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Link Wray has left us. Link Wray, one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time, has died in Copenhagen at age 76.
comment posted at 8:41 AM on Nov-21-05
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this i believe: there is no god. the inimitable, outspoken penn jillette (of penn and teller fame) takes a hell of a brave stand in today's climate of blind faith.
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comment posted at 11:48 AM on Nov-21-05

Who needs bunnies when you have kids to test on? "Protections for Subjects in Human Research," a newly proposed EPA rule allows for: for government and industry scientists to treat children as human guinea pigs in chemical experiments in the following situations: 1. Children who "cannot be reasonably consulted," such as those that are mentally handicapped or orphaned newborns may be tested on. With permission from the institution or guardian in charge of the individual, the child may be exposed to chemicals for the sake of research. 2. Parental consent forms are not necessary for testing on children who have been neglected or abused. 3. Chemical studies on any children outside of the U.S. are acceptable. And don't miss the Q&A section below. Sec. 26.408 of the EPA document is where you'll find the provisions and waivers mentioned (it refers to other sections absent from the document, weirdly).
comment posted at 7:42 AM on Nov-21-05

If you're looking for one of those famous, big-eyed alien abductors, try looking on the sides of milk cartons. The UFO cultural moment in America is long since over, having gone out with the Clintons and grunge rock in the 90s. An interesting take on how the internet effected UFO culture.
comment posted at 2:57 PM on Nov-20-05

Chokeback Mountain The newest gay love story is also the oldest straight one.
comment posted at 10:57 AM on Nov-20-05

Sign a Donor Card! Organ transplantation has taken great leaps and bounds. What used to take twelve to fourteen hours for, say, a liver transplant, has now been reduced (in some cases) to a three-hour operation. Holding times (the length of time for which an organ can be between donor and recipient) have increased. What hasn’t increased are the number of donors. (mi)
comment posted at 8:27 PM on Nov-19-05

Shame: the Final Frontier. Following his successful kidney stone removal, William Shatner now wants to sell it on eBay for charity. Technically, selling human body parts is against site policies, but Shatner hopes an exception will be made for charity's sake, as well as the millions of Trekkies he believes will want to bid on "the ultimate piece of Star Trek memorabilia."
comment posted at 1:37 PM on Nov-19-05
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Parallel Wales. They came from Wales, and settled in places called Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. They brought new contributions to the American fabric, but also old names that took on new meanings. Now, more than a hundred years later, what echoes remain? (via Projects)
comment posted at 2:21 PM on Nov-19-05

Traditionally, (video) a DJ uses two turntables, but recently a series of new products has challenged the primacy of vinyl. While local record shops have been closing left and right, online stores have begun offering digital downloads. One digital-only outlet recently sold their 1,000,000th mp3. And now, a new store has taken the DJ completely out of the equation by making mix cds on demand.
comment posted at 11:42 AM on Nov-14-05

Should programmers refuse to write malicious programs? Doctors take an oath to do no harm. We'd all like our computers to do what we want, and would be quite upset if they didn't. Should Sony's programmers have refused to write the malware?
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comment posted at 8:37 AM on Nov-14-05

10 years. Though I already went on and on about this on another thread, I can't shake it: Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged ten years ago. All he did was point out that Shell so scarred, pitted and slimed his tribal Ogoni lands that it was spontaneously catching fire. Oil company cronies showed up with guns, cleared villages. And then Nigerian government officials got pissed, and nine Ogoni were hanged. Wiki. Testimony of his brother. His foundation.
comment posted at 4:27 AM on Nov-14-05

Memory - 36 cards. Turn two over. If the pictures match, both get eliminated. Else turn them back and select another two. Repeat till field is cleared. Post the number of moves you took. [via]
comment posted at 11:11 PM on Nov-13-05
comment posted at 11:38 PM on Nov-13-05

Mortal Kombat! Test your might... by being able to watch the whole thing. And yet, still somehow better than the actual movie. (WMV link)
comment posted at 2:43 PM on Nov-13-05

Belgian authorities allow free registration of .be domain names in a temporary promotion. Hilarity ensues. (apparently metafilter.be is still available)
comment posted at 4:24 PM on Nov-13-05

British man 'recovered from HIV' Doctors are planning further tests on a British man whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV
comment posted at 1:09 AM on Nov-13-05
comment posted at 1:20 AM on Nov-13-05

After the first time I flew on an upgraded ticket, I wondered why some airline didn't just make slightly more expensive tickets on a plane filled with fewer, roomier seats for those that crave comfort (basically, all business class). Well, it looks like someone has at Eos Airlines. The seating arrangements look fantastic, going from roomy seat area to flat bed to double table with two seats (for a coworker), with privacy and aisle access for all. Unfortunately "slightly more expensive" is pretty high at $5k for NYC to London, though that's cheaper than major airlines. Business Week has the full story on this new venture.
comment posted at 7:49 PM on Nov-12-05

From 1964 to 1992, Texaco (.mov, 20.6MB) drilled for oil in the northern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, known as the "Oriente". The company left 627 open toxic waste pits and other facilities which continue to leak highly toxic waste, affecting more than 30,000 local people. A higher incidence of birth defects, cancer, miscarriages, skin diseases, and death continues to plague people whose only source of water is a contaminated river. ChevronTexaco refuses to remediate the damage, claiming that they already "cleaned up" their share of the contract, by shoveling 3 feet of dirt over some of the open oil pits.
comment posted at 4:10 PM on Nov-12-05

Sony steps in it again. In the midst of the uproar about the Sony rootkit previously mentioned here, J. Alex Haldeman found a second sneaky piece of work in Sony CD's. It's pretty clear now that the only safe way to listen to music from Sony is to steal it. [via]
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comment posted at 8:32 PM on Nov-12-05

"It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began." As part of the administration's "campaign-style" strategy against criticism of the decision to invade Iraq, President Bush's Veteran's Day speech, which is basically the same speech he gave last month, does a little history-rewriting of its own. The president said that "a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs," and that Democrats "had access to the same intelligence." Neither assertion is wholly accurate. [more inside]
comment posted at 2:53 PM on Nov-12-05

Significance of numbers. Not to be confused with the concept of "significant figures," this page lists the significance of numbers 0 through 1000. See! "2 is the only even prime." Hear! "24 is the largest number divisible by all numbers less than its square root." Thrill! "3367 is the smallest number which can be written as the difference of 2 cubes in 3 ways." Whoa!
comment posted at 2:15 PM on Nov-11-05

Loose change A one hour analysis of 9/11 and how it is more likely than not that the government was actually behind the attacks. A documentary analyzing the footage and presenting an alternative view to the official version.
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Live in Denver? Single? Between 40 & 60? Male? Spiritual? Have enough money to buy a 600,000 dollar house? Then you might be in luck, provided you like blondes.
comment posted at 11:03 PM on Nov-10-05

The teaser trailer has just appeared online for Darren Aronofsky's first movie since 2000, and only his third overall. It's the result of an incredibly tumultous Gilliam-style gestation period that included a large budget being greenlighted with Brad Pitt in the starring role, Brad Pitt dropping out of the project to film Troy with Wolfgang Petersen, sets being destroyed, the project being cancelled, the crew members writing a public tirade deriding his desertion that concludes with the "Send the word.... Brad is a dick.", and, finally, a movie (still being edited) that was re-written to be filmed for half the budget with Hugh Jackman as the star in Mr. Pitt's place. Script reviews and early looks indicate it may be one of the most ambitious studio releases in recent memory. Even if it doesn't entirely succeed, isn't this a good thing for films in general?
comment posted at 10:59 PM on Nov-10-05
comment posted at 11:15 PM on Nov-10-05

For those who tire of the usual paper and pencil-based puzzle, try Websudoku.
comment posted at 2:38 PM on Nov-10-05