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Banned weapons and WMD parts were shipped out of Iraq after the US forces took power according to the UN. At least thats the best I can make of this article. Does this really say that the UN is upset at us for shipping out of Iraq the exact things they previously said were not in Iraq?
posted by soulhuntre at 10:32 PM PST - 73 comments

Underground French Cinema (literally) Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by experts from the French electricity board to see where the power was coming from, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor: "Do not," it said, "try to find us." A secret underground cinema is found in the Catacombs of Paris, "You guys have no idea what's down there." Perhaps it's the work of a group of cataphiles called the "Perforating Mexicans".
posted by biscotti at 9:31 PM PST - 17 comments

Russian TV broadcasts siege video: [BBC link: RealPlayer/RealAlternative/Windows MPC] SFW
Unknown provenance of footage, but clearly genuine. Terrorist uses 'Dead Man's Brake' switch on a bomb, also shots of Hoop Bombs'. Beware: NewsFilter
posted by dash_slot- at 3:41 PM PST - 39 comments

Famous Diamonds [Tripod page, but a really good one]
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 3:10 PM PST - 9 comments

Earlier this year the Labour run Welsh Assembly funded a web project to find 100 Welsh Heroes. The winner was Aneurin Bevan, a Labour politician. Now, the IT manager who ran the project says that he was instructed to fix the results. More inside...
posted by ceiriog at 2:47 PM PST - 10 comments

Bore Riders are a strange breed of inland surfers, catching periodic tidal surges (pic) that can carry them for miles upriver. Surf the English countryside, France's Bordeaux region, the freezing waters of Alaska's Cook Inlet, the Amazon jungles, or China's Silver Dragon, the largest tidal bore in the world.
posted by eddydamascene at 2:45 PM PST - 9 comments

Big Dick Lit : I guess this is not safe for work.
posted by angry modem at 1:55 PM PST - 18 comments

Lift & separate. (iTMS link) Then divide and conquer. Don't be a girly man or the terrorists win.
posted by subpixel at 1:21 PM PST - 22 comments

How do you ask someone to be the 1,000th person to die for a mistake? Of course there are people who say the US Media is playing down the casualties. But why would a powerful country need to lie about its losses?
posted by jackspace at 12:58 PM PST - 111 comments

politics.slashdot.org... Can politics.metafilter.com be far behind?
posted by togdon at 12:51 PM PST - 7 comments

US Army to Rebid Halliburton Contracts
Looks like Halliburton's about to lose its sweetheart deal as the US Army looks to rebidthe contracts.
"Pentagon auditors last month "strongly" urged the Army to withhold paying 15 percent of Halliburton's bills in Iraq, saying the company had not provided enough details to support at least $1.82 billion out of $4.3 billion of logistical work."
Insert inappropriate snide political comment here.
posted by fenriq at 10:44 AM PST - 26 comments

Global Artists. If influential historical figures were reincarnated as artists, what works of art would they produce today? [Via Aeiou.]
posted by homunculus at 10:30 AM PST - 2 comments

The bias of balance : new study of how media "evenhandness" distorts truth "Two researchers argue, in a paper published this month in the journal Global Environmental Change, that following the norms of American journalism, U.S. media have promulgated a bias in the coverage of climate change essentially by giving too much credence to climate skeptics at the expense of the scientific consensus." - "Reporters and editors at four of the nation's top newspapers [ New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal ] adhered to the journalistic norm of balance at the expense of accurately reporting scientific understanding of the human contributions to global warming" (an earlier work in this vein).
posted by troutfishing at 9:59 AM PST - 28 comments

Tuesday Diversion -- puzzling entertainment for those who are having as difficult a time with motivation this Tuesday-after-a-holiday as I am.
posted by papercake at 8:52 AM PST - 13 comments

Does your OB/GYN practice his love on you? Apparently Mr. Bush thinks they're unable to do so because of trial lawyers like Mr. Edwards. This is pretty amazing. This is our president. Wow. Dude.
posted by Shike at 8:45 AM PST - 96 comments

Because spaceflight, in and of itself, is just way to easy. On 08 August 2001, NASA launched Genesis. It was a spacecraft that would spend 1125 days in space, including 884 days collecting 0.4 milligrams of solar particles. At that point, it would launch a 500 lbs return vehicle that would travel 600 mph back to earth. When it enters the atmosphere, at approximately 11:55am EST on Wednesday of this week, it will be going close to twenty-five thousand mph. Oddly enough, this is the easy part of the mission.

Because then, two minutes later, NASA is going to catch it. In mid-air. With a helicopter. Really.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 8:37 AM PST - 32 comments

Skin Deep: A safety assessment of ingredients in personal care products. The Environmental Working Group has published a new report listing possible toxins in over 7,500 personal care products, including soap, toothpaste, shaving gel, and hair dye. The Executive Summary of the report is here, and the most handy tool for consumers is their Searchable Product Guide.
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:06 AM PST - 10 comments

Art thou a knight-errant questing for the favor of thy lady? The Knighthood, Chivalry and Tournaments Resource Library is ready to be thy squire. Heav'n forbid that thou couldst be lax in thy study of the Codes of Chivalry and Rules of Romantic Love. Do not eschew thy escutcheon, impress damsels fair with thy knowledge of heraldry. Lastly, learn thy vocabulary.
posted by sciurus at 5:26 AM PST - 6 comments

Gravity Monuments were erected on several college campuses in the 1960's and 1970's by the Gravity Research Foundation "to remind students of the blessings forthcoming when science determines what gravity is, how it works, and how it may be controlled." I regularly visited the one at Colby College, in Maine. Emory had one, and apparently SMU did as well. Anyone know of others?
posted by mmahaffie at 4:37 AM PST - 15 comments

What has a wet nose, a tail, and an internal combustion engine? Is it possible that we haven't posted the "Dogs in Cars" site before? If you haven't seen it, this collection of hundreds of viewer-submitted photos featuring tail-waggers on wheels should make you smile (unless you hate dogs, in which case you should hightail it over here). Love dogs, hate cars? Sniff around at Dogster.com.
posted by taz at 4:20 AM PST - 10 comments

Russian may have solved Riemann hypothesis. Financial disaster ensues.
posted by Espoo2 at 2:21 AM PST - 17 comments

Did you know that eating is one of the fondest things Clara Bow is of? Ripping the It Girl a new one, circa 1931.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:09 AM PST - 21 comments