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Equatorial Guinea has a new swimming star: 22-year-old Eric Moussambani. He won his heat in the 100m freestyle, despite never having learned how to swim at all until January, and having never even raced more than 50m before this race. His winning time: 1:52.72. Since that's about a minute more than it takes most Olympians, it should be noted here that his two competitors had been disqualified for false states, so he had the pool to himself. You really need to see the video of him "swimming" to believe it. But it's obvious that Sydney now has its own Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards!
posted by aaron at 10:48 PM PST - 8 comments

Is everyone asleep at the wheel? "The Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to normalize trade with China, marking a turning point in a half-century of stormy relations between the world’s strongest power and its most populous nation. In return, trade relations will no longer hinge on China’s human rights record, a link that has long irritated Beijing." It is a sad day for human rights in China.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 8:56 PM PST - 25 comments

Bush: 342 / Gore: 224
Bush leads Gore in the number of jokes made about him on late night talk shows.
posted by tamim at 8:50 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Censored students post articles online You can't shut the kids up. The next generation is gonna kick our butts so fast...
posted by owillis at 8:37 PM PST - 6 comments

The author of The Anarchist Cookbook wants is to go out of print, but his publisher owns the copyright and keeps pumping them out. I had always heard the CIA published it, and filled it with faulty recipies designed to kill anybody messing with bomb materials.
Might be another twist on recent copyright discussions, but what do I know, I paid for my copy of Steal This Book.
via BoingBoing
posted by thirteen at 3:51 PM PST - 7 comments

GW Bush regards Churchill as his favourite historical figure. Or so he'll say on "Oprah", apparently. Now, given that Churchill was a depressive, bellicose alcoholic, who ultimately lost by a landslide to a party promising widespread social reform, is this wise? ;)
posted by holgate at 10:26 AM PST - 29 comments

Manny Poppins? Would you hire a male nanny? I don't see any problems with it as long as there is a good back-ground check.
posted by da5id at 9:51 AM PST - 17 comments

Soon you can get your own copy of the Human Genome. (Funny, I thought I already had one.)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:05 AM PST - 1 comments

We're overdue for a big disaster. "Two years without a harvest? It would probably bust civilisation. People would survive all right. It really would cut us back, and that is the sort of thing nobody really prepares for. It's not some ecological poison or GM foods or nuclear that is going to get us, it is going to be some perfectly ordinary natural event." Almost enough to make me stock canned goods again.
posted by norm at 8:15 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

or, Don't vote Bush.
posted by tiaka at 7:54 AM PST - 5 comments