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Google makes another killer app? Rackmounted servers devoted to googling your own intranet or website. Just look at those specs and features. Google is selling 1 server, retail $28,000, and they are marketing especially for corporate intranets. But imagine the power that would be at the fingertips of archivists, students, and researchers everywhere with a dedicated, customized Google for their own website. Imagine being able to do a detailed search that would literally comb the content of every page published by Project Gutenberg. In seconds, you could call upon thousands of years of writing for any and all information on any specific subject. What kind of implications will this technology have long-term for students, researchers, and archivists?
posted by insomnyuk at 11:02 PM PST - 21 comments

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden imbeciles...

The Oulipians dis Wordsworth. [via Follow me Here]
posted by slipperywhenwet at 9:32 PM PST - 23 comments

Send a sheep to your beloved in Ethiopia. You can choose from Medium, Big, and Very Big sizes...all with a guarantee! I like their holiday specials too -- check out number 5: a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red and a medium sheep. (though I think I'd need a bottle of scotch if someone sent me a sheep.) Similar to this post, but I had more fun with this. Too bad it only delivers to Addis Ababa...
posted by Vidiot at 8:45 PM PST - 6 comments

The Saudis wanna sue. A group of Saudis plan to sue the U.S. government and media organizations for the alleged psychological and financial damage they suffered in the aftermath of Sept. 11, their lawyer said Wednesday.
posted by kayjay at 7:19 PM PST - 24 comments

Tamyra Gray eliminated! Wow, what an upset. I'm embarrassed to admin that I watch this show, but I do watch it. You should have seen the look on the judges faces when she was voted off - total shock. Word on the street is, people are using software to war-dial the voting system and vote for Nikki McKibbin. Is this Fox's fault for not securing their voting system, or is it just part of today's new Internet paradigm?
posted by Maxor at 7:08 PM PST - 53 comments

Comic book retailer sentenced to jail for selling a book to an adult The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's lawyers are filing an appeal in the highest criminal court in Texas in the obscenity conviction of Jesus Castillo, manager of a Dallas comic book store. Castillo has received six months jail time, a year probation, and a $4000 fine. [more inside]
posted by dejah420 at 6:39 PM PST - 36 comments

What He's Really Currently Listening To is a spin on the "currently listening to" feature iTunes users are rigging up to their personal sites. What are you really listening to?
posted by fred_ashmore at 5:26 PM PST - 24 comments

The Insider's Guide to Real Policing. It's a job that connects all your favorite pastimes—sitting around, eating, bullying people, writing incomplete sentences. After years of research and development, our investigators have found that policing is the easiest job in the District. from Washington DC's City Paper.
posted by Ty Webb at 4:35 PM PST - 8 comments

All Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology Why did Bin Laden's homies do what they did on September 11? Why did Lindh (as per the Steve Earle thread below) do what he did? Here is a cogent answer.
posted by kozad at 3:37 PM PST - 19 comments

GettingIt, the hideously green, but biting and amusing webzine that hired every freelancer in the bay area and somehow survived on no revenue for six months is back. The full story of the rise and fall of the publication is a good one. [via waxy]
posted by mathowie at 3:31 PM PST - 13 comments

The track list for We're a Happy Family -- A Tribute to the Ramones looks, uh, ...interesting. No Motorhead though, the shame. I am glad that Rob Zombie is proving that it is possible to produce a tribute album without the omnipresent Sheryl Crow.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 2:56 PM PST - 12 comments

Peaceful co-existence with the animal kingdom, example #240. At a local boat ramp in the Richmond, VA suburbs, there is a problem with black vultures causing damage to cars. The buzzards are being attracted by trash and food scraps being left by fishermen cleaning their catch. The birds are scratching trucks and cars, crapping wherever they please (the nerve!), and ripping out the rubber from windshield wipers. What does Chesterfield County decide to do about it? They hired the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife services program to eradicate the entire flock.
posted by machaus at 2:49 PM PST - 29 comments

Is Preemption a Nuclear Schlieffen Plan? The greatest and most difficult task facing a statesman in international affairs is reconciling the natural tension between the constructive nature of a nation's grand strategy with the destructive character of its military strategy. The emerging doctrine of preemption should be examined in the context of this challenge. With this in mind, the author continues with a "Dr. Strangelove" type warning. Are our leaders "doing themselves in" (and us with them) in the current 'war' on terrorism?
posted by tgrundke at 2:12 PM PST - 12 comments

Oh No! Not Another Underrated Artist Who Was Ahead Of His Time... Oh yes: it's Tom Thompson(1877-1917). This time, though, the Internet has helped exact a sort of revenge. For those unlucky enough not to live in stately Ottawa and be able to visit the exhibition of the great colourist's work there (through September 8), someone has done a great job of presenting Thompson's paintings on the web, including a wonderful selection of merchandise and an appropriately quirky little quiz. So they do win a few, now and again...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:58 PM PST - 8 comments

How to make money off terrorism. This outfit will e-mail you "near real-time notices about terrorism related news and events as a free public service" and expects 50,000 to 100,000 subscribers. According to their news-release page, "when subscribership reaches significant levels the email alerts will be an effective advertising medium for in-house efforts as well as outside advertisers." As in, for example, "Alert: there has been a biological warfare attack. This message sponsored by Clearasil Anti-Bacterial Soap."
posted by beagle at 1:46 PM PST - 13 comments

Da liddle guy checks out (in 18 months) Jean Cretien, the Prime Minister of Canada, has just announced he's stepping down thereby avoiding a party revolt and also neatly sinking his main opponent's chances. Will Canada ever find another PM who is as politically astute and at the same time as cartoon-like and embarassing (cough) Mel Lastman (cough)? Favourite memories, please.....
posted by BGM at 12:02 PM PST - 51 comments

We, the undersigned, think you're untalented. Why do over 20000 people think that RnB singer Ashanti didn't deserve her Soul Train Lady of Soul Entertainer of the Year award? What does Soul Train make of all this?
posted by monkeymike at 11:07 AM PST - 76 comments

What's "the primary cause of cervical cancer?" Did you know that "as many as 40 million Americans are infected?" Should you be alarmed that "There is no direct treatment?" Let's talk Papilloma.
posted by zekinskia at 11:02 AM PST - 31 comments

Go, Speed Racer, Go. The official web site, with Mach 5 specs, character profiles, and leather jackets "by renowned jacket guru Jeff Hamilton." Coming soon: an interactive Mach 5. (See also: Brunching Shuttlecocks ratings of the Speed Racer characters.)
posted by kirkaracha at 10:56 AM PST - 8 comments

The Longlist of the Shortlist Music Prize. Last year's inaugural winners were Sigur Ros. The White Stripes can't win. Which of the nominating musicians and film-makers has taste that most reflects your own?
posted by liam at 10:53 AM PST - 28 comments

Children of the 70s may remember the Brady Bunch Hour, the cornball song-dance-sketch variety show featuring the cast of the famous sitcom. You may also recall controversial cast member, Geri Reischl, a.k.a."Fake Jan". Reischl replaced Eve Plumb in nine episodes of the variety show after Plumb (wisely) refused to appear in the musical revival. Some fans even cite Reischl's exceptional singing and dancing abilities as the highpoint of the Brady Bunch Hour—just ask the fine folks at The Official Geri Reischl Website.
posted by VelvetHellvis at 10:44 AM PST - 14 comments

"'Curious strength' drives every aspect of the campaign." Introduced to the US in 1918, Altoids (Flash) have existed since the reign of George III, and were marketed as a digestive aid for over a century; shortly after their US debut, they were even billed as "an antidote to poisons in the stomach". Today they hold a distinctive place within their industry, with quirky ads and a reputation as being The Mint to Beat. Their tins are tricked out by craftsy types, their history is catalogued (and sometimes embellished), and they have had shrines built in their honor; not to mention their alleged bedroom merits, which are widely accepted despite Snopes' few words on the subject.

BTW: the new Tangerine Sours rock, IMHO, but Cinnamon is thought by some to be Evil...
posted by atavistech at 10:22 AM PST - 32 comments

The copyright cops are lacing up their boots and plan on making an example out of you.
posted by anathema at 9:39 AM PST - 59 comments

Are you a diamond in the rough?
For as little as $4,000, LifeGem Memorials will turn your cremains into a diamond, allowing your loved ones to cherish you forever while admiring your sparkling brilliance.
According to the Cremation Association of North America, about 26 percent of the 2.3 million U.S. residents are cremated, and they predict that rate will jump to nearly 40 percent by 2010. Perhaps we've found an alternative to those other blood diamonds?
posted by me3dia at 8:59 AM PST - 27 comments

Washington, DC bar officially enters Guinness Book of World Records with 'the largest selection of commercially available beers' (1,072). Look over the list (from December 2001). Any hidden gems or missing favorites?
posted by LinusMines at 8:35 AM PST - 51 comments

Bush to Urge Logging Plan to Help Curb Fires (registration metafilter/metafilter). Puppet-boy Bush wants to open up selective national forests to logging to help prevent forest fires. While we're at it why don't we kill all the endangered species before they die out? Let's use those polar ice caps for Poland Spring, they're melting anyway!
posted by mad at 7:47 AM PST - 55 comments

Kids got sunburnt A deputy doing round at a county fair in Ohio noticed three children walking with their mother. Their faces sunburnt like they were "dipped in red paint". Their mother is charged with felony negligence and is facing a 15 year sentence if convicted.
I remember getting a sunburn back in grade school, what's the statute of limitations on charging my 1st grade teacher?
posted by omidius at 7:28 AM PST - 55 comments

A wargame carried out by the US military was rigged to ensure the success of the American side against unspecified Middle East opponents, according to the retired General commanding the Middle East forces. Most amusingly, he managed to sink most of the American navy, and the game had to be stopped so the ships could be "refloated". I have to wonder, does this wargame indicate that America could be biting off more than it can chew, if it decides to invade Iraq by itself, or was this $200million down the drain?
posted by salmacis at 5:52 AM PST - 45 comments

Multiculturalism v/s Democracy On this day in 1858, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and one-time U.S. Representative from Illinois, began a series of famous public debates on the issue of slavery, during the course of which Lincoln said:

"They [Founding Fathers] meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all: constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, every where."

I argue that when a culture values slavery, when a culture is built upon a system of basic inequality, regardless of the reasons, that culture is incompatible with Democracy and the ideals of American society, and can not and should not be embraced by Americans. Is it possible that part of the anger at the US stems from the "spreading and deepening" influence of American principles, and not just at our economic and military mistakes?
posted by ewkpates at 5:43 AM PST - 28 comments

Disposable Planet? Find out how many planets we would need if everyone lived like you.
posted by zoid at 2:23 AM PST - 62 comments

Advertisers are no strangers to controversy. Whether they want it or not. But Cadbury's latest scheme gets filed under 'A' for "Are you insane?"
posted by stuporJIX at 1:39 AM PST - 19 comments

Frans Masereel - a great woodcut artist, pioneer of the wordless novel. You can see all of his 1925 Die Stadt (The City) and Landscapes and Voices (1929) at Graphic Witness (Though his Passionate Journey is one of my favorite books.) "First published in Germany in 1925 The City is a portrait of urban Europe between the wars, told in one hundred woodcuts of exceptional force and beauty. Frans Masereel portrays parks and factories, shipyards and brothels, crowds, lovers, and lonely individuals with remarkable subtlety and nuance while exploiting the stark contrast of the woodcut medium.
posted by vacapinta at 12:37 AM PST - 8 comments