October 2004 Archives
October 31
Europop my love!
dancing trancends all languages [Windows Media]
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russell
"Sam Loyd's 'Trick Donkeys' is one of the most elegant puzzles ever invented... print out the page and cut the figure into three parts along the solid lines. Now, position the strip onto the other two pieces so that it looks like each jockey is riding a donkey. Folding is not allowed.
Don't give up -- the solution is really quite simple!"
Ready for WW4 ?
Get Ready For WW4 : FOIA document details SSS preparations for a widespread draft to start with a callup of 36,000 doctors and nurses : an in depth analysis with a detailed timeline : "...the SSS is in fact preparing for the real possibility of a Skills, Medical and Combat Draft for 2005. Congress of course must still pass a 1-page trigger resolution reauthorizing current conscription law, but the Selective Service will by early 2005 have geared up the entire draft system and be prepared to register more than 40 million Americans for a new Skills Draft and the Medical Draft....The NY Times on Oct. 19 published a long article on a subcontractor, Widemeyer Communications, that over the summer consulted the SSS on how a Medical Draft could be started up with minimal attention. The SSS said 36,000 doctors and nurses would be taken in the first batch of draftees. Why would Bush need so many? 36,000 is a huge number....Wesley Clark charges in his book Winning Modern Wars, that a senior Pentagon official told him in 2001 that there was a 5-year plan to topple 7 countries" Here's the Seattle PI's take : "Administration's own actions fuel rumors of draft" Here's a Feb. 2003 document (~500k pdf) obtained under the FOIA, on the SSS plans for a widespread draft. (more inside)
Let justice be done, though the heavens fall
The United States has lost Iraq. "Even Secretary of State Colin Powell, a former general who stays in touch with the Joint Chiefs, has acknowledged [the insurgents winning] privately to friends in recent weeks. The insurgents have effectively created a reign of terror throughout the country, killing thousands, driving Iraqi elites and technocrats into exile and scaring foreigners out."
MC Frontalot - he's so indy
Special Delivery [Mission Accomplished remix] - partisan rappery
Viewropa
Viewropa - OK, maybe there's some agreement not to post this here, but I wasn't part of the development, and it's already got some good links (especially the evolution of writing one). So here's Viewropa - a community site started by members of MetaFilter who are attempting an experiment in multi-lingual, collaborative and Euro-focussed blogging. All are welcome here, no matter where you're from [...] (beware the impossible Portuguese kill-the-snowman game) (and I get the impression a non-English link would be more than welcome).
stickin' it to ya
Beware the death screw. Watch for flying debris. Is it a dream? No, it's the stick figure warning sign gallery.
Linus Pauling
You won't.
So the banner ad turned 10 a few days ago, according to dabitch, but what I find more fascinating is that its first use was in connection with all those AT&T "You Will" television commercials from the early '90s. Here, collected on one page, for your consideration, are those ads. As Frau Farbissina would screech: "Lies. ALL LIES!" Well, perhaps AT&T didn't lie to us about all their predictions, but I'm still waiting for my "intelligent assistant" who'll work on those playoff tickets for me. How many predictions did they make that came true can you find here?
Are you sitting comfortably?
Jugglezine. An e-zine about balancing work and life.
More on arithmetic in the Amazon
More on arithmetic in the Amazon The 10/15 issue of Science has the official publication of Peter Gordon's work on numerical cognition among the Pirahã, and a companion article by Pierre Pica et al. on similar research among another Amazonian tribe, the Mundurukú. What with the U.S. election and the discovery of H. Floresiensis, this is not getting nearly as a much play as the pre-publication back in August of Peter Gordon's work.
Brian Butterworth has an piece in the Guardian about both articles, and I've put some links, quotes and diagrams here.
Compared to the reports on the Pirahã, the Mundurukú people, language, and experiments are all somewhat different, although the conclusions are broadly similar.
Lend me Your Ears - BWAAHAHA!!
Something ear-y for Halloween: Oddio Overplay gives you Ghouls With Attitude 2-CD compilation by Otisfodder, plus (from Martinibomb and Coconut Monkeyrocket), the Munster Beat mp3 (click below the image to listen).
October 30
Rumsfeld's War
Frontline: Rumsfeld's War, a PBS/Washington Post joint documentary that aired earlier this week is now online. It is the inside story of Rumsfeld's battle to assert civil control over the military.
No Race-Neutral Racism: Targeting African-Americans Is as Racist as it Looks
Racially-Based Suppression of the African-American Vote:
The Role It May Play in the Upcoming Presidential Election What exactly is racially-based vote suppression? Simply defined, it is the targeting of potential voters, based on their race, in an attempt to suppress the exercise of their right to vote for the candidate of their choice.
Nigerian Email Scam
We've all recieved one of those Nigerian Email Scams, but now we have it in a video format (qt format) I almost wanted to help him out, but then he never did leave any contact info.
My countrymen called me a prostitute
My countrymen called me a prostitute Fourteen months ago, Hamida Ghafour went to Afghanistan to cover her native country's postwar reconstruction for this newspaper. But, as a westernised Afghan, her homecoming wasn't as welcoming as she had hoped
Peace, Love and Bicycles = Getting Arrested
NYC Critical Mass ride dampened by heavy police presence Critical Mass, A peaceful demonstration that takes place on the last friday of the month at hundreds of cities around the world. The gathering of hundreds to thousands of cyclists to stress the importance of nonpolluting transportation alternatives and promote the cycling community.
Last night's critical mass was faced with a very heavy police presence (including 3 helicopters that followed the cyclists on the route). I was there and the police were peaceful, but perhaps necessary and the helicopters were just intimidating. The whole aura assumed there was going to be some type of crime. There type of people that take part in Critical Mass are generally the opposite of violent. It felt violating to be followed around, by not one, but three helicopters and hundreds of officers on scooters. The Critical Mass was being treated as if we just shot up a building or robbed a bank. The whole thing was stupid, and people got arrested for stupid reasons. Thanks NYPD the Judge said we could be there.
33, 47, whatever, it was too many.
There there, little boys 'n girlz, Daddy Ashcroft knows best
"There there, little voters, Papa Ashcroft and Daddy Bush will sort out those nasty little vote fraud disputes." - Bush Adm. sues to give Ashcroft authority over voting disputes under the HAVA Act. "...Bush administration lawyers argued....that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights set out in the Help America Vote Act.....would reverse decades of precedent..... Since the civil rights era of the 1960s, individuals have gone to federal court to enforce their right to vote.....in legal briefs filed in connection with cases in Ohio, Michigan and Florida, the administration's lawyers argue that the new law gives Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft the exclusive power to bring lawsuits to enforce its provisions." I'm reminded of Andrew Card's September 1, 2004 comment "that President Bush views America as a ''10-year-old child" in need of the sort of protection provided by a parent."
Ubiquitous morality
All watched over by machines of loving grace is Adam Greenfield's take on the consequences for designers of ubicomp. Setting moral guidelines seems critical in these early days of technological encroachment-- but how long can decency hold out against the promise of profit? I was forwarded a recent email from the CEO a major bookseller that made it clear that it's possible for them to track everything I do in their stores and online, and thank goodness they choose not to take advantage. But how long will that last? And with homeland security crumbling our civil liberties, article's like Adam's that remind us about our responsibility are even more important than ever.
The Psi-Corps!
In the wake of Vietnam, the US military were demoralised and prey to some fairly crazy ideas. They thought they could train 'super soldiers' with psychic powers. In this first extract from his revealing new book, Jon Ronson describes how their aspirations were perverted in the prisons of Iraq. [from The Guardian]
turn down the lights...
The Dionaea House. Just in time for Halloween, a pleasingly creepy piece of fiction. (Or is it??) An epistolary horror story, for the e-mail/phone text messaging/LiveJournal age. (Be sure to check out the Update section; the LJ is linked from there.) And I'm assuming further updates will continue to appear ...
Nader Raiders?
Nader finally goes off the deep end. Looks like he got his debates after all ... with action figures?!
Promoting a candidate could get you thrown in jail
David Dreier doesn't like free speech. The California Congressman and the Republican Party have filed a felony federal complaint against one of their own, which could possibly lead to jail time, all for opposing the incumbent. Apparently, spending a million dollars wasn't enough. More coverage of Dreier here and here.
Sloth:
Not Proud. It is not always pretty but it is often illuminating.
Revolutionary Minds
Revolutionary Minds. "A selection of icons and iconoclasts whose radical ideas are inspiring a vivid dialogue that is deepening our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Meet the 2004 Third Culture." [Via WorldChanging.]
October 29
the art of bookbindings
The British Library has an unmatched collection of fine and historic bookbindings. Hundreds of western European bindings have been digitized and made available to the public. The Database of Bookbindings is a searchable, high resolution collection. Search by binder, ownership mark, country, material, and more. If you have the whole weekend free, you may find this glossary of binding terms a useful resource on your journey of discovery. If your interest is seriously peaked check out these bookbinding models used to exemplify and demonstrate the various mechanisms of books. For a more American experience of bookbindings, the Redwood Library has created this exhibit. Tomorrow our journey continues inside the books
updated server
The new server's up and until MetaTalk comes back to life, I wanted to keep this post up to track bugs. If you find one, let me know here.
Google falters? Can't be!
GMail not-so-safe Mail. So apparentley GMail has a major exploit that's been discovered by an Israeli hacker. "Using a hex-encoded XSS link, the victim's cookie file can be stolen by a hacker, who can later use it to identify himself to Gmail as the original owner of an email account, regardless of whether or not the password is subsequently changed." And so the fun with GMail begins..
Polling the Nanny State
Political Correctness: It's not just for Liberals anymore! To some people, it's scary. To others it's jokable. But all the stuff under the umbrella term "P.C.", makes some people think that American Liberals are more "puritanical and moralistic" than American Conservatives (especially if you're looking at it from outside).
But the Bush Administration has been seriously criticised for "pursuing a "Big-Gov Nanny State" (and by Fox!) and the White House Chief of Staff (a high-ranking position, you furriners) admits President Bush views America as a ''10-year-old child" in need of the sort of protection provided by a parent..
Elsewhere, there's that UK poll saying that most Brits support a 'nanny state'.
And Czech police 'registering' prostitutes are accused of moving from "nanny state" to "pimp state". Hmmm... Pimp State. At least the politicians would be better dressed.
But the Bush Administration has been seriously criticised for "pursuing a "Big-Gov Nanny State" (and by Fox!) and the White House Chief of Staff (a high-ranking position, you furriners) admits President Bush views America as a ''10-year-old child" in need of the sort of protection provided by a parent..
Elsewhere, there's that UK poll saying that most Brits support a 'nanny state'.
And Czech police 'registering' prostitutes are accused of moving from "nanny state" to "pimp state". Hmmm... Pimp State. At least the politicians would be better dressed.
The world is in your hands
A Young Man's Guide to Masturbation
There's a good Q&A: "How can you tell if a girl likes you? Is it bad to stick your penis in the vacuum cleaner hose or that long thing you use to get in cracks and corners?" (age 13)
If she smiles at you, she probably likes you. And you already know the answer to your second question.
Mainly, the site wants you not to do it wrong. [Thank you Monkeyfilter]
There's a good Q&A: "How can you tell if a girl likes you? Is it bad to stick your penis in the vacuum cleaner hose or that long thing you use to get in cracks and corners?" (age 13)
If she smiles at you, she probably likes you. And you already know the answer to your second question.
Mainly, the site wants you not to do it wrong. [Thank you Monkeyfilter]
The Bush Pledge
"I want you to stand, raise your right hands," and recite "the Bush Pledge," said Florida state Sen. Ken Pruitt. The assembled mass of about 2,000 in this Treasure Coast town about an hour north of West Palm Beach dutifully rose, arms aloft, and repeated after Pruitt: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States."
Sooooo...Can I invoke Godwin's Law on reality?
Sooooo...Can I invoke Godwin's Law on reality?
This campaign message sponsored by ...
He's back: Bin Laden has released a new tape, where he attacks Bush, claims responsibility for 9/11, backhandledly backs Kerry and warns Americans to take responsibility for safety to themselves. But is it all an elaborate double bluff to make sure Bush gets in (and OBL stays as safe as he is now)?
Lego Logos
Brain in a Dish Flies Plane
Conservatism, the Enemy of Reason, Democracy and Modern Civilization
What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
via Three Toed Sloth..
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
via Three Toed Sloth..
I carry my dog in my change purse.
Friday roffles & syrup
Daily Jolt's Fantabulous Foolishest Face Fest Finalists and Winners: Heh. Roffle. Lol. Rofl. Kek. No Ma'am.
Funding Censorship
Do tax dollars fund censorship? Not the only example. When businesses get incentives from government, does this constitute endorsement? How constitutional is it?
accidents or murders?
were they drunken accidents or a series of murders? the wisconsin town of la crosse is shocked by a series of drownings ... sinister speculations and recriminations fuel the controversy
You are here. Do you have your towel?
The 20th Anniversary Edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure is online, and the BBC has jazzed it up. A bit.
The first ever piece of videogame journalism?
Rolling Stone review Spacewar. Ready or not, computers are coming to the people.
That's good news, maybe the best since psychedelics.
via Ludology
"Do you want a sweatshop with that?"
Cultural Revolution When Nike founder Phil Knight first traveled to China in 1980, before Beijing could even ship to U.S. ports, the country was just emerging from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. By the mid-'80s, Knight had moved much of his production to China from South Korea and Taiwan. But he saw China as more than a workshop. "There are 2 billion feet out there," former Nike executives recall his saying. "Go get them!". The Chinese responded (the goal was "to hook kids into Nike early and hold them for life"): sales through the 1990s picked up 60% a year. Here's how Phil Knight did it.
Print page for main link here
Blowup bears and cell phones?
What do you get when you cross Big Urban Games (see also here) with semacodes? I'm not sure, but it seems to look like this. (via gizmodo)
Download Fahrenheit 9/11 Here
Download Fahrenheit 9/11 Here This guy wants you to see the Moore film and is willing to suffer a possible lawsuit in order to get it to you. Free.
"I'll see how my bandwidth holds up. Here is the initial release of my posting of Fahrenheit 9/11. It's big. Its 650 megs. So - if you are on a slow connection - don't even bother. Go rent the DVD. But if you have DSL or better - here it is."
What Every Child Should Know
A series of books published in the early 1900s in the United States dictated several topics that children should be able to recognize and provide discourse. Among those available for reading online are Birds Every Child Should Know ("Two close relatives there are which, like the poor, are always with us-the crow and the blue jay."), Heroes Every Child Should Know ("To be some kind
of a hero has been the ambition of spirited boys from the beginning
of history; and if you want to know what the men and women of a
country care for most, you must study their heroes."), and Pictures Every Child Should Know ("The true art-lover has a catholic taste, is interested in all forms of art; but he finds beauty where it truly exists and does not allow the nightmare of imagination to mislead him.").
Quant geeks handicap the election
An highly quantitative approach to state by state poll analysis. This is a meta-analysis directed at the question of who would win the Electoral College if the election were held today. Meta-analysis provides more objectivity and precision than looking at one or a few polls, and in the case of election prediction gives a more accurate current snapshot. Backup site here.
These calculations are based on all available state polls, with an emphasis on likely voter data that include Nader where he is on the ballot. Three or more recent polls (up to seven days old) for each state are averaged and the standard error of the mean is used to calculate the probability of every combination of possible state results. The map is not identical to the median. Results are defined as not statistically significant (n.s.) if the probability is less than between 5% and 95%. The effects of turnout are not included, but can be calculated using the bias analysis.
Halloween Flash Fun
Don't be a Scaredy Cat! Help Garfield find his Halloween treats. [Flash]
Several online journalists have been arrested in iran
Filtering hasn't worked in Iran, they now arrest web journalists: Several online journalists have been arrested, raising fears of a government crackdown on Internet dissidents. (Christian Science Monitor)
October 28
The Internets Vets For Truth
The Rumors On the Internets Are True! "Our goal is to present you with these clips to help you make an informed choice next Tuesday." Your one-stop-shop for documentary clips related to Kerry and Bush, presented by the Internets Vets for Truth.
foo bar baz
Well, shit. Apparently NASA uses Photoshop to analyze photographs taken by spacecraft.
The Knighthood of Buh
Prankishly pranky! With topics like "God hates mimes", "Porno for Bibles" and an "Insult Booth" these chaps have an idea and take it to its natural conclusion... storming the castle to kill the monster.
Postcards from the attic
Postcards from the attic . From our very own cedar comes this amazing collection of several hundred postcards sent between 1900 and 1910 by his family. These are quirky unsettling, and disturbingly cute. Enjoy.
The Great Bear
Online Collaborative Sketching
Online Collaborative Sketching Invite a friend to sketch with you.
Ready or not, here I come...
My son, Peter has always loved to play hide and seek. In fact, he loves it so much that he will wake me up in the middle of the night to play. The only problem is that Peter has been dead for eight years. This website documents the hell I've lived and continue to live every night.
Jon Stewart on cspan
Jon Stewart on cspan. He is everywhere these days. Can he out media whore the media? He seems to relish taking them on.
HELP
burning sky
Strange clouds. Noctilucent clouds as seen from the ISS. Via Science @ NASA headline archives. Also: twirling rosin.
Road signs
Highway Route Markers collects highway signs from around the world. The Upstate New York Roads Site lists (and reproduces) every exit sign for many of the state's freeways. Let me reiterate: Every. Exit. Sign. The net has something for everyone, even those of us with an unhealthy obsession with road signs.
...to exert a direct and positive influence in government, education, and the family...
Meet the WallBuilders --an organization that promotes the return of American public life to its religious-based heritage, according to USA Today. And the Congressional Pastor's Briefings may be of interest too: WallBuilders has been privileged to bring ministers from across the nation to Washington, DC, for an intimate briefing session with some of the top Christian Senators and Representatives now serving in Congress. The Members brief pastors on a variety of issues related to Biblical values as well as share their hearts regarding their own faith and its application to public office. ...
Wallbuilders or Mythbuilders provides a debunking of 8 historical fallacies of the group, concluding that:...In that sense, then, the name “Wallbuilders” is correct: the organization is building unnecessary walls of prejudice in an onlooking world, a word desperately needing to hear about the One who has “broken down the middle wall of division”...
Wallbuilders or Mythbuilders provides a debunking of 8 historical fallacies of the group, concluding that:...In that sense, then, the name “Wallbuilders” is correct: the organization is building unnecessary walls of prejudice in an onlooking world, a word desperately needing to hear about the One who has “broken down the middle wall of division”...
2004's Scariest Halloween Costumes.
2004's Scariest Halloween Costumes. A do-it-yourself guide to this season's quickest, least expensive, and spooky-ookiest halloween costumes. My personal favorites are: Florida's Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines, The Littlest Prisoner at Abu Ghraib and Jenna Bush's Liver.
iPod personalization frenzy!
Forget the U2 Edition iPod, you need the Ashlee Simpson Edition. Or the Kottke Edition (in iPod Photo version also available). Or Daring Fireball Edition. Or Bush Edition. And for the Swiss, the Almaren Edition.
Take your mind off the election...
Princess Maker 2 - Stressed out from current events? I doubt the game is as much fun to play as it is to be bewildered by, but either might help. "...is basically a perverse sports management simulation where your entire team consists of a single ten year old girl that you have to raise to adulthood. Much like any decent sports manager game you have to keep track of a nearly overwhelming number of statistics that fluctuate based on training. In Princess Maker 2 these run the gamut from the mundane like "strength" and "charisma", to the droll like "cooking" and "conversation", to the bizarre like "sin" and "temper". "
The Dictionary of the History of Ideas & A Social History of Friday Cat Blogging, Too
The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, edited by Philip P. Wiener, was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1973-74. The Dictionary of the History of Ideas also appeared in Chinese- and Japanese-language editions. However, the DHI has been out of print for many years. Aware of the new potential offered by electronic access to texts, the Directors and Board of Editors of the Journal of the History of Ideas authorized a grant to support digitization of the DHI. Substantial support has also been provided by the University of Virginia Library through its Electronic Text Center. Came across this at Three Toed Sloth, the weblog of the inestimable Cosma Shalizi, subject of a previous post by yours truly, which I found at this Social History of Friday Cat Blogging in the New York Times, which also mentions a Carnival of the Cats, which is evidently a weekly omnibus of Friday cat blogging posted on the following Sunday. Well, there's a bookmark in here for almost everyone, or so I aim to please.
Wasn't this concluded?
Tom Wolfe resurrects his feud with Irving et al What are the chances that a literary bun toss would reignite, the match lit by the author with a new book due for publication. Maybe Martin Amis will swing buy and bitchslap them all.
The Power of Media?
The Power of Nightmares sets out to claim that the Islamists and the neocons are, in reality, soul mates. Fact or fiction? Check out this series from the BBC using this handy Bit Torrent!
[Via: PopBitch]
[Via: PopBitch]
America, thru Stalin's spectacles
"I have become more and more aware of the Stalinist tactics and mentality of much of the American Right..... Relentless insistence on unity, on the existence of an unprecedented and overwhelming external threat, and on the total moral depravity of political opposition were all integral to Stalinist propaganda, and they are a growing part of conservative rhetoric in the United States today.....[Hateful] rhetoric was the prelude to a terrific acceleration of state murder in the Soviet Union....when I read posts on right-wing websites and blogs such as Free Republic or Little Green Footballs, I am reminded strongly of the rage and rhetoric of the young Communist Party activists in the late 1920s....The drive to sustain the administration's alternative world, and the blind hatred and rage of many of President Bush's supporters, may well have disastrous consequences for America." [ Matthew Lenoe, author of Closer To The Masses. Stalinist Culture,Social Revolution, And Soviet Newpapers. Harvard University Press, 2004 ] An op-ed, by someone who knows a bit about totalitarianism, it reminds me of Metafilters 36201, 32747 24363....
Why does Rudy Giuliani hate our troops?
"The president was cautious the president was prudent the president did what a commander in chief should do. No matter how you try to blame it on the president the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?" Rudy Giuliani blames the troops for the current missing explosives scandal. (340K wmv file). Can we finally stop talking about this hack as a viable candidate for national office?
Pumpkin Carving; Flash
The Rise of the American Reich
Who is Laszlo Pastor ?
An in-depth and on-going study into just one of the players in the political underpinnings of America today. You may be shocked how much influence this person has and the history and background that inform his positions. Worth the time it takes to read and extensively sourced.
An in-depth and on-going study into just one of the players in the political underpinnings of America today. You may be shocked how much influence this person has and the history and background that inform his positions. Worth the time it takes to read and extensively sourced.
Yeah, but Oedipus didn't start a war.
Former Bush ghostwriter confirms Bush had plans for Iraq in 1999. Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father’s shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. “Suddenly, he’s at 91 percent in the polls, and he’d barely crawled out of the bunker.”
Spring Heeled and Fancy Free
1837! Victorian England is being terrorised by a bouncing marauder! Who could this masked pervert be? Was he a Lord? Was he a striped stuffed animal? Was he the 19th Century Batman? A Ska band? Why no! It's Spring Heeled Jack, scourge of the rooftops of London, Engerland...(A little pre-Halloween scare for you and a break from Election tedium for those of you requiring one)
More irregularities in Florida?
Postal Ballots go missing in Florida. "Some 60,000 absentee ballots were despatched by authorities in Broward County, north of Miami, this month. However, only 2,000 of them have been delivered. "
Boys Will Be Boys, Until They're
The President's "One Fingered Victory Salute" [Salon link, reg. required -- also here]. The Texans for Truth have unearthed a video of POTUS, back when our commander in chief was the Governor of Texas, flipping the bird to persons unknown, possibly Karen Hughes. Perhaps this is what Mr. Bush meant by "kindness, goodwill, and decency".
I live for databases
October 27
I have a feeling we're not in Christchurch anymore, Frodo...
Hobbits found near New Zealand! A new species of human, only 4 feet tall and dating to only 18,000 years ago, has been discovered in Indonesia. It's important enough that Nature has a special issue. Even better? The tiny people hunted tiny elephants. (Journal article here, for those of you with access.)
"I'm voting for Dukakis!"
Donnie Darko in his mind's eye. (One little boy, one little man) A pretty rad article on Donnie Darko, one of my favorite movies.
Boston Red Sox 86 their curse
World (er... MLB) Champions once more. The last time the Boston Red Sox
lost was in the 86
World Series. The last time they won was 86 Years Ago, when they beat the
Chicago Cubs in the 1918 World
Series. (The Cubs finished that season with 86
wins.) This year, after retiring the Anaheim Angels 8-6,
they lost three straight to the New
York Yankees in the ALCS
and seemed to be on the verge of failing
once
again. Eight straight wins later, they finally manage to eighty-six
the Curse of the
Bambino.
Party like it's 1918
Khonnor, not Conor
Meet Connor Kirby-Long, the 17 year old wonderkid of indie electronica. From his home in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, Connor has gained attention releasing a string of internet-only EPs under the names Grandma (1, 2, 3), I, Cactus, (1) and his current moniker Khonnor (1, 2). This month Khonnor released his first full length cd, Handwriting, a stunningly beautiful album made with inspiration from artists such as Jim O'Rourke, Fennesz, Sonic Youth, The Smiths and David Sylvian.
Khonnor's official website has a cute flash game. Bonus: He used to blog. Is he hot or not?
Khonnor's official website has a cute flash game. Bonus: He used to blog. Is he hot or not?
Is it getting warmer?
Christian-right views are swaying politicians and threatening the environment. Maybe that's why the Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of global warming. Meanwhile, some experts think global warming may cause stronger hurricanes. [Via Disinformation and the Intersection.]
once in a red moon...?
Go outside and watch the eclipse [if it's night where you are]. Tonight's lunar eclipse -- visible on all continents except Australia -- marks the first time there has been an eclipse during a World Series game. If Fox is feeling generous, it could be the widest TV audience a total eclipse of a "Blood Moon" has ever had. If you're in the US, click on this time zone map to get a quicktime movie of what the moon will look like overhead in your state.
Goths for Bush
Goths for Bush: We began with a short reading from Poe and discussed the true horrors of life under George Bush. It was agreed that there is no hope, only pain and sadness and that he would continue to provide us with the same. (via WOW)
Ding-a-ling a-ling
Ding-a-ling a-ling... Who needs MP3 when we have 'Written Jingles' ? Who can forget the classic, "Bingebabah bengebabah bungebabah." See also News Themes.
Harris is.... Hard to Kill!
Missed Opportunity A Florida motorist was arrested on Wednesday on charges of trying to run down U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris.
Particular voting
Counting the Real People’s Vote. A motion for the electoral college, a separation of voters into "real people" and the "secular urban base."
Iraq says 'impossible' explosives taken before regime fall
Iraq says 'impossible' explosives taken before regime fall Bush: wrong before. Wrong again..."A top Iraqi science official said it was impossible that 350 tonnes of high explosives could have been smuggled out of a military site south of Baghdad before the regime fell last year...."
Retro Remakes
Retro Remakes is devoted to fan made remakes of classic video games.
an iconography of torture, cruelty and degradation.
Amnesty International Condemns U.S. for War on Terror Torture
Amnesty's report accused Washington of stepping onto a "well-trodden path of violating basic rights in the name of national security or 'military necessity'."
Amnesty's report accused Washington of stepping onto a "well-trodden path of violating basic rights in the name of national security or 'military necessity'."
Thinking Machine 4
Thinking Machine 4 explores the invisible, elusive nature of thought. Play chess against a transparent intelligence, its evolving thought process visible on the board before you.
From Martin Wattenberg (with Marek Walczak); they have been noted here before.
From Martin Wattenberg (with Marek Walczak); they have been noted here before.
go sox
Hey, no crying in baseball! Who would you like the Red Sox to win it for? A Sox fanboard thread dedicates the hoped-for, possibly imminent World Series championship to loved ones living and dead. NSFW, if your employer frowns on tears streaming down your cheeks.
Get Your Bootleg On
Block party!
Find out about political donors in your neighborhood Fundrace Block Party searches political donor databases and, with the input of your address and zip code, will give you a map (and spreadsheet if you like) which tells you the names and addresses of your neighbors who have supported national political candidates, and how much they contributed. You can use this information to have a block party!
Although I think this is way cool (I'm surrounded by 51 contributors to democrats and only 11 to republicans), this also struck me as a bit scary from the privacy perspective (I now know who is giving money to the whom, and where they live). Who's in *your* neighborhood? (via kottke)
Although I think this is way cool (I'm surrounded by 51 contributors to democrats and only 11 to republicans), this also struck me as a bit scary from the privacy perspective (I now know who is giving money to the whom, and where they live). Who's in *your* neighborhood? (via kottke)
I wish President Bush would... dance the cha cha!
Want a visit from the Secret Service? Talk smack about the president on your LiveJournal, and you too can be the recipient of a visit from the Men in Black. Looks like kablam was right.
Girls, Girls, XXs...
Girl Power or: Partnership status and the human sex ratio at birth: a paper by Karen Norberg
Could the sex of a child be influenced by the status of the parents' relationship at the time of conception? In a sample of 86,436 births in the United States, we find a small excess of sons among births to parents who were married or living with an opposite sex partner before the child's conception, compared to births to parents who were not. This is the first evidence that household arrangements can affect the human sex ratio at birth, and could explain the fall in the proportion of male births in some developed countries over the past thirty years.
(Data published on FirstCite registration required) via The Economist
(special note for mathowie: No word yet as to whether or not those single moms can also reliably produce offspring with an astigmatism.)
Could the sex of a child be influenced by the status of the parents' relationship at the time of conception? In a sample of 86,436 births in the United States, we find a small excess of sons among births to parents who were married or living with an opposite sex partner before the child's conception, compared to births to parents who were not. This is the first evidence that household arrangements can affect the human sex ratio at birth, and could explain the fall in the proportion of male births in some developed countries over the past thirty years.
(Data published on FirstCite registration required) via The Economist
(special note for mathowie: No word yet as to whether or not those single moms can also reliably produce offspring with an astigmatism.)
The Road To Abu Ghraib
The Road To Abu Ghraib A generation from now, historians may look back to April 28, 2004, as the day the United States lost the war in Iraq... It was a direct—and predictable—consequence of a policy, hatched at the highest levels of the administration, by senior White House officials and lawyers, in the weeks and months after 9/11. Yet the administration has largely managed to escape responsibility for those decisions; a month from election day, almost no one in the press or the political class is talking about what is, without question, the worst scandal to emerge from President Bush's nearly four years in office... Given the particular conditions faced by the president and his deputies after 9/11—a war against terrorists, in which the need to extract intelligence via interrogations was intensely pressing, but the limits placed by international law on interrogation techniques were very constricting—did those leaders have better alternatives than the one they chose? The answer is that they did. And we will be living with the consequences of the choices they made for years to come.
Guess I'll just have to vote Democratic!
Georgebush.com site blocked to viewers outside the United States. Surfers outside the US have been unable to visit the official re-election site of President George W Bush. The blocking of browsers sited outside the US began in the early hours of Monday morning.
"Wwhy should we remember anything? There is too much to remember now, too much to take in."
In search of lost time It was Jack Kerouac who first defined Robert Frank's genius, who found in it some echo of his own vision of a vast, broken-down, but still epic, America, peopled with restless and lonely dreamers. 'Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice,' wrote Kerouac in his now famous introduction to Frank's collection The Americans , 'with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America on to film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world'.
Frank's exhibition, Storylines, opens this week at the Tate Modern in London.
Oh, no! It's a computer virus!
Super Mario Bros. on ice. "That looks like Mr. Belvedere!" [15 mb .mov]
'The Dark Side of Egalitarianism'
The Law of Jante (Janteloven) was codified by the Danish-born novelist Aksel Sandemose while he was living in Norway. The Law comprises ten 'commandments', and describes an unspoken code of conformity that Sandemose felt as a stifling inhibitive influence in the town where he grew up. Later commentators have used the term more generally to refer to the anti-individualist tendencies that have traditionally pervaded Scandinavian culture, and to denote 'the dark side of egalitarianism'. Of course, the Law needn't be interpreted in such a negative light, and egalitarianism has its good side too, the difficult question being: do the benefits of equality make it worthwhile suffering the strictures of Janteloven?
October 26
A 'Curse' Born of Hate
The Unsettling Origins of the "Curse of the Bambino." As of this writing, the Boston Red Sox seem to have a good chance of breaking their 86-year championship drought, popularly attributed to a curse brought upon the Sox in 1920 when then-owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. But as Glenn Stout writes, popular wisdom (as usual) has it wrong. A fascinating article on how misplaced anti-Semitism, Henry Ford, and an influential sportswriter in thrall to baseball's controlling interests gave birth to one of the best-known pieces of baseball mythology. [via the SDMB]
books, pamphlets, and periodicals
I was wandering around the internets looking for early twentieth century ephemera and look what I found.
Digital Dada Library
“This page provides links to some of the major Dada-era publications in the International Dada Archive. These books, pamphlets, and periodicals are housed in the Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries. …Each document has been scanned in its entirety.”
EphemeraNow “is a family-friendly Web site dedicated to the commercial art of mid-century America.”
The Ephemera Society “is a non-profit body concerned with the collection, preservation, study and educational uses of printed and handwritten ephemera.”
and more!
For those of you who have complained that this place is getting too “US politics-filter” I give you Glasgow Digital Library Collections which has all sorts of stuff including a great history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932
True Oklahoma stories
Why is there a tiny video camera inside my intestines... Jeffrey Rowland, creator of WIGU, has a new comic telling "true" stories from his life.
Collect Britain
Collect Britain - The British Library portal site for collections, themed tours and virtual exhibitions, including Literary Landscapes, and Lost Gardens (several pages use flash). [via monkeyfilter]
iPod, uPod, we allPod.
AppleFilter. There's a new iPod out, with a 60 gig harddrive, colour screen, and iPhoto compatibility. There's also a Super Keen Black iPod, with U2 on it or something.
Stern versus Powell.
Howard Stern faces off against Michael Powell. Earlier today, Howard Stern finally got to confront his nemesis, FCC chair Michael Powell. This occurred, naturally, on the radio, when Howard called in to another talk show. Powell was a guest of KGO's Ronn Owens and Howard called in, asking Powell, "Does it make you nervous to talk to me?" He accuses Powell of getting his position due to nepotism; Stern also asks about Oprah's indecency, and Powell says Stern "personalizes" the debate and says "I don't think we have made any particular crusade of the Howard Stern Show or you." Howard disagrees, saying, "I hope there's no sort of retribution as a result of my phone call which I believe Michael's capable of." After Howard hangs up, Michael admits, sort of, that "Howard has an argument." KGO has audio of the show for Windows Media or RealPlayer (skip ahead to 32:05 to hear Howard's call).
Mark my words
Delta Airlines to announce chapter 11 tomorrow around noon.
boing ping boom tschak
GayTV Debuts in France
French TV Gets Gay Channel (Guardian link, reg. req.)
From the story, "Pink TV, which launched last night, promises viewers a mixture of Wonder Woman repeats, prime-time opera and gay and lesbian porn. A daily cultural review will look at issues like tourism, health, poetry and clubbing from a gay perspective, in a style which aims to be 'more cosy than cheeky'."
So does it mean I'm gay if I watch Wonder Woman repeats?
From the story, "Pink TV, which launched last night, promises viewers a mixture of Wonder Woman repeats, prime-time opera and gay and lesbian porn. A daily cultural review will look at issues like tourism, health, poetry and clubbing from a gay perspective, in a style which aims to be 'more cosy than cheeky'."
So does it mean I'm gay if I watch Wonder Woman repeats?
XM MyFi
GizmoFilter: the XM MyFi, a Walkman-style satellite radio that can store up to five hours of XM audio and displays sports scores and stock quotes. Now all they need to do is bring back Special X...
God help us if the Democrats find out.
God help us if the Democrats find out. After Cheney's .com/.org mixup, Republican domain name confusion continues as Bush campaign staffers accidentally send email--including lists of voters that may be used to challenge voters--to addresses at georgewbush.org instead of georgewbush.com
One man, one vote.. well sort of!
Democracy Republican style.
Greg Palast's film will be broadcast by Newsnight on Tuesday, 26 October, 2004 by the BBC. You can also watch the show from the BBC website, either live or on demand for 24 hours after originally broadcast, by clicking on the latest programme button.
Greg Palast's film will be broadcast by Newsnight on Tuesday, 26 October, 2004 by the BBC. You can also watch the show from the BBC website, either live or on demand for 24 hours after originally broadcast, by clicking on the latest programme button.
Hello Dolly!
NSFW: Realdoll vs. Superbabe. A side by side comparison of top of the line ($5000.00 plus) pleasure dolls. Realdoll has a removable tongue but Superbabe has no tongue at all.
Delicious Library Coming
Best damn vaporware since the fabled OSX is going soft — yup: real live software, folks! I just can't wait to scan my entire book and music library into this beast.
*drools*
Chris Harding Animation Concern
They're only in it for the money
Your Check Won't Float As of Thursday, October 28, "floating" checks will become a thing of the past. Be forewarned or stand by for major insufficient funds fees on your accounts. More info inside.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH ON DUTY
BitTorrent of Excel Saga episode 1.
It is funny. I urge you to watch it.
Preferably drunk.
There is a DVD you can buy.
The guy with the afro is the animator.
gadflyer rocks!
Why I believe in our president
by Thomas F. Schaller, Executive Editor 10.26.04
I believe in President George W. Bush.
I've always believed him. ...
by Thomas F. Schaller, Executive Editor 10.26.04
I believe in President George W. Bush.
I've always believed him. ...
Sad day for music.
Legendary radio DJ John Peel dies of heart attack at 65. Peel's contribution to modern music and culture was "immeasurable".
Polling truth
With one week to go, Americans are being inundated by polls. At least 112 have been published for the presidential contest in the last week alone. Democratic pollster Mark Blumenthal maintains that, in the campaign's last hours, we tend to see 'undecided' voters 'break' for the challenger.
Testing this theory, blogger Chris Bowers examined presidential poll results since 1976, and calculated that undecided voters broke for the challenger 86% of the time.
So, is this really how it's going to turn out? Are the Republicans' attempts to 'steal' another election going to bear any fruit?
March.
October 25
Wikinews
Wikinews: "Wikinews is a proposed project with the goal to collaboratively report and summarize news on all subjects from a neutral point of view." It looks like MoJo lives, kind of, but we weren't the ones who ended up building it. Bummer. [via]
Natural Gas Boom Time
Natural gas provides a quarter of our nation's energy. Most of it is produced domestically as well. One arid region of Wyoming finds itself in the middle of this boom.
limecat is not pleased
Limecat is not pleased. In the grand tradition of oolong comes Limecat, who is not pleased.
Also available, Limecat Mini: "The world's smallest displeased cat. Five new colors."
Also available, Limecat Mini: "The world's smallest displeased cat. Five new colors."
Pamphlets for all.
The very cool Prickly Paradigm Press is starting to release its back catalog under the Creative Commons license. [via]
Food Patriots Launch Pie Assault on Ann Coulter
"Al Pieda" Targets Ann Coulter
Members of the notorious culinary terrorist group "Al Pieda" launched an attack on Ann Coulter while she was speaking at the University of Arizona. The report says some pie got on her face but attendants were able to wipe it off before she received any nutrional value from the pie.
Not to be confused with the notorious math group "Al Gebra", who would have probably thrown a slide rule at her.
Members of the notorious culinary terrorist group "Al Pieda" launched an attack on Ann Coulter while she was speaking at the University of Arizona. The report says some pie got on her face but attendants were able to wipe it off before she received any nutrional value from the pie.
Not to be confused with the notorious math group "Al Gebra", who would have probably thrown a slide rule at her.
Switchers
World supports Kerry: BBC World Service's online poll
World supports Kerry: BBC World Service's online poll results by language, religion, sex and age
"Nazis looking for the Abominable Snowman".
Himmler's Crusade: The True Story of the 1938 Nazi Expedition to Tibet. In 1935, the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler founded an organisation called Ancestral Heritage , to uncover the hidden past of the Aryan race he and his Führer regarded as the noblest and most vital force in human
history. One of the scientific missions Himmler sponsored was a multitasked expedition to Tibet under the leadership of ornithologist Ernst Schäfer, an expert on rare Tibetan birds who liked to smear the blood of exotic kills on his face. Schäfer recruited an anthropologist to measure noses and skulls and to make face-masks; a geographer who specialised in the earth's
geomagnetism; and a botanist who was also handy with a film camera. They managed to con their way into Tibet, past the British. The expedition is at the basis of a masterful story by Jim Shepard, the author of Love and Hydrogen (full text). More inside.
Literary Seance?
Whay Would Bill Hicks Say? An essay contest that is attempting to channel a dead comedian. On the bright side, there are prizes and they encourage you to rant.
Supreme Court Judge Hospitalized - ThyroidFilter
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has been hospitalized for treatment of thyroid cancer. Doctors expect to release the 80 year old chief justice later this week. Rehnquist had a tracheotomy on Sunday after being admitted to Bethesda on Friday. More coverage abounds.
Rock the draft
Rock the Vote last month sent out about 600,000 emails to prospective voters regarding the possilbility of a draft. Now GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie has sent a cease and desist letter to try to get RTV to stop. You can read Gillespie's letter(pdf) as well as Rock the Vote's head Jehmu Greene's response(pdf).
crime
Identity theft is epidemic.
The greatest children's toy in the world
The greatest children's toy in the world? A railway run largely by children aged 10-14 with full sized trains. The Hungarian one is perhaps the best known, but there are others in the former soviet republics.
Rodriguez v Bush et al
Someone finally gets around to lodging an attempt to prove to the standards of a court of law that Bush Knew about 9/11 in advance, among other evil deeds. Now what?
Free Speech on Demand
Freespeeches.net is the future of television. Videoblogging focuses the global scope of TV down to the substantive issues that matter. Freespeeches.net concentrates on politics, offering several brief, easily downloadable clips a week of voices ranging from Bush to Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik. (Ann Coulter's riff on "camel-riding nomads" is particularly grotesque.) See videoblogging.info for an introduction to this rapidly up-and-coming new medium, and then check out Underground Clips and Demand Media too. They watch TV so you don't have to.
Army Reserve Training Transition
Transitioning the Army Reserve to train Iraqi troops in order to return coalition forces into rotation. Philip W. Young's photoblog offers valuable perspective from the trenches, and his most recent post this weekend discusses his and others' responses to this AP article.
October 24
A nice little movie
A nice little movie The republican convention
Emotional Rescue
PIPA : who's your daddy ? "
"The roots of the Bush supporters' resistance to information....very likely lie in the traumatic experience of 9/11 and equally in the near pitch-perfect leadership that President Bush showed in its immediate wake. This appears to have created a powerful bond between Bush and his supporters"
weapons on the loose
The Coalition's lack of preparation left 380 tons of high explosives unprotected in Iraq. Now it looks like the DoD tried to cover it up. Where is your surprise now? (first one is NYT)
Old News of a Broken Land
Six decades of Brooklyn as chronicled by the paper that Walt Whitman edited for two years. The Brooklyn Public Library has made available a searchable version of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1841-1902. Among other things chronicled, Brooklyn's version of Draft Riots, the death of Lincoln as well as many bits and pieces that simply illuminate urban life more than a century ago. And, of course, there are ads.
Maybe I should Jrun more?
In your face Nevada... What's your states percentage of obese adults?
The Real Deal on Stem Cells
Goodbye to the Turkey
Last operational flight of the F-14s Speaking of gravity-defying cats...
Remember the F-14, Tom Cruise's favorite ride? It's the end of an era for the venerable warbird. The variable-geometry Tomcat was the last carrier aircraft built specifically for fleet defense and long-range interception -- in fact, it grew up with a dedicated weapon system just for the job. Like any cat with nine lives, it showed up doingnew and different things. In its later years it found a new role as a precision-strike aircraft (the "BombCat") and nearly lived to be the bridge to the new F-35 multirole Joint Strike Fighter.
Excuse the warmongering. What can I say...I was bored with the lousy NFL early games on TV this afternoon..
Endorsement: Kerry for President
Endorsement: Kerry for President Ok. The NY Times endorsed Kerry. And now the Washington Post. But now the Orlando-Sentinel, a paper that has not endorsed a Demcorat in the past 40 years!
"Four years ago, the Orlando Sentinel endorsed Republican George W. Bush for president based on our trust in him to unite America. We expected him to forge bipartisan solutions to problems while keeping this nation secure and fiscally sound.
This president has utterly failed to fulfill our expectations. We turn now to his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, with the belief that he is more likely to meet the hopes we once held for Mr. Bush.
Our choice was not dictated by partisanship. Already this election season, the Sentinel has endorsed Republican Mel Martinez for the U.S. Senate and four U.S. House Republicans. In 2002, we backed Republican Gov. Jeb Bush for re-election, repeating our endorsement of four years earlier. Indeed, it has been 40 years since the Sentinel endorsed a Democrat -- Lyndon Johnson -- for president...."
Mmmm Chocolatey goodness
Consumer Reports for Kids publishes the results of The Great Halloween Candy Report. Be sure to take the Candy Bar test: A bit childish, but oh such chocolatey fun.
Cat in Zero Gravity - Animal Testing at its Most Bizarre
massive change
The time has come to set the record straight
Wolfpacks for truth. They thought they were shooting a Greenpeace commercial!
One hell of a good sailor
Devil and the deep blue sea. A devil-worshipping non-commissioned officer in the Royal Navy has become the first registered Satanist in the British Armed Forces. Chris Cranmer, a naval technician serving on the Type 22 frigate Cumberland, has been officially recognised as a Satanist by the ship's captain. That allows him to perform Satanic rituals aboard and permits him to have a funeral carried out by the Church of Satan should he be killed in action.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy insisted that Mr Cranmer's unconventional beliefs would not cause problems on board ship. "We are an equal opportunities employer and we don't stop anybody from having their own religious values".
Followers of the Church of Satan live by the Nine Satanic Statements, which include Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek”
Masamania
Masamania. Not safe for work! 'Hi, this is masamania who create this page, MasaManiA.com. This page is made up of photos I actually take in twon. .I hope I can show and tell you the real, true Japan that cannot be seen in other mas media. I am living in Tokyo, Japan. I was born in Japan, grown up in Japan, study English in Japan. This is the reason I can speak Engrish. Some people complain that my updating and email response is slow. And other people conplain that my englsih is poor. '
October 23
flap flap flap
The Ornithopter Zone Your source for all your flapping wing flying machine needs. Check out the links page for more of these beautifully impractical aircraft.
Ashlee Vanilli
Why I love live TV. Anyone remember Elvis Costello shaking things up a bit on SNL in 1977? Succulent pop-star Ashlee Simpson did the same thing tonight only it wasn't intentional. Appears the lip synch track started before she was ready. Video also mirrored here if first one gets filtered'
Tactical Alert?
Keith Who-berman? Didn't he use to be on ESPN?
O'Reilly Competitor Offers to Buy O'Reilly/Mackris Tapes to Prevent Them From Being Destroyed!
An vital action to save history from a permanent cover-up? An abdication of journalistic integrity? A publicity stunt for a show with one-eighth the audience of Bill O's? A major act of snarkiness from a newbie journo-blogger? Or just another reason Olbermann never should've quit doing sports?
This post: CableNewsFilter? PepsiBlueState? SchadenfreudianSlip? JournalisticSharkJump? Or the most important story you'll see on MeFi this weekend?
An vital action to save history from a permanent cover-up? An abdication of journalistic integrity? A publicity stunt for a show with one-eighth the audience of Bill O's? A major act of snarkiness from a newbie journo-blogger? Or just another reason Olbermann never should've quit doing sports?
This post: CableNewsFilter? PepsiBlueState? SchadenfreudianSlip? JournalisticSharkJump? Or the most important story you'll see on MeFi this weekend?
A Blivet
A Blivet. More nuclear waste than the planned repository at Yucca Mountain can hold will pile up at reactor sites as the government continues to approve license extensions for power plants, an environmental research organization claimed in a study to be released today.
If a repository is built by 2010 in the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, its 77,000-ton capacity will be filled by existing spent fuel awaiting shipment. That's not counting another 9,900 tons that will have accumulated in the meantime from license extensions, according to the study by the Environmental Working Group.
The CXT Truck | I like em' Big and Stupid
And they're like, it's better than yours. The automotive arms race continues -- what's bigger than a Hummer or Ford F350? The Navistar CXT. Or is this all about hauling power for people who don't just want to buy a Kenworth?
Lace Me Up
Kitundu - Sound Artist
Take my ballot away out of my cold, dead hands
160 observers couldn't monitor the election in Bexar County Texas, let alone the whole US. -- National Journal's Charlie Cook. A hundred and sixty, though, isn't the half of it. [plenty more inside]
Hawaii Mosaics
Contemporary Tibetan Painting
Calling all ?assassins?
At what point does it become a little counter productive? While it's no secret that The Guardian is hoping for Kerry to win isn't there a level of rhetoric that hurts their cause? As their recent forays into influenceing the US vote might have shown them. Is a columnist hoping for assasination over the line? "... John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?"
PayPal delists gay sites
Not porn, just gay PayPal suddenly delists queer sites: “[H]e raised objections to PalPal’s action, saying his organization’s aim is to educate the public on ways to avoid AIDS. He said PayPal never responded to his concerns.... PayPal sent [another site owner] a reply saying the company would consider reinstating his account if he submits a statement promising to ‘remove the book covers wherein individuals are touching each other’ ”
And so it starts...
SEIU union and other Democratic groups have been holding rallies at early voting locations in Palm Beach County, where they have a captive audience of voters standing in line. Normally campaign workers can not come with in 50 feet of polling places, but apparently that rule does not apply to this year's new Early Voting in Florida.
One woman who voted early in Boca Raton, at the Southwest County Regional Library, complained that as she stood in line, two men behind her were "trashing our president," Fletcher said, declining to identify the woman. She tried to ignore them. Then the man touched her arm and said, "Who are you voting for?"
"I said, `I don't think that's an appropriate question,'" the woman said she responded.
"Uh oh! We have a Bush supporter here," screamed the man behind her.
For the 2 1/2 hours she had to wait in line, she was heckled by the man. As they neared the voting room, someone in the rear of the line yelled, "I sure hope everyone here is voting for Kerry!" she reported.
That's when the man behind her held his hand over her head and screamed, "We have a Republican right here!" There were "boos and jeers" from the crowd.
One woman who voted early in Boca Raton, at the Southwest County Regional Library, complained that as she stood in line, two men behind her were "trashing our president," Fletcher said, declining to identify the woman. She tried to ignore them. Then the man touched her arm and said, "Who are you voting for?"
"I said, `I don't think that's an appropriate question,'" the woman said she responded.
"Uh oh! We have a Bush supporter here," screamed the man behind her.
For the 2 1/2 hours she had to wait in line, she was heckled by the man. As they neared the voting room, someone in the rear of the line yelled, "I sure hope everyone here is voting for Kerry!" she reported.
That's when the man behind her held his hand over her head and screamed, "We have a Republican right here!" There were "boos and jeers" from the crowd.
Twenty-one reasons Bush went to war
Twenty-one reasons Bush took us to war Now in convenient chart form for those of you playing along at home.
Animals in the News
Wacky World Animal News Round-up:
Fat males refuse to mate in China's crocodile farm,
Stray dogs hunt and kill gazelles in Missouri, and
Coyote, kangaroo, or Chihuahua, what is that thing in Texas?
Federal ballot available online for overseas voters
The Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot is an option for the many American citizens overseas who have not yet received an absentee ballot, and therefore will not be able to mail ballots prior to Election Day. There is also additional information on how various states handle the ballot, and further information from the two main parties at Republicans Abroad and Democrats Abroad.
Road Blocks
Since you don't have anything else to do today, here's a Flash puzzle game called Road Blocks. (Via Fark, which contains spoilers)
Mona Lisa.
October 22
Ohio. Ohio. Ohio.
Big G.O.P. Bid to Challenge Voters at Polls in Key State Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots.
Marriage is for WIMPS AND SISSIES!
"The sissy institution of marriage must not be perverted by sinners who are capable of abstaining! The sacred union of church and state must prohibit the immoral union of men and women capable of the discipline of sexual abstinence." This message, among others, was placed in the Oregon voters' guide by the Special Righteousness Committee. (A little more explanation here.)
Iraq success story! 87% of Iraqis look forward to voting!
Iraq success story! 87% of Iraqis look forward to voting! ... but not for Allawi! How about Abdel Aziz Hakim instead? He's the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and former leader of his own Iranian-trained and armed paramilitary army. Hakim was once part of Da'wa, an organization that bombed the US embassy in Kuwait in '83 and gave birth to Hezbollah. In the '90s, Da'wa and SCIRI seperated ideologically, with claims that SCIRI were Iranian lackeys. SCIRI now claims to have gone political, and although they enforce Sharia standards in Basra, they now claim to be pro-democracy and opposed to an Islamic state. Many secular Iraqis don't trust Hakim's motives or his close ties to Iran, however.
"(The U.S. occupation) is primarily responsible for (the death of my brother) and the blood that is shed all over Iraq every day. Iraq must not remain occupied and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do."
- Abdel Aziz Hakim
"(The U.S. occupation) is primarily responsible for (the death of my brother) and the blood that is shed all over Iraq every day. Iraq must not remain occupied and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do."
- Abdel Aziz Hakim
Oh conservatism, thou art sick!
Becoming what you hate : Nathan Sproul, case study in moral relativism on the Religious Right "former head of the Arizona Republican Party and of the Arizona Christian Coalition....Sproul is connected with the Republican National Committee-funded voter registration organization, Voters' Outreach of America Inc." - Sproul's firm is accused of fraud and the destruction of voter registration forms. He also failed to pay his workers and his office rent. Rick Perlstein, in the Village Voice, comments on the Sproul scandal : "Both sides are not equally bad, and any reporters who don't recognize that conservatism's very core has become shot through with a culture of mendacity should turn in their press badge.....
It used to be that we could count on the conscience of conservatives to protect our democratic institutions."
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes might seem like just another album review site, but if they also have this great "Automatic Mix Tape Generator" that produces gems like these: 1 | 2 | 3.
fall down: go boom
Crashes and explosions as art: (QT video) So the folks at Coudal.com had a one day video editing contest. the trick was to set Nasa crash test footage to music... And some amazing entries followed. (Warning: if you are freaked out by airplane crashes move right along [no one was hurt in this endeavor])
Obsess Much?
Star Wars: The Changes compares screen shots of the original movies with the special edition releases and the new DVD.
Marketing-induced Dizziness
U2-style Friday Flash Fun. They join the ranks of Flash game marketeers in the promotion of their new single, Vertigo, and upcoming album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. And by the way, someone found the contents of that briefcase that got stolen in Portland 23 years ago.
My post iz pastede on yay!
My Hed Iz Pastede On Yay. This Thread Iz Pastede On Yay! My S2 Iz Pastede On Yay! My red iz pastede on yay! My gold medal iz pastede on yay! My Bond iz pastede on yay! Your face iz pastede on yay? Your religion iz pastede on yay. Six months on, the meme is only just getting started. (Support provided by the Google Meme Observatory.)
Godzilla, Tintin and Daffy
As matteo's thread noted earlier this week, the Godzilla PR Monster is rampaging over the University of Kansas, but that's just a stop on the way to his ultimate destination: The Hollywood Walk of Fame, where the Big Green Guy will get his own star just in time for the premeire of his latest flick, joining previous ficticious recipients Big Bird, Bugs Bunny, Kermit the Frog, Pee-Wee Herman, Mickey Mouse, The Rugrats and Woody Woodpecker (and maybe Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger), and ahead of Donald Duck.
In other news, The Democratic Republic of Congo is comparing Belgium's foreign minister to Tintin (and not in a nice way).
And Daffy Duck is running for president. (Throwing his beak into the ring?) The state of American politics must be pretty pathetic if Daffy gets the nod over Bugs Bunny...
In other news, The Democratic Republic of Congo is comparing Belgium's foreign minister to Tintin (and not in a nice way).
And Daffy Duck is running for president. (Throwing his beak into the ring?) The state of American politics must be pretty pathetic if Daffy gets the nod over Bugs Bunny...
Golem XIV by Stanislaw Lem.
Golem XIV by Stanislaw Lem.
For me to ... eh, fuck it.
Conan follows John Stewart: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog conducts interviews in Spin Alley.
DevEdge sidebar
Netscape DevEdge sidebar replacement. for those of you (like me) who used the old DevEdge sidebar as an essential tool in web development, the quick and easy CSS/HTML/DOM reference sidebar for mozilla has been rescued, thanks to the power of the internet wayback machine. this made my day - hope it helps some of you.
rat brain in a jar
wow..and it can fly a flight sim using only the power of its mind.....via boing boing
Paul Nitze, 1907-2004
A Walk in the Woods. Farewell to the original Cold War warrior: Paul Nitze, the college professor's son who went to Hotchkiss and Harvard and worked as investment banker before going to Washington in 1940, where he quickly became one of the chief architects of American policy towards the Soviet Union. His doctrine of "strategic stability" became its cornerstone for half a century (Nitze held key government posts in Washington, from the era of Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan's, when he was the White House's guru on arms control).
By the end of 1949, Nitze had become director of the State Department's policy planning staff, helping to devise the role of Nato, deciding to press ahead with the manufacture of the H-bomb, and producing National Security Council document 68, the document at the heart of the Cold War: in it, Nitze called for a drastic expansion of the U.S. military budget. The paper also expanded containment’s scope beyond the defense of major centers of industrial power to encompass the entire world. (NSC-68 was a top secret paper, written in April 1950 and declassified in the 70's, called "United States Objectives and Programs for National Security"). More inside.
Bigfoot Field Researchers' Organisation
Feeling lonely? Terrified? Isolated from the World Community?
Feeling lonely? Terrified? Isolated from the World Community? Call now. Real girls are standing by to tell you exactly what you want to hear.
Let's Pie!
PepsiBlueAndIDon'tCareFilter
Mercedes Benz site Mix Tape. Free downloadable MP3 mix. Features mostly downtempo, wallpapery tracks.
MP3 Community Blog
MP3 4U.com is like a Metafilter for free, legal MP3s. Looks like it's been around a while, but never caught on.
Or maybe it's just the voter's fault
Blackbox Voting, take 6. While lawsuits elsewhere seek to require paper trails or block e-voting altogether, early voting in some states is already using the controversial machines. Take New Mexico, for example: "I voted for Kerry and a check mark for Bush appeared." It's not that funny anymore — especially when most of the fears aren't about what you do see, but what you don't.
The PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll - The American Public on International Issues
University Study - Most Bush Voters Are Extremely Stupid [Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format]
Catholics for Kerry?
Think that Bush has the Catholic vote sewn up? Think again. Despite the efforts of some to make Catholics one-issue voters, many Catholics are more concerned with the views on social justice [pdf] of the Church in this hotly contested [Real] race. It’s a weird year to be a Catholic voter.
Yeah, I'm a geek - but I've got company!
Don't Forget to Pack the Scimitar (NYT Link): Mainstream media covers
Live
Action
Role
Playing
in
a
way
that
makes
us
sound
only
a
little
like
freaks.
Shake it 'till you make it.
Shakeskin.com — An international gallery of faces in motion.
Hawthorne Interactive
The Spectator, a family newspaper conceived and edited by 16-year-old Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the portal to this Flash exhibit commemorating the bicentennial of the author's birth.
What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen
Red Sox "Nation" After the Boston police take full responsibility for the killing of a student at the ALCS celebrations on Wedensday night/Thrusday morning, the Mayor takes aim at thugs and threatens bans on alcohol sales, bars showing the series in the city, and expulsion of students. The city wants more police presence at the World Series. Many news reports refer to mayhem and riots, but "video footage from the scene showed large crowds but no sign of rioting." Is this the face of the new Sox?
Fellowship 9/11
Fellowship 9/11 is Michael Moore's latest damning documentary looking at how the Aragorn administration has twisted the hearts and minds of Middle Earth, ranging from interviews with Rep. Grima Wormtongue (D) to the folks at Minas Flint, a obscure, small town in Mordor used for recruiting. Online at iFilm.
October 21
“Stop acting like you're Thor. You're not even Xena!”
To put it bluntly, Loincloth is the most amazing fucking metal band in existence right now. Personally, all I'm trying to say is: yes, I'm a fucking homo. And I'm a goddamn motherfucker of a metal guitar player with my metal brother, who's not a fucking homo. Nobody else in the band's a fucking homo. And this 25% gay band will kick anybody's ass! (via The American Mastodon)
I seen more than one cop like to crap his pants.
"I do know how to mess it up -- and cops -- well, I have a sweet ride: I have an IROC Camaro which I keep waxed and shined so radar won't pick it up -- like the stealth bomber.... plus, my girl was knob nibbling." {3.5mb mp3}
Spitzer attacks music industry
Go Eliot, Go! The real Ralph Nader has now targeted the record companies and radio networks. Payola is back and wrecking radio. Salon has been hammering on this, Tom Petty wrote a song about it, we all have been feeling its effects, and finally maybe something will be done. At the very least, a serious attack dog is on the issue.
YAD CKOL SPAC
OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!!
EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!!!!
EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!!!!
Cetacean Community v. Bush
Doplhins and whales have no standing to sue. This is a sad day for the cetacean community. The time for revolution is now.
A Typographer's Call To Arms
Help is needed to save the Imprimerie Nationale, one of the greatest repositories of typographic material in the world. (If you have ever used a Garamond revival, or a Didot or a Fournier, you are indebted to the Imprimerie.) Their collection, which spans four centuries, is scheduled to be dissolved in the next twelve months.
quoted from Jonathan Hoefler's email that posted by benson to the typophile forums
quoted from Jonathan Hoefler's email that posted by benson to the typophile forums
So we all lose?
Lying liars want their lies reported? --There's a bigger problem, the most sobering lesson of this campaign. It's that lies, even when exposed, work. Indeed, we're seeing a diabolical paradox: That exposing the lie enables it to work. Ethics anyone?
Say Neigh To Crime
My Little Justice League "Here you can enjoy the sight of your favorite heroes--well, MY favorite heroes, really, but maybe some of yours will overlap--as ponies."
P.Diddy's gonna be pist
American teens have spoken, and they want George W. Bush for president. Nearly 1.4 million teens voted in the nation's largest mock election, and the Republican incumbent wound up with 393 electoral votes and 55 percent of the total votes cast.
McOpoly
McOpoly. Let the games begin. Now we have a reason to eat at McDonalds every day. However, it is funny how so many million dollar winners have been convicted of fraud in the past. Imagine winning the ultimate prize.
PepsiBlue Heart Surgery. The New and Improved MITeSAW
Picture perfect!
A thousand pictures is worth a word.
MacOSaix is a Mac OSX program that lets you make those wacky photomosaics, using either images on disk, or Google image searches.
Not sure how these folks feel about it, but I think it's way cool.
MacOSaix is a Mac OSX program that lets you make those wacky photomosaics, using either images on disk, or Google image searches.
Not sure how these folks feel about it, but I think it's way cool.
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 2004
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 2004 - by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Sleeeeeepy
I hate mondays. I love lasagna. I like naps. I hate Odie. I bet anyone of you people is funnier than Jim Davis' Garfield. Here's your chance.
Hey, at least it isn't political.
The Llama Song Flash....
I'm Not Sure They REALLY Regret the Errors
Regret The Error is a blog that collects "corrections, retractions, clarifications, and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in North American media." This may well be a NewsFilterFilter, but any site that gives me "In fact, it is impossible to determine the linguistic background of the demonstrator in the monkey suit" is okay in my book.
Mission Accomplished
"They can spin this any way they want, but a win is a win."
Four minutes into the debate, Mr. O'Reilly declares Mr. Bush the winner and abruptly excuses himself, saying, "I've got a few phone calls to make."
Four minutes into the debate, Mr. O'Reilly declares Mr. Bush the winner and abruptly excuses himself, saying, "I've got a few phone calls to make."
Simtastic GWB vs. JFK
George Bush & John Kerry living together in the Sims 2. First things heat up, then they really get hot. Just wait until they meet their new neighbors! Via.
The Voterizer
The Voterizer
Are you unsure of who to vote for amid all of the rhetoric and misdirection in this election season? Perhaps you'd like to get to the meat of each candidate's stance on the issues with the bias of knowing who said what? (don't worry, you'll get the full scoop later)
The Voterizer (my name for it since they have no name attached) can help you determine which of the two candidates most closely aligns with your beliefs.
via Captain Normal
Are you unsure of who to vote for amid all of the rhetoric and misdirection in this election season? Perhaps you'd like to get to the meat of each candidate's stance on the issues with the bias of knowing who said what? (don't worry, you'll get the full scoop later)
The Voterizer (my name for it since they have no name attached) can help you determine which of the two candidates most closely aligns with your beliefs.
via Captain Normal
Potty training time for pundit
Don't they teach these kids anything in school ? History ? Punctuation ? And what's that smell ? - Conservative Adam Yoshida steps in it, inadvertently calls for reversal of 1965 Civil Rights bill, arguing for the disenfranchisement of 20% of the voting public through the reinstitution of poll tests (outlawed in 1965). Plus, his punctuation is awful ! : " we should consider maintaining (or even increasing) their benefits while, at the exact same time, making it harder for them to vote (I recommend modern and simple literacy tests for this purpose.
From my extensive time spent examining present and future members of our underclass, I'mquite convinced that a series of simple language and math questions would be enough to discourage them from voting). "
From my extensive time spent examining present and future members of our underclass, I'mquite convinced that a series of simple language and math questions would be enough to discourage them from voting). "
Giant Robot, use rockets!
Zinc Panic is an archive of Japanese robot culture, documenting everything from the '50s to the present. From cataloging the genera of characters on shows such as Giant Robo and robography of people like Tezuka Osamu, to the latest robo news. See also Rocket Punch Go! [Via Engadget]
Porn to run
Porn and politics bump and grind synergistically in an erotic flick benefiting the Kerry campaign. With the hotly contested election looming, nothing brings our country together like pornography. At least that's the theory behind Fahrenheit 69: The Porn for Kerry DVD.
A group of Ivy League grads, appalled by the prospect of four more years of Bush, seized the opportunity to meld their passions for business, politics and porn into Porn for Progress. The crew, led by Executive Director "Dick Tater," a 23-year-old Wharton biz-school alum, spent two months creating this full-length film, which retails for $19.99 (more info at www.pornforprogress.com [WARNING: some content VERY NSFW]).[mi]
Come back when you're thinner!
"No soup for you! Only salad!" The Soup Nazi stars in a Center for Consumer Freedom ad about overeating and the "calorie curmudgeons" trying to regulate it.
PIN HEADS
The neo-cons are pushing a law through Congress that would "acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty [and] government" in the United States. What's more, it would forbid all legal challenges to government officials who use the power of the state to enforce their own view of "God's sovereign authority." Any judge who dared even hear such a challenge could be removed from office.
You don't believe it? It's called Constitution Restoration Act of 2004.
the game gets ugly
Remember the (Crawford, TX) Lone Start Iconoclast's Kerry endorsement? Here's a second editorial, describing the fallout from it. Apparently some people took it pretty hard. The Iconoclast published letters to the editor, too.
Whoa! I know ferret-fu!
Idle your visual cortexes on this ... There's some interesting science in here about how much of our brains we humans use, but for the rest of today I'll be using my spare brainwidth to picture "The Matrix" with ferrets. (via Dynamist, via PunditDrome!)
Bullet points are not inherently evil
You've seen the
art, you've read the Gettysburg address, but is Microsoft Powerpoint responsible for the Decline of Civilization and is impactful a real word? (note: the last link is a Real audio file)
Because Blood is Thicker Than Oil
Bush Relatives for Kerry grew out of a series of conversations that took place between a group of people that have two things in common: they are all related to George Walker Bush, and they are all voting for John Kerry. As the election approaches, we feel it is our responsibility to speak out about why we are voting for John Kerry, and to do our small part to help America heal from the sickness it has suffered since George Bush was appointed President in 2000. We invite you to read our stories, and please, don't vote for our cousin!
FUCK YOU INTERTNET
Michael Moore giving Farenheit 9/11 out for free October 26th to any participating independant video store. In other non related news, National Geographic calculates that 85% of young Americans cannot point out Iraq on a map.
October 20
Red Sox Win
Underdog to NY Yankees --> "Who's YOUR Daddy?"
Stock Drops Stolen Honor Dropped
Sinclair Broadcast Group drops full airing of "Stolen Honor Wounds That Never Heal" but will only show excerpts concurrent with discussion of its claims. "Sinclair announced on Tuesday that it would not broadcast the entire film and that it planned to use segments in a special news program on 40 of its 62 stations tomorrow night. According to a press release, that program, "A P.O.W. Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," will examine how politically charged films like "Stolen Honor" are being used in the campaign and how the news media treat their content." (NY Times, reg. req'd.)
What If Roe Fell?
The State-by-State Consequences of Overturning Roe v. Wade (PDF.) Over 70 million American women could lose access to abortion in their states, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Fred Flintstone: Rockefeller Republican, Nixon Supporter
Political Leanings of Selected Cartoon Characters Did you know that Mickey Mouse is an extreme right-wing Republican (some say even a John Bircher)? (brought to you from way way back in 1996, as a result of this thread)
The Dolmette
The Dolmette. It's a motorcycle, see. But it's not a normal motorcycle, 'cause it's powered by 24 chain saw engines.
Invitations to a wedding I don't want to go to
US military accuses Reuters of lying.
US military accuses Reuters of lying. Reuters had a camera crew on hand to see people digging a man, a woman, and four children out of a house in Falluja, and have video footage of this up on their site. The US military denies this ever happened, and have released a statement saying that "intelligence sources indicate a known Zarqawi propagandist is passing false reports to the media." Incredible...
The Power of nightmares.
The power of nightmares. I just saw the first episode of this, the BBC's midweek / BBC2 / largely unadvertised television series. This first episode dealt with the rise of neoconservatism from it's roots as a political "solution" to the perceived failure of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society (a) (b) (c) and the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism from Sayyid Qutb through and past the assasination of Anwar Sadat. More biased liberal information on the show here and here. I urge you to beg, borrow, steal or download this series / Commie propaganda.
If a Tree Falls in The Forest...
MonsterSlash
Posting this because I thought it was a well done bit of "creative re-use" (Bobby Pickett, the original creator of "The MonsterMash" agreed to playfully re-record his 1962 hit tune), but also because I often wonder why it is that the powers of clever marketing aren't put to better use by non-profit organizations with axes to grind. What do you do if your group advocates for an issue that is not exactly at the top of the list of concerns this election season? Do you think this is an effectively delivered message?
Posting this because I thought it was a well done bit of "creative re-use" (Bobby Pickett, the original creator of "The MonsterMash" agreed to playfully re-record his 1962 hit tune), but also because I often wonder why it is that the powers of clever marketing aren't put to better use by non-profit organizations with axes to grind. What do you do if your group advocates for an issue that is not exactly at the top of the list of concerns this election season? Do you think this is an effectively delivered message?
whew, makes me tired
Going to visit Moscow, the long way around. This past June Tim Harvey and Colin Angus set off on an entirely human-powered expedition from Vancouver to Moscow. The CBC has a page with running audio reports from the field. Who says the age of adventure is over?
Man 1, Bank 0
You know those fake but real-looking checks for absurd amounts of money that sometimes show up in your mailbox? Go ahead, deposit it. This guy did.
Turner Prize 2004
The 2004 Turner Prize nominees have been announced. Some of the featured works will probably arouse the usual controversy. One is an interactive digital tour of Osama Bin Laden's home by Langlands & Bell. The favourite is Jeremy Deller.
Photos for Peace
Autobiography
Chapter 1. Excerpt from Bob Dylan's autobiographical book, Chronicles, Volume One.
Stuck up pussy.
Faze? Are you still with us?
Some time ago Faze asked if it was legal to sell your vote. Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking of this.
2%
2 Percent: Original recipe.
Extra crispy.
It's not that tough a choice.
So, what's up with those undecided voters? A slightly more polite version of Samantha Bee's "How the f*** do you dress yourself in the morning?!" question.
Extra crispy.
It's not that tough a choice.
So, what's up with those undecided voters? A slightly more polite version of Samantha Bee's "How the f*** do you dress yourself in the morning?!" question.
PUPPETS MAKING CRANK CALLS
Relax, it's all in your mind.
Mindball is a game where two players control a ball with their brain waves. The player being most relaxed wins the game. (Vids in the promotional material section.) Via the supercool Sensory Impact: The Culture of Objects blog.
Got delusion?
"We're not going to have any casualties." This is the response that George W Bush gave to Pat Robertson, during a meeting in which Robertson expressed deep misgivings about the impending war in Iraq. There's been a lot of discussion about just how self-assured the President is on his positions (and how he won't admit any mistakes), but where does assurance end and delusion begin?
Kill the television
TV-B-Gone. A remote with only one button: Off.
John Kerry supports JRUN
John Kerry supports using evil powers to blast back a crowd
The lighter side of photo ops. [via MoFi]
The lighter side of photo ops. [via MoFi]
After 26 years of remaining unidentified, it has been confirmed that Jandek has come out of hiding, playing a set at the Instal festival in Glasgow on October 17. [previous MeFi Jandek discussion]
October 19
Follow the flu
The National Flu Surveillance Network maps flu threats at the state and zipcode levels. They also have an animated map of previous seasons. The CDC also has a map of activity included in the weekly updates at their flu site.
Iran endorses Bush
Iranian regime endorses Bush, saying democrats have historically "harmed Iran." Head of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Hassan Rowhani, is very close to the hardline leader, Ali Khamanei. But the truth is Republicans have always helped dictators in Iran,. Biggest example: 1953 coup that toppled Mossadeq, the extremely popular elected official prime minister of Iran and brought back the tyrant Shaah.
I made it quick, because it wasn't personal, it's just business.
What's at stake?
Fans of Joss Whedon are being asked to shell out thirty-five bucks a piece to hear Buffy's creator answer questions over a speaker phone, and remind them to vote for Kerry. Meanwhile "Buffy" herself is known to pose for the other guys. One might wish people really tune out celebrity opinions on politics. Does it change minds or are they already made up? Even when the facts are fiction. Should celebrities shut up or do they have the right to speak out? What, or rather who, influences you?
ABC News is predicting that John Kerry is the next President ... and Susan Johnson has just won $10 million!
An Election Lottery?
We've had decades of handwringing and civics lectures while voting continues to plunge. This is America, dammit. If everything else pays, why shouldn't voting?
We've had decades of handwringing and civics lectures while voting continues to plunge. This is America, dammit. If everything else pays, why shouldn't voting?
Vietnam Veterans for George W. Bush?
Vietnam Veterans for George W. Bush? "This web site was created and personally paid for by a Vietnam combat veteran as a service to his country and has no financial connection with any political party or campaign organization."
...and he does not pussy foot around!
Whither American Empire
Dreams of Empire, by Tony Judt. Via the indispensable Arts and Letters Daily, an excellent liberal-left critique of current American thought on foreign policy. In the past I've not been a huge fan of Judt, but events have proven him right more often than not, and these days I take him very seriously indeed. And he's an excellent writer.
Why yes, there are chicks there. Roll to see if you can do them.
Dunegon Majesty! In what must be an accomplishment worthy of The Gygax himself, this guy found four girls willing to not only play D&D, but brave enough to be filmed while doing so. The fact that they're also willing to dress up as their characters is just icing on the cake. Be sure to check out the teaser video and learn a little something about courage!
MY NEW MONSTER-FIGHTING TECHNIQUE IS UNSTOPPABLE
INCREDIBLE, UNSTOPPABLE TITAN OF TERROR! He's attacked other monsters and terrorized Japan for decades. Now Godzilla is confronting academics who want to wrestle with his legacy. The University of Kansas plans to pay homage to the giant lizard later this month, organizing a three-day scholarly conference for the 50th anniversary of his first film. Planners want to provoke discussion of globalization, Japanese pop culture and Japanese-American relations after World War II. "I would like people to take Godzilla more seriously," said Bill Tsutsui, a history professor at the University of Kansas and author of the book "Godzilla on My Mind". (more inside)
Integrity 1, Sinclair Broadcasting 0
Sinclair Fires DC Bureau Chief for Speaking out Against Airing "Stolen Honor" (Baltimore Sun link, reg. req)
Sinclair Broadcasting, as has been discussed before, wants to air "Stolen Honor" (quite the appropriate title in regards to Jon Leiberman, the DC bureau chief) during primetime in a bold faced move to sway the election to Bush's favor.
Says Mr. Leiberman, "It's biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election."
The Washington Post and NY Times (both reg.req.) are also running the story.
First brought to my attention via our own Oliver Willis.
Sinclair Broadcasting, as has been discussed before, wants to air "Stolen Honor" (quite the appropriate title in regards to Jon Leiberman, the DC bureau chief) during primetime in a bold faced move to sway the election to Bush's favor.
Says Mr. Leiberman, "It's biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election."
The Washington Post and NY Times (both reg.req.) are also running the story.
First brought to my attention via our own Oliver Willis.
It's pronounced Zed
Zed: Open Source Television. From the CBC. Though this site has been referenced on Mefi a couple of times through links to individual short films or pieces (1, 2, 3, 4), I have yet to find an FPP about the site as a whole; and I think it deserves one. Every weeknight at 11:30 p.m. the CBC broadcasts a half hour of experimental short films, video, animation, or band performances; these are then posted as streaming video on the website. You can submit films to them through the site, and participation is international. From the site:
On the Web, ZeD is where over 18,000 global members meet, collaborate and upload their creative work-currently, over 16,000 genre-expanding pieces. A lot of what you see on TV five nights a week is drawn from the best content on the Web site, while most of what's original to TV (like our live performances) can be seen afterward on the Web site.
Wonderful archives to explore; and tonight the Raveonettes perform.
Election 2004: Step Right Up and Win Some Crap
Two weeks from today, John Kerry will win the popular vote by "23% or more" over George W. Bush, according to 5 Star Psychic Advice. See if you can do better than the spirit world by predicting the electoral and popular vote totals in the second quadrennial MetaFilter Presidential Contest ...
LITERAL Truth? No, in context! No....
Same Sex Relationships in The Bible "The Bible describes three emotionally close relationships between two people of the same gender. They appear to have progressed well beyond a casual friendship."
101 words, and yet I cannot think of a clever title...
I searched and searched but I still suspect this is a double.
Shirt happens
Looking for a good dress shirt? A funny, informative (and slightly old) article about what to look for in a dress shirt.
ticks and tones may break my 'phones...
gameboyzz orchestra project, live @ paris. Don't be put off by the first track of the Paris set - that's just a warm up.
CBCMondayReport
Rick Mercer's Monday Report on CBC. Canada's Daily Show.
Hog Heaven
Pork Farmers in Hog Heaven! Atkins and skyrocketing beef prices result in pork producers "experiencing demand far in excess of anything [they]'ve seen historically." Pork prices are very high on the spot and futures market but still a value relative to meat. Perhaps this will increase the demand for tasty Berkshire hog pork, the kind that pre-dates the breeding which produced the "other white meat."
Çatalhöyük
Çatalhöyük , a site for kids devoted to the archeological excavations of the remains of a Neolithic town in central Turkey.
A great introduction for all ages to this important city, with activities, quicktime tours and links to more in depth resources.
A Political Circle
Art rock/metal band A Perfect Circle are releasing a new album consisting of mostly politically orientated covers, including John Lennon's Imagine. With so many bands pumping out the politics recently why is this strange? Because for so many years the band, and frontman Maynard James Keenan (also the lead singer for Tool) have usually kept right out of politics, opting for a more mysterious and individualistic approach to their music.
Interesting to read what some of their fans think?
Dolls with dingalings and other stuff
Boris Hoppek's bizarre "bimbosculptures", "pictures", and posters. {Possibly not safe for work. I'm a poor judge.}
Gay-baiting in Ohio
During a question-and-answer period, someone says they'd once heard Johnston call for the execution of gays and lesbians. He vigorously denies the charge. Later, he tells me that the decision to put gays to death is a matter best left up to the states.Ohio's precedent-shattering new ballot initiative and the people behind it. (Salon, ad req'd.)
October 18
I'm sure I saw him in Ringaskiddy...
Now that Michael Moore's chosen to look at the American healthcare industry for his next film, Big Pharma is apparently on red alert for any of his trademark guerilla tactics. On his pre-election tour, Moore has been reading out a company-wide memo that he attributes to Viagra- and Vioxx-pushers Pfizer, warning employees to be prepared (and keep their gobs shut) in case of an inpromptu visit. Pfizer
denies the memo exists, but in response, Moore says that the 'non-existent' memo also includes a Pfizer office number to report sightings. Perhaps we should call +1 212 733 2323 during New York office hours tomorrow and find out for certain? Or, alternatively, just mention that a large, unshaven man in a baseball cap has been lurking around any of these locations? (This one was too good to keep quiet about.)
Slash-and-burn
American Savagery. "Our role was to try to keep people motivated about [the] election and then to undermine the other side's support by casting them as liars, cheaters, stealers, immoral—all of that." The brutal chicanery of Karl Rove.
51 Thoughts on the Apparent Sexiness of John Edwards
51 Thoughts on the Apparent Sexiness of John Edwards from nerve.com - hilarious & (generally) SFW,
my favorite:
5. Bill Clinton, of course, was sexy in the former sense. He was sexy in the dangerous, you'd-like-to-sleep-with-him sense. Actually, Bill Clinton was sexy in the dangerous, you'd-like-to-sleep-with-him, and-after-you-slept-with-him, he-slept-with-your-roommate sense.
6. But we miss that playa, don't we?
my favorite:
5. Bill Clinton, of course, was sexy in the former sense. He was sexy in the dangerous, you'd-like-to-sleep-with-him sense. Actually, Bill Clinton was sexy in the dangerous, you'd-like-to-sleep-with-him, and-after-you-slept-with-him, he-slept-with-your-roommate sense.
6. But we miss that playa, don't we?
You know. For kids.
Child's Play Returns: Last year, Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins got sick of gamers being portrayed as violence-drenched dweebs and asked their readers to pitch in for a toy drive for Seattle's childrens' hospital. They ended up raising over a quarter of a million dollars in toys and cash in the space of just a few weeks. This year, they've added four more childrens' hospitals to their list for their readers to support during the holiday season.
Mike and Jerry originally did this as a way to rebut the perception of gamers, but it also shows the power of personal credibility with regards to Web sites -- the people who contributed didn't just do it to redeem the image of gamers, they did it because Mike and Jerry asked them to. This political season we've seen how bloggers can add to the coffers of candidates by endorsing them to their readers, but I think this is an even stronger case of online personal credibility translating into action (a similar case, on a slightly smaller scale: Pamie Ribon of Pamie.com and her readers contributing nearly 500 new books to San Diego County Libraries). Would that more of the "big" bloggers and popular sites did more of this sort of thing.
Gregarious adults and solitary hoppers
Tracking African locust swarms - a rainy winter and spring in northwestern Africa promised a rich harvest for area farmers, but instead has brought plagues of ravaging locusts...
"Swarms of locusts can contain as many as 80 million locusts per square kilometer...a small part of a typical swarm can eat as much food as 2,500 people in a single day."
"Swarms of locusts can contain as many as 80 million locusts per square kilometer...a small part of a typical swarm can eat as much food as 2,500 people in a single day."
Holy complusive nit-picking, Batman!
Movie Mistakes. A truly massive and comprehensive site by and for movie enthusiasts, not just the fussy ones either.(via Something Like That)
Mmmmm!
Pasties are delicious! Smother them in ketchup, but be sure to use Heinz. Help the old folks in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and sample a complete meal in a tidy compact envelope of flaky pastry goodness. Don't forget to check out the beautiful pasty cam pictures.
Non-F**k You!
Metrosexuality is out. Asexuality is in.
Sure, you can joke about it, but there are Asexual support groups and even asexual dating services. And don't confuse it with celibacy/abstinence, unless you call it Involuntary Celibacy.
One survey says 1% of Brits are asexual, (it also counts only 3% with 'same-sex attraction'), but the online poll CNN attached to its story on the subject is running 6% Asexual.
Some will still consider it a 'curable condition' that is often caused by other medications. And even when you think you've got a fix, maybe not. And by the way, people you expect to be oversexed may be the opposite.
And, for the record, that anatomically incorrect puppet sex scene in "Team America" is NOT Asexual Porn.
thanks to Cory and the Boingers
Sure, you can joke about it, but there are Asexual support groups and even asexual dating services. And don't confuse it with celibacy/abstinence, unless you call it Involuntary Celibacy.
One survey says 1% of Brits are asexual, (it also counts only 3% with 'same-sex attraction'), but the online poll CNN attached to its story on the subject is running 6% Asexual.
Some will still consider it a 'curable condition' that is often caused by other medications. And even when you think you've got a fix, maybe not. And by the way, people you expect to be oversexed may be the opposite.
And, for the record, that anatomically incorrect puppet sex scene in "Team America" is NOT Asexual Porn.
thanks to Cory and the Boingers
Meet the Forteans
The 38th annual conference on Anomalous Phenomena is just around the corner. Or, if you're in Europe, there's Unconvention 2004 in just a few weeks.
Forteans are the spiritual descendents of Charles Fort, free-thinkers with a sense of humour, open-minded skeptics (as opposed to these guys).
Fear the hidden Nazis next-door
I have changed countries only to find I have stepped through the looking glass.
I'm a Democrat for Bush.
Sarah Baxter is a life-long Labour voter in Britain and a registered Democrat in the United States. So how come she wants George W Bush to remain president?
Sarah Baxter is a life-long Labour voter in Britain and a registered Democrat in the United States. So how come she wants George W Bush to remain president?
Oily musings
Peak Oil? Include Me Out, is one of the best reads about the whole issue of peak oil. Its author, Mick Winter "is a former Y2K community activist who currently suffers from chronic déjà vu and still hasn't figured out what to do about Peak Oil." I am a peaknik and I can tell you this is a good read, no matter your stance on peak oil! (psssst, if you are already a peaknik, or just curious, Winter maintains a good a peak oil metadirectory. )
Anti-Kerry Film Producer Accused of Libel
Anti-Kerry Film Producer Accused of Libel A Vietnam veteran shown in a documentary criticizing Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s anti-war activities filed a libel lawsuit against the movie's producer Monday, saying the film falsely calls the veteran a fraud and a liar.
Kenneth J. Campbell, now a professor at the University of Delaware, said in the suit that "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" combines footage of him appearing at a 1971 war protest with narration that claims that many of the supposed veterans who took part in the event were later "discovered as frauds" who "never set foot on the battlefield, or left the comfort of the States, or even served in uniform."
Caption this
There are a lot of small sites doing caption contests from time to time, but I've never seen a site with such a long history of them. There's gold in the archives (1, 2, 3, 4), and weekly contests still going on.
Smoke Wagon
Unamerican?
(Didn't Know I Was) UnAmerican by Ian Rhett. Via Monkeyfilter, and hosted by SharedVoice.org. Mirrored by SomaFM.
Light giving over to shadow and shadow to light.
My Heart vs the Real World "He's a normal kid. He's a good kid. He's a real normal kid. And we get him to do the drums and we take him for tryouts and we do everything we can to keep his life as normal as we can make it. We've never lollypopped him. You know, mollycoddled or – we let him try everything. 'Cause if we didn't it would be a big crutch for him. We don't want that to happen.
Like I said, we waited – we wanted to have another child right away. We wanted three, we always did. We were scared to death after him. To have another one, to have another baby. What if the third one, you know – what if it were Cheryl and I? Our genes?
-- The father of Grant Skowkron, Fifteen years old, Single Ventricle, Transposition of the Major Vessels, M.V. Prolapse, Implanted Pacemaker.
Photographer Max S. Gerber has had a pacemaker implanted because of his bradycardia. In his website, he tells the story of ten other heart patients -- all of them kids -- with his images, and with their parents' words.
Politics
Lie Down for America, by Thomas Frank. "'How can anyone who has ever worked for someone else vote Republican?' she asked. How could so many people get it so wrong?"
Paging Kunstler
Armies of the Night
FORCE Ministries "IN 1998....the Lord began opening doors to the SEAL Team community and to military installations nationwide." : "[ Our] Defining passage : "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." ( Matthew 11:12 NIV ) : An all consuming fire for Dominion. "They are My Special Forces Unit. They are called by My Name. They are called Kingdom Warriors. They are those I have been grooming since birth. They will be sent out against satan's hoard." (more inside)
The most predictable reaction ever?
October 17
ZAP
The Sasha Ring: a no-comment product announcement found in the ESD Journal. The Journal looks at the hazards of - and possible solutions to - the phenomenon known as electrostatic discharge. Fowler Associates provides a wide range of related services, including numerous media appearances.
Open your ass - open your mind
Former ballerina Toni Bentley danced with the New York City Ballet for ten years, but since retiring, has become a novelist. She has penned four prior books, but her latest is causing a stir: The Surrender is entirely devoted to her adoration of sodomy. Atheist Bentley insists that she's found a spiritual ecstasy in buggery: "...My ass is my very own back door to heaven" (some links NSFW & registration req.).
When The Barbie House is a Rockin'...
Barbie Pr0n. On this fine Sunday evening, I present to the fine folks of Metafilter the utter tastelessness, but strangely amusing images of Barbies doing the nasty. (NSFW)
Sick of Bush? Try a tree!
Bonsai: Worlds Within Worlds is a pretty impressive bonsai gallery site. An earlier "issue" is here.
Killing [Palestinian] children is no longer a big deal
Killing children is no longer a big deal More than 30 Palestinian children were killed in the first two weeks of Operation Days of Penitence in the Gaza Strip. It's no wonder that many people term such wholesale killing of children "terror." Whereas in the overall count of all the victims of the intifada the ratio is three Palestinians killed for every Israeli killed, when it comes to children the ratio is 5:1. According to B'Tselem, the human rights organization, even before the current operation in Gaza, 557 Palestinian minors (below the age of 18) were killed, compared to 110 Israeli minors... Who would have believed that Israeli soldiers would kill hundreds of children and that the majority of Israelis would remain silent? Even the Palestinian children have become part of the dehumanization campaign: killing hundreds of them is no longer a big deal.
MYSTERIOUS GREEN DUCK FOUND ON PIZZA: Evil is upon us.
Revolution - Leave It To Bush
They misnamed the war on terror [Windows Media]
Meanwhile, Gary Busey interviews the US President [Flash]
Meanwhile, Gary Busey interviews the US President [Flash]
Trading 3rd party votes in swing states for votes in
VotePair.org allows third party voters in swing states to trade their vote with Kerry supporters in uncontested states. The result is that Kerry is more likely to win the swing states and third party candidates still get the same number of votes when tallied nationwide.
The (Non) Issues
Why this election is so disappointing... Opposite today's New York Times' 30-column-inch endorsement of John Kerry, Thomas Friedman makes a good case that several of the most important issues are not being talked about by either candidate in any serious way.
Judith Butler
Who says theory is dead? Judith Butler's latest book, Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence, is a collection of essays on politics and violence after September 11. The essay on anti-semitism and Israel appeared in the London Review of Books.
This is what happens when you give people civil rights... damn hippies
Protecting our civil rights? We've seen the free speech zones, the kicking and hair-pulling, and the loyalty oaths/essays - but did you think that just mentioning the protection of civil rights would get you thrown out of a Bush speech?
but that's the best part!
A Day of Wrest
Can pictures of us show Iraqis that all Americans are not like the ones killing them?
The intent was to send a friendly message to people. We're not their enemies and they're not ours.' The Fellowship of Reconciliation, a peace organization around since WW1, instrumental in helping to create many of the most famous and effective social service and nonprofit organizations (ACLU, SCLC, etc), and their latest endeavor, IRAQ photo project. We are one family. When one person suffers, we all suffer is just one of the messages in the photos. Can empathy help, or has the situation gone too far?
Greenham Common History
Greenham Common History. 'Greenham Common - a name linked world-wide with the awesome potential of nuclear deterrence and the protest movement it gave rise to. But there is a bigger story; here we explore the history of one thousand acres of open land near Newbury in Berkshire. ' (via)
David Meanix Photosculpture
October 16
A Polaroid a day, every day
Formerly669 :: a photo-a-day photoblog
I cast magic missile...
Free Mansion, You Haul
Get Steve Jobs' Mansion......Free! Delivery Extra
It's true, the catch is that you have to figure out a way to remove this 17,000 sq. ft. mansion, its not in good shape, the roads are narrow and windy and, oh yeah, it's FREAKIN' HUGE!
An interesting twist and follow up to this.
It's true, the catch is that you have to figure out a way to remove this 17,000 sq. ft. mansion, its not in good shape, the roads are narrow and windy and, oh yeah, it's FREAKIN' HUGE!
An interesting twist and follow up to this.
God, I hope this is tongue-in-cheek.
We knew this.
Confirming the Obvious: "A Knight Ridder review of the administration's Iraq policy and decisions has found that it invaded Iraq without a comprehensive plan in place to secure and rebuild the country... The Bush administration's failure to plan to win the peace in Iraq was the product of many of the same problems that plagued the administration's case for war, including wishful thinking, bad information from Iraqi exiles who said Iraqis would welcome American troops as liberators and contempt for dissenting opinions." Just in case anyone you know is still pretending this administration had the slightest idea what it was doing after "Mission Accomplished."
Without a Doubt
Withoug a Doubt (NYT, reg. req'd). My overwhelming reaction to this lengthy but startling Ron Suskind piece was just a tremendous sadness. A sadness that the greatest nation in the history of the world could be governed on the basis of faith rather than fact. How can dismissing the "reality-based" and relying instead on instinct result in anything but disaster?
Collections
Collections: Bakelite telephones, beercans,
modified rubix cubes, radios and tubes,
insulators (1) (2), minature cars, pens, novelty lamps, nativities (warning: serious eyesore!), bobble heads and handcuffs.
Bin Laden is in China
Bin Laden is in China -- During the home stretch of the Northamerican elections, Osama bin Laden could prove to be the ace in the sleeve of president Bush. As we speak, Washington is negotiating a highly secretive agreement with Beijing, the Chinese capital, for the eviction of bin Laden from his sanctuary in the turbulent Muslim provinces of China, in the Northwest of the Great Wall nation.
Seamless!
A Cunning Stunt [Macromedia Flash]
The Choice: 2004
The Choice: 2004. Frontline documentary. First aired on PBS earlier this week, the full two-hours is now available online. Examines the lives of Sen. John Kerry and President Bush -- from their days at Yale through their military experience and the political world. NPR interview about the show.
Approved by the Council
An unusually long article about ketchup. Fascinating, I swear.
lichtenstein's comics
Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein (image heavy page). It has been noted, in a current exhibition, that "Lichtenstein drew visual material from a wide range of sources, from comic books to art history. His revisions of this material often drastically altered its original meaning" Did they? David Barsalou has spent the last 25 years going through over 30,000 comics to find those originals. (via papelcontinuo)
October 15
Philosophy
Western dominance, Islamist terror, and the Arab imagination, by Sadik J. Al-Azm, emeritus professor at the University of Damascus. (via Aldaily)
the maestro's agassed! aghast, get it? :D
Greenspan on oil (speaking to the the National Italian American Foundation, which De Niro would never do :) "We will begin the transition to the next major sources of energy perhaps before midcentury as production from conventional oil reservoirs, according to central tendency scenarios of the Energy Information Administration, is projected to peak." And just to make it political, here's a chart relating presidential approval ratings to gas prices!
But I've heard President Bush describe his record. His record doesn't match his record.
STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show. Just one tiny bit of a very memorable Crossfire on CNN. Guest is of course, Jon Stewart, one bright spot in our media cesspool, even though they seem to be clueless that he's parodying them.
Typo with Lego
Lego® — The Type Designer's Friend
Renowned typographer Mark Simonson, in a quiet post to his lovely website, displays genius in a solution to a problem created by a need to capture thirty-five year-old fonts stored on spools of negative film so they can be revived in digitized form.
The Daily WTF
The Daily WTF features braindead code samples. High-larious to a nerd like me.
"Neil Young is coming by tomorrow for dinner. Time to send out Manolo with a shopping list, as I will be doing the cooking."
Nick Nolte's (baffling) blog. Then I saw a middle-aged woman wearing a black t-shirt that had the word "Ferrari" printed on it. Maybe it was Ron's influence, but I found the woman mesmerizing and depressing but otherwise encouraging about the direction of human events. What a strange shirt, diary. Worn without irony or malice. Anyway, Manolo won't go clean out the bird cage, so later days.
Nolte's blog is not as cute as Melanie Griffith's, though.
(via laobserved)
Destructed Magazine
Destructed.Info - A PDF magazine with some excellent illustrations. Three issues on the site so far.
Slow Truck Veterans for Truth?
"They are holding us against our will," McClenny said. "We are now prisoners." A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday. via Daily Kos.
Marla Olmstead...4 year old artist.
Ever find yourself at a museum and think "my son/daughter/niece/dog could do that"? Four year old painter Marla Olmstead really can. via
Squares takes the square.
Squares 2. Friday flash fun with circles and squares.
Tell me more about this
“Ten Years, Ten Trends” Highlights of the major findings in Year Four of the Digital Future Project’s study of the impact of the Internet on Americans.
Blood and oil
The Risk of an unending series of Oil Wars, whoever wins the white house, I hope he reads Michael Klare's latest book: Blood and Oil: The International Security Implications of Growing U.S. Dependence on Imported Oil. Newer articles: Growing militarization of our oil dependence, Transforming the American Military into a Global Oil-Protection Service.
she dedicated it to her daughters, too.
(because, Señor Haughey, your wish is my command)
Lynne Cheney may have issues with her daughter's lesbianism being used as a debate point, but she obviously has no problem using it as a plot point. Read excerpts from her steamy 1981 novel Sisters, a story of love between American frontier women. You may recall that whitehouse.org has had trouble with Ms. Cheney before.
Lynne Cheney may have issues with her daughter's lesbianism being used as a debate point, but she obviously has no problem using it as a plot point. Read excerpts from her steamy 1981 novel Sisters, a story of love between American frontier women. You may recall that whitehouse.org has had trouble with Ms. Cheney before.
NSFQW (Not Safe For Quiet Workplaces)
Name that tune in the UGO Music Challenge. Available in three delicious flavors: Rock/Pop, Hip-Hop/R&B, and Movie Music.
De Wolfe Music
De Wolfe Music has a vast and fascinating CD catalogue of commercial music: classics, genre, sound effects, mood music, and soundalikes. Search or browse to find online full-length demos in RealPlayer format. Alternatively, the UK site provides demos via a Flash playbar. Check out, for instance, Chinese epic, clones of Kurt Weil or Scott Joplin, an Egyptian/Roman blockbuster, the Final Frontier - or maybe be Tense, a gladiator, laidback and Scottish, or very English.
Bush Like Me
Bush Like Me: Ten weeks undercover in the grass roots of the Republican Party:
As a professional misanthrope, I believe that if you are going to hate a person, you ought to do it properly. You should go and live in his shoes for a while and see at the end of it how much you hate yourself. This was what I was doing down in Florida. The real challenge wasn't just trying to understand these Republicans. It was to become the best Republican I could be.
As a professional misanthrope, I believe that if you are going to hate a person, you ought to do it properly. You should go and live in his shoes for a while and see at the end of it how much you hate yourself. This was what I was doing down in Florida. The real challenge wasn't just trying to understand these Republicans. It was to become the best Republican I could be.
Old Hampshire Mapped
SWIFT BOAT LIES
SWIFT BOAT LIES send this to 5 people! "Like most bloggers, I have my beefs with the mainstream media. But you know what? They produce an awful lot of damn fine original reporting.
Case in point. In August the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth charged that John Kerry had lied about the events that led to his Silver Star. In order to figure out if the SBVT account was true, Nightline sent a crew to Vietnam, where they visited the hamlets of Tran Thoi and Nha Vi and interviewed the local villagers to get their recollections of what really happened 35 years ago. You can read the resulting story yourself, but it's summarized pretty easily: Kerry was right and SBVT honcho John O'Neill wasn't.
But there was also this:..."
Pirates and Emperors
Pirates and Emperors is the story of America's funding of terrorists (freedom fighters) put to music and animation, ala Schoolhouse Rock. It's a simple civics lesson that even elementary school kids, and our nation's highest leader, can understand. (link via BoingBoing)
The frogs are fucked.
The frogs are in trouble. This might sound like good news for more right leaning brethren, but alas, the toads, newts and amphibians in general also look to be facing future problems. Up to a third of all species may face extinction. As ever, humanity looks to be the cause.
Color Photographs of the French Army in WW1
Poll reveals world anger at Bush
George Bush has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world towards America since September 11 with public opinion in 10 leading countries - including some of its closest allies - growing more hostile to the United States while he has been in office.
Except for Israel and Russia (!) the rest of the countries polled are pissed off with Bush, although they still like Americans. What do they know that Americans still don't?
Republican leaders fight to legalize torture.
Bush administration fights to legalize torture. Secret arrests by mysterious people in private jets, as documented by Swedish television and Seymour Hersh. It's called extraordinary rendition -- the outsourcing of torture on unconvicted -- and often innocent -- individuals. The American Bar Association is strongly against it, and the Democrats are trying to pass legislation to ban it -- apparently international treaties against torture aren't enough anymore.
Angka again
Dear Comrades After the recent spate of biased and mischievous reporting by the colonialist foreign press, I have ultimately decided to reveal to you, the honest and hard-working citizens of Zimbabwe, a little more of Mugabe - The Man.
October 14
12 tipping points
The earths 12 "tipping points" where small increases in average temperature due to global warming could produce "sudden and dramatic environmental damage." The canary in a coal mine to keep an eye on. More papers by the Tyndall Center. (via).
Traffic Light Wars
Y2Y
The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. "Combining science and stewardship, we seek to ensure that the world-renowned wilderness, wildlife, native plants, and natural processes of the Yellowstone to Yukon region continue to function as an interconnected web of life, capable of supporting all of the natural and human communities that reside within it, for now and for future generations."
Abortions Decreased Under Clinton - Increased Under Bush
Abortions Decreased Under Clinton - Increased Under Bush 52,000 more abortions under Bush than under Clinton, reversing a ten-year trend that had resulted in a 17.4% decline in abortions.
TFT KO'd by TSG in IPD
Tit-for-tat dethroned in iterated prisoner's dilemma competition! But it might not work so well in RL, and what if you threw in QM? :D
Women are "evildoers" too.
U.S. refuses to join U.N. plan for women From AP via Yahoo: UNITED NATIONS - The United States has refused to join 85 other heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, health care, and choice about having children.
and
President Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."
and
President Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Did you know? Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears; an average of 100 people choke to death on ball point pens each year; and, there is an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter population of 200.
Put some thought into it
Paralysed man sends e-mail by thought
A pill-sized brain chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play computer games using his thoughts. The device can tap into a hundred neurons at a time, and is the most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far.
A pill-sized brain chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play computer games using his thoughts. The device can tap into a hundred neurons at a time, and is the most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far.
Don't fear this : stop it
You will be conquered by Stealth and Deception : in the swift advance of a long-planned coup against secular society, to launch an American theocracy, "the Dominionists are succeeding in their quest for national control and world power" - Kathleen Yurica, founder of the Yurica Report which, like Theocracy Watch, monitors the American religious right writes "Since the writing and posting of my essay, The Despoiling of America in February 2004, there is more and more evidence that not only has a cultural war been launched, but that the plotters are winning it....First the hard right dominionists took over the Southern Baptist Convention with its 16 million members and a fortune in corporate businesses. Then they took over the Republican Party...they are moving to limit the power of the Supreme Court. Now there is evidence dominionists are trying to take over the U. S. military
....Americans and the mainstream media have been very slow in catching on to the fact that we are in a war — a war that is cultural, religious and political, a war that uses stealth and deception and the rules of engagement written by the enemies to representative democracy. Unless Americans wake up, we could lose that war."
....Americans and the mainstream media have been very slow in catching on to the fact that we are in a war — a war that is cultural, religious and political, a war that uses stealth and deception and the rules of engagement written by the enemies to representative democracy. Unless Americans wake up, we could lose that war."
Free, independent, non-profit global research facility
World Legal Information Institute WorldLII has over 270 free databases covering multiple countries and international law. The LIIs were created under a declaration that: (1) Public legal information from all countries and international institutions is part of the common heritage of humanity. Maximising access to this information promotes justice and the rule of law; (2) Public legal information is digital common property and should be accessible to all on a non-profit basis and free of charge; and (3) Independent non-profit organisations have the right to publish public legal information and the government bodies that create or control that information should provide access to it so that it can be published.
For comprehensive French databases, try Droit Francophonie.
AAirpass
Are you filthy rich? Do you like going places? "Consider a lifetime AAirpass membership – for you or as a holiday gift for someone special." It's only - place pinky to pursed lips - three million dollars. Quantities are limited, so act now. Buy two and get a million off.
HeroinLollipopsAndOpiumStarch
Hede, bran, orns, hort, lags, and fet.
Move over, Gray's Anatomy! Children draw the human body.
I'm goin' to heaven in a split pea shell
Remembering Elizabeth
"Libba"
Cotten
(1895-1987): Oh, Lordy me, didn't [she] shake sugaree! [last 2 are audio]
America at 10 MPH
America at 10 MPH: Josh Caldwell is riding a Segway from Seattle to Boston. He's already gone over 2800 miles. [This project is independent of Segway.]
Rocking the vote?
The increasingly spotty record of the GOP's involvement with voter registration companies. This is a follow-up to Tueday's Nevada thread. If you registered to vote for the first time this year as anything but a Republican you should probably check to see if your registration was properly filed... you know, just to be on the safe side.
Tell me what you don't like about yourself.
Miss Plastic Surgery There is now a beauty contest in China where those who have had augmentation can compete for a prize. Will the losers end up on the Internet(s)?
This is more main stream with TV shows around the profession (Nip / Tuck). PLay the Nip/Tuck game.
No worries, reality TV is here for us so we can then we can compete to be cut up.
Turds Fail Me
Turd Birds - Art from Horse Turds
Nothing political about this post and it is SFW.
Someone actually thought that it would be a good idea to use horse poop as an art medium to make weird looking bird sculptures.
But at least there's the tale of the Turd Nazi to enjoy.
Nothing political about this post and it is SFW.
Someone actually thought that it would be a good idea to use horse poop as an art medium to make weird looking bird sculptures.
But at least there's the tale of the Turd Nazi to enjoy.
Send me someplace sunny...
Campaign Contributions and U.S. Ambassadors
In 1972 President Nixon appointed thirteen noncareer ambassadors to Western European countries; eight of them had contributed at least $50,000 to his reelection campaign...(-Source, scroll to item 2.)
In 1980 a federal law was created to combat this, stating that ambassadors must "possess clearly demonstrated competence, including, to the maximum extent practicable, a useful knowledge of the principal language or dialect of the country in which the individual is to serve, and knowledge and understanding of the history, the culture, the economic and political institutions and the interest of that country and its people. … Contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor in the appointment."
Currently 1/4 to 1/3 of U.S. Ambassadors are noncareer appointees, not experienced diplomats, causing criticism since the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Critics point out that neither the Pentagon, the CIA nor any other U.S. government agency must shoulder the burden of a significant cadre of "nonprofessionals" encumbering senior field positions. (-Source.)
HERE is the current tally of Embassy Row and their campaign contributions, including Clark Randt, Jr, former Geo W Yale fraternity brother who defended Bush against drug allegations during Bush's last campaign. "Rangers" and "Pioneers" abound. Mauritius is sunny, tropical, and expensive. (Inspired by this AskMe question.)
In 1972 President Nixon appointed thirteen noncareer ambassadors to Western European countries; eight of them had contributed at least $50,000 to his reelection campaign...(-Source, scroll to item 2.)
In 1980 a federal law was created to combat this, stating that ambassadors must "possess clearly demonstrated competence, including, to the maximum extent practicable, a useful knowledge of the principal language or dialect of the country in which the individual is to serve, and knowledge and understanding of the history, the culture, the economic and political institutions and the interest of that country and its people. … Contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor in the appointment."
Currently 1/4 to 1/3 of U.S. Ambassadors are noncareer appointees, not experienced diplomats, causing criticism since the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Critics point out that neither the Pentagon, the CIA nor any other U.S. government agency must shoulder the burden of a significant cadre of "nonprofessionals" encumbering senior field positions. (-Source.)
HERE is the current tally of Embassy Row and their campaign contributions, including Clark Randt, Jr, former Geo W Yale fraternity brother who defended Bush against drug allegations during Bush's last campaign. "Rangers" and "Pioneers" abound. Mauritius is sunny, tropical, and expensive. (Inspired by this AskMe question.)
Derrida
The alternative to blind belief is not simply unbelief but a different kind of belief - one that embraces uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand, in friendship that serves to forge connections among individuals across their differences - we see deconstruction in action.
Internets?
There really IS more than one internet? First off - I'm no Bush fan, but I'm wondering if his use of the word 'internets' (although probably unintentional) isn't so wrong after all. It's no secret (pardon the pun) to those in the military and government work that there are other 'internets', such as the SIPRNET. I'm no expert on the technicalities, but I think a user could take a leap and say that the NIPRNET and the SIPRNET are two totally different entities. Just pointing out a technicality, spreading a little knowledge, and adding the disclaimer that this post has no bearing on Bush's mishandled use of the term to begin with!
Google Desktop Search Beta Release
Google Desktop Search Beta Released. A tiny download and the interface we all recognise. As soon as it's finished indexing my email and hard disk I can finally search my desktop hard disk as easily as the internet.
Dead or alive - who decides
Little Jesse Koochin remains hooked up to a ventilator at Primary Children's Medical Center, oblivious to the controversy that has erupted around him. Doctors at the Salt Lake City hospital pronounced the 6-year-old cancer patient brain-dead this week and want to remove life support. Jesse's parents, Steve and Gayle Koochin, insist their youngest child is alive and believe they can bring him back to health with alternative medicine. Hospital officials maintain the boy is dead and has begun decomposing.
/.com and Fat Boy Slim
/.com gets a single from Fat Boy Slim. In his recently released new album Palookaville, FatBoy Slim [better known to the general public for hit parade tracks like Weapon of Choice (video, multiple formats)(featuring some impressive dancing skill by Christopher Walken), Praise You, Bird of Pray et al] dedicates the 2nd track to /.com. Question is...how long till some artists evokes the MetaFilter from the prestigeous internets ?
LotFma
Giant's bizarre obsession with dwarf continues: confess to the NYPD that you smoked a spliff in Amsterdam, you're in the clear; but tell 'em you smoked a Havana, and you could get locked up for 10 years & fined $250,000.
Land of the free, my ass....via Ben Hammersley. US Treasury .pdf here: including hotline for narcing on Arnie, Harvey, et al...
Bush lies again
During the Wednesday night debate, Senator Kerry questioned why the President said that he "was not concerned" with Osama Bin Laden. In response, Bush said, “Gosh, I don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama Bin Laden. That’s kinda one of those exaggerations." The video proof is here showing that he indeed say exactly that.
Woke up this morning...
Islam and the Blues.
Q. What's the difference between the muezzin’s call to prayer and The Blues.
A. Nothing.
Q. What's the difference between the muezzin’s call to prayer and The Blues.
A. Nothing.
October 13
The future, Conan?
Location Free Media. Hot on the heels of the wireless city post, I ran across this still in development site for an upcoming product ("boo! product post!! boooooo!"). Whether this specific bit of hardware makes it or falls on the Betamax heap of history is inconsequential; what matters is that someday, we will all think nothing of being able to access our music, movies, DVR'd content, etc worldwide, which is a pretty cool idea.
O'Reilly is more of a freak than I thought.
Bill O'Reilly Hit with Sex Suit: Female Fox coworker details lewd behavior of cable TV star: "Based on the extensive quotations cited in the complaint, it appears a safe bet that Mackris, 33, recorded some of O'Reilly's more steamy soliloquies. For example, we direct you to his Caribbean shower fantasies. While we suggest reading the entire document, TSG will point you to interesting sections on a Thailand sex show, Al Franken, and the climax of one August 2004 phone conversation."
Spokane HotZone
No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another
Bully OnLine: 'the world's largest resource on workplace bullying and related issues'.
Includes profiles ("Look, dad, it's a sociopath"). Describes why it's hard to stand up to bullying behaviour, how to do it, and why others won't help you.
There's also kickbully.com [previously discussed here], which offers basic ground-rules for dealing with bullies, and suggestions for dealing with specific situations (including one-liners you might want to try). But watch out, because the bastards are vengeful.
Includes profiles ("Look, dad, it's a sociopath"). Describes why it's hard to stand up to bullying behaviour, how to do it, and why others won't help you.
There's also kickbully.com [previously discussed here], which offers basic ground-rules for dealing with bullies, and suggestions for dealing with specific situations (including one-liners you might want to try). But watch out, because the bastards are vengeful.
You get the gay from your mother
You get the gay from your mother.
It turns out that there may not be "gay" genes, just "attracted to men" genes.
It turns out that there may not be "gay" genes, just "attracted to men" genes.
Navel gazing, I mean grazing, oh dear
Cultivating the navel:
The first thing I wanted to do was to change clothes and take a shower. But when I took off my sweater, to my amazement, I could see something sticking out of my belly button! I couldn’t believe it: something was growing in there! [truly, the best of the web, via J-Walk]
The first thing I wanted to do was to change clothes and take a shower. But when I took off my sweater, to my amazement, I could see something sticking out of my belly button! I couldn’t believe it: something was growing in there! [truly, the best of the web, via J-Walk]
Honk out the vote
Don't Honk and Wave, just Honk Hey so I had this idea--what if people in swing states drove around on election day through certain neighborhoods to honk out the vote. This would be driving and honking in a certain pattern. Now you might risk getting arrested for doing so, but if enough people did it, you wouldn't have to honk constantly to make people take notice. A bit like the ride of Paul Revere.
Seems like depending on the areas you could drive out voters of different types.
The key is making people make the connection and say "why are people honking--it's election day."
Dunno, does anyone think this is a good idea? The Domain is available.
Gammage Auditorium, ASU, that is.
Bush & Kerry Round Three: Doin' Damage in Gammage
It was going to be done. again. I'm just the one doing it.
It was going to be done. again. I'm just the one doing it.
Dear stranger, Vote Kerry
Operation Clark County "Remember that it's unusual to receive a lobbying letter from someone in another country." The Guardian takes an initative for those of us overseas wondering if there's anything helpful we can do about you-know-what. Write to a swing voter, explain how you feel. Some samples are on offer, their hectoring tone could have quite the wrong effect. If you were a computer selected Clark County voter, what, from a foreigner, would change your mind?
The Inuits didn't think it wasn't eco-friendly, so there nyah :-P
One of the truly indigenous American artforms is scrimshaw. The Inuits made some fascinating pieces, as did whalers more than 200 years ago.
Today's scrimshanders are more sensitive to the materials used (either from extinct species--such as the mastodon!--or synthetic materials), and the artform is still going strong, perhaps even gaining in popularity in these modern times. I find it fascinating, intricate artwork, and history.
Identity Kit Series
"With the Identity Kit series shown here, I have attempted to portray the gross poverty of the dispossessed by inviting some of the homeless men on London's streets to display their belongings - those carried in their pockets, or in a bag."
[via nmazca.blog, who got it from ashleyb]
[via nmazca.blog, who got it from ashleyb]
3D Dubya
3D Dubya: Impressive 3D animations synched with audio from Dubya's speeches.
If you can read this, the bitch fell off
Biker angst on Ebay It's been poltergeisted and cootie-scanned -- man sells ex-wife's helmet. Description reads like drunken letter to Penthouse.
Takes all sorts doesn't it?
Counter-Strike technical support. What can I say, I thought it was funny. [Wave. WARNING: it fades out, do not turn your volume up]
Science
In terms of our genes, we humans are all the same -- except
for the ways in which we're different. Pharmacogenomics has for years been touted as the ultimate benefit of the genomics revolution. But to many, this revolution has a troubling side.
Not approved for protective use
Kartenfalthelme. Work getting you down? Feel assaulted by schedules, bosses, unreasonable demands? In an imperialist mood? Order your KuK Atelier cardmodel helmets today! Für Vergrößerung klicken!
[All content in German, but don't let that stop you!]
October 12
Truth in Advertising
New and When I Grow Up. Two MOVs about the advertising industry.
{Note that the second link is actually an ad for Monster. Apologies in advance.}
{Note that the second link is actually an ad for Monster. Apologies in advance.}
Hans Blix speaks.
Hans Blix speaks. (RealPlayer) Hans Blix gave a recent interview with BBC Radio 4 in which he indicates that UN weapons inspectors were on the verge of private interviews with witnesses to the destruction of Iraq's WMD stockpiles shortly before the Bush administration forced inspectors to leave.
"I think that it would have been desireable for us to have more time. . . I think that the Iraqis were actually beginning to try to do cooperation of substance, and they were almost frantic to do so. . ." In his report to the UN on March 7th, 2003 Blix said UN inspectors were on the verge of inspecting a site where much of Iraq's WMDs were disposed and that "The investigation of the destruction site could, in the best case, allow the determination of the number of bombs destroyed at that site." Did the Bush administration "rush to war" in order to prevent the fatal undermining of their justification for war?
"I think that it would have been desireable for us to have more time. . . I think that the Iraqis were actually beginning to try to do cooperation of substance, and they were almost frantic to do so. . ." In his report to the UN on March 7th, 2003 Blix said UN inspectors were on the verge of inspecting a site where much of Iraq's WMDs were disposed and that "The investigation of the destruction site could, in the best case, allow the determination of the number of bombs destroyed at that site." Did the Bush administration "rush to war" in order to prevent the fatal undermining of their justification for war?
No more reporting for *you*, Ms. Farnaz Fassihi
When respected journalist Farnaz Fassihi wrote her friends a letter about the bleakness of trying to live in Iraq as a journalist and a westerner, I doubt she realized it would become public, and that the WSJ would recall her, and place her on a mandated "vacation" until the election is over.
just disgusting
Illegal RNC trashing Democratic registrations in Vegas -- Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
...
The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.
Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.
...
The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.
Sad song, beautiful video
"The Sad Song" by Fredo Viola. Gorgeously crafted music video made using 15 second jpg movies from a Nikon Coolpix 775 still camera.
Uh oh.
"I would not bring my two sons to the Capitol between now and the election," says Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), who is closing his DC office through election day because of a recent top-secret intelligence report.
Fisherman Plunk and his Wife
Fisherman Plunk and his Wife - A Croatian fairy tale. (flash)
CNN's
CNN's "Undecided" Voter Turns Out To Be A GOP Operative CNN gets duped by Edward Martos. They thought he was an "undecided" voter, but he turned out to be a GOP operative.
ModernOrigami
Contemporary Origami by Hyojo Takashi. Follow the "My Works" Link.
Honda Grrr Deisel Flash Game
Honda + Diesel + Bunnies + Garrison ± Alice in Wonderland = Flash Game! Taking the Corporate Flash game to new levels of abstraction, Honda UK, Garrison Keillor and Weiden+Kennedy have teamed up again to sell quiet diesel engines... with bunnies.
May cause slow agonising death
"I have a hard time controlling my urges. Heck, I go home with just about any guy I meet. But then I discovered new Vagiseal." (WMV - NSFW)
When is a political statement not a political statement?
Sinclair Broadcasting is demanding its 62 television stations air an anti-Kerry 'documentary' in prime-time, just before the november election. Does the name sound familiar? That's because Sinclair Broadcasting was the same media group that refused to air an episode of 'Nightline' where the names of the troops who died in iraq were read, on the basis that it was 'nothing more than a political statement'.
Those upset with this unfairness can do something about it.
Write the FCC, and get active.
If that's not enough, you can join Sinclair Watch.
What you got, Will Vinton?
Since 1994 Claymovie has been producing clay animation movies with kids, adults, teachers, and professionals.
Here are some random clips of some of the funnier, unpredictable, unexpected and outrageous moments.
Watch the videos and see...you have to click [download movies], then go nuts. The really outrageous ones are at the bottom...try Something in the Taters.
Is it a comic if there are no drawings?
Aliens Loves Predator — It's kinda like Seinfeld meets Evan Mather Star Wars videos meets online comic strip. Hey, "In New York, no one can hear you scream."
Extensive gaze
A generous helping of photography by Frank Horvat: hightlights include the photoblog you wish you had, 12 great cities 40 years ago, and the artist's home through a digital lense.
Thunderwear
Has your local supplier of ninja stars dried up? Want to set your truck up with armor plating, oil slick, and caltrops but not sure where to go? Been wondering where to go to get something to eat the paint off your boss' Benz?
Well then! Brandon Enterprises has got you covered!
Well then! Brandon Enterprises has got you covered!
You Say Double Standard, I Say Institutionalized Misogyny
Two Women Sentenced to Death for Adultery, Men Released for Lack of Evidence
"Islamic courts in Nigeria sentenced two women to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock, but two men whom they said they slept with were acquitted for lack of evidence."
"Islamic courts in Nigeria sentenced two women to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock, but two men whom they said they slept with were acquitted for lack of evidence."
Aquatic sloths
The life and times of Thalassocnus, the aquatic sloth. They're long extinct, but apparently modern sloths are excellent swimmers, so you can imagine how they came to be.
Jesus Videos
Jesus Videos (Scroll All the way down). Vintage 21, a "community of God seekers, God followers, and God doubters" has made a series of excellent videos which take a satirical look of what Jesus is NOT like.
There's goldium in them thar (Martian) hills!
Motherload is a Flash game about mining Mars. It just devoured my morning. Be careful.
"George Washington was in a cult, and the cult was into aliens, man"
Dazed and Sued. Three Huntsville residents who say they went to high school with Austin film director Richard Linklater accused him of using them as the basis for the girl-chasing, drug-taking characters in his film "Dazed and Confused" in a lawsuit filed last week, 11 years after the movie was released
(Universal Studios, also included in the suit, is scheduled to release a special edition DVD of the movie Nov. 2.) More inside.
Carlo Ginzburg
On The Dark Side of History - The historian Carlo Ginzburg talks about his publications and his historical method of microhistory which he pioneered. Ginzburg's most famous work is The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller--here's a review from the Journal of Peasant Studies in pdf form. Simon Schama listed it among his favorite history books, saying How can you not love a book which takes the cosmology of a heretical 16th-century miller who believes that God created the world as a kind of indeterminate cheese from which came angelic worms, and makes you believe in its plausibility ? Domenico Scandella known as Menocchio is now a hero in his ancestral village and the subject of Menocchio, a play by Elizabeth Groag. And here is a review of Ginzburg's The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. See also The Benadanti, New Age Travellers and Medieval Night-Riders and On Hereditary Italian Witchcraft and Menocchio's Books--now there's an odd lot of fellow travellers.
October 11
Hmmmmm Fascism?
LO! - a fierce people
The Hell House Outreach Kit Behold : "in-your-face, high-flyin', no denyin', death-defyin', Satan-be-cryin', keep-ya-from-fryin', theatrical stylin', no holds barred, cutting-edge” evangelism tool of the new millennium!....Outreaches average a 33% salvation and rededication decision rate!...Churches are using this resource as a dynamic evangelism tool!.....Churches use realistic depictions of sin's consequences to send message of hope to the nation's youth"....Domestic Abuse, Rave Scene (" hell's demons rejoice "), Teen Suicide, "Mother's Womb Abortion", Drunk Driving, Gay Wedding ( "Satan wouldn't have it any other way" ), and "Hell — The eternal fury and fire of hell is portrayed as the hell-dwellers, gate keeper and Satan declare that every person there is destined to burn forever in constant pain and agony."
Bonus - 2.5mb flash cartoon : Elisha the Cruel's curse brings she-bears to eat the 42 little children ! (2Kings:24) Disturbed ? Behold Saint Clinton : "His timeless sympathetic words, "I feel your pain", echo in his reassuring expression!"
Bonus - 2.5mb flash cartoon : Elisha the Cruel's curse brings she-bears to eat the 42 little children ! (2Kings:24) Disturbed ? Behold Saint Clinton : "His timeless sympathetic words, "I feel your pain", echo in his reassuring expression!"
Can you download thre internet to this floppy for me?
Clientcopia - Stupid things clients say. ex: Please also put a landlord hat on the landlord.
...semaphoring to hard-core abortion opponents...
Speaking in TonguesCode --Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court and a President who signals his base in terms that fly over the heads of most of the country.
The Perry Bible Fellowship
The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch is comedy genius in a comic strip format. Mr. Gurewitch also makes films.
A.1.Mail Art Archive
A.1.Mail Art Archive. This is the first entry for my new blog about my favourite mail art that I have saved over the years ( since 1980 ) but some is even older - I exchanged mail that could be called art even though we knew nothing about the international mail art network at the time. [via PCL LinkDump]
Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Erasure!
Don't forget the gay nazis. The American Resistence Corps are a little shy about admitting that they're gay nazis. Gays Against Zionism are more upfront about it. According to the SPLC, these are not joke sites. Even if they sound like something out of "Mr. Show".
Wacky food items in Hawaii
"The sardines swim upstream through a river of tomatoes and hot, dangerous chilis." Cardhouse takes us on a tour of the wacky things you'll find in a hawaiian grocery store.
Jrunning with the Devil
Arsenic Lullaby is probably one of the most dementedly funny comic books. It features zombie fetuses, census worker hitmen, and the tooth fairy moonlighting as death. Luckily the internets feature Samples!
'stonashing
Simon Robson is an animator,
and his friend Barry McNamara has political views. Simon made an animation to broadcast them. What Barry Says [QuickTime, political, via madamjujujive]
Science Fraud
The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science. Scientific fraud is everywhere. It is in the government, the courts, the corporations, the universities and other schools, and in public forums, and is often widely publicized as fact. Often, the public embraces it as "better" than the truth, believing what they want to believe rather than what can be proven. So here are seven warning signs that what is advanced as scientific fact may instead be bogus. But can you apply them to the huge number of "facts" you're bombarded with each day?
GayDay!
Today is National Coming Out Day which aims to raise awareness of the kinda screwed up laws we have about having The Gay™ in America. Did you know that in 36 out of our 50 states, if you tell your boss you're gay and you get fired over it, it's totally legal? One person has proposed that this day also be Gay for Pay Day, to protest the payment of income taxes to a government that doesn't protect their right to be and is actively trying to forbid their own marriages.
Absinthe
StarWarsKidPart2
Innovative ideas in India
India Emerges as Innovation Hub. Some other recent innovations I've read about include wireless internet rickshaws and public internet kiosks, trading services for farmers, and an education satellite. Perhaps of most interest to Americans now should be India's e-voting machines.
JOHN KERRY was sabered by chaod_king
'Joseph DeLappe continues his series of online gaming performances to re-create each of the three 2004 Presidential Debates. The second debate, the "Town Hall Meeting" held in Missouri on Friday, October 3rd (8th?), is being re-enacted, in it's (sic) entirety during multiple visits to game servers hosting the online game, "Starwars: Jedi Knight II, Jedi Outcast". (sic)'
I dunno what's up with his calendar, but somebody who's playing Jedi Knight II should try to find this guy.
Derrida
Derrida's legacy, "For a justice to come." An uninterpretation.
We gotcher hangin chads right here, you betcha
Climate fear as carbon levels soar
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2 in atmosphere for second year running. "The fear held by some scientists is that the greater than normal rises in C02 emissions mean that instead of decades to bring global warming under control we may have only a few years. At worst, the figures could be the first sign of the breakdown in the Earth's natural systems for absorbing the gas.
That would herald the so-called "runaway greenhouse effect", where the planet's soaring temperature becomes impossible to contain. As the icecaps melt, less sunlight is refected back into space from ice and snow, and bare rocks begin to absorb more heat. This is already happening."
comics about criminals
Bush Junta: A Field Guide to Corruption in Government - A substantial visual document (200 pages of comics from Fantagraphics, fact-checked with an extensive bibliography; the link goes to a number of sample pages) on the Bush Dynasty, from its beginnings benefitting off of Hitler and WW2 (that entire piece, which is printed in english, is posted in its original dutch online here), to the Bush's connection to Reagan's assassination, CIA and Iran-Contra, ending with the unsettling origins and profiles of the current administration. A great election primer, featuring comics and art by Steve Brodner, Ralph Steadman, Spain Rodriguez and many others. (Amazon link provided for a better description)
austin animators extraordinaire
From surreal and scathing political satire to muisc videos such as Molotov's hot latin Frijolero and David Byrne's The Great Intoxication, Austin's Jason Archer and Paul Beck are producing some great animation. (large flash and quicktime clips) - via snarky malarkey
Roadkill Images
The RoadKill Kronicles. (not sure whether it's NSFW. It certainly is graphic, tho)
Lonely socks
Lonely Socks. Have you ever rifled through your socks drawer to find only three socks. One green, one blue and the other yellow? Where did the other one go? Post your single socks here and help them find their partners.
Climbing the Stairway to Heaven Again
For the first time in over 60 years, airships along the design principles of Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin are being built. You can now fly in a genuine Zeppelin. They aren't the same thing as blimps, which look very similar to the untrained eye. Zeppelin's have a great history, both astounding and at times tragic! Although the famous Hindenberg disaster wasn't all it seemed! Finally, the link that no Zeppelin thread would be complete without.
The Most Unfortunate Campaign Sign Ever
The Most Unfortunate Campaign Sign Ever Is it a sign of the Apocalypse? Is it a sign of how the future will be if the religious reich gets the federal power they want? Or is it just unfortunate?
The good, the bad, and the ugly
20 years ago (the year I moved to Detroit), the Tigers won the World Series. What should have been a proud moment for a city such as Motown quickly deteriorated, culminating in this photograph of fan Bubba Helms, which came to symbolize the riots that ensued (he later died of an overdose, following a failed suicide, broken marriage, mental illness, and addiction). Having a tradition of arson (Devil's Night), (1), (2), during which some residents have burned houses while others protected, bustin' caps to celebrate the New Year, and uneasy race relations may have contributed, though sports psychologists point to deindividuation (and booze) when seeking to explain hooliganism over the home team's victory.
October 10
Christopher Reeve is dead.
hey superman, where did you go, now that the lights have gone low...
Audikt audio and design magazine
"Audikt is a collaborative, issue-based project between designers, artists and musicians, showcasing creative and musical talent beyond the mainstream."
Two issues posted so far (27 tracks each). Site contains some Flash but all tracks can be downloaded as MP3s. There's also a cool video and a free font.
Two issues posted so far (27 tracks each). Site contains some Flash but all tracks can be downloaded as MP3s. There's also a cool video and a free font.
Priceless
Ron's first Goatse (SFW, honest). Porn star Ron Jeremy is handed a Sidekick presumably displaying a certain infamous image during a meet-n-greet by persons unknown with the foresight to bring a camera. MeFi Jr. Detective League bonus! Who is responsible for this belly-laugh inducing document? [via and linked to themaxx.com, which may indeed contain NSFW material].
The Larkin Administration Building.
The Larkin Administration Building. "It's not too much to say that this was the most significant demolition of an architectural landmark in the United States." A good read on one of Frank Lloyd Wright early masterpieces, and the history of Buffalo, NY architecture.
U.S.Businesses File Four Times More Lawsuits Than Private Citizens
U.S.Businesses File Four Times More Lawsuits Than Private Citizens [...]The report also found that businesses and their attorneys were 69 percent more likely than individual tort plaintiffs and their attorneys to be sanctioned by federal judges for filing frivolous claims or defenses. The report, Frequent Filers: Corporate Hypocrisy in Accessing the Courts, is available by clicking here.
“Corporations think America is too litigious only when they are on the receiving end of a lawsuit,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. “But when they feel aggrieved, businesses are far more likely to take their beef to court than are consumers.”[...] more
Nobel Prize Market
Nobel Prize Market - trading is now over; at least we can see if the economics market outperforms the others.
World Conker Championships
British Television Advertising Awards
here kitty kitty
A damning legacy
Redefining Rights in America: The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration, 2001–2004 -- This very thorough report (PDF) finds that President Bush has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues, nor taken actions that matched his words. The US Commission on Civil Rights presents something for everyone, from Gay and Lesbian Rights on page 129 to Voting Rights and the 2000 Election on page 40, to Faith-Based Funding on page 157...from page 9: In fact, the faith-based initiative’s only civil rights significance may be that it actually allows employment discrimination. ... this initiative reflects the President’s desire to recast civil rights in a manner that suits his narrow agenda and, as such, has been highly controversial.
Bias at the NYT
Is The New York Times biased? Dan Okrent, the NYT public editor, has gone through reams of campaign coverage and delivered his opinion. Make sure you read to the very end.
Previously discussed here.
October 9
I love elephants
In Asia, elephant habitat is shrinking, bringing them into conflict with humans, though groups like the ANCF are trying to help them coexist. In Africa, countries with ivory markets have agreed to control or prevent the trade in a plan to be submitted to CITES. I would love it if we rewilded elephants in the Americas.
2+2=Bush
Matrix Evolutions: "A Unified Mathematical Science of Human Experience which explains electronic circuits, our personal experience in life and everything in between in terms of The Evolution of Information." Once you get bored, scroll down to the bottom for the horrifying conclusion! (via WizBang)
Kingacus Kongnificus
Six foot tall ferocious lion killing species of ape discovered in jungles of the Congo. Or they could be giant chimpanzees. Or half-breeds. The discovery has baffled scientists.
The Great Pigeon Debacle
The Great Pigeon Debacle 2004. Now none of this would have happened if the guy had a resident snake.
old fashioned ass kicking
Journal of Manly Arts "European and Colonial Combatives, 1776 - 1914." A special section of Journal of Western Martial Art.
Is that a sword in your mouth, or...
Word of God Chicago man finds a series of bizarre notes from God threatening very specific sinners taped up in the windows of random businesses.
Heartwarming cartoons, gone horribly awry
And now, the Everything Old Is New Again Dept. brings you the The Dysfunctional Family Circus Archive. It's been five years since Spinn (a.k.a. Greg Galcik)
took down the DFC; but back in the day, the DFC was probably the funniest site on the Web (and might even qualify as the funniest since.) Imitators have sprung up since, of course; and Spinn still runs a similar site, A-1 AAA AmeriCaptions. But somehow it's not quite the same... [Possibly NSFW, if your coworkers can read text on your screen.]
4:20, feline style
Here's the Beef (cake)
The Golden Age of Iron Men - Online Physical Culture Musem
Complete scans of an odd and very large collection of muscle/fitness publications and profiles of the authors, all from the early part of the century.
Complete scans of an odd and very large collection of muscle/fitness publications and profiles of the authors, all from the early part of the century.
Life
Nepal Current Events and Historical Background
What's it like to live in a war zone in Nepal? 'What happened to us happens to the people of Bajura every day, and they get it from both sides ' Some stories of the disappeared. From the consistently high quality Nepali Times, along with articles about Maoist radio and the human rights of the Kumari 'living goddess'.
Some background : Who are the Nepalese Maoists? (Q & A); the royal massacre of 2001; historical background to Nepal's democracy - the democratic revolution of 1989-91 and subsequent events; the kings of Nepal (note that dates are given using the local calendar); a potted history of Nepal referring to the role of the Rana family of hereditary ministers, who acted as a conservative 'shadow monarchy' over successive weak kings, from the Kot Massacre of 1846 which eliminated all rival claimants, until about 1950 (when King Tribhuvan famously famously took refuge in the Indian embassy - by a twist of fate, his infant grandson briefly crowned king by the Ranas - Gyanendra was again crowned king after his brother was killed in the 2001 royal massacre); a Nepal timeline; how ethnicity and caste fit into Nepalese society (discrimination in Nepal); Bhutanese refugees in Nepal; the Indian Naxalites and the Maoists.
Some background : Who are the Nepalese Maoists? (Q & A); the royal massacre of 2001; historical background to Nepal's democracy - the democratic revolution of 1989-91 and subsequent events; the kings of Nepal (note that dates are given using the local calendar); a potted history of Nepal referring to the role of the Rana family of hereditary ministers, who acted as a conservative 'shadow monarchy' over successive weak kings, from the Kot Massacre of 1846 which eliminated all rival claimants, until about 1950 (when King Tribhuvan famously famously took refuge in the Indian embassy - by a twist of fate, his infant grandson briefly crowned king by the Ranas - Gyanendra was again crowned king after his brother was killed in the 2001 royal massacre); a Nepal timeline; how ethnicity and caste fit into Nepalese society (discrimination in Nepal); Bhutanese refugees in Nepal; the Indian Naxalites and the Maoists.
No, we can't have nice things
The Afghans vote for Karzai.
All 15 of President Hamid Karzai's rivals said they were withdrawing from the election because systems to prevent illegal multiple voting had gone awry. The move effectively left Karzai as the only candidate in the fray.
All 15 of President Hamid Karzai's rivals said they were withdrawing from the election because systems to prevent illegal multiple voting had gone awry. The move effectively left Karzai as the only candidate in the fray.
First-class ticket and private jet not good enough for
First-class ticket and private jet not good enough for "regular guy" Sean Hannity Less than a week before he was scheduled to speak to students at Washington University in St. Louis, ABC Radio Networks host and FOX News Channel host Sean Hannity -- who regularly casts himself as an "average American" while attacking Senator John Kerry's "elitist lifestyle" -- reportedly canceled the appearance because flight arrangements were not made to his liking.
October 8
Round Two in the Town Hall
Wangari Maathai
Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Africa, has won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. [Via WorldChanging.]
Best and worst U.S. city flags
SciSiteFilter
Science & Technology Web Awards 2004 - 50 best sci/tech web sites as adjudged by the editors at Scientific American.
and i know a few things about photo essays
The best political photo essay i've ever seen. A cheeky look at Bush's flip flops in the form of a shoe catalogue.
Wowowie
5000 year old carved skull "HEAVILY carved with mysterious buddhism objects, symbols and Tibetan letters." Crazy.
(Via Boing Boing)
(Via Boing Boing)
Talking points
Extreme and Mountain Unicyclists
Framing the Economic Debate
Framing the Economic Debate. If you read Metafilter, you've no doubt seen a few links criticizing Bush's handling of the economy. The unabashed partisans at the Heritage Foundation have put together a document from which many of Bush's talking points about the economy (tonight, and throughout the campaign) are likely to come.
Flip-flop?
A mixed message gives you the quote and counterquotes from politicians. A good way to see politicians sitting on both sides of an issue, even if it's often the same politician sitting on two sides of the same issue.
On the eve of tonight's debate, more bad news for Bush.
On eve of tonight's debate, more bad news for Bush. The economy stumbled last month, with only 96,000 new jobs -- far short of the 138,000 jobs the Bush Administration predicted, or the 150,000 new jobs needed every month just to keep up with population growth. Another interesting tidbit is that 37,000 of the 96,000 new jobs are government employees, up from 24,000 in August and 11,000 in July. Is the timing coincidental? Meanwhile, electoral-vote.com changed their methodology -- again -- so that it more accurately reflects recent poll results. The difference is striking.
cool Grand Canyon views
Take a nifty little tour of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. (QTVR pics). (Alternate sites for non-QTVR people.)
Seeking Band Geek Lit
Book publisher soliciting proposals on a high school marching band memoir. It could have an “American High” structure, in which a reporter follows a number of members of a band for a year, but the tone should be “Freaks & Geeks.” It could be something along the lines of “Drumline.” Or, and this is preferable, it could be a person’s wry memoir of his or her life as a band geek: weirdness on the bus, band sluts, the freshmen who steal your place, rivalries, loathing, the football team, what personality type goes with each instrument, etc. Knowledge of band camp and competitions would be a plus. BONUS: Maud's post includes the email address of a senior editor at Wiley to whom you may send your book proposals.
George Bush shoots and kills D.C. police officer
In 1889, George Bush shoots and kills an innocent bystander then shoots and kills the D.C. police officer pursuing him. "Although mortally wounded, Officer Crippen found Bush hiding in a room and shot him twice."
And that's how the Bush family had bad blood with D.C.
SketchCrawl
Impossible demands, inhuman intent.
Ken Bigley murdered by Iraqi terrorists. The third of his group to be beheaded, his ordeal lasted three weeks, whilst his kidnappers demanded that the British release prisoners they didn't even hold. The poor man did not deserve this.
If you see your mom, tell her I said SATAN!!!
Ceci Nes't Pas Une Satanic Message • "Years ago someone told me that if you played Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven song backwards that you could make out 'satanic messages'. It is not my opinion that Led Zeppelin and the other artists here were given some kind of evil power to make these backwards sounds have a satanic message. And, no, I did not create this to show the evils of Rock and Roll. Instead I made this flash piece for two reasons: 1. I was new to Flash and wanted to be better at it and 2. The reverse files sound cool. "
Going Upriver
Going Upriver : The Long War of John Kerry, is the new documentary in theatres about Kerry's service in the Vietnam War and his subsequent protests against it. Somehow, I'd never even heard about this film until this morning. Reviews of the film seem to be mostly positive. Have any MeFi members seen it? Do you think this will have any affect on election day?
I've only got a tiny twanger. But it works well and I like to play with it!
we would if we could
GlobalVote2004 what would the rest of the world vote for if they could? GlobalVote2004 aims to find out, all non US citizens can pick their choice for President of the USA.
The worst seller on ebay?
Flash Friday Fing!
Unsurprisingly cute Japanese game. Today's reason for my corporate shirking.
HELLO My name is Scott
Re-introducing community in a world of mass distraction and isolation. Here's what happens when one wears a nametag everywhere. And 52 ways to build a front porch.
Moooooooooooooo.
Friday Flash Frustration Fun: IQ Marathon (with cows) - The instructions are in German, but figuring it out is half the fun, right?
Roll your own presidential stump speeches.
"Even my son goes on about Che"
"We can't be too purist about these things" Slate: I know there is a conspiracy theory saying that David Atlee Phillips—the Miami CIA station chief—was involved with the assassination of JFK.
Howard Hunt: [Visibly uncomfortable] I have no comment.
Slate: And there were even conspiracy theories about you being in Dallas the day JFK was killed.
Hunt: No comment.
Laura Hunt: Howard says he wasn't, and I believe him.
E. Howard Hunt talks about Guatemala, the Bay of Pigs, Dealey Plaza. And what really happened to Che Guevara.
(more inside)
Dr. Angus Interventions
This flash friday, it is still fun?
Nuclear Armageddon Simplified.
October 7
Land Reform and Mass Trespass
A campaign for land reform in Britain. 'A few rich people, many of them aristocrats, own 69 per cent of the land in Britain. As a result, house prices are so high, millions can't afford to buy a home.' (New Statesman) Related :- freedom to roam (from the Ramblers' Association site), the 'independent' Isle of Eigg, the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932 (and a news report from the era).
Scared?
Terror warnings boost Bush's approval ratings. Cornell sociologist Robb Willard has used a time-series regression analysis to show that a terror alert by the US government predicts an increase in Bush's approval ratings, even on topics unrelated to security.
It's often been claimed that the Bush administration manipulates terror alerts for political gain — does this finding make those claims more plausible?
What Is Truth Anymore?
Fahrenhype 911. We're going to destroy ourselves aren't we? A movie with appearances by Ann Coulter and Zell Miller takes aim at Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It's slick, it's punchy and techno-contemporary. Is this a harbinger of not only the loss of America's middle class, but also our common ground?
Philosophy
Bush Royal Rampage
Yet another political post! Only this one is in the style of Time Crisis. [Flash]
Politics in the 'New Normal' America
Focus Concern on Schools in Six States
Focus Concern on Schools in Six States I had recenbtly read that when alerts are issued, Bush support moves up. Now we have this alert based on info from a captured terrorist in Iraq. Our govt, we are told, downloaded building plans for a number of public schools. Alas: the material according to the article was found in the Summer--School begins around Labor Day...and now the alert is made?
Terrorism against tourists
Terrorists strike tourists in Egypt...again. At least 30 people have been killed, 114 injured today when a truck bomb blew up the Hilton hotel in Taba, Egypt, a resort town in the Sinai. A concurrent explosion occurred nearby in Nuweiba, Egypt, and early casualty reports there are 4 dead, 40 wounded. The apparent target? The many Israeli families who were vacationing in the area, celebrating Simchas Torah. The less-apparent target? The $4 billion/year 7 million people/year Egyptian tourism industry, a crucial part of that country's economy. While this is not the first time that tourists from Israel have been singled out worldwide, it's also part of a decade-long pattern of mass-casualty terrorist attacks against tourists from multiple countries within Egypt. Keeping in mind that one of the most devastating economic after-effects of 9/11 was the blow it dealt to air travel and tourism worldwide, not to mention close calls and tragic events at famed tourist destinations, is tourism-terrorism going to become the wave of the future?
Indymedia Busted
FBI Seizes IMC Servers in the UK. Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet...The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site.
Goodbye 411?
AOLer goes to war. LOL.
these tombstones looked really neat. Moocow's photos show what life is like on the ground in Iraq as a US liberator in the air force. It's always great to see an insider's view, but I must admit some of the captions come off as a bit weird/disrespectful. Otherwise, interesting stuff you don't see everyday.
is Nedra Pickler the author?
No need to actually vote, folks: the Election result has already been written by the AP: At this hour, President Bush has won re-election as president by a 47 percent to 43 percent margin in the popular vote nationwide. Ralph Nader has 1 percent of the vote nationwide. That's with 51 percent of the precincts reporting.
(they say it's a test article, but who ever heard of an election results article being pre-written?)
Debating for Ratings
Debating for Ratings [yet another flash movie] Do-good media reform group answers the questions no one asked: What if the media set the rules of the debates? What if campaign coverage took the same form as Big Media's favorite low-cost, high-profit programming — reality TV?
CIA leak/press on trial
Times Reporter Is Held in Contempt in Leak Inquiry
I'm no fan of Judith Miller, but can someone please explain to me why she is on trial (and Robert Novak isn't?)
I'm no fan of Judith Miller, but can someone please explain to me why she is on trial (and Robert Novak isn't?)
I'm speechless
Making a movie? Throwing a party or an event? Take it up a notch and schedule Frank "Bikerfox" DeLarzelere. Outfits and poses for all occasions.
Get Off The Internet And Vote
Get Off The Internet And Vote
1. Take a picture of yourself at the polls on November 2, 2004.
2. Take a picture of your voter registration paperwork
3. Send both pictures to the address contest-AT-getofftheinternetandvote-DOT-com
4. All valid entrants will win a small prize, shipped to them for free, merely for entering. One entrant will win the grand prize.
brought to you by drew and natalie
1. Take a picture of yourself at the polls on November 2, 2004.
2. Take a picture of your voter registration paperwork
3. Send both pictures to the address contest-AT-getofftheinternetandvote-DOT-com
4. All valid entrants will win a small prize, shipped to them for free, merely for entering. One entrant will win the grand prize.
brought to you by drew and natalie
cessante causa cessat et effectus
F-16's for Pakistan
The weapons the U.S. is sending to Pakistan are targeted against India, not the Taliban. At Pakistan's biggest arms show, a former favorite of A.Q. Khan, it was announced that the U.S. will be selling F-16s to Pakistan, possibly equipped with air-to-air missiles. It looks like Pakistan got its end of the deal for the July surprise.
Ouch
Appropriate response when the town of Luxembourg doesn't let you open up a store in the middle of town? [kinda nsfw, and rather disturbing]
schizoid personality disorder, bi-polar disorder, and sociopathic tendencies. oh my!
Is John Kerry Mentally ILL?
"To put our concerns to rest, we send an anonymous profile of John Kerry to a panel of leading Psychologists and Psychiatrists, both Democrat and Republican, Left and Right, without letting them know they were evaluating a Presidential candidate. The results will SHOCK YOU, regardless of your political beliefs, just like it shocked us."
"To put our concerns to rest, we send an anonymous profile of John Kerry to a panel of leading Psychologists and Psychiatrists, both Democrat and Republican, Left and Right, without letting them know they were evaluating a Presidential candidate. The results will SHOCK YOU, regardless of your political beliefs, just like it shocked us."
Iraq war justified?
Vice President Cheney declares the no-wmd report justifies war. So what exactly were they going to do to us that was dangerous, think about the act? In related news, widespread genocide is a potential thought of an african government, let's get em?
The Money Shot... at least according to Tom DeLay's photo album...
kiv-ee-ute
Musk oxen have no musk glands and are not oxen. Musk Ox have a bone armor plated skull that protects their forehead. Eight times warmer than wool and extraordinarily lightweight, Qiviut is one of the finest natural fibers known to man. Color your own, make them from paper,
or hunt them with caribou.
More than rhetoric...
More than rhetoric... As the campaign gets more divisive and time grows short incidents of violence are breaking out more and more often. Shots have been fired on more than one occasion, swastikas burned, intimidation and just plain kicking. Hopefully it gets better from here, but somehow I don't think so.
Mohammed is home safe
Christmas Lights in Pilaf
Join Uncle Ben and the Rice family as they come to terms with the True Meaning of Christmas in Christmas Lights in Pilaf. [.mp4 video] Warning: This trailer makes little to no sense.
Congratulations to Austria
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2004: Elfriede Jelinek, probably best known for the story behind Michael Haneke's La Pianiste.
Best of the Web
The last phase of the Met's Timeline of Art History is now live and well worth visiting.
The resumé of George W. Bush
The resumé of George W. Bush, a carefully annotated curriculum vitae for the incumbent U.S. president, with a foreword and an ongoing errata section to keep it honest.
October 6
What barry says
What Barry Says. (mirror of the quicktime video) Though it may stray towards the tinfoil hat in places, you can't dispute that a small group of neocons really is actually trying to reform the world in their vision. But are they doing it merely for profit on the part of their closely related weapons companies? Even if you don't agree with its provacative message, it's a damn fine looking piece of type, design, and film all rolled into one 2 minute short [via randomfoo].
Cheney Bio
The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney from the CBC.
What are the US and Israel really afraid of in Iran?
And why might we be asking ?
"Q: What is the % likelihood that the US might Invade Iran in the Next Decade ?.... What kind of process did you go through to answer the question ?" - from a recent Powerpoint presentation on future trends given to ExxonMobil executives. (see also : Low fat Humanized Pigs)
RSS Mailer emails the contents of RSS feeds to mailing list users
RSS Mailer emails the contents of RSS feeds to mailing list users. You can manage your users and RSS feeds through a web interface and send a selected number of items from your RSS feeds (individually or all together) to the email addresses on your mail list. Users can subscribe/unsubscribe themselves through forms, or the administrator can subscribe/unsubscribe them through the web interface. You probably won't need Bloglet anymore.
Amateur Political Multimedia
This is the first presidential election where the power of personal computers have been put to use by large numbers of amateurs to create their own ads, cartoons, and multimedia political statements.
Some are ridiculous, some are inventive, and some are well, amateurish, but they are all done by people trying to express their political views in a way that may seem to make more of a difference then by casting a ballot.
I know that the links I've posted are anti-bush slanted, but to be honest they are easier to find...
Vintage Los Angeles Postcards
Hello from Los Angeles! A collection of Vintage postcards from L.A. and OC. Car-riffic cityscapes with brush script aplenty; your future smells like oil.
Don't touch me please, I can not stand the way you...
Tainted Love: afraid you may have given someone an STD? Not sure how to let them know? No problem! With inSPOT you can send signed or anonymous e-cards to up to six [!] people who may now be infected. But don't virus spam, please.
I want Life, F****r!
"We have [a substance] that extends the life of every species it's given to. We're 50 years ahead of where I thought we would be 10 years ago." While Harvard Medical School rules prevent David Sinclair from recommending product, "I know a number of scientists who think [it] is their best shot. Others satisfy themselves with a glass of red wine," which contains the compound. Too good to be true?
Photography of David Maisel
Iraqi Indicted for Proposal to Open Talks With Israel
Iraqi Indicted for Proposal to Open Talks With Israel Bringing democracy to the Middle East--let freedom ring. "A court of Iraq's interim government has brought criminal charges against a prominent politician for attending an antiterrorism conference in Israel and publicly suggesting that Iraq should open talks with Israel.
The indictment and arrest warrant, based on a 1969 law promulgated by the Baath Party that bars Iraqis from having contacts with enemy states, are likely to anger the United States government, which has sponsored Iraq's new courts and is a close ally of Israel." So it goes...
Check (it) out
netLibrary. "We offer the only comprehensive approach to eBooks that integrates with the time-honored missions and methods of libraries and librarians." Want an account? If your library system is a participant, go to the site from on a library computer, create an account, and you can then log in remotely too. Interesting! [via soup du jour of the day.]
A night at the station
Flashmob - The Opera.
There will be something like 200 people on site, including a 62-piece orchestra, a choir of singing policemen and a chorus of football fans... and all while it's 'business as usual' at the station. It's not the first place you'd think of doing a live opera!
Despite some alleged security worries it went ahead at Paddington Station and has been broadcast complete with the flashmob singing Nessun Dorma.
Gloriate!
There will be something like 200 people on site, including a 62-piece orchestra, a choir of singing policemen and a chorus of football fans... and all while it's 'business as usual' at the station. It's not the first place you'd think of doing a live opera!
Despite some alleged security worries it went ahead at Paddington Station and has been broadcast complete with the flashmob singing Nessun Dorma.
Gloriate!
Scratch the skin of modern England
England is still full of local distinctiveness: 'England in particular'. The site includes a calendar of local English events. Apparently around now Nottingham is limbering up for its annual goose fair. With it's own unmapped and illogical structure, it's worth digging around the site. I loved finding the English orchard year and gazetteer.
Pets or Meat
foreign-born presidents
Why so quiet?
I'm not much for the tin foil hat types out there, but does anyone else find it odd that the leader of the Islamic Jihad was killed [Reuters UK via Fark] and it's not being reported by anyone else?
Could it have anything to do with the fact that it's nearing election time and the fact that it wasn't us who did it?
Nope, no weapons over there...maybe under here?
Iraq's WMD capability was essentially destroyed in 1991, according to the report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq.
$8,000 Mr. Potato Head
Scandinavian ants and swans
The architect as total designer. In 1959, Danish architect Arne Jacobsen shattered paradigms aplenty with his SAS Hotel (represented now by its last remaining original room, the legendary 606). The hotel was intended as a single field of experience; from seating and lighting (more here and here) to table service, Jacobsen was intimately involved in almost every aspect of the hotel's physical interface with its guests. The result is a work of deeply pleasing harmony that still looks fresh some four and a half decades later. MeFites in Copenhagen: how's it holding up?
File Magazine's Unexpected Photography
FILE - A Collection of Unexpected Photography - "FILE Magazine publishes images that treat subjects in unexpected ways."
FSM at 40
"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop."
Four More Weeks
The almost-president who never was. Sixteen years ago Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau created a fictional Democratic candidate for president, along with a satirical comedy series -- "Tanner '88" -- that documented Jack Tanner's run for the White House. Now Sundance is premiering "Tanner on Tanner," a sequel that revisits Tanner, his daughter, Alex, and others from so long ago as a four-week follow-up in this election season.
In "Tanner '88" (just released on DVD from the Criterion Collection) the primary target for satire was politics. But with "Tanner on Tanner," it's the media -- self-absorbed, self-deluded and all-invasive -- that gets most of the lampooning.
"When my students ask about '88," declares Tanner "I always tell them the only thing worse than the indignity of campaigning back then is the horror of campaigning now."
(more inside)
Molleindustria
Molleindustria + friends. As featured on the BBC: Hackers re-invent political protests.
Links ordered by quality, roughly. Some slightly NSFW with some NSFW connections. Various links include sound.
Links ordered by quality, roughly. Some slightly NSFW with some NSFW connections. Various links include sound.
Old Skool Printing
"Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark..." (qt video, via Signal versus Noise)
Because mistakes make the best art
October 5
flu
Another year, another flu vaccine shortage. Perhaps it just the first salvo of 2004's media Flu Frenzy! I think this winter I will retire the the TV, forget about my pharma portfolio and instead light a fire, swig some hot lemon and honey tea, and spice up my life.
Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastics
Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastics
TO ORDER, SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
The Center for Global Food Issues (operated by The Hudson Institute ..funded by ConAgra Foods, DuPont, Exxon Mobil, McDonalds, Monsanto, etc etc etc...)
"Diverse" reviews at Amazon
TO ORDER, SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
The Center for Global Food Issues (operated by The Hudson Institute ..funded by ConAgra Foods, DuPont, Exxon Mobil, McDonalds, Monsanto, etc etc etc...)
"Diverse" reviews at Amazon
Being Nothing: George W. Bush as Presidential Simulacrum.
He didn't get no respect.
... Let's finally give him some respect. Rodney Dangerfield dead at 82. This has not been a good year for celebrities longevity, has it?
Their early stuff was better.
Heavy prophetic activity... The rapture index- cliffs notes for doomsday.
Zoomquilt
Place your bets! October Madness is on!
Wimblehack! Matt Taibbi of the NY Press hosts a four-week tournament to crown the worst political journalist in America. Check the bracket, and place your bets. Bob Woodward looks tough to beat (he "says, with pride, [that] . . . Bush in Plan of Attack either comes across as a 'forceful, decisive leader' or 'shows he does not know what he is doing,' depending on your point of view"), Brian Mooney of the Boston Globe has a winning strategy ("Any reporter who files a 'nation bitterly divided' or a 'most fiercely contested election in history' piece is going to advance automatically. When 100 million people don't vote, the nation is not bitterly divided. The nation mostly doesn't give a shit.") but my money says there's no way anyone's stopping Elizabeth Bumiller.
(Via Atrios, but should be safe for Republicans, too.)
Liberation? Perversion? Or a Guy with a
Alfred Kinsey: Liberator or Pervert? (New York Times link, I hope you know the drill by now.) A newish movie explores the life of Alfred Kinsey, sex researcher and founder of the Kinsey Institute. Kinsey was author of the controversial book Sexual Behavior In The Human Male. The controversy has blossomed oh these many years later with accusations that Kinsey's work is fraudulent, and conducive to child based porn and fantasy. The ultra-right seems obsessed with sexualizing his research in terms of "protecting the children". His observations have been linked to the addictive, destructive nature of pornography, that twists our notions of sex and love, and even enables the sexual abuse of college students in class. (Yeah, I know, that last sounds kinky, doesn't it?)
Dear Mike, Iraq sucks
Dear Mike, Iraq sucks. Michael Moore received a flood of letters and emails from disillusioned and angry American soldiers serving in Iraq. From today's Guardian.
Coward-in-Chief.
Coward-in-Chief. George Bush has announced that he will give a major national speech on Wednesday, in which he will respond to John Kerry's criticisms of the president. This appears to be the first time any president has tried to hold a major televised speech during the election season for such a purpose. During his term in office, Mr. Bush has given the fewest press conferences of any president in the televised era. John Kerry had previously offered Bush weekly debates... and George Bush refused. Is it fair to say that he'd rather use his power of office to dictate to us instead?
Dunhuang
Dunhuang Art. Buddhist cave art and history.
I, for one, welcome our character-based education overlords
Meet a federal marriage expert. According to cult leader Reverend Moon, democracy must crumble in the face of "Godism," with him in charge. Having endorsed Godism as central to any sensible curriculum, and Moon as
central to any married person's sex life, one Josephine Hauer is now receiving federal funds to train marriage experts. It's part of a $1.5 billion marriage program that excludes gay-friendly organizations, but has funded this admirer of Soviet character education. The government argues that most Americans already share the values of the Healthy Marriage Initiative.
The Scissor Sisters
The Scissor Sisters (album art NSFW) seem to be getting the attention of the two primary community-owned radio stations I have bookmarked, to the point of becoming a guilty pleasure. The band is unapologetically camp riffing or perhaps just plundering the more popular glam rock lexicon and of course the music that we love to hate, disco. Of course, it may be all over. With the recent revelation that the Scissor Sister are favored by U.K. Tory co-chair Liam Fox they might suffer what the Guardian calls, the Curse of the Thrashing Doves. The wisdom being that while it is kosher for bands to endorse politicians, it is the kiss of death for politicians to endorse bands. Still, it is interesting to me how things have changed in that the Scissor Sisters are capitalizing on the gay card early in their careers. Melissa Etheridge took two albums before coping to what had been an open secret.
Carl Lewis is the Beef.
Carl Lewis' present to pop culture. (Quicktime Video) Ladies and Gentlemen, all you kids out there who want to know what the 1980's were like: I present you the ultimate document. Just in case you were wondering, ( It has been twenty years after all) the star of this video is considered one of the best track & field athletes of all time. (Via jasonzada.com)
...but not in the way you might think.
1968: The Year That Changed The Future. The roots of the VoIP insurrection trace back to four synchronistic events in 1968. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled MCI could compete with AT&T using microwave transport on the Chicago to St. Louis route. The same year, the FCC's Carterfone decision forced AT&T to allow customers to attach non-Western Electric equipment, such as new telephones, and modems, to the telephone network. The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency issued a contract to Bolt Beranek and Newman for a precursor to the Internet. And in July 1968, Andrew Grove and Gordon Moore founded Intel. Innovation in the communication sector remained the proprietary right of AT&T for most the 20th century, but events in 1968 breached the barriers that kept the telecom and information technology industries apart. For the first two-thirds of the 20th century, AT&T had manned Berlin Wall separating telecommunications and computing, but eventually, these two enormous technology tracks would be unified.
Absolutely fascinating - and admittedly long! - article, by Daniel Berninger on VoIP, on Om Malik's blog. Read the whole thing, as they say.
Fulfilling my First Rule obligations
London Pillow Fight Club tomorrow. Do you really have the option of not being there? I guess, like, being across an ocean is an acceptable excuse.
Warp Speed, Mr. Folds!
Sketches on the covers of matchbooks.
Jason D'Aquino - sketches. My faves can be found in the circus and matchbook galleries.
Oily lollipops, carbonized brains
Pederasts of the mind: Of kids, lies and Oil. The American Petroleum Institute partners (in 2004)
with The National Science Teacher's
Association (NSTA) and Scholastic
(see: Scholastic's creedo) to
provide K-12 lesson plans, on energy and oil, which resemble the API's own "Teacher Lesson
Plans" and snappy flash presentations such as Progress
Through Petroleum! which are bundled with fun stuff and
cool facts. The NSTA/API lessons teach all about energy and oil except the global environmental impacts. Didactic bonus from NSTA's oil-friendly curriculum : a surrealistic gallery of oil industry
imagery for kids to download.
Recent glacial melt speedup in Greenland and Antarctica shocks researchers, while the Pentagon games scenarios of Abrupt Climate Change : Don't worry, says the DOE's Energy Ant - oil's good, like cows, m'kay ? . Extra credit : Play the Oil and natural Gas Crossword Puzzle, or the "Industry Lesson Plan Game" (that, and more, inside)
Recent glacial melt speedup in Greenland and Antarctica shocks researchers, while the Pentagon games scenarios of Abrupt Climate Change : Don't worry, says the DOE's Energy Ant - oil's good, like cows, m'kay ? . Extra credit : Play the Oil and natural Gas Crossword Puzzle, or the "Industry Lesson Plan Game" (that, and more, inside)
Men pulling corks
Air Force pursuing anti-matter weapons
The U.S. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power source -- antimatter, the eerie "mirror" of ordinary matter -- in future weapons. "The energy from colliding positrons and antielectrons "is 10 billion times ... that of high explosive," Edwards explained in his March speech. Moreover, 1 gram of antimatter, about 1/25th of an ounce, would equal "23 space shuttle fuel tanks of energy." Thus "positron energy conversion," as he called it, would be a "revolutionary energy source" of interest to those who wage war."
Doesn't that just make you feel safer?
Sticks and Stones
What's worse, calling a disabled person brave or a window-licker? It seems it depends on your perspective. Check out the pretty cool blog too.
I wonder how this stands up internationally?
October 4
Political Theory Daily Review
News Room [Oct. 4] From Germany, many Germans still speak about the "Mauer im Kopf", the Wall in the head... Town Square [Oct. 4] From NPQ, excerpts from a panel of Nobel laureates in economics... Ivory Tower [Oct. 4] From Dissent, Shalom Lappin (KCL): The Need for a New Jewish Politics... Such are the top three links in the extremely link laden and indispensable--think of it as the Arts & Letters Daily of political theory and philosophy--Political Theory Daily Review, which came via the also indispensable Abu Aardvark.
I Am Learn
I am learn is a weblog written by a Perl script and – get this – its managed to create quite … a lucid weblog. Yes. A weblog. By a Perl script. The author says "I wrote a ridiculous Perl program to generate text. Thing is, it developed some bugs, and has managed to create phrases and combinations of words (which actually make sense) that I didn’t even program in. I hooked it up to the Blogger API, and now it updates its own weblog with no editing on my part (I just give it a bunch of topics to talk about)."[via Kevin Francis]
Psychedelic Jew's Harp
J.M. Nasim's Psychedelic Jew's Harp. Such a simple and ancient instrument, the Jew's Harp, or maultrommel, or Koukin, or Khomus, or guimbarde, or genggong, or numerous other names, has never sounded quite like this (streaming mp3 link).
I create this music live. No multi-tracking, no playback of pre-recorded material, no sampling. The raw signal of voice and Jew’s Harp feeds into a portable bank of automated processors. Here, various programmatic, architectonic sound spaces frame rhythmic zones within which certain acoustic potentialities reside. These sonic holograms manifest my musical explorations as shape-shifted sound. Seminal acoustics are gestated into new aural forms to birth multi- dimensional soundscapes of interpenetrating pulses and harmonics.
Somewhere in between the genres of Classical and Popular
Looking to expand your musical boundaries? "...this stuff is wonderful to sit around and listen to."
DeMint: Gays should not teach
DeMint: Gays should not teach US Congressional candidate opposes gays teaching in schools. He's dancing with them whut brung him, as they say in certain circles. Yet another reason I'm proud of my home state of South Carolina. (Not.)
Honey Won't You Be Meshuga Tonight
Klingon Klezmer. CD Review. Video (real, sorry). Audio clips, including Klingon Mating Dance, as cited in Webster's Online. QaHplaH! er, I mean, l'chaim!
evhead resigns blogger
best of luck, ev. after over five years of sweat and tears, founder evan williams decides to hang up the reigns on his position at blogger.
undoubtedly, he's done a lot for the blogging community and the internet in general.. we wish him well.
Rumsfeld doubts Saddam Laden link
Rumsfeld doubts Saddam Laden link US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has cast doubt on whether there was ever a relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.
A spoon further
Masters of Lebowski
They Say That In The Army
On the origins and history of the military (marching/running) cadence. Some were straightforwardly about identity, some inevitably about the performance of bloodthirstyness, but it always seemed to me that the most rewarding and enjoyable cadences to sing were those that were simply special cases of an older tradition: the working man's blues. A platoon run to cadence in the Fort Knox gloaming may be one of the few purely vocal expressions remaining, at that, now that others have fallen by the wayside.
Maptastic
Aerial photos. Maps. Overlaid. Fantastic.
At number 885, with a bullet...
The 885 All Time Greatest Songs as chosen by listeners to WXPN, the listener-supported station at 88.5 on the Philadelphia-area FM dial. WXPN ran an on-line vote, asking listeners for their top 10 all time favorites in celebration of a move to a new studio. They are playing all 885 back, in order, all this week (on air and on-line). We're up to Bobby Darin and Beyond the Sea (number 750, sandwiched between Husker Du and Jimi Hendrix) as I post this. My all time favorite, the Dead's Wharf Rat, was at 782. The site also presents the top ten lists of some of their staff and some favorite artists.
researched by a #mefi - (waiting for his account) mefite
I was born in NY in the late 60's, and moved to PA in 1985. I'm a Christian, a Klingon, a vegetarian, and a real nice guy with a firm and conservative moral standing.
posted by me for dnab from #mefi
posted by me for dnab from #mefi
F*ck Big Media
F*ck Big Media, Rolling Your Own Network If a well-informed public is the necessary prerequisite to the democratic process, then we must frankly admit that any private ownership of public airwaves represents a potential threat to the free exchange of ideas. Now that private property has mostly collectivized the electromagnetic spectrum, and with little hope that this will soon change, we must look elsewhere to find a common ground for the public discourse.
We are fortunate that such ground already exists.
those damn hippies?
Dodging the draft call up? Fewer than two-thirds of the former soldiers being reactivated for duty in Iraq and elsewhere have reported on time, prompting the Army to threaten some with punishment for desertion.
The former soldiers, part of what is known as the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), are being recalled to fill shortages in skills needed for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush Remixed
Flat Earthers for Bush!
Don Luskin dismisses high school economics as Democrat propaganda in the National Review:
Be that as it may, there is no unique virtue to inflation-adjusting — except that it makes all changes in income look worse, which well serves the liberal agenda of the Times’s economic reporting during an election year.The National Review has always been conservative, but I'm unaware of when a writer for a mainstream publication has so explicitly dismissed something as common-sensical as real dollars. What's next? Gravity? Heliocentrism? Via Brad DeLong.
Chafee drops Bush
Dissent is patriotic. "I'm a pro-choice, antiwar, antideficit Republican," says Senator Linc Chafee (R-RI). But his party affiliation is not stronger than the deep ideological gulf between the conservative and moderate wings of the GOP. Today, Sen. Chafee announced that he will not support George Bush's bid for re-election nor vote for him in November. Already there are rumbles of a party defection that might quash hopes for a GOP hold on the U.S. Senate. Remember this guy? "I understand the feelings that he has," Mr. Jeffords said. "I'm going to be talking to him, so I'm not going to say any more. I probably shouldn't have even told you that."
Forget the next debate... The candidates should take the GLAT.
What number comes next in the sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66, ? How would you do on the GLAT? Page 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Dandruff or cancer?
Chemical heads Your hair is drab. Dull. Needs more volume. Needs less frizz. It needs something. Maybe it needs cetyl alcohol. Mixed with a dash of propylene glycol, and how about a little butane, or acrylamide?
Once upon a time, people lathered, rinsed, never repeated, and went on their merry bad-hair days. Then, science and chemistry specialized the way folks condition and shine.
Companies began creating new compounds so they could design products for specific hair types. Now, some consumer groups worry about the mix of chemicals: they point to incomplete labeling and little government oversight of the cosmetics and hair industry, accusations the Food and Drug Administration does not deny.
"The FDA needs to define what is safe to put in these products, and come up with standards," says Tim Kropp, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer organization in Washington that helped produce a study on problem ingredients in everyday products. "There are no safety standards in place." (to access main link, a little help from BugMeNot).
More inside.
More Denton Bloggery
Screenhead: Funny web shit curated by Dong Resin. Also Jalopnik, concerning cars, and Kotaku, for gamers. All your vice are belong to Nick Denton. Dot com entrepreneurialism scaled to blog size seems to be working.
Booooyah
John Kerry's debate prep
John Kerry's debate prep session (as imagined by Harry Shearer). 90 second streaming Real Audio.
John Dies at the End
October 3
An informed scrotum owner is a safe scrotum owner.
The Troggs Tapes
Put some fairy dust on the bastard! An unknown studio engineer made a huge contribution to the world when he recorded this juvenile squabble among the members of a British Invasion band. Their bickering about the drum sound in the follow-up to their hit single "With A Girl Like You" inspired "This Is Spinal Tap."
condi rice and pre-war intel hype
Condi Rice and pre-war intel hype
The tubes were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, explained on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002. "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
But almost a year before, Ms. Rice's staff had been told that the government's foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons, according to four officials at the Central Intelligence Agency and two senior administration officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. The experts, at the Energy Department, believed the tubes were likely intended for small artillery rockets.
Are these women right to be angry with the Bush administration?
The tubes were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, explained on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002. "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
But almost a year before, Ms. Rice's staff had been told that the government's foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons, according to four officials at the Central Intelligence Agency and two senior administration officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. The experts, at the Energy Department, believed the tubes were likely intended for small artillery rockets.
Are these women right to be angry with the Bush administration?
ThirtyDays
Iraq Attacks - 30 days worth plotted on a map. The gyre is widening [via waxy]
And I walked right out the Door...
Smithereens
Women I grew up worshipping: Penelope Houston, Poly Styrene, Exene, Tina Weymouth. (God knows I'm forgetting a few.) The distaff side of punk and, uh, new wave, at their most lyrical, outraged, and articulate.
Also, a treatise on bees
The Household Cyclopedia - a book of general knowledge printed in 1881.
Rare Books
Rare Books. Links to virtual exhibitions, 1991-present.
Charles Martel smote in vain?
Turkey Rhubarb in the Low Countries. Since there's nothing interesting going on here in the US right now, let's enjoy a moment of EU fun. (y2-length post inside).
I dislike very much the title 'best selling author,' which is more applicable to Harold Robbins
Forever Greene. One hundred years after Graham Greene’s birth, the literary mosaic of books like Our Man in Havana and Brighton Rock is still riveting. But the author "carried anguish” with him: a moralist and, therefore, controversial, Greene’s clearly-worded works of suspenseful, or ethical ambivalence, border on a delicate balance — of both gloom and salvation. His novels are replete with a sense of foreboding, and scrutinise self-deception, sin, failure. George Orwell sneered that Greene thinks "there is something rather distingué in being damned; Hell is a sort of high-class nightclub, entry to which is reserved for Catholics only".
And what remains is also, of course, the -- de riguer -- problem of the biographies: caring father, fervent brothelgoer, helluva guy?
Anyway, among the institutions celebrating Greene's centenary: the British Library, the Barbican Centre (scroll down the page).
And the Guardian just re-printed "The funeral of Graham Greene", reported in the Guardian, April 9 1991. (more inside, with Shirley Temple)
Topobo
Topobo - Topobo is a 3D constructive assembly system embedded with kinetic memory, the ability to record and playback physical motion (movies).
From Eyebeam.
In side the mind of Tommy Westphall
Homicide: Life on the Street Crossovers & A Multiverse Explored An amazing piece of tv research. Did you know that almost all US television happened in the mind of Tommy Westphall, the autistic child in 'St. Elsewhere'? Some 163 series from 'Friends' to 'The X-Files'. Don't you just love crossovers?
Hello Little Consumer
Hello Little Consumer The popular Hello Kitty brand -- commonly found on stationery, purses, pajamas and other items for children -- will soon start appearing on a new platform: a MasterCard debit card. Target age group: 10 to 14."Freedom! You can use the Hello Kitty Debit MasterCard to shop 'til you drop,"
urballoon
Urballoon: "a balloon equipped with a projector and wireless connection to the web that enables people to submit content online and broadcast it in public spaces." Today's the last day to submit for projection in NY.
What would it say?
October 2
Sappho: Poem of Jealousy (26 Translations)
Are you not amazed at how she evokes soul, body, hearing, tongue, sight, skin, as though they were external and belonged to someone else? And how at one and the same moment she both freezes and burns, is irrational and sane, is terrified and nearly dead, so that we observe in her not a single emotion but a whole concourse of emotions? Such things do, of course, commonly happen to people in love. Sappho’s supreme excellence lies in the skill with which she selects the most striking and vehement circumstances of the passions and forges them into a coherent whole. Longinus, On the Sublime
Sappho’s poem of jealousy survives only because the ancient critic Longinus quoted it as a supreme example of poetic intensity--now Ken Knabb has put up 26 translations of it in the English at the Gateway to the Vast Realms , the literature and texts section of his Bureau of Public Secrets. And wait! There's more!
Sappho’s poem of jealousy survives only because the ancient critic Longinus quoted it as a supreme example of poetic intensity--now Ken Knabb has put up 26 translations of it in the English at the Gateway to the Vast Realms , the literature and texts section of his Bureau of Public Secrets. And wait! There's more!
Blogs of the billionaires
George Soros' blog: hot on the heels of the early-adopter in chief, Bill Gates, George Soros has joined the blogging community. Needless to say, the onetime scourge of British monetary policy is not using LiveJournal but he does have a provocative position over the war in Iraq. Warren Buffet by contrast, despite having signed on as a Kerry economic adviser, appears to concur with the pre-emption doctrine. Does anything about the US election make sense anymore? The capital markets seem to have agreed that the outcome point is moot - can popular opinion (.pdf) be far behind? Some disagree. (.pdf)
Stem cells to retinal cells
journalism
Nasty, brutish, and short
How Bush Did. Later for the polls, pundits, and analysis. The five minute .wmv found here sums up the President's performance. Partisan, sliced, edited, and damned scary funny.
I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
OK, OK, we've all heard by now about Virgin Galactic, and their plan to offer customers a markedly suborbital ride and a few underwhelming minutes of zero-G. But some of us know that the future of commercial spaceflight still and always belongs to Pan Am, whose proud (though marred) building still stands in Midtown like a sign pointing to a better, more glamorous future - a future we'd almost stopped beliving in. What a shame that the legendary airline's current, much-reduced incarnation has such humble ambitions: seems to me we need to dream like this, now more than ever.
let me finish??? Were the puppet strings showing?
Q: Is George Bush being quietly coached while he's speaking in public? There's a weird moment during the debate (one of many) when George Bush says "let me finish" but wasn't being interrrupted. Indymedia has a post on it too, including an mp3 of the moment. So, is Bush being coached, even during the debates, and more to the point, how did he lose when he was being fed what to say?
Incurious George and the Political Debate ?
Curious George and the high tension power line : A cartoon story in 9 parts, on how a cute little monkey out of his depth gets turned into a stuffed ashtray holder.
Disinformation, Iraqi style.
"Iraqi blogger" indulges in disinformation. "Sam" of http://hammorabi.blogspot.com has graphic pictures on his site of children killed by Zarqawi terrorists in Baghdad on Thursday. Horrible and tragic, indeed. Even more tragic, however, is that a Reuters camera crew filmed their identical twins, who died that same day after a US airstrike in Fallujah. Is "Sam" a victim of US disinformation, or is "Sam" a practicioner? Could "Sam" be an uncle, perhaps?!
The European Dream
The European Dream Sure. They are doing better than the U.S. in so many aspects of living but we are number one with our military! Or perhaps that is why they do so well? Note: their view of religion does not come anywhere near the crazed attention religion plays in American life, in our politics, tax relief, social legislation etc....
October 1
Entertainment U
Easy grades, light reading loads, and above all a professor you can enjoy. Today’s university culture is one of all entertainment all the time.. an essay by Mark Edmunson based on his new book Why Read? about the the "crisis in the humanities", called the most provocative look since Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind. (via Arts and Letters Daily)
mailing lists for fans of words, sounds, and clothes
"Flavorpill Productions is a publishing and creative services company which develops filtered cultural content, and distributes it through permission-based emails": earplug (electronic music); boldtype (books); JC Report (fashion). Don't like mailing lists? There are archives: e b jc.
Blog catches FoxNews.com in fabrication
Blog catches FoxNews.com in mocking fabrication Are you surprised it was in a story quoting Senator Kerry? (A sequential account. Scroll upward to follow developments.)
Aren't you *supposed* to declare the Good News?
A Tale Of Two Believers: Blair hides his church attendance - because he may be a secret Catholic; Bush promotes Faith Based Initiatives, yet doesn't seem to go to church at all.
Does your leader have a secret spititual life?
Meaning of Life
The Meaning of Life according to various rather famous people (Dennett, Fukuyama, etc). I'm watching the Dennett video at the moment and it starts rather weakly, but, by midway through, is rolling along nicely. With topics like "being good without god" and "the anthropic principle" it struck me as relevant to a couple of recent askmefi threads.
Dennett: [pause] i guess i'll say it again, more slowly...
(oh, and the player interface is rather delicate - give it time to load and click play a few times...)
Dennett: [pause] i guess i'll say it again, more slowly...
(oh, and the player interface is rather delicate - give it time to load and click play a few times...)
... because what every man really wants is A JET TO FLY
debate word counter and splitter upper highlighter thingy
The amazing debate spotter text analysis tool is a fun way to look at the words our leaders use. Bush had a lot of obvious ones: hard work, wrong time, wrong place, he forgot poland. Kerry name dropped Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden quite a bit and had the highest kill ratio. Here's Cameron's post about how it came to be and how it works. Politics in the age of the internet are certainly an interesting time.
SocioEconomics of GoogleAds
The Price of/for Attention
"While it's interesting (and soul-crushingly depressing) to discover bidding wars over keywords associated with human suffering, I'm focused on the idea that I can pull data about web users' interest in different subjects out of this data."The fight to get attention on humanitarian crises, the dynamics of web browsing, and something like statistical game theory meet for a greased wrestling match in GoogleAds.
Helpful Screencaps
Very descriptive screen caps This how-to section features some of the most hilariously notated screen caps I've ever seen. I'm...well, I'm speechless.
you forgot poland
.
"Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh"
The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet. In the spring or summer of 1596, William Shakespeare received word that his only son Hamnet, 11, was ill. In the summer he learned that Hamnet's condition had worsened and that it was necessary to drop everything and hurry home. By the time the father reached Stratford the boy—whom, apart from brief visits, Shakespeare had in effect abandoned in his infancy—may already have died. On August 11, 1596, Hamnet was buried at Holy Trinity Church: the clerk duly noted in the burial register, "Hamnet filius William Shakspere."
It might have been possible that Shakespeare's Catholic father urged his son to have prayers said to speed the child's release from purgatory. The problem was that purgatory had been abolished by the ruling Protestants, and saying prayers for the dead declared illegal. Hence, the possible dilemma for Shakespeare was whether to risk punishment by praying for their deceased loved ones or obey the law and allow those souls to languish in flames.
This anxiety regarding one's obligations to the dead, Stephen Greenblatt suggests, lies behind Hamlet's indecision about whether to obey his father's ghost and take revenge on his uncle Claudius.
RIP Richard Avedon.
Another master taken: Richard Avedon, dead at 81. Arguably the greatest portrait photographer in history, Avedon was famous not only for his fashion or celebrity shots, but also his interest in the common man, best emphasized by the book "In the American West". He was recently working on a piece, "On Democracy" when he suffered a brain hemorrhage. Many may be familiar with his simple black & white on white style from his shots for the New Yorker (he was their first staff photographer). His site is currently shrouded in respect.
The big state up north
Canada's participation in the U.S. missile defence program will not be voted on by Canadians. The Liberal government believes George W. Bush will win the US election and "given the potential for negative consequences" wants to do whatever it takes to make him happy. 7 out of 10 Canadians oppose participation in the program.
Meh-tuhl
Stovokor! Captain pInluH and Commander Khrell are stuck in Portland, the sneaky Ferengi having sold them a 'faulty temporal device.' Life is hard on Earth, it seems. Did anyone get a set list? No matter. It's my beleif that we will not see these warriors astride golf carts. Look out, number 1: perhaps they are looking to pull a Titor on your burgeoning data empire!
Donna De Cesare
In the wake of last Sunday's New York Times piece on gang-driven strife in Central America, the heartbreaking photography of Donna De Cesare. (Hat tip: Sharon Schoen.)
Extinct animals action figures
Extinct animals action figures - get yours and make them fight. Recreate the famous battles of Dodo vs. Caribbean Monk Seal, or Little Swan Island Hutia vs. the Balinese Tiger.
Mount Saint Helens Web Cam
Mount Saint Helens Web Cam provided by the US Forestry Service. Just in case. Also, Valerie Smith's Mount Saint Helens pages, and a comprehensive Mount Saint Helens site from the US geological survey.
absentee ballot fun
So I saw this image online (of a Michigan absentee ballot...which arrow is for Kerry, and which is for Bush?) and it made me think, what the hell is going on with this election? On the one hand, I'm told your vote might just be worthless if you use electronic voting machines but on the other hand the alternative (in my state, at least) is to use an absentee ballot, which, according to some, might be easier, if only because I can have members of a political party help me fill it out.
Ow, my brain!
Nick's Mathematical Puzzles. Something to keep you on your toes and exercise your brain this Friday. [not Flash]
Mountaintop Removal Mining - High Resolution
Mountaintop Removal Mining. Now in High Resolution. Some amazing pictures of this mining process.
I Will Out Berkeley You!
How Berkeley Can You Be Parade?
NSFW (unless your work doesn't mind naked men strutting their stuff).
Found during my surf after the debate last night and well worth a peek, the outraged commentary is pretty funny but it might be lost on the intolerant or those who've never been out to visit Berkeley. Among the pics is this true, true gem (Klingons do NOT ride in golf carts, not even fat Klingons!)
NSFW (unless your work doesn't mind naked men strutting their stuff).
Found during my surf after the debate last night and well worth a peek, the outraged commentary is pretty funny but it might be lost on the intolerant or those who've never been out to visit Berkeley. Among the pics is this true, true gem (Klingons do NOT ride in golf carts, not even fat Klingons!)
"Kerry won by a landslide"
The Toronto Star asked its reader to pick the winner in Thursday's debate between George Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry.
Titanic Adventure Slide
Tragedy + time = comedy. "This incredible slide captures the heart of both young and old with its beautiful design and fast dual slide lanes."
The horror....The tasty, tasty, horror!!
Chocolypse Now.
I love the smell of Oompa-Loompas in the morning.
I love the smell of Oompa-Loompas in the morning.
This is Pinky. He's a very loving cat.
This is Pinky. He's a very loving cat. [Link to Coral cache, 1.9MB WMV file, playable in mplayer]
Be Attitude for Gains
In-your-face shoot-em-up action by bedroom-coders/games designers. From Japan: Warning Forever; Perfect Cherry Blossom; Cho Ren Sha 68K; Bullet Philharmonic Orchestra; Score Soldier; rRootage; Every Extend; TKKN / Crazy Game; and Galshell: Blood Red Skies [NSFW]. Be attitude for gains! From the West: Deadeye; Strayfire; Warblade; Mutant Storm; Bugatron; Space Birdz; Spheres of Chaos; Battle of Yavin; Demonstar; 'Troid; Platypus; Gridrunner; Intensity XS; and Tsunami 2010. From the pages of Edge magazine.
Rape a 'way of life' on Pitcairn
The legacy of the mutiny on the Bounty. Three cheers for the Empire!