In Memoriam:
Long live The Ox.

Ear Plugs Saved Me
I enjoyed some extremely ugly music last night. I went to The Middle East in Boston to see the Melvins perform with opening act Isis. Whew, What a show. Isis opened it up with a very heavy three-guitar attack of sprawling doomful drone. Vocals (or more accurately guttural screams and shouts) were sprinkled minimally throughout the songs. Some heavy heavy guitar work was on display here. A virtual wall of sound that pummeled the senses. Beautiful stuff. And then as always the Melvins performed to their precise standards. The guitar work of King Buzzo was pitch perfect and the set list incorporated the most brilliant melding of some 6 different tunes into a nonstop blast of speed, power, and noise that occurred halfway through their performance. Simply sublime.

God is Dead
A federal Appeals Court has ruled that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools violates the Constitutional separation of church and state with the phrase: "One nation, under God, ..."
So what phrase would best be substituted in order to preserve the Pledge whilst maintaining Constitutional compliance? Graniterants asks the local youth and they respond!

"One nation, under Eminem. F*ck with him and you get capped...": Joe - 10th Grade, Dover High School

"One nation, under the Table & Dreaming. Dave Matthews is like, rilly, rilly awesome and stuff..": Summer - 11th Grade, Oyster River High School (Durham, NH)

"One nation, 2 fries and a Mountain Dew, Supersized": Wes - 10th Grade, Portsmouth High. New driver's license and out with his friends in mom's Minivan for the first time......

"One nation, under a huge fatty dood! Uhhuh Uh huh huh Uhhuh": Weeze - 11th Grade (suspended), Oyster River High School

"One nation, like that's so cool or something. I mean, everyone coming together and like being one and all. ": Trish - 9th Grade, Portsmouth High School

"One nation, under the covers, knockin da' boots wit da Bizzaches!": "Fubu" - (grade unknown)

"One nation, that sucks! This sucks! My parents suck! God, I hate everyone!": Dylan - 9th Grade, Marshwood High, South Berwick, ME

"One nation, uh, is this for extra credit?": Rob - 12th Grade, Dover High

And Today for Show-And-Tell, I brought my Mutant Ninja Turtles Semtex Belt!
In what appears to be a get together at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Ramallah (South), these Palestinian kids display their dramatic chops. Method actors in training, their costumes - fatigues, weapons, and fake blood add realism to their performance. Congratulations to their parents for staging such a show and ensuring that these kids realize their potential. The kids were happy once the performance was over. They couldn't wait to cut into the delicious, Al-Aqsa Ice Cream Cake.

Oil Slick

The Saudis are under their own terror alert. In fear of Western journalists roaming around their Kingdom.

The writing of James Lileks should be printed, framed, and pledged to by schoolchildren everywhere. Here he shreds to pieces the lunatic notions held by so many dim-witted college undergrads who lazily apply moral-equivalence out of fear of being labeled insensitive to some oppressed somebody out there.

James, fire away, and leave no one standing...

From the "What the F*ck was That?" Department

Imagine if the contents of your brain were dispensed by a 7Eleven Slurpee machine. Here is a glimpse into that world.

Wuthering Heights? Nope. It's "Quivering Tights"
Once in a while you get a great story from Salon.com. A writer describes his not-so-erotic exploits as a newbie script-writer for the porn film industry.

Dispatches from the Ministry of Prevention of Virtue and Promotion of Vice:

Flamboyant things afoot in the mountains of Afghanistan. It's Springtime for Osama.

Conspiracy Theory

Interesting and creepy similarity between the recently apprehended "Dirty Bomber" -Jose Padilla, (aka Abdullah al Mujahir) and the eyewitness descriptions of John Doe #2 during the Oklahoma City Bombing investigation of the mid-90's. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were known members of white supremacist, anti-government, and anti-Semitic circles. Obviously, al-Queda matches up well with 2 out of 3 of these persuasions. Go here to see the composite sketch of John Doe #2 compared with photo of Padilla. For a breakdown of the possible ties linking Padilla to McVeigh/Nichols as the John Doe #2, go here.

Hiking Update: The Tripyramids
Expedition Sellers & Morgan braved the tough 11 mile loop over the Tripyramids located in NH's beautiful Waterville Valley. The Tripyramids are known for their North Slide and South Slide approaches. Apparently, a fierce rainstorm back at the end of 1800's caused almost the entire side of North Tripyramid to avalanche - exposing the slab bedrock underneath. The pitch of the North Slide is quite steep and at times requires both hands and feet to ascend. Its hard to not get vertigo when looking down the slide after climbing the 1000' it takes to get to the top. For a view of the slide, go here and here. (Note: Keep in mind this photo shows almost the full 1000' drop perspective of the slide.

While the South Slide was steep when we descended South Tripyramid after an easy traverse of the Tripyramid ridge, it was not as daunting as the North Slide. The South Slide is made up of loose scree, gravel, and various sized boulders. After reaching the bottom of the South Slide, we ambled back while going on Autopilot - a zone known to hikers whereby the brain is switched off and the legs move nonstop until the sanctuary of your car in the parking lot at the trailhead is reached.

North & Middle Tripyramid were #25 and #26 in my effort to climb all 48 of NH's peaks of 4000' or higher. For Vicki, it was #11 and #12. A good hike, challenging, unique, and completely rewarding.

Tidbits Going Into the Weekend....

Here's a website for all Euroweenie youths who want to have their own superheroes. Note: Going against tradition of course, Captain Euro defies wearing the usual underwear-over-the-tights garb we tend to expect from superheroes - instead opting for the wonkish look we would expect to see adorn pointy-headed EU Technocrats.

Here's also an interesting map depicting where the fallout would drift after an India/Pakistan nuclear exchange.

Crispy Puffs of Corn, available in Jihad flavor....
I love crispy snack foods made from corn, rice, wheat, whatever. Be they in puffs, wedges, chips, rings, stix, spirals, doodles, wafers, nuggets, etc. But after finding out how these snacks are made, I may have just lost my craving for the MSG infused delectables.

UPDATE:Yep, I now hate snack foods. They even come in Yasser Arafat flavor.....