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September 2001 Archives
September 30
The corruption of Everything
-- For
quite a while now I have been happily reading and enjoying the entries in
Everything2 As Metafilter has seen a
number of references to user contributed guides I thought it might be a good
time to discuss a common phenomenon that seems to be now finding it's way into
Everything...
more in the thread ->
posted by soulhuntre at 7:19 PM PST - 16 comments
Remember Zork, Planetfall, and the other creations of late game company Infocom? Well, "interactive fiction," as the format is called, is still alive and well. Every year the IF community -- which is known for releasing work of quality far surpassing even Infocom's masterpieces -- holds a competition for short works, and
this year's contestants have been released! Read this post's comments for more info...
posted by tweebiscuit at 6:56 PM PST - 13 comments
Contentville
goes
Splitsville. Steven Brill's online newsstand -- originally funded with $130 million from CBS, NBC and Primedia in
February 2000 -- closed their doors today. In a memo to his staff, Brill wrote, "My idea for Contentville just didn't work." I'm guessing that heavy competition from other online retailers and an abundance of freely available online content did them in.
posted by waxpancake at 6:29 PM PST - 9 comments
De La Guarda (Flash-only, navigate through to 'Shows' section)
This Argentinian collective mixes dance, music, climbing and circus skills in their show 'Villa Villa', which has played in London, Las Vegas and (currently) in New York. They've managed to sum up the whole tribal, visceral experience (think rave rather than Cirque de Soleil) via this site's interactive elements.
posted by skylar at 3:18 PM PST - 7 comments
The next step in paperless offices? "
Augmented Surfaces" is a research project at Sony. They've developed continuous workspaces that use wall and table surfaces as an extension of the computer desktop. Amazing stuff, though I can't think of a use for it besides exchanging info during meetings.
posted by mathowie at 1:47 PM PST - 19 comments
Kansas state senator decries women's suffrage
in a shocking speech given at a League of Women Voters luncheon. "We have a society that does tear families apart," Sen. Kay O'Connor said. "I think the 19th Amendment, while it's not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don't approve of."
posted by MegoSteve at 9:11 AM PST - 46 comments
Justice O'Connor foresees cutbacks in personal liberties.
Sandra Day O'Connor, during remarks given at the groundbreaking ceremonies for a Law School Building at NYU, cautions Americans that we may face restrictions in our personal freedoms. No real specifics in the remarks, but intriguing in that she would be among those having the final say as to the constitutionality of any laws that arise out of the "War on Terrorism". She poses some interesting questions in her remarks. And she is considered to be one of the moderate Justices.
posted by MAYORBOB at 8:19 AM PST - 13 comments
Defense of Freedom Medal:
Civilians on government business who were injured or died in the course of 9/11 to be awarded a new Defense of Freedom medal. Interesting, but this will mean little for the thousands of civilians who were in private employment. Link via the online version of
Stars and Stripes.
posted by DBAPaul at 8:01 AM PST - 4 comments
From the essay by Ziauddin Sardar:
Scroll 2/3 of the way down--it's from
I.S.I.S. The Institute For Islamic Secularization
A Call for Caution and Prudence
* We need free inquiry of the religious premises of the growing conflagration.
* We need rational debate of the questionable premises of a "holy war" or jihad.
* We need a rational debate of the biblical call for retribution.
* We call upon the United States not to act unilaterally and to petition the United Nations to establish a peace-keeping force.
* All terrorists when apprehended should be brought to the World Court at the Hague and put on trial.
* The basic constitutional civil liberties of America should not be abrogated.
--Perhaps we're all best off with the godless making the rules?
posted by y2karl at 12:03 AM PST - 8 comments
September 29
Taliban leader's ex-bodyguard says
"We laughed when we heard the Americans asking Mullah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden," he said. "The Americans are crazy. It is Osama bin Laden who can hand over Mullah Omar - not the other way round." Take a look at this insider's personal account of the Taliban that some are so eager to apologize for in the name of cultural relativism.
posted by rushmc at 6:17 PM PST - 27 comments
Stop having sex.
Swaziland's King has ordered the women in his 25% AIDS infected country to stop having sex. Good idea or will this just encourage the even more riskier homosexual sex among frustrated males?
posted by skallas at 5:45 PM PST - 33 comments
Wikipedia
is a free on-line encyclopedia that allows users to write entries about nearly any topic. MSNBC's take on it can be found
here.
posted by ttrendel at 12:58 PM PST - 8 comments
Real's Last Hoorah?
A beta version of their next-generation player, "RealOne", is now available to download: it's pretty, and does all the media library/ripper/encoder things we're now accustomed to seeing. But the with Microsoft aggressively marketing Windows Media Player as part of XP, with much the same features, is Real set to go the way of Netscape, or will its streaming format keep it in business?
posted by holgate at 12:51 PM PST - 37 comments
You Gotta Love Those New York Firemen
Or "How Cartman's Fireman Suddenly Took On A Whole New Meaning". Just to show there is always an upside to everything, it seems some Manhattan girls are doing their bit for their country and enjoying themselves into the bargain. Hey, is this the spirit or what?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:42 PM PST - 27 comments
Did the earth move for you?
Encouraging to see good things coming from bad. Suddenly bickering with a partner doesn't seem so clever. Hugging and - yes -
sex might just be the right response. Relationships stronger after 9.11? How's yours?
posted by grahamwell at 12:06 PM PST - 16 comments
Speaking of famous people and religion,
Jet Li talks about religion, and his views on them.
"...upon closer inspection, the underlying heart and central principle in every religion is the same. Every religion boils down to love, to a respect for all living things, to choosing peace over violence as a means of resolving a conflict."
posted by jcterminal at 11:36 AM PST - 13 comments
Yusuf Islam
(the artist formerly known as
Cat Stevens) is donating a hefty chunk of the royalties from his forthcoming US 4-CD Box Set (spanning 1965-1997 and due out 30 Oct 01) to the
September 11th Fund, with the remainder going to homeless charities in underdeveloped countries. He's issued two statements on the WTC tragedy; a brief initial comment from
September 12th and a more considered message on
September 18th.
(more inside)
posted by RavinDave at 11:28 AM PST - 8 comments
After al-Qaeda?
Since the "battle against terrorism will be fought worldwide", is it going to target, among others, the groups in Northern Ireland, ETA, Kach and Kahane Chai(!)? Also, it's notable there has been no mention of the long history of financing and arms for the IRA and such that emanates from the US.
posted by mmarcos at 10:21 AM PST - 10 comments
Considering marriage? Now, with the RPG
You Stupid Bitch! you can experience the bliss of marriage (or, as the author of the game puts it, "the struggles between two manipulative vipers") with only your imagination and some old D&D dice. In a more literary mood? Try the
Wuthering Heights RPG. [Original link via
Portal of Evil.]
posted by arco at 7:00 AM PST - 1 comments
21st Century Warfare
I've been waiting for the new issue of
G2mil The Magazine of Future Warfare to be posted to get Carlton Meyers' line on all things post September 11th and it's an all-you-can-eat buffet chock full o'links from a former Marine Corps officer--an anti-imperialist, anti-military/industrialist contrarian extraordinaire. Check out the special war supplement and assess
the military options in Afghanistan before you launch into a by jingo paean to what he refers to as
Tom Clancy fantasies about the Rangers. Do some extensive research in the magazine's back issues to read articles like
Demobilize The US Army,
21st Century Battleships - the U.S. Navy's greatest need,
why China can't invade Taiwan--not to mention the $$$ saving concepts like
the B-747 bomber...& his line on
National Missile Defense?
The irony is that, if a workable NMD system is ever fielded, it only guarantees that a better method of delivery would be used, like a civilian airplane, ship, or truck. Tons of drugs are smuggled into the USA each year, can NMD stop that dangerous cargo? Almost two million people illegally cross America's borders each year with un-inspected luggage, can NMD stop them? Why spend billions of dollars each year on NMD while ignoring the real dangers?
That was from July...
posted by y2karl at 12:41 AM PST - 16 comments
Find A Grave
is a searchable database of 2.8 million grave records. Many records include photos, especially the
famous graves. They include the
good, the
bad, and the
ugly. The award for most famous graves in one photo might be this
one.
posted by stevis at 12:19 AM PST - 13 comments
MSNBC reporting 5 Americans arrested in Afghanistan near Iran border and that they are part of a special ops team.
posted by slowlightning at 12:16 AM PST - 2 comments
September 28
My Mom just got back from the
Ionesco festival in New York. It sounds cool - it's usually hard to find stagings of even Ionesco's most famous plays, but these people seem to be doing everything.
posted by crunchburger at 9:29 PM PST - 2 comments
Oysterhead
is Primus bassist Les Claypool, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, and Police drummer Stewart Copeland. Having listened to sample cuts from their forthcoming debut album, all I can say is:
omigod! What would be your musical dream team?
posted by scottandrew at 5:57 PM PST - 55 comments
Interested in taming your man?
Upon first review of the advice given, I was guffawing, and thinking man what kind of
milksop would this be effective on. After thinking some more about it, I started to wonder if I would be affected by it. I mean would my Pavlovian response to sex, in effect, allow my wife to train me, and would I mind?
posted by patrickje at 12:35 PM PST - 11 comments
Dear Muslims: Please Respect Women So That We Can Respect You
Islam is a noble religion but it does have a massive problem with women. Who, at the last count, actually represent over 50% of human beings. Yes, they are that -perhaps even more than men; but, at least, just as much.
Psyche and rev up your agenda with a great(and unusually short!)article by great historian David Landes and another not-less-worthy member of the Landes tribe.
P.S. It's good to be back. Thank you warmly!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:03 AM PST - 50 comments
I was watching "The Craft" last night,
and noticed that they censored the image of
Robin Tunney's parents' plane going down (actually a
Glamour, but you know that), and later Nieve Campbell's character says "you know the [silence]", they actually cut out the words "plane crash". Has anybody else noticed this kind of censorship? Would anybody have been really shocked to hear Nieve say "plane crash"? Do you think the WB would've been swamped with calls? It's bad enough what they did to
homer or what the geniuses at
clear channel are doing. Good movie, though.
posted by signal at 9:42 AM PST - 16 comments
Cats always know.
Great photo of a kitten + current events. I'll probably have this forwarded to me via email at least 47 times by next week.
posted by jragon at 9:26 AM PST - 5 comments
Osama's Place...
"In a town full of soldiers, on the edge of Fort Bragg, there could be worse names for a restaurant these days than Osama's Place, but it is hard to think of any."
posted by stchang at 8:46 AM PST - 14 comments
Tool
played in Philly last night, and I was lucky enough to go. Always wanted to see them, but for certain reasons, never have till now. Any bands out there you've been wanting to see live, or wanted to see live before a split-up ruined your chances?
posted by mich9139 at 7:28 AM PST - 93 comments
...the Terrorist Deportation Plan can't wait.
There will be two fail-safes: (1) Muslim immigrants who agree to spy on the millions of Muslim citizens unaffected by the deportation order can stay; and (2) any Muslim immigrant who gets a U.S. senator to waive his deportation -- by name -- gets to stay......
Ann Coulter, expanding on the whole 'Love thy neighbor' thing
posted by thewittyname at 7:25 AM PST - 28 comments
Subscription-based web tools: another nail in the coffin of free web services?
Yahoo is apparently testing the waters for a subscription-based web Office app. I use their (free)
email,
notepad,
bookmark and
briefcase tools on occasion. Nice to have, but you have to wonder how long they can remain free. Don't know if I would pay for them, depends on what service level guarantees they would offer in return. How would people would react if they suddenly started charging for these things? Is it still too unrealistic to wonder how long till our operating system needs a local drive only to boot up?
posted by mmarcos at 6:32 AM PST - 8 comments
Sex no longer interesting.
"All the major search engines reported that the word 'sex' had fallen out of their top ten search terms for the first time in the web's young history, replaced with the likes of 'BBC' and 'CNN'." (Scroll down to "SARAH LEFT ON INTERNET NEWS".)
posted by pracowity at 5:12 AM PST - 14 comments
A sign of Global recession?
For the first time I can remember, it's cheaper to buy a console in the UK than it is the States. Over here, we're used to seeing straight dollar to pound conversions ($299 = £299), so this is a first.
Do you think it's sign of recession or just Sony developing a conscience?
posted by jiroczech at 2:49 AM PST - 10 comments
September 27
Leaking troop movement?
This new report says the U.S. has had special forces troops inside Afghanistan for
two weeks now. I understand "everything" is leaked in Washington, but shouldn't there be something sacred about the locations of troops?
posted by owillis at 10:16 PM PST - 30 comments
The Froggy Page
was the
Cool Site of the Day from August 8, 1994. It's the oldest site archived there without the disclaimer, "site no longer live". The page sure looks like it was built in '94 -- not even a single table! (Can anyone who was coding back then confirm if the code is really that old?) Does anyone have a favorite site from those good old days?
posted by mattpfeff at 7:10 PM PST - 36 comments
The Few, The Proud, the Geeky
"U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has called for the creation of the technology equivalent of the National Guard: 'That's what I'd like to propose. What this country needs is essentially a technology equivalent of the National Guard: a National Emergency Technology Guard - NET Guard - that in times of crisis would be in a position to mobilize our nation's information technology, or IT, community to action quickly, just as the National Guard is ready to move during emergencies.'" Akk! Volunteer geeks on patrol!
posted by bclark at 1:43 PM PST - 19 comments
Disturbing Search Requests
is redirecting all traffic from search engine results to
this page as a statement about America's response to the terrorist attacks. (To see how this works, click the first result in
this search.) Is this really the right message to put in the minds of newbies looking for Britney naked?
posted by me3dia at 12:59 PM PST - 24 comments
I'll show you mine...
"DeskSwap is a multi-user screensaver that swaps images of the user's desktop with others using the screensaver."
posted by o2b at 12:12 PM PST - 9 comments
Star Trek-Enterprise
Yes, last night was the debut of the latest Star Trek Saga.. the tale of the first shape..the first Enterprise. Rather then sitting through the fan boy never ever seen a woman necked that was in 2D opinions over at slashdot, I decided to sort through some (sic) intelligent statements. So what did you think.. more inside.
posted by crackheadmatt at 9:21 AM PST - 98 comments
Taliban miraculously finds bin Laden!
Afghan authorities have delivered a message to Osama bin Laden advising him of a decision by the country's clerics recommending that he leave Afghanistan voluntarily, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan said Thursday.
posted by madreblu at 9:01 AM PST - 14 comments
NaNoWriMo...
Yes, boys and girls, it's time to prepare for the National Novel Writing Month! 50,000 words in 30 days. Are you up to the challenge? I'm taking the plunge... [Via
Caterina.net]
posted by silusGROK at 8:04 AM PST - 27 comments
All this talk of US retaliation is stirring even more waters
in Pakistan's religious instutions: "Now listen, American, and listen well," says Hussain Zaeef, 21. He reads from Page 12 of the manual: " 'Bomb their embassies and vital economic centers.' That's what I will do to you and your country. I will get your children. I will get their playgrounds. I will get their schools, too. I will get all of you."
posted by agnok47 at 2:46 AM PST - 14 comments
Family fude..
to fly, or not to fly? That is the question.. mother and daughter have debate over flying the American flag.. sad sad sad world it is today.. well.. at least her daughter has good sense..
posted by KimmishKim at 1:19 AM PST - 33 comments
September 26
The ever catty Michael Musto
(of The Village Voice) first gives us a sad look at Windows on the World's Executive Chef Michael Lomonaco and the great loss he sufferred. But what makes this column linkable, I think, is Musto's defense of preserving irony in the face of those who declare it dead:
"I'm also going borderline thanks to all the columnists, editors, and talk show hosts declaring the end of irony (excuse me, but a wry, mocking sense of perspective is the hallmark of a free society), and saying that what they do is now trivial and irrelevant and they're having trouble continuing. Funny, they did their trivial s**t all through the AIDS crisis and other globe-threatening horrors, but now they're thinking twice? Well, I've always thought my subject matter was smallish and specialized, but I approach it with utter seriousness, because it matters to me and aims to provide relief, entertainment, and sometimes even information to others. If I could cure cancer or reattach limbs, I would, but this is what I do, and in the face of threats to our liberty, it's crucial to seize back the chance to do what we do! Besides, there are enough people beating their chests, waving the flag, and screaming, 'Get the bastards!'"
posted by adrober at 10:46 PM PST - 12 comments
Is Mars the answer?
The healing process will take years. The moon landing was a peaceful demonstation of America's technological leadership in the 20th century. Could a Mars landing do the same for the 21st?
posted by Loudmax at 10:34 PM PST - 30 comments
Jesse Jackson invited to visit the Taliban.
They've asked him to lead a peace delegation to come talk to them; he's thinking it over. My question is this: How far does he have to go before he's providing "aid and comfort" to our enemies (i.e. before he's committing treason)? I hope he'll do the right thing (stay home and shut up) but I doubt it.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 10:00 PM PST - 24 comments
On the O'Reilly Factor, Phil Donahue leads a compelling
argument for why bombing Afghanistan may NOT be the best course of action. It's obvious how the conservative O'Reilly feels about this and although the transcript hardly does the interview justice, Bill O'Reilly finally gets out-interrupted and is verbally handled by his own guest. (more)
posted by edwardko at 8:36 PM PST - 9 comments
An Exhibit on Campus Celebrates Grisly Deed.
The exhibit at Al Najah University, the largest in the West Bank, has outraged Israelis since it opened on Sunday. The most contentious section is a mock-up of the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem where 15 people were killed in a suicide attack in August including not only gnawed pizza crusts but bloody plastic body parts suspended from the ceiling as if they were blasting through the air.
(Registration Required)
posted by tpoh.org at 8:16 PM PST - 1 comments
Who is a "terrorist"?
Is the US, in an effort to build a coalition all too willing to break bread with states that sponsor it? I scoffed at the notion that "terrorism" is a
subjective word until this article pointed out that one of our prospective coalition partners is attempting to define the "separatists" in Taiwan and Tibet as such. "
Are you willing to look the other way while Iran funds Hezbollah?"
posted by phatboy at 6:13 PM PST - 16 comments
No More AOL CDs!
I was going to post this on September 11th. (This was before I realized we weren't simply dealing with a single errant airplane.)
Send this guy your AOL coasters. When he gets a million, he's going to dump them on AOL's doorstep.
posted by tpoh.org at 5:04 PM PST - 21 comments
So you read the "Madman and the Professor"
and thought it interesting.
Edward Ruloff is another murdering philologist with the extra cachet that his 1871 trial for killing a dry-goods clerk was one of the first to test the
admissability of photographs as evidence. The Supreme Court agreed with lower rulings that they could be allowed; Ruloff was
hanged. In 1845, he had been accused of murdering his wife and child and was imprisoned for ten years for the abduction of his wife, but without a
corpus delecti, he could not be convicted for the murder of his child.
This man is writing a biography of Ruloff; a publisher could do a lot worse.
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:06 PM PST - 3 comments
Love Bomb!
Finally, a creative idea for the "New War." Granted, it wouldn't solve the whole mess, but it might be a step in the right direction. It sure wouldn't make us any new enemies.
"A panel of four Williams College professors urged restraint in the so-called war on terrorism Monday, with one of them calling upon America to bomb Afghanistan not with explosives but with food and medical supplies.
Anthropology professor David Edwards, speaking during a public forum at Chapin Hall, said airlifts similar to those provided to West Berlin by the United States and Britain in 1948 and 1949 could prove a public relations coup and an unexpected blow to terrorist Osama bin Ladin, in a country wracked by starvation, civil war and oppression.
"Bin Laden expects us to strike with military force. It's what he's prepared for. In dealing with terrorism, you have to do the unexpected," said Edwards, an expert on Afghanistan who was joined on the panel by political science professors Marc Lynch, Gary Jacobsohn and James McAllister."
posted by martk at 1:54 PM PST - 31 comments
White House Reprimands Bill Maher...
Remarking on Bill Maher's recent (and ill-timed) comments, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said "Americans ... need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.''
Mr Fleischer: there's never a time for a comment like that from the White House.
posted by silusGROK at 1:40 PM PST - 69 comments
Further Flag Folderol
Teacher gets suspended for allegedly burning the American flag in front of his class. Will this wave of disrespect continue its unflagging pace? I wonder what the rest of the staff thinks. And you, of course.
posted by gazingus at 10:45 AM PST - 44 comments
From safety to where.
This article provides a great, in-depth look at the World Trade Center from an architectural standpoint. Beginning with its lead architect, a Japanese man who suffered himself from the racism of the WW2 era, it goes over the structure of the buildings and reasons why the center withstood the 1993 bombing -- and, for a while, the impacts of the two hijacked planes -- and what the future for New York and the businesses affected may hold. (Thanks to
overmorgen for the link.)
posted by moz at 10:19 AM PST - 5 comments
Jihad vs. McWorld
I read this in
college, and it was recently talked about on
NPR. (I did a search on MeFi and couldn't find it linked). Interesting article written 9 years ago but significant today, addressing the
"brutal realities of Jihad and the dull realities of McWorld". Thoughts? (warning, loooong read)
posted by adampsyche at 8:53 AM PST - 8 comments
Teddy
is the best character to come out of movies in years. Shame about the movie.
Seen it?
posted by Frasermoo at 8:38 AM PST - 11 comments
The upcoming war
in Afghanistan and
how the U.S. will fight it. I know we have linked to
Stratfor in the
past but these seem to be very well reasoned approaches that I haven't seen elsewhere. If this is what the U.S. is planning, doesn't it (pleasantly) surprise you that we have taken the option least likely to involve civilian casualties? Do you agree with their analysis? Is anyone else happy that we didn't just blow up an aspirin factory again?
posted by revbrian at 7:50 AM PST - 16 comments
The Jordan Effect.
The more important question regarding MJ's return is if he will be good for the economy. Remember back in '98 when Fortune reported that the overall value of the
Jordan Effect was around $10 billion and counting. Could he be the answer for our sagging economy? Not likely. But then again remember that
What's Good for Michael Jordan is Good for America. (At least, that was Salon's take back in the day.) So whether we're Wizards' fans or not maybe rooting for Jordan should be our American duty.
posted by jacknose at 6:10 AM PST - 3 comments
A few WTC things to start the day: 1) If you have a desire to move "off the grid" or just simply disappear, has the City of New York got a new program for you! Now you can
get yourself declared dead with nothing more than a copy of Acrobat Reader and an ability to lie through your teeth. 2) The arguments over what to replace the WTC with
are starting to gather steam. 3)
That last piece standing of the WTC has been removed for probable use in a memorial. God please save us from another huge OKC-style Memorial From Hell.
posted by aaron at 12:48 AM PST - 16 comments
September 25
SomethingAwful.com
closes its doors... temporarily or otherwise. A similar traffic-induced fate befell our own
James Lileks, resulting in a sorrowful, pared down site.
Is this developing a trend? Could the Internet be getting too big for its ad-free, humorous britches?
posted by Dane at 10:58 PM PST - 22 comments
"Placing The Blame For Attacks On Muslims Is Wrong"
This editorial appeared yesterday in the Ventura County Star, it was written by Roufeda Ebrahim of Ventura, a Muslim. The 18-year-old graduate of St. Bonaventure High School is a freshman at Ventura College, where she is studying journalism and English.
posted by tpoh.org at 9:10 PM PST - 18 comments
Operation Infinite Mercy
: Emergency relief for
Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban rule and/or threats of American attack. Amid the scores of funds, accounts, websites, banner ads, and buttons that have popped up advertising ways to 'help the victims', it's been near-impossible to find somewhere online to make a donation to assist some of the
other people affected by the aftermath of September 11th...
posted by SenshiNeko at 7:52 PM PST - 19 comments
CBS posts 'Survivor: Africa' cast profiles
If reality TV is even marginally relevant to anyone anymore, the bios of the latest Survivor contestants have been posted. My questions are: 1. are these people representative of the American population at large? Almost all of the women list In Style magazine as their favorite and one picks "shopping and ads" as her favorite section of the newspaper... and 2. will more or less people be watching Survivor post-WTC tragedy?
posted by popvulture at 7:42 PM PST - 26 comments
the ONION
to the rescue! America's most trusted insightful ironists seem to have risen to the challenge. Dinty Moore beef stew condemns terrorism.
posted by Zurishaddai at 7:07 PM PST - 89 comments
WalkingTom getting back on the road
Tom is a guy who started to walk across the US in 1997, and who started to log his journey on the Web in 98. In 2000, he took a year's break to get married, but in a few days he's finally getting back to finishing his journey. What travelogues have
you been addicted to? Are there any good current ones?
posted by wackybrit at 6:48 PM PST - 8 comments
Americans like to pretend that we live in a classless society
but we don't, not by a long shot. I caught this PBS documentary a few days ago called
People Like Us (the link is to the companion site) which focusses on class in the US (what it means, how it works) in a refreshing way. I'm sure they'll be replaying it soon. I didn't much care for the companion site, but it did provide
a link to this creepy marketing service that tells you what sorts of people live in your neighborhood (based on your zip code) and what products they're likely to buy.
posted by wheat at 5:59 PM PST - 21 comments
Silicon Valley backs Senate bill
that would allow companies to report computer network attacks to the government without having to worry about the public finding out. The reasoning: it would encourage
more companies to report the problems and help the
government track down the culprits. A
similar bill is in the House.
posted by thescoop at 2:22 PM PST - 3 comments
Always use protection -
the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie protects your brain from most electromagnetic psychotronic mind-control carriers.
posted by kd at 12:19 PM PST - 9 comments
Deepend.com calls it quits.
U.K. web design firm Deepend has decided to fire all 90 employees and liquidate assests, due to the ripple effect of the 9/11 attack. That's their excuse anyway. If most or all of their clients were air or travel related I could believe their reasoning. What do you think?
posted by catscape at 11:24 AM PST - 11 comments
Are the airlines pulling a Chrystler?
"The President and Congress agree the airlines should get $5 billion in cash grants right away -- more than Federal spending this year on worker training, or food and nutrition assistance programs. Help with new security spending boosts the down payment on a rescue to $8 billion. This is close to the combined market value of American, United, Delta, US Airways, Northwest, America West, and Continental."
posted by theMargin at 10:42 AM PST - 26 comments
Rodents will swim for fresh tuna?
"Wrecked Taiwanese tuna vessel. Still had tons of tuna on board. Thousands of rats had taken over ship with relatively unlimited food supply." The boat is in open water. Maybe the rats sent out a reconnaisance team first? Do they really swim that well or could it be the tide goes down and they run for it? If they do swim that well, how did they get on to the boat?
posted by mmarcos at 10:07 AM PST - 16 comments
National identification cards
The pros and the cons are given here. Do you have a preference after considering these arguments?
What would we do with the 11 million illegals said to be here now?Send them to New Jersey?
posted by Postroad at 8:52 AM PST - 52 comments
Bookmark Sync
to start charging users. From an e-mail this morning: "Starting November 1, 2001, BookmarkSync will be available for a one-time fee of $50. Paid customers will receive the software and unlimited, ad-free access to our web services for life."
posted by mrbula at 7:17 AM PST - 25 comments
Notes for new students
by Gwyn Alf Williams. Good advice for those of us just starting college courses. Or making contributions to community weblogs.
posted by ceiriog at 4:30 AM PST - 3 comments
Journal
of a guy recovering from schizophrenia. Interesting, he includes some stuff from his madness on the site.
posted by paladin at 12:36 AM PST - 5 comments
September 24
Blogging behind bars.
"Before he sent me to the hole, the administrator looked at me and said, "You should have thought about this before you started playing games." I didn't start this journal to play any games, but now that we're playing, I'm determined to win."
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:49 PM PST - 9 comments
Bush and bin's brother linked
- Toronto Sun Headline: Bin Laden's Brother was Bush's Biz Partner, Pair started texas oil firm. There is no story online however, just the front page. Anybody else hear about this?
Field's Dangerous places says in its bio of bin Laden that a brother, Salim, was killed in a hang glider accident in Texas in 1989.
posted by PMcCann at 9:54 PM PST - 23 comments
Air pistols cause security alert.
"TWO Norwegian schoolchildren caused a security alert at a Scottish airport after boarding a flight home with an air pistol in their luggage, police said. Passengers on board the Norwegian-based Braathens Airways flight were evacuated from the aircraft minutes before take off, an airport spokesman said." I remember getting a simple plastic water pistol (one of the hollow-squeeze things) at a carnival in the UK when I went there on holiday and I had to unpack my hand luggage after it showed up as a six-shooter on the Xray. I don't recall that event making it to the international news feeds.
posted by krisjohn at 8:18 PM PST - 5 comments
More tragicomic WTC news.
Apparently, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had a pending trademark patent on the official logo for the WTC commercial district. The logo was Published for Opposition, in which third parties could oppose the patent filing. If gone unopposed, the logo would then be granted the patent. ...Note the status date.
posted by Down10 at 7:24 PM PST - 9 comments
The Clash of Civilizations?
An extraordinarily prescient and compelling 1993 essay, with some chilling predictions that in the last two weeks begin to seem dead on target. [more inside]
posted by dhartung at 5:08 PM PST - 28 comments
Little Osama
Check out the Brady Family photo of young Osama Bin Laden and his 22 brothers and sisters, published in The Sun...
Full story
here.
posted by crunchybird at 4:16 PM PST - 30 comments
Tiny windows games
are diversions designed specifically to meet the needs of today's bored office worker. Check out the actual-size screenshots to see how easy it would be to conceal these on the desktop (try saying "it's a server monitor" if you get caught). [via
fark]
posted by mathowie at 12:11 PM PST - 20 comments
Maybe people will finally see "Glitter" after all.
More than 200 movie theatre companies will donate all ticket sales and concession revenues to the United Way and the Red Cross for all films shown Tuesday.
After two weeks of dreadful box-office grosses and sour moods, maybe this will prime the pump.
posted by tsarfan at 12:05 PM PST - 9 comments
Variety reports
(subscription temporarily
not required due to the attacks) on changes in upcoming television programming due to perceived (and probably real) audience sensitivity. While we've seen some of this before (like concern over the plane exploding in the premiere of "24"), I see at least one change I'd feared:
"The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson," (episode 4F22, originally aired four years ago today as the season premiere) where Homer's car is booted at One World Trade Plaza and Homer climbs both towers looking for a bathroom, has been pulled from syndication and, unless Twentieth Television changes its mind, will not be aired again.
Also, Showtime has indefinitely postponed its airing of the well-received indie film
"The Believer," about a "self-hating Jew who becomes an anti-semitic skinhead." Overly-senstive reactions or justified changes for a mourning nation?
posted by mdeatherage at 11:33 AM PST - 29 comments
Bush or Chimp closes shop.
Another stalwart anti-Bush site has folded in light of recent events. The irreverent
bushorchimp.com, dedicated to visual comparisons of the President and various look-alike primates has closed down. I understand that we're in the midst of a crisis, but is Bush now beyond criticism? Ok, maybe pictures that compare Bush to monkeys aren't exactly thoughtful criticism... Still, NOW where am I going to get novelty t-shirts for friends and family this Xmas?
posted by mattpusateri at 9:36 AM PST - 48 comments
Thanks to FoodTV
and online
recipe sources, it seems like more of us are cooking (and more of those who do cook are even cooking
well)...
Inspired by that (and the popularity of the
beer and
liquor threads) I thought we ought to move on to food:
What's your favorite recipe?
(My ceviche inside)
posted by Jako at 9:30 AM PST - 73 comments
The register
chimes in on new anti-terrorist bills that attack due process, the fourth amendment, and encryption. Sample letters and information on how to contact your reps are available at the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Act quickly, because congress sure will.
posted by skallas at 8:33 AM PST - 42 comments
Daily comic strips have started to react to the attacks. The only two I noticed in today's paper were
Fox Trot and
The Boondocks. Their tones are, predictably, somber. The one comic I'd expect to have something to say,
Doonesbury, is still stuck on an older storyline. Have other strips referenced September 11?
posted by sandor at 8:05 AM PST - 26 comments
Sources say that Giuliani will seek to extend his term.
It was unclear whether the mayor would try to amend those laws so voters could elect him for a third term or whether he would try to extend his current term. Do these circumstances warrant a term extension? Or should Giuliani retire at the end of the year and head up the clean-up efforts?
posted by phooey at 6:53 AM PST - 22 comments
Isolationist information and international ignorance
-- Whenever I visited my sister in Hong Kong over the past five years, I was always impressed with how much I didn't know about what was going on in the world. This link is a commentary on the feedback to an interview with a CNN Afganistan correspondent who said something similar, and got lambasted for it. Maybe if something good comes out of 9/11, it'll be a shift from celebrity news to real news. Ignorance can be dangerous.
posted by fpatrick at 5:38 AM PST - 13 comments
September 23
Human flag.
72,000 San Diegans came out this past weekend to make a human stars and stripes. Apparently the FAA wouldn't give clearance for a helicopter to take aerial photos. How ironic.
posted by afx114 at 9:27 PM PST - 8 comments
Bid Now!
Six more days left if you're looking for someone to beat the living crap out of you. C'mon. You know you want to.
posted by jcterminal at 7:39 PM PST - 11 comments
What did we know?
And what are we doing now? The best background summary I've yet seen, and the concrete info on the difficulties the intelligence agencies are facing is sobering.
posted by rushmc at 4:20 PM PST - 3 comments
Ebert's movie answer man
features this pretty sharp and dead-on letter from Derek Muller from Royal Oak, Michigan:
"Here's an idea for a movie to be made in the year 2060: An epic about the attacks against the Twin Towers. Only let the three-hour film focus mainly on a love triangle stemming from a pair of friends as stock traders in New York and a young receptionist. When one of them is on a plane from Boston to L.A. and another is busy with a client in the Twin Towers, the men are suddenly thrust in the middle of a terrible plot where there is chaos and tragedy, but we completely disregard the 5,000 citizens dead and instead concern ourselves with the love lives of three whining yuppies. Or, we could just look at ''Pearl Harbor'' and think about how horrible it is to trivialize such a tragedy on the screen."
posted by adrober at 1:36 PM PST - 15 comments
"How to deal with an Islamic fundamentalist uprising"
by Hafez Al-Assad. Mr. Assad, the late President of Syria, was a Muslim himself. In his rule, he had to deal with some bombwielders who even tried to assasinate him. Certainly his experience in these matters bears scrutiny. What lessons can we learn? P.S. Syria doesn't like our foreign policy either.
posted by quercus at 11:41 AM PST - 4 comments
Coltrane at 75: the Man and the Myths.
The evolution of the view of John Coltrane as a spiritual figure. Is this a process that happens to any great musician dying at the height of their powers?
(NYT link, registration required, blah, blah) Link via the
AJList.
posted by pascal at 11:07 AM PST - 4 comments
"What has America done wrong?
In the days since September 11, its president and people have done nothing but demonstrate dignity and restraint. Bush will lash out, the chatterers said. But he hasn't yet. Bush is a bumbling hick, they sneered. But he isn't."
posted by Steven Den Beste at 11:02 AM PST - 35 comments
Blacklist!
Bush is expected to issue an executive order labeling certain people as "terrorists", which will lock up their assets and generally make life miserable. Who needs checks and balances or due process?
posted by jgilliam at 10:48 AM PST - 21 comments
What is the status of Civics subjects in schools these days?
I found this rather old data on the ACLU website, but I'm having trouble finding out the current status of what I call "national pride" activities in schools these days. When I was a kid in the 70's, we always said the Pledge of Allegience every morning as well as had a prayer. I remember when the prayer was turned into a "moment of silence" (early 80's?) but I don't remember when/if the Pledge was discontinued due to
ACLU activities like the one above. I've not thought much about this until now, but realizing that many, many kids don't know the Pledge or our anthem disturbs me greatly.
Could anyone enlighten me, please?
posted by misangela at 10:45 AM PST - 33 comments
I know it's early for the story of the Grinch,
but I thought everyone should re-read it. It is a wonderful diversion from and a good fable about the 9/11 attacks. Granted, he won't be carving our roast beast, but in some pithy, corny way, Bin Laden may realize that our spirit -- our livelihood "doesn't come from a store."
posted by edwardko at 9:19 AM PST - 11 comments
From many voices, onevapproach
via NY Times (reg req'd). Facts now coming out indcate that there are many cells, worldwide, that have been set in place over the years and are (or were) to be activated in a continupous terror assault. What our leaders are saying, then, about the length of time requried may in fact be in recognition of the huge job ahead in rooting these cells out.
posted by Postroad at 7:19 AM PST - 5 comments
The Volvo Ocean Race,
formerly known as Whitbread Round the World, starts today. After years of preparation for the crews, boat builders and designers, 1500 BST this afternoon will see the eight participating boats cross the Cowes start line on the first leg to Cape Town. The website is more advanced than ever, with
virtual racing available, as well as
WAP/SMS services and brand new
virtual spectator software. Will you be following the
teams as they sail round the world, or is sailing simply no spectator sport?
posted by dagny at 6:27 AM PST - 3 comments
Is Terrorists For Nukes the 2001 version of Arms For Hostages?
President Bush has lifted the sanctions on India and Pakistan imposed by the U.S. in 1998 to protest their "tit-for-tat" nuclear tests. In a memorandum just released by the White House, he states that keeping those sanctions in place "would not be in the national security interests of the United States".
Is this an acceptable exchange? Just how far should the U.S. go in appeasing Pakistan, not to mention further fuelling its already explosive confrontation with India?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:57 AM PST - 8 comments
Huh?
This article swings from sort of equating the WTC attack with AIDS, to something about fundamentalism in music composition. I think. This is
NOT for WTC discussion. Rather, I'm curious what people think of the analogy and whether you even follow his argument and/or think it's appropriate.
posted by Su at 12:51 AM PST - 7 comments
September 22
Potential missile defense system stronger or weaker?
In different days the creation of a cabinet post called "Director of the Office of Homeland Security" would make a lot of people nervous. The choice of Tom Ridge (former Governor of Pennsylvania) could be worse. He served in Vietnam and is known as being "tough on crime". An interesting note is that while in Congress he "led repeated fights against the anti-missile system nicknamed Star Wars." Meanwhile, would you want this guys job?
posted by jeremias at 8:38 PM PST - 5 comments
URI terminology demystified
Quasi-Socratic Q&A on what the hell
URIs are. “
Q: What a mess! Are you serious? For a technology so architecturally core to RDF and the Web, that’s quite a kludge-tower!
A: What can I say? That's the state of the art as I understand it”
posted by joeclark at 3:18 PM PST - 4 comments
Who wants to be a Princess?
Remember "Who wants to marry a Multimillionaire?" Remember how it turned into a big scandal? Remember how Fox promised they wouldn't do it again? Well, they're doing it again this coming Monday.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 3:14 PM PST - 36 comments
Behind the scenes of the "war council."
The New York Times has a fascinating, behind-the-scenes story about the administration's struggle to develop a plan of attack. The story quotes highly-placed sources around Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, et al. The most interesting revelation? GWB himself may actually be calling the shots.
posted by pardonyou? at 1:34 PM PST - 9 comments
Bruce Campbell,
the man, the myth, the shemp. Quicky article about an appearance during his book-signing tour, I can vouch that everything the writer says about Mr. Campbell is true. I saw him at his SLC appearance and the man is both witty, approachable, and he knows how to work a crowd. And his book is well written! Surprise surprise.
posted by jcterminal at 11:28 AM PST - 9 comments
Here's
a
New Republic article that provides some background on Afghani politics and an interesting argument on the Taliban's weakness. Here's a provocative quote:
In 1999, when the United States devastated Belgrade and humiliated Milosevic, the Serbs eventually ousted him. In 1991, when the United States devastated Baghdad and humiliated Saddam, the Kurds and Shiites rose up, and might have toppled the regime had the United States not abandoned them. Historical parallels, of course, are never perfect. But the Taliban are no stronger than those two previous U.S. foes; in fact, they are probably weaker. Comments?
posted by estopped at 9:46 AM PST - 19 comments
9/11 Conspirators Stole Identities of Murdered Students:
"HAD FBI agents bothered to ask college lecturers in South Wales about the terrorist bomber they supposedly taught over a decade ago, then security chiefs would have realised how Osama bin Laden had carefully created a generation of impostors . . . his agents stole the identities and life histories of at least a dozen Western-educated young men who were all murdered in 1990, according to a former head of the CIA."
posted by ryanshepard at 6:18 AM PST - 15 comments
Avenging the Dead:
National Public Radio Commentator Crispin Sartwell makes his case for avenging the dead of last week's attack. What do you think of his words? (Link is Real Audio)
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 6:00 AM PST - 4 comments
Joshua Marshall, a liberal pundit who publishes the
Talking Points weblog, makes a spirited attempt in the
New York Post to defend President Bush's statement that "our terrorist enemies attacked because they hate freedom and democracy."
posted by rcade at 5:56 AM PST - 22 comments
Word Perhect
(sic) is what happens when internet art takes on the mighty word processor... and kicks it into submission!
e-2.org contains some other impressive and ambitious stuff, if you like all that arty malarkey...
posted by creeky at 4:19 AM PST - 11 comments
September 21
Ron Fineman's On The Record
is a well-done critical look at TV news. It's centered on the LA market and most of the discussion relates to LA stations, but networks and cable channels are covered too and (for a TV news geek like me at least) it's all interesting. The letters section is usually a pretty lively discussion, and the "Broadcasteze Citation of the Week" highlights stuff that anchors and reporters say that no one else ever would.
posted by Vidiot at 11:00 PM PST - 1 comments
Text of Osama's Fatwah:
"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilian and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam..."
posted by semmi at 10:37 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
America the beautiful
Note the lines, please, to mend thine every flaw...But still, well, you know what I am saying. I am old enough to have been in the army when blacks were in separate outfits; and I served later, again, when they were integrated. And I knew Yale had a quota for Jess (a friend made it!) and now they have a Jewish president. It ain't perfect but it beats the place my grandparents fled years ago to find a new life.
posted by Postroad at 9:04 PM PST - 2 comments
The media
comes through.. networks actually working together, along with cable companies, as well as Hollywood.
Muhammad Ali and Billy Joel just floored me. You can also donate at foodstores and dozens of other easy to get to places, so there are no excuses. I'm still waiting for them to need for physical labor volunteers.
posted by rich at 7:38 PM PST - 87 comments
Let Me Get Flamed for a Day
Poor Ramon Stoppelenburg. All he does is say that CNN is an American propaganda device and he gets flamed (“you freeloading little wimp,” “the freeloading adventures of the bald-headed little Ramon,”
&c). Response from the Dutch vagabond? “Maybe [he] should just change his wallpaper? Too bad he isn’t visiting this Web site anymore. He might learn from others'
opinions.”
posted by joeclark at 6:42 PM PST - 40 comments
Yumm... not WTC related.
Like Penny Arcade? Wish for something a little more 'fresh and in your face'? Then start eating some butter covered bacon and check it. Bonus points for constant Mac references.
posted by jcterminal at 5:46 PM PST - 6 comments
Fault Lines
This piece counters the arguements of the self-laceration folks who blame the attack upon America as the result of our foreign policy, as though there can be no other explanation for Jihad. An apt title, since we are now seeing the split between far Right, Middle and far Left.
Readers will, no doubt believe or argue with this relative to their perspective.
posted by Postroad at 4:18 PM PST - 63 comments
The Rapture Ready index
is a numerical assessment of signs that indicate the end times are here. Maintained by USAF supply sergeant
Todd Strandberg, he says the Index isn't meant to show when the Rapture will come, but how quickly we are moving towards it. It's a speedometer; not a clock.
(More inside.)
posted by waxpancake at 3:43 PM PST - 12 comments
'Buy American' Signs Sending Mixed Messages.
This is admittedly a very small story, dealing with a fairly small town. But this happening just about thirteen miles north of where I live, in a town I shop and buy lottery tickets at. (I wrote briefly about it in
my own blog four days ago, alongside a photo of the "No Camel Jockeys Here" sign mentioned in the newspaper piece.)
posted by tpoh.org at 3:42 PM PST - 6 comments
Entertainment Weekly's
current (September 28, 2001) edition begins its story on the Internet in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in the United States with a paragraph stating that:
By 9:15 Tuesday morning, a link to a live webcam atop the Empire State Building with a clear view of lower Manhattan was posted on Dave Winer's Scripting News Weblog (scripting.com). And dozens of other daily log writers, including the all-encompasing Metafilter.com, compiled the highlights from U.S. and foreign news sources.
The article goes on to mention many other links to relevant online sites including kottke.org, thefineline.org/tflblog, and camworld.com.
Apologies if this is a repost. I couldn't find it in recent days listings or search results.
posted by MarkB at 3:07 PM PST - 10 comments
The Al-Qaeda manual
on "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants," including especially instructions on how to infiltrate "godless areas" and not stand out. There's also an "assassinations" section with instructions on how to kill with a knife.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 2:51 PM PST - 8 comments
Crypto guru getting blamed for his software.
PGP writer Phil Zimmermann's hate mail goes a little something like this, "Phil -- I hope you can sleep at night with the blood of 5,000 people on your hands." If Phil is guilty of anything so is everyone who has ever used their credit card online, including Mr. Hate Mail.
posted by skallas at 1:26 PM PST - 23 comments
Salon suspends "Bushed".
Citing the need to "marshal our editorial forces to cover the global terrorism story," Salon EIC David Talbot has suspended "Bushed" a daily feature that takes a close, often critical, look at the Bush Administration. Does anyone buy his rationale? This reeks of journalistic cowardice...
posted by mattpusateri at 12:16 PM PST - 21 comments
So while Bush has looked like a small rodent caught on a dual carriageway,
Tony Blair has addressed the nation, met with the French and German prime ministers, attended a memorial service, met with both Clinton and Bush, been namechecked in the latters big speech, initiatied
negotiations with Iran and, last but not least, been pictured looking photogenically concerned and statesman-like in a well-cut black suit. I don't think anybody does crisis as well as Blair. He's turning into Thatcher. Pity he doesn't have the
support of his own party.
posted by Summer at 11:38 AM PST - 27 comments
Powell vs. The Pentagon.
According to CNN, Colin Powell is "pushing for a limited military component," and wants to place more emphasis on financial, legal, political and diplomatic tools. But (as you might expect), the Pentagon wouldn't mind taking down Saddam Hussein while we're in the neighborhood. In other CNN news, the US appears sensitive to the need to support its decisions, and will be
making the case for bin Laden's guilt to the Pakistanis. I find both of these items somewhat encouraging. How about you?
posted by pardonyou? at 11:23 AM PST - 21 comments
Honda
has released their 2002 and 2003 motorcycles and upcoming models. For those of us into that type of thing. I think Honda should have some strong sellers here, hopefully regaining some market share in naked bike and sport tourers as well as the large cruiser segment.
posted by mich9139 at 9:59 AM PST - 11 comments
How to combat hijackers.
"If someone were to stand up,brandish something such as a plastic knife and say 'This is a hijacking' or words to that effect here is what you should do: Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person — pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes —anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention. If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there."
posted by knutmo at 5:38 AM PST - 25 comments
Islamic militants are like Medieval Christians:
The religion to which [modern-day Christians] pay lip service is a thin, watered-down version their distant predecessors would denounce as wicked. The Islamic Faith, by contrast, never had an Aquinas and thus never experienced a renaissance; it was never neutered. [...] Those we are at war with are consistent advocates of faith and self-sacrifice. We cannot defeat them by "getting back to God" -- that is, by clamoring to become earnest practitioners of a slightly different version of the same evil we're fighting. Instead we must selfishly, unequivocally and proudly stand for the worldly values that ended the "dark and doleful night of Christian rule" and ushered in the prosperous way of life Westerns enjoy [today]. (Via
fkrn)
posted by dagny at 5:08 AM PST - 15 comments
There's mummies coming from Afghanistan
said yesterday's
Horizon on the BBC. This is the story of a supposedly 2600 year old mummified Persian princess. It was put up for sale for $11 million, but turned out to be a fraud and possibly contains the remains of a woman murdered in 1996. The mummy was probably manufactured somewhere in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, well known these days....
posted by knutmo at 4:44 AM PST - 2 comments
Taliban to U.S.: Go ahead, make my day.
The Taliban has refused, as Bush demanded in his speech, to turn over bin Laden without evidence of wrongdoing. Unclear whether he's still "uninvited" to remain in Afghanistan. I thought Bush's refusal to consider a deal with Afghanistan was rash -- we can't afford to create martyrs in this war.
posted by mattpfeff at 1:52 AM PST - 21 comments
How can you tell if your boss is a psychopath?
"They have traits similar to ideal leaders. You would expect an ideal leader to be narcissistic, self-centred, dominant, very assertive, maybe to the point of being aggressive. Those things can easily be mistaken for the aggression and bullying that a psychopath would demonstrate. The ability to get people to follow you is a leadership trait, but being charismatic to the point of manipulating people is a psychopathic trait. They can sometimes be confused."
(via null device)
posted by skallas at 1:48 AM PST - 16 comments
"How Bush should spend his windfall of political capital."
Many links have been posted in the past 10 days to cheap political opportunism in the wake of
0.81- but
this takes the cake: an op-ed calling for Bush to
explicitly exploit this tragedy to pass bigger tax cuts, ANWR drilling,
etc. Yep, another sickening WSJ effort; I'm sure the families of the victims will take heart in knowing their loved ones are, in fact, a "
windfall of political capital" for Bush. (
sorry for the two-front-page-posts-in-a-row, btw)
posted by hincandenza at 1:36 AM PST - 13 comments
Insurance companies - what are they good for?
Absolutely nothing. Now that a war might be on its way "underwriters had given notice they would cancel cover for war liabilities from midnight Monday". Tell me again why airlines were paying for cover for losses due to war during peace time?
posted by krisjohn at 12:06 AM PST - 6 comments
September 20
Homeland defense
is a concept that is too vague. Is it another tactic for promoting a missle defense? I am interested in finding out what the tasks involved will be.
posted by Sqwerty at 11:59 PM PST - 1 comments
The Dead Zone all over again?
Lucich said the boy approached his teacher on the afternoon of Sept. 10 and casually told her: "Tomorrow, World War III will begin. It will begin in the United States, and the United States will lose."
eerie little story about a 5th grader in Dallas
posted by lelilo at 11:43 PM PST - 17 comments
Ever wanted to learn Japanese?
"The bottom line is that Politeness Levels are completely beyond your understanding, so don't even try. Just resign yourself to talking like a little girl for the rest of your life and hope to God that no one beats you up."
posted by skallas at 9:11 PM PST - 48 comments
Massoud's Last Words
The last interview with the leader of the Afghani opposition, who was killed right before this whole mess. Somewhat relevant as the US may ally with these rebels in the coming months.
posted by owillis at 9:10 PM PST - 3 comments
God bless Jon Stewart and The Daily Show,
back for their first show after the attack. It's not completely new, but God knows I needed to see it. New York may be OK after all. (Comedy Central will repeat the show several times before Monday, so don't despair if you thought it would be a rerun and missed it.)
posted by mdeatherage at 8:33 PM PST - 24 comments
Yeah, I know... another artist,
but come on! He kicks ass. I'm not much for Flash or background music, but really, this place is shiny, and all 'new media' like, and it's pretty... and it's umm.... oh! and it's easy to navigate dammit.... and shiny...
posted by jcterminal at 7:57 PM PST - 13 comments
Bravo, President Bush!
He hit the mark with this speech, correctly identifying the stakes, the principles, and the risks. More: he was passionate, feeling, and genuine. Did he win over any critics?
posted by davidmsc at 6:44 PM PST - 198 comments
A Little Light Relief - and Brush Up Your English While You're At It.
In the spirit of poking fun at one's own flesh and blood - and respecting all those who aren't - I offer the most appalling tribute to Shakespeare's and Emerson's language since time itself began.
I give you, ladies and gentlemen, the great Portuguese scholar Pedro Carolino, whose "English As She Is Spoke" Mark Twain considered to be the funniest book ever written.
Start with "Familiar Dialogues 1" and, if you've still been able to keep a straight face, try "Idiotisms and Proverbs" for the full effect...
(Thanks to Ganz's Humor Page)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:37 PM PST - 19 comments
This smells of opportunism?
Is the Iraqi government using our recent war fervor to lift their economic bans? We now have a new enemy, so the old ones are now our friends? Saddam's comment on humanitariasm simply makes me cringe.
posted by Benway at 5:09 PM PST - 5 comments
What on earth does this company do?
I've been staring at this sentence for hours and still can't figure it out. "Descartes powers the next generation of collaborative logistics management on a global scale, providing customers with Internet-based capabilities to optimally manage nChain processes." More business babble inside!
posted by tweebiscuit at 5:08 PM PST - 27 comments
This popular mechanics article on E-bombs will keep you from sleeping tonight. For as little as $400 and some 1940's era technology, you could wipe out much of western civilization's infrastructure in an instant. We're about to enter a terrifying new world of combat.
posted by mathowie at 5:04 PM PST - 14 comments
Biggest Opprotunist Gasbag Award goes to...
Was anyone else turned off by faux-Detroiter Michael Moore's attempt to convert last weeks events into yet another opportunity to rant about his pet causes? Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and his next to initial response is that we need to reform minimum wage laws?!?
posted by justkurt at 4:18 PM PST - 24 comments
A four part tale(1993) of deception, covert operations and secret revelations, which covers :
How The Blind Sheikh Came To USA
CIA's Friends Against Soviet Union
Was Mossad Behind WTC 1993
How The CIA Won It's Jehad
Search These Terms
"Mossad World Trade Center",
CIA,
Hekmatyar, Hekmatyar Heroine,
The Blind Shiekh,
ISI,
The Village Voice,
Robert I. Friedman,
Victor Ostrovsky
posted by adnanbwp at 4:02 PM PST - 2 comments
This is cool...and fun...and bizarre!!!
I stumbled across this on
ScriptingNews -- so take a look
here first. It's weird -- to say the least-- but it's very cool too... like playing and chatting while you browse (sorta). Anyway, you have to be running msie 5.5 for it to work... and there's a limit of only 15 concurrent users [just beta].
So if you get in, don't hog it! =) And if you can't get in, go dig the demo instead.
posted by blackholebrain at 1:19 PM PST - 13 comments
Striking back at hackers
"LaBrea" is a free, open-source tool that deters worms and other hack attacks by transforming unused network resources into decoy-computers that appear and act just like normal machines on a network. But when malicious hackers or mindless worms such as Nimda or Code Red attempt to connect with a LaBrea-equipped system, they get sucked into a virtual tarpit that grabs their computer's connection -- and doesn't release it.
Is this an ethical use of network resources, or just vigilante justice? What other methods have you used to strike back at hostile software?
posted by TheChump at 12:45 PM PST - 9 comments
Ed Roland
announced earlier today on
99x that Ross Childress was no longer with Collective Soul. [more...]
posted by riffola at 11:16 AM PST - 14 comments
The Show Must Go On.
Is it appropriate for Broadway shows to be up and running again? True, the Mayor prescribed it as a way to show how unaffected we are by terrorism, yet I couldn't imagine sitting in the audience at The Producers, laughing at "Springtime for Hitler," mocking the foolishness of that regime of hatred when the product of another regime of hatred lays smouldering just a few miles to the south.
posted by adrober at 9:43 AM PST - 16 comments
Are we blaming the victim?
William Saleten argues that talk about what the USA has done to provoke terrorist attack is like a battered wife wondering what she's done to deserve a beating. It risks legitimizing these indefensible acts, and gives us a false sense of control: i.e. that we could prevent such attacks if we'd only behave.
posted by straight at 8:36 AM PST - 102 comments
The American Friends Service Committee
is a quaker-based, multi-faith national group advocating for peace & social justice on a variety of fronts. They have a sample letter urging peaceful government responses to
terrorism which you can send or email to your representatives and
Sheriff W. Better yet, use their email contact system and write your own letter.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:28 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
Missing, presumed dead in NYC.
Dead at the Pentagon. While we talk about
understanding the terrorist's reasons for the attack, please remember that each number we see scroll across tv is associated with a human being - who's only crime on September 11, 2001 was having the nerve to go to work or visit an international landmark.
posted by owillis at 7:34 AM PST - 20 comments
'
AMERICA and Britain are producing secret plans to launch a ten-year “war on terrorism”..' declares
this (otherwise fairly generic) article without citing its sources. Be prepared for the possible oxymoron of a line that is '
the whole focus of the long-term American approach was being driven by Richard Cheney..'
Oh yeah -- hate to promote Murdoch media but also noteworthy in this mornings edition of the London Times are the revelations that whilst 200 British '
are certain to have perished', a further
800 are missing following the disaster and a piece warning of a '
nightmare scenario' in which Pakistan could
lose control of its nuclear weapons to none other than THE TALIBAN.
posted by Kino at 5:34 AM PST - 8 comments
Nail. Head. Hit it. He did.
"Despite almost universal condemnation of the attacks, many argue that a misguided US foreign policy in the Middle East is at least partly to blame. The BBC's Tehran Correspondent Jim Muir, who has spent decades covering conflicts in the region explains the forces at work."
posted by Jofus at 4:19 AM PST - 81 comments
September 19
American Flag Display Quiz
and the
answers for all the ignorant folks out there.
When the American Flag is displayed on a wall, the canton (the blue field and stars) should be on the left as you face the wall. Am I the only one in America who knows this?
posted by canoeguide at 11:38 PM PST - 9 comments
I know this much is true...
For years, I have said that the greatest thing about the modern state of the US is that we hold nothing as "True". I was wrong. Apparently our "Truths" were just sleeping; now everyone seems to have some, and they're proving to be as divisive and factionalist here as elsewhere. So - apart from any particular issue - are there "Truths", or are there just perceptions of an issue? And, just to keep some edges sharp, in answering, are you at all religious?
posted by Perigee at 10:59 PM PST - 77 comments
Racist America voices its concerns in a new poll:
The Gallup Poll not only found that 58 percent of Americans backed more intensive security checks for Arab plane passengers and 49 percent supported special IDs, but also that 35 percent said they trusted Arabs living here less and 32 percent think Arabs living here should be put under special surveillance as were Japanese-Americans following Pearl Harbor.
posted by skallas at 10:05 PM PST - 31 comments
Way of life ending for NASCAR fans
as coolers banned from racetracks. Is this an example of increased security or overt paranoia? "Right now you don't know who you can trust, you don't know who the guy sitting next to you is and you don't know if his cooler could be a bomb."
posted by mb01 at 8:04 PM PST - 32 comments
For the rest of us,
here's an up-and-coming artist who manages to blend the visual impact of graphitti with the frenetic energy of comic book art, creating a neat style all his own, but shared by others. It's like an american version of anime.
...please god... no more wtc links...
posted by jcterminal at 7:48 PM PST - 14 comments
Hellooooo internment camps!!
"The Bush administration today announced a major expansion of its power to detain immigrants suspected of crimes, including new rules prompted by last week's terrorist attacks that would allow legal immigrants to be detained indefinitely during a national emergency."
posted by fooljay at 4:01 PM PST - 47 comments
I'm somewhat surprised that no one has yet posted anything about
this (see also
here and
here,
etc). My heart leapt last night when I heard this on NPR. All I could think of was that perhaps the five to six thousand seemingly-senseless deaths in our country will eventually, somehow, some way, end up saving at least that many Israeli and Palestinian lives - perhaps even pave the road to permanent peace. Perhaps some good can come of this, amidst all the pain. Am I a hopeless optimist?
posted by anastasiav at 2:10 PM PST - 12 comments
How To Launder Money If the "terrorism can't be overpowered, it can only be undermined" train of thought holds true, then the money funding terrorist activities needs to be cutoff, especially considering they may directly profit from it (and theoretically at least, it's easier to choke off funds than grass roots ideology). From what I've read Osama bin Laden's money comes from wealthy fundamentalist sympathizers, "rogue" governments and the heroin racket. Governments create, maintain and oversee the money apparatus, but if money laundering can't be stopped I don’t see how terrorism can either, um short of eradicating poverty, "the petri-dish for the culture of suicide bombing."
posted by kliuless at 1:59 PM PST - 11 comments
Operation Infinite Justice?
I am already close to ill in the midst of the "Current Situation" -- I don't think I can stomach months or years of daily nightmarish updates of "Operation Infinite Justice." It seems that this beat out "Operation Noble Eagle." Does the military employ advertising and PR firms or do America's hired killers come up with these names themselves?
posted by ztt at 1:22 PM PST - 75 comments
Gay, lesbian troops can serve openly -- for now
"First, gays and lesbians would be allowed to serve during any war, just as they do now, as long as they remain in compliance with the homosexual conduct policy," said Maj. James P. Cassella of the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs' office."
Sorry we've treated you so crappy, but, uh, we need you to serve now. Of course, when we don't need you any more, you'll be discharged because you're gay.
posted by 4midori at 12:56 PM PST - 81 comments
America: A Tribute To Heroes
Special/telethon airing across all four networks to raise money for 9.11 this Friday from 9pm to 11pm. Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Deniro, Jim Carrey and more celebs than you can shake a stick at.
posted by owillis at 12:42 PM PST - 21 comments
Israel is not the real issue
the piece speaks for itself. Many have blamed our foreign policy, our support of Israel, our bombing of Iraq. This view sees a different issue and confrontation.
posted by Postroad at 11:22 AM PST - 46 comments
Internet audio
for providing the background noise for your web surfing.
Radio Paradise offers up peacenik rock and international music. Support American cornfed Middle Eastern music by listening to
Salaam (more Middle East artists from
mp3.com.) Or just get your fill of 70s, 80s, or 90s
pop rock. Any other good music out there for surfing with your ears?
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:47 AM PST - 7 comments
Internet Domain Names May Have Warned of Attacks
“Internet domain names like 'attackontwintowers.com' and 'worldtradetowerattack.com' were registered more than a year ago. It's not known at this time who registered the suspicious names or what their purpose was.” Hmm. Just (un)lucky guesses, or inside information?
posted by kd at 10:33 AM PST - 26 comments
Interesting intelligence report points possible responsibility to terrorists other than bin Laden...
Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden.
Includes information about connections and previous activities... check it out...
posted by adamholz at 9:40 AM PST - 12 comments
Patriotic Voting?
Granted, this is in Seattle, not New York, but here's the bit I found interesting: Voter participation is expected to jump all the way up to
almost 35% because of what this article calls "patriotic fervor." Call me a cynic, but I can't help but think that when it comes to citizenship, most of us would still rather just chant 'USA! USA!' at a ball game. Comments?
posted by Gilbert at 9:30 AM PST - 25 comments
Northeast could face energy chaos, MIT expert warns
"The existing transmission grids were designed to serve regional needs. Power transfers from one grid to another were meant for emergencies only. Computer simulations performed at MIT show that heavy use of grid interconnections to tap cheaper power sources can have unintended effects. Trades between two regional grids can adversely affect operations in a third regional grid, potentially leading to frequency and voltage disturbances." But don't panic, MIT's Competitive Power Systems Group (funded "from a variety of industrial sources") has a solution. FUD or useful idea?
posted by Allen Varney at 9:25 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
What is art?
A German composer describes the WTC bombings as "the greatest work of art one can imagine." (Then he apologized after four concerts were cancelled.) Perhaps he should have lunch with Jerry Falwell -- they'll have a lot to talk about.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:16 AM PST - 27 comments
The only "war" I can think of in U.S. history anything like the present situation is the U.S. Navy's war on
Caribbean piracy (1814-1825). Stateless, decentralized foe, no defined fields of battle, no "high-value targets"...Again, 1814-1825: eleven years.
Any U.S. history majors out there?
posted by luser at 6:19 AM PST - 19 comments
Guardsman Charged in Five Bomb Threats.
A Tennessee Army National Guard sergeant from Smyrna was arrested yesterday on charges he made five threats of terrorist bombings against two National Guard facilities in Nashville in the past week.
(What was someone saying about "friends like these"?)
posted by tpoh.org at 5:13 AM PST - 6 comments
September 18
So I had a big fight in the car tonight with my friend Lisa over an issue I brought up on an earlier MeFi thread--(that issue being those Titanic-radio-remixes of news soundbites with popular songs). See, her dad works on the radio and she was saying that putting those things together was a way for the radio community to acknowledge last week's tragedy. "It comforts people," she argued. I argued back that packaging it like that minimalizes it and makes it too easy to digest. I conceded, though, that if someone were to write a song about what went on---a tasteful, appropriate song---I'd be all for them playing that on the radio. And then there was the Magi with his gift---the completely cringe-worthy
Crosby, Stills & Nash song that they performed tonight on Jay Leno. What was that? Did anyone hear it? Did anyone like it? WHY?
posted by adrober at 10:17 PM PST - 22 comments
Interesting petition
to get Bush to condemn the statements of Falwell and Robertson. Too much? Not sure, but I signed it anyway. Over 10,000 sigs so far.
posted by skallas at 9:42 PM PST - 11 comments
Come To New York And Learn About Life
Are New Yorkers really superior? It seems so. Where else, in a supposedly fuck-you culture, would volunteers be turned away for being too numerous and too willing to help?
A friend of mine returned today and was utterly transformed by the new spirit there. I urge foreigners like me not to stop visiting and can recommend a hotel tailor-made for MeFi members: the brand-new Library Hotel.
My friend stayed there and can't shut up about it.
Each room is classified according to the Dewey system
and has a library of 60 essential books in any given field.
The great, typically New York thing, is that they've apparently slashed their prices. The ultra-comfortable rooms cost $300 just a week ago. Now they have a "compassion rate" of $150 per room.
Is it exploitation or solidarity? Who knows? Only traitors need keep away.
(Click on "Concept" for the full megillah)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:37 PM PST - 24 comments
Were more planes ready to be taken over?
This doesn't appear to have been posted yet, so here it is. "The [Chicago] Tribune reported that one source said the FBI was "very interested" in passengers whose names appeared on the manifests of several other flights that were already in the air when the first attacks occurred. None of the passengers in which investigators have expressed interest reappeared when flights resumed late last week, the Tribune reported."
posted by krisjohn at 8:32 PM PST - 6 comments
You have 1 minute to dig up a candle...
if your BS detector isn't set on high like mine. While this is a nice idea... candles from space, c'mon. Anyone think this is for real. Just got another invite to do this in email form as well. Any other WTC related hoaxes out there?
posted by jasonshellen at 7:30 PM PST - 22 comments
The positive impact of America
can be overlooked in the chatter of how bin Laden is the bastard offspring of our malicious foreign policy, so the flip side should be highlighted. How about a Nobel peace prize winner who has saved literally millions of lives worldwide, but even 99% of Americans would fail to recognize? What will we reap from his sowing?
posted by quercus at 6:46 PM PST - 25 comments
Rush Limbaugh says "Robertson and Falwell Were Wrong".
I never thought I'd see the day where I'd actually think about sending a thank you note to Rush, but it may be time. Limbaugh derides the fundamentalists' recent comments, stating "Suggestions of this kind are one of the reasons why all conservatives get tarred and feathered with this extremist, bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic label or image that isn't true. The words of Robertson and Falwell are not the words of all conservatives - they are the words of Robertson and Falwell." Is this the beginning of a kindler, gentler Limbaugh?
posted by mattee at 5:51 PM PST - 41 comments
Robert Fisk about his meetings with Bin Laden in the French newspaper Le Monde.
Two interesting quotes (in a poor translation by me):
"A few years later [after 1994] I met in Moscow an old Soviet intelligence officer, who had been a few months in Afghanistan to try to organize the liquidation of Bin Laden, just like the Americans try to do today. According to him, he didn't succeed because the men of Bin Laden couldn't be bribed. Nobody wanted to betray him."
"The Arabs are so mad about the injustices that have come to them from the Americans, that they don't need orders from Afghanistan. Inspiration could be enough. I have asked myself, when I saw last week the images from New York, if Bin Laden wasn't as amazed to see them as I was. If he has television, that is..."
posted by tsja at 5:33 PM PST - 12 comments
My internet provider
has, for once, provided me with something that I was actually interested in. A nice little bunch of stories about people's experiences on the day of the "Attack on America." Apparently, some people don't have their own websites to post these things on!
posted by Jart at 5:07 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
War on Civil Liberties Watch: Usable encryption is in deep doo-doo.
A new poll finds 72% of Americans now supporting a ban on unbreakable encryption. (Apparantly breakable, and thus useless, encryption is just fine.) Besides the obvious fact that this stuff is already out there and cannot be taken back, particularly from non-US citizens who don't give a damn about our laws (such as, say, the exact people we're trying to defeat), is there any hope that the courts will find any such new laws unconstitutional?
posted by aaron at 4:46 PM PST - 36 comments
Gephardt wants Congress to consider a national ID card.
As far as I can see, no bills have been introduced yet. The following quote from Gephardt makes it sound as though he has this in mind for everyone, not just foreigners in the US on Visas: "What kind of identity cards would we make citizens and others carry? Would they carry more information?"
posted by Potsy at 3:42 PM PST - 28 comments
Bush never said he wanted Bin Laden "Dead or Alive"
All Dubya did was recollect about how in "the old west" there were wanted signs that said that - pretending that he lived in such a day. And when a reporter followed up with the point-blank question, "So are you saying that you want Bin Laden 'Dead or Alive,'" Bush pulled off one of those ridiculous sneers and re-iterated that in the Old Days there were such wanted posters.
So my question is, how can so many newspapers and national tv networks make the leap with headlines that scream "Bush Wants Bin Laden Dead or Alive"? Isn't that irresponsible - and inaccurate reporting?
posted by tsarfan at 3:27 PM PST - 28 comments
Not In My Name
"This is a website by and for Jews who—precisely because we are Jews—can no longer tolerate and will no longer remain silent about Israeli Government brutality against Palestinians."
posted by 40 Watt at 2:12 PM PST - 7 comments
The Rizzo Method
is not an alternative to Tantric sex; it is a guideline for negotiating the lowest price possible on a new car. Happy big-ticket purchasing!
posted by msacheson at 1:32 PM PST - 5 comments
"I don't support military action: 12%"
Online
CNN poll asks, "For how long would you be willing to support U.S. military action against terrorism?" There are a lot more pacifists then I would have expected, given the circumstances. Of course, "As long as it takes" sits at 76%, which is also not surprising. We'll see what that number is in six months...
posted by tranquileye at 1:13 PM PST - 25 comments
Is this Saddam's work?
CBS News: "United States has received an intelligence report that Mohammed Atta, the hijacker who is named as the pilot of the first plane to strike the World Trade Centers, met early this year somewhere in Europe with the head of the Iraqi intelligence service." CNN is reporting it too.
posted by owillis at 12:01 PM PST - 30 comments
Is peace now possible in Israel? In the wake of this terrible tragedy, perhaps one good thing may come of it: solid talks between Israel and the Palestinians. After Arafat announced a unilateral cease fire, the Israeli military disbanded all forces from Palestinian zones. If something comes of this, it could set a majestic example for the rest of the world. Is it wishful thinking to believe that peace can, at long last, happen somewhere on this wartorn planet?
posted by ed at 11:11 AM PST - 15 comments
'Special forces' may be crucial...
"They are a hammer in the kisser," said Andy Messing, a retired major from the Army special forces. "They're directed like light coming out of the magnifying glass. The beam of light fries the ant."
posted by kd at 10:49 AM PST - 24 comments
The Global Toll
A nicely done graphic from the Times outlining just how widespread the losses are. This really lends more perspective to the arguments that this was "an attack on humanity" rather than solely the U.S.
[Found on Nixlog]
posted by kokogiak at 10:43 AM PST - 15 comments
9-11peace.org
Working for peace in the wake of September 11.
For those who have wondered just what exactly they can do besides flying the US flag or posting on MeFi (myself included in the latter).
This comprehensive site offers all sorts of concrete actions for those who believe that war is not the answer. You can email your elected officials; sign petitions; browse a list of suggested actions (from donating supplies for rescue dogs to flying the UN flag); and find out about upcoming events.
posted by mapalm at 10:10 AM PST - 49 comments
Chechen Chat
Arabic websites are quickly going 404, but this Islamic Russian chat room in Chechnya is still active. A fair site for general information too; it has an abridged translation of Mullah Omar's Appeal for Jihad.
posted by username at 9:13 AM PST - 4 comments
New Yorker profile of bin Laden from Jan '00
Interesting background information on bin Laden from over a year ago.
"In a country that is obsessed with parentage, with who your great-grandfather was, Osama was almost a double outsider. His paternal roots are in Yemen, and, within the family, his mother was a double outsider as well—she was neither Saudi nor Yemeni but Syrian."
In his [bin Laden's] mind, the United States had become to Saudi Arabia what the Soviet Union had been to Afghanistan: an infidel occupation force propping up a corrupt, repressive, and un-Islamic government.
...that the more serious threat bin Laden poses to the interests of the United States lies in his ability to destabilize friendly Arab governments, such as Saudi Arabia's, whose support is geopolitically crucial to us.
posted by gen at 8:49 AM PST - 6 comments
RIP, Mr. Dressup.
For Canadians who were growing up in the 70s and 80s, the loss of this icon is a sad, sad happening. If only there were people to teach today's kids how to have fun with pipecleaners and cardboard instead of whining for $300 in video games. What became of old-fashioned imagination?
posted by Electric Jesus at 8:37 AM PST - 12 comments
Martin Amis writes:
'Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the development of what has been called "species consciousness" - something over and above nationalisms, blocs, religions, ethnicities.' Naively idealistic or something to hope for?
posted by normy at 7:56 AM PST - 12 comments
Interviewing Chomsky
Linguist and left-wing icon Noam Chomsky makes some amazing points in this interview by Belgrade Radio B92. Chomsky presents a very plausible summary of Osama's point of view. And his thoughts about who might end up owning Pakistan's nuclear weapons are very sobering indeed.
posted by xowie at 6:32 AM PST - 54 comments
World's indifference to the Afghan tragedy
If you read my article in full, It will take about an hour of your time. In this hour, 14 more people will have died in Afghanistan of war and hunger and 60 others will have become refugees in other countries.
A few months old, but well worth a read in current context ...
posted by walrus at 4:41 AM PST - 12 comments
Erward Said article about the attack, in the Observer.
Reposted on Znet:
No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents, most particularly when only a small group of people are in charge of such actions and feel themselves to represent the cause without having a real mandate to do so.
posted by talos at 4:03 AM PST - 14 comments
Some thought-provoking journalism
from the Australian online journal Crikey, including a piece from the "DEBKA-net-newsletter, an expensive intelligence newsletter out of Israel" and an analysis of the Gordon Sinclair "Good Neighbour" editorial.
posted by chrisgregory at 2:49 AM PST - 2 comments
September 17
Praise be to David Letterman for tonight's
Late Show. Questioning himself the appropriateness of returning to the air, there he was--the man famed for his sarcasm and goofy antics--addressing his audience like a wounded child, completely bewildered, emotional, fighting back tears. And then the sight of Dan Rather sobbing despite himself and then apologzing---it was enough to ravage any audience. Perhaps, for the first time in a while, television didn't appeal to our lowest common demoninator but, instead, sought to raise us up and appeal to our humanity. Thanks Dave.
posted by adrober at 10:29 PM PST - 59 comments
$1 billion bounty on bin Laden
"'Now it's time to wipe out the wasp nests of terrorism,' says Edward Lozzi, a West Coast PR agent lined up to handle the fund." It's a free-market justice crusade in the name of the Amurrican People!
posted by Sapphireblue at 9:31 PM PST - 28 comments
Apologies from the Left.
Journalist Matt Welch compiles a few and opines: "Which "dictator" were we supporting when bombing Yugoslavia? Oh yeah, none. In fact, last I remember, Yugoslavia's dictator is now facing a trial for War Crimes, and tentative democracy is gaining a foothold in Belgrade and Zagreb." (via
Ken Layne)
posted by owillis at 8:04 PM PST - 30 comments
During a severe Air Defence Emergency in the US a regulatory scheme known as '
SCATANA' is automatically invoked to deal with the situation and minimise threats. The central provision of the plan is to 'disable navigation aids which the attackers might be relying on'. This didn't happen last Tuesday (FAA confirmed, NORAD refused comment). Could it have prevented the planes reaching their targets? Are there now serious grounds for concern regarding the implementation procedure of military provisions essential for preserving American airspace security?
The Register appears to think so.
posted by Kino at 7:57 PM PST - 7 comments
Who else thinks we could use some of
these now.
Seems a shame they're not quite ready to help with this disaster.
"
...like crawling through earthquake rubble to search for victims..."
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 7:37 PM PST - 11 comments
Comstock offering free flag images
"If you need an image of the American flag for your website or a print piece, please accept this gesture as our admittedly tiny effort to somehow help. You may use any of these images without charge. With all best wishes..."
posted by johnjreeve at 7:14 PM PST - 3 comments
Who benefits from the bombings?
A rather controversial piece. I'm not saying I agree with it, but I thought it would be interesting to throw into the discussion. The author's assertion definitely a possibility (since anything is possible), but I'm leaning towards the 'this is quite a nutter' assessment. Thoughts?
(I did a search and couldn't find a reference to it on this site, maybe for good reason.)
posted by jetgrrl at 7:00 PM PST - 17 comments
Crime or War?
Dianne Durante: "If it was a crime by an individual, like the Oklahoma City bombing, then we would gather the evidence and bring the perpetrator to trial. If it was a crime by individuals sponsored and abetted by a foreign government, then it was an act of war, and is a matter for military action: immediate and decisive. If the attack was in fact government-sponsored, then capturing and punishing individual killers is less crucial than preventing further attacks by the foreign government."
posted by mw at 6:34 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
Media Literacy & Choosing Sides.
But whatever role we historically played, and however ineffectual our strategy, what we have been aiming to support over the past couple of centuries is creativity and free will. All of the relativistic angst and political critique expressed by we highly educated internet-literate computer users has been made possible by the Western system, born in the French and US revolutions.
posted by rushmc at 5:56 PM PST - 3 comments
Okay, so I am a little biased against the Democratic Underground.
Occasionally I may even laugh at some of their insults of dubya. I am sure this page was placed on their website early in the day of the attack without thinking. Maybe I am being just a little too sensitive about the tragedy, but I really think they should at LEAST change the date of this letter to santa.
posted by Oxydude at 3:55 PM PST - 5 comments
Yes, the nation's in mourning, but does that mean Apple's going to postpone its
OSX Update? I mean they said September, and that was like two months ago. I wannnnnnnnnnnnt it.
posted by adrober at 3:23 PM PST - 10 comments
NCCI reverses its position.
President & CEO Bill Schrempf said he was meeting with employees this morning to explain the company's change and apologize for not permitting them to display the American flag on Friday during the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.
Don't remember if the related story was posted here or not, but at first, they were forcing employees to take down any displays of flags.
posted by da5id at 3:05 PM PST - 2 comments
Bush gave orders to shoot down
any planes that didn't turn away from Washington, meaning flight 93 would have been shot down had it not crashed. Both Cheney and Bush have acknowledged they gave the authorization to shoot. Quote from Cheney: "If we ... had the opportunity to take out the two aircraft that hit the World Trade Center, would we have been justified in doing it? I think absolutely we would have."
posted by Potsy at 2:17 PM PST - 28 comments
Filling the Void
Phantom Towers, a memorial by Paul Myoda and Julian LaVerdiere. "They imagined two powerful beams rising from a reflecting pool, refilling the void left by the twin towers with incandescence."
posted by Nick Finck at 1:20 PM PST - 25 comments
Admiral Yamamoto never said
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" (or something like that) after Pearl Harbor. That line came from
Tora! Tora! Tora! Worth noting because an innumerable number of newspaper columnists have been "quoting" Yamamoto in light of the WTC attack.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:52 PM PST - 12 comments
Natural Traveler
quotes David Hubler of
Potomac Tech Journal talking about the media. Sorry I couldn't find the article in the original magazine. He says he's peturbed media labeling the WTC event. On Tuesday, from a friend's lower east side apartment, admittedly in shock, I thought the media took the title
America Attacked with naked clarity. The media, in its job of broadcasting uses devices as titles and eye witnesses and all obvious whatnot and often does so with bad taste. Not to over praise the media, but that morning I couldn't have thought of a better title. In another difference of opinion, David Huber thought the sunshine was a symbol of New York going on. Triumphant, if you will. And it was some of the most beautiful weather we ever get here. But I thought it was vulgur. The scenery for the wrong show. Perhaps again something naked, exposed. I'm finding that my response to this event is symbolism exploding everywhere.
posted by Laurable at 12:50 PM PST - 7 comments
An endangered bat
returns to the Isle of Wright after disappearing for the century. And in other animal news, declassified CIA documents reveal that
cats were used as experimental platforms for easdropping devices.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 12:13 PM PST - 8 comments
Understanding your enemy
A Khilafah document on the mujahadeed viewpoint. Also the assam.com site posting bin Laden's 1996 bayan declaring war on America went 404 since it was posted here yesterday. The document was indeed authentic and quite informative on bin Laudin's history and goals. Please relink if you find another copy.
posted by username at 11:24 AM PST - 6 comments
Help create a historical record of web sites about the attacks.
The Library of Congress and others want to create "a solid historical record of this time". They particularly want to find sites and blogs belonging to individuals. They're asking you to put a little "note this" linklet in your browser toolbar (like
blogger's "blog this!") and click it when you see a blog or other site that has anything to do with the attacks. They'll archive it. I think this is a great idea and I know they'll need a lot of help from people like us to carry it through.
posted by jill at 10:42 AM PST - 3 comments
Here's
an interesting take on the whole western ideals v eastern ideals idea. The collapse of the Soviet Union as harbinger of the collapse of the west? Well, maybe not from the perspective of your average neo-libertarian. From the perspective of someone who didn't buy into the Enlightenment, from where springs both liberal democracy and marxism, then it may just look like one process. Interesting article from the
'Other Side of the Hill'.
posted by vbfg at 9:57 AM PST - 4 comments
The Chaser - satirical magazine from Australia.
Warning: may be offensive to some, specifically with regard to the WTC tragedy. This is posted in response to the link below talking about how the Onion has ceased satire for the time being. I think the anti-Bush and Adam Sandler gags have merit, some others are quite tasteless. What do you think?
posted by skylar at 9:54 AM PST - 23 comments
"Bioterrorism: An Even More Devastating Threat"
Here's a link to an article that appears in today's Washington Post. It details an "easier" way to eliminate "80 percent of people infected by inhaled spores". The print version includes a map with the best flight plan and release point to effect the best results. Is this Responsible Journalism? Is it necessary to publish this sort of weakness in America's country's defenses? I don't disagree that Bioterrorism is a threat to be concerned about, just the presentation & the flip attitude of how easy it will be to pull this off. Or do we need this kind of "the-sky-is-going-to-fall" reporting to shock us into action?
posted by bhmwks at 7:40 AM PST - 24 comments
Is Paypal making money?
I read this on thier main Red Cross Page:
PayPal will donate 100% of the proceeds to the National Disaster Relief Fund of the American Red Cross.
All donations are tax deductible. Include your address (for a tax receipt) in the "Shipping Address" field when making your donation.
PayPal will realize no profits from money donated to this fund.
Yet, I play
Utopia and they have a donation account setup through paypal which states this:
All funds raised through this campaign -- minus a commission of $0.30+2.9% which PayPal takes on all payments -- will be forwarded directly to the Red Cross.
So does Paypal give 100% of donations directly donated to its page, and take a commission on accounts set up through secondary pages such as
Amazon? If so, with almost $6 Million dollars, that is almost $2 Million dollars!!! (if I did my math right, please correct me if I am wrong.)
posted by da5id at 7:13 AM PST - 14 comments
Pakistan Envoy Meets Mulla Umer
I think there is an increasing sense of interest building in the world about the proof that USA has against bin laden for the recent attacks.
The US should atleast come out with some proof, if not for public, then for the states helping her out. Uptill now, Bin Laden has been touted only as a Prime Suspect. Is the US going to prosecute Bin Laden before being proven guilty. Remember that, Bin Laden has only been a Prime Suspect for any other terrorism blamed on him.
The Muslim world is very important if any mission against terrorism has to be completed successfully. The Muslim world needs solid proof.
I am not saying that Do-It-And-Blame-The-Muslims mentality is at work here. All I am saying is, US does not have solid footings to prosecute Bin Laden.
posted by adnanbwp at 6:59 AM PST - 28 comments
Flashbulp memories
"When emotionally powerful events take place in a person's life a mental 'flashbulb' will preserve this scene along with completely mundane and unremarkable details."
Other than the attack on WTC, which events has coursed a flashbulb effect in you?
posted by Armarius at 6:35 AM PST - 8 comments
Saving a Life and a Bride.
Amid all the negative stories and news, there has been few positive stories about the heros of the day and week since the tradgedy. Just thought I would post this one. If anyone else knows of others, please post them as well.
posted by da5id at 6:30 AM PST - 4 comments
Here's
a take on the ways in which American society might change. Interesting in itself but it adds little to what's already been posted here before. The purpose is not more of the same
arrrgghh, history just chaaaaanged guff. The purpose of linking is for any anti-post-modernists to gloat at the author, Francis Fukuyama, who has at least once before proclaimed the end of history.
posted by vbfg at 5:59 AM PST - 3 comments
Tonight
is the first night of
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and tomorrow the one-week anniversary of the attack. Am I the only one nervous about a knockout punch tomorrow morning?
posted by Sinner at 4:50 AM PST - 12 comments
An open directory of resources
pertaining to the terrorist attack, the world's reaction, the upcoming military response, and all the various issues surrounding recent events. I think it's important that we maintain a library of sorts -- keeping track of all the news, all the opinion, the personal accounts, the photos -- so that we can learn from these events, so that we can find patterns, so that we can remember.
So, post your good links to the directory!
posted by benbrown at 4:02 AM PST - 8 comments
A letter from an Afghani American
which makes the most sense out of anything I've seen to date regarding retaliation.
"You see where I'm going. We're
flirting with a world war between Islam and the West. And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he
wants. That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right there."
Go. Read. Now.
posted by canoeguide at 12:54 AM PST - 31 comments
Well, here we go.
Macau authorities have arrested five Pakistanis of (officially) overstaying their visas. They also may be (again, speaking officially here) robbery suspects. But about halfway down the page, we find this little three-liner:
''According to preliminary investigations, the documents seized [in the arrest] appear to contain instructions to attack American targets in the SAR and Macau in the case of an American attack on Afghanistan,'' the [government] source said.
posted by Bixby23 at 12:51 AM PST - 7 comments
September 16
We Are the World War III
"Michael Jackson is leading a fund raising effort to help raise $50 million to benefit survivors and families of victims of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks."
posted by kirkaracha at 11:35 PM PST - 6 comments
Even if you're not a Dave Barry fan
you might appreciate reading his thoughts on the 9/11 disaster. For me, this piece was evidence that one of America's most prolific humorists has talent that goes beyond just being funny.
posted by Bixby23 at 11:34 PM PST - 10 comments
The Tech Effect.
I'm curious what you all think about how this attack will affect the world of technology, and business. Will office applications become more
decentralized and will we see more workers and small businesses become
"free agents" or work at home? And will cell phones become even
more ubiquitous (even cell-luddites like myself may be reconsidering)?
posted by owillis at 11:12 PM PST - 9 comments
Bioterror? Nukes? Don't bet on it.
Buried in this Washington Post article about the possibility of further terrorist attacks is a piece of information that I had been thinking was probably true myself: The fact that they went to all this trouble to hijack planes and use them as giant bombs is "enormously illustrative" that they probably do not have anything worse to use on us, like biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
posted by aaron at 10:19 PM PST - 35 comments
Iraq's Kurds OK with sanctions?
(and from the Washington Post
here)
The Kurds in the no-fly zone recieve a fraction of the oil money under the sanctions and seem to be doing pretty well; there's food and medicine enough to go around, to say nothing of free elections and an abundance of political parties. Is there something I'm missing? It doesn't feel like it's being spun; nobody's making a big deal about it. But it does go against the conventional wisdom on sanctions...
posted by dreamless at 9:59 PM PST - 16 comments
The Cost of an Afghan 'Victory'
an article from 1999 asks
Did the founders of US policy in Afghanistan during the Carter Administration (1977-1981) realize that in spawning Islamic militancy with the primary aim of defeating the Soviet Union they were risking sowing the seeds of a phenomenon that was likely to acquire a life of its own, spread throughout the Muslim world and threaten US interests?
posted by lelilo at 9:51 PM PST - 3 comments
A Terrorist Profile Emerges That Confounds the Experts.
The prototype for Muslim suicide bombers has been young, single, caught up in religious fervor and, often, desperate. They are usually promised financial security for their parents and told that they will be greeted by 70 black-eyed virgins in heaven. Though suicide is prohibited by Islamic law, some leaders have said there is an exception for soldiers in what they see as a holy war.
posted by semmi at 9:33 PM PST - 12 comments
Americans have little to fear (ny times link) -
In an opinion piece by Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism specialist published July 10th,
Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism. They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and lethal. They are likely to think that the United States is the most popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have the impression that extremist Islamic groups cause most terrorism.
None of these beliefs are based in fact. . . .
posted by revbrian at 9:22 PM PST - 8 comments
Pakistan, Taliban forces take up positions: Tension mounts at border
This is what I feared the first time I heard of Taleban. People trained to be fighters in their teenage, do not know of any thing else to do.
I was in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. I noticed the same fact. Teenagers, taught to fight and no other skill.
Maybe Pakistan
will have to use its own military in what is turning out to be very disturbing times for an already disturbed nation.
posted by adnanbwp at 9:22 PM PST - 1 comments
A Sky Filled With Chaos, Uncertainty and True Heroism
There's lots of fresh detail in this Washington Post story on flight 93, the only plane not to hit a target. "It was the hijackers' bad luck that they chose a plane with a number of large men on board. Beamer stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 200 pounds. Jeremy Glick, 31, another passenger involved in the apparent revolt, was a college rugby player and judo champion. Mark Bingham, 31, of San Francisco was a 6-foot-4 rugby player."
posted by NortonDC at 9:02 PM PST - 5 comments
I don't know if this is just
Isreali Propaganda but i thought it was worth a look. Sorry if it is as double post. I did a search, nothing came up. I got it from this
site.
posted by bas67 at 8:34 PM PST - 20 comments
The Australian HMAS Manoora
is taking hundreds of Afgan asylum seekers to the island of Nauru after they were rescued by a Norwegian freighter. Many Australian's supported the Government's move not to let them into the country but much of the rest of the world (and a few Australian do-gooders who took the Government to court and won) think we should
let these people in.
Today on the radio I heard the mother of one of the sailors on the Manoora saying that the majority of these "refugees" cheered and celebrated when they heard the news of the WTC and Pentagon attacks. And these are the people that the do-gooders want in our free country???
posted by Jase_B at 7:06 PM PST - 16 comments
Religion Urgently Needed - Or Not?
Pat Robertson, that 700 Club freak, proclaims the attack on Tuesday was all our fault. Our pursuit of non-religiously good stuff (i.e, money, sex, power... how ironic) has caused god to 'lift his protection from us'.
Anyone wanna guess when we had god's complete protection? I can't seem to figure it out. I think it was a Thursday back in September 1981.
posted by jcterminal at 3:40 PM PST - 149 comments
Realism Urgently Needed - Or Not?
David Ignatius's column today in The Washington Post addresses the question of effectiveness in the war against terrorism. He tells the sobering story of the CIA's collaboration with the terrorist Ali Hassan Salameh.
The downside: "The most obvious (lesson) is that collecting intelligence about terrorists is a truly dirty business. This world cannot be penetrated without help from members or friends of the terrorist network".
The upside: "Paradoxically, these tragic days have probably been an ideal time for the CIA to be recruiting new sources of intelligence about terrorism. The barbaric attacks Tuesday aroused disgust around the world --- not least among civilized Muslims. Some of these disgusted Muslims will surely want to help the United States and its allies put the terrorists out of business."
The crucial moral question: It's really a classic means/ends debate. Is it right - or just acceptably expedient - to collaborate with known terrorists in order to strike out at those we don't yet(or otherwise will never) know about?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:29 PM PST - 12 comments
Amateur newsies top the pros
Blogs and other on-line sources are often doing a better job of getting news to us than professional organization, who are too often busy echoingUnite and Fight themes.
posted by Postroad at 2:49 PM PST - 15 comments
The Roundabout Theater postpones its Assassins revival.
This was probably the right decision, though for those who know the show--and that might not be many--it happens to address better than most things all the issues our country is currently facing. Check out
Sondheim.com where they've changed the page to simple text featuring perfectly fitting lyrics for the moment we're in.
posted by adrober at 12:29 PM PST - 8 comments
Actually, They DO Dare Call It Treason.
Criticize Bush and be shouted down as a traitor: "The despicable traitors have made it their mission to undercut the authority of President Bush during America’s darkest hour, proving themselves even more cowardly than the terrorist murderers who are the only beneficiaries of such contemptible conduct." It's a good thing that MeFi would never sink to such levels.
posted by NortonDC at 12:12 PM PST - 39 comments
Bin Laden Denies attack was his.
"I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation." Maybe it was the guy on the grassy knoll again?
posted by mathowie at 11:40 AM PST - 47 comments
One World Ribbon Project.
This past week we have witnessed human destruction on a level never imagined. This is not just an American problem, it is a world problem. We are one species on one planet.
With this in mind, I have put together the "One World Ribbon Project" (please excuse this self-referring post) to emphasize that this is a human tragedy that affects each and every one of us on Earth.
I have created a ribbon icon that incorporates the colors of all nations on Earth. If you feel so inclined please display this ribbon on your web site as a reminder of the work that lays ahead for all of us.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 10:53 AM PST - 43 comments
I've seen several comments touting the futility of StarWars in light of WTC, however, isn't the flip side of this that drilling in ANWR is an imperative at this point?
posted by prodigal at 9:02 AM PST - 22 comments
Al Qaida Message Board
- Yahoo/Geocities pulled down the page hosted on their site, but Google has it
cached. Among the still-working links are this
message board on
Boardhost, which includes such discussion topics as "How do you determine when muslim can use violance[sic] against innocent people".
A curious note, there have been no posts on the board (save for one grammatically-challenged American) since September 9th.
posted by tpoh.org at 7:55 AM PST - 12 comments
the map of terrorism
An Israeli commentator shows that there are many Arab states and not all are terrorist or so inclined. Regarding all is over simplification.
posted by Postroad at 4:17 AM PST - 1 comments
For All Those of Us Asking Why
A Muslim activist presents "My explanation to the 'Attack' on the US from the Islamic perspective."
Note the inverted commas around "Attack" and proceed to his contention that "It is not who did it! It is why it was done that really matters."
Then take an industrial dose of anti-emetics and explore the "Jihad" section - including interviews with Osama Bin Laden under the "Heroes of Islam" menu - of the whole "IamMuslim.net" site.
This is what we're all up against. Well, almost all of us, anyway.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:35 AM PST - 36 comments
Opportunism in FUD?
Once a term used only for Microsoft, it seems
FUD is a common problem these days. The linked site is decidedly anti-MS and seems to be appropriating FUD for their own ends.
When someone uses the WTC tragedy to try and discredit their opponent in a technical debate have they gone too far?
posted by soulhuntre at 2:08 AM PST - 5 comments
Suspicious Trades?
U.S. and British intelligence agencies are investigating if there were links between bin Laden and some trades in securities futures in the United States and Europe before and after the attacks. I haven't heard this mentioned before, but it's another horrible thought. Spotted on
Japan Today.
posted by curiousg at 12:49 AM PST - 1 comments
The Case for Rage and Retribution.
An essay by Lance Morrow from the special all-attack issue of
TIME. "What’s needed is a unified, unifying, Pearl Harbor sort of purple American fury — a ruthless indignation that doesn’t leak away in a week or two."
posted by aaron at 12:29 AM PST - 52 comments
What Became of Tolerance in Islam?
This is from a few days ago, but I don't think it has been posted here previously. An Islamic scholar reflects upon the ways in which Islamic culture, "that produced such tolerance, knowledge and beauty throughout its history," has recently been taken over by an "extreme form of puritanical Islam" that "does not represent most Muslims today."
posted by Rebis at 12:23 AM PST - 3 comments
I think this crap
is so freakin' offensive. Have you heard this s**t on the radio? The Jerry Maguire/Titanic-remixes of thousands of people dying a senseless, barbaric death? Who decided this was a good idea?
posted by adrober at 12:08 AM PST - 27 comments
September 15
I feel represented.
I live in the East Bay, and I cannot believe my feelings towards all this have been represented in congress. Does anyone else feel that petitioning their rep's may be a good idea? I understand the need for retribution, but, really, is it worth more innocent death? We have carried out search and destroy missions before with zero civilian casualty. I'm sorry to not understand "death to all", I just think that this is WAY more delicate.
posted by tenseone at 11:48 PM PST - 5 comments
Are we ready? Are we able?
Is anyone else offended by this question? This article presents a fairly balanced view. My question would be, do we have any choice but to be ready militarily, politically and diplomatically? What is the alternative? Was this question asked so frequently in the days following Pearl Harbor?
posted by dewelch at 11:30 PM PST - 6 comments
Sorry, I don't have a link for this post, but in light of the tragedy, I was thinking of the Tower of Bable story from the Bible. As I understand the story, man was trying to build a tower to reach God, but God made sure man didn't succeed.
For those of you who do (or don't) believe in God, do you think there is a message in all this sadness?
posted by Rastafari at 11:27 PM PST - 17 comments
Can we at least agree to disagree that Multiculturism has gotten us somewhere?
Many Arab Americans are safer because of it. Is it possible that age-old liberal propaganda has insured at least partially, a much more measured response from the US government, as even conservative leaders seek to include Muslim voice in their sermons of American togetherness?
Are we growing up as a society as a result of this cataclysm? (Warning: Link to antithesis of my point--which is exactly the point as it were)
posted by crasspastor at 10:58 PM PST - 10 comments
So tragically wrong...
Proof that the FBI didn't have a clue. From a year ago: "Even the American cells of violent Middle East political movements as Hamas and Hezbollah, [then FBI Director Louis] Freeh declared, are devoted exclusively to "fundraising and low-level intelligence gathering." Salon writer Bruce Shapiro even goes so far as to call the National Commission on Terrorism's finding that "The threat from terrorists is so high, the potential for massive casualties is so real, that an independent panel is pushing the government to take immediate, drastic action" as a con job.
posted by theNonsuch at 9:15 PM PST - 18 comments
Tough Times For Pakistan
Please read all the articles. These articles explain in detail what has been going on in Pakistan since the attacks on Tuesday.
Once again my country is facing a tough time to make a decision. To succumb to international pressure and help the BIGGEST bully (US) and in return face the wrath of internal bullies.
Last time Pakistan helped a US cause, we were left alienated to face the problems of Post-Afghan War era.
God Bless Pakistan.
posted by adnanbwp at 6:02 PM PST - 31 comments
Appeasement.
Chamberlain sat at a table with Hitler in 1938 signing a treaty and proclaiming "peace for our time". Shortly after, World War II began.
Killing innocent people does not solve the problem, but sitting at a table with your enemy and proclaiming peace (when he just wants to kill more) does no good either.
posted by owillis at 4:22 PM PST - 36 comments
The Stranger does it right
Seattle's weekly
Stranger paper created a powerful and eloquent cover image for this week's edition. Weekly papers had the challenge of producing an issue on deadline which would not be published until days after Tuesday's events, behind the flood of daily newspaper and TV coverage. How have your independent weeklies handled the coverage?
posted by crunchybird at 4:03 PM PST - 11 comments
The best offense is a good defense?
With all the halting of sporting events and the outspokenness of some athletes, Tuesday's tragedy certainly puts our pasttimes in perspective. But this column's perspective sort of irked me, just from statements like this: "When Monday morning comes, let our enemies know that we are coming after them the way the Baltimore Ravens go after a ball carrier."
Come on.
Should sports have continued this weekend?
posted by crunchybird at 3:57 PM PST - 11 comments
The perfect structure
‘Responding to his own call for “the perfect structure,” Matta-Clark wrote elliptically, “erase all the buildings for a clear horizon.” To illustrate this “perfect structure,” he sketched twinned skyscrapers... on a horizon line complete with the half-disc of the sun. But the perfect structure – or structures – was not so much the skyscrapers as the condition of their erasure, indicated by the two blunt
Xs that violently mark the images of the buildings.’
posted by joeclark at 3:51 PM PST - 6 comments
A thoughtful and fascinating analysis
of the historical backdrop to the current situation.
Why did this happen, what circumstances got us into a de facto state of undeclared war with the Islamic world, and what can we realistically do to prevent those circumstances from ever recurring? --Charlie Stross
posted by rushmc at 2:11 PM PST - 15 comments
No escape at the movies.
I made the mistake of going to see "Rush Hour 2" yesterday. Now, granted, I knew that there'd be violence, but I thought Jackie Chan violence would be stomachable. How wrong I was. In fact, the very first scene involves the top of a building exploding. And that's repeated throughout the movie. So, for those of you escaping at the movies, what have you been seeing?
posted by adrober at 1:41 PM PST - 57 comments
Missles hit Gaza.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called it
here. "If Sharon goes ahead and cancels [the cease-fire talks], that means he has other plans and we know those other plans -- they involve tanks, shelling and assasinations."
posted by hipstertrash at 1:08 PM PST - 3 comments
I hope the intentions of the people publishing websites like this are honorable
but I fear they may not be. In the last hour I have received three email messages soliciting money for 'disaster victims'. Here is one in its entirety (inside as a comment)
Call me me crazy, but this sounds like a scam to me. I have no idea who any of these people are, but they have either questionable motives or questionable judgement or both.
What causes people to prey on others generosity during such a terrible time?
posted by fbeach at 11:01 AM PST - 13 comments
Keep Rudy on in NYC?
Anyone heard of a serious effort to keep Rudy as Mayor in NYC? His performance during this crisis is the best argument for the elimination of term limits I've ever seen.
posted by justkurt at 10:37 AM PST - 19 comments
The Rocket Man
says: "I know I wouldn't get on an American airline unless it had an armed guard." Despite everything, I think it's going to be a long long time before that happens---could airlines really afford that?
posted by adrober at 10:17 AM PST - 24 comments
Understanding Fundamentalism
An anthropology professor explores the common threads of fundamentalism ranging from Native American revivalism, Christian fundamentalism, the Islamic Movement, Jewish Orthodoxy and Shinto and how they give rise to vigilante groups such as Operation Rescue, American militias, Hamas and Gush Emunim.
posted by kliuless at 8:58 AM PST - 5 comments
For now, enough volunteers and food
This was reiterated in a press conference this morning: "Agencies that had requested new volunteers are now reporting they have sufficient numbers of volunteers to accomplish their work. Agencies that have requested in-kind donations of goods and supplies have likewise received as much material support as they can immediately manage."
posted by metrocake at 8:38 AM PST - 3 comments
Reactions.
We won't be making war against our enemies because they are evil and we are good. We will be making war against these people because they are killing Americans and our allies, and we have to make them stop. --Orson Scott Card
posted by rushmc at 8:19 AM PST - 29 comments
Kent's "Remember 9.11,"
Tim's "Buy stocks on Monday", Peter's "Let us remember" I've never been in a position where I've seen so many spam/meme's born.... I always wondered where those things came from.
posted by christina at 8:11 AM PST - 11 comments
Russia not willing to help?
Meanwhile, Nikolai Kovalyov, the former head of the Russian FSB security service, warned the US that an attack on Afghanistan would fail to capture Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the atrocities, and would backfire on the US. "In Afghanistan's mountainous terrain it takes a trainload of explosives to destroy three militants," he said. "The chance of hitting bin Laden is zero."
posted by rushmc at 7:52 AM PST - 17 comments
They've finally reached an agreement
that will allow China to become members of the World Trade Organization. I'm not sure I buy the idea that allowing them in will help "bring domestic political liberalization". Although this probably would have made big news a week ago, it was buried in the Reuters Business News today.
posted by elfgirl at 6:22 AM PST - 3 comments
Where's Uncle Dick?
Unless I've missed something, Dick Cheney has not shown his face since the tragedy. All I've seen is a CNN scroll stating that he is at Camp David. (more inside)
posted by Optamystic at 5:30 AM PST - 30 comments
Have we entered a
Neil Howe and William Strauss have written a series of books (really, the same book rehashed three times, but who's counting?) on generational cycles. Their theory is that we are due for a "fourth turning" in the first part of the 21st century: a catalyst event that causes an extreme change in public mood, causing us to go through a decade or two of crisis. For example, the 1929 stock market crash was a catalyst, and the Depression and WWII were the time of crisis. Was 9/11 such a catalyst?
posted by litlnemo at 5:25 AM PST - 15 comments
BUY WAR BONDS!
An archive of vintage WWII posters, in case you've got a hankerin' for a little bit of that ol' timey propaganda.
posted by crunchland at 12:06 AM PST - 7 comments
September 14
Ask the Imam.
Now that Mr. Blue has left Salon, send your questions to an authentic Islamic Mufti. He will analyze your problem in relation to Sharia and issue the appropriate fatwah or legal opinion. I've been stuck on this site for hours...check out the question at http://islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=2476
Comments on your favorite fatwah, anybody?
posted by username at 8:57 PM PST - 12 comments
The War Prayer,
by Mark Twain. I always like running across this kind of unpublished Twain gem. He's absolutely amazing at making his readers think. [via
boingboing]
posted by swell at 8:36 PM PST - 5 comments
NPR Commentator Jim Sleeper on recent events
Links to Real Audio file.
I spent some time today looking for a transcript but this is the best I could find. I heard this yesterday and it's the one of the most reasoned piece of commentary I've heard and places this incident in an appropriate historical context.
"We'll have to be tougher and smarter than ever before but also wiser and, if possible, more noble."
posted by amanda at 6:13 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
First arrest made.
"The suspect was arrested because authorities have determined that the individual has information highly relevant to the investigation and is a high-flight risk". Also Richmond, VA and Atlanta, GA were revealed to be targets by the FBI.
posted by owillis at 5:40 PM PST - 6 comments
Safe Mode for airplanes?
Here is an interesting idea on one way to
prevent Tuesday's disaster...it will not stop hijacking but could avert another WTC. "Install 'safe mode' panic buttons that put the plane on forced autopilot that cannot be overridden, except in special circumstances," Steve says. He'd have them mounted in the cockpit, one for each side, with additional optional buttons in crew areas on each side of the plane in both the forward and aft cabins. Once a plane is in safe mode, suggests Steve, it would randomly select one of the 10 nearest airports capable of accommodating that plane type, and automatically land the aircraft there. "
posted by Oxydude at 5:11 PM PST - 31 comments
Moderated.
Posts to message boards at the BBC are editorially filtered within broadcasting guidelines. In this 'talking point' in particular, there is a sense of deep foreboding...
posted by feelinglistless at 4:08 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
Arab-Americans lose rights as legitimate Americans.
Not literally. However, the backlash against Arab-Americans has been astounding. In this time of grieving and mourning, there is no need for further hate towards a group of our fellow Americans who have caused no harm to others. If you as an American are going to take this day as a day of prayer and remembrance, then do so in the spirit of hope and healing that God intended prayer to serve.
posted by dkhong at 4:04 PM PST - 9 comments
Were the clues found by law enforcement officers planted to mislead the search for the perpetrators of 9.11? I've been wondering, and
so does Stratfor.
posted by rebeccablood at 3:59 PM PST - 13 comments
The Tragedy in Cartoons.
One of the more interesting effects of a national tragedy is that it always somehow causes the nation's editorial cartoonists to suffer massive, collective brain damage. Across the country, they rush to their easels and whip up cheesy, embarrassing caricatures of Uncle Sam crying. Or the Founding Fathers crying. Or - in this case - a comparison to Pearl Harbor. Or - if your local cartoonist is feeling particularly creative - the always crowd-pleasing
weeping Statue of Liberty. As Cagle notes, "Fully half the nation's cartoonists drew the same cartoon on the same day." Including Cagle himself. A tragedy in cartoons indeed. Some psychiatrist really ought to study this phenomenon.
posted by aaron at 3:46 PM PST - 20 comments
I opened a book and found Lorca:
(a quick search online gave me the elecronic version -- first stanza included only)
"I have shut my balcony
because I do not want to hear the weeping,
but from behind the grey walls
nothing else is heard but the weeping. "
What give you comfort today? How are you coping?
posted by christina at 2:24 PM PST - 28 comments
Bush's bullhorn speech
The most genuine public show of emotion I think I've seen from the president. There has been a lot of criticism of his cue-card reading, but to me this was a refreshing change!
posted by smt at 2:17 PM PST - 34 comments
Is it bin Laden or?
I was watching CNN and they had a little bit on this other terrorist and how the intelligence community is more scared of him than Osama bin Laden. The last picture of him was from 20 years ago. He's responsible for a number of attacks, and is attributed as being responsible for killing more Americians. Anyone catch this guy's name? Got any info on him?
posted by ericdano at 1:35 PM PST - 8 comments
Serj Tankian's (System of a Down) comments
on the terrorist attacks. Aside from making a whole lot of sense, in this well formulated article, Serj also offers up the point-of-view of a middle-eastern living in America. It's a good read, and I would like to thank Qambient for tracking down this article.
posted by Dark Messiah at 12:56 PM PST - 36 comments
Where are these people's priorities?
CBS has done it again. "Many people can't get enough news about the terrorist attacks in the United States, but a few are getting absolutely none: those locked up in ``Big Brother'' houses. " Apologies if this has already been posted, search didn't return anything useful.
posted by zerotype at 12:52 PM PST - 9 comments
GE
pledges $10 million to a fund that will assist the families of the firefighters, police officers and emergency rescue personnel who perished while responding to the attack on the World Trade Center.
Cisco Systems has made gifts to key relief and support organizations serving the New York City and Washington D.C. areas, including a $6 million donation.
Microsoft is making a donation of $10 million in cash and technical services. Know of any other companies that are doing something similar?
posted by riffola at 12:48 PM PST - 23 comments
Airport Detainees Cleared
At least 10 travelers of Middle Eastern descent who were detained at two New York airports have been cleared of any connection with Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Sen. Joseph Biden said Friday.
"Anyone with dark skin or who spoke with an accent was taken aside and searched," passenger Mike Glass of Seattle told the Times. "And then they went to any male with too much facial hair."
Isn't this going too far? >more<
posted by metrocake at 12:06 PM PST - 20 comments
Pictures
of reactions from around the world. Seeing flags at half staff in other countries really gets to me. What do you think?
posted by campy at 11:56 AM PST - 10 comments
Now this is eerie.
A discussion on Airliners.net from 2000, regarding a plane hitting the WTC.
'When the two towers that make up the World Trade Center were built, they were designed to withstand the impact of the largest airliner of the day, the Boeing 707 Intercontinental. The Empire State Building survived a B-25 medium bomber crashing into it on very foggy day. Anyone wanna bet that the World Trade Center could survive an 767-300 impact?'
posted by Atom Heart Mother at 11:43 AM PST - 19 comments
Bush readies military--calls up 50 thousand reserves
Well that will take care of the job market. But just what is it they are to do? One suggestion is that they will stay in the U.S. to ensure our safety. Isn't that called a garrison state? And Carnivore now installed at Hotmail and just about all oter places. But Bush had warned us early on that sometimes you have to give up freedoms, even in a democracy.
posted by Postroad at 11:27 AM PST - 12 comments
Reuters is publishing photos of those unaccounted for.
I thought that this was a nice gesture on the part of Reuters, and of the AP if they're doing this as well. It's eerie to glance through yahoo's archive of the Reuters photos and to find random pictures submitted by families. They're not obvious, but if you look through enough pages, you'll find a few.
posted by moz at 11:21 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
For the Mormons here at MeFi -- and, of course, anyone else -- the
Church is broadcasting a
Memorial Service nationwide, that is also being
streamed (requires Windows Media Player). I'm sure other national religious organizations are doing the same... so if you know of others, post them here.
posted by silusGROK at 10:55 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
A quick break from all the WTC stuff... Considering the recent events, it's probably been overlooked.
Canada is proposing a
Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues which is similar to the DMCA in the US.
All comments on it have to be received by Sept. 15th. You can read the
EFF Alert, for more information.
posted by Jairus at 10:25 AM PST - 2 comments
University campus communities are a logical place to give and receive support. Blood drives, counseling, vigils are occurring almost universally. Many university departments are sponsoring programs and panel discussions for the public on terrorism: a sort of rough draft of history. (See
Princeton,
Yale,
JHU, and some with whom I have personal connection:
UCSD (no annoucement online yet),
Penn.)
posted by rschram at 10:24 AM PST - 2 comments
Another thoughtful article
Open the Washington Post to it's editorial pages, and war talk dominates:
Henry Kissinger: Destroy the Network.
Robert Kagan: We Must Fight This War.
Charles Krauthammer: To War, Not to Court.
William S. Cohen: American Holy War.
There is no column by Colman McCarthy talking peace.
posted by mapalm at 10:16 AM PST - 19 comments
Hmmm....maybe while they're not looking, we can do some
really bad things.
Corporate lobbyists love distractions, especially a major crisis at the end of a legislative session. California is no exception. How has your state legislature been screwing you while this crisis has been going on?
posted by themikeb at 9:38 AM PST - 5 comments
Women's Groups Leaders Comment
"There are many women's groups around the globe working for peace and against war, terrorism, and oppression. Women should be at the table along with men when decisions are made as to the future of our country and the world." Another quote, different woman:
She added that in general, the more democratic a nation is, and the more women participate in public policy, the fewer the problems in these societies. What do you think? Israeli and Palestinian women seemingly often come together to speak out, since they're
all losing sons and brothers. Russian mothers did the same in the '80s. With Congress currently bloodthirsty, would gender balance make a difference in the decisions they're about to make?
posted by fotzepolitic at 9:22 AM PST - 21 comments
$70mil in US aid to Afghanistan in 1997
Per the CIA's very informative world factbook web site, in 1997 the USA provided "about $70 million in humanitarian assistance in 1997". I have a feeling that $70mil is a drop in the ocean to what may be spent on Afghanistan in the near future, though perhaps not in a manner to their liking.
posted by daragh at 8:51 AM PST - 11 comments
O Superman
I went to the Laurie Anderson show last night in Toronto. I seriously didn't want to
and was praying for a cancelled show. I ended up enjoying it fully. Art really can heal. She began the
show by dedicating the music to "everyone who died Tuesday, freedom and sanity."
Strangely, many of her songs make reference to airplanes and fire. Spookiest moment of the night: during her signature song "O Superman," the lines "Here come the planes. They're American planes, made by Americans." Read the lyrics - the song is loaded with eerie references.
posted by davebush at 8:40 AM PST - 10 comments
Since we're posting about memorials and the WTC site, here are some interesting words from
Ebert.
posted by tomplus2 at 8:36 AM PST - 28 comments
American Icons - 2 Pictures of Patriotism
Hopefully, this picture will go over better then the Satan in the Smoke article I posted yesterday.
Showing these 2 pictures side-by-side shows the patriotism of 2 very different generations, yet, both united in a common bond.
posted by da5id at 8:21 AM PST - 10 comments
Moby tells his side of the story.
Moby lives in Lower Manhattan, and he has been keeping the world updated in his own online journal. He has some rather poignant things to say. Moby feels that paying taxes to security organizations who have failed to protect the US is stupid. I'm inclined to agree.
posted by wackybrit at 8:13 AM PST - 25 comments
Rebuild It, Bigger!
America will find an appropriate way to mourn. But if we must have a shrine or monument for our remorse, let's put it on the 200th floor, right next to the antiaircraft guns.
posted by dagny at 8:10 AM PST - 13 comments
Is it too soon to see the brighter side?
I'm torn. The words of the tragedy have turned from "The horror" to "let's kill the gays" in less than three days. But at the same time, I know there's a brighter side. Crisis brings (generally) the best out of Americans (if not the world). We will rebuild, re-design, re-shape our world. After WWII, America had a huge upsing economically and socially. People remembered to be happy to be alive, had kids, made families, partied like Hugh Hefner, and created one of the most amazing periods in our history. The same will happen again: unimaginable horror, work, then prosperity. But this only happens is
these idiots don't screw it up. Your thoughts?
posted by rev- at 7:35 AM PST - 6 comments
An idea to support the U.S economy.
The suggestion is that everyone American should buy 10 or 20 shares in their favourite stock on Monday, and in doing so support their country in the time of crisis. It sounds like a good idea to me. (The story is at the bottom of the page)
posted by Atom Heart Mother at 7:16 AM PST - 33 comments
Senator Biden says
that yesterday's arrests at NY airports were NOT connected to Tuesday's attacks, and those arrested were not carrying knives.
posted by ericost at 6:40 AM PST - 14 comments
The U.S. Embassy in Manila
may have been the target of a simultaneous attack. (this is a rumor, NBC has stated that two men were found videotaping the embassy, and they were questioned, released, and then they fled to Thailand. Bomb-making materials were found in their home.)
posted by j.edwards at 1:44 AM PST - 3 comments
September 13
Does anyone know how to circulate an online petition? That is, to get one rolling? I think we need to urge President Bush to address the nation directly and as soon as possible, beseeching the American public to end the outbreak of violence against their fellow citizens of Arab (or perceived as such) extraction. The worst irony of the WTC terrorism is that angry Americans are now committing acts of terror against other Americans. Yes, Americans.
Maybe it would fall on deaf ears, but it never hurts to try, right? We have to do something.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:53 PM PST - 29 comments
Financial/NY people add your name
If you
were expected to be downtown in the area. Also, the FISD has set up
this site to post questions about missing people and anything else.. that you're ok, if you need help.. if you can help... (one thing.. some places had decided to use the UBB to tout their wares.. how screwed in the head are you?.. I can understand people with a skill.. but a company trying to sell something...).. But use the sites responsibly, please.
posted by rich at 11:29 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
The charges of "lewd conduct against a child under 14" against Paula Poundstone have been DROPPED.
She pleaded no contest to a couple other charges related to the fact that she had been driving drunk with her kids in the car. I'm posting this because child molestation charges ruin careers and entire lives. Since we covered the initial charges here quite a bit, it's only fair to note her apparent innocence just as prominently, especially during a time like this when any non-attack news is being largely ignored. (Indeed, this story itself is nearly two days old.)
posted by aaron at 11:11 PM PST - 15 comments
10 police officers found.
I hope this isn't another mistake, but "A report just in says ten police officers missing since the collapse of the World Trade Centre buildings have been found alive under the rubble." Post details as you find them.
posted by krisjohn at 10:02 PM PST - 9 comments
People For the American Way Statement on Divisive Comments by Religious Right Leaders.
"I am deeply saddened that in the wake of this week's devastating terrorist attacks, Religious Right political leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have chosen the path of division rather than unity.
At a time when political leaders of both parties are urging
bipartisanship and national unity, it is truly unfortunate that Americans who watched today's edition of Pat Robertson's 700 Club television program received a far different message from Robertson and Falwell."
posted by tpoh.org at 10:01 PM PST - 12 comments
CNN retracts names of suspects
it's far down on the pages, so i quote: "We would like to correct a report that appeared on CNN. Based on information from multiple law enforcement sources, CNN reported that Adnan Bukhari and Ameer Bukhari of Vero Beach Florida, were suspected to be two of the pilots who crashed planes into the World Trade Center. CNN later learned that Adnan Bukhari is still in Florida, where he was questioned by the FBI. We are sorry for the misinformation. A federal law enforcement source now tells CNN that Bukhari passed an FBI polygraph and is not considered a suspect. Through his attorney, Bukhari says that he is helping authorities. Ameer Bukhari died in a small plane crash last year."
posted by moth at 9:25 PM PST - 12 comments
What are we saying and to whom?
Several of the posts here at MeFi are starting to report fairly detailed information about reserve units who being called up for service and where, as well as movements (Link purposly omitted) of aircraft and tanks and other, potenially damaging information.
Before this gets out of hand let me remind everyone that we need to remember that "the world" is watching and could be reading anything posted openly on the Internet.
I won't censor my opinions but I am going to actively start reviewing the information in my messages before I hit "POST"
I hope others will do the same.
posted by dewelch at 9:22 PM PST - 17 comments
A glimpse into the "Ivory Tower" -
The online community at
Swarthmore College is abuzz with reflections, debates, insults and demands for revenge prompted by the recent tragedies. After being physically threatened by a member of my college community after commenting that I thought that the Netherlands was a more "free" nation than the US, I've stopped going to the site myself; however, a look at the forum may demonstrate that such reactionary thought isn't limited to "middle America" or the "unenlightened," as some intellectual snobs/idealists seem to think. (Swarthmore was tied with Amherst as the number one liberal arts college in the country according to
U.S. World and News Report.)
posted by surblimity at 8:46 PM PST - 10 comments
US air space open again, sort of.
But the FAA later revealed that all foreign carriers -- except for Canadian airlines and planes diverted during the crisis -- were barred from landing here. US airlines, meanwhile, were allowed to bring in flights from overseas airports if they met the new airline security rules, which were being hidden from the public.
posted by krisjohn at 8:42 PM PST - 2 comments
Calling up reserves?
The Pentagon is considering a call up of army reservists for the first time since the Gulf War. (The last call up was in January 1991 when more than 265,000 reservists were placed on stand-by for active duty.)
posted by krisjohn at 8:11 PM PST - 31 comments
Amtrak ridership up 50 percent
- Most long distance trains were sold out Wednesday and Thursday. Of course, that isn't surprising considering the current air travel situation, but one has to wonder how many of those riding the rails will just decide to stick on the ground for the time being.
posted by mrbula at 7:35 PM PST - 24 comments
Building a Fitting Monument to the Dead and the Living
Anyone who has visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington knows that the most powerful way to celebrate those who died for their country is a simple list of names inscribed in everlasting marble.
So how do we go about remembering the many who were killed - and are still dying - by the enemies of freedom? I suggest rebuilding the twin towers as a monument - same height, same dimensions - thereby restoring the Manhattan skyline and defying those who think they destroyed it.
It could be a holograph or actually built in stone or bronze. The names of those who died there, in Washington and Pennsylvania, would forever be engraved there.
I hate to think of the site being rebuilt as something else and profits being made.
What happened should be forever remembered and regretted. The cost would probably not be more than $20 per citizen.
What are your ideas about a fitting monument to the fallen?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:48 PM PST - 56 comments
Is the Missle Defense System dead?
The rules have changed, they say, but many of us have used this argument against SDI all along.
What happened on Sept. 11 demonstrated irrefutably that any enemy determined to inflict mass destruction upon America can do so without ballistic missiles.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 5:47 PM PST - 16 comments
More info leaked
on the reasoning behind the claims that the President was specifically targeted on Tuesday. Seems to raise a lot more questions than it answers, to me.
posted by rushmc at 5:41 PM PST - 20 comments
Creepy Animation
from CNN shows the disasters in 3d... its real food for thought to think about some dude in an SGI shirt tweaking colors on the explosion plugin while a project manager asks if the more pizazz can be added... For a neat trick, notice you can watch from below as the building sinks underground (use all your mouse buttons)
posted by mantid at 4:41 PM PST - 7 comments
Recently I was made aware of a response to the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, by Serj Tankian, vocalist for the politically-themed band,
System of a Down. The response was well written, highly articulated and, yet, it is now MISSING from the band's official website.
I have been unable to find a cached copy of the post, and I am wondering if this article was removed due to it's less-than 100% agreement with the current mindset of the media propaganda machine, or whether it is related to something else.
If anyone can dig up a cached copy, or shed some light on this matter, it would be much appreciated.
posted by Dark Messiah at 4:33 PM PST - 12 comments
Thank you, Mister Rogers
The man in the sweater puts it all in perspective for us :
One of the most important messages we can give our children is, "It's okay to be angry, but it's not okay to hurt." Anger is a natural and normal feeling, in families and among friends. Besides allowing children the right to their anger, we can also help them find constructive things to do with their angry feelings -- things that don't hurt others or themselves or damage things. By showing children how to deal with their angry feelings in healthy ways, we are giving them useful tools that will serve them all life long and helping them to be the world's future peacemakers.
posted by likorish at 4:14 PM PST - 7 comments
why they hate us
Attack on freedom? On liberty? How about retaliation against the biggest bully on the planet? It's our turn to learn how the other half lives.
excuse this if it is a double post; I didn't find it in search and it's an important article thanks meg
posted by christina at 4:00 PM PST - 84 comments
The entertainment industry reacts.
Fox's "24" delayed. "Spider-Man" twin towers scene removed. Ah-nold's "Collateral Damaged" and Tim Allen's "Big Trouble" postponed indefinitely, TV skyline shots being re-edited, televised action movies being replaced with more humor and upbeat programming. How long will it last? And having been probed for so long, will the gaming industry do anything in turn?
posted by teradome at 3:22 PM PST - 33 comments
Flight Data Recorder found
for United Airlines flight 93 in Pennsylvania. They've also found the signal for at least one of the data recorders on the Pentagon flight, as well. Assuming it's still readable, the flight recorder for UA 93 could give new insight into why the plane went down, and why they're now finding debris 6 miles from the crash site.
(The information for flight 93 came from CNN broadcast, but hasn't made it online yet.)
posted by elfgirl at 2:22 PM PST - 13 comments
http://www.taleban.com
keeps looping back to our own machines at work. At home, it comes up non-existant yet it's showed up in my server logs. network solutions has a listing for it. Anyone else getting bizarre results with this domain?
posted by Zebulun at 2:03 PM PST - 15 comments
Manhattan and Brooklyn photos.
Ultradio photos of the scene. Too much mental fantasy today. I can't cover up my fear and terror with anger anymore. Back to reality. I'm going to try to not follow any more political topics and threads for a while.
posted by username at 12:17 PM PST - 3 comments
Ur-Editorial about the attacks,
(
from adequacy.org- I'm not familiar with them- linked via a plastic.com comment). Shades of the Metafilter
self-parody; I found it a handy template for every editorial opportunist from Michael Moore to Ann Coulter- perhaps we can just reference this instead of linking yet more lame, shameful editorials from all parts of the political spectrum?
posted by hincandenza at 12:16 PM PST - 4 comments
Bush speaks out on misplaced anger -
"
...our nation must be mindful that there are thousands of Arab-Americans who live in New York City, who love their flag just as much as the three of us do, and we must be mindful that as we seek to win the war that we treat Arab-Americans and Muslims with the respect they deserve. "
posted by revbrian at 12:10 PM PST - 10 comments
New Yorker online
has checked in with their lead story and an image of their next cover. I have to say I'm seeing accounts that are equally compelling from regular people writing on the Internet.
posted by luser at 11:42 AM PST - 6 comments
Footage of Celebrating Palestinians Racially Biased
Here's a "voice in the wilderness." The writer argues that the media running this footage is reminiscent of how the media ran footage of African Americans looting in L.A. in 1992, calling them hoodlums and vandals, without thinking about or providing the context of the Rodney King verdict. PROTECT YOUR FELLOW AMERICANS OF COLOR.
posted by prozaction at 11:22 AM PST - 38 comments
BBC Reports...
When the missiles fall, for better or worse, here's why they will fall in Afghanistan
posted by szg8 at 11:22 AM PST - 1 comments
List to help.
I'm on a number of mailing lists ranging from techy ones to skating and have decided to try to bring all those together so that we can have messages for volunteering and rebuilding go over more quickly. I think there would be a network effect in terms of providing news and info to people in New York.
posted by TNLNYC at 11:00 AM PST - 2 comments
Five Firefighters found alive
Amazing. 48 hours after the collapse. "Five firefighters were found alive in New York on Thursday, trapped in an SUV buried in rubble from the World Trade Center. Two of the firefighters were able to leave the vehicle unassisted; all five were transported to the hospital."
posted by warhol at 10:34 AM PST - 7 comments
Sorry
but it's a little too late to muzzle this beast. The Palestinian Authority tries to stop press coverage of post-bombing celebrations (sorry if this has already been posted).
posted by estopped at 10:25 AM PST - 19 comments
Art Bell continues to sell crazy
in a world that's all stocked up. Here's a link to a page of photograph submitted for last night's show. Scroll down a few, and you'll see one with a very insensitive implication about the WTC attack. Apparently, comical cartoon devils were involved.
posted by Hildago at 10:24 AM PST - 3 comments
www.worldtradecenterbombing.com, .net, .org
have been registered. For what purposes, I don't know. I've been wondering if anti-arabic domains, other similar WTC-style domains and if register.com, namezero, etc. have the capability to deny or register for themselves such sites. Whether for hatred purposes or, as vile as it sounds, for $ purposes. I guessing no. And I hope the site above was registered to keep it out of the hands of someone with less than virtuous ideals.
posted by Tacodog at 10:08 AM PST - 10 comments
UK pays its respects
For the first time in history, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was changed. The US national anthem was played, followed by a two-minute silence.
posted by keith at 9:31 AM PST - 24 comments
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
Ann Coulter, as always an island of calm reflection.
posted by rcade at 8:21 AM PST - 96 comments
Anti-Arab violence going in Australia:
It's not just in the US - In Brisbane, a schoolbus packed with Islamic children was damaged by stones and bottles and there had been abusive calls to mosques. In Perth a mosque was defiled with human faeces and obscenities were shouted from a car doing wheelies in its carpark. The Australian Arabic Council today said a hotline for people to report racist attacks had been swamped by calls. Unconfirmed attacks included children being physically harmed and racially vilified at school. Muslum women being spat on and had their veils pulled off.
posted by Jase_B at 7:39 AM PST - 22 comments
NY Red Cross needs tech help -
by donating computers, equipment, and services. They're looking for certified Citrix engineers
and Microsoft-certified consultants, as well as a long list of
computers, network parts, etc.
posted by bkdelong at 6:21 AM PST - 4 comments
The Examiner spells it out.
As a newspaper page designer (for a much smaller, tamer paper), I wonder what you all think of the San Francisco Examiner's semi-profane but heartfelt front-page headline. On one hand, it's editorializing, but on the other, it expresses what an awful lot of people are thinking. I think I like it, but I also know it'd never get printed in a lot of papers, including my own.
posted by diddlegnome at 1:05 AM PST - 23 comments
Infoshare
is a syndicated information block which can be added your page in a few seconds. It includes links to up-to-date news and other useful numbers and links to help all affected.
posted by nico at 12:55 AM PST - 13 comments
September 12
Guns selling briskly.
(NYTimes link, registration required -- scroll down to last subheading.) "They sold me out of ammo by 10 in the morning," said the owner of one Colorado gun store. Apparently some people want personal protection, and others want to "vent" on the firing range. "I had people who said, yeah, they would like to put up a picture of Osama bin Laden and go to work."
posted by precipice at 11:42 PM PST - 4 comments
World wide "lock-down" of major parts of major cities.
The Malaysian government has detained without trial several Islamic extremists, checkpoints were set up outside the Citibank Tower and Asian-Pacific Financial Tower in Hong Kong, the CN Tower in Toronto was shut, Downing Street was evacuated because a suspect package had been found inside No 10. (The alert was called off within minutes.) Etc, etc, etc.
posted by krisjohn at 11:21 PM PST - 2 comments
Planes over London will be shot down, warns government.
The UK government warned that any plane venturing into airspace over central London was likely to be shot down. All aircraft movements over the heart of the capital are banned until further notice. The flight path into London-Heathrow airport passes close to the Canary Wharf skyscraper in the east of the city and along the River Thames over the House of Parliament, the Guardian newspaper reports. (Down the page a ways.)
posted by krisjohn at 11:16 PM PST - 3 comments
Pakistan faces strategic decision
Pakistan has assumed a lot of importance once again, ironicaly, when the US of A needs its help. The geographic nature of the country along with love hate relationship with Bin Laden, and Taleban, also past
very close ties between Pakistan Intelligence
ISI and CIA has suddenly brought Pakistan to the verge of another very important decision.
How much should Pakistan help USA ? Is the US of A trustable after what happened when they left it alienated when their mission of breaking up of the Soviet Union was achieved ? What is to make sure that USA will not use it and dispose of, just like it has done before ? Should Pakistan allow its air and land resources to be used for a possible attack on Afghanistan ?
These are decisons - for a keen observer of Pak-US ties - that can change how historians will write about a Fundamentalist America's reply to an attack on its fundamentals.
posted by adnanbwp at 10:59 PM PST - 5 comments
Ways to heal.
I'm a long, long way from being OK, as are most others here in NYC, many of whom have lost far more than me. The one thing that has helped more than anything has been the people who have crawled out of the woodwork of my life. From the friends currently housing me, to a phone call from an expat friend living in China, to hearing an ex-girlfriend say "I love you," a month after it hit me that we would probably never speak again.
As a distraction, how about you? Who have you heard from that you never thought you'd see again? Old lovers? Former best friends? Long-lost cousins?
posted by Sinner at 10:15 PM PST - 3 comments
FBI Identifies Team of 50 Attackers
"Authorities searching nationwide for terrorists behind the deadly airliner attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center have identified a team of as many as 50 infiltrators who supported or carried out the strikes, a source familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.
The source said about 40 of the men have been accounted for, including those killed in the suicide attacks, but that 10 remain at large. In the hours immediately after the assaults, he said, agents searching cars and apartments up and down the East Coast found suicide notes in New York that some of the hijackers wrote for their parents."
posted by owillis at 10:00 PM PST - 5 comments
Do you think that CNN
has the best coverage so far? I've appreciated that they've tried not to be too inflammatory.
BBC has been much more graphic (honest) but I think evoking anti-Arab sentiment is a serious fear of the American networks when they choose not to show Arabs celebrating.
MSNBC seems to be doing a pretty fair job. I'm not paranoid but is anyone else wondering what else is being withheld. (Sorry for the boring post but I really wonder who people have been impressed or disappointed with so far.)
posted by wsfinkel at 9:15 PM PST - 61 comments
Fantasy becomes reality.
If any of you have ever played this popular game, load it up and watch the beginning movies that were part of the story line and shown as "News" clips.
Eerily familiar, the clips of a plane deliberately crashing into the World Trade Center, and a bomb (not a plane, but that is what the plane was; a flying bomb) set off on the Pentagon... The connection didn't hit until I was playing one of the sequels,
Red Alert 2 and the mission was to capture the World Trade Center.
If anyone has these clips for download, I would like to know... I don't have the capabilities to rip them off the game CD.
posted by da5id at 8:58 PM PST - 8 comments
'Oh my God they are jumping.' The British press covers the attacks with an emphasis on the people who jumped [
graphic photo advisory]. I noticed the same thing watching BBC World on cable Tuesday -- is the U.S. press showing restraint with images like this?
posted by rcade at 8:23 PM PST - 39 comments
Fear of flying?
New security measures are being discussed. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says, "These terrorist acts are designed to steal the confidence of Americans. We will restore that confidence."
posted by prozaction at 8:04 PM PST - 9 comments
MTV plays videos?
It took a national tragedy, but it looks like their normal programming has been replaced with non-stop music videos
without veejays. That would be weird enough, but all the videos seem to be
positively-themed and spanning genres. They're occasionally breaking for original news reports and commercials.
posted by waxpancake at 7:54 PM PST - 18 comments
understanding the terms used
- With the constant white noise of pundits and CNN trying to fill space I've realised how little I understand about the islamic belief. Now it seems to be Bush's soundbite bogeyman I guess we should all try and learn more.
I'd love to read any more links you guys have.
posted by mrben at 7:39 PM PST - 2 comments
May 1998 interview with Osama Bin Laden
"if they cherish their sons, they must elect an American patriotic government that caters to their interests not the interests of the Jews. " The impression I get from the news services is that all evidence so far points to him. An old interview, but still, disturbing.
posted by smt at 7:24 PM PST - 4 comments
Who is Osama Bin Laden?
...The Afghan jihad was backed with American dollars and had the blessing of the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He received security training from the CIA itself, according to Middle Eastern analyst Hazhir Teimourian. Is OBL the United State's
Golem?
posted by housepox at 7:02 PM PST - 2 comments
NYC police scanner
(RealAudio) reveals that officers are closing off a five-block area due to a bomb threat on the 44th floor of the Empire State Building. No officers are to report to that location.
posted by droob at 7:01 PM PST - 21 comments
There
is always a tension between civilization and barbarism, and the barbarians are now here. The task in front of us to somehow stay civilized while not shrinking from the face of extinguishing - by sheer force if necessary - the forces that would eclipse us.
posted by semmi at 6:52 PM PST - 5 comments
Iraq rejoices. No real surprise, but let me guess: starting tomorrow, we'll see itemized lists in newspapers of every single country's reaction and where they stood. Pundits will go on television and describe just which countries you should hate the most. Is it just me or is the media really getting out of control on this?
posted by ed at 6:40 PM PST - 28 comments
Simply astonishing.
Within the past few months, the FBI had placed two men associated with an Islamic Jihad terror group on a border watch list, but through a screw-up, the pair got into the U.S. The two men appear to have been on the American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, TIME has learned.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 6:00 PM PST - 3 comments
In need of a chuckle?
With all the horror that's come to light these past two days thought I'd share this, pretty funny (not sure how new it is though)
posted by zeoslap at 5:25 PM PST - 7 comments
"Lawmakers [have been] told in classified briefings that
additional attacks are 'possible if not probable' and they should not assume a false sense of security. This message has been conveyed with a
very deliberate and serious level of magnitude." I've been worried about this from the beginning. Who knows if there aren't more terrorists cooling their heels in some airport somewhere because the FAA grounded all the planes so fast? Or that they don't have some evil plan to freak us all out first, get us worked up into a "yeah, we're gonna get 'em!" frenzy, and then do something else just as bad to make us feel helpless?
posted by aaron at 5:03 PM PST - 24 comments
The Doctor Is In
Yes, he may be crazy. Yes, he may be irrelevant. And yes, his numbers might be a little high, but it beats listening to the same dozen folks repeat the same stuff on the networks (Couldn't they all take 2-4 am off for bathroom breaks and showers?).
posted by yerfatma at 4:57 PM PST - 7 comments
Arafat gives blood
This moved me. Did you see the look in Arafat's eyes yesterday when he offered his condolences to the Americans? Despite his vociferous and frequent criticism of the US, even he has been taken aback..
posted by Mossy at 4:13 PM PST - 39 comments
Mefi Book of Condolence
We do not know how many perished on that terrible day, but however many, we do know that there are many, many grieving families who have lost somebody special. Please take a moment to add your comments of support and condolences to this thread. Please just sign and add a comment of support to those who lost loved ones, save discussion for other threads.
posted by Mossy at 3:30 PM PST - 28 comments
Bush may have been target
I don't mean to be out of line but I am a bit suspicious when Bush flees, then when a number of media folks question his flight from leadership position he states that his office knew of possible threat to White House. Asked, then, what info they had had so early in the events taking plalce, there is no answer given by the White House.
To make matters even odder, we learn that the White House might be under threat but Chaney and Rice remained there.
Againb, I am totally willing to give Bush the benfit of doubt. But a leader who flees for security. Couldn't have gone to Dick Gebhart's digs? Who would have thought to bomb that place.
posted by Postroad at 3:02 PM PST - 34 comments
Is freedom
the answer? We've discussed the inadequacies of various policies. Is the ultimate answer simply to strive to make the Middle East free?
posted by marknau at 1:45 PM PST - 7 comments
Gasoline price gouging reported.
In the wake of yesterday's tragedies, I'm not surprised by the courage and resolve many have demonstrated. I'm also not surprised by the nauseating greed evidenced by others. What's the price of gasoline (or other goods and commodities) doing in your part of the country?
posted by Big Dave at 12:50 PM PST - 8 comments
What makes suicide bombers tick?
From Foreign Policy Magazine :
While most of the world sees them as lone zealots, they are, in fact, pawns of large terrorist networks that wage calculated psychological warfare. Contrary to popular belief, suicide bombers can be stopped-but only if governments pay more attention to their methods and motivations.
posted by fellorwaspushed at 12:10 PM PST - 2 comments
Retaliation Starts
A mosque in Irving, TX came under gunfire in the early hours of this morning just before Muslims gathered for the early morning (first) prayer of the day.
posted by adnanbwp at 11:51 AM PST - 34 comments
News from here in Boston, the police have
arrested people (Boston Globe says 3, other local sources say 1) in Coply Square Hotel, and are investigating passengers on an Amtrak train bound for Providence.
Also, word has it that the Pennsylvania Plane was heading for the White House. There's numerous reports of civilians overtaking the plane and crashing it. If this is true, they saved a lot of lives.
posted by christian at 11:47 AM PST - 9 comments
"A plan to hijack US commercial planes and slam these into targets like the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia,
was first uncovered in Manila in 1995 after police arrested four suspects in a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II." So perhaps what happened yesterday shouldn't have been an entirely unforeseeable event.
posted by lia at 11:29 AM PST - 5 comments
The problem with retaliation.
"Don't get me wrong. If Bin Laden is indeed behind this, then he should be either killed or put on trial....still, how we go about bringing Bin Laden to justice (assuming, again, that this is his work) will massively influence how safe Americans are in the decades to come." The sanest analysis I've seen so far.
posted by lbergstr at 10:37 AM PST - 49 comments
From PVP Online's Forums:
"If we do wage war, will we be any better? What happened today, 9-11-01, was atrocious and could not be justified by any means. However, how could we justify violence while abhoring it?"
posted by philulrich at 10:19 AM PST - 11 comments
A call for help
I swear I read an article that listed a female USC student that was on one of the planes, but can't find it anywhere.
Can anyone help out with an URL? I've got an upset friend who attended USC and would like to have any info she can find.
posted by jragon at 9:58 AM PST - 8 comments
And so it begins
- "Federal police are reportedly increasing Internet surveillance after Tuesday's deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Just hours after three airplanes smashed into the buildings in what some U.S. legislators have dubbed a second Pearl Harbor, FBI agents began to visit Web-based, e-mail firms and network providers, according to engineers "
How do you think the attacks of the 11th will affect civil liberties?
posted by jed at 9:53 AM PST - 11 comments
Repost from another thread (thanks,
nix). Father of three helped crash Pa. plane.
HEROIC ACT. FATHER AND HUSBAND TAKES ACTION ON FLIGHT, ULTIMATELY SAVES MORE LIVES.
"The Miami Herald reported in Wednesday’s editions that a passenger on Flight 93, Tom Burnett, 38, the vice president of a Pleasanton, Calif., medical devices company and father of three children, called his wife and indicated that he and other passengers were about to try to overpower the hijackers.
Burnett told his wife that somebody on the plane had been stabbed, said the Rev. Frank Colacicco, of St. Isidore’s Church in Danville, Fla. “We’re all gonna die, but three of us are going to do something,” Burnett told his wife, according to Colacicco. He added: “I love you, honey,” before the call ended."
posted by Sinner at 9:23 AM PST - 17 comments
Brilliant
The National "I'm Okay" Bulletin Board allows you to post your name and location, informing friends and family that you are safe
posted by monkeyJuice at 9:17 AM PST - 3 comments
As someone living and working in NYC, I feel it is important to let people outside of the city know that while this tragedy is ongoing, most of the city is functioning. There is NOT chaos in the streets. Everyone is shocked, but New Yorkers are helping in any way they can. While many businesses are closed, most are open. Most public transportation is functioning (although i believe access from New Jersey is closed) The city is hurt, but far from defeated.
posted by gwint at 8:44 AM PST - 3 comments
Sorry
that this will be offensive to many (seriously; if I didn't think this was important, I wouldn't post). It's an article linking American foreign policy to the terrible events yesterday.
posted by andrew cooke at 8:42 AM PST - 45 comments
Blogger sets up special search page.
It displays posts mentioning "World Trade" or "terrorist." It's really something. It starts right at the very beginning. From the Blogger front page:
"'The need to connect is intense,' said Donna Hoffman, a professor who studies the Web and Web commerce at Vanderbilt University. 'While the network TV stations blather, the Internet carries the news and connects the masses in a true interactive sob.'" Indeed. Today was the most active posting day on Blogger ever—by over 22 percent.
posted by o2b at 8:12 AM PST - 1 comments
Knives with blades shorter than five centimetres would normally be allowed onto an aircraft
, according to Mal Dunn "who headed the aviation security division of the [Australian] Civil Aviation Safety Authority. 'I'm not convinced that this was necessarily caused by lax security. My experience is that US airports are usually very diligent,' he said. 'The principle of people carrying knives is pretty clear and internationally recognised. The criteria are associated with the length of the knife; anything over two inches [five centimetres] long is considered dangerous and is usually taken off the individual." I was dumbfounded to hear these planes had been hijacked with knives, but reading the preceding still chills me. Perhaps, the time has arrived to rethink these measures as they appear to be so ignorant in hindsight.
posted by mischief at 8:09 AM PST - 45 comments
You Have Been Warned...
Lois Farakhan famously said that "God will not give Europe and Japan the honor of bringing down the United States. That honor will fall to the muslims".
But Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was more specific. Check out this article by Andrew McCarthy, an assistant professor of law at Fordham University and New York Law School, who prosecuted the blind sheik for the bombing of the World Trade Center.
We were - and are - more than warned.
So who is blinder?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:10 AM PST - 8 comments
Preface?
"The leader of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban opposition, Ahmadshah Massoud, was mortally wounded by suicide bombers on 9 September, dying within minutes of the blast [...]. The assassins are understood to have been Algerians affiliated to the al-Qaeda organisation of indicted Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden [...]"
posted by dagny at 6:09 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
Special editions
Poynter.org has begun posting pdfs of newspaper front pages from around the country. Oddly, the San Fran Examiner's special edition front isn't up. Does anyone else have a link to it? How has your local paper handled it?
posted by ice_cream_motor at 6:08 AM PST - 5 comments
The Day America Grew Up.
"Let's hope this is what future historians write about yesterday's events. If not, we won't be here -- and won't deserve to be."
posted by mw at 5:25 AM PST - 143 comments
Life goes on – but how?
Life changes after a catastrophe like this; there is a clear Before and an After. But at another level, life marches onward. How is your daily life different or the same? (Probably a lot more taking time to smell the roses, yes?)
posted by joeclark at 5:04 AM PST - 24 comments
Blair just made an address the the British people where he pledged once again his full support for the US, and also emphasised how almost all muslim groups were shocked and outraged by this tragedy and offered their thoughts and prayers to the US people. I was astonished and saddened yesterday by the BBC, who chose to represent UK muslims by AM, an extremist fundamentalist faction whose representative made comments like this was a perfectly legitimate target under jihad, and all muslims who believe this a tragedy cannot call themselves muslim. Jihad does not allow murder of civilians on pain of death.. This is not the first time the BBC has asked this group to represent us, please call 08700 100 222 to complain to the BBC if you feel as saddened by this as I do..
posted by Mossy at 4:59 AM PST - 15 comments
unity
madebynick has posted a photo that you can use on you site to show your support for those who died.
thank you nick.
posted by bwg at 2:50 AM PST - 1 comments
Be Quiet. this has not been a good day for anyone. Let us all have a moment of silence for the thousands that are not with us anymore. do it in whatever way you feel is appropriate.let us all remember that alot of people died today. alot of people who did not deserve to die. and please, no comments or discussion on this thread. just be quiet for a few seconds. this is a quiet thread. i miss my friends.
posted by tp3wen at 12:16 AM PST - 51 comments
September 11
Overview of CIA Support of bin Laden during Russia-Afghan War
“[T]he CIA, concerned about the factionalism of Afghanistan ... found that Arab zealots who flocked to aid the Afghans were easier to ‘read’ than the rivalry-ridden natives. While the Arab volunteers might well prove troublesome later, the agency reasoned, they at least were one-dimensionally anti-Soviet for now. So bin Laden, [and other] Islamic militants ... became the ‘reliable’ partners of the CIA in its war against Moscow.”
Senator Orrin Hatch: “It was worth it ... Those were very important, pivotal matters that played an important role in the downfall of the Soviet Union.”
Dated: Aug. 24, 1998
posted by raaka at 11:18 PM PST - 15 comments
Canada: Spillover Nation
Essentially every airport in Canada able to land a jumbo jet has done so. Halifax is packed to the walls with 44 planes; 24 at Pearson; 14 at Mirabel; two in Whitehorse, one of them, a KAL cargo plane, undergoing an
escorted quasi-emergency landing because the pilot could not communicate in English with the control tower (!) to explain that the plane was low on fuel. Serious echoes of Swissair 111, where suddenly the small Atlantic airports showed themselves as invaluable and irreplaceable.
posted by joeclark at 9:30 PM PST - 4 comments
Not over yet.
Police find a truck packed with enough explosives to blow up the George Washington bridge. When will it stop?
posted by kaefer at 8:32 PM PST - 30 comments
What happened?
Plastic.com has been down all day. I know that the site has experienced server problems in the past, but usually they get fixed within hours. So this is unusual. Does anyone know if the site's server went down in connection with the World Trade Center thing?
posted by MAYORBOB at 7:51 PM PST - 18 comments
Are we sure it's over?
I don't mean to play the role of doomsday prophet here, but as happy as I am to be alive (I watched the buildings fall from my office on 23rd St), I feel utterly trapped on Manhattan and completely vulnerable to an attack which would dwarf today's tragedy as much as today dwarfed the previous WTC attack. Anyone want to allay my fears?
posted by Sinner at 7:40 PM PST - 27 comments
newsnow.com search.
here is a link to a search run through News Now (UK) for "terrorist" - lots of information streaming in from all over the globe.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:26 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
Paratroopers?
Or cruise missiles? What will America's military response be if the Taliban are determined to be liable? The Russians certainly didn't too well with a conventional military attack on Afghanistan.
posted by MattD at 6:49 PM PST - 34 comments
Photos of tragedy
-
Warning, may be distressing to some.
Tragedies like this always provide for very dramatic photos. What are some of the ones you've seen today that made you gasp?
This one made me think "all these people are now dead."
Any more?
posted by bondcliff at 6:16 PM PST - 39 comments
Are you drinking too much?
Daniel Lieberman is a psychiatrist at George Washington University who has posted a clinically-tested questionnaire which measures personal relationships with the demon drink. Unlike the usual amateur "are you an alcoholic?" tests on the Net it seems methodologically sound and non-judgemental. I don't know about scientific - but it may actually be useful in a Socratic, "know yourself" sort of way.
It does take about 10 minutes to fill out - enough for half a gin and tonic - but it's free, well set out, and will probably leave you feeling slightly less guilty about your drinking habits than before.
So...chin-chin!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:13 PM PST - 9 comments
The Latest:
- An in-depth story on the methodology the attackers used to hijack the plane (flight-attendants stabbed)
- A third World Trade Center building has collapsed
posted by bloggboy at 6:01 PM PST - 1 comments
Reflections on a Mote of Dust
"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam."
Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"
posted by crasspastor at 6:00 PM PST - 15 comments
Gas prices did in fact spike to $5.00 a gallon
in some areas of St. Louis, Kansas City and Oklahoma. All Conoco stations that have spiked their prices will have their licenses immediately revoked. Avis still hasn't responded to their price gouging around midwest airports.
posted by geoff. at 4:38 PM PST - 36 comments
Is the DFLP responsible?
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks on the World Trade Center. This report, from a television station in Abu Dhabi, is unconfirmed.
The attacks differ significantly from the DFLP's previous methods of operation. Likewise, the resources and infrastructure necessary for such attacks are far beyond the group's traditional means. Either the DFLP's claims are spurious, or it has joined forces with other groups.
posted by Davezilla at 4:36 PM PST - 18 comments
Caution: This links might be inflamatory
A friend runs a site that is a portal dealing with middle-eastern news (for his safety, I will not link to it). He often receives hate-filled emails urging him to act out against various ethnic groups. This link was sent to him a couple of months ago; it is Islamic Resistance Support Association and is loaded with anti-american propaganda. [view at your own risk]
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 4:28 PM PST - 4 comments
Index of Afghanistan Attack Reports
Here is a list of stories run by the major U.S. news sources on the attack. Still not sure who is responsible, or able to find any coverage from their end.
posted by ryanshepard at 3:52 PM PST - 2 comments
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb", "The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"
- Nostradamus, 1654
posted by Nick Finck at 3:37 PM PST - 44 comments
There were more than 4 Crashes Today
as the world markets were
hammered. Percentage-wise, Germany is down 10, Paris down 7, London down almost 6, and similar catastrophic drops in
the Americas forced nearly all of the world's markets to close for the day early. I'm worried about the Hang Seng and Nikkei which open very soon. Hopefully the NYSE and Nasdaq will not open for a week or so to let cooler heads prevail.
posted by Kevs at 2:50 PM PST - 16 comments
Hunting Bin Laden
"
Who is Bin Laden & what does he want?" Uh huh, what about what
we want? That storm coming across the mountains toward your "remote mountaintop camp" doesn't have any clouds in it, Binny.That is, if you are the one to blame for today's attacks.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 2:47 PM PST - 8 comments
Donate blood
Fellow Canadians, if you want to donate blood, call 1-888-236-6283 to set up an appointment. A friend at Canadian Blood Services said that the level in NY is very low - it's the least we can do.
posted by theNonsuch at 12:47 PM PST - 6 comments
"This is a human issue, not an American, democracy, or a freedom issue."
This site is intelligent & amusing, usually, but this critique is just plain wrong. It is
uniquely an American issue, as the crime has been perpetrated upon our nation solely for our American values, beliefs, and principles.
This is not an attack on Jason, but rather an attempt to demonstrate the true nature of this evil. The strike at the symbolic center of capitalism and the financial heart of the world, coupled with the attack on the headquarters of our nation's ability to defend itself, directly point to terrorists who want to hurt us BECAUSE of the very values & principles that make this America.
BTW - I love that Jason & MeFi are performing the valuable services that they are, providing links to sites where NYC folks & friends can post "I'm OK" messages.
posted by davidmsc at 12:46 PM PST - 36 comments
Washington state and the Bangor submarine base
are all also in a state of heightened security. I drove past Subase Bangor and they are in Condition Delta, which is when every person who enters the base is physically searched, as well as their car. As a former member of the US Submarine Service I can tell you from first hand knowledge that the military is being scrambled right now to prepare for heightened security along the coastlines of the US.
The entire Puget Sound is reeling from the tragic news... malls are closing, the WA state ferry service is no longer transporting cars, federal buildings are being closed, and major structures such as the Space Needle are being evacuated.
posted by crankydoodle at 12:15 PM PST - 5 comments
GST corporation has been asked to coordinate 500 reefers in assistance with the trade center tragedy. They're asking for help, as obtaining them in such a short amount of time is hard. Their phone number is 800-777-8785. Mind these are reefers, and 500 times atleast 48 feet would make up 24,000 feet, by atleast 98 inches would make up 2,352,000 square feet of space.
posted by tiaka at 11:45 AM PST - 7 comments
Plane crashes in to the word trade center.
Apologies for not linking to anything besides the main CNN page but there are no full stories on this yet. The plane crashed into the building about six minutes ago, from what the TV is saying. We are about sixty blocks north and we can see the smoke over the skyline.
posted by karen at 5:58 AM PST - 491 comments
Generation Jones :
If you were born between 1954 and 1965, ask yourself this question: "Do I feel like a member of The Baby Boom Generation, Generation X, or neither?"
Does this seem to you like splitting the hair too finely? Or do you think they've got something here?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:35 AM PST - 6 comments
Lawyer Joseph Gersten fled to Australia after uncovering official corruption in Florida. He is trying to restart his career, but the FBI wants its pound of flesh.
posted by flowerdale at 3:34 AM PST - 5 comments
The math geeks have done it again.
Yet another prime number which, when converted to binary, contains DeCSS: this one's an x86 Linux ELF executable. Only took a weekend of hacking to do, and it's only 752 bytes! You know what they say: when prime numbers are outlawed, only outlaws will have prime numbers.
posted by darukaru at 3:29 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment
September 10
England vs. USA
Over the death penalty. Initially I felt like saying "butt out" but America tends to get involved in other countries when our citizens are in trouble (like that kid in Singapore way back).
posted by owillis at 11:23 PM PST - 7 comments
A-kickin' Femmes & the Men Who Love Them
Female action heroes, a la Lara Croft, and the girls of Charlie's Angels, are wildly popular, while their male counterparts hit the skids. And men almost certainly make up a large part of the audience for the movies. Just a trend? Or deserving of an at-times overwrought analysis? Does
Crouching Tiger . . . really fit here?
posted by raysmj at 7:08 PM PST - 9 comments
DC Government at work.
(Warning, this is a hard story to read.) The government of the District of Columbia may be among the most incompetent and badly run in the US.
Here's another example of its efficiency. DC does not have a constitutional right to home rule; that was granted to it by Congress. Is it time for Congress to revoke its charter and replace the entire governmental structure from the top to the bottom? (In the mean time, I'd like to see some criminal prosecutions of the people involved in this tragedy. No little girl should be treated this way. And I want to know what they're going to do to make sure this isn't still happening to other kids.)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 6:34 PM PST - 8 comments
Boy are the times a changin'.
Kids and Parents disagree about music.
Nothing special about that.
But when your Dad is Bob Dylan, it makes the newspapers .
posted by BentPenguin at 5:20 PM PST - 15 comments
Bono, Fred Durst and P Diddy cover Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On".
More Music From Hell news, even if the proceeds are for World AIDS Day and AIDs research.
"I just thought, you know, we're the usual suspects. Don't come to us. We're too right on," Bono said backstage at the VMAs. "Go raid the pop charts. Go ask Britney Spears. Go ask Jennifer Lopez. Go ask 'NSYNC. Go ask the rappers, the hip-hop guys like Ja Rule or Nelly or DMX...The Global AIDS Alliance originally asked Bono and Wyclef Jean to record the song; however, Bono had other ideas.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 4:51 PM PST - 10 comments
And the fans of Suck did rejoice with much rejoicing.
Tim Cavanaugh writing for OJR in a hit-and-run-ish commentary of our old favorite CAPAlert and the impact--or lack thereof--of hoaxes online,
Which raises a question: Who's smarter? The people who assume (correctly) that a wacky site is real or the ones who suspect (falsely but understandably) that it must be too odd to be real?
posted by th3ph17 at 4:42 PM PST - 6 comments
Carson Daly signs record deal.
The VJ is getting his own record label in a deal with Sony. "I get so many tapes from great musicians," said Daly at the MTV Video Music Awards. "I usually give them away to friends, and then they become huge." Yeah, just what the music industry needs, the Daly Recording Corp.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 4:23 PM PST - 15 comments
Detonate.net rants on freelancing with eLance
“The problems on eLance can be divided roughly into two groups. Jackoff buyers, and lowball sellers.” All I see are projects to build complete e-commerce sites or full intranets for $1,000. Does anyone have a positive experience using eLance? Is there a better online resource for freelancers to find work?
posted by kirkaracha at 4:10 PM PST - 10 comments
How
this has not been posted at MeFi baffles me. No, not because it is a
wonderful collaborative site that shares unique stories about NYC using a navigable map, but rather because I can't figure out where I found the link if it was not here(i searched, thoroughly). Also, as a petty sidenote, I wonder if they are willing to accept collaborative design submissions.....
posted by donkeysuck at 2:03 PM PST - 15 comments
Pages about the band
Hot Snakes eventually led me to the site of record label
Vagrant. I'm really impressed by the clean design and quality content. What other stand out record label sites are out there?
posted by gwint at 1:34 PM PST - 6 comments
AOL may buy AT&T broadband
in a deal that could allow them to own the browser, net access, data pipes, and content for a vast majority of internet usage and users. How far will AOL/TW go to control any and all forms of media? Are hearings to break the company up far off?
posted by mathowie at 12:47 PM PST - 14 comments
These New Bumper Stickers
will probably make you laugh out loud. I imagine that some of them would get your car keyed if you actually dared to put them on it. Then again, it would probably be worth getting your car keyed to see some people's reactions to these.
posted by kingmissile at 12:38 PM PST - 20 comments
"My name is John Johnson, I come from Wisconsin..."
Find out the historical distribution of
your last name throughout the U.S. (This will not, alas, be useful for Mr.
Johnson, or the
Smiths, Joneses, Williamses, and Browns of the world.)
Brits, we haven't forgotten you! Of course, if you're doing genealogical research, you can turn to specific resources, like the
US Census or the massive
Familysearch.
posted by snarkout at 11:55 AM PST - 15 comments
Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here!
All this talk about 'circle jerking' lately - I figured, let's get back to basics. How arousing can waxing the flagpole be, semi-publically? Do people applaud successful launches, like a space-shuttle lift-off? Are there prizes for first and last place? If there were snacks, who could trust the cheese dip? I dunno. Human beings are spooky.
posted by Perigee at 10:45 AM PST - 21 comments
If you like rabbits with random crap on their heads....
you'll love this site!
Oolong is so calm and patient -- he never gets angry when I take pictures of him. When I put various objects on his head, he stays still for a minute. This is just a result of an intimate relationship between me and Oolong.
The main theme of my site is not to show these 'headperformance' links,
and it's not my hope to propagandize nothing but the strangeness of his
headperformance over the world.
posted by ignu at 8:32 AM PST - 26 comments
Instant Design at the touch of a button
More good news for designers -- not only has the ad market bottomed out, now this software from
move design spits out instant layouts. Just add the text you want, choose the style, and hit Ctrl-G. The results are surprisingly tasteful. Is this the end of design as we know it, or just a toy for generating new ideas? Would you like fries with that?
posted by fellorwaspushed at 7:17 AM PST - 23 comments
Under eminent domain,
a federal agency can "condemn" a piece of property and convert it to public use for the benefit of the greater community, while providing monetary compensation to the property owner. In Mississippi, however, officials at the state's economic development agency said they
must seize (NYT link, login readit11, pass readit) 23 acres in the hands of African-American hold-outs to prove to Nissan that they can. What's especially interesting is that the local newspaper has pretty much
ignored that aspect of the story in favor of covering the economic benefits. Is this a case of the rights of the few ceding to the rights of the many, or a case of a local government pushing people around because it can?
posted by headspace at 6:50 AM PST - 19 comments
Today in History
What happened on your Birthday?
Mine: July 8
Ferdinand Graf Von Zeppelin born in 1838
Wall Street Journal begins publishing 1889
Liberty Bell Cracks (again) 1835
Monty Irvin and Hank Thompson, first blacks to play for NY Giants (baseball)
posted by a3matrix at 6:29 AM PST - 21 comments
The American Institute of Graphic Arts offer a selection of useful symbols in eps and gif formats
for free download. Are there any other sites offering similar symbols?
posted by ecvgi at 5:33 AM PST - 15 comments
September 9
Photoshop Tennis
-- Lauded graphic designers (including a well loved mefi member) participate in a volley of skills: "It's a pretty simple idea really. One player emails a photoshop document to the other containing a single layer. Each player progressively adds a layer until the match is over, either by time, withdrawal or mutual consent. A guest adds comments in real time and the people watching vote for a winner"
posted by katexmcfly at 10:06 PM PST - 28 comments
Inflicting Confectionary Torture On Racial Stereotypes.
Courtesy of
Venco, makers of that delightful Nederlander candy treat
Dubbel Zout (coal-black licorice briquets covered in two layers of salt). Through the magic of Flash animation, you can now engage in that most demonic form of torture: Forcing-feeding questionable Dutch candy down the throats of ethnic minorities and watching their reactions. Something tells me the closest the Venco people have ever gotten to a "Mexicaan" is a Cheech & Chong movie.
posted by tpoh.org at 9:18 PM PST - 3 comments
I don't take public transportaion but this is one
compilation I am going to be playing in the car on my way to work. I hope this original idea gets off the ground. I am actually willing to shell out a few pounds/dollars/yen/pesos/
patacons/rubles etc. for the CD.
posted by HoldenCaulfield at 5:24 PM PST - 4 comments
The latest exercise craze "Aerobic stripping".
"I get people to move in a figure-eight with their hips," Costas said. "There's a lot of body rolling, starting with your chest, rolling down through the abdomen and through your buttocks. There's also a lot of touching yourself, and the session finishes in lap dancing." Where do I sign up?
posted by Steven Den Beste at 3:33 PM PST - 6 comments
People paid $2500 for this.
Marlon Brando talking about "children hacked to death with a machete;" Al Jarreau as the Tin Man; scary, scary Liza Minelli- all to tribute the man with the plastic face. Dear god, I hope at least half of this stuff ends up in the CBS version.
posted by ice_cream_motor at 2:22 PM PST - 7 comments
The Economist says "Brands are good for you."
"They not only simplify choices and guarantee quality, but they add fun and interest." You need a subscription to read the cover article (natch), but the cover that appropriates Naomi Klein's book title is at the link, and
there is a companion article you can read.
Here's her response. Are there people who genuinely think that "we" are in charge of the brands? Is this the new corporate line--"Can't we all just get along?"
posted by aflakete at 1:07 PM PST - 21 comments
When Barbie meets ballet...?
Mattel are shelling out £85,000 to sponsor the ENO's traditional Christmas run of the
Nutcracker, which coincidentally starts just as
Barbie in the Nutcracker hits the cinemas. A good way to "interest young girls in the ballet", or a head-on crash between two questionable influences on their body image? (more inside...)
posted by holgate at 7:15 AM PST - 4 comments
The Autopsy
-- a behind-the-scenes look at the hidden and disturbing world of autopsies from
Methylsalicylate.
'The work swallows you, tact is right out the window, and you find yourself discussing decapitation over lunch, laughing. Someone points out that your blood oranges-and-balsamic vinegar salad looks like a tub of organs. You laugh some more. It is well known that your colleagues will die young; that's the way it is. You do not think about who will have to do their autopsies.'
posted by LMG at 5:55 AM PST - 8 comments
Hurrah!
Everyone shout hurray and hurrah for the good health of her Queen Mumness.
posted by Summer at 4:03 AM PST - 22 comments
Transitinfo.org
has been around for years, but doesn't seem to have been posted here yet. It lists schedule and fare information for several dozen public transportation agencies in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. It's not too flashy, but it's one of the most quietly useful websites I've found. For those of you who
don't live in and around San Francisco: are there websites like this for other regions?
posted by moss at 12:27 AM PST - 19 comments
I just came from a terrific set by the local (Pittsburgh) band
Boxstep and was curious, do you have a favorite "local band" or two (i.e. probably unheard of outside your city/area) you would recommend? What makes them worth checking out? [more inside]
posted by arco at 12:06 AM PST - 23 comments
September 8
Have you heard about the
SSSCA? It is the sequel to the universally-reviled Digital Millenium Copyright Act and is 1000 times more heinous. It would require that any device even remotely capable of transmitting digital data contain security hardware approved by the US Department of Commerce. I can't say I have ever heard of anything more ridiculous.
Here is a draft of the bill.
posted by donkeymon at 10:35 PM PST - 21 comments
Hmmmm.
A new national effort to reduce verbal violence and gossip. The goal is to promote the value and practice of ethical speech improving our democracy and building respect, honor and dignity.
posted by semmi at 7:13 PM PST - 10 comments
Nine days talking about it, walkouts from the USA and Israel, and the UN finally comes up with a document which takes the daring step of saying that...
Racism is bad, m'kay?
posted by darukaru at 5:53 PM PST - 4 comments
Fill-in-the-blank press release
Who is Customer TBD? “ ‘This is a must-have upgrade,’ said
Customer TBD. ‘Adobe After Effects 5.0 has several new features that will allow me to quickly produce the kind of effects that I need to keep my videos fresh and interesting. I'm also looking forward to taking advantage of the new plug-ins.’ [Suggested quote for approval/attribution]”
posted by joeclark at 4:29 PM PST - 3 comments
Selective Service:
"Beliefs which
qualify a registrant for CO (conscientous objector) status may be religious in nature, but don't have to be. Beliefs may be moral or ethical; however, a man's reasons for not wanting to participate in a war must not be based on politics, expediency, or self-interest. In general, the man's lifestyle prior to making his claim must reflect his current claims." Why is this opt-out and not opt-in? Isn't restricting it to men sexist? (I support women's right to serve in combat). Isn't the whole idea of America that
you choose whether you want to fight for your country and not who ever happens to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania? You can check on your own registration
here.
posted by owillis at 3:23 PM PST - 30 comments
America's Finest!
I don't know what my favorite part of this article is, the quote "their hearts were in the right place" (as well as other body parts) or the law that says police officers can have sex if they are in a dangerous or "life-threatening situation."
posted by sassone at 12:08 PM PST - 6 comments
Queen Mum Dead! Not.
Rumours have been sweeping the UK via email and
Internet message boards that the Queen Mum has pegged it. A case of mass wishful thinking? Most people are more concerned about whether they'll get a day off or whether certain sporting fixtures will be cancelled rather than the wellbeing of the gin-soaked old harridan.
Personally I'd rather not have to sit through days of BBC piety and endless documentaries about her amazing sense of fun.
posted by Summer at 9:45 AM PST - 19 comments
September 7
Best. Auction. Ever.
Check out the details
here. Basically, the Scottish whisky makers Chivas Regal is auctioning off 450 "lots" of some of the coolest and most unobtainable things ever: like an audience with the Pope, and performing with the Moscow State Circus. Which would you choose?(via
fark)
posted by thewittyname at 8:10 AM PST - 16 comments
Recently on sale in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, was "Very Strange Crisp," a type of lollipop.
If you haven't yet discovered
Nury Vittachi's "Traveller's Tales" in the Far East Economic Review, check him out right now. I guarantee, you will not be disappointed. Absolute funniest man I have ever read this side of the International Date Line.
posted by brownpau at 12:01 AM PST - 7 comments
September 6
ReplayTV, the once-bankrupted main competitor of
TiVo got bought by
SonicBlue (they made the Rio mp3 player) and they've relaunched, poised to blow the fucking roof off digital tv recording. Ethernet port? Sharing recorded episodes with other units in your house? Trading entire episodes with anyone else over the net? Merging internet content with TV content? Commercial-free taping?
It's all here baby. Now will TiVo evolve, or will ReplayTV take the market?
posted by mathowie at 11:33 PM PST - 28 comments
ESPN teams up with MSN
First the Justice Department folds, and now this: “ESPN.com’s sports content will be uniquely integrated with MSN and will carry MSN branding and links throughout the ESPN.com site.” Is it really a surprise? Will it really make a difference?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:55 PM PST - 5 comments
Party Like It's 999,999,999
"The UNIX epoch dates from January 1st, 1970. Every UNIX system in the world worth its salt keeps track of time by counting every single second since the midnight just before that auspicious date. And soon, they're all going to hit a billion"
How will you celebrate the Gigasecond, September 9 at 01:46:39 UTC ?
posted by otherchaz at 4:11 PM PST - 13 comments
Over-educated, over here and overwhelmed
The teacher shortage in Britain is so acute, that talent from the four corners is being shipped in at double the cost. The irony is, that if our teachers were actually paid the salary this gentleman is getting, there would be more of them...
posted by feelinglistless at 4:03 PM PST - 11 comments
Man installs spy softsare on divorced wife's computer
What is odd about this is that a week or so ago, the FBI cited some odd "law" which allowed them not to have to reveal how spy software works (It did the same thing. Tracked key strokes.) And I thought that was a very secretive thing they had. Now every Joe can do this, I guess, if he applies himself in school.
posted by Postroad at 3:31 PM PST - 6 comments
"Cajun" chef Justin Wilson
is dead at 87. If you've ever wanted to know how to cook a good crawfish etouffee, you'll probably miss him. If you're a self-respecting Cajun, you probably won't.
posted by crabwalk at 2:46 PM PST - 22 comments
Good PBS program alert! Tonight is the premiere of
The First Year, which aims to show "the human side of (American education): the determination and commitment of five novice teachers as they struggle to survive their first year in America's toughest schools." Check your local listings.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to ask the community for thoughts/ideas/cautions/resources for people interested in going into teaching.
posted by msacheson at 1:21 PM PST - 21 comments
John Fund, Hypocrite.
The conservative
Wall Street Journal editorial writer and major critic of Bill Clinton, more recently Gary Condit, has been accused of some very "bad" things...like impregnating his former lover's daughter and approving of her decision to have an abortion. We've even got
tapes!
posted by BoatMeme at 1:18 PM PST - 23 comments
An interesting structure (gimmick? excuse?) for short fiction and essays
-- The current topic is Aluminum --
"The roll of Alcoa is in the kitchen, in the drawer by the sink. Go get it. Now. Cover your head entirely, using all of the roll just to be safe. Be sure it's loose enough so you can breathe. Leave a tiny slit to see through, about as wide as a line of type on your computer monitor.
Lean your head forward, close to the CRT, so you can read these words, a line at a time. Are you ready? Good.
Now let's talk about the dangers of exposure to computer monitors. "
posted by fpatrick at 12:58 PM PST - 4 comments
Shudder...
At least Helms
tries to pretend he's offended...
Warning: Quicktime file, may put you off your feed.
posted by GriffX at 11:37 AM PST - 15 comments
The Bush White House spent up to $250,000 on a fireworks show last night without publicizing it beforehand to keep the public away, according to
Matt Drudge. (Check out the fireworks this is generating among a few
surprisingly irate members of FreeRepublic.Com.)
posted by rcade at 7:04 AM PST - 21 comments
Is Nader Right?
Or is he just fooling himself? I mean, even I can tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Apparently, the best Ralph can ever hope for is to ruin the Democratic party. If I were a Republican, I'd be donating to the Green party right about now.
posted by Jart at 7:03 AM PST - 69 comments
Is Wage Insurance the Answer?
Central to the ongoing debate on globalization is whether free trade is a good thing or not because it pits capital against labor. Like a lot of policy issues (and politics :) trade helps some but hurts others, while polarizing and often making enemies of people on either side of the debate. Wage insurance might provide a middle ground where people can come together. (more inside!)
posted by kliuless at 7:00 AM PST - 6 comments
Adum Druckman
does a nostalgic then-and-now by comparing today's weblogs to its earlier incarnation, the clunky personal homepage. While I appreciate Druckman's yearning for yesteryear, I think he needs to browse around more -- there's still plenty of clunky old pages out there to charm him. But it does make me pause and wonder where will weblogs go next? Your thoughts?
posted by debrahyde at 5:51 AM PST - 8 comments
LOL :-)
What makes you laugh? Does our sense of humour change over time? Why is this not a funny link?
posted by kramer_101 at 4:57 AM PST - 4 comments
First step to gay marriage?
Or just more money in the coffers for Ken Livingstone (I think they have to pay to register)? I can't see this having any impact outside London.
posted by Summer at 4:27 AM PST - 5 comments
Drop in US Executions
-- I wonder if Dubya's distraction last year (the campaign) and his subsequent move to the White House has had anything to do with this. Then again, some of it may be attributable to DNA evidence.
posted by fpatrick at 4:00 AM PST - 18 comments
September 5
Clip2 are closing their doors.
They provided usage statistics for Gnutella, OpenNap, and JXTA, helped firm up the Gnutella protocol, and created the Clip2 Reflector which provides a proxy and index service for the Gnutella network - which doesn't work anymore, as I found out when I tried to use
Gnucleus and it didn't find any hosts. Did they just run out of money, or did something more sinister happen? (I'm betting they just ran out of money.) Are any other organizations going to step up and take over the services they provided? Um... and how do I make Gnucleus work again?
posted by RylandDotNet at 11:39 PM PST - 3 comments
OK, this whole Harry Potter thing - while completely out of proportion to any real value in the books - has up till now been pointless but essentially harmless. But
wasting a Hugo Award on this crap?! To quote (oh, I don't know, some Clinton-hating Republican):
"Where's the outrage?!"
posted by m.polo at 7:52 PM PST - 60 comments
Mappa Mundi
is a magazine about information visualization and navigation with a focus on the web. What similar sites are out there? A second related question is when why are tools for finding stuff on the web so primitive? More inside.
posted by rdr at 5:11 PM PST - 8 comments
Great Scot!
Who are the 100 greatest Scots of the 20th century? Vote, then come back here to post your choice, justify it, and discuss. (What is a "great Scot" anyway?)
posted by feckless at 3:52 PM PST - 31 comments
Potential forever unfulfilled.
Alan Turing was a great scientist and philosopher, though most famous for his work in cracking the nazi Enigma encryption used for communication by their U-boats. Turing, one of the foremost innovators in the field of computer science at its inception, was also a homosexual. Tried and convicted for such acts in 1952, Turing committed suicide in 1954. A
bronze statue is now being erected in honor of Turing, even as the research he'd begun in computer science is still incomplete.
posted by moz at 2:54 PM PST - 25 comments
PETA vs. Britney
Boy, it's hard to pick a side to root for in this fight. The paragraph that caught my attention, though, was this:
the spotted cats are supposedly going to be prowling the [MTV's Video Music Awards] stage around the scantily-clad popster (and self-proclaimed virgin) as she wails her new hip-hop-flavored tune, "I'm A Slave 4 U," while simulating an orgasm on stage a la Madonna. Yeah, except that Madonna was at least consistent in her portrayal of sexuality as healthy and fun. A self-proclaimed virgin faking orgasms on nationwide TV, on the other hand, sounds like a heapin' helping of bizarro
mixed messages.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 2:45 PM PST - 30 comments
Generation Terrorists
- This site, though oddly named, is a great site for finding quotes. It has pages and pages of fully searchable quotes. Its great for those times when you want to know who said a particular quote or the exact wording. Or even just for inspiration. My favorite is the
Crazy & Mad section. Whats your favourite quote?
posted by bytecode at 2:38 PM PST - 19 comments
Bob Marley Chronology
His final words to son Ziggy, "Money can't buy life."
Has any other artist left as big a footprint? What impact has his music had on your life?
posted by keithl at 10:47 AM PST - 21 comments
Motorola in the fast lane. Motorola researchers in Tempe have developed a semiconductor that runs 35 times faster than today's models. The research has solved a 30-year-old problem of creating a semiconductor that combines the durability and economy of silicon with the high speed of crystal compounds used in lasers and fiber optic applications. The new wafers will be licensed next year, but the company doesn't expect to see products on the market for another two years. The semiconductor runs at 70 gigahertz instead of the current 2 gigahertz, the speed of the fastest processors in personal computers.
posted by 120degrees at 9:36 AM PST - 5 comments
Is this too good to be true?
Last week when I called
verizon to transfer my phone service, they suckered me into ordering this dsl service. What really got me, in addition to what they have listed on the site was the 30 day free trial, and that they supposedly use STATIC ip addresses. I was also told that their modem has a router built in that assigns individual ip addresses to each computer. [I have 3 - Windows server, Linux, and Mac]. Too good to be true, right?
posted by disaster at 7:37 AM PST - 32 comments
I live in Bradford.
This summer we had a series of
riots which tarnished the image of a city which, whilst I might love the place, didn't exactly have a sparkling reputation in the first place. A major
reason cited for the riots was the devisiveness in the local community of schools that cater only to one community, typically of course the community in which any given school happens to reside.
The UK government today announced that it would be basing
the future of British schools on the successes of the Bradford model. The future is single faith schools.
When I was 13 and choosing which lessons I was to take from that point up until I was 16 I made all the wrong choices, had others imposed upon me, and screwed up pretty badly ending up leaving at 15 with no qualifications at all (this is why I write '15' instead of 'fifteen' BTW). The future is also, apparantly, specialisation.
Discuss.
posted by vbfg at 4:56 AM PST - 21 comments
Rice Ball Guy
is my new favorite superhero. He's like, cool an' stuff. (The link is messed up, but have a go anyway. Really. Rice Ball Guy is cool, I'm tellin' ya.)
posted by Bixby23 at 1:42 AM PST - 5 comments
September 4
Napster is dead but the dream lives on.
After two years of hard fighting, RIAA managed to kill Napster -- and now at least four comparable systems have appeared, all of which will be much harder to either control or to kill off. An RIAA rep acknowledges the problem. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 11:40 PM PST - 44 comments
What are you more worried about: death, or your looks?
"University of South Australia health researcher Murray Drummond said while there was a growing focus on young men and body image issues, such as steroid use and eating disorders - older men's concerns had been overlooked. Dr Drummond said men aged 55 to 80 were 'not concerned about how they looked as long as they were alive'. But he said they were concerned about what their bodies were able to do."
As a (young) woman, I definitely have body image issues (noting earth shattering, I'm afraid), and I'm not so worried about my body failing me. What about everyone else?
posted by jetgrrl at 9:55 PM PST - 24 comments
The Movie Spoiler
is a good site that'll save you a few bucks. [Warning: It contains spoilers and does reveal movie endings.]
posted by riffola at 9:18 PM PST - 7 comments
Costello Reissues
Just returned from the mall, shocked at the price tags on the new Rhino Elvis Costello reissues. Having already bought the Ryko versions as well as the original vinyl back in the day, my anger is twofold. As a big Costello fan, I feel exploited. As a habitual CD buyer, I'm amazed at the price of back catalog stuff in the chains. Somebody please tell me there's a real reason for these high CD prices. Is it me or is the gap between online and chainstore prices way wider than it should be?
posted by davebush at 8:55 PM PST - 6 comments
Six-year-old kid goes to school, gets beaned with rocks. Class bullies? No.
Protestants. Doesn't it seem like there are some places in the world (Middle East, Eritrea/Ethiopia, Balkans, etc.) where people just insist on hating and killing each other until everyone's dead? Or is it just that the various media paint it that way?
posted by Bixby23 at 7:45 PM PST - 19 comments
So, if my pizza's 30 minutes late, do I get a personal apology from Uncle Enzo?
"In Nevada, a 55-acre community called Front Sight, featuring streets with names like Second Amendment Drive and Sense of Duty Way, is being built for gun enthusiasts (people who buy an acre plot get lifetime use of the 22 planned ranges, an Uzi machinegun and a safari in Africa). In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, one gated community seems to have been taken over by black rap stars."
posted by GriffX at 6:46 PM PST - 28 comments
Students for Suicide Pills?
On October 12th, 1984, 1900+ students turned out to vote on a referendum asking that their university's Health Services be allowed to offer cyanide pills in the event of nuclear war.
57% of students said they wanted it.
posted by Fat Elvis at 5:47 PM PST - 11 comments
He always did have a great wrist shot! There's a poll on the
Globe and Mail website asking whether a person not afflicted with a certain condition should act as a spokesperson for the cause. I say why not?
posted by lairdj at 5:15 PM PST - 4 comments
The World's Largest Internet Cafes
800 or so FAST HP workstations, flat-panel Samsung displays, high-speed Internet access at incredibly CHEAP rates ($1 gets you started, $2 OR LESS per hour).
Should have one of these in every town.
posted by {savg*pncl} at 4:46 PM PST - 35 comments
Picsearch
is (as the more linguistically adept might have guessed) a search engine designed expressly for images. It's only been live for a month, so it hasn't spidered nearly the volume of
google's image search, but it's on the right track. Are there others I don't know about?
posted by gleuschk at 3:47 PM PST - 14 comments
Are machines
going to take over our planet? Stephen Hawking sure thinks so. Is he just making a fuss about nothing?
posted by yevge at 3:40 PM PST - 30 comments
Reno's going to run...and
Gramm is going to retire. Two
Hispanic Congressmen, a Republican and a Democrat, seem poised to run for the Senate seat. (Does a Democrat even stand a chance in Texas...with little more than a year 'til the election?)
That makes 3 Republican Senate retirements (Thurmond, Helms, Gramm). 20 Republican Senate seats are up for reelection as opposed to 13 Democrat seats. How do you think the Democrats will fare in the 2002 elections -- both in and out of the Senate?
posted by jennak at 3:16 PM PST - 13 comments
The war of words over Israel
continued this week as CNN instructed its journalists to refer to "settlements" as "Jewish neighborhoods." Last month the BBC agreed to stop using the term "assassination" in favor of "targeted killings."
posted by KirkJobSluder at 12:22 PM PST - 19 comments
Bank robbery in progress:
You can probably watch it live on TV right now. Six schools close to the bank have been shut down, and the FBI is negotiating for the hostages to be released.
posted by ktheory at 10:32 AM PST - 4 comments
How many times have you cheated?
Did you feel sorry for it, or did you just enjoy yourself? And did you still love the one you cheated on? How many times would you have to cheat before you admit you aren't really in love with your S.O?
posted by stoneegg21 at 10:30 AM PST - 31 comments
Internet Gossip
reports on all of the fighting and mayhem between the bloggers as well as other Internet website craziness. It's a fun read.
posted by suprfli at 8:17 AM PST - 37 comments
Sunderland Football Club is having a contest where the lucky winner will get to be
One of the Lads for the entire season. That's right, the lucky winning fan will get to join the first team squad, travel with them to all away games, train and hang out with his Premiership heroes! There's even a
Manchester United fan trying to win... Don't you wish there was a similar contest for
your favorite [sport] club?
posted by dagny at 6:48 AM PST - 3 comments
Heroes by James
- James doesn't like the some of the action fugres he buys, so he modifies them to get what he wants. Check out the Hulk and Iron Man figures. Pretty nice.
posted by plinth at 5:35 AM PST - 6 comments
Garrison Keillor is leaving
Salon.com. I've become an avid read of Mr. Blue's column over the past couple of months and it's a shame to see him leave. This post doubles a bit as a question as Mr. Blue's departure leaves a gaping hole in my 'advice column' bookmark folder. Anyone have any favorite online advice columns to recommend?
posted by jedrek at 4:55 AM PST - 23 comments
I can see you... (NY Times Science Tuesday)
So it turns out that the eyeless brittlestar can see because its entire skeleton is essentially an eye. That makes me wonder -- what if one could see with other parts of one's body? What if one's skin was covered in microlenses? It would make showering more interesting, that's for sure.
posted by meep at 1:46 AM PST - 5 comments
September 3
Tired of fighting that suicidal urge to jump the fences into the roiling waters of the Golden Gate whenever you drive across The Bridge?
Well, now you have a choice! Amidst practically no fanfare, the Golden Gate Tunnel has opened, featuring the best in subaquatic transportainment™, and all the donuts you can eat! Remember, folks, Those who know, go below.
Gosh, I haven't been to SF for almost a decade. Things sure have changed. ;)
posted by brownpau at 10:53 PM PST - 13 comments
HP buys Compaq for $25 Billion
(NY Times link) - The resulting company would be nearly as big as IBM. "The merger ... could create a stronger competitor for Sun Microsystems and IBM in the server computer market while putting pressure on IBM, Dell and Gateway in the personal computer business... The merged company would be in a position to compete with IBM across virtually its entire product line." Now if we can just get someone to fight Microsoft.
posted by mrbula at 8:39 PM PST - 28 comments
Pauline Kael has
died. Love or hate her, she was influential and different, and at the time shaped how we view film.
posted by tiaka at 6:01 PM PST - 12 comments
The New Zealand Net Awards
have announced their finalists. Picked by a panel of people including Web saavy magazine editors, personal Web site operators, and tech-radio deejays, the NZ awards seem much more even handed, open, and
real than the Webbies (albeit only for NZ sites...)
And, as far as I can tell, they're doing it on almost no budget. Pretty impressive. Why doesn't
this community start something like it?
posted by benbrown at 2:44 PM PST - 20 comments
We must destroy X10! (or, should we?)
German industrial band Kompressor has released a song about destroying one of the most annoying pop-up advertisers on the web, X10. (X10 sells spy/web cameras that "go anywhere", if you don't know by now.) The best part about this guy is not the subject matter, but the music- he's like a German electronic version of Wesley Willis.
Despite the fact that most commercial web sites rely on ads for revenue, and ad-blocking software is easy to get-- who are we to argue with this guy?!
posted by Turtletail at 12:09 PM PST - 22 comments
I did a brief search through the archives for Scientology because I know there have been a number of varying posts about it in the past. I didn't, however, see anything directly relating to the page I'm linking, so here goes.
In the past I've heard and read comments about how horrible the Church of Scientology is, but not having anything to judge these comments on, I never paid much attention. But after watching
all of these Real Audio streams of an indepth interview about a young woman who tells all about her experience with the church, I'm absolutely shocked and horrified that these kinds of things happen. It's completely ruining these people's lives.
posted by lizardboy at 11:28 AM PST - 30 comments
I tell you, the United States is truly the land of opportunity. Where else but in America could a man make a fortune
selling his urine through the mail for $12.50 per ounce?
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:57 AM PST - 23 comments
The Flitcraft Parable
(Warning: RealMedia) This nicely crafted nugget is taken from
Dashiell Hammett's
The Maltese Falcon. While some literary reputations from the 1920s and '30s are falling (e.g., Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis), Hammett's rep is still rising.
My question: Which so-called genre authors writing today have the greatest chance of still being read in the 22nd century?
posted by bilco at 8:30 AM PST - 37 comments
More NMD to make you nervous.
If you're in an area about to be vapourised then you are safe. If you live anywhere else you are not. I live about half a blast radius away from
one of the radar stations in the UK (it doesn't look like that picture anymore - some of the golfballs are now pyramids). From direct assault I maybe won't be hit but the bombs falling out of the sky on their way from Iraq to New York are pretty much going to land on my head. Cool.
posted by vbfg at 5:34 AM PST - 8 comments
September 2
ASAP!
or A Stand Against Pop-under ads! is a cause started by Joe Jenett of
CoolSTOP fame that you can support if you are tired of all those annoying pop-under ads on the web. To quote Joe, "... we shouldn't have to spend our time defending ourselves from their obnoxious attempt to take control of our browsers and desktops." I couldn't agree more.
posted by Firda at 11:32 PM PST - 12 comments
Gadhafi Mania!
The proverbial fly on America's arse strikes again. To celebrate his coup, the Libyan leader thumbs his nose at Uncle Sam while announcing some bold policy initiatives.
My favorite: We should make drinking glasses smaller so people won't drink so much water!
posted by Zbobo at 7:28 PM PST - 12 comments
YETI@Home
is a scientific experiment that harnesses the power of hundreds of thousands of Internet-connected computers in the search for giant ape-like creatures.
posted by quonsar at 7:26 PM PST - 5 comments
A world wide weblog.
Neale's trying out an idea: a weblog by anyone, anywhere--but the technological "seeds" have to be planted by people. So far it's spread to Brunei, Australia, England, the US and the Moon. Slow virus, distributed guestbook, or what? I don't know, but I like it.
Help blanket the earth!
posted by rodii at 5:53 PM PST - 31 comments
When will (or will) computer games begin to constitute art? And particularly, highbrow art? I've heard
Myst described as the first
"literary" computer game; I've played a few games with language
well in the foreground, but is there anything out there that truly transcends the basic dorkiness of the medium? I don't imagine
the mainstream industry would be cranking out challenging intellectual fare, but surely it exists somewhere?
posted by scissorfish at 5:42 PM PST - 48 comments
Meeting of the Minds.
Maggie Estep interviews
Jerry Stahl over an afternoon of playing the ponies. Posturing on the subway, Hubert Selby, Jr., the less glamorous episodes that didn't make it into "Permanent Midnight," and much more from two of the most engaging literary voices in recent memory. Stahl's new book won't be out until November, and Maggie has only just finished writing her latest novel, so the patient fans will have to make do with this for now. The pairing reminds me of some of the more inspired matchings from the heyday of
Interview.
posted by hipstertrash at 4:40 PM PST - 3 comments
Los Angeles' Curious Role in the Chinese Revolution
"The oddest among the group was a sickly, 88-pound hunchback Angeleno who had bad eyesight, an obsession with military glory and more than a touch of genius."
I can't describe this one. More interesting than anything Hollywood ever dreams up, that's for sure.
posted by drunkkeith at 4:39 PM PST - 2 comments
Ever wanted to host a wonder duck?
Quack the wonder duck, more specifically. The mascot of
Firda, Quack is travelling the world by himself (since Firda can't afford to go with him). Interested in hosting Quack? Check the URL for details on the few requirements for being a duck host.
posted by philulrich at 4:27 PM PST - 4 comments
Reasons not to bring a dog to Burning Man.
Find-and-replace "Burning Man" with "Manhattan." Replace the bit about the alkali with comments about cramped shelter and lack of green space. Add to the comments about the undue heat so they also refer to snow and cold. Now you've pretty much mirrored my thoughts on why it's unfair to for selfish humans to have large dogs in Manhattan.
Link circuitously via Memepool.
posted by Mo Nickels at 11:50 AM PST - 12 comments
"Dear China,
We want so much to protect ourselves from 'rogue' nations with our impenetrable defense shield (no doubt built by defense contractors who
contributed to my campaign) that we are ready to basically
encourage you to build new nukes, and cause other countries to build up their arsenals as well. What's a few more nukes in the world, even if we have to change US foreign policy - at least star war... er, the "missile shield" will protect us."
Love,
George
posted by owillis at 11:30 AM PST - 25 comments
Coca Cola vs. H2O:
Common dreams republishes documents from CocaCola's website describing their ongoing war against tap water in resturaunts. The bottom line? Tap water doesn't make money for CocaCola, but drinking bottled tap water such as Dasani does.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:28 AM PST - 21 comments
Cartoon Network begins its "Adult Swim" programming tonight: Toons aimed at the 18-35 audience. I'm most excited about
Cowboy Bebop (Japanese site; English is under construction). (more inside)
posted by jpoulos at 10:27 AM PST - 26 comments
"I am not a Bush Republican," Alan Keyes wrote Saturday for
WorldNetDaily. "The Bush administration is skillfully lobotomizing the moral conservative cause in America because it is unwilling or afraid to take the positions that are best for America."
posted by rcade at 6:10 AM PST - 24 comments
Operating on a fetus
to elicit further commentary on an earlier posting as to what is and is not human life, this article might raise some interesting observations.
posted by Postroad at 4:56 AM PST - 8 comments
A good week for movie fans.
Cronenberg has a new movie in production (
Spider, with Gabriel Byrne as well as the cast listed). And TCM is running some interesting stuff on
Thursday and
Friday (
Andrei Rublev has quite a reputation(s)). That's a complete (I think) retrospective of Tarkovsky Fridays throughout September, BTW.
posted by aflakete at 2:31 AM PST - 9 comments
September 1
Farewell, eXile
Russia's caustic English-language bi-weekly,
The eXile, has been sold to a Dutch media company and its expat editors have been forced to resign. The magazine, which has pulled nary a punch in its quest to both inform and disgust, will apparently become just another inoffensive local guide to sports and entertainment in Moscow.
posted by tpoh.org at 3:01 PM PST - 4 comments
Talk About Your Graven Images!
Look out, Golden Calf - you've got competition! Now up for sale on eBay, a two-foot-tall, 100+ pound solid gold statue of Mickey Mouse.
"The manufacturer of 'Celebration Mickey', The Great Western Mint, adds 'Never in the history of art has a work of such enormous size been cast in pure gold. We are proud to be able to present this piece with expectations that art lovers and cultural historians yet unborn will look back upon this 1,500 troy ounce casting of pure gold and marvel at the technical prowess that it exhibits.'"
Wow. I thought I heard all the theories, but it never dawned on me that Mickey Mouse was the Antichrist.
posted by tpoh.org at 2:38 PM PST - 9 comments
Mini cars making it big.
As an owner of a vintage scooter, I can appreciate the affection these folks have for their cars.
I also wanted to link this as a nice example of how MSNBC has been using flash presentations in their stories.
posted by o2b at 12:55 PM PST - 8 comments
Prozac
seems to be societies new legal LSD. In the 60's acid could cure anything. If you were feeling down, tune in turn on and drop out and everything will be good.
Timothy Leary was a huge part of this whole "acid culture", but as Hunter S. Thompson so eloquently put it "He crashed around America selling consciousness expansion, without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all those people that took him seriously." In the end the acid culture failed, but we have yet to learn the lesson that everything can not be cured with a magic pill or some powder, you can't just add some water and cure societies problems like making instant soup. Could this belief in drugs that Tim Leary promoted during the 60's have lead to the overmedication of children today? Those old acid heads that have since become working stiffs that have kids still believe in the back of their minds in "better living through chemicals" and allow doctors to over prescribe their kids chemicals such as
Prozac and
Ritalin. Do you think that there could be a connection between this overmedication and school violence?
posted by bytecode at 10:13 AM PST - 61 comments
Percent of World Military Spending.
The US and its allies dwarf the rest of
the world in what it spends on defense. On the one hand I see the need to
bring overwhelming force in a conflict and I think just having it is in
itself stabilizing. But I can also see money and resources put to better
use elsewhere (e.g. healthcare, education, basic research) the effects of
which I think might even do more to affect global peace and prosperity than
any loss that may obtain from a reduced defense budget.
(other
Thoughts of the Fortnight by J. Bradford DeLong including this
draft he presented with Larry Summers! at the Fed symposium in Jackson Hole :)
posted by kliuless at 5:01 AM PST - 36 comments
