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The federal goverment is now not allowed to withold funding from libraries who don't use Internet filtering. The Children's Internet Protection Act, an attempt to shield chidren from pornographic [if legal] material, was overturned by a ruling handed down today. Some libraries, like San Francisco Public, had already decided to forego any funding they might be entitled to in order not to be hamstrung by CIPA, but many others were dutifully preparing to install imperfect filters on their public terminals by the deadline of July 1st.
posted by jessamyn at 9:47 PM PST - 23 comments

"It would no longer be a marketplace; it would be a kind of a jungle, where this one unlicensed instrument is capable of devouring all that people had invested in and labored over and brought forth."

Good ol' Cryptome has been kind enough to post Jack Valenti's original congressional testimony against the insidious VCR Threat of 1982. Now we can see his famous 'Boston Strangler' quote in context and pick out a few new favorites. So kick back, substitute the word 'Internet' for 'VCR' and wallow in the sweet irony.

(And don't forget to check out Jack's cool 80s-era Japan-bashing. Keep fightin' the good fight, Jackie-boy!)
[via Slashdot]
posted by Dirjy at 8:21 PM PST - 4 comments

Missing Dog Head! And other /Insane/ things found. Provided to you by Ubu.com Also check out the mp3 section for hundreds of audio recordings by other loonies like Artaud, Duchamp, Burroughs, etc etc...
posted by protocool at 7:31 PM PST - 7 comments

The Complete Holy Writings of Ine. (Parable Edition)
"Submitting yourselves one to another with their uncleanness." (10.5)
"Envy thou not the oppressor, Serve the lord our god giveth us." (24.2)

Now, Volume II: The Book of Moaning is out!. Just what you crazy kids have been waiting for!
"shall vain words have an end?" (3:4)
"repent; or else i die." (7:1)
"submit yourselves therefore to god." (15:3)
posted by geoff. at 7:09 PM PST - 8 comments

Earth Viewer compiles satellite imagery on the fly to produce a photo-realistic, spinnable, zoomable model of the entire Earth, right on your computer. And I mean zoomable -- one slider takes you smoothly from seeing the entire globe down to seeing individual people queuing to get into the Louvre...
posted by chrismear at 5:59 PM PST - 11 comments

Industrial Security Clearance Decisions - names omitted to protect the druggies, shameless debtors, and people who keep dual citizenship so as to get through customs quicker. They really don't like people who lie -- esp. when they lie about something that's in public record. Still, the weirdest one is a a guy open about his predeliction for sex with dogs...
posted by meep at 5:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Nudi of the Week! It's not what you think. Exquisitely beautiful slugs with brilliant colors, funky patterns and a delicious candy coating. Just kidding about that last part. But damn these nudibranchs sure are pretty. Lots of other nudi links at the Slug Site.
posted by mediareport at 1:29 PM PST - 15 comments

Christopher O'Riley is a pianist who has transcribed some Radiohead tunes. Give a listen if you like, and spare me the Radiohead does/doesn't suck thread.
posted by uftheory at 1:25 PM PST - 15 comments

If I only had a brain or a bible thats on fire. "When was the last time your class saw how "HOT" God's Word is? Open this authentic looking "bible" and begin to share the scripture for the day as real flames are seen coming from your "bible". I have not the words.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:28 PM PST - 14 comments

Indiana Jones to return in a fourth installment. "Paramount insiders say the picture will be aimed at a July 2005 holiday weekend berth." Yay!
posted by slater at 11:10 AM PST - 30 comments

The Popcorn Fork ^TM
posted by swift at 11:02 AM PST - 26 comments

The art of Le Parkour. Want to be a real life Spider-Man? Try keeping up with these guys.
posted by homunculus at 10:54 AM PST - 7 comments

"To compile The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s, we used the most narrow and conservative of definitions -- corporations that have pled guilty or no contest to crimes and have been criminally fined." Just brimming with fascinating business lore, including "The FBI estimates that 19,000 Americans are murdered every year. Compare this to the 56,000 Americans who die every year on the job or from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the tens of thousands of other Americans who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous consumer products...."
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 10:37 AM PST - 32 comments

This is the story of what happens when a naïve 15-year-old prodigy collides with an upward-reaching football program, some of whose players feel like they own the campus. Brittany Benefield started college at age 15 with the dream of finishing law school before she turned 21. Didn't quite work out that way, and hers is an amazing story. Take the time to read this, and think about it. Would you fault her parents, for letting her get into something she wasn't ready for; the university, for letting this get out of control; the football program, for running roughshod over the school; or Brittany, for her own decisions?
posted by msacheson at 10:17 AM PST - 44 comments

The Movement for an Appropriate 9/11 Memorial
    What is sacred space? The influence of spiritual leaders, philosophers, ethicists, psychologists, anthropologists and other scholars is notably absent in discussions about what to do with the former WTC site.
    Among advocates for a large WTC memorial, there is consensus that the site is "sacred." September's Mission wants victims families to take part in a process of determining what will serve the function of connecting people to sacredness. They want public money to be spent in this direction too. But how can people's feelings, behaviors and attitudes be planned? Can popular beliefs be incorporated into large-scale government decisions? (1, 2)
posted by rschram at 9:52 AM PST - 18 comments

Saudi militants obtain SA-7 missiles Not to worryf. The govt will, I'm sure, crack down on them as if they were adulterers. Besides, they are not in the axis of evil.
posted by Postroad at 9:51 AM PST - 5 comments

Questioning the myth of plastic knives and boxcutters. "This fictoid serves to divert public attentions from the responsibility, and legal liability, of the government and airlines to prevent major weapons — such as guns, bombs, chemical sprays and hunting knives [all of which were mentioned in flight attendant and passenger cell phone calls] from being carried aboard airplanes. If such illegal devices had been smuggled aboard the planes, the liability could amount to billions of dollars. If, on the other hand, it could be disseminated that the hijackers had only used plastic knives, such as those provided by the airlines for meals, or box cutters, which were allowed on planes, neither the airlines, the screeners at the airport, or the FAA, which regulates the safety of airports, could be held legally responsible."
posted by fotzepolitic at 9:48 AM PST - 7 comments

"Blow up for nothing? What is this - trading in the blood of martyrs only so that my handlers can say that they executed the operation?" Tawriya Hamamra, a young Palestinian woman, who had barely an hour's training in preparation for a suicide bombing recounts her change of heart. Just how much religion, politics, or personal problems motivates a suicide?
posted by semmi at 9:44 AM PST - 10 comments

Medical professionals are supposed to tell the truth. But why do they always lie?

I had an exam yesterday and they lied to me again as they always do.

Every time they do the glaucoma test, I have been told that they will get "close" to the eye. I correct them and tell them, no, you're going to touch it. They'll deny it 3 or 4 times before finally conceding that they'll "barely touch it" or something like that.

"The most common way to currently measure pressure inside the eye is tonometry. In air tonometry, a short burst of air hits the cornea. In applanation tonometry, a doctor anesthetizes the eye, then presses against it with a tiny instrument and measures the depth of the indentation." (sorry-- this is where I got the quote-- it's mostly about something else-- even web pages are reluctant to admit they'll touch your eyeball).

I have never recieved air tonometry, it's rarely used and considerred inaccurate.

This only bugs me because years ago a doctor told me he was going to get close to my eye, I could feel him on the surface through the aneshthetic and pulled back. This happened repeatedly. Eventually he told me he had to touch the eye. If he had told me that in the first place, I wouldn't have thought he was screwing up and I wouldn't have pulled back.

Well ok, it also bugs me that a doctor would utter such an obvious lie (you can feel them on the eye and see the cornea distort when it's pressed). What else are they lying about? What are their motives? (I have contacts, I touch my eyeballs all the time, surely they don't think I have an eyeball touching phobia...)
posted by squinky at 9:26 AM PST - 31 comments

Are you David Still? If not, well, you can be. David Still has given up his personality to the masses, so you can write to people as him, and better still, reply to people who have sent e-mails back to the enigmatic Mr Still. Potential for confusion: I'd say fair to middling...
posted by creeky at 9:12 AM PST - 2 comments

Today is the seventh anniversary of the launch of Jeffrey Zeldman Presents. Is this the longest running weblog/journal/daily report?
posted by timeistight at 8:45 AM PST - 6 comments

You can blog if you want to and O'reilly would like to tell you how. Some have commented how antithetical it is for bloggers to keep a secret, even if a book deal requires them to. Well, these folks would like you to comment and contribute.
posted by piskycritter at 8:04 AM PST - 4 comments

Bye Bye, Privacy. Despite opposition from civil liberties groups worldwide, the European parliament bowed to pressure from individual governments, led by Britain, and approved legislation to give police the power to access the communications records of every phone and internet user.
posted by tpoh.org at 6:52 AM PST - 14 comments

Porn shop clerk arrested for selling porn: Am I the only one that thinks this is completely crazy? First of all, how can you prosecute someone for something they have a license to do? And why prosecute the clerk, and not the owner of the store? It's not bad enough to have to work in a porn shop, but you also have to worry about being arrested for selling someone a copy of "All Anal Action"?
posted by emptybowl at 6:51 AM PST - 21 comments

so which site has the best soccer live coverage? is it yahoo!'s fifaworldcup.com? is it the bbc? is it someone else? right now from here (germany) it looks like none of the big sites is holding up to the traffic. is any site as well prepared as msnbc was for the olympics? oh, and it looks like senegal is winning the opening match.
posted by HeikoH at 6:00 AM PST - 17 comments

Pip Tattersall is the first woman to win the Green Beret of the Royal Marines, but she still can't fight in combat. Is the British army ignoring thousands of years of history, or is Martin van Creveld right?
posted by CatherineB at 5:13 AM PST - 24 comments

Welcome to the world, Adam Pearl.
posted by crabwalk at 8:45 PM PST - 51 comments

Journalists response to the web wide debate sparked after their interview with Jamie Kellner CEO of Turner Broadcasting. Where he likened not viewing the adverts to theft. It's a story I was very interested in and it seems it caused a fair amount of debate. Other than the 'Osama is evil' explosion what's your favorite meme with legs ?
posted by mrben at 8:00 PM PST - 8 comments

goodbye rankpeople! hey! is this the end of one of those "amihotornot" sort of sites? is the "my self esteem is so low i need to validate my existence on a website" trend over and done with? no more "i can't feel cool unless other people think i look cool" bubble? alas, i can't help but feel sad over the beginning of the end of an era...
no. not really.
posted by jcterminal at 6:25 PM PST - 11 comments

The "duh" in Fundamentalism: Jaime Wright's "The Philosophy Of The Bomb". Please scroll down to Essays, Rants, Etc...
posted by protocool at 6:15 PM PST - 6 comments

Three Climbers die in Fall on Mt. Hood today. As if that doesn't suck enough, A helicopter crew member is injured critically after a military helicopter assisting in the rescue goes down. And this right on the heels of a recent climbing accident on Mt. Ranier, as well as a recent accident on Mt. Elias.

Ok, that's enough for this season.
posted by bicyclingfool at 5:41 PM PST - 20 comments

We don't just tolerate the Robert James Wallerisms in ''Spider-Man,'' we begin to employ them as pickup lines Hey, I'll put Stan Lee and "Spider-Man" above Waller and "The Bridges of Madison County" any old day. That doesn't make me a stunted adolescent! This opinion piece really seems misinformed about any form of art or communication that doesn't meet the author's rather narrow standards. Fortunately, the opposing opinion balances things out a bit. Have you ever learned anything from a comic book, or do they just help the terrorists?
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:24 PM PST - 10 comments

Fallout Shelter News announces the July opening of DC's International Spy Museum. "Holy brainwashing, Batman ... if they tell us what’s in it, will they have to kill us?" Before exiting into the 5,000-square-foot gift shop and choosing between two restaurants for a bite to eat, visitors will be able to discuss the current state of espionage with specialists who once worked in the field.
posted by sheauga at 2:25 PM PST - 5 comments

It's no surprise that the Sept 11 Compensation Fund will cover gay partners of victims. [nytimes link] It's easy to be generous: Of the 2,800-plus who died, the Fund has found only "22 known gay surviving partners." Never mind that the Windows on the World waiters alone should have made that number four times higher, based on the "one in ten" formula for estimating the size of a gay population, one would expect almost 300 gay victims on Sept 11. Of course, not all the gay victims would necessarily be uncloseted or have a life partner, but still -- only 22? No wonder the fund is so generous to cut checks for this tiny minority. But does this unintended survey suggest NYC may not be as queer as everyone thinks? In any case, why were so few of gays employed at the WTC?
posted by jellybuzz at 2:03 PM PST - 50 comments

Alberta's sex-offender web site: public service, or invitation to vigilante justice?
posted by brookish at 1:48 PM PST - 23 comments

The real challenge to Microsoft in the 21st Century? Wonder what the techies out there think of this - is it yet another pc false dawn, or - if and when Red Hat get on board - the beginning of the end for Windows? Checkout the heavyweight 'partners'... What with the developments in the pipeline for PlayStation Linux - and maybe even the XBox! - , and Linux making tentative inroads in China, how's Bill gonna embrace and extend this one? Please elucidate for the ignorant! Link courtesy of BBC Sci/Tech
posted by dash_slot- at 1:32 PM PST - 24 comments

Welcome to the Boomtown. 'Fast Company' magazine profiles the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant -- a rural Oklahoma factory that is the source of nearly every nonnuclear bomb in the United States' arsenal. Man
posted by Dirjy at 1:17 PM PST - 8 comments

Cities with water to burn. "While some drought-stricken cities elsewhere in the nation threaten to jail people who waste water, Cleveland wants people to open their spigots... 'Don't be afraid of it. . . . We have trillions of gallons of water here.'" So why do Clevelanders still have to use low-flush toilets and low-output shower heads?
posted by Faze at 1:16 PM PST - 12 comments

ObitMessenger Why it's useful: Never miss important obituaries. Never miss an important obituary because you were traveling, on vacation, or missed the paper.
posted by srboisvert at 12:47 PM PST - 11 comments

Puppetry of the Penis: Tackle Happy (2001) Any Australian Metafilterians care to explain this? I found a rave review of this DVD on Amazon.com's Future Bestseller's list. "Organ Origami", "The Fine Art of Genital Manipulation" and "Performances with Road Companies at Major Festivals Throughout The World"? I think the world's citizen's are owed an explanation.
posted by dgeiser13 at 11:07 AM PST - 10 comments

Cruel and unusual punishment from the state that raised me. It reminds me of eugenics. I definitely don't condone rape, but this just seems wrong.
posted by password at 9:47 AM PST - 77 comments

Government Will Ease Limits on Domestic Spying by F.B.I. (NY Times link) As part of a sweeping effort to transform the F.B.I. into a domestic terrorism prevention agency, Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to relax restrictions on the bureau's ability to conduct domestic spying in counterterrorism operations, senior government officials said today. Here's the Wash. Post's take on the story.
posted by Ty Webb at 9:29 AM PST - 21 comments

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement "Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense." More inside...
posted by Irontom at 9:24 AM PST - 21 comments

Ari Fleischer is a big fat liar. Or so says Jonathan Chait in the New Republic. Clinton-style truth parsing is so 90's. We're now in the age of the bold statement, whether or not the statement is true is merely secondary.
posted by PrinceValium at 9:01 AM PST - 26 comments

Marines use high tech website in the War on Terror. Very interesting idea. Use the internet instead of the C4 systems that have already been bought...cause it works better. I believe it. With Wired (via Fark) having an article on "The Marines' arsenal of the future is starting to look a whole lot like the shelves at Toys "R" Us.", and another on powered exoskeletons, and yet another that mentions invisibility cloaks, how long before "The War of the Future" is here? What's it going to look like? I can envision a lot more people interested in the armed forces if they get to play with cool toys like this.
posted by taumeson at 8:30 AM PST - 14 comments

Battleground God. Consistency is the sign of a small mind. How small minded are you?
posted by Mossy at 8:28 AM PST - 47 comments

Philip Morris sells Miller unit to South African firm for $5.6 billion, creating the world's No. 2 brewer. Does this mean I'll be able to get Castle Lager here in the U.S. when I have a braai?
posted by mad at 8:17 AM PST - 4 comments

The Washington Post recently featured an article about soup maven Patricia Solley. I believe her comprehensive soup site is going to become a regular destination for me. Where else can you find a recipe for Spock’s favorite soup?
posted by Fenriss at 7:46 AM PST - 4 comments

A slice of some guy's brain David created animations based on an MRI of his brain. They look cool. That's all. Link courtesy of TimT
posted by mecran01 at 7:37 AM PST - 11 comments

MacSlash is the latest victim of domain hijacking. Depending on how the DNS fairies have propagated themselves, you may be able to read MacSlash's own thread on the situation, or you may be taken to a generic Dotster page. I got Dotster at work yesterday but I'm still getting MacSlash at home. Not yet clear how this will turn out.
posted by mcwetboy at 4:53 AM PST - 22 comments

Speaking of organized religion: Scientists claim there is a link between piety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
posted by costas at 3:58 AM PST - 13 comments

Suicide by McDonalds -- Frank Nastasi was depressed and wanted to kill himself May 15 when he accelerated his Cadillac DeVille to 95 to 100 mph and aimed for the McDonalds at the end of the road. Nastasi survived the crash, but killed three overnight workers at the 24-hour fast food restaurant. Why did he target a McDonalds? "Because his father ate breakfast there every morning," investigators said.
posted by dogmatic at 2:36 AM PST - 19 comments

Amazon.com restaurants. Reminds me of Google Catalogs. Is this a win-win for all parties, or is Amazon just angling to try and grab yet another slice of the pie? (Via Yahoo! News.)
posted by Fofer at 11:29 PM PST - 11 comments

Ok, this one's weird. On May 11, "Jacksonville, Fla., police arrested a Fort Stewart soldier after finding him armed, wearing black clothes and leaving a power plant where he allegedly left an explosive." The story got a tiny bit of play, but searches at CNN and FoxNews turn up no sign of it, despite the possible terror angle and a bond set at $5 million. Days later, a follow-up story (can't find the original) quotes a detective saying, "This has been blown way out of proportion." Bizarre cover-up? Or really nothing worth mentioning?
posted by mediareport at 8:19 PM PST - 13 comments

Gujarat rocked by a series of bomb blasts. "It appears that the bombs are crudely made bombs and intended to create a panic" says a police spokesman. About a dozen people were injured in three explosions in the city of Ahmedabad.
posted by riffola at 7:16 PM PST - 4 comments

Cantor Fitzgerald tells its stories in new ad campaign ...the brokerage house that lost 658 employees from the 9/11 attacks on the WTC is telling its story in some nationally released television spots. The ads can also be found at Cantor Fitzgerald's site under the "View our stories" link (flash and quicktime required).
posted by tpl1212 at 6:37 PM PST - 47 comments

The end of free zoo day in Buffalo, NY Darn! Sometime a group of folks can really ruin it for the rest of us. But this was out of hand!
posted by punkrockrat at 2:43 PM PST - 37 comments

Moon Speech Raises Old Ghosts as the Times Turns 20 One of my favorite charlatans helps to bring back memories of the good old days that his moonie organization is trying to put behind them in order to appear "repsectable." But then the article published by the town's rival paper.
posted by Postroad at 2:12 PM PST - 12 comments

"It was 1931 that we last reported on television, and our readers must be wondering how things are shaping up. Not any too good." The New Yorker reports on the state of television, 1936.
posted by tranquileye at 1:35 PM PST - 8 comments

World-wide obsession I am told these sports betting sites are readying themselves for an onslaught of World Cup Soccer traffic never seen in history. Will you play? Does it make the sport uplifting or uncouth?
posted by Voyageman at 12:18 PM PST - 11 comments

Paralyzed H.S. senior works for two years to achieve dream of walking across commencement stage to take her diploma. At the last minute, principal makes her use her wheelchair, citing liability concerns. Lawyers have us all running scared, so sad. (via Romensko)
posted by luser at 11:53 AM PST - 47 comments

A blasphemy trial out of the 17th century "Let's be clear. Criticising the precepts of modern Islam and the resultant actions of its adherents is not racist. Philosophically, it is the precise opposite of racism. It is an intellectual position arrived at through a consideration of ideas, rather than a cruel and irrational prejudice based upon the colour of someone's skin." Rod Liddle discusses the upcoming prosecution of French writer Michel Houellebecq for a comment he made about Islam in an interview. Some interesting points here about the wider context, in which Houellebecq has been attacked for the beliefs of the fictional characters he creates.
posted by jonpollard at 11:43 AM PST - 23 comments

Underwear, raw eggs, temporary tattoos, condoms designed to match your blood type, emu jerky, marijuana, hot noodles, super glue. What do they all have in common, besides possibly being things you need to have a really unforgettable Saturday night? They're all things that have been sold in vending machines. From Raphael Carter, author of the insect-centric Honeyguide weblog.
posted by iconomy at 11:40 AM PST - 9 comments

Dave Marsh on Ticketmaster : Bands used to be able to get around Ticketmaster's high surcharges by setting aside tickets for fan club members, because TM's "convenience" charges didn't apply to fan club tickets. Now "artists can hold back no more than eight per cent of their tickets, and they can only sell them to fan clubs of which Ticketmaster approves."
posted by espada at 11:22 AM PST - 23 comments

How busy is LAX? Take a look! Zoom out to 96 Miles and it looks like a busy anthill.
posted by srboisvert at 11:06 AM PST - 17 comments

Cadence engineer fired for activism: So, an engineer for Cadence Design Systems, on his own time and dime went to Bethlehem to do humanitarian work with the International Solidarity Movement, a group of pro-Palestinian activists who believe in non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. When he returned, he was immediately terminated due to "inappropriate politics in an area where Cadence does business (Israel)". Should corporations have the right to mandate the political views of their employees, contractors and subsidiary workers? Would there be more outrage if he was fired for supporting the Israeli occupation? When a Christian's beliefs run contrary to Jewish interests, is it automatically fair to fire the Christian?
posted by dejah420 at 9:54 AM PST - 56 comments

One Nation, Overseas Wired Magazine on the Philippines as one of the world's leading labor exporters. Hearing the words "flexible, industrious, and frequently skilled" applied to Filipinos is certainly encouraging to us, but... (more inside)
posted by brownpau at 9:39 AM PST - 8 comments

Polygyny vs. polyandry. Are we mildly polygynous? Rebecca considers the evidence. Although some feel polygyny is a divine right, wouldn't polyandry be the solution to overpopulation?
posted by sheauga at 9:04 AM PST - 35 comments

You may have heard of Conway's Game of Life, where pixels "live" or "die" based on a few simple rules about how many neighbors they have. But did you know that in the 30 years since the game was created, Life enthusiasts have (created? discovered?) an extensive catalog of (objects? creatures?) which interact to form some amazing, nifty, grinning, sometimes beautiful, rube-goldberg, occasionally even a little scary patterns often starting from the simplest of building blocks? (Including a Turing machine!) Or that a lone pixel can exert remarkable control over its environment? Now you can see in a few seconds in a java applet, on your desktop, or even on a PalmOS handheld the outcome of simple patterns that, when first discovered, no computer could handle. A mind blowing example of the power of emergent properties.
posted by straight at 9:03 AM PST - 22 comments

Georgia Republicans Attempt to Derail Democratic Primary "Overzealous staffers" signed affidavits of identity for candidates in eight Senate seats to pose as primary opponents to more established Democratic candidates. Dirty pool or legitimate tactic?
posted by Irontom at 8:53 AM PST - 9 comments

Arafat cheese puffs. Is Yasser the first world leader to have a brank of snacks bearing his name?
posted by adampsyche at 8:49 AM PST - 19 comments

Sorry to post a shockwave.com link, but Groove Blender 2 has eaten away almost my whole morning. Drag and drop blocks onto the canvas to create your own grooves- the downloadable version includes many more beats and the option to export your groove, or save it to Shockwaves servers. Anyone know of something else this simple that is simlar but allows you to import others grooves?
posted by TuxHeDoh at 8:30 AM PST - 2 comments

Tired of trying to flag down a waitron? Here's one solution. But if you want a different drink, you're probably back to yer old aerobics routine.
posted by datawrangler at 8:08 AM PST - 43 comments

Something about Shooting Stanley Fish in a Barrel Once, when asked by a student how he can get away with his famously unsourced assertions and oddly malicious personal attacks, Stanley Fish replied, "Because I'm Stanley Fish, and you're not." Which he defends by claiming that his actions derive from his theoretical work, mostly on the subjective nature of authority (albeit in a literary sense, but then who's to argue). So it's a little odd that in this article he attacks journalists - whom, other than a few anonymous beat reporters and David Brooks (who is a columnist and commentator, but hardly an objectivity-seeking reporter), he groups as "they" - for being less than fair to academics. Don't get too riled up, though; this is likely just Fish's latest attempt to bait a controversy and stick his name at the top.
posted by risenc at 7:36 AM PST - 7 comments

Has one of terrorism's former poster children, Qaddafi, finally turned over a new leaf? At last some genuinely good news from the Middle East. Libya's offer to pay $2,7-billion in compensation to the families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland seems to indicate so. Although the Libyans are almost certainly motivated by their desire to end sanctions against them as a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' this is a hopefully a declaration of 'mea culpa' from the 'colonel' and maybe a sign of better things to come from others in the region that still think that there is something to be gained from blowing up so-called 'infidels' in civilian aircraft.
posted by murray_kester at 7:00 AM PST - 10 comments

Woo, trams to return to London At last it looks as though there may finally be real progress in tackling the transport problems of one of the world's most congested cities. I wonder whether other nations should take note, or is it all just a pipe dream?
posted by Duug at 5:28 AM PST - 18 comments

Of GM food, the PR industry and Tony Blair. George Monbiot exposes the questionable methods (fake public interest groups) of the PR industry in defense of big Agribusiness.
posted by talos at 4:26 AM PST - 15 comments

Punk was rubbish , so says Nigel Williamson. Tuneless noise of no merit whatsoever which sought to destroy anything that was good. Nothing good came of it and it has left no credible legacy. Well, what would you expect from a guy called Nigel?
posted by Fat Buddha at 3:46 AM PST - 112 comments

The author of this story argues that by disallowing same-sex marriage, social conservatives are actually working to undermine the function marriage plays in society "The last thing supporters of marriage should be doing is setting up an assortment of alternatives, but that is exactly what the conservatives are doing, and not only for gays." Interesting views i thought, not that i'm so pro-marriage.
posted by rhyax at 10:32 PM PST - 15 comments

Are you an AT&T Broadband cable internet customer?
Did you buy your cable modem to save on your monthly fee?
You made a mistake.
posted by darukaru at 6:56 PM PST - 33 comments

Idiots on Unicycles.
posted by swift at 6:38 PM PST - 5 comments

J. Robert Oppenheimer, watching the first mushroom cloud rise above the American nuclear test heartbreakingly codenamed Trinity, said: "Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds." Today, a half century after the first use of atomic weapons, in the birthland of the sacred text Oppenheimer quoted, 12 million people could die at once in a nuclear exchange.

Ah, Shiva as each of us...one hand on The Button, the other writing: "The only way to live humanly - still - is in resistance to war. The prevention of war, in the nuclear age, must be a central purpose of every person's life."
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 4:40 PM PST - 58 comments

No Carnivore? No Osama evidence "The FBI destroyed evidence gathered in an investigation involving bin Laden's network after its e-mail wiretap system mistakenly captured information to which the agency was not entitled. The FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the e-mail take, including the take on" the suspect, the memo said". Another example of the need for significant FBI reform?
posted by matteo at 4:19 PM PST - 12 comments

The day is June 3rd, 1999 and one mad genius decides he's going to photographically document every door or drawer that he touches. Can focusing on minor repetitive actions - normally lost in the whole of the experience - tell us anything about our world and the way we interact with it?
posted by willnot at 4:16 PM PST - 19 comments

Don & Mike v. Opie & Anthony. O&A are hot in New York, but D&M are doing poorly there. The opposite is true here in DC. At the risk of perpetuating a lie by posting this story here, I can't help but think that the on-air fight between these two radio programs from Infinity Broadcasting seems a little contrived. Anyone on metafilter, or any other online forum, knows that a flamewar and controversy breeds interest.
posted by crunchland at 1:43 PM PST - 25 comments

The Eminem Show reached #2 on the Gracenote charts last week, even though the album was not officially released until Sunday. Gracenote doesn't give exact figures on traffic, but it said the No. 2 slot in its charts represented a total figure of listeners in the "mid-tens of thousands" over the course of the week.
posted by ry at 1:11 PM PST - 15 comments

Suspicious package found in downtown Minneapolis. Ok, this is a little too close to home...
posted by esch at 1:01 PM PST - 20 comments

Hexxagon , yeah, so its not friday flash, but it's sure a good way to waste a few hours on a tuesday afternoon or a wednesday morning. great game with some real strategy involved.
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 12:21 PM PST - 11 comments

"Power & Weakness" by Robert Kagan . If you have 20 minutes to spare this is the most interesting explanation for the EU/US divide I've come across.
posted by revbrian at 12:01 PM PST - 37 comments

RIAA sues Audiogalaxy. "After targeting decentralized popular file-sharing services such as Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, and Madster, the Recording Industry Association of America took aim at Audiogalaxy in court last Friday..." [via pfm]
posted by dobbs at 11:49 AM PST - 46 comments

Israel to launch flying casino Ah...there he goes again. No. This is not about middle east chaos. This is gambling for "high stakes"--casino in the air. Claimed to be a first, can this sort of thing "take off" and be established in other countries? Would you try this form of gambling?
posted by Postroad at 11:48 AM PST - 10 comments

Project Euh is a self-proclaimed multimedia weblog with many "web experiments" and something I never though I'd see, a curved scroll bar. But that's just the beginning. Click on euh? to load a random experiment.
posted by dgeiser13 at 11:13 AM PST - 16 comments

Stephen Byers resigns (finally). Here is a profile of the man. Do politicians have to fall into the same pattern everytime something like this happens? Press: You've done something wrong. Politician: No I haven't. I'll admit to no impropriety on my part. Prime Minister: I'll stand by my minister. Press: But we can prove he did something wrong. The Public: I'll go with what they say, and he should resign. Prime Minister: Look mate, it's about the voters. Politician: I still don't believe I've got anything to hide but save the government embarassment, I'll resign.
posted by feelinglistless at 10:42 AM PST - 7 comments

Americans edge away from organized religion two University of California, Berkeley, sociologists say.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:54 AM PST - 16 comments

Butt For You "You can do a lot for your pecs, biceps and abs - but when it comes to your glutes you can only go so far. Great for sports!"
posted by kirkaracha at 8:34 AM PST - 29 comments

Weird Science: Antigravity that works? These guys are working on devices that apparently do levitate / hover without any visible means of propellant (videos 1, 2, 3, 4). However, nobody can really explain why or how they work. Weird.
posted by Irontom at 8:19 AM PST - 11 comments

Extreme Hi-Fi Buff. "...A further modification to loudspeakers that I found well worthwhile is to fill the cabinet with sulphur hexafluoride gas, SF6, in place of the air..."
posted by Spoon at 7:32 AM PST - 18 comments

All pistachio nuts should come shelled. Every time I have a few, I break another thumb... Remember Larry's King's hilariously banal blatherings in his USAToday column? How effortlessly mockable it was? How he finally got shitcanned last fall? Well, he's back. Giveaway that King himself supervised the web presentation: how you have to hit "next" to see each individual, um...thought?...insight?...nugget? Like they're so substantial.
posted by luser at 6:58 AM PST - 8 comments

Those family and pet photos relegated to office corkboards (and screensavers) "...make us feel that we are not separate from our kids; that we are still with them, and they with us, vivid, changeable, in the flesh. They are expressions of pride, yes, and love, yes, but also of guilt and longing....the office photo is an emblem not so much of achievement as of compromise, lurking worries, remembered joys...." I never realized I was so miserable at work.
posted by Voyageman at 10:03 PM PST - 17 comments

People don't watch adverts - or at least they try not to. I tend to flip, or press the mute button. Given this research, plus the fact that certain stations think it's our duty to watch .. do you think they'll find another way to slip them in when we're not expecting it ?. (previous discussion about tv commercials)
posted by mrben at 9:53 PM PST - 45 comments

Glurge. We're all familiar with glurge. It's that sickly-sweet inspirational message forwarded by someone who wants you to know they're "thinking of you", or the chain-letter story of the little girl with cancer who supposedly gets three cents for treatment every time you forward the message.

I prefer anti-glurge for snappy writing like this: "Dear world, My name is Jessica Miller and I am 7 years old. When I was born, my mother left me with my father, who locked me in the trunk of his Lumina for 7 years without food and water. While there, I got head cancer and second hand smoke. And fetal alcohol syndrome. And the flu." Via memepool and my mother.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Sex in prison, an insiders view. There's been a couple of threads in MeTa about the inappropriateness of jokes about prison rape (#1, #2). I've been reluctant to challenge some of the most severe hand-wringing over the subject in question, but this article from someone in the UK pretty much covers it. No easy answers, just some thoughts from someone who's actually been an inmate (and see inside thread for more).
posted by WolfDaddy at 1:16 PM PST - 22 comments

Bush takes to insulting his critics "Very good," Mr. Bush said sardonically. "The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he's intercontinental." "I can go on," Mr. Gregory offered. "I'm impressed — que bueno," said Mr. Bush, using the Spanish phrase for "how wonderful." He deadpanned: "Now I'm literate in two languages."
posted by fellorwaspushed at 12:05 PM PST - 43 comments

Guimp.com claims to be the world's smallest web site. And it probably is.
Jakob must be spinning in his crypt.
You don't have to scroll, though.
posted by Su at 12:01 PM PST - 17 comments

Advances in neurotechnology are creating a great need for more public debate of their ethical and legal ramifications, according to these two articles in The Economist. While everyone is focused on cloning and stem cells, will it be neuroscience that turns society into a Philip K. Dick story? If so, I want a mood organ.
posted by homunculus at 11:24 AM PST - 3 comments

Geeky Kids With Garage Band #4,767 Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, Vince Furnier, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce are not exactly household names. Little more than typical high school rock geeks in the early seventies, they went on to become one of the most influential rock acts ever. At the peak of popularity, the band members went thier own ways and left Vince to milk the fat cow on his own for another 25 years, yet the survivors remain good friends today.
posted by quonsar at 11:19 AM PST - 8 comments

"I get a lot of questions like 'Why are you the King of France?' Hopefully, this document will help those who just don't understand the overwhelming obviousness of it all. Then they can stop living in denial."
posted by moz at 11:07 AM PST - 8 comments

Bus-size jade boulders found in Guatemala Great NY Times story [Google'd here] of archeologists tracking down a mother lode of translucent blue jade after it was exposed by a hurricane. The vein solves the mystery of where the ancient Olmecs got the jade for beautiful carvings like these. Olmec civilization, famous for its colossal stone heads, is itself considered something of a mother lode for later Central American peoples like the Maya. Meanwhile, some scientists in Guatemala are digging up things that are much less fun than jade.
posted by mediareport at 10:06 AM PST - 3 comments

Kansas City invaded by giant fiberglass teddy bears. "Usually, teddy bears are soft and cuddly; these things are hard amorphous blobs. Nobody's openly ridiculing them, though, because no one wants to badmouth a project that benefits kids, some of whom are sick."
posted by bingo at 9:52 AM PST - 12 comments

Where have all the bees gone? Wild bee populations appear to be declining (members of a local naturalists' mailing list I subscribe to report seeing substantially fewer bumblebees in recent years), and domestic honeybees are susceptible to mites. Since one third of our crops require pollination, this is not just an environmental concern but also a very real threat to our food supply. Find out what's being done about it. Fascinating stuff, if a little frightening.
posted by mcwetboy at 8:15 AM PST - 18 comments

Mothers who wait to have a baby are at risk of evolutionary extinction. "If you want to see your line persist, then it's probably optimum to start reproducing in your early to mid-20s". According to this 220 year statistical model late-reproducing women [genetic lineage] declined as a proportion of the population from 11 percent to about 5 percent
posted by stbalbach at 8:10 AM PST - 8 comments

Our enemies the Saudis. In a must-read editorial, Michael Barone makes a scathing attack on U.S. support of Saudi Arabia. Does anyone else cringe when they hear G.W. Bush speak on how much he wants to protect freedom and fight totalitarianism?
posted by bobo123 at 7:24 AM PST - 12 comments

WTO reveals itself as the anti free-market organization it is: disbands, and forms the new "Trade Regulation Organization" -- Anti-WTO anti-capitalist activists bewildered.
posted by dagny at 7:22 AM PST - 21 comments

A Memorial Day resource guide. Civil War Battlefield Medicine. Point Man International Ministries. The Soldier's Internet Church. Veteran's Peace Action Teams. A cemetery site for local vets.
posted by sheauga at 5:41 AM PST - 4 comments

The Spiegel Grove was supposed to be sunk upright, creating the largest and most accessible artificial reef ever. Cool!

Unfortunately, the ship had other ideas and now appears to be impersonating a giant turtle. One of the nation's top marine salvage outfits has been called to the rescue. Looks like a potential Discovery Channel show in the making. (Check out the pictures on the Spiegel Grove site, they're pretty cool.)
posted by groundhog at 5:37 AM PST - 4 comments

How the U.S. Missed the Clues Time magazine assessmeznt of what went wrong in evaluation of intelligence pre-9/11. I am not yet sure why I find the conclusions a bit evasive but it seems to me the article tries to satisfy differing perspectives rather than taking a stand for a specific point of view. But then that may be my reading and wrong headed.
posted by Postroad at 3:28 AM PST - 7 comments

Safety of MRI scans - annoying and temporary free registration required.
If movement whilst being scanned may not be safe, then what about the heart, lungs, blood and even a foetus? You can't keep those still.
Background: Of Mice & Magnets.
posted by southisup at 11:45 PM PST - 10 comments

TiVo and the BBC force programming on consumers. The BBC apparently paid TiVo to command all its boxes -- without consumers' permission -- to record an episode of a drama the BBC marketing department deemed a must-see. Users can't even delete the recording -- it'll be there until TiVo decides to remove it. Can TiVo users expect to be bombarded with paid advertising after all? (ZDNet article here.)
posted by mattpfeff at 10:32 PM PST - 27 comments

Rolling your own tampons. Necessity. Mother. Invention. Thanks, Teresa.
posted by maudlin at 9:41 PM PST - 60 comments

Comics are stupid. Comics are great. In a pair of twinned articles, the venerable Boston Globe revisits the whole "dumbing-down our culture" thing, that probably first popped up when the first iconoclast decided to use papyrus rather than good ol' stone. Light the bat-signal, Commissioner, my Spidey-sense is tingling!
posted by yhbc at 7:37 PM PST - 40 comments

Plugging the Analog Hole.
The MPAA has released a report entitled "The Content Protection Status Report" to the Senate Judiciary Committee, outlining it's plans to find a way to regulate Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) with digial watermarks and "cop chips". In this short essay, Cory Doctorow outlines the main points of the new report and points out how entertainment companies are becomming the de facto regulators of new technologies.
posted by Hackworth at 6:40 PM PST - 7 comments

Bridge Collapses in Oklahoma A barge collides with the I-40 bridge at 7:30 am this morning (CDT), sending 9 vehicles and 3 trucks plummeting 62 feet to the river below.
posted by somethingotherthan at 2:50 PM PST - 22 comments

M. is a girl living as a boy and his school is helping to keep his secret. Is that just asking for trouble? And should a 13 year old be considered for gender-reassignment therapy or is this just an extreme case of tomboy-ism that s/he'll grow out of? [NYT mefi/mefi]
posted by mdn at 1:06 PM PST - 32 comments

Dude. I finally got a Philson Stratoblaster Air Guitar. You can get one too, and a free air guitar pick, at the Bud. R. Philson Easy Air Guitar, Volume One site. Just click on "rock on", and then follow the easy lessons, and in a matter of weeks, you'll be rockin' to "Stop That Guy, He Stole My Wallet", just like me. Remember, "If it's a Philson, it's gotta be Rock and Roll".
posted by iconomy at 12:42 PM PST - 5 comments

Canadian high speed ISP's are putting caps on downloads/uploads. Could this spell the beginning of the end of P2P? The "basic" DSL package offered by Bell Canada will now give users 5 gigs up and 5 gigs down. For the average user, this is more than they'll ever use for e-mail, surfing, etc. But for users downloading movies and warez, it could be the end for them unless they're willing to cough up $7.95 CDN / gig - and most won't. Cable modem subscribers in Ontario will also be seeing a similar plan put into place in the next several months.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 12:16 PM PST - 29 comments

Fighting to Live as the Towers Died : the NYT continues its fine reporting, reconstructing the final moments of temporary survivors on the upper floors, through over 150 e-mail and telephone contacts used to reach friends and relatives (as well as videotapes and recordings of 911 calls and emergency radio bands). Since I briefly worked in the trade center, I have often wondered what this experience must have been like. You may want to take a moment to prepare, and expect to need breaks.
posted by dhartung at 9:06 AM PST - 45 comments

The patient refused an autopsy. (Via Linklust) Sunday silliness; bloopers made by doctors on medical charts and records
posted by Perigee at 8:56 AM PST - 3 comments

Next Thursday, NASA will announce the discovery of huge water ice oceans on Mars. Lying less than a metre beneath the surface south of 60° latitude, the water ice reservoirs if melted would form an ocean 500m deep covering the entire planet. NASA insiders believe these findings could result in a manned landing within 20 years.
posted by adrianhon at 7:35 AM PST - 23 comments

For anyone in "the know," it's no secret that Jack + Meg White are not brother and sister but actually are a divorced couple posing as siblings. Glorious Noise has posted a copy of their marriage certificate.

But aren't we all brothers and sisters in rock n' roll?
posted by modularette at 6:47 AM PST - 30 comments

A tale of cops and robber from Lisa Whiteman: A thief stole her bag, met her dad, took pictures with her camera, sold it to a pawn shop, and got caught.
posted by rcade at 6:30 AM PST - 7 comments

For the last century, historians, anthropologists and other scholars have searched both human history and the continents to find a matriarchy—a society where the power was in the hands of women, not men. Most have concluded that a genuine matriarchy does not exist, perhaps may never have existed. Untill now.
posted by stbalbach at 5:42 AM PST - 26 comments

Why Won't We Read the Manual? I'd say we are a pretty tech-savvy group here. Do you STOP to peruse the instructions before you touch the "on" button of your new "must have" tech toy (to say nothing of your new microwave)? Probably not. But there are reasons, according to this Washington Post article. I, for one, have been burned royally by manual writers. Scratching my head, I often hear myself mumbling "What the hell are they talking about?" And, in fact, don't you just hate when they are actually wrong?! Having been a manual writer, I always try to put myself in the place of someone who comes into the situation completely cold. I'm afraid that's not always the case.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 5:29 AM PST - 26 comments

Cannes film sickens audience It proved so shocking that 250 people walked out, some needing medical attention. Good lord.
posted by Summer at 3:51 AM PST - 21 comments

Type experimentats and portfolio by Johnathan Yuen. Flash required, but used simply.
Experimental interface; hover over everything.
posted by Su at 1:19 AM PST - 9 comments

"Strike the heart, enjoy the florist, fa la la la la la la la la" AmIRight collates all of those misheard song lyrics and goes a step further, organizing them by band, song, or decade. Plus for the truly band-curious, they have archives of cool and stupid band names, song parodies and commentary on lyrics that people think are repetitive, nonsensical, or just insincere. Sometimes it's tough to tell the wrong lyrics from the right ones... "You strut your rasta wear and your suicide poem" real or misheard?
posted by jessamyn at 6:54 PM PST - 30 comments

Falling Coconuts Kill More People Than Shark Attacks

Does anyone remember the media generated shark attack hysteria hype from last summer? It turns out that a lot more people get killed every year by falling coconuts. Ow!
posted by mark13 at 4:35 PM PST - 20 comments

Turner Classic Movies programs Harold Lloyd tribute. I've seen stills from "Safety Last" for years, but have never been able to track down the movie. Is it as good as all the critics say? I'm looking forward to finding out. What other old movies have you been wanting to see for years? (I keep meaning to get around to renting "The Bank Dick.") Along the same lines, what do you wish would be available on VHS/DVD?
posted by Vidiot at 1:13 PM PST - 30 comments

Hiding in the bathroom at work? Well, surprisingly, it looks like you're in the minority.
posted by kingmissile at 12:22 PM PST - 17 comments

Mad Magazine cartoonist David Berg dies at 81. One of the "gang of idiots" that were part of the Mad '60's: Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Antonio Prohias, Mort Drucker, et al.

Ah, well. Another piece of my childhood slips away. What stands out in my mind was that many of his characters bore an uncanny resemblance to my neighbors. But now I'm troubled: did I have a post-modern childhood?
posted by groundhog at 12:06 PM PST - 8 comments

All worldwide conflicts to take a break until after June 30 [NYT reg req] "If the U.S. forward Clint Mathis scores a beautiful goal, Iranians, Iraqis and Libyans will rave about it. Soccer has many uses, and one of them, fleeting as it may be, is universal love." But perhaps more interestingly : " For foreigners, meanwhile, the World Cup is the one time that they get to treat the U.S. like a lightweight. " Indeed.
posted by Voyageman at 10:54 AM PST - 11 comments

mexican military incursion in u.s. soil An INS agent saw a mexican military vehicle 5 miles inside u.s. territory, he says he was fired by the mexicans. He also says this is "an act of war". I'm mexican and i really doubt about this. It has to be a joke! What do you people think about this?
posted by trismegisto at 9:19 AM PST - 27 comments

The Eurovision Song Contest gets under way approximately three hours from now. Europeans, who are you rooting for?

(Anyone else, what are we talking about.....?)
posted by CatherineB at 9:02 AM PST - 29 comments

Chinese Jumbo Crashes into Sea off of the coast of Taiwan. All 225 onboard are feared dead. :(
posted by metaxa at 8:01 AM PST - 11 comments

Instant Suntan. A supernova in our galactic backyard may be on the verge of exploding. In the (unlikely) event that it happens tomorrow, how would you spend your last day on earth?
posted by Jubey at 4:55 AM PST - 41 comments

A Life in A Day of Touring. It's essential for any band who have the hopes of making it big. It’s a very huge step that requires much resilience and responsibility…blah blah yadda yadda. (from Sound the Sirens)
posted by lostbyanecho at 4:20 AM PST - 8 comments

You'd be lucky to win a tenner! Words of UK Lottery CEO Dianne Thompson to an annual dinner at the Chartered Insitute of Marketing. Thompson was previously director of marketing at low-cost high street jewellers Ratners, whose chairman famously turned a £127m annual profit into a £122m loss practically overnight with the immortal words "our merchandise is total crap." Could this be the end of the road for Lotto?
posted by dlewis at 2:04 AM PST - 28 comments

Japan leads move to cut whaling by Artic natives [nytimes, reg. req.]. After being defeated in recent I.W.C. votes Japan wins one.
posted by rdr at 12:15 AM PST - 11 comments

Cartoon Network has taken some heat lately for being too P.C., even here on MetaFilter. Well, here's their chance to redeem the network. Sunday evening, 9:00 - 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific, ToonHeads Goes To War, including four rarely-seen wartime cartoons in their entirety: "Blitz Wolf" where the three little pigs face off against a treaty-breaking, German-speaking wolf; "Scrap Happy Daffy" featuring Daffy promoting the recycling of scrap metal and butting heads with a goat that bears a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler; "Herr Meets Hare," where Bugs Bunny tangles with Nazi minister Hermann Goering; and in "Russian Rhapsody", a plane full of "gremlins from the Kremlin" attack a bomber piloted by the Nazi leader himself.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:45 PM PST - 7 comments

Physics inside a microwave oven. I came across this informative link while looking up some physics information. I thought this short movie of a grape in a microwave was amazing. My microwave has never done anything as cool as this.
posted by jragon at 7:42 PM PST - 11 comments

This evening 20/20 broadcast a report on the new payola.Names are named. This explains a lot about the current state of music radio. Ironically, one of those complaining the loudest was good ol' Hilary Rosen of the RIAA who are doing their damnedest to destroy internet radio, along with college and public radio, the only alternative to the institutional corruption she decries. But in this case, she's on the side of the angels, it would seem. This report is timely though and does illustrate what's wrong with concentrating media power in too few hands.
posted by jonmc at 7:39 PM PST - 21 comments

The mystery of the missing manuscripts
posted by todd at 6:38 PM PST - 10 comments

Minnesota passes internet privacy bill. How enforcable is this? How long before other States follow suit? Many questions. Same story on Yahoo.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 4:33 PM PST - 3 comments

Just FYI Honda is recalling 1.3M cars For a fault in ignition system. Check if your car is in the list.
posted by elpapacito at 4:22 PM PST - 10 comments

What Would Vissarion Do? A former Russian traffic cop realizes that he is the reborn Son of God. Several devoted disciples agree, yea and verily. Insert own 'water into vodka' joke here. On second thought, please don't.
posted by Dirjy at 2:28 PM PST - 2 comments

pMachine 2.0 was released today. With content management systems like pMachine and MovableType becoming easier and easier to use (as well as being free to inexpensive), will Blogger Pro continue to have a market?
posted by jonah at 2:15 PM PST - 30 comments

Dead Mike had an accident while skydiving and fell 80 feet to the concrete runway. He survived and put up this website to tell his story (warning: sound.)
posted by homunculus at 1:01 PM PST - 7 comments

L.A. building Rocked By Explosion A large residential building was rocked by an explosion and erupted in flames Friday. There was no immediate word on whether anyone was hurt. The blast hit the building in the Encino area of the San Fernando Valley about 11 a.m., Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis said.
posted by GernBlandston at 12:43 PM PST - 36 comments

Post to a weblog via SMS. Just this weblog, unfortunately, not your own. I tried it with my Voicestream phone and it works. I'm surprised there aren't more wireless blogs out there that use SMS. (Or have I just been missing them?)
posted by brownpau at 12:26 PM PST - 15 comments

Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore, the visionary documentary maker, has the big hit at Cannes this year with Bowling for Columbine. Ostensibly a film about guns and violence in America
posted by Niahmas at 12:11 PM PST - 21 comments

What's this thing about Fridays?
posted by dash_slot- at 11:31 AM PST - 5 comments

Roddick vs. Google, Round II begins with Roddick's blog entry again charging Google with "insidious censorship." John Hiler leaps to Google's defense. And we discover that the AdWords director has never heard of weblogs.
posted by brookish at 11:23 AM PST - 14 comments

Did Fight Club influence Lucas John Helder? "... in connecting the dots between the places where Helder planted his pipe bombs, one ends up with something resembling a smiley face—an image etched by anarchists in Fight Club on a building they had set fire to... If there were an instruction manual for the angst-ridden young people searching for meaning, Fight Club might be it... [It] might very well be the Catcher in the Rye for those belonging to Generation Y..." (via Dead Yet Living)
posted by aaronshaf at 11:22 AM PST - 26 comments

Buddhist mandalas? Abstract doodles? Alien snow crystals? Nope. Just some amazing scientific art from Art Forms in Nature, published between 1899 and 1904 by zoologist Ernst Haeckel. Lots more early biological art at this scientist's public domain archive. Unfortunately, Haeckel also helped provide the philosophical foundation for Nazism. Hey, no one's perfect.
posted by mediareport at 10:59 AM PST - 13 comments

When stupid laws attack: this article points out that the widely syndicated article about thwarting the copy protection of sony's CDs is a direct violation of the DMCA. Will news directors at Reuters, Yahoo, and CNN be seeing fines and jail time soon? How many times does it have to be pointed out that the DMCA restricts free speech as it attempts to thwart piracy at any cost? (via k5)
posted by mathowie at 10:19 AM PST - 10 comments

Bag +bag=bag
posted by swift at 9:54 AM PST - 12 comments

Fashion comes and goes, but art that might have come from the side of a van is forever. The cover artists from Dragon magazine, a staple of my pimply years, all have websites now, from Keith Parkinson to the ghastly Clyde Caldwell to Larry Elmore (who is putting his old Dragon comic, SnarfQuest, online). The grand master of bodacious barbarian babe art, Frank Franzetta, has a site, too. Relive your adolescence through gleaming swords, vanquished dragons, and hyperdefined musculature! (Warning: Not all pictures are work-safe.)
posted by snarkout at 9:40 AM PST - 11 comments

This article in the always interesting Technology Review describes new technology that goes well beyond regular "spyware." BayTSP even automates their cease-and-desist letters. It all made me think of people like this.
posted by anathema at 9:23 AM PST - 2 comments

Lyudmila Putina and Laura Bush apparently forgetting there are cameras around. Switching gears now, for the smokers out there: just drink water, and you'll be able to satisfy that nicotine craving and quench your thirst with a single hand motion.
posted by Why at 8:07 AM PST - 11 comments

After what seems like 99 million years at the helm, Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, is finally retiring. It's certainly been an eventful E3 for Nintendo; what does this mean for the future of the console wars?
posted by darukaru at 7:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Terror, Mideast and Hypocrisy. "We can tell the Israelis to stop, but we wouldn't stop. We can tell them to negotiate, but we wouldn't negotiate." I agree to the hundredth percent.
posted by I am Generic at 7:11 AM PST - 43 comments

Filler Bunny and Spooky making Boo Berry cookies. Characters from Jhonen Vasquez and Boo Berry Cereal all in one piece. Yummy. Now if only they would make an Invader Zim cereal.
posted by kingmissile at 7:00 AM PST - 7 comments

Attack of the Clones (really). The Italian fertility expert (...) said on Wednesday three women were pregnant with clones. In this interview published in the French daily Le Monde, he also says they will be born between December 2002 and January 2003. What good can we make out of this ?
posted by XiBe at 6:15 AM PST - 9 comments

TV on T-Shirt! Wow! What a cool idea!
posted by heimkonsole at 6:04 AM PST - 23 comments

Four best hamburgers in this survey includes a place about a mile from my house, and yeah they're great there. It also shows one in NY, one in LA and one in New Orleans - are these the same four you see or are they showing me a place in my town because they know where I am?  Mmmm ... hamburgers.
posted by engelr at 5:45 AM PST - 39 comments

Red Cross attacks exile of Palestinians Mr Fisk (in occupied Lebanon) notes that the Red Cross believes it cruel to separate known terrorists from their families. Neglects to note that all international law opposes the targeting of civilians no matter what the reason or rationalization used. Perhaps a lawsuit for "cruel and unusual" punishment might allow the terrorists to have family reunions and be compensated for emotional damages and deprivation of marital privileges.
posted by Postroad at 5:17 AM PST - 11 comments

Tabloid Publishes Columbine Death Scene Photos. The recent issue of National Enquirer publishes analysis that claims Eric Harris shot Dylan Klebold in the head before he committed suicide. Scanned soon on a website near you.
posted by mischief at 3:06 AM PST - 9 comments

Even if it works, using the detah penalty as deterrent is morally flawed The mere fact that an orthodontist in Cleveland feels more anxious about crime shouldn't make the state more "right" to take a life. And, if you are in favor of the death penalty, the mere fact that the same orthodontist feels comfortable leaving his door unlocked shouldn't mean that a murderer should pay less of a price for killing a child.
posted by magullo at 2:55 AM PST - 45 comments

About damn time. If I ever get another email asking me to go to Nigeria on behalf of Mr.Ngkoskusomethingoranother for some large sum of cash I could just...
posted by lostbyanecho at 2:43 AM PST - 12 comments

While I find our national addiction a great deal of fun and a personal necessity, I do start to wonder sometimes...
posted by apostasy at 2:04 AM PST - 43 comments

The Museum of Sex ... coming soon to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, its first exhibition to be NYC Sex: How NYC Transformed Sex in America, including many items from private collections that have never been shown anywhere else. {more inside}
posted by dhartung at 11:11 PM PST - 6 comments

Microsoft has designed a Windows XP patch that will trick computers into behaving as though IE, Outlook Express, and Messenger aren't there, though not removing them, per the requirements of its antitrust settlement. They demonstrated a working version to the AP yesterday. Oh yeah, and they're releasing it as a 40 megabyte download. In August. And it's other primary function will be to potentially sabotage the operating system. Good ol' Microsoft.
posted by gsteff at 9:52 PM PST - 14 comments

Kazaa and related filesharing companies are breathing their last breath [nytimes link, reg required] as legal fees overwhelm the "start up" companies. the riaa again seems to be succeeding in shutting down file sharing companies by simply tying them up in court for so long that their funds dry up. but, as the 2nd generation of filesharing goes the way of napster hope rises in the rumors that the technology behind kazaa and others has been sold.
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 8:11 PM PST - 8 comments

FBI orders ISP to remove Daniel Pearl murder video
The video [not work safe, or even home safe] that surfaced shortly after his death has been targeted by the FBI for removal on the internet, apparently using the 1996 federal obscenity law. Anyone want a Bonsai Kitten or a Y2K Video also? The Editors Note speaks volumes: After this story was edited, FBI spokeswoman Sandra Carroll called Wired News to say the bureau was merely giving advice to websites hosting the Pearl video -- and was not threatening prosecution.
posted by plemeljr at 8:02 PM PST - 48 comments

Finally some more news about Orson Scott Card's book Ender's Game, and the plans to make it into a movie. Obviously I do have the fear that they'll make it suck - but if they do a good job with this, I'll be more excited about it than any movie I've seen in years!
posted by twiggy at 4:55 PM PST - 42 comments

Give it away now. Salon article on cd-music seller FightCloud.com, which gives CDs away "free" but is profitable. How? By charging a $4.95 "shipping fee". Nevertheless, because of the extremely low cost to produce CDs, an estimated $2.64 of that shipping fee is net profit, which is then split 50/50 with the artist. While FightCloud is a small independent company, is this model something that will eventually challenge the big labels to either change or be eclipsed?
posted by hincandenza at 4:52 PM PST - 10 comments

Britney Spears. How do I spell thee? Let me count the ways...
posted by srboisvert at 2:13 PM PST - 19 comments

Ex-Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry sentenced to life in prison for the Sept. 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Few things bring a smile to my face like a hateful old racist terrorist getting sent off to spend the rest of his days as a prison wife.
posted by Ty Webb at 1:36 PM PST - 32 comments

Can dropping out of school be a good career move? According to Fabula magazine some teenagers can thrive if they leave state education and endeavor to teach themselves at home. This is 'unschooling' and the writer seems to think it's becoming an increasingly popular way to go: "Unschoolers can read what they want, volunteer, do internships, or become an apprentice. The can also write a novel, tackle advanced math problems, go on hikes, or even audit classes in college (which are very different from high school classes). The point is to do whatever they’re excited about." Which sounds fine in theory, however how are they going to survive in the job market? I'm having enough issues and I've a degree and six years experience in a number of positions. Sooner or later surely things will come home to roost for them eventually. Won't they?
posted by feelinglistless at 12:37 PM PST - 41 comments

Video games for your kitty "Cyberpounce - The world's one and only computer cat toy!" Cat lovers take note.
posted by betobeto at 12:36 PM PST - 7 comments

No More Malaria? The first step has been taken to making mosquitoes incapable of passing on malaria. But, should we?
posted by Irontom at 11:51 AM PST - 22 comments

Giving telemarketers a taste of their own medicine. It seems too good to be true, but Tom Mabe is managing to make money by messing with their minds. His tormenting even extends to the web. His page is currently the top result on a Google for telemarketers, which is likely a thorn in their side. He's thought up some great responses to use when for some strange reason you just can't hang up the phone. Besides saying you're dead, what have you said to get rid of them?
posted by jaden at 10:47 AM PST - 62 comments

Pen Spinning was cool, but now there's ZippoTricks!
posted by TuxHeDoh at 10:40 AM PST - 12 comments

Very cool artwork made out of pieces of toast of various done-ness. "The toaster toasts and when it does this it reproduces itself." If I had a nickel for every time I made that observation. (via Bifurcated Rivets)
posted by luser at 10:29 AM PST - 8 comments

CA Earthquake forecast... Apparently, the earthquake that Matt felt recently had been forecast by a group of scientists with a new predictive modelling method. That particular earthquake was just on the edge of their confidence interval, but four other recent earthquakes fell well within the predicted boundaries.
posted by SpecialK at 9:43 AM PST - 8 comments

Coming soon to a supermarket checkout lane near you -- E Ink Corporation's "Ink in Motion" displays will look like a piece of cardboard (like the back of a chewing gum display box), but will flash a graphic at you. To follow: larger indoor and outdoor signage, screens on PDA devices, etc. Better angle visibility, brightness, contrast, than electronic screens; runs forever on a small battery. Comprehensive and informative site about technology that has gotten little attention but could revolutionize display technology, the sign business, point-of-purchase marketing, and publishing. (Previous 2001 MeFi mention in a comment but much new info.)
posted by beagle at 9:38 AM PST - 8 comments

Does privacy have a place in society anymore? Or is it incompatible with a crowded and technologically-advanced world? If we must submit to constant surveillance, who should we trust to watch?
posted by rushmc at 9:23 AM PST - 21 comments

Stanford links genius and manic depression... I feel SO much better now... (via FARK)
posted by Samizdata at 9:15 AM PST - 7 comments

Escaped Sudanese slave, Francis Bok is becoming a celebrity[WSJ sub]. He has testified before Congress. Redemption (buying) slaves is one way to set some free. But is that a scam which will encourage the slave trade? What can we do to free them all?
posted by Geo at 8:30 AM PST - 5 comments

While W is off building the case for a war against Saddam, senior military officials have serious doubts about the wisdom of a US invasion of Iraq. But they're keeping quiet because "they fear they would come out on the wrong side of Bush's eventual decision." Can you blame 'em?
posted by dack at 8:26 AM PST - 41 comments

Assistant's Revenge So she got fired! But she did get to tell her boss off in the New York Post!
posted by wsfinkel at 7:49 AM PST - 44 comments

US Army Introduces "America's Army" PC Game Developed by the U.S. Army and Department of Defense experts in simulations and virtual environments, America's Army blends two simulations: Soldiers, a role-playing portion, and a first-person action game, called Operations. The Army will distribute America’s Army for free through distribution partners that include leading computer game magazines, Army events, recruiting stations, and through internet download.
posted by Stuart_R at 7:42 AM PST - 24 comments

Outta my way, or under my wheels! According to this survey from the American Iron and Steel institute, Miami has the rudest drivers in the country. I live in Miami, and it's true. If you disagree with me, you're a slack-jawed moron.
posted by groundhog at 7:30 AM PST - 21 comments

Morel Sightings 2002 There's a fungus among us. Morels are one of the most highly sought-after, delectable wild mushrooms. Each spring, morel hunting goes into high gear in many parts of the country. This site has state-by-state reports. (mine is in MA) You can learn more about these spongy fungi here and here. If you do go out foraging for them, just remember...if you don't know it, throw it!
posted by martk at 7:07 AM PST - 13 comments

Cop a corpse for a couple of C-notes Spring is in the air, and the cadavers are in bloom; one of the more charming cottage internet industries is the production of life - er, deathlike rubber deadguys. Have a stroll through these charming storefronts, and pick a necrophiliac lovedoll of your very own.
posted by Perigee at 6:15 AM PST - 1 comment

Captain of Irish World Cup squad Keane sent home
This is big news here in Ireland. He's our best player - he keeps the team together on the pitch. But after some incidents in the past couple of days, and some prima donna style behaviour (something he's always been known for), he's been told to feck off. I think the manager did the right thing, but I can't help thinking that our chances of getting out of our group have been diminished...
posted by tomcosgrave at 6:12 AM PST - 27 comments

Does everyone have a twin lurking around somewhere? Look-A-Likes seems to think so - they hire out wannabe doppelgangers and tribute artists for all your fake celebrity needs. The resemblance is uncanny in some instances (Xena and George Michael spring to mind). And be sure to visit what I think is the first version of their site.
posted by iconomy at 6:09 AM PST - 14 comments

[this is bad] Now you can buy your way onto Filepile.
posted by johnnydark at 5:23 AM PST - 80 comments

Warwick university has banned England flags from its campus for the duration of the world cup. Does this tell us anything about tolerance, nationalism and patriotism in a multi cultural society?
posted by Fat Buddha at 4:01 AM PST - 25 comments

PDN photo annual 2002 showcases their nominated photographs in 8 different categories (including photo websites) for 2002 . It also invites viewers to vote for their favorite photographs.
posted by justlooking at 11:30 PM PST - 2 comments

Sexual Encounters 1.0 for the Pocket PC. (Work safe). If you need this, then you need this. (Via Cruel).
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:43 PM PST - 12 comments

LLLETS GET READY TO CASH OUR CHHHHHHHECKSSSSSS!!! 'Celebrity Boxing II' aired tonight on FOX. Let's see: Sloppy amateur fighting? Check. Desperate people willing to debase themselves for some quick cash? Check. The stink of exploitation? Check.

Hey, wait a minute -- I'm watching Bumfighting!
posted by Dirjy at 10:29 PM PST - 11 comments

China thumbs nose at Japan, sends asylum seekers on their way. A happy ending (beginning) for five North Korean asylum seekers who were dragged out of the Japanese consulate in Shenyang by Chinese police -- with more than tacit initial approval from local Japanese officials.
posted by Bixby23 at 6:21 PM PST - 3 comments

wonderful art and an and engrossing story: dan eldon - worth a visit. agree? disagree?
posted by specialk420 at 6:07 PM PST - 13 comments

Looking at an attractive woman swell's a man's ego. Looking even at a picture of an attractive woman is enough to dramatically boost a man's estimation of his earning prospects, career success, generosity and dominance --and research has found that women find them attractive.
posted by semmi at 5:53 PM PST - 17 comments

Feeling voyeuristic? The Plinko girls are back with a new episode for their "creamedpeas" project... check out the bedroom spy and see how people sleep... my bedis even there!
posted by darian at 5:18 PM PST - 8 comments

Ronald Reagan is joining the war on speeders in Malvern, IA. "Someone had put a dummy in there with a uniform and he has a big smile on his face," City Clerk Julie Powles said. I don't think it's very nice to call a former president a dummy, though.
posted by Kevin Sanders at 4:43 PM PST - 2 comments

Maunday, Toosday, Thursday, Saturday... The special effects of the Godfather. How did they rig Santino's tollbooth demise? How did Moe Greene get shot through the lens of his glasses? Great reading for any movie or special-effects geek.
posted by GriffX at 4:05 PM PST - 3 comments

Decisive Battle... or not? The british are removing diplomats. The expulsion of the pakistani ambassador. Is India preparing to go to war or is this just another in a series of bluffs?
posted by bittennails at 3:58 PM PST - 16 comments

Climb a mountain, fall under a curse? The ethnic spirituality of the Ibaloi tribe meets Philippine environmental politics as President Macapagal makes plans to take a mountain-climbing trip to Luzon's highest peak. While I understand the environmental concerns involved, especially with her entourage of suckups local gov't officials, there's definitely something amusing about the line, "cursed by Pulag’s pantheon of Ibaloi gods." Nice pictures from Mt. Pulag here. I've been there once; it's worth the climb.
posted by brownpau at 1:33 PM PST - 3 comments

"We have done more than 100 surveys and reports since late 2000 and this survey has the most overwhelming, and negative, response to a company or technology we have ever seen." A survey by investment and research firm ChangeWave of its clients who are current and former subscribers of America Online showed that 40% of respondents were dissatisfied with the service.
posted by tranquileye at 1:25 PM PST - 22 comments

Dibblez is a really cute and fun game. Yeah, it's not time for Friday Time-waste, probably, but I love when people create amusing stuff like this. If only someone would do a (better than scorch2000) networked version of Scorched Earth...
posted by twiggy at 1:13 PM PST - 19 comments

Has anybody here done business with AIT? After several of their customers switched to our web hosting company with bizarre stories, I did a little research. These folks are a little over the top, including gun cabinets, razor wire and uniforms. They even claim to have security teams that physically hunt down spammers and such. All of this would be great if they took care of their customers. Or should I say cared for their customers.
posted by rotifer at 1:11 PM PST - 13 comments

Still No Homosexuals In Baseball "Not officially, anyway," notes AP sports writer Jim Litke. Exaggerated rumors in Monday's NY Post actually had Mike Piazza telling reporters yesterday, "I'm not gay. I'm heterosexual." The spark was an upcoming Details article, which asks Mets manager Bobby Valentine, "Are baseball clubhouses ready for an openly gay player?" His answer: "Probably." Has U.S. society really gotten to the point where an openly gay athlete could survive in pro sports?
posted by mediareport at 12:58 PM PST - 27 comments

ANTI-BUSH BACKLASH BUILDS Whores, For Once, Outraged At Dubya's Bullying, Scare Tactics Bush Likened to Wizard of Oz Even Paula Zahn Objects! Do you agree the latest warnings have as much to do with diversion as legitimate warnings?
posted by onegoodmove at 12:12 PM PST - 38 comments

A Whole World of Hamster Happiness The number-one Japanese kid's show--with nearly $3 billion in merch sales--will be dancing over to Cartoon Network this June. No energy blasts, no dueling monsters, no mecha-suits...only the deadly cuteness of Hamtaro. Can we who aren't K-5th graders endure?
posted by LinusMines at 10:46 AM PST - 20 comments

Who's the Best-Read MeFite? The 100 best works of fiction (as chosen by Norwegian Book Clubs) (via Archipelapogo via rebeccablood). Sure, it's arbitrary, but there's a lot of great writing here. Bragging rights awarded (unless someone cares to sweeten the pot). How many have you read?
posted by Sean Meade at 10:28 AM PST - 134 comments

Dallas Mavericks coach Mark Cuban wants a little privacy. Is he entitled? As a general rule, I don't like Mark Cuban. Prior to reading this article (from Dallas Online), which fark.com described as "Transcript of Mark Cuban heated call," I expected to groan at more of his braying and obnoxious behavior. But in large part, I can't deny that Cuban may have a point in asking a reporter not to publish information on Cuban's relationship with his fiancee. Much of what he said makes sense, or at very least raises interesting questions about the rights of the press and a celebrity-hungry public over those of the public figure (and his friends and family). Who's right here, and who's wrong? (via fark.com, obv)
posted by Sinner at 10:22 AM PST - 18 comments

Harvard Faculty Votes to Put the Excellence Back in the A (NY Times) Grade inflation is over at Harvard after almost 90 percent of '01 grads received some form of honors. What's worse, up until now students who completed a thesis were guaranteed honors by their department.
posted by dayvin at 9:46 AM PST - 12 comments

Shallow Grave I just heard they found a female body in a shallow grave in Rock Creek Park here in DC. Could it be Chandra?
posted by pjdoland at 9:12 AM PST - 27 comments

Kartoo, a New Search Engine. Do check out Kartoo. It basically creates a map linking sites related to a search. Interesting graphics, too. It seems like this would serve a different purpose than Google.
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 9:05 AM PST - 14 comments

Are you depressed? A federal task force recommended that all adults be screened for depression during regular visits with their doctors, noting that many cases are mistreated and as many as half of all cases are missed.
posted by Irontom at 9:00 AM PST - 10 comments

With 50 fun things to do in an elevator/lift, and more(not work safe), do we really need ads and infomercials to captivate us as we go up and down?
CNN and stock quotes would give me a headache. Popeye [WSJ sub] and Tom and Jerry cartoons would be annoying. The songbirds in Japanese elevators are better than Muzak, but how about a few moments of peace and quiet, please?
posted by Geo at 8:22 AM PST - 7 comments

A Town Rich in Stolen Art, but Not Nosy Questions Gerstheim, population 3,000, was the dump site for part of one of the biggest series of art heists in history when a mother, furious at her son's stealing, threw 100 of 172 pieces of art into the Rhone-Reine Canal. The hilarious part is the locals seem to not care one whit... how very French of them...
posted by gloege at 7:51 AM PST - 7 comments

Good Clown / Bad Clown. Yikes, check out "Ouchy the S&M Clown". Kinda makes John Wayne Gacy look like a walk in the park.
posted by kingmissile at 7:49 AM PST - 16 comments

GNN. Once Again we find some great stuff over at GNN. We have IBM and the Holocaust, The Lie wont stand , also they have a link to A TIMELINE SURROUNDING SEPTEMBER 11TH - IF CIA AND THE GOVERNMENT WEREN'T INVOLVED IN THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS WHAT WERE THEY DOING? Good Stuff!
posted by Niahmas at 7:33 AM PST - 12 comments

Netscape 7.0 PR1 is out and includes goodies like tabbed browsing, ICQ and AIM in sidebar panels and P3P cookie management. Seems to be based on a mid-May Mozilla build.
posted by slater at 7:09 AM PST - 33 comments

Is his body even cold yet? "Wendy's will honor its late founder, Dave Thomas, by adding a reference to him in commercials next month and putting posters of him in restaurants." It seems the turnaround from colorful founder to straight-out corporate icon has been shortened to five months. I just wonder if the animated Dave will have Randy Quaid's voice.
posted by owillis at 4:27 AM PST - 24 comments

Investigation of disenfranchisement in 2000 election getting underway at Bush's Dept of Justice. Finally.
posted by engelr at 3:20 AM PST - 29 comments

Are you a snob? When was the last time you judged someone on their shoes?
posted by Frasermoo at 12:38 AM PST - 44 comments

Since we're doing season finales here, 24 ended its run tonight. I thought it was amazing. Anybody else out there fall in love with this show ?(and especially this episode, wow)
posted by dig_duggler at 10:19 PM PST - 37 comments

The Buffy season finale was possibly two of the best hours of TV I've ever watched. Did you miss it? If you taped it to watch later you may not want to read the article until you see it.
posted by Cyrano at 7:40 PM PST - 62 comments

All Lies, All the Time: "In the United States of 2002, it's not a scandal unless the corporate media says it's a scandal, and they will not call something a scandal if it centers on the ability of large corporations to procure gargantuan favors from government. It is only a scandal if a member of the political party that's less than 100 percent devoted to granting corporations their every whim is caught doing something wrong."
posted by crasspastor at 4:59 PM PST - 20 comments

And the top 200 prescriptions for 2001 are... I see Claritin near the top of the charts, with zoloft and paxil not too far behind. Prozac is down, with viagra shooting up the charts like a... hmm. In total 3.1 billion prescriptions were filled in the US, which would be about an average of a dozen per citizen. Also interesting are the previous six years of data, allowing anyone to build a "Rx Zeitgeist" of the american hypochondriac.
posted by mathowie at 4:52 PM PST - 54 comments

ANTHRAX AGAIN! The World Bank in Washington DC said today that some of its mail had tested positive for possible anthrax contamination. 1200 employees there will be staying home tomorrow. It's the third report of a positive test in DC this week. Hysteria, residue from before, or is it happening all over again?
posted by crunchland at 2:44 PM PST - 11 comments

Google Labs is a public beta testing area for some pretty cool things they are currently working on: an amazing glossary, voice search by telephone, search results navigated without the mouse and finding additional items to sets defined by words you enter.
With every new feature, they seem to be getting even further beyond the competition. Even though Google is very likable company: is a monopoly on web search a good thing?
posted by c3o at 2:06 PM PST - 45 comments

Our four helmeted kids (or four headed monsters) I recently heard a child psychiatrist say that everything he had learned was wrong - the single most important factor for parents to focus on in raising children was, not spending time with them, not giving them love and affection, not providing discipline and clear rules and responsibilities, not making sure they ate healthy meals with plenty of sleep and exercise, the most important factor was fostering their "Competence". How well do they do the things they do. From this article: "The way we realize our potential is through our activities. By ceaselessly striving to improve at the things we enjoy, we come to define, enlarge, and attain our best selves." Whatever happened to stopping to smell those roses?
posted by Voyageman at 1:47 PM PST - 25 comments

Good news for Lithuanian girls: ob-gyn tests no longer required in order to get a driver's license. Because, after all, an equivalent test isn't required for Lithuanian men.
posted by Badmichelle at 12:26 PM PST - 4 comments

Turn the world into a library. Have you found a book recently?
posted by carsonb at 11:59 AM PST - 6 comments

Google says: Don't mess with Malcovich After Anita Roddick called actor John Malcovich a "vomitous worm" on her Web site (in response to his statement about shooting journalist Robert Fisk), she received a message from Google noting that her AdWord had been pulled. Google sent a message to Roddick stating: "policy does not permit the advertisement of 'Sites that advocate against groups or individuals (even John Malkovich)' on our website. We also do not permit sites that sell these products to advertise on Google." How extensive is this policy? Has anyone else run up against it?
posted by emptyage at 11:21 AM PST - 29 comments

The Villa Rustica in Hechingen-Stein. Take a stroll through the remains of a 1st to 3rd Century Roman villa in southwestern Germany. Includes a 3D reconstruction and panoramas. I was especially impressed by the heating system.
posted by homunculus at 10:33 AM PST - 1 comment

I had trouble sleeping Saturday night because of a CNN story suggesting that "increased level of chatter and activity" indicated that "another al Qaeda terrorist operation could be in the works." The "warnings" have been coming ever since: Cheney said Sunday that future attacks were "almost a certainty" and FBI director Robert Mueller stated "we will not be able to stop it", with Ridge and Rumsfeld spinning similar tales today. Is there a new threat? Ridge hasn't changed the nation's security alert from "yellow," and AP reported today that "a top White House aide said last week's criticism prompted a two-pronged political response: Bush accused Democrats of playing politics with the issue as his advisers reminded voters that America is still a target."
posted by tranquileye at 9:50 AM PST - 57 comments

SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE BRAIN: Men and women display patterns of behavioral and cognitive differences that reflect varying hormonal influences on brain development Sugar and spice versus snips and snails and puppy dog tails. Or was it masculinizing androgens 'organizing' behaviour at critical periods? At least now there is a scientific explanation of why my girlfriend beats me while watching Pat spin the wheel.
posted by srboisvert at 9:34 AM PST - 9 comments

Starving Bacteria of Iron Helps Wipe Out Body Odor. Scientists find that blocking bacteria's supply of iron works better at suppressing B.O. than the traditional deodorant method off killing off the bacteria with ethanol.

"expert odor assessors who sniffed the participants' armpits found that the experimental combination worked better than ethanol at reducing odor, with longer-lasting effects."

Just when you think *your* job stinks. Now, when will they come up with a way to suppress the Indian cooking odor in my apartment building?
posted by Tubes at 9:17 AM PST - 16 comments

The world cup (of football) is very nearly upon us. You can win tickets to it by playing a free kick game. I am not sure if it applies to those outside the U.K but it doesn't matter because you would have no chance of winning at all. It is devilishly difficult but quite addictive and tremendous fun. You can also find a prediction league type thing and other bits and pieces here. If anyone has the motivation it is possible to set up a private league within the wider thing.
posted by Fat Buddha at 8:49 AM PST - 16 comments

Mystery Illness such a mystery? Help needed! (old news, new information?) OK, I'm going to try and do this without naming names... The British troops in Afghanistan have been struck down by a mystery illness recently, with an investigation finding that the illness was just a "winter vomiting" bug.
I've heard different. The source may have been an Al Qaeda terrorist who had been captured. The 'mystery illness' may have been caught when the British or US government used biological warfare to make it easier to find and capture members of Al Qaeda. Can anyone help verify this? I should stress I only have word of mouth from a friend of a friend. All very speculative, but I've not been able to find anything else on this... yet...
posted by snowgoon at 8:17 AM PST - 13 comments

Webcasters win a reprieve. Looks like Shoutcasters will be able to stick around for a bit longer...
posted by shecky57 at 7:53 AM PST - 3 comments

"By Christmas, Microsoft could become the nation's fourth-largest phone company." So ends an article in the NYT about the upcoming online gaming service for X-Box. What does this have to do with phone service? "A critical component of the social experience planned for Xbox Live will be the audio headset, enabling players to cheer and jeer one another. The technology includes a "voice masking" feature that will conceal the identities and even ages of the contestants — a Disneyland safeguard meant to deter adult exploitation of children online."
posted by gwint at 7:38 AM PST - 12 comments

Get Your Publishing Deal On. Coming soon.... Get Your War On: The Book.
posted by Dirjy at 7:26 AM PST - 7 comments

The Secret Garden - Albert Richards is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He has been creating hauntingly beautiful images of flowers by radiography for decades now.
posted by Irontom at 6:45 AM PST - 8 comments

HR-2357. "The U.S.A. prides itself as being one of the most pluralistic societies on earth, with a stunning variety of houses of worship in many communities. But the right to engage in civic activities, and especially to engage in political speech, is severely curtailed among many faith groups because of the perception that the house of worship will lose its charitable status if 'politics' is discussed." That may be about to change...
posted by aaronshaf at 6:39 AM PST - 20 comments

Mom arrested after sexually oriented party "The 27-year-old admitted wrongdoing after doing nude jumping jacks and talking to girls about sex." - Now that's what I would call a cool mom ;)
posted by heimkonsole at 6:38 AM PST - 38 comments

Killer to be executed even though victim's mother requested a commuted sentence to life imprisonment. Shouldn't family members of the victim have some sort of say in whether a convicted killer should be executed or not? Especially when they are against the execution of the perpetrator?

Just an add-on toThe Texas Conveyor Belt of Death thread from yesterday.
posted by da5id at 5:46 AM PST - 18 comments

A senior Microsoft Corp. executive told a federal court last week that sharing information with competitors could damage national security and even threaten the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. He later acknowledged that some Microsoft code was so flawed it could not be safely disclosed. (emphasis added.) Is this a calculated admission, or is Microsoft so completely on the ropes that they'll say anything to keep from being completely dismembered? Doesn't the fact that releasing such a shoddy product that it's a national security risk mean that Microsoft should be taken to bits in the interest of public safety? If Firestone can't sell unsafe tires, why should Microsoft be able to sell unsafe software?
posted by RylandDotNet at 2:01 AM PST - 21 comments

Good news! It's ok to "steal" golf balls again.
posted by kingmissile at 1:30 AM PST - 12 comments

a quarter of world species face extinction and for some reason the bush administration refuses to fund UN backed family planning programs opinions?
posted by specialk420 at 9:50 PM PST - 25 comments

Imagine you are moving between apartments. Check out this Verizon "How do I..." page. Over 40 questions are answered, but the 2nd most obvious question one might have is strangely absent. Then try to order a basic cable service from Time Warner Cable. Do you have other examples of corporate sites that are less than helpful when what you want is less than what they would like to sell - or when you want to cancel?
posted by edlundart at 9:04 PM PST - 15 comments

A sad day for lovers of good writing. In addition to Stephen Jay Gould, historian Walter Lord has died. (NYT, blah blah) Lord's 1955 book A Night to Remember arguably touched off the modern world's fascination with the Titanic, and his 1957 Day of Infamy is an exciting account of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
posted by pmurray63 at 6:34 PM PST - 6 comments

Here's your opportunity to participate in something gravely important. I'm salivating in anticipation of the DBZ bashing on this thread (sarcasm).
posted by tcobretti at 6:15 PM PST - 24 comments

Buy wadded paper
from very famous artist
and then you like it
posted by quonsar at 5:47 PM PST - 8 comments

China to Mine Moon for 'Benefit of Humanity'. China says it is planning to establish a base on the Moon to exploit its mineral resources. Beijing has not yet put a human into space, but scientists say they expect to do so within three years and they have outlined an ambitious programme for the future. Chinese space official Ouyang Ziyuan said: "Our long-term goal is to set up a base on the moon and mine its riches for the benefit of humanity."
posted by ncurley at 4:50 PM PST - 35 comments

3 Stench Ridden Days "For almost 3 damned days I couldn't find what was causing this god-awful smell. All of my house mates and I were convinced that there was a rotting mouse either under the floor boards or in the wall. Well I say all my house mates except for James William Ascroft-Leigh, who suggested the smell was coming from my computer. I laughed and called him a fool, claiming that the computer surley wouldn't work with a dead mouse in it..."
posted by aaronchristy at 3:26 PM PST - 22 comments

"The Texas conveyor belt of death rolls on. Against international law, three Texas inmates face imminent execution for murders committed when they were children. Since 1998, Texas has killed five child offenders - people who were under 18 at the time of the crimes. If Napoleon Beazley, TJ Jones and Toronto Patterson are put to death on 28 May, 8 August, and 28 August respectively, Texas will have executed as many child offenders in a four-month period as Iran, the next worst perpetrator outside the USA, has carried out in the whole of the past decade."

Ha! Yet another area where them loser Axis of Evil® fellas ain't up to the standards of the good ol' U.$. of A.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 1:16 PM PST - 122 comments

Amateur DVD commentary. The site is a little rough around the edges, but it is a fascinating exercise in voracious fandom nonetheless. Roger Ebert is heralded as giving the idea to the masses [NYT article], but as always, there seems to be prior art. ;)
posted by pedantic at 12:54 PM PST - 7 comments

The famous biologist and anthropologist Stephen Jay Gould died in his home today of cancer at the age of 60.
posted by steve.wdc at 12:22 PM PST - 21 comments

Stephen Wolfram has finished his book, "A New Kind of Science," which purpotedly is being espoused as a paradigm shift in many fields. But, I'm starting to see a very reductionistic attitude in many of the main theorists of complextity theory and emergent phenomena. Is the idea that the Universe is in lines of code a phallus-extension/masculine overdriven idea? Isn't math a man made mapping and can the Universe be reduced to an equation by a man? Still this book is going to be groundbreaking. Read the following exceperpt from the wired.com article: q: "I've got to ask you," I say. "How long do you envision this rule of the universe to be?"
w: "I'm guessing it's really very short."
q: "Like how long?"
w: "I don't know. In Mathematica, for example, perhaps three, four lines of code."
link via protofunk.org, old similar thread
posted by nakedjon at 11:16 AM PST - 31 comments

In case you thought you have already heard every crazy idea in the world, an Israeli geneticist has bred a featherless chicken. This changes everything.
posted by adampsyche at 11:00 AM PST - 23 comments

The Talk of the Book World Still Can't Sell (NY Times link) About two months ago, a new book about women putting careers before babies, and risking going childless, got a lot of publicity and was expected to be a huge seller. Wrong. Did it scare women? Did it sadden women? Was the coverage unfair (most of it highlighted the 'infertility after late 30's' angle, instead of balancing/choosing between career and family)? Or, did the massive publicity subvert sales by summing up the story and findings?
posted by msacheson at 10:35 AM PST - 27 comments

What does a engaged couple do if they can't decided who their bridesmaids are going to be? Well, one couple decided to ask you for your advice.
posted by Newbornstranger at 10:22 AM PST - 12 comments

Dog Action Quicktime,Rated Pg13 Direct.
posted by Niahmas at 10:03 AM PST - 5 comments

It's not often a weblog has you on the edge of your seat , but Dave Mill's email-posted accounts of his solo attempt to reach the true North Pole are gripping. Stalked by a Polar bear, 6 days to build a runway for his rescue plane before the full moon rips the floes to shreds - this one has it all. I guess he is a live ass.
posted by RichLyon at 9:50 AM PST - 9 comments

Would you still donate your loved one’s body if, instead of saving a life, parts were sold for profit, for cosmetic purposes? A Boston Herald story says the Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office supplies a company with information about the freshly dead that lets company reps pitch grieving relatives for donations. Because of decomposition, sometimes those calls are the first news the relatives have of the death, the story says. Among other end uses: breast, lip and penis enlargements. Has the halo around organ donation blurred ethical questions around other uses for dead people?
posted by sacre_bleu at 9:27 AM PST - 21 comments

The doctor will not see you now. Jane Poulson developed Type I diabetes at 13. Her vision deteriorated drastically while she was in medical school, and despite several rounds of surgery, she lost her sight. She graduated anyway and became Canada's first blind practicing medical doctor. Then things got worse.
posted by maudlin at 9:20 AM PST - 10 comments

Voices, Explosions, Silence: The Middle East Turmoil On (And Off) The Air. "We apologize for the discontinuation of the transmission of the Voice of Love and Peace. The offices, studios and transmission equipment were destroyed totally by Israeli forces in their last invasion of Ramallah." (from Radio Nederlands, more...)
posted by tpoh.org at 8:45 AM PST - 6 comments

An astonishingly obvious advance in interface design Your mobile phone's keyboard has been rendered obsolete by this inspired rethinking of buttons and the spaces between them. The manifacturer's home page is here
posted by hmgovt at 7:16 AM PST - 40 comments

Overcome Depression: The New Computer -Cognitive Treatment Overcoming Depression is the world's first self-educative computer program for understanding, dealing with, and preventing depression using a unique dialogue mode that allows you to express yourself freely in your own words and that responds in meaningful every language characteristic of a therapeutic context. So much for the personal therapeutic process. My question is - can this program prescribe meds??!??
posted by gloege at 6:41 AM PST - 18 comments

Okay, so there's the Halfbakery for us amateurs with bizarre inventions. But what about the ideas that seemed so good to someone that they actually got patented?
posted by MUD at 6:04 AM PST - 2 comments

Build your very own 'pinhole spy camera'! This one looks much cooler than the ones we had to build at school. (requires Flash)
posted by kebab at 5:48 AM PST - 2 comments

What is this? Why is Google licensing Dilbert for their banner? Compared to the subtle holiday theme banners they do, this just seems....tone-deaf.
posted by crunchburger at 4:06 AM PST - 42 comments

Ever wonder if the airplane food sucks everywhere? Find out at Airplane Meals, or add to this vastly underrepresented body of knowledge by sending him a pic of your next mile-high snack.
posted by Su at 1:15 AM PST - 12 comments

secret pictures of 9/11 attacks found on $20 bills. Possibly the dumbest conspiracy theory to date. I can't beleive I'm posting this.
posted by tiger yang at 12:51 AM PST - 24 comments

The Lilith Shrine. As the story goes, Lilith was the first woman, being created at the same time as Adam but not from him, as with Eve. After refusing to submit to Adam's will, Lilith was cursed by God and ejected from the Garden of Eden. Although she is only mentioned in the bible once, do you suppose Lilith ever really existed?
posted by mcsweetie at 11:26 PM PST - 25 comments

The X-Files TV series is officially over. Two years too late, probably. But the finale definately is in my list of favorite episodes. What are some of yours?
posted by gsteff at 9:29 PM PST - 44 comments

The Grim Reaper Show. The Original Man in Black gives us the scoop from the other side. (The other animations on the site are pretty good also.)
posted by Optamystic at 8:53 PM PST - 1 comment

Whatever Happened to all the Great Kids' Shows? When my wife was growing up in central Connecticut, she was a big Sandy Becker fan. (The original host of Wonderama, also seen here with a very young Linda Blair). She still remembers the characters he created for his show - Norton Nork, the Big Professor, and of course Hambone. She was naturally pleased to discover Christopher Gross' excellent site celebrating the popular kid's show host and his show. Even though so much early television has been lost to the ages, the site has accumulated several video clips, including a few, um, off-color clips. (Warning - both RealPlayer and a brief dirty word). Now if only someone would give the same treatment to the show I had growing up - Foreman Scotty, on channel 4. Sigh.
posted by yhbc at 7:54 PM PST - 6 comments

i'm pretty sure this is a joke, good sunday fun...
posted by Aleph Yin at 3:43 PM PST - 11 comments

Silly CD's bubble gum cards. In the grand culture jamming tradition of Wacky Packages. This one's my favorite. It's probably only a matter of time before we see "Wiggy Websites" cards or something...
posted by jonmc at 3:22 PM PST - 22 comments

Drug War Roundup III A 70% increase in the price of cigarettes seems to have dropped the teenage smoking rate by 7%. On May 15 you heard the Drug War Czar say anti-drug ads were a flop. He announced a new campaign the next day. San Franciscan test subjects in a medical marijuana study say they're given "low-potency ditch weed." Subjects in a similiar study in Canada say the weed they're given is way too good. Lastly, Canada is debating whether to decriminalize smoking pot on the heels of a committee conclusion that it doesn't lead to hard drug use, committing more crimes or driving fast.
posted by raaka at 3:18 PM PST - 16 comments

House set to 'cloak' amnesty I have long believed that all bills ought to be limited strictly to the major content of the Bill under discussion and not allow for riders and questionable bills to be tacked on in order to slip them through when there seemingly is going to be stiff opposition. This tacking on seems a favorite gambit in Congress, and it does not matter for me what the bill but (that is, whether I like or oppose it) but the priciple: a bill ought to be about a spcific issue and not contain elements not connected, which mayh slip through or help defeat at otherwise decent bill. Am I wrong in this?
posted by Postroad at 3:04 PM PST - 18 comments

Has A&F stepped over the line this time? Calling it the "modern-day version of Underoos," a national clothing company is selling thong underwear in children's sizes - with the words "eye candy" and "wink wink" printed on the front.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:45 PM PST - 34 comments

A fascinating analysis of the typological thinking that defined the historical outlook of the Jews for many centuries, and an explanation of why the Jewish people has the image of itself as that of a people forever on the verge of ceasing to be. But the bad is not always the worst. To prepare oneself for the bad without preparing oneself for the worst: This is the spiritual challenge of a liberal order. http://www.thenewrepublic.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=wieseltier052702
posted by semmi at 2:21 PM PST - 3 comments

Building Internet Intuition. "One cannot overemphasize the importance of discipline and a clear research agenda in using the Internet." - Bill Arkin
"The basic rule is to dig deeper into links when pages are getting more relevant, but not when they are taking you far afield from the original query."
posted by sheauga at 1:53 PM PST - 9 comments

East Timor becomes an independent nation. East Timor has officially been declared independent at a colourful and emotional ceremony in the capital, Dili, marking an official end to 450 years of foreign rule over the territory.
posted by metaxa at 1:01 PM PST - 8 comments

Man cleared after taking pig's head into court. Also a garden gnome. Sadly, the article doesn't actually say what he was doing there in the first place. I'm glad your back Metafilter. It's been strange without you.
posted by feelinglistless at 12:54 PM PST - 4 comments

On the heels of calls for an investigation into the failure of the American intelligence community to "connect the dots" prior to September 11th, Vice President Cheney says that a future attack against the United States is "almost certain." On Saturday an unnamed White House official said U.S. intelligence officials have detected "enhanced activity" that points to a potential new attack against the United States or American interests abroad.
posted by tranquileye at 12:53 PM PST - 53 comments

Fallacy Watch In a recent column, law professor Alan Dershowitz appears to be arguing against a petition which calls for universities to divest themselves from holdings in companies which do business with Israel. While Dershowitz may be correct that the petition is part of a "foolish and immoral campaign for divestiture", his column provides almost no evidence for this conclusion. A great site and an interesting article on the state of discourse in the media these days.
posted by onegoodmove at 12:52 PM PST - 5 comments

"Massively Multiplayer Online Entertainment." Our own AdrianHon has posted an interesting article to his weblog, dealing with this budding genre. Last year's AI movie web game tie-in was the first of a new breed of online interactive fiction, attracting thousands of players world-wide. Mr. Hon takes a look at the genre and puts forth some interesting ideas about where it could go. (more inside)
posted by SpaceBass at 12:46 PM PST - 7 comments

Celebrating 40 years of Amnesty International, shine02 is a mixed-media project by various artists, and an "art initiative created to examine the aesthetics and the potential of the internet for international networking". Flash only.
posted by Jongo at 11:44 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Web Snatcher - when Web users go mad Andrew Wiseman began investigating someone called Dave Van Staveren when he ripped off his 625 Television Room site and several other TV fan sites. What follows is a descent into absolute lunacy. Who is Van Staveren? What does he want?
posted by Summer at 11:07 AM PST - 5 comments

The Recording Artists Safety Guide to the beach is a great critque on the RIAA debacle, in the vein of get your war on [via geriatric punks].
posted by mathowie at 10:46 AM PST - 24 comments

Momo's parts. All about the different parts of one Japanese man's pet hamster plus illustrations. "I have read that hamster's whiskers shows the width that they can pass through. But Momo forgets. One day Momo tried to go into the cleaner hose. As he has the big hip, he could't go into it. And in his effect to go, he could't get his head out. When I ran to him in a hurry, his head gone out of the hose, and he rolled backward."
posted by moz at 8:41 AM PST - 17 comments

Not so quick on the uptake, eh Ann? Looks like Ann Landers may have been taken in by an urban legend. So those of you hoping that this fad spreads to your neighborhood, you may want to cancel that X10 order now.
posted by vaca at 7:58 AM PST - 10 comments

In L.A., everyone's a screenwriter. On the web everyone's got a blog and has something to say. But of course, screen credits and blogs do not necessarily make great writing. But let's not blame the medium for such folly. Bad writing predates film and the net. Enter [stage left]: Nick Page's In Search of the World's Worst Writers. The book warns us against the convential wisdom of writing about what we know. Poet Solyman Brown, a dental surgeon who wrote a 54-page poem called "The Dentologia - A Poem on Diseases of the Teeth," is a prime example. (via Utne Reader)
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 7:17 AM PST - 3 comments

Well, well, well... it's amazing the unrelated links Google can turn up when you're careless about your keywords. Looking for the 75th anniversary Hallmark commercial (with all the people on the hillside), got this PDF file [110kb] from a UK insurance actuaries organization about the possible risks at the World Trade Center.
posted by baylink at 7:17 AM PST - 9 comments

On Soul, Character and Calling: An Interview with James Hillman Therapy, or analysis, is not only something that analysts do to patients; it is a process that goes on intermittently in our individual soul-searching, our attempts at understanding our complexities, the critical attacks, prescriptions, and encouragements we give ourselves. We are all in therapy all the time insofar as we are involved in soul-making.
And here is a link to all things James Hillman. Having just picked up a copy of The Soul's Code, I thought I'd post something about Hillman here. Here's yet another interview. See what you think.
posted by y2karl at 3:03 AM PST - 6 comments

More from the Textual Analysis Department: Spiderman as class warrior. "This battle of good vs. evil features the alter egos of an orphan raised by financially-strapped working class relatives versus an egotistical corporate executive."
posted by raaka at 2:31 AM PST - 16 comments

US media cowed by patriotic fever claims Dan Rather. As a non-American, I have no idea what news broadcasts have been like in America since September 11th. Is Rather correct?
posted by salmacis at 1:22 AM PST - 54 comments

It takes all kinds: Marketing guy claims "I love spam."
posted by pmurray63 at 10:19 PM PST - 19 comments

You thought you were a Star Wars fanatic? Thanks to the always excellent Lily Tao, who posts the most interesting links on her blog, we have the tale of the fan boy who built a life-size Millenium Falcon in his (former?) friend's back yard. Another set of pics here.
posted by Lynsey at 9:22 PM PST - 13 comments

The transcript of the forum on the press coverage of the current Middle East fighting was presented by a panel of veteran newsmen hosted by Harvard University and the Brookings Institution on April 24. The session, "Tinder Box: How the Press Covers the Middle East," featured former CBS correspondent Marvin Kalb, Glenn Frankel of the Washington Post, Robin Wright of the Los Angeles Times, David Shipler of The New York Times, and Todd Purdum, the Chief Diplomatic Correspondent of the New York Times.
posted by semmi at 9:07 PM PST - 1 comment

Darth Vader: Neocon "Lucas confused the good guys with the bad. The deep lesson of Star Wars is that the Empire is good." If it wasn't off the Weekly Standard web site, you'd think it was satire.
posted by Iberaband at 8:49 PM PST - 34 comments

serbian party animals living it up in the plains states.
posted by subpixel at 8:43 PM PST - 7 comments

Unocal will get it's pipeline after all! I guess with all the grief Bush is getting about the warnings in August he can look forward to some happy phone calls from his oil buddies! Oh by the way, Karzi used to work for Unocal. Did the Pres. mention that when he appointed Karzi.
posted by bas67 at 8:04 PM PST - 12 comments

an allegedly phallic tree Would you agree to dismemberment for neighborhood peace?
posted by onegoodmove at 5:38 PM PST - 24 comments

Bush Suggests Politics Are Behind Sept. 11 Questions. President Bush, suddenly challenged about what he knew before the Sept. 11 attacks, told fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday "there is a sniff of politics in the air," a congressional source said.
posted by Ty Webb at 5:13 PM PST - 40 comments

Polish movie posters. The Polish Poster Gallery has a fascinating collection of artist renditions of american movie posters. The collection compares favorably with the 50 Greatest Movie Posters, as listed by Premiere magazine.
(via fark)
posted by patrickje at 5:02 PM PST - 8 comments

How Microsoft sells Windows upgrades for Macs. Also, how Microsoft wants to sell software licenses for people who don't even have computers. via LGF
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:28 PM PST - 9 comments

Do you know Doctor Groovealicious? Graduate of the University of Groove. If you don't, you should. The site is brought to you via Fresh Diversion, a site of Todd Holoubek, one of the co-founders of MTV's The State, a group that recently got together (not all of them) to make Wet Hot American Summer. Enjoy. (BTW, Dr. Groove streams A/V but in milky-smooth fashion.)
posted by jacknose at 1:16 PM PST - 5 comments

Sim-President?
FutureFarmers have released another thought provoking Flash site that is designed to make you think. Thsi time you get to play at running the country after a terrorist attack (where did they get that idea). Manage the budget, fight for oil and don't piss off big business (or they will assassinate you). FutureFarmers have a long history of making Flash content with a political message. Their They Rule site recently won a Net Excellence award from ARS Electronica, and their Texas Draw site has been featured here.
posted by DragonBoy at 12:35 PM PST - 12 comments

Our Conscious Mind Could Be An Electromagnetic Field
posted by stbalbach at 12:20 PM PST - 30 comments

Getting ready to fast this weekend. We go on vacations from work to relax, recharge, and to gain new perspectives on our life; why not take occasional breaks from food? I do this about every two years and it always seems to "reset" my body and more importantly my mind. Anyone else have fasting experience?
posted by jeremias at 11:52 AM PST - 45 comments

Thursdays Wouldn't Be Thursdays Without Popbitch! I was nostalgically going over holgate's archive and came across his March 2001 Popbitch post. In case you haven't heard of it, it's an hilarious, outrageous and probably libelous free weekly newsletter dedicated to dishing the dirt on (mostly)British celebs. And yet it now looks like its founder and editor, Stevenson, has been head-hunted to edit the vapid monthly stylemag The Face. [Sob] So does anyone know of any other similarly outspoken and irreverent webby gossip sheets?[On preview: this June 2001 post by mocata is also worth reading.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:29 AM PST - 11 comments

Ford Motor Credit Co. recently sent 13,000 people certified letters warning them that an unauthorized inquiry had been made on their credit reports and that they were now at risk for credit fraud and identity theft.

Just great.
posted by artifex at 9:47 AM PST - 18 comments

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. . . Any big Neil Young fan, and I have to admit to being one, also spends a lot of time hating a lot of his artistic output (i. e. the cringe-enducing Let's Roll, as well as his all-over-the-map politics. In the LATimes book review Hal Epsen mentions that the reliably perverse Young has been a staunch Reagan supporter and proponent of the death penalty, as well as a devoted husband and a stalwart parent to three kids, two of whom were born with cerebral palsy. He also asserts that Young appeals almost wholly to male listeners. Young has been discussed here before but not, I believe his biography, which, as has been Neil Young's M. O. from the get-go, is a dictionary-perfect example of a "mixed bag."
posted by Danf at 9:26 AM PST - 35 comments

"Trade with x only benefits the repressive government of x; it does not get into the hands of the people." How does the White House policy towards x make sense in light of Bush's statement that "Free trade supports and sustains freedom in all its forms. When we open trade, we open minds. We trade with x because trade is good policy for our economy, because trade is good policy for democracy"? Well that's because the first x refers to Cuba and the second x is for China. How's that economic engagement working out with China? Why don't we ask the Tibetans, Falun Gong or the Uighurs? Which foreign policy is the right way to go? Economic isolation or engagement?
posted by buddha9090 at 9:19 AM PST - 17 comments

How to work a room - tips for networking. Also useful for parties! The graphics aren't beautiful, but they make effective use of the web to communicate something which is easily forgotten after a live presentation.
posted by sheauga at 8:24 AM PST - 27 comments

Anti-Drug Ads are NOT Working: John P. Walters, the new U.S. drug czar, says survey data show the government's anti-drug advertising of recent years have failed. He goes on to say that they may have even led some youngsters -- particularly girls aged 12 to 13 -- to experiment with marijuana (more inside).
posted by Irontom at 8:21 AM PST - 29 comments

Yoda Wars. Tacky and fun content to fulfill all your Yoda needs.
posted by brownpau at 7:46 AM PST - 9 comments

Southern Gothic gets downright surreal. I'm not sure what the point of this site is, or if there is one, but as a Birminghamster, I applaud local attempts to mix fact and fiction with the brio usually reserved for articles about us in the national media.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:44 AM PST - 6 comments

CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs Just brushing up for this Sunday's two hour series grand finale.
posted by Voyageman at 5:04 AM PST - 1 comment

"When a male polar bear and a human are face to face, there occurs a brief kind of magic: an intense, visceral connection between man and beast whose poignancy and import cannot be expressed in mere words. Then he rips your arms off."
It's rare for someone to pull off morbid and hilarious at the same time. Here's an example.
posted by Su at 4:25 AM PST - 22 comments

Judge orders VeriSign to stop ad campaign A U.S. court on Tuesday ordered Internet naming giant VeriSign Inc. to immediately cease a direct-mail campaign that used what a rival called deceptive advertising to poach its customers. A development in an earlier posted story.
posted by timeistight at 1:21 AM PST - 7 comments

Weirdo Leonardo "This web site is about the stranger artworks and writings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and includes ideas and images that may disturb." Michelangelo is reported to have said of Leonardo that "He cannot create, only imagine." If so, what an imagination! The grotesque and anatomical figures. The magnificent machines.
posted by vacapinta at 12:04 AM PST - 12 comments

Yoda was awesome. What are your thoughts on the movie?
posted by aaronshaf at 11:59 PM PST - 63 comments

"This is a war, and we are soldiers."
The first teaser for "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" has hit the web (QT only). Is this the movie that is going to break the Spider-Man/Star Wars Episode 2 records? Do the fans want/need a sequel? Can they possibly top the "cool fight scene" quotient of the last movie?
posted by Grum at 11:11 PM PST - 23 comments

Ahhhhh….road trips, a time to relax and enjoy the scenery….right? Not for the participants of the Gumball Rally which just finished its inaugural race on U.S. soil. (More inside)
posted by Eric Lloyd NYC at 10:19 PM PST - 3 comments

Ten tons of missing cyanide since Wednesday, 113 miles north of Mexico City... no big deal, right?
posted by greensweater at 8:54 PM PST - 7 comments

Mining Artifacts
"This site is dedicated to those who daily faced the danger, uncertainty, darkness, dampness, heat and cold of underground mining, those who were drawn to toil in the depths of the earth."
simply massive collection of mining paraphernalia and images. a veritable gold mine (sorry) of cool stuff!
posted by quonsar at 8:34 PM PST - 3 comments

Fun with Fingerprint Readers. A Japanese cryptoanalyst recently found that he could reliably fool biometric fingerprint scanners using only gelatin like that found in gummy bears. Not only could he create a fake finger using the original, he was also successful in fooling the scanners based on a gelatin mold of a fingerprint lifted from a piece of glass.
posted by kaefer at 8:32 PM PST - 9 comments

Billy Bragg is releasing a new single next week, and he'd like it to be number 1 in the charts just in time for the big celebration of the Queen's Jubilee. Profits go to charity, and a thumb in the eye goes to the royalists.
posted by geneablogy at 8:17 PM PST - 13 comments

President Bush was told that Osama bin Laden might be plotting to hijack U.S. passenger planes well before September 11th. The warning was never made public. AP reported earlier this month that FBI headquarters did not act on a memo last July from its Arizona office warning there were a large number of Arabs seeking pilot, security and airport operations training. Said a spokeman for Sen. Bob Graham, Senate Intelligence Committee chair: "It represents a failure to connect the dots."
posted by tranquileye at 7:54 PM PST - 36 comments

New Hope? Cancerous cells isolated by freezing, then killed with drugs. From the Independentco.uk (via New Scientist)
posted by semmi at 7:38 PM PST - 1 comment

The Christian Right and Israel is the topic of this interesting article from the editor of The New Republic, who sees the Christian conservatives' interest in Israel as less than persuasive, as it relies on Biblical legitimacy and not Democratic legitimacy. From the article: "for Christian conservatives like Armey and Parshall, Israel's interests cannot be defined pragmatically, because Israel's primary function is to clarify a larger worldview. Whether or not most evangelicals truly believe Israel's wars will usher in the Messianic Age, they are theologically conditioned to see its struggle as Manichaean".
posted by cell divide at 6:00 PM PST - 8 comments

Colorado boys punished by school administrators for pretending index fingers are guns. The boys were shooting at imaginary aliens. One administrator says they "demonstrated a level of aggression" that violates the school's zero-tolerance policy toward violence.
posted by swift at 4:40 PM PST - 29 comments

Boycott France? An American Jewish Congress trade ad placed in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter compares anti-Semitic violence to that experienced during WWII. Some groups are also calling for a boycott of the Cannes Film Festival. Woody Allen doesn't agree. Can the actions of an idiotic  minority really justify a boycott?
posted by laukf at 3:33 PM PST - 45 comments

Anti-Immigrant feelings sweep Europe As economies tighten, populations build, hostility to "outsiders" seems to happen everywhere, but as E.O. Wilson noted a few years back, there is bound to be people from third-world nations seeking better lives by moving to nations perceived as better off. We are told that inexpensive labor is a boon. But is this all that matters?
posted by Postroad at 3:09 PM PST - 23 comments

Coke Owns Jesus. Take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is my soft drink, which I offer up to you...
[via ktheory.]
posted by me3dia at 2:47 PM PST - 28 comments

Spitballs It's always fun until someone loses an eye and you get charged with battery causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury and mayhem and are found guilty of two of the charges [via ObscureStore].
posted by srboisvert at 2:44 PM PST - 11 comments

What's that about "tragedy plus time" Comedy that is.... Another one for the NZers
posted by johnny7 at 1:08 PM PST - 2 comments

Big Wigs at Napster Resign And here I thought they were dead long ago.
posted by tsarfan at 11:42 AM PST - 6 comments

Three propositions:

1. Like everything else cultural, language goes through phases and fads, and what seemed one week like a fresh, inventive phrase quickly becomes debased through misuse and overuse.
2. Tracking such things, and commenting on them, is fun, and it's nice to have a corpus of examples to draw on to make your point. It might be fun to take Metafilter as a starting place. You could even build a site around it.
3. Those smaller fish that swim around with sharks are called remoras.

posted by rodii at 11:18 AM PST - 94 comments

Copy protection of music CDs is morally wrong, and as Americans we can and must assert our rights to Fair Use of the media we have purchased. But I give it to the Germans: they have figured out a way to defeat Cactus DATA Shield 100/200 and KeyAudio. [translated from German by Google]
posted by johnnydark at 10:17 AM PST - 5 comments

$cientology pays up for once. Lawrence Wollersheim won a case in 1986 against Co$ regarding abusive treatment, but it's taken 16 years for him to get paid. "Show me the money," indeed. (more inside)
posted by PeteyStock at 10:01 AM PST - 3 comments

For The Discerning, Segway-Hating Man About Town: Hammacher-Schlemmer's fantastic Unexpected catalogue is full of classy transportation devices, among countless other fascinating products, with prices to suit all pockets. The Two-Person Submarine is a snip at $62,900 but claustrophic types are well catered for too. There's the Zem 4-person bicycle for $6,499.95; the One Person Helium Balloon for 20K, the popular All-Terrain 2-Person Hovercraft; the very European Vespa motorbike; the extremely enticing Danish Police Runabout at only $5,999.95; the sexy little Amphibious Car for $9,995.95 and many, many more outlandish and distinctive vehicles, from 7 Person tricycles(for you, 16K)to a wooden '54 wooden Mercedes 300SL. For more sedentary gentlefolk, there are Feline Drinking Fountains, Impervious Unbreakable Chip Trays and, for only 25 bucks, a Barbershop Hot Lather Machine. Fancy anything, Madam or Sir?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:09 AM PST - 19 comments

BBC funds ad-free, porn-free search engine. Fueled by UK television license fees and Google search technology, the engine doesn't kick out results from paying advertisers. News article here.
posted by CosmicSlop at 9:00 AM PST - 6 comments

Jerrold Schwartz, who pleaded guilty to sodomizing a Boy Scout, is free on bail and allowed to continue running his tour business for Scouts and students this summer. His company, Adventure Trails Inc., runs summer camps in Colorado, and winter and year-around camps in the Northeast.
posted by Vek at 8:47 AM PST - 27 comments

Vanilla Coke came out today. Anyone tried it? What's the verdict (besides anti-corporation rants)? This person was underwhelmed.
posted by gazingus at 8:46 AM PST - 72 comments

A heavy turnout has been reported in the Dutch general election. More on the current situation there: "A Dutch Radical's Message to Europe". This was published yesterday and was written by a Dutch reporter for the NYT (so I guess you can find it there too, but why go there if you don't really have to?).
posted by Taco at 8:32 AM PST - 10 comments

Born to Run? A group of New Jersey political activists announced a plan to draft Bruce Springsteen to run for the U.S. Senate "as a true representative of the state". But there is a big problem: no one has talked to the Boss about the idea. "Senator Springsteen": how does that sound?
posted by matteo at 8:31 AM PST - 18 comments

Windows XP Pro for $40! Microsoft is running a special offer where 'partners' can buy Windows XP for >85% off the retail price (free baseball too); all that's (realistically) needed is a .NET passport account. Since the MeFites had such fun buying cameras, I figured I'd throw this out for discussion; it does seem to involve a wee bit of misrepresentation to take advantage of.
posted by boaz at 8:26 AM PST - 20 comments

Yale corrects the legislative mistakes of its presidential alumnus. If the joint that you got caught smoking in high school bars you from Federal aid, they'll match it dollar for dollar.
posted by magullo at 8:17 AM PST - 18 comments

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Critics. Begun, this Clone War has. From Chicago Sun-Times, NY Times (registration required), LA Times and Washington Post.
posted by LinusMines at 7:59 AM PST - 54 comments

Of course it's just a coincidence, but ... I didn't know that this particular bit of pop culture had already been discussed on Fark, but it certainly freaked me out when one of the guys at the bar showed it to me last night. (and wait! There's even more to the conspiracy ...)
posted by yhbc at 7:52 AM PST - 27 comments

They might actually be, you know, be useful. This year, a student in Nebraska won $1000 for finding the worst example of overuse of the phrase 'you know,' by an athlete who said it 30 times in a 135 second interview. But are they really that terrible? Known as discourse markers, phrases such as 'you know' and 'I mean' are thought to be essential in conveying information in conversation and helping us understand each other. Discourse markers also exist in many other languages and possibly even ancient languages.
posted by adrianhon at 7:48 AM PST - 25 comments

Now what? MS is following Sony's lead by dropping the XBox's price to $199 USD. I don't know about you, but I -was- going to get a PS2. Now I'm not so sure.
posted by shadow45 at 6:18 AM PST - 38 comments

Lying with video. Researchers at MIT have created videos of people uttering sentences they never said that consistently fool viewers and are accepted by them as real. Once upon a time, it was a lot harder to be false with film, but whether the medium will be in any way trustworthy going forward seems doubtful. What will it mean when you can't even believe your own eyes?
posted by zoopraxiscope at 4:33 AM PST - 17 comments

In 1999, India and Pakistan were closer to nuclear war than was commonly known, according to Clinton's former chief adviser on South Asia. On Monday, the Defense Department's policy chief said that "there is a risk of war" that is "very large." On Tuesday, militants attacked an army camp in Indian Kashmir and killed 30 people, including 11 women and 10 children. All this makes me very nervous. Is it just me? And adding a touch of the bizarre, India is officially researching arcane, 2300 year-old military technology that it believes will give its military a greater advantage.
posted by homunculus at 12:20 AM PST - 30 comments

I've been using Kazaa for about a year, but yesterday it spewed out a 30 second audio advertisement for a casino that you couldn't stop, and couldn't get rid of. Quite apart from getting me in deep piles of poo with my boss, surely this is going too far? Audio adverts you can't do anything about - maybe it is time to move on...
posted by wibbler at 11:45 PM PST - 35 comments

Baltimore Priest Shot by Accuser. The suspect told authorities that he shot the priest because the priest rebuffed his demand for an apology over an alleged sexual assault.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 10:22 PM PST - 21 comments

Graffiti with lights, long exposures and a bunch of cameras. ...beautiful stuff.
posted by tomplus2 at 8:45 PM PST - 9 comments

CIA's Home Page for Kids "Fly high on intelligence, NOT drugs..."
posted by kirkaracha at 7:05 PM PST - 11 comments

An agonizing depiction of the Bush administration's environmental policies from this week's New Yorker. It's one thing for the Natural Resources Defense Council (which dedicates a web page to tracking the president's environmental record) to call Bush's "the most anti-environmental presidential administration ever"; but even the generally pro-Bush Economist has called his policy on global warming a sham. Aaargh! (Can anyone offer anything more constructive than that? Please?)
posted by mattpfeff at 6:50 PM PST - 32 comments

University of Michigan's race-based admission policy upheld by 6th Circuit Is this case headed for the U.S. Supreme Court? And if so, what is the likely outcome?
posted by Rastafari at 6:22 PM PST - 13 comments

Put a glide in your stride and dip in yo' hip and step on board the Mothership*. Finally, a comprehensive site for one of the most influential musical agglomerations of the last 30 years. All hip-hop, and most modern R&B and Rock would be unimaginable without these guys. More Cyberbetabuckdown here if that wasn't enough, plus a great essay by Scot Hacker here. Like the man says "Uncle Jam Wants You!"

*Flash site. Let the intro finish, then comes the good stuff.
posted by jonmc at 5:21 PM PST - 20 comments

Relive all your favorites from the demoscene. This project, headed up by nearly all of the team that maintained the old hornet.org demoscene archive, is committed to bringing those old classic demos ... to a DVD player near you. Now you no longer have to fret because you gave up your Gravis Ultrasound and DOS! Can I get a w00t from ya? I knew I could.
posted by WolfDaddy at 5:19 PM PST - 11 comments

Cosmic Log - on msnbc.com   Alan Boyle, the science editor for msnbc.com (and former coworker who I respect) has ventured into the land of the blogs, his being primarily science-news based. MSNBC and Alan both seem to be viewing it as an experiment, and are soliciting feedback. If you think a journalist-as-blogger is a good thing (and like the quality of the content of course), you can send feedback, or anonymously rate the page (at bottom of page).
posted by kokogiak at 2:08 PM PST - 15 comments

Rose, the Dalmatian who greeted the rich and powerful at the Inn at Little Washington, died this morning at age 13...
posted by GriffX at 1:22 PM PST - 21 comments

the BBC recreates the stanford prison experiment. First episode is being aired now, (slightly late post, sorry 'bout that). The original experiment was discussed on mefi here.
posted by fvw at 1:20 PM PST - 10 comments

The Death of Evangelism. Matt Sturges (of Clockwork Storybook fame) writes in his blog about how traditional Christian evanglism turns people off more than it draws them in. Are Fundamentalists actually converting people, or just shooting themselves in the foot? Entertaining and informative reading, whether or not you're Christian.
posted by RylandDotNet at 1:02 PM PST - 22 comments

Price War! Pre-empting a similiar expected price cut by Microsoft, PS2 price will be cut by $100.00, while Nintendo refuses to jump into the fray. Sony so far has shipped 30 million PlayStation 2 units worldwide and 7.9 million in the U.S. (@$299=9,000,000,000). With today's price cut Sony hopes to expand its U.S. market base by another 8 or 9 million units. If you've been holding back is this enough incentive to get onboard?
posted by Mack Twain at 12:40 PM PST - 39 comments

Speaking of Apple...
Rumors of OSX for x86? The Inquirer reports that ATI and Nvidia are investigating ports of their graphics chipsets for a port of OSX to an X86 CPU, suggesting that something of the like might not be far away. It just might be enough for me to jump ship, in a way.
posted by Hackworth at 12:32 PM PST - 28 comments

Apple enters the server hardware market.
posted by alana at 12:09 PM PST - 24 comments

The Rise of the Creative Class. The author argues that cities which meet the diverse needs of young people -- through vibrant nightlife, outdoors activities, and gay neighborhoods -- are also the ones best situated in the current economy. He has his own website, where you can look up your own city. Pretty interesting stuff.
posted by MikeB at 12:06 PM PST - 18 comments

Good news for Mac-owning, Celine Dione fans

"The process is pretty easy: I took a bit of electrical tape and applied it to the edge of the CD, the 'shiny side', - just a half inch of the stuff - and aligned it with the very edge 'data track session ring' visible on these copy protected CDs. Took the tape out to the outside of the CD and put it in my CD Rom."
posted by schlaager at 11:53 AM PST - 15 comments

UnificationChurch Under Siege in Brazil Rev. Moon's massive land purchases lead to major search-and-seizure operation. Money laundering and other no-no activities. This cult, the Avis to Scientology's Hertz, has paid President Bush I handsome money to speak in their behalf when they began operations in Brazil. They also own the Washington Times, Insight Magazine and many many other businesses, including a university, jewelry stores nationwide, and a ballet company. Their found, Rev. Moon, a convicted felon (taxes). Rumored to get money from Japanese mob to do their conservative activities, and now want to open car plant in China. Gone the days of merely selling roses.
posted by Postroad at 11:46 AM PST - 2 comments

Bert Hickman has a ten inch diameter Tesla coil powered from two neon sign transformers in his screened-in (but unheated) porch, along with a device that produces magnetic fields strong enough to shrink coins. One of the byproducts of the coin-shrinking: an eight inch ball of plasma.
posted by tranquileye at 11:40 AM PST - 14 comments

The best even-handed treatment I've seen of the ANWR controversy appeared in the May 13th issue of Sports Illustrated (Sorry, no link to the article, but my summary and other helpful links inside).
posted by Sean Meade at 11:26 AM PST - 11 comments

GPSdrawing -- Making giant virtual drawings by moving around with a gps. I found this site searching google with words from cut-ups, and it turns out that the New York Times has recently covered it. There are recognizable figures, but also experiments exploiting characteristics of the technology and more.
posted by mblandi at 9:32 AM PST - 5 comments

Sopranos Coming Back September 15. Season 4 will be airing only a month after Season 3 comes out on DVD. Finally! More Sopranos news than Robert Iler getting pinched for being stupid.
posted by rev- at 9:14 AM PST - 28 comments

The Stained Apron is "dedicated to the venting of food servers' frustrations and a harsh education of the dining public." I always try to tip generously, now.
posted by moz at 9:12 AM PST - 24 comments

"Motty is fast, simple and free." Football is quite rubbish, but this is great for us office prisoners.
posted by Dan Brilliant at 8:48 AM PST - 4 comments

We don't like your name - you don't get to fly. At least not without a great deal of hassle. A 70 year old black woman is repeatedly subjected to lengthy delays by US Airways. Why? Because her name is similar to an alias used by a person who murdered his wife and kids. The interesting part? He's a 28 year old white man. Apprehended 3 months before the incidents described in the article.
posted by Irontom at 8:33 AM PST - 10 comments

The bad news? Politically Incorrect is dead. The good news? So is The Man Show. The bad news? Jimmy Kimmel's getting his own late-night talk show.
posted by darukaru at 7:59 AM PST - 67 comments

"aaaah, lovely fags !!" From the smoke filled dreams of Father Ted - "aaaah, lovely fags !!" The age of innocence.
posted by Arqa at 7:59 AM PST - 14 comments

A situation inherently more complicated among the participants (NYT) than the outsider agitators understand.
posted by semmi at 7:47 AM PST - 6 comments

So why does John Malkovich want to shoot Robert Fisk?
Is Fisk right to be scared or does he deserve what he gets when he criticises the US and Israel? Read about Malkovich's threats here.
posted by zimbobzim at 3:30 AM PST - 45 comments

Erik Benson has put Ad Farm and Nervous Industries "up for adoption." As a user of Adfarm's text ads, I received an email and refund for ads not yet run: "Last week was one of the most difficult of my life. My brother-in-law passed away at the age of 20. It has woken me up to the realities of time passing, and I'd like to refocus my daily schedule to include things that are more in line with my long-term goals. Being offline is one of them. Being with my family and friends, and working on my novel, seem to be the most important things right now."
posted by dobbs at 12:43 AM PST - 8 comments

The 2002 contest for The 5k Award has announced a call for entries. The 5k is a contest for, basically, making the coolest thing you can on the web in 5,120 bytes. The first contest was interesting and rewarding, but the second one disappointed, when some truly impressive entries were completely ignored in favor of poor attempts at humor. Here's to hoping the entries will be at least as good as 2001, and the judging will be much better. The deadline for entries is June 16.
posted by endquote at 11:43 PM PST - 12 comments

Californians, did you feel the quake? This 5.2 quake was near the surface which, according to the San Francisco local news, allowed it to travel farther than usual. Did you feel it? If so, where? Did it create any problems? Was anyone at the Sharks game?
posted by emptyage at 10:28 PM PST - 39 comments

Bored at work? Need a new hobby? Want to impress others with your skillful, delicate hands? Try some pen spinning. Here's a site dedicated to nothing but the art of the spin. There are even videos. Idle hands are the devil's playground.
posted by ColdChef at 9:34 PM PST - 26 comments

More songs from Eugene, the marvelous crooning child. Flash with sound.
posted by machaus at 7:04 PM PST - 14 comments

Scotland to approve same-sex weddings The symbolic registrations don't have "the same basis and rights in law as traditional marriages," but the country does give some tangible benefits to same-sex partners. Compare with the longer list offered to mixed-sex unmarried couples.
posted by mediareport at 6:36 PM PST - 9 comments

Interested in video game emulators? Yearning for the games of yesteryear? There is probably an emulator for any 'classic' game that you could wish to play. General arcade emulators, SNES, NES, Genesis, Atari 2600, et al. For the truly curious, listen to the story of the emulator that almost was, Silhouette, the emulator Nintendo almost released.
posted by patrickje at 5:10 PM PST - 32 comments

I've been looking for a historical whois lookup: something that would allow you to see earlier versions of a whois record for a particular domain name. Well, Cool Whois isn't it, but...
posted by timeistight at 4:35 PM PST - 8 comments

Verisign sued for false advertising. Domain registrar VeriSign has been mailing out thousands of "domain name expiration" notices that imply that domain-name owners could lose control of their name if they don't return the form (as noted previously on MeFi), and BulkRegister has filed suit in federal court. No lawsuits on that that other matter yet, but is the fall of Verisign impending?
posted by gleuschk at 4:14 PM PST - 19 comments

djc steps down from evolt.org After years of insanely large amounts of contributions that sustained the community, Daniel J. Cody (djc) decides he needs to move on to other things. Who will pick up the slack? I guess we'll see.
posted by mwarden at 4:09 PM PST - 5 comments

Revelations regarding Venezualen Coup Greg Palast, who's been at the front of this story ever since predicting it, gives enlightening details behind the events of Apil. It barely had anything to do with the protests and riots - Chavez was tipped off by an OPEC minister days before the coup was launched. He hid loyal soldiers in the Presidential palace and once Carmona was installed he became as much a hostage as Chavez. Chavez also says he has photos, videos and the names of American officers who entered the coup plotters' headquarters.
posted by raaka at 2:56 PM PST - 28 comments

China has no respect for international law. In case you hadn't heard, China broke into the Japanese Consulate and forcibly removed five North Koreans seeking asylum. Since when can Chinese Police just waltz into the Japanese Consulate and drag people out? Not only does this demonstrate China's blatant disregard for the sovereignty of another country, it demonstrates how closely they share values with the Impregnable Fortress.
posted by zanpo at 1:27 PM PST - 33 comments

TiVo fanatics will know the name of TiVolutionary (Richard Bulwinkle), the official TiVo evangelist who helped create one of the most enthusiastic (independent) user communities ever at AVS Forums. Well, he's either quit or been fired.
posted by luser at 1:17 PM PST - 2 comments

Gene Amole died yesterday. You may remember him from this thread. Read his final column. Have a tissue handy.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:52 AM PST - 5 comments

A Weblog Foundation proposal aninteresting proposal via http://aintnobaddude.blogspot.com/ to help sustain blogging as an important aspect of media and online community. Any ideas for or against this proposal?
posted by Postroad at 11:15 AM PST - 56 comments

Have you ever wanted to try painting a portrait of Pappa Hemingway or Joey Ramone using poppy seed, grits, brome grass, millet, lentils, and white rice? Do you have the patience to recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night in cream of wheat and split peas? Crop art showcases artists who use only harvested natural materials to create their art. Via Coudal.
posted by iconomy at 11:09 AM PST - 9 comments

In an 8-1 ruling with Justice Stevens dissenting, the U.S. Supreme Court has partially upheld the Child Online Protection Act against objections that by relying on community standards it was unconstitutionally overbroad in violation of the First Amendment. COPA is the 1998 federal law making it illegal to make pornography available to children on the Internet. Passed in the wake of the Court's 1997 ruling striking down the Communications Decency Act but never enforced because of various court injunctions, COPA is still undergoing other lower-court challenges whose merits today's ruling does not address.
posted by tiny pea at 10:32 AM PST - 3 comments

ORIGINAL SIN: How prices of initial public offerings were manipulated by Goldman Sachs through the illegal practice of "Laddering" Isn't that enronic!
posted by srboisvert at 10:14 AM PST - 10 comments

The Strolling of the Heifers. It's not exactly the running of the bulls, but Brattleboro, Vermont's "three-day festival about cows, small towns, small farms and the myriad things that make rural life special" hopes to support the local farming community, which has been badly squeezed since the expiration of the Northeast Dairy Compact. It features (among other things) a milking contest between U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator James Jeffords, and U.S. Congressman Bernie Sanders.
posted by mattpfeff at 9:29 AM PST - 7 comments

Is It Racism If You Admit You're A Racist But Decry Racist Behaviour? Geoffrey Sampson, Professor of Natural Language Computing at the University of Sussex in the UK is likely to be sacked from the Conservative Party for his defense of "racialism" as a legitimate human emotion. In an interview on this morninn's BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme, he said recognising people's racial prejudices is a scientific fact has nothing to do with espousing discriminatory behaviour. The Observer coyly shrank from linking Sampson's offending article but it wasn't difficult to find: here it is. Judge for yourselves.[My two cents and a question for UK Mefis: as a conservative, I'm quite impressed with Ian Duncan-Smith's(the new Tory leader's)efforts to dissociate himself from the Tory Party's reactionary bastions(e.g.The Monday Club) and attitudes. Is it just a pose, electioneering or is there something to it?]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:36 AM PST - 33 comments

Mother jailed for girls' truancy A question for our British gang, is truancy such a problem in the UK now that this is really necessary? When I went to school in England, lo those mumblemumble years ago, I don't remember it being this bad. For the rest of the world, do you think truancy in your country would justify locking up the primary caregiver or is this punishing the wrong person? Can parents be held responsible for everything a child does? And better said, should they? When should we grant children the priviledges and penalties of their own autonomous actions?
posted by dejah420 at 8:15 AM PST - 27 comments

Very high level of PCBs in whale raises alarms. "The orca found dead on the Olympic Peninsula earlier this year carried a level of contaminants that was among the highest -- if not the highest -- ever measured in killer whales, laboratory tests show". If that is the case with free ranging whales then I shudder to think what similar measurements on city dwelling humans will reveal. Does anyone know of similar contaminant research on humans? (via Baloney.com)
posted by talos at 7:51 AM PST - 10 comments

There goes the rest of the week. The 100 best online games. Ever.
posted by Spoon at 7:03 AM PST - 19 comments

This is the winner of the Star Wars Fan Film Awards (as chosen by George Lucas). Did he get it right? Should it have gone to the very cool Gangsta Rap? Or one of the other finalists?
posted by kebab at 6:54 AM PST - 13 comments

Vintage Luggage Labels
"The luggage label evolved in the latter part of the 19th century and was born out of the hey-day of world travel - a period when travel was the exclusive realm of the wealthy and the privileged... During this time, travel was predominantly for leisure and the great ships and trains reigned supreme... Later, they became fashionable objects of conspicuous consumption - identifying the owner as a well-traveled and possibly cultured person of means."
posted by Irontom at 5:58 AM PST - 10 comments

"Terrorists plan July 4th attack in US" - claim
There are claims that terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda network are planning an attack on a US nuclear power plant to coincide with Independence Day celebrations.
posted by tomcosgrave at 5:03 AM PST - 24 comments

"Only in the case of war, a recession, or a national emergency", Bush promised during his 2000 campaign, would he ever enter deficit spending. He now repeatedly and rather mordidly jokes that he never imagined that he'd hit the "trifecta" by getting all three- perhaps to explain why we are now experiencing a $100 billion dollar deficit this year. One tiny problem: Bush never made this supposed campaign promise despite frequently claiming just such as thing, as Jonathan Chait of TNR notes in his recent column. These "special conditions" for deficit spending and depleting the Social Security surplus were spun out of thin air just last summer, and modified post- 9/11, as a necessary escape clause when the budget crunch hit.
posted by hincandenza at 12:28 AM PST - 12 comments

It's said that you should never watch either sausage or laws being made. Well, here's sausage. As they do it in the Old Country. Starting with a live pig. Now, anyone got something comparable for laws? [more inside]
Found on The Cellar's Image of the Day.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 11:24 PM PST - 9 comments

Victim of Sloppy Journalism? Wired News Intern Danit Lidor wrote a sensational, one-sided story about one of Rod Montgomery's employer's customers. Rod was quoted accurately, but he is not WordRecords.com's webmaster, was not responsible for the less-than-swift marketing campaign, and didn't know the context of Lidor's question at the time.

Lidor's sloppy journalism implies that Rod and his employer are spam-generators, when this is very far from the truth.

What would you do if you were misquoted or misrepresented in an article printed in a large Internet news site? Should Lidor post a formal retraction?

Rod's full letter to Wired can be found here.
posted by quonsar at 6:42 PM PST - 18 comments

Patron saint for Internet users? The Pope has given the Internet his blessing (thanks!) and there's talk he is searching for a patron saint for Internet users. Who would you nominate for patron saint of the Internet? St. Berners-Lee of CERN? St. Metcalfe of Ethernet?
posted by billder at 6:14 PM PST - 24 comments

Lines & Splines goes the way of hot-metal type Andy Crewdson shuts down Lines & Splines. Beyond the stated reasons, speculation as to why would of course be as improper as any use of Arial.
posted by joeclark at 5:49 PM PST - 24 comments

no palestinian state - no american tax dollars ?
posted by specialk420 at 2:28 PM PST - 50 comments

With the daily bloody death counts in the dozens and propagandists rooting for more, perhaps it's appropriate to pause and take into consideration the pain and suffering each individual death creates. Studs Terkel's interviews with a paramedic, a social worker, an undertaker, and a mother about their experiences with death and dying. (more great links on the site)
posted by semmi at 12:40 PM PST - 6 comments

Cuneiform artifacts for cheap! "Iraq's economic collapse means the oldest writing in the world can be bought for a song on eBay -- and has scholars racing to digitize Sumerian artifacts before they become paperweights." I've always wanted an original Epic of Gilgamesh cuneiform tablet to decorate the mantel with.
posted by homunculus at 11:56 AM PST - 4 comments

Jimmy Carter made history today being the first U.S. President [in or out of office] to visit Cuba since 1959. At the initial press conference Mr. Carter switched from English to Spanish, in reverence to his host [his Spanish was actually pretty good]. What can Mr. Carter hope to achieve this week and how does his action [albeit as a private citizen] affect the current administration?
posted by plemeljr at 11:38 AM PST - 11 comments

Last night, ninety-five thousand British Internet users took part in 'Test The Nation', an IQ quiz, broadcast live on BBC television, which attempted to survey the intelligence on the national. As a simulcast it was only partially successful -- the questions appearing on television sometimes five minutes before appearing on computer, but the results from those who coped with the technology were quite interesting. Any other UK Mefites take part? The test is still available for the curious.
posted by feelinglistless at 8:42 AM PST - 45 comments

A Vegan Radical Cookbook Project - Share your favorite recipes here! Eat well, and enjoy this spring's nighttime gardening.
posted by sheauga at 8:18 AM PST - 26 comments

NASA scavenges on eBay for old parts for Space Shuttle [NYT link-reg req] The Space Shuttle is so old that many of the parts for it are no longer being made. NASA has been reduced to buying old equipment on eBay to scavenge for circuit boards and old CPUs.
posted by geneablogy at 7:31 AM PST - 10 comments

Rubens Barrichello robbed. Formula One driver Barrichello has just let Michael Schumacher win the Austrian Grand Prix. I've been getting more and more disillusioned with F1, and this has put the cap on it. No more for me.
posted by viama at 6:49 AM PST - 20 comments

What's So American About American Culture? Richard Pells launches a spirited attack on the notion that American culture dominates the world, noting how almost all its sources are European, which would explain why "American culture has never felt all that foreign to foreigners". As a sideline and a Sunday provocation, I suggest to you that, apart from medicine, computers and entertainment(movies; music; web sites) Europe is either as good as America(art; literature; architecture; universities; publishing)or a damn sight better: telecommunications; TV; cars; pharmaceutical products; food and drink; luxury goods...In fact, America and Europe complement each other quite perfectly. Though we win in the end, of course, because we're much better at appreciating this symbiosis. If only because know and enjoy more American stuff than you Americans do European stuff. So there!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:08 AM PST - 60 comments

Saudi Arabia considers allowing women into legal profession. Justice Minister cautions that "female lawyers would not be allowed to attend court...Women would instead be asked to write out their arguments, which would be presented on their behalf by men."
posted by mediareport at 9:44 PM PST - 26 comments

I am descended from Charlemagne! And you are too. I found tantalizing ideas in this Atlantic Interview of Steve Olson. Unfortunately, his Atlantic article is not available (for free, anyways). He mentioned, in the interview, the work of Humphrys and Chang. A fwe Google searches later, among a labyrinth of pages about Royal descents, I FOUND! what I was looking for [More inside]
posted by vacapinta at 9:08 PM PST - 12 comments

Maybe NISSAN fights for domain names a little too much If your surname is used by some big company, you may want to read this. And if you have a company which uses your surname , even if properly registerd, you must read this. And if all of above is true and your have a website read the link or welcome to the world of "sue em till they are out of money and die"
posted by elpapacito at 6:58 PM PST - 18 comments

"The smartest scientist on the planet." [NYT reg req] "Conducting experiments on a computer, where he says he has logged 100 million keystrokes in the last 10 years, Mr. Wolfram wrote simple programs that generated odd and intricate patterns to test his ideas about complexity. He argues that natural phenomena can be explored as if they were, in fact, computer programs." Stephen Wolfram's own company (Wolfram Media Inc.) is now publishing his 1,197-page book - "A New Kind Science " - which was kept secret until now. They claim "..he is proposing a paradigm shift. A new twist on everything.." in explaining how the universe operates. Sounds big. Is it really?
posted by Voyageman at 5:22 PM PST - 32 comments

Bahrain bans Al Jazeera TV Help me out on this one. Al Jazeera is said in the West to be very pro-Arab in all things. Now it is banned in a country that says it is moving toward becoming democratic (even allowing women to vote). Is there a contradiction in banning media as you move toward democarcy, or am I perhaps spoiled by my highschool teachers. NOTE: this is NO troll.
posted by Postroad at 5:08 PM PST - 7 comments

Ben's Chili Bowl, a Washington, DC institution if ever there was one, has put up a site. This eatery was opened in the 50's, when U St. NW in DC was the 'Black Broadway', survived the riots (and the ensuing economic disintegration) and is going strong today, still run by the family that opened it. Next time you're in DC, go in and order a few half-smokes just like Bill Cosby does - he and his wife had their first date there - and say hello to Mrs. Ali. If you already live in DC, rejoice in the new online ordering interface and have your chili cheeseburger waiting for you when you breeze through the door.
posted by GriffX at 3:55 PM PST - 12 comments

Toiletology 101. Everything you wanted to know but were too busy to ask.
posted by Spoon at 3:47 PM PST - 8 comments

Deserts are dry? Sue. "The families of 11 immigrants who died [while] illegally crossing into Arizona from Mexico have filed a $41 million claim against two federal agencies, saying the government's refusal to put water out in the desert contributed to the migrants' deaths." Do they have a case?
posted by darukaru at 12:07 PM PST - 53 comments

Who's a .pro? The new .pro TLD will only be available to certified professionals —at first just lawyers, doctors, and accountants—with subdomain strings (“.law.pro, .med.pro and .cpa.pro with more to come”) to identify the professions. [more info at RegistryPro] Seems pretty clunky to me.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:33 AM PST - 25 comments

What We Think of America Twenty-four writers drawn from many countries describe the part America has played in their lives—for better or worse—and deliver their estimate of the good and the bad it has done as the world's supreme political, military, economic and cultural power.
posted by semmi at 12:04 AM PST - 6 comments

Ozzy Gets His Dog Back Pipi The Pomeranian, who wandered out of the Osbournes’ Beverly Hills mansion over a month ago, changed hands several times before reaching the Nettles. Woof!
posted by Iberaband at 11:08 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Forget the commercial media spin... here's a no-nonsense article on Pim Fortuyn and how the 'mainstream' media, for the sake of ratings and profits, tried its darndest to make him look like the second coming of Hitler. Heck, I notice that at least one MeFi'er is guilty of that. Article by Adam Curry.
posted by clevershark at 8:01 PM PST - 27 comments

Paul Wolfowitz, leading US Hawk, says insightful, intelligent things about Islam, expresses sympathy for Palestinian suffering at a pro-Israel rally. The crowd doesn't appreciate his point. (Transcript here.) Rumsfeld says "No more Crusaders!" Bravo, DoD-- stay on message! See a pattern?
posted by sheauga at 7:25 PM PST - 17 comments

A possible new retina-burning bar-code "flag" is being proposed for the EU. Surely they will say no, and keep their nice classic version. As one person said, "This is one of those ideas that would seem great around a boardroom table after a couple of Aussie chardonnays, but in practice it doesn't work." On the positive side the star-design would be hard to add new members, while the bar-code is so busy and ugly no one would notice.
posted by rhyax at 5:39 PM PST - 16 comments

Spider-Man artist makes amazing effort to save a child’s life. Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita Jr. is spending the next 36 hours continuously sketching Spider-Man in New York to raise money to help pay for his two-year-old niece’s battle with cancer. I’m pleased to see a comic book artist striving to be a role-model and a hero. If any MeFi members in NYC are going to check this out, I'd be interested in reading your comments.
posted by JDC8 at 4:49 PM PST - 12 comments

Celine Dion Kills iMacs! Apparently, this isn't actually a new development, but someone's come foward to confirm it's happening.
This is almost too easy. Have at it, guys.
posted by Su at 4:26 PM PST - 34 comments

Talk, Talk, Talk! Everyone has heard (or heard about) Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Don Imus, and maybe even Dr. Dean, Neal Boortz, and other big-name talk-radio hosts. Take a look at the Talkers' "100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts" list and see how many you can identify, have listened to, or admire/despise.
posted by davidmsc at 3:16 PM PST - 26 comments

The World's Ugliest Buildings
posted by yertledaturtle at 2:26 PM PST - 48 comments

And the word was whack As a former Congregationalist whose father had a stroke - dropping down on the floor after ordering me from the house for denying the Adam and Eve story Is a fundamentalist literal view of the Bible passe.
posted by onegoodmove at 2:09 PM PST - 62 comments

Feeling evil? Raise a little hell with your comrades and cohorts...report them via a faux news report for commiting a crime.
posted by pedantic at 11:55 AM PST - 8 comments

The Prom is On for a gay teen who wants to take his boyfriend to his prom at a Roman Catholic school, as ordered by the court. This dispute has been making news in Canada for a few weeks. I thought it an interesting story because it touches on sexuality, morality, law, the church and education all at once. I wasn't out when my prom came around, so I went with a friend who knew about me. We had a blast, but a more romantic date would have been nice too.
posted by holycola at 11:51 AM PST - 31 comments

the Arafat file a complete listing of the Arafat connection to terror, terror groups, and economic corruption. Materials taken by IDF. Of course if one wants to disbelieve this, one merely says to look at the source. But then here are the documents and the Arafat actions are in total keeping with these materials. Unless you can show/prove otherwise.
posted by Postroad at 10:59 AM PST - 60 comments

Hit The Secret Fun Spot for a concentrated dose of nostalgia and some reminiscing about pirates in advertising. It can be said without exaggeration that pirates are loved by everybody. The statement "all people love pirates more than they love their own families" is truthful, and without hyperbole. It boils down to a simple "if then" statement: "IF you are a living being on earth or otherwise, THEN you wholeheartedly adore pirates and all that is pirate related." So why are pirates rapidly falling out of mainstream advertising? It's enough to make your timbers shiver.
posted by euphorb at 10:40 AM PST - 25 comments

PETA Protests "Packers." The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has written a letter to the principal of Austin (Minnesota) High School, demanding that he change the school's "offensive" nickname ("Packers" is short for "Meatpackers," and the school is so named because Austin is the headquarters for Hormel Foods). PETA's suggested alternative? "Pickers," which would "promote a healthier, plant-based diet." No word yet on a response to that proposal from PETV (People for the Ethical Treatment of Vegetation).
posted by pardonyou? at 10:24 AM PST - 43 comments

Visual Thinking: Sketchbooks from the Archives of American Art: Hundreds of sketchbooks in the Archives of American Art form a vast repository of ideas, perceptions, inspirational imagery, and graphic experiments. As personal records they afford an intimate glimpse of an artist's visual thinking and reveal aspects of their creative process.
posted by ColdChef at 10:17 AM PST - 14 comments

MillerTime.com is a site run by the Miller family of San Carlos, CA since 1995. The site serves as a place for projects and code built and maintained by the family. They run their own non-profit group to help schools use technology, but their domain name, which they aren't interesting in selling has run afoul of Phillip J. Morris aka Miller Brewing Company, and is being shut down. They've filed suit against being labelled cybersquatters, but the domain is getting taken offline as we speak.
posted by mathowie at 10:06 AM PST - 29 comments

Lane Splitting 101. Do you ride? Do you commute on your bike? Are you insane enough to split lanes? Or... Do you drive? Do lane-splitting bikes piss you off? Do they give you heart attacks?
posted by badstone at 10:04 AM PST - 51 comments

All Small: "A mini-comic that maintains it is all small stuff." I'm enjoying his High Horse series of humorous rants. Waste my Friday away!
posted by o2b at 8:48 AM PST - 12 comments

An interview with Joel Meyerowitz, the photographer granted permission to document the recovery, reclamation, demolition, and excavation work underway at the World Trade Center site. "I try to take pictures that make sense photographically, that make sense visually as art. I don't shoot evidence exclusively. I don't copy. But visual evidence is important to record. The stuff in the background is historically important and it feeds you some of the feel of the place."
posted by junkbox at 8:39 AM PST - 5 comments

'Three dead' in train crash The day after our beloved Transport Secretary Stephen Byers apparently 'saved his job', the British rail system experiences another fatal accident. That's around 70 people killed on British railways in the last three years according to this chronology.
posted by jonpollard at 6:57 AM PST - 13 comments

Poemranker, the hotornot of poetry.
posted by swift at 6:51 AM PST - 10 comments

I thought I'd heard every crazy idea in the world. And now I have.
posted by Spoon at 6:36 AM PST - 47 comments

Cyril Connolly , who once quipped, with himself in mind, Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising, wrote The Unquiet Grave, of which Ernest Hemingway wrote, A book which, no matter how many readers it will ever have, will never have enough. For one, I am curious what smilar books you would add to Hemingway’s nascent list, and for another, what you may have regarding Connolly. (More within)
posted by y2karl at 4:51 AM PST - 29 comments

For All Your Art Needs: My search for a more contemporary and inclusive supplement to Artcyclopedia has ended. Artnet is it. It's an amazing resource and its list of artists, is the longest and most generously illustrated I've ever seen on the Web. Heaven...![On preview, I see it's been linked twice before, by RJ Reynolds - of course! - but it definitely deserves a post all to itself.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:29 AM PST - 7 comments

kittens plus funky latino mix - just leave the music running, im off for a coconut with a straw and an umbrella in it. Love fridays! via haddock.org
posted by monkeyJuice at 2:18 AM PST - 10 comments

The Story of "Nadine" -- A Tale of Mailing Lists This is an account of what happened after an Internet user accidentally gave a wrong email address when she visited a web page and signed up for a sweepstakes. It is a story about how Internet email lists can go horribly wrong. ( Via USS Clueless )
posted by Zool at 12:45 AM PST - 7 comments

Live near one of these 10 nuclear power plants? They either have cracks in their control rod nozzles or are particularly "vulnerable" to cracking. An inspection at Ohio's Davis-Besse plant led to the completely unexpected discovery of "the most extensive corrosion ever found on top of an American nuclear plant reactor". Radioactive boric acid leaked out of the cracks and came within a half-inch of burning a hole through the steel containment dome. NRC officials say this kind of corrosion "was never considered a credible type of concern," but nuclear safety groups have been warning for years that NRC inaction on this issue was endangering the public. (more links inside)
posted by mediareport at 11:51 PM PST - 7 comments

time to park the SUV and ride your bike to work? or turn off the computer for the for the weekend?
posted by specialk420 at 10:01 PM PST - 17 comments

"The title of my talk tonight is How to Conquer Stupidity, which is actually a pretty stupid thing to attempt. For me, anyway. One, it's not possible. Two, maybe it's not even desirable. That's probably the premise of all of my work, that I embrace my stupidity wholeheartedly and celebrate it, as often as I can." And you can too, here.
posted by semmi at 8:48 PM PST - 6 comments

The Mailbox Bomber's band sucks , according to Pitchfork Media, one of the most intellectual and pretentious music review sites on the web. "Can you feel the pain?" Helder implores on "Back and Black," a passable stab at Incesticide-era Nirvana, albeit with horrendous lyrics and a gratuitous punk-rock stomp at the coda. "Stop the game!" Helder winces, as though squeezing out a fat one, and we really can feel the pain. Related issue: the band's webpage (also discussed here) has been taken by Angelfire down for "violation of terms of service." Still, Google's cache of the page reveals nothing objectionable. Is Angelfire right to take down the webpage of a nationally known criminal (the first time I can think of that the issue has arisen)? Or do their Terms of Service really have a "no domestic terrorism" clause?
posted by tweebiscuit at 5:37 PM PST - 27 comments

Renew! Renew! Just like people entering the carousel in Logan's Run, people who renew their domains with Verisign/Network Solutions aren't getting what they think they're getting. While the gentleman from scientium.com claims Verisign's domain renewal policy is out-and-out fraud, it seems to me that it's merely business-as-usual in Verisign's increasing predilection to screw their customers by preying on their ignorance. Is there no end to Verisign's deceptive practices? Is trust the foundation of every human relationship in this day and age?
posted by WolfDaddy at 5:06 PM PST - 27 comments

High Standards, High Expectations For the Select Few ""We have three or four kids that need to be under control when they do something wrong," Ruben said. "The pressure isn't coming from the coaches. It's self-induced. That should be gone by now. When they are 7 or 8, you can chalk it up and say they are only 7 or 8. 'They are 10' doesn't wash anymore."" Somehow, some of us used to have fun playing baseball.
posted by owillis at 4:42 PM PST - 4 comments

For all you rubberneckers. Now that there is a site for it do you think you can resist the urge to slow down and take a peek at every car wreck you pass?
posted by srboisvert at 3:34 PM PST - 18 comments

Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott, who won a bronze medal in the 5-km pursuit at the 2002 Winter Olympics, may have that bronze medal upgraded to silver. The current silver medallist, Larissa Lazutina, who later tested positive for darbopoetin after the 30-km classic and was stripped of her gold medal in that event, also tested positive for darbopoetin in a test administered in December 2001, which would nullify all of Lazutina's results since then.
posted by mcwetboy at 2:38 PM PST - 6 comments

Is this taking so-called morality too far? The Kyoto agreement's one thing ... but this? More here
posted by johnny7 at 1:52 PM PST - 61 comments

Guerrilla signage. What happens when an artist gets sick of being stuck in the wrong freeway lane. (With video.)
posted by crabwalk at 1:46 PM PST - 58 comments

The Butterfly Grid. A gaming platform using open-source software to connect far-flung computers and millions of players, bypassing the Internet. (More from Reuters.)
posted by liam at 1:34 PM PST - 5 comments

Web of Distraction. Does the web cause you to lose time, having a hard time stopping browsing, and starting working? I know for me, the sheer inertia of browsing, it's hard to start working.
posted by patrickje at 12:41 PM PST - 12 comments

Saddam's oil scam ....and other tidbits of interest about Iraq versus US. oops. I almost said "and the world," but the world seems indifferent or annoyed at the American threat to Iraq.
posted by Postroad at 9:53 AM PST - 24 comments

Chelsea Clinton = The New J.F.K. Jr. ?? in Vanity Fair, courtesy Page Six of the NY Post. You are no JFK. [NB LLoyd Bentsen where are you when we need you.]
posted by Voyageman at 9:32 AM PST - 37 comments

'"Would you state your name for the record?'' the man whose visage has now graced the cover of every national newsweekly was asked at the start of yesterday's session. 'Yes,'' the cardinal said. ''My name is Bernard Francis Law.'' Wonderfully written analysis on yesterday's deposition from my favorite paper.
posted by luser at 9:24 AM PST - 5 comments

Those free weekly alternative-press newspapers in your city? They suck. On the anniversary of Baltimore's City Paper, a writer celebrates by calling for change. Not just at Baltimore's paper, but at all alt-weeklies. That means you, Austin Chronicle, and Riverfront Times, and...
posted by conquistador at 9:23 AM PST - 30 comments

Bumfights.com . There's been alot of talk about this site in the news the last couple of days. To me, it makes me a little sick to my stomach seeing some of this stuff, could this really be legal? It seems almost like kidnapping to me.
posted by jonah at 8:29 AM PST - 65 comments

"Enough with the petting, I'm trying to lick myself here."
Introducing the Bowlingual, the doggie emotion translator. As if dogs are coy and hard to figure out. It just became Friday in Japan.
posted by planetkyoto at 8:20 AM PST - 6 comments

Gentlemen, start your lawyers! The Segway claims its first victim in Atlanta.
posted by Dirjy at 7:33 AM PST - 32 comments

Media Silent on Pipe Bomber's Leftism So newsmax says The same media establishment that is quick to label right-wing extremists refuses to call admitted pipe bomber Luke John Helder a left-wing extremist.
I did a little (very little) digging, and they might have something there, more below.
posted by Blake at 7:07 AM PST - 52 comments

Remember how some of us joked that the mailbox bomber was placing his bombs in a smiley face pattern? Well, we were right.
posted by Reggie452 at 7:03 AM PST - 9 comments

Rich Man's Castle - A Guardian piece which suggests the introduction of land-zoning to ensure that all the prime pieces of land aren't snapped up for luxury, new build homes and are instead designated for affordable housing. With UK house prices on an ever-upward trajectory, it's unlikely that developers would embrace such a move. At least, not when there are masterpieces to construct.
posted by jonathanbell at 7:00 AM PST - 5 comments

Controversial new bill to lay out reproductive technology guidelines. Canadian version of this battle doesn't seem to feature as many religious wackos. It's just not as fun without them.
posted by Leonard at 6:37 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Conspiracy ...Theory. A string of scientists working on similar projects all over the world are found dead. (via cursor)
posted by bittennails at 5:46 AM PST - 19 comments

the grave of the unknown rapist. does the brutality of war result in man sinking to the depths of depravity
posted by johnnyboy at 5:07 AM PST - 25 comments

Pepsi to release blue soda. Now we know what they've used in those diaper and maxipad commercials all these years.
posted by plinth at 4:22 AM PST - 64 comments

England squad Goalkeepers: David Seaman, David James, Nigel Martyn, Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Gareth Southgate, Wes Brown, Danny Mills, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Martin Keown, Midfielders: David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Kieron Dyer, Nicky Butt, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Strikers: Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler, Darius Vassell Well?
posted by Cobbler at 3:53 AM PST - 41 comments

Since 1996, The Osprey Project has been re-introducing the osprey into the United Kingdom, and since 1999 has been tracking its migrations, which stretch as far south as Senegal, and can include marathon stretches of open-ocean flight.

Oh, and sometimes they even make it Back.
posted by apostasy at 3:31 AM PST - 1 comment

A fascinating Salon (Premium, alas) article asks why we haven't heard more about the purported Israeli art student spy ring. Depending on who you ask, there's either nothing *to* ask, or there's a cover-up of positively Oliver Stone-ian proportions underway. Riveting reading, whichever explanation you subscribe to.
posted by artifex at 10:56 PM PST - 19 comments

"NASCAR has sold its soul to the devil," says 45-year-old veteran driver Ricky Rudd, who's thinking about retirement. Maybe he's just pissed about losing to younger competitors. Or maybe he has a point when he says, "They are massaging this thing to target a certain crowd and before you know it, they'll have us up there flexing and in bathing suits like we're professional wrestlers." NASCAR's definitely been trying to broaden its appeal in other ways. And when is the increasingly popular racing world going to start requiring soft wall technology at all of its tracks, anyway? Last Sunday's wreck during Indy 500 practice seems to have convinced one driver, at least, that soft walls work.
posted by mediareport at 10:25 PM PST - 19 comments

Readerville is a community of readers. The site is supported, probably not very extravagantly, by book sales. It describes itself as "The social life of the mind".
posted by theora55 at 7:46 PM PST - 3 comments

Backstabbing your coworkers via email -- In a British survey almost 40% said they used email to further their own careers at the expense of colleagues.
posted by palegirl at 7:41 PM PST - 9 comments

Backsliding - What does it mean and where does it begin? The one common cause of backsliding is sin allowed in one's life. The remedy is repentance and return to God. God offers hope of restoration for the backslider. Who's been backsliding recently?
posted by jeremias at 7:25 PM PST - 19 comments

Backlinking approaches critical mass. Append the referreral history to the page served and illuminate another dimension of linkspace. Via flutterby
posted by NortonDC at 7:08 PM PST - 4 comments

Remember all the furor in '70's and '80's over Backmasking , which for the uninitiated is inserting backwards messages(usually Satanic) into records to seduce the innocent.Usually the allegations came from folks like this. Judas Preist even found themselves dragged into court over it. Thankfully, the audio at this site you can judge for yourself. More links here. I don't buy it myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go kill my parents.
posted by jonmc at 7:03 PM PST - 12 comments

silicon art
"Looking inside, Chipworks has found creative expressions on many of the chips that we have examined. Our combined facilities house six optical microscopes that provide us with the magnification required to discover the hidden art on some chips. Magnification can vary anywhere from 200 to 500 times the actual size. We think that these masterpieces deserve a wider audience. Have a look at what we've found!"
posted by quonsar at 6:10 PM PST - 2 comments

Las Vegas obstetricians are turning away newly pregnant women, including existing patients who become pregnant, because they say they cannot afford to deliver more babies ... If newly pregnant women cannot find care in Las Vegas, their choices include moving elsewhere, traveling out of state for care or going without prenatal care and delivering in area emergency rooms or a casino?
posted by lola at 5:18 PM PST - 11 comments

Pocky for Men? Mmmm, Pocky, I love you. But a flavor for men only? I don't like bitter chocolate! This is my favorite flavor. It reminds me of Crunch Berries. Mmmm...Crunch Berries. Just because I like a hot pink candy stick doesn't make me any less of a man, does it? Perhaps this is some sort of snack food cultural barrier that needs to be addressed. I admit, I don't get the green tea 'mousse' style Pocky, but to each his own, eh? Let's hear it for Pocky!
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:46 PM PST - 18 comments

DVD Menu Design: The Failures of Web Design Recreated Yet Again. We've all been thinking it.
Very Nielsen-esque, for obvious reasons, but without a lot of what we hate Nielsen himself for.
posted by Su at 4:28 PM PST - 18 comments

StarWars.com redesigns. And Natalie Portman has... nice abs. In your face, Princess Leia!
posted by robbie01 at 4:16 PM PST - 43 comments

Last week, Iambic registered the domain names Datebk5.com and Datebook5.com. However, Iambic does not make a product called Datebk. Pimlico Software, Iambic's closest competitor, does. (more inside)
posted by dobbs at 4:04 PM PST - 10 comments

Helder admits to mailbox bombings: "Helder admitted manufacturing eight pipe bombs in his apartment in Wisconsin," according to the affidavit. "Helder further admitted to assembling an additional 16 pipe bombs at a motel in Nebraska." I hope he gets thrown into a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.
posted by Kevin Sanders at 2:18 PM PST - 43 comments

Why is there no cent sign on computers? I've always wondered why we had a dollar sign, but no sent sign. Now I know.
posted by fnirt at 2:12 PM PST - 54 comments

I Am a Racially Profiling Doctor "In practicing medicine, I am not colorblind. I always take note of my patient's race. So do many of my colleagues. We do it because certain diseases and treatment responses cluster by ethnicity." (NYTimes link)
posted by Irontom at 11:10 AM PST - 30 comments

Pro-life protester wins settlement. Background: As Ann Norton, 57, and friend Diane Roberts picketed an abortion clinic, a passerby who disapproved of Norton's sign tore it from its backing, leading Roberts to telephone police. One officer was dispatched to the clinic to file a report, but several days later, the center said, Norton and Roberts were informed by police they were being charged with a violation of state law for displaying the graphic sign. Michigan statutes prohibit the public display of pictures of murder.
posted by aaronshaf at 11:06 AM PST - 21 comments

Small free speech zones on public college campuses seem incongruous. A more-carrot, less-stick solution might be a free speech zone that was indoors, with seating, like part of this was. Maybe then, fewer people would want to demonstrate elsewhere. This would probably ony work if people regularly came to listen and debate.
posted by engelr at 10:27 AM PST - 9 comments

16thandmission: Urban Data Stories is "an investigation into the interplay of data, interactivity and narrative in an urban environment. It takes as its focus the corner of 16th and Mission Streets in San Francisco.... Depending on the state of the bus system at any given moment, the narratives interrelate to a variety of degrees with the map framework." [For you non-san-franciscans, 16th and Mission is a well-known intersection - lively, multicultural, gritty]
posted by vacapinta at 10:19 AM PST - 9 comments

When kid porn isn't kid porn. By thinly skirting the line between legal and illegal, purveyors of child pornography have become harder to nail down.
posted by susanlucci at 10:13 AM PST - 14 comments

Are you an identiopath? Do you know anyone who is? Deadpan satire from Hermenaut.
posted by darukaru at 10:02 AM PST - 5 comments

Expos declare independence from MLB.
"The grim, bleached-blonde visage of Richie Sexson will serve as a warning to all opponents who attempt to subvert the revolution or phone the bullpen," said Expos second baseman/People’s Minister of Security Jose Vidro.
Few humor sites on the web are truly funny, but The Spitter has a high batting average.
posted by Holden at 9:25 AM PST - 3 comments

ANDDOVUS Nations Authorize ÒRegime ChangeÓ for USA
BUENOS AIRES -- The Association of Nations Destroyed, Destabilized or Otherwise Violated by Uncle Sam, or ANDDOVUS, has authorized the ouster of the current U.S. administration by no later than March 2003. Foreign ministers of the 123 nations that make up ANDDOVUS met earlier this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they agreed to appropriate $42.8 billion for what they termed Òregime change in the United States.Ó
posted by mapalm at 9:24 AM PST - 11 comments

ixi software is a network of experimentalists in the field of computer music and computer music software. Don't miss their cool downloads.
posted by signal at 9:13 AM PST - 6 comments

Have you heard of the Feminine Empire of Aristasia? It seems to be "an alternative reality that is really lived by girls today." Whether this is fact or elaborate fiction, there is a crowd of websites out there devoted to this subject. There is a glossary, a pinup area of ideal Aristasians, even types of people. Is this Lesbian role playing? Is it real? You be the judge: Google it.
posted by ashbury at 6:14 AM PST - 29 comments

Jazzercise Eats Its Words after being accused of weight bias. MeFites may recall the heated discussion this story originally garnered (and the associated firestorm in Metatalk) when Jazzercise refused to hire an instructor that did not meet their "fit appearance" criteria. They have since changed their policy "based upon the information and research that perhaps it's possible for people of varying weights to be fit." The barred instructor has gone on to start her own successful aerobics franchise based on her "fitness-at-any-size" philosophy.
posted by johnnyace at 5:48 AM PST - 46 comments

Those Malignant Musical Tumours Lodging, Growing In Your Brain! I came across this bulletin board while seeking to update two of my favourite 2001 posts: the May 10 and the October 10 threads about earworms - those annoying, infectious songs that get stuck in your brain and slowly destroy it. Here's a working link to the relevant article, since the one on this last post is broken. [My AAARGH! list inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:02 AM PST - 89 comments

Koleen Brooks, in getting elected mayor of Georgetown, CO, was hardly the first to successfully transition from the stage to politics. But what makes her story unlike the high-profile successes of Ronald Reagan (and perhaps more akin to the that of Gov. Ventura both in notoriety and for their "independent" political affiliation) is that her stage had a metal pole and lots of nudity (NSFW). In a recent interview, Koleen Brooks discusses her political forays cut short for now by a recall election last month.

There is certainly nothing new about controversial celebrity characters being elected to office, especially local office, and as the mayor of Inglis, FL has demonstrated with her anti-Satan proclamation, it is easy to obtain national notoriety while remaining well within the bounds of "traditional conservative values". Nevertheless, might Brooks's successful candidacy be the beginning of a more significant trend within American politics as the sons and daughters of the Sexual Revolution bring their sexual dilettantism into the dominant elderly voting bloc?
posted by tiny pea at 12:58 AM PST - 9 comments

In a major policy reversal, the Justice Department has officially endorsed an individual right to bear arms. In doing so, the Justice Department has abandoned its long-held position that the second amendment is limited in scope to protecting militia activities. Does this mean the Justice Department will stop enforcing federal laws that it sees as violating the 2nd amendemnt? Should it? If there is a individual right to bear arms, how far should it extend?
posted by boltman at 12:29 AM PST - 65 comments

Just a defacto "Nope". "Refugees" from the US seeking asylum in Canada will no longer have any hoops to jump through. The hoops are to be replaced by impenatrable legal barriers, otherwise known as "inking the deal".
posted by crasspastor at 10:02 PM PST - 5 comments

Big organization carelessly ships dangerous free gifts to new customers. Those greedy, uncaring, heartless, soulless corporations, at it again. Oh wait... this time it was Consumer Reports that did it.
posted by pmurray63 at 9:23 PM PST - 3 comments

The Red Scare of 1919-1920 in Political Cartoons. Git! You long-haired Bolshevist.
posted by obedo at 8:10 PM PST - 6 comments

welcome to "fat b' midget tossing"
your target is to reach 100 points whilst hurting as few little people as possible... or whatever

more shockwave insanity. * link found at analog cereal
posted by bwg at 7:40 PM PST - 5 comments

A report released at a conference this week suggests a parent should be very worried because high school students with body piercings tend also to have smoked, used alcohol, had sex, skipped school and gotten into fights.

The author of the report proudly annonced that later this week he would be releasing several new reports such as "Black Males - More likely to commit crime" and other assinine topics.
posted by christian at 5:24 PM PST - 38 comments

Pipe-bomb suspect sent campus paper a suicidal manifesto The Badger Herald received a letter from pipe bomb suspect Luke John Helder postmarked Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, May 3, 2002. In the letter, signed by Helder, he said he is willing to die for his cause and threatened the lives of others. "I will die/change in the end for this, but that's ok, hahaha paradise awaits!" the letter said. "I'm dismissing a few individuals from reality, to change all of you for the better, surely you can understand my logic."
posted by sacre_bleu at 5:15 PM PST - 27 comments

Rush Limbaugh whines about Ozzy Osbourne Rush calls Ozzy a brain-fried, maggot-infested, dope-smoking, long-haired, purple-finger nailed, multi-colored hair, FM type. Hey, that maggot comment isn't true.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 4:31 PM PST - 25 comments

No plans, no graduation. An LA County school district is forcing students to reveal their post-high school plans to participate in their high school graduation. If they refuse to provide evidence of further education or training (college, military, internship, etc.), they will not be allowed to participate. If I was a student, I'd sue. What do you think?
posted by MikeB at 2:59 PM PST - 42 comments

THE CITY DOES NOT EMPLOY INDIVIDUALS WHO NOW USE OR HAVE USED TOBACCO PRODUCTS WITHIN THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS. - Is this legal? I myself do not smoke, but it seems dangerous that governments or corporations may be able to refuse to hire you based on something you may legally do on your free time. Is this common? More importantly, is this the start of a very slippery slope?
posted by eas98 at 2:46 PM PST - 107 comments

Made spider sense tingle. Four word film reviews that are sometimes better than the movie.
posted by pedantic at 2:37 PM PST - 19 comments

Army Radio reported that at least one person was killed and 30 injured in an explosion in Rishon Letzion, either at a banquetting hall or a disco, on Sakharov Street in the town's new industrial zone. Initial reports stated that the explosion occurred at around 11:00 P.M., and emergency service were on the way to the scene moments later. Peace? Yeah right...
posted by martz at 1:49 PM PST - 44 comments

Must people who work in book shops have an English Literature degree? "At Foyles, the book-lover's bookshop, I approach the counter with a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses. "I bought this book the other day," I say, "and I want my money back. It's full of typing errors and there's no punctuation." But who dumbed down first, the readership or the book trade? Also, I notice Books etc isn't included, perhaps because the clerks in that chain have to write little reviews of all the books they read, which are then put on the edges of the shelves ...
posted by feelinglistless at 1:39 PM PST - 37 comments

headshaver.org Everything you want to know about shaving your head.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:39 PM PST - 27 comments

The Magnifier. What a great way to present visual detail and overview at the same time. Why can't Mapquest do this?
posted by luser at 11:42 AM PST - 16 comments

And you thought the middle east was bad... Here in our own country theres three relatively unknown warring factions using incest, group sex, mutilation and serial killings as guerilla tactics. When will Washington step in and draw the line? When will the madness stop?
posted by atom128 at 11:14 AM PST - 11 comments

Pim Fortuyn Murder Suspect is Environmental Activist The suspect mainly concerned himself with the fight against bio-industry and fur farms. Mr Fortuyn just recently said he would lift the scheduled ban on raising animals for furs.
posted by nobody_knose at 9:59 AM PST - 33 comments

Fun with Google: The FBI released the name of the suspected midwest pipe bomber today: Luke Helder, Rochester, Minnesota. The Internet tells us Luke has a rock and roll band too. The band's CD is titled, interestingly enough, "Sacks of People."
posted by werty at 9:38 AM PST - 51 comments

Louisiana State University is suing one of their own law students. The schools is suing over Douglas Dorhauer's (a second year law students) use of the domain lsulaw.com (cease and desist letter and formal law suit ) . The school is claiming violation of federal and state laws that protect their intellectual property, among other things. They are especially displeased with the unauthorized use of "LSU" (which is owned by the university) in the domain. The school feels that people could become confused over who actually runs the site (despite a disclaimer and the fact that it is a .com and not. edu) and the site could lead to misinformation for students. They seem to have a very shaky case, and he seems to have a fairly strong defense . Legal experts are siding with the student: They do seem to be focusing their complaint incorrectly on commercial uses. He's not offering any services whatsoever." (Marjorie R. Esman, the chairwoman of the New Orleans Bar Association's intellectual property committee.) Won't it be fairly embarrassing for the school if they loose this case. (nytimes article via nextdraft)
posted by m@L at 9:25 AM PST - 8 comments

Israelis folil bombing attempt at the region's tallest building Lest you think the area swiftly moving toward a peaceful resolution, it seems that there is to be no letup.
posted by Postroad at 9:05 AM PST - 18 comments

Enron cheated California - The Los Angeles Times is reporting the discovery of a memo detailing how Enron manipulated prices by fraud during the power crisis while blaming the problem on powerplants.

One of their strategies was actually called 'Death Star'. Look like the Enron Empire has suffered the same fate as the Palpatine's Empire.

LA Times login: cpunks password: cpunks
posted by Argyle at 8:16 AM PST - 18 comments

I think he liked the new Spider Man movie. Not only includes many arguments for why the movie is great, but goes so far as to say that Art is "culturally irrelevant," has been replaced by movies as the most successful reflection of our times, and that this movie will stand not merely as the best film of 2002, but might well be studied in the future as the creative work most symbolic of America in these troubled modern times. Wow. Now THAT's a good flick!
posted by conquistador at 8:01 AM PST - 42 comments

Congress Woman requests Flash game removal on NewGrounds.com. The game is not being removed for its violent content, or depection of blood and gore. Instead it is the subject matter of the game that has raised the spectre of censorship.
The game in question, Kaboom!, is about suicide bombers, the object being to blow up as many people as possible.
Do you think that a game about a Palestinian captured by the Israeli army to act as a human shield would warrant the same type fo request?
posted by DragonBoy at 7:43 AM PST - 33 comments

Take the tabasco challenge. Warning: Contains scenes of sickness and mucus.
posted by Spoon at 2:16 AM PST - 6 comments

The mind-body divide in medicine, whether having medicine embrace the understanding of the psychological aspects of symptoms of pain, for example, is simply a matter of working toward medicalizing psychology. How much is the brain and psychology taken into account in the medical profession?
posted by semmi at 10:56 PM PST - 8 comments

I saw all five of the visible planets in our solar system tonight! And so can you, if you have clear skies and go outside between 8:45 and 9 p.m. your time this week. Disclaimer - my naked eyes weren't good enough to see Mercury but I could see it with binoculars.
posted by Lynsey at 9:12 PM PST - 4 comments

Christians for Cannabis. It's a religious high...
posted by Rastafari at 7:27 PM PST - 21 comments

Wal-Mart sells Windows-less PC's Did you know this? I didn't know this. Guess I'm gonna have to make Wal-Mart my one stop shop for guns AND computers. I guess I have to stop making fun of people who shop there. Definitely will have to lay off the redneck jokes. Is there such a thing as a redneck geek? Oh, wait, never mind.
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:00 PM PST - 17 comments

Mailbox bomb found in Colorado: " 'Initial description of the device indicates that its construction is consistent with those found recently in Nebraska and Iowa,' said a press release from the Denver Federal Bureau of Investigation." The boxbomber (that's what I named this person) is most likely heading out west... could the next one strike in California? Where do you think the boxbomber will strike next?
posted by Kevin Sanders at 6:07 PM PST - 32 comments

Beyond the Axis of Evil - The United States has added Cuba, Libya and Syria to its "axis of evil" - nations it claims are deliberately seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons. The Under Secretary of State also warned that the US would take action.
posted by Stuart_R at 5:52 PM PST - 53 comments

Can gay sex succeed where Colin Powell failed? Great story about Jerusalem's first gay pride parade, planned for June 7. Orthodox deputy mayor Shmuel Shkedi is incensed: "The very existence of these people is a provocation, their existence is uncivilized...This thing must be condemned." Meanwhile, the organization behind the march, Jerusalem Open House, continues to host meetings of Israeli and Palestinian gays and lesbians on the same street where suicide bombers killed 11 and injured 188 last Dec. And here's a report of Arik Sharon telling g/l leaders, "I think everybody should live their lives as they choose to" at a Feb. 26 meeting -- the first-ever between an Israeli Prime Minister and representatives of the lesbian/gay/bi/transgender community. Commence group hugging now. (more links inside)
posted by mediareport at 5:24 PM PST - 25 comments

The New Porn? The trend toward music subculture-specific porn sites that began with the launch of raverporn.net more than two years ago has continued with sites like suicidegirls.com (featuring goth, punk, and raver girls) and supercult.com (featuring mod and indie rock chicks). SuicideGirls has been discussed extensively on MetaTalk. What do you think about these sites? Are they porn or erotica? Are the young (mostly male) entrepreneurs who have started these sites making porn less degrading (and/or more appealing) to women OR are they just a new generation of Hugh Hefners?
posted by popvulture at 4:29 PM PST - 44 comments

Operation Snipe: To rescue 76 US hostages? "Joined by the US and Canadian troops, more than 2000 British-led Special Commando forces under "Operation Snipe" are gearing up efforts to launch a major attack to rescue around 76 soldiers who were arrested by the Taliban and Al Qaida forces during the battle in the snow covered Arma Peaks of Paktia Province in March this year, highly credible sources have confided to PNS."
posted by crasspastor at 4:21 PM PST - 5 comments

Tales of the Tyrant is one of the best magazine articles I have read all year. A long, fascinating portrait of Saddam Hussein by the author of Black Hawk Down that has so many interesting/weird/awful details that it's too hard to excerpt just one.
posted by cell divide at 3:05 PM PST - 6 comments

Delete, Baby, Delete. I really enjoyed this short article from this month's Atlantic Monthly about the misunderstandings of document/records destruction. Some of the events discussed are the Iranian reconstuction of documents shredded at the U.S. emabassy and printed under the title Documents From the U.S. Espionage Den, the destruction of the Library at Alexandria and of course the Enron/Andersen document destruction.

It got me to thinking about cached web pages and the fact that you have to make sure Google doesn't cache your page if you don't want a permanent record there. It seems like no matter what you do on the web, odds are it's saved somewhere, wether it's google, the wayback machine or any other projects that I don't know about. If you wanted to entirely erase something you did last year on the web, what would you do?
posted by jonah at 2:50 PM PST - 20 comments

For the MonkeyLovers out there: A Natural History of the @ Sign (If you're Dutch, you may refer to this symbol as "apeklootje" or "little monkey's testicle")
posted by ColdChef at 1:56 PM PST - 11 comments

This is your brain on Ecstasy(or An MDMA Neurochemistry Slideshow) Ecstasy and all its Glory. DanceSafe also has pill testing, Drug info , and a huge MessageBoard.
posted by Niahmas at 1:50 PM PST - 7 comments

Star Trek's George Takei scoops LA Times by two months. Los Angeles is so big that The Valley wants to secede as does Hollywood. Takei, who grew up in LA, pointed out in his web site months ago that if Hollywood split away, the world famous sign, which isn't technically in Hollywood would be on LA real estate. Not until today, LAEXAMINER.com reported, did the LA Times seem to think this newsworthy.
posted by tsarfan at 11:47 AM PST - 6 comments

The number of kakapos in the world has risen by a third recently thanks to a 'bumper brood of chicks'. The kakapo, the worlds rarest parrot, was made famous by Douglas Adams' book Last Chance to See and is probably best known for its extravagent mating system. It is nice to see an endangered species doing better, especially one as cute and odd as this one is.
posted by homunculus at 11:06 AM PST - 13 comments

Judge declares terrorism detainments unconstitutional (NYTimes link) - A federal judge in NY has ruled that the Justice Department abused the material witness statute when it imprisoned a Jordanian college student living in San Diego. The Justice Dept is, of course, appealing the ruling.
posted by Irontom at 10:44 AM PST - 8 comments

One of science fiction's favorite dark futures is pretty well along now. Until he quit to be Vice President in 2000, Dick Cheney ran a company called Halliburton. A Halliburton subsidiary, Kellog Brown and Root, is a private corporation that performs missions for the US military. Their employess are out there, performing missions in places like the Balkans, wearing US Army uniforms and carrying US Army issued guns.
posted by badstone at 10:13 AM PST - 28 comments

A political assassination on the controversial right winger Pim Fortuijn is reported in The Netherlands. Reports differ about the question if he has survived.
posted by tsja at 9:34 AM PST - 31 comments

Bridget Cross, former member of Velocity Girl and Unrest has been arrested with her S. African boyfriend (geocities link, probably go down) under some very sketchy cirumstances in. The case allegedly involved locals at a bar in Alaska harassing Bridget and her boyfriend due to his being black, a fight ensued, they fled, and were pulled over and arrested by cops. He is charged with intent to kill, and she has been charged with fleeing a crime scene and DWI. He is also being denied access to the South African consolute. [more inside]
posted by malphigian at 9:23 AM PST - 13 comments

This has to be the funniest article I've seen in a long time. Those wacky Palestinians.
posted by the_0ne at 9:11 AM PST - 21 comments

Aung San Suu Kyi released. "My release should not be looked at as a major breakthrough for democracy. For all people in Burma to enjoy basic freedom - that would be the major breakthrough," she said. I know, but it's a start.
posted by feelinglistless at 7:33 AM PST - 3 comments

Hilarious prank phone call found at Davezilla. Not only is the caller a prankster par excellence, but the callee obviously enjoys the shenanigan as much as you will. Headphones recommended if the boss is within earshot. 392K MP3.
posted by johnnyace at 3:57 AM PST - 7 comments

Have you ever dreamed of running away with the circus? Did anyone ever call you a freak? Well, now’s your chance to become one! Coney Island USA is proud to announce its latest program- SIDESHOW SCHOOL! Tuition: $600.
posted by gummi at 1:59 AM PST - 11 comments

Enron Pipeline Leaves Scar on South America More goodness perpetrated by our favorite guys (and girls) from houston.
posted by specialk420 at 10:40 PM PST - 1 comment

An interesting find from Plastic. Are men becoming overly feminine? Or is this "nice guy" stage cyclical?
posted by BlueTrain at 10:27 PM PST - 40 comments

"Do It is a manual of artist's instructions for you to actualize. It includes works by over 60 contemporary artists ... Once you have actualized an instruction, please send us a picture and your name, we will include it in the manual" I dont know about you, but I'm going to go get some boards and a bunch of bugs to squash right now - for Baldessari, of course. [via caterina]
posted by vacapinta at 10:03 PM PST - 2 comments

That was then ,this is now.
posted by srboisvert at 8:23 PM PST - 31 comments

Retro-Garage, Proto-Punk, Rock-Boogie, Glam-Rock, Alternative Hip-Hop ? From the NY Times [reg req] review of the third annual Coachella Art and Music Festival in Indio, California "...with music slightly further out on the cutting edge than predecessors like Lollapalooza and the Woodstocks of the 90's." Is so much "new" stuff really going on, or is this just reviewer's fever?
posted by Voyageman at 8:05 PM PST - 10 comments

Potatoland takes code and images from any site and turns it into web art, if it doesn't crash your browser instead. Start with the NetFlag link and work your way down. If you only have time to check out one distraction, pick RIOT; it's an alternative web browser that builds its page and makes art by combining text, images and links from the recent pages that any RIOT user has surfed to. You can check out what's been surfed and combined recently, and add your own sites to the mix. Right this minute the combo is Wired, Fray, and ABC.
posted by iconomy at 7:03 PM PST - 11 comments

Nike Can't Just Say It, Court Rules Law: Firms can be found liable for deceptive public statements, justices decide. Critics call the decision a blow to free speech. You've got to love it.
posted by onegoodmove at 5:16 PM PST - 13 comments

There is no far-right Vichyite renaissance in France, no Pieds Noirs uprising, nor, really, is there any antiSemitic rampage (Le Pen is spasmodically anti-Semitic but systematically anti-immigrant; i.e., anti-Arab.), but it's a safe bet that Jean-Marie Le Pen can never peacefully become President of the French Republic. It used to be said that for evil to triumph it was necessary only for good men to do nothing; in France, historically, for evil to enter it is necessary for good men to tell other good men that nothing is the best thing a good man can do. As the French are now being reminded, it is better to muddle through with your pants around your ankles than to die lucidly with your nose in the air. How relevent these words and events are here in the US?
posted by semmi at 1:29 PM PST - 32 comments

MIM's Maoist Movie reviews - a new outlook on your most beloved films?
posted by bregdan at 10:47 AM PST - 5 comments

At large in the blogosphere And yet another analysis of the world of blogging. Does this one, by a decent literary and cultural critic, present blogs and blogging in a better light than many earlier ones? note: NY Times free reg reqd.
posted by Postroad at 10:31 AM PST - 42 comments

Cambodian police urge Glitter to leave. Not even Cambodia wants anything to do with Gary.
posted by Leonard at 9:59 AM PST - 10 comments

If The Cinco De Mayo Means Anything Nowadays It's...Tequila, Tequila, Tequila! But you can't really appreciate real, natural 100% blue agave tequila until you realize what a rare and complex liquor it is. Thank you for for spelling it out, Ian Chadwick![More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:06 AM PST - 12 comments

Internet File-Sharing Boosts Music Sales Or so this report by Jupiter/Media Metrix says. Is it true? It's true for me, anyway. Not that Jupiter/Media Metrix gets anything right.
posted by laz-e-boy at 8:00 AM PST - 20 comments

TiPaint is for Apple G4 Powerbook owners like me who have blemishes on thier baby's sleek exteriors. I dunno that the fact this product exsits is good or sad, but I know I just bought some and can't wait for it to show up. At least it's not terribly expensive.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 10:07 PM PST - 10 comments

Would you pay more for less bread? I guess the Dead Kennedys were right.
posted by zztzed at 7:33 PM PST - 32 comments

Going to Hell? According to the Vatican, sexually active homosexuals and divorced Catholics who remarry cannot be forgiven until they give up their sin. However, it came as good news for pedophile priests that priests implicated in the sex abuse scandal can be forgiven. Has the Church lost it's relevancy, or will it just take another 350 years for it to catch up with reality as was the case with Copernicus?
posted by Mack Twain at 7:02 PM PST - 89 comments

The Mini-Mizer over at Reasonably Clever is some fun Flash tomfoolery. It's much cooler than StorTroopers or at least I thought so. The Mini-jonmc I made come out cool. Have some fun.
via sadpanda.
posted by jonmc at 6:50 PM PST - 8 comments

Utahns expected to walk on water.
OK, not exactly. The slippery issue of whether or not a public easement for a river includes the right to walk on the bottom of the river has once again been sidestepped. Me, I'm playing it safe with this or maybe a pair of these.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:45 PM PST - 2 comments

Homeless street kids in 3rd world countries adapt to survive and are actually healthier and more likely to survive than are their peers who grow up in poor but intact families in agricultural villages. Experts confounded.
posted by stbalbach at 6:15 PM PST - 7 comments

All things Weezer for all Weezer fans. Just because geek rock is good rock. Now made with space aged polymers.
posted by jcterminal at 3:07 PM PST - 14 comments

All right, I'll admit it. I've never known how to fold a fitted sheet. A quick web search on the topic brought me to these instructions, which I tried, and failed miserably at. I need pictures! Isn't this what the WWW is for ... non-pornographic pictures? Or am I forever doomed to balling the damn things up and tossing them to the rear of my linen closest, where no unsuspecting guest will find it and discover my terrible secret? I guess I could give the things up and just go for hospital corners. Martha Stewart, help me!
posted by WolfDaddy at 2:58 PM PST - 18 comments

Swear down the phone and win a prize. Not much else to say really, apart from it is puerile and the whole site is in questionable taste. It might amuse the more FARK minded amongst us though, such as myself. Found at b3ta.
posted by Fat Buddha at 1:32 PM PST - 2 comments

Dale Earnhardt, Inc to honor Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes tonight at the Pontiac 400, thanks to autopsy photos circulating on the net. "We want to express our deepest sympathy to her family, friends and fans. She was a very gifted young woman who will be greatly missed. She has a huge following here at our shop." The DEI cars -- driven by Steve Park, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip -- will each carry a [black] stripe under the left headlight. In addition, over the wall pit crew members on all three teams will wear black stripes under their left eye in Saturday night's event.
posted by junkbox at 10:14 AM PST - 26 comments

Save Thousands Of Years And Preserve Graffiti Now: Bijan Omrani playfully argues for the preservation of contemporary graffiti in Oxford's august Bodleian Library. Perhaps they're the modern equivalent of the Lascaux cave paintings. "Kilroy was here" notwithstanding, witty graffiti can be found on walls all around the world. Shouldn't some sort of repository be created to safeguard this undeniably pure - and unfairly overlooked - form of popular expression? I'm sorry to say I couldn't find one single good written graffiti site on the Web. Does anyone know of one - or at least have a memorable graffito to share with the rest of us?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:52 AM PST - 25 comments

The Grand Canyon, up close and personal. Start with the series of photos titled 'Royal Arch Trip'. [more inside]
posted by Slithy_Tove at 4:24 AM PST - 4 comments

The Salem Witch Trials archive.
"The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription project is an electronic collection of primary source materials, including court records, contemporary books, maps, images, and literary works, relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692."
posted by talos at 2:50 AM PST - 7 comments

M.U.S.C.L.E. Revisited. I used to collect all of these pink plastic wrestling figures and now i-mockery has finished the big task of giving names and profiles to all of the original figures. 233 to be exact. Great retro memories for me on this one. Some really bizarre (ie: "Klondular the Barnacle Muncher "), yet extremely funny descriptions for some of these figures. There's also a Mr. Blocky tribute in there. I always hated him though since he made one of the prongs in my ring snap off. He was just too fat.
posted by kingmissile at 12:12 AM PST - 9 comments

Competition to "reverse engineer" mystery program.
Another cool thingy from the HoneyNet Project; they're inviting people to convert a binary file into its original source. So, who's participating?
posted by arnab at 11:01 PM PST - 2 comments

Prince Phillip is great with the public. Firstly he tells British students in China that "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed.", then he suggests that Papua New Guineans are cannibals. Now he tells us that "they have eating dogs for the anorexic now". Pure champagne comedy.
posted by helloboys at 10:32 PM PST - 18 comments

"Writer William Langewiesche, a pilot in his own right, explains why a jet packed with 217 passengers plunged 33,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean in the dead of night--and why it took so long for the U.S. and Egyptian governments to issue an explanation. Using black-box transcripts and radar records, Langewiesche meticulously reconstructs the last minutes of the so-called suicide flight. In a feat of storytelling, he reveals the nasty combination of politics and culture clashes that delayed the official investigation."
posted by semmi at 10:00 PM PST - 25 comments

Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 4th, both in the United States and around the world (even Brunei). FCBD offers a variety of comics to help attract new readers and ride the wave of publicity from the Spider-Man movie. Does the offer of a free comic seem likely to bring you into a comic store? Will this have an impact on the general public's perception of comics?
posted by JDC8 at 9:54 PM PST - 14 comments

New NASA Satellite Zooms in on Tornado Swath
...the twister's swath is the bright stripe passing through the town and running eastward 6 miles (10 km) toward the Patuxent River beyond the righthand side of the image. This stripe is the result of the vegetation flattened by the storm. The flattened vegetation reflects more light than untouched vegetation.
posted by quonsar at 7:02 PM PST - 9 comments

Call for permanent Jenin presence The disbanded United Nations fact-finding mission to Jenin has written to Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for a constant international presence in Palestinian refugee camps. Alas, it was the UN that ran the refugee camp that was known as the bomb factory and home of the suicide bombers. Wouldn't an armed forcez be more effective?
posted by Postroad at 6:25 PM PST - 23 comments

What's Better? GTA3 or Horse crap? Communism or Mount Rushmore?
It's like Hot or Not... But, ummm... Not...
My choice for a Friday time-waster... Enjoy!
posted by davros42 at 5:27 PM PST - 8 comments

How is this possible? I know there must be a sensible explanation for why this 'ESP experiment' works every time, but I certainly can't figure it out. Anyone? Other 'ESP' tests and the like leave me a bit cold, but this made my brain hurt, and that can't be all bad.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:41 PM PST - 26 comments

Mailbox bomber at large. "More than a half-dozen pipe bombs were placed in rural mailboxes in Illinois and Iowa on Friday, and at least two people were injured in explosions, the post office said." Part of the note that accompanied the bomb said "PS. More info. will be delivered to various locations around the country." If you live in the midwest, be careful.
posted by Kevin Sanders at 4:25 PM PST - 18 comments

Another interview with Greg Palast. This is a follow-up to the previously discussed interview with the self-imposed exile journalist.
posted by homunculus at 1:43 PM PST - 3 comments

Maestro Virtuoso Sir Andre Previn, George Solti, Arturo Toscanini, Giuseppe Verdi. "Conductors have the liveliest, longest and most rewarding sex lives of any human organism....Toscanini loved to give as much pleasure as he took, and he lasted long and well into a lascivious old age. For the supreme maestro, sex was not so much a reward as a repayment." Even Verdi was reputed to give "a certain kind of kiss that, somehow, bestowed the benediction of genius on his indulgence." Maybe its that constant exposure to heavenly music, heavy doses of Mendelhsson instead of Sildenafil Nitrate Tablets.
posted by Voyageman at 1:35 PM PST - 8 comments

"I sacrifice so much of my life, can I at least get laid?" An interview with a boxer. Mike, you are fun to have around.
posted by thekorruptor at 1:03 PM PST - 23 comments

A British ladies' knitting club is upsetting the maggots.
posted by swell at 1:02 PM PST - 13 comments

Worldcom had lent $430 million to Bernard Ebbers, its CEO - apparently to meet margin calls on its stock. (The amount was $366 million as per BusinessWeek). Bernie Ebbers resigned on April 30th. "About the best that can be said of the arrangement is that it keeps a big block of WorldCom stock out of the market, leaving it safely parked in the CEO's portfolio. Price to WorldCom: almost 20 percent of its balance sheet cash as of year-end 2001." I wonder, what could the board have been thinking?!
posted by justlooking at 12:51 PM PST - 2 comments

75% of dial-up users are satisfied with their current speeds. This opinion piece states that, out of those people that have not yet made the switch to broadband, only 25% of them even would if available. Thus, little ISP's shouldn't worry about losing dial up business so much anymore. Can the Internet continue to evolve at 56K speeds?
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:43 PM PST - 47 comments

Find your library. When I was a kid, my public library was my sanctuary, providing me many hours of enjoyment. Of course I yearned for better, larger library. When I was in college, I loved to wander the stacks. Do you have any fond library memories?
posted by patrickje at 11:39 AM PST - 36 comments

This little dyscordian koan came out of my desert at lunch. I thought perhaps Google could shed some truth on it. I found it among truly bizarre fortunes, I found it among humorous fortunes. I even found out it was the Fortune Cookie of the Week for December 14, 1998. But I can't for the life of me figure out what it means, or where the original saying might have originated from. A fortune cookie meme-mystery!
posted by bclark at 11:32 AM PST - 15 comments

Mother's Day is coming up! What's the coolest gift you ever got your mom? Any ideas for the rest of us?
posted by MeetMegan at 11:07 AM PST - 22 comments

A man goes into a restaurant, orders albatross, eats one bite, and kills himself. Real-life scenario? Perhaps not. But it's up to your friends to guess what happened via a series of yes/no questions. Anyone remember these? (found at rinkworks which also has the Book-a-Minute Book Reviews)
posted by vacapinta at 11:04 AM PST - 22 comments

"Before There Was Terrorism ...there was land confiscation...settlements...occupation...checkpoints..."[and retreating a little further in time, the Holocaust, repeated pogroms, the Diaspora, etc.] "In late March, responding to the Seder massacre - a suicide bombing that killed 27 Israelis gathered for a Passover meal - President Bush said that 'justice and cruelty have always been at war, and God is not neutral between them.' He had used this same phrase in his speech to Congress after September 11....Bush believes justice lies entirely with Israel, cruelty with the Palestinians, and that God is therefore on Israel's side. Interestingly enough, Elie Wiesel wrote in his novella Dawn that God is a terrorist. Dawn is Wiesel's story, said to be at least partially autobiographical, about a young man who fights against British control of Palestine in the 1940s by joining the Irgun, Israel's pre-state terrorist organization led by Menachem Begin. Wiesel calls the organization a terrorist organization, without embarrassment, throughout the novella, and about midway through, by way of justifying his hero's actions, he declares that 'God is a member of the Resistance movement, a terrorist.'"

Huh? God? Has Ashcroft been notified of this? It gets so damned confusing these days to pick out the terrorists.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 10:34 AM PST - 16 comments

Nethack for the rest of us. Ok, all you Nethack purists... sit on your hands for this one. Finally someone has come out with a graphical interface for the venerable ASCII game. Isometric, "Diablo" style -- Maybe it lacks some of the charm and character of the text version. At least I can see what the damn boulder and bear trap looks like. Windows/DirectX only.
posted by crunchland at 10:15 AM PST - 13 comments

"Women Empowering Women". This pyramid scheme is spreading like wildfire in the UK, with huge amounts of money involved. Basically you get a lot of people to put up say £100. The more people you attract to add money to the pyramid, the better chance you have of moving up and becoming entitled to many times your initial outlay. However, no investment occurs; this is simple cashflow juggling. Someone I work with gained £12000 on it in under a month - now everyone wants in the act. But (and I've pleaded with these people) the participants don't seem to appreciate the sheer idiocy of such schemes. Their attitude is "my husband goes to the betting shop, it's just my bit of fun". In the end, if you gain money, you're taking it directly from another participant. This is exploitation of people (normally hard-up, heavily mortgaged parents, it seems), is morally wrong and should be illegal - but it isn't in the UK. Here's a link to a BBC feature on pyramid schemes (aka trading schemes). This really boils my piss, but it carries on because individual participants can benefit from the fraud themselves. I understand women are targeted in this case as men are more likely to get in fights when they realise they've lost large amounts of cash.
posted by boneybaloney at 10:08 AM PST - 18 comments

Boeing creates "flying machine" called a "Blimp." They say it will be used for homeland defense. Ha. I doubt they can get it off the ground. Blimp - what hogwash, indeed.
posted by password at 9:50 AM PST - 11 comments

Infant kept on life support for the sake of the father. Moises Ibarra is being held in jail on child abuse charges and if his 7 month old son is taken off LF, Ibarra will be charged with murder (doctors say the son is basically brain dead and will not recover from his injuries). Meanwhile, the mother wants her son off LF so he can "go to heaven." (Looks like a real life soap!)
posted by Why at 9:28 AM PST - 7 comments

In the vein of bejeweled, tetris, and various other incredibly addictive games, comes Collapse. Mmmm, Friday flash.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:25 AM PST - 21 comments

Treat Yo Mutha Right: Friday Flash Goodness, just in time for Mother's day. (Warning: Features Cheetara, Mighty Mouse, a disco dancing Danger Mouse, and a rapping Mr. T. Not for the 80's Pop-Culture impared.)
posted by emptybowl at 8:58 AM PST - 14 comments

Dean Allen of textism, calls for a Google bomb to be dropped on Verisign. He's out to save Hoopla... and in the process, perhaps all the sites which have been stolen as Verisign slept. Think it will work? Will you join in the fight?
posted by silusGROK at 8:31 AM PST - 49 comments

Australia and Europe incensed over U.S. lies on free trade Bush: "The final provisions of the farm Bill are also consistent with America's international trade obligations, which will strengthen our ability to open foreign markets for American farm products". In other words, free trade good when we sell to you, bad when you sell to us.
posted by magullo at 6:57 AM PST - 10 comments

1951 Stratocaster For Sale. For you Fender Stratocaster/guitar freaks this deal seems too good to pass up. I'm a sucker for a funny Ebay parody.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:55 AM PST - 22 comments

SonicBlue ordered by a federal magistrate to track ReplayTV users' viewing choices and that seems to sux to me.
posted by elpapacito at 6:24 AM PST - 11 comments

Smoking - A quitters diary. Recommended reading for those wanting to quit, those who have quit and those lucky people who never started and could do with understanding the 'ordeal' of giving up.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:42 AM PST - 74 comments

Your very own pub in your garden Do I have to say anything more? I don't think so.
posted by Summer at 4:30 AM PST - 9 comments

spiderman has hit the streets
i saw it today at noon as it opened here in hong kong. i thought it was fantastic!! what did you think of it? (no spoilers, please)
posted by bwg at 4:11 AM PST - 50 comments

Nazis alive and well in England Far-right extremists have sent a "chill factor" across the country after they claimed a symbolic victory in English local elections
posted by scotty at 4:02 AM PST - 14 comments

State of Virginia apologises for eugenics policy. I'm not American, so perhaps it's understandable that I'd never heard of the scale of such policies, but I'm pretty well-informed, and I'm astonished that it isn't better known-of. I guess I'm mostly posting because I'd be interested in learning how well-known and understood the issue is in the US. There's also an image archive on the subject here.
posted by jonpollard at 3:37 AM PST - 18 comments

Adobe has won 2.8 million from Macromedia for "patent infringements." Apparently Macromedia may be forced to pull Flash MX from their product line. As an avid Flash-developer I am personally affected. Is there something that we can do about this?
posted by banished at 2:22 AM PST - 24 comments

H'Angus the Monkey becomes Mayor of Hartlepool! He's the mascot of the local football team and won one of the UK's first direct mayoral elections. The people of Hartlepool got the nickname Monkey Hangers after a monkey from a wrecked ship was hung as a French Spy. Who says democracy's dead?
posted by brettski at 1:40 AM PST - 7 comments

Some stories just warm the heart. From oil rags to black gold riches, a struggling club ekes out its way by hiring its first black manager. Luckily local news is on the story.
posted by crasspastor at 1:18 AM PST - 3 comments

The SAT's are being revamped. (NY Times link)
posted by BlueTrain at 11:37 PM PST - 14 comments

Minneapolis declares war on Krispy Kreme. Maybe it's about time something like this happened. After all, considering how ever-growing food conglomerates like Starbucks and McDonald's always seem to be getting attacked from all sides, it's sort of surprising Krispy Kreme has had so little trouble expanding.
posted by mrbula at 10:33 PM PST - 32 comments

This is a Magazine Very cool art (some line-art nudity). [via Webgraphics]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:29 PM PST - 11 comments

Thanks to a breakthrough in medical technology allowing HIV-infected semen to be purified of the virus, thousands of men will now be able to father children whose high-school graduations they'll never live to see. Is there no limit to human vanity?
posted by tiny pea at 9:46 PM PST - 19 comments

Is Bill Clinton the next Oprah? (nytimes, reg. required) Bill Clinton is looking into the possibility of hosting a daytime talk show. Regardless of you personal and/or political feelings towards Clinton, how do you feel about someone who was the leader of the U.S. becoming a talk show host. For those of you not in the U.S., do you think the general population in your country would view one of their leaders doing this differently than Americans will? (LA Times story)
posted by m@L at 9:40 PM PST - 19 comments

Forum letter #2: It took a while to sink in, but yes, I had just been offered 2 tickets to see Episode 2 exactly 2 weeks early!! And I'd be seeing it on the huge Westown Ultrascreen in Waukesha, WI. This was quite possibly the best gift I have been given… Ohhh baby baby, that Force of yours just makes me feel so dirty!
posted by dchase at 8:44 PM PST - 2 comments

Fly The Copter You think it's easy flying a radio-controlled helicopter into somebody's head. My hi-score is 418. See if you can beat it.
posted by sahrens428 at 8:31 PM PST - 20 comments

yet another victory for school boards against terrorism... an 11 year old girl is suspended for three days after drawing stick figures of her teachers with arrows in their heads after receiving a D on a vocabulary test. ie, more of this zero, tolerance crap. good thing my teachers never looked in my folders... i'd surely be in Arkham Asylum by now if they had...
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 6:30 PM PST - 16 comments

melaniegriffith.com Have you visited lately? What do all the other movie stars think? Are they jealous?
posted by bhmwks at 5:57 PM PST - 25 comments

Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the General Government. --Thomas Jefferson
posted by rushmc at 5:29 PM PST - 25 comments

Powell Announces Mideast Conference Could this, a world-wide conference, finally resolve the mess in ;the Middle East?
posted by Postroad at 4:21 PM PST - 14 comments

Do you visit Fark? If so, you'll probably get a kick out of Something Awful's latest site parody.
posted by kingmissile at 3:01 PM PST - 12 comments

Lehrer's On the Line
Satirical Haiku Jam
First Annual. (stream)
posted by andrewraff at 2:28 PM PST - 2 comments

Terror Suspect Puts Court to the Test In a virulent, 50-minute speech in open court, Moussaoui -- the man government prosecutors say was meant to be the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11 -- fired his court-appointed defense team, accusing them of working with the U.S. government to secure his execution. He also informed U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema that he plans to mount his own defense. Funny.
posted by Niahmas at 2:12 PM PST - 6 comments

Anti-Idiotarian Coalition/United Blogging Nation? It seems all this talk of UN bias has has some bloggers so frustrated and angry that they feel it's time to band together as a political force, and the beginnings of a movement are taking shape. Legal actions, media attention, and even a full fledged political party are all ideas that have been bandied about. They already have a couple of legal eagles and prominent blogging figures offering services/resources. All they need now are t-shirts. Oh wait, they have those too. One Nation, under Blog...
posted by mikhail at 1:49 PM PST - 15 comments

Peru goes GNU. And I quote: "You may have heard about this if you watch the free software news, but I just want to repeat it for anyone who hasn't. The Peruvian government has introduced legislation requiring government offices to use free software; Microsoft is unhappy; and a member of the Peruvian Congress has written a response which I highly recommend reading, in which he explains in strong terms why it's out of the question for the government of a democratic nation to use proprietary software."
posted by BGM at 11:43 AM PST - 18 comments

Did you know that May is National Artisan Gelato Month? The Food Reference Website is an endless source of Facts and Trivia about eating and food. For instance, do you know the story behind how Dr Percy Spencer actually came to invent the microwave oven? Or that Nostradamus wrote a popular cookbook?
posted by anastasiav at 11:23 AM PST - 2 comments

Mooooooo.... I'm a cow So it's not quite Friday, but this makes me wish it were.
Requires Flash and a sound card for full enjoyment).
posted by stormy at 11:13 AM PST - 7 comments

1,200 Brazilians bare it all in the name of art This is part of a series of public photo sessions photographer Spencer Tunick has been doing around the world on the same theme - masses of naked bodies on open, public spaces representing, in the author's view, "a celebration of life", though some say it is more fitting of the concentration camp shoots of WWII. What's more amazing is the sheer amount of volunteers willing to be photographed, and the fact that almost all of these are men. There must be some interesting sociological observations in here...
posted by betobeto at 10:55 AM PST - 15 comments

The picture that Britney doesn't want you to see.
posted by neilkod at 9:55 AM PST - 61 comments

Freeze sperm, leave the men behind. In this article, a NASA researcher explains how a flight to the nearest star would take place within our lifetimes, but require at least a couple generations. The generation that leaves (which could be entirely female to save on weight and maximize potential for offspring) would die, and giving birth to the next crew. Taking a trip like this would increase our knowledge of space many-fold, but would you be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for mankind? Is a trip like this a bad idea?
posted by mathowie at 9:18 AM PST - 51 comments

BlindDateBlog started it's run yesterday. Ten men and ten women battle it out to be the finalists in the male/female (not-so-)blind date. Can you pic out the MeFites? Can you pic the winners?
posted by silusGROK at 7:58 AM PST - 23 comments

Chicken or Egg? Well .... neither, apparently.

"One little chap thought that you got orange juice from milk, because the milkman delivered orange juice to his door ".

Anyone else have amusingly misguided, yet (slightly) logical assumptions as a kid?.

posted by MintSauce at 7:56 AM PST - 106 comments

Just fun here. Pick your favorite Arcade game and comment on why it is your favorite. Just a little distraction from all the doom and gloom. Mine is Robotron, so much so that a few years ago I actually bought one. It was first released in 1982 and it claimed many quarters from me. Very exciting game that really tested your hand/eye coordination. So, let's hear it for your favorite blast from the past
posted by a3matrix at 7:53 AM PST - 45 comments

don't forget the snacks! ...mmm, shrimp chips :)
posted by kliuless at 7:47 AM PST - 16 comments

There is no news today
The Israelis are the masters of changing the subject, and they have managed (not entirely without his own enthusiastic participation) to turn Arafat into the issue, rather than the occupation and all its machinery of oppression, dispossession, starvation and destruction.

The Arab-American writer and activist, Ali Abunimah, is frustrated and disheartened...but not hopeless. Abunimah's intelligent and reasoned writing gives a solid context to the past few days' events, from the cancellation of the Jenin fact-finding mission by a seemingly duplicitious Kofi Annan, to the distraction of Yasser Arafat's release.
posted by mapalm at 7:27 AM PST - 20 comments

Is the Massaoui trial undermining the U.S. judicial system? "[W]hen an alleged terrorist and self-professed enemy of the state seeks to use a trial to broadcast his message, incite his confederates, and to possibly pass coded messages to America's enemies, the assumption that a free, open trial is best for this democracy is called into question." How far must we Americans go to ensure that (even self-professed) enemies of the state enjoy the same freedoms as the rest of us?
posted by mkultra at 6:49 AM PST - 13 comments

If a crappy software licensing agreement falls in the forest, and no is there to see it, do you still have to abide by UCITA? It's a bit facile, and probably not legally effective for a hundred reasons; but it is a fun idea which gives us another way to look at a controversial feature of modern computing.
posted by machaus at 6:24 AM PST - 3 comments

"Computer technology was supposed to replace paper. But that hasn't happened. Every country in the Western world uses more paper today, on a per-capita basis, than it did ten years ago... This is generally taken as evidence of how hard it is to eradicate old, wasteful habits and of how stubbornly resistant we are to the efficiencies offered by computerization. A number of cognitive psychologists and ergonomics experts, however, don't agree. Paper has persisted, they argue, for very good reasons: when it comes to performing certain kinds of cognitive tasks, paper has many advantages over computers." Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, on The Social Life of Paper.
posted by tranquileye at 5:18 AM PST - 14 comments

The Try Group's site uses a simple Flash "game" to deliver their central idea: that children should be encouraged to look at the world in different ways. There's a little more info at the developer's site.
Neat concept, and also just fun to poke around in for a little while.
posted by Su at 5:16 AM PST - 6 comments

Missing since January 2001, and no one knew it? In January 2001, Rilya Wilson was handed over to people who claimed to work for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Department officials say that they do not have custody of the child. In fact, they don't know where she is, or who has her. The child's caseworker's been fired for falsifying documents in another case, and had been slacking in this one. Rilya's grandmother's attempts at following up were apparently stonewalled. No one knows where little Rilya is, but there are some suspicions that she may be the child known as "Precious Doe," a little girl found murdered in Kansas City. How does something like this happen? More importantly, what could be an appropriate consequence for Florida DCF authorities who lost a five year old child and didn't seem to care?
posted by Dreama at 4:53 AM PST - 12 comments

Communist kitsch is not yet dead.
posted by CatherineB at 3:06 AM PST - 9 comments

Robot Rats!
Excellent, now i can take over the WORLD!!
Please add, Predator like optics and Universal Soilder healing abilities - I expect to see them on thinkGeek by the end of the month, thank you.
Although a little cruel, scientist have managed to put implants in rats brains, effectivley given them god like controls of the little vermin.
posted by monkeyJuice at 2:37 AM PST - 16 comments

against capitalism..against war a tad late but allows you to immerse in the world of anti-globalisation campaigners.
posted by johnnyboy at 1:48 AM PST - 5 comments

Newspapers: Where Would Breakfast Be Without Them? Yeah, online is fine for dipping, checking and scanning but nothing goes with properly brewed coffee like the aroma of fresh print on paper, preferably piled high in thick broadsheet-size stacks. The Wall Street Journal's Tunku Varadajaran makes the case for us newspaper junkies. What's your daily fix?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:20 AM PST - 30 comments

After yesterday's sandwich-related thread, you're certainly looking for a tasty beverage to wash down your lunch. Unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to locate something potable at The Beverage Network, among whose featured beverages are Java Cola, White Soda (that's carbonated milk), and Pickle Juice.
posted by Danelope at 12:43 AM PST - 18 comments

Lefty atheists rejoice! A pretty good article.
posted by crasspastor at 11:20 PM PST - 13 comments

Americans score low on science savvy Few Americans understand the scientific process and many believe in mysterious psychic powers and may be quick to accept phony science reports, according to a national survey There was a nice link today about logical fallacies. It looks like we need help in science as well. The National Science Foundation report it is based on is Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding I found the section on Science Fiction and Pseudoscience particularly interesting.
posted by onegoodmove at 9:24 PM PST - 26 comments

Don't you just hate a winner? You don't? A study by Professors Oswald and Zizzo showed 62% of us are willing to pay to burn some of the winners' cash. Let's ignore danf and extrapolate all sorts of wild conclusions about the nature of mankind. Maybe envy explains a lot of things.
posted by Geo at 6:50 PM PST - 9 comments

"When I see what you've done to this beautiful flower, I just go berserk!" That's right. Everyone's favorite karate-kicking, ex-Green Beret, Harley riding, pacifist Native American hippie is back and online. He's been keeping busy the last 30 years, writing books, giving Jungian Seminars and making loads of cool schwag. He even has a QT trailers up for the long lost film Billy Jack Goes to Washington. A fitting return for one of the great 70's period pieces and an unheralded influence on many of today's action flicks. I may have to buy one of these just for the cool factor.

*raises fist*
One Tin Soldier rides away....
posted by jonmc at 5:09 PM PST - 17 comments

"The military's role is not to advance social issues. That's Hollywood's job!" So argues gay cutie-pie Danny Roberts, who made waves as a cast member on MTV's Real World for his relationship with a closeted military man. Meanwhile, Michael Signorile has taken Rosie O'Donnell to task for "some rather homophobic whoppers of late – e.g., saying she wouldn’t want her children to be gay...that betray she’s got some issues to deal with." Is it smart for queer people to rely on newly out Hollywood stars to do their talking for them?
posted by mediareport at 4:18 PM PST - 13 comments

when memes colide domokun + developers = domopers. even when it's the fuzzy happiness of domokun there's something about balmers raving that makes me have nightmares. on the plus side it's done quite well... so it's got that going for it.
posted by boogah at 3:59 PM PST - 15 comments

attention rice-boys, live in f43r. your civic has nothing on this ride...
posted by jcterminal at 3:03 PM PST - 19 comments

Mayday! Small independent webcasters -- the ones who couldn't come up with the cash to participate in the CARP -- join forces to protest the CARP-imposed sound recording royalties and accompanying intrusive recordkeeping requirements. They urge that you write to your Congresscritter. Will all this grassroots effort really sway the Library of Congress?
posted by IPLawyer at 2:25 PM PST - 13 comments

Introducing ... Ratbot! Leave it to the good folks at SUNY to come up with a remote-controlled rat. Best of all: "If the rat correctly followed the cue and turned left, its reward-centre was stimulated, filling the rat with a feeling of well-being."
posted by risenc at 2:16 PM PST - 8 comments

"This Index of Logical Fallacies looks like it should be required reading for anyone who wants to participate in online discussions. (Hello, Metafilterians? I'm looking in your direction...)"

This from someone named Meg Hourihan. . .I found the link useful (very) while finding the linker very condescending, in this case. I guess we can consider ourselves slapped, huh?
posted by Danf at 2:15 PM PST - 63 comments

Is Aung San Suu Kyi going to be released? Speculation's mounting that the military government of Myanmar is going to end opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's 18-month house arrest, after a U.N. envoy's trip to the country. Think that'll help, or even happen? (Suu Kyi's a bit of a cause celebre at the moment -- Bono's had her face on a t-shirt and he wrote "Walk On" about her, so you know something's going on...)
posted by logovisual at 1:15 PM PST - 6 comments

Savage Love's Kleenex Study. The previous links reminded me of this gem from Dan Savage's past. Makes me want to switch to towels.
posted by ashbury at 1:11 PM PST - 10 comments

Oh yes! It's that month of the year again; read about it, do the quiz, talk and think about it at various events, earn some money for a cause. Or join in: the fun should be well underway in about 7 hours. (All links NSFW. I wonder why. Do you wonder why?)
posted by disso at 12:40 PM PST - 21 comments

Milton would be proud! Swingline has finally seen the light and is making candy apple red staplers as is seen in Office Space. People on ebay have been making a mint repainting other colors to be the desired red color for a couple years, Swingline decided that nothing is like the real thing and has started prodcution of this color, via only the website I think. We got ours today in the mail I'm so giddy I think I'm gonna pass out.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 12:19 PM PST - 18 comments

Jenin 'massacre' reduced to death toll of 56. Propoganda over, it's now official. I guess people will always believe what they want, but this comes straight from the Palestinian Authority.

I'm curious to know if this makes anyone in here feel the slightest bit regretful for jumping to conclusions (since we all know what happens when one assumes...).
posted by crustbuster at 11:59 AM PST - 56 comments

Deep linking banned by DallasNews.com. "ultimately... this is our content and we should have some control about where and in what way it is used. We'll see what happens in the law and in the courts to decide how to proceed." Has the law already clarified this issue, or does the newspaper still have room to make a case? (via The Morning News)
posted by junkbox at 11:15 AM PST - 25 comments

There is bad taste and then there is really bad taste. I'm not sure how the scoring works, but I think my high score is as follows: dead: 2 men, 3 women, 0 child - injured: 2 men, 1 woman, 1 child.
posted by johnnydark at 10:25 AM PST - 39 comments

Google to Power AOL Search. America Online and Google today announced a multi-year agreement that will make Google's popular search technology and targeted paid listings available on America Online brands. Google's paid listings will begin rolling out on the AOL service and AOL.COM immediately; they will launch on Netscape and CompuServe in the next several weeks.
posted by ncurley at 9:36 AM PST - 6 comments

Girls forced by principal to show underwear at school dance What in the blazes is going on in schools these days that allows idiots like this to be administrators? First strip searching primary school kids, now forcing young ladies to lift their skirts and pull down their blouses to prove that they are wearing "appropriate underwear"? If only we were still allowed to keelhaul people.
posted by dejah420 at 9:26 AM PST - 41 comments

I am warning you now. This is sick. A little flash where you are the Suicide Bomber.
posted by sahrens428 at 9:12 AM PST - 17 comments

Bowling for Columbine "The concept is that violence is just another all-American sport," says the source. "In a bizarre way, it sort of lets the shooters off the hook, saying that they’re just part of a culture of violence."
posted by gazingus at 9:03 AM PST - 6 comments

At Si Tanka Huron University, a school of 400 in South Dakota, as many as 50 people may have been exposed to HIV by having sex with an HIV-positive basketball player or two of the women he slept with, according to today's New York Times.
posted by rcade at 8:51 AM PST - 22 comments

Tonight, when the grill is blackened with meat particles," he said, "I will literally clean it with the marinated onions so that all the flavor from the grill goes into them. That allows me to start the next morning. It's like baking sourdough. You have to save some to start the next batch."

Do you have a sandwich obsession?
posted by preguicoso at 8:36 AM PST - 73 comments

File this under "Karaoke Gone Horribly Wrong" (ASF File) Maybe we all look like this after a couple drinks and a microphone in front of us. Wait, no. I'm pretty sure we don't. (Nothing sexual or anything, so work appropriate, but you'll get some stares, especially if your volume is up high.) I think the girl on the right should start touring with Andrew W. K.
posted by gramcracker at 7:16 AM PST - 11 comments

(.) (.) The United Nations: Non partisan independant arbiter of international matters or hyper-politicized arena? You make the call
posted by BentPenguin at 6:34 AM PST - 20 comments

I scream, you scream, we all scream for free ice cream! Today only.
posted by ColdChef at 6:24 AM PST - 16 comments

Humorous experiance of a lady with Microsoft Technical Support Staff in relation to Klez worm.
posted by arnab at 6:15 AM PST - 8 comments

This new trading card game takes an ironic look a a bunch of "Bad Ideas" from the dot-com boom and bust. The object is to remain in business as long as possible by raising money from VC's and forcing your opponents to spend resources on developing bad ideas... You can't actually generate any revenue, of course :-)
posted by sib at 12:47 AM PST - 7 comments