Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

current events

in my tribe

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Because you are savvier than I am I’m sure you’ve all seen this by now, but the BBC had pictures from Brazil of a tribe that has never had any contact with modern society.

The concept fascinates me. Here we are on the internet, sending each other mp3s and photos and links to porn while we burn through our fossil fuels keeping us alternatingly warm and cold, and somewhere out there people are still living the lives they’ve lead for centuries.

Unsurprisingly, they all seem to be staring at the airplane taking their photos. Way to obey the prime directive, photographers.

The Suppression of Don Siegelman

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I’ve been reading a lot of Huffington Post to stay up-to-date on the election cycle, although I often find myself the most intrigued by their non-election content.

This week Larisa Alexandrovna brought to light that a seemingly benign broadcast blackout of 60 Minutes in Alabama last week was likely connected to a shockingly Soviet attempt by the Republications to keep former governor Don Siegelman out of the sight and mind of his former electorate – a campaign that has lead to an election slimly lost by recount and a suspect conviction that has lead to his imprisonment.

It sounds too outlandish to be true, but the most disturbing part is that once you delve beneath the surface of the story the details of Republican opposition and flawed justice get even more incredible. For the background on Siegelman’s story, and it’s disturbing connection to Rove’s tenure in the White House, please see Larisa’s summary on alterna-news site The Raw Story. (Or, read her series, The Permanent Republican Majority: 1, 2, & 3).

Also in the government-coverups department, is the CDC trying to cover-up a major cancer threat?

Pshaw, I Post All My Secrets

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If you blog (or read Time, apparently) you may have already been introduced to the utterly genius Post Secret, wherein random strangers mail in secrets on inventively designed postcards which are subsequently scanned and posted. Combines the always-fun voyeurism angle with art-appreciation. Awesome. Curator Frank Warren now has a book out.

Via a link from PostSecret, John Kerry blogs for Save the Internet. Save the Internet is a site dedicated to keeping Americans informed about “Net Neutrality,” which might be erroded by Telecomm companies in cahoots with Congress soon if us and the flip-flopper don’t do something about it. In short:

Net Neutrality ensures that all users can access the content or run the applications and devices of their choice. With Net Neutrality, the network’s only job is to move data – not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service. Net Neutrality prevents the companies that control the wires from discriminating against content based on its source or ownership.

You might not get off your virtual butt for many causes, but this one pretty much makes or breaks what you can do with your virtual butt – it deserves your attention.

All I Wanna Do

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Someone has to remember to remind me that, the next time I’m stalking someone famous, that I should super-hydrate myself with over two gallons of water every day – because, apparently, flushing out all of my electrolytes will increase my nerve conduction velocity, thus allowing me to establish telepathic communications with a starlet of my choice.

This concept excites me, as my daily consumption means I’m halfway to the hydration goal already. However, contrary to statements in the article, I like to believe the communication would be one way so that I could just beam every inane thought I had directly into my obsession’s head. It’d be like having my own personal broadcast station directly into their brain.

Or, hey, I could just kidnap them and force them to read my web page!