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Stresmin: the solution to family quarrels, political debates, and difficult security council meetings.
posted by alms at 10:00 PM PST - 16 comments

Textfiles.com: Before the Web, before Google, we scoured Fidonet, absorbing the forbidden fruits of anarchy, occult and a lot of bad fiction. For better or worse, TEXTFILES are relics of that age.
posted by magnificentsven at 9:42 PM PST - 12 comments

When Kyle's teachers got too liberal, Kyle's mom launched this Web site
I laughed, I cried upon reading the Union-Trib article on student discontent with TAs at UCSD and around the country. Man, if I had a nickel for every time I heard, "Yes, I know that you think capitalism is evil, but will this be on the test?" Next time I'll jump in the box! (more)
posted by rschram at 8:32 PM PST - 77 comments

Tired of listening to the music that The Man thinks you should be hearing? Think that kids should wear what they want to wear, even if certain ballet-dancing-snobs disagree? Sick of being forced to spell the words "skater" and "boy" like your teachers told you to in high school? Then the Avrilution is for you. [more inside]
posted by UKnowForKids at 8:04 PM PST - 23 comments

Tickling the ivories - uh-oh, bad girl post! This mpg video clip is just too darn fun not to share, but it is definitely nsfw, which is why I am posting it pre-Friday. But hear me, you will get fired if you open this at work! I mean it! just doing my bit to dispel the boyzone myth
posted by madamjujujive at 6:24 PM PST - 65 comments

Anyone with access to a lock and key can easily create a master key. An AT&T Labs researcher has discovered that most master-key lock systems are vulnerable. NY Times (reg. req'd) reports that the technique is known, but not widely known. For instance, it does not appear in the ubiquitous document formerly known as the MIT Guide to Lockpicking. The AT&T Labs-Research paper is troubling some security experts, one of whom said that the "technique could open doors worldwide for criminals and terrorists." Because publishing the paper "could lead to an increase in thefts and other crimes, it presented an ethical quandary" for the researcher (Matt Blaze) and AT&T Labs-Research.
posted by found missing at 5:44 PM PST - 27 comments

Posters for Peace Clever and ready-to-print in handy PDF format.
posted by sparky at 2:30 PM PST - 32 comments

The sixth annual National Homelessness Marathon takes place on February 5-6. The 14-hour public-radio broadcast, which will originate this year from Portland, Maine, takes place overnight, outside, in the freezing cold. This year it will be joined by the first annual Canadian National Homelessness Marathon. The event is meant to raise awareness, not money, though the recent decision in Key West to ban panhandling in the downtown district for the good of tourism, and fine panhanders $500 for their crime, indicates that there's still a long way to go in raising awareness about this issue. Particularly troubling are comments like the one made by Key West Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt, who explains, "We have to send the message that we don't want these people to come to our city and control our streets. We control our streets."
posted by damn yankee at 2:06 PM PST - 22 comments

Beat the Pros - From Behind Bars A group of New Jersey prison inmates recently participated in a statewide contest, where they placed first against other prison teams, and third overall, beating investment clubs, students, and UBS Paine Webber employees. I've often wondered what one does behind bars, because HBO's Oz just isn't giving me the whole story, methinks. Now I know.
posted by djspicerack at 1:52 PM PST - 5 comments

The English have landed! In the spirit of international confederation, Nerve.com offers this all too brief list of common curses, epithets, and scandalous phrases, along with their French counterpart, and more interestingly, a transliteration of the French so one can better understand the Idiom.
posted by jonson at 1:36 PM PST - 15 comments

"Highway Deaths Spike After Super Bowl" says a study in today's New England Journal of Medicine. The Super Bowl has also been blamed for a spike in domestic violence and increased usage of water systems. Some articles try to set the record straight, while others try to debunk the debunkers. I prefer to concentrate on the real meaning of the Super Bowl, the commercials.
posted by Frank Grimes at 1:26 PM PST - 4 comments

From "Elle" to "Infinite Jest", the world acknowledges their greatness. They're about to meet in their fourth consecutive Grand Slam final. Are these sisters invincible?
posted by 111 at 1:16 PM PST - 13 comments

Hating Hilary. We've certainly heard a bit from Hilary Rosen, CEO of the RIAA. Love her, hate her or hate her more, this particular interview reveals (to me at least) a very different Hilary, a woman who is perhaps not the beast that her bosses expect her to be and the immovable technophobic distribution system and business model she represents forces her to be.

In fact, Rosen tried to steer the labels toward the online future long before they saw it coming. In the mid-'90s, Rosen brought [Esther] Dyson to a conference of music executives to brief them on how technology would transform their business. Dyson described for them the inevitability of digital delivery, an eventuality Rosen says she had begun to understand but wanted her bosses to hear from an outsider. But as Dyson spoke, the label executives became defensive, then furious. By all accounts, the meeting devolved into a shouting match.

the picture of her with an iPod says it all

"I finally convince the idiot record companies that they have to offer a product to compete with pirates, and now the publishers won't make a deal," she said, throwing up her hands. priceless.
posted by 11235813 at 10:25 AM PST - 39 comments

Vancouver Police turn to internet for help with Guns N' Roses riot. "Police have had little luck busting any of the riot ringleaders, so yesterday they unveiled an online picture gallery in the hope that someone will identify people photographed at the scene."
posted by monkeymike at 10:24 AM PST - 19 comments

Among the most confusing dilemmas facing today's consumer is the question of which cell phone carrier is right for you. Even though Consumer Reports just published an article rating different carriers, the results are far from conclusive. I've been searching for web resources to cut through all the crap, and I thought I'd share a couple with the MeFi community, since typing "compare cell phone plans" into Google brings up a load of pop-up laden vendors thinly disguised as dispensers of advice.

• PhoneScoop.com offers the most comprehensive lists of cell phone features I've seen, a handy comparison tool, and a good number of intelligent user reviews.
• LetsTalk.com suffers from a bit of that thinly-disguised-vendor syndrome, but it is useful for comparing different services and getting clearly presented, itemized lists of each service's features. Be wary of the service comparison tool, because it's rather incomplete, but it's a good starting point to compare plans.

posted by grrarrgh00 at 10:00 AM PST - 16 comments

Ton Mondrian Is Even Worse Than Mon Mondrian: Use the machine to see how you square up to the Master. [Shockwave required; first link via Bifurcated Rivets.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:56 AM PST - 18 comments

"In the game, the player plays the role of a character called The Postal Dude. He lives in a town where there are all kinds of people, white, black, skinny, fat, straight and gay. You can play the game in a passive role without killing anyone," Desi said.

"We are not political," he added.
posted by donkeyschlong at 9:55 AM PST - 17 comments

Toxic Chemical Dump report by ZIP code. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group has organized information from the EPA on toxic chemical releases. You can get maps of different types of chemicals (carcinogens, reproductive toxins, dioxins, etc.) released by state, download Excel spreadsheets by state organized by ZIP code, or download their complete report. I think this is just for the 2000 calendar year. (via The Wall Street Journal)
posted by meep at 8:52 AM PST - 12 comments

From a European Perspective

"President Bush recently declared that the U.S. was "the single surviving model of human progress." Maybe some Americans think this self-evident, but the rest of us see it as a clumsy arrogance born of ignorance. "

Is this something many Americans need to hear but don't want to listen? Personally I appreciated Mr. Eno's honest and candid observations. And no, I don't think he hates America.
posted by nofundy at 8:47 AM PST - 98 comments

Intern : I was told to mislead the FBI. Yet another good looking young woman finds her beauty has landed her in a tough spot. How many young people working as interns will be forced to suffer embarrassment as a result of the misconduct of their employers?
posted by sheauga at 8:19 AM PST - 32 comments

You've probably seen those photo mosaics where a large image is made up of many smaller images acting as pixels. Kelly Houle has taken the idea a mile further by creating a photo collage that is also anamorphic -- a collage of illustrations and related material from Alice in Wonderland that, when a curved mirror is placed in the correct position, forms a portrait of Lewis Carroll. Absolutely amazing stuff.
posted by ewagoner at 8:10 AM PST - 19 comments

Bush appoints anti-gay member to AIDS panel. Jerry Thacker runs the Scepter Institute, a Christian Ministry. Their website states that "Both Jerry and his wife, Sue, [are] HIV-positive. How could it be? Jerry and Sue were committed Christians." The L.A. Times notes that Thacker has described homosexuality as a "deathstyle," and describes significant revisions that have been made to the Scepter Institute's website. I wonder if Thacker will be applying for some funds to renovate Scepter's offices, now that he is providing such a valuable social service?
posted by stonerose at 7:44 AM PST - 87 comments

Confessions of a Serial Dater... the absolutely positively true adventures of Dorelvis."Then he reneges on the wedding...I have already bought shoes."
posted by kirkaracha at 6:52 AM PST - 5 comments

A military honor guardsman has been fired for saying God bless you, while he presented a folded American flag to the family of a deceased veteran, during the burial service. By way of obscurestore.
posted by Beholder at 5:38 AM PST - 38 comments

Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro met in Cuba last October at a conference on the anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Interesting article about this meeting and the professor who arranged it.
posted by staggernation at 5:31 AM PST - 7 comments