link wouldn't work, probably too much traffic.

This guy ain't the only one doing this, I myself have purchased used film rolls many times from thrifts, but with no real great finds (usually lots of pics of the thrift store itself, or no pics at all, or very dull/average vacation photos).

#1 Bigfoot story every year: still no hard evidence found that will prove its existence to the die-hard skeptic.

*sigh*

(hey-- don't blame me, I think they're out there and they're smart enough to know to avoid humans at all costs. From what I have seen of humans it's a good move).

This reminds me of Rush Limbaugh's attempt to debunk overpopulation-- to paraphrase, he said something along the lines of "if the human population was spread out evenly across the globe everyone would have a square mile to himself."

Now, the landmass of the earth is about 500 million square miles, and the population is (last I checked) about 6.6 million. Even taking into account that he first said it years ago (lets say 10 years ago), the population was NOT 500 million 10 or even 20 years ago (did he get this factoid from some 100 year old science text?). Of course it also doesn't take into account that a good amount of the landmass is (nearly) uninhabitable deserts and tundra (the entire continent of Antarctica?, the Sahara and Gobi deserts?, the Himilayas? Greenland?). Maybe he was referring to the ENTIRE surface area, including oceans (oh boy, I can't wait for my personal square mile of ocean).

My point is (similar to sentiments express by others here) that these factoids produced by think tanks are like urban myths-- people want to believe them and won't bother to check if a Hummer is more environmentally-friendly than a hybrid (or if a duck's quack produces an echo, or if Coca-Cola will make worms exit pork, etc.), it's an interesting "fact" they heard and they will remember it and repeat it and suddenly it's accepted as truth. The think tanks are like teenagers trying to write a term paper, they ignore evidence that doesn't support their thesis because "Damn it! I want to get an A+ on this paper! These other facts don't help me any!"

The world is full of lonely and damaged people. Although she is clearly an emotional vampire I still feel sorry for her. It's also hard to say exactly how much harm she caused; she's not "Dr. Oyme Nkenga of Nigeria asking for help releasing 1.7 millions US Dollars inheritance." I question the posting of her name and photo, but also see it as an obvious comeuppance: the grief she inflicted has been returned in kind. Maybe it will cause her to think before doing something similar again, maybe it will warn others of her calumny, or maybe not.

The human condition is the human ego. We lie to ourselves and others prop ourselves up emotionally, we refuse to admit when we were wrong, we start wars over foolish things that we think slighted our respective countries. . . . Humans walk a fine line between rational and irrational at all times, logic versus endorphins.

(oops-- I meant to say "6.6 BILLION" for population, not "million", and actually the total Earth surface area is just over 500 million, 70% of which is water, so roughly 148 million sq. miles of land).

What is wrong with "the powers that be" these days? It seems like some kind of ridiculous desperation combined with overwhelming stupidity. This is exactly the same thing as the story (true or not) that US Forces were planting caches of bomb-making materials in public places, and having snipers fire at whoever stopped to pick them up. The assumption is that whoever picks up the bomb-making materials is a terrorist, but of course some are just curious, and some are concerned about their neighborhood and don't want those bomb-materials falling into the hands of terrorists, or even local children.

SO. The problem here is that the authorities assume they know someone's intentions once they pick up an apparently lost handbag or wallet. They DON'T. I would speculate that you are just as likely to arrest a good samaritan as a thief.

In the case of "Aquarius Cheers" they apparently dropped the charges when there was publicity, but I imagine that charges would be dropped anyway once it got to court-- no judge is going to prosecute someone with no prior record who was obviously trying to help. Besides-- it's obvious entrapment.

If I leave my wallet on a park bench and a cop picks it up, can I press charges?

The other thing that bothers me is: at what point does picking up a handbag or wallet become a crime? It seems there isn't a crime until someone falsely uses the credit cards-- there was not theft, the wallet or handbag was either lost or abandoned (see court case Finders vs. Keepers.) Indeed, at what point does picking up ANYTHING become a crime? If I find a watch in the trash should I just leave it or face possible prosecution?

It boggles my mind that the police could even think this is appropriate or rational.

There are lots of arguments to be made here. Sure, thieves might see the stickers and assume there are police in the area, thus it's not safe. But parking lots these days are filled with security cameras, that doesn't stop theives.

I could even argue that some thieves would dress as cops, and carry around a pile of yellow stickers, whilst sizing up various cars.

Who knows how it could play out.

I recall an episode of some silly "reality" TV show where they fed guests the "highest quality" hor'deuvres, which were actually made from Hormel SPAM, and "French" wine which was actually cheap American port.

The guests raved about the food and wine.

Why spend so much money on something you will very shortly be converting to urine?

FNARF: "vodka is horrible stuff. Real liquor has, you know, flavor."

Pfff! Seems to me vodka is the realest of the liquors, no volume in the bottle wasted on "flavor" molecules, and what is flavor anyway? Although I will drink scotch, bourbon, and tequila, most of the time their flavors leave something to be desired (how's that for blasphemy?), tequila always reminds me of the time I ate dirt as a curious child. I'll admit that really good scotch DOES taste quite good, but I can't afford that stuff so why bother.

Vodka is efficient. You want to sit and savor the flavor of your fancy liquors?-- go ahead, some of us would rather get DRUNK!

What I can't really understand is WHAT was so special about this particular vodka that he needed two bottles, and would rather tempt death than surrender it . . . "Egyptian vodka?" That's a borderline oxymoron.

"You put your WEED in there!"

"Hmmnnnn...let's see, that's roughly 3,700,000 grams of coke times whatever the going rate is today per gram."

well. . . I never said the apparent CIA agent would be out hawking the stuff on the street. AND he would have had to pay for the stuff up front, so more likely a decent markup, dump the stuff on some connection, and off he goes with a million dollar "bonus"-- people have been know to do far more dangerous things for less.

More solid evidence that new toys like tasers make cops lazy. True, the driver was being uncooperative, but the cop pulls the taser out BEFORE the driver even starts to walk away, and clearly the cop could have just grabbed the guy and pushed him up against the car. Instead he causes the driver to fall on the pavement, possibly hurt his skull, and (of course) possibly wet his pants. Let's say this was 20 years ago, and he didn't have a taser, would he have pulled his gun out that quickly?

Though the driver was uncooperative, the cop was uninformative and belligerent-- he could have explained that IF the driver did not sign he could be arrested. Cops are people, they have bad days, occasional trouble in their personal lives, etc., but as representatives of the law they should be professional and meticulous, not lazy and belligerent.

I'm sure "Cank" was just joking with "somebody actually saw Adam and Eve." Oh really?, WHO? What was his/her name that saw these two mythical progenitors? I guess because it's in a book that means it's real? If so, Bram Stoker warns "watch out for vampires!" Hmmm. . . we should believe hearsay evidence, but disbelieve actual, physical (albeit fossilized) evidence? No thanks.

Whenever another important fossil gets discovered I go to the AOL homepage, click on the story, and see what all the ignorant nutbags are saying about "it can't possibly be 6 million years old-- the earth is only 5000 years old, blah blah blah blah blah."

*sigh*

The biggest problem with Christian fundamentalists in the USA is that they wield too much power and are de facto political organizations-- consider megachurches, they rake in huge amounts of money, dictate very strict political views (which are "sinful" to oppose), and yet are tax free-- no wonder the GOP is beholden unto them, a powerful ally who can only get stronger as they prey on peoples fears about death. Sure, I hope for cooperation between progressives and Christians, but I also dislike the fact that it's just another case of church and state being intertwined.

I know, I know. . . ALL Christians are not "Jerry Falwells", but it sure seems like most Christian fundamentalists spend too much time reading the book of Revelation, and not enough time reading the four Gospels (hence the joy they felt when Israel began bombing Hezbollah positions in Lebabon last year; the promise of the "last days" trumps "do unto others.")

I'm relatively sure "EP" is the man mentioned in Oliver Sacks's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" (not the title person, but another study in the book who's memory was destroyed by years of alcohol abuse). A sad story. I actually witnessed something similar with a former co-worker whose memory was tentative at best after years of alcoholism and drugs, it was difficult if not impossible for him to count anything past about 50, he would lose track and start over.

I was in a member of a jury recently, and it amazed me how different people's accounts of the event in question varied, and our problem on the jury-- "who's memory do we trust?" Even an amalgam of the memories didn't create a clear picture.

*sigh* another dig at Boston. What-- are you guys all New Yawkahs?

There are a lot of other phony bomb scares around the world; I remember BoingBoing reporting on a penis pump mistaken for a bomb, and know of vibrators and cds suffering similar fates at the hands of the TSA, which is a lot sillier than homemade electronics being considered bombs. But even in Boston no cop is going to press the "hoax" charge on someone carrying a penis pump.

I guarantee it's only a matter of time before similar "Boston Hoaxes" happen in your town-- cops everywhere are ego-driven and heavy handed, and don't like being made to look foolish (even if it's by their own stupidity). I admit the "hoax device" law in Boston is being abused by the cops, but in court those cases don't stand.

Best quote ever: "If you've never seen "2 GIRLS 1 CUP," as the Truffaut-influenced masterwork is colloquially known on the internet, do yourself a favor and do not bother because it is like goatse times a million tubgirls divided by maggots."

AS for the video (and we do seem to be having a serious intellectual discussion about it, despite the fact that we were warned not to watch it), I guess I have become somewhat jaded, as it didn't disgust me as much as it probably should. It did bring up all kinds of weird tangential thoughts. Like others here I wondered WHAT could bring those girls to do that (they don't really seem to be enjoying it), and how much they were paid? In college a classmate had a verboten bestiality film -- one woman in the flick was clearly a heroin addict acting under a kind of duress, but one old man in the same film was clearly into what he was performing.

I also wondered: do they bother to clean the dishes at home now? I mean. . . they've had dirtier things in their mouths, what's a little dried old food? And if they drop an ice-cream cone on the pavement do they just pick it up and eat it, and if not why-- it's not as bad as other things they eaten? Of course during sex we all cross lines of what is and isn't appropriate to put in our mouths, but then this film doesn't really strike me as being "sexual" in any way-- if not for the lesbian kissing there's no "sex" in it at all.

Finally, I thought "this is the end of civilization, this is like what was going on in Rome when the Empire fell: pointless perversion." It seems like some of what puritanical Christian-fundamentalists predicted maybe is coming true, pornographers do seem to be trying to out-do each other. What do I make of the fact that I wasn't too disgusted by it? I remember as a boy my stomach turning when I saw a dead bird, and yet this video didn't hurt as much, is this what being "mature" is all about? Every day another part of me dies.

So it goes.

I thought the cop was remarkably easy going about this, telling the guy to just have it towed back to the gallery (it would have been even better if he offered to escort them back, but perhaps that's asking too much). . . but maybe I'm just used to "American justice" meting out taser voltage instead of rational discussion. I bet in most US jurisdictions they would have been arrested and the car impounded as evidence.

I love the idea, but in reality it isn't really road-safe, either for the passengers (pedallers?) or other cars in traffic (no lights, and what kind of brakes do they have, enough to stop them if they were going down a steep hill?). It IS still just a big hunk of metal.

From the interview: "Information is ubiquitous and overwhelming. Only so much can be processed in a day. And when you think of how many outrages are occurring each day because of the war and the current U.S. constitutional crisis, who has time to follow one of the many ridiculous court cases brought by the Department of Justice?"

hmmmm... could that actually be one of the Bush administration's strategies. . . overload our outrage to induce apathy?

Perhaps your title should read:

Court declares parts of Patriot Act UNPATRIOTIC.

This just in!! "Muhammad Ali realizes he blasphemed Islam in 1964, changes his name back to Cassius Clay."

Of course the name "Muhammad Ali" in the middle east is like "John Smith" in the US, perhaps the teacher should have stipulated that the doll be named "Muhammad Ali" rather than just "Muhammad." I hope I would have had the foresight to do so in that situation.

Of course, she was following the wishes of the schoolchildren, are they to be tried too?

DUDE!

"...the black upper layer can be played on every record player."

WRONG!!

This has been done before, and is not always so wonderful as it sounds. I recall a band from Boston tried this in the early 1990's, by gluing a one-sided 5" single onto a cd. The problem: you can only fit about 2 minutes at 33 1/3 rpm onto a disc that size, PLUS many record players wont play that far into a disc-- the automatic return mechanism on many common turntables lifts the stylus/arm about halfway through the song and shuts off the platter.

In fact there IS a turntable that reads the grooves of a record with a laser, supposedly reducing the wear-and-tear on your vinyl to nil, but it cost about 10,000 bucks.

http://www.elpj.com

Records have been around for about 100 years, cds for only about 25 (cd technology was actually invented in the early 70's), so I don't necessarily trust cds yet-- even today they master albums from original vinyl sources when the original master tapes have disappeared or eroded (especially considering the millions of recordings ruined for years because the industry standard AMPEX tape was being made with a defective tape recipe.) I have seen many instances of "cd rot" where the aluminum degrades through the plastic, ruining the data (whether the cd has been played or not).

well. . . that's my 2 cents anyway.

I know people will pin this on "something about Boston", but as a Bostonian I insist it's only a matter of time before something similar happens in your neighborhood; Boston is not so unique that these things only happen here, but ever since the mooninite "hoax" anytime something similar happens here it gets hyped ad infinitum, perpetuating this myth of Boston. Indeed, a link in a previous comment here points to a "hoax" in New Haven, and I know of similar cases of the authorities going overboard with unknown devices in Ohio and California, so lay off Boston.

That said, the problem here is that it's the very nature of Police and other authorities to over-react. Too many cops think they are on a mission from God to save the world (especially since 9/11), and when the "bomb" they thought they saw turns out to be an error on their part, the bruised ego won't allow them to back down. Yes, the "hoax device" rule in Massachusetts is ridiculous, and I suspect if Star Simpson fights it in court with a competent lawyer she'll get off with only a warning (charges were dropped against the two artists in the Mooninite scare earlier this year, as prosecutors could not show "intent to cause a panic"-- the bottom line in labeling it a "hoax.")

Yes-- the fact that the law pertains to the sale of these objects, and not ownership of them is confusing. What if adult stores offered "free vibrator with $50 video purchase"-- would that violate the law?

Plus there's the fact that the device has to be "primarily for stimulation"-- so if they made one with a cigarette lighter in it or small LED clock ("see how fast to can achieve climax!"), would that skirt the law?

Perhaps the "Dildo Liberation Front" should purchase huge amounts of vibrators in bulk and give them out free in massive demonstrations. I'm sure the cops will find a way to arrest them for it and the whole process will begin again.

No abortions, no birth control, and NO self stimulation-- they are trying to overpopulate the earth!

OK-- let's assume the famous Patterson film is a hoax. I'm willing to believe that.

But that doesn't explain all the other sightings, including those that predate the Patterson film.
I find it far more reasonable to believe there is a species we don't know about, that doesn't want any contact with humans, than that there is an army of hoaxers out there running around our national forests, often in the remotest areas where they wouldn't expect another human to come upon their hoax. And if you consider that people who claim to have seen one are ridiculed by friends and strangers alike, there's really no reason to think folks are making up stories about what they saw.

"Oh it was probably just a bear"-- really? Have you ever seen a cow or a deer and mistaken it for a horse?

As several other people have noted, the swastika is not necessarily only a Nazi symbol. It predates national socialism by thousands of years, is seen in Mediterranean, middle eastern, and far eastern art (native American too I think), and is considered a symbol for Buddhism (in fact, in Taipei Taiwan the swastika appears on subway maps to denote Buddhist temples.)

But OH the HORROR that people flying overhead might see an offensive symbol. Next thing you know they'll fill in the Snake River gorge because maybe someone will think it resembles a vagina.

I agree that this seems to be a case of a huge mistake compounded by ego and bureaucracy-- they mistook her for someone else, and were too embarrassed to admit it, and now the system is so slow that it may take her lifetime to correct it.

US borders are porous, she could get a ticket to Canada, and cross by foot anywhere along the border (people do it every day in some spots, walking through the woods to the Canadian liquor store for cheaper booze or smokes). I know, I know. . . that doesn't solve the problem (she may just end up being declared an 'enemy combatant' and sent to a secret prison), ahhh but what a wonderful embarrassment to US Homeland Security-- not only is she just a music professor they've mis-labeled, but she managed to get back into the US undetected, go teach peacefully at her, university, and when they bust her only draw more attention to their own stupidity. (wishful thinking I guess).

People are talking so much shit here, it's making me high!

#33-- good point, a friend of mine once sold fake cocaine to a classmate who LOVED it (he was trying to get the dude to leave him alone, it backfired, he wanted MORE of what my buddy mixed up in his mom's kitchen).

Most world cities are built over miles of fermenting sewage-- how come this is the first we've heard of getting high from the fumes? Hmmm. . .maybe this is how the first reports of giant alligators appeared, or even CHUDs: the "witnesses" were all high!

I'm not sure I understand this completely, but it reminds me of a lot of things-- "remedies" from the late 1800's that were actually dangerous, junk bonds in the early 20th century, "The Emperor's New Clothes" . . . . Does China really understand the pitfalls of capitalism yet? Boom vs. bust.

I worry where this is all headed.

As for the inherent value of luxury items, a knockoff handbag is one thing, but I can say from experience that knockoff guitars that say "Gibson" on the headstock and yet only cost $99 plus shipping, DO NOT sound or play anywhere near as well as a US-made Gibson. This probably translates to other items, like golf clubs and watches.

Well "Moon", tubes DO sound warmer than transistors in many cases-- I've owned many guitar amps over the years, and even the best solid-state amps were harsh sounding at high volume, whereas tube amps distort pleasantly. Some people like the harsh tone of non-tube amps, and that's fine, so it's all matter of taste I guess. With home stereo systems the difference is less apparent, and how much money do you really need to spend on a stereo?

As for reel-tapes, I would LOVE to have a nice Studer/Revox tape machine and a collection of decent tapes. I know tape collectors who have great old reels, The Zombies, Miles Davis, Allman Brothers live (the Fillmore East reel tapes have a very different mix than the vinyl). BUT, I don't have the money or time or space to go down that path. Besides, certain recording aren't going to sound better on reels or cds or anything-- all the original Robert Johnson and Charlie Parker recordings were done on 78rpm acetates, but the magic and fire is still there: would you rather hear Bird off an old acetate, or Kenny G in pristine digital sound? There is no perfect sound, even hearing something live is imperfect-- you have to deal with crowd noise, crappy amplification in clubs, your own tinnitus. . . . I remember a friend who hated vinyl because any small surface noise "crackle" distracted him, and yet he didn't have a problem listening to a live guitarist playing around a campfire which produced non-stop crackles and pops.

We shouldn't worry so much about reproducing the absolute ultimate in audio fidelity, rather doing the best that is reasonable, and focus more on the quality of the music being performed; Ornette Coleman used to play on a plastic sax and Hound Dog Taylor played a crappy Japanese guitar, but the music they made is still great. I'd rather hear them on their sub-par instruments than a recent Berklee or GIT graduate on the most expensive instruments available.

It's pretty clear to me, that the claim of "prices as intellectual property" is simply an unfair business practice, as ridiculous as listing the boss's pet canary as CEO (in the event of a federal indictment, the canary takes the fall!) Why don't they just make the prices completely secret, so the only way you can find out how much it costs is to BUY it. WHOOPS!. . . $400 for a dictionary?! No returns?!

My favorite quote of all time applies here in spades:

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” —Alexander Solzhenitsyn

How can guys that are so dark-skinned, be so "white"?

This might be more commonplace than you think-- several years ago a man was evicted from a hidden underground house on Nantucket. His story is actually quite interesting, and similarly he claimed to have several other underground houses already built around the country. Like this guy, he also worked in either contracting or carpentry; at first I thought it might be the same guy in Fresno (many similarities), but the name appears different (unless he is using a new name). The Nantucket moleman did a far superior job to the Freso guy's "dirt hole": although smaller, it did have wooden walls and a stone floor, and some amenities like a gravity-fed shower/sink, and an icebox built into the earth. Also odd that he could do it on Nantucket, which (unlike the Vineyard) is a very close-knit community.

http://hpn.asu.edu/archives/Dec98/0114.html

The molemen will inherit the earth (i.e. dirt).

Hmmm. . . Ted Kennedy and a British (and Muslim) PM were detained by the TSA. So, have any conservative politicians ever been detained by the TSA?

Unfortunately, a real terrorist probably won't be foolish enough to be so obvious as to use a real passport with an Arab (or even possibly Arab) name on it. He (or she) will have dyed their hair blonde, be wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and traveling under the name "Michael Hunt."

It is possible the drug smuggling had no actual connection to the CIA, but I suspect it does.

Consider this: at your job, whatever it is, you often take advantage of "perks" of the job, whether it's something as simple as photocopying, or as advanced as a cheap car repair. Auto dealers drive around "dealer" cars all the time, and people in the music industry trade promo cds with each other all the time.

So what if you worked for the CIA, and knew all the ins-and-outs of making a front company, and wanted to earn some quick cash? "Oh, the company is ditching one of it's old jets, maybe I can buy it for cheap, company discount. Plus I know a contact in Peru who owes me a favor. . . ." It would be easy and simple, and relatively safe as you work for the CIA. And if "the company" had been doing similar things for years, what moral barriers could there possibly be to hold you back?

THIS is the kind of thing that makes me start to believe in conspiracy theories.

It also reminds me of the Iran/Contra affair.
(I wonder who's trading what-for-what now?)

I was on jury duty recently, and during the proceedings (of a MURDER trial no less) one of the other jurors' cell phone went off (I suspect this is pretty common). It was embarrassing for all the jurors to a certain extent, and maybe borderline for dismissal of the jury, because the owner of the phone apologized profusely to the judge and court (jurors are to remain silent at all times in court).

The judge was very understanding, although she did look perturbed.

This is part of what I think might be considered a distinct genre: "Science Music" or "Data Music." There have been a few cd releases of scientific data translated into audio/music, Bob L. Sturm's "Music From the Ocean" comes to mind, the data of currents and temperatures transposed into audio, but I also know of people translating parts of genetic sequences into sheet music, resulting in oddly baroque sounding pieces. There may be more examples at Sturm's website:

http://www.composerscientist.com/

There is essentially a version of squatter's rights in Colorado, in fact just outside Boulder (I think it's up off Sunshine Canyon Dr.?) there was a commune of sorts that just built living quarters on the unused land, and lived there for a long enough time to make it theirs by right. The technicality of the law in that case was not just the act of squatting but also development of the land. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this, it is my best recollection).

In the case of the Mcleans however (although I don't live there), it certainly seems from the article that their plan all along was to make a claim on the land, hence landscaping their property in such a way to make it convenient to trespass (in other words they landscaped with the intent of trespassing), thus they could be making use of the land nearly every day. It seems they are taking advantage of their neighbors generosity in allowing them to use the land.

I look forward to toiling in their underground sugar caves.

mmmmm . . . sugar!

Gold Bless America!

"As for the book, it's pretty crappy. Much of the research for it was done using dated knowledge from a public library."--JTF

Reading the comments here has reminded me of other recent events (Steven Kurtz detained by the FBI for suspicion of creating biological weapons, only to find out they were harmless, they then press charges anyway!). I think the cops are maybe more scared than the rest of the public, or maybe it's part of the ego-driven mindset of the people who become police officers-- they see the title of the book and flip out, not knowing that the information is all out there in other publications, and maybe mostly false (the original author of the book did a good job titling it-- guaranteed sales forever), and then when/if they find out that the book is pretty common they press charges anyway to protect their image.

The other thought is that police are pressing charges for "intent" when true intent may not be known-- the kid could just as easily be exceedingly curious about chemistry instead of a troublemaker. Interestingly, conservatives in the US harp on about our "nanny-society" where everyone is trying to protect us from ourselves, but I imagine they'd have no problem with this kind of "nannyism."

No wonder "MacGuyver" was taken off the air.

The bottom line is the driver may have been uncooperative, but the cop is clearly unprofessional; he is supposed to enforce the law and not dole out punishment. It was a speeding ticket, not grand larceny or assault. I have seen far more unruly and angry drivers NOT get tased on the various "RealTV" style shows (including one incident where the angry driver tears up the ticket and throws it out the window-- the cop didn't tase him, just told him that a littering ticket was $500 . . . the driver calmed down and picked up the shredded ticket).

Would the cop have pulled his gun in this situation? No. Would the cop have pulled out his night stick? Probably not. So WHY the taser? I can think of no reason except laziness and/or belligerence, a la "I don't want to deal with this bozo and his crap today"-- well then you shouldn't have become a police officer.

The more people see bad cops using tasers, the more people will question the integrity of a policeman when they are pulled over, maybe leading to more use of tasers. It's in the police's best interest to make sure they all act with professionalism and integrity, or else this kind of thing could spiral out of control.

In a free society airing this kind of video is the best remedy-- it teaches people to treat the police with caution, and it punishes bad cops like the ones in this video. Even in Utah, I'm sure this guy is in for a load of scrutiny and probably some kind of punishment.

"I can't wait to eat that monkey!" -- Abe Simpson

TALKING about a crime is practically the same thing as committing a crime-- just ask the Thought Police, you idiots.

"Next up in our broadcast, I am about to be arrested for reporting about a murder."

"OW! this uranium ice cream hurts my teeth. . . oh wait, they fell out, nevermind."

Here's some more info on the Nantucket moleman, plus some others of note.

http://www.subsurfacebuildings.com/TwentiethCenturyCavemen.html

http://www.pamelaferdinand.com/wp_0028.html

"That's what you get for not 'hailing to the chimp!'" -- Homer Simpson

So what to terrorists read? The Koran? Well. . . so do non-terrorists, and even non-muslims (I had to read it in translation in college). This is like the Dept. of Homeland Security issuing a statement that possible terrorists might be using copies of The Farmer's Almanac in their evil schemes.

It seems that, yes, they are trying to do everything they can possibly think of to thwart a terrorist attack, but unfortunately they are just bogging themselves down in reams of useless (and possibly misleading )information.

Even if a terrorist reads "book X"-- would said terrorist be foolish enough to bring that suspicious book on a plane? It seems the DHS is looking at an obvious "false flag" in their attempts to "look busy."

OK, before you guys go overboard with the anti-Boston screeds you perfected back during the mooninite fiasco, I suggest you try to walk into ANY airport in the US with a similar device strapped on your clothing, and see what transpires.

Furthermore, as for the whole mooninite-thing from last year, perhaps Boston is some unique backwater where this was bound to happen, OR perhaps it was just dumb luck that they attracted attention from confused cops in Boston first-- given enough time I suspect any of the other cities might have over-reacted like Boston IF Boston hadn't done so first. It is specious reasoning to point to that incident and claim it somehow proves something specific to Boston, authorities in any large municipality tend to over-react when confronted with the unknown (especially post-9/11). You'll note that the other cities removed the mooninite-devices after the Boston scare, even though they knew full well that they were NOT bombs.

I personally think that it is mostly dumb-luck to blame for these two event happening in Boston (I note that other smaller but similar "hoaxes" have happened in other cities, but haven't garnered as much attention).

Moderator Teresa is right: it's NOT illegal to be rude, if it were half of New York City would be in jail, and by that I mean the half that's not already in jail ;-).

I hate helpless situations like this. What can a reasonable person do when a cop is gung-ho with his taser? I imagine a "Mexican stand-off" where the pissed-off motorist pulls out his own taser as the cop is pulling his-- if either guy fires, the muscle spasm will cause the victim to pull his own trigger, and they'll both lie on the ground writhing, connected with two sets of pulsing electric wires.

Ahhh. . . circle of life.

Wait. . . isn't the notion of compressed MP3 audio anathema to the sensibilities of the hardcore classical enthusiast?

"possession of information useful in the preparation of an act of terrorism" is mighty vague. A car is useful for making a car-bomb, but until then it's just a car, and that book is just a book.

Nuclear scientists have LOTS of information useful to terrorists, perhaps they should all be locked up.

The fact is: the only way to TRULY fight terrorism is to defuse the anger of the terrorists. Give the Palestinians some kind of real country of their own, oppose middle eastern dictators without invading them, offer economic development that isn't predatory, in essence be moral politically on an international level. Rounding up everybody who could conceivably be considered a terrorist means eventually everybody will be in prison or too afraid to leave the house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, bat's eat bugs and pollinate agave, and "fertilize" attics everywhere. They also carry rabies (in the famous case of the girl "cured" of rabies by being put in a coma, her rabies was inflicted by a bat which I believe just scratched her; she had no idea at the time, and so her rabies progressed to where vaccination was no longer viable).

When I go running, usually at dusk this time of year, I have bats swooping down near me when I run through the local arboretum. It freaks me out, and the adrenaline rush pushes me to run harder. That's about the best thing I can say about bats.

So. . . it will be a war of competing EULAs, I'd like to see how that would play out in court if it ever got that far: "But your Honor, by reading my email he was agreeing to forfeit all rights. . . "

counter: "Objection, your Honor, by sending me that email he was also forfeiting all rights."

I used to think "good, let more languages die, maybe someday we will all speak the same language and there will be no more wars", of course that's naive: wars start over power and money and resources. So now I think: if we all spoke the same language it would make it that much easier for us to argue all the time.

Wish I still had my Marantz portable stereo cassette recorder, that thing was a workhorse, though I do admire all the new flash recorders out now (Zoom and Edirol are particularly nice).

I suspect the illness is more likely chemical-based and not life-based, in other words, not a virus, but something like copper-oxide poisoning.

Usually when I've heard of this type of thing happening it involves a foreign accent appearing after a car accident. This is the first I've ever heard of a different ("domestic") regional dialect appearing after brain damage/surgery.

As an American I would liken it to a Bostonian coming out of surgery with a Georgia accent (or the reverse)-- it would be quite confusing to friends and relatives, and would instigate a lot of hassles and unwanted conversation (a la "My what a lovely accent, how long are you visiting here for?")

This is the obvious proof of why torture doesn't work, and should be brought up often by the poor liberals who throw themselves to the wolves on ridiculous shows like "The O'Reilly factor" or "Hannity and Colmes" Conservative goons like to bring up IDEAL situations, with a proven terrorist and an imminent bomb detonation, and justify torture in order to save millions of lives. But that is something that has never been shown to have ever happened, and yet here is the ideal situation to show why torture is not helpful, and it's a situation that actually DID happen.

As for America and patriotism. . . . Yes, America was founded on stolen land, but there's really no way to fix that now (although I fantasize about some Native tribe getting rich from gambling monies and buying out the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins and changing their names to "Cleveland Crackers" and "Washington Whiteys"). In the history of mankind everyone stole land from one another (just look at how the borders of Europe changed between the Napoleonic wars and the end of WW2). I don't justify it, but I also don't know what can be done to fix it; any "cure" will probably result in more problems, like creating (re-creating?) Israel did.

In a sense the United States of America is actually an "ideal" to strive for, the promise of what was expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and later codified in the US Constitution. It took the US a long time to realize it wasn't living up to those ideals with regard to slavery, but it finally did. As for other aspects of the "ideal" of America, true, we are not living up to that ideal, but perhaps we can. It's hard work to live up to an ideal-- look at what the US had to go through to end slavery, and later segregation. The one thing holding us back is not being humble and admitting our mistakes, like the aforementioned Conservative goons so often refuse to do.

I understand the logic of it, I understand the logic of the idea that "even without the stickers, thieves would be able to see packages in the cars anyway", but the bottom line is this IS making it EASIER for thieves to identify the cars with valuables inside.

I remember sitting on my 2nd floor porch one night in the dark, watching a pair of kids walk down the street on either side of the row of parked cars, stopping methodically to test whether any of the doors were unlocked (walking the same speed as each other, on either side of the cars, without ever looking down, keeping their eyes out for anyone in the vicinity). If the police had put flags on top of the cars to warn the owners that "you left your car unlocked" it would have saved those kids a lot of time and work. These stickers are the same thing.

This gives weight to my theory that new devices like tasers just make the police lazy. I can imagine them using the new "heat ray" non-lethal weapon I've heard about: any protest whatsoever will get blasted at that point where the police have had enough, even if it's just a case of "I want to go home, the game is on tonight and my wife is making pork chops. . . hurry up and blast these jokers."

It's like gambling-- I can sit and watch the roulette wheel for several minutes, and if I see black come up 5 times in a row, I am willing to bet it's very likely that red will come up next or very soon, and place my bet on red. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm willing to make the bet.

Several years ago I got curious about the Bigfoot phenomenon, and for a few months poured over all the info I could get. Sure, there are some hoaxers out there, but a forged Rembrandt painting doesn't mean that all the other Rembrandts are also fakes, or that Rembrandt never existed. If you look at all the reliable evidence (not just this film, but the footprints, the hair samples, the sound recordings, eyewitness accounts) it's NOT proof, it's NOT set in stone, but it DOES push the odds to favor the existence of some unknown primate. I think that's all Coleman is saying. I also suspect the naysayers haven't really looked into the phenomenon other than what they heard around the water cooler at work ("Yeah sure, I seen one o' them Bigfoot-creatures. . . in a men's room on the Jersey Turnpike in 1983. . . ") After all, I was one of those naysayers for some time.

Of course it doesn't matter, there's nothing at stake here (unlike the Darwin vs. Creationism debate)-- if some day someone does produce a Bigfoot carcass, all the naysayers can suddenly claim they knew all along. No problem.

I don't think BILLOFWRITES is that far off, though he does unfairly lump all republicans together (and, FLOSFL, I think there are far more rabid ad-hominems spewed by conservatives at liberals than vice-versa, even up here in the so-called "liberal northeast")-- LOUISE12345 nails it though, the GOP as a whole just sticks to their talking points, which are not about the complexities of reality, but of some ethereal golden rule they wish to believe in (creationism anyone?)

It's not WRONG or even hypocritical to change ones position when the circumstances change, but unfortunately the GOP has a habit of treating it as wrong when anyone but them does it-- who's a bigger "flip-flopper": John Kerry or Mitt Romney?

Marijuana laws are probably the biggest bastion of hypocrisy: nobody has ever died from an overdose of it, and yet it's treated like Satan's own poison. Remember those ads warning us that buying pot supports terrorism?

Vote early, vote often, it's the GOP way!

*sigh* yet another drug of abuse, although this is a new twist to "abuse."

The fact that this is derived from datura is not surprising-- I've read harrowing accounts of datura trips; it creates dangerously realistic hallucinations, and gives hangovers that last days (as well as being one of those drugs where it's very easy to overdose).

I am hardly "obsessed" with Bigfoot/Yeti/etc., but that doesn't mean I think it's all bunk. Like a lot of people, for a long time I just assumed it was "a dude in an ape costume" . . . then I heard noted primate researcher Jane Goodall mention in an interview that she believes these creatures exist, and in fact there were similar reports from all over the world.

If you come to the film, or any Bigfoot related tale with a mindset of disbelief, you will naturally laugh and point at those you consider idiots, it's not much different than the first person to claim the earth was round: "Idiot, OBVIOUSLY it's flat, or we'd all fall off! Oh, your 'evidence' consists of pure mathematics divined from looking through a telescope? Give me a break!"

Perhaps the one thing that finally convinced me that there was something going on here was reading the various reports on BFRO.net-- the way they spread out across the USA, the many similarities in sightings, the fact that the stories predate the hoopla surrounding the Patterson film in 1967 and the ensuing Bigfoot-mania of the 1970's (by several centuries). Then there's the evolutionary evidence and theory-- huge apes DID exist in north Asia thousands of years ago, and evidence shows they were hunted by early humans. . . logically any surviving apes of this species would have quickly learned to avoid humans at all cost. Nearly every reported sighting follows this exactly: human sees Bigfoot, Bigfoot sees human, Bigfoot flees, no time for human to take a picture. Plus those that have seen a Bigfoot often won't talk about it, because when they do they are ridiculed.

Sure, it's easy to dismiss, when only you think of Bigfoot as some 1970's character on "The Six Million Dollar Man." Just go to BFRO.net and read some sighting reports, even if you disbelieve at the very least you'll get a kick out of it.

The funny thing, the clearly ironic thing, is that (true or not) this Sheriff has done more to publicize this new "drug" and thus convince kids to try it. My first though upon hearing of this (before boingboing picked up on it) was that it was some kind of trick to fool kids into getting sick while experimenting with drugs: "THAT'LL teach em!"

(When I was a kid I tried a cigarette and got so sick that I never smoked again, of course I'm sure many more kids got hooked).

Another case of the government punishing someone for exposing the foolishness of the government. Like the Boston Mooninite "hoax" or Buffalo's Steve Kurtz biological scare, no harm was intended, no harm was done, but the government over-reacts because there is a "possibility" of terrorism (even the London Times article uses the word "terrorist" in the headline, albeit with quotes). There will always be a "possibility of terrorism", punishing someone because they acted similar to a terrorist is silly, especially since the outcome was beneficial-- why not punish everybody named "Osama" or everyone who ever dropped out of flight school before learning how to land? Or maybe it's just the government setting precedent-- "You cannot subvert our laws even for the common good"-- but isn't that very idea the core of what a democracy is?

"No shirt, no shoes. . . no whimsy"

Guilty until proven innocent.

I would have thought the DHS would have learned their lesson after their ridiculous jump-to-conclusion in Buffalo in 2004, the arrest of Steve Kurtz. If you are not familiar with the story, when is wife suffered a heart seizure the first-responders suspected him of foul play because he was a biologist breeding various micro-organisms in his home-lab. There was no connection to his wife's death, nor was their any connection to terrorism, but because the police don't know science they immediately suspected foul play. When the evidence proved Kurtz' innocence they charged him with crimes under the Patriot Act anyway.

This kind of thing is going to cause far more false arrests than actual criminal arrests.

I thought in a democracy ones representatives in government were supposed to look out for the majority of their constituents, in other words, if the law benefits foreign multinational corporations, and harms or inconveniences a large proportion of the citizenry, HOW does that benefit society?

WHAT is it about Opels in Russia/Ukraine/etc? There was another photo-set making the rounds on the internet of a guy in Russia (or former USSR republic) that built an electric car out of an old Opel body? It's like the old air-cooled VWs were in the US.

When in doubt, blame the "satanists", the wonderful, all-purpose scapegoats, because after all, even the liberal media won't defend Satan! AND if you simply claim there are no Satanists, well, you're only playing into Satan's hand, because the greatest trick Satan ever pulled, was convincing people he didn't exist (although I always thought his greatest trick was convincing people they were doing God's work when they were really doing Satan's work). And if you can't find evidence of Satanic rituals, well that just proves what powerful witches they are: they used "magick" to hide all the evidence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Dae_Wilson

Somewhere I have a common looking sampler LP (I think put out by Columbia) that I bought simply because the first track was entitled "A Special message From Dick Clark". . .and that special message? Dick Clark asking his fans to try out a new holiday treat: "Hot Dr. Pepper, and don't forget to try it with a slice of lemon."

Waterboarding is torture, those who claim it is not are playing a weird semantical game. Dick Cheney insists "The US does not torture" but then defends waterboarding as a valid interrogation technique. It is obvious to me that he WANTS waterboarding to not be considered torture so that he has it in his arsenal. If you can play the intellectual game that "if it saves lives then it's OK", well, why stop at waterboarding then? Why not whips and thumbscrews and gang rape? After all, if "it saves lives". . . ?

What would the founding fathers think?

Is the footage good enough to zoom in on the remnants of the Apollo lander, perhaps debunking all those "moon-landing-was-a-hoax" theorists?

(Yeah, I know, even that wouldn't prove anything for most of them).

I've always wondered if, like apiarists (bee-keepers) in relation to bee venom, one could build a tolerance to electricity (a la Horace Pinker in the crappy horror movie "Shocker.")

I envision a future where all professional soldiers are like this, and insurgents take the opposite approach, traveling light, living off the land, learning to read animal signs like trackers, etc. "Mecha-soldiers" most certainly do not blend in with the population, perhaps even alienating the population more.

Jebus! Talk about stifling honest intellectual research! If there weren't books describing all the hidden meanings of the works of William Blake, people probably wouldn't bother trying to read a lot of his more esoteric stuff. Besides, "making money" off her writings is a ridiculous way of looking at it, newspapers and TV shows "make money" by reporting on her books and interviewing her, but they also PROMOTE her books, JUST like the Lexicon does.

There is a zine library open to the public in Harvard Square, Cambridge MA. (on Mt. Auburn about a block from the Harvard Lampoon bldg., 51 Mt. Auburn) that has been there for years, I believe it's the "Papercut Zine Library." I always thought it was unique; I guess this idea is more widespread than I thought.

"It's not working, I think my car needs to be tuned."

Trust me-- don't get off at Rectum Station, it smells like commuters and/or the homeless have been using it as a toilet.

Always remember folks, bring some EX-LAX in case you get stripped searched, because if they do a "cavity search" then you can show them how you really feel.

In a way it doesn't seem all that different than the burlesques and cartoons painted on bombers during WW2.

Well. . . some people are just geared that way I guess.

(Sorry, all the good puns were taken).

True story: I once knew a guy who claimed to have tried to have "sex with Mother Earth" by boring a small hole in his backyard, and "humping" the dirt. If you knew him, you'd believe he would have tried that. (Talk about a dirty mind.)

They should put those cockroaches in all the urinals to get people to aim straight, I know i would aim straight for that sucker.

Of course he (she?) would probably love it, freakin' cockroach!

I finally see how that old story about "the cats will eat the rats and the rats will eat the cats and we'll get the cat skins for nothing" can be made to actually generate a sustainable income!

Back in about 1989 I predicted (usually to anyone who would listen to my drunken ramblings) that eventually we would have commercialization of every available space-- I singled out the idea of "rolling billboards" and "TV ads DURING the shows" both of which have come to pass. The billboard-barge is a variation on the rolling billboards that are carted around the city by tractor-trailers (I wish I'd thought of the "above urinal ads" I now see).

Where does it stop?

Kudos to the state of New Hampshire for strictly regulating all billboards. It's still a scenic drive up rts. 93 and 89.

Great article, gives one hope. Like the meme from Jurassic Park about trying to control/predict a complex system. But then I realize that eventually the bureaucrats figure out how they are f%%&ing; up and correct themselves, especially when you have a very powerful central government that will just say "stop this-- do this instead" and you cannot argue otherwise, no matter which other government department you are in.

BTW--
I think I have heard of this "Wang Dan" from Boston-- didn't Ted Nugent write a song about him, and something "sweet" that he had?

Yes-- if you are legally allowed to VIEW it in a public street, then HOW can it be illegal to photograph it?

Perhaps people with "photographic memory" should be arrested or at least severely restricted in their movements, lest they inadvertently see/photograph something they should not.

In the US this idea of banning photography of public areas stems from terrorism paranoia-- "a terrorist could photograph this building in preparation for bombing it!" But of course simply walking through the building, walking around it, measuring distances with paces, is probably enough to prepare any terrorist (to say nothing of simply buying photo-postcards of any public building, especially government buildings). To ban photography and NOT ban ALL OTHER viewing of place is (at the very least) hypocritical.

I'm angry and sad and frustrated.

These kinds of actions slander America more than any terrorist could do-- with a terrorist at least one can see the obvious bias when he badmouths the US, but when actual American security personnel do this (not to mention what the CIA does in its "black sites") what can I say to prove that the US is not the land of jack-booted thugs?

Whatever happened to the "kinder, gentler nation" that Bush the elder spoke of?

"the arm once belonged to a veterinarian tending to the crocodile"?

I think technically it STILL belongs to the vet. Just one of the PITFALLs of being a veterinarian, I guess.

"I'm a leg man myself!"

(*rim shot*-- tthank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.)

This kind of thing happened all the time in the Soviet Union, neighbor rats out neighbor for "anti-Revolutionary speech", and of course if the KGB arrested you, well by definition you must be guilty (or are you calling the KGB "liars"?)-- neighbor ends up in prison for months/years, his (much nicer) apartment becomes available, the "whistleblower" moves into nicer apartment.

Admittedly it's not the exact same scenario (though in both cases the "whistleblower" did it for his own personal gain), but the idea that a citizen can report another for heinous crimes (that can't be effectively proven or dismissed) and the authorities pounce on him, well, it ain't the America they taught me in school.

I knew a guy in college who was weirdly religious, and flipped out after taking too many mushrooms. At one point he was grabbing people and bringing them down to the basement to "LOOK! Look at the DARK!!!" (some joker had removed all the lightbulbs from the basement).

Now I understand, it was DARK MATTER all along, Joe was RIGHT!!

"LOOK, LOOK AT THE DARK!!!"

I cannot understand the mental and moral gymnastics that conservatives in the US must undergo in order to justify torture (and yet at the same time insist "the US doesn't torture" and "water-boarding is not torture!") I suppose I can see how his description of what he endured can be parsed to "not really torture"-- the Syrians may have beat him, but the Americans just kept him awake. . . "that's not really torture, is it?" (Sleep deprivation was the favored tactic of the Soviets). Even if you can make an honest assessment that it's "not really torture", you cannot reasonably justify kidnapping, can you? It all seems like desperation to me, the CIA is confused and grasping at straws, they'll try anything.

This goes against everything I was taught that the US stands for, both in word and in spirit. Torture is used by evil men, dictators, psychopaths. Is that what the US wishes to be?

"She was right. . . I DO look like a monkey!!

You know-- Toni Basil was also in "Easy Rider", I believe as one of the hookers in NOLa.

Tarantino often steals movie music from other movies, I noticed a lot of the music in "Kill Bill" is lifted from the obscure Charles Bronson movie "Navaho Joe" (seems common these days-- "Life Aquatic with Steve Zisou" borrowed a little Ennio Morricone music from "Sacco and Vanzetti").

Well DUH! That's what happens in capitalism: "boom and bust." What do you want, a socialist paradise with people living in harmony with each other and the earth?

Pussies!

I'd like to thank JCCALHOUN for reminding me of the word "asshat", which I had forgotten about.

"Asshat" is the most awesome fuckin' word in the whole fuckin world.

And say what you will but Huskies are the most beautiful dogs in the world.

hey, at least when they get to 6.6 billion they'll be done, and the guy making the list will put his own name on "just to be safe."

WTF!!?? This is COMPLETELY ridiculous and NOT reasonable in a democracy, and furthermore . . .

Oh wait, they say it's "an error in judgment"?

Never mind, I'm satisfied.

Franz Kafka is saying "I told you so" from his grave.

Sometimes stories like this remind me of the "Gaia" theory of the earth -- is it just part of mother nature's way of limiting human population?

Then I wonder: if the human race figured out a way around obesity, a way to eat what you want, get rotund, and yet avoid heart disease, diabetes and other health problems, would they opt for that?

Hmmmm. . . RANDOMBITS' comment makes me think. . .

would Jack fight a LADY robot?

I don't care if it's a hoax or not, I'm doing it!

You see, I missed the tattoo and body-piercing crazes, but goddammit, I ain't missing the boat on this one!

As much as the story sounds like BS, and as much as Sheriffs Departments of the US are known for getting things wrong in the paranoia of drug fears (remember "Mickey Mouse acid"?), there could very well be some truth to it. The idea that it's actually just starving the brain of oxygen is a possibility. What we need now is a test toke-- who's up for it?

Yes, "pure" capitalism looks great from the outside, because you think you will be the one making the money, unfortunately you are more likely to be the one in the sweatshop.

It never occurred to me that the authors were doing it for money, I always thought it was "patriotism"-- they needed to save the USA from the EVIL John Kerry. If conservative pundits insist we can't trust the word of climate scientists about global warming because they are "in it for the grant money they get to do all these studies"-- well, should I trust the 'swiftboaters' who are also in it for the money?

Xenophobia is its own punishment.

The xenophobes will of course blame the problems on the foreigners: "They're deliberately not coming to the US in order to hurt our economy!" Vicious circle.

The bugs painted an eye, because that is one of their desires-- or at least i assume that's why bugs are always flying into my eyes when i go backpacking.

I wonder what cockroaches would paint. . . .

Ahhh. . .the secret reason behind "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us" appearing on DEVO's first LP.

Sometimes I think this kind of thing is all part of some neo-conservative plot to "keep them damn for'ners out!"

You hear about that chicken with the IQ of 200 that could speak seven different languages?

That was one tasty chicken.

(Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all week.)

uhhhh . . . shouldn't they more accurately call it "The Maggot Farm"? It ain't bodies that are being raised there.

Sure beats being filled with formaldehyde and buried in an air tight container to sit and wait for the day the container bursts and contaminates the groundwater.

Seems this is a ripe target for pranksters-- simply make your own and place over everything, toilet seats, phone booths, mail boxes, trash cans, all those various "mystery" doors in the subway that lead who-knows-where . . . .

How long before someone claims this is the suit used in the Patterson-Gimlim footage?

Wait! you mean we're not gonna live forever? WTF!??

This is like a Looney Tunes cartoon character walking out over a cliff and not falling until he looks down and realizes he's over empty space-- those damn egghead scientists just HAD to look at the dark matter, didn't they, now we're all gonna die!!

IF waterboarding is not torture, then prove it-- those who suggest waterboarding is not torture should be subjected to it.

After all, Asst. Attorney General Levin offered to try it to see, and he did it under close supervision, with medical personnel present (so logically he would know that his life was not in danger), and yet he STILL felt his life was in danger, and confirmed that "YES it is torture." And I'm sure he went into it hoping to confirm it wasn't torture.

So those of you who suggest it isn't torture-- are you calling a member of the Bush Justice Department a liar?

*sigh* Yet another piece of evidence assuring me that the dystopian-police-state future of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" is another day closer.

Are parking tickets designed to enforce proper parking rules, or designed to generate revenue? If it's the latter, then why not just stop playing silly games and charge a toll to enter DC, bureacracy like that only encourages people to break the law or monkey-wrench the system (that guy in Cambridge MA. who stole hundreds of parking meters now looks like a folk hero).

(Yeah, I actually KNOW that it's supposed to me MP and not PM. . . and yet I STILL typed PM for some reason.)

OW. BRAIN HURT.

Video game? or just "rats in a maze"? My first time there I didn't realize that once I went up the escalator, I couldn't go back-- BOTH escalators went UP!? I had to weave through the damn (crowded) place until I found a way out, lotsa dead ends, stairs down that lead to closed off areas with only fire exits. Ridiculous.

I recall trying to clean out an old coffee maker by running vinegar through it-- didn't seem to improve the coffee any. . . oh wait! I was supposed to use the vinegar to CLEAN the coffee maker, not make coffee. . . never mind!

"a propensity for uncontrolled sexual or gambling impulses,"

Jeebus, what a weird side-effect, what's next, a propensity for speaking with a Swedish accent, or a propensity for collecting clown paintings? Reminds me of the drug clomipramine, used as an anti-depressant, its side effect? it induces an orgasm if you yawn.

I wonder what music they will play at his funeral/memorial service. . . I imagine 20 minutes of microphone feedback performed by Max Neuhaus, perhaps conducted by Boulez.

I guess Krzysztof Penderecki is the last of the 20th century greats left now.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -- H.D. Thoreau

"Have some more pastrami. . .I forgive you."
--G.J. Echternkamp

Hmmmm . . . anyone here ever read "Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy" when they were young? Same idea, professor figures out you can't really make someone "invisible" but instead enables them to enter a room in the form of a small electronic insect that is actually a spying drone, making them a de-facto invisible occupant of the room.

All these new devices, "invisible" flying drones, heat-ray "non lethal" weapons, etc., make me think the notion of a future police state is not at all unreasonable to expect. They won't be spying on terrorists, they'll be spying on their own citizens.

The idea that "More lives were saved by quickly ending the war than were killed by the two bombs" is a wonderful security blanket to clutch at night when we go to bed. Perhaps it's true, certainly I think so, but the implied moral superiority of the victors of WW2 is something I struggle with. The allies carpet bombed German cities when precise bombing of factories proved too costly, more bombs were dropped in the last few months of the war than in the previous year, and allied commanders only stopped when they realized they had run out of targets. More people died in the firebombing of Tokyo than in the A-bomb blasts. I struggle with the morals of rounding up a portion of your own citizenry because they are of a particular heritage, in the case of the US it was Japanese-Americans.

I guess my conclusion is that there are no morals in war, despite our attempts to convince ourselves otherwise; we are essentially choosing the lesser of two evils, and calling it "good." When someone asks me if I "support our troops" I ask, "well, if I support them now, implementing martial law in some other country, does that mean I have to support them if they implement martial law in the US someday?" It was a couple soldiers that drove in the nails on Christ's cross, and I'm sure they were just following orders.

In college me and a roommate had similar targets up on our walls as decoration. Ours were huge black-and-white photos of (apparent) terrorists in ski masks holding small children and aiming menacingly back at you with handguns. A dark alternative to beer and rock band posters.

Our resident assistant was not amused. "You guys are SICK!" she exclaimed.

I have worked in the music industry for 15 years, and to misquote Samuel Clemens, "the reports of the death of the music industry are greatly exaggerated."

The problem is the phrase "music industry", there is not one model for the music industry, there are several levels and variations on the music industry, and always have been. To say "the music industry is dead" is a vast generalization. Yes, the upper levels, the major labels, have made huge missteps and/or shot themselves in the feet, but many smaller labels and distributors are still going strong. This is like the "death of vinyl" stories I always heard in the 90's-- to this day when a truck driver shows up at our warehouse with a pallet of boxes marked "phonograph records" he always asks (if he's new) "that's not what's really in there is it? They don't make those anymore!"

Yes, they still make records.

As for the death of the record industry: Kanye West sold 800,000 units of his new album in the first week. Explain to me how that proves the record industry is dead. There are massive changes going on in the music industry, but it ain't dead yet by a long shot.

Seems like "busy work" for the cops, it makes them look like they are doing their jobs, but it doesn't actually contribute to public safety at all. These things are either already suspicious ("attempts to test physical security") or so vague as to be useless or even counterproductive (people using "binoculars, video, maps"? are we to stop and question all tourists now?). If you're paranoid even the most inconsequential act can seem "suspicious."

Why don't they just put up signs that say "obey the laws"?

I just noticed the "call 911" at the bottom-- are they trying to clog up 911 with pointless calls? I'm sure if I called 911 with reports of "suspicious activity" they'd tell me "sir, 911 is for emergencies only, is this an emergency?"

There is no machine that will make art.

"It could be worse. It could be Boston." --moderator Teresa

See. . . now if this HAD occurred in Boston you'd be pointing at it as proof of Boston's paranoia and stupidity. It didn't occur in Boston, and yet it is still used to impugn Boston.

I assume you were joking, but some people want to believe stereotypes (life is so much easier that way), don't go out of your way to perpetuate them. I'm not saying the Boston Police were reasonable in the ATHF scare; they clearly over-reacted, but Police do that everywhere, including in this case, Chicago. In other words, don't blame Boston, blame the POLICE. I don't blame New York City when a NY cop sodomizes a suspect with a broom handle, I blame the cop.

"Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN'T had their film impounded, or been harassed."

This is ridiculous backwards logic. First of all, who has statistics on this to show how many have been harassed vs. how many have been ignored? Secondly, this is like the Bush administration pointing to "all the terrorist attacks that haven't happened" as somehow proving that they are doing their job-- it's specious reasoning. Thirdly, we are all supposed to be innocent until proven guilty-- impounding film "just to be safe" is a blow to all of our freedoms. It's like saying "well, you haven't actually done anything illegal, but we'll lock you up just in case"-- you might say it's alright, until it happens to you.

I tried a similar thing years ago-- put stamped/addressed postcards in sales orders going to random accounts, hoping that someone on the other end would get the joke and fill out the left-hand side of the postcards with pointless blather, and then drop them in a mailbox. Of course the intended victim was an old friend from college that I had lost touch with, so I don't know if they ever got any of the postcards.

The Blue Man Group should sue this guy.

The guy who made this for worth1000 must be (at the very least) proud that his photoshop job has fooled so many, even if it's just fooling fools (which isn't really all that hard to do).

People WANT to believe some things, despite all reason or evidence to the contrary. Me? I dream of meatball subs, all you can eat for 2 bucks.

The only logic I can see here, barring political motivation, is that the fact that "reality" hits harder than "fantasy." When "Blair Witch Project" came out one of my friends was unimpressed: "I already KNOW it's fake, how am I going to get scared?" Of course, according to that logic NO scary movie should actually produce fear because we all know it's just a movie, right?

Is the problem in the words "all ages"? Is this poster more sinister than other G-rated film posters? Perhaps.

But I think all this is moot-- there is nothing about that poster that is in the least bit threatening-looking, EXCEPT on a purely political level.

HA HA HA HA HA !!! Oh, that's rich!

I can imagine the police trying to arrest a couple of squirrels mating on the town green. Or the pigeons that relieve themselves regularly everywhere in public.

I guess nobody is allowed to walk their dog "in public"?

I noticed that too about the Mac ads-- Hodgeman isn't the "straight man" despite being an obvious "square" (or at least playing on one TV)-- whereas the "hipster" Mac character IS the straight man-- nice twist.

Great-- now I'll have to be searched by the TSA or Border Patrol every time I drive through the Dakotas. "Badlands" indeed.

#25

The poster for Taxi to the Dark Side does not depict anyone being tortured either. . . it's just three guys walking off. How is that image more disturbing than images of decapitation? "They show decapitated heads and severed limbs, but no actual people being tortured." Uhhhh. . . .so the aftermath of torture is OK, but not the lead-up to torture (as in soldiers leading a hooded man off)?

I don't follow your logic. If the MPAA allows graphic images for horror films, it should allow this clearly UN-graphic shot of soldiers leading a hooded prisoner away.

Does anyone have evidence of prior documentary film posters that show similar images that are not as politically charged? If so then we have our smoking gun, and the MPAA is acting out of political ideals and not morals. I wonder if the producers of the film resubmitted the poster WITHOUT the American flag below, would the MPAA allow it? If so, it's more proof of the MPAA acting political and not moral.

"It's OUR freedom, and YOU dang furiners cain't have any!"

(On another note, and not that I want to harp on about this but I'm waiting for someone to say "It's a good thing this didn't happen in Boston because. . . " something something something. I don't worship Boston nor hate New York, I'm just trying to illustrate that this kind of paranoid idiocy is going on everywhere in the US, and I'm not sure what can really be done about it.)

It seems to say "School Crossing."

I particularly like the dog-boy in the middle with the big floppy ears.

Hmmm. . . if Spielberg making this film because he is so interested in Jewish history, maybe he'll make a film about Al Goldstein next.

I had not thought about Abbie Hoffman in some time, and seeing his photograph here made me think: there are two people from recent American history that are sorely needed in these trying times, Abbie Hoffman is one, and Frank Zappa is the other. They were brilliantly incisive in different ways, uniquely subversive, not afraid to shout out loud by calling the idiots "idiots", and both died far too young (in ways that could have been prevented).

Just think, we could've been voting for Zappa/Hoffman in 2008, instead of the various shades of nimrod we have running now. (I don't for a second think that they would WIN, but I also don't doubt that they would make a beautiful spectacle that would shine a painful light on all the front runners, of either party. The 24-hour cable TV news channels are just GEARED for that kind of spectacle).

Yes, we all know (or should know) that our modern news-media is more concerned with selling advertisements than reporting actual NEWS, the 24-hour news channels have worsened the situation by hyping less-newsworthy events because there is some emotional content (how much times did news channels spend discussing the "Natalee Holloway Disappearance"? and who the hell is Natalee Holloway anyway? People disappear everyday, it's not like a US diplomat went missing, and when was the last time the media focused on a missing poor child?).

Furthermore, how many times has Dateline done their "To Catch a Predator" special? That show is practically a series unto itself they've done so many "special editions" of it, AND by broadcasting it all the time (MS)NBC is actually NOT helping law-enforcement, as the show is likely making predators more wary of on-line hookups; they will be more cautious and careful, but I doubt they will stop looking for kids to exploit. By informing predators of those kinds of law-enforcement techniques MSNBC is ensuring that fewer predators will be caught by those same techniques. But hey-- it sells ads.

Short of a law forcing all news media to be non-profit, I'm not sure what can be done (and you can bet lobbies would pressure congress if they even tried to make the media non-profit).

Ehh. . . that guy's a poser, there's far too much muscle on that bicep to come from an actual nerd: the bicep should be no thicker than the bony wrist or elbow.

(and what's with the Jesus spam? -- "please be open minded and look at this link" is like saying "please be open minded, so we can close it for you." Remember all you soldiers-for-Christ: most of us were very open-minded as children, and saw early on that church was hogwash, that's how we got to be agnostics.)

This kind of technique is just asking to be abused by self-righteous TSA screeners. I guarantee it will lead to far more false-positives, arguments, maybe even fights and arrests and even death (consider the Polish guy who was tasered to death simply because he was confused and couldn't speak English).

Really, I don't know if it has some basis in actual scientific study, but everything about it sure seems like junk-science. And when you consider how many thousands of TSA employees there are, there's no doubt that some will be unsure of how the technique works and just pick people whose only crime is being hung-over, or even "ugly."

"Hey lookit that guy. . . his eyes are too close together, clearly a criminal!"

OK-- where do I get a "bushel of patience"? For me anyway, THAT is the one thing on the list that is most important. I'll just cut my stencils by hand, thanks.

That'll teach you to be famous!!

. . . but at least it wasn't the paparazzi!!

Not if I copyright them FIRST. . . then I can be like Captain Beefheart, and "Sue Egypt."

Something about this sure seems fishy.

Doesn't it seem an unlikely coincidence that the police trained their cameras on a topless woman AND she just happened to ask a stranger to show his penis? She claims to not be affiliated with the police (a very convenient way for the police to avoid entrapment charges). She asked him to expose himself; clearly he was an idiot to do so, but isn't she also a partner in the crime? In laws regarding prostitution (and I'm not trying to imply anything nor slander the woman here) both the prostitute and the "john" are in violation of the law. For the topless woman to ask him to expose himself it's similar to the prostitute mentioning a price: a line has been crossed.

And what is the definition of "public"? I have seen on many occasions desperate people pulling their cars over on the highway, and "exposing" their penises in order to urinate-- if there is a reasonable belief that nobody will see the exposed penis, how is it public? In this case passersby (as far as I can tell) did not see the nasty dirty little penis-- only the man attached to the penis, the woman who ASKED to see it, and the police who clearly HOPED to see an exposed penis. The only person harmed here is Mr. Garrison. The idea that he "could commit a larger crime" is a ridiculous justification. If he's 42 years old and has no prior record of indecency or sex-related offenses then it's wishful thinking on the part of the police to assume he "could commit a larger crime."

None of us is completely without sin, I'm sure there are a lot of us who, if we found a wallet full of money or a sexy lady being frisky in public, would do the "unlawful" thing on a whim. This man was fined $250. There are some places with "pooper scooper" laws where the fine is up to $500, and yet I'll bet many of us have not cleaned up after our dogs on days when we were tired or ill or the weather was bad or it was in an area where nobody would notice, that doesn't mean we are going to commit larger crimes.

Police state here we come.

"It's like a miracle" except that it isn't a miracle, even by religious standards. Really, WHAT is so miraculous about a vague, nearly abstract line drawing that COULD be Mary, or it could also be Judas, or Muhammad, or a freakin' manatee? I always thought a "miracle" was something that couldn't be explained except by faith, like the blind man who can suddenly see, or the leper cured of leprosy.

I guess the faithful are desperate for miracles these days, and are content to site visions on wallpaper or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Well, the bottom line with regards to our human future is POPULATION. Everything comes down to population. The more humans there are the fewer resources there are to go around, and the less there is to go around the more violence there is, and so the harder governments will get in trying to keep the peace.

With fundamentalist Islam this is exacerbated by religious laws, but it all originates with Jews and Muslims competing for the same land which they both consider their God-given homeland. Jews and Muslims used to live in peace in the "Holy Land" until the huge influx of diaspora Jews after WW2.

Terrorism is nothing new, it's just a guerilla movement on a global scale. Guerillas fight for some perceive injustice. You want to stop terrorism then figure out how to cure the injustice.

I'm perhaps oversimplifying, but it's a valid point.

On a side note I appreciate Sterling pointing out that there isn't an "Islamo-fascist tyranny somewhere that hates our freedoms"-- when right-wingers talk about Al Queda "hating our freedoms" they are just trying to appeal to patriotism. 9/11 wasn't about Bin Laden trying to destroy our freedoms, but inflict damage on the US both because of his religious intolerance, and because he is at odds with the Saudi royal family which is supported by the US. He may hate our freedom, but it's more likely that he just wants the US out of Saudi Arabia. If the oil in Saudi Arabia suddenly ran out, I guarantee the US presence there would disappear almost overnight and then what would Al Quaeda do?

No thanks, I'll stick to farming rats and cats, because after all, I "get the cats skins for nothing."

(An old Jamaica co-worker used to chide me for eating frogs, what he called "spring chicken." He called it a "dirty animal", and if I asked him what meat he preferred he said "goat." Yeah, like goats are clean.)

Well. . . if the mall manager says it helps the terrorists, who am I to argue. After all, he's a mall manager, they're well-known experts on terrorism, because the terrorists hate us for our shopping malls.

This kind of paranoid silliness is going on everywhere.

"...the most dangerous and problematic people he dealt with were guys (always guys) who couldn't hack it in law enforcement (either rejected initially or had some weird reason they never tried) and wanted to get into security as a "back-up".

I have witnessed this too a little bit. A security guard sub-contracted by one of my previous employers was clearly of sub-par intelligence and also seemed to have a wounded ego. He would sit at his station reading textbooks on emergency medical care and brag about how, besides being a "security professional" he was in training to be an EMT. Eventually the company decided they didn't need him anymore and his security firm removed him. Of course he left all of his important EMT study materials behind, and I realized that it was probably just a facade to prop up his stature with his co-workers. He also wasn't much of a security guard-- I knew of employees who would walk right past his station with company property stashed under their shirts and laugh about it later (the guard was hired to protect against theft during a period of threatened layoffs.)

Probably the most incisive comment here is #33 Clay, who points out that there's no evidence of terrorists ever photographing the areas they are about to bomb. Did any of the Sept. 11th hijackers photograph the World Trade Center? How could it possibly help them? If you are a suicide bomber you'll get a pretty good view of the area when it's most important anyway.

Charlie Stross:

Point well taken, but clearly we can't sustain human growth forever, there's 6 billion people now for only 500 million square miles of Earth's surface area (including oceans). If economic growth is tied to population growth, well. . . methinks the "death of communism" is wildly exaggerated. Either that or millenialist religions are remarkably prescient, although probably not in the exact ways they imagine.

I can see this, uhhh. . . "backfiring", and actually harming the cows in some way, maybe causing them to not digest food properly.

Why not just cut out the middle man and farm kangaroos for meat?

In fact, WHEN are we going to bio-engineer "meat plants" so we don't have to bother with cows anymore? (And what would that mean to vegetarians?)

I believe it says "Kirk 'Goatse' Johnson, sit here."

Now THAT'S what I call torture.

". . . charged last month with spreading false information. . ."

Hmmm, too bad we don't have that law here in the US, we could impeach Bush AND put Rush Limbaugh out of business.

Interesting bureaucratic dysfunction, the National Gallery of Prague gives them an award and cash prize, the state prosecutor brings charges.

And what? NO charges for the actual HACKING involved?

Don't be fooled, folks-- it's not MOUSE meat, but average grade RAT meat (of course, there's really no such thing as "grade A rat meat").

Get used to it, after the apocalypse we'll ALL be eating rat meat. I think they're quite tasty, and make a nice change of pace from the pigeons I've been eating lately.

If only it really were bigger on the inside than the outside, possible ad-copy "Solves all your storage needs, UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEED!"

Of course there is one problem: your kids might play hide-and-seek inside it and your hall closet will disappear never to return.

Reminds me of that Matisse statue where he decided when he was near completion that it looked better without the arms (a la Venus de Milo)-- or maybe I just like the look of 1/2 destroyed sculpture, sometimes they look improved, like they've been given a whole new meaning.

I think I finally know how to cure the pigeon infestation problems that many major cities have. . . famine!

Should solve the rat problem too.

There's no sound in outer space, so I guess they'll be performing John Cage's 4'33"?

"In space, nobody can hear you yawn!"

Maybe if they maybe fruit flavored bologna I'll buy some.

"For best quality open package and chew them all"-- hmmm. . . why not just say "For MOST fun, open package and throw out gum, then buy another package. Repeat." That's why I mistrust shampoos that say "lather, rinse, REPEAT"-- seems like a ploy to make you use more, hence buy more. I now distrust other product instructions, like laundry detergent-- how do I KNOW that I really need 1/4 cup of liquid?

All the info regarding this event, taken with a good dose of US-Iranian relations over the past 30 years, makes it difficult to figure out what to believe (if you are truly open-minded).

I don't like the Iranian government, but in light of all the bad intelligence prior to the invasion of Iraq ("bad intelligence"-- there's an oxymoron for you), it's hard for me to trust anything the Bush administration says anymore. They could be mistaken, they could be cherry-picking, they could be outright lying.

Or it could be the truth. But that's what happens to the "boy who cried wolf."

I think it would be a wonderful Strangelove-esque irony if a radio troll caused a war. Would he feel powerful? Ashamed? Would he end up a tragic figure who watches his town get bombed to ashes

This kind of thing has been going on for years around the world, Negativland had lots of snippets of people cursing at each other over the CB radio on the banned "U2" single. I used to listen to CB radio chatter years ago (I would tape record it sometimes to sample and use in recordings a la Negativland), and there were always guys doing ridiculous stuff on the airwaves, singing, rapping, rambling away with nobody else on the band, mostly bored truckers I guess. I even had a friend who would get on the radio from his apartment and pretend to be a trucker, with his own made-up CB codes and slang.

The thing is, if either side really wants to go to war they'll find an excuse. And back in the states nobody will convince an ultra-conservative that it WASN'T the Iranians that threatened to "explode" a US ship, but rather a prankster on shore. But then, you can't convince them of anything that doesn't fit their world view -- the world is how they say it is, science and history and eyewitnesses be damned.

Probably succumbed to her deadly garlic allergy.

Well-- the US armed forces USED to have several of its own bands in various styles, there was an Air Force rock band called "Mach 1", a Naval garage-rock band in the 60's called "The Spiffys", and a now legendary 70's soul band called "East of Underground" (originals of their scarce vinyl pressing fetch up to $1000 with collectors, although recently reissued), not to mention the various official big bands and marching bands used for official events. I guess with forces stretched to the limit they just can't afford to have any servicemen screwing around with guitars instead of guns.

"[instead] it boils down to a fight over who has access to the honey pot that is the state. ...[citizens] are reduced to being just being fodder for the pigs fighting over the trough."

Wait, I thought this was bout Kenya, not the US?

Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes are essentially the same thing. Charles Ponzi who originally invented the scheme (or is credited with the idea) DID make some money at first, but his "business" model was flawed, and it needed constant intake of money to stay afloat. A PURE pyramid scheme would have none of the initial returns that Ponzi had, just promises-- the income from one "investor" is used to pay off another, thus building good PR to lure more "investors."

@32

actually-- it would still work with Nick Harper's music as long as he didn't use the auto-tuner, OR he could strum an open chord, then change the tuning knob on the guitar so it went to a different tuning as he played, doing the work for him. (I think Harper's technique originated with banjo player Earl Scruggs, who utilized it on the tune "Flint Hill Special", in fact those straight-through tuners Harper is using in the video are like the tuners you can buy for banjo-- they can be set to de-tune to specific notes, and there's another British guitarist who uses them to great effect, and whose name slips my mind).

The one musician I can think of for whom this guitar would be truly useless is Jandek, who (according to his scant interviews), tunes the guitar to however he feels like, with no regard to pitch-- when it sounds OK, he plays.

". . . close ties to the Chinese government"

Maybe it's really just the government trying to institute a new "stupidity tax."

A far better way to stay anonymous than KISS's makeup. . . and really-- two lead guitarists, and a drummer with only a snare? I wish they weren't a parody, but serious. (check out the band "Nitro" for probably the closest a metal band came to self parody while still trying to be serious. Their 80's video for "Freight Train Comin" is on youtube and is hilarious-- biggest hair, most lead guitar gimmicks.)

I think the stupidest thing about this is the fact that it would have been destroyed if it had been on site at the time. WHY destroy them? Some ridiculous imperative of bankruptcy laws? The possibility of industry espionage? Ultimately they nearly destroyed an incredibly interesting piece of history, the kind of thing we might've been looking at photos of, and arguing whether it was real or an internet/photoshop prank.

I don't necessarily think it was a stupid idea-- most people thought it was impossible to send a man to the moon, even as late as the 1940's. You never know what is possible until you try, and even failed experiments yield valuable knowledge.

"Side effects may include: fear of water, dehydration, irritability, foaming at the mouth, biting, and death."

I really want to know what this sounds like. . . or is it ultimately just the same as a seashell?

That unicorn can chase me any day!

"...except that it doesn't really resemble the look of a '60s Moog."

Actually looks more like a EMS VCS3 "Putney."

http://www.geosound.org/vintage-synth.htm

And what do you mean "useless", this could've saved William Burroughs lots of time, instead of always cutting up his writings and pasting them back together.

Seems most likely shot from a car holding pace alongside the truck/hitchers.

The history of the domesitcation of animals has depended upon a few animals who genetically are less likely to be skittish around humans (this would explain why horses from central Asia were tamed, but not zebras, who have to contend with all manner of vicious predators and so are far more skittish). It is possible (just possible) that this caiman will remain comfortable around humans (again, as long as it's fed and not hurt); it might just be genetically less fearful.

A photo is not enough. I would have stuck around with an audio recorder.

So. . . do the Stones own the rights to all images of tongues hanging out of big lips?

And considering that it's McDonalds, how do we know that isn't actually a tongue, but a stylized version of vomit?

I passed a McD's on the way to work today and found myself pondering the word "McDonalds"-- an odd name for a burger joint for sure, and I know most of us never even think about it; the word has transcended it's original meaning, and now represents a mental image of greasy food and two yellow arches. I sometimes joke "let's go get some Irish food. . . at MCDONALDS."

Lots of good points made here, not much for me to add except "Look around, pay attention, keep track-- this kind of thing is going on everywhere in the US, there are probably many smaller incidents that we don't hear about. You thought a girl with blinking LEDs getting detained in Boston/Logan Airport was unreasonable? Now it seems perfectly reasonable when compared to a 5-year-old being a terror threat, or an Icelandic woman imprisoned for an old (and minor) visa infraction. What I want to know is : what can be done to reverse this trend? OR, at what point will this silliness have run its course?"

@DAVID #11

Yes I'm familiar with that study-- very interesting on several levels.

I was just playing devil's advocate with regard to the domestication of caiman. It is a "possibility" that this particular caiman is less skittish. Yes, true domestication takes several generations, but it's gotta start somewhere, and occasionally a genetic mutation can be far more advanced than we think-- indeed, this caiman might not have survived in the wild ("might").

To say "reptiles cannot be tamed" is specious reasoning, and the phrase "reptilian brain" has taken on a life of it's own in some ways. Lest we forget, reptiles and birds share a common heritage (albeit millions of years ago, so it is a bit of a reach). You never know what's possible until it is attempted. I suspect it might be possible to domesticate caiman (caiMEN?), but it would take a lot of time and effort and limbs, and there doesn't appear to be any benefit or profit in it.

I DO believe someone will eventually be hurt by this caiman, but that doesn't automatically disprove my hypothesis.

This could single-handedly resurrect the lava lamp industry.

If I pick up the tab, does that mean I get to listen in on the wiretaps?

Seems every country has it's own unique crappy fast food. Reminds me of fries with white gravy in Canada: "mmmmm. . . starch sauce on starch!"

I remember Thurston Moore saying something once about the fall of communism, along the lines of he "missed having another planet on our own planet."

I heard the US EPA was going to use a similar approach with pollution-- they were going to dam up all waterways and only allow the H2O molecules through, stopping all other molecules as possible pollutants. Sounds efficient.

Oh yes, "presumption of innocence" is a horrible horrible thing, that's why our government has brought back "presumption of guilt" for everyone boarding a plane. What's next, "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out"?

I think you mean "let's go get some Scottish food"...

Well, I would've said that if it was "MacDonalds", but it's "McDonalds", so I stand by my joke.

And yeah-- what do I really care if one huge corporation (McD's) is ripping off another (The Stones)? The Stones haven't made a good record in 20 years, and McD's hasn't made a good burger in at least 40 years.

It can't count as perpetual motion if it's not a closed system, and they seem to be adding energy via the vibrating plate the beaker sits on (in fact it looks like he turns up the speed after pouring in the 2nd solution, or at very least the plate is still on as the power light is on.)

Something about the way the question is posed is vague. "One of these photos MIGHT be fake"?

Yeah. . . or they could BOTH be fake. (Or even neither, I guess).

My money's on the giraffe photo as the fake.

The legs photo is a new thing with some airlines-- a class below coach (the idea was borrowed from people riding on the outside of trains in India).

Well, he's got a point, but he's only half right and I'm sure he knows it. The phrase "pot calling the kettle black" comes to mind-- they're BOTH partially responsible. But it is a free society (mostly, anyway), so part of the blame is on people with no self control.

Or maybe not. It occurred to me recently that maybe there are genetic/evolutionary forces at work here. How do we know that the increase in obesity in the industrialized west isn't due to some gene that would've been weeded out in a past, harsher society? Even in the darkest days of the Soviet Union there were the typical chubby grandmothers ("babushkas") standing in lines to get their loaves of bread or heads of cabbage, with no McD's around, and (I'm sure) plenty of physical labor to be done for the state. My own grandmother was quite chubby, and yet didn't eat at Mcd's AND was quite active gardening and raising/killing chickens.

Let this be a lesson to all parents-- forget the regular names and go Hollywood. Don't name your kids common names that might be shared with possible terrorists, name them Dweezil and Moon-Unit, and Chastity, and Elijah Blue, and Shiloh, and . . .

Well, it's easy for those of us who didn't see the UFO to dismiss it (and YES it WAS a UFO by definition: an Unidentified Flying Object-- that does not make it an alien space ship, the two are not necessarily synonyms.)

I might be willing to just dismiss it all too, except several of the witnesses have flight experience, so should know what they are talking about.

I recall a bigfoot sighting in Vermont a few years ago, a Vermonter witnessed a huge humanlike hairy creature walking along the road in a remote area, then crashing off through the woods. Some locals insist he saw a moose. Now . . .you're telling me that a man who has lived in Vermont for many years doesn't know what a moose looks like? Have you ever seen a horse and mistaken it for a cow? And yet you want us to believe this guy mistook an "ape" for a moose?

As for the UFO-- no explanation I've heard for this sighting fulfills all the things people saw. Those who insist it was several aircraft flying in formation still can't explain the air speed-- what civilian has jet aircraft that can fly that speed? AND fly in several perfect formations at that speed?

The smarter you are, the more you realize you don't know.

"There are more things in heaven and on earth than dreamed of in your philosophy."

So, when the offended officer sees the word "fuck" written on a stall in a public restroom-- whom does he/she charge with disorderly conduct? Or do they just sue the owner of the restroom?

And what kind of prude can even exist in todays world without hearing or seeing that word somewhere?

"Offended"? Methinks the lady dost protest too much.

1. Lefties: just remove the tuners and put them on the other sides, and play the righty restrung as a lefty like you've always done (hmmmm. . . this might not work, as the tuners will be backwards now, and won't know which way to go. . . or will they?)-- if this thing tells you how to adjust intonation too then you're all set (of course the knobs will still be in the way, and you might actually have to remove the bridge and move it by hand at least a little). Or you can just re-learn to play a right-handed-strung guitar lefty, like Albert King and Otis Rush did, with the higher pitched strings up top.

2. The only real benefit for this guitar is for stage use, instead of switching guitars for certain songs, but even then its benefits are minimal-- a pro guitarist will always have another guitar handy because you're not going to fix a broken string in the middle of a song. Beginners or intermediates should learn to tune using a TUNING FORK-- it's good ear training (and if you're tone-deaf. . . well, don't expect to ever get good enough to play professionally, unless you can teach yourself to recognize at least relative pitch, OK?)

3. The banjo may or may-not be the devil's instrument, but you can get the tuning of it as close to perfect as a guitars if you know how to adjust the bridge well (use a half-moon bridge, or just file down the straight bridge at the G and B to adjust string length). FACT-- all guitars (except certain specially designed models that have the fan-shaped frets) are partially out of tune at all times, they are TEMPERED TUNING instruments. Even the fanciest guitar will have notes that don't match-- try it: play some octaves in different parts of the fretboard.

4. There is/was a device on ebay that I used to see that did the tuning for you. You attached it to each tuning peg, strummed the string, and it listened and tuned for you *(I think that's what's mentioned above on a previous post). The funny thing about the description on ebay was that they guy got a quote from a "professional" musician who said "I've never been able to tune my guitar"-- we used to laugh about that.

How many more people will die before the police are forced to use far more restraint with tasers (like keeping the things under lock and key in the cruiser, only to be pulled out in TRUE emergencies)?

Call your congressman.

How soon before civilians buy their own tasers and have "Mexican standoffs" with taser-toting cops? (whoever shoots first guarantees the victim will clench up and thus pull his own trigger).

Various taser-like items are available on amazon.

I love the irony of this-- he was taking pictures to document (and presumably publicize) the skirmish, so they beat him to death to stop the publicity, but only caused (I'm sure) far more publicity.

My boss was complaining about "the courts getting clogged with frivolous lawsuits", of course referring to the (admittedly silly) lawsuits where someone sues for $100million over a lost pair of pants. But THIS is another thing-- if the police are really concerned about enforcing the law AND not clogging up the court system, they should have just given the guy a warning or citation of some kind, have him pay a fine. Bringing in a swat team, putting him and others behind bars, putting his kids into foster care. . . besides being overkill it clogs up several parts of our bureaucracy.

All I can figure about this is: they wanted to publicize the problem AND they wanted to play with their commando gear. You can publicize the problem just by giving the guy a huge fine-- he'll make a big stink about it and the papers will publicize it (and you can play with your commando gear in the station on slow days.)

I think it's OBVIOUS that this video is actually from the FUTURE!

Never grow up.

I seem to remember a villain in an old comic book having a similar glove.

I think this meme is due to the effect a ruined statue has on the viewer, it reminds us of fallen civilizations of the past (think of all the partially destroyed Roman, Greek, Egyptian statues now in museums). Plus, for sci-fi, it is something clearly endemic to the earth and the US-- coming upon a ruined skyscraper means nothing, it could be from anywhere, even an alien race, but the Statue of Liberty clearly means you are on Earth.

Great! Now maybe they can try that with rats!

Ehhh. . . throw some "ice-9" on it.

I've heard nothing but bad things about those fake-pods: less memory than they claim, screens that don't actually work, fake "jog wheels" that are really just buttons, crappy sound quality.

And yet still I'm tempted to buy one.

"It's just crazy that something as dumb as a nematode . . ."

Well, evolution is "dumb"-- there's no thought involved (unless you consider "god" as the spirit beneath all things, or something). It's like finding a stone that looks like a bird-- it wasn't MADE, the natural forces just turned it out that way. The nematode is no weirder than you or I or your mother. This is the great marvel of the process of evolution, and why it makes such perfect sense. Those who can't understand it are simple-minded or willfully ignorant.

Of course, if you see water stain on your wall that looks like the Virgin Mary, well. . . that's different.

ahhh. . . so only the richest and most elite colleges can afford to let their students have unfettered internet access. Everyone else who suckles at the teat of government has to toe the line.

I think I'd prefer beetles to "candied squid."

But then I haven't tried them yet.

When I read "The Martian Chronicles" as a teen I was struck at how UN-science-fiction it really was; sure, it's (mostly) set on Mars, but most of the stories are really just Bradbury riffing on ideas about exploration, colonization, war, loneliness, etc.

OH. . . there's plenty of cheap food to be found in most major cities: pigeons, rats, squirrels, alligators (in the sewers).

@19 "Prometheus"

"This is absolutely rediculous. I'm an AP student, a senior right now. . . "

Wait, you're an HONORS student and you can't spell "ridiculous"?

http://www.rediculous.co.uk/religious.htm

How do we know that's not actually an image of the Virgin Mary?

Finally some solid, irrefutable evidence that Sasquatch is real.

I remember when Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders mentioned that "masturbation should be taught" in public schools (as a part of the whole of human sexuality, not as specific . . . uhhh, "workshop") there was a letter to the editor in my local paper, some woman was so anguished knowing that "millions of lives were going to be wasted" every time some male masturbated. Unbelievable. There are a lot of obvious flaw with that reasoning that I'm sure I don't have to detail here, but the fact that people actually believe that kind of crap shows how weak our education is in the US, and how dangerous the "pro-lifers" can be (if they're willing to kill abortion doctors to "save lives", what would they do to a masturbator who kills millions every single day?)

It's also proof that ignorance is not necessarily bliss.

When I was in college I worked for one semester for Campus Security. My job on most nights was to sit in a chair and watch several CCTV monitors. You could control the cameras, pan, zoom in or out. It wasn't long before I was trying to spy on people, following certain students, trying to see if I could get it to zoom in on unshaded windows at night, etc. I also learned that pretty much every student that worked the same detail at Campus Security was doing the same thing.

There is no way for us to know who is watching at any time, nor any realistic way to ensure that only "honorable" people with good moral standing are doing the monitoring (cops take an oath, and yet there is still police corruption).

What if the government suddenly declared that "hidden weapons" were too much of a threat, and we had to walk around all day naked to ensure public safety?

I suppose because they are British the US authorities thought they were ragamuffin pickpockets right out of Oliver Twist.

"Why yes, sir. . . we belong to Fagin's gang, sir. Now may we have more gruel?"

#43 Kyle

"Hallucinogens are no good. No good. No good. The one trip I took (on WAY too many mushrooms) took 6 months to get over. I was still waking up in the middle of the night terrified that I was back there, that it wasn't just a trip, that it really was something there inside me, that I wasn't normal, that I'd never have a normal life, that I was doomed to walk the streets alone as a schizophrenic or something..."

I witnessed several friends in college partake of way too many mushrooms at one sitting, they all had BAD trips. What do you expect? It's like saying "I'm never taking aspirin again, my first time using it I took way too many and ended up in the hospital" or perhaps "my first time driving I went way too fast and crashed, I'm never driving again." You are blaming the substance for your own carelessness. I remember the first time I got really drunk, vomited, and then claimed "beer was evil" and promised never to drink it again. Of course I did eventually drink it again, and learned a valuable lesson-- moderation.

I can find no compelling reason for states or the Feds to ban salvia divinorum, other than the uniquely American puritanical disgust that "someone somewhere is having fun." Yes, there is a danger, you could fall down and bust your skull, but this has never stopped us from banning roller skates or skis or hyperventilation.

I find it interesting that the government is always trying to ban substances that give the user a very real spiritual experience, an experience more powerful than most get from going to church.

They can just label the Bob Hope one "L Ron Hubbard" and sell it for a fortune to Tom Cruise.

I tell ya. . . these will make great candles.

#25 EH

Good call on the Florian Schneider.

That head is vague enough that he could be Bob Hope, Kelsey Grammer, or probably about 7 other people.

How would you know if your air-quality-detector is broken in NYC?

OH! . . . it'll read "clean."

(Actually that probably applies to most major cities).

I understand why they're doing it, but it sure makes them look like Big Brother. They should try a different tack-- petition the Federal Government for better standards for detectors sold in the US, OR offer some kind of free/cheap testing station so people can know if their detectors are accurate. If they are trying to stop false alarms this would help, and without making them appear so evil. Of course, cops rarely understand that they appear evil when they do these things.

The artists who can produce an album in 28 days already do so, and do it well (note previous comments referencing Muslimgauze and various SST bands, I'm sure there are others, Aphex Twin for example, although i also think that some of these artists already had the songs written or even recorded in home studios, and could just compile them into an album on short notice).

But methinks this just encourages people to rush release an album that's only half-baked. If the Beatles were on deadlines like that they probably would never have bothered experimenting with arrangements and studio effects.

Of course that's The Beatles, and not mere mortals like us.

I suppose I can appreciate the challenge, but in the end I think : "Just what we need, more half-assed albums." Maybe I'm just frustrated that there's so much music produced today, and so little time to actually listen to it.

Friends of mine from Maine used to complain about Canadians not tipping at the restaurants where they worked. Is this a cultural thing? Is it true that Canadians don't tip, or did one or two non-tipping Canadians ruin the reputation of Canada with waitresses in the US? Or maybe Americans just over tip, and have built up an unreasonable ideal of a good tip (I seem to remember a good tip was 15% back in the 70's, now it's 20%). Just call me. "Mr. Pink."

I highly suspect racism is more-or-less the same in most of the US, it just manifests itself in different ways, some more obvious than others. Before you go pointing at someone else, take a look at yourself.

#54 ANTINOUS-- Well, I understand Canadians and Mexicans are "Americans" too (NORTH Americans. . . even Brazilians are "Americans" if you want to go that far), but the bottom line is there isn't anything else we can call citizens of the US without sounding awkward-- "UnitedStatesians"?? "U-S-ers"?? "Usians"?

#76 MICHAEL SLAVITCH-- Yeah, we are off on tangents here, but is nothing compared to what I've seen on AOL. And at least it's intelligent here. I sometimes get a masochistic thrill out of peaking there after any major news story to see how someones always blaming "those liberal traitors."

And before you assume Boston is as racially hostile/divided as it was when that Pulitzer Prize winning photo was taking during the busing riots of the 70's -- read this (and also know that the black man assaulted with the flag in that famous photo still lives there and calls it home). 1972 was a long time ago indeed.

http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid55058.aspx

I sure hope the moderator gets paid for this.

And this surprising? "There's no honor among thieves."

Seems that if they're so dumb, and their sites full of back doors, then it should be easy for someone smart enough to go in and completely screw with them, even shut them down (at least for a time).

These kinds of books/pamphlets are always a big kick to drug users, and I've know of kids who kept drug pamphlets to use as guides. If "The MAN" wants to really scare kids off drugs then teachers should just read some of the more harrowing accounts detailed on the erowid site.

On a side note, I knew a guy who had been given acid by his older brother at the age of about 9 years. It's hard to say whether it effected him at all; he grew up to be a math genius AND a very good artist as well. I will always wonder if the acid was a benefit or a detriment or neither.

"...just a blue ballpoint pen" and apparently a camera too.

I remember seeing a guy selling modern kilts at a flea market in Seattle in 1991, I wonder if it's the same people.

There's an episode of the Simpsons where Ned Flanders is writing the FCC to complain about Kent Brockman accidentally cursing on live TV. As he's typing away his kids ask him what he's doing. He yells [I'm] "Imploring people I never met to pressure government with better things to do to punish a man who meant no harm for something nobody even saw, that's what I'm doing!"

The kids say "Daddy, I think you need a new mommy."

(I wonder if anybody complained about that episode, as if maybe they felt they were personally being mocked on the Simpsons).

It's the same all over.

The Blandification of America.

"Oh look a MALL!!"

"He had a dream of a career in radio and was very disappointed about where it had led him,"

Yeah, well, I'm sure we can all relate in one way or another. Most of us just choose "fire water" instead of fire.

Seems a lot of the "races" are defined more by their clothing than anything else-- if the Anglo-Saxon traded clothes with the Russian, or the Sioux with the Ute, who would know the difference?

Sex is dirty, and this proves it.

They already have a weather modification program, it's called "global warming" (not the biggest in the world yet, the US still holds that honor.)

*sniff* this makes me proud to be a Bostonian (wipes a tear). The "Boston aThf Party."

In the original ATHF scare I thought the cops had so embarrassed themselves that they couldn't back down (really-- how often do the the police ever admit that they were mistaken?) and so they had to pin the blame on somebody else-- a "buncha punk kids." The Star Simpson "scare" a few months later was more of the same, the police had made their bed and they were gonna sleep in it: no tolerance for anything that might confuse a cop. I wonder what they'll do about these. Maybe claim that because these say "this is not a bomb" it only implies that it IS a bomb? Oh those crafty terrorists.

It's the same all over: power-hunger politicians and clueless cops.

I think a lot of the most beautiful and majestic wild animals are doomed; elephants, tigers, gorillas, polar bears. . . . our grandchildren will think of "tigers" and "elephants" as creatures of make-believe (Horton? Babar? Tigger?) like griffins and dragons.

I don't think these paintings will save them.

Sorry, that's just what I think.

". . . the clear banalization of barbaric events."

Isn't that what the modern world is all about? (Been to a horror movie lately?)

The phrase "Whatever the market will bear" comes to mind.

I think it's funny that people bring up Boston. I don't for a second defend the actions (over-reactions) of the Boston Police or City Government, but I will say that it's foolish to point at Boston alone; these kinds of hyped-up paranoid reactions are going on all over. True, in Boston they took it a little too far with their demands of reimbursement from Turner Broadcasting, but when cops embarrass themselves on such a grand scale of course they're going to deflect the blame on a similarly grand scale. At least there haven't been any bans on photography in Boston. I was on a bridge overlooking the Mass Pike the other day, taking pictures, nobody stopped me, including at least one police car that went by (maybe I should get a tripod and see what happens)

It may very well be that Police in the Sheridan case will give the "suspect" some kind of slap on the wrist if he ever turns up, but that remains to be seen. Indeed-- if the school is well known for its arts/animation/film-making/etc. then it would be an embarrassment for them to mistake a tripod for a gun so easily.

A lot of this over-reaction is a logical human response to things like 9/11 and the various school shootings of recent years. I'm divided on how I feel about this particular case-- in the aftermath of a mass shooting we all scream about how lax security was, how the police should have known, etc., but when it turns out that there was no gun, we instead point at the cops (or whoever reported it) as being paranoid.

The modern TV "news" media is desperate to invent controversy so they can sell ad-space. I'm impressed that the cops didn't care, although maybe their superiors will scold them and they'll be forced to arrest someone.

I keep expecting Maude Flanders to jump out and scream "But WHO will think of the CHILDREN??!!"

England is the balls.

A very similar color photocopy was posted around my neighborhood this morning, but it says "HOPE" at the bottom, and looks more fauvist than Soviet. I should've snapped a photo.

If he changed the colors a bit I suspect the Soviet impression will be replaced by fauvism. (Why's it always gotta be red-white-and-blue?)

The "hoax device" law in Boston is admittedly ridiculous, it strikes me as nothing more than embarrassed public officials putting the blame on others for their own over-reacting. I don't have numbers to back it up, but I suspect a majority of Bostonians think the police are more at fault than Turner Media or the two artists they hired. Certainly nearly everyone I know thinks that way (including some weirdos who are very conservative).

There was a quote in Boston's Weekly Dig that gets to the heart of the matter: (I paraphrase from memory) "If you look out your window on a stormy night and mistake a large tree for a demon, that doesn't mean it's justifiable to go chop down the tree the next day."

I find myself defending Boston a lot lately, forgive me if I harp on about it here. I've recently met several people with odd notions about Boston that just weren't true. I don't want the silliness of Boston's public officials to denigrate the city as a whole. In the other cities I've lived in there were public officials who were equally as hard-headed. Boston is still the capital of the "bluest" state in the nation, with gay-marriage on the books (despite repeated attempts by religious conservatives to overturn the law).

#12 DILLENGER69

"It's a good thing they didn't try this in Boston ... or in an airport.
The gestapo would be all over them."

That remains to be seen. If the cops didn't arrest anyone for the various zombie-marches in Boston, why would they bother with people standing still? (There were no exposed wires or LEDs involved, which seem to be touchy subjects with the cops in Boston). What's more threatening: zombies or people standing still? Don't let your preconceived notions get in the way of logic; ultimately Boston is not much different than any other American city.

You see. . . the thing about blasphemy is, it's all in the eye of the beholder. The report the student downloaded says (in a sense) that those who mistreat women are blasphemers, as they twist the Koran to suit their desires. No?

Even if I had the dough, I'd balk-- it would take several years of serious full time work to go through it all. Plus, If I paid for it, it's MINE and I would probably break up the collection and only keep what I wanted, and ditch Christmas records and (most) children's records and ANY "easy listening" records.

It would be better if some public or private institution bought it and kept it together.

Years ago one of my neighbors got fed up with people parking in front of the wheelchair ramp built into the corner/curb in front of our building, so he got some yellow paint and painted the the curb, including a yellow triangular outline on the street to show where you shouldn't park. Very professional looking, I suspect unless your were a state or city worker you wouldn't know the difference. Although it is a bit "nanny-ish" there are a lot of handicapped people in my neighborhood, so I guess I applaud him for the work. I haven't noticed that it stops people from parking there very much though.

(and a thanks to #2 CHALRESV for posting the Ankrom link-- I was thinking about his sign, but couldn't remember his name.)

Ahhh . . . maybe now they should grow the jawbone of an ass and use it to defeat religious opposition to stem-cell research here in the US.

"actually really tasty in a perverse way." (Sure, if you're HIGH!)

the Chromeo guys should grab this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chromeo_Fancy_Footwork.jpg

I think I'm officially done with "pastafarianism"-- we're talking about a religion that knows it's fake but pretends it's real, and somehow that reminds me of Scientology.

This is not the first time I've heard tell of people getting high and watching Lawrence Welk.

I always thought is was a very surreal show, this weird hyper-polished version of pop music entertainment, pastel suits and bland arrangements, almost psychedelic.

Seems the bottom line in any business should be "how does it profit me?" and I see no way for them to profit off this unless the authorities are going to penalize them for not doing it. It's a lot of extra work with no bonus at the end.

UNLESS with all the aggregation of companies these days, AT&T; is owned by say, Disney or Warners, or they're all owned by some mega-conglomerate (the RAMJAC corporation maybe?)

Reminds me of the argument that gun-makers should be held liable for murders committed with their weapons.

Holy shit! My dad was an Air Force pilot in WW2 (although he never saw action, and certainly never served in the UK), and he used to use those jokes all the time, including the "Are you a turtle" line, which he transplanted onto another unrelated local club he was in.

I don't understand this at all. WHAT is the purpose? There are several ideas that come to mind, but all are ridiculous.

Seems to be they are after information. But WHAT information could possibly so important that they open laptops to find it, and what do these people have in common that links them?

Ehhh. . . a mi no me importa.

Interesting, but useless for those of us in a cold climate (tank filled with ice wouldn't help at all during winter.)

Somebody's gotta make a game out of this-- match the nickname with the face, I think I see "Jackie the Nose" already.

That's IT!! I'm voting for RON PAUL!!!!!

;)

I don't get it, "Bong Hits For Jesus" is apparently bad, but "Wiener poopie ransom note for Jesus" is OK?

I somehow doubt that these were all taken in New Jersey, and I am loathe to generalize about North Jersey, as I have friends living there who are not spray-tanning dingleberrys like these guys. Note that the top photo has a Hungarian web address on it, there are other visual clues that point toward someplace other than Jersey, but who knows.

As a kid I used to think all of New Jersey was an industrial wasteland like the area around Elizabeth, and face it, if you drove from NYC on your way to Philly through that part of Jersey, all you saw was salt marshes, landfills, factories and oil refineries, and the nastiest smell on earth, a putrid combination of all those things. Of course I've since learned that southern Jersey is quite nice, like someone cut-and-pasted part of western MA or central PA onto the state.

#46 ANTINOUS

"heterosexuals are so weird.

Damn straight!"

(That might be the best pun I've seen here ever.)

If you're an American, register as a Republican, and VOTE for Democrats. Maybe they won't give you a hard time if you're a registered Republican (and how do they know who you actually voted for?).

Of course this doesn't help foreigners coming into the US.

I wonder what happens if the TSA find something they don't like-- if it's American citizens, what will they do, refuse them entry into their own country? More likely imprison them, but under what charge? "Suspicion of being suspicious"?

What harms the economy more, a terrorist act, or the REACTION to the terrorist act (in this case the imposition of laws restricting free travel)?

And the laws they enact won't really stop terrorism anyway, just make them find new ways to inflict damage.

The terrorists cannot take our freedoms away, they can only take our lives. WE are the only ones who allow our freedoms to be taken away by our own "leaders."

Live Free or Die.

"Sometimes you get so crazy with the skin-eating that you forget about the LOVE."

If my religion entailed robbing banks as a sacrament, would it then be OK to rob banks, and morally repugnant for you to criticize my beliefs??

That's perhaps hyperbole, but I know of no other religion that is uninterested in helping the poor (after all, how can you afford to take their "courses" if you have no money to speak of).

Does anyone have any figures on how many people have actually been reasonably HELPED by Scientology? And how much money did it cost them to get to that point?

to Hell with "jet packs". . . I want my TOASTER BACON!!

"no strong basis for their effectiveness"

It should come as no surprise that they missed 9/11 when they spend their time working and working on techniques that have no apparent effect.

Logic should dictate that if a suspect denies something and you torture him to within an inch of his life, he will admit to something that isn't true just to save his life (and even if he isn't in mortal danger-- how would he know for sure, it would sure SEEM like his life was at stake). Most survivors of Soviet prison camps tell the same story-- accused of a crime they didn't commit, interrogated for weeks, tortured, finally gave up and admitted to the crime just to end the terror.

Who are the real terrorists here?

Now that's what I call "surround sound"!!

I wonder if he's fond of John Cage's "Imaginary Landscape No. 4"?

When the oil runs out we'll all be eating locally again.

Wait. . . both "racism" and "anti-racism" are portrayed by white kids!

And what's with "racism" wearing all black-- that's kinda racist! "Black is Beautiful!"

And why does she have to be called "anti-racism"? That's kind of reactionary (in other words, she isn't her own being, just a reaction to someone else)-- shouldn't she be called "Diversity Girl" or "Acceptance" or something? Nice outfit though, makes "racism"'s outfit look like a pile of puke.

(relax, I'm just being snarky).

The War on Sanity: it's going on everywhere.

(remind me not to bring up that dream where I was Penny from the original "Lost in Space" and I was attacked by giant human skeletons with duck feet-- who knows WHAT the authorities will think of that!).

Nu-uh, yo, dis is all bout da Bloods an Crips, na'mean!? Da Saudis is down wif da Crips, so no Blood colors allowed, na'msayin.

werd.

I remember some guy hawking fuel-efficiency-increasing gas additives years ago. At my crappy teenage job, my boss bought some to try out, didn't seem to do anything, burned OK in those construction-site heaters, but smelled god-awful.

It seems part of the argument is that possession of pot smoke in the lungs, or THC in the bloodstream is not considered possession of marijuana, and well, that's true. Just like wood is wood and wood smoke is not (I can't build a house out of smoke).

There is another argument here: how do you KNOW it's pot smoke you smell? My brother used to smoke these ridiculous ginseng cigarettes that occasionally smelled like pot.

From what I saw on the video the cop is just an asshole. As I understand it, the kid had his iPod on and didn't hear the cop originally. I also note that the kid is very meek about it all-- the cop takes offense at being called "dude"? Oh please, what an ego.

I am not clear on whether or not these kids were actually skating there, or just guilty of being in possession of skateboards, we might assume in an area like that they probably were, but then the kid says "I didn't do nothin", so who knows.

In my hometown the cops used to harass kids for sitting on park benches on the town green, the infraction? "Loitering" (well, what are the benches there for if we're not supposed to sit on them?) In my experience there are a lot of cops who are just egotistical jerks, they are supposed to uphold the law, not prop up their own egos, not get their aggressions out on some kid, not turn a public park into a mini police state. I understand some people have a problem with skateboards, then give the kid a ticket if he broke the law, roughing him up isn't going to teach him respect but make him hate the police even more.

It seems part of the argument is that possession of pot smoke in the lungs, or THC in the bloodstream is not considered possession of marijuana, and well, that's true. Just like wood is wood and wood smoke is not (I can't build a house out of smoke).

There is another argument here: how do you KNOW it's pot smoke you smell? My brother used to smoke these ridiculous ginseng cigarettes that occasionally smelled like pot.

How long before Bill O'Reilly accuses the Smithsonian of being traitors simply for documenting this?

That cat is a pussy.

I amazed that nobody here is shocked at her dropping the "N-bomb" with so much ease. . . not that I was shocked-- white kids have been doing it since at least 1992, with no apparent racially charged meaning (or at least that's what I witnessed among mixed groups of kids: white kid drops n-bomb, black kids don't even notice). When you grow up listening to NWA and Mobb Deep, well, you learn all the lyrics.

Sure beats collecting "hummels."

So Billie Holiday was singing "I Cover the Waterfront" and Officer Rivieri walks up and takes the microphone away and yells "NO! YOU don't cover the damn waterfront, I COVER the Goddamn waterfront!! You GOT THAT??!!"

In ancient times we had trolls who lived under bridges and preyed on people walking overhead, now we have an officer who lives at Inner Harbor and preys on anybody he wants.

I'm scared.

I gotta stop watching Jack Van Impe.

He was some guy, now compost.

"(If I complete a task that I forgot to add to my list, I'll add it to the list after the fact and then cross it off.)"

Please add "Get professional help" to your list.

He is not being struck, but striking back-- He is protecting us from alien invaders.

That Flower Travellin Band photo he used for the cover is probably my favorite Japanese LP cover art-- freaky hippies riding down the highway naked on motorcycles, yow!

It seems there are some people who have an "either/or" attitude with regards to these incidents. In other words, they defend the cop because they'd rather not side with a bunch of "snotty punk kids." It shouldn't be like that, would you defend that same cop if he acted belligerent with you for no apparent reason? If your own kids (let's assume you raised them well) were committing some minor infraction and the cop tackled them, who you applaud him?

It's all about what is reasonable. The skateboarders did not need to be tackled, they were (apparently) skating, a minor offense, they weren't thieves or rapists, they were maybe disrespectful (and that's a big maybe, "dude" is not the same as "pig", I'm sure they call their friends "dude" all the time), but last I checked "disrespect" wasn't against the law.

This cemetery is just wasted space.

C3PO: "What's that R2?. . . what do you mean 'EAT ME'???!!!!"

My brain hurts.

I always just thought it was supposed to be a pretzel.

If she just had an extra liver too she could win just about any drinking contest (well. . . unless her opponent also had extra kidneys and liver).

I wonder if they can get away with sarcasm? For example, if asked about China's human rights abuses they can instead go completely over-the-top in describing what a wonderful utopian society China is: a true paradise on earth, where the streets are paved with gold-painted lead, and the common people make millions farming ants at home.

Wait a second! . . . Prince Charles is boycotting the Olympics?

What even was he competing in?

A great gift for all your vegan friends.

(gets down on one knee) "Elvira . . . will you marry me?"

Do psychologists take a version of the "Hippocratic oath" to do no harm? Perhaps they should, it might help avoid problems like shock treatment and orbital lobotomies. Of course it's hard to say what is harmful in some cases, but clearly TORTURE is not something that is GOOD for the human psyche. It's like creating problems some other shrink is going to have to fix later (assuming the , errr. . . "patient" survives.)

I can see a Chinese citizen walking in, looking around, and saying "hey. . . I MADE this . . . only 99 cents?! No wonder I get paid slave wages."

Imagine being one of his past "relations", waiting for your photo to leak.

Which reminds me. . . when is Gene Simmons going to make his private polaroid collection into a website?

I guess "Dweezil" was too common.

Why not just name the child "Bureaucratic Nightmare"?

(FYI-- when Dweezil Zappa was born his parents were barred from naming him Dweezil by someone in the hospital, his birth certificate actually says "Ian.")

I just think it's odd that an urban sport is being transplanted to a mostly rural setting. Kids began skating because of the ubiquity of pavement, both in the city and suburbs. To find kids skating in an area of mostly dirt roads is just confusing, like the downhill skiing park built indoors in Dubai, UAE. I think skating is great, but so is BMX bicycling which makes more sense in this setting (it would be a lot easier to build a BMX track in rural Uganda, and wouldn't need any poured concrete). Plus the bikes could be used for transport around the village or city (face it-- a skateboard is almost useless on a dirt road).

Then I think of all the kids I knew who broke wrists or chipped teeth skating; is that a good thing for relatively poor people?

*sigh* Logic and reason have never been one of the Bush administrations strong points, but this is just so misguided on so many levels. Sometimes the "war on terror" reminds me of one of those sci-fi movies/stories where somebody goes back in time to stop something from happening, but instead acts as the catalyst for CAUSING it to happen in the first place; they enact these kinds of regulations to make life safer/better (I assume, maybe I'm wrong on that point), but are just making like more difficult for both tourists and Americans.

I have a very common first name, and I have always hated it.

"This rubber smells funny!"

Entitled "Adonis at rest."

As the oil dwindles there will be more of these maneuvers into war, whether it's war with an oil-producing state, or war with another huge oil-consuming state like China.

If we want the madness to stop then we should come up with some way around it-- like maybe building our own electric cars (since clearly the auto industry won't).

When are they going to make a star-shaped one for the KISS fans?

The family that "nerds" together, stays together.

Conservatives cannot logically claim torture is OK and at the same time that the US is a "Christian nation."

Unless of course, we only use crucifixion as the preferred means of torture.

Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.

#7 Todd

Great minds think alike-- I considered "repose" but changed my mind as I typed for some reason . . . maybe thinking of the "death" implication of "souls in repose."

"Adonis in Repose" does sound better.

I would probably end up cluttering Han's visage with papers, under the clear top, to the point where nobody would know that Han was even under there.

"A boot stomping on a face, for ever."

"Mommy, when I grow up I wanna be a self-righteous jerk and a barrier to free travel!"

The sirens in the background-- that's the RIAA coming to arrest him.

"Stupid punk kid!! Did you think Sir Paul McCartney would allow this unauthorized use of his copyrighted material?! What do you mean "cover songs are fair use"?? Wise guy huh!?"

Addressing post #1:

Seems to me, if it's Cory's site (in part) then Cory can post whatever he damn well likes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the vast majority of blogs all about self-promotion, although it's often masked people talking about "things they like"-- why should BoingBoing be any different?

I think I understand how this works-- she takes it off, and suddenly she 100% prettier.

No thanks-- I'll just crap in an alley like everyone else.

Hey-- nice jugs.

I always thought that kids who were home-schooled by fundamentalist Christian parents would end up woefully equipped to deal with the real world once they graduated their bible colleges, and would have a hard time finding work that fit their training. The Bush administration has proven me wrong

I've noticed the prevalence of the word "porn" in describing things lately. Of course I'm not innocent of it-- for years me and friends used to describe catalogs from Guitar Center/Musician's Friend/Sweetwater/ etc. as "gear porn" which was apt-- we would look and fantasize but probably never buy.

I'm not sure these pics of nano-stuff constitute "porn"; although they are pretty pictures, how many of us are actually fantasizing about them?

So, if they never manage to find the note in question, he could just keep the house? If I were him I'd start paying those mortgage payments into a special pseudo-escrow account; not to give to the bank but to help him find a new place if they ever DO produce the note and evict him.

Oliver Sacks' "An Anthropologist on Mars" is a good intro to some of the aspects of autism (the title is a quote from a successful woman with Asperger's describing how she felt among other humans); it opened my eyes to the "otherness" of autism.

I wonder about autism in other species-- do wild animals experience it? Or is it by it's very nature something that applies only to humans because of our higher mental reasoning? And if it happens in animals, how does it effect survival (does it act as an evolutionary mechanism?)

Remember when the western world rejoiced as "capitalism defeated communism" in the early 90's?

All it takes is for the engines of capital to get greedy and lazy again to make communism look really good to the slowly growing masses of homeless, unemployed, and starving. Maybe I speak too soon, or maybe I am remarkably prescient. Time will tell.

I tried it with the 9 note continuo from Zappa's "Watermelon in Easter Hay"-- not impressed. I think I mainly have a problem with the lamely synthesized cello tone they offer; why not more timbre options? Or am I just being picky?

Maybe he wanted to make his own penis so big he could fuck-over all of his constituents, and eventually create a penis so big he could fuck the entire world.

Damn, that sound like a possible screenplay. . . time to get to work.

My favorite, which I saved somewhere:

"your opposite sex is your best friend."

Yeah-- nowhere near as good as the other ones listed here.

Humanity.

They were my sneaker of choice for most of my adult life, still are I guess, but I won't buy them anymore-- ever since they stopped making them in the USA I've noted a definite dip in quality; they're not as "spongey" as they used to be when brand new.

Still, it seems like they've never gone out of style. . . walking around in my Chuck Taylors, drinking Moxie and eating a Moon Pie, ahh the good old days.

Oh please. We all saw this coming, didn't some cartoonist already make this joke? Now show me a Hillary-as-tub-girl, or "2-girls-1-McCain", maybe I'll laugh at that.

Maybe.

I recall seeing a skit on some comedy show in the early 80's ("The New Show" maybe?) where they invented a cola they called "Okra Cola" that actually made part of your body paralyzed. They marketed the paralysis as "That Okra Cola FEELING!"

In some countries they just DON'T like cola drinks-- I've heard it described as "the taste of sweat" in some cultures.

I love Doris Kearns Goodwin-- whenever I've seen her on PBS or interviewed somewhere else, she just seems so upbeat and honestly interested in her study; it always cheers me up.

So. . . if a Canadian wants to make a film about evolution and Darwin, would that be considered "offensive"?

I've considered doing something similar to a wall in my neighborhood-- I was going to put up "Ladies" and "Gentlemen" signs on either side of the wall.

My all time favorite quote:

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

So. . . crows will literally "work for peanuts"?

If this backfires (for example if crows start shredding garbage bags to find trash to trade for peanuts, or stealing money from blind beggars cups), I guess Josh Klein is going to have to , uhhh . . . "eat crow."