New prose from Don Cole.

Thanks, Don.

A rascal with a torrent

I am starting to get paranoid over here. It's just too easy. Sure, I am one of the many turtles, millions indeed. Many turtles die young though. There are 61 songs on the new Tom Waits cd. Any time now he will come through my door with the devil wearing a mole hair vest. He will spit in my eye and slap me while the devil goes into my brains with his fingers. Then will come the lawyers. They will drag me in front of ole Judge Hawthorn with his old mahogany knot pipe and the pearl topped hat pin he uses to stir it. The judgement said they will pack my ears with potters clay, throw a mill stone around my neck, and whip along the sewer with my pork pie hat set afire.

Picking up my brain trash

Sunday morning I slimed out of my cab a burnt mess. The town had took me into her soiled crack and wiped me through to gape at the false dawn, stinking. "She is dead. You loved her, I loved her but she hung herself. Twenty-fore and she hung herself. I guess she didn't want a life anymore. We burnt her clothes because that's what we do." A man said that to his wife about their daughter in my cab. I didn't make much Saturday but I got that. Pure icy gold.

Top 40 April Fools' pranks.

Via Trendhunter.

Dean Kamen's robotic "Luke" arm.

You know of Kamen. He's the guy who invented the Segway and who invented some of the stents that keep Dick Cheney's black heart alive. (After living in Wyoming in the 80s when Cheney was a Congressman, I never knew Cheney had a heart, or I'd have imagined stakes instead). Here's the latest, probably for the uber-rich.

Presidential manuscripts (and others).

After digital, they'll never be the same. Pictured: A letter by John Brown, two weeks before he was hanged (BBC). Click for enlarged.

Home office, Fairbanks-style.

I was looking at sites with photos of posh home offices, so I thought I'd put up a picture of mine. I live in a ramshackle, old, sort-of-ex-motel (the Alaska Motor Inn) in downtown Fairbanks, AK. I don't have an Eames chair, but I do have a queen-sized bed and transformed liquor cabinet. Other things too. I kept the old, stained motel mirror for when I tell lies.

The mug that needs washing on the left bears a piece of Ray Troll's wonderful Alaskan-centric art. It bears a skull and crossed salmon and says, "Spawn Till You Die." All the critical software is organized in the zippered, water-proofed case under the Mac, on top of the Fairbanks/North Pole phone book with the outhouse on the cover.

Out of sight on your left is the real mess. And the modem's there just in case. Hey, it's Alaska.

Don't get excited. There's only 30 bucks in the wallet.

The mouse is the best one ever made: the Logitech Revolution.

58 Twitter applications.

Via lo-fi librarian.

Rogue application.

Why MacSweeper is a scam.

Another elegant Fairbanks rental.

This is the ceiling of a place currently for rent in the Fairbanks area. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. You can imagine what is called a "condo" in this town.

The smart way out.

Zbigniew Brzezinski's op-ed in today's Washington Post.

History of LSD.

Great take-off on Jack T. Chick.

Typography nazis.

Avoid typological faux pas.

The Consumerist's Flickr pool.

Somehow I always overlooked it until now. Entertaining stuff.

The most depressing watch ever.

Prepare to be sobered.

Aurora, Fairbanks, Alaska

It's that amazing.

$10,000 in two minutes.

First to go, two minutes.

Go Kim and Thurston.

Reminders of my misspent youth. Still one of my favorite bands.

Facebook: the stalker's playground.

Even Bill Gates recently cancelled his account. This might be a reason why.

Ready for Texas?

The new US hot spot.

GQ&A with Keith Richards.

In his office, with Ketel One.

Miss Bimbo.

A web site for girls - they can give virtual dolls breast implants and put them on crash diets. More fun than Barbie, I'll bet.

The etiquette of email replies.

John Gruber on quoted response.

Transgendered man to give birth.

July is the big month.

Dick Cheney's smart money.

Betting on economic collapse.

Tequila.

Thanks for this, Bill. From my boss.

The new Ars system guide.

One of the best guides for do-it-yourself computer enthusiasts.

The "Make Room for Serious Criminals" bill.

Another reason to like Barney Frank. Via Fake Steve.

We have it pretty good here in Alaska, though. And the laws encourage growing, not selling.

How big is your digital shadow?

For the first time, "all the digital information generated about the average person on a daily basis now surpasses the amount of digital information individuals actively create themselves." I think of Seth Finkelstein's remark: "The price of total personalization is total surveillance."

Veedon Fleece.

Just acquired a beautiful 320 kbps copy of it with two bonus tracks. Released in 1974, it is a work of genius, quintessence, long one of my favorites of all time. Easily Van Morrison's best album. Not a good introduction to his work, but if you "get" Van Morrison, this is the one for you.

Aurora Borealis as seen by the crew of the Space Shuttle.

Click for expanded view.

How to make your phone untappable.

Phil Zimmermann strikes again.

He is risen.

Couldn't help rereading the Reverend Eliot on these things.

News flash.

Poor people die earlier in the US than rich people, according to a new study. Who knew?

Probably not.

Why Hillary Clinton has no chance of winning.

Wishful thinking about the C block auctions?

From Wired via AP. Can we now look forward to proprietary versions of "Android," if the vaporware ever does appear? I'm skeptical about almost every aspect.

Update: I see the Android SDK is now available for download.

The Arctic Cam.

For those who don't know, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has this webcam, featuring updates of downtown Fairbanks. See how ugly and cold and utterly uninviting it looks? Good. Nothing to see here. Now please go home.

Aldona Jonaitis retires in November.

She's overseen the expansion of a jewel of the Interior, and her boyfriend's a dog musher. You have to wish her well.

I'm sure the spring full moon we see here must have provided her some inspiration -- of the right kind in Fairbanks, for a change.

Photo courtesy of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Taken 21 March 2008.

My kind of Craigslist ad.

Click for expanded view.

Deer hacks.

First the Twitter plant, and now Thor the blogger. Now this is progress.

Apple "ambush downloading" for XP iTunes users?

It may not be malware, but it sure seems like bad practice.

Serero Project.

Eiffel Tower redesign.

Shades of J. Edgar Hoover.

They're playing it down at the Department of State.

Twitter in the service of the Left.

Wired is reporting on this very practical use of Twitter by the US antiwar movement.

Another argument for depression.

Time to see a therapy group.

Five-year anniversary, Texas oil-style.

I'm firing up the Hummer now. Mission accomplished.

R.I.P., Arthur C. Clarke.

Waited until all the hubbub had died down about your death to post this. Just to remind people that you did other things besides write that 2001: A Space Odyssey thing. Like invent the satellite.

Your last message here, with all the humor, for all of us poor bastards still dying on Earth.

Thanks for all. Probably wouldn't be sending this from Alaska without you.

On a lighter note.

Alaska residents have another claim to fame. Those things should go well with muktuk or something, anything, just keep them out of my house. (AP Photo/Tony Talbot)

Clinton News Network.

Look at the responses. Maybe America's not falling for this crap anymore.

Best of West Fairbanks.

This just in from a friend (thanks, Craig!). Dumb motherfuckers on the loose. Should have stayed home and watched Fellini:

Location: Fairbanks Case number: 08-20337 Type: Robbery I, Theft II


Text: On 3/16/08 at 2117 hours AST in Fairbanks received a report of a robbery at a residence on Birch Lane in Fairbanks. Seven adults were at the residence when three male subjects wearing ski masks entered the home. Two male subjects were armed and demanded everyone up against a wall. The subjects instructed everyone to remove their clothing. The adult victims removed their clothing and all three subjects fled the scene with the clothing, an undisclosed amount of jewelry, wallets, and cash. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone having information involving this case is asked to contact the Alaska State Troopers at 451-5100.

Author: MMG0 Received Monday, March 17, 2008 12:17 PM and posted Monday, March 17, 2008 12:30 PM

Best Tech Writing 2007.

Ars link. He missed so many, I don't know where the year went.

Carr, even.

Sorry-ass review. It's still all about money and print.

Things to do with older Macs.

Dedicate it as a secondary machine. Wipe the drive, install Leopard (combo 10.5.2), strip down the software and turn it into a 24-hour mobile torrent media downloading streaming bedside server that syncs with your phone. Add a browser, Hotspot Shield, Transmission, Cabos, iTunes (if you want/can), VLC, and a software alarm clock with NetNewsWire, good to go. Morning notes, calendar, wake-up podcasts, video. I just need to move the coffee maker over here and get a little set of plug-in speakers. A good starter before moving on to the main machine and heading for the shower and out the door. I don't watch a lot of TV, but you could hook it up to that too, and play your stuff there.

Late-2005 iBook G4, 1.42 gHz PPC, 80 GB HD, maxed at 1.5 GB RAM. Can't use my Apple Remote with it, but you can do Front Row. Machine's been all over the place, a true network whore.

Sweet retro. Try it with Vista on a machine of this age. From wipe to final setup was two hours, but I loaded it up with video, too, and I'm a picky bastard.

More dipshit Mac users.

Macs are my computers of choice, but you have to wonder about the cult. Via John C. Welch.

My friend Wes.

Well, he makes these things out of moose antlers, stone-and-bone guy. My crappy cellcam, sorry. He won't move on from that, so I threatened to post images of his stuff.

Thanks for this nice evening, Wes.

More of the real coverage of Tibet.

Best of the media.

The Panopticon.

"Watch what you say."

The Sad Bicycles.

These are the sad bicycles, abandoned to the care of my landlord. As you can see, if you need a bike in these warming months, contact Ray at the Alaska Motor Inn. Or if you're really interested, contact me first.

Carharrts.

Often called by old-schoolers in Alaska (you better listen to them) "the Alaskan tuxedo," Carharrts are an article of choice for anyone who lives outdoors. I was disappointed by this article in the NYT, which seems only to mention the clothing in a lede about trust-fund East-coat sheep farmers.

My Carharrt coat has served for traction under a stuck cab at -45F, deflection against a knife, a respository for my devices, money, and other important stuff. It doesn't have dirt on it, it has _holes_. It's a part of my cab driving armor, along with a Buck, a Maglite, etc.

Seems like a better article would have been on Carharrts as ideal urban gear. Hip, too, but don't tell anyone. If I saw some punk on Fifth Avenue in this stuff, I'd terrify him in Alaskan style just for fun.

Where to look/buy. Highly recommended for work outdoors or any urban heavy work. Looks great with bling. Please add some ivory and think of the Northern people.

Iraq: Five Years Later.

Sensible and "balanced" IHT commentary on it.

Although I think this cartoon will really help sum it up for our historians.

The Big I.

The Big I(nternational) Bar had its first (I) St. Pat's celebration of the week last night. You can't tell it from their outdated site, but it's the closest Fairbanks has to an Irish pub (wish you guys would serve some food), and, while not a Boston bar, did a pretty good job of handling the raucous evening here, where drinking is a component of being.

A great Deco logo, too. Big I as in "eye," get it? Nice that it also looks like "bog" or "pig" at first sight. Be careful!

Hi to Lisa when she comes back.

Jenny Holzer LOLcats.

I came across these on my hard drives while doing another search and have no idea where they came from, but they're excellent (if probably fake). They deserve to be on every corporate motivational poster in the world. If someone could enlighten me so I could give credit, that would be great.

I don't know if this is real or fake either, but I'm following Jenny Holzer. Seems like an ideal medium.