awkwardly

Tuesday

Spam poetry has become a cliche, but this one was so good, it almost sounds like Beck lyrics:

"Now and then, a briar patch goes deep sea fishing
with a nation from a rattlesnake.
Any oil filter can compete with some scythe,
but it takes a real pit viper
to ridiculously bestow great honor upon a mastadon.
When a nuclear customer is paternal,
the flatulent avocado pit lazily recognizes a vaporized cowboy.
Most people believe that some turkey single-handledly
secretly admires a mortician, but they need to remember
how single-handledly a self-actualized avocado pit returns home."

Friday

If Aaron Sorkin wrote a show about baseball
A pitch-perfect parody of how bad Sorkin is at hiding exposition.

Tuesday

Long after the biggest politicians and overlords of our day are forgotten, people will keep studying this man. Some people will continue spending all their waking hours to achieve his sound. There has been only one preacher of the Electric Church. No matter how feebly we attempt to pass on his message, the original preacher puts the rest of us to shame. Don't waste time reading this. Don't listen to me. Listen to him.

Jimi Hendrix - Hear My Train Comin {12 string acoustic}

Killing Floor {live in Monterey}
Voodoo Chile {on BBC "Happening for Lulu" Show, 1969}
Sound check before playing Johnny B. Goode.
The Wind Cries Mary {live in Stockholm}
Interview on Dick Cavett
Sunshine of Your Love

Monday

RU-486 stands for Railroad, Underground. Check out this website by a non-profit organization "dedicated to providing emergency contraception for women in need": Emergency Kindness. I admire workarounds like these. It reminds me a little of the abortion service pirates in Europe, Women on Waves, who offer to pick up women on the coasts of countries with restrictive abortion laws and sail into international waters where the abortion performed on the ship suddenly becomes legal. (Pirates also took advantage of the unpoliced frontiers, but these people are doing it for a very good cause.)

Although I wouldn't have used the word "Kindness" in the title of this network, it sounds like a fair and reasonable idea. I wonder if they're setting themselves up for a fall by giving the pill away for free. Theoretically, some women who could afford the morning after pill and who aren't really restricted from buying it in their area could exploit the network. I assume they wouldn't really get a lot of scammers. Also I wonder if conservatives might try to exhaust and distract the network by making a lot of false orders for pills, in much the same way I donated $0 to Focus on the Family and requested they send $95 worth of videos and CDs. Given that I placed the order in August, I don't suppose they're ever really going to send it.
Abortion clinic in a shipping container, designed for performing abortions in international waters, away from jurisdiction of restrictive countries.
Above: The "Abortionship" Langenort in Holland, just before heading to Poland. Their mobile abortion clinic is conveniently set up inside a shipping container, so it can be moved easily.

Wednesday


I probably won't buy this latest book by Tariq Ali, but you gotta love the title:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope

Tuesday

Grog & Gryphon is Bill Hollweg's new fantasy audio series. "Welcome...to the Tavern of the Grog and Gryphon, located out 'ere on the edge of the civilized lands in the village of Hammerstoothe. Grab a Tankard and sit back my friends! Come and hear tell of the tales of yore, of heroic deeds and of evils most dire..."

You might notice a wizard named "Faldrun" whose voice sounds familiar, and a goblin named Murrai in later episodes. Give a listen to the trailer and see how you like it.

Click here for Grog & Gryphon RSS feed or
click here for Grog & Gryphon iTunes subscription.

Wednesday

Monday

Early this morning I had a dream that Noam Chomsky was renting a room below my Grampa's garage for a workspace or study area or something. I decided to get my copy of a Chomsky book so he could sign it, but after I went down through the garage, I noticed that the entry I had come through was now too small to go back through. I basically got lost in the garage at that point, then woke up.

Dream room layout did not conform to reality. Although my grandfather has one garage coming out of a walk-out basement, and another garage on the floor above it, there's no stairway inside to get down to the lower garage. Also the book that I was picturing in my dream to have him sign was Full Spectrum Disorder by Stan Goff. I don't think I own any books by Chomsky, although I've read several from the library.

Thursday

When you think of common names, you think of "John Smith." Actually John has been the most common first name, Smith the most common last name, but the most common combination in the US has been "Robert Johnson." Unfortunately one of those RJ's is a known or suspected terrorist, so all Robert Johnsons are on the "No-Fly List" and will get hassled every time they fly. Even if they're babies.

Terraplane Blues, indeed.

Wednesday

I Can't Believe It's Not Torture!