Fuck Xmas Commerce

Let's dance at Walmart! "Thank Yew!" (This guy is friggin' beautiful.)



H/T to Counterlight's Peculiars.

Pillow Fight Update II: Stern Words

Worth repeating, it is still really about power and control in Burlington. The authorities give the police the role of maintaining not just civil but political order (because the two are often linked). How can something done "all in good fun" be threatening the civil order? It became political when Darin Cassler was led off to be arrested. Although the charges were dropped against Mr Cassler, an increased threat to political order worries the authorities to no end.

Pillow Fight Update....

Blurt

Pillow fight organizer Darin Cassler is officially off the hook.

The Burlington Police Department does not plan to press disorderly conduct charges against Cassler, the 21-year-old who Facebook-organized last Friday's Church Street pillow fight.

Freeps Fluff Piece...

Adam Silverman, BFP's police beat reporter, quoting Darin Cassler, the organiser of Friday's Flash-Mob pillow fight,

'“If we’re not allowed to have pillow fights in our city, if we’re not allowed to organize and have fun with each other — is that what Burlington’s really about? Is that what America’s really about?

“I hope not.”'

Mr Cassler has been cited for disorderly conduct.

Pillow Talk

Following up on yesterday's post, there's more coverage on Friday's Pillow Flash-Mob Action from Eva Sollberger in Blurt. Green Mountain Daily reports that Church Street is safe once again. Here is Eva's video:



COMMENT: All of this is really about power and control. In this country (and in this city), the authorities give the police the role of maintaining not just civil but political order (because the two are often linked - witness the arrests of Burlington anti-war protesters back in 2007). How can something done "all in good fun" be threatening the civil order? As a participant stated on Eva Sollberger's video, it became political in Burlington when the organiser was led off to be arrested. An increasing threat to political order worries the authorities to no end. Burlington has become increasingly uptight, but as a commenter on my post yesterday writes "They can always do some pillow fighting down on Brattleboro. They won't get arrested."

Peaceful Pillow Fighter Arrested in Vermont

I'm all for adding some urban life to an otherwise homogenized Church Street Marketplace. Sponsored by something called the Burlington Collective, the Burlington Pillow Fight (there was one in March, 2008, too) took place at 5:30 P.M. on Friday afternoon, April 17, in at the entrance of Burlington Center.

The Face Book announcement reads

Messing with perception with some good healthy fun.

Bring a pillow and a container in which to conceal it. Assemble on the street as if you were loitering, do not acknowledge anyone else participating. Our host will shout 'pillow fight' and we will all spontaneously break into a big miasma of feathers and pillows.

GUIDELINES

+ Soft pillows only!
+ Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
+ Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
+ Remove glasses beforehand!
+ The event is free and appropriate for all ages.
+ Wait until the signal to begin.
+ This event is more fun with feathers!

The organizer was arrested and carted off by the Burlington police. I guess you need a permit for riotous fun! My source tells me it was for "conspiracy to incite a riot." Gee, they don't arrest the naked bike riders for that, do they? Although I bet got a bigger audience than for a bunch of pillow punchers.

Kevin Hurley took some photos. Watch it all on Matt Malenczak's video.

ANNOUNCEMENT: A HALLOWE'EN HOLLER EXPERIENCE!

Y'ALL COME to a sign waving experience in Burlington. Tomorrow. Symington volunteers are gonna do a wave

"Jim Douglas: Taxpayers are not your personal ATM"

MEET @ STAPLES PLAZA
FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER
7-9 AM

SATURDAY FUN

I needed a break from the ridiculous primary horse race. A friend sent me this link from YouTube: Jackie & Rosanne meet AB FAB. My favourite line is "She's the perfect weight for New York: 2 lbs above organ failure." Go:watch and cackle with laughter. (Embedding was disabled.)

BODY PARTS

Via an email from an acquaintance --

The human body is a machine that is full of wonder. This collection of human body facts will leave you wondering why in the heck we were designed the way we were.

Scientists say the higher your I. Q., the more you dream.

The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.

You use 200 muscles to take one step.

The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.

Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.

A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.

A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.

The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.

The human brain cell can hold 5 times more information than the Encyclopedia Britannica.

It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.

The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.

Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.

At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. Could it be that the population increase in the world is the reason for global warming?

The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body, and your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.

When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.

Blonds have more hair than dark-haired people.

Your thumb is the same length as your nose, and I bet you are placing your thumb on your NOSE, aren't you? I DID AND IT IS...

Crème de la Crème!

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Although I'm more a coq au vin sorta garçon, as soon as I saw chicken with cream sauce and the choices for a dream car, I knew the end result.




To toujoursdan at Culture choc: Merci bien!

Holy Spring Roll!

You're Vietnam!

After years of muddling through on your own, you've finally repaired
yourself to a point of respectability.  You would have been much better off had
people you didn't like not kept insisting on spending so much time with you.  But
those times are fading quickly and these days you're pretty sure you won't get burned.
 Star power!


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid