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Tis the season to give pardons, fa la la la la la la President Bush decided to give out some pardons for the Christmas season. Pardons for crimes like stealing copper wire, altering an odometer, selling moonshine and not reporting for military induction in the 50s. These are small crimes, most occuring around 30 years ago (on average) with punishment of probation.

This brings up a question, thinking about the controversy over pardons by past Presidents and all that. "How should a President use his pardon power?"
posted by RobbieFal at 9:38 PM PST - 10 comments

This is one the sickest, saddiest stories I've ever read on the net. Can anything be done to stop it, or is it wishful thinking?
posted by Macboy at 1:37 PM PST - 99 comments

2002: The Year in Pictures - as collected by Reuters, UPI, Yahoo [Flash], MSNBC [Flash], CBS, Newsweek, Time Asia, BET [Flash], BBC UK, BBC World, Guardian UK, Corbis News, Corbis Features, Corbis Entertainment, and Corbis sports. You didn't have anything else to do today, now did you?
posted by kokogiak at 12:48 PM PST - 7 comments

The Cult of the Gym Anorexia and obesity have both been beaten to a bloody pulp...but how about "bigorexia", or "muscle dysmorphia."? It has many of the same characteristics as anorexia, such as never being satisfied with the way one looks no matter how big and muscular they get, and it shares with obesity the same propensity for discovering a "quick-fix" mentality. This author likens the cult of the gym to the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment through the church of one's choice.
posted by vito90 at 12:35 PM PST - 14 comments

Artist For Freedom! I'd never heard of Arthur Szyk before I came across him while doing random Google searches today. I really like his artwork! We had a post awhile back with poster art addressing the "current situation. I wonder what Mr. Szyk would've made of the times we live in?
posted by black8 at 11:34 AM PST - 6 comments

A billboard just for you. A new technology is being implemented in billboards that will pick up what radio station drivers are listening to and calculate what product to advertise. Is this a good thing, like Tivo, or should we call Adbusters? Some people thought the day would never come. What's the next step for marketers? Space Advertising??
posted by Espoo2 at 10:52 AM PST - 22 comments

For decades, Iowans found jobs making atomic bombs and non-nuclear weaponry at the Middletown Ammunition Plant. Now their bodies are paying a heavy price.. According to today's installment, the US government and other groups denied knowledge of this plants' role in our nuclear history.
posted by justlisa at 10:50 AM PST - 2 comments

Apparently "Total Information Awareness" doesn't extend to the TIA project's own website.
posted by artifex at 10:38 AM PST - 13 comments

Best Ideas Of 2002: From 'The Ambulance-Homicide Theory' to 'Women Are Just as Jealous as Men', the NYTM 2nd Annual Year in Ideas details 97 recent Gibsonian additions to life in these modern times.
posted by yonderboy at 10:35 AM PST - 9 comments

"e-filing" your land transactions - could it streamline a process that is quite cumbersome? 11 of the 21 counties in New Jersey are working to convert their current paper-based system of filings to an electronic format. Some say it would lower mortgage costs and time constraints because of the movement of paper. Some say it's a disaster waiting to happen. I think it would be an excellent move and would give NJ some first mover status (I think?) to be proud of.
posted by djspicerack at 10:10 AM PST - 5 comments

The Worst Modified Cars in the UK. Car modification is becoming a way of life for all trendy 17-25 year olds. When you can't afford a decent off-the-shelf car, you can just turn your cheap wreck into a sporty glory! Or check out an American car with a WOODEN body kit! Alternatively, just check out the ugliest cars in Britain or LoserCars, the worst cars in the USA! (Found on uk.rec.driving)
posted by wackybrit at 9:32 AM PST - 21 comments

Will 2003 Be The Year Of Real Espresso In America? With the wealth of good machines, fresh coffee beans and online knowledge now available, not to mention tempting offers like Illy's subscription (though the pods turn out expensive in the end, it allows absolute beginners to make acceptable espresso) it's surprising Starbucks-style coffee (big, milky, watery and sweet) hasn't yet been dethroned by the pleasure of straight espresso (tiny, thick, creamy and intense), preferably restretto. I should add that, despite many efforts over the years, I've never had a decent cup of espresso in America. In fact, outside Southern Europe. What gives?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:34 AM PST - 61 comments

Buy a Flight Manual, Get a Grand Jury Subpoena? A guy qualified to fly and instruct on the Boeing 737 buys a CD on Ebay that contains the ground course for the same plane. Then the FBI gets involved, and, courtesy of section 501 (d) of the "USA Patriot Act", he can no longer even discuss the issue. [more inside]
posted by Irontom at 7:59 AM PST - 24 comments

"Hang in there, help is on the way."

The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., recently asked the Defense Department to lower the 2004 pay raise from its expected 3.7 percent to 2 percent. Daniels also wants future raises tied to inflation, rather than basing boosts on what civilians doing comparable jobs in the private sector might make.

Many of our military families already qualify for welfare and food stamps. Pay raises are out of the question when there's NMD and tax cuts to the wealthy needing funding.
posted by nofundy at 7:51 AM PST - 7 comments

Washington salutes its new Blog Overlords When Trent Lott finally fell from (g)race last friday, the ensuing MeFi thread discussed how Lott's statements were at first a sleeper in the mainstream media but that the blogosphere forced the story onto the front pages. However, this theory was met with some scepticism However, the theory of blog ascendancy has legs. In fact, the story is all over the place this morning. With this level of discussion, right or wrong, Blogs just arguably went mainstream. (It might also be the end of our golden era of blogging.) There are greater and lesser blogs. Its hard to tell which blog deserves the credit for toppling Lott. How will they determine the alpha blog? The winner could be the next "Drudge".
posted by BentPenguin at 7:45 AM PST - 43 comments

"We are singing for peace. We are against war. We are now singing against checkpoints," said Gabi Baramki, one of the founders of the Jerusalem Chorus. "It's a very sad Christmas." One in ten Palestinians is Christian, and Christians such as Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah are prominent among the voices calling for a campaign of nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation.
posted by skoosh at 3:03 AM PST - 10 comments

50 is an odd age for a rock star to die. 25 or 75 both seem right. But fifty? That's absurd! And he never got round to reforming the Clash ...
posted by alloneword at 2:15 AM PST - 64 comments

Miniature Earth... Sure, you may have already seen something like this before... but as we're about to turn the calendar over for another year, it's as good a time as any to thoughtfully reconsider the world we live in. Miniature Earth is a flash presentation that compresses the world's population down to a community of 100 people, and gives statistical proportions. Work with passion; Love without needing to be loved; appreciate what you have; and do your best to make a better world.
posted by crunchland at 12:04 AM PST - 22 comments