|
Online Journal
Last Updated:
16 Oct 2000
I Support:
NORML
VHEM
Weblogs
Abuddhas
Coldmarble
GmtPlus9
Simcoe
Unknown News
YAWL
email me
The Archive
|
It's all me, baby!
Sunday, December 31, 2000
Thank the fates that the millenium is almost over.
Resolutions:
Update my OLJ at least twice a week.
Be less angry, put things in perspective.
Overcome my irrational fears.
Be more proactive and less reactive.
Stop trying to fit in (since it ain't gonna happen)
Fight evil.
Reject the mundane.
Stand up for my beliefs.
Start a guerilla art campaign.
Purify myself of most of my vices.
Annoy even more conservative pinheads than last year.
(they're not all pinheads, but most seem to be)
Live in the now.
Answer all of my e-mail.
(the problem is that my ISP has turned into spam central)
Forget all about that macho shit and learn how to play guitar.
That's just for starters.
I dub the next millennium the "ghost rocket millennium"! :)
Make This Natural Treasure a National Monument
Saturday, December 30, 2000
Jimmy Carter sounds off on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. One good point:
"Some 95 percent of Alaska's oil-rich North Slope lands are already available for exploration or development. Our nation must choose what to do with the last 5 percent. Oil drilling or wilderness. We cannot have it both ways."
Dubya and co. want to con the public into believing that we can magically drill for oil without killing wildlife and destroying scenic beauty.
Sorry, George. You can't fool all of us!
(Registration required for NYT site. Silly bastards.)
Bush Choices Made For Education, Interior, VA
Saturday, December 30, 2000
Bush nominates anti-abortion candidate to head Health and Human Services and a Interior candidate sure to be a disaster for U.S. wilderness areas and the environment in general:
"In a speech on Earth Day a couple of years ago, Norton outlined her views. 'I believe that it is time for some drastic changes in the way in which we approach environmental decision-making,' she said. 'Conservatives have become gun-shy. Too many cede the moral high ground to those who advocate the government solutions.' In the speech, Norton praised the idea of 'environmental self-audit,' a corporate self-policing system she championed in Colorado. 'The Environmental Protection Agency hates our approach,' she said. 'The Environmental Protection Agency is now threatening to revoke our approval for our environmental programs.'"
Good idea, that, to let criminals police themselves. Corporate welfare supporters must be ecstatic, especially big oil.
I do hope that a Bush administration will get armchair environmentalists off their butts and out into the streets. Let me assure you that it will in my case.
Historic environmental agreements made without the U.S.
Saturday, December 30, 2000
As the U.S. tries to wait out environmental crises (so that corporate interests won't be inconvienced or have to pay their fair share), it's up to Sweden and other nations to take the lead.
Corporate greenwash propoganda scares me too, since most people simply swallow any kind of bunk that advertising pushes.
I actually read on a message board that Ford Expeditions are good for the environment because some parts can be recycled (and this guy was serious). Greenwashing works!
Welcome to Smart
Friday, December 29, 2000
After tearing poor DaimlerChrysler to shreds, I thought it only fair to point out that they sell this nifty microcar in Europe. Of course, this only slightly offsets all of the SUVs sold into the U.S.
What the easily duped american public doesn't seem to understand is that car makers love SUVs because of their huge markups and cheaply built truck frames. Don't even get me started on their laughable safety record and total disregard for the environment.
Passenger breaks into airliner, attempts to crash plane
Friday, December 29, 2000
I have a simple solution to all of this 'air rage' and other assorted wackos who fly on airlines bullshit. Dope all of the passengers up and ship 'em as cargo. No crappy airline food, no snippy flight attendants, no being trapped with a bunch of crying babies and assorted drunken assholes. Plus if you crash, your last moments don't have to be interrupted by a bunch of screaming idiots.
Just get on the plane, take your pills and 'bang' you wake up at your destination. It makes sense, doesn't it?
Dotcom Yuppies Gone Home
Thursday, December 28, 2000
As dotcoms go bust, real estate prices drop. Hooray!
Bay Area 'Mad Taggers' Target SUVs
Thursday, December 28, 2000
Nice to see the anti-SUV cabal get some press.
Hmmmmmm: DaimlerChrysler Shares Hit Four-Year Low.
This makes me happy since some jerkass tried to run me down in his Dodge Durango today.
The Divisions of Righteousness: Part One
Thursday, December 28, 2000
I'm a ecodystopian. Duh.
If you want to see the cockeyed optimists, click here. What fools!
In case you didn't know it, Codrescu kicks ass.
I'm reading 'The Devil Never Sleeps' right now.
Enemies of the Future
Thursday, December 28, 2000
MegaCorps win. You lose.
Clinton Grants Pardons to 59 People
Friday, December 22, 2000
Slick Willie frees a few drug offenders, but most important to him was letting thieves like former Democratic congressman Dan Rostenkowski and other assorted political cronies off the hook.
I wish Bill could see me giving him the finger.
In other good news, Judge Overturns 3 L.A. Convictions.
Go corrupt cops!
Painters Turn Deserted Dump Into Oasis of Artwork
Friday, December 22, 2000
Proof that art is where you find it.
Clinton Examines Clemency Cases
Friday, December 22, 2000
Will Clinton pardon low-level drug offenders?
Yeah, about as likely as high grade skunkweed falling from the sky like fresh snowflakes! Don't forget kids, this is the same guy who 'smoked but didn't inhale'.
The Body Hunters
Friday, December 22, 2000
International clinical drug testing screws poor third worlders.
Abandoned Malls, Suburban Blight
Friday, December 22, 2000
Strip mall blight worse than you think:
"Leapfrogging across the landscape costs these companies less than recycling existing properties. But the only reason it's so cheap is because the rest of us are paying the price. The new stores are chewing up valuable farmland and open space, exacerbating traffic and air pollution, burdening public services and morphing our communities into placeless blobs of sprawl. The empty stores create blight and erode local property values. "
The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization
Friday, December 22, 2000
One of the few cryptozoological research organizations I truely respect, namely because they seem to be fairly rational and level headed.
"Some note how most Americans will profess a belief in things they have never seen, such as God and Jesus, but the same Americans will quickly ridicule honest eyewitnesses to these animals, even if those eyewitnesses are their most trusted family members. The topic so sternly dismissed by societal institutions that no one should be surprised that no physical remains have ever been delivered to scientists by the public."
I don't consider the possibility of cryptics or UFOs any more or less ridiculous than worshiping a man nailed to two pieces of wood (to steal a line from George Carlin).
Check out the now infamous 'Bigfoot buttprint'!
Cycle of Violence
Friday, December 22, 2000
For those who scoff at the effect of a full moon, it turns out that animals twice as likely to bite then.
Christmas Eclipse
Friday, December 22, 2000
A partial solar eclipse will be visible across North America on December 25.
Men feeling inadequate by failure to measure up to adverts
Friday, December 22, 2000
Duh. That's what advertising is supposed to do: destroy your self esteem so that you go out and buy a bunch of junk you don't need.
I'm sure women are thinking: "Awwwww, poor babies!"
Guys just go out and buy a Ford Expedition you can't afford, get a new Nokia cell phone to look hip and be sure to stock up on plenty of Propecia, Paxil and Viagra!
Thanks, tvtattle :)
Bush Sees More Pipelines And Drilling on Public Land
Thursday, December 21, 2000
Dubya ready to fellate energy companies, sell out public lands.
Nasa revives Pluto probe
Thursday, December 21, 2000
Maybe. I never expect NASA to do anything that makes much sense, but keep your fingers crossed.
The age of computer heroes is over
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
A good example of why us PC using drones don't give much of a damn about Apple Computer. I have nothing against Macs and most people who use them, but I've always been baffled by the cult of personality surrounding Steve Jobs. Here's a guy who favors style over substance and who can't quite seem to deliver the goods, but it still viewed with awe by a small number of Apple zealots. It doesn't make sense to me.
Also see: Blind Arrogance.
Court reprieve for Pinochet
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
Chilean Supreme Court lets butcher Pinochet off the hook.
Supreme Courts aren't just corrupt in the U.S. What a relief!
Powell Sees end to Saddam's Regime
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
Considering that Bush Sr. choked on Saddam and didn't get the job done when he had the chance, I'm not sure why he seems to think that Dubya will be any different.
"'We will work with our allies to re-energize the sanctions regime,' he said. 'We're doing this to protect the peoples of the region, the children of the region, who would be the targets of these weapons of mass destruction if we did not contain them and eliminate them.'"
Can you say "We had to destroy the village in order to save it"? What you're doing is condeming the death of innocent men, women and children while Saddam thumbs his nose at you, just as he did at Clinton. What a hypocrite!
Britain to be wooed on 'son of star wars'
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
'Star Wars' missile defense boondoggle continues even though incoming Secretary of State Powell doubts it will work.
What the U.S. military doesn't get is that there are plenty of other ways to easily deliver weapons of mass destruction without using ballistic missiles. Of course, the Pentagon only plans for threats that they think they can defeat by throwing money at the problem. Under Bush, expect more billions of dollars wasted on corporate welfare for defense contractors, even more than Clinton threw away.
I've been possessed by the devil, too
Monday, December 18, 2000
Psychological study shows how vulnerable we are to suggestion and that memory isn't as reliable as we think.
Time Names George W. Bush Person of the Year 2000
Sunday, December 17, 2000
"In contrast to the detail-hungry Gore, Isaacson wrote, 'Bush is impatient with distracting details, just as he is with the cedar undergrowth on his ranch, which he clears with a vengeance because it distracts his view of the big picture.'"
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
OK, I hear you. Enough preaching for one weekend.
Climate threat to US water
Sunday, December 17, 2000
Makes sense to me.
If anything, this article is far too optimistic.
Kiss Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson goodbye. They're going to run out of water even without global warming.
I guess the reason I'm ranting is I hate to see people waste so much water. This summer when we had a horrible drought, I saw people running their sprinklers for hours and hours at a time, just to keep a bunch of grass green. When I visited Phoenix, I was amazed to see elaborate electronic sprinkler systems just to keep a six by eight foot patch of grass next to a front door.
It's the desert, stupid!
Fresh water is the most important resource we have and it shouldn't be wasted so frivolously.
Unhappy Meals
Sunday, December 17, 2000
"Cattle in the United States are still being fed cattle blood, as well as rendered livestock wastes from hog slaughterhouses. They're still being fed dead horses. And poultry in the United States are routinely being fed the rendered waste from cattle slaughterhouses."
More good reasons to quit eating fast food and meat in general.
I'm not a vegetarian, but after finding out about the health risks, danger to employees and environmental damage caused by commercially produced meat, I'm seriously considering it.
I couldn't be saying this if I lived in Colorado:
"In Colorado, breaking the veggie libel law is now a criminal offense. If you say or write the wrong thing about the meat being produced in that state, you could be convicted of a felony."
I love living in a country where you can be legally sued for saying something like 'I'm not going to eat hamburgers because of the health risk', don't you?
For more info, see Food Speak and mad-cow.org.
Mike's Message (14 Dec 2000)
Sunday, December 17, 2000
Michael Moore sets us straight once again.
The Atlanta Roadways Digest (TARD)
Sunday, December 17, 2000
AKA, "Drivers who should be beaten with a tire iron".
Also see: How to drive like a moron. Everybody's doin' it.
Muchas Gracias to The Amazing Pita!!! :)
Clinton gives farewell warning on global warming
Saturday, December 16, 2000
Alas, more hypocrisy from Clinton.
Gee Bill, you didn't do a hell of a lot to protect the environment during your tenure. Sure, we had some tokenism on your part, but you weren't much better than Bush Sr., who laughably liked to refer to himself as 'The Environmental President'.
At least we know for a fact that Dubya's going to lay waste to our wilderness areas for his oil baron cronies and roll back pollution regulations for big corporations.
We never really knew where you stood.
Banned Books On-Line
Saturday, December 16, 2000
Some good historical examples here too.
Thanks, Nutlog :)
High court's rationale stuns legal scholars
Saturday, December 16, 2000
More on how Rehnquist and co. swept democracy under the rug.
BTW, Gore won the election by more than 540,000 votes.
Also see VoteWithAmerica.com.
Also see Two Nations, Once Again.
I hope this will wake people up to the fact that we have a racist, classist and totally corrupt political system in this country, but I'm not going to hold my breath about it.
Romance to Reality
Saturday, December 16, 2000
Summaries and annotations for Lunar and Martian expedition and colonization plans dating all the way back to 1950.
The dream of manned space exploration must not die.
WASAW: Writers & Artists Snacking At Work
Thursday, December 14, 2000
I didn't know they still made Andy Capp Hot Fries. Yummy!
As my metabolism has slowed to a crawl, I've been forced to give up most junk food. The only kind I miss is Jalapeno Krunchers! which you can't seem to find in North Carolina anymore. I'd order a case, but I'd put on another ten pounds I don't need wolfing them down in front of the TV.
Bless the Blockhead
Thursday, December 14, 2000
CBS did the right thing and aired 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' earlier this week, which I've watched faithfully for at least twenty five years. Here's some good historical background.
Thanks, tvtattle :)
News, Views and a Silicon Valley Diary
Thursday, December 14, 2000
Dan Gillmor makes some excellent points about Bush:
"After making millions through inheritance and old-boy cronyism, Bush surely will hum along to the hymn of pure, Darwinistic capitalism. He's a product of it, and has done well by it."
To be fair, you could make most of the same points about Gore, but Bush's $1,600,000,000,000 (that's a lot of zeros, huh?) tax cuts to rich white folks has me worried.
Playboy Interview: Gary Johnson
Thursday, December 14, 2000
This is a transcript of this month's Playboy interview with maverick New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. This guy's a Libertarian, not a Republican:
"It's a misconception that drugs are a huge killer. Relative to tobacco, they aren't. Tobacco kills about 400,000 people per year. Alcohol kills about 150,000, and that doesn't include deaths from drinking and driving. Legal prescription drugs kill 100,000 people. Cocaine and heroin kill about 3000 people. Where is the bogeyman? Yet we are arresting 1.6 million people a year for drugs."
Maybe he'll run on their ticket in 2004.
Did you know that I'm the only straight man on Earth who reads Playboy just for the articles? There's something about perfectly proportioned, airbrushed women that just doesn't yank my crank, so to speak.
I like my women to look a bit less plastic.
Bob and Doug Mckenzie's 'Twelve Days of Christmas'
Wednesday, December 13, 2000
And a beer, in a tree!
Gore Decides To Drop Out of Race
Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Thank god it's finally over.
Here we have two spoiled children fighting over the Presidency of the United States for the past five weeks. Bush finally managed to steal the election thanks to a few conservative members Supreme Court with severe conflicts of interest. So now we have a President who did not win the national popular vote, but was elected by a panel of judges. That's not exactly democratic if you ask me. Of course, we'll never know who won in Florida and Gore isn't exactly innocent of this mess either. It's just that the greater of two evils triumphed this time. I just hope that there's not too much gloating by intellectually challenged Dubyaites.
Remember: Democracy bad! Kangaroo courts good!
This will leave some nasty scars, but with scars comes memory.
Hey, it's all the fault of us third party voters! :P
Sarafem Nation
Tuesday, December 12, 2000
'Happy pill' makers target Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder:
"One thing is for sure: Eli Lilly and Company has a financial stake in PMDD. Lilly's Prozac patents are expiring in 2001 and 2003. This means the market will open up to cheaper generic competitors. Analysts have estimated that Prozac sales will decline drastically—from about $2.51 billion in 2000 to $625 million in 2003. Sarafem will provide a significant new market—women—to boost profits. That's a smart move, since women are the primary users of drugs that alter mood."
Hmm, guess that explains the plethora of Prozac pimping TV ads aimed at women.
China sells organs of slain convicts
Monday, December 11, 2000
Kidneys going for ten thousand dollars cash:
" For the desperate - those who can afford it - it's a question of survival. And with no shortage of prisoners awaiting execution, the Chinese army hospital in Chongqing is only too willing to oblige."
I encourage everyone to consider organ donation.
Trust me, you won't need your organs after you expire.
Fishing for Clues
Monday, December 11, 2000
Poisonous puffer fish helps human genome mapping.
Japan's missing million
Sunday, December 10, 2000
Another article on the hikkimori phenomenon.
The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy
Saturday, December 9, 2000
As I would have expected, Southerners use the term 'Coke' for all soft drinks, Northeasterners use 'Soda' and Midwesterners use 'Pop' I suspect that North Carolina's results have been skewed by the influx of Northerners into urban areas (Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham, etc.) over the past fifteen years or so.
I remember a kid in high school getting laughed at for using the term 'Pop'. Damn Yankees! :)
Thanks, Captain Cursor :)
The Leonard Cohen Files
Saturday, December 9, 2000
Give me crack and anal sex
Take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole
in your culture
Give me back the Berlin wall
give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.
The first line is just a ploy for cheap hits. ;)
Tokyo Classified
Friday, December 8, 2000
Scads and scads of excellent Japanese pop cultural stuff.
Thanks, Rebecca's Pocket :)
Festivus and Humbug e-cards
Friday, December 8, 2000
Festivus time is here!
So pull the aluminium pole out of the crawl space.
A very merry Festivus to crazygrrl and the rest-iv-us!
(A contribution has been made in your name to The Human Fund)
Clergy Ask to Commute Drug Sentences
Friday, December 8, 2000
Religious leaders ask Clinton to commute the sentences of low-level, nonviolent federal drug offenders. Did you know that, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the U.S. prison population has tripled in the past decade?
Police State, anyone?
A New Way to Be Mad
Friday, December 8, 2000
"In 1977 the Johns Hopkins psychologist John Money published the first modern case history of what he termed 'apotemnophilia' -- an attraction to the idea of being an amputee."
The very scary part is that some people feel so attracted that they perform amputations on themselves. Yikes!
The Device That Changed . . . Click!
Friday, December 8, 2000
Did you know that the TV remote control is fifty years old and was invented by a guy that was fed up with TV commercials?
Thanks, tvtattle :)
Going nuts for a hydrogen-fuelled future
Friday, December 8, 2000
Hazelnut shells turn out to be a good source of hydrogen.
Andrei Ol'khovatov Website
Friday, December 8, 2000
Lots of interesting stuff on the 1908 Tunguska event and a unique explaination for the TWA Flight 800 accident. It's much more interesting than the usual paranoid conspiracy theories.
Owner pulls the plug on auction of ‘Old Sparky’
Thursday, December 7, 2000
Antique electric chair to be sold to Gatlinburg, Tennesee.
If you, as I have, have ever been to Gatlinburg, one of the premiere tourist traps of the Southeastern U.S., you would not be surprised by this for even one second.
Speaking of death, it's funny that when a weblog links to me, it seems to go out of business soon after. How odd!
Oh well, have a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and forget about it.
Dirty business
Thursday, December 7, 2000
Great Britain continues to dump nuclear waste into the Irish Sea.
Micro-raptor
Thursday, December 7, 2000
Chinese dinosaur may be smallest adult yet found.
It's not a hoax.
Sex games
Thursday, December 7, 2000
Male side-blotched lizards play a rock-paper-scissors type of mating game. Hmmm, maybe humans should adapt this. Seems more fair to those of us who don't get to mate very often!
Shake, rattle and roll
Thursday, December 7, 2000
Superconducting magnets might propel spacecraft, or not.
Clinton: Pot Smoking Should Not Be Prison Offense
Thursday, December 7, 2000
"I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be."
Yeah, tell that to all of the people busted for possession that are still rotting in jail. Gee, Bill, where were you eight years ago?
Quack, quack, quackquackquack, goes the lame duck!
Thanks, Unknown News :)
Billboard Liberation Front
Wednesday, December 6, 2000
Home of The Art & Science of Billboard Improvement
.
'Dealing With the Devil' -- Exorcists in Demand Across U.S.
Tuesday, December 5, 2000
This is troubling, as I suspect that people suffering from mental illness are possibly being harmed or even killed in these rituals:
"In January 1998, the authorities said that Charity Miranda Martin, 17, of Sayville, N.Y., was suffocated by her mother during a seven-hour exorcism. In another case four years ago, a 31-year-old man in Pawtucket, R.I., jammed two 8-inch steel crosses down his mother-in-law's throat during an exorcism."
The Grinch Who Stole Christians!
Tuesday, December 5, 2000
He stole Gotham, from coders and right wing fanatics too!
Does little Cindy Loo Who know?!?
I can't find the original text online. Can anyone help me?
(No crap about the new mass marketed movie, please!)
Arrakis / Dune / A filmbook
Monday, December 4, 2000
Yes, I watched the first part of the Sci-Fi Channel's Dune.
Some thoughts:
As I would have expected, the eye candy was extraordinary, especially the worm / spice harvester and heighliner / guild steersman scenes. I was hoping for real ornithopters, but we only get exotic VTOL aircraft. I guess flapping wings are still too hard to animate.
The sets were magnificent as well.
I thought most of the acting was decent, though some of the characters seemed to be spaced out on Valium (or is it the spice?).
My biggest problem is with the script. I was disappointed that it didn't follow the original novel more closely.
Still, I'm so happy to see any serious science fiction on television that I'd still give it a grade of B+ or so.
I still think the David Lynch version of Dune was underrated. It followed the novel more closely (except for the cheesy ending) and I liked the fact they he included the internal dialogue that was so important to the book.
Jodorowsky's planned version sounds surreal to say the very least. H.R. Giger's artwork, a Pink Floyd soundtrack and Salvador Dali as Shaddam IV? Now that's wild!
No Change in Condom Ban, Vatican Says
Saturday, December 2, 2000
"The laws of Christ are difficult to accept and there is compassion and understanding for those who are weak, but no exceptions to moral laws can be made"
Does this mean that The Vatican encourages the spread of AIDS and other dangerous sexually transmitted diseases? I'm all for people keeping true to their faith, but let's exercise some common sense, shall we?
Two Men Shoot First, Figure It Out Later
Saturday, December 2, 2000
Guns and idiots don't mix!
fantasyworldorder
Saturday, December 2, 2000
Calculate where you stand on globalization.
My score:
Protester 54.6%
Skeptic 32%
Protector 18.6%
Regulator 6.6%
Liberator -22%
I was very surprised I scored so high on 'Skeptic' and low on 'Protector'.
Thanks, Nutlog :)
Space Ghost's Invincible Super Site
Friday, December 1, 2000
I love the Council of Doom Web Pages.
1989 NanoCon Procedings
Friday, December 1, 2000
Old, but still a highly readable overview of the promises and challenges of nanotechnology.
Ford Recalls 846,591 Explorers
Friday, December 1, 2000
Do SUV owners have enough common sense to wake up to the fact that their ugly, space wasting, gas guzzling behemoths aren't safe?
We doubt it, especially since State Farm loves these deathtraps.
November entries here. Older archives here.
|
Search
Google
FindSame
News
Drug War
Cannabis News
General
BBC News
Moreover
Yahoo News
Paranormal
Anomalist
Far Shores
Fortean Times
Surfpocalypse
Sci/Tech
New Scientist
|
