Who needs direct repression when one can convince the chicken to walk freely into the slaughterhouse?

From Slavoj Zizek's latest book, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce:

"In the middle of April 2009, I was sitting in a hotel room in Syracuse, hopping between two TV programs: a documentary on Pete Seeger, the great American folk singer of the Left, and a Fox News report on the anti-tax 'tea-party' in Austin, Texas, with a country singer performing an anti-Obama song full of complaints about how Washington is taxing hard-working ordinary people in order to finance the rich Wall Street financiers. The short-circuit between the two programs had an electrifying effect on me, with two especially noticeable features. First, there was the weird similarity between the two musicians, both formulating a populist anti-establishment critique of the exploitative rich and their state, and both calling for radical measures, up to and including civil disobedience - another painful reminder that, with regard to forms of organization, the contemporary radical-populist Right strangely reminds us of the old radical-populist Left. Second, one cannot but notice the fundamental irrationality of the 'tea party' protests: Obama effectively plans to lower taxes for over 95 percent of hard-working ordinary people, proposing to raise them for only the upper couple of percentiles - that is, for the 'exploitative rich.' So how is it that people are literally acting counter to their own interests?

"Thomas Frank aptly described this paradox of contemporary populist conservatism in the US: the economic class opposition (poor farmers and blue-collar workers versus lawyers, bankers, and large companies) is transposed or re-coded onto the opposition of honest, hard-working Christian Americans versus the decadent liberals who drink lattes and drive foreign cars, advocate abortion and homosexuality, and mock patriotic sacrifice and simple 'provincial' ways of life, and so forth. The enemy is thus perceived as the 'liberal' elite who, through federal state intervention - from school-busing to legislating that Darwinian theory and perverted sexual practice be taught in class - want to undermine the authentic American way. The conservatives' main economic demand is therefore to get rid of the strong state which taxes the population to finance its regulatory interventions; their minimal economic program is thus: 'fewer taxes, fewer regulations.' From the standard perspective of the enlightened and rational pursuit of self-interest, the inconsistency of this ideological stance is obvious: the populist conservatives are literally voting themselves into economic ruin. Less taxation and deregulation means more freedom for the big companies who are driving impoverished farmers out of business; less state intervention means less federal help for small businessmen and entrepreneurs.

"Although the 'ruling class' disagrees with the populists' moral agenda, it tolerates the 'moral war' as a means of keeping the lower classes in check, that is, it enables the latter to articulate their fury without disturbing the economic status quo. What this means is that the culture war is a class war in a displaced mode - pace those who claim that we live in a post-class society ... "

Do You Like Rawk Music?

If so, bang your brain around to this little monster by the most rocking friends of Cake Police, The Willowz. This song is the first taste of their new album, Everyone, which will be droppin' on yr face November 17th, courtesy of Dim Mak/Downtown records. So check it out and buy it if you like it. Or even if you don't.

“Repetition”

The Impotence of Obama's Power

Some of you may have been asking, if you keep up with current events, WTF is George W. Bush still doing in the White House? A valid question, to be sure. He should not still be there! (EDIT: I was recently told he is actually no longer residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and apparently hasn't been for some months now. Additionally, and even more embarrassingly for me, he isn't even making policy decisions anymore. Fooled me!) Anyways, here is an article from the New York Review of Books about the inability of a modern US president to function in a way he might see fit due to the longtime accumulation of laws and responsibilities, both legal and illegal, that have increasingly factored into and distorted what exactly it means to be Commander in Chief of this once great country. Excerpts below, as well as a link to the full article. Enjoy, guys!

"But the momentum of accumulating powers in the executive is not easily reversed, checked, or even slowed. It was not created by the Bush administration. The whole history of America since World War II caused an inertial transfer of power toward the executive branch. The monopoly on use of nuclear weaponry, the cult of the commander in chief, the worldwide network of military bases to maintain nuclear alert and supremacy, the secret intelligence agencies, the entire national security state, the classification and clearance systems, the expansion of state secrets, the withholding of evidence and information, the permanent emergency that has melded World War II with the cold war and the cold war with the "war on terror"—all these make a vast and intricate structure that may not yield to effort at dismantling it. Sixty-eight straight years of war emergency powers (1941–2009) have made the abnormal normal, and constitutional diminishment the settled order.

"The truth of this was borne out in the early days of Barack Obama's presidency. At his confirmation hearing to be head of the CIA, Leon Panetta said that "extraordinary rendition"—the practice of sending prisoners to foreign countries—was a tool he meant to retain.^[1] Obama's nominee for solicitor general, Elena Kagan, told Congress that she agreed with John Yoo's claim that a terrorist captured anywhere should be subject to "battlefield law."^[2] On the first opportunity to abort trial proceedings by invoking "state secrets"—the policy based on the faulty Reynolds case—Obama's attorney gen- eral, Eric Holder, did so.^[3] Obama refused to release photographs of "enhanced interrogation." The CIA had earlier (illegally) destroyed ninety-two videotapes of such interrogations—and Obama refused to release documents describing the tapes."

"On January 25, 2002, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales signed a memo written by David Addington that called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and "obsolete." Perhaps, in the nuclear era, the Constitution has become quaint and obsolete. Few people even consider anymore Madison's lapidary pronouncement, "In republican government the legislative authority necessarily predominates." Instead, we are all, as citizens, asked to salute our commander in chief. Any president, wanting leverage to accomplish his goals, must find it hard to give up the aura of war chief, the mystery and majesty that have accrued to him with control of the Bomb, the awesome proximity to the Football, to the Button."

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23110

don't it testify

THE FALL MONDAYS

this is the band that should have a day devoted to them on our blog,

the fall mondays from now on?

cedric said it right, "if you dont know who the fall is, you've been listening to too much hip hop and heavy metal."

john peel's favorite band so listen to them peel on this peel session



I'm in the furniture trade
Got a new job today
But stick the cretin
On the number-three lathe

Went down the town
To a HM club
The sign had a cross
Through a couple well-dressed
They looked at my coat
They looked at my hair
An Easy Rider coot
Grabbed the edge of my coat
Said: 'You're too smart for here'
I said: 'I'll see the manager'

He was the manager
Eat y'self fitter
Up the stairs mister
Eat y'self fitter

Analytics have got
My type worked out
Analytics on me
The poison render
I grope about
And when I go out
My mind splits
My eyes doth hurt
The musical chairs
Have been swallowed up
By a cuddly group
Who land and rub off
Hoping that
Whatever it is
Will land and drop off

I met a hero of mine
I shook his hand
Got trapped in the door
Felt a fool, I tell ya

Charmed to meet ya
Eat y'self fitter
Up the stairs mister
Eat y'self fitter

Became a recluse
And bought a computer
Set it up in the home
Elusive big one
On the screen
Saw the Holy Ghost, I swear
On the screen

Where's the cursor?
Where's the eraser?
Where's the cursor?
Where's the eraser?
G-O-H-O-H-O-9-O
G-O-H-O-H-O-9-O
G-O-H-O-H-O-9-O
H-O-9-O-G-O-H-O

What's a computer?
Eat y'self fitter
What's a computer?
Eat y'self fitter

The Kevin Ayers scene
South of France
Plush velvet
Aback! Aback!
Aback! Aback!
Levis Fridays
Greek holidays
Barratt heritance X 3

Mit-Dem! X3
Don't wanna be a mit-dem! X4

Pick the fleas mister
Eat y'self fitter
Eat y'self fitter?
Eat y'self fitter

Who tells you what
To tape on your vid. chip
How do you know the progs you miss
Are worse than those you single out?
And what'll you do when the rental's up?
And your bottom rack is full of vids
Of programs you will nay look at
The way they act is, oh, sheer delight
Cardboard copyright
Make it right
Panic in Sudan
Panic in Wardour
Panic in Granadaland
Panic all over
By the wretched timesheeters
Of my delight
One starry night
The powers that be will have to meet
And have no choice but to...

Eat each other
Eat y'self fitter
Eat each other?
Eat y'self fitter

(Eat y'self fitter)

Portly and with good grace
The secret straight-back ogre entered
His brain aflame
With all the dreams
It had conjured X4

Mit-dem
Don't wanna be a mid-dem X4

The centimeter square
Eat y'self fitter
Said it purged fear
Eat y'self fitter

(Eat y'self fitter)

Submit to TTWWOOYYPP

Submit your work to TTWWOOYYPP.com

Brazil Wood Poetry Has Begun

Snuffaluffagus' next album "Brazil Wood Poetry" is in the works and recording has started. Marc Deriso and I worked all the drum parts out this summer and we just recorded them analog a week or so ago at the beautiful studio that is Tiny Telephone in San Francisco. The Drums were engineered by Jay Pellicci (Deerhoof, Upsilon Acrux, Dilute) and he did an amazing job. We are ever grateful. The rest of the recording process of this collage of the tropicalia era in Brazil will involve piano, bass, guitars, and vocals in san diego, while wrapping up horn and string arrangements as well as mastering in New York early next year. More recording updates as they develop.
Qwerm Out

nervana overload

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0qIARknhMg&feature=youtube_gdata

turn turn turn around

A VERY SPECIAL NIRVANA MONDAY!

IN HONOR OF YOM KIPPUR I MADE SURE THAT NO ONE WAS EATING FOOD IN THIS NIRVANA VIDEO
IM NOT SURE THAT I SUCCEEDED, SEE FOR YOURSELF...

For the Age

Quick to eat, Quick to sleep,
I'm on the potty, Throwing a beat.

G'night. G'morning. Tingling teeth.
Get me a water, and forty of those little rubber-bands that you hook onto your braces.

Thank you.

NEW! Ratingz GhOUL remix of Weatherbox's YouTube the Clouds!

WOW GUYS, WITH FIRST TIME PHOTOS OF MR. GhOULS NEVER BEFORE SEEN RECORDING PROCESS! INCREDIBLE!

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b678b85ce53893580dec85adfe0a530afb8938e83efd6801292b492bd5edc68e

SOL LEWITT

Sol LeWitt was the man who made conceptual art an appealing concept. For almost four decades, LeWitt, who died last year at 78, made immense abstract wall drawings that he conceived but almost never executed himself. His method was to devise a set of instructions — for instance, draw 10,000 ten-inch lines, covering the wall evenly — that could be carried out by assistants or, for that matter, by anyone. Often he never even saw the finished work, much less touched it.

Kyp Malone's Rain Machine Is Proficient In Blowing Minds

Kyp Malone, the guitarist, singer, and big-bearded dude from TV on the Radio, released a solo album on Tuesday under the moniker "Rain Machine," which is also the title of the album. Shit is nuts, like crazy good. Malone eschews the poppy, funky, and often dance centric tropes TVOTR is so fond of for a more soulful sound. The lyrics reflect that change as well. Malone's lyrics here are more straightforward, from the heart (not emo), and full of fucking blistering socio-political commentary. From a condemnation of race relations in modern American society (see "Smiling Black Faces," which Malone opens with the not-innocuous line "I see a slow genocide," and goes on to condemn the police, and society at large, for the horrendous murder of Sean Bell.) to predictions of the fall of humanity ("Love Won't Save You," on which Malone lists a number of things of which you could be in possession that will offer you no help when the apocalypse comes, which include, but are certainly not limited to, the "sweetest pussy the world has ever seen" and, you guessed it, love), Malone unfolds a stinging indictment of American society as he sees it: through a glass darkly. The whole album, front to back, is solid; except for the last song, for which I only have one word, and that word is bad. Overall, however, I dub this album Big Kid Tested, Motherfucker Approved. Pick it up in your preferred medium, with one caveat. If you go the mp3 route, don't skimp on quality, you're gonna want all 320 kbps for this monster. In case you want to try the milk before you Walk The Cow (get it?), here you go:

Rain Machine: "Smiling Black Faces"

ATTENTION CAKE POLICEMEN!

I THINK THIS IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF

Honda U3 X 0 - Transportation of the Future

Check the website for videos.

We've seen our fair share of personal mobility devices over the past few years -- from the ill-received Segway to Toyota's i-Real. Now, Honda's joining the minimalist motoring set with its own limb-atrophying U3-X.

Using technology originally developed for ASIMO the robot, the "U" in U3-X stands for both "universal" and "unicycle," and that's where the interesting tech resides. Housed within the large wheel are a series of smaller wheels that can rotate independently, allowing the awkwardly perched user to go forward, backward, side-to-side or diagonally. Like the Segway, the person piloting the U3-X simply leans in the desired direction to control the movement through the Honda Omni Traction Drive System (HOT).

Honda's keen to point out that the 22-pound U3-X is ultra-portable and easy to use, with fold away footrests and seat cushions. A single, lithium ion battery powers the electric motors up to one hour and the maximum speed is just a few ticks under four MPH.

We'll see the U3-X in person next month at the Tokyo Motor Show, but before then, you can get an eyeful in the gallery below and make the jump for several videos of the U3-X in action, along with Honda's press release.

Police Be Buggin'

This is a story I found via Reddit. This article points out a component to riots, specifically campus riots, that is commonly overlooked in the mainstream media and general public consciousness. This is a great illustration of how police mishandling of peaceful protests can and does shift, or stifle, the tone of rational discourse.

Reddit, I had to create an account to post about what just happened on my campus. I go to the University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh... G20, you know. President Obama's dinner for the delegates happened just off campus, within eyesight of us -- usually. When people grouped up by the street that would lead to the Phipps Conservatory, they were met with armored police.

For a while the students and locals just stood and talked while the police line faced us. Some people sang and had signs. Others just watched. Slowly, the line of locals began to advance. A police officer with a megaphone stepped out several times and told us to leave the area, but as we weren't doing anything wrong, most people didn't leave.

That's when they shot a canister of gas at us. Reddit, sprinting away from armored police who looked like Storm Troopers from Star Wars, hearing that hissing sound while one of my favorite spots on campus filled with smoke... it was terrifying.

When the smoke cleared the crowd was still there.

This standoff lasted several hours. Around 10:30, the atmosphere had changed. The police had advanced far up the road toward students, who were kept back to a grassy area called Schenley Plaza. Students were singing and dancing. It was very peaceful. Someone said something to a cop.

Suddenly the guy was grabbed and thrown on the ground. The crowd AT ONCE surrounded the cops and started chanting LET HIM GO! LET HIM GO! LET HIM GO!

There was a dumpster lit on fire further up the road, so I went up there to see what I could see, and suddenly there were tons of people sprinting down the sidewalk away from the fire. SWAT vans and six or seven major police cars pulled up to Schenley Plaza.

Reddit, the next two hours were complete chaos. My campus was invaded by armored police officers. They threw actual tear gas into crowds of students. They SHOT students with rubber bullets. They beat slower-moving students with a baton. I saw a group of cyclists being herded down the sidewalk. A cop reached out and pushed a woman on a bike. She turned around and pushed her bike at the cop. Next thing we knew, he grabbed her by the face and slammed her down on the concrete.

They slowly advanced us back down Forbes Avenue, toward the major freshman dorms. Several protesters broke storefront windows. I'd guess 20 protesting, about 1,000 students watching (if that.) The police fired Sound Cannons at us, a new weapon never before used on US citizens, which plays a sonic pulse that gives major headaches. They fired more tear gas at the students.

Then riot squads came running up behind us and forced us into the Litchfield Towers Lobby. People who did not make it into the lobby before the riot squads got to the doors were grabbed, thrown to the ground, beaten, and arrested.

Here is the part where I felt most violated -- The riot cops then ENTERED our dormitory and shouted that students needed to return to their rooms immediately. Anyone arrested, they said, would be expelled from the University of Pittsburgh, no questions asked.

Reddit, is that legal? Would police be able to force someone on the sidewalk back in their home and make them barricade themselves in their basement?

Here's another part that got me -- I saw students try to get in the doors closest to their dorm building (there are 3 towers), and the door was LOCKED. These students did not have time to run around the building. And they were grabbed.

We don't know what to do. We're shocked. BECAUSE THE DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF RELEASED A STATEMENT CLAIMING THEY WERE SECURING THE AREA FROM ANARCHISTS AND THAT "SOME" STUDENTS "PROBABLY GOT CAUGHT UP" IN WHAT HAPPENED.

So, in the news, you'll hear that police secured the campus from anarchists. Not that students were attacked by security forces supposedly there to protect them.

THE ANARCHISTS ARE TAKING OVER!!!

Wait, really? That's their excuse for using excessive force? What year is this? Is this real life??

Also, this shit:

THE RED BARON STRIKES from a place in the moat you cant really see so you're not sure who is shooting the arrows

Here is the only show i've played this year. Thanks to my pit boss buddies snuff, bdub, and sexmachine. I appreciate all your guys's lack of being worried about being looked at funny by people who don't think singing a song about a store is funny and/or will get you laid. To those of you who probably didn't care to notice, but now will, i changed my name from my name to a nick name my dad gave me growing up - i felt weird using my own name once the project went from poetry based to more music based, considering i wrote a song. thanks nick kova for video!

THIS SEEMS LIKE IT TOOK A LOT OF TIME

A LOT OF TIME I DONT HAVE BECAUSE IM LEAVING FOR TOUR

COME TO THE SODA BAR TOMORROW

Chris Dane Owens - Shine on Me

For a higher quality version click HERE.

In December 2008 in Paris—in response to the growing threats of proliferation and nuclear terrorism—100 leaders from around the world launched Global Zero. They announced a plan for the phased, verified elimination of nuclear weapons, starting with deep reductions in the U.S. and Russian arsenals, to be followed by multilateral negotiations among all nuclear powers for an agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons—global zero. The growing group includes former heads of state, former foreign ministers, former defense ministers, former national security advisors, and more than 20 former top military commanders.



Phase 1 (2010 – 2013)
• Negotiate a bilateral accord for the United States and Russia to reduce to 1,000 total warheads each.
• Prepare for multilateral negotiations.

Phase 2 (2014 – 2018)
• In a multilateral framework, the U.S. and Russia reach agreement to reduce to 500 total warheads each (to be implemented by 2021) as long as all other nuclear weapons countries agree to freeze their stockpiles until 2018, followed by proportional reductions until 2021.
• Entry into force upon ratification by all nuclear weapons countries.
• The accord establishes a verification and enforcement system, including:
• Complete audit of delivery vehicles, warheads, and materials;
• Intrusive verification—no-notice, on-site inspections;
• Agreed mechanism for resolving disputes and enforcing compliance.
• Strengthen safeguards on the civilian nuclear fuel cycle to prevent diversion of materials to build weapons.

Phase 3 (2019 – 2023)
• Negotiate a global zero accord, which includes:
• A schedule for the phased, verified, proportionate reduction of all nuclear arsenals to zero total warheads by 2030;
• A requirement that all nuclear capable countries sign and ratify the global zero accord in order for it to enter into force;
• Continued implementation of the verification and enforcement system.

Phase 4 (2024 – 2030)
• Complete the phased, verified, proportionate reduction of all nuclear arsenals to zero total warheads by 2030.
• Continue the comprehensive verification and enforcement system.

A House Made of Legos!

James May and his Full-Size Lego House Nobody Wants

Taco Party, Anyone?

Elegant Readings With Michael Ian Black: TACO PARTY - watch more funny videos

HEY HUMANS OF THE WORLD

I HAVE MORE EMPATHY FOR THIS LITTLE BOUNCING BLACK BALL THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED, NEVER MIND THE SILLY HIPSTERS, THEY ARE ONLY IN THE VIDEO FOR TWO SECONDS. CAKE POLICE. WHAT A CONCEPT. SMOKE SOMETHING GOOD, FULL SCREEN IT, HD IT, AND GET ON THE BALL.

AIR MUSIC VIDEO SING SANG SUNG from MATHEMATIC SAS on Vimeo.

Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

"Note how Josephine is treated as a celebrity, but NOT fetishized - her admirers are well aware that there is nothing special in her, that she is just one of them. To paraphrase Marx, she thinks people admire her because she is an artist, but in reality she is an artist only because people treat her as such. Here we get an example of how, in a Communist society, the Master-Signifier is still operative, but deprived of its fetishist effect - Josephine's belief in herself is perceived by the people as harmless and rather ridiculous narcissism, and should be gently, but ironically, tolerated and sustained. This is how artists should be treated in a Communist society - they should be praised and flattered, but they should not be given any material privileges like exemption from work or special food ration."

The-Dream Making a Beat

Someone buy me an MPC for real.

AWWWWWW

Footage from Nate's first show with Weatherbox...

AMERICA

IMPORTANT:

"Millions of people now firmly believe that "big government" is evil, that they should not be forced to pay taxes for any public services and that the true-blue American (white, of course) "goes it alone", with his grit and his guns, instead of relying on and participating in a wider community.

Of course, these people can realise their dream of living in a no-taxes, no-government, guns-for-all society simply by moving to Somalia.

So, when you see these town-hall hatemongers, gun-toting "patriots" and whacked-out conspiracy theorists on your TV, remember that they are not merely common, garden variety lunatics, but heirs to a rich and time-honoured American tradition."

-Rob Reynolds, http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/08/200982075754210254.html

KIND OF IMPORTANT:


NOT VERY IMPORTANT:

What Are You Doing Tomorrow?

Rhetorical question dummies. You are going to be listening to some of the sweet jams coming to your local record stores on 9/22. If you didn't know that tomorrow is the 22nd of September, smoke less pot. If you didn't know that these albums are coming out tomorrow/haven't already heard them, spend more time on the internet. If you haven't heard of any of these bands, some self-flagellation might be in order. Yeah, it is.

Girls - Album - A while back, I posted their music video for the show-stoppin' centerpiece of this here album, Hellhole Ratrace. Look it up in the time machine on the right side of your screen. While no song on this collection quite matches up to the epicness of that one you've already heard, great songs nonetheless abound. This is a great first album you're gonna wanna be in on so you can snobbishly declare it's your favorite of theres years down the road when they've put out other, bigger, better albums.

Owen - New Leaves - Honestly, at this point in my life, I can't really claim to give a shit about Mike Kinsella's emo project anymore. But if you do, check this out, because it's his best yet.

mum - Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know - Super good music to fall asleep to. If that's something you do. If not, why not try singing along to the songs the first time you spin the record? Should be fun! If you do attempt said experiment, be sure to record that shit and post it in the replies, because it sounds like something that would be really fun for all of us here at Cake Police to laugh at (it gets lonely in the internet). Especially with song titles and lyrics such as Kay-Rey-Ku-Ku-Ko-Kex.

WHY? - Eskimo Snow - Last but certainly not least (yes, I put this last so that I could type that, wanna fight about it?), the newest record from the big kid on the Anticon block. Longtime fans of WHY? will dig this, because they (I) are pretty much gonna eat up anything Yoni Wolf throws out there. Honestly, though, he has done, and I'm sure will do much better. Yoni has called this album more "experimental" than previous WHY? releases, but to my ears all that appears to mean is less tight. Still, listen to the album for the lyrics, as ever.

It Smells An Awful Lot Like Teen Spirit Over Here

PUNK SEX 2 aka the SexLife Tour aka the CakeFuck tour aka the Blue Balls from 17 year olds Tour etc.. whatever the fuck

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO LOOK AT is a photo diary of the tour me chris nate and brian did last week. I planned on adding a witty caption to each picture but realized it would require too much wit, which i dont currently have. It's chronological... I'd like to thank my dad for letting me go.

Alex

THE BAND CALLED BLOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR

THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS A RAPIST AND THE ONE ON THE LEFT SAYS FUCK A LOT IN THIS VIDEO



MY NEW FAVORITE BAND!

edit: they broke up bummer

edit 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzt0iJ0cUxA read the lyrics

edit 3: dont read the lyrics

My Latest Poem

Kissed her

Fished her

Fist her

Your sister

THE LONG NOW FOUNDATION

Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. The trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next-election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multi-tasking. All are on the increase. Some sort of balancing corrective to the short-sightedness is needed-some mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility, where 'long-term' is measured at least in centuries. Long Now proposes both a mechanism and a myth. It began with an observation and idea by computer scientist Daniel Hillis:

"When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 2000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about what would happen by the year 2000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium."

Such a clock, if sufficiently impressive and well engineered, would embody deep time for people. It should be charismatic to visit, interesting to think about, and famous enough to become iconic in the public discourse. Ideally, it would do for thinking about time what the photographs of Earth from space have done for thinking about the environment. Such icons reframe the way people think.



nate is going to see brian eno talk about this stuff tonight and i am hecka jealous check out their website it seems pretty ON THE BALL


THE LONG NOW FOUNDATION

police before cake

i think you all misunderstood the intention

yer supposed to vote for the lamest cake policer that you think should be booted, not the sickest most awesome cake policer that you love the most, just wanted to clarify thanks for ur time

IS YOUR CAKE RUNNING OUT?

CAKE POLICE ISLAND

ONE BLOG

ONE POLL

TWENTY MEN

ONE MUST GO


MULTIPLE VOTES ALLOWED I'M VOTING ALEXANDER T KENT BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN LAGGING WAY TOO HARD ON THE TOUR BLOG

someones going down

If kells makes a new record i'll probably like it

like like it

The End Of An Era

As you all know, Chargers running back Ladainian Tomlinson's sprained ankle will force him on the sidelines for the home-opener this Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. I'm afraid to face the notability of his injury; this is the beginning of the end. At 30 years of age, there's no doubt that Tomlinson is facing the final stretch of his electrifying career. The five-time Pro Bowler holds a plethora of NFL records, including his incredible 2005 campaign where he broke the all-time record single-season touchdown record (31). He was unanimously named the league's MVP that year. A first-ballot in the NFL Hall of Fame, Ladainian Tomlinson will be remembered as one of the best running backs of all time.

Let us remember the great moments L.T has provided for us.

REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY

Soldier, Former State Trooper Speak Out On Forced Vaccinations

September 17, 2009
In the video below, a soldier claims she has trained with California police to set-up checkpoints and force vaccinations on the public. Those who refuse will be boarded on a bus and taken to a concentration camp. She includes a photo of an RFID device she claims will be used to track people and materiel. She says the military and police will use electronic bracelets to track the vaccinated.

Former Kansas state trooper Greg Evensen underscored this claim last week. “Have you been made aware of the massive roadblock plans to stop all travelers for a vaccine bracelet (stainless steel band with a micro-chip on board) that will force you to take the shot?” Evensen wrote on July 29. “Refuse it? You will be placed on a prison bus and taken to a quarantine camp. What will you do when your children are NOT allowed into school without the shot? What will you do when you are not allowed into the workplace without the vaccine paperwork? Buy groceries? Go to the bank? Shop anywhere?? Get on a plane, bus or train? Use the toilet in the mall? Nope. Police officers will become loathed, feared, despised and remembered for their ‘official’ duties.”

Why He Threw The Shoe

Gonna flip a 180 on you here from my last post. I recently found this article online, originally posted on the Guardian's website (UK not SF). The article is written by the man who threw his shoe at George W. Bush at the press conference a while back. He just got out of jail, following a 9 month sentence, and has finally shared his side of that story. His explanation is incredibly thoughtful, and paints an extremely dark portrait of Iraq during the occupation that points to a wide disparity between the plight of the Iraqi people as it has existed in reality and the shamelessly censored reports that have been filtered through the mainstream American media. This guy is a bonafide member of the Cake Police Hall of Fame.

I am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the symbolic act. But, simply, I answer: what compelled me to act is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot.

Over recent years, more than a million martyrs have fallen by the bullets of the occupation and Iraq is now filled with more than five million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed. Many millions are homeless inside and outside the country.

We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shia would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ. This despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than a decade.

Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression. But the invasion divided brother from brother, neighbour from neighbour. It turned our homes into funeral tents.

I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, pushing me towards the path of confrontation. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Falluja, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.

As soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies, while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the blood that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.

The opportunity came, and I took it.

I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.

I say to those who reproach me: do you know how many broken homes that shoe which I threw had entered? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.

When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.

If I have wronged journalism without intention, because of the professional embarrassment I caused the establishment, I apologise. All that I meant to do was express with a living conscience the feelings of a citizen who sees his homeland desecrated every day. The professionalism mourned by some under the auspices of the occupation should not have a voice louder than the voice of patriotism. And if patriotism needs to speak out, then professionalism should be allied with it.

I didn't do this so my name would enter history or for material gains. All I wanted was to defend my country.

Hey, Guys. We're Back. Sincerely, PAVEMENT!!!!

In case you haven't heard, the rumors are actually true this time, Pavement are back in the motherfucking hizzy, and will be touring the world in 2010. So keep your eyes glued to the interweb for pre-sales cus once these tickets go on sale you're going to have approximately two minutes to get your shit together and pick up one of these golden tickets to see these certifiable indie rock legends in action. It's even more imperative you're on your game because, if you believe the band, this is a one-off type of deal. !!!!!!!!

HEY WORLD

RYAN AND SAL FROM MANSIONS ARE IN TOWN AND THEY JUST TURNED ME ON TO THE NODZZZ..... PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE

HEALTH CARE MUST REED

Before you explore the rest of Pierro Scaruffi mind-blowingly awesome website (news, philosophy, science, film, and more album reviews than you imagined were humanly possible) check out his commentary on the on-going health scare debate. No attempts at persuasion of any kind, but enough to chew over to prevent you from opening up and having something stupid spill out.

http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/usa09.html#usa0909b

(but yeah definitely test his music section too)

http://www.scaruffi.com/music.html

CRAZY IN LOVE BUT BETTER

rest in pizza

Food For Thought