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America is the Borg, Taliban - some hapless planet: "Our forces are armed with state of the art military equipment. What are you using, obsolete and ineffective weaponry? Our helicopters will rain fire down upon your camps before you detect them on your radar. Our bombs are so accurate we can drop them right through your windows. Our infantry is trained for any climate and terrain on earth. United States soldiers fire with superior marksmanship and are armed with superior weapons. "

All your base, indeed.
posted by owillis at 11:33 PM PST - 32 comments

Larry my man, you tell 'em! If this article doesn't make you puke, then September 11th was someone's birthday and they did ATTEND their party. Er....the subject matter of the article is Smart Cards.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 10:48 PM PST - 7 comments

What OS is Micro$oft running? A poll of what OS' run in Microsoft's netblock, and their rank by uptime. Besides the fact that Hotmail was on FreeBSD for awhile [before M$ took them over], this was surprising.
posted by plemeljr at 9:09 PM PST - 18 comments

Bob Barker, inspiration to all of us who want to someday host a mid-morning game show, seems to be throwing in the towel.
posted by geoff. at 7:35 PM PST - 14 comments

This is an Imam? "Muslims do not feel safe [in America] even going to the hospitals, because some Jewish doctors in one of the hospitals poisoned sick Muslim children, who then died." I don't know if this is a good translation, I can't read Arabic, but this is mind bending stuff. Searching for comparisons, I can only find the KKK and Nazis to match the level of delusionary hate. [via andrewsullivan.com]
posted by prodigal at 7:08 PM PST - 15 comments

Do not bid on this painting if you are succeptible [sic] to stress related disease, faint of heart or are unfamiliar with supernatural events.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 7:01 PM PST - 28 comments

Our New War Culture Has recent events altered the landscape and trajectory of American Pop Culture? Is there such thing as "Blowback" of cultural artifacts as well back to our shores from far away lands.
posted by AsiaInsider at 6:51 PM PST - 2 comments

You hear that sucking noise? That would be the vacuum created by the "king of pop's" career imploding.
posted by jcterminal at 6:10 PM PST - 24 comments

Apple Computer will introduce a 'breakthrough device' next week. Will this be the long-rumored Apple PDA that Newton fanatics have been asking for? A device for wirelessly streaming your mp3 collection through your stereo? Your basic portable mp3 player? Or something that hasn't shown up on any of the rumor sites at all? Whatever it ends up being, my curiousity is officially piqued.
posted by toddshot at 5:24 PM PST - 42 comments

The CIA's Wall Street connections A week old (MeFi search timed out, sorry if a repeat), but good stuff in here. U.S. gov't's oil interests/stock manipulation/foreknowledge of the attacks -- Ruppert covers a lot of interesting ground in this long interview.
posted by fotzepolitic at 3:03 PM PST - 11 comments

'Invastion' [sic] of Army recruiters unnerves jittery Austinites I guess we're just lucky that none of our fellow residents who (legally or illegally) carry concealed handguns took matters into their own hands!
posted by tippiedog at 3:03 PM PST - 16 comments

The Website of the Anti-Taliban Government of Afghanistan, pre-hack. Courtesy of the The Wayback Machine.
posted by tpoh.org at 3:01 PM PST - 3 comments

Comedian Rowan Atkinson is understandably nervous about his career in the light of proposed laws in the UK to outlaw insightment to religious bigotry. Having built his career from playing comedy vicars and priests you can imagine him wondering if all his old material is suddenly worthless. Downing Street has sought to re-assure as usual but you can see why he'd be filled with uncertainty. As he points out in a situation were personal opinion is involved, how would one tell if one was breaking the law. For example, some stand up comedy may be fine, but how about movies? Where does 'The Life of Brian' stand? Or 'Dogma' for that matter...
posted by feelinglistless at 2:50 PM PST - 10 comments

Aaron McGruder has brass balls. I know that the Boondocks strip has been mentioned elsewhere in the course of another thread somewhere, however this is the strongest statement in a commercial format I've seen to date. Or maybe I need to get out more.
posted by ethmar at 2:45 PM PST - 22 comments

Like crack for your mouth! Throw your Altoids and TicTacs away! CoolMint Listerine PocketPaks are little strips of breath-freshening goodness that don't just mask bad-smelling mouth germs--they kill the little buggers. Makes other breath mints seem like candy. Anybody else try them yet? As a reformed Altoids abuser, I can safely say I'm addicted.
posted by dogmatic at 2:00 PM PST - 42 comments

Paranoid? Then iron your mail if you're that scared of getting Anthrax.
posted by kingmissile at 1:14 PM PST - 13 comments

Marvel Comics Movies It's about time. Being in college and having grown up with action cartoons like he-man and thundercats in the 80s it sickens me now to watch kids having to watch crap like power rangers and japanese anime. Where are these kids heroes??? Now that Michael Jordan is coming back to the NBA and now that these movies are being made, hopefully kids these days will have someone to look up to. A hero...something America could use right now.
posted by ryryslider at 12:55 PM PST - 45 comments

Anthrax, its been done before. It just doesn't do the job: "the cult attempted to release anthrax spores from its mid-rise Tokyo office building laboratory. At that time, police and media reported foul smells, brown steam, some pet deaths, and stains on cars and sidewalks." 2, 3. "Many view the cult Aum Shinrikyo as a group seeking to bring on the end of the world." and "an estimated $1.5 billion in assets" (thats more than Usama). me=alarmist, today.
posted by tomplus2 at 12:26 PM PST - 5 comments

China bans Muslims from flights. Don't like America's solution for airline safety? Try this. I wonder if this policy is temporary, and timed for President Bush's imminent visit to the region, or is this China's long-term solution? How will America respond - condemnation or tacit acceptance? Does it actually make Bush's trip safer?
posted by conquistador at 12:26 PM PST - 13 comments

Is The Media's "Whining" About Access Justified? A journalist criticizes his colleagues: "The disconnect between the U.S. media and the public they purport to serve has turned into a virtual chasm in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." What are/should be the limits on the ability of the press to obtain unfettered information in sensitive times?
posted by pardonyou? at 11:34 AM PST - 10 comments

Israel's tourism minister assasinated by palestinian militants. Could this even further slow down peace talks between leaders? Or must we brace ourselves for the second year of this conflict?
posted by Robin at 11:25 AM PST - 36 comments

Why the Bombings Mean That We Must Support My Politics

Those people who have different political views from me ought to be ashamed of themselves for thinking of cheap partisan point-scoring at a time like this.

sorry if this is an oldie (i searched and everything) it just seemed ... relevant, somehow
posted by walrus at 10:47 AM PST - 13 comments

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart - the unfinished, unfinanced, unreleased documentary film based on the recording of Wilco's as yet unreleased fourth album: movie clips, photo gallery, filmmaker's diary. Hopefully the movie and the album will actually get released someday...
posted by elvissinatra at 10:47 AM PST - 7 comments

Howard the duck hasn't been feeling well lately, but when I was growing up, in the 70s, I thought the HTD comic book was great literature. I don't read comics anymore, but I recently stumbled across Steve (Howard's creator) Gerbers' website and was amused by his explanation re: Howard's new appearance (scroll down to last interview question).
posted by grumblebee at 9:29 AM PST - 6 comments

U.S. Patent 6,304,886, from the fine folks at IBM. "The tool comprises a plurality of pre-stored templates, comprising HTML formatting code, text, fields and formulas." (Via Scripting News.)
posted by mrbula at 8:52 AM PST - 6 comments

29 Senate Staffers Test Positive for Anthrax Looks like this one is a particularly virulent form that was sent to Sen. Daschle
posted by Lanternjmk at 8:05 AM PST - 37 comments

The Irish Times is reporting that US troops have landed near Kandahar, Afghanistan...
It looks like the ground war just started...
posted by tomcosgrave at 7:42 AM PST - 12 comments

Small town fights for right to insult minorities. NPR's Kathy Lohr reports that the small city of Ringgold in northwest Georgia has a new approach to religion in public places. At City Hall, it is putting up a display of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer -- and a blank plaque for non-believers. Councilman Bill McMillion says he proposed the blank plaque so no one would feel left out. The American Civil Liberties Union says the display is unconstitutional.

As an aethiest and a resident of this town, I can't help but feel insulted by the blank plaque. Local florist Melissa Hill adds: "But I do think it's sad that they needed to place a blank [plaque] to make the aethiests and the people in the world who don't believe that this world was created by god, um, to keep from them from causing trouble."
posted by mcsweetie at 7:41 AM PST - 107 comments

Laugh while you can, monkey boy! Buckaroo Banzai is available as a pre-order on DVD. Been waiting for this one for a while, it's got unreleased footage, easter eggs, and director commentary. The release date is scheduled for 1/4/02, according to this link. Campy and very eighties, but oh so worth it.
posted by machaus at 6:29 AM PST - 27 comments