I've jumped on the bandwagon and added a comment feature. Abuse me! (though how does one change the "shout out" text to something else?)

I had no idea the place where I get my haircut was so, well, rad. Here's their Mission statement (check out their Website, and especially the Stylists' Profiles, who are "creative geniuses and good listeners").

Mission
At Vain, we recognize and accept our responsibility for influencing people's perceptions about themselves and their bodies. We are committed to fostering personal self-expression and a "do-it-yourself" philosophy. Vain works to disrupt unrealistic and harmful beauty standards from our position within the industry by expanding the definitions of beauty and style.

In our view, beauty does not simply represent one socially-defined conception of what looks good. We see beauty as an intensely personal vision and we embrace the broad spectrum of definitions of beauty that results from this philosophy. At Vain, we work to foster an environment that supports exploration and expression of personal style.

What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a man?

While Vain does not seek to promote a specific political agenda, we have a strong interest in creating a space where people feel free to explore important questions such as these.

We view each person as a unique individual and encourage people to incorporate their answers to these questions into their everyday life and their personal sense of style.

Our work with community and activist groups lets us put our beliefs into action. We encourage you to do the same.

DJ Spooky has remixed Saul Williams' "Not in Our Name Pledge of Resistance" recording- find it here.

Some interesting stats here, recording last weekend's anti-war rallies&marches participation numbers, compiled from Indymedia estimates. 146 cities worldwide.

High 17,141,450
Medium 14, 079,950
Low 10,982,330

City* Indymedia * Higher * Lower
TOTAL 14,079,950 17,141,450 10,982,330

1 Rome 2,500,000 3,000,000 2,000,000
2 Madrid 1,500,000 2,000,000 1,000,000
3 London 1,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000
4 Barcelona 1,500,000 2,000,000 1,000,000
5 Paris 800,000 800,000 100,000
6 New York 750,000 1,000,000 500,000
7 Berlin 500,000 1,000,000 300,000
8 Sydney 500,000 500,000 200,000 Sunday
9 Valencia 300,000 500,000 300,000
10 Seville 250,000 250,000 250,000
11 SanFrancis 250,000 250,000 200,000 Sunday
12 Melbourne 200,000 200,000 200,000
13 Athens 200,000 200,000 200,000
14 Oviedo,Spa 200,000 200,000 200,000
15 Damascus 200,000 200,000 200,000
16 Montreal 150,000 150,000 150,000
17 Dublin 150,000 150,000 150,000
18 Toronto 100,000 100,000 80,000
19 Brussels 100,000 100,000 100,000
20 Baghdad 100,000 100,000 100,000
21 Bilbao 100,000 100,000 100,000
22 Las Palmas 100,000 100,000 100,000
23 Cadiz 100,000 100,000 100,000
24 Los Angeles 100,000 125,000 75,000
25 Brisbane 100,000 150,000 100,000 Sunday
26 Adelaide 100,000 100,000 100,000 Sunday
27 Jakarta 100,000 100,000 100,000
28 Stockholm 80,000 100,000 80,000
29 Amsterdam 80,000 80,000 80,000
30 Thessalonika 70,000 70,000 70,000
31 Glasgow 61,000 61,000 61,000
32 Oslo 60,000 60,000 60,000
33 Seattle 55,000 55,000 55,000
34 Malaga 50,000 50,000 50,000
35 Mexico City 50,000 50,000 50,000
36 Stuttgart 50,000 50,000 50,000
37 Montevideo 50,000 50,000 15,000
38 Berne 40,000 40,000 40,000
39 Copenhagen 40,000 40,000 40,000
40 Santander 35,000 35,000 35,000
41 Belfast 30,000 30,000 30,000
42 Perth 30,000 30,000 30,000
43 Vienna 30,000 30,000 30,000
44 SaoPaulo 30,000 30,000 30,000
45 Girona 30,000 30,000 30,000
46 Goteburg 30,000 30,000 30,000
47 Vancouver 30,000 30,000 30,000
48 Tokyo 25,000 25,000 25,000
50 Budapest 20,000 20,000 20,000
51 Newcastle 20,000 20,000 20,000
52 Andalusia 20,000 20,000 20,000
53 Lyon 20,000 20,000 20,000
54 Irunia 20,000 20,000 20,000
55 Montpelier 20,000 20,000 20,000
56 Luxemburg 20,000 20,000 20,000
57 Lleida 20,000 20,000 20,000
58 Canberra 16,000 16,000 16,000
59 Algeciros 15,000 15,000 15,000
60 Ferrol 15,000 15,000 15,000
61 Hobart 15,000 15,000 15,000
62 BuenosAires 15,000 15,000 15,000
63 RiodeJaneiro 15,000 15,000 15,000
64 Gaza 15,000 15,000 15,000
64 Helsinki 15,000 15,000 15,000
65 Bergen 15,000 15,000 10,000
66 Houston 15,000 20,000 10,000
67 Trondheim 11,000 11,000 11,000
68 Kolkata 10,000 10,000 10,000
69 Minneapolis 10,000 10,000 10,000
70 San Diego 10,000 10,000 10,000
71 Zagreb 10,000 10,000 10,000
72 Johannesburg 10,000 10,000 10,000
73 Philadelphia 10,000 10,000 10,000
74 Edmunton 10,000 10,000 10,000
75 Auckland 10,000 10,000 10,000
76 Toulouse 10,000 10,000 10,000
77 Seoul 10,000 10,000 10,000
78 Pattani 10,000 10,000 10,000
79 Lansing 10,000 10,000 10,000
80 Austin 10,000 10,000 10,000
81 SantaCruz 10,000 10,000 8,000
82 SantaFe 8,500 15,000 6,500
83 Raleigh 7,000 7,000 7,000
84 Lismore 7,000 7,000 7,000
85 Chicago 7,000 7,000 7,000
86 Wellington 7,000 7,000 7,000
87 Manilla 6,000 6,000 6,000
88 SantaBarbara 5,400 5,400 5,400
89 Dallas 5,000 5,000 5,000
90 Capetown 5,000 5,000 5,000
91 Huesca 5,000 5,000 5,000
92 Turku 5,000 5,000 5,000
93 Tudela 5,000 5,000 5,000
94 Monza 5,000 5,000 5,000
95 Havana 5,000 5,000 5,000
96 Stavenger 5,000 5,000 5,000
97 Caracas 5,000 5,000 5,000
98 Malmo 5,000 5,000 5,000
99 Milwaukee 5,000 5,000 5,000
100 Istanbul 5,000 5,000 5,000
101 SantaCruz 5,000 5,000 5,000
102 Winnepeg 5,000 5,000 5,000
103 Warsaw 5,000 6,000 2,500
104 Tudela 5,000 5,000 5,000
105 Eugene 4,000 4,000 4,000
106 Iraklio 4,000 4,000 4,000
107 Patras 3,500 3,500 3,500
108 Bangkok 3,000 3,000 3,000
109 St.Louis 3,000 3,000 3,000
110 Christchurch 3,000 3,000 3,000
111 Madison 3,000 3,000 3,000
112 Quebec City 3,000 3,000 3,000
113 Sacramento 3,000 7,000 3,000
114 Bellingen 3,000 3,000 2,500
115 St.Galen 3,000 3,000 3,000
116 Santiago 3,000 3,000 3,000
117 Volos 3,000 3,000 3,000
118 Ashville 2,000 2,000 2,000
119 Cairo 2,000 2,000 2,000
120 Darwin 2,000 2,000 2,000 Sunday
121 Sofia 2,000 2,000 2,000
122 Wausau 2,000 2,000 1,500
123 Kiev 2,000 2,000 2,000
124 Colorado Sp 2,000 2,000 2,000
125 Halifax 2,000 2,000 2,000
126 Rethimno 2,000 2,000 2,000
127 Rhodes 2,000 2,000 2,000
128 Taipei 2,000 2,000 2,000
129 SanLuisObisbo 1,800 1,800 1,800
130 Tel Aviv 1,500 1,500 1,500
131 Bregenz 1,500 1,500 1,500
132 Dunedin 1,500 1,500 1,500
133 Warsaw 1,500 1,500 1,500
134 Turin 1,500 1,500 1,500
135 Salem 1,400 1,400 1,400
136 Moscow 1,000 1,000 1,000
137 Osaka 1,000 1,000 1,000
138 Hong Kong 1,000 1,000 1,000
139 New Orleans 1,000 1,000 1,000
140 Houston 1,000 1,000 1,000
141 Flagstaff 1,000 1,000 1,000
142 Portland 1,000 1,000 1,000
143 Prague 1,000 1,000 1,000
144 LasVegas 830 830 830
145 Juneau 700 700 700
146 Carbondale 320 320 200

"Size of protest — it's like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus group."

That's Bush on last weekend's massive world-wide anti-war activity. Unfathomable audacity, really. Put that next to this statistic, found in the latest Harper's Index: Chance that an ACLU member has joined the group since George W. Bush became president: 1 in 2.

Some great propaganda from Saturday's march in Seattle

Looking for some St. Valentine's Day activites? I direct you to the CAPGAS discussion blog (here's my plan for this evening). Or here for some creepy presents.

Check out Sen. Robert Byrd's remarks in Senate yesterday.

Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences
To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.

We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war . . .

And some new Get your War On.

Looks like Lana Clarkson is IN . . . Cindy Schubert is OUT.

CFB (Call for Burners)
On Quitters last week there was some talk of starting a CD-Burn-Circle (snappy name forthcoming). The latest: If you're interested, email me and I'll put it together. Unless more innovative ideas emerge, this is how it'll work: Everyone will be assigned a month in which they mail the others a mix. So if James, for example, is February, he'll mail us all out his own very special mix, theme of his choice (he's already got a head start, so I figure he can lead the way). All are welcome!

The cubicles in the Bagdad Press Center are among the hottest real estate in the market, certainly rivaling oil as the number one money-maker for Iraqi government. These figures are stunning-- in addition to the $500/mo. rent, reporters cough up:

-- $100/ day fee per journalist, cameraperson, technical staff etc.
-- $150/ day fee for permission to use a satellite telephone (which the journalists have to provide themselves)
-- $50-100/ day for a mandatory government escort
-- $50-100/ day for a car and driver (some networks have a fleet of vehicles)
-- $75/ day for a room at the Al Rashid Hotel

Reported by Jeremy Scahill for IraqJournal.org, "the only website providing regular independent reporting from the ground in Baghdad."

Yesterday I remembered how much hope I felt when Clinton was elected into office (my first time casting a presidential vote, even), and realized just how entirely beleaguered I feel these days. Between Washington State in the crapper (did anyone catch our pathetic Gov. Locke deliver the flaccid democratic response to the State of the Union?), and the country in X-War mode (uh, what’s with North Korea acting like the attention-deprived middle child among world despots?), I can’t shake the sourness. I actually sat through Powell’s Performance yesterday (unfortunately rebroadcast during lunch- might just be a sour stomach), and then last night I had to put on my most gracious demeanor and attend a ridiculous awards reception at the University. I had to publicly thank the donors of a research scholarship I received, making me feel even sicker to my stomach. All of a sudden I was 18 and awkward again, feeling like Holden Caulfield among a bunch of phonies.

All the way from San Francisco, Nick drops by to wish happy bday . . .