Recognizing Rick

For a while my family was dependent upon Rick for any contact with the outside world. Rick manned the phones at the Miracle Springs Resort in nearby Desert Hot Springs in exchange for a room and occasional use of a car. This worked out pretty well except for weekends. If the spa sold out on Friday or Saturday night, they would rent Rick's room to anyone with $100 and he'd end up on my sofa. This turned out to be every single week, so the one thing we had to look forward to on a regular basis was Rick showing up at our desert hideaway on Friday night with a bag of charcoal, some burgers, and a hankerin' for some Texas Hold-em.

For most of us, having to clear out everything we own from our home once a week and moving somewhere else for the weekend would be quite a hardship, but not for Rick, who had given up the concept of possessions quite a while ago. Every possession is an obligation, like a drawing on an Etch-a-Sketch, no use trying to save it, so the only thing from his past that he kept around was a suitcase full of clothes and a walking stick, the story of which I've heard so many times I've forgotten, but you may rest assured it had something to do with his mystical travels among the Hopi.

Rick has been diagnosed with a disease both fatal and unpronounceable, the opposite of hemophilia, where his body produces too many red blood cells. His social security will kick in too late, so he's just biding his time, nothing to lose, nothing to gain but a pleasant journey home. Living at a spa and a weekly barbecue with friends sounds like as good a way to go as any, and though he has nothing, not a penny, the one person on earth with less than me, in a way I envy him. Here I am, desperately grasping at the rudder of my life, putting up a sweat, while he floats free, totally relaxed, without a care, whatever happens happens.

An old friend offered him the same gig at a resort in Florida, so Rick opted for a change of pace. He needed a ride to the bus station on the exact same day that Paul Krassner rented me a car for my son to take his GED, so Rick came along with us on the day of the test. We dropped Buster off at the College of the Desert, then headed to a local buck theater to show Max Robots, then back to the COD to pick up Buster, and off to the Greyhound Station.

The Dares said goodbye to Rick. I didn't want any pressure, so I didn't point out to the kids till afterwards that this was probably the last time we would ever see him. No more regular barbecues. One less poker partner. One less friend with a car.

There's no sad ending. This isn't a memorial of anything but Rick's physical presence in my life. To the best of my knowledge he's still out there, basking in the fantasy Florida spa of my mind.

There's an old joke about a woman who almost dies on the operating table. She has a "near death" experience and talks to God who tells her "Don't worry, you've got another 40 years." After she recovers, she has a face lift and a tummy tuck, then gets hit by a truck. Back in heaven, she says to God, "Didn't you say I've got another 40 years?" God replies, "Yeah, but I didn't recognize you."

Rick was hopeless when he went shopping for us. He was like that guy in the ad with the glazed look in his eyes who stares at a deli counter forever, the guy who would starve if not for the philanthropic national burger chain that humbly offers to make all his culinary decisions for him. Rick would always bring us the worst food on earth, chips and dip and sugar coated cakes, and we were grateful. 

I didn't try to change Rick. Rick was unchangeable. He wants God to recognize him.

Musical News Classic

Over There
by George M. Cohan

Over There, Over There
Send the word, send the word,
Over There
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum tumming everywhere
So prepare,
Say a Prayer
Send the word,
Send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over.
And we won't be back till it's over over there!
 

Sites Honored for Interactive Storytelling, Rethinking Journalism

Five finalists have been named for the 2005 Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, which gives cash prizes up to $10,000 for "setting new standards for interactive journalism, advancing creativity in digital storytelling and recalibrating the role that news organizations play in their communities."

Check 'em out...

•The View, Interactive Magazine Online (IMOL)
A quarterly netcasting magazine crafted of hip new story forms produced by senior "solo-jos" — backpack journalists from England, the U.S. and South Africa — using video-centric Web tools to tell point-of-view stories.

•"The Cost of War," Newsday 
An extravaganza of detailed information and artful graphics about the U.S. effort in Iraq that set a new bar for telling fact-dense stories, inviting readers to burrow deeper into its interactive tiers of news.

•"Town Square," News & Record, Greensboro, N.C. 
A daring initiative to rethink the role of the newspaper in the community. It is newly evolving to incorporate community voices and heightened transparency of the newsgathering process.

•ChicagoCrime.org 
An innovative integration of a public database with Google's online mapping technology to deliver a comprehensive, interactive experience for Chicago's neighborhoods. It is one journalist's ability to see all the pieces and put them together.

•Public Insight Journalism, Minnesota Public Radio 
An imaginative venture that has built up a 10,000-person "public source network." Its innovative online collaborative software, the "Idea Generator," engaged people in brainstorming such public issues as the future of small towns and the racial performance gap in school test scores.

Chart of the Week

Bush To London Bombers: 'Bring It On'

WASHINGTON, DC: President Bush officially responded to the latest round of London transit bombings Monday, challenging terrorists to "do their worst." Said Bush, in a televised statement from the Oval Office: "The proud and resilient people of London can take anything the forces of evil and cowardice can throw at them. They will never live in fear of you. Bring it on." Prime Minister Tony Blair thanked Bush for his comments, inviting him to visit London and ride the Underground in a show of solidarity.
- The Onion -

The War Against Plants

   "The earlier a young person uses marijuana the greater the risk for mental health problems later in life, the director of National Drug Control Policy said Tuesday, basing his conclusion on a survey of medical research.
   "'We're trying to get out the word that the last 10 years of research have helped to alert us to the use of marijuana in particular is a very dangerous risk for the mental health of our young people,' John Walters said at a news conference.
   "Walters cited a government study that found a base rate of mental illness at between 8 percent and 9 percent among Americans 18 and older. For those who use marijuana, he said, 'That increases to 12-and-a-half percent...'
   "Walters did not directly address the possibility of confusing cause and effect - that is, that people with mental problems might be more inclined to use drugs."
- Paul Courson: Research: Youths risk mental health with pot use -

   "A special initiative group of scientists is establishing the Russian Psychedelic Society. The new organization has a goal to legalize the use of psychoactive drugs in official medicine, the mysterious lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD-25, first and foremost. A prominent US scientist, Stanislav Grof, is expected to participate in the first congress of the new organization, which is slated to take place in November 2005. Like Sigmund Freud or Carl Yung, Grof is said to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in psychology.
   "'LSD-25 was studied very well 40 years ago. Remarkable qualities of the substance were used in the field of psychotherapy back then,' a spokesman for the initiative group, Anton Chuppin said. 'Unfortunately, certain legal processes put an end to the research when psychedelic drugs were excluded from the list of legal medications. We believe that it was a wrong decision to make. A group of American scientists and cultural figures addressed to the US Surgeon General last year with a request to legalize LSD-25 to use it in medicine,' Mr. Chuppin said." 
- LSD-25 -

Stupid Answers of the Week

Last week's question...

Help, my current situration is fucked. Help...

Enough beautiful people answered the4 call of distress to completely catch me up to today, August 1st, which is quite a relief. Though I am profoundly grateful to everyone who helped me out, I've got to say that a sale beats a donation any day. Sold five Polaroids at a hundred apiece, an action I can only recommend entirely. (Still no car. Literally haven't left the house in two weeks. Post office miles away. Thanks for your patience.)

Stupid Question of the Week

Life is more and more like a no-win situation comedy. Survival-wise, is anybody ever really more than a month ahead? How do you do it?

Send your answers here. 

Plug of the Week

Paul Krassner's classic poster, now colorized, is available here.

Satan Doesn't Want You to Know

The cheapest tuna, chunk light, is higher in omega-3 fatty acids than the most expensive, albacore or solid white, and therefore better for you, at least according to Eric Rimm, ScD, associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Don't Take My Word For It

   "You know that 'war on terror' our troops have been fighting for two years? Yeah, that's over.
    "Now, we're involved in a 'global struggle against violent extremism.' (It just rolls off the tongue.) The White House has decided that the 'war on terror' moniker that's been a catch phrase for so long just isn't cutting it anymore. 'War,' of course, implies death and destruction and flag-draped coffins (and heaven knows, we don't want to think about those). Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he thinks that 'war' implies that uniformed troops are the answer. (Wait? You mean they're not?!)  And Steven J. Hadley, the national security advisor, told The New York Times, 'It's broader than [a war on terror.] It's a global struggle against extremism. We need to dispute both the gloomy vision and offer a positive alternative.'"
- Laura Donnelly: A War By Any Other Name -

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton -

"MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Untold numbers of service members residing off base will see their next paycheck shrink by as much as $250 - and many of them may not even know the blow is coming."
- Some to Lose Hundreds in Pay Monday -

    "[T]he recommendations made by Columbia's accident investigators did not force NASA to confront the problem head-on. The board told the space agency to 'initiate' a program to eliminate foam debris and 'initiate' a program to strengthen the orbiter's thermal protection system, but it did not make NASA adopt a 100% fix to either system... Instead of fixing the debris problem, the board focused many recommendations on allowing astronauts to survive such a foam strike."
- Ralph Vartabedian: Behind Chunks of Foam, a Failure to Confront Hazard - NASA was never forced to attack shuttle debris peril, and apparently rejected wider solutions -

    "The preemptive doctrine overturns the conclusions of the Nuremburg Tribunals that 'War is the Supreme Crime' from which all the lesser crimes naturally flow. It elevates war to a viable form of foreign policy; an acceptable means of establishing one state’s superiority over another. In the case of Iraq, where the theory was applied with the most appalling results; it has been exposed as a cruel facsimile of unprovoked aggression against a defenseless enemy. The horrific after-effects have been the destruction of Iraqi society, the death of over 100,000 civilians and an enduring conflict with no end in sight. These are the predictable consequences of a pernicious theory that glorifies force above all else.
   "The principle at the heart of 'enemy combatants' is no less sinister than that of preemption. The theory presupposes that there is a category of men that are intrinsically undeserving of any human rights whatsoever. 'Enemy combatants' is not intended to selectively deprive people of particular rights; it is a blanket indictment of anyone the president arbitrarily chooses to name; stripping them of their civil liberties without any legal recourse. It overturns every meaningful precedent of International law and American jurisprudence. Due process, habeas corpus and the presumption of innocence are all rescinded by executive edict. 'Enemy combatants' is the language of tyrants; it represents the dénouement of the rule of law and the birth of the imperial presidency."
- Mike Whitney: The Globalization of State Terror -

"Well, if you've written a brilliant Hercules episode, or Evil Dead IV, you might as well wallpaper your bathroom with it."
- Bruce Campbell on why writing sequels on spec isn't such a great idea -

"#10: Woodrow Wilson. I've spoken about him before on this site, but hear me once again - we've never had a worse President. For one minute I will believe in an afterlife so that I can imagine his frail body being cracked and broken on the endless racks of hell. Not only did he send hundreds of thousands to their deaths in a silly war that to this day no one can explain, he ignored (and thereby exacerbated) the influenza epidemic, crushed civil liberties, left giant, corn-filled turds on the Constitution, and childishly refused to resign even after losing half his brain to a massive stroke. His miserable Presidency ushered in years of repression, hysteria, and yes, the rise of Hitler. Fuck him and may history piss on his memory forever."
- Matt Cale: 10 BIGGEST PRICKS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY -

"My only advice to single guys out there is this: go out and star in a couple movies. That makes things a lot easier."
- Vince Vaughn -

"I don't want to live in a world where there are no lions anymore. Or no people like lions."
- Werner Herzog -

"Human beings are the only creatures who are able to behave irrationally in the name of reason."
- Ashley Montagu -

"A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions - as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all."
- Friedrich Nietzsche -

"Why is God making me suffer so much? Just because I don't believe in him?"
- Sidney Morgenbesser -

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
- Thomas Jefferson -

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."
- Mark Twain: Pudd'nhead Wilson -

"As a person acts, so he becomes in life. Those who do good become good; those who do harm become bad. Good deeds make one pure; bad deeds make one impure. So we are said to be what our desire is. As our desire is, so is our will. As our will is, so are our acts. As we act, so we become."
- Bihadaranyaka Upanishad -

"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -

"Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment."
- R. Buckminster Fuller -

"To remain young one must change. The perpetual campus hero is not a young man but an old boy."
- Alexander Chase -

"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known."
- Walt Disney -

"The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously."
- Nicholas Butler -

"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity."
- Frank Leahy -

    "Things are going well in Iraq for the invaders. Well, at least for some people, such as US Vice-President Richard Cheney. He is receiving more than $US1 million ($A1.3 million) a year from Halliburton, the company of which he was CEO from 1995 to 2000, in 'deferred remuneration' while he is VP. He is worth every penny.
   "Last week, two Democrat senators and a house member wrote to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld asking if he knew about Halliburton's latest money-making dodge in Iraq. Keep in mind that Halliburton and its subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root, have a nice little earner going in supplying support for the US Army and for, ostensibly, putting out oil well fires. The Centre for Public Integrity in Washington counts Halliburton's windfall at more than $US10 billion - a little bit coming from the US Treasury but most coming from Iraqi oil revenue that is supposed to be used to reconstruct the country for the benefit of the people. The centre counts another 30 members of the Defence Policy Board with ties to American companies with $US76 billion (as of 2002) in largely uncontested and un-auditable military contracts.
   "The Democrats reckon that Halliburton may have overstepped even its sloppy moral line by making life impossible for another American company that has committed the crime of undercutting the Vice-President's company.
   "In their letter to Rumsfeld, the Democrats say that US company Lloyd-Owen International is being prevented from delivering fuel to Iraq from Kuwait (Who says the liberation hasn't been a success? What next? Ice to the Inuit?) by forcing LOI trucks to use a civilian crossing where the checks are so slow that the company can't get its 140 trucks a day through. The speedy, wave-'em-through military crossing is controlled by who? The Iraqi military? The US military? Nope, by the Vice-President's firm, which is also in the fuel delivery business."
- The Age: Cheney's boundless Iraq profiteering -

"I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law."
- David Dinkins -

    "There is, in fact, no Iraqi insurgency. There is a Sunni Arab insurgency. And it cannot win. Neither the al-Qaeda terrorists nor the former Baathists can win. Even if the US withdrew tomorrow, neither insurgents nor terrorists would be knocking down the gates to Iraq's Presidential Palace in Baghdad.
    "Basically, the military equation in Iraq comes down to demographics. Sunni Arabs are no more than 20 percent of Iraq's population. Even in Baghdadonce the seat of Sunni Arab power - Sunni Arabs are a minority. To succeed, the insurgency would have to win support from Iraq's other major communities - the Kurds at 20 percent and the Shiites at between 55 and 60 percent. This cannot happen."
- Peter W. Galbraith: Iraq: Bush's Islamic Republic -

    "The confirmation process for a new Supreme Court justice is always a dicey affair. Everyone dances around hot button social/religious issues like abortion. Everyone tries to find out how the nominee feels about such issues without coming right out and asking. Instead they try to read the tea leaves in the nominees past statements and/or decisions.
    "But a nominee - any nominee - is ultimately the product of what he or she believes most deeply. So why can't we ask what it is they believe most deeply?
    "No can do.
   "Even as America's fundamentalist Christians demand and get more and more access to the public square, we are told we cannot probe their belief structure. To do so, we are told, would be worse than impolite, it's downright ignorant and bigoted. Even though their beliefs shape their decisions in office, we have no right to question them - or those belief's basis in fact or fantasy.
   "Wait, that's not exactly true. Not every superstition is untouchable. If a nominee were, say, a practicing Scientologist his or her beliefs would be fair game for questioning. How about a practicing fundamentalist Mormon who upholds the 'holy' right of bigamy? You can bet there'd be some questions about that. Or a fundamentalist Muslim who believes women should have almost none of the rights men enjoy? Wanna bet he'd get his empty head handed to him on a Senatorial platter? What about a practicing witch, or a member of the Church of Satan? I could just hear the screams of outrage from the right! They'd eat those 'pagans' for lunch.    "Superstitious beliefs that are out of the mainstream are fair game. And, those who publicly espouse such beliefs are almost always excluded from high public office - and thank goodness for it. If such 'wierdos' ever made it as far as a Senate confirmation hearing the Senators would elbow one another aside to get the first digs in on camera.
    "So why do Christian nominees, like Judge John Roberts, get a pass? If he is, as reported, devoutly religious, why are his supernatural beliefs off limits? Simple; some superstitions more equal than others. There are 'mainstream' superstitions and there are those 'nutty' ones. I mean, come on, what kind of nut would consult a Ouiji board when they could pray to an all-powerful pretend-friend in 'heaven?' One belief is nutty, the other, while just as nutty, is 'mainstream.'
    "Test given: The guy who consults the Ouiji board would not be qualified to serve on the Supreme Court while the other guy would be qualified.
    "Something's wacky there.
   "I only mention all this because mainstream Christians are just as prone to believing utter nonsense as the rest of the metaphysical lot. And I don't like being governed in troubled times like these by people who still believe in primitive, Mother Goose-ish fables about angels, devils, miracles, judgment days and similar voodoo, be it mainstream or otherwise."
- Steve Pizzo: Questions You Can't Ask -

"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action."
- James Levin -

   "We live in a capitalist society. The notion of government is such a system is that it checks the money interests so they don't hurt the people. Well, that's the theory. But since government has been purchased by special interests in the form of campaign contributions - the Supreme Court ruled that such investments are merely free speech, hohoho - there are no honest checks on business. So a broadcaster can own 1300 radio stations, drug companies can fleece American consumers, and Halliburton can run a war in Iraq.
   "Another stain on our structure might be the fact that the Dow Jones rose the day of the London bombings. Is there anything to be inferred from the fact that the value of the nations largest corporations actually rose after terrorists had their way with London commuters? Is terrorism good for the economy, or at least for the Dow-listed stocks? Are the folks on Wall Street betting that war is a good thing, at least as regards as where they place their bets? And if so, as seems to be the case, what do these companies hope will happen next?"
- Tony Seton: The Government Joke -

"It is man that makes truth great, not truth that makes man great."- Confucius - "As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual."
- Dan McKay's winning entry in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest -

    "I sometimes having trouble even finishing news stories. Tony Blair, as per my reading on the BBC website and elsewhere, said that Iraq was no excuse for the London bombings.
    "But the invasion of Iraq was justified by the New York bombings? It's precisely this sort of hypocrisy that pisses people off. How many people, all over the world, are going, 'Sir, you most definitely believe in the principle of retaliatory violence, even when it violates international laws and standards. Further, what was done to London is insignificant to what you have done to the whole of Iraq. Your own organizations have determined that between 25,000 and 100,000 innocent civilian Iraqis have been killed by coalition violence in Iraq, which your government fully supports from inception to the present. Indeed, the damage that you and your allies have done dwarfs on all scales the violence done to New York on September 11th, 2001. Al-Qaida destroyed a few buildings, bombed a few tunnels; the invaders of Iraq wholly destroyed Fallujah, a city of 300,000 people, so that no stone stands next to another.'
    "So, Blair clearly believes that it is acceptable to meet violence with violence. The idea that violence in one place does not justify violence in another place is preposterous, to be guided by his actions. Of course, the article doesn't mention the absurdity of what Blair is saying."
- Christopher Bradley: Why I Have Trouble Reading the News - Tony Blair Won't Give an Inch -

"Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy."
- Nora Ephron -

"In heaven all the interesting people are missing."
- Friedrich Nietzsche -

   "New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has urged the U.S. government to create blacklists of condemned political speech - not only by those who advocate violence, but also by those who believe that U.S. government actions may encourage violent reprisals. The latter group, which Friedman called 'just one notch less despicable than the terrorists,' includes a majority of Americans, according to recent polls.
   "Friedman's July 22 column proposed that the State Department, in order to 'shine a spotlight on hate speech wherever it appears,' create a quarterly 'War of Ideas Report, which would focus on those religious leaders and writers who are inciting violence against others.' But Friedman said the governmental speech monitoring should go beyond those who actually advocate violence, and also include what former State Department spokesperson Jamie Rubin calls 'excuse makers.'"
- A New Blacklist for "Excuse Makers" - Those who think Iraq War sparks terror are "despicable," says Friedman -

    "The GOP and Bush, Inc. cannot afford to lose. If the Democrats take control of just one house of Congress in 2006, they will gain the powers of Congressional investigation - the right to issue subpoenas to witnesses and for essential documents, and the right to require witnesses to testify under oath, which carries with it the threat of criminal conviction for perjury. And be assured, that should the Democrats take charge of congressional investigations, chaired by such prosecutorial hawks as Henry Waxman, John Conyers and Patrick Leahy, the worm-cans would be opened.
   "To be sure, Congressional Democrats have recently held unofficial hearings on the 2004 voting irregularities in Ohio, on The Downing Street Memos, on media reform, and on the Plame-Wilson-CIA scandal. But these have all been rather toothless affairs, boycotted by the Republicans, with all testimony volunteered and none under oath. Official Congressional investigations would be a whole 'nother story.
    "For there is good reason to suspect that the Bush Administration is less a government than it is a crime syndicate, which, thanks to a compliant Congress and Justice Department, has to date done its dirty work without fear of investigation or prosecution. Among the possible crimes that are crying for investigation: war profiteering, Congressional bribery and corruption, election fraud, war crimes, and of course the 'outing' of a covert CIA operation - an act which Bush's own father described as treasonous."
- Ernest Partridge: The GOP is Certain to Win in 2006 Unless... -

    "Here's how it really went down:    "The three who were driving from Leeds to Luton never completed their journey. Somewhere along the M1 motorway, a car with a flashing blue light came up behind them and both cars pulled over to the side of the road. The seeming police officers demanded identification and then insisted that the car be moved off the motorway for safety reasons and for further questioning.
   "Meanwhile another team was intercepting the fourth person as he made his way from nearby Aylesbury to Luton. None of them would be seen alive in public again. They did not participate in the bombings."
- How Black Ops Staged the London Bombing -

"God made man but he used a monkey to do it."
- DEVO: Jocko Homo -

"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day."
- Lao Tzu -

"Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it."
- Rabindranath Tagore -

"The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war." 
- E. B. White -

"Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them."
- Voltaire -

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Daniel Webster -

"At the center of the Universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best for every person. Anything that we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds. Life is for service." 
- Mister Fred Rogers -

    "Konarka, Nanosys and Nanosolar say their solar technology will reduce the time it will take consumers to recover production and installation costs to a matter of months.
    "In addition to being able to manufacture photovoltaic cells more quickly through printing, the companies also say that manipulating materials 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair will provide more light-collecting capabilities.     "Each printed nanostructure solar cell would act as an autonomous solar collector, and sheets of these products would have more surface area to gather light than conventional photovoltaic cells.
    "The companies also say that the printed rolls of solar cells would be lighter, more resilient and flexible than silicon photovoltaics."
- Paul Carlstrom: As solar gets smaller, its future gets brighter  Nanotechnology could turn rooftops into a sea of power-generating stations -

"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you."
- Don Marquis -

"Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers."
- T. S. Eliot -

"Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought."
- Sir William Osler -

"Whatever relationships you have attracted in your life at this moment, are precisely the ones you need in your life at this moment. There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning is serving your own evolution."
- Deepak Chopra -

"When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice."

- Marquis de la Grange -

"I was brought up to believe that the only thing worth doing was to add to the sum of accurate information in this world."
- Margaret Mead -

"There is no accident so disastrous that a clever man cannot derive some profit from it; nor any so fortunate that a fool cannot turn it to his disadvantage."
- Francois De La Rochefoucauld -

"Genius is, to be sure, not a matter of arbitrariness, but rather of freedom, just as wit, love, and faith, which once shall become arts and disciplines. We should demand genius from everybody, without, however, expecting it."
- Friedrich Schlegel -

"Adopting an attitude of universal responsibility is essentially a personal matter. The real test of compassion is not what we say in abstract discussions but how we conduct ourselves in daily life."
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Imagine All the People -

"About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends."
- Herbert Hoover -

"Sometimes when I get up in the morning, I feel very peculiar. I feel like I've just got to bite a cat! I feel like if I don't bite a cat before sundown, I'll go crazy! But then I just take a deep breath and forget about it. That's what is known as real maturity."
- Snoopy -

"We will establish a new system that makes high-quality health care available to every American in a dignified manner and at a price he can afford." 
- Richard Nixon -

"And the pity of it is...that these things cannot be confined to...The Twilight Zone."
- Rod Serling -

Everything Else

Surely you've got something better to do than learn hundreds of stupid tricks you can do with a lighter.

Want to know everything there is to know about John Roberts? Check out the Supreme Court Guide for Activists.

It's too big a download for my paltry hard drive, but Horton Hears a Human, a rewrite of Dr. Seuss using current newsbytes, looks really good. 

If you see it, let us know. Snopes, usually one of the most trusted sites on the net, has blown it big time with their article about Codex and the upcoming banishment of vitamins and minerals from our retail shelves. Read this detailed response.

Mark Fiore has something to say about Homeland Stupidity.

If you think all the comparisons of Bush to Hitler are bad, check out Norman Solomon's history of all the times the US government has compared someone to Hitler, an excerpt from his book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

For an excellent collection of outrageous videos, check out Transbuddha.

Don't get conned. Read 6 Ways to Spot a Diet Scam.