777 MetaFilter comments by tolkhan (displaying 1 through 50)


Since 1996, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network has sponsored an annual national Day of Silence event to help create safer schools for all students, "regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression". Today is the 7th time such an event has been held across the country. Are you participating? What is school like for you in this context?
comment posted at 12:16 PM on Apr-9-03

Serbian premier assasinated
He was shot in front of government offices at around 1300 local time, (1200 GMT). I know some people are going to cry Newsfilter, but I believe this is worth posting.
comment posted at 6:28 AM on Mar-12-03
comment posted at 6:33 AM on Mar-12-03
comment posted at 6:54 AM on Mar-12-03

Would you like freedom fries with that? The cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings will change the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries," a culinary rebuke of France, stemming from anger over the country's refusal to support the U.S. position on Iraq. Ditto for "french toast," which will be known as "freedom toast."
comment posted at 1:44 PM on Mar-11-03

The lawyers for the victims of the Rhode Island nightclub disaster are planning to sue a radio station that broadcast commercials for the concert. Wistow said that while he still needs to nail down the precise nature of Clear Channel's responsibility, he's all but certain to name the company [in the suit].
comment posted at 6:07 AM on Mar-10-03

I believe this is a blow for the First Amendment. Today, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Child Online Protection Act. Also, read COPA's report online. In related news, the Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments regarding a law which requires "filters" to be placed on public library computers. Can any of these laws be written to satisfy constitutional requirements? Julie Hilden of Findlaw.con has already contemplated this issue. Will the U.S. follow Canada's lead by enacting similar anti-porn laws? Despite support in the U.S. for such laws, the Indianapolis model pornography law was struck down as unconstitutional nearly ten years ago. It seems even Canada is rejecting the Dworkin/MacKinnon point of view. Is there any middle ground in this showdown of liberty and equality? Which value should prevail? Are these values really at odds with each other?
comment posted at 12:30 PM on Mar-7-03

Clinton and Dole on "60 Minutes" While the 1996 Presidential Debates weren't seen as the pinnacle of political discourse at the time, they were congenial by today's talk-show standards. Will these 'elder statesmen' have time in a short TV segment to start genuine discussion of critical issues? Is there any other media outlet that already accomplishes this?
comment posted at 8:00 AM on Mar-6-03

Full Metal Bonnet Retailers Put All Their Grenades in One Basket: National retailers like Kmart and Walgreens have stocked their shelves with baskets in which the traditional chocolate rabbit centerpiece has been displaced by plastic military action figures and their make-believe lethal paraphernalia. Great quote: Packets of jellybeans are tossed in as if an afterthought, nestled in the cellophane underbrush like anti-personnel mines.
comment posted at 9:59 AM on Mar-5-03
comment posted at 10:01 AM on Mar-5-03
comment posted at 10:28 AM on Mar-5-03

Civil disobedience ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS PLAN TO DISRUPT DAILY ACTIVITIES IF WAR BREAKS OUT--but, shush, don't let this news get out yet.
comment posted at 12:18 PM on Feb-28-03

Who would you rather vote for - Frankenstein, Hitler, or Tony Curtis? That's the decision facing some voters in India ... Have you ever run across other 'repurposed' names?
comment posted at 5:54 AM on Feb-28-03

Protest Is Not Tolerated

I wasn't sure how much good I could do or how much power one person has but I wanted to do it. When I took my place on the sidewalk across the street from my church, I was struck with this Norman Rockwell picture of America. Families with their balloons, flags and signs made it feel like the Fourth of July. I was thrilled by all the patriotism and was proud to be part of this community that cares enough to turn out to greet the most powerful politician in our land. But when I unrolled my sign, all that changed, and I may never be able to look at my community the same way again.

Ain't that America? Proud to be Born in the USA? Constitutional rights? Not with the "Defenders Of All Things Duhbya!"
comment posted at 1:14 PM on Feb-27-03

Boneheads of the Year - The year may only be just shy of two months old, but these two Massachusetts men have already wrapped up the award for 2003. Really, how dumb can TWO people be?
comment posted at 2:39 PM on Feb-26-03

Teachers Traumatizing Students of Deployed Soldiers "WABI TV reported Friday that the Maine National Guard Family Assistance Center has received about 30 complaints from children of deployed soldiers concerning Principals, Teachers and Guidance Counselors reportedly demeaning the role of their deployed parent. Some children involved are 7 to 9 years of age." More inside...
comment posted at 12:40 PM on Feb-26-03
comment posted at 2:38 PM on Feb-26-03

Ohio to approve 14th Amendment — 135 years late People think I'm kidding when I say it's the 19th century in my neighborhood.
comment posted at 12:47 PM on Feb-26-03

It's official! Watching porn can make you a bad person. So says the FBI. Get ready for the crackdown. "Pornography teaches ideas that validate aberrant behavior," according to detective Nate Gittins of the Madison County Sheriff’s office. The use of illicit materials is not exclusively related to sex crimes. It may also lead to other criminal activities, FBI officials say. Oh my! What does this mean for us deviants?
comment posted at 1:18 PM on Feb-26-03
comment posted at 6:52 AM on Feb-27-03

Although the haiku as meme has fallen on hard times here at MeFi, there are still some practioners lurking about in the wilderness, no doubt. If you still feel the urge to get freaky with the 5-7-5, and you think you've got what it takes, you might want to try your hand at competitive haiku over at The Guardian, where quality haikuing will score you 20 lbs worth of Penguin Books. Damn, that's a lot of paperbacks!
comment posted at 1:08 PM on Feb-25-03

The innocence of the accused should not necessarily prevent an execution (NYT link) "The word 'innocent' has been tortured beyond recognition", say U.S. prosecutors. Question is, by who?
comment posted at 10:49 AM on Feb-24-03

Race-Baiting Bake Sale at U of Michigan: student group sells donuts and bagels for $1 to whites, $0.80 to "non-whites," to "raise awareness of the school's affirmative action admission policies." And to piss off a lot of students, apparently. Clever direct political action, or misguided bunch of jackasses?
comment posted at 11:12 AM on Feb-19-03

The Traitor List. From the straw man while-u-wait department. Remove known sociopaths like Zacarias Moussaoui and Patch Adams from the mix and you get a pretty good list of celebrity activists, with a few politicians for good measure. Anyway, is this site a joke or not? Should actors stay out of politics? And is there something unAmerican about posting images in the right aspect ratio?
comment posted at 12:20 PM on Feb-12-03

The TV Guardian is a "cuss buster," removing all profanity from recordings that are shown on your TV. Finally, something to make my movies and TV more wholesome than Mary Lou Retton (you know your career as a gymnast is in the shitter can, when you're hawking these kinds of products).
comment posted at 1:45 PM on Feb-11-03

Is forcing a prisoner on death row to take antipsychotic medication to make him sane enough to execute cruel and unusual punishment? (NYT link) A federal appeals court ruled that officials in Arkansas can force a prisoner on death row to take antipsychotic medication to make him sane enough to execute. The problem is that the American Medical Association's ethical guidelines prohibits precisely that. To make the case more surreal, a representative of the Arkansas attorney general's office who argued for the state later said: "The ethical decisions involving doctors are difficult ones, but they are not ones for the courts". Does this mean that COs -Correction Officers- are to figure out for themselves which medication to administer? Do they also call the shots when deciding if the "waiting" patient is sane enough???
comment posted at 1:33 PM on Feb-11-03

If you thought the Patriot Act was bad... It looks like it's going to get worse. Center for Public Integrity has the full text (pdf) for the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003". Lowlights include a "DNA database on 'suspected terrorists'" as well as pretrial detention for "suspected terrorists" without bail. There's more. (via The Scoop)
comment posted at 4:34 PM on Feb-7-03

Not your average athlete He walked away from pro football glory to serve his nation, and he's loving every minute of it.
comment posted at 12:43 PM on Feb-7-03
comment posted at 12:47 PM on Feb-7-03
comment posted at 2:42 PM on Feb-7-03

Happy Meals No Longer Bringing Smiles To McDonalds. Best news I've heard since December. And to bring Mom ("very important to us") back into the fold, McD may begin including Mom-toys with the HMs. No, no. More like...lip gloss, or sweepstakes entries for spa visits. Stuff that would tip any conscientious mother over into the crap-for-food camp.Other ideas? Fact is, EVERY McDonalds customer should be eating the happy meal. (last link possibly NSFW)
comment posted at 1:50 PM on Jan-31-03

Should FCC allow big media to get bigger? The FCC will soon rule on whether media megaboxes should be allowed to dominate a given market's radio, television, and print media simultaneously. They have already loosened restrictions on radio and the proliferation of Clear Channel has led to a 30% reduction in radio station ownership and, some believe, to the homogenization of popular music. Should the FCC eliminate the regulations preventing mega-media from monopolizing television and print media?
comment posted at 1:28 PM on Jan-31-03

Let the celebrations begin! According to the Chinese calendar, tomorrow begins the year 4700. The festivals and superstitions surround the celebration for the new year are fascinating in China as well as Korea. Which animal year were you born in and do you follow the Chinese, Japanese, or Korean zodiac? Finally, the mathematics behind the calendar are truly fascinating.
comment posted at 10:33 AM on Jan-31-03

Don't believe in evolution? Don't get a recommendation. The Justice Department has been asked to look into the case of a Texas Tech biology professor who has made it clear that you won't get a recommendation from him if you believe in creationism. In his online notes to students, Dini writes "If you set up an appointment to discuss the writing of a letter of recommendation, I will ask you: 'How do you think the human species originated?' If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences." The Liberty Legal Institute, calls the policy "open religious bigotry." Texas Tech supports Lini, saying the decision on whether to recommend someone is a personal one. Clearly, it should be a professor's call on whether to give a student a recommendation or not, but did Lini make himself a target by laying out this criteria this way?
comment posted at 9:45 AM on Jan-30-03
comment posted at 10:19 AM on Jan-30-03

Amusing Op-Ed piece on this year's Anti-Drug Superbowl ad "But this has got to be good news for some. Infertility clinics are in for a big surprise with this one. Forget all those expensive, painful procedures. Simply grab some weed, and boom-boom!" [NORML article]
comment posted at 6:04 AM on Jan-30-03

God did it? I'm not usually one to accredit daily occurrences to the whim of the Almighty, but in this case, one has to wonder. A young man is thrown from his vehicle in a rollover crash, ejected, and saves himself from impact by catching the telephone lines 25 feet overhead.
comment posted at 1:20 PM on Jan-29-03

Doctor brands woman's uterus with his alma mater's initials during surgery. And if doubt the claim, you can watch a video of the operation.
comment posted at 12:48 PM on Jan-29-03

Justice for Consumers "The owners of the KaZaA file-sharing network are suing the movie and recording industries, claiming that they don't understand the digital age and are monopolizing entertainment." Quote from article by Associated Press. I don't about you but I'm sick and tired of big businesses writing all the new laws in this country. Now maybe the people can get some justice for a change.
comment posted at 6:41 PM on Jan-28-03

Inattention blindness has been documented in a study of drivers using cell phones. Back when the driving-while-yakking phenomenon first started growing, I told friends I could always tell if the driver of the car ahead of me was on a cell phone: They had a certain style of stupid driving that I couldn't quite describe but I always knew it when I saw it. Now a team of researchers has pinpointed it; they also effectively debunk "you're just as distracted talking to someone in the car"-type analogies. The question remains, now that we know what's wrong with this practice, what do we do about it?
comment posted at 1:55 PM on Jan-28-03

Ed Rosenthal - medical marijuana activist and one of the world's leading experts in cannabis cultivation - is currently facing a mandatory 20 year-to-life sentence in California court for operating a city grow-op. Not only was he obeying state law, but the City of Oakland requested his help. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer has already thrown out all possible defenses of this kind and is currently pursuing a gag order to stifle media and public outrage.
Forget, for a moment, that 3 out of 4 Americans are in favor of legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes. What is the purpose of voter initiatives and statewide legislation if the federal government and judicial system are willing to completely ignore the decisions of state and local government?
comment posted at 5:35 AM on Jan-28-03

Vancouver Police turn to internet for help with Guns N' Roses riot. "Police have had little luck busting any of the riot ringleaders, so yesterday they unveiled an online picture gallery in the hope that someone will identify people photographed at the scene."
comment posted at 11:18 AM on Jan-23-03

Intern : I was told to mislead the FBI. Yet another good looking young woman finds her beauty has landed her in a tough spot. How many young people working as interns will be forced to suffer embarrassment as a result of the misconduct of their employers?
comment posted at 11:46 AM on Jan-23-03

A military honor guardsman has been fired for saying God bless you, while he presented a folded American flag to the family of a deceased veteran, during the burial service. By way of obscurestore.
comment posted at 9:02 AM on Jan-23-03

50 years ago last month, a dark cloud settled in over London. And stayed for four days. This fog, which was brought on by a lethal combination of high pressure, near freezing temperatures and London's pervasive coal burning, starting killing things. At first, the animals at a cattle show, then the elderly, or those prone to resperatory disease. By the end, over 4,000 people had died. Strangely, to this day the disaster retains a low profile, unlike more glamorous disasters such as the Titanic, or Bhopal. Stranger still, is that unlike those others, while the fog was at its most deadly, few realized there was even an epidemic occurring, with most viewing it as, at worst, a mild nuisance.
comment posted at 1:08 PM on Jan-22-03

The Pill changes women's taste in men. Women on the pill prefer masculine men for marriage and sensitive guys for flings. Women not on the pill prefer the opposite, according to a recent British study. Researchers don't know why but "Where a woman chooses her partner while she is on the pill, and then comes off it to have a child, she may find she is married to the wrong man."
comment posted at 11:46 AM on Jan-22-03

Conversational Terrorism Protect yourself from responding to or using these rhetorical cheats. (via the lovely boingboing)
comment posted at 7:15 AM on Jan-22-03

76-year old Wisconsin man carded while buying non-alcoholic beer. Wish the article had more information, like whether or not the clerk refused to sell the goods to a senior citizen, or just asked to see some ID, but still. Shouldn't a little common sense come into play here? Do you blame the "old man" for getting upset in the first place, or the clerk for not bending "the rules," or the owner for the policy, or the lawyers for the law suits that engendered the policy, or prohibition for getting this country so worked about about alcohol and appropriate drinking ages in the first place? Me? I blame society.

And yes, yes, I know "newsfilter this" and "newsfilter that." But c'mon. It's Wisconsin. Appreciate the irony.
comment posted at 11:32 AM on Jan-21-03

Doctor, I've got a clamp... I mean, a cramp... Surgical teams accidentally leave clamps, sponges and other tools inside about 1,500 patients nationwide each year, according to the biggest study of the problem yet. (yummy Xray here).
comment posted at 12:53 PM on Jan-16-03

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