Humor, Satire, Animation and News
Humor and Satire
Ann Coulter IWR
Ashcroft IWR
Dubya et al IWR
Enron IWR
Enska (Euro Kat) IWR
Batboy!
Big Red Hair
Blue Brick
Bob’s Fridge Door
Borowitz Report
Bushism of the Day
Chickenhead
Car Talk
Capitol Steps
Cool LEGO of the Week
Infinite Jest
Landover Baptist (PG)
MadBlast
Mark Fiore
NewZoid Headlines
Political Strikes
Shrubadub
Something Awful (PG)
The Onion (PG)
The Rockall Times
The Specious Report
Tom Tomorrow
Too Much Coffee Man
2 Stupid 2B President
Whitehouse.org (PG)
PG = Adults 18+
Animation
Animation Express
Animation Exp. Kids
Animefu
Edgar Beals
Dr. Minz
IWR Interviews
Edgar Beals
Daily News
Ananova (UK)
BBC News (UK)
CS Monitor
Google News
Guardian (UK)
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
Oddly Enough
Times (UK)
Washington Post (WP)
Washington Times
Weblogs/Indexes
BBspot
Blogdex
Boing Boing
Fark
Google News
Google Zeitgeist
Lycos 50
Popdex
Radio.Weblogs.Com
Scout Report
Yahoo! Picks
Internet Radio
Car Talk
Radio Nova Paris
Soukous Radio
WDET NPR Detroit
Abbreviations
Ananova (A)
Blogdex (BX)
Boing Boing (BB)
Cursor (C)
CS Monitor (CSM)
Dan Gillmor (DG)
Env. News (ENS)
Fark (F)
Guardian (G)
InternetNews (I)
LA Times (LAT)
Nature (N)
NewScientist (NS)
Nat. Geographic (NG)
OpinionJournal (OJ)
Tech. Review (TR)
The Onion (O)
The Register (R)
Salon (SA)
Science Daily (SC)
Scout Report (SR)
Sky & Telescope (ST)
SlashDot (SD)
Space (SP)
Washington Post (WP)
Wired (W)
Yahoo (Y)
Former Mouseketeer Tommy Franks Arrives In Qatar for War Games
General Franks
Qatar (IWR Satire) – Former Mouseketeer, General Tommy Franks, arrived in Qatar this week to practice war games and celebrate his 45th anniversary as member of the Mickey Mouse Club.
| "Working for the Bush Administration reminds me a lot of when I was a kid on the Mickey Mouse Club in the 50’s," said Franks to reporters when he arrived at Doha airport in Qatar. |
The Week in Humor and Kitsch
Sodomites overrun Amazon.com
According to the Register, a glitch at Amazon gave some hair raising recommendations to potential buyers of Pat Robertson’s new Book.
Fun with FedEx
David tries to send a FedEx to Santa Claus.
Santa’s Pants Drop in Front of President, First Lady
Singer Roy Clark inadvertently moons Dubya and his moll.
Beijing Seeks to Stamp Out Bad English
The Chinese government is on a quest to stamp out "Chinglish".Some examples: "Collecting Money Toilet" for a public restroom, and "To take notice of safe, the slippery are very crafty" on a sign warning that roads are slippery
I was doing a little research and this is how the Japanese translated the Chinese characters with "To take notice of safe, the slippery are very crafty". Englese perhaps?
A roadside sign stating, "To take notice of safe. The slippery are very crafty," is a particular favorite object of mirth among expatriates, it said. The accompanying Chinese on the sign calls for drivers to take care while negotiating a slippery slope
This site has some interesting examples of Chinglish instructions. My favorite was the very Happy "Posh Sailboat". Also, here are more some examples of Chinglish signs.
12 Days of Kitschmas
‘Tis the season for the Ship of Fools to be irreverent. I can’t wait until Santa brings me the Holy Trinity 3-pak Lego Set
Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill resigns over the "Pajama People" scandal.
George Bush Doll (BB)
This is the perfect gift [excluding a brown shirt with matching jackboots
;-)] for that special Dittohead on your Christmas list.Just "press the button on George’s back to hear him say 17 powerful and patriotic phrases". My favorite one is "working hard putting food on your family". I’m not sure what that means, but hey, fool me once…
Bah Humbug at Wal-mart
"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" — Ebenezer Scrooge
Osama Action Figures
The Osama action figure is a big hit with parents in Karachi buying holiday gifts for their youngsters.
Internet spammer can’t take what he dishes out
Finally, a spammer gets a taste of his own medicine.
Lovable trickster created a monster with Bigfoot hoax
The Bigfoot legend is traced to a practical joke made in 1958.
show and tell home (BB)
These are some really great album covers. Take some time and check these guys out. Here, for example, is that famous Christian singer Mr. Bat
Could the Pentagon be responsible for the missing Krispy Kreme Donuts Blimp? You can have free gut bombs (donuts) for life if you know the answer. BTW, where the heck do you hide a blimp anyway?
"31 Reasons I’m Still Fat"
This is pretty funny list of reasons why it’s hard to lose weight.I’m tackling my New Year’s resolutions one at a time and alphabetically. Therefore, I can’t "Lose weight" until I "Learn to play the glockenspiel."
Sheep are sprayed with words to create poetry
This story reminds me of theCow Placard Company Speaking of cows have you heard about the cow that was triedfor Traffic Accidentin Russia?
Salmagundi
Harpers Index
Interesting statistics from Harper’s. For example did you know:Ratio of Japanese killed in 1945’s U.S. atomic-bomb attacks to Iraqi children killed due to U.N. sanctions
Two Van Gogh paintings stolen
The stolen paintings are well known to art lovers: View of the Sea at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen. Both from the artist’s early period, they were executed in 1882 and 1884, respectively.
Harpers Index
Interesting statistics from Harper’s. For example did you know:Ratio of Japanese killed in 1945’s U.S. atomic-bomb attacks to Iraqi children killed due to U.N. sanctions
Two Van Gogh paintings stolen
The stolen paintings are well known to art lovers: View of the Sea at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen. Both from the artist’s early period, they were executed in 1882 and 1884, respectively.
Annual NORAD Tracks Santa Website!
This is a really a nice family Christmas site from those defense sky watchers at NORAD. The site also includes a great select of Christmas music (MP3) from the USAF band of the Rockies.
NOVA Orchid Hunter Gallery
These are some great pictures of orchids.
Top SciTech Gifts 2002
How about a nice double helix bracelet
Breaking News Alerts
12/14/2002 – Here is a funny story about the Christmas kidnapping of a plastic Jesus from a Nativity display. (F)
12/13/2002 – Start the weekend early at the Balloon Hat Experience Atlas. (BB)
Have you seen Trent Lott’s Official Christmas Card
The Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall is required reading for those interested in Trent Lott’s meltdown.
I think that a lot of the fundamental principles that Jefferson Davis believed in are very important to people across the country, and they apply to the Republican Party. — Trent Lott Interview 1984
12/12/2002 – Just in time for last minute Christmas shopping Froogle, yet another Google spin-off. Also, I like new Google Labs Google Viewer
Check out Poindexter’s spooky TIA Systems diagram. Notice that the Planned Accomplishments are TBD. This reminds me of these Big Brother slogans from Orwell’s 1984:
War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.
12/11/2002 – The Bowlingual is perfect Christmas gift for Fido, and for that chemist on your list, check out this nice periodic coffee table. (2002 Ig Noble Prize Winners.)
Chapter 11 for the Boston Archdiocese? What do you think?
12/10/2002 – Check out this funny review of this Turkish video remake of Star Trek. It includes pictures of the cast.
Something Awful has a funny spoof on "Items Misinterpreted from the News".
This 404 Lab tracks interesting HTTP 404 error pages on the Internet. Here is best 404 message ever according to the Lab.
Website Technical Problems
I am in the process of moving IWR to a new website. Hopefully, this will end these extended outages.
Animation and Shorts
12/09/2002 – Check out this great ad by the ACLU on John Ashcroft’s re-writing the Constitution.
These videos on Optical Camouflage are definitely worth checking out. (BB)
"This idea is very simple. If you project background image onto the masked object, you can observe the masked object just as if it were virtually transparent."
Please don’t try viewing Recursive in an altered state. 😉 That also includes this poignant political ad Technical Difficulties
Here is a rather interesting trailer for the sci-fi thriller Equilibrium. It looks a little like a Kung Fu version of Fahrenheit 451
Animation and Shorts Archive
Other Humor and Satire on the Net
Mad Magazine’s Gulf Wars Poster
by Mad
ONeill Fired Over Its The Economy, Stupid Remark
by Andy Borowitz
First Lady Laura Bush’s Recipe Box
by Whitehouse.org
Unlikely Christmas Albums
by Something Awful (PG)
Vampire Ecology in the Jossverse
by Brian Thomas of Stanford
Presidents Washington through Bush may have lied about key matters
by The Onion
The Secret Life of Henry Kissinger
by Neal Pollack
Report slams ‘bigoted’ Santa
by The Rockall Times
T.I.A. and Cryogenic Staffing
by Mark Fiore
This Modern World
by Tom Tomorrow
Homeland Security and George Orwell
by Clay Bennett, CSM
Chancellor Schroeder tops German charts
by Yahoo Oddly Enough
When Distant Holes Collide
by LA Times
Hu’s On First?
by James Sherman
Flight of the Chickenhawks
by www.toostupidtobepresident.com
NewsWeird
Salmagundi Continued
Paddle a mile in their canoes
Interesting article on a group that plans to reenact the Lewis and Clark expedition to commemorate the 200 year anniversary.
Computing and Technology
Computing
CNET Tech. News
Computerworld
Dan Gillmor
InternetNews
NYT: Technology
Register (UK)
Slashdot
Snopes Additions
TechNews.com
Technology Review
Wired News
Business
Business Week
Business2.com
CBS MarketWatch
Financial Times (UK)
Forbes.com
Fortune
Red Herring
The Week in Computing
A Hissing Noise in My Computer (F)
The hissing noise was a real hisser. Check out the photos of this snake in a PC problem.
The 500 Mile Email Problem (BB)
This is an interesting tale from a sysadmin who had a rather vexing email problem.
Hey, I’m a Loyal Mac User, Too
Once upon a time, the Macintosh was light years ahead of Windoze. I know I used to install and promote the Mac back then. But that was ten years ago. Since that time Windoze, has mostly closed the gap in the home appliance category.People that have appliance fetishes are truly some of the most boring people on earth. I really don’t care what kind of unnatural love affair you have with you car, stereo or PC.
What really matters are the open standards that has enabled the Internet to take off without the proprietary software from the evil empire or some proprietary appliance from Apple.
Software giants ‘trample freedoms’
Every time you buy software from companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Sun and Adobe you hand over much more than just money, you also give up basic freedoms and human rights.So says Richard Stallman, president of the Free Software Foundation, and long-time campaigner against the proprietary programs produced and owned by many software companies.
PGP 8.0
A new version of PGP encryption software version 8.0 is available for downloading for Windows and Macintosh.
Molecular memory bank draws closer
Scientists can now store up too a 1,000 bits of information in a single molecule of liquid crystal.
The Week in Computing Continued
Tonya Feels Bill’s Pain
Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China
Interesting report from Harvard Law school on Chinese filtering of Internet sites. Here is a list of 126 sites (highlights) that are blocked by the Chinese government.
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig points out that copyright’s actually prevent the showing of vast majority of movies produced from 1927-1946 for example. How can you buy a DVD for something that you can’t even see. Since Napster went away, I have nearly stopped purchasing CDs because now I can’t sample potential music from around the world. There has got to be a better way.
Politics of Computing
Feds Label Wi-Fi a Terrorist Tool
Wired (12/06/2002)
Total Poindexter Awareness: essential information
Register (12/05/2002)
Microsoft: Linux on desktops a threat
CNET (12/04/2002)
Apple: It’s All About the Brand
Wired (12/04/2002)
Security, Hacks and Patches
Virus Throttle a Hopeful Defense
Wired (12/09/2002)
Microsoft: IE hole worse than reported
CNET (12/06/2002)
Science and Health
Science News
Astro. Pic. of the Day
BBC Sci/Tech
CNN Sci/Tech
Environmental News
Improbable Research
Nat. Geographic
Nature
New Scientist
NY Times: Science
Science Daily
Sky and Telescope
Space.com
The Week in Science and Health
Science of Art: Walking on the Wind
Check out these amazing works of art.
Daffodils do the twist
Phillip Ball discusses how plants are built to go with the flow of the wind.
"The knotty problem of choosing the optimum way of lacing up shoes has been solved by a new mathematical proof." BTW, ever notice that Dubya always wears penny loafers
First passenger magnetic levitation train set for lift-off
The Transrapid 08 has reached 312 miles per hour (500 km/h) in testing and will carry passengers at a top speed above 250 mph. The train will transport travelers between Pudong International Airport and Shanghai’s financial district.
Earth As Art
These are some spectacular pictures of the Earth from NASA.
Life ‘began on the ocean floor’
The theory claims that living systems originated in so-called "inorganic incubators" – small compartments in iron sulphide rocks.Proposed by Professor William Martin, of Düsseldorf University, and Professor Michael Russell, of the Scottish Environmental Research Centre in Glasgow, it stands conventional ideas on their head.
Instead of the building blocks of life forming first, and then forming a cell-like structure, the researchers say the cell came first and was later filled with living molecules.
‘Why I believe UFOs are bunk’
Good BBC article point out that all these UFO crackpots can rely on for evidence are manufactured conspiracy theories. The logic is something like the government has the real information on UFO’s but won’t release it. As Carl Sagan once said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
Psychology, History and Human Origins
Unmarried mothers ‘more depressed’
BBC (12/08/2002)
Was Maya Pyramid Designed to Chirp Like a Bird?
NG (12/06/2002)
UCLA Study Names 10 Keys To Recovery From Schizophrenia
ScienceDaily (12/06/2002)
Oldest American writing found in dump
Nature (12/06/2002)
Human skulls are ‘oldest Americans’
BBC (12/03/2002)
Astronomy, Physics and Space
Researchers Make the Best Argument Yet That Neutrinos Are Capable of Changing Form
NYT (12/07/2002)
Exoplanet’s Mass Pinned Down
Sky and Telescope (12/06/2002)
How to Slice the Pi Very, Very Thin
NYT (12/06/2002)
Martian water gone in a flash
BBC (12/06/2002)
World’s ‘oldest’ volcanic rocks
BBC (12/06/2002)
Europe plans world’s biggest telescope
BBC (12/05/2002)
Environment and Nature
Record ice loss in Arctic
BBC (12/09/2002)
‘Compelling evidence’ of global warming
CNN (12/07/2002)
Almost Half the Earth Is Still Wilderness
ENS (12/05/2002)
Radioactive patients set off subway alarms
NewScientist (12/05/2002)
African Hunger Threatens World Peace, Security
ENS (12/05/2002)
Tainted wells pour arsenic onto food crops
NewScientist (12/04/2002)
Novel fridge cools with sound
BBC (12/04/2002)
Arctic to lose all summer ice by 2100
NewScientist (12/04/2002)
Appeals Court Blocks California Offshore Oil Drilling
ENS (12/03/2002)
Health
Eye microchip could save sight
BBC (12/07/2002)
Pill [contraception] alert for cancer risk women
BBC (12/04/2002)
Contraception ‘key to poverty trap’
BBC (12/03/2002)
Politics and Commentary
The Osama Clock
Political Commentary
(L = Left; R = Right)
AlterNet (L)
American Politics (L)
American Prospect (L)
BuzzFlash (L)
Cursor.org (L)
Daily Howler (L)
Mother Jones (L)
Nation (L)
National Review (R)
New Republic (LR)
OpinionJournal (R)
Pundat Pap (L)
Reason (LR)
Salon
Slate (L)
Smirking Chimp (L)
Tompaine.com (L)
Town Hall (R)
Weekly Standard (R)
WorkingForChange (L)
Favorite Columnists
Art Buchwald
Maureen Dowd
Molly Ivins
Robert Novak
News Periodicals
Atlantic
New Yorker
Newsweek
Time
Usnews.com
The Weekly Rant
- Back, But Not By Popular Demand
This is a good article by David Greenberg on the criminals the Bush Administration has been hiring and promoting lately.You might think that a few of these folks would have had their careers ended by their misdeeds. And you might think that being tough on crime, long a GOP mantra, begins at home. You’d be wrong: On the matter of these men’s sordid pasts, the Bush administration has shown an indulgence and permissiveness that would make Dr. Spock blanch. (If a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, a liberal is a conservative who’s been indicted.) As a result, these vintage villains are not on parole but on parade. It’s an ’80s nostalgia party, as thrown by Ed Meese.
- Cheneyville Christmas
Using "It’s a Wonderful Life" as a backdrop, Maureen Dowd points out that unlike George Bailey Dubya’s mission in life is to clear the name of his Dad’s past misdeeds.Just as George Bailey reverses his life to see how things would have been different, the younger George Bush is reversing his father’s life to see how things would have been different. (Rather than Pottersville, W. goes to Cheneyville, a grim, secretive place where the poor are squeezed and the environment is scrooged.)
If 41 hadn’t been president, 43 would have nothing to do, since the kid spends all his time doing U-turns on the highway of Pop’s presidency.
His father let Saddam stay and raised taxes to cut the deficit; the son has to get rid of Saddam and cut taxes, raising the deficit.
- Photographer Arrested for Taking Pictures of Vice President’s Hotel
The Bush Gestapo team clicks it jackboots once more.
- Lott Decried For Part Of Salute to Thurmond
The Republicans show their true colors of just what they really stand for in the South.
- The Trails of Henry Kissinger
Roger Ebert reviews the "The Trials of Henry Kissenger" documentary and had this to say:The odds are excellent that President Bush did not see this film before appointing Henry Kissinger as the head of a special commission to examine shortcomings of U.S. Intelligence in the period before 9/11. ‘The Trials of Henry Kissinger’ charges Kissinger himself with authorizing illegal terrorist acts on behalf of the United States. Did Bush put the fox in charge of the hen house? [You bet he did!]
- With ’04 in Mind, Bush Team Saw Economic, Political Peril
Dana Milbank provides a good analysis of what was behind the O’Neill-Lindsey purge. The Bush Administration is on the defensive about the economy and they can’t just blame Clinton or the Democrats anymore.Until now, Bush and his aides have blamed the economic malaise on terrorists, on the policies of President Bill Clinton or on Senate Democrats for blocking Bush’s agenda. But now, midway through his term and with Republicans in control of Congress, opinion polls give Bush poor marks on handling the economy. Administration officials are concerned that Bush could suffer the fate of his father: losing the presidency because he appeared to deny a struggling economy.
- The Rightward Press
E.J. Dinonne points out what most of us on the left have know for some time: that the media bias is right of center not to the left.
- Bush to End Rule Allowing Jobless Money for New Parents
This is more of that compassionate conservatism double talk that Dubya exposes. Compassion is only for large corporations, not people. Wake up America!
- Iran-Contra Figure Named To Senior Post In White House
Yet another lying sack of sputum gets promoted in the Bush Administration.
- Uncle Sam wants your kid
If you wait long enough, AOL Time-Warner will eventually get to a significant story. Of course, this didn’t come up before the election. I know it’s all just a coincidence.
- John Gilmore and Matt Smith want to put the screws to John Poindexter by giving Mr. Iran-Contra a taste of his own medicine of what life could be like under the Total Information Awareness Office.
Sign the "Let the Inspections Work"
Petition from Moveon.org
Commentary and News of the Week
Radical conservatives find a willing mouthpiece in Kersten
Rob Levine, Star Tribune (12/07/2002)
Love and Race
Nicholas Kristof, NYT (12/06/2002)
Big Money Is Not Free Speech
Editorial, CSM (12/06/2002)
Defend our older citizens
Lawrence Cranberg, CSM (12/06/2002)
Middle East and The War on Terrorism
Anti-US anger grows among Arab moderates
Nicholas Blanford, CSM (12/05/2002
Global anger at US ‘growing’
BBC (12/05/2002)
Use brains, not brawn
Jonathan Freedland, Guardian
Bush Administration
Rollback on Forest Law
Editorial, NYT (12/09/2002)
On Economy, Bush Reveals His Soft Spot
Dan Balz, WP (12/09/2002)
The new GOP patronage
Editorial, Palm Beach Post (12/08/2002)
Jobless Rate Rose To 6% in November
John M. Berry, WP (12/07/2002)
With ’04 in Mind, Bush Team Saw Economic, Political Peril
Dana Milbank, WP (12/07/2002)
Stance on Guns for Individuals Rejected: Court Slaps Down Ashcroft-Bush Policy
Rene Sanchez, WP (12/06/2002)
The GOP Revives Social Security Privatization Ploy
Robert Kuttner, LAT (12/06/2002)
Unemployment Rate Unexpectedly Surges to 6.0 Percent in November
Leigh Strope, WP (12/06/2002)
Poll Finds World Doubts U.S. Motives in Iraq
Richard Morin, WP (12/04/2002)
Feds’ Spying Plan Fades to Black
Julia Scheeres, Wired (12/04/2002)
A Lump of Coal From the President
David S. Broder, WP (12/04/2002)
No License to Drill
Editorial, LAT (12/04/2002)
Bush Restoring Cash Bonuses for Political Appointees
Eric Lichtblau, NYT (12/03/2002)
Industry Seeking Rewards From G.O.P.-Led Congress
K. Seelye, NYT (12/03/2002)
Hey, Lucky Duckies! [Conservatives want to raise taxes on the poor]
Paul Krugman, NYT (12/03/2002)
U.S. Voices Doubts on Iraq Search
Dana Milbank, WP (12/03/2002)
Internet Weekly Report First Issued on 12/15/2001,
Copyright Internet Weekly 2001 and 2002.
The opinions expressed here are my own.
Send feedback, ideas, pictures, hate mail,
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