OPS

Today is full of good OPS (other people's stuff). To wit:

5. Here's the thing about the White Stripes: so not every record is as good as the previous one, and not every song is going to be "Fell in Love With a Girl." But ten or twenty years from now, when your kids are going through your old shit and listening to the music you listened to, the White Stripes are going to be the band your kids are going to love, because that stuff is still going to sound great in 2078 or whenever it is. I'm telling you now: your kids are not going to be digging into your Alien Ant Farm trove.

6. The other band your kids are going to be really into: The Wu-Tang Clan. That shit will still rule in 3408. In fact, sometimes I think it traveled back in time from 3408.

27. I hear people say Jack White looks like this, Jack White looks like that — you know what Jack White looks like? A rock star. I'm tired of bands where the guys all dress like they're going to brunch with their girlfriends' parents.

Ha, no shit! [clicky, but the rest isn't as funny]

Note

8:28 p.m.

First cicada of the season. I just heard it.

Oh, and it's a dry 74 degrees too.


toothpastefordinner.com

Just Us Commuters

Hells yeah!

Hells motherfuckin' yeah!

So be it:

"The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted. It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Mr. Libby's case is an appropriate exercise of this power."

- George

You see, Scooter was never going to see the inside of the jail. No way. Alls he had to say was, "Remind Georgie boy that I ain't no snitch...as long as I remain in my comfy manse."

And he's free....just like I thought.

Scooter is to power as Paris is to money.

Staking My Reputation on This Video: The Hottness

Memory Device

"And I am on the switches and dragons."

Ask Ty…June 29

Q: Hey, Ty! Did you get an iPhone (tm)?

- Various

Ty: Various, good question and an even better observation.

Nope. Why? I'm weening from mobile phone. I'm experiencing periods of blissful solitude away from Wiki, Google, and filthy porn (JK). I take walks without the iPod.

Great device, that iPhone, I bet. But, I'm up to here with devices. Fuck it. And, please, I really don't need another status accessory (I am me after all).

There is a life. If you have to have an iPhone, you're either a mope or just plain insecure (or a unhealthy combo of the two). Me? I'm cool where I am with wires up to my calves, guitars strewn about, and a computer with dial-up and a hand crank for power (the healthy combo of mopeness and insecurity).

Maybe I'm showing some reactance to the hype. Nothing personal, Apple, but I ain't your sucker no more. So, there you have it. I mean, could you really see me camping out to wait in a goddamn line? Please. That's just uncouth.

Just a guess. - Ty

Memory Device

"Don was off his hitches and wagons."

It' So True

People are the weakest link. Stick with me here.

I had heard that this sign existed. On interstate 270, lane one (the "fast" lane) is designated as the HOV lane (carpool lane, or as they say here, "High Occupancy Vehicle"). Whatever.

Southbound, heading toward D.C. and work for most people, the times the HOV lane is reserved (and subject to ticketing/points for violations) from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00.

Rush hour, right?

Northbound, heading home to the burbs for most people, the reserved/ticketed times are 3:30 through 6:30.

This sign - 6:00 - 9:00 a.m. - appears on the northbound (end of day) lane. It's a subtle thing. But, it's something to keep forever.

Oh, and it's kind of a hard thing to shoot. But, there it is; to keep forever.

Phone?

"And this gets to why you should care about the iPhone even if you aren't buying one. Today everyone uses a Mac. Even if you've got a Windows PC at your desk, you're really sitting down to a computer based on an idea first offered to the public by Steve Jobs in 1984. The mouse, the menus, the windows -- they were all on Mac first, and they spread to those of us who didn't buy directly into Jobs' regime only because Apple's competitors saw the Mac's features as vital to their own success. Go out to any consumer electronics store now and you'll see the same dynamic playing out for music devices: Everything on the market looks and feels like the iPod and offers much the same features.

It could happen for phones, too. You may not buy an Apple, but it's possible your next cellphone will claim to be a fantastic "Internet communicator" and will offer a great way to surf the Web. If that happens, thank Apple."

- Farhad Manjoo

[clicky]

Gettin' Ralphed, Suckas!

"But like a lot of people I talk to, especially those contemplating a vote for Nader, I am also vexed by a nagging voice in my head, which keeps articulating two words over and over: Supreme Court. Supreme Court. Supreme Court."

Memo to Nader voters, Bruce Shapiro, Salon, Sept. 25, 2000

"Nader bristles at what he calls a "betrayal" by progressive Democrats who have turned on him -- particularly abortion rights leaders who have questioned his comments on abortion. They warn that a Bush win would lead to conservative Supreme Court justices reversing decisions like Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion rights.

Nader dismissed that argument, noting that many Democrats voted to confirm conservative justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court while he and other liberal activists opposed them -- "And now they've got the temerity to lecture me about the Supreme Court?"

Nader considers abortion a settled question, and that any GOP attempt to overturn Roe would be a political disaster. But the more pressure he gets to fold, the more defiant he gets.""

Defiant Nader ignores Democrats' fears in key states, Bob Franken, CNN, November 1, 2000

You decide, suckas.

The Girl Sez: Thumb Up!

Must be for Taco Bar because the Phillies suck.

Chainy

Now!

The movie!

Only for those with keen patience!

[clicky]

See Dick smile!

Now!

[from BDW]

The War Against Terror

I heard someone use the word "twat" today.

How funny is that?

Dick Cheney

Jack

Can't stop listening to Icky Thump.

Barfin' Arfin

"Dads need to get over it and accept that their little buddy is a woman now and she's not going to tell him everything that happened at school or hang our with him all the time. Not for ten years anyway."

-Lesley Afrin, Dear Diary

Merkley???

From Merkley??? via BDW:

I'm not a photographer.

Photographers carry around big cameras, big lights,
big flash contraptions and little meters, they talk
about film stock, ISO's, F stops and capturing the
perfect light right before dusk.

Photographers creep through neighborhoods of poor
people looking for interesting poverty related things
to "capture" in black and white or muted color.

Photographers spend lots of time in cramped dark rooms
with red lights and chemicals that smell like egg
farts.

Photographers get in heated exchanges about the
direction Leica is headed or that one camera maker
that sounds all german, hasselhoff?

Photographers have lots of lenses that they will tell
you about whether you ask them or not, like the one
that can see an ass hair on a mosquito or the
remarkably "bright" one that can photograph the pope's
underwear tag from a tower in hell.

Photographers say "glass" a lot, "Thats a nice piece
of glass you got there Danny." which would be funny if
it was a joke. No it wouldn't.

Photographers show you shoes hanging on wires, pink
boxes in the green weeds, little black girls with blue
eyes and nuns sitting under billboards of naked men.

Photographers have all kinds of cameras, most of them
are rare and vintage but they love to remind you that
their absolute favorite cameras are crappy plastic
cameras they found at the thrift store for 25 cents.

Photographers LOVE Polaroid because you can take a
picture of absolutely ANYTHING with a Polaroid and it
will look like you got your BFA.

Photographers know the names of every other
photographer who ever lived and they can tell you
exactly who took the first picture of an old barn door
or a naked girl on a sofa.

Photographers talk about how little they use photoshop
IF AT ALL, and even then it's only to "adjust some
curves" or "make the blacks a little more black."

Photographers make use of make up artists,
hairdressers, location scouts and stylists which is
way way WAY different than photoshopping out zits and
wrinkles.

Photographers freeze moments to show the REALITY. They
love that word, "reality" also they like to say "RAW"
a lot.

Photographers have websites with big black or red sans
serif fonts on white backgrounds.

Photographers put their client list at the bottom of
the side bar where it looks like they don't really
care about it but just in case you didn't like their
photographs you can see who did.

Photographers list their accomplishments in a timeline
so just in case you didn't like their photographs you
can see who did. Wait, did I just say that?

Photographers have strong opinions about Terry
Richardson.

Photographers get upset about cropping.

Photographers like the anticipation, surprise,
expense, delay, grain, smell, challenge, discipline,
texture, and overall unpredictable "magic" of analog,
soo opposite of effing digital.

Photographers use the word amateur to describe most
other photographers.

Photographers miss the good old days when photography
was expensive and out of reach to amateurs.

Photographers blame the lab a lot.

Photographers go to school to study photography
because you can't tell if a photo is good just by
looking at it.

Photographers whisper cutting edge poetic gems like
"digital has no soul."

Photographers only really like 2 or 3 other
photographers, the one's whose photographs most
resemble their own and they like to keep those books
right out on the coffee table where everyone can see
them.

Photographers think all commentary about photography
and photographers is likely directed at them.

So yeah, I don't give a stumbling poop about any of
that stuff.

I'm not a photographer.

Whoops! (Bong Hits 4 Jesus)

Justice Clarence Thomas took a much different approach. He said that Mr. Frederick had no First Amendment rights to violate.

“In light of the history of American public education, it cannot seriously be suggested that the First Amendment ‘freedom of speech’ encompasses a student’s right to speak in public schools. I am afraid that our jurisprudence now says that students have a right to speak in school except when they don’t.”

[clicky]

Free Paris - Oh Thank God!

Though I believe I get her.

Big Brother vs. The GTI

It's enough to bring out the libertarian ire.

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