September 11, 2002
Best. Video. Ever.
Best. Video. Ever. (Well, not really. This is just a tribute.) Gotta love Tenacious D - what other band has merchandise like this?
N.Y. Lottery Draws 9-1-1 on 9/11
N.Y. Lottery Draws 9-1-1 on 9/11 This is a pretty strange coincidence. Some people find coincidences everywhere. But, others say the world would be more surprising if coincidences didn't occur. Still, this is pretty odd. What coincidences have you experienced? Do you see meaning in them?
Campaign for Freedom.
Campaign for Freedom. The Ad Council does some good work. This campaign has been running for a bit, but until yesterday I'd only seen the spot Main Street USA. The others in the series, like this and this are probably my favorites-- all the more so because we're heading in exactly that direction.
U.S. troops on DEFCON 2 alert
U.S. troops on DEFCON 2 alert "The Canoe.qc.ca web site has learned that American Marines in the Persian Gulf have been placed on DEFCON 2 alert status, a possible precursor to war with Iraq." - the Canoe.ca site is often several hours ahead of more popular news sites (CNN, MSNBC, ect) with breaking news.
Are you being watched at work on the Web? And how carefully?
Are you being watched at work on the Web? And how carefully? The good news is that I finally have more than dialup at work. The bad news is that my Internet is filtered, or at least being watched via something called Websense. How common is use of such software these days? Does anyone have experience with this type of software? What information does it log? Can it be defeated?
Attempted hijack on Dallas to Houston flight?
Attempted hijack on Dallas to Houston flight? RTE in Ireland is reporting an American Airlines jet bound for Dallas, Texas returned to Houston Airport shortly after takeoff because of what an airlines spokesman called 'a security incident' on board...just a precaution or was something serious going on?
Take Five - you won't be disappointed
Take Five - you won't be disappointed The perfect way to end a day of stress and media overload. This will take about five minutes, but stay with it. Sure, it's funny (VERY), but it's the messages at the end that make it worth watching the whole thing.
Just when I was feeling like there was nothing worth looking at today...
Silly Putty
Silly Putty supersized. Indulge in tactile manipulation on the kind of scale that would make jealous schoolchildren weep. Do they come in giant plastic shells?
September eleventh
September eleventh certainly is an anniversary, but of more than you might remember. Historical Hindsight is a short piece on why some events are remembered and others forgotten. "The things that get remembered serve a purpose. They have to do something relevant in the present."
Help yourself to an exploit.
Help yourself to an exploit. No biting social commentary here, just spreading the word on an ooky Win XP exploit in the form of a malicious Help Center request. The patch has been silently rolled into SP1, and is otherwise unavailable. Of course, if you want to install SP1, you'll have to agree to that nasty Trojan EULA.
The Pakistani Sufi-Rock band Junoon have released their new English single "No More" which remembers the innocent victims of 9/11 and terrorism everywhere. Penned by Polar Livine of Polarity 1 and Salman Ahmad of Junoon the song can be heard/downloaded at the Junoon Website along with they lyrics.
They might not be household names in the US but they are big in the subcontinent and elsewhere. They have appeared on US media many times including NPR took a deeper look in their role in presenting another face of Pakistan.
Together Salman Ahmed, Brian'o'Connell, and Ali Azmat have relentlessly called for peace between India & Pakistan and raised enough controversy domestically to be banned by several "Democratic" governments in Pakistan.
Some sort of insanity must have possessed this guy, making him think he could write a prequel trilogy to Roger Zelazny's classic Amber series (ahem, not this one). Most reviewers agree--and you can read for yourself--that it's not very good. All this, and the fact that the Sci-Fi Channel also has sinister plans for the property means that there are only one or two nails left to be driven into the coffin of my childhood. Hooray!
Another entry to file under "we could have cured cancer, but..."
Another entry to file under "we could have cured cancer, but..." I suppose this falls more under the MetaFark category than anything else, but researchers in the U.S. have devised new ways to make rabbits reproduce... like rabbits. Odd how that works.
Mooks and Midriffs
Mooks and Midriffs. "Mook" is a good and useful word, and we should all start using it more often. Douglas Rushkoff made a special for PBS' Frontline about the selling of "cool" to America's adolescents. Buy it here, it's really worth watching.
Earth has a third satellite?
Earth has a third satellite? Somehow I missed that a second one, Cruithne, was discovered in 1986. Is there a size or distance limit to something being considered a satellite?
NYT Arts story that conjectures critical (and popular) retro fixations are not only something new (or somehow newsworthy) but can be credibly associated with 9/11 sentiment.
NYT Arts story that conjectures critical (and popular) retro fixations are not only something new (or somehow newsworthy) but can be credibly associated with 9/11 sentiment. Oh, and freshly minted art isn't as good or noteworthy as the old stuff, even if that old stuff (Nevermind, Eastwood's Unforgiven) is from the early '90s. Pick apart, please.
RPS.
RPS. Not some new government organization, nor a new tech term. I am speaking of the age old decision maker, Rock-Paper-Scissors. Who knows how many important decisions in the course of history have been decided by this method.
A little bit of fun here on such a somber day, just don't let your co-workers catch you practicing against the computer.
Today
Today some of us thought it would be fitting to build a thread made exclusively of links, where each link would be allowed to speak for itself and be each user's personal take - his or her own wordless comment, as it were - on any of the many issues, meanings and aspects surrounding today's date. (Here's the MetaTalk thread where it was discussed).
You Call That Evidence?
You Call That Evidence? Op-Ed from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists about the so-called evidence for the administration's claim that Iraq is "moving very near a nuclear weapon capability." Too bad something that at least seems to be approaching the truth will have nothing to do with whether we go to war or not.
SKELETONS have come out of the closets and are creeping along Cincinnati's streets.
SKELETONS have come out of the closets and are creeping along Cincinnati's streets. People say that Jim Cissell released them.
Four years ago, Mr. Cissell decided that it was time to move the county's court records onto the Web. The documents were already public. They were already electronic. Where else to put public electronic documents but on the Internet?
Buzz Aldrin punches moon conspiracy theorist
Buzz Aldrin punches moon conspiracy theorist - Light on content but loaded up with a snappy title, this headline had me rolling. I can only imagine how 33 years of 'conspiracy theorists' could play on your nerves. If only there were places I could keep track of celebrities who loose it.
Simon Schama on the last year...
Simon Schama on the last year... Excellent stuff. The article moves from describing the immediate grief to an analysis of where events have taken America religiously, politically, and in its public life.
Apparently, the dead are owed another war. But they are not. What they are owed is a good, stand-up, bruising row over the fate of America; just who determines it and for what end?
"In the most recent issue of the Arms Sales Monitor, the Arms Sales Monitoring Project finds that the War on Terror has provided the U.S. military with an excuse to begin arming regimes that had previously been blacklisted for human rights abuses, weapons proliferation, or brutal conflict" - Federation of American Scientists.
The content of this document gives rise to a range of issues. Can arming new friends with advanced weaponry strengthen the long-term security of the U.S, or will this ultimately ensure renewed hostility arising from an apparent readiness to take sides in foreign conflicts?? One year on from 9/11/01, has the moral high-ground implied by the 'War Against Terrorism' been fatally eroded by turning a blind eye to the questionable ethics of 'friendly' states (the records of the Saudis, and arguably, the Israelis and others, may also be a case in point)?
George Bush's Article in NYTIMES.
George Bush's Article in NYTIMES. I was surprised to see an article by the prez on nytimes.com. We are used to presidents communicating through TV- but there the speech is picked up by all major channels in that case. It seems odd to see a sitting president use one newspaper to put forward a viewpoint. Perhaps, Al Gore's articles in the same space spurred dubya. Oh, by the way, what did you think of the story? Is this the work of a speechwriter or do you think it is genuine? Did everyone notice the absence of the word Iraq in this article?
(The customary apology for the nytimes post applies. I believe you can still register as metafilter, metafilter.)
On hallowed ground.
On hallowed ground. Dave Barry writes about the Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania.
Heres something for all the "L337"
Heres something for all the "L337" When was the first time someone babbled in "llama"to you? If you're a fan of the game quake check out this tongue in cheek guide to llama speak
« Previous day | Next day »