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How many more terrorist cells are out there? Living less than half an hour from Lakawanna, where a group of men trained by Al Queda were just arrested, I'm rather nervous.
I couldn't help but be reminded of another another recent thread when MSNBC reported that the men were turned in by the local Muslim community.
posted by Kellydamnit at 11:39 PM PST - 19 comments

There's something out there
Target Body: J002E3 Spacecraft (UNCONFIRMED)
Observer Location: Los Angeles, CA
Coordinates: 118°14'27.6''W, 34°03'15.1''N

Since September 5th, the Minor Planet Mailing List (MPML) has been abuzz with speculation about an unidentified 16th- magnitude object. During the next 10 days the object will be moving rapidly across Aries and then Taurus, passing between the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters.
posted by riley370 at 9:52 PM PST - 32 comments

Sometimes a kind of existential perception of the absurd comes over me and I see with awful certainty the hypocrisies and posturing of myself and my fellow men. Carl Sagan commenting (circa 1971) on an experience he had while high on Cannabis over at Marijuana-Users.com. One of the only efforts (along with Cannabis Consumers) to get people to "come out" and help remove inaccurate stereotypes from the mind of the public.
posted by botono9 at 9:17 PM PST - 64 comments

Signwave, the creators of Auto-Illustrator, have now released SleepTight. [Press release]
posted by Su at 9:10 PM PST - 6 comments

The LSD Blotter Art Gallery? The Moist Towelette Online Museum? The LED Museum? The Japanese Coffee Can Menagerie? Eighties LA Street Flyers? The Galley of Stakepark IDs? And my two favorites The Museum of Air Sickness Bags (check out those donations and swaps) and The Gallery of "Misused" Quotation Marks. What do they all have in common? They all can be found at the Museum of Museums. I've wandered through these galleries for hours.
posted by entrustNoOne at 8:20 PM PST - 14 comments

meshcap.com is, well, ummm, a gallery of mesh caps. You can almost smell the fried dough at the county fair as you peruse such fashion statements as this, this, this or this.
posted by machaus at 8:11 PM PST - 10 comments

EscapeRail finds beauty on every block - a photographic study of fire escapes.
posted by momorgan at 5:40 PM PST - 9 comments

Hunter S. Thompson's Advice to Bush: Quit! Political commentator, sports enthusiast and all around American treasure lets fly. When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.
posted by Ty Webb at 5:08 PM PST - 40 comments

Operation S.I.C.K. (Stop Inciting Children to Kill) is an independent network of students combatting the exploitation of children for armed conflict.
posted by ookamaka at 3:58 PM PST - 3 comments

This week in 1978, the most bizarre and hideous of murders was committed. Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident was jabbed in the thigh with a deadly umbrella. The umbrella inserted ricin into him, killing him on September 11th, 1978. To this day, his killer has not been punished.

Question to ponder: Does the US CIA have their own 'deadly umbrellas'?
posted by RobbieFal at 3:49 PM PST - 38 comments

The West Nile virus has leapfrogged into California. Don't you find it suspicious that there are no subversive theories of how this virus showed up at all in New York, and now in California?
posted by semmi at 2:31 PM PST - 29 comments

Why Aren't U.S. Journalists Reporting From Iraq? "This notion that the Iraqi leader is in cahoots with Osama will be easy to feed the American people. To the American people, one bad Arab is the same as the next, and Osama equals Saddam. People who wonder about the Bush war-urgency only need to think about this: there’s a blind spot that needs to be exploited now, before too many journalists get the idea to go inside Iraq and find out what’s really happening. As long as the Condi Rices, Dick Cheneys and other hawks are talking to journalists with no experience inside Iraq, they won’t get a raised eyebrow about this notion that the secular dictator is in bed with the jihadis -- even though [reports indicate]....the CIA has found no link between the Iraqi dictator and Al Qaeda."
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 1:48 PM PST - 55 comments

"Coz every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man" [via The Smoking Gun]
posted by Dirjy at 1:37 PM PST - 53 comments

Word 97 Users Abandoned by Microsoft? "Microsoft's flagship word processor has for years had a security flaw that could allow a criminal to steal computer files by "bugging" a document with a hidden code." Microsoft will fix the problem for newer versions of Word, but those of us who use Word 97 are more or less out of luck. As it turns out, the Microsoft Corporation page doesn't seem to have any easily accessible information on this issue.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:08 PM PST - 40 comments

Kurt Cobain's childhood is home for sale on eBay. "The inspiration for lyrics of many of his songs were derived from life in Montesano during these early teen years." [thanks spotmeter]
posted by mathowie at 12:54 PM PST - 17 comments

Boston is having a real brouhaha over grass-roots efforts to return to rent control. Here in D.C., some folks aren't happy about a massive vending machine in Adam's Morgan. Meanwhile, D.C. braces for protests surrounding the upcoming meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Is there, in this day and age, a debate raging about the equity, and even the efficacy, of capitalism? Is Marxism still a viable vein of thought in the modern age? Are free markets as self-policing as some folks argue? Or does industry require a more arduous watchdog?
posted by NedKoppel at 12:08 PM PST - 33 comments

Can the LA Times write a decent story about bloggers and blogging? They certainly didn't in their latest piece. Plus they took an interesting angle of writing about bloggers, but ignoring every single LA-based blogger despite the fact that LA just might be home to the largest community of bloggers on the planet. But LA shouldn't feel shunned, the Times didnt mention the Instapundit, Ev, or Metafilter either.
posted by tsarfan at 10:41 AM PST - 48 comments

Nothing Friendly About "Friendly Fire" WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Air National Guard pilots may face criminal charges for their roles in a bombing that killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

A senior defense official said the Air Force is recommending that charges be filed against F-16 pilots Maj. Harry Schmidt and Maj. William Umbach. Pentagon officials were expected to announce the charges Friday after the U.S. Central Command and the Canadian government released additional details from a joint investigation of the April 17 tragedy.

what do you think? will this help prevent similar tragedies, will pilots think twice before they let fly on unsupecting canadian troops or wedding parties?
posted by henriettachicken at 9:44 AM PST - 20 comments

In a way, his works are like a butterfly collection - a vain attempt to capture fleeting, elusive life and beauty, by meticulous means. Joseph Cornell (1903-72), one of many misunderstood and underrepresented american artists IMO. A few of his boxes on WebMuseum.
posted by poopy at 9:43 AM PST - 11 comments

Nigerian scammer, meet James T. Kirk. Or, how to turn the scam around.
posted by misterioso at 8:53 AM PST - 31 comments

Welcome to the State Department... I mean, the Republican Party. "For some time, travelers browsing the State Department Web site for helpful tips about Guadalajara, Mexico, found much more than they bargained for when they clicked on a photograph of President Bush. The click transported them to a partisan playground, where they were told how to get involved with the Republican Party and even how to donate money to it." (Why does nytimes.com have all the good stories?- metafilter, metafilter)
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 8:46 AM PST - 11 comments

Mission Mini. Thieves have stolen 6 valuable paintings, and a Mini Cooper S. Read the mysterious novella by Scottish author, Val McDermid, and then fly to Barcelona to take part in this mystery. Mini has arranged plane tickets and hotel for you. Are you up for some sleuthing? Get briefed.
This could be one of the coolest interactive marketing campaigns I've seen in a long while. [some links contain flash]
posted by mad at 7:53 AM PST - 14 comments

Shaving for Uncle Sam. Stories like this just heat my blood. I swear that some people cannot see past their stars at what is really going on. Is this becoming a Gentleman's War? Next thing you know Special Forces won't be able to carry bullets in their guns.
posted by Stretch at 7:31 AM PST - 27 comments

Republicans' economic policy is now closer to that associated with the Democrats, and vice versa. "Since the 1960s, the Republican and Democrat administrations have switched places on economic policy. The pattern is so well established that the generalisation can no longer be denied: the Republicans have become the party of fiscal irresponsibility, trade restriction, big government and bad microeconomics." Who'd have ever thought Bush would follow a Keynesian economic policy? Meanwhile, as the budget deficit grows, Greenspan cautions fiscal responsibility.
posted by Kneebiter at 6:40 AM PST - 8 comments

Terrorists to make us "cry on 9/13" Looks like some terrorists have been picked up on I-75 in Florida, apparently on their way to the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area. Seems like the news media is definitely glomming on to the "special dates" scenario that's been spoken about a few times, i.e. 9/11, Friday the 13th, Halloween, et al. Do you buy into that, or is it just coincidence? Watch out for terrorists at your local Shoney's!
posted by djspicerack at 6:13 AM PST - 103 comments

The Ultimatum has been delivered to the UN... This conflict, simmering for over ten years is about to erupt. "In strict accordance with international law," unilatteral military action is imminent unless demands are met. Animosity has been mounting steadily for months, and Russia is ready to invade Georgia. "No one can deny today, and for ourselves we are certain, that Georgian territory is sheltering both those who are implicated in the attacks on the United States and a direct operative involved in the attacks on housing units in Russia," Mr. Putin said on Russian television, echoing the logic U.S. President George W. Bush has used to rally international support for a pre-emptive strike on Iraq. The United States said it would not support Mr. Putin if he carried out his threat to attack Chechen rebel bases in Georgia, and slammed him for suggesting he might. "The United States strongly supports Georgia's territorial integrity and would oppose any unilateral military action by Russia inside Georgia," a U.S. State Department spokesman said. This all seems rather hypocritical, business as usual new world order politics: Is the price of getting UN Security Council approval on Iraq going to be public and secret deals, and is this really about the Chechens, or about breakaway republics and Caspian Sea oil? And what about China? Will we rubberstamp their ambitions re: Taiwan, Spratley Islands, Mongolia? And finally, why Georgia? I know they put up a two-bit Olympics and never caught that one terrorist bomber, but really, Georgia?
posted by Mack Twain at 4:58 AM PST - 25 comments

Is This Finally The Best Of The Rolling Stones? Their website was redesigned earlier this month in preparation for Forty Licks, the upcoming anthology which is being touted as the definitive compilation of their best songs. Is it though? There have been, er, more than a few of them in the past - even (most shockingly!) a couple of very good ones. Nor do the four new songs exactly transmit over-confidence. More pertinently: does it (do they) still matter? [Or, are we better off sticking to the current Primal Scream reincarnation?]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:53 AM PST - 51 comments

Read it sideways. The first smiley was posted to usenet on September 19, 1982. Almost twenty years later, the original posting is uncovered on an old tape backup (after a search that smiley-inventor Scott Fahlman has dubbed the “Digital Coelacanth Project”). Of note: Mr. Fahlman thinks that AOL’s and MSN’s penchant for replacing the smiley-string with little pictures “destroys the whimsical element of the original.”
posted by sherman at 12:39 AM PST - 26 comments