On April 24, 2005, Heavy Trash volunteers deposited bright
orange viewing platforms in front of three Los Angeles gated
communities; Brentwood Circle, Park La Brea and Laughlin Park. The
purpose of these viewing platforms is to draw attention to the
phenomenon of gated communities — the fastest growing form of housing
in the United States. “There are now more than 1 million homes behind
such walls in the greater Los Angeles area alone,” according to Setha
Low, a professor at the City University of New York.

heavytrash

[this one was sent by our old friend DJStinkyMonkey. Welcome back, stink!]

Check out Modern Mechanix to laugh at old ads because people in the past were stupid.

Not like us, today.

Nowadays, the celebrity chasing a comeback has to let the crew film his
train
wreck
of a
life
while he’s still bottoming out. We can’t wait for you to clean up and go on Oprah, man, we’ve got things to do. We want you to break open your kid’s piggy bank on camera. Is that sterno? Tell him to drink it.

Is getting arrested even enough anymore? Poor Leif, looks like he’s going to have to raise the bar a bit if he wants us to love him again.

In the future, pitch meetings will be held while the crime is still in progress. “Jenna Elfman took hostages? Well, call back if she kills a few and maybe we can get something going. Rob Schneider popped two last week, so you’re going to have to do at least three if you want a series commitment.”

There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Someday we’ll figure out a way to communicate with these strange and beautiful creatures. Until then, all we can do is stare at the shadows they cast on the cave wall and hope researchers can fill in the blanks.

So I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me on the plane.

He was with some “institute” I’d never heard of, or maybe he founded it, and he was flying to DC to get some bureaucrat to give him money. Said he’d written a few books, and was finishing up a new one about how the government is going about the things wrong and how he has a better way to bring the 3rd world into the 21st century. Implications for the future of education, for the war on terror, for everybody. Going to an earthquake in our way of looking at the world.

Now, before you think too much of it, I’ve flown in and out of DC a couple of hundred times in the last decade, and this is less unusual than you might think. It’s a long flight across the country, and I almost always end up talking to the people in my row. I’ve sat next to people who claimed to be oil industry analysts, education lobbyists, a Christian rock band, and the guy who owns Colorforms. Usually, after a few minutes of conversation, it’s clear that that the “institute” is him and some letter head, his ideas are being ignored by the establishment because he’s delusional or stupid, and his books were “published” on his office laser printer.

Anyway, that’s just to say that when he claimed to have founded a bunch of institutes I wasn’t really all that impressed.

My usual m.o. for this is to get some details on the theory, press on why it’s not common knowledge, and ask how it applies to a few real situations. In almost every case, it’s pretty clear within ten minutes that it’s all smoke.

But it was only a few minutes before I realized that this guy was different. He held forth on broad swathes of philosophy and politics, and got right the few bits that I knew well. I presented the situation at my daughter’s school, and asked for a recommendation. He answered with surprisingly applicable tales of his experience setting up a school for girls in northern Egypt and convincing traditional cultures that the new world actually does have some good stuff for them.

Had a great chat, told him a few things he didn’t know, and even got to recommend a few books to him.

When I got around to asking his name, he said Lawrence Chickering.

Oh dear. Turns out I have heard of him. Based upon our conversation, I’m looking forward to the book.

Normally I wouldn’t post this sort of thing, but
The World’s Best Blonde Joke is just so darned clever I couldn’t resist.

At night, in the tavern, strangers from the countryside speak in low voices,
telling black tales of madness and confusion.

The skies have grown dark and your beasts, possessing their innate kowledge of the greater world hidden from us, bay and snarl.

Your dreams are filled with the sound of drumming.

Make ready.

The Traveller approaches.

Sprint Refuses To Reveal Location Of Cell Phone In Carjacked SUV

The car was stolen with a 10-month old baby inside.

“The deputies were told that Sprint had the location of the vehicle but that they could not disclose it to them because they needed to pay the $25 fee for a subpoena or fill out some forms,” said Stephanie.

Almost 2 hours later a passer-by spotted the SUV abandoned a mile away.

[...]

Riverside sheriff’s authorities were outraged that Sprint could have directed the deputies to the boy an hour earlier and did not.

Supervisors were told Sprint already has an emergency protocol that the employee in this situation did not follow.

Luckily, the kid was fine.

Real Pizza Delivery Stories

[Thanks, Fark]

The Hooters Calendar for 2006.

[Tnanks, bb]