what they're calling Oldham's "most ambitious record yet", an album they believe to be "stronger and more grandiose" than its predecessor. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, but according to the PR, which right now is all we have to go on, "fiddle and steel contribute their rustic timbre alongside guitars and voices, a thickening thud of low tone rolls beneath, giving the record a bottom that’s fun to watch bounce in new clothes."

1. Beware Your Only Friend
2. You Can't Hurt Me Now
3. My Life's Work
4. Death Final
5. Heart's Arms
6. You Don't Love Me
7. You Are Lost
8. I Won't Ask Again
9. I Don't Belong to Anyone
10. There Is Something I Have To Say
11. I Am Goodbye
12. Without Work, You Have Nothing
13. Untitled
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department of eagles - 1997 (dumbo session)

fleet foxes - katy cruel (western washington university, 10/18/08)

steve jobs at stanford university, 2005

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. [via]

Sunday, November 16, 2008

unsolved mysteries

"The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is." /marcel proust, "the captive," 1923
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sidewalk shoes is a blog about food, and a little about reading, and some sewing, and [the blogger] might even knit something.
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if it's hip, it's here brings you architecture, art, fashion, web design, and shopping links galore. Globally and locally.
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via times online:

Can everyone be an Einstein?

There is one important link between musical improvisation and the “Aha!” moment that saved Wag Dodge’s life. Improvisation was found to be accompanied by “a dissociated pattern of activity in the prefrontal cortex”. The prefrontal cortex is to the brain what a conductor is to an orchestra. It pulls the whole show together. In humans it is a third of the whole brain, compared with around 5% in dogs and cats. If you want to find where the thing you call “me” is located, the prefrontal cortex would be a good place to start.

The point about that “dissociated pattern” is that it echoes the loosening of connections that precedes the “Aha!” moment. Insight and creativity, perhaps even genius, do seem to be linked to a brain that can disorganise itself and freewheel, making new and unexpected connections. As Nancy Andreasen puts it, the creative act may “begin with a process during which associative links run wild, creating new connections, many of which might seem strange or implausible. The disorganised mental state may persist for many hours, while words, images and ideas collide. Eventually order emerges, and with it the creative product”.
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via nytimes:

gather round, city folk. here's a story...

Like a lot of people, I came to New York in the first place to tell stories. That is what has forever driven the migration of expressive folk to this place, where the nerves cross and tangle, a place that, with luck, will amplify your talent. It doesn’t matter if you dance, act or sing. People pay attention to what emanates from New York. Have something to say or sell? Then insinuate yourself into the giant, pulsing, signal-sending brain that is the city.

book review - "alphabet juice"

Marginalized as a humorist (like Mencken) because he knows how to write funny, Blount is also a superb reporter who possesses an imaginative intellect (also like Mencken). Disdaining those scholars who think the relation between words and their meanings is arbitrary, he argues that “all language, at some level, is body language.” Beyond the clearly imitative words, like the onomatopoeic “boom,” “poof” and “gong,” Blount zeroes in on the expressive words that “somehow sensuously evoke the essence of the word: ‘queasy’ or ‘rickety’ or ‘zest’ or ‘sluggish’ or ‘vim,’ ”he writes. “If you were a cave person earnestly trying to communicate how you felt digestively, you might without benefit of any verbal tradition come up with something close to ‘nausea.’ ”

Feeling “ ‘polyurethane foam’ . . . running around in my mind’s ear and mouth is like watching otters play in the water,” he says.

(read the first chapter here.)

lose the blackberry? yes he can, maybe

“How about that?” Mr. Obama replied to a friend’s congratulatory e-mail message on the night of his victory.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

across us, big rallies for same-sex marriage

“It’s not ‘Yes we can,’ ” said Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco city supervisor, referring to President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign mantra. “It’s ‘Yes we will.’ ”

in hard times, no more fancy pants

“There’s a shift to get away from glitz,” Ms. Kaufman said. “I’m almost starting to feel that luxury is a dirty word.”

It is no secret that consumers are cutting back, anxious about jobs, plummeting home values and shrinking retirement savings. But that belt-tightening seems to have also prompted a reconsideration of what is acceptable consumerism even for those relatively unaffected by the economic cataclysm.

congo's riches, looted by renegade troops

The exploitation of this mountain is emblematic of the failure to right this sprawling African nation after many years of tyranny and war, and of the deadly role the country’s immense natural wealth has played in its misery.

Despite a costly effort to unite the nation’s many militias into a single national army, plus billions of dollars spent on international peacekeepers and an election in 2006 that brought democracy to Congo for the first time in four decades, the government is unable or unwilling to force these fighters — who wear government army uniforms and collect government paychecks — to leave the mountain.

a seafood snob ponders the future of fish

Nearly one-third of the world’s wild-caught fish are reduced to fish meal and fed to farmed fish and cattle and pigs. Aquaculture alone consumes an estimated 53 percent of the world’s fish meal and 87 percent of its fish oil. (To make matters worse, as much as a quarter of the total wild catch is thrown back — dead — as “bycatch.”)

i feel obligated to refer to this, even though it categorically does not apply to me:

some see big problem with wisconsin drinking

Technically speaking, the sale is between the bartender and the parent or legal guardian, who then gives the drink to the minor. The bartender has the discretion to decide whether the minor can drink in the establishment.

Before he owned Wile-e’s, Mr. Whaley said there were some cases where he had to say no to a parent. “I’ve had situations where a parent was going to buy drinks for a kid who looked 8 or 10 years old,” he said, “and I had to say, ‘That’s a no-go.’ ”
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Comparisons between nutmeg intoxication and MDMA have been made, however this remains speculative...A user will not experience a peak until approximately six hours after ingestion, and effects can linger for up to three days afterwards.
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via huffington post:

rahm emanuel roasts stephen colbert

"Dana Perino is here, what an honor to be roasted by the spokesman for the president. Dana Perino, wonderful to see you. I always knew Scott McClellan would hatch into something beautiful. When you crawled out of the McClellan cocoon, did you have to devour the shell for nutrients or is he still lurking around someplace? ... I loved it when you told Helen Thomas that the 'Mission Accomplished' banner should have read, 'Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission.' I certainly hope you had a banner for that explanation. Do you get sore the next day after shoveling it that hard? I kid, I kid, but no, Dana, you are the one person who I don't mind slamming me on this entire podium, because I know for the last year and a half you haven't meant anything you've said." /colbert
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via daytrotter:

A Week With Bonnie Prince Billy's "Lie Down In The Light"

In the mid-nineties, the big rags were ready and willing to do their part to promote Palace and get more records sold. Then the coverage disappeared, which I discovered was due to him not sending out review copies anymore, giving the proverbial finger to friendly critics and their privileged status of getting free music and advising others what to think about it ahead of time. I remember him saying in an interview that critics could seek out his music if they deemed it worthy, just like everyone else had to.

related: bonnie prince billy's 2006 daytrotter session
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reefer - s/t (2008)

Their self-titled mini album (previously entitled The Life Narcotic) contains six sun-dripped songs and three interludes, plus remixes from Dntel and Flying Lotus. The album was composed on the Maui coastline in Makena, and was finished soon after in Los Angeles at Daddy Kev’s studio, the Echo Chamber. Reefer is very much influenced by the beautiful tropical surroundings, the sounds of the ocean, and being far away from their regular daily routines. Not predictably sunny in tone, the minor-key arrangements and Thorburn’s playful wordplay conjures up images of something more sinister than cheeseburgers in paradise. Kev’s subtle, controlled production fits each songs mood nicely and draws from Hawaiian pop influences. Initially considered to be a one-off project, Reefer hopes to make another album when they meet again in a new exotic tropical location. /jive

jose gonzalez - live at park avenue (ep)

i saw jose live at the terrace a couple summers ago and it was great. his calm, assertive, wholly professional (if only for the purposes of the show) aura extended to the entire crowd. i found myself talking to strangers calmly, sipping strongbow, and sitting on some steps, wholly enjoying the entire atmosphere for a number of hours. in this live recording, polite, yet enthusiastic, applause squeezes its way in between songs that sound as though they were taken straight from gonzalez's studio recordings. the nine tracks on this album are performed mostly solo, but you can hear a couple backing instrumentalists at times, as well. this ep, recorded in orlando, florida on march 1, 2008, exhibits about what it might sound like at one of his shows, but there is something otherworldly (certainly unrecordable) that is simply imperceptible about all live performances, and jose gonzalez is no exception. nonetheless, live at park avenue is a great recording of essentially flawless guitar technicality, and a nice appetite whetter after countless spins of his dry full-lengths. dehydrated mango is dry and delicious; sometimes it's just nice to have a textural change.

Friday, November 14, 2008

dark skin. black hair. exotic as the bird flu, twice as killer.

"the naturalist must consider only one thing: what is the relation of this or that external reaction of the animal to the phenomena of the external world?" /ivan pavlov, "scientific study of so-called psychical processes in the higher animals," 1906
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more
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refinery29 - autumn passing
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The Quando Arriva La Gente Si Sente Meglio EP's "Da Piccolissimi Pezzi" (which translates as "The Smallest Pieces") puts creaking electric and acoustic guitars over a loping electronic beat, with accordion and keyboards combining to give the song the feel of digital-age folk music. [via]
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via kagablog:

this is not an order
this is not a poem
this is not a man-
tra this is not a
list of recrimi-
nations this is
not a 12 step
program this
is not any-
thing this
is not me
this is
not
you
so no
stress now
baby i’m busy
anyway the truth is
if you’re going to live a lie
you have to do it very convincingly
and you don’t have to worry about my loyalty
i’m always loyal to me and you don’t have to worry
about timing i’ll know when it’s time to make the first mistakes
and if you’re afraid that i’ll debase you don’t forget a little debasement
goes a long way and i know that your mouth is a temple so open it
wider and i know that your eyes are portals to your soul so close
them. this is what i’m gonna do i’m going to uncontrol you
til your five senses ungovern you i’m going to unfasten
your seatbelt and watch while you float through the
windscreen i’m going to help pull you untogether
going to watch while you put off your face
so don’t be anybody don’t be somebody
don’t be a person don’t be a woman
don’t be a girl don’t be you
don’t be anything
don’t be free
don’t be me
don’t be
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tania ruiz gutierrez makes cool art.

The concept of the installation Itineracy emerged from a series of reflections concerning the historical relationship between the railway systems and the notions of simultaneity and universality as well as the implications of these notions nowadays.

The concept of “Universal Time” is a recent one. Before the nineteenth century, when a trip from one country to another took days, and from one continent to another, months, there was little need to coordinate the time between different places.

The introduction of standard time, in the early nineteenth century, was closely related to the development of the railway system. Just as the standardisation of time begets the idea of synchronisation, the establishment of a universal time begets that of simultaneity.

Two hundred years later, we assume blindly that the entire globe is permanently living a singular moment, a universal present. What is more, we know that in economical as much as in ecological terms we are tied to people situated in distant everyday realities and landscapes. This condition is visually addressed by Itineracy.

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living bridge - disc 1/disc 2 (2008)

With so much music being released each week, and with so many music critics intent on being the first to declare the Next Big Thing, looking for a decent indie sampler is nigh impossible. But Brooklyn-based Rare Book Room Studios has quite possibly overridden these problems with Living Bridge. Released in February, this two-disc compilation boasts a bevy of indie music darlings (Black Dice, the Silver Jews, Deerhunter, Blood on the Wall, Avey Tare of Animal Collective), all of whom recorded songs specifically for this compilation. There’s not a whack track here. /wnew
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the byrds - the notorious byrd brothers (1968)

At less than 29 minutes, this is the Byrds' briefest album. Nonetheless, in a contemporary review, famed music critic Robert Christgau regarded Notorious as "simply the best album the Byrds have ever recorded", ranking it with simultaneous releases by Love (Forever Changes) and The Beach Boys (Wild Honey) and remarking "[i]t's hard to believe that so much good can come out of one place [i.e., Los Angeles"]. He later declared Notorious (as well as its follow-up, Sweetheart of the Rodeo) to be "[one] of the most convincing arguments for artistic freedom ever to come out of American rock". /wiki
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upcoming shows:

11/16: deerhunter, times new viking, high noon saloon, $12
11/17: no age, 770, free
11/22: hood internet, 770, free
12/19: bon iver, tallest man on earth, barrymore, $18
2/6: leo kottke, barrymore $25

more upcoming wisconsin shows

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

[post title]

"good can imagine evil, but evil cannot imagine good."

"To-morrow the rediscovery of romantic love,
The photographing of ravens; all the fun under
Liberty's masterful shadow;
To-morrow the hour of the pageant-master and the musician,
The beautiful roar of the chorus under the dome;
To-morrow the exchanging of tips on the breeding of terriers,
The eager election of chairmen
By the sudden forest of hands. But to-day the struggle.
To-morrow for the young the poets exploding like bombs,
The walks by the lake, the weeks of perfect communion;
To-morrow the bicycle races
Through the suburbs on summer evenings. But to-day the struggle."

/w.h. auden
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via ny times:

deprogramming jihadists

The Saudi government thus finds itself in the awkward position of needing to defend the principle of jihad to its citizens while discouraging them from actually taking up arms. One step it has taken is simply to talk to those who have proved to be most vulnerable to the temptations of jihad, the captured militants themselves. As Jilani put it to me, “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has the confidence to fight thoughts with thoughts.”

$585 million fine in lcd price fixing

Three leading flat-screen producers — LG Display of South Korea, Sharp of Japan and Chunghwa Picture Tubes of Taiwan — pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a total of $585 million in criminal fines for their role in fixing the price of liquid-crystal display panels.

the oven is booked. dessert's in the freezer.

Over the years I have learned, by trial and sometimes disastrous error, what can best be made ahead while still guaranteeing success at dessert time. Pastry and cakes, especially those rich in butter, are usually fine candidates for freezing, so if you bake your cakes and pies a week or two before Thanksgiving, you can freeze most of them without fear. Even desserts made the weekend before the holiday are better frozen and then defrosted, rather than refrigerated for four days.

how to fix a flat

Lastly, somebody ought to call Steve Jobs, who doesn’t need to be bribed to do innovation, and ask him if he’d like to do national service and run a car company for a year. I’d bet it wouldn’t take him much longer than that to come up with the G.M. iCar.

In a Novel Theory of Mental Disorders, Parents’ Genes Are in Competition

In short: autism and schizophrenia represent opposite ends of a spectrum that includes most, if not all, psychiatric and developmental brain disorders. The theory has no use for psychiatry’s many separate categories for disorders, and it would give genetic findings an entirely new dimension.

“Think of the grandiosity in schizophrenia, how some people think that they are Jesus, or Napoleon, or omnipotent,” Dr. Crespi said, “and then contrast this with the underdeveloped sense of self in autism. Autistic kids often talk about themselves in the third person.”

the get-out-the-song effort

It’s not that the jingles were great (they weren’t) or that anyone besides my family and friends knew that they were on the radio (they didn’t). Yet I felt I had broken through some invisible wall that the gatekeepers of the music world had put up. There I was, just a young mutt barely paddling upstream. I kept paddling. There was no shore in sight, but at least I was figuring out how to paddle. And I was happy.

anti-gay, anti-family

Social conservatives are threatening to roll out Arkansas-style adoption bans in other states. And the timing couldn’t be worse: in tough economic times, the numbers of abused and neglected children in need of foster care rises. But good times or bad, no movement that would turn away qualified parents and condemn children to a broken foster care system should be considered “pro-family.”

Most ominous, once “pro-family” groups start arguing that gay couples are unfit to raise children we might adopt, how long before they argue that we’re unfit to raise those we’ve already adopted? If lesbian couples are unfit to care for foster children, are they fit to care for their own biological children?

a case of religious discrimination

The federal appeals court reached the right result, but regrettably, it ducked the issue at the heart of the case, which turns on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The real problem is that Pleasant Grove City elevated one religion, traditional Christianity, over another, Summum. The founders regarded this sort of religious preference as so odious that they included a specific provision in the First Amendment prohibiting it. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has a bad record on Establishment Clause cases, which made it easier for all of the parties to treat the case as a simple speech case.
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laist told me so:

County of LA Join Lawsuit Against Prop 8, ACLU Laywer Makes a Great Case

The very title of Proposition 8 states its constitutional defect. Its title is, “Eliminates the Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.” Proposition 8 takes away what our constitution guarantees as a fundamental right. It works a breathtaking diminution of the value of our constitution itself: by allowing voters to completely revise core constitutional principles, Proposition 8 sets a dangerous precedent that all our constitutional protections – the right to free speech, the right to equal protection of the law, and others – exist only for so long as majorities vote yes on them. If it stands, it will suggest that any fundamental rights can be revoked on a bare majority vote, regardless of what our constitution otherwise guarantees.

californians like chickens more than gay people

Many of these older voters grew up in a time where gays had little voice or little representation in the world, and so for them the issue might be a little more difficult than the open environment you grew up in regarding homosexuality or other moral issues. When you don't have exposure to these sort of ideas when you are younger, you are less likely to embrace them in the future. The times they lived in had different moral standards than the times we live in now.

jimi's drummer is gone

Mitchell had been reliving the past while drumming for the Experience Hendrix Tour. Jimi Hendrix, probably the most influential rock guitarist of all time, died tragically in 1970 at the age of 27 of asphyxiation. Noel Redding passed away in 2003 at 57 due to liver failure. It appears Mitchell died of natural causes, although an autopsy will take place. He was 61.

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when was the last time you had a good, hearty vomit all over yourself?
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(this one ultimately seems to be the most misguided of the ones posted here. is she attempting to inform people of god's feelings about america, thereby willing them to change their actions and appease him so he loves us again? perhaps her shirt implies she's a french aristocrat or an active participant in the daily goings-on of buckingham palace? is she an ironic atheist?)

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solar flare 1

solar flare 2

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ANGST
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i took a class about the biology of aging and it was fascinating. one of the more interesting things i learned about was apoptosis, or programmed cell death. unlike the function of telomeres, which essentially determine the length of a cell's life by keeping a sort of biological tally on how many times a cell has reproduced, apoptosis is a process by which cells start out with an intended point of self-destruction, sort of like a muslim infidel with a suicide mission, but that infidel is a member of a universally unwanted community and it's attacking itself. good news for everyone involved. apoptosis is necessary for the separation of fingers, toes, eyelids, lips, and all other parts of the human body that intially started out as one big clump of stem cells.

i mention this because i had two friends growing up with syndactyly, and it always fascinated me. one of them had tiny, malformed fingers on her tiny, right hand, and the other had her second and third toes fused together, which is nowhere near as gross as it sounds, and actually kind of endearing in that weird-nonhazardous-mutation kind of way.

related: polydactyly is cool in some cases.