No Data Source

Howard Zinn is on par with Noam Chomsky for his historical knowledge and perspective. One of his better known works is “A People’s History of the United States”. Read Ch16 - A People’s War? online.

These bberg kids give hipsters a bad name, but their musical tastes aren’t bad. Also check out Free Williamsburg for some more good music reviews.

If you’re into politically themed cartoons, you’ll Clay Bennett. Here’s the archive.

hugh macleod has a whole archive of comics draw on business cards. Call it a Gawker-loving New York comic commentary.

These drones first made headlines when a Predator managed to assassinated some terror suspects in Yemen back in November 2002.

Basically they are small enough, and fly high enough such that they are hard to spot, yet they carry some heavy-duty firepower. Someone back at the base station monitors through a remote camera, and zeros in on their target, then press the big red button.

The Codex Seraphinianvs is a book of mythical proportions which has apparently come back in print in French and Spanish, however it’s still not cheap at $250. I’m going to find a place in New York which has a copy before I shell out the cash. The above site will give you a taste.

[Metafilter]

You may not know it, but you’ve definitely seen work by Tom Otterness. He’s done a lot of public art around NYC, most notably the liliputian people scattered around the 14th street subway, and The Real World at Battery Park City.

If you’re looking for art with an uncomfortable message, or difficult subject, you won’t find it here, but his stuff is enjoyable nonetheless.

You may have seen the some of these other devices which wirelessly connect your MP3 collection on your computer to your stereo. Here’s another from Slim Devices. Not too expensive, ~$180, with a remote control, just plug into your local network. Comes with a purdy web interface to manage your MP3 collection. Here’s the brochure.

I still don’t know if I like Matthew Barney’s work. I remember being dragged to see Cremaster 5 at Fil\m Forum back in 1997, and wanting to leave the theatre. He makes a bad nightmare or acid trip seem like a walk in the park, for they contain only the fears and discomforts you can imagine.

[Gawker]

There are many questions and problems that confront us in modern times. Some of them involve problems in lands and people from afar.

Can we find answers in the bible to understand the situation we confront in the middle east? In particular… “Does the Bible foretell regime change in Iraq? Did God establish Israel’s boundaries millennia ago? Is the United Nations a forerunner of a satanic world order?”

Check out this Dachshund Early Comics site, a gorgeous history of comics from as far back as 840 Anno Domini, all the way into the 20th century. Gives new meaning to comic as artform, and how it got that way. It’s gonna take some time to peruse all this goodness.

Here’s a little under-the-radar bit of news. There are three myserious ships that have been circling the globe for the past few months, maintaining radio silence. British and US intelligence have been monitoring them for fear they may contain Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

If you’re interested in Buddhism, you’ll love this Himalayan Art site. Best of all, when you get to browsing particular pictures, they have a very sophisticated, and detailed zooming mechanism, allowing you to see minor details in the works.

If you’re looking for some new and creative way to get in shape, check out some New york area climbing gyms. The 59th Street City Climbers Club seems to be the best for the money, with a lot of grassroots connection to climbing in NYC. Another big spot is Chelsea Piers though not cheap. More info and location.

One more reason why I love Japanese fashion so much. Check out these funny skirts, and t-shirts which are silkscreened to look like they’re see-through. Funny.

Wonder if these will catch on in the states…

[boingboing + Geisha Asobi]

Geto Boys - wise words for curious times…

damn it feels good to be a gangster
get voted into the whitehouse
everything lookin’ good to the people of the world
but the mafia family is my boss
so every now and then I owe a favor gettin’ there
like lettin’ a big drug shipment through
and send them to the poor community
so we can bust you know who
so voters of the world keep supportin’ me
and I promise to take you very far
other leaders better not upset me
or I’ll send a million troops to die at war
so all you republicans that helped me to win
I’d sincerely like to thank you
because now I got the world swingin’ from my nuts
damn it feels good to be a gangster

The big boys are getting really nervous. Citibank wants a gag order to hide vulnerabilities in their ATM’s. Talks of phantom withdrawls, and the “bad guys” getting ahold of this information. Just keep the public from knowing, PLEASE.

[Slashdot]

Check out this site Children’s Books of The Early Soviet Era. I finally get a good definition of what agit-prop means.

[Speckled Paint]

That’s the way, burn what you don’t like. Not much more I can say here.

What a list of actions.

[DimResponsibility]

Check out some of genomic art for an intersection of science and art.
These would make nice desktop backgrounds!

[Diminished Responsibility]

So it seems University City Missouri, and a bunch of bleeding heart booksellers are on the warpath with these terrorists to protect their sacred little constitution.

Constitution, constipation, consti-pollution…

Check out Derek Kirk Kim’s comic called
Same Difference. What should I lump this comic into… a sort of Korean Waking Life?

It’s gorgeous, read it.

[Metafilter]

I find this rather incredible and am very skeptical. Nevertheless scientists say they’ve found a gene responsible for pain. They say tough guys and wimps carry different forms of this gene.

This seems difficult to swallow because pain is such a subjective and consensus defined thing. Further your tolerance for it can change based on your health, and life experience.

(BTW, this is the 200th article on nds.com!)

Head over to Web Zen. There you’ll find old airline logos, vintage luggage labels , and old maps. What I like most of all though are the postcards from LA and Vegas.

[boingboing]

Shame on these 25% of Americans for thinking it’s ok to defraud insurance companies. Just plain dishonest you say.

But with the percentages so high, is there something else at work?

Claire Wolfe’s words nearly six years ago on Land-Mine Legislation are more pertinent today than ever. Of late the erosion of the constitution is ever faster.

Edge.org often has interesting new ideas, being composed of such luminaries as … Brockman’s forthcoming book The New Humanists will likely be no exception.

In particular, take a look at comments by some of my favorites Jaron Lanier and Douglas Rushkoff.

I’ve heard people complain that there is no good new music. My retort, you’re not looking. For some of you this is old news. For others, you’ll find Other Music refreshing.

The great thing about this site is there are sound samples so you can browse to find what you like, even if you don’t know the latest buzz-word genre it might fall under. When you find what you like, just head over to 15E4th street, and pick it up! (They have mailorder if you’re outside of NYC)

Recently in a book by RAW I read of an ancient chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”.
This seemed curious to me so I did some more reading.

First I checked Google for
interesting times chinese curse.

University of Wyoming is monitoring it’s network and fingerprint p2p traffic in attempt to stop those pesky little students from sharing content protected under the DMCA.