Month: September 2004

The Zappa’s: A Collaborative Writing Effort

I have 6 gmail invites just waiting to be passed on, and who better to give them to than you, esteemed Hot Poop reader. Of course, you’ll have to do something in return. With that in mind, let’s indulge in a bit of collaborative writing, shall we? We’re going to write a mini “The Zappa’s” and the idea is that each participant in the comments takes the storyline off where the last one left it. First 6 respondants with valid email addresses get the invites. I’ll kick it off, you take it from there:

– Gail Zappa (GZ): Joe! Get your ass over here like, pronto!
– Joe Travers (JT): (stumbles out of the vault, covered in analog tape) Uh yeah?
– GZ: What’s that noise I hear comin’ out of the vault?
– JT: Uh well…

Don’t forget to register to vote

According to an article in the major U.S. newspaper USA Today, overseas votes could make a big impact on the upcoming election. Only 51% of the potential U.S. voters showed up at the polls in 2000. This year all American voices need to be heard, but there are millions of Americans who live outside the U.S. who are not yet registered to vote. If you’re a U.S. citizen, you can use this URL to easily register to vote. This year, every vote counts!

Selling Bootlegs Now Legal

A US federal judge has ruled that it is perfectly legal to make a business of selling bootleg recordings. The decision “stands in marked contrast to existing law and prior decisions that have determined that Congress was well within its constitutional authority to adopt legislation that prevented trafficking in copies of unauthorized recordings of live performances,” said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the RIAA. (thanks SOFA)

Meet Robostrider

A tiny robot that can walk on the surface of the water. Interesting. But, please, check Fig 5. What is this? Is this a censored picture of two water striders, caught in the act..? Notice the euphemism in the text “during rowing or to support the weight of a companion”…oh, yes…duh, rowing! What about the stripes covering the parts, and the shameful faces, it’s like they say “yes, we are very famous porn water striders stars, but we needed the money, and here we are, posing for this supposedly scientific site…”? Do they think we can’t notice? How many more censorship attacks from the government are we going to support? Aing?

Orchestral Subculture

Frank Zappa’s Orchestral Subculture: “Zappa was a hopelessly conflicted practitioner of absolute-music aesthetics in a world that chose to hear him as a rock star–he was a “serious” composer who made it to the top ten and won a Grammy (for the album Jazz from Hell, 1986) at the very point in his career when he found such industry honors most hateful and embarrassing.” (Go read the article and then come back to explain the word “Darmstadtian” to me)