File under this shit has gone too far. As a severely underpaid teacher, I find it laughable that we are now the evil force behind the economic crisis. In a way, I hope Wall St. keeps pushing on this. I don’t think people will bend much further.

Incidentally, I read somewhere that folks in the UK are holding teach-ins at banks by entering and holding classes inside their lobbies.

America’s Blog posted a series of images demonstrating how BP photoshopped its command center for its Website. Apparently there is a trickster in their midsts, but the photoshopped image (posted above) actually is from the set of the wonderful TV series, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Not to make light of the seriousness of the Gulf oil spill, but is this not a plot line from the old TV show? Where are the robot comedian deconstructionists when we need them?

Update: here are some more hilarious photoshopped versions.

Absolutely amazing!

The Insane Clown Posse showin’ love for the great miracle of life. Who coulda guessed!

From BoingBoing.

These days you can’t trust anything on the net, so the story of a new sex Robot that also spews 9/11 conspiracy theory sounds too much like a viral prank. So let this be my disclaimer. Meanwhile, watch the video and judge for yourself. The conspiracy sex talk comes in after the second minute. No doubt this will put a bump in my Web hits.

As for the cultural analysis, well let’s see.. porn, conspiracy, sex with robots. Pretty straight forward if you ask me.

Firm unveils X-rated robot (Update):

Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the September 11, 2001 attacks, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and an empty field in Pennsylvania.

“I had a friend who passed away in 9/11,” Hines said. “I promised myself I would create a program to store his personality, and that became the foundation for Roxxxy True Companion.”

Hines sees his creation as not only a recreational innovation but as an outlet for the shy, people with sexual dysfunction, and those who want to experiment without risk.

From Grist.

As evidenced by the mounds of lost blog subscribers of late, I know I’ve been a downer. My Cassandra-phase is the result of all my research into the dark side of the Industrial-Scientific Revolution which has caused me to see more readily destructive thought patterns in our popular culture. With that said, I’d like to pause from all the Sybil-like posts and share with you something fun. This short animation is about a very funny moment in baseball history. Enjoy!

OK, so you know I quibble with Stephen Hawking’s mechanical view of the universe (who is featured in the above video), but I still love Carl Sagan (more prominently featured), and have very fond memories of his old TV program, Cosmos. I’m well aware that I have been a bit of a downer lately, but blogging lets me process what I’m feeling about the world, and hence I’ve been on the downside of the optimism scale of late. Anyhow, to switch gears, this autotune mash-up of Sagan is a wonderfully positive song. It actually makes me feel good about being human living in this universe.

You can download it here.