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There's big trouble in Flathead county (n.y. times link, reg. required) There's so much to ponder in this completely insubstantial story including the first time I know of that the Newspaper of Record has described someone as having "... a long history of being annoying".
posted by rdr at 11:54 PM PST - 8 comments

Tom Perrotta may be one of the best novelists working today, yet not that many folks know his name. His books and short stories portray prosaic suburbia accurately and without condescension, and he has uncanny insight into the mind of the terminally adolescent. Not to mention an uproarious sense of humor. If the films of Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater, the music of Weezer, or Pete Bagge's comics resonate with you, you may want to check out their literary equivalent. As an added treat, here's an audio link of Perrota reading his work. For my money, this guy is one of our best American writers right now, although you wouldn't know it.
posted by jonmc at 8:29 PM PST - 10 comments

Is there any suprise about todays attack in Jerusalem after yesterdays assault on the refugee camps which appear to have been particularly brutal. I'm suprised there has not been a post about this weekends suprisingly swift and depressing tit-for-tat.
posted by specialk420 at 4:56 PM PST - 36 comments

Felt threatened since 9/11? Take this survey. It attempts to link our perception of threats with our exposure to particular media -- good approach, unlike some other 9/11 surveys.
posted by tiny pea at 3:33 PM PST - 5 comments

They just wont let it lie. What posses these people to keep fighting against overwhelming odds.I can see what they are against but for the life of me I cannot see what they are for.Couple of points near the bottom of the piece are interesting.IHave I been asleep or has the killing of innocents on 23 January been underreported.Does the fact that small raids have led to arrest interrogation and subsequent release answer my own question? I am perplexed,are there any good guys?
posted by Fat Buddha at 2:25 PM PST - 10 comments

Genius boy's mother admits faking his tests. We're coming to the end of a very sad story.
posted by MikeB at 12:38 PM PST - 17 comments

Much Ado About Something. Fascinating Salon review of a new documentary investigating whether Shakespeare was really just a front-man for Christopher Marlowe, the true author of all the Bard's work. At first it sounds like just so much literary conspiracy theory, except unlike most conspiracy theories this one seems to gain more credibility the further you delve into it. The film just wrapped up a two- week opening run in New York City, and should be arriving soon at theaters in your area.
posted by hincandenza at 12:11 PM PST - 45 comments

Witness the scalability of Gnutella in realtime. We've all read the technical papers and masters thesises (thesi?) about the theoretical growth of the Gnutella network and if/how it will work. Today with the release of Morpheus Preview Edition, now connected to the Gnutella network, you can witness its 345 trillion users put the Gnutella network to the test. In a little over a couple hours it has grown to roughly 3 times the size it was last week, and still going strong.. how much bigger can it get?
posted by afx114 at 11:07 AM PST - 40 comments

The work of Cambodia's Army of Peace is known throughout the world, and a Southeast Asian Peace Army or Shanti Sena is in the works for 2002. Gandhi called for a Shanti Sena for national defense in 1942. Because the Japanese did not invade, India has used a "Shanti Sena" for combatting riots rather than homelands defense. (The Rainbow Gathering also calls its security people "Shanti Sena, or the Peace Army.") A short history of grassroots initiatives in unarmed peacekeeping from 1932 to the Present" shows that many of the Peace Army initiatives preceded Gandhi. Narayan Desai is one of Gandhi's successors. Californian Sanderson Beck offers comprehensive links to religion, non-violence, and peace movements. Peace Brigades International is known for its work in the Balkans, Colombia, Indonesia and the Middle East. Working directly on terrorism, as well as war, is the Sarovodaya Movement of Sri Lanka. Prize for the most highly focused "Peace Army" goes to the North Koreans. Governments always come up with money for soldiers, but they don't hire unarmed, non-violent peacekeepers. Howcome?
posted by sheauga at 10:53 AM PST - 7 comments

Geocities for Scientologists Take a look at the uniformity of the personal pages on this site. It's enough to make one wonder if these people even know they have webpages.
posted by pjdoland at 7:29 AM PST - 25 comments

Are these what the real rulers of the information age look like? Mindblowing guest list for Edge.org's recent Annual "Billionaires' Digerati Dinner". Rupert Murdoch and Naomi Judd, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Richard Dawkins, Jeff Bezos and Steven Pinker, and god knows how many journalistic hangers on from Wired, the Atlantic, Time Out, NYT/WSJ. All invited by tentacular pop-science book agent John Brockman. What deals must have ensued? What plans discussed? It makes Davos seem like a backyard clam-bake. (And here's another brainiac elite bash). Do you wish you had been invited?
posted by theplayethic at 5:58 AM PST - 12 comments

therapeutical cannabis An Israeli pharmaceutical company is working on a drug mimicking cannabis' chemical constituents -- cannabinoids -- to offer marijuana's therapeutic benefits without the buzz.
posted by trismegisto at 5:14 AM PST - 13 comments

The racial background of rumors/urban legends (part 2 here) "When the target is a supposed corporate conspiracy, the white version tends to address alleged behavior that isn’t race-related. Meanwhile, "black rumors play on the belief in racial animus by the elites." The Snapple-funds-anti-abortionists story was spread mostly among whites; the Snapple-KKK rumor spread mostly among blacks."
posted by owillis at 4:39 AM PST - 7 comments