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Conservatives and Liberals obviously think differently. Here's how. George Lakoff, a highly respected linguist and author of Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know and Liberals Don't is tipping. Why? Part of it is that while Lakoff is obviously a Liberal, he's one of the few around to have taken the time to understand that Conservatives, too, have a coherent worldview. He's then added to that, er, insight his neuroscientific understanding of the power of metaphor in human communication. He's getting mad buzz right now, I just heard him lecture, and folks, Conservative or Liberal, this guy's ideas are worth exploring.
posted by AlexSteffen at 9:51 PM PST - 20 comments

Yaddo: The Artist's Retreat. "Collectively, artists who have worked at Yaddo have won 55 Pulitzer Prizes, 55 National Book Awards, a Nobel Prize, and countless other honors. Visitors from [John] Cheever's day include Milton Avery, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Truman Capote, Aaron Copland, Philip Guston, Patricia Highsmith, Langston Hughes, Ted Hughes, Alfred Kazin, Ulysses Kay, Jacob Lawrence, Sylvia Plath, Katherine Anne Porter, Mario Puzo, Clyfford Still, and Virgil Thomson." A place to go to get your mind off war.
posted by adrober at 9:22 PM PST - 4 comments

A new Pew Research poll confirms the obvious. In 2002 world opinion of the US was slipping but still fairly high (as discussed in this thread). Pew now reports that favorable opinion of the US abroad has taken a nose dive. Of course, correllation does not indicate causation, but certainly this is driven by current events. It remains to be seen if this is indicative of a long-term trend.
posted by moonbiter at 9:11 PM PST - 9 comments

Protester dies senseless death. In a demonstration of the inefficacy of the recent protests, a protester falls to his death while apparently trying to hang an anti-war banner from the Golden Gate Bridge, barely a few hours before hostilities begin in Iraq.
posted by twsf at 8:13 PM PST - 39 comments

Serviceton is a small railway town on the border of South Australia and Victoria, and was once a means for traders to escape taxes when travelling between the colonies, due to errors made when surveying the state borders. No train has stopped here since 1986, and now only a handful of people remain in the town, a sad downfall that Tom Waits has immortalized in song. But abandoned railway stations, closed as populations decline or trade routes change, exist the world over, in the city and in the country, and yes, even in France. They look like great places to explore.
posted by Jimbob at 7:53 PM PST - 2 comments

On the day after war begins, global protests will shock and awe. I'm often reminded that it took years for Vietnam protests to reach the levels we've already seen -- of course, after 3-4 hours, it may hardly matter. *cries*
posted by sudama at 7:53 PM PST - 22 comments

The War has begun.
posted by mhaw at 7:01 PM PST - 336 comments

The 1893 World's Fair has been recreated in loving detail by Peter Nepstad of The Illuminated Lantern, in his game 1893: A World's Fair Mystery. The reviews are in, and they're mostly positive, no small surprise considering it's a text adventure.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:34 PM PST - 2 comments

Lady Liberty no longer wanted? Thanks to a backlash against the French for their refusal to back the US, one group wants to return the Statue of Liberty to France. Is it real or is it a joke?
posted by girlhacker at 5:18 PM PST - 17 comments

While we're all waiting for the inevitable to start... Here's a nice little game of flash that challenges your brains. What more can one ask for? Oh yeah, the hero is a platypus, and the quest is for beer. I think. *burps*
posted by zerofoks at 5:00 PM PST - 25 comments

FBI Discovers Bill of Rights after 138 years. No word on whether they will sell it or use it.
posted by flagrante_delicto at 4:39 PM PST - 5 comments

Oh, but to imagine what could have been. "I have been particularly impressed with the new Mac OS X operating system and the company's commitment to the open source movement."
posted by The Jesse Helms at 3:02 PM PST - 29 comments

So you're tired of hearing about the war, eh? Me too, but you have to have some concern over what would happen if the USA loses. I bet you Saddam's first move as president would be to ban photoshop.
posted by hidely at 1:03 PM PST - 15 comments

Sometimes, a Protest Doesn't Work Out Quite Right. Once again, in less than a week, Olympia, WA, the fair city I call home, has made the news because of the actions of a war protester (which Olympia has no shortage of). Though not deadly like the Rachel Corrie incident, it shows the importance of making sure you do your research before you head out to make a statement.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 12:30 PM PST - 17 comments

The Onion keeps getting funnier In this week's edition, Antonin Scalia bans the media from covering his acceptance of a free-speech award, and also tells Americans "Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires." Haw-haw! Get it? Oh, wait a second...
posted by soyjoy at 11:27 AM PST - 23 comments

"Antiwar movement should shut up about 'shutting it down' – before the state shuts us down." As some in the antiwar movement "prepare to escalate," Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com accusses them of narcissism and soberly warns that "it is clear, at any rate, that such a strategy would be largely ineffective. That is, it would not accomplish its ostensible goal: to stop or even slow down the U.S. assault on Iraq. On the other hand, it would succeed in giving John Ashcroft and the War Party a perfect means by which to test the more draconian clauses of the 'Patriot' Act – and a rationale for proposing even harsher legislation in the near future." [First link via cursor.]
posted by homunculus at 11:24 AM PST - 20 comments

The War is about to Start and for those of us without a TV we are part of a grand experiment to see if we can be as well informed. According to this Reuters article, Radio had World War II, Television had Vietnam, Cable TV had the Gulf War and now, the Internet may have the U.S. war with Iraq...reporters and producers with wireless laptops and handheld digital cameras will file reports from battlefields and military installations. Cameras are at key locations for live feeds 24 hours a day. Interactive, 3-D maps will update troop movements, casualties and weapons used. ''You're combining the speed of television with the depth of print,'' says Mitch Gelman, executive producer of CNN.com. ''This could define how future wars are covered.'' (more inside)
posted by stbalbach at 11:22 AM PST - 19 comments

The Fatal Salient. The First World War remembered; the letters and paintings of one of the participants, Harold Sandys Williamson. This and more via The Imperial War Museum's online exhibitions. [more inside]
posted by plep at 10:54 AM PST - 4 comments

TV Censorship? This advert has just been banned from British TV after a record number of complaints were made about it.

What do you think of it?
posted by essexjan at 10:29 AM PST - 29 comments

WHEN DEMOCRACY FAILED: The Warnings of History by Thom Hartmann
posted by thedailygrowl at 9:55 AM PST - 30 comments

Wonder would happen if the US ever goes to "Red Alert"? New Jersery knows. more...
posted by CrazyJub at 9:31 AM PST - 50 comments

Just Nuisance, Able Seaman. The only canine enlisted in the Royal Navy, Just Nuisance served from 1939 to 1944 in Simon's Town, South Africa (on his papers his occupation was listed as 'Bone Crusher' and his religion 'Canine Divinity League [Anti-Vivisection]'). Providing a great source of morale to sailors stationed there he would escort them on train trips and make sure they made it back to base after a night on the town. Of course being a sailor himself he was privy to a few brushes with the law as well by traveling on the railways without a pass (punishment: Confined to the banks of Froggy Pond, Lily Pool, with all lamp posts removed) or sleeping on an Officer's bed (punishment: Deprived of bones for seven days.). Married, and survived by five children, on his death he was afforded a funeral with full military colours. You can read his biography (which spawned a television series), or merely pay respects at his statue next time you're in Simon's Town.
posted by PenDevil at 9:18 AM PST - 3 comments

How much coverage of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping is too much? I don't know if any of you have been as bothered as I have by this blanket coverage -- not that it's anything new by our media. But it's disturbing nonetheless. From Slate Magazine.
posted by {savg*pncl} at 8:58 AM PST - 36 comments

Cellular politics. It seems that merely "reacting" is always a step behind of a fast evolving hostile force, and some pre-emptive strategy is a must.
posted by semmi at 8:23 AM PST - 2 comments

Oops! IMF Admits Failed Policies
International financial integration should also help countries to reduce economic volatility, the study said, but in reality this has not happened.

"Indeed, the process of capital account liberalization appears to have been accompanied in some cases by increased vulnerability to crises," the report said.

"Globalization has heightened these risks since cross-country financial linkages amplify the effects of various shocks and transmit them more quickly across national borders."

In the last 10 years, developing countries from Thailand and Russia to Argentina, have seen their economies collapse, even though many of them were trying to follow IMF-prescribed open market policies.

So does this mean corporate facism harms the world's poor?
posted by nofundy at 6:59 AM PST - 25 comments

Graphic Design from the 1920s and 1930s in Travel Ephemera. Amazing collection of posters, road maps, steamship and airline timetables, (more timetables here), post cards, luggage labels (more labels here and here), brochures and more. Seeing this stuff makes me wish I had been born seventy-five years earlier (and with an obscene amount of money.) (Warning: the site is seriously painful to look at, but the content's good. Link via Coudal.)
posted by Vidiot at 6:44 AM PST - 10 comments

Jade Cicadas in ancient China [more]
posted by hama7 at 5:42 AM PST - 2 comments

Amazon UK was taken down for over an hour today after a rush of orders caused by apparently mis-pricing Compaq HP iPAQ H5450 Pocket PCs and HP iPAQ H1910 Pocket PCs at £23 GBP and £7 GBP respectively (normally priced at over £200 GBP each)!! I know a few people who have ordered one or two ;) - Amazon is back up and running now but we're all a bit in the dark as to whether we'll get our cut-price goods or not. Logic and fair-play (and the Trades Description Act) dicatates that we should get our goods - but I wonder.... (see also here at The Register)
posted by andyHollister at 5:25 AM PST - 37 comments

Senate Defeats Treaty, Vote 49 to 35; Orders it Returned to the President (NY Times reg. req.) "America Isolated Without Treaty: Its Defeat, Washington Feels, Will Add to Our Unpopularity Abroad" (83 years ago today)
posted by boost ventilator at 4:44 AM PST - 13 comments

Bug Bug Buggy - Electronic bugging devices have been found at offices used by French and German delegations at European Union headquarters in Brussels. I think I can guess where fingers will get pointed....
posted by tomcosgrave at 4:38 AM PST - 11 comments

Oh Just Read The Whole Thing, Will You? I give up. There are just too many great links, intelligently woven together and presented on new things: a weblog, to plunder one by one. It deserves a place up there with plep, woods lot, Bifurcated Rivets, Coudal Partners, Portage and similarly venerable company: lots of fresh links assiduously updated, and loads of personality. And a few recent and classic MetaFilter hits provide a welcoming familiarity...[Dibs on the unusual playing cards!]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:29 AM PST - 10 comments

Here are two thoughtful pieces on the North Korean Crisis.

From Foreign Affairs comes How to Deal With North Korea.

From the New York Times comes
Q&A: Should U.S. Launch Direct Talks with North Korea?

Here, by the way, is the fourth footnote from How to Deal With North Korea :

Had the Agreed Framework not been signed in 1994, the North's plutonium-based program would by today have produced enough plutonium for up to 30 nuclear weapons. Critics of the accord should not ignore this fact.
posted by y2karl at 1:26 AM PST - 17 comments