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Welcome To Lajes Field, located on the island of Terceira in the stunningly beautiful and unspoilt Azores, home to the U.S. Air Force's 65th Air Base wing and U.S. Forces Azores. A curious little website, with its own particular micro-culture and quite a few interesting historical tidbits. [Not to mention two lousy jobs going.] Or, as they themselves put it: "multimedia products to help you better understand and appreciate the noble mission of the military men and women assigned to this outpost in the Atlantic." [In case you were wondering, it's here, later today, that Bush, Blair and Aznar, hosted by Durão Barroso, will hold their little war summit.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:55 PM PST - 7 comments

The 20 worst NES games of all time. Rube: It is very much revengeful towards Jack, and it pursues him endlessly.
posted by angry modem at 10:46 PM PST - 19 comments

Barbie and her friends now have blogs. Seeing this seriously made me consider hanging my hat and going home. They even have webcams, to do lists, and little photo galleries. The corporate giants are working hard to pull girls in to technology - which is a really good thing. Too bad the latest posts are about buying mini-skirts and things like that.
posted by christine_bpc at 10:36 PM PST - 14 comments

CDC posts medical alert for atypical pneumonia. There is travel alert for those traveling from Asian countries around and in China. It seems that this type of pnenumonia has been found in North America. Symptoms include fever and hard-of-breathing. More articles about the disease here.
posted by azileretsis at 9:09 PM PST - 29 comments

Wanna buy a piece of your childhood? Sid & Marty Krofft were the creative minds behind a rash of trippy children's television programs in the 1970s (who can forget H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos,Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost and many, many others?). Now they're auctioning off puppets, props and drawings from over three decades of their television shows. Who wouldn't want to own their own Sleestak?
posted by filmgoerjuan at 8:43 PM PST - 20 comments

Area residents speak of hearing their cries late in the night, a hellish screeching and squealing. Some even have seen them personally, appearing from nowhere in the dark hours... then scattering... Police came through, but now they're gone / In other words, the sideshow's on. A peek into the infamous Oakland sideshow. (Quicktime videos 1,2,3)
posted by eddydamascene at 7:32 PM PST - 25 comments

Diane Stuemer, an Ottawa area entrepreneur, and her husband reevaluated their priorities in the early 90's after Diane was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and her husband had a work related accident. After her cancer went into remission, and fearful that her 3 children would grow up without remembering her, the family took the bold decision to pack up everything and circumnavigate the world. Despite having less than 4 days of sailing experience, the family took to the seas with great enthusiasm.

The Northern Magic became the Steumer's home for 4 years as they travelled around the world. During that time Diane wrote a series of weekly dispatches to the readers of her hometown's newspaper. It became a tradition in many Ottawa households to read Diane's column in the saturday paper while dreaming of the exotic locals she was writing about (a sharp contrast from Ottawa's winters).

In those 4 years, readers got to experience Herbert (the husband) become a master mechanic, Diane adapt to life afloat, and the 3 sons grow up. When the Stuemers finally arrived home in Ottawa in August of 2001 they where greeted by thousands of well-wishers.

Sadly, Ottawa residents learned early in February that Diane had been readmitted to hospital where she was fighting a very aggressive melanoma battle. Today, Diane succumbed to her illness and passed away.

During their voyage, the entire family took on several projects in the countries they visited which are still active today. What amazes me about Diane is the experiences she lived through with her children, the memories they will cherish and the lasting effect their travels will have on the people they met.
posted by smcniven at 6:42 PM PST - 19 comments

Finnish Parliamentary Elections are held this sunday. Deutsche Welle and NY Times sum things up pretty well, but I've added some links you might find interesting. [more inside]
posted by lazy-ville at 5:25 PM PST - 9 comments

MIA Facts Site

Prisoners of Hope: Exploiting the POW-MIA Myth in America.

Let's Sell The Bones : The Marketing of America's Missing In Action              (More Inside)
posted by y2karl at 4:41 PM PST - 37 comments

The Leonardo DiCaprio Poetry Site This is a poetry site totally dedicated to the talented actor Leonardo DiCaprio / Without whom / Our lives would be empty of all inspiration. There would be no work of art for us to gaze at / No timeless melody to listen to.

Some of it's quite sincere: Must. Not. Heh. Snicker. . .
posted by spslsausse at 2:03 PM PST - 10 comments

Today is the Ides of March. What is the Ides of March? It is March 15th in the ancient Roman calender, the first day of the Roman New Year and the first day of spring. The Roman calender refered to days by names not numbers, thus each month has an Ide day, although not always on the 15th. The Ides of March is best known as the day Julius Caesar was assasinated in the Senate (44 BC) and made famous by the Shakespeare line "Beware the Ides of March". It modern times it has come to symbolize foreboding and bad luck. Iggy Pop sang about it prophetically with todays current events, and in Rome where it all started it's a good day to Toga Party.
posted by stbalbach at 1:59 PM PST - 7 comments

Colin Powell and the Marketing of Uncle Sam is an idiosyncratic rant by Afnan Fatani, professor of stylistics at King Abdul Aziz University, in the English-language Saudi journal Arab News, arguing the sinister implications of Colin Powell's employment of advertising experts to put the American message to the world. Starting with Nelson Mandela's recent comments, among them that the U.S. is disregarding the U.N. because its leader, Kofi Annan, is black, Prof. Fatani achieves some rhetorical fireworks from the observation that "Uncle Ben is not Uncle Sam."

During the days of slavery in America, white men discovered the powerful singing voices of their black slaves. Today, judging from the sleek performance of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, American leaders have apparently discovered and successfully utilized the articulate skills of their black citizens. Too bad the message these black politicians are promoting is Zionist war and destruction, and not Christian peace and goodwill. Too bad that Powell and the Bush administration have between them tainted the white wholesome goodness of Uncle Ben’s Rice.

According to a December 2002 story in Salon, Powell had said, upon hiring ad mogul Charlotte Beers at State, "Hey, she got me to buy Uncle Ben's rice." Interestingly, Richard Lyons posted an op-ed based on a very similar conceit in February 2002 — though without the bizarre racial overtones. Didn't German soldiers taunt black GIs with the fact of their second-class citizenship during WWII? Stylistic it is, a mishmash of apocalyptic scriptural interpretation and Internet antiwar rhetoric. Fellow Netizens, I give you our Saudi allies on this, 12 Muharram 1424, the eve of war.
posted by hairyeyeball at 1:59 PM PST - 14 comments

http://www.Breadhours.org A group of over 300 residents and merchants in California’s Bay Area has established a local currency called BREAD (a rough acronym for Bay Area Regional Exchange and Development), based on hours of work valued at $12 an hour. Through the BREAD network, which now has over $20,000 worth of currency in circulation, members can pay for dinner, carpentry, childcare, tutoring, clerical assistance or organic produce. Tired of traditional activism, founder Miyoko Sakashita wanted to create a positive local economy and “stop our resources from supporting global corporations that are not accountable to people and the environment.” Check it out at Breadhours.org
posted by bureaustyle at 1:14 PM PST - 28 comments

“Fear is a warning thing,” Loggins says, “a warning system. It lets you know you’re going to be in danger, like something jeopardizes your life. I guess everybody has fears in common. In fact, I’m quite sure they do. Things like bees, monsters, and probably pit bulls.”
posted by Hildago at 11:55 AM PST - 29 comments

Chinese sold Iraq 'dual-use' chemical And France helped broker the deal. Now do we boycott not only French bread and wine but all Chinese food too?
posted by Postroad at 9:23 AM PST - 41 comments

The dark side of being a sports mascot. Assault and battery by opposing coaches and fans. Having to do acrobatics in foul-smelling costumes in 80-degree heat. Lawsuits. Injuries. "I've got really good accidental death and dismemberment insurance," [NBA mascot Kirk] Johnson said with a laugh. "You never know what's going to happen." Behind that frolicsome giant stuffed animal lies a bleak world of terror and pain. [no more inside, wasn't that enough?]
posted by Slithy_Tove at 7:52 AM PST - 10 comments

Survival System Train & Other Sculpture - "atomic-powered cyborgs, quasi-animate freight trains, and other absurd and fabulous contraptions populate the universe of Kenji Yanobe. Welcome to the world of the future-past, the unkempt aftermath of Better Living Through Science."
posted by madamjujujive at 7:36 AM PST - 7 comments

The Dildo song. [ASF 2:26]
posted by srboisvert at 7:35 AM PST - 5 comments

Stuttering In 1937, Professor Wendell Johnson, a stutterer, designed an experiment to induce stuttering in a group of normal youngsters. Things didn't quite work out as planned. An interesting longish read from the NY Times magazine.
posted by dydecker at 6:20 AM PST - 15 comments

It's just not cricket. The second in my series of defiled English sporting occasions. [Flash]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 3:39 AM PST - 12 comments