Mount Analogue

It's one thing to know that a book is an unfinished work. It's quite another to be in the middle of a sentence, with what seems to be a sizable chunk ahead, only to find that not ven this sentence has been completed. The remainder of the book turned out to be notes from Daumal on mountaineering and a postscript from his wife. The beginning of the book already had a lengthy essay discussing Daumal's influences.

Mount Analogue is an odd little book. Even though i've read some Gurdjieff, i'm still not well-versed enough in his brand of bullshit to catch what Daumal was doing. (Yep, i skipped that essay in beginning.) It came off as a literary fantasy to me, but not quite. An Amazon commenter mentioned that he read it as parody of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. It might be an allegory, but it's a relatively fun one.

The other thing is that while it was completely different in tone, it was reminding me ever so faintly of The Third Policeman. If you have read Daumal and know that i'm full of shit, consider this... Lost. I forgot who insisted that if one read The Third Policeman that one would have a better grasp as to what's going on with the television show lost, but i was getting the vague sensation that some of the same stuff was going on with Mount Analogue. The character Sogol's explanation on why the island, in the South Pacific no less, existed without discovery came off as something that might turn up in Season 4 of Lost.

There are more reasons, but i left the book at home and didn't take notes. Again... tt was a hell of a suckerpunch to be left hanging in the middle of that last sentence.

"100,000-year old knife discovered in Iran "

Make that "stone tool." Calling a stone tool evidence of a "civilization" seems a little... um.... hyperbolic.

Six Iranian archeologists in cooperation with nine Korean archeologists undertook a discovery project in the northern province of Iran around 10 days ago.

The archeologists could unearth a stone tool comparable to a knife made of stone. The experts estimated the stone knife must date back at least 100 thousand years.

According expert finding a knife in an archeological site is a sign of existence of a civilization in that area.

The archeologists are to continue the task till August 16 in the ancient cities of Roudbar, Roudsar and Siahkal, IRINN reported.

Teeth of Homo erectus have been found in that area of Iran before.

one million years old "human" footprints in Pakistan

This could turn out to be worth remembering:

Islamabad, July 28 : Pakistani archaeologists have found two over one million years old human footprints preserved on sandstone in the Margalla Hills, which surround the capital.

World-renowned archaeologist and historian Dr Ahmad Hassan Dani of the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations, Quaid-i-Azam University, made the discovery.

A footprint of one foot is in complete and well-preserved form, while another is broken from the finger side, which is also of the same size in comparative manner, the Dawn reports.

The notable marks of the feet are the clear veins and opposite folded appearance, the report adds.

According to Dr. Azad, further research of the footmarks using anthropological and geophysical methods, might give more clues.

The recent discovery is the continuity of the Indusian Research Cell's earlier research about human evolution, which previously revealed a fossilised upper jaw from the site of Dhudhumber, foot, and handprints from Attock and Palaeolithic cave from the Margalla Hills.

Pakistan is said to have abundant fossilised evidences of Pre-Cambrian to Holocene epochs, the earliest evidences of the anthropoid existence, the earliest cultural centre at Mehargarh (contemporary of Jericho and Jarmo) and most advanced civilisation of the world (Indus Valley).

According to Dr. Azad the formation of the Margalla Hills goes back to the Miocene epoch. The dominant limestone of the Margalla is also mixed with the sand stone.

Homo erectus? It would be interesting to see more evidence outside Africa. Edit: I always want more evidence. even though it's false, that creationist trope about all evidence for human evolution would fit inside a single coffin drives me nuts.

unwritten etiquette more important than constitutional law

Oh no! Specter dissed his White House homies whilst hitching a ride on Air Force One! Unspoken rules of decorum! It's unseemly to break those rules of etiquette!

Seriously.... what the fuck? Specter broke "points of decorum" with his mild criticism?

Gonzales gleefully and willfully perjured himself before a Senate committee earlier this week.

What a bunch of prissy, mealy-mouthed little shits these White House people are, both the Bush administration and the dipshit press corps that reported this story. Crimes are being committed, yet they are still getting in a snit about anyone upsetting their precious king of New Versailles.

Kala

Overview on the new M.I.A. album Kala on 17 dots. I reckon that i've heard a third of the tracks and still enjoy them, even though Damien has me feeling dirty over my fetish for her.

I've already chose to see LCD Soundsystem over her at ACL Fest in September, but i might have to see her after all with Voodoo Fest in New Orleans.... as if i really go see live music that much. There has been at least a dozen bands in the past two months playing in New Orleans and Baton Rouge that i've skipped out on. Not even pretending that i intend to see Marnie Stern at the Spanish Moon tonight.

Douglas Wolk mania

There's a Douglas Wolk interview over on the Phoenix. I don't think that i've gotten around to explaining just how much i loved reading Reading Comics. Or have i?

He also has a review of Death Note over on Salon, my favorite manga since Planetes... something else i ought to explain, but i have some video to process.... damn it.

Oh yeah... and his blog, Lacunae.

damnatio memoriae

Lucrezia Borgia's daddy was such an awful pope, that they destroyed art containing his image. Portions of a fresco might have survived though. Inquisitions are cool, but decadent philandering and indulgence means destroying art? Bastards!

spirals & Çatalhöyük migration

Only 5% of Çatalhöyük has been excavated? I had no idea it was so little. I like this research hoping to uncover human migration routes via the characteristic art motif of the settlement.

A prehistoric quarry that has been rediscovered in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The article mentions that damned 12,000 barrier, to my annoyance. Maybe they just meant 12,00 years at that particular location though... I have my fingers crossed that yet more evidence breaking that long broken barrier pops up at the site.

Interview with Elif Shafak in the Independent.

Honestly, i have yet to read any of her work. I beat myself up trying to track down The Bastard of Istanbul, but it's been sitting in the TBR stacks, unread, for months.

the obligatory "Can't Tell Me Nothing" video post

Why the hell hasn't anyone i've read yet has mentioned that Will Oldham is also in this video for Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing"?! It looks a little odd seeing him playing Flavor Flav to someone's Chuck D.

No, i'm not well-versed enough in hip-hop to come up with something more timely than a reference almost two decades old. Then again, no matter how much it amuses me this moment, this video ain't much more than another riff than something Weird Al already explored with that Amish Paradise bit.

Even though i have most of Oldham's albums, and probably qualify as a devoted fan in some respect, i missed this entirely. I didn't know who Zach Galifianakis was either until i looked him up just now. Now i get Oldham doing the stand-up comedian thing a bit better.

Also, didn't Oldham do some R. Kelly covers? .. oh yeah... Superwolf did "Ignition" and it was sort of awesome in a puzzling way.

still waiting for Borges

Damn it! Still no word on when the Bioy Casares biography of Borges makes it into English translation? All of this bitchy letter writing has me itching. The more i know about Borges the man, the more i think he's a bastard, but the Bioy Casares has me ready to explore new complexities of his character, when before, i was ready to divorce his work from his life entirely.

Pamuk's Other Colors

It's great news that the new Pamuk novel The Museum of Innocence is going to be in English translation soon, but Bill pointed out to me the other day that Pamuk has a collection of essays coming out this September, Other Colors. 400 pages is bulky. I feared it was just going to be a slight packaging of his recent work published in the New Yorker. I'm pre-ordering mine as well.

birthday of Aldous Huxley

Ach. The only books that i've read of his are Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, and The Doors of Perception. Just the other day, i resolved to read After Many Summers Dies a Swan, so i reckon i'll buy it today.

serating in bookstores

Yes, there definitely needs to be more seating in bookstores. I've worked in bookstores for over seven years. Decreasing the seating only encourages the regulars to hog the remaining seats. Seating was so sparse in the last bookstore that i worked in that we had several complaints a day about how there was nowhere to sit. We couldn't boot any of the regulars because it would have meant calling bullshit on the ones who were just using the bookstore as their personal clubhouse. the bastards even began forming alliances with each others on squatters' rights, to hold the chairs for the other ones while one of them left the store, or take chairs in shifts, which would have made more sense if these were homeless people. (They were not.) I loathed many of our regulars obviously. Once i had a complaint from one of them that someone had removed a bookmark he was using a book in a certain place that he had been hiding it.

These people are an inescapable burden though. Decreasing seating is not going to deter them, only the real customers, the ones who will resort to purchasing books online... like myself. I cannot even go into my old bookstore because all of the seats are taken by the same people day after day.

unknown disease in Java

Interesting. It's not bird flu. I don't mean to seem to be fanning flames about yet another hysteria about a global pandemic, but i'm curious about what this is.

Work has been monstrous this past week. It's difficult to explain what happened without getting into a bilious tirade. There's no depression or troubles. There has been little free time at the office and I just get sick of looking at the computer when i'm off from work, thus the lack of posting.

And yes, i still plan to get the old site back online soon.

White House Says Hill Can't Pursue Contempt Cases

My hopes were getting up with where Congress was going with the ignored subpoena of Harrient Miers. The pace seemed glacial, but it looked like a trap was being laid out carefully, with solid documented proof that the White House does not have a leg to stand on with all of its arrogant invocations of executive privilege. They were going to nail her and others for contempt. It was obvious.

Stupid, stupid me.

"A U.S. attorney would not be permitted to bring contempt charges or convene a grand jury in an executive privilege case."

The executive branch is now almost completely unchecked. This opinion will probably stand because if the matter goes to court, it probably go before the Supreme Court, and there, the question will already be decided.

This is causing severe depression. It's hard to be angry anymore, because once i let that emotion motivate me, I quickly become discouraged.

I sincerely doubt whether there will be a presidential election in 2008.

More here, but it's not cheering me up.

Visual Bookshelf

For the past few days, i've been wasting my time with an application on Facebook, the Visual Bookshelf. At first, i was intrigued as it was suggesting books that even Amazon doesn't seem to notice, possibly because it is drawing its recommendations from a different pool of users who are reading similar books. It was proving to be a nifty tool. I discovered a couple of new books.

However, sometime Monday, something snapped inside me when i saw a new feature called "Leader Board." On it were the top ten people with the highest count of books. Although there were about three people with normal taste in books, the rest were total whores listing, nothing but lowest common denominator crap. How many books i read is never really a competition, but my sense of propriety felt violated. Who the hell are these people who believe reading is nothing more than gulping down big corn syrup bottles of escapism? And why do i have to look at their sick bloated faces on my sidebar?

(It almost makes sense that bad taste in books goes had in hand with morbid obesity.)

After two days of struggling to bulk up my book count with the application crashing every few minutes, I admit defeat. I could add hundreds more before delving into books that i feel would pollute my generated recommendations, but i cannot compete with the mindless march of craptitude.

spreading "democracy," my foot....

So Afghanistan is going to fall, eh? And it's going to take Pakistan with it?

And obviously if Pakistan goes even more extremist, then India is screwed.

And all of this is in China and Russia's backyard.

It's the same domino theory as the hawks declared on Vietnam, only on the offensive. Instead of communism as the viral ideology, it's extreme religious fundamentalism, and it's spreads American hegemony through chaos rather than allegiance. It's evil, irresponsible, and probably the brainchild of Dick Cheney.

This has always been the neo-con plan, to keep create a scarcity of resources in the Middle East and Central Asia by eroding the political stability, as well as arming terrorists who can potentially make trouble for China and Russia. Obscene.

the Bili apes

The Guardian has a story on the Bili apes, the so-called lion-killing chimps, who have been popping up online for ages.

There's another horrible thunderstorm coming, or i'd be looking for the old stories that dismissed this population existing. The first i read of them, it was of those claims of them being chimp/gorilla hybrids, and was on the fringe science or pseudoscience sites

political gain & Vitter

So Jindal says regarding the Vitter nonsense:

“This is a matter for the senator to address, and it is our hope that this is not used by others for their own political gain.”

Really? You hope that, eh?

Jindal, you sanctimonious, deceitful little shit...

The Republican party used Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans for their own political gain. Jindal stood by twiddling his thumbs while Bush and Cheney let the city drown. People died for their inaction in their attempt to punish non-Republican voters., and shame the elected Democratic officials of Louisiana (who admittedly didn't do themselves any favors either.)

If the Democratic party does not take advantage of of the fact that Vitter cannot keep from cramming his penis into every hooker in between New Orleans and DC, then they have completely failed.

It's been bugging me a lot that some Democrats are saying that we have bigger issues to worry about, as if i don't know that. Their highminded arrogance has them unable to grasp that the reason why the White House is now in the position to ignore Congressional subpoenas is because, right or wrong, they fought every single battle that they could, because no matter how incompetent they are regarding foreign policy and other matters, they understood that every scrap of power they accumulated was going to pay off in shielding them later.

changing my mind about Countdown

I was wrong. The comic Countdown is essentially unreadable.

I knew that it was vastly inferior to 52, but the idea of a weekly comic that tied together other titles was still very appealing. I still firmly believe that great things can come from entertainment deliberately designed to be ephemeral, disposable. It might very well turn out that new, fun ideas might come from trying to undo the crap being churned out in Countdown, and in reading the bad stuff, i'll understand how awful things became.

No. Poor characterization, an incoherent storyline, and very weak attempts make reading this a chore. And yep... i'll still be reading it.

Vitter's fall is not just hubris

It's not so much fun to blog when one misses a day of work, only to find that if he would have been there in the first place, he'd still be slammed. Being on a computer is not too much fun right now, even if it feels like there's a lot to blog about...

...books, books, and more books. I'm reading some great stuff right now.

However, i want to note something about Vitter. Just because I want him to resign because he is a sanctimonious hypocrite, and hope that a Democrat is named as his replacement, diminishing the power of that weasel Lieberman doesn't mean that I think all of this is a happy accident, a fortuitous comeuppance.

Someone out there mentioned that Vitter voted against Bush's pet immigration bill. I now suspect that the DC Madam is just another pawn in the game, not a random wrinkle. There is a reason why no other lawmakers have turned up on her lists. Vitter is a good target to put the rest of the Republicans in DC back in line. He's not up for reelection until 2010. Jindal is still probably a shoe-in as governor, even with Vitter weighing him down. Louisiana is relatively forgiving about indiscretions, no matter how outrageous. Even if the rumor about Vitter having a diaper fetish turns out to be true, it probably would get shrugged off.

I'd wager Rove has blackmail material on most of DC. Rove and Abramoff are tight, and Vitter is an Abramoff man. Vitter's venality was revealed just to warn everyone else to toe the line when the White House demands it. The DC Madam would not have been able to reveal anything without her chain being loosed.

Yes, i'm full of paranoid theories.

more revelations on Vitter

Your Right Hand Thief is all over them, and the best one might be the rumors of Vitter having a diaper fetish. I find it hard to believe, but it's hilarious. After nothing comes of Scooter Libby being convicted of a federal crime, it gives me a nice chuckle to see a morally self-righteous local boy go down in flames.

It might seem like a minor scandal... and it is. However, if Vitter has to resign in shame, Blanco can name his replacement, and it probably will be a Democrat. If this highly unlikely scenario occurs, we could finally tell Joe Lieberman to go Cheney himself.

jury duty

Going to jury duty was a bit of a bust. We waited around for a couple of hours as the judge conducted some hearings in another courtroom, only to have him explain that most of them plead guilty, and a couple went into weird places that even he couldn't adequately explain in casual language, so our services were no longer required.

The only upside to it is that i got to spy on my fellow potential jurors, and had some quiet time to read The Book of Fantasy, compiled by Borges, Ocampo, and Bioy Casares, which is turning out to be most fun read that i've had in awhile, and i've been on a good streak in recent weeks.

Jindal sucks

The Right Hand Thief explains why. I never can properly articulate why i find him to be slimy. I need to memorize this, to point to specific actions, so i'm not left with this lame, vague, "He's creepy," explanation. Very few people seem to be aware of his claims that he has been in combat with a literal demon, which is always the first thing i can remember, but perhaps the weakest argument.

I'd comment more, but i gotta go to jury duty over in Amite... which i'm a little excited about... civic duty and all...

sin of solitude

Antidisingenuousmentarianism has a comment on the Orhan Pamuk bit on Turkish street food in the New Yorker.

The ad that Pamuk describes reminds me a little of the ad campaign by Hebrew National for kosher hot dogs right before July 4th. Those parachuting cows sound awesome.

(As someone who frequents New Orleans though, i must admit that i never ate a Lucky Dog.)

Damn it. I don't even know a place where i can pick up the New Yorker around here.

Somehow Pamuk turns a piece on simple junk food craving into a meditation on the curse of isolation. I love that lonely bastard.

Vitter has a long history with prostitutes

Lemme get it out of the way... i would support the legalization of prostitution if done properly. Although i've known a handful of people that did it for a quick dollar and the thrill of doing something taboo/illegal, most of the prostitutes that i've been aware of live very marginal lives, and don't need any more persecution than what life has already thrown their way.

But Vitter? Ha ha ha... That sanctimonious sack of shit has been caught with his pants down again.

Yeah, it's common knowledge that he solicits the services of hookers. Every time the rumor creeps up, he denies it as the work of his political enemies. He refuse to accept responsibility for his own actions, and continues to beat the drum on "morality" issues.

I just started reading this blog last week, and it has a good overview on his past. This Daily Kos thread has some links too, including one to a Salon story that also links him to a "secret alliance" with David Duke.

Bob Livingston went down during the Clinton era. Now Vitter gets caught (although now he's a senator... people have noted that certain media sources say this DC Madam incident happened before he was a senator, but neglect to mention that Vitter was in Congress.) I am eager for Jindal to get his comeuppance for his smarmy "morality."

the forgotten jazz landmarks of New Orleans

New Orleans never can do enough to secure its own heritage. Some great citizens are making heroic efforts to document sites relevant to the history of jazz. I hadn't even stopped to think that Jelly Roll Morton's house might still be standing. It is, and someone is hellbent on preserving it. For a city that makes tourism its primary industry, the amount of heritage that gets overlooked and neglected is insane.

quiet for a few days

Early last week was a heavy load at work, and when i was home, heavy thunderstorms kept me off the computer altogether. I got food poisoning on the 4th of July, and left me in a non-productive mood for days.

No, i still have not worked on getting the old blog back together.

obstruction of justice

I was fully expecting Bush to bail Libby out, but the detail about how a commutation saves Libby the right to use the Fifth Amendment. Essentially, Bush found a legal loophole to obstruct justice in the further investigation in the Plame leak.

I wrote to Conyers, head of the Judiciary Committee. I'm sick of this bullshit. If any time anyone actually is found guilty of anything in the Bush administration, he will commute their sentence or pardon them. I keep reading nonsense about Libby's devoted years as a civil servant being thrown away because of this one trial, and he is suffering unfairly. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. He is responsible for throwing away his own career when he lied to a federal prosecutor. Libby is not a victim here, but a criminal.

In my eyes, Scooter Libby is guilty of treason, and i would love to see him brought to trial when more evidence coms to light. I don't give a fuck about that lowlife's "repuation." He deserves a traitor's fate, as well does anyone else who would violate state secrets for petty political payback.

Bring on impeachment for both Bush and Cheney. This administration has demonstrated too many times that it considers itself above the law. They must be held accountable for their contempt for our government.

photo of new tomb at Qinshihuang funerary complex

Coincidentally, my brother just came back from a visit to China, and took a photo of of the hill containing this relatively "newly" discovered tomb. He has the whole set up on Flickr.

NYC considers permits for public photography

The story is a little more complicated than simple "public photography." The proposal states, "any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and insurance." The city quibbles, saying that it wouldn't really apply to amateurs or vacationers, but that's bullshit.

I'm making a broad generalization, but this could be considered unconstitutional. Even if it didn't apply to amateurs or tourists, it would severely restrict anyone who takes a photo in the circumstance of an event, oh for instance... taking a photo of a cop beating a protester. Yes, that's just one person taking a photo, but the law will be bent if it goes on the books.

It would be yet another law edging us slowly towards a totalitarian state.