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Google on the Moon: "This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen." Google hits outer space to conduct "high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo)" and "de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling." Better than April Fool's at Fark? Via Monkeyfilter.
posted by onlyconnect at 11:19 PM PST - 11 comments

How India is saving capitalism. "For one Silicon Valley company, hiring Indian programmers wasn't about greed, it was about survival. A special report from Chennai, globalization's ground zero."
posted by homunculus at 10:01 PM PST - 1 comments

Fark is Hacked mefi rejoices, get your commemorative screen shorts here
posted by sourbrew at 9:49 PM PST - 22 comments

Vortical interfaces between immiscible fluids - a slow-motion video of various vortexes of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, set to Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun, with explanatory captions. Pleasing to the eyes.
posted by Jimbob at 8:59 PM PST - 9 comments

So, when did Canada become the globe's official Progressive Society Laboratory? They've got the health care, they've got the gay marriage, and now, they've got 100% legal file-sharing -- a judge has ruled that not only is downloading copyrighted material legal, but sharing it is as well. Um, whoa? How long can this stand on appeal? Is anyone here a Canadian legal expert who can tell us about how Canadian copyright law differs from our own? (Tall order, I know...)
posted by logovisual at 7:43 PM PST - 28 comments

And Here's A Bottle Of Vodka For The Translator: The English may be hilariously garbled but its flavour is definitely strong and the author, V.V. Pokhlebkin, is vodka's leading historian, although he's quite severe and nationalistic: no vodka without (certain) food(s); no cocktails; no foreign muck. If you can't find his book, this is the next best thing. ( Additional advice for businessmen here.)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:02 PM PST - 4 comments

Preserving Life and Liberty - The Department of Justice’s first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part - and often the leading role - in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. Is this a legitimate way for the government to keep citizens informed, or merely a propaganda tool?
posted by RylandDotNet at 5:48 PM PST - 13 comments

Gmail: Google's newest service. They're claiming 1Gb of free email, killer spam filters, and a great new webmail interface. They'll likely have Google ads attached to your messages, but I can't wait to see it tomorrow (hopefully it's not just an April Fools prank).
posted by mathowie at 5:41 PM PST - 108 comments

Dishonest Dubya. Lying Action Figure!
posted by protocool at 4:34 PM PST - 13 comments

Apophenia, pareidolia and type II statistical error are the product. People looking for signs, visions, miracles and portents are the market. Actual products can get you in trouble, but offering your services as a psychic or spiritualist seems to be safe. You will need a good memory and some public speaking ability. If you're good you can even try to tell the target audience what you're really doing and they'll do their best to convince you that your powers are real. Good luck.
posted by snarfodox at 4:24 PM PST - 4 comments

8% of Iraqi academics have Fled, 1000 Professionals Assassinated in past Year - '' In recent months assassinations have targeted engineers, pharmacologists, officers, and lawyers. More than 1000 leading Iraqi professionals and intellectuals have been assassinated since last April, among them such prominent figures as Dr Muhammad al-Rawi, the president of Baghdad University. The identity of the assailants remains a mystery and none have been caught. But families and colleagues of victims believe that Iraqi parties with foreign affiliations have an interest in wiping out Iraq's intellectual elite...''  From Juan Cole, who notes, in relation to Chalabi's control of de-Baathification, ''It can't be good for the future of Iraq to lose nearly 10% of its academics. Some of those may have been involved in Baath Party dirty tricks, but were all? And, the campaign of assassination makes a mockery of the rhetoric about democratization."
posted by y2karl at 4:12 PM PST - 24 comments

What happens when you mix Star Trek fan with webblogging yachtsman? You get Starship Enterprise: sailing stories blogged as Star Trek adventures. I sure like the cut of his jib. Engage.
posted by brownpau at 3:02 PM PST - 3 comments

George W. Bush Invigorating Ameria's Youth On Monday David Letterman aired video footage [Real] of an "obviously bored silly" 14-year-old kid goofing off while standing on stage behind the president during a speech. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 2:17 PM PST - 38 comments

Richard Clarke asks MoveOn to remove his name and recordings of his voice from their new advert. MoveOn refuses.
posted by alms at 1:35 PM PST - 25 comments

In February 2003 Jeremy Shafer, BARF leader, performance artist, smartass, and all-around Origami Wunderkind was invited to participate in a competitive Origami championship on the Japanese reality television show TV Champion - here is his story [.pdf file].
posted by anastasiav at 1:18 PM PST - 3 comments

The file-sharing fight continues.
Recording industry associations in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Canada have filed lawsuits or taken other legal action, aiming mainly at heavy users accused of offering a large number of songs online.

In other news, A study of file-sharing's effects on music sales says online music trading appears to have had little part in the recent slide in CD sales.
posted by ashbury at 12:58 PM PST - 9 comments

Washington cuts Serbia Aid, due to Serbian intransigence in cooperating with the Hague war crimes tribunal to extradite key war crimes suspects. Recently, the Serbian Parliament passed a controversial bill which gives taxpayers money to war crimes suspects for "legal and other expenses". In December Serbia elected a new parliament with nationalist sympathies. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has said extraditing war crimes suspects to The Hague is not one of his government's priorities. Is this the kind of democracy the US wanted?
posted by knapah at 12:57 PM PST - 4 comments

The Dave Sim Misogyny Page - and a recent Onion interview. I find Dave Sim (comic book artist, notable for long-running, multiplevolume Cerebus) to have deeply troubling, almost poisoned ideas about women.(despite his efforts, these bitter screeds are almost unexplainable,unless someone here can explain them, that is - please!)Beware if you've never read them. And laugh with me, an apparentlyweak male-feminist (and lovin it!) if you have. Viva la Void.
posted by Peter H at 12:14 PM PST - 53 comments

Pentagon Flunky Misplaces 9/11 Talking Points at Starbucks A Pentagon employee left documents with talking points to help Donald Rumsfeld deal with questions about 9/11 on Sunday political chat shows. The employee is almost certainly due to get fired, because the documents even included a hand-drawn map to Donald Rumsfeld's house! (Note: documents in pdf file.)
posted by jonp72 at 11:29 AM PST - 13 comments

Car Surfing! A sort of X-Games for cars, drifting is a steadily growing japanese sport that is just now making its way stateside, first via Hawaii and California, and now all the way to the east coast through grassroots groups like the NJ-based DGTrials. "Drifting, in the simplest sense, is the use of an intentional controlled slide to navigate around a turn. ...it can ultimately lead to complex strings of multi-directional slides that use a variety of techniques to maintain extreme oversteer. The pure essence of drifting is to never appear to have control of the vehicle, while always having complete control over the vehicle!" Contestants favor lightweight rear-drive cars that are often the polar opposite of the traditional bling-bling import showcar aesthetic. Lap times are unimportant - competition is style based, much like actual surfing or snowboarding competitions. Though the attitude tends to be somewhat goofy, the results can be dramatic [WMV].
posted by tirade at 10:27 AM PST - 22 comments

Looks like Rice will testify before the 9-11 Commission after all. In a letter sent by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to the Sept. 11 commission, Gonzales notes:

Furthermore, we have now received assurances from the speaker of the House and the majority leader of the Senate that, in their view, Dr. Rice's public testimony in connection with the extraordinary events of September 11, 2001, does not set, and should not be cited as, a precedent for future requests for a national security adviser or any other White House official to testify before a legislative body.

Separation of powers question: If the institution of the separation of powers is a set of informal arrangements between the branches, which continually look to previous practice, how can this not be a precendent? Various blawgs weigh in.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:25 AM PST - 48 comments

Travis Hallenbeck's website is an awesome collection of links about lo-fi music and art, retro-computing, cheap children's synths, and more. Some gems: CompactFlash for Apple II, Iconolog, The Audio Playground Keyboard Museum (with vintage drum machines reworked in flash). Look around!
posted by mcsweetie at 9:52 AM PST - 1 comments

A mob attacked a group of foreign contractors, shooting four people to death, burning their two vehicles, dragging their bodies through the streets and hanging the charred corpses from a bridge. Another day in the American occupation of Iraq.
posted by the fire you left me at 9:16 AM PST - 134 comments

"The "Brief Safe" is an innovative new diversion safe that can secure your cash, documents, and other small valuables from inquisitive eyes and thieving hands, both at home and when you're traveling. Items can be hidden right under their noses..." [via Aces]
posted by bluno at 7:25 AM PST - 10 comments

Today's the Day. Air America, the liberal talk radio network, goes live today with "The O' Franken Factor" at noon (first link is currently a splash page--the real site is here). Though the network is only available in a handful of markets, all the network's programming will be available online, and on XM.
posted by vraxoin at 7:14 AM PST - 84 comments

"Why don't you reverse the rotation of the Earth, go back in time and read the directions?" Jerry Seinfeld, Superman and a stolen DVD player. Yeah, it's part of an American Express promotion, but it's cleverly done.
posted by emelenjr at 6:42 AM PST - 29 comments

U.S. to defend Muslim girl wearing scarf in school. In its complaint, the government said the school district violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which it said bars states from applying dress codes in a discriminatory manner.
posted by poopy at 5:09 AM PST - 21 comments