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The Iraqi Governing Council has unveiled Iraq's new flag design to almost universal disapproval. Not only is the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council increasingly unpopular, but to some Iraqis the flag looks uncomfortably similar to Israel's. And, as Chris Allbritton points out, "damn, that's an ugly flag."
posted by Vidiot at 9:54 PM PST - 38 comments

A Bigger Splash: What Sunny California Did To Miserable Manchester Man Morrissey. His new album, "You Are The Quarry", is released on May 17th in the U.K. and the next day in the U.S. But the problem is: does anyone still care? I do! [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:12 PM PST - 27 comments

How to Get Out of Iraq by Peter Galbraith

Much of what went wrong was avoidable. Focused on winning the political battle to start a war, the Bush administration failed to anticipate the postwar chaos in Iraq. Administration strategy seems to have been based on a hope that Iraq's bureaucrats and police would simply transfer their loyalty to the new authorities, and the country's administration would continue to function. All experience in Iraq suggested that the collapse of civil authority was the most likely outcome, but there was no credible planning for this contingency. In fact, the US effort to remake Iraq never recovered from its confused start when it failed to prevent the looting of Baghdad in the early days of the occupation.
posted by y2karl at 7:35 PM PST - 108 comments

Canada considers electoral reform. The Law Commission of Canada just released a report that recomended a Mixed Member Proportional system much like that one that New Zealand recently adopted. Along with the steps being taken at the federal level, the provinces are at various stages in the process. The government in Quebec has proposed a similar MMP system for the province, a commission in PEI recomended the same system, BC has convened a Citizens Assembly, Ontario now has a Democratic Renewal Secretariat, and Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are considering changes as well. For more information visit Fair Vote Canada.
posted by Octaviuz at 6:30 PM PST - 25 comments

Virginia is for lovers? Never mind marriage, Virginia is getting ready to end any kind of civil union for same sex couples. That means no property contracts, final wills, health care directives, powers of attorney... What to do? One man is calling on America to boycott the state-- starting with J. Crew.
posted by gwint at 6:28 PM PST - 27 comments

After all the hoopla about increasing security, it seems that the requirement for biometric data to be included in passports of those entering the US from visa waiver countries will need to be extended for two years to allow other countries to catch up with the technology, as it seems most countries are unable to meet the deadline. Some countries have put on hold the new technology, while others seem committed to going ahead with it, despite doubts about the readiness of the technology. Of course, if civil liberties groups get their way, the biometric passports may never see the light of day. Specific religious issues complicate the matter to some extent, also. Given that, if the technology to produce biometric passports is available, will it really be that hard for forged passports to be created? Unless a massive world-wide database containing the biometric details of every person was used for data-matching, it is hard to see how these new measures will really make much difference to anyone apart from the companies selling the technology.
posted by dg at 6:05 PM PST - 4 comments

Prosser High School teacher sees 15 year old student's war artwork depicting President Bush as a devil and another decapitated. Captions include calling an end to the war, and support for Ralph Nadar. Teacher hands artwork over to school administrators, who in turn bring in the Secret Service. Because that's what you do when you've handed out an assignment to kids "to keep a notebook of drawings depicting the war in Iraq".
posted by Feisty at 4:32 PM PST - 58 comments

JPEG: worth a 1000 words $1M? "Our patent [for JPEG technology] was on the public record," says Compression Labs. "News: Made a JPEG Image? You're getting Sued!" Is parent company Forgent sue-happy? Did it perhaps not disclose its patent properly? (-via GyrlFilter)
posted by Shane at 2:08 PM PST - 18 comments

Fake Photos from Iraq. Or, do it yourself: Fun with Lcpl. Boudreaux.
posted by xmutex at 1:49 PM PST - 37 comments

The Tree of Life.
posted by Gyan at 1:00 PM PST - 8 comments

Chris Leithner on the state of finance. Modern Portfolio Theory is central to most business-school investments curricula, but it has its detractors.(last link pdf)
posted by Kwantsar at 12:08 PM PST - 3 comments

Global Guerrillas breaks down Gabriel Weimann's study, "www.terror.net: How Modern Terrorism uses the Internet" (PDF).
Via Anarchogeek.
posted by signal at 11:14 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Control Lightshow Over Dublin Sky From A Webpage. (link goes to /. with the story and links)
posted by tomplus2 at 11:09 AM PST - 1 comments

90+ Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap buys 100 copies of "Vallee De La Morte", a board game recreation of the battle of Dien Bien Phu There actually are 2 competing board game recreations of the epic 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu which was (by the French):

""....an attempt to interdict the enemy's rear area, to stop the flow of supplies and reinforcements, to establish a redoubt in the enemy's rear and disrupt his lines," says Douglas Johnson, research professor at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute. "The enemy could then be lured into a killing ground."....Hoping to draw Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas into a classic battle, the French began to build up their garrison at Dien Bien Phu..." General Giap - who led the Vietcong forces in that battle, prefers "Vallee De La Morte". Such games are played with large multicolored paper maps broken up into hexagonal grids, with cardboard pieces representing military units. The rules can be quite complex and some wargames ( such as Drang Nach Osten) have thousands of pieces and take thousands of hours to play (sometimes longer than the actual wars they simulate). More on wargaming.
posted by troutfishing at 10:31 AM PST - 26 comments

Are you trying to auction your brussles sprouts again? Take the picture from one one panel cartoon, add the caption from another, what do you get? Something almost funny. (Via bOINGbOING)
posted by Capn at 10:19 AM PST - 13 comments

Then, in one of his unexplained flashes of clarity, he told Debbie: "I don't want to have Alzheimer's." On Saturday, John will be 57. Although he is in the end stage of early-onset Alzheimer's, he still enjoys simple pleasures: walking outdoors, eating ice cream, listening to music. His wife, children and church friends — some of whom have relatives with dementia — will gather at the nursing home for a birthday party. They will honor the man John once was, and the spirit that survives. And some will no doubt wonder if they are bearing witness to their own futures. Alzheimer's is a disease that can create nurses and chambermaids out of loved ones. Jim Broomall doesn't blame his mother. It's not her fault. She can't help it. No one with Alzheimer's can and caregivers must remember that, he says. "If you don't, you'll go crazy". Or maybe even die: home care for Alzheimer's patients is a major health risk for the caregiver spouse. That's the choice for the families of the Alzheimer's patients (4.5 million of whom are Americans).
posted by matteo at 9:44 AM PST - 26 comments

Historical Anatomies on the Web
posted by dgaicun at 7:06 AM PST - 4 comments

Singer Wesley Willis was an artist as well. I'm not generally a big fan of "outsider art," as this might be called, but as raw as these pictures may be, they have a quality to them I don't think I've seen before. Enjoy. Via Monkeyfilter
posted by deadcowdan at 7:00 AM PST - 16 comments

Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam The call to jihad is rising in the streets of Europe, and is being answered, counterterrorism officials say. In this former industrial town north of London, a small group of young Britons whose parents emigrated from Pakistan after World War II have turned against their families' new home. They say they would like to see Prime Minister Tony Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside No. 10 Downing Street.
posted by Postroad at 6:55 AM PST - 52 comments

A picture's worth a thousand tweets, sure. But I still would like to know what happened here.
posted by Witty at 6:49 AM PST - 39 comments

March for Choice - Estimates range from 500,000 to more than a million in attendance. With an all-star turnout and a lot of pink, it is one of the largest events to take place on the Mall in Washington D.C.; but how much of an impact will it have on history?
posted by bitpart at 12:04 AM PST - 168 comments