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April 2003 Archives
April 30
Former N. Korean Nuclear Contractors are
"pretty sure that at some point Don was involved," since it was not unusual to seek help from board members "when we needed contacts with the U.S. government." An article in yesterday's
Fortune mentions and quotes a number of former employees/contractors for a Swiss engineering firm -- headed by
Donald Rumsfeld at the time that Pyongyang began getting its nuke on. Nevertheless,
Today Rumsfeld, riding high after the Iraq war, is reportedly discussing a plan for "regime change" in North Korea. But his silence about the nuclear reactors raises questions about what he did--or didn't do--as an ABB director. unsurprisingly,
the media is
not exactly all over this.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 11:40 PM PST - 25 comments
The return of the dangerous classes: crime control in the 21st century.
"The language of crime control seems to be today on the verge of eclipsing all others - in particular that of social rights and becoming the single, all encompassing goal of social policy."
Sounds topical? John Lea's work on the changes postfordism has brought to crime control are even more relevant now than they were when he wrote them back in the nineties. [more]
posted by slipperywhenwet at 8:22 PM PST - 3 comments
Vote the Experimental Party!
America's latest political party. "We must work to incorporate the avant-garde and the spirit of experimentalism into the fabric of our nation. The history of our next hundred years must emerge from the rich mosaic of alternative culture, from the lofts of San Francisco to the barrios of New York City." One mad artist with unfortunate facial hair and a Tom Paine fetish.
God love ALL the kooks.
posted by theplayethic at 3:34 PM PST - 6 comments
Is there no spoon?
The
Warner Bros Matrix site is home to a series of scholarly essays inspired by the film (last updated 3/20/03). I mean, sure, the film offers some "whoa dude" moments regarding technology, perception, and vinyl pants, but I was surprised to find it an interesting launching point for discussions about
freedom,
heaven, and
Plato's Cave as well. Being a philosophy layman, I can't vouch for their quality with any authority, but if you know the movies inside and out, as I apparently do (god help me) you might find the essays interesting.*
*for the next 15 agonizing days, anyway
posted by scarabic at 3:16 PM PST - 36 comments
MeTaFiLTeR = 318514
The Phonetic Numerals system provides a convenient way to remember long strings of numbers. It's really simple: the system replaces the numbers 0-9 with the symbols
S,
T,
N,
M,
R,
L,
J,
K,
F and
P (the strikethoughs indicate the difference between the symbol and the letter that it takes the place of). Take a long number (3.1415926, for example), convert it into
Phonetic Numerals (
MTRTLPNJ), then come up with a phrase using those letters (
Mo
The
R Toi
Led a
Pa
N Job.) See? Easy!
posted by me3dia at 1:07 PM PST - 21 comments
Frontier Psychology
- Does Frontier Psychology drive America in a direction that the rest of the world cannot comprehend? Roughly defined as "
the effort on the part of Americans to come to grips with untamed elements of nature and, by taming them, to reorganize their society" We see it everywhere, even in
Buffy. Europe appears to value stability over mobility and change, in opposition to America.
Prof. Richard Slotkin has written extensively about these concepts. An interiew with
audio clips is here. (Real)
Are America's recent domestic and international policy decisions attempts to tame "untamed elements" around it?
posted by Argyle at 10:45 AM PST - 23 comments
Custom paperback editions of classic novels starring YOU!
Now also available in a "happy ending" edition! Didn't like that
Romeo and Juliet die at the end? Choose the Happy Ending Version a new scene is added with a twist — the lovers live happily ever after! A short scene is added after Act V Scene III. It turns out the apothecary's poison didn't work and Romeo survives, and Juliet's stabbing of herself merely made her pass out. The problem with public domain is that the integrity of the original is lost once it's Disneyfied.
posted by riffola at 10:13 AM PST - 20 comments
Ever felt alone?
No, I mean really alone, as in "13 year old girl has forgotten the lyrics to the national anthem in front of 20,000 restless fans on national TV" alone? Natalie Gilbert has, but suddenly
someone was there, and
she wasn't alone(3.8MB .asf video).(via
PLA)
posted by dglynn at 9:55 AM PST - 49 comments
A Profile of Adolf Wolfli
: "Adolf Wolfli, a Swiss madman, born in 1864, who spent the last thirty-five of his sixty-six years in a psychiatric hospital, is among the greatest of outsider artists. Indeed, he could serve as Exhibit A in a study of the outsider phenomenon: cases of wild, solipsistic genius that challenge the values of formal training and cultural initiation, not to mention sanity, in significant art. ... [His]large, incredibly dense drawings combine religion, sex, language, music, geography, economics, and other aspects of the artists fantasy empire, which, for him, was more or less the universe. ... Especially in his earliest surviving pictures -- from 1904 to 1907, after the staff at the Waldau Mental Asylum stopped regarding his work as 'stupid stuff' -- he emerges as, among other things, a master of graphic design with an exceptional talent for tonality."
You can see reproductions of sixteen of his works
here. I looked around for more examples of his work online, but found little beyond this diminutive
Artcyclopedia entry. (Thanks to
Robot Wisdom for the first two links.)
posted by eyebeam at 8:40 AM PST - 30 comments
Who's the only man who can take on President George W. Bush in a debate? Why, it's Texas Governor of the past, George W. Bush!
BUSH v. BUSH! How surreal...(
realplayer req)
posted by jearbear at 8:39 AM PST - 28 comments
Dutroux to face jury trial
This one's a shocker. Marc Dutroux has been held in custody in Belgium since 1996, having been arrested for the kidnap and killing of several young girls.
There's 2 theories why the Belgian legal system has been unable to bring this guy to trial - either gross incompetence, or a conspiracy to protect those more important than himself, going all the way up to the government. [ more inside ]
posted by derbs at 7:58 AM PST - 8 comments
German Objectivist photographer Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) once said "the best constructions for industrial design have already been anticipated in nature." Do your eyes a favor and
look here.
posted by taz at 12:47 AM PST - 9 comments
April 29
WHO lifts Toronto travel ban.
And
Health Canada Recommendations:
Health Canada continues to strongly endorse travel into and throughout the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] as safe and encourages travellers to maintain their business and/or personal travel plans to the GTA.
That's just great. What, a week after banning all travel to Toronto because of SARS, it's on again?
That's bloody irresponsible, considering the damage it has done and will continue to do so to travel to Canada no less Toronto. [s'more inside]
posted by alicesshoe at 4:23 PM PST - 15 comments
No Respect I Tell Ya, No Respect
Former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf is attempting to surrender to US forces, according to a London-based Arabic newspaper.
But Al-Sharq al-Awsat says the Americans have refused to arrest Mr Sahhaf - who became a familiar face during the war with his upbeat assessments of Iraqi military "successes" - because he does not appear on their "most wanted" list of 55 former regime officials
posted by turbanhead at 2:31 PM PST - 20 comments
Free Speech Button Police
-- Chicago-area schools debate ban on teachers wearing "No War" buttons vs. the ubiquitous flag lapel pins. What are the limits to teachers' political fashion statements -- are students a captive audience? More inside.
posted by serafinapekkala at 1:35 PM PST - 49 comments
Deaf Gamers
is a terrific resource containing electronic game reviews with the hearing-impaired in mind. Digging a little deeper, I found a still-in-work but promising
Gamers With Disabilites FAQ hosted by
Gone Gold. We all love to play games and the resources contained herein will hopefully help us all play better. Any other resources out there that you'd like to share?
posted by WolfDaddy at 1:33 PM PST - 6 comments
Classic Bat-Vehicles...for the Gotham City crime-fighter on the go!
posted by LinusMines at 8:38 AM PST - 9 comments
'Virgin birth' method promises ethical stem cells.
The technique,
parthenogenesis, manipulates unfertilized eggs to produce short-lived embryos from which stem cells can be obtained. As the article states: "it produces embryos that could never become human beings. So destroying these embryos to obtain stem cells would avoid the ethical concerns that have led to restrictions or bans on embryonic stem cell research in many countries."
posted by jsonic at 7:47 AM PST - 19 comments
Walking Together What Remains:
A beautiful, old Flash poem by
Chris Green about
looking where you're going. Isn't beauty, like the distant objects in car mirrors, always nearer than we think? It's in the eye of the beholder, sure, but only if she or he actually stops to behold...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:16 AM PST - 10 comments
April 28
Mike Hawash Charged
with
conspiracy to levy war against the United States, conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda and conspiracy to contribute services to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Heavy. 5 days ago, a now near-famous
letter was removed from a
website that had recently been trumpeting his
cause. Today, the Feds allege terrorism.
--
Of note: the frequent allusion to "secrecy" and "secret warrants". Is this ammo for the pro-PATRIOT crowd? Any changing opinions on Mefi?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 6:29 PM PST - 62 comments
A Disgusting Practice Vanishes With the Token
"Officially, the crime is classified as theft of Transit Authority property. But among transit police officers it is more accurately and less delicately known as
token sucking. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it is exactly what it sounds like." (Originally from NYT. More
here.)
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:01 PM PST - 18 comments
It's official - Apple today launched its' music service
So now that it's 'beyond hype', the rumors of Apple's buyout of Universal Music unfounded (instead, sealing deals with each of the big five music firms), what does everyone think of this rather slick, easy to use and somewhat inexpensive alternative to illegal music swapping? $.99 per song seems pretty fair to me, not to mention the very generous licensing terms provided.
posted by tgrundke at 11:06 AM PST - 164 comments
NUTS!
While we should all strive to appreciate diversity of opinion, this (via NandoTimes) just goes to prove that idiocy knows no bounds. Comments are probably superfluous...
posted by Pressed Rat at 8:50 AM PST - 32 comments
April 27
Meet Granny D.
She's
walked,
talked and cross country skied across America for campaign finance reform, sucessfully derailed a plan to open-air test the H bomb in Alaska, and she used her
93rd birthday party as a venue to protst the war. This week she's on the road again with
Jim Hightower,
Eric Alterman and others for the
Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour.
Arrest won't stop her... nothing will.
"Fight like hell for your values and our common dream of brotherhood and sisterhood on this, our garden Earth."
posted by moonbird at 6:26 PM PST - 5 comments
One of the left's strongest allies in the war against media conglomeration is... Barry Diller! Weeks after
telling the National Association of Broadcasters that their industry needs "more regulation, not less," Diller
speaks to Bill Moyers.
posted by PrinceValium at 3:45 PM PST - 2 comments
Osama Bin Laden Link To Iraq
found by a Toronto Star reporter, Mitch Potter. "The documents, discovered yesterday in the bombed-out headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's most feared intelligence service, amount to the first hard evidence of a link long suspected by the United States but dismissed as fiction by many Western leaders." [more]
posted by alicesshoe at 3:37 PM PST - 72 comments
Truffle Hunters
"The pig is not content to wag his tail and point when he has discovered a truffle," says Peter Mayle, author of 'A Year In Provence'. "He wants to eat it. In fact, he is desperate to eat it. And you cannot reason with a pig on the brink of gastronomic ecstasy. He is not easily distracted, nor is he of a size you can fend off with one hand while you rescue the truffle. There he is, as big as a small tractor, rigid with porcine determination and refusing to be budged." Which is why Hungarians are teaching dogs to do the work -- but should they be asking a canine to do a sow's job?
posted by feelinglistless at 9:55 AM PST - 6 comments
Yippie.
Denmark beats US in world cup hockey. We have not participated in the world cup since a 0-47 loss to Canada in 1949.
posted by Eirixon at 4:50 AM PST - 18 comments
Compliance or Consequences
Compliance with the USA PATRIOT Act has never been easier, thanks to Sybase's PATRIOTcompliance Solution. It integrates your existing customer and transaction information systems into a consolidated compliance system that detects unusual activity and automates its investigation and resolution in a timely manner.
Ugh...
posted by delmoi at 3:46 AM PST - 47 comments
April 26
You Are Cordially Invited To A Night Of Fados.
It's Saturday night; you're hidden deep down in one of Lisbon's
fado houses; so pour yourself another glass of thick, blood-red wine; cast your mind back to loves lost and the memory of joys that will never return; take out your most tear-absorbent handkerchief and prepare to indulge in the most melancholy, poetical and maudlin of all
urban songs: Lisbon's
Fado... [
More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:38 PM PST - 32 comments
"If what AARON is making
is not art, what is it exactly, and in what ways, other than its origin, does it differ from the "real thing?" If it is not thinking, what exactly is it doing?" Asks
Harold Cohen, the inventor of
AARON, the computer artist. Now, if you own a PC, you can download an
Aaron Screensaver (9Mb, asks for details but worth it) and have it produce
original works of
art on your desktop.
posted by jamespake at 1:40 PM PST - 49 comments
If you think about it, the book is a pretty wierd (but efficient) way of storing information. Instead of being laid out in a continuous linear fashion, information is broken into roughly equal sized chunks. Then 50-70 of these chunks are printed onto these moveable flaps which all pile on top of one another. Xeric grant winner
Jason Shiga makes amazing, hilarious comics. You can get them in print or read many of them
online.
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:27 PM PST - 2 comments
Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the circus, Love and war, Foxy Grandpa and Polly in a little hilarity, Roosevelt, Friend of the Birds, Refrigerator-Man, Mabel and Fatty viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco, Visitin' 'round at Coolidge Corners, Ranch Rodeo and Barbecue (1951), Panorama of Eiffel Tower , Colored troops disembarking, The mob outside the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition, Theodore Roosevelt's arrival in Africa, Trapeze Disrobing Act, Tourists going round Yellowstone Park, Skyscrapers of New York City, from the North River, Girls winding armatures, Bird's-eye view of San Francisco, from a balloon , Walking hot dog, hamburgers, and disappearing Coca-Cola, um, and
The phable of the phat woman.Selections from
American Memory Online Films (More Inside)
posted by y2karl at 3:20 AM PST - 13 comments
April 25
Dalai Llama muses: meditating monk sets "positive emotion" record
: The 14th Dalai Llama, Tenzin Gyatso, muses on new research on the benefits of mindfulness meditation: "A University of Wisconsin-Madison research team has found that a small amount of "mindfulness meditation" results in
positive, lasting changes in the brain and immune system." The mainstream medical community in the U.S. has now acknowledge the significant benefits of mindfulness meditatiion -
"...a significant decrease in symptoms, both during and after the course."
[ Tenzin Gyatso ]
"The calamity of 9/11 demonstrated that modern technology and human intelligence guided by hatred can lead to immense destruction. Such terrible acts are a violent symptom of an afflicted mental state. To respond wisely and effectively, we need to be guided by more healthy states of mind, not just to avoid feeding the flames of hatred, but to respond skillfully. We would do well to remember that the war against hatred and terror can be waged on this, the internal front, too.".....I once was host to Tenzin Gyatso's brother and several other Tibetan monks for a few weeks - and was never again quite the same. So, when Tenzin Gyatso speaks, I listen.
posted by troutfishing at 9:33 PM PST - 22 comments
We Have Cameras Magazines:
Why is
Maxim offering a
free, no-catches 2 years subscription to anyone who can be bothered to give them one of their spamsucker e-mail addresses? Hey, I hate Maxim but I'd take one if I lived in the U.S, if only to keep the postal service busy and ingratiate myself with my nephews. Will all magazines - at least the shittiest ones - be free in the future? Subscription rates, sales and advertising revenues keep falling and it seems the only bargaining chip magazines have left (to solicit advertisements) is circulation. And still new mags, like
Radar, keep popping up. Good thing? Bad thing? You tell me.
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 8:08 PM PST - 25 comments
SARS much more deadly than first estimated.
Analysis of the latest statistics on the global SARS epidemic reveals that
at least 10 per cent of people who contract the new virus will die of the disease. The low death rates of about four per cent cited until now by the World Health Organizatio n and others are the result of a statistical difficulty, well known to epidemiologists, that hampers the early analysis of new disease outbreaks. [...] A better current estimate of the deadliness of SARS may be the number of deaths as a proportion of resolved cases. Those numbers for Hong Kong, Canada and Singapore are
15.8, 18.3 and 13.7 per cent.
posted by Bletch at 5:39 PM PST - 68 comments
Sometimes a mother gives birth only to discoversometimes immediately, sometimes much laterthat she has made a mistake. A post-natal abortion is simply the clean, efficient disposal of that "mistake". We at the Sweetwater Post-Natal Abortion Clinic believe this is a deeply personal choice that every mother has the right to make.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 3:22 PM PST - 101 comments
The Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS).
The "engine" of the DMSS is a continuously growing relational database of up-to-date and historical data related to medical events, personal characteristics, and military experiences of all Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine service members over their entire military careers. [It] is available to all military and civilian researchers, policy makers and others with a need to evaluate the health of active duty service members.
posted by the fire you left me at 3:16 PM PST - 1 comments
WebCollage: Exterminate All Rational Thought
--Neato (and sometimes beautiful) page refreshed every minute or so. Every image is clickable, too.
It finds the images by feeding random words into various search engines, and pulling images (or sections of images) out of the pages returned. A very cool surfing tool for when you're bored of your usual web haunts (mefi excluded, of course)
posted by amberglow at 2:51 PM PST - 19 comments
better luck tomorrow goes into wide release today.
an unknown filmmaker funds his project on ten maxed out credits cards. then, it is chosen out of over 1,000 films to be featured at sundance. then, without an agent, it becomes the first *acquisition* ever for mtv films in conjunction with paramount. and it has an entirely asian-american cast who weren't cast into stereotypical roles. today, it goes into wide release. i'm excited to see how this film does.
posted by notoriousbhc at 2:16 PM PST - 31 comments
Is this your fetus? Are you the one I slept with?
Remember when we discussed
this before? Florida has now been forced by 4 plaintiffs and the
ACLU to repeal the so-called Scarlet Letter law that forces women who are pregnant and giving children up for adoption to take out an ad local papers once a week for 4 weeks, stating her name and her sexual history in the last year, to let men know if they *might* be the father.
Here is the ACLU legal brief. The details about the decision are in the first link.
Thank god for the ACLU.
posted by aacheson at 11:41 AM PST - 46 comments
"Legislator to alter plan for anti-abortion statue"
I'm pleased to see the bill's sponsor realized a statue of a fetus is a bit over the top....but why do it at all? (Especially in light of some budgetary problems we've had with education and other areas.)
South Carolina: It's Not The Heat; It's The Stupidity. (more inside)
posted by alumshubby at 11:06 AM PST - 27 comments
Throwing Muses
are among the most sadly unsung bands of the alt.rock era. Though beloved by
critics (particularly the British press) and adored by a small army of
devoted fans, they disbanded in 1997 for financial reasons. After releasing a killer
new album, the band (featuring prodigal Muse and Belly founder
Tanya Donnelly) are back for what may be the
last time. (more inside)
posted by pxe2000 at 8:55 AM PST - 32 comments
It's Free Comic Book Day again on May 3rd, 2003.
As the name implies, Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world are giving away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:14 AM PST - 26 comments
Style Wars
the 1983 graffiti, breakdancing and
hip hop culture proto-documentary 20 years later comes out from obscure, grainy, 5th hand bootlegs and into the
21st Century. This funky white boy is excited. (Be sure you check out some of the
other links from the NPR site!)
posted by Pollomacho at 6:29 AM PST - 9 comments
How To Bow
- learn Japanese etiquette for business and social situations in this quirky flash animation that offers practical tips on how to behave as a guest, how to avoid embarrassing dining gaffes, how to conduct a successful business meeting and what to expect in a public bathroom. Don't "drop a brick" - learn to avoid common mistakes!
posted by madamjujujive at 6:29 AM PST - 28 comments
blur are back.
My favourite band since seeing them play in a pub in Leicester,
blur release their
7th album next month.
They "invented" Britpop, then reinvented themselves when the backlash began, and it's lovely to still have them around. Something I've grown with and recognise as I stare at another edition of Top of the Pops, understanding nothing of the karaoke-cover-pap in the charts today.
If you're going to see them in London next month, I'll be the one at the back with a pint in my hand and a contented smile on my face (too old for this jumping around at the front lark)...
posted by jontyjago at 4:21 AM PST - 35 comments
Jeff Webster threw water on women who were silently and legally protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq in my hometown of Soldotna, Alaska. He has been charged with harassment, a misdemeanor. The Anchorage Daily news
reports with photos of both parties involved. Video of the incident
here (window media format). Aside from the support
for and
against Webster's actions, does throwing water on people constitute a right of free speech?
posted by ericrolph at 3:10 AM PST - 50 comments
April 24
american-pictures.com
Arriving in America with only $40 for a short visit, a young Dane,
Jacob Holdt ended up staying over five years, hitchhiking more than 100,000 miles throughout the USA.
He sold blood plasma twice weekly to be able to buy film. He lived in more than 400 homes - from the poorest migrant workers to America's wealthiest families such as the Rockefellers.
He joined the Indian rebellion in Wounded Knee, followed criminals in the ghettos during muggings, sneaked inside to work in Southern slave camps and inf 
