Writers, Cartoonists, Poets, Illustrators, Photographers- SUBMIT NOW!

The submission deadline is January 15th for issue #3 of OBSOLETE!

The loose theme of this issue is "Feral Technology"- what happens when technology runs wild? Or escapes from captivity? Can it be a good thing? Does information really want to be free?  The topic is wide open- we are still looking for fiction, essays, poetry and artwork to make this our biggest issue yet.

Want to pitch an idea? drop us a line at obmag@feral-tech.com

 

E-xquisite Corpse: You are invited to play.

OBSOLETE! invites you to participate in an electronic version of “exquisite corpse”. We will use this old surrealist parlor game to write a story which will be published on this blog and in a future issue of OBSOLETE!.

Here's how it's going to work:

1. To participate, send an email with “E-xquisite Corpse” in the subject line to obmag@feral-tech.com. In the body of the message, write how many turns you would like to play (up to 5) and if you would like to be listed as a player or remain anonymous (your email will remain private). You will receive a confirmation email.
   
2. When your turn comes, you will receive an email message title E-xquisite Corpse: Your Turn". In the body will be one line of text. This line will be the first line of your paragraph. You may not change the line.
   
3. You will complete the paragraph. The length, theme, style and subject are up to you, but there should be a narrative element. It's a story, after all. 
   
4. After you finish your paragraph, you will write the first line of the next paragraph.
   
5. You will email your completed turn back to obmag@feral-tech.com within 24 hours. If you don't send in your turn within 24 hours, you will “lose a turn” and it will be sent to the next player- you will get another chance on your next turn. You can also choose to pass by replying to the email with the word “pass” in the subject line. DO NOT share your submission with anyone but ObMag.
   
6. We will forward your last sentence to the next player, who will complete the paragraph, start the next and return. 
   
7. The process will repeat until all players have played their turns. The last player will be informed that they are writing the closing paragraph.

Why I blame Rush (the Band, not Limbaugh) for the Tea Party.

By Rich Dana

I read an article this summer that the Canadian rock band Rush was filing a lawsuit against Kentucky senatorial candidate and Tea Party love-child Rand Paul. The power trio's lawyers alleged that the Paul campaign's use of their song "Spirit of the Radio" constituted copyright infringement.

"Oh, the irony," I thought. The band, who have openly promoted libertarian philosophy through their music, credited Rand Paul's namesake- polemical sci-fi writer Ayn Rand - for the inspiration of several of their records.....

READ MORE

EDITORS NOTE:Check it out exclusively in the December issue of Little Village...pick up a paper copy if you are in the Iowa City area....

New Contest: The Julian Assange obsolete pool

With the most recent “dump” of classified government documents, the future of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange becomes more and more tenuous. In an attempt to paint the egotistical and misanthropic freedom-fighter as an evil genius/super-villain, Interpol has added Assange to it's “Most Wanted” list, and serial grand-stander Senator Peter King of Long Island has called the Wikileaks release “worse than a military attack.” Really Pete? Exposing the moronic and unprofessional behavior of our government is worse than a military attack? I'm guessing that there are a lot of fatherless children of dead G.I.s in this country who would take umbrage with that statement... but I digress.

With the U.S. Government squirming under the bucket-load of cold, embarrassing reality and Assange already threatening to release more documents (this time including info on banks) one has to wonder how long Assange can keep it up. We here at the OBSOLETE! office have speculated that there might be a plane crash or car accident in Mr. Assange's not-too-distant future.

It is in that spirit of extreme cynicism that we announce the “Julian Assange obsolete pool”- a contest in which participants send us the method of obsolescence that they think Mr. Assange will experience, and the date on which it will happen. We will compile these entries, and in the unfortunate event that Mr. Assange IS made obsolete, winners will receive a bevy of special prizes- while the rest of the world loses.

Don't wait to enter- this contest itself could become obsolete any day. Send your entry to: obmag@feral-tech.com

Scanners: The TSA and the false left/right paradigm

The Opt-Out protest “fizzled”. Yes that is the official term for what happened over the holiday at U.S. Airports. A Google search for “TSA protest fizzle” yields about 169,000 results. Interesting that so many journalists came up with the same term. “Fizzled”.

Meanwhile, twitter-ers from airports across the country reported that the TSA had actually turned off many of the scanners in order, presumably, to avoid conflict, head off the protests and claim victory.

The recent brouhaha over the Transportation Safety Administration's newly implemented invasive search regime shined a light on a growing crack in the facade of our two-party government. Civil rights advocates on the left have been put in the uncomfortable position of taking sides with the “freedom” activists of the far right. They are both opposing the Obama administrations adoption of new airline security measures that include full-body scanners and humiliating pat-downs. The debate has become a semantic snake-pit- utterly dislodged from reality- with Democrats and Republicans switching sides on “security” issues in an attempt to take the political high-ground.

Thankfully, the resolve of the Republican critics was not tested by an actual airline attack over the holiday- we can only speculate on the level of spinning that would take place in the event of an actual incident. Instead, the FBI trotted out the “Portland Patsy”, 19 year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who was arrested for attempting to deliver a a fake bomb that was supplied to him by FBI handlers. 
 

The cold war between the Democrats and Republicans has become so extreme that they have completely thrown away any pretext of honest debate based in fact. An Orwellian hodge-podge of newspeak (“TSA... ensure(s) freedom of movement for people and commerce.”)and pop catch-phrases (“don't touch my junk”) reduces the discussion to just the type of easily parroted wedge-issue pablum that keeps the independent majority divided and confused.

Can activists at both ends of the spectrum wake up, shake off their thread-bare allegiance to the two wings of the ruling class and work together to protect personal freedom?

Call For Submissions!!

    Issue #3 of OBSOLETE! is going to be our biggest yet. Coming out in February, 2011, the theme of the issue is "Feral Technology". I am looking for essays, fiction, poetry, cartoons, photos and other artwork that relates loosely to the idea of setting technology free, unusual or arcane technology, adaptive technology, non-technology, anti-technology, primitivism...

Definition of FERAL

1: of, relating to, or suggestive of a wild beast

2a: not domesticated or cultivated : wild

2b: having escaped from domestication and become wild

Definition of TECHNOLOGY

1a : the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area : engineering 2

1b : a capability given by the practical application of knowledge

2: a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge

3: the specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor

So far we have an interview with author and Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow, and I am slated to work on a piece with San Francisco post-industrial folk artist Kal Spelletich. An article on the history of Hoodoo is also in the works. Why not contribute your own ideas?

Deadline: January 15th

Want to pitch an idea? Send me an outline? ricardo@feral-tech.com

Put the "Big O" in National Opt-Out Day!

    Just 6 days left until National Opt-Out Day! On Nov. 24th, indignant holiday flyers across the country will be standing up against the Transportation Safety Administration's latest draconian, rights-smashing policies. Rather than being sent through the new and potentially dangerous "Advanced Imaging Technology" scanners, protesters will be choosing to "opt-out", at which point they will be subjected to "enhanced pat-downs" - a humiliating physical search that includes TSA agents fondling their genital and breasts in a misguided attempt to keep America safe from Terrorists.

    There have been suggestions of ways to go one step further on National Opt-Out Day - Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic suggests going "Braveheart" and wearing a kilt to the airport on the 24th. Better yet, Goldberg suggests going "commando", supposing that flying without pants is probably illegal, but flying without undies probably is not.

    I suggest going one step further- I propose that November 24th be "National O-Face Day", in which flyers not only opt to receive the advanced pat-down, but show the TSA agents and fellow flyers their best fake orgasm. As they search up your legs toward your "crotchal area", give them a little heavy breathing. "Oh... yeah baby, a little higher... higher... HIGHER... OH YEAH!" I mean, street theatre has always been a mainstay of protest, but you certainly aren't going to get through security with a giant puppet, so why not rock a little personal theatrics? Just imagine the security cam footage- a line of cubicles- in one an elderly grandmother, in one a man in a suit and tie, in one a hipster college student- and as the TSA agents in each cubicle disappear from view below the partition, their subjects each throw back their heads and howl in ecstasy... maybe offer them a tip after?

    Okay, a little too much for you? How about reciting the pledge of allegiance or singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic? Reciting the Lords Prayer? "...And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil..."

    For those of you gutsy enough to participate in "National O-Face Day", here is a classic scene from the very 80's romantic comedy, "When Harry Met Sally"- a movie that I first saw, ironically, on a plane.... while being served chicken Kiev and a fresh salad...in the smoking section.


And for the fellas- a little reminder of how it's done by the original "O Face" guy...

Free Preview: A Night in the Zone by Jonathan Shaw

Check out Jonathan Shaw's excellent story from OBSOLETE! #2 at his kick-ass blog, SCABVENDOR.