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Foot-and-mouth disease marches forward in Europe. In order to try to slow down the spread of the virus, UK authorities are urging cancellations of any events that bring people and/or animals together. Which means no horse racing. Which means the Brits are going insane because they have nothing to bet on. (Unlike the US, they don't consider gambling to be an evil on the level of homicide.) What to do? Rodents to the rescue! BlueSQ.com is offering live webcasts of hamster races to satiate your betting jones. Look at 'em go! In other hamster news, some dork blew £3000 on a 6-foot-tall fiberglass hamster left over from the carnage of the Millennium Dome.
posted by aaron at 11:55 PM PST - 10 comments

.... AWAY, AWAY - site for what looks like an interesting film on the Confederate flag debate. Be sure to check out the video clip.
posted by subpixel at 10:35 PM PST - 4 comments

World's oldest author finally gets published
posted by lagado at 7:59 PM PST - 4 comments

EA:WTF? I understand if people want to make web apps that only work on Windows based browsers. But you would think that a large games company like EA would treat others a little better than this (Proud Macintosh owners, get ready to squint).

Besides, I really want to play Majestic, and last time I checked, a game that uses email, fax, web and AOL IM technology doesn't require Windows. : p
posted by Brilliantcrank at 7:58 PM PST - 13 comments

"Maybe all this is why I'm so tired of other white folks trying to sell me bullshit like: 'I don't have a racist bone in my body,' or 'I never notice color.' See, MawMaw would have said that too. And she would have meant well. And she would have been wrong."
posted by sudama at 7:51 PM PST - 65 comments

Farewell, e-Toys... Your former hijack victims offer you a moment of silence...
posted by EricBrooksDotCom at 7:03 PM PST - 6 comments

Last week, we got news of new.net, who decided to make a big splash in the alternative Top Level Domain (.com/.net/etc) game, with some moronic, un-coordinated with the other people scheme including some "patented new technology" that amounted to 'set new.net as the search path in your DNS setup'.

Well, apparently they've started a trend, as now there's another player in the market...
posted by baylink at 7:00 PM PST - 1 comments

Fun to be Clueless Literati in the L.A. area will no doubt like this take on the odd tastes of the Times Book Review section. For the rest of us, there's the fun of watching one paper try and stick it to another. Also, and interesting take on the role books play as a medium in this media-rich age.
posted by jasonsmall at 1:35 PM PST - 5 comments

The Andromeda MIR Strain. Russia pushed back the MIR deorbit dates by another two weeks on Tuesday. Meanwhile, questions have surfaced about whether the mutant micoorganisms that inhabit the station will survive the fiery decent. Just another sci-fi story? Or should we be worried both about the ISS and Biosphere One (a.k.a. Earth)?
posted by iceberg273 at 1:17 PM PST - 15 comments

Enquiring minds want to know! sure, the photo is straight from the tabloids, but it does bring up a few questions...... the bushwatch site has more along the same lines(not more photos).
posted by donkeysuck at 12:18 PM PST - 37 comments

When wearing a hat, use your head And you thought it was only Harry S Truman who was in the hat business! Now the current resident in the White House is too.
posted by Postroad at 10:55 AM PST - 32 comments

"Semper Fu?" - In a bid to hone the "physical and mental discipline" of recruits and better prepare them for the rigors of peacekeeping missions, the Marines adds martial arts to the curriculum.
posted by kevincmurphy at 9:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Lobster Sticks to Magnet! It's the next AYBABTU! Pass it on! Deliciously surreal.
posted by beth at 9:11 AM PST - 34 comments

Harlan Ellison mad as hell, not going to take it any more. Starts a fund to Kick Internet Piracy. "WHAT WE’RE LOOKING AT IS THE DEATH OF THE PROFESSIONAL WRITER!"
posted by Twang at 8:56 AM PST - 48 comments

Can "blocking software" companies be sued? This is interesting. The Register (a respected if somewhat snide computer industry online rag) has somehow managed to land on Cyber Patrol's block list as a "sex site". Now they're conducting something called an ABCe audit and they're making nasty noises about "restraint of trade". Which makes me wonder if they're thinking "lawsuit".

The blocking-software companies have been using rather broad brushes in making their blocking lists. Although some claim that any site they block is checked by a human first, with thousands of new sites appearing every day there simply isn't any way. Peacefire has documented hundreds of sites which were blocked inappropriately. I am pretty certain that under US law that blockees have no recourse -- but perhaps the law in the EU is different. Anyone over there care to comment? Is it plausible that an "ABCe audit" could result in a lawsuit? (I'd really love to see a few high profile big-bucks lawsuits here.)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 7:53 AM PST - 9 comments

Speak and Win $10k brought to you by Voxeo using Voxeo Development Tools. Voxeo is awarding $10k to the winner of their Phone Killer Apps Competition.
posted by vanderwal2 at 7:22 AM PST - 2 comments

News about Florida from England Information from BBC that the US media never picked up.
posted by semmi at 7:17 AM PST - 11 comments

Bush decides he doesn't want peace. resident bush has made it clear to the president of south korea that he will be reversing the previous administration's policy toward north korea. so the strides of peace that have been made can easily be wiped away now. i especially like the reversal of colin powell's comments from the day before.
posted by bliss322 at 7:07 AM PST - 34 comments

Today is International Women's Day. Amnesty International has a few important stories about the horrors women face abroad. Or, you can send an IWD card to someone you love. Just don't bother visiting iVillage (you know, "the Women's Network"), because they must never have heard of it.
posted by jpoulos at 6:43 AM PST - 38 comments

WSJ/NBC conducted a pretty extensive poll about the state of the country ranging from taxes to energy concerns to the Golden Dollar. I got the phone call to participate in the poll on Saturday and the questions were thought provoking and relevant...here are the results.
posted by Princess Buttercup at 6:21 AM PST - 5 comments