INK & STEEL

WHO NEEDS WALL-E WHEN WE CAN HAVE ROBOTS BY SKUNK?


The South End's Space 242 had yet another end-of-the-month bash celebrating the artwork of Ansis Purins and the sculptures of Skunk. I've been to the past 4 or 5 of these events, and they are getting bigger every time. Space 242 shares its walls with the offices of The Weekly Dig. On the last Friday of every month they open a new exhibition showcasing local artists and also have screenings and shorts from the Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF). They also have open bar and some nibbles of tasty delights from local eateries.

This week Harpoon hosted with UFO hefeweizen and raspberry ufo as well as a nice dark Hofbräu Dunkel lager. Usually there is a liquor sponsor as well, but I didn't get past the beer this go.

There were a handful of smelly ditchkid bikers, and a few sexy ladies who might have been ditchkids as well, but as always everyone was really nice and approachable. Skunk is the leader of SCUL, the Subversive Choppers Urban Legion, and his high standing bike, complete with powered disco mirror-ball flagpole, was among his many amazing welded sculptures.







Skunk operating on one of his bots that supposedly does something cool when you put quarters in it. I think it just eats them, personally.


ANSIS PURINS:

freepress

don't let bush cut funding for public broadcasting

There might be less blood

Less than 2 years after Saddam Hussein's death, and decades of being blocked out of his country's oil empire, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP are negotiating no-bid contracts with Iraq's Oil Ministry to once again begin servicing their fields.

While Iraqi law is pending in Parliament, these companies, who have been advising the Ministry for "free", will not be given drilling contracts, but will aid in technology and management of this poorly run operation. Their cooperation will likely lead to first dibs on contracts a few years down the road, where new fields are assumed to be immensely profitable.

Iraq's current oil output of about 2.5 million barrels a day is expected to increase to 3 million in the short term, and perhaps 6 million when new territories are tapped.

As printed by Andrew Kramer of the NYTimes:
There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

So, now that Saddam Hussein is dead, The U.S. can "advise" Iraq's Oil Ministry to boost productivity by welcoming back Western oil companies to create a certain surplus in their GDP that they can only spend on outsourced reconstruction plans to boost the global economy, hopefully strengthen the U.S. dollar once again, and bring our gas prices down maybe a dollar by 2010, which is still more than we were spending before the war on terror.

Awesome.

2008 world seres of poker

Eugene Todd Bro is not always this angry.

I get frustrated losing to idiots for $20-$100. I can't imagine a month long donkey competition with thousands at stake. ETB, best of luck bro.

Literally recycled

Found in Cyanic Blue recycling bin on Moraine st. in Jamaica Plain, MA.