BIG TED SAYS NO

mapping, libraries, psychogeography

2007-08-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

libraries as gardens in information wilderness

libraries require psychogeographic remapping to reveal interest as destination and allow navigation

library hikes

Scooter's new Government ID

2007-06-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge.

Teary Tara to keep her Tiara

2006-12-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

Teary Tara to keep her Tiara

"I wouldn't say that I'm an alcoholic. I think that would be pushing the envelope," said Conner, who was known in New York's nightclub scene for drinking hard, snorting cocaine and hooking up with a long string of men.

A Good Ol' Fashioned Christian Beating

2005-12-07T10:01:00.001-08:00

A message from the Christian right (the pugilist sect) to people of the enlightenment: a "Christian right-hook-to the-jaw."

Creationism-as-myth professor beaten

LAWRENCE, KANSAS -- A college professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives said he was beaten by two men along a rural road.

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said the men referred to the class when they beat him Monday on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.

"I didn't know them," Mirecki said of his assailants, "but I'm sure they knew me."

Messages left on Mirecki's cell phone were not immediately returned.

Police said Mirecki reported the attack just before 7 a.m.

Mirecki planned to offer a spring course called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies" after the Kansas Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.

No, they're not racist.

2005-09-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

White racist learns valuable lesson.

"Fleming senior wears racist T-shirt to school
Incident triggered fight; no criminal charges filed. He has left the school.
By BRAD SCHMIDT, The Times-Union

What's up with your shirt?"

Those are the words a former senior at Fleming Island High School remembers hearing as he walked from his fifth-period algebra class toward the gym. The 18-year-old, who is not being identified due to his family's concerns of safety, had just taken off his Dixie Outfitter T-shirt, exposing a highly offensive shirt.

"What about it?" replied the 18-year-old, skinny and white.

"Well, you know it's racial," said a black student, now in a group confronting the 18-year-old.

"Yeah. So?"

The undershirt the white student wore had a confederate flag on the front with the words "Keep it flying." On the back, a cartoon depicted a group of hooded Klansmen standing outside a church, waving to two others who had just pulled away in a car reading "Just married."

Two black men in nooses were being dragged behind.

Upset by the shirt, a 17-year-old black student hit the white student in the head. A crowd of about 100 students gathered to watch the Aug. 29 fight before authorities intervened.

The white student said he left the school following a three-day suspension. He said he was supposed to go back on a Friday but school officials called and asked his family to keep him home until the following week because "the school's in an uproar."

"Everybody was threatening to come jump me, so we were like, whatever," he said. "So I'm not going to deal with it over some stupid shirt."

Clay County school officials said the incident is isolated and both students involved were disciplined "quickly and appropriately," although they would not release specifics citing privacy concerns.

"There's no way you can prevent it when you've got students coming and bringing an attitude like that to school," said Ben Wortham, deputy superintendent.

Principal Sam Ward said Fleming Island High School's dress code prohibits such apparel, but faculty were unaware the student wore the shirt because it was covered.

"If this kid had this shirt on for very long, some teacher or administrator would have gotten him," Ward said. "... When you put this many people together, every once in a while you're gonna have somebody that does something immature and wrong."

Sgt. Darin Lee of the Clay County Sheriff's Office investigated the altercation and found no criminal action.

Lee said the white student didn't want to press charges against the 17-year-old who hit him. Offensive as it may have been, the former student's shirt is protected by free speech, Lee added.

The white student, who is now enrolled at a community college, said he got the shirt about a week before the incident for $10 at a flea market. He said he typically took off his shirt on the way to the gym, and on that day he didn't think about what he wore underneath.

He said he put the shirt on in the morning because he planned to wear it to a party that night with others who, like him, had enlisted in the Marines.

"I'm not racist or anything," he said. "It's just, some people I hate, some people I don't get along with. And black people just happen to be the ones because they think they're better than everyone else."

The student said his parents were shocked at his decision, Mom dismayed and Dad disappointed.

"I just can't believe you'd wear a shirt like that to school," he said was their reaction. "My mom was kind of upset about it. My dad was like, whatever, it's your life."

The 18-year-old said he has friends who are black, and he said he does not think they would be mad at him because they know he would not do what was depicted on the shirt.

Although a friend has borrowed the shirt, the man said it is "more than likely" he'll keep it in his own wardrobe.

"I'm a redneck," he said. "But no, I'm not racist."

Next time you hear this: "I'm a redneck," he said. "But no, I'm not racist" refer here for translation.

Big Ted Says No

2005-09-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

The other Big Ted on Big Media:

I freely admit: When I was in the media business, especially after the federal government changed the rules to favor large companies, I tried to sweep the board, and I came within one move of owning every link up and down the media chain. Yet I felt then, as I do now, that the government was not doing its job. The role of the government ought to be like the role of a referee in boxing, keeping the big guys from killing the little guys. If the little guy gets knocked down, the referee should send the big guy to his corner, count the little guy out, and then help him back up. But today the government has cast down its duty, and media competition is less like boxing and more like professional wrestling: The wrestler and the referee are both kicking the guy on the canvas.

At this late stage, media companies have grown so large and powerful, and their dominance has become so detrimental to the survival of small, emerging companies, that there remains only one alternative: bust up the big conglomerates. We've done this before: to the railroad trusts in the first part of the 20th century, to Ma Bell more recently. Indeed, big media itself was cut down to size in the 1970s, and a period of staggering innovation and growth followed. Breaking up the reconstituted media conglomerates may seem like an impossible task when their grip on the policy-making process in Washington seems so sure. But the public's broad and bipartisan rebellion against the FCC's pro-consolidation decisions suggests something different. Politically, big media may again be on the wrong side of history--and up against a country unwilling to lose its independents.

Great Headlines

2005-09-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

I thought this was the usual IDS ineptitude, but I'm chalking it up to AP double-entendre genius:

Bush: One of nation's worst natural disasters

God Exacts Revenge on Boyscouts

2005-08-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

OK. The first 2 tragedies were a creepy coincidence. But as Bill Frist might say, perhaps some larger force is at work here.

Here's the rundown on the "Smite the Boy Scouts summer 2005 Tour":

Monday, July 25
Four Boy Scout Leaders Die in Va. Accident

BOWLING GREEN, Va. (AP) - Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed Monday afternoon in an electrical accident during the opening day of the organization's 2005 Jamboree.

Jamboree spokesman Gregg Shields said the accident occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m. while the leaders were setting up camp.

One other leader and a contract worker were injured, and were hospitalized in stable condition, Shields said. No youth Scouts were seriously hurt, he said. He did not say how many might have sustained minor injuries.

Wednesday, July 27
Hundreds of Boy Scouts fall ill from heat

(CNN) -- A Boy Scout National Jamboree marred by the deaths of four people weathered another blow Wednesday in Virginia when about 300 Scouts and adults suffered symptoms resulting from the 100-degree afternoon heat, a spokesman for the organization said.

Thousands of Scouts had gathered in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, for the opening ceremonies, which were canceled because of "heat-related health concerns" and the threat of severe thunderstorms.

The heavy rain, accompanied by lightning, also forced President Bush to postpone his planned speech to the Jamboree.

Thursday, July 28
13-year-old Boy Scout, leader killed by lightning

FRESNO, Calif. - After seven days of scrambling up and down canyons in the Sierra Nevada, the Boy Scouts were held up by a common summer nuisance in the mountains — a lightning storm.

In a wide, grassy meadow near Mt. Whitney, the five adults and seven teenagers set up two tarps, keeping away from granite outcroppings to stay as safe as they could from the lightning flashing across the sky.

Then a bolt of lightning hit one of the tarps, killing the troop leader instantly and claiming the life of a 13-year-old boy. Six others were injured.

Tuesday, August 2
Lightning Kills Boy Scout at Utah Camp

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Lightning struck a shelter at a Boy Scout camp high in the mountains, killing one youth and injuring three others, authorities said Wednesday.

The lightning bolt struck the Camp Steiner shelter, a log structure open on one side, Tuesday night, said sheriff's deputy Wally Hendricks said.

The rest of the Boy Scouts at the camp returned home, Hendricks said. No one answered the telephone at the Great Salt Lake Boy Scout Council, but the deputy said he believed they were all from the Salt Lake County area.

The dead scout was 15, authorities said. Names of the victims were not released.

News from Phnom Penh

2005-07-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

JULY 6, 2005

A mob killed a 32-year-old unidentified man after he and two accomplices attempted to steal a motorbike from a couple, Yun Sophat, 31, and Chhun Samart, 30, while they slept in Srok Thom village, Kandal province. Sophat told local authorities that the thief entered his house through a window and aimed a K-59 handgun at his head. Sophat said the thief dropped the gun and tried to run away after his wife squeezed his testicle.

Battlecry of a Violent Iconoclast

2005-07-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today I celebrate the poetry of en effed-up news story told right.

Here's my new 2nd favorite headline:
Two Police Are Shot by Spear-Wielding Iconoclast

From the NY Sun:

Two city police officers are lucky to be alive after a wild shootout early yesterday with a gunman.

The shooter, who has a history of psychiatric problems, was trying to blow off the head of a statue of St. Anne in front of a Queens Village church. As the officers stepped out of their patrol car, he blitzed them from behind at close range with a pump-action shotgun, police said.

Now, I shall note for posterity this truly excellent battelcry:

"I'm a hustler! I'm a warrior!" ranted Davy, 25, who used a sword to lop off the granite statue's arms and blew the head off with a 12-gauge shotgun before ambushing the police from less than 8 feet away.

BTW, my first favoite headline is: "Sex Videos on Pause, and Idled Actors Fret" from an NYT story about an HIV scare in the porn industry.

Girl Rescued, Guarded by Lions

2005-06-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is the complete story, from ABC News.

Police: Abducted Ethiopian Girl Found Being Guarded by Lions Who Apparently Chased Off Attackers
By ANTHONY MITCHELL
The Associated Press

Jun. 21, 2005 - A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.

She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said.

"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said.

"If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage," he said.

Tilahun Kassa, a local government official who corroborated Wondimu's version of the events, said one of the men had wanted to marry the girl against her wishes.

"Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people," Wondimu said.

Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the girl may have survived because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn't eat her," Williams said.

Ethiopia's lions, famous for their large black manes, are the country's national symbol and adorn statues and the local currency. Despite a recent crackdown, Hunters also kill the animals for their skins, which can fetch $1,000. Williams estimates that only 1,000 Ethiopian lions remain in the wild.

The girl, the youngest of four siblings, was "shocked and terrified" after her abduction and had to be treated for the cuts from her beatings, Wondimu said.

He said police had caught four of the abductors and three were still at large.

Kidnapping young girls has long been part of the marriage custom in Ethiopia. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where most of the country's 71 million people live.

Thug o' the day

2005-05-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Help keep Billy Drinkwater out of prison! Buy your drugs from someone else.

Now reading

2005-05-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord (1967).

Quote of the day:
"Spectacular technology has not dispelled the religious clouds where men had placed their own powers detached from themselves; it has only tied them to an earthly base. The most earthly life thus becomes opaque and unbreathable. It no longer projects into the sky but shelters within itself its absolute denial, its fallacious paradise. The spectacle is the technical realization of the exile of human powers into a beyond; it is separation perfected within the interior of man."

A quick search has discovered a full-text project of the Situationist International and another site with the text of Society of the Spectacle.

Patrick McCullough and Oakland's least photogenic

2005-05-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

So much to see!
Ugly mugs:

The latest tagging fashions! (Captions care of the NOPD)

"The "dripping" neon green is something new and distinctive."

and there's "an example of 'etching' on glass"

America's famous new real Dirty Harry (some say Bernie Getz), Patrick McCullough gets his own local PR campaign.

Some (scroll down to April 13th) call it harrassment. I'll leave it to the experts.

Screenshots for posterity coming soon.