[From YouTube - Annette Peacock - I'm The One]

[From YouTube - David Vorhaus Analogue Electronic Music 1979]

Psychedelic drugs return as potential treatments for mental illness | Moheb Costandi | Science | guardian.co.uk: “Psychedelic drugs return as potential treatments for mental illness

New research confirms that psychedelic drugs are promising treatments for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia”

How does booze extend your lifespan? – By Brian Palmer – Slate Magazine: “People who drink heavily live longer than those who completely abstain from alcohol, according to a new study conducted by a psychologist at the University of Texas. How, exactly, does booze extend your lifespan?”

Dieter Rams: Less and More Interview from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Offensive & Politically Incorrect Advertising & Propaganda | Crestock.com Blog: “Glaring racism, violence, murder, misogynism and a lot of smoke – In this post, we have a look at various forms of ‘politically incorrect’ advertising and propaganda from the late 1800′s up until the present. The material of our present days might not be as overt as it used to, but it’s still about in droves, and sometimes with an even fouler smell to it.”

Local Honey to Treat Allergies – iVillage: “Eating Local Honey Can Prevent or Treat Seasonal Allergies

Sniffing or sneezing? Join the club: Seasonal allergies (aka allergic rhinitis) cause congestion, runny nose and itchy eyes for 35 million Americans from spring through fall. Learn the truth behind common allergy myths:

Truth: This myth probably originated because pollen causes allergies and there are miniscule amounts of pollen in honey; thus, people believe that eating honey can desensitize them to pollen over time. ‘The problem is that the pollens that cause allergies, which are primarily trees, grasses and weeds, are not the plants bees use for honey,’ says Maeve O’Connor, M.D., of Carolina Asthma and Allergy Center in Charlotte, NC. ‘If you like honey, eat it. But there’s no proof it will alleviate or prevent seasonal allergies.’

Reviewed by Marc Sicklick, M.D. “

The Paranoid Kit :: Add-ons for Firefox: “The collection aims to consolidate a package of add-ons, whose overall goal is to reduce/eliminate ads, web tracking, and other privacy sensitive matters involved in day to day browsing.”

U.S. Grappling With Bedbugs, Misusing Dangerous Pesticides: “COLUMBUS, Ohio — A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking desperate measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterminators.

The problem has gotten so bad that the Environmental Protection Agency warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside. The agency also warned of an increase in pest control companies and others making ‘unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost.’”

MacDailyNews – Apple iPads takeover CNBC’s Fast Money set (with stills): “MacDailyNews reader ‘Joe Architect’ alerted us to flip on CNBC a few minutes ago and we noticed right away that Apple’s iPads have taken over the set on CNBC’s ‘Fast Money’ set. They may have been there for some time, but we just noticed them today”

Tea Party Rocks Primaries — RollingStone.com:

• On July 12, Glenn Beck implied that the Obama government was going to aid the New Black Panther Party in starting a race war, with the ultimate aim of killing white babies. “They want a race war. We must be peaceful people. They are going to poke, and poke, and poke, and our government is going to stand by and let them do it.” He also said that “we must take the role of Martin Luther King, because I do not believe that Martin Luther King believed in, ‘Kill all white babies.’”
• CNN contributor and Redstate.com writer Erick Erickson, on the Panther mess: “Republican candidates nationwide should seize on this issue. The Democrats are giving a pass to radicals who advocate killing white kids in the name of racial justice and who try to block voters from the polls.”
• On July 6, the Washington Times columnist J. Christian Adams wrote an editorial insisting that “top [Obama] appointees have allowed and even encouraged race-based enforcement as either tacit or open policy,” marking one of what would become many assertions by commentators that the Obama administration was no longer interested in protecting the rights of white people. “The Bush Civil Rights Division was willing to protect all Americans from racial discrimination,” Adams wrote. “During the Obama years, the Holder years, only some Americans will be protected.”
• July 12: Rush Limbaugh says Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder “protect and represent” the New Black Panther party.
• July 28: Rush says Supreme Court decision on 1070 strips Arizonans of their rights to defend themselves against an “invasion”: “I guess the judge is saying it’s not in the public interest for Arizona to try to defend itself from an invasion. I don’t know how you look at this with any sort of common sense and come to the ruling this woman came to.” That same day, Rush says this: “Muslim terrorists are going to have a field day in Arizona. You cannot ask them where they’re from. You cannot even act like we know where they’re from. You cannot ask them for their papers. We can ask you for yours. Not them.”
• July 29: The Washington Times asks “Should Arizona Secede?” and says the Supreme Court “is unilaterally disarming the people of Arizona in the face of a dangerous enemy” with the aim of creating a “socialist superstate.” The paper writes: “The choice is becoming starkly apparent: devolution or dissolution.”
• July 29, Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy continues the Radio Rwanda theme, saying, “If the feds won’t protect the people and Governor Brewer can’t protect her citizens, what are the people of Arizona supposed to do?”

• ?

• I’m beginning to wonder why effective boycotts against these hate-media channels, and particularlyFox, haven’t been organized yet. Why not just pick out one Fox advertiser at random and make an example out of it? How about Subaru and their unintentionally comic “Love” slogan? I actually like their cars, but what the fuck? How about Pep Boys and that annoying logo of theirs? Just to prove that it can be done, I’d like to see at least one firm get blown out of business as a consequence of financially supporting the network that is telling America that its black president wants to kill white babies. Isn’t that at least the first move here? It’s beginning to strike me that sitting by and doing nothing about this madness is not a terribly responsible way to behave.

K+5: Share your Hurricane Katrina before-and-after photos | NOLA.com: ” “

The Moneyless Man: How Did Mark Boyle Spend A Year Without Spending A Dollar? (PHOTOS): “Not being able to buy pens or paper is quite hard when you like to write! Instead, Mark made his own paper out of mushrooms that he made into a pulp and dried. A US organization recently estimated that a 12 foot-high wall, running from New York to California could be erected using just one year’s waste paper from American offices.”

Lucid Dream Guru – Master the Art of Lucid Dreaming: “Learning To Lucid Dream!

A Lucid Dream is a dream where the person sleeping becomes conscious and aware that they are dreaming. Once this consciousness is achieved, the dreamer is able to engage and even manipulate the dream as they desire. Since the dream is a re-creation from the dreamer’s own mind, the possibilities of what can be done in the dream is limited only by their own imagination.

On this site, we have included 6 proven techniques that have helped many people master the ability to become lucid in their dreams. However, before you begin these techniques, it is recommended that you read The Lucid Dream Primer to provide you with the fundamental knowledge that will increase your chances of success with these techniques.”

Fresh Pics: Rock Stars: Then and Now: “Rock Stars: Then and Now

Many rock idols back from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s are still on stage. Some have retired from music and live a peaceful life now. Of course, they all have gone through many things and changed a lot. Take a look at famous stars then and now after the jump.”

Brabus’s iBusiness is a Mercedes-Benz S600 tricked out Apple style: “We’ve seen the iPad implemented both at school and at work, but in your car? That’s the idea behind the iBusiness, a Mercedes-Benz S600 that’s been tricked out with Apple gear aplenty by Brabus. Get this — you can see the two iPads and keyboards in the back seats, but there’s also a Mac mini in the back and a 64gb iPod touch as well. The display above is a 15.2′ TFT display, and all of the gear connects to the Internet via a high speed 3G system. The iPads can also control the car’s multimedia system, navigation systems, and the built-in telephone system.”

Creepy Ad Watch – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: “”

Secretly Monitor Employees Using Their Macs | Tips and Tricks | Mac360: “Andrew Grove, one of the founders of chip giant Intel, is credited with saying that ‘only the paranoid survive.’ Many in positions of authority believe it to be true.

If you have an office or school full or Macs, or just a family of Mac users, do you know what they’re doing on their Macs? Macs can be guarded with secret monitoring and recording apps that capture everything a user does on their Macs. Everything.”

SPACEPAINTINGS.COM YOUR #1 SOURCE FOR SPRAY PAINT ART!SPRAY PAINT ART TECHNIQUES BY BRANDON MCCONNELL OUTERSPACE PAINTINGS SPACEART SPRAYPAINTING: “”

These guns can’t kill you – they are ice cream » This Blog Rules | Why go elsewhere?: “At first glance it looks like they’re putting real guns in their mouths, but in real life they are eating edible ice guns.

They all have different kinds of flavors–cola, cherry, licorice and black currant. They are an addition to the first 50 tinted ice guns that Florian Jenett and Valentin Beinroth made and placed in downtown Frankfurt a few years ago.

These edible eatables where exhibited at an art show called ‘Freeze Revisited’, and their existence certainly shocked a lot of people.”

Food Nutrition Facts – Healthy Living Tips at WomansDay.com: “Every child has heard the healthy-eating mantra ‘You are what you eat.’ But there may be a closer resemblance between good-for-you grub and your body than you thought. We found 10 foods that mirror the body parts they provide nutrients for—for example, brain-boosting walnuts actually look like a brain. Coincidence? Maybe. Though these healthy foods are beneficial to the whole body, the list below is a fun reminder of what to eat to target specific areas. “

Black rice is the new cancer-fighting superfood, claim scientists | Mail Online: “Black rice – revered in ancient China but overlooked in the West – could be the greatest ‘superfoods’, scientists revealed today.

The cereal is low in sugar but packed with healthy fibre and plant compounds that combat heart disease and cancer, say experts.

Scientists from Louisiana State University analysed samples of bran from black rice grown in the southern U.S. They found boosted levels of water-soluble anthocyanin antioxidants.”

bungandy ???: “”

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Comes Out: I’m Gay: “Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter’s questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage and anticipated that questions would be asked about his participation in a late-September fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California’s ballot initiative against gay marriage, Proposition 8. ‘It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life,’ Mehlman said. ‘Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that’s made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.’”

Can you steal a few hairs from a racehorse and clone your own? – Holy Kaw!: “A successful cloning procedure would give you a genetic double of the target, minus the su­bject’s accumulated memories and learned responses. To make your fast, underhanded fortune in the cloning business, you’d need to find an established, high-paying market for genetic material. Look no farther than professional horseracing.

There’s an enormous amount of money to be made in breeding the next Triple Crown winner. Take 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus for example. The racing stallion sold for a record $60 million following his win, and his genetic material is about as top-shelf as it gets. His stud fee is currently $150,000. That’s some pretty expensive semen.

But what if you could cut out the middlemen? By stealing a few hairs from a horse like Fusaichi Pegasus, couldn’t you do one better and simply produce the champion’s exact genetic double?”

When to use i.e. in a sentence – The Oatmeal: “”

Table Dancers Turn Tables, Show Up To Church To Protest Being Protested – The Consumerist: “The dancers at the Foxhole in Coschocton County, Ohio, are used to arriving at work to the sounds of protests from members of the nearby New Beginnings Ministries church. But the same couldn’t quite be said for the churchgoers, who showed up for services on Sunday and were greeted by the sight of bikini-clad protesters.”

Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalization Campaign: “For a typical college student, if it didn’t happen on Facebook, it didn’t happen. That gives the social networking behemoth an out-sized influence on the confines of political debate, if that debate falls outside what Facebook deems acceptable discourse.

Proponents of marijuana legalization, which is on the California ballot in 2010, have hit a Facebook wall in their effort to grow an online campaign to rethink the nation’s pot laws. Facebook initially accepted ads from the group Just Say Now, running them from August 7 to August 16, generating 38 million impressions and helping the group’s fan page grow to over 6,000 members. But then they were abruptly removed.”

Miniature Art on the Tip of Pencil by Dalton Ghetti: “Many artists have used pencils to create works of art – but Dalton Ghetti creates miniature masterpieces on the tips of pencils

Dalton, who works as a carpenter, has been making his tiny graphite works for about 25 years. A sculpture of Elvis Presley wearing shades, carved from a single pencil.”

Sarah Palin Supports Dr. Laura Via Twitter: ‘don’t retreat … reload!’: “Sarah Palin has used Twitter to share some advice with Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the talk radio host who apologized and decided to retire from her highly-rated program after using the N-word on the air 11 times in 5 minutes.

Palin’s advice: ‘don’t retreat…reload!’

It’s a breathtakingly tone-deaf bit of provocation — even by Palin’s standards.

Dr. Laura, as she’s known on her radio program, quickly came under fire for her remarks of a week ago. She immediately acknowledged the mistake and soon announced that she would end the show once her contract expires later this year. She currently commands the largest audience of any woman in syndicated talk radio and overall her ratings are among the top five hosts in the nation.

Palin, once the governor of Alaska and Republican nominee for vice president in 2008, has been using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to push her messages in recent months. She fired out two messages about Dr. Laura on Wednesday night, the first reading:

This simple penne pasta recipe came about with a desire to create vegan creamy pesto style pasta. I love pea mash, the colour and sweet flavour and avocado seemed an ideal ingredient to produce the right texture. Throw in some more green with baby spinach and green beans and you have a colourful, healthy and really tasty vegan pasta recipe.

I included the pine nuts because they are a favourite of ours and give the dish an authentic pesto taste; for a non vegan version crumble through some feta cheese before serving. The pea and avocado mash would also work great as a spread on bruschetta or as a dip with crispy bread.

Quick and easy to make this vegetarian pasta is delicious served warm or could be made ahead of time and served as a cold pasta salad. Green, creamy and delicious; perfectly yummy penne pasta for happy bellies

[From Veggie num num : Pea & Avocado Penne]

Sent from my iPad

[From 2009 Cornell University Solar Decathlon | Home]

Deep in the forest of Parikkala, in the easternmost part of Finland, lies one of the craziest tourist attractions on the face of the planet – the sculpture park of Veijo Rönkkönen.

[From The Sculpture Park of Veijo Rönkkönen Is the Weirdest Place in Finland | funny picture from web]

So you forgot your Mac password… uh oh. Don’t worry, it happens and you aren’t out of luck. You’ll need to reset the forgotten password and there’s several ways to do this, we’ll focus on the two best methods; one does not require a Mac OS X installer CD and is a great hack, and the other is much more simple if you happen to have a Mac OS X DVD laying around.

[From Forgot Mac Password? How to Reset Your Mac Password (with or without CD) - OS X Daily]

Gold machine guns and pistols – most were never fired, just held for collection value.
The money and valuables found in this one house alone, would be enough to pay for health insurance for every man woman and child in the U.S.A. for 12 years! There are believed to be approximately 27 more of these houses in Mexico alone not to mention the ones in othercountries who are enriching themselves in the drug trade. These people have so much money, they make the Arab oil sheiks look like welfare recipients.
Their money can buy the best politicians, the best cops, the best judges, whatever they need they just throw down stacks of cash and it is theirs!
This is why the drug problem is so difficult to fight.

[From MEXICAN DRUG LORD'S HOME AFTER BEING RAIDED]

Courtesy of AwakeBlogger.com

Confucius, whose name literally means “Master Kong”, lived 551-479 BCE. He was a Chinese thinker and philosopher, whose teachings have deeply influenced not only Asian thought and life. He presented himself as a “transmitter who invented nothing” and he really pointed out the importance of learning, which is one reason he is seen by Chinese people as “The Greatest Master”.

One of the best known sources of Confucius are The Analects, a collection of his teachings, which was compiled many years after his death. A fountain of extremely mindful quotes springs from these ancient descriptions.

Many of them are universal and timeless in their beautiful and simple truth and they are as valid today as on the day they left Confucius’ mouth. Here we take a look at 10 of the most inspiring quotes by Confucius.

Confucius says …

1. “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.”

It’s the “Golden Rule” and the essence of real compassion . Not compassion as in looking down on someone and have pity for another, this is no real compassion. Compassion means seeing another person 100% equal to yourself (in value, not in differentials on the surface which ultimately do not matter). In fact it is seeing yourself in every other person. And therefore you cannot harm anyone without also harming yourself.

It doesn’t mean to lose individuality or self-worth, on the contrary – but the other person earns the same gift.

2. “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”

That’s my personal favorite quote since it expresses something very profound which also is very useful to know: Ignorance is a willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge. It is not widen one’s own perspective in order to see a broader truth. As an example it would be to have racist thoughts and not realizing that all men are equal.

The ultimate truth therefore is where there is absolutely no ignorance, meaning where the perspective or consciousness has become one with all that there is. In Buddhism ignorance (Avidy?) is seen as the primary cause of suffering. Liberation is Enlightenment. Another quote by Confucius here is “Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.”

3. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Those quotes are just perfect. What he is expressing here is that we have to experience something ourselves in order to really understand it. If we are hearing something it might be interesting. If we are seeing something it might be beautiful. But only if we feel in happening to ourselves we can really know how it is.

Picture something nice as winning an Olympic gold medal or picture something terrifying as the loss of a loved one. Can you know this by hearing it or by seeing it? Or do you have to do it and experience it yourself to really know it?

Along with this realization comes the awareness that you cannot understand someone or his actions from hearing or seeing it from the outside. You have to feel empathic compassion for him to really know what it is like. To know and not to do is really not to know. Only by applying our knowledge we can validate it’s harmony with reality, it’s truth.

4. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

Amazing. It calls for dropping the inner mask through which we constantly see and evaluate the world, distorted by our wants and belief-systems. Here we have to look at things as they are. Just like a newborn child would look at things. Then we are able to really see again, without instant labeling of what we see and therefore only really seeing our label. If we become able to do this – just for a second without judgment, we can see that everything in nature is as it should be. And in this natural perfection lies beauty.

5. “The Superior Man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage.”

Another quote is “The object of the superior man is truth.” It is the value of integrity: Do we act to our best knowledge of truth or do we bend ourselves and violate our integrity in order to gain an advantage? Do we play fair game or use perfidious tactics?

To be truthful to ourselves is also important to the development of (good) character. And it is the only straight way to liberation.

6. “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.”

Whatever you do and whatever you commit to, do it fully, give your all – one hundred percent. It is the essence of Carpe Diem – Seizing the day and it’s surely the best way to be satisfied with what we do and get the best results.

7. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.”

There is no failure, there are only valuable learning experiences. Or as Thomas Edison about inventing the light bulb said: “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The important thing is not giving up, but learning and then improving by using this feedback to get better and ultimately succeed.

A quote expressing the same principle is “A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.”

8. “He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”

Confucius explains the connection of learning and reflection. Reflection of that what we learned by thinking or of the results we get by applying the knowledge. “Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous” is a similar quote by Confucius. Learning is only useful if we connect the learning within our own minds, with what we already know and what is useful for us. This reflection of any knowledge also saves us from blindly following any knowledge without checking its truthfulness and validity to us.

I think everybody experienced learning when we really want this knowledge and interweave it with what we already know. If there is a need or problem we want to solve, the consume knowledge much more effective than it happens for students in many universities.

9. “He that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

This quote calls for planning and preparation. This includes getting and improving the personal skills we need to be successful. If we want to hold speeches we have to become good with communication skills. If we want to win a race we have to train for it. If we want to do a big project we need knowledge in project management. Steven Covey calls it Sharpening the saw, read about it here.

10. “If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”

It shows that our primary work lies within ourselves: to work on ourselves and improve will automatically take care of the outside world if we use our abilities then. “When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.” The solution to problems is not “out there”. It is the Inside-Out approach: success and happiness can only be found by working on ourselves. It also entails the spiritual message to look inside and to discover ourselves fully.

[From Confucius says: The Top 10 Quotes by Confucius - Global One TV]

Jailbreak for Every iDevice on 3.2.1 to 4.0.1

Thanks to the hard work of comex, a new jailbreak is available for iDevices running 3.2.1, 4.0, and 4.0.1. This jailbreak requires you to visit http://jailbreakme.modmyi.com/faq.html. Visiting that page will initialize the jailbreak process, and soon enough you will be downloading all your favorite 3rd party apps and themes from cydia! If you’re ready to enter the jailbreak scene on your 3.2.1+ iDevice, head on over to the website.

[From Jailbreak for Every iDevice on 3.2.1 to 4.0.1 | InsanelyMac]

iPhone Explorer lets you use an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as if it were in disk mode or a flash drive. iPhone Explorer is an iPhone browser for Mac & PC that lets you browse the files and folders on your iPhone as if it were a normal USB flash drive or pen drive. You can use the easy drag-and-drop methods to add or remove files and folders from the iPhone. Compatible with all iPhones and iPod Touches including the new iPhone 4 and iOS 4 firmware.

[From iPhone Explorer - A USB iPhone browser for Mac and PC]

Global youth unemployment has hit a record high following the financial crisis and is likely to get worse later this year, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Thursday.

[From Youth Unemployment Hits Record High - CNBC]

it uses the internal gyroscope of the device to automatically take photos while you’re moving the camera around you. It then assembles the photos into one of six collage themes in near real-time. You don’t need to worry about aligning edges of photos; the app knows the orientation of the iPhone 4 during the moment when each photo is being captured, so it takes care of the alignment for you.

[From TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

[From Moving Mandalas and Geometric Animations from Light Weaver]

The phone at Twisted Village rang again a little after one o’clock last Thursday afternoon.

Letting several rings go by, owner Wayne Rogers reluctantly picked up, already knowing the question poised on the other end.

“Yes, it’s true,” Rogers said gently. “July 25.”

Sunday will be Twisted Village’s final day of business, capping a 14-year run that would see the subterranean Harvard Square record shop sell countless vinyl discs, host too-many-to-count in-store appearances — Wizz Jones, Richard Bishop, and Thurston Moore among Rogers’s most memorable — and establish itself as one of the most respected music havens in the country.

[From Harvard Square's Twisted Village to close July 25 - On The Download]

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) said on the House floor Monday that Republicans are blocking a reauthorization of unemployment benefits in order to resurrect the America of the 1930s.

“There was no unemployment insurance back then,” Grayson said, in one of the more colorful speeches on the issue. “There was no State benefits back then. There was no help for the people who had no jobs. All they could do, like my grandfather, in desperate straits, supporting a family of seven, was to go to the dump and desperately try to find something he could sell.

[From Alan Grayson To Republicans Blocking Unemployment: 'May God Have Mercy On Your Souls' (VIDEO)]

[From “Back in the good old days” by Fabien Clerc. | A criação]

Amazing Photos of Trees

[From Amazing Photos of Trees | Yurock]

BP is a blatant repeat offender — a serial criminal. In 2005, BP’s criminal conduct resulted in an explosion at its Texas City Oil Refinery that killed 15 people; this was followed by the Prudhoe Bay, Alaska pipeline oil spill in 2006. In both cases multi-million dollar criminal fines were imposed. BP also paid hundreds of millions of dollars in civil and administrative fines for Occupational Health and Safety Administration and environmental violations. And now, BP is responsible for yet even more deaths and an environmental disaster of devastating proportions.

The multi-million dollar criminal fines paid by BP did nothing to deter its risky ongoing conduct. The fines were simply a cost of doing business for BP. The only way to change this dynamic is to not only charge the corporation but also those individuals responsible for the corporate crime.

If only a portion of the facts that led up to the explosion that have been reported in the media are true, there will be ample evidence to support a criminal prosecution. But the prosecution should not be limited to corporate entities. Reports of employees being pressured not to report problems and failures to follow the company’s own internal safety and compliance policies, indicate — at best — a cavalier disregard for the risks inherent in the oil and gas business.

[From BP execs should go to jail - Baltimore Sun]

Scientists have begun speculating that the root cause of disease conditions such as migraines and irritable bowel syndrome may be endocannabinoid deficiency.

[From Not Feeling Well? Perhaps You’re ‘Marijuana Deficient’ | Brainwaving]

As much as you’ll hear us brag that we never fall ill (largely due to copious amounts of garlic, onions and vitamin C) we do — once in a blue moon — get sick. And yes, we have chased the green dragon. NyQuil, DayQuil, other sorts of new fangled drugstore opiates in their generic versions. We will fess up. The stuff works!

But not this year. When one of us woke up last week with a throat tickle that blossomed into a gnarly case of the flu, we took it on with fresh produce, organic sweeteners and thimbles of liquor.

In place of Acetaminophen (pain and fever reliever), Dextromethorphan HBr (cough suppressant), and Doxylamine succinate (sleep aid) we used green chile, ginger, citric acid and booze — all herbal, if subtler, forms of the chemical stuff. A couple shots, errr, doses, of the stuff is perfect for sitting on the couch in a sweatshirt and sweating out your germs. Take that Big Pharma!

[From All Natural NyQuil - Hot Knives]

Product designers Hyoungmin Park and Jeongmin Lee have created a tape roll with realistic looking hinges on it. It looks pretty interesting on a box.

[From Optical Illusion Hinge Tape — Illusion 360 - The World's most amazing Art, Design, Technology and Video]

Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren’t enough for a reputed neo-Nazi who’s now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.

Jason “J.T.” Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on “narco-terrorists” and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants. So far, he says his patrols have only found a few border crossers who were given water and handed over to the Border Patrol. Once, they also found a decaying body in a wash, and alerted authorities.

[From Man With Neo-Nazi Ties Leading Patrols In Arizona]

[From Online converter - convert video, images, audio and documents for free]

Legally, California has also been a pioneer, at least within America. In 1996 it was the first state to allow marijuana to be grown and consumed for medicinal purposes. Since then, 13 states and the District of Columbia have followed, and others are considering it. But this year California may set a more fundamental, and global, precedent. It may become the first jurisdiction in the world to legalise, regulate and tax the consumption, production and distribution of marijuana.

[From Legalising marijuana: The law of the weed | The Economist]

That’s a tall order, especially in an election year. But Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today is publicly proposing a moratorium on any new regulations by the federal government for one year. Yeah, that’s right. The promulgation of any new government regulation would be stopped for a year, except emergencies like the BP spill.

Presumably this would halt all the new regs being written to implement health care reform, the ones that will soon be written to implement financial reform, and of course the gazillions or more obscure regulations that are written every day as part of the essential functioning of government.

With everything going on right now, the second highest ranking Republican in Washington wants to basically shut government down for a year. Brilliant.

[From Dumbest Idea Of The Year? | Talking Points Memo]

THE TUNNEL HOUSE

[From Curiosities: The Tunnel House]

A Russian software company today released a password cracking tool that instantly reveals cached passwords to Web sites in Microsoft Internet Explorer, mailbox and identity passwords in all versions of Microsoft Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail.

[From New Tool Reveals Internet Passwords | Information Security News - SecurityWeek: IT Security News & Expert Insights]

The government calls it “sealed management.” China’s capital has started gating and locking some of its lower-income neighborhoods overnight, with police or security checking identification papers around the clock, in a throwback to an older style of control.

[From Beijing starts gating, locking poor villages - World news - Asia-Pacific - China - msnbc.com]

A few weeks back, we hit you with “In the Heat of the Night” from lo-fi pop weirdo Ariel Pink’s new collaborative EP with Dallas avant-jazz outfit Added Pizzazz (or Yells at Eels, for those Dallas avant-jazz die-hards out there). The EP is out now via Free Dope and Fucking in the Streets and is only available for purchase during Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti’s current tour. Take a listen to another cut from the collection, “Hot Body Rub”, right now.

“Hot Body Rub” is the extended cut of the sax-led jam of the same name that kicks off the BNM’d Before Today, featuring more saxophone action– and weird grunting, of course. Have a listen over at We All Want Someone to Shout For.

[From Pitchfork: Listen: New Ariel Pink With Added Pizzazz: "Hot Body Rub"]

Leopard and Snow Leopard have the ability to edit pdf files, move pages around, and even merge two pdf documents together. It’s built right in. In OS X combining pdf documents is now easy and you don’t need a third party program to do it! Here is how to join two or more pdf files together into one.

[From How to merge pdf files with preview in Leopard | Macintosh How To]

Style Sheets, easy and quick

Design beautiful, innovative and fast-loading web sites… with a beautiful, innovative and fast app. CSSEdit’s intuitive approach to style sheets and powerful previewing features will make you deliver awesome standards-based sites in no time!
Everyone is welcome: CSS newbies and power users

Because of CSSEdit’s unique focus on style sheets, it offers a wide range of features for any level of expertise. Starting out? Selector Builder and advanced visual editors will gradually help you understand CSS instead of dumbing you down.

For anyone well-versed in CSS, the Live Preview and intelligent source environment are invaluable tools to get your website or application styled in a fraction of the time it took before. Add powerful X-Ray web page inspection, and you’ve got an unbeatable CSS debugging suite.

[From MacRabbit - CSSEdit - Web 2.0 in Style]

[From One iPhone, Two Different Numbers, Courtesy Of Toktumi’s Line2 App [Review] | Cult of Mac]

Today is a good time as any to scare your friends. And here’s a new trick on how to get a few good screams. You simply need the fence you would normally use around your house. This should be easy to shape and stand up on its own. Now simply follow the pictures, shaping is the easy part. Whenever on a picnic, fishing or hiking, you can place your ghost in the forest and wait for the effect!

[From Hollow Man | Vision02]

Ransom note generator

[From Ransom note generator]

Crayola crayons have come in a multitude of different colors since their introduction in 1903. By 1905 Binney & Smith’s Crayola crayon product line had reached 30 different colors.[1] In 1958 the number of colors increased to 64. Eight fluorescent colors were introduced in 1972, increasing the total number of colors to 72. In 1990 the total increased to 80 colors with the introduction of 16 new colors and the discontinuation of eight colors. The number of available colors was increased to 96 in 1993 and to 120 in 1998, though with thirteen crayons being retired along the way, the grand total of colors is 133[2]. Along with the regular packs of crayons, there have been many specialty sets, including Silver Swirls[3], Gem Tones[4], Pearl Brite[5], Metallic FX[6], Magic Scent[7], Silly Scents[8], and more.

Colors have been renamed through the years. In 1958, Prussian Blue was renamed Midnight Blue. The color known as Flesh was renamed Peach in 1962, partially in response to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Indian Red was renamed Chestnut in 1999 due to concern that some children thought the crayon color represented the skin color of Native Americans.[2] According to the company, however, the name originally referred to a reddish-brown pigment from India that is used in artists’ oil paint.[2] In the past, some crayons have been temporarily renamed, such as the 2004 State-Your-Color Contest[9] crayons and the 8 Kids’ Choice Colors in the 2008 50th anniversary 64-count box.[10]

[From List of Crayola crayon colors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

An Interview With Wu Yu-Ying – Designer of the Breathing Chair

Posted by Dave on May 21st, 2010

The Red Dot Awards have featured an interview they’ve done with Wu Yu-Ying, designer of Breathing, a perforated foam chair that transforms its shape according to the body of the sitter.

[From An Interview With Wu Yu-Ying – Designer of the Breathing Chair » CONTEMPORIST]

belgian architectural firm dmvA designed ‘blob VB3′, a mobile unit for the office of
xfactoragencies as an extension to the ‘house’. the space – egg house consists of a bathroom,
kitchen, lighting, a bed and several niches for storage. the nose can be opened automatically
and functions as a kind of porch. it easily transportable and can also be used as an office,
guestroom or garden house.

[From dmvA: blob VB3]

HBO’s ‘Treme’ and MTV’s latest iteration of ‘The Real World,’ debuting Wednesday, both concern themselves with recovery in the Big Easy. Why neither has the healing touch.

[From 'Treme,' 'The Real World,' and the New New Orleans - Newsweek]

The controversy over using female hormones as part of prenatal care isn’t quite as shocking as the headlines suggest, but it does raise important questions about ethics, gender, and sexuality.

[From The Anti-Lesbian Drug - Newsweek]

The U.K. government has appointed former BP chief Lord Browne as its new efficiency czar. Tom Bower on the extraordinary insult of promoting the man who bears huge responsibility for the Gulf oil crisis.

[From Lord Browne and BP Oil Spill Outrage - The Daily Beast]

It may seem that Steve Jobs is on a lonely crusade against Adobe’s Flash format with the rest of the industry simply waiting who this battle will turn out. While Adobe is rallying support for Flash, Apple receives support from a rather unexpected ally, the adult film industry. The founder of Digital Playground, one of the porn heavyweights in the U.S., told ConceivablyTech that it will abandon Flash as soon as the desktop browsers fully support HTML 5. We also learned that 3D is just not there yet and that online movie streaming is unlikely to replace Blu-ray discs anytime soon.

[From An Unexpected Apple Ally: Porn Industry to Drop Flash | ConceivablyTech]

25 Vegetarian and Vegan Meals from 2009
The Kitchn’s Best Recipes of 2009

[From 25 Vegetarian and Vegan Meals from 2009 The Kitchn's Best Recipes of 2009 | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn]

Some of these might be innocent mistakes, but I imagine most of them are the result of bored workers.

[From Curiosities: Price Tag Fails]

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in New York sided with Google Inc. in a $1 billion copyright lawsuit filed by media company Viacom Inc. over YouTube videos, saying the service promptly removed illegal materials as required under federal law.

Wednesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in the closely watched case further affirmed the protections offered to online service providers under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The 1998 law offers immunity when service providers promptly remove illegal materials submitted by users once they are notified of a violation.

[From Viacom Loses To YouTube In Landmark Copyright Case]

Alan Brinkley’s comprehensive new biography of Time magazine co-founder Henry R. Luce, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century, has but one flaw. Then again, this “shortcoming” has more to do with my obsessions than it does with any inadequacy on Brinkley’s part. My idiosyncratic complaint: Brinkley doesn’t spend near enough space on the proselytizing enthusiasm the mogul and his wife, Clare Boothe Luce, had for LSD and how that enthusiasm bled into Luce’s Time and Life.

[From How Time and Life magazines helped turn America on to LSD. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine]

“Don’t mean to be alarmist, but the odds are increasing that Microsoft’s business will just completely collapse,” Henry Blodget writes for Business Insider. “The market still thinks Microsoft’s long-term prospects are pretty good, though. The stock is trading at a respectable 14X P/E. The company has cash flow gushing out of its ears. The consensus is that Microsoft will keep growing, just more slowly. But the odds are increasing that even this will prove to be wishful thinking.”

[From MacDailyNews - Blodget: The odds are increasing that Microsoft's business will just completely collapse]

Last year, Ariel Pink cut a record titled Trick or Treat with shape-shifting psychedelic savants Vas Deferens Organization under the moniker Shits & Giggles. It probably slipped under your radar, but it’s worth digging for if you want to get a taste of Señor Pink’s weirder, more hallucinogenic inclinations.

Now the pairing yields another release, the Ariel Pink With Added Pizzazz 12″ EP (out July 9 on Free Dope and Fucking in the Streets Records, but only obtainable during Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti summer tour, which hits Seattle July 13 at Neumos). You can sample a sliver of that collaboration with the song “In the Heat of the NIght” here. The record was produced by VDO, which guarantees it a bizarre, hyperreal sheen. (By the way, scoop up anything you can find by VDO and their satellite projects like Sound, Jalopy, and Muz, especially if you dig the artists on the Nurse With Wound list.)

Track listing and recording details below.

01 In the Heat of the Night
02 Vapor Trailer
03 Hot Body Rub
04 19
05 I M NN7

Ariel Pink-Vocals, Casio Digital Guitar, Farfisa
Jim Lehnert-Soprano, Alto and Baritone Sax, Trombone, Farfisa
Dennis Gonzaléz-Trumpet
Aaron Gonzaléz-Upright & Electric Bass, Bowed cymbals
Stefan Gonzaléz-Drums, Vibes, Percussion
Guest Musician: Tamara Cauble-Violin, Backing vocal
Eric Lumbleau-Backing Vocal [Lumbleau is also a contributor to the phenomenal rare-music blog Mutant Sounds]

Production, Engineering and Sound Design By Vas Deferens Organization
Recorded at Klearlight Studios, Dallas, Texas, February 2010
Mastered by Udi Koomran, Tel Aviv

[From Ariel Pink... Now With Added Pizzazz | Line Out | The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper]

Ariel Pink just released his latest album with his Haunted Graffiti backing band (the BNM’d Before Today) but the notoriously prolific lo-fi hero has another new release in the can already.

On July 9 via the label Free Dope and Fucking in the Streets, Pink will put out a self-titled collaborative 12″ EP with avant-jazzers Added Pizzazz (who were featured on Before Today’s opening cut, “Hot Body Rub”). The EP was recorded in Texas earlier this year and mastered all the way in Tel Aviv (cross-continental!). You can listen to the EP’s lead track, “In the Heat of the Night”, above, and peep the tracklist below.

Ariel Pink With Added Pizzazz:

01 In the Heat of the Night
02 Vapor Trailer
03 Hot Body Rub
04 19
05 IM NN7

[From Pitchfork: Ariel Pink Announces New EP]

[From Udi Koomran: Ariel Pink with added Pizzazz]

AP: Yeah yeah. All the stuff that we hear nowadays, dripping with emotion and sincerity – it’s all a fucking joke, man. I mean for me, this is Broadway, this is like, ‘I’m takin’ it to New Yawk!’ (both laugh) It’s added pizzazz.

[From Ariel Pink interview - Hear - ThreeThousand]