some girl informs us that the quote below is from Carl Zwanzig. (Which I must confess prompts the question -- "Who the hell is Carl Zwanzig?")

"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together...."
Anonymous comment discovered while aimslessly wandering around the web.

MICK’S MEDIA
...is the title of my brand new column in LA CityBeat. The first one was out two weeks ago and now we have number 2, which, being the week of Valentine’s day, is about sex. (Who could resist?)
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1658&IssueNum=88

OH FUCK, HERE WE GO...
From MSNBC...
North Korea acknowledges it has nuclear weapons – North Korea's government publicly acknowledged for the first time Thursday that it has nuclear arms, and said it is suspending participation in six-country talks aimed at getting it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Now we know where Uranium Willy has been.

CRYPTIQUE – Put your head between your legs and kiss your Seoul goodbye.

The secret word is Fissile

MAYBE THE ONLY WAY TO GET RID OF THE SONS OF BITCHES IS TO DRIVE A LONG IRON STAKE THROUGH THEIR HEARTS
"I'm sorry, but John Lennon was not that important a figure in our times. Why is his death getting more attention than Elvis Presley's? Because Lennon is perceived as a left-wing figure politically, anti-establishment, a man of social conscience with concern for the poor. And, therefore, he is being made into a great figure. Too much has been made of his life. It does not deserve a full day's television and radio coverage. I'm sick of it." – Elliott Abrams, December 1980, Current Bush Administration Middle East Policy Shtarker & Convicted Iran/Contra Liar, on John Lennon's murder
(from Munz)

CRYPTIQUE – Uranium Willy phone home

MORE ABOUT NORTH KOREA, THE DEAR LEADER AND THE NOVA HEAT
From today’s NY Times on the Kim Jong-il horrorshow –
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/09/opinion/09kristof.html?th
"The Dear Leader had the woman brought to him, then denounced her before a crowd and ordered her shot. At that point, her husband begged to be allowed to kill her. Graciously acceding, Mr. Kim handed him a gun to kill his own wife." This snippet is quoted by Nicholas Kristof from a book: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader by Bradley Martin

But by a damned odd coincidence Bradley and Martin are two of Nova Heat created by Uncle Bill Burroughs. Here’s some background from aethersanctum...
...a junkie narcotics agent whose addiction is so powerful that he actually assimilates other junkies to get a contact high (Bradley the Buyer). Next off the fork Burroughs provides us with a darkly comical tale of biological experimentation presided over by Dr. Schafer the Lobotomy Kid, who parades a human / black centipede hybrid before a vulgar medical board conference (Meeting Of International Conference Of Technological Psychiatry). Then it's on to burning down the croakers in a search for black smoke yen with the Sailor (The Fish Poison Con). Further on, the Nova Heat reach across wounded galaxies (Thing Police Keep All Board Room Reports), a summons is given from the rings of Saturn by the Nova Mob (Mr. Bradley Mr. Martin Hear Us Through The Hole In Thin Air) and there are long slimy looks from the District Supervisor along with details of the Mayan caper with the Subliminal Kid (Where You Belong). The District Supervisor then reveals to us the genocidal purposes of the Nova Conspiracy and the Death Dwarf gets an image fix (Inflexible Authority) before the disk finally closes with the Heavy Metal Kid wising up the marks (Uranium Willy).
http://www.aethersanctum.net/milestones/36.php

The secret word is Jung

CRYPTIQUE -- And where is Uranium Willy now that we need him?

MAYBE NORTH KOREA WON’T BE SAVED BY MANDATORY HAIRCUTS
Stress causes me to forget things. I can’t remember exactly where I found this – Australian, I think – but I do recall it was reliable source, and I have a fascination with Stalinism gone totally bananas...
In interviews for this article over many months, western policymakers, Chinese experts, North Korean exiles and human rights activists built up a picture of a tightly knit clan leadership in Pyongyang that is on the verge of collapse. Some of those interviewed believe the "Dear Leader", Kim Jong-il, has already lost his personal authority to a clique of generals and party cadres. Without any public announcement, governments from Tokyo to Washington are preparing for a change of regime. The death of Kim’s favourite mistress last summer, a security clampdown on foreign aid workers and a reported assassination attempt in Austria last November against the leader’s eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, have all heightened the sense of disintegration.

THE PLANET MAY ALSO NOT SURVIVE HUMANITY
I also just came across this. A little old, but still a scarey eye-opener.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/mcherald/news/nation/6449098.htm

FOR TOTAL PARANOIA
http://www.weatherwars.info/index.html

HE YAM WHAT HE YAM
And on a siller note from Funtopia Rich
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/21206/

CRYPTIQUE – Okay, are you all hip to the Zogg now?

The world, the flesh and the devil – not to mention the sundry horned minions of all three – are currently running me ragged, straight for the Nietzschean abyss (whine, complain) probably a day late and a dollar short, (heaven be praised I have fiction to write) but, while I barely cope and only answer a third of each day's email, good stuff keeps rolling in like the following from HCBeck...

ROBOT LUST
From The Guardian_
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning. Kim Jong-Hwan, the director of the ITRC-Intelligent Robot Research Centre, has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that, he says, will allow robots to feel lusty, and could eventually lead to them reproducing. He says the software, which will be installed in a robot within the next three months, will give the machines the ability to feel, reason and desire. Kim, a leading authority on technology and ethics of robotics, said: "Christians may not like it, but we must consider this the origin of an artificial species. Until now, most researchers in this field have focused only on the functionality of the machines, but we think in terms of the essence of the creatures." That "essence" is a computer code, which determines a robot's propensity to "feel" happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry or afraid. Kim says this software is modelled on human DNA, though equivalent to a single strand of genetic code rather than the complex double helix of a real chromosome. Kim said: "Robots will have their own personalities and emotion and - as films like I Robot warn - that could be very dangerous for humanity. If we can provide a robot with good - soft - chromosomes, they may not be such a threat." Although he admits his ideas sound fantastic, Kim is no crank. In the mid-1990s, the professor launched the robot football world cup, which has since become one of the most popular means for robotics researchers to measure their progress against competitors from around the world.

The secret word is Wrench

BUT MAYBE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT AND MAYBE THE KEY TO EVERYTHING...
Please check out...
http://www.bitfurnace.com/TheCuddlyMenace/

I repeat, please check out...
http://www.bitfurnace.com/TheCuddlyMenace/

I repeat, please check out...
http://www.bitfurnace.com/TheCuddlyMenace/

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

CRYPTIQUE -- Danger, Will Robinson!