- Evan Calder Williams, Combined and Uneven Apocalypse (pg 249)
Retcons.
People are mad that President Obama said a nice sentence about Margaret Thatcher? Like he was gonna get up and say, “On the topic of recent events… fuck that bitch,” and sit down? Okay, then.
no, but yknow it would have been nice if he was even remotely honest? like even a little bit? I mean, his revisionist bullshit over Thatcher was, truly, horrific and on the level of anything we would have (and did) rail against George W. Bush for. So yknow, Fuck that guy (Obama. That guy. Fuck him.)
Compare Obama’s statements about Thatcher to… say…. his comments on the death of Chavez, for example (which politically speaking amounted to “On the topic of recent events… fuck that guy”).
But really I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. I suppose I shouldn’t say Obama was dishonest because I really think his History is really that bankrupt in understanding. He really does believe those absolutely horrendous and ludicrous things about Thatcher since he is, indeed, the second coming of Reagan.
Let’s just take two portions of the dumbass shit he said:
- “The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty” about someone who called Nelson Mandella a terrorist, outright attacked (brutally) striking miners as a means of breaking their action, pushed for both Iraq wars, supported the Pinochet regime and safeguarded him from justice after he was ousted… the list goes on regarding her transgressions against freedom and liberty by AYONE’S stretch of the imagination.
- “she stands as an example to our daughters” about someone who called feminism “a poison”
So yeah, be mad about Obama The Hollow.
Emoticons/emojis created by overlyaing several text characters on top of eachother. These instructions are from 1976, and might have been around as early as 1972.
This technique was possible on the amazing 1970s PLATO computer, and probably never again after that? You could also move the text-chars around on a pixel level. Pictures/info from platopeople.com.
How were these things done? Well, on PLATO, you could press SHIFT-space to move your cursor back one space — and then if you typed another character, it would appear on top of the existing character. And if you wanted to get real fancy, you could use the MICRO and SUB and SUPER keys on a PLATO keyboard to move up and down one pixel or more — in effect providing a HUGE array of possible emoticon characters.
Ok, I finally know what Digital Humanities is </professional snark>
Judy Gumbo Albert on the cover of Berkeley Tribe (1970)
Judy was an original Yippie and is an all around badass. She has a really dope photo essay over at Thorne Dreyer’s Rag Blog:
“In 1970, during the American War, I visited what was then North Viet Nam. It was a Yippie trip. This year I returned to Viet Nam. What follows are some of my impressions.”
There are a few of these old state education department signs in Beacon. This on near the train station, and is dated 1935.
this is where I’m moving to, folks. Right here. That sign is my front door. Those trees? That’s the master bedroom. The river is the kitchen/living room. Landlord pays the heat and hot water. Pretty swanky.
Violating court order, Israeli occupiers forcibly remove Bab Al Shams village from Palestinian land | The Electronic Intifada »
Demonstrating the illusory nature of the rule of law in Israel when it comes to the rights of Palestinians, Israeli occupation forces on Sunday morning violently expelled dozens of Palestinians who had on Friday established a village they called Bab Al Shams on privately-owned Palestinian that has been seized for Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.
As Haaretz reported:
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Palestinian outpost, built in the geographically sensitive area known as E-1, could remain for six days while the issue of the removal of the tents was being discussed. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu ordered the evacuation immediately, however, despite the court’s ruling.
Netanyahu vowed that Israel’s plans to colonize the land would go ahead. [++]
“[The court] has made its decision, now let them enforce it!” - Asshole Jackson
