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What's up with this Iraq stuff? No more formal way of putting it, sorry. Can anyone say what the hell is going on here, exactly, when bin Laden hasn't even be found and the Taliban is still putting up a fight? Is Bush, in saying Saddam will "find out" how the U.S. will respond to its refusal to allow inspections (again), just throwing a small bone to the hard right? Is the national press on too much of an adrenaline rush, or bored with Afganistan already? Or are the Dr. Strangelove wannabes talked about here really taking over?
posted by raysmj at 11:53 PM PST - 81 comments

Bin Laden Family Business Seeks to Improve Image Bin Laden Group, the business empire owned by relatives of the world's most wanted man, is seeking advice from British public relations firms on how to distance itself from the black sheep of the family. What advice would you give them?
posted by Rastafari at 11:50 PM PST - 19 comments

8 former FBI agents "have offered the first substantive critique of the Ashcroft program." A senior Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that none of the changes ordered by Ashcroft would have enabled the FBI to interrupt the Sept. 11 attacks. After the rebuke mentioned previously here, perhaps the worm is turning?
posted by aflakete at 10:52 PM PST - 10 comments

"Movie Mask Player is software that gives you the choice to watch any movie at your comfort level. If you don't want to hear profanity, view graphic violence, or see nudity or sexual content in the movies you watch, then mask (remove) those scenes with Movie Mask. You are now in control over the movies you choose to watch." I can't wait to see what it does to the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan."
posted by KLAX at 7:00 PM PST - 33 comments

Judge tells Mickey D's to McForget about it. Chinese guy in England has audacity to name his restaurant McChina's Wok Out. Mickey D's says we own the rights to everything that begins with a Mc. Don't you just love a story where McDonalds is told to go Mcfuck themselves?
posted by MAYORBOB at 6:39 PM PST - 22 comments

.fr-08: .the .product (download) a 63.5 kb demo of what good data compression can do. [Requires Windows + DirectX 8, may not work with your graphics card.]
posted by riffola at 6:03 PM PST - 21 comments

coolest christmas songs i'm trying to put together a really great Christmas c.d. I have some Burl Ives, the Chipmonks, David Bowie with Bing Crosby. But I know I'm missing some great tunes. Do you know of anything cool?
posted by tsarfan at 3:53 PM PST - 123 comments

Antidote to Dot-Com Is Dot-Gone, and the Dream With It. The tourists' decampment for winter was quite a spectacle, but the locals dig in.
posted by mlinksva at 3:45 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Boustrophedon reader. Be the first in your IP block. Forget about text-reversing widgets.
You'll need to get your hands on a reversed font. I only know of one, Helvetica Flip. If anybody finds another, nicer one, please let me know. [Link via SweetCode]
posted by Su at 3:38 PM PST - 6 comments

Ouchyy... that's just asking for an accident! Is ice skating a safe sport? Who knew skating could be so dangerous?
posted by yevge at 2:51 PM PST - 17 comments

Montreal journalist taken hostage in Afghanistan - A day after the Taliban made threats about capturing foreign journalists, a Canadian freelancer (writing stories for The Montreal Mirror and The Straight Goods) has been taken hostage.
posted by sanitycheck at 2:43 PM PST - 5 comments

"I think it is going to bring a little piece of lower Manhattan . . . to marines who have never been here." A flag from Ground Zero is set to fly over the Marine bridgehead outside Kandahar, inscribed with the names of NYPD victims and those who died on the Cole, and messages from relatives and recovery workers. The symbolic value, of course, is massive, but the inscribed sentiment reflects something of the spectrum of American opinion: can "Be safe and do us proud" stand easily alongside "Unleash hell, boys"?
posted by holgate at 2:35 PM PST - 17 comments

Name that TV theme song! Found this little gem while I was googling for a theme song I needed for a school presentation. I'd imagine this would make for a pretty interesting drinking game.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 2:20 PM PST - 6 comments

Cool high-school science experiment: Mapping The Homunculus. The 15 year old in me wonders why nipples and other naughty bits aren't mentioned, though. Bet they'd be really big!!!
posted by luser at 1:50 PM PST - 8 comments

Afterwards, it was still a city under siege, but I knew it would live. Music is life, after all ... what is life without music? Ed Vulliamy on the terrible siege of Leningrad and how Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony spurred the resistance to the Nazis.
posted by Grangousier at 1:18 PM PST - 2 comments

Watch all 6 New York Miracle Spots! I've been waiting for them to put these online for a long time. Which one's your favorite? (Mine's Woody Allen...how'd he learn to do that?!) Oh, and you need RealPlayer to view them.
posted by adrober at 12:43 PM PST - 13 comments

Come Mr. Taliban I've seen a few .swf based on this theme, but this one is fairly funny.
posted by mikojava at 12:23 PM PST - 9 comments

Take the 1980s Music Quiz (via Net Buzz). Guess the song and artist of each. Hint: No two songs are by the same artist, and all were produced between 1980-1989. 222 lines from 222 songs from 222 different artists. This is quality time-wasting.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 12:16 PM PST - 10 comments

Abortion Foe Admits to Sending Bogus Anthrax Letters. Dear Attorney General Ashcroft. Please detain this terrorist without legal representation, and then try and execute him immediately.
posted by crunchland at 12:02 PM PST - 15 comments

Native American hip-hop runs the gamut from the prolific pioneer and activist Litefoot to the thuggish Natay. Most of it's more about liberation than bling-bling, and although it doesn't get much mainstream media attention yet, there's lots of artist's sites and music online. Be sure to learn about the gangs and check out the gear, too.
posted by liam at 11:41 AM PST - 4 comments

A nice little cool-site compendium featured in this week's CA | Design Interact Insight series. It's described as an idea generator for new media designers, and it's got quite the collection... my favorite so far is German design firm Milla's site (Flash)
posted by silusGROK at 11:24 AM PST - 3 comments

Minneapolis declared a snow emergency this morning. That means parking will be banned on all parkways tomorrow. What's a parkway? The city has a simple answer.

So, the question is, how does your city torment you?
posted by mrbula at 9:39 AM PST - 62 comments

The United States - "Sexual Superpower" - according to a study done by condom maker SSL International, folks in the US are having more sex (an average of 124 times per year), with more partners (an average of 14.3 partners), and starting to have sex younger (average age of 16) than any country in the world.
posted by tpl1212 at 9:07 AM PST - 40 comments

"X-men: speed mutation" is a rich and fun analysis of issues of body, minority struggle, other-ness and the evolution of science fiction in the comic book and film idioms of the X-men. It may even argue that the X-men's overwhelming popularity is owed to something greater than stylized violence and skintight outfits: relevance as a cultural text.

"Immune systems are information systems. Biological space is pervaded and negotiated through exchanges of genetic data; biochemically, we are in a constant state of alienation from our "selves". ... The world of X-Men is inverted on its own processes and intertexts. Its gaze is focused on the technologies of the body and on the intersections between the body and the mind, the body and the self."
posted by scarabic at 8:55 AM PST - 1 comments

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom Bush has said this in a recent speech. The Nightwatch Officer also says this to Zack in the Babylon 5 emp "Messages from Earth". Does B5 mirror our reality in a strange warped way? Can a shadow of President Clark be seen in President Bush? Is Ashcroft heading a real world Nightwatch? Where does the line blur between TV news and ISN?
posted by mfoight at 7:46 AM PST - 29 comments

Since the gift season is right around the corner, what are all the audiophiles looking for? Is it a minidisc? Or mp3? Or some kind of combination? Maybe something to integrate into your stereo system?

Which side of the tradeoff is worth it? Cheap capacity with real-time recording limitations or ease of use and multi-format support with high priced memory?
posted by rich at 7:14 AM PST - 37 comments

Mich. 'invites' men from Mideast to attacks probe questioning.
posted by tiaka at 7:07 AM PST - 6 comments

I know what I'm buying this year. Reverend Rose of the Grace Episcopal Church in Hartford, CT has released his annual Warped Toy List. "A variety of toy stores and discount chains are visited on a monthly basis by members of the Grace Church Warped Toy Committee, in order to track what sort of toys are being offered for children ... Only the very worst, most psychologically dangerous and most offensive toys are selected."
posted by MegoSteve at 6:36 AM PST - 37 comments

The most detailed account I've yet seen of the prison riot at Qali-i-Jhangi. Double-crossed by Mullah Faizal's skin-saving deal, the Taliban's foreign legion misread the good intentions of their captors, starting a riot in which mysterious CIA operatives Mike and Dave found themselves trapped. Massive airstrikes result in casualties on all sides, leaving small teams of special forces to mop up the remaining rioters. I'd be surprised if a book doesn't come out of this.
posted by dlewis at 4:22 AM PST - 3 comments

fantasy football - but with bands. Sign up and get a [virtual] massive 5 grand to buy shares in your favourite bands. Warning: The value of Steps can go up as well as down and your home may be at risk. user 80159!
posted by Spoon at 2:44 AM PST - 6 comments