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Auctioneer + Political Wonk + Chess Club = The World of Competitive Policy Debate. This video of the national debate championships [realplayer, and many more here, including in other languages] is a real experience. This form of debate has evolved around a very specific set of rules with results that may seem strange to the uninitiated. Each year since 1921 there has been a single topic (take a look at 1939 for an example that reflects the times). Competitors learn to speak very fast, while elaborate strategies for winning have developed and massive amounts of information are presented in just a few minutes. If you like your debates witty and understandable, you may want to check out parliamentary debate instead (real format). I assume there are some other ex-debaters out there in MeFi land....
posted by blahblahblah at 11:20 PM PST - 85 comments

Was Gonzales truthful? Shortly after the warrantless eavesdropping program began, then-NSA Director Michael V. Hayden and Ashcroft made clear in private meetings that the president wanted to detect possible terrorist activity before another attack. They also made clear that, in such a broad hunt for suspicious patterns and activities, the government could never meet the FISA court's probable-cause requirement, government officials said. So it confused the FISA court judges when, in their recent public defense of the program, Hayden and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales insisted that NSA analysts do not listen to calls unless they have a reasonable belief that someone with a known link to terrorism is on one end of the call. At a hearing Monday, Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the "reasonable belief" standard is merely the "probable cause" standard by another name.
posted by caddis at 10:47 PM PST - 47 comments

The Mohammed Dance! We all remember the Hampster Dance (more) and the Jesus Dance. Now, with the ongoing cartoon controversy, comes the Mohammed Dance.
posted by dagny at 10:33 PM PST - 99 comments

Cryptome out??? FBI Special Agent Matthew J. Bertron, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278, left his card today, 8 February, 3 PM, while we were out, with a request to call his number, 718-286-7154, or the main number 212-384-1000. We called, he was out, he returned our call about 6 PM to ask to meet here at 10 AM tomorrow, 9 February. No reason given. In November 2003, two SAs visited, not sure if one or more this time. We'll report, maybe.
posted by OU812 at 9:50 PM PST - 28 comments

Mavericks Big Wave Surfing Competition has ended. Grant Baker from South Africa took the 30K first place prize. Nice photo gallery.
posted by derangedlarid at 9:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Anatomy of an Affair. An honest account of one man's affair and the ways it changed him forever.
posted by granted at 8:52 PM PST - 150 comments

Hardball's Chris Matthews beats the crap out of former Pentagon spokesperson Torie Clark on the WMD issue. I've never heard a member of the mainstream media so outspoken and heated in slamming the Admin's position on this before. Is the tide turning? (Video-WMP; Video-QT)
posted by darkstar at 8:22 PM PST - 53 comments

Limited Edition Candy. By our very own interrobang
posted by rocketman at 8:21 PM PST - 39 comments

Multiple-contact sensitive touchscreen doing neat things [Quicktime video]
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 8:14 PM PST - 18 comments

Galactic Central is the mother lode of magazine archives, with publishing information and cover art, including a prodigious pile of pulp magazines.
posted by crunchland at 7:54 PM PST - 6 comments

The bad news: "4,100 people diagnosed with diabetes, 230 amputations in people with diabetes, 120 people who enter end-stage kidney disease programs and 55 people who go blind. ..That's going to happen every day, on the weekends and on the Fourth of July. That's diabetes". The worse news: this is in New York City alone. The disease will soon afflict more than a million inhabitants of the city.
posted by storybored at 7:42 PM PST - 23 comments

WTF, Yahoo‽ How many Chinese are you going to help put into the hell of Chinese prison, Terry, Jerry, and David?
posted by five fresh fish at 7:29 PM PST - 26 comments

The New England Belt Sander Racing Association has just held their 2006 Winter Nationals. The results aren't up yet but you can watch a movie of the 2003 championship. [via]
posted by tellurian at 7:27 PM PST - 6 comments

Who is Brad Morgan and what is Moon 168?
posted by lalochezia at 7:21 PM PST - 7 comments

As a proud patriot & supporter of our nation's armed forces, my greatest personal shame comes from the fact that my pugs aren't fit for service (Lola has cuddling issues that would prove a hindrance on the battlefield, whereas Oscar would run afowl of the "don't ask, don't tell" laws). Fortunately, the good people at Pets In Uniform will gladly do an awful photoshop job to make it look like they actually served their nation proudly.
posted by jonson at 5:36 PM PST - 34 comments

""We only have to recall the colour of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who are most devastated by Katrina to know that there are not yet equal opportunities for all Americans." - Former President Jimmy Carter.

Coretta Scott King was laid to rest Tuesday after a six-hour service attended by four presidents and 10,000 ordinary people who came to pay tribute to the first lady of the civil rights movement - and one of its last icons. But at an event designed to remember the lady who was as memorable as her late husband in fighting for civil rights, politics entered the fray with both former President Jimmy Carter and Rev Joseph Lowery taking swipes at the Bush Administration. They say that there's a time and a place, and while this was clearly not the place, with thousands of Katrina victims (mostly African-American) about to be evicted because of budget cuts by the Bush administration, was it the time?
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:53 PM PST - 149 comments

Otto is just looking for a little love. Can you fit the bill?
posted by atom128 at 3:18 PM PST - 16 comments

It was that inevitable stomach-churning phone call in the middle of the night. The one we all had been dreading for years. The caller was choked with emotion. His words fell like bricks:

" You heard about Jaco?"

Jaco Pastorius bass virtuoso rediscovered. Photos and sounds and perspectives.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:18 PM PST - 28 comments

The Fish in the Nice Sweater : 2' 11" chronicler of the inconsequent.
posted by Francesnash at 3:09 PM PST - 6 comments

Step right up ladies 'n gents! See how to make just about verything from accordions to zirconium. They've got paint, unicyles, condoms and much much more! Diagrams included at no extra charge!
posted by Irontom at 12:38 PM PST - 17 comments

French Abstract CG Piece Starts out slow but really develops. A great mix of sound, visuals, and that damn je ne se quoi! (Qtime Embed)
posted by Mr Bluesky at 12:11 PM PST - 14 comments

Sweden to break oil addiction? (BBC article): Released in a in a public statement the Swedish Minister for Sustainable Development (!), Mona Sahlin, sets forth the goal of a Sweden free from the dependence of oil by 2020. As this Altnews article says, this is essentially just a reaffirmation of a stated goal. Still 2020, is not far off.
posted by edgeways at 11:19 AM PST - 45 comments

Anybody tried Songbird? A preview release of the "iTunes-killer" launched today. Interview with development team leader on Boing Boing. Works great ... but I see no iPod support.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:37 AM PST - 74 comments

Recent surveys show that fast-food packaging makes up about 20 percent of all litter, with snack foods comprising another 20 percent. Oakland, CA is the first city to tax companies who create "Fast-Food Trash".
posted by stbalbach at 9:55 AM PST - 30 comments

Crime and violence are everyday happenings in Cambodia. The Cambodian media thrives on it. But is it just everyday violence or something deeper?
posted by Xurando at 7:34 AM PST - 18 comments

"Light Pollution - and the return of the night" (more inside)
posted by slimepuppy at 7:06 AM PST - 54 comments

Band of Brothers is an organization of Democratic veterans running for U.S. Congress. Maybe you'll hear about their DC rally today on the news (but don't hold your breath). Currently, vets in the Senate are about evenly split among the GOP and Dems, but Republican vets are the majority in the House. This is likely to change if the Democrats take control of Congress in this year's elections, in which the Iraq War will be a primary issue. Has a White House full of chickenhawks destroyed the GOP claim as the military party?
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:44 AM PST - 41 comments

Pro-prostitution blog. So you've seen the careful, rational and spell-checked arguments for the decriminalization of prostitution. Now read this instead. And don't forget, the author took time out on christmas eve to tell you what it's like in a central american cathouse.
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:32 AM PST - 102 comments

Leech Hunter's Chronicles [how to remove them]
posted by srboisvert at 5:12 AM PST - 16 comments

Properly Chilled, "a great guide to the downtempo music scene/lifestyle, spotlighting not only the essential release reviews, label/artist profiles and other data on the genre but also exclusive DJ mixes and all kinds of other goodies" (via). Check out the totally free, totally chill Radio Jazztronica #3 mix from DJ Chicken George. It's 55+ minutes of "unpredictable, energetic and heart-felt" downtempo that packs a serious punch. Did I mention it's free?
posted by JPowers at 5:08 AM PST - 19 comments

I think that I shall never see, A billboard lovely as a...flower. Just in time for Valentine's Day, send your sweetie a dozen roses with custom-printed, spectacular Engrish messages on the petals. Also useful for wedding anniversaries and football games.
posted by Gator at 5:04 AM PST - 18 comments

Metabolism of evolution information in the blogosphere.
posted by melissa may at 12:37 AM PST - 19 comments