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NetNomad 43

By James Porteous, AlterNet. Posted November 7, 2000.


Five offbeat, timely reviews of Web sites on the arts, politics and news -- with a dash of the absurd thrown in for good measure. This week: . . . Steven Wright Quotes . . . CD-Recordable FAQ . . . Technorealism . . . Russian Prison Tattoos . . . AC Acoustics.

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In Special Coverage

Belief:
What if People Actually Treated Religion as Just a Metaphor (Like Trekkies and Secular Jews)?
Greta Christina

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
15 Signs American Society Is Coming Apart at the Seams
David DeGraw

DrugReporter:
When It’s Crunch Time at College, Students Turn to Adderall
Erik Hayden

Environment:
20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth

Food:
The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare
Tara Lohan

Health and Wellness:
Pharmaceutical Giant Paid $500,000 to Psychiatrist Who Used Chicago's Poor as Guinea Pigs
Christina Jewett and Sam Roe

Immigration:
Dobbs' Resignation Was Long Overdue
Janet Murguía

Media and Technology:
Is Right-Wing Media Hustler Trying to "Blackmail" Obama's Attorney General over ACORN Videos?
David Edwards, Muriel Kane

Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler

Politics:
New Right-Wing Craze: Using Bible Quote to Pray That Obama’s 'Days Be Few'
Amanda Terkel

Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Hey Guys, Don't Want Kids? A Vascetomy Is Probably the Way to Go
Anna Clark

Rights and Liberties:
Economic Crisis Is Getting Bloody -- Violent Deaths Are Now Following Evictions, Foreclosures and Job Losses
Nick Turse

Sex and Relationships:
Hot Mormon Muffins and Models for Jesus: What's With All the Sexy Christians?
Liz Langley

Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders

Water:
Poseidon's Financial Shell Game: Why Is a Private Desalination Plant Asking for Public Money?
Peter Gleick

World:
Army Sends Mom to Afghanistan, Infant to Protective Services
Dahr Jamail

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Steven Wright Quotes www.jerseyguy.com/commons/steven_wright.htm

"My girlfriend does her nails with white-out. When she's asleep, I go over there and write misspelled words on them." " I filled out an application that said, "In Case Of Emergency Notify (blank)". I wrote the word "Doctor"...What's my MOTHER going to do?" "Why is it, 'A penny for your thoughts,' but, 'you have to put your two cents in?' Somebody's making a penny." "He asked me if I knew what time it was. I said, 'Yes, but not right now.'" "I saw a bank that said '24 Hour Banking', but I don't have that much time." And many, many more!

CD-Recordable FAQ www.fadden.com/cdrfaq

It seems there are almost as many questions about CDRs as there are players and disks. It is certainly no coincidence that the entire affair is rife with complications --if they designed a flawless player everyone would be free to copy damn near everything with ease-- but there are ways to lessen your level of frustration. The detailed list of Frequently Asked Questions tells you which software is best, which CDR to buy for Mac or PC, details on buffer over-runs and much more.

Technorealism www.technorealism.org

Technorealism is an attempt to assess the social and political implications of technologies so that we might all have more control over the shape of our future. There is probably nothing new in this study of technology and its effect on our lives, but then again we have never lived in a society so obsessed with not only the power of the almighty buck, but a way of life in which large segments of society seem to have embraced the notion that the workday never ends. This site features a wonderful overview on the subject of technorealism, a list of related readings and a pair of newsletters.

Russian Prison Tattoos www.word.com/place/russian_tattoos

We learn here that it is "not known when tattooing first became a common practice in Russian prisons and Stalinist Gulags" but that "1920s photographs of prisoners from that period suggest an already elaborate and highly developed subculture." The tattoos are not merely decoration, but serve to proclaim the prisoner's place in the world, both inside and outside of prison. Photos of some of the more than 20 million tattoos are sampled here. "In life, only count on yourself," says one. A picture of a single cat indicates that the criminal acted alone, while a spider or spider's web symbolizes drug addiction.

AC Acoustics www.acacoustics.co.uk

After hearing AC Acoustics for the first time it is impossible to imagine how it is that this group has escaped our attention for 10 years. Indeed the group formed in Glasgow in 1990 and while they have achieved a strong and loyal following, their popularity does not even begin to measure up to this band's potential. "Understanding Music," their third and latest CD, is 60 minutes of exceptional sonic rock and folk-inspired music produced with the conviction of musicians who know they have hit the mark dead on. This is one of those CDs that strikes the listener as being quite remarkable on the very first listen and then simply continues to grow more and more inviting. Learn about the history of the band at their Website, plus reviews, sound clips and a message board.

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15 Signs American Society Is Coming Apart at the Seams
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Are we nearing a tipping point as rapacious elites push a heavily armed populace too far?
By David DeGraw, Amped Status. November 21, 2009.
Naomi Klein: 'No Logo' Revisited
In the new introduction to the re-release of her classic book, 'No Logo,' Klein explores how ad culture has thrived and adapted in the past decade.
By Naomi Klein, Picador Press. November 21, 2009.
Is Right-Wing Media Hustler Trying to "Blackmail" Obama's Attorney General over ACORN Videos?
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By David Edwards, Muriel Kane, Raw Story. November 21, 2009.
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