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If Steve Jobs designed automobiles, then this is what they'd be like: Unique. Innovative. Unprecedented.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 10:53 PM PST - 22 comments

Which U.S. city is rated fourth in the nation for being "mean" to the homeless, and is far above the national average in alcohol-related auto fatalities? Hint: It's located in a state known for its"friendly and hospitable people", and also for some of the most stringent liquor laws in the country.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:02 PM PST - 13 comments

Great article on Paul O'Neill on yesterday's NYT Magazine (requires registration) O'Neill has been taking a hammering in the media and on Wall Street. There has been O' Neill Death Watches too. But I have always admired what he achieved in Alcoa. And now finally an article that does justice to him .....
posted by justlooking at 7:58 PM PST - 8 comments

Psychotronic and other space-based mindcontrol weapons would be banned under a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) last October. If it passes, can I take off my tinfoil helmet?
posted by MrBaliHai at 7:33 PM PST - 10 comments

Mark Twain: A Film Directed by Ken Burns started on PBS tonite, on my local station. I know we have discussed Mark Twain's writting before, but I found this as I was looking for other sources about Twain. What do you think? Was he racist or was he trying to expose racist thinking? Or just weaving a good story?
posted by bjgeiger at 7:29 PM PST - 15 comments

Karlheinz Stockhausen talks trash... A wonderful interview with the composer picking apart some young electonic upstarts.
posted by nonreflectiveobject at 7:11 PM PST - 24 comments

Ever wonder what it would be like to live in a model communist Chinese village? Apartments come in only two sizes. Residents are bound by strict rules. The approval of a Communist Party committee is required for all marriages. A mass wedding is held once a year on New Year's Day. After childbirth women are sterilised. Wrongdoers are paraded through the village with their heads shaved. The village has acquired cult status among those who still pine for the certainties of the Mao era
posted by Rastafari at 7:07 PM PST - 8 comments

Sold to the stupidest bidder! A level 50 (highest) Ranger class character from the online game Dark Age of Camelot sold by owner on eBay for $3,150 US. Wow.
posted by bschoate at 7:07 PM PST - 28 comments

The Jargon File Just how long is a jiffy? and what does a robocanceller do?
posted by stevridie at 5:35 PM PST - 7 comments

Divorce: Not So Bad For Kids? this report, detailed by USA Today says "After studying almost 1,400 families and more than 2,500 children. — some of them for three decades — trailblazing researcher E. Mavis Hetherington. finds that about 75% to 80% of children from divorced homes are 'coping reasonably well and functioning in the normal range.' Eventually they are able to adapt to their new lives." Of course, many of us with single parents could have probably told you this a long time ago but here are numbers, controversial to the "pro-family" establishment of course.
posted by owillis at 5:16 PM PST - 17 comments

What a dick. Good advice: don't go to a party dressed as bin Laden. It may seem funny to you, but apparently not everyone else agrees.
posted by Counselco at 4:53 PM PST - 41 comments

No VC after the dot-com bust? No problem! Just sign up for eight no-annual-fee credit cards with interest rates as low as 1.7 percent (for a few months, anyway), and shazam: You've got $35,000; you're a start-up! Question: Has this guy read a newspaper in, say, the last 18 months?
posted by nathanstack at 4:10 PM PST - 15 comments

Maybe you DO have to be born in France! After much debate, and worldwide press, the French Parliament has decided that you were supposed to be born. Glad to know that. So much for the worst FPP ever.
posted by dwivian at 3:48 PM PST - 10 comments

Nokia's new subsidiary - Vertu - lays out its plans to combat street crime by developing undesirable mobile phones.
posted by mook at 3:33 PM PST - 13 comments

Boards of Canada have just announced their first LP since their debut Music Has Right to Children (1998). The album is entitled "geogaddi" and the release date is set for Valentines Day.
posted by Satapher at 3:18 PM PST - 33 comments

The Conservative Intellectual's Matchmaker Quiz: Just answer the questions - whichever ones you like - and you'll know the name of your potential real-life conservative sweethearts. Not to mention a great collection of like-minded, mostly highbrow and academic links. Ideal for lying, trouble-making lefties too![more inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:18 PM PST - 9 comments

Man has replacement hand removed, now wants another one. Of course, he almost definitely will not get it, after annoying his doctors from the first operation. Still, I can't help thinking about a movie in which a man and his hand become "mentally detached".
posted by meep at 3:11 PM PST - 10 comments

Rivers Cuomo produced by fans. Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has been chatting with his fans about their new album. So far so usual. Except it hasn't been released yet and they've been listening to the rough cuts via mp3.
posted by nedrichards at 2:53 PM PST - 12 comments

"Google effect" reduces need for many domains. Dan Gillmor says effective search engines can and should stop people from freaking out that "Wah! All the good .com names are taken" and compulsively registering all the .biz, .info, .tv, .to, and other .crap domains which the registrars would like us to believe are vital. Bob Frankston agrees, [link via Ev] adding that reducing our dependence on semantic (i.e. keywordy) web addresses will improve the stability and usefulness of the web. (I agree too!)
posted by Tubes at 2:49 PM PST - 5 comments

Good news for fans of the late, great Replacements Paul Westerberg has signed a new deal, will return in April with a 2 cd set and is also considering a tour.Hey Paul, Tommy Stinson is wasting his time with Axl Rose, so call him up.I'm guessing Chris Mars and Slim Dunlap would be available for gigs too.Billboard articles have a pop-up, sorry 'bout that.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 2:44 PM PST - 13 comments

Feeling Blue?
posted by plaino at 2:37 PM PST - 6 comments

All 50 states agree to upgrade driver's licenses Congratulations! instant national id. And if you don't have a driver's license, you are either too young, too old, or someone who is un-American.
posted by Postroad at 12:59 PM PST - 33 comments

Oliver Stone has Bin Laden conspiracy theory. When asked what source of information could be trusted, Stone reportedly replied: "Believe my stuff."
posted by stevengarrity at 11:28 AM PST - 35 comments

Film, TV Director Ted Demme Dies "Demme was participating in a celebrity basketball game at the private Crossroads School when he was stricken Sunday, said Ted Braun, a spokesman for Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Paramedics rushed Demme to the hospital's emergency room in full cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead 20 minutes later. Demme, a nephew of director Jonathan Demme, directed Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in last year's "Blow." The film was based on the true story of George Jung, who was the American connection to the Colombian cocaine cartel in the late 1970s and early '80s when the drug became hip. "
posted by dgeiser13 at 10:10 AM PST - 12 comments

UK Parliament now offering live webcasts of debates. Fascinating. Don't miss Prime Minister's Questions every Wednesday at 3pm GMT, it's always good for a few laughs. Would give some of the slower debates a miss though. Via The Register.
posted by mokey at 9:59 AM PST - 8 comments

Fire destroys years of genetic research... am I paranoid to think that this may not have been a simple accident, given the nature of the data?
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:49 AM PST - 12 comments

A 90 minute uncut video of Sept 11 We've all seen parts of it. However, we will probably never see the whole thing. Personally, that ticks me off. Why do only firefighters and family of victims get to see this? I don't like censorship in any form (meaning by the video company.) Especially in this event. Praises to anyone who can find the video. I wonder if it's out there on the net somewhere...lurking...waiting to be discovered....
posted by aacheson at 9:25 AM PST - 42 comments

Bootleg Toys: The Undiscovered Playthings documents the sale of misfit toys in Southern California. For boys, there's Robert Cop 3, the Mighty Morphin-esque Powerful Supper Raiders, and Space Wars: Episode I action figures. For girls, Sale Moon, Hallo Betty and the Spicy Girls. But the most controversial toy isn't a trademark violation: the Laden vs USA handheld video game.
posted by waxpancake at 9:15 AM PST - 11 comments

Mea sorta culpa. Let the hunt begin. First, Stephen Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing one book, and then another. After he apologized and challenged "critics to find other unquoted borrowings," they promptly did. It looks like Ambrose is being outed by his fellow historians, or maybe The Sins of Stephen Ambrose are coming back to haunt him. (BTW, in the print community, plagiarizing is like double-posting. This post happens to be an e-post-ilogue)
posted by jacknose at 9:06 AM PST - 12 comments

The spookiest lipbalm ever! Check out the prominent plug for ChapStick in the new film "The Mothman Prophecies." You'll find it in the full trailer, not the "teaser" trailer. Product placement isn't anything new, but this is pretty blatant.
posted by CosmicSlop at 9:01 AM PST - 38 comments

Ouch, it hurts to watch! Going to NYC? Wanna take in a Broadway show but aren't interested in the normal fare? This might raise your spirits. Or not.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 7:29 AM PST - 7 comments

It's the music *you* love but everyone you know hates it... It's the band you love. You've played them to all your friends. All your friends hate them (don't they see? haven't they got ears? can't they hear?) You've tried the old "no - really just *listen* to them...honestly they *are* great - can't you even see yet?" ploy... But you can't make anyone understand and everyone you know still hates them. This is my one. (mp3's available) What's yours? (nb. i know most of you are going to hate this band, so it would be pointless to post replies of the "this band are sh*t nature)
posted by Spoon at 5:26 AM PST - 74 comments

Blogger Code Decoder. Those Blogger Codes are the most annoying thing since Pokemon but just in case...
posted by lostbyanecho at 4:00 AM PST - 11 comments

Larry Miller has started a column on The Daily Standard. Nicely executed potboiler preaching to the choir. Not quite as brilliantly inflammatory as Ann Coulter, but quite enjoyable. Anybody got any favourite left-leaning humorists?
posted by BGM at 1:35 AM PST - 22 comments

Stand and deliver! Eighties pop star Adam Ant is charged for assault and firearms offences.
posted by viama at 1:14 AM PST - 13 comments