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The Onion's lead story this week is about as succinct an indictment of the drug war as you can get. "If you are paying taxes and keeping your yard tidy, we're not going to hassle you if you come home from a hard day of work and want to enjoy a little pot or blow. But if, on the other hand, you're one of these lazy, shiftless types hanging out on the street all day looking for your next high, we're coming after you."
posted by McBain at 11:35 PM PST - 18 comments

E Online (via Yahoo news) just can't seem to get enough of itself. I'm all for creativity in presenting light-news pieces, but one line in this piece strikes me as over the top: "The feds launched their, um, probe into the matter after fielding dozens of viewer complaints about the salacious commercial cum fall-sweeps stunt." Did a major news organization just use a pun on the word "c*m" in one of their stories? Is this what our media has sunk to?
posted by gsteff at 11:19 PM PST - 9 comments

Welcome to Planet Dobro! – The origins of bottleneck blues, bluegrass dobro and the pedal steel guitar all begin in Hawaiian steel guitar, popularized by the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, the 78 rpm record and the introduction of the National, and later Dobro guitars, invented by two wild and crazy Czechoslovakian brothers. But wait—the mystery deepens! Is there a Hindustani connection involving a Portuguese-Indian sailor? The arcane story of the first World music and how it changed American vernacular musics. Details within, along with tunings, tabs and the universe of resophonic, lap and pedal steel guitars…
posted by y2karl at 10:59 PM PST - 10 comments

Long Bets. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--In 28 years, commercial airline passengers will routinely fly in pilotless airplanes. Sound ludicrous? Not to Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Craig Mundie, who recently bet Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt $2,000 that the prediction will come true. This site is all about, well long bets. Oh, and it's all for charity.
posted by Zool at 9:18 PM PST - 10 comments

Do you want to eat horses or do you wish to marry someone of the same sex. Or something like that. I don't know. I'm confused. Are people pro horse-meat or anti-gay? What does this say about those of us in the Commonwealth that shop at Walmart? Where's Catherine the Great when you need her!
posted by dchase at 8:37 PM PST - 15 comments

It's the Shperiks! Those wacky mascots for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan! I can't tell what the heck is going on here, and if it weren't for the upbeat BGM, I'd probably be scared to visit this site again. But it was an interesting little adventure...
posted by Bixby23 at 4:22 PM PST - 6 comments

Reparations Sought From U.S. Firms for Slavery. Big U.S. companies were named in a lawsuit on Tuesday filed on behalf of black Americans descended from slaves, the first-ever class action seeking reparations from firms for profiting from slavery. Is this really sensible?
posted by sixdifferentways at 3:35 PM PST - 96 comments

Tonight the lead council from Live365 will be taking calls and answering questions live online here in just a few hours, about the recent CARP proposed rulings for internet streaming radio. If you're interested in seeing internet radio live on, give it a listen, if you prefer the RIAA's stranglehold on distribution and prefer hearing Creed streamed over any one of the thousands of identically programmed ClearChannel outlets, feel free to ignore.
posted by mathowie at 3:18 PM PST - 4 comments

"Toynbee ideas in Kubrick's 2001 resurrect dead on planet Jupiter" Wha?!!? Our very own BentPenguin has made oblique, intriguing reference to this meme which I call upon intersted Mefites everywhere to help elucidate... quick, before it drives me nuts! More>
posted by dash_slot- at 2:50 PM PST - 25 comments

"Drugs and the Internet: An Overview of the Threat to America’s Youth" It should probably come as no surprise that the government is interested in finding out what kind of drug-related information exists on the internet. What might surprise you is the Department of Justice’s self-described methodology and intent in pursuing that objective, with little apparent concern for such trivialities as oh, say, the First Amendment. For example, take a look at what the DOJ thinks constitutes "offending websites." Or how about this "threat": "Drug-culture advocates are chiefly interested in expanding the size of the community to both legitimize their activity and increase pressure on lawmakers to change or abolish drug control laws." (pressure on lawmakers to change or abolish laws? How un-American!) Needless to say, official statements like this scare some people, including rave fans, who appear to be a particular focus of the government’s efforts. (via overlawyered.com).
posted by pardonyou? at 2:14 PM PST - 16 comments

Beauty and the Labor Market "Plastic surgery has become one of those things--like reading the tabloids and watching The Home Shopping Network--that Americans like doing and love ridiculing others for doing. Depending on whose numbers you believe, more than seven million of us went under the knife last year"...I had no idea... "In cold, hard economic terms, being attractive helps you get ahead." ...Now I get it, now I understand.
posted by Voyageman at 2:12 PM PST - 10 comments

Robot Guard Dogs - two new types of robo-dog on their way to market (in Japan) next year from Sanyo (the T7S Type 1 and Type 2) About 3 feet long, 80 pounds of Aibo-style security for $750. Cool factor - their onboard CCD cameras and cell phones can watch for intruders and beam images to your own 3G phone.
posted by kokogiak at 1:29 PM PST - 17 comments

Writing about child porn/abuse is artistic. Robin Sharpe has successfully defended himself against child porn acusations; case went all the way to the SC in Canada. In unrelated news (except that both stories are from the front page of the Toronto Star) a Taiwan scientist has created a bubble (soap) that you literally can't burst, no matter how hard you try, for days.
posted by Why at 1:22 PM PST - 13 comments

Clean air? We don't need no stink'n clean air. "The White House firmly defended Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Tuesday as newly released documents showed he held at least eight private meetings with industry leaders -- but none with environmentalists -- while the administration crafted its energy plan." Is this really a surprise?
posted by aj100 at 12:13 PM PST - 33 comments

Queen & DeNiro to launch "We Will Rock You" Surviving members of Queen have teamed with Robert DeNiro to stage a musical based on Queen's greatest hits.
posted by Lanternjmk at 11:06 AM PST - 36 comments

Swissair reborn: "SWISS Air Lines"... "Our 'Swissness' subtly informs the way we look, operate and care for our passengers. From colour palettes that reflect our natural environment to the cleanliness of our fleet and freshness of our food, our Swiss origins inspire us in all areas of our business." Can the new airline be rebuilt around a new set of "design" principals, spearheaded by Tyler Brûlé of Wallpaper mag fame?
posted by hulette at 10:57 AM PST - 9 comments

Photoshopers, start your engines. The excitement machine is launching a contest. Photoshop a funny picture of a 1980 JC Penny catalog photo (previously noted here that it looks like GW Bush), and win the entire series six simpsons set.
posted by mathowie at 10:29 AM PST - 9 comments

Food Drops Found To Do Little Good "The Bush administration's much publicized food ration airdrop in northern Afghanistan - hailed by the Pentagon as a way to feed starving residents while winning their loyalty - achieved neither goal in many targeted areas, military experts, aid workers, and a report by retired US special forces officers now conclude." Problems included spoiled food, greedy Afghanis and poor planning. US military claims success. Maybe we should just stick with the guns and skip the butter.
posted by martk at 9:22 AM PST - 12 comments

50 foot long single spar crystals found in a Mexican cave 1,000 feet below the surface! Smithsonian has links to other related sites. This one has pictues. More pictures can be found in the April 2002 print issue of Smithsonian.
posted by onhazier at 9:04 AM PST - 11 comments

Happy Birthday, Ballooning Federation of America! Organized ballooning in America turns 41 today, without its richest and most ornery participant (and there is serious competition for that title), Malcolm Forbes -- balloonist, Faberge egg-lover, exotic cake stealer.

So let's reflect on the true meaning of this day: What's up with rich people? Why are they so f*cking nuts?
posted by busbyism at 8:48 AM PST - 8 comments

The Multi-Dimensional Human Embryo Project uses MRI techniques to produce nifty images and amazing movies (quicktime required) of what we all looked like when we were wee ones.
posted by gwint at 8:45 AM PST - 1 comments

okay, stop, now you're just talking out of your... ahem... well, i guess it is a logical next step for a company that promoted hiphuggers with singing navels, at least for their european consumers.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:18 AM PST - 17 comments

Mathematical beauty in science (NYTimes) Though I can't say I've seen a moment of God's glory in finding a balanced checkbook (on the first go), I have been in academia in physics and math enough to know the almost mystical pleasure its practitioners get from the "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics", and the simplicity and elegance of the equations at its core. I was wondering -- are there other fields where this occurs, where people get the feeling they've tapped into some bare beauty of nature? Philosophy? Art? Architecture?
posted by meep at 8:13 AM PST - 24 comments

A judge has ordered a smoker to stop lighting up at home or in her car if she wants continued visitation rights with her 13-year-old son who has complained about her pack-a-day habit. "Where the child's health is involved," the judge said, "the court would intervene, even if it meant overriding the parents' religious beliefs." Is this in the best interest of the child or an intrusive ruling?
posted by phooey at 7:11 AM PST - 107 comments

Space, Here We Come! The Chinese make significant progress in their quest for the stars. A good bit of background from Wired explains that they're leveraging off of Russian tech but China still considered the program their #1 sci-tech advance last year. As an aside, some nice spy pictures are available of the Jiuquan Space Facility although I imagine it's been a developed a bit since then.

So, will getting a man into space signficantly change the world's opinion of China as it slowly evolves in a major world player? For Americans, will it be 1957 all over again except the little beep beep is replaced by a Chinese man waving back at them?
posted by warhol at 6:41 AM PST - 27 comments

"In a park in Bali, they found a monkey, a pig-tailed macaque, kept in a cage so small it could not lie down properly, and with one leg chained to the bars.
posted by leafy at 6:30 AM PST - 6 comments

Earthquakes rock Afghanistan... 20,000 are homeless, 4,000 injured, and 5,000 feared dead. The epicenter was about 90 miles north of Kabul.
posted by Kevin Sanders at 6:23 AM PST - 15 comments

Prozac 'linked' to brain tumors: Nothing incontrovertible yet. But where does it put us already hyper-sensitive brain candy users who've been given a new lease on life? Now we have to worry about this too?
posted by crasspastor at 2:15 AM PST - 28 comments