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The mind-body divide in medicine, whether having medicine embrace the understanding of the psychological aspects of symptoms of pain, for example, is simply a matter of working toward medicalizing psychology. How much is the brain and psychology taken into account in the medical profession?
posted by semmi at 10:56 PM PST - 8 comments

I saw all five of the visible planets in our solar system tonight! And so can you, if you have clear skies and go outside between 8:45 and 9 p.m. your time this week. Disclaimer - my naked eyes weren't good enough to see Mercury but I could see it with binoculars.
posted by Lynsey at 9:12 PM PST - 4 comments

Christians for Cannabis. It's a religious high...
posted by Rastafari at 7:27 PM PST - 21 comments

Wal-Mart sells Windows-less PC's Did you know this? I didn't know this. Guess I'm gonna have to make Wal-Mart my one stop shop for guns AND computers. I guess I have to stop making fun of people who shop there. Definitely will have to lay off the redneck jokes. Is there such a thing as a redneck geek? Oh, wait, never mind.
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:00 PM PST - 19 comments

Mailbox bomb found in Colorado: " 'Initial description of the device indicates that its construction is consistent with those found recently in Nebraska and Iowa,' said a press release from the Denver Federal Bureau of Investigation." The boxbomber (that's what I named this person) is most likely heading out west... could the next one strike in California? Where do you think the boxbomber will strike next?
posted by Kevin Sanders at 6:07 PM PST - 32 comments

Beyond the Axis of Evil - The United States has added Cuba, Libya and Syria to its "axis of evil" - nations it claims are deliberately seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons. The Under Secretary of State also warned that the US would take action.
posted by Stuart_R at 5:52 PM PST - 53 comments

Can gay sex succeed where Colin Powell failed? Great story about Jerusalem's first gay pride parade, planned for June 7. Orthodox deputy mayor Shmuel Shkedi is incensed: "The very existence of these people is a provocation, their existence is uncivilized...This thing must be condemned." Meanwhile, the organization behind the march, Jerusalem Open House, continues to host meetings of Israeli and Palestinian gays and lesbians on the same street where suicide bombers killed 11 and injured 188 last Dec. And here's a report of Arik Sharon telling g/l leaders, "I think everybody should live their lives as they choose to" at a Feb. 26 meeting -- the first-ever between an Israeli Prime Minister and representatives of the lesbian/gay/bi/transgender community. Commence group hugging now. (more links inside)
posted by mediareport at 5:24 PM PST - 25 comments

The New Porn? The trend toward music subculture-specific porn sites that began with the launch of raverporn.net more than two years ago has continued with sites like suicidegirls.com (featuring goth, punk, and raver girls) and supercult.com (featuring mod and indie rock chicks). SuicideGirls has been discussed extensively on MetaTalk. What do you think about these sites? Are they porn or erotica? Are the young (mostly male) entrepreneurs who have started these sites making porn less degrading (and/or more appealing) to women OR are they just a new generation of Hugh Hefners?
posted by popvulture at 4:29 PM PST - 44 comments

Operation Snipe: To rescue 76 US hostages? "Joined by the US and Canadian troops, more than 2000 British-led Special Commando forces under "Operation Snipe" are gearing up efforts to launch a major attack to rescue around 76 soldiers who were arrested by the Taliban and Al Qaida forces during the battle in the snow covered Arma Peaks of Paktia Province in March this year, highly credible sources have confided to PNS."
posted by crasspastor at 4:21 PM PST - 5 comments

Tales of the Tyrant is one of the best magazine articles I have read all year. A long, fascinating portrait of Saddam Hussein by the author of Black Hawk Down that has so many interesting/weird/awful details that it's too hard to excerpt just one.
posted by cell divide at 3:05 PM PST - 6 comments

Delete, Baby, Delete. I really enjoyed this short article from this month's Atlantic Monthly about the misunderstandings of document/records destruction. Some of the events discussed are the Iranian reconstuction of documents shredded at the U.S. emabassy and printed under the title Documents From the U.S. Espionage Den, the destruction of the Library at Alexandria and of course the Enron/Andersen document destruction.

It got me to thinking about cached web pages and the fact that you have to make sure Google doesn't cache your page if you don't want a permanent record there. It seems like no matter what you do on the web, odds are it's saved somewhere, wether it's google, the wayback machine or any other projects that I don't know about. If you wanted to entirely erase something you did last year on the web, what would you do?
posted by jonah at 2:50 PM PST - 20 comments

For the MonkeyLovers out there: A Natural History of the @ Sign (If you're Dutch, you may refer to this symbol as "apeklootje" or "little monkey's testicle")
posted by ColdChef at 1:56 PM PST - 11 comments

This is your brain on Ecstasy(or An MDMA Neurochemistry Slideshow) Ecstasy and all its Glory. DanceSafe also has pill testing, Drug info , and a huge MessageBoard.
posted by Niahmas at 1:50 PM PST - 7 comments

Star Trek's George Takei scoops LA Times by two months. Los Angeles is so big that The Valley wants to secede as does Hollywood. Takei, who grew up in LA, pointed out in his web site months ago that if Hollywood split away, the world famous sign, which isn't technically in Hollywood would be on LA real estate. Not until today, LAEXAMINER.com reported, did the LA Times seem to think this newsworthy.
posted by tsarfan at 11:47 AM PST - 6 comments

The number of kakapos in the world has risen by a third recently thanks to a 'bumper brood of chicks'. The kakapo, the worlds rarest parrot, was made famous by Douglas Adams' book Last Chance to See and is probably best known for its extravagent mating system. It is nice to see an endangered species doing better, especially one as cute and odd as this one is.
posted by homunculus at 11:06 AM PST - 13 comments

Judge declares terrorism detainments unconstitutional (NYTimes link) - A federal judge in NY has ruled that the Justice Department abused the material witness statute when it imprisoned a Jordanian college student living in San Diego. The Justice Dept is, of course, appealing the ruling.
posted by Irontom at 10:44 AM PST - 8 comments

One of science fiction's favorite dark futures is pretty well along now. Until he quit to be Vice President in 2000, Dick Cheney ran a company called Halliburton. A Halliburton subsidiary, Kellog Brown and Root, is a private corporation that performs missions for the US military. Their employess are out there, performing missions in places like the Balkans, wearing US Army uniforms and carrying US Army issued guns.
posted by badstone at 10:13 AM PST - 28 comments

A political assassination on the controversial right winger Pim Fortuijn is reported in The Netherlands. Reports differ about the question if he has survived.
posted by tsja at 9:34 AM PST - 31 comments

Bridget Cross, former member of Velocity Girl and Unrest has been arrested with her S. African boyfriend (geocities link, probably go down) under some very sketchy cirumstances in. The case allegedly involved locals at a bar in Alaska harassing Bridget and her boyfriend due to his being black, a fight ensued, they fled, and were pulled over and arrested by cops. He is charged with intent to kill, and she has been charged with fleeing a crime scene and DWI. He is also being denied access to the South African consolute. [more inside]
posted by malphigian at 9:23 AM PST - 13 comments

This has to be the funniest article I've seen in a long time. Those wacky Palestinians.
posted by the_0ne at 9:11 AM PST - 21 comments

Aung San Suu Kyi released. "My release should not be looked at as a major breakthrough for democracy. For all people in Burma to enjoy basic freedom - that would be the major breakthrough," she said. I know, but it's a start.
posted by feelinglistless at 7:33 AM PST - 3 comments

Hilarious prank phone call found at Davezilla. Not only is the caller a prankster par excellence, but the callee obviously enjoys the shenanigan as much as you will. Headphones recommended if the boss is within earshot. 392K MP3.
posted by johnnyace at 3:57 AM PST - 7 comments

Have you ever dreamed of running away with the circus? Did anyone ever call you a freak? Well, now’s your chance to become one! Coney Island USA is proud to announce its latest program- SIDESHOW SCHOOL! Tuition: $600.
posted by gummi at 1:59 AM PST - 11 comments