let the building begin!
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

It sort of looks as though they could have taken the photos of mars from Death Valley.

stupid bedroom is turning into a nightmare. with each thing I pull down a new mess is revealed. didn't these people repair anything? or did they just cover it up with paneling. layers of fucking paneling hiding big messes

Thank you Evolution Control Committee. The following is from the Gunderphonic mash-up/bastard pop/bootlegger gourgenie album The ECC - Bush Speech (Corrected) (Part 1).mp3. thirteen other goodies on the ECC site

I thought I should join the bandwagon and start rambling along with everyone else. I was a bit inspired from a few different mentioning of blogs. In particular, last night as I was listening to The World on NPR, I heard about how folks in Iran have been using blogs as real methods of news, of community, of freedom of expression. This is old news, I know but then I was listening to Arrianna Huffington go on, the way she does about Dean in particular, and his use of the Internet; comparing him to Kennedy and the way he used TV. I was reading something I wrote last year about how these last 10 years have been a human evolution. The way we live, the way we behave, the way we think. It isn't only the availability of information it is how we process, or retrieve and transform thoughts. The personalization, or better the ownership of thoughts is unique in that blogs make it real, make it published, somewhat tangible. They, the blogs that we write, can be crap or rubbish but it's a bit real. Anyway I thought I should join the bandwagon and write what I thought, it might inspire, enrage or any other thing that is tied to emotional thought production.

I went to Dean's site this morning and was encouraged. I read some of his positions on issues, mostly the things that I care about, environment, economics, war or all one of the same. I gravitated to how he wants to close the loophole on SUV's ridiculous consumption of gasoline, and our dependency on oil - which is entrenched in the destruction of the environment. I understand the companies responsible for oil production have done some due-diligence in making it better. It's not enough. There are automobiles, SUV's in fact capable of going 99 miles on a single gallon of gas, or others that use completely different methods of propulsions. As far as I understand the only time the American government takes interest in 'protecting' some nation or group of people is if there is economic interest, I can understand that. If I want to continue something I will protect it with what resources I can provide - take NPR for example I donate my monies, I have volunteered I want to see it protected for my own personal interests. I understand that America must protect its oil interests. My problem with it is the misrepresentation provided by the government- I won't blame the media- there’s a quite a bit of sock stuffing going on. Generally we are given sob stories about a horrific man (who has admittedly done horrific things to innocent people) under the pretense that we are saving people Not hey you wanna drive your gas guzzling car - you want portable, over packaged goods that you can throw away and not feel the need to recycle? Then we gotta secure oil transit lines and this fella and his peeps are blocking the road. Bottom line. I don't claim that the Al Qaeda are innocent, nice people. But I question why we only ever go after specific non-innocents.

Ah, I don't understand why as American's we don't hold ourselves responsible for our own actions. We complain about losing jobs, yet we continue to shop at Wal-Mart. What industries do we support? I am glad corporations can provide jobs to several different nations- but to what end? We complain about War - yet we continue to buy disposable EVERYTHING wrapped conveniently in 3 layers of plastic. I am not claiming to be free of these contradictions. I don't use my dollars wisely; I drive an old gas-guzzling vehicle. But I admit it. I get a bit angry at myself when I don't enforce recycling when I have visitors at my home. I don't try and promote organizations that find alternative methods to petroleum usage. I do prefer to purchase my fruits and vegetables from local growers, but it's hard here in Rhode Island. Maybe that will be my New Year's resolution. Maybe I will make a concerted effort to be a responsible human being.

I have been watching TV. hung over and exhausted from the holidays and a certain brit. I watched a repeat episode of ER and was thrilled that it brought some reality to issues other than oil interests. It had to do with what's going on with the Congolese. Horrific. Then the Simpson's - Homer made friends with a grizzly bear who had run out of land and was existing on the dumps. We get angry when on our sprawl we eliminate land for animals and they have the nerve to come onto our property. I lost my cat to a coyote, I think. I live next to an abandoned amusement park that sits on 124 acres. It has recently been sold to developers who will make lovely luxury homes. Everyone I tell proclaims that I must be so excited; my property value is going to skyrocket. But I'm not. All I can think of is the coyote's I hear every now and again howling, the wild turkeys that run around the grounds or the raptors I see soaring from tree tops. I want the land. I don't want the higher return when I sell my home. I don't want the coyote's to steal my dog or trap any new cat I get indoors for fear he might get eaten. I want to walk through the park and see their evidence.

How bout that 90-year-old woman pulled unscathed from the wreckage of Bam.