Brand America - PR for diplomacy

The United States is no cereal. A better package with a new-and-improved label isn’t the answer. America's image is not a product that can pushed with hype and ads. ("America: Just Like Us.") If the Office of Global Communications does not realize this fundamental -- it’s the story, not the script, that counts -- it will end up a box-office flop.

I went to the Van's Warped Tour today. We (the Weekly )had a booth there, so I got a free ticket. I went and stayed for about 45 minute. It was at the Speed Way, and in case you don't know Orlando, it's about 20 miles outside of town. They race school busses there. So you can imagine the venue. It rained, there was mud everywhere, on everything. People stood in line for 30 min. to piss in a portable toilet. And worse than that, the music sucked.

Watching 20,000 kids with mohawks running around, splashing in mud puddles, I could only think to myself, "My God, it's a giant spectacle for separating kids from their money."

There's no rebellion left in rock and roll. It's not even boring. It's worse than boring. It's irrelevent.

Institutionalized rebellion is no longer rebellion.

That's a fact, jack.

Site status.

Sorry about the banners, but I'm trying to generate a little more traffic, so I signed up for a banner exchange. I'll take it down after a week or so, but I wanted to see if I could bring just a few more eyeballs around, without spamming anybody.

Satire headlines are down at the moment. Expect them to return soon.

National Rifle Association Christian Bible Choir

"In addition to promoting good sportsmanship among young children, the NRA Annual Youth Rally will also be a major recruiting point for the NRA-Youth, a patriotic organization composed of young children with the purpose of monitoring for unpatriotic activity. "Children will be encouraged," Mrs. Metaksa said, "to report households without any firearms. These households will then be visited by NRA door-to-door salesmen to promote patriotic sentiment. Homeowners who aren't gun owners will be taught about patriotism, and given coupons for discount firearms."

Cannabis use prominent in the I.T. field

"Forget dot-com - it's all gone dot-bong as a new survey reveals that one in three marijuana users is employed in the high-tech sector."

via fark

Conspiracy of the Week

Because of the profiteering nature of the Digital Rights Management movement, and the lack of respect and understanding shown towards the time-binding, mythological nature of human culture, the Digital Rights Management movement this this week's conspiracy.

Anti-gravity propulsion comes ‘out of the closet’ - Jane's Civil Aerospace

"Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, has admitted it is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology if the science underpinning them can be engineered into hardware."

Learning to love Big Brother / George W. Bush channels George Orwell

"Here's a question for constitutional scholars: Can a sitting president be charged with plagiarism?"

Yahoo! News - Narcissists Make Lousy Long-Term Lovers: Study
"Despite the old adage that you must love yourself before you love others, new research shows that too much self-love--or narcissism--can seriously hurt your prospects of having long-term, committed relationships."

via fark.