MetaFilter

Flags and guns 'selling out as patriotism sweeps US' "Reports show many are first-time buyers as a wave of patriotism sweeps the country since the tragedy." - is this how you celebrate patroitism, buying guns? Well, maybe not: "American Muslims have also been buying guns, fearful of vigilante attacks."
comment posted at 7:45 PM on Sep-13-01

Poll results are starting to come in. Bush haters will not be pleased with the results. Neither will ultrapacifists.
comment posted at 4:13 PM on Sep-13-01

The Examiner spells it out. As a newspaper page designer (for a much smaller, tamer paper), I wonder what you all think of the San Francisco Examiner's semi-profane but heartfelt front-page headline. On one hand, it's editorializing, but on the other, it expresses what an awful lot of people are thinking. I think I like it, but I also know it'd never get printed in a lot of papers, including my own.
comment posted at 11:28 AM on Sep-13-01

Do you think that CNN has the best coverage so far? I've appreciated that they've tried not to be too inflammatory. BBC has been much more graphic (honest) but I think evoking anti-Arab sentiment is a serious fear of the American networks when they choose not to show Arabs celebrating. MSNBC seems to be doing a pretty fair job. I'm not paranoid but is anyone else wondering what else is being withheld. (Sorry for the boring post but I really wonder who people have been impressed or disappointed with so far.)
comment posted at 10:09 PM on Sep-12-01
comment posted at 11:25 AM on Sep-13-01

'Oh my God they are jumping.' The British press covers the attacks with an emphasis on the people who jumped [graphic photo advisory]. I noticed the same thing watching BBC World on cable Tuesday -- is the U.S. press showing restraint with images like this?
comment posted at 10:25 PM on Sep-12-01

MTV plays videos? It took a national tragedy, but it looks like their normal programming has been replaced with non-stop music videos without veejays. That would be weird enough, but all the videos seem to be positively-themed and spanning genres. They're occasionally breaking for original news reports and commercials.
comment posted at 11:57 PM on Sep-12-01

"Lawmakers [have been] told in classified briefings that additional attacks are 'possible if not probable' and they should not assume a false sense of security. This message has been conveyed with a very deliberate and serious level of magnitude." I've been worried about this from the beginning. Who knows if there aren't more terrorists cooling their heels in some airport somewhere because the FAA grounded all the planes so fast? Or that they don't have some evil plan to freak us all out first, get us worked up into a "yeah, we're gonna get 'em!" frenzy, and then do something else just as bad to make us feel helpless?
comment posted at 5:13 PM on Sep-12-01

One leader has risen to the awful occasion -- and, so far, it hasn't been President Bush. Well, at least I'm not the only to notice."Let's give Bush the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge he's extraordinarily busy." True, but it's hard not to notice these things.
comment posted at 5:04 PM on Sep-12-01
comment posted at 9:56 PM on Sep-12-01

Bush may have been target I don't mean to be out of line but I am a bit suspicious when Bush flees, then when a number of media folks question his flight from leadership position he states that his office knew of possible threat to White House. Asked, then, what info they had had so early in the events taking plalce, there is no answer given by the White House. To make matters even odder, we learn that the White House might be under threat but Chaney and Rice remained there. Againb, I am totally willing to give Bush the benfit of doubt. But a leader who flees for security. Couldn't have gone to Dick Gebhart's digs? Who would have thought to bomb that place.
comment posted at 3:39 PM on Sep-12-01

Racism rears its ugly head in subtle ways. In this apparently eyewitness account of what happened aboard flight 93, the terrorists are referred to as "Arab terrorists" not once but twice. Was the second one even necessary? Was the first one necessary? And you wonder why shit like this happens...
comment posted at 1:25 PM on Sep-12-01
comment posted at 1:26 PM on Sep-12-01
comment posted at 1:52 PM on Sep-12-01
comment posted at 1:59 PM on Sep-12-01

Fly the American flag today - If you have an American flag, please make sure it's flying in front of your home or place of business today, at half-staff if possible.
comment posted at 1:37 PM on Sep-12-01

Life goes on – but how? Life changes after a catastrophe like this; there is a clear Before and an After. But at another level, life marches onward. How is your daily life different or the same? (Probably a lot more taking time to smell the roses, yes?)
comment posted at 5:50 AM on Sep-12-01

Bush addresses the nation What did you think? "A silent, unyielding anger"? I was generally impressed, but would like to hear others' reactions.
comment posted at 5:37 AM on Sep-12-01

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here! All this talk about 'circle jerking' lately - I figured, let's get back to basics. How arousing can waxing the flagpole be, semi-publically? Do people applaud successful launches, like a space-shuttle lift-off? Are there prizes for first and last place? If there were snacks, who could trust the cheese dip? I dunno. Human beings are spooky.
comment posted at 12:47 PM on Sep-10-01

The Mullings Plan for Global Economic Recovery - Would this plan effectively stimulate the economy and also benefit the world at large? What do you think will get us out of this slump?
comment posted at 11:02 PM on Sep-9-01

The Economist says "Brands are good for you." "They not only simplify choices and guarantee quality, but they add fun and interest." You need a subscription to read the cover article (natch), but the cover that appropriates Naomi Klein's book title is at the link, and there is a companion article you can read. Here's her response. Are there people who genuinely think that "we" are in charge of the brands? Is this the new corporate line--"Can't we all just get along?"
comment posted at 1:25 PM on Sep-9-01

The Secret Vote That Made Bush President Credit actually goes to Drudge who put this up on his site. The irony in this story was the Russian judges telling Supreme Court justices that "in Russia, we would never allow judges to pick the President."
comment posted at 11:30 AM on Sep-9-01
comment posted at 1:18 PM on Sep-9-01
comment posted at 1:23 PM on Sep-9-01
comment posted at 3:03 PM on Sep-9-01
comment posted at 3:05 PM on Sep-9-01
comment posted at 3:35 PM on Sep-9-01
comment posted at 10:04 PM on Sep-9-01

Today I had a great burrito at Tacos Guaymas. What kinds of food did you eat today? What do you normally eat? Where do you usually go? What kinds of food did you hate as a kid but find delectable now? What do you find yourself eating more of this summer than you did last?
comment posted at 11:24 AM on Sep-9-01

Hook, line aaand sinker. Garry Trudeau falls for a hoax about President Bush's IQ.
comment posted at 2:20 PM on Sep-8-01

I welcome everyone to the 2nd annual MeFi "Worst. MTV. Video. Music. Awards. EVER." thread. And yes, Britney even further cemented her reputation as a....
comment posted at 9:40 PM on Sep-6-01
comment posted at 9:53 PM on Sep-6-01
comment posted at 9:56 PM on Sep-6-01
comment posted at 10:24 PM on Sep-6-01
comment posted at 10:32 PM on Sep-6-01

Party Like It's 999,999,999 "The UNIX epoch dates from January 1st, 1970. Every UNIX system in the world worth its salt keeps track of time by counting every single second since the midnight just before that auspicious date. And soon, they're all going to hit a billion"

How will you celebrate the Gigasecond, September 9 at 01:46:39 UTC ?
comment posted at 10:51 PM on Sep-6-01

Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, the vitriolic alcoholic and recurring guest on The Howard Stern Show has died. I wonder how he ranked on their Dead Pool...
comment posted at 10:21 PM on Sep-4-01

What are you more worried about: death, or your looks? "University of South Australia health researcher Murray Drummond said while there was a growing focus on young men and body image issues, such as steroid use and eating disorders - older men's concerns had been overlooked. Dr Drummond said men aged 55 to 80 were 'not concerned about how they looked as long as they were alive'. But he said they were concerned about what their bodies were able to do."

As a (young) woman, I definitely have body image issues (noting earth shattering, I'm afraid), and I'm not so worried about my body failing me. What about everyone else?
comment posted at 10:19 PM on Sep-4-01

Students for Suicide Pills? On October 12th, 1984, 1900+ students turned out to vote on a referendum asking that their university's Health Services be allowed to offer cyanide pills in the event of nuclear war.

57% of students said they wanted it.
comment posted at 9:27 PM on Sep-4-01
comment posted at 9:58 PM on Sep-4-01

HP buys Compaq for $25 Billion (NY Times link) - The resulting company would be nearly as big as IBM. "The merger ... could create a stronger competitor for Sun Microsystems and IBM in the server computer market while putting pressure on IBM, Dell and Gateway in the personal computer business... The merged company would be in a position to compete with IBM across virtually its entire product line." Now if we can just get someone to fight Microsoft.
comment posted at 8:47 PM on Sep-3-01
comment posted at 8:52 PM on Sep-3-01

The Flitcraft Parable (Warning: RealMedia) This nicely crafted nugget is taken from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. While some literary reputations from the 1920s and '30s are falling (e.g., Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis), Hammett's rep is still rising.

My question: Which so-called genre authors writing today have the greatest chance of still being read in the 22nd century?
comment posted at 10:59 AM on Sep-3-01

Cartoon Network begins its "Adult Swim" programming tonight: Toons aimed at the 18-35 audience. I'm most excited about Cowboy Bebop (Japanese site; English is under construction). (more inside)
comment posted at 10:16 PM on Sep-2-01

Is Bush's, with his 26-day vacation, a role model for fellow workers or do Americans need to accept that "work is life'' and not something from which people need to escape? Are you getting the time-off you deserve, or do you choose to work through your vacations?
comment posted at 3:50 PM on Sep-1-01

England 5 Germany 1 there is a god, and his name is Michael Owen
comment posted at 3:54 PM on Sep-1-01
comment posted at 4:02 PM on Sep-1-01

Ladies beware! It appears that foul contraption, the brassiere, is not only constricting, but holds up women's natural defenses against toxins. Surely, this article will give feminists of the bra-buring ilk the support they need to lift and separate their message from the din.
comment posted at 4:22 PM on Aug-31-01

We're getting some new cable channels in Canada, and one of them is PrideVision, the world's first gay, lesbian, and bisexual television network. Even ten years ago, would anyone have thought we'd someday see programmes like Closeted Hollywood, Dyke TV, Queer as Folk, and Metrosexuality on North American television? And as a category 1 service, Canadian cable companies are required to make PrideVision available as part of their digital service.
comment posted at 8:49 AM on Aug-31-01

Smart young kids and too much freedom do not mix well. A girl prodigy at the age of 14 goes to university. She becomes mixed up in drugs, alcohol and sex. The parents sue school for lack of supervision. Is it really the school's job to look after her? Don't the parents have some responsibility here?
comment posted at 8:33 AM on Aug-31-01