Cooper and Sheila
Forgive me for taking the low road.
Sun Ra Meets Napoleon
Over the winter of 2004-2005, the Philadelphia-based Slought Foundation sponsored an exhibition titled “Sun Ra Meets Napoleon: Fragments of the Alter-Future”. In conjunction with the exhibition, a 1990 recording of Sun Ra in conversation with jazz critic Francis Davis was released.
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Exposure, Robert Fripp’s
marvelous 1979 release, features a number of spoken snippets from J.G. Bennett, my favorite of which is, “If you know you have an unpleasant nature and dislike people, this is no obstacle to work.”
Mihallablyit burtu’an | (Egyptian) orange pudding
Starts with:
3 cups orange juice
After which:
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Noodles
Overheard during the investigation of the burglary of Menkaure’s tomb
Guard 1: Pepi just can’t seem to keep his hands on the reins.
Guard 2: I’ll say. This never would’ve happened when Khufu was God-on-Earth.
Heaven | Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
I confess that I do not find ancient Egyptian beliefs about the soul and the afterlife to be utterly silly nor thoroughly repulsive. But then I know only slightly less than zero beyond all that jazz about preserving bodies. There was this business about the ka‘s reunion with the ba, and then there is the akh — have I got it so far, Cooper?
The spiritual dimensions of taxidermy.
I don’t think that is what Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians were singing about.
The Nebti Name of Pepi II
(nb.ty nTr xa.w | Netjerikhaw (The Two Ladies Divine Of Apparition) totally rocks.
Pepi II
The other boy-king of Egypt, though this one lived to rule 94 years and whose presumed dotage perhaps helped precipitate Egypt’s entrance into the First Intermediate Period, when central authority was very weak.
A Wack Video Game Trailer
One more for the road.
Geeks Cracking the Spy Trade
Palantir Technologies has changed the way the CIA and military intelligence access information:
Spy agencies like the CIA and military intelligence organizations have hundreds of databases each, most of which aren’t linked up. A single database might contain reports from field agents or lists of known terrorists or companies thought to be financing terrorism. To conduct an investigation, analysts have to query individual databases separately, then try to make sense of the data — frequently with pen and paper.
With many of the existing search tools, analysts also can’t access some files on terrorist suspects or other threats because a bit of data in the file is classified at a level higher than they are allowed to see. That is a problem, because making connections among new clues and existing data is a key to foiling terrorist plots. Among the missed opportunities cited by post-9/11 investigations were the failure to see that five of the 19 hijackers used the same phone number as ringleader Mohammad Atta to book their airline tickets, two used the same frequent-flier number, and five used two common addresses to make their reservations.
Palantir’s software plugs these gaps by using a “tagging” technique similar to that used by the search functions on most Web sites. Palantir tags, or categorizes, every bit of data separately, whether it be a first name, a last name or a phone number. That means if only one piece of data in a file is classified top-secret, an analyst with a lower level clearance can still see the rest of the data. It also allows analysts to quickly tag information themselves as it arrives in the form of field reports from spies overseas, and to see who else in the agency is doing similar research so they can share their findings.
Brilliant that somebody had the gusto and the drive to actually pull the proverbial trigger, but it amuses/disturbs me that the concept of “tagging” is cutting edge technology for United States intelligence agencies.
Y’all
Deron is in Hawaii and tomorrow I fly to California for a week, so don’t go making a mess of the place while we’re gone.
Pablo Picasso painting a bull
More here.
Desire
Sometimes I want to fly a plane so badly that it almost hurts. Like, I feel a physical sensation of longing so severe I don’t quite know what to do. I’ve never flown a plane before, and I don’t think I will be able to afford it for a few years, instead I immerse myself in Saint-Exupery or other media devoted to flying. What if that feeling isn’t what I expect it to be? I don’t see how it couldn’t be.
If you attain what it is that you desire, you must desire something else, it becomes difficult to enjoy what it is you hold in your hand. How does one break that?
Woman sees herself in a museum
And not metaphorically:
“I stood in front of this particular photograph for probably a full five minutes, not knowing why I was staring at it,” she says. “And then it really dawned on me that the girl in the picture was me.”
Why city living sucks.
I will never see something like this in Saint Louis.
Don’t Waste It–Work It In
They are the creations of Dan Phillips, 64, who has had an astonishingly varied life, working as an intelligence officer in the Army, a college dance instructor, an antiques dealer and a syndicated cryptogram puzzle maker. About 12 years ago, Mr. Phillips began his latest career: building low-income housing out of trash.
“I was in Hitler’s suicide bunker”
Rochus Misch, 92 years old, recalls the unraveling of the Third Reich. (via kottke)
Vonnegut explains drama
For example (via):
Niggarachi
That’s Snoop Dogg’s new name, just so you know.
quote out of context
Make the kids watch Glenn Beck afterward if it eases your anxiety. Have them genuflect before a poster of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. But don’t be so paranoid about what might happen if they’re briefly exposed to the sinister charms of a liberal president that you drag them down into your foxhole of craziness.
quote out of context
An entire party, the Democrats, whose primary constituency, besides the teachers’ unions, is homosexual men and lesbian women. I hope it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys. (Take a look at anyone renting Endless Summer next time you are at the video store.)
Don’t get me wrong. My very best friend is gay. I have many gay friends and they are great people.
More old folk shenanigans!
More action from my daily wanders in Bath.
dear clusterflock
Where, or what… is the sexual congress.
I’m Good. I’m Uhhhh Faster than a Bear.
As we head into Labor Day weekend, I think it’s best to review the hardhitting journalism used in this piece about our relationship to wild natural life near our homes.
Folks, stay safe and informed of all the permutations of wild and domestic creatures.
