MetaFilter

How many recent metafilter threads can you spot in this story? It seems no matter you become famous (or infamous) you need a spokesperson. Just in case you are ever sans spokesperson and standing naked before the ravenous third estate this article gives you a few canned sound bites. Look in a mirror and say these six lines with a straight face: "The best thing for everyone involved is to achieve closure and move on..."
posted by rdr at 10:36 PM PST - 2 comments

john cusack for president
Why Shouldn't John Cusack be President?

He made the tough decisions in Grosse Pointe Blank.
He couldn't be bought in Eight Men Out.
He's cooler than John Malkovich
And we like his politics so far.

interesting. what actor do you think should be president? and why?
posted by bwg at 10:26 PM PST - 57 comments

PacBell seeks to secure a monopoly Californians urged to contact the PUC to put the brakes on PacBell's plan to kill the independent ISP. Should they be allowed to take their toys and go home or be forced to share? And, what effect will this have on the future of tech companies if PacBell is able to lock out DSL competition?
posted by sillygit at 9:06 PM PST - 6 comments

The Olive Garden just says no to H2O! Water: it's necessary to sustain life, but it contributes to a dull dining experience.
posted by sassone at 7:35 PM PST - 100 comments

B&O goes virtual : Beoplayer 1.0 is a Windows application that sits on your desktop and, like everything Bang, works in a sleek, elegant, unintuitive manner (until you learn what the icons and doodads do, then you can show it off for all your friends). Guaranteed you've never seen a music player like this one.
posted by honkzilla at 7:32 PM PST - 14 comments

Cheat! Win a new car! Ford's website tie-in to the NASCAR race series looks fairly normal on first glance. It's a contest that offers prizes (Grand Prize a new Taurus) based on picking the top Ford finishers in each week's race. However, the website is riddled with issues. Enough issues that no one should win a prize when all is said and done. More inside:
posted by machaus at 5:44 PM PST - 4 comments

Pity The Poor TV Broadcaster It was obvious that Personal Video Recorders (like Tivo) were going to make it way easy to skip advertising. What I also realized, though, when talking to Lane about how Buffy is moving from the WB to UPN, is that folks who watch Buffy via a PVR could care less what channel it is on--they just tell the machine to "get me Buffy" and it does the rest. This study seems to affirm that, for a significant portion of the audience, this is true.
posted by peterme at 4:48 PM PST - 24 comments

Stories like this one always seems to bring a smile to my face. For the record, this is the second time in the last few years that some stupid (or very desperate) criminal has tried to rob a doughnut shop in the Chicago land area. You'd think that the concept alone would stop a would-be assailant, but I guess truth is stranger than fiction.
posted by Bag Man at 4:26 PM PST - 14 comments

Netninja Photo Contest There's a little more than a week or so left in the contest, and I doubt it's going to be the next All Your Base, but it looks like fun. Hell, I'm entering.
posted by dincognito at 3:56 PM PST - 2 comments

Scient and iXL Merge ...and I'm wondering who thinks this is a really good idea. A big part of the problem these "iBusiness" consultancies have is that they're too big. Remember all those layoffs? It's in large part because of big overhead, which is a big problem in a tight market. So what problem is being solved by making these two companies into one bigger company?
posted by peterme at 3:48 PM PST - 14 comments

Buy me for $2,595,030.00 So I guess I fit on the "bargain" category... or what? Looks like "money changes everything" isn't just a Cyndi Lauper song title anymore.
posted by betobeto at 1:29 PM PST - 48 comments

The War on Drug Wars. "Ashkan Sahihi is a photographer who is infuriated by the hypocrisy of the war on drugs. It is this hypocrisy that inspired Sahihi to take eleven people out of their daily environments, get them high, and photograph them." Does this project warrant attention as a political statement, as an art project, as all of the above, or as none of the above? Please explain your answer. Partial credit will be given.
posted by conquistador at 12:07 PM PST - 23 comments

The Bush Dyslexicon Ever since the presidential campaign, George W. Bush's adventures in the English language have alternately amused and horrified the nation. But according to media scholar Mark Crispin Miller's scathing new book, The Bush Dyslexicon, to conclude merely that Bush is dimwitted would be a grave mistake. The President's linguistic fumbles, argues Miller, mask a deep and shrewd political vindictiveness; at the same time, the shallowness revealed in Bush's unscripted remarks has been largely ignored or coddled by a national media more interested in soundbites than in political substance.

I don't know what is more frightening: that this guy is right, and we have much more to fear about Bush, Jr. than we thought...or that he is wrong, and we do indeed live in a land whose president is an imbecile.
posted by mapalm at 11:23 AM PST - 54 comments

MSN blocks its subscribers from sending mail with non-Outlook mail clients, as of last week. Like AOL, MSN hasn't allowed its subscribers to check their MSN mail with non-MS mail clients since the beginning. Last April, they banned access to non-MSN SMTP servers (to block spam relaying), but you could still send mail to other ISPs through MSN's SMTP server using your mail client of choice with a simple fix. Now, you can only do so if you switch to Outlook or Outlook Express (quietly announced on their site and via e-mail). All others (Eudora, Pegasus, Agent, Yahoo Mail, Netscape Messenger) are left cold. (more inside...)
posted by waxpancake at 11:09 AM PST - 30 comments

Special Delivery Like a plot out of a movie (or TV show): "You know, my daddy's name was Johnny Johnson," Simmons said, figuring that it was little more than a coincidence. The man paused for a moment and then asked Simmons what his name was. When Simmons told him, he saw tears well up in the man's eyes. "David, is that really you?" the man asked, his voice quivering. Link courtesy Obscure Store.
posted by internal at 10:56 AM PST - 13 comments

I'm not sure I want my ketchup "funky". Heinz announces "funky purple" ketchup, because their green ketchup was so successful.
posted by binkin at 10:46 AM PST - 36 comments

F*ckedEconomy? Cuts in interest rates don't seem to be helping. Layoffs persist (and not just tech/dotcoms). The market bounces, but can it sustain itself? Some say the market will rebound in the 2nd quarter of next year, but these are the same people who saw an uptick coming this fall. Are we headed towards a recession, again? Lucent even had to sell their golf course.
posted by owillis at 10:30 AM PST - 12 comments

Looking for a catchy ICQ number? How about a short one? I can understand domain name reselling, but this is ridiculous. What's next, a market for easy to remember IP addresses?
posted by ry at 10:22 AM PST - 46 comments

He sees dead people. (NYT link) John Edward, host of Sci Fi channel's "Crossing Over", can "read" his audience and pass messages from the deceased. Or is it just like a game of 20 questions? After a few questions he can make guesses and be close enough to right that people believe it. Have you ever seen the show, and do you believe him? Have you ever been read by a psychic? Do you have psychic powers yourself?
posted by msacheson at 9:59 AM PST - 59 comments

Taliban seeks "friendship" with the U.S. Despite their myriad human rights violations and long-standing involvement in a brutal and bloody civil war, the Afghani Taliban government wants to open diplomatic relations with the U.S. Is there really anything to gain by having friendly relations with a nation under UN sanction which treats their own with brutality and has threatened and defied us at every turn?
posted by Dreama at 9:23 AM PST - 15 comments

New web site helps Venezuelans emigrate. The website www.mequieroir.com, which means "I want to leave" in Spanish, offers advice on foreign visa regulations, work permits and even culture and climate for citizens of whatever age who are considering emigrating. Its pages cite recent opinion polls that show that more than 30 percent of Venezuela's 24 million inhabitants would emigrate if they had the opportunity.
posted by 120degrees at 9:21 AM PST - 5 comments

"Sony Corporation of America and Yahoo! Announce Multi-Faceted Relationship. Agreement Includes Co-Branded Web Site, E-Commerce, Enterprise Advisory Services, and Content Integration and Promotion".
posted by valerie at 9:19 AM PST - 5 comments

Clippings is the GPL-ed code behind IHT's news-clip feature, which has been discussed on MetaFilter before. This is very cool code and I think any site with many front page links could benefit from it. Serendipitously found at smokinggun, which is not the smoking gun.
posted by icathing at 8:57 AM PST - 19 comments

Mr. Blue is ill. Garrison Keillor, the host of A Prarie Home Companion and writer of numerous books, will be undergoing open heart surgery sometime in the near future.
posted by isildur at 8:52 AM PST - 9 comments

just say no to sex it gets worse...
posted by christina at 7:02 AM PST - 56 comments

MRI machines -- I always knew they were dangerous, though I never imagined how.
posted by dfowler at 6:31 AM PST - 12 comments

MyPhysicsLab – Physics Simulations could have saved my bacon in high school. I'm hypnotized by colliding blocks.
posted by heather at 10:17 PM PST - 11 comments

The Agony and the Ecstasy It's a thin line between torture and titillation... these exhibits always get tremendous audience turn out. How many people have a little de sade within, I wonder?
posted by christina at 9:05 PM PST - 11 comments

Jordanian king pulls a Princess Jasmine. According to the report, King Abdullah II occasionally dons a disguise and slips out of his palace to mingle with the plebes and check up on the efficiency of government offices. What a cool idea. I picture George W. disguising himself as a migrant farm worker and applying for welfare. Nah...the Bally loafers would probably give him away...
posted by Bixby23 at 8:33 PM PST - 4 comments

Code Red. Microsoft NT, 2000, and ISS users beware, and resurgance of the code red virus may rear it head again tomorrow. Be sure to get all patched up
posted by Hackworth at 7:04 PM PST - 11 comments

Should Election Day be a holiday? Vote, then do some barbecue and watch fireworks... Will this be the development that could increase voter turnout, or will people just waste the day away? How else could voter turnout be improved?
posted by owillis at 5:14 PM PST - 63 comments

Vegas Hotel Testing Video in E-Mail Campaign that will be sent to 60,000 existing customers of The Venetian. How much spam can you digest?
posted by NJguy at 3:35 PM PST - 1 comment

Microsoft vs. AOL Gee, who do you root for in this one? Personally, I'd love to see a Pay-Per-View kickboxing match between Steve Case and Bill Gates.
posted by Rastafari at 3:22 PM PST - 3 comments

20 percent would give up great sex or personal wealth if some genie would grant them eternally perfect hair. Women think about their hair almost as much as they think about sex. A new poll says that a woman spends 43 minutes a day thinking about her hair vs. 48 minutes a day thinking about sex.
posted by 120degrees at 2:34 PM PST - 46 comments

The Princess Bride... "In the 1980s, a timeless story was brought to life... after over a decade, it has returned... the most anticipated remake in a generation... in a way it has never been seen before." And that's an understatement.
posted by silusGROK at 2:14 PM PST - 29 comments

In some places on this planet, even 'Tolkienists' are being arrested Tolerance for alternative lifestyles is apparently non-existent in Almaty, Kazakstan. "Almaty's police are resorting to torture in their war against Kazakstan's burgeoning bohemian counter-culture. Their targets are a growing army of street musicians, alternative artists, a cult devoted to Tolkien, anarchists and gays, whose unconventional lifestyles infuriate them." Go here for more on the Tolkienists.
posted by Lynsey at 2:06 PM PST - 10 comments

The FBI is pure evil. It's going to take more than a new leader dedicated to "PR and image repair" to flush out this sewer of authoritarian egos and corrupted ideals.
posted by rushmc at 1:32 PM PST - 8 comments

A major advance in genetically modified foods. Developed with government funding, and intended eventually to be given away to farmers, there has been a major success in the use of salt water to irrigate crops. They've developed a tomato which grows fine in salt water or on salty soil. Thousands of lives will be saved in parts of the world where fresh water for irrigation is scarce, including up to one third of the arable land in India where salt has been accumulating. Interestingly, these tomatoes are so good at what they do that they remove salt from the soil, improving it. The genetic modification which was done to these tomatoes should be possible with many other crops, including especially rice (on which major effort in Egypt is underway now).
posted by Steven Den Beste at 1:28 PM PST - 39 comments

Kids today...
why when I was a kid, all I had was seven feet of Hotwheels track and a naked G.I. Joe.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 12:48 PM PST - 23 comments

Marijuana use legal for terminally ill "Canada became the first country in the world on Monday to allow terminally ill patients to grow and smoke their own marijuana, overriding protests from doctors who said the decision could put them in an awkward situation."
posted by sylloge at 12:46 PM PST - 6 comments

Geocaching is a way to put your useless GPS device, and your lazy internet to work for your important fun needs. People hide Stuff on earth, and mark the spot. Publish the coordinates, and you go find the stuff. Sometimes toys and cameras are involved. Link via my good friend J.Bu, who probably did not realize he was giving away a perfectly good Old School style MeFi post.
posted by thirteen at 11:14 AM PST - 26 comments

THE CAVALIERS DEFEAT THE BLUE DEVILS!!! So much for BD's undefeated season.

Wow, that was an amazing show. I haven't been so entranced by a drum corps program since Star 1993. It's so beautiful, if they don't win in Buffalo there will probably be a riot.
posted by Pinwiz at 10:12 AM PST - 10 comments

Slate's Mickey Kaus and the Washington Post ask the question: For all the claims of illegal monopolies and unfair advantage, is the tech industry counting on Microsoft and Windows XP's Oct. 25 release to save its bacon?
posted by rcade at 8:30 AM PST - 18 comments

A white Siberian tiger escapes from a private wildlife refuge, bites girl, gets put to death. State law requires an animal that has bitten a human and hasn't been vaccinated for rabies to be put to death so they can examine the brain for rabies. Or, the human that is bitten can be vaccinated for rabies. The girl's family doesn't want her vaccinated because she's had negative reactions to shots in the past, so the tiger dies. Tests for rabies are negative.
posted by jnthnjng at 7:32 AM PST - 62 comments

Another blog-tracking tool... Although I am braced for mefi attack for posting this one ("non-story - there are other web log trackers" etc, etc), I'm interested to hear what me-fier's think about the ultimate viability of such a product. Is a comprehensive weblog crawler a viable product? Would google-like algorithms work? What would this mean for said "memes" and their proliferation on the net? Further, is there a potential for a "commodification of the meme?" Would the corporates, in the style of viral marketing gimmicks ("I Kiss you!"), use such a "meme tracker" to identify and exploit net culture "hot spots?"
posted by preguicoso at 7:31 AM PST - 23 comments

First Evidence of life coming from space. One third a ton a day raining down, according to these researchers.
posted by stbalbach at 7:30 AM PST - 18 comments

This NYT article on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), written by Prof. Lawrence Lessig (author of an excellent book on copyright law and policy in the digital age), raises concerns that were academic prior to the recent arrest of a Russian software programmer at a Las Vegas computer security convention for violation of the act's Sec. 1201(a)(1)(A)'s anticircumvention provision. Is Lessig right that Sec. 1201 essentially makes coders (and their employers) into de facto lawmakers and, if so, is this a bad thing? If Sec. 1201 is bad policy, are there any more reasonable alternatives for effectively protecting access to software and/or providing negative incentives for the unauthorized use of software? (NYT article, registration required)
posted by estopped at 7:19 AM PST - 16 comments

Yahoo! Explorer ads the wave of the future? (via RRE) Taking over your browsing in the name of advertising.
posted by bison at 6:22 AM PST - 12 comments

I guess we'll walk. Much of eastern Canada is currently in the grip of one of the worst summers for smog on record, and a recent poll showed that 58 per cent of Canadians support the idea of limiting car use on smoggy days. However, just 37 per cent said they were willing to pay more taxes in order to improve public transportation.
posted by tranquileye at 5:02 AM PST - 14 comments

britannica ends free access. You have to pay $5/month for complete entries, etc., now (or $50/year). Knew it would happen, still too bad.
posted by aflakete at 2:29 AM PST - 15 comments

Did the Viking landers find life on Mars 25 years ago? Some scientists think so. I have too much faith in planetary scientists and the newly minted field of exobiology, to believe this is a just a ploy to rekindle waning public interest in space exploration. I think this is genuine 20/20 hindsight coupled with better scientific understandings of life existing in the extreme hinterlands of possibility. . .
posted by crasspastor at 12:00 AM PST - 29 comments

how to syndicate greymatter with javascript.
useful and simple tutorial for those using this weblog publishing software and want to put their weblog contents in other sites in a very easy way.
posted by neo at 8:33 PM PST - 12 comments

So bad its good? Or just a crime against humanity? Its the Star Wars Holiday Special, starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Beatrice Arthur(!!). Also starring Chewbacca's father Itchy and his son Lumpy.
posted by BoatMeme at 8:02 PM PST - 12 comments

Murder on Swan's Island Not a Stephen King story or a Murder She Wrote episode, but a real tragedy in a real small town in Maine (not far from my home town) where the deaths of two people change the lives of an entire community forever. It set me thinking ... how would this story be different if set in Boston, or LA, or London? Would the pain and loss for those who knew Jamie and Stacy be the same? Or is it magnified by the close-knit family that makes up a rural island township?
posted by anastasiav at 6:45 PM PST - 4 comments

There's cars, and then there's Ferrari. There's wine, and then there's Château Margaux. There's home computers, and then there's the Athlon Deathstar (picture). It's the computer for the best of us.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 12:56 PM PST - 51 comments

'If I didn't save this music no one else would' Fascinating story of one man's fight to preserve to music of an entire continent. Imagine if the American or British music of the 1940s and 1950s, so beloved by movie producers and commercial makers hadn't been available since then. 'Blue Velvet' stuck in a basement somewhere covered in dust. The only copy of 'Sixteen Candles' in a junk shop somewhere slowly warping in the sun. It really doesn't bare thinking about...
posted by feelinglistless at 6:39 AM PST - 6 comments

Toy Yoda... Expecting a Landcruiser, but getting the land speeder instead, a Hooter's waitress uses the Force to fight against her employer's dark side in court.
posted by fooljay at 7:44 PM PST - 21 comments

The DMCA, a flawed law responsible for such things as the lawsuit against 2600 and adobe's attempt to prosecute Dmitry Sklyarov is spreading! Canada is starting hearings into its own version of the US's DMCA! Where will all this end? Via /.
posted by bytecode at 11:54 AM PST - 5 comments

The Economist calls for the legalization of drugs in this editorial. Plus these articles [per A&LD]. We are always led to believe that only fringe (read criminal and self-interested) elements favor this course...does anyone know any other "mainstream" groups/people with the nerve to publicly state their support? Or better yet, an online list of same.
posted by rushmc at 11:39 AM PST - 20 comments

U.S. Gov't: IF communists attack THEN GOTO communism: The plans that the federal government had developed for salvaging the state in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States by the Soviet Union would have added mass starvation and social extinction to the mass devastation of nuclear war by imposing martial law and a federal dictatorship running the country from the top down.
posted by dagny at 11:09 AM PST - 13 comments

Boy hangs self and explains it all on the Internet Couyld have had some commerical tie-in and banner ads his carefully researched plans to take his life.
posted by Postroad at 9:13 AM PST - 49 comments

Best. Quote. Ever. "Only a man can be a woman the way a man wants a woman to be." I was looking at FilePile, and it seems to be not working right now, so I went to Google's image surfer for an image of a bone, because FilePile is "boned", right? And that found, among other things, "big-boned", which led to a transvestite supply site (because some transvestites are a little big-boned, I guess), which led to that choice quote. Man, the internet is all, like, connected and stuff.
posted by RylandDotNet at 8:23 AM PST - 7 comments

They've got it all: "Pro-White America First" candidates! The VP candidate in her underwear! The man Pat Buchanan denounced as ''crude, obscene, vile and bigoted in the extreme''! Yes, kids, the Reform Party is alive and kicking, and holding their convention in my hometown. Hold onto your hats.
posted by ChrisTN at 7:41 AM PST - 7 comments

Alzheimer’s vaccine looks promising? Yes, this is another news item. I could say I posted this to discuss the ethics of research on animals, or humans for that matter. Or whether pharmaceuticals should be leading the way when it comes to developing vaccines and cures. But honestly, I just wanted an excuse to ask if you think Dale Schenk, the head researcher for the Alzheimer's vaccine, looks more like John Denver or Tim Allen.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 11:42 PM PST - 11 comments

Pentagon fraud $9,000,000,000. I hope this is a misprint. More inside.
posted by rdr at 9:35 PM PST - 35 comments

Oh my god, the internet has porn on it! (Again.) The U.S. Congress makes their annual re-discovery that not everything on the internet is child-friendly. This time they noticed the Gnutella network. (Yes, I got the link from Slashdot - but I like discussing things here rather than there.)
posted by RylandDotNet at 8:09 PM PST - 31 comments

It's like a paycheck advance, not a rebate. You thought the great tax relief of 2001 was a rebate on those huge surpluses the US gov't didn't know what to do with right? Nope, it's merely an advance on the refund of taxes you'll file next year, and here's the kicker: you may or may not be getting any refund at all next year. Tax relief? Tax rebate? Simply owing the $300 back next April? Who came up with this stupid idea? (truth courtesy of Megnut)
posted by mathowie at 6:50 PM PST - 44 comments

Mighty Ducks train with the Sopranos in an effort to sell more tickets to their games. You would think that Anaheim Sports Inc. would spend more time recruiting better players than scaring bakers....
posted by poorhouse at 6:30 PM PST - 2 comments

Stolen shamelessly from Tom: a charming clock, reminding us once again that "time" is an intellectual concept meaningless without human participation... (Don't miss the webserver, either.) Considering the depth and breadth - and apparent copious free time - of the MeFi community one would hope we'd be able to help fill in some of the still unphotographed minutes.
posted by m.polo at 6:29 PM PST - 3 comments

As a followup to the earlier Brasseye (Chris Morris) thread you can now download the show in two 45meg chunks.
posted by holloway at 6:21 PM PST - 1 comment

For fans of the pixelicious design scheme featured on the lomo photography website they now offer downloads of their pixel font/graphics system for free. Anyone have similar web treasures to share?
posted by ooklah at 3:38 PM PST - 13 comments

Bush Eager to Go on Vacation, Commune with Cows
I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist this headline.
"I love to go walking out there, seeing the cows. Occasionally they talk to me, being the good listener that I am," Bush said.
posted by mapalm at 3:31 PM PST - 25 comments

400ml Graffiti - great graffiti art from some of the best taggers the world has ever known. how on earth did they do that with spraypaint? absolutely incredible.
posted by mcsweetie at 3:13 PM PST - 6 comments

San Diego Opensource Convention Ends With "Positive Feelings"
The conference included a debate (documented in real time!) between Microsoft open source---what's the opposite of evangelist?---Craig Mundie and the CTO of RedHat Michael Tiemann entitled "shared source versus open source." Tiemann was feisty and "baited" Mundie, who remained cool as a cucumber. I thought we could all benefit from some postgame analysis here... (1, 2, 3)
posted by rschram at 3:01 PM PST - 4 comments

Reassembled. Assembler is back -- at least, in its latest, frozen form. Score one for indie content makers. (thanks to Zeldman; his exit page notes the new URL.)
posted by moz at 1:27 PM PST - 4 comments

She escaped by slashing him with a fork she happened to be carrying for protection. 14-year old girl is caught in her own lies. I wonder what tipped them off? I'm sure any kid could fend off an attacker with a piece of silverware...
posted by starduck at 1:23 PM PST - 5 comments

Dueling Covers in Seattle The Dan Savage-edited Stranger strikes again, with a well exected parody or The Seattle Weekly's "Best of Seattle" issue.
posted by ph00dz at 1:13 PM PST - 3 comments

Tim Burton is going ape! (their headline, not mine) He blasts the entire internet for giving away the ending to his movie. (don't worry, no spoilers). My favorite quote? "This is why the earth is doomed." said Tim. Should we all be chastised because Matt Drudge spilled the beans?
posted by ColdChef at 12:28 PM PST - 40 comments

"Paul Morgan is a man who desperately wants to lead a normal life again. When the accident first happened, the technology was not available for that to happen. While the technology is now available for Paul to lead a better life, the financial burden would be much more than he could afford. That is why Paul has come up with the idea to chop off his feet live on the internet". This is the first time reading a web page has actually made me nauseous.
posted by Hjorth at 12:25 PM PST - 7 comments

higher IQ = longer life span
A study in the British Medical Journal shows a link between IQ and longevity. 2200 children were tracked from childhood to the age of 76. A 15-point disadvantage in IQ meant the child was only 79% as likely to be alive at 76. A 30-point disadvantage reduced the odds to 63%. *link found at darwin awards
posted by bwg at 12:18 PM PST - 12 comments

rest in peace, tove jansson...creator of the moomins. thanks for making childhood a fantastic place to be.
posted by patricking at 12:01 PM PST - 9 comments

13-year-old girl admits to killing some 50 people. Probably video games or MTV or rap music
posted by Postroad at 11:22 AM PST - 12 comments

Colin Powell in cabaret performance in Viet Nam. "As Powell acted out his death throes at the end of the song, [Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko] Tanaka - in traditional Vietnamese dress - flung her arms around his prostrate body and kissed him on the cheek." Apparently these kinds of performances are regular occurences at these things.
posted by donkeymon at 11:20 AM PST - 15 comments

As much as I enjoyed the Blair Witch Project, one had to wonder why those silly kids didn't have a single mobile phone among them. A number of standard plot devices are becoming obsolete as a result of current technologies, while filmmakers are finding new ways to incorporate technology into their stories.
posted by tranquileye at 10:47 AM PST - 19 comments

Staten Island postal people prevent posting of posterior postcards. Um, I mean, they wouldn't allow postcards of guys' butts to be sent. The cards were advertising short films to be shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. (NYT. Login: imaguest; password: imaguest)
posted by mudbug at 10:33 AM PST - 3 comments

Finally, a Republican sex scandal for a change. This guy was Joe Liberman's Republican opponent for the CT Senate seat when Liberman was running for both the Senate and the VP. On the bright side, no one's missing...
posted by Rastafari at 10:26 AM PST - 13 comments

Conclusive evidence that cell phones distract drivers What did this say? I was busy chatting on my cell and missed some of this. Could it be? What should we do? Ah, I am aa good driver; it is the other person who can't drive and talk.
posted by Postroad at 10:24 AM PST - 26 comments

Who did it? Probably the only reality show with a bit of a brain, Murder in Small Town X has a group of "investigators" who must find a murderer by way of searching for clues and interviewing the townspeople. The first episode comes on again Sunday.
posted by owillis at 10:23 AM PST - 8 comments

What? The sky isn't falling! It's just an acorn! John Kelso, Austin's foremost professional Texan, writes today about the Austin-California grudge match. (In Austin, it's de rigeur to blame the Cal-dot-commers-cum-Texans for the city's growing pains. It's also a tad accurate.) He also gripes about a silly SF gate Flash site where you can turn the lights out on Austin. The guy's a crank -- and he can't write a column without mentioning Bubbas, chili, or vegetarians -- but this is a perfect example of Texas' head-in-the-sand attitude towards a possible energy crisis. And the rest of the country's, maybe.
posted by mudbug at 9:53 AM PST - 23 comments

Another stupid parent story, without which your day just wouldn't be complete. Mother and Stepfather, who lobbied for a stricter definition of 'rape' in Ohio, are charged with raping their daughter (via artificial insemination). I hate people.
posted by mudbug at 9:40 AM PST - 22 comments

Pro-Anorexic websites are flourishing on the Internet. These horrific sites teach girls how to avoid eating, "purge" their food, and become terribly sick. A startling and horrific companion to MeFi's recent discussions about weight.
posted by Marquis at 8:33 AM PST - 51 comments

paris is a mess this year and anyhow, everyone goes there, and all you meet are more americans. I recently discovered the Allier region, and it's got wine, castles, beautiful scenery and hardly any tourists. What is your favorite "hidden" travel spot?
posted by christina at 8:16 AM PST - 15 comments

"A Matter of Choice? Gay Life in America," was announced to show on Nightline, and dozens of gays have contacted the program to complain about the title.
posted by christina at 8:02 AM PST - 23 comments

The Day My Car Ratted Me Out.
Dear Winston Smith,
Your 1984 Corvette has informed us that over the past month, you have failed to obey the speed limit 36 times, at times reaching speeds exceeding 130 MPH. As A result, we feel that we can no longer provide you with coverage. We have also supplied this information to the proper authorities, their jackbooted thugs should be in your driveway momentarily. Thank you.
INGSOC Insurance

First it was the rental car companies, now it is GM and the Insurance companies. This is the top of a very slippery slope of privacy issues and technology, specifically GPS.

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 7:45 AM PST - 44 comments

Turn your webwasher off for this link.

I hate banner ads, which is why I use webwasher, they're annoyingly large, wasteful, and don't work. The reason they are dying and taking the rest of the dot-com industry along with them.

I don't know much about Hondas or cars all entirely, but prius seems like a good idea, better fuel efficiency saves on money and doesn't pollute as much. The reason I like the ad though, is it's not intrusive, it doesn't have a 200k gif of a windows alert box telling you 'your connected is too slow. CLICK HERE to make it faster OK', it doesn't blink or use flash. It is tailored to a specific audience, people that look up directions and drive their cars, the product that the company sells.

I hope this is the future of advertising on the web, but then again, how exactly are you suppose to fish out people to buy your 'ultra small hidden bathroom cameras'?
posted by tiaka at 7:08 AM PST - 21 comments

What's that you're wearing, Fidel? Nike's?
posted by dagny at 6:10 AM PST - 22 comments

Earth springs a leak.
Mount Etna's cloud of ash from space. This pic really adds a perspective of size and power.
posted by monkeyJuice at 2:23 AM PST - 15 comments

M.I.T. Physicist Says Pentagon Is Trying To Silence Him. (NYTimes, registration required) So, it appears that the Pentagon commissions a panel to "review" ("refute"?) a contrary assessment of antimissile technology, but when an unintended byproduct of that review is more criticism of said technology, they pull this little snow job? I guess we've heard this song before, but it's still laughable. Interesting comment from the Brass: "just because it is made public doesn't mean it's declassified." I guess he must mean "authorized", because for my money, that's exactly what it means.
posted by topolino at 1:06 AM PST - 13 comments

Tom Lehrer Retires – Tom Lehrer has finally hung it up as a math lecturer at my alma mater, UC Santa Cruz. I couldn't find a web link specifically about that, but thought it was OK to use a link about the man himself. My Banana Slug Bulletin said he retired so it must be true.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:09 PM PST - 10 comments

Kiss your Porn-E-Okie goodbye!
Chicken John, one of San Francisco's leading promoters of cool underground happenings, recently purchased the Odeon Bar. His idea? To provide a space for artistic, creative performances that don't fit in with the mainstream. One of his successes has been Porn-E-Okie, outlandishly cheesy karaoke performances accompanied by custom-edited porn videos. It's an experience that is part comedy, part performance art. It certainly puts songs like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" in an entirely new light...

Well, thanks to the efforts of the SFPD, Porn-E-Okie is now a felony crime in San Francisco. To obtain his liquor license, Chicken John had to sign a paper promising to never do Porn-E-Okie again as it constitutes "willful and wanton disregard of public welfare and morals". In San Francisco? Are you kidding me?! The police must *love* the Castro...

I might as well add Mayor Willie Brown and President of the Board of Supervisors Tom Ammiano to my address book, because this kind of SFPD stupidity still seems entirely too common.
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:34 PM PST - 9 comments

"Evil is afoot, and hoofing it with dark gusto!" Finally, the Fox show The Tick is slated to run in November and the official site is now open with clips, pics, and screensavers.
posted by Sal Amander at 8:31 PM PST - 15 comments

It is said that on a hot day, you can still smell traces of molasses in the city.
I had never heard about this until I met someone from Boston. As they say, wicked....
posted by machaus at 7:13 PM PST - 7 comments

Windsor McKay (of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" fame) and George Herriman (of "Krazy Kat" and "Archie & Mehitabel") weren't just innovative, influential cartoonists; they were also pioneering animators. The Library of Congress' Origins of American Animation project has downloadable short films by McKay (including his celebrated Gertie the Dinosaur) and Herriman as well as others from the early, early days of animated film.
posted by snarkout at 3:57 PM PST - 7 comments

"Lesbianism" on the rise in Fiji
    Women are said to find this a more attractive option over domestic violence. Be prepared for a rise in the divorce rate, as many "businesswomen" are also becoming lesbians.
    (On the way back, I discovered a new portal for Fiji, hellofiji.com, which offers paid subscriptions to Fijilive.com articles, especially news coverage of the May 19 coup. Also this picture gallery of eligible singles! A full-blown Fijian web renaissance.)
posted by rschram at 3:34 PM PST - 9 comments

THE toy for Christmas 2001
Hunter Dan, with buck killin' tree stand action!
Yeeehaw!!!
posted by lheiskell at 3:28 PM PST - 8 comments

You go, Tom!
"The roll call was a feather in [Tom] Daschle's cap as he managed to prevail in his first effort as majority leader to stop a Republican filibuster."

Senator Tom Daschle (from South Dakota, no less), one of the only Democrats who still has guts. (Where are ye, Harkin? Where hast thou gone, Wellstone?)
posted by mapalm at 2:56 PM PST - 10 comments

What's it like to be born a sellout? Two parents not only expecting a new child, but expecting a corporate donor to give them half a million dollars for the naming rights to their son. Their ebay listing claims it's for the child's education, though the article says they're looking to buy a new home. And if you actually think naming your offspring "Aaa-Oh-El" is a good idea and would like to copy it, too late, the imitators have already sprung up. (via NextDraft)
posted by mathowie at 2:54 PM PST - 20 comments

Ever been caught smoking in a violent manner? This is the best slow-day-at-work reading around.
posted by mudbug at 2:28 PM PST - 15 comments

German satanic couple held after ritual murder Nothing better to create hits than this.
It has: devil-worshipping, satanic killing, with 66 machete and hammer wounds, "The victim was no longer recognisable", DNA analysis to discover his identity, black oak coffin, upturned crosses, Nazi SS rune stones, Count Dracula's castle, walls were covered in black cloths, "When Satan Lives", July 6, a date supposedly chosen for the satanic symbolism of number six, The shaven-headed, body-pierced Daniel and his pink-haired, leather-clad bride Manuela, occult chat-line....

I'll stop now, but there's more....
posted by nonharmful at 2:20 PM PST - 11 comments

Imminant death of net predicted. Good, the fad-followers can go on to whatever's next and the real geeks can take their Jolt back to their cubicles and go back to arguing about the One True Indentation Style.
posted by jfuller at 2:10 PM PST - 9 comments

What we do here on Metafilter is unimportant and should be prioritized so more important, corporate network traffic can get through. "The problem is that it was devised by a bunch of hippie anarchists who didn't have a strong profit motive. But this is a business, not a government-sponsored network." (LA Times link)
posted by crasspastor at 2:06 PM PST - 28 comments

Navajo Code Talkers honored As indigenous languages die out all over the world, it's especially nice to see some recognition for the Navajo code talkers. There's also a dictionary here.
posted by judith at 1:54 PM PST - 6 comments

"I think the potential of the small-plane technology revolution is to make small planes seem more reasonable to people below the millionaire class," says James Fallows, author of Free Flight, a book in which Fallows advocates the use of safe next-generation compact airplanes to act as air-taxis, thus offering the masses an alternative to the hub-and-spoke system of air travel.
posted by Avogadro at 12:32 PM PST - 7 comments

How often are legal threats used to silence Internet activity? Help us to find out and counter baseless threats with the "chilling effects clearinghouse." Harvard Cyber Law and the EFF combine forces to get a handle on over-zealous cease-and-desist orders issued over websites. Mattel has been so active in this area that they became the butt of jokes about it. Hopefully stupid stuff like this will start decreasing, or at least, there will be a group you can contact when you need support against these types of actions.
posted by mathowie at 12:09 PM PST - 5 comments

Pregnant mother has her 6-year-old arrested for kicking her in the tummy. It started when she tried to "smack the child in the mouth," and then, with the help of her own mother, pin him down on the couch. She had him arrested to teach him a lesson.
posted by mudbug at 11:39 AM PST - 23 comments

Sick of ringing cell phones? Then cheaply and effectively jam the signals with a device like the Wave-Shield pocket jammer. They're illegal in the U.S., but that's not stopping some people.
posted by waxpancake at 11:34 AM PST - 35 comments

The Hindu nationalist group Bajrang Dal name a puppy George Bush. This isn't meant to be a complimentary act... it's in reaction to their discovery that the Bushes' cat's name is India (short for India Ink). They've taken this as an insult to the nation, and have retaliated with the puppy. I'm kind of curious about what this tells about Indian naming practices and significances, as compared to those in the US. Could someone more familiar with Hindu/Indian culture please enlighten me as to why they'd feel so insulted?
posted by jason at 10:22 AM PST - 36 comments

How about some feel-good stories? Anybody heard about the lovesick guy in Australia who flew to England to surprise his girlfriend, only she flew to Australia to surprise him at the same time? And from Cincinnati, a healthy baby girl was born to a mother who's been in a coma since a car crash 8 months ago.
posted by msacheson at 10:22 AM PST - 9 comments

What Is Your Earliest Memory? The San Francisco Exploratorium asked this question and got these responses on their website. The project is over now, so you can't add to their list, but that's not to say you couldn't mention it here.
posted by briank at 10:19 AM PST - 29 comments

Where were these girls when I was in college I just graduated a year ago and I don't recall women just wanting to "hook up."
posted by aj100 at 9:57 AM PST - 30 comments

We live in a sad, sad world. Teacher now get homicide insureance. This speaks for itself.
posted by aj100 at 8:03 AM PST - 16 comments

"[Gigantic Media Company]'s actions are unprecedented and completely anti-consumer," said [Other Gigantic Media Company] spokesman Vivek Varma. "[Gigantic Media Company] is paying computer makers to eliminate consumer choice, forcing people to select the most expensive service in the industry." Uh, pot, kettle left a message for you: you're black.
posted by lawtalkinguy at 7:27 AM PST - 12 comments

Net Detective 2001 can help you find "EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about your friends, family, neighbors, employees, and even your boss! You can even check out yourself. It is all completely legal, and you can do it all in the privacy of your own home without anyone ever knowing. It's even better than hiring a private investigator."

A friend of mine who is still unsure of the security of the Internet was curious about a spam he received and forwarded me. I wrote it off immediately as typical rubbish spam but decided to investigate it. I searched for it in Google only to find the same web page on many different sites.

I haven't tried installing it, just seems a bit too dodgy and I don't want to risk my computer's security, but has anyone heard about this program? I assumed it was some sort of scam but couldn't find anything about it in that sense.
posted by Jase_B at 6:21 AM PST - 13 comments

T new that "Niggaz" stuff would lead to no good.... "And now, flush with grant money from a fellowship supported by Jewish big shots like Steven Spielberg, Charles Bronfman and others, Ms. Bleyer and her post-collegiate buddies are busily working on bringing this new cool-Jew magazine to life. The first issue is due in January. They have assigned some articles and taken some photos, and they also have a title: Heeb, as in the old ethnic slur, short for "Hebrew." "
posted by BGM at 12:23 AM PST - 27 comments

These two teachers had the nerve to expose more kids to AP English classes, their reward? Removal from the program by a principal. How can teachers persevere when the parents and/or administration are both set against them?
posted by owillis at 12:17 AM PST - 19 comments

Meat from genetically modified pigs was stolen from a lab, turned into sausages and eaten by atleast nine people. It may be the first time people in the US have eaten GM meat.

Apparently they "tasted real good".
posted by lagado at 8:29 PM PST - 8 comments

The Digital Millenium Rape Act.
posted by Kikkoman at 7:54 PM PST - 16 comments

D.A.R.E Essays: 20 Years In the Future. "After getting addicted to marijuana, I tried angle dust, heroin, and other dangerous drugs that could kill me. A couple of days after my 17th birthday I joined a gang. Well anyway, the way I got killed was in a gang fight. P.S. If you ever read this I hope that you never go down the same path I did. You should stay in school and don't do drugs." Right.
posted by Mark at 7:17 PM PST - 26 comments

Music as heard in commercials

Debate over whether the artists are selling out or not aside, there are some fairly great and obscure artists featured in TV commercials these days. As has been pointed out before, it's a sad thing when I'm consistantly hearing better music on MTV during the commercials.
posted by GriffX at 6:47 PM PST - 60 comments

AMTRAK still off-track (NY Times link) Even before living in France I loved trains. So it pains to read that AMTRAK is stillheading towards its last run. Do you progressive, SUV-hating Mefi people have any thoughts on how AMTRAK might get its act together (or whether it's all SUV-futile)?
posted by ParisParamus at 5:58 PM PST - 32 comments

A model commits suicide the other night but what's really tragic about this is this is what is considered "plus sized" these days. Aren't the days of 80lb, heroin-chic models over?
posted by mathowie at 5:28 PM PST - 81 comments

Iceman the Bronze Age hunter whose 5,300-year-old frozen body was discovered in the Alps.. cause of death found.. ``Maybe there was a combat, maybe he was in a battle. There is a whole series of new implications. The story needs to be rewritten.''
posted by stbalbach at 4:07 PM PST - 5 comments

Senator wants two-drink limit on planes Air lines and flight attendants opposed even if it might slow down air rage. I guess that, like sporting events and the movies, this is a great was to pull in big bucks. If thiws bill passes in congress, Iwill never fly again!
posted by Postroad at 2:50 PM PST - 22 comments

NY Senator wants XP's release delayed and The Register writes a somewhat humourous article about it (as usual). Excerpt: "It appears that Microsoft intends to maximize its monopolistic power, using XP as a platform to enter new lines of business while encumbering competitors," Schumer said, rooting deep into the 'I just sussed out Redmond's business strategy; let's arrange a press conference' archive.
posted by DyRE at 12:48 PM PST - 1 comment

Jerri from Survivor poses for Playboy - with her burning man pendant hanging around her neck... ...and not much else.
posted by cadence at 11:52 AM PST - 55 comments

Condoms don't really work? According to this study conducted by a panel of 10, 000 physicians, while condoms are 85 percent effective in helping prevent the spread of HIV, they offer less protection against sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and genital herpes. The worst part? They claim the CDC has known this for years.
posted by summer1971 at 11:37 AM PST - 42 comments

No longer getting Knocked up! Teens are not getting knocked up... as much. Why do you think that is?
posted by aj100 at 11:22 AM PST - 21 comments

YAY! I'm so sick of this bloodsucking cow....
posted by BGM at 10:59 AM PST - 22 comments

U.S. Rejects Anti-Germ Warfare Accord and is the only country to do so, effectively killing 6 years of negotiations. As an American, all I can say is: I'm sorry we suck.
posted by gwint at 10:58 AM PST - 38 comments

Uh. Uh. It's hard to talk when your jaw hits the floor. So, gay rights are 'special' rights that no one really has to pay any attention to because you'll get your Federal money, anyway. Just claim your priviledge is more important than some one else's priviledge. (Found via CubicleGirl )
posted by rich at 9:57 AM PST - 66 comments

Snapshots of san francisco: one man's view of the san francisco dot-com fiz-out. (more people should have websites, i can't get enough.) -- flash needed
posted by tomato at 8:41 AM PST - 8 comments

Gosh, it seems as though we have run out of words! Jesus Christ, when will it ever end? Sigh.
posted by tweebiscuit at 8:18 AM PST - 37 comments

The We-Did-It-Our-Way Tax Relief Anti-Massacre Page one guy describes how he spent the tax rebate check, and invites you to tell him how you did. (the title's a bit of a nod to Alice's Restaurant, fyi)
posted by jhiggy at 7:01 AM PST - 8 comments

The truth about Fight Club. Popular film actually an updating of popular comic strip? (Major spoilers for the movie, if you haven't seen it.)
posted by matt8313 at 5:14 AM PST - 27 comments

"Bandit Queen" Phoolan Devi shot dead in New Delhi The plot summary of the movie about her life said she wanted to enter politics. An untimely passing.
posted by allaboutgeorge at 3:00 AM PST - 7 comments

Help Nora Batty rule the web! BBC Radio Five Live is championing Last of the Summer Wine's Nora Batty for title of the 'web's most downloaded woman'.
posted by viama at 2:25 AM PST - 11 comments

The Incarceration Atlas. Everyone's probably familiar with the usual stat that America has the world's highest rate of incarceration, but there are some other pretty interesting numbers here too, touching on some Metafilter favorites - race, education and drugs. (more inside...)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:53 AM PST - 12 comments

Man goes to jail for writing pornographic thoughts about children in his journal. Read carefully and you'll notice he was on probation. Even so -- doesn't this go too far? Yes, says Philip Jenkins over at nerve.com. (Found on A & L Daily.)
posted by argybarg at 11:10 PM PST - 33 comments

Father forgot boy for two hours in mid-80s heat, San Jose police say.
posted by christina at 11:00 PM PST - 43 comments

Gauguin the one who cut off Van Gogh's ear? Favorite line: "When Gauguin, then aged 40 - and still the only other colony member - announced one evening his intention to leave, Van Gogh, 35, was livid. They appear to have had a blazing row, fuelled by absinthe and other alcohol." Sounds like an episode of "Cops," only in 1888.
posted by sassone at 9:54 PM PST - 33 comments

My house's windows just rattled from a sonic boom, so that means the space shuttle's home again. I kind of forget about these things until a little visceral something like that brings you back in touch. Int'l Space Station that much closer to completion. Living in the future is cooooool.
posted by logovisual at 9:43 PM PST - 8 comments

AOL can (potentially) buy out Amazon. Now the question is, what would the new company be called? I vote for "AOL Times Amazon."
posted by precipice at 7:41 PM PST - 17 comments

"Hello. I'm Christopher Walken. If my video, Weapon of Choice, featuring the Fat Boy Slims, does not take at least seven of the nine moon men, I will personally journey to each of the voters' homes and I will ask them to explain themselves. Then I will slice off extremities until they suffer as I will suffer if my dance moves are thus summarily dismissed." Pause. "I could really go for a hot dog."
posted by solistrato at 5:37 PM PST - 21 comments

Quid pro quo anyone? Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who was at the center of Florida's disputed presidential election last year, will run for Congress in 2002, a top Republican official said Tuesday.
posted by dchase at 5:03 PM PST - 16 comments

It's not up to the standards of the beating that Rodney King took, but it seems less called for than the punch John Prescott threw. A policeman in Wakefield (UK) is videoed applying some, uh, instant justice.
posted by Cuppatea at 3:28 PM PST - 2 comments

Female athlete to pose nude. Suddenly popular. Lisa Harrison is unknown outside of basketball until she wins "Sexiest Babe in the WNBA" contest at Playboy.com. What is the worst aspect of this story? (1) That Playboy.com actually has a "sexiest babe" contest; (2) That the WNBA has a "morals policy" in every player contract that prevents them from upsetting the "family values" image of the league; or (3) That Ms. Harrison is considering posing for the magazine because the money she will make is likely to quadruple her annual salary. Or, is all of this just "adults being adults" and nobody should care?
posted by conquistador at 2:51 PM PST - 18 comments

'NSYNC Party With Hugh Hefner, Olsen Twins and Britney Spears At Celebrity Soiree
WTF?
posted by lheiskell at 2:38 PM PST - 43 comments

teoma is an interesting new search engine (via boingboing). However, if this is any indication of its searches, count me out (check out the first result).
posted by bison at 2:35 PM PST - 8 comments

The Harvard Crimson contracts Cambodian sweatshop labor to make its online archives and saves $450,000. Is that the living wage they editorialized for?
posted by benjamin at 2:22 PM PST - 21 comments

Do not pet the great white sharks while they're feeding. Do not climb onto a whale carcass with your child while the great whites are ripping it to shreds. This is very similar to a thread I posted here but the idea of tourist shark interaction fascinates me.
posted by rdr at 12:34 PM PST - 19 comments

LA is the number-one relocation city for fleeing San Franciscans. Has the world turned upside down? The L.A. Examiner has the summary. And the complete story can be found, for now, on the LA Business Journal front page.
posted by josholalia at 12:13 PM PST - 34 comments

University of Colombia, registrar of the ".co" ccTLD, wants to sell the new dot com
The University of Columbia is in charge of assigning names to Columbian domains, and it wants to get in on the same act as Tuvalu, Togo, and the US. Dissenters say its a public trust. Of course, much like newly minted TLDs like .biz etc., yahoo.com will of course want yahoo.co, and so on. Is there no solution?
posted by rschram at 10:31 AM PST - 13 comments

Re-Versed Christian Lyrics supplies alternative Christian lyrics to the rock songs you know and love. Be sure to check out "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Hell's Bells" while you're there. As a Christian, sites like this usually just make me cringe. I got a pretty good laugh out of this one, though, so I thought I'd share. [Link borrowed from Memepool.]
posted by Reggie452 at 10:21 AM PST - 63 comments

More stick fighter action! This is one of the more interesting uses of Flash. Mmm tasty! (be warned, 2 meg download but well worth the wait)
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 9:59 AM PST - 7 comments

AOL gives pre-ICU infusion to Amazon. Jeff, baby. It's over. Your place as an e-commerce pioneer is secure, but face it, selling mass-market atoms on the Web was never going to work.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:41 AM PST - 16 comments

(In)famous anti-gay site hacked (copy) - The defacement says, in part, "nothin against 'First Amendment hosting' we support u just not some of ur sites". So if I understand correctly, they support the first amendment as long as they agree with what is being said? Doesn't this seem a poor form of protest?
posted by revbrian at 9:23 AM PST - 24 comments

Cables, Cables, Cables
I got to thinking last night about all those cables lying along the ocean floor. This is a fascinating article on the history of telephonic cables; while this one adds a bit more color, and several interesting paintings.

"As history shows, the demand for undersea network capacities will only increase. There's no such thing as too much cable."
posted by mapalm at 8:45 AM PST - 18 comments

Alberta will face a disastrous competitive and economic disadvantage if Canada signs the Kyoto accord. Meanwhile, this year has been one of the worst for smog in Toronto. Some municipalities in Ontario are voluntarily looking towards alternate energy sources because they feel, in the long run the costs will be lower (lower health costs, avoiding higher fossil fuel costs, etc. - sorry, no link) What do you think? Is it possible to have economically viable alternative energy, and is the US setting a bad example for countries that feel they need to compete?
posted by nprigoda at 8:22 AM PST - 12 comments

Final Fantasy Radio - I know what i'll be listening to from now on =)

The comic is pretty funny too
posted by sikander at 7:17 AM PST - 10 comments

The Googlematic AIMBOT will only work for those of you with Instant Messager installed, of course. A profoundly useful little widget knocked together by Matt Webb allows you to do very quick and easy Google 'I feel lucky' searches from the comfort of your own Buddy list. Launched yesterday, I think it's a hell of a lot more useful than either SmarterChild or GooglyMinotaur as well as rather better conversation than any of the AIM chatbots I've found to date...
posted by barbelith at 5:29 AM PST - 52 comments

East Coast go Boom.
posted by nathan_teske at 12:53 AM PST - 23 comments

Lycos Legal - Terms and Conditions This is by far the longest legal agreement I have ever seen for a web site. 15,144 words that would occupy over 31 printed pages. 38 distinct types of prohibited conduct.
posted by jeffbarr at 11:30 PM PST - 13 comments

UnderEZ by UnderTec
Under-Tec Corp presents a new product to eliminate the foul odor caused by flatulence. Under-Ease are a patented protective underwear with a specially designed pocket with replacable multi-layered filter.

certainly seems to be a marketable product. i'm thinking that beyond the geriatric set this appears to be aimed at, it might be useful for those sunday afternoon football games, when all the guys are huddled around the t.v., drinking beer and eating doritos...
posted by bwg at 11:04 PM PST - 7 comments

Adobe backs down, Dmitry left on the hook. They dropped all charges against Dmitry, but the Justice Department may not.
posted by Kikkoman at 10:49 PM PST - 1 comment

Megawati is in, but Abdurrahman Wahid is not out...yet. News from the world's fourth most populous nation.

With two bombs planted in churches in Jakarta this week injuring 60 people and Wahid likening his struggle with parliament to a "jihad"...I have to confess that my, er, decison to take the family to Bali next month is looking a tad iffy at the moment.
posted by lagado at 7:31 PM PST - 11 comments

Scientists are making DNA that uses letters other than AGCT
Underlying the chemicals is a code. DNA is composed of pairs of four types of proteins. This project at Scripps Research Institute is attempting to design a DNA which uses different proteins to convey genetic information. The ultimate goal would be to have a functioning organism with a genetic code that uses a different "alphabet" to "communicate" the same "message" You know what this means? If they can get it to work, language wins! The world will truly be proven to be a "discursive" formation. (The language metaphor comes courtesy of the NYT, but I believe it is more than apt.)
posted by rschram at 6:21 PM PST - 16 comments

Then again, maybe George Harrison isn't ready to die.
posted by solistrato at 5:00 PM PST - 8 comments

Congress Will Hold Hearing: Is Income Tax Legitimate? Robert Schulz’s We The People Foundation announced that the Justice Department and the U.S. Congress had committed in writing to appear in a recorded public meeting with IRS representatives. There they will officially answer charges challenging the legal jurisdiction of the IRS and the illegal enforcement of U.S. income tax laws against U.S. citizens.
posted by dagny at 4:56 PM PST - 31 comments

Features your computer ought to have... probably most of us have seen at least one of these before, but here is a damned funny collection of non-existent computer features that should exist. I especially like the "Fuck It" button :)
posted by starvingartist at 1:04 PM PST - 18 comments

Ok, who's the wise guy who decided to crush-link me? And do you prefer i set you on fire before or push you off of a cliff?

i figured i'd try to find out who it was... i entered about 20 e-mail addresses (support@microsoft.com, asdf@asdf.com, webmaster@goatse.cx... et al), and i had to sign up for 'netflip' and 'start earning cash on the net', and what did i get? two hints. my crush's first name has 6 letters, and their last name has 5. ugh. anyone know how many e-mails you have to feed this thing?!?

posted by jcterminal at 12:15 PM PST - 21 comments

R.A.G.E: Rangers Against Gadget Erotica Could there be a more worthy cause? "This is a mouse who takes cares not to show too much of herself, even while her companions go pantless."
posted by gleemax at 11:59 AM PST - 6 comments

The woman my e-mail client is named after ... has passed away. R.I.P. Eudora Welty.
posted by allaboutgeorge at 11:30 AM PST - 13 comments

a drive to impeach five U.S. Supreme Court justices "egregiously bad behavior, high crimes and misdemeanors.'' (Reuters --> Yahoo --> Plastic --> here)
posted by drunkkeith at 11:21 AM PST - 45 comments

Kind of like shooting fish in a barrel but far less cruel. I can't help but love these sorts of compilations. (from McSweeney's)
posted by jasonsmall at 11:13 AM PST - 6 comments

Dan Rather vs. The World (NY Times link) -- While the conspiracy theorists and much of the mainstream media were jumping down Gary Condit's throat, Rather and company held firm and kept the "news" off the Evening News. Despite airing a few reports, they intend to keep a comparatively low level of coverage in the future. Is this how we'd like to see the media behave, or is this just a more notable example of The Media's Liberal Bias™ showing through?
posted by mrbula at 10:22 AM PST - 31 comments

What do Windows XP and lingerie have in common? Quite a lot, according to Microsoft. The Register reports that MS is taking full advantage of the fact that sex sells with their latest Swiss ad. There's only one problem - the commercial doesn't make any sense.
posted by sanitycheck at 10:21 AM PST - 29 comments

Bill Clinton responsible for the Genoa protestor's death? Yes, according to the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. This makes me think that if Bill Clinton didn't exist, the right would have to invent him. (Think of all those fundraising letters...)
posted by Rastafari at 9:51 AM PST - 21 comments

Edison electrocutes an elephant at Coney Island. I never knew this horrifying bit of history until I read about it via rscharm's MeFi post.
posted by grumblebee at 9:48 AM PST - 17 comments

x10.com 4th Most Popular Site on the Internet according to Jupiter Media Metrix. Why? Because of those stupid pop-unders, which they are counting every pop as a visit to the x10 site. (nytimes:reg req) (no reg alt link)
posted by benjh at 9:46 AM PST - 19 comments

What happened to stileproject? (warning: not for the sensitive types) One of the weirdest sites I've seen (aside from the raunchy porn, that is; he was how I found the kung-fu stick men) now seems to be gone. What gives?
posted by mapalm at 9:37 AM PST - 24 comments

Seventh seal opened, nytimes.com has a web log
Or is it...? This list of links in a section entitled "According to the Times" is a "Web-only feature highlighting facts and figures culled from the week's news. It appears every Wednesday." It seems to be a scanner of news stories by the NYT, not offsite. I used to think they were cool, but this dogged resistence to trends is making them seem aloof, no? (well, more so than usual...) I miss CC...
posted by rschram at 8:59 AM PST - 5 comments

The world has agreed on a watered-down version of Kyoto. One populous country has declined to have anything to do with it, though. Can you guess which it is?
posted by Mocata at 8:56 AM PST - 18 comments

It's all about the sound. While most bands hate to be pigeonholed, one of the styles of music which I've lately gotten into is called "post rock." I can't get enough of bands like Stereolab, Yo La Tengo, and the Aluminum Group. I hope I'm not the only one who likes this stuff... any other post rockers out there?
posted by moz at 8:09 AM PST - 64 comments

A Funky little art link. An interesting little page about art by an artist. Read everything on this page and you will slowly walk into the mind of an Artist. Creative, funny, and odd.
posted by aj100 at 7:41 AM PST - 2 comments

Goose-killers suddenly notice absence of golden eggs? With Napster neutralised, the distributed alternatives thriving, and their commercial schemes mired in technological and political difficulties, many record industry execs are quietly wishing they'd done things differently. Should we regret the lost opportunity, or celebrate it as a self-inflicted step towards breaking the stranglehold of the major labels?
posted by holgate at 7:17 AM PST - 19 comments

NTIA to sell admin rights to .us domain Flying mostly under the radar of the mass media, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is getting ready to sell off admin rights to the .us domain, which has largely been the province of state and local governments and their various departments. Libraries, schools, etc. argue that the namespace is a "public trust" and should not be turned over to the highest bidder for commercial interests.
posted by briank at 6:06 AM PST - 8 comments

Playing computer games makes kids smarter? Although it reads like a headline from The Onion, a British study funded by the ESRC has come to that conclusion. "They seemed able to focus on what they were doing much better than other people and also had better general co-ordination. Overall there was a huge similarity with top-level athletes."

Gotta go and show this to my boss...
posted by jedrek at 11:41 PM PST - 10 comments

Avi Ben-Abraham, man of a thousand and one faces: 43-year-old Ben-Abraham . . . has spent the past two decades surfacing, disappearing and resurfacing in the company of presidents, prime ministers, Hong Kong billionaires, European royalty, Hollywood moguls and members of the Kennedy family.
posted by aladfar at 9:37 PM PST - 16 comments

These aren't your father's Objectivists -- they're WACKY! They like wacky rock music! They care for wacky birds! Being Objectivists, they believe themselves to be pundits -- but WACKY ones! I mean, look at these costumes -- these are Objectivists who knows how to have fun!
posted by tweebiscuit at 2:37 PM PST - 40 comments

As a soon to be minted threehundreddollar-inaire, I'm one of more than 90 million Americans who has received notice of my tax rebate on the way. But some 32 million Americans are due no tax rebate, and are now receiving notices in the mail to this effect- a letdown that Democrats are trying to capitalize on. Is the tax break going to backfire on Bush and the Republicans... ? << more inside >>
posted by hincandenza at 12:43 PM PST - 78 comments

This proves my theory that in reality Fargo is much stranger than the Coen Brothers movie. This is the new way to get people to come to North Dakota: Drive from Florida to knock-over a Super8 motel using, as your threat, an imaginary bomb in a Winnie the Pooh backpack---do all of this to fufill your request to spend the remainder of your life in the country's safest jail.
posted by nathan_teske at 12:10 PM PST - 13 comments

[George] Harrison 'knows he will die soon.'
posted by o2b at 10:35 AM PST - 35 comments

The Tourist Who Won't Go Home
The recent ugly american thread has brought out ethnocentricity and xenophobia in us over crimes like socks with shorts--we forget happen at home just as often. meanwhile violence errupts when tourists forget they are guests in someone's home. But is the real crime the errosion of the cultures we visit? Do movements like Slow Food have a chance protecting native cultures, or the Americanization of the world inevitable?
posted by christina at 10:11 AM PST - 16 comments

AMC to add commercials? American Movie Classics, a cable TV channel which has for sixteen years been showing classic films without commercial interruptions, is considering adding commercial breaks to movies as early as this year. (The channel already shows commercials before and after movies and in its documentaries, but until now has kept the movies themselves intact.) If you're a movie buff and are distressed by this possibility, let AMC know about it. (Personally, I think this is a bad idea, if only because it will likely cost them lots and lots of viewers.)
posted by kindall at 9:59 AM PST - 18 comments

Bush, Putin agree on missile talks "GENOA, Italy -- U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to tie U.S. plans for building a missile defence shield to talks on reducing nuclear stockpiles. " Arms race averted?
posted by nicolotesla at 9:32 AM PST - 13 comments

Reckless or right? The family that gave birth to septuplets lives in a two bedroom apartment, and the father works as a high school teacher. Was this an irresponsible act on their part? I don't believe only the rich should have children, but shouldn't society expect you (and only you) to have the means to support children you give birth to (within reason)?
posted by owillis at 9:20 AM PST - 44 comments

Italian Police raids Italian Indymedia.org and Genoa Social Forum More information and/or pictures can be found at these links: MSNBC CNN Il Nuovo Corriere della Sera

According to protesters radio, the Genoa Social Forum is going to release a video that shows police infiltration in rioters and more police abuse pics.

I believe there that must be no space for violence, unless one is subject to violence against his will. That's why I believe that policeman had the right to attack protesters to defend themselves and to defend peaceful protesters. But I think that's it's very difficult to understand what really happened in this situation.

Apparently one indymedia reporter from UK is now in coma after being beaten from police, and more then 50 protesters were seriously harmed. The police were looking for unsual weapons like maces and usual weapons like knifes. Police also accused Genoa Social Forum of being a "cover" for the violent protesters.

What do you think about fitting a mini-recorder in every policeman armor ? I think police activity needs to be recorded because they're the only ones authorized to use violence when necessary but they can also abuse this power easily when no camera is around.

Remember the police chases scenes you can see on tv ? They're usually made from TV helicopters. I've seen more then one chase ending with police professionally stopping the chased offender, without doing them any harm, even if pointing a gun at them. While sometimes I've seen police beating people senseless without any good reason ; and giving a punch to a policeman, while completely wrong, isn't an action that deservers over-reaction when 3-4 cops kick the hell out of the offender.

Waiting for your ideas and comments...
posted by elpapacito at 9:20 AM PST - 24 comments

The ultimate online community: a massively-multiplayer online sex game. Be a dominatrix! Experiment with whips and chains! Sleep around in a place where everyone is beautiful and willing and there is no disease! Pick your own body: you can be the stud or babe of your dreams! Ah, the virtual life for me. (Why are all the samples heterosexual?) (Via Lum the Mad)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:09 AM PST - 19 comments

GreaterGood shuts down. I wondered why hunger site, the rainforest site and all the rest had been undergoing 'routine maintenance' all week.
posted by rebeccablood at 8:51 PM PST - 16 comments

Apple ][ font : The ultimate in retro bitmap. It even includes the mouse text characters so you can "draw" Apple ][-style windows. Neat.
posted by nathan_teske at 4:10 PM PST - 8 comments

"We are a nation of business people, and we find art and artists threatening. Copyright exists, according to the Constitution, 'to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.'

...the point of copyright is to serve the public good, to make our country a better, more interesting place by giving artists and scientists a financial incentive to keep doing what they're doing. When you get down to the Constitution, artists aren't scary freaks, they're all-American. We just have to keep reminding the courts and Congress of that."

-Nancy Updike, in LA Weekly.

posted by thebigpoop at 2:23 PM PST - 16 comments

I send you this file in order to have your advice. The Sircam worm is spreading at an unbelievable rate, with two interesting bonuses. First, it mass-mails itself to e-mail addresses located in browser cache files (so webloggers with e-mail addresses on their sites are vulnerable). Second, it infects and attaches a random document to the e-mail. If you're careful, this makes it the most entertaining worm yet. (More inside...)
posted by waxpancake at 8:46 AM PST - 50 comments

The week in pictures - an outlet for the best photojournalism

Sometimes they do have really nice pictures.
posted by sikander at 5:27 AM PST - 4 comments

Blogdex at media.mit.edu (The link may not work, I've gotten through twice now, both times between noon and 4pm PST, but every other time I've tried I've gotten server not available errors.)Does anyone know what this is? The times I got through it looked like an interesting cross tabulation of what is being covered in the web log world, like a handy index for people looking for entries on a certain topic. It was not complete looking when I got in last, the site mostly consisted of the front, and an "about" section, but the front page did have a list of the top ten links being talked about on currently indexed blogs. I found the link in my referer log.
posted by Nothing at 12:22 AM PST - 15 comments

What's your favorite museum and why?
posted by christina at 11:34 PM PST - 40 comments

Are we too tough on crime? "Nationwide, crime rates today are comparable to those of the 1970s, but the incarceration rate is four times higher than it was then. It's not crime that has increased; it's punishment." Yes, of course, people who do bad things should be punished. But is the current system worth the social and economic cost? Is there any better way to go about this? (Note: Lots of interesting internal links within the article.)
posted by edlark at 8:02 PM PST - 27 comments

The EFF gets a meeting with Adobe, but does it come quickly enough? I, for one, am not ready to easily forgive and forget the company's actions, regardless how strong Adobe's case against him. Keep your eye on the ball and maybe we'll see a bad law overturned and an injustice corrected.
posted by Kikkoman at 7:17 PM PST - 20 comments

Another flash movie attempts to be both 'witty' and 'clever'. Remember kids, friends don't let friends make crappy flash movies in hopes of becoming the next AYBABTU.
posted by jcterminal at 3:28 PM PST - 22 comments

You, too, can be a male porn star! All you need is some Viagra to give you the stamina for a five-scene workday on the set.
posted by msacheson at 12:47 PM PST - 28 comments

Hundreds flush with excitement during test of arena's plumbing "We just drank a lot of tea at El Fenix, and we're ready to do what we can for our Stars," Diana Parker said before marching off to her assigned station. You have to use a email and password...so use mine. It's worth it. email - 404@404.com password - password.
posted by bradth27 at 12:14 PM PST - 7 comments

Nurses have to be virgins. Turkey's health minister says high school girls studying to be nurses must be virgins and the virginity tests he is authorizing will protect the nation's youth from prostitution and underage sex.
posted by nonharmful at 12:02 PM PST - 9 comments

author on book on George W. Bush a suicide ...and will be buried next to Vince Foster?
posted by Postroad at 11:09 AM PST - 27 comments

Berlin Teen Fails to Stop Flying Cow Spectacle. I tried and tried to come up with an appropriate smart aleck comment for this one... but to no avail. I did learn that it is legal to have a food fight in Berlin however.
posted by fluxcreative at 10:40 AM PST - 27 comments

If somehow you could pack up your sorrows.... Mimi Farina dies at 56. I read Richard Farina's book a while back, but it wasn't until this year that I heard Richard & Mimi singing. In my alternate reality, Richard doesn't die, and writes a dozen more books including one with his pal Tom Pynchon; Mimi isn't eclipsed by her older sister, and the two keep singing for another 30 years.
posted by idiolect at 10:09 AM PST - 3 comments

Protester dies in G8 summit clash A demonstrator has been killed amid clashes in the Italian city of Genoa where the leaders of the world's major industrialised countries are meeting for an annual summit.
posted by jbelshaw at 9:51 AM PST - 153 comments

Powell won't serenade his peers at Asian meeting The U.S. Secretary of State has finally found something that's above and beyond the call of duty. And it's a shame, really. I mean, what would his singing voice sound like? I must know! Would it put Vietnam Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien's folk song to shame? Would he have a dusky, husky Barry White purr or a silky Harry Belafonte rasp?
posted by allaboutgeorge at 9:50 AM PST - 7 comments

"There might be consumer expectations here, but there is no legal right." For the last several months, music consumers around the world have unwittingly been buying CDs that include technology designed to discourage them from making copies on their PCs. The technology inserts audible clicks and pops into music files that are copied from a CD onto a PC. According to Macrovision, the company that has provided the technology to several major music labels. (I want to say "Fuck the music industry," but that would be rude.)
posted by tranquileye at 9:08 AM PST - 48 comments

From The Smoking Gun comes a couple of fabulously funny court orders courtesy of the Honorable Samuel B. Kent of Texas. First, we have a order denying a motion to transfer (the good stuff starts on page 2, second paragraph). My favorite line: Defendant will again be pleased to know that regular limousine service is available from Hobby Airport, even to the steps of the humble courthouse, which has got lights, indoor plummin', 'lectric doors, and all sorts of new stuff, almost like them big courthouses back East. The second one is an equally funny Order or Transfer for the Republic of Bolivia vs. Phillip Morris.
posted by internal at 9:00 AM PST - 17 comments

Lizzie Grubman is beginning to lose her clients finally. As posted earlier this is an interesting story.
posted by da5id at 7:43 AM PST - 20 comments

Germans to build Dracula theme park "German investors and the Romanian
government are planning to develop Dracula Land, a "terror" theme park in Transylvania that officials hope will boost the country's ailing tourism industry"
posted by christina at 7:42 AM PST - 7 comments

Citizen wins 3-year battle on bogus jaywalking ticket, but his lawyer pockets most of the $27,500 settlement. Ahh, well, at least he fought the good fight and won.
posted by fleener at 6:37 AM PST - 10 comments

Slumping Sales. The RIAA appears to be losing money so far this year because people aren't buying as many cd's and aren't going to as many concerts. It's hard to tell if there's some correlation between the demise of napster and the falling sales or if the numbers are down because the new album's coming out aren't really that good. Personally, I'd say a little bit of both. I haven't purchased many cd's this year, although there are one or two that I plan to pick up in the coming months (only because I've already downloaded the songs and know that it's worth the money).
posted by dave at 6:05 AM PST - 34 comments

Cat that lived in bookstore dies at age 20. What seems like a fairly cut and dried local interest story cranked out by hacks at our crappy hometown rag is ohhhh so much more. Click through to the comments to get the inside scoop.
posted by machaus at 5:17 AM PST - 56 comments

Want to Live Rent Free? Get sick. What is a landlord to do when they have the legal right to evict a tenant, follow all of the legal procedures to evict a tenant, and then the judge forces them to allow the tenant to stay, rent free, for an unspecified length of time? How is it that this man's landlord suddenly has to pick up the slack/cost left by government sponsored social services, at a steep personal cost?

At what point do you become responsible for other people's survival?
posted by kristin at 2:01 AM PST - 37 comments

Seeing weird things in your website logs today? This will explain it... Running IIS and haven't patched it in over a month? Go here. 13,000 servers have already been affected.
posted by machaus at 3:57 PM PST - 36 comments

The Ugly American is becoming harder to distinguish among its European counterparts. What does an American look like, anyway? If you were in a foreign county, could you recognize an American, and if so, how?
posted by Oriole Adams at 3:37 PM PST - 149 comments

Demo Design is neat. Lots of flash to entertain you. Try the sound section; I feel like I'm Ross from Friends wigging out on my ancient synthesizer, but with modern drum loops. And dig the clock if you click on the middle or right symbols that appear if you click on video.
posted by moz at 3:28 PM PST - 4 comments

I wish I had thought of this! (NYT link) In a follow-up to a thread from last September, Chris and Luke have successfully found a sponsor (First USA) for their college tuitions. Of course, I would have sought a Trojans sponsorship; imagine the tie-ins! To move away from the "is college necessary/too expensive" debate of last September's thread, does anybody have good self-sponsorship anecdotes or ideas?
posted by msacheson at 12:28 PM PST - 35 comments

The New Sins (Los Pescados Nuevos). A new book/art project/philosophical exploration/satire from David Byrne, in collaboration with McSweeney's. I can't wait to check it out. See how the whole thing came about. Fawn over Byrne's endless creativity. Rave at more brilliance from the good folks at McSweeney's.
posted by conquistador at 12:23 PM PST - 5 comments

Low Brow is really fun. Sit there and hit the reload button to hear people's tales of woe, misery and wild times. Some pretty funny tales there.
posted by milnak at 12:12 PM PST - 7 comments

SUBTLEY DARK children's art or just overbearingly cutesy?
posted by black8 at 9:31 AM PST - 25 comments

Husband's internet date turns out to be his wife
now i ask you, what are the odds? sooner or later something like this had to happen...
posted by bwg at 9:11 AM PST - 36 comments

Run away! Run away!
this is so monty python-esque. once again life imitates art.
posted by bwg at 9:07 AM PST - 10 comments

Taliban Bans Neckties, Lipstick, Chess
The radio quoted the leader's order as telling border guards and security agencies to seize the banned items and hand them over to the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which acts as the Taliban's religious police.

oh yeah, it has long been known that chess is an evil, evil game...
posted by bwg at 8:56 AM PST - 23 comments

Say, are you looking for some Wacky Zany Goodness? Then try the Fulifier, which will instantly make any web page look like it was designed by a 4 year old or almost anyone in 1996. [twist of fait]
posted by hijinx at 8:52 AM PST - 4 comments

Almost the weekend. A handy little site that will help you feel a little tippsy.
posted by aj100 at 8:34 AM PST - 3 comments

G8 Backs Middle-East International Observers With the US onboard for the first time, it seems an international monitoring force will be sent to the Palestinian territories to observe the "ceasefire." Positive step towards calm or just another feeble diplomatic attempt from the international community to stem the tide?
posted by chaz at 7:55 AM PST - 8 comments

Archer sentenced to 4 years... This may not mean much to those from outside the UK but there will be celebrations in much of England tonight as the 'Teflon Tory' finally takes fall. Sometimes justice is done, even to politicians with immense arrogance, money and no apparent morals. The scale of the web of deceit is fascinating and the ending quite poetic.
posted by Mr Ed at 6:57 AM PST - 19 comments

Graffiti or art Where is the line, and if it was in your street would you mind? - watch out this is flash intensive but well worth it.
posted by kramer_101 at 5:03 AM PST - 56 comments

Good grief, It seems I may be a feeling a bit tipsy.
posted by davehat at 4:49 AM PST - 18 comments

Contrary to what you may have heard, the new Brass Eye is indeed about paedophiles. And it's got Phil Collins wearing a "Nonce Sense" t-shirt.
posted by Mocata at 4:34 AM PST - 20 comments

This is truly awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

Just the best use of flash, collaborative model/data building and use of interactive interface to explain a complex issue... i.e. the interconnections of money, influence and power in boardrooms of the global economy.

Conceived designed and built by Josh ON and the FutureFarmers I think it's going to move to a more permanent and snappier URL once it's fully ready for prime-time... I hope Josh and the gang don't mind me posting it here... but it's just too good not too... It genuinely deserves a lot of praise and attention, IMHO.
posted by blackbeltjones at 2:43 AM PST - 24 comments

Hello??? McFly???!!??? Tiny, but remarkable Pro-Bush/global-warming-as-myth protest in Bonn as reported by The Times. 40 deluded rich american kids against the world. Literally. And, no it's not a new reality TV series... although... I can see it now.... "Protester"(tm)
posted by blackbeltjones at 12:55 AM PST - 44 comments

And the webby winners are... not the ones I thought would win (no Blogger? no Fray?). Personally, I'll be spending time hoping for a Best Of The Web award instead. Why someday you may even get into the WWW Hall of Fame!
posted by mathowie at 10:42 PM PST - 99 comments

Your Hotmail account now boasts a new look, and I must say it's extremely simple and nice looking. It puts the old drab color scheme to shame.
posted by Mark at 10:33 PM PST - 45 comments

You dropped a bomb on me... The movie "Above & Beyond" was on TCM last night. It is about Col Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb. Surprise: Col Tibbets is still alive, making appearances & speeches. What do you think goes through his mind when he recalls that fateful day? Would YOU have been able to drop the bomb that ended World War II?
posted by davidmsc at 3:12 PM PST - 92 comments

Vinegar prank backfires on fish and chip shop owner Listen up! Vinegar is harmful! "Eight-year-old Craig Hunt was splashed in the eye after Sam Kieu told him to sniff the vinegar then squirted it in his face." Have you ever pulled a 'small prank' which then went completely out of hand?
posted by wackybrit at 2:58 PM PST - 23 comments

Maybe this idea is just too postmodern. But then a usenet group about a discussion group would never work would it? Best keep using Metatalk then . . .
posted by feelinglistless at 2:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Prison riot imminent. Film at 11. "Many inmates are heavily invested emotionally in the routine availability of certain types of food," wrote Jovero, a member of the state Food Task Force for prisons. "Prominent among these foods is peanut butter and jelly for religious and vegetarian inmates."
posted by swell at 2:31 PM PST - 14 comments

GAO to Cheney: "Show us what you got!" Ok, well it wasn't that dramatic, but this "demand letter" is one step away from giving the Veep a subpeona. Even right wing attack dog Judicial Watch is getting in with some hot lawsuit action.
posted by owillis at 1:13 PM PST - 4 comments

DEA nominee leaves the door open for medical marijuana
He's probably just getting my hopes up.
posted by snakey at 12:56 PM PST - 2 comments

Amelia Earhart found? TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) has put together an interesting package of evidence, including recent satellite photos, to bolster their claim that Amelia Earhart didn't crash into the sea as previously believed. Do you think that history's mysteries can be solved with circumstantial evidence decades, or centuries after the fact?
posted by headspace at 12:00 PM PST - 7 comments

Jurassic Park III comes out today and is getting surprisingly good reviews (I'm going to see it in a couple of hours)! Most seem to have the tone of "Not great cinema, but a fun popcorn-chomper summer movie". Thank god, because this has been a mostly sucky year at the movies so far...
posted by hincandenza at 11:56 AM PST - 38 comments

Blogger Template Design Winners are up. Finally.
posted by JParker at 11:11 AM PST - 17 comments

Warning labels, the volume knobs on small infants, Death By Vending Machine. It's an ever-shifting line in the sand of human stupidity, a vague cultural boundary defining how much we expect our products and corporations to protect us from ourselves and how much we're willing to be answerable for our actions, a line dividing how logic-impaired we're willing to admit we sometimes are and how responsible a given corporation should be for dumping shoddy and/or dangerous products on the market without warning. Is excessive labeling a release from liability? Is it killing off common sense or the need to have common sense?
posted by th3ph17 at 10:57 AM PST - 51 comments

"He hit me for HOW MUCH?????" Famous last words of RPGers. Geeks of all kind will revel in it's nostalgic value. (via zannah.)
posted by lotsofno at 10:26 AM PST - 10 comments

An run-of-the-mill story about the Webbies asks the question of how to find the best sites, and how good sites are interlinked on the Internet. So why is this notable? It's not, but everyone's favourite website is mentioned. Gratz, Matt.
posted by Marquis at 10:26 AM PST - 3 comments

Compassionate Conservatism? George W Bush has called on the World Bank to offer more grants (as opposed to loans) to developing countries. "The needs are many and undeniable, and they're a challenge to our conscience and to complacency. A world where some live in comfort and plenty while half of the human race lives on less than $2 a day is neither just nor stable." Copied from the always-excellent NextDraft. NYT registration required.
posted by gd779 at 9:46 AM PST - 11 comments

What if Dubya ran football? Yup, it's another piece of Dubya-bashing. This however, makes no pretence to be anything other than silly. How would Dubya run your favourite sport? For the intellectual snobs - move along, nothing to see here!
posted by salmacis at 8:59 AM PST - 3 comments

Batman is 80 miles from the Iraqi border! A new secret weapon in the US arsenal? Has the Hall of Justice relocated to Pennsylvania Ave? Or just another journalistic non-sequitur from the press pool? They should have made this the headline.
posted by tigger26 at 8:44 AM PST - 10 comments

Need free Internet Access? Head to your local library or community center. This page allows you to type in a zipcode and find out where you can access (or learn about) the internet, usually for free. If you know someone in your neighborhood who isn't connected and might like this info, why not print out the page and give it to them?
link spotted at follow me here
posted by chaz at 8:40 AM PST - 6 comments