Canadian MP calls U.S. 'idiots'
"The last one was a really stupid thing to say," she told Reuters. "Bastards is an inappropriate word. Idiots is a term people use in everyday conversation," she told Reuters."

naked molerat corn dog game

That old sense of acorn as promordial food, preceding agriculture or even hunting, just lying around (Gilbert White--"Man in his true state of nature, seems to be subsisted by spontaneous vegetation") reinforced by the pigs legendary fondness, floats all across these OED examples--especially liked "the Hogges bothe male and female haue lykynge to ete Akernes."

2. a. The fruit or seed of the oak-tree; an oval nut growing in a shallow woody cup or cupule.

c1000 Ælfric Gloss. in Wright Voc. 33 & 80 Glans, æcern. Ibid. 284 Glandix, æceren. c1350 Will. Palerne 1811 Hawes, hepus & hakernes, & þe hasel-notes. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls. Ser.) I. 195 (The Athenians) tauŠte+ete acharns [Caxton acornes]. Ibid. II. 345 Toforehonde þey lyued by acres (= cum ante glandibus sustentarentur). 1388 Inv. of Goods of Sir S. Burley in Prom. Parv. 6 Deux pairs des pater nosters de aumbre blanc, l'un countrefait de Atchernes, l'autre rounde. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. (1495) ix. xix. 357 Nouembre is paynted as a chorle betyng okes and fedynge his swyne with maste and hockornes. Ibid. xvii. cxxxiv. 690 The hoke beeryth fruyte whyche hyghte Ackerne. Ibid. xviii. lxxxvii. 837 Hogges bothe male and female haue lykynge to ete Akernes. c1440 Prom. Parv. 361 Ocorn or acorn [1499 occarne, or akorne] frute of an oke. Ibid. 6 Accorne or archarde, frute of the oke. a1500 Nominale in Wright Voc. 228 Hec glans a nacorun. 1500 Ortus Voc. Accharne, okecorne. 1509 Fisher Wks. 234 (1876) He coude not haue his fyll of pesen and oke cornes. 1523 Fitzherbert Surv. xxix. 51 Ye must gather many akehornes. 1547 Salesbury Dict. Eng. & Welsh, Mesen An oke corne. 1549 Compl. Scotl. xvii. 144 (1872) Acquorns, vyild berreis, green frutis, rutis & eirbis. 1551 Turner Herbal. iii. 109 (1568) The oke whose fruite we call an Acorn, or an Eykorn, that is the corn or fruit of an Eyke. 1552 Huloet, Woode bearynge maste or okehornes, Glandaria sylua. 1565 Jewel Repl. to M. Harding 302 (1611) They fed of Akecornes, and dranke water. 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. 145 (1870) To eate ackornes with swyne, when we may freely eate wheate bread emonges men. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 74b, To assuage theire hongre at euen with the Akecornes of Okes. 1580 Tusser Husbandry 28 For feare of a mischiefe keep acorns from kine. 1580 North Plutarch (1595) 236 The Arcadians+were in olde time called eaters of akornes. 1586 B[eard] La Primaudaye's Fr. Acad. II. 117 (1594) The hogge, who with his snowte alwayes towardes the earth, feedeth upon the akornes that are underneath the Oakes. 1594 Plat Jewell-house iii. 13 You may feed Turkies with brused acrons. 1597 Bacon Ess. 256 (1862) Satis quercus, Acornes were good till bread was found, etc. 1611 Heywood Gold. Age i. i. 11 He hath taught his people-to skorne Akehornes with their heeles. 1611 Cotgr., Couppelettes de gland, Akorne cups. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. II. ii. iii. (1772) 96 Green boughs of trees with fat'ning acrones lade. 1627 May Lucan vi. (1631) 481 That famed Oake fruitfull in Akehornes. 1632 Sanderson 12 Serm. 471 Vnder the Oakes we grouze vp the Akecorns. 1640 Brome Sparagus Gard. 113 Leekes, and Akornes here Are food for Critickes. 1649 Lovelace Grasshopper 34 Thou dost retire To thy Carv'd Acron-bed to lye. 1651 Hobbes Leviathan iv. xlvi. 368 They fed on Akorns, and drank Water. 1664 Evelyn Sylva 15 (1679) Any Oak, provided it were a bearing Tree, and had Acorns upon it. 1674 Grew Anat. Plants i. i. (1682) 3 Oak-Kernels, which we call Acorns. Ibid. iv. ii. iv. 186 An Akern, is the Nut of an Oak. a1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 27 Some oaks do grow and bear acrons under the sea. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 81 The Acorn of the Cork is astringent. c1821 Keats Fancy 248 Acorns ripe down-pattering While the autumn breezes spring. 1859 Coleman Woodl. Heaths & Hedges 7 The young trees usually first produce acorns when about fifteen to eighteen years old.
 

Altercation dead on here, particularly about "The Note", which seems to exist in a little world of its own lately--

"One of the too many reasons American politics is too idiotic for words is the refusal of journalists to think, even for a second, about the absurdity of the crap they are asked to pass along to their readers. This is the modus operandi of even the most elite of the mainstream media. 'We are not judging the credibility of Kerry or the (Swift Boat) Veterans, we just print the facts," Washington Post Executive Editor explains. Take a look at what the smart guys at "The Note" credit this morning as Bush's "best" line to the New York Times:

Five twenty-sevens--I think these ought to be outlawed. I think they should have been outlawed a year ago. We have billionaires writing checks, large checks, to influence the outcome of the election.

This is his best line? Does anyone want to bother to point out that it is completely nonsensical and hypocritical, given that the signature on the bottom of the piece of paper that put the current campaign finance law into operation reads "George W. Bush?" If they "should have been outlawed," they why in heaven's name didn't Bush refuse to sign the law? Isn't he calling himself a hypocrite? And if the president thinks that Kerry is telling the truth about his service in Vietnam, then why is he unwilling to criticize the Swift Boat liars who, on behalf of George Bush's election efforts, are insisting that he isn't. Perhaps the Swift Liars wouldn't care if Bush told them to stop, but it sure would go a ways to reducing the effectiveness of a slander that Bush himself says he thinks is false. And this is supposed to be the candidate with "character," I remind you. What good is a media that cannot draw even these elementary conclusions? And this is his "best" line. God help us."

Leviathan by Mastodon, a heavy metal album based on "Moby Dick", and about time too. 

Re-rack

"In mid-18th-century London, Dr Johnson, who had nothing to be ashamed of as far as literary output goes, is to be found lacerating himself for his sluggardly habits. 'O Lord, enable me ... in redeeming the time I have spent in Sloth,' he wrote in his journals at the age of 29. Twenty years later, things haven't improved, and he resolves 'to rise early. Not later than six if I can.' The following year, having failed to rise at six, he adapts his resolution: 'I purpose to rise at eight because though I shall not yet rise early it will be much earlier than I now rise, for I often lye till two.' " 

nice tribute to the late great J.T. Walsh 

Gwen Raverat Archive 

Hydriotaphia (Urn-Burial)

"What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions, are not beyond all conjecture. What time the persons of these ossuaries entered the famous nations of the dead, and slept with princes and counsellors, might admit a wide solution. But who were the proprietaries of these bones, or what bodies these ashes made up, were a question above antiquarism; not to be resolved by man, nor easily perhaps by spirits, except we consult the provincial guardians, or tutelary observators. Had they made as good provision for their names, as they have done for their relicks, they had not so grossly erred in the art of perpetuation. But to subsist in bones, and be but pyramidally extant, is a fallacy in duration. Vain ashes which in the oblivion of names, persons, times, and sexes, have found unto themselves a fruitless continuation, and only arise unto late posterity, as emblems of mortal vanities, antidotes against pride, vain-glory, and madding vices. Pagan vain-glories which thought the world might last for ever, had encouragement for ambition; and, finding no atropos unto the immortality of their names, were never dampt with the necessity of oblivion. Even old ambitions had the advantage of ours, in the attempts of their vain-glories, who acting early, and before the probable meridian of time, have by this time found great accomplishment of their designs, whereby the ancient heroes have already outlasted their monuments and mechanical preservations. But in this latter scene of time, we cannot expect such mummies unto our memories, when ambition may fear the prophecy of Elias, and Charles the Fifth can never hope to live within two Methuselahs of Hector. " 

interview with Ed Ruscha

"It's information age art. I'm not a seafaring guy. My reason for doing that is to capture the idea of the thing rather than the thing itself. Lately I've painted pictures of mountains. Some people like to think that I set up a canvas outside in front of a mountain and paint that picture to try to capture that particular mountain. I am trying to capture the idea of the idea of the idea of the mountain." 

Bang the Olympian

"In Nufer's latest book, Negativeland, the constraint is much simpler: Every sentence contains a negative--the narrator, Chick, "can't say yes." An Olympic swimmer turned spa promoter, Chick lives in a Baudrillardian state of giddy nihilism, making idiotic statements like "He was simply because he was, we weren't because he was, and we weren't because we weren't." Convinced that "illusion . . . embraces all," Chick has a pathologically overblown sense of his own fame. When he visits old friends, he hands out souvenirs--fake medals, earplugs, bathing caps. For publicity stints, he sits in a swimsuit, on a plank, atop a tank of dirty water, while folks step up and "Bang the Olympian.""  

"Foodie" by Derek Root, at the bigish Monte Clark Gallery site 

interesting English take on The Simpsons

"The Simpsons defend themselves with love for each other because this is the only defence. Homer, the greatest comic creation of our time, understands this. "I understand, honey," he says to Lisa. "I used to believe in things when I was a kid."

Not to believe in things is the only response to a world that is inevitably, irredeemably and pervasively corrupt. Homer is the boomer who lost his faith, even in rock'n'roll, though rock still, like so many things in his wonderful life, provides a kind of backhanded consolation. In one episode, he tells Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins: "You know, my kids think you're the greatest. And, thanks to your gloomy music, they've finally stopped dreaming of a future I can't possibly provide." "
 

a little play about The Death of David Hume which happened on this day in 1776--

BOSWELL
[ Reading ] On Sunday forenoon, the 7th of July 1776, being too late for Church, I went to see Mr David Hume, who was returned from London and Bath, just a dying. I found him alone, in a reclining posture in his drawing-room. He was lean, ghastly, and quite of an earthy appearance. He was drest in a suit of grey cloth with white metal buttons, and a kind of scratch wig. He was quite different from the plump figure which he used to present. He had before him Dr Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetorick. He seemed to be placid and even cheerful. He said he was just approaching to his end. I think those were his words. I know not how I contrived to get the subject of Immortality introduced. [ Pause ]. And, if I may be so bold as to ask, Mr Hume, Do you retain all of your opinions concerning Religion?

HUME
I have never entertained any belief in Religion, Mr Boswell, since I began to read Locke and Clarke.

BOSWELL
You were religious when you were young, then?

HUME
Oh, yes, yes, I was. I used to read The Whole Duty of Man. [ Cheerfully ]. I made an abstract from the Catalogue of Vices - at the end of it, you know - and I examined myself by this. Of course, I left out Murder and Theft and such other vices as I had no chance of committing having no inclination to commit them. `Twas strange work - to try if, notwithstanding my excelling my school-fellows, I had no pride or vanity. [ Pause; more seriously ]. The morality of every religion is bad, Mr Boswell. They all make up new species of crime and bring unhappiness in their train. When I hear a man is religious, I conclude he is a rascal [ pause ] though I know some instances of very good men being religious.

BOSWELL
But is it not possible that there may be a future state, where we shall all account for our sins?

HUME
`Tis possible that a piece of coal, put upon the fire, will not burn, but to suppose so is not at all reasonable. It is a most unreasonable fancy that we should exist forever. If it were at all, immortality must be general; the infant who dies before being possessed of reason; the half-wit; the Porter drunk with gin by ten o'clock - all must be preserved and new Universes must be created to contain such vast numbers.  

Resurgence of the Canoe Nations--fine photo essay by Elaine Briere  

War Pigs, In Dreams, It's Not Unusual, Human Behaviour etc. from Kelly Mark 

(pictured not the Swedish but a French tree)

Scandinavia's oldest pear tree falls

"As they looked out the window, they saw their beloved tree had fallen. Strong winds had been blowing in the area in the past few days, Eivor Svantesson said. The trunk had rotted from the inside, she said.


"It feels very empty now," she said. She has lived in the house since 1959. "As a child, I played and hid in that tree, and my children and their children have as well. This whole area was known for that tree." "
 

the tiny-yet-jumbo Core Sample catalogue featuring Matthew Stadler, Lawrence Rinder, Lynn Tillman, Cecilia Dougherty and many more including me writing about art in Portland, now available from Clear Cut press... 

Last night, watching the behind-the-scenes doc on the excellent new "Osterman Weekend" dvd, a still of Sam Peckinpah on set intently reading "Cities of the Red Night"--what a movie that would have been! 

North Vancouver painter Arnold Shives

(thanks Chris)

Miles Davis and John Lennon shooting hoops---Jonas Mekas

"When you go through what I went through, the wars, occupations, genocides, forced labor camps, displaced person camps, and lying in a looming potato field - I'll never forget the whiteness of the blossoms - my face down to earth, after jumping out the window, while German soldiers held my father against the wall, gun in his back - then you don't understand human beings anymore. I have never understood them since then, and I just film, record everything, with no judgment, what I see. Not exactly "everything", only the brief moments that I feel like filming. And what are those moments, what makes me choose those moments? I don't know..." 

Happy Birthday Keith Moon! 

Informed Comment

"Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans have particular presence in the Midwest, including in swing states like Michigan and Ohio (these two plus Pennsylvania and Florida all have more than 100,000 Arab-Americans. Since many Arab-Americans are Christians, they aren't exactly an overlap with Muslim-Americans). They do not ordinarily swing an election, however, because they were about evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. But when the Iraqi Shiites start demonstrating against the Bush administration, it is a sign that they may well vote for Kerry. A large number of Muslim-Americans is deeply upset by the fighting in Najaf, and by what they see as Bush administration trampling of their civil rights.

In a very close race, the Muslim Americans and Arab Americans in the above states could be a decisive constituency. There are about 300,000 Arab Americans in southeast Michigan, a state with a population of 11 million. All the signs are that they are migrating toward Kerry and Nader in large numbers. In 2000, many of those who voted Republican were afraid that with Joe Lieberman on the ticket, a Gore administration would be very hard on the Palestinians. But what I'm hearing from the community is that they are so upset with Bush that they will vote Democrat this year."

Canadian piano ace Angela Hewitt on Glenn Gould

"One point that Bazzana makes in his chapter on "Gould the Prodigy" was of particular interest to me. I always knew that we were total opposites in nature, which is why our Bach interpretations are so different. Gould hated vivid colours (he once threw a tantrum when given a red fire engine as a present), preferring "battleship gray and midnight blue". Red to him meant violence. His first headache came after going to see Walt Disney's "Fantasia", which he hated for its "riot of colour". Sunshine, physical exercise, emotional openness, Italian opera, and more were out. His fondness for the Canadian north and for living by night comes as no surprise. It was all there from the beginning. "

Doctor Who - Photonovels - The Abominable Snowmen

"Accompanied by an electronic burbling noise, the yeti split up and head for different parts of the monastery." 

Cigarettes, Gary Cooper and Me
"As with most of his films, "Bright Leaves," Mr. McElwee's latest trip below the Mason-Dixon line, is about a number of interrelated topics -- most straightforwardly, the tobacco industry in North Carolina and the travails of smoking addiction. The film is set in motion when Mr. McElwee learns of the existence of a 1950 Hollywood melodrama called "Bright Leaf," starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal, about a rivalry between two tobacco growers in post-Civil War North Carolina. At the suggestion of a cousin, Mr. McElwee becomes convinced that the character played by Cooper is based on his great-grandfather, John Harvey McElwee, a North Carolina tobacco tycoon who was ruined and run out of the business by his nemesis, James Buchanan Duke (whose legacy would encompass both the American Tobacco Company and Duke University.)"