Total piece of junk from day one

Very reliable and an awesome ride!

Lots of repairs once the loan is paid off

Definition of Class from a Bygone Era

If newer vehicles weren't so expensive I wouldn't be tolerating this one

Great until 200k

I can't believe it's as good as it is. Beats expectations

From Good Morning America: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to pay tribute to Jimmy Buffett James Taylor, Mac McAnally, Kenny Chesney, Dr. Dre, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, Jelly Roll and Keith Urban will be …

From WFLA: Here’s how many Floridians have ordered the new Jimmy Buffett license plate TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida lawmakers this year approved a new Jimmy Buffett-inspired specialty license plate to honor the late musician. …

from Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DB48I-gSloZ/ via IFTTT

from Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DCIneGJpq6Z/ via IFTTT

What do Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Harry Styles, Alicia Keys, Sting, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Ice-T, Queen Latifah, and Taylor Swift all have in common?

(C’mon, actually think about the question for a bit, don’t immediately jump to the answer. While there is a tendency for people to want immediate gratification, in fact, that whole quick shot of info, be it trivial, made-up, useful, or even critical, is predicated on things like websites, there is something to be said for the satisfaction that can be derived from figuring things out, whether this is solving Wordle or answering the question above.)

(At this point I figure that there may have been a sufficient amount of physical distance on this page between the question and the answer, and certainly if you’ve read through this parenthetical material you’ve had a time gap which, as we are at words right now, that’s about 30 seconds of silent reading time or just under a minute if you’re annunciating it, so. . . .)

They are all members of SAG-AFTRA, the trade union for actors.

As such, they are all potentially affected by a recent agreement between SAG-AFTRA and Narrativ, which describes itself as “A Marketplace for Advertisers to Buy Talent Likeness.”

Note, not “Talent.” But a similitude of talent.

Read more at Glorious Noise...

Video: The Hives – “Rigor Mortis Radio”

Directed by Filip Nilsson. From The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, out now.

Remember when CGI was just CGI and not A.I.?

Or maybe the Hives are just really good dancers. It’s possible. Things are very groovy in Sweden and the people are very healthy and nimble. So you never know.

(Journalistic integrity spoiler: You, in fact, do know. The actual dancers — Alex Brown, Tom Hardiman, Connor Pearson, Reece Woodier, and Jacob Whawell — are credited in the video.)

I’ve seen the Hives in concert several times and their natural moves are impressive enough. Do they really need to employ deepfake technology to impress us even more? Maybe they do, because this video is fun and hilarious. And of course the song is great too.

But, like with all computer generated imagery, you find yourself looking for the glitches and cruising down the uncanny valley. It’s real looking enough, but not totally convincing, which makes it a little creepy. And, unsurprisingly, that creepiness factor works with the song’s lyrics.

You’ve never seen me look so good before
This silver lining and this golden glow
This shine, all mine
Looking like I’m fresh off an assembly line.

Read more at Glorious Noise...

Video: The Hard Quartet – “Rio’s Song”

Directed by Jared Sherbert. From The Hard Quartet, out October 4 on Matador.

The whole idea of an indie rock supergroup is kind of ridiculous but here we are. The Hard Quartet is Stephen Malkmus from Pavement and Matt Sweeney from Chavez, both on Matador Records, plus Drag City’s Emmett Kelly and Jim White. Put ’em together and what have you got? Skibidi-Bobbidi-Boo!

The song’s good (we love the 90s!) but the video’s great. Especially if you’re familiar with the Stones’ 1981 “Waiting On A Friend” promo. They went to great lengths to capture the vibe. Director Jared Sherbert told Pitchfork, “The original staircase is now surrounded by businesses, so we shot at the nearly identical staircase next door. The St. Marks Bar & Grill is gone, and, although there was another bar in the neighborhood with almost the exact same layout, International Bar was incredibly accommodating and encouraged us to shoot there, which just felt right for this. The apartment window with the guy daydreaming has changed, but a neighbor a few doors down let us use hers.”

Sweeney captures Mick’s aura without stooping to an impression while Malkmus totally nails Keith’s elegantly wasted swagger.

Read more at Glorious Noise...

Video: Spring Silver – “It’s Imperative”

From Don’t You Think It’s Strange?, out now.

I don’t know anything about this artist but I somehow stumbled across this song and it’s too great to keep it to myself. Their little bandcamp bio says they’re from Silver Spring, Maryland and that the album was “written, performed, produced, and mixed by K Nkanza.” Well alright. What more do you need to know? They also offer thanks “to Mom for letting me record at her house.” It’s nice to see kids be grateful to their parents!

I see you all
Etched in the vertical tiles of an office building
I see you all
Trapped in the virtual squares of an application.

Sounds like somebody’s sick of zoom meetings!

Spring Silver: web, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Read more at Glorious Noise...

Once McDonald’s fries were something that plenty of people enjoyed, even if they were a bit dubious about the hamburgers, to say nothing of the McRib (if there ever was an item on the franchise’s menu that the term “mystery meat” could apply to, that’s the one), which apparently will soon be coming back to an Arches outlet near you.

But last week Lamb Weston, the largest french fry producer in the U.S., announced it has closed a plant in Washington state because people are opting for small fries, not medium or large.

According to McDonald’s:

“Everyone wants to know why McDonald’s French Fries taste so good—it’s a simple answer. McDonald’s World Famous Fries® are made with premium potatoes such as the Russet Burbank and the Shepody. With 0g of trans fat per labeled serving, these epic fries are crispy and golden on the outside and fluffy on the inside.”

Evidently the notation about the lack of trans fats isn’t enough to convince people that the 480 calories of a large order is something they want to eat, premium potatoes notwithstanding. (A bag of small fries is 230 calories.)

Time change, and with it things that were once familiar.

Read more at Glorious Noise...

by Jon Rappoport www.nomorefakenews.com The medical system kills 225,000 people a year. (Starfield, JAMA, July 26, 2000, "Is US health really the best in the world?") "In principle, gene therapy is a medical miracle waiting to happen ... after 17 years of trying, scientists are still struggling to make gene therapy work. Complications include rejection of DNA carriers ... [and] new genes end up where they shouldn't, or behave unpredictably." ("Gene Therapy: Is Death and Acceptable Risk?", Wired, Brandon Keim, August 30, 2007) MARCH 28, 2012 - In discussing Matrix Science, I'm reminded of Philip Dick's sensational novel, Lies, Inc. It proposes an invention that can teleport humans light-years to a planet where a better way of life exists. The author then spends the rest of the book deconstructing this utopian legend and revealing the truth and the titanic power-grab that sit behind it. Then there is HG Well's 1933 classic novel, The Shape of Things to Come, in which a world exhausted by war and economic collapse turns to a Global State as the only possible solution, after all other solutions have historically failed. This new ruling authority is based on Science. All religions are crushed. Education is designed to teach every child how to become a genius/global citizen. Eventually, the State withers away and is of course replaced by a spontaneous Utopia. Science/technology: the final all-encompassing answer. A significant aspect of Matrix propaganda revolves around myths about how human behavior can be transformed. Transformed through advances in biology and chemistry. Populations are being trained to expect these momentous changes. A major selling point: no effort is required. Just ingest this tablet. Accept this new gene. All will be done for you by experts. Technocrats will design the future so you will fit into it happily. The technocratic wing of Globalism has clout. It promises management of the planet through science, and who can argue with science? Central Planning will ensure proper benefits for all. My late friend and colleague, hypnotherapist Jack True, once told me in an interview:...

This is another installment of research into the biochemistry of HIV and Aids by Cal Crilly, an Australian who finds himself fascinated with the intricacies of biology. Crilly analyzes the seemingly unconnected studies that show the biochemical changes that accompany the presence of numerous retroviruses - one of them called HIV - in humans. The mechanism that makes retroviruses appear is hypomethylation, and it is the same mechanism that accompanies pregnancy and inflammation. Those retroviruses are produced in the course of normal biological activity and they are not infectious. There are many different types (ever heard of HIV 'mutating'?). As an aside, we declare pregnant mothers to be "HIV positive" as pregnancy causes the presence of retroviruses in the course of normal biological activity, and those harmless endogenous retroviruses react with what's generally called an "HIV" test. Certain basic nutrients - Selenium, Folate, B12, B6, Choline are the most important - counteract hypomethylation of the cells and thereby calm the production of human endogenous retroviruses. The toxic Aids drug AZT causes hypermethylation but it is so destructive of normal cell processes that most patients die. The 'life prolonging' effect of HAART, the drug cocktail that is prescribed to Aids patients today is due to a sharp decrease in the dosage of deadly AZT in the cocktail. Cal demonstrates those facts and more with reference to studies you can find as well, if you're interested in the details. Meanwhile we continue to treat immune compromised people with drugs that further compromise the immune system and - in many cases - kill the patient. When is medicine going to start treating those people by insisting on better eating and supplementation supplying the correct nutrients? How long will it take until the toxic drugs are phased out in favor of real prevention?...

Many thanks g to Cristina in Greece for her report on this - originally published on her justiceforgreece blog as A seed For Change a documentary project by Alex Ikonomidis and the declaration on seed freedom Alex Ikonomidis is a Greek film maker who lived, studied and worked in Lebanon. After returning to his native Greece and serving his time in the military, he took up his profession there and was happily going along, producing in the world of media and advertising when, suddenly, the economic crisis hit. Through the crisis, Ikonomidis recognized that when money becomes more and more scarce, it is important to be where food is grown. This brought him to embark on a documentary project. A Seed for Change is his soon-to-be-released feature length film documenting why agriculture must start with seed freedom. Chemical inputs are often toxic and are disruptive to human health and the environment. "Standardized" seeds, as imposed by the agro-chemical conglomerates through legislation pushed through in much of the civilized world, are destroying our heritage of biological diversity, created by nature and harnessed by farmers for producing our food over thousands of years....

The European Union on Tuesday took the debate about genetically modified crops to the public with a survey asking citizens to share their thoughts on organic farming, reports Phys.org in a recent article titled EU asks citizens to join debate on GM food Image credit: americanoverkill.com The article continues ... The bloc's 500 million consumers are invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire on the European Commission's Agriculture and Rural Development website (ec.europa.eu/agriculture/consultations/organic/2013_en.htm). The consultation, which ends on April 10, is part of a review of European policy on organic agriculture. The survey is available in all official EU languages. English is the one linked here, but other languages are available from a drop-down menu at the top of the page. The Phys.org article, putting emphasis on the GM angle, goes on to say......

More and more evidence is coming to light that Dr. Wakefield was on the right track when he researched the connection between the MMR vaccine and intestinal inflammation in the vaccinated children. Was Dr. Andrew Wakefield Right After All? Wakefield’s Lancet Paper Vindicated New Published Study Verifies Andrew Wakefield’s Research on Autism But how did Dr. Wakefield first get into the sights of the UK vaccine industry and how was the campaign against him mounted? Martin Walker, the author of "Dirty Medicine" and a number of other books on health, closely followed the case that eventually resulted in Dr. Wakefield's exile from the UK. He describes how it all happened and how the vaccine manufacturers were able to bring down the full weight of government and the courts against both Wakefield and the many parents who were suing for recognition of the damage vaccines had done to their children. "As a campaigner of 40 years, I think that what surprises me most about Dr Wakefield’s case, is how easily and how completely we were defeated by the pharmaceutical companies, how over a thousand parents and children were written out of history together with their adverse drug reactions. Part of this defeat for the parents, the children and the doctors concerned was grounded in an unfortunate understanding that pharmaceutical company executives were decent people and humanitarians. In fact the pharmaceutical companies, their corporate structure and their relentless pursuit of profit, their fraudulent practices represent one of the last remaining shibboleths, in our society which need to be completely reformed, democratised, divested of vested interests and made public from top to bottom." We do learn from experience. That is why we should pay attention to how this case went so wrong and why the campaign to ruin those researchers and to leave the damaged children by the wayside was mounted in the first place. So it won't happen again. Here is Martin Walker's essay....

After conducting "one of the most comprehensive risk assessments of aspartame ever undertaken", the European Food Safety Authority has released its verdict on 10 December 2013. The agency came to the conclusion that aspartame and its breakdown products are "safe for human consumption at current levels of exposure". The EFSA press release says that this was an important step forward in "strengthening consumer confidence in the scientific underpinning of the EU food safety system and the regulation of food additives". So the message seems to be that we should all just move on to other things. Leave aspartame alone and better yet - drink some of that "diet" Coke. But should we really? Could perhaps the power of money and influence behind big food have had a determining effect on that decision? We cannot be certain what exactly caused the EU regulator to give aspartame a clean bill of health rather than to acknowledge the sweetener's widely known dangers. Fact is - they disregarded every single study that showed aspartame to have adverse effects. Prof. Erik Millstone of the University of Sussex Science and Technology Policy Research Unit believes that EFSA has arrived at its conclusion by opportunistic interpretation of the studies that were reviewed. Most of the industry funded studies were given straight A's, while independent studies were - without exception - given an 'F' rating. Millstone says that "The EFSA Panel opportunistically accepted at face value almost all of the studies suggesting that aspartame is harmless, while entirely discounting every single study indicating that aspartame may be harmful, even though the quality, power and sensitivity of many of the studies that were discounted were markedly superior to those of the contrary studies deemed reliable."...

At the conjunction of this critique of reductionism in physics and this interview with Benoit Mandelbrot I think one sees the same basic dynamic at work: a devaluation of simplicity and generalization in math and science, what I suppose Mandelbrot might call “smoothness,” and a preference for the complex and the multifarious. To some extent this seems to cut against the basic scientific impulse to simplify, to generalize, which is what a law or an equation generally does. In Laughlin I think there is even a certain disillusionment with realism perhaps not totally dissimilar from that in the analysis of language by dear friend Wittgenstein. Although, by encouraging investigation of the specifics and intricacies of phenomena which seem to be superficially covered by the most general and basic laws and to give up idle speculation about the far nether regions of the universe in space and time which cannot in any way be corroborated, he seems to be trying to bring physics back into the solid world of relative certainties and reasonable evidence, it seems to me that this is a tacit admission that the theories which seem to cover and explain adequately all phenomena except for those extreme edges are in actuality insufficient to represent the richness of even the most mundane levels of reality.

Just as in the case of the over-heated discoveries of Wittgeinstein and Cambridge group, this sudden realization that the broad and universal physical laws established and the abstract shapes used to represent them don’t really reflect the full multiplicity of reality seems a little phony to me. I mean, isn’t that the entire point? Isn’t that abstractness and simplicity supposed to yoke all of that complexity within a reasonable level of comprehensibility sufficient to possibly predict other phenomena, or at least relate them to what we have already seen? Now maybe we see a revision in the valuation of these ideals, and in both Laughlin and Mandelbrot a movement away from final solutions, formulations and summations. Seemingly nothing out-of-the-ordinary about that, but if one ceases to regard oneself as capturing the essence of a phenomenon in an equation or image describing it, then that necessarily leads to a re-evaluation of the type of work one is doing and the standard by which it is judged. Let’s put it this way: although there are many rules which often govern both the form and content of a form (some, granted, quite idiosyncratic and individual), it would be quite ludicrous to suggest that a listing of those rules would be an adequate reflection or description of the poem, let alone itself be a poem, or equivalent to the poem.

Philosophically, I’m not troubled by this as many scientists seem to be. Despite the many declarations that Newton had discovered the very mechanism by which God controlled the universe, he himself complained famously that he felt like a dilettante on the shoreline picking up stones and shells that amused him while neglecting the vast ocean before him. This seems unnecessary if one regards theorems as essentially creations, not mirrors of nature, and hence judge the cathedral of scientific knowledge by its height above the ground rather than as an incomplete ladder to the heavens.

"Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them." This is good advice, especially for democracies, which tend (as even Plato and Thucydides noted) to have short-term attention spans. But we shouldn't forget an equally important lesson, articulated most forcefully by Nietzsche: The health of a person and a people also depends vitally on the capacity to forget. Forgetting is necessary to free ourselves from imperfectly understood "lessons of history," so that we can see the challenges ahead clearly, without preconceptions or prejudice. Forgetting is also the better part of forgiving, and there are whole domains of political controversy -- indeed, whole regions of the world -- where a little less history could be of service in this respect.
--Eliot Noyes, Getting Past the Past

So blöd, wie es auf den ersten Blick aussehen mag, war die Frau keineswegs, die am 19.9.2007 einen Ehescheidungsantrag beim Schleswig-Holsteinischen Verwaltungsgericht einreichte. Welches Ziel hatte sie wohl mit ihrer - laut OLG Schleswig rechtsmissbräuchlichen, im Ergebnis aber doch erfolgreichen - Aktion im Auge?

Lochen, Heften und Ablegen sind selbst für einen kleinen Beamten keine ernsthafte Herausforderung. Einen wahren Extremsport scheint hingegen das korrekte Inkraftsetzen eines Bebauungsplans darzustellen, zumindest in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Jedenfalls finde ich in der

Die Polizei in Irland ist einem geheimnisvollen polnischen Verkehrsrowdy auf die Spur gekommen, der landauf, landab die Straßen unsicher zu machen schien - denn gegen den seltsamen Herr Pravo Jazdy liefen Dutzende von Verfahren wegen Schnellfahrens und Parkverstößen. Und irgendwie schaffte es Pravo Jazdy immer, sich der Justiz zu entziehen, indem er eine falsche Adresse angab. Nun hat die Polizei dar Rätsel allerdings gelöst, wenn auch mit dem Ergebnis, dass sie die Bußgelder wohl in den Kamin schreiben kann. Zur Auflösung hier nur so viel: Es wäre nicht weiter verwunderlich, wenn auch ein französischer Adliger namens Permis de Conduire auf der Fahndungsliste stünde.

Gestern habe ich mich bei der

Auch im Regierungsbezirk Detmold ist der Kalte Krieg vorbei, so dass die Bezirksregierung die früher mit öffentlichen Zuschüssen geförderten Schutzräume in Privathäusern nicht mehr für notwendig hält. Das (teilweise) Verbot, solche Räume baulich zu verändern, hat sie daher neulich durch eine

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