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June 29, 2007

Mp3s: Elvis live, 1974; Wyo. paper: Cheney's 'wrong turn'; Maggot cheese? Almost Napstered; Desire, inhaled

Elvis Presley, Desert Storm [Fort Baxter/2CD] at BigO:

The "desert" was the Las Vegas Hilton on the night of Sept 2, 1974. It was the close of his latest season in America's gambling capital. The "storm" referred to was an onstage outburst against press stories linking him to drugs (particularly heroin use) and a paternity suit lodged against him. Elvis was paranoid and made his troubles part of the show, using the stage to exonerate himself. This show is the stuff of legend. It was first mentioned in Roy Carr and Mick Farren's Elvis - The Complete Illustrated Record published in 1982. They quoted extensively from it...

...The recording quality of Desert Storm is first class and the sleeve boasts it was taken from the "master tapes."

AP
Vice President Dick Cheney leaves a Republican Senate luncheon on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Intervention? The Caspar (Wyo.) Star-Tribune editorial board: Wyoming's favorite son has taken a wrong turn:

...The old Dick Cheney didn't work exclusively behind the scenes. Republican fundraisers weren't the only events that drew him out in public. Before Cheney became the Bush administration's stealth warrior, most of us were proud that he grew up here and represented us. Even people who disagreed with his politics respected him.

There is still time for Cheney to mend his image before he leaves office in January 2009. But he needs to stop acting as though his decisions mustn't be questioned, and accept that he has made mistakes. No matter how many times Cheney insists Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, it won't change the fact that he wasn't. Too many people regret the Iraq war for anyone to buy Cheney's argument that opponents want to abet terrorism. That's offensive and insults Cheney's own intelligence.

Wyoming people are loyal to their own, but the vice president needs to give his neighbors a better reason to support him. He's running out of time.

It's alive! First artificial life 'within months' Telegraph UK.

And you thought hoped it was only sci-fi. This is just creepy.

Gross: Whats Cooking - 10 Weirdest Foods in the World at Escape Artist Travel Magazine.

Why is this only number 2?

2. Maggot Cheese in Sardinia
Sheer ick-factor must go to the Sardinese who, whilst inheriting the Italian love of cheese, have gone to stomach-turning extremes. One of Sardinia’s national delicacies is a rotten cheese (_casu marzu_) infested with maggots – the worms themselves become full of cheese fat and are considered quite sumptuous.

Autopsy? The Record Industry's Decline

In Rolling Stone:

It all could have been different: Seven years ago, the music industry's top executives gathered for secret talks with Napster CEO Hank Barry. At a July 15th, 2000, meeting, the execs -- including the CEO of Universal's parent company, Edgar Bronfman Jr.; Sony Corp. head Nobuyuki Idei; and Bertelsmann chief Thomas Middelhof -- sat in a hotel in Sun Valley, Idaho, with Barry and told him that they wanted to strike licensing deals with Napster. "Mr. Idei started the meeting," recalls Barry, now a director in the law firm Howard Rice. "He was talking about how Napster was something the customers wanted."

The idea was to let Napster's 38 million users keep downloading for a monthly subscription fee -- roughly $10 -- with revenues split between the service and the labels. But ultimately, despite a public offer of $1 billion from Napster, the companies never reached a settlement. "The record companies needed to jump off a cliff, and they couldn't bring themselves to jump," says Hilary Rosen, who was then CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America. "A lot of people say, 'The labels were dinosaurs and idiots, and what was the matter with them?' But they had retailers telling them, 'You better not sell anything online cheaper than in a store,' and they had artists saying, 'Don't screw up my Wal-Mart sales.' " Adds Jim Guerinot, who manages Nine Inch Nails and Gwen Stefani, "Innovation meant cannibalizing their core business."

Sidebar: The Fall of the Record Business: What Next?

Desire, inhaled: Is the World Ready for Libido in a Nasal Spray? In New York Magazine:

Horn of rhinoceros. Penis of tiger. Root of sea holly. Husk of the emerald-green blister beetle known as the Spanish fly. So colorful and exotic is the list of substances that have been claimed to heighten sexual appetite that it’s hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment on first beholding the latest entry—a small white plastic nasal inhaler containing an odorless, colorless synthetic chemical called PT-141. Plain as it is, however, there is one thing that distinguishes PT-141 from the 4,000 years’ worth of recorded medicinal aphrodisiacs that precede it: It actually works.

And it’s coming to a medicine cabinet near you. The drug will soon enter Phase 3 clinical trials, the final round of testing before it goes to the Food and Drug Administration for review, and with the FDA’s approval it could reach the market in as soon as three years. The full range of possible risks and side effects has yet to be determined, but already this much is known: Putting that inhaler up your nose and popping off a dose of PT-141 results, in most cases, in a stirring in the loins in as few as fifteen minutes. Women, according to one set of results, feel “genital warmth, tingling and throbbing,” not to mention “a strong desire to have sex.” Among men, who’ve been tested with the drug more extensively, the data set is, shall we say, richer:

San Francisco Chronical columnist Mark Morford has way too much adult fun with this one.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 3:13 AM | Permalink

June 28, 2007

'Wild Things' movie peek; Gore's a $100 millionaire; Jokes, puzzles and why north is up

MTV has a "first look" at the movie version of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are. Music video director Spike Jonze is making it, with a scheduled release date of Oct. 3 2008.

More at Cinema Blend...

Voices: Joe Bageant's Deer Hunting with Jesus blog is one of the more interesting antidotes to the daily drone -- check out Recruiting Trench Liberals and Leftnecks, which begins,

Despite what Internet liberals may think, most real working class Americans, and I mean the people who tune up your Prius or press your dry cleaning, haven't given a flying fock about the Iraq war for the last couple of years now. Not until recently, when it became pretty clear we are losing it -- losing being the worst possible thing in a society force fed on sports and the winner-loser mentality which created the uniquely American contemptuous epithet, "a loser." But now as my friend Buddy, who at middle age has been reduced to bagging groceries and "shagging carts" in the parking lot at one of the local Food Lion supermarkets says, "If we ain't losing, we seem to been over there entirely too long to be winnin'. That's for shore."

Buddy the bagboy hasn't the slightest notion of how national politics in any way affects his life. ...

His readers aren't boring, either: Tired of fear and loathing in Los Angeles.

AP
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore speaks during a conference on climatic change in Santa Cruz on the Canary Island of Tenerife, Spain, Monday, June 25, 2007.

Why run? Life is good: Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover at Fast Company. Headline is misleading -- it didn't cost $100 million, he's now worth that.

Timing: ComicWonder: Let somebody tell you a joke.

To do: Current puzzles at Puzzability, created by three former editors of Games Magazine. which creates puzzles such as the Times' Op-Ed Puzzle Archive.

Long time coming: On maps, why is north always up? Eventually the answers to all my childhood questions will be found on the Web.

The iPhone killer: rPhone.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

June 27, 2007

First iPhone reviews, from Mossberg, NYT, Newsweek...

Apple's latest gee whiz will cost $499 plus AT&T (only) monthly plan ($60 to $220), available Friday.

Testing Out the iPhone: We Spend Two Weeks Using Apple's Much-Anticipated Device To See if It Lives Up to the Hype; In Search of the Comma Key. Walter Mossberg, WSJ.

Walt gets to deadpan the funniest line:

But this Wi-Fi capability doesn't fully make up for the lack of a fast cellular data capability, because it is impractical to keep joining and dropping short-range Wi-Fi networks while taking a long walk, or riding in a cab through a city.

The iPhone Matches Most of Its Hype. David Pogue, NYT.

At Last, the iPhone. A first look at the most eagerly anticipated gizmo ever. Steven Levy, Newsweek.

Don't get 'hung up' on buying an iPhone Glenn Fleishman in the N.Y. Post.

Update: Fleishman, a Seattle tech author, has an interesting update on his blog: Glenn Stabbed in Nude iPhone Review!.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:05 AM | Permalink

June 26, 2007

Blues mp3s: Josh Barber, opening for Jimmie Vaughan, Roomful tonight

Josh Barber, who's opening tonight at Lupo's for the power lineup of Jimmie Vaughan, Roomful of Blues and Lou Ann Barton, made a page on our mp3 site last night and uploaded five tunes.

If you're going tonight -- or wish you were -- here's a taste: She Knocked Me Down. (mp3)

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:18 PM | Permalink

Margarita popsicles; Glass flowers; Web cemetery; Half-price Harry Potter...

Hot day ahead: Beer Popsicles Causing Controversy. I do not yet have the recipe. Here's one for Margarita Popsicles, though, from Liquor Snob:

Margarita Popsicles

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh limejuice
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons tequila
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1 tablespoon lime zest

Note: Omit the tequila and Grand Marnier for kid's popsicles.

DIRECTIONS:
Combine sugar, through orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add tequila, orange liqueur, and lime zest, mix to combine. Pour molds and cover with foil. Place the popsicle stick in center and freeze until hard, preferably overnight.

Precision: If you've ever wondered what smart and curious people did with themselves before TV and the Web, here's evidence: Two men made extraordinary glass flowers as a teaching device.

Toward the end of the 19th century a Bohemian father-son team, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, combined to create what is still arguably the most stunning example of lampwork the world has ever seen. They were already widely known for their glass models of marine invertebrates when George Lincoln Goodale, Harvard Professor and director of the Museum of Botany , commissioned them to undertake a mammoth project, the creation of detailed botanical models of common and exotic plants from Europe and North America. Benefactors of the project were Elizabeth Ware and her daughter Mary Lee Ware. Using only a simple bellows-driven lamp and a variety of home-made tools, the Blaschkas produced the models using wire frameworks to give them structure and enamels and paints to duplicate the coloration and texture of the plants. The results were stunning! The models were so lifelike, that even close scrutiny cannot distinguish between them and the real thing. Over the next 50 years, some 840 life-size model sets of plants and over 3000 oversized models of magnified plant parts and anatomical sections were produced. Most of the models are still on display at the Harvard Botanical Museum on the Harvard campus. To this day, no one has ever succeeded in reproducing the Blaschka's techniques or in duplicating the quality of their models.

-- History of Art Glass Lampworking

Botanical Wonders: Objects

The Story of the Harvard Glass Flowers

The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants

Harvard University Herbaria

Web cemetery: Death networking: the latest e-trend. Largely about free British memorial site Gone Too Soon. Shirley Rothwell, whose son killed himself, talks about the site, but his page isn't linked. Here it is: Ian James Foster.

Mischief managed: Amazon.com has over a million pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series, due out July 21. And it's selling them at half-price, hence no profit. Business Week examines The Twisted Economics Of Harry Potter.

Kitty ESP: Cat becomes bus regular in Britain. It gets on and off at the same stops two or three times a week.

Mosquitoes apologize: My spammers are apologizing now. I've gotten a bunch of spam comments lately with the typical paid link to a porn or pharmaceutical peddler, but the body of the comment says only, "Sorry" or "Sorry, I really need the money."

I guess that's progress.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:55 AM | Permalink

June 24, 2007

Hillary didn't just luck out and marry well

My friend Providence Phoenix news editor Ian Donnis, on his Not for Nothing blog (Hillary: Short on substance?):

There's sometimes a sense of inevitability about Hillary Clinton's pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination, given the nexus between her success in raising money, the power of the Clinton machine, and the way in which Democratic elected officials are falling into step behind her. And everyone knows that she's "scary smart." Writing this week in the Phoenix, however, Steven Stark says there's good reason why two new Hillary biographies are inducing yawns: 

Steven Stark likes Barack Obama's story better: "if you’ve read his book, you know he’s genuinely interesting," It's okay if he'd rather have a beer with Barack. These biographies probably aren't even good chick flicks. But Stark also says, "Hillary’s real claim to fame is that she married a political star. " Damning politicians for how they got their start isn't new, but in this case, the charge isn't even true.

Stark writes,

It’s true that, according to the Hillary myth, Hillary’s classmates were wowed by her at Wellesley and that she gave what they considered to be a stirring graduation address when she left. But giving a great graduation address is not a qualification for the presidency. And, even if it were, it would have to be a lot better speech than Hillary’s, which, to be kind, has not stood the test of time as well as, say, the Gettysburg Address.

I was at Wellesley with Hillary, although I didn't know her well. We were in different dorms. I had skipped an early grade, so I graduated in the class ahead of her. I am not a friend of Bill or Hill, have never been to a Wellesley reunion, and give a newsroom hairy eyeball to politicians.

But I was a fly on the wall there then, and Steven Stark was not.

Hillary Rodham and Sheila Lennon both sat in Professor John M. Cooper's American political history course, where, ironically, we were shown on the blackboard how the a third-party candidate effects change in American elections: He lets major-party candidates -- nearly indistinguishable as they bunch up to appeal to the hump of voters that make up the vast voting middle -- differentiate themselves.

Positive public response to the outrider lets candidates modify their positions but still look moderate in comparison. The outrider actually shifts the middle and breaks the headlock. This would play out in 1992 with the candidacy of Ross Perot and the subsequent election of Bill Clinton rather than a second term for George H. W. Bush.

Hillary sat in the front row in that class, and often lingered to ask questions as the rest of us were shooting out the door Friday afternoon on our way to weekend dates.

On her own, Hillary Rodham was elected student body president, and made headlines at the time with that 1969 commencement speech. Its page on the Wellesley College site begins with a welcome to guest speaker Sen. Edward Brooke, R-Mass., the first black man elected to the U.S. Senate:
Ruth M. Adams, ninth president of Wellesley College, introduced Hillary D. Rodham, '69, at the 91st commencement exercises, as follows:

In addition to inviting Senator Brooke to speak to them this morning, the Class of '69 has expressed a desire to speak to them and for them at this morning's commencement. There was no debate so far as I could ascertain as to who their spokesman was to be -- Miss Hillary Rodham. Member of this graduating class, she is a major in political science and a candidate for the degree with honors. In four years she has combined academic ability with active service to the College, her junior year having served as a Vil Junior (chosen to help orient incoming freshmen), and then as a member of Senate and during the past year as President of College Government and presiding officer of College Senate. She is also cheerful, good humored, good company, and a good friend to all of us and it is a great pleasure to present to this audience Miss Hillary Rodham.

Hillary's speech followed.

And that was a tough crowd. This was one formidable woman even back then, and she linked up at Yale Law with a formidable man. There was no doubt she was going places -- there were jokes then that she'd be the first woman president.

That she would choose to live her life in partnership with a remarkable man is hardly unusual. Children, traditional expections and life circumstances often make for an odd trajectory in women's lives. But this woman has long been remarkable in her own right.

Her challenge is to be remarkable now, when America most needs that.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments 2

Updated: The garlic is 'scaping! (We made pesto)

I'm crossposting this from our Garden Blog.

Most supermarket garlic is softneck garlic, bred for keeping. This is Rocambole, mild hardneck "serpent" garlic that forms a bulb on the end of its curving flower stalk. But I don't want it to "flower" -- it will take energy from the bulb below. (The photo at right shows what would happen if we let them straighten out and form a bud.)

Instead, I'll cut them back to the first leaf, where they emerge, and use the "scapes" in a simple pesto.

Update: Okay, my daughter and I made garlic scape pesto, using the recipes below as a starting point. A couple of things worth noting:

-- I had read that you only use the part between the cut and the white bulge, not the long "flower." It seemed wasteful, so I decided to wait and taste them raw when we cut them. First, the raw cut end, which was juicy with a concentrated flavor. Then the flower end, which was tough, followed by the white bulb, which was slimy. So we only used the middle parts of 12 young scapes.

-- Use a small food processor. We used a big one, and there wasn't enough in there to process it smoothly.

-- Here's what we ended up with:

Almost a cup of 1-inch garlic scape flower stems, no "buds"
2/3 cup coarsely grated asiago cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
5/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated pepper
Sun-dried tomatoes in oil, well-drained, on the side.

After processing the scapes, we added each of the other ingredients in this order, half of each at a time, in two batches.

The result was a delicious concentrated glob that melted when tossed into hot pasta. (We used spaghetti, but a smaller shape would work better.) This made enough for four, with salad.

The flavor was intense but mild and very tasty. The sun-dried tomatoes added both color and a complementary flavor. It was really good, even to those used to a wet red sauce.

The texture was a little dry, but it didn't need more oil. Next time, I might add some lemon juice as the final step to make it looser. And there will be a next time. We picked only the larger scapes. There are more to come.

Okay, end of update. Back to the original post...

Blend:

• 6-7 garlic scapes, chopped into 1" sections
• approx. 1 c. olive oil
• 1 c. grated parmesan or asiago cheese

Or add pine nuts.

You might find garlic scapes at farmers' markets. They keep for up to three weeks in the fridge, and the pesto freezes well. One blogger bought some that look a bit old and modified the recipe accordingly (fewer scapes, more cheese).

Garlic Scape Dip

½ cup yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic scape, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients together. Thin to desired consistency by adding milk.

Variation: For a salad dressing add 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar.

Chris' Garlic Scape Recipes

A couple of dozen more scape recipes.

Easy Garlic Scape Soup with Thymev

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:05 AM | Permalink

June 23, 2007

Hitman email scam; Dave Marsh rock reviews; New Yorker on Walter Mossberg

Everyone listens to Walter Mossberg, by Ken Auletta. The New Yorker profiles West Warwick's own.

Hitman scam: Seen the email? The FBI knows all about it. Even though he knows your last name, he's not really going to kill you. He's a spammer. Here's one that came to a relative:

I am very sorry for you XXXXXXX, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don't comply. As you can see there is no need of introducing myself to you because I don't have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.

Someone you call a friend wants you Dead by all means, and the person have spent a lot of money on this, the person also came to us and told me that he want you dead and he provided us with your name ,picture and other necessary information's we needed about you.
So I sent my boys to track you down and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation on you, and they have done that but I told them not to kill you that I will like to contact you and see if your life is Important to you or not since their findings shows that you are innocent.

I called my client back and ask him of you email address which I didn't
tell him what I wanted to do with it and he gave it to me and I am using it to contact you now. As I am writing to you now my men are monitoring you and they are telling me everything about you.

Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? As someone has paid us to kill you. Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life, $30,000 is all you need to spend You will first of all pay $15,000 then I will send the tape to you and when the tape get to you, you will pay the remaining $15,000. If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up.

WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I WILL KNOW.REMEMBER, SOMEONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL WANT YOU DEAD! I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY, INCASE I NOTICE SOMETHING FUNNY.

DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 7:PM UNTIL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU AND GIVE YOU THE TAPE OF MY DISCUSSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WANT YOU DEAD THEN YOU CAN USE IT TO TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION. GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR
REPLY

Urban legends clearinghouse Snopes.com has more on this.

Sidebar: The only Google News result for "hitman scam" comes from Tyler, Texas, TV station KLTV, where they know a "good story not happening here" when they see it (7 On Your Side: Disturbing Email Scam Threatening To Kill You, June 5):

(Tyler police Sgt. Darren Grissom) says there have been no reports of anyone in Tyler receiving an email like this. But heed the warning because if you fall for it Grissom says, "The odds of you getting your money back are minuscule. It probably won't happen."

Feed your head music: Rock Rap Confidential is a newsletter shoveled onto the Web, complete with where to snail-mail your $15 subscription payment. Links are rare, except when they're in a table that overwrites the text.

Never mind. Dave Marsh's pithy reviews are worth the aggravation: They make me want to hear the music.

Here's a sample from THIS MONTH'S DOWNLOADING PROSPECTS... at the end of What's Confidential This Month (Ignore the funny code droppings):

Blues de Musicien, Pine Leaf Boys (Arhoolie)‹Five young guys from Louisiana who obsessively study Cajun musical and social history (including nearly extinct dialects), all in the service of further improving their dense, intense musical gumbo. Their chops can be jaw-dropping but, like a good club DJ, it¹s about keeping the dance floor packed and happy. Highlights include the title track¹s sad tale of the musician¹s life and ³Ma Petite Femme,² a raunchy, wrenching blues. Listen

Mind Control, Stephen Marley (Tuff Gong/Universal Republic)‹Somewhat similar to brother Damien Marley¹s masterful 2005 Welcome to Jamrock, which Stephen helped to write and produce. But this mélange of roots and dancehall is, with its pop and world flavorings, more gentle and nuanced, a soulful suite both personal and political. He also comes across as a contemporary of his father Bob. Quite an achievement.

Live in Dublin, Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band (Columbia)‹Where a 20 piece band playing folk songs turns out to mean Waylon Jennings¹ ³Love of the Common People,² his own ³If I Should Fall Behind² as a waltz, and Cindy Mizell testifying her heart out on ³This Little Light of Mine.² The best backing band he ever has had only got better as the players got more familiar with one another, as this end of tour document proves. Hats off to Larry Eagle for making Bruce swing at last.

Home Taping (reviews) are nice, too.

Also pithy: Mythbusters results. All the conclusions.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 7:10 AM | Permalink

June 22, 2007

'Hookwormed for science' may be the oddest of these links

Tara McPherson, Flatstock, 2002

Concert poster portal: This is just one poster I found via a link at Tons and Tons of Design Inspiration: Concert Posters. Lots to look at through that doorway.

(Flatstock is July 14-15 in Chicago at the Pitchfork Music Festival.)

You are not your day job: 39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist
at Dumb Little Man.

One man's meat...: Matters of the Mind - WSJ.com: Want something more substantive than YouTube? Here's where to find highbrow videos on the Web. WSJ.

Secrets of grownups: HolyJuan: Parental Myths That No Parent Will Tell You About

Parents check in to see how their child is sleeping Parents “check in” on their kids every so often during nap or night time. As an outsider, you think that it is simply to see how the child is doing and is an act of love. In actuality, it is to see if the kid is dead or not breathing. The relief gained from having a not-dead child is priceless.

Brand free: São Paulo: The City That Said No To Advertising: The "Clean City" law passed last year by the populist mayor, Gilberto Kassab, stripped the Brazilian city of all advertising. So how's it looking now? Business Week.

Hookwormed for science:
The professor who put 50 worms in his own body.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:24 AM | Permalink

June 21, 2007

Judges named to decide Libby's appeal to delay prison

Luck Of The Draw: The take of former West Virginia prosecutor Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake on the selection of three judges from the Court of Appeals to rule on former White House aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby's request to delay his imprisonment:

Team Libby has filed its motion for appeal with the DC Circuit today. I just got a copy of the filing notice in my in-box, and it contains information regarding the assignment of the three-judge panel that we talked about earlier. Libby has drawn Judges Sentelle, Henderson and Tatel as his assigned three-judge panel....

Yes, this is the same Judge Tatel who wrote in his concurring opinion about “the plot against (covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's husband Joseph) Wilson” in those eight redacted pages that we waited so long to see.

And these are the same three judges who ordered that Matt Cooper (then of Time) and Judith Miller (then of the NYTimes) go to jail if they were unwilling to reveal information about the identities of the government officials who were trying to use them...

AP: Libby Draws Conservative Appellate Panel:

Of the three judges, two are former prosecutors.

Maybe this is Paris Hilton's place in history: She makes it harder to let Libby off.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:05 AM | Permalink

June 20, 2007

When I win Powerball, I'm going to celebrate here

When my Powerball ticket comes in, I'm going here.

First you need to get to the Maldives (map), which are in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka. It could easily take 24 hours or more to get here.

Reviews can get the most jaded armchair traveler booking a flight.

It can obviously get pricey quickly here -- the low end is $20-$30 at the bar. Lunch at Ithaa (pdf menu), the underwater restaurant above -- one of seven eateries at the Hilton Maldives Resort -- comes at a $125 surcharge, dinner $250, but at the 11 a.m. cocktail hour, a drink is only $25.

Beach villas in August start at $470 per night, with the water villas hovering between $959 and $1,180 per night. Two people could easily spend $2,000 a day, were money no object.

On December 18, this will become the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, with even higher prices, as this 5-star resort shoots for two more. Go now.

If my number comes in, I'll blog the trip.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 3:04 AM | Permalink

June 19, 2007

Pawtucket Times now: 2 reporters, 3 sportswriters; Lolcats; Vatican issues road rules; Moore defending downloading; The Onion

Spotty news: New owners cut back newspapers’ staffs: Providence Business News reports,

As of today, The Times of Pawtucket has a total of two news reporters, three sportswriters and one photographer. Four of their colleagues – a photographer and three reporters – left last week after taking buyouts from the newspaper’s owner, RISN Operations Inc.

Its sister paper, The Call, in Woonsocket, already has lost nine people in news and advertising, but Tim Schick, executive director of the Providence Newspaper Guild, which represents much of both staffs, said he expects about a half-dozen more jobs to be lost.

Altogether, the Times will be down six editorial jobs, to about 20 (two copy editors were also laid off), and the Call, which also operates the presses for both papers, is down to about 40 so far. ...

What corruption and chicanery will go unnoticed while every PawSox game is covered like it mattered?

Houston Chronicle

Lolcats: I’M IN UR NEWSPAPER WRITIN MAH COLUM: Rapidly spreading Web photo-posting phenomenon centers on felines with poor spelling

Where the cats are:
I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?
Macro Cats

How would Jesus drive? Vatican issues "10 Commandments" for good motorists. Reuters. Not a joke.

A 36-page document called "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road" contains 10 Commandments covering everything from road rage, respecting pedestrians, keeping a car in good shape and avoiding rude gestures while behind the wheel...

The document's Fifth Commandment reads: "Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin".

Brandweek Exclusive: Michael Moore Defends Film Downloading. Last Saturday, Moore defended downloading at the unofficial opening of Sicko in Bellaire, Mich.

It’s a stance, he admits “I’m sure is different than that of Harvey and Bob,” referring to the Weinsteins, whose Weinstein film company is releasing the movie nationally June 29.

“I think the music industry’s response to Napster was misguided … and for me, it’s about getting people to see the movie and that’s what I want, so they will talk about it,” Moore said....

Good cop, bad cop, buzz.

The Onion (satire): I Support The Occupation Of Iraq, But I Don't Support Our Troops

Think: Open: Open is a bi-annual journal about art and the public domain. Current issue: Freedom of culture.

Think again: Howard Rheingold and Eric Kluitenberg,: Mindful Disconnection: Counterpowering the Panopticon from the Inside.

Perhaps the act of mindfully disconnecting specific times, spaces and situations in our lives from technological mediation ought to be considered as a practical form of resistance – an act of will on the part of individual humans as a means of exercising control over the media in their lives.

Last two links come from wood s lot.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:51 AM | Permalink

June 18, 2007

Update: Up again, 'with permission': Michael Moore's 'Sicko'

Third update: Insane Films: Michael Moore’s Sicko, Part 1 of 2 | Part 2, posted "with permission." That might make it a permalink.

The movie link is offered in comments at the end of Shelley Powers' Burningbird, where she discusses the leak/release of the film in Undermining Sicko.

Second update: Up again, according to comments on this Metafilter thread, where they're tracking its travels. Scroll to the end for the latest location. The Internet was designed to tunnel around outages. Can't put the genie back in the bottle...

Of course, it's a cyberclassic way to build a viral buzz for Sicko's official opening in theaters June 29.

Update: Move along, nothing to see here now. Google link doesn't work any more.

Michael Moore's Sicko on Google Video: All "2 hr 4 min" of Moore's new documentary on the U.S. health care system has been up since Friday, with no provenance and a convenient download link, in case you'd rather not stream it.

Moore, speaking in 2004 about his earlier Fahrenheit 9/11:

"I don't agree with the copyright laws and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people. I make these books and movies and TV shows because I want things to change, so the more people that get to see them the better, so I'm happy when that happens. I think information and art, ideas should be shared."

In a bizarre twist -- this wouldn't be the Web without at least one bizarre twist -- a North Dakota blogger named Rob has also posted the video at the end of a rant headlined, Calling Michael Moore’s Socialist Bluff, suggesting,

Moore’s movie, in fact, may as well be a campaign ad for Hillary and her endless drive for socialized medicine. All examples of how these liberals don’t respect the private property of the citizenry or the principles of personal responsibility.

Then he dares Moore to take it down:

Now I fully expect that I’ll probably get a letter or an email at some point from Moore’s people asking me to take this down. Which I will, because unlike Moore and most liberals I actually do respect things like copyright laws and property rights. But until they ask, I’m going to take Moore at his word. And if I am asked to take it down, I will be calling Moore a total hypocrite.

Readers in comments question his logic. Meanwhile, he's still hosting and spreading that Socialist's movie.

Bonus: Handy wrapup of reviews after Sicko's showing at the Cannes Film Festival: Press views: Michael Moore's Sicko

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 8:54 PM | Permalink

June 17, 2007

Alt-Father's Day; '53 Thurber cartoon; Seymour Hersh; Your accent

Alt-Father's Day: Saying goodbye to the father he never knew is an adequate headline for Jonathan Comey's Father's Day piece at South Coast Today.

It begins with a long unnecessary riff on a medical scare before the birth of his own son, Benjamin, seen at right, but Jonathan starts getting into it here:

This story is about my father, who I never met and I never will.

So where should we start? At the beginning, when a 20-year-old hippie girl hears live music coming from the apartment upstairs and decides to go outside on the landing and sing along? Or should we fast forward four decades, to see where that decision would ultimately lead?...

Eventually, he warms up to great stuff like this:

Sad as it seems, fatherlessness wasn't so rough on little Jonathan Comey. In my little mind, I had three parents — Mom, Grandma, Granddaddy — and everyone else just had two. I was ahead!

On Father's Day, I'd make my grandfather cards: "To Captain Clam, from Lieutenant Lobster," and it never even really occurred to me that I might be missing something. I even added a stepfather when I was 8, a kind man named Jim who taught me to shave and play Pitch, watched sports with me, did his best.

I had a lot of worries as a youth (it's not as rosy as we all remember), but not knowing my dad wasn't one of them. In an age of rampant divorce, no one really found it strange that I never talked about my dad, and I wouldn't have cared if they did. I loved my grandparents so fiercely that I couldn't imagine he could have made much difference in my life...

Footnote: My own father, Francis A. Lennon, died on Father's Day, June 19, 1983. My grandson was born June 19, 1997.

Video: Unicorn in the Garden - classic UPA cartoon 1953 by James Thurber. (UPA's 1954 animation of Poe's The Tell Tale Heart is really good, too, but it's dark for a holiday.)

Seymour M. Hersh: The General’s Report: How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties

The report itself: The "Taguba Report" On Treatment Of Abu Ghraib Prisoners In Iraq

No brainer: YouThink.com - Quiz: What American accent do you have?

What American accent do you have? Northeastern ... this is actually what dictionaries are based on.

Click Here to Take This Quiz

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:14 AM | Permalink

June 16, 2007

Update: Collaborative online crossword puzzles are a Web 2.0 demo

Just found here: "lmnopuz only works in Firefox and maybe Safari. Only masochists support IE."

3:35 a.m. LMNOPUZ. Pick an existing session or start another. With chat, so you can discuss clues. Help link is on upper right, once you're in a puzzle.

Totally addicting. I'd be there all night if my brain hadn't given out.

Its homepage.

9:31 a.m. This is definitely a late-night sport. It's pretty abandoned now.

This is a mashup, a perfect little way to explain Web 2.0. How the crossword puzzle has morphed:

-- pencil on paper (newspapers, magazines, books)
-- downloadable crossword program and set of puzzles; erasable, hints, solutions
-- puzzles accessed via Web browser
-- crossword plus collaboration plus chat: mashup (combination) of tools. Chat assigns each player a color and enables discussion; collaboration allows each to see everyone else is looking at and typing.

Each addition adds a dimension to the original flat solitary puzzle, like a square built out to a cube and more.

Enlarge it

Those of us who build Web sites have been limited by single-use tools -- we can set up a chat, but can't combine it with a live slideshow, for instance. But even these mashups are complex single-use tools: This crossword "construction toy" makes a single object, a collaborative puzzle. Evan Martin of lmnopuz writes, "We wrote this just to play with our friends," but entire startups are built on one such single-use mashup.

We who can't code wish for universal mashup connectors so we can whip up our own recipes on the fly. Programmers can't foresee all the uses we might have for these capacities. The killer app is not single instances of cool mashups, but the tools to string together, combine and integrate apps into our own new marblegothroughers.

(Will her worlds of ideas be different from ours? - She will find strange, unfathomable, repulsive, delicious things; we shall take them, we shall understand them. -- Arthur Rimbaud)

We'll see.

Photo by gocarrt
Tinkertoy computer made by MIT students in the 1980s.
Early model at Boston Museum of Science.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

June 15, 2007

Free mp3s: Janis Joplin's '65 audition tape for Big Brother

This Is Janis Joplin:

The seven-tracks on this CD come from an audition Joplin did before she joined Big Brother & The Holding Company. The year of this recording is either 1964 or 1965. Where it was recorded remains a mystery. The tapes come from James Gurley, the Big Brother guitarist. Originally just Joplin and her acoustic guitar, Gurley has embellished it with a full band to make this sound like a real Big Brother session....

Since this is pre-fame Joplin, her voice is unblemished by alcohol and drug abuse - just pure blues phrasings. The original version of Turtle Blues, Joplin’s own composition, is here plus a different version of Buffy St Marie’s Codine which Joplin adlibbed with her own lyrics.

Joplin was singing here in the hope of getting into Big Brother....

Bonus link: Giant MP3 Blog Listing at Monkey Wiki, an offshoot of Monkey Filter ("a Metafilter clone, only with more bananas and less flinging."):

What you won't find in here are file directories without commentary or sites offering a full album that is currently in print. Audioblogging is not about piracy; it's about selectively sharing sounds.

It is also not about sites that only very occasionally feature music or sites that post links to music that is hosted on another site. Unless that site has excellent writing or something to add to the music, these sorts of musicblogs are generally avoided.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:28 AM | Permalink

June 14, 2007

Willie Nelson's bus; Nice old interview: Gonna Catch Tomorrow Now

Journal photos / Bob Thayer
Willie Nelson leaves Providence after last night's concert at PPAC.

Gonna Catch Tomorrow Now: No Depression is a nice 2004 piece by Joe Nick Patoski.

I had come for my last sit-down with Willie Hugh Nelson. I'd been writing about him since I hit Austin in 1973, a year after he did. I've spent the ensuing years listening, watching, and observing him as he played shows on flatbed trucks, in drive-in movie theaters (with Paul Simon sitting in, no less), in amphitheaters, in performing arts halls, and at too many July Fourth Picnics to count. Somewhere along the way, the television appearances, movie roles, and inductions to various halls of fame added up to Willie achieving some kind of sainthood, with just enough speed-crazed hustlers, soulful used-car salesmen, and honest-to-Sam-Houston characters to keep me engaged.

Like Austin, Willie too has changed along the way. He came to the game as a songwriter. Some say that particular skill fell by the wayside decades ago - that he's sliding by on cruise control, that he hasn't written a memorable song in years. And yet, in the midst of all his albums of cover songs, tribute songs, collaborative affairs with high-profile buddies, television specials, and films, he's still continued to write songs - including an antiwar protest number that briefly stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy late last year. Not to mention enough straight-ahead country tunes to justify a full-blown album that may be his best work in ages (It Will Always Be, due October 26 on Lost Highway).

But even if he hadn't written a line in a quarter-century and decided to follow the path of Fats Domino - who once reasoned he didn't need to write another song because he already had more than enough hits to perform in concert -Willie would justify a visit just because he's Willie. After all, he personifies the outlaw movement that presaged altcountry. He's the one credited for putting Austin and Texas Music on the map. He's a pop culture icon, bandanas, pigtails, running shoes and all, the one Texan more popular than George Bush. He's the gold standard for Texas marijuana: If it's Willie weed, i.e. pot fit for him, it's top-of-the-line bud. And he's just mysterious and mystical enough to keep everyone guessing. You never know what you'll find when you're in Luck.

That said, we're both old enough to be lucky just to be alive...

Yeah, I hold back a bit here. Once upon a time I was offered a fellowship to get a PhD at the University of Texas. Didn't take it. Fear of Texas. JFK. I hate to sweat. Whatever. Didn't do it, took one from Brown instead. I mighta known Janis, and Willie, back then. Didn't do it.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:11 PM | Permalink

Update: Libby's delay denied; Willie at PPAC, Dad's day, candidates' marriages, baaad photos

Analysis: Judge Walton Sends Libby to Jail by Marcy Wheeler at Firedog Lake. (That's I. Lewis Libby at right, arriving at the courthouse today.)

Updated: Libby Loses Liberty:

Judge Reggie Walton: He is not a flight risk or danger to the community, but I don’t see the issues raised as close, so I deny his request to be released pending appeal. I will allow him to self report, but unless I am overruled, he will have to report.

I will rule on the obstruction charge sentence to 30 months, to perjury 24 months, to false statements 6 months, all to run concurrently.

Robbins: Ask for a stay the surrender pending filing motion.

Walton: Denied. Mr. Libby, you have right to appeal [boilerplate notification of right to appeal].

Firedog Lake:
1:34 PM Court Dismissed

Okay, so now the process goes to Bureau of Prisons, which will likely take six to eight weeks to process the matter and require Libby to report so he can begin serving his sentence.

1:43: No press conferences. Both Fitz and Libby are gone. Libby exited the court room escorted by marshalls through the door the judge uses to enter from chambers.

Earlier: Sentencing Scooter Live Blog Part I. Under way now at Firedog Lake.

Willie Nelson at PPAC last night: He looks older than dirt (he's 74), but the timbre of his voice still rules. Things got quiet when he sang "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain." "Help Me Make It Through the Night" gets a new edge sung by the scrawny old man. "Me and Bobby McGee" got a cantina roll and new phrasing.

But the feeling's still the same, and nobody has it like Willie.

And then there was the newish, "Superman":

I took too many pain pills and too much pot
I tried to be something that I’m not, Superman
I blew my throat and I blew my tour,
I wound up sippin’ on soup de jour, I wasn’t Superman

The doctor said, Son, it’s a crying shame
You ain't Clark Kent and I ain’t Lois Lane
You ain’t Superman

And when I die put it on my stone
God said, Sucker, get your bad ass home
You wasn’t Superman

Willie's son Lukas (born in 1989) has all the chops on electric blues guitar, but hasn't yet paid the dues that earn that viral feeling.

The concert had lots of intermissions, bathroom breaks for the older crowd. Heard in the line at the ladies': "You again? Me, too. It's the prednisone. Bad stuff."

We ended the night at Haven Bros., of course.

How to dad: A lawyer's guide to fatherhood by Jonathan Turley. Funny:

...Of course, by the time your child reaches the late teenage years, you have become the Alberto Gonzales of parents: continual surveillance, spontaneous searches, detention without appeal. You can then wait for your little litigators to become parents in their own right. It is then that you can undermine their authority by plying their children with unlimited sugar-based products and allowing them to live as anarchists under your roof...

Yup, Sunday is Father's Day. Ties and a barbecue fork don't quite make it special.

(My dad died on a Father's Day, so I try to duck this one.)

You love this stuff: State of their unions: Candidates' marriages at msnbc.

Hit and run: God knows I love the South: Politically incorrect photos.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:09 PM | Permalink

June 13, 2007

Safari for Windows: Shrug

Apple has produced a version of its Mac browser Safari for Windows. I downloaded and tried it, and it looks nice -- the colors seem more intense, the leading on the fonts is smaller, so more lines appear on the screen. But it's too little, and just too late, to care about: No tools.

Click to enlarge

First, it obviously comes from the land of commercial software. Those choices above are all corporate, compared to Firefox's "your way" setup.

But the clincher is all the Firefox extensions that of course aren't there, chosen by me for the way I use the Web. The open-source browser releases its code to anybody who wants to whip up a useful add-on. They then make them available to the rest of us.

It's an old cliche, but if people love your work or hate your work you're onto something. If they just shrug you're in trouble.

Reviews:
Ars Technica: First look: Safari 3 beta on Windows vs. Firefox 2 and IE7

Shiny Shiny: Safari for Windows PC: Apple's poisoned gift to Gates addicts?

IT Wire: Safari: Don’t use it on Windows just yet

Wired: Safari for Windows Offers No Compelling Reason to Switch

Wired's Cult of Mac blog: WWDC: Safari 3 on Windows Review

ZDNet Gear for Geeks: Safari for Windows - Do we really need another browser?

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments 4

'Mr. Wizard' dies at 89

Don Herbert in 1951

Mr. Wizard has died at 89. Beginning in the '50s, live from Chicago, Don Herbert brought a boy or girl, sometimes several, into the studio to help him do science experiments that turned colors or popped, made lightning or melted something. Magic indeed.

I always wished he were my teacher.

Tributes at Slashdot.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 8:04 AM | Permalink

June 12, 2007

Rhode Island is Vietnam in this strange map

Map as metaphor: 131 U.S. States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs

So Texas is Canada, California is France, New York is Brazil and Rhode Island is... Vietnam.

Strange Maps is a wildly original blog: Check out the tattooed 1896 map of Hannover, Germany (Hannover On Her Mind - and On Her Back), Jesus In India: A Road Map of His Lost Years and Where On Earth Was Middle-earth?

We have Jason Kottke to thank for this, and Doc Searls for passing it on.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:36 AM | Permalink

June 11, 2007

Fun architecture in Vienna, fun art blog from Venice, funky mailbox art

I have the day off to work in the garden. Working up to it:

Vienna

Absolute Vienna - Hundertwasser architecture photos:

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Master of unconventional architecture, architecture without straight lines or surfaces, completely assymetrical, with tortuous corridors, rounded-off corners, plants and trees growing on roofs and balconies.

Providence could do with more visionary architecture. Such a signature apartment building -- both photos are of the amazing Hundertwasser House -- would be a fun downtown address.

At the link, you'll also find the Toilet of Modern Art.

Venice

Librado Romero/The New York Times
“Goldener Stern” by the artist Georg Baselitz in the Venice pavilion.

Randy Kennedy's picturesque blog from last week's Venice Biennale -- where Venice turned into the Olympic Village of Art -- is fun to read, backwards.

In one room, you stand before a projector that throws your shadow 20 feet high on a wall. As you get “bigger,” a radio signal is directed toward you and you become a living antenna, causing crackly AM radio sounds to issue from speakers. The frequency you are channeling is projected on your shadow in red letters.

It’s the perfect metaphor for what it feels like here in the Biennale frenzy, with way too much information in the air — as if you ran a computer cable directly into your brain, went to Google and typed in “contemporary art.”

And, listing what he will miss,

The bigoli in salsa, perfect home-made spaghetti-like pasta with chunks of fresh anchovy and olive oil, at a completely unassuming place near my hotel, El Refolo, that is the size of a closet, with a half a dozen tables and one very harried waiter who is so proud of the food that he can tell you in fractured English the exact percentage of the wild boar meat in the mortadella that melts in your mouth. (Searching without success for the word “boar,” he used his fingers near his cheeks to try to communicate that this was a pig with tusks; my wife ventured: “A pig with whiskers?” We finally got it. We went back a lot.)

And then there's Your Ugly Mailbox. The Web loves kitsch.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:23 AM | Permalink

June 10, 2007

Want to buy a Tilt-A-Whirl? Butterflies; Fewer women tech leaders

You might be able to buy a Tilt-A-Whirl for $29,000.

(The rides at Coney Island amusement park Astroland turned up for sale on the Web, available after Labor Day, but there may be a change of heart. The whole saga is at Gowanus Lounge..)

Conneaut Lake Park photo

It's Lewis Carroll surreal, big whirling baby buggies, and the motion... Wikipedia:

The Tilt-A-Whirl is a platform-type ride, consisting of seven freely-spinning cars that hold four riders each, which are attached at fixed pivot points on a rotating platform. As the platform revolves, parts of the platform are raised and lowered, and the resulting centrifugal and gravitational forces on the cars cause them to randomly spin in different directions and at variable speeds. The weight of passengers in these cars may intensify or dampen the spinning motion of the cars, adding to the random nature of the motion. Mathematicians call this random nature chaotic motion.

Joe Nisil photo
Entrance to the Tilt-A-Whirl at the late Rocky Point in Warwick.

Tilt-A-Whirl was my favorite ride at Rocky Point.

Seabreeze photo

Sometimes you fly. Literally spin out, and lift. Grab that mousetrap hammer in your lap and hold on tight. With its sudden centrifugal loops and whoops, Tilt-A-Whirl seems a better metaphor for an interesting life than a roller coaster.

Bonus: The premiere of David Bettencourt's movie, You Must Be This Tall - The Story of Rocky Point, is set for Sept. 7 at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket. Recent projo story: Viewers get a glimpse of Rocky Point’s rise and fall

Why not: Color & Design Blog: Butterflies

Bummah: The State of Women Technology Leaders. Numbers decline, working harder, feeling alone. At CIO mag:

The number of female IT leaders is on the decline. The number of women in IT leadership positions (CIO, CTO, VP, etc.) has steadily declined from a high of 15 percent in 2004 to 12 percent in 2007.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:48 AM | Permalink

June 9, 2007

Ice cream in a bag in 5 minutes

It's that kind of day -- pouring rain, lots of outdoor fun scrubbed. Here's one of Kaboose's summer crafts projects for just this sort of day:

Ice Cream in a Bag:

What You Need

* 1 tablespoon Sugar
* 1/2 cup Milk or half & half
* 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
* 6 tablespoons Rock salt
* 1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag
* 1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag
* Ice cubes

How To Make It

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!

Tips

* I always have sprinkles and nuts to top it off, and sometimes fruit.
* To make a larger amount I would try doubling the recipe. Anything larger might be too big for kids to pick-up, because the ice itself is quite heavy.

More variations and modifications at the link.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

June 8, 2007

Free Friday mp3s: Crosby & Nash '74, Simon & Garfunkel, 'Alternate Bookends,' '67-'69

Crosby & Nash, Live in San Francisco, 1974

All the happy songs are here in superb hi-fidelity, suitable for entertaining. Play loud. Nothing has been officially released.

16 tracks follow -- 17, actually, but do you really want to give 7.1MB of disk space to "[no music, crowd noise only]"?

Simon & Garfunkel, The Alternate Bookends

...When this boot first appeared it was the first time studio outtakes of Simon & Garfunkel tracks had arrived in such quality. The fan collective, Purple Chick, went to great lengths to offer not only the alternate album, but a compilation of live tracks of all the songs on Bookends and included as a bonus the original Bookends album in mono. The mono LP was not a typical fold-down from stereo but a unique mix that is out-of-print.

We are offering only one-third of the Purple Chick bootleg - the alternate album but even then had to remove the 7-inch mixes of Fakin’ It, A Hazy Shade Of Winter, the b-side You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies and the demo Old Friends as these are official releases. The latter you can get when you buy the remastered Bookends. They have been substituted with unreleased live versions.

There’s still plenty to marvel at, the unreleased Groundhogs and the alternate lyrics in the song At The Zoo...

Both are at BigO, Singapore.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:42 AM | Permalink

June 7, 2007

Surreal all: Dali video, men's high fashion, USB geek gadgets

Video: Salvadore Dali tries to stump a blindfolded celebrity panel as The Mystery Guest on quiz show What's My Line?, with host John Daly, on Jan. 20, 1952.

Surreal to reel – Dali at the movies is the London Times' tale of a new exhibition at Tate Modern titled DalÍ & Film. We begin in 1936, when Sal meets Harpo:

...DalÍ travelled to Paris specially to meet Harpo at a party. The meeting was a success and the two men, both wildly flamboyant showmen, remained in touch. A few months later, DalÍ sent Harpo a handmade Christmas present. It was a harp, decorated with gilded ornamentation, but with barbed wire for strings and teaspoons and forks for tuning knobs, all wrapped in Cellophane.

Harpo was delighted (and) had a photograph taken of himself seemingly playing it, with bandages on his fingers as if he had injured himself while plucking the strings. This was sent to DalÍ with an invitation to visit him if he were ever in California...

He visits, and Harpo gets him back, bigtime.

To sweeten the pot, the story includes video links:
Dali's dream sequence for Hitchock's Spellbound
Trailer for Dali's Disney collaboration Destino
Dali and Buñuel's L'Age D'Or
Dali and Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou<
Salvador Dali on TV show What's My Line?

Emperor's son's new clothes? Thom Browne Spring 2007 Collection in New York Magazine.

Men's fashion? There's a slideshow, and this photo is typical. Seen together, the photos make me wonder if the model is hoping the guys back home won't see him in these duds.

About: Bergdorf to Expand Thom Browne:

Prices for the suits will range from $3,400 to $4,200 and shirts will be $325 to $390.

No price given for the beekeeper's hats.

via Rebecca Blood

Engineer anima: The Top 15 USB geek gadgets: Via Shelley Powers, who notes,

Be sure to check out the USB 'aquarium'. Better yet, watch the 8 inch tall pole dancer that twirls to your MP3 tunes, while you contemplate in utter bemusement the lack of women in technology.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:29 AM | Permalink | Comments 2

June 6, 2007

What the World Eats, and how much it costs, in pictures

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

What the World Eats is a lovely photo essay in Time, 16 photographs by Peter Menzel from the book Hungry Planet.

Each family is photographed surrounded by their food for a week; its cost, and their favorite foods, are noted.

The family in a camp in Chad has the least food, spending $1.23 a week. (They get rations from the U.N., otherwise the cost would be $24.37.) The Germans have the most, and spend $500.07, including $91.01 for vitamins and herbal supplements.

Use the bottom set of "next" buttons on this slideshow; the top set is broken.

NPR does a nice takeout from the book, detailing the exact purchases of four of the families. It's accompanied by audio from Michele Norris.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

June 5, 2007

CatCam is back up: See what the cat sees

CatCam has a new host. Let's try this again, with new links.

Mr. Lee, the photoblogging cat.

You know you've always wanted to know where your outdoor cat goes, what she/he sees out there.

With a keychain digital camera attached to a collar, you can: Mr. Lee's first photoset.

Check out the hack at the link. The modification is fully explained by Juergen Perthold, Mr. Lee's owner.

I'm sure miniaturization would make this more comfortable for kitty. I hope he or some other geek takes it and runs with it.

The photos of his trips:

Mr. Lees Trip 1

Mr. Lees Trip 2

Mr. Lees Trip 3

Mr. Lees Trip 4

(via tracert at Metafilter, followed now by dozens of comments.)

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments 2

Scooter Libby sentence: 30 months, $250,000 fine

AP
Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby walks towards his car outside federal court in Washington, today after he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

Firedoglake live-blogging Libby sentencing

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is to be sentenced today. Libby was convicted in March of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case that outed covert operative Valerie Plame.

Firedoglake had the best coverage of the trial, and Jane Hamsher and Marcy Wheeler return today with live blogging from Judge Reggie Walton's courtroom. The main link is the best to use for now, since Marcy will start new posts periodically to spread the load. (Comments fill up the page rapidly.)

The first issue is what sentencing guidelines should apply. Christy Hardin Smith explains, in comments on Libby Sentencing One,

Cross referencing is the adding in and/or taking down of enhancements or departures for sentencing. Enhancements add more time, departures take it away. They are arguing about where Libby should fall as the baseline area for the sentencing guidelines calculation from which the judge will start in his considerations today — this is really, really common as the start to one of these hearings — Team Fitz is asking for a higher bump, Team Libby for a lower one.

Later: Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald:

We're not going to recommend any sentence. I do think the sentence has to make clear and loud that truth matters and one's station in life does not.

Libby speaks:

Family and I appreciate considerations shown to us during this conviction. In all taht time I have recieved nothing but kindness from Court's personnel, your honor's staff, court administrators, US Marshalls, Court security officers, and probation officer. I am grateful. Now I realize fully Court must decide on punishment, I hope court will consider my whole life. Thank you your honor.

No remorse.

Judge:

Need to consider seriousness of offense. Investigation extremely serious. Conduct of Mr Libby is serious behavior. Has to be a sentence that promotes respect for law. Indivs should understand there are consequences. Obviously, punishment has to be considered. Statue does call for just punishment, In reference to deterrence, nothing in this case, based on Libby's history that would suggest that specific deterrence needs to be major concern. Considering the things he has done. No reason to believe he would commit another crime. General deterrence is important. people who occupy positions of responsibility have to appreciate taht if they step over a line, there are consequences. It causes people to lose faith in our govt. That's a major consideration.

Obviously, statute requires sentence that protects public. I have to consider the type of sentences available, I have option of imposing sentence from probation to max, I have to consider need to avoid disparities. Creates real challenge. Bc. Obviously, one one hand, there are reasons why departure might be appropriate, On other hand, consdiering nature of offense, that conduct in my view counters against imposing a sentence that departs. In the end, my view that those factors balance themselves out, which causes me to conclude that sentence does fall and should fall within the guidelines.

I don't think high end is necessary. 30 months FIne him $200,000 $250,000.

Within 72 hours report to probation department and abide by supervised release.

In ref to obstruction, 30 months, To other counts, to 15 months, concurrent. Supervised release for 2 years following release from detenino.

He must provide sample of DNA, he will be required to contribute 400 hour of community service.

Short break, will proceed with bond issue.

Great job from Firedoglake.

Upshot: Marcy sums up the post-sentencing issues:

Walton basically accepted the premise of Fitz's sentencing arguments, which put the range for the obstruction up to 30-37 months, but on the basis of the fact that Libby is a nice guy, took the lowest end of that range, 30 months. He gave him 15 on the other counts, concurrent, but those other counts need to be recalculated, because one should be lower and one should be higher. So the sentence is 30 months, but on stay until the Probation department does new calculations.

As to bond pending appeal, Walton basically said no, but Defense can submit a memo. That is due on Thursday, and then the govt's is due on Tuesday, with Libby's response due on Wednesday. If Walton decides against bond pending appeal after reading those motions, then it all goes to the prison system and Libby goes to jail in normal schedule, which would be about 45-60 days.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:56 AM | Permalink

June 4, 2007

CatCam: See what your cat sees (the mirror)

Unfortunately, CatCam is down, probably for exceeding its allotted bandwidth. On the Web, the more people flock to your work, the more it costs.

Here's a mirror of the cat's first trip outdoors with the camera. Click it to enlarge it. Second trip. Third trip. Fourth trip.

Make Magazine shows the camera parts.

A note in a comment at Digg:

tripod (the webhosting company) those sad idiots have shut the cat-cam private homepage of that dude down due to huge traffic of digg and alike sites....

he has just ordered himself an own domain now, and will be back with the cat-cam content shortly...

the url will be
http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/

The original post:

CatCam photoblogger Mr. Lee

You know you've always wanted to know where your outdoor cat goes, what she/he sees out there.

With a keychain digital camera attached to a collar, you can: Mr. Lee's first photoset.

Here's how.

I'm sure miniaturization would make this more comfortable for kitty. I hope some other geek takes it and runs with it.

(via tracert at Metafilter, followed now by dozens of comments.)

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 7:07 PM | Permalink

June 3, 2007

Living off Hope

Pat Feinstein's Providence "front lawn" is all flowers, except for the sculpture of four life-sized children carved out of a tall stump, the remains of three fused oaks that became a weed.

The art yard on Eighth Street is a neighborhood landmark. Drivers of passing cars do double takes when they see it for the first time.

In the Projo Garden Blog today, Pat tells the story, with more photos, of the 1993 sculpture, which is still standing after several rescues and restorations: The sculpture in Pat Feinstein's front garden: The history of 'Hope and the 3 Children'

Dr. Feinstein, a child psychiatrist born in Thailand, writes,

I wanted the sculpture to have the theme of children at play. The 3-trees-in-1 allowed the two artists to create 3 children standing, with linked arms. There was enough room to add one more figure, hence the kneeling girl with her hands clasped, depicting a Thai greeting. We eventually named her Hope, to signify optimistic anticipation, plus we are just off Hope Street.

It may be the only work in the Smithsonian Inventory of American Sculpture accessorized with a changing wardrobe of hats, scarves and shawls.

Bonus link: Tree stump's metamorphosis proves a street show supreme: Journal reporter Tom Morgan's 1993 Journal story about the making of the art, by Scituate woodworker Frank Reedy and sculptor Sang In Kim.

Bonus link #2: The wonderfully-named Hope Street in Providence bisects the length of the East Side, running from the Pawtucket line nearly to the waterfront. It's been immortalized by the 1978 Providence Poster, below, by The Mad Peck, about whom you may read more at Wikipedia.

Yup, in the allegory of Providence street names, I live off Hope, too.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 4:39 AM | Permalink

June 1, 2007

Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Bush

15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever, at Mental Floss.

I goofed on Mr. Rogers until I had a kid of my own, and saw how enthralling he was for her, and how very kind.

4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.

This is a nice short read that ends with pointers to " Tom Junod’s wonderful profile of Fred Rogers and his obituary for him."

Not such a good neighbor: Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter, in the Wall Street Journal (Too Bad):

...The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place.

This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place. For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad! You don't like expanding governmental authority and power? Too bad. You think the war was wrong or is wrong? Too bad.

But on immigration it has changed from "Too bad" to "You're bad."

The president has taken to suggesting that opponents of his immigration bill are unpatriotic--they "don't want to do what's right for America."

Opponents of the Iraq war have been slammed as unpatriotic and dismissed, too -- and that's a majority of Americans.

With the left gone, and the right going, who's left?

And what's to be done about it? Where's smart and sane when American most needs it? Is the promise of America now merely the will to power of George Bush?

Related: Georgie Ann Geyer in the Dallas Morning News, A spreading terror:

...The White House sees terrorists as born, not created by history, bearing the mark of Cain, not the mark of circumstance. There is a scarlet "T" written on their foreheads at birth and the only answer is to destroy them. This kind of thinking, of course, relieves the thinker of any responsibility for the presence of the insurgent-terrorist-whatever in our innocent midst.

What's more, there is not much real give in the administration's policies. True, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other American diplomats met Memorial Day weekend with the Iranians in Baghdad (a good first move but limited, since the Iranians have most of the power because of our incredible stupidity in Iraq). But by all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."

Hubris. How do we not go over the cliff with him?

Mp3: When the President Talks to God

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments 1