matthew henry john bartlett

A4 x8 (recycled, mostly a Borges short story), gladwrap, 2 envelopes, teabags, banana peel, dry parsley, apple bag, flower wrapping, flower stems, carrot end, cracker wrappers, apple cores, kiwifruit peels; banana peel, teabag, milk bottle (r), 3 A4s (r); 3 A4s (r), 1 A6, pear core, carrot end, napkin, chicken packaging, mushroom bag, 2 tin cans (r), egg shells, vege peels, terrorist cap from tomato juice bottle

From The Monkey Wrench Gang, by Edward Abbey:

No one ever stopped. Except the Highway Patrol arriving promptly fifteen minutes late, radioing the report of an explicable billboard fire to a casually scornful dispatcher at headquarters, then ejecting self from vehicle, extinguisher in gloved hand, to ply the flames for a while with little limp gushes of liquid sodium hydrochloride (“wetter than water” because it adheres better, like soapsuds) to the pyre. Futile if gallant efforts. Dehydrated by months, sometimes years of desert winds and thirsty desert air, the pine and paper of the noblest most magnificent of billboards yearned in every molecule for quick combustion, wrapped itself in fire with the mad lust, the rapt intensity, of lovers fecundating. All-cleansing fire, all-purifying flame, before which the asbestos-hearted plutonic pyromaniac can only genuflect and pray.

RIP DFW

newsreader or e-reader + facebook’s “we’re related” app could tell you if you knew the kids of the people mentioned in the news or in biographies. Just saying.

giveitup.org.nz is live.
and on Scoop’s front page

[via WorldChanging]

And a cracker little quote from Bill English, telling it like it is:

Don’t fall for the word sustainability – what the hell does that mean? You’ve got to make money if you’re going to stay in business.

[from the 5 Aug 2008 Herald, via gblog]

I’ve tweaked wellingtoncalendar.co.nz (or by RSS feed). Previously I was displaying a month at a time, but now there are too many things each day to show more than a week at a time. One day I should promote this properly, because it seems like a useful thing to have all these cheap + hopeful Wellington happenings listed in one place. I am always impressed at how much lovely stuff is bubbling along around here. Good work team. If you’d like to be able to add your own events, send me a note.