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Ted Koppel was prank called on live TV. So I was watching the coverage of the Blackout on ABC, and Ted Koppel was doing his live coverage. He got a call from a "Bob Dobbs" who claimed to be some muckity muck with the subway transit authority. Then "Bob Dobbs" kept telling people to log on to thankyoufortakingmycall.com to get emergency instructions. It was pretty funny. Ted was pretty clueless that it was a prank but I guess someone in the control room eventually got a clue and cut the caller.
posted by geekhorde at 10:46 PM PST - 26 comments

Welcome to the Blackout History Project. With all the hub-bub today, josh m. marshall of talkingpointsmemo posted a link to an associates history of two other nyc blackouts. marshall says:

The Blackout History Project...which covers the social history of these events, what happened, people's reminiscences in written and recorded formats, and so forth. The site also has a great deal of information about just how blackouts happen, what these 'grids' are that folks are talking about, and how various forms of electricity deregulation which have taking place over recent years have made an event like we've seen today much more likely.

take it easy nyers and anyone else blacked out.
posted by asparagus_berlin at 9:57 PM PST - 22 comments

The ARKive "is the Noah's Ark for the Internet era - the world's centralised digital library of films, photographs and associated recordings of species, accessible to all via the world wide web."
posted by tbc at 9:30 PM PST - 4 comments

The left hates bush the way the right hated clinton Here's an interesting article on, of all places, fox news illustrating the similarities between Bush and Clinton. It's a pretty intresting essay, and actualy seems to be... ghasp, fair and ballanced :P
posted by delmoi at 5:04 PM PST - 42 comments

"Bring them home now!" is a campaign of military families, veterans, active duty personnel, reservists and others opposed to the ongoing war in Iraq and galvanized to action by George W. Bush's inane and reckless challenge to armed Iraqis resisting occupation to "Bring 'em on." At a news conference yesterday, reported the Washington Post, the organization has stated their goals of returning to their home bases the 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq.
posted by dejah420 at 4:43 PM PST - 19 comments

Metafilter: Fair & Balanced[tm] - reclaim free speech tomorrow! This Friday, August 15, is Fair And Balanced day on the Internet... according to Neal Pollack, Atrios and others. Development to this thread
posted by dash_slot- at 4:31 PM PST - 30 comments

Drug offenders to be evicted. While this law is meant to target methamphetamine labs, it is worded to allow for the eviction of anyone who smokes pot in his home twice in one year, for example.
posted by spazzm at 4:29 PM PST - 6 comments

Democracy might be impossible, US was told
The CIA's March report concluded that Iraqi society and history showed little evidence to support the creation of democratic institutions, going so far as to say its prospects for democracy could be "impossible," according to intelligence officials who have seen it. The assessment was based on Iraq's history of repression and war; clan, tribal and religious conflict; and its lack of experience as a viable country prior to its arbitrary creation as a monarchy by British colonialists after World War I.
The State Department came to the same conclusion. "Liberal democracy would be difficult to achieve in Iraq," said a March State Department report, first reported by the Los Angeles Times. "Electoral democracy, were it to emerge, could well be subject to exploitation by anti-American elements."
posted by y2karl at 3:50 PM PST - 60 comments

Support out troops? The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120- degree-plus heat.
posted by whatever at 2:19 PM PST - 31 comments

Massive New York power outage? Boing Boing is among the first to report that a massive power outage just hit much of the Northeast, including New York, Cleveland and Detroit. CNN's breaking news just confirmed it.
posted by waxpancake at 1:33 PM PST - 191 comments

Hollywood Is Calling. What do b-list celebrities do when they aren't running for governor? They converse with you -- for a fee. Because those What's Happening? stories never get old, right?
posted by herc at 12:02 PM PST - 13 comments

Dr. Laura Schlessinger renounces Orthodox Judaism: Although Schlessinger said she still "considers" herself Jewish, "My identifying with this entity and my fulfilling the rituals, etc., of the entity — that has ended." I'd link to the show in question but it appears to be available by subscription only.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:32 AM PST - 26 comments

What makes Dogs happy? Food? Sex? Working? Being pampered and spoiled? A whole host of books are out there alternating between the belief that your dog is somewhere between a fuzzy-wuzzy lovey parasite and a quasi-human companion. (My dog sez, food and belly rubs...)
posted by vito90 at 10:46 AM PST - 23 comments

Can the man who started the CRIPS really be reformed? A great article from the NY Times. Stanley "Tookie" Williams, one of the two founders of the LA gang, the Crips, has written numerous books and now does "public" speaking to young men to warn them away from the gang life. Is he serious? Is he reformed? Or is he just trying to make himself look good to get off death row? Does this "Scared Straight" stuff really work?
posted by aacheson at 10:42 AM PST - 4 comments

"I was thinking, 'The only way to make something that won't come off is to tie it on,' and then it just popped in my mind - go around the testicles." Ann Arbor man invents new condom, wife rejoices.
posted by sandor at 9:55 AM PST - 47 comments

The Speech Accent Archive, with 264 audio clips of native and non-native English speakers reading the same paragraph. Wonderful sounds if you love languages (and who doesn't?), including Bambara, Vietnamese, Uzbek, Quechua and the instantly recognizable Synthesized. [via Tara Calishan's invaluable ResearchBuzz]
posted by mediareport at 9:29 AM PST - 22 comments

Americans pay lip service to diversity says David Brooks in The Atlantic. Though we talk about the melting pot, we tend to group ourselves with similar people. Do you really care enough about diversity to actively seek it out? Is metafilter a virtual example of this phenomenon?
posted by rainbaby at 9:21 AM PST - 61 comments

If you're looking for a time machine that also cuts grass, look no further than the Reel Lawn Mower History and Preservation Project. After you mow, you can host a croquet party!
posted by ewagoner at 8:42 AM PST - 6 comments

The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe. A photographic exhibition. More photos :- The Dream (photographs of Bulgarian gypsies); the gypsies of Romania; the gypsies of Andalusia; urban gypsies in London; gypsies of Pata-Rat, Transylvania. Katarzyna Pollok is a Roma gypsy artist (site partly in German).
posted by plep at 8:13 AM PST - 11 comments

The Spirit of Butts Farm has made it across the Atlantic in one piece. Not bad for a toy plane designed by deaf and blind Maynard Hill, who already holds many records for RC aircraft flights. Those with less lofty ambitions could fly this helicopter in their living room or just practise on their computer screen.
posted by Geo at 7:22 AM PST - 8 comments

The cover of the Sept. 4, 2003, Rolling Stone declares Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen "America's favorite fantasy," joining the publisher of Olsen Twins Countdown and Howard Stern in celebration of jailbait. "What were once adorable pre-pubescent girls on the hit series Full House are now the forbidden fruits of blossoming teenage sexuality." (Via Eschaton.)
posted by rcade at 6:34 AM PST - 137 comments

First Stolen Segway Recovered. It was inevitable. And it was all caught on tape. Segway owners and members of SegwayChat covertly planned and implemented a successful sting operation to recover a stolen Segway HT. (Main link goes to 5 MB embedded Windows Media video of actual sting taking place!)
posted by docjohn at 6:29 AM PST - 30 comments

Gamma-ray weapons could trigger next arms race "The hafnium explosive could be extremely powerful. One gram of fully charged hafnium isomer could store more energy than 50 kilograms of TNT. Miniature missiles could be made with warheads that are far more powerful than existing conventional weapons, giving massively enhanced firepower to the armed forces using them." Half of me thinks: "WOW! Cool!" The other 1% thinks: "We've really had it now"
posted by hmgovt at 2:32 AM PST - 25 comments