ACLU Watch List Counter

The American Civil Liberties Union is keeping track of the climbing number of Americans on the government's terrorist watch list. And if I wasn't there already, blogging about it probably just put me on that list.



Yes, that number is accurate as of Friday afternoon. See the Counter.

FOX Attacks: Obama (Part II)

FOX Attack Obama? C'mon!

From Brave New Films.

Happy Pi Day!

Every year, there are a couple days that I can never seem to remember until someone reminds me of that day. Case in point: Pi Day!



Seven or eight years ago I took a slow afternoon at work and memorized that wonderful number - the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter - to the 50th decimal place. I've been on and off with remembering it to the 100th, but that 50th has always stuck with me. I know: I'm a math-tard.

So now that I remembered, Happy Pi Day!

Note: another example of usually-forgotten days is International Talk Like a Pirate Day - That's September 19th.

Io Musik: Sofa King Hott

It's not every day you get to see a friend succeed. Today be that day:

Wooster-based band Io will release their debut CD effort "Hidden
Traces" worldwide on March 18th, available via global download from
ITunes, eMusic.com, Napster.com, and Amazon.com.

Io is the solo-project of local musician/producer Paul Hugon. Paul
performed, engineered, mixed, and produced the entirety of "Hidden
Traces" over a two-year time frame. The album's indie-rock-meets-abstract-electronic nine songs transition seamlessly together throughout the 38 minute disc, taking the listener down a meandering path of musical exploration.

"The genesis of the project is loosely-based on an old mental hospital located in southern Ohio.", stated Hugon. "..some bizarre and strange happenings have been going on there since around 1874--it was always a place I found mysterious and intriguing. All the tracks on the disc have passages... [that are] in reference to The Ridges".

The Athens, Ohio-based mental hospital has been closed since 1993.
"Roughly the time I started recording in my first home studio..",
Hugon recalls.

Artwork is in harmony with Io's music--to the tune of packaging design by Jennifer Hayes Art (www.JenniferHayesArt.com). Ridges photos by Julie Mims and sleek design by Jennifer Hayes Art combine to creepily and effectively illustrate not only the former state mental hospital,but also the fresh and unique rhythms of Hugon's compositions.

Downloads will be available via the web sites listed above by April
18th, at the latest [links to follow]. To purchase a CD, send an email to iomusik@gmail.com-- or visit Io's myspace page at myspace.com/iomusik where you can also listen to tracks from the band.

Holy shitsmokes! Click and click away. And click. And enjoy.

Ricky Shambles Naked

No, I will not be running for president of the United States or anything else now or at any time in the future (sans, of course, President of the World, after the Apocalypse), and for that reason - I decided, in the shower yesterday, it would be a good idea - I'll be occasionally posting some personally embarrassing piece of my life that may or may not be completely humiliating or even interesting to my readers.

Raise Your What?



At about 10 or 11 years old, the word "steam" conjured up stolen images of HBO or videos at a friend's house: a couple heatedly making out, enough to cause the windows of a car to steam up. Why did I relate such words to meanings? I blame it on HBO and wavy Skinemax (yes, I snuck viewings of it wavy).

So when I was - at that age - one day helping my mother fold laundry and watching the afternoon news, I remember the TV anchor throw out the teaser before a commercial: "Learn to Raise Yourself a Steam."

"Holy crap!" I thought. "The news is going to teach me how to get it hot and heavy with the ladies!" (or whatever equally-lame way my brain processed the information). The proof came seconds later when Mom asked me to run downstairs to get something for her. "Of course - she doesn't want me to see the story," I thought, and ran like hell.

Of course, I got back upstairs in record time and when the news came back on, I learned once and forever that some people are just sad and need help raising their "self esteem" - that measure that they personally don't suck.

_____
So, dear readers, two questions:

Is the slice of truth, the ability to see Ricky laid out on the slab and the hammer coming down, worth the post?

Is "Ricky Shambles Naked" a nice title?

Feedback is always welcome.

Planet Unicorn

Planet Unicorn

William F. Buckley on the Mothafuckin Cheeba

William F. Buckley did much more than begin the modern conservative movement on the radios.

He smoked marijuana.

Buckley famously smoked marijuana — after sailing his boat outside the U.S. territorial limits, where it would no longer be illegal. Finally at the age of 78, Buckley wrote an editorial for the National Review decrying the war on pot.

"Legal practices should be informed by realities," Buckley argued, citing 700,000 pot arrests each year, 87% of which involved only possession of small amounts. "This exercise in scrupulosity costs us $10-15 billion per year in direct expenditures alone."

But would America ever rise up and demand a change in marijuana laws?

It is happening, but ever so gradually. Two of every five Americans, according to a 2003 Zogby poll cited by Dr. Nadelmann, believe "the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and make it illegal only for children". The Dutch do odd things, but here they teach us a lesson.

Buckley's position was unexpected, but it offered an honorable example of his real commitment to intellectualism. He began his essay by writing that "Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be. But intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great."

(via BoingBoing via 10 Zen Monkeys)