MetaFilter

March for Choice - Estimates range from 500,000 to more than a million in attendance. With an all-star turnout and a lot of pink, it is one of the largest events to take place on the Mall in Washington D.C.; but how much of an impact will it have on history?
comment posted at 1:21 PM on Apr-26-04

George Says Did the president fail to answer your questions tonight? Put the words right in his mouth.
comment posted at 12:06 AM on Apr-14-04

Chicagoans show off their kanji character tattoos. We Chicagoan's know our hot dogs. Kanji characters, not so well. Japanese tattoos don't always mean what their wearers think they do. With the assistance of Mariko Sasaki, a researcher at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago, we examined the tattoos of five Chicagoans. [via Chicago Tribune] Login: anonymous/anonymous
comment posted at 1:13 AM on Apr-9-04

Eight U.S. Troops Killed in Shiite Uprising Occupation Forces Battle Cleric's Followers As Widespread Demonstrations Erupt in Iraq
A Young Radical's Anti-U.S. Wrath Is Unleashed For months, as American occupation authorities have focused on a moderate Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a radical young Shiite cleric named Moktada al-Sadr has been spewing invective and threatening a widespread insurrection. On Sunday, he unleashed it. At his word, thousands of disciples, wearing green headbands and carrying automatic rifles, stormed into the streets of several cities and set off the most widespread mayhem of the occupation. Witnesses and occupation officials said the disciples occupied police stations, fired rocket-propelled grenades at American troops and overran government security in Kufa, the town in south central Iraq where Mr. Sadr lives. "The occupation is over!" many yelled. "We are now controlled by Sadr!"
comment posted at 1:41 AM on Apr-5-04

I feel safer already! A US requirement for foreign visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed is being expanded to include citizens from America's closest allies, starting September 30th.
comment posted at 7:04 PM on Apr-2-04

The Haiku Postcard Foundation exhibits a collection of anonymous hand-created postcards sent in from people around the world. It boasts a long and varied history and many interesting submissions.
comment posted at 4:00 PM on Mar-24-04

''Complaints should no longer be denied because of a lack of tape, transcript or significant excerpt''. Evidence? We don't need no evidence. Indecent use or not, the FCC will now crack down on all uses of the F-word. I can only assume this will give Stern even more fodder for his new liberal radio show.
comment posted at 12:00 AM on Mar-19-04

Democrat Kerry Challenges Bush to Monthly Debates Kerry, already engaged in a running exchange of negative ads with Bush eight months before the November election, planned to deliver the challenge at the site of the historic Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates in Quincy, Illinois. A frontrunner, way ahead, would naturally turn down this "invitation," but at this point, Bush is not way ahead, and to turn down debates would give Kerry a fine focus to play over and over in ads and speeches. How will Bush (ie Rove) react to this challenge? (go on tour of duty with National Guard perhaps.)
comment posted at 12:55 AM on Mar-14-04

The poetry of Donald Rumsfeld, set to music
The Unknown

"As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know."
[Department of Defense news briefing Feb. 12, 2002] : Now, imagine it set to music and sung aloud by a classically trained female singer with a beautiful voice. [ Mp3 clips available at main link ] Some conservatives consider it a homage, while I find it beautiful, compelling, and disorienting.
comment posted at 3:42 PM on Mar-12-04

You know how some songs are really catchy and you wonder if the hooks could be engineered to make people like the song? A company called Polyphonic HMI has created software they call "Hit Song Science" which is supposed to contain algorithms that determine if a song is likely to be a hit. The company is touting their first attempt at using HSS in the marketplace as a success. [via furdlog]
comment posted at 7:49 PM on Mar-10-04

Iranian actress, Hedieh Tehrani, is one of the most popular stars who, unlike the previous actresses, usually portrays a strong and independent women in her works (See more). On the other side is Niki Karimi who once was the hottest actress in the country, showing a rather traditional image of the Iranian women. What is this change of taste telling about the Iranian society? See more stills from Iranian movies.
comment posted at 1:58 AM on Mar-9-04

Spalding Gray's Body Found in East River.
comment posted at 8:21 PM on Mar-8-04

Local Kid Show Hosts. For many of us kids from the 70s, national shows like Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Zoom! were staples of our "boob tube" saturated lives. But what about the local kids shows? In Seattle, we had some amazing local kiddie shows, from the delightfully subversive JP Patches who lived in the city dump with his transvestite pal Gertrude, to the sugary sweet "Boomerang" hosted by Marni "The Voice of Hollywood" Nixon. Going even further back, we had Stan Boreson, "The King of Scandahoovian Humor" hosting the loopy "King's Klubhouse" in the 50s, the eerie "Wunda Wunda Show" hosted by Ruth Prins (not much out there about her), and Captain Puget with his sidekick Salty, played by local eccentric businessman Ivar Haglund. Who were your local kids show hosts and how whacked out were they?
comment posted at 2:51 PM on Mar-2-04

Newsflash: actually useful social-software site. There are many, many (etc., etc.,) sites that have sprung up to represent networks of friends (and friends of friends) on the web. But so what? There's no compelling reason to create or keep these profiles; there's nothing in it for you (just lots of work). But I've stumbled across Mediachest (screenshot) which is a sharing community for books, DVDs, and CDs. You can borrow your friends books and music and movies, and they can borrow yours. It's like a permanent MefiSwap!
comment posted at 2:07 PM on Feb-21-04

Have a region free DVD player? Just love movies? DVD Beaver reviews DVDs and compares releases from different countries so you can be sure you're getting the best print/audio available.
comment posted at 12:50 PM on Feb-9-04

76th Annual Academy Award Nominations
comment posted at 1:00 PM on Jan-27-04

A woman gets a stun gun and a knife past security at LaGuardia and actually alerts authorities after she discovers them in her purse. Anybody feel safer yet? Anybody?
comment posted at 2:53 AM on Jan-27-04

Centauromachies, Amazonomachies, Gigantomachies and Gorgo.
comment posted at 12:45 AM on Jan-25-04

A Short, Illustrated History Of The First Toasters
Suitable for those with short attention sp--- Huh?
comment posted at 9:50 PM on Jan-20-04

donkey kong jr. [note: flash]
comment posted at 6:44 AM on Jan-6-04
comment posted at 6:49 AM on Jan-6-04

How I Met And Dated Miss Emily Dickinson: Have you ever wondered what a favourite writer really looked like? Is there any relationship between an artist's face and their art? Hemingway looks like his prose; Ezra Pound like his poetry; Picasso is a dead ringer for his paintings but, say, John Updike doesn't resemble his fiction; T.S.Eliot looks like a bank clerk and Matisse was nothing like his works. How superficial can you get? [Via Arts and Letters Daily.]
comment posted at 5:54 PM on Jan-2-04
comment posted at 5:57 PM on Jan-2-04

Iran quake death toll hits 50,000. 150,000 survivors are homeless, hungry, and freezing. They really need your immediate help.

$110 can provide a tent for a family of five

$60 can provide drinking water to 30 people

$45 can provide space heaters to three families

$25 can provide blankets to a family of five

Mercy Corps has raised $188,397 so far, but this is far from enough.
comment posted at 10:16 PM on Dec-30-03

Stolen: one garden gnome.
comment posted at 9:53 AM on Dec-28-03

Mars Attacks!
"In 1962, Topps released the bubble-gum cards known as "Mars Attacks". They were the creation of Len Brown and Woody Gelman. They were painted by the famous pulp-comic artist, Norm Saunders. Presented here, for the first time on the Web, are scanned reproductions of their genius..."
comment posted at 1:19 AM on Dec-12-03

Gore is set to endorse Howard Dean tomorrow. Does that mean it's already over for the other Democratic candidates? (Will you even get the opportunity to vote for a candidate in your state's primary? Heck, should we consider limiting the campaign period?)
comment posted at 3:49 PM on Dec-8-03

It's the end of an era. On Dec. 31, the Jennicam shuts down for good.
comment posted at 1:12 AM on Dec-8-03

The History of Eating Utensils
comment posted at 3:10 AM on Dec-7-03

If you can offer the world a strip like Calvin and Hobbes, don't you have a responsibility to keep working? The Cleveland Scene travels to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, trying to track down its most famous (and famously reclusive) resident, Calvin and Hobbes author Bill Watterson. Along the way, the reporter contemplates micturating Calvins, burning paintings, the cost of hewing to one's principles, and the utter vacuity of Jim Davis's soul. In the end, there's even a brief encounter with a man who may or may not have once made millions happy by drawing a six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger.
comment posted at 11:06 PM on Dec-2-03

Bush in Baghdad & Clinton in Kabul.

How far did you travel on this Thanksgiving Day?
comment posted at 2:09 AM on Nov-29-03

Looking for a new use for that webcam? Go fly a kite! Kite Aerial Photography has caught the imagination of photographers and hobbyists around the world, and some of the results are spectacular.
comment posted at 3:53 PM on Nov-26-03

Naked World.
comment posted at 8:13 PM on Nov-22-03
comment posted at 8:13 PM on Nov-22-03

Create-a-meal [note: flash] ... comes in mcdonalds, subway, barbeque, and pizza hut flavors.
comment posted at 7:55 PM on Nov-22-03

The Dr. Seuss Parody Page : Offered to help wash the image of the Cat in the Hat movie out of your minds... If you've been on the net for more than 3 days, you've seen at least some of these:
For Techies
And Trekkies
And Biblical Scholars,
Biologists,
Psychologists
And Vikings who holler.
Political Seuss
Starring Bush, Gore and Newt.
From E-Mail to ER
And B5, that's cute.
From Purity Tests
To Deconstruction-ests.
From Shakespeare to Dante,
Who knows what's the best?
I'd list every one, I am so unabashed,
But do so, my rhymes would become Ogden Nash.
So click and enjoy
Some of this,
Some of that,
And avoid Mr. Myers in 'Cat in the Hat'.
comment posted at 9:34 PM on Nov-21-03

A great PETA ad ...for me to poop on! Amusing recent campaign featuring Triumph the Insult Dog to promote spaying/neutering that is catching heat for a subtle Clay Aiken jab.
comment posted at 6:23 PM on Nov-20-03

Santorum. Dan Savage is a man on a mission: he wants his coinage of "santorum" to go all the way to the top of a Google search for "santorum", and he's calling on bloggers to help him do it. The comments of Senator Santorum (R-Homophobia) on the Supreme Court's anti-sodomy case were previously discussed here.
comment posted at 4:50 PM on Nov-20-03

Seattle's Museum of History & Industry has compiled a photographic archive of Seattle and its surrounding communities. Over 12,000 images from local museums, libraries and historical societies capture the heritage of King county spanning over 100 years. The project was developed through the National Leadership Grant for Library and Museum Collaboration.
comment posted at 12:25 AM on Oct-29-03
comment posted at 12:28 AM on Oct-29-03

Another My Lai. Investigative journalism in action: a small Toledo newspaper called The Blade commits eight months to uncovering atrocities against civilians by an elite group of American soldiers in Vietnam called Tiger Force (pic at bottom). Will we have to wait 36 years to find out what's really happening in Baghdad?
comment posted at 1:03 PM on Oct-27-03

The World Scrabble Championship is taking place this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 98 players from 38 countries are competing in the seventh biennial WSC. The format: everyone plays 24 games over three days, then the top two finishers play a best-of-five match for the championship. Past winners include three Americans, two Canadians and an Englishman, but this year's final pits two Thai players: Pakorn Nemitrmansuk vs Panupol Sujjaykorn.
comment posted at 1:34 AM on Oct-24-03

Plants in motion is a comprehensive archive of time-lapse movies (Quicktime format) of plants germinating and growing, flowers opening, tropic responses and circadian movements. Some of the video is quite eerie. The plants really seem...erm...alive... The site also has a guide to making your own time-lapse film.
comment posted at 1:21 AM on Oct-20-03

Did you ever go to summer camp? Today I ran across the Adirondack camp and was struck by the beauty of the pictures on the site. However, I was stunned by the expense when I looked at their tuition rates. All of my summer camp experiences were at Boy Scout camps (Philmont, Emerald Bay, El Rancho Cima and Camp Orr). I never knew it before, but there are lots of kinds of camps: fine arts camps, camps for disabled children, camps affiliated with various churches and other organizations. So, did you go to camp? What was it like?
comment posted at 2:15 PM on Sep-24-03

Free speech zones Appearing everywhere from Florida to Oregon. In California the concept has been fought and defeated, but in Kansas there seems to be little resistance. It's not just the usual suspects, either. Watch where you are standing no matter who you are protesting, even if it's just governors.
comment posted at 2:56 PM on Sep-22-03

Unnanounced art in Home Depot. Artist Stefanie Nagorka has created sculptures in ten states in the last year, and aims to bring her work to Home Depots in all fifty in the coming 18 months. She uses materials, mainly concrete slabs and bricks, from the stores, assembles the sculptures in the aisle, snaps a picture for herself, and leave the rest there for customers to enjoy or puzzle over - and for the employees to disassemble and re-stock. I think I like it. (From this month's ReadyMade.)
comment posted at 11:56 AM on Sep-17-03

Fantastic images of a Great White Shark breaching (leaving the surface of the water, like a whale or a dolphin would). Note - they apparently usually exhibit this behavior when they are killing/feeding, so those with delicate sensibilities shouldn't click.
comment posted at 12:07 PM on Sep-11-03

THE PIXIES ARE BACK!!!! I'm so happy I'm crying!
comment posted at 7:07 PM on Sep-10-03

Just how rich are you? The worlds 225 richest people have a combined wealth greater than the poorest 2.5 billion people. Where do you fit into the picture? via b3ta
comment posted at 5:33 PM on Sep-5-03

Forget California. The real political breakdown is in Texas with Democratic Senators still in exile after 22 days. Moveon.org has been called to help. Sen. Rodney Ellis writes to Moveon to help fight the on-going GOP power-grab.
comment posted at 7:30 PM on Aug-20-03