Today I'm bringing you two topically minded songs from the master. This is the second of two; both were released earlier this year on "Personal File" (which was previously recommended here).

By the way the land is layin'
I think I'd be safe in sayin'
That over the next hill, we'll be home
It's a straight and narrow highway
No detour and no byways
And over the next hill, we'll be home

From the prophets I've been hearin'
I would say the end is hearin'
For I see familiar landmarks all along
By the dreams that I've been dreamin'
There will come a great redeemin'
And over the next hill, we'll be home

By the speed that we've been makin'
I would say there's no mistakin'
That over the next hill, we'll be home
There's a place that we are nearin'
That so many have been fearin'
And over the next hill, we'll be home

When we get there, we're all hopin'
That we'll find the gate is open
And there'll be a refuge from the comin' storm
For the way's been long and weary
But at last the end is nearin'
And over the next hill, we'll be home

There is one Wednesday between here and August 22.

Today I'm bringing you two topically minded songs from the master. This is the first of two; both were released earlier this year on "Personal File" (which was previously recommended here).

(Have a little drink) No thank you brother
(Wanna get rich) Don't need it brother
(Wanna fool around) No thank you sister
Ain't you heard that that old evil man within me died
(Let's have a party) I ain't goin'
(Well watcha gonna do) Gonna keep prayin'
And keep workin' out my salvation, tryin' to get sanctified

No more condemnation, repented
Jesus brought salvation, He saved me
Justification brought me safely to His side
And as I get to know Him more
He gives me a taste of the comin' glory
And I'm tryin' to whip the devil, I'm tryin' to get sanctified

Sanctified, sanctified
I'm workin' to whip the devil
I'm tryin' to get sanctified

(Don't go to church) Yes I'm goin
(Why do you read that old Bible) 'Cause I like it
(Well I don't believe in God) Well God bless you
You ain't got no argument for what I feel inside
(Aw have a little fun) That's what I'm havin'
(Life's passin you by) I can hardly wait
Well I got my mind set upon eternity, tryin' to get sanctified

And there's no more condemnation, I repented
Jesus brought salvation, He saved me
Justification brought me safely to His side
And as I get to know Him more
He gives me a taste of the comin' glory
And I'm tryin' to whip the devil, tryin' to get sanctified

Sanctified, sanctified
Sanctified, sanctified
Yes I'm tryin' to whip the devil
I'm tryin' to get sanctified

Sanctified, sanctified
Sanctified, sanctified
I'm workin' out my salvation
Tryin' to get sanctified
Sanctified

He sings this song with such conviction!

Coming soon to a theater near you.

Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

Don't give me "The Clash" and claim you're punk. We're talking hardcore, right here!

American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980 - 1986

Rattle wrote:

A online search database for the AOL search database that runs at a decent speed is now online.

This is all too sublimely meta. Soon you will learn that this search history has been logged and then leaked, only to be mirrored widely and posted online in searchable form. The cycle continues ad infinitum. It's really quite beautiful.

RE: AOL Search Database

Decius wrote:

The August 22nd meme was going around at Defcon.

Bernard Lewis wrote:

A passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, is revealing. "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."

Today, Bush says:

This nation is at war with Islamic fascists.

There are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in. It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America.

Does Bush have something in store?

In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant Maria supports her family. She is fired, and with no hope of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to the US with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach.

McFly!

Maria Full of Grace

An average adult body is 50 to 65 percent water -- that's roughly 45 quarts. Men are more watery than women. A man's body is 60 to 65 percent water, compared to 50 to 60 percent for a woman. In infants, the figure is a whopping 70 percent.

Water content differs throughout the body. Blood is made up of 83 percent water, bones are 22 percent water, and muscle is 75 percent water.

See also:

Within single cells water content ranges between 70 and 85%. The percent water in the entire body by weight varies with age, sex, and physical conditioning. Heart and lung contain the most water, about 80%. Fat (about 20%) and bone (about 43%) are among the lowest. Therefore, the total body is an average of all organs, blood, and extracellular fluids.

What percentage of the human body is water, and how is this determined?

We're taking some additional specific steps. In light of the nature of the liquid explosive devices which were designed by the plotters, we are temporarily banning all liquids as carry-ons in aircraft cabins. That means no liquids or gels will be allowed in carry-on baggage. Any liquids or gels have to be checked as part of baggage to go into the hold. There will be exceptions for baby formula and medicines, but travelers must be prepared to present these items for inspection at the checkpoint, and that will allow us to take a look at them and make sure that they're safe to fly. We are taking the step of preventing liquids from getting into the cabin to give us time to make adjustments in our current screening tactics, based upon what we learned from this investigation concerning the nature of the devices that these individuals were constructing.

This is temporary, folks ... Temporary. (Think Iraq War.)

These changes sound complicated, but it is very, very simple. The major change is that passengers are no longer allowed to bring liquids through the checkpoint and onto the plane.

That is the big change. Other than that, it is getting used to the new process, and we're very confident that as time goes on that will occur.

Hrm. That doesn't sound so temporary.

Beverly?

Q Mr. Secretary, there's so much emphasis here on liquids. Was the fear that they were planning actually to assemble a bomb on board the aircraft by mixing liquids?

CHERTOFF: I would say certainly one of the considerations or one of the concerns we had is the possibility of bringing on board a number of different components of a bomb that -- each one of which would be benign but when mixed together would create a bomb. And as we assess exactly what the design of these devices was or the planned design was, I think it'll give us a better ability to tailor our countermeasures in order to pick up what appears to be a quite sophisticated conception of how to execute a terrorist bombing plot.

...

Obviously, we're always assessing and examining the challenge posed by different kinds of improvised explosive devices. We do use various kinds of techniques for different kinds of bomb-making. But when we do see a sophisticated design, we want to make sure that we properly engineer our countermeasures to be able to detect it. And so while we're in the process of assessing that -- and, you know, honestly, some of these are pretty difficult -- we want to, frankly, take the most protective stance. And that's why we have, for the time being, excluded liquids from the cabin.

Sounds like this is semi-permanent until devices capable of detecting the suspect chemicals have been installed at all domestic airports. Then this rule will only apply to international flights. But I suspect this is a long-term rule change for international flights.

Homeland Security Chief's News Conference

"We want to be a dangerous band, like Fugazi or The Clash or Bob Dylan. Woody Guthrie's folk music influenced me a lot," Yang said. "But because the government doesn't care about us, we are not forbidden from playing. Maybe we are not dangerous. It's sad."

I'm sorry, but anyone whose music appears on "Friends" is not dangerous. Furthermore:

It was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted London Calling the 32nd greatest album of all time; Rolling Stone named it the best album of the 1980s (although it was released in 1979 in the UK, its U.S. release was in 1980) in 2000, and in 2003 named it number 8 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"; also in 2003, the TV network VH1 placed it at number 25. Pitchfork Media ranked it number two on their Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named it the Greatest rock album of all-time.

They go on:

"We are trying to change the image of punk rockers. We just want to tell the audience that the music is pure and that we are nice and not violent."

Many punk rockers in China are long on style and short on substance, critics say. Few of them can articulate what they stand for or explain what their songs mean.

So which way do they want it? The scene seems split on the most basic issues.

China's Punks Look to Rock

It did not take much investigating to follow the data trail to Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn, Ga., frequently researches her friends' medical ailments and loves her three dogs. "Those are my searches," she said, after a reporter read part of the list to her.

The detailed records of searches conducted by Ms. Arnold and 657,000 other Americans, copies of which continue to circulate online, underscore how much people unintentionally reveal about themselves when they use search engines -- and how risky it can be for companies like AOL, Google and Yahoo to compile such data.

I sense a class-action lawsuit coming on. Is there a case to be made here? Could Ms. Arnold recover damages from AOL Time Warner?

A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749