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Catholic rebels with a cause Two days ago, on a boat on the St. Lawrence River, nine Catholic rebels did something in direct defiance of the Vatican and now face the real prospect of excommunication by the Inquisitor Cardinal Formerly Known as Ratzinger. What crime did they commit, you might ask? Were they participant in something blackhearted, vile and fully deserving of society's wrath, like, say child abuse or pedophilia? Heck no. The white-haired guys at HQ in Rome will look the other way on that business. They might even reward duplicitous attempts to cover up that sort of thing. These malcontents did something much, much worse in the eyes of the Holy See, among others. These are Catholic women, you see. And they had themselves ordained, some as priests and some as deacons. If you've followed Ratzinger's career, you'll recall his response the last time this issue surfaced, so the conclusion to this saga is all-but-foregone.

At least he's consistent in what he thinks ought to be the correct response of an individual in the face of a rigid, autocratic institution bent on order.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism at 10:22 PM PST - 93 comments

Hawaiian lava boarding (he'e holua) revival. History here and holua sleds/boards here.
posted by loquacious at 9:21 PM PST - 16 comments

Hate pays: The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" have - it seems - never quite died, and Bartholomew's Notes on Religion details the recrudescence of the Russian Orthodox anti-Semitic right. Meanwhile, in the USA, talk show host MSNBC rewards Jay Severin for his apparent call for the slaughter of American Muslim citizens with a spot alongside bowtie-sporting Tucker Carlson. Hate pays.
posted by troutfishing at 9:20 PM PST - 15 comments

In science's longstanding tradition of stating the obvious, Dartmouth has just released a study on drinking culture that confirms everything you already knew. I'm so keeping a copy of this and giving it to my brother when he goes to college so he can show the RA. WOOOOO!
posted by saysthis at 8:21 PM PST - 20 comments

...One of the reasons truth seems so difficult to describe is that we have conflicting beliefs about it: we sometimes think it is discovered, sometimes created, sometimes knowable, sometimes mysterious. When we use the idea in ordinary life-as we do when we agree or disagree with what someone has said-it seems a simple matter. Yet the more we stop to think about it, the more complicated it becomes. It would be nice if we could sort out, once and for all, everything we thought about truth-to find out the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the truth, as it were. Nice, but practically impossible. The thesis of this book is much simpler. Of the many things you could believe about truth, there is at least one that you should believe: truth matters. Truth, I shall try to convince you, is of urgent importance in both your personal and political life..
'True to Life' and 'Who Cares About the Truth?' are two excerpts from the first chapter of True To Life: Why Truth Matters by Michael P. Lynch, about whose philosophical thought was written Lynch's Metaphysical Pluralism and about whose book was just written The Truth Wars, believe it or not.
posted by y2karl at 7:24 PM PST - 7 comments

Big Star, named after a Memphis grocery chain and arguably the most influential cult band in the pop pantheon (not to mention composers of "That '70s Show" theme song, as rendered by Cheap Trick), releases a new studio album on Rykodisc on Sept. 27. Fronted by the legendary Alex Chilton (yes, the same one) and Chris Bell (Jody Stephens and Andy Hummell rounded out the original lineup), Big Star reformed in 1993 with the Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, and have played live off and on since -- but this is the band's first release of new material since the dark, brooding Third/Sister Lovers in 1978. O my soul! Power pop fans rejoice!
posted by scody at 6:25 PM PST - 40 comments

Meet: The Slingbox, "a compact and elegantly designed, state-of-the-art electronic device that connects to the back of your TV...[and] redirects, or 'placeshifts,' the TV signal from your cable box, satellite receiver, or digital video recorder...to your computer or laptop of choice, no matter your location."
posted by JPowers at 5:46 PM PST - 28 comments

New FCC head seeks to quietly gut independent DSL carriers. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated a proposal that would eliminate the requirement of phone companies to lease their phone lines to competitors, effectively cutting the throat of independent DSL carriers such as Covad, and their customers, such as EarthLink, AT&T, Concentric, AOL, and Sprint. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave Baby Bells the right to sell long distance service in exchange for opening up their networks to the public. Now the Bush administration are poised to undo this, killing a multibillion dollar industry, and giving monopoly control back to the Baby Bells, who aren't quite so small anymore, thanks to corporate mergers. If you like having all the broadband choices you currently have, you may want to contact the FCC commissioners, toot sweet.
posted by insomnia_lj at 5:11 PM PST - 38 comments

Draft Russ. Some people would like Sen. Russ Feingold to run for president. I'm all for it, I mean, it'll give Obama time to get some experience....
posted by taumeson at 5:07 PM PST - 20 comments

Marketocracy is a free, handy site where you can practice building your own stock portfolio.
MOFQX is a moderately successful mutual fund driven entirely by the top 100 performers out of some 37,000 Marketocracy members. With market-beating returns and an innovative method, some think that the fund might be a great idea--perhaps the wisdom of crowds made manifest--but others are less bullish.
posted by allan at 2:51 PM PST - 17 comments

In The O Factor (Slate), Field Maloney asks if Owen Wilson was the key to the Wes Anderson phenomenon.
posted by willnot at 2:38 PM PST - 77 comments

If the president can say it, why can't Gary Trudeau?
posted by ZachsMind at 2:15 PM PST - 59 comments

The best American hamburgers? The American Hamburger is one of those things that I truly miss about the US and one of those things that we Brits try to copy but, for some reason, just never seem to get right.

Forget the golden-arches, we need some proper hamburger joints serving up half-pound burgers, real milkshakes and endless refills...
posted by Nugget at 1:59 PM PST - 119 comments

The 2005 Adobe Design Achievement Awards, which "celebrate student achievement that reflects the powerful convergence of technology and creative arts." You can also browse past winners from 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001 [via]...
posted by tpl1212 at 12:14 PM PST - 9 comments

Droit de suite "Whenever I have met a dealer or a collector, they always seem wealthy; and whenever I have met an artist, they seem poor." -Chris Bryant, a British MP, during the discussion of a new law by which a living artists or their heirs for 70 years after their death will receive a cut of about 3 per cent whenever a piece is sold. Also here .
posted by R. Mutt at 12:09 PM PST - 31 comments

The Left's Dissection of Patriotism. via
posted by peacay at 10:35 AM PST - 154 comments

UK-based Intelligent Energy intends to put the world's first fuel cell-powered motorbike on sale next year. At 0-50 in 12 seconds and US$6000, it's not a lot of bang for the buck. And there aren't a lot of hydrogen filling stations yet (they're working on that). But it's kind of cool looking, and you can drink the exhaust, so it's got that going for it, which is nice. Interview and details via the Boston Globe.
posted by schoolgirl report at 9:14 AM PST - 23 comments

Lt. gov. crashed Marine's funeral, kin say | This story has caused quite a stir: "The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying 'our government' is against the war." Knoll has since apologized, as has PA Governor Rendell, but does combing through a simple Google search of the soldier's outraged sister-in-law shed some light on what influenced this 'misunderstanding'?
posted by highsignal at 9:06 AM PST - 90 comments

Liftoff! Discovery is in orbit, and STS-114 is well and fully underway. The fuel sensor problem which had previously delayed the launch was not an issue this morning. Mission timeline, mission updates, and the Wikipedia entry.
posted by brownpau at 8:05 AM PST - 39 comments

Critical Miami complaining about all things florida (duh)
posted by Thayer-P at 7:33 AM PST - 6 comments

Dad's salary is skyrocketing - on TV. (list here all averaged by profession and adjusted for inflation) "Today's TV dads average salaries of $195,000 after adjusting for inflation, according to Salary.com."
posted by jonmc at 7:32 AM PST - 42 comments

A creepy old man, known as Mr. Six, has spent the last couple of years dancing on commercials for Six Flags amusement parts. He's clearly a fake old man (a young person in makeup). So who plays Mr. Six? Six Flags won't say, many people speculate, but this guys thinks he knows.
posted by grumblebee at 7:18 AM PST - 76 comments

Microsoft wipes Apple from the face of the Earth. Virtual Earth, that is. A search for "1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA" renders only an empty field and some sort of barn. This is what it really looks like. Finding that other microcomputer company is obviously not a problem. Microsoft blames old photographs (from 1991) for the omission, but copyright notices on the images go only as far back as last year.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:13 AM PST - 22 comments

Russian spammer beaten to death.
posted by mono blanco at 2:32 AM PST - 35 comments

The First Shot of the Civil War was fired on January 9, 1861, when George Edward Haynesworth, a cadet at The Citadel, fired a handgun at the Star of the West (1861 engraving), which was attempting to reinforce Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor (1861 map, Google map). As Captain John McGowan reported, Confederate troops from Morris Island and Fort Moultrie fired 17 shots at the Star of the West, forcing it to withdraw and return to New York. President Buchanan then "reverted to a policy of inactivity that continued until he left office." Cadet Haynsworth was in the last Civil War battle east of the Mississippi and claimed to have also fired the last shot in the war. The Star of the West was later captured by the Confederates. The Citadel has a Star of the West Monument and scholarship dedicated to the cadets that fired on the ship. Also: Harper's Weekly newspapers fom the Civil War.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:24 AM PST - 17 comments