Free Culture Game

Free Culture Game from Molleindustria. Really, you must play this. Via Rhizome.

Ooohhh noooo, Mr. Bill!

Forwarded to us by one of our favorite North Dakotans. Source unknown, but I imagine it's everywhere today:

Shameless promotion: Brooke Hauser, The Changing of the Guard

Another fine article by our neighbor and friend, Brooke Hauser: On Rikers Island, A Changing of the Guard.

"IN her 19 years as a corrections officer on Rikers Island, Barbara Williams has been trapped in a mess hall with rioting inmates and thrown against an iron gate by a man twice her size who left her with a fractured shoulder. But nothing makes her wince like remembering the time an inmate commented on the way her hips swayed ever so slightly beneath her boxy blue uniform, back when she first came on the job."

Who made this bed? Do I have to sleep in it?

The gentleman who sells tube socks on the street, up and down every street, in our neighborhood and who has done so since before any of us moved here, still is.  Heidi, mother of Stella (3 legged, and not to be confused with Stella 4 legged who lives next door) says she's never seen anyone buy any of his socks, and Lota and I realized, yeah, neither have we.  But he soldiers on.  None of us have seen for quite a while the man who used to sell pencils - maybe not for a few years now, but we are only just realizing it.  I've always loved pencils, and if I ever have to choose between selling pencils and tube socks, it's a no-brainer for me.

(The top image is AP, the bottom Reuters / NYT.  Anyone with seriously nothing to do or a morbid curiousity might want to read the text of the defeated bill.)

Shaftulele

Mark Edward Harris photographs

Saw some great photographs last evening by Mark Edward Harris taken in Iran and North Korea. The group fave was this one. The show was at the Farmini Gallery in DUMBO.

Short NPR piece on Harris here.

Yes, Election Smackdown

Young dude JH writes:

hey uncle steve have fun and see if obama wins!!!! slap mckain silly!!!!!
http://www.addictinggames.com/electionsmackdown2008.html?r=u

Which is pretty much the same intention Frank Rich expresses in his op-ed piece today:

The question is why would a man who forever advertises his own honor toy so selfishly with our national interest at a time of crisis.

Post turtle of our times

Forwarded by LH from John McFarland:

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.'

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, it's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.

'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

John McFarland

Tongue Scraper Side-Effect Limerick Competition

Ah, our old love, the Mini-AIR:

Tongue scraper side-effects are the subject of this month's limerick competition. (Thanks to investigator Kristine Danowski for bring it to our attention.) To enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature of this report...

How close were presidential elections?

Slashdot points to this great analysis at MIT by Mike Sheppard:

This page answers the question: 
What is the SMALLEST number of total votes that need to be switched from one candidate to another, and from which states, to affect the outcome of the election?

And that's what election strategies are all about.  45% of us, no way are we voting for a Republican candidate, because we really do believe in the values that drive the Democratic party (though we might vote for an independant).  45% of us, no way are we voting for a Democratic candidate, because we really do believe in the values that drive the Republican party (though we might vote for an independant).  So, who we gonna swing and where?

Radioyo echo eco

Home with the skankiest of colds / chest goo / general collapse, and I get a chance to catch up on some radio and give an east coast echo to Juju's post last week or so.

Lopate has John R. Ehrenfeld on - all around eco-big and author of the current Sustainability by Design. (There's a very small reference in there to the two-button toilet: I remember the first time I saw one, I think maybe in Paris. And it presented an Ahh moment.) Wikipedia has a big entry on sustainable design. I haven't done a lot of reading in this area, but was struck by McDonough and Braungart's Cradle to Cradle when I read it back in 2002 / 2003. The big lesson I took away from that was, If you don't use poisons to make the damned thing, you don't have to worry about getting the poison's out when you throw it away, eh?

Odd, fondness, a place of very mixed meaning

Like I hinted in another recent post, going to ball games has been something I've loved since I was wee.

But as I've maybe not hinted, I haven't followed major league baseball - or any other professional sport for at least a decade. Maybe 2. Well, maybe most of 3, really.

And yet, something really stirs when I think of the old Stadium. Nephew Jake was there Wednesday, I was there Thursday, and bro Mookie & C. were there at the very very last., and called me from the game so I'd eat my heart out, just like I called Bro from the last subway series to do the same. (Jake, young dog that he is, called so I would look for him on TV. And during the final game, nephew Justy called to find out if I know where Bro was sitting so he could look for him on the tube.)

Living up the hill from the Stadium Motor Lodge as a kid, where players would actually stay in the years before money. Dad playing softball in the fields outside the stadium. Memories of leaning around girders to see before the big renovation (when they moved the outfied fences in). I dunno. Long ago and far away, and part of me is still there, for sure.

Shameless promotion: our friend, Joe McGinty

I'm very excited to be opening for electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey and his collaborator Dana Countryman. Please check out this show at this exciting new venue!

thanks,

Joe McGinty

Jean-Jacques Perrey made some groundbreaking Moog LPs in the 60s ("Moog Indigo", "The Amazing New Electronic Sound of Jean-Jacques Perrey) on his own and also with Gershon Kingsley ("The In Sound From Way Out". His music has been sampled by The Beastie Boys, Gangstarr, A Tribe Called Quest and many others. Walt Disney used his "Baroque Hoedown" for the Main Street Electrical Parade, and "The Savers" is best known as the theme for TV game show "The Joker's Wild". Perrey was determined to take electronic music out of academia and into pop culture, and is still going stong at 79 years old with a new Perrey/Countryman release "Destination Space". Perrey and Countryman make a rare concert appearance in New York at Le Poisson Rouge on Oct. 1.

Opening the show is Circuit Parade, Joe McGinty's experimental/improvisational electronic pop project. Circuit Parade features Mike McGinnis on woodwinds, Eleanor Norton on cello and Leon Dewan on his homemade analog synthesizers.

Circuit Parade will be joined by Natalie Weiss of Unicornicopia, Dave Amels and thereminist Dorit Chrysler for a special mini-tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey.

Certainly a concert not to be missed!

Oct. 1, 2008

7 PM

Le Poisson Rouge

158 Bleecker Street between Thompson and Sullivan) NYC

Tickets and info:

http://lepoissonrouge.com/

Perrey and Countryman: http://www.jeanjacquesperrey.com/

Circuit Parade: http://www.myspace.com/circuitparade

--

Joe McGinty

http://www.joemcginty.com

http://www.myspace.com/joemcginty

http://www.carouselrecording.com

http://www.loserslounge.com

You've got the cutest little...

Ah, after a liberal dosing red jube jube and then a topper of Bernard Griffin's Syrah port and one of the last of the Cohiba's from last year's Paris jaunt, feeling mighty mellow, I started in on Baby Face (at Dr. Uke's), and I'm thinking, there's never been a more rockin' tune! Nooooh, Laddie, there'ass nefer bean!

Apples of no-one's eye

I came across this old crate label for Repetition Apples out of Yakima, WA., and figured it could be updated nicely.

Newbie voter registrars

By the time we got down to Philly yesterday morning the city was already crawling with volunteers. We got our training at the Center City Obama campaign office, which was buzzing with all sorts of people of every age. We got our training, pep talk, one clipboard, one pen, 4 PA forms, absentee ballots, a Jersey form or two, a little literature.

On the street it took a while to hit our stride and find the voice and body language that got most people's attention without annoying the crap out of them. We did register a few folks, gave out an absentee ballot and a Jersey ballot. That's what we were told to expect - if we got a couple of registrations, that would be great - a bunch of people coming back with a few each, all together making a significant number.

Reactions from people on the street were great. Not always good, but great in the human range of hostile to curmudgeon to surprised to friendly to thankful to Hell Yes to I AM SO EXCITED! And then there were a couple of genuinely certifiable folks, very deep paranoids. Not being in the military or retail, I'm thinking I called more people Sir and Mam yesterday than in any other day of my life. A lot of Thank Yous in both directions. Lots of folks doing the head dodge until they actually hear what you're saying, then they make contact and, Yes, I am, thanks. And a lot of folks who clearly were excited by Obama, and felt completely connected to this election.

Any way, we had fun. It was a beautiful late summer, early autumn day, dry and bright blue, in a mostly blue city. Maybe we've gotten enough of a baptism now to go knock on doors and canvas for Obama.

And, you, Excuse me Sir, Mam, are you registered to vote?
Only a couple of weeks left to do it.

Taking a pork break from registering voters in Philly

Sent via my thingy

enjoying a love affair w/public radio

hereabouts (hearabouts? Ha!) we have that stalwart Pacifica station KPFA, but lately have been listening to NPR a lot (KQED radio, 88.5 locally broadcasting out of S.F.) where ourowndarnedself recently enjoyed listening to a couple of things we about to share with you. Today, during our lunchtime errands, Talk of Nation's Science Friday show was a broadcast from Tucson (not yet available online, but be patient my preeteez...) on the subject of chile peppers. Link available here...

Definitely worth spending a little over 30 minutes of your life listening to, from Wednesday's Fresh Air, an interview with Michael Greenberger on the topic of recent financial shenanigans in the news...

We mentioned another interview with Andrew J. Bacevich some posts back, this interview comes from Thursday, Sept. 11th broadcast:
Is This the "End of American Exceptionalism"?...

and lastly, jessferdahalibut, in celebration of the opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi, this rebroadcast from October, 1996...

on my mind a great deal of late is the loss of David Foster Wallace, and I got a lot of related linkage stashed away, mebbe post something over at d'monkey about it, but for now, this item from the New Yorker online will suffice...

Clothes make the man. Apparently.

Live free or die socks are sassy. Via dino & robo.  Looking back at lapel-pin-gate, I know want to know what the candidates are wearing on whatever they put into their socks.

My short experiment with automatically generated ads

To the two or three of you who might have noticed - I experimented with having Google ads over in the right hand column.  I was very curious to see what ads would match the site's content.

Last week when I posted re acquaintance JM being killed on his bike when he was struck by a schoolbus, one of the ads that came up was from a law firm defending DUI drivers.  This morning there was an ad from an anti-Obama site promoting the elections of Republican candadates in local elections.

All fair and no complaints re AdSense, but not what I want.  Is it because the posts are sometimes ironic and not easily machine interpreted, or because bicycle safety groups are outbid by defendants' lawyers?  I dunno.  It's interesting, and I'll poke around, but won't be a participant.

Yar

Randy old E. Kelly reminds Mel who reminds us all: it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

And it's root root root for the home team

Just home from a game at the Stadium (thank you, Bawk).  Three home games to go, and they blow it down.  On the way there we dove through 149th & Morris Avenue, where I spent just about every Sunday for the first 8 years of my life - Sunday dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's.  Feeling mellow, I told Bawk about my first game.  It was at the Polo Grounds, not the Stadium (though there were childhood games in the old stadium, too, pre refurbishment and sometimes in seats behind the girders under the upper decks.)  Anyway, I'd always remembered that first game as being the Cards against the mets in the Polo Grounds, something like 15 or 16 to 1, and Stan Musial hitting three home runs.  It all sounds so mythical that I sort of doubt it when I hear myself say it.  So, home, I decided to put the mythic memory to the test - and, lo and behold!

PS: Old friend filmmaker Lewis Klahr tells a beautiful story of moonlighting as a limo driver, back in the day, and picking up Willie Mays, and driving him by the old site of the Polo Grounds.  Brings a tear to the eye the way LK tells it.

The secret war inside my lower bracket

Is there any trend over the course of the Bush presidency for which this graph would not suffice?

I've been whacking back and forth between Bob Woodward's The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008, and Todd Downs' Bicycle Maintenance and Repair.  Both will make it to my required reading list for the imaginary boy or girl.  I tend to read Bicycle Maintenance, which  I picked up because I had an annoying creak in my bottom bracket, at night in bed so as not to cause nightmares.  The crankarm bolts turned out to be way loose, and I've tightened them now, thank you, hows your mom, but there's still a little creak and I'm wondering if I waited too long to deal with this and whether the bottom bracket now needs an overhaul.  I don't have the tools to do the overhaul, and I can barely read a chapter of Woodward's book every morning without screaming.

Fundrace - follow the money all around the block

Been fiddling around with the Huffington Post's fundrace tool.  Fun.  Informative.  A little creepy when you turn it on your neighbors or colleagues.  Looks like all the money from my block went to John Edwards and Obama.  I just don't feel like I should be able to know this.  But I can't stop looking.

L.E.M.U.R + psychedelics = clack. clack. clackclack

Zemi17/GamelaTron at Horizons Conference

A double-header for Zemi17 & the GamelaTron, also appearing at the opening reception of Horizons Conference this Friday at Judson Church.

Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics

Judson Memorial Church

55 Washington Square South, NYC

Friday, September 19th

8-12 pm (GamelaTron set at 9)

http://horizonsnyc.org

Lose your home, lose your vote: suit filed

From FindLaw:

Foreclosing the Vote?
DEMOCRATIC PARTY LAWSUIT AGAINST THE MICHIGAN GOP ALLEGING PLANNED VOTER INTERFERENCE
(U.S. Dist. Ct., E. Dist. Mich., Sept. 16, 2008) - In Maletski v. Macomb County Republican Party, the Democratic National Committee sued the Michigan Republican Party alleging that the Michigan GOP planned to intimidate voters by challenging the voter registration of voters who reside in homes that have been targeted for foreclosure. Read more...

We've enlisted

They want us in Philadelphia County.

Thank you for volunteering to travel to Pennsylvania! We are delighted that you can volunteer in this historic movement to elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the White House...

Think about doing this yourself.

Hack the debate

3D.  Party at Galapagos.  Current dot com.  Twitter stuff.  I be old.  Watch the video,  etc., and it becomes clear.

More safe-house documents - surgical implantation of Gurgles

Not everyone has been blind to the coincidence of Gurgles' disappearance and the naming of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate.

Slutty Puppets, and why not?

Jah, that's right, Slutty Puppets @ Galapagos, Thursday evening, the 18th @ 8:00 PM.  Never seen them, but we do love puppets and, uh, hard to resist that pic of Kate Brehm, no?  Pretty sure they found it in the safehouse when it was raided shortly after Juju Pongo slipped away.

Oh, have I ever mentioned real life?

Gonna be a startling day in the Wall Street neighborhood of my working life. I'm thinking it'll be a good one to bring a camera. Weeping and gnashing and the rending of sackcloth. The sphincter tightening of seeing clients or peers or employers being sold or going into bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of jobs on the line. Extreme rattling of the food chain.

Gonna have thoughts like, Yo, we could have eaten for a couple of days for the price of those pedals I just put on the bike...

Dear diary 080913, in the hoodie

Early ride to the farmers' market @ Grand Army Plaza, and what I noticed right away was how many bikes were there, and how the bikes were chained to poles and everything skinny for a block or two leading up to the market. More and more folks on bikes, and no racks at the market. There used to be barrier racks that folks chained to, but these have largely been deployed to the edge of the market by the traffic circle - the death zone behind the north line of vendors and trucks - and no one locks up there. Yo yo, CB6, a little help, please?

And, yeah, I wore a helmet today. First time since last winter. I put it on when I realized I'd be riding directly through the same route that distant acquaintance JM rode through earlier this week when he was struck by a schoolbus and killed. (Daily News, Rolling Resistance, On Your Turf, Streetsblog, and The Brooklyn Paper.) I saw DK maybe Tuesday this week for lunch, before this happened, and he gave me an update on JM - then two days later DK sent me the news that JM'd been killed.

After lots of chores around the house and particularly in the cellar - it's nearly wine season, and hopefully much more about that soon - I pushed out sorely needed updates to Lori's Hard Working Movies site, and tinkered with a new blog for her. Then out to prowl Atlantic and 5th Ave's.

At the Brooklyn Heights bike shop I finally indulged an obsession that's been brewing for the last six months and bought a set of Crankbrothers 50/50 platform pedals. Woof! Woof! There is not a single justification in the world for me owning these pedals. Pure lust. Sad. But I couldn't be happier. Picked up some grease at Leopoldi's. I'm assuming there's a 15 mm wrench down in the basement, somewhere.

Between the bike shop and Leopoldi's I ducked into the Metaphor Contemporary Art gallery on Atlantic. I just love this place. I don't think they've ever raised a show I didn't enjoy the heck out of. The current show is Social Studies, Charles Yuen & Yunmee Kyong. If you're anywhere nearby, do yourself a favor and stop in.

Oh, what else. Green Flash le Freak @ Beer Table. Yow. Then bussed to the pizza and pasta specials and the ceci and onion and arugula at Amorina, with the Sicilia russo in proper quantity. We walked the few miles home so as not to simply burst.

And that, more or less, is all. Good night, and God bless, and don't worry your pretty little head over what the Bush Doctrine might mean.

Democracy in America, a la Creative Time

No, not Bam Bam, but the Convergence Center at Park Avenue Armory.  I don't even know what those Creative Time people are saying.  But I'm going to be there.  Or be square.  Sep. 21 to 27.  

oh goody goody goody...

yourstruly been aware of this for some weeks now, and am sorry that we just gettin' round to make mention of the fact that wizened wizard S. Baum is back with a vengence over at Ethel the Blog.
(there appears to be some occasional technical difficulties w/wordpress @ EtB, but PLEASE don't let that prevent you from trying again later)

and btw, we mentioned this next link in comment to something Esteban posted hereabouts earlier, but we believe it worthy of mention here again, Women Against Palin, & be sure to share that with your friends...

Exhale

Oh, well, since I chicken-littled yesterday, I might as well point to Gail Collins' opinion piece today.

Cheer up, Obama-ites. You’re overreacting. I’ll answer all your questions as long as you promise to take deep breaths into this nice paper bag.

"I feel as though he has lost that gut connection..."

Thom Friedman's article today. I wake up screaming.
Bam Bam, shake it off!

via NPR, some audio linky bits...

hey dere-
goshdarned american public (particularly those republican types) making me very very nervous with their gullibility and essential stupidity...

some interesting stuff to share w/thee via Fresh Air on NPR:
someone you may be familiar with, Thomas L. Friedman, speaking about his latest book, Hot, Flat, & Crowded in this interview. Whilst ourowndamnedself has had plenty of occasion to take issue with some of Mr. Friedman's opinions in the past, we like a lot of what we heard about this book.
also from NPR recently, another well known author, a certain Bob Woodward, speaks about his latest work, The War Within, providing some not-so-surprising-insights into white house shenanigans alongside further revelations regarding the incompetence of a certain head of state via this interview.
Extra added NPR Fresh Air bonus, same show that brought us the B. Woodward interview, some good stuff on vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson & the reissue of his 1971 Blue Note/EMI album, Head On.

y'all maintain an even strain now, best ye can...

What the heck: more Sarah P

The Gawker FAQ. The Gawker Ultimate Guide to S.P. conspiracy theories (expect updates). Women Against Sarah Palin (and sister blog here) via Hard Working Movies.

Smile a little smile for me, Rose Marie

Am sitting having some joe at the choco shop, and the guy who was playing E. Rhodes last month is playing this now. And I'm trippin'.  Or flying.  Like a Flying Machine.

Sent via my thingy.

John W Dean (yes, that JWD): Sarah Palin does not qualify under the implicit constitutional standards

The full title of Mr. Dean's article being, The Sarah Palin Selection: Why McCain's Inexperienced Running Mate Falls Short of Meeting the Implicit Constitutional Qualifications for Vice President. 

Toothsome phrasing, jah? Quoting:

Consider this parallel: Does anyone believe that if John McCain were president and had selected Governor Sarah Palin under the Twenty-fifty Amendment to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency, Congress would have confirmed her? Not likely. In fact, it is even less likely that McCain would have even attempted to do so, for he would have embarrassed himself.

While the Constitution does not expressly set forth qualifications for the vice-presidency, it strongly implies them --- and Palin falls short.

Well, it's possible Mr. Dean should know. He was Minority Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee when it was working on that amendment.

Looking out from the steps of my city

When I first started biking to work this summer I posted a snap from the benches out there, looking back at Borough Hall. This snap here is what it looks like while sitting on the old schisty stones of the same. It's a wonderful feeling sitting up here, looking out over Columbus Park, the statue of Bobby Kennedy, the courts, Cadman Plaza, the old post office, Manhattan Bridge at the horizon. Morning, Brooklyn.

Sent via my thingy.

(And, of course, when you send from your thingy, you don't get to adjust the photo levels, etc., but, trust me, it was a beyoutiful site.)

Mixwit, where have I been?

You all already knew about mixwit? And you didn't tell me?

Oh, boy, worlds collide: uke-fem-politicos

Jen Kwok's Former Supporters of Hillary Clinton for McCain Palin - better known as Voting for Vaginas, and the Ukulady's American Dream. Via ukehunt.

Pay no attention to the man with the bellows

I just don't understand how, as the leader of anything, you can stand by for days and watch your lieutenants pour forth invective and partisanship, and then stand up at the same podium and say, Hey, I'm here to set aside the rancor that has kept us apart. Why would anyone believe that, or why would anyone believe that you can control your party after what they'd been watching?

Anyway, I found a new CD of images I hope to get some mileage out of. Stickers, anyone?

Hey - the real two headed turtle deal

Turns out it's not a hoax - the City Room blog at the NY Times has the scoop and a good photo.

Rye Playland photo archive

Times article, Available Soon Online: Fun from Depression-Era Playland. Mmmmm, one more fine source of images for labels and stickers!

My own best memories of Rye Playland come from the late 70's, sneaking onto the grounds in the middle of the night. Spooky prowly scary. And, Howard G, if you're out there - "Hey, Quacky, where's Bill?!"

ohhhhhh babbeeee....

doubleneck and resonator guitars...

(on EP, LP & CD covers)

courtesy gmtPlus9 (-15)

Crain's poll re Astroland

Crains is asking: How do you feel about Astroland's imminent demise?  I can tell you we're pretty busted up in Stumpyland.

Thank you, Jon Stewart

"Jon Stewart Annihilates Media Surrogates"

Lipstick on a bulldog, and America's mayor

And, of course, if you didn't actually live here at the time, you might not recall that Rudy was the mayor of NY for something like only 80 days post 9/11, and in fact not the man who raised Gotham from the ashes. That would be Mike Bloomburg, if it was a mayor at all. And the saying "this is Giuliani time" wasn't what fell from the lips of thankful supplicant voters, but what fell from the lips of rogue cops who sodomized a prisoner with a toilet plunger.

Woof woof, Rudy & Sarah - America's mayors.

yea, verily...

and has been true for some while now.
Smart vs Dumb.
Will We Choose Wisely?

me am grateful to P.B over at the clusterflockers hangout for providing that chunk o' linky goodness

Dante here, retracting that Bristol Palin Poll

I want to apologize to Bristol Palin. Her pregnancy is not a joke and I never thought it reflected negatively on her mother, the demon mayor of Wasilla who baked her former police chief and librarian into pies. The poll was an impulsive way to point out that the first significant choice the grand old nominee of the grand old party was being made with a lack of forethought and a generous sprinkling of spite. Dude!

Bristol, sorry.

As an aside, I'd like to point out that at the time I pulled the plug on the survey, I personally had less than 10% of the vote - I think that's because people know that I'm a fictional character who has never been to Alaska and who thinks it's wrong to sleep with teen age girls.

The grand old nominee of the grand old party also had less than 10% of the vote - I don't know why that is. I don't know if people don't think he can get it up or if people think he is too honorable or people know he's never met or known Bristol Palin. I don't know what bearing the grand old nominee's calling his wife a c*nt in public during the campaign this last season has on the question. Probably none at all. Right? I'm pretty sure the demon mayor would pistol whip her new boss if he called her a c*nt, and maybe bake him into pie. Let's see him try it.

And at the time I pulled the plug on the poll, beautiful Gurgles from treesquid.blogspot.com had more than 80% of the vote. Oh, I know the people at treesquid are worried about Gurgles, who's been missing since last week and rumored to be in Minneaplois and off his meds, but I wonder if they realize how forcefully Gurgles' powerful sensuous appeal lifts him into a nearly mythic place for most people who meet him. Or her. Actually, I'm not sure if Gurgles is a boy or a girl.

some good stuff to share

stalwart old-school weblogger Kevin Murphy has been covering the DNC and (currently) RNC over at his Ghost in the Machine. We salute thee, K.M., and have long appreciated the good stuff you share with us there at GITM. Muchas Gracias and keep up the great stuff...

NYC Century bike tour

United for Peace & Justice says the police are being abusive outside the RNC

Flashback. Flashforward. Email this morning from UFP&J saying:

We are sending you this message because the situation in St. Paul is very grave and we're concerned that the real story is not being told by the mainstream media.

Over the past few days, the heavily armed and extremely large police presence in St. Paul has intimidated, harrassed and provoked people; and, in a number of instances, the police have escalated situations when they used excessive force...

We are very concerned about what this all means about the right to protest, the right to assemble, and the right to have one's dissenting voice heard. We are worried about what it means about the growing militarization of our nation and the ongoing assault on the Constitution...

We urge you to call the Mayor of St. Paul right now...

Mayor Chris Coleman: 651-266-8510

And call your local media outlets to demand that they tell the real story of what's happening in St. Paul this week.

There's more. I didn't see it on their site, but it's likely there.

Four years ago we marched here in river city against the RNC. We were with the Ukes group. The main march was pretty mellow until it started approaching the Garden. The closer it got, the more tense and intense, and there was a palpable sense of violence in the air and on the ground, on both sides of the barricades. I remember wanting to get away from there as quickly as we could.

Barack Lincoln

S & I were happy to see cousin Kevin in one piece after his recent travels through S.E. Asia, filming with Henry Rollins and being airlifted into Myanmar. (Not sure if traveling with Henry was any easier than Kev's other Burmese trip filming in opium territory under armed guard.) Since back, he's directed this Obama music video, for a song written by crazy talented Ron English and friends. (Take a look at Ron's Songs in English site)

Bam Bam on Working Families Party line

Hey, kids, Mr. B. H. Obama, the next president of these united states, will be running on the Working Families Party ballot line - "Row E" - as well as the Democratic line here in Nueva York. Don't you just love the WFP? I do! And to celebrate Bam Bam's presence on row E they're running a Working Families For Obama Poster Contest and awarding a thousand bucks to the winner. Start cookin'!

Gilbert & George in BKLYN

Mail this week from the Brooklyn Museum - the Gilbert & George retrospective is coming to our berg as its last stop. Looking forward to it. Collaborate, people. The Tate Modern site has good video of the boys explaining their thing.

(by the bye: you know, we've built up a lot of tags. I was tempting to use both whitefish and skateboarding is not a crime.)

Rash of animal thefts in my hood is freaking me out

The folks behind Gurgles are treesquid. The missing two-headed turtle, on the other hand, seems to be, uh, real. (Mel, close your eyes.)

Sarah Palin turned down as chair of Brooklyn West Indian Day parade - not enough experience

NY Daily News and NY1 are both reporting the expected crowds this afternoon at the West Indian Day parade to be about 3 million people. In her petition to WIADCA Governor Palin (R-AK) claimed her experience governing 0.67 million people for the last two years made her the best qualified person in America to chair this parade. And she's a girl.

(Hi. We're back from the great northwest. See you soon.)