See Get Your War On #25, another beauty. Any joke with the correct use of "orange" in it is alright by me.
I wish my economy would be more stimulated. I'm sitting here making pathetic whiney crying noises. Why? Because I want this: Lo-Fi Loop Junky, a terrific tiny analog looper from Z.Vex, the king of unique, handcrafted, awesome, and expensive pedals. I wish I had bought more when I had the money. That said, I'm pretty damn happy with The Machine:
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that this pedal basically sounds horrible. It's primary purpose is to cut through. But like a wild man with a machete, it is not nice.
It's no surprise. At least - it shouldn't be a surprise. While George W. Bush cuts taxes at the federal level, basically all the states are having to raise taxes, make service cuts, close schools, and come up with other creative ways of raising funds - often for Federal mandates that lack accompanying financial aid.
From Daily Kos comes this link covering tax and fee changes, state by state.
Locally, I'm still trying to fathom the logic of "we need to make smaller classes for more individual time with teachers" with "we must close certain schools". Maybe the smaller class sizes campaign promise really means smaller sizes of class rooms as more students are squeezed in to fewer buildings?