Here is a video via ted.com about a new “product” called Photosynth. Basically, it can aggregate, comprehend, and use photos and data in a very interesting way. One example is of the cathedral Notre Dame. The developers did a search on Flickr for “Nortre Dame” and compiled them together into a high-resolution, very rich digital environment. It is pretty amazing. Enjoy and explore more at ted.com, it is totally worth it.

"There is nothing political in American Literature." -Laura Bush

What does that quote first make you think of?

An author?

A teacher?

A glass of wine and a front porch?

Song lyrics?

A wadded-up copy of The Jungle with a yellow

"used" sticker on the spine and three kinds

of highlighter throughout?

Did words on a page ever activate you?

So i happened to come across the website http://www.wwtdd.com/ Did the owner of this website and I see the same movie…or did I really just miss something…

Has anyone ever heard of a band called “The Mountain Goats?”

They are the shit. Melancholy and funny and fucking great.

If you haven’t heard them yet, purchase two CD’s. Tallahasee and All Hail West Texas.

Really, i’m not fucking around here. Go. Buy. Enjoy.

“When you punish a person for dreaming his dreams, don’t expect him to thank or forgive you. The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton will in time both outpace and outlive you … Hail satan.” - The Mountain Goats, The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton

Wow, I never go into a M.Moore movie thinking that it will piss me off, and yet they often do. I don’t think I have been this mad since I saw the documentary “Why We Fight” (Not M.Moore).

Tonight I watched the movie “Sicko”, which I admit, I downloaded off the net. I will however see it on the screen and probably purchase the movie on DVD, so before that becomes the issue, let it go.

The movie examines the health-care systems of the western world. I have to admit that what really disgusted me was how nonchalant and funny it was to foreigners that anyone would have to pay for medical care, especially if you could not afford it.

I come from an interesting perspective here, my mother is a doctor, my fiancee is in cancer research. My fiancee is also in the position of needing medication for the rest of her life. Medication that is not cheap. My mother is a family practitioner that because of health insurance and malpractice insurance is contemplating giving up her favorite part of being a doctor, delivering babies.

There is something seriously F*CKED up in this nation where socialized medicine is so frowned upon, and our politicians are all in the pockets of the insurance industry.

Something needs to be done! First, don’t take my word for it, see this movie. Then after you are sufficiently pissed, write your senators, congressperson, and most of all presidential candidates. It is important that this issue not be ignored in the upcoming election. This problem is right up there with getting out of Iraq, but should be far less controversial. The only reason it is controversial at all is because the government has been messing with our heads simply because they have been bought and paid for.

No More. Write, call, be pissed off. Watch the movie!

If you haven’t seen this, it is totally worth the 8 minutes.

June 14, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EXXON PROPOSES BURNING HUMANITY FOR FUEL IF CLIMATE CALAMITY HITS
Conference organizer fails to have Yes Men arrested

Imposters posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC)
representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen
at GO-EXPO, Canada’s largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in
Calgary, Alberta, today.

…

In the actual speech, the “NPC rep” announced that current U.S. and
Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive
exploitation of Alberta’s oil sands, and the development of liquid
coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he
reassured the audience that in the worst case scenario, the oil
industry could “keep fuel flowing” by transforming the billions of
people who die into oil.

…

For full article and perspectives go to:
http://www.vivoleum.com/event/

And:
http://arusha.org/event/7214

For Go-Expo Response:
http://newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2007/14/c5086.html

For explaination of The Yes Men:
http://theyesmen.org

I know its silly, but for many of us TV watchers today marked the end of something special. Bob Barker has officially retired.

When I was very young I remember going to my grandparents house and watching the game show “The Price is Right”. Now both of my grandparents have now passed, but the Price is Right has continued on. Now I am too young to have seen the first season fifty years ago, but this game show has been a part of my tv watching life for as long as I can really remember. It still connects me to the days when my life seemed so much easier. (Before I knew that the winners still had to pay taxes on all of the prizes they had won)

Now, I loved this show, I watched it every day I was home sick from school as a child. It became a real comfort for me. I had even made it a point in my rather uncomfortable freshmen year of college to get back to my dorm room in time to at least catch the showcase showdown. This could also be an indicator of how good of a student I was, but I like to think that it was just a way to get some stability in a rather rocky first year away from home.

Well today (as I type this) the final episode of The Price is Right will air. Now the show will continue, in re-run, through the summer, but when it returns next year, it will do so without Bob Barker. (The final episode will re-air tonight at 7:00PM CDT)
Bob Barker has made his way into the hearts of so many and has a wonderful sense of humor. I cant tell you how much I love the Happy Gilmore scene (The price is wrong bitch!). He even has made a guest appearance on my current favorite sitcom (How I met your mother). So now Bob is gone, and I really think it is the end of something truly great. I do not know of anyone who will be able to take his place, and I will never watch the show again if they rename the studio that Price is shot in to anything from the current “Bob Barker Studio”.

I think in his honor people should join me in going out and donating to the local humane society in an effort to help control the pet population!
Lawrence KS Humane Society

Although not as fun as a psycotropic experience, this bad boy does allow you to unplug and plug at will, without all that mucking about with an eight hour time frame.

You know what i mean, you were there.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-06/st_insane#

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/05/virtual_insanity.html

And try it out virtually here. Second life style.
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/ais/virtualhallucinations/

I’m going June 19 to the 2007 Take Back America Conference: Barak Obama, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Hilary Clinton, each for a half hour time slot. There are lots of other panels, too.

The tagline: “From June 18th - 20th, 2007 thousands of progressive activists, thinkers, bloggers, and leaders will convene in Washington, DC to begin transforming the historic victories of 2006 into concrete and lasting change for the common good.”