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September 30
Stealth Evangelism? on the National Mall in DC
--sponsored by Pepsi, too. People attending
The DC Festival will not see
any clue -- not even a simple cross -- to suggest the real nature of the gathering: broadcasting the message of Jesus Christ.
Bio of the organizer, Luis Palau, here, including this:
We began to realize that the traditional crusade model - uniformed choir, the suits on the platform, and old, traditional hymns - wasnt the way to go for us, Palau says. We want to attract the un-churched, and we want them to encounter God, and bring them all to Christ and to understand and to connect.
posted by amberglow at 7:35 PM PST - 74 comments
Not Lost After All
Given recent posts
proving and
disproving various meanings of the ongoing numbers references on the television program Lost, I figured that some of you would be interested that a person over on Flickr seems to have a much better explanation: they're simply geographic coordinates.
posted by luriete at 10:42 AM PST - 67 comments
Web 2.0 overload
- "eHub is a constantly updated list of web applications, services, resources, blogs or sites with a focus on next generation web (
web 2.0), social software, blogging, Ajax, Ruby on Rails, location mapping, open source, folksonomy, design and digital media sharing." Tons of links to mashup apps like
PervWatch,
Podomatic,
ThinkFree, etc, etc, etc...(note: a lot of these sites are in beta)
posted by tpl1212 at 6:20 AM PST - 41 comments
Branded Entertainment.
Where the insinuation of products in to entertainment reaches new levels of taste and decency. Flashbacks to '
The Truman Show' are symptomatic of this phenomena. The cause, as judged by
market research, is the misuse and abuse of
DVR players to block advertising messages. However, there could be a new artform in this; some
consumers would like to see a new kind of advertising to augment Brand and Myths [more inside].
posted by gsb at 4:02 AM PST - 32 comments
Ski San Francisco. Ski wax company trucks a bunch of snow into SF, dumps it on Fillmore St., skiers and snowboarders get air while others take pictures.
posted by planetkyoto at 2:51 AM PST - 23 comments
September 29
Woogle
creates image messages from Google Image search. Use some of your favourite phrases, but to start you off, "
love is blind" [NSFW!]. Also, try
Toogle for images made out of their search-terms.
[via]
posted by quiet at 5:10 PM PST - 68 comments
What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas
(pdf)
Has the white working class abandoned the Democratic Party? No. . . . Has the white working class become more conservative? No. . . . Do working class moral values trump economics? No. . . . Are religious voters distracted from economic issues? No. An analysis by
Larry Bartels, a professor at Princeton of "What's the Matter with Kansas" (previously discussed
here). Lots of good survey data about this issue.
posted by caddis at 3:54 PM PST - 66 comments
Big freeze an alternative to cremation
A town in Sweden plans to become the first place in the world where corpses will be disposed of by freeze-drying, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial.
Jönköping, in southern Sweden, is to turn its crematorium into a so-called promatorium next year.
Sorry - registration is required to access Sydney Morning Herald so more of the article will be included: "the pioneering method ... involves freezing the body, dipping it in liquid nitrogen and gently vibrating it to shatter it into powder. This is put into a small box made of potato or corn starch and placed in a shallow grave, where it will disintegrate in six to 12 months.
People are to be encouraged to plant a tree on the grave. It would feed off the compost formed from the body, to emphasise the organic cycle of life."
After seeing the destruction Katrina wreaked on the above ground graves in Louisiana, one might seriously consider an environmentally friendly alternative.
posted by Cranberry at 1:59 PM PST - 48 comments
It's almost Friday, so time for a little flash fun.
Meet Snowball, a Bunny Ninja Assassin in his first three outings:
Bunny Kill 1,
Bunny Kill 2, and finally
Bunny Kill 3 Vol. I.
Warning, contains swords, guns, light sabres and extreme violence against cartoon bunnies.
posted by bap98189 at 1:39 PM PST - 18 comments
Strattera
could make you commit suicide. Earlier today it was announced that Paxil could cause cause birth defects (
scroll down). Now Strattera (an ADHD drug) is on the list of "wonder drugs" that could have serious consequences. Is it really worth it to visit
Dr. Feelgood just to find out later that it really did more damage than good?
posted by Guerilla at 11:19 AM PST - 103 comments
In 2002
[Harvard student Amit Paley]
came across a restricted archive labeled 'Secret Court Files, 1920.' The mystery he uncovered involved a tragic scandal in which Harvard University secretly put a dozen students on trial for homosexuality and then systematically and persistently tried to ruin their lives.
[1]The pages that file contained, first reported [by Paley] in a[n]
edition of the
Harvard Crimson's weekend magazine, describe Harvard's desperate attempts 80 years ago to hide from public view a secret gay subculture on campus.
[2]The article prompted an apology from University President Lawrence H. Summers to the men and their families; led to a campus-wide discussion about homophobia; and was even cited in
Lawrence v. Texas, the historic Supreme Court case that struck down anti-sodomy laws.
[3]Prolific biographer William Wrights newly-published book,
Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals' digs deep into the shameful events of the early 20th century at one of the United States' leading universities.
posted by ericb at 9:43 AM PST - 29 comments
Adherents.com
is "a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations". In plain English, this amazing site contains all the data one could ever want on religion, from the basic (
nationally predominant religions by country,
largest religious groups in the United States,
top 50 countries with the highest proportion of atheists) to the esoteric (
a guide to religion in films,
authors who have converted to a new religion,
religious affiliation of U.S. presidents,
famous adherents of various religions (e.g.
famous Mennonites)). There's even religious information for geeks, including obsessive articles on
the religion of George Lucas,
the religious affiliation of comic book characters, and
religious affiliation of famous fantasy and science fiction authors (related:
Amish in science fiction and
Mormonism in science fiction). One could spend days sifting through this site.
posted by jdroth at 9:31 AM PST - 46 comments
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
---> part one and
Part two of Operation Crossroads, one of many atomic testing operations conducted during WWII, documented extensively on film and preserved in excellent condition here at the Archive. For further viewing:
Operation Ivy, the testing of the first hydrogen fusion bomb.
Operation Cue (1955 version), testing bomb damage done to housing and infrastructure.
Special Delivery, a look at the preparation and technology, especially planes, used for the testing.
Duck and Cover, a classic safety film from 1951 detailing the best schoolyard response to a nuclear attack. Caution! Interesting, disturbing, and at least an hour's worth of viewing!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:13 AM PST - 15 comments
Inside metros.
Cities with interesting stations
[with links]. Some have works of art. Some are works of art. I notice Sydney, Australia is not on the list - no surprise there.
posted by tellurian at 7:34 AM PST - 39 comments
This is not good news.
U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.
posted by lilboo at 7:02 AM PST - 38 comments
This is by no means a manifesto.
We dont pretend to be the first band to spin a variation of the shareware distribution model. We love record labels and record stores. We buy lots of CDs and are committed to supporting independent music. Were not a bunch of fake Marxists. Were just trying to be smart capitalists so we can sustain our lives as musicians. This is an experiment. Well let you know how it goes. Harvey Danger offers their third album, "Little By Little" as
a free download in hopes of getting their music out to more people, and perhaps selling more records.
posted by Remy at 6:27 AM PST - 25 comments
Two white Republicans spoke about race yesterday.
First Rep. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) upon hearing that his membership to the TN Black Legislative Caucus was denied
complained, "My understanding is that the KKK doesn't even ban members by race."
Meanwhile on his syndicated radio show, former drug czar
Bill Bennett speculated on how roe v. wade could actually fight crime, "if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Color me speechless.
posted by tsarfan at 1:09 AM PST - 119 comments
September 28
Publishers must die,
claims Greg Costikyan, industry insider. But can he win out in the end, or is his princess in another castle?
It seems that Mr. Costikyan is putting his money where his mouth is. I'm pulling the trigger. At this point, I have no funding, other than a little money myself; nothing ready to launch, either. But I do have a partner, the offered support of some other companies, a clear sense of what I need to accomplish in the next few months, and a draft (not a final one) of a business plan and financials.
This is, of course, terrifying. Mr. Costikyan mentioned previously
here and
here. [
via] [
personal opinion inside]
posted by shmegegge at 11:36 PM PST - 26 comments
Ice Cap on the Verge......
This is a very disturbing development. Is it any wonder we are experiencing such horrific natural calamities. First Katrina, then Rita, and now it looks like we are kissing goodbye to the Polar Ice Cap??? Is there anyone left in this country, besides the president, that still thinks Global Warming needs
further Study???
posted by MetaJohn at 12:42 PM PST - 69 comments
Rondo Alla Iron Maiden (
Program Notes,
mp3s).
As the name suggests, this new work for string quartet is a classical rondo in the style of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
Composer Kurt Mortensen might rather you pay more attention to some of his
other works, like
this charming folk-tinged trio, but I had to go straight for the silly stuff.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:18 AM PST - 16 comments
September 27
"Operation Offset"
is what the Republicans are calling their budget cut plan to pay for Hurricane Katrina. Will there be tax cuts for the rich? Nope. The great majority of the proposed cuts
target the elderly and the poor,
heavily targeting Medicare. They eliminate all federal funding for energy conservation,
the "Energy Star" program, energy efficient vehicles, hydrogen vehicles,
high-speed rail,
light rail, PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, AmeriCorps, the
"Even Start" program, the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, security/anti-drug funding for innercity schools, and all federal loans to grad students. Also facing cuts are the Global AIDS Initiative, the EPA, the Center for Disease Control, pensions and healthcare plans for retired federal workers, job programs and revitalization funds for poor neighborhoods, the school lunch program, community health centers, and health care for soldiers.
posted by insomnia_lj at 4:37 PM PST - 120 comments
Who drives 4WDs (SUVs)?
"In their attitudes, city drivers of large 4WDs are morally more conservative and less community orientated than other drivers. They are more likely to dislike homosexuals; among male drivers of 4WDs in the city, 51 per cent believe that homosexuality is immoral compared to 43 per cent of men overall. They also have lower regard for Indigenous culture and are less sympathetic to public and charitable support for disadvantaged people." [.pdf link]
posted by wilful at 3:56 PM PST - 131 comments
Some members of the staff at a major L.A. hospital gave a Saudi patient a liver transplant despite his being far down the waiting list, and then
falsified the records to pretend they had actually given it to the person who was next in line. That person never got a liver. Foreign patients have to pay full price for transplants; U.S. citizens get a number of discounts, so the hospitals make less money.
posted by Vallenwood at 2:51 PM PST - 27 comments
"We can run our car over any road that a man can take a team of horses and a wagon, providing we can get traction."
In 1903, to settle a $50 bet,
Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to
drive (and
push) a car (a used
Winton touring car, which had no roof or windshield)
across the United States, accompanied by mechanic Sewall Crocker and
Bud the bulldog. There were no gas stations, and there was less than 150 miles of paved road in the country. They blew a tire 15 miles into the trip and replaced it with their only spare.
Jackson's trip
inspired others. In 1909,
Alice Ramsey, accompanied by three female passengers, became
the first woman to drive (and
pull, and
push) a car
across the country. In 1915,
Anita King,
"The Paramount Girl," became the first woman to drive across the country
solo. "Her only companions will be a rifle and a six shooter." And in 2003, Peter Kesling
repeated Jackson's trip, in
a 1903 Winton.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:40 PM PST - 18 comments
Petroleum Industry Christmas Wishlist
Conservative pundits are quick to point out that no "
new refineries have been built since 1976", and even quicker to blame "environmentalists". But the facts just don't support that. Refiners have chosen the environment that they do business in, and in some cases have willingly contributed to it. (
Plenty of data here.) Here's why:
- The government has allowed the industry to merge, consolidate, and restrict refining capacity, thus impacting pricing, supply, and demand.
- The quest for profits has caused the need to run extremely lean supplies (ie. no stockpiles of crude - it arrives when you need it, not before) and has resulted in susceptability to wild volatility in prices, but has allowed refiners to operate at very high efficiency but with no margin of excess capacity for temporary shortages, disasters, etc.
- Oil refiners trimmed back capacity after the Oil Crash of the early 1980s and have been unwilling to reinvest in new technologies unless environmental restrictions and local fuel cleanliness mandates are reduced.
As one would expect, Bush's solutions nicely match up with the wishlists of
OPEC and
US refiners, who in the past few decades have largely undone the breakup of Standard Oil (
via) via mergers and joint ventures. Representative
Joe Barton, (R-TX), Chairperson of the
Energy and Commerce Committee, incidentally up for reelection and
well funded, by "
the industry" through various
Political Action Committees, has released a draft of the predictably named (to be
found here when released)
Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005 (committee discusion and
webcast are scheduled for 9/28 at 8 am.) Given that new refineries are years away, there is still no solution for current prices or the (90%?)
increase in prices since January of 2001.
posted by rzklkng at 2:02 PM PST - 22 comments
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalls the doctor saying. The real total was six, Beron said. Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the turning over of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice. State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been killed inside. At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just four bodies were recovered, despites reports of corpses piled inside the building. Only one of the dead appeared to have been slain, said health and law enforcement officials.Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated
posted by y2karl at 1:17 PM PST - 48 comments
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor
Paypal problems?!? stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. So apparently our goverment is now a power seller on Ebay. At least they're not selling tanks or anything. Just stuff like
this.
If you're lucky, you won't have to wait until the inevitable auction to buy the official 37-cent
MUPPET STAMPS!! which officially go on sale tomorrow. Typical of our government - Camilla the Chicken is in; Floyd, Dr. Teeth, Scooter are out. In a perfect world, letter bombs would have a Crazy Harry stamp, and we could pair a stamp of the politician of our choice with Rizzo the Rat.
posted by ericbop at 12:27 PM PST - 22 comments
"Should comic book characters age?
A Boy Wonder doesn't stay a boy for long if a book is set in real time. That makes it so that any Robin can have an active career for, what, ten years? And that's if you buy that a fighting mad ten-year old can really kick anybody's ass." Some insightful comicbook commentary by
Erik Larsen, creator of
Savage Dragon.
posted by grabbingsand at 11:06 AM PST - 35 comments
FEMA to reimburse churches.
Washington Post story: "After weeks of prodding by Republican lawmakers and the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday that it will use taxpayer money to reimburse churches and other religious organizations that have opened their doors to provide shelter, food and supplies to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita."
posted by kokogiak at 7:22 AM PST - 77 comments
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
posted by Postroad at 6:22 AM PST - 106 comments
This explains EVERYTHING.
Originally appearing in
Whole Earth Review many years ago, Cipola wrote an inspired and extremely funny game theoretic analysis of the nature of stupidity that explains the mysteries of the universe and the current administration. Or something.
posted by INFOHAZARD at 12:29 AM PST - 27 comments
September 26
The Island of Misfit Games
features treasures such as Tower of Babylon, "a baffling high speed game composed of 120 hand painted (3 segments on each piece) tongue depressors.", Quackshot, "the most violent children's game ever created," and Grade Up to Elite Cow, a "game about bull semen." When I was a kid, my favorite was "
Voice of the Mummy," which featured a little record player embedded in the board.
posted by grumblebee at 2:24 PM PST - 5 comments
"Why did you
bring a white man here?" one of them demands from Duguf, my interpreter. While I continue to videotape, Duguf taps me on the shoulder and nods toward the truck. We make haste just as fingers begin to point and voices grow louder and angrier. Kevin Sites, previously discussed
here,
here, and
here, submits his first report for Yahoo.
posted by billysumday at 1:33 PM PST - 3 comments
Losing Gilligan and
Maxwell Smart just a few weeks apart is sad. What great memories of a very funny show and a funny man.
posted by terrier319 at 12:50 PM PST - 66 comments
Electronic Biologia Centrali-Americana
is a collaboration between the Smithsonian, Missouri Botanical and Kew Gardens, the British Natural History Museum and various other institutions which has enabled the digitizing of 58 volumes of natural history about central America produced between 1880 and 1920. It includes descriptions of more than 50,000 species with images of more than 18,000
birds,
more birds,
snakes,
turtles,
centipedes,
spiders,
more spiders,
plants,
mollusks,
more plants,
butterflies,
orthoptera insects,
more butterflies and
their family's (
moth-like)
families,
mammals and even some
historic maps of the region. There is a parallel project attempting to provide access to much more scientific data and specimens between these institutions.
Note: 'next' button at top +/- bottom of these large thumb pages; large high resolution jpegs work (in most cases) but zoom and .pdfiles are not yet enabled. I've only just scratched the surface.
posted by peacay at 11:54 AM PST - 9 comments
Tales From the Vault.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is proud to present its Canadian pulp art and fiction collection, straight from the special collections vault. The collection featured in this virtual exhibit, Tales from the Vault!: Canadian Pulp Fiction, 1940-1952, is one of the very few known pulp magazine holdings in Canada, and is available for consultation at LAC. Includes a cover gallery and complete magazines.
posted by srboisvert at 10:01 AM PST - 4 comments
The U.S. Military is
buying bioweapones production systems, with a focus on Anthrax.
The Sunshine Project, a German group opposed to biological weapons development, uncovered U.S. Army contracts for equipment to produce the anthrax bacillus anthracis Sterne in 1,500 litre quantities, and other unspecified biolgical agents in 3,000 litre batches. All equipment was to be stationed at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It seems unlikely that the U.S. is living up to its commitments to the Biological Weapons Convention.
As a reminder, the post 9/11 anthrax attack upon the U.S. used weponized anthrax produced in the U.S.
[1] [2], most likely at Fort Detrick. The attack is generally believed to have been committed by conservative elements in American society, partly due to the choice of targets and the existence of a simultaneous harmless attacks. Lt. Col. Dr. Philip Zack is believed to have been involved in smuggling the Anthrax out of Fort Detrick, if not in the actual attacks as well
[3] [4].
posted by jeffburdges at 9:03 AM PST - 31 comments
A bill,
quietly up for debate before the
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and backed by the
Whitehouse, proposes to improve the performance of the Executive branch of the US Government by requiring that all Governmental agencies be given a 10 year shelf life at the end of which time they must be reinstated by a Presidentially appointed "Sunset Committee" or
fade into the history
books.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:24 AM PST - 45 comments
Mandarin: 1998-2005, R.I.P.
(warning: 21 MB QT Movie) A farewell slide show with musical accompaniment by/to a great Denton, Texas band:
Mandarin. Many of the images are of Denton and the surrounding area, tour photos and various other bric a brac captured beautifully by Peter Salisbury, the bass player who compiled the slideshow. They were my friends and Denton was my home for many years. Their music will be missed by many.
posted by grandcrewno2 at 5:22 AM PST - 12 comments
Camouflage Comics
[requires
Flash] - an exploration of the issues of censorship, dictatorship, human rights and the legacy of the Argentinian "
Dirty War", the 1976-1983 military junta's repression and extermination of dissidents (when 10,000 to 30,000 Argentinians were tortured and "disappeared"). Produced at the Jan van Eyck Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, the project presents striking comics and illustrations made between 2002 and 2005 by contemporary Argentinian artists, as well as text essays on the production of comics and cartoons during the dictatorship era.
posted by funambulist at 4:58 AM PST - 2 comments
September 25
Norman Wildberger's New Trigonometry
Dr Norman Wildberger has rewritten the arcane rules of trigonometry and eliminated sines, cosines and tangents from the trigonometric toolkit. The First chapter of his new book, Divine Proportions, is online (.
pdf).
posted by Kwantsar at 9:34 PM PST - 21 comments
Complaints,
but to what end? Aren't they just shouting into the ether (I couldn't find any complaints with business replies)? There
are some gems though. Owned and run by
Sagacity who have several other .coms lined up.
On the Rip-off report they do get
replies.
posted by tellurian at 5:31 PM PST - 6 comments
ScoreHer.com
-
Dating advice for men from women. With a name like that how can you not prick up your ears? With promises like: "
I'll post an article in the next few weeks on how to convert a friendship on fourth down and make it to her end zone," how can you not bookmark it? And with features like
Women Only Want Tall Men vs. Men Only Want Big Boobs, a "what she says/what she means"
Chicktionary, and
5 Cardinal Rules for Internet Dating, how can the men and women of MeFi not immediately turn this thread into 101 separate flamewars about romance, love, dating & genitalia? Here's a momentary distraction to divert the guys' attention long enough for the women to take the high ground: on the off-chance that it's not just link spam,
squadmember Jennifer P., 29, is tall, blonde, smart, turned on by guys in briefs, and
looking.
posted by scarabic at 5:29 PM PST - 51 comments
Now that every MeFite and their dog have contrib
