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Shocking photos which show just how much glaciers have melted in the last century. Now that the North Pole is a swimming pool, the Ross Ice Shelf has, as the Onion put it, embarked on a world tour, and the worst flooding in 800 years is hitting Eastern Europe, aren't we maybe a little bit worried about climate change... just a little, maybe? What freak weather phenomenon is creeping you out these days?
posted by AlexSteffen at 11:05 PM PST - 82 comments

The Cost-of-Living Calculator.
posted by swift at 9:57 PM PST - 18 comments

Mutated genes account for speech. Evidence now suggest that our ability to speak is based on a slight mutation in a particular gene. The mutation is only slightly off from other animals. What genetic discovery thus far do you think will have the most rewarding results?
posted by mhaw at 9:48 PM PST - 22 comments

Producing sperm on the backs of mice. Well, the back of a laboratory mouse doesn't do anything - it just sits back there. Might as well put it to good use.
posted by percine at 9:20 PM PST - 17 comments

UW sells out -- for only $2.3 million. As part of the "Academic Innovation Alliance Initiatives" agreement with Microsoft, the University of Waterloo's Electrical & Computer Engineering department has agreed to teach C# to students. In addition to discussion on uwstudent.org, Slashdot thread, press releases from MS and UW and a rebuttal release from the UW Federation of Students.
posted by paulschreiber at 7:24 PM PST - 20 comments

It's Marching Season! There's an godless american march comin' to DC this fall (November 2) "Our leaders, including the President, must stop calling the nation to prayer, or claim that we are a "Christian" country..."(Amen to that!!!) and "We must remember to not "feed the fundies" by engaging in arguments with religious protesters and hostile "prayer warriors" who want to "save" us."From what I understand, this will be the first big march on Washington since our new wartime laws have been implemented....will atheists become "unlawful combatants?" Anyone up for it?
posted by amberglow at 7:04 PM PST - 52 comments

E-mail is trespass? A disgruntled employee's emails to his former co-workers are a legally actionable form of 'trespass to chattels', says Intel. Have you ever trespassed to chattels? Should you fined or even jailed for it? 3 lower courts in Claifornia have said 'yes' to all or part of that last question. (linked to in a thread today, but it deserves it's own).
posted by Jos Bleau at 5:40 PM PST - 12 comments

Screw you worldcom, enron. In Australia we know how to make a loss. AU$11,962,000,000 in fact. One has to wonder how much of this is a "paper loss" or how much of this is "creative accounting for tax purposes". Or just where the hell did the money go?
posted by Neale at 5:37 PM PST - 17 comments

Princeton Disciplining Staff for Yale Web Site Break-Ins (NY Times) What a great example to set for the students. Princeton officials in the admissions department hack into the Yale Admissions department system. No one gets fired and the university official who first performed the dastardly deed, Stephen E. LeMenager, "...would be moved to another job at Princeton." as punishment. Also, "...its longtime dean of admission and Mr. LeMenager's boss, to remain in place until next June, when he will retire as previously planned.
What is Yale's take on this? "Yale's president, Richard C. Levin, said in a statement yesterday that he was impressed by the thoroughness of Princeton's investigation,...".
This is the best, "...when Mr. LeMenager told a Yale admissions official of his ability to enter the Yale Web site at a meeting of Ivy League admissions officials in May, Dr. Tilghman said, the ensuing discussion at the meeting was about security issues, not about the impropriety of the action."
The president of Princetons final words on the situation, "We will learn from this and make changes," she said, "and move on as a better place."
And now who is surprised by what happened at WorldCom, ENRON, TYCO and on Wall Street ?
Shouldn't Princeton make an example of these clowns?
Shouldn't Yale demand more satisfaction?
I guess they don't call it the Ivy League for nothing.
Fire the bastards!
posted by flatlander at 4:53 PM PST - 17 comments

Another smoking gun. Tobacco companies fought the marketing of anti-smoking products in the 1980s and '90s, by exerting financial pressure on companies that make nicotine gum and patches--like Dow Chemical. (NYT, reg req'd - CBS News version here)
posted by gottabefunky at 2:34 PM PST - 3 comments

Virtual light - "...the wires plug into Patient Alpha's head like a pair of headphones plug into a stereo. The actual connection is metallic and circular, like a common washer. So seamless is the integration that the skin appears to simply stop being skin and start being steel." Cameras that jack into a blind man's brain, allowing him to 'see' may soon be here.
posted by GriffX at 2:19 PM PST - 23 comments

Oh, In-N-Out, how I love you so. Let me count the ways...
posted by MikeB at 2:07 PM PST - 61 comments

Madame Wu Through the Looking-Glass: If you look into a mirror, you might wonder if that mirror-world is a possible world. This mirror-symmetry possibility is known in physics as parity conservation. Well, 1956 was the year that Parity fell. That's the year that Madame Wu created and performed an experiment that revealed once and for all that the Looking-Glass world is not the same as ours. This is an epochal discovery. Nature distinguishes between left and right. Here's some basics of Madame Wu's revolution. Why isn't she better-known outside of Physics? And why wasn't she awarded the Nobel Prize?
posted by vacapinta at 2:01 PM PST - 27 comments

...I swear I heard the Shelby say, "Cut the baby down, fleshbag."

Seanbaby returns with another of his priceless anti-robot rants.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 12:53 PM PST - 17 comments

Would you like to be part of my pyramid?

We all know someone who has tried to sell us a "multi level marketing" product. Usana and Amway are 2 popular MLM companies. Can you really make money with these pyramid schemes? There are sites that talk about avoiding scams and others that show support for those who have been burnt, but they sometimes turn around and support mlm and network marketing.

Does anyone know these people? What kind of cars do they drive? What kind of person gets into network marketing and who are these "successful independant distributers"? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
posted by tomplus2 at 12:51 PM PST - 44 comments

US F-15's almost shoot down Korean Airliner on 9-11 Pilots on Korean Air Flight 85 mistakenly issued a hijack alert at 1:24 p.m. ET on September 11th, as they neared Alaska on the way to Anchorage. Military officials, who had ordered two F-15 fighters to tail the jet, told Anchorage air traffic controllers that they would shoot it down if it did not turn away from populated areas.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 12:44 PM PST - 8 comments

Buy SBC now. "In order to make sure the economy grows, we must bring the promise of broadband technology to millions of Americans,'' Bush said at a White House-sponsored economic forum. "Government at all levels should remove hurdles that slow the pace of deployment.''

Is the USTA happy about this type of talk? You bet. They would like to see passage of S.2430, also known as the Broadband Regulatory Parity Act of 2002. Others wouldn't. Some have studies (300K PDF) that argue local phone companies are slowing the growth of DSL for anti-competitive reasons.

Also, notice how the President said "bring the promise of broadband technology to millions of Americans", not all Americans? Might have something to do with the fact that rural DSL is really, really expensive to provide.
posted by dglynn at 12:39 PM PST - 14 comments

Scientists infuse endurance genes into mice. Researchers say they have created a transgenic mouse with muscles like a marathoner, capable of enduring rigorous exercise for extended periods of time. Is cloning and genetic engineering gaining a little more acceptance? I for one would like to welcome our...ah, to hell with it...
posted by adampsyche at 12:33 PM PST - 8 comments

There's a guy with an "immensely detailed, three-dimensional, interactive, constantly updated map of New York City," which "could provide the DNA for a re-created city" if something happened to destroy New York. Besides the nitpicking (do you want to recreate every awning and kiosk?), there's the big question: does it make sense to try to recreate in detail something that's gone? Or as the article puts it, "At what point do we accept the reality of loss?" And if a city were destroyed so utterly it couldn't be recreated, would its surviving inhabitants wander the world endlessly, keeping their lost home alive in their hearts and customs, like R.A. Lafferty's Angelenos?
posted by languagehat at 11:45 AM PST - 25 comments

Phish ends Hiatus. The band will play four shows beginning with a New Year's show at MSG. Dirty neo-hippies everywhere rejoice.
posted by uftheory at 11:34 AM PST - 26 comments

All your Ideas are belong to US. What happens when you agree that your inventions belong to your employer, even when you aren't done inventing them yet? Why, they sue you!
posted by dwivian at 11:30 AM PST - 14 comments

Winning at Blackjack? Many people claim you can. Some people do. via slashdot
posted by psychotic_venom at 10:54 AM PST - 13 comments

Over-aggressive trademark enforcers "advised to chill". Tommy Hilfiger's trademark is not infringed by Timmy Holedigger perfume for dogs. Perhaps this can be used as precedent in responding to silly cease and desist letters.
posted by kcmoryan at 10:36 AM PST - 12 comments

A) Product. Your visit to this site may be monitored by British Intelligence Services.
posted by josephtate at 10:03 AM PST - 24 comments

Today's lesson: Write a letter to a congressman, get fired for it. Was this abuse of a work email account, or a miffed congressman's office overstepping its bounds? Ah, dissent in the 21st century, what a time we live in.
posted by mathowie at 9:17 AM PST - 66 comments

Trouserpress.com is back! After a hiatus of over two-and-a-half years, Trouserpress.com was re-launched today. The site contains just about all of the band profiles and album reviews from editor Ira Robbins' comprehensive and informative Trouser Press Record Guide book series from the 80s/90s. Since all but the most recent "90s rock" book are out-of-print, it's great to have this amazing indie/new wave/punk/alt rock music reference available once more.
posted by nstop at 9:09 AM PST - 13 comments

Is a 'Pax Americana' possible? And if it is possible, is it a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on who you ask. And if not the US, then who? Europe has neither the force of arms nor the political cohesiveness. China seems to be the only other contender, but it begs the question: should America even try to mediate world disputes, or intervene when (and only when) our national interests are at stake?
posted by mrmanley at 8:48 AM PST - 28 comments

Diamonds, a symbol of love for a large part of this century. Yet there is an underlying monopoly who have socially engineered the whole entire idea that a "Diamond is Forever". Does your notion of a diamond change knowing that a consortium is ensuring that their Monopoly is Forever?
posted by mutantdisco! at 6:54 AM PST - 105 comments

the "Moohnochwa" is coming! A mysterious UFO type object has killed 7 in India and injured more. Mmm Hmm. I for one want to be the first to welcome our new insect overlords.
posted by outsider at 6:31 AM PST - 27 comments

today a fellow mexican will be executed in texas, for killing a cover agent 13 years ago… besides the mexican government, e.u. & u.n. are also calling for clemency; they argue that u.s. authorities denied him legal assistance from the consulate. right now, suárez medina only wants to die. the question is: isn't it better to die than be in prison all your life? i would prefer to be killed instead of living in jail more than 20 years. the sad about suárez medina case is that he has been in jail 13 years from now and anyway he is going to be killed! the texas government should have killed him immediately he was found guilty. “i prefer to die than spend the rest of my life here inside because here there is no life.” said suárez in an interview. in punishment standards i find worst to live in jail forever than being executed. what would be worst for you?
posted by trismegisto at 6:28 AM PST - 30 comments

Nevada looking to legalize marijuana. And not just for medicinal use, but for recreational use as well. So far, it looks like there's a good chance it might happen.
posted by triggerfinger at 6:23 AM PST - 34 comments

Ed Headrick, the principal designer of Wham-O's "Professional Model" frisbee and the father of Disc Golf, has passed away at age 78. His ashes will be molded into flying discs. Cool.
posted by yhbc at 5:15 AM PST - 16 comments

How Al Qaeda Slipped Away "American officials concede that there was a mass escape from Tora Bora—as well as a broader exodus by various routes into Pakistan and Iran—but insist that Al Qaeda now is crippled and too busy running to do much damage. “Perhaps we could have got them wholesale,” says one senior Defense official. “Now we’re doing it retail. In the end, it doesn’t make much difference. We’re getting them.”" We might want to take care of this before we "invade" Iraq.
posted by owillis at 2:17 AM PST - 14 comments

RIAA mistaken, mp3s not the problem says new study. The study has some interesting predictions too. Will we ever pay for tunes if we can get them free?
posted by BGM at 12:20 AM PST - 54 comments