Moulton Lava

Moultonic Musings

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Name: Moulton
Location: New England, United States

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Stupid Arrest

Last night, at his televised news conference, President Obama characterized the arrest of Henry Louis Gates as a "stupid" act by a Cambridge police officer. The official charge was "disorderly conduct" which police privately concede is a bogus charge that they call "contempt of cop".

The word "arrest" has an etymology that means "stop" and is thus related to the corresponding practice on Wikipedia, where it's called "blocking".

In the case of Henry Louis Gates, the story made international news, and is now being touted as a "teachable moment" by those commenting on the case.

That "teachable moment" would also apply to Wikipedia admins who similarly arrest scholars and academics on specious charges.

It is unlikely the "teachable moment" will have any lasting effect on those who are most in need of an education with respect to the stupid practice that Obama was commenting on.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Jimbo Wales, Superstar

Title: Jimbo Wales, Superstar
Artist: Moulton
Composer: Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and Barsoom Tork Associates
Midi: Jesus Christ, Superstar


Every time I look at you I don't understand
Why you let the site you (co-)founded get so out of hand.
You'd have managed better if you'd had it planned.
Why'd you make such a stupid move to have Moulton banned?
If you'd thought it through you could have taught a whole nation
The art of dramaturgy with psycho-communication.
Don't you get me wrong.
I only want to know...
Jimbo Wales, Superstar,
Are you really as nuts as we think you are?
Jimbo Wales, now disgraced,
Whose talk page has your crew defaced?
Tell me what you think about your friends on the beat.
Would you like to have a Russian masseuse beat your meat?
Was IDCab where it's at? Was FM your fave star?
Could Sue Gardner move a mountain, or was that just PR?
Did you dress like the Red Queen? Was that a mistake, or
Did you know that Essjay's fall would be a heart breaker?
Don't you get me wrong.
I only want to know...
Jimbo Wales, Superstar,
Are you really as nuts as they say you are?
Jimbo Wales, now disgraced,
Whose BLP has your site defaced?
CopyClef 2009 Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and Barsoom Tork Associates.
Resurrection Hackware. All wrongs reversed.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Do You Know the Way to Sanity

Title: Do You Know the Way to Sanity
Artist: Retired Wikipedia Admins
Composer: Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Barsoom Tork Associates
Midi: Do You Know the Way to San Jose (Dionne Warwick)



Do you know the way to sanity?
I've been nutz so long,
I went wrong and lost my way.
Do you know the way to sanity?
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in sanity.

Wiki is a great big brouhaha,
I plunged in and leveled up too far.
In a week, maybe two, you'll earn a barnstar.
Tweaks turn into tears, how quick they diss
And all the stars that never were
Are down at AN/I and taking piss.

Do you know the way to sanity?
They've got way too much disgrace.
There'll come a day when I will say,
I was born and raised in sanity
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in sanity.

Fame and fortune is a magnet.
It can pull you far away from home,
With a dream in your heart,
You're socked by a clone.
Dreams turn into dust and blow away
And there you are without a hope
You post your template and fade away.

I put too much faith in vanity.
Do you know the way to sanity?
Can't wait to get back to sanity.

CopyClef 2009 Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Barsoom Tork Associates.
Resurrection Hackware. All wrongs reversed.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Happy Bashday Sweet Quiz Queen

Title: Happy Bashday Sweet Quiz Queen
Artist: Gail Trimble's Brother
Composer: Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, and Barsoom Tork Associates
Midi: Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen



Tra la-la-la-la la-la-la-la
It's your bashday sweet quiz queen
Tra la-la-la-la la-la-la-la
It's your bashday sweet quiz queen

Tonight's the night I've waited for
Because you're not non-notable anymore
You've turned into the cleverest girl I've ever seen
Happy bashhday sweet quiz queen

What happened to that shining face
My Oxford scholar now gives interviews with grace
I can't believe my eyes you're just a college dream
Happy bashday sweet quiz queen

When you were only six I was your big brother
Then when you were ten we watched Capra with each other
When you were thirteen you were my funny valentine
But since you've grown up your Wiki fame is sewn up
From now on you're gonna be slimed, so

If I should smile with sweet surprise
It's just that you've shown up before the public's eyes
You've turned into the cleverest girl I've ever seen
Happy bashday sweet quiz queen

Tra la-la-la-la la-la-la-la Happy bashday sweet quiz queen
Tra la-la-la-la la-la-la-la Happy bashday sweet quiz queen
Tra la-la-la-la la-la-la-la Happy bashday sweet quiz queen

CopyClef 2009 Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, and Barsoom Tork Associates.
British Isles Bobby Soxers and the Brill Building Wannabees. All knights reserved.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Kauderwelsch Review

Tenth Circle Added To Rapidly Growing Hell

February 14th, 2009

WOOLWORTHS FOUNDATION SCHOOL OF POLITICAL DRAMATURGY, NETHER HELL — After nearly four years of construction at an estimated cost of 750 million souls, Kauderwelsch Review, the new 10th circle of Hell, finally opens its doors on Valentines Day.

Graphic Courtesy The Onion

Tenth Circle Added To Rapidly Growing Hell

Kauderwelsch Review, located in Nether Hell between the former eighth and ninth levels of Malebolge and Cocytus, is expected to greatly alleviate the overcrowding problems that have plagued the infernal underworld in recent years. The circle is the first added to Hell in its countless-millennia history.

"A nightmarishly large glut of condemned spirits in recent years necessitated the expansion of Hell," inferno spokesperson David Gerard said. "The traditional nine-tiered system had grown insufficient to accommodate the exponentially rising numbers of Hellbound."

Adding to the need for expansion, Gerard said, was the fact that a majority of the new arrivals possessed souls far more evil than the original nine circles were equipped to handle. "Demagogues, mendacious manipulators, swaggering soldiers of fortune, nefarious eaters of broken organ meats retained by rival forums, and creators of vexagonistic lunatic scapegoat psychodrama — these new arrivals represent a wave of spiritual decay and horror the likes of which Hell has never before seen," Gerard said.

Pompous Pilot

Despite the need for expansion, the plan faced considerable resistance, largely due to the considerable costs of insuring construction projects within the Kingdom Of Lies. Opposition also came from Hell purists concerned about the detrimental effect a tenth level would have on the intricate numerology of Hell's meticulously arranged allegorical structure. In 2008, however, funding was finally secured in a Dickensian deal brokered between Kauderwelsch CEO Pompous Pilot and Satan himself.

Prior to the construction of the tenth circle, many among the new wave of sinners had been placed in such circles as Trolls and Troglodytes, Flamers and Spammers, Sowers of Discord, Flatterers and Seducers, Artless Crime Capers Against Art, and Common Hypocrites. Hell authorities, however, say that the new level, the Circle of Total Bastards, located at the site of the former Well of Interminable ArbCom Cases just above the Grawp's Tumescent Tool at Hell's Center, better suits their insidious brand of evil.

Curbolo Firus, a leading demonic presence, is one of the most vocal supporters of the new circle.

"In the past, the underworld was ill-equipped to handle the new breed of sinners flooding our gates — demonizing forum owners, clique coordinators, cross-forum promoters, and vast hordes of cretinacious disinfotainment-industry malefactors troller-posting and typing on ergonomic keyboards while doing mouse wheelies at the same time. But now, we've finally got the sort of top-notch Pits of Doom necessary to give such repellent abominations the quality boilings they deserve."

Pausing to tear off the limbs of a former Wikipedia Review Mod, Curbolo added, "We're all tremendously excited about the many brand-new forms of torture and eternal pain this new level's state-of-the-art facilities will make possible."

Among the tortures the Kauderwelsch Circle of Total Bastards boasts: the Never-Ending Drive-By Posting, Manipulative PoV Pushing, Dopamine-Driven Flights of Fancy, and Unspeakably Scandalous Allegations.

The Circle also features a Hall of Hot Air, where condemned political pundits, clad in popcorn-festooned avatars soaked in spirit-draining acrimony, are forced to blather for centuries on end, covered in vomit and prodded with the distended ribs of skeletal, anorexic grandmothers, accompanied by an unending, ear-splittingly loud dance-remix version of the 2007 Barsoom Tork hit "The Night They Drove Old Moulton Down."

In a nearby area, IDCab Goons are forced to carry the mouse pads of uneducated Europhile migrant posters from project to project for eternity, withering under a constant barrage of verbal abuse from their former subservients as Jon Awbrey descends from the trees to peck at their livers while PrivateMusings nibbles on their spleens. In one of the deepest and most profane portions of the circle, unspeakable acts of admonition are said to be committed by a fire-breathing 'zilla with a menacing demeanor.

"In life, I did content management at Wells Fargo and Macys," one flame-blackened miscreant told reporters. "When I arrived here, they didn't know what to do with me. They put me in with those condemned to walk backwards with their heads turned all the way around on their necks, for the crime of attempting to manipulate the future. But then I sent a couple of invisible friends to the right people, and in no time flat, I secured a cushy spot for myself in the first circle of the Virtuous Unholy. Now that was a sweet deal. But before long, they caught on to my game and transferred me here to the realm of Total Bastards. I've been shrieking for mercy like a goddamn cretin ever since."

Her face contorted in the Misery of the Damned, Durova, a part-time talk show host, said: "It's hell here — there are too many seagulls dropping guano, I can't get any favorable press, my blog site is frequented by snarky characters. I'm dissed every 30 seconds, and there's no way to return the favor. Plus, I'm being boiled upside down in lard while jackals gnaw at the soles of my feet. If I could just reach the outcropping on that nearby rock, I could signal some well-placed associates and work something out, but it's just out of my grasp, and I'm out of patience, out of mercy, and I'm constantly hearing the message, 'No Personal Attacks, No Personal Attacks, No Personal Attackss.'"

She then resumed screaming in agony.

KillerChihuahua, a Captain in Hell's elite Demon Corps and supervisor in charge of assignments for the new circle, said Hell's future looks bright, thanks to the new circle.

"Things are definitely looking up," Killer said. "We're now far better equipped, and we're ready to take on the most Unholy Atrocities humanity has to offer."

"We're really on the growth spurt down here," KillerChihuahua added. "This is an exciting time to be in Hell."

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Woolworths Foundation School of Political Dramaturgy

Letter to Jimbo Wales, Chairman Emeticus

Dear Woolworths Foundation Board of Trustees,

As you requested, here are the faculty recommendations regarding the qualifications of the Umbridge Twins (Mike and SB_Dolores) to assume the duties of Headmaster here at Woolworths School of Political Dramaturgy.

We were especially impressed by the recent production in which the impressionable young students of Woolworths School of Political Dramaturgy were inducted into the long-forgotten practice of employing Parliamentary Bill of Attainder. The symbolic allusions to the Trial Scene from Alice in Wonderland was an especially brilliant maneuver.

We are confident that, with the Umbridge Twins in charge, our students will quickly learn all the well-known hoary practices from the rubbish heap of political history dating back to the Forgotten Realms of Hammurabi.

And, at the end of the term, all the students are cordially invited to Go Jump In the Lake.

(signed)

Humble Members of Your Obedient Faculty Senate
Ottava Rima, Chairman of the Committee on Crime and Punishment
Darklama, Recoding Secretary
Sxeptomaniac, Sargeant at Harms
KillerChihuahua, Redactor of Records

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Pack of Cards, A Moiety of Trolls, and Thou

Here is a brief post from a blog called The Baheyeldin Dynasty by Khalid...

Symbolism in Lewis Carroll's 'Trial of the Knave and The Queen of Hearts'

In Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll always made thinly masked critiques of the Victorian age he was living in. Once such criticism is the Knave's trial and the Queen of Hearts attitude: sham trials with guilt being pre-determined.

The Knave of Hearts is accused of allegedly stealing the Queen of Hearts' tarts, where in fact it was Alice who did so. The Queen of Hearts had made up her mind and wanted the Knave to be beheaded.

A trial is set, but it is only a sham trial. Those in power have pre-determined the outcome, and only having the trial to pretend that justice is being done.

Here is how the dialog goes, from Chapter 12:

'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first - verdict afterwards.'

'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!'

'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.

'I won't!' said Alice.

'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.

As you can see, the Queen wants "sentence first, verdict afterwards!".

Alice protests loudly, but the Queen now turns on her, and wants those who voice opposition and tell the truth to be the ones who are to be punished.

That memorable passage, from the closing chapter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is the last straw for Alice. She throws up her hands and exclaims, "Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards!" (whereupon the whole pack rises up in outrage and comes flying down upon Alice).

The lesson, I imagine, is that it's rather pointless to extend one's empathy and concern to such shallow and unredemptive characters.

It's a conundrum that reprises itself in teh intarwebs when dealing with similarly unredemptive trollish characters who do not respond to good faith expressions of concern and guidance.

One longs for an I/Thou Relationship with authentic souls whose lives are changed for the better as a result of a chance online encounter. Alas it doesn't always have a happy ending. Like Alice, one just receives a rude awakening at the end of a Kafkaesque nightmare, wondering what the devil went haywire.

Some insights and epiphanies will just have to wait for a more auspicious day.