Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Joe & Eddie
Joe & Eddie
Joe and Eddie was an American gospel and Folk music group whose vocal career peaked in 1964. Composed of two African American men, Joe Gilbert and Eddie Brown, Joe and Eddie became popular with their vocal talent. In their career, they toured the United States and Canada, appeared on over 20 major television shows and recorded eight albums.
Feeding time
A group of otters wait for feeding time in their pen at the New Forest Wildlife Park, Hampshire
Picture: John Wines/BNPS (via Pictures of the day: 23 August 2010 - Telegraph)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Cheap-labor Conservatives - holding us "Over a barrel"
- Cheap-labor conservatives don't like social spending or our "safety net". Why. Because when you're unemployed and desperate, corporations can pay you whatever they feel like – which is inevitably next to nothing. You see, they want you "over a barrel" and in a position to "work cheap or starve".
- Cheap-labor conservatives don't like the minimum wage, or other improvements in wages and working conditions. Why. These reforms undo all of their efforts to keep you "over a barrel".
- Cheap-labor conservatives like "free trade", NAFTA, GATT, etc. Why. Because there is a huge supply of desperately poor people in the third world, who are "over a barrel", and will work cheap.
- Cheap-labor conservatives oppose a woman's right to choose. Why. Unwanted children are an economic burden that put poor women "over a barrel", forcing them to work cheap.
- Cheap-labor conservatives don't like unions. Why. Because when labor "sticks together", wages go up. That's why workers unionize. Seems workers don't like being "over a barrel".
On the Internet no one knows...
I have a dog; I named him Stay. So when I'd go to call him, I'd say, "Here,
Stay, here..." but he got wise to that. Now when I call him he ignores me
and just keeps on typing.
-- Stephen Wright
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Refusing at Fifty-Two
Refusing at Fifty-Two to Write Sonnets
by Thomas Lynch
It came to him that he could nearly count
How many Octobers he had left to him
In increments of ten or, say, eleven
Thus: sixty-three, seventy-four, eighty-five.
He couldn't see himself at ninety-six—
Humanity's advances notwithstanding
In health-care, self-help, or new-age regimens—
What with his habits and family history,
The end he thought is nearer than you think.The future, thus confined to its contingencies,
The present moment opens like a gift:
The balding month, the grey week, the blue morning,
The hour's routine, the minute's passing glance—
All seem like godsends now. And what to make of this?
At the end the word that comes to him is Thanks.
by Thomas Lynch
It came to him that he could nearly count
How many Octobers he had left to him
In increments of ten or, say, eleven
Thus: sixty-three, seventy-four, eighty-five.
He couldn't see himself at ninety-six—
Humanity's advances notwithstanding
In health-care, self-help, or new-age regimens—
What with his habits and family history,
The end he thought is nearer than you think.The future, thus confined to its contingencies,
The present moment opens like a gift:
The balding month, the grey week, the blue morning,
The hour's routine, the minute's passing glance—
All seem like godsends now. And what to make of this?
At the end the word that comes to him is Thanks.
LINK: Poets.org Thomas Lynch
Monday, August 16, 2010
Test tasting...
erik parra at johansson projects 'between currencies'  'tasting'6 x 7.5 inches collage on paper in his first solo exhibition 'between currencies', american artist erik parra examines the tension between the meticulously cut and the shredded with his juxtaposition of vintage pop media clippings and multicolored paper cutouts. the tangled layers of artificiality eminent in both the medium and the message- between black and white and RGB, history and desire, question the relevance of a search for american authenticity. |
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Land of Giants
The Land of Giants Award Winner 2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Honorable Mention Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition This design transforms mundane electrical pylons into statues on the Icelandic landscape by making only small alterations to existing pylon design. |
Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon-figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
The American Nekkid Nightmare
Finally someone has stated the obvious ... Not only the emperor but all of us are nekkid ... My compliments to Michael Lind for doing his best in trying to tell us the truth.
. . .
For a generation, most Americans have been told by left, right and center that they would be failures if they ended their educations with high school, worked hard, saved cash for emergencies and bought modest homes they could afford. They have been told that to succeed in life they need to ape the lifestyles of the upper middle class that provides most of America’s politicians, pundits and scholars.
The result has been an experiment in social engineering that has gone horribly wrong: the creation of a faux mass upper middle class. Millions of Americans who by objective standards belong to the working class or lower middle class have persuaded themselves that they are part of the professional-investor elite, because they have worthless degrees from diploma mills, negligible amounts invested in stocks, and suburban trophy houses they cannot afford. For the college graduates at Starbucks working to pay off student loans for degrees that they will never use, as for the millions of Americans who are now "underwater," owing more on their mortgages than their houses are worth, the American dream has turned into a nightmare.
LINK: The fantasy of a vast upper middle class
Friday, August 06, 2010
And this person is a physician?
Fort Belvoir, Virginia (CNN) -- Charges against the Army officer who refused deployment to Afghanistan because he says President Barack Obama doesn't have the authority to send him, should be thrown out says his attorney, Paul Jensen.
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin went before a military judge -- and a standing-room-only courtroom -- in Virginia on Friday to face three charges of disobeying a lawful order, one count of missing movement (not deploying with his unit) and one count of dereliction of duty.
LINK: CNN Justice
Let loose the dogs... of rhetoric.
I guess if all you have is a Military-Industrial mentality then all you can see is war. I was insulted when I read the following headline and then the subsequent snippet that is accessible before hitting the WSJ-pay-wall. John Lee is the worst sort of saber-rattling 50's propaganda fear mongering profit. <= Spelled correctly - sensational journalism sells something.
China's Rise and the Road to War
BY: JOHN LEE | THE WALL STREET JOURNALAs with Germany a century ago, an emerging power is overestimating its capabilities.
To draw such an archaic comparison as 'Germany a century ago' to the current world circumstance is broaching the irresponsible. There isn't a country on the planet that is seeking any sort of 'world domination'. Besides, China has already won. Their reign as the pre-eminent wold power will last well beyond our short lifetimes or even shorter memories. To paraphrase Steven Wright, "If China had everything, where would it put it?" The answer is "Everywhere." Silly John Lee, China has already won and we are still right where we are.
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