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Step #1: play Everquest twelve hours per day. Step #2: shoot yourself in the head. This being America, step #3 is of course: have your mother sue Sony on your behalf. She expects to uncover documents proving Sony knew Everquest is addictive, but maybe she'll just discover why she didn't do more to help her epileptic son as his life spiraled out of control.
posted by tiny pea at 11:44 PM PST - 29 comments

New AdAware (Free) out. Not associated with them in any way, shape or form. But it's still one of the best spyware killers out there.
posted by Samizdata at 9:37 PM PST - 8 comments

'Angrybot'. It's very negative. Can I call you 'Misdirected Energybot'? ('We Are Robots' is a Flash comic about robots. Via JREF.)
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:33 PM PST - 1 comments

I'll use you...
And I'll confuse you...
Then I'll lose you...
Still you won't suspect me...
(Roxy Music)
posted by Settle at 9:21 PM PST - 12 comments

The best CD I've purchased so far this year is the latest from the Blind Boys of Alabama. this record features superb vocalizing, great bluesy guitar, and a Sones(!) and Tom Waits(!!) cover. In an age where "gospel music" has sunk into the quagmire of "Contemporary Christian", its easy to forget that old-school gospel both black and white were huge influences on rock and roll. Little Richard, for one, took his trademark "Whoo!" from Marion Williams and countless rockers from Aretha to Elvis learned to sing in church. Now, can I get an Amen?!
posted by jonmc at 6:48 PM PST - 25 comments

Debka - given the current situation in the middle east, I thought this might be a good time to remind some of, and acquaint others to, this drudge-like source.
posted by Why at 6:38 PM PST - 7 comments

Will Amman cut off diplomatic relations with Israel? Jordan in turmoil over mideast chaos. I knew the U.S. gave some 3 billion to Israel yearly, and 2 billion to Egypt, but I had known we are also generous to Jordan too, though the total amount unknown. to me. It was of course Jordan who had the West Bank under their control but gave it up after the '67war, while also absorbing many Palestinians. Now it seems the chickens are coming home to roost. Thus another country that may soon topple its rulers in this volatile area of the world.
posted by Postroad at 5:55 PM PST - 1 comments

Not exactly T.S. Eliot... April is indeed the cruelest month, so I went in search of something to honor the great master of English poetry. But this is what I found instead.
posted by bunnyfire at 5:52 PM PST - 11 comments

Everybody Vogue. Well, really just the thin people. Vogue Magazine gets a tongue-lashing from Slate. Seems the fashion mag attempted a "body diversity" issue, but their idea of a large-size model is a size 8. Excerpt: "If "tall" and "short" and "pregnant" are body types, and Minnie Driver is "curvy," there's no need to admit the existence of the bottom-heavy, let alone try to dress the poor bastards."
posted by GaelFC at 5:36 PM PST - 21 comments

Nick Drake, whose work is familiar to many here, was an astonishing musical talent - a songwriter whose sad, sad songs predated by 28 years the quiet alt.folk of Belle and Sebastian and Cat Power. It was not until long after his tragic, early death that he gained the appreciation he deserved. The Internet is home to a large community of fans, some of whom have made available MP3 bootlegs of his rare bedroom recordings at Tamworth-on-Arden. Almost three decades since his overdose, all that remains for the listener is the flicker of his voice and the dance of his fingers on guitar-strings and piano-keys. [More inside.]
posted by Marquis at 5:31 PM PST - 21 comments

Terrorists? Of course not. The smoking gun linking the PLO to terrorist organizations and activities [FoxNews link].
posted by hadashi at 5:18 PM PST - 39 comments

A good New Yorker piece on George Pelecanos, who is my favorite crime author not just for his skills, but because he sets his novels in D.C.
posted by GriffX at 3:50 PM PST - 6 comments

The Falkland Islands are ours and we'll get them back, says Argentina. Argentina celebrates the twenty-year anniversary of their invasion of the Falkland Islands. Britain won the Falkland War in 1982, but Argentina now boasts that they'll definitely conquer the islands in the future. Since the majority of islanders are of British descent, does Argentina stand a chance? And shouldn't Argentina be focusing on rebuilding its own economy instead of whining about some insignificant islands in the Atlantic ocean?
posted by wackybrit at 3:44 PM PST - 38 comments

Remains of a 2,000 year-old library await funds to restart excavation. "All that now remains of the exploration is a huge waterlogged hole in which float the syringes of local heroin addicts."
posted by luser at 1:43 PM PST - 21 comments

Eight peace activists were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers apparently (and I could be wrong) fired without provocation -- the activists were unarmed, and were marching peacefully. Israel's Justice Minister was quoted in the Miami Herald today (no web link available, sorry) as saying, "A person playing with fire should not yell when he gets burned." Essentially, what is being said here is that being a protestor is sufficient reason to be shot. The Israeli army claims to be hunting down "terrorists", but if this is how they define the word I don't feel too inclined to trust them.
posted by tweebiscuit at 12:35 PM PST - 48 comments

Brillian Digital has quietly attached its software to Kazaa and plans to remotely "turn on" people’s PCs, welding them into a new network. CEO sez a pop-up box will give people a chance to turn it off. Users who've accept "terms of service" already distributed with Brilliant’s and Kazaa’s software are already agreeing to let their computers be used without any payment at all.
posted by ao4047 at 12:19 PM PST - 27 comments

"They are, it is true, almost laughably simple by comparison with real people and real societies, but that is exactly the point. If even the crudest toy societies take on a life and a logic of their own, then it must be a safe bet that real societies, too, have their own biographies." Things have certainly gotten more interesting in the years since John Conway invented the game of life.
posted by tdismukes at 12:09 PM PST - 20 comments

The company that brought full screen flash ads that overtake the browser is cooking up something new, which could quite possibly be worse: reskinning your browser and replacing toolbar buttons with advertisements. Although they don't state the limitations, I would assume it works in windows IE and possibly Netscape/Mozilla (through XUL). Perhaps it's time to switch to Opera once and for all.
posted by mathowie at 11:22 AM PST - 25 comments

Pornografux has launched, ya perverts. Not really porn, actually, and nearly worksafe, though a couple of the pieces have grating some audio. The initial offering asks what the connections are between our "sexual" and "social" bodies.
posted by Su at 10:33 AM PST - 11 comments

Islamic nations dodge defining terrorism. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference is divided over whether Palestinian suicide bombers should be classified as terrorists. On the other hand, there's no question that Israel practises terror. Rather than stick their necks out and commit to something, they'll leave it to the good ole UN to decide who is a terrorist. That'll solve everything. More depth here.
posted by badstone at 10:15 AM PST - 14 comments

The Shape of Life is a new PBS series produced by the Sea Studios Foundation. It tells the evolutionary tale of the rise of the animal kingdom and premieres tonight with Origins, the attempt to identify the first animal that gave rise to all other animals. The website also helps answer the eternal question, can snails smell?
posted by homunculus at 10:08 AM PST - 5 comments

Jesus! In The Raisin Bread? What Kinda Holy Communion Is That?! Better read Helen Hull Hitchcock's fascinating column on Catholic.net to find out: "In recent months Catholics from around the country have been reporting with increasing frequency that their parishes are using "real" bread (i.e. table bread) instead of Communion hosts. Many are concerned that the validity of the Mass is affected. "Have I really received Christ?" is a frequent question. Are they right to be concerned? You bet...So, have progressive Catholics gone too far? And what does the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, known to all as IGMR, have to say about that?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:22 AM PST - 53 comments

Bush clarifies "terror doctrine" to exempt Arafat because of Arafat's past participation in peace negotiations.
posted by Ty Webb at 9:01 AM PST - 22 comments

Canadian faces jail in U.S. for trade with Cuba. James Sabzali faces trial on 77 accounts of of conspiracy and of trading with the enemy, nearly half of which relate to buisness conducted when Sabzali was working in Canada. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Poluka concedes that while living in Hamilton the defendant was "technically not subject to jurisdiction.", but maintains that "foreign nationals cannot aid and abet violations of U.S. law." Does this mean the United States has an open licence to prosecute foreigners for acts committed against American laws on foriegn soil?
posted by astirling at 8:53 AM PST - 15 comments

Teoma takes on Google?
Ask Jeves launched its new search engine yesterday aimed at challenging Google for the best search engine on the web. Teoma offers options to narrow your search using "subject-specific popularity." For example, if someone searched for the name "Bill Clinton," Teoma offers ways to refine your search, showing links to topics related to your search, such as "Clinton Scandal" and "Monica Lewinsky." Will this search engine replace Google as the SE of choice for the Internet savvy? Also, what other search engines do you use?
posted by DragonBoy at 8:36 AM PST - 36 comments

A PC with a sprayed-on case Yes you read that right, this PC has no aluminium case but a spray-foamed one instead. Weird? Gross? Ugly? Certainly all those at once, but it seems rather as an improvement over cookie-cutter lifeless PC clone cases.
posted by betobeto at 8:25 AM PST - 29 comments

Alex Beam from the Boston Globe takes some of blogging heavy hitters to task over the blogging phenomena. Lileks is mentioned and has a premptive strike. Is the the same ol'-same ol' or does he make any valid points?
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:07 AM PST - 5 comments

The Morning News relaunches as a weekly broadsheet featuring longer format pieces from a crack staff.
posted by coudal at 7:27 AM PST - 12 comments

Looks like Cobb County, Georgia, wants to raise a whole generation of idiots. (By way of The National Center for Science Education) I'm distressed and amazed that this kind of thing still goes on in the most technologically-advanced nation in the world. Can a sane and undeluded adult still think that evolution is a securlar humanist lie? Given the comprehensive and unambiguous evidence that has established evolution as a cast-iron fact, why do school boards and other government entities still lend an ear to this kind of right-wing extremist crap?
posted by mrmanley at 7:06 AM PST - 130 comments

AOL Time Warner Was A Mistake. The stock price is in the toilet (relatively speaking), and analysts are proclaiming the Biggest Merger Ever to be a thundering dud. Are huge mergers like this unsustainable?
posted by solistrato at 6:47 AM PST - 22 comments

Not surprisingly, police were needed to break up celebrating students at UM last night, though it wasn't as bad as what happened over the weekend. (I guess the Saturday riot really wore them out.) As Bobcat Goldthwait used to say: "If your team wins a major sporting event, you can legeally do anything within the next 24 hours." And this is the school I should be proud to call my Alma Mater?
posted by emptybowl at 5:59 AM PST - 9 comments

Vanilla Coke?!? Say it ain't so...
posted by Miyagi at 3:58 AM PST - 75 comments