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Competition to "reverse engineer" mystery program.
Another cool thingy from the HoneyNet Project; they're inviting people to convert a binary file into its original source. So, who's participating?
posted by arnab at 11:01 PM PST - 2 comments

Prince Phillip is great with the public. Firstly he tells British students in China that "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed.", then he suggests that Papua New Guineans are cannibals. Now he tells us that "they have eating dogs for the anorexic now". Pure champagne comedy.
posted by helloboys at 10:32 PM PST - 19 comments

"Writer William Langewiesche, a pilot in his own right, explains why a jet packed with 217 passengers plunged 33,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean in the dead of night--and why it took so long for the U.S. and Egyptian governments to issue an explanation. Using black-box transcripts and radar records, Langewiesche meticulously reconstructs the last minutes of the so-called suicide flight. In a feat of storytelling, he reveals the nasty combination of politics and culture clashes that delayed the official investigation."
posted by semmi at 10:00 PM PST - 25 comments

Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 4th, both in the United States and around the world (even Brunei). FCBD offers a variety of comics to help attract new readers and ride the wave of publicity from the Spider-Man movie. Does the offer of a free comic seem likely to bring you into a comic store? Will this have an impact on the general public's perception of comics?
posted by JDC8 at 9:54 PM PST - 15 comments

New NASA Satellite Zooms in on Tornado Swath
...the twister's swath is the bright stripe passing through the town and running eastward 6 miles (10 km) toward the Patuxent River beyond the righthand side of the image. This stripe is the result of the vegetation flattened by the storm. The flattened vegetation reflects more light than untouched vegetation.
posted by quonsar at 7:02 PM PST - 9 comments

Call for permanent Jenin presence The disbanded United Nations fact-finding mission to Jenin has written to Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for a constant international presence in Palestinian refugee camps. Alas, it was the UN that ran the refugee camp that was known as the bomb factory and home of the suicide bombers. Wouldn't an armed forcez be more effective?
posted by Postroad at 6:25 PM PST - 23 comments

What's Better? GTA3 or Horse crap? Communism or Mount Rushmore?
It's like Hot or Not... But, ummm... Not...
My choice for a Friday time-waster... Enjoy!
posted by davros42 at 5:27 PM PST - 8 comments

How is this possible? I know there must be a sensible explanation for why this 'ESP experiment' works every time, but I certainly can't figure it out. Anyone? Other 'ESP' tests and the like leave me a bit cold, but this made my brain hurt, and that can't be all bad.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:41 PM PST - 30 comments

Mailbox bomber at large. "More than a half-dozen pipe bombs were placed in rural mailboxes in Illinois and Iowa on Friday, and at least two people were injured in explosions, the post office said." Part of the note that accompanied the bomb said "PS. More info. will be delivered to various locations around the country." If you live in the midwest, be careful.
posted by Kevin Sanders at 4:25 PM PST - 19 comments

Another interview with Greg Palast. This is a follow-up to the previously discussed interview with the self-imposed exile journalist.
posted by homunculus at 1:43 PM PST - 3 comments

Maestro Virtuoso Sir Andre Previn, George Solti, Arturo Toscanini, Giuseppe Verdi. "Conductors have the liveliest, longest and most rewarding sex lives of any human organism....Toscanini loved to give as much pleasure as he took, and he lasted long and well into a lascivious old age. For the supreme maestro, sex was not so much a reward as a repayment." Even Verdi was reputed to give "a certain kind of kiss that, somehow, bestowed the benediction of genius on his indulgence." Maybe its that constant exposure to heavenly music, heavy doses of Mendelhsson instead of Sildenafil Nitrate Tablets.
posted by Voyageman at 1:35 PM PST - 8 comments

"I sacrifice so much of my life, can I at least get laid?" An interview with a boxer. Mike, you are fun to have around.
posted by thekorruptor at 1:03 PM PST - 23 comments

A British ladies' knitting club is upsetting the maggots.
posted by swell at 1:02 PM PST - 13 comments

Worldcom had lent $430 million to Bernard Ebbers, its CEO - apparently to meet margin calls on its stock. (The amount was $366 million as per BusinessWeek). Bernie Ebbers resigned on April 30th. "About the best that can be said of the arrangement is that it keeps a big block of WorldCom stock out of the market, leaving it safely parked in the CEO's portfolio. Price to WorldCom: almost 20 percent of its balance sheet cash as of year-end 2001." I wonder, what could the board have been thinking?!
posted by justlooking at 12:51 PM PST - 2 comments

75% of dial-up users are satisfied with their current speeds. This opinion piece states that, out of those people that have not yet made the switch to broadband, only 25% of them even would if available. Thus, little ISP's shouldn't worry about losing dial up business so much anymore. Can the Internet continue to evolve at 56K speeds?
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:43 PM PST - 47 comments

Find your library. When I was a kid, my public library was my sanctuary, providing me many hours of enjoyment. Of course I yearned for better, larger library. When I was in college, I loved to wander the stacks. Do you have any fond library memories?
posted by patrickje at 11:39 AM PST - 36 comments

This little dyscordian koan came out of my desert at lunch. I thought perhaps Google could shed some truth on it. I found it among truly bizarre fortunes, I found it among humorous fortunes. I even found out it was the Fortune Cookie of the Week for December 14, 1998. But I can't for the life of me figure out what it means, or where the original saying might have originated from. A fortune cookie meme-mystery!
posted by bclark at 11:32 AM PST - 15 comments

Mother's Day is coming up! What's the coolest gift you ever got your mom? Any ideas for the rest of us?
posted by MeetMegan at 11:07 AM PST - 24 comments

A man goes into a restaurant, orders albatross, eats one bite, and kills himself. Real-life scenario? Perhaps not. But it's up to your friends to guess what happened via a series of yes/no questions. Anyone remember these? (found at rinkworks which also has the Book-a-Minute Book Reviews)
posted by vacapinta at 11:04 AM PST - 22 comments

"Before There Was Terrorism...there was land confiscation...settlements...occupation...checkpoints..."[and retreating a little further in time, the Holocaust, repeated pogroms, the Diaspora, etc.] "In late March, responding to the Seder massacre - a suicide bombing that killed 27 Israelis gathered for a Passover meal - President Bush said that 'justice and cruelty have always been at war, and God is not neutral between them.' He had used this same phrase in his speech to Congress after September 11....Bush believes justice lies entirely with Israel, cruelty with the Palestinians, and that God is therefore on Israel's side. Interestingly enough, Elie Wiesel wrote in his novella Dawn that God is a terrorist. Dawn is Wiesel's story, said to be at least partially autobiographical, about a young man who fights against British control of Palestine in the 1940s by joining the Irgun, Israel's pre-state terrorist organization led by Menachem Begin. Wiesel calls the organization a terrorist organization, without embarrassment, throughout the novella, and about midway through, by way of justifying his hero's actions, he declares that 'God is a member of the Resistance movement, a terrorist.'"

Huh? God? Has Ashcroft been notified of this? It gets so damned confusing these days to pick out the terrorists.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 10:34 AM PST - 16 comments

Nethack for the rest of us. Ok, all you Nethack purists... sit on your hands for this one. Finally someone has come out with a graphical interface for the venerable ASCII game. Isometric, "Diablo" style -- Maybe it lacks some of the charm and character of the text version. At least I can see what the damn boulder and bear trap looks like. Windows/DirectX only.
posted by crunchland at 10:15 AM PST - 13 comments

"Women Empowering Women". This pyramid scheme is spreading like wildfire in the UK, with huge amounts of money involved. Basically you get a lot of people to put up say £100. The more people you attract to add money to the pyramid, the better chance you have of moving up and becoming entitled to many times your initial outlay. However, no investment occurs; this is simple cashflow juggling. Someone I work with gained £12000 on it in under a month - now everyone wants in the act. But (and I've pleaded with these people) the participants don't seem to appreciate the sheer idiocy of such schemes. Their attitude is "my husband goes to the betting shop, it's just my bit of fun". In the end, if you gain money, you're taking it directly from another participant. This is exploitation of people (normally hard-up, heavily mortgaged parents, it seems), is morally wrong and should be illegal - but it isn't in the UK. Here's a link to a BBC feature on pyramid schemes (aka trading schemes). This really boils my piss, but it carries on because individual participants can benefit from the fraud themselves. I understand women are targeted in this case as men are more likely to get in fights when they realise they've lost large amounts of cash.
posted by boneybaloney at 10:08 AM PST - 18 comments

Boeing creates "flying machine" called a "Blimp." They say it will be used for homeland defense. Ha. I doubt they can get it off the ground. Blimp - what hogwash, indeed.
posted by password at 9:50 AM PST - 11 comments

Infant kept on life support for the sake of the father. Moises Ibarra is being held in jail on child abuse charges and if his 7 month old son is taken off LF, Ibarra will be charged with murder (doctors say the son is basically brain dead and will not recover from his injuries). Meanwhile, the mother wants her son off LF so he can "go to heaven." (Looks like a real life soap!)
posted by Why at 9:28 AM PST - 7 comments

In the vein of bejeweled, tetris, and various other incredibly addictive games, comes Collapse. Mmmm, Friday flash.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:25 AM PST - 21 comments

Treat Yo Mutha Right: Friday Flash Goodness, just in time for Mother's day. (Warning: Features Cheetara, Mighty Mouse, a disco dancing Danger Mouse, and a rapping Mr. T. Not for the 80's Pop-Culture impared.)
posted by emptybowl at 8:58 AM PST - 14 comments

Dean Allen of textism, calls for a Google bomb to be dropped on Verisign. He's out to save Hoopla... and in the process, perhaps all the sites which have been stolen as Verisign slept. Think it will work? Will you join in the fight?
posted by silusGROK at 8:31 AM PST - 49 comments

Australia and Europe incensed over U.S. lies on free trade Bush: "The final provisions of the farm Bill are also consistent with America's international trade obligations, which will strengthen our ability to open foreign markets for American farm products". In other words, free trade good when we sell to you, bad when you sell to us.
posted by magullo at 6:57 AM PST - 10 comments

1951 Stratocaster For Sale. For you Fender Stratocaster/guitar freaks this deal seems too good to pass up. I'm a sucker for a funny Ebay parody.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:55 AM PST - 22 comments

SonicBlue ordered by a federal magistrate to track ReplayTV users' viewing choices and that seems to sux to me.
posted by elpapacito at 6:24 AM PST - 12 comments

Smoking - A quitters diary. Recommended reading for those wanting to quit, those who have quit and those lucky people who never started and could do with understanding the 'ordeal' of giving up.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:42 AM PST - 76 comments

Your very own pub in your garden Do I have to say anything more? I don't think so.
posted by Summer at 4:30 AM PST - 9 comments

spiderman has hit the streets
i saw it today at noon as it opened here in hong kong. i thought it was fantastic!! what did you think of it? (no spoilers, please)
posted by bwg at 4:11 AM PST - 55 comments

Nazis alive and well in England Far-right extremists have sent a "chill factor" across the country after they claimed a symbolic victory in English local elections
posted by scotty at 4:02 AM PST - 14 comments

State of Virginia apologises for eugenics policy. I'm not American, so perhaps it's understandable that I'd never heard of the scale of such policies, but I'm pretty well-informed, and I'm astonished that it isn't better known-of. I guess I'm mostly posting because I'd be interested in learning how well-known and understood the issue is in the US. There's also an image archive on the subject here.
posted by jonpollard at 3:37 AM PST - 18 comments

Adobe has won 2.8 million from Macromedia for "patent infringements." Apparently Macromedia may be forced to pull Flash MX from their product line. As an avid Flash-developer I am personally affected. Is there something that we can do about this?
posted by banished at 2:22 AM PST - 24 comments

H'Angus the Monkey becomes Mayor of Hartlepool! He's the mascot of the local football team and won one of the UK's first direct mayoral elections. The people of Hartlepool got the nickname Monkey Hangers after a monkey from a wrecked ship was hung as a French Spy. Who says democracy's dead?
posted by brettski at 1:40 AM PST - 7 comments

Some stories just warm the heart. From oil rags to black gold riches, a struggling club ekes out its way by hiring its first black manager. Luckily local news is on the story.
posted by crasspastor at 1:18 AM PST - 3 comments