Howard Zinn - R.I.P

"I refuse to celebrate them as "the greatest generation" because in doing so we are celebrating courage and sacrifice in the cause of war. And we are miseducating the young to believe that military heroism is the noblest form of heroism, when it should be remembered only as the tragic accompaniment of horrendous policies driven by power and profit. Indeed, the current infatuation with World War II prepares us--innocently on the part of some, deliberately on the part of others--for more war, more military adventures, more attempts to emulate the military heroes of the past."

(From this essay)

When Ants In Your Pants Are Just Not Good Enough

For the record, this has got to be the grossest story involving lizards that I have ever read.

Coyest Lingo

My inbox has finally arrived. I received an email the other day from a lady representing these idiots. Something about her helping people live life to their fullest potential. (A bit like what her organization is doing for the people in Haiti?)

The email had her contact information, LinkedIn profile and her website address. I was tempted to share all that data with the enthusiastic, fun-loving kids who hang out on 4chan.org, but then I decided against it. Seemed excessive.

"Coyest lingo", btw, is an anagram of that organization's name.

Commit

I've been watching the "Hope for Haiti" fundraiser on TV (and on YouTube).

Have I grown jaded or do musicians don't commit to performance anymore like Freddie Mercury?

I'm Looking Through You

Courtesy NatGeo, pics of new species of animals found in Ecuador. (A "see-through" frog, a lungless salamander...this is one weird planet, man.)

Bobby Charles

Call me crazy, but sometimes I feel early rock 'n roll couldn't possibly have been conceived by human beings.

I mean, what kind of genius does it take to write something like "See You Later, Alligator"? A genius like Bobby Charles.

R.I.P, Bobby.

Here's unofficial footage of him playing "Down South in New Orleans" with The Band in the Last Waltz concert. (Bobby Charles does not appear in the film, though.)

Also visit this Bobby Charles fan-site (via the one of the best fan-sites)

Cross-Posting From WWH - Collecting Data in Haiti

Just posted this on the World Wide Help blog:

Google's Crisis Response Team has a Haiti Situation Tracking Form (link to spreadsheets.google.com; open to everyone).

There is also an online tracking tool called Ushahidi that could be very useful to earthquake victims in Haiti who may not have internet access but still have access to mobile phones.

It's important that word gets out about these tracking tools, so please consider linking to them on your blog, Twitter updates, Facebook profile and website.

(Links via a post on Reddit.)