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September 2005 Archives
September 30
Stealth Evangelism? on the National Mall in DC
--sponsored by Pepsi, too. People attending
The DC Festival will not see
any clue -- not even a simple cross -- to suggest the real nature of the gathering: broadcasting the message of Jesus Christ.
Bio of the organizer, Luis Palau, here, including this:
“We began to realize that the traditional ‘crusade’ model - uniformed choir, the suits on the platform, and old, traditional hymns - wasn’t the way to go for us,” Palau says. “We want to attract the un-churched, and we want them to encounter God, and bring them all to Christ and to understand and to connect.”
posted by amberglow at 7:35 PM PST - 74 comments
Not Lost After All
Given recent posts
proving and
disproving various meanings of the ongoing numbers references on the television program Lost, I figured that some of you would be interested that a person over on Flickr seems to have a much better explanation: they're simply geographic coordinates.
posted by luriete at 10:42 AM PST - 67 comments
Web 2.0 overload
- "eHub is a constantly updated list of web applications, services, resources, blogs or sites with a focus on next generation web (
web 2.0), social software, blogging, Ajax, Ruby on Rails, location mapping, open source, folksonomy, design and digital media sharing." Tons of links to mashup apps like
PervWatch,
Podomatic,
ThinkFree, etc, etc, etc...(note: a lot of these sites are in beta)
posted by tpl1212 at 6:20 AM PST - 41 comments
Branded Entertainment.
Where the insinuation of products in to entertainment reaches new levels of taste and decency. Flashbacks to '
The Truman Show' are symptomatic of this phenomena. The cause, as judged by
market research, is the misuse and abuse of
DVR players to block advertising messages. However, there could be a new artform in this; some
consumers would like to see a new kind of advertising to augment Brand and Myths [more inside].
posted by gsb at 4:02 AM PST - 32 comments
Ski San Francisco. Ski wax company trucks a bunch of snow into SF, dumps it on Fillmore St., skiers and snowboarders get air while others take pictures.
posted by planetkyoto at 2:51 AM PST - 23 comments
September 29
Woogle
creates image messages from Google Image search. Use some of your favourite phrases, but to start you off, "
love is blind" [NSFW!]. Also, try
Toogle for images made out of their search-terms.
[via]
posted by quiet at 5:10 PM PST - 68 comments
What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas
(pdf)
Has the white working class abandoned the Democratic Party? No. . . . Has the white working class become more conservative? No. . . . Do working class “moral values” trump economics? No. . . . Are religious voters distracted from economic issues? No. An analysis by
Larry Bartels, a professor at Princeton of "What's the Matter with Kansas" (previously discussed
here). Lots of good survey data about this issue.
posted by caddis at 3:54 PM PST - 66 comments
Big freeze an alternative to cremation
A town in Sweden plans to become the first place in the world where corpses will be disposed of by freeze-drying, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial.
Jönköping, in southern Sweden, is to turn its crematorium into a so-called promatorium next year.
Sorry - registration is required to access Sydney Morning Herald so more of the article will be included: "the pioneering method ... involves freezing the body, dipping it in liquid nitrogen and gently vibrating it to shatter it into powder. This is put into a small box made of potato or corn starch and placed in a shallow grave, where it will disintegrate in six to 12 months.
People are to be encouraged to plant a tree on the grave. It would feed off the compost formed from the body, to emphasise the organic cycle of life."
After seeing the destruction Katrina wreaked on the above ground graves in Louisiana, one might seriously consider an environmentally friendly alternative.
posted by Cranberry at 1:59 PM PST - 48 comments
It's almost Friday, so time for a little flash fun.
Meet Snowball, a Bunny Ninja Assassin in his first three outings:
Bunny Kill 1,
Bunny Kill 2, and finally
Bunny Kill 3 Vol. I.
Warning, contains swords, guns, light sabres and extreme violence against cartoon bunnies.
posted by bap98189 at 1:39 PM PST - 18 comments
Strattera
could make you commit suicide. Earlier today it was announced that Paxil could cause cause birth defects (
scroll down). Now Strattera (an ADHD drug) is on the list of "wonder drugs" that could have serious consequences. Is it really worth it to visit
Dr. Feelgood just to find out later that it really did more damage than good?
posted by Guerilla at 11:19 AM PST - 103 comments
“In 2002… [Harvard student Amit Paley]…came across a restricted archive labeled 'Secret Court Files, 1920.' The mystery he uncovered involved a tragic scandal in which Harvard University secretly put a dozen students on trial for homosexuality and then systematically and persistently tried to ruin their lives.
[1]“The pages that file contained, first reported [by Paley] in a[n]…edition of the
Harvard Crimson's weekend magazine, describe Harvard's desperate attempts 80 years ago to hide from public view a secret gay subculture on campus.”
[2]“The article prompted an apology from University President Lawrence H. Summers to the men and their families; led to a campus-wide discussion about homophobia; and was even cited in
Lawrence v. Texas, the historic Supreme Court case that struck down anti-sodomy laws.”
[3]Prolific biographer William Wright’s newly-published book, ‘
Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals' digs deep into the shameful events of the early 20th century at one of the United States' leading universities.
posted by ericb at 9:43 AM PST - 29 comments
Adherents.com
is "a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations". In plain English, this amazing site contains all the data one could ever want on religion, from the basic (
nationally predominant religions by country,
largest religious groups in the United States,
top 50 countries with the highest proportion of atheists) to the esoteric (
a guide to religion in films,
authors who have converted to a new religion,
religious affiliation of U.S. presidents,
famous adherents of various religions (e.g.
famous Mennonites)). There's even religious information for geeks, including obsessive articles on
the religion of George Lucas,
the religious affiliation of comic book characters, and
religious affiliation of famous fantasy and science fiction authors (related:
Amish in science fiction and
Mormonism in science fiction). One could spend days sifting through this site.
posted by jdroth at 9:31 AM PST - 46 comments
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
---> part one and
Part two of Operation Crossroads, one of many atomic testing operations conducted during WWII, documented extensively on film and preserved in excellent condition here at the Archive. For further viewing:
Operation Ivy, the testing of the first hydrogen fusion bomb.
Operation Cue (1955 version), testing bomb damage done to housing and infrastructure.
Special Delivery, a look at the preparation and technology, especially planes, used for the testing.
Duck and Cover, a classic safety film from 1951 detailing the best schoolyard response to a nuclear attack. Caution! Interesting, disturbing, and at least an hour's worth of viewing!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:13 AM PST - 15 comments
Inside metros.
Cities with interesting stations
[with links]. Some have works of art. Some are works of art. I notice Sydney, Australia is not on the list - no surprise there.
posted by tellurian at 7:34 AM PST - 39 comments
This is not good news.
U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.
posted by lilboo at 7:02 AM PST - 38 comments
This is by no means a manifesto.
We don’t pretend to be the first band to spin a variation of the shareware distribution model. We love record labels and record stores. We buy lots of CDs and are committed to supporting independent music. We’re not a bunch of fake Marxists. We’re just trying to be smart capitalists so we can sustain our lives as musicians. This is an experiment. We’ll let you know how it goes. Harvey Danger offers their third album, "Little By Little" as
a free download in hopes of getting their music out to more people, and perhaps selling more records.
posted by Remy at 6:27 AM PST - 25 comments
Two white Republicans spoke about race yesterday.
First Rep. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) upon hearing that his membership to the TN Black Legislative Caucus was denied
complained, "My understanding is that the KKK doesn't even ban members by race."
Meanwhile on his syndicated radio show, former drug czar
Bill Bennett speculated on how roe v. wade could actually fight crime, "if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Color me speechless.
posted by tsarfan at 1:09 AM PST - 119 comments
September 28
Publishers must die,
claims Greg Costikyan, industry insider. But can he win out in the end, or is his princess in another castle?
It seems that Mr. Costikyan is putting his money where his mouth is. I'm pulling the trigger. At this point, I have no funding, other than a little money myself; nothing ready to launch, either. But I do have a partner, the offered support of some other companies, a clear sense of what I need to accomplish in the next few months, and a draft (not a final one) of a business plan and financials.
This is, of course, terrifying. Mr. Costikyan mentioned previously
here and
here. [
via] [
personal opinion inside]
posted by shmegegge at 11:36 PM PST - 26 comments
Ice Cap on the Verge......
This is a very disturbing development. Is it any wonder we are experiencing such horrific natural calamities. First Katrina, then Rita, and now it looks like we are kissing goodbye to the Polar Ice Cap??? Is there anyone left in this country, besides the president, that still thinks Global Warming needs
further Study???
posted by MetaJohn at 12:42 PM PST - 69 comments
Rondo Alla Iron Maiden (
Program Notes,
mp3s).
As the name suggests, this new work for string quartet is a classical rondo in the style of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
Composer Kurt Mortensen might rather you pay more attention to some of his
other works, like
this charming folk-tinged trio, but I had to go straight for the silly stuff.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:18 AM PST - 16 comments
September 27
"Operation Offset"
is what the Republicans are calling their budget cut plan to pay for Hurricane Katrina. Will there be tax cuts for the rich? Nope. The great majority of the proposed cuts
target the elderly and the poor,
heavily targeting Medicare. They eliminate all federal funding for energy conservation,
the "Energy Star" program, energy efficient vehicles, hydrogen vehicles,
high-speed rail,
light rail, PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, AmeriCorps, the
"Even Start" program, the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, security/anti-drug funding for innercity schools, and all federal loans to grad students. Also facing cuts are the Global AIDS Initiative, the EPA, the Center for Disease Control, pensions and healthcare plans for retired federal workers, job programs and revitalization funds for poor neighborhoods, the school lunch program, community health centers, and health care for soldiers.
posted by insomnia_lj at 4:37 PM PST - 120 comments
Who drives 4WDs (SUVs)?
"In their attitudes, city drivers of large 4WDs are morally more conservative and less community orientated than other drivers. They are more likely to dislike homosexuals; among male drivers of 4WDs in the city, 51 per cent believe that homosexuality is immoral compared to 43 per cent of men overall. They also have lower regard for Indigenous culture and are less sympathetic to public and charitable support for disadvantaged people." [.pdf link]
posted by wilful at 3:56 PM PST - 131 comments
Some members of the staff at a major L.A. hospital gave a Saudi patient a liver transplant despite his being far down the waiting list, and then
falsified the records to pretend they had actually given it to the person who was next in line. That person never got a liver. Foreign patients have to pay full price for transplants; U.S. citizens get a number of discounts, so the hospitals make less money.
posted by Vallenwood at 2:51 PM PST - 27 comments
"We can run our car over any road that a man can take a team of horses and a wagon, providing we can get traction."
In 1903, to settle a $50 bet,
Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to
drive (and
push) a car (a used
Winton touring car, which had no roof or windshield)
across the United States, accompanied by mechanic Sewall Crocker and
Bud the bulldog. There were no gas stations, and there was less than 150 miles of paved road in the country. They blew a tire 15 miles into the trip and replaced it with their only spare.
Jackson's trip
inspired others. In 1909,
Alice Ramsey, accompanied by three female passengers, became
the first woman to drive (and
pull, and
push) a car
across the country. In 1915,
Anita King,
"The Paramount Girl," became the first woman to drive across the country
solo. "Her only companions will be a rifle and a six shooter." And in 2003, Peter Kesling
repeated Jackson's trip, in
a 1903 Winton.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:40 PM PST - 18 comments
Petroleum Industry Christmas Wishlist
Conservative pundits are quick to point out that no "
new refineries have been built since 1976", and even quicker to blame "environmentalists". But the facts just don't support that. Refiners have chosen the environment that they do business in, and in some cases have willingly contributed to it. (
Plenty of data here.) Here's why:
- The government has allowed the industry to merge, consolidate, and restrict refining capacity, thus impacting pricing, supply, and demand.
- The quest for profits has caused the need to run extremely lean supplies (ie. no stockpiles of crude - it arrives when you need it, not before) and has resulted in susceptability to wild volatility in prices, but has allowed refiners to operate at very high efficiency but with no margin of excess capacity for temporary shortages, disasters, etc.
- Oil refiners trimmed back capacity after the Oil Crash of the early 1980s and have been unwilling to reinvest in new technologies unless environmental restrictions and local fuel cleanliness mandates are reduced.
As one would expect, Bush's solutions nicely match up with the wishlists of
OPEC and
US refiners, who in the past few decades have largely undone the breakup of Standard Oil (
via) via mergers and joint ventures. Representative
Joe Barton, (R-TX), Chairperson of the
Energy and Commerce Committee, incidentally up for reelection and
well funded, by "
the industry" through various
Political Action Committees, has released a draft of the predictably named (to be
found here when released)
Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005 (committee discusion and
webcast are scheduled for 9/28 at 8 am.) Given that new refineries are years away, there is still no solution for current prices or the (90%?)
increase in prices since January of 2001.
posted by rzklkng at 2:02 PM PST - 22 comments
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalls the doctor saying. The real total was six, Beron said. Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the turning over of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice. State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been killed inside. At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies were recovered, despites reports of corpses piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been slain, said health and law enforcement officials.Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated
posted by y2karl at 1:17 PM PST - 48 comments
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor
Paypal problems?!? stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. So apparently our goverment is now a power seller on Ebay. At least they're not selling tanks or anything. Just stuff like
this.
If you're lucky, you won't have to wait until the inevitable auction to buy the official 37-cent
MUPPET STAMPS!! which officially go on sale tomorrow. Typical of our government - Camilla the Chicken is in; Floyd, Dr. Teeth, Scooter are out. In a perfect world, letter bombs would have a Crazy Harry stamp, and we could pair a stamp of the politician of our choice with Rizzo the Rat.
posted by ericbop at 12:27 PM PST - 22 comments
"Should comic book characters age?
A Boy Wonder doesn't stay a boy for long if a book is set in real time. That makes it so that any Robin can have an active career for, what, ten years? And that's if you buy that a fighting mad ten-year old can really kick anybody's ass." Some insightful comicbook commentary by
Erik Larsen, creator of
Savage Dragon.
posted by grabbingsand at 11:06 AM PST - 35 comments
FEMA to reimburse churches.
Washington Post story: "After weeks of prodding by Republican lawmakers and the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday that it will use taxpayer money to reimburse churches and other religious organizations that have opened their doors to provide shelter, food and supplies to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita."
posted by kokogiak at 7:22 AM PST - 77 comments
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
posted by Postroad at 6:22 AM PST - 106 comments
This explains EVERYTHING.
Originally appearing in
Whole Earth Review many years ago, Cipola wrote an inspired and extremely funny game theoretic analysis of the nature of stupidity that explains the mysteries of the universe and the current administration. Or something.
posted by INFOHAZARD at 12:29 AM PST - 27 comments
September 26
The Island of Misfit Games
features treasures such as Tower of Babylon, "a baffling high speed game composed of 120 hand painted (3 segments on each piece) tongue depressors.", Quackshot, "the most violent children's game ever created," and Grade Up to Elite Cow, a "game about bull semen." When I was a kid, my favorite was "
Voice of the Mummy," which featured a little record player embedded in the board.
posted by grumblebee at 2:24 PM PST - 5 comments
"Why did you
bring a white man here?" one of them demands from Duguf, my interpreter. While I continue to videotape, Duguf taps me on the shoulder and nods toward the truck. We make haste just as fingers begin to point and voices grow louder and angrier. Kevin Sites, previously discussed
here,
here, and
here, submits his first report for Yahoo.
posted by billysumday at 1:33 PM PST - 3 comments
Losing Gilligan and
Maxwell Smart just a few weeks apart is sad. What great memories of a very funny show and a funny man.
posted by terrier319 at 12:50 PM PST - 66 comments
Electronic Biologia Centrali-Americana
is a collaboration between the Smithsonian, Missouri Botanical and Kew Gardens, the British Natural History Museum and various other institutions which has enabled the digitizing of 58 volumes of natural history about central America produced between 1880 and 1920. It includes descriptions of more than 50,000 species with images of more than 18,000
birds,
more birds,
snakes,
turtles,
centipedes,
spiders,
more spiders,
plants,
mollusks,
more plants,
butterflies,
orthoptera insects,
more butterflies and
their family's (
moth-like)
families,
mammals and even some
historic maps of the region. There is a parallel project attempting to provide access to much more scientific data and specimens between these institutions.
Note: 'next' button at top +/- bottom of these large thumb pages; large high resolution jpegs work (in most cases) but zoom and .pdfiles are not yet enabled. I've only just scratched the surface.
posted by peacay at 11:54 AM PST - 9 comments
Tales From the Vault.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is proud to present its Canadian pulp art and fiction collection, straight from the special collections vault. The collection featured in this virtual exhibit, Tales from the Vault!: Canadian Pulp Fiction, 1940-1952, is one of the very few known pulp magazine holdings in Canada, and is available for consultation at LAC. Includes a cover gallery and complete magazines.
posted by srboisvert at 10:01 AM PST - 4 comments
The U.S. Military is
buying bioweapones production systems, with a focus on Anthrax.
The Sunshine Project, a German group opposed to biological weapons development, uncovered U.S. Army contracts for equipment to produce the anthrax bacillus anthracis Sterne in 1,500 litre quantities, and other unspecified biolgical agents in 3,000 litre batches. All equipment was to be stationed at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It seems unlikely that the U.S. is living up to its commitments to the Biological Weapons Convention.
As a reminder, the post 9/11 anthrax attack upon the U.S. used weponized anthrax produced in the U.S.
[1] [2], most likely at Fort Detrick. The attack is generally believed to have been committed by conservative elements in American society, partly due to the choice of targets and the existence of a simultaneous harmless attacks. Lt. Col. Dr. Philip Zack is believed to have been involved in smuggling the Anthrax out of Fort Detrick, if not in the actual attacks as well
[3] [4].
posted by jeffburdges at 9:03 AM PST - 31 comments
A bill,
quietly up for debate before the
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and backed by the
Whitehouse, proposes to improve the performance of the Executive branch of the US Government by requiring that all Governmental agencies be given a 10 year shelf life at the end of which time they must be reinstated by a Presidentially appointed "Sunset Committee" or
fade into the history
books.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:24 AM PST - 45 comments
Mandarin: 1998-2005, R.I.P.
(warning: 21 MB QT Movie) A farewell slide show with musical accompaniment by/to a great Denton, Texas band:
Mandarin. Many of the images are of Denton and the surrounding area, tour photos and various other bric a brac captured beautifully by Peter Salisbury, the bass player who compiled the slideshow. They were my friends and Denton was my home for many years. Their music will be missed by many.
posted by grandcrewno2 at 5:22 AM PST - 12 comments
Camouflage Comics
[requires
Flash] - an exploration of the issues of censorship, dictatorship, human rights and the legacy of the Argentinian "
Dirty War", the 1976-1983 military junta's repression and extermination of dissidents (when 10,000 to 30,000 Argentinians were tortured and "disappeared"). Produced at the Jan van Eyck Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, the project presents striking comics and illustrations made between 2002 and 2005 by contemporary Argentinian artists, as well as text essays on the production of comics and cartoons during the dictatorship era.
posted by funambulist at 4:58 AM PST - 2 comments
September 25
Norman Wildberger's New Trigonometry
Dr Norman Wildberger has rewritten the arcane rules of trigonometry and eliminated sines, cosines and tangents from the trigonometric toolkit. The First chapter of his new book, Divine Proportions, is online (.
pdf).
posted by Kwantsar at 9:34 PM PST - 21 comments
Complaints,
but to what end? Aren't they just shouting into the ether (I couldn't find any complaints with business replies)? There
are some gems though. Owned and run by
Sagacity who have several other .coms lined up.
On the Rip-off report they do get
replies.
posted by tellurian at 5:31 PM PST - 6 comments
ScoreHer.com
-
Dating advice for men from women. With a name like that how can you not prick up your ears? With promises like: "
I'll post an article in the next few weeks on how to convert a friendship on fourth down and make it to her end zone," how can you not bookmark it? And with features like
Women Only Want Tall Men vs. Men Only Want Big Boobs, a "what she says/what she means"
Chicktionary, and
5 Cardinal Rules for Internet Dating, how can the men and women of MeFi not immediately turn this thread into 101 separate flamewars about romance, love, dating & genitalia? Here's a momentary distraction to divert the guys' attention long enough for the women to take the high ground: on the off-chance that it's not just link spam,
squadmember Jennifer P., 29, is tall, blonde, smart, turned on by guys in briefs, and
looking.
posted by scarabic at 5:29 PM PST - 51 comments
From the American people to Iraq...six hundred dollars.
Sept 9:
“IraqPartnership.org demonstrates the proud American tradition of private citizens working in partnership with government,” said USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios. "At the President's direction USAID will work even harder to engage the private sector to help Iraqis create an environment where democracy and economic opportunity can take root and grow."
Example:
"Help provide Iraqi school children with desks, blackboards, and supplies. Need: $10,000"
Sept 18: "
A USAID spokesperson says that there is little advertising for this new initiative and expects most potential donors will happen upon the website as the result of a specific search for ways to support Iraqi redevelopment. As of last Friday, iraqpartnership.org has generated contributions of only $39."
Sept 25: "USaid's Heather Layman denied it was disappointed with the meagre sum raised after a fortnight. 'Every little helps,' she said."
posted by iviken at 2:30 PM PST - 37 comments
And the Lord God said, “Let there be light,” and lo, there was light. But then the Lord God said, “Wait, what if I make it a sort of rosy, sunset-at-the-beach, filtered half-light, so that everything else I design will look younger?" Another take on
intelligent design.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 10:26 AM PST - 22 comments
September 24
September 23
One officer and two non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the 82nd Airborne who witnessed abuse, speaking on condition of anonymity, described in multiple interviews with Human Rights Watch how their battalion in 2003-2004 routinely used physical and mental torture as a means of intelligence gathering and for stress relief. One soldier raised his concerns within the army chain of command for 17 months before the Army agreed to undertake an investigation, but only after he had contacted members of Congress and considered goingpublic with the story. According to their accounts, the torture and other mistreatment of Iraqis in detention was systematic and was known at varying levels of command. Military Intelligence personnel, they said, directed and encouraged army personnel to subject prisoners to forced, repetitive exercise, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness, sleep deprivation for days on end, and exposure to extremes of heat and cold as part of the interrogation process. At least one interrogator beat detainees in front of other soldiers. Soldiers also incorporated daily beatings of detainees in preparation for interrogations. Civilians believed to be from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted interrogations out of sight, but not earshot, of soldiers, who heard what they believed were abusive interrogations. Human Rights Watch: Leadership Failure - Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. See also
3 in 82nd Airborne Say Abuse in Iraqi Prisons Was Routine
posted by y2karl at 8:53 PM PST - 35 comments
The death of Roe v. Wade from a thousand cuts
"Two weeks ago Paul Pressler, the architect of the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, described how the Religious Right intended to deal with Roe v. Wade. After expressing his elation with the selection of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court he said, "Roe v. Wade won't be revoked, it will die the death of a thousand cuts and qualifications and regulations until it gradually disappears."
- Dr. Bruce Prescott, from the eyewall of America's religious wars (Executive Director of "Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists"),
notes the culmination of long-laid plans.
posted by troutfishing at 8:21 PM PST - 116 comments
Barbarism or good ole American capitalism?
If you want to see the true face of war, go to the amateur porn Web site
NowThatsFuckedUp.com. For almost a year, American soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking photographs of dead bodies, many of them horribly mutilated or blown to pieces, and sending them to Web site administrator Chris Wilson. In return for letting him post these images, Wilson gives the soldiers free access to his site. American soldiers have been using the pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses as currency to buy pornography.
posted by halekon at 3:15 PM PST - 136 comments
Draft legislation was published today
that proposes that fifteen parcels in the National Park System be sold off for "purposes of commercial and residential development." Many of the parcels are in Alaska, but one is Theodore Roosevelt Island park, developed to honor one of our country's most recognizable environmentalists. It seems
the Onion gives us the news from the future once again...Way to go,
DCist for breaking the story!
posted by chinese_fashion at 1:57 PM PST - 14 comments
Playing Flickr
is a public space installation by Mediamatic on the 11th floor of the PostCS building in Amsterdam. Diners in Restaurant 11 can use their mobile phones to submit a keyword of their choice, which will later appear on the surrounding screens with corresponding Flickr photographs tagged with that word or words.
posted by fandango_matt at 10:31 AM PST - 7 comments
Boesky,
Waksal, . . .
Frist?
There have been articles as of late questioning the timing of Sen. Bill Frist's sale of his entire portfolio of HCA stock (a Frist family company) at a peak stock price just prior to a release of bad earnings news. He is now under
investigation. Will Frist go the way of Ivan and Sam or even
Martha?
posted by caddis at 7:32 AM PST - 46 comments
Atome.
More Friday Flash fun. Put the particles together to make an atom.
posted by zardoz at 7:14 AM PST - 15 comments
"Somewhere in the Bible it is said: "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off." I used to think the remedy somewhat radical. But to-day, being imbued with the wisdom of the prohibitionist, I have to acknowledge that, if the Bible in general, and that passage in it in particular, has a fault, it lies in its ultra-conservativeness. What? Merely cut off my own right hand if it offend me? What business have my neighbors to keep their right hands if I am not able to make mine behave itself ? Off with the lot of them! Let there be no right hands; then I am certain that mine won't land me in trouble."So wrote Percy Andreae in 1915 when arguing against
Prohibition. That excerpt is at the
OSU Prohibition History site, along with such delights as
Prohibition Party Cartoons (check out this
adorable camel:
"Vote as if your vote would be the last straw"). At the LOC, along
with this page of Prohibition information, and this panoramic shot of the
1915 Anti-Saloon League of America, there is also
this reminder of the link between temperance and women's suffrage. If you don't want to join
The Temperance Crusade in song, or admit that
(I Never Knew I Had A Wonderful Wife Until The Town Went Dry), you can listen to these mp3's at the LOC:
The Drunkard's dream,
The Drunkard's child, and, of course,
Goodbye, booze. Prohibition and
moonshining; the rise of
bootlegging gangs; more
primary sources at the National Archives. And no post on prohibition or temperance would be complete without
Carrie Nation's Hammer.
posted by OmieWise at 6:35 AM PST - 46 comments
September 22
Talking Heads.
Not until I stumbled upon this site did I figure out what it was the the Internet was missing. I've wanted to have
Sanjay on my desktop for so long. And now that I have the ability to vote for which "journalist" I think is the hottest, I can finally feel as if I am participating in these news programs. That is Democracy, after all.
posted by panoptican at 10:48 PM PST - 33 comments
Noted in the live stream from this TV station
This is the "Local2 News" live tv stream (which has been pointed to in three previous MeFi threads about other news stories.
Currently they've from time to time been showing storm track predictive models (which they say are their own development).
I'd rather have pointers to more models than the TV station's occasional glimpses, but, this is the most varied set of storm track predictions I've seen. Anyone know where they're getting them?
posted by hank at 6:15 PM PST - 24 comments
According to the BBC, hobbits may
not be real.
posted by 31d1 at 11:54 AM PST - 20 comments
Chinese food around the world.
Ethnic Chinese immigrants worldwide took their cuisine with them. New Yorkers are familiar with
Cuban-Chinese restaurants, owned by ethnic Chinese from Cuba who served steam tables of ropa vieja and chuletas right next to the pork fried rice and wonton soup. In Jamaica & Trinidad, Chinese immigrants pioneered jerk chicken lo mein and bok choy & callaloo stirfries.
Or how in Peru, Chinese Peruvians developed their country's restaurant industry and created a national dish,
lomo saltado along the way.
But then there's the Indian-Chinese food popularized by the descendants of ethnic Hakkas who moved to Mumbai in the 18th century. Personally, I'm partial to some
lollipop chicken or
gobi manchurian with a nice, cold Kingfisher.
posted by huskerdont at 11:45 AM PST - 57 comments
Moonbase Visions.
You've
read about and
discussed NASA's plan to use
new post-shuttle launch vehicles to return to the moon.
But what, exactly, is the US planning to
do on the moon? What would a semi-permanent moonbase look like? And why return at all? NASA's announced answers to these questions remain vague. But last year eleven sets of responses to these questions were offered to NASA in
the development proposals submitted to NASA by eleven Aerospace concerns, each of which suggested different designs, missions, and philosophies for NASA's return to the moon. Some common themes:
Military:
"Provide nationally assured access to orbital locations for the placement of observation systems" and "assured access to space for development of force projection systems and movements of logistics." (pdf link, p. 5)
Commercial:
"Commercialize space products and services" (pdf link, p.6)
Public Relations:
Keeping the public inspired with "regularly placed program milestones." (pdf link, p.7)
It's interesting to compare the details of these proposals. But taken together, they raise a broader question: does NASA's fear that the public will lose interest in this commercializing, militarizing, moon venture reflect an awareness that that
the vision has finally been lost?
posted by washburn at 10:31 AM PST - 62 comments
Despite our predominantly post-modern society in Canada, there are still pockets of ignorance and intolerance. The
City of Surrey a
very suburban suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, is pretty much the capital of Canada when it comes to this.
A high school (ages 13-18) was rehearsing to perform
"The Laramie Project" - a play about the murder of an American student Matthew Shephard (who was gay) and tolerance when the
Surrey School Board pulled the plug on it. The play had recently been performed in a high school in a smaller, but less rednecky suburb, Mission.
This is the same school board that
tried to ban two excellent books teaching children tolerance for their friends that may have two dads or two mums. The ban was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Perhaps a play of this nature is appropriate for high school students? Whaddya think?
posted by SSinVan at 10:28 AM PST - 65 comments
Reporters Without Borders
releases a free
handbook for would-be bloggers and cyber-dissidents in censor-happy lands. It features tips on blogging anonymously, ways to get around censorship and to ensure your e-mail privacy, and hosts an Internet-censor World Championship list (which lists China, Vietnam, and Tunisia, among others) as well. Download the guide
here. (PDF)
posted by riffraff at 10:11 AM PST - 8 comments
National Geographic Migration Study Rouses Indigenous Concern.
What do indigenous DNA donors have to gain from their involvement in the Genographic Project? As a First Worlder, I signed up, I swabbed, my genes are being shuttled through the Genographic study as we speak. Can't wait to see the results. And I'm not particularly paranoid, obviously, that the results will be used to harm anyone. But this article did make me curious as to exactly how the study could possibly benefit indigenous peoples. Will it be yet another strike against their origin stories? Will it be like a coke bottle dropping from the sky? Will it, instead, inspire non-indigenous peoples to treat their indigenous cousins with more respect?
posted by CrunchyGods at 9:03 AM PST - 46 comments
INSURRECTION
Why were American military sent almost instantly when Rita threatens Texas but we were told that they could not be sent to Louisiana till requested? What is the history behind Posse Comitatus? Does the president have the authority just on his say so to send troops into a "sovereign" state? Nice summary of history here.
posted by Postroad at 8:08 AM PST - 51 comments
Interactions between migrating birds and offshore oil and gas platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico
(PDF, 5.9MB). A scientific but engrossing look at bird migration over the Gulf of Mexico, describing, in part, death by starvation of migrants who have metabolized all their bodily fat, “overshoots” that inadvertently travel past their intended destinations and find themselves unexpectedly over water at first light, and a suggestion that peregrine falcons not only recovered from near extinction due to the presence of oil platforms in the Gulf, but that they may eventually establish a breeding population on the Gulf platform archipelago.
Summary.
Full report (PDF, 5.9 MB).
posted by Mo Nickels at 6:13 AM PST - 9 comments
The 16mm Shrine writes about movies.
"The fact that there’s any talent in Brazil not devoted to kidnapping schemes and making curare poison out of small frogs, let alone the kind it takes to make an epic like Meirelles’ breakout film, City of God
, is astounding ... [With The Constant Gardener
,] I hoped Meirelles might be able to inject some excitement into material that probably had an initial interest level hovering somewhere between televised Canadian parliamentary proceedings and rough notes for a thesis project on religious atavism in Norway. ... Weisz is an activist, which means she’s easy and doesn’t shave her legs, and gets very upset if you notice. She also becomes immediately attached to the African children surrounding her in that particular stage of starvation and illness that makes their eyes big and their stomachs small enough that they still look small and pitiful, but not yet weird enough that they could pass for shark-toothed baby Grays from The X-Files
. She gets involved in a conspiracy and soon ends up dead, leaving Fiennes to pick up the pieces and grow a backbone."
posted by Marquis at 1:43 AM PST - 24 comments
Paul Murdoch Architects
were recently announced as winners of the
Flight 93 memorial. The design was called "Crescent of Embrace". The jury asked that the design team “Consider the interpretation and impact of words within the context of this event. The 'Crescent' should be referred to as the 'circle' or 'arc' or other words that are not tied to specific religious iconography." Remarks from the families can be found
here. [I haven't posted the other links for obvious reasons]. I don't think we've heard the end of this.
posted by tellurian at 1:17 AM PST - 22 comments
What do you get when you mix a fiendishly difficult and addictive puzzle game with the feel of a hack & slash RPG set in a cartoonish, slightly tongue-in-cheek fantasy world? That would be
Deadly Rooms of Death (DROD for short). The game is freakin' huge, with 25 levels filled with unique rooms, and it also happens to be free.
posted by speicus at 1:09 AM PST - 7 comments
Don't blame me, I voted for Chang!
Jeb Bush to the Florida legislature: "Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society.
"I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down."
WTF? But is it really that weird coming from a family with a long history with the
Skull and Bones Society
posted by afflatus at 12:31 AM PST - 47 comments
September 21
Vinyl Sharity
There's a lot of
exotic*,
odd†,
thrilling‡, and
strangely catchy° music out there on the net. Through
Weirdo Music and Record Brother, I've begun to touch the tip...
And while there's a fairly proscribed etiquette regarding the sharity sites (limited time for downloads, out-of-print only, desisting when asked), I find that
Free Albums and
Strange Reaction have put me off of buying new RIAA albums more than Napster or Kazaa ever did.
(Well, there is
Regnyouth, but the downloading is such a pain in the ass for most of it that I only ever really bother with things that I own on a format that I can't convert like cassette, or that I listen to once and delete, like Interpol).
But where do you go for weirdo music? Anything you've found in digging through these sites that's struck your fancy?
(And if you have sharities to, well, share:
You Send It,
Rapidshare and
MegaUpload are pretty much the gold standard.)
*
From Bellybongo
†
From WM
‡
From Basic Hip
°
From Comfort Stand
posted by klangklangston at 10:39 PM PST - 5 comments
Lifted from the fabulous
Tween:
"Start with botany, mix in a little nanotechnology and genetic engineering, add a dash of sci-fi daydreams and maybe you’d end up with something like the creatures in 1st Avenue Machine’s new music video for Alias." [quicktime]. Click on
projects for other examples of 1stavemachine's work.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:17 PM PST - 9 comments
Photos Beyond the Wall
"We take you out of the visiting room and place you "inside" the romantic or exotic location of your choice!" Photographs taken in prisons can be photoshopped to magical lands far far away.
posted by keli at 11:00 AM PST - 18 comments
I just finished up reading
The Turk by Tom Standage (briefly mentioned in passing
here) a biography of the chess-playing automaton that toured Europe and later the Americas during the pivotal transition from the 18th to the 19th century. The Automaton was invented as an exercise in national pride by
Wolfgang von Kempelen, who considered it a trifle compared to his experiments with
mechanical speech synthesis. As a celebrity, the automaton had historic encounters with Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon, Beethoven,
Philidor and Charles Babbage, and fictional encounters with the monarchs Catherine the Great, George III and Frederick II. Standage credits it with influencing the development of the
Difference Engine, the power loom, Poe's
mystery stories, and Barnum's
manipulation of the press. The myths surrounding have even caught
James Randi, who seems to have been unaware of a colleague's
reconstruction based on notes from the last owner.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:57 AM PST - 7 comments
THE COLOUR
PURPLE [is a] Cadbury Limited trademark...
The color
Blue is a Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company
The color
YELLOW™ is a trademark of Mr.LongArm, Inc.
[T]he color
PINK, and other trademarks identified with a ® in these documents are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Technology Inc.
The color
canary yellow is a trademark of 3M.
The color
orange is a trademark of Dandy Products, Inc.
The color
green is A trademark of Sullair Corporation.
posted by grouse at 9:21 AM PST - 43 comments
Philadelphia Priest scandal unfolds
The
Philadelphia Archdiocese concealed sexual abuse by priests for four decades, but no criminal charges can be brought against the church or its priests because of the constraints of state law, according to grand jury findings released Wednesday. With 63 confirmed and as many as 170 suspected - all accused of multiple acts, Priests in the
city of brotherly love are making a mockery of the city's moniker. It's being reported that Both Cardinal Bevilacqua and Cardinal Kroll not only ignored the abuse but were complicit in preventing the abuse from being reported to the police.
posted by j.p. Hung at 9:16 AM PST - 61 comments
National Geographic has a special
issue on Africa out this month. There's also their Africa
resource site.
posted by Gyan at 12:35 AM PST - 17 comments
September 20
***The following statements are graphic, truthful, and discuss UNRATIONAL behavior***
The people on T.V., (99% being Black) were DEMANDING help. They were not asking nicely but demanding as if society owed these people something. Well the honest truth is WE DON'T....
We are inviting the lowest of the low to Houston. And like idiots we are serving the people who will soon steal our cars, rape, murder, and destroy our city while stealing from our pockets on a daily basis through the welfare checks they take.
I would call them NIGGERS, but the actual definition of a nigger is one who is ignorant, these people were not ignorant...
I got one of the variations of this in my e-mail from someone I know who is fairly reasonable and fairly pro-Bush. And I started thinking about the "NOLA folks spending their aid money on lap dances" (or what have you) type stories and I started wondering where the racism goes from
blur to
clarity (the respective blogs taken as whole).
The halfwit dupes like
Jillian Bandes who absorb or regurgitate these ideas (unconsciously or otherwise) vs. the
overt sort of
racism and the
monsters that
spread it. They can appear strangely wholesome in a
bizzaro Olsen twin sort of way. But they are
serious in a way that makes the "
Bush doesn't like black people" thing seem quaint (in the old-fashioned but not necessarily authentic, sense of the word). But I can't tell which is more insidious, which is more dangerous.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:11 PM PST - 107 comments
Tennessee: 'Close Down Your Ex-Gay Ministry!'
--remember Zach, the 16-year-old sent to Love in Action so that he could be cured of being gay? The state has finally ordered the places shut down. Original post on him here:
Pray out the Gay!
Unfortunately, this is the state's reasoning:
... The state inspected two facilities in Memphis on Aug. 19 and determined Love In Action International Inc. was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license, according to a subsequent letter to the organization from the Department of Mental Health. ... (and more
at Cherryblossom)
posted by amberglow at 4:20 PM PST - 65 comments
Cool gallery
of tiny, tiny people doing detailed farming work on pieces of fruit. Horrible flash interface, frequent use of French.
posted by jonson at 4:01 PM PST - 32 comments
Tons of British Food for Katrina Victims to be Incinerated
(link to Mirror article)
More
red tape embarrassment for the
Katrina relief effort. This time, tons of food donated by the UK is set to be incinerated rather than delivered to hungry evacuees. The FDA recalled the food rations, which had been loaded onto trucks and sent out for distribution, because they had been "condemned as unfit for human consumption". Never mind the glaring fact that these are the same food rations being eaten by British soldiers in Iraq right now.
posted by fenriq at 3:39 PM PST - 82 comments
Alive in Truth is an all-volunteer, grassroots effort to record oral and written history (along with photographs) about the lives of displaced New Orleanians, in their own words. Alive in Truth began on September 4, 2005 outside the Austin Convention Center, which served as a shelter for 6,000 New Orleans residents. Most of these were evacuated from the Superdome, the Convention Center, the I-10 Overpass, or their own roofs.
posted by ericb at 12:17 PM PST - 3 comments
Tactile Photographs.
I created this series of tactile photographic prints as part of a project about the deafblind community in Boston, called "Senses". The works are produced through a CNC laser etching process that removes the top portion of the wood. The darker the image is a any particular point, the more wood is removed by the laser at that point. The result is a photographic relief that can be touched as well as seen.
posted by mabelstreet at 11:32 AM PST - 14 comments
Googlenet. What if Google wanted to give Wi-Fi access to everyone in America? And what if it had technology capable of targeting advertising to a user’s precise location? The gatekeeper of the world’s information could become one of the globe’s biggest Internet providers and one of its most powerful ad sellers, basically supplanting telecoms in one fell swoop.
What was speculation this last month, now seems to be
getting closer. However, it looks like it's
raising hackles, similar to the ugly memories of
google web accelerator beta which
was cancelled just a few days after release
posted by Mave_80 at 8:58 AM PST - 41 comments
Explosion Over the N-Word
When Kanye West blasted President Bush’s treatment of poor black people in New Orleans after Katrina hit, the rapper unintentionally set off a hurricane of words in Florida.
The Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper, ran a cartoon last week that criticized West’s statements by showing him holding a large playing card marked “The Race Card,” and having Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, exclaim with scorn at West: “Nigga Please!”
posted by Postroad at 8:14 AM PST - 135 comments
The Aquatic Ape Theory (often referred to as the AAT or AAH) says humans went through an aquatic or semi-aquatic stage in our evolution and that this accounts for many features seen in human anatomy and physiology. Using the principle of convergent evolution, it says that life in an aquatic environment explains these features, and that a transition from ape to hominid in a non-aquatic environment cannot. See also:
BBC (excellent),
Wikipedia,
Google.
posted by grumblebee at 7:07 AM PST - 48 comments
What the co-inventor of the Pill didn't know about menstruation can endanger women's health:
"The passion and urgency that animated the birth-control debates of the sixties are now a memory. John Rock still matters, though, for the simple reason that in the course of reconciling his church and his work he made an error. It was not a deliberate error. It became manifest only after his death, and through scientific advances he could not have anticipated. But because that mistake shaped the way he thought about the Pill--about what it was, and how it worked, and most of all what it meant--and because John Rock was one of those responsible for the way the Pill came into the world, his error has colored the way people have thought about contraception ever since."
posted by heatherann at 5:23 AM PST - 54 comments
While the Democrats seem a spent force in the United States, fighting to hold its political relevance in a political system dominated by the Right, here in Australia, our own Centre Left party is facing a similar battle. The
Australian Labor Party (ALP) is being attacked not by
Prime Minister John Howard but by one of their own, former leader
Mark Latham. In his new book
The Latham Diaries, released today, Latham ferociously attacks the party that paid his way through University and gave him his first job. His major claim is that current leader of the ALP,
Kim Beazley, waged a six year smear campaign against him and that this disloyalty, as well as an antagnostic press, resulted in the devestating defeat of the ALP at the 1996 general election.
To say that this book, which seems to be
based on one man's vitriol rather than solid, well researched facts, has created a storm in a teacup would be to understate the media circus that has erupted since News Limited, Rupert Murdoch's publishing empire, began to publish exerpts from the book a week before it's launch. In this
media circus, we have seen
court battles,
internal media-institution bickering, and
article after
article after
article. Meanwhile, the ALP has closed ranks and
rallied around it's embattled leader, though some Labor MPs
have suggested that Latham's claims may hold more water than many would give him credit for. Others, such as Beazley's own daughters, have simply dismissed the claims as "bitter and hateful rantings" at their
webblog.
But what is the real effect of the Diaries? What was Latham's intent in releasing them? Was it merely
to make money? Are they simply the
ramblings of a bitter loser? Or in his own, twisted (and probably ill-concieved) way, was he aiming to
achieve the change of culture in the ALP he believes needs to occur? And, perhaps sweetest of all things to ponder over, has Latham used the media he hated so much to acheive all of this?
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:34 AM PST - 17 comments
The world's biggest thief?
A warrant has been issued against former Iraqi Interim Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan for defrauding Iraq of over $1 billion. In January, I posted to MeFi about Shaalan's possible involvement in
a $300 million fraud scheme and the murder of two American arms merchants. What is more troubling, however, is that the U.S. government may have turned a blind eye to this massive defrauding of the Iraqi people. Prior to his role as Defense Minister, Shaalan ran a real estate agency in Britain and had no prior military qualifications. For this reason, Juan Cole
believes it likely that Shaalan was a CIA agent, while Ahmed Chalabi accused Sha'alan of
spying for Saddam. Meanwhile, the insurgents accused Shaalan of
conspiring with the Bush administration to scrap Iraq's heavy weaponry. What does seem clear is that he apparently tried to buy
broken Soviet-era armored vehicles and 28-year-old, second-hand Polish helicopters too old to fly at a premium, while pocketing lucrative kickbacks. Which begs the question -- if the U.S. government really wanted a strong, independent Iraqi military, then why doesn't it give Iraq the heavy arms they'll need to defend themselves?
posted by insomnia_lj at 1:53 AM PST - 17 comments
Where did all the bananas go?
Bananas are awesome. Popular Science has an article about how they are going extinct. Apparently in the early 1900's the main variety of banana died out and was replaced by what we know today. According to this article, it's happening again.
o/~ Work all night on a drink of rum
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Stack banana till de mornin' come
Daylight come and me wan' go home o/~
posted by crocos at 12:34 AM PST - 49 comments
September 19
Free,
good science fiction for download, some you might have seen, some new, all are worth the time. If you have only a few minutes, Michael Swanick's
Science Fiction Table of the Elements features 108 short short stories. If you have a little more time, Kelly Link, called by Neil Gaiman "the best short story writer currently out there" has released her much-praised collection
Stranger Things Happen. For longer reads, Charlie Stross has made available his cyberpunk novel
Accelerando and his Lovecraftish
Colder War. The creepier
Peter Watts has posted the New York Times Notable Book
Starfish, and its sequels as well
[previously]. If you haven't had enough, you should check out the
Baen Free Library, with books by everyone from Andre Norton to Larry Niven, as well as a large amount of right-of-center combat-oriented stuff by David Weber and friends. Also, the Science Fiction Channel has made available
many well-known classic short stories as well as
a lot of contemporary Hugo and World Fantasy Award winners
[previously]. Finally, you probably
already know that Cory Doctorow has
four novels available under creative commons. Happy reading!
posted by blahblahblah at 9:34 PM PST - 59 comments
Trendwatching reports on "emerging consumer trends and related new business ideas." It is packed with ideas and links for new online business concepts that are currently emerging. The language is marketingpersonbuzzspeak, but the ideas (with supporting website examples) are fascinating.
posted by stbalbach at 8:19 PM PST - 28 comments
Bring dead LCD pixels back to life!
Did you know you can often fix dead LCD pixels by forcing them to rapidly cycle through red, green, and blue? Neither did I, but the video linked here worked on one of my older screens after a few hours of looped playback. YMMV, but what have you got to lose?
posted by pmbuko at 4:06 PM PST - 32 comments
UK soldiers 'storm' Basra prison:
2 british soldiers, presumably special forces shot at police, were arrested. then the brit army (this in basra) wanted them. police refused, a RIOT broke out, one brit tracked vehicle burned, 3 personnel injured. 100+ prisoners escaped when the British broke a wall down in the jail
Okay, I'm pretty sure this could have been handled differently...
posted by Elim at 3:31 PM PST - 76 comments
speech bubbles
- fun times with guerilla art, Ji Lee printed 50,000 speech bubbles and plastered movie posters, advertisements and whatever with them in NYC, then came back and photographed what people added (
via)
posted by sourbrew at 3:29 PM PST - 45 comments
Still Separate, Still Unequal:
America's Educational Apartheid, by
Jonathon Kozol, from the September issue of
Harper's. Even if you're familiar with a big-city public-school system , it's an eye-opener.
(Also, if (like I might be on a worse day) you're miffed by yet another Harper's cover story FPP, what do you think about the posting site's Fair Use application? I've never seen that before. No more inside.)
posted by mrgrimm at 2:51 PM PST - 30 comments
NASA today announced their plans for a return moon trip by 2018.
No doubt this thread could go a million different ways, but what interests me the most about the plan is its simplicity. NASA may have learned its lesson from the overly ambitious and complex Shuttle program and appears to be aiming for much greater simplicity this time around. Part of the beauty of this plan is utilizing those parts of the Shuttle system which have been proven to work well: SSMEs (Space Shuttle Main Engines) and SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters). Propulsion is often the thorniest part of any space launch, and it seems like combining the known variables of those systems with Apollo-era design may just work. If we are re-focusing NASA on exploration, the 21st Century Lewis & Clarke, and the agency can execute, I'll be pretty excited about moving on to Mars.
posted by tgrundke at 11:54 AM PST - 161 comments
Foil the paparazzi
Georgia Tech researchers come up with a system that senses nearby digital imaging devices, and fires a beam of light at 'em, foiling attempts to take pictures of 'ya. More high-tech (but less entertaining) than having Sean Penn smash the paparazzi cameras.
posted by RonZ at 8:05 AM PST - 29 comments
Disaster relief? Call in the Marines
President Bush suggested a larger disaster relief role for the armed forces in his national address last week, and Congress has indicated it will take up the issue this autumn. Though the topic has emerged at other troubled times - most recently 9/11 - Congress has always avoided amending Posse Comitatus, the law that has kept active-duty soldiers out of civilian law-enforcement affairs since Reconstruction.
posted by Postroad at 7:48 AM PST - 43 comments
Petrol prices hurting your wallet? Try stealing it instead!
A Sydney man has been accused of siphoning 1,000 litres (
265 gallons) of fuel from a service station into a large home-made tank in his van. Police allege the 36-year-old man used a Toyota Town Ace van to take petrol from a service station's underground tanks. Another 44,000 litres of fuel (or there about) is yet to be accounted for though.
Police allegedly found fittings and equipment inside the van that could be used to steal petrol from service stations, including a home made tank.
Hard times huh? Sorry there's no photo to go with this. The guy's van is an awesome sight though. Best I've got is streaming video via ABC News (Windows
HQ or
LQ).
posted by sjvilla79 at 7:15 AM PST - 25 comments
Won't somebody please think of the children?
Oh, don't fool yourselves! Americans under the age of 12 now spend or influence the spending of $565 billion a year - up from $2.2 billion in 1968, and kid-spending has roughly doubled every ten years for the past three decades, tripling in the 1990s. Which means
someone is
always thinking of the children. The
American Association of Pediatrics (pdf) cites this bludgeoning of kidvertising as creating in children "a fever for shopping and spending, swollen expectations about material needs, decreasing immunity to the assaults of advertisers, self-concepts defined by brands of clothing, and a rash of of debt by the time they leave college". [more...]
posted by taz at 1:46 AM PST - 55 comments
September 18
What has happened to Iraq's missing $1bn?
"The money missing from all ministries under the interim Iraqi government appointed by the US in June 2004 may turn out to be close[r] to $2bn... Many Iraqi soldiers and police have died because they were not properly equipped. In Baghdad they often ride in civilian pick-up trucks vulnerable to gunfire, rocket- propelled grenades or roadside bombs. For months even men defusing bombs had no protection against blasts because they worked without bullet-proof vests. These were often promised but never turned up."
posted by Rothko at 11:15 PM PST - 20 comments
Jets meet-up suggest
that George Bush really does
not like black people.
A post over at Grabthar's Hammer analyses a recent photo-op of the President with the New York Jets, and figures out that the probability of the black players having been kept out of the immediate vicinity of Dubya (as you can see is the case in the photos supplied on the post) was 0.4%.
posted by noizyboy at 9:36 PM PST - 38 comments
Okay, I admit it. I have a DVD player, and I even have a TV ... that I watch! I didn't find myself buying many DVDs though, until I discovered that I could waste my money buying
TV shows on DVD, finding the ones I like usually through word of (mostly analog, sometimes digital) mouth. When deciding whether or not to Netflix and/or buy
Smallville, I came across
DVD Verdict, and I found the site's conceit--to present each review of a particular DVD as one would present evidence in a trial, then deliver a verdict--to be charming rather than annoying. Chalk it up to generally good and entertaining writing, and very in-depth DVD reviews. Oh, the site's authors like Smallville. But then their motto is "truth, justice, and the digital way"...when it's not "making the jump from heroin to digital smoother since 1999".
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:20 PM PST - 16 comments
Consensus View
New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki's book
The Wisdom of Crowds "explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future." Now this idea has been put into practice with
Consensus View, a site where you can enter your predictions on stocks, commodities, and currencies, and view the group consensus. (from
wsj.com)
posted by reverendX at 5:52 PM PST - 46 comments
QuickTime panoramas
from the annual
Sziget pop festival. I love getting these things and spinning them around at full speed but it can be a bit disconcerting with the The Boom Family Snuff Puppets surrounding you. And hey! spot the guy caught lighting up a doobie at the Yann Tiersen concert.
posted by tellurian at 5:17 PM PST - 2 comments
"If time has to end, it can be described, instant by instant," Mr. Palomar thinks, "and each instant, when described, expands so that its end can no longer be seen." He decides that he will set himself to describing every instant of his life, and until he has described them all he will no longer think of being dead. At that moment he dies.
In memoriam of
Italo Calvino, who
died exactly 20 years ago.
"Calvino's novels" by his friend Gore Vidal.
Calvino's obituary by Vidal, il maestro
William Weaver's essay
on Calvino's cities, Jeanette Winterson on
Calvino's dream of being invisible, and
Stefano Franchi's philosophical study on
Palomar's doctrine of the void. More inside.
posted by matteo at 3:45 PM PST - 18 comments
September 17
Vera Hall was a black woman born near Livingston, Alabama at the turn of the century. She grew up in a supportive family and community, but in difficult, poor rural living conditions. At a young age, Hall became a respected and devout member of the church, and remained so for the rest of her years. But after leaving home, she also fell in with more worldly crowd, for whom blues, craps, and alcohol were the entertainments of choice. The tension between these two spheres-- that of spirituals and the church, on one hand, and that of blues and the juke-joint, on the other-- is a theme that recurred throughout her life and infused her music. She drew upon both perspectives to cope with and overcome her life's perennial difficulties; sadly, it was dotted with tragedy: she lost both parents, a sister, a husband, a daughter, and two grandchildren-- all before she herself passed away in 1964 at the age of 58.
The Vera Hall Project [+}
posted by y2karl at 9:31 PM PST - 5 comments
Today, Canadians are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the life and death our greatest hero -
Terry Fox.
I was only 10 years old when
Terry dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic ocean and began his run across Canada with the aim of raising just $1 for each Canadian.
Sadly,
he had to end his run after only the halfway point when the Cancer spread to his lungs.
Terry passed away less than a year later.
Terry Fox runs worldwide have raised exponential amounts more than Terry could have ever imagined.
He makes me proud to be Canadian, and I still get choked up thinking about him.
posted by SSinVan at 3:49 PM PST - 31 comments
What is the difference between refugees and expelled persons? Refugees leave home and land for fear of what would happen to them, or they were driven out. Expellees are told to leave their home country, often immediately. Their added and deep trauma is broken trust
"Modern Wars and the Civilian Experience as shown in my experience in World War II", by Greta Zybon
posted by PenguinBukkake at 3:43 PM PST - 2 comments
Doctors suing patients
Are you angry and upset because of what a doctor did or did not do during a medical procedure? Did you express your anger online? Now doctors are suing patients for expressing their anger online.
posted by halekon at 1:07 PM PST - 31 comments
Yesterday morning in Florida,
the landing gear on a student-piloted Cessna failed to lock into place. After the plane circled for an hour, the airport president drove a Jeep underneath the plane at 80 mph while his passenger took a stick and knocked the wheels into place. And that, as they say in the business, was
caught on tape.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 6:01 AM PST - 48 comments
September 16
WeFunkRadio.com
has 390 full shows available for download featuring the funk, underground hip-hop, and rare grooves that are so hard to find. BitTorrents are available for the
two most
recent shows and there's always the
audio stream and
podcasts coming at you fresh from Montréal's
CKUT radio.
posted by furtive at 10:42 PM PST - 16 comments
To the Citizens of the United States of America:
In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
-
John Cleese
posted by signal at 9:46 PM PST - 61 comments
The Story is Over.
- At least, the story is over for
The Indictor. Being rotated out, he's leaving his post at Outpost Crystal; drawing the curtains on one of the few consistent wellsprings for information from New Orleans.
posted by jcterminal at 8:51 PM PST - 28 comments
Steal this bus!
Up for auction: The Ultimate Hippy Vacation. You will be required to sell Tie-dyed T-shirts for gas and food money. UPDATE!! Cody has contacted the mother ship. He said today the stars are in alignment, but the destination is still unknown.
I believe I mentioned that my brother-in-law might be a little "touched in the head". Maybe it runs in the family.
posted by loquacious at 5:36 PM PST - 19 comments
Englands proposed kitchen knife ban.
Since May, "A&E doctors [have been] calling for a ban on long pointed kitchen knives to reduce deaths from stabbing." That's right,
kitchen knives. Apparently, a full 1/3 of all deaths in the UK are knife-related. "The doctors, as part of their research into ways to reduce violence, say they consulted with leading chefs who said long knives were not needed for cooking."
But not everyone agrees: Peter Hamm, a spokesman for
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which supports gun control, joked, "Can sharp stick control be far behind?"
posted by j.p. Hung at 2:29 PM PST - 96 comments
A racist moron gets punched in the head
for wearing a racist shirt to his
high school.
The undershirt the white student wore had a confederate flag on the front with the words "Keep it flying." On the back, a cartoon depicted a group of hooded Klansmen standing outside a church, waving to two others who had just pulled away in a car reading "Just married." Two black men in nooses were being dragged behind. Yet, somehow, he declares he's not racist:
"I'm not racist or anything," he said. "It's just, some people I hate, some people I don't get along with. And black people just happen to be the ones because they think they're better than everyone else."
[
via SLOG;
Previous Fleming Island Clothing Issues]
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 1:46 PM PST - 152 comments
...After the raid, an Iraqi informer walked among detainees, pointing them out to U.S. troops. Despite being disguised with a bag over his head, the informer was recognized by his fellow villagers by his yellow sandals and his amputated thumb. His name was Sabah. ...The next day, his father and brother, carrying AK-47s, entered his room before dawn and took him behind the house. With trembling hands, the father fired twice... Sabah's brother then fired three times, once at his brother's head, killing him. Sitting with the father later, Shadid found himself unable to ask the question he knew that as a journalist he had to ask: Had he killed his son? "In a moment so tragic, so wretched, there still had to be decency. I didn't want to hear him say yes. I didn't want to humiliate him any further. In the end, I didn't have to." "'I have the heart of a father, and he's my son,' he told me, his eyes cast to the ground. 'Even the prophet Abraham didn't have to kill his son.' He stopped, steadying his voice. 'There was no other choice.'"What went wrong That's from the Salon review of
Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War by
Anthony Shadid [+]
posted by y2karl at 1:15 PM PST - 15 comments
Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail.
Best known as the drummer for 1970s punk band The Damned, Rat Scabies grew up with a father interested in the mysteries of the French town of
Rennes-le-Château, which may or may not contain the Holy Grail and in the enigmatic priest
Berenger Sauniere. Conspiracy theories surrounding the town first popped up in the 1970s book
Holy Blood, Holy Grail and gained a certain amount of infamy in recent years from
The DaVinci Code.
Upon striking up a friendship with his neighbor, journalist Christopher Dawes, Scabies discovered common interests in conspiracy theories and all things paranormal and a shared hatred of the
DaVinci Code. Now the pair wrote a book about their alcohol-sodden quest for the Holy Grail that asks the question: What happens when an ex-punk rocker goes looking for the Holy Grail?
posted by huskerdont at 12:11 PM PST - 19 comments
You know how when someone dies in a terrorist attack, media always publishes their high school or vacation photos?
youblewmeupyoubastard.com is there to help. "We'll store a photo of you, giving it large at the terrorists what done you in, and in the event of your body being blown to bits by a suicide bomber, we'll supply your disgusted image to all news services." [
via]
posted by mathowie at 10:55 AM PST - 18 comments
Antkendo
... defeat the opposing samurai ant by clicking above, below and on your own samurai ant. Good luck, though. The other guy is preternaturally good.
[note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 6:42 AM PST - 11 comments
September 15
Katrina Ushers in Return of Big Government
We have a larger govt now (people working for the govt) than we have ever had. We have now the Patriot Act, overseeing much of our activities. We have intelligence agencies doing lord knows what domestically, and security checks etc. Now we learn that Big govt is back? Where had it been before the storm?
posted by Postroad at 2:10 PM PST - 43 comments
A History of Concealment and Deception
With an hour-long slide show [PDF, 2.4MB] that blends satellite imagery with disquieting assumptions about Iran's nuclear energy program, Bush administration officials have been trying to convince allies that Tehran is on a fast track toward nuclear weapons.
[more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 1:12 PM PST - 88 comments
Ry Cooder once said
Dark Was The Night--Cold Was The Ground was
the most soulful, transcendent piece of American music recorded in the 20th Century.
Unearthly and
music of the spheres were common descriptions long before both became fact when it was included on a golden record was affixed to the star bound
Voyager space probe. My first encounter with
Dark Was The Night was while watching, and then listening to the soundtrack album of, Piero Paulo Pasolini’s
The Gospel According To St. Matthew--or as it is known in Sicily kickin' Bootsville,
Il Vangelo de Matteo--which is, in my humble opinion, the Greatest. Jesus. Movie. Evar. Ironically, coincidentally and serendipitously, it was an apt choice by Pasolini, as the
hymn from which
Blind Willie Johnson's wordless moan derives is a song about Christ’s passion—his suffering and crucifixion. (Continued with much more within)
posted by y2karl at 4:12 AM PST - 67 comments
September 14
Katrina: The Gathering
is the latest great new collectible card game!
I almost don't know how to describe it. A brilliant, concise, very complete, and quite hilarious
1 summary of the the political fallout. It just keeps going and going and going. I think I want to play a game of it.
1 - My options are laugh or cry, so.
posted by blacklite at 10:32 PM PST - 38 comments
'A novel contained in a single sigh'
On Sept. 15, 1945,
Anton Webern stepped out to smoke a cigar. An American soldier, seeing the glow of the cigar,
panicked and shot Webern three times. Webern, along with
Arnold Schoenberg and
Alban Berg, is credited with -- or
blamed for -- ushering in an era of composition emphasizing strict, mathematical order over all elements of music, a reaction against the
suicidal excess of Romanticism. On the anniversary of his death, BBC Radio 3 hosts
Webern Day, during which Webern's complete works will be broadcast. The total time to perform his 31 works is about three hours. (Links grabbed mostly from
ArtsJournal.)
posted by NemesisVex at 9:49 PM PST - 19 comments
Finally,
someone does archives right. The entire New Yorker collection, all the way back, for less than 2.5¢ an issue
posted by rtimmel at 7:22 PM PST - 55 comments
Last Chance for Iraq
-
Peter W. Galbraith, writing in the New York Review of Books, on the
new Iraqi constitution. He compares it to a peace treaty between three warring parties.
Previous threads: Bush's Islamic Republic. The Bungled Transition. How to Get Out of Iraq.
Underneath an Islamic veneer, Iraq's new constitution ratifies the division of Iraq into three disparate entities: Kurdistan in the north, an Iranian-influenced Islamic state in the south, and, in the center, a Sunni region that has no clear political identity, but that with luck and concerted diplomacy could be governed by a new generation of Sunni Arab leaders. The constitution provides a basis for resolving Iraq's most contentious issues: oil, territory, and the competition to be the dominant power in Baghdad. If these issues are not addressed, they could set off a widespread civil war. ... The constitution has many flaws, but it provides a peace plan that might work, and it is therefore the most positive political development in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein from power.
posted by russilwvong at 5:24 PM PST - 16 comments
First Brain-Powered Bionic Prosthesis
Jesse Sullivan is the
first man (link to press release) to recieve a ground breaking new bionic arm (
PDF fact sheet) that is controlled by his mind and a 64-bit microprocessor. His new arm, that even allows him to "feel" objects, is the result of a radical surgical process called nerve-transfer surgery that took nerves going to his arms and rerouted them to his chest.
Want to see it in action?
1,
2,
3 (embedded QT links) and some
images of Jesse in action.
Previous MeFi bionic threads.
posted by fenriq at 4:46 PM PST - 40 comments
This Gallery of Posters
from Exploitation Movies is far too brief, but is still better than not having ANY exploitation movie posters. Apparently the gallery is just a teaser for an exhibit & a book.
posted by jonson at 3:57 PM PST - 9 comments
In the Hot Zone
Yahoo! have hired journalist
Kevin Sites (previously discussed
here and
here) to 'cover every armed conflict in the world within one year... to provide a clear idea of the combatants, victims, causes, and costs of each of these struggles - and their global impact'. The
NYT (reg required) quotes Lloyd Braun, Head of Yahoo! Media Group, saying that he hopes they can combat the "growing public distrust of network news... [with] a transparency I think the Internet user wants and the news audience is craving".
posted by pasd at 1:13 PM PST - 23 comments
Impeach Blanco
Someone is, at last, calling for the impeachment of Kathleen Blanco. But they don't seem to be very serious about it since their
Sign the Petition link isn't working.
posted by chai-rista at 12:05 PM PST - 68 comments
Chez Pim
the gastronomic blog of a little thai woman.... and her very own
write up in the observer. I sort of agree with one of the comments.... the shots of the food make me feel empty.
posted by sourbrew at 12:03 PM PST - 14 comments
September 13
Poignant Passports.
At the beginning of the 20th century Hawaii sugar plantation owners began to recruit laborers of European background. Perhaps as many as 2,000 Russians and Ukrainians came to Hawaii. After the February Revolution in Petrograd some of these Russians were repatriated.
[more inside]
posted by tellurian at 8:19 PM PST - 2 comments
We Had to Kill Our Patients
: while this may not hit the US press for some time, the UK's Mail on Sunday reports that doctors in New Orleans chose to euthanize patients who were dying in agony and had no chance of survival during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:03 PM PST - 180 comments
NY Times will be going pay-only for access to columns
by Paul Krugman, Thomas Friedman, and Maureen Dowd. On the 19th of Sept! And I assume the others like Herbert and Frank will drop behind the iron curtain as well. These are obviously some of the most blogged about and emailed content on the NYT site. Do you think it will be worth $49.95 year (it does come with 100 archive articles, which is admittedly pretty sweet)? Do you think that bloggers will stop linking to those columnists? Is this the end of free?
posted by zpousman at 12:14 PM PST - 85 comments
The Emperor's Bunker.
"The Japanese, with sadness and irony, stressed that Hirohito couldn't even speak properly. This was partly to do with the fact that he didn't have to speak - people spoke in his name and he was isolated from real life".
"
The Sun", the third part in
Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's 'Men of Power'
tetralogy after the gloom of
Moloch (1999), about Hitler and Eva Braun, and the despairing tones of "
Taurus"
(2001), focused on the wheelchair-bound Lenin in his death throes, "The Sun" seems almost upbeat. This, after all, is a film about reconciliation. More inside.
posted by matteo at 9:54 AM PST - 21 comments
The robot comes calling...
When web services attack! NotifyPhoneBasic will call any phone number in the US/Canada and read your message to that phone number. You can even set the caller id information.
posted by ph00dz at 9:06 AM PST - 45 comments
In July, Georgia federal judge William C. O’Kelley ordered Barrow County to remove a Ten Commandments plaque from its courthouse. The suit was filed by
ACLU Georgia, which not only succeeded in getting the plaque removed, but also recovered $150,000 in attorneys’ fees and expenses.
Ten Commandments-Georgia pledged to reimburse the county for its legal expenses. In order for the group to raise the last $52,000 it needs to meet that pledge, it has put the actual Ten Commandments plaque that was removed from the courthouse under the order of the court
up for auction on eBay.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:51 AM PST - 40 comments
After The Flood Surprising stories from survivors in New Orleans. We give people who were in the storm more time than daily news coverage can to tell their stories and talk about what they're thinking. This leads to a number of ideas that haven't made it into the regular news coverage. The most recent episode of
This American Life is now up on their website--
This American Life is one of the best programs on public radio and this was one of their best episodes ever. It is well worth a listen.
posted by y2karl at 8:38 AM PST - 24 comments
The next Turner Prize winners? Art Craziest Nation
is a mini-gallery of (in)famous pieces by modern artists, accurately reproduced with Lego by a duo called The Little Artists (John Cake and Darren Neave). The exhibition is at the Walker Art Gallery in
Liverpool until next January. See the Lego version of Damien Hirst's
Shark Tank, Tracey Emin's
Bed, Jeff Koons'
Balls, Andy Warhol's
Money, Salvador Dali's
Lobster Telephone, and
many others. It's all in one single piece, with some of the artists themselves in Lego version - and others whose work is not exhibited, like
Matthew Barney and
Gilbert & George - hanging around sipping their Lego wine (ok, air) from Lego cups (or even
throwing it at the Lego person standing next to them). Liverpool Football Club star
Gerrard also featured in a tribute to the team's victory of this year's European Cup.
posted by funambulist at 7:11 AM PST - 10 comments
September 12
Georgia wants to charge people to vote,
having chosen to implement "a new voter ID law that requires many people without driver's licenses...to pay $20 or more for a state ID card."
Adding insult to injury, the number of ID centers in Atlanta is currently ZERO.
(disclaimer: I don't know how to get a subscription-free link to NYT articles- sorry!)
posted by elisabeth r at 8:27 PM PST - 77 comments
At this challenging time for President Bush, let us
reminisce about the
system that
elected him. Will the next election be different? Do you want it to be? What are you going to do about it
?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:25 PM PST - 61 comments
Feel The Taint:
Dave Hill is obsessed with Norwegian Black Metal, the exciting musical genre brought to international prominence in the early '90's thanks to a series of church burnings, murders, suicides, and other surefire attention-getting devices.
Recently his desire to become part of the scene reached such a fever pitch that he couldn't help but reach out to a longtime member of the Norwegian Black Metal community.
posted by shotsy at 4:38 PM PST - 31 comments
"I have just shot the President.
I shot him several times as I wished him to go as easily as possible. His death was a political necessity." Handwritten note from
Charles Guiteau to
William T. Sherman after Guiteau
shot President James Garfield. And
this note:
To the American People: I conceived the idea of removing the President four weeks ago. Not a soul knew of my purpose. I conceived the idea myself and kept it to myself. I read the newspapers carefully for and against the Administration, and gradually the conviction settled on me that the President's removal was a political necessity, because he proved a traitor to the men that made him, and thereby imperilled the life of the Republic...This is not murder. It is a political necessity...
From Georgetown University's
Charles Guiteau Collection.
[more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:31 PM PST - 47 comments
How Bush Blew It
•
Newsweek offers a fascinating peek behind the scenes of the Bush administration in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Behold a President who has to be given a custom DVD of news clips because he knows less about the situation than someone watching CNN! Watch as frightened aides debate which unlucky bastard has to tell the President to cut short his vacation! Witness intergovernmental squabbling aboard Air Force One!
posted by pardonyou? at 2:04 PM PST - 158 comments
Horatio Hornblower, meet Gentle Fudge
Staff and researchers at the Cornwall Record Office compiled a list of more than 1,000 unusual names found in censuses as well as in births, deaths and marriage records going back as far as the 16th century.
"My all-time favorites are Abraham Thunderwolff and Freke Dorothy Fluck Lane," said Rene Jackaman, archive assistant at Cornwall County Record Office.
posted by diastematic at 1:50 PM PST - 15 comments
A movie about the deaf, but not for the deaf
Thought-provoking piece in the LAVoice: "Since I am deaf myself and require subtitles in order to watch films, we contacted the Nuart to make sure that the film was subtitled; I couldn't find anything on either the theater’s website or the distributor's website that indicated the film was subtitled. Much to our dismay, we were shocked to learn that the film - a movie about a deaf person - would not be subtitled ..."
posted by mantid at 11:36 AM PST - 12 comments
Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan
-
The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. [...] The first example for potential nuclear weapon use listed in the draft is against an enemy that is using "or intending to use WMD" against U.S. or allied, multinational military forces or civilian populations. Hmm, if we nuke them, then I guess we destroy the evidence that they were planning to use WMD against us....
posted by beth at 11:18 AM PST - 55 comments
Today in
Delta BC, a city within the
GVRD, a
fire burns out of control. The largest raised peat bog (
over 10,000 acres) in western North America,
Burns Bog is sending smoke and ash across the area. Major blazes occurred in 1977, 1990, 1994 and 1996. The 1996 fire
covered Greater Vancouver in smoke and ash for two days, destroying 170 hectares. Smaller fires have burned for months in underground methane. However, there are other
risks to the "Lungs of
Vancouver", including a proposed theme park.
posted by Kickstart70 at 9:38 AM PST - 34 comments
The laugh judgement
our competition to find the funniest and most offensive religious jokes, in response to the British government's proposed anti-religious hatred legislation, is finally over.
And we have two winners. Our funniest religious joke is about sectarianism gone mad, while our most offensive is a sick tale of tragedy on a clifftop – as voted for by Ship of Fools readers. Read on for the jokes.
posted by srboisvert at 1:37 AM PST - 97 comments
September 11
Ice Rocket
is a blog spidering search engine that seems designed to allow users to track trends over time (mentions, say, of "pepsi blue" vs "coke zero" over the
last 60 days). It's an interesting, if highly unscientific, use of bloggers writings as informal market research. No word on how many blogs are in their index, nor whether they're collecting any available demographic data on the bloggers (where such information is even available, that is).
posted by jonson at 10:47 PM PST - 12 comments
Unoticed news: riots in Belfast.
I've been surprised that I haven't seen much reporting on the riots in Belfast, especially since it is the
second night of rioting. The lack of coverage is probably due to the fact that no one has yet to be
killed coupled with the ongoing coverage of both
Katrina and John Roberts nomination.
What I find interesting about this is that these riots seem to be the
cumulation of increasing
sectarian violence. apparently, this is not the first riot to happen in Northern Ireland this
year. The Guardian has the best coverage of the events, and points out that both the
pressures and rewards of the peace process have been placed and (apparently) granted more toward the Republicans than the Loyalists. The rioting also comes after the
"Love Ulster" propaganda campaign started distributing pamphlets all over the province.
This also comes as there is an ongoing
feud between Loyalist groups. This apparently paused when the
Northern Ireland football (soccer) team beat the British team on their home turf.
Disclaimer: I am an American with some Irish extraction and tend to have very little sympathy for the Loyalist cause.
posted by Hactar at 10:47 PM PST - 50 comments
And you reckon the USA PATRIOT Act is bad?
An American peace activist, Scott Parkin (who I’ve never heard of before but wrote
this article) has been
arrested detained in Australia and will soon be repatriated to the USA, with little or no explanation. He's spent three months in Aus giving workshops and hugs and undertaking protest actions (with street theatre!) Apparently he may be a “security risk” or may be an embarrassment to the US government - and we couldn’t have that in a proud and independent country like Australia, could we? Of course, while in detention, he gets charged $130 a day. Still, I guess it's better than
'rendition'.
posted by wilful at 10:03 PM PST - 15 comments
Bill Cosby has no sense of humor...
In a move that shocked the internet to the very soles of its shoes, Bill Cosby
sent had his lawyer send a Cease and Desist letter to the creator of
channel101.com's wildly popular
House of Cosbys series, asking... nay,
demanding the cessation of all Cosby related creative material generation. That's it. That's all there is to the story.
Wait! There's more! Channel101.com's Dan Harmon wrote
an open letter to Cosby's legal team informing them of his intention to continue hosting the original 4 episodes, even if no further episodes would be made.
Hell, even the adorable
Andrew Baio loves it. But then again, Andy Baio
also likes peach colored page designs...
Channel101.com also mentioned
here and
here.
posted by shmegegge at 9:14 PM PST - 26 comments
Turdzilla wants YOU.
Think you've got what it takes? The "conceptualist" behind
GWAR (w/sound and also likely to be NSFW after a click or two) is
seeking musicians to perform the music on Turdzilla's CD.
posted by emelenjr at 9:12 PM PST - 12 comments
My Friend Dario
Hot dancers in tiny bikinis and football helmets. A lead singer that looks like a pomo Leather Tuscadero. And headbanging mulletheads playing imaginary instruments. 'Nuff said.
posted by vronsky at 7:42 PM PST - 15 comments
Being Poor ...
what it actually entails. More from
Body and Soul, and from
Making Light, and from
here's a whosit.
And
this article, in which
...they were trying to rescue people with a helicopter and the people were so poor they were afraid it would cost too much to get a ride and they had no money for a "ticket." Dupree was shaken telling us the story. He just couldn't believe these people were afraid they'd be charged for a rescue. ...
posted by amberglow at 6:32 PM PST - 35 comments
Can't beat a good protest,
and when
Less Tax On Fuel (catchy..) start then this definitely
won't be a good protest. It'll be about as much fun as their last one, although their
Forum's good for a laugh and will let you voice support when you're stuck at home cause the pumps have ran out as a result of their actions!
While everyone I know agrees that we pay too much for petrol here in the UK, blocking the roads and disrupting supplies isn't going to help. I don't know of
anyone who supports a return to the
protests of 2000.
And besides, there are some motorways in the UK where they'll be lucky to reach 20mph at rush hour. They might even speed things up..
posted by Nugget at 3:59 PM PST - 41 comments
9-11
I've never posted a link before and don't mean to create any debate or make any statement. I just thought that before the day was out we do the obvious and remember.
posted by brautigan at 1:46 PM PST - 136 comments
Some Click Candy at the Whitney
A nice update at the WHITNEY Artport site. "Benjamin Fry received his doctoral degree at the MIT Media Laboratory, where his research focused on methods of visualizing large amounts of data from dynamic information sources"
posted by Mr Bluesky at 12:29 PM PST - 3 comments
Things ain't what they used to be. Blues, jazz, Cajun and country music great Clarence
Gatemouth Brown
dies at 81. Brown safely evacuated his home in Slidell, but was said to be broken hearted by the devastation wreaked by Katrina on his beloved Louisiana.
Alligator bio (sound alert).
posted by madamjujujive at 10:52 AM PST - 31 comments
The Epicurean online.
Charles Ranhofer's 1893 book
The Epicurean is available online from the
Michigan State University Library and the
Museum as part of their
Feeding America digital project. Ranhofer was the head chef at
Delmonico's Restaurant from 1862 to 1894; he popularized the Escoffier version of French cooking to America, modifying it to take advantage of American foods such as turkey, squash, corn, and Pacific salmon. Besides thousands of recipes,
The Epicurean discusses table settings, menus, various methods of presentation, and kitchen management. The book may be downloaded as a PDF in
two parts.
posted by watsondog at 9:23 AM PST - 7 comments
September 10
The National Archives recently announced a new phase in the ongoing project called the
Electronic Records Archives (ERA) whose
vision is to catalog and make available online electronic documentation produced by the Federal government (E-mails, Word Documents, etc), which otherwise could disappear entirely or at least be very difficult to locate. Funded with over 300 million and set to debut in 2007 and be complete by 2011 it is a project of
unusual scope and complexities but promises to make government more transparent to researches and the general public.
posted by stbalbach at 8:05 PM PST - 5 comments
Own a piece of national tragedy.
Rehnquist's original signed decision on the 2000 election recount, throwing the country over to the loser of the popular vote (and, quite possibly, the loser of the electoral college) is up for auction.
posted by jonson at 7:18 PM PST - 39 comments
Blackwater:
Now in New Orleans.
"As the threat of forced evictions now looms in New Orleans and the city confiscates even legally registered weapons from civilians, the private mercenaries of Blackwater patrol the streets openly wielding M-16s and other assault weapons. This despite Police Commissioner Eddie Compass' claim that "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons.""
posted by dash_slot- at 6:37 PM PST - 106 comments
"A natural history of birds. Most of which have not been figur'd or describ'd, and others very little known from obscure or too brief descriptions without figures, or from figures very ill design'd.
" [1743] and "Birds of North America" [1903]
Samples
(the last 15 from each link): [1743]:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15.
[1903]:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15.
[MI]
posted by peacay at 11:17 AM PST - 23 comments
After the Storm
Sometime this weekend, you may be able to hear one of the best expressions of New Orleans’ role in music and culture available in any mass media. It's American Routes, a weekly show carried on
many US public radio affiliates. Programmed and hosted by
folklorist and
UNO professor of folklore and culture Nick Spitzer, the show normally broadcasts from a studio in the heart of the French Quarter, but has found a temporary home on a
Creole/Cajun French/English public radio station in Lafayette. Spitzer
told the NYT that he began planning
the music for this week’s show as he was fleeing the flooding city in his car, playing Fats Domino’s
“Walking to New Orleans."
This week’s show highlights New Orleans’ recovery from disasters past, emphasizing the city’s role as the greatest single wellspring of American music. The Crescent City, after all, has either
birthed or nurtured everything from
jazz,
R & B,
cajun and the related black-influenced zydeco,
soul,
blues,
gospel, and
rock and roll.) With an encyclopedic knowledge of American vernacular music, an utterly democratic spirit, and an unmistakeable respect and love for American musical forms and the people who create them, Spitzer has
stepped forward several times this week to serve as a compassionate and optimistic spokesman for the irrepressible
creative spirit of a suffering city and a
culture in diaspora.
posted by Miko at 8:24 AM PST - 19 comments
Vicunas.
Perhaps everyone else already knows about them, but I just learned today.
Vicunas are my new favorite animal. Not only are they intelligent, shy,
highly photogenic and notoriously difficult to tame, but they also
orgle.
This, while extremely cute, is not a vicuna.
posted by cleardawn at 8:12 AM PST - 30 comments
Temperance. Silence. Order. Resolution. Frugality. Industry. Sincerity. Justice. Moderation. Cleanliness. Chastity. Tranquility. Humility.
Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues. "He committed to giving strict attention to one virtue each week so after 13 weeks he moved through all 13. After 13 weeks he would start the process over again so in one year he would complete the course a total of 4 times."
posted by nthdegx at 6:38 AM PST - 32 comments
What Aren't We Seeing? Panoramic (high-res) Photographs of Profound Geological Erosion.
When we're in
Monument Valley, it's tempting to say that we're looking at monuments - large hunks of stone scattered across the landscapes like statues to honor past heroes, or tombstones to honor the dead.
A
closer look tells us there's more to it than that. As we scan from one "monument" to the next, we can see in each monument a sloping base of roughly uniform vertical thickness and then straightsided rock of very uniform thickness. The rock is the same in all of them, suggesting that they were all part of two (or many more) uniform layers of stone that extended across the entire region.
And how about
here, where the Front Range and the Great Plains meet. Do you see a fault? An experienced geological observer would see a high ridge to the left with at most a few scattered ragged exposures of rock, whereas a prominent ridge of sedimentary rock juts up in the middle but is nowhere to be seen to the left. The road that we see going away from us on the left side of the image seems to separate two rather different areas. That observation provides us with a hypothesis: maybe there's a fault between two different kinds of rock. (
more discussion here, and don't miss the
Virtual Field Trip to a Major Unconformity).
posted by derangedlarid at 1:22 AM PST - 21 comments
September 9
Solutions For Grandeur
Nicolas Sarkozy has become the most popular French politician by diving headfirst into the country’s most explosive political issues. If he has his way, this hyperactive, pro-American, Gaullist, free marketer will transform French politics for good. via
posted by Kwantsar at 9:25 PM PST - 18 comments
It should be mentioned wherever possible,
and it should not stop until the mainstream media and all politicians realize that we, the people, will not stand for gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, nor the utter lies, any longer."We" the people? Or just a couple of blowhard bloggers? Do you feel a storm brewing?
posted by If I Had An Anus at 9:07 PM PST - 56 comments
Know Thy Neighbor
--playing hardball with those who sign a petition amending Massachusetts' Constitution to end same-sex marriage there. All who sign it will have their names and addresses posted on the site. It's the brainchild of Thomas Lang and Alexander Westerhoff, one of the first gay couples married in Massachusetts.
A little more here, including this: ...altering the state Constitution is a big deal, and if the backers of this (or any) constitutional amendment can't find 66,000 Massachusetts residents who feel strongly enough about doing so that they're willing to make their support public, then maybe the measure shouldn't be on the ballot after all. ...
posted by amberglow at 5:57 PM PST - 227 comments
Paying for Katrina:
Republican congressman Zach Wamp of Tennessee suggested today that the costs associated with Katrina were 'good reason to at least delay' expanding the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Should the elderly and poor be expected to bear this burden?
posted by wadefranklin at 2:42 PM PST - 24 comments
U.S. Can Detain Padilla Indefinitely.
President George W. Bush was handed a major victory on Friday in his effort to assert sweeping presidential powers in the war on terrorism as a US appeals court upheld his authority to imprison indefinitely a US citizen captured on American soil.
posted by solistrato at 1:48 PM PST - 76 comments
The Third Annual World Quoits Championship
will be held tomorrow in Amityville, PA. This ancient game,
related to the discus, involves pitching rings at a peg in the ground. Once widely played in the
UK and US, the game of quoits has declined in popularity over the years, replaced in the US by its derivative--
horseshoes (which are easier to throw and more likely to score “ringers”). Today, it’s a regional pastime, played primarily in
PA,
NJ and
NY. Learn everything there is to know about quoits
here. They’ll even find you a
partner.
posted by jrossi4r at 12:39 PM PST - 6 comments
Shutterbook
- "drag and drop photo sharing." A flash-based Flickr-esque photo community..."
The service is similar to Flickr before Yahoo and while it is in an open beta at the moment, there will be a cost for the premium version..."
posted by tpl1212 at 12:22 PM PST - 22 comments
La Tomatina!
Every year, on the last Wednesday in August, the world's biggest
food fight takes place at the Plaza Del Pueblo in the small town of Buñol in Spain. In
2005, the streets
ran red with juice of 25 tons of tomatoes.
posted by Gamblor at 10:10 AM PST - 13 comments
Katrinanomore&global warming
Welcome to the first web site in America dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the connection between hurricane Katrina and global warming.
See below an essay just written by author Mike Tidwell that explains how climate change will soon turn every coastal city in America into another New Orleans unless we make a rapid switch to clean, renewable energy worldwide.
posted by Postroad at 8:57 AM PST - 42 comments
In the summer of 1995 there was a week-long
heat wave in Chicago. Over 700 people died. Most of them were the elderly, poor, and African-Americans. Link above is a Slate article by Eric Klinberg who wrote the definitive
Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (2003) in which he concludes that "a city, in its decision to operate like a corporation, experienced the breakdown of massive social services" and the resulting "widening cracks in the social foundations of America's cities".
posted by stbalbach at 6:25 AM PST - 20 comments
Yes, it's another Katrina post - sorry, but...
this is a great photo essay from with New Orleans before, during and after Katrina. Besides some really interesting photography, it goes some way to showing just why people didn't leave before, or immediately after the hurricane - the sense of normality is astounding, given what we know now...
posted by benzo8 at 4:39 AM PST - 104 comments
Rami Chami, a graduate student entering Tulane University, was among those who sought refuge in the Superdome. Chami was formerly an editor at the
Indiana Daily Student, and has written a three-part series for the paper about the experience.
"The field before us, which would have been ideal to lay down on was empty, but off bounds. The field was manned by National Guardsmen who would not allow people on it. I was told by those around me that it was a multi-million dollar field which the stadium management did not want ruined."
"Our first choices for a bed that evening were: a wet floor, damp chair or in the reeking but dry hallway."
"The atmosphere in the dome had gotten incredibly tense and the soldiers were walking around with shotguns, which I assumed was an ideal weapon for close quarter combat."
posted by kyleg at 12:27 AM PST - 26 comments
September 8
NO First Responders
and their families are getting some time off in Las Vegas. In the wake of
two suicides and lots of resignations, some first responders are being rotated out to get a break from the stress of responding to the disaster. The trips are being paid for by the Red Cross as well as donations from
Station Casinos and
Allegiant Air. The first group arrived Tuesday, and gets five days to check out the town and get some rest - sleeping in soft beds, eating hot meals, gamble if they please and maybe catch a show or two. Other cities like Atlanta are also participating in helping the first responders get away from the disaster zone to get a break.
posted by SirOmega at 10:26 PM PST - 8 comments
Lustron House
"We were revolutionizing a whole industry," said Richard Jones, former Lustron vice president of sales. "We were saying with our house: 'You put down a hammer and a saw and pick up a wrench.'" Though radical in its use of porcelain enameled steel, the Lustron house — a one-story, gabled-roof ranch with a bay window and side porch — looked much like other postwar-era dwellings. Behind its traditional façade, however, lay the hopes and expectations for a new era in American housing.
posted by goalyeehah at 9:54 PM PST - 14 comments
OpenDemocracy
It's terrible terrible that the one institution which was created at the end of World War II to prevent any future wars from occurring. It is going to be the next place where these fasicists are going to be gunning for.
posted by N8k99 at 8:29 PM PST - 37 comments
Genes Reveal Recent Human Brain Evolution.
Two important
new papers in the journal
Science (available
here) from the evolutionary geneticist and rising star, Bruce T. Lahn (see
this recent profile from
The Scientist), are potentially the tips of some very large icebergs. The papers document how two genes related to brain properties that underwent strong selection during the course of hominid evolution, have
continued undergoing strong selection since the emergence of anatomically modern man. The papers wonderfully illustrate how biological evolution is an
ongoing process as well as the
artificial distinction between “micro” and “macro” evolution, and promise to be controversial for two reasons: First, the brain genes underwent the strongest selection during
two periods of cultural and technological efflorescence (roughly 37,000 and 5,800 years ago). Second, the genes are distributed very differently in modern human population groups, existing at very high frequencies in some groups and being very rare in others, ensuring that the modern function of these genes will be a source of more research and much impassioned debate. More
observations from anthropologist John Hawks.
posted by Jason Malloy at 7:29 PM PST - 54 comments
In an interview with American ABC TV news to be broadcast on Friday (US time), Colin Powell , former Secretary of State, describes
his speech to the UN Security Council on Iraq's WMD capabilities as
"a blot" on his record. "I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now," [Powell] said. Finally, some recognition of this fact, albeit two years too late.
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:43 PM PST - 61 comments
Vancouver's elite Urban SAR team has been and returned, having helped out in New Orleans in the way they were trained. There's more help on the way from Canada, in the form of
Operation Unison; this includes a
a Canadian Navy flotilla consisting of the destroyer
HMCS Athabaskan, the frigates
HMCS Toronto and
HMCS Ville de Quebec and the Canadian Coast Guard boat tender
HMCS Sir William Alexander. The flotilla carries around 1000 servicepeople, many of them medical and rescue specialists, in addition to engineering and construction crews. Additionally,
forty Canadian navy clearance divers will be accompanying the relief force. Despite recent diplomatic spats between our two nations (notably over Iraq, cattle and softwood lumber) we remain good neighbours. After
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci's departure Canada was awaiting an even worse adversary in replacement
Ambassador Wilkins. And yet, despite Wilkin's lack of knowledge of things Canadian,
he appears to have a significantly greater measure of humility than dick-swinging Cellucci ever did. In any case, as "irrelevant and disappointing" as Canada is to
the likes of Bill O'Reilly, we're on our way to help our friends to the south.
posted by illiad at 11:36 AM PST - 51 comments
Losing New Orleans:
Four months before it happened, I described for a New York editor, in detail and with stunning accuracy, the tragedy that is now unfolding in New Orleans.
In April, I e-mailed the editor my proposal. Two weeks later, she sent her response.
As much as I hate saying this,” she wrote, “the only way for this book to actually work is if New Orleans had already sunk.”
I’d like to know what “transportation security” meant to Mr. Hutchinson, if it did not include the concept of evacuating a stricken city, or protecting its great port, or safeguarding the third of our nation’s fuel that enters by way of New Orleans?
If I, a reporter in Little Rock, with nothing more than Internet access, a car and a telephone, could predict, almost hour-by-hour, the horror that Katrina would unleash, what were Hutchinson and his cronies at Homeland Security doing with all the assets at their disposal and nearly $40 billion in funding?
posted by thisisdrew at 9:45 AM PST - 71 comments
Bizarre music video
featuring a cgi animated Nazi army composed of anthropomorphized piglets. The video is for a song called Shvayne by a 19 year old Russian singer named
Natasha Ionova, who performs under the name
Glukoza.
Video is embedded flash animation.
posted by jonson at 7:32 AM PST - 40 comments
Louisiana Leads in Army Corps Spending, but Millions Had Nothing to Do With Floods
In Katrina's wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times as large.
[H]undreds of millions of dollars have gone to unrelated water projects demanded by the state's congressional delegation and approved by the Corps, often after economic analyses that turned out to be inaccurate. Despite a series of independent investigations criticizing Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending, Louisiana's representatives have kept bringing home the bacon.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 7:14 AM PST - 71 comments
September 7
"I come from Harvard...
there's no testin' me,
1-6-double-doughnut on the S.A.T..." Gates
raps! I've seen references to this around the web a couple of times, but I just discovered I had a friend who is actually in it. Yes,
Nerds:// the Musical! is about to open its limited run at the Beckett Theatre for the New York Musical Theatre Festival and, from what he's saying about the response to previews and earlier runs, your next chance to see it might involve much heftier
ticket prices. Will Bill come? Will Steve?
Woz might!
posted by umberto at 7:15 PM PST - 6 comments
Next generation page for weather sat info
Tutorial is attached to the "New User" button.
This is nice. "Purpose" is some Flash thing I can't read but the weather satellite maps (USA, for now) are very nicely done.
You can see the lights coming on as the sunset line sweeps across the country. Except, of course, where they're off ...
posted by hank at 6:58 PM PST - 4 comments
Nagin Knockin Noggins on Blanco Na-Na?
"The mayor certainly has ordered [mandatory evacuation of New Orleans] but the governor, and that would be me, would have to enforce it or implement it. We are trying to determine whether there is an absolute justification for that," she told FOX News - Wed Sept 7 2005
posted by dand at 6:35 PM PST - 39 comments
Beyond Incompetence
Reading the news after the Katrina Hurricane and the lack-of-response disaster, a pattern began to emerge. Mainstream media compilation - Collective Bellaciao
via xymphora, which has several other uniquely critical posts on Katrina
posted by ism at 6:04 PM PST - 29 comments
Opinion: No time for turf wars--and much more
coverage worth reading
People at all levels of government will have to answer for what they did and didn’t do in the days before and after Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has earned scorching criticism for its day-late-and-billions-short response to the ghastly crisis in New Orleans. And maybe it was only a matter of time before officials at FEMA and its parent organization, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, began looking for others to blame.
posted by Postroad at 4:32 PM PST - 18 comments
The New York Times is offering Katrina reporters trauma counselling.
Reporters covering warzones in Iraq, Chechnya and the Sudan were not offered near-mandatory trauma counselling by the newspaper of record.
Journalists in Lousiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast were.
"In fact, the circumstances were so shocking to reporters that according to one staff member, The New York Times e-mailed information about dealing with trauma to reporters in the field, outlining warning signs; employee-assistance counselors also placed calls to reporters."
posted by huskerdont at 12:37 PM PST - 35 comments
Marvel to finance up to ten new films
— Marvel Entertainment has received a line of credit to produce new superhero films. The characters in the arrangement are
Captain America,
The Avengers,
Nick Fury,
Black Panther,
Ant-Man,
Cloak &
Dagger,
Dr. Strange,
Hawkeye,
Power Pack, and
Shang-Chi. "These movies are tentpoles for either summer or the holidays," said Marvel chairman and CEO,
Avi Arad. Right. Because who wouldn't want to see a film about Hawkeye? Or Ant-Man? I can't wait! (Related:
how to make a superhero movie that doesn't suck. My first thought? Have a superhero that doesn't suck.)
posted by jdroth at 10:15 AM PST - 138 comments
Rick Santorum isn't afraid to kick people
even when it's not popular to do so. Yesterday he showed off his future Presidential nature once again by calling for tougher penalties for people who
won't evacuate when told to by the government (no clarification if there's a distinction for
can't). Given the evidence that race and economic class were
primary indicators of whether or not people were able to be evacuated from New Orleans before the disaster--is he being dense, insensitive or just playing to his traditional values base?
posted by illovich at 8:53 AM PST - 145 comments
September 6
Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Hurricane Risk Reduction from Cuba [pdf]
Oxfam America report described Cuba's community-based response system in April 2004, five months before category 5 hurricane Ivan tore across the island but resulted in zero deaths. From
Medicc Review: "Of those evacuated, fully 78%...were sheltered in the homes of family, friends or neighbors. 8,026 tourists were transferred to safe areas. 359,644 boarding school students were transferred to their homes. 898,160 farm animals in vulnerable areas were moved to safer ground." The International Red Cross had
similar praise for Cuba's planning after Hurricane Michelle in 2001: " The contrast between events in Cuba and earlier disasters, such as Hurricanes Mitch and Georges in 1998 and the floods in Venezuela in 1999, is enormous."
posted by mediareport at 8:34 PM PST - 34 comments
Weasel words
'Spare Don Watson, author of Death Sentences from all of these weasely, wishy-washy, and worst of all, ugly bits of management-speak that have drifted out of consulting sessions and into the social realm.' Forbes.com.....................
Your favourite
spin doctoring ?
posted by johnny7 at 8:09 PM PST - 31 comments
Katrina timeline
And
another , as the first only goes up till Friday the 2nd. Both these only reference verified events. That said, these both seem to have been done by left-leaning people, and I'd like to see some right-wing or even (*ghasp*) non-partisan ones.
posted by delmoi at 7:55 PM PST - 42 comments
Dead Zones - Causes and Consequences
Found by way of
this article series where I read:
"Ask scientists, government types, fishermen, almost anyone about the low-oxygen zone coming off the mouth of the Mississippi River and one question spills from their lips.
"Have you talked to Nancy Rabalais?" ... marine ecologist Rabalais has led the search for answers to the 8,500-square-mile zone and the charge to find a solution. "
-----
From the first linked page, you can view eight video clips -- each about 9.5 minutes long -- of a February 2005 slide lecture. She's awesome.
posted by hank at 5:43 PM PST - 10 comments
The Old Man vs. The Comeback Kid.
On Wednesday evening at 7pm EST
Andre Agassi will face
James Blake in the US Open Quarterfinals. At 35, this will be Agassi's 20th appearance at the US Open. Although he's been
persistently dodging plans for retirement this may possibly be the last time Agassi graces
Arthur Ashe court. James Blake's story is different. At 25, he's spent the past year and a half
recovering from a neck fracture, the death of his father and an illness in which he temporarily lost feeling in his face and suffered from blurry vision. He will also be the first black man to reach the quarterfinals in the US open in 23 years. Will this match-up be a passing of the torch to a younger generation of US men's tennis players or will experience prevail over youth? Regardless, this may be one of the most anticipated matches at the US Open since Agassi faced Pete Sampras in the
2002 final.
posted by quadog at 3:56 PM PST - 26 comments
Blair apologizes
to Britons caught in New Orleans during Katrina. The British Foreign Office was repeatedly "rebuffed" by both US State Department and Louisiana state officials when it came to getting their own citizens out. Some US rescuers even took photos of stranded Britons, and asked them to flash their tops (a la Mardi Gras)...leaving without them when they wouldn't comply. British nationals were
