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U.S. loses faith in Canada "We would be there for Canada, part of our family. And that is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now," says Paul Cellucci, U.S. ambassador to Canada. As pro-US sentiments from prominent Canadian figures are harshly criticized while blatant (and rather tasteless) anti-US remarks go more or less ignored by the government, has the relationship with our longtime friends up north been irreversibly soured?
posted by swank6 at 11:41 PM PST - 35 comments

People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die. If you've been hanging around the net for a while, chances are you've seen this in someone's sig. In fact, it's so frequently quoted that it makes finding Jim Davidson's original post in alt.folklore.urban just a bit difficult to find -- but it's worth looking for! It sits in the middle of an interesting debate about how poisonous plutonium is, spurred on by the rumor(?) that it's one of the "most toxic poison[s] known to man." Deadly poison, Los Alamos Scientists, levitating hemispheres of metal... all it really needs to round it out is true love.
posted by namespan at 9:17 PM PST - 10 comments

Language Bullies! An interesting somewhat compelling article asking us to forgive Bush's "nuccular." But will you forgive these needless exclamation marks?!!!!!
posted by adrober at 8:42 PM PST - 25 comments

MIT Liguist Naom Chomsky The New Yorker has a good collection of links to his articles and speeches online
posted by nish01 at 7:01 PM PST - 35 comments

"Pray that the President and his advisers will seek God and his wisdom daily and not rely on their own understanding" i think these people might be on to something.
posted by specialk420 at 6:29 PM PST - 20 comments

Last Call to fire up a smoke in NYC has now chimed. As of today, it is now illegal to smoke in any public indoor space, including bars. The New York City Indoor Smoke-Free Air Act of 2002 gives further detail as to what defines a public indoor space. That, not including your residential lease that may prohibit as well. As Andrew Jacobs writes, Walk a Mile for a Camel? Not Far Enough Anymore.
posted by bluedaniel at 3:57 PM PST - 162 comments

Hey Jude, what does that song mean? The Beatles Discography lets you look up almost any Beatles song, and find out about its history and meaning. According to this, one of my favorite Beatles songs, "Paperback Writer," was written after Paul's aunt challenged him to write a song that wasn't about love. And "She's Leaving Home," another favorite, was based on a newspaper article about a runaway 17-year-old girl. and supposedly was attacked in the U.S. as being somehow pro-abortion. I always wondered if there was a real "Polyethene Pam," but I had no idea her name was really Pat, and that she ate plastic. Fascinating stuff.
posted by GaelFC at 3:23 PM PST - 25 comments

Before 9/11, Before War on .... there was serious concern that Halliburton would be forced into bankruptcy / The company -- and Cheney's million-dollar paychecks -- were saved. Praise Allah! Never in American history has a group of government leaders profited so directly from war -- never. Like their brothers-in-arms, Saddam's Baathists, the Bushists treat their own country like a sacked town, looting the treasury for their family retainers and turning public policy to private gain. Like Saddam, they feed on fear and glorify aggression. Like Saddam, they have dishonored their nation and betrayed its people. But the money sure is good, eh, Dick?
posted by bureaustyle at 2:50 PM PST - 27 comments

Sheela Na Gigs are stone grotesques found decorating old churches in Europe. They are characterized by "[a] huge head, staring eyes and hands reaching down between [her] wide open legs to spread [her] swollen and oversized womanhood." While the posture implies prostitution, the Sheelas are said to be representations of the Great Mother, and they are said to keep evil away. There are even some male Sheelas, like this one at Lower Swell.
posted by jessamyn at 1:45 PM PST - 24 comments

A Celebration of Women Writers. 'Women have written almost every imaginable type of work: novels, poems, letters, biographies, travel books, religious commentaries, histories, economic and scientific works... '
'All too often, works by women, and resources about women writers, are hard to find. We attempt to provide easy access to available on-line information. ' Categorised by country, century and ethnicity; with links to some interesting specialty collections :- 19th century African-American writers (including slave narratives); school stories (covers and links); children's book illustrators; travel writers; early Japanese poets and poet-painters; sci fi, and more.
posted by plep at 1:07 PM PST - 9 comments

The vegan diet can be a killer, at least that's what the State of New York thinks. Was a "strict vegan diet" the cause of a 15-month-old's demise or did New York health officials have a hand in the death?
posted by Bag Man at 12:46 PM PST - 51 comments

Bell System Memorial. State approved, centrally planned and controlled: no, not this, the old Bell System. Don't miss the photos (including the first car phone!) and ads (sometimes ironic). Offsite: the affiliated Telephone Tribute, a few old Bell ads from the Prelinger archives, and an entertaining US telephony history from Bruce Sterling's famous Hacker Crackdown.
posted by tss at 12:27 PM PST - 4 comments

Who are these neo-conservatives? Pat Buchanan tells all.
posted by Voyageman at 12:10 PM PST - 20 comments

You may remember the Ohio National Guardsman changed his name to a Optimus Prime. He is a firefighter deployed to the gulf. Well now he has a weblog. You can also check out some photos of him on his website.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 12:06 PM PST - 13 comments

Plans Under Way for Christianizing the Enemy. "Two leading evangelical Christian missionary organizations said Tuesday that they have teams of workers poised to enter Iraq to address the physical and spiritual needs of a large Muslim population." (from Buzzflash) God please save me from your followers!
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:25 AM PST - 47 comments

The Cosmopolitan Illusion, by Lee Harris, is a challenging response to Martha Nussbaum's inspiring essay, Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism. Nussbaum's essay was the subject of a previous thread. [Via Ye Olde Phart.]
posted by homunculus at 11:07 AM PST - 5 comments

The Information War: "Every few minutes, another burst of satellite imagery and Internet information impacts among an interactive global audience. Ambushed by info, U.S. military commanders confident in their overwhelming firepower are increasingly expressing concern that the 'velocity of information' is spinning out of their control." [more inside]
posted by poopy at 10:24 AM PST - 20 comments

War in Babylon has evangelicals seeing Earth's final days, reports the SF Chron. End-Time Interpreters See Apocalyptic Meaning in Iraq War, reports Belief Net. End-times radio from End-Times.com. Israel's End-Time Gamble, from World Net Daily. Jimmy Carter notes that a stance against war is

an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with the most notable exception of a few spokesmen of the Southern Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment to Israel based on eschatological, or final days, theology.

Factoid:

The Southern Baptist Convention has more churches (over 37,000) in the United States than any other religious body — even more than the Catholic Church.

posted by hairyeyeball at 9:34 AM PST - 23 comments

Take Stock in Weblogs - Blogshares is a web-based simulation of stock market where the commodity is weblog linkage. Currently, Metafilter is worth $27774.44. What's your weblog worth?
posted by Argyle at 9:07 AM PST - 23 comments

Iraq says 4,000 Arabs in Iraq for 'Martyrdom' check the math: each martyr promised 72 virgins in Paradise times 4,000= 288 thousand virgins. Howq many virgins in your Heaven?
posted by Postroad at 8:19 AM PST - 18 comments

The Tampon Thread - ok, boyz, think you know enough about tampons? Bet you didn't know about this utterly humiliating application! There's both an art and a science involved in tampons. You really can't say you know tampons until you've gotten hands on with them, perhaps even worn a few out in public. Come on guys, take the plunge and you too can experience that fresh feeling! (Oh wait, and these tampons - you say they vibrate?)
posted by madamjujujive at 6:50 AM PST - 45 comments

Red-Haired Barbarians: The Dutch and Othe Foreigners in Nagasaki and Yokohama 1800-1865
posted by hama7 at 6:01 AM PST - 9 comments