Archive for 2009
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 6, 2009 by admin in Holidays
Sunday, December 6th, 2009After 51 weeks of filthy hands, finally some relief, and why I’d like to propose we combine Pearl Harbor Day and September 11 into a single holiday called Sway National Sentiment By Ignoring Intelligence Day.
December is – as we all know – probably the busiest month for holidays. Probably because in much of the capitalist world, it’s dark and gloomy about 18 hours out of every 24, so there’s nothing to do but try to make yourself feel better by eating, shopping, and stringing pretty lights and candles all over the place to ward off the depression. So we’ll get to the biggies like Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa next week, but before all the holiday cheer begins, let’s pause for a moment of somber reflection on Pearl Harbor Day, which has become an excellent time to remember the events of September 11, because, well, they probably came about in the same way. Of course, the average flag-waving American will probably want to wash their hands of any such talk immediately. This is convenient, because December 6th through 12th is National Handwashing Awareness Week. Which kind of leaves one wondering what the hell people do with them the other 51 weeks of the year. In any case, let Henry The Hand’s sniff test help you clean up your act and rid the world of the filth being spread by evil characters like his likely arch-nemesis, Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo. And much like the one week of clean hands a year, you’re also allowed human rights for a day on December 10. This seems to be a less-than-hot-topic for the UN; as of this writing their human rights home page makes no mention of the holiday, and the most recent item in the “news” section is from April. So just enjoy your silly human rights while you still have some. Like mom always used to say, “there are kids in [INSERT COUNTRY NAME] that are starving for human rights“. Okay, maybe I’m misquoting mom a bit. In any case, like we said, we’ll be back with thoughts on the “real” December holidays next week, but in the meantime we have several pages of shopping ideas for you. Oh, and don’t forget. Global Orgasm Day is coming. Read the rest of this entry »
Watch This Space: Gift Ideas For The Person Who Has Everything But Time
[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 5, 2009 by admin in Technology
Saturday, December 5th, 2009Watch out, we’ve taken the time to round up a bunch of cool, not-so-cool, and interesting watches. None of which are second hand.
 With the TokyoFlash Retsu, You Look Cool But Never Know What Time It Is |
I have what might be described as a poorly-manifested watch fetish. In the 90′s, I probably had two dozen watches. Fossils, Swatches, or any clever design that was in the discount bin near the checkout at stores like TJ Maxx. They all died slow, painful nightclub deaths of course though, and since 2001 I’ve only had one watch; the classic Museum Movado
ExtInked: Helping Endangered Species Through Tattoos
[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 4, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Lifestyle & Culture
Friday, December 4th, 2009How a UK design studio’s experiment has inspired me to finally defile my body with a tattoo.
We’ve touched on tattoos and body mods before, and I’ve shared why I may never get a tattoo myself. That may all change though, which I’ll explain at the end of this piece. My new-found willingness to think about getting a tattoo myself was inspired by reading about an interesting “social experiment” that was recently promoted in the UK by Ultimate Holding Company, which -although its web site gives the impression is some sort of non-profit – is in fact an ethically-minded commercial design studio in based in Manchester. In their words, they are “committed to sustainable practices, ethical and responsible business, and design driven grass roots collaboration“. UHC recently put together an exhibit and event called ExtInked, in which 100 “ambassadors” applied to have one of England’s 100 most endangered species tattooed on their bodies. A cool idea, although it might have been interesting to see them do something more than basically garner attention for their own studio; as of this writing, neither their web site, their Facebook page, nor any of the press they’ve generated mentions any tangible results of the idea, beyond a few hundred people getting interested in the concept, and a hundred of them getting tattoos of endangered species. The last I knew, getting “Mom” tattooed on your arm isn’t going to bring her back from the dead. All the same, it’s a pretty cool and hip idea, and it will be interesting to see if generates some real results. I wish the UHC, their partners, and the participants the best, or I wouldn’t be sharing their project here. As I was reading about their project though, I ran across another tattoo idea that hit closer to home. Earlier this year, Phil Plait of Discover Magazine’s “Bad Astronomy” Blog announced he’d get a tattoo if site traffic increased to 2 million page views for a month. It worked, and he and Discover CEO Henry Donahue ended up getting tattoos. So here’s the deal. I’ll get a tattoo if Dissociated Press traffic increases to 250,000 monthly page views in January. Right now it’s hovering around a paltry 20,000 page views monthly, a level that – trust me – does not generate enough revenue to make it worth maintaining. So, much like the UHC’s project, if you don’t want to see Dissociated Press become extinct, send us some visitors. Maybe I’ll let you pick the tattoo.
Welcome To Obamastan
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on December 3, 2009 by admin in Politics
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009It’s a shame, but whatever mess continues to evolve in Afghanistan will probably be remembered as Obama’s.
I have to admit that I’m a little peeved with the president right now. For the record, I voted for the guy, but now he’s gone and put me in the uncomfortable position of having to watch him actually follow through on a campaign promise. As rare as it is, a politician keeping a campaign promise should be cause for a celebration of some kind. But no. Of all the hundreds of promises Barack Obama made on the campaign trail, he had to follow through on this Afghanistan thing. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that what I was hoping for when I voted for the guy was that he meant it when he implied that he’d get the US out of Iraq, and that he was kind of fudging a little when he said he’d be a man of action in Afghanistan. In fact, I know I’m not alone. Even the usually liberal-friendly Der Spiegel suggested that Obama’s Afghanistan speech sounded like “a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric“. A stance I can’t argue with personally; Obama’s feeble justification that we’re still going after that rascally al Quaeda is patently absurd. Current intelligence suggests there are only around 100 of them in the entire country. That means we’re spending $300 Million per terrorist to deal with each of them. Which sounds a bit pricey to me. And frankly, sounds like bullshit. The president only used the phrase “status quo” twice in his speech, but he could’ve left it out altogether. In my opinion, his speech clarified that he has in many ways completely adopted the Bush era status quo, and is continuing the “War On Terror”. Very convenient for any world leader, because as Monty Python member Terry Jones pointed out back in 2002, It’s hard for abstract nouns to surrender. Aside from the current domestic economic situation, there are many reasons I vehemently oppose the direction Obama is taking regarding US military presence around the world. Amongst them is the fact that I have a nephew that like thousands of other soldiers is being pulled away from his family here at home after two voluntary tours because of the US military’s continued stop loss policies. An atrocious way to treat a young person that has already risked their lives for our country. It’s a shame that this will probably be remembered as Obama’s mess, but he has choices. I personally think he’s making bad ones, but what do you think?
Pitchfork Media’s 50 Best Albums of 2009 ?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on December 2, 2009 by admin in Music
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009No, it’s not here yet. Have suggestions for another cool source of indy music? In the meantime we’ll amuse ourselves with insane infographics that break down Pitchfork’s lists in bizarre detail.
 Visit Pitchfork Media |
It’s time once again for me to start drooling as I await the Pitchfork Media 50 Best Albums of 2009. The annoying thing about one of the best of the “best of 2009″ music lists is that they won’t post it until it’s almost 2010! Until then, we’ll have to endure the inevitable mind-numbing assault of year-end “best of” lists from thousands of other sources. It took me awhile to figure out what exactly it was about Pitchfork’s list that draws me in and basically dictates my listening habits for about three months of the year: it’s the fact that every year, I utterly and completely disagree with about half of it! In their staff’s striving for uber-hipness, they end up exploring the remote fringes of pop that even weirdos like me are unwilling to embrace. Along the way though, I’m forced to listen to indy acts that otherwise wouldn’t have crossed my radar. The problem with lists like NPR’s Best Music Of 2009 (So Far) or Paste Magazine’s lists with the same name is that whether it’s poll-driven like NPR’s list, or staff-selected as in the case of Paste’s, they’re both from mid-year! They also tend to be topped with obvious choices like Animal Collective’s “My Girls”