MetaFilter

Civil Disobedience-Henry David Thoreau Nothing in here about blocking traffic but a very important historical document for our time. "The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.".................. ............ "A democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. "
posted by thedailygrowl at 9:54 PM PST - 10 comments

And then the fallen. "I want President Bush to get a good look at this, really good look here," his father, Michael, said, holding up a picture of the dead marine. "This is the only son I had, only son." More.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 8:11 PM PST - 114 comments

Manipulating Minds: The Psychological War on Iraq. Battles are won on different fronts, but influencing an opposition is a critical part of any campaign. By manipulating an enemy's fears and desires, victory can be achieved. The "weapons of mass persuasion" are the tools of a different kind of warfare: psychological operations. (Full screen presentation in Flash) From CBC Radio One.
posted by tranquileye at 7:38 PM PST - 4 comments

Light of reason is an effort to peacefully demonstrate your dissent with the current war on Iraq. I fully expect the more conservative elements to say that peace is anti-patriotic but let's face, we can support the troops and still hate the war.
posted by TNLNYC at 7:22 PM PST - 35 comments

British band The The is alive, well, and pissed off. The March 21st "issue" of their website This is The The Day is a brash, one-stop-shopping WarLinkapalooza to (among other things) Micah Wright and his war poster satires, Tom Tomorrow, Get Your War On, Robert Fisk's Baghdad dispatches and . . . Alan Watts? (Oh, yeah--Pt 6 of the Johnny Marr/Matt Johnson interview is there too.) Are other bands taking a stand against (or for) the war? Googling this results in only a certain spyplane, while Bono has no comment (for a change). Please do not turn this into a pro/anti-war flamefest. We're flamefested out by now : ) Peace.
posted by Shane at 6:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Irwin Norling of Bloomington, Minnesota was a more modest version of Man Ray – with his family in tow, he documented crime and accident scenes for the local police. (The photo gallery is probably NSFW and not safe for delicate stomachs.) He also prolifically documented everyday Bloomington life from the 1940s through the 1980s. City Pages writer Brad Zellar (weblog) stumbled across Norling's photographic archives while visiting the historical society, tracked down the man himself, and wrote this terrific article ... unfortunately Norling passed away a month before its publication.
posted by kmel at 6:26 PM PST - 5 comments

Decoding Visual Language Elements in News Content is an MFA thesis examining how layout, cropping, image selection et al. influence the way the content is perceived. The interactive demo is especially interesting; you can take some TV and magazine layouts and switch out pictures and other elements. It's fascinating to see how different cropping and tints affect your impressions of the content. Media literacy -- especially right now -- is a good thing. (Link via Stan Chin.)
posted by Vidiot at 5:48 PM PST - 12 comments

CNN censors reporter Kevin Sites' weblog from Iraq. He has been ordered by CNN to cease weblogging until further notice, and has also added a disclaimer to his website.
"Note: Kevin Sites is a CNN correspondent, but this is a personal website not affiliated with, endorsed by, or funded by CNN. "
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:36 PM PST - 32 comments

I'd like to thank the Academy. And the French. Film critic Michael Sragow, late of Salon and currently of The Baltimore Sun, ruminates on the upcoming Oscar telecast and wonders why such a "lib-rad industry" would sit-out the night and pass on the opportunity to bang us all over the head with soporific political messages. In actual movie talk, he sez of LOTR: "I don't think there has been a fantasy film IN MOVIE HISTORY as faultlessly acted, as magnificent in its scope and invention, and as enthralling in its narrative drive as I'm sure the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy will turn out to be. "
posted by baltimore at 2:53 PM PST - 2 comments

We Begin Combing in Five Minutes! The White House is vowing a strong retaliatory response after the BBC aired live video of President Bush getting his hair coiffed in the Oval Office as he squirmed in his chair and practiced on the teleprompter minutes before Wednesday night's speech announcing the launch of military operations against Saddam Hussein.

It's America's Funniest Outtakes (squirm). But where can we view it?!
posted by sparky at 1:55 PM PST - 33 comments

Books For Soldiers If you don't know what to do with your old Clan of the Cave Bear paperbacks or want to take the boredom out of post-war deployment for those in uniform, send the soldiers a book! Soldiers can request a book or you can post the military address of a loved one and people send them their requests. I wonder if my selection would be well received?
posted by StormBear at 12:24 PM PST - 8 comments

Among Hayao Miyazaki's masterpieces are Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Princess Mononoke, and, most recently, Spirited Away. With the April 15 US release of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, an Academy nomination for Spirited Away, and Disney's commitment to release re-dubbed, re-mastered versions of Miyazaki's films in the US and worldwide, the American public is getting more acquainted with this legend of animation. Miyazaki's films are not your regular anime [more inside...]
posted by azazello at 11:58 AM PST - 55 comments

Soul of the Web is a new site looking to build a database of the best sites on the web (background). There's also a magazine, with site reviews, interviews (Noah Gray is interviewed this issue), and guest columns. (Warning: page design features a pee-pee, but it's art. NSFW? You make the call.) [via stonefishspine]
posted by kirkaracha at 11:24 AM PST - 5 comments

Sweet Old Song. '91-year-old Howard 'Louie Bluie' Armstrong has two great loves: his music and artist Barbara Ward. Their artistic and musical collaboration brings to life nearly a century of African-American experience.'
View a gallery of Howard and Barbara Ward Armstrong's art, and read a bit about their personal histories here. Take a look at the illustrated children's book they have collaborated on here.
posted by plep at 11:12 AM PST - 4 comments

The terrible business of bearing bad tidings: “You never know how someone will react ... Some people will start screaming when they see you coming. They just know something is seriously wrong when a uniformed soldier comes to their door.” The military, law enforcement, and even MADD have written protocols for contacting the next of kin when someone dies. But doctors are pretty vague about how to handle the conversation, which is odd, considering that 70% of American deaths occur in hospitals.
posted by whatnot at 10:46 AM PST - 5 comments

An Editorial Cartoon published in the University of Maryland 's Student run independent newspaper, The Diamondback, incites controversy. The cartoon, depicting the death of American pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie, is being called offensive; protestors and university officials are calling for a retraction and an apology from the paper. The newspaper on the other hand is crying free speech and first amendment protection; as well they see the backlash by the campus community as hypocritical.
posted by mhaw at 10:42 AM PST - 60 comments

Wanna bet we'll win the war? No, seriously: you can. Check it out yourself: Go here and click on "World Events" to see the odds for "The US Embassy in Pakistan Being Blown Up By A Nuclear Weapon" or "Date Line In Which Osama Bin Laden Will Be Consigned (Dead or Alive) To US Authorities." Ah, America.
posted by adrober at 10:35 AM PST - 4 comments

Political views aren't inherited. An interesting article about Lenora Tomalin, who's as rabid a pro-war conservative as her daughter is an anti-war radical. Her daughter? Susan Sarandon.
posted by darren at 10:10 AM PST - 14 comments

Apple to switch to Intel processors, at least according to John Dvorak in a brief article over at PC Magazine. No mention in the article of the massive amount of effort required to re-write every piece of mac-compatible software for x86 architecture, or the unlikeliness of developers to be willing to do so having just optimized for OSX, but then, this piece seems to be mostly just bold, unsupported predictions.
posted by jonson at 9:58 AM PST - 33 comments

Pentagon Begins Major Air Strike on Baghdad
posted by sixdifferentways at 9:48 AM PST - 47 comments

Let's talk about childhood toys. A wander down memory lane, past care-bears and etch-a-sketches and barrel-o-monkeys. Warning: this site resulted in the bidding up of auctions for Weebles "Tree House" action sets. I'd forgotten how marvelously upright they remained until I whipped their little egg-like bodies out of a second-story window onto concrete. What was your favorite childhood toy? Do you still have it, or do you have the sudden need to re-acquire it?
posted by answergrape at 8:46 AM PST - 47 comments

The Bacteria Whisperer
“Bonnie Bassler discovered a secret about microbes that the science world has missed for centuries. The bugs are talking to each other. And plotting against us.”
posted by o2b at 8:44 AM PST - 13 comments

The other war. Dispatches from the trenches, in the middle of the Hong Kong SARS outbreak. [may be annoying popups] [more inside]
posted by Slithy_Tove at 8:20 AM PST - 9 comments

WSJ says war in Iraq really first step in grand scheme to remake the Middle East. Rumsfeld and Fleischer can still be seen on TV news implying "we just want them to disarm". More on What Makes W. Tick from The Atlantic.
posted by dand at 8:07 AM PST - 37 comments

Military use of Gas
Top US military planners are preparing for the US to use incapacitating biochemical weapons in an invasion of Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed the plans in February 5th testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee. This is the first official US acknowledgement that it may use (bio)chemical weapons in its crusade to rid other countries of such weapons.

Would someone explain to me again why we're attacking Iraq? Was it something about use and/or possession of chemical weapons?
posted by nofundy at 7:21 AM PST - 60 comments

Fancy 3D Chess, pinball or crosswords? It's all just more of that Friday Flash Fun!
posted by twine42 at 7:12 AM PST - 9 comments

‘We can say “God”, “God” is fine, but we have to be very careful about anything that involves the name of the Lord and Saviour.’ Tory MP and Spectator editor Boris Johnson reflects on the process of getting a breezy op-ed past the editorial process of the Gray Lady. Jokes at the expense of the President of Guinea just aren't done.
posted by riviera at 7:03 AM PST - 9 comments

Museum Victoria, Australia's largest public museums organisation. [more]
posted by hama7 at 7:03 AM PST - 3 comments

As everyone knows, the Bush and Windsor families are linked by (reptilian) blood. Could it be that George Bush fils has engineered this war to distract the world’s media from the shitstorm which could be about to engulf his distant cousin, Prince Charles? A man, we’re told, who requires the services of a valet even when providing a urine sample…
posted by Mocata at 6:32 AM PST - 20 comments

Russia Makes It Funny: Communist Party organ Pravda ["Truth"] updates its play for the weird news niche with a skewed take on the blogging aesthetic, with links to Romanesko New World Disorder.

A lot of people like going to saunas. A sauna used to be associated with cold beer and a company of friends. Now the situation has changed a bit: going to a sauna implies some sort of sexual activities and even perversion sometimes. Steam, beer and friends have been pushed into the background. Since people love mixing business with pleasure, let us try to find out, to which extent the sauna entertainment is good, and to which extent it is bad.

posted by hairyeyeball at 6:07 AM PST - 5 comments

Strokes of Genius is a site featuring Iraqi art throughout the ages. Also, check out Iraqi Art highlighting contemporary sculptors and artists. Another gallery here. (thanks to amberglow's cool new blog!)
posted by madamjujujive at 3:58 AM PST - 11 comments

The evil weed. Here's a cheery little test for you old folks.
posted by johnny7 at 3:38 AM PST - 9 comments

Richard Perle in Guardian Shock! Op-ed piece brought to us from the ever-balanced Guardian, bound to whip up a whirlwind of protest in the paper’s letters page tomorrow. Perhaps you might care to pre-empt Saturday morning’s correspondence.
posted by skellum at 2:46 AM PST - 64 comments

A man riding his lawnmower across the country started off by going in the wrong direction. Brad Hauter has his own lawnmower buisness, and in order to demonstrate how great his mower is, he's riding it from coast to coast. The problem is, he started on the west coast and headed west. Oops. (Link via Relevant Magazine.)
posted by wondergirl at 12:43 AM PST - 9 comments

Truly that is a miracle of wonder surpassing the tongues of the eloquent, and far beyond the most cunning speech to describe: the mind reels before it, and the intellect stands abashed

Ibn Hazm
The Dove's Necklace

Cosma Rohilla Shalizi, who contains universes: Notebooks, Pieces for the SFI Bulletin, The Bactra Review, Books and Other Texts I've Put on the Web, Poetry and not the worst links page I've ever seen. This is the worst home page ever, according to yankthechain. I'm very proud. He likes, among many others, Avram Davidson, Sappho, Jack Vance, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Courage, garrulousness and the mob are on our side. What more do we want? Now, is that a tagline or what?
posted by y2karl at 12:09 AM PST - 15 comments