November 2002 Archives

Nu, These New Rabbis, What Chutzpah, Huh? Judaism has decried proselytism, at least since Rome officially adopted Christianity, but a new wave of showbizzy American rabbis seem to be wowing their audiences. Their logic, apparently, is that there's nothing wrong with preaching to the converted. The refusal to engage in propaganda [scroll down to "Jewish Propagandism"] and conversion campaigns (since, unlike the other two great monotheisms, there is no need to be a Jew to have a place in the world to come) is often seen as one of the most attractive features of Judaism [see Part III], although many think its implied exclusivity and indifference to the world at large (and its religions) may actually foster antisemitism. Are things about to change? Should they? Whatever your view, have a happy Hannukah!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:53 PM PST - 15 comments

TextArc is an interactive program that reproduces the text of more than 2,000 books as works of art.
The software converts the text into an interactive map that allows viewers to quickly see relationships between words and characters at a glance, even without having read the book. Try it with Alice in Wonderland. (Links opens a full-screen window.)
posted by Mwongozi at 4:41 PM PST - 9 comments

Out of the mist of the beginning of our era there looms a pageant of mythical figures whose vast, superhuman contours might people the walls of another Sistine Chapel. Their countenances and gestures, the roles in which they are cast, the drama which they enact, would yield images different from the biblical ones on which the imagination of the beholder was reared, yet strangely familiar to him and disturbingly moving. The stage would be the same, the theme as transcending: the creation of the world, the destiny of man, fall and redemption, the first and the last things. But how much more numerous would be the cast, how much more bizarre the symbolism, how much more extravagant the emotions!
Hans Jonas
Into the Gnostic.

Of magicians, miracle workers, saints and sinners of early Christianities and other mystery religions--including but not limited to Valentinus, Simon Magus, Mithras, Marcion, Manicheans, Mandeans, the Winged Hermes, the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary, among many other Apocrypha and Pseudepigraphica, the Cathars and Apollonious of Tyana. Not to mention Philip K. Dick.
posted by y2karl at 3:20 PM PST - 11 comments

Conservatives dispute Bush on Islam Bush critics, we are told, though they support him believe his statements about Islam are basically political and that Islam is not a peace-loving religion. Though I am not sure on this issue, I do not think citing a passage or two in this or that holy scripture is sufficient to apply to any religion, since what it does (or has done) differs often from what it's stated position is. In this article I find myself torn between disliking in general anything that right-wing conservatives utter and also disliking anything that Bush has to say! My shortcoming, no doubt.
posted by Postroad at 1:43 PM PST - 43 comments

Fashion? What Fashion? Does any woman really care about fashion? Or put it another way: "fashion" . Doesn't each woman just shop for herself? For what she likes and looks good on - and to - her? Perhaps the idea of fashion (and the fact that most designers are men) is a man thing. And a gay man thing at that. It's very interesting and welcome but, when it comes to theory (as opposed to praxis), completely beside the point. I find it a pity some feminists (like Jenny Diski and Elaine Showalter) are becoming swayed and hesitant on this.
posted by Schweppes Girl at 1:14 PM PST - 12 comments

Djibouti As the United States builds up its combat power in the Horn of Africa, tiny Djibouti has emerged as the staging area for Washington's campaign against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in the region. But Djibouti is also a telling example of a problem that has bedeviled the Bush administration's war on terror: the struggle to harmonize its own military goals with the needs of the countries in which it is operating. Put simply, the administration seems to be better at taking the fight to its enemies than helping its friends.(NYT)
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:04 PM PST - 3 comments

Caution: Violent metaphors can blow up in your face. This one (see paragraph two)which I discovered a day or so before the D.C. snipers were apprehendedstruck me at the time as a particularly unfortunate demonstration as to why, especially considering this ad agency is based just outside Washington. George Lakoff, an undisputed Heavyweight Metaphorician of the World, turns the tables and uses human metaphors rather neatly to think about 9/11. And apparently, there are workshops that teach how to make nonviolent metaphors more vivid and, the logic goes, make violence less attractive. So, the explosive question: does hostile language encourage conflict or reflect it? Peace out.
posted by micropublishery at 9:27 AM PST - 10 comments

Can Poetry Matter - Part 2 (nyt reg req) "Today photography is considered by many to be the most effective way to convey the plight of war's combatants, victims and mourners. But during World War I it was through poetry that many Britons came to share the horror of life and death in the muddy trenches of northern France.....To this day, every time Britons go to war, the opening lines of Rupert Brooke's 1914 poem, "The Soldier," are remembered: "If I should die, think only this of me:/That there's some corner of a foreign field/That is forever England."..."
posted by Voyageman at 8:45 AM PST - 10 comments

I recently rode the Falkirk Wheel, perhaps the least well known of a number of UK projects marking the Millenium, which fuse stunning design with ingenious engineering. [more inside]
posted by gravelshoes at 7:07 AM PST - 17 comments

When I was nine, I saw a woman in a traditional Japanese bath house, covered with a full-body tattoo.[more]
posted by hama7 at 5:44 AM PST - 29 comments

Art goes to Mars. This may be the very first art that our species sends into space, unless you count the little naked folks on the Voyager plaque, or broadcast television. In a somewhat bold move, they've chosen shock artist putter-of-sharks-in-formaldehyde Damien Hirst. Is it me, or would the chosen painting be much dorkier if this were NASA rather than the European Space Agency? Like a duck or something.
posted by condour75 at 12:30 AM PST - 12 comments

Are baseball caps more flattering to the British bella figura than sandals and socks?
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 11:09 PM PST - 26 comments

Selling a used item as a copyright infringement? Used knitting patterns are often resold by the original buyer when they've used them. "Alice Starmore(R)" is a company that makes patterns and yarns for knitters. Ebay is a big clearinghouse for knitters, and "Alice Starmore(R)" has repeatedly insisted that ANY auction of their yarns or patterns be pulled as the auctions violate their trademark and/or copyrights. So the knitters are getting a defense fund together to claim anti-trust and restraint of trade. Didn't we sort this all out over selling used books and cd's already? You really shouldn't mess with people who have a hobby that makes them adept with big metal needles. (BTW Alice Starmore is from the Hebrides, hence the whole "KnittingBeyond..." business.)
posted by Salmonberry at 7:40 PM PST - 19 comments

This stuff is nasty! Have anyone out there ever tried Marmite? It looks like something you might pack your wheel bearings in. The taste isn't much better. Maybe it's just a British thing?
posted by reidfleming at 3:37 PM PST - 69 comments

Remembering Our Dead: An online memorial to honor "those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice." The list includes Marsha Johnson - a key participant in the 1969 Stonewall Riots - as well as the recently murdered Gwen Araujo (whose funeral was thoughtfully blogged by Philo at East West). November 20th was the 4th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
posted by mediareport at 2:55 PM PST - 36 comments

Boycott GAP. Several groups see sweatshops as dangerous and inhumane. Yet there remains rejuvenation through globalization.
posted by the fire you left me at 2:27 PM PST - 28 comments

Bush anything but moronic, according to author According to the author Bush may be sociopathic. I find this scary, but I am also very skeptical about it. What do you guys think? Any psychologist out there that know anything about this?
posted by tljenson at 12:38 PM PST - 51 comments

Got a health question? Go Ask Alice! Fielding questions ranging from the common cold to way out there sexual dysfunctions, Go Ask Alice!--Columbia University's "Q&A Internet Service"--handles even the most bizarre sounding questions with honesty, humor, and good advice. I visit this site about once a week, and have learned quite a bit.
posted by WolfDaddy at 11:43 AM PST - 8 comments

Welcome to Magdalene Asylums. Now a film, the Asylums were generally staffed by the Sisters of Mercy, and were found throughout Ireland and Scotland.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 10:23 AM PST - 7 comments

"You'd better listen to what you've been told / You better listen to the radio." Just when you thought Internet radio was dead, Canada's national radio broadcaster is providing an alternative: an Internet Radio Magazine . Their weekly cultural offering presents arts, entertainment, and news -- complete with an eclectic, ear-pleasing soundtrack. You'll come for the clever use of the medium and good content, but you'll stay because there's nowhere else on the Web where you'll find the Joel Plaskett Emergency and the Weakerthans in regular rotation. This isn't your father's public broadcaster.
posted by mrmcsurly at 9:06 AM PST - 12 comments

Just say 'no' to Bose. Bose speakers may be the best known brand to many people, but ask an audiophile about them, and be prepared for flames. Is this just snobbery and elitism? This guy walks you through why Bose speakers are a very poor choice for the money, Bose's deceptive marketing practices, and even gives you a list of better alternatives. [more inside]
posted by Slithy_Tove at 7:34 AM PST - 89 comments

Millionaires' Havens, Heavens And Hell Holes: Ghastly, depressing Monaco comes in for a deserved drubbing from Philip Delves Broughton in this week's Spectator. The idea of billionaires surfing the Web looking for a hide-out makes me giggle and gag, but it appears poor people can play too. Have a look at (free!) e-zine Escape From America; run your index finger down a list of tax havens and choose the ~~paradise~~ place you'd scarper off to, if your money problems, whether from excess or lack of money, ever become too [sorry...] taxing.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:34 AM PST - 9 comments

Cold weather politics? The antarctic treaty was written in 1959 and adopted in 1961 and has been signed by 27 countries. It has helped to keep the antarctic region a real no-mans land where science instead of politics is the target. And of course it looks quite nice as well.
posted by sebas at 2:00 AM PST - 9 comments

You've been Crossed. Comedian's comedian David Cross would rather open for bands than typical comics and has had some funny roles in some unfunny movies and TV shows, but Cross has taken centre stage with his new double comedy album on Sub Pop and several biting columns in vice magazine. There is also a newly published behind-the -scenes look at his cult sketch comedy show ("Mr. Show") and Cross recently appeared at a Autism fundraiser called "Clash of the Titans" alongside his Mr. Show alumni and Janeane Garafolo, Triumph the Insult Comic dog and the Kids in the Hall (here is a related auction and show review). Even though it looks like the feature "Run Ronnie Run" has been shelved by New Line, the future is looking bright for Mr. Cross (including the possible addition of more live dates for "Hooray for America" in the spring). For a brief look inside his mind, check these out.
posted by boost ventilator at 8:35 PM PST - 15 comments

We Didn't Start The Fire in Flash. Hilarious and educational. All together now ... [via LMG]
posted by feelinglistless at 4:19 PM PST - 26 comments

Side-view trailbike game (java) Addictive timewaster. (It's Friday where I am)
posted by mhjb at 4:08 PM PST - 17 comments

"Cryptophis nigrescens killed my computer." ... "my computer was making a strange hissing noise last night and this morning when I turned it on there was a crackling noise and some smoke then nothing, if I bring it in can you fix it?"

One of my colleagues took this tech support call and has the photographs to prove it.
posted by snarfodox at 3:58 PM PST - 19 comments

Bomb Shelter Gets Makeover Got an old bomb shelter sitting around? Wondering what to do with it? Why not turn it into a shopping mall? Across China, more than 3,700 hotels and dormitories and 1,270 shops and restaurants have been created in former bomb shelters, according to an article in Beijing Youth Weekly last year. In Beijing, a youth hostel has been established in a bomb shelter below Wangfujing, the glitziest shopping street in the city. An estimated 20,000 workers are employed in businesses in former bomb shelters in Beijing alone.
posted by orange swan at 2:12 PM PST - 6 comments

Spiders weave huge natural wonder in B.C. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
posted by nemesis at 1:07 PM PST - 17 comments

Ghost Town Gallery 1300 Pictures from 174 Ghost Towns and historic places. (They've also got maps.)
posted by Fabulon7 at 11:50 AM PST - 16 comments

The Massey Lectures are the CBC's annual effort to give exposure to eminent minds working on 'big ideas' in the realm of social criticism. This year's lecturer, Margaret Visser, undertakes a very engaging attempt to explain and undermine fatalism. The site links to transcripts and audio files of some past lectures. Some Canadian book-learnin' for those of you who aren't sleepily digesting your Thanksgiving turkey!
posted by stonerose at 11:02 AM PST - 3 comments

Canadian Royal Commission: medicare a 'moral enterprise, not business venture'. After 18 months of talking to Canadians, former premier of Sastatchewan, Roy Romanow, has releases the final report from the royal commission on health care. The word is: public is good, and it's gonna cost us. Also see CBC coverage including video of the release.
posted by stevengarrity at 10:30 AM PST - 60 comments

William Burroughs--Thanksgiving Prayer Worth recalling, since today is Thanksgiving in the United States.
posted by Rebis at 10:28 AM PST - 19 comments

Well, now that his cover is blown, he'll probably be hired to work for Henry Kissinger on the 9-11 coverup, or with Admiral Poindexter, on "Big Brother." Whips and chains and weapons of mass destruction.
posted by kablam at 7:32 AM PST - 23 comments

Thanksgiving Bill of Fare - "If you will boile chickens, young turkeys, peahens, or any house fowl daintily, you shall, after you have trimmed them, drawn them, trussed them, and washed them, fill their bellies as full of parsley as they can hold; then boil them with salt and water only till they be enough." When sated with peahens and house fowl you might have enjoyed a taste of Pumpion Pie. Early colonial cuisine probably borrowed heavily from the New Booke of Cookerie from London and were no doubt greatly influenced by native recipes and cooking customs.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:04 AM PST - 7 comments

Shhh! American Prisoners Being Held in Afghanistan This report is from Pravda, the Russian newspaper. I have not seen any media posting of this story and I wonder whether the story is false or our media does not want to go into this. Anyone at MF hear of this before?
posted by Postroad at 5:22 AM PST - 17 comments

Ruavista explores city streets and urban life through all kinds of signs: street graphics, architecture, street sounds. Put simply, a fantastic resource for urban photography.
posted by chill at 4:47 AM PST - 3 comments

don't breath
google shoots out some adds for cheap perfume with a search for perfume allegies...apropriate. but really...it's could be bad.
posted by lightweight at 4:00 AM PST - 15 comments

Israelis targeted in Kenya attacks
On the day of important primary elections in Israel as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faces a party leadership challenge from Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ahead of January's general election, suicide car bombers have killed at least eight people at an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, just as two missiles were fired (but did not hit) at an Israeli jet that had taken off from the city's airport. The Kenyan ambassador to Israel suspects these attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda, and this theory is being checked on as I write.
posted by tomcosgrave at 3:20 AM PST - 14 comments

A Funny Sort of Empire: Are Americans really so imperial?
posted by hama7 at 2:47 AM PST - 31 comments

Bad Flash! A little respect, gentlemen, please! Er, it's not that I'm a vegetarian, but, just this once, I think I'll stick to the hors-d'oeuvre and the Wild Turkey on the rocks, thank you very much. But have a happy Thanksgiving all the same - and don't let this Flash animation or that NYT registration ruin your appetite!
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 1:46 AM PST - 1 comments

Shuttle Views the Earth: Geology from Space. Also see the Human Imprints set. [via milov]
posted by riffola at 7:27 PM PST - 5 comments

Why Does Dan Savage Owe Katie a Hitachi Magic Wand? It all started when Dan Savage informed his readers that he liked to fantasize about Brad Pitt coming on Ashton Kutcher's face. He was later inspired to have a contest in which readers sent in their sexual fantasies. He said that readers whose sexual fantasies were selected for publication would receive five dollars. I sent in a fanstasy I had when I was six years old (you'll read about it later). In a subsequent column, he canceled the contest, saying that all the fantasies he had received were boring. I shrugged it off, until...
posted by grumblebee at 4:01 PM PST - 42 comments

The Self-Healing Minefield From the current Village Voice: "Utilizing commercial off-the-shelf computer chips and 'healing' software, the networked minefield detects rude attempts to clear it, deduces which parts of itself have been removed, and signals its remaining munitions to close the hole using best-fit mathematics."

Bonus ubertasteless Flash animation courtesy of DARPA here. Color me fascinated and repulsed in equal measure.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 2:33 PM PST - 40 comments

The White Cube Gallery's current show features the work of two artists that produced ethnic religious imagery. The pieces appear ancient and authentic on first pass, but second glances reveal some element of McDonald's trademark logos, food, and/or characters. [via BoingBoing]
posted by mathowie at 2:31 PM PST - 7 comments

This isn't irony. The Department of Justice wants to deny justice to the families who have to deal with kids with autism I guess if you're a vaccine manufacturer, you don't want people to know that what you're putting in kids is gonna screw their lives up forever, right? That would cost you alot of money

If the Vaccine makers are scared about huge rewards for families harmed by their products, they should have made sure their vaccines didn't cause children to develop autism
posted by RobbieFal at 2:28 PM PST - 43 comments

Henry Kissinger has been named head of the "independent commission" to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks. President Bush named Kissinger head upon signing bill to establish the commission. Kissinger has a controversial history and arguable distance from "independence". Given that, can the American people have any reasonable expectation of an honest inspection by their government of what lead up to that day? Will the burning questions even be asked, let alone answered?
posted by brantstrand at 1:51 PM PST - 46 comments

Riding the dog gets some folks home to loved ones or care takers. For a few, the bus is home. Reno News and Review's Deidre Pike takes a look at Reno, Nevada's Homeless Evaluation Liaison Program (HELP). Other cities have taken notice, and have begun to consider similar programs modeled after Reno's.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:29 PM PST - 2 comments

Slimeball!!!!! Quadruple post, I know, but it is the day before Thanksgiving, and if your boss is making you be in the office this afternoon you should at least make the best of it.
posted by trigfunctions at 12:46 PM PST - 16 comments

Lessons From the First Bush/Iraq War

How familiar do these words sound today?
* This year, however, we are wallowing in the sordid aftermath of the revelations of the misguided administration policy that brought about that war. We have been treated to details of how the administration bent over backwards in its misguided effort to support the regime of Saddam Hussein on the very eve of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
......`Public disclosure of classified information harms the national security,' Attorney General William Barr instructed the House Banking Committee last week. `. . . in light of your recent disclosures, the executive branch will not provide any more classified information'--unless the wrongdoing is kept secret. `Your threat to withhold documents,' responded Chairman Gonzalez, `has all the earmarks of a classic effort to obstruct a proper and legitimate investigation . . . none of the documents compromise, in any fashion whatsoever, the national security or intelligence sources and methods.'
.....Policy blunders are not crimes. But perverting the purpose of appropriated funds is a crime; lying to Congress compounds that crime; and obstructing justice to cover up the original crime is a criminal conspiracy

Will we, as a country, learn from our recent history or are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes?
posted by nofundy at 12:07 PM PST - 49 comments

Are Online Depression Quizzes Depressingly Useless? Or is there something to them? There are certainly a lot of them about, posted by respectable institutions. And they don't seem far removed or less complete than the set of questions doctors will ask you to help them decide whether you're depressed or not. In other words, if I were to take all four quizzes and divided my results by four or something, would I be any wiser? Is the fact that they're very private an advantage? So many questions! [First link, for which I assume you don't need to have had a baby this month in order to answer, via Bifurcated Rivets.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:49 AM PST - 18 comments

Strange Bedfellows fight tyranny? - Bob Barr, Dick Armey to join ACLU Quoth James Madison: (Federalist Papers #47) - "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many . . . may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." and Benjamin Franklin:"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." William Safire Slammed the Bush Adminstration (Nov 15) over John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness program. NOW: Bob Barr, a gun-rights anti-gay firebrand conservative to join the ACLU? Dick Armey's joining as a consultant? Say that again? And Nat Hentoff reports that the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana ran a broadside called (sept. 8) "Attacks on Liberty" - "In the name of national security, President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and even Congress have pulled strand after strand out of the constitutional fabric that distinguishes the United States from other nations. . . . Actions taken over the past year are eerily reminiscent of tyranny portrayed in the most nightmarish works of fiction" MEANWHILE...an email of an editorial by right wing radio personality Chuck Baldwin, "Bush Government 'Out of Control' ("The Bush administration seems determined to turn our country into the most elaborate and sophisticated police state ever devised") first published in an online Christian Fundamentalist antiabortion newpaper is making the (right wing) rounds. It asks: "Does that mean one must leave the Republican Party in order to fight for liberty?" [antitroll protection dislaimer: most Democrats signed the Patriot Act, the principle cause of concern behind the statements and editorials linked to on this post]
posted by troutfishing at 10:53 AM PST - 25 comments

A warning shot in the dark: For connoisseurs of clever turns of phrase: The phrase "a warning shot in the dark" popped out at me from a Google News preview panel as being a mixed metaphor. Indeed, a Google search reveals that the phrase has never before been used on the entire Web, which is rather amazing. Delving into the story, it appears by paragraph three that the mixed metaphors are appropriate, in this case.
posted by beagle at 9:41 AM PST - 35 comments

Direct links to Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. And yet we aim for War with Iraq.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 9:29 AM PST - 37 comments

Return of the vast right-wing conspiracy? Al Gore is quoted in the New York Observer: "Fox News Network, The Washington Times, Rush Limbaughtheres a bunch of them, and some of them are financed by wealthy ultra-conservative billionaires who make political deals with Republican administrations and the rest of the media . Most of the media [has] been slow to recognize the pervasive impact of this fifth column in their ranksthat is, day after day, injecting the daily Republican talking points into the definition of whats objective as stated by the news media as a whole." Has Al Gore lost his mind?
posted by Durwood at 9:19 AM PST - 114 comments

Should advertising be allowed to contain caricatures and satire of major figures without their permission? My opinion is yes they bloody well should. Good luck to the producers with hunting down Osama.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:40 AM PST - 15 comments

A nation is little more and nothing less than a conversation. [T]he conversation that is the United States has continued for more than 200 years as a lover's quarrel between equality and justice. A gallery of ways this conversation is still taking place in the ways we live the Constitutions 27 Amendments every day.
posted by arco at 8:18 AM PST - 9 comments

General Pervez Musharraf VS. Zombies. Does the Pakistani leader really have any business being in a pub in England drinking and attacking the undead? Let's hear it for quiet, non-stereotypical uses of turbanized humans. (I wish Boutros-Boutros Ghali would make an appearance in Spongebob Squarepants)
posted by clango at 7:27 AM PST - 8 comments

Face transplant surgery appears to be nearing reality. A conference taking place this week will discuss the issue, which is not without controversy. How would you feel about a loved one who had been severely disfigured getting a new and different face? Would you be willing to donate your face after you had died?
posted by CoolHandPuke at 7:13 AM PST - 32 comments

Cooking has never been so endearing. ....and I am now certainly a convert to using the internet for recipes. So far I have racked up a madras, pasta and now I'm gunning for casserole recipes. Truly a delicious use of the net, n'est pas? ( first link via FlipFlopFlyin)
posted by Frasermoo at 7:09 AM PST - 26 comments

Rock n Roll! We know that Sex and Drugs ain't good for us, but researchers at McGill University are using very fancy devices to learn how our brains react to music. (Probably not much to discuss, but it's an interesting article)
posted by adamms222 at 5:34 AM PST - 6 comments

Bush is soft on tobacco Just say No! Unless you are in cahoots with Big Tobacco. On issues such as this, I do not hold Bush or his party solely guilty but instead view it as The American Way--lobby groups, gifts, elections handouts--all of which blur party lines.
posted by Postroad at 4:57 AM PST - 15 comments

Is the Internet in danger of collapse from a disaster or terrorist attack? The Internet was a product of DARPA and designed during the Cold War because it was thought that the centralized phone system networks providing most or all of the National Defense communications networks- used at that time would not survive a nuclear attack disabling our ability to communicate with our troops. At the suggestion of the RAND Corporation and a number of Scientists the design scheme was to make the Internet a system with no central control in order to make it difficult for an enemy to disable our countries ability to communicate during a War. Has the decentralized Internet now become a threat to our very Centralized Goverment that initially created it-and other Goverments? Why would terrorist organizations want to destroy something that they in fact use themselves? Or perhap the researchers are right that the emergence of large centralized hubs brought forth by the increased commercialization of the Net has in fact made the Internet more vulnerable to attack or disaster! Perhaps there are lessons in this story regarding the whole Centralization/ Decentralization dichotomy that Goverments, and Individuals can learn from?
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:24 PM PST - 9 comments

First Human Clone to be Born in January. Discuss.
posted by McBain at 11:15 PM PST - 39 comments

boxplorer
one of the most interesting website interpreters i've ever seen. i'll just quote the site: The Internet BOXPLORER browser offers a rectangular view of the World Wide Web. It abstracts web page layouts to produce what are frequently rather colorful compositions. BOXPLORER purifies the Web, making it safe for children of all ages -- free from controversy and advertising. Translation - very interesting graphic renditions of any site you enter.
posted by tatochip at 8:00 PM PST - 25 comments

Linguistics in Bashkortostan. Russian philology within the Republic of Bashkortostan.
posted by plexi at 7:55 PM PST - 5 comments

Happy Thanksgiving or Is It? In 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt responed to pressure from the National Retail Dry Goods Association to move the official date of Thanksgiving back one week to the next-to-last Thursday of the month. FDR hoped that this would enliven the economy by adding one week to the Christmas shopping season, but he received considerable political flak for tampering with what many viewed as a sacred religious holiday. (Thanksgiving is considered sacred even though it only became a national holiday due to lobbying by the editor of a 19th century woman's magazine.) New Deal-era Republicans were especially bothered by the calendar change and one essayist at the American Enterprise Institute still seems to carry a grudge. Congress later resolved the issue by passing a resolution in 1941 that designated Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.
posted by jonp72 at 6:52 PM PST - 11 comments

Andrew McCrae, 23, surrendered without incident about 10 a.m. after a standoff this morning. He alegaledly confessed to the murder of Police Office David Mobilio of Red Bluff, CA on San Francisoco's IndyMedia website yesterday. Before the standoff ended, he told a Concord Monitor reporter "I killed a police officer in Red Bluff, California, in an effort to draw attention to police brutality." [more inside]
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 4:19 PM PST - 42 comments

Run Ricky Run. Ricky Williams, running-back for the Miami Dolphins, gets an A for effort for designing and maintaining his own website. He keeps a journal where he sounds off on everything from battling fame and the perks that come with it, to meeting his idol (Jim Brown). He even talks about money problems, just on a much larger scale then you or I would have.
posted by Starchile at 2:43 PM PST - 15 comments

Bush Pardons Turkey. Ratio of the number of pardons George W. Bush has issued turkeys to those he has issued human beings : 2:1
posted by four panels at 2:32 PM PST - 35 comments

Does anyone here remember Daniel Ellsberg of the PentagonPapers fame? Well he may be relevant again and not only that, maybe essential.
posted by donfactor at 2:16 PM PST - 15 comments

Ever Try Getting Wine Shipped in the U.S.? Looks like Montana had set up a "wine connoisseur" rule that allowed for some shipping into the state if you filled out some paperwork, blah blah blah. PAIN! As someone who enjoys a good wine and wanted to order a bunch of it earlier in '02 when I was in Sonoma, CA and have it shipped home, only to be crushed when I couldn't have it done, I'm looking for a way to get this to work. Anyone else come across these various laws? Anyone else live in a state where they CAN get wine shipped in to them? 13 states allow reciprocal shipping from other partner states, and 14 others have some strict rules about it. Will opening these rules up allow minors an easy way to get alcohol? Some great links at the bottom of the article, too.
posted by djspicerack at 2:12 PM PST - 30 comments

Sex Crimes and equal treatment "under the law." (pun anyone?)

Outraged prosecutors said Thursday that they will appeal the sentence given to Edwin "Ed" Mann, a former Orlando Police Department sex-crimes detective, for having a sexual affair with a 14-year-old girl who had earlier dated his son.

Mann, a former leader in Cops for Christ, pleaded guilty last week to four felony charges resulting from an ongoing sexual relationship he had with the girl two years ago when he was a sex-crimes detective.

Do you think being "religious" and policeman merits special treatment from a judge?
posted by nofundy at 11:46 AM PST - 37 comments

"A placid boat ride past sets of harmonizing, doe-eyed dolls just doesn't cut it for kids raised on Quake and MTV." Epcot's new Mission: Space to feature intense g-force and weightlessness simulation. How is this possible and still be Disney-safe? Even though that caught my attention, the article is really about how Disney's creative engineers are having trouble staying a few steps ahead of the tech-savvy kiddies.
posted by archimago at 11:40 AM PST - 15 comments

They call it "PTSlaveryD": Post-Traumatic Slavery Disorder. A Boston psychologist says "Black and Latino males are showing up in droves" with the symptoms. The Wall Street Journal invited readers to take it a step further - Post Traumatic Big Bang Disorder, anyone?
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:11 AM PST - 40 comments

My Tivo thinks I'm a gay pregnant man! This article documents the struggles that some people have gone to in order to gear Tivo's programming to their interests. As one man said of himself: " [I] often [order] cooking shows, which softens TiVo's view of [me]. "I don't want it thinking I'm an ax murderer,".
posted by Raichle at 9:47 AM PST - 33 comments

Apple's own 'Switch' parody ads with Will Ferrell.
posted by Sal Amander at 9:44 AM PST - 29 comments

Watch Bill Plympton create his new animation Hair High right before your eyes! I left the ani-cam on yesterday and the only conclusion I came to was that it takes a really, really, really long time to draw animations.
posted by Stan Chin at 9:16 AM PST - 7 comments

Caley Meals, is a sex columnist. What seperates her from the crowd of them, is that she is published in a college school newspaper. Jokingly, in her first column she states that, "I will try to keep the students of Madison with their heads in the right place: the gutter." She then goes on to cover imortant topics such as, how to work the college sex life around a roomie, the drunken bootie call, fornication with food, female domination and many others. Is it real journalism or only riding on pure shock value? "Writing about sex is about as interesting as talking about sex, which is to say it's not interesting at all compared to the real thing. But at least it can be a little naughty."
posted by Recockulous at 8:43 AM PST - 38 comments

Philosopher John Rawls dead at 81. Highly regarded philosopher and Harvard professor John Rawls passed away Sunday at age 81. He is perhaps best known for his work on the Concept of Justice. You can also see his bibliography.
posted by xmutex at 8:14 AM PST - 15 comments

Clown Crack. Pointed, political, possibly offensive cartoons.
posted by the fire you left me at 7:33 AM PST - 40 comments

Wilson A. Bentley spent half a lifetime photographing snowflakes. The Smithsonian rejected his huge collection of photographs, on which his book was based. Now Buffalo, New York, a major snow capital, will feature Bentley's work in its "Winter Wonders" exhibit. More snowflakes can be seen on Cal Tech's snow crystals site (last cited in MeFi last January). Another city obsessed with snow is Asahikawa, Japan, home of the Austrian-inspired Snow Crystal Museum. The scientifically inclined may prefer this paper on the formation of ice-crystal patterns.
posted by SealWyf at 6:58 AM PST - 11 comments

When you take a good storyteller with keys to much of campus, a desire to get into everyplace else, and a need to bring about change through "constructive vandalism" and then wait for the statute of limitations to pass, you wind up with the published stories of Stealth Force Beta. Those folks who never had fun in college didn't get isolated in the middle of the desert with a bunch of nerds.
posted by ewagoner at 6:49 AM PST - 6 comments

"Yo, homeboy, are you hungry for some mad hip hop flava? Sink your grill-piece into Master P's Platinum Bar-B-Que. Want somethin' sweeter? Lil' Romeo's Bar-B-Quein' with Honey! If cheese is the flava you need, try Warren G's Cheezie Nacho!"
The most bizarre niche snack marketing since Arafat's cheese puffs.
posted by mikrophon at 6:33 AM PST - 30 comments

Some of the best comics ever are online. Some independent, some ubiquitous, and all too cool for syndication. Does anyone else know any good online comics?
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:41 AM PST - 43 comments

Hooray! Great news for those who love to communicate - Microsoft have released a new version of their popular Windows/MSN/.NET Messenger software! So, let's glance at the new features: there's a great new look with a spinny logo thingy, and... and, erm... well... it's had some features removed... like the ability to use third-party add-ons... and, oh but wait, there's new pop-up advertising and alleged spy-ware! Oh...
posted by Pretty_Generic at 5:29 AM PST - 20 comments

The World Currency Gallery at Banknotes.com is excellent for old, new, and obsolete banknotes, and the dmoz.org currency result is enormous. [more]
posted by hama7 at 5:05 AM PST - 7 comments

We all know about the new Department of Homeland Security, but did you know about the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency?
posted by JoanArkham at 4:31 AM PST - 9 comments

Pamie returns! In an update to this old thread, Pamela Ribon is once again writing online. As some may know, Pamela's original site was named Squishy (a.k.a. Pamie's Panties), and it was part of the first generation of online journals.
posted by gd779 at 3:31 AM PST - 5 comments

Scott Kim's Inversions - an inversion is a word or name written so it reads in more than one way.
posted by mhjb at 2:32 AM PST - 10 comments

Where To Stay In Portugal And Spain: You could do worse than try Secret Places, an ambitious and delightful website that has the advantage of emphasizing unusual and charming accommodation. I don't know about Spain, but the places they recommend in Portugal, the Azores and Madeira are top notch and not at all touristy. These are the fairly priced rural inns, private homes and hotels we Portuguese repair to when our batteries need recharging. Although Portugal is a big tourist destination and there are loads of accommodation websites, I'm sorry to say that this is the first I've seen that's any good. I'm not so sure about the other hotel chain websites highly praised in a New York Times article [ registration required; with pop-ups], although the Ian Schrager Hotels [with pop-ups] one is quite attractive (in an early Nineties way) and very efficient reservation-wise.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:57 AM PST - 37 comments

Ages back there was a link, here at MeFi, to a project aimed at creating a DVD full of PC demos from back in the day. Well, they've finished. (They say if you pre-order now you'll get it in time for Christmas.)
posted by krisjohn at 12:51 AM PST - 3 comments

Interview with Google Nate Tyler, Public Relations Manager at Google Inc. answering a few interesting questions.
posted by jayantk at 12:50 AM PST - 2 comments

This is probably the most upsetting job post I've ever come across. I don't know whether I should pity this couple or be really disturbed by them.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:56 PM PST - 36 comments

Alter Ego What if you could live your life over again? This straightforward virtual life simulator is fun and involving, and I almost wonder if I didn't learn a thing or two in the process. Wonderful implementation of the concept.
posted by oissubke at 7:32 PM PST - 19 comments

Yesterday's NYT magazine section (reg req'd) featured a profile of Jack Osbourne---whose family's show premieres its second season tomorrow---and discussed the unpleasant repercussions of his new fame: a prescription to Zoloft, a discontinued high school education and severe threats that warrant his own eye-patched bodyguard. Is this kind of exposure (especially in a reality TV context) too much for a 17 year old kid to handle?
posted by adrober at 6:48 PM PST - 17 comments

Deep, way deep inside Iraq This aired very recently on PBS but I just caught it online -- the link is the second of four video clips following U.K. journalist Sam Kiley reporting on perception and reality in Jordan and Iraq and contains the most horrific footage of Saddam supporters you're likely to ever see. Be warned, it's not pretty.
posted by subpixel at 5:13 PM PST - 28 comments

This article is about new border crossing security measures that are supposedly in the works. Cross the U.S. border in a few years, and a hidden camera may zero in on you from 150 metres away, able to recognize you by the shape of your face, perhaps by the telltale markings of your eyeball or even in the way you walk past the border guard. In milliseconds, a supercomputer would sift through a massive "data warehouse," able to dip into your life: Credit-card purchases, travel patterns, health and banking records would all be scanned. Your old telephone conversations -- in any language -- would be instantly available, along with e-mails that you sent years ago. Perhaps they'll even be able to read your MetaFilter posts.
posted by orange swan at 2:05 PM PST - 36 comments

Oregon Prescription Drug Research. AARP provides a guide to the first publicly funded, unbiased source of information comparing the effectiveness and safety of several categories of prescription drugs.
posted by semmi at 12:55 PM PST - 3 comments

MOON: Because you've been everywhere else. [warning: sound and flash]
"Moon Resort and Casino will be an escape into the future with hundreds of attractions including a giant lunar-themed aquatic center, exclusive shopping complex, terrestrial biosphere, moon buggy rides, and its own International Space Station. Nestled between the [10,000 room] hotel's dramatic wings will be the centerpiece of the resort, the Moon itself, towering over 350 feet and housing the world's largest casino." The creator is not without controversy, but Robin Leach is already on board.
posted by me3dia at 12:09 PM PST - 19 comments

Come all ye lads of high renown, / That love to drink good ale that's brown and peruse a collection of Broadside Ballads from Glasgow. There are many other sites pertaining to broadside ballads, but none with such a wealth of scanned reproductions. Also includes the full text of Hawkie: The Autobiography of a Gangrel.
posted by staggernation at 11:58 AM PST - 3 comments

"We are summoning forth the proletariat around the globe to aid us in this revolution. We call on the common man to rise up in revolt against this evil of typographical ignorance. We believe in the gospel message "ban comic sans."
posted by m@ at 11:56 AM PST - 52 comments

A letter to the American people from Osama bin Laden is being circulated among Islamists in Britain. Although there's no way to confirm it's authenticity, the Observer claims that senior Arab journalists in the Middle Eastern media believe the letter is authentic, and calls it "the most comprehensive explanation of bin Laden's ideology to be issued for several years."
posted by homunculus at 10:53 AM PST - 73 comments

How mushrooms will save the world "I have a strategy for creating ecological footprints on other planets," says the Johnny Appleseed of mushrooms. "By using a consortium of fungi and seeds and other microorganisms, you could actually seed other planets with little plops. You could actually start keystone species and go to creating vegetation on planets." And the Internet is one big giant 'shroom. Fascinating article on how mushrooms may hold the key to environmental clean ups. And so much more!
posted by archimago at 10:46 AM PST - 9 comments

KEEP BIG BROTHER'S HANDS OFF THE INTERNET Ashcroft as Senator! That was then. This is now. Does it still apply?
posted by Postroad at 10:32 AM PST - 16 comments

You Have The Right To Remain Silent
or...maybe not...
Police can hold people in custody and force them to talk, so long as their incriminating statements are not used to prosecute them, U.S. Solicitor Gen. Theodore B. Olson and Michael Chertoff, the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, say in their brief to the court. It "will chill legitimate law enforcement efforts to obtain potentially life-saving information during emergencies," including terrorism alerts, if police and FBI agents can be sued for coercive questioning, they add

Are YOU ready to talk or will I have to get my rubber hose and smash your face with my club?
posted by nofundy at 8:58 AM PST - 93 comments

fancyteeth : strange and beautiful flash animation from Mr Wellington and Mr Peters at Mantlepies.
posted by gravelshoes at 8:37 AM PST - 8 comments

Disgust is universal it seems. Can anyone think of any other universal disgusts out there?
posted by ideola at 7:49 AM PST - 11 comments

Is Gore the New Nixon? The disembodied heads of Al Gore and Tricky Dick shared the screen in Futurama's season premiere. But the kinship between the two men goes deeper. Nixon won the White House twice, in spite of his critics and his own lack of charisma. Gore's done it once -- why not a second time? The Situation Room's analysis (which was inspired by Frank Rich's piece on Gore in Saturday's NY Times) offers food for thought, as the first outlines of the 2004 campaigns begin to take shape.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:38 AM PST - 44 comments

If you have sex before marriage, you will die. Why is fear so often used to promote an agenda?
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:29 AM PST - 37 comments

AltaVista goes back to its roots I regularly used AltaVista when I first came to the web but now haven't used it as a Search Engine for many months. Portals, and MSN in particular seem to be very popular but I'm unable to see the attraction (smacks of spoon-feeding idiots "content" who can't find it themselves) so I'm pleased to see AltaVista changing back to what they do best. Can't see me switching back from Google though..
posted by jontyjago at 7:03 AM PST - 12 comments

Video on Demand Is Finally Taking Hold by the way of Time Warner Cable. We've read this news before, but this time they're promising to start providing the service at buyable prices "by the end of the year throughout 1.2 million subscribers in New York City" (the slogan "Now Anything's Possible" is already on their site). Choose, play, pause and rewind any program you want, from film to tv series, it's all there for you. It "may be the most significant development for the Couch Potato Nation since the remote control". And the cable tv providers take the lead over the satellite television providers (DirecTV, EchoStar), who just can't offer video on-demand like that.
posted by nandop at 5:27 AM PST - 15 comments

Kollaboration freestyle dance clip - this video clip offers nearly 2 minutes of some of the most amazing and intriguing dance you've likely seen in awhile. It's a clip from Kollaboration, a Korean-American talent show sponsored by prokreation. The show's aim is to break down Asian stereotypes. thanks milk & cookies.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:48 AM PST - 28 comments

Guide Horses! Aww...
posted by Pretty_Generic at 2:56 AM PST - 13 comments

If You Were Rich Would You Collect Modern First Editions? Well, it's difficult to browse Christie's upcoming auction of 20th century books and manuscripts; the stock of a well-known bookseller such as Ken Lopez or even go "bargain-hunting" at Amazon without understanding their appeal... [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:25 AM PST - 21 comments

Vintage Synth Explorer - I'm an unquestionable electronic music freak, and this site makes me drool every time I read it. You can find everything from the Roland holy trinity - the 303, 808 and 909 to the most obscure little Korg Mini Pops 35. This site is just totally sweet. Yum
posted by ookamaka at 12:52 AM PST - 21 comments

Buying on-line? We're from the Government and we're here to help you. [more inside]
posted by dg at 10:19 PM PST - 2 comments

Ted's Caving diary I strongly suggest reading this late at night and alone for full effect. The homebuilt look of the site adds to the frisson. (more inside...)
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:16 PM PST - 45 comments

Hegemon, hyperpower, empire. "As the United States marches to war, no other label quite seems to capture the scope of American power or the scale of its ambition."
posted by four panels at 9:44 PM PST - 3 comments

Roswell Smoking Gun? Army General said to be holding document in press photo (Not the one they used obviously) that reveals proof of cover-up: "Using a digital photo scanner to enlarge and enhance words printed on the folded piece of paper Ramey held, and using another computer program to select the most likely words, researcher David Rudiak, who has a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley, found two key phrases: "the victims of the wreck" and "in the 'disc' they will ship."
posted by Hilfy at 8:26 PM PST - 36 comments

What is the Darknet? Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Darknet is. Okay, actually, it's a term that some Microsoft computer scientists came up with to refer to all the different ways that internet users can swap copyrighted materials. In a paper they authored [DOC] for a workshop on Digital Rights Management (DRM), these engineers predict that the Darknet will grow ever stronger and more efficient while DRM technologies will make legal right holders less able to compete with Darknet and are ultimately "doomed to failure."
posted by boltman at 7:39 PM PST - 38 comments

Three Dog Eves--They really do understand us--even better than our cousin chimpanzees. Well, at least when food's involved.
As to how wolves became dogs, the current understanding seems to be they tamed themselves--in a Survival of the Friendliest. Here's more on animal linguistics. As for cats, well, Stephen Budiansky in The Character of Cats suggests they aren't even really tame. Hence, unlike dogs, cats haven't bothered to pick up our language--they've taught us Cat talk instead. Take the test and see. A woof out to Australian Broadcast Coporation's five part Animal Attraction series is called for here. C--Miao baby!
posted by y2karl at 6:09 PM PST - 11 comments

Winston Churchill has been voted as the Greatest Briton in a BBC survey. Yes, he gave some great speeches when he needed to, but who gave him the language to make them? Who is missing from the list?
posted by feelinglistless at 4:54 PM PST - 65 comments

Afterlife Telegrams. For a fee of $10 per word (5 word minimum), our customers can have a telegram delivered to someone who has passed away. This is done with the help of terminally ill volunteers who memorize the telegrams before passing away, and then deliver the telegrams after they have passed away.
posted by Wet Spot at 4:47 PM PST - 27 comments

Devoted to late nineteenth century adventure novels? Irredeemably neurotic? For you, there is Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton universe, in which such extraordinary gentlemen as Dracula and Sherlock Holmes are related through complex genealogies dating back to a peculiar meteorological event in the British countryside. This is meta-nerdiness.
posted by Hildago at 3:50 PM PST - 7 comments

Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. Was it a religion, a revolutionary social movement, a cult, or a combination of them all?
posted by semmi at 8:41 PM PST - 5 comments

Claes Oldenburg is a contemporary sculptor known for making common objects larger than life. Among other pieces, he has placed a spoon and cherry in Minneapolis, a giant clothespin in Philadelphia (the City of Brotherly Love), and last Thursday he anointed San Francisco as the City of Love.
posted by entrustNoOne at 8:03 PM PST - 17 comments

The Portfolio. A different kind of web site (courtesy k10k). Gr ea t (and sometimes not-so-great) collection of sites that have developed unique ways of presenting their work. (more inside)
posted by poopy at 11:20 AM PST - 27 comments

The CIA's Freedom Fighter's Manual is chock full of helpful hints like how to be lazy and how to screw things up at work! For more government comic hijinks, check out the FBI's Black Panther Coloring Book. Find out more information here via Social Design Notes.
posted by Stan Chin at 9:53 AM PST - 11 comments

Stone Clonez: Rawk by Dawk. "...these gemstone characters are real and millions of years old. No artist will draw them, no computer will generate them, and they have been available all this time. Until now no one could figure out how to bring them into our world."
posted by agentfresh at 8:55 AM PST - 3 comments

Ah, the power of cheese. Whether you prefer French, or Italian, or Greek, or even the more pedestrian varieties, you have to admit that some cheese just doesn't sound very appealing.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:48 AM PST - 26 comments

Photos of neked boys popping up during your powerpoint presentations at work? Could be a computer virus.
posted by found missing at 7:05 AM PST - 27 comments

Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé, but the wine's popularity has more to do with clever marketing than the quality of the wine itself. "Why it was decided to make the region's humblest juicea wine mainly borne of its worst vineyards, a wine barely removed from the fermentation vat, a wine that is nothing more than pleasantly tart barroom swillits international standard bearer is a question that will undoubtedly puzzle marketing students for generations to come."
posted by mcwetboy at 5:32 AM PST - 22 comments

Piss in art.
posted by pekar wood at 4:59 AM PST - 1 comments

The Upper Crust Of Bread: What happens when the greatest bread-maker in France, Lionel Poilâne, talks to America's finest baker, Peter Reinhart, and her most fanatical bread-taster, Edward Behr? I'll tell you what: a scrumptious, crackling and very knowledgeable conversation about the the wonders of the baguette, the complexities of simple bread and the deliciousness ["Forgiveness for mistranslations"] of the staff of life in general. Last year, for the first time ever, an American baker beat the French competition to win the "Best Bread in the World" award. Will what recently happened with wine in the New World now happen with bread? Will the Americans [peanut butter and jelly sandwiches notwithstanding] begin abandoning industrial, pre-sliced and sweetened white bread, just as Europe increasingly and depressingly succumbs to it? [Main link requires Real Audio.].
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:26 AM PST - 29 comments

President Bush is pressuring Iraq because he says that they support terror (there is some evidence of that). So what about Saudi Arabia? "Sources familiar with the evidence say the paymentsamounting to about $3,500 a monthcame from an account at Washingtons Riggs Bank in the name of Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, the wife of Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and the daughter of the late Saudi King Faisal." And why were CIA/FBI investigations of the Saudi connection reigned in? When Bush met that very same Prince Bandar in August, somehow the issue never came up. Don't want to step on Dad's toes, you know.
posted by owillis at 12:27 AM PST - 18 comments

An official Q&A with the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, alludes to some extremely scary/interesting tidbits-- the Office of Strategic Influence is still alive, John Poindexter can do anything he pleases with DARPA, we just might renew nuclear weapons testing. Don't worry, though. Rummy sez: "Anyone who is concerned ought not be. Anyone with any concern ought to be able to sleep well tonight. Nothing terrible is going to happen."
posted by LimePi at 12:11 AM PST - 7 comments

Literary Flash Friday. "Life of Pi", this year's Booker Prize winner, and the sources of "inspiration" of its author were discussed here some days ago. Now you can enjoy the interactive promo of the novel (requires Flash and a fast connection I'm afraid).
posted by blogenstock at 9:50 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Muslim rioters force cancellation of Miss World beauty contest: Lagos not favourite in race for Mr.Gay Africa comp.
posted by dash_slot- at 5:33 PM PST - 34 comments

Lusty Linens! "Inspiring lovemaking and pleasure with our beautifully designed, finely crafted erotic bed linen and other home accessories." Perfect holiday gifts for your favorite pervert!
posted by adrober at 5:14 PM PST - 4 comments

The Burden of Profit. Two Texas energy companies, both closely tied to the Bush White House, are lining up administration support for nearly $900 million in public financing for a Peruvian natural gas project that will cut through one of the world's most pristine tropical rain forests. (via homunculus)
posted by four panels at 4:46 PM PST - 9 comments

Are tonnes of strange quark matter zipping through the Earth?

One event occurred on 22 October, 1993, when, according to the researchers, something entered the Earth off Antarctica and left it south of India 0.73 of a second later.

But we may never know the answer:

In 1993 the US Geological Survey stopped collecting data...

posted by anser at 4:01 PM PST - 18 comments

War With Iraq - As Predictable As Chess There is still a good chance we can avoid war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein has never won a war, and his military forces surely foresee their own destruction. Numerous assassination attempts by them (some involving the Republican Guard) have failed. They are likely trying again, even now. Therein lies our best hope. What if they fail again? Then invasion by the U.S. is inevitable.
posted by daHIFI at 2:33 PM PST - 20 comments

Counting in base-14. "Just because we use a decimal system doesn't mean everyone does. "The teseradecimal lifestyle is thus not just a way of life. It is not only a method of regulating marriage, birth, succession, and other aspects of village life. It is also a theory of history where genesis, finality, and apocalypse are laid out on the space between the pinky and the nose."
Alex Golub illuminates the counting system of the Ipili tribe of Papua New Guinea, in response to much discussion of the ethnomathmatics at Leuschke.org. [more inside]
posted by me3dia at 2:27 PM PST - 21 comments

Loosening clean air rules... This from the guy hailing from the smoggiest state around. Is this really who should be making such a decision? Things don't look so good now, so why loosen the rules? Do we want one of these?
posted by Espoo2 at 1:45 PM PST - 22 comments

World's smallest book. How does one read a book that is .9 by .9 millimeters? Chekov's "Chameleon" has just been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records (though the website hasn't been updated yet.) The hobby is apparently addictive, with societies at major universities and international groups as well. There's even a yearly Conclave. Personally, I'd be afraid that I'd lose something that small. Palkovic mentions it in the article, but says they always show up. File under