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Pentasyllabic is. Edible is not. Some words refer to themselves, some do not - an introduction to the paradox of language and a way to amaze your easily-amazed friends. In a similar vein, you may already test yourself by using e-prime, but do you know the thirty-two eskimo words for snow?
posted by blahblahblah at 8:11 PM PST - 97 comments

Does relativity have any practical significance? In fact, relativity had to be taken into account by the designers of the Global Positioning System. The GPS satellites are affected both by special relativity (since the satellites are moving, clocks aboard them appear to run slower as seen from the ground), and by general relativity (since the satellites are farther away from the mass of the earth, clocks appear to run faster as seen from the ground). The net effect of both is that clocks aboard GPS satellites would gain 38 microseconds per day relative to the ground, if relativistic effects were not corrected for--a figure which can be confirmed by using Google calculator.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:33 PM PST - 23 comments

Sacred Sites. Martin Gray is an anthropologist and photographer specializing in the study of sacred sites and pilgrimage traditions around the world. Traveling as a pilgrim, Martin spent twenty years, visiting and photographing over 1000 sacred sites in eighty countries. 1000s of photos, Atlas of Sacred Sites, travel journal, etc..
posted by stbalbach at 7:24 PM PST - 19 comments

Selkie Goes to the Airport "This morning, I arrived at the airport with an hour to make my flight. I kissed my fiancee, wiped off the tears, and queued up for the TSA checkpoint with my laptop out, my shoes off and my identification in my hand. There were three people in front of me; I had plenty of time." It goes down hill from there.
posted by FunkyHelix at 7:19 PM PST - 95 comments

The Meaning of Life Project is an attempt to get stories from everyday folks answering the question "what is the meaning of life?" for an eventual book. You only have until Friday to submit your own thoughts here, though I hope for the book's sake they have a blanket ban on mentions of puppy dogs, unicorns, and teddy bears.
posted by mathowie at 7:18 PM PST - 20 comments

Bored at work ? , pick a shape/year and put that printer at work to good use and make your boss a 12 sided calendar.
posted by meowchow at 6:07 PM PST - 16 comments

The Iraq problem solved. George Saunders has got it all figured out. (from the New Yorker natch.)
posted by lilboo at 5:33 PM PST - 32 comments

Here is the story of Hsuan Tsang / A Buddhist monk, he went from Xian to southern India / And back--on horseback, on camel-back, on elephant-back, and on foot. / Ten thousand miles... / Mountains and deserts, / In search of the Truth...
Traversing rivers and deserts, scaling mountains and passing through desolate lands with no traces of human habitation, 7th century Chinese monk Hsuan Tsang made his journey in 627 AD from Changan to India for religious purposes. His detailed travel journal is believed to be among the earliest reliable sources of information about distant countries whose terrain and customs had been known, at that time, in only the sketchiest way. He travelled over land mostly on foot and horseback along the Silk Road, west towards India. The Buddhist scholar’s pilgrimage (627-645 AD) contributed enormously to the cultural flow between East and West Asia. His "Hsi Yu Ki" or "Records of the Western World" is considered the most valuable book source for the study of ancient Indian history and culture. Italian explorer Marco Polo, whose travel writings fired the imagination of Europeans for centuries, was believed to have used Hsuan Tsang’s travelogue as a guide during his travels in the 13th century. More than 1,300 years after Hsuan Tsang’s historical journey, Taiwanese magazine Rhythms Monthly embarked on a project to retrace Hsuan Tsang’s 19-year pilgrimage through a road that, today, belongs to 11 different countries. more inside
posted by matteo at 5:20 PM PST - 20 comments

Bridges TV was launched today and plans to "celebrate the American Muslim lifestyle and culture". Unlike satelite channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, Bridges TV plans to focus on English-speaking American Muslim youth rather than their parents. So what kind of cheesy programming can you look forward to? "One show features a Muslim newspaper reporter named Jinnah who solves whodunits. A soap opera explores the melodrama of a Muslim father confronted with his daughter's desire to marry a non-Muslim." It should be noted that Al Jazeera plans to launch an English-language channel in 2005.
posted by exhilaration at 5:19 PM PST - 4 comments

SteamWatch: Observing Our Benefactors Since 2004 - "Who has control over the games I bought? It used to be me. Now it is 'Steam.'" Justifiable implementation of digital rights management or complete insanity? Anyone had any problems yet? (11/18 Half-Life 2 thread.) More on XrML, including Karen Coyle's excellent survey.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:46 PM PST - 38 comments

The Zoom Quilt (uses flash)
posted by criticalbill at 3:28 PM PST - 19 comments

Meet The Duggars! ?Michelle and Jim Bob have had 15 children in 16 years all with first names that start with the letter “J”. Recently they had their own 1 hour reality TV show called: 14 Children and Pregnant Again. They belong to the Full Quiver movement which states that you should receive as many children as God blesses you with. The women dress Little House on the Prairie fashion and refer to themselves as Prairie Muffins. The men get to dress normally. This is what the White Supremists think of them and this is what other Christians think of them.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:22 PM PST - 135 comments

The Anti-Booty Call Cell Phone
Because good judgment, heavy intoxication and raging libidos rarely go hand in hand, a new phone from Virgin will allow you to selectively "turn off" phone numbers you might be likely to dial while in a drunken and horny stupor. Thus saving you the embarrassment of calling your ex and instead sending you over to her place because you think her phone's busted.

On second thought, maybe this phone isn't such a great idea.
posted by fenriq at 2:43 PM PST - 22 comments

Seventh Bush cabinet member to resign since Election Day. (National threat level remains at yellow.) Of course, the best part about being the second Secretary of Homeland Security is, the only person they can compare you to is Tom Ridge. Meanwhile, any picks for the next security czar?
posted by jellybuzz at 2:38 PM PST - 30 comments

Apartheid Dies Second Death A South African court has declared marriage discrimination to be unconstitutional, and has registered the union of Marie Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys. Henceforth, marriage in South Africa will be defined as "the union of two persons to the exclusion of all others for life."
posted by expriest at 2:35 PM PST - 33 comments

The best web mag you've never heard of. This is a truly GREAT collection of essays, written by a bunch of famous and not-so-famous folks. Updated twice a month. You will not get any work done today. One of those "bookmark immediately" sites!
posted by braun_richard at 2:11 PM PST - 9 comments

"Libraries are rich, deep, resources for preserving cultural heritage and indispensable resources for the communities they serve.” OCLC, a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization, has compiled a list of the top 1000 titles owned or licensed by its 50,000+ member libraries. There are sublists by subject, a cross listing with a banned books list, and some fun facts, including the supremely annoying one that the highest listed living author is Jim Davis of Garfield fame (#18).
posted by donnagirl at 1:31 PM PST - 16 comments

...when Jesus appears in your texture maps.
Ok, this is old news (been there since 1996), but from my own game programmer point of view, this site is hilarious, in a bittersweet way.
It's been down for a while, only available through the wayback machine, but recently got online again.
It might even be informative for all nerdy mefis, since latest news prove games programming stay as a modern slavery icon.
Might be NSFW if you're working on 'in trouble' game project.
posted by denpo at 12:47 PM PST - 11 comments

The 20 X 20 Expedition is an experiment in photo format showing you what's great about ordering a 20 patty cheeseburger (with 20 pieces of cheese) at The In and Out Burger. Not exaclty pleasant (so you were warned). Bon appetit!
posted by E_B_A at 12:45 PM PST - 29 comments

"The MP3 Experiment is the world’s first live theatrical performance that audiences will experience exclusively through headphones. There are no actors. There is no host. Audience members will download an mp3 track from the show’s website in advance, load it onto their portable players, and bring it with them to the show. The lights go down, a video projection cues the audience to press play on their mp3 players simultaneously, and the show begins. The mp3 track is an intricate mix of music and instructions from an unknown voice." Produced by Improv Everywhere, also mentioned here.
posted by turbodog at 12:20 PM PST - 27 comments

After a three-year absence and $108 million in renovations, Europe's premier grand dame of opera houses, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, will reopen on December 7, 2004. The honor of the opening night opera has been delegated to Antonio Salieri through his obscure opera-ballet Europa Riconosciuta, which is the very same opera that inaugurated La Scala's first season in 1778, and has not been performed in 226 years.
posted by naxosaxur at 10:32 AM PST - 17 comments

McRorie - One man band from the future
posted by mr.marx at 10:24 AM PST - 23 comments

Religion in Star Trek. In which Ex Astris Scientia (a deliciously extensive Trek fan site, by the way) explores the future of faith and religion as depicted by each generation of the Trek universe, with elucidation on Gene Roddenberry's own antireligous view of faith and science via Daystrom Institute Tech Library (another lovely fan site).
posted by brownpau at 10:01 AM PST - 25 comments

All-Ages Kirk/Spock Gay Romantic Art Archive. It's a PG-13 romance as old as the Internet itself. Kirk and Spock, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G (mostly SFW)
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:14 AM PST - 20 comments

Giant Jesus stops traffic in Ohio. Church officials say their King of Kings statue is the largest in America, but the folks in Eureka Springs, Arkansas might have something to say about that. Their seven-story Jesus weighs in at over two million pounds.
posted by Otis at 8:59 AM PST - 60 comments

Beer Frame and Dishwasher and Murder Can Be Fun. My top 3 Zines of all time (here's a list of more). There was a used record/comics store near where I worked. They had lots of Zines and I would frequent them just to see if new issues were in. Weeks of waiting were sometimes rewarded with a new issue. Almost always worth the wait. Anyone have a favorite? Any good Zines around anymore? [more inside]
posted by e40 at 8:45 AM PST - 37 comments

Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo   The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in confidential reports to the United States government that the American military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical coercion "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at Guantánamo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross inspection team that spent most of last June in Guantánamo. The team of humanitarian workers, which included experienced medical personnel, also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guantánamo were participating in planning for interrogations, in what the report called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics." Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners' mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said, sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, or B.S.C.T. The team, known informally as Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers who advise the interrogators, the report said. From the Red Cross : The ICRC's work at Guantanamo Bay  -  Related: From Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a pdf: Torture by Proxy: International and Domestic Law Applicable to Extraordinary Renditions-- Representative Edward J.] Markey pledges battle on rendition practice
posted by y2karl at 7:50 AM PST - 80 comments

abandonia.com ... home to abandoned DOS games, for discussion and download.
posted by crunchland at 7:45 AM PST - 40 comments

Sacco and Vanzetti et al. The amazing Famous Trials website, compiled as a labor of love by University of Missouri law professor Douglas Linder, is a motherlode of information on historically significant trails, ranging from Galileo to the Amistad to Lenny Bruce. It features not only official transcripts, but also equally intriguing details such as a map of the railroad cars in the Scottsboro Boys trial, Klan documents from the Mississippi Burning case, and opinion polls related to the My Lai courts martial.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 6:57 AM PST - 8 comments

It appears to be so simple, but as Fred Astaire once said "they'll never know how hard I work to let the strings show."
Kirsten Ulve started out as a Graphic Designer and later turned to Illustration. You've seen her work on things like Uno Cards, Nick at Night and TV Land. She is a master at caricatures and even has a freaky cool gallery to view as well.
posted by Hands of Manos at 6:55 AM PST - 21 comments

At least you know they're not lip-synching.
posted by greatgefilte at 5:48 AM PST - 16 comments

Sick of Charity Records? You know it's for a good cause, you want to help, but god, don't charity records stink? Well, here's the answer. Buy the record whilst maintaining some (musical) dignity.
posted by qwerty155 at 4:18 AM PST - 10 comments

I just found my new outgoing answering machine message at Tape Findings. {first link is mp3. via News Today}
posted by dobbs at 12:53 AM PST - 27 comments

Gnod's new music-map is a big improvement over the old UI. Looks like gnod was listening two years ago. The new UI still isn't as pretty as musicplasma's Flash design, or convey as much information, but it's pretty nifty to see the band names jitterbug around as mountains of historical user preference data is correlated. Anyway, I'm more interested in which site has better data. I'd guess the old gnoosic UI is being retired, as there's not even a link to the new URL there.
posted by JParker at 12:52 AM PST - 10 comments

Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest has been extended. The leader of Burma's democracy movement and a Nobel laureate, Suu Kyi was arrested a year and a half ago after her motorcade was attacked. Many prisoners in Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar) were recently released, but this is widely seen as a political ploy. [More inside]
posted by homunculus at 12:36 AM PST - 7 comments

Faxing since 1843.
posted by arse_hat at 11:54 PM PST - 18 comments

Fascism in America? It Can't Happen Here is a masterful satire in which a popular, dimwitted politician rises to dictatorial power on the backs of radio evangelists, opponents of urban, yacht-owning, college professor liberalism, common people, and the Rotary Club. America is pushed into a manufactured war by all-powerful corporate interests, liberties are restricted in the name of national emergency, and all is coordinated by a behind-the-scenes political maestro sometimes called "the brain." Sound familiar? It's nothing new: the book was written by Sinclair Lewis in 1935.
posted by socratic at 10:39 PM PST - 49 comments

The MilkDrop visualisation now comes by default with Time Warner's Winamp, and is the greatest thing ever.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:53 PM PST - 32 comments

Who is watching Big Brother? Last week, the Australian Privacy Foundation held its annual Big Brother Awards, with biometric passports winning the prestigious "Orwell" for the most invasive technology (other countries' Big Brother Awards here). Not long before, Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center released their 7th Annual Survey on the state of privacy in sixty countries, claiming that threats to personal privacy have reached a level that is dangerous to fundamental human rights. Are we edging closer to Room 101?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:30 PM PST - 6 comments

Tommy Douglas voted Greatest Canadian. The next nine, in order: Terry Fox, Pierre Trudeau, Sir Frederick Banting, David Suzuki, Lester Pearson, Don Cherry, Sir John A. Macdonald, Alexander Graham Bell, and Wayne Gretzkey. [follow-up to this post]
posted by krunk at 7:58 PM PST - 77 comments

I will definitely get one of these . . . to use at various outdoor summer events, so I don't have to dehydrate myself for fear of using those awful porta-potties.
posted by livingsanctuary at 6:48 PM PST - 36 comments

Art to walk on: Persian carpets are beautiful, exotic, and affordable, with a long, colorful history. I've turned my apartment into a palace. (That's me on the right.)
posted by Floydd at 6:32 PM PST - 8 comments

Bwahahahahaha - Take a shot back. Bill Gates promised to end spam. Now lycos is letting you take a shot back ala SETI. Get your copy and make love not spam.
posted by sourbrew at 5:39 PM PST - 43 comments

FaLaLaLaLa.com - Preserving the memories of Christmas Vinyl Past. [more inside]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:20 PM PST - 5 comments

Presidential action figures are making a return just in time for the Holidays. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, we could all use a little Dick Nixon to kick around come New Years.
posted by nathan_teske at 4:44 PM PST - 11 comments

Just how bad are some of the ideas floating around in Hollywood? Very, very, very bad. Perhaps guys like this will prevent such monstrosities...and if not, at least there will be mockery to get us through.
posted by OhPuhLeez at 3:58 PM PST - 26 comments

An Octogenarian's Journal Here's what we have to look forward to, if we're lucky.
posted by Photar at 3:22 PM PST - 9 comments

28 Variations
posted by cmonkey at 2:24 PM PST - 19 comments

Canadian authorities have arrested US President George W. Bush and charged him with offences under Canada's War Crimes Act. Says (Canadian Prime Minister) Paul Martin: “This decision was not made lightly. But, it was also a decision that was impossible not to make. The United States is not outside the rule of law, and cannot expect to get an unlimited “free pass”. This decision puts a grave strain upon both our nations, and I urge calm and restraint from our American neighbours, as well as from Canadians. I have met with the cabinet, and with our colleagues in the House. This is a time of great crisis for us as a nation. But as people, we will survive this test. Earlier I enacted the Emergency War Powers Act. This is necessary to guarantee our domestic security. This is not a time for panic, for lawlessness, for anything other than a responsible and sobre focus on what lies immediately ahead.”
posted by 327.ca at 2:22 PM PST - 74 comments

Don't smile or else Johnny Law will get you!
posted by Bag Man at 1:29 PM PST - 13 comments

Dilletante Press offers a gallery of Masonic Art. The even-handed introduction lacks the sensationalism that ususally accompanies outsiders' presentations of things Masonic, leaving the viewer free to see the art for what it is, and not for what it represents. The images of mortality are great. It's good to see this stuff presented in a serious light. Of course, it's also good kitsch to find stuff like Masonic party supplies (sugar molds?!?) and trucker hats. And don't miss the 1930 DeMoulin Bros. & Co. Fraternal Supply Catalog No. 439
posted by tomharpel at 12:14 PM PST - 35 comments

Bill Dan likes to balance rocks. He is not alone - many others ply the art of rock balancing, simply for the pleasure of the act and hoping to surprise and delight future wanderers who chance upon them. As in many art forms, it's hard to compete with the mastery of nature's hand.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:14 AM PST - 50 comments

Octoroon Jihad the greatest band you never heard greatest band you will never hear. This web site has interviews, a discography, a tour schedule and of course the band's manifesto and bios. If there were some music files on this site, I'd almost believe it.
posted by marxchivist at 10:08 AM PST - 7 comments

Have you seen badmovies.org? It has plot summaries, still photos [.jpg], sound clips [.wav], and most amusingly, videos [.mpg]. Here is the full list.
posted by sciurus at 9:13 AM PST - 51 comments

The Warner Bros. Cartoons Filmography And Title Card Gallery has more title cards and coloured rings than you can shake a carrot at. A great resource that goes hand-in-hand with this and this for all your Looney Tunes-related research.
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:51 AM PST - 10 comments

David Byrne's web journal
posted by Swampjazz! at 7:32 AM PST - 41 comments

ArtFilter: Scottrohedron raps and wraps.
posted by mic stand at 7:21 AM PST - 5 comments

Tin Foil hat time! Here is the letter that Sibel D. Edmonds and 24 other former federal employees signed and are prepared to tell all to a grand jury. 24 - that sounds like a TV title. Or a group of people who've seen something that concerns them. 24 more than the last time the blue talked about Mr. Edmonds. Now go scooby out the truth you meta-filter sleuths!
posted by rough ashlar at 6:55 AM PST - 41 comments

The Art of Celia Calle
Dismiss any preconceived ideas of fine art as you step into the mindset of Celia Calle. Calle's art aesthetic is strangely alluring and undeniably powerful. Her awesome images are ominous, commanding, sometimes warped, but always spiced with a generous injection of humor, in keeping with the artist's effervescent personality.

My favorites are this, this, this and especially this
posted by Hands of Manos at 5:04 AM PST - 33 comments

The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide.
posted by nthdegx at 1:56 AM PST - 17 comments

Sometimes you steal the goat, sometimes you hack the game. But you know you've accomplished something when you get the fans to heckle themselves. [last link QT video]
posted by ..ooOOoo....ooOOoo.. at 11:13 PM PST - 25 comments

From Between Being and Becoming by Ilya Prigogine, The Future Won’t Look Like the Present by Stephen Hawking to The Fate of the Religious Imagination by Czeslaw Milosz, to mention but a few, finds New Perspectives Quarterly: The Scientific Imagination presenting an overflowing cornucopia of food for thought. And that's just this issue--Check out the archives, too. Essays--by an impressive cohort of authors--abound on a myriad of topics.
posted by y2karl at 10:57 PM PST - 12 comments

The Online Parallel Bible provides provides easy reference to two dozen versions of the bible. This may help research absurdities pointed out on sites like the Skeptic's Annotated Bible some of which are just translation errors.
posted by mosch at 10:43 PM PST - 216 comments

WHO IS BOB PARR? Critics, bloggers and other commentators have, usually off-handedly, linked The Incredibles to Ayn Rand. Well, it turns out the Objectivists are taking the comparison quite seriously. Yet the more exact, direct forebear of "if everybody's special, then nobody is" is clearly... Gilbert & Sullivan, no?
posted by soyjoy at 9:48 PM PST - 36 comments

You'll surprisingly discover that while monogamous, heterosexual, drug-free, non-adventurous travelers might seem a bit boring at some parties, they're hugely popular at blood banks! (An actual television station editorial, via tvbarn2.)
posted by calwatch at 9:20 PM PST - 21 comments

Target : Entertainment : Marijuana Presuming the URL will stop working at some point in the next few hours, here's a screenshot for posterity.
posted by theonetruebix at 8:48 PM PST - 30 comments

Health Care for Children as a Pro-Choice (and Pro-Life) Policy Georgetown Law Professor Mark Tushnet suggests that if the government were truly interested in stopping abortion, they would do so by providing health care and other social interventions. Not by overturning Roe. His position makes sense, considering that abortions have gone up since Bush took office.
posted by expriest at 7:42 PM PST - 57 comments

For all those late nights spent wide awake, trying to wrestle with that most cursed of all questions, "How would The Stooges sound if they played trombone, tuba and drumset?", your quest will now be fulfilled. [preceding text written by the trombonist]
posted by kenko at 6:50 PM PST - 11 comments

World Sunlight Map. A neat little map showing the encroaching blob of darkness as parts of the world slip in and out of nighttime.
posted by Salmonberry at 4:48 PM PST - 33 comments

Haruki Murakami is one of Japan's most widely translated authors, yet he still answers his readers emails. He has compared the process of writing to simultaneously designing and playing a video game. He is sometimes dismissed as a pop-writer, but the fifty-something's life and works have already garnered him a critical autobiography. He has investigated and written about the Aum Shinrikyo sarin attacks for his book, Underground. His novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, transcends elements of both cyberpunk and detective fiction through a combination of surreal allegory and an almost stoic immediacy. It all begins with the impossibly slow ascent of an elevator.
posted by rdub at 4:47 PM PST - 68 comments

Bin Laden in Sweden Check out his HIP posse
posted by samlam at 4:27 PM PST - 15 comments

Max Keiser wants to take down Coca-Cola. He's the founder of KarmaBanQue,a boycott portal that has information for activists, and the occasional scary Photoshop job.
posted by greatgefilte at 3:44 PM PST - 20 comments

New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder The piece on 20/20 Fridaynight about new "revelations" in the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard supposedly tries to prove he was not murdered because he was gay. The family responds to the broadcast.
posted by livingsanctuary at 3:41 PM PST - 68 comments

Bongard problems are a benchmark of sorts for visual pattern recognition; they're also just fun puzzles, and this guy has got the definitive collection.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:40 PM PST - 9 comments

Double posts can be offensive but some can be useful. Here Kitty!
posted by apocalypse miaow at 2:54 PM PST - 33 comments

HalfLife 2 Case. I want one.
posted by bargle at 2:49 PM PST - 18 comments

A team of Korean scientists have enabled a woman who has not been able to stand up for the last 19 years due to a spinal cord injury to walk on her own (103 MB .wmv), thanks to a transplant of stem cells from umbilical cord blood. [Via Future Hi.]
posted by homunculus at 1:52 PM PST - 39 comments

Tom Claytor is a bush pilot who set out solo in 1990 to fly around the world. He keeps a website showcasing his pictures and detailing some of his incredible experiences. He is still abroad and recently did aerials for the upcoming Thai film, First Flight.
posted by Marit at 12:12 PM PST - 8 comments

I found this and was quite surprised that it would happen to anyone (then I kept reading and was more surprised). But at least this kid was a semi-adult and chose the school he went to. But, it's been done to children, too. Perhaps they've never heard of HIPAA. (via Entertainer)
posted by nospecialfx at 11:31 AM PST - 22 comments

Losing Languages. It's estimated that between one and four languages are lost every year, the result of the only remaining speakers dying off. Many have been actively surpressed in the past, such as the Mayan and Ryukyu languages - some of which are said to be further from Japanese than English is from German. Is it worth the effort to preserve languages? Are languages and culture intristically linked?
posted by borkingchikapa at 10:16 AM PST - 57 comments

Professor Irwin Corey, the world's foremost expert on EVERYTHING, has quite a good website. Special highlight for lit geeks: the text of his acceptance speech on behalf of Thomas Pynchon when Gravity's Rainbow received a National Book Award citation, and an audio extract thereof.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:06 AM PST - 4 comments

The Ask Crystal Show: the answer to all your questions. Who needs Ask MeFi when you have her? [via adampsyche]
posted by riffola at 9:44 AM PST - 18 comments

The new video for "Rockin' In The Free World" by Neil Young The new video for "Rockin' In The Free World" directed by filmmaker Michael Moore is now posted on the Warner Reprise site as reported by Baron on BNB. The video intercuts footage from the film Fahrenheit 9/11 and performance footage of Neil Young and Crazy Horse performing the song on the 2003/4 Greendale tour. Much of the audience footage appears to come from the May 18, 2002 broadcast of the Rockam Ring Festival in Nurburgring Racetrack, Eifel, Germany.
posted by Postroad at 9:42 AM PST - 24 comments

Outlandish Josh Josh Koenig, itinerant bohemia actuator, actor and web designer/activist for Music for America, has posted his analysis of John Gaventa's Power and Powerlessness with this wonderful diagram (PDF, image available in his post) of the dynamics of power.
posted by Captaintripps at 9:24 AM PST - 2 comments

File under surreal tapes. Despite being essentially a links/tips page about music/film/art, Panache is most known for its downloadable mixtapes in realaudio. There are over seven eclectic hours worth of new, old, wellknown and obscure music ranging from brazilian sambafunk, dreamy japanese 70s exotica, modern electronic wizardry to dialogue from films and novelty records etc. Some of the tapes have a rather dreamlike quality - which I believe - is the siteowner's intention.
posted by iwanttobuild at 9:06 AM PST - 3 comments

Gum Stories.
posted by jimmy at 8:58 AM PST - 12 comments

Marqui's "Blogosphere Program" pays bloggers for product placement under the guise of a "social experiment". That reminds me of a funny about the delicious new juice flavor from Fruitopia...
posted by HifiToaster at 8:39 AM PST - 18 comments

"A glance at this list, and at the daunting array of actors who have worked with him over the years, many repeatedly, suggests that Mr. Nichols is not only smart but also the cause of intelligence in others. One of the reasons his movies reliably yield pleasure in spite of their limitations is the quality of the acting on display." It seems that Mr. Nichols is also able to inspire profoundly interesting reviews such as this one in the NYT.
posted by semmi at 8:38 AM PST - 3 comments

Another EXTREEM! version of christianity. But this one's funny because it trades in The Clash's imagery and denies it. Contrast the in-your-face, Jesus-to-the-max logo with Westway to the World, a documentary about The Clash (the title sequence in the film has the "roughened" quality of the church logo). Naturally, a church this hardcore and bullshit free has to have a way to reach the kids. That vehicle is Clash Radio, which is not to be confused with Radio Clash. To be fair, it does look like this radical pastor's done some hard livin'. Every cheap hood strikes a bargain with the world, right?
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:13 AM PST - 34 comments

How terribly peculiar. Though clever in its own way. The International Edible Book Festival at Colophone features books, that you can... eat.
posted by bluedaniel at 6:15 AM PST - 8 comments

The terror of a trapped mind is difficult to describe. Have you ever awakened to complete immobility? If so, you probably suffer from sleep paralysis, a condition that afflicts 25% of the American population. Such episodes, which usually only last for a few minutes, can frequently be accompanied by bizarre hallucinations, and some believe the phenomenon is responsible for alien abduction, "Old Hag Syndrome", and the incubus myth. Although most believe the disorder is genetic, explinations vary. Are you an experiencer? Then you understand how frightening it can be. Luckily, you can fight it.
(This is my first FPP in 3 years of reading, so comments and criticisms are very much appreciated.)
posted by baphomet at 1:14 AM PST - 102 comments

MadeInMTL is a rich media application site that enables the user to explore the city through 15k photographs, 400 texts, 50 hours of video, 40 sound bits, as well as 25 short films that truly capture the spirit of Montreal in a virtual experience." {it be flash and I found it at netdiver}
posted by dobbs at 12:47 AM PST - 9 comments

The best band you've (maybe) never heard of... Dean Wareham, formerly of Galaxie 500, gives his top ten reasons for retiring the band. With sounds rivaling and reminiscent of Velvet Underground, Mojave3,and LLoyd Cole, Luna bids farewell.
posted by docpops at 10:46 PM PST - 21 comments

February, 1989.
The U.S.S.R. leaves Afghanistan, a fatwa is issued for Salman Rushdie, Tim Berner-Lee is writing a proposal for something called "hypertext", Salvador Dalí is laid to rest, and Terry Gross interviews William Gibson.
posted by Tlogmer at 10:45 PM PST - 10 comments

"I'm having a little get together with some of my friends...." I found this bizarre and disturbing little flash-movie a few months ago. The first link is actually the second installment in what is now five episodes. There's more (including the first through the fifth) on his site. The music is phenomenal- bits of spookiness from sigur ros and aphex twin. When you're all done, there's an interview with the author regarding Salad Fingers here. People are still trying to figure out exactly who the character is and where he's from. If you look and listen carefully, there are literary references, anagrammed names, etc. If you liked Salad, you might also like "Hell"(non-flash)
posted by exlotuseater at 10:16 PM PST - 21 comments

Overqualified: A new letter every Tuesday
Joey Comeau wrote cover letter after cover letter, listing the same store bought traits in the same wording, day after day, hoping to find another job. And then one day he just snapped a little. He sat down to write a cover letter, and something entirely new came out. So he sent it anyway, but also publishes them on the web. (Or at least he used to.)
posted by anastasiav at 9:27 PM PST - 19 comments

crash-test dummy high jump, crash-test dummy curling, plus a host of other games. [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 9:00 PM PST - 4 comments

Too many books? Not enough furniture? Problem solved.
posted by kenko at 6:26 PM PST - 48 comments

Christo and Jeanne-Claude aren't wrapping anything up this time. They are let the fabric wave freely in Central Park to the tune of $20 million [NYT].
posted by bigmusic at 5:31 PM PST - 57 comments

The Project for Public Spaces releases its list of the 20 best neighborhoods in North America. See Also: The World's Best and Worst Parks.
posted by deafmute at 2:37 PM PST - 54 comments

Dapper dresser Charles Teenie Harris, though known as one shot, shot more than 80,000 pictures in his hometown of Pittsburgh. During a forty-year career with The Pittsburgh Courier he shot ordinary people, jazz legends, Negro league baseball players, and the town. A great life that ended on a sour note.
posted by arse_hat at 2:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Girl murders mother, posts about it on her blog. Oh yes, it's real. Many of the 1300+ comments on her last entry are defending her actions, or saying it's unfair to judge her. (via Waxy via Glassdog)
posted by zelphi at 1:41 PM PST - 111 comments

Power the Earth with Moon gas As if there weren't enough cockamamie ideas for alternative fuel.
posted by Photar at 12:17 PM PST - 31 comments

How photoshop helps "moral values" in Iran.
posted by hoder at 10:41 AM PST - 31 comments

Worldprocessor: An attempt to do justice to the term 'political' and 'geo-political' globe.
posted by moonbird at 10:21 AM PST - 4 comments

Water Cooler Games is a blog devoted to "video games with an agenda. It is about games that go beyond entertainment." They cover pretty much all you would expect from the recent furor over JFK Reloaded to Russian plans to create "patriotic video games in hopes to replace the popular DOOM".
Along the way they found time to play the single most unsafe for anywhere anyone might conceivably see what you were doing game - orgasm girl (link goes to the blog discussion, not directly to the game).
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:32 AM PST - 10 comments

"To protect baby’s eyes offending by dazzling light..." Technical Standards runs a yearly contest for the Worst Manual, offering a $100USD prize. If you enjoy cringing at bad interfaces at This Is Broken, clicking your tongue at typos in library databases or rolling your eyes at the corrections at Regret the Error, you'll thrill to such gems as "Do not iron clothes on body." Note: not all bad manual contest winners are just bad translations. [via plainlanguage]
posted by jessamyn at 8:58 AM PST - 12 comments

What do Pixar artists do on their day off? Ronnie Delcarmen is a story artist, story supervisor, character designer and an illustrator who works for the Incredible Company. His sketchy art style and fluid lines renders a beauty of itself. He has a weblog that discusses his groovey comic book, Paper Biscuit as well as give updates to his life as an artist.
posted by Hands of Manos at 7:46 AM PST - 10 comments

The Paganism of Suomi. Before the arrival of Christianity, and even for centuries after, Finland (popups) had a rich religious tradition. Like most things Finnish, it was wholly different from the mythology of their Nordic neighbors, but shares much with that of the Sámi (Lapp) peoples.
posted by borkingchikapa at 7:21 AM PST - 10 comments

I've often looked at Magnetic Poetry in gift shops and thought, "There's no way I'm paying that much." Fortunately, there's a free alternative, albeit a digital one. (Includes a bookmarklet that allows you to pull a word set from any webpage, and the option to save your masterpiece to show your friends.)
posted by robcorr at 3:52 AM PST - 25 comments

Good advice for all of us! Don't drink and lower heavy machinery into the particle physicists' orbed abyss. "If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
posted by superposition at 11:36 PM PST - 10 comments

Just in times for the holidaze, Google adds wishlists to Froogle. I added tinfoil to mine.
posted by keswick at 10:08 PM PST - 7 comments

Leviathan was a dark, disturbing, and pretty thought-provoking comic written by Peter Blegvad, starring a faceless child named Levi.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:21 PM PST - 7 comments

You're a naughty one, Mr. Grinch.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:46 PM PST - 53 comments

Bush Seeks Money for Abstinence Education President Bush's re-election insures that more federal money will flow to abstinence education that precludes discussion of birth control, even as the administration awaits evidence that the approach gets kids to refrain from sex. Congress last weekend included more than $131 million for abstinence programs in a $388 billion spending bill, an increase of $30 million but about $100 million less than Bush requested. Meanwhile, a national evaluation of abstinence programs has been delayed, with a final report not expected until 2006.
posted by Postroad at 7:38 PM PST - 63 comments

I know we're all contemplating leftovers today, so I thought some food safety music would be appropriate. Dr. Carl Winter's website includes lyrics, video clips, and streaming audio of such songs as "A Case of Norwalk", "Don't Get Sicky Wit It", "I Sprayed It On The Grapevine", and "Beware La Vaca Loca."
posted by Vidiot at 4:16 PM PST - 10 comments

Research may espouse that change is real but most think that ex-gay ministries are something that need watched. That sill hasn't stopped one 22-year old blogger in DC from trying to blog his way out of homosexuality, though.
posted by nospecialfx at 3:32 PM PST - 312 comments

Confess yourself, come clean.
posted by bluedaniel at 1:43 PM PST - 26 comments

When the Spaniards conquered South America, they at first ignored Indian claims that the leaf gave them strength and energy and declared the practice of chewing it the work of the Devil. But after discovering that these claims were true, they legalized and taxed the leaf, taking 10% of the value of each crop. These taxes were for a time the main source of support for the Catholic Church in the region.
Also the not so typical Thanksgiving recipe
posted by bureaustyle at 1:16 PM PST - 10 comments

Everybody needs free music "Welcome to Comfort Stand Recordings, a community-driven label where all releases are free with artwork and liner notes. We strive to bring you recordings that we find interesting, compelling and downright enjoyable." Inspired by Dydecker's post about the Thinner music netlabel, I would like to speak up for Comfort Stand - legally free music in many tastes. I particularly like Very Proper Dragonflies and The Apartment.
posted by SpaceCadet at 1:01 PM PST - 15 comments

Worse Than the World Bank? Export Credit Agencies--The Secret Engine of Globalization The amount of investment that export credit agencies (ECA) support worldwide is significantly greater than the total amount of lending from the World Bank, IMF and all other multilateral institutions combined. ECA's account for the single biggest component of developing country debt and half of all new greenhouse gas-emitting industrial projects in developing countries have some sort of ECA support. Investments in places like Guatemala, South Africa, Pakistan, Chile [PDF], have had unacceptable social, environmental and economic consequences. Administered or backed by a government, an ECA uses taxpayer money to make it cheaper and less risky for domestic corporations to export or invest overseas. ECAs privatize the profit and socialize the risk while negatively impacting indigenous cultures and enironments, all with little or no governmental oversight or public awareness of the matter. So what can we do about it? [PDF]
posted by faux ami at 12:16 PM PST - 14 comments

Setpixel has undergone several revisions since last it appeared here. A little leaner, more focused on Processing, but still a lab for interesting, impressive and downright funky technological art (QuickTime, Flash required to view demos).
posted by LinusMines at 11:19 AM PST - 7 comments

Making fun [banner ad may be NSFW] of Furries sure is fun, isn't it? Pointing out over and over again some of the worst examples of what the the fandom has to offer seems to be an activity almost as old as the Internet. In the rush to point and laugh , though, it's easy to miss entirely some of the more beautiful and amusing examples of what the culture's emphasis on art and imagination has wrought upon the world. And even if you aren't impressed by the talent on display, someone is -- Further Confusion, one of the largest Furry conventions in the world, has had for two years running an art show bringing in over $60,000 each year, with portions of the convention's proceeds going to organizations such as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund , the Coyote Point Museum , and the Oakland Zoo.
posted by wolftrouble at 10:11 AM PST - 74 comments

Brasco the Bear (pdf file) wants you to know all about guns and gun control. How to point them, all about the Bill of Rights and why the United Nations is full of bad men. Colouring Book Fun for all your family. (part of the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership website and via boing boing.)
posted by seanyboy at 8:33 AM PST - 37 comments

Buy Nothing | Buy Everything. On the one hand, curbing conspicuous consumption, but on the other hand... oooooh, shiny.
posted by Capn at 7:44 AM PST - 36 comments

Wild horses, in pictures , detail, and recent news.
posted by moonbird at 4:46 AM PST - 19 comments

"Salt rising bread is, when at it's best, as if a delicately reared, unsweetened plain cake had had an affair with a Pont l'Eveque cheese." There's even a mystery to go along with your (cheese-flavored) bread.
posted by scrim at 1:26 AM PST - 10 comments

Endless AOL CDs can fill your mailbox, but some people seem to love them. Others have found creative outlets for their AOL junk mail. Still more people simply love to collect the buggers, although some for grander purposes than others.
posted by rooftop secrets at 12:47 AM PST - 18 comments

Learn to make sushi with online videos. Chef Hyday, professional sushi chef, & amateur tv personality will guide you through step by step. You will learn everything from how to prepare the raw fish, proper manners, different types of sushi, (win media links) and of course how to make rolled sushi. He covers it all, from the California roll to the complicated rainbow roll, he'll guide you through every step. I almost feel guilty watching it, it’s almost like revealing the secrets to a magic trick. An invaluable resource for anyone who might be interested in learning to roll their own sushi at home.
posted by joelf at 11:31 PM PST - 13 comments

Virtual Reality Panoramas of Slovenia. This virtual guide is an attempt to present world landmarks with the point to - Slovenia. The goal of this project is to display the cultural and natural heritage of our planet with interactive Virtual RealityPanoramas. The project started in 1996 and is updated almost every week, so welcome to check it On-line! This presentation is a part of work in progress. Today it consists of 3610 Virtual Reality Panoramas, 1283 high resolution full screen QTVR-s  and more than 16.000 photos (also wallpapers in three standard resolutions), which is about 80 % (hm..?) of the project (Slovenia Landmarks only) . By Slovenian artist Bostjan Burger.
posted by jokeefe at 10:03 PM PST - 9 comments

RoboDump I need one of these for my workplace
posted by meowchow at 8:43 PM PST - 12 comments

The Virtual Museum of Canada has funded or collaborated on almost 150 virtual exhibits, mostly relating to Canadian History and Culture. There is great diversity, among my favourites are Nk'Mip Nation Aboriginal Childrens' Art from the Inkameep day school (a welcome counterpoint to the residential schools tragedy), the historic re-photography and soundscapes of Montreal, Haida Culture documented , and also compared to Inuit Culture, Inuit (Eskimo) games and 3-dimensional (VR) sculpture, a history of the Canadian Trucking Industry, a splendid overview of Canadian documentary film making, Canadian design in the late 20th century, and the Shipwrecks of Vancouver Island. There is also a searchable image gallery. The only thing missing is a historical whodunnit or two (or three). All sites available in both French and English, and some in other languages too.
posted by Rumple at 8:30 PM PST - 17 comments

Need some help with your Christmas shopping? How about a nice Penis cravat? That special lady in your life will be sure to love her Possum Fur G-string. And finally, something to stuff that stocking: The Bulge.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:45 PM PST - 15 comments

Husband Wanted. Girl looking for husband in Nashville, TN, puts picture on billboard. "I just want one man driving by this billboard who wants to marry me." Is this a Red state thing?
posted by metaforth at 6:14 PM PST - 59 comments

Literature Is Entertainment or It Is Nothing. Thomas Ligotti, regarded by many as the greatest genius to hit fantastic literature since Poe, Lovecraft, or Machen speaks on mental illness, his writing process, and his influences in a wry and thoughtful interview from Fantastic Metropolis. And once you're done with that, you may wish to check out this fun page of his Notes and Aphorisms, if you happen to like notes and aphorisms.
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:32 PM PST - 15 comments

New Canadian music is infiltrating your culture with its neo-retro ways, and you may not even know it! Hot Hot Heat is too dance-rocky for it's own good, Joy Division-loving the Stills are constantly mistaken for New Yorkers (thanks to touring with Interpol), and certainly Stirling are too epic to be anything but Cure-loving Brits! Watch out for the seditiously warm synth-pop of Stars and the society-destroying rock-folk of lesbian siblings Tegan and Sara. While you're at it, keep tabs on Toronto super-supergroup Broken Social Scene and the quirky, danceable girl-rawk of Metric. This is the cell of the retro rock revolution you really need to pay attention to. The Strokes and their ilk have nothing on the Canucks.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 3:56 PM PST - 145 comments

Has Atlantis been found? It's a good question. (Previous MeFi threads here, and here). Digging around at Atlantis Rising also provides some thoughts as to where it might be. (beware the worst of the tinfoil hat brigade, though) Or perhaps the whole thing bores you, and you'd rather build your own Atlantis or just take a cruise.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:39 PM PST - 11 comments

Superhero Hype! Is waiting for June 17 driving you batty? Does being patient until July 1 seem less than fantastic? Have no fear. Superhero Hype! will keep you up to date on all the latest news and rumors in the exciting field of comic-book-to-movie adaptations.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:25 PM PST - 15 comments

Thinner/Autoplate is the real deal: a netlabel that doesn't suck. Ambient/dub/minimal house/drone/experimental sounds that'll turn your home into the chillout room of a Finnish club at 5 am. Or at least pleasantly buzz in the background while you read. Sixty-five releases, high-quality bit rates, zipped files, creative commons licence -- the site itself is very nicely done. But more importantly, the music is just freakin' good, for fans of this sort of thing of course. For a taster, try the excellent ambient dub mix (125MB) or the more beat-oriented house standard mix (95MB). The label chief explains the rationale behind giving the music away in an interview here.
posted by dydecker at 11:02 AM PST - 20 comments

A look at what we're losing - John Ashcroft sings
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:17 AM PST - 20 comments

(How) To Kill a Mockingbird, probably the best book report turned into a flash animation ever. [link via Monkeyfilter]
posted by drezdn at 8:24 AM PST - 35 comments

The Race & Slavery Petitions Project indexes and abstracts over 18,000 petitions to county courts and state assemblies between the years 1777 and 1867 relating to race and slavery. There is a nice searchable database and the full-text and images of some of them are viewable here.

This has some great slices of life and labor in the old south, from people trying to free their slaves to owners looking to be reimbursed for their dead slaves.

While I'm at it, lots more primary sources on slavery in America at the Documenting the American South web page, a site this history nerd can never get enough of.
posted by marxchivist at 7:37 AM PST - 10 comments

The heroes who saved Britain. They died in millions, the victims of wars waged by man against his fellow man. In huge numbers, they were deployed alongside the military in the theatres of conflict, in the deserts, the seas and the sky. They carried troops, ferried supplies and even secrets. On the home front, they rescued victims trapped in the rubble of bombed buildings. Their names? Rifleman Kahn, Mary of Exeter, Buster, Simon, Olga, Regal, Upstart, and millions of others. This contribution has finally been acknowledged in London with a £1m memorial, dedicated to the animals who served in war. It is the first such permanent tribute to the plethora of species that served in the military; horses, dogs, cats, monkeys, bears, pigeons, mules, even the humble glow-worm. The sculpture was placed at Brook Gate, Park Lane. Among those present, Buster the Army dog, who served with honor in Iraq.
posted by matteo at 6:53 AM PST - 16 comments

37 percent of Americans want the teaching of 'evolutionism' replaced outright. (Yeah, I know it's hackneyed but 37%??)
posted by jonvaughan at 5:39 AM PST - 155 comments

The British Council polls non-English speakers for the seventy most beautiful English words. Mother comes out on top (as ever), with lullaby, oi (my favourite), and — bizarrely — hen night also appearing. I much prefer the examples of Wilfred Funk (and others): dawn, chalice and gossamer, for instance [source origin]. Beautiful words can be combined to form beautiful phrases and sometimes more. German words are also beautiful; habseligkeiten (meaning property), and such. Words can also be curious, people have observed; but also be truly awful, as a quick search of the phrases "global experience" and "leading edge" will attest.
posted by nthdegx at 5:30 AM PST - 58 comments

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School? WTF? That's what I thought when I first read it. I read more and again I said: WTF? This can't be right! So, I looked around a bit and I realised some people had already a different perspective on this.
posted by acrobat at 3:46 AM PST - 38 comments

Orkut Media "A weekly collection of writings and photos by our very own orkut members"
posted by Mwongozi at 2:53 AM PST - 4 comments

Outwit your opponent in a head to head code-cracking clash to win the Mastermind title, which is not to be confused with this television imposter. The board game was a really simple test of code cracking and deduction. I remember playing this game for hours and hours in my childhood. The new packaging is (of course) not as good as the old - and theres even a story about that old cover!

If you cannot find the board game - then you can always play the game online (mind your eyes there) or with a java applet, at least online you don't drop the little black and white pegs down the side of the chair!
posted by mattr at 2:50 AM PST - 12 comments

The Snowsuit Effort - A photoblog, mostly faces.
posted by dobbs at 1:00 AM PST - 13 comments

Blog Torrent is out, it's been under development for a while now by the good people at Downhill Battle. It's a really simplified way of uploading files for the bittorrent network with an integrated client/server solution. Right now the client side is windows only, but the core functionality works with any client of course. Pretty neat.
posted by rhyax at 11:02 PM PST - 15 comments

Made from a nickel-titanium alloy, and highly processed for electrical activation and long life, the thin black thread-like BioMetal acts as an artificial muscle. When powered, the BioMetal contracts. When power turns off, the BioMetal quickly cools and the wire extends again to its longer, starting length.
posted by zanpo at 10:53 PM PST - 11 comments

Plato was a bore. Everything Nietzsche ever wrote is available on The Nietzsche Channel, in both English and German. They have many other Nietzsche-related resources, including a quiz. (Geocities, unfortunately.)
posted by louigi at 9:52 PM PST - 12 comments

Oatmeal is funnier than cabbage!!! VOTE for the only candidate with a viable plan for the promotion of BREAKFAST CIVIL LIBERTIES!!! [via Boing Boing]
posted by arto at 9:48 PM PST - 8 comments

What is too human? The ethics of human/animal chimeras.
posted by homunculus at 5:27 PM PST - 40 comments

1001 Self Portraits reaches 40.
posted by feelinglistless at 4:17 PM PST - 25 comments

No shopping. No presents. No guilt.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:28 PM PST - 98 comments

Mariko Takahashi's FITNESS VIDEO for being appraised as an "EX-FAT GIRL" A most peculiar entry from Panasonic's Olympic Games in Action summer promotion in Japan. From the artist: "This video expresses the joy of excercise. ...While I was trying to find something that both adults and children could enjoy, I saw a poodle with its 'muscle-like' hairstyle and I thought, how about a girl with muscles in the same places?" ...Possibly the most bizarre video I've seen all month. (38MB - QuickTime/Real/Windows Media Player req'd)
posted by Down10 at 3:07 PM PST - 20 comments

Caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits have become very popular policy in America. Proponents of caps claim that huge settlements are to blame for skyrocketing med mal premiums, forcing doctors out of business. You may remember Bush's oft-mocked statement that "our OB-GYNs are unable to practice their love" because of these opportunistic suits brought by ambulance-chasing trial lawyers. After insurance companies poured millions into referenda across the nation to convince voters that a cap on damages would effectively lower med mal premiums and protect health care availability for the end user, now the second-largest med mal insurer in America, GE Medical Protective, is trying to convince the Texas Department of Insurance that they are unable to reduce their premiums because tort reform only saves them 3% of their total losses.
posted by pikachulolita at 2:31 PM PST - 33 comments

Portion Distortion Quiz. Just in time for T-day, our helpful friends at NIH have updated last year's quiz with Portion Distortion II. Caution: pictures of food are bigger today than they were 20 years ago.
posted by grateful at 12:47 PM PST - 29 comments

Chapters in the Sky --- a rich collection of autobiographical aviation storytelling by Paul Niquette. Complete with glossary for non-pilots/enthusiasts. Highlights: two crashes in one day, the flight school riding on the success of Paul's FAA checkride, commuting over LA.
posted by tss at 12:47 PM PST - 7 comments

Hercules! Not the shiny muscle man from the past, but a handy emulator for IBM S/360, S/370, S/390, and z/Arch mainframes. Unfortunately, because of IBM's bullheadedness, you can only run operating systems released when the world was young, unless, for whatever reason, you decide to run something released after the Reagan Administration. You, too, can learn how easy we young whippersnappers have it now, but beware: to effectively use most of these systems, you will need to descend into Hell.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 12:07 PM PST - 8 comments

If chess is the game of kings... The 2005 U.S. Chessmaster Championships are being held right now, in 2004, here in San Diego. When you have tons of money and a lifelong passion, like Erik Anderson, you can do things like prevent the tourney's demise. Keep your eyes on Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky, and ask yourself what Garry Kasparov will be doing this weekend. Deep Blue's press secretary told me that he will not attend, but I plan to stop by with my Ivan II, The Conqueror. And if I can't get in, I'll just stay home and read a book, watch a movie or do my damnedest to get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine. (First one is Swedish, last one's a midi.)
posted by mathowie at 12:01 PM PST - 17 comments

I can't stop watching this video (QT), and the rest of the videos directed by Ruben Fleischer are rather punchy too. I'm not really big into this genre but this director has a really good eye...
posted by moonbird at 10:39 AM PST - 32 comments

A Manx Notebook. Many things related to the Isle of Man.
posted by plep at 10:31 AM PST - 3 comments

Take the Village Voice's Noir Genius Exam. Created to promote the "Essential Noir: Classics of American Film Noir 1941-1958" film fest at the FilmForum. Nov26th-Dec 23. Difficulty: essay questions - good luck...
posted by lilboo at 8:56 AM PST - 14 comments

Apparently, the reports of our leader's pictures being taken down around the country aren't true. WTF???
posted by jpburns at 8:41 AM PST - 195 comments

Federal Business Opportunities

Ever wanted to know where all your tax dollars really go? Mosey on over to FedBizOpps.gov and search the nice little database they've got there for all those federal business opportunities you just can't wait to bid on....How about making a wearable computer for the Navy? Want to perform for the USO? How about getting paid to surf the intarwebs to defeat the terrorists? The Special Operations Command has the job for you! Looking to unload 30 million tons of beef? You've got a buyer! Gather wild horses for the Dept of Ag! Haul carcasses in the search for mad cow disease! Oh, and by the way, the Iraqi Army needs some clarinets...
posted by piedrasyluz at 8:01 AM PST - 5 comments

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God... In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own... History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government." These heretical words, spoken by a government official now, would surely result in him being targeted for removal by the GOP in the next red-state "mandate." But they were written by Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the increasingly pious, "faith-based" United States of America. A timely reminder from Robin Morgan in Ms. Magazine [via the sublime wood s lot.]
posted by digaman at 7:57 AM PST - 48 comments

A bloodless coup is sweeping the world of plush toys. There's a civil war between traditional teddy bears, puppy dogs , and the new breed of stuffed love bags. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you, for you enjoyment plush tampons, Toilet Paper, and Toast. Yah toast.
posted by drezdn at 7:42 AM PST - 21 comments

Here's what Thanksgiving means to one American whose life-story models some of what is best about this nation. I'm sure there are other, similar stories on the web. This one spoke to me, so I share it with you.
posted by mmahaffie at 6:22 AM PST - 8 comments

Whack Your Boss. Finally, a place to express your rage without harming a soul. Whack your boss, here in cyberspace, so you don't have to. The challenge: Find 50 seven ways to leave whack your boss. [Flash]
posted by Ljubljana at 1:23 AM PST - 9 comments

As a brutal civil war ravages the NBA, loyalist forces are under attack from a fascist coup led by Generalissimo David Stern. Stern promises prosperity and stability to the people of Indiana. [Special thanks to this guy.]
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:04 AM PST - 17 comments

15 Megs of Fame. From the creators of Threadless (and pretty much the same thing but for music instead of T-shirts). {Flash.}
posted by dobbs at 12:05 AM PST - 9 comments

The Orange Revolution -- A coup is taking place right now in the streets of several Ukrainian cities. Following the "election" of Viktor Yanukovych, an election that everyone from the Ukrainian man-on-the-street to EU observers and the US and Canada say was marred by serious and obvious fraud, Ukrainians are turning out by the hundreds of thousands to show their support for the opposition candidate, the pro-West reformer Viktor Yushchenko. Individual cities and municipalities, not to mention heads of Ukrainian religious groups, have even announced that they will refuse to recognize Yanukovych as the Prime Minster.

The problem is, Yanukovych is supported by the Kremlin. Russia's state-run TV stations had been broadcasting propaganda on his behalf, they called the election on his behalf before the polls were closed, and their increasingly despotic President Putin even congratulated him on his "win", before backtracking slightly. And now reports are trickling out--from former American congressmen communicating via Blackberry, no less--about Russian soldiers being flown across the border into Ukraine, dressed in Ukrainian militia garb, and set among the protestors. Phones have been cut across much of the country, including at the embassies. A semi-covert Russian-backed military push against the pro-democracy protestors is feared. Will this be another peaceful Rose Revolution, as happened in Georgia one year ago today, or more like Hungary, 1956? Stay tuned to the Ukrainian bloggers and webcams; this could get messy.
posted by Asparagirl at 8:40 PM PST - 144 comments

Economic 'Armageddon' predicted by Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley. He's been right before.
posted by stbalbach at 8:28 PM PST - 66 comments

What the Bleep Do We Know? Has anybody else seen this movie, about quantum physics and the nature of reality? We went to see it last night and were flummoxed by the 100-person line sprawling up the sidewalk outside our little downtown art theater. The movie was good, but for the most part didn't cover anything I hadn't heard or thought about before. Except for the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto, whose experiments seem to prove that ice crystals form in different shapes depending on the mood that the water is subjected to. As somebody with only the most introductory familiarity with quantum physics, I'm curious to know from people who've spent more time around the subject: What do you think (of the theory, and of the movie if you've seen it)?
posted by damn yankee at 6:28 PM PST - 125 comments

Wait... there's a NEW Mexico??! Old but funny.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:23 PM PST - 48 comments

McDonalds CEO "Flipping Burgers at 15" Quits Due To Colorectal Cancer You know, losing one CEO to coronary heart disease is unfortunate. However, losing another to colorectal cancer just seems careless. An increased occurrence of both diseases is linked with the consumption of red meat, especially processed red meat cooked or seared at high temperatures. Not exactly a good advertisement for McDonalds. Maybe it's time to recruit some people who haven't been enjoying the free employee meals quite so much?
posted by meehawl at 6:17 PM PST - 63 comments

Houses of the Future - houses made of cardboard, steel and clay.
posted by cmonkey at 3:02 PM PST - 22 comments

Do you enjoy a game of no skill?
posted by jonah at 2:57 PM PST - 47 comments

Lakoff say - mellow frames sooth savage Thanksgiving : The guru of framing offers a handy free excerpt from his all-the-rage book, just in time to defuse tense Thanksgiving dinner situations ( All fall asleep - Lakoff or the turkey ? ). Says Penny Kolb, on the practical magic of Lakoff's approach : "....By last night, the chat room was civil. An amazing (to me) number of posters turned off their capitalization and we were actually having conversations."
posted by troutfishing at 2:53 PM PST - 19 comments

The Okinawa digital archive is a collection of images, video and narrative about the rich culture, history and ecology of the Ryukyu Islands. There's so much more to karate's birthplace than the famous, landscape-dominating military bases -- from music and dance to castles to a language and identity distinct from mainland Japan. Be sure to check out the picture gallery, searchable and sorted by region. [MI]
posted by jeffmshaw at 12:53 PM PST - 6 comments

Destroy Evil. Superbad meets MNFTIU.
posted by me3dia at 12:16 PM PST - 17 comments

happiness is a t-shirt whilst poking around to see what's new and cool these days i came across some of the coolest t's i've seen in a long time. check'em out. nice "mantra," too.
posted by tatochip at 12:15 PM PST - 41 comments

An odd category for this DVD. I was searching for a favorite film of mine, The Hebrew Hammer, when I noticed that Overstock.com had filed it under the wrong category. This made me chuckle and I hope it makes you smile too. Happy two days before thanksgiving everyone!
posted by aj100 at 10:19 AM PST - 47 comments

Photographs of Nunavut, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories: the three northern territories of Canada which are possibly one step closer to becoming the 11th, 12th and 13th provinces and further establishing "Canadian sovereignty" of the Arctic. (Perhaps as a rebuke to the Denmark's plans to claim the North Pole?) [more au verso]
posted by myopicman at 10:09 AM PST - 54 comments

dolphins protect human swimmers
"A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday."
posted by specialk420 at 9:33 AM PST - 72 comments

Acid Keg is a titter-inducing webcomic that delivers a story of spies, tikis and rock n' roll. Retro done right. The story starts here.
posted by picea at 8:27 AM PST - 8 comments

The Wellington Valley Project. The history of a failed Christian mission in colonial Australia.
posted by plep at 8:02 AM PST - 2 comments

Do you have trouble distinguishing between a crow and a crocus, or a parrot and a carrot? You may want to refer to How To Tell The Birds From The Flowers: A Manual of Flornithology for Beginners. (caches inside)
posted by iconomy at 8:00 AM PST - 12 comments

From cells to bells, 10 things the Chinese do far better than we do Ah, those clever Chinese. First they invent gunpowder and a few other essentials of modern civilization. Now they're gunning their economic engines. Yet who would have thought that, after a millennium of poverty, they'd already do so many things better than we? In fact, compiling a Top 10 list of what China does better than Canada isn't easy. There are so many items. To whittle it down, let's assume it's unfair to count anything related to cheap labour. So we won't include the wonderfully thorough mop-ups of supermarket spills: The staff don't plunk down those yellow you-can't-sue-us caution signs. They actually fan the floor with a broken sheet of Styrofoam until it is dry. Nor will we mention the exquisite, free head-and-shoulder massages that come with every shampoo and haircut....
posted by Postroad at 7:18 AM PST - 71 comments

When I look at you with my eyes,
be the coolness of my eye.
Solace, a textbook of romantic psychology.
posted by kenko at 6:45 AM PST - 7 comments

An Evolution of Evolution Warning Stickers. This intelligently designed website creation should be viewed with caution
posted by srboisvert at 5:42 AM PST - 103 comments

Nuclear Terrorism videos and links here...plus a blast map-enter your zip code and see how far the effects go.
posted by konolia at 5:32 AM PST - 32 comments

"Something was not right." Kevin Sites, the cameraman at the centre of the recent controversial shooting in Faluja, has posted an open letter on his blog to the marines with whom he was embedded.
posted by Hartster at 3:36 AM PST - 80 comments

Anime Popeye Quicktime.
posted by kenaman at 12:55 AM PST - 33 comments

Record producer Terry Melcher dies. Melcher, one of the creators of the 1960's Los Angeles sound produced the Byrds hits "Turn Turn Turn" and "Mr Tamberine Man" and he also played on the Beach Boys seminal album "Pet Sounds." At one time, Melcher also owned this house and, for a while, he believed that the murders that occurred there might have been in retribution for not signing this guy to a record contract.
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:05 PM PST - 24 comments

Space Age Pop a go-go. Space Age Pop and Exotica album covers, complete with track listings and fun little comments. For fans of Dick Hyman, Arthur Lyman, Martin Denny, Esquivel, Ultra Lounge, and Shag. Even better, 317x.com offers enlargements. I Dig Chicks!. Tabu! Unsure of what all this might be? Take a listen (real audio only), with lots to choose from.
posted by ashbury at 11:05 PM PST - 8 comments

So you've zoomed in on your house and admired your city skyline. Now get back down to earth, and take a virtual drive of every inch of Washington state's public highway system. [+]
posted by PrinceValium at 9:34 PM PST - 11 comments

4,563 cartoons by Welsh cartoonist Leslie Illingworth

"The Illingworth cartoon collection at the National Library, which contains 4,563 images, explores a wide variety of topics through the eyes of one of Britain's best known cartoonists of the twentieth century."
posted by bob sarabia at 8:56 PM PST - 3 comments

Ever copy your ass on the office copier? According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:59 PM PST - 40 comments

Rouge. For people who like a little theory with their cinema. Four volumes so far.
posted by dobbs at 2:59 PM PST - 15 comments

Fed up with fashion? You could revolt. Or not.
posted by timeistight at 2:36 PM PST - 78 comments

Scream Talking fifty short pieces written by Warren Ellis for his livejournal.
posted by drezdn at 2:24 PM PST - 8 comments

Espressostories short stories, 25 words or less, short enough to fit into the time it takes to reach the bottom of that bitter little cup. Gory, dramatic and death, nuggets of wisdom and of course love stories.
posted by dabitch at 2:23 PM PST - 30 comments

Photos of the world's cities.
posted by freebird at 2:15 PM PST - 19 comments

iPod Casings Au-go-go Have you seen the iPod socks? Even cuter: the iPod cozies. They just announced this iGrab casing which looks cool in an Arne Jacobson kinda way. If you live the life aquatic there’s a casing that allows an iPod mini to completely submerge underwater. I’m an old school pink bubblegum iSkin kinda guy. Finally, if casings aren't your deal there’s the solar powered iPod battery back up. If I could just get on the L.A. freeway with one. Please post other fun iPod goodies.
posted by alfredogarcia at 1:58 PM PST - 31 comments

Edison spoke: "Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best..."

Auditory Antiquity as Anachronism.

Does One fancy the Sonic Cylinders and Spindled Spirals of Edison? are the Victorians' crackling gramophones what Ought to be? could it be the Transitory Teens for a treat in Tonality? perhaps One is enamored by the Resonance as Reasoned by the Roaring Decadence of Decade, the fret of Jitterbug Fears, and some Hopped-up Lindys instead?

Why not Then and Then to be found at Once?

( Fully formed Fondness recommends the abilities of a Reality Playfulness, the oddish Ogg, and an M.P.-third to boot. )
posted by tenseone at 1:33 PM PST - 7 comments

A Vision of a (possible) future of the blogo-news-web-sphere. Or something.
posted by mmahaffie at 12:52 PM PST - 31 comments

Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust Being a writer in today's lovely world of fiction and creative nonfiction is like reliving 70's TV hell, where that Nair commercial jingle has been conveniently rewritten into "Who writes short shorts?" Poetic vision rarely shows up. After all, how can you express vision in 100 words? As for plot and character development, give those antiquated goods to Goodwill. All that matters with short shorts is a competent writing style and a desire for lots of publication credits.
posted by ColdChef at 12:26 PM PST - 33 comments

Hero Machine 2. Like Hero Machine Classic, but not.
posted by armoured-ant at 12:04 PM PST - 12 comments

Searching for Hope? Purpose? Relief? Well then, look no further my friends - Bob Saget will save your soul! In my goal to share my love for Bob Saget with the rest of the world, I have taken it upon myself to amass the largest collection of pictures to ever chronicle the life of our great Saviour. So please, browse through our website and prepare yourself for a journey into the vast depths of Bob's heart. Remember, Bob loves you, and he wishes for you to join us on the spiritual path to enlightenment.

Don't know about you - but I'm convinced.
posted by mattr at 10:22 AM PST - 25 comments

Computer as author. (NYT) "Dave Striver loved the university - its ivy-covered clocktowers, its ancient and sturdy brick, and its sun-splashed verdant greens and eager youth. The university, contrary to popular opinion, is far from free of the stark unforgiving trials of the business world: academia has its own tests, and some are as merciless as any in the marketplace. A prime example is the dissertation defense: to earn the Ph.D., to become a doctor, one must pass an oral examination on one's dissertation. This was a test Professor Edward Hart enjoyed giving." by Brutus.1
posted by semmi at 9:12 AM PST - 16 comments

New York Changing. Rephotographs from then and now.
posted by stbalbach at 9:09 AM PST - 43 comments

Peep Show. Ah, now that's lurid-sounding. What it is, however, is a comedy from BBC that's way, way funnier than The Office. Reviewers chatter about the Herman's Head-like gimmick -- you hear the characters' thoughts -- but the better gimmick? Excellent writing.
posted by mimi at 7:04 AM PST - 26 comments

Rate My Professor! A searchable database of student ratings of their college professors. In what must be a wonderful reflection of the current status of the American and Canadian higher education systems, the ratings include entries for how easy the professor is and, of course, how hot they are. So click around, visit your alma mater, and let that jerk who almost flunked you in freshman comp feel your wrath!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:46 AM PST - 74 comments

"...I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger"
posted by PenDevil at 4:23 AM PST - 99 comments

HeightMax I'd like to believe this is a joke, but I don't think it is. Internet scammers are no longer content with enlarging just parts of your body. Now you can grow the whole thing!
posted by Mwongozi at 4:05 AM PST - 35 comments

Fun with streetboxes.
posted by cmonkey at 10:41 PM PST - 15 comments

fish highway (via gordon.coale)
posted by madamjujujive at 10:20 PM PST - 24 comments

"Around this country, it has always been territorial." A bizarre deer-stand dispute among hunters in Wisconsin turns violent, leaving five dead and three seriously injured.
posted by soyjoy at 9:57 PM PST - 102 comments

George "Don't mess with my homies" Bush. So, evidently, our president got in a scuffle. Yes, a scuffle.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 8:17 PM PST - 105 comments

G-CANS Project. A look at the massive storm drains under Tokyo, that took twelve years to build. [this is cg]
posted by riffola at 7:36 PM PST - 48 comments

The outrageous Frank Harris, the inimitable Amanda McKittrick Ros, and the unlovely Webster Edgerly, and much more.
posted by kenko at 7:12 PM PST - 5 comments

Dating website bans seriel shagger. DatingDirect.com kissed Clive Worth buh bye after he slept with over 100 of its female ranks in 5 years and women started complaining that he "lacked commitment." Seems wrong to ban someone from a website for being good at what he does, though.
posted by onlyconnect at 6:50 PM PST - 102 comments

Use the free 7 day trial while it's available! This lil program lets you zoom in pretty darn close on just about any spot in the world. And it is FREAKING COOL. I don't have much better commentary than that, sorry. You can zoom around to your favorite locations, tilt the camera, show all road names, rotate views - and once you've got a bunch of stuff plugged in its really neat to just click between them and watch the flyby. I can't believe this isn't a double post, but couldn't find it on search. Have fun!
posted by glenwood at 5:37 PM PST - 66 comments

The Dan Dare film that never was. Concept art for a movie adaptation of The Eagle comic strip character which eventually returned as an computer animated cartoon.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:44 PM PST - 1 comment

12:30 p.m., November 22nd, 1963. The weather is fine. You have a rifle.
posted by emelenjr at 2:36 PM PST - 53 comments

The Washington Post decided to publish this advertising insert. Basically, it is political propoganda aimed at blacks speaking against gay rights. The problem is that it is filled with so much questionable information, and is so obviously intended to inflame one minority group towards another, that I seriously question The Washington Post's judgment in publishing it. It tries to destroy comparisons with the black civil rights movement by claiming homosexuality can't be genetic since they don't reproduce and conveniently ignores events like the Stonewall riots. Will we see advertising supplements from holocaust deniers next?
posted by McBain at 12:37 PM PST - 162 comments

Optics and Photography. A collection of illustrated articles on the chief causes of image degradation in photography.
posted by chunking express at 12:15 PM PST - 5 comments

The Lighthouse Party. Some may ask, "Why are you doing this?" or "Isn't what you are doing the same thing the Constitution Party is doing?" The answer is yes and no. Let me explain. We do agree strongly with the Constitution Party's platform but our mission is quite different. We understand that we are unelectable and have no presidential candidate lined up. With this in mind we can speak out without fear and never "stray" from our Party's original platform in order to get a vote.
posted by u.n. owen at 11:46 AM PST - 11 comments

The Serpeant's Wall - a new photo essay about the tragic history of Kiev during The War. From the same motorcycle-riding woman whose Chernobyl photos we've discussed before.
posted by kickingtheground at 11:32 AM PST - 9 comments

Who Lost Ohio? As more evidence comes in disproving voting fraud in the 2004 Presidential election, perhaps the real lessons for Democrats can be gleaned from this NYT (Reg required, of course) feature on ACT, a Democratic 527. Lavishly funded by George Soros and unions, this high tech organization turned out a record number (2.66 million) of Democratic voters in Ohio, but were out-organized and beaten by a grass-roots Republican effort operating below their radar. [MI]
posted by mojohand at 10:54 AM PST - 56 comments

Tse-whit-zen. Excavation for the Hood Canal Bridge near Seattle has unearthed a huge prehistoric Indian village and alienated tribal spiritual leaders.
posted by xowie at 9:04 AM PST - 18 comments

W.T. Stead. 'Victorian England's most sensational newspaper editor'.
posted by plep at 7:42 AM PST - 5 comments

For November we are offering a toy modeled after the penis of an Akita. This is for you if you've ever wondered what it would be like to have sex with a dolphin, a grizzly bear or even a lion. All anatomically correct - and mostly a little bit frightening. The site is NSFW - unless you are a dildo maker...
posted by mattr at 7:34 AM PST - 52 comments

Pledged to Others: Chicago artist Cindy Loehr has been gathering love letters as part of an ongoing project, with an emphasis toward unrequited yearning. Though the fragility of the human heart has been interpreted in many different ways, the final results of Loehr's efforts are posted on the web and read aloud at museum gatherings.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:42 AM PST - 3 comments

Hermit crabs need your help. The intended audience of the Hand Up Project is someone who, while walking on a beach, might pause to contemplate a slowly ambulating hermit crab, wearing on its back a tiny, man-made plastic house bearing a corporate logo.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:56 AM PST - 40 comments

Llamas (including, but not limited to, images of llamas on stamps (regular and unusual), musical instruments, postcards, paintings, jewelry, fabric, signs, advertisements, view-master slides, pottery, trading cards, crests, Christmas decorations, stereoviews, puzzles, currency, pins, logos, toys, misc., and much more).
NOTE: "They are not for sale, they are simply for your entertainment."
posted by dobbs at 11:26 PM PST - 23 comments

"I will drink Pepsi Holiday Spice for 45 days, and nothing else...no water, milk, nothing...but Pepsi Holiday Spice."
posted by naxosaxur at 11:15 PM PST - 55 comments

So I'm not even a sports fan, but holy crap, this was a serious fight, especially for Basketball. They've got a video posted, but it does NOT include "the punch," by Ron Artest, delivered to some fan in a Pistons jersey. If anyone's got a link to that footage (I only saw it on TV) please post it!
posted by zekinskia at 11:09 PM PST - 88 comments

Republican Congressman Jerry Weller of Illinois just got married-- to Zury Rios Sosa, a current member of congress in Guatemala. "The U.S. Congressional Historian in the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives confirmed this would be the first ever inter-parliamentary marriage between a sitting U.S. Representative and someone currently serving in national legislative body abroad. "

What Rep. Weller's own site omits is that his new wife is the daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efraim Rios Montt, friend of Ronald Reagan, born-again Christian, and, according to many, genocidal thug.

The unholy union was reported in the local press, but one reporter who had been following the congressman's connections turned up brutally beaten outside his apartment under mysterious circumstances.
posted by gimonca at 10:29 PM PST - 24 comments

Nerdfilter "The community blog for weirdos like you."--just opened and trying to emulate Metafilter, without the politics...take a peek.
posted by Postroad at 6:24 PM PST - 29 comments

French Soldiers Machine-gunning Civilians. NOTE: 100Mb video download, very graphic content. So much for the "moral high ground" of the French, as they slaughter civilians in the Ivory Coast.
posted by kablam at 4:20 PM PST - 97 comments

X-explorersweb - Articles and information on key figures, events, news and technology in the world of adventure, exploration and science. Read explorer gossip like the guy who climbed Everest 6 times, and beat up his Sherpa wife in Base Camp. List of current polar expeditions. Links to ongoing Ocean explorations. Expedition technology and lots more.
posted by stbalbach at 4:13 PM PST - 3 comments

Flashy Cars, Flashier Avatars: Each project looks remarkably similar, but the differences are enough to provide hours and hours of fun, be those hours in the combat-oriented venue of Sherwood, the rodent slaughter of the Ratinator, the sparkling conversations and fast cars of Marian's World, or what have you. Enjoy. [Incidentally, it's hard for me to imagine this hasn't been posted yet, but I looked, really I did, and I didn't see it.]
posted by hank_14 at 3:06 PM PST - 8 comments

This site is dedicated to spreading the Gospel in the werewolf and furry communities. It also gives advice on how to P-shift and explains why he doesn't like role playing games. Quote - "I have Jesus to change me into a dragon and create neat lizard people to assist me in heaven." Words fail me.
posted by pyramid termite at 12:16 PM PST - 81 comments

Mom's Cancer. "My mother was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer. I made a comic strip about it."
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:25 AM PST - 60 comments

The Wilde Flowers and subsequent British Canterbury bands.
posted by kenko at 9:18 AM PST - 7 comments

What I Did Last Summer --a graphic representation of blog posts generated by a blogbot. Pick Blue or Red, and watch and read (flash, i think)...this one use images from Civilization 3, and content from My War, written by a soldier in Iraq, and Dear Raed. A wonderful idea, from the mind of this guy, Alex Dragulescu
posted by amberglow at 9:06 AM PST - 8 comments

Cut & Paste: A History of Photomontage.
posted by plep at 4:48 AM PST - 11 comments

I Woz Ere {embedded mov. sound. sfw.}
posted by dobbs at 10:45 PM PST - 19 comments

Born-again liberal Christians. Do you think that mainline denominations are hemorraging members? Wrong. Fundamentalist Christianity is the way of the future and all US Evangelicals worship the same political party? Not so fast, buddy. Many scholars and theologians think that it's time for liberals to take Christianity back. Oregon State's Marcus J Borg, for example, argues that Christianity "still makes sense and is the most viable religious option for millions". He contends the earlier paradigm, based upon a punitive God, simply doesn't work anymore for too many people. It is an argument for an alternative to the literalist and exclusivist tradition that has dominated Western Christianity in the modern era. According to Borg, "So different are these two views of Christianity that they almost produce two different religions, both using the same Bible and language. A time of two paradigms is virtually a tale of two Christianities." There is, for example, an alternative view to the Resurrection Narrative not as report of an actual, physical event but as means for Jesus' early followers to express the miracle of his continuing spiritual presence among them, after his execution. It is in short an 'emerging paradigm which has been developing for over a hundred years and has recently become a major grass-roots movement within mainline denominations'. Just don't be afraid to ask questions. Not even about the dogs beneath the Cross. More inside.
posted by matteo at 8:08 PM PST - 100 comments

Do you like fast-forwarding through commercials on a television program you’ve recorded? How much do you like it? Enough to go to jail if you’re caught doing it? If a new copyright and intellectual property omnibus bill sitting on Congress’s desk passes, that may be the choice you'll face. Let's hope this legislation goes lame duck like this session of Congress.
posted by hockeyman at 6:54 PM PST - 46 comments

"A WTO conference has begun in Beijing." No, not that WTO. This WTO. Love that logo...
posted by gimonca at 6:42 PM PST - 9 comments

Buy the damn hut already
posted by Pretty_Generic at 5:20 PM PST - 30 comments

Roger Scramjet, he’s our man!! Mach 10, 7000mph New York to Tokyo in 2 hours! The future of global air travel? Or something else? What does Russia think of our new precision time-critical strike weapons with significant stand off capability as well as prompt global reach? Oh, nothing really...
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 4:00 PM PST - 20 comments

Our Whizeels iz tha Shizeel Awesome compositing, audio and 3D work. I like art that make me want to step in to its world, (Note: QuickTime). The incredibly low barrier to entry for this kind of project, as compared to 10 or even 5 years ago blows my mind.
posted by Scoo at 3:08 PM PST - 31 comments

The Invisibility Game. How good is your mouse control when you can't see your cursor? Frustrating. As. Hell.
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:34 PM PST - 30 comments

"The dog gets no Pernod in this house!" An interview with Lee Marvin, by Roger Ebert, back in 1970. Man, what a character.
posted by GriffX at 12:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Addiction to porn is destroying lives, Senate told. Experts compare the effect on the brain to that of heroin or crack cocaine.
posted by travis vocino at 12:42 PM PST - 118 comments

Human Pacman in the streets of Singapore. I like the future. via
posted by Tlogmer at 12:37 PM PST - 19 comments

MoMA Free Tomorrow for New York MeFi Readers! Well, everyone, actually. The Museum of Modern Art in New York reopens tomorrow and graciously offers a day of free entrance for all. Your chance to avoid the much-criticized $20 admission (views: con, pro-fessional, mayoral). Even good old free-admission Fridays bear the price tag of aggressive name-branding [paragraph 6] by an image-crazy donor (it's not charity anymore if it's advertising, folks, much less design-heady classiness-by-association). Some reports (scroll) from the press preview.
posted by Joe Hutch at 12:21 PM PST - 20 comments

US Military 'still failing to protect journalists in Iraq' (Guardian link, reg. req use bugmenot.com)
This isn't the first time allegations of mistreatment of journalists have been levelled at the US troops. Nor is it the second and the military has even admitted to killing an Arab journalist and some are questioning if the US military wants to kill journalists? The list of dead journalists and another list from AlJazeera.net, continues to grow.

And, because I'd not seen if before and don't recall seeing it here before, the Iraq Body Count database (the civilian death toll) and here it is, all on one big page.
posted by fenriq at 11:34 AM PST - 20 comments

NYC's oldest matzo factory is getting hip... ...to this fashion trend. Oy vay!
posted by subpixel at 11:17 AM PST - 19 comments

No bicycling in NYC without a license? That's right, a new law -- apparently the first of its kind in the nation -- proposed this week by bike-bashing Bronx Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano, will carry serious fines and even jail sentences for violators who ride unregistered bicycles on city streets. And yes, there will be a $25 per bike registration fee. Way to encourage alternative transport in this crowded, congested, polluted town. What next? Licenses for rollerblades, skateboards, wheelchairs? How about my running shoes -- during peak traffic they're faster and more hazardous to fellow city dwellers than my beat up old Trek, any day.
posted by jellybuzz at 10:54 AM PST - 131 comments

A monkey who knows Kung-Fu. (.mpg!)
Dear Internet,
I love You.
From Hugh.
posted by hughbot at 10:15 AM PST - 41 comments

Depeche Mode SoundToy. [via Fishbucket] [flash]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 9:49 AM PST - 16 comments

Mustaches For Kids - the 6th Annual NYC Mustaches for Kids Holiday Mustache Growing Contest and Fundraiser is back. Exciting fundraising competition. (see also Seattle chapter)
posted by Peter H at 8:38 AM PST - 19 comments

Go home, children, you're all about to die.
posted by Mwongozi at 8:27 AM PST - 43 comments

Count Your Stars - an addictive gamelet to subvert any attempt at Friday productivity.
posted by papercake at 8:08 AM PST - 43 comments

Next in the "America slowly slipping toward fascism" saga: Reporter Convicted for Refusing to Give Identity of a Source. Mr. Taricani would be one of only a handful of journalists to go to jail for refusing to identify a source. Mr. Taricani was convicted in connection with a long-running federal investigation called Operation Plunderdome, which resulted in the conviction of at least nine city officials, including Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., who was sentenced to 64 months for racketeering conspiracy. His bad: refusing to identify the person who leaked him an F.B.I. videotape in 2001 related to an investigation of government corruption in Providence.
posted by acrobat at 7:45 AM PST - 59 comments

GOP looking to repeal food labeling law. Would this have anything to do with our recent impasse with Mexico (and with the EU) over GM foods? Or of recent reports of a possible mad cow case in the US?
posted by FormlessOne at 7:25 AM PST - 25 comments

Planet Simpson. An author's-eye look at the warts-and-all business side grind of book publishing, complete with a FedEx horror story, Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood being asked "So…do you sing, or do you play an instrument?", and the immortal interview question "Doooode: which character on The Simpsons is the hottest?" (Note: one mildly NSFW photo on the main page).
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:30 AM PST - 7 comments

MemeOrandum: A newfangled news tangle [via Poynter Online]
posted by mmahaffie at 5:48 AM PST - 5 comments

Daily commute getting you down? Thinking of ending it all? Just step out in front of a train and it'll all be over in a moment. Or maybe not.
posted by biffa at 5:30 AM PST - 81 comments

How not to pull a car out of the water: A visual guide. [via prolific]
posted by mathowie at 2:43 AM PST - 44 comments

"We will come and kill you in your beds, cut your throats, and wipe you from the face of the earth... if Alexander the Great were alive today he would grind you gypsy dogs into the dust, dig your dead from their graves". Since Oliver Stone chose to make his first foray into historical epics with a biopic of Alexander (based on the biography by the Oxford academic Robin Lane Fox), rivers of blood have been spilt -- figuratively at least -- in a propaganda battle between Greek and Macedonian nationalists over who has the right to claim the all-conquering hero as their own. The movie also deals with Alexander's omnivorous sexuality, in particular his fondness for eunuchs. With such treacherous ground to negotiate, and amid thunderous lobbying from both sides, Stone has chosen a middle course (like giving Alexander and the men of the Macedonian phalanxes Irish accents, while the Greeks speak clipped English RP).
posted by matteo at 7:20 PM PST - 41 comments

The Gigapxl Project has found a far less tedious method of producing stunning, ultra-high-definition images (up to 4,000 megapixels!) using specialized large-format equipment. (Another amazing image using multiple exposures can be found here.)
posted by neckro23 at 4:46 PM PST - 34 comments

Song meanings is a site where you can read the lyrics to a song and then post your thoughts on what the song means.
posted by bargle at 4:41 PM PST - 57 comments

"The principle issue is the federal government's total disregard of local government," said Gerald Cayer, director of Portland's Department of Health and Human Services. "It's the Department of Homeland Security not appreciating other levels of government as they go through their work." The feds take 5 Honduran nationals from a jail in Bangor, Maine, where they've been held since Sept. 27, and without any notice to local health or law enforcement officials, drop the men off this week at a homeless shelter 2 hours south in Portland. When he asked whether the city would be reimbursed by the federal government for providing services to the men, Cayer said, he was told that the department did not have the money for that.
posted by damn yankee at 3:03 PM PST - 15 comments

Cooking with Cum. It's been a long time since I've been to a site that rendered me (almost) speechless.
posted by adampsyche at 2:36 PM PST - 129 comments

Florida is the New Florida Although many discussions of voting anomalies focused on Ohio, a statistical analysis of Florida voting patterns performed by sociologists at University of California, Berkeley suggests that electronic touch screen voting in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade may have credited George Bush with up to 260,000 extra votes in Florida. The discrepancy is not enough to change who won Florida, but it could have narrowed Bush's lead to 90,000 votes instead of 350,000, highlighting the need for better auditing of elections with electronic voting.
posted by jonp72 at 2:35 PM PST - 33 comments

The Scrawls of War. London graffiti artist Arofish takes a tour of Baghdad and Palestine and leaves his mark behind. The tales he has for each picture are quite interesting as well.
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:13 PM PST - 13 comments

Andrés "I live, breathe, and sweat soccer" Cantor, a prominent sportscaster at Telemundo, is now marketing his famous "GOOOAL!" as a downloadable ring tone for mobile phones. ("Soccer is a passion that can't be described in words, and when I scream 'GOOOAL!', I know that the joy I feel at that moment is shared by millions around the world. Now everyone will be able to carry that moment of joy with them everywhere they go.")
posted by naxosaxur at 1:00 PM PST - 23 comments

Will Currency Wars Effect You? Oldman gives a quick run-through of the geopolitics of America's budget deficit, with some likely scenarios for the next 2-5 years.
posted by alms at 12:32 PM PST - 26 comments

The Frag Dolls "represent the ladies in gaming with the taste and talent for beating you at your own games. So, for all you guys who think the only gals in gaming are the leather-clad, pixilated beauties on your screens, think again. We're real, and we've got the skills to teach you a few tricks of our own." They're also sponsored by UbiSoft. Dismantling stereotypes or reinforcing them? (via Annalee Newitz, and a nice counterpart to this thread)
posted by mrgrimm at 12:31 PM PST - 46 comments

Want to buy an original David Hockney for only £35? Does Damien Hirst better suit your tastes? Make a visit to the Royal College of Art Secret Challenge sometime between November 19th and 25th to see if you have the eye for it!
posted by ScottUltra at 11:36 AM PST - 5 comments

How often does the average person lie? First, it's important to point out that lying is normal, and more often spontaneous and unconscious than cynical and coldly analytical. Our minds and bodies secrete deceit. That said, Robert Feldman, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts, suggests that there are three lies for every ten minutes of conversation. I think that's plausible. And bear in mind that his research measured only the frequency of narrow, explicit, verbal lying. The real rate of deception, which includes our movements and expressions, must be considerably higher.

Questioning Authority - David Livingstone Smith, author of Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, is a liar. And he explains why you are too. ( More Inside )
posted by y2karl at 11:35 AM PST - 13 comments

Congress plans to reintroduce RU-486 suspension. After only three deaths in an estimated 360,000 uses, the GOP-led Congress plans to reintroduce a bill to "temporarily suspend" sales of RU-486 so it can be more thoroughly investigated. With a maternal death rate in the US of 12 per 100,000, RU-486 is about 13-14 times safer than a full term pregancy. Of course, the solution is simple: suspend all pregnancies for a year so we can more fully evaluate their safety.
posted by u.n. owen at 11:32 AM PST - 114 comments

'The Cantigas de Santa Maria medieval-era manuscripts were written during the reign of Alfonso X "El Sabio" (1221-1284) and are one of the largest collections of monophonic (solo) songs from the middle ages ... ' Images.
posted by plep at 11:02 AM PST - 6 comments

The Complete Rules to Calling Shotgun. and the subsequent amendments.
posted by tsarfan at 10:51 AM PST - 37 comments

A little dated, but too good to pass up. Deconstructing Fight Club, Watterson-style.
posted by cohappy at 10:47 AM PST - 19 comments

I find Paris's Radio ABF the perfect background noise, with an optional 256kb/s stream. It's electronica.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:49 AM PST - 22 comments

A tour with WotC, a session to play D&D with them. Lifetime subscription to Steam. Ok, some items are better than others. But for Child's Play, the folks at PA are pulling one heckuva dream auction for geeks. More auction items are detailed, go to the the second news post.
posted by eurasian at 9:10 AM PST - 6 comments

The American Film Institute, striving ever harder for relevancy, announces their latest movie list: 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, to be shown in June. Here's the list of 400 nominees [PDF]. What was unjustly left out? Let the debates begin!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:12 AM PST - 85 comments

Stand on the shoulders of giants. Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research.
posted by fvw at 6:23 AM PST - 48 comments

AmendforArnold&Jen
Founded by a libertarian-turned RINO and a member of the Green Party
posted by magullo at 6:07 AM PST - 62 comments

The European Union is the world's largest superpower: of course, militarily the US is still dominates, but this article (Salon day pass required) argues that in terms of economy, personal freedom, the welfare of its citizens and human rights the EU is far and away number one. Via DailyKos.
posted by sic at 5:39 AM PST - 82 comments

Underwear Goes Inside The Pants (video) is a nice little ditty about the condition of the world in 2004.
posted by debralee at 4:43 AM PST - 25 comments

The arrival of secret law. Americans can now be obligated to comply with legally-binding regulations that are unknown to them, and that indeed they are forbidden to know. This is not some dismal Eastern European allegory. It is part of a continuing transformation of American government that is leaving it less open, less accountable and less susceptible to rational deliberation as a vehicle for change.
posted by acrobat at 3:45 AM PST - 38 comments

An interview with Michael Koubi. Koubi was an interrogator with the Israeli security services for 21 years, and its chief interrogator for 6 years. He claims he can make anyone talk.
posted by biffa at 3:28 AM PST - 31 comments

Apologevents Cuban says "Please make me apologize… The FCC as Marketing Partner" and he hits on the latest network trick.
posted by billsaysthis at 8:37 PM PST - 7 comments

House Republicans Change Rules to Protect DeLay
"On a voice vote, the House Republican Conference changed a rule that required party leaders to step down if indicted for any crime that carries a prison sentence of two or more years."
posted by fenriq at 4:35 PM PST - 77 comments

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Library of Congress are putting 30 million newspaper pages online. The National Digital Newspaper Program "will create a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published between 1836 and 1922." The goal is to have it done in 20 years; the LOC has a sample up now: The Stars and Stripes from 1918-1919.
posted by me3dia at 12:35 PM PST - 16 comments

High-school bans traditional crossdressing day because parents complained it was part of the "homosexual agenda." It's replacement? The manly "Camo Day" complete with military fatigues and combat boots. No word on whether there is a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
posted by hipnerd at 12:01 PM PST - 98 comments

The Duel. A Flash feature. Actually, as I write this, I'm worried that it's lame. But I smiled and you don't have anything going on for the next three minutes, anyway.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:42 AM PST - 20 comments

lol war kthxbye (not Iraq)
posted by esch at 10:19 AM PST - 37 comments

The ESA tells you how to see the International Space Station. Enter your location, and they'll give you times, tell you which direction to look, and provide a star map. And after you've seen it (and taken a picture of it), you can log it as a geocache find.
posted by Vidiot at 10:17 AM PST - 7 comments

Denial Of Water Water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra and Fallujah have been cut off during US attacks in the past two months, affecting up to 750,000 civilians. This appears to form part of a deliberate US policy of denying water to the residents of cities under attack. If so, it has been adopted without a public debate, and without consulting Coalition partners. It is a serious breach of international humanitarian law, and is deepening Iraqi opposition to the United States, other Coalition members, and the Iraqi interim government.
posted by Postroad at 10:15 AM PST - 30 comments

Real-Time Biological Natural Gas Generation. A research lab has discovered that microbes living in Wyoming's Powder River Basin are generating methane (natural gas) through their natural metabolism of local coal beds. In relation to the many Peak Oil discussions here, could be way to get more energy for the future. (via SpaceDaily.com)
posted by zoogleplex at 9:52 AM PST - 22 comments

RFID to track students in Spring, Texas... the information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators. That's right: constant and continual monitoring of all the schoolkids in the district by the local police department.
posted by Irontom at 8:44 AM PST - 73 comments

Found typography
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:26 AM PST - 13 comments

The Dead Schembechlers - a college football rivalry goes punk rock crazy. (Background audio on first page & lyrics pages)

Rising up out of Columbus, Ohio's “Wolverine Hatecore” scene, The Dead Schembechlers have earned the dual titles of "The Best Damn Punk Band on the Planet" and "The Band Most Likely to Have Their Eyeballs Gouged Out If They Ever Show Up in Michigan."

Hey Ho... Fuck Bo!
posted by putzface_dickman at 5:56 AM PST - 20 comments

Lard: We just can't get enough. The UK is in the grip of a lard shortage. Apparently it's all down to the new entrants to the EU 'hogging' it for themselves. What will Christmas be without delicious Chocolard? Can the British Lard Marketing Board save us?
posted by biffa at 2:48 AM PST - 23 comments

Texas officials wary of plan to hunt by Internet. Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet, a prospect that has state wildlife officials up in arms. "We were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said 'If you just had a gun for that.' A little light bulb went off in my head,"
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:06 AM PST - 57 comments

"Ironic Detachment as an Escape from Routine" by Christopher Lasch ; Compared to What by Eugene McDaniels as performed by Les McCann ; What Is Cynical Reason? Peter Sloterdijk Explains ; Rainer Maria Rilke on Being and the Transitory ; Albert Einstein on Intellectuals and the Masses, Specialization and the Division of Labor, and the Quality of Life ; T.W. Adorno on Zen Buddhism ; Temporarily Humboldt County and Pondering the Spirit World with Seinfeld--just a taste of The Autodidact Project by Ralph Dumain (Librarian-Archivist-Information Specialist Researcher-Scholar) Can you dig it?
posted by y2karl at 10:56 PM PST - 22 comments

Diebold does it's part to protect the Constitution.
posted by Espoo2 at 8:43 PM PST - 50 comments

There is nothing wrong in this whole wide world. Artist Chris Cobb convinced Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco to allow him to reclassify 20,000 books based solely on their color. The result is like something out of a dream. Here are some pictures, and here's an interview with him.
posted by O9scar at 7:21 PM PST - 39 comments

Another salvo in the growing culture war. PABAAH (Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood) takes on Skinny Puppy and college radio. College radio mostly yawns; Some fans resort to bad language and idle threats, a few others offer highly eloquent and reasoned replies.
posted by loquacious at 5:31 PM PST - 50 comments

my new get rich quick scheme - apparently this is legit. i think i'm off to make 300 batches of french toast and look over them with an eye for the miraculous.
posted by christy at 3:30 PM PST - 46 comments

Meditation and neuroplasticity. A new study (PDF) describes the changes in the brains of Buddhist monks, using fMRI to scan their brains while they practice compassion meditation. The project was a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin and the Shechen Monastery in Nepal.
posted by homunculus at 2:04 PM PST - 17 comments

MetaFilter: Stop it or you'll go blind.
Heavy computer users risk glaucoma - Toho University study.
posted by soyjoy at 1:58 PM PST - 21 comments

Adopt an Ex-Lab Experiment Monkey
The BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) is sponsoring an adoption program to help care for some 50 macaques that had been owned by a lab in Thailand to be used for scientific experiments. After some publicity, they were pressured into releasing the little monkeys just prior to their last experiment that would have killed them all.
posted by fenriq at 1:56 PM PST - 33 comments

Coffee is Good, Good, Good. Coffee is Bad, Bad, Bad. Seems like the experts just don’t know if our most common addiction is, well, good for us, or bad for us.
posted by grateful at 1:51 PM PST - 22 comments

Get a Pair... Ever tell anyone to "Get a Pair?" Ever wish you (or someone you love) had more conviction, more commitment, more..."cajones?" Well, now you can finally "fix" that situation. Because, now there are Balsies.
posted by Dunvegan at 12:38 PM PST - 19 comments

Blogs Illustrated: Webring of illustrated blogs. Very, very cool - via Michael Nobbs.
posted by taz at 12:29 PM PST - 6 comments

GrandTheftTendo For those of you still rockin' the 8-bit NES, but want to play GTA III on it.
posted by mathowie at 12:20 PM PST - 19 comments

Thackeray's 'Chronicle of the Drum' , illustrated.
posted by plep at 11:56 AM PST - 3 comments

Only about 350 of the original 400 structures designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright are still standing. As of last week, that number has decreased by one. The demolition of the 1916 W.S. Carr house in Grand Beach, Michigan was the first Wright building in over 30 years to be demolished. Mark another loss to the heritage of U.S. Modernism.
posted by ScottUltra at 11:37 AM PST - 12 comments

Grey Video: a further experimental mashup (this time, in video) of the Beatles and Jay Z, for the DJ Dangermouse song Encore. Looks almost as slick as the old Weezer Happy Days video by Spike Jonze.
posted by mathowie at 11:29 AM PST - 21 comments

Bloggers as TIME's "People of the Year" ? " Each year around this time going all the way back to 1927 the editors of TIME magazine sit down to debate and select their Person or People of the Year. Last year, if you recall, they selected the American soldier. In prior years they have selected everyone from Charles Lindbergh (1927) to The Computer (1982)... The Person of the Year is defined as folllows: "Person of the Year is an annual issue of TIME magazine that features a profile on the man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year" Why not bloggers? Steve Rubel thinks so.
posted by azul at 11:15 AM PST - 30 comments

Oh crap. Rumours are starting to emerge that following the death of his favourite consort Kim Jong-Il has retreated into virtual seclusion allowing the the military to take over in a defacto coup.
posted by PenDevil at 10:42 AM PST - 35 comments

The Urban Archipelago. "It's time to state something that we've felt for a long time but have been too polite to say out loud: Liberals, progressives, and Democrats do not live in a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico. We live on a chain of islands. We are citizens of the Urban Archipelago, the United Cities of America. We live on islands of sanity, liberalism, and compassion--New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and on and on. And we live on islands in red states too--a fact obscured by that state-by-state map."
posted by gentle at 9:30 AM PST - 54 comments

Trade in your Ashlee Simpson CD here.. A group calling itself HOPE (Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment) are offering to trade your Ashlee Simpson CD for one by one of Elvis Costello, The Ramones, X, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Aretha Franklin, Mr. Bungle, Ray Charles, Abe Lincoln Story, Grateful Dead, Neil Hamburger, Joni Mitchell, and Brian Wilson. Next target is the film "Taxi".
posted by salmacis at 9:26 AM PST - 67 comments

Marvel Comics sues NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, the makers of the online game City of Heroes for player created content they feel infringes on their copyright. If Marvel wins the case, all game developers can expect to be held responsible for the behavior of their players. This case covers similar ground to the proposed Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act, which is before a Senate Judiciary Committee. Introduced to crack down on illegal file sharing on peer-to-peer networks, the bill would hold technology companies liable for manufacturing products that encourage people to infringe copyrights. The language of the bill caused an uproar among technology and consumer advocates who claimed it would kill innovation. If successful in their lawsuit, would Marvel be able to sue the makers of pens and pencils for producing products that allow people to create pictures of copyrighted characters?
posted by Stuart_R at 8:54 AM PST - 29 comments

Poems from the precipice. Sylvia Plath's late poems were published posthumously in a collection edited by her husband, Ted Hughes. As a new facsimile edition of the original manuscript is published, their daughter Frieda defends Hughes against criticism that he interfered with Plath's legacy. (more inside)
posted by matteo at 8:21 AM PST - 25 comments

How the other half top quintile lives... Coldwell Banker has released the first Coldwell Banker(R) Luxury Index, a "study conducted in August 2004 of U.S. luxury homeowners -- those owning homes valued at $1 million or more -- concerning their attitudes, preferences and purchasing behavior related to luxury goods and services." You might be interested to discover that 61% of those surveyed stated recent increases in interest rates would have no impact on their luxury item purchases.
posted by Irontom at 8:10 AM PST - 8 comments

Eat Poop You Cat! is "a variant on the exquisite corpse family of games... The mutations can be hilarious. You don't have to 'know how to' draw. You don't have to 'know how to' write. Just keep the papers moving, until the space is used up."
posted by sciurus at 7:32 AM PST - 7 comments

Yale Law School Dean : "I might have been an unwitting accessory to fraud" Ian H. Solomon's belated realization : "Could we have been so naive?....by my presence, along with other Democratic lawyers, I lent an air of legitimacy to the voting process....We should have had trained observers - computer scientists, not lawyers! - verifying the integrity of polling data from machine upload through the tabulation of countywide and statewide results. Somehow we neglected the most vulnerable step....I realized that I might have been an unwitting accessory to fraud....The time is now for voters from all states that used electronic voting machines to request an audit of results and a manual recount of ballots if possible."
posted by troutfishing at 7:00 AM PST - 41 comments

Arthur Robinson died last week. He is famous for the Robinson Projection which compromised on the Greenland problem of while being (IMO) more pleasing than the Peters Map. The map was widely used by the National Geographic Society in the 70s and 80s making it one of the most familiar to a generation of adults. The wikipedia has a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the Robinson map as a compromise between equal area and spatial distortion. The map library at the University of Wisconsin is named for him.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 5:53 AM PST - 9 comments

Are You Crazy About Swayze? "Warning: This comic is not intended for anyone with half or even one tenth of a brain. It's also not meant for anyone who can read or see." Dangerously unauthorized comix of '90s media stars deconstructed. And you can collect them all. [via]
posted by yerfatma at 5:47 AM PST - 4 comments

TODAY WE ARE BECOME GORDON FREEMAN. This is the best of the web if e'er there was one. Go play.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:43 AM PST - 98 comments

Dollar's Decline Is Reverberating All this talk about blue state, red state. How's the state of the one thing we all think about equally in common coming along? Isn't it time for a serious, non-partisan, "morally" neutral dialogue on the state of the US economy?
posted by crasspastor at 10:57 PM PST - 60 comments

It hasn't been a good day for the Bill of Rights. In addition to this and this, it's now apparently a breach of security to take pictures of the White House from a public street. And to resell diaries of historical importance. [reg may be required.]
posted by keswick at 3:08 PM PST - 33 comments

Fallujah in pictures. Graphic images of destruction and loss.
posted by four panels at 3:06 PM PST - 63 comments

In Cold Blood. Forty-five years ago today, the bodies of four members of the Clutter family were discovered in Holcomb, Kansas. The killers made off with $40 and a transistor radio. This New York Times report inspired Truman Capote to write what he called the first "non-fiction" novel. There are other accounts of the murders, including one that says the book is not honest. In 1996, Capote and George Plimpton discussed creative journalism and the book in a long interview. (Plimpton's own biography of Capote details some of the liberties Capote took.) [All links SFW.]
posted by kirkaracha at 2:47 PM PST - 19 comments

Copy your iPod contents to your PC! Mac users have been swearing by such products as iPodRip or iPod Access but now we in the majority can "backup" our tunes from our lil device onto our ibm-compatibles. take that shelbyville!
posted by tsarfan at 2:29 PM PST - 23 comments

The original power trio is back. Reunions are distressingly common these days, but these guys playing together again is historic. Old farts everywhere rejoice....
posted by jonmc at 1:23 PM PST - 45 comments

Secret Service investigates high school band Coalition of the Willing for performing a Bob Dylan song. Actually, for wanting to perform a Bob Dylan song. Parents freak out.
posted by swift at 12:18 PM PST - 59 comments

The DNA of Litrature. Between now and next July, The Paris Review will be putting all of its writers-at-work interviews online, starting with those from the 1950s, which include William Faulkner, Truman Capote and Dorothy Parker. Good stuff.
posted by liam at 11:35 AM PST - 13 comments

Fox's 1.2 million dollar indecency fine was caused by three people complaining. Jeff Jarvis does a little investigative journalism that no mainstream outlets bothered to do. All he did was submit a freedom of information act request via this form, and they sent him the 90 complaints they had on record (the original claim was 159 complaints). But it turns out 88 of them were nearly identical. So three people complained in America, and the FCC fined a network over a million dollars for a show that was already cancelled.
posted by mathowie at 10:53 AM PST - 39 comments

RIP, Jhonn Balance (of Coil, and many other projects)
posted by qDot at 10:38 AM PST - 19 comments

More. A great claymation by Mark Osborne. It won several awards in 1999. [16 MB Quicktime, via Waxy.]
posted by homunculus at 10:33 AM PST - 11 comments

"He based it on the character in mythology ... the wings on his feet ... He had no idea how big it would be."

RIP, Harry Lampert - Creator of The Flash.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:04 AM PST - 9 comments

Colin Powell resigns. He'll be missed.
posted by alumshubby at 7:45 AM PST - 83 comments

Black British Style at the V&A. Now with Create-a-tag!
posted by Dick Paris at 7:35 AM PST - 3 comments

The sculptures of Shigeo Fukuda show that shadows and reflections (mpegs) may not be what they appear to be. When you turn M.C. Escher's drawings into sculptures, you can get some impossible objects (mpeg). And Dick Termes paintings on globes are stunning examples (Quicktime) of six point perspective. All of these works of illusionary art are featured in the book Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion and must be seen to be believed.
posted by euphorb at 12:29 AM PST - 6 comments

Robo-Dump A device which simulates that guy over in the Sales cubes who usually doesn't drink coffee but had 3 cups over lunch.
posted by scarabic at 11:45 PM PST - 14 comments

Raw video footage from the US military offensive in Fallujah.
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:19 PM PST - 89 comments

Women of 1970's Punk from Rockin Rina. Lene Lovich! Poly Styrene! The Waitresses!
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:52 PM PST - 14 comments

This week's addition to the "Japanese People no nuts, they craaaayzy!" cottage industry. Hot off the heels of the Boyfriend Arm Pillow, your boyfriend can now wrap his other arm around some hot heels. Yes, it's the Girlfriend Lap Pillow. The only thing I can think of right now is that it looks uncomfortably angled for head use. Oh, and that it's completely insane.
posted by Stan Chin at 8:35 PM PST - 23 comments

For 60 years the skeletal remains of more than 200 people, discovered in 1942 in a remote Himalaya region, have puzzled historians, scientists and archaeologists. Now they think they know what killed them around AD 840. "The only plausible explanation for so many people sustaining such similar injuries at the same time is something that fell from the sky".
posted by stbalbach at 7:30 PM PST - 13 comments

A Conversation with Anatol Lieven, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for Peace and author of America, Right Or Wrong - An Anatomy of American Nationalism, of which The nationalism thing is a review. In related March Of Folly news, Letter From Iraq: Out On The Street by Jon Lee Anderson with accompanying interview How Iraq Came Undone. At one bottom line: The Faces of The Fallen.
posted by y2karl at 3:18 PM PST - 4 comments

Truly mind blowing! First, you must follow the rules. Watch this short video. You are only allowed to watch it once. Seriously, do not cheat! In the video you will see a group of basketball players, some in white and some in black passing two balls around. Your goal is to count how many times the ball is passed by those wearing white shirts. It’s that simple. Remember, count just the passes of the ball by those wearing white. Once the movie is over, write down the number of passes you have counted, Do not watch the video again-- proceed to step two. (via)
posted by limitedpie at 11:02 AM PST - 131 comments

Latter Day Taints - DJ Riko - with bonus points for using tracks like Arnold Schwarzenegger - Gator Lodge & dialogue from Miami vice - this guy takes the bastard pop mixups another step forward. He also makes his own remixes to go alongside the DJ mixes (the Bangles with the Rolling Stones with Fleix da Housecat anyone?) And guess what? Just in time for the holiday season....two Christmas mash-ups to enjoy. These links are direct to MP3's
posted by mattr at 10:31 AM PST - 5 comments

The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn.
posted by homunculus at 10:21 AM PST - 6 comments

Teen Chicago. History and recollections of.
posted by plep at 10:19 AM PST - 1 comment

Superman is a dick. So is Batman.
posted by darukaru at 10:14 AM PST - 29 comments

Macabre Creation -- art with an eye for detail (favourite)
posted by andrew cooke at 10:08 AM PST - 7 comments

They called me ‘Crack Baby’ - An issue of the foster care youth magasine Represent (March/April 2004) takes on the media myths and realities of being the child of an addict. [via a&ldaily and PY]
posted by jb at 10:04 AM PST - 3 comments

William Gibson’s blog is back.
So far, it’s mostly about Bush and Osama bin Ladin. ”You know who would’ve completely gotten OBL? Andy Warhol.”
posted by Termite at 9:53 PM PST - 10 comments

Interesting Optical Illusion - and explanation. {It's just a single page with an image. Go on, click it!}
posted by dobbs at 8:50 PM PST - 24 comments

OMG! ODB DOA. WTF?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:10 PM PST - 56 comments

Robert Cutter, Phillip Kuhn and Marlene Kuhn, Thursday night league bowlers: "I take the bus to the bowling alley," says Robert. "It takes me about an hour. I've been bowling 36 years. I've never missed bowling in 36 years. I'm the first one here and the last one to go home. I even beat the sheet maker (the guy who keeps score for the teams). If I have the flu, I'm still bowling. I still come. I've got rheumatisim and I'm still bowling. If I don't bowl I sit on the couch." When asked if he'd ever consider quitting bowling, he said, "Hell no! I gotta be dead first!" ..."Phil and I have been bowling five years," says Marlene. "We've only missed bowling once in five years. We walk here. We walk even when it rains or snows. It's about 4-1/2 miles to get here. I try to do my best. I've got a bad leg. I've got a trick knee that goes out on me. We're going to start up our own team soon: the Klingons. We watch Star Trek all the time. We're Trekaholics. We have a cat named Leonard 'Bones' McCoy."
                                        Marzano's Miami Bowl
posted by y2karl at 2:32 PM PST - 17 comments

Man bites Dog
posted by Mwongozi at 1:47 PM PST - 13 comments

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2: A fascinating look at the development hell that HL2 went through in the last year and a half. (via, of course, PA)
posted by hughbot at 12:23 PM PST - 33 comments

Spiritual Woodworker. Furniture designer George Nakashima's (1904-1990) exquisite creations merged traditional woodworking techniques with innovative design, resulting in (very expensive) work that demonstrates a high level of craftsmanship coupled with a reinterpretation of modernist design. Nakashima also prided himself on being the "world's first hippie", Hindu Catholic and Japanese druid (.pdf file). The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles pays tribute to this great artist with a unique exhibit. More inside.
posted by matteo at 10:21 AM PST - 5 comments

"Marlboro Man" reflects on his sudden fame
posted by falconred at 9:55 AM PST - 68 comments

Utterly terrifying! [Windows Media, from Grand Illusions]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:06 AM PST - 15 comments

Mr. Lippy, 41, is single-minded about the need for a general-interest magazine that is not dumb (NYT). The result is Esopus.
posted by semmi at 8:39 AM PST - 4 comments

'Runaway': Alice's Wonderland Knockout of a book review by wonderful writer about a marvelous author: "JONATHAN FRANZEN I want to circle around Alice Munro's latest marvel, "Runaway," by taking some guesses at why her excellence so dismayingly exceeds her fame."
posted by Postroad at 7:14 AM PST - 11 comments

"The Real Toy Story," by Michael Wolf. [via things magazine]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:59 AM PST - 5 comments

Which Major League pitchers should we have expected no-hit games from who didn't deliver? Who statistically didn't deserve one but has one? A fascinating demonstration of baseball stats in action, whether you're a sports fan, a math fan, or just want to know how things like this work for the sake of future conversation. via our own yerfatma at sportsfilter.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:16 AM PST - 29 comments

Flash CV.
posted by swift at 4:49 AM PST - 13 comments

Today, the National Archive made over 5 million records of World War I Medal Cards available online. Search for an ancestor, or an historical name. As an example, here's Winston Churchill's record [pdf]. It costs £3.50 to download an image such as this, but the search function is thorough. I tracked down a relative from a general search of my surname.
posted by davehat at 3:26 AM PST - 2 comments

Christ's Entry Into Washington 2008 is a painting by Joel Pelletier featuring a cast of 121 contemporary characters and a theme of fundamentalism on the march. The work is modeled after Christ's Entry Into Brussels 1899, a mural by James Ensor. (via cioran63)
posted by madamjujujive at 10:47 PM PST - 21 comments

Dog Eat Dog World Snake Eat Snake. Snake Regurgitate Snake. Snake Capture and Constrict Snake. Not enough for you? Less exciting but certainly interesting: Turtle Locomotor Bout (and Breathing) But that is just surface, what about beneath the surface? all quicktime and (via)
posted by limitedpie at 9:40 PM PST - 6 comments

Fecal Face is a San Francisco based arts community that promotes things that turn us on and primarily focused on the artists and happenings of SF. {as safe for work as any art collective's site's gonna be.}
posted by dobbs at 7:57 PM PST - 7 comments

Overexposed: Upon closer inspection, it seems the vice president’s smile was not his biggest, ahem, asset. Is that what we think it is?
posted by dogmatic at 3:00 PM PST - 57 comments

Dubya: The Movie Starring the only man ready to take on that role.
posted by atom128 at 2:55 PM PST - 18 comments

Respectable journalism. Funny or cruel?
posted by zelphi at 2:24 PM PST - 57 comments

Mainstream Baptists is an organization which is very concerned about the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) by right-wing fundamentalists. The site includes a daily blog. One post-election entry: "SBC Hardwiring to GOP....There was a day when Baptist preachers and lay people would have been alarmed by and indignant about this egregious violation of the Baptist principle of separation of church and state. Today Southern Baptists are so cowed by and subservient to their denominational overlords that it will hardly raise an eyebrow."
posted by Sixtieslibber at 1:42 PM PST - 8 comments

Listen up ballas, it's straight ganksta bloggin'. Hip hop, trash talking, and more at We Eat So Many Shrimp.
posted by xmutex at 1:41 PM PST - 10 comments

International Orangutan Awareness Week. Won't somebody please think of the orangutans?
posted by homunculus at 1:15 PM PST - 5 comments

Japan's Global Claim to Asia and the World of Islam: Transnational Nationalism and World Power, 1900-1945 During the years 1900-1945, the question that motivated Muslims and some Japanese was whether Japan could be the "Savior of Islam" against Western imperialism and colonialism if this meant collaboration with Japanese imperialism. Even during the 1930s, when there was little hope left for prospects of democracy and liberalism in Japan (for that matter in Europe as well), the vision of a "Muslim Japan" was so compelling to many Muslims in Asia and beyond, even among black Muslims of Harlem, as a means for emancipation from Western hegemony/colonial reality that it justified cooperation with Japanese intelligence overseas. Okawa Shumei, the major intellectual figure of Pan-Asianism, the "mastermind of Japanese fascism" in the Tokyo trials, who justified Japan's mission to liberate Asia from Western colonialism by war if necessary, saw Islam as the means. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the relationship transformed into a major Japanese military strategy as the Japanese government began to implement its Islamic policy by mobilizing Muslim forces against the United Kingdom, Holland, China and Russia in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.      Alternately, The Fukuwaza Doctrine
posted by y2karl at 1:11 PM PST - 11 comments

Letter from Fallujah. From an anonymous Army medic's journal entry.
posted by insomnia_lj at 12:46 PM PST - 40 comments

Virtual Bartender. A sexed-up version of subservient chicken. Despite the name, lousy at mixing drinks.
posted by Ljubljana at 11:22 AM PST - 48 comments

Only Children have a different set of experiences than those with siblings. This take on a privileged young New Yorker made me reflect on my own only upbringing. On the one hand, it seems intuitively correct that birth order contributes to life experience, but it actually looks like a pretty soft science, akin to astrology. Parenting advice is available, but on a folk wisdom level. Will this subject go away in time, like the old view of left handedness as a sign of potential deviance? What impressions does the girl in the article make?
posted by rainbaby at 11:15 AM PST - 30 comments

Sex at near light speed... Have concerns about penile length at relativistic speeds? How about the using wormholes for masturbation? These questions and many others are taken up by Dr. John @ UCLA.

"...But I am worried. If we were to engage in consensual sex at faster than the speed of light, would I go back in time, so that he would end up having sex with a 5 year old girl? ..."
posted by jasper411 at 11:01 AM PST - 7 comments

Earthflyer - take one tricked out mountainboard, a kiteboarding rig, and the windy season in the Australian Outback. Mix together for Earthflyer Dirk Gion's whirlwind 17 day 3,000 km tour of Western Australia.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:34 AM PST - 3 comments

“The real glory of war is surviving.” One of Hollywood's biggest crimes of the last quarter-century is being set right this week with the release of "The Big Red One: The Reconstruction", a beautifully restored version of Samuel Fuller's butchered 1980 masterpiece. The stunning new version restores some 15 scenes and more than 40 minutes of footage to Fuller's grittily autobiographical film about his World War II stint as a GI with the Army's First Infantry Division. Filmed in Israel, the film stars Lee Marvin in his greatest performance. The cut version of the film flopped, and Fuller went to his grave in 1997 bemoaning the fate of "The Big Red One," telling every journalist he met that he dreamed of seeing his original vision up on the big screen. Richard Schickel, critic and documentary filmmaker, printed 70,000 feet of film from negatives stored in a vault in Kansas City and supervised the editing according to Fuller's original shooting script. "What they released in 1980 wasn't a bad movie," Schickel said. "What the studio wanted was a gung-ho war movie. What we've added is the real Sam stuff: the boredom, the absurdity of an ordinary soldier caught up in a vast war". More inside.
posted by matteo at 9:57 AM PST - 24 comments

Search Wars The BBC reviews five search engines, including Google and the new MSN beta
posted by Mwongozi at 8:34 AM PST - 8 comments

Green and Libertarian Presidential Candidates to Demand Ohio Recount. David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, the 2004 presidential candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties, today announced their intentions to file a formal demand for a recount of the presidential ballots cast in Ohio.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:27 AM PST - 25 comments

The True Story of Audion This was surprisingly interesting and funny.
posted by chunking express at 6:25 AM PST - 20 comments

Study into use of profanity in Sinclair ZX Spectrum text adventures
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:24 AM PST - 6 comments

Using the toilet facilities more than twice a day is forbidden. And so it should be. And moving around the office should be prohibited. And don't bring your own stuff to work. Oh yeah - and refurbished elephants. (some of those are links to PDF's). Maintain Silence at all times.
posted by mattr at 5:34 AM PST - 16 comments

Say No To 0870. In the UK, many companies use 'non-geographical alternative telephone numbers' (e.g. those prefixed '0870') and they seem to be especially popular for customer service lines where you may be hanging on the line for a while. Companies get a cut of the call fee. Unfortunately, despite being advertised as national rate, consumers can't take advantage of free minutes included in their telephone packages as the numbers don't qualify. Say No to 0870 has a searchable database of alternative, geographical numbers to contact companies at reduced rates. [via Money Saving Expert]
posted by i_cola at 4:41 AM PST - 20 comments

Don't Fuck the South. Neal Pollack has resurfaced with a series of responses to the recent liberal backlash against red-state elitism: "I'd rather have a cup of coffee with my next-door neighbor every day for the rest of my life than share one "hazelnut latte" with you. He thinks I'm going to hell but helped me fix my lawnmower last weekend anyway."
posted by eustacescrubb at 4:25 AM PST - 70 comments

On the path to a diabetes cure? (NYT reg req; BugMeNot; elsewhere)
posted by Gyan at 1:25 AM PST - 14 comments

SoNHoRS - Panorama, histoire des musiques electroniques.
Great French language site on the history of electronic music.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 12:20 AM PST - 3 comments

It's Just A Plant: a children's story of marijuana "One night Jackie woke up past her bedtime. She smelled something funny in the air, so she walked down the hall to her parents' bedroom." Here's a new way for parents to teach their kids about drugs--through a brightly-illustrated children's book, not second-hand misinformation or Drug Warrior scare tactics. Parents, librarians, and booksellers, please take note. [via D'Alliance, the blog of the Drug Policy Alliance]
posted by Asparagirl at 12:15 AM PST - 58 comments

11:11
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:11 PM PST - 21 comments

Fourteen Defining The 14 Characteristics Of Fascism Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and several Latin American regimes and found 14 defining characteristics common to each...
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 11:03 PM PST - 13 comments

Hey how's it going? Welcome to Billy Harvey dot com. Thanks for stopping by my site...I like to sing & dance & draw. The folks at sofake deliver another intriguing interface. (flash and sound alert) via B.A.'s Weblog
posted by madamjujujive at 8:04 PM PST - 12 comments

Jack the Ripper: the most complete online resource. A wealth of information, from scanned letters purportedly sent by the killer, to contemporary police reports, to recent scholarship and discussion, articles about Victorian London, social history, and dissertations. To my mind the most interesting of all are the detailed biographies of the victims, which give a glimpse of the difficult life experienced by working-class Londoners, especially women, during the mid 19th century. Note: The site has been mentioned here before, but only in the context of two discussions about Patricia Cornwell's book claiming that the murders were committed by artist Walter Sickert (1, 2). Some images NSFW.
posted by jokeefe at 5:36 PM PST - 16 comments

Outing Closeted Republicans, part 1,574 --Ken Mehlman, the leading contender to become the head of the RNC, and one of the architects of Bush's anti-gay election campaign, has some secrets, it appears. And it was supposed to come out during the convention: Two New York newspapers received calls from the Bush-Cheney campaign during the Republican National Convention urging them not to run a story suggesting that the campaign manager and public face of the campaign was gay, RAW STORY has learned.
posted by amberglow at 4:32 PM PST - 51 comments

Athletes... Steroids... blah blah blah.. Only this time it's the pigeons. Poor birds.
posted by Lizc at 3:02 PM PST - 7 comments

Mike Allred, maverick comic book auteur, has plied his pen on such notable series as Madman, The Atomics, Red Rocket 7, and *ahem* X-Force. Now, Allred, a long time member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, has turned his attention to The Golden Plates, a 12 volume adaptation of the Book of Mormon (earlier discussion waaaay back here), God's revelation to Joseph Smith. Pick up a copy at your local comic book store or Mormon book store, crank up Low's Secret Name, and geek out, Mormon-style.
posted by mikrophon at 2:59 PM PST - 13 comments

The works of Sir Thomas Browne, with a selection of other texts not by him.
posted by kenko at 2:46 PM PST - 7 comments

Liquid Freedom. "There is, in fact, a war-winning weapon close to hand that the Allawi government could use — with support from allies and from both Democrats and Republicans. This weapon could, at a stroke, put flesh on the bones of formal democracy, change the dynamic of the insurgency, begin to win the confidence of the Iraqi people and create a powerful, growing force for stability, national unity and economic development. The weapon, of course, is oil — and the huge flows of cash it generates." Lenny Glynn suggests an Iraqi People's Freedom Trust modeled after the Alaska Permanant Fund.
posted by Ty Webb at 2:34 PM PST - 12 comments

Every Song Ever Recorded His goal: to own a digital copy of every song ever made. His reason: to preserve them through the upcoming apocalyptic jihad. Just don't ask him to share. (via Macsurfer)
posted by joaquim at 2:24 PM PST - 39 comments

The Alien Plant.
In Georgia, the legend says
That you must close your windows
At night to keep it out of the house.
posted by grabbingsand at 1:44 PM PST - 16 comments

DooWop Nation Not to get all Pepsi Blue on your collective ass, but I have been luxuriating in the Proper box sets The Dawn Of Doo-Wop (tracklist) and Doo Wop Delights (tracklist and discography) and thought to construct a post around the topic of the original postwar--as World War II--black harmony singing style, of which, as Greil Marcus notes in his Lipstick Traces, there were 15,000 records recorded after World War II--a DIY phenomenom which he compares to rise of punk... (more inside, naturally)
posted by y2karl at 1:03 PM PST - 16 comments

Old Radio Broadcasting Equipment & Memories. On these pages are pictures of old BBC radio equipment and memories from the people who used it. We don't aim at building a comprehensive history but to provide some 'snap-shots' of times and places. [via The Cartoonist]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 12:54 PM PST - 1 comment

The Chilling Effect. Some ABC affiliates have opted not to broadcast a scheduled airing of Saving Private Ryan, due to concerns over new FCC indecency regulations. They don't want to get fined. The FCC won't say in advance whether the film is indecent ("that would be censorship"). But don't worry, the Parents Televsion Council says the "context" makes it OK. Which is fine, but who utlimately gets to judge the context?
posted by jpoulos at 11:46 AM PST - 74 comments

Onward Tibet. A multimedia account of a trip to Tibet. [Via Boing Boing.]
posted by homunculus at 11:45 AM PST - 7 comments

I enjoy some basic origami birds that can flap their wings as much as the next guy, but check out this how-to origami gallery of insane projects. The Sea Urchin?! The Octopus?! The Rickshaw?! I have no idea how they did half of these. [via red ferret]
posted by mathowie at 10:36 AM PST - 15 comments

Call Turk Did you watch this week's episode of "Scrubs" where Dr. Turk got his ultimate cell phone number (916-CALL-TURK)? Well, give him a call, it's a working number...(916)-225-5887.
posted by ColdChef at 10:30 AM PST - 23 comments

Disgruntled spouse 'outs' Electronic Arts' harsh employment practices, and by implication disses the whole American 'work 'em 'till they drop' ethos. Is this the start of a quiet revolution or is the American Way too entrenched to be stopped?
posted by Duug at 10:03 AM PST - 64 comments

Liberal Groupthink Is Anti-Intellectual is the catchy title of a thoughtful piece in the Chronicle Review, an offshoot of the Chronicle of Higher Education. While it may be an op/ed piece, it's interesting to hear Mark Bauerlein, an English Professor and Director at the NEA discussing the False Consensus effect and the Group Polarization Effect in the context of academia in America (and likely elsewhere). His wish? "An intellectual climate in which the worst tendencies of group psychology are neutralized."
posted by loquax at 9:59 AM PST - 41 comments

CrusFX 1000 - Holy power to thrash

Justin Frankel creator of Winamp, is up to new tricks.
posted by sourbrew at 9:21 AM PST - 6 comments

Armistice Day: WW1 Document Archive. Verdun memorial. The Western Front today. A World War One Literature Blog. Trenches on the Web, unsurprisingly slammed today, it seems.

Consider visiting a nearby military cemetary today. I've found it to be a worthwhile use of my time in the past.
posted by mwhybark at 9:12 AM PST - 6 comments

I feel safer already! Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security lowered the terror alert-level for the financial-services sector in the NY/DC area from orange to yellow, which has nothing, repeat nothing, to do with the election. "We don't do politics here at this department," days DHS deputy secretary James Loy. When the alert was jacked up back in August, some felt otherwise.
posted by digaman at 9:03 AM PST - 15 comments

Rest in peace, Nullsoft Winamp.
posted by Keyser Soze at 8:49 AM PST - 33 comments

Blinded By Science: How `Balanced' Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack Reality. How and why the media has failed so completely to educate the American public on the massive environmental dangers we face. (via WorldChanging)
posted by stbalbach at 6:47 AM PST - 11 comments

The Italian Campaign The Globe and Mail has been running an excellent series on the Italian Campaign during WWII by Canadian troops. There are photos, artifacts, and articles, including one by Farley Mowat. (x-posted to MoFi)
posted by livii at 6:33 AM PST - 6 comments

Liberal Christian groups start a poll war challenging the evangelicals claim to the Christian vote publishing findings that the war and poverty were more important moral issues voters than Iraq. Other views at The Washington Post (subscription required), and The Catholic News
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:03 AM PST - 18 comments

The People's War
Read and share memories of World War II, courtesy of the BBC.
posted by Mwongozi at 6:01 AM PST - 2 comments

A Marketing and Promotional Urinal Screen - I mean - WTF? Is there nowhere I can go and not be bombarded by advertising...now when I go for a 'slash' I can be detected 'visiting' the urinal, and a pre-recorded voice can 'interact' with me while I read the graphics. Honestly, I never, ever, ever wanted to interact whilst standing at a urinal...please don't make me start interacting in there!
posted by mattr at 5:26 AM PST - 21 comments

Microsoft has unleashed their internet search engine to the world. It currently isn't working, at least for me. Is it wrong of me to wish it stays that way?
posted by ashbury at 5:23 AM PST - 43 comments

Matrix ping-pong [Flash]. 2MB better quality wmv here.
posted by kenaman at 2:25 AM PST - 15 comments

Welcome to the Orgasm & BrainWash Engineering Center where "BrainWash" is defined as an alternation of gene and enzyme expression in your 3 brains - the head, gut and pelvic cavity.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:01 PM PST - 10 comments

Arafat is dead. I cannot help to think that the fact that he had an iron grip on the PLO for so long made this issue so hard to resolve...but maybe after all this time there CAN be a final resolution on the question of the Palestinian state? Will we see massive internal warfare amongst his followers after he gets put in the ground? Interesting times, indeed.
posted by PeteyStock at 9:11 PM PST - 113 comments

The Dirty Punk Fuckin' Anarchy Machine !!
posted by mr.marx at 6:37 PM PST - 15 comments

YELLOW PERIL
"Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present, with all the resources, if you will, of a wealthy government--which, however, already has denied all knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man."
Sax Rohmer's tales of the sinister Dr. Fu Manchu and his arch enemy Sir Denis Nayland Smith of the British Secret Service (the nephew of Sherlock Holmes whose name is also invoked in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow), have fascinated readers and cinemagoers alike for the best part of the twentieth century. Two things make Fu Manchu all the more monstrous a villain: his proximity to the West, and his intellect. His base is in Limehouse, the Chinese area of London. So by allowing him to live in the country, England is vulnerable to his insidious plans (and so becomes a validation of strict immigration policy). His intellect comes from Western learning, and it is often emphasized that he has been educated in a University. So we see the evil Asian as using the West's own knowledge against it.
It is up to Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie to stop Fu Manchu's plans in each story. As Smith remarks in The Hand of Fu Manchu, "the swamping of the white world by Yellow hordes may be the price of our failure." (more inside)
posted by matteo at 5:44 PM PST - 16 comments

Time-Life Navigation: "a synthesis of five inter-related elements: organization evolution (main change vehicle); life design (main change beneficiary); work life (career) evolution (main change initiator); financial investing (the golden goose); and a life navigation system (the action sequencer)."

Huh? While a bit more easily parsed than the famous TimeCube, I'm not sure where this falls on the sanity scale. If you paste the text into Notepad, sans all the crazy font effects, it begins to seem less bug-eyed. Crazy theory or just crazy web design? Wait, here's a site map graphic to clear it up...
posted by Tubes at 5:43 PM PST - 1 comment

Retirement Reality Check Lazy days for the current generation, mostly, but not for current working stiffs says Allstate. Since more and more states and cities are making homelessness illegal don't ever expect to get off the grind.
posted by billsaysthis at 4:00 PM PST - 13 comments

Science experiment: one bottle of vile, cheap vodka and a Brita water filter. Four filtrations later and it tastes better than Ketel One.
posted by starscream at 3:48 PM PST - 29 comments

The Japanese have a somewhat different conception of Ronald McDonald from what we have here in the states. (safe for work, Windows Media required)
posted by RylandDotNet at 3:16 PM PST - 19 comments

Wendy's Grill Skill [QuickTime] is a testament to training videos. They aim to educate and entertain. [originally via nassassin]
posted by pedantic at 3:08 PM PST - 19 comments

The Y-Leg Organism, including RAM, The Noseless Man, and exegesis on the Nature of Evil.
[via Banubula]
posted by kaibutsu at 2:21 PM PST - 2 comments

The Japanese Product Design Database features old product designs from the 60's on. Stuff like Sony's Portable Record Player (1982) and Suzuki's 360cc Micro Sportscar (1971). (via)
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:49 PM PST - 24 comments

This guy is such a dog. Misogyny, probably NSFW.
posted by xowie at 12:22 PM PST - 55 comments

Veiled Conceit is a blistering sendup of the New York Times wedding announcements.
Yes, that is Wolf Blitzer standing there, "stoned out of his mind and ogling a waitress."
posted by PrinceValium at 11:44 AM PST - 8 comments

The Arctic is melting, according to the Arctic Council report, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, which says the Arctic has lost 386,100 square miles of sea ice in the past 30 years, an area bigger than Texas and Arizona combined. A Pew Center report, Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the U.S., describes how global warming is disrupting animals, plants and insects. Perhaps it's all an E.U. conspiracy. WorldChanging has a world press roundup.
posted by homunculus at 11:26 AM PST - 33 comments

Do little people go to heaven? ...The scientists who have come up with these new Floresians do not count them among the ancestors of man, but among the collateral branches which died out, like the Neanderthals, only later. The suggestion is that the Floresians are, like us, rational animals. Now Christians believe that man (I mean homo, of course, not vir) is a special creation of God. Would these Floresians be in the image and likeness of God too, with immortal souls to be saved or lost, capable of praying to God and going to heaven? asks Christopher Howse.
posted by y2karl at 10:55 AM PST - 89 comments

Night Windows Gorgeous images of night-time urban Japan (Japanese titles, English alt tags, 1024x768 images available). Includes: sleeping bullet trains, trams, cats, Tokyo Harbour tunnel, bridges, tail lights, Narita airport, offices, Mount Fuji, Tokyo Disneyland (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), and many more.
posted by carter at 10:26 AM PST - 13 comments

A web comic of some sort.
posted by kenko at 9:49 AM PST - 31 comments

Prussian Blue is a "white-power" band named after the color of the residue Zyklon-B leaves in a gas chamber. They do some originals, but mostly folk covers of neo-Nazi bands like Skrewdriver and RaHoWa. Oh, and they're twelve-year-old twin girls. (via Vice.)
posted by fungible at 9:38 AM PST - 37 comments

Enough Is Enough: It's time to stop dancing to "Hey Ya!" "As of today, November 10, 2004, it is one year since 'Hey Ya!' was released in the UK. So all you Beyonces, and Lucy Lius, and babydolls, GET OFF THE FLOOR." Further proof that Popjustice is the world's greatest pop magazine, if their review of Girls Aloud's What Will The Neighbours Say? with Neighbours-cast-members-out-of-ten ratings scale didn't already convince you. Oh, and "note to DJs: This is not an excuse to start playing 'Crazy In Love' again."
posted by logovisual at 9:19 AM PST - 10 comments

Note the officer seated to the Queen's right. found on DrudgeReport; accompanying story.
posted by alumshubby at 8:57 AM PST - 15 comments

Thomas Shine, a former Yale student, is suing David Childs for copyright infringement Mr. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for copyright infringement over the design of the Freedom Tower located at Ground Zero. Shine alleges in his lawsuit that the proposed Freedom Tower was "strikingly similar" to his "Olympic Tower" design for the proposed 2012 Olympic Games in New York.
posted by plemeljr at 8:10 AM PST - 21 comments

Editors Suck! Freelance writers will feel this author's pain. (Via Mediabistro. I believe registration is required. Sorry.)
posted by Man-Thing at 7:38 AM PST - 20 comments

Political discourse in these desperate days is - as we all know - very much a no-holds-barred affair. We have come to expect that political debate will be nasty, personal, based on appeals to emotion, and largely divorced from consideration of real-world consequences of the positions claimed. Still, I hope we can agree that some rhetorical flourishes are simply unacceptable in civil society. Like this piece of vileness from Adam Yoshida, imagining that "the future of the Democratic Party [is] providing Republicans with a number of cute (but not that bright) comfort women." You read that right: "comfort women." Left, right, or center, I hope we can all agree that we are within measurable distince of moral surrender if this sort of rhetoric goes unchallenged. Or is this really what we've come to? (Via Atrios, upon whose summary I cannot improve.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 7:24 AM PST - 62 comments

Mr. Green Jeans died and all I got was this lousy sweater. A packrat unearths his collection of hideous late 80s sweaters and shamelessly models them for all to see. A fashion cautionary tale. [via TheMorningNews]
posted by papercake at 7:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Arundhati Roy's call for action, on accepting the Sydney Peace Prize. (That's action from us specifically). I often find Roy's speeches overblown, overcooked and one-sided, and if that kind of rhetoric bothers you then you might want to skip this link. But she does speak lyrically, and I find it hard to argue against what she says this time.
posted by iffley at 3:27 AM PST - 7 comments

Dunstan Orchard designed his site header to mimic the view and weather of his parent's home in Dorset. To do so he created 90 illustrations reflecting the local weather such as cloud condition, wind, humidity, etc. and matched the pics with a XML feed from weather.com. The design features a panel which folds out from beneath the current illustration and presents detailed local weather for both San Francisco & Dorset. Dunstan's talent and attention to detail are astounding. I've only scratched the surface of what he does with this site.
posted by filchyboy at 10:22 PM PST - 25 comments

Theo Van Gogh, murdered last week by a muslim in retalliation for a movie called Submission, a fictional short film critique of how women are treated within Islam. If you were curious about whether the film was worth dying for, the folks at iFilm have it on their site. It's basically an imagined monologue between a woman and Allah. It's 11 minutes long and is safe for work.
posted by mathowie at 7:52 PM PST - 35 comments

Discovering Japan. As a perennial outsider at loose in Japan, writer Donald Richie captures the joyous freedom of being foreign. The foreign observer is likely to be happy only if he sees his foreignness as an adventure, and recognizes that he has given up a sense of belonging for a sense of freedom, traded the luxury of being understood for that of being permanently interested. Richie, the philosopher-king of expats in Asia for the past half-century, arrived in Tokyo in 1947 as a typist with the U.S. government and never really left, writing dozens of books , on Japanese movies, temples, history and fashion, while enjoying himself as an actor, musician, filmmaker and painter. The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 is a monument to the pleasures of displacement. Richie watchers can observe, more intimately than ever, a man who is generally happiest observing. More inside.
posted by matteo at 5:28 PM PST - 12 comments

Let the Eagle Soar [mp3] John Ashcroft has resigned as attorney general, saying "the objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." He leaves behind a legacy of DOJ Accomplishments in the War on Terror (many of which seem to have been accomplished by non-DOJ parties) despite not actually convicting anyone of terrorism. I feel safer already.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:31 PM PST - 72 comments

While trying to find anything about Japp Drupsteen's odd video piece Hyster Pulsatu (which I saw years ago on the sadly defunct Alive from off Center aka Alive TV and badly want to see again) I came across the site of the Netherlands Media art Institute Montevide/Time Based Arts collection. Quite an interesting catalogue, with many samples. No consumer releases, though they do rent tapes and discs for institutional screenings.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 4:26 PM PST - 1 comment

Lose WeightMoney Fast! If you click on this link, you'll go to an apparent sales site for "FatFoeTM Eggplant Extract" another 'miracle' weight loss aid. But click on the Order Now! link and you get a lecture from the FTC on how to avoid getting scammed by diet products that are too good to be true, all part of the US Federal agency's campaign against diet fraud.
posted by wendell at 4:10 PM PST - 12 comments

Struwwelpeter or Shockheaded Peter, twisted tales by Heinrich Hoffmann in Germany circa the 1840s.
posted by drezdn at 3:19 PM PST - 6 comments

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 was released today. Servers are reportedly being hit hard so you might want to try a bittorrent download. Comments from: The BBC, PC World, InformationWeek and a very good article from The Boston Globe. Users needing support should check out the Mozillazine Support Forums.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 2:20 PM PST - 74 comments

The Writings of Charles Darwin on the Web. Thanks to the British Library.
posted by plep at 1:16 PM PST - 11 comments

Conscience of an Economic Hit Man Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviews John Perkins, a former international banker on how globalization is leveraged to cheat poor countries.

We've built the largest empire in the history of the world. It's been done over the last 50 years since World War II with very little military might, actually. It's only in rare instances like Iraq where the military comes in as a last resort. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men. I was very much a part of that.

posted by ao4047 at 12:13 PM PST - 17 comments

Anti Liger Alliance In 800 AD, Ligers stole Kubraday from humans, a secret day between Friday and Saturday. It's time to fight back!!
posted by mathporn at 10:52 AM PST - 12 comments

Last night's aurora borealis was seen in, among other places, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Recent sightings are reported here, and lots of charts and graphs that I don't understand are here courtesy of the government.
posted by PrinceValium at 10:42 AM PST - 20 comments

Pharmacist Refuses to Dispense Birth Control (USA Today link, sorry)
A pharamacist has decided that she's morally opposed to birth control and so has refused to dispense it to her clients. Neverminding the fact that its her job.

"The American Pharmacists Association, with 50,000 members, has a policy that says druggists can refuse to fill prescriptions if they object on moral grounds, but they must make arrangements so a patient can still get the pills. Yet some pharmacists have refused to hand the prescription to another druggist to fill."

If a pharmacist refuses to fill your prescription and you suffer for it (pregnancy or whatever) wouldn't that pharmacy and pharmacist be culpable for your suffering?
Doesn't this just expose these drug stores to massive lawsuits? Or just massive boycotts?
posted by fenriq at 10:27 AM PST - 90 comments

Germs, Germs Everywhere... Get Over It "The makers of antibacterial products are fond of the word 'germs.' It is purposefully vague. Do they mean bacteria? Viruses? Both? Neither? Because the idea is simply to connote contamination. These products are as much about cooties as they are about viruses or bacteria."
posted by Irontom at 10:11 AM PST - 16 comments

The Mormon Peanut Butter Assassin David Race Bannon was serving as a Mormon missionary in Korea when he was caught up in a peanut butter smuggling ring that led to his imprisonment and eventual recruiting by Interpol for project "Archangel," a team of assassins trained to hunt down and terminate the leaders of child sex rings. Whew. Oh, and he has a book out. Is it just me, or does this sound a little . . . odd?
posted by mecran01 at 9:51 AM PST - 34 comments

Fooling the Bladder cops. Your best bet at beating a drug test.
Drug screens that do help? Aspirin. Golden seal does not. This is a list of procedures that labs use to detect countermeasures.
posted by keithl at 9:26 AM PST - 11 comments

Poverty, Political Freedom and the Roots of Terrorism [pdf]. "In the past, we heard people refer to the strong link between terrorism and poverty, but in fact when you look at the data, it's not there," says Alberto Abadie, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
posted by gyc at 8:47 AM PST - 8 comments

Zicam is an amazing intranasal gel that shortens the duration and reduces the severity of the common cold. I've had four colds so far this fall (I've got a toddler) and all of them disappeared within a day. Problem is, now reports are saying that if you get this stuff too far up your nose, you could lose your sense of smell. Damn!
posted by fungible at 8:09 AM PST - 15 comments

If you want to use Firefox but still want the alt text for web images to appear when you hover the mouse pointer over them, then you want this.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:01 AM PST - 28 comments

Keith Olberman brings election fraud into the mainstream media On Countdown last night Windows Media MP3 he did a 16 miniute story on some strange goings on with the machines. Personally I think we need to move forward from the election, but, if no one checks this out and it's real, we're screwed!
posted by bas67 at 6:15 AM PST - 83 comments

A happier election story for some of us anyway
posted by donfactor at 5:40 AM PST - 2 comments

Do you suffer from chapped, crack lips? Are you an addict? You may well be, and not even know it. Read how these evil peddlers hook the kids... and then move onto the adults. But never fear - you can always follow the 12 steps.
posted by mattr at 4:33 AM PST - 39 comments

Cruel and Unusual - The End Of The Eighth Amendment
It might seem at first that the rules for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners were founded on standards of political legitimacy suited to war or emergencies; based on what Carl Schmitt called the urgency of the ''exception,'' they were meant to remain secret as necessary ''war measures'' and to be exempt from traditional legal ideals and the courts associated with them. But the ominous discretionary powers used to justify this conduct are entirely familiar to those who follow the everyday treatment of prisoners in the United States—not only their treatment by prison guards but their treatment by the courts in sentencing, corrections, and prisoners' rights. The torture memoranda, as unprecedented as they appear in presenting ''legal doctrines . . . that could render specific conduct, otherwise criminal, not unlawful,'' refer to U.S. prison cases in the last 30 years that have turned on the legal meaning of the Eighth Amendment’s language prohibiting ''cruel and unusual punishment.'' What is the history of this phrase? How has it been interpreted? And how has its content been so eviscerated?
posted by y2karl at 9:42 PM PST - 24 comments

Move over X-Prize - in order to win the next big space prize($50 million) one will have to build a spacecraft capable of taking a crew of no fewer than five people to an altitude of 400 kilometers and complete two orbits of the Earth at that altitude. Then they have to repeat that accomplishment within 60 days.
posted by sourbrew at 9:07 PM PST - 15 comments

Is a government-sponsored Web any kind of Web at all? Iranians will soon find out, including MeFite hoder, prominently featured in the linked piece (and, worrisomely, recipient of his very own death threat this week). More information on Iranian and Persian bloggers here.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:17 PM PST - 10 comments

Detailing the impossible. Louis Feuillade made more than 800 films covering almost every contemporary genre: historical drama, comedy, realist drama, melodrama, religious films. However, he was most famous, or infamous, for his crime serials: Fantômas (1913-14), Les Vampires, Judex (1916), La Nouvelle Mission de Judex (1917), Tih-Minh (1918) and Barrabas (1919). Critics panned his crime films, often savagely, because the preoccupation of French critics and film-makers in the 1910s and 20s was to elevate cinema -– and, ironically, back then the French saw their own films as lacking the artistry and sophistication of American ones, by Griffith or DeMille – to the level of art. It was years before Feuillade's films escaped the label of aesthetic backwardness. Now, critics have realized that what Feuillade has done is to offer us an alternative cinematic mode to Griffiths', one that continues in updated variants throughout cinema. It is predicated on a principle of uncertainty, that questions our understanding of the real. It is as fluid and elusive a tradition as a cat burglar, dressed in black on a night-time rooftop.
posted by matteo at 5:15 PM PST - 7 comments

Ecliptique panoramique is a site with stunning panoramas (QT required)... Most of the descriptions are in French only, but the photography is breathtaking.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 4:33 PM PST - 15 comments

Seattle, WA, U.S.A. – Jones Soda Co. (the "Company" or "Jones Soda" or "Jones"), announces today its limited edition holiday pack of five new seasonal flavors which includes: Green Bean Casserole Soda, Mashed Potato & Butter Soda, Fruitcake Soda, Cranberry Soda and Turkey & Gravy Soda.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:32 PM PST - 53 comments

How it is that we have come to invade iraq Zen teacher Sevan Ross, on the reasons for our invasion of Iraq.
posted by tranceformer at 4:07 PM PST - 43 comments

Set your TiVos (no really, try this), mooks and midriffs, Douglas Rushkoff has a new Frontline about the "persuasion industry" coming out tomorrow night on PBS. If you caught his Merchants of Cool a couple years ago, you'll probably agree it was a breakthrough program and I hold high hopes for this year's update on how advertisers rule our world.
posted by mathowie at 3:18 PM PST - 36 comments

"Absolutely nobody, but nobody has seen this guy," said Paul Pruss, a middle school teacher who is president of the union. "The whole thing is just bizarre."
Steve Rocco, a 'mystery candidate' / unknown recluse, won a seat on the Orange Unified School District by 54%, beating out Phil Martinez, a park ranger who raised contributions, attended forums and sent out a political mailing to homes of voters in the district, none of which Rocco did.
What might have helped him this time around was that he identified himself as a writer/educator on the ballot, though he offered no proof of those occupations.
posted by Lizc at 12:08 PM PST - 22 comments

Mr. Bush's first big political move. Banning gays? Killing babies to produce oil? No, tax reform! What? Nothing sinister in that, you say! Except he might totally do away with the current system and create a flat tax or national sales tax. Quick, everyone read up on flat taxes, and national sales tax! Blogger's favorite economist Atrios gives his two cents. With everything going on, it is almost nostalgic to see tax reform become an issue.
posted by geoff. at 11:44 AM PST - 156 comments

Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software is Clay Shirky's latest essay on social software. It describes some interesting experiments and avenues for experimentation in reducing flaming in social discourse software. A prime example is Bumplist.
posted by turbodog at 11:11 AM PST - 7 comments

The Hedonistic Imperative. David Pearce wants to promote paradise-engineering and abolish the biological substrates of suffering in all sentient life. A brave new world? What would Buddha do?
posted by homunculus at 11:09 AM PST - 17 comments

Matisyahu - Hasidic Reggae.
posted by dobbs at 10:14 AM PST - 11 comments

eBay for the NRA
A place (mentioned once before in the blue, here) where you can drop nearly $4K on a high-end showgun or bid on a His & Hers Pistol Set or, if you just need a gat for a quick drive by maybe a Cobray CM-11 Carbine 9mm is what you need (with a free 32-rd magazine!). What's that? Thirty two rounds isn't enough? Go big and get the 50 round clip!. Or heck, why not get yourself a real honest to goodness Gatling Gun (sure it shoots .22 rounds but they are dirt cheap and you can run through up to 1200 in a minute)?
I'd like to get one of these cute little numbers. But I also wouldn't mind one of these either.
Note: All gun auctions are processed in complete accordance with firearm laws, all guns are shipped to Federally licensed gun dealers and background checks are run on buyers.

I am a gun nut and I approve this message.
posted by fenriq at 9:50 AM PST - 57 comments

A little over the top? I know some people are depressed but......this?
posted by Ron at 9:49 PM PST - 82 comments

Luck Chain Letters Predecessors: Ancient documents that advocate their own perpetuation. The Letters from Heaven. Transitions to chain letters.--from Chain Letter Evolution, which is part of the Paper Chain Letter Archive via History News Network's Cliopatria
posted by y2karl at 9:09 PM PST - 4 comments

Driven, immodest, intense and abrasive, Jeffrey Sachs is clearly a man on a mission. That mission is ending global poverty in our lifetimes. Can the man who once administered "shock therapy" to a reeling Russia, with tragic if predictable results, redeem himself? And even if the developed world somehow comes to a consensus that this is a project worth undertaking, would it work? (Apologies for yet another NYT piece.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:09 PM PST - 9 comments

10 X 10 One Hundred Words and Pictures that Define the Time
posted by ColdChef at 7:32 PM PST - 11 comments

Irredentos. The sun beats down insufferably on the rust coloured landscape, stretching for mile after mile under a cobalt blue sky. In the distance, a convoy of rented farm trucks packed with thousands of penitents kicks up a serpentine cloud of dust that rises and then dissipates over the land. Through the dry air comes a jingling of chimes and a clicking of rosaries, a shuffling of processions, and with eyes heavenward, a ceaseless chanting of invocations. This is a holy and sun-scorched land, the Backlands of Brazil's northeast - the Sertão. Some believe Jesus is buried here.
Christian Cravo, the photographer, is Mario Cravo Neto's son.
posted by matteo at 5:08 PM PST - 7 comments

Robert J. Vanderbei is trying to show us we're not as divided as it seems.
It's not quite the City Vs. Country conflict that you may have understood it to be in this years election. Methinks, perhaps, this extends to other political opinions as well.

Lots of great voting result visualizations are available at this blog. Including my favorite, state results, with electoral votes dictating the relative size of the state. I'm not explaining it well. Go look here.

I *promise* this'll be the last political post for a while. I know we're all wretchedly sick of it.
posted by Parannoyed at 4:02 PM PST - 24 comments

Metafilter is Under Attack!
posted by crunchland at 4:00 PM PST - 27 comments

WXYC, the oldest web radio station celebrates ten years today. Chapel Hill, NC. Pretty good station too.
posted by Duck_Lips at 2:17 PM PST - 6 comments

Repairing your Aglets. Are your aglets frayed or peeling, or simply discolored and unsightly? Have you looked for a source of fresh, user-friendly aglets and come up empty? Do all of your friends have snappy, crisp aglets that put yours to shame? You can break the chain of aglet neglect and decay.
posted by mecran01 at 12:16 PM PST - 8 comments

The Numero Group is a web-based record company specializing in unearthing great music that you probably didn't know existed but can't live without. (Flash site; more inside)
posted by ba at 11:34 AM PST - 6 comments

The anti-war speech that earned Eugene V. Debs a prison sentence in 1918 for opposing the draft. Debs was prosecuted under the Sedition Act, and he received almost a million votes behind bars as the American Socialist Party candidate for president. He's much admired by Kurt Vonnegut. [Via wood s lot.]
posted by homunculus at 9:48 AM PST - 5 comments

All Pop Art. Do you like Andy Warhol pop art? Did you want your face to be on it? Is your narcissism overwhelming? I always viewed pop art as having a sense of irony, poking fun of mass culture. When mass culture then embraces and produces pop art based on themselves, is this a reflection of the apocolypse? I think this is similar to going back in time and meeting yourself.
posted by geoff. at 8:28 AM PST - 12 comments

Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism by Mark Twain
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:56 AM PST - 10 comments

Speegle: search results read aloud. News, too! [Via.]
posted by steef at 7:38 AM PST - 5 comments

Two Americas, but not the ones you might have thought. Apologies for perpetuating ElectionFilter, but this page has, in addition to all the blue/red/purple maps we've seen, a bar graph at the bottom of the page that I find fascinating. To quote the authors, "It appears that there are, as the pundits have been telling us, 'two Americas,' but they are not the ones people usually talk about. They are 'divided America,' where people split roughly evenly between Republican and Democrat, and 'decided America,' where everyone is a Democrat. " (via Crooked Timber)
posted by Kat Allison at 7:33 AM PST - 66 comments

Cocoon. Rainbows. Diorama. Grass. Karaoke. Wedding. Dave. Apparently these are all ads for NEC. How they're promoting something, and what that something is, I haven't a clue. But they made me laugh. {movs, I think. via News Today}
posted by dobbs at 1:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Hopkin Green Update. Last seen in this area.
posted by azul at 9:32 PM PST - 34 comments

Google Blocks Abu Ghraib Images
I went to Google Images to search for it. "Abu Ghraib" brought up only photos of the outside of the prison. Not a single photo from the scandal. Next I searched for "Lynndie England", not a single picture. Next I decided to look for "Charles Graner" her boyfriend who was also prominently features in the pictures, nothing.
See for yourself.
posted by destro at 9:20 PM PST - 71 comments

Go places with Mr. Pickles... visit Appalachia, a cruise ship, and go on a ski trip.
posted by drezdn at 9:01 PM PST - 1 comment

Grape Haiku
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:45 PM PST - 31 comments

The man with a garbage can.
posted by limitedpie at 6:40 PM PST - 6 comments

Join Canada? Okay, many of you feel you've been disenfranchised by the recent election, maybe even to the point of hating the heartland. We've heard lots of "I'm moving to Canada" and discussion of immigration requirements. But some are now talking about a merger of the Blue States and the Great White North. Joining Canada isn't a new idea, either for Americans or others. C'mon, do you really think it would work?
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:31 PM PST - 64 comments

Memento Mori. The Aztecs made war almost tenderly, wielding wooden swords that were edged with bits of obsidian or flint and, in face-to-face combat, endeavoring not to kill their enemies but, commonly by striking at their legs, to disable and capture them. Later, the captives—thousands of them for a rededication of the Great Temple at Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City) in 1478—were led to high platforms, where priests tore out and displayed their still-beating hearts. An especially respected prisoner might be allowed to fight for his life against Aztec warriors, at the last, with clubs and a sword, but his sword was edged with feathers.
“The Aztec Empire,” at the Guggenheim in New York, is advertised as the most comprehensive exhibition of Aztec art ever mounted outside Mexico. More inside.
posted by matteo at 4:48 PM PST - 16 comments

Southern Conservativism explained from the inside. "I get very antsy when I see this entire election outcome being blamed on radical conservatism or on ignorance or stupidity. Because really when people talk about "radical" conservativism, what they really mean is Southern conservativism, specifically the kind that originated in the Southern Baptist church in the late 70's/early 80's. And that makes me unhappy. I am an ex-Southern conservative." An interesting read coming out of the election fallout.
posted by FunkyHelix at 4:19 PM PST - 130 comments

ComicsFilter
posted by srboisvert at 1:55 PM PST - 24 comments

Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib , and Matchbox Twenty
posted by Espoo2 at 12:59 PM PST - 9 comments

Americans who tell the truth.
posted by moonbird at 11:30 AM PST - 7 comments

Jim Crow Stories.
posted by plep at 10:54 AM PST - 2 comments

The LinkSquare Project. Because text is boring.
posted by ginz at 2:09 AM PST - 12 comments

Nader Challenges Black Box Voting in NH
posted by snakey at 8:42 PM PST - 50 comments

The Lancet recently claimed that up to 100,000 Iraqi civilians are dead as a result of the war. Believable or not?
posted by homunculus at 8:20 PM PST - 28 comments

Neon lights - shimmering neon lights. And at the fall of night, this city's made of light. - Kraftwerk.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:08 PM PST - 20 comments

Brave Woman I bring to you via Monkeyfilter
posted by crunchburger at 6:01 PM PST - 31 comments

EVIL/LIVE is a 28 minute edit of the first debate featuring Bush listening to and debating with himself. It may be broadcast, copied, distributed, edited etc. without permission. (170 MB / 635 MB) [via nettime]
posted by boost ventilator at 5:38 PM PST - 8 comments

Ever wonder how the world is going to hell in a handbasket if gay marriage runs amok? Our own digaman recounts his ceremony from a couple years ago, after being together with someone for ten years. Sounds like every other wedding I've ever been to (except for the lack of bridesmaids). I'm always telling family members that don't have gay friends like I do: don't fear them, I assure you they're just as boring as you and I.
posted by mathowie at 5:14 PM PST - 218 comments

Saturn's enigmatic moon Titan holds on to its mysteries. Radar images reveal quite a bit of variation but no clear interpretation. The hazy atmosphere prevents the sudden shock of discovery that characterized the Voyager and Galileo flybys of the moons of Jupiter, revealing little more than fuzzy Rorschach blobs. With less than 1% of the surface mapped, researchers suspect that Titan has a young surface shaped by processes that have yet to be revealed.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 3:14 PM PST - 5 comments

A long-lost treasure too toxic to touch: Construction at New York City's Harlem Community Justice Center recently revealed a room piled high with records documenting the building's former life as an early 20th century prison. They offer a peek into the street life of ca. 1900 NYC and scholars are already interested - there's only one problem: the room also contains decades worth of toxic pigeon droppings. (NY Times - registration required). Photos (click on the "records rescue" link at the bottom) of the room are available at the great correctionhistory.org which also offers histories and photos of other out-of-the-way corners of NYC like the Hart Island Potter's Field.
posted by ryanshepard at 2:59 PM PST - 9 comments

It's like EverQuest...only pink. Well, maybe not exactly like EverQuest. But Sanrio is entering the world of online gaming with their new MMORPG, Hello Kitty Online World. Preliminary views indicate that it's going to be a fully-realized 3D world where players can control both their own avatar and an "angel," which seems a little bit like a witch's familiar. The Sanrio characters are, of course, NPCs - you can't make Hello Kitty punch Spottie Dottie, because that's just not what Kitty-chan would do! There will be countries, populated with player homes (you can decorate it with a Titanic poster!), and you can also adventure, train, and form alliances.
posted by etoile at 2:51 PM PST - 10 comments

One soldier's opinion. "If you voted for Bush, didn't vote, or voted no on gay marriage, I hope you get drafted. I hope they stick you in my unit, and you go with me to Iraq when my unit goes back in September. I will laugh when you see what soldiers in that country face on a daily basis. I hope you work with gay soldiers too. I did. One of them saved my life. Think he shouldn't have the right to get married? Fuck you. He fought just as hard as I did and on most days, did his job better than me. Don't tell me gays don't have the same rights you do. Think the war in Iraq is a good thing? I'll donate my M-16 to you and you can go in my place."
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:46 PM PST - 51 comments

Star Wars: Episode III teaser trailer.
posted by Quartermass at 2:40 PM PST - 32 comments

Unionized Clergy?! Some members of the clergy with the United Church of Canada are looking to unionize over four thousand pastors across the country. Their compliant, bad working conditions and sweatshop wages. Bad working conditions? Give me a break. via
posted by Coop at 2:07 PM PST - 13 comments

City of Heroes Costume Contest.
posted by tranquileye at 2:05 PM PST - 13 comments

The history and technology of Technicolor. The iconic color process, however, had some competition. There's plenty of other fun stuff to read at the Widescreen Museum.
posted by neckro23 at 1:45 PM PST - 3 comments

A bizzare pattern of impossible anomalies This has long been known : the welter of financial ties of Diebold and ES&S to the radical religious right (with stakeholders currently, it seems, on the secretive CNP) and Bob Fitrakis notes : "Wherever Diebold and ES&S go, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow." Howard Ahmanson was the original funder for Bob and Todd Urosevich's Data Mark,which became ES&S, Bob later left to head Diebold ,maker of HAVA Act mandated touch screen voting machines used in Ohio and Florida and elsewhere....Ahmanson is a Christian Reconstructionist (a form of Dominionism ) who has talked of imposing Biblical law on the US - including the death penalty for gays and drunkards - and is also a main funder of the Chalcedon Foundation. However, the most bizzare patterns of anomalies in Florida came not from touch-screen but optical scan machines. Florida's central vote tabulator also is Diebold made, raising questions on the a bizzare pattern of anomalies in which a large number of counties in Florida had increases in Republicans votes over expected levels - by an overall average of 50% to 100% and - in one county, as high as 700%. Meanhwhile, here are graphs of variance between exit poll results for battleground states.
posted by troutfishing at 1:13 PM PST - 85 comments

Updating this mefi story here where a set of extremely abusive parents who abused their children into their teens were sentenced to only 9 months prison. A judge now deems that sentence "demonstrably unfit" and resentences the mother and father to 5 and 4 years in jail, respectively. Thanks to t r a c y for the update.
posted by shepd at 12:18 PM PST - 4 comments

Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back
The tattoo is of a great, blue mushroom cloud, and in the cloud, etched ghost-like, is the face of our daughter, Rae. Her lips are drawn tight, eyes are closed and there are stitches deeply pulled to simulate the lashes. When I move fast and hard they rip slightly and Rae cries bloody tears. That’s one reason for the martial arts. The hard practice of them helps me to tear the stitches so my daughter can cry. Tears are the only thing I can give her.
East Texas writer Joe R Lansdale has written horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense, westerns, "men's adventure," and just about every other kind of writing you can think of. On his website (see main link) Lansdale makes a story available for free every week to his readers.
Lansdale also wrote a novella featuring an aging Elvis Presley who teams up with a delusional, African American John F. Kennedy to battle an ancient Egyptian mummy with a predilection for anal soul-rape. It made it to the big screen, too: Bubba Ho-Tep. With Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. More inside.
posted by matteo at 12:17 PM PST - 9 comments

We're so unbelievably sorry, everyone...
Seriously. We're not even kidding.
posted by Parannoyed at 11:43 AM PST - 83 comments

Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.

do the math.
posted by specialk420 at 10:51 AM PST - 133 comments

Best.Gig.Ever.
posted by srboisvert at 10:42 AM PST - 17 comments

To Whom It May Concern: This letter is to be considered an authorization to condantiques, a seller on Ebay, to offer on auction, for the Feinstein Foundation, the 1919 Original Ruth contract to the highest bidder which exceeds the reserve. All proceeds of this sale will go to charity.
posted by anathema at 9:08 AM PST - 8 comments

I always thought a future filled with robots would be kinda cool, but I find the Robowatch home security robot kinda creepy. It's expensive (50k euros), looks pretty obvious patrolling around, does have a slick futuristic controller, but finding the three stooges is about the best it can do. I suppose this would be like having your own googlebot around the house.
posted by mathowie at 9:07 AM PST - 5 comments

From the vantage point of my office window, one might wonder: "Presedential Library, or world's largest mobile home?"
This part of the country hasn't seen modern architecture like this, Newsweek lamented....the Clinton presidential library is an architectural tour de force that introduces the Midsouth to a structure more significant than anything it's ever seen. ..but from the vantage point of the Interstate 30 bridge, to the average columnist or cross-country trucker, didn't it kind of look like a trailer?"

For Arkansas, the grand opening of the center — which houses the Clinton Library — will be one of the biggest events in the state's history. All former presidents and President Bush will attend.
posted by thisisdrew at 8:01 AM PST - 25 comments

Woman controls blender by making noises at it. Is it wrong that I find this strangely erotic? [sfw, via]
posted by adampsyche at 7:17 AM PST - 29 comments

Sidewalks without dog shit, angels, and Hustler: the day after the election the way-left paper Die Tageszeitung explained what's better in America.
posted by kenko at 7:04 AM PST - 37 comments

AskYahoo.
posted by luser at 6:18 AM PST - 19 comments

The Foundation For A Better Life. A non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious, organization that doesn't want your money, but that simply believes, "the values we live by are worth more when we pass them on." What kind of values? Strength. Dedication. Vision. Sacrifice. Soul. Persistence. Commitment. Compassion. Hard Work, Class & Courage, and more. Their billboards and TV ads are all around, but if you're like me, you probably had trouble figuring out who they were from...
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 6:15 AM PST - 32 comments

Maybe the rest of the United States could take a lesson from Delaware's long-standing tradition of Return Day. Return Day started in the 1800's, when residents of Sussex County would gather in the County seat two days after the vote to hear the election returns announced, close out their races, and start looking ahead to the next election. It has grown to a day-long festival featuring a ceremonial burying of the hatchet and a parade in which opposing candidates for each race have to share a carriage. Of course, sometimes the hatchet-burying is only ceremonial. This year's campaign for Governor was ugly and so, apparently, was yesterday's carriage ride. On the other hand, in a local County Council race, now in a recount with a difference of three votes, the trailing candidate was heard to joke to the leader yesterday "Lynn, I can't stand this. Why didn't you just beat the hell out of me so I didn't have to do this?" Oh yes, and Punkin' Chunkin' starts today.
posted by mmahaffie at 5:36 AM PST - 8 comments

The British Steam Car Challenge ... hey no sniggering at the back! Turbines in cars are cool but they aren't new. You may know about turbines in wind farms, planes, real choppers, toy choppers and awesome boats, what about taking the virtual nuclear reactor tour? So, how does a turbine work?
BIK'er [BushIraqKerry] Free Thread
posted by DrDoberman at 4:34 AM PST - 9 comments

Onward Christian soldiers or the Divided States of America "In the wee small hours of November 3 2004, "a new country appeared on the map of the modern world: the DSA, the Divided States of America." But is this really anything new? In his novel "Sybal"or "The Two Nations" Benjaman Disraeli described the England of his day and said that it comprised not one but "two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws." Out of the divisions of Watergate and the Vietnam war the modern American Right Wing built it self up from the ashes of the Nixon downfall and the party has labored for the past 30 years to build a powerful and united party with the help of of its very own homegrown American mullahs. And of course, no one has been better at surfing this Republican wave than the Bush family. And for the right wing the revolution has just started.
posted by thedailygrowl at 12:41 AM PST - 63 comments

QRIME - Flash. {presumably lots of WTFs inside}
posted by dobbs at 11:12 PM PST - 9 comments

How Bush Did It "A team of Newsweek reporters unveils the untold fears, secret battles and private emotions behind a historic election." An in-depth series of behind-the-scenes articles. [via Salon 's War Room, which also says Bush's bulge was a bulletproof vest.]
posted by kirkaracha at 8:05 PM PST - 52 comments

Ed Helms's and Stephen Colbert's election analysis (9.8 MB Quicktime,) and more Nov. 3 Daily Show clips.
posted by homunculus at 7:48 PM PST - 18 comments

ADD, Esq. In browsing part-time jobs in NYC, I came across this gem. It would blow my mind to watch this dude in the courtroom... if he doesn't get sidetracked along the way.
posted by adamms222 at 6:52 PM PST - 3 comments

Super Mario Quilt. If you're crafty and looking for the perfect gift for your significant other this holiday season, look no further. (via Kotaku.)
posted by hughbot at 6:06 PM PST - 7 comments

''My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today I've just signed legislation which outlaws [the Blue States] forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.''
posted by monju_bosatsu at 5:56 PM PST - 38 comments

Web of Influence Every day, millions of online diarists, or “bloggers,” share their opinions with a global audience. Drawing upon the content of the international media and the World Wide Web, they weave together an elaborate network with agenda-setting power on issues ranging from human rights in China to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. What began as a hobby is evolving into a new medium that is changing the landscape for journalists and policymakers alike. Hmm. Big Talk or should I get a clue & with the program ? Decisions, decisions....
posted by y2karl at 5:25 PM PST - 14 comments

Gallumpia ADULT . I especially enjoyed the housewives section. [NSFW?] via b3ta newsletter
posted by normy at 5:03 PM PST - 4 comments

American waistlines are hurting airline profit margins. Who likes sitting next to an obese person on a plane? But who can feel bad for Corporate Welfare mothers who openly ask for handouts?
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:11 PM PST - 18 comments

V-Disc Records , a government-created music company, made 78's full of music, stories and announcements and sent them overseas to US servicemen from 1943-1949. They were never made available in record stores and, since the American Federation of Musicians was on strike at the time, they were the only recordings being made. All of the top stars of the day made them, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and more. After the program ended in 1949, the government, following an AFM request that the records not be used for commercial purposes, destroyed the original masters. Luckily the Library of Congress has a complete set of V-Discs and the National Archives saved some of the metal stampers.
posted by tommasz at 4:11 PM PST - 2 comments

Welcome to WM Recordings! WM Recordings is a netlabel operating from Heerlen, the Netherlands. WM Recordings brings you music that is a little "different". We do not specialize in one style, but instead bring you exciting sounds that you're not likely to find anywhere else. Everything you see here is free, so take as much as you like.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:01 PM PST - 9 comments

First Felony Spam Convictions
Hopefully the first of many convictions of these bottom feeders.
posted by fenriq at 12:54 PM PST - 27 comments

Straight Edge - Punk rock goes straight: no drugs, no drink, no sex, no meat.
30 minute audio documentary and flash site on an underground music movement.
Minor Threat, Youth of Today, Seven Seconds, Gorilla Biscuits all X'ed it out.
posted by putzface_dickman at 11:53 AM PST - 69 comments

Election 2004, county by county: For those who just can't get enough political mapping goodness. Here's the 2004 presidential election's Red/Blue divide at the county level, where possible. Lesson: most red states aren't quite as red as they seem, and blue states aren't as blue. Author has 2000 election data plotted as well, which I believe was posted earlier.
posted by mojohand at 11:47 AM PST - 52 comments

Only in 1967 did Loving v. Virginia overturn vigorously-enforced laws against interracial marriage in these 15 states--Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Only in 1964 did the Civil Rights Act overturn laws against equal access to voting, public accommodation, and public education. Only in 1963 did the Equal Pay Act mandate that men and women be paid the same wage for the same work at the same job. History isn't a superhighway, leading us in straight lines toward utopia. We fall back and we move forward, but over the past fifty years, the United States has become considerably more inclusive and equality of access to opportunity has widened. Take a look at this article from the Atlantic Monthly in 1956--1956!--if you don't believe me.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:42 AM PST - 184 comments

First gay Hispanic woman elected as Dallas sheriff I thought that this was a joke when I first saw the title. I'm way verklemmt; talk amongst yerselves.
posted by alumshubby at 11:34 AM PST - 29 comments

Implementation Sex and terror all over the world: The eighth and final installment of a novel, printed out on stickers and placed in public by readers, is now available, along with more than 1000 photos of pieces of the novel in place. It's a distributed narrative in the vein of Shelly Jackson's Skin, a word of which is tattooed on 2000 people. One of the co-authors also co-wrote 2002: A Palindrome Story.
posted by ubueditor at 11:28 AM PST - 4 comments

Is Hugo Chavez Frias a marked man? What about Gerhard Schroeder or Pooty-Poot? We know that Saddam got Euros for oil. October 31, 2000 The United Nations Sanctions Committee approves an Iraqi request to be paid in Euros, rather than United States dollars, for oil exported under the "oil for food" program, which is part of the sanctions regime stemming from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Iran has interest in changing to either the new gold dinar or the nifty Euro. Implementation would be in 2005. If you belive Rense.com about The Sunburn (and keep in mind Iran hasn't had over a decade of sanctions to keep its military in check), the float of the PetroDollar may stop once the lighter than water part leaves the Dollar - and the invasion trick won't float (for long) this time.
Anyone scared yet?
posted by rough ashlar at 11:28 AM PST - 24 comments

Great Political Yard Signs on the Ohio Lawn of Dischord co-founder/Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson. I've always enjoyed his design work, and these are just really cool and worthy of sharing, methinks.
posted by glenwood at 11:06 AM PST - 9 comments

Talk about having a bad day: On the same day that she found out her husband was out of a job, Elizabeth Edwards found out she had breast cancer.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 10:33 AM PST - 16 comments

Blast Maps. The threat of nuclear terrorism is not limited to New York City or Washington, DC. While New York is widely seen as the most likely target, it is clear that Al Qaeda is not only capable but also interested in mounting attacks on other American cities. Imagine the consequences of a 10-kiloton weapon exploding in San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, or any other city Americans call home. From the epicenter of the blast to a distance of approximately one-third mile, every structure will be destroyed and no one would be left alive. A second circle of destruction extending three-quarters of a mile from ground zero would leave buildings looking like the Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City. A third circle reaching out 1 mile would be ravaged by fires and radiation. Harvard professor Graham Allison's website lets you visualize these consequences in the city of your choice. Just enter a zip code.
More inside.
posted by matteo at 8:59 AM PST - 44 comments

Would the real Postal Service please stand up?
The Postal Service named their band to reflect the fact that its album was created by mailing tracks back and forth between collaborators. But about a year ago, it received a cease and desist order from that other Postal Service, as in, that one that actually delivers the mail. Well, a year later, instead of crushing the synth-wielding weaklings, the two entities have actually kissed and made up. The Postal Service gets to keep its name, and in exchange, the USPS gets a house band for its upcoming conference and maybe a soundtrack for its next tv spot. Somewhere, Moby is nodding approvingly.
posted by UncleDave at 8:57 AM PST - 29 comments

Arafat reported dead, Palestinian PM denies it. What happens in the Middle East now? I wonder does this cha nge the equation over there? Israeli TV and Haaretz say he's brain dead and not responding to treatment.
posted by tomcosgrave at 8:50 AM PST - 60 comments

Just Coffee art is art made with, um, just coffee.
posted by rushmc at 8:42 AM PST - 11 comments

Go Team Venture! The official Venture Bros. website is now up (though slightly incomplete). While you're waiting, download Brock's workout song, read interviews with the creators or make your own Super Secret Agent license.
posted by drezdn at 8:27 AM PST - 19 comments

Plotting your escape? Marry a Canadian. "Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism." [via Gothamist]
posted by milovoo at 7:32 AM PST - 47 comments

Politics, Terror and Religion -

‘Twas the year of our lord 1605, the King - James the 1st (God save the King!) will be opening parliament tomorrow. But lo! What is this? Conspiracy? Grab that fellow! Following on from last year’s post about Guy Fawkes here is some more edutainment about religion, terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction from nearly 400 years ago. Things just never change do they?

(More BritFilter for your delectation – and before you ask "Why not November the 5th?" Fawkes was arrested on the night of the 4th and with recent global events I thought some might be interested in the parallels).
posted by longbaugh at 6:49 AM PST - 6 comments

Jeff Johnson wants to know what Pete Coors has to say.
posted by yerfatma at 5:42 AM PST - 15 comments

The Benny Hinn Show [possible theme song]
posted by boost ventilator at 4:21 AM PST - 13 comments

Imminent job openings at CNN... Open the link and right click the picture of Bush and wife, click "Save Picture/Image" and look at the filename! In the words of a certain Denis Leary, "He's an asshole, asshole, asshole-e-o-oe-oh". I suggest someone mirrors this ASAP!
posted by metaxa at 2:36 AM PST - 14 comments

Post election demonstrations and protests in Portland, San Francisco (pics). And a few more.
posted by loquacious at 9:58 PM PST - 42 comments

Peter Funch takes a hell of a photograph. {flash interface}
posted by dobbs at 9:09 PM PST - 15 comments

Twenty Reasons Why You Shouldn't Post Your Picture On The Internet.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:25 PM PST - 39 comments

OK, take a deeep breath and relaaaaax... Just relax... Nothing new here, nothing threatening, just relax.
posted by airgirl at 6:25 PM PST - 12 comments

Philippe Starck's been making lots of stuff lately, but I didn't know he was producing shoes for Puma until today (flash site features an odd naked guy you can make jump and walk). Clean and sleek, but they're fetching $200+ a pair which is kind of outrageous. Another bunch of freaky expensive wacky shoe designs I found are from Fessura. Click through their gallery to get an idea of what they offer. Medium continue to be my personal favorite shoes, but I'm always on the lookout for more interesting things to wear. If you've seen any interesting shoes lately, do share.
posted by mathowie at 6:08 PM PST - 25 comments

Buy a Gun For America! Buy a gun because you live in a country where you can.
posted by mwhybark at 5:15 PM PST - 18 comments

Democracy 2004 - Earlier this year, Richard Avedon decided that he would try to capture a sense of the country in the midst of a crucial Presidential election campaign. These are the (unfinished, but wonderful) results.
posted by amandaudoff at 5:03 PM PST - 16 comments

Electing to Leave - A guide to expatriating (via blogdex)
posted by sourbrew at 4:33 PM PST - 130 comments

Stem cells target cancer tumors. There has been some promising research with embryonic and adult stem cells in the fight against cancer. Meanwhile, California approved $3 billion for stem cell research, good news (debatably) since the 22 stem cell lines available for federally-funded research are contaminated with mouse cells and unusable for treatment in humans, but I wonder if California might end up in a federalism showdown with the new Senate over this. Maybe it will be less of an issue now that researchers have figured out how to derive stem cells from a morula, a four-day old embryo, without destroying it.
posted by homunculus at 4:26 PM PST - 9 comments

1 year performance video (aka samHsiehUpdate)
posted by pedantic at 3:52 PM PST - 2 comments

How to Become an iPod. A New Yorker documents his quest to become a Mini iPod for the 2004 NYC Halloween Parade.
posted by jacknose at 11:55 AM PST - 4 comments

Hidden pictures! In an effort to get back to that "best of the web" thing, here are some cool hidden pictures within pictures. Can you find them all without looking at the answers? (from B3ta)
posted by salmacis at 11:34 AM PST - 14 comments

The Geek Guide to Kosher Machines : How the industry makes appliances Shabbat safe.
posted by Karmakaze at 11:10 AM PST - 16 comments

Kerry Concedes President Bush won a second term from a divided and anxious nation, his promise of steady, strong wartime leadership trumping John Kerry's fresh-start approach to Iraq and joblessness. After a long, tense night of vote counting, the Democrat called Bush to concede Ohio and the presidency, The Associated Press learned.
posted by Outlawyr at 8:22 AM PST - 492 comments

It all comes down do one question: Must France stay in Algeria? “If the answer is yes,” he says, “then you must accept the consequences.”
Gillo Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers", now out on a Criterion dvd, is a film of quiet, overwhelming power. The mix of subjective and documentary techniques holds the viewer's trust so authoritatively that many scenes come close to sneaking out of the mental "movies I saw" box to mix with the viewer's own memories. No matter how complicated or fragmented the action becomes, Pontecorvo gets the pace, tone and rhythm exactly right, filling the screen with eloquent details.
(Last year, Pontecorvo's masterpiece was discussed here, too. More inside)
posted by matteo at 8:21 AM PST - 9 comments

A Fistful of Westerns.
posted by srboisvert at 8:09 AM PST - 6 comments

All this will pass. "A day will come when all this will pass away...all this will pass and a new, a noble existence will begin. "I am not here for ever", he tells himself again and again, "soon I shall be there - there where there is liberty, all that I dream of, all that the suffering soul desires. Here is a heavy sleep, a nightmare. There it will be waking, beautiful and happy. Open the doors of the prison, send away the warders, strike off the chains, it will be enough. I shall find the rest for myself, in this free and beautiful universe which I did not know how to appreciate before, although I saw it." A commentary on Dostoevsky's House of the Dead, a fictionalised account of his four year's of hard labour.
posted by biffa at 6:52 AM PST - 21 comments

While you were re-electing a president:
Senator-elect Jim DeMint: Thinks that unwed pregnant women and gays are unfit to be schoolteachers.
Senator-elect Tom Coburn: Wants the death penalty for abortion doctors.
Senator-elect John Thune: Mr. School Prayer Amendment.
Voters in 11 states voted to ban same-sex marriage. The lowest margin was 57%-43%. The highest (Mississippi) was 86%-14%. Kentucky's also bans civil unions. That one was 75%-25%.
The Senate will likely be split 55-45 in favor of Republicans, creeping closer to a filibuster-proof supermajority. Meanwhile, 89% of these guys are older than 65.
Enjoy your tax cut, America. You're going to need it.
posted by PrinceValium at 6:47 AM PST - 73 comments

Cosmic ray air shower simulations (do not miss the movies)
posted by MzB at 6:17 AM PST - 1 comment

It's unOFFICIAL! yet again!
Bush wins re-election! And Nader nowhere to shoulder blame.
The consequences.
The deciding demographic? The Evangelical vote. (Interestingly, look how the vote went for Carter, born-again Southern Baptist, in the '76 election.)
So who's to blame? Personally, I point the finger at the PR. Because everyone should damn-well accept the fact that it's not about the issues.
Let the recount and litigation begin!
posted by Mach3avelli at 11:26 PM PST - 307 comments

iN-PUBLiC The Home of Street Photography. My favorite photography site.
posted by dobbs at 8:34 PM PST - 8 comments

Touching yourself at home with the blinds open hot Canadian debate topic!
posted by shepd at 7:37 PM PST - 16 comments

Some kids I go to grad school with are putting on a live interactive public access show from New York tonight, Konscious Election -- four live video feeds plus an onscreen chat room so viewers can share their comments and send questions straight to the cameramen and interviewers. If you're in New York you can see it on MNN (Time Warner channel 67 in Manhattan), or you can watch it streaming from the website! 9:30 to 10:30 PM EST.
posted by lia at 6:33 PM PST - 1 comment

Today, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jimmy Breslin filed his last regular column.
posted by Vidiot at 4:27 PM PST - 6 comments

As the polls close election results come in. (A full list of official election result websites inside.)
posted by calwatch at 3:00 PM PST - 418 comments

ps. i'll find my frog
posted by darukaru at 1:03 PM PST - 37 comments

When the Glen Canyon Dam was completed, it took 18 years for the waters of the Colorado River to flood 186 miles of the most beautiful canyonlands in the world. David Brower called it America's "most regretted environmental mistake." But now Glen Canyon is coming back.
posted by alms at 1:02 PM PST - 20 comments

"After the War on Drugs - Options for Control is a major new report examining the key themes in the drug policy reform debate, detailing how legal regulation of drug markets will operate, and providing a roadmap and time line for reform." It's concise and reasonable, but is this report from the Transform Drug Policy Foundation (Google News lookup) really "the first practical road map for a benign drug policy that must follow the collapse of drug prohibition"? ... "No countries have yet legalised any drug covered under the U.N. convention" - will anything change anytime soon?
posted by mrgrimm at 11:53 AM PST - 10 comments

Early exit polling shows strong Kerry battleground states edge : lots of variables in play, and these numbers do not include early voting. Further, early exit polling has in the past tended to favor Republicans. This election, though, that trend may no longer hold. We'll see. Get out and vote! Vote vote vote! (more inside).
posted by troutfishing at 11:44 AM PST - 538 comments

Jesus Built My M16 (474.9 MB Music Video torrent) "The Future Patriots were established in 2002 by the Honorable Donald Rumsfeld as a method of training our nation's youth in the arts of propaganda, fear-mongering, race-baiting, dis-information, and electoral fraud. We aim to assure that the control of this great nation will never be handed over to the liberal homosexual atheists who threaten our way of life by their very existence. May these songs profit the Revolution! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!"
posted by quasistoic at 10:14 AM PST - 22 comments

The Childhood Goat Truama Foundation. All your childhood carpinae-based nightmares are belong to them. (just a brief reprieve from election coverage - via the ultimate insult)
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:21 AM PST - 12 comments

Everyone's had more sex than me. (via Hitormiss) Warning: directly links to very loud flash movie.
posted by silusGROK at 8:20 AM PST - 26 comments

Tarab.com - Free arabic music. Use the map to navigate. Sadly just .ram-files, but tons and tons of them.
posted by mr.marx at 8:07 AM PST - 7 comments

Ohio Poll Challengers Blocked Okayed. Keep track of all the other last-minute fraud here.
posted by mwhybark at 6:45 AM PST - 54 comments

How strongly do you believe in your candidate, or hate the other? Would you purposely vote twice? How do you feel about a federal voter id card? And would you have a problem with indelible ink?
posted by tomplus2 at 5:33 AM PST - 20 comments

Someone Keeps Stealing my Letters. (via Davezilla)
posted by Ljubljana at 4:43 AM PST - 27 comments

Bohemian election. Just a little something to lighten the day. Bound to be a double post but can't find any signs, so apologies in advance if it is. Altogether now, My brother jeb has votes put aside for meeee...
posted by ciderwoman at 2:57 AM PST - 7 comments

The Face of Addiction New anti-drug posters in London show the physical decline caused by taking Crack.
posted by Mwongozi at 1:43 AM PST - 50 comments

Weed for Congress.
posted by Tlogmer at 1:27 AM PST - 11 comments

what the news in america isn't telling us. Here is the Full transcript of Bin Ladin's speech
posted by Ladymerv at 11:20 PM PST - 75 comments

"Podcasting" - Another newer diversion, audio feeds from RSS.
posted by four panels at 10:22 PM PST - 8 comments

           This November
  Voters Will Go To The Polls
       And Elect A President
       But More Importantly
       They Will Also Select
        The Supreme Court

 And now, the ultimate reality show

     Supreme Court Survivor

     (courtesy of Michael Bérubé)
posted by y2karl at 7:05 PM PST - 4 comments

"You're An Asshole." A film strip we can all appreciate in time for tomorrow's big event. Try singing along!
posted by Brilliantcrank at 6:14 PM PST - 6 comments

John Kerry's Horoscope Shows Strong and Optimistic Election Day For November 2: "First thing this morning, you are made aware of a groundswell of activity that benefits you. This powerful locomotive is unstoppable and likely to outperform everyone’s expectations. Even so, you will experience moments of uncertainty from time to time – but not for long. . ."

and for the other guy:

George Bush's Horoscope Predicts Change, And Acceptance For November 2: "You comfort others, especially this morning, and take the attitude that, no matter what, things will turn out fine. Your apparent acceptance creates comfort, strength and unity among friends and loved ones. Throughout the day, you can feel the future quickly approaching your front door. You anticipate change, travel or even moving, and feel at peace with the prospect. . ."
posted by jackspace at 5:54 PM PST - 15 comments

Michael Moore's final election message. Good luck everyone*.
* asterisk
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:53 PM PST - 55 comments

The Big Picture Yep...one day left. MSNBC.com presents a broadband-only interactive that puts you in the hot seat of a Campaign Adviser. The "Produce and Ad" bit is a hoot.
posted by crunchybird at 4:04 PM PST - 8 comments

For the past three years I have kept in my sock drawer a mini-cassette recording of 20 of the weirdest minutes of my life. It was a phone conversation with Rodney Dangerfield. I promised myself I'd write about it after Rodney died, as a way of, you know, not paying my respects.
posted by Wet Spot at 2:32 PM PST - 16 comments

Leave It To Bush! - No. 2. In which George Bush discusses relationships and family with Bill Cosby. On the Moon. [Flash]
posted by homunculus at 2:31 PM PST - 15 comments

Rogue taxidermists (more exhibit photos at Creative Electric Studios) abide by strict a non-violence policy. Not to be confused with plush urban beasts, almost none of the animals used in the taxidermy were killed expressly for the purpose of mounting. Specimens are collected as roadkill, gifted to the taxidermist by friends, gifted after natural deaths by pet stores, or purchased from scientific supply companies. [not safe for the delicate] [related MeFi discussion]
posted by pedantic at 1:59 PM PST - 3 comments

Duct tape.
posted by cachilders at 1:35 PM PST - 4 comments

Over 125 voter guides, sorted by city and written collaboratively by Indyvoter's network of members are now on-line. This is social software with a purpose - members of the network form voting blocs to swing close elections, from city council members up to the national level.
posted by djacobs at 1:11 PM PST - 1 comment

Three Wishes {small mov. sfw}
posted by dobbs at 12:49 PM PST - 37 comments

Don't like how your country is being run? Roll your own! "Welcome to this exciting universe where you can start your own country, build its economy and trade with your neighbors. You preside over its resources, its army and [are] responsible for its relations with its neighbors. Depending on your experience level, you can control many functions that influence the development of your country." You can play for free on most of the available worlds.
posted by ewagoner at 12:36 PM PST - 1 comment

All you need to know about Cornholeing, and more.
posted by semmi at 12:31 PM PST - 7 comments

And the winner is... Kerry with 77% of the vote!
posted by coyroy at 12:03 PM PST - 29 comments

Mustard Gas Party :: Photographs of Modern Ruins
posted by anastasiav at 11:09 AM PST - 10 comments

The Ladder is a website devoted to the writer Henry James (1843-1916). It comprises electronic editions of a selection of James’s works and also
* a textual note on the source and any amendments required during editing
* annotations of the text explaining such things as references to real persons and places, references to other fiction by James, or in in his notebboks
* a summary and a detailed (chapter by chapter) synopsis of the plot, so you can easily find passages you remember, by what happens
* a bibliography including original publications, subsequent reprints
Interestingly enough, lately more than a few writers seem to have a bit of James-mania: in June, Colm Tóibín published "The Master", a portrait of James recovering from his humiliating failure as a playwright. Now comes "Author, Author", by David Lodge, which is about James' humiliating failure as a playwright as well. These in turn arrive on the heels of Emma Tennant's "Felony", a novel about James' near-romance with Constance Fenimore Woolson, and Alan Hollinghurst's "The Line of Beauty", a BookerPrize-winning novel in which James plays an important off-the-stage role.
posted by matteo at 10:11 AM PST - 12 comments

Derriere the Book.
posted by ZippityBuddha at 9:09 AM PST - 13 comments

Andrew Tanenbaum never ceases to amaze me. This delightful surprise was revealed today to visitors of one of his web sites -- which (of late) probably includes 96% of MeFi.
posted by RavinDave at 8:30 AM PST - 50 comments

Enter a world where friendship is king and smiles abound. Owly is continuing graphic novel series created by Andy Runton. The series uses no words to tell the stories, instead relying solely on the art (which recalls classic cartoons), creating something fun and cute to read for pretty much any age. But don't take my word for it.
posted by drezdn at 7:46 AM PST - 2 comments

Professor Allan Lichtman has predicted the results of the past four elections correctly using a system known as The Thirteen Keys to the Presidency.

The Keys predict election results by assessing the performance and strength of the party holding the White House. The thirteen points take into account all the factors that decide elections from the obvious (how the economy is doing) to the more subtle (whether the party in power has achieved major policy change). If eight or more of the keys favour the candidate of the incumbent party, he wins. Any fewer, he loses.

Eighteen months ago Lichtman forecast that Bush would retain the presidency. But the Republican Party now has seven keys turned against it for 2004, one more than the fatal six negative keys.
posted by tapeguy at 6:37 AM PST - 31 comments