Ignorance . . .

. . . may or may not be evolutionarily adaptive, but it apparently seeks to propagate itself. Some California schools have banned dictionaries because they define "oral sex" (the definition reads, "oral stimulation of the genitals"). More at the UK Guardian.

Motion to Amend

Corporations have gone after our tax dollars, our jobs, our schools, our military, our voting machines, our infrastructure, our food, and our future. And

"[o]n January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government."

"Don’t just sit there and fume. . . . "

The Supreme Court's ruling was simply stunning on many levels. Regardless of whether it was correct, however, it is urgent that we get our brains around the issues involved and act quickly to prevent the final destruction of our democracy otherwise heralded by this decision.

Sign a petition, for starters, and learn what else you can do here. Wikipedia has a rough summary of some of the issues here.

Fluxus Films on YouTube

Here's Fluxfilm #1; see "Related Videos" on the YouTube page for more:



Ben sent me Fluxfilm #16 under the heading, "Why I like Yoko more than John."

UPDATE: The Fluxfilm #16 video has been removed by YouTube "for sexual content." Fortunately, you can see it here.

Caleb Larsen's "A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter"

Acrylic, custom electronics, programming, internet connection, online auction (2009). The object continually pings to check whether it's being auctioned on ebay. If not, the object creates an auction. All sales are subject to the condition that the purchaser must "send [the object] to the new owner. The new owner must then plug it into ethernet," so the process can begin again. You can see/join in the current auction here.

Per Larsen, the work is discussed in the catalogue for his 2009 exhibition, The Value of Nothing, which can be purchased or downloaded here. From Larsen via Make.

(So that's what the monolith in 2001 was.)

Nice GIF of Brezhnev's eyebrows

from lovegifs. (Thanks, Ben!)

Re- Donations for Haiti

Please consider making your donations to the International Red Cross rather than the American Red Cross. I personally came across numerous reports of problems with the ARC while researching the Katrina disaster, and I'm not the only one; see Common Dreams; see also here and here.

Capeless Crusader

Meanwhile . . . .

Trying to keep track of ongoing as well as more recent disasters, I found myself remembering these images, which some of you may have missed (click on the images for larger versions).

They were finally made available in 2005 after a series of F.O.I.A. requests and a lawsuit charging the Pentagon with failing to comply with the Act. When the Pentagon finally complied, the faces were blacked out (the Pentagon claimed it needed to "conceal identifiable personal information of military personnel involved in the homecoming ceremonies.")

The resulting images are eerily eloquent and complex, perhaps exemplifying what Matt McCormick has called "subconscious art."

More photos and info at the National Security Archive.