Linux isn't for everyone - yet

Linux isn't for everyone - yet.

Skint!

Total of money in my pocket: 15 cents. I had a bit to buy some Iced Tea and a bag of chips and the bloody machine took my money, so all I have in my stomach is some iced tea.

Today's weather is very hot and dry. I think Puerto Rico has become another subsidiary of Hell. Probably the bloody place was too full in the first place.

I got to send my bill tomorrow and get paid ASAP.

It's official: my sister left the house! My mom is understandbly worried but what she got from me was "la que se fue no hace falta". Cold? Mebbe. But honest!

48 Horas Off-line

48 Horas fuera de todos junto con LS. Very nice. El camino hacia alla y el de vuelta a casa, fue algo largo y tendido pero una vez estuve alla, el paraiso. Estabamos apretaos en las finanzas, pero se paso muy fucking bien. Compartir con ella es algo exquisito. Anyway, el fin de semana esta muy fucking corto pero puej al menos estamos trabajando para ver si la cosa mejora.

Mr. Pepe me tiro una proposicion bastante interesante a la que le estoy dando casco, pero tengo que pensarlo bien, largo y tendido. Ahora mismo es tiempo de hacer decisiones y enderezar las cosas camino a.......

LS necesita un hard drive nuevo para su compu a ver si se lo puedo conseguir. Mi hermano y su familia llegaron el sabado y nada del otro jueves. Total, son cosas que el tiene que resolver. Tal parece que mi hermana se va de la casa o algo. Hooray! O algo. Seguiremos informando. O algo. Si si si. O algo.

AH! y otro moron que saque por el techo a el y su banda hizo un intento muy mongo de joderme la existencia. Lo mejor de todo fue que yo estaba off-line asi que los panas se encargaron de estasajarlo. Que tipo mas patetico! Gracias gente!

Y el suen~o inquietante del fin de semana era sobre dos cacos que estaban buscando bulla y querian apuntarse la cherry conmigo pero a pesar de que querian hacerse los mas delincuentes y malotes, yo me los tripeaba. Que mal!

Vero cumplio an~os este wiken. Felicidades nena pupup! Tu mai esta de madre, pero palante.

You are the Giant. You're mysterious, benevolent,
and spooky as all get-out. Though you're
extremely wise, your cryptic demeanor unnerves
the hell out of folks. So does your bow tie.


Which Twin Peaks character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yahoo! News - Indian Village Boy's NASA Claim Crashes to Earth

Thanks to LS for this one. Heh.

Yahoo! News - Indian Village Boy's NASA Claim Crashes to Earth

Indian Village Boy's NASA Claim Crashes to Earth

Sat Feb 26, 4:52 AM ET

Add to My Yahoo! Oddly Enough - Reuters

By Sharat Pradhan

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - An Indian teenager from one of the country's most backward states appears to have fooled governments, the media and even the president into believing he had topped the world in a NASA (news - web sites) science exam.



In a country hungry for international recognition, 17-year-old Saurabh Singh was feted as a national hero after announcing he had won NASA's International Scientist Discovery examination, which he said he took at Oxford University.

The Uttar Pradesh state government rewarded him with a 500,000 rupee ($11,500) prize and more than 100 members of the state's upper house each donated a day's salary to him.

But as he was at the president's official residence awaiting an audience during the week, his story unraveled.

An Indian news portal, rediff.com, contacted NASA, which denied any knowledge of the exam.

"Right now, no one knows where this examination comes from," Rediff quoted NASA education official Dwayne Brown saying.

A meeting planned with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hastily called off and the boy returned to his village of Narhai, where he is now under police investigation.

Singh had also said President Abdul Kalam and Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Columbia shuttle explosion in 2003, had sat the test. Kalam's office denies this.

Singh insists he met Kalam, although some Indian newspapers say the meeting was canceled as he waited to go in.

"It was really inspiring," Singh told Reuters by phone. "And let me tell you, he saw my certificate and praised me for the achievement, while you all are asking all kinds of questions and trying to dub me as a fraud."

The certificate, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, declared "You are the member of NASA" (sic) and is signed by Singh and "Chief of NASA, Cin K. Kif" -- NASA's former administrator was Sean O'Keefe. It also lists the name of Singh's father, common practice in Indian documents.

Singh says he flew to London on Indian Airlines -- which does not fly to the city -- and took a taxi to Oxford University and back every day for the exam from January 4-8, a round trip of about 230 km (140 miles).

Singh told Reuters he stayed in a hotel, but told a Hindi language newspaper he stayed at Buckingham Palace.

The Indian school where he says he sat the preliminary exam along with 200,000 others does not exist. The Bansal institute, where he says he studied mathematics, has never heard of him.

Singh cannot produce his passport to back his claim. That, he says, is with institute director P.K. Bansal.

"How can we possess his passport when we don't even know him?" Saturday's The Indian Express quoted Bansal saying. ($1 = 44 rupees)

More Promo, bitches!

Best songs in the world Today at 4:59 PM AST

I have this two songs on repeat. Resistance is futile. They will definetely be included on my DJ set and I wished I could dance to them with my girlfriend

Chemical Brothers - Believe & Hold Tight London - back to back

Believe (written with the Chemical Brothers and Kefe from Bloc Party)

oh
I needed to believe in something
I need you to believe in something
I needed to believe something
I need you to believe in something
I needed to believe
I needed to believe
oh
oh
I needed to believe in something
I need you to believe in something
I needed to believe something
I need you to believe in something
I needed to believe
I needed to believe
I needed to believe
I needed to believe
oh
I'm moving in between
can you feel me in between
I'm moving in between
can you feel me in between
oh
oh
oh
oh
I needed to believe
I needed to believe

Hold Tight London (with the lead singer of Trespasser William)


So why do I warn you?
I see things when I hold you,
But I've whispered it's all right
It was you and me and a long night

You're a ghost in the doorway
I can see through
But I hold tight
Understand holding till it hurts
I just want you here and you're lovely

You're a ghost in the doorway
I can see through
But I hold tight
Understand holding until it hurts
I just want you here and you're lovely

Don't worry, nothing can go wrong
Don't worry, nothing can go wrong
Don't worry, nothing can go wrong
Don't worry, nothing can go wrong

Floored

I am so grateful to have LS at my side. We were talking about some stuff we are planning to do and out of thin air she told me something. And I was floored because in our short time together I never expected her to tell me something like that. Yes, we love and trust each other, but still what she said came unexpected. Yeah it's a good surprise. No, I won't tell you. Some things must be kept between the two of us. Still, this woman manages to surprise the hell out of me. Thanks babe.

Gotta make some plans. Gotta get ready for some changes. They are good, but still preparations must be made.

Aside from that, everything else is ok. My younger brother and his family are coming over to stay on the 26th. Tough times ahead for them.

Cuckoo my EQ...or something......

Hey I never said I was perfect and I answered the questions honestly. Heh.

Your EQ is

120 50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Microsoft to nix some Net product activation | CNET News.com

Microsoft to nix some Net product activation | CNET News.com

OOOOOOPS!

Promo, bitches!

New Scientist Psychedelic medicine: Mind bending, health giving - Features

New Scientist Psychedelic medicine: Mind bending, health giving - Features

Tune in turn on drop out.

Psychedelic medicine: Mind bending, health giving

* 26 February 2005
* John Horgan is a freelance science writer based in Garrison, New York. His latest book, Rational Mysticism (Mariner Books), was published in paperback last year

New Scientist

JOHN HALPERN clearly remembers what made him change his mind about psychedelic drugs. It was the early 1990s and the young medical student at a hospital in Brooklyn, New York, was getting frustrated that he could not do more to help the alcoholics and addicts in his care. He sounded off to an older psychiatrist, who mentioned that LSD and related drugs had once been considered promising treatments for addiction. "I was so fascinated that I did all this research," Halpern recalls. "I was reading all these papers from the 60s and going, whoa, wait a minute! How come nobody's talking about this?"

More than a decade later, Halpern is now an associate director of substance abuse research at Harvard University's McLean Hospital and is at the forefront of a revival of research into psychedelic medicine. He recently received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to give late-stage cancer patients the psychedelic drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy. He is also laying the groundwork for testing LSD as a treatment for dreaded super-migraines known as cluster headaches.

And Halpern is not alone. Clinical trials of psychedelic drugs are planned or under way at numerous centres around the world for conditions ranging from anxiety to alcoholism. It may not be long before doctors are legally prescribing hallucinogens for the first time in decades. "There are medicines here that have been overlooked, that are fundamentally valuable," says Halpern.

These developments are a remarkable turnaround. Scientists first became interested in psychedelic drugs - also called hallucinogens because of their profound effect on perception - after Albert Hofmann, a chemist working for the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Sandoz, accidentally swallowed LSD in 1943. Hofmann's description of his experience, which he found both enchanting and terrifying, spurred scientific interest in LSD as well as naturally occurring compounds with similar effects: mescaline, the active ingredient of the peyote cactus; psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms; and DMT, from the Amazonian shamans' brew ayahuasca.

At first, many scientists called these drugs "psychotomimetics" because their effects appeared to mimic the symptoms of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. However, many users rhapsodised about the life-changing insights they achieved during their experiences, so much so that in 1957, British psychiatrist Humphry Osmond proposed that the compounds be renamed "psychedelic", from the Greek for "mind-revealing". The term caught on, and psychiatrists started experimenting with the drugs as treatments for mental illness. By the mid-1960s, more than 1000 peer-reviewed papers had been published describing the treatment of more than 40,000 patients for schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism and other disorders.

A prominent member of this movement was Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary, who among other things tested whether psilocybin and LSD could be used to treat alcoholism and rehabilitate convicts. Although his studies were initially well received, Leary eventually lost his reputation - and his job - after he began touting psychedelics as a hotline to spiritual enlightenment. Leary's antics helped trigger a backlash, and by the late 1960s psychedelics had been outlawed in the US, Canada and Europe. Unsurprisingly, clinical research ground to a halt, partly because obtaining the necessary permits became much more difficult, but also because few researchers were willing to risk their reputations studying demonised substances.

But to some brave souls, psychedelic medicine never lost its allure. One of them is Rick Doblin, who in 1986 founded the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in Sarasota, Florida, and who earned a doctorate from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government after writing a dissertation on the federal regulation of psychedelics. For nearly 20 years MAPS has lobbied the FDA and other government agencies to allow research on psychedelics to resume. It has also persuaded scientists to pursue the work and raised funds to support them. A similar body, the Heffter Research Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was founded in 1993 by scientists with an interest in hallucinogens.

In the past couple of years their efforts have begun to pay off. Doblin is optimistic that psychedelic research is back for good, and this time it will do things right. "This gives us the chance to show that we have learned our lessons," he says. Halpern, too, is anxious to lay to rest the ghost of Leary. "That man screwed it up for so many people," he says.

With this in mind, Halpern says the first task for him and others is to evaluate the safety of psychedelics. And they are up against an entrenched orthodoxy: a 1971 editorial in The Journal of the American Medical Association warned that repeated ingestion of psychedelics causes personality deterioration. "Only a few of those who experience more than 50 'trips' are spared," it warned.
“I was reading all these papers from the 60s and going, whoa, wait a minute! How come nobody's talking about this?”

So Halpern's first big foray into psychedelic research was aimed at risk-assessment. In the late 1990s he launched a study of members of the Native American Church, who are permitted by US law to consume peyote. Halpern examined 210 residents of a Navajo reservation in the south-west US, who fell into three categories: church members who had taken peyote at least 100 times but had had little exposure to other drugs or alcohol; non-church members who abstained from alcohol or drugs; and former alcoholics who had been sober for at least three months.

Halpern tested the subjects' IQ, memory, reading ability and other functions. His interim results showed that church members had no cognitive impairment compared with the abstainers, and scored significantly better than recovering alcoholics. Church members also reported no "flashbacks" - sudden recurrences of a psychedelic's effects long after the initial trip. Halpern believes this study, which he expects will be published soon, shows that contrary to the 1971 editorial, peyote at least can be taken repeatedly without adverse effects.

He is now conducting a similar assessment of MDMA. This drug is sometimes called an "empathogen" because it heightens feelings of compassion and reduces anxiety. Anecdotal reports suggest it has therapeutic potential, and some psychiatrists used it alongside psychotherapy before it was outlawed in 1985. However, anecdotal and scientific evidence have also linked MDMA with brain damage, though the research is controversial.
Ecstasy impact

Judging the true impact of MDMA is complicated by the fact that users often combine it with other drugs and alcohol. To get around this, Halpern recruited a group of American mid-westerners who admitted taking MDMA but said they shunned other substances. He separated them into "moderate" users, who had consumed MDMA 22 to 50 times, and "heavy" users, who had taken it more than 50 times.

Halpern recently reported in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence that, compared with controls, heavy users displayed "significant deficits" in mental processing speed and impulsivity. Moderate users, however, had no major problems. Halpern believes this shows that MDMA's benefits may outweigh its risks for certain patients. And apparently the FDA and the McLean Hospital agree, since both have approved Halpern's plan to test MDMA as an anti-anxiety drug for a dozen late-stage cancer patients. Halpern still needs permission from the Drug Enforcement Administration, but he expects to begin recruiting patients soon.

He is also interested in the potential benefits of the true hallucinogens. In 1996, he reviewed almost 100 substance abuse trials involving LSD, psilocybin, DMT and ibogaine, an extract of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. Halpern found tentative evidence that the drugs can reduce addicts' cravings during a post-trip "afterglow" lasting for a month or two. Exactly how this happens is something of a mystery. A popular theory is that the benefits stem from the drugs' psychological effects, which include profound insights and cathartic emotions, but Halpern suspects that there may be a biochemical explanation too.

For now, however, Halpern isn't planning to pursue addiction therapy. He is more interested in another medical use for LSD and psilocybin: treating a debilitating condition known as cluster headaches. These attacks appear to be caused by swelling of blood vessels in the brain and are worse than migraines. Sufferers say the pain exceeds that of passing a kidney stone or giving birth without anaesthetics. They affect about 3 in every 1000 people sporadically, and 1 in 10,000 chronically. "There's a tremendous potential need for this," says Halpern, who investigated the problem after being approached by a patient group.

Many patients get little or no relief from painkillers, but some claim that small doses of LSD or psilocybin can alleviate the headaches and even prevent them from occurring. Halpern was intrigued; LSD is chemically related to ergot, a naturally occurring compound that constricts blood vessels, and the derivatives ergotamine and methysergide are commonly prescribed for migraines.

Halpern and his Harvard colleague Andrew Sewell are now gathering evidence to persuade licensing officials - and themselves - that LSD and psilocybin merit a clinical trial. Sewell has gathered more than 60 testimonials from cluster headache sufferers who have treated themselves with LSD or psilocybin.

Another member of the vanguard in the psychedelic revival is Charles Grob, a psychiatrist at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and co-founder of the Heffter Institute. After years struggling to get permits, Grob says he is slowly moving forward with a study into using psilocybin to reduce distress in terminal cancer patients. He points out that studies done in the 1960s suggested that psychedelics can help patients come to terms with their impending death. So far Grob has treated three patients, but he hopes to enrol more subjects shortly.

Grob has also led several investigations like Halpern's peyote study, but looking at ayahuasca, the DMT-rich shamanic brew. Ayahuasca often causes nausea and diarrhoea, and its psychedelic effects can be terrifying, but Amazonian shamans nonetheless prize it for its visionary properties. Since 1987 it has been a legal sacrament for several churches in Brazil, the largest of which is União Do Vegetal. UDV combines elements of Christianity with nature worship, and claims 8000 members.

In 1996 a team led by Grob reported in the Journal of Nervous And Mental Disease that UDV members who regularly took ayahuasca were on average physiologically and psychologically healthier than a control group of non-worshippers. The UDV followers also had more receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has been linked to lower rates of depression and other disorders. Many of the UDV members told the scientists that ayahuasca had helped them overcome alcoholism, drug addiction and other self-destructive behaviours.
“Addicts often end up filled with revulsion for their past lives and determined to change”

More recently, Grob has found that adolescents who grew up participating in ayahuasca ceremonies showed no ill effects and were less likely to engage in crime and substance abuse than members of a control group. Of course, Grob acknowledges that they could be benefiting from the social effects of membership in a church as well as the effects of ayahuasca itself. Grob plans to publish these results this year.

Several other scientists are quietly pursuing psychedelic research. Since 2001, psychiatrist Francisco Moreno of the University of Arizona in Tucson has been testing psilocybin as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychotherapy and antidepressants such as Prozac help many patients, but some have such severe symptoms and are so resistant to treatment that they turn to electroshock therapy and even brain surgery. As with the work on cluster headaches, Moreno's study was motivated by reports from people with OCD that psilocybin relieves their symptoms.

So far, Moreno has given both sub-psychedelic and psychedelic doses of pure psilocybin to nine treatment-resistant OCD subjects, in a total of 29 therapy sessions. His preliminary findings suggest firstly that it is safe to ingest psilocybin, which was a primary concern of the trial. Beyond that, Moreno calls his results "promising", but won't discuss them further, since he plans to submit a paper to a peer-reviewed journal this year.
“By the mid-1960s, over 1000 papers had been published describing psychedelic therapy”

Meanwhile in Charleston, South Carolina, physician Michael Mithoefer is carrying out a MAPS-sponsored clinical trial of MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD affects up to 20 per cent of people who experience a traumatic event, and involves distressing symptoms such as nightmares and panic attacks. Conventional treatments typically consist of cognitive therapy and antidepressants, but many patients don't respond to these. In the past year Mithoefer has given "MDMA-assisted" psychotherapy to six treatment-resistant patients, all traumatised by violent crimes; he plans to treat 20 patients in all.

The longest-running psychedelic therapy programme started almost 20 years ago in Russia. Evgeny Krupitsky, a psychiatrist who heads a substance-abuse clinic in St Petersburg, has treated more than 300 alcoholics and about 200 heroin addicts with ketamine. Used primarily in veterinary medicine, ketamine is an anaesthetic that can trigger an extremely disorienting hallucinogenic episode lasting an hour or so. Krupitsky's subjects often emerge from their sessions filled with revulsion for their past lives and determined to change. The therapists encourage these feelings with tricks such as forcing the subjects to sniff a bottle of vodka at the peak of their session; the patients' disgust often persists long after the ketamine's effects have worn off.

In one of Krupitsky's studies, 73 out of 111 alcoholics stayed dry for at least a year after their session, compared with 24 per cent of those in a control group. Yet his programme, which was funded by MAPS and the Heffter Institute, was recently shut down because the Russian government tightened restrictions on ketamine. Although Krupitsky says he and his colleagues "are in the process of getting permission to continue", it may be several years before research resumes.

Although disappointed by this setback, Doblin is encouraged by developments elsewhere. He is lobbying officials in Spain and Israel to approve studies of MDMA for PTSD, and is raising funds for a substance-abuse trial of ibogaine outside the US together with the Heffter Institute. MAPS has also supported Frans Vollenweider, a psychiatrist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, who has done basic research on the physiological effects of psilocybin and MDMA, and hopes to begin clinical research soon.

Doblin's primary goal is to see psychedelics legally recognised as medicines. But he also hopes that someday healthy people may take these substances for psychological or spiritual purposes, as members of the Native American Church and União Do Vegetal do, and as he did in his youth. After all, drugs such as Prozac and Viagra are already prescribed not just to heal the ill but also to enhance the lives of the healthy.

It is still an uphill struggle. Government funds for psychedelic studies are hard to come by, and drug companies have shown absolutely no interest in supporting the research. But there are signs that the wind is changing. Although psychedelics are still classified in the US as schedule-1 drugs, and so are banned for all non-research purposes, in November a US Federal Appeals Court in Colorado ruled that a branch of the UDV based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, could import ayahuasca for use in ceremonies. Among the research findings cited in the court decision were Grob's studies showing no ill effects from ayahuasca. The Department of Justice is appealing the decision, but if the Supreme Court denies the appeal, UDV members in the US will be able to ingest ayahuasca legally.

Maybe, just maybe, after more than 30 years in the wilderness, this powerful, misunderstood but potentially mind-healing class of drugs is ready to be rehabilitated.

From issue 2488 of New Scientist magazine, 26 February 2005, page 36

May the Government be damned for it (Phil Gyford: Writing)

May the Government be damned for it (Phil Gyford: Writing)

Here's in an excerpt of Bryan Sedgemore's speech to The House of Commons in the debate of the new British Prevention of Terrorism Bill. I reckon this could apply to the US of A.

As this will almost certainly be my last speech in Parliament, I shall try hard not to upset anyone. However, our debate here tonight is a grim reminder of how the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary are betraying some of Labour’s most cherished beliefs. Not content with tossing aside the ideas and ideals that inspire and inform ideology, they seem to be giving up on values too. Liberty, without which democracy has no meaning, and the rule of law, without which state power cannot be contained, look to Parliament for their protection, but this Parliament, sad to say, is failing the nation badly. It is not just the Government but Back-Bench Members who are to blame. It seems that in situations such as this, politics become incompatible with conscience, principle, decency and self-respect. Regrettably, in such situations, the desire for power and position predominates.

As we move towards a system of justice that found favour with the South African Government at the time of apartheid and which parallels Burmese justice today, if hon. Members will pardon the oxymoron, I am reminded that our fathers fought and died for liberty—my own father literally—believing that these things should not happen here, and we would never allow them to happen here. But now we know better. The unthinkable, the unimaginable, is happening here.

In their defence, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary say that they are behaving tyrannically and trying to make nonsense of the House of Lords’ decision in A and Others as appellants v. the Home Secretary as respondent because they are frightened, and that the rest of us would be frightened too if only we knew what they will not tell us. They preach the politics of fear and ask us to support political incarceration on demand and punishment without trial.

Sad to say, I do not trust the judgment of either our thespian Prime Minister or our Home Secretary, especially given the latter’s performance at the Dispatch Box yesterday. It did not take Home Office civil servants or the secret police long to put poison in his water, did it? Paper No. 1, entitled “International Terrorism: the Threat”, which the Home Secretary produced yesterday and I have read, is a putrid document if it is intended to justify the measure. Indeed, the Home Secretary dripped out bits of it and it sounded no better as he spoke than it read. Why does he insult the House? Why cannot he produce a better argument than that?

How on earth did a Labour Government get to the point of creating what was described in the House of Lords hearing as a “gulag” at Belmarsh? I remind my hon. Friends that a gulag is a black hole into which people are forcibly directed without hope of ever getting out. Despite savage criticisms by nine Law Lords in 250 paragraphs, all of which I have read and understood, about the creation of the gulag, I have heard not one word of apology from the Prime Minister or the Home Secretary. Worse, I have heard no word of apology from those Back Benchers who voted to establish the gulag.

Have we all, individually and collectively, no shame? I suppose that once one has shown contempt for liberty by voting against it in the Lobby, it becomes easier to do it a second time and after that, a third time. Thus even Members of Parliament who claim to believe in human rights vote to destroy them.

Many Members have gone nap on the matter. They voted: first, to abolish trial by jury in less serious cases; secondly, to abolish trial by jury in more serious cases; thirdly, to approve an unlawful war; fourthly, to create a gulag at Belmarsh; and fifthly, to lock up innocent people in their homes. It is truly terrifying to imagine what those Members of Parliament will vote for next.I can describe all that only as new Labour’s descent into hell, which is not a place where I want to be.

I hope that—but doubt whether—ethical principles and liberal thought will triumph tonight over the lazy minds and disengaged consciences that make Labour’s Whips Office look so ridiculous and our Parliament so unprincipled.

It is a foul calumny that we do today. Not since the Act of Settlement 1701 has Parliament usurped the powers of the judiciary and allowed the Executive to lock up people without trial in times of peace. May the Government be damned for it.

Burning Face - The Early Years

Thanks to Arlene for this picture of the early years of Burning Face. Phillip on the mic, Millo playing guitar, and yep that is me on the bass. This was ages ago. Probably 1992 because I was wearing my lovely Ministry t-shirt. Somehow Phillip and I ended up on the floor on those gigs. Fun.

Korn gave Head to God..........sort of

Not that I'm a rabid Korn fan, but since he converted to christianity here's a little t-shirt.

CNN.com - Thompson probably planned suicide - Feb 23, 2005

CNN.com - Thompson probably planned suicide - Feb 23, 2005

Remains may be blasted out of a cannon

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Journalist Hunter S. Thompson did not take his life "in a moment of haste or anger or despondency" and probably planned his suicide well in advance because of his declining health, the family's spokesman said Wednesday.

Douglas Brinkley, a historian and author who has edited some of Thompson's work, said the founder of "gonzo" journalism shot himself Sunday night after weeks of pain from a host of physical problems that included a broken leg and a hip replacement.

"I think he made a conscious decision that he had an incredible run of 67 years, lived the way he wanted to, and wasn't going to suffer the indignities of old age," Brinkley said in a telephone interview from Aspen. "He was not going to let anybody dictate how he was going to die."

Thompson, famous for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works of New Journalism, spent an intimate weekend with his son, Juan, daughter-in-law, Jennifer, and young grandson, William, the spokesman said.

"He was trying to really bond and be close to the family" before his suicide, Brinkley said. "This was not just an act of irrationality. It was a very pre-planned act."

The family is looking into whether Thompson's cremated remains can be blasted out of a cannon, a wish the gun-loving writer often expressed, Brinkley said.

"The optimal, best-case scenario is the ashes will be shot out of a cannon," he said.

Other arrangements were pending

Fear & Loathing in the Afterlife - Jackson Specific

The best Hunter S. Thompson Obituary Ever.



Fear & Loathing in the Afterlife - Jackson Specific

Hunter S. Thompson, named by some in the hour of his self-inflicted death; a journalist, a writer, a clown, the godfather of gonzo, was all of these things and more. He was a fine writer, it can surely be said, a perceptive and frighteningly honest political commentator; an intelligent, merry prankster who grasped life by the ankles and shook, until spare change sanity struck the hard sidewalk of reality hard enough to evoke a hearty gut laugh. He was a true and shining shard of jagged glass in the splintered mirror crown worn by America.

Hunter S. Thompson lived a true American dream: a life without boundries, in which anything that could be imagined could be accomplished. He called the most powerful men in the nation the names we mutter to ourselves. He bent and broke laws of logic and literature. He enjoyed savage drug binges on someone elses' dime.

The story goes that, while covering the Kentucky Derby on assignment for Scanlan's Magazine, mentally spent and under deadline, Thompson ripped pages from his notebook, numbered them and sent them off to the printer, certain that it would be his last article. The piece, however, proved to be a success, and Thompson realized "if I can write like this and get away with it, why should I keep trying to write like The New York Times?" A new journalism was born, wherein the reporter not only observed, but served as an integral part of the story itself. Many believe that his acerbic personal style fathered bastard children the world over, and that his potent prose breach birthed the freshest face in the extended journalism family: blogging.

Regardless of whether the paternity test proves positive, his foremost intention seemed clearly, to me, to toss ice water on fevered egos, to lament the false idols of celebrity in all its forms, to tread the swiftly flowing currents of the most popular culture in world, offering life preservers of our baldest intentions, culled from the tidal wave mob mentality. To seek the honest face of any man, woman, or experience. He took drugs, it is true, but not, I believe, from any weakness of spirit. Here was a man who realized the true malleability of our shared reality and was not afraid to tweak it, any more than he was afraid to speak truth to wind; to call a spade a spade, and a rat, a rat.

Dead by his own hand, Hunter S. Thompson leaves us behind to wonder why. There are those who point to physical infirmity as the reason for his capitulation. Perhaps his surrender was an admission of guilt on his own part, having succumbed long ago to the darkest trappings of our pop culture; venerated, duplicated, satirized and sanitized, Hunter S. Thompson was a domesticated animal. A de-stunk skunk.

Turn on the television and listen to George W. Bush, full of braggadocio, ignorant or impudent in the face of reality. Hunter S. Thompson was a spirit of a true America, an America that right now feels very far away. Rest in peace, brave and insane soldier. We will carry on your work. We will aspire to your greatness. You cut a swath through a jungle of inequity. We follow behind, cursing the gnats.

Goddamn, these suckers're big.

The Buzz Report: IE 7: so much for Firefox - CNET.com

Yeah right. Read on.

The Buzz Report: IE 7: so much for Firefox - CNET.com: "IE 7: so much for Firefox
By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Molly Wood Editor's Note: This version has been edited to clarify

that Internet Explorer 7 is not a true standalone browser release.

The party's over.

In the past year, the little browser that could, Firefox, became the people's hero, an underdog warrior that took a huge swipe at its enemy, Internet Explorer. IE dipped below 90 percent market share for the first time in years, while Firefox lured users like the Pied Piper, blowing past its own fundraising goals and reigniting the browser wars.

Meanwhile, the bad news continued to mount for Microsoft. An IE exploit put even Windows XP SP2 users at risk from phishing schemes, even as Microsoft touted SP2 as the most secure version of Windows yet. Worse, major security companies and the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team began to recommend that computer users dump IE for something more secure (read: Firefox).

By early this year, Netscape was emboldened to reenter the fray, announcing in January that it would release a new version of the Netscape browser, designed specifically to resist phishing schemes--something even Firefox lacks. Then, Opera said it would offer free licenses to universities, in order to make sure it would still be relevant in the new world browser order. And through it all, what was the response from Microsoft? Silence.

TalkBack
Are you afraid of a standalone Internet Explorer, or will you keep betting on the Firefox pony?
Post your comment here
For a moment there, it looked like the tyrant IE could actually be overthrown. Those were heady days, weren't they? Well, they're over now. Papa Bill just dropped the hammer. Bill Gates announced this week, at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco (of all places), that Microsoft will release an updated version of IE, Internet Explorer 7, without waiting for the next version of Windows. Gates says the unexpected release is designed to address the perception that IE itself is a massive security risk. What he didn't say, but you know he was thinking it, is that IE 7 will easily put a stop to this upstart browser rebellion.

Don't believe me? You should. Firefox is great, I use it. But it's a chore sometimes, what with most sites using that pesky nonstandard IE code. Not everything renders properly, and some sites just plain don't work--I have to load up IE to use them. Plus, let's be honest--Firefox has its flaws. Why is there no way to check for updates from within the browser, for one thing? Why does it take so doggone long to launch? Why, why must it crash every single time I open a PDF? I mean, every single time. Opera, fine, whatever, I'm not paying for a browser, and for some reason, although I've tried it several times, it's just never captured me. It's too clunky, and I was raised on IE. I don't want to learn something completely new. IE, on the other hand, is like the sweeping tide--it's just easier not to fight it.

If IE 7 is even 50 percent more secure than current versions, the Firefox rebellion is finished. If IE 7 has tabs, Firefox will be destroyed as surely as the Hungarian uprising of 1956 was crushed by the Soviets. I use the analogy deliberately, too--no one expected Microsoft to issue a major update to IE before Longhorn came out, but those months of silence (and, no doubt, frantic development) look awfully ominous now.

It was bad when Microsoft seemed to ignore Firefox, treating it like a harmless upstart not worthy of comment or attack. But now that the sleeping giant has awakened, I think the buzzing gnat of the browser wars is about to be squashed flat. What do you think?"

LXer: What Not to Say if Microsoft Shows Up at Your LUG (Part Zero)

LXer: What Not to Say if Microsoft Shows Up at Your LUG (Part Zero): "Here it is, the top 10 things Not to say to a Microsoft presenter that shows up at your LUG.

1. Can I have the source code for that? I need a good source of entropy for my next key generation.
2. Is it true that you guys practice security by obscurity? Or is it just obscurity?...
3. Don't worry if you've forgotten the password for your Windows box there, one of us can easily recover it with a live Linux CD or Meta-Sploit.
4. I wanted to run Windows like you're doing there, but I couldn't find a way to keep it from booting in UnSAFE mode.
5. Is that a powerpoint presentation? Wow, I've never seen one of those before ... On something useful.
6. Don't worry, you're not hooked directly to the Internet without a firewall here. Or maybe you are... No, I'm pretty sure you're not... I wouldn't worry too much unless you're running -- oh, never mind.
7. When can I get the code for that program you're showing from a trusted source? You know, someone besides that Russian guy?...
8. Is this part of that Trustworthy computing thing? I understand that most of your stuff was released more recently under the UnTrustworthy computing initiative.
9. Let me help you get rid of that insecure spyware you're running there. Here, boot this Fedora spyware removal tool, and select the defaults.
10. No, the fee isn't so you can present to our group, some of us are simply trying to recoup the cost of the preloaded Windows on PCs that we'll never use.

Just so you don't scare potential Microsofties out of the place, here are some example topics not to be covering the same night:

1. User-friendly vi commands.
2. How to build your own Linux distribution, from scratch.
3. Device drivers for dummies.
4. 20 easy steps to playing proprietary video and audio files.
5. vi -versus- emacs face-slapping competition.
6. Why your favorite distribution sucks compared to Debian.
7. ........................... compared to Gentoo.
8. ............................. compared to Ubuntu.
9. ............................... compared to Fedora.
10. The joy of configuring sendmail."

This is the follow-up to last weeks article, which asked some rather simple questions about what to do if Microsoft shows up at your Linux User Group (LUG), asking to present. A side comment: I'd be extremely surprised if a lot of Microsoft employees didn't presently attend LUGs in stealth mode.

No big surprise here, the responses spanned a wide spectrum ranging from "don't let them set foot" to "as long as they don't turn it into a big powerpoint circus". Microsoft employees take note: each LUG has its own policy. If you're going to attempt this, you probably need to float the question by each LUG steering committee first. It's not like there's any kind of centralized control. You should also take note that this is tactical information from me, not some kind of authoritarian voice speaking.

There is not LUG authority, in other words. Unlike a large corporation, numerous opinions and rules are the norm. I don't want to get all preachy here and compare it to Democracy, but -- well, too late there I guess.

That said, some really good advice came out of our conversations here on LXer and elsewhere. I'll do my best to summarize, and those that feel I've missed the mark can feel free to flame me in the talkbacks here. Not that I need to give anyone any prodding in that area, DinoTrac.

As this went to press, the usual problem with my writing reared its ugly head. I began to think of things not to say to a Microsoft representative that presents at your LUG. Since this article is more aimed at the serious side of the equation, those of you that have a good sense of humor, some serious self control, and who wish to waste a few minutes on a cheap laugh can read What Not to Say if Microsoft Shows Up at Your LUG (Part Zero). My apologies, but it's been my experience that laughter is the best way to disarm the unreasonable side of conversation. It usually works, but there are notable exceptions to every rule. *Cough* Dean Pannell *Cough*.

Some suggestions about expectations and perceptions :

* The optimal Microsoft LUG visitor would be someone smart, reasonable and who has a sense of humor.
* Another type of visitor to the LUG (non-Microsoft employee) might be someone who's simply selling Microsoft products and wants to understand this Linux thing. These people are likely treated very well by Microsoft, and for these reasons be extremely loyal.
* Some people expressed the opinion that good Microsoft technical people have to be evil by definition, as they would know for sure that the products are bad. While I take some issue with this, I'd caution that any viewpoint that doesn't allow for the potential good of another human being is likely a bad one.
* Treat either kind with respect and expect it in return.

Some commonly agreed upon suggestions on the LUG side of the equation :

* It's a LUG. The topic is Linux. Or is it? This is fundamental. Is your LUG about Linux (the Kernel?) or Free Software/Open Source -- a subset of which is GNU/Linux? It should be apparent with focus points like this; What the topic is not.
* The topic is not: how to migrate your current software to proprietary Microsoft (or anything else) solutions -- that seemed pretty universal.
* An observation: Please don't use powerpoint if you can help it. Be more focused on the technology and not the marketing (remember, these are most likely technical people you're speaking to).
* Like anyone new to the group, the best you can hope for is to be more of a listener than a talker -- allow more time for questions than for presentation.

Other (negative) comments :

* Given all of the negative feelings about Microsoft, there was a definite sentiment that they wouldn't be welcome in any way at some LUGs.
* Barring that, some expressed the sentiments that no one would want to attend but the people that are loud-mouthed Microsoft-bashers.

To the questions from the original article and doing the best to summarize the answers I decided to document the extremes here. In reality, as you might expect, the answers lie somewhere in between these extremes. Please don't accuse me of copping out here -- literally, the answers were between these spectrums and in a fairly even balance.

Summarizing the extremes here, as best I can:

1. "In general, how do you react to outsiders that offer to present at your Linux User Group (LUG)?"
* With enthusiasm if it's a topic relating to Free Software/Open Source in a neutral to positive fashion.
* Possibly with a complete rejection up front.
2. "What about commercial interests presenting to your LUG?"
* This depends upon the vendor and the above sentiments.
* Infomercials are not allowed.
3. "What would you do if a Microsoft employee showed up at your LUG?"
* See the answers to the first question.
* With paint-ball guns and dunking booths...
4. "If you allowed a Microsoft employee to present, just what kind of topics would you allow?
* Technically focused topics that work in harmony with Free Software/Open Source solutions.
* N/A

So there you have it, the answers, summarized as best I can, ranging the spectrum of choices. It should be obvious to anyone that the diversity of the opinions are fairly spread across a wide range of responses.

To the Microsoft guy: This is how it works: get to know the people at the LUG, carefully gauge which sides of the fence they are on, and if you think the people are more of the mentality of the first type in the response area, introduce yourself politely -- best of luck!

But if you want to keep attending, and the people seem on the more hostile end of the spectrum the options are more limited. Advice: Either keep your employer's name to yourself or be prepared to face some hostile conversation.

Stolen from Loudo's blog........

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Playing in Ze Nomad

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
RGNET1146CD Barcode: 605633114621



THE ROUGH GUIDE TO ASTOR PIAZZOLLA

Total Playing Time: 65:23


Astor Piazzolla is arguably the greatest tango musician of all time and, from the 1950s onwards, he continued to experiment to test the limits of the genre. A virtuoso on the bandoneón, a brilliant composer, arranger and bandleader, Piazzolla conjured a sound that fused the evolutionary tangos of Aníbal Troilo, jazz, ambient and classical avant-garde aberrations. The Rough Guide To Astor Piazzolla is a soundtrack to the teeming city of Buenos Aires – peopled by colourful characters and incredible stories – and reflects his remarkable lifetime achievement.

Sample: ASTOR PIAZZOLLA: Libertango (Astor Piazzolla) pub Edizioni Curci S.r.l./A. Pagani S.r.l. (1975). Licensed from Carosello Records & Tapes


Esto y los rough guides al Boogaloo y al Dub estan en heavy rotation. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Musica pa' kanashear. Oh LS! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU?

Cortesia en http://www.worldmusic.net

How To Kill Linux by John Dvorak

How to Kill Linux
02.22.05

By John C. Dvorak

While chatting over dinner with the executives of a middleware company during the recent RSA conference for encryption and security in San Francisco, I heard about a secret project. It concerned the development of a version of Linux that runs smoothly as a task under Windows. The project was completed and then shelved. Whether it will ever reemerge is doubtful, but it does offer some interesting possibilities and hints as to what Microsoft may be up to with MS-Linux.
ADVERTISEMENT

The immediate usefulness of Linux running under Windows is obvious. You can use all the Windows drivers for all the peripherals that don't run under Linux. Drivers have always been an issue with Linux as PC users have gotten spoiled with Windows driver support. Today's user wants to grab just about anything and not worry about installing it and making it work.

That said, there is no way Linux under Windows would be practical with all the overhead involved. So this notion comes to mind: How about eliminating the middleman? The idea here would be to cut the driver layer out of Windows and attach it to Linux directly. This would become MS-Linux. If Microsoft actually produced an MS-Linux that was the standard Linux attached to the driver layer of Windows, giving users full Plug and Play (PnP) support of all their peripherals, nobody would buy any other Linux on the market. Well, except for the fact that Microsoft would be unable to produce such a product without allowing the other vendors access to the driver code as part of the open-source Linux license arrangement (GPL). You can be sure that Microsoft lawyers are studying this as closely as possible to see if there is any way they could market a dominant Linux distribution without killing themselves. So how could they do this?

Open-source law is new and not completely tested. I'm certain that Microsoft got involved with the SCO versus Linux lawsuit partly to reach a better understanding of how to proceed.

Well, here's one idea: This concept will benefit only Microsoft and probably result in the death of Linux altogether. Let's call it the lopped-off head approach. Microsoft takes its distribution of Linux and sells it as a lopped-off head.

That means tearing away the entire top of Linux from the driver layer—and that would be MS-Linux. Users who needed to add the driver layers would be offered the standard Linux driver package, which would be attached with a utility program. The utility would sew the drivers back into Linux, resulting in an OS that would be more or less the same as everyone else's.


Or the user could pay for the Windows drivers and attach those to MS-Linux, resulting in an OS that had the PnP benefits of Windows. I see no reason why this could not be kept outside the GPL and actually sold as a licensed product exclusive to Microsoft. Thus the OS revenue stream would be protected.

Since plenty of commercial products "attach" to Linux and seem to be protected from the GPL, I have to assume that the scenario I describe is possible. Thus Microsoft could release its lopped-off head version of Linux and make the back-end Windows driver extensions a commercial product.

The long-term implications of such a scenario, I believe, would be essentially to kill Linux. Microsoft's MS-Linux would quickly become the dominant Linux and the company would begin to profit from all the open-source development work that would go into Linux. Once the developers saw that happen they'd stop working on Linux and it would die. After all, who wants to do free work that benefits Microsoft? At some point in the future Microsoft will make its move on Linux, you can be certain. I've always been convinced that Microsoft's long-term Linux strategy was why the company sued, then bought off, the Lindows folks, although I doubt that it would now use the Lindows name.

The key to competitive success here is gaining dominant market share with a proprietary product. With Linux, Microsoft only needs that one driver element to be proprietary for the plan to succeed. When MS-Linux is announced, it will be as if Microsoft were doing the world a favor by "joining" the Linux community. Praise will be heaped on the company. Congratulations will flow. The end of Linux will be at hand.

MP3s for pennies? Russian cops say no | CNET News.com

MP3s for pennies? Russian cops say no | CNET News.com

It's the end of an era for my friends who use this site. Shit happens, da?

BetaNews | Google Book Effort Draws French Ire

BetaNews | Google Book Effort Draws French Ire

U.S. makes first arrest for spim | CNET News.com

U.S. makes first arrest for spim | CNET News.com

Mobile phone virus found in the United States

News

Old news people. Pero puej. Let's create some panic. O algo.

12 Rounds - Something's Burning

(note: this song's been around my collection for awhile. it's one of those days that it needs to be included in ze blog. gotta love those drama-filled murder ballads)


Something's burning deep within my love
Something's burning deep within my love
Get my gun we'll shoot the mother out

Push it in pull it out
And I want you to go further
Soothe the burn and I shout
Diving back into the water

I feel you safe in my arms
Slipping deep and deep and deeper
And no one fuck with my love
cos I'm capable of murder

Something's burning deep within my love
Something's burning deep within my love
Get my gun we'll shoot the mother out

Fill me in Fill me up
Driving up into the centre
Rolling up reeling in
I'm not looking for a father

Overkill I'm not ill
And I don't need any answers
Just
dry me down, turn me round
And take cover from the mortar

Something's burning deep within
Shoot the pain down dead
Knock it out and let me sleep
Bullet in my head

Something's burning oh so deep
I don't know should I lie
Knock you out boy if you weep
I'll kill you if you cry

dj BC: The Boston Mash-up Project

dj BC: The Boston Mash-up Project Enjoy!

Exorcism steps out of the shadows and into the 21st century

Exorcism steps out of the shadows and into the 21st century

Step right up ladies and gentlemen into the new dark ages! Public executions for witchcrafts live at 5!

Sheesh!

dead president's day

Spent the holiday at home not doing much really and watching the "Assault on Precint 13" remake. Not bad at all. Thinking a lot on how things are going in my relationship with LS. Nothing to worry about really, but certainly the speed in which things are developing is fast, but it is coming naturally. Nothing is being forced upon us and nothing is done against our will. I like it because with us the usual layer of bullshit, insecurities and assorted noises were out of the way from day one. We know what we want. We know how to get it. We've got room to maneuver and room for each other. The next few months are gonna be interesting. I want to get out of the obligation to my mom so I can concentrate on this full-time. Also looking for jobs and whatnot.

My brother and his family will be here next Saturday to stay for good and I've got a seminar this Saturday. I talked to LS about it so our time together this next few weeks is gonna be limited, but at least we are forewarned and planned accordingly. This path we will be taking together will be interesting and I look forward to it. I am blessed to have someone at my side who feels the same way I do and I have no doubts about her whatsoever. I remind myself daily how lucky I am to be in this situation and not to blow it.

Aside from that, well, I gotta do some work, so see you around.

Kembrew.com

Kembrew.com

Hey Pepe! Check this out!

Gartner takes Microsoft to task | CNET News.com

Gartner takes Microsoft to task | CNET News.com Nice piece about what role Microsoft should take.

Gay marriage legal under NY constitution || kuro5hin.org

Gay marriage legal under NY constitution || kuro5hin.org
FYI.

ESPN.com - GEN - Hunter S. Thompson Archive

ESPN.com - GEN - Hunter S. Thompson Archive

Courtesy of my lovely girlfriend and as a fitting tribute to the man. Some of his writings for ESPN. For the newbies and hipsters, this is Hunter 101

Conjuntivitis, Cheo,Superaquello, Burning Face, LS, Constantine and Uncle Duke

I got conjuntivitis on Wendesday night. By Thursday I'm on meds so I didn't go to my job so I guess this was an extra long weekend. Too bad I spent it at home up until Friday.

Saturday I felt a lot better so Cheo called and we picked up his brand spanking new Gateway PC. That machine got some mighty specs and after we put it together I got his wireless network up and running at his home for his machines and his auntie's laptop.
For that Cheo bought me lunch, dinner and got me two cd's. Berlin and Dan the Automator.

Also we finally broadcasted the Superaquello interview. 4 hours and Eze's edition was flawless. Pristine. Great work Eze! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the special. You made it worthwhile.

No I didn't go to Burning Face. The smoke and all that stuff might have made me worse. Sorry.

Sunday comes and my lovely girlfriend comes over to spend Sunday afternoon together. We had lunch and watched Constantine and liked it despite the flaws. Yes, we both are Hellblazer fans so bear with us as we kind of gritted our teeth when blonde brit John Constantine was transformed into something else by Keanu Reeves. Yes, we grinned and bear it and actually the film was rather good. Nevermind the effects, the story and the rest of the characters were great. Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Gavin Rossdale (yeah, the Bush, as in the band, dude!) as Balthazar, Djimon Honsou as Papa Midnite and lo and behold Peter Stormare as Lucifer. FUCK! Peter Stormare's acting is superb. Tilda Swinton is so gorgeously androgynous that is fucking cool. Rachel Weisz is dear and near. So yeah, go see it. It's not as terrible as some people think. Really.

LS and I had our quality time and she was on hippychick mode which is cool. She makes me feel so comfortable and happy and this is the woman I want to be with for the long run. She's so lovely, loving and beautiful. I look forward to our time together and to see that our little plan comes to fruition. Bwahahahahhah! My brother's coming on the 26th and I got a seminary on the 5th of March so our time together will be shorter than expected but once we clear that we got all the time in the world. I just want to eventually be able to see and be with her in a more regular basis. Patience, grasshopper.

After a wonderful time together and some needed rest, I get up and read the bad news. Hunter S. Thompson killed himself. I mean, another of my heroes winds up dead. Fucking shame. He was very inspirational to me in his writings, his point of view and yeah, his personality. One big bad ass rascal and he decided to go out in his own way. Like Abbie Hoffman. I can only empathize and send my condolences to his friends and family. Another one of my heroes gone. Dead, like the American Dream. *Sighs* I'll have a drink for you and also for Bon Scott of AC/DC who drank himself to death sometime ago. Cheers, motherfuckers!

Goodnight Uncle Duke

Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer

ASPEN, Colo. - Hunter S. Thompson, the hard-living writer who inserted himself into his accounts of America's underbelly and popularized a first-person form of journalism in books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," has committed suicide.

Thompson was found dead Sunday in his Aspen-area home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, sheriff's officials said. He was 67. Thompson's wife, Anita, had gone out before the shooting and was not home at the time.

Besides the 1972 classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." The central character in those wild, sprawling satires was "Dr. Thompson," a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.

Thompson is credited alongside Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese with helping pioneer New Journalism — or, as he dubbed it, "gonzo journalism" — in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story.

Thompson, whose early writings mostly appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, often portrayed himself as wildly intoxicated as he reported on such historic figures as Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton (news - web sites).

"Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist," Thompson told The Associated Press in 2003. "You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it."

Thompson also wrote such collections as "Generation of Swine" and "Songs of the Doomed." His first ever novel, "The Rum Diary," written in 1959, was first published in 1998.

Thompson was a counterculture icon at the height of the Watergate era, and once said Richard Nixon represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character."

Thompson also was the model for Garry Trudeau's balding "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip "Doonesbury" and was portrayed on screen by Johnny Depp in a film adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

That book, perhaps Thompson's most famous, begins: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."

Other books include "The Great Shark Hunt," "Hell's Angels" and "The Proud Highway." His most recent effort was "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness."

"He may have died relatively young but he made up for it in quality if not quantity of years," Paul Krassner, the veteran radical journalist and one of Thompson's former editors, told The Associated Press by phone from his Southern California home.

"It was hard to say sometimes whether he was being provocative for its own sake or if he was just being drunk and stoned and irresponsible," quipped Krassner, founder of the leftist publication The Realist and co-founder of the Youth International (YIPPIE) party.

"But every editor that I know, myself included, was willing to accept a certain prima donna journalism in the demands he would make to cover a particular story," he said. "They were willing to risk all of his irresponsible behavior in order to share his talent with their readers."

The writer's compound in Woody Creek, not far from Aspen, was almost as legendary as Thompson. He prized peacocks and weapons; in 2000, he accidentally shot and slightly wounded his assistant trying to chase a bear off his property.

He also is survived by his son, Juan Thompson.

Born July 18, 1937, in Kentucky, Hunter Stocton Thompson served two years in the Air Force, where he was a newspaper sports editor. He later became a proud member of the National Rifle Association and almost was elected sheriff in Aspen in 1970 under the Freak Power Party banner.



Thompson's heyday came in the 1970s, when his larger-than-life persona was gobbled up by magazines. His pieces were of legendary length and so was his appetite for adventure and trouble; his purported fights with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner were rumored in many cases to hinge on expense accounts for stories that didn't materialize.

It was the content that raised eyebrows and tempers. His book on the 1972 presidential campaign involving, among others, Edmund Muskie, Hubert Humphrey and Nixon was famous for its scathing opinion.

Working for Muskie, Thompson wrote, "was something like being locked in a rolling box car with a vicious 200-pound water rat." Nixon and his "Barbie doll" family were "America's answer to the monstrous Mr. Hyde. He speaks for the werewolf in us."

Humphrey? Of him, Thompson wrote: "There is no way to grasp what a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack Hubert Humphrey is until you've followed him around for a while."

The approach won him praise among the masses as well as critical acclaim. Writing in The New York Times in 1973, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt worried Thompson might someday "lapse into good taste."

"That would be a shame, for while he doesn't see America as Grandma Moses depicted it, or the way they painted it for us in civics class, he does in his own mad way betray a profound democratic concern for the polity," he wrote. "And in its own mad way, it's damned refreshing."

___

Associated Press writer John Rogers in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Blogthings - Your Seduction Style: The Natural

Blogthings - Your Seduction Style: The Natural

Your Seduction Style: The Natural

You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen. Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people. You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find! People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | A genius explains

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | A genius explains

A nice article where an autistic savant describes how he can perform his mental feats.

Ofensiva Contra El Ambiente

'Ofensiva' contra el ambiente

Sábado, 19 de febrero de 2005

Por José Javier Pérez
end.jperez1@elnuevodia.com

Como piezas de ajedrez estratégicamente colocadas, varias iniciativas legislativas y del ejecutivo han comenzado a estructurarse en una maniobra que ha sido interpretada como la más reciente ofensiva en contra del medio ambiente y las comunidades pobres.

Son varios los flancos: las medidas que eliminan restricciones a los alcaldes para efectuar expropiaciones; el proyecto de ley que enmendaría el Código Penal Ambiental para flexibilizarlo; y el proyecto del presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, José Aponte, que adjudicaría carácter de irrevocabilidad a los permisos de construcciones una vez hayan sido otorgados, entre otras.

“Se basan en la percepción de que el medio ambiente es el enemigo del progreso y lo más sorprendente es que hasta el discurso público del gobernador Aníbal Acevedo Vilá sobre el tema ambiental se ha esfumado”, declaró el planificador José Rivera Santana.

“El Gobernador se ha reunido con el presidente del Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, con Wal-mart, con la Comay, con el Gángster, con los comerciantes, industriales y constructores. Pero se ha olvidado de los ambientalistas y las comunidades”, declaró.

El planificador sostuvo que esta orquestación se encamina a una visión de construir más y más en lugar de conservar energía, agua y terrenos. Según dijo, es una meta gubernamental que se asemeja a la que implantó el ex gobernador Pedro Rosselló. “Nos llevará a un callejón sin salida donde veremos cómo nuestro recurso más importante, la Naturaleza, va siendo cercenado y destruido y los problemas, lejos de resolverse, se irán agravando”, pronosticó.

El jueves varios abogados expertos en derecho ambiental cuestionaron específicamente la medida sometida por el presidente cameral, que propone que los permisos de construcción sean irrevocables luego que hayan sido evaluados y una vez las preocupaciones y objeciones públicas hayan sido atendidas.

Pero Rivera Santana dijo que la medida parte de premisas falsas. Mientras el proyecto cameral establece que la industria de la construcción es un indicador de la situación económica y que es uno de los pilares del crecimiento económico, los datos de la Junta de Planificación señalan otra cosa.

La industria de la construcción representa solamente entre el 10 y el 16 por ciento del Producto Nacional Bruto, de acuerdo con la Junta.

“Es una participación pequeña. La manufactura y el servicio son más importantes en la actividad económica”, comentó Rivera Santana.

La otra permisa falsa, dijo, es insinuar que los permisos en sí mismos son un obstáculo: “Nadie ha presentado datos sobre cuántos proyectos de la totalidad han sido detenidos por terceros”, indicó.

Tampoco es correcto inferir que las comunidades y los ambientalistas son los responsables de la paralización de construcciones, indicó Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera, científico ambiental de la organización Iniciativa por un Desarrollo Sustentable.

Según explicó, pocas comunidades y organizaciones ecologistas tienen los recursos para llevar casos a los tribunales y cuando logran hacerlo, es porque un juez ha validado que hubo violación a leyes ambientales o incumplimiento con procesos administrativos.

No es la primera vez que surgen medidas para flexibilizar los reglamentos ambientales en Puerto Rico. Rivera Herrera recordó que bajo la administración de la gobernadora Sila Calderón el senador Juan Cancel Alegría sometió una medida similar a la de Aponte. También hubo intentos bajo el gobierno de Rosselló que incluyeron los famosos “fast track”. “Quienes han estado detrás de todo esto son las mismas personas de siempre”, dijo Rivera Herrera, refiriéndose principalmente a intereses de la industria de la construcción. El presidente de la Asociación de Constructores de Hogares, Ivar Pietri, no contestó las llamadas de El Nuevo Día. Mientras, William Riefkohl, de la Asociación de Industriales, indicó que no emitiría comentarios hasta que el comité ambiental de esa organización evalúe la propuesta.

Las medidas que la Legislatura mantiene en remojo podrían incrementar los impactos adversos al medio ambiente y aumentar los incidentes relacionados con expropiaciones de comunidades, dijo Abel Vale, portavoz de los Ciudadanos del Carso. “Pondría a las comunidades en una situación de desigualdad, no en una lucha de clases, sino en una lucha contra un pequeño grupo que no es otro que el sector que financia las campañas electorales”, dijo.

El presidente de la Junta de Calidad Ambiental (JCA) Carlos López, dijo que no había leído la medida por lo cual no podía emitir comentarios específicos. Explicó que la JCA no emite comentarios respecto a los permisos de construcción que aprueba la Administración de Reglamentos y Permisos. No obstante, señaló que la medida debe cumplir con las decisiones judiciales que ya han validado y garantizado el acceso del público a los tribunales.

El secretario de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, Javier Vélez Arocho, tampoco había leído la propuesta del presidente cameral. Se limitó a señalar que todo proyecto que no cumpla con reglamentos y los estatutos vigentes tendrá que ser enmendado para proteger al gobierno y el público.

Fun With The Feds

Dudosa la labor de dos agentes federales

Sábado, 19 de febrero de 2005

Por Carmen Edith Torres
End.ctorres@elnuevodia.com

Las acusaciones contra dos ex agentes federales del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional que estaban adscritos al grupo de trabajo de Aduanas e Inmigración han sembrado dudas sobre los juicios e investigaciones en los que ambos participaron.

Mientras trabajaban como agentes federales, los acusados Richard Roark y Jorge Rivera fueron testigos del Estado en diversos casos de narcotráfico que se dilucidaron en el Tribunal Federal y que resultaron en la convicción de acusados.

Según diversas fuentes, bajo la dirección de Roark en el grupo de trabajo de Aduanas e Inmigración, ocurrieron irregularidades en investigaciones y allanamientos realizados sin orden judicial. De acuerdo a esas fuentes, el allanamiento ilegal a una residencia en la urbanización Floral Park, ocurrido en junio del año pasado, y que generó las acusaciones contra Roark y Rivera, es sólo uno de varios incidentes similares.

El juicio contra los dos ex agentes federales por delitos de conspiración, obstrucción a la justicia y brindar declaraciones falsas en una investigación federal, quedó pautado para mayo próximo en la sala de la jueza federal Carmen Consuelo Vargas de Cerezo.

No obstante, hay versiones de que ambos agentes tienen un acuerdo con la fiscalía federal y se declararán culpables sin llegar a juicio.

En la orden para el itinerario del caso, Vargas de Cerezo estableció hasta el 19 de abril para que los acusados y la fiscalía federal conduzcan negociaciones con el fin de establecer una alegación de culpabilidad. Luego, los acusados tienen hasta el 27 de abril para someter sus mociones de cambio de alegación.

La fiscalía federal en Puerto Rico se inhibió de trabajar el caso, que fue investigado y sometido por el fiscal Charles Jenkins, del Distrito del Oeste de Texas, en San Antonio.

Roark estaba a cargo del grupo de trabajo conjunto (task force) que atiende aeropuertos y bajo su supervisión estaba el agente Rivera. Las acusaciones contra ambos se relacionan con un allanamiento sin orden realizado en junio pasado en una residencia en la urbanización Floral Park en Hato Rey, en la que fue incautado dinero.

Para justificar el dinero incautado, Rivera -que era el agente a cargo de la pesquisa- se alega preparó un informe para indicar que el dinero había sido incautado en un vehículo de motor.

La conspiración, según la acusación, se debe a que Roark y Rivera acordaron dar declaraciones falsas y fraudulentas sobre el dinero, obstruir la justicia, así como falsificar y encubrir hechos materiales.

Los dos acusados, alega el pliego acusatorio, tenían conocimiento de que el dinero fue incautado en la residencia por agentes del grupo de trabajo que la allanaron sin orden y tomaron el dinero.

“También fue parte de la conspiración que los acusados acordaron que no reportarían a sus superiores que se había entrado a una residencia y que dinero en efectivo fue removido de allí”, indica la acusación.

Brain study points to 'sixth sense' | Science Blog

Brain study points to 'sixth sense' | Science Blog *Cue the theremin* Verrrrry interesting.

Viceland - Viceland Exclusive: Surface to Air's Hello Kitty Crop circle

Viceland - Viceland Exclusive: Surface to Air's Hello Kitty Crop circle

WHY? Because they can! Crop circle gone pupup!

THe Fashion Of The Christ

The Fashion Of The Christ

Save www.beatallica.org! Petition

Save www.beatallica.org! Petition

SAN MATEO COUNTY / Gorilla Foundation rocked by breast display lawsuit / Former employees say they were told to expose chests

SAN MATEO COUNTY / Gorilla Foundation rocked by breast display lawsuit / Former employees say they were told to expose chests

SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Ecstasy trials for combat stress

SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Ecstasy trials for combat stress

Glad I'm Still The Same Dysfunctional Care Bear After All This Time

Nihilist Bear


Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Mr. Pinkeye

Well two days ago I got pinkeye so I am pretty much stuck at home. That doesn't mean I am not working since I'm doing all from the comfort of my home and with the help of one of my co-workers. Yes, I am taking my medicine and washing my hands constantly. The only complaints I have are:

1. Gotta secure the fact that they better pay me since I'm still working.

2. Might miss the Burning Face show this Saturday because I do not wish to give this to anyone there.

3. Miss my girlfriend terribly and even though she wants to come here on Sunday and watch Constantine together and I'd love to see it with her, I don't want her to get pinkeye.

BTW, check out Frecuencias Alternas this saturday from 9 pm on. 4 hour Superaquello special. If u are in PR you must tune in to 89.7FM and 88.3FM this Saturday night. Rumour control states that we might put that show online afterwards.

Don't miss a really funny interview Eze and I did with Eric of the Kleptones. That should be on Saturday the 26th also on Frecuencias Alternas.

Also DJ Velcro has a mix tape out today or tomorrow. Check it out.

Now I should go to bed. Really.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Lawsuit: 'Grand Theft Auto' Led Teen to Kill

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Lawsuit: 'Grand Theft Auto' Led Teen to Kill

Yeah yeah yeah. Just like that other teen killed his grandparents because Zoloft made him do it. Christ!

Court: Wife broke law with spyware | Tech News on ZDNet

Court: Wife broke law with spyware | Tech News on ZDNet

Brought to you by the folks who brought us The Inquisition, The Crusades, Kept quiet during the Slave Trade and Backed up The Nazis and more...

Vatican University Debuts Satanism Classes:
Associated Press

"Rome, Feb. 17 - In a classroom ringed by Rome's pine-covered hills, 100 priests solemnly stood in prayer, made the sign of the cross and got down to business: a lesson on Satanism, demonic possession and exorcism.

Worried about ritual killings in Italy and simple adolescent angst, a Vatican-recognized university launched the course Thursday to help priests and seminarians understand what makes people turn to the occult. The class is billed as the first of its kind, with wide-ranging instruction by exorcists, psychologists and a police criminologist.

The Pontifical Academy 'Regina Apostolorum' wants to clear up misconceptions - especially about exorcisms, a practice most priests do not carry out.

'An exorcist once told me that he asked his bishop for advice and was told, 'Go figure it out by yourself,' said Giuseppe Ferrari, secretary-general of the Socio-Religious Research and Information Group, co-sponsor of the class.

Thursday's lecturer, Rev. Gabriele Nanni, touched on the pitfalls of driving the devil from someone's body.

Priests must never be proud of their ability, remembering that they are merely conduits of Christ, he said. They must not perform exorcisms on people they suspect have psychological problems. And they should not get carried away and invent mystical gestures.

'Everything must be carried out in extreme sobriety,' cautioned Nanni, an exorcist himself. Among the few acceptable tools are a crucifix and prayer.

In shop talk at the end of class, one priest admitted that in his decades of performing exorcisms, he wasn't always sure he was doing it right. Another asked if seances, for example, could leave people vulnerable to psychological problems.

'All contact with the occult and the esoteric is extremely dangerous,' Nanni told the sea of priests in black jackets and white collars.

The class debuts as an Italian court prepares to try eight people believed to belong to a Satanic sect for their alleged role in three ritual killings. Sect members belonged to a heavy metal band called 'Beasts of Satan.'

One of the victims was a 19-year-old stabbed to death in 1998. She may have been targeted because her killers believed she was a personification of the Virgin Mary, prosecutors allege. Another victim was shot last year and buried alive.

Beyond the violence, Italian officials are concerned about young people who develop personal forms of Satanism, outside the sects closely monitored by police. They often learn about the devil through the Internet.

'It's a more spontaneous and hidden phenomenon, a problem of loneliness and isolation, a problem of emptiness, that is fulfilled by the values of Satanism,' said Carlo Climati, an author who will teach a course on the devil's lure to young people.

The class at the academy - run by the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative order - drew both Italians and foreigners. Rev. Christopher Barak, who came from the Lincoln, Neb., area at his bishop's request, senses a renewed concern about the devil among Roman Catholics.

'In the '60s and '70s, people got away from that,' Barak said. 'Even theologians said, 'No, the devil is just a myth.''

The course ends in April with the culminating lesson: 'Testimony of an Exorcist.' Two of Italy's some 400 exorcists are to tell their stories.

Widely accepted signs of possession - some of which were depicted in the 1973 movie, 'The Exorcist' - include speaking in unknown tongues and demonstrating physical force beyond one's natural capacity. In 1999, when the Vatican issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils, it urged priests to take modern psychiatry into account in deciding who should be exorcised.

The updated exorcism rite, contained in a red, leather-bound book, was a reflection of Pope John Paul II's efforts to convince the skeptical that the devil is very much in the world. At the time, he gave a series of homilies denouncing the devil as a 'cosmic liar and murderer.'

A former papal aide, the late Cardinal Jacques Martin, wrote in his memoirs that John Paul performed the exorcism rite in 1982, on an Italian woman who was screaming and writhing."

It's gonna get ya It's gonna get ya It's gonna get ya It's gonna get yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Si. Otra excusa para gastar dinero. Pero puej........esta es valida, no?

BBC NEWS | England | Cambridgeshire | Serial burglar caught on webcam

BBC NEWS | England | Cambridgeshire | Serial burglar caught on webcam

Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

Personality Disorder Test.

Tome esta prueba otra vez porque creo que he cambiado en varios aspectos luego de todo por lo que he pasado. Veamos....


Disorder | Rating

Paranoid: Moderate - Yes, Catch 22 indeed. Como esta la calle ahora forgetaboutit.

Schizoid: High - Si. I'm quite the loner y soy feliz con mi linda novia. Fuck off.

Schizotypal: High - Mi manera de ser y percibir la realidad es unico. Si no me entiendes, superalo.

Antisocial: Low - O sea que querer duchar a todo este planeta con naplam o explotar varias bombas de neutrones para dejarle el canto a las cucarachas es cool y aceptable?

Borderline: Moderate - Ok todavia no cualifico para suicide bomber. Eso es bueno saberlo.

Histrionic: Moderate - Si. Me gusta el drama y en Halloween me vesti de porrista anarquista pero tampoco es para tanto.

Narcissistic: High - Esta me sorprende porque no me considero narcisista. Pero puej....

Avoidant: Low - O sea que a pesar de que la realidad me muerde el testiculo izquierdo y la gran mayoria de la gente no vale nada, prefiero vivir esta realidad a inventarme una en mi cabeza.

Dependent: Low - Yo creo que esta surge luego de perder el tiempo con gente que no valia la pena. Cool!

Obsessive-Compulsive: Low - Muy bien. A pesar de que mi pana el jipi y Adrian Monk me caigan bien no significa que les sigua sus jueguitos.

URL of the test: http://www.4degreez.com/misc/personality_disorder_test.mv
URL for more info: http://www.4degreez.com/misc/disorder_information2.html

bypassing copy protection on Napster

Bypassing copy protection on Napster. The street finds its uses for technology. Again.

Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love

I think this song describes the state I'm in right now. I don't mind it at all.
Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love:

"Tell her i'll be waiting
In the usual place
With the tired and weary
There's no escape

To need a woman
You've got to know
How the strong get weak
And the rich get poor

Slave To Love
No I can't escape
I'm a slave to love

You're running with me
Don't touch the ground
We're restless hearted
Not the chained and bound

The sky is burning
A sea of flame
Though your world is changing
I will be the same

Slave to love
No I can't escape
I'm a slave to love

The storm is breaking
Or so it seems
We're too young to reason
Too grown up to dream

Now spring is turning
Your face to mine
I can hear your laughter
I can see your smile

Slave to love
No I can't escape
I'm a slave to love"

C?licoElectr?nico_cap5

CalicoElectronico

Que cosa cabrona!

SABADO MARZO 5: SANTOS @ RESURRECTION - www.ezboard.com

SABADO MARZO 5: SANTOS @ RESURRECTION - www.ezboard.com: "SABADO 5 de MARZO

SANTOS @ RESURRECTION

presents: One with the Sith

a night to explore the dark side of tecno...


Resurrection
Nuestro Ambiente
Ave. Ponce de Leon #1412
10pm-3am
$5, 18 , ID
info. 787-536-3552

www.radioclandestina.com


santos

mantente subterraneo"

YES!

El mejor show de radio del mundo y del universo tambien se complace en presentar............

La promo es una cosa cabroncisima.....

MSNBC - Database giant gives access to fake firms

MSNBC - Database giant gives access to fake firms PLOP!

Microsoft bent my Danish prime minister

Microsoft bent my Danish prime minister Behold, the Microsoft Mafia!

Happy Valentine's Day

It might be a conspiracy created by the greek gods, the greeting card companies, candy companies, motels, the sex industry and their evil allies but I wish to all my friends, family and the woman I love and adore a great Valentine's Day.

I forgot to mention that LS also gave me a nice little frame with two pictures and being the lovely boyfriend that I am, I placed it in the night stand next to my bed cause she's the one I want to wake up and fall asleep with.

Rincon has a beautiful lighthouse. I want to go back there and chill out with LS.

KANOTIX *** 2005-01 RELEASE

KANOTIX *** 2005-01 RELEASE New version is out. Whee!!!

Nice one....

Had a great weekend with LS. Had some nice dinner and spent some quality time yesterday with her and then crashed at Stiv and Viv's. Today we went to the lighthouse in Rincon. Beautiful stop. Light lunch and it was beautiful to see the sea and the coast from there. It was about to rain so we headed out on the road. Angelito called and he offered me a ride home so we met in Aguadilla home and headed home early. Angelito's ride is freaking smooth man. Great car. Angelito rules and I hope things work out with his date.

Gave my lovely lady some cd's and Shaun of The Dead as a Valentine prezzie. Had a blast together. She has some interesting observations about herself, but she knows I'm there for there whenever the need arises. My baby gave me "Boondock Saints" as a prezzie and the movie freaking rocks. Kick ass film. Thanks babe. Happy Valentine's to all.

Happy valentine's to all.

Yahoo! News - Free Expression Can Be Costly When Bloggers Bad-Mouth Jobsh

Yahoo! News - Free Expression Can Be Costly When Bloggers Bad-Mouth Jobs

Freedom of speech....just watch what you say.

CNN.com - Arthur Miller dead at 89 - Feb 11, 2005

CNN.com - Arthur Miller dead at 89 - Feb 11, 2005

iFolder - It's all about Sharing

iFolder - It's all about Sharing
Nice apps. Gotta check it out.

Neighborhoodies -

Neighborhoodies -

Hey! HEY! HEY! I wanna be a hipster too! How about a black boys comunitee shirt with big red D35C0J0N UR84N0 letters eh? Pretty please?

You heard it first

"'Noisex Records Showcase IV'

Sabado, 2 de abril de 2005
Balun
Quarter Turn
Antartica
Introdujos c/ Jorge Castro

@ Cubo 1504, Santurce (Ave. Fernandez Juncos)
(www.cubo1504.org )
Entrada: $6.00

You heard it first!

Browser speed comparisons

Browser speed comparisons

U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told to Alter Findings

U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told to Alter Findings

Your taxes at work! Hello Carmelo!

Just in case you needed confirmation....blame Pepe.

I am 60% Asshole/Bitch.

I am abrasive, some people really hate me, but there may be a group of other tight knit assholes and bitches that I can hang out with and get me. Everybody else? Fuck ‘em.

Take the
Asshole/Bitch Test
@ FualiDotCom

mean, rude, but truthful

So Vero called me mean, rude but honest because of an earlier rant I posted. Well, we talked about it, but yeah, I might be mean and rude but the rant wasn´t written with her especifically in mind and yes it was the truth. Like I said, the views expressed there were the result of reading several blogs of different people. Well, at least you´ll get an honest answer for me, even if you don´t like to hear it.

We talked about stuff a bit and it was a nice little chat. Full of black humor. Yeah I miss going out with Vivi and Vero and Chichi. But I know where her loyalties are and I respect that. But it´s kind of funny, I might be mean, rude and an old man on crack, but hey I´d rather be that than a dishonest, lying, hypocrite gossippy unhappily paranoid child with a penchant for drug addicts and criminals. It sucks to be you.

Anyway, Pellejo offered me a gig on March so I´ll keep you posted for details and it seems I might get into next years Giratorio. Too early to tell, but let´s see. Oh yeah, Ezequiel and Jose Tropiezo were breathing down my neck today because they want me to work on some music. Heh.

Talked to LS today and of course we ranted about our days and what happened. I forgot to mention her the possible gig on that. That will be news to her since she told me yesterday to work on some music, so there is my excuse. Heh. Hopefully we will be together this weekend. Can´t wait to be with her.

So anyway, my favorite DJ here, Javier Santos is gonna be spinning Fridays and Saturdays at Prisma in Condado at a night he calls BUNKER. No cover charge, no dress code so let´s go there and dance to some righteous tunage and shake our assess off starting at midnight. Who wants to join me?

Dos reseñas de Duran Duran

Una buena y otra del imbecil de Alexis Sebastian Mendez... deberia quedarse a hacer las columnas de humor porque como critico de cine ni de rock sirve. Total, tanta mala actitud y termino mamando con el concierto. Lo peor de todo es que noten que se nota que el cabron no sabe un carajo de lo que habla. Pero puej.....

Euforia ante el recuerdo de los 80

Jueves, 10 de febrero de 2005

Por María Ivette Vega Calles
mvega@elnuevodia.com

LA EUFORIA colectiva marcó el encuentro entre la agrupación británica Duran Duran y su fanaticada puertorriqueña, en el concierto que presentaron el martes en el Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot.

Aunque fue la cuarta presentación del grupo en la Isla, era la primera vez que lo hacían todos los miembros originales de la banda: Nick Rhodes, Andy, Roger y John Taylor y el cantante Simon Le Bon.

El concierto estaba pautado para las 8:00 p.m. pero no fue hasta las 9:02 p.m. que se apagaron las luces del coliseo y comenzaron los gritos y el entusiasmo de los presentes. Los integrantes de Duran Duran aparecieron en el escenario, vestidos de negro y se dispusieron a interpretar Sunrise, el primer sencillo de Astronaut, disco que marcó su regreso a la industria luego de veinte años separados.

Luego de interpretar uno de sus temas viejos, Hold back the rain, el vocalista de la banda saludó a la audiencia, que estuvo compuesta por adultos y jóvenes, algunos de los cuales vistieron de manera gótica, estilo que prevaleció en la era New Wave, que fue dominada por el grupo.

“Buenas noches San Juan de Puerto Rico, éste es Duran Duran. Is anybody hungry? (¿Alguien tiene hambre?)”, cuestionó Le Bon, provocando a los presentes ponerse de pie para bailar el clásico Hungry like the wolf.

Una versión con arreglo de rap de I Don't Want Your Love, continuó encendiendo a la audiencia. Para la interpretación de este número, el carismático cantante contó con la colaboración de Ana Ross, quien demostró su talento interpretativo.

Come Undone, Union of the Snake, Chains, What Happens Tomorrow y Reflex (que desató la euforia del público), fueron los temas que siguieron.

El concierto contó con un excelente audio, que contribuyó a que se pudiera apreciar que el paso del tiempo no ha tenido efecto sobre la voz de Le Bon. En cuanto a presentación visual, cada canción contaba con imágenes grabadas o animadas, que eran transmitidas en dos pantallas grandes detrás del escenario.

The Chauffer fue la primera canción de un segmento de baladas que fue el más emotivo de la velada. Incluyó Ordinary World y Save a Prayer, en la que el público tuvo la inventiva de prender sus celulares, iluminando de blanco y azul el coliseo.

La pregunta del cantante: “¿Quieren bailar?”, dio inicio a la parte en que la audiencia se dedicó a bailar sin parar, compuesta por el nuevo tema Bedroom Toys, el éxito Notorious, que contó con un arreglo que incluyó la canción We are Family, Nice, Planet Earth y Careless Memories. El segmento contó con un vídeo de figuras animadas en el que el grupo actuaba como héroes aniquilando a los enemigos con discos y destruyendo el edificio de EMI, su antigua compañía discográfica. Una versión extendida de Wild Boys, en la que se destacó la percusión de Roger Taylor, fue la última canción de ese espacio.

Luego de que abandonaran el escenario, se comenzó a escuchar el reconocido sonido de la cámara fotográfica que distingue el inicio del éxito Girls on film, que estuvo acompañado por imágenes de modelos en pasarela en blanco y negro. El cierre de la noche fue Rio, uno de los temas que siempre ha tenido mucha aceptación en los “Duranes” puertorriqueños.


##########################


Duran Duran en velada rockera casi inmaculada
PRIMERA HORA > ASI
jueves, 10 de febrero de 2005

Alexis Sebastián Méndez PRIMERA HORA



Simon LeBon mantuvo atrapado al público con las canciones. (Andre Kang / PRIMERA HORA)
Debo empezar señalando que, a pesar de identificarme fuertemente con la generación de los 80, nunca he compartido el fanatismo por el grupo Duran Duran (encuentro la mayoría de sus canciones –por ejemplo "The Reflex" y "Wild Boys"– como extremadamente tontas).

También tengo muy poca tolerancia para esperar sin explicación, así que aguardar 67 minutos por encima de la hora anunciada en un concierto me puso de mal humor. Si esperar por algo que uno desea crea impaciencia, esperar por algo por lo que se siente indiferencia genera cierto grado de rabia.

Quería anticiparles todo esto para que imaginen mi estado de ánimo ante el concierto del conjunto británico Duran Duran, el cual se presentó el pasado martes en la noche en el Coliseo de Puerto Rico. Ahora imaginen la calidad que tuvo este espectáculo para que yo reconozca que es uno de los mejores conciertos de rock a los que he asistido en nuestro país.

Ya Duran Duran ha visitado la Isla anteriormente, pero esta es la primera ocasión en que se presenta en conjunto con sus integrantes originales.

La banda se formó en 1978, tomando su nombre de un villano en la absurda película de ciencia ficción "Barbarella" (ahora es difícil ver la cinta y escuchar que hay un tipo llamado "Duran Duran"). El grupo fue uno de los pioneros del denominado New Wave, y aprovecharon el crecimiento de MTV a comienzos de los 80 para convertirse en iconos del nuevo medio musical.

Tras cuatro años de éxitos, el conjunto fue desbandándose, llegando en un momento a contar con solamente dos de los integrantes originales. A pesar de la evolución de la música popular, Duran Duran siempre se ha mantenido vivo y activo, aunque fuese solamente una migaja de lo que fue en sus años cumbre.

El quinteto original está junto nuevamente, tiene en el mercado un nuevo disco ("Astronaut"), y empieza este mes una gira mundial. El concierto del martes, en el cual Duran Duran compartió durante 108 minutos una veintena de sus canciones, demuestra el porqué este grupo ha merecido subsistir tantos embates y mantener una lealtad tan fuerte en su público.

La banda comenzó con dos canciones de su nuevo disco tituladas "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise" y "Astronaut". Aunque las piezas me eran desconocidas, tienen los elementos peculiares del grupo. El público se mostró complacido de recibir a la banda y aguantó estas piezas menos conocidas, aunque más adelante en el concierto evidenció que interesaba los éxitos clásicos. Pude notar que en otras ocasiones en que la banda compartió canciones del nuevo disco (tales como "Chains"), muchos asistentes se paraban a visitar el baño, comprar cerveza, fumar afuera, o sea, lo que hicieran.

Si el público estuvo eufórico durante aquellas dos canciones con las que estaba familiarizado, la tercera pieza parecía describir a los presentes. "Hungry Like a Wolf" verdaderamente energizó a los fanáticos. Esta misma reacción entusiasta se repetiría con "Union of the Snake", "The Reflex", "Wild Boys" y "Save a Prayer" (uno de los mejores momentos de la noche).

La banda se reforzó con un saxofonista que se lució durante muchas de las canciones, y una cantante que participó en el fondo vocal, y quien hizo despliegue de su talento durante "I Don't Want Your Love". Ambos integrantes invitados se destacaron nítidamente durante "Notorious", con un sorprendente arreglo en el cual incluyeron porciones del éxito disco "We Are Family".

No todos los experimentos funcionaron. El intento de Duran Duran dentro de la música hip-hop me pareció un enorme bache en una velada casi inmaculada. Por suerte, el resto de su espectáculo fue tan sensacional que el desliz fue tolerado hasta la llegada de la próxima canción.

La banda tuvo una ejecución sencillamente sensacional. Las luces y el sonido trabajaron sin ningún problema, y dos enormes pantallas sobre el escenario presentaban truenos, planetas, animación violenta, siluetas de mujeres y otras figuras, una adición adecuada –y hasta necesaria– para honrar el pasado de la banda como figura clave en el desarrollo de los modernos vídeos musicales.

Otros números, tales como "Planet Earth", "Sing Blue Silver" y en particular "Ordinary World", estuvieron estupendos, pero la banda guardó lo mejor para el supuesto bono de los conciertos (usted sabe, cuando la banda regresa –según la tradición– para dos canciones, "gracias" a la insistencia del público). El cierre con "Girls on Film" y "Rio" dejó al público energizado y feliz.

La organización durante el concierto fue admirable. Estos valores de producción junto a un espectáculo con una banda que ha mejorado con el tiempo ofrecieron una gran noche de música. Si alta fue mi satisfacción, no puedo imaginar la euforia de los amantes de Duran Duran.

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