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Who recalls these posters?

ricochet biscuit — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:53:22 -0800

Help me find a series of Democrat campaign posters from recent years. For what must have been the 2006 mid-term elections, the Democrats produced a series of posters which were nothing but text -- proper nouns, as I recall -- on a black field, on the theory that the associations alone were enough to evoke distaste for the status quo. It seems to me there were three or four of them, one with names ("Cindy Sheehan," "Harriet Myers," "Valerie Plame"), another with places ("Abu Ghraib", "Guantanamo Bay," "New Orleans") and so forth. My google fu is weak. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Halloween icons

Unsomnambulist — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:14:17 -0800

Characters and icons specific to Halloween? I'm trying to come up with a list of characters, icons, and similar that are specifically relevent to Halloween (the holiday)... meaning not every popular movie monster would make the fit, no matter how "popular" they are around Halloween.

Clearly, The Great Pumpkin is at the top of the list. Jack Skellington, or some other Nightmare Before Christmas characters also work for obvious reasons.

The Headless Horseman fits because according to legend he only appear Halloween night. By the same token, Michael Myers fits... his bloody rampages coincide with Oct. 31st.

Ben Cooper might also fit... although it was the name of possibly the most famous Halloween costume company ever - cheap vinyl jumpsuits and a flimsy plastic mask. Loved em!

Any ideas?

First Ramadan Single - what now?

burhan — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:33:54 -0800

Single Muslim Father. First Ramadan without wife to help make food in the morning or with 'fun' ideas for the kidlets. Help! After 13 years of marriage, I find myself in the position of being single and having sole custody of my three children, and facing my first Ramadan.

We always had some traditions - decorations, etc. that we'd do. Now, half a year after the separation, and Ramadan is upon us.

I have no idea what to do to make Ramadan fun - honestly, after 13 years alone, I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this. What traditions can I start? What can I make for breakfasts for my kids (all under 11) that will fill them up, but not grind the morning to a halt?

Ideas?

I want to hear this broadcast again!

kepano — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:00:02 -0800

About ten days ago I was listening to NPR in my car (KPCC in Pasadena, to be specific) and heard a hysterical piece on Great Britain's success at the Olympics. Help me find it! A British columnist(?) was stating with great humor that most Olympics sports were in invented in England but somehow the Brits have become terrible at them. As a result they've striven to become the world's best losers. The recent downpour of gold medals came as a shock and the columnist wanted to apologize to the other nations for their success.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? NPR has a great archive but I just can't find this broadcast! Help!

HOW DO PEOPLE WHO... oh.

millipede — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:01:27 -0800

How do people who communicate in languages without capital letters yell at each other online? Bold? Italics? What do they do when html is forbidden, then? Or do they not yell at each other online at all?

(This was sparked by my annoyance at a woman at work who insists on expressing urgency BY USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ALL THE TIME. My roommate studies Japanese and I asked her how people type-yell in Japanese, and she was stumped, and so was google: Hence, I ask you.)

wondering about origin of snuff photos

luser — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:54:28 -0800

Back in the mid 90s, in the early days of internetting, I visited the alt.tasteless.photos newsgroup for the first and last time; I saw a set of photos there that I still wonder about. (Gory inside) This was a series of photos taken in what looked like the eighties of a man and a woman who had murdered a guy, posing with his body in various states of mutilation (i.e., with his junk in his mouth, etc.), laughing and pointing. There was no question of it being faked or photoshopped. I've wondered since then who those people were, and why there was not more notoriety around the killing and the resulting photos. Anybody know what I'm talking about? (Note, I'm not looking for a trip down memory lane here - pls don't bother digging up links to the photos. I'm just wondering if these photos are in fact well-known, and what the backstory was.)

Feed my literary appetite.

wavering — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:29:21 -0800

BookFilter: My reading list is getting very short and I'm looking to the hivemind to help me queue up a few more books to get me by. My interests are usually historical fiction or techo/sci-fi kinds of stuff. I just finished Prey by Michael Crichton. Other books that are up my alley are Into The Wild by Krakauer, The Historian by Kostova, 1984 by Orwel, Contact by Sagan.

What other viewpoint altering, brain inspiring, society questioning or can't put down books can you suggest to me?

Batman & Neal Adams for Cheap?

snap_dragon — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:20:45 -0800

I am trying to find out if if DC comics is sooner than later (if ever) going to release the Batman and Detective comics runs from artist Neal Adams era in the 60s and 70s. I know they have released expensive colored hardbounds but I am hoping for some cheap thick black and white Showcase versions like they are doing for other titles...I know they do the worst titles first...but even Marvel is releasing their good stuff in the Essential series. Any news would be good. Thanks.

How do I transform my short term spurts of motivation/adrenaline into constant motivation?

decrescendo — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:41:45 -0800

How do I transform my short term spurts of motivation/adrenaline into constant motivation? I have some sort of motivation issue and I'd really appreciate it if some of you could give me some advice.

Maybe it's not really an issue, because I don't consider myself to be a horribly lazy person, but I'd rather be way more productive. I'd rather make noticeable leaps and bounds in my life on a daily basis but I can't seem to get the fire to do so. I love being productive and being able to say my life has improved since the previous day. I don't like napping because I feel like I'm wasting time where I could be getting something done.

Every now and again, I see a movie or experience something that really lights a fire under my ass. I walk out of the theatre and go "man I really need to do something more with my life, I need to be more well-rounded than anyone else out there". I realize that's probably not totally attainable, but I want to be shooting for that.

For a short time after this enlightening experience, I have a massive urge to work out like I'm in boot camp, suck up knowledge like I'm still in college, and just in general, be a better person and improve my life by a great deal every day.

However, this massive adrenaline rush to be something more only lasts for a short time. I wish I could somehow wake up the following day in the same mindset. That doesn't happen. I wake up the next day and am too lazy to workout. I come home after work and sit on the couch and watch TV. I feel too tired to do anything after work even though I constantly tell myself I should be working out.

I always seem to have an hour of wanting to bust my ass to improve myself but it never sticks. Do any of you have any advice on how I can keep this motivation fire burning? I want that improve-myself adrenaline that I feel from time to time ALL the time, not just for the rest of the night until I go to bed.

I just hope this isn't a memory from real life...

naju — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:35:52 -0800

I have a vague memory of a dialogue between two people about bulimia. Is it from a movie, a tv show, or a strange dream? This is a short memory I have that's been kind of haunting me for the past few days. It must've seen it recently. Two people are sitting and talking really casually, at a party, almost like they're bored. They're both talking about having to vomit to stay thin, maybe comparing strategies, almost like it's a given that this is the only established way of becoming thin. But it seems like the dialogue is NOT played for drama, or for laughs. It's just really tossed off, and lasts only a few seconds, before the movie (or dream?) shifts to something else completely. I can't remember whether the people talking are male or female.

The only movie I've seen recently that I can think of it being would be Pineapple Express but this seems very wrong for a stoner comedy. Now that I think of it, I also saw part of the movie Thirteen on Lifetime a couple weeks ago. Could that be it? Any other ideas?

Question about the current job market

crapmatic — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:31:15 -0800

How are entry level jobs in your career field (US) faring right now? Just to underscore that this isn't chatfiltery, my wife is in a research job that's gotten a bit insane, and she's thinking about quitting. She's talked about taking "any old job" for awhile, even part time, to keep some income rolling in. She's worked in retail, doctors offices, bartending, tech support, programming, and so on. How are entry level / retail job markets faring right now? Is it difficult to find work, or does it really depend, and which areas seem to be relatively tight or open? This would be in the TX and OK area, specifically.

Amiguano, Italy? Did Gramps make this place up?

ethnomethodologist — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:00:17 -0800

Can anybody tell me anything about Amiguano, Italy? My grandfather and great-grandfather emigrated from Italy, arriving at Ellis Island in 1912 from "Amiguano," Italy. I can find nothing at all about this city- google maps search suggests "Omignano," in Salerno. I've checked the origin listed at ellisislandrecords.org as well as the scan of the ship registry and both say "Amiguano." My dad and all his sibs are dead, and mom knows nothing.

"Amiguano" sounds Spanish- did Mussolini Italian-ize place names or something?

Do Muslims watch women's sports?

RedEmma — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:30:41 -0800

Do they show women's Olympics competitions in conservative Muslim countries? I mean, I've been watching the track & field and the gymnastics and all, and I know that many conservative, Muslim-dominant countries don't even let women participate in the sport. But I've been wondering how Arab eyes in particular must see all those nearly nekkid women (with the one Arab exception I saw on the track) running around in their "underwear." Do they even air those competitions in those countries? Is their controversy about it? Or is the fact that those women are "infidels" anyway negate the offensiveness of their booties hanging out?

Any battle where there were no survivors?

IndigoJones — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:01:53 -0800

Any battle where there were no survivors? Last two men standing kill each other as well? History preferred, literature accepted.

Yes we can... help me be punctual

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:38:38 -0800

How long, approximately, do you think the Barack Obama rally this Saturday in Springfield, IL will last? Some friends and I were thinking of driving down to Springfield from Chicago to see the rally, but I have to be back in Chicago by 7:30 to see a show. Google trip planner estimates a 3 and a half hour drive to Springfield. The only information I can find about the rally on the internet or through the Obama campaign is that the gates will open at 12:00 noon, they don't announce when Obama will take the stage. If any of you have inside info or have been to a similar event, I'd appreciate any advice. I have seen the previous questions about Obama rallies and time, but they all seemed to be focussed on the issue of how early one should arrive. I'd like to know when I can expect this specific rally to end, specifically if it will be early enough to make it back to Chicago in time. Thanks so much in advance!

Need to find photodocumentation of antisemitic incidents in W. Germany in the early '60s

scody — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:59:26 -0800

Help! I need to find a documentary photograph related to the wave of anti-Semitic incidents in West Germany in the early 1960s. Surely the power of the green can help? On Christmas Eve, 1959, the Cologne synagogue was defaced with swastikas; it was the first major incident of its kind in Germany since the end of the war, and was followed by a wave of similar anti-Semitic attacks.

I urgently need to find a photo the Cologne synagogue following the attack, or any similar incidents in West Germany in the early 1960s (desecration of Jewish gravesites, etc.). An online photo is okay, but a photo published in a book would be even better.

Thanks!

"Spanish Lice"?

Third — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:46:47 -0800

What exactly is wrong with this Spanish advertisement in which the Spanish basketball teams are slanting their eyes so as to appear stereotypically Asian? My friend, who is Spanish and just spent five weeks in Spain, and I were discussing this picture earlier this evening. We had just seen Tropic Thunder, where Robert Downey Jr.'s blackface performance and the derogatory nature with which mentally disabled people are depicted has drawn some criticism.

I asked my friend, N, what he thought about the teams' photograph. I was joking of course, but he seemed to take it seriously. He told me that there was hardly a reaction in Spain and that it's the rest of the world that is up in arms about the situation. He failed to see what exactly was wrong with the picture.

My other (American) friends in the car thought, like me, that the picture was racist. N said it would be the same thing if Spanish teams put on flat caps and held cups of tea at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Everyone else argued that it would only be on the same level as "slant eyes" if they put in nasty fake teeth. Then more examples came up:

What if the Spanish football team put on dark makeup at the World Cup in 2012?
What if a future set of Olympic Games were held in Munich, and they put on small dark mustaches?
What if the women's basketball team put on full burkas if the Games were held in Baku?

N realized that we thought the picture of the basketball teams was offensive, and asked why it was OK for Downey Jr. to get away with Tropic Thunder, and we responded that Downey Jr. is not representing his country in a worldwide sporting event.

The argument ended in a stalemate, with N calling bullshit on me when I told him that, regardless of the intended meaning of the picture (which he claims is innocuous), it's the perceived sentiment that matters.

When I got inside and sat down, I couldn't really think of a good reason as to why that picture is inappropriate. It's insensitive, sure, but what are the actual complaints being lodged against Spanish athletics? Does it have something to do with Aragonés and Spain's recent bouts of perceived racism in sport? Where is the line drawn between humorous cultural ribbing and outright racism? Would it be OK if, at the fictional Munich games mentioned above, they had mugs of beer and were eating sausages?

Sorry for such a long-winded explanation to a hard-to-answer question, but I happened to start seeing N's side of the story and I wanted to hear what the hive mind thinks.

Citizens of Glendale: Do not worry. He is dead.

Science! — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:33:01 -0800

What are the definitive lyrics to the chorus in the song "A Train Robbery" on Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer album? I've listened to this song a lot, and done some researching to figure it out, but I can't make out what a few words are and the internet gives conflicting answers even on fairly authoritative sites.
Here's the chorus:

1: But we won't touch that old woman
2: [Incomprehensible] and they claimed
3: They ain't offered no reward
4: For Frank and Jesse James
5: Frank and Jesse James

I hear the last word of line 1 as either 'pullman' or 'woman', the internet gives both, and either will work though I don't know how concerned the James Gang would be with the fate of a pullman porter.

I hear line 2 as "he's/she's Southern and afraid. That may work because showing deference to a Southern woman would be in line for them (or at least their mythos)

China!

god particle — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:48:43 -0800

What are some good Chinese youth/pop culture blogs? I'm looking for blogs about Chinese youth and/or pop culture...music, nightlife, art, etc. Preferably written by a native, in (Mandarin) Chinese, focusing on the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, though I'm still interested in seeing a foreigner's perspective on things.

Also, are there any good translation/learning sites where I can just copy and paste a phrase or character and get back the English meaning and pronunciation? My Chinese reading ability is pretty poor, so I'd need something to help me get through the blogs.

What to do now to improve the human race in the long term?

fabius — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:38:30 -0800

What things could one person do now to best progress human civilization in the long term (ie, millions of years)? I recently read Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. Written in 1930 it describes the waxing and waning of human civilizations (and evolution of the species) over hundreds of millions of years.

It gives one an extremely long-term perspective on humanity. Once it gets going the author necessarily never describes individual people, because the scale is so vast. Whole branches of human evolution can be dealt with in a single paragraph.

But despite this it left me wondering: what things could individuals do that would progress human civilization, even if only a tiny, tiny amount? What actions now, or over the lifetime of a 21st century human, would improve the lives of humans in the distant future? What would increase their chances of survival, their evolution, their culture, their technology, their politics, their... anything.

What can we do now to move the human race forward on an extremely long term basis?

Several Star Trek Episode Names

libraryman — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:37:03 -0800

How do I find the names of several Star Trek Episodes? I know what happens in the episodes, but I don't know the names of the actual episodes. ex: In one TNG episode, 4 or 5 crew member go to the holodeck and have the computer make a table or bed they all dreamed they were tortured on. I've got several questions like this! Another ex: Captain Picard debates in court the status of Data's humanity.
And again: The LCARS computer system is introduced and demonstrated. Heavy use of the computer to do research.

From Politically Passive to Politically Active

symbollocks — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:34:53 -0800

How to talk to my non-political friends about politics? I want to talk about politics with my group of friends who are mostly non-political. I have been friends for about a year with these people (after moving back to my home city from college) and I am missing my more political friends from prior years. The thing is with my old friends, we started out political and that is how we met and became friends in the first place. Is it possible to make a politically active group of friends out of an existing politically passive group of friends?

I want to avoid coming off as an inconsiderate preacher who pushes their beliefs on everyone (which is really not the point), which could appear to be the case, since I'm the only one with any established politics. I also want to avoid arguments where people would be hurt or hold grudges. I want them to feel empowered (to act) and help/encourage them to develop their own politics.

Is it best to do this gradually? or just lay it on the table? Am I over thinking this? Do I just need to get new friends?

Potential roommate issues. Am I out of line here?

decrescendo — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:08:34 -0800

I'm planning on moving to DC with a guy I've been friends with since junior year of college (3 years ago). I graduated and immediately accepted a position and have worked in said position for one year and am now moving on to another one. For that same year, he sat around at home and was too lazy to find an engineering job and worked a few $10 an hour construction jobs. I'm having mixed feelings about getting a place with this guy. We both want to live in similar areas and rent is expensive, so it just makes sense. He's not a bad guy at all. He's my friend after all. However, I feel that he might end up leeching off of me. Everything he owns fit in the trunk of his car and he has lived at home since college and I have had a nicer-than-average apartment filled with nicer-than-average stuff. I've matured a lot since college and have entered the real world and he has just sat around at home and gotten drunk. Should I be worrying about the fact that I feel like I'm going to be supplying everything from the couch, to the TV, to the kitchenware in this apartment? I already own everything needed for apartment living and he owns nothing. Once we move in, he'll end up not having to buy a damn thing. Is my thinking out of line here? He's not a bad guy but he's so damn lazy (see first paragraph) that I feel like I'll be the one buying/supplying everything and pulling his ass along (which, in my opinion, isn't fair). Any advice to prevent this or prevent this type of thinking on my part? Thanks in advance.

Gandhigh Jump

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:20:20 -0800

After looking at this map, I'm curious as to why South Asian and Middle Eastern countries are vastly underrepresented in the Olympic games. What exactly are the economic, political, religious, or cultural factors that play into this?

Where is the Napa Valley of the East?

genial — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:24:45 -0800

Planning a wine tour vacation in the spring (late April) and wondering where the Napa Valley of the Eastern US is? We live in Virginia and have a great variety of wines in the western region. We will be planning the vacation with my brother and his fiancee who live in Kentucky. Anywhere within 10 hours or so inbetween and around those regions is fair game. A few things:

Obviously we don't want to be traveling 5 hours during the day just to get to 1 winery so anywhere that has a large variety in a clustered location would be great.

Other things to do near those locations would be a bonus. I know Lexington, VA has a lot of great options for wine along with a lot of tourist attractions and spots. Things along that line would be great.

Is Spring a bad time of year to be doing this? I know little about the seasons and timings but I wondered if most wineries would still be open with a previous year's vintage or if they would be closed while planting/harvesting/etc. Any insight into this?