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David Garland's disturbing new book addresses the question why there are so many more people in jail in America and Britain than anywhere else... Its broader concern is with "cultures of control," how societies treat deviance and violence and whom they single out for what treatment. Here are some facts about skyrocketing imprisonment... There are approximately two million people in jail in America today, 2,166,260 at last count: more than four times as many people as thirty years ago. It is the largest number in our history... [and] between four and ten times the incarceration rate of any civilized country in the world... Twelve percent of African-American men between twenty and thirty-four are currently behind bars (the highest figure ever recorded by the Justice Department) compared to 1.6 percent of white men of comparable ages. And according to the same source, 28 percent of black men will be sent to jail in their lifetime... It was not until crime rates had already leveled off that incarceration rates began their steady, year-by-year climb. Between 1972 and 1992, while the population of America's prisons grew and grew, the crime rate as a whole continued at the same level, unchanged. Jerome S. Bruner reviews The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society for The New York Review of Books, as does Austin Sarat in the American Prospect.
posted by y2karl at 7:14 PM PST - 12 comments

Man held for threat vs. Kobe accuser (MSNBC)
If this guy was looking for his fifteen minutes then the timer just started.
posted by fenriq at 6:30 PM PST - 1 comments

Magnatune is a killer new record label that is doing everything a cutting-edge record label should be doing. They offer music from a wide range of genres that you can download, stream, and listen to, but like shareware, you only buy stuff you like after trying it out first. The label splits profits with artists 50-50, and even offers a sliding scale when buying through paypal. After paying for an album, you get both high quality MP3 and uncompressed WAV files for download.
posted by mathowie at 4:48 PM PST - 40 comments

Isabel Blog. WVEC in Hampton Roads, Virginia creates a blog for Hurricane Isabel, and allows users to submit content. Users respond with pictures and stories that are a lot more interesting than what the media has to report...
posted by insomnia_lj at 4:34 PM PST - 14 comments

Best 404 of the Week
posted by Captain Ligntning at 4:03 PM PST - 24 comments

Where is our money going? According to the Congressional Budget Office, not only is the Bush administration asking for 87 billion dollars to cover Iraqi reconstruction, but they're also unable to account for 2.5 billion of the 4 billion dollars that they're spending per month in Iraq.
posted by bshort at 2:37 PM PST - 34 comments

DUKWs have been around since WWII, and are basically boats with wheels. Schwimmwagens have also been around since then, but they're basically a waterproof car with a propeller, like the 1960's Amphicar. Both are kinda slow in the water. The only cool looking amphibious vehicles that could reach a decent speed in the water have been in James Bond movies. Not any more...
posted by badstone at 2:33 PM PST - 10 comments

Meet Adrian Lamo, the so-called Homeless Hacker. He surrendered to the FBI Tuesday after breaking into the NYTimes intranet, and now he's speaking out to anyone who'll listen.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 2:20 PM PST - 17 comments

the dynamic AMAZING artwork of Norman Saunders. PULP ART to die for
Early works, Paperbacks, Men's Magazines, Comics, Pulps, TOPPS trading cards - including mars attacks, batman and wacky packs, heck even a spoof diploma. this site which is maintained by his son, publishes the painter's entire lifetime of extremely significant pop-cultural work. Packed with pages and pages of art ...Really amazing and quite something.
posted by Peter H at 2:17 PM PST - 8 comments

Can we ever 'Get Back' to 'Let it Be'? A new version of the Beatles' last album will be released in November. Doubtless it'll sound great to Paul and Ringo, but will we be able to appreciate the raw, un-Spectorized sound, or is 33 years too big a wall of sound to overcome?
posted by soyjoy at 2:03 PM PST - 42 comments

The Postwar Post Abi Berman takes a look at stories by Washington Post reporters--chiefly Walter Pincus--who consistently penned stories during the war that are developing increasing currency now that the truth about the post-war situation is getting out. The problem? The Post buried these stories in the back, but Pincus is joining the growing chorus of journalists decrying their employers' suspect war-time editorial policies. via Joe Connason's blog
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 1:40 PM PST - 4 comments

Hurricanes really suck. Luckily our friends at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association have posted a FAQ to answer our questions. No matter how moronic the questions are.
posted by patrickje at 1:38 PM PST - 15 comments

Iakov Levi analyzes history and literature using a very Freudian approach.
Some highlights:
Pinocchio - The Puberty Rite of a Puppet
Medusa, the Female Genital and the Nazis
Killing God: From the Assassination of Moses to the Murder of Rabin
Without Borders: The Borderline Case of United Europe
::warning! geocities links!::
posted by anastasiav at 1:20 PM PST - 3 comments

And I was really looking forward to those wide leather seats... Looks like JetBlue sold out, and created a dossier on YOU in the process!!
posted by matty at 12:39 PM PST - 23 comments

"They have no business debating the efficacy of gay marriages, any more than they should be debating the pullout of troops from South Korea" North of Detroit, a county commissioner and avowed Christian Conservative pushed a resolution supporting an amendment to the Michigan state constitution, declaring marriage to be a strictly man-and-woman affair. It passed in Oakland County's Board by a narrow margin. But the county executive, a longtime prominent conservative, won't let it go without a fight, and says that with an urban county seat, Pontiac, they should have better things to do-- like their jobs. Is a county board seat an appropriate forum to push another agenda, or should they be more concerned with fixing roads and economy? Does such a resolution at such a low level of goverment even mean anything? Meanwhile, some couples are saying heck-with-it and making that trip 'cross the Ambassador Bridge.
posted by marzenie99 at 11:41 AM PST - 14 comments

"Comrades! As we clip our belts and prepare to cleave our forces for the difficult anabasis ahead, never forget the dike that is our ultimate goal. Remain here, unbending, until morning. But when the call goes out, be fast! Consult not your copemates, for such oversight shall screen our transparent objectives. And finally, never forget we have aught to lose!" --General Antonin Contronym [More Inside]
posted by rusty at 10:29 AM PST - 18 comments

The Haida Art of Bill Reid. Be sure to check out the links just under his name, along with the bestiary and the gallery, and read the story of raven and the first men, on display at the University of British Columbia’s wonderful Anthropology Museum (of which you can take a virtual tour) flash&quicktime. You can see more of Bill Reid’s work, and that of other West Coast first nations artists, at this commercial gallery. Finally, visit The Respect to Bill Reid Pole (The timeline is particularly fascinating.) flash req'd.
posted by stonerose at 9:33 AM PST - 6 comments

College Cost Crisis (pdf alert) Tuition at universities continue to mount. This recent Congressional report chronicles this increase- but places the blame squarely on the Universities. Do you buy it?
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 9:25 AM PST - 43 comments

Learn How to Make Change. Having never had to work retail and wanting to learn bartending, I found the FunBrain Change Maker to be a useful game where the player calculates the change given for a money purchase.
posted by johnnydark at 9:10 AM PST - 22 comments

Car clamped? Angry with politicans? Living in London or Kent, UK? Call... Angle Grinder Man!
"I may not be able to single-handedly and totally cast off the repressive shackles of a corrupt government - but I can cut off your wheel-clamps for you."
posted by Mwongozi at 7:13 AM PST - 9 comments

A history of UK Punk Rock from 1976-79. "Featuring an A-Z of punk bands from Adam and The Ants to The Sex Pistols to X Ray Spex, fanzines, punk girls, rare record sleeves, audio clips, fashion, punk rock lyrics, interviews and loads of pictures." It's not all about the Sex Pistols.
posted by archimago at 7:02 AM PST - 48 comments

After calling our concerns Hysteria and saying we've been Duped by those who are ideologically opposed to the Patriot Act, Ashcroft Now Says the FBI has not sought a single record from a library or business under a part of the Patriot Act widely criticized as opening Americans' reading habits or personal information to undue government scrutiny.
After a Phone Call to the Head of the American Library Assoc, he promised to declassify a report on how often the agency has sought information from public libraries under the USA Patriot Act.
Congressman Bernie Sanders Says who has authored legislation that would amend section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, welcomed reports today that Attorney General Ashcroft, after months of pressure from Congress and national civil liberty and privacy organizations, has agreed to disclose to the public how Section 215 has been used.
posted by Blake at 6:19 AM PST - 18 comments

Project 312. 'We broadcast our vision of equal educational opportunity through original photography that challenges negative stereotypes while creating positive reflections for growth and self-discovery. '
(Related news story: Photos Open Doors for Inner City D.C. Kids).
posted by plep at 6:04 AM PST - 4 comments

Dinner With Typhoid Mary Meet the woman behind the name - she's not the monster you think she was, she didn't kill as many as you thought and learn about her 26 years of exile.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 4:36 AM PST - 10 comments

Tripping on iboga: author Daniel Pinchbeck describes his experience with the psychedelic drug tabernanthe iboga, which is used in the rituals of the Bwiti in West Africa. Ironically, the active chemical in iboga, the indole alkaloid ibogaine, is said to be useful in the treatment of drug addiction (PDF.)
posted by homunculus at 1:36 AM PST - 16 comments

It's OK to Talk Like a Pirate, Just Don't Pirate Words!
from Dan Gillmor and David Weinberger, found via The Boingers, who disabled comments.
posted by wendell at 1:27 AM PST - 19 comments