The future is now gamers.

OK, what does this headset + Super Smash Brawl + 4 of your friends = ?? One very interesting livingroom scene.

Can you believe this guy?

Remember this guy? The senator who got busted for soliciting sex in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International airport. Well his refusal to admit the truth has apparently affected not only the prestige of the senate and the respect of voters but also MSP airports pocketbook. The Metropolitan Airports Commission has spent more than $28,000 prosecuting Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and fighting his appeal. It's about 20 percent of the MAC's entire fiscal 2007 budget for prosecutions. Reports also say he personally spent over $200,000 on legal fee's. This guy's closet must be huge and lonely.

I Thought It Was For Democracy...?

I was totally surprised when I read this.

Atlas Yawns

Holy cow, that is a lot of development. Who knew there was that much money in having a lot of rich people come to your town?

Just In Case You Couldn't Take Them Seriously Before

Target is putting their security guards on Segways. "Hey! Wait up! Put that cart back where it belongs!" Seriously?

Link

Wikileaks Plug Pulled

Wikileaks.org, a site that provided placement for document leaking and whistleblowing, has been shut down by order of a California court due to a lawsuit filed by a Swiss bank which had documents given to the site that reveal practices of money laundering and tax evasion through offshore dirty dealings.
The data isn't gone (the BBC story I read said that other countries' Wikileaks were still up and running), in which case it is only a matter of time before the site gets a new home in some form or another. Long live the hydra.

Link

Careful Max

So Spike Jonze's adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are" is in post-production, and someone posted a potentially fake (looks real to me) teaser for it. Woweee wow wow wow. This will be amazing.

Lap It Up Fuckheads

Where the fuck did the Senate Democrats' balls go? Doesn't matter, plenty of ball in the House.

Boo-ya

Elections Unscathed (or "What's China?")

One of the biggest annual migrations of our species goes on every year in China. Hundreds of millions of migrant workers move away from the booming coastal areas to go home (often their only opportunity all year) for the Chinese New Year. That coupled with the worst winter conditions China has experienced in more than six decades has lead to some of the biggest news of recent memory. Millions of people were stranded in train stations, on roads and airports with little supplies. The weather conditions are also hampering an already strained coal supply effecting energy output and causing rolling blackouts in some central provinces. This also means no heating. Roads were also closed, fueling a decrease in food supplies. In short China is experiencing one of the worst natural disaster/humanitarian crises in the last half century. Even with the New Year celebrations under way many of these problems remain unresolved. There are also more long-lasting effects, such as the destruction of crops and maybe more importantly possible political consequences.
It is not getting much attention in the American media. In fact slim to none. I have asked more then a few people if they had heard anything about it and all but a few said they had. Even those had only some scant idea. I find it incredible that our election season can just swamp our media like this. I also find the political implications of this interesting. The Chinese government is in a mad scramble to solve these pressing problems. These kinds of situations have a history of causing political instability. In a rare face saving measure the Chinese prime minister came to a crowded train station to apologize. Such unprecedented acknowledgement of government failings is practically unheard of in China; such is the breadth of this issue. I found this forum composed of people who lived and are living through this and want to make it available:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7214937.stm

Overrun

I wish I lived in New York.

Speed, Glue & Shinki

Thanks to Stephen O'Malley for turning everyone on his friends list on to these guys. Speed, Glue & Shinki were a rock and roll band from Japan, their album came out in 1972. They're amazing. Here is a huge article about them that I don't need to regurgitate. Just give them a whirl.

Nachtmystium

These guys have been awesome for a while. They posted a new song on their MySpace. God those MySpace media players tohts suck.

Oh Jerr

This has been floating around and being performed for years now. "Jerry Springer: The Opera" means something. What, though? I dunno. The yin-yang of high culture and sleaze smooshed together on a Broadway stage certainly holds some gems for the dialecticians to work out. I'm too tired.

That's A Lot Of Bush

Nobody needs me to tell them that Spencer Tunick is doing amazing work.

since feeling is first

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for eachother: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

- e.e. cummings

Bashar and Mahmoud Are Gonna Be So Pissed At Us

WikiLeaks just published the US Rules of Engagement for Iraq. I don't know if I agree with the publication of this. Consideration should be given to the troops who would have to deal with an enemy fully appraised of how to avoid getting fired at. But now that it's been released, there's no doubt that there will be some diplomatic repercussions, considering it allows for illegal entrance under specific circumstances into Iran and Syria; not our biggest friends in the world.

Link to Int'l Herald Tribune article