January 17, 2003

Viennese bias?

Ursula Plaichinger, a 27 year-old viola player, is the first woman to be (partially) admitted into the Vienna Philharmonic since the orchestra's creation 161 years ago. Except for hiring temporary, underpaid, unmentioned and unseen harpists ("Cameramen were instructed to show only her hands, never her face or figure"), the Viennese Phil not only tried to ignore several pleads for gender equality but took seven years to comply to the Austrian government's injunctions. Does this kind of resistance reflect a general trend? Is Ursula's case merely an example of "Rent-a-Frau" ? On the other hand, since the Viennese orchestra is a private association, could this be just a modified version of the Battle of Augusta?
posted by 111 at 9:07 PM PST - 12 comments

Mickey Mouse Release Day

Display of Mickey Mouse as act of subversion? Who'd've thunk it? On April 15, 2003, Mickey Mouse would've been public domain, if it weren't for Sonny Bono. And so on that day, the linked site proposes that all websites display the mouse as an act of deliberate civil disobedience. No one ever said the 21st century would make sense.
posted by condour75 at 9:02 PM PST - 32 comments

Swap with a sailor (or a pirate ;)

Swappingtons! Howdy fair sailor, "Swappingtons is a great way to get rid of any books, CDs or DVDs that you don't want anymore, and get other items in return for them. The great part too is, once you're done with the items you get, you can just turn around and list them again so someone else will take them and you can get something else." Andrew (of DiaryLand, Pitas and various other web enterprises) has set up a barter club for your mutual benefit! (kinda like a LETS) Be sure to check out the short instructional dramatization :D
posted by kliuless at 7:21 PM PST - 9 comments

Victims of a nudge-nudge culture

Guilty until proven innocent? Mark Lawson discusses the perils being caught up in a nudge-nudge culture.
posted by tommyc at 6:17 PM PST - 9 comments

The ODP bans its successful users.

The Open Directory Project bans TNL.net Tristan Louis's web site can no longer be used to access the Open Directory. Why? apparently they can't handle the traffic, so they banned links coming from his pages in the early afternoon.
posted by clevershark at 6:08 PM PST - 25 comments

Artists Rights Coalition

The Artists Rights Coalition has decided that it is their mission to enforce copyright law. It doesn't matter whether or not it's their copyright -- they're gonna enforce it anyway. An example of the community policing itself or of online vigilantism?
posted by cedar at 5:11 PM PST - 4 comments

A Pox on All Your Houses

What do Abraham Lincoln and Friedrich Nietzsche have in common? Independent scholar Deborah Hayden has the answer.
posted by jonp72 at 4:53 PM PST - 9 comments

Simcity 4

Simcity 4 and memories of misspent youth You don't need to be a geek to enjoy creating (and destroying) cities in the funky llama-loving world of Simcity. Simcity 4 has just been released, for good or bad. A lot of people seem to have "that game" that sticks with them. Maybe an old console or PC simulator such as Simcity still pops up in your mind once-in-awhile. Do you ever get hungry and say to yourself "Must build more farms."?
posted by Tystnaden at 2:08 PM PST - 62 comments

they've got god...

they've got god... world's first completely artificial lifeform created. ethical, spiritual, and social implications a-go-go, via blogdex.
posted by moonbird at 12:39 PM PST - 37 comments

Digital rights

A call to rally to protect our digital rights Legislation introduced in Congress to allow continued fair use of digital media. Other links at story site.
posted by stevefromsparks at 9:57 AM PST - 7 comments

Good Memory.

Good Memory. From Argentina, a 1967 school photograph with a story. From the introduction :- 'decided to hold a 25th reunion of my classmates from the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires so that we could see each other again. I invited those I was able to find to my house, and proposed doing a portrait of each of them ... Later, a ceremony was organized, in memory of the students of the school who had disappeared or were murdered by state terrorism in the black years of the dictatorship. After twenty years, the school authorities accepted, for the flrst time, that the missing be officially recognized in the school's main hall. It was a historic occasion ... '
posted by plep at 9:17 AM PST - 8 comments

bogeyman

bogeyman?
(nytimes link) ``We face a hate-filled, remorseless enemy that takes many forms, has many places to hide and is often invisible,''
posted by specialk420 at 8:42 AM PST - 11 comments

"I poisoned P2P networks for the RIAA"

"I poisoned P2P networks for the RIAA", a whistleblower from the IFPI (the global version of the RIAA) has said. Someone else actually claimed this a few days ago but it was admitted to be a hoax. Now, a fellow by the name of Matt Warne comes forward with a new claim.

While I'm sure many MeFi'ers disagree about the ethics of music piracy (which it is, whether or not you think it should be okay) - I think we can all agree that two wrongs don't make a right, can we not? Can the RIAA be sued for this, or will it be an invincible body, impervious to injury just like a certain other huge body that has problems getting hacked all the time, and simply has to repeatedly settle in court rather than admitting true wrongdoing?
posted by twiggy at 8:40 AM PST - 57 comments

A Riders Digest

I should have expected a country that largely dismisses cycling as a viable mode of transportation would fail to understand the subtlety of riding skills that ultimately led to their plonking a man on the moon.
You don't need to be a cyclist to enjoy the intelligent and generous breadth of content at BikeReader - A Rider's Digest.
posted by normy at 7:39 AM PST - 8 comments

Hey Magnus, throw another hot-dog on the SAABie!

SAAB 900 converted into a sauna/barbeque.
posted by machaus at 7:31 AM PST - 22 comments

Friday Timewaster

Have you ever pondered just how annoying Mick Hucknall is? and who you might consider to be more annoying than the Simply Red Frontman? Here's a chance to let off some steam with some bar room style rants about the most irritating celebs doing the circuit. There are some fairly obvious one's here and here and some threads that don't do much for Anglo-American relations here. A nice way to waste a Friday afternoon - provided you're not offended by the language
posted by qwerty155 at 7:09 AM PST - 9 comments

Confessions of an Internet Loser

Confessions of an Internet Loser. Sure, Michelle is not your average camgirl, but she can write brilliantly and humorously about her own struggle to be popular.
posted by samelborp at 6:55 AM PST - 41 comments

So Let it Rain

Two score years ago, a great American, whose birthday we celebrate every year with a three-day weekend, stood in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial and uttered those famous words, "I Have A Dream." Five years later, older and weary, saddened and yet emboldened for a new task, that man was assassinated in Memphis. He has rightly become an American icon, a symbol of all that we consider great about our nation. And yet is is the very fact of his apotheosis that has done his dream the most damage. Safely iconized and sanitized, MLK has been used cynically by his most bitter opponents, to ends he very clearly opposed during his life. The man who considered himself a democratic socialist, and who supported both reparations and affirmative action is used by conservatives to stymie the efforts of his philosophical and activist heirs. Some of them, like U2's Bono, want to save Africans from AIDS. Others, like Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, suggest a 10-year moratorium on the famous speech, so that we can pay attention to other, more important statements. King's last great effort was not a march to combat racism but rather a new initiative to end poverty, the Poor People’s Campaign. Thirty-five years later, the gap between rich and poor is larger than ever in this country, and our president, who claims to follow the same religion that underwrote all King said, did and thought, is conducting a war not on poverty, but on the poor. How many of us who, like G.W. Bush, pay lip service to the ideas of King and of Christ will stop stalling and stand up for justice?
posted by eustacescrubb at 6:51 AM PST - 47 comments

Sundance kicks off

The 2003 Sundance Film Festival kicked off last night in Park City, Utah, surrounded by alt-fests and alt-alt-fests as indie film steps center stage. But you don't have to be there to feel like you are, you can gourge on indie coverage or biz news from the trades, aggregated news from major portals or speciality broadcasters ... or just browse through all the pretty pictures.
posted by bclark at 5:39 AM PST - 6 comments

Flags of the World

What's that flag? Flags of the World is an awesome website full of all sorts of vexillological info. If you don't know your canton from your burgee, are trying to ID a strange flag, or learn the difference between the Stars and Bars (not the battle flag) and the Star-Spangled Banner, this is the site for you.
posted by Vidiot at 12:24 AM PST - 17 comments

Where exactly does he get all that urine anyway?

Angry at something? Have Calvin pee on it. (gallery here) Perhaps the most popular form of American expression in the last decade (Aside from Jesus Fish Vs. Darwin Fish), I've personally seen Calvin pee on at least 5 NASCAR drivers, prayed to 2 religions, and given me the finger twice. What does Bill Watterson think about this? Wait... no, I'm sorry, this is what he really thinks about licensing. I think if you've proliferated the rape of my favorite comic strip you should spend an eternity with Jeff Gordon peeing on your head.
posted by Stan Chin at 12:03 AM PST - 66 comments

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