MUSIC

Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz. [Daniel] New full-length release announced for October 12th.

http://www.asthmatickitty.com/news.php?newsID=615

Just an announcement, I won’t spend much time on this and just suggest we review it upon release.

The Cure, Disintegration (Rerelease) [Daniel]

Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket is releasing a solo album titled All Birds Say

Portico Quartet: Isla

Jenny & Johnny [Jenny Lewis & Jonathan Rice] – I’m Having Fun Now

SONNY & THE SUNSETS Tomorrow is Alright

The Weepies: Be My Thrill

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NEWS WATCH

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FILM/TV

Aw Hell!: 20 Famous/Infamous Cinematic Satans http://is.gd/eDoLk

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BOOKS/LIT SEGMENT

Woody Allen’s Without Feathers (?)

Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House http://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-House-Gene-Wolfe/dp/076532458X/ [Daniel]

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New York Times Bestseller Seth Godin to No Longer Publish Books Traditionally http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/new_york_times_bestseller_seth_godin_to_no_longer_publish_books_traditionally_171395.asp

Godin says that it’s no longer worth it for him to have his books printed. I’ve read a few new stories related to the traditional publishing industry becoming more and more afraid of what eBooks represent; see below. [Daniel]

[Related story] A thriller-genre writer on The Changing Face of Publishing http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/08/changing-face-of-publishing.html

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TECH

How the Internet has changed the nature of computer programming and technical education. [Daniel]
Lately I’ve been learning Python, Ruby, and JQuery, and it’s easier than ever to do.
MIT OpenCourseWork
Google Code University
A Byte of Python

Net Neutrality: 7 Worst Case Scenarios

http://mashable.com/2010/08/27/net-neutrality-worst-case/

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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Clean People Feel Morally Superior http://is.gd/eKoOA

How panhandlers use free credit cards http://is.gd/eKpaL

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POLITICS/ECONOMICS/GOVERNMENT

The “Ground Zero Mosque”, or “The Islamic Cultural Center 2 Blocks Away”?
Shall we discuss this? Remember: What the debate, or it’s coverage says about us culturally, or what affect will it have on our culture?

The two sides represent two views of America. The ‘right’ tends to be against the mosque because of their view that it makes America seem weak, and defeated. The ‘left’ tends to support the mosque since they view it as a sign of reconciliation, humility, and a willingness to embrace the “peaceful” side of Islam. Of course, in the end, the leftists aren’t as peaceful as they let on, but I digress….

9/11 as Taboo
Conservatives often remind us not to forget 9/11. However, in my experience conservatives – while using the phrase “Nine-Eleven” as a blunt instrument – aren’t up for any serious discussing regard the events of 9/11. They don’t want to talk about it, and neither does anyone else. Why? While our country debates the “Ground Zero Mosque” first responders from 9/11 are dying from illnesses directly related to their work at ground zero, and our government has done NOTHING to help them pay their mounting medical expenses
Related: Fire At Tennessee Mosque Construction Site Now Under Federal Arson Investigation http://is.gd/eKpTN

Philly requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/philly-requiring-bloggers-to-pay-300-for-a-business-license-101264664.html#ixzz0xSMRMm6I

That story is making a lot of waves among local bloggers. I’m about 1/2 hr. S of Philadelphia. [Daniel]

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News Blitz
1. Movie studios are extending their efforts to take down sites that offer pirated material, with a new lawsuit targeting an advertising company that provides services to such sites.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/studios-sue-ad-shop-for-pirate-sites.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss&comments=1#comments-bar

2. PR firm settles with FTC over alleged App Store astroturfing
Public relations agency Reverb communications, hired by iPhone game developers to promote their App Store offerings, has reached a settlement with the FTC over accusations that company employees posted positive reviews for the games the company was hired to promote. The FTC levied charges against Reverb for violating rules that require the sellers of products and those posting information about the products online to disclose any connection they might have.
3. Microsoft cofounder drops patent bomb on Apple, Google, Facebook
Paul Allen, entrepreneur and cofounder of Microsoft, has filed a lawsuit against 11 companies for infringements on his Web search patents. Announced on Friday afternoon, the suit names Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, and Microsoft partner Yahoo as defendants for violating four Interval Licensing LLC patents, though the court will likely have to weigh whether the patents in question are “obvious” or not.
4. Mexico says it is planning to tighten the noose around big-ticket cash purchases to curtail the flow of smuggled dollars and fight money laundering. Mexico to Ban Payment in Cash.
5. Beck, Palin tell thousands to ‘restore America’. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck on Saturday drew a sea of activists to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where he championed a religious brand of patriotism and called on the nation to recommit itself to traditional values he said were hallmarks of its exceptional past. “Something that is beyond man is happening,” Beck said. “America today begins to turn back to God.”
6. Thanks to a judge in California, who forced Cal State to release the contract for a Sarah Palin speech, we now know what she’ll demand if you want her to speak at YOUR event.
For starters:
* $75,000
* First-Class airfare
* “Deluxe” hotel accommodations
* Chauffeur to and from event with SUV (or, in pinch, black Town Car)
* Wooden lectern
* Two bottled waters
* Bendy straws (for the waters)
7. Statin drugs may soon be given to fast food customers with meals. A new study out of Imperial College London suggests that fast food chains start giving out free statin drugs to customers in order to help balance out the negative effects of the junk food on their bodies. The scientists who worked on the study actually say that taking a statin drug with a fast food meal undoes most of the damage otherwise caused by eating it.
8. WISE LATINA: Sotomayor Says Court May Rule to Limit First Amendment in Response to Wikileaks. On Thursday, talking to students at the University of Denver, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Wikileaks case will result in the Court likely weighing the First Amendment against national security.
9. Some evangelicals on defensive over partnering with Glenn Beck, a Mormon. A handful of prominent evangelical activists are defending their decision to attend television host Glenn Beck’s conservative rally in Washington this weekend after some Christians complained that evangelicals shouldn’t be partnering with Beck because of his Mormon faith.
10 Internet Fail: Blockbuster Reportedly Plans Bankruptcy. Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes and a team of restructuring consultants reportedly met with all the major Hollywood studios last week to tell them about a plan to file bankruptcy before interest payments come due on nearly $1 billion in secured debt at the end of next month.
11. Facebook is trying to trademark ‘face’ : Facebook, which has gone after sites with the word “book” in their names, is also trying to trademark the word “face,” according to court documents.

MUSIC

1) Spirits of the Red City http://is.gd/ey59S
2) Sufjan Stevens: All Delighted People EP http://is.gd/ey5ea

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NEWS WATCH

In U.S., Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Remains a Rarity http://ow.ly/1qNOQa
Adam: I think Americans are in denial regarding how much they trust TV and Newspapers. I also don’t believe that they understand that most of the news they find online, on radio, or on TV comes from old print news syndication.

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FILM/TV

Cemetary Junction http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196204/

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TECH

Webcam-Spying Pennsylvania High School Avoids Federal Charges.
Really? http://ow.ly/1qNOOG

Facebook Places.

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“NEWS LIGHTNING ROUND”
1. Illinois Town Wants To Outlaw Eye-Rolling – The Consumerist http://ow.ly/1qNOOM
2 AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch Muslim group was fined 2,500 euros ($3,200) for publishing a cartoon which suggested the Holocaust was exaggerated by Jews. The Muslim group was attempting to reveal hypocrisy in the court system following the printing of a cartoon depicting Mohammad. http://is.gd/epwHh
3. Declassified Senate Investigation Files Reveal Israeli Lobby Paid Off U.S. Journalists To Sell Israeli Foreign Policy in US News. http://is.gd/ersMs
4. In further police state news: TSA digs through woman’s purse and flips out over a deposit slip and seven checks totalling $8,000 .  http://is.gd/euISY
5. Indiana University has released a years worth of studies of the Coen Brother’s cult classic “The Big Lebowski”. Titled The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies it includes these papers: “The Really Big Sleep: Jeffrey Lebowski as the Second Coming of Rip Van Winkle” to “Logjammin’ and Gutterballs: Masculinities in The Big Lebowski”. http://is.gd/euJzV
6. Swedish rape warrant for Wikileaks’ Assange cancelled. Sweden has cancelled an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on accusations of rape and molestation.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority website said the chief prosecutor had come to the decision that Mr Assange was not suspected of rape but did not give any further explanation.
7. A new website called Tifakes let’s you know how many fake twitter accounts follow you: http://twifakes.heroku.com/
8. Tomorrow (August 22nd)YouTube will dedicate it’s homepage to the homeless by post “videos that smash stereotypes about America’s most forgotten citizens” on their homepage.
9. As a follow up to the Google/Verizon Net Neutrality discussion, Read Write Web has posted an article titled 15 Facts about Net Neutrality. http://is.gd/euKHo
10. Harvard Finds Scientist Guilty of Misconduct. Harvard University said Friday that it had found a prominent researcher, Marc Hauser, “solely responsible” for eight instances of scientific misconduct in relation to his studies which lead to his book: Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong. http://is.gd/euL7B

“Those were the words of Erica Goldson, from her valedictorian speech at Coxsackie-Athens High School, in Coxsackie NY. Erica, you gave a very provocative, and controversial speech at your graduation ceremony in June. Since then, the video of your speech has gone viral online – particularly among those who, like you, question the value of compulsory, government run, public education…”

We had a great conversation with Erica. Here are some of the questions we asked her:

When and why did you begin questioning the public education system you grew up in?

Were you raised in a situation that prompted that sort of critical thought?

What are your feelings about your peers? Are the views you’ve expressed popular among any other high school or college age young people you know?

How has this thinking affected your views regarding American politics?

Where do you stand on our political situation in general – you’ve grown up in the post 9/11 era – with the war on terror, the rise of the police state – etc?

How far does your critical evaluation of our political situation go? Do you often question the government and politicians?

You quoted John Taylor Gatto, author of “The Underground History of American Education.” Do you agree with Mr. Gatto’s assessment that American education was hijacked by the elite in order to produce a well trained and ordered working class?

So everyone wants to know how your speech was received by the administration of your school. We’re they surprised? How did they respond?

Have you received much attention from the media – popular or unpopular media?

You’ve gained popularity among libertarians, but are they assuming to much?

So, if you had your way, what would change about public education? Would it cease to exist? Or would you modify it? What are the major changes you would make?

What are your plans for the future? What are you studying in college?

MUSIC

* Filter = The Trouble With Angels
* NOFX = Longest Ep
* The Todies = Feeler / The Todies were a Grunge band out of fortworth Textas who had went commercial with an album titled Rubberneck in 96/97. They went back into the studio in 98 to record a new ablum that was eventually rejected by their label. And apparently “Feeler” is that album.
* James Blackshaw = All Is Falling / Interesting mix of folk, classical music, minimalism, and experimentalism.
* Mike Posner = 31 Minutes to Takeoff
* Roscoe = Dash Ready Set Go”

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FILM/TV

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BOOKS/LIT SEGMENT

Do old books qualify, e.g. C.S. Lewis’ adage that for every new book read, you should also read an old one? [DNS]

(for Joffre: Larry McMurtry did Books: A Memoir)

Brett McCracken of Hipster Christianity had a piece in the Wall Street Journal. The Perils of Hipster Christianity and Why Evangelicals Reject Churches That Try To Be Cool.

“There are various ways that churches attempt to be cool. For some, it means trying to seem more culturally savvy. The pastor quotes Stephen Colbert or references Lady Gaga during his sermon, or a church sponsors a screening of the R-rated “No Country For Old Men.” For others, the emphasis is on looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover, with skinny jeans and an $80 haircut, or by insisting on trendy eco-friendly paper and helvetica-only fonts on all printed materials. Then there is the option of holding a worship service in a bar or nightclub (as is the case for L.A.’s Mosaic church, whose downtown location meets at a nightspot called Club Mayan). “

The most interesting thing to me here is the bar/tavern worship service thing. What think you?
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Joffre has a new blog. About manly stuff. http://www.joffrethegiant.blogspot.com. What the dilly-yo?

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TECH

BankSimple: “How We’re Building a Better Bank: Negotiating Privacy & Utility”: http://www.banksimple.net/blog/2010/08/11/negotiating-privacy-and-utility/

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Follow up on Google and Verizon. It turns out that Google and Verizon have proposed new net neutrality rules to the FCC. For the most part the proposal defends net neutrality but it leaves loop holes in place, particularly for wireless providers. Google has come under pressure for “selling out”.
- Related: 5 Red Flags in Google/Verizon’s Net Neutrality Proposal:
Why is wireless out?
What Does “Lawful Internet Content” Mean?
What Will Be The Costs?

http://features.techworld.com/networking/3235109/5-red-flags-about-the-google-net-neutrality-plan/?cmpid=sbredditrplant

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“NEWS LIGHTNING ROUND”

——1. 40 US billionaires pledge half of wealth to charity. And by charity they mean their own lawless tax exempt foundations http://bit.ly/dczqZI
——2. Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee’s book “Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things” claims there are 6 million compulsive hoarders in the US.
——3. A new history of German shows how it came to be, and how it could have been http://www.economist.com/node/16740435?story_id=16740435&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe
——4.Fury in China as female babies grow breasts after drinking milk laced with hormones http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1301515/Female-babies-China-grow-breasts-drinking-milk-laced-hormones.html#ixzz0wbTHWcw4
——5. F.D.A. Approves 5-Day Emergency Contraceptive: WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials on Friday approved a new type of morning-after contraceptive that works longer than the current leading drug on the market. The pill Ella from HRA Pharma reduces the chance of pregnancy up to five days after sex. Plan B, the most widely used emergency contraceptive pill, begins losing its ability to prevent pregnancy within three days of sex.
——6. Juicy Fruit has a little widget with which one may send one of the three gayest songs in history (Boyz II Men, Michael Bolton, Culture Club) to a friend. http://www.serenadingunicorn.com/
——7. A New Superbacteria, Immune To Most Antibiotics, Found Spreading Fast – NDM-1 (or New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) is a gene mutation that arms many common and harmful bacteria like E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae with a resistance that can even withstand carbapenems, the antibiotics used as a last resort when more common drugs have no effect.
——8. Snookie Denied Trademark On Her Name (?) Seriously? http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:limelife358:8e4bf9a434d98c4162dc707822386380/Snooki-Denied-Trademark-On-Her-Name
——9. WikiLeaks says it won’t be threatened by Pentagon (AP) – WikiLeaks will publish its remaining 15,000 Afghan war documents within a month, despite warnings from the U.S. government, the organization’s founder said Saturday.
——10.

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POLITICS/ECONOMICS/GOVERNMENT

IP Gone Wild: NaturalNews is reporting Susan G. Komen For the Cure and the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s LIVESTRONG initiative are two of the most widely known nonprofit organizations publicly fighting cancer. But a recent Wall Street Journal article explains that these two groups, and others, are aggressively defending their brand identities from infringement by suing other nonprofit organizations. According to the report, Susan G. Komen has taken legal action against numerous nonprofits for using the phrase “for a cure” in their names or for using the color pink, two hallmarks of Komen’s brand. And the Lance Armstrong Foundation went after a foundation called “HEADstrong” for bolding the word “strong” and for using a gold color in its logo similar to the yellow used in “LIVESTRONG”. But many of the groups being charged with infringement say they had no idea that their brands were similar those of these major groups. Others contend that colors and simple, common phrases like “for the cure” cannot be owned by a single nonprofit.

Show notes:

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MUSIC SEGMENT

Adam:  Arcade Fire: The Suburbs, AutoLux: Transit Transit, Wavves: King of the Beach. (With audio clips)

Adam: Quick review of Grooveshark. I’ve used it for the first time this week.

Joffre: How was that Josh Ritter concert?

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FILM & TV

Adam & Daniel:  Sherlock. Sherlock is a British series produced by BBC wales. It is a contemporary update of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes

Adam: Rubicon. It’s usually hard to tell from a pilot whether or not a show will work. The premise of this show gives me hope. Rubicon airs on television network. “The series centers around an intelligence analyst at a national think tank who discovers that he may be working with members of a secret society that manipulates world events on a grand scale.” [See Wikipedia]

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TECH

Adam: Google and Verizon. What happened?
“…the New York Times, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and other news outlets [reported] that Google and Verizon are close to an agreement that could have major repercussions for how information travels over the Internet.”
Google’s response: “The NYT is quite simply wrong. We have not had any conversations with Verizon about paying for carriage of Google or YouTube traffic. We remain as committed as we always have been to an open Internet.” http://goo.gl/FEZ7

Adam: Check-In On Foursquare Without Taking Your Phone Out Of Your Pocket – http://goo.gl/hRsV – This new app makes it even easier to check-in to foursquare. My interest in this story has to do with the use of social mobile apps. I have a feeling that these sort of apps (Social mobile networking) will change society in some important ways, and we’re just beginning to see the import.

Adam & Daniel: Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web. According to a post on TechCrunch “[Gates] believes that no matter how you came about your knowledge, you should get credit for it. Whether it’s an MIT degree or if you got everything you know from lectures on the web, there needs to be a way to highlight that.” Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA Gate’s said, “Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world…”

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POLITICS/ECONOMICS/GOVERNMENT

Daniel Stoddart: Freedom of photography: Police, security often clamp down despite public right http://goo.gl/MCB8
Should Videotaping the Police Really Be a Crime? http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2008566,00.html#ixzz0vpcvIgtR

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POP-CULTURE

Adam: The 19 Most Regrettable Pop Culture Tattoos (PHOTOS)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/27/the-most-regrettable-pop_n_656069.html

Album Releases:

Sun Kil Moon’s Admiral Fell Promises

Menomena’s Mines

Sting (Symphonicities)

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Inception

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Anne Rice ‘Quit Being A Christian’ http://goo.gl/meMU

Rice declared on her Facebook account that she is “an outsider” in the Christian community. Most of the headlines and columns I read regarding this news made it sound as though she had completely renounced belief in Christ. Deliberate misrepresentation?

Anne Rice: “In the name of Christ I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life.”

Technically, she says she still “follows” Christ, but refuses to be involved with Christians.

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CNN and Keene vs The Internet http://goo.gl/hE6w

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Wikileaks: Let’s talk about it’s cultural import. http://goo.gl/v2MP

Related: Lt. Col. Peters (A Fox News analyst) said: “I would execute leakers” nice little audio clip. http://goo.gl/caf0

The Five Biggest Revelations of The Wikileaks Documents http://goo.gl/a1j2

1 – Pakistani Intelligence Possibly Aiding Taliban. This is old news for anyone paying attention to the history of the Pakistani ISI. In fact, on 9/11 vice president Biden, a congressman at the time, was meeting with the head of the ISI to discuss this very issue – their support of Al-Qaeda. The ISI has been funneling US money to terrorist groups, and Islamic regimes for at least 12-13 years. Some prominent investigative journalists have argued that the CIA has encouraged there support of Al-Qaeda.

2 – Drones Less Effective Than Claimed. To put it in 80’s parlence: Duh!!

3 – 30 Years Later, Taliban Still Have Stingers. Yeah, but they don’t work. The stingers we gave the Mujahedeen had a shelf life – on purpose. This is old news.

4 – U.S. and Afghan Officials Covering Up Civilian Deaths. This is the most important “revelation” of the leak. Thought it’s hardly a revelation. “at least 144 separate incidents” of civilian casualties “and subsequent cover-ups.”

5 – Bin Laden Match-Making for Insurgents. Who cares?

In the future, episodes will be around 45 minutes long and we will be joined by other hosts.

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In The Pilot we discussed: Facebook & Mark Zuckerberg, The Simpsons, Apple, Steve Jobs, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Amazon, eBooks, Hipster Christianity, U2, The New York Times, Abortion, Israel, Palestine, Start-ups, Robert Scoble, Beer, Dog Fish Head Brewery, Toy Story, BP oil spill, Creativity Crises, Iraq War.

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Apple the new world leader in software insecurity http://goo.gl/Q2Fe
What Amazon didn’t say about e-books http://goo.gl/54Ei
Key Dates in Hipster Christianity http://goo.gl/nvCu
When the New York Times Was Pro-Life George Grant, http://goo.gl/ROgo
Tel Aviv Start-Up Weekend unites Israelis, Palestinians. http://goo.gl/6cTZ
Dog Fish Head Beer “Ancient Ale” http://goo.gl/VvTU
The band ASS (yeah, that’s their name) released Salt Marsh http://www.myspace.com/assmyass/
Kilgore Trout T-Shirt http://www.novel-t.com/Blue Screen of Death amongst issues that plagued Deepwater Horizon http://goo.gl/GDze
The Creativity Crises http://goo.gl/bBOe
Iraq war turned British Muslims against their country http://coge.la/gO2