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April 2004 Archives
April 30
outbreak
[note: flash, advertisement] play this sim and struggle to protect your network from a hacker onslaught.
posted by crunchland at 5:48 PM PST - 6 comments
The European Union welcomes 10 new members!
As I write this, the celebrations have started as Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia become members of the EU today.
While some folks are
gonna party like crazy, others are warning of
doom and gloom.
What do you think? Will this have significant effects on global culture, politics, and economics - or will it merely represent a paper change within the rarefied world of European diplomats, with little other than localized effects on day to day life?
posted by MidasMulligan at 5:26 PM PST - 43 comments
Lightcycle deathmatch! If you've been looking for an excuse to parade around in your Tron underroos or are just plain sick and tired of that little room you've been locked into, hop on a lightcycle in
SWRON and play some chicken. single and multiplayer
posted by roboto at 4:19 PM PST - 7 comments
'Laser vision' offers new insights
Directly spraying light onto the retina, basically a
heads-up display on your eye. And it's a step closer to the sunglasses Chevette stole in
Virtual Light. Said glasses being wired up to display metadata about the world around you -- if you have a gardener set you walk through and look at the plants and everything has little labels with the common names and names in Latin.
posted by artlung at 2:06 PM PST - 5 comments
The Battle of Antietam is the single bloodiest single day battle American history. Historically told in
words, the battle illustrated in
pictures [
SVG required] shows jostling strategies that resulted in a loss of over 20,000 troops in 13 hours.
posted by pedantic at 12:26 PM PST - 7 comments
"High court says man shot himself during interrogation".
In reversing the lower court decision, presiding Judge Toshinobu Akiyama of the high court said it was technically possible for Yanagi to snatch a bullet from a plastic bag placed on a table as evidence, when the two interrogators were not looking.
And yet, there might actually be an argument here. As seen in the
Fark thread that followed their initial posting of this Japanese case, Alexander Jason (a forensic analyst) completed
a rather detailed analysis and found the scene at least not incompatible with the suicide theory. This Alexander guy's quite interesting -- have to respect a guy whose
home page opens up with
a gun pointing at a mannequin's head (full research paper
here, not entirely safe on a full stomach).
posted by effugas at 12:22 PM PST - 5 comments
Bitkraft.com
This is the best webdesign/use of flash I've seen yet...
I just started poking around in here. (Via igiveashit.com)
posted by black8 at 12:03 PM PST - 26 comments
The oddest bit of Friday flash
that I've yet seen. It's apparently an ad for Kikkoman soy sauce... but it's the most bizarre ad I've ever seen. A caped superhero type guy with a whole fish for a head rides on a motorcycle, pours soy sauce on people, apparently drives a cute little kitten to suicide, then goes to bed with the condiment-based superhero world's answer to Sailor Moon. Deeply weird.
posted by Shoeburyness at 11:45 AM PST - 23 comments
Vending Machines of Japan
PhotoMann recently decided to 'collect' images of unique vending machines found in Japan. They are everywhere. Estimates suggest there are 5.6 million vending machines which works out to be one for every 20 people in Japan. Sales from vending machines in 2000 totaled $56 billion! The most common are drink and cigarette machines followed by machines with pornography
posted by Postroad at 9:14 AM PST - 19 comments
Part 4
of the Mario brothers tragedy is up! A follow up to this
post. Finally, no more sleepless nights.
posted by dazed_one at 9:04 AM PST - 11 comments
I'd like my left bollock to go to Julie and my right one to Children in Need. Quoth
Davy Saville.
Don't ever die, it's horrible is
Øystein Runde's chosen epitaph.
Greg Derrick would like to be disposed of as follows ...
chucked in the water float for weeks as my corpse rots. Only to wash up on a beach in the coasta del sol.
I want my Dad barred from my funeral. The mans a cun*... says
Mark Reed
mydeath.net is a site which allows people to specify the arrangements after their death. From food and dress code to disposal and famous last words. Read or
contribute your own.
[Contribution
requires quick registration]
posted by kenaman at 12:45 AM PST - 6 comments
April 29
The Slack Album
The Slack Album is the latest (for the next ten minutes) in a slew of Jay-Z Black Album remixes and mash-ups. In this case, the Black Album is melded track-for-track with samples taken from Pavement's 1991 lo-fi / indie classic Slanted and Enchanted.
posted by mcsweetie at 9:39 PM PST - 16 comments
You decide
is a webpage that walks you through both sides of an issue. Interesting and well done way of not only seeing where you stand but appreciating the other side of the debate.
posted by jragon at 6:54 PM PST - 29 comments
Are you a typoholic?
It starts so innocently. One day you're mildly interested in the difference between display and text typefaces. Soon you can distinguish between teardrop and beak terminals. Suddenly you're annoying everyone in the movie theater by yelling out the names of all the fonts used in the credits. What's so scary is that you never saw it coming. You, my friend, are a type freak.
posted by ColdChef at 5:18 PM PST - 36 comments
Click
-- MeFites, click the link of Wolfgang's new endeavor,
murderous, doomed, that cast as Achaeans countless actors,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
blonde-tressed, open-helmed *. Will careers be made carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
as the time of Bush is moving toward its end?
Begin, crows, when the trailers first were aired,
Agamemnon, some guy, and Brad Pitt, Achilles.
[a wee bit more inside]
posted by mwhybark at 3:46 PM PST - 53 comments
Apple iTunes 4.5
was released yesterday, bringing with it several nice new features, such as a live-updating "Party Shuffle" playlist — as well as not-so-nice features like attaching Music Store links to every artist and album in your library (I turned this off immediately). As for the
iTunes Music Store itself, Apple has integrated its QuickTime features of music videos and movie trailers (this is related to music how?), shopper-created "iMixes" and for this month, a new "Free Track of the Day," a questionable asset being that today's artist is
Avril Lavigne. ...Perhaps you'd rather have an
album sung entirely with "meows".
posted by Down10 at 2:39 PM PST - 39 comments
Buying biometrically into big brother?
Privium is an IBM-backed pay service at Amsterdam's
Schiphol Airport that allows passengers to identify themselves by iris recognition and thus speed their way through security checks. This being the privacy-respecting Netherlands, the biometric information is not stored in a central database, but only on a card you carry with you; other countries may not be so enlightened. This could well become a standard form of identification. In the meantime, could the failure to buy this service qualify someone as a security or insurance risk?
posted by liam at 1:30 PM PST - 6 comments
I'm not a fan of followup posts, but this is cool enough to mention. Remember
the challenging question of how to turn $14 into $1,000?
BirdD0g has taken that noodle-scratcher of a problem and turned it into his personal challenge, and he's taking everyone along for the ride at
14bucks.com. He's got until April 15, 2005 to turn it over into a grand, which sounds like plenty of time, but that's a lot of profit to turn over (7000% return on investment). Who wants to take my $14 bet it doesn't happen?
posted by mathowie at 1:08 PM PST - 38 comments
Claims vs. Facts Database
"Conservatives have spent the last 20 years distorting reality and getting away with it. That is about to change. The Center for American Progress has launched this new database project to chart the dishonesty and lies of conservatives and compare them with the truth. In this database, each conservative quote will be matched against well-documented facts. And we need your help."
posted by mapalm at 11:31 AM PST - 29 comments
One Iraqi prisoner
was told to stand on a box with his head covered, wires attached to his hands. He was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted.
Torture by Saddam? No, torture by American soldiers in Saddam's most notorious prison. After an Army investigation, courtmartials are likely, and a brigadier general may be forced to resign in disgrace.
posted by hipnerd at 9:31 AM PST - 81 comments
The mind of the fundamentalist
(streaming RealAudio) is an hour-long radio show featuring excerpts from talks given at a psychoanalytic psychotherapy conference in Sydney. Three speakers discuss experiences with fundamentalists, and driving factors behind their beliefs. It includes an amazing first-hand account of fundamentalist terrorism by a journalist whos plane was hijacked, and who later tracked down the hijacker and attempted to understand what drove him. The RealAudio-squeamish can find a
transcript here.
posted by Jimbob at 3:40 AM PST - 20 comments
Think Again: Al Qaeda -
"The mere mention of al Qaeda conjures images of an efficient terrorist network guided by a powerful criminal mastermind. Yet al Qaeda is more lethal as an ideology than as an organization. 'Al Qaedaism' will continue to attract supporters in the years to comewhether Osama bin Laden is around to lead them or not." Foreign Policy, May/June 2004.
posted by pitchblende at 12:17 AM PST - 10 comments
April 28
A futuristic robot polices the chaotic streets of a developing nation in this [creepy] spec commercial/corporate video." Quicktime is involved. Also, people who are scared of robots might not want to watch, because there is a robot in this video.
posted by Hildago at 11:40 PM PST - 31 comments
Apparent terrorism threat to Los Angeles West Side.
According to KNBC News 4 in LA, Federal authorities in Westwood have received a threat of terrorism against a local shopping mall somewhere on the West Side, to take place sometime tomorrow, Thursday April 29. Though unsubstantiated, the threat is being taken seriously enough that all local police forces have been notified and at least partially mobilized. I don't know about you, but I won't be shopping tomorrow.... are any other places in the US getting local threats like this, either now or recently?
posted by zoogleplex at 11:13 PM PST - 39 comments
Supermodel Personals.
"Nervous short girl into fantasy novels and The Simpsons seeks quiet, sensitive guy to while away the hours with me in my library of cocaine."
(NSFW)
posted by PrinceValium at 11:05 PM PST - 24 comments
The University of Minnesota is allowing students to create their own
Movable Type blog with
just one step. Just give your blog a name and a tag line, hit submit, and your MT blog is all set to go.
posted by MrAnonymous at 10:54 PM PST - 5 comments
Grin And Bear It, Woman! Think Of England!
Caesarean births in the U.K. should be severely curtailed, say the medical mandarins.
Germaine Greer says, in a cracking column, that the
new guidelines are misogyny pure and simple. Is it just my impression (think of
American Pie-type teenage movies; advertising; "guy lit") or are hatred of women and beery, bozo celebrations of indifference to the feminine sex on the up and up?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:51 PM PST - 64 comments
"Hubert Selby died often.
But he always came back, smiling that beautiful smile of his, and those blue eyes of his... This time he will not be back. My saints have always come from hell, and now, with his passing, there are no more saints".
Selby is the author of
Last Exit to Brooklyn, (
tried for obscenity in England and supported by, among many others, Samuel Beckett and Anthony Burgess),
Requiem For a Dream,
Song of the Silent Snow. He is being
eulogized in the USA and UK, but also, massively (I've just watched a fantastic TV special) in France, where he is much more popular than in his native land (Selby's death was the cover story -- plus pages 2, 3 and 4 -- in the daily Libération today --
.pdf file):
Dernière sortie vers la rédemption,
L'extase de la dévastation. What makes all this kind of ironic -- in a very Selbyesque way -- is that Selby himself used to say,
"I started to die 36 hours before I was born..." (more inside)
posted by matteo at 5:21 PM PST - 16 comments
One of the finest poets in English, Thom Gunn, has died.
Along with
Philip Larkin and
Ted Hughes, Gunn became famous as a
young poet in England in the 1950s as part of "The Movement," writing
fine poems in rhyme and meter. But then he fell in love with an American soldier, Mike Kitay, and followed him to San Francisco, where he crafted one of the most daringly original voices in the 20th century, handling taboo subjects like LSD, orgiastic sex, and his
50-year relationship with Kitay with the precision of a diamond cutter. Gunn lived in my neighborhood, and was a dapper, subtle, sexy and hilariously witty man until the end. Ten years ago, when I asked him what music he was listening to he replied, "Oh, Nirvana and Social Distortion. I'm a flighty teenager that way."
posted by digaman at 11:22 AM PST - 24 comments
The Blissful Life in Utopia
SUGAR LAND, Tex. -- This is the home of Britton Stein, who describes George W. Bush as "a man, a man's man, a manly man," and Al Gore as "a ranting and raving little whiny baby."
Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican. He lives in a house that has six guns in the closets and 21 crosses in the main hallway.
Diary of a Freeper. Fascinating read. Insightful.
posted by nofundy at 8:58 AM PST - 130 comments
April 27
online creativity self-assessment testThe questionnaire contains only 40 questions
Your personal score will be compared with the global average score
The test takes no longer than 10 minutes of your time
Do you feel ingenuous? Well, do ya, punk??
Macromedia Flash player is required to take the scan.
posted by y2karl at 7:46 PM PST - 81 comments
"Who is this Loretta Lynn chick, anyway?".
Jack White, in a skintight,
red cowboy suit, seemed a little nervous when he came out to introduce his opening act. So nervous, in fact, that the White Stripes frontman offered a cautionary preface of sorts to the massive huddle of young fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. "Now I want you all to be very nice to my next guest. I think
she's the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century,". The crowd looked around at each other, visibly puzzled.
In White,
Loretta Lynn has found her
Rick Rubin. Finally. Much like the producer who
revitalized the
late Johnny
Cash's career with
spare, homespun recordings, White has raised the notion of
Loretta Lynn as a hip, renegade country artist. The transformation is of the same magnitude as
Emmylou Harris's ethereal work with Daniel Lanois in the mid-'90s.
more inside
posted by matteo at 4:23 PM PST - 33 comments
DREAM
WORLD
Given that green tea provides a more effective and environmentally-friendly method of preparing computer hard disks, pulsars are used to study gravitational waves with great precision, solar cells made from nanocrystals are found to be much more efficient, and scientists have discovered evidence for the earliest known wildfire in Earth's history, 443 to 417 million years ago, it would be hard to make the case that what we are living in is not, in fact, a Dreamworld.
posted by mcgraw at 1:11 PM PST - 29 comments
Becoming Evil : Boston WTKK-FM radio's Jay Severin advocates genocide of American-Muslims
- this is the advocacy of domestic terrorism. And not the mere targeting of civilians but the murder of over three million men, women, and children.
Why shouldn't Jay Severin be arrested and charged, under the Patriot Act, with aiding and abetting US domestic terrorist groups which advocate such violence? [Scroll down towards the bottom of the Globe story for a transcript of the quote in context.]
James Waller has studied the process by which individuals and society come to commit mass atrocities , and says of his theories:
"...[the] explanation simply allows us to understand the conditions under which many of us could be transformed into killing machines. When we understand the ordinariness of extraordinary evil, we will be less surprised by evil, less likely to be unwitting contributors to evil, and perhaps better equipped to forestall evil."
Hesiod Lists some of WTTK's advertisers : Purina, Hilton Resorts, 99 Restaurant and Pub, A.T. & T. Wireless. Still,
Orcinus is my favorite "rise of
extremist terrorist hate speech in America" news source. Germany has laws against such hate speech - which it believes to be so dangerous as to
override free speech considerations - But we've got the USA PATRIOT Act, right?
posted by troutfishing at 12:46 PM PST - 104 comments
Now that the terrorists are all caught, it's time to go back to attacking the real problem in America:
Ravers.
"The Ecstasy Awareness Act (H.R. 2962) would throw anyone in jail who "profits monetarily from a rave or similar electronic dance event knowing or having reason to know" some event-goers may use drugs at the event. Similarly, Section 305 of the CLEAN-UP Act (H.R. 834) makes it a federal crime - punishable by up to nine years in prison - to promote "any rave, dance, music, or other entertainment event, that takes place under circumstances where the promoter knows or reasonably ought to know that a controlled substance will be used or distributed."
ProtectLiveMusic.org has been setup to combat these proposed laws. The idea of busting anyone that promotes a concert where drugs might show up in the jackets of attendees sounds like a good safe law that would never be abused, right? On the bright side, we're now one bill away from Phish and the Dead never touring ever again. :) [via
furdlog]
posted by mathowie at 9:35 AM PST - 49 comments
This site
has a real cool slide show of a bunch of graffitied Rudy Guiliani tv movie posters in NYC subway stations (under 'Other'). Some other good stuff by this artist to check out, too (Flash required).
posted by Miyagi at 8:39 AM PST - 11 comments
My Life as Ralph Nader's Flunkie
Ralph Nader believes an independent candidacy should "generate more understandings and support for major new directions for our country." His website says these new directions include "repeal of laws that obstruct trade union organization by millions of workers mired in poverty by wages that cannot meet their minimum family livelihoods." The site prescribes "a living wage for tens of millions of workers making under $10 an hour." But the perennial leftist candidate, whose name will appear on the presidential ballot for the third consecutive time this November, has not played by the same rules he strives to make binding for corporations and private businesses.
posted by Postroad at 8:34 AM PST - 19 comments
A Picture's Worth
:: a slightly different kind of photo blog -- a single (often excellent) photo, accompanied by a short (often poignant) essay which explains the emotions, memories or thoughts that the photograph triggers for the photographer.
posted by anastasiav at 8:18 AM PST - 1 comments
The grays, the mantises, the snake-skins, and the hybrids are just some of the aliens drawn by children at
Aliens and Children. To note:
thought screen hats will successfully prevent abduction by the mantis-like aliens, the servants of the mantis-like aliens, the snake-skinned aliens, and the Meek-Moks.
posted by iconomy at 5:02 AM PST - 24 comments
Doomed to failure in the Middle East.
52 former senior British diplomats, probably the most experienced people on Middle East issues in Britain, sent a letter to Tony Blair, telling him he is very close to fucking up big time. Tony is trying to pass this as just «right of opinion». What next? Are we going to see foreign office people demonstrating outside Downing street?
posted by acrobat at 3:58 AM PST - 64 comments
April 26
How to Get Out of Iraq by
Peter GalbraithMuch of what went wrong was avoidable. Focused on winning the political battle to start a war, the Bush administration failed to anticipate the postwar chaos in Iraq. Administration strategy seems to have been based on a hope that Iraq's bureaucrats and police would simply transfer their loyalty to the new authorities, and the country's administration would continue to function. All experience in Iraq suggested that the collapse of civil authority was the most likely outcome, but there was no credible planning for this contingency. In fact, the US effort to remake Iraq never recovered from its confused start when it failed to prevent the looting of Baghdad in the early days of the occupation.
posted by y2karl at 7:35 PM PST - 108 comments
After all the hoopla about increasing security, it seems that the requirement for biometric data to be included in passports of those entering the US from visa waiver countries will need to be
extended for two years to allow other countries to
catch up with the technology, as it seems most countries are
unable to meet the deadline. Some countries have put
on hold the new technology, while others seem committed to
going ahead with it, despite
doubts about the readiness of the technology. Of course, if civil liberties groups
get their way, the biometric passports may never see the
light of day. Specific religious issues
complicate the matter to some extent, also.
Given that, if the technology to produce biometric passports is available, will it really be that hard for forged passports to be created? Unless a massive world-wide database containing the biometric details of every person was used for data-matching, it is hard to see how these new measures will really make much difference to anyone apart from the companies selling the technology.
posted by dg at 6:05 PM PST - 4 comments
Prosser High School
teacher sees 15 year old student's war artwork depicting President Bush as a devil and another decapitated. Captions include calling an end to the war, and support for Ralph Nadar. Teacher hands artwork over to school administrators, who in turn bring in the Secret Service.
Because that's what you do when you've handed out an assignment to kids "to keep a notebook of drawings depicting the war in Iraq".
posted by Feisty at 4:32 PM PST - 58 comments
Then, in one of his unexplained flashes of clarity, he told Debbie: "I don't want to have Alzheimer's."
On Saturday, John will be 57. Although he is in the end stage of
early-onset Alzheimer's, he still enjoys simple pleasures: walking outdoors, eating ice cream, listening to music. His wife, children and church friends some of whom have relatives with dementia will gather at the nursing home for a birthday party. They will honor the man John once was, and the spirit that survives. And some will no doubt wonder
if they are bearing witness to their own futures.
Alzheimer's is
a disease that can create nurses and chambermaids out of loved ones. Jim Broomall doesn't blame his mother. It's not her fault. She can't help it. No one with Alzheimer's can and caregivers must remember that, he says. "If you don't, you'll go crazy".
Or maybe even die: home care for Alzheimer's patients
is a major health risk for the caregiver spouse. That's the choice for the families of the Alzheimer's patients (4.5 million of whom are Americans).
posted by matteo at 9:44 AM PST - 26 comments
Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam
The call to jihad is rising in the streets of Europe, and is being answered, counterterrorism officials say.
In this former industrial town north of London, a small group of young Britons whose parents emigrated from Pakistan after World War II have turned against their families' new home. They say they would like to see Prime Minister Tony Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside No. 10 Downing Street.
posted by Postroad at 6:55 AM PST - 52 comments
April 25
City-Data has a lot of statistics on about every city, town and village in the US. While there is nothing new about this service, I enjoyed being able to compare cities and towns of interest. What inspired me to post it here though, are the
pages of random pictures submitted to the site from all over the country. Basically, you get a diverse collage of how people see their own locals.
Here's a nice example.
posted by Recockulous at 8:52 PM PST - 9 comments
My Secret LIfe as a Prostitute
-
A diary about my hidden life as an independent escort, erotic provider, prostitute, whore, call girl, hooker ... whatever you wish to call me.
Updated practically daily.
A truly fascinating read, probably NSFW, but no pictures save for the artistic one at the top and very little in the way of nasty sex-type words.
posted by ashbury at 8:03 PM PST - 39 comments
Aid world rethinks role in Iraq
--
As aid agencies continue to evaluate their work in Iraq, many are coming to the uncomfortable conclusion that their decision to deploy was driven more by politics than local needs.
posted by amberglow at 7:38 PM PST - 2 comments
A New Typeface for Yale
The Yale typeface is available to Yale employees, students, and authorized contractors for use in Yale publications and communications. It may not be used for personal or business purposes, and it may not be distributed to non-Yale personnel.
posted by ColdChef at 5:33 PM PST - 38 comments
Holding Pattern
is a screensaver for Mac OS X that generates photo-realistic simulations of the view from a flying airplane window.
posted by Mwongozi at 6:16 AM PST - 17 comments
April 24
London Booted - A tribute to the Clash.
In the vein of the Grey Album, here is an album of mash-ups in tribute to
London Calling. Especially good is the
mix of The Clash's
Spanish Bombs and Outkast's
Bombs over Baghdad. After reading the background (and hopefully donating to one of the worthwhile sponsors), get your
download on.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:34 PM PST - 8 comments
what is it about web games? they start as if-thens and then they become alive. i've been following this game for a while; just out of beta now, free to play. any other games of this sort out there? (perhaps not detective, but same click-per-page web app style)
posted by folktrash at 4:46 PM PST - 10 comments
Time to pull out the giant salt shaker
- Evidence supporting Abrupt Climate Change theory builds (from a new study published in
Nature Magazine, April 22 2004) : "Rate of Ocean Circulation Directly Linked to Abrupt Climate Change - A new study strengthens evidence that the oceans and climate are linked in an intricate dance, and that rapid climate change may be related to how vigorously ocean currents transport heat from low to high latitudes....(From the ever superb
NASA Earth Observatory)
posted by troutfishing at 7:16 AM PST - 41 comments
April 23
A new study (in a biggish PDF)
from
PRI states that most environmental indicators in the United States have improved dramatically since the 1970's regardless of the political party that controls the White House. Notably: "CO (Carbon monoxide) levels were the lowest recorded during the past 20 years" (EPA, 2002, pg 48), ambient lead levels have fallen 98% between 1976 and 2002 (pg 46), and sulfur dioxide has fallen 70% since 1976 (pg 44). (Mostly) Happy Earth Week, right?
(Via
Easterblogg)
posted by loquax at 11:10 PM PST - 26 comments
After 25 years away, I've recently moved back to the metropolis of my birth, Houston, Texas, and have been reminded that a lot of my favorite buildings here are from the
Modern Movement in architecture. However, many of these buildings--much less than a century old!--are now giving way to newer ones, and many
unique residences fast being replaced with
McMansions. Even the
Astrodome's fate is in the air.
HoustonMod is trying to preserve these buildings and their place in history. More power to 'em.
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:11 PM PST - 21 comments
Israeli Border Police use Palestinian kid as human shield.
According to Rabbi Arik Ascherman: The boy, crying, shaking from fear and eventually cold, was sat on the hood of a jeep and tied to the bars protecting the glass. The other three arrestees were bound and placed in front of a second jeep as human shields, to deter protestors from throwing stones at the jeep.
posted by Ty Webb at 2:12 PM PST - 72 comments
Blender Magazine lists the 50 worst songs of all time.
Wait. Before you click the link know the the geniuses over at Blender only post songs 50 (Celline Dion's "My Heart Will Go On") through 41 (Color Me Badd's I Wanna Sex You Up. Yeah, I'm going to go buy a copy just for this article, aren't you? Fortunately,
MSN spares us the torment of not knowing what the worst song of all time might be. Ready? Starship's "We Built This City." Now recognizing that it's the job of critics to make choices, and this is an impossible one, surely we can do better than that, no? [via danieldrezner.com]
posted by mojohand at 1:08 PM PST - 98 comments
There are goofy news items every day, but once in a while you have some story that transcends them all.
Teacher accused of ordering student thrown from window is quite possibly the silliest story I've seen this year. It's beyond the Onion. Teacher enters class and takes photo of students, one student objects, teacher makes a disparaging remark about the way the student looks and student hits an emergency button, then the teacher orders two boys to throw her out the window (where she suffered injuries). Best line about the boys "they threw the girl out the window because they did not want to be written up for disobeying a teacher."
posted by mathowie at 12:09 PM PST - 29 comments
sniggle.net
:: calls itself a 'Culture Jammer's Encyclopedia' -- its a fabulous compendium of forgeries, fakes, hoaxes, counterfeiting, spoofs, pseudoscience, and just plain weird stuff. Perfect fodder for killing time on a Friday afternoon.
posted by anastasiav at 10:45 AM PST - 6 comments
No Communion for Pro-Choice Politicians
Apparently they have some issue with women having control over their own bodies so they'll deny communion to pro-choice politicians.
Hey, isn't John Kerry a pro-choice Catholic? This couldn't have anything to do with him could it?
Isn't a divisive move like this more likely to result in more people leaving the "faith"?
posted by fenriq at 9:36 AM PST - 70 comments
NFL player
, who walked away from a $3.6 million contract in the aftermath of 9/11 to join his brother in the Special Forces, dies in Afganistan. Unselfishness personified.
posted by treywhit at 9:12 AM PST - 46 comments
GUI Olympics!
several corporate sponsors (ATI, nVidia, and others) are
offering up $15,000 in prize money for the best GUI skin any designer can come up with for a few applications. while i think it's great to push for newer and better user interfaces, who do
so many of the designs seem to be pushing complexity over useability? wouldn't a better use of a GUI design prize be to encourage people to improve on a design rather than make it unintelligible? maybe the people pushing the designs need to take
this quiz.
posted by caution live frogs at 8:48 AM PST - 18 comments
J. Robert Oppenheimer Centennial:
It is telling that the first atomic test would be named in reference to a poem by John Donne ("Trinity") and the next series of tests would be labeled simply alphabetically according to military protocol ("Able," "Baker," "X-ray," "Yoke," and "Zebra"). It is indicative of the changing of hands of the bomb, moving from the responsibility of intellectual eclectics like Oppenheimer into the protocols of military rank and policy.
See also the
Oppenheimer Affair.
Via
Science NetWatch.
posted by jjray at 8:17 AM PST - 
