MetaFilter

Hey flamers: maybe you can finish your flame war in the grey or something. I'm just sayin'.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 2:07 PM on October 6, 2005

Here's a letter by Tom Waits to the Nation, which he wrote in response to the article Densmore wrote about this event after it first happened in 2002. Densmore's article is also linked from the above and makes a good read.

Waits himself has had a history of vigorously opposing commercial appropriation of his songs, in particular in a case against Frito-Lay, and just recently suing GM for allegedly hiring a sound-alike for some of its European ads. Oddly enough, the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 3:04 PM on October 5, 2005

Speaking of Fugazi, here's a somewhat related story about Minor Threat's artwork being ripped off by Nike. It's similar to the two Tom Waits cases in that the ad agencies just decided to manufacture their own ersatz versions of the art in question instead of actually licensing the art in question.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:23 PM on October 5, 2005

I must say I'm troubled by the sentiment that since we're at war, assassination is suddenly OK as a tool of foreign policy. I don't really find that the ends justify the means here. As for the "rule of law" it is what seperates our nation from legions of dictatorships and military juntas around the world, and the idea that it's an important national value goes back 224 years or so.

Leaving aside for a moment the issue of assassinating five foreign nationals,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:26 AM on November 14, 2002

In my mind I call this book "adventures in interior decorating," which still seems like a largely accurate description. Having read it (a few years back) I found myself somewhat disappointed that it didn't really throb with evil like Lord Henry's gift to Dorian Gray. In fact, going back through the text of Dorian Gray I found that Wilde (wisely) avoids naming the corrupting book; anyone know how it bacame associated with Wilde's fictional book?… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:28 PM on October 31, 2002

In my mind I call this book "adventures in interior decorating," which still seems like a largely accurate description. Having read it (a few years back) I found myself somewhat disappointed that it didn't really throb with evil like Lord Henry's gift to Dorian Gray. In fact, going back through the text of Dorian Gray I found that Wilde (wisely) avoids naming the corrupting book; anyone know how it bacame associated with Wilde's fictional book?… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:29 PM on October 31, 2002

The temple mount thing really has very little to do with a red heifer, although that is a pretty interesting little tangent to it. You may recall that the second intifada (that's the one going on right now) began at the time Ariel Sharon, then a rather controversial candidate for prime minister, made an appearance at the Al Aqsa mosque, essentially laying symbolic claim to it as a Jewish holy site (versus a Muslim one). I believe, though I can't find corroborating evidence at the moment, that… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:53 AM on October 31, 2002

Wallace Stevens famously composed his poetry while he walked to his insurance job in Hartford, Conneticut. Oftentimes he would then dictate the poems for his secretary to transcribe(!). But it's also hard to think of Stevens without calling Florida to mind, which seemed to represent a vast psychic landscape for Stevens himself.

One last point about Stevens and place: he once wrote to a friend that "eating French cheese is the same as being in France" (nb: I'm… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:30 AM on October 31, 2002

No sign of a correction, and the page didn't make it into the internet archive. Anyone happen to back up a copy?

(PS: um, heLLO? Punk was declared dead in 1978 by Crass, a band far punker than any mentioned yet.)
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 7:34 AM on October 10, 2002

I'll second the recommendation for MobyLives, which has a lot of good literate-type content, although I never saw the two sites as particularly competing.

I think I see transona5's point about AL Daily's insularity, but I tended to see it more as repetitive, mostly drawing on the same sources day after day. Eventually it seemed to devolve into a synopsis of the more eye-catching articles in the Atlantic Monthly, Salon's book section, the London Review of Books, etc.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:24 AM on October 7, 2002

(er, after which Lingua Franca folded.)
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:25 AM on October 7, 2002

Here's Senator Byrd's remarks to the Senate. Byrd himself refers to articles in Newsweek and USA Today, which I'm too lazy to search for but which are presumably easily available. Also on Byrd's site is a signed letter from the CDC, so I'd say the evidence that this really happened is pretty strong.

Byrd describes the ATCC shipments as "US-approved," and it would be logical to assume that the ATCC had to go through some kind of national… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 7:24 PM on September 30, 2002

The press has to report crimes, both for reasons of public safety and to serve as a watchdog on the police and courts.

I don't buy this at all. It certainly didn't improve the public's safety, nor its oversight of the police, to announce that the girls in question had been raped.

Oh, and bingo: I think the issue is future trauma to the victim, and yes, I think it's appropriate for any sex-related crime (of which men can also be victims).
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 6:14 PM on August 5, 2002

I just thought I'd add, as an extremely bizarre appendix to this thread, the fact that the two teens in question are now on the cover of People Magazine. People doesn't say much about the process of its reporting, except to say that "those involved told PEOPLE's Maureen Harrington how the ordeal unfolded." From this statement I can't really deduce whether People interviewed the teens, or whether they got their consent for the article, but the photography suggests that the teens… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 3:03 AM on August 13, 2002

I haven't heard of this before, but web.archive.org lists it as coming online on Feb 23, 2001. Oddly, the archived version of the page contains a banner link to Jews for Jesus.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 2:30 AM on August 13, 2002

you're going to find a lot more artists that smoke than don't. Why is that? Not because it's cool, but because artists... are the kind of people that are willing to try new things and take risks.

Sorry, jaded, but you sound like a shill for the tobacco industry here. I smoke a pack a day and enjoy it, but I wouldn't make it out to be some kind of extreme sport or something. And I'll warrant that most people smoke because they can't quit, not because… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:38 PM on August 9, 2002

Wait, did you guys really read that Sanders alleged that there was a cover-up? You weren't joking when you quoted that? Because now it's gone from the article. (No trace of it at web.archive.org either, naturally.) We've got to warn the public.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 4:58 PM on August 5, 2002

Well put, ed. I've recently been reading No Logo by Naomi Klein, which makes a good case for a link between the current hyper-branded culture and the less desirable aspects of globalization (sweatshops and so on). It's very well researched and argued; I highly recommend it to people who are interested in the recent history of branding.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 9:24 AM on August 5, 2002

Thanks for pointing out the Buchanan thing (on preview: who said it? did someone retract a statement?); I'm always surprised nobody mentions this. Were Buchanan not in the running, his 17,484 votes would surely have gone to Bush, ensuring him Florida's electoral votes and hence the presidency (maybe even with a mandate, not that he's needed one to enact pretty radical transformations of the role of the federal government vs. individual (civil) rights).

Personally, I… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:07 AM on August 5, 2002

It seems that Biden would be able to pay the $25,000 fine and still have $14,324 in campaign contributions from the media industry left over.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:17 PM on July 29, 2002

ljromanoff, I'm not following you. What's to stop the bill from being passed when Congress reconvenes on September 4, or afterwards? And why isn't it conceivable that Biden's amendment would survive a conference committee intact?
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:42 AM on July 30, 2002

I agree with Griffx that the Times story is barely news since it relies on no cited sources whatsoever (although I hardly think that membership in the Security Council gives a country's constituents more credibility).

The UN itself has issued a press release which addresses the issues brought up in the Times story, and it at least cites two actual officials by name. For the most part the UN piece looks like damage control: the first report was inaccurate (or politically… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:36 PM on July 29, 2002

Well, now that the NY Times has covered the story, I suppose something actually did happen after all. [/snark]

I have a lot of faith in the US military being extraordinarily capable of wrongdoing; my objection to the (London) Times piece is that it's not very credible--in a literal sense--because there's no way to verify its claims, short of waiting for more information to be revealed. I do agree that the fact that the UN report exists is news (so is the fact that the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:47 AM on July 30, 2002

Yeah, about 13.1 trillion dollars free.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:08 AM on July 27, 2002

What owillis said. Particularly, Farrell isn't at all brooding and smart enough to play Bruce Wayne. Law has the clean pretty-boy look, but he's too brooding for Superman. And I gotta add that Frank Miller pretty much lost whatever Batman cred he had with Dark Knight II, so I don't think his involvement would save the picture. (Maybe he can be redeemed if Year One turns out to be good.)
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:28 AM on July 27, 2002

Another factor that comes into play in making the House more conservative is that it tends to be more committee-oriented, and the majority party gets a lot of influence over committees. For instance, every House bill must pass through the Rules Committee, which sets up rules for debate and can often kill legislation. This committee is currently made up of nine Republicans and four Democrats.

(Isn't there also another committee that bills have to pass through in the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:56 PM on July 26, 2002