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Journal of a new COBRA recruit. "I report to COBRA boot camp out in Utah in the middle of June. The recruiter guy said that everyone around there thinks it's where some crazy old Mormon lives with all his wives. I'm not supposed to say anything about it to anyone. I'm supposed to tell Mom and Dad that I'm going off to work for the phone company."
comment posted at 9:10 PM on Nov-1-02

France surrenders
comment posted at 8:54 PM on Oct-29-02

Linking to hate. Do links to hate-filled websites help to promote hatred or do they help to combat hate by exposing these sites to broader scrutiny? How does Google fit into the picture? (No direct links to hate groups)
comment posted at 6:09 AM on Oct-29-02
comment posted at 6:36 AM on Oct-29-02

"We Will Never Forget 9/11/01" Hmm, so this is what happens when "9/11" becomes old news. I'm not American, I don't know anyone who was touched by what happened that day, but I am utterly appalled by this.
comment posted at 1:15 PM on Oct-28-02

American brands PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Western Union are advertising on Hezbollah television. The Iranian-backed and funded group has been implicated in the attacks against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans in 1982.
comment posted at 1:45 AM on Oct-28-02

United States Military Operations. Quite a few.
comment posted at 8:12 PM on Oct-25-02
comment posted at 8:31 PM on Oct-25-02

A rush, a push, and the land is ours. Bush enlists government in the GOP campaign. Unprecedented.
comment posted at 9:05 AM on Oct-24-02

I must keep on the move. I must not allow them to stop me or trace my whereabouts. I must keep on the move. I must not allow them to stop me or trace my whereabouts. I have set the date for the release in the future to allow time to build publicity. With the worlds full attention, these secret agencies or privately run factions cannot deny or lie to the public about what I will reveal. This smacks of hoax, but I'm leaving the final decision on that up to you.
comment posted at 10:16 AM on Oct-23-02

NJ Guido! A site for guidos, by guidos... hilariously enough! The pics are great (actually, many hotties), but the clincher has got to be the proud testimonials (under "writings"). Can anybody say B&T?
comment posted at 10:27 AM on Oct-22-02

Sean Penn totally disses President Bush in the Washington Post but because he did it in a full page ad and not an op/ed column it is totally unlinkable to those of use on the web, and therefore dies on the vine. Two questions: How can one find the full transcript to Penn's advertisment, and why is it that only Republican movie stars are allowed have their voices heard in political discussions?
comment posted at 7:53 PM on Oct-19-02
comment posted at 8:48 PM on Oct-19-02
comment posted at 9:21 PM on Oct-19-02

Is NPR losing out to Christian radio? It's that time of year again, our local NPR station is running their pledge campaign and they're not doing very well. His Radio and K-LOVE are on the rise and they don't have to suckle the government sow to run their businesses.
comment posted at 9:57 PM on Oct-18-02

HTML Gone Bad: We know that laughter is the best medicine, so our group of scientists work nonstop collecting and categorizing lousy web pages. We spend weeks exposing each page to constant ridicule and heavy sarcasm. After they are tested, we pass the links along to you.
comment posted at 10:03 AM on Oct-17-02

The shockwaves from Bali ripple outward. John Sidel explains the likely impact on Indonesia, whilst Clive James and Germaine Greer discuss the impact on Australia. Thanks to Miguel for the two lost links. The Independent leader which caused such offence is here. For many, for whom 9/11 was remote, Bali is close and personal.
comment posted at 6:31 AM on Oct-17-02
comment posted at 6:44 AM on Oct-17-02

It's New, It's Wonderful, it's....No Cry Onions! from the nature.com website, scientists have identified the enzyme that causes a "tickling" of your tear ducts, ergo the ensuing crying. More genetically altered food - how are we feeling about this?
comment posted at 2:21 PM on Oct-16-02

Bomb blast in Bali Indonesia In what is believed to be a terrorist attack, a destroyed two crowded clubs in Bali. 150 people are confirmed dead, including an unknown number of Australians, Britons, French and Canadians, and authorities say the death toll is likely to rise.
comment posted at 11:44 AM on Oct-13-02

Patience is a Virtue. I must be quite virtuous, having spent hours on this site that's jam-packed with cool stuff!
comment posted at 6:00 PM on Oct-11-02

Big Bird is bringing peace to Northern Ireland This brilliant (and timely) story is doing the net 'rounds. The scary thing is? This story is true. And to think: it was only next month Sesame Street was dealing with AIDS. Maybe Kermit will have sorted out Iraq by Christmas...
comment posted at 10:36 PM on Oct-9-02

"Suppose you're devising a logo for a new wing of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an office charged with developing intelligence tools and integrating the government's existing surveillance networks. Suppose that it has a vaguely sinister name—say, the Information Awareness Office—and that it's to be run by a former Iran-contra conspirator. What would your design be?"
comment posted at 8:14 PM on Oct-7-02

pickupyourowndamnsocks.com. What would you do if you found out that your significant other was keeping an anonymous, but very public, journal of things about you that drive them crazy?
comment posted at 2:38 PM on Oct-7-02

While trying to pull up a favorite website I find the USG (Unix Security Guards), a group of so called pro Islamic hackers, have shut the site down. It's all well and good to be protesting the Middle East conflict by interrupting a night of jolly surfing, but why a rock and roll website? Damn hacktivist groups.

Good job punks!
comment posted at 7:48 PM on Oct-5-02

"By removing both costs and the barriers, weblogs have drained publishing of its financial value, making a coin of the realm unnecessary. A lot of people in the weblog world are asking "How can we make money doing this?" The answer is that most of us can't." Though he finally admits: "Right now, the people who have profited most from weblogs are the people who've written books about weblogging."
comment posted at 2:48 PM on Oct-5-02

A story of village life A witty analogy for the current world situation. Here is another one. If anyone has a good justification for war I would like to hear it, come on convince me!
comment posted at 8:47 AM on Oct-1-02

Tumbling Woman A statue of a falling woman designed as a memorial to those who jumped or fell to their death from the World Trade Center was abruptly draped in cloth and curtained off Wednesday because of complaints that it was too disturbing. It's all right if you don't want to discuss it here and now. I was also in NYC and saw the towers on that day.
comment posted at 11:20 PM on Sep-18-02
comment posted at 11:33 PM on Sep-18-02

"I can sympathize with you, but I can never feel your pain," as stated by a Turkish taxidermist in the film Taste of Cherry, by Abbas Kiarosatami, Persian director of great works of cinema. This film's poetic, universal message can apply to anyone who is trying to come to terms with loss, especially a year after that day. more inside
comment posted at 9:03 AM on Sep-16-02

The Ultimatum has been delivered to the UN... This conflict, simmering for over ten years is about to erupt. "In strict accordance with international law," unilatteral military action is imminent unless demands are met. Animosity has been mounting steadily for months, and Russia is ready to invade Georgia. "No one can deny today, and for ourselves we are certain, that Georgian territory is sheltering both those who are implicated in the attacks on the United States and a direct operative involved in the attacks on housing units in Russia," Mr. Putin said on Russian television, echoing the logic U.S. President George W. Bush has used to rally international support for a pre-emptive strike on Iraq. The United States said it would not support Mr. Putin if he carried out his threat to attack Chechen rebel bases in Georgia, and slammed him for suggesting he might. "The United States strongly supports Georgia's territorial integrity and would oppose any unilateral military action by Russia inside Georgia," a U.S. State Department spokesman said. This all seems rather hypocritical, business as usual new world order politics: Is the price of getting UN Security Council approval on Iraq going to be public and secret deals, and is this really about the Chechens, or about breakaway republics and Caspian Sea oil? And what about China? Will we rubberstamp their ambitions re: Taiwan, Spratley Islands, Mongolia? And finally, why Georgia? I know they put up a two-bit Olympics and never caught that one terrorist bomber, but really, Georgia?
comment posted at 6:43 AM on Sep-13-02

An Anti-War Movement of One. by Philip Gold, senior national security analyst for Seattle's conservative Discovery Institute. "...of late, I've taken to constituting myself as an anti-war movement of one--a man of impeccable conservative credentials and long experience in the national-security field, a grumpy old Marine, who has grown infuriated with and appalled by both the conservative embrace of disaster and the enormity of the smallness of what passes for the anti-war movement today."
comment posted at 6:01 PM on Sep-12-02

N.Y. Lottery Draws 9-1-1 on 9/11 This is a pretty strange coincidence. Some people find coincidences everywhere. But, others say the world would be more surprising if coincidences didn't occur. Still, this is pretty odd. What coincidences have you experienced? Do you see meaning in them?
comment posted at 11:16 PM on Sep-11-02

If you have dignity, the terrorists have already won Ted Rall writes about the cheesification of 9/11.
comment posted at 10:47 AM on Sep-10-02

A resistance to the disease of thought.
"On historic day, U.S. turns away from eloquence."
-- Lewis H. Lapham
"The boundaries of my language are the boundaries of my world."
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein
Submitted without color commentary (even though I do have an opinion.)
comment posted at 9:02 AM on Sep-10-02

It looks like Jim Caviezel will be our next savior. He joins a long list of them, such as Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum. Does it take more than just being a Catholic actor to portray Jesus on film? What qualities should a savior have?
comment posted at 4:38 PM on Sep-9-02

US Neo-Nazi Groups to CELEBRATE 911 Is it cool to be angry? Do I care? I'm VERY angry about this. [...] And so on, and so forth.
comment posted at 7:47 PM on Sep-8-02

Do not instant anything. Don't multitask. Don't think about tomorrow. Matt Richtel, in a somewhat op-ed piece about technology, thinks we should disconnect ourselves. Just for a day, mind you. I love being connected, and will miss my email greatly, but I'm thinking about doing it. Take a step back, interact with people fully. "That person sitting across from you at lunch deserves all your attention. Pretend that he or she is a New York firefighter. Do not once say: "Hold on. That's the other line." " Anyone wanna try it with me?
comment posted at 2:53 PM on Sep-8-02

NORMAN MAILER DECLARES: 'AMERICA IS SO VAIN' You're so vain, I bet you think this country is about .... When Norman speaks, people denounce, applaud, deride, mention his shortcomings, say nasty things, applaud his insights. What no one does do, usually, is remain silent or neutral. You decide.
comment posted at 4:25 PM on Sep-6-02

Interesting commentary on a Yahoo News photo of the former World Trade Center site. I wonder if this is some subtle hack or if it's just someone at Yahoo screwing around. The URL seems to be legitimate, but I can't find that photo with the same caption in Yahoo's regular photo rotation.
comment posted at 6:53 PM on Sep-5-02

CNN Refuses to Run Connie Chung's Skull & Bones Broadcast - well, at least according to that article. I haven't found anything else about it, but the implications are clear. IS THERE something afoot here?
comment posted at 12:31 PM on Sep-5-02

Plans For Iraq Attack Began On 9/11 "CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq — even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks." Rumsfeld: "Go massive ... Sweep it all up. Things related and not."
comment posted at 7:54 AM on Sep-5-02

"So we just created everything out of nothing. No knowledge of how it's done or anything." And with that, Steve Wozniak invented the future.
comment posted at 9:37 AM on Sep-4-02

Brooklyn Welcomes Romeo Beckham! The stuffy old Daily Telegraph heartily approves of Romeo, the name Victoria and David Beckham have given to their new baby, a brother to Brooklyn. So now an extra throne must be added to the happy parents' atrocious, unmissable website. I would have let this foolishness pass, had I not noticed with alarm that there already exists a bottomless resource catering to those who insist on giving their offspring Shakespearean names. If this is a trend, how bad can it get?[Please, no suicide jokes.] Or, to put it in Shakespeare's own words, from Romeo and Juliet no less, is this a case of "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell as sweet"[Act ii, sc.2] or, rather, of "the children of an idle brain begot of nothing but vain fantasy"?[Act i, sc.4]
comment posted at 9:21 AM on Sep-2-02

Self-portraits with an edge. "In a series of extraordinary transformations, this young, Korean-born conceptual artist unfolds a multiplicity of lives and identities documented through the lens of her point-and-shoot camera as she "becomes" a young punk in the East Village, a Connecticut-based exotic dancer, or a senior citizen picking through thrift stores in Murray Hill."

Nikki S Lee takes Cindy Sherman in another direction. Sherman's classic photographs, as their title Film Stills indicates, are static and meticulously set up. But Lee takes her characters to the street, using real people as props and set.

Fluidity of identity? Artist-subject relationship? Comment on sub-cultures? Isn't contmporary art great?
comment posted at 8:23 PM on Aug-31-02

Illusionist Criss Angel emerges from his 24-hour sojourn in a Chinese water torture cabinet in NYC's Times Square. Should an endurance contest really be considered magic? Where are you, David Copperfield?
comment posted at 9:22 AM on Aug-27-02

Texas singer asks lesbian fans to not show affection at her shows A budding folk-rocker who also happens to be a high school PE teacher has created a stir with an Aug. 12 email to her fans. "I have had several complaints from bar owners, friends, fans, and potential fans regarding the outwardly show of affection that has taken place at my shows," writes Michelle Mayfield. "This type of behavior, right or wrong, reflects on me as the artist who has brought you to that club...Please be respectful of the places where I am performing by being aware of the actions that can possibly turn potential fans away from my music or from my future shows." The resulting flap, and Mayfield's apology, is made more interesting by questions about Mayfield's own sexual preference, which she called "no one's business in the first place."
comment posted at 6:36 PM on Aug-26-02

Fighting back: Spammers want e-mail addresses. Give them e-mail addresses. Tons of e-mail addresses. This handy PHP script will add as many fake e-mail addresses to your web site as you want. 20 is the default, with command and space delimited, just like this:

lebsda@fihnekyjvbj.de, tzckk@zcwgituizwjgy.eu, lzteth@gvxmzqphddvhsd.de, wspvnmpitk@adlruenmiupuglcqn.nl, toulr@cttzrgrb.it, gxgb@yqkeermxyxxozvfws.dk, ucldeo@lwytvqqq.nl, brddshal@qmyhquiqtbaeggpx.com, ovu@zzxlbismicnqsuiubkfl.de, txxewr@ogpzcomgrhkd.br, goluv@twcnkfeghsh.com, tfexbuous@heev.ar, zjgeaztzvm@rvonhfrd.de, nhsgikjvjb@stncbqtnyyclaflm.jp, svgfdh@zeynvdd.nl, hxqios@yrdlshpyscndoslt.de, fxglj@sfkdxgyadbqk.ca, mtskzv@carbd.de, pigm@vnkcalneewdulz.com, nqnjwldpfk@ecifc.edu

And each call to the web site will give the spam harvester 20 spanking new addresses. (Web site is german, but the script is in english)
comment posted at 5:02 PM on Aug-26-02

It worked for fur; perhaps for SUVs? This article warms my heart. And that of my 19lb road bike.
comment posted at 12:17 PM on Aug-23-02

Growing up in the MTV generation. Reading the earlier Eminem link just reminded me how much MTV has been part of my socialization as a child of the 80's. MTV is a business that has effected not only how i look at the world, but also how i view myself. I'm just curious if there's anyone else out there who have felt so strongly shaped by (through reaction to or following of) MTV.
comment posted at 8:29 PM on Aug-22-02