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Use a misleading domain name, go to prison. A new bit of pending legislation (warning: PDF) called the "Child Abduction Prevention Act" (and really, who WOULDN'T vote for that?) has made the use of misleading domain names for sites of "purient interest" punishable by a sentence of up to two years in prison. Seriously. This is going to be very troubling to the White House. No, this White House.
posted by jonson at 11:09 PM PST - 22 comments

Be a one heart- It is a time to celebrate and not allow yourself to get sucked into fear. "A lot is up in the world today the War in Iraq changes everywhere on the planet. Now we have the 911 attack and the male ego is out in full force. Kill the evil-doers is the chant and the march to war is upon us. No doubt there is much happening in all parts of the world in this transition period, but in the end what is important is how we as individuals and as a collective conscience react or proact to these changes. As individuals, as nations, as humanity we will set the tone for what kind of a world we will begin the next epoch with. What humanity does now will flavor the world in which we live for a very long time. My life will be spent proacting the ways of peace and stability, what will you spend your life doing? " "Message from the Hopi - People of Peace August 2002 You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell them that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered: Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader. This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and so swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The Elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above water. See who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey, comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for. The Elders Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation " TOP
posted by thedailygrowl at 10:11 PM PST - 27 comments

Bring your blog to new heights of uninspired mediocrity with Brunching's Apathetic Online Journal Entry Generator, so that you too can enjoy the wonders of a dull blog.
posted by brownpau at 9:04 PM PST - 19 comments

"Journalists" vs. The White House - MSNBC's Tom Curry reports on the Bush administration's frustration with the war coverage. Rumsfeld: “Fortunately... the American people have a very good center of gravity and can absorb and balance what they see and hear.”
posted by cinematique at 8:23 PM PST - 9 comments

Songfight is a site where users compose songs based weekly titles. Then the public votes and a winner is decided. While necessarily indie, there is a wide variety of styles present and many great songs (mp3 links) have come out of this site. (Check the archives).
posted by ODiV at 5:59 PM PST - 7 comments

Halliburton out of the running for the $600 billion contract to rebuild Iraqs infrastructure. Andrew Natsios, director of the USAID, which is handing out most of the postwar contracts, is keen to counter any allegations of favoritism or political influence. "If I got a phone call from anybody putting any political pressure on me, I would report it immediately". Halliburton is the company formerly run by Dick Cheney, VP of the United States.
posted by stbalbach at 3:55 PM PST - 19 comments

Why the war has become a clusterf**k On my way back from lunch I was listening to Fresh Air and an interview with Christopher Dickey. The things he was saying about the motives of work-a-day Iraqis came as a big surprise to me. In particular: It sounds like they'll keep fighting us long after Saddam and his army are gone. [more inside]
posted by y6y6y6 at 2:25 PM PST - 72 comments

Reality is beginning to seem more and more like Naoto Hattori's surreality; check the gallery and see if you agree. ("Money, Blunts, 40's And Bitches" just amuses me hugely - I think it's the "bitches".) I particularly like the "Extras" section, in which he reveals a bit of the process behind the paintings. (Plus, snowboards!)
posted by taz at 1:50 PM PST - 10 comments

X-Ray of George Bush. This explains everything. [Via This Modern World.]
posted by homunculus at 12:56 PM PST - 20 comments

Google.ac is some kind of fake Google site that seems to return nothing but sponsored results. Is it supposed to fool somebody?
posted by hammurderer at 12:41 PM PST - 14 comments

The Two Micron All Sky Survey at IPAC has been completed after 4 years and 5 million images. Detailed infrared images have been mapped into beautiful false color images. Be sure to check out the 2MASS home page at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. So, what's your favorite astronomy related site or image? (via CNN)
posted by onhazier at 12:38 PM PST - 5 comments

Will the web be the only place left to cover "unpopular" stories? Exhibit A: This WP article reporting that media consultants are recommending TV and radio not to cover protests. (It's unpopular, therefore decreases ratings and therefore bad for business). Exhibit B: Clear Channel tells their stations to ban the Dixie Chicks (Clear Channel wants to get in good with Bush). Exhibit C: Courts rules the media have no obligation to tell the truth. Will a distributed or topic-specific IndyMedia be the best or main source for deviant news? Something like the The Internet Topic Exchange or pb's recent peacetrack? Another reason to work on the Metafilter Online Journalism Project? [more inside]
posted by gramcracker at 12:18 PM PST - 42 comments

This whole damn battlefield is entirely screwed up. Journalists are informants are medics are soldiers are noncombatants are enemies are friends are puppets are war criminals are spies are civilians are terrorists are injured are paramilitary are POWs are freedom fighters are MIA are bloggers are bystanders are children are involved. Will there ever again be an American war where it's clear who's who? And who's on which side?
posted by jengod at 11:39 AM PST - 15 comments

Dog Island
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:46 AM PST - 37 comments

Embedding? Rumsfeld et al Tried to Embed Bechtel and Themselves with Saddam as Iraq Gassed Iranians. "Our examination [issued by the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network and the Institute for Policy Studies with recently released supporting documents] shines a new spotlight on the revolving door between Bechtel and the Reagan Administration that drove U.S.-Iraq interactions between 1983 and 1985. The men who courted Saddam while he gassed Iranians are now waging war against him, ostensibly because he holds weapons of mass destruction. To a man, they now deny that oil has anything to do with the conflict. Yet during the Reagan Administration, and in the years leading up to the present conflict, these men shaped and implemented a strategy that has everything to do with securing Iraqi oil exports....[This paper] notes that the break in US-Iraq relations occurred not after Iraq used chemical weapons on the Iranians, nor after Iraq gassed its own Kurdish people, nor even after Iraq invaded Kuwait, but rather, followed Saddam's rejection of the Aqaba pipeline deal. Finally, this paper shows that the main actors in the 1980s drama are now back on center stage, this time justifying military action against Iraq in terms of national security....The Bush/Cheney administration now eyes Bechtel as a primary contractor for the rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure." (via Progressive Review.)
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 10:43 AM PST - 9 comments

Hackers to the rescue! This is where the real war is being fought folks.... "Hacked by Patriot, Freedom Cyber Force Militia"
posted by protocool at 9:33 AM PST - 29 comments

Space-time continuum abused for financial gain Federal investigators have arrested a Wall Street whizz who made $350 million from an initial investment of just $800 in two weeks. The man has confessed to insider dealing, explaining that he travelled back from the year 2256 in his 'time craft' specifically to make a killing on recorded past stock plunges. The kicker? There's no record of the man's existence prior to December 2002.
posted by skylar at 9:08 AM PST - 41 comments

ORCH HITS HIT YOU HARD. it's the big business.
posted by angry modem at 8:53 AM PST - 7 comments

Amy Goodman AMERICAN HERO but not on WAMC? Democracy now an informitive and hard hitting program produced by Pacifica Radio was asked for many,many times during WAMC's recent fund drive prompting WAMC's dictator in charge alan chartock to state "its on a lot of stations but not WAMC" Why is that? Afraid of rousing the ire of AG ashcroft?I think we should see if old alan is up to giving a good reason why!
posted by hoopyfrood at 8:48 AM PST - 9 comments

Free songs from a free record label, Protest-Records.com. Punk, folk, rock, rap. Thurston Moore and NY designer Chris Habib curate. State smashin' stencils for download too.
posted by damehex at 8:40 AM PST - 10 comments

Richard Perle resigns the Defense Policy Board chairmanship. Richard Perle, after being accused of profiteering and conflict of interest, has resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board. Was this the real reason he resigned, or is the administration distancing itself from Perle due to his claims the Iraqis would be "dancing in the streets" after a US invasion, his links to an advocate for invading Saudi Arabia, or perhaps his call in the British press to get rid of the UN?
Don't start missing him yet, however. Perle will still remain on the Defense Policy board at Donald Rumsfeld's request.
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:20 AM PST - 5 comments

Windows RG (Really Good) - a new build for the demanding windows user, and an early christmas present for all mac users.
posted by gravelshoes at 7:50 AM PST - 12 comments

Chuckie Egg It’s not quite a Friday Flash Game, and it’s not quite a discussion of the great 8-bit games we played when we were young, but it seems to fall neatly between the two camps, so I thought I’d post it. For those of you on the other side of the pond, Chuckie Egg was one of the biggest selling games here in the U.K. For those of you who hanker for the old days of your BBC Micro, here’s a little bit of ‘80s magic. PC only, but it’s less than 200K of download, and as an extra bonus, it allows you to create your own levels.
posted by seanyboy at 7:06 AM PST - 9 comments

The Stone Pages. 'Over the last 14 years we have personally visited and photographed all 529 archæological sites you will find in these pages (117 in the six national sections and 412 in our Tours section), creating the first Web guide to European megaliths and other prehistoric sites, online since February 1996.'
Related :- Ancient Stones, a personal photographic guide to the stone circles of Britain; Megalithic Walks, diaries of days out visiting some of these places; the Prehistoric Monuments of Wales; the interactive Megalith Map. These sites also have great links pages to more megalithic resources.
posted by plep at 6:35 AM PST - 13 comments

Gary Hart launched a weblog. "From time to time, I'll post my thoughts on current policy matters, as well as share some stories about where I'm traveling and the people I'm meeting. I'll also ask some of my friends to share their thoughts as well. I cannot promise to be as skillful at this as many of those who have made the blogger universe such an important part of the internet. However, I'm committed to using the Internet as a vital tool to engage people on critical policy matters and the future of our country." Hart joins Howard Dean as the only other 2004 presidential hopeful with a weblog.
posted by PoliticalJunkie at 6:14 AM PST - 19 comments

Some Friday fun. Mr. Cranky, hollywood's surliest film critic, takes a stab at the war news coverage. I thought I was the only one disturbed by the perma-smile on Lester Holt's face. Tongue in cheek, but as Homer J. Simpson would say, It's funny because it's true.
posted by archimago at 6:12 AM PST - 8 comments

The Historian of Things That Never Were: Edgar Governo collects timelines, chronologies, and histories of events that never happened, to people and things that never existed. Like who? Like Dr. Who, and Final Fantasy VII, Gargoyles, Buckaroo Bonzai, Gulliver's Travels, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and many more.
posted by iconomy at 5:28 AM PST - 13 comments

Friday mini-DVCAM, low-budget music video fun: the Ukes of Hazzard would like you to meet their Gay Boyfriend.
posted by MrBaliHai at 4:25 AM PST - 3 comments

Brighton West Pier is on fire. Could this be the 'final end' for this historic UK landmark?
posted by i_cola at 2:57 AM PST - 28 comments

VandalSquad Always fancied yourself as a "Writer" but don't want to get covered in paint or arrested? This download allows you to deface a train wagon to your hearts content and then upload it to a gallery. Not the real thing but as close as most of us will ever get...
posted by jontyjago at 1:54 AM PST - 1 comments

The Chant of the Weed. "Think of the received image of the jazz musician, the young man with a horn or the tortured singer with the gardenia in her hair. And think what baggage they carry, along with the reeds and the valve oil and the spare mouthpieces. Somewhere in the flight case or purse, tucked away out of sight but still seemingly essential to the image, a little something for after the gig, maybe weed, maybe white powder, maybe a discrete bottle of pills. Like it or not, drugs are very much part of the history and still more of the mythology or jazz." And you gotta hear the clip of Cocaine Habit Blues.
posted by theplayethic at 1:01 AM PST - 12 comments

Image Conscious The fall of CNN, and what it means for the war.
posted by cmacleod at 12:27 AM PST - 18 comments

It's Always Some Poor Writer's Birthday: So thank you, I guess, good old Uncle Garrison, for remembering them on good old Minnesota Public Radio. A rather good bunch was born today, too: Nelson Algren [Party in Chicago on Saturday!], Gorky, Vargas Llosa, Russell Banks and Frederic "A Fan's Notes" Exley. [Literary types will inevitably want to play the good old "What do this motley crew have in common?" game. Cheating and false analogies actively encouraged, of course.] In fact, it's been a good week altogether. Be sure to go back to 2001 and 2002 for extra snippets. The notes, written by Keillor, are unassuming, interesting and admirably synthetic. There's also an excellent daily reading of a poem [Real Audio req.] and a running celebration of the calendar's most significant dates. I defy those who are put off by Keillor's sock-knitting, eggnog-sipping, home-on-the-range style not to grudgingly feel, amid the grrrr, an unwelcome twinge of gratitude.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:13 AM PST - 14 comments

"These Enemies of Humanity would like to claim the world for themselves." No, this is not about either side in the Iraq War, it's part of the opening of Act I of "Ghosts of Albion", a serialized Friday Flash thingy from BBC-interactive, animated by the people who brought us "Dangermouse", and co-written by the actress behind a dead "Buffy" character (I admit it: I got the link from BuffyFilter). The site's got everything from a profile of Lord Byron's Ghost, to (dare I say it?) a Weblog.
But is the "dramatisation" dramatic or scary or funny or worth going back to every week? IMGUO*, it doesn't get off to as good a start as Ep.1 of "Tales of the Blode", but consider the pedigree... Then again, the BBC did bring us both "Monty Python" AND "What Not to Wear"...
* IMGUO: In My Generally Unpopular Opinion
posted by wendell at 12:03 AM PST - 4 comments