2099 MetaFilter comments by keswick (displaying 151 through 200)


Ballmer: Linux Users Owe Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle yesterday, that Linux infringes upon his company's intellectual property. Does this signal preparations for all out war against the open source community? Microsoft's recent acquisition of Novell was seen as an ominous sign. Or perhaps it's a sign that user friendly versions of linux such as Ubuntu threaten sales of Microsoft's problematic new VISTA OS, scheduled for release Nov. 30th for businesses and Jan. 30, 2007 for consumers?
comment posted at 1:42 PM on Nov-17-06

In the grand Village Voice tradition of slagging off musicians for being white and/or harmless, VV scribe Chris Ott writes an irrationally antagonistic critique of Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy, in an ostensbile concert review. Oh snap! Meloy's girlfriend Carson Ellis sticks up for him in the comments section!
comment posted at 4:19 PM on Nov-15-06

Macaca... or whatever my name is... S.R. Sidarth writes post-election column about his role in the Jim Webb/George Allen Virginia Senate race. In case you were interested... "The hairstyle inflicted upon me by two friends late one night also became newsworthy; for the record, it was intended to be a mullet and has since grown out to nearly the appropriate length."
comment posted at 2:00 PM on Nov-15-06

The Alaska Pacific River Forecast Center provides massive amounts of NWS remote weather station data on precipitation statewide. With avalanche season about to begin, these data are extremely useful to both amateur recreationists and snow professionals.
comment posted at 6:41 PM on Nov-14-06

AVG Anti Virus Freeware is being discontinued on the 15th, they are going trial versions only. Are there any other freeware anti-virus software out there? Almost all my applications besides my OS are shareware, freeware or opensource. (Well, not games.) Just wondering if there are any other freeware Anti-virus software out there, or my only option to buy one.
comment posted at 11:07 PM on Nov-11-06

Donald Rumsfeld: The War Crimes Case and TIME: A lawsuit to be filed on Nov. 14th in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that one of the witnesses who will testify on their behalf is former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the one-time commander of all U.S. military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski… has issued a written statement to accompany the legal filing, which says, in part: “It was clear the knowledge and responsibility [for what happened at Abu Ghraib] goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ”. . . . Rumsfeld's resignation, they say, means that the former Defense Secretary will lose the legal immunity usually accorded high government officials. Previously: Chain of Command, (May 9, 2004); Interview with Abu Ghraib general, (November 8, 2005)
comment posted at 7:19 PM on Nov-11-06

was there just a second ago... Cop Watch LA, a police watchdog group, posted the video on YouTube, said organizer Joaquin Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos said the video was shot by a neighbor of Cardenas with a cell phone camera. The neighbor gave it to Cardenas' family, who then gave it to Cop Watch, according to Cienfuegos.
comment posted at 8:01 AM on Nov-11-06
comment posted at 12:49 PM on Nov-11-06
comment posted at 3:35 PM on Nov-11-06

RIP, Jack.
comment posted at 4:27 PM on Nov-10-06

reclaimyourcity.net is somewhat similar to this previously posted site. reclaim offers refuge on the web for those among us in love with street art.
comment posted at 7:22 PM on Nov-9-06

Ed Bradley has passed away. We are seriously mourning his loss at NPR. He was the ultimate professional, sharp as a nail, and a damn good friend.
comment posted at 12:01 PM on Nov-9-06




Newsfilter: RUMMY QUITS!! Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld resigns.
comment posted at 10:08 AM on Nov-8-06

Britney Spears files for divorce from husband Kevin Federline. Spears, rocketed to fame in 1998 at the age of 16 by her debut single Hit Me Baby One More Time, married backup dancer Kevin Federline in September of 2004, scarcely nine months after her first abortive Las Vegasmarriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander. After two children (and one sculpture), Britney graciously introduced her husband at the recent Teen Choice awards where Kevin played a song from his new album. It looked like nothing could stop those two lovebirds. But after a recent Letterman appearance with a hot recently pregnant Britney showed up not wearing her rings, the truth finally came out. The dream is over.
comment posted at 5:08 PM on Nov-7-06
comment posted at 9:17 PM on Nov-7-06

Last minute voting advice! [youtube]
comment posted at 12:35 PM on Nov-7-06

Aleister Crowley, grandfather of George W. Bush? Well, obviously.
In late 1924, Pauline Pierce, Frank Harris, Nellie O'Hara, and Aleister Crowley get together in France and experience "Eroto-Comotose Lucidity." Afterwards Pauline Pierce returns to the states. In June 1925, Pauline Pierce gives birth to a daughter, Barbara.
Also, and again.
comment posted at 10:05 PM on Nov-6-06

Twenty years of Macintosh - a well done retrospect about the Apple Macintosh presented in a series of posters, annotated with excellent topical links for further reading.
comment posted at 12:50 PM on Nov-6-06

It seems that Utah's #1 enemy has been captured. He looks ridiculous baby.
comment posted at 5:59 PM on Nov-5-06

Fingerprinting school kids for lunch. Several schools in California will require students to scan their fingerprints before getting their school lunch to help speed up cafeteria lines. Don't worry about it, it's already being done in Georgia while Florida has a similar system which also lets parents check to see what their kids bought for lunch. Arizona doesn't do fingerprints, it just has the kids enter a number for their meals. New Jersey has Iris Scanning.

Hopefully all of this information was gained through parental consent.
comment posted at 4:31 PM on Nov-5-06

US Military Papers open fire on Rummy. Tomorrow, the Army Times -- and all other Military Times papers, including Navy and Air Force Times -- will run an editorial calling for Donald Rumsfeld to tender his resignation or be fired, due to his gross incompetence in handling the Iraq quagmire.
comment posted at 2:16 PM on Nov-5-06
comment posted at 5:51 PM on Nov-5-06

I couldn't have said it better.
(single link, youtube, political, beautifully done)
comment posted at 9:41 AM on Nov-4-06

Newsfilter: Bush and America are now perceived to be more dangerous than Kim Jong-il according to an international opinion poll published by the Guardian Newspaper. Perhaps more interesting than that, it shows that only 1 in 4 people in Israel think that Bush has made the world safer - a fairly small percentage for a country that is traditionally one of America's staunchest allies when it comes to national security...
comment posted at 9:46 AM on Nov-3-06

A recent article recently came out in the Wall Street Journal, which cited new study from Stanford about animal consciousness. Elephants grieve, bees create mental maps, dolphins recognize themselves in mirrors. Snakes have more brain cells than humans, and chickens worry about the future. What are your thoughts? Does this change the way we treat animals?
comment posted at 9:32 AM on Nov-3-06

Ted Haggard, one of the most prominent evangelical pastors in the nation, resigned today as president of the National Association of Evangelicals amid allegations that he carried on a three-year sexual relationship with a male prostitute. He also steps down as pastor of of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
comment posted at 4:56 PM on Nov-2-06
comment posted at 5:00 PM on Nov-2-06
comment posted at 10:13 PM on Nov-6-06

There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. What IS our planet going to look like in 50 years? Can there really be no more fish by then? I can't even begin to imagine this.
comment posted at 11:28 AM on Nov-2-06

First official goatse payment card. In which a guy gets a goatse image put on his credit/debit/payment card. Yes, it links to an image of the card, no it's not as bad as you think, yes it's PSFW (probably safe for work).
comment posted at 9:01 AM on Nov-2-06

Cut and Run Capitalism. Bechtel leaves Iraq after "heartbreaking" failures. Who's next?
comment posted at 9:51 PM on Nov-1-06

Awakenings. Conservative (Pajamas Media) Blogger John Cole (NOT Juan Cole) writes as if awoken from a trance:
In short, it really sucks looking around at the wreckage that is my party and realizing that the only decent thing to do is to pull the plug on them (or help). I am not really having any fun attacking my old friends- but I don’t know how else to respond when people call decent men like Jim Webb a pervert for no other reason than to win an election. I don’t know how to deal with people who think savaging a man with Parkinson’s for electoral gain is appropriate election-year discourse. I don’t know how to react to people who think that calling anyone who disagrees with them on Iraq a “terrorist-enabler” than to swing back. I don’t know how to react to people who think that media reports of party hacks in the administration overruling scientists on issues like global warming, endangered species, intelligent design, prescription drugs, etc., are signs of… liberal media bias.
Some of the comments give me hope for our future...
comment posted at 1:53 PM on Nov-1-06

Save Studio 60! They did it with Arrested Development and they did it with Firefly. They did it with Freaks and Geeks and they did it with Sports Night. They're working to preemptively stop them from doing it again to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
comment posted at 10:04 AM on Nov-1-06

Todd Skinner falls to his death Sport and free climbing pioneer/entrepreneur, Todd Skinner, died over the weekend in a 500-foot fall. Sadly, it appears that his death was from a "..very worn.." belay loop on his harness. I met Todd about 10 years ago, and was struck by his warmth and enthusiasm. He spent almost three hours at a dingy Seattle climbing gym with about 10 neophyte femail climbers. He helped us all climb better and have more fun. He was generous with his praise, and offered truly helpful instruction - his ego did not get in the way (unlike many climbing instructors/"stars"). He'll be missed.
comment posted at 12:27 PM on Oct-30-06

Smart marketing or shameless pandering? Country music star Darryl Worley played to the largely conservative county music fanbase (and post-9/11 ultra-patriotic sentiment prevalent in the country at the time) in 2003 with his hit Have You Forgotten which strongly supported the impending war in Iraq. Today, with support for the war in Iraq dwindling, Worley has now released, “I Just Came Back”, which depicts a more ”somber light on (the) war”.
comment posted at 9:31 AM on Oct-27-06

A 10 minute home movie taken by an SS officer has been discovered in an English church. It shows SS officers and secretaries relaxing in the summer of 1942 in southern Russia. The last couple of minutes shows footage from a slave labor camp in that area. The footage was taken at the height of the German success in Russia, a few months before the turning point in the Russian campaign - and probably the turning point in the Second World War.
comment posted at 12:18 PM on Oct-26-06


Fan jumps Jeff Tweedy. Jeff Tweedy jumps fan. Incident. Apology. Pitchfork. WILCO (scroll down to "Springfield Masacree)
comment posted at 4:57 PM on Oct-22-06

I'm Paul R Nelson, and I approve of this message anything that might get me elected. Why? Well, his congressman Ron Kind is the (cue menacing music) WRONG KIND. For starters, he pays for sex, but not soldiers (wmv). On top of that, he also voted to let illegal aliens burn the American flag (wmv). But worst of all? Because of him, we're dependent for oil on islamic fascists and nations that support terrorism. Elect Paul R Nelson, and he'll finish the job he started 23 years ago (wmv). Best. Smear ads. Ever. Check out the radio ads and his photo collection for even more stomach-churning right-wing meretriciousness.
comment posted at 5:07 PM on Oct-19-06


A letter, written in Spanish , sent to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time." A fine example of often-GOP tactic called "caging" but you can call it good ol' intimidation, and just for sake of irony the guilty appears to be the campaign of GOP Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen who is himself an immigrant. You may also recall his party is fond of drafting legislation to complicate the ballot process with voter id requirements and thus make caging a little more legal.
comment posted at 11:52 AM on Oct-19-06
comment posted at 12:10 PM on Oct-19-06
comment posted at 12:36 PM on Oct-19-06

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