UK Steve sent this. It’s serious. Click here.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
THE FROZDICK FAMILY
Dick and Jane Frozdick found the big furniture experiment very amusing at first. Little did they suspect how hideously it would all end.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
DREAM MANIPULATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF CHEESE
Who needs drugs when there’s provolone?
“There’s an old wives’ tale that claims that eating cheese before bed makes you dream weird and incredible things. For serious? The British Medical Journal thinks so. A finely-aged 1964 edition tells of a man whose nightly supper consisted of cheddar, served straight up. This man was haunted by horrible, horrible nightmares: “He dreamt of [a workmate], terribly mutilated, hanging from a meat-hook. Another, he dreamt of falling into a bottomless abyss. When cheese was withdrawn from his diet the nightmares ceased.” As we know, the British Medical Journal doesn’t lie. Doctors don’t study for ten years just so they can make shit up in a trade mag. Neither do old wives, for that matter. But if you’re still sitting there making scrunched-up “cheese isn’t a drug” faces at me, you’re not alone. For some weird reason, everyone wants to disprove the cheese-dream myth. For example, I told my housemate last night and she was all like, “Yeah, I suppose so. But it’s just cheese.” Just cheese? You’re an idiot, Claire.The fact is, cheese doesn’t grow on trees. It’s made using a pretty elaborate mélange involving milk, rennet (an enzyme taken from mammalian stomachs), and any number of molds—a hodgepodge of ingredients and baffling techniques. Most important, somewhere during that whole process, a thing called tyramine is produced. This is essentially a form of dopamine that, while it can’t get you stoned, can trigger high activity in the part of the brain that controls REM. In other words: If you shove a whole lot of it in your face just before sleepies, weird shit might happen." Click here for much more.
But beware the Evil Cheese Panda
Click here for Roy
The secret word is Gorgonzola
Norman Wisdom – RIP
NOW THEY TELL US?
And whoever suspected Marlboro had a therapeutic upside?
“You all know very well the dangerous health risk of smoking because it has over 300 carcinogens that have proved to be as damaging to the lungs of the smokers. Nevertheless, research has shown a 50% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson disease in smokers as compared to the non-smokers. Nicotine has also found to give an encouraging result especially in improving ADHD symptoms and reducing the risk of developing ulcerative colitis. Still, I don’t agree with this type of therapy for adults and particularly not for teens and children.” (Lifted from Healthmad)
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE SNITCHES ARE AMONG US
If you needed one more disappointment in the Obama promised land of hope and change, it’s in how the post 9/11 domestic secret police/spy industry is still being run with a corporate vengeance.
“There is a continuum between those who would express dissent and those who would do a terrorist act,” Mueller said ominously in a 2002 speech. “Somewhere along that continuum we have to begin to investigate. If we do not, we are not doing our job. It is difficult for us to find a path between the two extremes.” What does that mean? Just last week, FBI agents raided half a dozen homes of anti-war activists in Minneapolis and Chicago, carting away papers, computers, clothing, and other personal effects, all in the name of investigating “material support of terrorism.” The activists, their supporters, and their attorneys have a different view: they see the raids as designed to intimidate and disrupt legitimate political dissent -- points on “the continuum.” It is a virtual certainty that evidence of intrusive surveillance will surface as these cases mature. In Pennsylvania the continuum has meant, most recently, that the state Office of Homeland Security contracted with a small outfit, the Institute of Terrorism Response and Research, run by a couple of ex-cops, one from York, Pennsylvania, the other raised in Philadelphia and a veteran of Israeli law enforcement. For the past year, the institute has been providing secret intelligence reports via the state Homeland Security Office to Pennsylvania police departments and private companies in order, the reports say, to “support public and private sector, critical infrastructure protection initiatives and strategies.” (Click here for much, much more.)
Click here for John Lee Hooker
The secret word is Informer
THE FROZDICK FAMILY
As far as anyone knew, Gypsy Rose Frozdick was world’s first stripping ventriloquist.
DON'T YOU MISS THE 20TH CENTURY?
Monday, October 04, 2010
DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL
The intrusion of a serious and importunate reality flow necessitates Doc40 being a little late today. But don’t worry, friends and neighbors, all will be back to what we laughingly call normal by tomorrow at the latest. And even in this temporal complexity, we won’t leave you wholly empty handed.
The secret word is Chaotic
Sunday, October 03, 2010
SUNDAY BREAKFAST
Click here for Uncle Dave Macon
The secret word is Griddle
MARILYN SEZ...
“As they very rightly say, sometimes you eat the bear and sometime the bear eats you.”
(Image from Roldo)
Saturday, October 02, 2010
WHO’S RUNNING OUR WARS?
Jack Kennedy found out the hard way. Has much changed since 1963? Michael Moore calls it as he sees it…
“So...it turns out President Eisenhower wasn't making up all that stuff about the military-industrial complex. That's what you'll conclude if you read Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's War. You thought you voted for change when you cast a ballot for Barack Obama? Um, not when it comes to America occupying countries that don't begin with a "U" and an "S." In fact, after you read Woodward's book, you'll split a gut every time you hear a politician or a government teacher talk about "civilian control over the military." The only people really making the decisions about America's wars are across the river from Washington in the Pentagon. They wear uniforms. They have lots of weapons they bought from the corporations they will work for when they retire. For everyone who supported Obama in 2008, it's reassuring to find out he understands we have to get out of Afghanistan. But for everyone who's worried about Obama in 2010, it's scary to find out that what he thinks should be done may not actually matter. And that's because he's not willing to stand up to the people who actually run this country. And here's the part I don't even want to write -- and none of you really want to consider: It matters not whom we elect. The Pentagon and the military contractors call the shots. The title "Commander in Chief" is ceremonial, like "Employee of the Month" at your local Burger King.” (Click here for more Moore and video of the Eisenhower speech.)
The secret word is Profits
SCHWARZENEGGER SIGNS DECRIMINALIZATION BILL
Both our pals Munz and HCB sent us the following good news. Seems like Arnold is doing the right thing now he’s leaving office.
”Sacramento, Sept 30th: A bill to downgrade the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill, SB 1449 by Sen. Mark Leno, will spare petty pot offenders the necessity for a court appearance and criminal arrest record while saving the state millions of dollars in court and prosecution expenses. The bill treats petty possession like a traffic ticket punishable by a simple $100 fine and no arrest record. "Gov. Schwarzenegger deserves credit for sparing the state's taxpayers the cost of prosecuting minor pot offenders," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer, "Californians increasingly recognize that the war on marijuana is a waste of law enforcement resources." The new law, which takes effect on Jan 1, 2011, will have an effect even if Californians vote to legalize marijuana by passing Prop 19. Prop 19 leaves misdemeanor possession penalties in place for public use and smoking in the presence of kids; under SB 1449, these offenses would be simple infractions. In his signing statement, the Governor said he opposes decriminalization of recreational use of marijuana and opposes Prop 19, but "in this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors defense attorneys, law enforcement and the courts cannot afford to expend limited resources" prosecuting petty pot offenses.”
AURORA CAM
Although not as cute as a baby panda cam of yesteryear, this is well worth a stoned stare.
"Photographs of the aurora borealis can't really convey what it's like to be sitting in the woods, staring at a black, perfectly normal sky and suddenly begin to see quivering green tracers slither across it. The photos are proof that we're not just all tripping balls up here in the northerly latitudes, but if what you really want is the experience—or something resembling it—the Canadian Space Agency can help. Their AuroraMax Live project turns a camera on the skies above Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and sends the resulting images direct to your portal on the Intertubes.” Click here to see all.
Friday, October 01, 2010
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER (Or maybe your designated ambassador?)
Whether or not the UN have a secret ambassador primed and ready to meet and greet any aliens who might show up is basically for you, dear reader, to decide. I’m also aware that some of you there firmly believe the aliens took over years ago – on Feb. 20, 1954, to be precise, when “President Dwight Eisenhower interrupted his vacation in Palm Springs to make a secret nocturnal trip to a nearby Edwards Air Force base to meet extraterrestrials” – and the ETs have been our shadowy overlords ever since. I would, on the other hand, point out that, if these aliens are our all-controlling shadowy overlords, they kinda suck at it.
“When the little green men show up on their space shuttle, they might have trouble finding a leader to talk to.Despite some of the most promising science fiction reports out there, the United Nations will not be appointing an ambassador to extraterrestrials. The Martian madness began with a report in the London Telegraph that "Mazlan Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, is set to be tasked with co-ordinating humanity's response if and when extraterrestrials make contact." Othman was appointed the director of the United Nations' Office for Outer Space Affairs in 1999. According to the Telegraph story, the scientist would announce her new role at a Royal Society conference in Buckinghamshire next week. The real life Men In Black story burned through the Internet, but the Guardian has stopped all the alien fun by actually asking Othman about her supposed appointment. Othman sent the paper an e-mail saying, "It sounds really cool but I have to deny it." She will be attending a conference next week, but she'll be talking about how the world deals with "near-Earth objects." Though, perhaps just like the alien ambassadors in the movie Men in Black, Othman could be keeping the job a secret.”
The secret initials are EBE
BUT IF WE KEEP ON DISCOVERING HABITABLE PLANETS…
…the UN may need to get its act in gear.
“US astronomers said Wednesday they have discovered an Earth-sized planet that they think might be habitable, orbiting a nearby star, and believe there could be many more planets like it in space. The planet, found by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is orbiting in the middle of the "habitable zone" of the red dwarf star Gliese 581, which means it could have water on its surface. The scientists determined that the planet, which they have called Gliese 581g, has a mass three to four times that of Earth and an orbital period of just under 37 days.”
Thursday, September 30, 2010
DO WE REALLY NEED A HEADLINE?
Because sure as shit capitalism is about to fuck you. (And it definitely won’t buy you dinner.) Sally Kalson puts it in a nutshell…
“It wasn't that long ago that Republicans talked about shrinking government down to where it could be drowned in the bathtub. That's exactly what's happening now to the middle class. It's being shrunk by the low-wage global labor pool. If we keep going this way, the influence of the middle class as a voting bloc will, eventually, be drowned in the gold-plated bathtub of the country's monied interests. Increasingly, American companies are shipping jobs to destitute people overseas willing to work long hours for a fraction of what American workers need to get by. The good jobs that used to pay the mortgage, grocery and doctor bills, with enough left to save for a vacation and the kids' college fund, are outsourced to places like China (where a garment worker makes 86 cents an hour) and Cambodia (where the wage is 22 cents an hour). Meanwhile, some 40 percent of employed Americans are working in service jobs, often very low paying.
This phenomenon, combined with automation and the ongoing effects of the economic meltdown, are the job killers today, much more so than government taxing and spending. In fact, it's government programs that prevent people forced into lower wage jobs from cracking their heads wide open on the pavement. Unemployment compensation, food stamps, child care subsidies, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and health care reform measures that keep children up to age 26 on their parents' insurance policies and prevent insurance companies from excluding children with pre-existing conditions or cancelling a policy when you get sick -- all of these things mitigate the effects of global forces beyond workers' control. But even as the middle class dwindles, it is being exhorted to vote against its own well-being by monied interests bent on maintaining or increasing their already overwhelming advantages. Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans is a prime example.Using scare tactics and demagoguery (Socialism! Communism!) -- and, thanks to the Supreme Court, unlimited financing of campaign messages -- these wealthy interests are working overtime to turn middle class voters against themselves.” (Click here for more)
Click here for The Kingsmen
The secret word is Screwed
Tony Curtis -- RIP
Arthur Penn -- RIP
THE GREAT RED SPOT
Seems that I’m still using the majesty of the universe as an escape from terrestrial unpleasantness.
“This photo mosaic combines photos from Voyager 1's 1979 Jupiter flyby to provide our best view ever of the Great Red Spot, the gigantic storm that has raged on that planet for centuries and is twice as big as Earth. This amazing image is the work of Icelandic amateur image processor Björn Jónsson, who combed through all the many photos taken during the Voyager flyby in order to make this mosaic view of the Great Red Spot. These photos have been publicly available for three decades, but only now has someone bothered to find them and put them together like this. Jónsson also took the liberty of greatly increasing the contrast of the image, providing a much clearer view of the spot. The Great Red Spot is a massive storm system that has been in existence for anywhere from 180 to 345 years, and it's currently about 24,000 to 40,000 kilometers long from east to west, and 12,000 to 14,000 kilometers north to south. The spot slowly rotates counterclockwise at a rate of about once very six Earth days. It's not currently known how long the spot will last, but it is getting smaller. Scientists estimate it's only about half the size now that it was a century ago.” (Click here for more)
THE GOOD GUYS
This rare little artifact showed up on Facebook. A quid to get in? Larry Wallis’ name spelled wrong? Those were the days. The good guys were the band that went out with me to promote the album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money, being Andy Colquhoun, Alan Powell, Gary Tibbs, and the aforementioned Wallis. Tracks from that record have started to show up on YouTube. Click here for “I Want A Drink” that features Wilko Johnson on guest guitar/
BUT WE’RE REPUBLICANS
Click here for Rachid Taha
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
SAVE OUR LIBRARIANS!
(And, yes, I know this is Tina Fey and not a real librarian, but I can dream can’t I?)
First they privatized the prisons. Now it’s the libraries. A private corporation in Maryland is taken over public libraries in ailing cities and has grown into the country’s fifth-largest library system. But they’re not having it all their way. Library Systems & Services has touched off an acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy. Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor? Especially when that contractor boasts to The New York Times in a manner most porcine.
“There’s this American flag, apple pie thing about libraries,” said Frank A. Pezzanite, the outsourcing company’s chief executive. He has pledged to save $1 million a year in Santa Clarita, mainly by cutting overhead and replacing unionized employees. “Somehow they have been put in the category of a sacred organization.” The company, known as L.S.S.I., runs 14 library systems operating 63 locations. Its basic pitch to cities is that it fixes broken libraries — more often than not by cleaning house. “A lot of libraries are atrocious,” Mr. Pezzanite said. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”
I also do recall how it was the nation's librarians who stood alone and told Homeland Security to fuck off when the Feds wanted to know what books we read.
The secret word is Ssssh!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
WE’VE BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD BEFORE
In Vietnam it was killing civilians, collecting ears, and smoking smack. In Afghanistan it would seem to be killing civilians, collecting fingers, and smoking hash. This is not politics. It’s not even pacifism. It’s just the seemingly inescapable observation that counter-insurgency drives those expected to implement it stone fucking crazy.
“WASHINGTON - The US Army holds its first hearing Monday in a grisly war crimes case that charges five soldiers with killing Afghan civilians for sport and plotting a cover-up. Authorities say the troops opened fire on the Afghan civilians in unprovoked assaults over several months in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, with some of the soldiers accused of mutilating corpses and removing bones. The case carries potentially explosive ramifications for the war effort as US-led forces try to win the trust of local Afghans and push back Taliban insurgents in the pivotal Kandahar battlefield. Monday's hearing focuses on Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 22, of Wasila, Alaska, who faces charges of premeditated murder in the deaths of three Afghans killed between January and May this year.” (Click here for more.)
Click here for a reminder of the process
The secret words are My and Lai
THE AURORA OF SATURN
I couldn’t resist posting this image of Saturn just to remind myself of the terrible splendor of the universe, and to forget our own petty, toxin-tainted atmosphere.
“Majestic, ringed Saturn little resembles the relatively tiny blue marble that is Earth, but the massive gas giant planet is home to at least one phenomenon that would be familiar to high-latitude dwellers here on Earth. Although the underlying mechanisms may differ somewhat, Saturn has northern and southern lights at its poles, just as Earth does. Auroras arise when charged particles are funneled along converging magnetic field lines and into the upper atmosphere at the poles. At Earth, the effect is dominated by the solar wind; at Saturn a complex mixture of other geomagnetic phenomena appear to contribute as well. Charged particles striking Saturn's upper atmosphere ionize hydrogen atoms and produce infrared radiation, whereas related processes also give off Saturnian auroras at ultraviolet and radio wavelengths.” (Click here for more)
Don Partridge – RIP
THE FROZDICK FAMILY
For some inexplicable reason, Wanda Frozdick’s domination skills only worked on hippos.
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