The Boston Phoenix PHLOG

Obama's Fourth: Cox in Butte action (VIDEO!)

phloggist — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:50:00 GMT

Nothing to see here: just Barack Obama and the fam enjoying a leisurely Fourth of July out in Montana.

In Butte, actually. Hmm. And then inexplicably a truck marked "Cox" rolls by.

Is this dude fucking with us?

(Equally inexplicable: the horrible cover band playing "Sweet Home Alabama." Dude, you're in Montana!)

What about McCain's mental health?

phloggist — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:57:00 GMT

Don't jangle those keys!

In this week's Providence Phoenix, liberal scribe Mary Ann Sorrentino (a favorite amongst the Phoenix web staffers) writes an excellent piece voicing concerns about John McCain's mental health. From the piece:

"Much has been said about the government’s failure to provide veterans with the medical help they need. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that only 23 percent to 40 percent of soldiers suffering from PTSD seek help because of the stigma the military attaches to psychiatric treatment.

In John McCain: An American Odyssey (Free Press, 2007) author Robert Timberg (who knows, the candidate has said, “more about me than I do”) calls McCain’s legendary rages “out of all proportion to the provocation.” He has also cited the sound of jangling keys as a trigger for McCain’s POW-related nightmares.

Columnist Sidney Blumenthal has quoted McCain as calling colleagues “asshole” and “fucking jerk” on the Senate floor. Even if this were considered “normal” behavior, it would be difficult to classify it as “presidential.”

As with Hillary Clinton’s red telephone commercial, all this raises a question: if the call comes at 3 am, do voters want the awakened president to be prone to disproportionate rages or trauma associated with jangling keys?"

Yikes. In case you're in Boston, and thus have no access to the fine writings of our friends down south(ish), you can read the rest here.

VIDEO: Boston Phoenix staff eaten by crocodiles!

phloggist — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:38:00 GMT

Well, not really -- but, look, it's not completely out of the question. The rest of the Boston Phoenix staff is off on a summer picnic today, boating out to the Harbor Islands en masse for several hours of reflection and contemplation. We haven't heard from them in a few hours, so it's entirely possible that they've been eaten by crocodiles. And of course it's possible that someone got it on video.

In the meantime, we bring you this video that we found on National Geographic, which shows what happens when a baby hippos start gnawing on crocodiles. (Warning: super-cuteness alert!):

Truth be told, we were scouting out the Nat'l Geo site for signs of this Bjork/Sigur Ros show that they're streaming on the interwebs tomorrow, live from Iceland -- we're a little bummed we can't TIVO this thing, but if you happen to be in front of your browser tomorrow (instead of at the beach?) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., you may want to point yourself over here.

Flashbacks: The Milton apparition deciphered, Scot Lehigh on skydiving, and the man behind a far-out idea for providing solar power

phloggist — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:34:00 GMT

LISTEN UP
5 Years Ago
June 27, 2003 | Michael Bronski explained the meaning behind the Blessed Virgin Mary's appearance on a window at Milton Hospital .
"...Obviously, the BVM has a message for us today. The trick is in deciphering it. Fortunately, her appearance in Milton is easy to interpret. The BVM chose to appear at a hospital because she is speaking about matters of physical health. No doubt she is unhappy with the rancorous debates about Medicare and prescription drugs taking place in Congress. She may also be speaking to the horrific problem of AIDS in Africa, which has been exacerbated by the failure of the US government and pharmaceutical companies to do anything about it. There can be little debate on the meaning of this apparition, because let’s face it — if she wanted to give her blessing to the ongoing occupation of Iraq , she would have manifested herself at the Pentagon. If she wanted to support war profiteering, she would have made an appearance at the headquarters of Halliburton...The BVM doesn’t make a lot of the personal appearances, so when she does, it’s a good idea to pay attention." Read Full Article

SNUBBING SCIENCE
10 Years Ago
June 26, 1998 | Ellen Barry investigated the scientific objections to everyone’s favorite cult-classic alien TV show.
“Yes, the skeptics of the world are united in giving The X-Files the old secular-humanist thumbs-down, according to statements from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP, which has kept a close eye on weeping Madonnas and floating balls of light since 1976. What it comes down to is a pattern of discrimination. “ ‘It’s always the mystical explanation that prevails, and science is shown as incapable of dealing with it,’ says Matt Nisbet, a CSICOP, ‘But suppose Hollywood produced a show that was fictional in nature in which there is a black suspect and a white suspect and the black suspect was always guilty, would you be able to defend that as only fiction? It’s a negative stereotype.’ ” THE THINGS WE DO FOR STORIES
25 Years Ago
June 21, 1983 | Scot Lehigh leaped out of a plane for no good reason or if you’d rather, went skydiving.
“ ‘Stand by,’ the jumpmaster yelled, his voice above the engine’s roar breaking my fright-frozen fixation on the ground. My right hand moved out to grasp the strut, and it and my left hand started to pull against the wind of a 70-mile-an-hour flight to get my body out of the plane...I know it’s idiocy, but I’ll just do it, I thought. I won’t think about it; I’ll just fling myself back...Instantly everything went from a confused, windy whoosh to a falling, dizz ying, streaking blur...I reached for the reserve rip and was about to pull it when — whump — the main chute clapped open, and my 160-foot free-fall ended with a sharp jerk. I looked up to see the parachute — surprisingly small, I thought — between me and the hazy sky...Now, the rushing confusion of free fall quieted, it seemed virtually silent...Although I knew my rate of descent was around 15 feet per second, it seemed unexpectedly gentle and slow as I looked farther out, south to Quabbin Reservoir, and over to the town of Orange.” SOLAR SHOWER
30 Years Ago
June 27, 1978 | Michael Matza profiled Dr. Peter Glaser, the man behind a far-out idea for providing solar power.
“Like other scientists working on the long-term energy needs of the planet, Glaser cites the Arab oil embargo of 1973 as the catalyst for exploring alternatives. Unlike other proponents of renewable solar power, those who would capture the sun’s energy through decentralized, ground-based collectors, Glaser advocates centralized power production on a scale that is truly staggering. His scheme calls for numerous 20,000-ton satellites to be placed in synchronous orbit 22,000 miles above the earth. Solar panels on them would collect the sun’s energy, convert it to microwaves and beam it to earth. Huge, six-mile-diameter receiving antennas located on earth would catch the microwaves and reconvert them to electricity. The resulting energy would be distributed to regional utility power pools and sold to consumers...Because the satellites required would be larger (72 miles square) than any we could hope to launch from earth, they would have to be constructed in space by a team of at least 400 trained astronaut-laborers. It’s here that the project begins to sound like science fiction. According to one plan kicking about, the required materials for the satellites would come from mining the moon.”

Words on the street

phloggist — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Let's talk about street art, shall we? "Street art," as a term, is so broad (as is the concept it represents), and there are so many different types of street art out there that it's easy to forget that some street art - a lot of it, in fact - has a point. Sometimes that point is direct and profound, and sometimes it's open to interpretation. Consider Shepard Fairey's Progress/Obama poster, or nearly anything Banksy does. It's like thousands of open-ended messages lining the streets of your city, just waiting for you to notice them. And there's no more overt way to convey a message via street art than to use words. For today's street art fix, feast your eyes upon the word-centric images below, all from the Boston area.

Photos by Alix Piorun.

Photo by historygradguy.

Photos by sushiesque.

Seen near the Wall in Central Square. Photo by famed Phoenix intern, Jason O'Bryan.

Photo by walknboston.

Photos by 5m@5hYdez.