So wacky it could only be COINTELPRO… The Black Panther Coloring Book

One of the crazy plans that the FBI’s COINTELPRO drew up to subvert the Black Panthers was the Black Panther Coloring Book. Sent to families across the United States, the coloring book was supposed to undermine white support for black civil rights.

Thanks to the Internet, what was once a weird footnote in the Congressional inquiry into COINTELPRO is now downloadable.

[via Blowback]

Yesterday’s Vandenberg launch and Brian Webb’s Southern California Astro/Space Alert list

A lot of bloggers were commenting on the Minuteman III launch from Vanderberg last night. Anyway, if you were a subscriber to Brian Webb’s “Astronomy/Space Alert for Southern California” list, you would have been ready for it.

Cool list. Great guy. You should join.

A thought for the net’s leading Photoshop hacks

A poster in this MetaFilter thread reminded me of a thought I had awhile back.

Is anyone keeping track of group photographs with Bush II in them? I’m wondering if politically embarrassing friends are disappearing from the “official archives” (whatever those might be) much like how Stalin purged folks from photographs.

Any Ken Lay-sized holes in the photos?

A hollow voice says “plugh”

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the game Adventure, or as I knew it in my early CP/M days when I started high school, ADVENT.

I spent close to 120 man-hours on ADVENT plopped in front of a GNAT System 9 equipped out with the famous Lear Siegler ADM-3A terminal, dual eight inch floppy drives, running on CP/M. Somewhere in one of my various droppings of stuff I have printouts of two complete Adventure runs along with some hand drawn maps of Colossal Cave and the two mazes (all alike, and all different)

And here I thought that XYZZY was a nonsense word, but it turns out there’s more to it.

Let’s designate September 18 as “Area 51 Day”

Gee big surprise… Bush II renews the executive order that keeps Area 51, the Most Well Known And Not Secret Secret Base, classified for another year. These orders expire every September 18 and need to be renewed to keep a pack of environmental lawyers from filing hazardous waste claims against the government.

Thousands of punkers nationwide hoist their beer in respect

R.I.P. Back during the punker days you either drank Strohs or Schaeffer’s (“The beer to have when you’re having more than one”). Strohs was the only beer that tasted better in a can. I tried drinking it from a bottle once and couldn’t do it.

Peter Stroh, a hometown booster who helped his family’s local brewery gain national recognition before it was sold, died Tuesday. Stroh was 74 and had brain cancer. He was the sixth family member to head Stroh Brewery, which great-grandfather Bernhard Stroh founded in 1850 in Detroit.

Beverly Hills is a nice place to be a rat

Rats have invaded Beverly Hills. Keep tabs on the invasion’s progress by checking in with the Los Angeles “Food Facility Closure List”

How did rodents end up in the lap of luxury? After four consecutive mild winters, their population has multiplied, though no study has been undertaken to determine exactly how many rats there are in Los Angeles County. The rule of thumb is one rat for every human, Mr. Honda said. Add in the severe drought and you have rats commuting to the neighborhoods with low-hanging fruit, exotic gardens and patios, with their outdoor parties and exquisite crumbs.