Things I've Found by Mark Rose

by Mark Rose

Almost Like Kentucky: If Kentucky isn’t bad enough, there’s always my hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to kick around. Apparently they had to close down Interstate 81 because of . . .wait for it . . .flaming vegetables.

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/42783.htm [Dead link.]

Radio: By and large, radio sucks. If it’s not Morning Zoo wonka-wonka aren’t we goofy crap, it’s fat scumbags on sports radio trying to generate controversy where none exists, or screaming ratholes in talk radio whose only response to a contrary opinion is to yell at it loudly until it goes away. Yes, the medium is great; the content that’s on it is a steaming pile of poo. That’s why streaming audio feeds from selected radio stations around the country are so worthwhile. But they might be going away. New ASCAP rules may make Web station radiocasters pay so much money that they’ll go out of business thus shutting down access to the songs that were supposed to be making money because they were being played on the radio. Yeah, we never said copyright was logical. Anyway, before our country and the EU completely shits down the throat of the Internet, you NEED to listen to some good Internet streaming radio. My suggestions include:

KEXP — Seattle’s own independent radio station is the only station that will play Edith Piaf and Johnny Cash back to back. Yeah, they once had a bunch of political hoohah, they’re still the only real game in town. Click on the site and listen to them while you’re at work:

http://www.kexp.org/

WDVX — These guys broadcast out of a trailer in a trailer park in East Tennessee. Not kidding, check out the photos. Connection isn’t always the best but when it is, they play the best country, alt-country, folk music, whatever label you want, it’s real and it’s good.

http://www.wdvx.com/

Art: Dropping your digital camera in a puddle of water may be unfortunate, or it could start taking really brilliant photos.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/arts/story/85743/

Alcohol: From the Times Literary Supplement comes the news that not only is absinthe legal now in England and most of Europe after having been banned many years ago, it’s still one of the finest alcoholic drinks around. Of course, it’s still banned in this country. Absinthe is distilled partly from wormwood which can also be used as an insecticide. Bottoms up! But as author Phil Baker points out, insecticide has been in drinks before. “In 1950s America, the ‘Micky Slim’ cocktail was comprised of gin with a minute quantity of DDT. This was thought to give the drink an extra ‘kick,’ and give the drinker a jittery effect that some people found pleasant.” Uh . . .I-I-I cc-ccc-annn’t sss—s-top-p-pp-p-p thinkkkkkk-ng boubouboubout that.

Alcohol, Part Deux: All you need to know is the title of this article from Science News, no less: “Alcohol Can Be Good for Young Women“. Party at my house! http://www.cosmiverse.com/science03110201.html [And don’t worry about the link because the whole site has gone away. Goodbye, Cosmiverse!]

Sports: University of Northern Colorado Native American intramural basketball team is tired of the local mascot (Eaton Fightin’ Reds) so decides to name their team:

The Fightin’ Whities! They think that white people will take offense and realize what it means to be used as a mascot. The problem is, everyone, including myself, thinks the logo and the slogan (Every thang’s gonna be all white!) is pretty damn cool! Heck, I want a T-shirt. This is great. Get it through your heads, all you uber-politically correct people, most folks don’t think that hard about mascots. Most people don’t think any kind of mascot is racist or degrading at all. In fact, if you read all the user comments at the end of the article below, you’ll find that LOTS of people like being a mascot. http://www.greeleytrib.com/article.php?sid=7262 [I loved this story but never got the T-shirt. Of course, the link goes to a page not found, but it does mention the Greeley Tribune’s new slogan “If you live here, you get it!” That’s a pathetic slogan for a newspaper.]

Useful: Yeah, you don’t see that word in this e-mail zine much, do you? But this is cool. The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica is online. Best encyclopedia ever and lots more information in this than you can find in newer editions (though of course, you won’t find anything after 1911 but I didn’t have to tell you that, did I?). No search capabilities, yet.

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/

The World of Others: Hey, the world doesn’t revolve around me, after all. Well, that sucks. One of our unintentional subscribers (and they are legion) has created a Web site devoted to providing captions to newsfeed photos. It’s a service, dammit. Here’s the site: [Well, apparently the world should revolve around me, because this entire site was taken down. Don’t click on it or you’ll get one of those stupid do-you-wanna-download-some-crapass-piece-of-software-that-will-screw-up-your-computer-like-GAIN, yes or no?]