If Charles Darwin, author of The Origin of Species, were alive today he would be a very old man. He would more likely than not use a cane and have crooked back and it’s possible that he would have become beard-bald and therefore unrecognizable to the public.

He would surely be preparing for his bicentennial birthday with cake, loot bags, and chips.

Gee Golly, just think about all the fun that could be had!

Others celebrating their bicentennials around the same time would surely join in on the fun. Abe Lincoln would contribute his token top hat in place of the traditional punch bowl. Edgar Allan Poe, the mischievous poet that he probably was would spike the punch and German composer Felix Mendelssohn would be the first to pay the price. He never was able to hold his alcohol after all. (continued on pg. ED5…)

This isn’t really a big deal I’m sure, but I figured I’d throw this little tidbit of nothingness onto the Internet regardless. Last week on reddit, there was a post that made it to the front page about a Human Slinky Show (and not for the first time). Anyway, It reminded me of a video that I made of another show, called Silver Worms, that I recorded while I was in Iceland earlier in the year. I subsequently uploaded the video in hopes to spam some traffic to my blog for ego nourishing reasons. I failed.

Eiher way, the shows were similar only in that there were people dressed in what could only be described as a Slinky. A few days passed by and I got an e-mail from Youtube saying my video had been removed at the request of Veniamin Shows, Inc. for copyright infringement reasons. I know now that the slinky show I witnessed was performed by an Australian duo and had nothing to do with the colorful shows Veniamin put on. (continued on pg. ED5…)

I just completed reading Howard Zinn’s classic, A People’s History of the United States. My mind is awash with anti-establishment, socialist fervor based on the understanding that the capitalist state, which has been in control since the birth of the nation, is fatally flawed. I am suddenly rooting for the unionization of every industry and consider the UAW union’s refusal to compromise during the auto industry bailout a tremendous victory, regardless of the devastating short term consequences that will surely follow. Surely, as I move onto other material, I will drift back into a mindset more in tune with the established stream of thought that is usually presented to me.

However, I will hopefully remain conscious of the book’s message . That is, unless the masses pick up the fight against the status quo, things will continue to crawl ahead favoring those with the most wealth and illusionary influence.

Below is a slightly revised introduction to the chapter on Bill Clinton’s term as president. I changed a few names, a school, a State and some numbers but nothing else. I think it is a nice picture of what the book seemed to repeat over and over and over again. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (continued on pg. ED4…)