Karl 
9/11, FIVE YEARS LATER: There is a lot of video from the day posted on YouTube. WCBS in NYC has also posted raw video at its website. You probably have not seen the photos taken by Bill Biggart, who was crushed when the second tower fell. There are plenty more at The Black Day. You could try the 9/11 Digital Archive, but I suspect it will be swamped with traffic, if Sunday night was an indication. The same will probably hold with George Mason University's Digital Archive. It reminds me that blogs really took off after 9/11 in part because regular news sites were being swamped with traffic. For example, I first became aware of Little Green Footballs (which would become much-better known after the Dan Rather “memogate” story) as a repository of 9/11 stories including “Tilly's story” of narrowly escaping the WTC.
THE RECENTLY AIRED AL QAEDA VIDEO contains statements of the 9/11 attackers that their actions were inspired by an urge to avenge the suffering of Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya. Mind you, the US helped save Muslims in Bosnia and had no involvement in Chechnya. It's a reminder that the jihadis will always have a grievance, and don't really care which infidels they kill. As bin Laden said in October 2001, “This battle is not between al Qaeda and the US. This is a battle of Muslims against the global crusaders.”
9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES have gained traction in the US, with a recent poll showing that 36 percent of Americans consider it “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that government officials either allowed the attacks to be carried out or carried out the attacks themselves. Some conspiracists are academics or former gov't officials. Popular Mechanics recently published an entire book debunking these claims. The National Institute of Standards and Technology conducted a 3-year building and fire safety investigation to study the factors contributing to the probable cause (or causes) of post-impact collapse of the WTC Towers, and continues to investigate the collapse of “Building 7,” which is a favorite of the conspiracists. I doubt that any amount of scientific investigation will disabuse the conspiracists of their beliefs.
ISLAMIC EXTREMISM: British writer Martin Amis — who is no fan of US foreign policy — has penned a highly informative piece of the rise of extreme Islamism for London's Observer.
AIRPORT SECURITY is tighter than ever, which is probably a good thing, considering that Transportation Security Administration officers just caught a man with a one-way ticket to Yemen trying to board a plane with a knife hidden in a hollowed-out book. Some will be relieved to discover that while many liquids are banned from carry-on luggage, personal lubricants like KY Jelly are just fine, though I have to think the kind that heats up when you blow on it could be a problem. (Thanks, Amber.)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: “My City Of Ruins,” from the A Tribute To Heroes telethon in 2001.
U2 is back in the studio, with producer Rick Rubin and Green Day.
LIVE SETS from Guded by Voices and acoustic Uncle Tupelo posted by Captain's Dead and Berkeleyplace can be jukeboxed via the Hype Machine.
THE BEATLES: Music writer Steve Turner claims to have the real story of the “wicked dentist” who dosed George Harrison, John Lennon and their wives with LSD in 1965, which supposedly spawned the surreal lyrics of Help!
MIKE HERON — the guitarist, singer and songwriter of the Incredible String Band — did a solo album with cameos from Richard Thompson, Steve Winwood, John Cale, Elton John, Pete Townshend and more. You can stream three songs from this “shadow classic” album via NPR.
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: Beggars Group has posted its first authorized authorized video of John Darnielle playing “Moon Over Goldsboro” at Amoeba Records, along with an interview by AC Newman of The New Pornographers. Darnielle was also recently interviewed at *Sixeyes. Metromix has a piece on Get Lonely, while Darnielle wrote about the album himself in the L.A. Times.
ROUGH TRADE: Britain's legendary DIY music shop and label is profiled in London's Independent.
GRAHAM PARKER may be best remembered for “Local Girls,” but it's a small part of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Graham Parker, Part One, which you can jukebox via the Hype Machine.
PITCHFORK: The influential indie website and its founder, Ryan Schreiber, are profiled in the Twin Cities' Star-Tribune.
THE HOLD STEADY frontman Craig Finn launches a new feature at Pitchfork, giving recommendations for records, artists, movies, books, concerts, TV and radio shows.
LINDSAY LOHAN got her handbag back, after it was turned into Scotland Yard. Nothing was missing, including the approximate million dollars in jewelry. This leaves her mom free to squash those engagement rumors.
DENISE & HEATHER & RICHIE & CHARLIE & DAVID: Speaking of engagement rumors, those about Denise Richards and Richie Sambora have been officially denied.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The big story this weekend may be how slow it was, with the top ten making 49.7 million, the worst since the first weekend of September 2003. Last year the take was 70 million. Anyway, The Covenant took the top slot with 9 million, followed by Hollywoodland with 6 million. I saw the latter, which featured good performances from the still-hot Diane Lane, Adrien Brody and (of all people) Ben Affleck, who probably deserved to win a prize for it in Venice. Even so, I can't say I recommend it as a whole, as it told me nothing about the death of TV Superman George Reeves I didn't already know. But I digress — Invincible slipped to third place, followed by The Protector and Crank. The Illusionist slipped only 25 percent to grap the sixth slot, followed by Little Miss Sunshine, which dropped more, but has already quadrupled what FOX Searchlight paid for it. The Wicker Man, Talladega Nights and Barnyard round out the top ten.
KIRSTEN DUNST often had public sex with Jake Gyllenhaal, according to Britain's ever-reliable News of the World.
CINDY CRAWFORD is denying the cosmetic surgery story that first ran in a French magazine. Indeed, she's denying any interview occurred.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Recent public appearances by Cruise and Holmes just the beginning of a carefully crafted, all-out image-remaking offensive that the couple has launched (as I suspected), but Hollywood bigwigs tell TMZ it's not going to work with them, as Cruise hints at knowledge of drug use by their family members. Janet Charlton prints the latest conspiracy theory suggesting Chris Klein fathered the Tom-Kitten.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Radar claims that it was creepy dad-manager Joe who axed his daughters' publicist, Rob Shuter. Meanwhile, Lisa Simpson wrote to In Touch magazine to express her disappointment that readers made Jessica their favorite Simpson in a recent reader poll.
CAMERON DIAZ wants back.
BRADGELINA: Pitt claims that he and Jolie “will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able,” according to an upcoming piece in Esquire. Pitt should have credited Charlize Theron for the idea. Meanwhile, there's a dispute over whether Nicole Kidman criticized Jolie as a publicity hound.
WILLIAM SHATNER will not boldly go aboard Virgin Galactic's first passenger flight in 2008: “I'm interested in man's march into the unknown but to vomit in space is not my idea of a good time. Neither is a fiery crash with the vomit hovering over me.”
THESE DANG FIBERGLASS COWS have invaded the streets of Edinburgh. When they were in Chicago, it was next-to-impossible to use Michigan Avenue for all the tourists (who never seemed to be shopping in the stores whose entrances they blocked).
CATS AND DOGS: Their sales are banned by the religious police in Saudi Arabia, who apparently see them as a disaster of Koranical proportions, real wrath-of-Allah type stuff.
PRAIRIE DOGS can be blown up in Colorado. Use of explosive devices was sought by ranchers, farmers and organic-produce growers, who feared using poisons would affect their legal certification. And who is the prairie dog's friend? His allies? The harmless squirrel and the friendly rabbit.
THE NATIONAL HAMSTER BALL DERBY was held this weekend. But I think the winners should move on to further competition.
SQUIRRELS thieved dozens of American flags at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Eau Claire, WI. Let's go to the video.
