Banksy strikes, is struck in turn.

Banksy went on a spree recently in NoLA: Flickr gallery found here.

HT to Murketing, which also clued me in to the existence of Fred Radtke, a New Orleans resident with a hatred of graf that verges on pathological. He covers graffiti with uniformly blank gray paint, and likens himself to “a Band-Aid on top of a disease that’s happening out there.” After covering some part of New Orleans’ vibrancy with his bland bandage, he takes a photo–he claims to have ten albums full of blanked-out pictures.

Banksy knew about Radtke coming in; one of his pieces showed a painter covering over flowers. Not long after, the rest of the flowers were covered–but not in Radtke’s trademark gray. No word yet on who the joker is, but enjoy them while you can.

No bloody Mary jokes, plz.

Giving blood is not only a good way to help people, it is a great way to save on bar tabs.

“Separate but equal” courses planned near foundries.

Reactionary white-bread folks are all about making everyone speak English, so it’s no surprise that golf, the most reactionary, crusty white-breadiest institution in the known universe, has made English its official language. The LPGA Tour has declared that members who can’t pass an English test will be suspended. Immediately after rounding up all the Koreans at the Safeway Classic, director Libba Galloway said the LPGA is a “global tour and is not targeting any specific player or country.”

Melanin-impaired tournament director Kate Peters championed the plan, announcing “This is an American tour,” before her spine collapsed under the weight of her American flag lapel pins.

A planned partnership with the Minutemen to build “a near-impenetrable fortification” around golf courses were cancelled after resistance from neighborhood organizations concerned about a border fence’s potential impact on rose bushes and Bermuda grass.

How to Find a Human.

Dial a Human is an outstanding idea–a list of those irritating automated call prompts and ways to get around them, from Apple to XM Radio. This lets you talk to someone who can (maybe) help you, and shaves off the ten minutes you’d otherwise waste answering questions that you’d have to answer again once you actually got a person on the line. (HT: Wendy’s Web Search Blog via Lifehacker)

But maybe you realized that you after you locked your boyfriend’s cat in the closet two days ago for clawing up your favorite jeans, you forgot to let him out. And now he might be dead. Enter Slydial! This wonderful service lets you dial 267.759.3425, enter a cell number, and leave a voicemail without their phone ringing. There’s a lot of potential for passive-aggression here, but also for good: you could leave a message at 2AM without worrying about waking someone up, for instance.

Where they been at?

Because I watch too much TV and am watching preseason football on a Friday night, here’s a list of places you may have seen the characters from the best TV show of the new millennium, The Wire (The Sopranos started in ’99, making it arguably the best show of the last millennium).

• Lt. Daniels: that weird Cadillac commercial and some new show with an ad that features a Golden Spiral.*
• Prez: the Burger King ad with Diddy (talk about two guys solidly past their primes).
• Felicia “Snoop” Pearson: in jail. Whoops, maybe you should show up in court.

Did I miss anyone? Let me know.

* Apparently, Daniels/Lance Reddick’s new show is called Fringe, is by J.J. Abrams of Lost and Alias fame, and will be “a cross between The X-Files, Altered States and The Twilight Zone.” The pilot episode was screened at this year’s Comic-con, and has earned mostly positive reviews (a bunch are collected here). I’d say that’s worth a couple weeks’ viewing.