November 16, 2003

Is the president not expendable?

The U. S. Secret Service is going to extraordinary lengths to ensure the safety of George W. Bush's visit to London - including some not insignificant structural changes to the Palace (which have not as of yet been approved). The article claims that "There will be more armed men on the streets of London this week than at any time since the end of the Second World War." British security officials further describe operations as has having been "hijacked by the US secret service."

Everyone knows there's a possibility of violence against the president, especially in light of recent events. A measure of security is thus justified. However, are economic concerns being considered? Now, I have the utmost respect for the president's life - as much as I do for just about anybody. I hate the callousness of associating any sort of price on human life. But when security measures require 5,000 police officers and £4,000,000 (that's merely the cost footed by UK taxpayers, mind you), have we not yet reached the point where that money would have been better spent? -especially when the U. S. executive branch has a very robust official policy of succession in place. It's not like the government will suddenly evaporate if the president were to be killed.
posted by SilentSalamander at 8:16 PM PST - 115 comments

Like stealing chocolate bars and satellite TV...

The Mob Inside Your Computer! Better bust out some SpyBot!
posted by shepd at 5:45 PM PST - 10 comments

Metababy

Metababy Returns - "Metababy is an experiment in collaboration, a Web site created by its visitors. You're welcome to post anything you want on Metababy, and anybody else is free to change it. "
Content subject to change at any moment, so NSFW.
posted by 2sheets at 5:01 PM PST - 56 comments

Architecture + Ecology in AZ

"We have a society that is moving very rapidly to the super-, super-, super-consumptive," says architect Paolo Soleri. "And I'm proposing that might not be the final answer. So I'm saying, why don't we try a leaner alternative?" (via PBS; more inside.)
posted by .kobayashi. at 3:06 PM PST - 21 comments

TikTok Easy Stop Big Box, We Hardly Knew Ye....

The huge vending machine in DC's Adams-Morgan neighborhood is, alas, no more.
posted by Vidiot at 2:12 PM PST - 16 comments

Ladies Against Women

Ladies Against Women. I haven't heard much about these ladies lately, but I'm sure they're pleased as punch that the boys are gradually advancing their agenda. [LAW link via Crooked Timber.]
posted by homunculus at 1:44 PM PST - 5 comments

Nocturnal Remission

Oneirogmophobia...and you though you had problems.
posted by boost ventilator at 1:40 PM PST - 25 comments

I got your SEO right here...

Who gives, who gets... and surprise, Google is on top. I always figured that the search engines had a symbiotic relationship, but playing with this Search Engine Decoder to actually see it is far more entertaining. And, I'd never heard of Overture, but it seems like all the big boys pay them for content. The Decoder is hosted by Search This, which "[provides] search engine optimization and web marketing strategies for the everyday web designer." I guess that's a few of us...
posted by pineapple at 1:03 PM PST - 12 comments

Whatever you do, don't touch anything, especially the walls! (again)

Whatever you do, don't touch anything, especially the walls! (again) [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 11:37 AM PST - 13 comments

Kurt Vonnegut ain't no Andie Airfix

One hundred established graphic and fine artists were approached to create the definitive album cover of their favorite recording artist. Each chose an iconic musical subject from the 1940s to the present and from the genres of rock, blues, jazz, country and soul music. The result is an original and highly creative collection of contemporary art. The Greatest Album Covers That Never Were.
posted by riffola at 11:23 AM PST - 25 comments

Bill Douglas Centre

Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture A major UK archive of all things cinema-related, ranging from magic lanterns and transparencies to games and cigarette cards. Registered users can build and display their own exhibitions from the website's images.
posted by thomas j wise at 9:39 AM PST - 1 comments

Let's go crazy, broadway style!

MetaFilter as a ransom note. Crazified by crazy sites. [via Adactio]
posted by mathowie at 9:15 AM PST - 11 comments

Rich on Reagan

Terrific Frank Rich piece (NYT link) on Angels, Reagan, and AIDS in America.
posted by adrober at 9:14 AM PST - 35 comments

More Diebold problems.

Anthony Argyriou uncovers what seems to be a serious problem either with California voting machines or the vote tallying system: The Secretary of State's summary of votes on the Davis recall shows three counties--Alameda, Kern, and Plumas--that apparently had zero voters who didn't vote on the recall. Not one. All three counties used Diebold machines. Other counties ranged from 0.5% to 10.3% of voters not voting on the recall. More from Rick Hasen, a top election law scholar. [Via Volokh.]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:08 AM PST - 41 comments

Fantastic in Art & Fiction - images of the grotesque, marvelous and macabre

The Fantastic in Art & Fiction - Cornell University's bank of nearly 300 images of the fantastic, the grotesque, the macabre, the marvelous and more "from works spanning a period from medieval manuscripts and printed incunabulae, to the early twentieth century."
posted by madamjujujive at 7:16 AM PST - 6 comments

Garden birds

Do you wanna see some birds? How about some of these?
posted by mokey at 7:01 AM PST - 7 comments

Disney respect

newspeak from disney: we at the Walt Disney Internet Group are dedicated to protecting your privacy and handling any personal information we obtain from you with care and respect. How is your personally identifiable information used and shared? The Walt Disney Family of Companies may use your personally identifiable information in many ways, including sending you promotional materials, and sharing your information with third parties so that these third parties can send you promotional materials. [...]As another example of Operational Uses, we may share your personal information with the Walt Disney World © Resort telephone reservations center [...] The Walt Disney Family of Companies may share your personal information with companies that offer products and/or services under brand names of The Walt Disney Family of Companies. [...] use of personal information shared with them under this Privacy Policy is subject to the same opt-out rights (and limitations upon those rights)
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 6:29 AM PST - 9 comments

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