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Going, going, gone. Despite royalty costs that are lower than for commercial stations, numerous college and community radio stations have either shut down their Internet streams or on the verge of doing so. It's not just royalties killing these webcasts -- there are also regulations that require college stations to report every song they play and restrictions that would force college stations to police how often they play any given artist. Stations are trying to unite and fight these restrictions, but is it too little, too late? Nearly twenty webcasts have already gone under...
comment posted at 3:38 PM on Apr-8-02

who lives in a pineapple under the sea? spongebob sqarepants! absorbent and yellow and porous is he! spongebob squarepants! if nautical nonsense be something you wish! spongebob squarepants! then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!
comment posted at 12:31 AM on Apr-8-02

Uncle Sam Sez: Sheesh! Get Some Exercise!! A new National Center for Health Statistics survey shows that only seven out of 10 Americans get enough exercise every week. About four in 10 get practically no exercise whatsoever. How much do you exercise, and if so, are you one the three in 10 who do so enough? Is the report full of it? Should I go swimming now, or in an hour? Ride the bike there or take the car? Isn't driving a car to a nearby gym kinda stupid? But I digress. (Pauses, gets his bearings.) Isn't this pathetic?
comment posted at 2:50 PM on Apr-7-02

FDA has ruled that implantable microchips dont need to be regulated. It looks like, the Jacobs family can now have their VeriChips. Does anyone else think that some kind of regulations of these devices is called needed? (via GMSV).
comment posted at 10:25 PM on Apr-6-02

Rights Group Accuses Israel Of Torturing Palestinians
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem charged today that Israel has tortured Palestinians who have been detained for interrogation during the current military offensive. The group said in a statement that the interrogation methods included breaking the toes of prisoners. The detainees have also been prohibited from meeting with lawyers, the group said...Israel has long used torture against Palestinian prisoners, but an Israeli Supreme Court ruling in September 1999 specifically outlawed most methods being used.

From torture to assassinations (that result in killing of innocent civilians); from attacking Red Cross vehicles and buildings to preventing wounded and ill from receiving medical attention; from firing in the direction of journalists to house-to-house searches that have resulted in looting - it is clear that Israel is not interested in peace at all, but rather is taking this opportunity to institute a complete clampdown on all Palestinians, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, and to break the will of what is, at its core, a liberation movement. And to Powell's call for a withdraw "without delay," Israel gives the finger and ratchets up its onslaught. Utterly disgusting. And what's more, the repercussions from this brutal military action will be felt for months to come.
comment posted at 5:36 PM on Apr-6-02
comment posted at 2:06 PM on Apr-7-02

2 Hollywood Titans Brawl Over A Gang Epic -- (NYTimes link, I apologize but am unsure of the etiquette on that issue). Martin Scorcese's project Gangs Of New York (about pre-Civil War NYC immigrant gangs) is quickly turning into something akin to Titanic, and not just 'cuz it's got Leo in it. The budget's out of control (maybe someone cheaper than U2 should do the score), the release date's on a backwards spiral (yes, it was supposed to come out last Christmas), some of the content rankles after 9/11, and now Harvey Weinstein wants a new ending. The cherry on top? Its current release date has it pitted against Tom Hanks and Sam "American Beauty" Mendes' The Road To Perdition, another gangster piece. For a relatively complete diary of the film's woes, try the film's page at the always-useful Corona. Think Miramax has its most spectacular dud on the way, or do you trust Scorcese to pull it off?
comment posted at 2:34 PM on Apr-6-02

RIP Kenny McCormack So, is our favorite foul-mouthed, parka-wearin' cartoon character really dead? Or do, as usual, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have something up their collective sleeves? Me, I'm thinking that Kenny will return to torment little Butters (who's a fine replacement, really), similar to the character arc this lady once had on another show that became a pop culture icon. (via Fark)
comment posted at 2:39 PM on Apr-6-02
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comment posted at 8:52 PM on Apr-9-02

Who started the crusades? Catholic historian Thomas Madden argues that the crusades "were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world." Given all the talk about the crusades in the wake of 9-11, an accurate understanding of the history seems important. But is this accurate or just Catholic revisionism?
comment posted at 2:57 PM on Apr-6-02
comment posted at 5:20 PM on Apr-6-02

Tips down at Starbucks For a while it seemed like tipping was proliferating out of control, including a tip jar in my local Subway, but now it's on the decline in Starbucks due to their new debit card. To get more money out of the customers, employees are holding strategy sessions to come up with "psychology tricks" and managers are reporting back to the mothership.
comment posted at 3:17 PM on Apr-6-02
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comment posted at 8:44 PM on Apr-9-02

Behold Oddpost! Like they say, it really is "indubitably the most astounding web-based email application on earth." I was skeptical, but their drag-and-drop interface is so clean and functional that comparing it to Microsoft Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail is like comparing a Frank Lloyd Wright house to a birdcage made of Tinkertoys. All DHTML, so it requires IE 5+ on Windows. Netscape, Opera, Mac, and Linux users are out of luck. (Welcome to the effects of market share.)
comment posted at 12:51 PM on Apr-6-02
comment posted at 9:46 PM on Apr-7-02

Britishness at its absolute bloody best I watched the whole Queen Mum procession thing yesterday, complete with "frantically filling BBC commentators", and this Brains Trust article was the perfect antidote. My favourite though is Die Sissons Die
comment posted at 9:39 PM on Apr-7-02

In case you still thought there was still anything even slightly rational, even-handed and non-ideological about the Nobel Peace Prize: Members of the NPP committee that gave Shimon Peres the Prize in 1994 are now attacking him for not singlehandedly putting a stop to Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian territory, even though here's only a member of the cabinet, not the leader of the country. (Alternatively, they say, he should have quit.) Which would be okay, since what's going on now isn't very peaceful ... except that they've said not a peep about about the actions of one of the other two men that shared the prize that year, one Yassir Arafat. (The third, Yitzhak Rabin, apparently gets off the hook since he's already dead.)
comment posted at 5:38 PM on Apr-5-02
comment posted at 8:31 PM on Apr-9-02

More yoghurt, Mr. Buck? REM's Peter Buck cleared of air rage attacks. more...
comment posted at 1:22 PM on Apr-5-02

Men as an endangered species. A woman taking part in a controversial human cloning programme is eight weeks pregnant. Are we heading to an all-female society?
comment posted at 11:14 AM on Apr-5-02

International Figure Skating Online presents Ice Porn! See the hottest girls on ice bare more skin than you've ever seen before in these raw, uncensored pictorials. Slutskaya, indeed!
comment posted at 12:29 PM on Apr-5-02

"He's not gay, and the judge so ruled," says Bert Fields, attorney for Tom Cruise. Yes folks, Tom Cruise is now the world's only legal heterosexual. While this is old news, I've always been fascinated with how much zeal Cruise prosecutes these allegations. This case, though, is unique in that the ruling in favor of Cruise contains a stipulation which states that Cruise is not, nor ever has he ever been, gay. In other words, Tom's heterosexuality is now enforced by the courts. Should we, the moviegoing public, now file a class-action lawsuit to force Cruise to publicly prove his unique legal status as a compulsory heterosexual? Would Tom being a backdoor boy really damage your enjoyment of his movies, as Cruise seems to think? Just how stupid do Hollywood stars and their publicists think we are? Discuss.
comment posted at 8:17 PM on Apr-4-02

Where Is The Other Half ? An intriguing analysis of what Prime Minister Sharon said and didnt, in his latest speech, and wether thats all he can say because of his background.
What does "winning" mean? What will happen after we "win"? What kind of plan does he have for the day after? This performance of Arik, King of Israel, was like shouting: Remember the emperor without clothes? That's me!
comment posted at 8:53 PM on Apr-4-02

Bush plays peacemaker. Having refused to honor several international treaties since taking office, the Bush administration sees itself as a legitimate peace broker. Opinions solicited, is this likely to improve the situation or cause it to deteriorate further?
comment posted at 3:39 PM on Apr-4-02
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comment posted at 2:31 PM on Apr-7-02

end of porn on the internet? Since 1997 the number of "sex" related internet searches is down by %50.
comment posted at 7:57 AM on Apr-4-02

end of the worlds forests? are there other very important issues for the world that are slipping by us while the we are caught up with the problems in the middle east the the "war on terror"? should there be US leadership in this area?
comment posted at 7:53 AM on Apr-4-02
comment posted at 8:19 AM on Apr-4-02

Woman prisoner hangs self, then sues prison Suicide note found near body tells her lawyer to sue the prison for not preventing her suicide.
comment posted at 6:42 AM on Apr-4-02

The United States is increasingly violating and undermining major international security treaties in a slide away from rule of law toward the rule of power, according to a new study released on Thursday.

The trend began under former President Bill Clinton but has accelerated under President Bush threatening the security of the United States as well as the larger international community, the study concluded.
comment posted at 7:26 AM on Apr-4-02
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comment posted at 10:55 AM on Apr-4-02

What does the flag really stand for, anyway? A 6th-grader's perspective.
comment posted at 9:26 PM on Apr-3-02
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comment posted at 7:11 AM on Apr-4-02

"We're press! Don't shoot!" Isn't PRESS on a flak jacket like painting bullseyes on your butt? The Israel Defense Forces have declared Bethlehem, Qalqiliya and Ramallah officially off-limits, and journalists will either be forcibly removed or in some cases shot on sight. The Committee to Protect Journalists is just one of many organizations speaking out against the unethical treatment of First Ammendment fighters throughout the world. Like this is gonna help. Should enemies of freedom be expected to 'play fair' or should we just accept that some journalists are going to die? Is it possible to investigate the truth right now in the West Bank, or are journalists needlessly putting their lives on the line for nothing?
comment posted at 10:24 AM on Apr-3-02
comment posted at 10:48 AM on Apr-3-02

This year's BBC Reith Lectures are on a Question of Trust. Beginning today at 8pm GMT on Radio 4, the first lecture by Prof. Onora O'Neill examines the importance of trust in society and how levels of suspicion are increasing. The full text and audio of the lectures will be made available online after they are broadcast, and judging by previous years lectures (on The End of Age and Respect for the Earth), these will be well worth listening to.
comment posted at 9:50 AM on Apr-3-02

'Over-newsed' and disconnected by thousands of miles:
Will there reach a point where we are intellectually drowned by news from a 'distant' and deepening war? I myself listen to Talk of The Nation daily, read the news hourly (when I can that frequently) and yet I cannot, or better yet, am having a hard time feeling the insane tragedy that has befallen our planet. Will complacence set in as those of us who are concerned feel more and more powerless to even possibly exact the smallest amount of change that each of our voices can in our respective countries? It is painful to not be particulary 'moved' by this link's eyewitness accounts of the battle underway in Ramallah. Is it simply too much to vicariously behold for the mortal human?
comment posted at 6:15 AM on Apr-3-02