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CIA Gives Up on Bin Laden Search
says a post full of links on Sploid, it was revealed yesterday (when no one was paying attention) that the CIA disbanded its Bin Laden unit one year ago. The post also links to news that the FBI has "no hard evidence" connecting Bin Laden to the 9/11 attacks.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 11:25 AM on July 5, 2006
(54 comments)
Environmentalism as Religion.
An interesting
speech by Michael Chrichton, in which he discusses the 'religion' of environmentalism reminded me of an article in Harper's entitled
A Gospel According to the Earth by Jack Hitt.
Both writers agree that Environmentalism is, or is becoming, a new religion, but their views of what this means are as divergent as possible. Chrichton sees a world where fantasy has replaced reality to the detriment of mankind, while Hitt sees a dramatic and growing movement that imbues environmentalism with a new spirituality and connection with God, as a foil of Creationism and Intelligent design.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 4:17 PM on January 20, 2004
(32 comments)
What is Film Sampling?
According to
Mike Myers and Dreamworks Films, it's a revolutionary way to insert himself into old movies by using the wonders of technology. Have we created so much content in the past 50 years that it needs to be recycled before there is room for anything truly new? Will this work for films the way it's 'worked' in Music? Will the next generation of filmmakers be Puff Daddy clones reworking classic films, and are there films that should never, ever be touched?
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 11:39 AM on February 19, 2003
(28 comments)
On PBS last week,
Senator Bob Graham said that there is "evidence that
there were foreign governments involved in facilitating the activities of at least some of the terrorists in the United States," but that "It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now. And, we need to have this information now because it's relevant to the threat that the people of the United States are facing today." Do you trust the government to keep the right informatin classified, or do we need to know?
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 10:06 AM on December 19, 2002
(16 comments)
SlamBall
is America's newest sport. Combining Basketball, full-contact play, and massive trampolines into an extreme-team sport for the masses. Anyone seen it? Dude! or Dud?
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 1:02 PM on August 12, 2002
(30 comments)
Prison in the Park
Central Park is a lot of things: the pastoral center of New York City, a relaxing stroll on a Saturday afternoon, a patch of grass lined with horse manure. It’s also home to a minimum-security prison...
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 2:24 PM on July 9, 2002
(7 comments)
J.T. LeRoy: The Next Lit-Crit It Boy?
A report from the trendy and bespectacled world of hipster-lit book-readings and its newest star, the mercurial J.T. LeRoy. From the article: "LeRoy is the mirror image of the New York hipster’s aspiration: the lost soul done good, when so many in the audience, in pricey vintage t-shirts, seemed to want nothing more than to shed the trappings of middle-class life. More than a few in the audience spoke of him with a sort of rapt awe usually accorded NBA stars and minor deities." For more info on LeRoy, check out the author's
official website.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 12:50 PM on June 4, 2002
(36 comments)
The Christian Right and Israel
is the topic of this interesting article from the editor of
The New Republic, who sees the Christian conservatives' interest in Israel as less than persuasive, as it relies on Biblical legitimacy and not Democratic legitimacy. From the article: "for Christian conservatives like Armey and Parshall, Israel's interests cannot be defined pragmatically, because Israel's primary function is to clarify a larger worldview. Whether or not most evangelicals truly believe Israel's wars will usher in the Messianic Age, they are theologically conditioned to see its struggle as Manichaean".
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 6:00 PM on May 15, 2002
(8 comments)
Tales of the Tyrant
is one of the best magazine articles I have read all year. A long, fascinating portrait of Saddam Hussein by the author of
Black Hawk Down that has so many interesting/weird/awful details that it's too hard to excerpt just one.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 3:05 PM on May 6, 2002
(6 comments)
This New Yorker article
is a must read. Long and exhaustive (but well worth the trip), I believe it could have the power to change many minds about what should be done, and when, about Iraq and its dictator. The essential story is about the horrible and terrifying effects of Saddam Hussein's gassing of Kurdish villages, but as the story reminds us at the end "Please understand, the Kurds were for practice"
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 3:15 PM on March 27, 2002
(13 comments)
The Economist
recently completed a survey of Gulf countries. Much of the content is 'premium access only' or available in the print version. This article, subtitled "The Gulf states have come a long way, fast. Now they need to think about where they are going" is online and examines the swift changes in economy, institutions, and population trends in this in-the-spotlight region. Some fascinating stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 12:44 PM on March 25, 2002
(1 comment)
God Changes Everything
Let's say there was a school system or a chain of clinics on whose professional staff were a certain number of men who molested the children in their care and who, whenever this behavior came to the attention of their superiors, were shifted to another school or clinic, with parents and colleagues, not to mention the justice system, kept in the dark whenever possible...
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 10:38 AM on March 20, 2002
(8 comments)
Cybracero: Wave of the future
. No longer will immigrants have to cross borders to do manual labor thanks to this visionary and exciting technology. Telerobotics mean that manual labor from 3rd world countries can now do their work from home! Check out the video and technology pages for examples of how this revolutionary idea will change the world!
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 2:20 PM on February 4, 2002
(4 comments)
Human Rights Watch 2002 Report
There will undoubtedly be (deserved) criticism of any report that seeks to take both West and East to task for human rights violations, often seemingly judging one far more harshly than the other and perpetuating a victim and agressor view of the world. That being said, this report is still highly relevant and interesting, and deserves your attention for its data and its primary agenda: to expose violations of human rights around the world.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 11:50 AM on January 21, 2002
(3 comments)
Dead Men Walking
Thomas Lipscome urges us to think about 4th generation warfare, the nature of the battle, and the potential dangers well beyond the idea of nations such as Afghanistan and Iraq. From the article:
"Terrorists become extraordinarily resourceful playing weak hands against the strong and rich. So do revolutionaries. And it is time to realize bin Laden is both" This article is short yet wide-ranging, neatly bringing together the Balkans, Clinton, the Media, and 4G warfare.
via follow me here
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 10:49 AM on November 28, 2001
(3 comments)
It's the Democracy, Stupid
Quick hit from Middle East expert Thomas Friedman on why democracy matters in the Middle East, and by extension why democracy-building is one of the US's best weapons there. Starts out with a news quiz: "Name the second-largest Muslim community in the world. Iran? Wrong. Pakistan? Wrong. Saudi Arabia? Wrong." (NYT link)
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 10:58 AM on November 20, 2001
(20 comments)
Gaza Diary by Chris Hedges
It's generally not the best idea to post links about the Palestine/Israel conflict, as each day's news can be debated ad infitum by various sides. However this Gaza Diary is a stunning personal look into the ravages of war and occupation. Written by the
New York Times Mideast Bureau Chief, and published in Harper's in October, it's a meditative reflection on the ways the human spirit can be twisted by conflict, and how a reporter (even a seasoned one) responds to the demons of war. Well worth your time.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 12:38 PM on November 16, 2001
(6 comments)
Want to Link to Auto-Zone?
Well make sure you read, fill out, and sign this form, then fax it back to Auto-Zone's legal team. A
search on Google reveals that many companies have "Linking Agreements." Mostly large companies looking to protect themselves, presumably in part from being linked from 'the wrong sites'... is this a right that a website owner has, or should have?
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 10:33 AM on November 7, 2001
(39 comments)
Terrorist or Not?
OK, I know what you're thinking, another AM I _____ or not? It is, but this one is actually pretty cool. Dossiers of famous terrorists and non-terrorists from the present back to Atilla the Hun. Interesting stuff and worth a few minutes of your time.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 11:21 AM on October 12, 2001
(12 comments)
Israel: How did it get this bad?
...they are outraged by the Palestinians, not only for rejecting Mr Barak’s offer but for turning on Israelis with violence. “We gave them everything, and they shoot us,” is, crudely, the Israeli-in-the-street reaction. Disillusioned and bitter, Israelis are blinkered from any point of view but their own; they are blind to a Palestinian perspective.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 11:06 AM on February 6, 2001
(28 comments)
Deepak Chopra starts an internet company
"
MyPotential, which opened for business on the Net this month, could use some clever wheeler-dealing. It is a lousy time to launch a multimedia venture, especially one that until a few months ago was hyped as a web-oriented business."
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 2:32 PM on January 31, 2001
(5 comments)
Clarence Baxter, musical revolutionary
found this pretty funny-- kind of a Maoist music purist with a giant boom box. The back episodes are atually better, especially the pictures of his 'comrades'. Sounds like some good music on there as well.
posted to MetaFilter by cell divide
at 11:42 AM on December 14, 2000
