Vice.

What was your first Amazon.com purchase?

Mine was a book, "Designing and Using ActiveX Controls".

I bought it December 10, 1997, when they were still just a bookstore.

I got a free mouse pad with my order! It had the famous Groucho Marx quote on it: "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

The blasted Chilean wine broke me Rabbit! T'was a Christmas Miracle™ that we had a spare. Wine tragedy avoided.

Congrats to my sister-in-law for getting a piece published in Vice's Munchies.

My beloved Tele+ has these little nubby buttons to hold the strap on. I've always kindof liked the way they look - minimal, refined - but they're kindof crappy about actually holding a strap.

I've had the body side of the strap slip off the button dozens of times, but I've always coincidentally had my left hand on the neck at the same time, so it's never actually fallen to the floor. (i shudder at the mere thought)

It's always puzzled me that that such an otherwise fine guitar would have such crappy strap buttons.

On the other hand, my adequate Mexican-made Strat has these conical strap buttons that don't look as nice (crappy-looking chrome plating), but will hold a strap pretty much perfectly.

Last week a little Googling alerted me to something I wish I knew 24 years ago. The buttons on my Tele are just half of a system. They're designed to work with Fender Strap Locks.

The other part of the system is a metal clasp with a nut and a big-ass chrome-plated metal washer to hold the strap! Put that on the strap and then it clips on the buttons.

$12

Duh.

Today on Vice's front page, they have:

• I Lived Like Trump for a Day and It Almost Killed Me
• I Spent 80 Days Trying to Get Abs and It Ruined My Life
• I Tried to Make My Home Energy Efficient and It's Ruining My Life

Sounds like their headline writer needs a vacation.

The code is always better on the other side | CommitStrip

Holy Crap That's Ugly

I couldn't imagine having 25 new records to recommend. Seems like I'd have to buy hundreds to find that many good ones.

So, let's do five!

• LCD Soundsystem - american dream. Easily my favorite of their records. Though, in truth, it's not extremely different from the others. It just does everything I like about them a bit better.
  
  other voices

• Replacements - For Sale: Live At Maxwell's 1986. A 31 year old live recording of a sloppy self-destructive band at their peak is still better than 95% of the new stuff I've heard this year.
  
  Color Me Impressed (Live at Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ, 2/4/86)

• R. Ring - Ignite The Rest. Fans of The Breeders' noisy twisted lo-fi rock will love this. Kelley Deal is the lead guitar player in the Breeders and her voice sounds just like her twin sister Kim's. And she brings that same combo of glass-eyed bliss and giddy menace that The Breeders are known for. R. Ring is actually a duo, but the Dealness dominates.
  
  R Ring - "Cutter" (Official Video)

• Spoon - Hot Thoughts. It's a good record (though I still can't listen to the title song). It's not my favorite Spoon record. It's not my least favorite Spoon record, either. I enjoy it but I'm having a hard time coming to terms with this glittery electronic Spoon.
  
  Spoon - Do I Have to Talk You Into It (Official Video)

• Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent. Harsh and raw with that early 90s post-Sonic Youth vibe: delicate dissonance and grinding guitars. Sounds like The National having a really angry day.
  
  The Chuckler

I could mention David Rawlings' new record, or Kendrick, or St. Vincent. But I won't.

You?

Employees at the EPA headquarters in Washington, DC, discovered that sewage was literally spewing out of the water fountains, E&E News reports. They got an email at about 9 AM letting them know that there was a "water line back up" causing an "issue" with the fountains. According to the folks inside, "issue" was an understatement.

"A sewer problem at EPA HQ has resulted in poop exploding out of water fountains," Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, told E&E.

The poopsplosion pictured apparently detonated outside the EPA's Office of Policy, in a hallway nearby EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's office, Mashable reports. According to E&E News, a few other water fountains overflowed on the same floor, and the odor from the black sludge wafted into nearby offices. The whole thing might have caught some unsuspecting employees off guard, but according to one former agency official, the water fountains at EPA HQ have always been a little suspect.

Is there an award for Best Real Life Metaphor ?