October 18, 2001

11:27 AM

Boeing's Memo to bin Laden Here's a little PowerPoint presentation making its way around the defense industry. A memo (supposedly) from Boeing's CEO, to Osama bin Laden discussing bin Laden's interest in Boeing's 757 and 767 commercial airliners and Boeing's desire to do a demonstration of some of their non-commercial products for Mr. bin Laden. It's summed up pretty nicely, Don't bother making an appointment for the demo, we'll just drop in.
posted by billman (13 comments total)

I had trouble viewing it through the link above, but I've seen this. A friend e-mailed it to me shortly after 9/11. The copy I saw had some defense products that were not Boeing, but whatever.
posted by msacheson at 11:31 AM on October 18, 2001

Is this a self-post? It looks like someone running a copy of Slash at rini.org, the same as your listed last name in your profile.

If it is, I guess that leads to the larger question of whether it's ok to point to something you're hosting as opposed to something you created.
posted by boaz at 11:46 AM on October 18, 2001

No, I think the real issue is whether it's OK for people to use Metafilter to vector stupid forwarded emails.
posted by luser at 11:51 AM on October 18, 2001

Is this it? (Top graphic)
posted by aaron at 11:54 AM on October 18, 2001

self-link not self-post.

And I finally got through to the site; dig that funky color scheme billman.
posted by boaz at 12:00 PM on October 18, 2001

boaz, yes it is a self post. I looked around and didn't see anything about not doing that so I just figured it was ok. In terms of whether or not I created it, not sure I see the point. It was sent to me, I threw it up on a server so people who might not come across it via email might find it in a search engine or ??. Just curious as to what you think the difference is between creating something and hosting something.
posted by billman at 12:00 PM on October 18, 2001

lame
posted by delmoi at 12:11 PM on October 18, 2001

First, here's the relevant section from the guidelines:

Self-linking also appropriates the use of MetaFilter as your guestbook. If you just wrote a thought provoking piece and want to get feedback on it, try using ArsDigita's Loquacious system or BlogVoices to add community interaction to your own site.
...
Make sure you're linking to something on the web. If you're posting a generalized question to the audience, or posting a comment as a main thread, either find an appropriate mailing list, or use MetaTalk.

If you wish to discuss this further, I'll be happy to start a MetaTalk thread on it.
posted by boaz at 12:13 PM on October 18, 2001

Self-linking also appropriates the use of MetaFilter as your guestbook. If you just wrote a thought provoking piece and want to get feedback on it, try using ArsDigita's Loquacious system or BlogVoices to add community interaction to your own site

I think a MeTa thread is in order, though I believe this subject has been discussed at length in the past. My personal opinion is that matter which is not the creation of the poster, but pointed to on his or her server, is fair game.

There are a few examples of why this would happen. For instance, in the case of the CNN blunder last week, pointing to a file on one's server can allow people to view something that is only temporarily on the web. Or in a case like this, where content is discussion-worthy and Internet-related, but can't be found on the web.

billman isn't asking us to look at something he created, after all. Just pointing to something he found interesting. Which is what I thought a community weblog is all about.

I think a ruling on e-mail-to-web transcription is needed.
posted by dogmatic at 12:47 PM on October 18, 2001

I say its fair game. We cant expect every thing to be on the wayback machine servers !!
posted by adnanbwp at 1:10 PM on October 18, 2001

dogmatic, I just got three timeout errors trying to post a meta thread, but I think you have an excellent point and agree that the email-to-web transcription is the only point of contention.
It probably is fair game, so I'll just slink off in embarassment now. Part of the problem was that I couldn't get through to his site when I posted the initial comment; again, my bad for posting anyway.
posted by boaz at 1:31 PM on October 18, 2001

Fear the KC-10!!!


You will be refueled
posted by Snotty at 1:52 PM on October 18, 2001

What delmoi said... lame
posted by Vek at 3:18 PM on October 18, 2001