Oh wow, Rick…

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It’s not often you get to see a person implode live on national television – but wow. Really, I’d like to thank the GOP, Fox News and the Tea Party – your insistence that Rick Perry is a viable candidate – I guess be because he illegally shoots wild life while jogging –  may have just taken our eternal governor, he-who’s-hair-must-be-coifed, and shown him the slightly chared exit to the governor’s mansion.

But the Texas Job Miracle, the education reform, the balanced budget, that stand-up to Washington attitude? Here, Republican friends, who i respect and admire for your misguided fiscal conservitude, your ironic efforts to shrink government while piling money on the single largest consumer of tax dollars (defense) and your repeated beseeching of the country folk (who in all honesty are probably more liberal than you think) – here I give you…information.

The worst part of the probably-kaput-campaign: Not just the inevitable number of Aggie jokes that will come out of this, but once again Texas is represented by jingoistic, reactionary politician that represent a very small percentage to the Texans I know.

Pulp Fiction

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Ok, this is me stabbing this site in the heart with a needle full of adrenaline. Or maybe the image we’re looking for is a that of my car refusing to turn over and be violently push started down a hill.

Either way…weddings are in motion, elections are coming up, bike are being ridden, so for a change there should be something to talk about.

FCC

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From the FCC…

Further, we recognize that there have been meaningful recent moves toward openness, including the introduction of open operating systems like Android. In addition, we anticipate soon seeing the effects on the market of the openness conditions we imposed on mobile providers that operate on upper 700 MHz C-Block spectrum, which includes Verizon Wireless, one of the largest mobile wireless carriers in the U.S.

In light of these considerations, we conclude it is appropriate to take measured steps at this time to protect the openness of the Internet when accessed through mobile broadband.

Wow. Because what OS you’re running makes a difference as to wether your connection is tiered. This makes no sense what so ever.

The Dude

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Clear and irrefutable signs that we are progressing as a society.

New in bookstores, and already in its second printing, is “The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies,” an essay collection edited by Edward P. Comentale and Aaron Jaffe (Indiana University Press, $24.95). The book is, like the Dude himself, a little rough around the edges. But it’s worth an end-of-the-year holiday pop-in. Ideally you’d read it with a White Russian — the Dude’s cocktail of choice — in hand.

More on the Academia of The Big Lebowski…

At the Springs

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trees

I went to Barton Springs for the first time this year today – and got most first glimpse of what the place will look like if the parks department and the inspiringly named Davey Tree Co have their say and remove 30 or so trees. Every tree you can see in the photo above is one of the condemned.

In a typical Austin fashion the city has attached multiple sheets of paper to each doomed tree with an inspiring quote on one side and the dates of the ‘additional public hearings’ on the other, intended as tear away so you can voice you opinion. As I was grabbing my own copy, I happened to overhear some conversation behind me. “I can’t believe they’re going to cut down the trees that’s the whole reason everyone likes Barton springs….” her friend replied, “I know! They’re crazy.”

This informed discourse was not between two deadlocked hippy-chicks, but two seven-year-old-girls walking down to the pool with their mom. I get it that we have  a shitty economy, a $30 million deficit, and a lot of issues that are a lot more important than this.  I also understand we regularly hand out millions in tax breaks to organizations like The Domain and Intel (remember that building the city had to pay to demolish?). This is a special place – the kids understand that – it might benefit us to put a little more effort into saving and maintaining at least a little bit of what makes it special. More importantly this is your government, so go raise some hell.

  • Staff Briefing of Austin City Council
    April 23, 2 p.m. (This is a presentation only with no public comment)
  • The Parks and Recreation Board
    April 28, 6 p.m. at City Hall
  • The Environmental Board
    May 20, 6 p.m. City Hall (This meeting is supposedly open for public comment).

Pardon the Mess

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We’re making some changes over here, hang tight.

Mohole

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Between 1960 and 1962, the combination of economic interest and national pride during the Space Race period inspired scientists of the Soviet Union to plan drilling a “Russian Mohole” whose objective was to reach the Mohorovicic Discontinuity before the American drilling program,” Dean Dunn writing in the book, Science of the Earth.

More on really a big hole in the ground, with shockingly boring (no pun intended) pictures. They drilled for 15 years and reached a depth of 40,226ft. This seems like something only the russians could pull off.

ACL 2007

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Austin City Limits Festival fires up this weekend. Thousands of people stumbling around Zilker park in the heat, listening to music. There are many pleasant months of the year in Texas, but the folks at Capital Sports & Entertainment seems to insist on keeping this one right smack in one of the hottest sections of the calendar. Regardless, to all the incoming peoples let me offer you a piece of advice – when given the choice at the festival, drink Lonestar not Heineken. Its good cheap, beer and you’ll look less like a foreigner (no, not out-of-towner, foreigner – we used to be a country after all – show some respect).

SXSW

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SXSW is wrapping up tonight, which means chaos, mayhem and lots and lots of people downtown multiplying said mayhem and chaos. I rode down to check out What Made Milwaukee Famous at Jo’s and took a swing through Sixth just to check things out.
Read more →

Turntable

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I borrowed a friends turntable (thanks germ!) to start ripping some records down to CD. Turns out, this whole LP thing ? There’s something really cool about it. A really…different quality of sound (scratches aside) from a CD. They might be on to something with this fancy, new technology.