Friday Ephemera
Impact craters of note. // Hidden water. // Big hair, sideburns and mainframes. (h/t, Coudal) // A compendium of temporal anomalies. // Tactile holograms inching closer. // Tentacles in New York. // Plant structures. // The root bridges of Cherrapungee. // Temporary fixes. // From terrorist to tenure. // Bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed jalapeno thingies. // The deadly buttocks of Astro Boy. // I think I see a problem with the kinetic lamp. // LED graffiti. // Remarkable motorcycles. // Electrical wire octopus. // What to do with a concrete stalker. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Mr Hoagy Carmichael.
Best quick fix ever.
http://thereifixedit.com/2009/08/11/epic-kludge-photo-and-i-thought-my-fan-was-loud/
I can’t help thinking it’s only a matter of time before something goes horribly wrong with that.
Regarding best quick fix, this bathroom door modification is pretty classy…
http://thereifixedit.com/2009/08/01/epic-kludge-photo-one-classy-motel/
And we mustn’t forget the modified y-fronts.
http://thereifixedit.com/2009/07/22/epic-kludge-photo-hanes-his-way/
Or…
http://thereifixedit.com/2009/07/30/epic-kludge-photo-finally-found-a-use-for-jonas-bros-cd/
Thank you for the Ayers links, David.
To me, it seems natural that once you accept that the acceptability of rhetoric (re the Obama/Bush Joker-designs – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gZ9pKLyiqk ) depends on the purity of the intentions of the speaker, you’d be almost inconsistent to not treat actions the same way.
Thus Ayers crime of blowing things up, is strongly mitigated by his intentions of bringing down capitalism, while someone else blowing things up would just be a criminal.
In Norway, we have a noted intellectual (previously the general-secretary of the Norwegian Humanitarian Association), who also is the only Norwegian recently convicted for terrorism – he was arrested by the Lebanese government for trying to smuggle explosives into Israel (this was in the late 70s).
How could a convicted terrorist become the leader of the second-biggest faith-organization in Norway if not on the basis that his intentions are pure and good?
The mind boggles.
-S
Simen,
“Thus Ayers’ crime of blowing things up is strongly mitigated by his intentions of bringing down capitalism…”
Well, the transition from totalitarian terrorist and “kill your parents” to “distinguished professor of education” was, it seems, remarkably easy. There doesn’t seem to be much embarrassment about his past and it hasn’t inhibited his career or social standing, as one might have imagined. Indeed, there seems to be an element of grotesque kudos. Somehow, I can’t see an unrepentant abortion clinic bomber being made to feel quite so welcome, or being excused for such shoddy work, or being defended by 3000 of his colleagues. Yet here’s a man who mentally masturbated over the prospect of “seizing power” via “armed struggle,” thereby building “a dictatorship of the proletariat,” complete with “re-education centres” and the “elimination” of dissent. That he should find academia so congenial and obliging probably tells us something.
http://www.zombietime.com/prairie_fire/
I was, though, tickled to discover that our raging, fearless Communist wasn’t above using Daddy’s Leverage to climb the career ladder. (But then, ain’t it always so?)
It’s obviously not privilege when it is warranted, right?
I’ll have to read Prairie Fire one of these days. Probably after Marx.
-S
“Today, Ayers and Dohrn sit on the board of Movement for a Democratic Society, which has been guiding a resurgent “SDS” of student activists who intimidate conservative speakers on campuses. Ayers laid low until after the election. But now he and Dohrn enjoy invitations on the speaking circuit, many for their latest book, Race Course Against White Supremacy, whose premise is that as long as the U.S. remains capitalistic it will remain racist…”
“But declining national test scores and widening racial disparities show a failure of Ayers’ “progressive” methods. In spite of upwards of $150 million spent on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge achievement scores were not raised, as Stanley Kurtz has pointed out. As education writer Diane Ravitch, citing parents’ complaints about their children’s low achievement, notes, it is minority children who are usually the most harmed by the education methods promoted by Ayers.”
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/bill-ayers-and-the-threat-to-education/
There’s never a fucking sniper when you need one.
Simen,
“It’s obviously not privilege when it is warranted, right?”
The Long March demands sacrifice, comrade. What else would you expect from a pretentious, narcissistic, morally frivolous little shit?
“What else would you expect from a pretentious, narcissistic, morally frivolous little shit?”
That’s the first time I’ve seen you swear, David. 🙂
James,
It has happened before, though not very often. When it comes to Mr Ayers and his equally ludicrous wife, I’m prepared to go that extra mile. It’s important to make apparent the exact level of contempt.
No argument here. 🙂
BTW, love the “concrete stalker” film.