Trade in woolly mammoth tusk ivory

Mammoth tusk necklace

With the ban on elephant ivory, Siberians are making a killing harvesting tusks from mammoths.  There are 150 million TONS of tusks buried in the permafrost.  And with global warming, more and more are popping up everyday.  Here is a fascinating 2-minute news piece on what carvers have been able to do with them.

Paul's Boutique (take two)

As many of you know by now, the Beastie Boys' MCA just passed away. For many Gen Xers like me, the group and its music were an integral part of our teenage and adult lives.

Fight for Your Right was the anthem of angst-filled (but still fun-loving) high schoolers until the more angst-filled Nirvana came along.

Brass Monkey was a standard at every college party. Even today, we turn up the volume of our car radios whenever this 25 (!) year old song comes on.

Sabotage's video proved beyond a shadow of a doubt how irreverent, funny, and entertaining the boys were.

Intergalactic showed us just how much staying power these guys possessed. Whereas some great bands had their glory days pigeonholed to a certain decade or two, the Beastie Boys were ever-evolving and always relevant.

But I have to go back to Paul's Boutique. Their second album was often overlooked, under-appreciated, or just flat out ignored. This was one of the first CDs I ever owned. Every song was new, fresh, and different. Just search "Paul's Boutique" on YouTube and check it out!

RIP MCA

Painting of Obama burning the Constitution

From the artist's FB page:

“’I pledge allegiance to the United States of America,
And not to an ideology, which can never stand,
One nation under socialism, divisive,
With no liberty or justice for anyone.’
This November, you will make a choice. Will you choose One Nation Under Socialism?”

Bashar al-Assad likes New Order too!

While Assad was butchering his people, he also had time to download songs on iTunes.  The list is fairly eclectic.  But what is most sobering is that he downloads stuff just like you and me in his spare time, except he's a brutal dictator.

Among the files he downloaded, as uncovered by The Guardian:

• Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order (see above).
• Don't Talk Just Kiss by Right Said Fred.
• Can't Go Wrong by The Cover Girls.
• Harry Potter Deathly Hallows, Part II
• various Harry Potter apps.
• Steve Jobs biography.

I guess what really sent chills up my spine is that I've been on a huge New Order kick recently, especially after I got the Slacker Radio app.  Here are my most listened to channels:

1. New Order
2. Erasure
3. Mitch Hedberg
4. Chris Rock
5. Dave Attell
6. The B-52s
7. Toad the Wet Sprocket
8. Public Enemy
9. 10,000 Maniacs
10. Bjork
11. Mazzy Star
12. Cowboy Junkies

One Nation Under God painting

Jesus is holding the U.S. Constitution and judging you.  The group on the bottom right corner includes a weeping Supreme Court Justice, a pregnant woman with a disabled fetus, a lawyer counting money, a liberal journalist, a cell phone wielding politician, a smug Hollywood type, and a professor holding Darwin's Origin of Species.

The artist was kind enough to interpret the entire painting for us here.

North Koreans covering A-Ha's Take On Me with accordions

Hoarding Ford Crown Vics

Am trying to work this into a Hooniverse post.  Telstar Logistics took this picture at CHP's West Sacramento yard last weekend.

Van Halen (with David Lee Roth) coming out with new album

It's been 28 years since their last album together.