March 31, 2003

Pencils Without Erasers.

Posted by dean at 03:10 PM

March 30, 2003

Miriam Phillips (Cont.).

When Miriam finally figured out that the FBI agents thought she had threatened the president, she relaxed. She hadn't meant that at all. She had meant that if no one else took action, she'd have to crawl under the house to get the gravity machines.

Posted by dean at 03:01 AM

March 29, 2003

Miriam Phillips.

"Dear Mr. President, what do you plan to do
about the Cubans? They have been working
on mother. Their up to no good. Ive seen the
police, but they say Cubans are your job,
and I guess their right. You have to do your
job or Ill have a dirty job to do."

Posted by dean at 05:57 PM

March 28, 2003

Same Girl, Different Wig.

Posted by dean at 05:05 PM

Adam Osborne, Who Launched The World's First Portable Computer In A Suitcase Well Ahead Of IBM And Other PC Makers, Died After A Long Illness.

Unknown and unsung despite his high profile in the early 1980s, it took a week for news of Osborne's death to reach the outside world.

Osborne entered the limelight in 1981 when he launched the Osborne 1, a personal computer in a suitcase weighing about 10 kilos (22 lbs.), at the West Coast Computer Fair. Priced at $1,795, it was based on the Zilog z80 processor with 64 Kbits of RAM, two 5.25 inch internal floppy drives, a 5-inch monitor and no hard disk. It included free bundled software such as a spreadsheet and was based on the pre-DOS CP/M operating system.
EE Times

Posted by dean at 03:43 PM

March 26, 2003

Gore Vidals's March 12 Interview On Dateline, SBS TV Australia.

MARK DAVIS: Over the past 40 years or so, you've written about the undermining of the foundations of the constitution -- liberty, human rights, free speech. You've probably damned every administration throughout that period on that score. Is George Bush really any worse?

GORE VIDAL: No, he certainly is worse. We've never had a kind of reckless one who may believe -- and there's a whole theory now that he's inspired by love of Our Lord -- that he is an apocalyptic Christian who'll be going to Heaven while the rest of us go to blazes. I hope that isn't the case. I hope that's exaggeration. The problem began when we got the empire, which was brilliantly done, in the most Machiavellian -- and I mean that in the best sense of the word -- way by Franklin Roosevelt. With the winning of World War II, we were everywhere on Earth our troops and our economy was number one. Europe was ruined. And from that, then in 1950, the great problem began when Harry Truman decided to militarise the economy, maintain a vast military establishment in every corner of the Earth. Meanwhile, denying money to schools but really to the infrastructure of the nation. So we have been at war steadily since 1950.

MARK DAVIS: You charge what you call the 'Cheney-Bush junta' with empire-building but hasn't America always been an empire and isn't this junta just a little bit more honest about it? They aren't shy in proclaiming their belief that America has something worth exporting?

GORE VIDAL: I prefer hypocrisy to honesty any time if hypocrisy will keep the peace. What is going on now is kind of interesting. We've never seen anything like it. There's a group of what they call neo-conservatives. They preach openly and they're all over the war department as we used to call it, the Defence Department. Mr Wolfowitz is one of their brains and they write really extraordinarily frightening overviews of the United States and the rest of the world that we, after all, have all the military power that there is and let's use it. One of them, not long ago, made a public statement -- "It's time we really had regime change in ALL the Arab countries." Well, there are 1 billion Muslims and I don't see them taking this very well.

People ask me, "Are you saying there's a conspiracy?" -- because that's the word where everybody starts laughing. "No," I said, "I'm going to change the word." We won't say it's a conspiracy that all the great offices of state are occupied by gas and oil people -- the President, the Vice-President, National Security Adviser -- it's not a coincidence. "It's a coincidence," and everybody smiles -- that's a nice word -- "Oh, yes, of course, it's a coincidence" that they are running the government and getting us into a war in oil-rich places."

MARK DAVIS: Bush has claimed that the American belief in liberty will deliver a free and peaceful Iraq, even with the stench of oil in the air, George Bush probably can deliver that -- a free and peaceful Iraq that is. Isn't there a legitimate case to be argued that there's a greater good at work here?

GORE VIDAL: There is no greater good at work. We cannot deliver it. You don't go in and smash up a country, which we will do, and gain their love so that they then want to imitate our highly corrupt political system.

MARK DAVIS: Unlike Iraq, Americans can change their government with some drawbacks, they can express their opinions. Whatever Machiavellian benefits might accrue to the US, isn't there still moral weight in the voice of America, given its history as a democratic force over the past century?

GORE VIDAL: I spoke to 100,000 people two weeks ago in Hollywood Boulevard, down the hill from where I'm speaking to you now. There were 100,000, lots of police, many helicopters overhead which, as the speaker got up, would lower themselves to try and drown your voice out. The press did not record that there were 100,000 people. They said, "Oh, 30,000 perhaps. That might be an exaggeration," they said. Unfortunately for them, the 'Los Angeles Times', generally a fairly good paper, had a long shot from La Brea where I was speaking on a stage straight up to Vine Street, which was a mile or two away, and you saw 100,000 people, so their very picture undid them.

The censorship is very tight. Don't think we're a free country to say anything we want. We can say it, but it's not going to be printed and you're not going to get on television. I can't tell you how tightly controlled this place is and it's beginning to show, because talk radio and so on -- I've done a lot of that lately -- the questions you get, the people are so confused. They don't know where Iraq is. They think Saddam Hussein, because he's an evil person, deliberately blew up the twin towers in Manhattan. He didn't. That was Osama bin Laden or somebody else. We still don't know because there has been no investigation of that, as Congress and the constitution require. So we are totally in the dark and we have a president who is even in a greater darkness, who's totally uninformed about the world, leading us into war.

MARK DAVIS: Norman Mailer wrote recently that, after a long life, he's concluded that fascism, not democracy, is the natural state and that America as a nation is in a pre-fascist era, a mega banana republic increasingly dominated by the military.

GORE VIDAL: I have those days, yes, such as Norman is having. But I am more deeply rooted in the old constitution with all of its flaws and in the Bill of Rights with all of its virtues. That was something special on Earth and Jefferson was something special on Earth when he said that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- nobody had ever used that phrase in the constitution before or set that out as a political goal for everyone.

In the 18th century, we had three of the great geniuses of the 18th century all living in this little colonial world of 3 million people. We had Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. These were extraordinarily wise men and understood the ways of the world, and they gave us a very good form of government. No, it was not a liberal government. It was a very reactionary one. But it was the 18th century -- 1787 was when the constitution was written. It was as advanced as the human race had ever got at that time in devising a republic.

I do feel an energy across the country -- this may be because I go to energetic groups -- that are fighting their own government, but they're going to lose because the government is now totally militarised and ready for war -- a war they can't really sell to the rest of the world, but they're going to do it anyway. This is something new. We've never had a period like this and it was -- to somebody like me, who is really hooked into constitutional America -- this is incredible. We cannot trust the Supreme Court after their mysterious decisions on the election of 2000. We have no political parties. So in the absence of politics, with a media that is easy to manipulate and, in the hands of very few people with interests in wars and oil and so on, I don't see how you get the word out, but one tries because there is nothing else to be done.
CounterPunch

Posted by dean at 09:37 AM

March 23, 2003

ATGOTAK, Page 77.

Miss, am I bleeding?
Yes, yes you are.
Where?
From the nose.
*And* the mouth?
No.
Just the nose?
Yes.
I wonder how that happened.

Posted by dean at 04:03 PM

March 20, 2003

Marie Trudeau.

Thinking to call 911, Marie picked up her portable phone, but she didn't dial. She could only watch as two tiny objects suddenly appeared beside the stricken airplanes and tumbled in a leisurely arc toward her.

As she continued to watch, one of the bodies hurtled into her yard 15 feet from where she was sitting.

It buried itself six inches deep in the soft earth behind her rose bushes.

Posted by dean at 11:05 PM

March 19, 2003

Monty Python : "Galaxy Song".

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

Posted by dean at 09:00 PM

March 18, 2003

Dwight W. Watson Gestures From The Flag-Bedecked Tractor, Which He Drove Into A Pond; He Claims To Have Explosives.

Posted by dean at 08:55 PM

If The United States Does Invade Iraq, Some Of The First Casualties May Be The Globalized Marketplace They Helped To Build.

In Muslim nations, franchised stores like McDonald's and KFC have already been attacked, threatening to brake a recent surge of investment in franchised businesses, many of them originating in the United States.

At the same time, a growing number of knockoff products have appeared in Europe, imitating popular American brands but appealing to anti-American sentiment in Europe's large Muslim population and among other Europeans opposed to American policy in Iraq.

Soft drinks challenging Coca-Cola and claiming solidarity with Muslim causes are multiplying. After a Coke knockoff called Mecca Cola was introduced in November, two similar drinks, Muslim Up and Arab Cola, were rolled out in France this month. Though meant to appeal to young Arabs and to support Muslim causes, the products also seem to be cashing in on general anti-American sentiment.

In the Middle East, McDonald's introduced a product this month -- the McArabia, a chicken sandwich on Arabian-style bread -- with a sales and promotion campaign that overshadowed the flagship Big Mac, an effort that one French newspaper said was meant to "relaunch McDonald's in the Muslim world."

In recent weeks two McDonald's restaurants in Saudi Arabia, at Kharj and Dammam, were the targets of unsuccessful firebomb attacks.
New York Times

Posted by dean at 06:10 PM

March 17, 2003

Placebo : "English Summer Rain".

Always stays the same, nothing ever changes
English summer rain, seems to last for ages
Always stays the same, nothing ever changes
English summer rain, seems to last for ages

I'm in the basement, you're in the sky
I'm in the basement baby, drop on by

Hold your breath and count to ten,
And fall apart and start again,
Hold your breath and count to ten,
Start again, start again

Always stays the same, nothing ever changes
English summer rain, seems to last for ages
Always stays the same, nothing ever changes
English summer rain, seems to last for ages.

Posted by dean at 03:20 AM

March 14, 2003

Scientists Have Determined That A Planet Orbiting A Sun-Like Star 150 Light-Years From Earth Is Evaporating.

According to a report published today in the journal Nature, much of the hot gas giant may eventually disappear, leaving a dense core behind.
Scientific American

Posted by dean at 07:33 PM

ATGOTAK, Page 60.

"That was during Religious Emphasis Week, when ministers in the business of bagging souls would come to the schools and pass around, in jars, the brain of an alcoholic and the lungs of a smoker, show photographs from prom-night wrecks, speak diatribes against 'jungle music,' and screen a film advertised as Triple-X for attendance but which was, in fact, THE BIRTH OF TRIPLETS and too disgusting to even neck in the dark to."

Posted by dean at 05:31 AM

March 12, 2003

Reservations.

Posted by dean at 10:00 PM

Comment Posted By Chris N On 11th Mar, 13:28.

Re: Creem: Rock'n'Retro Hackshun!

Quite right retro=evil. It's a fuck of a lot harder to balance on the cutting edge than to fester around in the past.

Sack Trick (who I sometimes play in) supported the Damned a few years ago, and the audience was full of OLD punks, replendent with OLD jackets covered with patches of OLD bands, and it made us think that there could be NO MORE CONSERVATIVE an audience than the one which clung so tightly to the past (and then we got scared cos we believed we were about to get bottled off stage).

It would be great if there were a whole lot of bands reacting against PROPER shit like the impending war (like the 60's people reacted against Vietnam), but fact is retro bands worry a fuck of a lot more bothered about where they left their kohl pencil. Embrace the bullshit of the past, but not the ideals.

Posted by dean at 05:21 PM

March 11, 2003

Half Of The Most Infectious Bacteria Strain In The United States Will Be Resistant To Antibiotics Just Over A Year From Now.

A major analysis in eight widely scattered U.S. states found the number of this bacteria strain that's resistant to penicillin rose from 21 to 24 per cent in the middle to late 1990s. The number resistant to erythromycin rose from 10.6 to 20 per cent.

"We predict that by 1 July, 2004, 41 per cent of pneumococci (these bacteria) ... will be dually resistant" to both drugs, the study authors from all over the U.S. write.
Canada.com

Posted by dean at 04:35 PM

March 10, 2003

Ronald Spivey.

"I thought she had been looking at me in an interested way," he said, smoothing back his toupee. "She was wearing a very skimpy bikini, and I thought she was inviting me to reveal myself. So I sat in such a way that she could look up the leg of my swimming trunks."

Posted by dean at 09:34 PM

An Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapon That Could Be Aimed At N. Korea's Underground Nuclear & Missile Production Facilities.

Within a week, an air force report is to be delivered to the House of Representative and the Senate, stating the military requirements for the "robust nuclear earth penetrator," a device designed to dig into the ground before it explodes and crushes any facility buried beneath it.
Sydney Morning Herald

Posted by dean at 02:18 AM

U.K. Garage Is/Is Not Dead.

Throughout the documentary, DJs, clubbers and record shop owners give their views on the UK Garage scene.

Violence, selling out and lack of industry support feature in the documentary.

Contributions come from Jaimeson, Donaeo and the promoters of Twice as Nice and Smoove.

Part One
Part Two.

Posted by dean at 12:51 AM

March 07, 2003

Farscape Campaign.

Posted by dean at 08:17 PM

Squarepusher : "Anstromm-Feck 4".

Clip.

Posted by dean at 06:26 PM

Bulletproof Your Car.

Alpha Armouring draws on over 20 years of experience in the design and specialist manufacturing of discreet armored security limousines (Mercedes Benz S class, S500 L, S600 L, Maybach) and offroad four wheel drive vehicles (Mecedess Benz G wagen, G500 L, Range Rover, Nissan, Toyota etc), providing personal protection for VIP'S and Heads of State world wide, on the move.

Armored passenger cars
Based on Mercedes S-Class (W140)
Based on new Mercedes S-Class (W220)

Armored Stretch limousine
Based on Mercedes S-Class enlongrated by 500mm (W140)
Based on Mercedes S-Class enlongrated by 1070 mm (W140)
Based on new Mercedes
S-Class (W220)

Armoured off-road cars
Based on Mercedes G-Model
Based on Nissan Patrol
Based on Toyota Landcruiser

Specials Cars
Built according to customers' specifications
Mercedes 600 reconstructed and armoured

Further armoured models (other manufactures and types)
On request

Electronic specialised equipment
On request

Engineering
Ballistic tests
Prototype manufacturing
Development of components
Trials
Homologation

Posted by dean at 03:22 PM

March 04, 2003

ATGOTAK, Page 11.

"You would ask him how he felt, he would say, '924-3130.' Or he would say, '757-1366.' We guessed what these numbers might be, but nobody spent the dime."

Posted by dean at 04:01 PM

March 03, 2003

Who Will It Be?

Posted by dean at 12:08 AM

March 01, 2003

Natasha Oblamov

Within a few weeks she started to hear a voice quite a bit like Jason's, which seemed to be speaking to her from the photographic enlarger she had set up in the tiny second bedroom.

"It usually just said the 'C' word," she explained in response to the question.

"The 'C' word?"

"You know, the place on a woman's body where you do the 'F' word."

Posted by dean at 03:59 PM

Feed


Main