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I like this list of ideas how men can take sexism on as their own struggle. [via full bleed]
posted by sudama at 10:11 PM PST - 90 comments

The Houston KMart mass arrest saga continues. The arrest of 278 people, many seemingly innocent, for trespass in a KMart parking lot was hotly discussed here as was the Chief's suspension of the Captain in charge of the raid. The Chief later suspended an additional twelve officers. Apparently, the captain and the chief have a running feud from well before this raid, which has now led to the chief being indicted for perjury and stepping down until his trial is over.
posted by caddis at 9:28 PM PST - 10 comments

Rogue Statesman Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s absolutely crazy, quite possibly illegal back-channel chats with the villains of Sept. 11 This is quite a story.
posted by bas67 at 8:24 PM PST - 22 comments

"In tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, Blue Man Group has created an eloquent video. The usually explosive performance artists do not appear in it; there are no blue-painted heads in sight. Instead, pieces of white paper drift down in front of a pure black background as percussive music plays. All these papers were found in Brooklyn, where they floated across the river from the World Trade Center." (Quoting The New York Times.)
posted by Soliloquy at 7:52 PM PST - 30 comments

Central Park Rape Case Convictions in Question. Does the blogging community care? With daypop having technical difficulties, its hard to tell. Although, one voice expressed his opinion back in June before these current revelations. (question pondered at uppity negro)
posted by negroplease at 6:09 PM PST - 20 comments

Buddy, we hardly knew ye. Vincent A. Cianci, Jr., mayor of Providence, R.I., heads off to jail on conspiracy charges, thus ending one of the most colorful relationships between a mayor and his city since Daley's Chicago. Whether revered for his astounding reconstruction of an embattled downtown, chastised for a career of shady dealings with shady people (and one unfortunate incident involving a fireplace, a lit cigarette, and his wife's lover), or turned into a cult figure by artsy college students, one thing is certain: Providence is a more interesting place because Buddy was a part of it.
posted by PrinceValium at 5:17 PM PST - 11 comments

Ok. Ok. The origin of broomsticks I've gotten many requests from Metafilter readers (you know who you are) about my comment in a thread (you know which one). You can always do your own research you know . . .
posted by jeremias at 4:51 PM PST - 7 comments

Don't steal people's bandwidth for your auctions, lest ye be prepared to suffer the consequences of your actions.
posted by Arvid at 2:42 PM PST - 24 comments

Dwagenheim through the Americas. Dwagenheim is an Alaska marine fisheries biologist riding his bike from Prudoe Bay, AK to Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. Great stories and beautiful pictures.
posted by rotifer at 2:41 PM PST - 3 comments

The Rec.Sports.Soccer Statistics Foundation is heaven for all football buffs (attention: proper football). For example, what is the worst football team in the world? Or when did the most ridiculous penalty shootout happen?
posted by edsousa at 2:04 PM PST - 14 comments

Doh! Despite Homer Simpson's worst fears, the Albuquerque Isotopes will take the field next year. However, the team is not originally from Springfield, but from Calgary. The city's AAA baseball team will move to New Mexico next year.
posted by xmutex at 1:50 PM PST - 21 comments

A hot rod hamster caused quite a stir when he was caught racing along the promenade – in his dragster car. More Friday Funny.
posted by Grod at 1:39 PM PST - 21 comments

The Iraq Daily - News from the Iraqi Ministry of Information. Sure, it might be information light and propaganda heavy, but since Iraq has been in the news lately, why not check out how they are represented online? I found their art links to be especially interesting (apparently, Kelsey Grammar's recent "Macbeth" production was of interest to the Iraqi press). The Iraqi News Agency provides a bit more information. Headlines include "Stupid American Sanctions". You can also read a series of open letter to the people of the United States from President Hussein himself.
_{Egads, I hope I am not going to be monitored by the Feds because I visited these sites.}
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:07 PM PST - 22 comments

Pakistan government may replace pirated Windows-based systems with Linux "The Microsoft Corporation has already offered over 90 per cent discount to the government but we want to press for more cuts in prices." Is the Linux announcement a bargaining strategy or a serious sign? This June O'Reilly story provides some context, noting a sudden spiking popularity of open source software within the U.S. government, which "actually lags behind other major governments" who are "gravitating toward open source software for a variety of reasons."
posted by mediareport at 12:46 PM PST - 10 comments

Help Jack Welch buy a newspaper Papers filed in the divorce of former General Electric chief Jack Welch contend that GE agreed to provide the executive enormous perks for life: access to corporate aircraft, use of a Manhattan apartment, Knicks floor-level seats, satellite TV at his four homes...plus costs... from wine and food to laundry, toiletries and newspapers, certain dining bills at the restaurant Jean Georges. Good for him: but hasn't executive compensation reached a bizarre detachment from actual performance? (sorry, AFL-CIO link)?Unless of course you're a woman (Businessweek.com link, conservative-safe)
posted by matteo at 11:37 AM PST - 4 comments

The World Summit on Sustainable Development has come to a close and some say it was not very effective. It has becoming clear we need to act as an international community. But, what is an international community? (And can it work as well as our web community?:)
posted by Dr_Octavius at 11:11 AM PST - 3 comments

one: a space odyssey here's a wonderful little film that manages to do kubrick's 2001: a space odyssey in exactly a minute with lego. it's only flaw is it brevity, but it does cover all the major plot points cleanly. enjoy it on this lazy friday.
posted by boogah at 10:47 AM PST - 16 comments

The frequency of chocolate cake compared to my freakin' laptop computer? Kirlian Photography? God! So much hype! The Q-Link! That stupid "arm test!" The more I think about it, the more bogus it seems!

A true believer discusses the flim flam behind a Tony Robbins seminar in James Randi's online newsletter Swift.
posted by mikrophon at 9:52 AM PST - 50 comments

The Associated Press has written a summary of the Bush Administration's curtailment of civil liberties. This appears to an unbiased and factual catalog of the changes 9/11 has wrought on our justice system. It would appear that the Law and Order wing of the GOP has spanked the Libertarian wing but good. Let the Eagle Soar!
posted by pejamo at 9:52 AM PST - 54 comments

From the jawdropping-stupidity-in-advertising dept: Target recently pulled its "eight eight" line of clothing upon learning of its neo-Nazi undertones. At the same time, British sneaker pimp Umbro got spanked for naming a new line of kicks "Zyklons" — which may seem like a meaningless Decepticon-esque fake word unless you happen to remember that the Nazis used Zyklon B (hydrocyanic acid) in their death chambers. But, OK, still, some marketing twerp that doesn't know his world history, working for Umbro — fine. Pull the sneakers, no harm, no foul.

But Umbro is not the only manufacturer trying to get some play out of the Zyklon name. Turns out that Siemens — a German manufacturer — wanted to have a new, Zyklon-branded line of appliances. Among the to-be-branded Zyklon products?

Gas ovens.
posted by blueshammer at 9:43 AM PST - 34 comments

Canada's long term viability in question amongst canadians "only 30 per cent of Canadians are certain we will have an independent country 25 years from now". Sure it's a link about canada, but I'm sure it has plenty of North American and Global relevance, doesn't it?
posted by canucklehead at 9:33 AM PST - 28 comments

Aviation inventor and innovator Paul MacCready's son, Tyler, invented the Walkalong Glider, which is a glider that flies from the air that your body (hands, head, etc.) pushes up as you walk behind it, to give the glider lift. WowWee, a division of Hasbro, has bought the rights to Tyler's invention and is mass producing and marketing them as the Air Surfer, coming to a toy store near you soon! Check out the commercial (5.4Mb) to see it in action, or check out the training movies.
I have got to get me one!
posted by Sal Amander at 9:32 AM PST - 9 comments

Check out this Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 -- it vibrates! Friday Flash: MashiMaro! He's a disgruntled rabbit that looks like a marshmallow, and he's a hit with the Hello Kitty crowd looking for some potty humor.
For those of you without Flash, I offer Kogepan, a burnt red bean bun with a negative attitude. To quote the designers, "If a round & expressionless character says 'wanna try?' ... it's unexpectedly funny! Kogepan was born from this idea!"
posted by me3dia at 9:30 AM PST - 8 comments

Friday Flash! A new take on an old song, chock full o' irony -- Flash animation to Slim Whitman's There's a Rainbow in Every Teardrop You're Cryin'.
posted by sparky at 7:44 AM PST - 2 comments

Journey to Planet Prostate is an online (Shockwave) game created by the UK's Prostate Cancer Charity to help raise awareness and educate people about the importance of the prostate in men's sex lives, by way of a "pre-ejaculatory biological tour." It's also just the thing for a Friday morning. Are you one of the seven in eight who doesn't know what the prostate does?
posted by nickmark at 6:58 AM PST - 28 comments

99.9% of Websites Are Obsolete An excerpt from an upcoming book by Mr. Zeldman in which he continues to argue the practice of standards compliance - "Held up as a Holy Grail of professional development practice, backward compatibility sounds good in theory. But the cost is too high and the practice has always been based on a lie." I enjoy his writing but he seems to be repeating himself as usual. Still, it is a good argument: where do we focus our priorities for future development - pure standards compliant CSS models, backwards compatibility, or somewhere in between? I know this has been discussed before but thought it postworthy due to the new book and all.
posted by poopy at 6:51 AM PST - 110 comments

Netflix may be driving me crazy with popup ads but I love their service. Where else can you rent L'Avventura, The Seventh Seal, Run Lola Run and Rashomon?

It encourages me to explore more movies, which has led me to several "greatest movies ever" lists. I'm thoroughly hooked and my film snob rating is slowly rising. Is this a good thing? I can't even stand to watch drivel like Signs anymore, and my family is tired of subtitles and refuses to watch No Man's Land with me. Anyone else in this predicament? By the way... has anyone seen a good book about the greatest directors?
posted by kevin123 at 4:39 AM PST - 57 comments

Looks like it's already started, American and British aircraft make an unusually large strike against Iraqi air defences near the jordainian border. Is this the precurser to Bush and Blairs looming Gulf war?
posted by JonnyX at 3:28 AM PST - 62 comments

Who Killed Tupac Shakur? More importantly, does the L.A. Times run the risk of re-igniting an east-coast/west-coast rap "war" by implicating a certain notorious indivdual in a feud that was virtually nonexistent until the media hyped it up the first time around?
posted by aflores at 2:25 AM PST - 34 comments