Goo - a scene from Dark Skies

Dark Skies may be my favorite television show of all time. It survived just 20 episodes, and is so obscure by now that there aren't even many clips on YouTube! I do have a bootleg of the series (Bryce: I'll buy numerous copies for gifts...if it ever actually comes out!

Here is a clip, in which Kim is abducted. . .


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Video: Bill Maher talks to Jeff Sharlet about The Family a/k/a The Christian Mafia

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for sending this on. I'd read about them before, and heard rumblings--but they actually seem far more nefarious than I'd been led to believe. Jeff Sharlet doesn't seem to be a nut at all--he's an editor at Harper's. This is not some wack job raving about Obama's birth certificate, his indoctrination at a Madrasah, or about which government agency bombed the WTC. This seems quite real. And spooky.



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On The Road again: roadburn

In about nine hours, we will be trying to get on the road, back to Seattle, and recover the roughly 750 miles we just traversed a week ago. Roadburn!

Obama brokers beer bash and breaks out the bombers

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Correspondent

President Barack Obama acted as the bartender on Thursday at a "beer summit" meet-up of the main figures in a highly charged case of racial politics. Obama hoped to turn the broil into a "positive lesson" in the national debate on race relations.

President Obama described the meet as a "friendly, thoughtful" conversation over beers at the White House with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and a cop, Sergeant James Crowley, who is white. Vice-President "Crazy" Joe Biden also showed up to throw back a few.

Earlier this month, Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct after a confrontation over Gates not identifying himself (someone called the police, believing Gates was an intruder). Words "were exchanged," and both parties seem to have lost their cool. This, naturally, sparked a media feeding frenzy as the 58 year old Gates, accused the policeman of racial profiling. Crowley denied this and accused Gates of overreacting.

Obama poured gasoline on the troubled waters by saying he thought police "acted stupidly" in arresting his acquaintance, Professor Gates.




According to sources in the White House, even after several beers, the atmosphere was tense. The President rolled a couple of joints and passed them around. When our source returned to the meeting, everyone at the table was laughing uproariously and demanding more beer.
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Poem: Highway 89 Haiku

Bugs and cooties stacked
Four layers deep on my grill:
This is sweet revenge.
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Random Photos From Montana, Wyoming, and Chico Hot Springs

a fishing shack? Or someone's cabin? I can't tell.


A very cool street sign in the mountains


The horses and ponies at Chico Hot Springs dining


The obligatory photo of a pissed off buffalo


The Boiling River

The Beartooth Mountains at dusk

Del and my niece Melanie prepare to tell the little kids

ghost stories accompanied by banjo and recorder

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In hot water: soaking in the Boiling River in Yellowstone

At Boiling River, at almost exactly the 45th parallel and straddling the borders of Wyoming and Montana, you can stand with one leg in the glacial Gardner River and the other in boiling (probably really about 130 degrees) water. This is probably the nicest hot springs I have ever soaked in. The Boiling River runs alongside the Gardner River, and down into rock pools where the hot water mixes with the icy river water. A series of soaking pools create a range of temperatures, from cool to extremely hot. The result is nature's own hot tub, with small pools carved water with a great view of the Gardner River canyon walls. We soaked here for two and a half hours after a hike.

Cousins Mackenzie, Del, and Melanie

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The truth about Grizzly Bears

"In light of the rising frequency of human/grizzly bear encounters, the Montana Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, backpackers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears.

"We advise outdoorsmen to wear noisy little bells on their clothing so that the bears are not startled unexpectedly by a human's presence. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear.

"It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear poop and grizzly bear poop. Black bear poop is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear poop smells like pepper and has little bells in it. "

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Two permanent barflies at the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar in Montana

click to enlarge

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Poem: The Entrepeneur

To launch your nefarious enterprise,
You don't need to see
A discounted cash flow analysis.

You only need to know
If the right people
Are in your pocket,

And, if not, then whom
Should be bought off,
Intimidated, or bumped off?
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Yellowstone, Montana July 28, 2009

Digital Art: The Regret

click to enlarge
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The stages of a bad project

Uncritical Acceptance
Wild Enthusiasm
Dejected Disillusionment
Total Confusion
Search for the Guilty
Punishment of the Innocent
Promotion of the Non-participants

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