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July 31
How many recent metafilter threads can you spot in this story?
It seems no matter you become famous (or infamous) you need a spokesperson. Just in case you are ever sans spokesperson and standing naked before the ravenous third estate this article gives you a few canned sound bites.
Look in a mirror and say these six lines with a straight face:
"The best thing for everyone involved is to achieve closure and move on..."
posted by rdr at 10:36 PM PST - 2 comments
john cusack for president
Why Shouldn't John Cusack be President?
He made the tough decisions in Grosse Pointe Blank.
He couldn't be bought in Eight Men Out.
He's cooler than John Malkovich
And we like his politics so far.
interesting. what actor do you think should be president? and why?
posted by bwg at 10:26 PM PST - 57 comments
PacBell seeks to secure a monopoly
Californians urged to contact the PUC to put the brakes on PacBell's plan to kill the independent ISP.
Should they be allowed to take their toys and go home or be forced to share? And, what effect will this have on the future of tech companies if PacBell is able to lock out DSL competition?
posted by sillygit at 9:06 PM PST - 6 comments
B&O goes virtual
: Beoplayer 1.0 is a Windows application that sits on your desktop and, like everything Bang, works in a sleek, elegant, unintuitive manner (until you learn what the icons and doodads do, then you can show it off for all your friends). Guaranteed you've never seen a music player like this one.
posted by honkzilla at 7:32 PM PST - 14 comments
Cheat! Win a new car!
Ford's website tie-in to the NASCAR race series looks fairly normal on first glance. It's a contest that offers prizes (Grand Prize a new Taurus) based on picking the top Ford finishers in each week's race. However, the website is riddled with issues. Enough issues that no one should win a prize when all is said and done. More inside:
posted by machaus at 5:44 PM PST - 4 comments
Pity The Poor TV Broadcaster
It was obvious that Personal Video Recorders (like Tivo) were going to make it way easy to skip advertising. What I also realized, though, when talking to
Lane about how
Buffy is moving from the WB to UPN, is that folks who watch
Buffy via a PVR could care less what channel it is on--they just tell the machine to "get me
Buffy" and it does the rest. This study seems to affirm that, for a significant portion of the audience, this is true.
posted by peterme at 4:48 PM PST - 24 comments
Stories like this one
always seems to bring a smile to my face. For the record, this is the second time in the last few years that some stupid (or very desperate) criminal has tried to rob a doughnut shop in the Chicago land area. You'd think that the concept alone would stop a would-be assailant, but I guess truth
is stranger than fiction.
posted by Bag Man at 4:26 PM PST - 15 comments
Netninja Photo Contest
There's a little more than a week or so left in the contest, and I doubt it's going to be the next All Your Base, but it looks like fun. Hell, I'm entering.
posted by dincognito at 3:56 PM PST - 2 comments
Scient and iXL Merge
...and I'm wondering who thinks this is a really good idea. A big part of the problem these "iBusiness" consultancies have is that they're too big. Remember all those layoffs? It's in large part because of big overhead, which is a big problem in a tight market. So what problem is being solved by making these two companies into one bigger company?
posted by peterme at 3:48 PM PST - 14 comments
The War on Drug Wars.
"Ashkan Sahihi is a photographer who is infuriated by the hypocrisy of the war on drugs. It is this hypocrisy that inspired Sahihi to take eleven people out of their daily environments, get them high, and photograph them."
Does this project warrant attention as a political statement, as an art project, as all of the above, or as none of the above? Please explain your answer. Partial credit will be given.
posted by conquistador at 12:07 PM PST - 23 comments
The Bush Dyslexicon
Ever since the presidential campaign, George W. Bush's adventures in the English language have alternately amused and horrified the nation. But according to media scholar Mark Crispin Miller's scathing new book, The Bush Dyslexicon, to conclude merely that Bush is dimwitted would be a grave mistake. The President's linguistic fumbles, argues Miller, mask a deep and shrewd political vindictiveness; at the same time, the shallowness revealed in Bush's unscripted remarks has been largely ignored or coddled by a national media more interested in soundbites than in political substance.I don't know what is more frightening: that this guy is right, and we have much more to fear about Bush, Jr. than we thought...or that he is wrong, and we do indeed live in a land whose president is an imbecile.
posted by mapalm at 11:23 AM PST - 54 comments
Special Delivery
Like a plot out of a movie (or TV show):
"You know, my daddy's name was Johnny Johnson," Simmons said, figuring that it was little more than a coincidence.
The man paused for a moment and then asked Simmons what his name was. When Simmons told him, he saw tears well up in the man's eyes.
"David, is that really you?" the man asked, his voice quivering.
Link courtesy
Obscure Store.
posted by internal at 10:56 AM PST - 13 comments
He sees dead people.
(NYT link) John Edward, host of Sci Fi channel's "Crossing Over", can "read" his audience and pass messages from the deceased. Or is it just like a game of 20 questions? After a few questions he can make guesses and be close enough to right that people believe it. Have you ever seen the show, and do you believe him? Have you ever been read by a psychic? Do you have psychic powers yourself?
posted by msacheson at 9:59 AM PST - 60 comments
Taliban seeks "friendship" with the U.S.
Despite their myriad human rights violations and long-standing involvement in a brutal and bloody civil war, the Afghani Taliban government wants to open diplomatic relations with the U.S. Is there really anything to gain by having friendly relations with a nation under UN sanction which treats their own with brutality and has threatened and defied us at every turn?
posted by Dreama at 9:23 AM PST - 15 comments
New web site helps Venezuelans emigrate. The website
www.mequieroir.com, which means "I want to leave" in Spanish, offers advice on foreign visa regulations, work permits and even culture and climate for citizens of whatever age who are considering emigrating. Its pages cite recent opinion polls that show that more than 30 percent of Venezuela's 24 million inhabitants would emigrate if they had the opportunity.
posted by 120degrees at 9:21 AM PST - 5 comments
July 30
The Agony and the Ecstasy
It's a thin line between torture and titillation... these exhibits always get tremendous audience turn out. How many people have a little de sade within, I wonder?
posted by christina at 9:05 PM PST - 11 comments
Jordanian king pulls a Princess Jasmine.
According to the report, King Abdullah II occasionally dons a disguise and slips out of his palace to mingle with the plebes and check up on the efficiency of government offices. What a cool idea. I picture George W. disguising himself as a migrant farm worker and applying for welfare.
Nah...the Bally loafers would probably give him away...
posted by Bixby23 at 8:33 PM PST - 4 comments
Should Election Day be a holiday?
Vote, then do some barbecue and watch fireworks... Will this be the development that could increase voter turnout, or will people just waste the day away? How else could voter turnout be improved?
posted by owillis at 5:14 PM PST - 63 comments
Microsoft vs. AOL
Gee, who do you root for in this one? Personally, I'd love to see a Pay-Per-View kickboxing match between Steve Case and Bill Gates.
posted by Rastafari at 3:22 PM PST - 3 comments
The Princess Bride...
"In the 1980s, a timeless story was brought to life... after over a decade, it has returned... the most anticipated remake in a generation... in a way it has never been seen before."
And that's an understatement.
posted by silusGROK at 2:14 PM PST - 29 comments
In some places on this planet, even 'Tolkienists' are being arrested
Tolerance for alternative lifestyles is apparently non-existent in Almaty, Kazakstan. "Almaty's police are resorting to torture in their war against Kazakstan's burgeoning bohemian counter-culture. Their targets are a growing army of street musicians, alternative artists, a cult devoted to Tolkien, anarchists and gays, whose unconventional lifestyles infuriate them."
Go here for more on the
Tolkienists.
posted by Lynsey at 2:06 PM PST - 10 comments
A major advance in genetically modified foods.
Developed with government funding, and intended eventually to be given away to farmers, there has been a major success in the use of salt water to irrigate crops. They've developed a tomato which grows fine in salt water or on salty soil. Thousands of lives will be saved in parts of the world where fresh water for irrigation is scarce, including up to one third of the arable land in India where salt has been accumulating. Interestingly, these tomatoes are so good at what they do that they remove salt from the soil, improving it. The genetic modification which was done to these tomatoes should be possible with many other crops, including especially rice (on which major effort in Egypt is underway now).
posted by Steven Den Beste at 1:28 PM PST - 39 comments
Marijuana use legal for terminally ill
"Canada became the first country in the world on Monday to allow terminally ill patients to grow and smoke their own marijuana, overriding protests from doctors who said the decision could put them in an awkward situation."
posted by sylloge at 12:46 PM PST - 6 comments
Geocaching is a way to put your useless GPS device, and your lazy internet to work for your important fun needs. People hide Stuff on earth, and mark the spot. Publish the coordinates, and you go find the stuff. Sometimes toys and cameras are involved. Link via my good friend
J.Bu, who probably did not realize he was giving away a perfectly good Old School style MeFi post.
posted by thirteen at 11:14 AM PST - 26 comments
Slate's Mickey Kaus and the
Washington Post ask the question: For all the claims of illegal monopolies and unfair advantage, is the tech industry counting on Microsoft and Windows XP's Oct. 25 release to save its bacon?
posted by rcade at 8:30 AM PST - 19 comments
Another blog-tracking tool...
Although I am braced for mefi attack for posting this one ("non-story - there are other web log trackers" etc, etc), I'm interested to hear what me-fier's think about the ultimate viability of such a product. Is a comprehensive weblog crawler a viable product? Would google-like algorithms work? What would this mean for said "memes" and their proliferation on the net? Further, is there a potential for a "commodification of the meme?" Would the corporates, in the style of
viral marketing gimmicks
("I Kiss you!"), use such a "meme tracker" to identify and exploit net culture
"hot spots?"
posted by preguicoso at 7:31 AM PST - 23 comments
This NYT article
on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), written by Prof. Lawrence Lessig (author of an excellent
book on copyright law and policy in the digital age), raises concerns that were academic prior to the recent
arrest of a Russian software programmer at a Las Vegas computer security convention for violation of the act's
Sec. 1201(a)(1)(A)'s anticircumvention provision.
Is Lessig right that Sec. 1201 essentially makes coders (and their employers) into
de facto lawmakers and, if so, is this a bad thing? If Sec. 1201 is bad policy, are there any more reasonable alternatives for effectively protecting access to software and/or providing negative incentives for the unauthorized use of software? (NYT article, registration required)
posted by estopped at 7:19 AM PST - 16 comments
I guess we'll walk.
Much of eastern Canada is currently in the grip of one of the worst summers for smog on record, and a recent poll showed that 58 per cent of Canadians support the idea of limiting car use on smoggy days. However, just 37 per cent said they were willing to pay more taxes in order to improve public transportation.
posted by tranquileye at 5:02 AM PST - 14 comments
Did the Viking landers find life on Mars 25 years ago?
Some scientists think so. I have too much faith in planetary scientists and
the newly minted field of exobiology, to believe this is a just a ploy to
rekindle waning public interest in space exploration. I think this is
genuine 20/20 hindsight coupled with better scientific understandings of life
existing in the extreme hinterlands of possibility. . .
posted by crasspastor at 12:00 AM PST - 29 comments
July 29
So bad its good?
Or just a crime against humanity? Its the Star Wars Holiday Special, starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Beatrice Arthur(!!). Also starring Chewbacca's father Itchy and his son Lumpy.
posted by BoatMeme at 8:02 PM PST - 12 comments
Murder on Swan's Island
Not a Stephen King story or a
Murder She Wrote episode, but a real tragedy in a real small town in Maine (not far from my home town) where the deaths of two people change the lives of an entire community forever. It set me thinking ... how would this story be different if set in Boston, or LA, or London? Would the pain and loss for those who knew Jamie and Stacy be the same? Or is it magnified by the close-knit family that makes up a rural island township?
posted by anastasiav at 6:45 PM PST - 4 comments
'If I didn't save this music no one else would'
Fascinating story of one man's fight to preserve to music of an entire continent. Imagine if the
American or British music of the 1940s and 1950s, so beloved by movie producers and commercial makers hadn't been available since then. 'Blue Velvet' stuck in a basement somewhere covered in dust. The only copy of 'Sixteen Candles' in a junk shop somewhere slowly warping in the sun. It really doesn't bare thinking about...
posted by feelinglistless at 6:39 AM PST - 6 comments
July 28
The Economist
calls for the legalization of drugs in this editorial. Plus these
articles [per A&LD]. We are always led to believe that only fringe (read criminal and self-interested) elements favor this course...does anyone know any other "mainstream" groups/people with the nerve to publicly state their support? Or better yet, an online list of same.
posted by rushmc at 11:39 AM PST - 20 comments
U.S. Gov't: IF communists attack THEN GOTO communism:
The plans that the federal government had developed for salvaging the state in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States by the Soviet Union would have added mass starvation and social extinction to the mass devastation of nuclear war by imposing martial law and a federal dictatorship running the country from the top down.
posted by dagny at 11:09 AM PST - 13 comments
Best. Quote. Ever.
"Only a man can be a woman the way a man wants a woman to be." I was looking at
FilePile, and it seems to be not working right now, so I went to Google's
image surfer for an image of a bone, because FilePile is "boned", right? And that found, among other things, "big-boned", which led to a
transvestite supply site (because some transvestites are a little big-boned, I guess), which led to that choice quote. Man, the internet is all, like, connected and stuff.
posted by RylandDotNet at 8:23 AM PST - 7 comments
They've got it all:
"Pro-White America First" candidates! The VP candidate in her underwear! The man Pat Buchanan denounced as ''crude, obscene, vile and bigoted in the extreme''! Yes, kids, the Reform Party is alive and kicking, and holding their convention in my hometown. Hold onto your hats.
posted by ChrisTN at 7:41 AM PST - 7 comments
July 27
House votes to restore water arsenic standards.
Gee, I don't know. Whose opinion might be more valid, the Republicans or the National Academy of Science? Not that the NAS is suddenly perfect but the recent attempts to put major spin on science, especially in global warming, is an unsettling trend.
posted by skallas at 8:51 PM PST - 5 comments
It's like a paycheck advance, not a rebate.
You thought the great tax relief of 2001 was a rebate on those huge surpluses the US gov't didn't know what to do with right? Nope, it's merely an advance on the refund of taxes you'll file next year, and here's the kicker: you may or may not be getting any refund at all next year. Tax relief? Tax rebate? Simply owing the $300 back next April? Who came up with this stupid idea? (truth courtesy of
Megnut)
posted by mathowie at 6:50 PM PST - 44 comments
Stolen shamelessly from
Tom: a charming
clock, reminding us once again that "time" is an intellectual concept meaningless without human participation... (Don't miss
the webserver, either.) Considering the depth and breadth - and apparent copious free time - of the MeFi community one would hope we'd be able to
help fill in some of the still
unphotographed minutes.
posted by m.polo at 6:29 PM PST - 3 comments
400ml Graffiti
- great graffiti art from some of the best taggers the world has ever known. how on earth did they do
that with
spraypaint? absolutely incredible.
posted by mcsweetie at 3:13 PM PST - 6 comments
Tron returns with a vengeance. With a theatrical sequel, a 20th anniversary DVD and a first-person PC shooter, you have to wonder why Disney is rollling out the red carpet all of a sudden.
posted by ed at 1:51 PM PST - 34 comments
higher IQ = longer life span
A study in the British Medical Journal shows a link between IQ and longevity. 2200 children were tracked from childhood to the age of 76. A 15-point disadvantage in IQ meant the child was only 79% as likely to be alive at 76. A 30-point disadvantage reduced the odds to 63%.
*link found at darwin awards
posted by bwg at 12:18 PM PST - 12 comments
Colin Powell in cabaret performance in Viet Nam.
"As Powell acted out his death throes at the end of the song, [Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko] Tanaka - in traditional Vietnamese dress - flung her arms around his prostrate body and kissed him on the cheek." Apparently these kinds of performances are regular occurences at these things.
posted by donkeymon at 11:20 AM PST - 16 comments
Who did it?
Probably the only reality show with a bit of a brain,
Murder in Small Town X has a group of "investigators" who must find a murderer by way of searching for clues and interviewing the townspeople. The first episode comes on again Sunday.
posted by owillis at 10:23 AM PST - 8 comments
What? The sky isn't falling! It's just an acorn!
John Kelso, Austin's foremost professional Texan, writes today about the Austin-California grudge match. (In Austin, it's
de rigeur to blame the Cal-dot-commers-cum-Texans for the city's growing pains. It's also a tad accurate.) He also gripes about a silly SF gate
Flash site where you can
turn the lights out on Austin. The guy's a crank -- and he can't write a column without mentioning Bubbas, chili, or vegetarians -- but this is a perfect example of Texas' head-in-the-sand attitude towards a possible energy crisis. And the rest of the country's, maybe.
posted by mudbug at 9:53 AM PST - 23 comments
Another stupid parent story,
without which your day just wouldn't be complete. Mother and Stepfather, who lobbied for a stricter definition of 'rape' in Ohio, are charged with raping their daughter (via artificial insemination). I hate people.
posted by mudbug at 9:40 AM PST - 22 comments
paris is a mess this year
and anyhow, everyone goes there, and all you meet are more americans. I recently discovered the
Allier region, and it's got wine, castles, beautiful scenery and hardly any tourists. What is your favorite "hidden" travel spot?
posted by christina at 8:16 AM PST - 15 comments
The Day My Car Ratted Me Out.
Dear Winston Smith,
Your 1984 Corvette has informed us that over the past month, you have failed to obey the speed limit 36 times, at times reaching speeds exceeding 130 MPH. As A result, we feel that we can no longer provide you with coverage. We have also supplied this information to the proper authorities, their jackbooted thugs should be in your driveway momentarily. Thank you.
INGSOC Insurance
First it was the rental car companies, now it is GM and the Insurance companies. This is the top of a very slippery slope of privacy issues and technology, specifically GPS.
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 7:45 AM PST - 45 comments
Turn your webwasher off for
this link.
I hate banner ads, which is why I use webwasher, they're annoyingly large, wasteful, and don't work. The reason they are dying and taking the rest of the dot-com industry along with them.
I don't know much about Hondas or cars all entirely, but prius seems like a good idea, better fuel efficiency saves on money and doesn't pollute as much. The reason I like the ad though, is it's not intrusive, it doesn't have a 200k gif of a windows alert box telling you 'your connected is too slow. CLICK HERE to make it faster OK', it doesn't blink or use flash. It is tailored to a specific audience, people that look up directions and drive their cars, the product that the company sells.
I hope this is the future of advertising on the web, but then again, how exactly are you suppose to fish out people to buy your 'ultra small hidden bathroom cameras'?
posted by tiaka at 7:08 AM PST - 21 comments
M.I.T. Physicist Says Pentagon Is Trying To Silence Him.
(NYTimes, registration required) So, it appears that the Pentagon commissions a panel to "review" ("refute"?) a contrary assessment of antimissile technology, but when an unintended byproduct of that review is
more criticism of said technology, they pull this little snow job? I guess we've heard this song before, but it's still laughable. Interesting comment from the Brass: "just because it is made public doesn't mean it's declassified." I guess he must mean "authorized", because for my money, that's
exactly what it means.
posted by topolino at 1:06 AM PST - 13 comments
July 26
Tom Lehrer
Retires Tom Lehrer has finally hung it up as a math lecturer at my alma mater, UC Santa Cruz. I couldn't find a web link specifically about that, but thought it was OK to use a link about the man himself. My Banana Slug Bulletin said he retired so it must be true.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:09 PM PST - 10 comments
Kiss your Porn-E-Okie goodbye!
Chicken John, one of San Francisco's leading promoters of cool underground happenings, recently purchased the Odeon Bar. His idea? To provide a space for artistic, creative performances that don't fit in with the mainstream. One of his successes has been Porn-E-Okie, outlandishly cheesy karaoke performances accompanied by custom-edited porn videos. It's an experience that is part comedy, part performance art. It certainly puts songs like "
Hit Me With Your Best Shot" in an entirely new light...
Well, thanks to the efforts of the SFPD, Porn-E-Okie is now a felony crime in San Francisco. To obtain his liquor license, Chicken John had to sign a paper promising to never do Porn-E-Okie again as it constitutes "willful and wanton disregard of public welfare and morals". In San Francisco? Are you kidding me?! The police must *love* the Castro...
I might as well add Mayor Willie Brown and President of the Board of Supervisors Tom Ammiano to my address book, because this kind of SFPD stupidity still seems entirely too common.
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:34 PM PST - 9 comments
Windsor McKay (of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" fame) and
George Herriman (of "Krazy Kat" and "Archie & Mehitabel") weren't just innovative, influential cartoonists; they were also pioneering animators. The Library of Congress'
Origins of American Animation project has downloadable short films by McKay (including his celebrated
Gertie the Dinosaur) and Herriman as well as others from the early, early days of animated film.
posted by snarkout at 3:57 PM PST - 7 comments
You go, Tom!
"The roll call was a feather in [Tom] Daschle's cap as he managed to prevail in his first effort as majority leader to stop a Republican filibuster."
Senator Tom Daschle (from South Dakota, no less), one of the only Democrats who still has guts. (Where are ye, Harkin? Where hast thou gone, Wellstone?)
posted by mapalm at 2:56 PM PST - 11 comments
German satanic couple held after ritual murder
Nothing better to create hits than this.
It has: devil-worshipping, satanic killing, with 66 machete and hammer wounds, "The victim was no longer recognisable", DNA analysis to discover his identity, black oak coffin, upturned crosses, Nazi SS rune stones, Count Dracula's castle, walls were covered in black cloths, "When Satan Lives", July 6, a date supposedly chosen for the satanic symbolism of number six, The shaven-headed, body-pierced Daniel and his pink-haired, leather-clad bride Manuela, occult chat-line....
I'll stop now, but there's more....
posted by nonharmful at 2:20 PM PST - 11 comments
Imminant death of net predicted. Good, the fad-followers can go on to whatever's next and the real geeks can take their Jolt back to their cubicles and go back to arguing about the One True Indentation Style.
posted by jfuller at 2:10 PM PST - 9 comments
The Hindu nationalist group Bajrang Dal name a puppy George Bush.
This isn't meant to be a complimentary act... it's in reaction to their discovery that the Bushes' cat's name is India (short for India Ink). They've taken this as an insult to the nation, and have retaliated with the puppy.
I'm kind of curious about what this tells about Indian naming practices and significances, as compared to those in the US. Could someone more familiar with Hindu/Indian culture please enlighten me as to why they'd feel so insulted?
posted by jason at 10:22 AM PST - 36 comments
Net Detective 2001
can help you find "EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about your friends, family, neighbors, employees, and even your boss! You can even check out yourself. It is all completely legal, and you can do it all in the privacy of your own home without anyone ever knowing. It's even better than hiring a private investigator."
A friend of mine who is still unsure of the security of the Internet was curious about a spam he received and forwarded me. I wrote it off immediately as typical rubbish spam but decided to investigate it. I searched for it in Google only to find the same web page on many different sites.
I haven't tried installing it, just seems a bit too dodgy and I don't want to risk my computer's security, but has anyone heard about this program? I assumed it was some sort of scam but couldn't find anything about it in that sense.
posted by Jase_B at 6:21 AM PST - 14 comments
T new that "Niggaz" stuff would lead to no good....
"
And now, flush with grant money from a fellowship supported by Jewish big shots like Steven Spielberg, Charles Bronfman and others, Ms. Bleyer and her post-collegiate buddies are busily working on bringing this new cool-Jew magazine to life. The first issue is due in January. They have assigned some articles and taken some photos, and they also have a title: Heeb, as in the old ethnic slur, short for "Hebrew." "
posted by BGM at 12:23 AM PST - 27 comments
These two teachers
had the nerve to expose more kids to AP English classes, their reward? Removal from the program by a principal. How can teachers persevere when the parents and/or administration are both set against them?
posted by owillis at 12:17 AM PST - 19 comments
July 25
D.A.R.E Essays: 20 Years In the Future.
"After getting addicted to marijuana, I tried angle dust, heroin, and other dangerous drugs that could kill me. A couple of days after my 17th birthday I joined a gang. Well anyway, the way I got killed was in a gang fight. P.S. If you ever read this I hope that you never go down the same path I did. You should stay in school and don't do drugs." Right.
posted by Mark at 7:17 PM PST - 27 comments
Music as heard in commercials
Debate over whether the artists are selling out or not aside, there are some fairly great and obscure artists featured in TV commercials these days. As has been pointed out before, it's a sad thing when I'm consistantly hearing better music on MTV during the commercials.
posted by GriffX at 6:47 PM PST - 60 comments
AMTRAK still off-track
(NY Times link) Even before living in France I loved trains. So it pains to read that AMTRAK is
stillheading towards its last run. Do you progressive, SUV-hating Mefi people have any thoughts on how AMTRAK might get its act together (or whether it's all SUV-futile)?
posted by ParisParamus at 5:58 PM PST - 32 comments
Iceman
the Bronze Age hunter whose 5,300-year-old frozen body was discovered in the Alps.. cause of death found.. ``Maybe there was a combat, maybe he was in a battle. There is a whole series of new implications. The story needs to be rewritten.''
posted by stbalbach at 4:07 PM PST - 5 comments
Senator wants two-drink limit on planes
Air lines and flight attendants opposed even if it might slow down air rage. I guess that, like sporting events and the movies, this is a great was to pull in big bucks. If thiws bill passes in congress, Iwill never fly again!
posted by Postroad at 2:50 PM PST - 23 comments
NY Senator wants XP's release delayed
and
The Register writes a somewhat humourous article about it (as usual). Excerpt:
"It appears that Microsoft intends to maximize its monopolistic power, using XP as a platform to enter new lines of business while encumbering competitors," Schumer said, rooting deep into the 'I just sussed out Redmond's business strategy; let's arrange a press conference' archive.
posted by DyRE at 12:48 PM PST - 1 comments
Condoms don't really work?
According to this study conducted by a panel of 10, 000 physicians,
while condoms are 85 percent effective in helping prevent the spread of HIV, they offer less protection against sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and genital herpes. The worst part? They claim the CDC has known this for years.
posted by summer1971 at 11:37 AM PST - 45 comments
The Incarceration Atlas.
Everyone's probably familiar with the usual stat that America has the world's highest rate of incarceration, but there are some other pretty interesting numbers here too, touching on some Metafilter favorites - race, education and drugs.
(more inside...)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:53 AM PST - 12 comments
July 24
Man goes to jail
for writing pornographic thoughts about children in his journal. Read carefully and you'll notice he was on probation. Even so -- doesn't this go too far?
Yes, says Philip Jenkins over at nerve.com. (Found on
A & L Daily.)
posted by argybarg at 11:10 PM PST - 33 comments
Gauguin the one who cut off Van Gogh's ear?
Favorite line: "When Gauguin, then aged 40 - and still the only other colony member - announced one evening his intention to leave, Van Gogh, 35, was livid. They appear to have had a blazing row, fuelled by absinthe and other alcohol."
Sounds like an episode of "Cops," only in 1888.
posted by sassone at 9:54 PM PST - 33 comments
My house's windows just rattled from a sonic boom, so that means
the space shuttle's home again. I kind of forget about these things until a little visceral something like that brings you back in touch. Int'l Space Station that much closer to completion. Living in the future is cooooool.
posted by logovisual at 9:43 PM PST - 8 comments
Quid pro quo
anyone?
Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who was at the center of Florida's disputed presidential election last year, will run for Congress in 2002, a top Republican official said Tuesday.
posted by dchase at 5:03 PM PST - 16 comments
It's not up to the standards of the beating that Rodney King took, but it seems less called for than the punch
John Prescott threw. A policeman in Wakefield (UK) is videoed applying some, uh,
instant justice.
posted by Cuppatea at 3:28 PM PST - 2 comments
Female athlete to pose nude. Suddenly popular.
Lisa Harrison is unknown outside of basketball until she wins "Sexiest Babe in the WNBA" contest at Playboy.com. What is the worst aspect of this story?
(1) That Playboy.com actually has a "sexiest babe" contest;
(2) That the WNBA has a "morals policy" in every player contract that prevents them from upsetting the "family values" image of the league; or
(3) That Ms. Harrison is considering posing for the magazine because the money she will make is likely to quadruple her annual salary. Or, is all of this just "adults being adults" and nobody should care?
posted by conquistador at 2:51 PM PST - 18 comments
teoma
is an interesting new search engine (via
boingboing). However, if
this is any indication of its searches, count me out (check out the first result).
posted by bison at 2:35 PM PST - 8 comments
(In)famous anti-gay site hacked
(
copy) - The defacement says, in part, "
nothin against 'First Amendment hosting' we support u just not some of ur sites". So if I understand correctly, they support the first amendment as long as they agree with what is being said? Doesn't this seem a poor form of protest?
posted by revbrian at 9:23 AM PST - 24 comments
Cables, Cables, Cables
I got to thinking last night about all those cables lying along the ocean floor.
This is a fascinating article on the history of telephonic cables; while
this one adds a bit more color, and several interesting paintings.
"As history shows, the demand for undersea network capacities will only increase. There's no such thing as too much cable."
posted by mapalm at 8:45 AM PST - 18 comments
The Googlematic AIMBOT
will only work for those of you with Instant Messager installed, of course. A profoundly useful little widget knocked together by
Matt Webb allows you to do
very quick and easy
Google 'I feel lucky' searches from the comfort of your own Buddy list. Launched yesterday, I think it's a hell of a lot more useful than either
SmarterChild or
GooglyMinotaur as well as rather better conversation than any of the AIM chatbots I've found to date...
posted by barbelith at 5:29 AM PST - 52 comments
July 23
UnderEZ by UnderTec
Under-Tec Corp presents a new product to eliminate the foul odor caused by flatulence. Under-Ease are a patented protective underwear with a specially designed pocket with replacable multi-layered filter.
certainly seems to be a marketable product. i'm thinking that beyond the geriatric set this appears to be aimed at, it might be useful for those sunday afternoon football games, when all the guys are huddled around the t.v., drinking beer and eating doritos...
posted by bwg at 11:04 PM PST - 7 comments
Megawati is in,
but Abdurrahman Wahid is not out...yet. News from the world's fourth most populous nation.
With two bombs planted in churches in Jakarta this week injuring 60 people and Wahid likening his struggle with parliament to a "jihad"...I have to confess that my, er, decison to take the family to Bali next month is looking a tad iffy at the moment.
posted by lagado at 7:31 PM PST - 11 comments
Scientists are making DNA that uses letters other than AGCT
Underlying the chemicals is a code. DNA is composed of pairs of four types of proteins. This project at Scripps Research Institute is attempting to design a DNA which uses different proteins to convey genetic information. The ultimate goal would be to have a functioning organism with a genetic code that uses a different "alphabet" to "communicate" the same "message" You know what this means? If they can get it to work, language wins! The world will truly be proven to be a "discursive" formation. (The language metaphor comes courtesy of the
NYT, but I believe it is more than apt.)
posted by rschram at 6:21 PM PST - 16 comments
Ok, who's the wise guy
who decided to crush-link me? And do you prefer i set you on fire before or push you off of a cliff?
i figured i'd try to find out who it was... i entered about 20 e-mail addresses (support@microsoft.com, asdf@asdf.com, webmaster@goatse.cx... et al), and i had to sign up for 'netflip' and 'start earning cash on the net', and what did i get? two hints. my crush's first name has 6 letters, and their last name has 5. ugh. anyone know how many e-mails you have to feed this thing?!?
posted by jcterminal at 12:15 PM PST - 21 comments
Dan Rather vs. The World
(NY Times link) -- While the
conspiracy theorists and much of the mainstream media were jumping down Gary Condit's throat, Rather and company held firm and kept the "news" off the Evening News. Despite airing a few reports, they intend to keep a comparatively low level of coverage in the future. Is this how we'd like to see the media behave, or is this just a more notable example of The Media's Liberal Bias™ showing through?
posted by mrbula at 10:22 AM PST - 31 comments
Seventh seal opened, nytimes.com has a web log
Or is it...? This list of links in a section entitled "According to the Times" is a "Web-only feature highlighting facts and figures culled from the week's news. It appears every Wednesday." It seems to be a scanner of news stories by the NYT, not offsite. I used to think they were cool, but this dogged resistence to trends is making them seem aloof, no? (well, more so than usual...)
I miss CC...
posted by rschram at 8:59 AM PST - 5 comments
A Funky little art link.
An interesting little page about art by an artist. Read everything on this page and you will slowly walk into the mind of an Artist. Creative, funny, and odd.
posted by aj100 at 7:41 AM PST - 2 comments
Goose-killers suddenly notice absence of golden eggs?
With Napster neutralised, the distributed alternatives thriving, and their commercial schemes mired in technological and political difficulties, many record industry execs are quietly wishing they'd done things differently. Should we regret the lost opportunity, or celebrate it as a self-inflicted step towards breaking the stranglehold of the major labels?
posted by holgate at 7:17 AM PST - 19 comments
NTIA to sell admin rights to .us domain
Flying mostly under the radar of the mass media, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is getting ready to sell off admin rights to the .us domain, which has largely been the province of state and local governments and their various departments. Libraries, schools, etc. argue that the namespace is a "public trust" and should not be turned over to the highest bidder for commercial interests.
posted by briank at 6:06 AM PST - 8 comments
July 22
Playing computer games makes kids smarter?
Although it reads like a headline from
The Onion, a British study funded by the ESRC has come to that conclusion. "They seemed able to focus on what they were doing much better than other people and also had better general co-ordination. Overall there was a huge similarity with top-level athletes."
Gotta go and show this to my boss...
posted by jedrek at 11:41 PM PST - 11 comments
Avi Ben-Abraham, man of a thousand and one faces:
43-year-old Ben-Abraham . . . has spent the past two decades surfacing, disappearing and resurfacing in the company of presidents, prime ministers, Hong Kong billionaires, European royalty, Hollywood moguls and members of the Kennedy family.
posted by aladfar at 9:37 PM PST - 16 comments
Ashcroft launches C.H.I.P.
Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property units to make sure all your licensing is in order, don't have a copy of the DeCSS song, and keeping webpages de-facement free.
posted by 
