MetaFilter

Nightline: Baghdad blogger, Salam Pax, gives Ted Koeppel an interview and a tour of Baghdad.
posted by yonderboy at 11:46 PM PST - 6 comments

Hello Gattaca : "The federal government is planning to overhaul its employee drug testing program to include scrutiny of workers' hair, saliva and sweat, a shift that could spur more businesses to revise screening for millions of their own workers."
posted by troutfishing at 9:41 PM PST - 31 comments

Just How Influential Is America? Mark Rice-Oxley, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, argues that, 2000 years from now, Disney will probably be more remembered than Plato. Really? [More inside. Via Arts & Letters Daily.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:57 PM PST - 33 comments

On the fast track to the Supremes --In a recess appointment, Bush put Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans today. The American Life League is thrilled, but NARAL not so much.
posted by amberglow at 4:37 PM PST - 33 comments

Click-clocks.
posted by pedantic at 3:05 PM PST - 3 comments

ass-hat: noun, a thoughtless or stupid person.
cliterati: collective noun, feminist or woman-oriented writers or opinion-leaders.
flexitarian: noun, a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat.
freegan: noun, person who eats only what they can get for free.

Some winners from the American Dialect Society's 2003 Words of the Year.
posted by y2karl at 2:38 PM PST - 30 comments

You got my Slashdot in your MetaFilter! The Fox News York Times! A gun-free NRA! Indy Free Republic Media! Megnuttke!
posted by mathowie at 2:10 PM PST - 49 comments

Viacom's CBS today rejected a request from liberal group MoveOn to air a 30-second anti-President Bush ad, saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy advertising. This, despite running anti-drug and anti-smoking ads. So, is it only issues about which they disagree?
posted by dejah420 at 1:19 PM PST - 57 comments

So how cold is it on New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where hurricane force winds blow 104 days out of the year? Really freaking cold. The Observatory's website is a great resource for weather-geeks, and the interns have their own blog.
posted by PrinceValium at 1:12 PM PST - 4 comments

"The end of an era in deep space exploration draws to a close. The era of the total militarization of space dawns," says the blog of Bruce Garrett, a software engineer for the Space Telescope Science Institute (home of the Hubble). Although I haven't been able to corroborate it at a news source yet, Garrett reports that the word came today from NASA director Sean O'Keefe that servicing missions to Hubble are over.

The President made his announcement on Wednesday, and NASA announced their reorganization in order to fall in line with Bush's plan today. Interestingly, this "reorganization" including support to only manned missions began over a year ago, but O'Keefe still testified to the US Senate in May 2003 that the Hubble would be serviced next in November 2004. Wonder what changed.

We marveled at The Best of Hubble in December 2003. Might be the Last, as well.
posted by pineapple at 1:01 PM PST - 19 comments

Bob Mould blogs! Temporary location though, as he says he'll move the boblog to his site soon.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:58 PM PST - 18 comments

Which is the best type of writer to cover a nine person campaign that lasts two years? A novelist of course. Only a novelist can come up with the sort of obvious truths that reporters can't or aren't allowed to write. Like, "I've met Sharpton before and I can say with full confidence the man is a liar, an opportunist, and a swine." The other candidates on Gore's endorsement, "Fuck fat fucking Al shit fucking Gore." Or Kucinich's campaign, "Just before I go to sleep I ask myself, Why not love your fellow man, why not peace on earth? ... And the answer occurs to me immediately—because the other guy wants to rape your women and kill your children." Stephen Elliott, four time novelist and card shark, is on the campaign.
posted by raaka at 12:03 PM PST - 5 comments

I’m 40, a truck drive and over 250 pounds but I’m proud to say I’m using The Peace Rug®.
posted by archimago at 11:55 AM PST - 25 comments

The lamest press releases of the 2004 campaign.
posted by boost ventilator at 11:08 AM PST - 10 comments

Techies Left Behind James Pace Jr. used to work as a steamfitter in a General Electric plant in Bridgeport. That was back in the early '70s, when the grapevine was alive with warnings: These jobs are going overseas. Go back to school. There's no future here. Pace left the plant, enrolled in computer school, studied information technology and never looked back. That is, not until 23 years later, on the day he was told his $100,000-a-year job as an IT (information technology) consultant had been sent to India
posted by Postroad at 9:18 AM PST - 80 comments

Shibori is an amazing Japanese textile dying technique--a very sophisticated form of tie-dye, where nubby, lumpy, bizarre things like this are transformed after dying into this fish or these flowers (scroll for detail) or these starbursts. Specifically this odd thing became this (detail). You can find excellent photos and descriptions of the process here, here(scroll down and hold mouse over photo), and here. There is also information at the World Shibori Network . This photo shows partially dyed fabric and here is a video of the preparation for dying. Shibori is very labor intensive (carpal tunnel syndrome-city) and was a one time subject to a sumptuary tax and one form was outlawed by an emperor for being too extravagant. There are many different knots and ties for different patterns--browse here, here(gallery1-7), and here. Shibori can be used to make some striking and detailed images. Diverse examples of shibori --iris, layered squares, waves, kimonos, large bridge banner, subtle black and white winter scene, , a nifty “aerial view” of earth as a tidal pool with hot air balloons (detail of anemones). Don't miss the stunning work of Hiroko Harada (English/Japanese). I especially like Rain In the Forest, There Are Ripples On the Cloth, Seasonal Changes, and this large installation. You can browse more here, but the Japanese page has more.
posted by lobakgo at 8:50 AM PST - 18 comments

Rahula leads the way. An engaging Flash-based comic strip to illustrate the tenets of Buddhism to young souls.
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 8:04 AM PST - 5 comments

Maybe you've seen the Electric Arc of Death video. OK, so maybe it's just capable of death if you get too close. But, if you work in the power industry like I do, I was amazed to see this rather impressive video of a switchyard problem. Electric arcs involving switchgear for transmission lines are nothing new, and this link provides an excellent analysis of why this arc is occuring. Make sure you turn the volume up for an extra charge of excitement.
posted by insulglass at 5:12 AM PST - 22 comments

Dazzling, full-color shots of people long since dead, landscapes long since paved, and an empire long since overthrown.
A pre-WW I process for creating color image projections meets Photoshop®
posted by magullo at 2:45 AM PST - 27 comments

Just what you wanted, break dancing Japanese geezers
Still photos, live action and animation melted into a music video (streaming Quicktime) by Neo, a duo made up of Londoners Jake Knight and Ryoko Tanaka. More clips on their site. (via Jeansnow.net)
posted by planetkyoto at 1:27 AM PST - 20 comments

Minor Washington state quake. It's been a while since I've experienced and earthquake, so when tonight's little one hit my hometown (a mere 3.2) I was a little shocked (and a little excited). I was also really impressed with the seemingly instantaneous response by the USGS and the University of Washington's GeoPhysics Dept. on their websites classifying it.

In the olden-days (eg- pre-Internet) I'd have to wait for the early morning news to find out any information about it, but through the miracle of HTTP I have all the info I want mere seconds after the event. In fact, less than 15 minutes after the quake the USGS site had over 260 responses on their website about the quake from people who felt it and left comments on their site.

I wonder if there are other sites that help classify and/or disseminate information about other naturally occurring phenomenon (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.)... anyone, anyone?
posted by crankydoodle at 1:07 AM PST - 9 comments

People in China are searching for justice on sites like Sina.com, as in this recent case of a poor woman who was run over by a BMW. At the same time, the authorities continue to try to tighten their grip on the web and on dissidents. Meanwhile, the official People's Daily temporarily admitted on its website the "violent crackdown" on pro-democracy students in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago, but this appears to have been a case of careless internet plagiarism.
posted by homunculus at 12:04 AM PST - 3 comments