Patrick Banister comes in with a link I think I've seen before, but nevertheless, completely marvel over each time. Incredible, in many respects. First off, the work is so striking. And second, it's just kind of scary all over, in a real life, ominous way. Here you go: "Cultural Revolution Clip Art, Circa 1971." Cultural revolution/Communist/Bolshevik/Russian imagery, art, posters, stamps, tracts...whatever....have always fascinated me. And I've linked a good pile of them over the last couple years here and there. But always with a little hesitation. I mean, on a graphic level, they are pretty amazing. There's design history there. But on a human level, they often turn out to represent the darkest sides of humanity. Repression. Slaughter. Freedoms taken away. Forced ideologies. Refugees. Complete families wiped out. Scary stuff. Ugly history. And completely real. So just for the record, that's where my head was at when I linked this Flickr set up. Out of respect for a couple readers who've chimed in over the years, and made me think about this stuff in new ways....

For many small business owners, the rise in Oregon's minimum wage is frightening. "It's a big increase," said Tina Thompson, co-owner of a Dutch Bros. Coffee stand at 8940 S.W. Hall Boulevard in Beaverton. "Kind of with the economy slowing things down and stuff, ...

Well - it was a belated Christmas, but it certainly was a lovely one after all. I had so many wonderful gifties from creative friends. Wanted to share the awesomeness. Above there are gourd bowls that Bridget brought from her trip to Oaxaca. I'm amazed by the intricacy of the carvings. Bridget says that the artisans [...] Related posts:

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Excerpt from a recent post to Quaker-P (Jan 3, 2009):

Buy stuff from the LCD menu, get tokens per vendor-sponsored games, and commit to various charities (could be competitive i.e. you keep some of the money yourself if you're a strong player, but if you lose you know it's to a good cause of your choosing e.g. Friends Peace Teams (depends on the shop, its selection of vendors, what your choices might be)).

Of course the cynics are saying we're just doing this to take the edge off casino gambling, removing the stigma. A percentage of winnings funneled through a "public switchboard" seems like even more direct control than we get over our taxes (like sales taxes), how they're spent by non-transparent legislatures (where are their billboard-sized displays?).

Here you get to commit some casino profits yourself through another colorful game...

My friend and I are looking for a ride from Corvallis to Portland preferably this Friday afternoon/evening. We can pitch in a bit for gas money. We are nice, interesting, not stinky, and won't have much stuff. If you can help us out, please comment or email me! Thank you!


(And yes, we already checked CL.)

I discovered that there is an entire store devoted to Nothing. But. Pirate. Stuff.

This boggles my mind. There are so many ways that's awesome.

In the eternal battle between pirates and ninjas*, I admit, I'm a pirate partisan. So I'm gonna have to score this round to the pirates. Do ninjas have their own stores? No. I think not.

Sure, there are "martial arts" stores and stores devoted to Asiana, but specifically and exclusively ninja stuff? I see none. There appear to be some online stores, but no actual storefronts.

And to those who would suggest that ninja stores are just hidden, I say, again: show me the evidence.

If nothing else, pirates take the lead. Good job, pirates! Or should I say, "Arrrrrr!"

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* Isn't it just as awesome that there's an entire page on Wikipedia devoted to the eternal battle between pirates and ninjas? I love Wikipedia.

new dog in the home. his namesake is the great "Bob" himself. if you do not know who "Bob" Dobbs is, check out the below link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._%22Bob%22_Dobbs "Bob" (from here only referred to with out quotes in the name of slack) was found by a friend of Jenn's, Stacy, down in the Antioch California area.  as the original [...]

If you want to see Jeff Merkley's swearing-in tomorrow, CSPAN2 will cover it live. The ceremony gets underway at 9AM Pacific Time and is scheduled to run for about an hour. What you won't see is a swearing in ceremony for a bunch of other potential Senators who either have yet to have their victory sealed or their appointment completed. Or maybe they'll just be a little late to the party. Some of this stuff has eroded what little confidence I had in Harry Reid's political ability. He's been a disaster lately. In Minnesota, Al Franken was the confirmed winner...