meta-roj

ormally, i avoid chain restaurants in general, and most particularly on trips – why would i travel hundreds or thousands of miles to eat the same thing? just seems silly to me. besides, the conversation and people are so much more interesting in places that don’t get hammered out of cookie-cutters.

Italian expert turns nose up at fare [usa today, july 17, 2004]

Fourth course: Pork Filettino. Grilled pork tenderloin marinated in olive oil and rosemary, served with roasted potatoes.

Marcella looks distraught, unable to go on. Reluctantly, she turns to the pork. She takes a bite and suddenly brightens. “This is not bad. The meat is very tender. The potatoes are sautéed, so they catch the flavor.” She stops to weigh the importance of what she is about to say. “This is a winner.”

maybe… maybe i’ll have to drop in and try the pork filettino at olive garden. anyone hungry?

composer

Listen to the flip side [guardian, july 22, 2004]

Prior to Oberholzer-Gee and Strumpf’s report, there were no empirical studies based on actual file sharing behaviour, and the music industries in the US and the UK have based their policies on, at best, incomplete research. At worst, the surveys and analyses they quote are misleading and inaccurate.

the music industry has never let a pesky thing like reality interfere with their business model.

[hi suw! congratulations!]

it seems that the army’s technologists are busy busy beavers lately. not too long ago, they discovered oobleck. today, news from downunder tells us about the latest in food technology for the combat soldier:

US military cooks up ‘add urine and eat’ rations [Australian Broadcasting Corporation, july 22, 2004]

United States food technologists have invented dried rations that a soldier can rehydrate by using dirty water or even his own urine, the British weekly New Scientist reports.

The ration is surrounded by a plastic membrane made of a nanofibre that, according to its inventors, can filter out 99.9 per cent of microbes and the most harmful toxic compounds, allowing only clean water to get to the preserved food.

i can’t wait for the names the grunts come up with for these…

Jellyfish could yield next Viagra [the age, july 22, 2004]

“Irukandji syndrome is something that happens to you that might kill you,” she [James Cook University irukandji researcher Lisa-Ann Gershwin] said. “Preparing for a date involves not having irukandji syndrome.”

ms. gershwin is correct. irukandji syndrome is much more like actually being on a date.

Jellyfish could yield next Viagra [the age, july 22, 2004]

The sting from an irukandji tentacle can cause irukandji syndrome, entailing severe pain, anxiety, paralysis and a potentially fatal rise in blood pressure.

Researchers have found that one rare species also causes an extra symptom of prolonged erections in male victims.

yep. i’ve been on that date.

i am irukandji montoya. you are beautiful. prepare to date.

[via boingboing]

it seems that the army’s technologists are busy busy beavers lately. not too long ago, they discovered oobleck. today, news from downunder tells us about the latest in food technology for the combat soldier:

US military cooks up ‘add urine and eat’ rations [Australian Broadcasting Corporation, july 22, 2004]

United States food technologists have invented dried rations that a soldier can rehydrate by using dirty water or even his own urine, the British weekly New Scientist reports.

The ration is surrounded by a plastic membrane made of a nanofibre that, according to its inventors, can filter out 99.9 per cent of microbes and the most harmful toxic compounds, allowing only clean water to get to the preserved food.

i can’t wait for the names the grunts come up with for these…

ben cohen brought the pantsonfire-mobile to baltimore recently, as part of the art car exhibition portion of artscape. unfortunately, due to a crush of events in my universe, i didn’t get to see it up close and personal, so i can’t drop a photo in here for you. fortunately, the net is there to handle that part for me.

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder inflamed by Bush [ap via seattle post intelligencer]

“I believe that it’s disrespectful of the president to essentially lead the country based on lies,” he said. “If that happens, then I believe it’s actually our patriotic duty to make people aware of it.”

the official pantsonfire journal and itinerary don’t give many clues about the baltimore appearance, but the baltimore sun seems to think it was here.

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder inflamed by Bush [ap via seattle post intelligencer]

Reaction to the effigy across the country has been overwhelmingly positive, Cohen said, so much so that he has commissioned a second one to tour.

maybe it was the debut of pantsonfire-mobile-2?

i was going to write a long and detailed report on the activities in the senate this past week or so, in which we discover the debate on an amendment banning same-sex marriages took 3 days, and the judiciary committee passed 11-7 an amendment banning physical desecration of the american flag.

i was going to direct you to the congressional record, on july 9, 2004, july 12, 2004 and july 13, 2004 where you would find that the “federal marriage amendment” was the main order of business in the senate for three days, while other issues of interest to our democracy, such as the discussion of energy policy, the no-bid halliburton contract, the valerie plame leak investigation, intelligence committee reports, the darfur humanitarian crisis, and such were worked into the schedule.

i was going to remind you that congress is getting ready to go on vacation – the “august recess” from july 26 to september 6. so as they’re wrapping up the legislative session, it’s nice to know that they are dealing with the important issues of policy and integrity in the american government.

and i was going to remind you that the president has repeatedly assured us that “the american people are safer,” so i guess that helps explain why the senate, which is supposed to act as a check on the executive branch, would take president bush’s word for it and move on to less pressing matters, such as making america safe for heterosexual marriages.

i was going to say something about how the senate, having achieved nothing with regard to legislating the terms upon which americans are permitted to establish relationships, that the portion of the senate known as the judiciary committee would move on today to recommend a anti-flag-burning amendment for consideration by the senate as a whole.

then i was going to say something about how i am comforted, as an american, knowing that my elected legislators are busying themselves with measures to restrict the rights of the american people in the fields of sex and protest, so that we may continue the recent tradition of american hypocracy as we insist that the rest of the world adopt the policies we profess rather than the policies we practice.

i was going to make this an elaborate and empassioned plea for change, but nobody is listening.

is anyone listening?

it seems that tony blair has is own troubles with math….

PM admits graves claim ‘untrue’ [the observer, july 18, 2004]

Downing Street has admitted to The Observer that repeated claims by Tony Blair that ‘400,000 bodies had been found in Iraqi mass graves’ is untrue, and only about 5,000 corpses have so far been uncovered.

The claims by Blair in November and December of last year, were given widespread credence, quoted by MPs and widely published, including in the introduction to a US government pamphlet on Iraq’s mass graves.

maybe this goes some distances toward explaining the special relationship between the united states and united kingdom…

in a fit of frustration during a few idle moments between calls today, i decided to splt up some of the categories here that were getting a little unruly. i’m not sure i caught everything, but hopefully it’ll all make sense. so, we’ve added presidential politics, personal politics and international politics, attention technology, blogging, culture, economics, elections, food, music, music business news (which will be link-dropping, as opposed to commentary, i think) and photo. that should make some of the fatter archives more tolerable, particularly for the less-bandwidth-gifted among us.

just a quick pointer to http://www.outragedmoderates.org/.

go to the source. make up your own mind. these are things i can agree with.