If you do a lot of shipping, I suggest you read the rest of this article from the Consumerist. Straight from a Postal worker’s mouth, there’s advice to keep yourself from getting wallet raped at the Post Office.

i can’t stop watching this clip of the daily show. it seems wrong to laugh this hard at corruption and economic peril, but i can’t help it.

paul has been using pandora at work these days. it played him a song that he came home and played for me. it’s called “i’m sorry for what my people did to your people” and it’s by larry gallagher and it’s awesome.

thematically, it reminds me a little of “love me, i’m a liberal” by phil ochs, and nelly mckay‘s “really“… not that the songs are the same, but they have something in common at least in the way they make me feel inspired and embarrassed and smart, all at the same time.

anyway, i love it. you might too. clicky.mp3.

also, here’s a video for larry’s “ode to the nokia ringtone.”

*update* — i bought two of his cds, (this one and this one) and having listened to them both i can now report:

smart, funny, grown-up, and musically interesting… my favorites.

larry gallagher = excellence

i’m well aware that the u.s. army has been desperately coaxing enthusiastically recruiting personnel by lowering test score requirements and cranking out felony waivers.

i wonder what these trainees i found on flickr were promised? maybe after they’re shipped to afghanistan er, iraq, eh… iran, they get all the candy they can eat and combat boots that light up in the back?

sure looks like fun. clicky.

i know that he gets a lot of crap for… well, i guess for being randy newman. while he has become a kind of caricature of himself over time, i submit this argument:

who hasn’t? have you taken a good hard look at your parents lately?

anyway, disney theme songs aside, i like randy. here’s a reason:

here’s another, just for fun. clicky.

for as long as the internets have been luring me into hours of research on my favorite topics, media, people, micro-organisms, bugs, etc., every once in a while i have an inspired “holy crap, why haven’t you ever searched for __________?!” moment.

today, that moment belongs to tom lehrer.

i love his irreverence, poetry, and syncopation. because he didn’t do much performing, videos are rare. i’ve listened to his albums endlessly but now we get to see him too!

below is a classic, but you need to hear this one too. and this one, and also this one.

even your precious lord isn’t safe from crappy swag marketing.

since this is now, i guess, NOT blasphemy or insidious to the god lovers, how ’bout:

god’s love is like this case of scotch

or

god’s love is like this toilet duck

or

god’s love is like this deluxe bucket of chum

feel free to join me in the comments section, won’t you?

clip from the story:

Then came the pushback from the postmasters, who told Pearson and other lawmakers that “standard” mail, the post office’s name for junk mail, has become the lifeblood of the U.S. Postal Service and that jobs depend on it.

this is both a metaphor for why capitalism is broken AND proof that capitalism is breaking…now. clicky.

according to the times online, i pioneered the use of the fail for satiric purposes. if nothing else, i’m completely impressed that the reporter actually took the time to count each and every fail arrow i created. THAT’S journalism.

high five! clicky.

i don’t know…i just had to do it. ever so slightly, i feel better…maybe i just feel more tired. i don’t know.