skip to main content
June 30
Textbook Publishers Learn to Avoid Messing With Texas.
"Out of Many," the work of four respected historians, is one of the biggest sellers among American history college textbooks in the United States, but it is not likely to be available to Texas high school students taking advanced placement history. Conservative groups in Texas objected to two paragraphs in the nearly 1,000-page text that explained that prostitution was rampant in cattle towns during the late 19th century, before the West was fully settled.
posted by ncurley at 2:54 PM PST - 24 comments
Doubling The Annoyance Factor: The Instantly Recyclable Column.
Spot the differences between Taki's
High Life column in this week's
Spectator and his
Le Maitre column in this week's
New York Press. Obviously, all columnists recycle their stuff, specially when they've been on the job for more than 25 years like this guy, but there's generally a time-lag and a modest attempt at hiding the self-plagiarism. No such bloody luck with Taki.[
To my mind, the most objectionable, reactionary, trumpet-blowing, futile, deeply annoying (but, alas, not unreadable...)columnist in the English-speaking world.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:09 PM PST - 16 comments
Chillies.
Everything you never wanted to know about the fiery stuff can be found here. Apparently they provide a natural high.
posted by Fat Buddha at 10:18 AM PST - 14 comments
Pork chop shoes
results in a lawsuit in Australia. A man who slipped on a grease trail left by pork chop shoes in a pub is awarded £23,000. I guess Nike better think twice before they release their filet mignon basketball shoes. What would be their marketing campaign?
posted by percine at 4:03 AM PST - 8 comments
"
Babe Ruth and I were teammates on the Yankeesand lovers, too. It was no big deal back then. After Sunday games were over, lots of players and writers would come by our little flat in the Morrisania section of the Bronx for one of Babe's famous bean dinners. I also remember the evening when Babe, wearing his familiar pink housecoat, turned out a nice catfish stew for Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Everyone in baseball knew how it was with me and Babe. After the company had gone home and we'd done the dishes, he would lie in my arms and I'd whisper, 'You are my bambino.'"
posted by semmi at 12:06 AM PST - 9 comments
June 29
The Apple rumor mill is buzzing...
Tonight marks the expiration for many of their recent
promos
and rebates. The
Apple Store has been closed for a few hours now for "updating." Is a new "insanely great" product about to be unleashed unto the Mac faithful ... or is it just wishful thinking?
posted by Fofer at 11:32 PM PST - 14 comments
are'nt we?
i'm no fan of many of the green parties tactical decisions (not tossing the green party votes to the greenest presidential candidate in history for example...) - a very effective ad, never the less - particularly cogent as temperatures reach a sweltering 90 + degrees in northern minnesota today...
quicktime required via newstoday
posted by specialk420 at 11:16 PM PST - 13 comments
How creepy is this?
Man poses as sportswriter for USAToday and/or SI For Kids who wants to interview female collegiate athletes.
Some he only gets as far as the phone, one met up with him with her family acting as Scooby Gang.
Police say he hasn't done anything to merit charges. Harmless person with mental disorder or person perfecting routine before he escalates?
posted by sillygit at 10:28 PM PST - 3 comments
Schools conspire against boys: educator
I really don't know what to make of this. Nobody complained that schools were "anti-boy" before girls started to do better and outpace male enrollment in college. Boys were always the ones getting in trouble when I was a student too.
posted by Salmonberry at 11:04 AM PST - 47 comments
Sweet!
The Flaming Lips' new album,
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, comes out in mid-July. But you can listen to it in its entirety right now. Battling robot goodness.
posted by RakDaddy at 10:22 AM PST - 28 comments
Political "Greatness" (?)
[nyt reg req] An attempt to measure political leadership with the "cool objectivity of science", reflecting a leader's "impact on the world, not his personal virtue". Dr. Arnold M. Ludwig, emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Kentucky says: "No American president can be regarded as great unless they've been involved in war and been responsible for the death of many." Serious BS.
posted by Voyageman at 10:16 AM PST - 9 comments
"Corporate sleaze carves into our trust,"
says Dan Gilmore of the San Jose Mercury News. Sheer greed, not CIA meddling, may indeed be the motive.
NameBase investigates the social networks of these perps in
Lies, Damned Lies, and Enron. "It appears that unlike the BCCI scandal, there are no major spook connections with Enron. What we have here, apparently, is an assortment of talented wheelin', dealin', cheatin' Texas oil cowboys. "
posted by sheauga at 8:35 AM PST - 4 comments
Ronaldo experienced a seizure on the day of the WC98 final.
This is a good background article on the events of July 12th, 1998 in Paris, where Ronaldo was foaming at the mouth and shaking uncontrollably just hours before game time. Also note the various conspiracy theories; from Nike forcing Ronaldo to play, to organizers bribing the Brazilians to lose the game.
posted by ( .)(. ) at 7:46 AM PST - 4 comments
Want to see my content? It'll cost you your anonymity.
Mandatory registration is making the rounds at major online news sites, as media companies try to peel away the Internet's cloak of anonymity and build closer relationships with their customers. But it's a tricky dance, and one that risks alienating news junkies when they bump into registration walls as they surf from site to site.
Registration also throws up roadblocks for weblogs, community news sites, discussion boards and e-mail newsletters that point to news articles.
posted by srboisvert at 5:25 AM PST - 24 comments
June 28
A fan adding bass tracks
to the
White Stripes album '
White Blood Cells' (a fantastic album), and apparently supported by the duo. For those who haven't yet had the pleasure of hearing the white stripes, they are a two piece, guitar and drums. There are other various instruments throughout the album, but no bass. What do you all think of this?
Have mercy. this is my first post.
posted by folktrash at 4:27 PM PST - 24 comments
The Simpsons
are indubitably America's first family, and since I'm spending my unemployed Friday afternoon looking for fun instead of looking for work, I thought I'd share. Find a favorite! "See my vest...." to "Ay, Caramba!" Have they lost their zing? Is it time to end (troll)
the best TV show of all time (/troll)?
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:55 PM PST - 39 comments
Cartoon Couture
"Nathaniel wears an off the shoulder feathered wrestling tee by Brian Lichtenberg and a mod cap by Nisa, San Francisco ... " Also featuring models called Josty, Roya and Mikey ...
posted by feelinglistless at 1:41 PM PST - 4 comments
View the Wall.
Recently a group of photographers took photos of every name on the Vietnam Memorial, did some magic in Quicktime VR, and now you can search the entire wall virtually. Nothing is as good as actually being there, but this is a close second.
posted by jragon at 9:50 AM PST - 13 comments
"Substantial Doubt" over Salon's Survival (NYT Reg. Req'd)
And this from its auditors. Hey, these days, if even your auditors can't cover over your poor financial situation, you know you're screwed. Seriously, though, this and a number of other articles point to the end of the Web's erstwhile leading "independent" publication, still ticking but on the decline for the past year. It should be gone by summer's end, they say. Via
The Morning News.
posted by risenc at 9:38 AM PST - 14 comments
Hitting the trifecta.
A tasteless joke and a morbid lie from the only person to actually benefit from Sep. 11. Is political advantage really worth this kind of crass lying? A toast to the restoration of honor and dignity to the White House and our appreciation that the "adults" are now in charge! I'm off to buy the new Ann Thrax book to bolster my right wing
indoctrination re-education.
posted by nofundy at 8:46 AM PST - 65 comments
Create your own Monopoly Game
Surely the perfect customised gift? You can change the name of the game, the theme, the name of the properties/stations, and also the rules.
Apparently it uses a 'What You See Is What You Get Realtime Interface', which allows users to personalise the game completely to their requirements, and then print out and proof the new design. What I find most interesting about this product offering is that the whole process is completely automated. Once you've designed and ordered your customised game, it goes straight to print/production, and is then sent out to you. No human intervention is required. This appears to me to be pretty ground breaking stuff (well in the Toy World anyway), or am I just way behind the times? (via the
Ecademy discussion list)
posted by RobertLoch at 6:20 AM PST - 28 comments
June 27
A great music editor passes on.
Timothy White, editor-in-chief of
Billboard Magazine, died suddenly of a heart attack today. He was a fixture of music journalism. He and his bow-tie will be missed.
posted by aeiou at 9:09 PM PST - 4 comments
The
Yes Men, impersonators who have
dissolved the WTO, among other stunts, released
YesIWill! last year in response to the WTO's attempt to shut down the gatt.org web site. I was checking in on the program today, and was disappointed to see it hadn't been updated any.
Then I found out it's because it's been renamed:
Reamweaver.
posted by Su at 7:10 PM PST - 3 comments
Fireproofing Faulted in Trade Center Collapse...
Fireproofing failures -- rather the impact of the plane crashes -- probably caused the World Trade Center towers to quickly collapse, architects and engineers told a federal panel today.
"The insulation is going to turn out to be the root cause," said James G. Quintiere, a professor at University of Maryland's Fire Protection Engineering Department who analyzed the fireproofing in the two towers.
Also worth reading is NY Fire Chief Vincent Dunn's assessment, "
Why the World Trade Center Buildings Collapsed".
posted by zerolucid at 3:21 PM PST - 16 comments
"The right man for the job will be aged between 18 and 21 and will presumably need to demonstrate an abundance of energy and the ability to withstand repeated showers of saliva, the traditional punk rock crowd's sign of respect for performers."
But who is the right man?
posted by oh posey at 2:26 PM PST - 5 comments
Court gives the go-ahead on random drug testing for non-athlete students.
"Given the nationwide epidemic of drug use, and the evidence of increased drug use in Tecumseh schools, it was entirely reasonable for the school district to enact this particular drug testing policy," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the decision.
Drug tests which really only target marijuana use (alcohol, cocaine, opiates leave the body shortly after use) can now be randomly given to students involved in extra-curricular activities. Is this a further step in the "my anti-drug" campaign? Is debate or drama club YOUR anti-drug? By denying student drug users the privilege of participating in activities, aren't we just marginalizing them further and making the problem worse? What will it be? Drugs or getting involved?
posted by Hammerikaner at 12:18 PM PST - 58 comments
History repeats itself?
Lest we forget, constitutional qualms about the Pledge helped bring down Mike Dukakis 14 years ago ... will the Democrats, in an urge to avoid the same fate, let through Bush's slate of conservative nominees? How about a new Justice if Rehnquist retires?
posted by MattD at 11:13 AM PST - 3 comments
Lawmakers blast pledge ruling...
Yes I know this thread was started yesterday but at over 130 posts and given the
recent news from lawmakers stating they would push for a constitutional amendment authorising the words "under God" if the Supreme Court did not smack down the 9th circuit courts decision I felt compelled to post again on this subject. Smack me down if you like...
posted by gloege at 6:14 AM PST - 155 comments
Edison schools 'privatization with public money' scheme a failure?
School districts such as San Francisco's, which saw Edison as a panacea, may end up worse off for having played the privatization game. If Edison goes under, the district (could) be faced with huge logistical challenges: re-enrolling kids, renegotiating contracts with teachers who were working at Edison schools,
maybe even dealing with the company's creditors.
posted by skallas at 2:18 AM PST - 28 comments
June 26
Do you fear a
cyber-attack by Al Qaeda? Seems that several businesses and governmental system infrastructures have had higher than normal traffic routed from the middleast snooping around protected systems. Is this more political rhetoric for stronger control over electronic transmissions?
posted by nakedjon at 11:43 PM PST - 23 comments
"No national railway of a developed country has ever run a profit.
They're not supposed to. The correlative economic and social benefits they throw off -- bringing commuters to taxpaying corporations daily, for one thing -- more than offset any net loss they suffer."
[via camworld]
You don't run your home's central heating, air conditioning or plumbing at a profit, so why should a country try to run its infrastructure that way, be it rail, health service, water, ...? Is it forced on us because nationalised services always seem to become fantastically inefficient and bureaucratic?
posted by southisup at 7:16 PM PST - 63 comments
Glastonbury
opened its gates today for the insanely keen; the music starts on Friday. A small corner of Somerset becomes transformed into a heaving, crime ridden small city, but without the sanitation. Everywhere you turn a corporate sponsor will be in your face. A ludicrously expensive
fence has been erected to keep the riff raff out. I cant help but feel the thing has lost its identity over the years.
Michael Eavis has said, this will be the last one if there are gatecrashers, really, who would care?
Late Junction on Radio 3 commented that
another festival starts this weekend too. It seems much more in tune with the spirit of the original Glastonbury and is free. Ironically it takes place in the middle of a large city, but I bet the vibe will be much more chilled.
posted by Fat Buddha at 4:09 PM PST - 12 comments
Opportunism at its lowest.
A lawsuit filed by Cantor Fitzgerald (who occupied several upper floors of the WTC and was totally devestated by 9/11) alleges that a rival firm, Garban Intercapital Management, conspired to hire away key brokers in the wake of the attack. Mmmm.... classy.
posted by mkultra at 1:12 PM PST - 6 comments
The trailer for Red Dragon
is here. Remaking 1986's "Manhunter"? Cashing in on a successful franchise with bigger-name stars? I thought CSI's William Peterson did a fine job as FBI agent Will Graham, but can you go wrong with Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes and Harvey Keitel? What other movies from the last decade deserve to be given a bigger budget Hollywood recreation and decent promotion?
posted by robbie01 at 10:01 AM PST - 39 comments
As heard on NPR this morning
"Every month until I die or the Internet becomes obsolete, I have set aside $400--about 12% of my gross monthly income--to help individuals meet small financial needs that they simply cannot afford on their own. "
posted by GernBlandston at 9:55 AM PST - 13 comments
Farmland for sale. $80-100 trillion. Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow the sale of Russian farmland for the first time since the days of the czars, but would bar foreigners from buying it.. foreign companies could still purchase Russian land through subsidiaries that are majority Russian-owned.
posted by stbalbach at 8:12 AM PST - 3 comments
To spank,
or not to spank?
Some parents -
including Presidents and Princesses - seem to believe it's one's duty to administer corporal punishment of some sort, whereas others clearly wouldn't
even as a last resort. Some, apparently, would leave it to the
Webmaster to decide how many times to raise the paddle!
If westerners are confused about child disciplinary methods, what about their kids? Or is consistency of approach more important than which side of the philosophical divide you stand on? More inside>>>
posted by dash_slot- at 4:39 AM PST - 47 comments
Dasher
is a new way to input text on a Pilot or any computer without a keyboard. There's a version available for
download to try out on your desktop, using your mouse. It really is quite freaky to use. The amazing thing is, it actually appears to work. After a couple of minutes experimenting, it's almost as fast as typing for a slow typist like myself.
posted by salmacis at 4:30 AM PST - 21 comments
June 25
A few rather mundane numbers have turned into international chart toppers by being blessed as the 'official song' of the FIFA World Cup
TM or being on the '
official album' and getting airplay as the theme songs for local TV broadcasts. I think this trend started during
Italia '90. Neither I, nor FIFA can remember any official songs from Mexico '86 or Spain '82. While Anastacia's
Boom is this year's FIFA designated 'official song;' I like Tejano singer
Jennifer Peña's upbeat
Vamos al Mundial, the theme song for
Univision's World Cup broadcast. What's the theme song of your local World Cup broadcast? Is it any good?
posted by tamim at 11:58 PM PST - 11 comments
30 days to a more accessible website
This series is entitled "30 days to a more accessible weblog", and it will answer two questions. The first question is "Why should I make my weblog more accessible?" If you do not have a weblog, this series is not for you. The second question is "How can I make my weblog more accessible?" If you are not convinced by the first answer, you will not be interested in the second.
posted by mikewas at 9:00 PM PST - 10 comments
Non-religious Israeli settlers are financially trapped,
argues a sympathetic Tel Aviv University professor. He slams
Ha'aretz Daily for constantly urging Jewish settlers to
just move out, "as if people who somehow managed to buy a cheap housing unit in a settlement could simply leave it behind and buy another house somewhere else." Seems that for a lot of settlers,
financial benefits like reduced income taxes and generous loans are more important enticements than
appeals to
biblical righteousness. Too bad the "doubly cheated" and heavily villified settlers can't get any
financial help when they decide to move back. The solution? "Jews in America and world-wide should therefore use their money to support settlers who wish to leave the occupied territories and return to Israel."
posted by mediareport at 5:59 PM PST - 11 comments
Sound to make an army flee
A NEW sonic weapon being developed for the Pentagon makes use of one of the most fearsome sounds known to humans: a baby crying.
The article also talks about use for crowd control. If I were a club owner, I'd buy one so that everyone clears out expiditiously. Clear them out like cockroaches when the lights come on!
posted by Modem Ovary at 5:52 PM PST - 14 comments
Captain America - Black Man.
Marvel has had its share of classics and stinkers this year - but this historical look how Captain America might have come to be sounds really smart.
posted by clango at 5:47 PM PST - 5 comments
Brazil is in some trouble.
So the question must be asked, can globalization be an extension of imperialism? If so, in this case, is it? If not, how would one explain the current crisis felt in Brazil and all of Latin America?
posted by BlueTrain at 5:18 PM PST - 3 comments
Musicians are really smart. They have larger and more sensitive brains than non-musicians, and their collective IQ is much higher. They have 130% more grey matter in one area of their auditory cortexes. The question of how this explains Ozzy Osbourne nonwithstanding, I'll bet if you're really, really smart, you could be
one of the new members of Men Without Hats. Must be very knowledgeable in midi, sequences, and sampling.
posted by iconomy at 4:59 PM PST - 18 comments
Microsoft unleashes Palladium,
an intrusive doozy of a feature involving specially secure AMD/Intel computer chips and cryptology provided by Microsoft. Newsweek's head-bobbing Steven Levy, the first to get the story,
remains taciturn, failing to call into question Microsoft's
security sins of the past.
Geeks run scared while
digital rights and GPL concerns are wholly ignored by the mainstream media. Is this yet another example of a malcontent media that will never possess the balls to actually question a new feature put out by Microsoft? Even
Wired can't seem to read between the lines of a technology that "stemmed from early work by engineers to deliver digital movies that couldn't be pirated."
posted by ed at 3:58 PM PST - 16 comments
"America As It Was: A Tour Of The USA In Vintage Postcards"
is a vast, amazing collection, quaintly presented by my new heroine: an Atlanta real estate agent and church volunteer called
Pat Sabin who dreams of one day visiting Chicago and whose(some would say surprising) love for
all things webby is an example to us all. Please don't be put off by the homey graphics and folksy language - it really is a rich, rich resource! [
My favourite postcard turns out to be from James Lilek's New York collection. Go figure. All I can say is God bless the meetings of unlikely minds!)]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:05 PM PST - 5 comments
The UN Atlas of the Oceans
provides information on a wide range of topics relating to the world's oceans, such as geography, economic uses and environmental issues (here's a
BBC article about the atlas.)
Another nice site about the oceans is the
Blue Planet web companion to the gorgeous Discovery/BBC TV series of the same name. Sadly, the
threat to coral reefs may soon rob the oceans of some of their more spectacular biological diversity.
posted by homunculus at 11:46 AM PST - 1 comments
The Classic Typewriter Page.
A gorgeous site to behold (and informative). Everything and anything you ever wanted to know about the classic typewriter. Before you ask, What's a typewriter?, check out this site.
posted by jacknose at 11:16 AM PST - 10 comments
I don't know about you, but I won't feel truly secure until the Office of Homeland Security has its own logo. The
White House is still just using the presidential seal: boring. The
Patent Office's
entry has a nice retro feel to it, but some might find it too menacing. The
USDA's is maybe a bit too subject-specific. What do you think: should we
keep it simple, or go with something a little more
strongly stated? What sort of design would make
you feel secure?
posted by ook at 8:43 AM PST - 22 comments
Auto-organic backlinking in Blogspace
Jon Udell has an intriguing article describing the automatic backlinking used by Disenchanted and other sites. For example, if you link to a
Disenchanted article, it automatically links back to you. Udell writes:
More than economy is at work here, though. Offering backlinks is a strategy that furthers the ambition of every blogger to engage other minds. It does so by enlarging the surface area and altering the shape of the posted article, which is the unit of information currency in blogspace.
What a groovin' idea. I like that the backlinking is automated, essentially creating new networks of knowledge with every post. Is anyone else doing this? It seems that if this "feature" were included in existing blogging engines, it could change the shape of the net.
--------------------
Link courtesy of
Kairos News
posted by mecran01 at 6:48 AM PST - 22 comments
Is the FBI dragging
it's feet in the anthrax investigation? It appears they have reason to do so. Dr. Barbara Rosenberg presents a compelling argument that the likely homegrown terrorist is known but revealing his identity could be embarrassing to the government.
posted by nofundy at 6:22 AM PST - 26 comments
June 24
Bush's speech today
revealed the basis of what the current administration believes is the roadmap to peace in the Mideast. After looking at
the major points of the plan, I feel it's about as good of a deal as the Palestinians are ever going to get and pretty much the only way out for the Israeli's also. What do you think?
posted by RevGreg at 4:00 PM PST - 58 comments
High Finance Run Amok
[latimes free reg req] is a Kevin Phillips editorial on the "financialization" of the US economy. "As the financial sector, in short, became too important to fail, the Fed and the Treasury abandoned market economics to embrace socialization of credit risk. No other sector of the U.S. economy, save possibly defense, received such governmental assistance."
posted by electro at 12:47 PM PST - 13 comments
Neighborly love
Baited cat traps, regular trips to the pound to get animals euthanized, erecting signs outside a 14-year-old girl's bedroom to taunt her about her missing pet, having another girl arrested at school... Wow.
posted by NortonDC at 7:47 AM PST - 150 comments
Celebrate, Windows users, you too can use the world's best MP3 player, with
the final release of
XPod
today, which gives
iPod compatiblity to
Windows.
And this is not the only option,
ephPod
does the same thing, but does require you to buy a copy of
MacOpener first.
Didn't Apple say they were coming out with their own Windows drivers for iPod
eventually?
posted by Mwongozi at 7:00 AM PST - 19 comments
Israeli backlash
to Ted Turner's comments prompts CNN offer a series of pieces focusing on the toll Palestinian terror has taken.
"Ted Turner apologized, CNN's executives were quick to disassociate themselves from him and to announce he has no influence over the content of the broadcasts, and Eason Jordan, news director for the network, hurried to fly over to Israel and offer 'compensation' - a series of reports on the victims of terrorism.". Indeed, a visit to
CNN's website this morning uncovers a series of focus items reporting on Israeli casualties and victims. Is this a case of journalism caving to political and commercial interests, or is Israel effectively combating the liberal bias of Western media?
posted by astirling at 6:31 AM PST - 15 comments
Now
that's more like it.
Finally a design for rebuilding the WTC that captures the appropriate spirit. Far better than the
other designs I've seen. No doubt some will think it too much, though. What's your opinion?
posted by rushmc at 6:27 AM PST - 84 comments
June 23
At
Virus Books(mostly German, but it doesn't matter), you can download short visual summaries of books for your PalmOS portable. Even if you don't have a handheld, there are images of the results, so you can have a look, anyway.
posted by Su at 9:23 PM PST - 2 comments
When all of the good vinyl albums have been bought from the cardboard box at the local church bazaar, Nick DiFonzio buys the rest and scans the jackets. The result?
Bizarre Record Covers. And because beauty, or the apparent lack thereof, is not only jacket deep, check out this trippy
collection of 45 rpm labels from No Relevance, and this detailed
record label discography, where you can see how record companies from the 1950s thru the 1990s kept trying to update and redefine their image by redesigning their labels.
posted by iconomy at 5:14 PM PST - 10 comments
What the
anti-globalists and the
dogmatic left share above all with their newfound fellow-travellers among the Islamic fundamentalists is a loss of faith in the modern age and in Enlightenment ideas. The spirit of their protests was captured by a banner at a recent rally in Berlin: "Civilisation is genocide".
posted by semmi at 9:26 AM PST - 21 comments
June 22
Free The Mouse [Literally this time]
This Story from FL says Walt Disney Co. officials have until July 30 to decide whether to challenge the Genesee District Library's mascot for an alleged similarity to Mickey Mouse.
Last summer, the library submitted a trademark registry request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for "Book Mouse," a blue, large-eared rodent wearing red-rimmed glasses and a backpack. Book Mouse appears on bumper stickers and in coloring books, and even marches in local parades.
Library attorney Patric Parker said "I don't think we cut into their movie profits this last year."
posted by Blake at 8:46 AM PST - 10 comments
June 21
Presenting the Hero Machine!
Admit it, you've always wanted to be a superhero. Well, you can't be a superhero without first having a really
rad costume to protect
your secret civilian identity. Here's the first step on the way to becoming a shining beacon for truth and justice ... or heck, world domination. Either way, this fun little toy has kept me occupied most of this week. I just can't get the right combination of helmet and undershirt. Soon, though.
(Flash required)
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:24 PM PST - 3 comments
VHS on its last legs?
According to source, Circuit City is already phasing out sales of VHS tapes and players in favor of DVDs. Sure, it's an ancient format, but again, not everyone has a
TiVo (yet)...
posted by betobeto at 6:45 PM PST - 16 comments
Wal-Mart Ships PCs with Lindows
Wal-Mart has stood up to MicroSoft's monopoly with its latest computer offerings, being sold
sans Windows. The retailer is selling its super cheap boxes either without an OS or with the upstart LindowsOS. I guess I'll have to start shopping at WalMart to show my support!
posted by misangela at 12:50 PM PST - 23 comments
Precrime: Now that the movie is out, and given the similarity of the movie's pretext to
our current situation, the phrase
Minority Report is rapidly becoming a cliché. But those vividly aware of the implications of current policy seem hesitant to condemn it Spielberg himself is
"on the president's side in this instance" and Dahlia Lithwick concludes her article with the declaration that "We need a Bureau of Precrime." Are the merits of precrime more weighty than the drawbacks? Is "innocent until proven guilty" becoming an outdated concept
?
posted by grrarrgh00 at 11:05 AM PST - 41 comments
Given the vitriolic mood in here the last couple days, I thought I would toss out the most unpolitically correct item I could find.
I present:
Cat Boxing
posted by patrickje at 10:07 AM PST - 12 comments
College Students Speak Out, and just 14% can identify the president of Pakistan, 37% would likely try to evade the draft, and 71% "do not believe American values are superior to the values of other nations." Is your local college breeding ignorant anti-Americanists?
posted by dack at 9:28 AM PST - 45 comments
Want to know more about your favorite song? Try SongFacts:
sample entry:
Song: "The Things That I Used To Do" by Guitar Slim
Date: 1953
Songfacts:
Slim claimed he was offered a song from God and a song from The Devil. He chose this one, the song from The Devil.
Covered by many guitar greats, including Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Chuck Berry. Slim's innovative playing, including the use of distortion, became widely copied.
A rare R&B song that was popular in the North and South. Most hits at the time were specific to a certain region.
Proceeds from this allowed Slim to feed his liquor habit. He died of pneumonia at 32.
Slim often played guitar with his teeth or behind his back when he performed this, theatrics that would be copied often in the years to come.
posted by lilboo at 8:27 AM PST - 15 comments
China thrown off balance as boys outnumber girls
Poor young men here complain that modern women are too picky. ''Before, it was men choosing women,'' says Liu Xicheng, 21, a migrant worker who came to Beijing from nearby Hebei Province. ''Now it is women choosing men. Some have high quality standards. It is hard to marry them.'' I checked and this isn't from
the Onion.
posted by srboisvert at 8:21 AM PST - 20 comments
Arafat ready to accept Clinton's 2000 peace plan.
"Clinton's plan had offered Palestinians control of most, but not all of the territory taken by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, and called for Palestinians to scale back their demand for the right of return of refugees, a move Palestinian officials said earlier this week they were willing to make."
posted by o2b at 7:57 AM PST - 22 comments
We wuz robbed.
I know, it wasn't really a handball. USA loses to Germany and their amazing goalkeeper. Good run, guys.
posted by McBain at 6:25 AM PST - 30 comments
Interviews of failed suicide bombers,
by Israeli defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. Both Ben-Eliezer and two Palestinians, who (1) failed to and (2) opted not to detonate their bombs, talk about the motivations behind the current wave of attacks. Should prove interesting no matter which side of the Isreali-Palestinian conflict you stand on.
posted by astirling at 5:15 AM PST - 24 comments
The Underground Publishing Conference
. June 22-23, Bowling Green, OH, is for Zinesters, Activists, Comic Artists, Hackers, Low Power FM Broadcasters, Librarians, Web Designers, Filmmakers, Musicians, Artists, Academics,
Street Theorists, Readers and Writers. In other words, YOU! - (via
Clamor Magazine and the crew at
Counterpoise)
posted by sheauga at 4:23 AM PST - 4 comments
England blew it.
Enlgand got off to a 1-0 lead before it was tied by Brazil. Even after Brazil was a man down they managed to score a goal and hold the lead for a victory. I really thought England was going to go all the way.
posted by suprfli at 1:37 AM PST - 29 comments
June 20
Do you want fries with that house?
Not content with a normal McMansion, the Banner family of Potomac, Md. upgraded four years ago from a 4,500 square foot house to a 8,500 square foot house. Its six bedrooms and nine bathrooms now comfortably accomodate the house's two adults and two children. The unusually ironic NYTimes (reg req.) article does not spare us the absurdities of this arrangement, a growing trend in wealthy suburban enclaves. Interior decorators must now "supersize" furniture to fill up a cavernous "media room". Entire wings of the house sit unused for months, because the suburban rich entertain others at home no more often than their middle-class counterparts.
Suppose you had a $500k income and a completely empty 2 acre zoned lot in Potomac in which to live. What might you build there?
posted by PrinceValium at 11:33 PM PST - 52 comments
If Karl Rove
is allowed to use PowerPoint, the terrorists will have won. It's amazing that this master operative is using the same cheesy graphics, poor font choices, and cliched business terms ("synergies") as your boss, but it's true--when his intern dropped a disk with this thing on it, it got into the hands of
Roll Call.
Note especially slide 21 and slide 26--apparently Florida is a "Special Concern"
Via
the NY Observer's Joe Conason
posted by lackutrol at 4:04 PM PST - 13 comments
The Library of Congress blew it.
I watched some of the hearings about the CARP-proposed webcasting fees, and I had the impression that the people at the Library
got it. I was wrong. So instead of having all their limbs chopped off, webcasters can now expect only to be cut off at the knees. The end result will be the same, though; say goodbye to Internet radio.
posted by geneablogy at 2:40 PM PST - 30 comments
but does it have vibrate?
A prototype tooth implant which picks up digital signals from radios and mobile phones goes on show at the Science Museum in London this week.
posted by moth at 2:34 PM PST - 14 comments
Newsguru
is an "experiment in randomized photojournalism." Unfortunately, it doesn't have the bombardment value that
My Left Asscheek(hee!) did, which strangely enough, they bought. Or,
maybe, it just made for a great "press release" title.
posted by Su at 2:11 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
And The Winner Is....
Hurray! I can finally sleep at night, the new M&M color is Purple. The intro is a bit annoying, but the flash page they have to show voting stats by country is kinda nifty.
mmmmmm...purpliscious
posted by Blake at 1:54 PM PST - 25 comments
The new money will be called NexGen™
The Treasury and Federal Reserve make it official: Starting in 2003, U.S. currency will have pretty colors. But they don't say which colors! I say we MeFis oughta lift our voices high with suggestions on what colors our $100, $50, $20 and $10 bills should be.
Is anyone else creeped out that they call the money "NexGen"? It sounds so ... Orwellian.
posted by Holden at 12:40 PM PST - 102 comments
Will electronic music ever break in the US?
DJs don't speak. Most don't produce their own full-length albums. When they perform, their only motions are precise hand movements and brief shuffles to record bins that are obscured from view and confined to a 5-foot square area. There are no David Lee Roth jump kicks, synchronized boy-band dances, Michael Jackson moonwalks or Janet Jackson ass-shaking.
For American consumers, this is a problem.
posted by fellorwaspushed at 11:47 AM PST - 73 comments
Gifted elementary kids in California could go straight to college.
Students of any age, even kindergarten, could demand to take the state's high school proficiency examination under legislation approved recently by the Assembly.
Passage of the test -- which measures reading, writing and arithmetic skills -- would qualify young students to enter community colleges as if they had obtained their high school diplomas.
Academically, these kids may be ready for college, but are they mature enough to handle being surrounded by students six to ten years their senior?
posted by DakotaPaul at 10:58 AM PST - 42 comments
If you're vegan,
this link is what you need to figure out what the hell is really in your food. If you're not vegan, you might find it interesting as well. If you're a total metavore, no, we can't eat our clones yet... bummer.
posted by jcterminal at 10:34 AM PST - 65 comments
An asteroid the size of a football field
just missed the Earth last Friday. Coming in fast out of the sun, where we ain't watching, it missed us by an astro-paltry 75,000 miles (a third the distance to the Moon). If it had hit, the impact would have been about 10 megatons -- not a planet-killer, but enough to spoil your picnic.
In related news, Attorney General Ashcroft arrested a box of moon rocks and the entire staff of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA for questioning. The director of the Office of Orbital Security was at a pro-am golf tournament in Fond du Lac, WI and unavailable for a statement.
posted by anser at 9:45 AM PST - 39 comments
