Paris under water (future vision?)

5:46 am from ArtefactoryLab on Vimeo.

What does Occupy Wall Street collectively want?

Apt insight via the New York Times: "The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening."

About describes it in a nutshell, doesn't it? It's not just the bailouts for the rich, or the unpunished, illegal corporate greed that brought the economy to the brink of ruin - it's Washington's ignorance of the problem, its refusal to obey the will of the people, and its blatant submission to its corporate masters.

We've had enough.

What we learned from 5 million books

What we learned from 5 million books (video on TED.com)

George Thorogood setlist, FM Kirby Center, Wilkes Barre PA - Oct. 4, 2011

• Sweet Little Rock And Roller
• Who Do You Love?
• Hi-Heel Sneakers
• I Drink Alone
• House Rent Boogie (One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer)
• Cocaine Blues
• Seventh Son
• Get a Haircut
• Bad to the Bone
• Move It on Over

Encore:

• Tail Dragger
• You Talk Too Much

Encore 2:

• Madison Blues

Compare to the last time I saw him.

Logan's Run remake gains momentum

Finally, word that the Logan's Run remake is going into production next year. Of course, I've been hearing rumors for years now.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street has begun. Will the mainstream press ignore?

Steve Miller setlist - Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA), August 8, 2011

• Jet Airliner
• Take the Money and Run
• Abracadabra
• Living in the U.S.A.
• Swingtown
• Further Up the Road
• Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Jesse Hill)
• All Your Love (I Miss Loving), (Otis Rush)
• I Just Got Back from Texas
• Fly Like an Eagle
• Serenade
• Wild Mountain Honey
• Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
• Dance Dance Dance
• Rock’n Me

Encore:

• Perfect World
• Gangster of Love
• Space Cowboy
• Jungle Love
• The Joker

Pieced together from the review at the Lehigh Valley Music Blog.

Ted Nugent setlist - Penn's Peak (Jim Thorpe, PA), August 14, 2011

• Free For All
• Stormtroopin'
• Wango Tango
• Just What the Doctor Ordered
• Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
• Need You Bad
• Turn It Up
• Rawdogs & Warhogs
• Dog Eat Dog
• Hey Baby
• Fred Bear
• I Still Believe
• Motor City Madhouse
• Cat Scratch Fever
• Stranglehold
  

Encore:

• Great White Buffalo

Courtesy setlist.fm.

Ted Nugent setlist - Penn's Peak (Jim Thorpe PA), August 14, 2011

Free For All
Stormtroopin'
Wango Tango
Just What the Doctor Ordered
Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
Need You Bad
Turn It Up
Rawdogs & Warhogs
Dog Eat Dog
Hey Baby
Fred Bear
I Still Believe
Motor City Madhouse
Cat Scratch Fever
Stranglehold

Encore:

Great WhiteBuffalo

Steely Dan setlist - Musikfest (Bethlehem PA), August 10, 2011

• Intro: Dizzy's Bidness
• Your Gold Teeth
• Aja
• Black Friday
• Hey Nineteen
• Black Cow
• Time Out of Mind
• Show Biz Kids
• Boddhisitva
• FM
• Godwhacker
• Dirty Work
• Papa Don't Take No Mess (James Brown cover)
• Home at Last
• Josie
• Peg
• My Old School
• Reelin' in the Years

Encore:

• Kid Charlemagne
• Outro: Last Tango in Paris

Courtesy setlist.fm.

Stone Temple Pilots setlist - Musikfest (Bethlehem PA), August 5, 2011

Yes, I'm way behind in posting setlists for the shows I've been to recently (August was a busy month). Anyway, here's the STP setlist (courtesy of setlist.fm):

• Crackerman
• Wicked Garden
• Vasoline
• Heaven and Hot Rods
• Between the Lines
• Hickory Dichotomy
• Still Remains
• Big Empty
• Silvergun Superman
• Plush
• Interstate Love Song
• Big Bang Baby
• Down
• Sex Type Thing 

Encore:

• Dead & Bloated
• Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart

Alice Cooper, Scranton Cultural Center - August 23, 2011 setlist

• The Black Widow
• Brutal Planet
• I'm Eighteen
• Under My Wheels
• Billion Dollar Babies
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Hey Stoopid
• Is It My Body
• Halo of Flies
• I'll Bite Your Face Off
• Muscle of Love
• Only Women Bleed
• Cold Ethyl
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Clones (We're All)
• Poison
• Wicked Young Man
• Killer (excerpt)
• I Love the Dead (excerpt)
• School's Out (and excerpt from Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall)
  
  Encore:
• Elected

Setlist courtesy of Setlist.FM.

Logan's Run remake

Interesting article on IO9 about the "never seems to get anywhere" Logan's Run remake.

We're All Crazy

Slashdot has a great discussion on the over-prescription of anti-psychotic drugs in the U.S. (big pharma influencing doctors, maybe? whatever happened to professional ethics, anyway? or personal ethics, for that matter...).

And yes, this post's title refers to the great Alice Cooper song (off From the Inside).

U2 setlist - Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, July 14, 2011

I was in the nosebleed section, so the sound quality wasn't great. Still a good show by Bono and the gang, though unfortunately no Running to Stand Still (sigh). Also, they did not play In God's County, despite what the guy on WMMR said. Here's the setlist, mostly courtesy of U2gigs.com:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
I Will Follow
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World / Where Have All The Flowers Gone? (snippet)
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / The Promised Land (snippet)
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day / Space Oddity (snippet)
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (snippet)
Miss You (snippet) / I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Life During Wartime (snippet) / Psycho Killer (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On

Encore(s):
One
Hallelujah (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
Happy Birthday (for Nelson Mandela)

You can't read it all (I'm still going to try)

NPR article which I find overwhelmingly relevant to my mindset many days - I'm an infojunkie.

Brave New World Revisited

 In Brave New World Revisited (1958), Aldous Huxley was eerily precognizant of today's media and our reaction to it:

In their propaganda today’s dictators rely for the most part on repetition, suppression and rationaliza­tion — the repetition of catchwords which they wish to be accepted as true, the suppression of facts which they wish to be ignored, the arousal and rationaliza­tion of passions which may be used in the interests of the Party or the State. As the art and science of manip­ulation come to be better understood, the dictators of the future will doubtless learn to combine these tech­niques with the non-stop distractions which, in the West, are now threatening to drown in a sea of irrele­vance the rational propaganda essential to the mainten­ance of individual liberty and the survival of demo­cratic institutions.

The quandaries of modern web development

As the browser wars begin anew, Slashdot has an interesting post on the issue. The answer is, of course, develop to standards and let the browser do what they will.

Monty Python Star Trek mashup

Found on Space 1970:

Stop time?

My stove has a button that stops time! Tremble, puny humans!

Classic essay: The Right to Read

The Right to Read by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation chronicles the inevitable result of DRM technologies. Timely, with the recent "forced obsolescence" espoused by publisher HarperCollins.

Bravery

Live Rocket Propelled Grenade removed from soldier.

"If law fails, CIA will assassinate Assange"

Oh, the irony

Quote from Pharma Buys A Conscience:

The American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs is planning a $590,000 initiative to educate doctors about the ethical problems involved in accepting gifts from the drug industry. That initiative is funded by gifts from Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Inc., Pfizer, U.S. Pharmaceutical Group, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Corporation, Procter and Gamble Company, and Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceutical.

Comic Sans

For all you Comic Sans haters...

Calvin And Hobbes: Fight Club

via BoingBoing.

How to make a Real Rorschach mask that changes and moves.

Fun with HTML5 and comics

Microsoft released this great demo site that shows off what you can do with HTML5. If you have a very modern browser (I got it to work in Safari 5.0.3 and Chrome 8 on a Mac, though without the background soundtrack; it's built for Internet Explorer 9 [which is still in beta]; neither Firefox 3.6 or Opera 11 seemed to work entirely), it's a pretty interesting look at where web comics might go once all browsers are up to speed.

Alice Cooper makes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Yes, it's extremely odd that he wasn't in there years ago. He should have been a founding member, almost. But finally, after all the lobbying we've done (and not lobbying in that sleazy Washington DC way, but more like thousands of fans going "WTF" every time the nominees were announced), Alice Cooper has made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Hear him say thanks here.

Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs

Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs

Is a Digital Comic Really Yours to Own?

This is something I've posted about in various places -- I'm glad to see it getting some notice in the online comics press.

Roger Waters - The Wall Live - Pittsburgh, PA setlist - Sept. 26, 2010

• In The Flesh?
• The Thin Ice
• Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1
• The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
• Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2
• Mother
• Goodbye Blue Sky
• Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?
• Young Lust
• One Of My Turns
• Don't Leave Me Now
• Another Brick In The Wall, Part 3
• The Last Few Bricks
• Goodbye Cruel World

Intermission

• Hey You
• Is There Anybody Out There?
• Nobody Home
• Vera
• Bring The Boys Back Home
• Comfortably Numb
• The Show Must Go On
• In The Flesh
• Run Like Hell
• Waiting For The Worms
• Stop
• The Trial
• Outside The Wall

Elected

Alice Cooper has been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, he should have been in there years ago, but at long last, he's in the running.

Rush setlist, Allentown Fairgrounds, Aug 31, 2010

• The Spirit of Radio
• Time Stands Still
• Presto
• Stick It Out
• Workin’ Them Angels
• Leave That Thing Alone
• Faithless
• BU2B
• Free Will
• Marathon
• Subdivisions

[intermission]

• Tom Sawyer
• Red Barchetta
• YYZ
• Limelight
• Camera Eye
• Witch Hunt
• Vital Signs
• Caravan
• Love 4 Sale
• Closer to the Heart
• 2112 Overture / Temples of Syrinx
• Far Cry

Encore:

• La Villa Strangiato
• Working Man

Norah Jones setlist: August 7, 2010 at MusikFest in Bethlehem PA

1. I Wouldn't Need You
2. Tell Yer Mama
3. Light As a Feather
4. Even Though
5. Young Blood
6. It's Gonna Be
7. Chasing Pirates
8. Broken
9. What Do You Think Of Her Now
10. Sunrise
11. Waiting
12. Back To Manhattan
13. Sinkin’ Soon
14. Dauphin Island
15. Man Of The Hour
16. Don’t Know Why
17. Stuck
18. Come Away With Me

Encore:

1. Creepin In
2. Lonestar 

Thanks to the International Press Association for the setlist.

Reviews:

• Norah Jones throws intimate party with Musikfest audience as guests (Lehigh Valley Live)
• Norah Jones's Musikfest show is different, but still cool (Morning Call)

Net neutrality takes a hit from former proponent Google (everybody panic!)

Wired has a great explanation of how the Google-Verizon announcement betrays Google's "don't be evil" motto.

Time travel

Will someone explain this to me: Quantum Time Machine Lets You Travel to the Past Without Fear of Grandfather Paradox? Thanks.

My current favorite flikr set

Passive-aggressive wi-fi.

Oh, and the "Woot acquired by Amazon" letter from Woot's CEO is pretty hilarious, too.

Logan's Run remake news

Slashdot covers the Logan's Run remake. Finally, it appears this may see the light of day.

Emerson and Lake setlist, May 14, 2010 - Stroudsburg, PA

Great show at the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg.

• From the Beginning
• I Talk to the Wind
• Bitches Crystal
• The Barbarian
• Take a Pebble/Tarkus

[intermission]

• C'est la Vie
• Prelude to a Hope
• Milonga for Piano Op. 3
• Pirates
• [Question and Answer session]
• America

 Encore:

• Lucky Man

Living in the coal region...

Bruce Springsteen had a classic line in Thunder Road:

"It's a town full of losers
and I'm pulling out of here to win"

(the "and" is from the piano version on the live box set, for all of you nitpickers).

Anyway, growing up in Schuylkill County, I always thought that was a great line. It was only later when I realized what the region had to offer. I'm glad I found my way back (well, most of the time; there's still the modern-day coal barons to deal with, who peddle everything from culm and wind energy to prisons and river sludge to a populace grown too cynical to care, but that's another day's battle). There's a great article about what the area has to offer here, and something I needed to read today.

Half-naked run through Shops at Prudential Center (Boston)

For some odd reason, a throng of half-naked college kids (I presume this was some type of fraternity thing, or perhaps spring fever) ran through the Shops at Prudential Center in Boston this past Friday. At least this one wore a cape:

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I Cost More, but I’m a Specialist

What if newspaper columnists behaved like our health care system? (from the New York Times).

Logan's Run: Last Day link roundup

A roundup of links regarding the new Logan's Run: Last Day comic book published by BlueWater Comics:

• William F. Nolan Talks Logan’s Run: Last Day
• YouTube: Creator William F. Nolan's STORYTIME the reading of the new Logan's Run comic book
• A Comic Book Orange's video review
• Best Shots Advance Review: LOGAN'S RUN: LAST DAY #1
• Famous Monsters » Comic Review: Logan’s Run Last Day
• The World of Logan's Run: Bluewater Publishing's 'Logan's Run - Last Day' Comic Series
• Dueling Review: Logan’s Run #1

Previously: Logan's Run: Last Day covers

The Indymac Slap in our Face

The Indymac Slap in our Face, or your tax dollars at work. Like a reverse Robin Hood, our government continues to take from the poor and give to the rich.

The Known Universe

Leaked ACTA documents

Leaked documents concerning the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement are available here. Some believe that the eventual adoption of these agreements could create "back-door" laws, imposing rules on citizens that were not written by their government. Link via boingboing.

Student killed by exploding chewing gum

I kid you not.

Via Warren Ellis (of course).

Hey Google: whatever happened to "don't be evil"?

From boingboing: Google CEO says privacy doesn't matter. Google blacklists CNet for violating CEO's privacy. Disclaimer: This here blog is courtesy of Google's Blogger service. If they were really evil, they wouldn't let me

---[signal lost] ---

While we're on the "cat" theme...

Failed experiment.

Feline dietary preferences

Sure, I can blog about cats. Why? I'm not an old lady. Stop it.


see more Funny Graphs

Alice Cooper setlist - Sept 22, 2009 - Scranton, PA

So it only took me a month to post this:

• School's Out (part only)
• Eighteen
• Wicked Young Man
• Ballad of Dwight Fry
• Go To H*ll
• Guilty
• Welcome To My Nightmare
• Cold Ethyl
• Poison
• The Awakening
• From The Inside
• Nurse Rozetta
• Is It My Body
• Be My Lover
• Only Women Bleed
• I Never Cry
• The Black Widow (instrumental)
• Vengeance Is Mine
• Devil's Food
• Dirty Diamonds
• Billion Dollar Babies
• Killer
• I Love The Dead (part only)
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Under My Wheels

Encore:

• Schools Out (full version)

Logan's Run: Last Day covers

The MTV website has a look at all four covers from the new Logan's Run comic being put out by BlueWater. Looks like the release has been pushed back to January.

Some fun sites for today

• Garfield minus Garfield (it's so much funnier without the cat - kind of a weird, existential thing).
• FMyLife - Murphy's Law in a few hundred characters (it's antonym: MyLifeIsAverage).
• GraphJam - "For people who love charts."

My gift to you, InterWeb denizens.

Fun site for graphic designers

Your logo makes me barf. Heh.

Link via the Central Penn Adobe User Group.

The artist behind the Flash, Star Wars, Adam Strange

Here's an interview with comics great Carmine Infantino, a former teacher of mine (really!) and a wonderful artist. I still love his work on Marvel's Star Wars adaptions (with Gene Day inking). He of course also had the great runs on Adam Strange and the Flash.

Health care stories

Health care horror stories collected by a blogger at The Atlantic. The system is in serious need of reform. Hopefully the Obama administration gets it, and doesn't just give in to the insurance companies like they did with the drug companies.

Pencils review?

I recently purchased some Pencils at Staples. Specifically, Staples(R) number 2, Yellow pencils, Dozen. A few days later, Staples sent me an e-mail, thanking me for my purchase of said pencils, maybe I'd be interested in some pink erasers (as if they foresee many mistakes ahead...)? They also wondered if I would care to write a review -- I can even check off such things as "Easy to sharpen" and "Great lead capacity" (what?!).

Shades of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz...

Google Satellite Captures First Image

Google has a new high-res satellite. It's first pic? Kutztown University.

How Internet Gatekeepers Stifle Progress

Here's a great article by Cory Doctorow on monopolies and copyright, DRM, and the like. Basically, a few "gatekeepers" make the rules, even on the Internet, and once again, the creatives get screwed.

Drug company deal with White House

Does anyone else get the feeling when reading of a deal like this -- where the drug companies are only going to make ten trillion dollars instead of eleven trillion dollars (by overcharging poor people) -- that the drug companies are laughing at us as they get richer and richer while pretending to be good guys? Is everything spin anymore?

New Logan's Run comic!

Bluewater Productions is making a new Logan's Run comic starting this fall. Logan's Run was a novel (first of a trilogy that included Logan's World and Logan's Search, plus a later short story) about a dystopian future where the law proscribed death at 21 (a 70's movie adaption changed that age to 30; a remake has been talked about for years, but doesn't seem to be able to get off the ground).

Word balloons in old ads

Here's a neat article featuring old-time ads that used word balloons to get their message across.

Handling charge for website

DailyINK is a website that offers access to daily comics, among other things such as interactive puzzles, from King Features Syndicate. The annual access cost of $15.00 includes a $3.00 handling charge. Does that strike anyone else as strange -- a handling charge for a website?

Great Simon and Kirby comic: "The Woman in the Tower"

Thanks to boingboing, who reprint a neat Joe Simon and Jack Kirby interpretation of a woman's dream, from the 1950's series Strange World of your Dreams.

Today's topic

Today's topic is
apophenia. Discuss.
I'll be here, waiting.

Frog haiku

Came across this list
of many translations of
frog haiku. Enjoy!

Senator Ben Nelson is angry

Via Mr. Lessig. When public figures, like Senator Nelson from Nebraska, receive a ton of money from special interests, you gotta question their motives, hold them accountable for their actions, and put the pressure on. Remember, government exists to serve the people, not corporations.

Classic XKCD SQL injection

This is a classic XKCD, which despite it's stick figure drawings is one of the funniest web comics out there (but only if you're a computer geek).

Is Anyone Minding the Store at the Federal Reserve?

This is verrrry scary. The Federal Reserve has been looted, and the level of incompetence displayed by the Federal Reserve Inspector General is shocking. Spread this far and wide. Every person in this country who isn't distracted by Britney, Paris, and whatever other diversions are being thrown your way: someone is stealing from you. Our government is evidently colluding with thieves; I'm not sure how else to explain it. Why this isn't the top story on every news station and newspaper in this country, I'm at a loss to explain.

The Big Takeover: Why We're Screwed

This Rolling Stone article has already made the rounds of the blogosphere but is definitely worth a read for those of you who want to understand how we got into this bailout mess. Warning: you will be outraged after reading this.

Another great explanation of the scenarios that caused the crisis can be found in a PBS This American Life show from May 2008 called The Giant Pool of Money.

1 in 50 U.S. children face homelessness

Key quote: "As we bail out the rest of our nation, it is also time to come to their aid." Link.

George Thorogood and the Destroyers setlist - House of Blues, Atlantic City - March 21, 2009

The usual overpriced drinks and some annoying drunks, but overall a good show. Setlist follows:

• House of Blue Lights
• Who Do You Love?
• The Fixer
• Night Time
• I Drink Alone
• One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
• Born Lover
• Bad to the Bone
• Gear Jammer
• Move It On Over

Encore I:

• What a Price
• You Talk Too Much

Encore II:

• Treat Her Right
• Madison Blues

They could have at least called it "es-ef"...

The Sci-Fi channel is renaming itself Syfy.

Morons.

From the mouth of a child...

Watch. Listen.

Prelude to the Road Warrior scenario

There's an interesting post over at boingboing entitled "How are you coping with collapse-anxiety?" We live in interesting times (like the old Chinese curse says) and it is an anxiety-ridden moment in history. How did we get here? Did the military-industrial complex spiral out of control, much too large for any one person, group, or country to manage? Or was it simply the bad policies of George Bush post-9/11, when he took an enormous amount of political momentum and used it to run the country into the ground, looting the treasury for his buddies on the way out the door?

Sorry if I sound cynical. Hopefully Mr. Obama can use his political momentum to take us in the other direction, but the critical mass of extremism in Washington looks to be a serious impediment to real progress.

Does Visual Studio rot the mind?

If you're not a programmer, stop reading now.

Everyone who's still with me, this article, while a little dated, is a fascinating read. The premise is how some tools dictate how you approach a problem (like the old adage "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"). Taken a step further, if you learn to think a certain way because you've been using a certain tool for a long time, it can change your way of thinking so that you can't see other ways of tackling the problem. And that's dangerous.

State of the Union

"The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step Monday by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government ... totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a 'breach of peace' with the states themselves that risks 'nullifying the Constitution.'" link (via digg).

As for the latest bailout: Let the Wall St. "Talent" Walk.

Evidently the universe may be a hologram

Evidently the universe may be a hologram. Huh. And I thought we were living in the Matrix (or is it the same thing)?

The myth of "clean coal"

The disingenuously-named American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity spent $45 million last year touting "clean coal," while in just nine months, coal and energy companies spent $125 million lobbying against federal regulations promoting clean energy. Something doesn't pass the smell test. More....

Would big pharmaceutical companies choose profits over human lives?

A scientist believed he'd found a possible cure for Diabetes and asked pharmaceutical companies to sponsor clinical trials. From the article:

One example is Weissman’s mid-’90s research on type I diabetes, in which he demonstrated the ability to fully cure type I diabetes in mice using stem cells ... Weissman implied that the pharmaceutical companies had put profit over principle, preferring to keep diabetes sufferers dependent on costly insulin than to cure them once and for all.

Via digg.

Fascinating Adobe Illustrator demo

Via boingboing.

Notes From the Chairman, in the High Life

Reading Bono's guest column for the New York times entitled Notes from the Chairman. Am struck by Bono's observation on listening to two versions of My Way: one, recorded when Sinatra was a younger man, full of bravado, the spit and vinegar of youth, "embodying all the machismo a man can muster about the mistakes he’s made on the way from here to everywhere." And then the version recorded when Sinatra was much older, now a song of defeat, and the duality this implies.

It made me remember Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life Again, a song brimming with optimism. A few years back, Warren Zevon did a cover of High Life on his Life'll Kill Ya album. Zevon turned this wildly optimistic song into a moving dirge by a defeated man. I'm still amazed that this song can go through these extremes, from optimism to defeat without changing a lyric. That's the brilliance of these artists, bringing that duality to the song.

Geek proof

This may prove that I'm a geek, but I found this hilarious.

American Banking's Shameful Double Standard

Says it all. What is the recourse of the average taxpayer against blatant corruption and theft by government and the banking industry?

Banks won't disclose how they're spending bailout money

Here's my favorite quote:

Heine, the New York Mellon Corp. spokesman who said he wouldn't share spending specifics, added: "I just would prefer if you wouldn't say that we're not going to discuss those details."

Link

Drug firms block cheap medicine

As if we needed yet another reason to despise big business, drug companies use various legal (though maybe not ethical) measures to keep profits high by preventing the introduction of generics in Europe. At least the European Commission sounds like they're willing to go after them if they break the law in the process; in the U.S., we just shovel more money at them through Medicare Part D and call it progress.

Cars Sliding Down Icy Hill

Winter is here. Sigh.

Fed Refuses to Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion

Think about that headline for a moment. Remember we're a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Not for the rich. Not for the politicians. For the people. The Federal Reserve has no right to withhold how they gave away two trillion dollars. Outrage, anyone?

Proof of time travel?

A Swiss watch is found in a 400-year-old tomb. Reality is weird sometimes.

EPA makes it harder to build coal plants

The Environmental Protection Agency has blocked a coal plant in Utah, starting a rulemaking process that will likely result in greater carbon dioxide emission regulations. Hopefully, this will help prevent the environmental disaster that was proposed for construction outside Frackville. While the mislabeled "coal to clean fuel" plant has been dying a slow death for many years, hopefully increased regulation of CO2 emissions will kill the thing once and for all.

Strange Portal Connects Earth to Sun

No, really. Every eight minutes, magnetic portals open up and connect the Earth to the sun. Weird.

Alice Cooper - House of Blues, Atlantic City - Nov. 1, 2008

Great show, as always. While the setlist hasn't varied much in the past few years, Alice is still a fantastic performer (at age 60, no less).

While we waited to enter the House of Blues, we were, of course, searched. The huge guy in front of us was told he couldn't enter with the chain attached to his wallet, so he tore it off and handed it to the woman. Heh. While they searched people thoroughly, they didn't bother to take our tickets, and everyone just shuffled in. Weird.

Opening act was Z02 out of Brooklyn, NY. Their sound was alright, though they were much too, I don't know, Hannah Montana-ish to be opening for Alice Cooper. They didn't even start playing until 45 minutes after the doors opened, so we knew it was going to be a long night. And then the drunk woman next to me spilled her beer on the back of my pants. Sigh. I always seem to get stuck next to idiots.

Alice made it worthwhile, though, and even played two songs off the new album (Along Came A Spider), along with a number of hits. Setlist (I think this is correct):

• It's Hot Tonight
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Under My Wheels
• I'm Eighteen
• Is It My Body?
• Woman Of Mass Distraction
• Lost In America
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Be My Lover
• (In Touch With Your) Feminine Side
• Dirty Diamonds
• Vengeance Is Mine
• Halo Of Flies
• Welcome To My Nightmare
• Cold Ethyl
• Only Women Bleed
• Steven
• Dead Babies
• Ballad Of Dwight Fry
• Devils Food/I Love The Dead
• School's Out

Encore:

• Billion Dollar Babies
• Poison
• Elected

Fascist America?

Think about how reality has changed in the last seven years. Our civil liberties are quietly eroded, under the guise of keeping us safe from the invisible terrorist threat, while we're happily distracted by Britney and Paris. This is getting past tinfoil hat territory; the collapse of America is actually happening while we look the other way. This article, written over a year ago, is chilling in its implications.

The Rich Are Staging a Coup

Read it. Spread the word.

John McCain Kicks Librarian Out of Town Hall Event

This is evidently the state of free speech in the United States...

McCain = Bush = Loss of Freedom.

Add your voice to ONE

Bruce Springsteen - Hershey, PA - Aug. 19, 2008

Great show. Beautiful summer evening. Bad seats. Expensive beer. Cool t-shirt. Setlist:

• Summertime Blues
• Radio Nowhere
• Out in the Street
• Spirit in the Night
• Promised Land
• (sign collection):
  
  • Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker cover)
  • Darlington County
  • Waitin on a Sunny Day
  • Reason To Believe
• Prove It All Night
• No Surrender
• Because the Night
• She's The One
• Living In The Future
• Mary's Place
• Workin On The Highway
• Part Man Part Monkey
• The Rising
• Last To Die
• Long Walk Home
• Badlands

Encore:

• Thunder Road
• Jungleland
• Seven Nights to Rock
• Born To Run
• Rosalita
• Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
• American Land
• Gloria

The last great rock-n-roll album

There has not been a great rock and roll album since 1987's The Joshua Tree.

There, I said it.

Sure, there have been notable albums - Elephant by The White Stripes, or Robert Plant's Mighty Rearranger, maybe. But has there been anything truly memorable - an entire album where you just went "wow"? And no, I don't count Nirvana - quick, name me five great Nirvana songs. How about three? I'm not trolling here, but I'd really like to know if anyone can recommend a great rock and roll album in the last 20 years. Even U2's later efforts prompt a "meh" reaction, and I'm a huge U2 fan.

So, prove me wrong.