November 8, 2006
Why Take Chances?
Sid Davis : April 1, 1916 - October 16, 2006.
Have you heard about Michelle Shephard?
One Bank. Snarks aside, the guy does have quite a lovely singing voice. (vimeo)
Metafollowup
Adrienne Shelly was murdered.
"Kids on Fire" Doused
Nostril Exhale Galleries
Out of Iraq
A detailed plan for withdrawing from Iraq, by George McGovern and William Polk. Chip Pitts provides a similar suggestion in the National Interest. And William Lind describes a nightmare scenario in case of war with Iran: encirclement. Previously.
Genesis announces tour!
Turn It On Again Tour announced - Banks, Collins and Rutherford tour again! Died and gone to heaven, I have! Never thought this would happen again in my lifetime. Phil, Tony and Mike haven't toured since pre-internet days.... Gosh, this is probably the very first announced (real) Genesis tour to ever hit the web...
Pyongyang Rocks!
Pyongyang Rocks! If you are a band playing any kind of rock, including heavy metal, then you can participate in 'ROCK FOR PEACE' in North Korea. What a blast!
Moo?
When headlines go wrong: Is a human/cow hybrid really the alternative to controversial stem cell research? Some scientists at Newcastle University apparently think so. Still, is using animal eggs with human genes a whole other ethical can of worms, or just a convenient workaround?
Iraq suicide
A man set himself on fire in Chicago last Friday morning in protest at the war in Iraq. He left a suicide note. But you know that don't you because its been all over the media?
Fries? With that?
"Typically, fast-food workers who handle drive-through calls are multitasking, wearing headsets to take orders while filling drinks or bagging food. It's a high-pressure job and employees often are more concerned about rushing through orders than trying to sell more food or being polite to customers... The call-center employees, who earn about $8.50 an hour, are trained to urge customers to add items to their order and are timed on how long each call takes."
Apes of Wrath:
Apes of Wrath In October, they gained similar rights to humans, now it seems monkeys are plotting to take over the earth. Their bid for global domination has been happening right before our eyes; it's just a matter of connecting the dots. Check out this ominous timeline of escalating monkey aggression, drawn from real news reports. The evolution will not be televised.
Interspecies fun (and benefits)
Neanderthal Lovin’! New research from evolutionary scientist Bruce Lahn suggests that humans and the now extinct Neanderthal species mixed, and humans snatched up a valuable brain gene in the process. (The gene, MCPH1, and Lahn, discussed last year on MeFi) This comes on the tails of yet another new study providing morphological evidence that there was nontrivial interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals in Eurasia, despite the fact that Neanderthals may have been genetically closer to chimps than humans. Contrary to popular imagination, though, the Neanderthal species had bigger brains and sophisticated intellects, at least roughly on par with that of human beings. The gene regulates brain size during development, but its exact utility to humans is still unknown (and controversial). The origin of this gene and the question of Neanderthal mixing will soon be answered more definitively by the, just launched, 2 year project to map the Neanderthal genome, headed by Svante Pääbo (profiled in recent Smithsonian and Wired articles). Pääbo calls Lahn’s study "the most compelling case to date for a genetic contribution of Neandertals to modern humans."
Dudes already know about chickens. Ladies also already know about chickens.
That clever Ryan North fellow has come up with a fool proof plan to solve wikipedia's vandalism problem. Trouble..
Cheepy cheepy boom boom
Ever wanted to be a little chick with a gun, knocking down hundreds of blocks? Well, now's your chance in Kumoon: a fun, free little physics-based game (for Mac and PC) in which you must knock down all the blocks in a room with limited resources. Screenshots, review + movie courtesy of this excellent list of physics-based games of all kinds. Something for everyone.
British dialectical prescriptivism from the voice of Today
John Humphrys is a militant grammarian: "We all care about language. Your concern may be different from the young hoodie's." On the other hand, he may have a point: "The simple fact is we cannot afford to be careless with our language, because if we are careless with our language then we are careless with our world and sooner or later we will be lost for words to describe what we have allowed to happen to it." (via)
White Poppies - Should They Be Banned?
Nip White Poppies in the Bud - Edmonton Journal Article The White Poppy emerged as a symbol of peace in th e1930's, and has been sold by a women's peace group and activist store in Edmonton, Canada for the past several years. This year, The Royal Canadian Legion has ordered a cease and desist, saying that the sale of the poppies is "illegal." Every year the Legion sells red poppies for Remembrance Day. This is an article from the local major daily newspaper offering views from both sides of the debate.
So if he sells weapons to Moqtada al-Sadr, will we have to call it "Gates-gate"?
Who is Robert M. Gates? At first glance, he seems a pretty good candidate for Donald Rumsfeld's replacement as Secretary of Defense. As a former director of the CIA, his experience and contacts in the State Department may help heal the bureaucratic rifts between State and the DoD that erupted in the wake of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. However, there was that small matter of the Iran-Contra affair . . .
Rumsfeld quits
Newsfilter: RUMMY QUITS!! Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld resigns.
The Other Election
The vote count with a death toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the other election to watch right now. Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba, both of whom command large private armies say they will accept the results of the poll, though the truth of that remains to be seen. Bemba is implicated in war crimes (previously discussed here); and Kabila's inner circle controls much of the wealth of the DRC. Either way, a successful election would be better than a return to the war that killed 4 million people. And contrary to the paltry coverage the Congo receives in the news, what happens there matters to the rest of the world. But will the election results change the lives of Congolese civilians?
Concession speeches
Please enjoy concession speeches from various people who did not win, or skip if not interested. Katherine Harris. Jim Talent. Rick Santorum. Harold Ford. Mike DeWine. Richard Nixon. Kerry Healey. Ned Lamont.
Mythbusters bloopers
Election day 2006 - Whose side is your favourite superhero on?
Election day 2006 - Whose side is your favourite superhero on? "The Spirit of Vengeance, Ghost Rider is the ultimate protest voter. He always votes against the incumbent and anyone who endorses helmet laws. Vengeance is his." [via]
Chinese Public Health Posters
Every generation needs a new revolution.
Abandoned Outdoor Swimming Pool
Traie Meangh is the name of an abandoned open-air swimming pool built directly between the ocean & the cliffs along the coast of the Isle of Man. Constructed in 1899, it operated until 1990, surviving briefly near the end as a fish hatchery. This Flickr photoset is the only collection of images I could find that do justice to the juxtaposition of sunny/nature setting & creepy/abandoned/industrial vibe that the place gives off.
Circuit Bending a PC
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