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Was Shakespeare a doper? It doesn't matter. But it's in the news because it's not often you can dig up (literally) some juicy celebrity gossip involving mood-altering substances.
posted by pracowity at 11:20 PM PST - 9 comments

The House has passed the bankruptcy reform bill that Clinton vetoed at the end of the last session. I'm mildly optimistic that it won't pass the Senate, given that the Democratic vote in the House was split. But should we be worried at all? At first glance, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. But so many consumer groups are against it, and it seems to benefit credit card companies while hurting individuals, so I'm inclined to think we should leave things as-is. Especially since personal bankruptcies are down and credit card issuers' profits are up. Anyone know more about this?
posted by aaron at 10:07 PM PST - 7 comments

The Jesus Christ Superstore (supposedly) sells action figures, modeled after Jesus, the Pope, Buddha, Krishna, and more. "Putting the fun back into fundamentalism and the laughter into sectarian slaughter." (Yeah, it's a novelty link. But it's a good one.)
posted by waxpancake at 8:21 PM PST - 5 comments

"What's Holding Blacks Back? It’s black attitudes, not white racism, that’s to blame." (John McWhorter, in City Journal, via Arts & Letters Daily)
posted by m.polo at 7:12 PM PST - 48 comments

Move over DotComGuy, looks like you have some competition in the dumb name department. A New Zealand marriage will produce a dotcom couple.
posted by remo at 6:45 PM PST - 6 comments

The Web Page from Hell. Be sure to look at the client list.
posted by cfj at 3:12 PM PST - 20 comments

We're glad too, Justice Scalia. A New York State public school has prohibited an evangelical group from offering Bible study and prayer in its classrooms, and the case is now before the US Supreme Court:

"This is divisive in the community?" Justice Scalia exclaimed. "I don't understand. What would the community get upset about? I don't understand." He continued: "You must have a very divisive community down there. I'm glad I don't live in New York anymore."
posted by nicwolff at 2:07 PM PST - 17 comments

Bush budget whacks space station plans, modules
Apparently the White House feels that the current project will exceed budget by quite a bit, so NASA is 'scaling back' plans for Alpha.
posted by daver at 2:05 PM PST - 10 comments

All your .org's now belong to Verisign... ICANN strikes a deal with Verisign:
"Verisign will retain permanent control of the .com registry (they were supposed to separate the registry and registrar businesses), long-term control of .net (plenty of time to make that permanent too), and .org will actually be spun off. There are also apparently plans to reinstate the old limits on .org domains - if you aren't a non-profit corporation, you won't be permitted to register or keep a .org domain."
posted by Hackworth at 12:07 PM PST - 38 comments

Fiber cut silences SETI@Home. In case you were wondering why you can't upload a data unit. It's supposed to be fixed today.
posted by Sal Amander at 11:47 AM PST - 3 comments

But tell us how you really feel.
James Hetfield in Playboy: "[Metallica fans sided with Napster] Because they're lazy bastards and they want everything for free. I like playing music because it's a good living and I get satisfaction from it. But I can't feed my family with satisfaction.''

Lars Ulrich chimes in: "If you'd stop being a Metallica fan because I won't give you my music for free, then fuck you. I don't want you to be a Metallica fan."

I suppose it's a good thing they're on the verge of a break-up.
posted by honkzilla at 10:50 AM PST - 43 comments

All your cultural treasures are belong to us! At least in China it was the accidental kind of stupidity...
posted by rushmc at 10:39 AM PST - 6 comments

John Cullum to star in off-Broadway musical URINETOWN! No comment, other than I like the fact that none of Cullum's tv credits (Northern Exposure, ER) are mentioned in the article.
posted by bjennings at 10:31 AM PST - 7 comments

NYC latest to threaten ban on Scouts NYC Council disagrees with national organization's policy that homosexuality is inconsistant with Scouting's prinicples, and wants time to try and change national organization's views. Free subscription required.
posted by darren at 10:18 AM PST - 26 comments

Were SF attorneys having sex with dogs? Robert Noel and/or Marjorie Knoller own the dogs that killed Diane Whipple. Now a search warrent is released that looked in a Pelican Bay prison cell for "any materials or correspondence describing sexual acts by Noel or Knoller that involve dogs." It doesn't sink much lower than this.
posted by bjennings at 9:34 AM PST - 17 comments

Jack's back! Woohoo! ...looks like he's decided to pull a "click and mortar" on us: his new site is a supplemental to his zine. Very exciting. Welcome back, Jack!
posted by silusGROK at 9:17 AM PST - 18 comments

King of the Road: A summary of Oedipus, of course. Who says all that time looking for personalized plates doesn't pay off? Anyone care to find Ulysses?
posted by salsamander at 8:48 AM PST - 13 comments

O Clinton, Where Art Thou? The New York Obsever, a traditionally liberal publication, has savaged the Clintons and pardongate, going so far as to call for Hillary to resign. Sen. Clinton won election in NYC handily, but apparently the bloom is off the rose.
posted by darren at 7:05 AM PST - 22 comments

The NYTimes has an article on installing Linux for novices. Is Linux really getting mainstream? This article requires a free subscription to be read.
posted by Loudmax at 6:28 AM PST - 13 comments

A small world in most dimensions: "University of Washington scientists using gravity measurements to hunt for evidence of dimensions in addition to those already known have found that those dimensions would have to occupy a space smaller than 0.2 millimeter."
posted by talos at 5:02 AM PST - 8 comments

Tulsa Race Riots of 1921: Who pays? I don't think Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating's pledge to fundraise for a memorial/museum will suffice as a remedy -- or cut much mustard with survivors and their families. (Background info here.)
posted by allaboutgeorge at 3:35 AM PST - 26 comments

Has the Turing test fallen? One of the holy grails of computer science is the Turing Test -- and these guys think they're near to passing it.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 12:26 AM PST - 37 comments