January 27, 2005

More Cowbell^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Sax!

Ever notice a little too much sax in 80's music? (Warning: Slow loading page---lots of embedded Quicktime.)
posted by tss at 10:01 PM PST - 38 comments

We're all to blame.

We're all to blame. In January 2002, Scott Ritter called Iraq a "phantom threat" and warned us of Ahmed Chalabi's "dubious motivations" for fomenting a war based on phony intel. Now Ritter is saying that we're all responsible for Iraq, because we, as a public, bought into the unproven argument that Iraq had WMDs. In that light, how should we view the Iranian situation? Is it fair for the US to use its power to insist upon arguably hypocritical terms for a fellow signatary to the Non Proliferation Treaty? Doesn't Iran have legitimate rights for nuclear development? Shouldn't we demand proof of a nuclear weapons program before we even consider starting a conflict our military believes would most certainly escalate? The Bush administration says that "there's NO DOUBT that Iran continues a nuclear program"... an obvious lie. There is no proof of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Period.
posted by insomnia_lj at 9:35 PM PST - 100 comments

And They're Off!

Get to votin'. In Sydney, the first votes were cast in the Iraqi elections, 48 hours before it starts in Iraq itself. I went down to the nearest polling booth to get a feel for the turnout. It's being organised by the best in the business, but will it make a difference if nobody comes to the party?
posted by cosmonik at 8:11 PM PST - 16 comments

Payola: it's not just for radio anymore

And then there were 3 --(salon, watch ad or use bugmenot) One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Meet Michael McManus. Who's next in PayolaGate? And in the Senate, they're going to be introducing a 'Stop Government Propaganda Act.' Even Jonah Goldberg (on the right) is actually calling for a real investigation .
posted by amberglow at 7:29 PM PST - 48 comments

but what is solid information?

Liquid Information. Does it change anything? Or is it just like the Trillian wikipedia lookup function, only not as good?
posted by bingo at 6:47 PM PST - 23 comments

Major Soccer/Football Prospect

Sports Illustrated explains seven or eight professional soccer/football teams, including highly regarded Manchester United and FC Porto, are interested in "a phenomenon, probably the best player to come out of Brazil" : Jean Carlos Chera, nine years old and 4' 6". A video (additional source) [wmv format, 8MB] demonstrates Jean's abilities.
posted by quam at 6:42 PM PST - 46 comments

Richard Price

Richard Price: The Comeback Kid of American Literature. [MI]
posted by jonmc at 6:13 PM PST - 20 comments

Who can invent for us a cartography of autonomy, who can draw a map that includes our desires? - Hakim Bey

Cartography is a skill pretty much taken for granted now, but it wasn't always so. Accurate maps were once prized state secrets, laborious efforts that cost a fortune and took years (or even decades) to complete.

How things have changed. (Yours now, $110) It took almost 500 years to map North America, but it's only taken one tenth of that to map just everything else. In the last 50 years, we've been able to create acurate atlases of two planets and one moon (with a second in the works). Actually, we've done a lot more than that. We're actually running out of things to map.

Maybe Not.
posted by absalom at 5:51 PM PST - 17 comments

Hallelujah

"Precious Lord" sung by Mahalia Jackson (mp3)
No artist brought more acclaim to gospel music than Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972). Beginning in 1950, her divine (.wav) talents were featured weekly on Studs Turkel's radio program, and through her music and gentle personality she became so beloved worldwide that her funeral rivaled that of royalty. Mahalia sang "Precious Lord" at Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral -- at Mahalia's funeral, Aretha Franklin did the honors. Mahalia was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 1997. Word has it she also made a mean okra gumbo.
posted by miss lynnster at 5:22 PM PST - 6 comments

Little-Known U.S. Document Signed by President Adams Proclaims America's Government Is Secular

Little-Known U.S. Document Signed by President Adams Proclaims America's Government Is Secular Some people today assert that the United States government came from Christian foundations. They argue that our political system represents a Christian ideal form of government and that Jefferson, Madison, et al, had simply expressed Christian values while framing the Constitution. If this proved true, then we should have a wealth of evidence to support it, yet just the opposite proves the case. Although, indeed, many of America's colonial statesmen practiced Christianity, our most influential Founding Fathers broke away from traditional religious thinking. The ideas of the Great Enlightenment that began in Europe had begun to sever the chains of monarchical theocracy. These heretical European ideas spread throughout early America. Instead of relying on faith, people began to use reason and science as their guide. The humanistic philosophical writers of the Enlightenment, such as Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire, had greatly influenced our Founding Fathers and Isaac Newton's mechanical and mathematical foundations served as a grounding post for their scientific reasoning.
posted by Postroad at 5:19 PM PST - 49 comments

Have you made any redundancies?

When Good Things Go American. Fans of The Office on the BBC may feel a redundacy after watching the NBC pilot.
posted by orange clock at 4:45 PM PST - 108 comments

404's 4 U

404 Research Lab. Not that I'm sorry for the double post, but I was inspired by this 404 and went searching for some more. Some of them are funny, some let you play games, some are just creepy. What's everyone else's favorites?
posted by daHIFI at 3:49 PM PST - 19 comments

Ngage self-destruct mechanism!

Introducing the Gizmondo handheld games console from Tiger Telematics. It's like the PSP, only DOOMED.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 3:43 PM PST - 23 comments

Earmarked

Visitors to the US tagged with RFID chips? They already use them on goods and livestock, but soon also foreign visitors will be earmarked. Will it make the US a safer country?
posted by kika at 3:36 PM PST - 34 comments

Red Devil Games TVC

This is, quite possibly, the funniest TV spot for an independent videogame retailer I've ever seen. Not that there are many out there (funny ones, I mean). There's more here and here. (via Joystiq, requires QT)
posted by riffraff at 3:33 PM PST - 16 comments

Hacker or Lynx user?

Boing Boing says he's a Lynx user, but British Telecom declared him a hacker and that's what the BBC is carrying. There's no way to tell who's right yet, but I'd say the Bloggers are betting on Lynx user. Anyone got an update?
posted by krisjohn at 3:27 PM PST - 30 comments

Scifi hoax and print on demand

PublishAmerica is having a rough month. After being sued by 150 authors who felt they were deceived by the company, and taking a beating a couple of days ago at the hands of the Washington Post, PublishAmerica has become the object of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a group of science fiction writers, a novel called Atlanta Nights, by one Travis Tea. [more inside]
posted by mathowie at 3:12 PM PST - 23 comments

Tree Climbers International

This week's Time for Kids magazine, [fifth-grade reading level req.] includes an interesting feature on Tree Climbers International an organization that teaches people how to climb nearly any tree... Not just a sport for kids anymore. These days, large trees that were once considered too big to climb can now be scaled with ease and safety. Even by grown-ups.
posted by RockyChrysler at 2:23 PM PST - 8 comments

Multilingual Swearing

Malu cachu (that's Welsh, I'll leave the interpreting to you) - a comprehensive guide to swearing in 165 languages. This probably offers the most appeal to the younger crowd, subverting classroom etiquette undetected--but it's not without its draw for the inebriated. It may also be a good idea to cross check your business name before going global. A representative of AmaCorp visiting Japan is likely to catch a few odd looks.
posted by ThePrawn at 2:16 PM PST - 14 comments

It's Crispin Glover

What is it? It's Crispin Glover's feature film. (NSFW)
posted by mr.marx at 1:49 PM PST - 35 comments

Nekkid Czech Nerds

Czech? Check. Tech? Check. Clothes? Not so much. [probably NSFW] via Gizmodo
posted by stonerose at 12:42 PM PST - 32 comments

Da Vinci's workshop

Da Vinci's workshop discovered - Florence. Also CTV link here.
posted by yoga at 11:46 AM PST - 12 comments

Happy Scrappy

Welcome to Scrappyland. A site devoted to a long-lost cartoon character from the 1930s.
posted by braun_richard at 11:30 AM PST - 12 comments

Choke on this, dad.

Family ties unraveling. Henry Heimlich, the inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver for choking, has been hounded for more than two years by a persistent critic, who who has used multiple aliases to gather information on Henry Heimlich and his associates. He's used a web site to attack Henry Heimlich's research theories. He's called for investigations by the Ohio Medical Board and the Ohio Attorney General's office.

The critic is Peter Heimlich, the doctor's son.
posted by tizzie at 11:26 AM PST - 56 comments

A pronounced deficiency in IQ

Redneck ebonics triumphs. Merriam-Webster online now gives "nu-kyu-lar" as an alternative pronunication of "nuclear." While dictionaries have become more descriptive and less prescriptive over the years, shouldn't they at least list it as [idiotic variant]?
posted by QuietDesperation at 11:05 AM PST - 162 comments

Bad Guys

"Can a bad man be a good poet?" Some well-written thoughts on morality, matters of taste, and art by David Orr.
posted by lilboo at 10:20 AM PST - 30 comments

Oh MY GOD!!! How cool is this?

A9 yellow pages features PHOTOS!!! So A9 starts doing yellow pages, and I'm thinking, big deal, right? But then, I think, ok I'll check out some Italian restaurants near my work, cause it's close to lunch. And that's, well, ok, but what's the big deal? But then, I click on one of the little numbers in the map, AND THERE'S A PHOTO of the restaurant, right there! And little arrows, so I can WALK UP AND DOWN THE STREET!!! And here's how they did it! (via kottke)
posted by jasper411 at 10:07 AM PST - 72 comments

Mojo's Top 100 Soundtracks of All Time.

Mojo's top 100 soundtracks -- well thought out, with some rediscovered classics, and a few obscure gems. [via largeheartedboy]
posted by btwillig at 10:05 AM PST - 32 comments

How to manipulate groupthink

How to manipulate groupthink: Create a group participation technique that looks and sounds equitable and solicits feedback. Use the feedback to isolate leaders, loudmouths, pushovers and those who agree or disagree with your hidden agenda. Set these groups against each other until your hidden agenda moves from a subject for debate to a principle accepted as true that frames the debate. Start a cable channel! Hope America doesn't learn how to fight back.
posted by basilwhite at 9:55 AM PST - 16 comments

ET, Moan Home!

Moan Home!
Jenna Jameson, further pushing into the mainstream and "coming" to a cellphone near you, is now going to sell her "moan tones" for $2.50 a pop.
Best bit of the article? "If you can get her to say my name then I would buy it. I need that kind of personal attention," said New Yorker Julian McCullough.
posted by fenriq at 9:30 AM PST - 3 comments

Use of AbsorbShun natural powder in any quantity may cause temporary tenderness and micro abrasions to the genital area.

A Natural Solution for a Tighter Vagina Dry sex is extremely popular in Africa due to the sensation of tightness and additional friction it provides, despite the fact that it is associated with higher rates of HIV transmission. But if you don't have access to mutendo wegudo (soil with baboon urine), Scott and Cynthia Koss have the product for you.
posted by amber_dale at 9:06 AM PST - 63 comments

Naked Washington

Naked Washington. The Boy Scout Memorial statues in Washington, DC always struck me as a bit odd. Why is this kid leading a naked man? Or maybe, better, why is a naked man pursuing this kid? Maybe if the guy from Naked Washington gets his book sold, we will all know. Meanwhile, it's available on CD.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:02 AM PST - 8 comments

The table that cooks ~ A train that can calculate ~ The alarm clock that physically drags you out of bed

We Make Money Not Art :: art meets science and technology in the near near future and begets some cool and scary toys.
posted by anastasiav at 8:28 AM PST - 4 comments

spinning wheels

An Iowa law outlawing spinning rims? I admit that spinning rims are goofy and have no redeeming social value but outlawing them? When Spinning Rims Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Spinning Rims
posted by halekon at 7:51 AM PST - 61 comments

Artomatic!

Got a Secret? (Discussed briefly previouslyhere) The idea behind Frank Warren Artomatic exhibit was simple: distribute 3,000 post cards asking the public to share a secret with him anonymously by reply mail, and sit back and wait for the replies. Some of the post cards are now on display at the Anne C. Fisher gallery, but if you can't make it to the Georgetown show don't worry, Warren has created a "Postsecret" blog where you can see some of the most interesting replies. (via DCist)
posted by indiebass at 7:48 AM PST - 13 comments

BJ don't cry no more.

For everything else there is mastercard (NSFW, Flash)
posted by aj100 at 5:38 AM PST - 43 comments

Who keeps Steve Gutenburg a star?

Philadelphia's Masonic Temple looms enigmatically near city hall. Visit, and marvel at the Corinthian Hall, the Renaissance Hall, the Egyptian Hall, the Oriental Hall, the Norman Hall, the Gothic Hall, and the Ionic Hall. Untangle the inscrutable symbology of George Washington's Masonic Apron. Browse the extensive library (if you're a mason). Even bring home a spoon.
posted by deafmute at 5:08 AM PST - 16 comments

Get out your stethoscopes!

Learn to Safecrack! [pdf] Last year, computer scientist and cryptologist Matt Blaze drew ire from the locksmithing community for publically revealing information on how to create the master key to a lock (previous MetaFilter discussion). He's back with a paper on cracking safes. Once again, locksmiths are up in arms over Blaze's disregard of trade secrets. Apparently, safes adhere to the principle of security through obscurity rather than Kerckhoff's Law. [via]
posted by painquale at 3:55 AM PST - 9 comments

Ivan Noble's Tumour Diary

Ivan Noble's Tumour Diary The BBC's Ivan Noble has been keeping an online diary of his fight against a malignant brain tumour. Alas, his illness is now getting the better of him, and this will be his final column. He has been, at times, an inspiration, incredibly brave and totally honest about his illness. As a former colleague, he shall also be remembered fondly. Start from the beginning, it's a must read.
posted by scaryduck at 2:56 AM PST - 10 comments

Suicide ain't so painless when it brings so many changes

When is suicide selfish? Yesterday in Los Angeles a suicidal local man stabbed himself in the chest, slit his wrists, and drove his car up onto train tracks, lost his nerve and hopped out at the last minute, to watch in anguish as not one but two trains collided with his car and with each other, killing 11 people (so far) and injuring almost 200 others. [more inside]
posted by LondonYank at 2:19 AM PST - 100 comments

ShareWare...

Where does he get those wonderful toys? The paper toys of Chris Ware.
posted by Dreamghost at 12:35 AM PST - 17 comments

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