Minstrel shows were very important in their dissemination of jazz around the turn of the century. These shows had their beginnings on the plantations: slaves would perform minstrels for the entertainment of the whites; often these performances incorporated true slave songs. The slaves would act in such a way as to mock the whites with their “putting on airs.” The whites enjoyed the shows to the point that they themselves put on these same minstrels. The whites would don black makeup and imitate the slaves mocking the whites. The epitome of this situation came about when the African Americans would put on burnt cork black makeup and imitate the whites imitating the African Americans who were mocking the whites.

— Jazz (Ninth Edition), Tanner et al

“The thing about discipline, is not doing a small number of significantly large things well, it is doing a large number of totally insignificant things that nobody else sees, every time without compromise.”

— Herb Elliot

Happy United Nations Day!

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 24, 2003, as United Nations Day. I urge the Governors of the 50 States, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the officials of other areas under the flag of the United States to honor the observance of United Nations Day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

(It works better if you imagine it being read by James Earl Jones.)

I want to see all you Freepers out there, honoring the observance of this hallowed day with appropriate ceremonies and activities, OK?

Scorpio: (Oct. 24–Nov. 21)

There will soon come a time when your happiness depends on where and whether an enormous man catches a ball.

— Lloyd Schumner Sr., Retired Machinist and
A.A.P.B.-Certified Astrologer, The Onion

Textism’s The Evolution of Writing.

“In other words, I wish I had time to do better, but I don’t.”

— a world-famous usability and design expert

(Found while archiving some ancient emails. This was the summation of his response to my email to him which pointed out his hypocrisy in complaining about how people’s poor design aesthetics end up causing diminished usability in their products, when the page on which he was doing this complaining used improper typography.)

“There is something reassuring about the democracy of many to many publishing. If you are a capitalist then this is a what you could call a marketplace, if you are socialist then this is power to the people and if you are a libertarian then this is, well, libertarian.”

— Ass fact-checked to hell and back, David Galbraith

In the Year 2000, Subway Sandwich Artists will be replaced by robots driven by voice-controlled kiosks.

They will be called “Robotic Sandwich Artists” and they will still ask you “What kind of bread did you want?” a minimum of three times.

Read why every day, more people support President Bush!

— GeorgeWBush.com, The Official Re-election Site for President George W. Bush

Maybe not every day… just a couple of particular days.

A fascinating infographic.