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Even though it was tricky to rock around, he wore his Adidas proudly. RIP Jam Master J of groundbreaking rap group Run DMC was shot and killed today. Remember where you were when these forerunners of rap came on the scene?
posted by wolfgangnorton at 8:13 PM PST - 60 comments

Light, Secret Places And Books: Photographer Sean Kernan's startling and beautifully literary interpretation of Jorge Luís Borges is based on his The Secret Books album and was reviewed on The Garden of Forking Paths, that definitive, ever-fascinating Borges website. It's a small consolation for those, like me, who would have have liked to be in Barcelona today for the opening of the Cosmopolis exhibition, which celebrates the stormy, but enduring identification of Borges with Buenos Aires. The relationship between writers and places is always interesting whenever they grow into each other to the point of almost becoming each other. Joyce is Dublin; Kafka is Prague; Pessoa is Lisbon. What other, less obvious identifications are there? Is the relationship more like mutual cannibalism, mythical reinforcement, a touristy marketing scheme or the peaceful symbiosis it's generally made out to be?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:36 PM PST - 40 comments

Robert Flores' 22 page farewell. The man who shot and killed three people at the College of Nursing. Makes for interesting reading and should inspire some discussion as to the stereotyping of whites among whites. Please do read the whole thing, although I doubt you would be able to put down after having started.
posted by ( .)(. ) at 5:18 PM PST - 110 comments

More guerilla corporate advertising. So another major technology company vandalizes a city (a la the peace-love-penguin thing) and gets a slap on the hand. Obviously, this company can afford any punishment that could come their way for mere vandalism, and the publicity about the punishment process itself just leads to even more free advertising for them. (Not to mention, the free advertising they're getting from people like me commenting on the publicity ;) ) Can anything be done to keep the judicial system from becoming a new advertising medium?
posted by badstone at 3:06 PM PST - 16 comments

Apocalypse Cow! In the most bizarre collaboration between the American Christian Right and ultraorthodox Jewish Zionists in Israel, Pentecostal minister and Georgia cattle farmer Clyde Lott has collaborated with the Temple Mount Institute of Jerusalem to breed a red heifer suitable for purifying the foundation of a rebuilt version of Solomon's Temple, which ultraorthodox Jews hope will lead to the coming of the Messiah. The problem is that the proposed site for the rebuilt temple is on the same site as the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. Some Zionist extremists in Israel have attempted to "solve" this problem by plotting to blow up the mosque, which doesn't exactly promote peace in the Middle East. And to think all of this could have been started by a cow that looks like it should have belonged in "the Horse of a Different Color" sequence in the Wizard of Oz!
posted by jonp72 at 2:35 PM PST - 45 comments

This story has been feature in the media a bit lately, but something on the second page caught my attention, it was mention of a '4G' wireless technology that was also a weapon of mass-desctruction. The article mentions a press release which revels the company is called Gaiacomm and a quick search reveals quite a few more 'press releases' (1, 2, 3, 4). So, is this for real or what? Can my 802.11b card be used as a weapon?
posted by sycophant at 2:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Are you "e-fluential"? It's possible you are without even knowing it--you never know who might be listening in. While I don't find all gadget/soft drink/product discussions insidious, it does seem like they pop up pretty regularly. Has anyone here been contacted? Or are these companies (and others like them) just targeting product-oriented boards?
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 2:08 PM PST - 35 comments

Standfotografie. A collection of film stills by Austrian photographer Petro Domenigg. Loose English translation here.
posted by plexi at 1:04 PM PST - 1 comments

CIA funds "alternative" media through nonprofit foundations? "The multi-billion dollar Ford Foundation's historic relationship to the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] is rarely mentioned on Pacifica's DEMOCRACY NOW / Deep Dish TV show, on FAIR's COUNTERSPIN show, on the WORKING ASSETS RADIO show, on The Nation Institute's RADIO NATION show, on David Barsamian's ALTERNATIVE RADIO show or in the pages of PROGRESSIVE, MOTHER JONES and Z magazine. One reason may be because the Ford Foundation and other Establishment foundations subsidize the Establishment Left's alternative media gatekeepers / censors" -- heavy claims. A several part report, in considerable detail. My note - the Mexican PRI, when it ran Mexico, used to fund a whole constellation of Mexican Leftist groups - the threat of withdrawing funding $ proved a very effective way of keeping dissent within "safe" limits.
posted by troutfishing at 12:48 PM PST - 27 comments

Oregon Measure 23 Oregon's single-payer-health-care referendum: Sanity in the face of returning double-digit annual cost increases (after an HMO-induced respite), or a tax-and-spend, job-destroying nightmare which even the public-employee unions (not well-known supporters of any for-profit system) oppose?
posted by MattD at 12:32 PM PST - 38 comments

"Kmart Forever is a community gathering place for employees, retirees, friends, family and supporters of Kmart. Kmart started this site after receiving thousands of emails, calls and letters from people like you asking how they can help support the company. We all want to do what we can to make sure Kmart is with us well into the future."
Of course, such blatant PR cheerleading is bound to be parodied by those of the opposing view -- witness Kmartsucks.net's innovative design.
posted by me3dia at 12:24 PM PST - 10 comments

CNN Newswatch. Is this AOL's big entrance into the web services market? Is it a proprietary take on the microcontent client? They say it will make you a better person. But it sure looks like the old next big thing, Netscape Netcaster. Surely this technological leap puts AOL ahead of .Net in the Web Services market. Will Microsoft ever be able to offer a similar technology?
posted by putzface_dickman at 12:22 PM PST - 20 comments

Halloween Eve - Growing up in the seacoast-area of NH we called it Beggar's Night because that's when we went trick or treating. But many of my colleagues from Massachusetts call it Cabbage Night or Mischief Night (also, Top 10 Things to Do on Mischief Night). In Detroit, the call it Devil's Night. Another friend called it Door Bell Night. How do you refer to Halloween Eve?
posted by MediaMan at 12:04 PM PST - 35 comments

Obsolecence and adolescence I came of musical age during the beginning of the tectonic shift between cassette/vinyl/CD (vinyl on the way out, cassette taking precedence and CD waiting in the wings). Crushes, science and lots of bad music I still love (yeah, too much Anglophilian pop) was spooled on those tapes. This story about the demise of the cassette has it all! And it's a great bit of writing, too...
posted by chandy72 at 11:20 AM PST - 26 comments

What is America and what is its role in the world today? Not being American, I often find myself in conflict when speaking to them about their country. Looking for a way to express my views, I find myself agreeing more and more with Fareed Zakaria’s viewpoint.
posted by Baesen at 10:18 AM PST - 29 comments

Dave Winer's not happy about the fact that people are tweaking the orange XML icon used to link RSS/RDF feeds. You've seen that orange button saying XML at various sites, including MeFi. Milo just put up one saying RSS instead of XML, which was based on a point brought up by xiffix, "In hindsight, appropriating the global acronym XML for this narrow use was a mistake. The button should say RSS. Hopefully, people will take Dave’s suggestion to do something completely different to heart and abandon the Userland attempt at a standard icon"
posted by riffola at 10:10 AM PST - 28 comments

Russian gas clues point to cocktail. Events show that the Russians were organized to respond to various terrorist eventualities, but not prepared well enough to take into consideration the lateral side effects. I wonder how this scenerio would have played in the US?
posted by semmi at 9:35 AM PST - 23 comments

Got Milk? High? Do we really need a town called Got Milk?, Calif.? One town is thinking about changing its name to get money. Is this a cool idea, or are marketing people going nuts?
posted by scudder at 9:18 AM PST - 21 comments

Iran and Iraq: too much there for countries to ignore If the peaceniks in the U.S. insist that going into Iraq is an attempt to get hold of the oil, then it might equally be said that those nations opposed to an American attack on Iraq also have self-interest in not wanting America to enter Iraq.
posted by Postroad at 9:11 AM PST - 14 comments

The werewolf myth lives at this site, with essays, reviews, fiction and art, while the likely genesis of the werewolf mythos has its roots in folks like Larry Gomez, just your ordinary guy with congenital hypertrichosis.
posted by headspace at 8:56 AM PST - 4 comments

Eight blogger archetypes? A funny story on Kuro5hin describes various types of webloggers in the blogosphere. Are they they missing a few blogger types or did they nail it?
posted by Argyle at 8:54 AM PST - 26 comments

President To Author: Your Book Is Unpatriotic " "The letter began by thanking me for sending the book," Hudson said. 'Also, I'm from Austin, Texas, and the president touched on the fact that I was a fellow Texan, congratulating me on my book. But he was setting me up for the one-two punch. Because he called the book unpatriotic and ridiculous and just plain bad writing. Beyond that, I've been instructed not to talk about the contents of the letter for the time being.'"
posted by owillis at 8:43 AM PST - 31 comments

Between Wellstone and Veblen, I got to thinking about my alma mater. There are a few others, off the top of my head, that this tiny, out-of-the way school can lay claim to. How many other prodigal children come from small colleges? Kofi is one, from another small Minnesota college. Who else? Schools with more than 2,500 students need not apply.
posted by RKB at 8:23 AM PST - 18 comments

Criminal profilers are racist for not thinking a black man could fire a rifle well enough to be the sniper. They didn't think a black person could be smart enough" to pull off three weeks of terror, driving into very public places, hitting his mark, then eluding all the local, state and federal officers. Wow.
posted by BirdD0g at 8:19 AM PST - 26 comments

"Jury of your peers," perhaps... but a celebrity juror on a celebrity case can certainly open a can of worms. Especially when they've worked together in the past. (more inside)
posted by Fofer at 7:47 AM PST - 13 comments

"The Blog Twinning Project asks people to tell it which blogs they consider to be similar, and tallies results. Pairs of blogs with lots of mutual votes are declared 'twinned'."
Not a bad way to discover new reading material.
posted by Scottk at 7:39 AM PST - 5 comments

Boy Scouts tell Atheist Eagle Scout he has one week to declare his belief or get out. On membership applications, Boy Scouts and adult leaders must say they recognize some higher power, not necessarily religious. "Mother Nature would be acceptable," said Brad Farmer, the Scout executive of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts. Hmmmm...
posted by quirked at 7:32 AM PST - 45 comments

Cigarettes are good for you, say "scientists." Yes, that's right. According to the Times of India the National Institute on Drug Abuse did a study in Bethesda, MD that reports that nicotine aids in concentration. The "Times" also says that this means new things for sufferers of ADD. Unfortunately, NIDA doesn't seem to want to say much about this new study on their own website. I wonder why the "Times of India" is all in English. Well, if you need a new reason to justify smoking, you can take this at face value, but something tells me there's more to this story than is instantly obvious.
posted by magikeye at 7:29 AM PST - 26 comments

City of London Churches 'The ‘Square Mile’ that constitutes The City of London is a world financial centre where 300,000 people work and nearly 500 foreign banks have an office. Less well known is that amongst the largely uninspired office blocks are hidden around 50 current or former churches and other places of worship, either complete, converted into offices, or in ruins. Once there were nearly 100 parish churches within the City boundaries but the Great Fire of London, the migration of residents to the suburbs, and Hitler’s bombs have done most to reduce that figure. Many of the surviving churches are, famously, Wren churches. After the Great Fire he had the unique opportunity of designing over 50 churches, and he gave full rein to his imagination ... '
A guide to 55 churches in London's financial district; best seen on a weekend, when the City is virtually deserted. Whilst the majority are Wren churches, there are some exceptions - St Bartholomew the Great, which dates back to Norman times; the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, the oldest surviving synagogue in Great Britain; and the Dutch Church, which was drawn by van Gogh and important to the Huguenot community. Particularly worth a visit is St. Bride's, the journalists' church; the design of the wedding cake is based on the shape of its spire.
posted by plep at 4:49 AM PST - 28 comments

For all those words-lovers among us, the Visual Thesaurus from Plumb Design has recently been updated, to celebrate the company's 5 years anniversary. The classic edition we all know is still available here. Just beautiful.
posted by XiBe at 4:03 AM PST - 23 comments

The Iraq Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) website is a collection of resources documenting the government, politics, and society of modern Iraq. IRDP is engaged in the gathering of information of diverse content and format (official government documents, maps, citizen testimonies, reference sources, chronologies, bibliographies, notable articles, human rights reports, photographic and other images, audio and video materials). This online collection is made available to the public to provide a window into the inner workings of the repressive state system evolved under the aegis of the Iraqi Ba'th Socialist Party in Iraq since 1968. [More Inside]
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 2:53 AM PST - 23 comments

Trial by Tabloid? Top BBC presenter Angus Deaton has been sacked after a sex & drugs scandal. He has presented comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You for over ten years. So, is ti right for him to be sacked after trial by tabloid? Do we actually care what our T.V. presenters get up to after the cameras are turned off?
posted by prentiz at 1:36 AM PST - 16 comments