December 16, 2002

Senator Blanche K. Bruce

Senator Blanche K. Bruce was the first black person to serve a full term in the United States Senate (representing Mississippi from 1875 to 1881), and the first person born into slavery to preside over the Senate. The Senate Commission on Art recently unveiled a newly-acquired portrait of this determined leader.
posted by oissubke at 10:25 PM PST - 17 comments

Touch my bum!

Touch My Bum! This is LIFE!
posted by qDot at 10:24 PM PST - 30 comments

Santa is REAL!

Yes, Boston, there really is a Santa Claus. After a spate of posts lately, a Boston-area graffiti tagger reassures the city of the jolly old elf's existence. The Phoenix wonders why.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:26 PM PST - 19 comments

Iraqis want war

Iraqis welcome war to remove Saddam A survey (.pdf) taken inside(!) Iraq says Iraqis would favor a war to topple Saddam. The report itself is more interesting than the Independent piece.

The overall impression...was one of exasperation and even anger after twelve years of uncertainty and international isolation and even more years of warfare, combined with a growing sense that the current regime's days are numbered.

The report is most interesting in the details of Iraqis' expectations: that advanced US technology will somehow anesthetize Iraqi soldiers rather than hurt them, the US will rebuild their country for them, there will be no breakup of Iraq, nor postwar bloodbath, etc.

A fascinating and important portrait of a people at the end of their rope.
posted by ednopantz at 4:18 PM PST - 38 comments

NYT: Oops

No giant sea sparrow is known to be endangered by the eating habits of goats. ...so quoth the NYT. Funniest correction I've seen in a while; even better than the ones in the Guardian.
posted by Vidiot at 2:50 PM PST - 7 comments

Modern Drunkard's Bar Signs

Bar Signs. Modern Drunkard has posted a handy guide for the alcoholic in us all, a set of gestures to communicate your needs when it's too loud to hear, or just because, as the site says, "when words come out, whiskey can't get in."
posted by jonson at 1:18 PM PST - 21 comments

The world looks wretched from the bottom of a glass

Columnist too hung over to cover case of alcoholic Rosie Di Manno, Toronto Star: “I drank to grotesque excess the other night, waking up the morning after with a double-whammy red-wine-and-nicotine hangover.... The upshot is that I missed a full day of the trial I've been covering the past couple of weeks – a $750,000 civil suit brought by [Thomas] Kerr against nine police officers.... That night... was one of the few, very few, evenings over the past quarter-century when Kerr wasn't sloshed.” Journalist, heal thyself.
posted by joeclark at 11:18 AM PST - 8 comments

Americans Fire Back Over Column

Americans Fire Back Over Column This Toronto Star article comes right at the heels of ealier MeFi post (Canadian American Relations).
posted by freakystyley at 11:07 AM PST - 29 comments

Hypothetical Future Value?

Self-fulfilling Prophecy? Enron video says maybe... A video from an Enron company party from 1997 shows executives or other employees playing execs making jokes during skits about how to make "a kazillion dollars" et al. Some of the "methods" they speak of apparently are exactly the things that brought the company down. Looks like the cat was let out of the bag in front of a lot of unsuspecting individuals..
posted by djspicerack at 11:06 AM PST - 4 comments

Art inspired by Stevie Nicks

Stand back! Johanna can throw a little something together for the Stevie Nicks fan on your list. Ooh baby Ooh said Ooh. Don't forget to dress up your desktop on the way out. via the lovely and talented Davezilla.
posted by whatnot at 11:04 AM PST - 20 comments

John Bonham lives!

John Bonham lives! Crank up your tiny labtec speakers and rock out in the manner to which you are accustomed.
posted by KettleBlack at 10:19 AM PST - 10 comments

Laughter capital of the world ?

Laughter capital of the world? "Declining audiences, dull material, complacent comics: a crisis is looming ....London suddenly appears to be in the grip of a recession for the first time since the alternative comedy boom took off at the beginning of the 1980s." From a nation exporting Bill Bailey(live in NYC this week) ,Eddie Izzard, Ali G, can this really be happening? (BTW I always thought Canada tried to lay a claim to this crown?)
posted by Voyageman at 10:10 AM PST - 15 comments

LEGOdeath

Even unto the grave, still the little LEGOmen smile. [Flash]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:27 AM PST - 14 comments

The mind has no firewall

"The mind has no Firewall" A discussion on the development of "Psychotronic" weapons From the US Army publication, 'Parameters': "An entirely new arsenal of weapons, based on devices designed to introduce subliminal messages or to alter the body's psychological and data-processing capabilities, might be used to incapacitate individuals." Ominous? Inevitable?
posted by troutfishing at 9:07 AM PST - 11 comments

A Case of Curiousities

A Case of Curiousities - Fine Art Taxidermy and Assemblage "Specializing in elegantly displayed antique, vintage and unusual contemporary taxidermy & entomological specimens for the collector of curiosa." The Walter Potter Gallery creeps the everloving shit out of me (it's.. a kitten.. with eight legs and two tails...), but you have to admit this floral arrangement of kittens is simply adorable.
posted by Stan Chin at 7:58 AM PST - 20 comments

stolen fancy cellphone

Ruby-encrusted cellphone lost by professional drag-racer at nightclub. Put this item in the pantheon with the gold-plated toilet, glow-in-the-dark volleyball net, and other stuff nobody needs. Maybe it's the Grinch in me...is it cool, foolish, or immoral to spend $20,000 on a platinum-plated gadget? (via obscurestore)
posted by serafinapekkala at 7:49 AM PST - 47 comments

Creative Commons launches

Open Source Copyright. As a follow-up to this thread, Creative Commons has now officially launched. I'm quite interested to see the various content creators who take these licenses and run with them - amateur filmmakers, independent musicians, authors, writers, and technologists .....should have groups like the MPAA and RIAA quaking in their boots.
posted by bkdelong at 6:01 AM PST - 17 comments

Ashcroft's Very Chocolate Brownies

"Eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness." Can John Ashcroft find salvation in a recipe for chocolate brownies? Hey, every little bit helps.
posted by PrinceValium at 4:02 AM PST - 5 comments

The Almighty $

Christians become aquainted with the Almighty. "When the Wheat Ridge man got laid off from his computer-programming job in June, his friends and family asked what they could do to help. He asked them to pray for him and offered a daily reminder: an automated text message on cellphones and pagers. Now, Wostenberg, a devout Catholic, is offering that same technology to anyone who wants a psalm sent to him each day at 3 p.m. He's selling the service online at PsalmWeaver.com He charges $19.95 a year, plus a $4 setup fee."
posted by crasspastor at 12:59 AM PST - 16 comments

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