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To the Citizens of the United States of America: In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. - John Cleese
comment posted at 4:01 AM on Sep-17-05
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comment posted at 3:57 PM on Sep-17-05

Englands proposed kitchen knife ban. Since May, "A&E doctors [have been] calling for a ban on long pointed kitchen knives to reduce deaths from stabbing." That's right, kitchen knives. Apparently, a full 1/3 of all deaths in the UK are knife-related. "The doctors, as part of their research into ways to reduce violence, say they consulted with leading chefs who said long knives were not needed for cooking." But not everyone agrees: Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which supports gun control, joked, "Can sharp stick control be far behind?"
comment posted at 3:28 PM on Sep-16-05
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comment posted at 5:32 PM on Sep-16-05

Artistic interpretations of literary figures drawn by comic book artists . Personal favorites: Joe Kubert's Edgar Allan Poe, Dave McKean's Salman Rushdie, Steve Pugh's Lady Macbeth, and Alex Toth's Charlie Chan.
comment posted at 4:02 PM on Sep-16-05

...After the raid, an Iraqi informer walked among detainees, pointing them out to U.S. troops. Despite being disguised with a bag over his head, the informer was recognized by his fellow villagers by his yellow sandals and his amputated thumb. His name was Sabah. ...The next day, his father and brother, carrying AK-47s, entered his room before dawn and took him behind the house. With trembling hands, the father fired twice... Sabah's brother then fired three times, once at his brother's head, killing him. Sitting with the father later, Shadid found himself unable to ask the question he knew that as a journalist he had to ask: Had he killed his son? "In a moment so tragic, so wretched, there still had to be decency. I didn't want to hear him say yes. I didn't want to humiliate him any further. In the end, I didn't have to." "'I have the heart of a father, and he's my son,' he told me, his eyes cast to the ground. 'Even the prophet Abraham didn't have to kill his son.' He stopped, steadying his voice. 'There was no other choice.'"

What went wrong That's from the Salon review of Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War by Anthony Shadid [+]
comment posted at 5:13 AM on Sep-17-05

Bill Gates meets Napolean Dynamite. Microsoft has a history of doing little spoofs at their developer events (a couple years ago Gates and Ballmer did a send up of the GTI commercial and then there was The Matrix). While this one is a shaky camera capture (hopefully someone uploads the original), it's still pretty amusing and fun to watch Gates poke fun at himself. Of course, the unintended comedy videos involving Gates are often funnier.
comment posted at 2:44 AM on Sep-16-05

Remember.org is a huge archive of the Shoah. It contains sections on the accounts of survivors and liberators (here is an account by Helen L. of her childhood in Auschwitz, here is Harry Herder's account of liberating Buchenwald, here is Jacques Lipetz account of WWII in Manila, here is part of a history of life in the Warsaw Ghetto), images from the camps and pictures of artwork produced by survivors (here is Mauthausen then and now, here is a picture of a prisoner at Dachau from this extensive archive of historical images, here are some drawings by Jan Komski, an Auschwitz survivor), and an extensive sections of excerpts of books written by survivors. Many of the images and accounts on this website are quite disturbing.
comment posted at 3:53 PM on Sep-17-05

THE BURDIZZO® EMASCULATONE 9 comes in a variety of handy sizes, non-slip molded plastic handle, wide opening clamp.
comment posted at 12:18 AM on Sep-13-05
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comment posted at 2:16 AM on Sep-13-05

"I come from Harvard... there's no testin' me, 1-6-double-doughnut on the S.A.T..." Gates raps! I've seen references to this around the web a couple of times, but I just discovered I had a friend who is actually in it. Yes, Nerds:// the Musical! is about to open its limited run at the Beckett Theatre for the New York Musical Theatre Festival and, from what he's saying about the response to previews and earlier runs, your next chance to see it might involve much heftier ticket prices. Will Bill come? Will Steve? Woz might!
comment posted at 7:37 PM on Sep-7-05

You've heard of Greasemonkey (which allows you to remix web pages in firefox), you might also remember the Ruby Programming Language that all of the cool kids are talking about these days. Mix the two together, make it useable through any modern browser (using a proxy), and voila MouseHole!
comment posted at 11:12 AM on Sep-3-05
comment posted at 11:18 AM on Sep-3-05

Living on top of Mt. Washington. 09:50 PM Thu Aug 18, 2005 EDT - ... In the air this morning there was an undeniable chill and on the ground a touch of frost...Clear air pooling south from Canada opened views to the distant Adirondacks as well as deep into Quebec and all our surrounding states...just six week until snow can be expected.
Just a taste of this daily "blog" kept by observers living on the top of the tallest peak in the Northeast US. Redux of a previous post, but the blog is interesting enough to put it forth once again.
comment posted at 11:33 PM on Aug-25-05

Scientists find errors in global warming data. Heating from tropical sunlight was skewing temperatures reported by satelite sensors, making nights look as warm as days. The George C. Marshall Institute declined to comment. The group, financed by the petroleum industry, has used the data disparities to dispute the views of global-warming activists. Researchers say it removes a last bastion of scientific doubt about global warming
comment posted at 9:44 AM on Aug-12-05
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comment posted at 9:51 AM on Aug-12-05

The American Museum of Beat Art has a website with bios of some important figures of the Beat Generation and some interesting art. I liked the Joseph Ferris works. [Sadly, some of the interesting looking links do not appear to be working.]
comment posted at 6:35 PM on Aug-4-05

Bush comes out in favor of teaching "intelligent design" alongside evolution in American schools. Is this the latest evidence of the White House willing to champion worthy but controversial ideas that have been sidelined by liberal bias, or strictly from Paul Krugman's theoretical headline, "Shape of Earth: Views Differ"? [Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Lone Star State, Texas educators ignite brouhaha by adding Bible study to the public-school curriculum].
comment posted at 12:24 AM on Aug-3-05

Note-taking methods for students. Includes the Cornell method (details in powerpoint), and a Mapping powerpoint. [via GoBinder]
comment posted at 6:50 PM on Jul-31-05

Solve your Rubik's cube online. Are you lacking a Lego cube solver [discussed here]? No problem. This site will tell you the exact moves for solving the cube. Of course it will also teach you how to do it on your own.
comment posted at 9:03 AM on Jul-23-05
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comment posted at 9:12 AM on Jul-23-05

We Introverts make up 40% of the population. So we make up a large portion of the market. We learn differently than extroverts (NSFW). We appear calm, but that may be an illusion. In fact, we need special care and attention. We like to read, write, and test software, but we're afraid of networking. We have spiritual needs (scroll down). If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you smile at us, we may surprise you. Some of us read Metafilter.
comment posted at 12:34 PM on Jul-22-05
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Mind May Affect Machines . Weird. No, seriously: WEIRD.
comment posted at 3:10 PM on Jul-20-05

The common desk. [huge quicktime movie]
comment posted at 3:50 AM on Jul-19-05

Eprida: using biomass to produce hydrogen, reduce the emissions of coal-fired power plants, and suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, all while improving agricultural productivity. A new virtuous cycle (flash)?
comment posted at 11:52 AM on Jun-24-05

This person folded a piece of paper in half 12 times.
comment posted at 4:56 PM on Jun-22-05

Learn to Play Guitar like a SuperDork . Can't. . . not. . . look. Don't miss the links in the comments.
comment posted at 12:12 PM on Jun-22-05

The London Underground is home to some of the most interesting, weird and fun adverts, which have been tailored to the fact that they have huge posters that passengers are often looking at for minutes at a time while waiting. In Copywriting goes Underground, they challenged ad agencies to write an ad which had at least 50 words in it. Some are crap, but some are pretty innovative - check them out.
comment posted at 5:42 AM on Jun-21-05

Nun crucified at Romanian exorcism. A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said. "I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practice in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," Father Daniel added.

UPDATE: She was buried yesterday and the Principal monk has been charged with false imprisonment leading to death.
comment posted at 5:20 AM on Jun-21-05

Sartre at 100. Today would have been philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's 100th birthday. Despite renewed interest in him in France, there is some question as to what the legacy of this man is - whether as author, philosopher, playwright, or communist. He was noted for radical views on freedom both in the philosophical and political senses, less so for his recipes. What does he mean today?
comment posted at 5:17 AM on Jun-21-05

From squid vendors to the odd graffito and manhole cover, this expatriate snaps oddities and noise of life in Taiwan with the help of his little toy Holga.
comment posted at 5:23 AM on Jun-21-05