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In 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 1... 1... 1... "In this footage obtained exclusively by The Memory Hole, watch as the President of the United States sits and does nothing after learning that his country is under attack." Andrew Card whispers about plane #2, POTUS remains engrossed in book. (Warning: Quicktime, little kids reading slowly in unison for five long minutes.)
comment posted at 10:27 AM on Jun-26-03
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comment posted at 2:27 PM on Jun-26-03

Dancing dog, schmancing dog. Walking dogs is where it's at (you'll see). A dog tale deserving of a 'standing' ovation. I still say, dogs rule! [video link under the last image on the left]
comment posted at 11:31 AM on Jun-25-03

This interview with a "pro-choice" suicide site owner is an interesting read. The website she runs was linked to a few suicides earlier this year, but she contends the site helps people cope and prevents more than it enables. [via k diggity]
comment posted at 3:55 PM on Jun-24-03

Katinka Matson's scanned flower art : technology lets the flowers speak. "...imagine a painter who could, like Vermeer, capture the quality of light that a camera can, but with the color of paints. That is what a scanner gives you.... In her flowers one can see every microscopic dew drop, leaf vein, and particle of pollen—in satisfying rich pigmented color....." (scroll down for images)
comment posted at 3:46 PM on Jun-24-03

Enslaved by free trade. The founding myth of the dominant nations is that they achieved their industrial and technological superiority through free trade. Nations that are poor today are told that if they want to follow our path to riches they must open their economies to foreign competition. They are being conned.
comment posted at 3:27 PM on Jun-24-03

So you’ve just received a junk email encouraging you to visit a website for some irresistible pornography or to consolidate your debts! Well, it’s time to oblige the people who fill your mailbox with spam. Let FriedSPAM visit their sites for you -- about a million times! After all, you are only doing what the spammers are asking you to do. (via Pop Culture Junk Mail)
comment posted at 12:48 PM on Jun-24-03

You're the one that I want! Okay, I've seen trained dogs before, but this is ridiculous. A highly choreographed routine between the trainer and perhaps the world's furriest John Travolta impersonator (warning WMV link).
comment posted at 10:12 AM on Jun-24-03

Girls dress up, boys don't. Boys need to help girls cross the street. Girls work, boys play. Subtle gender messages (and really silly hairstyles) as observed by Monsieur Jean after collecting images from different countries of children on street signs for his salon.
comment posted at 9:23 AM on Jun-24-03

Whichbook: a neat little flash app that permits you to select on a sliding scale up to four different features of a novel and then recommends a list of prospective reading to you. (Plain-text available here). (via sixdifferentways).
comment posted at 11:16 AM on Jun-23-03

A split decision from SCOTUS on Affirmative Action -- in cases specifically involving the University of Michigan, the court rules that the law school's AA standard is legal while the undergraduate standard is not. The University president is spinning this as a full out victory because the court has now "given a roadmap" for how Affirmative Action programs can be designed for higher education nationwide. While polls show that Americans want diversity in education but are unsure about Affirmative Action, it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon. And the fundamental question remains: when it comes to education, is being a racial minority four times more important than having held a position of national leadership? Twenty times more important than writing an outstanding admissions essay?
comment posted at 11:46 AM on Jun-23-03
comment posted at 9:59 PM on Jun-23-03

Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade wants veredict of Roe vs. Wade overturned
CNN's legal expert says it will not happen. Findlaw.com has a summary of the case for your perusal pleasure. Also worth remembering are the ambiguous opinions of the current administration on the issue.
comment posted at 1:54 PM on Jun-20-03

More environmental data goes down the memory hole... Another EPA report gets "edited" by the White House to minimize warnings about climate change and the contributing factors of industrial and automotive emissions. Data from a 2001 report on climate by the National Research Council commissioned by by White House is omitted in favor of research data funded by the American Petroleum Institute. Behold the best government money can buy...
comment posted at 1:28 PM on Jun-19-03

Remembering Laci (sans taste) This link leads to a tribute song, in quicktime, to the late Laci Petersen. Sorry to bring things down to a tabloid-filter level, but the sheer hilarity of this song, as well as this leads me to wonder whether these were done (tastelessly) in earnest, or (tastelessly) in mockery.
comment posted at 12:47 PM on Jun-18-03
comment posted at 1:01 PM on Jun-18-03

It's not exactly the same as being in heaven surrounded by virgins.
comment posted at 10:08 AM on Jun-18-03
comment posted at 10:46 AM on Jun-18-03

Short Supply of Natural Gas Raises Economic Worries (NYT link) and Canada Cannot Solve Our Natural Gas Problem. More to come at the forthcoming Natural Gas Summit on June 26. At least I live in a country which is among the firsts in the line to the Algerian natural gas.... which buys me some tranquility, although depletion and the peak of oil and natural gas will hit us, sooner or later, globally. (via the energyresources list)
comment posted at 9:12 AM on Jun-18-03
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comment posted at 10:42 AM on Jun-18-03

Freedom from annoyance vs. freedom of religious expression A municipal bylaw restricting when Jehovah's Witnesses can go door-to-door protects residents' right to privacy and does not violate the group's right to religious freedom and expression, a lawyer argued Tuesday. The City of Blainville, which believes many of its residents don't want Jehovah's Witnesses at their door on weekends and in the evening, is appealing a lower-court ruling that declared its bylaw unconstitutional. But the three justices cautioned Mr. Paquin that it's dangerous to distinguish between someone's right to religious freedom and their right to express their religious beliefs.
comment posted at 2:35 PM on Jun-17-03

Self destruct files to secure DVDs and CDs. Songs and movies will expire after a single play, unless you pay up.
comment posted at 10:54 AM on Jun-17-03

Hulking out. I don't know what is more overwhelming, the sheer number of products tied in with the new Hulk movie, or the amount of detail kokogiak collected on the subject. I'm trying to remember another movie that had this variety of marketing tie ins (Slim Jim? Shot glasses? Jello?)
comment posted at 2:28 PM on Jun-17-03

European right of reply. The Council of Europe is drafting a proposal, "... that Internet news organizations, individual Web sites, moderated mailing lists and even Web logs (or 'blogs'), must offer a 'right of reply' to those who have been criticized by a person or organization." Considering that someone will have to pay for the storage and bandwidth required to host rebuttals, this seem the very antithesis of "free" speech and could get quite expensive.
comment posted at 6:35 PM on Jun-16-03

The criminalisation of language?.
A judge rules that chanting "Paki" at a football match is a criminal offence. "Lord Justice Auld ruled...that the word 'Paki' was 'a slang expression which is racially offensive.'" Personally I come from a culture that finds it acceptable to say things like "I'm just going to the Paki shop, do you want anything?"[Pakistani owned corner shop] and "Anyone fancy a chinki?" [Chinese food.]I've used the terms and I think racism is silly; now I'm a racist criminal I guess.
comment posted at 1:21 PM on Jun-16-03
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Dangerous Road Signs. Okay, so, I'm posting a link to a photoshop contest: I'm lame, that's a long established fact. That said, some of these really did amuse me - take a gander if you're up for a laugh.
comment posted at 1:29 PM on Jun-14-03

Something's wrong with the Segway if even the leader of the Free World and his noble father can't dominate it. Or could it be vice-versa?
comment posted at 6:27 PM on Jun-13-03
comment posted at 9:37 AM on Jun-14-03

Amnesty International's 2003 Report on US isn't pretty - 2002 was not a good year for the United States. How do we, as a nation, deal with this situation?
comment posted at 9:51 AM on Jun-13-03
comment posted at 4:43 PM on Jun-13-03

Calls for a ban on Halal and Kosher slaughtered meat in the UK are being called an attack on religion or necessary to improve the welfare of farm animals... Where to start thinking about this? Take 1: Is there a vast right-wing, um, wait, left-wing, um wait, err, something-wing conspiracy against Muslims right now? Take 2: Is this a case of "colliding waves of political correctness"? Take 3: As a vegetarian (works for me, ain't gonna preach) the notion of killing animals nicer is kind of funny. Why couldn't we just survey the animals as they enter the slaughterhouse? "Slash to throat? Bolt to head? Electrocution? Thank you, drive through." Whichever way you look at the story, it just goes to show you, the world's a complicated place and you can't please anyone.
comment posted at 11:24 AM on Jun-10-03
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comment posted at 1:29 PM on Jun-10-03

"And mark my words, the calculated intimidation which we see so often of late by the "powers that be" will only keep the loyal opposition quiet for just so long.  Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will emerge.  And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall." This is Senator Byrd, just a light at the end of a very dark and probably very long tunnel.
comment posted at 11:50 AM on Jun-10-03

Flag-burning amendment passes the House? Yeah it's highly unlikley this will pass the Senate which is good. I can't say the same for are friends the French who's government just passed a law to jail or fine anyone who insults the flag let alone burn it.
comment posted at 12:03 PM on Jun-4-03
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comment posted at 11:38 AM on Jun-9-03

Walt Disney World's recent designation as a no-fly zone has had an additional consequence: Christian extremists can no longer harass gay tourists from above.
comment posted at 7:11 PM on Jun-3-03

Gay Pride events are taking place worldwide this month, and PlanetOut has got a number of interesting features to mark them: most fascinating to me are a series of coming out stories from other, mostly third world, countries. The first a tale of someone growing up gay in Bosnia, and today from someone in the Phillipines, with more to follow each day this week. There's also an article commemorating the 25th anniversary of the rainbow flag (which is getting back in the pink). Good, if not terribly in-depth, stuff. Be careful when following the links, you might run into some gay/lesbian/non-vanilla NSFW stuff.
comment posted at 6:32 PM on Jun-3-03

The Leading Light In Not Only Doughnuts: Canada! I don't know if any of you have noticed but Canada is becoming fiercely fashionable in the rest of the world, perhaps as a model of an American-European fusion that everyone else can live with. Paul Robinson's list of Canada's virtues is impressive and difficult to dispute. Perhaps the lil' ol' U.S. are lagging dangerously behind in the general rush to jump on the Canadian bandwagon? And yet... And yet... What is it about Canada or, more to the point, about the dismissive attitude of that great country's neighbours?
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