What a Difference Having a Good Governor Makes to Maine

Portland Press Herald: Maine picks laptops – but not Apples
An exclusive contract comes to an end as the governor and state education officials go with Hewlett-Packard.

What a Difference Having a Good Governor Makes to Maine
What a Difference Having a Good Governor Makes to Maine

Go see Bob Mould while he is on tour with a band

If you live in Chicago,  Minneapolis,  Seattle,   Portland,  San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego you would be nuts not to go see Bob Mould while he is on tour with a band (those are the remaining dates).

He is traveling with Jason Narducy (ex Verbow) on Bass  and John Wurster (ex Superchunk) on Drums.

I experienced an excellent show last week in Boston, at the Paradise.

Tour dates here: http://granarymusic.com/tour/dates/ or here: http://bobmould.com/shows

A little video taste of the show is here:

and a photo here:

Bob Mould Band at the Paradise Boston 10-07-2009
Bob Mould Band at the Paradise Boston 10-07-2009

Wonderful sarcasm disguised as an article about absinthe

The New York Times: The Diluted Mystery of Absinthe starts out with a headline of “Care for an Absinthe? Ptooey!” which made me giggle.  But the best stuff I must quote:

If absinthe were a band, it would be Interpol, third-hand piffle masquerading as transgressive pop culture. If absinthe were sneakers, it would be a pair of laceless Chuck Taylors designed by John Varvatos for Converse. If it were facial hair, it would be the soul patch. If absinthe were a finish on kitchen and bath fixtures, it would be brushed nickel.

and then later on:

You could say that absinthe is a kindred spirit of so many falsely subversive things: ear piercing for men, tattoos on women, those cigar bars, pole-dancing-aerobics classes, mind erasers, blogging about one’s bikini grooming, naming one’s bong after a cartoon character.

and tops it off with:

“It was lots of people who knew each other through the online absinthe community,” he added. (Like Chuck Norris ephemera and role-play games, absinthe has a big Internet presence.)…”

I hope it wasn’t just me who was ROTFL