Art, meet the Department of Homeland Security
A sticker on a bicycle that said “this bike is a pipe bomb” caused a scare Thursday at Ohio University that shut down four buildings before authorities learned the message was the name of a punk rock band, a university spokesman said.
Design on a Dime
Just nitpicking today, nothing to see here.
I was looking for a friends business website yesterday and was pretty upset to see it was all done in flash, including the navigation (don’t get me started on the annoying background music; what, you don’t want people to use your site at work?). You know the kind of sites I’m talking about, where you cant actually reference a particular page because the URL stays static. Read more
Quote of the week?
Cheney has not commented personally on the shooting or acknowledged any error. Mary Matalin, a Cheney adviser, has said that Cheney “felt badly” about the incident, but she added that “he was not careless or incautious” and did not violate any hunting rules. “He didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to do,” Matalin said.
Right. Except for that whole shooting your hunting partner in the chest thing.
link
Under God the people rule
Normally it would be HUGE news that the House in South Dakota had passed a sweeping ban on abortions in state. However the news is sure to be lost in the shadow of legislation SD lawmakers passed last week which is screeching to the forefront of the national stage, protecting YOUR right to ride a horse while drunk.
Just so we’re all on the same page, this abortion legislation ignores the widely accepted provision of abortion for the sake of a woman’s health. So if you were prego while visiting Mount Rushmore and a crazy drunken cowboy hit you with his trusty steed, rupturing your placenta causing hemorrhaging on par with the Missouri River during the spring melt, you would die. Sucks to be you prego lady, God must be punishing you for being a whore. The cowboy however, being protected in his God given right to operate a horse while intoxicated will be allowed to ride off into the sunset to get gay with all the other cowboys; and win an Oscar for his performance.
Welcome to Midterm election season America!
Rolling the streets up early
For the last two years residents of Worcester have been hearing the City Administration talk of a transformation to an 18 hour city. For those of us Worcesterites fortunate enough to have spent time in and enjoyed other cities across the country and around the world, this has been music to our ears. Finally our home was going to wake early and stay open late! Thus building commerce, attracting new residents with fresh ideas and outlooks and attracting new commerce as well. We will be showing public support for a burgeoning industry, which will serve as a backbone for future local growth. We are all thinking about music, the arts, and retail operations leaving the malls to come back to street level spaces, long since abandoned. We envision a city that stays alive long after the sun goes down, with a rebirth in locally owned and operated business that are lucrative. We talk about the cultural community moving to the forefront of our cities vision, making room for immigrants, craftspeople, musicians, and artists to gain equal footing in forming public policy, instead of being a novelty most people only hear about and never experience. And now we may see ourselves taking a giant step backwards.
On Thursday January 19th at 10:00 am the City of Worcester License Commission will be meeting in the City Council chambers to discuss potential changes and amendments to Worcester licensing structure. All holders of entertainment licenses in the City of Worcester have received letters informing them of potential changes which could affect their ability to stay in business. This notice stems from issues with business and it is likely that their entertainment licenses will be amended with a Cinderella clause forcing them to end all entertainment, requiring a license, at midnight. This amendment has received a green light from the city legal department and sets the ground work for a lasting precedent. As someone who enjoys and takes advantage of everything my city can offer in terms of nightlife, and as a committed resident of Worcester, I’m asking everyone who reads this to come to that meeting with me. Before you ask why I would like you to attend, think for a minute about all the times you considered our seemingly arcane view of alcohol sales. How many legitimate and interesting venues have had to fight tooth and nail, only to be rejected or put off for long periods of time? Remember is was our commission that thought residents of Worcester were not responsible enough to have a glass of wine while taking in a movie at the now defunct Bijou. Reflect on the last time you were in another city, saw an outdoor concert and then thought ‘but Worcester would never have that’. Try and think of all the things you want Worcester to be, and then think about the reasons why it isn’t any of those things. The answer is simple; we allow our city to be guided by puritans and narrow vision while we continue driving down to Providence to watch a silly river burn. I don’t doubt for a minute that the Worcester License Commission is made up of three very intelligent, well meaning individuals. But, if only the cranks come out to their meetings, write letters, and leverage their representatives’ power, how can we ever expect them to fully understand Worcester’s potential for attracting a well educated, creative population with money to burn?
Shrewsbury St
When I think of my friends and acquaintances in Worcester many of them are in some way contributing to our cultural development, be it through the production of music, as artists, journalists, promoters and consumers of these local offerings. I’m talking to all of you now. The city of Worcester is exploring a potential change in your way life; many in the administration have no idea you exist and many of you are doing nothing but squawking it up on bar stools and on the Internet about how you wish things were and how they could be. Here’s a rare opportunity to flex that collective muscle and let the city know you exist, what it is that you love about Worcester and how you want to build on what we have now, not start dismantling our collective progress. Your city isn’t going to change itself but it may very well change without you.
Sirius is where it’s at.
I ended up with two Sirius satellite radios in my possession for Christmas, I had bought one for the lady who always seems to show up in my bed and my parents managed to show off a little hipness in their old age by purchasing one for me. Life is complete. If you don’t yet have access to satellite, I feel obligated to tell you just how amazing Sirius programming really is; wicked amazing for my Worcester brethren. Now I’m more than comfortable admitting my decision to go with Sirius over XM was Stern, but after looking over the channel list I can see me calling Charter Cable by the end of the week to cut back on the crap they seem content pumping into my house (that’s assuming they don’t call first looking for the money I owe them for the last two months). Most of what I ‘watch’ on cable these days is CNN, CSPAN, FOX News and a little bit of local programming just to keep in touch with where Julie Tremmel has manged to cart her camera off to today. But with the exception of the local programming, Sirius has me covered. TV has for the most part become background noise while I’m in the house finding other ways to avoid finishing my kitchen, and I like it that way. Theres a strange potential for satellite radio providers to really muscle in on the cable providers for just that reason. The introduction of terrestrial radio into the American home had an odd effect on the family unit, drawing them closer together. Television on the other hand seems to have had the exact opposite effect. You could be in a room with 30 people and with the exception of that one jerk who has to ask stupid questions about everything that happens on the tube in real time, you can’t interact with others much with two pretty important senses being at the mercy of the magic picture box. Radio is so different, having CNN on Sirius, an actual conversation can take place without feeling that you’re missing anything. I don’t need to SEE Anderson Cooper or Lou Dobbs and Congress doesn’t get any more exciting if I’m looking at them. Never mind the spectacular music and comedy programming, they’re better heard than watched with the obvious exceptions of Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Gallagher. My point is that I can see myself getting more done and spending more time with my family by peeling my eyes away from the television and still being able to avoid the sense of anxiety I’m subject to if there is even a remote possibility of missing real time coverage of a panda being born, penguin being stolen or yet another middle class white woman going missing. I never had a real radio experience from a social perspective; outside of the car TV has been king since I’ve wandered the earth. I’m not so naive to thing that American Idol is going to go out of business, I don’t think the average American would be able to handle that cut in sensory input. And the technology wont be well understood by the average consumer until it’s installed in their car for them as a standard feature, which is underway but hasn’t reached any sort of meaningful saturation point. But once the hardware becomes more accessible I can see the potential for a sort of retro-revolution in American media. If content is going to be King, then it needs to come the way I want it. Between Sirius and Netflix I feel just a little bit more in control without feeling I’m missing out on something. But enough about my moment of media Zen. Tissue time with Heidi Cortez is about to start.
12 Schekles a month well spent from where i sit.
Things are getting interesting for our Mayor
Last night Mayor Murray kicked off his bid for Lt Governor at Mechanics Hall. At the same time Gov. Mitt Romney announced he will not be seeking reelection, presumably to focus on a presidential bid. This almost assures that current Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey will seek the Republican nomination for Governor, making Mayor Murray’s race an open field.
It’s going to be an interesting year to say the least
getting all polytechnic
I just returned from a forum at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on of all things, lock picking. I’ve had a weird fascination with lock picking since i first discovered the MIT guide to picking locks on the interweb back in the mid ninety’s. But tonight was something different, although there was a show and tell of sorts with actual locks being picked, much of the might was an open discussion between the 100 or so people there about physical security and what it represents in a civilized society. As well as some input from a member of the school administration as to why they were originally reluctant to allow the presentation to go on. Pretty cool night. And here I thought the ideals of the old 2600 community were long lost. Ted the Tool would be proud
Who says nothing cool happens in the Big Woo.
Jacob Berendes T-Shirts back in stock
Jacob Berendes has his ‘Worcester - Paris of the 80’s’ and ‘Turtle Boy’ shirts back in stock for the very fair price of $12 American Dollars. He was kind enough to drop mine off at my house in person. When has Jeff Bezos offered that kind of service?
The Curtain Society - Every Corner of the Room
I don’t think the Curtain Society has released an album during my lifetime. So for all you last minute Christmas shoppers this could be the Halley’s Comet of gift giving.
