Friday, May 16, 2008

friday random ten

random_ten
Photo by Ryan McManus


Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Paint Your Wagon
"Head All Fire" - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Paint Your Wagon (1986)


The Ballet - Mattachine!
"Personal" - The Ballet
Mattachine! (2006)


Minipop - A New Hope
"Ask Me a Question" - Minipop
A New Hope (2007)


The Rolling Stones - Let's Spend the Night Together / Ruby Tuesday
"Ruby Tuesday" - The Rolling Stones
Let's Spend the Night Together / Ruby Tuesday (1967)



"Somewhere Like Me (Feelin' Blue)" - The Walking Dead
This Carnival of a Life (1995)


Hoodoo Gurus - Leilani / Leilani II
"Leilani" - Hoodoo Gurus
Leilani / Leilani II (1982)


Groovie Ghoulies - Go! Stories
"Are You Passionate?" - Groovie Ghoulies
Go! Stories (2002)


Doug Sahm - Texas Rock for Country Rollers
"Give Back the Key To My Heart" - Doug Sahm
Texas Rock for Country Rollers (1976)



"Mill Working Man" - Poppin' Mommas
Now Suck This Dogface (1991)


The Fall - Call for Escape Route
"Clear Off" - The Fall
Call for Escape Route (1984)


Bonus tracks:

Lydia Lunch - Hysterie
"Love Split With Blood" - 8 Eyed Spy
Hysterie (1989)


Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
"Fine Young Cannibals" - Wolf Parade
At Mount Zoomer (2008)

friday reads

The United Nations said Friday that severe restrictions by Myanmar's military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors' suffering, two weeks after a killer cyclone left up to 2.5 million people destitute.


China's president, Hu Jintao, has arrived in the earthquake-stricken province of Sichuan as authorities step up recovery efforts, accepting foreign help for the first time amid fears of a much higher body count.


QOTD: "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass."


Iraq Veterans Against The War's effort to document what it considers systemic abuses in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars took a major step forward Thursday as five Iraq veterans related their firsthand experiences to members of Congress.


The California Supreme Court strikes down marriage ban.


Naomi Klein: China's All-Seeing Eye


Brandon Friedman: What's the Deal with the VA, Secretary Peake?


Dan Froomkin: Bush Cries Alone


Retail gas prices hit record highs for the ninth day in a row.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Gail Porter, Girl Photographer

thursday reads

The death toll from China's earthquake could soar to 50,000 people, state television said today.


Junta tightens grip as Burma starves


Keith Olbermann's Countdown Special Comment to President Bush: “Shut the hell up.”


John McCain in denial


Zimbabwe gets new $500m banknote


Damn those crazy rasberry ants.


Overnight storms in Central Austin





Wednesday, May 14, 2008

wednesday reads

A massive rescue operation yesterday struggled with heavy rain and aftershocks in the search for tens of thousands of people who remained missing following the devastating earthquake which struck central China on Monday.


The death toll from the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur rose to more than 80 people today, as police imposed a day-long curfew across the heritage city.


A fresh cyclone could be developing off the coast of Burma, the UN said today, as relief workers struggled to get aid to the 1.9 million people left homeless by cyclone Nargis.


This is just so fucking wrong:

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.



The Army should grant conscientious objector status to Pfc. Michael Barnes, a Fort Richardson-based paratrooper who had his request for that designation denied last year, U.S. Magistrate John D. Roberts concluded Tuesday.

Brandon Friedman: Bush Finally Speaks to the Ultimate Wartime Sacrifice

BAGnewsNotes: I'm Sure Smirky's Golf Game Wasn't That Hard To Cut Loose

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

tuesday reads

Beijing - Troops walked Tuesday to towns and villages near the epicentre of a devastating earthquake that killed about 12,000 people and cut off tens of thousands in south-western China, while at least 10,000 people were buried in one city.


Juan Cole: As if Iraq was not enough to worry about, some important political developments in Lebanon, and even in the Yemen have raised the temperature of the Middle East . . .


emptywheel: ...charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani have been dropped, suggesting that charges were dropped because he was tortured.



Empire:
After 58 years, the United States Navy will reactivate the Fourth Fleet, which will be in charge of patrolling Latin American waters. (via GNN)

As ice melts, NorthCom eyes Arctic patrols

More than 7,000 sailors will leave home next week when the Raygun Carrier Strike Group deploys from San Diego for a scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf regions.

If Guam doesn’t get money soon from the federal government to help prepare for the massive military buildup coming to the island in the next few years, it could affect not only the island’s permanent residents but also the quality of life for the service members and families who will move there, the island’s governor told lawmakers.




Playing the building is a sound installation in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument. Devices are attached to the building structure — to the metal beams and pillars, the heating pipes, the water pipes — and are used to make these things produce sound. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices do not produce sound themselves, but they cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument.



From Zaius Nation (click picture)

Monday, May 12, 2008

golden age science sleuth

monday reads

Glenn Greenwald - How the military analyst program controlled news coverage: in the Pentagon's own words.


Survivors of the tropical cyclone that swept across Myanmar nine days ago gathered in camps to wait for emergency supplies, as international aid began reaching the worst-affected areas.

A powerful earthquake hits Western China and tornadoes killed at least 21 people and injured hundreds as they ripped through the central and southeastern United States over the weekend, destroying homes, overturning cars and downing trees and power lines.


Christy Hardin Smith: The Betrayal Of American Values


Craft Brewers Reformulate Beer to Cope With Hop Shortage


Yesterday, May 11, was when the Real ID Act, signed into law three years ago to the day, was due to kick in.


Unless more funding and effort are put into saving the nation’s infrastructure, it will continue to crumble, say experts. An estimated $1.5 trillion over the next five years could be needed to avoid large-scale disaster.


Read an excerpt from Rick Perlstien's Nixonland.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

malu