Gulfstream: 2001

christmas games: "the games starts when you and your partner are relegated to separate single beds in the parental home"

remembering a dead childhood friend

"All the News that's Fit to Print": but the NYT fails to publish photos of Pompeii's famous erotic frescoes

strange Janes article on NORAD's Santa-tracking efforts. I think this was supposed to be funnier than it was.

Adcritic.com goes down...

"Not everything a terrorist does is terrorism": it's not just those al-Qaida rogues--the US military's "Code of Conduct" instructs its captured soldiers to do whatever they must to escape, too

"The war on terror enters the most dangerous phase--again"

the B52 has been flying for 40 years already, and it might fly for 40 more

"Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good": most of the article is about the food flavouring industry

memorable Usenet articles

What is the US going to do with John Walker? Should he be treated leniently because he's been "misled" (Bush)? Surely he has less of an excuse than a Muslim man living in Pakistan.

"A guide to buying term papers online"

the US has signed a treaty that allows spy planes from other countries to overfly its territory--?

a triumph of capitalism? "The paper diaper changed parenting. But a diaper that could hold four insults without leakage, keep a baby's skin dry, clear an insult in twenty seconds flat, and would nearly always be in stock, even if you arrived at the supermarket at eight o'clock in the evening--and that would keep getting better at all those things, year in and year out--was another thing altogether."

answers to "everyday" science questions

NYT fusses over cute New Yorker cover

Italy's museums are being privatised

The Marshall Plan Myth: rebuilding Afghanistan will not be like rebuilding Germany

curiously technical George Harrison obit

Should John Walker be charged with treason? Is there such a thing as treason nowadays--or does it amount to a simple difference of opinion? (Anne Applebaum)

Al Jazeera news, translated into English

"I have always considered "Pascal's Wager" as a questionable bet to place, since any God worth believing in would prefer an honest agnostic to a calculating hypocrite." (Alan Dershowitz)

review of "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word"

"Quatrains composed for my l.o.v.e."

jurors are forced to watch 11 hours of porn: "Crone limited each day's viewing hours, explaining, 'It's extremely onerous to watch any kind of videotape for that length of time.'"

a mobile phone concert!

a Rabbi interviews Jewish Playboy centerfold ... perhaps "grills" is a better word.

"Chomsky is famous for his analysis of U.S. government actions and the language used by officials to blind the citizenry from the truth, yet in this speech the MIT professor comes close to adopting the language of distortion he abhors."

the last two Jews in Kabul: "Both had their run-ins with the Taliban. But their biggest problems, they agree, were with each other."

SI binary prefixes: "Once upon a time, computer professionals noticed that 2¹⁰ was very nearly equal to 1000 and started using the SI prefix "kilo" to mean 1024."

stupid things said about America (or terrorists) post-9/11. This is the Nobel Prize-winners edition.

"The Revolt of Islam: When did the conflict with the West begin, and how could it end?"

A strange theory of David Hockney: Old Masters used lenses and projection devices to get perspective right.

review of Harry Potter

over the last five years, the net transfer of World Bank money to India was -$2.3bn. (Note negative.) I am looking into this.

stop loading this after a while...

drugs and difficult celebrities: about a photo shoot for Vanity Fair

"Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 200-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. ... Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. ... Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap." Uh, why do this?

Peter Pan found his Tinkerbell!

Letter to Mariah Carey. "The best I've ever gotten at being creative..."

"Can you plead guilty and maintain your innocence?"

advertising is everywhere

9/11 (sic) assignments for the press to handle

casting the present action against terrorism as a "war" is a big mistake--it commits you to certain actions, and mandates a particular definition of success that is unlikely to be attained

David Denby (rather movingly, actually) describes the things that the the US should be associated with: freedom of speech, tolerance, the separation of church and state, "constitutionalism"--not Coca-Cola, McDonald's, internet porn

uncle sam looking foolish: man stopped from flying because of the book he was carrying

interview with the urban legend busters of snopes.com

a day at the Supreme Court: should fake child porn be outlawed?

mathematical recreations-style piece on base three

why the US shouldn't have humbled Bayer. (James Surowiecki always very good.)

what's not wrong with food drops in Afghanistan

"This Is a Religious War"

cutest little flash game ever

"After breaking up with someone, what do you do with their stuff?"

is Islam a peaceful religion?

"Williams's university fails quiz challenge" (from BBC News Scotland). I just love these parochial news stories. "The St Andrews team ... failed to answer a number of questions during the half-hour show."

"Things to Say When You're Losing a Technical Argument"

Bert (the Sesame Street one) seen with Osama bin Laden

Prince Alwaleed's place: "Even with two kids around, the palace doesn't feel very lived in. After our tour, which takes more than two hours, we meet up with the prince and describe a certain room and ask him about it. He turns to an aide and asks, 'Which one is that?'"

"The Roots of Muslim Rage: Why so many Muslims deeply resent the West, and why their bitterness will not easily be mollified" (September 1990)"

quotes on smileys. I am in complete agreement.

Anne Applebaum is really really good. (So is her Slate colleague William Saletan.)

rebuilding NY subways. Subways cost $1b *a mile*?

"How the Pentagon Mints Its Campaign Monikers"

"As a British Passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one."

British universities: selling space on screen savers

diary of Lucas Miller, NYPD detective

Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, etc. Interesting last paragraph.

drugs in sport--outlook not good

WTC rumors debunked/bunked

a history of the Bush family--how much of this is true?

on organised religion: Richard Dawkins--very unbecomingly--does his nut ("... testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next ...")

Bin Laden wants nothing from "us"

"Suicide terrorism: a global threat"

"pleasure to burn": only place I could find this ad...

front pages of lots and lots of newspapers--moving

photos

photos

"The US attacks: suspects and further concerns"

"At 8 a.m., they had no explosives or delivery vehicles. By 9 a.m., they had both. Where did they get them? From us."

"In What Sense Are Terrorists Cowards?"--they're not, yes, but you're going to get slapped for it...

animated GIF showing WTC planes's flight paths

"Rosser was last known to be traveling through Europe on an 'Apollo' brand, red moped with a piano attached to it." A piano?

On-line games: selling virtual items. (An awful lead...)

a little quiz

Jonathan Franzen promised to write a book that, according to the journalist, "had it all, a novel that was intimate, socially engaged and compelling." The "related articles" box (under his picture) has a link to the first chapter. I think it not very good.

"How Not To Get The Girl: Hare-Brained Schemes That Don't Work"

"Ads can alter memory claim scientists"

Pauline Kael

dealing with VCs

"My mother cried, and my father shook a regretful head on that buffeting spring day when I relayed the sad news that I had given up on my childhood dream of becoming a tobacco-industry lawyer." Two jokes here. Is this a good idea, generally?

"The Restaurant That Launched a Thousand Chefs"

"The finest frankincense in the world from the Sultanate of Oman"

tricky "concert": disparate reports

they're eating barnacles at restaurants in New York

meet real Aussie blokes at the Narrandera Show "Ute & Circle Work Competition" (!!!)

in Finland, the amount you pay in speeding fines depends on your income

you can get free wireless internet access at some places in NY

Is it because I's black?--Ali G (Ali G!) MP3s

google competitors

cold Vorkuta is a city Russia doesn't need--but her people don't want to leave: "Vorkuta is ... the Soviet Union in miniature."

analysis of Israeli and Palestinian methods and tactics

what happens when you file for Chapter 11

Italy's "slow food" movement: globalisation? or not?

going broke and being broke (2)

going broke and being broke (1)

reflections--why become a philosopher? (A.C. Grayling)

grappling with the "quarter-life crisis"

Doug Lenat is still doing Cyc

cute guestbook questions

"On Saturday, August 11, 2001, I have decided to turn 27 years old. ..."

advice to columnists

Europe is learning English

politicians and beards

"Because Shakespeare's text does not provide an explicit answer, directors who adapt the play often ask themselves what happens next: Does Titania have sex with Bottom? ... When the director Stuart Canterbury was developing his recent film adaptation, he had no trouble deciding what to do about the Titania-Bottom sex question--they would have sex, lots of it."

"Justice to J.D. Salinger"--long, can be skimmed (read the bits on cigarettes)

artful old-time crime-scene photographs

"GETN SUM" licence plate defence

lego porn

"The 2000 Harvest"

the economics of drug distribution (amusingly academic). Many other good, related, articles: see the "In this Survey" sidebar.

pro-drug editorial: "Time for a puff of sanity"

once upon a time, malaria was nearly wiped out by DDT

Holden Caulfield's New York

interpreting the Pope

the inestimable Malcolm Gladwell on coffee, and drug-addled mathematicians

what you should bring to some guy's wedding. Interesting but ... presumptuous?

what good taglines should have

undercover marketing: putting beautiful people in bars to talk up your product

new book (in French) on the sociology of boxing. I like boxing.

Brit visits NY: "A country that effortlessly shrugs off state murder sees smoking as an affront to civilization."

domain names rarely make one smile

you can search google in many different languages...

man attacked by cat story made vastly better by a well-timed last line

neat map showing domain-name density in San Francisco

could have been more sympathetic: dog-eating in China

London Underground runs competition for schoolchildren; press release advises of the prize-winning poem: "London is packed with beautiful places / Colourful people with colourful faces ..."

the beauty premium: how much your beauty is worth. (Steven E. Landsburg often a wild contrarian; this one's okay.)

the Tiger Woods of croquet

NYC in pictograms

javascript tricks: test your hexadecimal colour-guessing skills

Martha Stewart is the Proust of our age

what the world is looking for

"Empire" is something about globalisation, etc. Is it the next New Idea?

strange thing about what to replace "retard" with, and whether it should even be replaced at all

not-bad interview with Annabel Chong, porn star freak

clunky, awkward sci-fi short story written by John McCarthy, the inventor of (the programming language) LISP

who spent more than $125,000 to get their philosophy manuscript professionally reviewed?

tattle-tales whine about obscene license plates

(gripping) account of freak storm that hit Everest in 1996, killing eight climbers

difficult: translating *Ulysses* into Chinese

missionaries are being sent from the developing world to Britain: "The vicar of West Dulwich comes from Ghana."

"Self-Cleaning Windows to Be Sold in U.S. This Year"

predictions of console unit sales. This is ridiculous. There is no way in hell to predict that by the end of 2004, for example, Sony will have sold 46.05 million PS2s.

when (if?) it gets boring, skip to "On The Town With Ron Jeremy" (about half-way through)

painful: temperature on the tube estimated to exceed 90F

monkeyfishing apology

Harvard has a $19 billion endowment, and uses it for not much

how to troll on slashdot

"A List Of Fallacious Arguments"

if mothering is the most difficult job in the world, mothers should stay home (so don't argue that!)

on the vigorous battle for kindergarten spots in NYC

rare genetic disorder brings insomnia, then death, to half the members of an Italian family

description of the Japanese legal system. There are no juries, ever, in Japan.

on cigarette-death statistics

modern dance

book review: "British tourists have been finding foreign travel sexually liberating for centuries"

on hypnotism: "anyone who can read a script with some degree of expression can learn how to hypnotize someone"!!!

historical estimates of world population

Richard Posner, Peter Singer talk about animal rights

Salman Rushdie: prefigures "Series 7" via an essay on reality TV

non-lethal weapon research: stink bombs

(excellent) story on online worlds

(techy) notes on a DDoS attach

(cam) big, stinky flower opens

Times reporter misses the death of Queen Victoria: "It has to be confessed with shame that they were emitted by persons connected with the press, although not, of course, with any London paper of long standing."

UK political advertisements

"Submission Guidelines: We are happy to consider new contributors, particularly those who are familiar with the magazine." You're kidding me. That's important? Really?

Study: "Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power"

Interview with venture capitalist John Doerr. If you want to start a high-tech company... (A few years old.)

11 rules for living New York

Winners of SMS poetry competition. (Comments at least as interesting as the poems.)

(First story.) Baseballer thwacks pitcher for two home runs after pitcher kills his (computer game) character.

what kids are being taught about WWII

FDR's handwritten amendments to Pearl Harbor speech: "... a date which will live in world history infamy," etc.

Rick Mercer, sketch on CBC's "This Hour Has 22 Minutes": "Talking to Americans"

diary of a firefighter

the life and death of pot dealer Jennifer Stahl (by "a Village Voice writer")

worthwhile (really!) Tony Blair profile

Anne Frank bits

criticism as literature

big-time organic farming

undercover home improvement on the space shuttle

female celebrity smoking list. Click the "Women with most TV/movie appearances."

For 25c you get a pound of paper, which is what the Washington Post weighs anyway: you don't pay for content with "traditional" media either.

something to strive for: "good heterosexual functioning"

rowdy Amish teens: "Sometimes, the teens pass out leaving their horses to find the way home." [Too good to be true? I reckon someone should fact-check this story.]

Mexican band "Titan" (RealAudio)

boxing stories. These are so awesome.

*The Onion* moves to New York. Also includes intriguing, stirring, mention of "heavy metal karaoke [sessions] at Arlene Grocery on the Lower East Side". Does anyone know anything about this?

*The Sopranos* and "disrespecting the Bing"

the press in Russia

ridiculous little scrap from an actual, published, novelist: what Jeanette Winterson likes about New York

"The perils of designer tribalism"

Ben Affleck wants you to vote, even if he doesn't

even in mad cow'd Britain, animals deserve a death more dignified than that of mass immolation (Andrew Sullivan)

blood diamonds all over: a metal used in mobile phones comes from, and feeds, African conflict (why is this an opinion piece?)

Michael Ignatieff and the rules of military engagement

preserving modern art

e.g. 26 L of the A = 26 Letters of the Alphabet

situation puzzles!

Chinese Foreign Ministry explicates Pruehar's spy-plane apology for the Chinese people [[[ *explicate* a v.t., not a v., you fucker ]]]

"In the spy plane standoff that ended this morning, the hawks and engagers were at each other's throats again. But their enmity was, as always, dishonest. They need each other. Without the hawks, the engagers would have no sticks to wave at China. And without the engagers, the hawks would have no carrots to withdraw."

(Last, red, paragraph.) [Is this too cheap?]

how to write "Romans, go home" in Latin

"How to solve the NYT crossword puzzle"

more fun than you might think: Latin maxims

restoring a Stradivarius

the ULA is sick of fancy-schmancy postmodern literature

"Eggers has simply fallen prey to the delusion that plagues all children of suburbia: our lives are interesting." PROPRIETORS OF VANITY DOMAINS, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

France, food, and the invention of the restaurant

Julia Roberts & Russell Crowe: this is depressing, I don't even find Oscar-winning actors attractive anymore

"Were you nursed on lead paint, you numskull?"

"Exhibition To Be Constructed In Your Head"

oh you precious fucker

an illegal prime?

"How P.T. Barnum helped invent business ethics"

"The case for Northern secession"

Eliot's J. Alfred Prufrock: lobster or crab? English profs debate.

the 80-year-old Marquess of Aberdeen and the women he's known. "You really paid extraordinarily little, £5 or £10. I don't think you could get a good tart now for at least £200."

the books book reviewers are ashamed to have not read. ("Before I die I'd like to know which came first, the War or the Peace.") Me: Dickens, Brontës, *The Lord of the Rings*.

argues for the abolition of the inheritance tax: "In Britain ... Libraries and art collections, codes of chivalry and good manners alike, husbanded over centuries, disappeared virtually overnight, taking with them a refined and cultivated way of life."

short story, *strongly* reminiscent of J.D. Salinger. Plot, execution, characters (Nicole Bonner a 19-year-old Esmé?), it all fits. What do you think?

6 Down: "sort"?!

"Each item, even those that are identical, has its own individual price."

Serge Gainsbourg

funny, punchy, reviews and replies

weird goatherd rhapsody (the editorial--WTF?)

the tantrums directors throw

Livingstone, Pigeons and Trafalgar Square: "Some small children enjoyed having birds perch on their heads and hands, while others seemed hopeful of achieving Mr Livingstone's ends by kicking the birds to death."

"children can smoke in Denmark, even in school" *link fixed*

John Ashcroft, attorney general: Andrew Sullivan argues this way and that

sort of goes with the Gladwell piece, below

making offices like Greenwich Village in the 60s

"African Americans are held back by their own culture, not by racism"

the genius of Eminem