When Riverboat Sayles was in high school, he wrote a paper on something called entropy. A scientific term defined as "a : the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity b : a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder," it was also the title of a book that carried the same new-age imprint as Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. The kid was into punk rock and fancied himself some kind of armchair anarchist, so the bit about disorder appealed to him right away.

Now, Riverboat couldn't summarize a book he finished last week, let alone one he read in 1986, but let's suffice to say that entropy is a warning to a consumptive society. It says we're not necessarily moving toward a more enlightened state just because we can take pictures with our cell phones. And it's certainly not the type of thing certain executive branches are bearing in mind as they withdraw from climate-control summits and bomb other countries' infrastructures so they can pay their friends to rebuild them.

It also seems to parallel one of Riverboat's own observations -- the tendency of good things to eventually suck. Just look around. Our planet increasingly resembles a giant Motel 6 with a backed-up toilet, but without those reasonable prices. Vegas is a 20-story strip mall, Levis are made in South American sweatshops, and Elton John writes love schlock for cartoon animals. If we're not cringing as John Ashcroft takes a red pen to the Bill of Rights, we're lamenting the fact that our favorite burrito joint is now a Starbucks. Another Starbucks.

But don't get Riverboat wrong; he's a glass-half-full kinda guy. Even his pen name calls to mind pre-suck treasures (can you guess?) that will always glimmer. As brick and marble give way to stucco and drywall; and reality TV shields us from anything real, he finds a strange comfort among the rubble of failure. Unable to change the world in any perceivable way (he tries), he heeds the examples of those who hopped off the commuter train and wove loincloths of their discontent -- those who found happiness in an honest business, an artistic something, or an idea that supplanted the self-worth to-do list on display in the checkout line.

So if he grumbles too much in his musings, remind him that he said all this lofty crap. In the meantime, check out some good livin' done by the folks at the following sites.

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::doc rhino
::washboard john
::riverboat sayles

::http://www. dischord.com
Still ten bucks after all these years.

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Writer, rock star, Rhino.

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The Ken Starr Report of rock, and every three months.

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Movies and the people who love 'em.

::http://www.aclu.org
Take action to protect civil liberties.

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Influence legislation with a couple clicks.

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What's so funny 'bout healthcare, fair trade, and nonviolence?

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Support independent booksellers. They'd do it for you.

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The revolution is sometimes televised.