Rifqa Bary, the Ohio teen who ran away from her Muslim parents because she believed they would kill her for converting to Christianity, has appeared on a weekly anti-Islam conference call hosted by the National Day of Prayer Task Force (headed by the wife of Focus on the Family's James Dobson, Lou Engle of The Call & Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council). Rifqa, who is in custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families and was not authorized to be on the call, shared some of her story and then launched into an extended passionate prayer. DCF officials are investigating how she came to be on the call.
comment posted at 5:25 PM on Oct-1-09

He had the time of his life Patrick Swayze dead at 57.
comment posted at 6:05 PM on Sep-14-09

Marriages from around the World.
comment posted at 7:50 PM on Sep-10-09

"Immediately, Ike's rumor mill went into a frenzy. Wired magazine posted the criminal complaint against Stancl on its Web site, and kids downloaded the document, which identified the victims by their initials and dates of birth. Then the kids went to Facebook and searched the Eisenhower network by plugging in birth dates. Within minutes they had a full list of the names of the alleged victims, which made the story even more incredible. These were not wayward, damaged boys. They were athletes. Leaders. Popular, college-bound, bright-futured kids. Boys so unimpeachably straight that there was no way you could imagine them doing the things they were supposed to have done with Tony Stancl."
comment posted at 1:34 PM on Jul-17-09

Billy Mays dead at 50 But wait, there's no more!
comment posted at 2:46 PM on Jun-28-09

Reports: Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has died. He had been preparing in Bel Air for a 50-gig run at London's O2 Arena, his first shows in 12 years when he collapsed due to cardiac arrest and was rushed this afternoon to UCLA Medical Center.
comment posted at 3:07 PM on Jun-25-09

American jazz singer Blossom Dearie dead at age 82. American jazz singer Blossom Dearie died Friday in her Greenwich Village home after a long illness. For most, an acquired taste. Her voice and phrasing had a way of drawing you in, taken aback by how soft and gentle she sounded. I think it was New Yorker critic Whitney Balliet who said her voice wouldn't reach the second story of a doll house.
comment posted at 3:32 AM on Feb-9-09

Large Commuter Collider The Ōhashi Junction is rad.

Looking for all intents and purposes like a modern-day Coliseum, the Ōhashi Junction will be about the same size as the National Olympic Stadium when complete. It's really a marvel of modern engineering, and for those lucky enough to be in Tokyo, you can actually go walking through it for a limited time.

I don't know why people don't fetishize junctions more.

(I apologize for all the Japanese, just jump to the photos)
comment posted at 10:12 PM on Jan-6-09

My Christmas message? There's probably no God.
comment posted at 3:39 AM on Dec-28-08

SighFilter: In light of other Black Friday tales of horror or posts urging a more sober consumerism, now comes this story of a worker trampled to death at Wal-Mart and a woman who miscarried in a stampede. They ought to have read FEMA's Black Friday Advisory.
comment posted at 10:41 AM on Nov-28-08

The McCain campaign thought it would be a good idea for VP candidate Sarah Palin to drop the puck at last night's Flyers-Rangers game. They thought wrong. Palin was welcomed with "resounding (almost deafening)" boos. Fox News, of course, says the crowd's reaction was "mixed." Listen for yourself here.
comment posted at 9:13 AM on Oct-12-08

Sex at the Olympics. "I am often asked if the Olympic village . . . is the sex-fest it is cracked up to be. My answer is always the same: too right it is." Table tennis Olympian Matthew Syed dishes the dirt. (possibly NSFW, TimesOnline).
comment posted at 9:31 PM on Aug-23-08

In his new book, 'The Way of the World' "Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind claims that, after the Iraq war began, the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein, in an attempt to tie Hussein to the 9/11 attacks."^* Suskind writes: "'It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq' and that Iraq bought yellowcake uranium from Niger with the help of al Qaeda. Suskind also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official "that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion." After the fake letter was released in late 2003, press outlets reported it as evidence of a Saddam/al Qaeda link. "Now, if this is true, that blows the lid off al Qaeda—Saddam," said Bill O’Reilly at the time.
comment posted at 8:11 AM on Aug-5-08
comment posted at 11:23 AM on Aug-5-08

Ron Suskind's new book claims that (1) Bush knew there were no WMD as early as January 2003 and (2) the administration forged a document linking the Iraqi government to the 9/11 attacks. Surely this...?
comment posted at 8:06 AM on Aug-5-08
comment posted at 8:10 AM on Aug-5-08

Can you pass a Barack Obama's final?
comment posted at 6:06 PM on Jul-29-08

NewsFilter: The Internet is a series of tubes indictments. Sen. Ted Stevens has been indicted for corruption.
comment posted at 10:52 AM on Jul-29-08
comment posted at 11:01 AM on Jul-29-08

W.
comment posted at 6:15 PM on Jul-28-08

fucking jesse helms died 4 times in a row today.
comment posted at 8:33 AM on Jul-4-08

Congratulations, M.C. Hawking.
comment posted at 8:26 AM on Jul-4-08

NewsFilter: The California Supreme Court has just overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages. Read the decision.
comment posted at 10:47 AM on May-15-08

Bush V. Gore: Scalia, "It's old news, get over it."
comment posted at 7:11 PM on Apr-25-08

Senate lawmakers in Florida move to ban fake testicles on vehicles. NSFW(?)
comment posted at 5:50 PM on Apr-24-08

In 1973, John McCain wrote an extensive article about his account as a POW in Vietnam. In that article he stated that he told his captors "O.K., I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital." Just what the military information was given away, he has never disclosed. However this former army intelligence officer, and his researcher wife [WMV] claim the information led directly to the deaths of many other airmen including possibly their own son, and constitutes treason. A group of Vietnam Vets have formed an organization to "correct the record" of John McCain behavior as a POW. Are we witnessing the beginning of Swift Vets 2008 ?
comment posted at 7:41 AM on Mar-31-08

As is the custom these days, GMAC Bank is suing mortgage broker HTFC for selling them improperly secured loans. The deposition of HTFC's CEO Aron Wider reads like a Joe Pesci role with 73 creative uses of the f-word over twelve hours of testimony. A federal judge fined Mr. Wider and his attorney $29K for Mr. Wider's constant use of bad language, insults, refusals to answer questions, and his lawyer's failure to control his client.
comment posted at 8:19 PM on Mar-20-08

The U.S. government flooded the Grand Canyon yesterday in the hopes of restoring the ecosystem. Some environmentalists disagree.
comment posted at 4:39 PM on Mar-6-08

"Gaze upon my packets, ye savory, and despair." -Saucymandias The Condiment Packet Gallery has hundreds of scanned condiment packets. You can view them by type, brand, or country of origin, or just view them all at once. (Via.)
comment posted at 5:38 PM on Mar-5-08
comment posted at 5:39 PM on Mar-5-08

In trademark style, Lawrence Lessig today announced the creation of a congressional exploratory committee. If in the next few days he decides to officially enter the race, he'll be running in the special election on April 8th to fill the CA-12 seat recently vacated by the death of Tom Lantos. A run by Lessig would likely be seen as a new front the the technocratic, post-partisan movement Barack Obama is attempting to catalyze; Lessig was a colleague of Obama at the University of Chicago law school, helped to draft Obama's technology plan, and is describing his potential run (his first attempt at public office), and the larger Change Congress project he also announced today, as an attempt to save Congress as an institution from the corrupting influence of money.
comment posted at 7:03 PM on Feb-19-08

Kosovo is technically part of Serbia, but it's been governed by the U.N. since 1999, after NATO militarily intervened to stop Slobodan Milosevic's brutal suppression and expulsion of ethnic Albanian separatists. Now that it has declared its independence (with US support), the elephant in the room remains: Independent Kosovo? Why Not Vermont? "Why is statehood OK for some people but frowned on for others?" There is no internationally accepted standard for independence. "This is the great hole in democratic theory."
comment posted at 7:48 PM on Feb-17-08

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Basketball player. Actor. Author. Muslim. We all know he's a versatile. What else can he do? He can blog. Kareem is blogging for the LA Times, covering everything from Black history to how to shoot a skyhook. How did Kareem end up blogging for a newspaper? He just asked.
comment posted at 1:25 PM on Feb-16-08

The Day of Purity is a day when youth can make a public demonstration of their commitment to remain secularly pure, in mind and actions. ... When you stand up for sexual pruity you send a message to parents, churches, communities, legislators, and the media that you want a better world. Be politically incorrect! Sponsored by Liberty Counsel. (via)
comment posted at 3:40 PM on Feb-14-08

The WGA strike has entered its third month. Since New Year's, Worldwide Pants, the Weinstein Co., and United Artists have reached interim deals with the WGA, with rumors of more to come. Microsoft announced new deals with Hollywood companies. And on Friday, ABC Studios terminated deals with more than a dozen writers. Tonight, CBS, NBC, and 20th Century Fox have followed suit. Names of producers, writers, and shows affected are still being revealed as letters are received. Force majeure.
comment posted at 5:47 AM on Jan-15-08

A few weeks ago, Google Reader's team decided to show your private data to all your GMail contacts. This is now the default, no need to opt-in. Some people think it's not a big deal. Other's see it as a gross violation of privacy, a warning sign of more violations to come, as evidenced by the recent code updates to Gmail and other Google applications.
comment posted at 8:51 AM on Dec-30-07

Benazir Bhutto was killed in an apparent assasination. Previously thought to have escaped the blast unscathed, she was killed by a shot to the neck.
comment posted at 6:16 AM on Dec-27-07

"23 days, 12 states, five Canadian provinces, and 10,923 miles. We came within a hundred miles of the Arctic Circle and 500 miles of Russia. And we saw the most beautiful place that can be imagined." In June of last year, Clint and Robin drove from Chicago to Alaska and back again. Last August they headed into the great American west. Along the way they took some beautiful photos and made some inspired observations. If you've got some time on your hands, and some wanderlust in your heart, read along.
comment posted at 3:59 AM on Dec-27-07

NSFW (tm) --Drew Curtis (Fark) attempts to trademark "Not Safe For Work"
comment posted at 6:07 AM on Dec-8-07

Germany Seeks to Ban Scientology
comment posted at 6:10 AM on Dec-8-07

In 2008, China will fail to ride the Olympics wave and improve its worldwide image, the US will vote mainly on health (barring a terrorist attack or a recession), usher in a period of pragmatic caution and toast to it over a nice Merlot, the culture wars will go global, Israel may decide that it must act alone against Iran, African gangs will prosper, UK politics will be re-established as a spectator sport, we will finally quit oil - and want yet more of it, the potato will make a comeback, an island will be moved for the sake of the Euro, we will rush to give for free what others charge for, U will HAV CASH, robots will explore the seas of Earth, which is round, by the way, pigs will fly, and we will like totally love it (don't we?).

The Economist: The World in 2008.
comment posted at 9:04 PM on Nov-28-07

U.S. Public Service Academy : A proposal by two Teach for America alum to provide fully-funded top-notch undergraduate education in public service in the style of military academies, but with a mandatory 5-year local/state/federal service work requirement. A bill for this school was put into Congress by Senators Hillary Clinton and Arlen Specter.
comment posted at 7:40 AM on Nov-25-07

Recoil free "automatic shotgun" fires 300 rounds per minute.
comment posted at 3:59 PM on Nov-19-07

Remember when air travel was viewed as glamorous and exciting? Of course you don't. So check out this collection of vintage flight attendant photos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
comment posted at 9:56 AM on Nov-13-07

Justice "live" on Jimmy Kimmel -- An interesting solution to the problem of 'performing' electronic music.
comment posted at 7:20 PM on Oct-24-07

Jon Ronson decides "I'm going to tell my son the worst swearword in the world". His follow up article is also interesting. Incidentally, his "Bad Science" colleague from The Guardian did uncover a list of the worst swearwords from the BBC no less (and previously)
comment posted at 5:36 AM on Oct-23-07

What Cats Know About War. A reporter adopts cats to reconnect with life amid unremitting death. [Via linkfilter.]
comment posted at 4:47 AM on Oct-15-07

NewsFilter: "A Montgomery minister found in his home this summer died with his hands and feet bound behind his back and dressed in two rubberized suits, an offical autopsy showed. ... The Rev. Gary Michael Aldridge was found dead June 24. Police ruled the 51-year-old pastor of Thorington Road Baptist Church was alone at the time of his death and that there was no foul play involved." He's a Liberty University graduate and former Liberty dean.
comment posted at 5:09 PM on Oct-12-07

T-T-T-Tony Snow twenty minutes in the future.
comment posted at 8:31 PM on Sep-14-07

The 25 Best Pop Song Opening Lyrics, like EVER - a spinner.com 'hit list', complete with wry commentary and abruptly cut-off audio clips. Bonus: 25 more, suggested by people who don't work for the webside.
comment posted at 4:16 AM on Sep-7-07