MetaFilter

Harry Potter is a head. Who knew? The things some people will find to be paranoid about...
comment posted at 7:38 PM on Jul-17-00

DeCSS Trial Begins Today. Today is 2600's day in court. This trial deserves more media attention than it's been getting.
comment posted at 3:54 PM on Jul-18-00

Target sells one hell of a tooth brush
comment posted at 3:56 PM on Jul-18-00

It is time for Louis Freeh to lose his job. Carnivore, indeed. This has got to stop.
comment posted at 6:13 PM on Jul-16-00
comment posted at 6:34 PM on Jul-17-00

The Anatomy of File Download Spyware. A nice report on the "spyware" present in downloading utilities like Netscape/AOL's "Smart Download", NetZip "Download Demon", and RealNetworks "RealDownload". It's true, we are all being watched.
comment posted at 6:22 PM on Jul-16-00

Holly crap! $144 Bil. punitive damages.
comment posted at 4:06 PM on Jul-16-00

Scour is in some trouble But is it really their fault? The web is loaded with all kinds of junk, they just happen to be bring it all together in one searchable site. none the less, bad news for them.
comment posted at 11:56 AM on Jul-16-00

Is this the real reason some people hate cellphones?
comment posted at 8:09 AM on Jul-14-00

"Hatch Warns Labels, Don't Make Me Come Over There and Spank You" Oooh! This is gonna be good. [ From Inside via Dan Lyke's excellent Flutterby. ]
comment posted at 8:35 AM on Jul-14-00
comment posted at 3:51 PM on Jul-16-00

VW New Beetle Grand Prix...that's just dope.
comment posted at 8:38 AM on Jul-14-00

Let the witch-hunt begin. Truthfully, I don't blame the police one bit for taking the guy down as hard as they did... he resisted arrest 2-3 times as well as exchanged gunfire with them twice before they subdued him.
comment posted at 4:19 PM on Jul-13-00
comment posted at 8:57 AM on Jul-14-00

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.

Oh, excuse me, but this is a duplicate post. But why does that previous post have tomorrow's date on it? Could it be from July 14th, 1999? And if that's the earliest surviving post in the archives, then that must mean...
Happy Birthday, MetaFilter!
a day early, but I thought we needed time to collect 1216 greeting comments, and take up a PayPal collection to buy Matt something cool for under 30 bucks.
comment posted at 1:32 PM on Jul-13-00

Is there a reason mattl.com points to Metafilter, but www.mattl.com gives me a 500 error? Or am I just going crazy again?
comment posted at 1:41 PM on Jul-13-00

Wow! Lars Ulrich makes a valid point! Who'd a thunk it? While he still fails to notice the obvious benefits the Nap' provides, or make amends for attacking his own fans (or at the very least realized that it's not Congress' place to meddle), Lars has gone ahead and more clearly illuminated his own point of view. Now if only he could have STARTED his argument a few months ago with such calm and coherent points (as opposed to grandiose posturing), this whole Napster debate would be a bit more...um...SOLVED by now?!
comment posted at 7:29 AM on Jul-12-00
comment posted at 2:22 PM on Jul-13-00

he's fabulous. i read this guy' journal from beginning to end in an obsessive fit yesterday. enjoy.
comment posted at 8:25 AM on Jul-12-00

The end of view source? New software on the horizon may allow you to control who saves, copies or prints your web content. Are the days of right-click piracy coming to a close? Will this add weight to the budding concept that people might actually pay for content they want? Should we care?
comment posted at 8:55 AM on Jul-12-00

Police State 2000. "What makes you think you can edit content?" the federal judge asked city officials. "Isn't that classic censorship and prior restraint?"
comment posted at 7:41 AM on Jul-11-00
comment posted at 9:33 AM on Jul-12-00

Are Jason and Heather secretly the same person, or is there some other reason (that escapes me) that his July 6th and her July 7th entries start out with exactly the same paragraph?
comment posted at 8:19 AM on Jul-11-00

Well, here's an interesting one. Slashdot reports that a company called Quova is pinging the entire Internet, and pissing lots of folks off -- partially because they won't say why.

But I'm on the North American Network Operators Group mailing list, populated by the people who run those networks, and I ain't heard squat about it. Whassup widdat?
comment posted at 3:22 PM on Jul-8-00

While I'm not a fan of Harry Potter books (yet - I'll get around to checking them out someday soon), I find it interesting to see some folks still strongly oppose the stories of sorcery, while it seems the average CNN.com reader doesn't see a problem with them (the poll is 97-3 as I write this). It seems that every few years, some fiction strikes the fancy of kids, and parents rally against it, even though it piques kids' imaginations and gets them reading. What's so wrong with Potter books?
comment posted at 7:04 AM on Jul-7-00

No one seems to have pointed out the Napster press release. It lists the points made in their legal brief, and, by cracky, they're all damned good ones. Their lead lawyer is the guy who just split Microsoft up; I think he might be able to win it; what do you think?
comment posted at 2:42 PM on Jul-6-00
comment posted at 3:27 PM on Jul-8-00

"Netscape is using SmartDownload to eavesdrop," I thought Microsoft was the ONLY evil!
comment posted at 3:58 PM on Jul-7-00
comment posted at 3:59 PM on Jul-7-00

This story of a whiz kid who vanished raises all kinds of questions. Sufiah, a 15-year-old student at Oxford University, disappears; then, her father receives an e-mail, supposedly from her. The e-mail claims that she ran away from her father's abusive high-pressure learning techniques; the father claims that she must have been kidnapped and brainwashed. The police aren't sure how to handle this situation, as there's no way to prove that the mail is really from the daughter. Finally, the father has called in the media to present his side of the story, since Sufiah has threatened to go to the media with hers.
comment posted at 2:47 PM on Jul-6-00

A Damn Good Idea, but about as likely as Dr. Laura joining NOW.
comment posted at 1:15 PM on Jul-6-00

The Last Refuge... invaded... Yes, I have a cell phone. Yes, I use it. But, I turn if off any place it would be rude to be having a full-voiced conversation, because I hate it when people make or take a call in those situations. I'd always sort of enjoyed the fact that the airlines claim they'll screw up navigation systems; whether they do or not, it means I don't have to listen to a dozen suits around me trying to out-do each other a-wheelin' and a-dealin and a-squealin' up and down the aisles. Guess I won't be flying Virgin Atlantic again any time soon...
comment posted at 1:21 PM on Jul-6-00

T-206 The most valuable baseball card of all time is up for auction on Ebay. Honus Wagner T206
comment posted at 2:52 PM on Jul-6-00

I hear dead components. How nice that your computer can sing to you when it's breaking down. I wonder if there's any significance to "It's a small world."
comment posted at 6:31 PM on Jul-5-00

"Fire Bryant Gumbel for His Intolerant Remark"?? -American Family Association-- What the hell is going on with people in this country? I can't have an opinion any more? Bryant wasn't being intolerant... He simply didn't like the guy. He was uttering his opinion under his breath when he thought the microphone was off and he was off camera. (It took a lip reader to ascertain what was actually 'mumbled') Must I agree with everyone's opinion ALL the time and actually 'LIKE' everyone all the time? Or what? Do I get a 'timeout'?
comment posted at 6:47 PM on Jul-5-00

Sony to introduce new CD format. No, it's not DVD-Music. It's a new double-capacity CD format that Sony says "will be able to prevent illegal copying." I'm assuming the new format will require all-new hardware to read and to write. So my question is, what's the point? Won't another music format just increase consumer confusion and make them more reluctant to buy? Why come out with a 1.3GB format just as recordable DVDs, with much larger capacities, are becoming practical? Do they really expect people to buy all new hardware to support what is obviously a dead-end format?
comment posted at 6:50 PM on Jul-5-00

Napster Says RIAA Trying to Stifle Technology. Aw yeah, it's nice to see Napster get on the offensive. Armed with data showing that CD sales have increased with the rise in mp3 trading, Napster is now alleging that record companies are against the software because it reduces their 100% control of the music distribution business. But will a court allow Napster to go on while their users walk the fair-use tightrope?
comment posted at 7:03 PM on Jul-5-00

"Yes, I'll have the McGreenBeans and a side of McOven Roasted Chicken" , McDonald's Corporation announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the Boston Market business and has named two executive officers to lead the business, effective immediately.
comment posted at 7:06 PM on Jul-5-00

Page One of Harry Potter IV posted at the The Standard. Man, I hope this is a spoof.
comment posted at 11:07 AM on Jul-4-00

www.excite@home.com Anyone know how they got that domain? Which NICs are allowing "unusual" characters, and how widespread is the standard?
comment posted at 11:14 AM on Jul-4-00
comment posted at 11:19 AM on Jul-4-00

If not the best weblog in the world, certainly in the top three. For all of us who think that there's no good blogs out there, I point to defense exhibit A: Ethel the Blog. It is, indeed, one of the best websites of any definition in the world, and I envy Steven K. Baum's mighty intellect greatly. I already reviewed it at my review blog, but because I know how low the traffic is there, and because this is indeed one of the best websites in the world, I'm posting it here. I don't know Steven. We've never met. He is not paying me to say this. This is purely for the public good. And now, quite possibly, the best blog in the world.
comment posted at 11:40 AM on Jul-4-00

In an elaborate ceremony, the confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina Statehouse dome where it had flown for 38 years by Citadel cadets - one white, one black - amid cheering flag supporters and jeering anti-Confederate flag demonstrators. A smaller, square version was raised moments later on 30-foot flag pole by Civil War re-enactors in front of Confederate soldier's monument on Statehouse grounds, part of the compromise reached by the Legislature in May. Gov. Jim Hodges, the only top official taking part in Saturday's flag relocation ceremony, said most South Carolinians support the compromise that plants the flag at the most visible spot on the Capitol grounds.
comment posted at 11:45 AM on Jul-4-00

While you were sleeping, gay people were getting married in Vermont. Beginning at midnight last night, people began flocking to their town clerks [some of them] and signing pieces of paper that would allow them to visit their partners in the hospital and file state taxes jointly. While I have yet to see a news photo of a happy couple [no thanks to the AP] I'm sure today is going to be an interesting day in town.
comment posted at 11:52 AM on Jul-4-00

I was looking for info on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and I found this piece of dung. Why are some people so damn hateful and ignorant? Worse, who do they have websites? (Yes, I know I could have just ignored it, but I think it's a dangerous ideal they preach, and one that people need to be aware of.)
comment posted at 7:14 PM on Jun-29-00
comment posted at 6:48 AM on Jun-30-00

It's just a list of links but can there be any doubt that the New York Times was inspired by webloggers?
comment posted at 6:58 AM on Jun-30-00

Douglas Rushkoff: "The myth of the internet - and one I believed for a long time - is that most people really want to share the stories of their own lives." And I'd add to that: most of those people who DO want to share their own stories really don't know how to do it. And that includes me...
comment posted at 7:05 AM on Jun-30-00

MSNBC's Robert Wright seemes confused in this story about the Global Positioning System. He misinforms the reader about how terrorists can now use the military's encrypted GPS signals for more accurate positioning. (FYI: you are still unable to use the military's encrypted GPS signals, contrary to what Wright claims.)
more inside>>
comment posted at 12:02 PM on Jun-29-00

Red Hat co-founder Marc Ewing files to become a millionaire. Finally. More power to him, I say.
comment posted at 12:10 PM on Jun-29-00