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February 2004 Archives
February 29
reBlog -- A web site republishing the best blog posts on art, technology and culture from around the web. Brought to you by
Eyebeam, a multimedia atelier here in NYC, and run by a rotating cast of reBloggers.
posted by amberglow at 12:34 PM PST - 6 comments
It's that time of year - time for thru-hikers to start the Appalachian Trail! Last year, over
1700 hikers started the hike with only 352 completing the 2,200 mile walk from Springer Mtn, Georgia to Katahdin, Maine. Given that walking the AT takes about six months, most hikers start in March and April so they can finish before winter sets in.
With town spread out along the trail, many hikers keep
online journals - probably some of the few blogs where what you had for breakfast and what the weather was like make for interesting topics.
posted by borkus at 9:24 AM PST - 23 comments
Photoshop is fourteen years old this month. I am sitting in its
hometown and have version 7 on my Gateway.
Loretta Lux was trained as a painter and now uses digital images via photoshop for her
art. (NYTimes
article) News photographers have
lost their jobs for using it. Some would argue that photoshop is a new
medium and I would agree. I will use it next to shape the images that will promote my sons' landscaping business.
posted by JohnR at 6:25 AM PST - 23 comments
Dean Didn't Want To Be President In different conversations and in different ways, according to several people who worked with him, Dean said at the peak of his popularity late last year that he never expected to rise so high, that he didn't like the intense scrutiny, that he had just wanted to make a difference. "I don't care about being president," he said. Months earlier, as his candidacy was taking off, he told a colleague: "The problem is, I'm now afraid I might win." posted by jbou at 12:28 AM PST - 29 comments
February 28
Current U.S. Administration chooses "smart anti-personnel mines" versus "dumb mines".The U.S. military will stop using always-armed, live landmines after 2010. Some may appreciate this move as a valid step toward..more "intelligent" mines,
others disagree.
More links inside.
posted by elpapacito at 11:22 AM PST - 23 comments
"XD38" - Nexus Personality A site for multifaceted people who are technical and artistic, verbal and mechanical, rational and intuitive; who are interested in everything; who find themselves to be a kind of natural link between far-ranging, diverse areas of human endeavor. posted by konolia at 10:58 AM PST - 50 comments
February 27
inside Haiti a photo journalist blogs on the conditions in Haiti. No photos yet.
The place is awash with drug money, probably on both sides - Philippe is the former police chief of a town where i've heard reports of people walking down the streets with suitcases full of money, probably not sourced from shaking down shoe cleaners. The chimeres that searched us on the way down from Saint Marc a few days ago were clearly high on some upper, i'd guess coke, amphetamines or both, or maybe crack.posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 4:52 PM PST - 26 comments
The Brave Tale of Katherine Gun, aka
The Conscience of the Individual versus the State, aka
"How the 'Land of the Free' Stopped Worrying about Legality and Liberty, and Learned to Love Wiretap and Manipulation": "Katharine made the disclosure because she believed that it was necessary to prevent an illegal war in which thousands of Iraqi citizens and British and American soldiers would die or be maimed.""I have only ever followed my conscience," she said. Pentagon Paper's author Daniel Ellsberg described the leak as
"more timely and potentially more important than the Pentagon Papers. Truth-telling like this can stop a war." Norman Solomon asks
" To what extent is the "special relationship" between the two countries to be based on democracy or duplicity? How much do we treasure the substance of civil liberties that make authentic public discourse distinct from the hollowness of secrecy and manipulation? How badly do we want to know what is being done in our names with our tax money? And why is it so rare that conscience takes precedence over expediency?"posted by fold_and_mutilate at 3:36 PM PST - 63 comments
"Us intellectuals realized a long time ago that no human society could function without heavy-duty jamming all signals that might allow people to see reality. Because reality is so downright horrible we have to jam it tighter than Castro. The only question is who’s going to decide what gets jammed and how to jam it."
The eXile on censorship, why the truth is like kryptonite and how the cast and writers of Will and Grace will end up "
at the bottom of a lime-dusted mass grave".
Warning - highly offensive to almost everyone in places.
via The Early Days of a Better Nationposted by thatwhichfalls at 1:50 PM PST - 16 comments
Singing Babies! I don't know what to say about it, but
it is worth watching.
Babies and young children love it! That's why Singing Babies is now one of the best selling baby videos. It is the most fun and entertaining way to teach your child the classic nursery rhymes and toddler tunes! Research shows that babies benefit from watching other babies. Infants learn to talk by studying the sounds and movement made by the human mouth. SINGING BABIES® creatively combines these research findings in a way that accelerates your child's rate of cognitive development, increases capacity to learn language, and enhances your child's natural musical ability.posted by Slimemonster at 11:34 AM PST - 17 comments
Meet Lucy. She sure ain't pretty, but she's certainly unique. Steve Grand (interview
1,
2) one of the brains behind
Creatures, has been working for the last three years on building a robot orangutan
in his own house. Those is the South Wales area can catch Steve speaking about his experiences
next month. Steve may well be a non-establishment genius, but when I see pictures like
this, I can't help thinking it's
already been done.
posted by nylon at 9:52 AM PST - 6 comments
D.H.S. - The Series. "... a multimillion-dollar episodic series, will explore the inner workings of the Department of Homeland Security, teaming the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and National Security Administration (NSA) together with "first responders" such as local police, fire and safety administrators."
The series is being pitched to prospective networks
today and has the full support of President Bush and Tom Ridge. "They love it. They think it is fantastic," say the series' producers at Steeple Productions, located in the
Seventh-Day Adventist Community of
Zillah, Washington. Not familiar with
Steeple Productions? Well, perhaps you might find their four-episode "
Creation Vs Evolution" series enlightening.
posted by grabbingsand at 9:42 AM PST - 16 comments
The recent post that revived the rude ‘
Rainbow’ kids show sketch reminded me of the our (that is, British) obsession with comic
double entendre - the ability to accept the filthiest things as long as there is a parallel innocuous interpretation. I think it is something to do our love for wordplay and subtext, our innate hypocrisy and the belief that sex is, in fact, rather naughty. Perhaps the prime example are the
Julian and Sandy sketches that ran on the BBC Radio show
‘Beyond Our Ken’ from 1964-69. Over Sunday lunch, millions (there was ONLY the BBC in those days) listened to two very camp characters saying outrageous things in
Polari (underground gay slang). A much earlier prime example is the
great dirty joke (it’s the one in blue at the bottom of the page) that got comedian Max Miller (died in 1963) banned from the BBC for 5 years. A more recent case of innuendo is, of course,
Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy. Of course the
double entendre can also be
unintentional.
posted by rolo at 9:07 AM PST - 8 comments
February 26
Perversion for Profit linking pornography to the Communism Citizens for Decent Literature: Sex Bad, violence Good!
I just thought this would be cool to revisit in light of the Mel Gibson, Orson Scott Card Debates.
Intersting what They shppw as to show you what
YOU should not be looking at.
Maybe (NSFW, maybe just NSF-Sanity)
posted by Elim at 3:59 PM PST - 22 comments
Rainbow Innuendo Episode Evidentially Rainbow was a children's show in Britain (Canada?) in the Late 70's - early 80's. (I never heard of it till now here in Ohio.) Anyway, wether this went on the air or whether it was just a gag reel for the cast and crew... I doubt anyone will know. I went out and found the full 16MB MPEG version for downloading, because I love ya. Must be seen to believed. Possibly NSFW. Maybe.
Can't believe your ears/eyes? Want to see the script?
Here ya go.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 2:13 PM PST - 11 comments
In '
24 Hour Quiz', three contestants spend many days in a mini-Big Brother environment ('The Pod') constantly having questions fired at them with no end in sight.
'off the telly' fill in the blanks: "There's no getting away from it, '24 Hour Quiz' is quite the worst thing currently showing on ITV1 (that's even allowing for 'Footballers' Wives'). That it's spread-eagled across the schedules in three separate editions just compounds the agony. This is cheap, worthless television, offering up a huge mallet with which to beat the ITV network. It plays to our worst suspicions about the channel, and that's just annoying. There's nothing about the show that's prepared to confound or surprise, other than its sheer shoddiness." Has anyone else seen this? Is it really the worst gameshow format ever?
posted by feelinglistless at 1:54 PM PST - 8 comments
Neither rags nor riches. Quite a good human interest story from yesterday's Guardian about what happens to clothes after they go in the recycling bin or off to the charity shop.
posted by biffa at 1:36 PM PST - 7 comments
"I don't think that there's any question about the fact that the weapons that they have did not come from Haiti," says Kurzban. "They're organized as a military commando strike force that's going from city to city."
Parts of the rebellion's leadership,
such as head of military operations Louis Chamberlain, were leaders in the attempted 1994 Hatian coup that resulted in the use of 20,000 U.S. troops. A coup which, according to the U.N. Human Right Commission, was
supported and aided by the CIA. In other words, this wouldn't be the first time that the U.S. has played on both sides of a Haitian military uprising.
Meanwhile, Bush refuses to protect President Aristide's life - and perhaps the lives of thousands of Hatians - citing
the opposition's refusal of a U.S. peace plan. Silmultaneously, he issued a harsh pronouncement warning refugee Hatians off from American shores.
"It is clear that the right wing in this country does not support that democracy,"
said Jesse Jackson, today. "(Bush) is, in fact, supporting overthrow of this government in this hemisphere."
posted by kaibutsu at 11:03 AM PST - 22 comments
Backwards . . . into the future A cab driver in India, who's driven only in reverse gear for the last two years (at speeds up to 85 kph, and without accident), hopes his upcoming trip will bring about peace with Pakistan.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:39 AM PST - 10 comments
Best. Airtight. Alibi. Ever. Agence France-Presse said a Taliban source had identified Abdullah Khadr as the attacker who on Jan. 27 jumped on Murphy's jeep and blew himself up. He is the 22-year-old son of Ahmed Said Khadr. "If I was the suicide bomber, I wouldn't be doing this interview with you right now," Khadr told CBC News on Wednesday.
posted by riffola at 9:11 AM PST - 6 comments
Mario Brothers, a tragedy in three parts (
1, 2, 3).
Potentially more to come, too! Enjoy! (Warning: Flash)
posted by dazed_one at 7:37 AM PST - 19 comments
From the
Liberation Journal, Gregory Flanagan's "Libercratic"
[?] Website:
Misogyny on TV; Feminazi Propaganda:
Portrayals of amazon freaks denigrate and pervert females, attack feminine identity and incite in men a lust for sexual violence...
#4. Charlie's Angels (80s) ... Among the many barbaric and obscene shows, one featured women playing tackle football.
#18. Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (90s) ... the idiotic vampires are just the excuse--their real enemy is femininity.
#25. Xena: Warrior Princess (90s) ... Extreme, obscene violence that provokes in men an overwhelming, obsessive lust to rape and slaughter these bitches.
See also:
Misogyny in the Movies, etc etc.
They're
out there, folks. This man needs his ass kicked by a "girly girl" martial artist. Or maybe that's secretly what he wants?
(Site hosted and LOTSA POPUPS by directNIC.com. For shame, dierctNIC!)posted by Shane at 6:24 AM PST - 18 comments
God loves Republicans...
Governor Huckabee of Arkansas, while speaking to the Republican Governors Association meeting
pretended to get a phone call from God, who seemed really friendly to the Republicans.
Isn't this blasphemous? And why can't I find any other reporting of this amazing display of religious fanaticism in any other outlet of the "liberal media?" [more inside]
posted by jpburns at 6:22 AM PST - 84 comments
Diesel Global Bad Record Amnesty -
Specially trained BAD record DJ’s will be spin the best of the worst albums handed in, and if your BAD record is played then you will walk away with a ringing in your ears and an exclusive Greatest Hips 12" vinyl collection of 12 albums and collectable Diesel record bag, a Diesel Greatest Hips Wall clock or Slip Mat.posted by boost ventilator at 4:56 AM PST - 10 comments
And then Kofi said 'no way!' and Clare said 'way!' and... British agents bugged conversations of Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraq War. Former Minister Clare Short (who's made some wild claims in the past but presumably wouldn't state something of this magnitude without being sure) read some of transcripts and 'presumes' that this is all legal...
posted by humuhumu at 2:04 AM PST - 25 comments
Howard Stern yanked off six Clear Channel radio stations The kingdom of the self proclaimed king of all media has been trimmed after Clear Channel dropped the Stern show on Tuesday after he allegedly aired sexually obscene and racist material.
The offensive exchange reportedly occured when a caller asked ex-Paris Hilton boyfriend (and sex-tape co-star) Rick Salomon if he had ever had oral sex on a black woman. The caller used the N-word to describe the black woman. Then the caller asked Salomon if it tasted like watermellon.
Is this grounds to fire the talk show host, or is it more politically motivated and the beginning of the end of free speech... of highly rated powerful talk show hosts who
blast the FCC and
aren't Republican.
entire stern show
here. (
BitTorrent rq'd)
posted by tsarfan at 1:47 AM PST - 91 comments
February 25
Birth of a Nation: one of the most
controversial films in american history.
The film "...was banned in more than a dozen localities (and furthermore has been the most banned film in American history) because of its white supremacist sympathies, racist stereotypes, and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan..."
Sex, Sin, and Blasphemy,
Marjorie Heins.
Given the recent controversy over Gibson's film, where do we draw the line between
freedom of expression and
censorship? when are these debates influenced by politcal agenda rather than sincere concern?
posted by poopy at 7:41 PM PST - 27 comments
OK, remakes. While channel surfing tonight I noticed that there is a new miniseries on the box called
Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital starting soon, on a channel near you. No doubt it will go the way of other King TV Greats, as the trailer suggests (Ed Begley Jr. in another hospital role). I am more interested in the way that it is being marketed - with the explicit "Stephen King" moniker. Similar to other less than stellar US remakes of European originals, (
Point of No Return /
Nikita, the weird case of
Spoorloos /
The Vanishing(same director for both), I could go on). Given the explicit reference in the title to King, do you think that people will seek out the original? Can you think of instances where the remake outdoes the original?
posted by grimley at 6:49 PM PST - 24 comments
Stag World Before there was Maxim there were these manly men's magazines from the '50s and '60s. Take that, you metrosexual pansies!
posted by owillis at 4:43 PM PST - 6 comments
The vertical nature of New York City has long helped define its image, with families stacked on top of each other and penthouse apartments reaching the clouds. But for generations, tens of thousands of people have made do with another New York reality - the basement apartment - and they literally climb out of the ground to enter the city that is always on top of them. As mentioned in
literature,
personal ads--and soon to be the penthouse of
urban worker housing everywhere
.posted by y2karl at 1:51 PM PST - 11 comments
Welcome to
"Ask the White House" -- an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Bush administration officials. Currently taking questions:
NASCAR's Michael Waltrip.
Pandering doesn't get any more naked than this, does it? (Via
TPM)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:01 PM PST - 33 comments
MouseCount counts the number of times you click your mouse--information useful to computer usage studies, ergonomics, repetitive stress measurement, and more. This program saves you the trouble of counting all those clicks yourself! Screw that, I'm just a curious dork. (fyi: link goes to description page only, but the download is a .zip file)
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:42 PM PST - 6 comments
Oral Sex Link to Mouth Cancer "Although the risk is small and it is more likely to result from heavy drinking and smoking, scientists have uncovered evidence that oral sex can cause mouth cancer."
Bummer.
posted by fenriq at 12:24 PM PST - 43 comments
SCOTUS rules for seperation of church and state for once. The court's 7-2 ruling held that the state of Washington was within its rights to deny a taxpayer-funded scholarship to a college student who was studying to be a minister. That holding applies even when money is available to students studying anything else.
"Training someone to lead a congregation is an essentially religious endeavor," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the court majority. "Indeed, majoring in devotional theology is akin to a religious calling as well as an academic pursuit."
posted by skallas at 8:47 AM PST - 42 comments
February 24
As Attorney General for the State of North Dakota, I am pleased to enclose payment for your claim in the settlement of the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation. Checks have gone out to people who "purchased prerecorded Music Products, consisting of compact discs, cassettes and vinyl albums, from one or more retailers during the period January 1, 1995, through December 22, 2000." Mine was for $13.86. I think I'll go buy an indie CD.
posted by travis at 8:40 PM PST - 24 comments
Is Salt The New Olive Oil? The
New York Times [
registration required] thinks so and
Peter Hertzmann, on his superb
a la carte website, offers an expert analysis of the difficulties of seasoning well. Even the greatest chefs feel insecure with salt, even though most of them would consider it to be, by far, the most important ingredient of all. At least those I've asked. [
I always ask them what 3 ingredients they couldn't do without]. It's cheap; it's essential and there are now so many kinds to choose from. Will this current brouhaha be enough to convince the larger population that
much is lost in using only the industrial, refined stuff? [
Of course, for someone from Southern Europe, olive oil and good sea salt aren't exactly new, so take this with a grain of you know what.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:48 PM PST - 28 comments
That's right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours to either spend or invest in job creation. All you have to do is definitively prove that George W. Bush fulfilled his duty to country. Garry Trudeau, like the rest of us, is weary of the "partisan assault on [Geo W's] character," and is taking brave steps to finally end the liberal accusations...
posted by Shane at 4:20 PM PST - 36 comments
Bush calls for same-sex marriage-ban amendment Pres. Bush called for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage today, blaming "activist judges", the Massachusettes Supreme Court, and the mayor of San Francisco, among others, for attempting "to change the most fundamental institution of civilization."
How this call for an amendment plays out
remains to be seen, but Bush is taking a strong stance on this issue, in what some see as another 'big headline' proposal during the election season. What will this mean for the civil rights of homosexuals in this country? And how will voters react in November?
posted by nyukid at 8:51 AM PST - 377 comments
Dear Mary, your father, recently said he would support adding anti-gay prejudice to the US Constitution, making you and millions of other Americans second-class citizens. As an open lesbian who has worked for years as a public advocate for gay civil rights, you are in a unique position to defend yourself and your community in this dire hour.
You're right, this is very personal.posted by alms at 8:11 AM PST - 12 comments
Brian Wilson performed
“Smile” last Friday, in its entirety. One of the most anticipated “lost” albums of all time (a great deal of the material was released on other Beach Boys Albums, as well as the “Good Vibrations” Box set). Smile was Brian Wilson’s answer to the Beatles “
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The now legendary tale speaks of Brian’s slow decent into madness and drug abuse during the recording of “Smile,” (for example, when he was recording “Mrs. O'Leary's Cow,” otherwise known as the “Fire” element to Smile, he and the orchestra all had to wear plastic firefighters helmets. When he got home from recording, there were news reports of a huge fire in the area he was recording in, causing him to believe the “vibes” from the music started the fire. Needless to say, he freaked out a bit.) The album was shelved at the last minute, and for decades, Brian either told people that the Smile sessions had been destroyed, or flat out refused to speak of it at all.
Now,
after 37 years of wondering,
Smile is finally going to be released!!!
posted by Quartermass at 7:21 AM PST - 30 comments
Thanks to PATRIOT Act, FBI wiretaps reach record numbers. 'Thanks to the bundle of anti-terrorism measures known as the USA Patriot Act, the FBI is conducting a "record amount" of electronic surveillance, including the use of wiretaps and bugs, according to an FBI spokesman and a Justice Department budget document. Yet the bounty perpetuates an old problem: The bureau can't keep up with all the information pouring in.'
posted by busbyism at 7:05 AM PST - 48 comments
February 23
Don't try this at home. We picked up the drill, the gloves, sterile gauze, sheets of plastic, sodium chloride, hypodermic syringes, sterile wipes, irrigation syringe, etc. etc. After acquiring all that we needed, we set up my best friend's bedroom as the operating room and prepared to perform the operation.
While I have heard of
this practice before, this article really shows how far some people are willing to go to enhance their consciousness. Apparently this has been going on for
some time.
First link possibly NSFW due to bloody picsposted by bashos_frog at 11:52 PM PST - 37 comments
You gave your life to the military, you voted Republican for many years, you say you served in the Pentagon right up to the outbreak of war. What does it feel like to be out now, publicly denouncing your old bosses?
Know what it feels like? It feels like duty. That’s what it feels like. I’ve thought about it many times. You know, I spent 20 years working for something that — at least under this administration — turned out to be something I wasn’t working for. I mean, these people have total disrespect for the Constitution. We swear an oath, military officers and NCOs alike swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. These people have no respect for the Constitution. The Congress was misled, it was lied to. At a very minimum that is a subversion of the Constitution. A pre-emptive war based on what we knew was not a pressing need is not what this country stands for.
LA Weekly interviews
Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, retired, Pentagon insider present at the creation. Skeletons from the closet tumble.
posted by y2karl at 10:32 PM PST - 59 comments
Walkie Talkie Man
A heck of a yarn of a song.
What promises to be one of the those super over hyped videos, see it now before it becomes passe.
And the song is pretty good too.
posted by fenriq at 6:25 PM PST - 20 comments
The Audio Kitchen. Music, spoken word, conversations, phone messages and anything else recorded — played on a radio program. Most of the material is found in thrift stores and flea markets. [RealAudio required]
posted by pedantic at 2:32 PM PST - 4 comments
Rod Paige Criticizes Teachers Union Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday.
Democratic and Republican governors confirmed Paige's remarks about the National Education Association.
posted by Postroad at 1:54 PM PST - 39 comments
Interesting info for even the ardent
salad dodgers
(via bifurcated rivets)
posted by johnny7 at 7:54 AM PST - 9 comments
Secret Report (drudge) shows Israel has 82 nuclear weapons. With Ariel Sharon's latest [in]actions towards lasting peace, goodwill and calls of corruption, is it time to reevaluate our friends?
posted by omidius at 7:29 AM PST - 29 comments
February 22
CNN In Feb. 8, 2002 I posted a link hoping Arnie's movie career would keep him too busy to become governor. Twenty-one months later he took office, (obviously I was being tongue-in-cheek, I had no idea it would actually happen). It seems he has his sights set pretty high.
posted by tetsuo at 4:30 PM PST - 53 comments
February 21
Big Box Juggernauts are taking control of the landscape across North America. How does it impact how we live, and where we live? [Flash]
posted by benjh at 2:52 PM PST - 29 comments
OSHA to whistleblowers: bankers' hours only - Why would part of OSHA's Inspection Database restrict public access to 8 am to 6 pm est, M-F? Confined Space, a workplace health & safety and labor blog, reports on this odd phenomena
here and
here. OSHA claims that this is to "manage the costs of providing public access to this data." Huh? Can anyone tell me how that would work? I can't ask OSHA since they apparently disable their
feedback mechanism on weekends too.
posted by madamjujujive at 2:32 PM PST - 30 comments
Out of the shadows. John Cassavetes' dumped and reshot much of the first version of his film 'Shadows'. Critics who were able to compare it to the second 'more Hollywood' version thought it was a very bad mistake, that by censoring the original he was depriving the world of the modern classic and something which could have influenced film makers for years. It disappeared into legend. There was only one surviving print and Cassavetes himself didn't even know where that went. Ray Carney spent decades obessively searching for it, even though he suspected it to be an impossible task. Then he heard that someone might have left it in a box in a subway in the 60s because it wasn't the porn film they had been expecting ...
posted by feelinglistless at 1:05 PM PST - 12 comments
Journal of a Schizophrenic
Over the next several weeks I heard the voice every once in a while, but always in the house, when I was by myself. I became used to it, looked forward to it on occasion. I started playing pool with it. We would play a regular game of eight ball, me with the right hand and the voice with the left. I had never shot with my left hand before, but the voice won as often as not. posted by moonbird at 12:16 PM PST - 32 comments
How dogs became man's best friend: Dr Hare's hypothesis is that dogs are superbly sensitive to social cues from people...
His experiment was simple. He presented his animal subjects with two inverted cups. Then he hid the cups behind a screen, put a small piece of food under one of them, and took the screen away. The animal had to choose which cup to look under. If the experimenter gave no cue, both species got it right 50% of the time, as would be expected. However, if he signalled in some way which was the right cup, by pointing at it, tapping it, or even just gazing at it, a dog would choose correctly every time, while a chimpanzee would still do only slightly better than chance. [More at
Harvard Gazette]
-- My question: are you able to reproduce his results?
posted by MzB at 7:50 AM PST - 21 comments
Creative Internet Techniques a large
Ohio ISP was shut down by the FBI for "IRC network" violations. If
you need to get at your hosted data "please contact the Bureau via email
to rwhite3@leo.gov. Make sure to include in your email your name, mailing address,
and telephone number with area code."
Does anyone still use IRC? Does anyone intend to "please contact the Bureau
via email to rwhite3@leo.gov. Make sure to include in your email your name,
mailing address, and telephone number with area code". Does anyone have
any ideas what this is REALLY about?
posted by arse_hat at 12:17 AM PST - 27 comments
February 20
Halifax under curfew. The Globe and Mail and
the CBC are reporting that the Province of Nova Scotia has placed Halifax, Canada, under a curfew tonight. The city has taken this unprecedented peacetime action to allow the snow plows to deal with the 100cm (~50 inches) of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours. Anyone caught on the streets between 11pm and 7am faces a CDN$1000 fine.
posted by tiamat at 5:25 PM PST - 35 comments
Israelis kill crops to oust beduin "Nonetheless, government ministers and officials accuse the beduin of "invading state lands" by refusing to be moved from their historic villages. Sharon himself gave a speech shortly before he became prime minister in which he said: "The beduin are eating away at the last land reserve of the state."" - via
american samidizatposted by specialk420 at 2:19 PM PST - 36 comments
An American in Mongolia. A new breed of American soldier—call him the soldier-diplomat—has come into being since the end of the Cold War. Meet the colonel who was our man in Mongolia, an officer who probably wielded more local influence than many Mongol rulers of yore.posted by kablam at 1:10 PM PST - 7 comments
Justly Married Derek Powazek shares a series of images of same-gender couples who were married in San Francisco over the last week, and sells one stark image in poster form to raise funds for
DontAmend.com, an organization committed to fighting the radical right's efforts to add an anti-gay marriage/union amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
posted by Dreama at 12:09 PM PST - 309 comments
Free-Speech Zones come to Boston this July. Protesters at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston may be confined to a cozy triangle of land off Haymarket Square, blocked off from the FleetCenter and convention delegates by a maze of Central Artery service roads, MBTA train tracks, and a temporary parking lot holding scores of buses and media trucks.
Under a preliminary plan floated by convention organizers, the "free-speech zone" would be a small plot bounded by Green Line tracks and North Washington Street, in an area that until recently was given over to the elevated artery. The zone would hold as few as 400 of the several thousand protesters who are expected in Boston in late July.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:56 AM PST - 54 comments
Eddie Clontz, longtime editor of the
Weekly World News, creator of Ed Anger, Bat Boy and other semi-real totems of society's fuzzy underbelly, is dead at 56.
The fact that I had to find this out in
The Economist, of all places, makes me madder than -- than -- than George S. Patton at a Peace Rally.
posted by chicobangs at 8:02 AM PST - 26 comments
"Don't Vote: Blog" is the message to supporters of reform in Iran, as today's parliamentary elections are marred by mass disqualification of reform candidates by religious authorities and protest resignations by sitting parliamentarians (via
Joi Ito.) Check
IranFilter for English-language posts and updates. Will this be the blogosphere's finest hour to date?
posted by hairyeyeball at 5:44 AM PST - 8 comments
Is Alex Ross Trying Too Hard To Be Eclectic? It's a great article but, imho, a few false notes are struck here and there. Can you love classical and popular music at the same time? Classical types always like the same popular stuff (Dylan and Pink Floyd, of course) and popular types always like the same classical stuff (Wagner, Puccini, Mahler) but somehow the suspicion remains that one's heart can't be in two places at once. There's something ingratiating and icky about attempts to pretend "it's all music". It isn't, is it? Also, God forgive me, 20 is
way too late to start listening to Pop.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:35 AM PST - 50 comments
Lost Liberties? Salon has an interesting two part series on the tensions between antiwar protesters and law enforcement.
Part 1: "Outlawing dissent: Spying on peace meetings, cracking down on protesters, keeping secret files on innocent people -- how Bush's war on terror has become a war on freedom."
Part 2: "A thousand J. Edgar Hoovers: State and local police are taking it upon themselves to investigate antiwar activists -- and in the computer age, the threat to our civil liberties is even greater than it was in Hoover's day." Does
Protester = Criminal?posted by homunculus at 12:53 AM PST - 2 comments
February 19
History Today made me laugh. Why had I never heard of Newman and Baddiel before? (I suppose because I'm American and my English friend hadn't sent me that link until today.) Don't read the transcripts, watch the videos.
posted by boredomjockey at 9:37 PM PST - 11 comments
Flowers for all!!! "Today a coworker of mine had a thought to send flowers to a random couple waiting in line at SF city hall.
He called a florist and they agreed to do it. He told them to deliver to any couple -- it didn't matter who -- standing in line to get married, with his blessing. The card will read simply "With love, from Minneapolis, Minnesota."
Once they understood, they were very touched and thought it was a great idea.
He told another co-worker who did the same thing. And now we want to start a movement. Wouldn't that be cool if people from all over the country, gay, straight and otherwise, started sending flowers to the people waiting in line to get married.
Call it The Big Gay Bouquet call it Flowers from the Heartland. Call it whatever you want, but help us get this off the ground.
Call Flowers on the Bay at 888-217-9119 and order a bouquet to be delivered tomorrow at noon.
And Tell all of your friends to do it.
Because straight or gay, we believe and we know many people who believe, support and celebrate the right to marriage. And we'd like to show it. We'd like to see all of the people standing in line with flowers of support from all over the country."
Apparently, flower shops in San Fran are starting to get overwhelmed...posted by matty at 7:52 PM PST - 42 comments
"Each Gum Blonde is 100% chewed bubblegum on a plywood backing. No paint or dye is used. The colour is inherent to the gum - the mixing of colour takes place inside the mouth during chewing using an endless variety of flavours ...."posted by anastasiav at 6:47 PM PST - 8 comments
February 18
Mac Insider Folklore Bill [Gates] responded that "No Steve , I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox, and you went in to steal the TV, and found that somebody else had stolen it. So you say, "hey, that's not fair. I wanted to steal the TV". Jobs vs. MS Windows,
The Mac Unveiling and other interesting tidbits from the pre-Mac era at folklore.org.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 5:16 PM PST - 5 comments
Online Prayer Labyrinth This is an online translation of the Cathedral Labyrinth created by London alternative worship groups Grace, LOPE, and Epicentre. It is currently touring UK Cathedrals during 2001 - 2003. Youth For Christ are running/hosting the tour. The original is described as 'an interactive installation for spiritual journeys'. It consists of a pathway mapped out on the floor for visitors to follow. During this journey participants pause and listen to a piece of music and a meditation. They also undertake some symbolic action or ritual.posted by konolia at 2:14 PM PST - 4 comments
Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, said in a statement issued today.--would you believe the scientists or the people's (almost) choice? May need free reg for NY Times.
posted by Postroad at 1:50 PM PST - 28 comments
Papers, please! On March 22, the Supreme Court will hear a case that will answer whether or not citizens have to provide identification whenever police demand it.
posted by Irontom at 12:18 PM PST - 43 comments
The "internet-based" campaign that won. Nickolas bought ads on 11 mostly left-leaning blogs, including Daily Kos, Political Wire and Eschaton, planning to make up the money out of his own salary if the ads didn't pay for themselves.
He needn't have worried. By the end of the day, the campaign had made back its money and then some.
The following Monday, Nickolas showed Chandler 65 e-mails that had piled up since the previous night.
"I said, 'Oh my god, these are all contributions,'" Nickolas remembered saying to Chandler. "And he said, 'Since when?' and I said, 'Since last night.' He was in disbelief that people around the country would care about this race."
posted by skallas at 9:24 AM PST - 3 comments
Smoking banned from the Irish workplace (including pubs) from March 29th
Looks like all of us smokers will have to comply. Personally, I can't wait for the ban to come in as it will be further incentive for me to fight the addicition. Hopefully the ban on smoking at my office will mean it'll be easier to stop.
All that said, I wonder how it's going to be enforced? The way I see it, the only way it could be properly enforced is through the public being prepaired to report transgressions to those charged with enforcing the law. Maybe the fear of that will make sure that business owners see to it that their workplaces are smoke free.
posted by tomcosgrave at 8:17 AM PST - 21 comments
Muppet News Flash: Disney Buys Muppets Jim Henson had long considered a partnership with the Disney Company, but never was able to work a deal. Now that the Comcast offer has been rejected, Disney is looking to expand its entertainment offerings. But with Pixar and Disney splitting, is this merger the House of Mouse's attempt to revive its "synergy" or just another cultural gem for Eisner to strip mine?
posted by jazon at 6:27 AM PST - 27 comments
February 17
Dental History. Anesthesia was discovered by dentists (attributed to Horace Wells and William Morton). Gold filling has been in use since the 15th century.
posted by tboz at 10:53 PM PST - 16 comments
Harold and Maude. We hold on his wretched face as his mother's hysterical cries are heard in the background. Harold moves his head and listens. He breaks into a sly, satisfied grin.posted by thebabelfish at 3:41 PM PST - 42 comments
Traffic Island Discs is a radio programme [on
Resonance FM]
about music, people and spaces. We roam the streets looking for people wearing headphones, stop them, and interview them while recording whatever they are listening to. The result is a half hour tour of an area of London, heard through people's personal tastes and rhythms. The site has the archived shows [Broadband (or save as mp3s)].
[via City of Sound]posted by Blue Stone at 1:16 PM PST - 5 comments
The San Francisco Chronical has an
observance on the 10th anniversary of the death of Randy Shilts. His second book,
And the Band Played On opened my eyes to the AIDS epidemic, as I am sure it did to a lot of straight people. I was amazed to see him pilloried in the gay press as being a traitor to his "kind." My understanding is that this disfavor arose from his assertion that aspects of the hard-won sexual freedom enjoyed by many gay men were also killing them. Anyone want to weigh in on this?
posted by Danf at 7:32 AM PST - 25 comments
She claimed to be a sporting champion whose brave and public battle against cancer turned her into a national hero across France.
But when
Florence le Vot was asked to become the patron of a charity to tackle the disease her conscience finally got the better of her.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:07 AM PST - 10 comments
February 16
Chalghi's Online collection of Iraqi music The Best way to understand others cultures is to listen to thier thoughts and baring that, thier music.
For whats it's worth, Not sure if I saw this on Boingboing, Fark,Blort or what, But I can't take credit for finding it only sharing in here..
posted by Elim at 9:04 PM PST - 4 comments
Police seize Vietnamese farmer's unlicensed, homebuilt helicopter This NYT/AP report convinced me that globalization truly dooms that American middle class pitted against such dedication. Yankee tinkering once provided a foundation for the North American industrial revolution. But now:
' The farmer said he won't give up, vowing to sell his house or 25 acres of land if that's what it takes to get the license. "If I cannot do it, my children or my grandchildren will do it,'' he said. 'posted by troutfishing at 8:11 PM PST - 38 comments
I'd like to introduce you to Norman Finkelstein. A Jew whose parents were survivors of the Warsaw ghetto and various concentration camps, he is one of a handful of modern Jewish scholars who wants to "maintain the integrity of the history of the Nazi holocaust". I was introduced to him when I read his book
The Holocaust Industry, which reminds us that "its central dogmas sustain significant political and class interests. Indeed, The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon." Indeed.
posted by taumeson at 8:02 PM PST - 30 comments
A very good tribute from the Guardian regarding the life and legacy of philosopher-comedian Bill Hicks.
It is compelling and significant that the final words on Hicks's last record, Rant In E-Minor, are a prayer: "Lift me up out of this illusion, Lord. Heal my perception, so that I may know only reality." posted by moonbird at 6:58 PM PST - 93 comments
Geopathic Stress , otherwise known as negative earth energies, black streams or earth rays, have become acknowledged as a hazard to health.
posted by quonsar at 6:10 PM PST - 15 comments
February 10
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an non-proprietary, XML driven
alternative to flash that can be easily modified using a text editor. People are starting to make
games,
maps, and other
interactive stuff. Is this the future of the web? (You need an SVG plug-in to view this content.)
posted by joeadk at 9:14 AM PST - 24 comments
...The Rolling Stones released their Four Flicks DVD in Canada on an exclusive distribution basis, limiting availability of the Four Flicks DVD to only one retailer, thereby excluding HMV and all other retailers from making this product available to their consumers....HMV responded by indicating that if its consumers were not good enough to have access to the Rolling Stones new product in HMV stores, then the Rolling Stones were not worthy of having ANY of its products in HMV’s stores...HMV would now like to solicit your opinion as it decides its next steps with regards to its position...posted by boost ventilator at 6:26 AM PST - 18 comments
What Are The Odds Against Hamlet? This wonderful piece, representative of British academia at its best, most tongue-in-cheek, inclusive and playful, still presents a problem which wasn't (probably can't be) solved. What are the odds that it could be taken seriously? Mathematicians and literary theorists enter at their peril. The rest of us can feel free!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:23 AM PST - 5 comments
February 9
Pro and
con arguments about the iPod. The Pro argument: It changes our relationship to music. It creates an in-group marked by instantly recognizable white earbuds. The Con argument: It changes our relationship to music. It creates an in-group marked by instantly recognizable white earbuds.
posted by Slagman at 10:42 PM PST - 79 comments
Cat family being photographed depicts cats--dressed and bipedal--enacting a mundane human situation in a Swiss, or, at least, European setting. It is, in other words, your stereotypical
Alfred Mainzer Dressed Cats Series postcard. I have collected them in a desultory way over the years but never thought to Google Alfred Mainzer until tonight.*
*Note that all of these are personal sites and two are Tripod and GeoCities hosted, so treat kindly and tread gently. No direct links, please. coughmaybemirrothemcoughposted by y2karl at 9:26 PM PST - 4 comments
Convicted killer wins stay. The 9th Circuit Court feels that justice would be better served by being more sure that Cooper is actually guilty of the 4 murders he was sentenced to die for (followed from
here). Considering the amount of controversy over evidence handling in this case, I think that they're right.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 8:53 PM PST - 9 comments
You think you've got it bad? That nice Tony Blair has set up a new UK-style FBI which will be ruthless in fighting organised crime. Saviour of freedom Blair says, "the system is struggling against a presumption that you treat these crimes like every other type of crime and that you build up cases beyond reasonable doubt".
posted by biffa at 2:51 PM PST - 14 comments
The Zoology Dragon. "Rather than, as has previously been thought, a slow process of evolution, we now know that all animals were created by the Zoology Dragon. Unfortunately, we also know that the current Zoology Dragon is a bit shit." [Flash.]
posted by homunculus at 2:27 PM PST - 10 comments
"I can make your life very difficult..." In January, journalists posing as regular citizens attempted to review documents under Florida's open access laws. 43% of all requests were denied, and in some cases volunteers were lied to, harassed or even threatened by government officials.
posted by Irontom at 7:19 AM PST - 29 comments
Software innovation is dead. I have to agree that there hasn't been anything truly exciting coming out of the software community as of late, at least anything that is going to change the way we do things like e-mail and P2P did.
posted by archimago at 7:07 AM PST - 34 comments
CleanTV (currently in the early stages of construction) is
this guy's new web site. It will log
instances of "offensive" material shown on broadcast television, enable offended TV viewers to
send email directly to local station owners and management, and/or send emails to the station's local and national advertisers. What happens to advertisers who ignore the email campaign and continue to sponsor shows that CleanTV deems offensive? -
"If an advertiser continues to support offensive advertising, they will be targeted for local and national boycott. On the local level, newspapers are notified of the boycott and CleanTV volunteers will demonstrate at the advertiser's place of business until the advertiser decides to rescind their support of offensive programming."posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:00 AM PST - 17 comments
Electronic music buffs cite Radiohead's Kid A as their best work. How many know that Idioteque, arguably the stand-out track
owes a debt to
Paul Lansky, sampling as it does Lansky's
Mild Und Leise [mp3 file], a track composed in 1973 on an
IBM 360/91 mainframe. I didn't. Should you find your interest piqued, you might want to read an
interview with Lansky. If that was then, this is now: The excellent
music video to Zeal [Quicktime] by
Plaid, which, although a very different beast, is an excellent indicator of how far electronic music has come. [Probably NSFW].
posted by nthdegx at 5:33 AM PST - 42 comments
February 8
Comrade, is Piglet revisionism getting you down? Don't be an enemy of the people. Brush up on your Maoist theory with the
Mao of Poo.
posted by alidarbac at 11:23 PM PST - 5 comments
The history of the Linux's penguin logo. Linus: So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin, sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another "burp" coming.
Tux gallery here.posted by skallas at 11:15 PM PST - 5 comments
Have a region free DVD player? Just love movies?
DVD Beaver reviews DVDs and compares releases from different countries so you can be sure you're getting the best print/audio available.
posted by dobbs at 9:37 PM PST - 10 comments
Minne de vergine are rounded marzipan confections made by nuns in honor of St. Agatha, a Christian martyr who is the patron saint of bellmakers. Not safe for the Superbowl.
posted by Slagman at 9:20 PM PST - 7 comments
Penguin Magic is a magicians' supply vendor with a nice bonus: almost all the tricks/props/gimmicks have videos of professional (well, competent, at the very least) magicians performing the tricks/props/gimmicks in question. (
This is quite well done.) Everything is categorized--street tricks, close-up tricks, levitation, et cetera--and apprently this magic thing is serious business. The feats are slick, the instructions are largely on DVD, and the community does not expose any secrets . . . but that's what keeps you looking, right?
posted by littlegreenlights at 8:01 PM PST - 7 comments
Country Studies: a comprehensive description and analysis of the country or region's historical setting, geography, society, economy, political system, and foreign policy.
posted by hama7 at 7:21 AM PST - 11 comments
February 7
Feds win one in the war on anti-war activists A federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists. In addition to records about who attended the forum, the university has been ordered to divulge all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum. Subpoenas were also served on activists who attended the forum at the school.
posted by dejah420 at 10:02 PM PST - 43 comments
Two U.S. Combat Officers Speak Out. "What I want to say as my final statement to America is 'Stop letting your proud men and women die so senselessly. If we are going to die for our country let it be for something we can really be proud of. I just don t see us making the US any safer from terrorists because of what we are doing in Iraq. Bring us back home so we can defend the US from real threats to our shores.'" "Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. I am proud to serve my country and even die for it. I know the risks of putting on the uniform and accepting command. But damn it, if we are going to die, make it for something that really is helping to defend the US. I agree that we are dying senselessly for an idea of democracy in Iraq that the US government will never really let happen. I just want to be able to look back on my service with total pride and that is not really what I feel right now. I hate the ones in power that have made me question my sense of duty and honor."
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 2:26 PM PST - 89 comments
Coast Guard pulls over floating, propeller equipped '59 Buick driving to Miami - manned by Cuban refugees. "For four of the 11 people on board, it was not the first thwarted attempt to leave the communist island in a bizarrely converted vintage vehicle." (from
ABC news) Last year, they tried to do the same thing in a converted '51 Chevy Truck:
"The crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter could not believe their eyes...Chugging along at a steady 13 kilometres per hour in the Straits of Florida was a bright-green 1951 Chevrolet truck...." (link to story, as reprinted in Free Republic, alas ) Sadly, the Coast Guard sunk the Buick - which looked a bit like a WW2 amphibious landing craft.
Here's a picture, on the blog of a Christian Evangelical (scroll down for story) who argues that the refugees are worthy of a special exception to US immigration laws, for their pluck and innovative brilliance.
posted by troutfishing at 10:55 AM PST - 25 comments
Art In Ruins chronicles the economic and cultural transformation of Providence, Rhode Island through the eyes of artists, architects, and urban planners.
posted by PrinceValium at 2:04 AM PST - 3 comments
February 6
Muted Tones is a collaborative music project where a different "curator" picks out ten minutes of their own music once a month, and after seven months they have a full CD-sized collection of content (complete with blog posts by curators as well).
The first one is done and they're almost done with
the second one. There's a lot of variety and great artists I've never heard of in the mixes. It's sort of a public CD swap that anyone can listen in on and
it's probably totally illegal it's really cool.
posted by mathowie at 2:37 PM PST - 15 comments
MacBand has just launched and looks like the perfect fit for budding
Garageband musicians. The site hosts songs you've created in Garageband and everything's under a Creative Commons license, so music collaboration with loops, samples, and whole songs from people you've never met will be possible on this new community.
posted by mathowie at 11:26 AM PST - 14 comments
Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.
The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.
posted by GernBlandston at 10:05 AM PST - 41 comments
Pull up! Pull up! Several detailed Quicktime VR tours of aircraft and spacecraft cockpits, from the National Air & Space Museum.
[QTVR plugin required, natch.]posted by stonerose at 9:41 AM PST - 6 comments
Zooooooooom. Videos of common objects zoomed seemlessly to the near-atomic level.
[RealVideo with audio commentary]posted by gwint at 9:36 AM PST - 9 comments
I am Blogger, hear me roar! (3.1mb PDF) - A new study shows that
"Online Political Citizens are not isolated cyber-geeks, as the media has portrayed them. On the contrary, OPCs are nearly seven times more likely than average citizens to serve as opinion leaders among their friends, relatives and colleagues. OPCs are disproportionately “Influentials,” the Americans who “tell their neighbors what to buy, which politicians to support, and where to vacation...” " They are “canaries in the mineshaft for looming political ideas” and tend to be more young, white, single, college educated, and affluent than average.
I just feel so influential. Now where's the friggin paycheck...posted by troutfishing at 8:37 AM PST - 16 comments
Baby's 'second head' to be removed by surgery "This parasitic formation is fed by and drains off the blood supply system of [baby’s] head."
"This is medical history,"... The condition, known formally as Cranio Pagus Parasiticus, is extremely rare, with only seven other cases ever reported.posted by dfowler at 8:35 AM PST - 43 comments
Oh snap, things for Kazaa and the parent company just took a turn for the worst as
an Australian court served the company with a "search and seize" order. I'm guessing that's like a search warrant in the US, where the authorities have free reign to go through your stuff looking for evidence linked to a crime. Surprising that this happened as a result of no apparent court case, but who knows if it will cause any long term damage.
posted by mathowie at 8:28 AM PST - 22 comments
Joseph P. Smith had a criminal record dating back to 1993, now suspected of kidnapping and murdering eleven year old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Smith had a history of "
second chances." How typical is this, or is this just a case of hindsight being everything?
posted by SentientAI at 7:40 AM PST - 23 comments
Fight Back! James Saldana from Southern Illinois University has created a anti-RIAA parody called Fight Back! "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister replaces "I Fought the Law". Go here:
http://nmc.siu.edu/~pepsi/ There are also mirrors up, so hopefully it doesn't get shutdown too quickly. Pulled from
iPodLoungeposted by meanie at 6:05 AM PST - 4 comments
The Skeptic's Dictionary is a wonderful resource for all sentient individuals: 'A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions (and
how to think critically about them)'. It's where I send people when they start telling me nonsense.
It is also a jolly good read: try the entry for
natural, for example. And some entries, like the entry for
IQ and race, verge on the profound.
There is a print edition, but the extensive internal and external site linkage makes reading the collection online a particular joy. While The Skeptic's Dictionary has been referred to
before on MeFi, the link made the site out to be a cornucopia of Urban legend-style oddities, like
Snopes. Which I thought was a shame: not dissing Snopes, but the Skeptic's Dictionary delivers a firm grounding in critical thinking as well.
This post is dedicated to all of my relatives who chipped in to buy
shark cartilage tablets and several fifty-dollar pamphlets full of
testimonials after my father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and who probably still think the worse of me for not contributing to their folly.
posted by chrisgregory at 6:01 AM PST - 28 comments
February 5
The Quorum After Ricin, anthrax, plane crashing into the Capital--there've been several serious threats to our Congresspeople in the last couple of years and, despite having a couple of bills introduced to rectify the matter, we still have no program in place to manage an emergency that deprives us of a quorum. Norman Ornstein explains (and though link is NYT, no babies required as payment). I know, I know, but it really does matter.
posted by billsaysthis at 8:18 PM PST - 16 comments
John Kerry, Garage Rocker? Record geeks have uncovered that John Kerry played bass with the
Electras, a Ventures-style instrumental band formed at St. Paul's Academy of Concord, NH. Strangely enough, George W. Bush also has a connection to the sub-subgenre of 1960s garage bands, known as
"prep rock." When he attended Andover, Dubya was allegedly a
"clapper" with the frat rock band, the
Torques, although prep rock aficionados generally prefer other Andover bands, such as The Rising Storm and the Satans.
posted by jonp72 at 6:23 PM PST - 24 comments
the separate cinema archive has for almost three decades been the only source dedicated to the art and fascinating history of African Americans in film. The archive of over 25,000 movie posters, lobby cards, stills and material from over a dozen foreign countries, spans the past century of important historic black cinema.posted by sgt.serenity at 5:31 PM PST - 3 comments
Do no evil... it looks like Orkut would like to 0wn your data. And although the piece is heated, everyone did get incensed over Microsoft's near-identical passport policy. And I know you
invited types like Orkut...
posted by bonaldi at 3:50 PM PST - 28 comments
Seven years in jail and a $150,000 fine. That's what domain owners will get if HR 3574 makes its way into law. HR 3574 will require all domain owners to make their current home address, telephone number and email address publicly known. Mr. Haughey's stalkers need no longer fear how to find him.
posted by ed at 3:44 PM PST - 27 comments
Frog Scoot? The FBI appears ready to point fingers in the Plame affair, at Senior Administration Officials Lewis Libby and John Hanna.
TPM reports that the intial charges against Hanna may be intended to induce him to name higher-ups. Will this really go down before the election?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 1:27 PM PST - 19 comments
Najaf, Iraq - Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, survived an assassination attempt Thursday when gunmen opened fire on his entourage, a security official in his office said...
Of related interest from Juan Cole:
Reformers implore Sistani to Intervene in Iran Crisis
Ali Nourizadeh of the Saudi newspaper ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports today that more than 400 Iranian writers and cultural figures, along with some members of parliament, have penned a letter to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Najaf, requesting that he express his opinion on the "massacre of democracy and the transformation of parliamentary elections into a mere stage play." See also
The Shiite Surge for further background.
We are living in interesting times.posted by y2karl at 11:18 AM PST - 15 comments
Exiting Deanspace: As one who has watched with growing nausea as the Howard Dean campaign has smacked up against primary reality and disintegrated, this lengthy article offers some useful truths. While the post mortem is far from over, this cogent analysis by Clay Shirky from "Many 2 Many" points out how so many of us could have been so blinded by the process . . . while still having reason for hope.
posted by mooncrow at 10:54 AM PST - 18 comments
Catch some waves... for free! Wi-Fi Freespot will help.
Via my roommate's co-workers, who keep sending this round e-mail circuits. I don't know why they include me. I hate technology.posted by WolfDaddy at 10:12 AM PST - 7 comments
Four California activists were arrested Tuesday while protesting the case of
Kevin Cooper, set to be executed in less than a week. Gov. Schwarzenegger denied a clemency hearing for Cooper (the first time such a hearing was denied since California re-instituted the death penalty in 1978), despite
ample evidence shedding doubt not only on the
fairness of Cooper's trial, but also his alleged guilt. Kevin Cooper is
asking people to
protest for his life.
posted by sudama at 7:51 AM PST - 71 comments
Janet Jackson's
breast has
become the most searched-for image in (Lycos)
net history, even beating searches for 11 September. Nice to see everyone has their priorities straight.
posted by MintSauce at 4:57 AM PST - 47 comments
Stickee is a British design firm that takes the concept of the corporate tour literally. It's rather fun to explore and the site detail is impressive.
(note: flash site and pop-up stoppers need to be disabled to take the tour.) via One's Web.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:55 AM PST - 7 comments
February 4
This Amazing Software changed my life...
Then they asked me how they could get it for themselves. Imagine if you had a way to achieve the wealth you've always wanted.
What if you could drift off to sleep knowing that happiness and good fortune was yours and it was as simple as clicking a button ?
SpellKaster is the exciting new software that uses the advanced power of Radionic Energy to make all of your dreams and desires come true.
[WARNING : RADIONIC ENERGY IS A POWERFUL FORCE. THIS SOFTWARE IS NOT TO BE USED FOR ANY MALICIOUS OR ILLEGAL PURPOSES.]
posted by azul at 9:45 PM PST - 17 comments
Pizza Party USA. Matthew "Yeti" Baldwin has an excellent initiative for what America the Beautiful can do with our --
our! -- Leap Days, for just $3 an American.
posted by brownpau at 11:33 AM PST - 26 comments
Li'l G n' R - the first ever Guns N' Roses Kids Tribute Band. Check the audition video
here (quicktime). They're playing CBGB's in a couple of weeks. Only $5, c'mon NYC MeFi'ers....one of you has to go and report.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:09 AM PST - 20 comments
Bush/Condi '04? A grass-roots conservative movement is trying to effectuate the Democrats' worst nightmare: Condoleeza Rice as Bush's running mate in '04. Conspiracy theorists, set your Dick-Cheney-convenient-heart-attack-countdowns now.
posted by PrinceValium at 9:23 AM PST - 98 comments
Man's inhumanity to Man Here is a project that young elementary school children are undertaking in order to visualize what 6 million dead humans would seem like. I and others are ciruclating this call for help so that the school, the kids, and you can all be involved in a worthwhile project. Read about the project and ask yourself what it would take of your time and effort to help these youngster learn.
posted by Postroad at 9:11 AM PST - 13 comments
Al Sharpton... Republican stooge? A Village Voice investigation finds that his presidential campaign is being financed and staffed by
Roger Stone, "the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the
mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount in 2000." Article details some interesting financing arrangements and reveals that Stone has bragged that he gave Sharpton the
ax handle he waved at a NAACP meeting to denounce Democratic racism. Sharpton wants to teach the Democrats a lesson (as he did in helping to elect Republican Mike Bloomberg mayor of New York), and Republicans are anxious to help create a division with black voters. But black voters must have seen through him,
refusing to give him the South Carolina victory he needed to speak for them at the convention.
posted by Slagman at 8:59 AM PST - 53 comments
Mass. High Court Rules for Gay Marriage. In a follow-up to
this thread, the Mass. High Court rules that only full, equal marriage rights for gay couples - rather than civil unions - would be constitutional. This opinion was requested by the state senate leading up to next week's consideration of an amendment that would legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
posted by Stynxno at 8:55 AM PST - 50 comments
Dean is out of cash. Somehow he blew through $40 million and still managed to leave the first Super Tuesday without a first or second place finish,
anywhere. No mistake about his
Meet the Press interview, though, which was felt as an incredibly strong and persuasive performance. It's obvious that Dean overestimated his grass-roots support, which has currently dried up, but the amount of publicity he has generated is surely a huge advantage. Two options come to mind: blow out the Washington Insiders (as he alluded to in his latest interview), or become more of a traditional candidate.
posted by BlueTrain at 8:40 AM PST - 72 comments
Remembrance of Books Past, by Ray Bradbury
"Why not a sequel to 'Fahrenheit 451' in which all the great books are remembered by the Wilderness People and are finally reprinted from memory. What then?"
"Wouldn't it be," he continued,
"that all would be misremembered, none would come forth in their original garb? Wouldn't they be longer, shorter, taller, fatter, disfigured, or more beautiful? "
[if possible, use the Wall Street Journal link - subsription required]posted by MzB at 7:19 AM PST - 24 comments
The Occidental Tourist: The West is the pest, according to a cracking, provocative article from wise old
Ian Buruma, and wily occidentals who gingerly try to sidestep the shit and try to make the U.S. take all the blame may be underestimating their involvement. [
Via Arts & Letters Daily.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:18 AM PST - 13 comments
Police dog suspended for potential racism. It seems that for some time now, Dolpho, a police dog in Pennsylvania, has been singling out black children, which, in the eyes of officials is clearly a sign of racism, and they are calling for an end to his active duty -- not to mention an end to his life.
posted by poorhouse at 12:27 AM PST - 34 comments
February 3
If the poor get richer, does the world see progress? The global "consumer class", defined by those who make $7,000 or more in local currency, is growing quickly but making it even more difficult for the worlds poor to get ahead. 1.7 billion belong to the consumer class while over 3 billion survive on less than $2 a day. Will the growing tide of new consumers in the developing world contribute to the solution of global poverty or simply add to the problem?
posted by stbalbach at 10:42 PM PST - 26 comments
Got bacon? If you love bacon like I do -- and I know you do -- you'll find yourself wishing you had a ecological AND pipe-friendly way of disposing of All That Grease. Add lye + water, and if you don't go blind, you have
soap.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:16 PM PST - 21 comments
Punk the National Review - a potentially-petty exercise in journalistic credibility. The
National Review has recently engaged in printing anonymous e-mails from readers who "used to know" the Democratic candidates and just happen to have damaging stories about them. Blogger Ted Barlow is offering a $10 Amazon gift certificate to anyone who can get their anonymous story published. "If you possess an email address and an eye-opening story, you've passed the rigorous fact-checking that has made
National Review and the
Penthouse Forum world-famous."
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 2:09 PM PST - 26 comments
The Exorcist Experience: U.S. soldier pops
The Exorcist into his portable DVD player and discovers that he's right there, where the opening scenes were filmed. Now the Army (and movie director William Friedkin) plan to back an
Exorcist-themed tourist attraction.
Admission will be $2 or $5 with a kabob lunch.
posted by Holden at 9:14 AM PST - 14 comments
All Hail The Ayatollah Of The 21st Century Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Iraq is the spiritual leader of the Shi'ia Muslims in Iraq and seems to be a force to be reckoned with as his clout grows. He now has a website and questions can be submitted. We particularly like his views on oral sex:
Question: "
I am really sorry that I have to ask this type of Question. But Since I grew up in a western country; I really don't much about our religion. And I can't ask this Question to my parents due to subject matter. Brother my question is, can we have an oral sex before or after the sexual intercourse or can we have oral sex at all? Is it haram? "
Answer: "
Oral sex act is permissible with the consent of both husband and wife provided that no liquid gets into the mouth."
posted by turbanhead at 8:12 AM PST - 37 comments
Mieskuoro Huutajat are the "Men's Choir Shouters," formed in 1987 in Oulu, Finland, by a group of young men who clearly had nothing better to do. The idea was to dress about 20 men in black suits, white shirts and black rubber ties, and train them to shout some of the most beloved songs in the Finnish song heritage. Since then they've
branched out a bit. Check out their
version of the Star-Spangled Banner. Apparently, they are currently
performing on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean, shouting at a stranded ice-breaking ship.
posted by carter at 8:12 AM PST - 12 comments
February 2
Dad Kills Known Sex Offender Dad's in-law is caught in a possible compromising situation with 2 year old daughter, and having a history of sex abuse, dad immediately beats the registered sex offender up, and kicks him out. Takes girl to hospital, no penetration. Later on, he decides to gun the man down in the street with 9 bullets. Vigilante justice? Karma? Two wrongs don't make a right?
posted by Keyser Soze at 9:54 PM PST - 111 comments
The scum behind the spam "These anti-spammers, most of them are unemployed people. . .No life, miserable. They thrive on attention. They have their little newsgroups, and they argue with each other. They're their own worst enemies. I used to care what they think, but not anymore." Now, presumably, Scott Richter may have Metafilter to add to his list of projected insecurities.
posted by crasspastor at 8:58 PM PST - 38 comments
Cure for Cancer: 72 hours of sex! A leading tantric sex guru who says he has counseled Whitney Houston, Princess Diana and Michael Jackson claims he "heals" women of terminal diseases such as cancer by sleeping with them -- 2,000 of them in 40 years, and his wife doesn't mind.
posted by Slagman at 8:29 PM PST - 14 comments
RealOne without the spyware The BBC, being a public service broadcaster, are forbidden from advertising. However, their internet streams are in Real format - the player of which is not known for being ad-free. The BBC have done a deal with Real to provide a "clean" version of RealOne (Windows only) - only available from the above link.
posted by Mwongozi at 4:33 PM PST - 31 comments
Blinky Links for Blogs AllGuinness has come up with a relatively
easy interface to generate the HTML to create a very cool and intuitive way of signifying the links between your blog and the others they link to.
It allows others to easily see the interlinking by mousing over one blog, all the others linked to it in the list will light up like a Christmas tree.
posted by fenriq at 10:58 AM PST - 13 comments
In 2000, 18-year-old Matthew Limon was tried for having sex with a 14-year old. Under Kansas state law, the consensual, though illegal, act merited a maximum 15-month sentence. Except the 14-year old was also male. Last week, the Kansas appeals court ruled that because of this, Limon posed a "greater danger to the sexual mores of society," and ruled as such it was fair to
sentence Limon to 17 years in prison. State prosecutors applaud the decision as a victory against "the potential attack on Kansas' ban on gay marriage."
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 10:26 AM PST - 42 comments
Age Maps - photographer Bobby Neele Adams fuses two photos of the same person from different points in their life, with an
unsettling effect. He uses the same technique for
couples, a unique portrait idea for you all you coupled Mefites. (nsfw, bare breasts) His
Broken Wings series is also worth noting.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:34 AM PST - 16 comments
February 1
Janet Jackson pops out of dress at Super Bowl; CBS Apologizes. Note that this happened during Justin Timberlake's lyric of "I'm gonna get you naked by the end of this song." ..."It was not intentional and is regrettable," said Timberlake. Please direct all complaints to Viacom (owners of CBS, which aired the Super Bowl, and MTV, which produced the half-time show), if you felt offended. Me? I was pleased — it was one of the more entertaining half-time shows I've seen. Who needed the
Lingerie Bowl?
posted by Down10 at 8:22 PM PST - 243 comments
PAIR UP FOR PEACE PRIZE It is possible to see the war against Iraq as a good thing,finally, but this Orwellian War is Peace seems a bit strange: :Tony Blair and George Bush have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for waging war on Saddam Hussein.
They have been put forward by a Norwegian politician who said ousting the dictator had reduced the threat of a war with weapons of mass destruction."
posted by Postroad at 7:33 PM PST - 26 comments
The Washington Post has one of the better articles about nanotechnology that I've seen, providing both a view of the billions of dollars of investment in the technology, and the concerns of environmentalists and consumer health advocates. The article predicts upcoming regulatory battles over how and when this technology should be released.
Perhaps one of the brighter points of light is that concerns have shifted away from the superlative
grey goo (IMHO: if a grey goo was chemically possible, bacteria would have done it already) towards the possible risks of disease due to exposure. Rice University has a page devoted to
current information on research regarding nanotechnology and health.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:53 PM PST - 18 comments
