Banksy
Incredibly cool graffiti art site.
via Metafilter
Monthly archives: March 2003
Hooker History
The Mustang Ranch, seized by the IRS and due to be demolished, should be turned into a museum of prostitution, according to some of its former girls.
Mid Day Crisis
I think I’m losing my grip on reality (whaddaya mean losing?). It’s a beautiful sunny day outside and yet…..
The fascists and warmongers really don’t like Robert Fisk. They have a whole inane ritual they call Fisking, which they also apply to anyone else they disagree with, where they take his on the spot and brutally honest reports and- from the safety of their home front bunkers- parrot the party line after every statement they’ve been told to disagree with. It used to be my ambition to be denounced by the Daily Mail, because then I’d know I was doing something right. The Internet age has allowed me to expand my horizons and I won’t be happy until I’ve been Fisked by the troglodytes at FreeRepublic. What I’m leading up to is that they’ll be all over this piece in today’s Independent where he describes the aftermath of the marketplace bombing. Read it. It’s horrific. Thankfully the civilian casualties are far lower than they would have been under the planned Shock and Awe blitzkrieg campaign, which was probably called off when they realised how much opposition there was to the whole adventure. Kudos to everyone who went on an Anti War rally before the campaign started and shame on me for not getting to one until too late.
At the behest of my credit card/ loan provider I did a health check on my finances yesterday. They’re pretty tubercular, but I’m formulating a way out of them. I’m going to adopt Bushonomics. First I have to buy a big ugly car that belches pollutants and does about ten feet to the gallon. Then I’ll stop feeding my pets, the little bastards have been living off my hard earned income for years now and they should learn to fend for themselves (note to PETA, I don’t actually have any pets, okay, this is allegory). I might be able to make a little money by getting my friends to pay me for stuff I steal from work for them, but likely I’ll find the SUV really bites into my bank account. There is a simple answer to this though. I’m going to start a hate campaign against someone living in a big house in Rochdale. I’ll say they have kiddie porn and that I think they were the Yorkshire Ripper’s secret accomplice. Then, because the Police won’t go along with my calls for an early morning raid and statutory beating, I’ll break into the house myself, piss in his fishtank and place ‘evidence’ in his cupboards. But, just to show I mean no ill will to the rest of his family, I’ll steal the home entertainment centre and fence the DVD player to cover the cost of replacing the broken window.
I did have a faith in human nature moment earlier. Looking out of my office window I noticed that my bike had fallen over and was hanging off the railing I’d locked it to. I was just about to go outside and stand it up again when I saw one of the security guards wander over and straighten it out for me.
The long weekend starts tomorrow, I’m getting broadband tomorrow evening and the weather isn’t going to break until Saturday or Sunday. I need to take some time out to chill and think about a new direction.
Fear and Loathing on the Underground
A whole load of companies are profiting from playing up NBC paranoia. This stuff is going to be of little practical use if there is an attack so it’s just a comfort blanket, probably keeping you complacent and unable to spot genuine dangers.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world goes to shit.
Why does the Middle East not trust the West?
In a surprising good article from Mother Jones, the outline of arab disbelief at statements coming from the White House are outlined. Although Mother Jones is liberal left, on this occassion I happen to agree with every word.
Oh by the way, can we please have the largest deficit in the USA’s history now please? Restore the full 750Billion tax credit!!!!!
Elephants and Turtles
It’s always good to read a Terry Pratchett interview. Sadly, though, there’s no chance of a Pratchett blog.
Blogeditor
Everyone needs a little help, introducing Blogeditor, a service to turn everyone into a weblog god. I’m going for-
Hipster. BlogEditor will help you turn those almost-clever cracks into full-fledged New York Observer rip-off lines, and even learn how to throw obnoxiously snotty curveballs while adhering to the finer points of post-modern existentialism. After running your text through our patented and revolutionary Add-a-tude� irony enhancement software program, your edgy prose will go down like a latte spiked with Midori!
via Benhammersley.com
I also forgot to credit the Intel story earlier to BoingBoing)
Has anyone tried to access Al jeezera?
Seems kind of suspicious to me, but I have been trying to get to the English language Aljeezra site since Monday, but to no avail. It would be great to have both media propoganda machines available at one go but it looks as though the arabs are victims of Denial of Service attacks from the west. Wired news provides an interesting article here.
More evidence the war has become like a video game…
Everyone loves to photo-shop. Thanks fark.
The Times online has put out an aticle how radio stations are refusing to play any “unhappy” or “war” songs. So much for democracy. Thanks Tony and George. Just remember as the economy suffers and people see a lot of death, yor election hopes dwindle away. Scarily enough, that just might be the best outcome of this war.
Sometimes I can't help myself
and just have to go and piss some warmongering idiots off. (third comment down is me)
Pika Boom!
Oldhacks reminded me of the whole PikaBoom adventure. Inspired by my nailing of Barbie Girl, Ents decided to go one better and obliterate the little yellow bastard.
Explosives were no problem to get hold of. We happened to have some lying around, er, I mean safely stored away (in a locked metal box, next to a can of diesel and a box of matches – I kid you not!).
Spun
Two very different takes on the attempts to media manage the war. An armchair warrior in the Times takes the Coalition to task for waging a ‘politically correct’ war before deploying the way PC phrase of ‘resisted liberation’ (can people please be honest about this- it’s an invasion folks, got that?) Meanwhile, in the Guardian, Rod Liddle points out that the constant changes in emphasis don’t hold up to international scrutiny and 24/7 attention and, indeed, are losing the propaganda war.
underclocked
Intel have patented a system by which their chips could self moderate when overclocked, counteracting the mods by slowing their own clock speed. This is supposedly to protect consumers from unscrupoulous resellers who overclock and then sell on chips at their new, false, speeds, but it sounds more like planned obsolescence to me- if you want a faster chip you will have to buy it, we’re not letting you get empowered and less dependent on us.
Spank It
Morocco has offered America trained monkeys to clear mine fields. Two things- the Americans already have 250,000 trained monkeys, and they wouldn’t want to be nasty to the poor animals when they can just send the Brits in to do it instead.
via AlterNet
The best laptop ever and something else.
Ian, I think you might want to look at this as an option for your mobile writing factory. This is a serious piece of kit. Imagine a computer you can put in the dishwasher, drop from high heights and runs 8hrs on just one charge. By the way, it is the choice of the US military.
Need to show support for the American war on civilians? Well, why not just buy a pair of BRASS BALLS? Hang em off the mirror of your pick up truck or just bright up the foyer.
Morestupidity and less war please….
Ok. Remember being a kid and all the great products you were enticed to buy, thanks to x-entertainment for letting me relieve my youth. Unfortunately, this link may not be accesible for those British readers, as I don’t think you guys got TV or anything else like it until 1995.
Also, the boys over at consumption junction, have been having a field day with the war making mockery after mockery of the whole affair. Be aware pr0n ads make it not safe for work.
Think the US soldiers work hard and deserve your support? Well, they cannot even put a candle to the heroic effort of the US Pizza team! No really, I swear, it’s true. Just check for yourselves.
Need a soundboard for that special occassion? Try 2400bps. Very cool site run by an amazing chic.
For a pro war blog with many hilarious pictures, go visit Ernie at his house of whoopass.
Liberation
The idiots planning this war really did think Our Boys would be showered with roses and adulation by Iraqis, and now they’re grasping at bogeymen to explain the reality away. And an aside (rhetorical), as pointed out in the article, why aren’t we seeing any footage of Iraqi victims? I mean Coalition dead get a running tally on CNN, but I can only find a one liner about dead Iraqis.
Fade away
I’m supposed to be suffering from burnout, allegedly. If this is burnout I’d hate to find out what a slow period was like.
Beads 'n stuff
There isn’t a British equivalent of Spring Break, where students go wild and get nekkid en masse. Where would we have gone, anyway? Cornwall at this time of year isn’t exactly suited to sunbathing or flashing. News 4 Colorado reports that, despite the war and all that, SB is still big business in Cancun.