Ticker hack

This is pretty damn cool. This is a hack of the news ticker at Foxnews HQ.

The hacktivists managed to get their entire message in.

via Alternet

The very sad stump

I love Failbook

Had to double check this

not posted on April 1st?
check.
not from The Onion?
check.

How Nazi Scientists Tried to Create an Army of Talking Dogs

Sarah Jarosz - new album and tour

Running a little behind on reporting of current events around the TX-Oasis here, and at this rate will never catch up.


Local phenom, young Sarah Jarosz* has just released her new album "Follow Me Down," (her 2nd on Sugar Hill Records) and played a couple of sold-out shows at a stylish venue on Sunday, did the radio circuit, and played at Waterloo Records (on her 20th birthday) on Monday. That's where the video is from. Her bandmates are Alex Hargreaves on violin and Nathaniel Smith on cello (who are even younger than she is) and they are amazing players. In fact, (and check your local listings) Austin City Limits (the TV show) is rerunning her episode, the one with Steve Martin, this weekend -- or don't even wait for the rerun -- stream it here now!

This album is absolutely gorgeous and deserves high praise. She really swept us off our feet with this one.

*pronounced "juh-ROSE."

A tiger survivor

A golf course, cricket grounds, and streets cleared and evacuated, armed police with a helicopter on the scene, zoo wranglers with tranquilizer darts! A white tiger (a beast escaped!!) had been spotted in a field!

It was a mighty cool cat who didn't even register on the thermal-imaging cameras!! He showed no fear of the helicopters, either! A blast of helicopter wind blew the tiger over onto his back, and exposed the beast as a plushie.

Here's the story.

Sphynx dreaming

White Denim

This band has been around for a few years and have been catching fire, but we had somehow managed to avoid seeing them (or even hearing them) until Friday at their Waterloo Records in-store. We were very impressed and bought their new record!

How to describe them... progressive energetic psych rock jam band? I dunno. Go to their facebook page and have a listen, and there's more on their website, including some free downloads on both. Another band we want to see again.

Oh to be a fly on the wall...

...among the true believers today.

An idea whose time has come

God's clock (in Roman numerals? Really?) says that there is some cash to be made.

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA
The next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World

If you believe you're about to be Raptured, what about your fur-babies? You MUST care enough about them enough to make sure that they will be well cared-for by some nice folks who will be staying behind (atheists, you know... damned and all...). Right?

Our service is plain and simple; our fee structure is reasonable.
For $135.00 we will guarantee that should the Rapture occur within ten (10) years of receipt of payment, one pet per residence will be saved. Each additional pet at your residence will be saved for an additional $20.00 fee. A small price to pay for your peace of mind and the health and safety of your four legged and feathered friends.

Photo taken on South First St. is of painting tied to streetlight pole with an electrical cord. It does not increase the efficiency of the pedestrian-crossing button that it's attached to.

Same boat

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

...no, really!

photo taken at Cheapo Records.

Street pianos

The new header (and the above photos) are from the street piano art project that was here during the month of April. They select artists from a city to decorate the pianos, then they are placed on the street where anyone who feels like it can play them. Austin had 14 pianos. Afterward, the pianos are donated to schools and such.

It's a traveling art project, with London, Geneva, and San Juan coming up next.

Here's the website: Street Pianos.

I didn't play this piano in the pic. I don't even remember how to play chopsticks. These days, if it's not a tambourine or a cowbell, I probably can't play it.

Feline Friday: Human-in-Training

Other videos featuring this cat show an earlier one, where the human expects the cat to open the box while (the cat is) wearing a sweater, giving high fives and sitting on a bed (which sort of works) and a later one where the overlord demonstrates that he, of course, can open the box if he really wants to.

What is your bidding, my master?

Found via Facebook.

Yeah, what he said...

Dear FB Friends: You can't find out who saw your profile. You won't see what you'll look like in the future. You won't know what that man saw when he walked in on his daughter. There are no free iPads. And you can't see the video of Osama's death... Not on Facebook. Please stop clicking the spam links and exposing yourself and friends to virus risks. Repost, please. -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Above is a funny response that went around a little (and even made it to Failbook!) after the embarrassment of people virally reposting the following eloquent and mangled status update:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that" -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

More misattributed or mangled quotes.

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." -- Abraham Lincoln

Keep trying, you animals!

Ain't gonna happen, but funny to watch the effort.

Just keep those pants on. OK?*

Aaaah, Florida... They just passed a law making bestiality illegal. Why was this not already illegal? Makes one wonder...

Also passed by the House and Senate Wednesday is the so-called "droopy drawers bill" (SB 228), will will force students to hike up their pants while at school.

Students caught showing their underwear or butt crack could face suspensions and other punishments.

When I was going to school in Florida in the late 60s, students would be sent home for wearing sandals, boys for having hair long enough to touch their ears, and girls for not wearing a dress.

It's funny that it's called the droopy drawers bill, because the phrase "droopy drawers" is something my mother's generation came up with (or maybe even her mother's generation). What do you think?

This darling goat could possibly be affected by both laws, if she could pass for a 'student.'

Pic snagged from the Nanny Goats in Panties blog! Yes, that's correct!

*It just so happens that this is being posted on No Pants Day, First Friday in May (not you, Florida).

6 years of this

This blog has been going for 6 years now. I've never had another one (other than my Jukebox, which I don't call a blog). I think that all topics are fair game here, but the ones I enjoy the most are about live music shows I attend, my cats (which have gone in number from 4 down to 1), the garden outside (MrB's project which is rich with bugs, birds and blooms year round), absurd news and headlines, and posts about Austin. This is a great town, my favorite of all the places I've lived.

Occasionally I comment on politics, but usually I just read the news until my head spins. It's hard to know where to start, hard to find the sanity. When religion becomes politics, it steps waaay out of line too. There's really nothing crazier.

Sometimes I hop up on the bar stool and rattle off a long old story about my past, my weird and dysfunctional family, or just some crazy crap that happened in the Sixties. Those are the therapeutic posts. It hurts to write some of them, especially about family, but if I don't tell my stories they will be lost. Even I might forget them someday.

If you are a regular visitor here, please feel free to de-lurk and say Hi.

(My avatar is a real painting that I bought at Goodwill a few years back. It was so perfect for me, that I haven't changed it since then. The real one hangs in my living room)

Blue Shadows on the Trail

Today is Cinco de Mayo, and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is showing Three Amigos as a Quote-a-Long and Feast. We won't be going to it, MrB... amazingly... has not seen it yet and wouldn't be able to quote along.

Of course, Three Amigos and Cinco de Mayo are totally unrelated, but you could probably use an awesome song stuck in your head.

...and now, in butterfly news...

Time to push that scary spider further down the page. I try not to be a speciesist but spiders still shake me up. How about a butterfly or two?

We've got a lot of these right now. They are called Bordered Patch, and like Monarchs, they go for the Blue Mist like it's crack.

This is a chrysalis that was formed like an earring hanging from our stone kitty memorial sculpture. It has since broken open, and I hope it's because we have a new butterfly. This chrysalis belonged to a Black Swallowtail, which you can see in all its beauty here.

Big ugly Brazilian Wanders to Wisconsin Walmart.

spider buffer

spider buffer

spider buffer

spider buffer

spider buffer

get ready

for the

spider picture

1...2...3...

I just had to to a screen grab of this because it really appears that Walmart is trying to sell you a defective spider. You should really avoid Walmart if you are spider-shopping.

Actually, the opposite may be true. In this real story, a couple ended up with a furry surprise in their bagged bananas they bought at Walmart.

Now my bananas are freaking me out, even though I don't buy them at Walmart.

The Day Before May

Saturday winds down a very busy week of live music and other activities. Eeyore's Birthday Party, which even has a Wikipedia page is an event where you are are strongly encouraged to bring your inner child, druid, satyr, Ent, faerie, fox (or whatever it may be), your *actual* children, dogs, cats, pet snakes, what-have-you, and something for the drum circle. Everybody plays nice. It's wonderful. I dearly love this party and don't ever want to miss it, although we couldn't stay that long this year due to another event in the afternoon.

The kids and animals are always the stars, because, let's face it, they bring the cute. Is there anything cuter than a pink-haired pomeranian? You be the judge.

This little girl's 'noodles' were each wearing a sock, so I think it was a kind of a centipede... make that "Princess Centipede."



It was a beautiful summer day but getting hotter and sweatier by the minute (we've been in the mid-90F range for a long time now), and with the Decemberists' show being General Admission we had to get home and recover a bit before getting in line at Stubb's for it. There were already about 20 people in line 2 hours before doors opened (that's a lot for Austin, where people tend to show up at the last minute) but this show sold out easily in a few hours. Very popular band in their prime, and their fans are young and have lots of stamina (unlike us). Here's a video from the show.
Colin Meloy, the band's central figure, is quite a political leftie... which I love, of course. Check out the sticker on his guitar! Solidarity. Another theme for May Day.

He mentioned also that it was the Eve of Beltane, and asked if maybe there might be a smattering of Pagans in the audience. He said it was very fitting to be here for it, where it is so warm, after beginning the tour in such cold conditions.

It really was very hot, with the dry drought dust sticking to sweaty skin. Despite the cool front that moved over us today, it is summer here.

Today we had tickets for another day-long music show (a charity benefit, as so many of them are), but I really couldn't handle any more activity. Needed time to relax. Monday will be here soon enough.