randomWalks

Today’s edition of Broadcasting & Cable Magazine says it all: It profiles the top 25 media conglomerates in the United States. Not one is headed by a woman. Not one.

Of course, Broadcasting & Cable Magazine says it all by saying nothing about the absence of women in that cover story.

Why are so few women at the top --- and more importantly, what can each of us do to change that?

Posted by Mike at 4:32 PM | Permalink

Heather is trying to the improve the quality of our work environment.

Posted by David Jacobs at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Convenience stores have always been susceptible [to violence] because they run 24-7. They're located in all sorts of environments including areas in cities with higher crime rates so you can see how there's extra stress there.But people don't talk about 'going retail.'

Anything that makes me feel safer is a good thing.

Posted by David Jacobs at 1:48 PM | Permalink

I sure am glad I'm not an oil field roustabout.

Posted by David Jacobs at 1:44 PM | Permalink

''Along with television, entire areas of the reality we inhabit disappeared,'' wrote Avtandil Tsuladze, a newspaper columnist. ''There are no more politicians with their loud promises, no streams of compromising materials, no analytical programs, even the president himself has disappeared.''

''The first day was hard, but then I realized, this will undoubtedly raise the birth rate,'' said Vadim Byrkin, who works in Moscow. ''Someone should do a study in nine months, to see how many children were conceived in this week. My own activity has increased drastically.''

Posted by Adam at 11:40 AM | Permalink

Coming soon to a computer interface near you: gesture recognition -- "from simple pointing and grasping to the complex motions used to conduct an orchestra."

Posted by Adam at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Become a Certified Original Human -- copyright your DNA.

Posted by Adam at 10:20 AM | Permalink

The latest Broadcasting & Cable has a rundown of the top 25 highest-grosssing media companies in the world. Unlike the online version, the print edition has handy mug shots of the chairmen/CEOs/presidents of each company, making it much easier to determine in a matter of seconds that the line-up includes not one woman and only two non-white men (Nobuyuki Idei, chairman of Sony, and Odie Donald, DirecTV president, in case you were wondering). What's wrong with this picture (or newspaper, or radio broadcast)? Is this who should be dictating the media diet for the entire world?

Posted by Mike at 9:27 AM | Permalink

One, two, three, four... I declare Thumb Wars? via footprints, which along with the parody site below is an organique production.

Posted by Adam at 5:44 PM | Permalink

I just love ad parodies... can't get enough. Found this link on the Adbusters Buy Nothing Day pages. I think this year I'll have to find a way to engage some unsuspecting would-be consumers in the November 24 celebration.

Posted by Adam at 5:32 PM | Permalink

The Japanese island of Miyakejima is being evacuated today after a series of volcanic eruptions sent steam, ash, and small rocks several miles into the air.

Posted by Adam at 2:28 PM | Permalink

My friend Paul lives at Dharma Farm.

Posted by Go Vegan at 1:15 PM | Permalink

I'm not going back to Portland anytime soon, but maybe you want to.

Posted by David Jacobs at 11:21 AM | Permalink

And on the sage one, we went through racking our brains trying to find a song that mentioned sage. And all we could come up with was Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkle, which cost about as much as putting somebody on the moon to license it. Then we heard the Frank Sinatra version of "It's Not Easy Being Green." But somebody mentioned the Kermit version, and we were able to get the rights for that. Isn't it wonderful?

Posted by Adam at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In today's Post: a story about the student initiative to bring an Asian American studies program to the University of Maryland.

Posted by Adam at 10:15 AM | Permalink

You've got to be kidding me.

originally posted by zagg

Posted by Adam at 9:55 AM | Permalink

I don't like to repost things that were posted on slashdot. But this is a link where you can write any 6000 word message to be put in a space capsule that will remain in orbit for 50,000 years. I can't imagine it lasting that long. Say we last another 10,000 years. That means 2 or 3 of us would come and go before that capsule would return to Earth. If we found one of those guys up there, we would definitely shoot it down, or take it, you know? I think it would be better to shoot it into an orbit that would return in 50,000 years. Is that possible?

Posted by David Jacobs at 8:38 PM | Permalink

Where it touches your flesh, the skin dies and eventually becomes black and shrunken, a process called "coagulation necrosis." If it splashes down your throat, you might literally vomit your guts out.
That's not the kind of image most people get when they think about the high-tech industry.

Josh Davis told me about this article, for those of you looking forward to a paperless environmental utopia.

Posted by David Jacobs at 12:37 PM | Permalink

This was my first look at Photoshop 6.

Posted by Adam at 12:12 PM | Permalink

How did Kenny Baker fit in that little r2d2 costume? I always wanted to know. Now it's moot. Update:Turns out Baker will appear in Episode II after all -- "Performer Kenny Baker was shoehorned into the little barrel of R2-D2 beginning back in 1976" and "will join Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) as the only actors to appear in the entire original trilogy and both prequel films when he catches up with the Episode II production team in a few weeks."

Posted by David Jacobs at 11:36 AM | Permalink

If you don't want to register with NYTimes.com try editing the URL to read "channel.nytimes.com/..." which should work for a while. Alternately, you can login with the username/password combo 'cypherpunk/cypherpunk'. Update: try 'cipherpunk/cipherpunk'.

Posted by Adam at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Hey, this is great news. Cities, states, businesses and charities are cutting off support for the Boy Scouts after the Supreme Court decision upholding the Scouts' anti-gay policies. Uh, this is a NYT article, so I guess you need some kind of password or something, don't you?

Posted by Mike at 9:38 AM | Permalink

One of the most fucked up things in the history of the Internet?

What are the most fucked up things you've ever seen on the Internet?

Posted by David Jacobs at 2:40 PM | Permalink

wait a few days... i can't!!!

Posted by David Jacobs at 10:54 PM | Permalink

oh gosh!

oh gosh!

from ars.

Posted by David Jacobs at 10:39 PM | Permalink

Highlights of recent All Things Considered and Morning Edition shows:

• Hungarian WWII prisoner released from russian psychiatric hospital -- hospital workers mistook his hungarian for gibberish for 53 yrs?!


• work song for technology temps -- "got to do some consulting/way down in Palo Alto"


• couple's plan to set up beach decoys backfires


• psychiatric patients' Bible study group offers interesting insights -- "heaven is an amusement park with bumper cars; you don't need a license to drive"


• Walpole, NH is engaged in a project to record a year in the life of the town -- would be nice to see similar undertakings focus on ethnically, economically and geographically diverse subjects.


• inventor of the lava lamp was a nudist


• the Siberian mining city of Norilsk was built on the bones of the dead


• NPR 100: Carole King's Tapestry


• interview with the co-authors of the self-published Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing, a book about the Washington DC punk rock group house scene in the early 90s -- NPR's inane questions about the protests get a great answer "they don't lack anything. they have many messages, and that's a very complicated thing to understand... and if people paid attention i think there are a lot of articulate people who are there."


• writer Desiree Cooper wonders if 1700s classified ads about runaway slaves tell the story of her ancestors

Posted by Adam at 4:05 PM | Permalink

I've been to a place where Flash is a beautiful thing.

Posted by Adam at 3:56 AM | Permalink

Harrison, 58 - who worked as a carpenter before finding fame - rushed back into the Los Angeles bank and grabbed the broom.

Posted by Adam at 3:47 AM | Permalink

It's a word, it's a plan, it's ... Letterman!

Posted by Adam at 12:46 AM | Permalink

The amount of time depicted is so great that the record at [the La Brea tar pits] began one-hundredth of an inch from the end of the ribbon.

Posted by Adam at 12:10 AM | Permalink

Got ripped?

Posted by David Jacobs at 4:01 PM | Permalink

An odd fact that just came to my attention: due to a clerical error, Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (one of my all-time favorite movies) is in the public domain.

Posted by Mike at 3:35 PM | Permalink

God Bless America, land of the $0.99 Whopper.

originally posted by zagg

Posted by Adam at 2:42 PM | Permalink

You could have filmed ''Survivor'' for 400 years if it had been African-Americans, from slave ships to plantations to lynchings to shootings in housing projects to police brutality. Forget about promoting products. How about exclusive CBS footage of black folks being shafted for promotions?

Latinos must be scratching their heads, too. How come the cameras at the border were not from CBS but from the INS? Haitians did not get a million dollars trying to flee to Florida from a military coup. They got the baking heat of asphalt at Guantanamo Bay. And do not forget the Golden Venture, the decrepit ship that in 1993 spit 286 emaciated Chinese immigrants out into rough waters off Queens after 100 squalid days at sea. Ten immigrants died trying to swim to shore. The United States detained many of them for more than three years and sent 170 of them back to China. None of them ''Got Milk.''

Posted by Adam at 1:49 PM | Permalink

The [music] industry will take whatever steps it needs to protect itself and protect its revenue streams. It will not lose that revenue stream, no matter what. Sony is going to take aggressive steps to stop this. We will develop technology that transcends the individual user. We will firewall Napster at source -- we will block it at your cable company, we will block it at your phone company, we will block it at your [Internet-service provider]. We will firewall it at your PC.

Posted by Adam at 12:52 PM | Permalink

A full-scale reproduction of a slave ship docked at the adjacent Washington Channel will have a walkway at its cross-section to give visitors a vivid sense of the captivity and journey of African slaves during the "Middle Passage." Lifelike figures will occupy the hull of the ship to illustrate the horrid and cramped quarters of the vessel.

Posted by Adam at 12:40 PM | Permalink

A great Eddie Breen piece on eBay: In aqua-hell, Flame Bass is eaten over and over.

Posted by Adam at 10:30 AM | Permalink

All right, my three time-machine books:

• Moby Dick, by Herman Melville -- I've only read it once so far, but I could read it again and again, and it offers an encyclopedic view of humanity;
  
• Underworld, by Don DeLillo -- because I love Don DeLillo, and of all the books of his I've read, I liked this one a lot but didn't understand it all that well, so it deserves a second visit;
  
• and The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Both books of Poems for the Millenium are great, and certainly more comprehensive, but they don't include enough of any one poet to be all that sustaining in a hostile environment.
  

• Alice Munro's Collected Stories;
  
• Where I'm Calling From, by Raymond Carver;
  
• and David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens.
  

Posted by Mike at 10:25 AM | Permalink

Two interesting bits of science news: there may be a salty, life-sustaining sea sealed under the ice of Europa, a moon of Jupiter; and dolphins might use auditory "signatures."

Posted by Mike at 9:55 AM | Permalink

Can someone explain this hilarious mistake? Thanks to MediaNews.

Posted by Mike at 9:50 AM | Permalink

"Sure, the Variety Pack concept seems great at the beginning, while you’re chowing down on Cocoa Krispies and Frosted Flakes, but when it’s the end of the week, and you have that small box of Product 19 staring down at you from the top of your refrigerator, you’re in hurt mode, dude."



The emptybowl on the agony of variety packs.

originally posted by tragicM

Posted by Adam at 8:48 AM | Permalink

I look for wires when I'm talkin to you.

Posted by David Jacobs at 3:13 AM | Permalink

This utterly boring NPR story about the state of California's lawsuit against Publishers Clearing House has one redeeming feature: the gentleman being interviewed sounds a whole lot like he could do the voice for Sesame Street's Snuffleupagus.

Posted by Adam at 1:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Let's be clear about this..

Legal: http://24.15.107.67/DeCSS/DeCSS/

Illegal: http://24.15.107.67/DeCSS/DeCSS/

Everybody see the difference? Good. I'm not sure about the following links; best to assume they're illegal too. Kids, don't click this at home:

search for DeCSS at Disney's search engine

DeCSS (descramble) -- mp3 of the code put to music [must listen]


If you don't know what I'm talking about, listen to 2600's Emmanuel Goldstein discuss the recent ruling in the MPAA's lawsuit against his site on yesterday's Democracy NOW!

Posted by Adam at 1:11 AM | Permalink

I'm going to repost this page, because ever time I look at it I can't stop laughing. I mean rolling on the floor laughing. Giggling uncontrollably at work. I can't stop. Please, look at this if you haven't already. If you don't think it's funny, continually reread it until you do. Thanks.

Posted by David Jacobs at 6:52 PM | Permalink

Hmmm. I don't necessarily like the way the question is worded (I'm picky about silly things), but if I had to pick three books to make my way through that environment, I'd take an Irving book, probably this one. (I'm not so sure about that site though).

Also Grass is always greener, especially the one about a little drummer boy. (Its companion movie isn't too bad either.)

I also like Exley's A Fan's Notes.

Rebbecca Ray's Pure is interesting read too.

originally posted by zagg

Posted by Adam at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've never been that impressed with super glue, but I'm gonna have to try this trick to keep my Palm stylus from slipping out all the time.

Posted by Adam at 2:43 PM | Permalink

What a great day it has been for randomwalks.

let's keep this around for posterity. Don't bubble it, though!

Why don't people ever post to the No More Prisons discussion board? I get plenty of email so people certainly have things to say...

• Next Year's Baseball Abstract by Bill James
• Underworld by Don DeLillo
• Some collection of literature, maybe a Norton's.

Posted by David Jacobs at 2:42 PM | Permalink

Pop vs. Soda in the middle-west?

Posted by Adam at 1:51 PM | Permalink

In case you haven't done this, please register to vote here. (Apologies to residents of New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Wyoming.)

originally posted by zagg

Posted by Adam at 1:21 PM | Permalink

Well, I didn't make the best of the Monkeyfist Daily Churn, but I wasn't really trying.

Posted by Adam at 1:17 PM | Permalink

You are about to be put into a time machine and sent back 1,100 years, never to return. You must make your way in a hostile, alien environment, armed only with your wits and three books. You can choose any books you like -- as long as you've actually read them sometime in the last five years. What three books do you take?

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  On OHYoS: What qualities of life does this novel celebrate?
• Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
  Jack's encounter with madness at Big Sur
• Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
  the annotated Watchmen

Posted by Adam at 12:48 PM | Permalink

The clouds are alive.

Posted by Adam at 11:46 AM | Permalink

I'm looking for some HTML and CSS references to keep handy on my Palm.

memoware CSS search

CSS doc reference file from memoware

memoware HTML search

Posted by Adam at 11:19 AM | Permalink

Nintendo unveiled their next gaming console today -- GameCube. "The company also showed several game demos for the system including Pokemon, Wave Race, Metroid, Zelda and Star Wars"!

Posted by Adam at 11:15 AM | Permalink

Meet the BattleBots

originally posted by tragicM

Posted by Adam at 9:06 AM | Permalink

Read an interview with Scott McCloud at Feed. thanks, girlhacker.

Posted by Adam at 3:38 PM | Permalink

I hate athlete scabs!

Posted by David Jacobs at 12:52 PM | Permalink

At the top of my wishlist: TV SETS: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes by Mark Bennett.

Posted by Adam at 11:56 AM | Permalink

Ralph Nader and Dr. Drew were on Politically Incorrect Monday night. You can read the transcript here today. In a few days, it should be available at http://abc.go.com/pi/transcripts/transcript_20000821.html.

Posted by Adam at 11:38 AM | Permalink

Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance.

Posted by Adam at 11:06 AM | Permalink

Have you geeks seen surfraw yet? Definitely a fun toy.

Posted by Adam at 12:37 AM | Permalink

You should follow that 'stop bubbling' link, by the way. Our friend dj didn't do it justice with his lack of introduction... it's possibly even cooler than the wooden mirror I linked a while back.

Posted by Adam at 7:24 PM | Permalink

It's been a long time / I shouldn't have left you...

Posted by David Jacobs at 6:23 PM | Permalink

stop bubbling

Posted by David Jacobs at 6:16 PM | Permalink

That perv!

originally posted by dm8k

Posted by Adam at 5:55 PM | Permalink

Naked women are a very much liked and classic sujet in many ad-campaigns. Using the same simple means we are trying for general irritation. These women though are doing it free will, for no money at all, using here feminine self confidence. So it could not fall into any sexist, mysoginist field. Nakedness could be seen as very old revolutionary tradition (Delacroix's "freedom" leads the people up to the Hippierevolution of 68), it's an elementary form of protest. Our work had to happen very spontaneously and quickly. It's aim was to point at the once more crucial state of Austria's politics. We want to let everyone know with our breasts and faces, that discrimination of any kind is very much part of Austria's everday life. We wanted to show our faces, we didn't want it to be an anonymous action. We don't need to hide,we are saying no to the momentary situation with all the confidence there is.

Posted by Adam at 5:26 PM | Permalink

Bubbling this link to the top: Retrogression Magazine: A journal of music and revolution because the site is active again after a couple months of dormancy.

Posted by Adam at 5:16 PM | Permalink

Can I get one of these for myself?

originally posted by dm8k

Posted by Adam at 4:36 PM | Permalink

I picked up a Fantastic Four the other day and was shocked! Either Sue is still breast feeding Franklin or Reed has found some interesting new uses for unstable molecules. Either way, it's not the role model I want for my little girl.

Posted by Adam at 4:33 PM | Permalink

In Florida, NPR profiles the first retirement community for openly gay and lesbian senior citizens.

Posted by Adam at 3:22 PM | Permalink

I've been playing with these pictures of Don pointing at himself and yawning for about 30 minutes.

Posted by Adam at 3:20 PM | Permalink

We are tired of seeing blonde blue-eyed women used to sell make-up to black women, of a 14-year-old girl selling anti-aging cream that a 60-year-old woman will buy.

Posted by Adam at 1:28 PM | Permalink

The Bodamizer found another debate petition we need to sign. This one emails the decision-makers directly.

Posted by Go Vegan at 12:38 PM | Permalink

Friday's Democracy NOW! featured a town-hall-type discussion titled The Resistance: Where Do We Go From Here? Guests included Michael Franti, Medea Benjamin, John Sellers and Jello Biafra.

Posted by Adam at 11:42 AM | Permalink

I don't want to be part of a show that calls women "bitches" and makes fun of Cassandra not having sex in a year.

Posted by Adam at 11:16 AM | Permalink

There's some great stuff going on at fury.com -- AOLiza interfaces the classic Eliza AI-ish psychotherapist program with unsuspecting AIMers; Project Cameo is a great meme that's begun to spread, though I can't find any content yet.

Posted by Adam at 4:55 PM | Permalink

Gotta love the design of this interview ... I only wish the 'd' key worked.

Posted by Adam at 4:27 PM | Permalink

My original broke, so I could use a replacement.

Posted by Go Vegan at 2:33 PM | Permalink

So, all you Vader-Haters out there... we'll blow your planet up.

Posted by Go Vegan at 2:26 PM | Permalink

New at TCBY: Kool-Aid ice cream!

Posted by Adam at 1:27 PM | Permalink

Cause I ride my slant-eyed slope like a brand new Kawasaki Oh me chinky she`s so kinky got me hot like Nagasaki I think I got that jungle fever but I caught it in `Nam She's like an oriental rug cause I lay her where I please Then I blindfold her with dental floss and get down on her knees

Speaking of the Bloodhound Gang from 3-2-1 Contact, this Bloodhound Gang's racist, sexist and homophobic lyrics have spawned various protests and creative rebuttals, like this one sponsored by the spoken word troupe I was Born with 2 Tongues.
(posted for bexn)

Posted by Adam at 1:17 PM | Permalink

Screenshots is a unique and fascinating project -- "a series of drawings from an isometric perspective, in the style of a computer game". Other projects by the creator of Screenshots include historical and pornographic images digitally edited to remove the figures. Saturday's Lake Effect provides some commentary and context for this challenging work.

Posted by Adam at 12:01 PM | Permalink

It's often said there is an intergenerational responsibility for slavery, for brutality, and people in this generation say, Well, I didn't have anything to do with that. And what's that got to do with me? Well, you know what? Corporations have been around for a long time. They've got perpetual life. And they operated and benefited from the repression of innocent people in this country, and they should be required to pay.

Posted by Adam at 11:33 AM | Permalink

I was a Cub Scout for three years and saved my uniform, my pinewood derby car, and all the other stuff. Today I sent it all back.

Posted by Go Vegan at 10:27 AM | Permalink

You might remember "The Bloodhound Gang," the detective stories serialized on the show 3-2-1 Contact way back when. Well, I was doing some digging about the fates of the show's child actors when I came across this story about the guy who played Ricardo. Something about this seems too much like an urban legend, right? Too much like a Might-like Adam Rich-style hoax, right? Well, I called Sesame Workshop, 3-2-1 Contact's creators--and their royalty check records say "deceased." Whoa!

Posted by Mike at 12:07 AM | Permalink

Check out the best analysis of the Democrats and of the left I've read this political season.

Posted by Adam at 11:45 PM | Permalink

My cousin Alex has some insightful thoughts on the future of technology and the overall effects of the Internet on one's life.

Posted by David Jacobs at 11:44 PM | Permalink

This is just incredible. I had no idea this stuff existed. You know, if you asked me: "At any point in your life, which game show were you most excited about?" I would answer "Press Your Luck, 4th grade, over Iron Chef, last year." Just by a hair.

Posted by David Jacobs at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bubbling this link to the top: a r b l o g - p o l y m a t h - g r e e n - s m o k e - t e c h n o l o g y because I want to keep an eye on it.

Posted by Adam at 1:48 AM | Permalink

My gift to you!.


An incredible actor, making a (sure to be) incredible movie, about an incredible game show. An all around incredible story.

Posted by David Jacobs at 12:32 AM | Permalink

la.indymedia highlights:

realaudio of hip hop panel at shadow convention

when animals attack: unprovoked police charge civilians in a subway station

more protests at the Boston presidential debate Oct 3?

Why? - IMC's Protest E-zine

Posted by Adam at 11:01 AM | Permalink

a critique of Nader on (or not on) race in Colorlines mag: Ralph Nader's Racial Blindspot

originally posted by hcog

Posted by Adam at 9:30 AM | Permalink

Ralph Nader recommends you read this and then sign the petition to let him debate with those other guys.

Posted by Go Vegan at 5:47 PM | Permalink

If you've let yourself be disinformed about the d2kla protests by the corporate media, then it's your responsibility to educate yourself about the issues raised by the protestors and to keep up on the news as reported by independent journalists as well. A good start would be to find out exactly what a black bloc really is.

Posted by Adam at 2:45 PM | Permalink

oh!


wow!

Posted by David Jacobs at 1:14 PM | Permalink

A mad depressing metafilter thread on the Kursk accident discusses the sinking of the USS Arizona (pictured) at Pearl Harbor.

Posted by Adam at 2:20 AM | Permalink

After I irresponsibly set it off at MetaFilter, johnb of The Green Boffin stepped in to drop some knowledge -- don't miss the analysis and insight in his posts.

Posted by Adam at 2:18 AM | Permalink

In the future, displays will be wadded up and thrown away. thanks, dad.

Posted by Adam at 12:18 AM | Permalink

Is this what democracy looks like?

Posted by Adam at 4:28 PM | Permalink

"The Robyn Van En Center offers assistance to the enlarging community supported agriculture movement." Find and join a local CSA project for fresh farm produce, yum!

Posted by Adam at 1:29 PM | Permalink

The official police explanation for shutting down the concert is that the crowd had become unruly, with youths throwing rocks over the fence at the police and starting fires. In truth, the police were looking for a pretext -- any pretext — to shut down the gathering, fire some ammo, and clear a path for departing Democratic delegates. At 9th and Figueroa my group decides to take advantage of this opportunity to ‘dialogue’ (Democrats like that word) with the delegates as they make their way away. I wish one cluster an expiditious journey back to Beverly Hills and I get a look that says, How did you know where we’re going? My friend Sara asks them how they feel about living in a democratic police state. Calling them corporate liberals — and ineffectual to boot — is also surprisingly satisfying. Since Democrats fashion themselves to the left of something, they are disarmed by such taunts.

Meanwhile my friend Dean and I formulate a theory that Richard Nixon — the bane of all middle-aged Democrats — was, on many important issues, to the left of Clinton and Gore. That’ll get their hackles up, we think. We try our new pet theory out on the delegates, but none launches into a defense of their men. All we get is nervous laughter. Finally we get a response from a 50ish looking man wearing a Gore button who ponders the question and responds, ‘You’re probably correct,’ and moves on up the street. We do have one lengthy, honest-to-God conversation with a woman delegate, and a crowd forms to listen to the debate.

Finally, though, we tire of dialoguing and start heading away. As we walk along Figueroa the sounds of sirens and cop helicopters are a constant. We stop at 7th to rest and discuss the evening’s events, only to have three police immediately tell us to move along. We comply and walk to 5th where it seems safe to relax. We lament our sore bodies and decide a bit of yoga is in order and convene a small circle and commence our exercise. What could be more benign? But no! Within minutes four cop cars speed up, lights ablaze, and eight police demand that we desist from our criminal enterprise. Just another case of yoga interuptus on the streets of L.A. Time to call it a night.

Posted by Adam at 12:16 PM | Permalink

la.indymedia.org is working now; sacco.indymedia.org appears to be a mirror but I suggest you use the la. address again.

Posted by Adam at 10:39 AM | Permalink

The man closest to the watertight door closes it, to isolate you from the flooding. . . . After that, you just lie quietly. No unnecessary conversation or movement

Posted by Adam at 10:34 AM | Permalink

It's a banner year for mycology. Read about the joy of shrooming in the Washington Post and hear about it on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

Posted by Adam at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Approximately 60 people were arrested for riding bikes in LA yesterday. Bail for the arrestees has been set at $20,000. Update: From the IMC breaking news page: "9:49pm PST - Police will start releasing the jailed Critical Mass bicyclists at midnight if they post bail of $2500. Citizens may be released without posting bail if they sign a legal form saying that they 'will not bicycle again' in Los Angeles!!!"

Posted by Adam at 10:33 AM | Permalink

A Village Voice report on the IMC bomb scare offers details that suggest the timing of the police action was intended to prevent the IMC from conducting a scheduled broadcast during Clinton's address last night.



The IMC has a write-up of a protest solidarity rally in Asheville, NC (one of the most beautiful towns in the country). The article also hints at demonstrations during the October Presidential Debates in nearby Winston-Salem. I'll have to look into that.

Posted by Adam at 7:42 PM | Permalink

An IMC reporter has posted an update on the IMC bomb scare.

Posted by Adam at 6:03 PM | Permalink

Fucked Company is fucking funny, as long as it's not about you.

Posted by David Jacobs at 5:54 PM | Permalink

I'll read Kendall Clark on the criminalization of dissent this evening when I have some time.

Posted by Adam at 3:06 PM | Permalink

After being threatened by police under pretense of a bomb scare, the LA indymedia center is back in action. The Web site (formerly la.indymedia.org) can now be accessed at sacco.indymedia.org -- not sure if this is related to the attempted raid last night.

shot in the face by rubber bullet

LA Times article on last night's police violence

la imc breaking news

begging for mercy from riot gear cops

raising hell at the DNC -- alternet.org full coverage

Posted by Adam at 12:21 PM | Permalink

This video of a plane getting struck by lightning is cool.

Posted by Adam at 9:12 PM | Permalink

Today's indymedia LA highlights: five-minute roundup of the day's news (mp3), report from hotel workers' rally in Santa Monica, students at Mumia rally are symbolically silenced.

Posted by Adam at 8:53 PM | Permalink

Washington Post Style Invitational readers update Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" for the 90s (current contest is at top; scroll down a bit).

Posted by Adam at 12:03 PM | Permalink

You know those 17,000 year old cave paintings in France that have spawned all kinds of speculation about the culture of the artists? A German researcher has found patterns in the paintings that suggest it's a map of the sky. Perhaps it's astronomy that's the worlds oldest profession. While you're pondering the past, consider this prehistoric map of the moon carved into a tomb wall 5,000 years ago.

Posted by Adam at 11:40 AM | Permalink

Corporate Crackdown is Adbusters' cover article this month. The story exposes the development of these legal fictions that are becoming more powerful than nations and suggests ways to bring them back under civil control.

Posted by Adam at 11:05 AM | Permalink

Independent coverage of the Democratic Convention protests will be provided by the Los Angeles Independent Media Center.

Posted by Adam at 7:46 AM | Permalink

This makes me quite sad, and I have to admit it's brilliant.

Posted by Adam at 12:34 AM | Permalink

This link: (Bonobo Sex and Society) is for a friend of mine who has probably never read randomWalks. I found it at an interesting Metafilter thread on the upcoming Planet of the Apes movie.

Posted by Adam at 11:54 PM | Permalink

Poignant new One Hundred Demons cartoon by Lynda Barry at Salon.com.

Posted by Adam at 4:36 PM | Permalink

       _____
      / --- \
      ||. .||   GOOD THING I WAS WEARING MY HAIR!
       | o |   /
       | V |
        ---
        /|\ 
         |     ____     
        / \   |____|
__________________________________________________

Posted by Adam at 2:26 PM | Permalink

Cultural Prosthetics: brief essays on the loss and re-creation of culture. Good stuff. thanks, caught in between.

Posted by Adam at 11:11 AM | Permalink

K through 5th graders in LA are being taught to lock themselves inside their school in case the police start rioting next week like they did in Seattle.

Posted by Adam at 10:56 AM | Permalink

How to pirate music and video without a computer! Fascinating... has anyone tried this?

Posted by Adam at 10:12 AM | Permalink

The rotten truth is that, except in the elaborate fantasies of show biz, we are all lonely gropers, wretched novices, tyro emoters, and with nobody writing our lines, our dialogue is stupid, pointless and unfunny.

Posted by Adam at 9:08 AM | Permalink

The historical section at Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections is my new favorite toy. The electoral college is a sham!

Posted by Go Vegan at 2:47 PM | Permalink

Dungeons & Dragons is about to be updated with a new set of rules. Third Edition (3E) is already the source of much controversy, with fans either dreading or drooling over its release. One thing's for sure, the movie looks like it's going to kick ass.

free D&D fast play game

Ring of Thieves free solo adventure (not D&D)

Posted by Adam at 2:40 PM | Permalink

Word Perhect is wonderful Flash. Barneys New York is good Flash, but Word Perhect is wonderful. (get Flash)

Posted by Adam at 2:27 PM | Permalink

The full text of Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book is online. I had a copy, but it was stolen. Actually, I had stolen it myself from a friend's mom some years before. I found out who stole it from me and asked for it back, but...

Posted by Adam at 2:23 PM | Permalink

A recent Washington City Paper article (which is, unfortunately, not online) tipped me off to Radio Del Ray, a Web-only station that broadcasts from a former bank teller's booth in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, outside Washington, D.C. The station's operator, a DC-area broadcasting veteran, has applied for a 10-watt LPFM license, so hopefully RDR will take to the air soon. More community radio is always a good thing.

Posted by Mike at 2:17 PM | Permalink

Kendall of the monkeyfist collective examines his responsibility as a white man engaged in political action to attract negative attention away from women and people of color and to direct positive attention away from himself in this insightful commentary that I think he should submit to The New Abolitionist or expand for Race Traitor.

Posted by Adam at 12:27 PM | Permalink

Today's Morning Edition on NPR had a story about the Big Blowup of 1910, the only wildfire in living memory to compare to this year's conflagrations. The techniques and tools developed to fight that fire are widely used today. (requires realplayer)

Posted by Adam at 11:58 PM | Permalink

This Post article about Moby's sources for several key samples on his phenomenal album "Play" unfortunately makes a weak argument for an important case.

Posted by Adam at 11:23 PM | Permalink

Tips on using garlic from the Washington Post, including 5 recipes (2 vegetarian).

Posted by Adam at 11:01 PM | Permalink

Why do so many organic foods and cruelty-free products come from Petaluma, CA?

Posted by Adam at 1:55 PM | Permalink

I know I've seen this before, but I don't think it was here. Bad news, as usual.

Posted by Go Vegan at 10:21 AM | Permalink

A SETI scientist interviewed on All Things Considered expects to hear a signal within the next dozen years using a new array of backyard satellite dishes. (Get RealPlayer to hear the story.) If you're not already donating your spare processor cycles, why not join the SETI@home project?

Posted by Adam at 1:36 AM | Permalink

Suddenly, the cloth vs. disposable debate is relevant to my life. Who would have thunk?

Posted by Adam at 12:17 AM | Permalink

The Green Boffin is a political weblog and Web directory I like very much.

Posted by Adam at 11:45 PM | Permalink

'Yeah. Girls like to play with it. I like them to play with it.'

The third nipple more than the first two?

'Nah,' he says; less an answer than a refusal to answer.

He doesn't want to talk about this any more. He looks away. 'It was just something fucked up to say.'

Posted by Adam at 4:44 PM | Permalink

The boring truth is that we already have the tools to save many more than a million kids a year -- all without irrevocably changing the genetic makeup of food staples. What we lack is the political will to mobilize those resources. That was the clear message that emerged last month from the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa. One after another, the largest industrial nations shot down concrete proposals aimed at reducing poverty in the developing world.

Posted by Adam at 1:12 PM | Permalink

This morning two women scaled a hotel in downtown Los Angeles and unfurled the new United Corporations of America flag in anticipation of d2kla.

Posted by Adam at 10:01 AM | Permalink

NASA has produced some stunning images of urban growth and of the biosphere.

Posted by Adam at 1:16 AM | Permalink

The Village Voice is doing a great job covering the RNC protests (isn't it a little odd that these stories aren't all over the place?) and to top it off their new design features snazzy dHTML navigation.

Posted by Adam at 12:05 AM | Permalink

I'm fascinated by this mirror made of 830 little pieces of shiny wood, 830 servo motors, a camera, a few spotlights, and a Macintosh 8600 AV with ten serial ports.

Posted by Adam at 11:34 PM | Permalink

If you come across any stolen music while sojourning in cyberspace, be sure to give it back!

Posted by Adam at 11:14 PM | Permalink

Bratta.com is a great resource for dHTML beginners like me. The free scripts are bulletproof in NS 4 thru IE 5, and I'm learning a lot from this article on 5th generation browsers and the Document Object Model.

Posted by Adam at 10:41 PM | Permalink

If I had a cell phone that sent email, I'd try out the Robot Project.

Posted by Adam at 10:36 PM | Permalink

my hero



I liked that book too, mj. but i lost my copy before i could finish it. funny thing about that book, right when it came out my two favorite internet columnists, rob neyer from espn and billy wimsatt from no more prisons both wrote about it on the same day. what a coincidence!

Posted by David Jacobs at 6:12 PM | Permalink

I recently read by Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and really liked it. Turns out Gladwell has his own Web site, saving me the trouble of combing through back issues of The New Yorker to catch up on his articles.

Posted by Mike at 2:10 PM | Permalink

I drove to Montreal recently, which gave me a chance to listen to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio service for the first time. As I drove through town one morning, I caught a bit of striking radio. The host wrapped up an interview about ocean exploration and then played, without even announcing it, a three-minute or so crossover classical-tango piece. Then she played a song from the new Billy Bragg-Wilco Woody Guthrie album. Then she introduced a philosophical discussion on the nature of uncertainty in the 20th century. It was relaxed, high-minded, eclectic, and different from anything NPR does on weekdays.

I wonder if this supports the argument that American public broadcasting needs a large, secure source of federal funding, which is what some foreign networks have. Such a set-up supposedly lets broadcasters ignore commercial pressures and take more risks on-air. But I understand the CBC is having financial problems of its own these days. At least their Web site has lots of archived shows.

Posted by Mike at 2:05 PM | Permalink

He was seldom recognized in public.


In one of the stories he told about himself, Guinness checks his hat and coat
at a restaurant and asks for a claim ticket. ``It will not be necessary,'' the
attendant smiles.


Pleased at being recognized, Guinness later retrieves his garments, puts his
hand in the coat pocket and finds a slip of paper on which is written, ``Bald
with glasses.''

Strike me down, and I'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Posted by David Jacobs at 9:17 PM | Permalink

American Routes is a great weekly radio show focusing on "the important and soulful territory" of American music -- starting with jazz, blues, rock, and folk and expanding into klezmer, tejano, zydeco, swing and more. Plus, their Web site has neato pictures like the one above.

Posted by Adam at 4:07 PM | Permalink

It takes you to another time, and to a frightening, alien land, windswept and gray, dying in quiet obedience to insane decrees of insane leaders. Its authors took the time and space to tell their tale in its every moment, often devoting many pages to scenes that wouldn't last three panels in a monthly American superhero comic book. We come to know the players, large and small, as we meet them, as they reveal themselves to us. Koike and Kojima tell their story masterfully and artfully, portraying a man, a boy, and a country on their journey into Hell.

Posted by Adam at 10:41 PM | Permalink

The guy behind Gengoid.com has a good hip hop station at live365.com.

Posted by Adam at 1:50 PM | Permalink

Dru Jay of misnomer and the monkeyfist collective took some photos at the demonstrations in Philly last week.

Posted by Adam at 1:10 PM | Permalink

One day my house will be this cool. The Icepick house, however, is just scary. In the short term, this slashdot post sounds about right.

Posted by Adam at 3:45 PM | Permalink

From the I-want-to-believe department: natural vision improvement.

Posted by Adam at 12:28 AM | Permalink

The Evil Genius Hoaxes are lots of fun to contemplate.

Posted by Adam at 3:50 AM | Permalink

Will people in the future have souls? Or will our souls pass into the machines?

Posted by Adam at 3:23 AM | Permalink

It's easy to forget that the Web had that brief period where there were no commercial sites at all, and people did all kinds of strange and interesting and stupid stuff with that space for the hell of it out of weird obsessions or whatever. And they were, in a sense, necessary for laying the foundation for the commercial Web, because the Web wasn't some kind of unoccupied territory; it was fucking nonexistent until people evoked it into existence by creating what the business geeks call "content."

Posted by Adam at 2:20 AM | Permalink