Hi. I used to use this blog a lot more than i do now. I don't agree with much of what i've posted here, but such is the nature of time. :) My instagram & facebook are likely to be more up to date.

great bikes

>> Friday, September 12, 2008


this velocar post over at boingboing reminded me that i wanted to do a post about cool bikes. the first four are form trendhunter's excellent top 50 innovative bicycle designs...

this trike carver looks great. i've got a friend who makes trikes called "north cargo" that's trying to compete in the automotive x prize. they have a cool design because uses already pre-existing standard bicycle materials... the support/repair structure is already in place.


i've always wanted to see a car sized bike like this...


this suitcase bike looks super practical, if maybe a bit heavy.


also, "the one" bike looks like it collapses really small... think it's just a concept for now.


people in india and thailand carry huge loads on bikes... the trailer is really a key addition.


and don't forget the (easy to ride!) unicycle on this post... awesome...

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Game/Space: An Interview with Daniel Dociu

>> Thursday, September 11, 2008

via the beautiful, erudite and gorgeous bldg blog


"Game/Space: An Interview with Daniel Dociu" (as always with images on my blog, you can click on them for the full size... do it with this next one, wow...)


daniel's art is gorgeous, and the text elaborates...


from the interview... "I look back all the way to the dawn of mankind: to ruins, and Greek architecture, and Mycenean architecture, all the way up to the architecture of the Crusades, and castles in North Africa, and the Romanesque and Gothic and Baroque and Rococo – even to neo-Classical and art deco and Bauhaus and Modernist. I mean, there are bits and pieces here and there that make a strong impression on me, and I blend them – but that's the beauty of games. You don't have to be stylistically pure, or even coherent. You can afford a certain eclecticism to your work. It's a more forgiving medium. I can blend elements from the Potala Palace in Tibet with, say, La Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí's cathedral. I really take a lot of liberties with whatever I can use, wherever I can find it."

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where have i been?



i've been working on lead remediation in my house after finding out my son river (on the wheels of steel above) has high lead levels in his blood. we're doing everything we can to fix it, and that involved not blogging for a while.

anyway, here's a bit of news:

carlos slim helú, the world's second richest person, bought a substantial portion of the new york times. i haven't been reading the times much recently... i feel it's dropped off a bit. they did break that very under-reported pentagon media story, though. they're struggling to stay afloat with all the web news.

oliver north apparently still gets to lie in an official capacity. following the biggest civilian casualties of the afghani war, the pentagon denied that it had happened... their source? embedded reporter oliver north. beside the horific quotes this link has of ollie's he was central to the iran-contra affair. luckily the pentagon is investigating anew the slaughter....

i think while sarah palin's insanity is easy to get distracted by, and the real target should be mccain and HIS insanity, i couldn't help but notice that she's recently said some doozys recently. think progress is tallying how many times her lie about the bridge to nowhere is repeated (29 at this moment), and she recently said war with russia might be necessary, fannie mae and freddie mac cost the taxpayers too much already (they haven't cost a penny yet, the bailout proposed, which she "supports", will cost the taxpayers tens of billions) and also said the iraq war is a task from god. yikes, yikes, yikes.

in more historical news, this is an interesting article on the intersection of republicans and music, featuring the startling revelation that johnny ramone was a republican!

some music coming soon... and don't forget that my list of john mcshame's bullshit keeps growing.

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time for a bunch of different stimulus

>> Sunday, September 7, 2008




very cool idea for peace between israel and neighbors, the valley of peace!
(nsfw?) the always stunning audrey kawasaki's new show is beautiful.
i heard a good flow on democracy now from son of none, socialist mc...
via boingboing, this printable concrete housing has some huge potential.
ever been curious what others consider important to do before they die?
i may have mentioned this, but the street art of dan witz is highly creative.
a compilation of 45 different designs for artificial islands, some eco.
for those of you who don't want to steal photoshop, pixlr is free and online!
this sound to glass art (below) is highly beautiful. frozen sound, more here.


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feline squatters, etc...

>> Friday, September 5, 2008



bobcats squat a house. i love bobcats and all the other members of the lynx family. reminds me of jello biafra's political platform when he was running for mayor of san fransisco. he advocated legalizing squatting in abandoned buildings. the rest of his platforms were pretty good, too, like making police officers an elected position. unfortunately most people latched on to his more controversial positions like requiring business people downtown to wear clown suits... which actually seems like a pretty good idea to me, too, but i'm biased.

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John McShame

>> Wednesday, September 3, 2008



this will be a compilation of all the fucked up things about john mccain i find. while i will continue with my normal blogging of music, art, life and whatnot, i will continue to add to this post until McCain loses in november...

this man is no maverick. he may have been one time, but he sure isn't now. here's some proof...

UPDATE 3: jon stewart does his civic duty and sums up the problems with mccain here and then here...

let's start with the late tim russert owning mccain on meet the press:


UPDATE 5: this one is AWFUL. McCain, along with peabody coal, forced the relocation of a navajo tribe (over 10,000 people) onto a nuclear waste dumping site to exploit the coal for mutual gain. even the UN condemmed this under the indigenous peoples laws. the wonky but well documented official site for this is here. american computer science association condems it here. the angryindian calls it genocide... there's a good case for it, in my opinion.

UPDATE 6: this is a more psychological piece on McCain's focus on violent solutions. it makes an impassioned case for being wary of McCain's support of very deadly policies, discussing "usable nuclear weapons" and his famous temper. WARNING: contains some graphic images of american and iraqi casualties, but if you can't see this reality, you shouldn't be voting for a man who helped cause it.

McCain was against the repeal of Roe v. Wade before he was for it.
McCain was against torture before he was for it. Really for it.
McCain was against jerry falwell and pat robertson before he was for them.
McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy before he was for them.
McCain was against shady Bush “Pioneer” Texas billionaire swift-boat financiers before he was for them.
McCain was for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law before he was against it and began breaking it.
McCain was against Grover Norquist, whom he called “corrupt, a shill for dictators before he was for him.
McCain was against BJU because of its “hateful,” “racist and cruel” policies before he was for it.
McCain was against ethanol before he was for ethanol and then he was against it again.
McCain was against a Martin Luther King holiday before he was for it. …

there's a lot more here (and here)... he's pandered and buckled about abortion exceptions for rape and incest, taxing cigarettes for anti child smoking education, immigrants children's citizenship, gay marriage issues... you name it. this is the scratching of the surface.

UPDATE 8: this is a good list of mccain flip flops from think progress, responding to McCain's "assertion" that no one could name ONE flip flop he had made...

FOREIGN POLICY

* Attacking Terrorists In Pakistan
* Defense Spending
* Detention Of Detainees
* Divestment And Sanctions
* Donald Rumsfeld
* Henry Kissinger
* Illegal Wiretapping
* Law Of The Sea Convention
* Long-Term Troop Presence In Iraq
* Negotiations With Hamas
* Negotiations With Syria
* Normalization Of Relations With Cuba
* Nuclear Reactors
* Nuclear Waste Storage At Yucca Mountain
* Rogue State Rollback
* Torture
* 21st Century GI Bill

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY
* Ethanol
* Everglades Restoration
* Offshore Drilling

ETHICS
* Criticizing The Media
* Katrina Investigations
* Lobbyists
* The Wyly Brothers

ECONOMY
* Americans Live Better Under Bush
* Balancing The Budget
* Bush Tax Cuts
* Earmarks For Arizona
* Fairness Of The Estate Tax
* Job Losses In Michigan
* Social Security Privatization
* Tobacco Industry Regulations
* Windfall Profits Tax

IMMIGRATION
* The Dream Act
* Comprehensive Immigration Reform

RADICAL RIGHT
* The Confederate Flag
* Jerry Falwell And The Religious Right
* The NRA
* Teaching Intelligent Design

CIVIL RIGHTS
* Gay Marriage Amendment

HEALTH CARE
* Abortion Exceptions
* Repealing Roe v. Wade
* Taxpayer Funding For Contraception In Africa

now note, i've argued that governing on set-in-stone opinion isn't a great thing, but these flip-flops indicate not an open mind, or a willingness to listen, but instead indicate political expediency, pandering to the worst influences of the republican party and lack of principles.

also for a guy who only released his 1,173 pages of medical records to a handful of reporters (for 3 hours!) to pick a v.p. candidate as appalling as sarah palin isn't putting his country first. it's putting a dying man in office first, before his archaic book-burning, bible-humping, lying and cheating henchwoman takes over.

and if you can even piss off van halen (by stealing their music), you're an asshole.

more to come...

UPDATE 1: a protestor interupted john mccain's acceptance speech thursday night... his sign was true. john mccain voted against the g.i. bill, and voted against a lot of other bills that benefit veterans of the wars he likes to help start.


UPDATE 2: the republicans also stole heart's music. (actually, it turns out that they paid the royalties, but the band didn't want them to use it, so they are donating the money to obama!) and jackson browne. browne is suing them. also, the McCain campaign has decided that Sarah Palin doesn't have to answer any questions from the media, not even about the scandal issues, but any. they are all relevant to me, but this just seems like a terrible response given the importance of the election... it's bad judgement. good thing that despite Palin and McCain's efforts to block the investigation the case is getting fast-tracked.

UPDATE 4: McCain has talked about raiding colorado's water supply for the benefit of lower states by re-negotiating the 1922 western water compact. he later tried to say he didn't want to renegotiate, but the damage was done. there are some questions that this may be related to mccain's love of the craps tables in vegas. that's dispicable if it is, but even if it's not, it's worth checking out this comparison to obama's poker playing for a psychological profile.

UPDATE 7: this is a compelling argument by medical doctors as to why mccain's health is a serious liability...



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wooster collective graffiti highlights pt. 2

>> Tuesday, September 2, 2008


the wooster collective blog stays fresh.

rene gagnon:
JR does beautiful work in favelas in brazil:

Banksy takes on the kkk in birmingham, alabama:

dolk & pøbel:

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george bush speaks at rnc afterall


and he just used the phrase "angry left".

he has one of the lowest approval rating of a president (30%). maybe he means that everyone that's left is angry! i know i am. what a tool...


i was going to save this picture of bush, too, but there are really plenty pictures that show what a fuckup he is. watching the rnc is nausea-inducing... these people are insane.

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amy goodman arrested at the r.n.c...

she said it... "this is outrageous". amy goodman... host of the 12 year running "democracy now!" an ESSENTIAL piece of freedom of the press arrested at the repuglican national convention. article and live thread here. WATCH THIS VIDEO AND SEE WHAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT THINKS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION:
(UPDATE BELOW)



update from democracy now!

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC

Goodman Charged with Obstruction; Felony Riot Charges Pending Against Kouddous and Salazar

ST. PAUL--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar's violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, "I'm Press! Press!," resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman's arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

On Tuesday, Democracy Now! will broadcast video of these arrests, as well as the broader police action. These will also be available on: www.democracynow.org

Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony. While the three have been released, they all still face charges stemming from their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar face pending charges of suspicion of felony riot, while Goodman has been officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a "peace officer."

Democracy Now! forcefully rejects all of these charges as false and an attempt at intimidation of these journalists. We demand that the charges be immediately and completely dropped.

Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities' law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.

During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, including a photographer for the Associated Press.

Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and the subsequent criminal charges and threat of charges are a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists.

Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.


Mayor Chris Coleman can be contacted at: 651-266-8510 or e-mailed at: https://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/forms.asp?FID=69
Governor Tim Pawlenty can be reached at: (651) 296-3391 or e-mailed at tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us
Ramsey County Jail: 651-266-9350

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crows are wicked fucking intelligent

>> Monday, September 1, 2008



"university of Washington scientists have shown that crows recognize individual human faces, and hold grudges against people who have been mean to them in the past." article on that study is here.

but there is WAY more...

crows use cars to open nuts. they open (and close!) water faucets. they play games. they may even be as intelligent as the great apes.

this video is amazing! (warning: contains the word "synanthropic") joshua klein's ted talk on crow intelligence, including a crow vending machine:



art by jean kigel
earlier: larry birlliant's ted talk
even earlier: who's ted?

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three lovely tidbits


roald dahl spied on america by having sex
brit jonathan chase raps about astrobiology
banksy does new orleans (pictured, also here, here...)

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got money? feed kids!

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