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The museum of unworkable devices... Gravity -- it's not just a good idea, it's the law. Perpetual motion, and other wonderful things.
posted by Krrrlson at 10:53 PM PST - 5 comments

An American Myth Rides Into the Sunset

One cannot imagine F.D.R., before declaring war on Japan, or even Ronald Reagan before Grenada, pumping a fist and saying of himself, "Feel good" — as President Bush did before he announced the beginning of the Iraq war. Indeed, the doctrine of pre-emptive warfare flies in the face of the humble, reluctant cowboy myth Mr. Bush holds so dear.
posted by y2karl at 10:24 PM PST - 11 comments

The Virtual MetaBanquet: Eat, Drink And Be Merry! Any class which includes A.M.Bowie's stimulating "Thinking With Drinking" paper in the bibliography, has to be worth taking but John Porter's The Ancient Symposium/Convivium course description is full of wonderful links to all that is classical wining, dining, conviviality, friendship and other forms of philosophical and physical cheer. Brush up on your Plato and Xenophon!
...Which, together with the Cooks' Thesaurus linked yesterday by plep led me to imagine a glorious Sunday MetaFilter Banquet...[More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:02 PM PST - 11 comments

The war is now a stalemate. From Reuters: Much of the supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles has been expended, aircraft carriers are going to run out of precision guided bombs, and there are serious maintenance problems with tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment. "The only hope is that they can hold out until reinforcements arrive," a former US intelligence official said. "This is the mess [Rumsfeld] put himself in because he didn't want a heavy footprint on the ground."
posted by johnnydark at 9:05 PM PST - 85 comments

Classic Games Convention. For those of you into vintage games, tomorrow is the last day to check out PhillyClassic 4, a vintage game fest at which developers will release new vintage games. Some industry personalities will be present, including Sid Meier of Civilization fame, and Cindy Morgan from everyone's classic game movie, Tron, soon to have a sequel (the game, not the movie). Play a vintage game on a current system, or relive the good old days of Vectrex. Leave your quarters at home (the games are on free-play), but bring your joysticks to donate to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
posted by ringmaster at 8:43 PM PST - 3 comments

ZoomView is a satellite image of Baghdad from March 27th that allows zooming to the level of cars and individual trees and panning around the city. Data loads realtime called "sharpening". Other cool ZoomViews of Basra, Tikrit, North Korea nuclear reactor site, Qualcomm Stadium San Diego.
posted by stbalbach at 6:31 PM PST - 11 comments

“Takoma, the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, had been in Iraq for 48 hours when he went missing on his first operation to snoop out mines… Takoma has now been missing for 48 hours and the solitary figure of Petty Officer Whitaker could be seen yesterday patting the water, calling his name and offering his favourite fish, but there was no response.”
posted by raaka at 6:16 PM PST - 21 comments

Iraq T-Shirts - Nuff said.
posted by betobeto at 4:01 PM PST - 51 comments

For his kindness, Saddam was once given a key to the city of Detroit.

Apparently Saddam Hussein once donated money to Chaldean churches all over the world, including Chaldean Sacred Heart, in the motor city.

"He was very kind person, very generous, very cooperative with the West. Lately, what's happened, I don't know," (Rev. Jacob) Yasso, 70, said Wednesday. "Money and power changed the person."

Yasso was later invited to Iraq, where he presented Saddam Hussein with a key to the city, courtesy of then-Detroit mayor, Coleman Young.
posted by wondergirl at 3:50 PM PST - 12 comments

US soldiers beat, inhumanely detain, expel independent journalists. One of the dirty secrets of this war is Kuwaiti anti-semitism against journalists. Boaz Bizmuth and Dan Scemama are two such Israelis who faced that discrimination. When the war started, they took off in a jeep with Luis Castro and Victor Silva, two Portuguese journalists, following US troops. Somewhere around An Najaf, they were told that at least one of the Israeli journalists had problems with their papers and needed to be accredited by the Kuwaitis. They slept for the night, only to be woken at gunpoint by US military police. They were accused of being spies and detained for 12 hours without food. When one of the Portuguese journalists asked to use the phone, both were beaten, and one was knocked to the ground and kicked, breaking several ribs. They were detained without contact for another 36 hours, before being flown back to Kuwait.
CNN Germany is covering this story ... so why isn't CNN?
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:28 PM PST - 27 comments

"Build frame-lattice lancework set-pieces on the roofs of insurance buildings or schools--a kundalini-snake or Chaos- dragon coiled barium-green against a background of sodium- oxalate yellow--Don't Tread On Me--or copulating monsters shooting wads of jizm-fire at a Baptists old folks home. "

I really have no idea, but it's awesome anyways.
posted by kavasa at 2:08 PM PST - 17 comments

Operation Teenage Angst Fest. Is all the war talk getting you down? Make like your younger self and wallow in some self-obsessed teen angst. You might even want to dig our your old journals and submit. Keep in mind the cardinal rule, though: it has to suck.
posted by maud at 12:02 PM PST - 7 comments

The cuilte. They're a segment of society often ridiculed. They are artists with their own slang and special tools. They have a rich history full of stories, myths and mysteries. Though many think they originated in America, they can trace their roots to numerous locations on the globe. They are peaceful activists. As it happened so often the English borrowed their name from the French. That's how the cuilte became the quilters.
posted by ?! at 11:07 AM PST - 18 comments

The Himalayan Art Project. An online collection of Himalayan visual arts and heritage, '...containing over 8,000 records, 10,000 images and 700 thematic sets'. The exhibits page is good: here's a collection of photographs of Tibet as it was in the 1950's, and here's an essay on the history of 'visual Dharma'.
Some related links :- Mongolian stories and anecdotes about politics, religion, sport and horses (Mongolians belong to the same religion as Tibetans); a privileged witness to a sky burial (via the Tibetan Studies Virtual Library); the Tibetan game of rebirth.
posted by plep at 10:59 AM PST - 3 comments

Qatar Home of Central Command and Al Jazzera television, it's a small oil-rich country we've all heard of, and that's the problem: I hear Qatar called Cutter, Gutter, Katar, and Kwatar. How do the Qataris' pronounce it; is it possible to accurately pronounce foreign words in English? Who decides? More inside...
posted by Mack Twain at 10:01 AM PST - 32 comments

The Bartender gives tips for those of you who are worried that the war will hinder your ability to "hook up with foreign hotties."
posted by Juicylicious at 9:16 AM PST - 10 comments

Scrapbook of the Revolution: Interpreting the Mao Era
posted by hama7 at 3:38 AM PST - 10 comments

The Improv Page, not to be confused with The New Improv Page. You may also find important improv comedy information at The Improv Encyclopedia, The Learn Improv Page, Chicago's Improv Resource Center or perhaps even The Spolin Center. There is much more happening in the world of improv comedy than the increasingly unsatisfying Whose Line is it Anyway?
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:47 AM PST - 9 comments