Idiotarod SOLD

Background:

The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. The IDIOTAROD is pretty much the same thing, except instead of dogs, it's people; instead of sleds, it's shopping carts; and instead of Alaska, it's New York City. The sixth annual event happens January 31, 2009.

"What's the route?
"That's up to you. We will give racers a starting line, some checkpoints and a finish line. You choose the fastest path. You will be held at each checkpoint for the facing of trials and challenges that will build your character as you journey toward victory.

"Are there rules?
"Yes, so many you almost can't count them on your fingers.

"Does my team have to bring its own shopping cart?
"Yes.

"Can we modify our shopping cart?
"Please do."

The Story:

Danger Zone has announced that it has SOLD control of Idiotarod to "a private waste management firm," Corporation X. Danger Zone intends to "retire from combat service and open a private grocery-store, transport-vehicle consulting racing consulting firm.

More on the sale here. More on the Idiotarod here.

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