I've been working a lot with bats lately.
Friday, October 29, 2004
anger management #4.1
DN:s ledarsida fortsätter sin kampanj för att få varsin dräng eller piga hemma i bostadsrätten. DN konstaterar att: "Det är tufft att både jobba heltid och hämta barnen på dagis, handla mat, laga middag, tvätta kläder, betala räkningarna och städa hemmet. Dygnet har inte mer än 24 timmar och av dessa ska några dessutom ägnas åt sömn." Tänk att de har upptäckt det tillsist. Samtidigt anser de att vi bör arbeta ännu mer. Arbetets söner och döttrar har nämligen blivit lata bidragssnyltare. I motsats till de hårda arbetsdagarna på DN:s ledarsida - man måste hitta parkering till SUV:en, sörpla latte med Timbro polarna för att få lite nyliberal input och inspiration till veckans ledarkrönika, spela lite golf, hänga på gymmet, ta en bira efter jobbet o.s.v. - så slappar vi vanliga knegare oss fram genom vardagen. Ta en normal fritidsledare t.ex. - de jobbar bara 8,5 timmar om dagen, ofta utan rast. De äter s.k. pedagogisk lunch med barnen, utan löneavdrag och får sedan för detta mellan 17 och 21 tusen kronor i månaden beroende på hur många decennier de har varit anställda. 8,5 timmar om dagen i en ljudnivå som är hälsovådlig och där de aldrig får en minut över att slappna av. Vilka jävla slöhögar. Detta ska de göra tills de är drygt sjuttio år gamla. I alla fall om de vill kunna äta och betala hyran på äldre dar. I framtiden kommer döda fritidsledare att bli en vanlig syn på våra skolor och skolgårdar. Den sista vilan blir den enda vilan!
Det är denna bidragssnyltande lättja som är den verkliga anledningen till DN:s förtjusning över skattesubventionerade hushållstjänster. Äntligen kan man göra något åt dessa förargliga snyltare. I stället för att vara "sjuka" eller "arbetslösa" tvingas de att bli avdragsgilla pigor och drängar åt borgerskapet - genialt! Dessutom kan man snabbt "integrera" invandrare och nya EU-medborgare genom att göra även dem till pigor och drängar. Nu kan de äntligen sluta att tära och börja skura istället. En ny enorm låglönesektor öppnar sig, miljarder kan tjänas och man får ett effektivt vapen att hota gnälliga och missnöjda arbetare med. Potentialen är enorm. I framtiden har du en piga eller så är du en piga.
Det är denna bidragssnyltande lättja som är den verkliga anledningen till DN:s förtjusning över skattesubventionerade hushållstjänster. Äntligen kan man göra något åt dessa förargliga snyltare. I stället för att vara "sjuka" eller "arbetslösa" tvingas de att bli avdragsgilla pigor och drängar åt borgerskapet - genialt! Dessutom kan man snabbt "integrera" invandrare och nya EU-medborgare genom att göra även dem till pigor och drängar. Nu kan de äntligen sluta att tära och börja skura istället. En ny enorm låglönesektor öppnar sig, miljarder kan tjänas och man får ett effektivt vapen att hota gnälliga och missnöjda arbetare med. Potentialen är enorm. I framtiden har du en piga eller så är du en piga.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
r.i.p. john peel
team america
What Team America has to say about the next attack from terrorists:
A: -From what I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. has gathered it will be 9/11 times a hundred.
B: -9/11 times a hundred... Jesus! That's...
A: -Yes, ninety-one thousand one hundred.
C: -Basically all the worst parts of the bible.
What more is there to be said??
Thursday, October 21, 2004
weird science 1.2
In the october issue of Wired there's a very interesting article about the so called "Intelligent Design" theory. This is a pseudo scientific theory promoted by the conservative "think tank" the Discovery Institute as a way to get Creationism back into the American classrooms. They do it with the help of old Reagan administration officials and Moonies. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The new right seems to love pseudo science, it's so convenient! You can prove whatever you want with it. If someone disagree with you - then you just accuse them of being atheist liberals or socialists! Or even better - of not being objective! Simple. Often they even seem to believe their own pseudo scientific fantasies. The Neo-liberals have their precious Chicago School of Economics (When will the creationists get their first Nobel prize? The Chicago boys have eight!), the Randians have their Objectivism (these guys are almost as far out as the Raelians) and the Neo-conservatives and the Christian Right have creationism and the Intelligent Design theory. Will the left ever be able to beat that? Hope not!
mondays are fun days
Last monday we had a small party at Zucchero (you know, my other job). It was fun.
put the boat to sleep
Last weekend my brother dragged the boat to its winter sleep. See you next summer.
the devil made me do it!
This is me listening to the swedish band Cult of Luna and their song "Arrival". Dark...
Sunday, October 17, 2004
paranoia agent
Paranoia Agent is one of the best anime series I've ever seen. It starts as a mysterious case for the police in Tokyo Musashino. The victim's testimony is doubtful, she is suspected to have commited the crime herself. But soon after, the next victims appears and things change. Always involved a young boy with a baseball bat, wearing golden rollerblades. The main characters are tired police officers. a stressed out designer, a prostitute, a homeless old lady, a young incest victim and a competitive school kid among others. It maybe sounds depressing, but the story is a beautifully told surreal fairytale detective story! Sounds weird? It is!
Saturday, October 16, 2004
the truth is on vacation
Last days there have been a lot of comments in the media about Wall Street Journal's Middle East correspondent Farnaz Fassihi and the private email about the situation in Iraq that she sent to some of her friends. Later a copy of her email began circulating on the internet where it created a big fuss. Some people asked the obvious question: "Why can't reporters on the ground occasionally speak to the 'public' like this one occasionally spoke to her friends?"
As a result of all this fuss, Farnaz Fassihis employer, the Wall Street Journal, started to react. It seems like they didn't like it when their reporters wrote things like: "Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest."
"I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive."
As a result of the e-mails it seems like Farnaz has been forced by the Wall Street Journal to take a vacation. The LA Times writes: "Wednesday, two of the paper's (Wall Street Journal) staff members - both of whom asked not to be identified - said they had been told that Fassihi would not be allowed to write about Iraq for the paper until after the election, presumably because unauthorized publication of her private correspondence somehow called into question the fairness of her journalism.
In point of fact, no one has questioned the content of Fassihi's reporting nor alleged that it has been in any way biased."
The LA Times continues:"So was Fassihi told not to write about Iraq by WSJ editors until after Nov. 2? It seemed an easy matter to resolve, though, as it turns out, very little in this uneasy moment yields to easy resolution.
Paul Steiger, the Journal's managing editor, was unavailable by phone Thursday, but his spokesman, Robert Christie, accepted a question on his behalf and agreed to put it to the editor: Had Fassihi's e-mail been the subject of discussion among her editors and had they decided that its dissemination should prevent her from writing about Iraq until after Nov. 2?
Christie forwarded Steiger's response by e-mail: "Ms. Fassihi is coming out of Iraq shortly on a long planned vacation. That vacation was planned to, and will, extend past the election."
A follow-up question seemed in order and was sent to Steiger, through Christie, by e-mail: "If this correspondent wishes to write about Iraq for the Wall Street Journal, is she free to do so?"
Steiger's reply, via his spokesman, was this: "She is going on a long-scheduled vacation outside Iraq and has no plans to work during that time."
The truth is on vacation. There is a small possibility that it will be back after the November election.
great forgotten misfits from the past #1
Number One in my new collectors series of Great Forgotten Misfits from the past is Major General Smedley Darlington Butler who, by the time of his death (June 21, 1940), was the most decorated U.S. Marine in history. He came forward to Congress in 1933 to reveal a coup d'etat plot against President Roosevelt sponsored by big-money interests. He was twice the recipient of the Medal of Honor, one of only nineteen to be so honored. As a testemony of his career in the U.S. military and as a "high class muscle man for Big Business" he wrote "War is a racket" in 1935. Some quotes from this very interesting man are:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National city Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902 - 1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested."
"Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."
Could you find a better candidate for the Number One position in my collectors series of Great Forgotten Misfits from the past? Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was a true american hero and misfit! He clearly showed that the neoliberal and conservative assertion that "democracy always follows in the fotstep of capitalism" is pure bullshit. Capitalism doesn't care the least about democracy or tyranny. It cares about profits. If the profits are made in a democracy or with the help of brutal military force doesn't matter. Let Major General Butler be remembered.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Some Cultural Input No. 3
Todays input is three groundbreaking albums. First the re-release of the classic first album by White Noise "An electric storm". It's hard to describe it, some of the songs are close to trip-hop, others are scary cinematic soundscapes and then you have some catchy weird electronic pop tunes upon that. The thing is that the album was recorded in 1968-69 and released by Island records in 1969. Way ahead of its time.
Second is the classic Talking Heads album "Remain in Light". It was produced by Brian Eno and had some great guest musicians like Adrian Belew. Listen to the futuristic funk groove in songs like "Crosseyed and Painless" and "Houses in Motion". It's impossible to be still and the music feels very modern and cool. This album was released in 1980 but it could've been released today and still feel like a modern and original album. It's easy to hear where the Rapture found their inspiration.
Third, Brian Enos "Before and After Science" from 1977. The German influence is clear. Some of the tracks were recorded in Conny Planks studio outside Cologne and both Roedelius and Moebius from Cluster participates on the track "By this river". The song "Backwater" sounds a lot like Bowies "Heroes" (Eno produced both Heroes and Low the same year). Otherwise the album is a weird mix of Can like Kraut-Funk (Jaki Liebezeit plays drums on a track), proto-new wave and beautiful pop and ambient tracks. When you take a close look at what Brian Eno has made through the years... it's incredible. His albums with Roxy Music, his solo albums and all his great collaborations with artists like Nico, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Devo, U2, Cluster, Harmonia and so on. He totally rules!!!
walking superorganisms
Read the fascinating article, People Are Human-Bacteria Hybrid, in Wired.
"More than 500 different species of bacteria exist in our bodies, making up more than 100 trillion cells. Because our bodies are made of only some several trillion human cells, we are somewhat outnumbered by the aliens."
I'm a walking superorganism! I have aliens in my body! Could it get any cooler than that?
anger management #3
Är det den mest patetiska kampanjen någonsin? Troligen.
Har aldrig träffat någon chef som tar ansvar för allt - deras paradgren brukar vara att lägga över ansvaret på personer längre ner i hierarkin. Det fixar jag också. Det var hans fel!!!
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