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June 2001 Archives
June 30
Silly use of Eliza
for an A.I. review. I just saw it yesterday and I don't see this as Speilberg doing Kubrick as much as Spielberg taking (stealing?) all of Philip K. Dick's tricks and putting together a movie slightly more audience friendly than Blade Runner. (more)
posted by skallas at 5:52 PM PST - 51 comments
The Frank & Fritzy show
The
latest episode of FBI tapes is on diet:
FRITZY: Nothin'. Nothin'. Once I come out there's nothing you could, I could buy out there other than fruit, an apple or something like that, that I'll have out there.
FRANK: Fruit?
FRITZY: That's all.
FRANK: Yeah.
FRITZY: That's all I'll have.
FRANK: The restaurants kill ya.
posted by john at 12:54 PM PST - 1 comments
The J.W. Westcott II
delivers toilet paper, the occasional pizza, and, most importantly, mail to freighters making their way through the Great Lakes. And now it's the only boat in the U.S. to be assigned it's own zip code.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:38 AM PST - 6 comments
Oh me oh my:
Video bootleggers have flooded the underground market with thousands of copies of a film labeled Pearl Harbor that contains only five minutes of the actual movie. The rest of the video contains hard porn material featuring Caucasian and Asian actors. All together now: At Least It's More Interesting Than The Actual Movie. (link only good until the morning of July 2nd)
posted by logovisual at 10:47 AM PST - 10 comments
France's 35-hour work week
has boosted the economy and proved a hit with both employees and their bosses. "If the French experiment works then the UK Government may be forced to look at France rather than the U.S. for new ideas about reforming the jobs market." Thanks to
AlterNet for the link.
posted by fleener at 8:39 AM PST - 50 comments
June 29
CBS dials 911 4 BB2...
Arnold Shapiro (who helmed Rescue 911, Scared Straight, & more) has been announced as Executive Producer, in hopes of resusitating what critics pronounced DOA last year despite above satisfactory summer ratings. Some of new developments sound promising.
Some don't. (MORE)
posted by ZachsMind at 10:36 PM PST - 11 comments
Humans Good!
Finally...a report on a major TV network that presents (dare I say it?) the truth about progress, technology, and human nature, and eco-terrorists are portrayed in the scathing light of reality.
posted by davidmsc at 7:33 PM PST - 30 comments
A Man, A Mower and a Mission.
An unknown man mowed a huge '420' sign into two hills in Peoria this week. From the article, an entertaining quote:
"That's strange that somebody would put ("420" in 20-foot-long digits) on our right-of-way," Illinois Department of Transportation engineer George Ryan said said. "I don't think there's any marijuana growing out there."
Maybe he received a
shipment too? [
*]
posted by DragonBoy at 4:08 PM PST - 9 comments
A working internet business model?
Say it ain't so! While checking out my options for hosting companies, i found these guys. They struck me as geeks with a dry sense of humour.
hmmm... Maybe if i trust my websites in the hands of geeks, i won't have to worry about my host disappearing from under me due to some suit blowing capital on a fancy chair. (+2 points for having a site that believes in function over aesthetics. maybe they're on to something here as well...) I dunno, maybe i stumbled on to something grand in the making? A company that actually cares?!? o_O
posted by jcterminal at 3:03 PM PST - 6 comments
Michael Young's critique of the meritocracy
is brilliant, subversive and quite possibly based on faulty assumptions. "It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind harden into a new social class without room in it for others."
posted by lbergstr at 2:03 PM PST - 11 comments
Corruption Perceptions Index 2001 highlights worldwide corruption
"There is no end in sight to the misuse of power by those in public office - and corruption levels are perceived to be as high as ever in both the developed and developing worlds.
It does not reflect secret payments to finance political campaigns, the complicity of banks in money laundering or bribery by multinational companies. Corruption in the most prosperous countries in the world has many manifestations."
posted by riley370 at 12:13 PM PST - 3 comments
The Global Privileges of Whiteness.
"The average White American's attitudes about race and racism are a mixture of self-congratulation and defensiveness -- 'Yes, America has had some episodes of racism and racial bias, but that's all clearly in the past.'"
posted by queequeg at 12:09 PM PST - 13 comments
Yesterday,
the Good Morning Silicon Valley webpage at the SJ Merc (which I love since it keeps me from having to see CNET's god awful ads) had an interesting blurb as an offshoot of the whole NY cell-phone safety debacle (scroll to the last item.) Columnist John Paczkowski asked if it was possible to change your pants in a moving car at 65 miles an hour. He got some pretty funny responses. What have YOU done in a moving car that you shouldn't have?
posted by machaus at 11:07 AM PST - 23 comments
Before there was a Yahoo!, There was Yahoo Serious..
It seemed like we were headed for a nice Australian invasion in the lateeighties-earlynineties with Crocodile Dundee and Paul Hogan's subsequent "That's not a knife..that's a knife." commercials. This first Yahoo was to make millions of dollars, and then it, like, didn't. What were the chances of two Yahoo's in one decade? Why does one yahoo succeed while another fails?
posted by brucec at 10:57 AM PST - 11 comments
End of an (albeit brief) era
Caroline Casey, of the
The Age, one of Australia's finest newspapers, proclaims:
----------
Friday, 29 June
5.16pm: THE BLOG IS DEAD!
I was trying to think of the best way to depart – an appearance on ghost sites? a web-generated apology note? But I decided a listing of my favorite websites was best. ... Thanks for the hundreds of entertaining submissions I have received over the year. ---------
That's it, no explanation. I guess the weblog is a dead concept, for sure now. (
More)
posted by rschram at 10:26 AM PST - 22 comments
Apparently, these women are made of wood.
Ok, I admit that I'm unable to resist a banner ad that shows nothing but claims, "Don't click this link if your wife is in the room." But seriously, the very idea of three bikini clad women stranded on a desert island with only military radio equipment for company choosing to start a pirate TV station is a bit far fetched even for the most knuckle dragging sports fan. Or is it?
posted by shagoth at 7:55 AM PST - 4 comments
Anyone who knew anything about the Netizen
movement (or idea) i think, should know that, day before yesterday, the "Original Netizen,"
Michael Hauben, is no longer with us. he was a good friend of mine (and many others), and had a lot of things to say about the Net and those of us who love it so dearly, and i thought that everyone should know.
posted by tatochip at 7:28 AM PST - 1 comments
Cha Ching!
I am not a person who really support the lotto but I couldn't be happier that a poor grocery bagger won millions of dollars. What makes me even happier is they plan to give some of it back to the community.
posted by aj100 at 7:14 AM PST - 31 comments
Greeks fill the temple of Zeus
full of amps and concert gear for a NASA tribute. Some people look at ancient sites as things to be preserved, but Greece's minister of culture sees them as profitable venues. Next week they'll be using the Parthenon for ammunition storage.
posted by skallas at 6:58 AM PST - 17 comments
A fight for Cobain's final song
An unreleased gem, thought to be the last song Kurt Cobain recorded before his death. Now the two surviving members of the band and Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, admit in court records that it does exist. But fans may never get to hear it.
posted by matteo at 3:54 AM PST - 69 comments
Neale
is being watched. The local press say the data isn't real-time because the CSIRO fear for his safety.
I hope they're over reacting.
posted by southisup at 2:36 AM PST - 4 comments
June 28
Funny women:
Prompted by the Paula Poundstone thread, I decided to start a new conversation. Perhaps you've not been exposed to some of the amazingly funny women out there. The linked site is run by some friends of mine in New York.
posted by acridrabbit at 8:57 PM PST - 25 comments
Do internal memos reveal oil refineries engaged in price-fixing?
From Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points memo; links to a Paul Krugman NYT op-ed, but far more intriguingly to Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-OR)
webpage, where on June 14th he released his report on alleged price fixing by varied oil refineries based on internal memos and documents of these companies. These types of allegations have been made before, but there is some rather damning language from those internal memos...
posted by hincandenza at 7:45 PM PST - 4 comments
Are they
grasping at straws here or no? Smartertimes rips on the NYT for making the sweeping generalization that the whole of Europe is opposed to the death penalty. Okay, fine, bad writing is bad writing and maybe someone at the Times should have done their homework, but this guy bases his entire argument on an article written in The New Republic. Not that it's a bad read, but it's hardly going to be an objective take on the topic. No?
posted by Bixby23 at 6:18 PM PST - 11 comments
'
Download Beta 10.3 now' was the message that greeted me as i logged on for old times sake and the urge to verify some speculation i'd heard '
You must upgrade your client at http://www.napster.com.
* Disconnected from server! (Thu Jun 28 17:22:50 2001)
* Unable to reconnect to server! (Thu Jun 28 17:22:50 2001)' shouted my screen in nasty red text. The exclamation marks were the icing on the cake. It seemed my v2.0 BETA 6 just didn't kick it anymore. Left out in the cold! It was like being kicked from an irc channel, except here i had been N-lined!.
[more..]
posted by Kino at 6:10 PM PST - 50 comments
Who IS Kilroy?
Kilroy WAS Real!
James J. Kilroy.....lived in Boston, Massachusetts, served in the Legislature and during World War II worked in a shipyard in Quincy where the famous saying was born.
posted by Wicker at 2:50 PM PST - 16 comments
Guess who's coming to breakfast?
The most rapidly syndicated comic strip since Calvin & Hobbes. Not bad for a
cartoon that has the relatively narrow purpose of "telling jokes about black people to black people." Is it doing so well
because of the politics or
in spite of the politics? Or is it just that it's pretty damn funny and well-drawn? In any case, if it gives people even a glimpse of otherwise absent diversity, I love it.
posted by conquistador at 1:50 PM PST - 22 comments
Good Bye! is an opinionated quarterly magazine which chronicles the dead ?famous, infamous and non-famous.
Stuff like
this just blows my mind.
posted by thirteen at 1:45 PM PST - 4 comments
The World's Largest Music Festival
starts today and runs until next Sunday. With acts ranging from
Wilco to the artist once again known as Prince, there's usually at least one band worth seeing for everyone. Plus it's cheap, if you go at the right time. But the question remains, what events do you look forward too each summer?
posted by drezdn at 12:16 PM PST - 23 comments
"At some point
Yahoo! will shift emphasis towards a billing relationship, that is as good as fact. What they need to decide, however, is whether to lead with a subscription or ISP model."
posted by grambo at 11:29 AM PST - 14 comments
Baseball is a good game. The
nicknames, however, absolutely kill me.
Ridiculous, almost pornographic nicknames like Cannonball Titcomb, Dick Tettleback, Cy Slapnicka, Rusty Kuntz, Pete LaCock and Dizzy Nutter.
Anyone else have any favorite sports nicknames?
posted by norm at 10:45 AM PST - 18 comments
"'I never dreamed of trimming it.
All the time I worked for the airline, my moustache attracted many adoring eyes inside the plane and on the ground,' the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
But Indian Airlines takes a different view."
posted by moss at 10:12 AM PST - 5 comments
Q: What's the best thing you can do for your career, if you're a musician?
A:
Die.(warning, page designer has used really small fonts)
posted by darukaru at 9:17 AM PST - 6 comments
Belgium schoolchildren
give up lunchtime milk, pop, and fruit drinks for low-alcohol beer. Once I got over my "American sensibilities" this seems like a good idea.
posted by skallas at 9:07 AM PST - 29 comments
Let the sun do your cooking for you!
Not just a great way to save electricity, gas, or charcoal... (particularly if you live in California *grin*) it's delicious too! We built the
Solar Funnel Cooker just for the halibut (groan) - cooked it in white wine with shredded zucchini and carrots - and it was the most tender, tasty fish I've ever eaten.
posted by thunder at 8:53 AM PST - 13 comments
Learn about
the Foolish Workshop at the Motley Fool and let the numbers decide which stocks to pick.
posted by MarkO at 7:23 AM PST - 9 comments
This page
(on Sam Brown's great
explodingdog site) lists links to web pages displaying red robots*. I love sites that post artwork and then ask other people to create variations on that artwork. My favorite example used to be the Digital Doodlebox, but that site is, alas,
closed. Anyone know any other sites like this?
*warning:self-link burried somewhere in the red-robot page.
posted by grumblebee at 7:02 AM PST - 12 comments
Microsoft Kills IE6 Smart Tags
"External feedback" was one of the factors that led the company to remove the feature, although he indicated it could be resurrected in later versions. Perhaps the constant barrage of complaints worked on this one? They've got it working, now they are back peddling. I for one am glad, "No Squiggly Lines".
posted by benjh at 4:59 AM PST - 68 comments
Aw, what a cute kitty...
From the "why didn't I think of this?" department: a photographer adopts a cute little gray cat, posts the sob story of how the cat was orphaned, starving, injured, etc. before he found a good home, and then just as women are all gushy, asks if they want to pose nude with him. Genius!
posted by RylandDotNet at 3:31 AM PST - 24 comments
June 27
A Boy And His Dad...
"Bread and butter isn't just a food. It's a metaphor ...Whatever it is that resets you.." I don't want a child of my own, but it's nice to experience
glimpses of this father & son
dynamic duo thang from
Henry's Diary so I know what I'm missing. Thanks for the link,
Dreama. And yeah, this was briefly mentioned
a year ago, but it's overdue for its due. I like to imagine I'm a tough nut to crack, but this just made me
melt.
"I wish I was the person my son made me feel I could be when I'm in his arms." everybody! 1-2-3!
aaawwwww! now that's sweet!
posted by ZachsMind at 9:10 PM PST - 4 comments
Paula Poundstone Arrested.
The details are sketchy and the most that's released is there was "lewd" behavior. What's interesting is the backdoor commentary on the whole affair, and I wonder if people immediately think she's a "dyke" child molester simply because she is who she is. Is she?
These trolls seem to think so.
posted by tiaka at 7:24 PM PST - 32 comments
New Democrats or Old?
On one hand you have the New Democrats (Clinton, Gore), who's agendas are more centrist (some would say right leaning) but have had victories (Clinton being elected twice). On the other hand, the more liberal wings seem to say that it's better to stand on principle and convince the populace to come over to your side.
posted by owillis at 1:10 PM PST - 37 comments
Jim Jeffords: Party of One
I got so sad reading reading this article. The "Singing Senators" have disbanded because Lott and Craig want nothing to do with him. His picture was placed in a urinal at a Republican club. His wife and son are pissed. (His son threatened to name his child Reagan Nixon Jeffords.)
posted by jennak at 12:45 PM PST - 58 comments
Zeldman's
seemingly constant problems with Network Solutions continue. It raises two questions for me. 1. Why wouldn't he change the domain and/or name rather cease publication of one of the best independant publications on the web? and 2. How come they haven't overhauled the domain registration system to have other methods for verification? At the company where I work we have over 50 domains and we're constantly having problems with peoples' names who are long since gone being on the registration and not being able to remove them. Hope it works out for him, I couldn't live without my ALA fix.
posted by abosio at 12:01 PM PST - 37 comments
Do I make you h*rny, baby? [censored]
This is far from new, but I just stumbled on this hilarious review of the Austin Powers sequel written by ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP). I don't post this to bash Christians or to inspire a bazillion comments about religion or censorship. I just thought CAP's outrage over an essentially harmless film was fun to read.
posted by Karl at 9:42 AM PST - 18 comments
Your house is set to become a sprawling, and cheap, computer network.
Ninety technology companies — including Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. — are part of a group that announced a major breakthrough Tuesday in the years-long push to use power lines to transmit data. As early as October, consumers in Canada and the United States will be able to use any plug in their house to connect computers to each other and to the Web. No extra wiring will be required.
posted by tranquileye at 6:42 AM PST - 32 comments
June 26
'
XIAMEN: A senior Beijing researcher on Taiwan affairs yesterday called for immediate measures to resist an ongoing bid by the island to promote its cultural independence..'.
[More]
posted by Kino at 9:32 PM PST - 11 comments
Outsider Art
Woman with Downs Syndrome creates works of art by wrapping random objects in masses of colored fibers. She cannot speak, hear, or communicate whatsoever, and she has been deemed too retarded to possibly understand the meaning of art, but still, she goes on creating with an 'intensity' that belies her condition. Does insanity work to produce works of art or other genious?
posted by SpecialK at 7:17 PM PST - 34 comments
Kid sues over right to wear shirt.
No... nothing interesting like 'Straight Pride' or 'Kip Kingle, Student of the Year'. No, this time a 19 year old fights for his right to wear a "You Might Be a Red Neck Sports Fan If..." shirt. Wish they let him. It's easier to avoid idiots when they are clearly labelled.
posted by jcterminal at 6:49 PM PST - 15 comments
Commander Porn, at your service!
"...one of Canada's top naval commanders has been suspended from duty and humiliated in front-page headlines for accessing ''Penthouse-like sites'' on a portable computer provided to him by the military. "
Commodore Eric Lerhe, the 52-year-old chief of Canada's Pacific fleet, acknowledged to higher brass that he had on occasions downloaded images of naked women while off-duty and alone in officers' quarters during an assignment in the United States.
Isn't this overkill? A reprimand I could see, but does it make sense to punish this to this degree?
posted by revbrian at 6:34 PM PST - 9 comments
US Woman Killed in Malaysia
"Police believe an American woman whose remains were recently unearthed in Malaysia was used as a human sacrifice in a ritual to obtain lottery numbers from the spirits..." The article didn't say if they won. Not that it matters.
posted by mcsweetie at 6:09 PM PST - 8 comments
Cheney refuses GAO request for Information
Look, I think both sides of the aisle are a bunch of wankers, but what do you think the reaction would have been from Republicans if this had come out of the Clinton White House? (Especially if it had been Hillary making the refusal, instead of Cheney.)
posted by edlark at 3:11 PM PST - 7 comments
Who's your daddy?
A pony in Penrith, England, gives birth to a half-zebra foal. The owners of the pony didn't even know she was pregnant. Sounds like a story off Jerry Springer. "No really, I was never with the zebra!" We'll see what the paternity test shows....
posted by 120degrees at 3:02 PM PST - 17 comments
US drops WTO lawsuit
against Brazil for producing generic anti-AIDS drugs while UN nations' contributions to African AIDS relief falls short of Annan's proposed 10 billion war chest.
posted by skallas at 2:11 PM PST - 2 comments
Anyone here a
Zen Tupperware rep?
I mean, what's the sales spiel? The cool place not to keep your food? The food container that's not a food container?
I have to know! Anyone interested in a MeFi Tupperware party?
posted by davehat at 8:59 AM PST - 13 comments
We all have AIDS
Yet another article on global AIDS, but it includes Nazi's and the holocaust.
The writer suggests that the CEO's of pharmaceutical companies that reduced the price of anti-viral medication should receive a Nobel Prize because they "save the lives of more human beings than died in the Holocaust."
posted by nonharmful at 8:34 AM PST - 8 comments
Scripophily
is the misunderstood love of owning stocks and bonds that shouldn't be worth anything anymore. So why not make a
business out of it? I'm just glad to see that
e-toys is doing good once again.
posted by samsara at 6:16 AM PST - 5 comments
Breast exams considered harmful.
Some Canadian researchers claim that teaching women to conduct their own breast exams does no good as they are more likely to encounter benign lumps, suffer undue anxiety and endure unnecessary surgery. (An associated article can be found
here).
"Many breast tumours are found by women themselves, even in highly screened populations. However, in women regularly performing BSE, many self-detected tumours are found incidentally, not during self-examination. In one study, only 7.6% of women with breast tumours who were practising regular BSE actually detected the tumour by means of self-examination. In addition, tumours developing between screens in some age groups (e.g., 50–69) may be inherently more aggressive and thus may not be influenced by slightly earlier detection with BSE. "
So BSE works for
only 7.6%? That's a good enough percentage for me, especially as the costs of BSE campaigns is pretty trivial compared to other public health measure.
posted by maudlin at 3:54 AM PST - 4 comments
June 25
Want college aid? Bush insists on total disclosure about prior drug use.
"The thing that struck me was the Bush administration stance that a non-answer means you're guilty is ironic, since he spent the entire campaign not answering the question about cocaine," Hlinko said. "I don't care if he did coke 30 years ago, but this is hypocritical."
I don't dislike Bush to the same degree as some of you, but this pisses me off.
posted by dong_resin at 11:30 PM PST - 25 comments
Cool little site about the
real doings of the mob in America today. I love the affected-but-oh-so-hard-boiled writing style. Updated weekly. My only gripe, a very tiny one, is that there's not enough dope on Asian mobsters. Otherwise, pretty neato.
posted by Bixby23 at 8:51 PM PST - 4 comments
Latest David Horowitz trolling op-ed piece,
this time on gays in the military. With his usual obliviousness to irony, he presumes in this piece that anyone who disagrees with him must be the knee-jerk PC police. Question: does posting a link to a troll constitute trolling in and of itself? Discuss.
posted by hincandenza at 4:56 PM PST - 31 comments
CSS behavior tag
and
HTML Component files are some of the new bits that Microsoft has proposed to the standards boards and which are already implemented in recent versions of IE. Of course, I only discovered them by poking around in microsoft.com's source. What do you think of these tools? It looks like it will make Web apps more powerful and application like.
posted by benbrown at 3:28 PM PST - 20 comments
Are U.S Senator Rick Santorum and his 'intelligent design creationism' friends trying to
sneak one by us in the Education bill?
posted by quirked at 1:51 PM PST - 34 comments
A hero for the 21st century.
Brilliant or just possessed of plain ol' common sense? In today's world, perhaps having the latter qualifies someone for the former adjective. One has to admire a relatively high profile person who doesn't shy away from telling the truth despite the pressures to hedge and equivocate.
posted by rushmc at 12:54 PM PST - 13 comments
"Many individuals have asked me in past months, Why moist towelette collecting? Why not stamp collecting, or numismatics?
To be different, perhaps? Well, I must admit that at first that was part of the appeal, but I have since become aware of the strong movement of Moist Towelette enthusiasts, and accepted that I am not alone in my fascination / hobby."
posted by machaus at 12:51 PM PST - 12 comments
Games!!!
Games!!! Games!!! What do you guys play when you've got some free time? (I'm personally most interested in free games, but you're welcome to share anything.)
posted by gd779 at 11:26 AM PST - 58 comments
The Rise and Fall of the Geeks -
Three years ago, they had the power to change the world, make a more than decent living and bask on highbrow success - perhaps a justified retribution after many years of world disdain and incomprehension to the geek community. It didn't last... and the article sheds some lights on the probable reasons.
posted by betobeto at 10:36 AM PST - 34 comments
Ghost World is made into a movie.
The comic on which it is based is by
Daniel Clowes, an "alternative" comics author of some fame. I think I'm just a bit shocked that, of all comics, a movie would be made about ... well, anything by Daniel Clowes. Starring Steve Buscemi and
Thora Birch from American Beauty. (Thanks to
URB magazine (print) for the tip and
Memepool for the Clowes interview pointer.)
posted by moz at 9:51 AM PST - 9 comments
Tony Blair wants to nix Double Jeopardy protection.
A right that has been considered vital since the days of the Magna Carta is under threat from Labour. Blair wants to make it possible that "
someone acquitted of a killing can be put on trial again if new evidence emerges". Why not just be sure of the case in the first place? This would only cause a rush to trial by unprepared prosecutors.
posted by dwivian at 7:47 AM PST - 11 comments
Our Dumb Cinema
: Miramax Films signed the popular satirical newspaper writers for
The Onion, promising to purchase some undisclosed number of screenplays from
Onion writers. But what will they write?
posted by tallman at 7:01 AM PST - 41 comments
For Sale.
Pre-owned Search Engine $250,000,000 o.n.o
Google is hinting at an end of year IPO for a measley $250 million. Is this the beginning of the end of the dot-com crash?.
Via The Register.
posted by fullerine at 6:45 AM PST - 22 comments
The ACLU has been taken over by psychopathic haters in Hawaii.
The First Amendment Conference subcommittee of the state board had planned to invite Clarence Thomas to a public debate with ACLU national president Nadine Strossen, as part of a regular series of such debates that has included many big-name conservatives, including Antonin Scalia. But when certain members of the main state board found out, they flew into a rage and demanded the invitation be recinded. Just SOME of the reasons why these three ACLU board members members, all black, are refusing to allow Thomas to participate (note that these are all direct quotes, publicly stated by state ACLU board members): He is an an Anti-Christ. He is an Uncle Tom. He is an asshole. He is a Hitler. He is a Goebbels. And worst of all, he
married a white girl. When the ACLU starts to violently attack freedom of speech and freedom of thought, where else can we turn?
posted by aaron at 6:09 AM PST - 27 comments
Gates interview with ZDNet.
Open source advocates and *nix users will enjoy his comments on publishing source code and the GPL. Anyone care to do a line-by-line accuracy check?
posted by goto11 at 6:03 AM PST - 19 comments
June 24
These guys cool and trap anti-electrons (positrons) and at the same time cool and trap anti-protons. Why? Because they want to make cold
anti-hydrogen and compare its properties with ordinary hydrogen. Pretty cool all round, really.
"Any difference between antimatter and matter would be extremely interesting since we do not yet understand why we have a universe made of matter. We would expect that the big bang that originated our universe would create equal amounts of antimatter and matter, which would then annihilate, leaving nothing. The great mystery is why enough matter was left over that we and our matter universe could exist."
posted by lagado at 11:22 PM PST - 11 comments
Current NIDS Data.
I like this page because I can see if my house is going to be fried by a lightning strike or flattened by a tornado without having to put up will all of weather.com or intellicast's popup ad B.S. It's very convenient and timely.
posted by dr. zoidberg at 10:43 PM PST - 9 comments
Some give Jet Li a round of applause:
In a gesture uncommon for any Hollywood player, martial arts master and action hero Jet Li asked fans not to bring their young children to see his upcoming feature "Kiss of the Dragon." The 38-year-old Chinese star wrote on his Web site (JetLi.com) that the R-rated film is "an adult movie and deals with adult themes," with action sequences geared towards an adult audience. "The movie utilizes very realistic, hard-core, action-packed fight sequences. I'm very proud of the final result and hope that my fans enjoy the movie, however, this is a movie that I do not feel is appropriate for children," Li wrote. "
heh, that's enough to justify me forking over my $5.50 over to Jet Li.
posted by adnan at 2:55 PM PST - 28 comments
You can forget all about that "goat sex" photo thing when there's something as horrifying as
this closeup available for public viewing. Good God, he's barely
human at this point! All I could think of once it loaded was: "That's just
not right."
posted by m.polo at 2:39 PM PST - 20 comments
Diablo II Goes Gold!
The official release date is now next week, 6/29/01. Diablo was addictive, Hellfire was even worse. I spent a six months playing Diablo II non stop and now this. I hope my wife doesn't kick me and my Assassin out the door.
posted by me myself and i at 1:51 PM PST - 10 comments
Is Slashdot Toast?
I found this using a link from F**kedcompany, who seems to be rather amused by the fact that /. has been down since friday. The posts at geekizoid seem rather flaky for the most part, so I don't know how seriously to take this. But in any case, it's just not like the Slashdot crew to drop off the net without a word.... What have all of you out in MeFi land heard????
posted by BGM at 1:30 PM PST - 23 comments
Is memepool losing it?
With two "I'm so stupid" (or am I an advertising agency?) web sites (Miguel's and Amy Ritchie's sites) in the last three days, I have to wonder if the fine folks who contribute to memepool are slipping a bit. Or have I been thinking too highly of memepool all this time? Is it the web community in general?
posted by fnirt at 8:38 AM PST - 14 comments
June 23
Update on Bezos' recent clash of interests (shock, horror..)
book review..
[More..]
posted by Kino at 11:42 PM PST - 5 comments
SmarterChild, the
ActiveBuddy bot that can give you the news, tell you how your stocks are doing, play games and tell you to stop using profane language all at the same time, is finally live on AOL's IM system. Add him/her/it to your buddy list and have fun! (Isn't it interesting how moving backwards to good old lightning-fast ASCII is suddenly being considered the wave of the future? Those of us who have been forced into trading
PINE for
Web-based email against our will have known better the whole time.)
posted by aaron at 11:10 PM PST - 19 comments
Groovy, luscious, retro...music to "get hip" by!
Call it lounge, call it bubbly, call it bizarre, but "space age pop" music (as the site terms it) is undeniably groovy. We've all heard it before, but did you realize how popular it is (in some form or another)? You've probably got a favorite tune or two that falls into this category, and you didn't even know that this IS a category!
posted by davidmsc at 9:50 PM PST - 7 comments
We all know your a bit nuts - you suspect it too: Lets get some
proof. (Ignore the part about avoiding
'trying to make yourself look good'; we also know that you need
all the help you can get in that department!).
posted by Kino at 3:17 PM PST - 11 comments
We help lonely pets find each other
My lonely poodle was looking for a little love, I went to pet-match and found him a girl-pooch just like he always wanted! Is this cyber-dating gone terribly wrong? Lonely and horny fish, cats, dogs, reptiles, etc.
posted by zebra_monkey at 11:23 AM PST - 5 comments
Death with Commercials
is how the ever apposite
Frank Rich sums up the media-saturated McVeigh execution, the
ultimate reality show. Rich thinks all the hoopla my have served to turn more people away from punishment by death.
posted by caraig at 10:25 AM PST - 8 comments
Disney's Atlantis ripped from the anime movie Nadia.
Talk about role reversal (you see, a lot of anime creators style comes from trying to emulate Disney style in the early days of the genre) this site presents some interesting evidence that Disney's summer blockbuster is a complete copy of an earlier film released in 1990 in Japan.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 9:54 AM PST - 9 comments
Cheney caught in lie.
"According to oil industry executives and confidential United Nations records, however, Halliburton held stakes in two firms that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer of the Dallas-based company."
That would be the same Iraq Cheney/Bush blew to smithereens for his oil buddies.
posted by owillis at 9:44 AM PST - 9 comments
PR Watch outs ongoing public relations campaigns in the
Spin of the Day. The June 14th entry offers a search function to find a company’s PR firm. (Database and search provided by
O'Dwyer.)
posted by capt.crackpipe at 9:43 AM PST - 2 comments
The Foundation for Internet Begging
or FIB has had a website in operation since August of 2000, and as always, they need your help to keep going. You can
join them in their noble, tried-and-true efforts;
learn more about the people behind the effort and their mission as it stands; and, of course,
give generously.
posted by moz at 9:17 AM PST - 2 comments
June 22
"ooh, what a lovely tea party"...
I know this link will attract a ton of "Kevin Smith is an overrated hack" posts, but I was surprised it wasn't here already. The second Internet Only trailer for "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" is up, and the server load has calmed down to the point where it can actually be downloaded.
As could be expected, this will make Smith fans cheer and bounce up and down in their chairs, and Smith hatas shake their heads and look for the nearest web forum to post comments about their disgust.
Amusingly, the latter part of that paragraph is apparently a major plot point of the movie, and if you read today's "talk-backs" on
AICN you'll appreciate how much fun Smith is having with it. Can't wait to see the flick, and to add to the fun it comes out on my birthday. Nootch.
posted by GriffX at 10:26 PM PST - 4 comments
Black leaders refuse to pledge allegiance to flag
is an example of a story that
The Washington Times blows way out of proportion. The term *black leaders* would imply that there are multitudes of African-American politicians/community leaders who are refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag. However, if you read the whole story, it turns out that only ONE person, an assembly-women from Tennessee is the focus of the whole story!
Of course, the
Times doesn't forget to remind the readers that she, and all who support her, are Democrats...
posted by Rastafari at 8:42 PM PST - 15 comments
This White House will Have a Long Memory.....
"To join the coalition, you must agree to support the Bush energy proposal in its entirety and not to
lobby for changes to the bill... Should the bill change, you must support the changes in the
legislation or drop out of the coalition. If you are caught attempting to lobby behind the back of the
White House, you will be expelled from the coalition. I have been advised that this White House
'will have a long memory.'" -- Fundraising memo for the Alliance for Energy and Economic
Growth, a month-old trade group consisting of representatives from the various energy
industries. The letter puts the admission to the group at "a very low price" of $5,000.
posted by brucec at 6:33 PM PST - 11 comments
Exxon "helped torture in Indonesia."
The Aceh uprising brings up the point--how far do we allow multi-nationals to go to "protect their interests"? Would you sanction torture to keep the price of gas and other petroleum products low?
posted by aflakete at 5:03 PM PST - 10 comments
"My body has learned that it can fly."
Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) describes his experience in zero G, riding the "vomit comet" - a bare-bones 747 that goes up really fast and then comes down really fast, leaving you weightless for about 30 seconds. His letter is at time hilarious, at times pretty gross (they don't call it the vomit comet for nothing), but most of all, I found it kind of... well, inspiring. Now, more than ever, I want to go into space and experience zero G. (via
memepool)
posted by RylandDotNet at 3:34 PM PST - 17 comments
National Orgasm Day is Coming
(Ooohhhh, so sorry for that!). Yes, that special day is
July 31, so everyone please rush out to Hallmark and buy your honey a card in celebration. Or
visit the sex store that's sponsoring the day. In making the declaration, they said "it was time for women to stake their claim to a full and satisfying sex life." Amen!!
posted by yarf at 9:09 AM PST - 16 comments
News Flash! Gates loses billions!
Yet,
he still sits comfortably atop the list of the wealthiest people in the world.
Larry Ellison, meanwhile, lost $21 billion, but fell to only #4.
The
Billionaire Club now includes 538 members in 46 countries, with an average net worth of $3.2 billion. Is it more disturbing that, for a comparison, the GDP of Afghanistan is a paltry $21 billion (bested by the list's top 5)? Or that the GDP per capita of the U.S. is a relatively microscopic $36,144?
posted by padjet1 at 8:08 AM PST - 11 comments
More than half
of all black men report that they have been the victims of racial profiling by police, according to a survey by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.
Overwhelming majorities of blacks, Latinos and Asians also report they occasionally experience at least one of the following expressions of prejudice: poor service in stores or restaurants, disparaging comments, and encounters with people who clearly are frightened or suspicious of them because of their race or ethnicity.
This is 2001?
posted by owillis at 7:06 AM PST - 62 comments
Critics call Abercrombie & Fitch catalog soft porn.
I can't comment on the catalog itself, since I haven't seen it; I just had to laugh out loud though when I read this sentence: "Boycott organizers contend the company... is wooing younger customers and using sex to popularize its image." Oh, the horror! Also striking was A&F's spin on it, calling it " the Norman Rockwell of 2001." Clearly, a divide in perceptions.
Can anyone who has seen the offensive/inoffensive material in question explain why it is/isn't any different from the marketing practices of, oh, say,
everyone else?
posted by topolino at 12:26 AM PST - 23 comments
Some of us work on the plantation.
Some of us own the plantation.
Facts are facts.
This hat is for those who own the plantation.
posted by sudama at 12:07 AM PST - 73 comments
June 21
Amazon's announces "free" shipping
I have been shopping on Amazon for over 3 years. When I buy books, music and DVDs, I buy on average $80 worth of entertainment. Today I received a order of 10 books. I used the "Wait until order is ready" service because I preordered Neil Gaiman's new book. The total for my books was $123.26 with shipping of $13.39 making
the grand total $136.65.
I was shopping Amazon tonight and saw their new free shipping notice. My first though was great! Then when I went to look for some books, I noticed the 20% off prices were no more. Now they are full price or 10%. I searched around and found the total for the books I just purchased using your new pricing. The grand total of my order would now
be $147.91 with free shipping. An increase of $11.26 or 8 percent.
I am a fan of Amazon but not a fan of their thinly veiled attempt to raise prices using the bait-and-switch approach taken from offline stores. Nothing is ever 'free.' I know Amazon wants to be profitable by Q4, but this pricing is too aggressive. The email for feedback is free-shipping@amazon.com. Voice your opinion about this offering. Is it warranted?
posted by lheiskell at 10:02 PM PST - 50 comments
Carroll O'Connor
dead at 76. Once asked what he thought of his character "Archie" he had an interesting response : "I have a great deal of sympathy for him, As James Baldwin wrote, the white man here is trapped by his own history, a history that he himself cannot comprehend and therefore what can I do but love him?"
posted by revbrian at 7:01 PM PST - 14 comments
Bob Kolody vs. Coca-Cola
"Throughout the late 1950’s and early 60’s the CIA began expanding its operations. In order to effectively fight the Cold War on a global scale, it needed to establish bases in every major country. This meant that agents would need a plausible cover in order to penetrate the borders of international frontiers. They couldn’t just show up with CIA stamped on their passport ... As a solution to the problem the CIA was able to convince Coca-Cola, one of the first truly globalized companies with product distribution operations in virtually every corner of the world, to be used as a cover for the U.S. intelligence agency."
posted by bytecode at 4:44 PM PST - 27 comments
OK, so we all know the cliche about men being visual, and woman
being narrative as it applies to the appreciation of web erotica. Is
that true? As a male, I know what turns my crank, (I don't think my
sharing that is important considering it's banality) but have no idea
if the internet has grown as a sensual media by women for women.
Nerve.com seems to have a balanced
approach, but that's all I know. So I ask all the ladies in the MeFi
house what intelligent stuff do you click to scratch that itch, if at
all?
posted by machaus at 3:49 PM PST - 26 comments
Can Christians use Marijuana for recreation?
In 1Cor 6:12 Paul writes:
"Everything is permissible for me--but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me--but I will not be mastered by anything."
So, does that mean that Christians can use marijuana recreationally, as long as they are not mastered by it? This paper looks at the issue from many angles and should provide good fodder for both sides of the pot debate. Personally, I think God would not have put cannabis on the earth if we were not to smoke it.
[found on 4twenty.net]
posted by DragonBoy at 2:24 PM PST - 18 comments
Did you see it?
The total eclipse of the sun happened this morning at 6:11am. It's not too late, thanks to streaming video.
posted by fooljay at 12:54 PM PST - 6 comments
Attention Web-Dezynx0rs:
how 1337 are you? are you cutting edge? are you k10k-rad? :: are.you.the.ginchiest ? ::
i suck. i only got a six. but then again, i'm more concerned about content and accessibility than i am being stylish or trendy. I IS SUCK!
posted by jcterminal at 12:21 PM PST - 28 comments
Press sez "good", public sez "bad"
I'm not posting this story to discuss Bush's EU tour (lord knows we've done that one to death), but rather to examine this line: "Mr. Bush's European tour, though it drew largely upbeat news coverage, did not appear to help him in the eyes of the public." I'm a pretty big believer that the media (oh, let's just go ahead and capitalize it: "The Media") plays a huge role is shaping public perceptions of politicians, and I too thought the coverage of Bush's EU trip was pretty positive -- certainly in comparison to the "he's gonna go over there and get suckerpunched" predictions they were running before his departure. And, still, his numbers go down. What do you think? How large an influence does The Media really have? Does the public just believe what Peter Jennings tells 'em, or is it possible that, *gasp*, they can think for themselves?
posted by Shadowkeeper at 12:19 PM PST - 32 comments
I hope you'll consider participating in the
"Roll Your Own" Blackout tonight. Just shut off all the lights and appliances that you (reasonably and safely) can between seven and ten p.m. your time.
posted by sudama at 11:35 AM PST - 49 comments
"Make obstacles obsolete"....
OK, I know that SUV-bashing has been done to death on Mefi, but has anyone seen the most recent TV commercial for the Cadillac Escalade?
In a long video-game like sequence, the Escalade hurtles through a blade runner-esque cityscape, defeating missiles and a computer-generated robot. The voiceover chimes in to announce the brand and drop the tagline
"Make obstacles obsolete."
That really sums it up, doesn't it? Driving an SUV is all about making obstacles obsolete - people, bicyclists, other cars....i'd like to see gas prices hit about US $5 a gallon this summer so that the Escalade would become obsolete...
posted by preguicoso at 10:29 AM PST - 49 comments
Studios are coming clean
about TV testimonials consisting of actors. Messy quote:
according to the Washington Post. Universal did so for U-571 TV spots, as did Artisan for Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and 20th Century Fox for Anna and the King. No! Not for Blair Witch 2!!!
posted by skallas at 9:48 AM PST - 15 comments
New Mexico has the coolest flag.
The North American Vexillological Association surveyed its members and the public to identify the best and the worst state and provincial flags. The New Mexico state flag came out on top. Georgia's brought up the rear.
[Link via Alex Beam's column in the Boston Globe.]
posted by idiolect at 8:33 AM PST - 48 comments
All your
desperate to be the next wacky webcraze links are belong to MetaFilter.
posted by Kino at 8:15 AM PST - 15 comments
The "Tuskegee Airmen" of the Marine Corps.
This is sort of a self-link; the history of the
Washington DC Chapter of the Montford Point Marine Association is a project I'm working on, but I have nothing to do with their website. The Montford Point Marines were the first black Marines specifically trained to serve in combat, but very few people seem to know about them.
I decided to link this after watching a special on A&E about the men who raised the flags (there were two flag raisings) at Iwo Jima. Nothing was mentioned about the black Marines who served and died there, since none of the flag-raisers were black, but they should be remembered nonetheless.
posted by jennaratrix at 8:10 AM PST - 5 comments
A car that makes sense?
Fully street and highway legal, it is small, electric, quiet, and inexpensive. You can park in all sorts of places, and since the door is on the right side, you can exit to the sidewalk. And it looks like something.
posted by tranquileye at 7:50 AM PST - 35 comments
Cookie Monster Plan Crumbled
-- Your regular idiot assault story, but with some fabulous quotes.
"People started yelling at me that I should be ashamed of myself for hitting Cookie Monster. I did not kick or punch Cookie Monster," says the man arrested for shoving and kicking the 21-year-old woman who played Cookie Monster. A Seasame Street spokeswoman denied the man's allegations that Cookie Monster started the violence: "It is an honor to be Cookie Monster."
posted by jennak at 7:30 AM PST - 12 comments
Swedish toddler, home alone,
dies of malnutrition and dehydration while druggie Mom is in police custody. Two thousand turn out for the funeral, and Switzerland engages in an orgy of national anguish. Anybody think this incident would cause the same kind of soul-searching in the U.S.? Or would Americans shrug it off?
posted by luser at 6:18 AM PST - 23 comments
Write here, write now!
Is this *really* something that taxpayer money should be used for? At least there
could be some sort of scientific merit in spending tax dollars on studying methane emissions from cows, or studying ways to alleviate the energy shortage in California, but a
penmanship contest? (groan)
posted by davidmsc at 4:58 AM PST - 22 comments
Watching MTV for 24 hours straight so you don't have to.
Michael Daddino is a brave man, especially since his marathon's happening during MTV's bikini-heavy, brain-light summer programming. Will his senses blur until he has visions of Christina Aguilera singing "We're Not Gonna Take It"> Will he break stuff after one too many re-airings of the latest Staind video? Tune in to "The Pornography of Semiotics" throughout the day and find out. (This special is part of the relaunch of
Freaky Trigger, one of the few places on the Web where the music writing doesn't, you know, suck.)
posted by maura at 4:30 AM PST - 21 comments
June 20
Music CDs sales are down, coinciding with Napster's decline.
Personally, I haven't bought a new CD in months because I no longer have a source for finding new music (what I used Napster for mainly). I suppose word of mouth and listening to
online streams may help, but nothing compared to finding songs you liked on Napster, and searching others' files with similar tastes and finding new gems. Do you think the RIAA will notice this and change, or is control of distribution more important to them?
posted by mathowie at 3:08 PM PST - 30 comments
Download stock photos without paying, don't go to jail.
Istockphotos.com seems to be offering free stock photography submitted by artists and photographers. And it's endorsed by Zeldman, even. But...what's to keep people from uploading Eyewire images and calling them their own, thereby illegally distributing them to thousands of people who'll use them on websites, magazines, etc. Istockphotos is legally covered, but what about the designer?
posted by Karl at 2:09 PM PST - 1 comments
Microsoft XP Unvevils Blah Blah Blah Oh Who Cares.
The full-press marketing blitz, in the face of slumping PC sales, a sluggish economy, and all common sense, will gloss over the fact that you now need 128 megs of RAM to run Microsoft's craptastically ill-conceived OS. Can't wait, Bill - I'm already gripping the sink!
posted by solistrato at 11:46 AM PST - 36 comments
Popluation Reference Bureau
What an amazing site! You can find the populations of almost any country in the world here. It does not stop there, there is a mountain of information on the country's politics and policies. Take two seconds and I am sure you will be amazed at this site. It is nice to see that some groups are using the net to help inform people!
posted by aj100 at 10:53 AM PST - 17 comments
The Search For Chandra Levy
Chandra Levy was a 24 year old intern who was about to move back to California and receive her master's when she suddenly disappeared on April 30th. The search climbed to a new level last night, when her parents returned to DC and held a press conference with their attorney...and their fingers seem to be pointing a Congressman. (more inside)
posted by jennak at 10:27 AM PST - 21 comments
The folks at
Something Awful have given us a
web page error that we can trust. Perhaps Microsoft should concentrate upon improving this feature instead of pursuing its intrusive Smart Tags.
posted by ed at 10:25 AM PST - 5 comments
Currently, consumer
personal debt is at an all time high, and at the same time we're being inundated with ads asking us to "
live richly" and pay for all those "
priceless" moments with credit. Credit card companies have maintained a steady stream of advertising that focuses on living in the now, and worrying about the consequences later. Without discounting personal responsibility, should credit card companies be left to advertise their message unfettered, or does anyone think they are
too good and perhaps somewhat responsible for the high consumer debt levels?
posted by mathowie at 10:23 AM PST - 51 comments
Racial discrimination at ford?
White male managers accuse the Ford Motor Co. of reverse discrimination, claiming they are victims of racial, age and gender bias.
After reading this article, I'm really at a loss as to where the racism is. They are reviewing all management and ditching those in the worst 5%...
"... older white managers who received "Cs" after long highly productive careers say they feel they are victims of discrimination."
Golly Pal. You know, the past counts for something but you have to keep producing or you're gonna get canned. What's the problem here? This isn't racism, it's meritocracy and I'm all for it. If they were giving bonuses to the evaluations based on ethnic background or sex then I could see the gripe. But the article doesn't say they are so what exactly is wrong with cutting the fat?
posted by revbrian at 10:18 AM PST - 11 comments
Boy bands may be blown sky-high.
This description is on the front page of
cnn, but after chuckling and clicking the link, I was presented with a fairly boring main headline : Going Na Na in Outer Space?
I say they should have stuck with the innuendo.
With internet news sites come a higher chance of errors as well as the ability to fix mistakes for the sake of history. Anyone know of a site that posts screenshots of mistakes before major websites correct them?
posted by jragon at 10:05 AM PST - 3 comments
There was one streaming radio site that I
loved, but it's fallen on hard times. I return to Shoutcast again and again, but I can't seem to find anything interesting. What streams do you listen to during your long work days?
posted by preguicoso at 8:13 AM PST - 77 comments
"For the last 19 years
ManBeef has been the world's leading human meat distributor. We have established a reputation for having only the highest quality human meat products and dedicated customer service representatives." (The
mailbag is a must-read.)
posted by Reggie452 at 7:41 AM PST - 11 comments
June 19
Models, red in tooth and claw.
This reality tv show follows a group of girls aspiring to become models. There's so many things wrong with this concept that I'll probably have to watch the first episode.
posted by rdr at 10:39 PM PST - 7 comments
Arbitron just sent me a dollar..?
I've been invited to participate in a once (sometimes occasionally twice) in a lifetime opportunity. No wonder our radio waves are so screwed up. Station owners think they learn what the public wants through a short-sighted random process, which obviously doesn't work. What's most amusing to me is they're buying my opinion for a buck. Even
jury duty was kind enough to pay me six!
posted by ZachsMind at 7:02 PM PST - 25 comments
Bush Wants to Settle Tobacco Case
Two Bush administration sources said there has been concern about the government's case. These officials, discussing the matter only on grounds of anonymity, said the department would prefer to go for a settlement now rather than risk losing.
posted by Rastafari at 5:42 PM PST - 6 comments
I think I'll fix myself a cheese sandwich
"Cheese sandwiches, fucked up punctuation and all! I don't give a rat's ass, I just wanna hear about people's lives." Weblogs together are learning to develope community and I miss the great blogs that are gone, but when I surf around it is to read about people's lives. "Are you ready for a breakdown, sugar? Live it up, it's blogtastic!"
posted by riley370 at 5:05 PM PST - 10 comments
Another problem with the alternative minimum tax.
One of the problems with this tax was discussed
back in May when it was realized that the AMT would substantially cut into the tax rebates of many. Now there is a new twist: People who did not cash out stock options before the downturn and are now sitting on a tax bill larger than all their assets combined.
posted by Nothing at 2:54 PM PST - 6 comments
When last we heard, president of Netscape Jim Bankoff was saying that "six months from now, you won't consider Netscape to be a browser company." Many took that statement, coupled with the lack of acceptance of Netscape 6, to mean that the Netscape browser was dead. But
Wired.com is reporting today that
rumours of Navigator's death have been exaggerated.
posted by tranquileye at 1:19 PM PST - 39 comments
Forced to apologize to McDonald's
The company recruited students during a school visit, which involved an assembly that was supposed to help students prepare for job interviews. When a student at the assembly criticized McDonald's, he was forced to apologize to the entire school.
posted by riley370 at 11:37 AM PST - 53 comments
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
is
safe for now. 11 years of rescue operations have ended with the tower stable for what experts hope will be about 300 years. The tower's new lean is about what it would have been in 1838.
posted by jammer at 11:13 AM PST - 10 comments
Any paleoanthropologists here? I heard
this story on NPR this morning (real audio) about
Kennewick Man and the legal action over whether these remains should be studied further or re-buried. What caught my attention the most was that the first scientist to study the remains found the 9,000-year old skeleton to show european characteristics (which was sort of glossed over in the report). I remember seeing something about these anomalous remains in
National Geographic some time ago. What are the implications of this? Do we have to rethink the models of human settlement in North American? Or are these merely aberrations?
posted by trox at 9:52 AM PST - 12 comments
Spielberg
bizarrely philosophizes during a press conference about playing god and technology "becoming our masters." I can't imagine 2 issues that couldn't take a bigger backseat to the most pressing concern of how government uses said technology. Steve, the bogeyman isn't The Matrix its Uncle Sam.
posted by skallas at 8:38 AM PST - 21 comments
Too Many Ex-Cons to Handle?
A smidgen more enlightening than
Bill O'Reilly's absurdist proposal for an Alaskan gulag. The article discusses a sudden boom, and convergence of opinion, in studies of the "re-entry" of prisoners (mostly non-sociopathic) into regular American life. Considering the boom in prisons over the past 20 years, there is a problem here. The research boom is said to be largely driven by pragmatism. An example of the new studies can be found at the
Urban Institute (pdf file, longish scholarly monograph).
posted by raysmj at 7:39 AM PST - 3 comments
Policy or Parody?
A group calling itself "Citizens for Capital Punishment" ran an ad in the Terre Haute paper (both the NYT and the WP rejected it) showing a family watching the McVeigh execution on television and cheering. This seems too far over the top to be a real pro-death-penalty piece, but if it's satire, the creators are playing it straight.
[via Media News]
posted by harmful at 7:39 AM PST - 9 comments
Cal Ripken's
farewell tour. Here are the numbers: 2,632 consecutive games, 3,107 hits, 421 homers, 1,652 RBI. Even though some argue he
shouldn't be an all-star this year, I think his ticket for
Cooperstown is pretty much punched. And to top it all off, his final game will be at Yankee Stadium. I think Lou Gehrig would smile.
posted by trox at 5:55 AM PST - 22 comments
Manhattan Kindergarten
"A child stricken with cancer? The collapse of her husband's business? The death of a beloved parent? Menopause? No, the darkest year of Mrs. G.'s life came the year her son was rejected from kindergarten."
posted by todd at 3:43 AM PST - 19 comments
June 18
Amexica.
So, living in two hispanic-dominated regions (Los Angeles, South Florida), I've seen the growth of the latino population create one of the oddest political coalitions ever. Ultra-conservatives (mostly white) want to tighten the borders because they see their "way of life" disappearing or mixing linguistically with Spanish. Blacks are threatened by dropping to #3 in the country's racial make-up, and see whatever political power they've gained begin to evaporate in a numbers game. In LA's recent mayoral race, this coalition became
the deciding factor in defeating the latino candidate.
posted by owillis at 11:49 PM PST - 20 comments
Highway to Hell
billboard depicts Satan giving McVeigh his lethal injection. This is an advertisement for the same Dallas radio station that employs the DJs responsible for the recent Spears/Timberlake car-crash rumor. What's the difference between political propaganda and savvy demographic pandering?
Via davezilla.com
posted by johnnyace at 9:56 PM PST - 16 comments
From its
origins as
Stalinist rhetoric in the 30's, to ironic Left-wing jibe in the 70's, to
Iconoclastic taunt in the 80's, to the Conservative pejorative of today, has the
term
Political
Correctness had its day? It's probably just me but it seems to be used
far more frequently by people who are in positions of power or by those more in
tune with society's mainstream
orthodoxy than by those who aren't. Of
course, no one ever calls
themselves politically correct. What do you
think, what does the p.c. term mean to you?
posted by lagado at 8:54 PM PST - 28 comments
Protect your Right to be Human
and practice the freedom to be yourself! Support this peaceful campaign to uphold your right to be human, support the
Wherever You Are Global Self-Awareness Action on Sunday, July 1st, at 2pm (GMT)! Go out into the public domain, and take off your clothes; protest naked!
posted by crog at 5:49 PM PST - 7 comments
The next time you receive a pesky junkmail cheque promising you untold riches perhaps you should pause for a moment and consider the prospect that it may not be a zillion miles from the truth afterall. On the other hand - this rather tediously longwinded
account of someone scamming a scam might itself be nothing more than just a.. erm.. nother scam.
posted by Kino at 5:32 PM PST - 6 comments
KISS Kasket
"This is the ultimate KISS collectible, " said Gene Simmons. "I love livin', but this makes the alternative look pretty damn good."
posted by riley370 at 5:18 PM PST - 4 comments
MOVE!
Get out of our county! Get off our welfare rolls! Here, take this money and get out.
Tulare County, California, pays unemployed to move elsewhere, anywhere, and people love it. One woman says the grass is greener in Arkansas, of all places.
Sounds like a win-win, eh? (NYT link)
posted by msacheson at 2:28 PM PST - 9 comments
"Dog Child" Rescued
An 11-year-old Chilean boy who has been living in the wild with a pack of dogs was rescued and taken to a hospital. He survived by drinking the milk of a female dog and eating scraps of food. (Even more amazing is the tale of the
boy who was raised by monkeys and rescued in 1991...)
posted by jennak at 2:13 PM PST - 9 comments
McCain Pushes Clinton Program
Even as GOP campaign strategists begin to plot his role in the 2002 Congressional campaign season, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is launching a legislative initiative sure to warm the hearts of moderates and liberals and further antagonize some conservatives.
posted by Rastafari at 9:35 AM PST - 28 comments
Oscar goes For Five
He will attempt to join Hall of Famers Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns as the only boxers in history to win world championships in five weight divisions when he challenges WBC super welterweight champion Javier Castillejo on Saturday, June 23. I find the middle weight divisions more credible and fun than the heavyweight division.
posted by riley370 at 9:23 AM PST - 7 comments
CD-eating fungus?
I don't live in Central America, but I'm sure that someone that does might move to the USA at some point. Will we need to start watching how we share CDs? Time to rip everything I own and store it on CompactFlash memory.
posted by dwivian at 7:53 AM PST - 13 comments
Should the killers of James Bulger be released?
8 years ago, two 10-year-old boys killed the toddler James Bulger. Now 18, having served the minimum of 8 years of their juvenile sentence, they are eligible for parole. Have they changed, as some say? Are they safe to be released back into society, albeit under new identities to protect them? Or are the protestors right that they should stay locked up for life? For those not familiar with the case, check
this link.
posted by emc at 3:57 AM PST - 109 comments
June 17
Name That Tune, Mr. Spock!
Finding
two of the same unforeseeable thing online
entirely by accident raises an eyebrow. Can you name all the tunes in Glenn McDonald's
Audiotests or the equivalent faux-
Survivor task by
Ron Yeany et al.? (The latter links directly to an MP3 file. See
contest page.) ¶ Also, Glenn (
ibid.) has an hilarious
photo album. And who can explain the
reference in the title of this posting?
posted by joeclark at 9:39 PM PST - 4 comments
I usually just ignore Jakob - he has his right to his opinions, tho' I seldom agree with him - but I draw the line at
misrepresenting a technology so egregiously... Acrobat's not that hard to understand; I can't believe it's possible for Neilsen to not know that the features he berates Acrobat for
missing are, in actuality, right there to be used.
posted by m.polo at 7:33 PM PST - 37 comments
Funniest man on radio.
There are hundreds of television channels, and multimillion dollar movies being made, but I'd rather listen to an AM talk show. You can also listen on the internet
here.
posted by Doug at 2:08 PM PST - 20 comments
Sen. Helms Takes in U2 Concert
It seems that Jesse and Bono are pretty good friends. I just didn't imagine that -- I thought Bono liked Strom Thurmond much better. Show's how politically savvy I am. At least Jesse took his grandkids; I'm sure they would have given him hell for a while for leaving them out!
posted by dwivian at 1:25 PM PST - 6 comments
"I had no idea we had so many weapons," he said. "What do we need them for?"
"The U.S. nuclear arsenal today includes 5,400 warheads loaded on intercontinental ballistic missiles at land and sea; an additional 1,750 nuclear bombs and cruise missiles ready to be launched from B-2 and B-52 bombers; a further 1,670 nuclear weapons classified as “tactical.” And just in case, an additional 10,000 or so nuclear warheads held in bunkers around the United States as a “hedge” against future surprises."
posted by owillis at 12:24 PM PST - 42 comments
Digital Renaissance: Convergence? I Diverge.
MIT's Director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies, Henry Jenkins, speaks about the different aspects of "Convergence." Working at a large multinational company who is banking on "convergence" for future success, and yet skeptical about "convergence" personally, I welcome MeFiers to post their opinions on Jenkins' differentiation of "convergence" and what you think will be powerful or popular in the near future. Taken from
Tomalak's Realm.
posted by gen at 8:28 AM PST - 4 comments
Some good news about Internet Explorer 6?
IE6, scheduled to be released in August, will be the first browser to support a new privacy standard called Platform Privacy Preferences, or P3P, which will allow surfers to automatically determine whether a Web site collects personally identifiable information and opt out of the data collection.
posted by tranquileye at 5:37 AM PST - 15 comments
Just some light reading...
Buck Wolf is a producer at ABCNEWS.com who writes a twice-weekly column on items currently in the news. Nice, light reading, a few laughs, and some stuff you didn't know before (probably). Do any of you have favourite sites with interesting stuff for reading on slow news days?
posted by BGM at 12:28 AM PST - 11 comments
June 16
Is this
necessary? Don't we already fingerprint/footprint babies after birth here? Is this just an attempt by our overzealous government to have a classification of every citizen on file? Police these days are scary enough for adults let alone children. Save the children...right?
posted by wantwit at 11:08 PM PST - 8 comments
As to be expected
the dumb critics are ripping Lara Croft to shreds; I mean
really tearing it a new orifice. Which means of course I must see
this film. Major argument against? A hack plot designed only to engender scenes of mindless violence. Duh. It's not supposed to have
emotional impact. It's just supposed to be fun. Did any of these critics actually play the game? What frightens me though is that
Roger Ebert enjoyed it...
I'm so torn...
posted by ZachsMind at 4:38 PM PST - 50 comments
Girl stories
Brand new site to include stories and photos by young girls as they embrace, encounter, confront adolescence.
posted by Postroad at 4:09 PM PST - 8 comments
China pops back a collective Beano.
(NY Times link. Free registration required.)
One of Bush's main objections to the Kyoto protocol is China's exemption from regulation, but it seems they're doing their collective best to cut down on CO2 emissions, with success.
Even with China's rapid rate of expansion, this weakens our administration's argument a bit by setting forward the number of years it will take China to match our own emissions. At what point do we start to play nice with the other kids?
posted by dong_resin at 1:37 PM PST - 8 comments
Taliban say
they underminded the US economy by halting opium production. ``It's known in select circles.. that opium is more influential than oil in terms of its economic role in America in particular and the West as a whole,''
posted by stbalbach at 12:19 PM PST - 7 comments
The Maltesos.
Well, there's no Webistics, and Big Pussy hasn't turned up floating down the Fox River, but here's your modern American mob family, suburban style. Betty Loren-Maltese, longtime mayor of the Town of Cicero, which abuts Chicago's West Side, has been indicted for looting the town's health insurance system to the tune of at least $10 million. The US Attorney says it is the largest dollar amount in any single organized crime investigation. [more inside]
posted by dhartung at 9:10 AM PST - 8 comments
Stalking Dr. Steere Over Lyme Disease -- Dr. Allen Steere was the man who first investigated and discovered Lyme Disease in 1975, but now he is troubled that doctors nationwide are misdiagnosing other conditions as Lyme disease. He has been influential in reducing the number of Lyme diagnoses, only to be attacked by angry patients who hate and threaten him for not letting them have their chosen disease -- Dr. Steere now says, "We've come to have the idea in America that it is possible to cure anything and that everyone could be well, and it's even their right to be well, and they should be angry if the medical profession doesn't make you well."
posted by palegirl at 12:21 AM PST - 6 comments
June 15
Right Livelihood Resources
- "How can you design your work life so it is an expression of your gifts and makes a contribution to the world? How can you make your time at work meaningful?" Does your work reflect your values?
posted by sudama at 10:01 PM PST - 21 comments
Tickle Me Elmo
The Truth About Sesame Street
"I have never understood how any White parent with an OUNCE of dignity or pride could expose their children to the trash of Sesame Street, regardless of how "wonderful" everyone in the " mainstream" world says it is. It's bad enough that we, as adults, are continually subjected to the garbage pouring out of the jew toob."
posted by riley370 at 8:04 PM PST - 50 comments
A mime is a terrible thing to waste.
OK, so apparently he's anything but quiet, but, I couldn't resist. As the article states,
simply not liking someone isn't enough reason to obstruct a person's livelihood. Does a unique whistle and skillful balloon-animal making make up for homophobic slurs and public drunkenness?
posted by dchase at 7:47 PM PST - 4 comments
Steal my Images
IE 6 not only will plaster squiggly lines all over your pages but will help everybody steal your images!! Another fine enhancement from the folks who brought you the Marquee tag.
posted by headlemur at 7:37 PM PST - 20 comments
Web Accessibility = Web Shop Salvation?
With Federal guidelines for accessibility set to go into law on June 21, you've got a whole hoarde of companies which will need to redesign. Razorfish must be all, "Mmm, I smell money! Time to buy back the Aerons!"
posted by gsh at 5:55 PM PST - 12 comments
I'm not really sure if I feel for these
people or not. A lean job market is no picnic, but c'mon, there are
other jobs out there. Maybe it is some sort of divine retribution for these shelter denizens after spending months cutting people off while yapping on the cell-phone behind the wheel of the leased
Porsche. Yes, that was a run-on sentence.
posted by donkeysuck at 4:49 PM PST - 20 comments
Apparently, the Lt. Governor of Illinois has
WAY too much time on her hands.... Of course, rallying public support for a boycott of Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't really
seem like what she was
elected to do, but hey, never hurts to throw your title around when your teenagers are going ga-ga over half-naked muscle-boys, huh?
posted by m.polo at 3:41 PM PST - 24 comments
Daisy Rock Girl Guitars
Girly-lookin' electric, acoustic, and bass guitars. I may not be a teeny boppin' little girl. but I want one so badly!
Oh my god, they are so cute!
posted by mcsweetie at 1:42 PM PST - 30 comments
You've Got Hell.
I know there was a link to this site on MeFi two years ago, but it is Friday, and this is, in fact, quite funny. From the people who brought you Modeman, Jesus 2000, and Lance Banyon vs. The Ku Klux Klan.
posted by tranquileye at 1:32 PM PST - 3 comments
Catholic Church offered solution to AIDS crisis?
Though I certainly lean more left than right, I have The National Review in print an online for many years to get some balance in my media intake. I must say, they have run numerous articles online of late that I felt were well-reasoned, fair and insighful.
This, however, is crap.
"Many have tut-tutted the Church for opposing condoms even as an AIDS prevention tool. Some have even called the Church complicit in AIDS deaths. But, as it has turned out,
condoms aren't a very good AIDS-prevention tool after all. [emphasis mine] "
So now condoms are not useful for preventing AIDS. Did we miss something?
posted by 4midori at 12:37 PM PST - 27 comments
When police go bad: Boycott Starbucks
A Seattle community’s response to what was seen as racially motivated use of excessive force by police was to boycott the company that is funding their own schools and projects. A strange story all around.
posted by Nothing at 12:30 PM PST - 17 comments
Communists infiltrating the Oakland, Calif. teachers union.
The Trotskyites of the Revolutionary Workers League, having branched out from the perpetual student-revolutionary ghetto on the fringes of UC Berkeley (2 miles north of the Oakland city limits), are hungering to grab a bully pulpit and $300,000 a year worth of dues, and are well on their well to controlling the union's executive board.
posted by MattD at 11:46 AM PST - 4 comments
Dutch Abortion Ship Runs Aground
in a figurative sense. It seems that there are issues with Dutch Law about providing their services off the Irish coast. At least the protests were minimal. Is there really a strong need for International Waters businesses? It makes me wonder what else would fly on a barge-based mall; Look out,
Simons! It's the
Mall of the Atlantic and we sell EVERYTHING!
posted by dwivian at 10:46 AM PST - 2 comments
Looks like the Internal Revenue Service is trying to soften their image with a cutesy design of their
Web site. Are you buying this? I'm not!
posted by Sal Amander at 9:03 AM PST - 12 comments
Could you Blog for 24 hours straight?
While some folks are happy spending a day Not Blogging, Cat over at
Frykitty is looking for people to join her in her 24 hour charity Blogathon. Sign up to blog with her or just sponsor someone. While I do think spending 24 hours at a PC is a sure sign of insanity, I can certainly respect that sort of insanity.
posted by bondcliff at 8:50 AM PST - 22 comments
Organ Transplants for HIV+ Patients?
The Starzl Institute, one of the most prestigious organ transplant centers in the nation, is making waves in the medical and transplant community by offering new organs to patients with HIV and AIDS. (They are currently evaluating Larry Kramer, co-founder of GMHC and Act-Up for a new liver.) Is this progressive, compassionate medicine, or is it, as some critics have charged, a waste of scarce organs that could go to patients who don't have an underlying fatal virus?
posted by Dreama at 8:03 AM PST - 23 comments
This man
is so fascinatingly delusional. Why has he not been required to get some mental health treatment? The overall attitude in the United States toward depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses is absurd. Mentally ill people of all types, particularly poor ones, are stigmatized, receive poor or limited or no care.
The 1970s discharge of thousands of mentally ill patients onto the streets and subsequent public policy on the treatment of mental illness, particularly in the poor and homeless has continued to impact our lives as well as those of the people in need of care.
posted by jfwlucy at 7:21 AM PST - 15 comments
You mean there's a war, and people on drugs are winning it?
The latest additions to the Gruaniads special report on drugs are interesting. In the top story Scotland Yard is endorsing a more relaxed attitude towards cannabis possession. Nick Davies has written a series of two articles, mostly focussing on heroin, about how drug prohibition actually increases the spread of illegal drugs and causes most of the related health problems.
Looks like legalisation is good for everybody.
posted by MrImpossible at 6:24 AM PST - 21 comments
President Bush, on his European tour, tries to calm Russia's concerns of Western expansion by saying they they shouldn't "fear freedom-loving peoples' expansion to their borders." Is he intimating that Russia's people are not "freedom-loving?
Funny, I heard Bush say those words in an NPR report this morning but when I went to CNN to get the quote, freedom-loving was missing from the quote.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 5:42 AM PST - 4 comments
A study
from researchers at the University of Alberta concludes that unhappy workers perform their tasks at the same rate as happy workers, but with about half as many errors (more inside).
posted by hazyjane at 2:29 AM PST - 11 comments
June 14
No! Not the ferrets! Aaaaaah!
A wee dilemma for animal rights supporters. Should the prairie dogs be moved to a new location? Or
fed to endangered black-footed ferrets (cue Psycho music)! The horror.
posted by CRS at 9:38 PM PST - 7 comments
"The members of U2 kindly request that
all fans of the group be physically attractive. In order to have a Beautiful Day, we require Beautiful People. Thank you for your understanding." (BTW, it turns out the article is wrong. HBO had nothing to do with it; it was entirely U2's decision.)
posted by aaron at 9:28 PM PST - 7 comments
Buy my Virginity! **HOT ITEM**
At the time of this writing, there have been three bids bringing the price up to "GBP 1.40(approx. $1.95)." His favourite activities include "Ballet, Dancing, Finger Painting and Jesus" (Jesus is an activity?). "Homosexuals, Munters, TVs or women called Sadie need not apply." Found via
Who Would Buy That?
posted by DyRE at 4:05 PM PST - 10 comments
Do you recognize this photo?
This rather ominous photo of military officers smirking and stoic Polynesians with faces smeared with white paint (or who knows what?) turned up recently in the archives of the Historic Preservation Office of Samoa. The archivists believe it to have been taken in the 1930s, but can't say what it depicts exactly. Wierd!!
posted by rschram at 4:01 PM PST - 9 comments
"Everyone who writes original content online needs to get a day job."
John Scalzi argues that this is the most likely way that we're going to see quality online content survive as for-profit ventures like Suck continue to crash down around us. He points to cool stuff a lot of us are already familiar with (
Lileks and glenn macdonald's
The War Against Silence) and some sites I hadn't heard of until now (Rick McGinnis'
The Diary Thing). Scalzi practices what he preaches: he doesn't post every day -- hey, he's a professional writer and keeping his family fed comes first -- but what he does post is
choice. (Probable future URL for today's article is
here).
posted by maudlin at 3:40 PM PST - 20 comments
Cooking With Bigfoot
is a flash series about a former TV star turned cable cooking show host (that happens to be a sasquatch). Episode one is up and looks like it could be a fine series when the rest are in place.
posted by mathowie at 3:25 PM PST - 1 comments
Another fun way to waste time on the web.
Electrotank.com went live today. Their minigolf game had been available in beta form for a week or two, but the last 9 were disabled. Now they're all there except for #18, and the dreaded hole 8 has been moved to 17. There are other games too, and a "vision" statement, the first item of which is that they will "Provide a place where people can go to play free high quality online games. " Sounds good to me! Flash plug-in required...
posted by BGM at 2:30 PM PST - 11 comments
Don't tell your employer you're using the T-1 to watch
Green Acres. It's streamed video of a fictional weed delivery service in the NYC area. Updated weekly, it features cameos by some 'big name' actors including Rosie Perez in episode 2.
posted by donkeysuck at 2:00 PM PST - 5 comments
Energy woes continue in CA
and now it looks like there may be a more serious push to consider price caps. But what if that doesn't happen? I've been thinking about this a lot lately and wondering what we as consumers can do. And I came up with this sort of crazy idea that I can't seem to shake: What if we all just stop paying our electric bills? Is this an appropriate form of protest? Would it be immoral? Would it be possible? And most importantly, would it make a difference?
posted by megnut at 1:04 PM PST - 94 comments
Senate passes amendment withholding money
from schools that deny use of their facilities to the Boy Scouts on the grounds of their exclusion of homosexuals. Says Jesse Helms, sponsor of the amendment to Bush's education bill, this is meant to combat "the organized lesbians and homosexuals in this country of ours." Is this justified in light of the Supreme Court's
ruling that the Scouts have the right to exclude whomever they wish, or just flat out anti-homosexual?
posted by zempf at 12:53 PM PST - 34 comments
Another PHP Script?
Yeah. This one allows you to instantly create thumbnailed galleries from the comfort of your home. (Yeah, I'm sure there are others like this out there, but this one is the *newest*. And the site is funny. dammit.... stop staring at me.)
posted by jcterminal at 11:24 AM PST - 7 comments
New Politics Initiative
"The New Politics Initiative is being launched by a diverse assembly of Canadians who are committed to the goal of creating a new political party in Canada.
The left is at a crossroads. Conservatives and business leaders trumpet a new era in which the supremacy of the market and corporate power are as natural and self-evident as they are irresistible. "
posted by riley370 at 10:33 AM PST - 6 comments
Matchmaking in the White House.
"...Bush himself likes to play matchmaker for aides. 'This is definitely a policy priority from the top,' she says So this is what he meant by "I'm a uniter not a divider."
posted by trox at 9:02 AM PST - 11 comments
New High-Quality MP3 format debuts...
What do the tech-savants think about this? Is this something we really need, or are Thomson Multimedia and the Fraunhofer Institute gettin' all proprietary on our asses?
Will "mp3pro" and Microsoft's upcoming attempt (in XP) to restrict users to Windows Media cause trouble for the useful, universal mp3 format? Now that all the majors are getting in the game (late, late, late), what's the next step for free music lovers?
posted by preguicoso at 7:27 AM PST - 13 comments
The Boston Marriage.
An article in Ms. Magazine describes the author's choice to live with a beloved friend rather than a sexual partner. The arrangement differs from a typical roommate situation in that the two people involved take care of each other and socialize together like a couple traditionally would, and are even considering raising a child together - yet they are heterosexual and have lovers that don't interfere with their partnership. For straight people that don't want to live alone forever but are disillusioned with marriage... could this be the social institution of the future?
posted by hazyjane at 7:11 AM PST - 17 comments
June 13
What's Karl Rove up to?
"Karl Rove, President Bush's top White House political adviser, met with senior executives of a high-tech firm (Intel) who were seeking his help in obtaining government approval of a merger at a time when he owned stock in the company worth more than $100,000."
Also, James Hatfield (a shady character himself) - who alleged in a book that Bush was arrested for cocaine and had it removed from his record now alleges that the source was
none other than Mr. Rove...
posted by owillis at 11:50 PM PST - 5 comments
48 States in 6 Days - Charity Ride
A motorcyclist is trying to set a new record, and raise a little money for charity at the same time. Averaging 1,200 miles on a motorcycle for 5 1/2 days doesn't sound incredibly enjoyable to me.
posted by 7sharp11 at 9:47 PM PST - 2 comments
Those loveable losers, the Cubbies,
are six games up in the standings and have been in first place for most of the season. Are these guys for real? Or will Slamm'n' Sammy and Co. fall to
the curse of the goat once again? They're made a believer out of me, but being a Cubs fan I know their failure in '69 hangs over these guys like an evil shadow.
posted by Bag Man at 9:39 PM PST - 14 comments
'Necklace' designed to aid those with profound hearing loss.
Almost totally deaf and reliant on lip reading since her 20s, Sherry Cramer couldn't believe her ears in 1994 when she first wore the microphone array necklace that electrical engineering Professor Bernard Widrow and his students had designed. Listening to a CD, she could hear every note of a Rachmaninoff piano concerto as the necklace received and transmitted sound in magnetic form to her behind-the-ear hearing aid.
posted by RylandDotNet at 9:00 PM PST - 8 comments
Are you an Audiophile?
I found this article on
Slashdot, but I know some folks here don't read that site regularly and I think it's worth parroting here. I thought I was going a little overboard with my Technics SL-1200mk2 turntable the other week, but this is crazy. Or is it crazy/beautiful? Anyone here approach the depths of some of these music fans?
posted by moz at 6:43 PM PST - 22 comments
NYT celebrates 40 (or so) years of FORTRAN
The computer language that started it all is remembered in this breezy Times article (reg. req.'d.). [I think it has to do with some recent reunion of original team-members, but any contemporary event to rationalize printing this is buried in the copy.] Do something high-level with your computer today to commemorate. Here's an
ibiblio.org text with more information.
posted by rschram at 5:22 PM PST - 5 comments
"I can't teach him what it's like to be black,"
said Van de Perre, who is white. "But I can teach him what it's like to be Canadian and to be a well-rounded human being."
The endgame of a custody battle between a white, single mother with a questionable employment record and a black, married father who played in the NBA. A lower court awarded custody to Blue Edwards, the father, in part because "[the child] would be better off with the wealthy Edwards family which can raise him in black culture".
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 5:00 PM PST - 17 comments
Matt H. and MeFi in New York Times
(may require free subscription to access) -- an Andy Wang piece about using the Amazon Honor System to keep websites
like his afloat. What I want to know: why does Matt wants to hurl that laptop into the bay?
posted by BT at 1:13 PM PST - 12 comments
Father's day is almost here, and I KNOW that I deserve a great gift for being such a good Dad!
Not buying it, are you? Neither are my kids, which is probably why I won't be getting one of
these. Any other fathers out there with a wish list?
posted by Sal Amander at 12:24 PM PST - 17 comments
Aussie 'Net Old-Timer to Feds: No com.au!
Robert Elz, whom the SMH describes as a computer scientist at the University of Melbourne who was instrumental in wiring Oz for the Internet, has recently renewed his refusal to hand over regulatory powers of the .au ccTLD to the federal government. The SMH states that this is a battle between the old-timers, computer scientists and academics, of the 'Net and the commercial interests. Elz does not like to be photographed. A story with heart!
posted by rschram at 9:25 AM PST - 14 comments
Inkblot
, each month, invites writers to submit stories based on a black and white picture. It's approaching two years of operation. Lately it has reached the stage where its submission rate has been fading. How best do good open-call submission sites like this one attract/ maintain/ renew an active participant base?
posted by TimTypeZed at 8:31 AM PST - 15 comments
Unisys Confesses UNIVAC Sins
-
The company that invented the first commercial computer apologized on the eve of its 50th anniversary for any "unintended consequences" of its use. - Among other things, they apologized for bad joke emails, the dot com bubble, and destroying the concept of normal working hours. It's a pretty funny article.
posted by chrisege at 7:17 AM PST - 15 comments
U.S. reports steepest annual violent crime drop
Incidents of violent crime plummeted nearly 15 percent in 2000, the steepest one-year drop since the federal government began keeping track in 1973. Last year's data continue a trend that began early in the last decade. From 1993 through 2000, rapes dropped 60 percent, aggravated assaults fell 52.5 percent and motor vehicle theft dropped 52.4 percent.
posted by frednorman at 7:00 AM PST - 32 comments
U.S. Embassy bomber given life sentence.
This is kind of the flipside of the McVeigh execution; Saudi man helps bomb the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi which kills 213 people. Jury cannot agree to execute him, as some believe he would become a martyr for the cause, and others believe this wouldn't "alleviate the suffering of the victims or family members". Why is this any different from the McVeigh situation?
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 5:03 AM PST - 31 comments
June 12
Republican athlete politicians
With trepidation, I post a link to a Slate article (is that akin to posting a Salon article?) Anyway, I've been largely impressed with the "Sports Nut" columns. I think my favourite quote of this one is Brent Jones saying "An athlete is a small business owner whose product is yourself." And Charles Barkely reminding his grandma, unsure of her grandson's political leanings towards the Republicans, "we
are rich".
posted by youthbc1 at 11:55 PM PST - 25 comments
Child Soldiers..Global Report 2001
"At any one time, more than 300,000 children under 18 - girls and boys -are fighting as soldiers with government armed forces and armed opposition groups in more than 30 countries worldwide. In more than 85 countries, hundreds of thousands more under-18s have been recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and a wide variety of non-state armed groups. Millions of children worldwide receive military training and indoctrination in youth movements and schools. While most child soldiers are aged between 15 and 18, the youngest age recorded in this report is seven. "
posted by riley370 at 8:00 PM PST - 6 comments
Deleted scenes,
they're not just for DVDs anymore. This summer, they're re-releasing Apocalypse Now with more footage to theaters. So, when the DVD comes out, will it have even MORE deleted scenes, or what?
posted by robbie01 at 5:49 PM PST - 26 comments
Families forgive driver who caused death of children
Can death-penalty advocates bring themselves to this level of forgiveness? “The parents of four of the five victims of Sunday’s tragedy at Lingwick have asked authorities to withdraw charges filed Monday against Steve Rousseau, 21, the driver of a car that plunged into a quarry.... ‘We forgive Steve Rousseau and we’d like the charges against him lifted. He already feels a great deal of pain over what happened, which was an accident. He’s a little guy who has already been devastated by the burden placed on him. We don’t want to make matters worse,’ says Christian Morin, father of Marie-France. ‘We have no grievance with him.’ ” The Crown will prosecute
anyway. (Also
second article. All in French.)
posted by joeclark at 4:38 PM PST - 15 comments
Doctor Who returns. After the spotty Big Finish radio dramas, the Beeb have officially sanctioned a new Internet-only series of adventures with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, allowing listeners to vote on whether the series should return. But will flooding the BBC servers be the only legitimate way fans can get the show back on the air?
posted by ed at 4:23 PM PST - 19 comments
Boeing
is upping the chance you'll be able to surf while you fly.. Question is: will more of these devices also mean a lower price?
posted by jackstark at 1:53 PM PST - 9 comments
Bugnosis
A web bug detector to find out who's using single-pixel GIFs to relay information to third parties. Distributed by the folks at the
Privacy Foundation.
I've long wanted to have this information without mucking through the HTML source. Now that it's available, I don't know if I really want to know.
posted by idiolect at 11:58 AM PST - 16 comments
Attention ChatMonkeys.
Are you addicted to chat programs? AIM? ICQ? Yahoo and MSN? Even have two instances of mIRC running? Now there's hope. You can have all of these running all at once using *just one program*. And it uses far less resources than all of those other programs put together. matter of fact, i think it uses less resources than icq itself (like that's hard).
It's skinnable too! Score!
/me hands out the needles.
posted by jcterminal at 10:53 AM PST - 20 comments
Has John McCain gone too far? There's a grassroots movement in Arizona intent on yanking John McCain out of office. Apparently, the last straw for the conservatives there is that he supposedly dissed the President by not showing up to a picnic. They need 300,000 signatures in order to have a recall vote in November. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this.
posted by crunchland at 10:35 AM PST - 49 comments
pink pistols
"Thirty-one states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "
posted by riley370 at 9:48 AM PST - 36 comments
The best blog there is, period!
Funny, irreverent, informative, Jason links to some of the best stuff on the web, and he does it with class and style. Plus he's cute! A must read for the digerati and the newbie alike.
posted by ericost at 9:09 AM PST - 154 comments
91-year-old bouncer
The triumph of guilt over brawn: OSLO, Norway (AP) - "What the new bouncer at a Norwegian pub lacks in brawn, she more than makes up in experience: She's a 91-year-old great-grandmother. "
posted by christina at 8:53 AM PST - 4 comments
The Chicken Dance
inspires lunacy like no other piece of music. I found myself in a giggling fit over the silliness of the pictures on this page. Beware-it has the obligatory embedded MIDI file.
posted by plinth at 8:52 AM PST - 10 comments
Memes are past their prime.
Richard Dawkins first coined the term
meme towards the end of his 1976 book
The Selfish Gene initially as an instructive analogy and
a way of illustrating the concept of replicators. Memes were just like genes but they replicated themselves through minds and culture rather than cells and bodies. Of course, the meme, like any good self-replicating idea, caught on and spread like wildfire and has been used to illuminate studies into subjects as diverse as the memetics of
music and the memetics of
suicide. There is an alternate view however that sees the
grand project of memetics as completely misguided.
posted by lagado at 6:56 AM PST - 13 comments
The only person that annoys me more than G.E. Smith is Emeril. As if his constant rotation on
Food TV wasn't enough, he will now have a
sitcom on NBC. Who wants to start the cancellation pool? How could this be funny?
posted by machaus at 6:34 AM PST - 34 comments
June 11
OK, Maybe I don't get the $300 tax rebate after all.
More than one-quarter of all American adults will not get a tax rebate this year. Altogether, nearly 40 percent will not get the full amount of $300 for individuals and $600 for couples.
Nationally, the study shows, 34 million American adults, or 26 percent, will get no rebate, and another 17 million, or 13 percent, will get less than the full rebate.
This sucks. Why am I not surprised.
posted by tcobretti at 10:44 PM PST - 45 comments
John Ashcroft on web porn:
"I am concerned about obscenity and I'm concerned about obscenity as it relates to our children". I'm curious what those of you who are more on the conservative/libertarian side of things think about this. Are there special exemptions to the concept of free speech when it comes to this type of content? [more]
posted by owillis at 7:43 PM PST - 40 comments
Echelon rumored to be used in NZ spying on Fiji
Echelon, as seen on TV, is suggested to monitor gobzillions of electronic communications. People are starting to wonder if New Zealand used Echelon to monitor the progress of the May 2000 coup and hostage taking in Fiji, in addition to the tradition undercover operations. Memorable quotation: "It is not a question of if others are spying on Fiji but of who, how and, to a much lesser extent, why."
posted by rschram at 5:06 PM PST - 8 comments
Finally, some good news on the privacy front
The Supreme Court today reiterated the right of privacy in the age of technology, ruling in an Oregon drug case that the police cannot use a heat-seeking device to probe the interior of a home without a search warrant. (
registration required) The heat device used by the agents "might disclose, for example, at what hour each night the lady of the house takes her daily sauna and bath — a detail that many would consider `intimate,' " the majority held.
daily sauna?
posted by 4midori at 4:34 PM PST - 11 comments
In the desert on the U.S.-Mexico border,
charity becomes political protest as humanitarian groups seek to put hundreds of gallons of water in the form of "watering stations" -- a few gallons of water and a blue flag -- on federal, military, private, and Indian lands.
posted by sudama at 3:36 PM PST - 3 comments
Green Flash bashes Bush
Greenpeace is launching a contest to highlight the absurdity of the Bush positions on climate change and/or missile defence using Macromedia Flash. The contest, open to everyone and having no prize other than a link, runs through July 6th and should be almost as much fun as
the 5k.
[via Flazoom]
posted by DragonBoy at 3:16 PM PST - 7 comments
The funniest thing I've read today.
Spoofing the recent sulfnbk.exe virus hoax, a fake advisory on Joke-a-Day advised readers to delete the insidious virus file AOL.exe.
The result?
"Only one AOL person contacted me," Owens said.
"Maybe that's because all the others can't get online anymore."
posted by Tubes at 2:34 PM PST - 24 comments
When NASA scientists watch Michael Bay films, comedy ensues.
'The technology is not at all far-fetched,' said Dr Greg Laughlin, of the Nasa Ames Research Center in California. 'It involves the same techniques that people now suggest could be used to deflect asteroids or comets heading towards Earth. We don't need raw power to move Earth, we just require delicacy of planning and manoeuvring.'
Oh yeah, nothing could possibly go wrong with
this plan. I'm not being a Luddite here...I realize the scientists involved aren't going to be doing this any time soon, if ever. It still spooks me, though.
posted by Ezrael at 1:15 PM PST - 14 comments
Cool.
People generally complain about stuff like this but I'm pretty excited. I'm sick of having to watch ads for Metamucil...
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 12:30 PM PST - 25 comments
kick box the queen
A computer security consultant and stand-up comic says "I hereby challenge the Queen of England to either a kickboxing match or a math test (no geometry) for the crown of Canada. She can choose the type of match, and the location of the bout. She has until July 1, 2002 to face me in this competition. If, after that time, she has not accepted my challenge, Canadians can infer that she has forfeited the match, and I will be the effective new monarch of Canada."
posted by riley370 at 10:27 AM PST - 5 comments
Invictus
is the name of the poem Timothy McVeigh provided as his last words. Written by William Ernest Henley more than a 100 years ago the name means "undefeated" in Latin. What poetry would you use for your last words?
posted by fleener at 9:03 AM PST - 90 comments
Not Salieri but Schnitzel
the latest theory about what did in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is that he might have contracted trichinosis from some spoiled pork cutlets. "Why Antonio, I'd just die for some wiener schniztel right now," Wolfgang exclaimed. "Yes, you would," sneered Salieri.......
posted by briank at 7:22 AM PST - 18 comments
The Morality Police.
"Our hysterical attempts to shield kids from images of sex and violence are stunting young lives -- and trapping us all in a Big Lie." A well-argued piece, more of an op-ed than a straight-up book review. As a scientist I only quibble with the author's musing that "if there really were a cause-and-effect link between real violence and media violence, then it would have been proven by now."
posted by topolino at 2:32 AM PST - 13 comments
June 10
Absolute sluts, angels, and hotties... Kids today!
Parents are returning girls' shirts with slogans like "stripper" written in the most scandalous of places. Are parents being prudish, misunderstanding the irony the kids intend? Or should teenagers put more thought into the words they wear?
posted by drezdn at 11:31 PM PST - 23 comments
Pauline has lockout;
attack milena, xiang until duffer done getlost after belmar merinof not isabelle, tunasand ginaster bliss get stuf.
posted by jjg at 8:52 PM PST - 14 comments
At least 12 people are dead and damage could be $1 billion
as a result of flooding in the US' fourth largest city of Houston. Some areas received more than two feet of rain in a 24 hour period this weekend after the remains of Tropical Storm Allison regrouped and poured on southeast Texas. Why does this story only get one page on the major news sites, when the Seattle quake was covered extensively all over the country?
posted by LeiaS at 3:29 PM PST - 15 comments
From Hells's heart, I stab at thee?
The link is to F*ck*d Company, which has just announced that Automatic Media has just cashed out, and properties Plastic.com, and Suck.com are about to get toetagged. Anyone want to say a few words over the coffin?
posted by Perigee at 11:02 AM PST - 10 comments
Another NW Earthquake
At 5.0, this one was substantially smaller than
the last one, but it was strong enough to have us sitting bolt upright in bed at 6:19 this morning here in Olympia, WA. How was it in Seattle and Portland?
posted by arielmeadow at 10:59 AM PST - 13 comments
Has It Come To This?
There's a certain symmetry in the commercialization of the commercialization of music and yet I can't quite get over this.
posted by willnot at 2:09 AM PST - 48 comments
June 9
McVeigh says he's sorry
--er--in a manner of speaking. "I am sorry these people had to lose their lives," [he said] "But that's the nature of the beast. It's understood going in what the human toll will be.''
posted by caraig at 9:44 PM PST - 32 comments
Do you like watching digital video of beefy kung-fu skirmishes? Do you have a cable modem? Then check out
The Kwoon! You can view trailers or full-length episodes, depending on your download speed and your passion for public-access television style pummeling.
posted by JDC8 at 5:31 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
No diploma for you!
School official refuses to hand diploma to a girl onstage because the audience is noisy. Girl 'graduates' later, in school cafeteria. Die, public education, die.
posted by gsh at 3:34 PM PST - 33 comments
Vote for Sweatshop Retailer of the Year
As the Retail Council of Canada is poised to present its annual Retailer of the Year Award to another of their favourite corporations, the Maquila Solidarity Network is ready to follow suit with our second annual "Sweatshop Retailer of the Year Awards." Categories include Sweatshop Retailer of the Year Award, Sweatshop Smokesceen Award and Sweatshop Transparency Award. Voting is open until June 17th.
posted by elgoose at 8:49 AM PST - 4 comments
Meanwhile, fair and open elections in Iran lead to reformist win.
Khatami seems to be headed for a 75% win in an election where voter turnout was the highest in years. I'll let others ponder the significance of that in comparison to, say, the hideously low turnout in American elections over the past two decades, or the win by Britain's
Labour party, which also saw record low voter turnout. I'm sure someone smarter than me will figure out something to say about the idea that Iranians seem to care more about the political process than the big Western Republics do.
posted by Ezrael at 12:11 AM PST - 90 comments
June 8
Please, I've
got to know. I used to use
this site in my classes as an example of the smallest possible website (that is, not just a web
page). It's cute as hell. As far as I know, it hasn't changed, at all, not the slightest iota,
ever. But what is it? Who's behind it? What are they doing? Is there secret tweedlebug content somewhere? It seems to be in San Francisco, so one of you well-connected Bay area webloggers clue me in—what's the story? Anyone know?
posted by rodii at 7:18 PM PST - 11 comments
Cracksmoker.com isn't about drugs at all. It's a site that collects information about pro athletes and their run-ins with various law enforcement agencies. They have an All-Cracksmoker team, Cracksmoker Survivor, and databases divided by sport (and yes, Florida State football has its own database).
posted by Reggie452 at 2:19 PM PST - 4 comments
Um, Bob, where did all the cows go ?
So much for the theory of how Native Americans and Aborigines have lived in harmony with the land since time began.... Turns out they were just gluttonous killing machines who gorged themselves on steak till all the beasties disappeared (or something like that)
posted by zeoslap at 1:34 PM PST - 15 comments
TV Go Home
isn't newsworthy or special but some of the stuff in the archives had me doubled over laughing. Anything that can make you laugh until it
hurts is tops in my book.
...and I know
TV Go Home has been posted
before but that was a long time ago...
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 12:35 PM PST - 2 comments
Great article
on the whole Andrew Sullivan and Michael Signoreli fiasco. Finally, a well written viewpoint about the
barebacking incident that raised the hackles of gay conservatives and liberals alike.
posted by chason at 11:12 AM PST - 3 comments
"Red" China? Communist Cuba? No kids, its America! Where the government
has decided for us that we shouldn't listen to music that "contains unmistakable offensive sexual references. In this regard, portions of the lyrics contain sexual references in conjunction with sexual expletives that appear intended to pander and shock". Aren't you glad Big Brother is taking care of
you?
posted by owillis at 10:38 AM PST - 28 comments
Evan Dando is releasing a solo album this summer. (Why not
pre-order?) Forget the "alterna-hunk" crap; just
download some MP3s of his acoustic live shows and agree with me that his taste in covers (esp. country stuff) is awesome, he can write a hell of a pop song, and his voice -- well, he's the
Velvet Fog of his generation (in more ways than one).
posted by luser at 10:36 AM PST - 7 comments
You too can play with U2.
With a little forethought and practice, a guy named Glen Goland lived every amateur guitarist's wet dream last night in Boston. Have you done anything to make your wildest dream come true? Or, like me, are you just letting it all ride on dumb luck?
posted by dchase at 9:26 AM PST - 19 comments
Belief in Astrology up 3% to 28% and belief in ghosts up 13% to 38%. I find the
new Gallup Poll on Americans' Belief in Psychic and Paranormal Phenomena depressing, but not surprising. Aren't we supposed to be headed in the other direction?
posted by quirked at 8:36 AM PST - 93 comments
Kottke.org, now with x10 ads.
Sad, but true. I don't like them, but I suppose if you need the money... Look in the source for confirmation:
var url = "http://ads.x10.com/bluefish/bf23.htm";
var domain = "kottke.org";
at least the girl in the camera ad is kinda cute.
posted by moz at 8:36 AM PST - 87 comments
Texan Teen Lands $550 Fine For Saying 'F*ck'
The US school system certainly seems to over-react to small issues (drawing guns on paper, etc). Will this keep American from turning into violent thugs, or not? Recently, in the UK, a man
got let off for saying 'f*ck off' to a policeman, since the judge said it was 'the language of his generation'.
posted by wackybrit at 7:38 AM PST - 29 comments
Mozilla 0.9.1
came out today, marking a big leap in quality from 0.9. It seems like a much leaner, cleaner, faster and more stable build. "New features include Bi-directional text support, LDAP Autocomplete in mail, new combined taskbar, an overhaul of the Modern skin with all new colors and buttons, and lots of performance and stability fixes, with over 30 of the topcrash bugs fixed." Via
Slashdot, where the comments are supprisingly supportive:)
posted by tallman at 6:30 AM PST - 17 comments
Not-So-Deep-Blue!
Why wait for Spielberg's
AI. Play 20 Questions with a computer
now.
(Click on Play 20Q, then Anonymous Login if you prefer not to register).
posted by geronimo_rex at 4:26 AM PST - 4 comments
"If I don't do this, who can?"
Courtney Love, a unionist? She may be the only one to put the Music Industry to task, and challenge practices that enslave struggling artists, turning shining stars into short-lived comets. That is, provided she doesn't just settle out of court. D'ya think she can do it? Or is this just more smoke & mirrors?
posted by ZachsMind at 2:01 AM PST - 22 comments
Unfortunately, the
Jam Wrestling Party failed to win a seat in the UK Elections. I think this is a real shame. I mean, can anyone else think of a better use for the Millennium Dome?
posted by davehat at 1:52 AM PST - 2 comments
Wednesday Week
was/is/can be again a "paisley pop" mostly female rock band which I've known about since the early 90s but just recently found them again. Or rather, they found me. I'm so excited to finally know what happened to them. I just had to share. Their music and lyrics are serious, dark, emotive and thought-provoking, with rays of hope shining through the murky waters of life. You can
hear them online, and their website's a cryptic but intriguing introspective on the ups and downs of a struggling group in a harsh and unyielding industry. BTW, Kelly Callan is one of the
top female drummers of all time. No lie.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:07 AM PST - 1 comments
June 7
This make sense.
Farm workers are an ideal market for cells. It's weird how fast the way we relate to a technology changes. What do Mefi'ers think that cell phones meant when they first appeared and how has their meaning changed over the years?
posted by rdr at 10:11 PM PST - 45 comments
Labour Party WINS UK General Election
Tony Blair's Labour Party now officially wins the general election after getting the needed 330 constituencies. Not all the results are in yet, but it's not important. Labour are past the post. Well done Tony!
posted by wackybrit at 7:01 PM PST - 23 comments
Disney cast members no longer have to wear dirty underwear.
Apparently those Mickey and Goofy suits come complete with a set of undergarments that the employee had to wear, and turn in at the end of the day to be laundered -- that was the plan, anyway. Turns out those undergarments weren't being washed thoroughly. "Some workers had complained about getting pubic lice and scabies. 'Things have been passed around,' said Gary Steverson, a stilt walker at Animal Kingdom. 'I know I don't want to share my tights and I don't want to share my underwear.'"
posted by RylandDotNet at 5:33 PM PST - 13 comments
Bye-bye Feed.
No press release to link to, so I might be jumping the gun a bit, but my sources say everyone at Automatic Media was fired. That includes all of Feed and the production guy for Suck, though it appears Suck will be going on alone. Apparently, the line is is they’re looking for some quick cash to keep going, but I’m afraid I’ve heard that line often with no results. Supposedly they’ll announce it tomorrow, since no one will be around to update the site. Very sad day.
posted by capt.crackpipe at 5:20 PM PST - 40 comments
The Reagan Papers?
"The confidential memos, letters and briefing papers passed among Ronald Reagan and his top advisers were to have come out in January -- 12 years after Reagan left office, as established by post-Watergate laws.
But the White House counsel's office asked the National Archives to delay the release until at least June 21 so government lawyers can look at the files that researchers and others are waiting to dig through. "
posted by owillis at 4:06 PM PST - 12 comments
Has anyone noticed an increase in spam after registering with
Weblogs.com?
Whenever I have to give a valid email address to a site (for authentication or whatever), I usually give them theirsitename@mysite.com . This is to protect me from spam harvesters. Now, I feel quite sure that the Weblogs/Userland guys aren't harvesting email addresses for commercial purposes, but today's spam for "LONG DISTANCE AT 1.4 CENTS PER MINUTE" marks the second spam in two weeks addressed to weblogs@mysite . Has anyone else noticed this trend?
posted by Unxmaal at 3:06 PM PST - 52 comments
Tivo hackers today released the hack that enables you to get MPEG-2 video out of the box and put it on CDs, share it over the net, etc. No details because the
AVS Tivo site (registration required) is being
slashdotted...but will this precipitate a TiVo crackdown on the hackers?
posted by luser at 1:36 PM PST - 21 comments
The Baffler's
Chicago home base was destroyed in a fire recently. Information on how to help is available at The Baffler's home page, linked above...
posted by preguicoso at 1:31 PM PST - 2 comments
Apparently, the death of free ain't over yet.
This site is claiming that Xerox is giving away free color laser printers to qualifying businesses. Is it
a hoax meant to find new recipients of spam or is it
another great giveaway?
posted by mathowie at 12:36 PM PST - 8 comments
D-Day was 57 years ago yesterday. It was 16 years before
an article in the Atlantic finally provided Americans an unvarnished account of the carnage that was Omaha Beach that day. I'm in awe of what these 19-year-olds went through.
posted by luser at 12:21 PM PST - 1 comments
Vote early, vote often.
(With apologies for sticking this on the front page.) Using your skill and judgement, predict the winning party in the UK general election, size of the majority, and the number of seats won by the Lib Dems. Closest to the actual result gets a gift subscription to
Private Eye, the fortnightly antidote to British politics and media, or the equivalent value in that international currency: Amazon vouchers. (And if you've emailed me already, there's no need to post a prediction.)
posted by holgate at 12:18 PM PST - 16 comments
A 12-year-old Little Leaguer
has pitched a perfect game -- 18 straight strikeouts, the greatest individual achievement in baseball. And his parents missed the game! But they did take him out for ice cream later. Any Little League vets (or current players) here?
posted by luser at 11:56 AM PST - 18 comments
A success for gene therapy
to help hemophiliacs is announced. This is a first, but only time will tell if the treatment has a lasting effect and can be repeated. So far it's worked for only four of the six patients in the trial. The
NY Times explains the research.
posted by caraig at 11:49 AM PST - 5 comments
3D Cell Phones
- Japanese cell phone manufacturer
J-Phone will be selling cell phones with 3D display capability by mid 2001 (
press release). Just seems like everyones scratching hard to be the next big thing - but it surprises me, given the lukewarm to non-existent success of 3D on the Web, that a cell phone maker would go this route, let alone call it the "next logical step". As if the UI on small cell phone screens wasn't bad enough.
posted by kokogiak at 10:31 AM PST - 4 comments
Sixers shock the world,
or at least this fan with their OT victory last night. I'm glad to see cocky Kobe and his Lakers' perfect playoff record marred somewhat. And I can't believe the Sixers were able to pull it off. Anyone think they have a chance to go all the way now?
posted by eoligarry at 8:05 AM PST - 28 comments
Jump the Shark!
"It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak." When did your favorite show start to suck. Add your vote, see what others think
posted by Outlawyr at 6:12 AM PST - 12 comments
I wanna be your dog.
So people are flocking to the opportunity to appear in an "and finally" spot on the news. Nowt so queer as folk, as they say up north.
But just because it gets people's attention, does that mean it's going to convey any useful information? Perhaps if dog-mistreaters were sentenced to being treated like a stray...
posted by Grangousier at 1:45 AM PST - 6 comments
June 6
FRANCISCO VARELA (1946 - 2001)*
One of the more quietly influential thinkers of our times. A neuroscientist turned immunologist whose formulation of the theory of autopoiesis (with Humberto Maturana) has challenged conventional thinking in areas as diverse as Artificial Intelligence, Ecology and AIDS research.
The mathematics of self-reference involves creating formalisms to reflect the strange situation in which something produces A, which produces B, which produces A. That was 1974. Today, many colleagues call such ideas part of complexity theory.
On 28th of May, Varela's own autopoiesis ceased.
*pointer via fmh
posted by lagado at 10:47 PM PST - 7 comments
Dori Smith posted
a pointer to a
page on Winerlog where he's trying to organize a project to get people to hack Manila sites. How do people feel about this? What if your site got hacked? Should UserLand, in your opinion, support this? Is this free speech, or is it screaming fire in a crowded movie theater? What if he starts posting how-to's? Looking forward to an interesting discussion.
posted by davewiner at 9:50 PM PST - 33 comments
Buddy Ebsen's 93, and he's written a book, and it's got
hot sex in it! Go git 'em, Uncle Jed!
posted by luser at 2:31 PM PST - 3 comments
Who says drugs have to be legalized to collect taxes?
'Kansas law requires all dealers of illegal drugs to buy the stamps and attach them to their product. They almost never comply.' What a shock! However, this article will let you know how to comply with the law, and where you can buy the tax stamps for your own business needs. (Courtesy of Indigo, who is having trouble posting.)
posted by jennaratrix at 2:28 PM PST - 13 comments
No women on Mars.
"Women are likely to be barred from any Russian mission to Mars because they would increase the "probability of conflicts" among the crew, says a Russian space official." We've come a long way, haven't we?
posted by judith at 1:16 PM PST - 23 comments
It's raining cats and dogs
this summer! GEEZ!
Pearl Harbor,
Shrek, and
The Mummy Returns are already in the theaters. This weekend we get
Swordfish,
Evolution, and even
Atlantis: The Lost Empire in limited release. What's next? Oh nuthin. Just stuff
Angelina Jolie's been kicking around,
Eddie Murphy's little pet project, something
Jay & Silent Bob tossed off in the shower,
Stephen Spielberg's thoughtful adult film coupled with his
token bloodfest for the kiddies...
Final Fantasy,
Planet of the Apes,
Kiss of the Dragon, a painfully predictable looking sequel to
American Pie, a predictable but funny-lookin' sequel to
Rush Hour, and a predictable sequel to
Scary Movie,
and the ever present
SO MUCH MORE! I skipped half the movies coming out but those are the highlights. Is this gonna be the best summer blockbuster festival ever thrust upon the world's populous, or are we true fans of cinema about to once again take it up the ass? Whatcha think?
posted by ZachsMind at 10:11 AM PST - 102 comments
Poof.
Would everyone please take a look under their couch cushions and check if Sippey's there? Or maybe the site fell behind the desk. I mean, a web site couldn't really just vanish, could it?
posted by dchase at 9:18 AM PST - 28 comments
NY Times:
"..students at some of the most selective private schools in Manhattan visited a Web page this spring to vote for the students they considered to be the most promiscuous. They voted on about 150 names — girls' names outnumbered boys' 3 to 1 — before the page was shut down last month.."
posted by davewiner at 8:44 AM PST - 9 comments
The
NBA Finals start tonight. I've never been a big fan of watching any sport, but the hometown Sixers have been quite exciting. Now I find myself hoping that they can find a way to win against those smug Lakers and quiet their arrogant, over-confident fans. Anyone else love an underdog?
posted by quirked at 8:21 AM PST - 35 comments
Every rock list ever.
Collected on one site - every imaginable list related to rock music. Browse by publication (Rolling Sone, SPIN, NME, Village Voice, etc.), by favorite critic (Christgau, Marsh, etc.), by year (1952 to present), or search.
posted by geronimo_rex at 8:12 AM PST - 3 comments
It's D-Day
Someone at work shared this Ernie Pyle column published just 10 days after the 1944 invasion of Normandy. It put a lump in my throat. Maybe it'll do the same for you. Excerpt: "I took a walk along the historic coast of Normandy in the country of France.
It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn't know they were in the water, for they were dead."
posted by GaelFC at 8:11 AM PST - 14 comments
The Trial of Unit 731
"is the forgotten war-crimes prosecution of the 20th century." In 1949, Soviet courts tried a unit of the Japanese Imperial Army for wartime biological weapons experimentation on human subjects.
This article contains some gruesome descriptions.
posted by dfowler at 7:09 AM PST - 8 comments
My God, how I've loathed them over the years for their heart-stopping mix of hubris, brilliance, clueless, utter lack of any discipline whatsoever and oh, the sheer
arrogance, but after all these years, it's with a distinct sense of ennui that I read that
Netscape is throwing in the towel.
posted by m.polo at 5:14 AM PST - 53 comments
June 5
Stretcher.org launched today,
a "grassroots publication...providing a critical, informative survey of visual art and culture in the Bay Area and beyond with a provocative mixture of essays, dialogs, artist projects, and reviews by local, national and international contributors." It's about time -- the Bay Area is in desparate need of more sophisticated and in-depth art coverage than the Comical, Guardian or Weekly currently provide.
posted by msippey at 10:00 PM PST - 3 comments
The Thoughts of Anonymous Pedophiles
While researching an unrelated topic, I found a site called
The Pedophilia Survey. This survey asks people who have sexual desires involving children to submit a paragraph or two on their feelings on the topic.
One of the respondents said: 'Pedophilia is a legitimate sexual orientation.' But, is it? Pedophilia seems so widespread that should, perhaps, we be researching the causes of pedophilia instead of just condemning it?
posted by wackybrit at 8:15 PM PST - 46 comments
Will Sony get busted
for false advertising in its David Manning scandal? Lets hope so, maybe this will send chills down the movie and record industry and its quasi-payola schemes. Personally, I just want my eight-fifty back. Class action anyone?
posted by skallas at 7:41 PM PST - 6 comments
Your help is greatly needed! Without
your participation, the voice of Higgy Baby could be silenced forever! The rest of the site is equally frightening.
