Sorry for the late post on this, but I want y'all to know that two weeks ago I saw The Legendary Stardust Cowboy along with the Altamont Boys, featuring Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys.

Yes, now I can die.

I've been enamored of the Ledge since the day The Barrister played for me "Who's Knockin' On My Door" one summer day in Lawrence, likely when we were getting drunk. He's interested in outer space and cowboys, and he's not interested in anything else. When he's gettin' down to the music, he lifts a leg and claps his hands underneath it, then creakily lifts the other legs and claps his hands under that one, too. He did that dance when he played "Who's Knockin' On My Door" (catchphrase: "Do do do. Do do do. Do do do do do do do"). What can I say? When he played it, I had to grab Dr. No and dance with her, to what I consider "our song."

In all seriousness, the band was amazing. They exchanged a lot of wary glances, because apparently you don't play with The Ledge, you play around him. He played many of my favorites, like "Paralyzed" and "I Took A Ride on A Gemini Spaceship." Sadly, he did not play "Someone Took the Yellow From My Egg." That one requires stereo effects.

He also tossed out paper plates on which he'd written his email address. Some on them had his phone number. Naturally, he threw one of those to Dr. No.

Photos, by my friend Aaron, follow:

The Ledge

Klaus Fluoride

The Ledge

The Ledge

The Ledge

The Ledge

A snippet of his legendary "Laugh In" appearance:

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While digging around in my office, I came across two unopened boxes of 3M 5-1/4" double sided diskettes. Anybody need some? They hold 500 KB (360 KB when they're formatted). Maybe I'll just use them to make some books.

In other obsolete office supply news, I also have some toner cartridges for the HP LaserJet 5.

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...is coming back. I'd kinda said goodbye to him in my head and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Still, your leading scorer returns? There's gotta be an upside.

The big question: how serious is that injury?

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Australians share the British pastime of pithy, biting headlines. Unfortunately, I couldn't find links to either of my favorites from today:

"Senate porn-watching ends with anti-climax" - from the Australia Financial Review about a challenge from one state senator to another to go back to her office and prove that unfiltered pornography was readily available, an offer she later backed away from.

and

"The Empire Strikes Back" - from The Australian, discussing the current strained relationship between Catholics and Muslims, over recent comments by the Pope. Inflammatory in its own right, but truly impressive when coupled with this large-print photo. Ouch!

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Tonight I received one of the most awesome pieces of spam email that I've ever seen. It's reprinted below in its entirety, excepting only the URL. On a side note, none of these people seem to realize that I'm 6'3" and have yet to break the 150 pound mark. My life insurance policy penalizes me for being underweight. Anyway, here it is...

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Chlorine Is Essential to Healthy Swimming

ARLINGTON, Va., May 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Memorial Day weekend marks the opening of pools and water parks across the country. To help keep swimmers healthy and happy this summer, the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Chlorine Chemistry Division is pleased to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week held May 21-27, 2007.

Swimming is a fun and healthy activity, yet it is important to emphasize healthy swimming behaviors and recreational water illness prevention. Preventing water borne illnesses requires participation from pool staff, swimmers and community health departments.

"Chlorine is part of the first line of defense pool staff use against germs that can make swimmers sick," stated Robert Simon, Managing Director for the American Chemistry Council's Chlorine Chemistry Division. "For nearly a century, chlorine disinfectants have been essential in protecting public health by destroying disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites found in water."

While proper pool maintenance is essential to healthy pools, swimmers also have an important role in helping to protect themselves and others. To stop germs from causing illness at the pool, CDC recommends "healthy swimming" behaviors, including:

• Always showering before entering the pool
• Never swallowing pool water
• Take children for frequent bathroom breaks, and
• Don't swim when you have diarrhea.

A key to protection from waterborne illness is to stay aware of the signs that the pool or spa is not well maintained. CDC encourages swimmers to be proactive by asking about the water testing and treatment in local pools as well as following the tips for swimmers available at: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/pdf/pool_user_tips.pdf.

Chlorine is essential to healthy pools and healthy swimmers. ACC's Chlorine Chemistry Division is committed to its ongoing partnerships with CDC, the Water Quality & Health Council, and the National Consumers League to promote the health of pools and swimmers across the nation.

For more information visit: http://www.healthypools.org.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is committed to improving environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care(R), common sense advocacy, environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $635 billion enterprise and a key element of the U.S. economy. It is one of the nation's largest exporters, accounting for ten cents of every dollar in exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development, with their products improving the quality of life for all people through essential advances in public health, clean drinking water and new technologies.

The Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council represents major producers and users of chlorine in the United States. The chlor-alkali industry contributes over $2 billion to the North American economy annually and helps provide thousands of essential products, including drinking water disinfectants, PVC pipe, 93 percent of all pharmaceuticals, 25 percent of all medical plastics and 86 percent of crop protection chemicals.

SOURCE American Chemistry Council
/CONTACT: Tiffany Harrington of American Chemistry Council, +1-202-741-5583, tiffany_harrington@americanchemistry.com

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Bicyclist in my building can strap their rides to a set of bike racks in the underground garage. We were restricted to one, initially, while the delivery guys at the corner restaurant used the other. When the restaurant went out of business, the commuters got the bike rack. Then a third was added. We cyclists, often crammed handlebar-to-handlebar, were living large.

This riding season, our first bicycle rack has been taken from us. Someone hung a sign on it that says "Please do not use this bike rack." You can kinda see it above. Now, something it helps to understand: That bicycle rack isn't attached to the floor. It's not bound in cement. You can pick it up, you can move it. You can get rid of it. Presumably, whoever hung that sign could have moved the rack or thrown it out.

Instead, a decision was made to hang, on a bicycle rack, a very formal-looking sign that says "Please do not use this bike rack." Think of a parking meter that says, "Do not park here."

That's not all. You'll see there's a bike locked up to the rack. Apparently in defiance. The bike's been there for months. Months. Apparently, if you defy the sign, nothing happens to you.

I'm trying to figure out how all this came to be. Who in the building decided that the bike rack shouldn't no longer be used, but under no circumstances must be disposed of and moved? So a sign forbidding its use turned out the be the only answer?

And who is the brave soul who decided to fight back against this administrative nonsense, in their own act of defiance?

It's the point at which some combination of stubbornness, defiance and stupidity have come together. You be the judge which is winning.

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Last week, the NYT informed us about Leonard Nimoy's latest photography project.

The beauty of YouTube is that you can watch Leonard Nimoy in a Bangles video that you thought you would never see again.

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ESPN identifies the 8 most irritating types of pickup basketball players. You'll recognize them from the basketball court at Stephenson. Who am I on the list? "The Guy Who Is Too Good," of course. Definitely not "The Dirty Old Man."

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Holiday in Cambodia? No, but I did have a Birthday in Tasmania. Turns out, it's nice. Sort of a combination of Oregon and the Adirondacks. But, you know, British. Except not. So much for my travel writing career.

Also, I've been learning a bit about hurling from my boss here, who's Irish. A violent sport, that. There are a few ex-pat and backpacker teams that make a league of sorts in Melbourne. There are the Shamrocks, of course. But demonstrating the dark humor and black irony that make the Irish who they are, one of the weekend league teams dubbed themselves Sinn Fein. Of course, the real muscle is the GAA, and the infamous Rule 42.

"Several broken sticks, two broken heads, and two bruised fingers were part of the afternoon's play, for hurling, the Irish national game is the fastest and probably the most dangerous of sports. It is a combination of hockey, football, golf, baseball, battle and sudden death. It was a real Irish game."
- Daily Mail, reporting on a match held in London (1921)

Speaking of non-Gaelic games, I also went to a Rugby match recently. FYI - in Rugby League, the scrums are totally fake (see item 4). In Rugby Union, at least they try to put on a show. Oh, and what music do the Melbourne Storm play when they get ready to take the field? That's right, Thunderstruck! Finally a music selection at a sports event that actually makes sense!

I'm not too good about the running commentary on goings-on, but Mrs. Soul keeps her blog pretty well up to date. There should be some nice pics of Tasmania up in a few days, so take a look. I've seen the trail of a Plantnerd there a few times...

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You can help choose Hillary Clinton's campaign song. Unfortunately, I either don't like the songs (e.g. I heard "Right Here, Right Now" enough in 1991 to last me a lifetime) or they freak me out (e.g., "get ready, 'cause here I come").

So, I ended up writing in Muse's "Knights of Cydonia."

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I saw this over at TNR.

In other news, I just finished Rant and enjoyed it quite a bit more than Janet Maslin did (and here I thought she liked everything). Maybe it was only because Palahniuk namechecked Jean Stein at the beginning, but I thought it was a fun little read.

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I don't know whether it's comforting or depressing to realize that the head of the World Bank lives in a house with a crappy house number sign, an overgrown lawn, a shutter missing slats, and a broom on the front porch. When you think of places where people with titles like "Head of the World Bank" would live, you don't expect them to look so normal.

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Yesterday I was driving across town and noticed I was running on fumes. Filling up the 18 gallon tank cost about $53. That's US Dollars. This pauperizing event spurred me to visit the bike shop today to replace my old mountain bike that was crumpled by some delinquent high school student (see: my longest post ever) and then sold for a few bucks to some hard-up fellow who had a replacement wheel. I have a friend who works at Sunflower who got me a good deal on this bike. I'm pretty happy with it, but then it doesn't take much after years of riding the 300lb cast-iron "I'll shift gears when I damn well feel like it" 1990 Specialized Hard Rock. So... hooray for me. Tomorrow I can get back to riding to work and saving some gas money.

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As part of its series of programs to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, Brooklyn Public Library is hosting a Jewish Gangsters Film Series.

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The Suns are playing the Spurs tonight in an important game 5 without Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw who were suspended by the NBA for leaving the bench during an altercation. Of course, Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen left the bench during a scuffle earlier in the game, but they weren't suspended because the league did not consider that an "altercation."

I, like a lot of people, am pissed off that the NBA is punishing the cheap shot by the Spurs ends up hurting the Suns more. Playing Whack-A-Horry, though, helps me vent some of that frustration.

In former Big 8/12 player news, I was stunned to learn Eric Piatkowski is on the Suns roster when I saw him during a shot of the Phoenix bench. Paul Shirley, a former Cyclone who made a name for himself by blogging what it was like to be on the Suns bench during the playoffs two years ago, now has a book out (with an intro by Chuck Klosterman) and is writing about the NBA playoffs on Slate with Neil Pollack.

Last month, Neil wrote about his visit to the all-you-can-eat bleacher section at Dodger Stadium. The visit ended with him vomiting during the car ride home. I was disappointed. If you were to ask me to name a writer for Slate that could handle that assignment, Neil Pollack would have been my first choice. I guess getting married and having a kid has taken the edge off him.

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Mr. Guapo's post about TryBecca's list of books not to read on the train struck a nerve with me because I am currently also reading god is not great on the subway. Of course, my copy is from BPL, so the price didn't matter to me.

The other morning on the D train, there was a black street preacher singing gospel songs and generally annoying people about how they're going to hell if they don't have Jesus. I just sat there praying, "please don't let this guy see the title of the book I'm reading." I guess Hitchens must be wrong, because there is a god: the preacher didn't notice the title.

In other god is not great news, Mitt Romney accused Al Sharpton of bigotry due to a comment Sharpton made during a debate with Hitchens. This debate was actually sponsored by NYPL and you can watch it on Slate. The end result: Sharpton loves NYPL because "any publicity is good publicity" but Mitt Romney isn't our biggest fan.

Hitchens uses logic to address the fundamental flaws of religion, much like the Rational Response Squad. My preferred method of dealing with religious types is by using illogic. If you're just sitting around in public doing nothing, like messengers spend a fair amount of time doing, you're a target for religious types. My favorite example of this is when I tried to convert two Mormon missionaries who were trying to convert me to Mormonism to become Jews for Jesus.

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On a blog called Trybecca, via Gawker: Books you should think twice about before reading on the train. Hellx, did you see anything like this?

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The Western Conference Semifinals have been a lot of fun. While the NCAA with its single elimination structure has one kind of magic, the best of seven format of the NBA playoffs has its own magic. Sure, you don't get the all day basketball orgy of the first couple of rounds of the NCAA tournament, but you get at least one good game on every night for weeks.

Plus, you get series like the Suns-Spurs where the bad blood from one game spills into the next and each game is more intense than the last. In game 3, Bruce Bowen kneed Steve Nash in the balls (wait for the reaction of the Chinese broadcasters when they realize what happened). Coming on the heels of Bowen kicking Amare Stoudemire in game 2, it's no wonder that Horry's flagrant foul in game 4 has ramped up the intensity.

Spurs fans are claiming that Bruce Bowen's kick at Amare Stoudemire's achilles in Game 2 was an accident -- his foot just accidentally got tangled up with Amare's. However, Bruce's foot seems to "accidentally" be right under shooters quite frequently. Intentional kicks by Bowen have also been documented.

While I can appreciate Bowen's sneaky dirtiness, that skill got me a letter in high school, it's kind of hard to actively root for that style. That's why I'm pulling for the Suns. Well, that and I'd like to be Steve Nash.

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The NYT is reporting that Law &Order has been renewed for an 18th season. It blew my mind because I cannot believe that this show has been on television for over half of my life and I have never seen an episode of it. I mean, I guess I've been generally aware of its existence and, every now and then, I see a show on a television at the gym that looks like it could be Law & Order, but I've never really seen an episode.

If you had asked me how long Law & Order had been on television, I might have said 6 or 7 years.

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Even for our rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, the transformation of the local Kodak film development shack into a liquor store happened pretty quick. The owners -- who owned the place when it developed film, and own it now as a liquor store -- are from Poland and criticize bad vodka as "like photo chemicals." Guess they'd know.

Their wine is surprisingly good.

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You may hear this statement, as we did, on a night you attend Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Karaoke. We learned it's harder to sing Guns N Roses than you might think. But singing Danzig? 'Bout as easy as you think.

This was brought to us by my friend Aaron, with whom we will later this month see The Legendary Stardust Cowboy.

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There's been a lot of talk about Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion bid for the Wall Street Journal. One line of speculation is that Murdoch wants the name so he can put it on Fox's new financial news channel.

Me? I'm looking forward to more hedcuts of pervs.

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This is absolutely the best quote from the NYT's story on duck genitalia.

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Herbert F. Kornfeld, R.I.P.

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