Neil Young's best hair day ever

By Jack Brummet 

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The new WikiLeaks dump: a billion words generated by SoS Henry Kissinger (+ bonus cables on the Russians needing more Joni Mitchell, CSNY, Neil Young, Don McLean, James Taylor, and Bob Dylan)

By Jack Brummet, International Intrigue Ed.

WikiLeaks has just released the the "Kissinger Cables," a collection of over 1.7 million pieces of diplomatic communications.  One billion words generated from 1973-76, when Henry Kissinger served as our Cold War Secretary of State/ Détente during the slow spinning down of the Soviet Union.  There is so much material here that you can find almost anything— like, say, the Russian thirst for soft rock. 

This new release is five times the size of Cablegate, the original WikiLeaks dump published incrementally from 2010-2011. I billion words is roughly the size of 125 novels (averaging 80,000 word per novel). 

I've only read a few of the articles, but one of the more interesting threads in the release is the Russian thirst for American "soft rock:"  

Search for "Joni Mitchell," for example, "and you'll find communications between the U.S. embassy in Moscow and the State Department, asking for more Mitchell and Don McLean in Russian lives — and to a lesser extent Neil Young — because, well, that's the Russians wanted in January 1975." -(From TheAtlanticWire.com).

Images from cables in the release:

Somehow, The Eagles and Jackson Brown did not make the list, although this cable seems to hint that they would be perfect Rock Ambassadors. 

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Poem: The Green Knight

By Jack Brummet 

You walk the hall of broken mirrors
Upon the walls of which are hung
The skulls of those who walked before you.

Filtered grey light pools
On the floor in the distance.
A green knight walks toward you,

With a battle-axe in one hand
And a branch of holly in the other.
Bercilak de Hautdesert asks if you want to play a game.

He strops the axe on his green leather pants.
The Green Knight asks you to roshambo.
"You first," he says. "Take the first swing.”

You take the axe and swing. The helmet flies
Into the stone wall.
The head rolls down the hallway.

The Green Knight picks up the head
Which tells you to meet him

At the Green Chapel New Year's morning

So that he may deal his exchange blow.
The Green Knight's head chuckles
As his footsteps fade away.
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Favorite Vatican pornography titles

By Mona Goldwater, Adult Entertainment Ed.

TorrentFreak, using Scaneye's traffic data,  was recently able to take a look at Bittorrent files that were being downloaded by IP addresses   A lot of them were just regular movies and TV shows, but then, there was a lot of kinky stuff too (S&M, anyone?).

Fleshbot details some of those sexy and kinky videos here. 

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Coincidences? JFK & Abe Lincoln

By Jack Brummet, Presidents Ed.

I don't know if you remember this ancient (pre-meme) meme, but here it is, slightly updated...

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Blogging X-ray

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Drawing: Faces No. ??? (depends on when it is finished)/Work In Progress)

By Jack Brummet 

[Pencil and pen on 24x38" oval gesso'd masonite]

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Neil Young's biography, "Waging Heavy Peace"

By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.

I just finished Neil Young's autobiography.  Strange, idiosyncratic, amazingly heartfelt, prismatic, pained, hopeful, and passionate.   One thing that really struck me is how, despite everything he has accomplished, Buffalo Springfield (even as briefly as they lasted) was maybe the core music experience of his life, and an experience he wants to relive.  It always seemed like CSNY was a millstone around his neck (and God knows, they went through a lot of garbage) but he truly loves each one of those guys, and goes out of his way to show that.   I go back and forth on his book when I compare it to other rock autobios, but it is utterly fascinating, and not surprisingly, he breaks the mold.



 I like Buffalo Springfield too. But I'd rather Smell The Horse:




Or hear the fellas...

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Watercolor: Bluehead No. 17

By Jack Brummet 

Bluehead No. 17 [watercolor, pen, and pencil on some really bad, cheap paper]

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PPP's conspiracy theory poll results are in. Oh Lord.

By Mona Goldwater, Conspiracy Theory Ed.

Image from www.somecanadianskeptic.com 

Public Policy Polling recently released a stunning new poll on Conspiracy theories.  Below are some of the highlights of their findings.  To find even more detail, jump here to read the complete results.  This is pretty stunning. The next time you're in a crowd, or on a bus, think about these percentages.  Look around your office and realize that one out of ten of them believe the U.S. Government allowed 9/11 to happen, or that one out of seven of them believe that the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals.  As John Sebastian famously said at Woodstock, "this is a mind-f***er of all mindf***ers."

Whew.

From PPP:

Conspiracy Theory Poll Results

"On our national poll this week we took the opportunity to poll 20 widespread and/or infamous conspiracy theories.  Many of these theories are well known to the public, others perhaps to just the darker corners of the internet.  Here’s what we found:"

• 37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax, 51% do not. Republicans say global warming is a hoax by a 58-25 margin, Democrats disagree 11-77, and Independents are more split at  41-51. 61% of Romney voters believe global warming is a hoax
• 6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive
• 21% of voters say a UFO crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the US government covered it up. More Romney voters (27%) than Obama voters (16%) believe in a UFO coverup
• 28% of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order.  A plurality of Romney voters (38%) believe in the New World Order compared to 35% who don’t
• 28% of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks.  36% of Romney voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, 41% do not
• 20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, 51% do not
• 7% of voters think the moon landing was faked
• 13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters
• Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 72% of Democrats think Bush lied about WMDs, Independents agree 48-45, just 13% of Republicans think so
• 29% of voters believe aliens exist
• 14% of voters say the CIA was instrumental in creating the crack cocaine epidemic in America’s inner cities in the 1980’s
• 9% of voters think the government adds fluoride to our water supply for sinister reasons (not just dental health)
• 4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power
• 51% of voters say a larger conspiracy was at work in the JFK assassination, just 25% say Oswald acted alone
• 14% of voters believe in Bigfoot
• 15% of voters say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals (the so-called Tinfoil Hat crowd)
• 5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons
• 15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money
• Just 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966
• 11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen, 78% do not agree

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The staircase to nowhere

By Jack Brummet, Travel Ed.

A photo from FYVM. This scene reminds me of some of the remote airports I've been to in Turkey and India, where you board on the tarmac, the terminal is about the size of a double-wide, and your plane is the only one on the entire field. They make the Eugene airport look like LaGuardia.

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The gum wall in Seattle's Pike Place Market

By Jack Brummet 

No trip to Seattle's Pike Place Market is complete without a visit to the gum wall in Post Alley.

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