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Blackadder goes forth. Criticising religion is a "fundamental freedom of society", a leading international comedian affirmed last night, as he headed a coalition opposing measures to outlaw the incitement of religious hatred. Rowan Atkinson, the star of Blackadder, gave an impassioned defence of the right to lampoon religion as he joined Tory, Lib Dem, and Labour backbenchers, lawyers, and academics opposed to part of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill - which today gets its second reading. There was, he said, a fundamental difference between race - already covered by legislation - and religion. [more inside]
comment posted at 12:53 PM on Dec-7-04

The Hit we Almost Missed Shaun Considine, an employee of Columbia Records in Sxities, recounts how close Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" came to being lost to obscurity. (NY Times)
comment posted at 1:02 PM on Dec-7-04

Organic Flash is a response to my perception of current design trends. In many popular sites that I come across I sense coldness; an attempt to master nature, to remove us from reality, a struggle to feel superior to our offline world and to one another. ... We are of this earth and though our online world is virtual, I believe that the most fulfilling user experiences will be so because the designer/artist wisely incorporated elements from our natural environment into their presentation. They made an effort to communicate with our humanity rather [than] squash it into cold vector perfection. In addition to speaking with the mind, they bonded with the soul. Yes, we are still left bodiless, but hopefully, when we get up from the computer and finally agree to go to bed, we take with us an enriched soul, rather than a depleted one.
- Kurt Dommermuth, 10 April 2001
comment posted at 7:51 AM on Dec-3-04

The best web mag you've never heard of. This is a truly GREAT collection of essays, written by a bunch of famous and not-so-famous folks. Updated twice a month. You will not get any work done today. One of those "bookmark immediately" sites!
comment posted at 9:42 AM on Dec-1-04

The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide.
comment posted at 6:40 AM on Nov-29-04

The terror of a trapped mind is difficult to describe. Have you ever awakened to complete immobility? If so, you probably suffer from sleep paralysis, a condition that afflicts 25% of the American population. Such episodes, which usually only last for a few minutes, can frequently be accompanied by bizarre hallucinations, and some believe the phenomenon is responsible for alien abduction, "Old Hag Syndrome", and the incubus myth. Although most believe the disorder is genetic, explinations vary. Are you an experiencer? Then you understand how frightening it can be. Luckily, you can fight it.
(This is my first FPP in 3 years of reading, so comments and criticisms are very much appreciated.)
comment posted at 7:21 AM on Nov-28-04

The Dawkins FAQ. Interesting Q&A session about evolution, biology, genes, etc with an expert. Dawkins claims no final answer on the "gay gene" or a Darwinian explanation of homosexuality.
comment posted at 1:27 PM on Nov-27-04

Apparently, the reports of our leader's pictures being taken down around the country aren't true. WTF???
comment posted at 10:01 AM on Nov-24-04

Economic 'Armageddon' predicted by Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley. He's been right before.
comment posted at 7:52 AM on Nov-24-04

Record producer Terry Melcher dies. Melcher, one of the creators of the 1960's Los Angeles sound produced the Byrds hits "Turn Turn Turn" and "Mr Tamberine Man" and he also played on the Beach Boys seminal album "Pet Sounds." At one time, Melcher also owned this house and, for a while, he believed that the murders that occurred there might have been in retribution for not signing this guy to a record contract.
comment posted at 1:35 PM on Nov-23-04
comment posted at 6:45 AM on Nov-24-04

Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust Being a writer in today's lovely world of fiction and creative nonfiction is like reliving 70's TV hell, where that Nair commercial jingle has been conveniently rewritten into "Who writes short shorts?" Poetic vision rarely shows up. After all, how can you express vision in 100 words? As for plot and character development, give those antiquated goods to Goodwill. All that matters with short shorts is a competent writing style and a desire for lots of publication credits.
comment posted at 12:53 PM on Nov-22-04

No bicycling in NYC without a license? That's right, a new law -- apparently the first of its kind in the nation -- proposed this week by bike-bashing Bronx Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano, will carry serious fines and even jail sentences for violators who ride unregistered bicycles on city streets. And yes, there will be a $25 per bike registration fee. Way to encourage alternative transport in this crowded, congested, polluted town. What next? Licenses for rollerblades, skateboards, wheelchairs? How about my running shoes -- during peak traffic they're faster and more hazardous to fellow city dwellers than my beat up old Trek, any day.
comment posted at 12:29 PM on Nov-19-04

Trade in your Ashlee Simpson CD here.. A group calling itself HOPE (Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment) are offering to trade your Ashlee Simpson CD for one by one of Elvis Costello, The Ramones, X, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Aretha Franklin, Mr. Bungle, Ray Charles, Abe Lincoln Story, Grateful Dead, Neil Hamburger, Joni Mitchell, and Brian Wilson. Next target is the film "Taxi".
comment posted at 10:48 AM on Nov-16-04
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comment posted at 8:50 AM on Nov-18-04

Christ's Entry Into Washington 2008 is a painting by Joel Pelletier featuring a cast of 121 contemporary characters and a theme of fundamentalism on the march. The work is modeled after Christ's Entry Into Brussels 1899, a mural by James Ensor. (via cioran63)
comment posted at 2:12 PM on Nov-13-04
comment posted at 2:13 PM on Nov-13-04

Don't Fuck the South. Neal Pollack has resurfaced with a series of responses to the recent liberal backlash against red-state elitism: "I'd rather have a cup of coffee with my next-door neighbor every day for the rest of my life than share one "hazelnut latte" with you. He thinks I'm going to hell but helped me fix my lawnmower last weekend anyway."
comment posted at 5:23 AM on Nov-12-04

DooWop Nation Not to get all Pepsi Blue on your collective ass, but I have been luxuriating in the Proper box sets The Dawn Of Doo-Wop (tracklist) and Doo Wop Delights (tracklist and discography) and thought to construct a post around the topic of the original postwar--as World War II--black harmony singing style, of which, as Greil Marcus notes in his Lipstick Traces, there were 15,000 records recorded after World War II--a DIY phenomenom which he compares to rise of punk... (more inside, naturally)
comment posted at 5:16 AM on Nov-12-04
comment posted at 11:02 AM on Nov-12-04

Armistice Day: WW1 Document Archive. Verdun memorial. The Western Front today. A World War One Literature Blog. Trenches on the Web, unsurprisingly slammed today, it seems.

Consider visiting a nearby military cemetary today. I've found it to be a worthwhile use of my time in the past.
comment posted at 12:58 PM on Nov-11-04

Do little people go to heaven? ...The scientists who have come up with these new Floresians do not count them among the ancestors of man, but among the collateral branches which died out, like the Neanderthals, only later. The suggestion is that the Floresians are, like us, rational animals. Now Christians believe that man (I mean homo, of course, not vir) is a special creation of God. Would these Floresians be in the image and likeness of God too, with immortal souls to be saved or lost, capable of praying to God and going to heaven? asks Christopher Howse.
comment posted at 11:08 AM on Nov-10-04
comment posted at 12:10 PM on Nov-10-04

The Writings of Charles Darwin on the Web. Thanks to the British Library.
comment posted at 1:36 PM on Nov-9-04
comment posted at 2:08 PM on Nov-9-04

Cruel and Unusual - The End Of The Eighth Amendment
It might seem at first that the rules for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners were founded on standards of political legitimacy suited to war or emergencies; based on what Carl Schmitt called the urgency of the ''exception,'' they were meant to remain secret as necessary ''war measures'' and to be exempt from traditional legal ideals and the courts associated with them. But the ominous discretionary powers used to justify this conduct are entirely familiar to those who follow the everyday treatment of prisoners in the United States—not only their treatment by prison guards but their treatment by the courts in sentencing, corrections, and prisoners' rights. The torture memoranda, as unprecedented as they appear in presenting ''legal doctrines . . . that could render specific conduct, otherwise criminal, not unlawful,'' refer to U.S. prison cases in the last 30 years that have turned on the legal meaning of the Eighth Amendment’s language prohibiting ''cruel and unusual punishment.'' What is the history of this phrase? How has it been interpreted? And how has its content been so eviscerated?
comment posted at 8:02 AM on Nov-9-04
comment posted at 8:40 AM on Nov-9-04

Ecliptique panoramique is a site with stunning panoramas (QT required)... Most of the descriptions are in French only, but the photography is breathtaking.
comment posted at 8:29 AM on Nov-9-04

Sidewalks without dog shit, angels, and Hustler: the day after the election the way-left paper Die Tageszeitung explained what's better in America.
comment posted at 7:21 AM on Nov-5-04

It's unOFFICIAL! yet again!
Bush wins re-election! And Nader nowhere to shoulder blame.
The consequences.
The deciding demographic? The Evangelical vote. (Interestingly, look how the vote went for Carter, born-again Southern Baptist, in the '76 election.)
So who's to blame? Personally, I point the finger at the PR. Because everyone should damn-well accept the fact that it's not about the issues.
Let the recount and litigation begin!
comment posted at 7:05 AM on Nov-3-04

As the polls close election results come in. (A full list of official election result websites inside.)
comment posted at 4:19 PM on Nov-2-04

Early exit polling shows strong Kerry battleground states edge : lots of variables in play, and these numbers do not include early voting. Further, early exit polling has in the past tended to favor Republicans. This election, though, that trend may no longer hold. We'll see. Get out and vote! Vote vote vote! (more inside).
comment posted at 12:47 PM on Nov-2-04

The Ladder is a website devoted to the writer Henry James (1843-1916). It comprises electronic editions of a selection of James’s works and also
* a textual note on the source and any amendments required during editing
* annotations of the text explaining such things as references to real persons and places, references to other fiction by James, or in in his notebboks
* a summary and a detailed (chapter by chapter) synopsis of the plot, so you can easily find passages you remember, by what happens
* a bibliography including original publications, subsequent reprints
Interestingly enough, lately more than a few writers seem to have a bit of James-mania: in June, Colm Tóibín published "The Master", a portrait of James recovering from his humiliating failure as a playwright. Now comes "Author, Author", by David Lodge, which is about James' humiliating failure as a playwright as well. These in turn arrive on the heels of Emma Tennant's "Felony", a novel about James' near-romance with Constance Fenimore Woolson, and Alan Hollinghurst's "The Line of Beauty", a BookerPrize-winning novel in which James plays an important off-the-stage role.
comment posted at 1:23 PM on Nov-1-04
comment posted at 7:01 AM on Nov-2-04

Life is hard and then you die.
comment posted at 11:35 AM on Oct-29-04

Rolling Stone review Spacewar. Ready or not, computers are coming to the people. That's good news, maybe the best since psychedelics. via Ludology
comment posted at 10:45 AM on Oct-29-04

Tom Wolfe resurrects his feud with Irving et al What are the chances that a literary bun toss would reignite, the match lit by the author with a new book due for publication. Maybe Martin Amis will swing buy and bitchslap them all.
comment posted at 6:21 PM on Oct-28-04
comment posted at 6:24 AM on Oct-29-04

The Voterizer
Are you unsure of who to vote for amid all of the rhetoric and misdirection in this election season? Perhaps you'd like to get to the meat of each candidate's stance on the issues with the bias of knowing who said what? (don't worry, you'll get the full scoop later)

The Voterizer (my name for it since they have no name attached) can help you determine which of the two candidates most closely aligns with your beliefs.
via Captain Normal
comment posted at 11:36 AM on Oct-21-04

You know those fake but real-looking checks for absurd amounts of money that sometimes show up in your mailbox? Go ahead, deposit it. This guy did.
comment posted at 1:37 PM on Oct-20-04

Some time ago Faze asked if it was legal to sell your vote. Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking of this.
comment posted at 1:18 PM on Oct-20-04

You will be conquered by Stealth and Deception : in the swift advance of a long-planned coup against secular society, to launch an American theocracy, "the Dominionists are succeeding in their quest for national control and world power" - Kathleen Yurica, founder of the Yurica Report which, like Theocracy Watch, monitors the American religious right writes "Since the writing and posting of my essay, The Despoiling of America in February 2004, there is more and more evidence that not only has a cultural war been launched, but that the plotters are winning it....First the hard right dominionists took over the Southern Baptist Convention with its 16 million members and a fortune in corporate businesses. Then they took over the Republican Party...they are moving to limit the power of the Supreme Court. Now there is evidence dominionists are trying to take over the U. S. military

....Americans and the mainstream media have been very slow in catching on to the fact that we are in a war — a war that is cultural, religious and political, a war that uses stealth and deception and the rules of engagement written by the enemies to representative democracy. Unless Americans wake up, we could lose that war."
comment posted at 3:29 PM on Oct-15-04

This video costs $150,000
What’s wrong with this video?
Well, it only cost $15
$150,000 could make a difference to over 1,000,000 people

In this age of media companies and the RIAA suing everyone and their computer illiterate grandmothers, it’s nice to see an musician take a critical look at what it is that they do, if it’s really necessary, and ask if there was a better way to spend their money. And, quite frankly, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that it was Sarah McLachlan. (QT video)
comment posted at 9:03 AM on Sep-27-04
comment posted at 4:25 PM on Sep-27-04