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July 24, 2003
Kolyma: The Land of Gold and Death. 'Stalin's prisoners, or "lagerniks" as they were commonly called, referred to the frozen land of Kolyma as a planet, although it physically remained part of Mother Earth. This vast piece of Arctic and sub-Arctic territory, with its undefined political and geographical borders, was located in the furthest North-East corner of Siberia ... ' An online book by
a survivor of the gulag.
posted by plep at 11:32 PM PST - 7 comments
Someone needs Photoshop classes. Cat Schwartz, TechTV vixen, posted some pictures of herself on her blog. Due to an obscure bug in Photoshop, she also inadvertently posted pictures of herself nude. Oopos.
Warning: Minor nudity enclosed.
posted by manero at 9:26 PM PST - 95 comments
Mark Twain on
evolution:
It now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one...the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. And, on
war:
Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. Alphabetized Mark Twain quotes.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 5:47 PM PST - 16 comments
douglas adams mp3 audio archive ...
"The Douglas Adams media archive is presented here by the wi2600.org groups for your enjoyment. This allso is to serve as a tribute to Mr. Adams's great, but suddely shortened career. Those who have not heard his voice and those who know it well will both enjoy having this material available. We will miss him!"
posted by crunchland at 4:07 PM PST - 16 comments
"We're walking from Chicago to San Francisco. Many have responded with, "
You guys are stupid!" Some, on the other hand, have said, "Wow, that's cool!" Either way, we hope you'll keep coming back to see what will happen next in our walking adventures."
Current mileage, photo galleries, and journal entries abound -- and really, when was the last time
you walked 627 miles (inside of 60 days)?
posted by wells at 11:53 AM PST - 20 comments
The massive engineering feat of Stonehenge meets the conspicuous nature of fiercely gated communities. The resulting bastard child:
The Palm, a man made island community shaped like a palm tree off of the coast of Dubai, UAE.
(warning: site entirely flash-based) (via willnot)
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:32 AM PST - 10 comments
Uday & Qusay's death - a failure?! Salam Pax thinks the U.S.
"wasted a chance to show Iraqis they really are doing something".
Robert Fisk asked in
yesterday's press conference "Surely, the possibility of the immense amount of information they could have given coalition forces" justified efforts to try to take them alive. The military had time, the element of surprise, special forces troops, and
nonlethal weapons -- so why did they attack with rockets and TOW missiles? Where is Saddam? Could we have learned more about Iraq's WMD programs? Is it better for the Bush administration to not have some questions answered?
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:30 AM PST - 108 comments
Seal kills scientist A British scientist has been killed by a leopard seal whilst snorkelling in Antarctica.
I had no idea that a seal could (or would) attack a human. These things can grow to 23ft long! They are known to feed on penguins, but a human is a fair bit bigger than a penguin, so this is one nasty animal, not the doe-eyed creature we coo over in nature programmes...
posted by jontyjago at 6:54 AM PST - 45 comments
As to
The Uses and Disadvantages of Socrates, sources differ but seem to share in common an ideal fictional Socrates to speak their understanding of the common account. From Doug Linder's
Famous Trials--for your bookmarking convenience--comes
The Trial of Socrates, featuring ample background materials, including
I.F. Stone's take. Marilyn Katz's
Background Materials on Socrates' Trial and Death are essential, too. Several other accounts are offered online--consider
Socrates and his Audience,
The Accusations Against Socrates, Gadfly on Trial: Socrates as Citizen and Social Critic and the rather d.i.y.
Socrates Had It Coming. But as to the historical Socrates, the man in context becomes key--as all of the above do contend, more or less, let it be noted--and therefore one needs to become become familiar with things like
sexuality in Fifth-Century Athens,
desecration of the herms,
Eleusian Mysteries,
the Peloponnesian War,
the fateful Sicilian Expedition and the collective memory of
civil war and civic memory in ancient Athens that ensued, as well as the personalities of
Critias and
Alcibiades to answer the question entitled in my own favorite account, the book entire:
Who Was Socrates ?
posted by y2karl at 6:33 AM PST - 39 comments
No Iraq link to al-Qaida "The report of the joint congressional inquiry into the suicide hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, to be published Thursday, reveals U.S. intelligence had no evidence that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks, or that it had supported al-Qaida, United Press International has learned."
[more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 6:26 AM PST - 72 comments
