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Winning Souls to Christ in The World of Warcraft. There is a trend of Christian gaming enthusiasts who have flocked to Blizzard’s popular World of Warcraft game to proselytize, by violence if necessary, as evidenced by one guild leader who has engaged in “conversion duels on multiple servers where he challenges other players to duel with him. If he wins, they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”
posted by The Jesse Helms at 9:41 PM PST - 31 comments

Happy little puzzles using a chess knight's moves to change the white squares into other colors await those who click.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 9:26 PM PST - 20 comments

One officer and two non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the 82nd Airborne who witnessed abuse, speaking on condition of anonymity, described in multiple interviews with Human Rights Watch how their battalion in 2003-2004 routinely used physical and mental torture as a means of intelligence gathering and for stress relief. One soldier raised his concerns within the army chain of command for 17 months before the Army agreed to undertake an investigation, but only after he had contacted members of Congress and considered goingpublic with the story. According to their accounts, the torture and other mistreatment of Iraqis in detention was systematic and was known at varying levels of command. Military Intelligence personnel, they said, directed and encouraged army personnel to subject prisoners to forced, repetitive exercise, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness, sleep deprivation for days on end, and exposure to extremes of heat and cold as part of the interrogation process. At least one interrogator beat detainees in front of other soldiers. Soldiers also incorporated daily beatings of detainees in preparation for interrogations. Civilians believed to be from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted interrogations out of sight, but not earshot, of soldiers, who heard what they believed were abusive interrogations.

Human Rights Watch: Leadership Failure - Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. See also 3 in 82nd Airborne Say Abuse in Iraqi Prisons Was Routine
posted by y2karl at 8:53 PM PST - 35 comments

The death of Roe v. Wade from a thousand cuts "Two weeks ago Paul Pressler, the architect of the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, described how the Religious Right intended to deal with Roe v. Wade. After expressing his elation with the selection of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court he said, "Roe v. Wade won't be revoked, it will die the death of a thousand cuts and qualifications and regulations until it gradually disappears."
- Dr. Bruce Prescott, from the eyewall of America's religious wars (Executive Director of "Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists"), notes the culmination of long-laid plans.
posted by troutfishing at 8:21 PM PST - 116 comments

Ghosts: Soldiers spooked by New Orleans ghosts. Film at eleven.
posted by johnj at 7:23 PM PST - 32 comments

Amusing, stylized violent cgi cartoon of a series of assassins trying to take on the lone biker of the apocalypse. Embedded windows media video.
posted by jonson at 4:59 PM PST - 22 comments

Tibor "Ted" Rubin, survivor of a Nazi concentration camp and United States Army hero in World War II, received the Medal of Honor today from President Bush, 55 years after earning it. Rubin, a Hungarian Jew, was never submitted for a medal during the war due to anti-Semitism.
posted by cerebus19 at 4:56 PM PST - 35 comments

These are the cures. These are the illnesses. Guaranteed to cure what ails you. A look at the fantastic science of medicine, and the fantastic art of bodies afflicted.
posted by klangklangston at 4:50 PM PST - 4 comments

Barbarism or good ole American capitalism? If you want to see the true face of war, go to the amateur porn Web site NowThatsFuckedUp.com. For almost a year, American soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking photographs of dead bodies, many of them horribly mutilated or blown to pieces, and sending them to Web site administrator Chris Wilson. In return for letting him post these images, Wilson gives the soldiers free access to his site. American soldiers have been using the pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses as currency to buy pornography.
posted by halekon at 3:15 PM PST - 136 comments

A Sub by any other name.... Professor Vaux has put together a little survey of American as she is spoke. The survey covers a myriad of areas and the results wind up on some really interesting maps. It's on going, so feel free to take the challenge
posted by IndigoJones at 2:41 PM PST - 15 comments

Is Bush back on the bottle? A few not-so-credible sources have been running this story, and people are starting to are starting to talk.

Although you may sneer at the National Enquirer, it actually has a track record for factual accuracy, which even the CJR acknowledges. Hey, enquiring minds want to know…
posted by slogger at 2:36 PM PST - 109 comments

Draft legislation was published today that proposes that fifteen parcels in the National Park System be sold off for "purposes of commercial and residential development." Many of the parcels are in Alaska, but one is Theodore Roosevelt Island park, developed to honor one of our country's most recognizable environmentalists. It seems the Onion gives us the news from the future once again...Way to go, DCist for breaking the story!
posted by chinese_fashion at 1:57 PM PST - 14 comments

Ok fun Friday despite all the tragedy going on in the world ....
posted by terrier319 at 1:57 PM PST - 6 comments

Hurricane Beta Coming Soon... Ever wondered how hurricanes are named? Here's a good explanation.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:58 AM PST - 21 comments

Skype can now be stored on a flashdrive and taken from PC to PC. And this tiny BotTorrent client (82Kb) can also be carried around on a flashdrive.
posted by bobbyelliott at 11:09 AM PST - 18 comments

A slice of contemporary reality.
posted by semmi at 10:31 AM PST - 10 comments

Nevermind the Pollocks. Splattery Friday flash fun.
posted by Gamblor at 8:51 AM PST - 18 comments

Secularism: The Turkish Experience. Here is a transcript (pdf file). It talks about the Turkish system and it contrasts the social system of the Ottoman empire, the "millet" system, with the modern one, called "laiklik" which is based on the French model.
posted by ishmael at 8:40 AM PST - 17 comments

Boesky, Waksal, . . . Frist? There have been articles as of late questioning the timing of Sen. Bill Frist's sale of his entire portfolio of HCA stock (a Frist family company) at a peak stock price just prior to a release of bad earnings news. He is now under investigation. Will Frist go the way of Ivan and Sam or even Martha?
posted by caddis at 7:32 AM PST - 47 comments

A whole bunch of great game design essays.
posted by Tlogmer at 7:26 AM PST - 13 comments

Atome. More Friday Flash fun. Put the particles together to make an atom.
posted by zardoz at 7:14 AM PST - 15 comments

"Somewhere in the Bible it is said: "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off." I used to think the remedy somewhat radical. But to-day, being imbued with the wisdom of the prohibitionist, I have to acknowledge that, if the Bible in general, and that passage in it in particular, has a fault, it lies in its ultra-conservativeness. What? Merely cut off my own right hand if it offend me? What business have my neighbors to keep their right hands if I am not able to make mine behave itself ? Off with the lot of them! Let there be no right hands; then I am certain that mine won't land me in trouble."
So wrote Percy Andreae in 1915 when arguing against Prohibition. That excerpt is at the OSU Prohibition History site, along with such delights as Prohibition Party Cartoons (check out this adorable camel: "Vote as if your vote would be the last straw"). At the LOC, along with this page of Prohibition information, and this panoramic shot of the 1915 Anti-Saloon League of America, there is also this reminder of the link between temperance and women's suffrage. If you don't want to join The Temperance Crusade in song, or admit that (I Never Knew I Had A Wonderful Wife Until The Town Went Dry), you can listen to these mp3's at the LOC: The Drunkard's dream, The Drunkard's child, and, of course, Goodbye, booze. Prohibition and moonshining; the rise of bootlegging gangs; more primary sources at the National Archives. And no post on prohibition or temperance would be complete without Carrie Nation's Hammer.
posted by OmieWise at 6:35 AM PST - 50 comments

Nagraj v. Shakoora The Magician from Raj Comics. UFF!
posted by tellurian at 6:32 AM PST - 13 comments

Spaced Penguin Friday Fun (shockwave) repeat from 4 years ago today...wow.
posted by adamvasco at 5:58 AM PST - 17 comments