November 7, 2002

The First Eight Presidents of the United States of America

John Hanson (November 5, 1781 - November 3, 1782), Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 - November 2, 1783), Thomas Mifflin (November 3, 1783 - June 3, 1784), Richard Henry Lee (November 30, 1784 - November 22, 1785), John Hancock (November 23, 1785 - June 5, 1786), Nathaniel Gorham (June 1786 until January 1787), Arthur St. Clair (February 2 , 1787 - January 21, 1788), and Cyrus Griffin (January 22, 1788 – April 29, 1789)--under The Articles of the Confederation.
Everything you know is wrong--George Washington was the 9th President
--or 8th, depending on how you call it on John Hancock's term. [More inside]
posted by y2karl at 11:02 PM PST - 28 comments

Why We Tuned Out

Why We Tuned Out "We don't allow our kids to watch TV. Period. Not at home, not at friends’ houses; and they don’t watch videos or movies, either. We want our daughters, Jazzy, now nearly 6, and Gigi, 3, to be as active as possible, physically and mentally." What's the best approach with kids and television?
posted by tippiedog at 8:58 PM PST - 89 comments

Ecstasy

Ecstasy is being hailed as the key to better treatments for the Parkinson's disease, marking a complete turnaround from a few weeks ago when ecstasy was condemned for causing the disease.
posted by semmi at 8:30 PM PST - 26 comments

New Mexico's voters

New Mexico's voters decided against an amendment that would remove language in the state constitution prohibiting Asian immigrants from owning land [scroll down]. Florida is the only other state now with such a clause. Surprising that they would keep such laws around...
Tangentially, do all Asians really look the same? And would a high score be a good or bad thing?
posted by casarkos at 8:11 PM PST - 17 comments

Zoological Bloopers and Practical Jokes.

Zoological Bloopers and Practical Jokes. Strange Science is a great little page of missteps in the classification and illustration of exotic and extinct animals. It's hard to classify all the links; some are dinosaur screwups, some are just poor depictions of animals from the time before photographs. Most are fascinating. Although, they skip over one of my favorite examples, Michelangelo's Jonah and the Whale.
posted by condour75 at 7:56 PM PST - 8 comments

Kurt Cobain's Journals - Pete's unexpurgated review from The Observer newspaper

Kurt Cobain's Journals - Pete's unexpurgated review from The Observer newspaper The Who's Pete Townshend offer a balanced view of Cobain's 'Journals'. He describes it as 'sensationlist rock necrophilia' but recommends it be read to see what the human spirit can do to itself - if addiction is involved.
posted by skinsuit at 5:49 PM PST - 15 comments

"The oldest profession in the world"

"The oldest profession in the world" gains a whole new meaning with this 57-year-old woman's spirited account, in The Spectator (est. 1858) no less, of her successful new career as a prostitute. I must admit a part of me said "Hooray! There's hope for us thirtysomethings yet" but the rest remained highly suspicious or (to be honest) whispered "How pathetic!" Is this ageism or are (much) older women really more attractive nowadays?
posted by Schweppes Girl at 4:57 PM PST - 29 comments

The 100 Most Endangered Monuments in the World

The 100 Most Endangered Monuments in the World
posted by mediareport at 2:15 PM PST - 28 comments

Newsfilter: 2003 Inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Newsfilter: 2003 Inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include Elvis Costello, The Police, AC/DC, The Righteous Brothers and the only band that matters, The Clash (sorry - no link that I declare decent). ABBA didn't make the the Hall's cut this year. MTV and CNN provide further reading. At last some bands that I can support. Coming next year: Black Flag?
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:42 PM PST - 58 comments

The Patriot Act. Ashcrft's TIPS program. FBI surveying your Public Library consumption history. Freedom in America isn't what it used to be, and in most cases, the changes have been foisted on the public, sans referendum.
Have you heard the name Lt. General Michael V. Hayden before? Probably not. Probably cuz he's king spook. aka Director fo the National Security Agency.
Here's a transcript of his testimony before congress about pre and post 9/11 national security issues.
Its a really scary read. Why? Because his assessment comes across as more level headed, even handed and realistic on this prime topic than the President and everyone in congress put together. (YMMV)
Who'd a thunkit?
Briefly, he tells Congress "that they can best help him by going back to their constituents and finding out where the public wants to draw the line between liberty and safety.” More importantly, he talks to the people about security, not at them. Where's the line gotta be? [found on /.]
posted by BentPenguin at 1:20 PM PST - 28 comments

It seems likely

It seems likely that we'll be hearing a lot more about tort reform, especially medical malpractice tort reform, over the next couple years. Sadly, many don't even know exactly what a tort is, let alone how the tort system works, although most have heard about individual lawsuits through the media. Conservatives tend to focus on capping damages, reigning in juries, and allowing businesses to contract out of tort liability. Liberals generally oppose these proposals, and some have a few ideas about reform as well. Of course, we could always follow the example of New Zealand and scrap the tort system altogether. Maybe the Supreme Court will give the GOP some suggestions about reform in their latest tort case.
posted by boltman at 12:54 PM PST - 32 comments

Canadian novelist Yann Martel, whose novel, Life of Pi (excerpt, review), won the 2002 Booker Prize, has been accused of plagiarizing Brazilian novelist Moacyr Scilar's 1981 novella, Max and the Cats, which shares a similar premise. Martel freely admits that the premise of Scilar's work, which he discovered via a half-remembered (and scathing) critique, inspired Life of Pi, but he has not read it. The issue is whether a premise is intellectual property or whether such ideas are recycled all the time. While this would ordinarily be a literary tempest, Canada and Brazil have had a shaky relationship over trade in recent years; this may not help the situation.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:20 PM PST - 29 comments

As Romanian factory workers prepare to sell sperm to a fertility clinic to try to reduce their company's debt one begins to wonder if capitalism is helping to fulfill Ceausescu's dream of increasing Romania's population from 23 million to 30 million by the year 2000, or if it's simply fueling the countries recent increase in the illegal sale of babies.
posted by hatutah at 12:19 PM PST - 5 comments

NASA Challenges Moon Hoax Conspiracy

NASA Challenges Moon Hoax Conspiracy After decades of almost ignoring claims that the Apollo missions were hoaxed, NASA commissioned aerospace writer James Olberg to write an official rebuttle. Perhaps a bit more reasonable than the NASA Stooge, the book is aimed at the general public.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:25 AM PST - 33 comments

Michael McNevin

Michael McNevin creates the most incredibly detailed pictures using an Etch-A-Sketch. Call me a cynic if you like, but I can't help wondering if it's a fake ... (via b3ta)
posted by ralawrence at 10:10 AM PST - 21 comments

Self-Sufficiency in Style

Self-Sufficiency in Style is possible, desirable and fun, according to Pat Gardiner, the resident theorist of Hangman's Cottage (in Hangman's Lane, just to the south of Misery Corner, somewhere in Norfolk, England). His amusing monthly diary (Killing for Food and Pleasure is the title of October's entry) and unconventional advice (His advice on inheritance is: don't leave your children anything) are quite addictive. And his essential message doesn't even mention hippies : Self-sufficiency need not be all crankiness and mud, manure, muck and mystery. It may be a return to a frontier spirit for an American, or a yearning for a lost rural idyll for an Englishman.
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 10:04 AM PST - 4 comments

Implied Regurgitation

Implied Regurgitation : "An exploration of how our environment changes via the addition of "I threw up." stickers to various random images around us."
posted by monkeymike at 9:43 AM PST - 23 comments

The Cowbell Project

The Cowbell Project Inspired by the SNL/Christopher Walken sketch, a database of recordings that feature the cowbell, and a list of other songs that maybe should have considered it...
posted by lilboo at 9:24 AM PST - 33 comments

Priming the Pump of War

Priming the Pump of War is what this is called. It may or may not be scary or true but it looks like it is worth keeping in mind.
posted by donfactor at 9:22 AM PST - 13 comments

Who would guess that art and insects and spiders can go hand in hand? We have art made using insect larvae, mygalomorph patterns, fractal insects, cool insects for sale, virtual insect art, and insect and spider stamps. What's you favorite insect art?
posted by Morphic at 8:46 AM PST - 12 comments

'The Father of the Boy Named Sue'

'The Father of the Boy Named Sue' Shel Silverstein's follow-up to his Cash hit-maker, 'A Boy Named Sue', ends in terrifying innuendo.
posted by dgaicun at 8:41 AM PST - 48 comments

Shakeitbabe

Shakeitbabe got mentioned in my TV guide and led me to their site. Flash required. [more inside]
posted by ginz at 8:03 AM PST - 4 comments

Bubonic plague strikes again...

Bubonic plague strikes again... It seems that bubonic plague has never actually gone away with reports of occurences in Madagascar, Bolivia and now it seems, from New Mexico. Given that the disease has been diagnosed and treated outside of the host cities in the cases of the Bolivian woman and the couple in New York, I think this highlights how diseases we tend to classify as third world health problems, are merely a plane ride away from causing an outbreak here.
posted by gloege at 6:52 AM PST - 26 comments

All the Saints of the City of Angels:

All the Saints of the City of Angels: This website is dedicated to the exploration - at once poetic and historical - of this "spiritual geography" of Los Angeles; a road trip into the city's cultural, spiritual, and ethnic heritage via its streets which bear the names of saints.
posted by ahughey at 5:46 AM PST - 5 comments

"I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home."
A few of Seamus Heaney's poems.
posted by hama7 at 4:42 AM PST - 19 comments

Microsoft launch the windows xp Tablet.

Microsoft launch the windows xp Tablet. A cross between a laptop and a PDA, comes in two forms, a laptop with a rotatable screen or just as a tablet with no key board or mouse. you can write directly onto the screen with the magic pen and send e-mails or create documents in your own hand writing. not sure how much it costs. I wonder how long before the Linux posse get their hands on it! more cool pics here.
posted by JonnyX at 3:18 AM PST - 44 comments

What Would The Good Doctor Have Prescribed?

What Would The Good Doctor Have Prescribed? A Samuel Johnson quotation for every possible occasion, assembled by Frank Lynch. To be taken daily, along with Jack Lynch's Guide, while we wait for David Lynch's upcoming Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. [Quicktime unrequired, as I made that last bit up]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:08 AM PST - 11 comments

Emergency War Surgery.

Emergency War Surgery. It's been said that the only people eager for war are those who have never seen it. The Virtual Naval Hospital describes in some detail the toll of modern warfare on the human body.
posted by moonbiter at 12:44 AM PST - 25 comments

The Party's Over

The Party's Over What happened on November 5, 2002 was the culmination of a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party that began more than a decade ago under the leadership of a group of conservatives, corporadoes, and con men .... It must find a soul, a passion, and a sense of itself. Most of all, it must get rid of those false prophets and phony friends who have not only done it so much damage but have left the country fully in the hands of the cruel, the selfish, the violent, the dumb, and the anti-democratic.
posted by thedailygrowl at 12:07 AM PST - 33 comments

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