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A Confessional for Pilots - To improve aviation safety in America, NASA runs the ASRS, a service that collects voluntary, anonymous reports on aviation-related goofs in exchange for certain immunities and suggestions of clemency. Every month selected reports are published in the Callback newsletter, showcasing the full spectrum of factors that lead flyers to bad decisions: distraction, bad habits, overconfidence, poor planning, "get-home-itis", and on and on...
posted by tss at 11:55 PM PST - 9 comments

Ivan Brunetti, in addition to drawing dirty little comics (nsfw) and illustrations, has a great collection of vintage photographs of models, both demure and not-so-demure (again, nsfw), Hollywood starlets, cats, and comics ephemera. Finally, he also has a blog featuring a Doodle-a-Day.
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:27 PM PST - 7 comments

Alice Williamson is bitterly resentful of the Union occupation. The diary of a 16 year old girl in Yankee-occupied Gallatin, Tennessee. Images of the actual diary and a text version with annotations.
posted by marxchivist at 8:52 PM PST - 21 comments

Typing...on a screen! Text (and cover image) of a 1973 issue of Radio-Electronics mag, showing a new fangled way of typing with a TV screen. I like how the mag is billed as "for MEN with ideas in electronics." Heh...
posted by braun_richard at 7:45 PM PST - 8 comments

[x] ok to transmit this posting into outer space (via space.craigslist.org)
posted by loquacious at 7:44 PM PST - 9 comments

The color photo was invented in 1903 by the Lumiere brothers, and the French army was the only one taking color photos during the course of the war.
posted by NickDouglas at 7:24 PM PST - 30 comments

So I finally got around to watching 24, Fox's Golden Globe winning prime-time show. I normally don't go for shows like that, but I'd heard about the controversy surrounding this season's story line. I was pretty damned shocked when the hero decided to spark up some electrodes and torture one of the terrorists to get information out of him. Apparently, this is nothing new for the show. Can anyone think of a precedent for this type of heroic depiction of torture? On a network tv show?
posted by es_de_bah at 6:27 PM PST - 97 comments

Constant Trek is the Australian husband and wife team of Gary and Paula Constant. On the 1st of August, 2004, they left London from Trafalgar square to walk to Cape Town in South Africa. It is a distance of over 10,500 miles, and has been four years in the planning.
posted by thebwit at 5:00 PM PST - 4 comments

Sequels, prequels and remakes, oh my... First Bugs, now Lamar. Having just heard that there will be a new Revenge of the Nerds movie next year, I really wasn't prepared for the coming onslaught.
posted by hellbient at 4:12 PM PST - 27 comments

An American paradox: Why so many families report being financially less secure even as the nation has grown more prosperous. The answer lies in a quarter-century-long shift of economic risks from the broad shoulders of business and government to the backs of working families.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 3:46 PM PST - 27 comments

What do The Passion of the Christ, Hero, Team America, and The Incredibles have in common? They're all among the Top 20 Conservative Films of 2004 according to the Liberty Film Festival. Naturally, they have a blog. Recent entries include free advice for the Oscars, like having Rush Limbaugh emcee.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 3:13 PM PST - 64 comments

The Percy Anecdotes Encompassing the Bar, Crime, Instinct, Shipwreck and much else.
posted by goofyfoot at 2:57 PM PST - 2 comments

Early Modern Texts. Versions of some classics of early modern philosophy, prepared with a view to making them easier to read while leaving the main arguments, doctrines, and lines of thought intact. Recently added: John Locke's Second Treatise of Government. Via Crooked Timber.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 12:58 PM PST - 6 comments

The Light and the Land
posted by Gyan at 11:35 AM PST - 12 comments

Where has Fiona Apple been? A fair question, and here's an answer. Seattle radio is now playing some new Fiona Apple tracks (you can download them here and here; and if those don't work, there's a mirror here) What can I say? I miss her particular brand of angst ridden piano pop. (via Waxy)
posted by indiebass at 11:21 AM PST - 29 comments

"... Giordano Bruno might have been a pantheist. A pantheist believes that God is everywhere, even in that speck of a fly you see there. You can imagine how satisfying that is—being everywhere is like being nowhere. Well, for Hegel it wasn’t God but the State that had to be everywhere; therefore, he was a Fascist.”
“But didn’t he live more than a hundred years ago?”
“So? Joan of Arc, also a Fascist of the highest order. Fascists have always existed. Since the age of . . . since the age of God. Take God—a Fascist.”
Umberto Eco in the New Yorker
posted by matteo at 11:06 AM PST - 36 comments

Now that's what I call a Jesus Freak. A movement out of Phoenix, AZ, that hotbed of fornication, to reform what it means to be a Christian. They've got some interesting ideas (even if they don't always do a good job of defending them), and of course there are people who like this idea and people who don't.
posted by saysthis at 10:23 AM PST - 36 comments

Optimus Prime Dies of Prostate Cancer "When it comes to prostate cancer, there's more than meets the eye," National Prostate Cancer Coalition CEO Richard N. Atkins, M.D. said. "Often times when one has symptoms for prostate cancer it's already in its late stages, that’s why early detection is so important."
posted by oissubke at 10:18 AM PST - 28 comments

"In politics, the impossible is the immoral." A surprisingly thoughtful essay on the "uniqueness of Palestinian terror" from, of all places, Tech Central Station. I found much with which to both agree and disagree in this article - and on such contentious issues, that's no doubt the case for all readers - but, I found that, in reading this piece, my neurons never stopped firing, which is a rare and unusual sensation these days. 'Tis interesting. Also attempting to deal across boundaries in the Mideast conflict: Bitter Lemons, which features two themed columns apiece by Palestinian and Israeli writers each day.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:48 AM PST - 8 comments

You heard it here first, ex-soviet, a blog for all the soviet music fan in us all.
posted by drezdn at 9:48 AM PST - 18 comments

Our old friend and sparring partner Laurie Garrett has resigned from Newsday, citing the dismal state of contemporary journalism: "When I think back to the old fellows who were retiring when I first arrived at Newsday – guys (almost all of them were guys) who had cop brothers and fathers working union jobs – I suspect most of them would be disgusted by what passes today for journalism."
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:35 AM PST - 10 comments

I've lost R2! [inspired by]
posted by Capn at 8:04 AM PST - 9 comments

In Topeka, Hate Mongering is a Family Affair. As the city of Topeka goes to vote on Tuesday for annual city council elections, one race is attracting national attention. Tiffany Muller, head of the Kansas Unity and Pride Alliance and first openly gay council member, is running against Jael Phelps (granddaughter of Fred Phelps), of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church. Add an ordinance that would call for specifically discriminating against gays and you have one of the most interesting local elections seen in decades. [this excellent post provided by a new member]
posted by mathowie at 7:53 AM PST - 33 comments

Be careful where you park. And you thought your morning was bad.
posted by zardoz at 7:29 AM PST - 36 comments

Well I'd vote for him. Or maybe not.
posted by 13twelve at 7:28 AM PST - 8 comments

How to Sell Your Book, CD, or DVD on Amazon [From Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools: he has a knack for asking the best questions]
posted by iffley at 6:59 AM PST - 14 comments

Miracleman is arguably one of the finest superhero comics ever made, but it has been dogged by legal disputes even in its pre-post-modern, pre-Alan Moore days, when it was called Marvelman. But the many fans and would-be fans of the modern comic have suffered greatly as a result of a big rights dispute which kept the existing work from being reprinted, so enthusiasts and interested parties have had to pay big bucks for the existing copies out there or console themselves with companion books (which also go out of print!).

But there is an end in sight! Neil Gaiman, one of the parties in the dispute, has good news to report.
posted by sninky-chan at 6:57 AM PST - 15 comments

Pupna is "the search engine puppy that retrieves EXACTLY what you are searching for (and absolutely nothing else!)" ;-)

This is a simple yet rather humorous search engine parody - are there any other good ones out there?
posted by Metauser at 2:40 AM PST - 20 comments

DOSBox is an open source project dedicated towards emulating DOS and many of the features of computers during DOS's heyday. It's not the only DOS emulation project out there either.

When emulation has been discussed before, it has often been considered the domain of video games. Of course, who says it isn't?
posted by Saydur at 1:02 AM PST - 21 comments

What's Going On In Balochistan? (part 2) Deception and treachery. Live and let die. The ultimate zero sum game. Repetition of bloody history: Call it what you may, something is happening in the Pakistani province of Balochistan that defies comprehension on any conventional scale. From a posting at The Agonist. According to the article Balochistan may be the key to future developments in Central Asia. Two former KGB agents report that Russian, Indian, Iranian and American agents are all supporting a resurgent insurrection which is becoming increasingly active. Why would these countries do this? Two easy answers: Oil pipelines and China's Gwadar Port.
posted by afu at 12:53 AM PST - 9 comments

Blogging with Ethics While there's been talk of a blogger code of ethics, there's one at Cyberjournalist.net that's pretty in-depth (and looks a lot like this one for professional journalists, this one from nearly three years ago is less involved). One blogger / journalist, has gone as far to create an online petition asking bloggers to adapt an identifiable code.
posted by nospecialfx at 9:49 PM PST - 22 comments

The main business of Napanoch, N.Y., is a maximum-security prison, Eastern New York Correctional Facility, also known as Happy Nap... There is, however, a reason that inmates call the prison Happy Nap. Eastern is more relaxed than other maximum-security prisons, or 'maxes,' in upstate New York, with less hostility between staff and prisoners, and as a result fewer U.I.'s, or 'unusual incidents' -- stabbings and the like. It is said that the farther upstate you go, the harsher the prison conditions can be. Among New York's maxes, Eastern has one of the best reputations. It is one of only three maximum-security prisons in the state where you can still get an education -- not just in manual skills, but a proper college education with a degree at the end, thanks to privately financed initiatives. Uncaptive Minds
posted by y2karl at 9:40 PM PST - 14 comments

Eastwood wins. Clint Eastwood got the double dipper tonight with Best Pic and Director. Not that Scorsese isn't badly due one, but the fact is, The Aviator is not one of Marty's top five films, while Million Dollar Babies is top five among Eastwood's pics. It's that simple. My thought: I think this film and Mystic River proves, once and for all and without argument, that Eastwood is among the top American directors ever, up there with Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, and the others. (He's actually better than Allen). I think all of the critics like Pauline Kael who dissed Clint without thinking over the years have to eat it and eat it hard.
posted by Leege at 9:14 PM PST - 114 comments

Balance is an animated short made in West Germany in 1989. I saw it at an animation festival years ago and am now pleased to see that Milk & Cookies has posted a link to a Flash version of it. I hope you enjoy. [7 mins, Flash]
posted by scarabic at 9:01 PM PST - 18 comments

Rock em Sock Paper Robots
posted by srboisvert at 8:46 PM PST - 2 comments

Ryan, the Best Animated Short for the 2005 Academy Awards, is fully viewable in 3 different video formats through the National Film Board of Canada (along with a preview of the Best Documentary (Short Subject) of Hardwood). The 14 minute piece tackles the life of NFB animator Ryan Larkin, who himself was an Oscar nominee back in the 1960s for the classic Walking until eventually becoming a panhandler. (prior discussion without full film) [cont'd]
posted by myopicman at 8:18 PM PST - 20 comments

A Guide to Science Fiction Chronophysics , a serious look at some of the hard questions ignored in soft-science fiction and fantasy. While we wish some time lines had never come to pass, or would go back in time and shake hands with themselves, there are circumstances that can lend themselves to great deal of fun.
posted by Jerub at 6:39 PM PST - 14 comments

Cray Supercomputer for sale on Ebay. Starting price is only 10% of it's original cost!
posted by crunchland at 6:35 PM PST - 39 comments

U.N. Peacekeepers to third world: bend over, spread 'em.
posted by jfuller at 4:56 PM PST - 32 comments

Watch this unique DJ show us what he's made of. (Flash)
posted by thebabelfish at 4:05 PM PST - 11 comments

Mistakes happen. And we regret the error.
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:03 PM PST - 17 comments

Earlier this month, Condoleezza Rice discussed reforms and democracy with Egyptian foreign minister Abu al-Ghait, and joined the international voices urging the release of Ayman Nour. Nour's opposition party—al-Ghad ("Tommorrow")—supports open elections and limiting President Mubarak's terms in office, which has garnered unprecedented activist support in Cairo. When Rice canceled her trip to Cairo three days ago to protest Nour's imprisonment, President Hosni Mubarak did a surprising thing: he revised the Egyptian constitution to allow for multi-party presidential elections—the first since succeeding Anwar Sadat in 1981. (some links via BigPharaoh)
posted by jenleigh at 2:28 PM PST - 31 comments

Is your favorite swear word losing its potency? Stock up on some new ones with the Swearsaurus, a "vast array of swearing, profanity, obscenity, blasphemy, cursing, cussing, and insulting in a massive 165 languages"
posted by Quartermass at 2:11 PM PST - 21 comments

The New Zealand Herald published this photo on its light hearted back page of news section entitled The Back Page today; the source of the photo was listed as Monkeyfilter. Someone is getting paid to surf the Internet.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:01 PM PST - 9 comments

Jeff Raskin, widely considered the father of the Macintosh computer, has died. Visit folklore.org for stories chronicling the birth of the computer Jef named after his favorite varietal (but misspelled in order to avoid confusion). Jef's contributions to the development of simple, intelligible, "humane" computing environments didn't end with the Mac; learn more here and here.
posted by killdevil at 1:23 PM PST - 20 comments

funky do morro From the ghettos of brazil comes this funky and fun music that recalls the energy and optimism of early 80's hip hop. Think Afrika Bambaataa and Malcolm McLaren. Before rap crossed over to the dark side.
posted by vronsky at 1:15 PM PST - 13 comments

The Infinite Teen Slang Dictionary
For example, “screef”   ☛ from MonkeyFilter
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:03 PM PST - 61 comments

Kids with Cameras (warning, embedded QT video in link)
With an Oscar Nominated documentary, Born into Brothels, under her belt, Zana Briski's spinoff project, Kids with Cameras, teaches children growing up in difficult circumstances the art and skills of photography to empower them to appreciate the beauty and dignity of their own expression.
With projects in Calcutta, Haiti, Jerusalem and Cairo, they send great photographers to lead workshops, the children are given inexpensive 35mm cameras to capture whatever they choose and then the children's pictures are shown (and sold) around the world through exhibits, books and film.
posted by fenriq at 12:14 PM PST - 7 comments

40000
posted by seanyboy at 11:29 AM PST - 40 comments

Science of Cooking guide resource
posted by Gyan at 11:12 AM PST - 8 comments

Unusual technical images of equipment used in World War II - vintage public information illustrations from the pre-computer graphics era.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:53 AM PST - 16 comments

World Jump Day. Help fix global warming the easy way: get 600 million people to jump at the same time, and shift the earth's orbit. [Warning: somewhat irritating Flash interface.]
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:07 AM PST - 29 comments

Governors Work to Improve H.S. Education The nation's governors offered an alarming account of the American high school Saturday, saying only drastic change will keep millions of students from falling short. "We can't keep explaining to our nation's parents or business leaders or college faculties why these kids can't do the work," said Virginia Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, as the state leaders convened for the first National Education Summit aimed at rallying governors around high school reform.
posted by Postroad at 9:02 AM PST - 43 comments

Peter Benenson founder of Amnesty International has passed away. It all started with a letter and grew into one of the most influential human rights organization in the world. Here is a video tribute from Amnesty International (real player only, I'm afraid, though there is a transcript)
posted by Kattullus at 8:55 PM PST - 13 comments

The End Of Sexual Taboos: Erotic and Pornographic Cinema. Not safe for work.
posted by nthdegx at 8:46 PM PST - 9 comments

Finally: Compensation for Chilean victims and possible new trial for Pinochet. No small thanks to Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon.
posted by adamvasco at 8:25 PM PST - 6 comments

How to mail a fresh brain
posted by ColdChef at 7:24 PM PST - 24 comments

If a daily dose of calvin and hobbes (also via rss feed) just isn't enough for you, and you don't own the entire run of books like I do, someone has gone through the trouble of scanning and posting them all online. Or you could just buy the complete calvin and hobbes, now available for pre-order.
posted by Igor XA at 7:16 PM PST - 47 comments

Mr. Morden's neighbourhood forces Sesame Street to hire a Vorlon.
posted by Captaintripps at 6:33 PM PST - 6 comments

Bob Dylan's classic song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a murder ballad protest tune for the annals, but this week a story in the Guardian sheds new light on the real-life subject and the murderer William Zantzinger. via xymphora.
posted by ism at 6:30 PM PST - 7 comments

From the Top is a weekly radio show broadcast throughout the USA. It originates from Boston's New England Conservatory, but travels all over showcasing young classical musicians. The show can be heard (RealAudio) from the website, and there is an extensive library as well an archive of past shows (photos too)... the kids are very talented, and the show's hosts are great at bringing out their personalities.
posted by indices at 6:25 PM PST - 2 comments

Dr. Doom , super-villain and monarch of Latveria, is about to make his big screen debut, in a slightly altered form, in the new Fantastic Four movie. This is hoped to be a comeback for his career, which has been slow over the past decade forcing him to take up part time jobs as an economist, computer science professor, and two different rap artists.
posted by CaptMcalister at 2:58 PM PST - 37 comments

"We're Hunting The Jews" go the chants at the Feyenoord soccer stadium in Rotterdam whenever Ajax is in town. Supporters of Ajax, one of the top Dutch football clubs based in Amsterdam, call themselves "Jews" or "Super Jews" based perhaps on historical Jewish communities. They wave Israeli flags and wear Stars of David in one of the oddest traditions in sport. Of course, the story wouldn't be complete without their opponents chanting "They've forgotten to gas you!" and hissing to mimic the gas chambers. Further complicating matters is the mosque being built overshadowing Feyenoord's stadium. Ajax wants the Jewish symbolism to stop to prevent further embarrassment, but this isn't the only case of "Jewish" clubs in European football, and the reaction they provoke.
posted by loquax at 2:38 PM PST - 36 comments

Changes in Football (Soccer). Including a ball with microchip technology that will allow the ref to instantly know if the ball crosses the goal line. Avoiding all manner of problems, from the clear goal in the January Spurs vs. Man United game, to the situations of too bloody close to tell, such as Geoff Hurst's goal in the 1966 World Cup final. The under-17 world cup will test the ball in Sept.
Oh, and offside laws, carding dangerous tackles and substitutions in friendlies have been tweaked.
posted by edgeways at 2:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Big Fun in the Big Town Incredible German-produced documentary on hip hop and NY street culture from 1986. Features interviews and performances from Grandmaster Flash, Doug E Fresh, Run DMC, Roxanne Shante & Biz Markie, Schoolly D, and more.
posted by svidrigailov23 at 10:44 AM PST - 18 comments

AppreciationFilter: Edwyn Collins --Scottish Britpop Master--from Nu-Sonic as a teen in the 70s, Orange Juice ("Rip It Up") in the early 80s, to "A Girl Like You" and "Magic Piper," and still going strong decades later. He even created a British sitcom, West Heath Yard, and now supports up and coming bands. Even if you've never heard of him, you've heard at least one of his songs, whether in Austin Powers or elsewhere. More history here, from his old site. (and you can hear 18 streaming songs of his on the main link, above.)
Edwyn is now in the hospital after suffering a serious brain hemorrhage.
posted by amberglow at 10:40 AM PST - 13 comments

Man Arrested in Connection with BTK killings. A man named Dennis Rader has been arrested in Witchita, Kansas as a suspect in the BTK (Bind Torture Kill) killings. Police are confident that this man is indeed BTK, and have even added some new murders to those suspected to have been committed by BTK.

Previously mentioned here.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 10:39 AM PST - 59 comments

Fantasy Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski was found murdered at his house
posted by growabrain at 10:31 AM PST - 6 comments

Another reason to practice safe sex? Man meets woman. Man has oral sex with woman. Woman keeps the sperm, uses it to impregnate herself, then sues for child support. Man counter-sues for emotional distress and "sperm theft". Although the emotional distress claim is still active, the "sperm theft" claim was dismissed. On that point, the court decided: When plaintiff "delivered" his sperm, it was a gift -- an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee... There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request.
posted by halekon at 10:30 AM PST - 86 comments

Meet Mark. I am a 49 year old truck driver. Divorced, one daughter, 18, looking for a LADY, 45 to 55 years old, no tatoos, no body piercings except ears, but most importantly NOT LIBERAL (lady and not liberal kind of go hand in hand, don't they?).
Mark is just one of the many available lovebirds waiting for you at Hannidate -- Sean Hannity's very own Internet personals.
posted by grabbingsand at 10:19 AM PST - 87 comments

In Education of Children from Birth to Puberty, Jesuit priest Frank Nimrod shares his wisdom about the human body: "The cannibals can tell us that the fresh and warm brain, just taken out of the cranium is very sweet," and "Our nose does not only serve the purpose of respiration, but the purpose of smelling also." Meanwhile, retired Bell Telephone Laboratories engineer I.W. Whiteside writes an entire volume decoding the strange light patterns on his bookcase. His conclusion? Aliens! "After much thought, I concluded that these people have computer brains and laser-beam eyes." These are just two of many odd books.
posted by hyperizer at 9:34 AM PST - 10 comments

Close to Home: An American Album. 'This exhibition is devoted to American family photographs that were separated from their owners and then rediscovered by artists, writers, collectors, and museum curators. ' Highlights and site visitors' submissions.
Site of related interest :- BBC Family History; and Third Generation: Family Photographs and Memories of Nazi Germany.
posted by plep at 8:48 AM PST - 2 comments

The Seventies
posted by srboisvert at 7:59 AM PST - 29 comments

Republican Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney - a likely contender for the Presidential Race in 2008 - pulls out the "gay marriage" card in two recent speeches: one in South Carolina; the other in Utah. Forget the fact that Romney seems to be spending most of his tenure as governor traveling outside the state, campaigning and not dealing with the affairs of the State, but he has now flip-flopped on his stance...and now continues the use of "gay marriage" and "civil unions" as a divisive political ploy on a national stage.
posted by ericb at 7:56 AM PST - 26 comments

Virtual Reality Tours of Seven European Churches Beautiful quicktime panoramas taken inside and outside of the churches. Navigate using maps or image hotspots. I really like the Sant' Andrea Mantova, built by Alberti between 1470 and 1476.
posted by carter at 6:32 AM PST - 4 comments

Marshall W. "Major" Taylor. Bigger than Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods put together. He faced racism, wouldn't race on Sunday due to his strong religious convictions, and died forgotten. The Major Taylor Society has more info. A velodrome is named after him (one of only 12 in the USA) as well as several bicycle clubs. His thoughts on The Value of Good Habits and Clean Living is an interesting read.
posted by fixedgear at 4:41 AM PST - 12 comments

From the New World , Symphony No. 9, by Antonín Dvorák (flash). Navigation help here.
posted by hypersloth at 3:16 AM PST - 21 comments

Ben's Bargains | The Freebie Resource | Cheap Ass Gamer | FatWallet | SlickDeals | Free After Rebate
posted by crunchland at 11:32 PM PST - 42 comments

Danica McKellar —the former star of The Wonder Years—has her own web site. It's got a great feature where she answers your math questions. No, really. She's got a degree in mathematics and co-authored a paper on percolation and Ashkin-Teller models. No, really.
posted by bbrown at 10:12 PM PST - 43 comments

How to Read and Digest a Book.
posted by stbalbach at 6:35 PM PST - 21 comments

Nanaca Crash Fun Japanese Flash game, although I'm pretty sure I'm missing out on the nuances.
posted by jeremias at 5:45 PM PST - 36 comments

What Goes On: The Beatles Anomalies List. A wonderfully obsessive list of every missed lyric and beat, audible background noise and other sounds that aren't supposed to be there.
posted by Quartermass at 5:33 PM PST - 24 comments

Sequoiadendron giganteum, the giant sequoia, is arguably the largest living thing on earth. The second largest specimen, the Washington Tree, has recently been getting shorter. It's top was discovered to be hollow in 1999--a researcher rappeled over 100 feet into the trunk--which is why its been vulnerable to fire and storms in recent years. The before and after pictures show its transformation from a tree into, well, a great big stump. But don't count it out just yet. Scientists think this old bugger may bounce back. Still, it's probably time for a visit, don't you think?
posted by donovan at 5:25 PM PST - 8 comments

Vikings with ... issues. And for complete amusement, check the google ads on the right. Big swords, baby, big, really big.
posted by Wulfgar! at 5:09 PM PST - 14 comments

Inside the Monkeysphere. Knowing about it could help the world make sense. Or maybe not. At least it's an entertaining read!
posted by Vulpyne at 4:44 PM PST - 37 comments

EXLIBRIS MUSEUM. We've done ex-libris bookplates before, but trust me, this site far surpasses anything you've ever seen. Just go to the Gallery and click on any of the names. Vereshchagin, for instance. Or Karol Felix. Or... hell, just dive in, you can't go wrong. Warning: many bookplates contain female nudes. (Via dirty.ru; thanks, misteraitch!)
posted by languagehat at 3:40 PM PST - 24 comments

Bubble Chambers are used to observe the tracks of subatomic particles at extremely high resolution. The photographs taken of these tracks are often stunningly beautiful and elegant. This website contains a java applet which simulates a bubble chamber, to gorgeous effect.
posted by mayfly wake at 2:35 PM PST - 12 comments

Biojewelry : Now you and your betrothed can exhange ring made of bone. Your own bone. I, for one, welcome the day when consumer biotech makes our lives.....weirder. (Some pics not safe for the squeamish.)
posted by gnutron at 2:13 PM PST - 14 comments

With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?
posted by Postroad at 2:13 PM PST - 52 comments

Now THIS is an eCommerce shopping cart. Holy crap. Ruby and Ruby on Rails: You officially have my attention. (Documentation includes a free first edition book. Intro for OS X friends fiends) and all.
posted by spock at 1:56 PM PST - 63 comments

Condoleeza Rice's Hot Dominatrix Outfit "Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame 'Matrix' jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way?" "Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy." (Washington Post)
posted by punkbitch at 1:52 PM PST - 62 comments

Art Studio Chalkboard
posted by Gyan at 1:46 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Pandaf Golf. Friday Flash Fun. Warning: goes on forever. I think.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 1:26 PM PST - 45 comments

Galileo's compass (with sound). Galileo Galilei's compass resembles a calculator. In Le Operazioni del Compasso Geometrico e Militare (Padua, 1606), Galileo describes over 40 operations that can be carried out with this instrument. Try using the compass yourself.
posted by matteo at 1:18 PM PST - 6 comments

The USDA On Line Photography Center mingles what you might expect with what you might not.
posted by breezeway at 12:56 PM PST - 7 comments

Iran gets bombed June 2005. "George W. Bush has received and signed off on orders for an aerial attack on Iran planned for June 2005. Its purported goal is the destruction of Iran’s alleged program to develop nuclear weapons"
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 12:37 PM PST - 130 comments

Cane toads in Australia. Zebra Mussels in The Great Lakes. Purple Loosestrife in Canada (and the introduction of another alien species to control it, I don't know why she swallowed the fly).

Invasive species, threat or menace? You decide.
posted by Capn at 12:09 PM PST - 27 comments

What will you wear to Crazy Hat Day? From tin foil hats to Velostat hats to ass hats to grass hats to jazz hats to fat hats to beer hats. Just don't wear the wrong hat!
posted by analogue at 11:39 AM PST - 4 comments

Who Ordered Room Service? What do Bryan Adams and puke have in common? This video, which is quite possibly the strangest piece of viral marketing that I've ever seen.
posted by amandaudoff at 10:53 AM PST - 36 comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you for your musical enjoyment: Intelligent MIDI Sequencing with Hamster Control
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:05 AM PST - 8 comments

First starless, “dark galaxy” discovered.
Natural nuclear reactor found in Gabon.
NASA scientists revive 32,000 year-old bacterium.
Gin.
posted by mcgraw at 9:37 AM PST - 21 comments

In the tradition of Bathroom Attendants. We know about McDonalds, but honestly, what about the truly outstanding service that all bathroom attendants could provide?
posted by psychotic_venom at 8:55 AM PST - 7 comments

girlhacker's 2005 Oscar Goodie bag list is out (here's 2004's, and 2003's) so now we can envy all the free stuff stars will be getting, even though they could easily afford to buy it all a thousand times over.
posted by mathowie at 8:47 AM PST - 32 comments

Andrei Sakharov: Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons, and Human Rights. 'This exhibit tells about Sakharov’s extraordinary life.'
posted by plep at 8:33 AM PST - 3 comments

Google's busted. My boss has discovered, to his dismay, that Google's broken.
posted by Mur at 8:20 AM PST - 25 comments

Sunset Story. High-spirited old leftists who refuse to go gently. A documentary about a pair of extraordinary women who live in a "nonprofit retirement home for free-thinking elders."
posted by semmi at 8:11 AM PST - 5 comments

Beware the Coming Propaganda Juggernaut...Social Security Under Siege Salon.com's Joe Conason examines the coming wave of administration proganda aimed at social security. (Watch a commercial to read Salon for free.)
posted by schambers at 7:48 AM PST - 6 comments

Blogs suck according to Michael Gorman, incoming president of the American Library Association.
posted by gimonca at 7:39 AM PST - 70 comments

The Ice Wall Project. In Fairbanks, Alaska, where the average temperature is below freezing until May, there is no shortage of ice. By spraying water from two vertical pipes 24 hours a day, a group of climbers create a masterpiece. Ten more feet of pipe has just been added, bringing the total to 136 feet... and still growing.
posted by adzm at 6:01 AM PST - 17 comments

Time to learn more about media literacy.
posted by hank_14 at 4:29 AM PST - 6 comments

What went wrong man? Your troubled but sympathetic face haunts me. Yet you seem like an intelligent guy. A little quirky maybe with those views on the Big Bang, Confucius vs Faith Daniels and walking barefoot to Boston [free registration may be required] but still very coherent. Did your parents set unobtainable expectations? Did you suffer a broken heart that never mended? Or was it just a chemical imbalance in the brain? Somehow you must have kept it under control with Melanie but something really pushed you over the edge with your craving for Anna.
posted by DirtyCreature at 4:08 AM PST - 24 comments

Poetry-Chaikhana: Selections of Spiritual and Sacred poetry from around the world, categorized by Tradition and Author.
posted by exlotuseater at 11:36 PM PST - 1 comment

Desperate Houseflies : "In the backdrop of a picture-perfect neighborhood called Diphtheria Lane live six suburban houseflies whose lives are anything but perfect."
posted by dhruva at 10:37 PM PST - 9 comments

The Demoscene is still going strong. It's been awhile since we last discussed the scene, and it's still cranking out tons of great stuff. The new home of the scene has categories and ratings, which sure beats the old standard. There's a bit of everything, from legos to disco, from 256 bytes to 64k to fairly large, and from Amiga to Mac to C64. All of the videos that require weird or new hardware have videos on the site, so everyone can enjoy the incredible programming, art, and kinda cheesy music.
posted by JZig at 10:32 PM PST - 18 comments

tag, you're it.
posted by onkelchrispy at 10:00 PM PST - 5 comments

The kilometer-high Solar Tower to be built in Australian outback (previous post) has finally purchased a site, and construction may be finished in 2009. Other towers may be built in China and the US.
posted by homunculus at 9:24 PM PST - 40 comments

Mr. Men and Little Miss, the official site of childhood classics, where you can even make your own. For those who can't get enough, there's always the unofficial site.
posted by drezdn at 9:11 PM PST - 8 comments

I have been thinking about masks lately. Masks are ancient and universal, our ancestors put on masks to become an other, to become a god, even unto this day. Greek tragedy and comedy began in the worship of Dionysos, the god of wine, intoxication, and creative ecstasy, in rituals where worshipers often wore or worshipped masks. Indeed, the word for mask in Greek drama was persona, now commonly used to describe constructed online identities. And so we understand ourselves as wearing masks, whole series of masks--behind which we find only emptiness, for we can never see ourselves truly.
posted by y2karl at 9:03 PM PST - 30 comments

"Behold, I am the Collector! ...And I have come to add you to my collection!"
posted by keswick at 6:58 PM PST - 98 comments

Ten best film list a critique of the U.S? The venerable [some say notorious] French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema unveiled their ten best films of 2004 list recently. Other than their list typically leaning toward films by auteurs - such as Ingmar Bergman and Hou Hsiao-hsien [and Tarantino] - they also included The Village by M. Night Shyamalan. With that choice are they rewarding the artistic merits of the film [which most critics view as minimal] or are they making a statement about The United States? In short do they view the U.S. like the characters in the film - an isolated bunch of paranoid [Puritan] villagers living and acting off of their fears? Or is there some other reason they would choose the film as one of the year's best?
posted by Rashomon at 6:43 PM PST - 38 comments

When Multimedia Was Black and White is a wonderful trip down memory lane, back when posters, music, games, and print layouts were done in crude black and white. Be sure to click on the little disk icons to see all the screenshots from old 80s apps.
posted by mathowie at 5:44 PM PST - 14 comments

Biggest Hair in Sports. Ever. Australia and New Zealand recently played a Twenty20 cricket match in Auckland - the first time this shortened version of the game (it only take four hours to play) has been played in New Zealand. To celebrate the occasion, the New Zealand team (for some unknown reason) spent the weeks before the game going retro: growing 70s style moustaches and sideburns, and wore their much-maligned beige uniforms that the one day team used to wear in the 80s. When the team took to the pitch in front of a capacity stadium, the crowd was suitably rapturous in their appreciation of the efforts made. Has a bigger mop of hair ever taken to a field or court in a professional sport, anywhere, ever?
posted by noizyboy at 5:00 PM PST - 55 comments

He looked so angry. And he wouldn't look directly at me. Michael Smerconish pens an article detailing the memories of a airline ticket clerk's encounter with Mohammed Atta on Sept. 11, 2001. Others react, pointing out that you should act on your gut instinct, and completely attack/defend against those who creep you out. Write your congresspersons, and put a stop to angry looking people, today!
posted by Wulfgar! at 4:53 PM PST - 28 comments

[Resolved, the Kansas Dept. of Education is hereby directed to collect comments from the public regarding the various proposed changes to the Science Curriculum Standards, either contained within the Science Curriculum Standards Draft or contained within the minority report.] Kansas Citizens for Science are arguing that the intelligent design folks are just trying to put religion in the schools. But are the proposed changes in the minority report really pro-religion, or are they just pro-"raise kids to be inquisitive"? I, for one, am honesty not sure.
posted by bingo at 4:41 PM PST - 54 comments

The 0xdeadbeef mailing list , an early Metafilter, predates most of the Interweb and continues to this day. Run by nerd kernel hacker Glen McCready, it chronicles such gems as the Windows 95 RTM Baby Benchmark, Steve Job's Theory of Life, how to use sendmail.cf to play Towers of Hanoi, the eskimo's (purported) 100 words for snow, our terrible historical beer shortage, the Shift Key FAQ, the one click guide to becoming an international arms trafficker, the Rockwell corporation's theory of near space defense, the world record for an encased pork product, Abbott and Costello Speak Unix, the deer paving incident, the Etch-A-Sketch Support FAQ, the debunking of the don't run in the rain study, entertaining error messages from Netscape beta releases, the world's worst PDA-related simile, the coolest smooth move ever, suggestions for improvements to the Matrix, and the secret habits of VPs. Among about 20,000 jokes, news items and random bits. A mother lode of archaeological timewasting goodness.
posted by felix at 3:50 PM PST - 12 comments

Cub fans willing to eat Bartman's ball to end curse.
posted by tsarfan at 3:46 PM PST - 18 comments

Manifesto: The Age of Plunder is over.

John Seymour, author of the manifesto, is the doyen of the British smallholder movement (US: read "homesteading" or "back-to-the-land"). John and his ex-wife Sally were "homesteaders" in England at a time when "self-sufficient" living was incomprehensible crankery to the mainstream. His books (e.g.) are witty, entertaining, and instructive. He has not dimmed with age; at 84 he was arrested and tried for partially destroying a field of GMO sugar beets in an act of civil disobedience.

(If the Age of Plunder isn't over, it can't go on much longer.)
posted by bricoleur at 3:35 PM PST - 23 comments

Tank-FX Back in the day reverbs were created using speakers set up in a chamber to make a studio recording sound like it was in a bigger space. Then springs and plates were used to record the reverberations from electricity bouncing around metal. Eventually these were modelled in electronics with varying degrees of success.

But now, as we see, the more things change the more they stay the same and you can participate in the world's first truly global reverb.
posted by klik99 at 2:56 PM PST - 13 comments

Sri Lanka Tsunami Suffering May Inspire Sting Song. Finally, some good news to come from this awful tradgedy. (via)
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 2:44 PM PST - 34 comments

The European Union abandoned a plan to ban Nazi symbols throughout it's member nations. The ban was strongly supported by German Ministers of Parliament after British Prince Harry wore Nazi insignia to a costume party. Among those opposed to the ban was the Hindu Forum of Britain (press release) who launched a campaign to reclaim the Swastika. The symbol its self was in Frequent popular use before WWII. Anti-Communists in former Soviet Block countries sought to expand the ban to communist emblems. Searching for different points of views on this came up with an earlier story of interfaith conflict over meaning, and a parallel to the European debate going on in New Zealand.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:09 PM PST - 39 comments

Sarah Roberts vs. Boston In 1848, five-year-old Sarah Roberts was barred from the local primary school because she was black. Her father sued the City (.pdf file). The lawsuit was part of an organized effort by the African-American community to end racially segregated schools. The book "Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America" tells the story of the case of Roberts v. City of Boston, that remains a little-known landmark in the civil rights movement.
posted by matteo at 1:08 PM PST - 4 comments

Hotel. More Twin Peaks than General Hospital.
posted by dodgygeezer at 12:47 PM PST - 7 comments

The morbid photography of Joel-Peter Witkin. (some of the pictures might be nsfw.)
posted by hopeless romantique at 12:08 PM PST - 47 comments

The Eggcorn Database . A previous post noted the lack of a "proper repository" for examples of these bemusing, off-repeated folk etymologies. Until now, finding the latest news in eggcorns has merely been a French benefit of pouring over the new posts at LanguageLog. The Eggcorn Database puts them all at your beckoned call. Another words, the days of getting balked down in other stupid ideas while looking for the latest finds are over. The Eggcorn Database already catalogs over 100 examples, replete with antidotal usages and collaborating evidence for eggcorn status. An overview for the lame man is here.
posted by casu marzu at 12:08 PM PST - 15 comments

Days ago, Canada's new ambassador to the US said that Canada was already part of the controversial US Missile Defence plan. Today Prime Minister Paul Martin finally stopped dithering and declared that Canada would not join the controversial program. The American ambassador to Canada is confused by this... confused that Canada would choose to relinquish it's sovereignty to the US.
posted by futureproof at 12:05 PM PST - 62 comments

Make is a new mook (magazine/book) from O'Reilly "devoted to digital projects, hardware hacks, and D.I.Y. inspiration.". The first issue should be shipped by February 28th and contains articles from Yak Shaving (not literally) to a $14 video camera stabilizer to a DIY gauss rifle and lots of stuff in between. A section called MakeShift requests readers to send in their solutions to a difficult scenario. It's quarterly, around 200 pages, apparently in 9x7 format and a yearly subscription is $35 while single issues are $15 (cover price). Each project has a page for commentary as well as RSS/Atom feeds and MAKE:audio is coming soon.
posted by nTeleKy at 11:54 AM PST - 16 comments

EveryVideogame.com ... many retro videogames (arcade, nintendo, gameboy, sega) available for online play via a java applet.
posted by crunchland at 11:21 AM PST - 20 comments

EatPES - Home of the brilliant, twisted films of Pes.
posted by gravelshoes at 11:12 AM PST - 3 comments

You're an Ashcroft! No, you're the Ashcroft! Some airline passengers watching the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways" on foreign flights are, in fact, hearing Ashcroft as a substitute for a certain seven-letter epithet commonly used to denote a human orifice.
posted by grateful at 11:08 AM PST - 31 comments

Discover The Network. I thought it was a joke, but it's not. I really enjoyed the intermingling of politicians/celebrities/academics with "known terrorists", "despots" and "bad people." And they use Touchgraphs in their network analysis, good web apps at work! [via]
posted by gsb at 11:00 AM PST - 26 comments

This place sucks. Superfriends act out Office Space.
posted by adampsyche at 10:23 AM PST - 27 comments

The customer is always stinky (some swearing and references to genitalia)
posted by 13twelve at 10:17 AM PST - 23 comments

...our Martha, always formidable, always moving forward. I'm glad I didn't have to go to prison to learn what "Wall Dog" is.
posted by bendybendy at 9:26 AM PST - 24 comments

What's That? You say you want to stay drunk for a longer period of time?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:12 AM PST - 30 comments

Feelin' hate in the neighborhood. A writer for SF Weekly meets up with the white supremacists...at Applebee's.
posted by Vidiot at 8:08 AM PST - 51 comments

CiteULike is a site for tagging online academic articles. It lies somewhere in the intersection of del.icio.us, CiteSeer, and EndNote. When you tag an online article, you can add your own metadata, develop your own collection, and share other people's collections. You can also export your collection to BibTex or EndNote. While you can't access articles that you or your institution do not subscribe too, there seems to be a fair amount of CiteSeer stuff in there, for instance in relation to collaborative filtering. There are also some groups, such as The Philosophy of Information.
posted by carter at 8:02 AM PST - 12 comments

Dave Winer slams the new Google Toolbar Autolink feature as "poorly thought out" adware that unilaterally raises "serious integrity issues" for the Web. Southern Rants adds this pointed critique: "The most important point Winer makes is that it's not about technology. It's about making a HUGE change on the Web, our new social nexus, without discussion. See, he and I are old enough to remember when no one would do such a thing without taking it to ISOC or some such org. It needs discussion. It needs consideration. That's what Google doesn't understand." [via Ed Cone]
posted by mediareport at 7:48 AM PST - 95 comments

Edit your own psycho shower scene
posted by srboisvert at 6:45 AM PST - 6 comments

Howard Hughes on the set of Hell's Angels. For some reason, the Wisconsin Historical Society has a huge collection of stills from old movies that they are slowly releasing online. This collection is part of the material they sent to Scorsese for pre-production of The Aviator.
posted by rev- at 5:31 AM PST - 9 comments

Are you anxious at the thought of cooking?
posted by Captaintripps at 5:02 AM PST - 26 comments

Watching tv on the internet With daily tv-video news.
posted by halo7879 at 5:01 AM PST - 5 comments

Where is Matthew Smith, fans of seminal platform game Manic Miner and its sequel Jet Set Willy [see also...] are wondering (Allegro.cc perhaps?) Missing in the mid-90s, rumors abound of drug habits, mental institutions and sojourns in the Netherlands, he surfaced again around 2000 with the creation of The Good Stuff, now sadly defunct, which included much of the out-there style and humor of his early games. Since last year, the trail has been cold. Interviews are interesting but perhaps reveal less than the games (and their covers) themselves. Level names in Jet Set Willy 2 include the wonderful We Must Perform a Quirkafleeg (eh?), Rescue Esmerelda and NCC 1501.
posted by nthdegx at 3:59 AM PST - 8 comments

Rather unusually, the Sci-Fi channel have made the entire first episode of their new Battlestar Galactica show available online, uncut and without commercials, for free (Real format, not bad video quality). While the series is still being aired in the US and Australia, the first episode has now been shown in all markets and the Sci-Fi channel may be trying to figure out if making the ep available online could improve ratings.

Their decision may have been aided by the fact that the show was aired in the UK two months before the US, resulting in an awful lot of US fans downloading the show; normally it's the other way around.
posted by adrianhon at 2:39 AM PST - 43 comments

Traditional Russian fairytales with beautiful illustrations depicting scenes from the stories.
posted by gregb1007 at 10:57 PM PST - 9 comments

Shoui Hara can't stop drinking. It's part of his job. A job where charm is a necessity, good looks a qualification, and unabashed flattering is all in a night's work. Shoui Hara is a host, a male geisha working beneath the neon lights of Tokyo's Kabukicho, and in his line of work the men entertain the women in a way you might not expect. A look at the complex relationships of the sometimes very dangerous (NSFW) Japanese host clubs.
posted by dead_ at 10:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Insect sounds : "but have you heard a rice weevil larva eating inside a wheat kernel, a termite cutting a piece of wood, or a grub chewing on a root?"
posted by dhruva at 9:39 PM PST - 10 comments

Google Movies - search for movies using the new "movie:" method, see showtimes and get directions to theaters near you (with Google Maps, of course!), read a summation of critics' reviews (ala RottenTomatoes), and get more information on the cast (via links to IMDb).
posted by falconred at 9:27 PM PST - 28 comments

Randy vs. Shark The ongoing saga of Randy and his archnemesis Shark. The creation of demented humor, MSN messenger, and two bored co-workers.
posted by BradNelson at 9:07 PM PST - 9 comments

Which companies and nations are propping up the Khartoum regime? Sudan - News and Analysis by Eric Reeves
posted by semmi at 8:54 PM PST - 4 comments

Hell has frozen over. Rumor has it that Disney is planning to re-release (on DVD) it's 1946 animated feature Song of the South which hasn't seen the light of day since 1986 in the fall of '06. The Oscar winning film was originally tucked away due to racially charged material that painted a grossly inaccurate picture of slavery and the south during reconstruction. There goes another EBAY market.
posted by TetrisKid at 8:45 PM PST - 31 comments

Pam Bricker Passes - Just as Thievery Corporation's The Cosmic Game hits shelves, it's announced that acclaimed jazz vocalist Pam Bricker, long-time Thievery conspirator--and probably the best guest vocalist the D.C. duo has ever had--has passed. Chung's blog post mentions, "it was most likely suicide." Are there any MeFi'ers out there who can provide more information? Confirm? Disconfirm?
posted by secret about box at 8:35 PM PST - 18 comments

It seems that marijuana may have yet another medicinal purpose. A recent study has shown that cannabinoids may slow the development of Alzheimer's. With so many states voting in medicinal and/or decriminalization laws, can legalization be that far away?
posted by Mr_Zero at 8:10 PM PST - 38 comments

Typographica presents their favorite fonts of 2004.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:26 PM PST - 17 comments

The 10 unwritten rules of Oscar "For the Academy, whatever stands out the most is best – even though, in terms of quality of work, it’s usually exactly the opposite: the less you notice something, the more accomplished it actaully is. But when it comes to second-guessing Oscar voters, it never hurts to ask yourself: Who did the “most” acting? Most editing? Most noticeable cinematography or music? Most conspicuous costumes or makeup or production design or screenwriting or directing?"
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:13 PM PST - 16 comments

Misconceptions about the Big Bang
posted by Gyan at 5:57 PM PST - 39 comments

And this is what college is all about.
posted by pantsrobot at 5:10 PM PST - 20 comments

A Vancouver couple were only recently identified as victims of the Asian Tsunami. While they didn't survive, their photos of the approaching wave did. (First link includes info on how to donate to family's memorial fund.)
posted by mudpuppie at 4:03 PM PST - 46 comments

Funeral Arrangements: Shot out of a Cannon “The optimal, best-case scenario is the ashes will be shot out of a cannon,” ... Other arrangements were pending.

Talk about a funeral that I am going to hate missing...
posted by lilboo at 2:54 PM PST - 36 comments

The World of Waldorf: where children learn to read after the second grade. Critics speak out against it, but there's dancing, and the moon was once part of earth. But, don't believe everything that you read online! One of the minor links is a pdf.
posted by Jim Jones at 2:26 PM PST - 30 comments

Dynamic map of Switzerland. Google Maps isn't the only mapping service using Ajax: map.search.ch, which does the same thing for Switzerland, launched last October.
posted by mcwetboy at 2:09 PM PST - 17 comments

Seizure of land for the public good or unconstitutional cash grab? Originally, the power of eminent domain was used by government to condemn property for the public good, usually to build railroads or highways or bridges. This power has been expanded to redevelop dilapidated neighbourhoods, and ultimately, "economic development" (public good by way of jobs and taxes). What will you do when Pfizer wants to build a research facility *on* your backyard and your government helps them do it? Hint: it's nothing new, just wait for 2008 or 2012 (maybe).
posted by loquax at 1:47 PM PST - 38 comments

The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg, Virginia, opened in 1930; was closed in 1989 when an eight-screen multiplex opened nearby; and was saved and reopened in the 1996 thanks to community involvement. Take a virtual tour; read about the haunted theatre's ghosts; then play the text adventure.
posted by plep at 1:02 PM PST - 12 comments

Of course, the ultimate problem was that [my] script didn't have an ending. It didn't until I received a fax from the studio instructing me that Jo Maloni would die by being eaten by an alligator. _{Salon, so, you'll need to jump through hoops. I think it's worth it}
posted by delmoi at 12:42 PM PST - 18 comments

"You can fool everybody, but landie dearie me, you can't fool a cat. They seem to know who's not right". The psychoanalyst calmly explains to his patient that her idea that she is turning into a member of the cat family is a fantasy; she silences him with fang and talon.
Val Lewton made his name as a producer with the horror film Cat People, produced for RKO on a minuscule budget and directed by Jacques Tourneur. The star? French actress Simone Simon, who died today in Paris aged 93. More inside.
posted by matteo at 12:02 PM PST - 6 comments

Robot Wisdom is back.
posted by portage at 11:58 AM PST - 27 comments

It took nearly four months, but to the relief of neighbors miles around, the 2,000 ton burning manure pile in Nebraska has been extinguished.
posted by tsarfan at 11:23 AM PST - 34 comments

How to Do Anything Photographic This site — while not as extensive as good ol' photo.net — has plenty of practical advice. The technique section, in particular, is worthwhile reading for amateur photographers. (Alas, according to the author, I'll never be able to photograph birds.)
posted by jdroth at 11:11 AM PST - 31 comments

Mike's Classic Cartoon Themes A pretty heavy collection of cartoon theme songs from the 1950's-90's as mp3's. Includes all of the obvious classics along with more than a few fun obscurities new to me, for example, "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home."
posted by Swampjazz! at 10:18 AM PST - 32 comments

Introducing The Wal-Mart Games. Bored college kids have a new pasttime: playing football, relay races, and scavenger hunts in the aisles of Wal-Mart late at night! Oh well. At least they're off the streets.
posted by braun_richard at 9:47 AM PST - 47 comments

Best. Video. Evah. A great rap spoof. Well done lyrics, if somewhat cheesy acting. Direct WMV file link.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:27 AM PST - 39 comments

Deep inside the poetic stylings of John Bon Jovi. To begin, I'd like to look at the opening verses of "Bed of Roses". You may think you understand the meaning behind this poem - that John Bon Jovi likes a lady, and is upset about it. This is just a sign of the brilliant, interweaving complexity of Bon Jovi. You can love the poem at that level, and many have, but let's go... inside.[Coral Link - In case the other doesn't work]
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:14 AM PST - 23 comments

Lifehacker is a fairly new addition to the Gawker Media family of blogs, publishers of another personal favorite in the Gizmodo gadget blog. Lifehacker posts articles on how to do all sorts of things better/quicker/cooler/cheaper:

• How to make a "life poster" with Photoshop
• how to opt out of credit card junk mail
• free Hubble Space Telescope wallpaper images
• get thumbnail screenshots with your google search results using firefox
• How to cut vegetables (previously posted here)

In its three short weeks of life, Lifehacker has given me good tips at a shockingly high frequency. Of course, the whole thing comes full circle with their frequent Ask Metafilter Roundup posts.
posted by mcstayinskool at 8:56 AM PST - 64 comments

Disturbing Video Footage of Ambush in Iraq
posted by furiousxgeorge at 8:46 AM PST - 43 comments

"So...we set everything up. We planned it out. Turned my house into a ... bank actually and acted it out for like weeks," the caller said, adding he and others were "buyin' Louis Vuitton this, Blass that, everything man." If you robbed a bank five months ago and did such a good job that you didn't get caught and the police have no leads, would you keep quiet? Not if you're this guy, who was caught when he called into the Confessions segment of the Drex Morning Show to brag about it five months later.
posted by SisterHavana at 8:01 AM PST - 15 comments

The best music videos ever produced. A list, for those that like to watch.
posted by five dollars worth of thank you cake at 7:42 AM PST - 60 comments

If you liked the streamlined RPG play of Progress Quest, you'll love the simplified puzzle action of Tetris 1d.
posted by Nelson at 7:17 AM PST - 13 comments

After much discussion about legality, within thirty days we will know if Russian authorities are going to bring criminal charges against Allofmp3.com for large-scale copyright infringement.
posted by anathema at 6:52 AM PST - 19 comments

Bad Cop, No Donut! is a weekly wrap-up of North American police brutality, misconduct and corruption. (mp3 archive.) Unsurprisingly, not everyone is a fan.
posted by stonerose at 6:48 AM PST - 16 comments

3 years ago, Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her campaign director Clara Rojas were kidnapped by the FARC guerrilla who now keeps 3000 hostages in the Colombian jungle (1200 more are held by the paramilitaries and other groups). Because she was a celebrity outside Colombia before her kidnapping, her detention has received a lot of attention abroad (to some people's chagrin), particularly in Europe (where she's been nominated for "citizen of honour" in more than 1000 towns) and Canada (see also this US documentary).

For the other Colombian hostages, however, the main source of support comes from the radio: Las Voces del Secuestro (Voices of the Kidnapped) is a weekly program for the relatives of hostages to send out messages to their loved ones.
posted by elgilito at 5:57 AM PST - 12 comments

Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres provide beautiful surroundings in which cancer patients and their families can learn to adjust to living with the disease. You'd think an organisation called Christian Voice would support them, but the group instead chose to bully the charity into turning down the proceeds from a gala performance of Jerry Springer, The Opera (which they believe to be a deeply offensive work), pretending to be helping them avoid a scandal, while threatening them with protests outside their centres around the UK.
posted by jack_mo at 4:00 AM PST - 17 comments

István Orosz (note: annoying Flash, popup window) is a Hungarian graphic artist. His work includes numerous illusionistic engravings which conjure visual paradoxes using tricks with perspective in a manner strongly reminiscent of M. C. Escher's. He has employed the technique of anamorphosis to striking effect.
posted by misteraitch at 1:36 AM PST - 9 comments

FontLeech: The Free Font Blog. Searching for free fonts (that don't suck) so you don't have to. Just launched the other day; might be worth watching for us broke designers.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:02 PM PST - 35 comments

Otis Granville Clark is a wonder. At 102, the former butler of Joan Crawford - who served Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin - still drives, lives on his own and twice a week attends church in his home city of Tulsa, Oklahoma... Today his blue eyes have gone milky but they still sparkle, his wiry frame remains agile, and his most painful memories are still fresh - even after 83 years. Coiled on the edge of an understuffed sofa, Clark leans back and screws his eyes tight to summon up "that day". It remains the most vivid of his life... Historians call the firestorm that convulsed Tulsa from the evening of May 31 into the afternoon of June 1 the single worst event in the history of American race relations. To most Tulsans it is simply "the riot". But the carnage had nothing in common with the mass protests of Chicago, Detroit and Newark in the 1960s or the urban violence that laid siege to Los Angeles in 1992 after the white police officers who assaulted Rodney King were acquitted. The 1921 Tulsa race riot owes its name to an older American tradition, to the days when white mobs, with the consent of local authorities, dared to rid themselves of their black neighbours. The endeavour was an opportunity "to run the Negro out of Tulsa". Burnt Offerings
.See also The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 or the tale of the lost city or another The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. See also Frequently Asked Questions from the Tulsa Reparations Coalition. Previous post by allaboutgeorge re: Tulsa Race Riot Reparations on March 1, 2001 .
posted by y2karl at 5:47 PM PST - 172 comments

Return of Bee. After several years Jason Little has started posting weekly Bee Comix again. If you missed the original, make sure to check out the first 13 episodes. There is something very Tintin-ish about the animation that I find attractive.
posted by edgeways at 5:43 PM PST - 12 comments

Multipolarity: "The tendency toward a multipolar configuration of world politics, in which a number of regional power centers compete for hegemony over their spheres of influence within a framework of international agreements and institutions, is a long term process involving incremental gains and losses for the major players."
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:23 PM PST - 7 comments

Is a political solution on the horizon in Iraq? Time Magazine reports that US military commanders are negotiating with Sunni nationalist insurgents or the first time.

"There are some hints of compromise: insurgent negotiators have told their U.S. counterparts they would accept a U.N. peacekeeping force as the U.S. troop presence recedes. Insurgent representative Abu Mohammed says the nationalists would even tolerate U.S. bases on Iraqi soil. 'We don't mind if the invader becomes a guest,' he says, suggesting a situation akin to the U.S. military presence in Germany and Japan."
posted by trinarian at 1:12 PM PST - 160 comments

The world currently has over fifty million Mobile Indigenous Peoples (MIPs), known more popularly as "Nomads" (not including modern or industrialized Nomads). In 2003 representatives from twenty-six MIPs from four continents convened for the first time to form the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples in which was chartered the Dana Declaration which calls for a new approach to conservation, including land and animals, and Nomads. More reading here.
posted by stbalbach at 12:52 PM PST - 8 comments

Plants in motion Time-lapse movies of plants doing plant-like things, such as growing, nutating, opening up, and being smelly. [requires quicktime]
posted by carter at 12:42 PM PST - 23 comments

A gallery of gorilla (and ape, and chimp, and monkey, and bonobo) comic book covers via Neil Gaiman's blog
posted by Capn at 12:17 PM PST - 14 comments

Images of Antarctica: "some of them are mundane, some are fantastic, and some are, frankly, crappy." Don't miss the art page.
posted by breezeway at 12:16 PM PST - 11 comments

The Imaginary World "began as an idea to create a fictional theme park. I would create models, drawings, souvenirs, etc to build an entirely fictional place. As the idea grew I created characters to inhabit the park and some of these characters took on lives of their own that went outside the boundaries of the park." found via Andy Partridge
posted by dodgygeezer at 12:12 PM PST - 9 comments

Televangilist Dies. Cult TV Preacher Dr. Gene Scott was always a treat to watch. His Festivals of Faith sometimes featured cursing, demands for payment and readings from texts on pyramids and UFOs. And, he was often honest about the money sent in--I spend it.
posted by Duck_Lips at 11:16 AM PST - 27 comments

The Grammarian. Miss Gould, as she was known to everyone at the New Yorker, died last week, at the age of eighty-seven. She worked at the magazine for fifty-four years, most of them as its Grammarian (a title invented for her). A typical “Gould proof” was filled with the lightly pencilled tracery of her objections, suggestions, and abbreviated queries: “emph?” “ind.,” “mean this?”. Writes David Remnick: "She confronted the galley proofs of writers as various as Joseph Mitchell, J. D. Salinger, Janet Flanner--well, everyone, really.". More inside.
posted by matteo at 11:15 AM PST - 77 comments

Are they ukuleles, or are they books? Think Joseph Cornell goes Hawaiian.
posted by scody at 11:01 AM PST - 8 comments

Some good news! The greatest problem Africa faces is bad government. When the President of Togo died earlier this month, the constitution dictated that power should go to the head of Parliament, until democratic elections could take place. The army expressed their regret that this couldn't happen, since the head of Parliament was out of the country. This was due to the army closing all the borders. They instead gave power to the ex-President's son, and altered the constitution to remove any reference to presidential elections. Now, it looks like progress is being made through protest and peer-pressure.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:19 AM PST - 9 comments

Tom Waits Bootlegs: Paris 2000, Warsaw 2000, Los Angeles 1998 & Oakland 1996 + full discography & lyrics sheet. Also: great audio interview from this week's Cool Ivories show at American Routes, via the Tom Waits News blog.
posted by jenleigh at 9:54 AM PST - 45 comments

Wedded by the revolution...
"Dare to struggle, dare to win ... as married gays. After raiding a few Army camps, two communist guerrillas hid in a forest gorge and fell in love. Deeply. That was three years ago. On Friday, under a romantic drizzle in a muddy clearing in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao, Ka Andres and Ka Jose exchanged vows in a heavily guarded ceremony before local villagers, friends from the city and their comrades in arms.
They are considered the first homosexual couple in the New People's Army (NPA) who were wed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)."
Some reactions. A wedding picture.
posted by talos at 9:42 AM PST - 30 comments

Keitai Vyuun! - but is it really the best invention ever? I say "no".
posted by 13twelve at 9:41 AM PST - 8 comments

Hundreds killed in Iranian quake On a smaller scale than the December tsunami, but no less a disaster to the people this quake hit.
posted by davy at 9:36 AM PST - 13 comments

Elephant Dung Paper.
posted by sciurus at 9:25 AM PST - 20 comments

TMN's Tournament of Books Too often are literary awards arbitrary, dull, or meaningless. Too rarely are they determined by an NCAA-style Battle Royale of bloodthirsty competition. It’s time for a change. Round 2 is going now.
posted by dame at 9:19 AM PST - 9 comments

Abba Road Trip
posted by srboisvert at 8:45 AM PST - 9 comments

Sex, death, drugs, sharks, TV, elephants and the devil himself. Nothing sums up the ridiculous circus of rock'n'roll better than the mythology that both nourishes and devours it, vividly illustrating the impossible feats of self destruction and degradation we would have our 'rock gods' vicariously act out on our behalf.
10 Greatest Rock and Roll Myths! | Rock's 10 Wildest Myths!! | Urban Legends of Rock and Roll!!!
posted by Quartermass at 8:43 AM PST - 24 comments

"It is stand-up improv at its most creative, with an occasional James Bond-like tale or even a violent plot, all in search of that one shimmering, often elusive dream, the dismissed ticket." (Yes, I know, it's NYT... tell it to the judge, man.) Maybe some of these folks should've read the previous traffic court thread on MeFi, or... (More Inside)
posted by soyjoy at 8:16 AM PST - 10 comments

50 tracks from Osysmo in 50 weeks. Cheeky DJ Osysmo has decided to release his first proper full length album in little free bits over a period of 50 weeks. Osysmo has gained earlier notoriety for his Intro-Inspection mix [yank it off the main page], which ingeniously compiled the intros of tens of songs, as well as his fun mixes of Chris Morris' material.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:27 AM PST - 10 comments

Kottke.org! Time was that you could get the crap kicked out of you for posting kottke.org to MeFi. Three and a quarter years later, what's changed? Jason's decided to make a living off this blog ... but without running advertising. Good luck, says I.
posted by sylloge at 6:37 AM PST - 354 comments

Four happy flash music clips to kick off your day: pla, 9:09, Brazil, and Field Guide to Snapping.
posted by madamjujujive at 5:35 AM PST - 8 comments

Right Wing Front Group Attacks AARP Amazingly the right wingers are going after the American Association of Retired People for being an anti-military, pro-gay liberal front group. Really. Web ads placed on American Spectator mag from USANext have a caption, "The Real AARP Agenda" and a big red checkmark on an American soldier and a green "X" on a picture of two men in tuxedos kissing. The implicit message is that the AARP hates the military and loves gays. Even better, USA Next has hired the media geniuses behind the Swift Boat Veterans to attack the AARP and work for the phase-out of Social Security bia private accounts.
posted by nathanrudy at 4:45 AM PST - 121 comments

The short list for the new International Booker Prize has just been announced. John Carey, chairman of judges, discusses the prize and how he hopes it will evolve (Real Audio :: first item in the show) .

But, can Stanislaw Lem really win? Will it become a rival to the Nobel Prize for Literature? And do these writers really need another prize?
posted by johnny novak at 3:54 AM PST - 23 comments

the Guillotine Headquarters Everything you ever wanted to know about this machine. From its evolution in the mist of history, to 1977, when it was last used in france. many photos some flash some 3d
posted by hortense at 2:13 AM PST - 6 comments

I often say that blogs are currently where the web was in 1998, with history repeating itself only this time with blogs. The latest sign: spyware and viruses are now being transmitted via blogs, specifically, random blogs on blogspot.com, found via the "Next Blog" button. Remember, just because a delightful purple gorilla wants to read blog entries to you doesn't mean you should click on him.
posted by mathowie at 10:15 PM PST - 27 comments

If Smallpox Strikes Portland ...
posted by Gyan at 9:52 PM PST - 16 comments

The global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. (BBC) to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. (BBC) The month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers' is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on 22 February to the "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day". Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both in prison in Iran.
posted by hoder at 9:31 PM PST - 7 comments

The radio revolution is the single greatest communications policy issue of the coming decade, and perhaps the coming century. The economics of entire industries could be transformed. Every significant public policy challenge could be implicated: competition; innovation; investment; diversity of programming; job creation; equality of access; coverage for rural and underserved areas; and promotion of education, health care, local communities, public safety, and national security. Yet the benefits of the paradigm shift are not guaranteed. Exploiting the radio revolution will require creativity and risk-taking by both the private and public sectors. At every step, there will be choices between preserving the status quo and unleashing the forces of change. The right answers will seem obvious only in hindsight.
posted by halekon at 9:26 PM PST - 4 comments

Come Together, right now, over me. A Ukranian inventor has created a musical condom. Golly, think of the possibilities!
posted by ashbury at 8:57 PM PST - 13 comments

Doom , Doom2, Duke Nukem 3d, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II, Quake, Quake 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein : Enemy Territory, plus dozens more.
posted by crunchland at 8:13 PM PST - 20 comments

Apple Computer founder and community speak on Tiger leak defendants.
Remember Canadian student that leaked Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) and got him self sued. DrunkenBlog did a very unblog like thing and interviewed the kid. And now has collected comment from 24 different mac developers and one Woz.
posted by rschroed at 8:06 PM PST - 16 comments

Ever wonder what happens when you cross Livejournal and Lichtenstein?
posted by scrim at 7:41 PM PST - 10 comments

BaconWhores: Because the only thing better than bacon is someone to cook it for you.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:32 PM PST - 26 comments

The gays continue to spread their “homosexual agenda” through cartoons and children’s shows. First it was Tinky-Winky (the Gay Teletubbie), then SpongeBob SquarePants and PBS’s Buster. Last night it was The Simpsons. And now today we learn that Shrek is up to no good! What should a proper upstanding citizen do? Get me the President!
posted by ericb at 7:24 PM PST - 52 comments

global graffiti tour
great stuff from all around the world. almost makes you want to run out and buy a tube of krink.
posted by specialk420 at 6:18 PM PST - 5 comments

Moral Politics - A Morality-Based Political Test - "This test is (or at least tries to be) a different political test. Most tests assess your opinion by questioning your stance on political issues. This test explains why you think what you think by mapping your personal moral system." 16 questions.
posted by blacklite at 6:14 PM PST - 72 comments

ESA scientists announced that a giant sea is hidden under the Martian surface. With discoveries like this and weird photos like this, how long can it be before we find conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life?
posted by borkingchikapa at 6:02 PM PST - 30 comments

In a recent broadcast on PBS archived here 4 popular bloggers, Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, and Joe Trippi had a pretty interesting session with veteran interviewer Charlie Rose. Three tiny but complete QuickTime segments...
posted by indices at 5:52 PM PST - 15 comments

In the left channel... "The Scientist" by Coldplay. In the right channel... "Pieces" by Sum41. Fight!
posted by Mwongozi at 4:34 PM PST - 70 comments

The argument I make in my book is that what I describe as the new American militarism arises as an unintended consequence of the reaction to the Vietnam War and more broadly, to the sixties... If some people think that the sixties constituted a revolution, that revolution produced a counterrevolution, launched by a variety of groups that had one thing in common: they saw revival of American military power, institutions, and values as the antidote to everything that in their minds had gone wrong. None of these groups — the neoconservatives, large numbers of Protestant evangelicals, politicians like Ronald Reagan, the so-called defense intellectuals, and the officer corps — set out saying, “Militarism is a good idea.” But I argue that this is what we’ve ended up with: a sense of what military power can do, a sort of deference to the military, and an attribution of virtue to the men and women who serve in uniform. Together this constitutes such a pernicious and distorted attitude toward military affairs that it qualifies as militarism.
An interview with Andrew Bacevich, international relations professor and former Army colonel, and author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War--and here is a review. Recently by Bacevich: We Aren't Fighting to Win Anymore - U.S. troops in Iraq are only trying to buy time.
posted by y2karl at 3:05 PM PST - 37 comments

Words and images from the Belgian Front.
posted by pwedza at 1:27 PM PST - 41 comments

Rochus Misch is the last man alive from Hitler's underground bunker. His most recent interview is in light of Der Untergang ["Downfall"], the new German film which portrays Hitler as a man, not a monster. Misch asserts that while factually accurate, the movie fails to capture the atmosphere in the bunker... as if anything ever could. The movie has recieved much critical acclaim and has been nominated for best foreign language film at this year's Academy Awards.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 1:05 PM PST - 23 comments

Don't know or Undecided - The art of David Shrigley and Daniel Belardinelli, respectively.
posted by hampton at 1:04 PM PST - 6 comments

BitFontMaker - Create, edit, and save your own truetype pixel font via this web app.
posted by Robot Johnny at 12:49 PM PST - 9 comments

Kirk von Ackermann mysteriously dissappears on October 9, 2003. He was working for a contracting company in iraq and had called for assistance after getting a flat tire. When help arrived, he was gone without a trace leaving behind a laptop, his satellite phone and a briefcase with $40,000 destined for Iraqi subcontractors in the back seat of his truck.

Rick Manelick, a colleague of his, had told army investigators investigating the appearance that large sums of money were being paid to an army officer in exchange for granting contracts to Ultra Services, the company they both worked for. Two months after the disappearance he was killed in a drive-by shooting a day after telling a SF Chronicle reporter "I'm in fear of my life, you know. It's not Iraqis I'm worried about, either, it's people from my own country." (Found via SojoMail, see also Topeka DIY and Time.
posted by nTeleKy at 11:21 AM PST - 13 comments

The Annual Chicago Auto Show Protest was, as usual a friendly affair. Some might even consider it holy. Photos abound. Long live the duocycle!
posted by Captaintripps at 11:07 AM PST - 23 comments

GPS waypoints for hiking, biking and paddling.
posted by atchafalaya at 10:42 AM PST - 5 comments

Pygmalion stories in literature and art. The myth of the scuptor who fell in love with a statue and prayed for it to be brought to life.
Related :- Galatea, a piece of interactive fiction which allows you to interact with a interpretation of the living statue (by Emily Short); Wikipedia entry on the myth.
posted by plep at 9:44 AM PST - 10 comments

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications. From our own JJG, a look at the next big thing in web app interfaces. Link via some guy named Matt. Time to start studying XMLHttpRequest.
posted by brownpau at 8:59 AM PST - 41 comments

Paris Hilton's sidekick hacked - (NSFW) photos that were on it and her entire address book. complete with topless photos and email address!
posted by mgkaelen at 9:33 PM PST - 206 comments

Hunter S Thompson commits suicide. Goodbye, the king of Gonzo Journalism. A timeline of his life is here. And some more here and of course here.
posted by bonaldi at 8:34 PM PST - 526 comments

The map of Madaba: The discovery in a sixth century church, and the publication of the mosaic Map of the biblical lands in 1896/7, brought Madaba, at the time a small dusty village in Jordan, to international fame.
posted by dhruva at 8:17 PM PST - 4 comments

Fake Jim Steinman song titles.
posted by kenko at 8:01 PM PST - 17 comments

Straight outta Belgium, it's "The Matrix: The Beginning". This is a see-it-to-believe-it occasion. [20m WMV; Trailer for those with a lower tolerance for this sort of nonsense; Main site]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:10 PM PST - 39 comments

Scare Factor: High Few children emerged from the 70's or 80's without having been jarred at least once by the abrupt transition from a television show's credits to the interstitial animations of the broadcaster or production company. While today closing logos can often be funny, in the late 60's and 70's, the choppy animation and atonal music often made them slightly (or very) unsettling. Thankfully, a group of netizens are preserving the legacy of the closing logo.
posted by eschatfische at 7:04 PM PST - 33 comments

A nice spread of oft maligned British food left me wondering (after a tidy breakfast of bangers and mash) if Beano was an English creation -- flatulence and all that (watch out for the first mp3) -- but apparently it isn't: the inventor appears to be American. According to this author, Henri Cartier-Bresson termed Britain "the most exotic place in the world," and I think I agree. Probably this tastes fabulous if you're hungry... please make mine well-done.
posted by indices at 5:32 PM PST - 42 comments

The 2nd Annual Greatest Story Never Told Contest: a multimedia storytelling competition whose name speaks for itself. Some of the entries are shockingly depressing (QT link here.) Others are disturbing, yet funny. Some are just cute, and some have seen the blue before.
posted by mervin_shnegwood at 5:07 PM PST - 4 comments

"One thing that I was sad about the first time is that my tongue web was thrown in the trash can. This time, I was sure to get it back, so I could eat it." Okay, maybe the tongue obsession is over the top, but multiple body piercings are not that unusual these... OH MY GOD... branding and implants and Danny Dulai!
posted by naomi at 4:47 PM PST - 75 comments

CBS is reporting that George W. Bush acknowledged using marijuana during a recorded phone conversation. The conversations were recorded by Doug Wead, a former aide to George W. Bush's father, beginning in 1998, when Mr. Bush was weighing a presidential bid, until just before the Republican National Convention in 2000.
posted by lobstah at 3:44 PM PST - 89 comments

The Word on the Street :: A collection of over 1800 broadsides published in Scotland between 1650 and 1910, featuring both digital images of the original Broadsides as well as transcriptons of the texts. You can just review the highlights or search or browse the entire collection.
posted by anastasiav at 3:02 PM PST - 13 comments

How to destroy the Earth. (via MoFi)
posted by moonbird at 2:57 PM PST - 43 comments

Ancient Routes Illustrated gazetteers of old trade and communication routes, such as the King's Highway from Egypt to Syria and the Way of the Sea from Egypt to Damascus. Also, an illustrated compendium of ancient Mediterranean cities.
posted by carter at 10:58 AM PST - 15 comments

Balance of Contradictions and Flawless Imperfection (caution: slow-loading images in the latter), two galleries of Ukrainian surrealist Sergey Poyarkov, whose name I stumbled across via this amusingly Ukraine-centric map.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:16 AM PST - 6 comments

Canadian involvement in torture research
Britain, the US and Canada had begun talking about psychological warfare together at least as early as June 1951, when Sir Henry Tizard, the Ministry of Defence's senior scientist, met Canadian scientists and Cyril Haskins, the senior CIA researcher, in Montreal. Among the Canadians was Donald Hebb of McGill University, who was looking for funds to research "sensory deprivation" - blocking out sight, sound and touch to affect people's personality and sense of identity. Early photographs show volunteers, goggled and muffled, looking eerily similar to prisoners arriving at Guantánamo.
posted by sunexplodes at 9:09 AM PST - 22 comments

Pro bike racer fired over blog contents. Matt DeCanio, who created waves throughout the cycling community last summer by admitting he had used EPO during the 2003 domestic racing season, was released late last week by the California-based Ofoto-Sierra Nevada Professional Cycling Team
posted by fixedgear at 2:36 AM PST - 28 comments

This is truly a trippy animation; Kaleidoscope. Place the cursor in the middle of the square, sit comfortably and relax, and let yourself go for 20-30 minutes
posted by growabrain at 11:59 PM PST - 34 comments

Seabirds Skull Gallery An amateur birder in Holland is fascinated by the internal structure of various seabirds. [via Incoming Signals]
posted by mediareport at 9:14 PM PST - 7 comments

Be careful what you wish for, the cliché goes. Having aspired from early youth to become stars, people who achieve that status suddenly find themselves imprisoned, unable to walk down the street without being importuned by strangers. The higher their name floats, the greater the levy imposed, the less of ordinary life they can enjoy. In his memoir, Bob Dylan never precisely articulates the ambition that brought him to New York City from northern Minnesota in 1961, maybe because it felt improbable even to him at the time. Nominally, he was angling for Leading Young Folksinger, which was a plausible goal then, when every college town had three or four coffeehouses and each one had its Hootenanny night, and when performers who wowed the crowds on that circuit went on to make records that sometimes sold in the thousands. But from the beginning Dylan had his sights set much higher: the world, glory, eternity—ambitions laughably incommensurate with the modest confines of American folk music. He got his wish, in spades... 'I Is Someone Else'
posted by y2karl at 4:22 PM PST - 34 comments

The Nature Anthem Quicktime video.
posted by Mwongozi at 4:10 PM PST - 27 comments

Why would he say that? "RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN says Iran isn't interested in nuclear weapons." via The Indepundit. Interesting. Is Putin being disingenuous? Wishful thinking, perhaps?
posted by alumshubby at 4:03 PM PST - 39 comments

Defend the twin towers from incoming planes with your laser of freedom! (flash)
posted by borkingchikapa at 3:52 PM PST - 49 comments

Ladies, gentlemen & MeFites of all ages...
The Flea Circus is in town! Get out the popcorn!
posted by miss lynnster at 3:39 PM PST - 9 comments

Help Wanted: Exorcist Although I would prefer more Monarch Butterflies, their utility is more visible to me, but perhaps we're just seeing an evolution of the god gene. David Brooks, apparently moving away from his neocon pals, has posted a different help wanted ad while some triumphant right wing Evangelicals are planning a different kind of recruiting.
posted by billsaysthis at 2:11 PM PST - 6 comments

Stupid motorists, beware. Arizona goes it one step further. This should be a federal mandate, imho. (Breaking FPP cherry).
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:58 AM PST - 34 comments

The Maoist International Movement reviews videogames
posted by Tlogmer at 11:28 AM PST - 43 comments

Pico's Brain. The "Discourse on the Dignity of Man" (1486) by Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) is considered the "Manifesto of the Renaissance" and a key text of Renaissance Humanism. The Discourse merits attention today precisely on account of its affirmation that human nature, which is in itself indeterminate and weak, comes alive and obtains its identity through the plurality of human cultures, each representing customs that, though distinct, are essentially identical. Hence the possibility of harmony and grounds for "peace" among cultures. The Pico Project makes accessible a complete resource for the reading and interpretation of the Discourse within its own context, from an initial encounter through direct contact with the original text, presented here in its first printed edition (Bologna 1496) of which there exist no extant manuscripts. Of course, Pico was also a Kabbalistic scholar (Umberto Eco is not a fan of Pico's kabbalistic work .pdf file). More inside.
posted by matteo at 11:02 AM PST - 8 comments

Alan Moore and the Graphic Novel's Link to the Fourth Dimension is an academic text discussing the works of Alan Moore in terms of cubism, futurism, and the fourth dimension. Much mention is made of Guernica and the work of Will Eisner.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:29 AM PST - 23 comments

Urban Experience in Chicago: Hull-House and Its Neighbourhoods 1889-1963. Scholarly urban history project.
posted by plep at 9:26 AM PST - 7 comments

Bancroft and Arnesen are in Russia ready to start their newest adventure: starting Monday, as polar explorers in their own right, they'll try to become the first women in history to ski across the top of the world - two women pulling two sleds across 1,000 miles of frozen ocean. No dogs, no men and one .44 Magnum revolver. They may not be taking men, but they are taking a laptop so you can track their progress.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:40 AM PST - 12 comments

Astrolabes revisited: previously discussed here. Are astrolabes a way to navigate life? Want a free personal birth chart? How about an astrological weather forecast?
posted by McGuillicuddy at 8:39 AM PST - 4 comments

Colleges: An Endangered Species? A well-written review that refers to a number of recent books on the subject of college education:"Every middle-class American family with a college-age child knows how it goes: the meetings at which the high school counselor draws up a list of "reaches" and "safeties," the bills for SAT prep courses ("But, Dad, everyone takes one; if you don't let me, I'm screwed"), the drafts of the personal essay in which your child tries to strike just the right note between humility and self-promotion—and finally, on the day of decision, the search through the mail in dread of the thin envelope that would mean it's all over and that, as a family, you have collectively failed. ...
posted by Postroad at 7:58 AM PST - 32 comments

The Game is a harsh mistress. I really suck at The Game. It never leaves my mind. So I've decided to share our little game with all of you. You now have a half hour to try to forget about The Game. If it crosses your mind outside of the thirty minute grace period, you lose the game. It is important to note that is impossible to win the game
posted by blasdelf at 4:55 AM PST - 62 comments

There's Someone at the Door, He Says He's From the Future. "Two men spend two years making a random 18-year-old gamer the subject of their art project, in which he is informed he is the savior of the future human race." Hoax as art. [via snarkout sideout, a bit more, previously noted here :]
posted by kliuless at 1:49 AM PST - 22 comments

World Wind is a global information system that pulls together a high resolution map of the entire world and layers into it satellite information from a variety of sources. The program lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data to experience Earth terrain (or any planet with the data) in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there. Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps or along the African Sahara. Check out the screenshots. (Windows only, 169mb download, torrent available.) While you're there, check out Virtual Lab, a virtual scanning electron microscope (screenshots), available for Mac OSX, Linux, and Windows.
posted by crunchland at 11:44 PM PST - 12 comments

An illustrated list of the cover artists that have graced Smiths and Morrissey albums and singles. [via]
posted by Quartermass at 11:04 PM PST - 16 comments

Are singing plastic fish too subtle for you? Own a Motor Home or Drive a Semi? Try Road Kill Rugs. They're Made in the USA from synthetic fur and come in such animal varieties as Bunny, Skunk, and Other. Warning: Queen MIDI and yellow text on white background.
posted by Arch Stanton at 9:41 PM PST - 3 comments

Bunny paintings.
posted by kenko at 8:42 PM PST - 17 comments

On March 5, 1979, astronomers saw a burst of gamma rays so strong it swamped their detectors. Another rare burst in 1998 helped confirm the existence of magnetars, intensely powerful magnetic stars, unusual enough that there might only be a dozen or so in the galaxy. Another one has just been found --when it let off a burst last December that, for a fraction of a second, was brighter than the full moon.
posted by gimonca at 8:08 PM PST - 23 comments

Treason: Hurting America's Feelings --from fafblog: Now you may think "oh well Fafnir America's a big country it can take care a itself" but in fact it is very sensitive. When you say its mom's ugly or criticize its foreign policy or kick sand on its face at the beach it is just as hurt as if you'd sold its state secrets.
posted by amberglow at 7:51 PM PST - 45 comments

Sex is for fags.
posted by angry modem at 6:52 PM PST - 50 comments

The Night Land, William H Hodgson's surreal fantasy, inspired largely by H G Wells' The Time Machine, (do you really need an amazon link?) but not resembling it all that much, is called by Gardner Dozois (editor of Asimov's Science Fiction since 1985) "one of the flat out strangest novels ever written" in the 21st annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology. The novel, written at the turn of the century, was also described by H P Lovecraft in the following way: "Allowing for all its faults, it is yet one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written." How many novels have you read that have an entire web site dedicated to simultaneously exalting it and apologizing for it? Andy Robertson's web site is a companion to the book he edited collecting stories from modern sci-fi writers attempting to pay homage to the under-appreciated novel. (note: The above-mentioned anthology contains a story, also published on Robertson's web site by John C Wright, entitled "Awake In The Night," which is fantastic in its own right, as well.) (Did I mention that Hodgson "brutally treated" Harry Houdini? Scroll To Middle Of Page.)
posted by shmegegge at 6:41 PM PST - 9 comments

Dropping an F-bomb on the radio, and in Canada you apologize. In the States, having this happen on your station would cost you many dollars.
posted by evilcolonel at 4:55 PM PST - 36 comments

We all seem to know about Gary Panter: set designer for Pee-Wee's play house and author of the JIMBO comics. His site archives an increasing radius: see his comics, for instance, some Jimbo covers: 1, 2, 3. Or his custom drawings, which are done based on one to three words you supply. The ink drawings: 1, 2, 3 and the sketchbooks are nice, too: 1, 2, 3, 4. Seems like he's everywhere: writing on his blog or that oft remembered manifesto, sometimes being taught or written about. And, as connective tissue, his Screamers design is one of the more well regarded punk images out there. When I think of Panter, I also think of Raymond Pettibon, brother of Greg Ginn (Black Flag/SST). Featured in PBS ART 21 (check out the multi-media), his work graced numerous Black Flag and Minutemen album covers and flyers. Zines also played an early role in his development. Mike Watt's own Hootpage documents some of Ray's art from the summer of 2003. Known for his interplay of image and word, some pieces seem to be in process, but all are still striking. More pieces can be seen at tractor.com. When I think of Pettibon, I sometimes think of Art Chantry. His posters (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) are inspirational and his logos ain't too shabby either. Mr. Chantry has been known to debate the rise and fall of rock and roll graphic design, speak up on issues of the state of graphic design today (as well as Seattle). Some people can't surf, indeed.
posted by safetyfork at 3:09 PM PST - 30 comments

Punk rock is dead. So now, along with Luna Lounge, Fez Under Time Cafe, and Tonic (previously discussed here), it looks like CBGB may get priced out of existence. What NYC landmark will be next? (Oh, and don't forget the Plaza.)
posted by fungible at 2:23 PM PST - 50 comments

Mayumi Lake makes pornography out of your non-lascivious body parts. Or she makes art by miming pornography's camera angles and costumes. She calls it Poo-Chi. (NSFW) Here's an artist's statement and here's a very brief gallery essay.
posted by nobody at 2:00 PM PST - 12 comments

Ron Popeil's Pocket Fisherman has been updated since it's intro in the 50s, but it's the original that makes Mobile PCs list of The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time. Many you'd expect to find, some I was suprised by. And the big surprise? iPod isn't the #1 gadget. Mostly, I'm distrubed by the number of these gadgets that I've owned at one point or another.
posted by FlamingBore at 1:04 PM PST - 36 comments

The Viral Chart tracks British viral marketing videos.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:48 PM PST - 5 comments

Court orders $5.6 billion per year increase in NYC schools funding. The order, being appealed by Gov. Pataki, compels a 35% increase in operating funds for NYC public schools, and an additional $9 billion for school construction, but doesn't say which taxes ought to be raised to pay for it. Supporters and opponents both agree that, if implemented, the order would have a dramatic effect. Supporters think poor black and hispanic students will get a better education; opponents are dubious about the educational benefits and certain of the disastrous effects of a massive tax increase. A second arguments concerns whether the city ought to bear some of the costs, or the state should have to bear them all.
posted by MattD at 11:56 AM PST - 38 comments

Who was this Gomphos I kept hearing about?
Luck in an ancient rabbit’s foot, Elkema?*
posted by mcgraw at 11:28 AM PST - 6 comments

McDonald's Bathroom Attendant. From the folks who brought you The MP3 Experiment, but this is funnier.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:24 AM PST - 24 comments

The Smoking Gun is leaked the 1,903 Michael Jackson grand jury testimony. Because they're our friends, they have summarized the sealed information into three different webpages: witnesses, search. and destroy?, and topless photos (not as sexy as you might hope). And of course there are the individual transcripts broken up by witness. Isn't this leak grounds for a mistrial? And what does a lightskinned brotha have to do to get a fair trial any more?
posted by tsarfan at 10:58 AM PST - 30 comments

The Sky (and Global Oil Production) is Falling! With all the recent news on Global Warming, here's an article on the root cause of the problem: Global Energy Use. Has oil production peaked? Is the real focus of the Iraqi insurgency foreshadowing an energy-dominated future? Is there a solution to the problem??
posted by DAJ at 10:52 AM PST - 13 comments

The strongest evidence yet that global warming has been triggered by human activity has emerged from a major study of rising temperatures in the world’s oceans. The present trend of warmer sea temperatures, which have risen by an average of half a degree Celsius (0.9F) over the past 40 years, can be explained only if greenhouse gas emissions are responsible, new research has revealed. The results are so compelling that they should end controversy about the causes of climate change, one of the scientists who led the study said yesterday. "The debate about whether there is a global warming signal now is over, at least for rational people," said Tim Barnett, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. "The models got it right. If a politician stands up and says the uncertainty is too great to believe these models, that is no longer tenable."
Studies confirm global warming underway
posted by y2karl at 10:27 AM PST - 77 comments

Feedpalooza. This gentleman offers to scrape any website (at his discretion) to provide you the custom feed you want. For instance, I wanted a simple black box on my site with the real-time number of coalition casualties in Iraq. I pointed him to this site. He scraped the one number and provided this feed. Brilliant.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:26 AM PST - 15 comments

Touch Me I'm Sick. Photographer Charles Peterson helped America see grunge from the inside out. His dramatic black-and-white images portrayed the energy of the music being performed in crowded basements and dingy dive bars featuring such bands as Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hole, Black Flag, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth, among others. "Touch Me I’m Sick: Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographs by Charles Peterson" will be on view at the Chrysler Museum of Art through May 1. More inside.
posted by matteo at 10:23 AM PST - 24 comments

If you're going to work with Koko the Gorilla, the famous talking ape, you've got to know more than sign language. Allegedly, Dr. Penny Patterson insists you've also gotta show your boobs... who knew?
posted by miss lynnster at 10:15 AM PST - 36 comments

I couldn't remember the name of that guy who does fruit and veggie art. No, not Kei Kosa, he's trippier than this fellow. Not Greg Brown (not to be confused with "mural Greg Brown" of Alien Saucer Crash and Buckethead Man with Paddleball fame) either, though Brown's cool too, sometimes whimsical, sometimes (woo!) suggestive. Fruits and vegetables have often been used suggestively, in advertising or even classics, maybe the innuendo of Joachim Beuckelaer's art such as Woman Selling Vegetables.
No, the guy I was thinking of takes into consideration the intrinsic character and personality of each piece he "sculpts." I remember! It's Saxton Freymann!
(...maybe influenced by the Thai fruit-n-veggie carving tradition?)
(...but he does not approve.)
posted by Shane at 9:34 AM PST - 11 comments

Robert Rauschenberg was one of the great American artists of the 20th Century. Born in Texas, Rauschenberg studied art in Paris and North Carolina before moving to New York to "make it" as a painter. He developed a signature style which he called "combines" in which he combined paint, collage, and scupture in one piece. His work has been showcased at The National Gallery of Art, Washington, MoMA, and The Guggenheim among others
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:20 AM PST - 9 comments

Speedy Relief (SFW, Flash Friday Fun) Steer your red nose around the track as quickly as you can.
[On behalf of the forthcoming Red Nose Day. via the Chris Moyles radio show]
posted by seanyboy at 2:14 AM PST - 13 comments

Temple Gradin is someone who has affected the way you eat meat.Temple Gradin is credited for building half of all slaughterhouses in the United States alone. She also has Auspergers Syndrome. Her work has been always for the humane treatment of food animals, and some vegans have been claimed as saying if all food animals were treated as well as Dr. Grandin wants them to be, they would eat meat and milk again. Resume, PETA commendation here.
posted by Dean Keaton at 12:10 AM PST - 30 comments

Joepieee!
posted by onkelchrispy at 9:27 PM PST - 43 comments

Happy belated birthday, Kim Jong Il.
posted by kickingtheground at 7:49 PM PST - 24 comments

The first rule of Internet Scrabble Club is that you make a predictable Fight Club reference in any posts pertaining to it.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:31 PM PST - 66 comments

The notorious Laura (Riding) Jackson, mistress and muse to Robert Graves, among others, is back with a new poem in the New Republic last week. There's a new biography and a new anthology coming out too, but the best things to read are her tirades to the New York Review of Books in response to critiques of her work by Paul Auster and Harry Matthews.
posted by oldleada at 6:28 PM PST - 17 comments

“We bit off more than we could chew." When thirty-five Greenpeace protestors raided London's International Petroleum Exchange to mark the first day of the Kyoto protocol coming into effect, the last thing they expected was a lesson in the finer points of beatdown administration at the hands of drunken oil traders.

"[One protestor] said: 'I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot.” Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: 'Sod off, Swampy.'"
posted by nyterrant at 6:14 PM PST - 77 comments

Harvard has finally released a transcript of Lawrence Summers' remarks at a conference about women in science and engineering. These remarks, which were made without members of the press present about a month ago, caused a lot of controversy. Now we can finally see what he actually said.
posted by mai at 6:12 PM PST - 30 comments

The fine fellows of Beatallica , purveyors of songs combining Beatles and Metallica songs (as mentioned a while back, finally got the long feared takedown notice (PDF). For once, it wasn't Metallica threatening legal action over music on the Internet, but Sony.

\m/ Requiem in Pacem \m/
posted by Captain_Tenille at 5:13 PM PST - 17 comments

"What we're doing is taking Bugs Bunny, a classic, and changing him for the kids – making him fresh, cool and hip." By fresh, they mean he will be a martial arts expert. By cool, they mean from the future. By hip? Laser eyes.
posted by Simon! at 4:22 PM PST - 86 comments

Address by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Gay Marriage. Taking the bull by the horns, Mr. Martin speaks to the House of Commons regarding Bill C-38, The Civil Marriage Act:

"This question does not demand rhetoric. It demands clarity. There are only two legitimate answers – yes or no. Not the demagoguery we have heard, not the dodging, the flawed reasoning, the false options. Just yes or no."

One of the finest speeches from a Canadian politician in memory, and an important read for Canadians and Americans alike.
posted by Jairus at 3:05 PM PST - 168 comments

Life - a strong case for life on mars was presented sunday
posted by sourbrew at 3:03 PM PST - 12 comments

Save the Bunnies! Every year, thousands of "pet" rabbits are purchased as Easter gifts, usually for kids, without much thought to the years of care which the animals will need. Within months, humane societies and pet shelters are flooded with the animals, many of which must be euthanized, as there simply aren't enough adopters to give them new homes. In response, the Columbus House Rabbit Society encourages everyone to eschew pet rabbit gifts and say Make Mine Chocolate!^TM instead. And since no campaign is worthwhile these days without a symbolic lapel pin, you can wear a chocolate bunny to spread the message.
posted by Dreama at 2:04 PM PST - 30 comments

The New Wave Photos of Philippe Carly . The Belgian native photographed just about every punk, new wave, goth, etc., band that played in Europe in the late 1970s and through the 1980s. There is a veritable horn o' plenty of concert photos to ogle with supposedly more on the way.
posted by NoMich at 1:28 PM PST - 14 comments

Bassist turned painter Mikey Welsh - of the post-grunge rock band Weezer - is a self taught painter who likes to spread the paint with abandon. He cites Robert Rauschenberg and Jackson Pollock as his inspirations and - while not in their league - one can see that influence. According to Outsider Art. info; "In front of [his] art, its hard to keep physically or mentally still."
posted by Rashomon at 12:55 PM PST - 44 comments

Lejo is perhaps the greatest actor I've ever seen perform, and he does it all without dialogue. Click on "videos" (or "filmpjes"). Jim Henson would be proud.
posted by Robot Johnny at 12:50 PM PST - 14 comments

Its real simple - break the rules with no consequences. Usually the crimes you commit are small - but the trick is that they can add up. I hate it when I am the victim of these little trangressions a lot. There must be a way to punish these mini-evil-doers. After playing with this idea for a long time I've come up with a name for it -- the "Squirt-gun offense".
posted by Mwongozi at 12:32 PM PST - 27 comments

Social Security Benefit Cuts Calculator. As President Bush barnstorms the country for Wall Street, you can find out what effects the proposed changes will have on your current benefits.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 12:04 PM PST - 58 comments

You humans have been around a lot longer than you were thought to have been here-- since at least 190,000 years ago. In 1967, the Omo fossils were thought to be about 130,000 years old.
posted by mcgraw at 11:26 AM PST - 17 comments

"The lawyers tell me there are no prohibitions against robots making life-or-death decisions," (NYT link) The Pentagon is spending $127 billion on a new project called Future Combat Systems, and armed, decision-making robots represent a significant part of that project (though such a drone may not be available until 2035). They're also looking at the possibility of nanotechnological "smart dust." Though the concept of grey goo has been all but debunked by the man who coined the phrase, the more immediate future may hold robots who, according to the Times article, are faced with choices like whether to destroy a tank or a school bus (One of the main contractors involved, the somewhat ominously named iRobot, is best known for making vacuum-cleaner-bots). Is the general movement toward a fleshless army a good idea?
posted by hifiparasol at 11:03 AM PST - 82 comments

An online psycho (or entrepreneurial genius?) says he's holding a bunny, named Toby, hostage unless charitable animal lovers donate $50,000 to his paypal account. Otherwise, he'll butcher it. So far, he's got $14,000.
posted by nospecialfx at 10:53 AM PST - 59 comments

Which celebs make the best wine? Slate notes that Sofia Coppola, Sting, Olivia Newton John, Ernie Els and Bob Dylan are among the household names now putting out wines. Sadly, they didn't note the only celebrity wine I've ever had, which was surprisingly good. Anybody trie any of these?
posted by soyjoy at 10:36 AM PST - 33 comments

The Mod Pop Punk archives, is by no means exhaustive, but by all means impressive. Out of print record sleve scans, bios and Mp3's of bands that were active between 1976 and 1985.
posted by Quartermass at 10:27 AM PST - 14 comments

A Tale of Two Chinas, by photographer James Whitlow Delano. Whole swaths of cities have vanished, to be transformed with developments that have quickly made them look more like Houston, Qatar, or Singapore than the ancient China of our mind's eye. The old hutong, or alleyways, of Beijing that once formed a mosaic of passageways and the siheyuan, or walled courtyard houses, have been largely razed. The old brick rowhouses of Shanghai, are now being leveled and replaced by modern high-rises. Traditional marketplaces, residential neighborhoods, streets where medicine shops or bookstores bunched together, are now either gone or have been rouged up as tourist destinations, part of a new synthetic, virtual version of China's incredible past. The energy fueling this transformation bespeaks a powerful but often blind, unquestioning faith in an inchoate idea of progress that takes one's breath away, often literally. (Unrestrained growth has left China with the dubious honor of having 9 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world). Delano's new book is "Empire: Impressions from China". More inside.
posted by matteo at 10:02 AM PST - 23 comments

ChoicePoint warning people that they're possible targets of fraud. ChoicePoint, Inc. the company that provided the list to help purge Florida voter records of "felons" in the 2000 election, electronically delivered thousands of sensitive financial data reports to possible identity thieves in LA. The reports contained names, addresses, SS numbers, and financial information. They're sending letters to 110,000 people across the country warning them they may be possible victims. ChoicePoint, a subsidiary of Equifax, has been discussed here before. Interestingly: "ChoicePoint, as a matter of policy, does not verify the accuracy of its data and argues that it is the user's responsibility to verify accuracy."
posted by kat at 9:10 AM PST - 22 comments

Peugeot's Fuel Cell ATV
Popular Mechanics examines Peugeot's concept ATV, the Quark, that runs on hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Some neat features (aside from zero emissions):
* A PDA style "key" interface that authenticates the rider and serves as an instrument panel.
* Its an air cooled fuel cell so its reduced in size and won't freeze in cold weather.
* The 9 liter hydrogen tank gives an 80 mile range and is designed to pop out so a refill can be plugged in almost instantly.
* Each 17" wheel has its own electric motor to produce 74 lb.-ft of torque and also employ regenerative braking technology.
More pictures here and lots of interest from many quarters.
posted by fenriq at 8:50 AM PST - 30 comments

“These are some drawings my colleague Richard stuck on my monitor” — Toby
posted by none at 8:40 AM PST - 26 comments

Libertarian "Girl" (previously snarked at here) -- Russian mail-order bride, or Libertarian Man of Mystery? We report, you decide. [via w.i.h.d.c]
posted by brownpau at 8:14 AM PST - 30 comments

Newsfilter: Bush Nominates Negroponte for intelligence chief. Where did that come from? Should this guy be the one?
posted by mss at 7:25 AM PST - 101 comments

Remember Microsoft's smart tags? It seems that google, doing no evil of course, is trying to implement a similar feature called autolink (Official blurb here). Will any of the 25 million Firefox users switch back to MSIE? The other new features look nice - SpellCheck and WordTranslator. Exchange Security believe they will get away with it.
posted by nostrada at 6:37 AM PST - 28 comments

Google maps is still in beta form and still limited to the US. One potentially useful feature is the option to search for suppliers of a particular service. For example searching for Pizza in Chicago brings up a map showing pizza outlets in central Chicago.

Searching for an Asshole, Dickhead, or even Institutionalized economic repression, however, bring up some rather more unusual results. Links possibly NSFW. Via memepool.
posted by bap98189 at 5:30 AM PST - 35 comments

PBS in trouble? NYT link.
posted by yoga at 5:21 AM PST - 45 comments

The Vagina Monologues is, to the outrage of many, being staged at a cultural center in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. For the past few weeks, the play has been a key topic of debate, with many radio stations even refusing to utter the name of the play out loud, and shaming call-in listeners that do. Today, the local media council announced that “to the extent that the play promotes illegal, unnatural sexual acts, homosexuality and prostitution, it should be and is hereby banned, citing the play as "a smokescreen for graphic lesbian pornography" and that the play's "graphic descriptions of masturbation, rape, and genital mutilation in a manner that is “abhorrent, outrageous and disgusting." Local NGOs are even refusing to accept funds generated by the sale of tickets.
posted by Kololo at 5:13 AM PST - 32 comments

The Logical Song. Supertramp. From the trademark album "Breakfast in America": the saxophone was recorded with a STC 4038 in the bell and a U87 a couple of feet away for an overall sound. Here are the lyrics. Use this to sing along with (Midi File). Download the tune onto your cellphone here (Mp3).The famous Wurlitzer Piano opener (Mp3). My earworm work for the day is done, muahahahah
posted by jeremias at 4:49 AM PST - 29 comments

Mathematical Model : Knot Divided at the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships 2005. Previous Mefi discussion.
posted by dhruva at 1:47 AM PST - 3 comments

Texas Rollergirls for those who miss the NHL.
posted by drezdn at 12:50 AM PST - 20 comments

And they said it wasn't ART... HAH! Yep, it looks like Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is finally getting some respect. His obsessed fans rejoice. Meanwhile, even if you're not an art lover at least you can pretend to join the game!
Seriously... how difficult must it be to hold cards when you've got no opposable thumbs?
posted by miss lynnster at 12:28 AM PST - 5 comments

A parent's primer to computer slang
posted by LimePi at 12:27 AM PST - 51 comments

Ancient sculptures the way the ancients saw them.
posted by crunchland at 10:49 PM PST - 31 comments

Flying Cars and Roadable Aircraft • "Because flying cars and roadable aircraft seem to be more of a dream than a reality, many people believe that these things do not exist. The truth is that almost from the moment the Wright Brothers learned to fly, there has been a history of attempts to build such vehicles. Some of them have had a fair degree of success." The paracycle is dorky, but the winged MafiaMobile ain't half bad.
posted by dhoyt at 10:36 PM PST - 6 comments

But who are we to know such things? What if what first appeared as a solid yellow flower was in fact a series of radiating stripes? Another prominent one here. This is the world of ultraviolet as photographed by Bjørn Rørslett, the world as it is seen by insects and... bats and other mammals?
posted by vacapinta at 9:57 PM PST - 19 comments

Do Hollywood stuntmen deserve their own Oscar category? Judge for yourself [qt]. Major stunt organizations have now joined forces to lobby the Academy to finally create an award for Best Stunt Coordinator. Does athleticism, courage and sheer gung-ho physicality deserve the same kind of recognition given to other Oscar categories? Only once has the Academy officially recognized a stuntman, with an Honorary Oscar for pioneering stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt in 1967.
posted by mediareport at 9:49 PM PST - 23 comments

Drummer turned sculptor: mellow, intriguing wood sculpture from Dennis Elliott, also known as the former drummer from the hard rock band Foreigner.
posted by livingsanctuary at 8:20 PM PST - 25 comments

Cabinet of Art and Medicine is a really neat collection of historical medical photography and related poetry. Compiler Mark Rowley has published an extensive bibliography of historical medical photography and in an easily missed section of his site offers his own poetic commentary on a few pictures. I found the whole thing rather moving. (medical nudity)
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:11 PM PST - 6 comments

The Chaco Culture National Historical Park (flash) encompasses a whole canyon's worth of buildings that appear to be designed to elaborately showcase the movement of the sun and the moon. And the website for the park is pretty well done. Also see the PBS-supported documentary called "The Mystery of Chaco Canyon" from the Solstice Project and a previous Metafilter discussion of archaeoastronomy.
posted by ontic at 8:00 PM PST - 11 comments

CIA Says War Helps Recruit Terrorists (Washington Post). . .The insurgency in Iraq continues to baffle the U.S. military and intelligence communities, and the U.S. occupation has become a potent recruiting tool for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, top U.S. national security officials told Congress yesterday. "Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists," CIA Director Porter J. Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. ... And Rumsfeld, ever Rumsfeld replies "I see these reports. Frankly, I don't have a lot of confidence in any of them."
posted by punkbitch at 7:45 PM PST - 17 comments

Guilty or innocent? Thanks to the work of the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions, an organization with a long history of assisting in the exoneration of the innocent, the case of Alan Beaman, convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in 1993, may be reopened soon. [mi]
posted by eschatfische at 6:57 PM PST - 9 comments

When is Law and Order on? The listings are dynamically generated with links to show summaries as well. I can't think of a better homepage now, can you?
posted by clockworkjoe at 6:53 PM PST - 37 comments

The Washington Bullets Wizards haven't been to the NBA playoffs since 1997, haven't won a playoff series since 1982, and last captured the NBA championship all the way back in 1977. Some of these dubious streaks may end soon, as the team currently sports a winning record and is sending two players to this weekend's NBA All-Star game, a feat they haven't accomplished since Crocodile Dundee was in theatres.

What kind of fans follow such a historically inept franchise? While other fan blogs earnestly recount league happenings or their teams' wins and losses, the WIZZNUTZZ have fondly embraced their team's parade of NBA losers and outcasts, building an online shrine to such former players such as 7'7" center Manute Bol, perennial felon Rod Strickland, unskilled backup center Jahidi White ("Who he play for???"), and assorted petty criminals. During the season they offer "incites" into the play of their lord and savior the reverend Kwame Brown, the failed comeback of Michael "Salieri" Jordan, the NBA Championship of the Detroit Wizards, and other edutaining commentary on the league (for additional league commentary see: ChaunceyBillups). The Wizznutzz are currently beside themselves with their team's success, but they know that the Wizznutzz story is a story about overcoming odds, but mostly not overcoming odds!!!!

Don't forget to buy a Jahidi thong when you're done reading.
posted by casu marzu at 6:02 PM PST - 27 comments

"Fears growing that an H5 pandemic is likely" A followup to 37271 (Dec. 2004) - “It appears this virus is progressively adapting to an increasing range of mammals in which it can cause infection, and the range of disease in human beings is wide and clearly includes encephalitis.” The New England Journal of Medicine says "These cases suggest that the spectrum of influenza H5N1 is wider than previously thought." The WHO is encouraging the stockpiling of bird flu vaccines now. There is concern in Britain that they are not moving fast enough.
posted by spock at 5:49 PM PST - 59 comments

So Vigoda's alive and the recommendation is to be scared, but I must not fear. My egg came out perfect, but I had to keep the cookies on the dl. Now, after 2 hours without a cigarette, maybe I'll relax in a radial context with a virtual pinner. But what will they say here?
posted by 31d1 at 3:32 PM PST - 16 comments

What is SENS? It stands for Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence. Confused? Aubrey de Grey believes that it is possible. His research has been in the news recently. De Grey is the co-founder of the The Methuselah Foundation, and they are offering a prize to anyone who can demonstrate healthy life extension in mice. More information at The Longevity Meme and Better Humans, among others. He recently spoke in Edmonton. Is it just me, or does he remind anyone else of a cult leader? There is something that strikes me about the way his writing sounds. The idea of anti-ageing treatment was convincingly suggested by Kim Stanley Robinson in his Mars Trilogy, which also addressed its potential social consequences, such as overpopulation and longevity as an option exclusively for the wealthy elite.
posted by dazedandconfused at 3:28 PM PST - 11 comments

QEMU lets you run the OS of your choice inside your current OS. It really has to be seen to be believed. The FreeOSZoo provides a good introduction to QEMU.
posted by xowie at 3:27 PM PST - 18 comments

The site of the world's first nuclear reactor? Gabon. About 1.7 billion years ago several deposits of uranium in Oklo, Gabon spontaneously began to undergo nuclear chain reactions fed by small drips of water. These natural breeder reactors ran for almost a million years, producing both intense heat and plutonium byproducts. Aside from the strangeness of naturally occurring reactors, Oklo provides the only existing case of how highly radioactive waste behaves over a period of tens of millions of years -- exactly the problem faced by the DOE's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site.
posted by blahblahblah at 2:45 PM PST - 19 comments

Christo, you've got competition, baby. "Often Hargo's The Somerville Gates has been compared with Christo's The Gates, Central Park, New York City. These comparisons have been unfair; sometimes the media has exaggerated -- even lied -- about the similarities. The differences, however, are many."
posted by nyterrant at 2:34 PM PST - 17 comments

A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars. Spirit has also recently taken a very intriguing photo. Of course this is just making things official, since we've known the truth for years.
posted by jikel_morten at 2:21 PM PST - 85 comments

NHL cancels season. The players caved and finally offered to accept a salary cap. This after they offered a host of concessions, including a 24% rollback on salaries. It wasn't enough for the owners. How did it come to this? What's going to happen to the teams, even if the league comes back next year? What are the odds that it will come back? Will the fans come back? Gary Bettman says he's truly sorry. I am too.
posted by goatdog at 1:37 PM PST - 65 comments

'Yep, life'll burst that self-esteem bubble' says USA Today This article can't seem to decide whether it wants to discuss Gen Xers or Millenials. And it quotes Neil Howe (Of The Fourth Turning) toward the end, about the characteristics of Millenials (people born after 1982). What may be the most interesting aspect of this article is that the author seems uncomfortable speaking negatively about the millenials. The writer is hesitant to criticize the Millenials, and so she initially suggests that the cry babies finishing college who are now entering the workforce were born in the 70s and early 80s. Of course, if that were true, those recent college grads would be in their late twenties to mid-thirties. And I particularly like that improved self esteem is bad because it leads to "enhanced initiative, which boosts confidence, and increased happiness."
posted by schambers at 1:35 PM PST - 57 comments

NASA takes ultrasound to space No astronaut is pregnant, but NASA is using ultrasound as a portable diagnostic tool in space. If the NHL ever settles its labor dispute, the Red Wings' trainer may use it too.
posted by Cranberry at 1:27 PM PST - 3 comments

TIME Magazine's ten best comics of 2004. What did they miss?
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:05 PM PST - 53 comments

GPS to the rescue! With all the hoopla over California's proposal to tax consumers by adding GPS trackers to cars, has anyone thought about more useful things like tracking criminals on probation?
What do you think? Is this useful, or just a slippery-slope? (via /.)
posted by mystyk at 12:55 PM PST - 6 comments

Shotgun Golf. Hunter S. Thompson has an idea for Bill Murray. I'm not sure it would check out with the NRA's Gun Safety Rules, though. Other people have been creative when it comes to shooting things with shotguns. The combination of shotguns and golf has even been done before, although in a very different way. Fire at will!
posted by PhatLobley at 12:51 PM PST - 16 comments

[Re: merchandising] "That's the ultimate goal of all kids programming, if we score, it's a gold mine."
posted by Capn at 12:46 PM PST - 14 comments

How To Hack the New Napster. Back in the day Shawn Fannings little dealie brought the world of free file sharing to the mainstream, now with the aid of Winamp and a few clever configurations, one can relive the past. via stereogum
posted by tsarfan at 11:46 AM PST - 60 comments

Ted Rall's posted his 1991 thesis on the allied occupation of France during and after WWII. A nice jumping off point for the historically minded.
posted by alana at 11:34 AM PST - 27 comments

BooksWeLike collaborative book recommendations. This site was mentioned in passing in a recent MeFi thread and in this Salon article, but it deserves a moment in the spotlight of its own. A beta, it may have yet to realize its full potential in terms of features and performance, but the more people join and recommend books, the more interesting and useful the recommendations will be. It also offers links to Amazon, indie booksellers, and maybe even your local library.
posted by matildaben at 11:21 AM PST - 3 comments

Nature Publishing Group's Connotea is an experimental bookmarking service for scientists. Created by Nature Publishing Group it lets you keep links to articles and websites you use and helps you find them again. It is also a place where you can discover new articles and websites through sharing links with other users. By saving your links and references to Connotea they are instantly on the web.
posted by tidecat at 11:13 AM PST - 3 comments

Are you a designer? Maybe your just making a CD label, or creating an invitation. Forgot the standard ad banner size? Don't worry, all this and more is right at your fingertips at the Designer's Tool Box.
posted by djdrue at 10:44 AM PST - 24 comments

Recycling ... Is Garbage. John Tierney looks at the reality of recycling and concludes it is largely a wasted effort.
Appeared in the NY Times in June, 1996.
posted by knave at 10:40 AM PST - 41 comments

J-Track 3D is an interesting JAVA web-app offered by NASA which gives a 3D interactive display of over 500 satellites currently orbiting the Earth.
posted by numlok at 10:37 AM PST - 8 comments

Aaron K is the artist behind two very strange comics: Vaccum Horror and HyperCo.
posted by mcsweetie at 10:10 AM PST - 13 comments

My lost city: Low Life author Luc Sante reminisces about a youth spent in the ruins of 1970s New York:

"... when I was a student at Columbia, my windows gave out onto the plaza of the School of International Affairs, where on winter nights troops of feral dogs would arrive to bed down on the heating grates. Since then the city had lapsed even further ... if you walked east on Houston Street from the Bowery on a summer night, the jungle growth of vacant blocks gave a foretaste of the impending wilderness, when lianas would engird the skyscrapers and mushrooms would cover Times Square."

Sante talked about the period a bit more in a 2004 interview with The Believer.
posted by ryanshepard at 9:59 AM PST - 6 comments

Watch out for the giant robot ball. While Rover, the autonomous rolling sentry on the Prisoner was really just a weather balloon, University of Uppsala researchers have developed a real robotic ball that chases burglars. “Once alerted, it can summon help, sound an alarm or pursue the intruders, taking pictures ... While the current version can only raise the alarm, it could be adapted to corner an intruder if the customer wanted”.

NASA/JPL has also developed a similar Tumbleweed Polar Rover, which has been tested in Greenland and Antarctica.

How many does Homeland Security have on order?
posted by Geo at 8:51 AM PST - 26 comments

Fandom is, at the core, neither good or bad. It simply is. [+]
posted by FunkyHelix at 8:15 AM PST - 17 comments

Iran and Syria to form an alliance? Yeah, I know it's just been touched upon, but considering the specter of this (whether it is or is not ominous)....
posted by malaprohibita at 6:58 AM PST - 27 comments

The Numeric Diaries... So cool. After entering, use the side arrows to navigate back and forth, choose from the drop-down menu, or use the thumbnails to view images going back to October 1, 2003. Some images mouse over or click through for further treats or links. And when you're done, you can visit the main site at Trezart for a lot more art and fun. (French language, via the archives of the great gmtPlus9)
posted by taz at 6:50 AM PST - 4 comments

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy movie trailer
Hollywood? Don't talk to me about Hollywood. They've got a budget the size of a planet and they give Zaphod three arms instead of two heads? Hollywood, don't talk to me about Hollywood. [via]
posted by johnj at 6:39 AM PST - 115 comments

9/11: Debunking The Myths is a study from the March issue of Popular Mechanics in which the 16 most prevalent 9/11 conspiracy theories are scrutinized by aviation experts, engineers and military analysts. "In the end, we were able to debunk each of these assertions with hard evidence and a healthy dose of common sense."
posted by jenleigh at 6:09 AM PST - 83 comments

Resources for lighting designers and enthusiasts: The Lighting Wiki; [extensive] Glossary of Lighting Terminology (and another); Lighting Design Resources (inc. "Fun with Light"; and Professional Lighting Resources.
posted by nthdegx at 5:06 AM PST - 4 comments

Too Many Fools Following Too Many Rules is a great mixtape created by Bristol DJs The Outlaws. It's a bit like this popular little number but with great combinations of dance music, pop tunes and a bunch of old classics. It's recieved some good reviews and there is an option on the site to donate some money to the DEC Tsunami appeal if you like it. This rather beautiful and mental interview sheds a little more light on them. They seem, quite appropriately, to be fans of these guys too.
posted by sam and rufus at 4:40 AM PST - 10 comments

In Japan it's a sport. In Canada, it's tradition. In Mexico, it's religion. In the US - it's a joke (NSFW language). Perhaps rightly so. In step with it’s history, American professional wrestling has a sordid, carnival-like backstage atmosphere, replete with insider slang. Extensive travel schedules and backstage politicking (QT movie, NSFW language) take their toll in the form of drug abuse and an unusually high mortality rate. While a few transition into mainstream careers, most don’t.

A billion-dollar industry , it has seen a fair share of success (NSFW image) over the years: Books, movies, video games, cartoons, records (not to mention an ECW nod in the lyrics to El Scorcho) and even punching John Stossel in the head. But it’s inconsistent and never seems to meet the level of popular acceptance as in other countries. It is, by and large, dismissed as a novelty for the NASCAR crowd, barely respected enough to be kitsch. In truth, it’s a back-breaking, death-defying, colorful soap opera of questionable taste that is anything but fake
posted by StopMakingSense at 3:05 AM PST - 28 comments

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed Monday in a massive car bomb attack in Beirut. The billionare was Lebanese PM from 1992 until 1998 and then again from 2000 until 2004 when he resigned after Syria pressured the Lebanese parliament to amend the country's constitution to permit pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud to remain in office. The resignation of the once friendly Hariri, a Sunni, coupled with the alienation by Damascus of Druze leader Walid Jumblat has isolated Syria in Lebanon and diminished the influence of France. Through the Hariri foundation, Rafik Hariri was, as a Lebanese friend remarked "pretty much single handed in rebuilding Lebanon, making it a descent place to visit, developing programs from schools to hospitals, … much of it is his own money." Fingers point at Syrian involvement and the US has recalled it's envoy from Damascus.
posted by three blind mice at 1:37 AM PST - 18 comments

comprehensive electronic music guide [flash required] Lists the major electronic music genres with a large number of sub genres and each sub genre has about three to five samples from different artists. Maybe this will get you guys to stop calling paul oakenfold's music 'trance'.
posted by EvilKenji at 1:28 AM PST - 46 comments

Colour Rules of Thumb is a simple yet effective guide to the non black, white and red world. [via 43 Folders]
posted by riffola at 1:09 AM PST - 13 comments

"The Bush administration intervened to argue that their claims should be dismissed" I seriously can't believe it. This is Brechtian. Something has to be missing. This can't be my government.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:07 AM PST - 59 comments

All The President's Hair - Think you might know a thing or three about US Presidents? (Alternately, have five minutes to kill?) Then try identifying some of them by their hair! Be sure to give it a few tries as there are more presidents than hairdos-to-guess per game.
posted by DyRE at 12:02 AM PST - 15 comments

Canada, a 13+ link whistlestop glance at something from all the provinces and territories...Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, NWT, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, PEI, Quebec, Saskatewan, Yukon. Not to mention the talk about Turks and Caicos?
posted by edgeways at 10:46 PM PST - 28 comments

Mr. Clean      
via Wolcott
posted by y2karl at 9:55 PM PST - 19 comments

The “Stop Motion Studies” are a series of experimental documentaries that chronicle my interaction with subway passengers in cities around the world. Begun in the fall of 2002, the project currently includes 13 installments from countries including Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Japan.
posted by onkelchrispy at 7:49 PM PST - 28 comments

How Kids (Like Yours) Get Trapped on the Streets Bob Parsons gives a chilling summary of how the vortex of homelessness can suck young people into a world of drugs and prostitution even faster than you might realize. (Makes you wonder how many MeFi users might be in this exact situation.)
posted by oissubke at 6:54 PM PST - 42 comments

Now Then! What did professional comic artists draw like when they were 12 years old, you ask? The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art takes a look at 25 artists... now and then.
posted by Robot Johnny at 6:01 PM PST - 18 comments

Asshat (on sale). more views
posted by jonah at 5:26 PM PST - 12 comments

The operators of FleetCenter in Boston decided it'd be a good idea to auction off single-day rights to rename the stadium and give the proceeds to charity. Honorable idea. Unfortunately for them, the winner of Monday, February 28, was the infamously crude news site Fark. They held a competition this afternoon to decide what the name should be. The winning entry: "Fark.com UFIA Arena".
posted by Plutor at 5:08 PM PST - 49 comments

VH1 Best Week Ever the Internet Weblog
posted by ColdChef at 4:44 PM PST - 12 comments

While perusing a picture book, I came across an incredible picture (sorry, only thumbnail available online) of Lake Hillier, one of several "pink lakes" in Australia. The picture book claimed no one knew why (fourth item down) it was pink, but some research showed that it appears to be blooming algae, and the color varies with the season. Other strange things appear to be going on in there too...
posted by rooftop secrets at 4:42 PM PST - 7 comments

"There's a Hello Kitty outside my window. Can I have a glass of water?"
posted by miss lynnster at 3:07 PM PST - 21 comments

A wrong made right. Female genital mutilation has been discussed on Metafilter before, sometimes with awful derails. Well here's the good news, Folks. A French surgeon has found a way to reverse this disfiguring crime against women. And he doesn't charge for it because "he considers his patients to be victims of one of the biggest crimes against humanity".
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:03 PM PST - 55 comments

"80 percent or so of them (professors) are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists." So says Ohio Senator Larry A. Mumper, who has introduced an "academic bill of rights for higher education," which would prohibit professors from "persistently discussing controversial issues in class or from using their classes to push political, ideological, religious or anti-religious views." The text of the bill is adapted from an organization founded by Marxist-turned-conservative activist David Horowitz. Similar bills have been introduced in other states. Is this a genuine attempt to foster "intellectual diversity", or a "trojan horse" to force universities to adopt a quota system for conservative professors?
posted by googly at 2:43 PM PST - 130 comments

Internet Explorer 7 announced We've heard about it for a while and it's been discussed here before. Will the new version of I.E. be able to hold its own against open source browsers like Firefox?
posted by j.p. Hung at 2:38 PM PST - 48 comments

Olympic gold medal skier Bill Johnson was released from jail late Monday after a traffic stop resulted in charges of assaulting police officers, driving under the influence of intoxicants and resisting arrest. Johnson allegedly punched the deputy repeatedly and kicked the officer in the groin after taunting them with his gold medal from the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, where Johnson became the first U.S. skier to win the downhill.
posted by Gankmore at 2:15 PM PST - 17 comments

The Westminster Kennel Club is offering streaming video of this year's competitions, broken down by breed. Let the Best in Show jokes commence.
posted by jeffmshaw at 10:11 AM PST - 35 comments

Nepal has been in the news lately (1, 2, 3), as the king ousted the prime minister and replaced the cabinet under protests and a mounting civil war. Airports are closing, newspapers are shutting down, and radio stations are going silent. How'd I find this all out? By reading a blog from someone in Nepal, posting updates of what day-to-day life is like amid the strife.
posted by mathowie at 9:55 AM PST - 7 comments

Mardi Gras: French Guiana In my little town it was canceled.But via the internets all the pomp and costume from last Tuesday is here to enjoy
posted by hortense at 9:40 AM PST - 3 comments

KIAAAAII!!! Yellow Bamboo, a Balinese martial arts/religious group, claims they can knock people down at a distance with pure focused chi energy. The usual skeptics are out in force -- but at least one skeptic was humbled! Are Yellow Bamboo just another group of deluded Dragon Ball Z fans or are they the real deal? ...well, it turns out more former than latter.
posted by felix at 9:18 AM PST - 37 comments

Ever play Morrowind? Did you realise how obscenely gargantuan the backstory and associated literature is? I'm not much of a roleplay geek, but the sheer amount of work to produce this fictious world is kinda hypnotic. And as for this...
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:53 AM PST - 32 comments

Big Hairy Audacious Goal or BHAG is Coaltion For Christian Outreach's newest evangelical ministry. It is an outreach program to make 750 commitment calls per year which will include spending five hours a week building one-on-one relationships with non-Christians, leading a small-group evangelistic Bible study each year, Training in relational evangelism for every leader, and staff teams spending time together each week in prayer for the lost.
In the 40's, A young man named Billy Graham started empowered the evangelical movement holding tent revivals and encouraging people to be missionaries. Born out of that was a more charged fundamentalist movement that we are famliar with today. Going from Billy to BHAG's begs the question, have Evangelicals evolved?
posted by Hands of Manos at 8:35 AM PST - 28 comments

You may have heard of the "McLibel Two", the pair of Brits who, as part of a group called London Greenpeace (not affiliated with Greenpeace International, by the by), published a flier decrying the nutritional and corporate values of McDonalds, and who subsequently lost a libel action brought against them by the corporation. It took a few years, but The European Court of Human Rights has overturned the decision, based on the fact that the two did not receive legal aid assistance during the trial (where they represented themselves).
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 8:25 AM PST - 21 comments

Fellas, did you spend Valentine's Day home alone? No special girl in your life? The Smoking Gun wants to help. Meet the Foxy Felons.
posted by FlamingBore at 7:57 AM PST - 31 comments

GQ's 100 Funniest Jokes of All Time. I know, I know, these "of all time" lists are lame. And thought I'd heard them all, but quite a few were new. And funny. Unlike this description.
posted by zardoz at 6:08 AM PST - 195 comments

I never was before engaged in any study that so totally engrossed my attention and my time Ben Frankin's extensive experiments with electricity went well beyond his famous kite flying; he also proved that lightning was electrical (and invented the lightning rod), and was the first one to use the words "positive" and "negative" to describe electrical charges. It would no doubt please the ingenious Mr. Franklin to know that all of his writings on electricity are now available online (Note: link goes to 912k PDF file.) Franklin's excitement over his discoveries is palpable--and high school students can duplicate them on their own, thanks to Ben Franklin As My Lab Partner. And for a demonstration that combines Ben's knowledge of electricity with his mischievous sense of humor and fondness for political subversion, watch Conspirators, or The Treason.
posted by yankeefog at 6:07 AM PST - 2 comments

Tax by the mile ? California lawmakers are considering this to make up for the loss of gas sales tax... due to the efficiency of hybrid automobiles.
posted by lobstah at 5:29 AM PST - 34 comments

Snouters were a class of animals that had evolved to use their noses for virtually every imaginable function. Gallery. (Japanese geocities page)
posted by dhruva at 10:15 PM PST - 10 comments

watching america reflects global opinion about the United States, helping Americans and non-Americans alike understand what the world thinks of current issues that involve the U.S.. This is done by providing [translated] news and views about the United States published in other countries.
posted by crunchland at 9:52 PM PST - 10 comments

More juice on Jeff Gannon (maybe NSFW). As you might have heard, Wolf Blitzer interviewed Gannon a few days ago. The little rascal denied that any of his sexually explicit sites ever went live.
posted by greatgefilte at 9:28 PM PST - 585 comments

horns a plenty Haven't seen this here recently, so here's a link to a guy who performs some classics with nothing but horns strapped to his jumpsuit.
posted by miscdebris at 8:15 PM PST - 8 comments

How do you go to the bathroom in space? One of the questions answered on NASA's Brain Bites page.
posted by achmorrison at 8:10 PM PST - 16 comments

For more than two centuries, nationalism in all its various forms—from the high-minded chauvinism of the British Empire to the virulent poison of Nazism—has been a familiar, and often negative, phenomenon. Emerging first in Europe, which it nearly destroyed and which has now apparently learned to control it, extreme nationalism still erupts from time to time in other parts of the world. The word "nationalism" never quite seemed to fit the United States, where continental vastness and enormous power have hitherto been tempered by an often-expressed distaste for empire and by the notion of world leadership by example. In the first years of the twenty-first century, however, in a dramatic departure from traditional policy, the spirit of unilateralism and militant nationalism began to dominate Washington's policies and attitudes toward the outside world.

Extreme Makeover - Brian Urquhart reviews America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism. And here is Gerald Rellick's take on the book. From Asia Source, a long and informative interview with Anatol Lievin. From the Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley's Conversations with History, A Conversation With Anatol Lieven. Also by Anatol Lieven, A Trap Of Their Own Making.
posted by y2karl at 7:55 PM PST - 9 comments

Word Press 1.5: People have been waiting, and people have been talking, and now, the wait is over. If you're in the Bay Area, consider attending the party.
posted by eustacescrubb at 7:43 PM PST - 19 comments

Roman Emperors , there sure were a lot of them. This online encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on the autocratic rulers of Rome I have come across. It ranges from Augustus to Constantine Dragases, the last emperor in Constantinople. It doesn't include them all, but has most, including my two favorites, Basil II, the Bulgarslayer and Antonius Pius. You can also find the one least deserving of fame, the one with the silliest name and, of course, the completely batshit ones. Also on the site, maps, battles, coins and everybody's favorite subject, genealogy.
posted by Kattullus at 6:15 PM PST - 21 comments

Mario sex scoop. (NSFW) Nintendo are the finest games designers the world has ever produced. Their Mario character is an icon, possibly more photographed than Princess Diana. It was inevitable that his sordid playboy lifestyle would leak to the baying dogs of the tabloid press. via b3ta.
posted by mule at 5:36 PM PST - 27 comments

Deborah Brosnan left for SE Asia today to help communities that were devasted by the tsunami rebuild their coastal ecosystems. She knows what it is like to receive the kindness of strangers after a catastrophe. She survived the fiery crash of Singapore Airlines flight #006 in October 2000.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 4:00 PM PST - 3 comments

Nekobukuro is a place in the Ikebokuro neighborhood of Tokyo where people without pets can pay 500 yen to hang out with cats.
posted by gottabefunky at 3:03 PM PST - 28 comments

Libertines (NSFW) would frown on the idea of Valentine's Day and devoting yourself to your one true love; they were all about fun, all the time. Think free love (or polyamorism as current practitioners would call it) is a product of the swingin' 70s? No way. The libertine philosophy has been around since at least the 17th century. Notable practitioners include John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, who wrote some juicy poetry on the topic; Choderlos de Laclos of Les Liaisons dangereuses fame; the Marquis de Sade; the fictional Don Juan; and the poster boy for libertinism, Charles II of England. In fact Rochester once had to flee court for making fun of Charles's appetites (though Rochester was no angel himself).

Fast forward to the current day, when Johnny Depp is starring in a new movie, "The Libertine," in which he portrays Rochester to some critical acclaim. Is Rochester simply a sad, sorry sort who justified a lifestyle that some see as immoral, and got his just deserts when he died of syphilis? Or was he caught up in a way of life that he alternately enjoyed and despised, finding that "Old age and Experience, hand in hand / Lead him to Death, and make him understand, / After a Search so painful and so long, / That all his Life he has been in the wrong." Maybe there's something to be said for abstinence, after all.
posted by MiHail at 2:54 PM PST - 18 comments

These people scalp restaurant reservations. Can't find a table this Valentine's Day? If you're in LA, NY or SF, it may be because these people have reserved the seats weeks ago under an assumed name. Which they will sell you for $40. (Via MarhginalRevolution)
posted by Jos Bleau at 2:49 PM PST - 39 comments

Dog Dancing videos. The master class.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:44 PM PST - 10 comments

Ray Kurzweil doesn't tailgate. A man who plans to live forever doesn't take chances with his health on the highway, or anywhere else.
posted by mathewi at 2:01 PM PST - 44 comments

Airrors A collection of (mostly) aircraft-related mishaps. Some look Photoshopped, but I can vouch for others being real. My favorite. Warning: no thumbnails.
posted by joaquim at 1:29 PM PST - 24 comments

Shine On: The House of Love return (for better or worse).
posted by shoepal at 12:38 PM PST - 7 comments

How easy is it to steal a bike in NYC? (qt mov) New York City is home to nearly 112,000 bicycle riders, unfortunately it is also home to some of the worst bike thieves in the country. A bicycle is stolen in NYC every 68 minutes. The Neistat Brothers decided to find out just how easy it really is.
posted by splatta at 12:28 PM PST - 57 comments

"It has ever been my study and ever shall be, to render you as happy as possible. But I have been obliged in many instances to sacrifice the present pleasures to our future hopes." From a Camp Croton bivouac of 1778 to a bunker in Afghanistan, a collection of wartime love letters in their original hands, movingly read aloud. Chapter 3 in The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History's online exhibit Battle Lines: Letters from America's Wars. [Flash, but quite worth it]
posted by Tufa at 11:26 AM PST - 6 comments

true valentine's love. from the heart, an oregon man, Gerald Krein, has women hanging on his every word.
posted by nearo at 11:08 AM PST - 14 comments

Ant Farm in the Sky - a day in the life of air traffic over the United States [.mov]. Out of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and seen in Cabinet Magazine.
posted by carter at 10:40 AM PST - 9 comments

For lovers of the hard-boiled crime story, life began with the black bird. It's a tale of greed and a wisecracking gumshoe. The femme fatale is a liar. The object of the hero's search is a statuette of a falcon. Published exactly 75 years ago on Valentine's Day, Dashiell Hammett's private-eye novel "The Maltese Falcon"' immediately won critical acclaim. And when it was made into a 1941 movie starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre (and directed by a rookie), Hammett's story found a worldwide audience and his hero, Sam Spade, became a household name. Now, three-quarters of a century later, that's still the case. More inside.
posted by matteo at 9:48 AM PST - 32 comments

Gay outrage over penguin sex test BBC News is reporting that gay rights activists are protesting the plans of a zoo in northern Germany to test the sexual orientation of "six male penguins which have displayed homosexual traits". Omitted from the BBC article is a summary of what the protesters are actually concerned about, but The Scotsman is there.
posted by kcds at 9:14 AM PST - 48 comments

the other night
after eating chili
i ripped a pretty good one.
i lifted the blanket
to trap your head
and remembered
you weren't there.
i miss you.
Valentine's Poetry from Pamie.com
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:13 AM PST - 10 comments

Iraq Winners Allied With Iran Are the Opposite of U.S. Vision [access:sexy247@mailinator.com/ biteme] You can't always get what you ask for:: ...Yet the top two winning parties -- which together won more than 70 percent of the vote and are expected to name Iraq's new prime minister and president -- are Iran's closest allies in Iraq. Thousands of members of the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite-dominated slate that won almost half of the 8.5 million votes and will name the prime minister, spent decades in exile in Iran. Most of the militia members in its largest faction were trained in Shiite-dominated Iran...
posted by Postroad at 8:47 AM PST - 59 comments

CNN's Nuke Plant Photos Identical for Both Iran and N. Korea! "Two stories posted in the last week on the CNN website, one on nukes in Iran last Wednesday, and another on nukes in North Korea on Saturday, both use the same aerial photograph of the same purported nuclear power plant! But one is supposed to be in Iran and the other is supposed to be in North Korea!"
posted by bas67 at 8:23 AM PST - 83 comments

Paper currency gallery. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
posted by gwint at 8:17 AM PST - 9 comments

Happy Valentine's Day. The perfect greeting for that special someone.
posted by borkingchikapa at 8:12 AM PST - 23 comments

I vould haf palbidations by de heardt if you vould let me take your picture. Vintage postcards featuring cameras and photographers.
posted by iconomy at 8:11 AM PST - 5 comments

SpongeBob Goes to Church With the recent kafuffle over SpongeBob's perceived sexual orientation, the United Church of Christ felt it was only fitting to extend to him an invitation to attend their inclusive services. Apparently, he accepted the invitation.
posted by livingsanctuary at 7:39 AM PST - 11 comments

General Zod on Valentine's Day Sorry Cupid, it doesn't look like Superman is going to be able to save you this time. But I guess that's what you deserve for making Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen fall for each other. It's time for you to Kneel Before Zod!
posted by kingmissile at 7:11 AM PST - 6 comments

Mathematics Behind Metabolism: Extending to all life and ecosystems the laws of quarter-power scaling.
posted by mcgraw at 6:13 AM PST - 11 comments

whoa again. Amazon introduced "Search inside the book" a while ago, but now the searchmasters are doing it.
posted by louigi at 6:04 AM PST - 28 comments

West of Ireland parody of Stan by Eminem. Strong language and 3 mbs mp3.
posted by kenaman at 3:06 AM PST - 18 comments

Taking the "idiot" out of "savant" For many of us, the word "savant" conjures up images of Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rainman", or,more recently, Mike Haddon's wonderful hero of "The curious incident of the dog in the night". Now let Daniel Tammet take you inside the autistic mind. (link via Boingboing)
posted by MadOwl at 2:31 AM PST - 18 comments

Nedroid's art and comics
posted by jimmy at 12:46 AM PST - 5 comments

Genes and Jews. And you thought Spock came up with that part of the shtick. It turns out that despite the racial and ethnic diversity of the Tribe, there are genetic markers that identify Cohanim, or the priestly descendants of Aaron (know any Cohens?). These markers help identify jewish identity in the most distant reaches of the diaspora. The fascinating intersection of anthropology, genetics, and religion. (btw first fpp)
posted by Kifer85 at 12:44 AM PST - 26 comments

Build Your Own Chicago. Do you marvel at the beauty of a classic building? Do you pray at a baseball shrine? Well, here is your chance to build your own version of many of Chicago's most recognizable buildings. Unlike any postcards I've been sent.
posted by FlamingBore at 11:20 PM PST - 16 comments

This is a great tool to mix mp3s with, especially if you don't have $400-600 for final scratch pro. It was designed specifically for DJing live and works like a virtual turntable. Besides being free, it's far better than most of the other toy-ish mixing programs available. Having two soundcards makes things easier, but it can even run on a system with one soundcard (although you still need a real mixer). We've come a long way since this.
posted by EvilKenji at 11:14 PM PST - 21 comments

HIV vs. cancer - two wrongs make a right.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:14 PM PST - 39 comments

Send a White Feather to Jonah --When WW1 broke out young Englishwomen would hand white feathers to men on the street who were not in uniform to shame them into enlisting. Let's send white feathers to a prominent chicken hawk who is willing to vilify anyone who opposes the war in Iraq but seems to have many reasons for staying safe here.
Also of interest, Juan Cole tearing Goldberg a gigantic new one, and the type of people Goldberg apparently thinks should go: a dad with 11 kids
posted by amberglow at 6:13 PM PST - 117 comments

Perhaps one of the most viewed images ever, the “lena” image is used as a standard test of image processing algorithms. Bored engineers scanned Lena Sjööblom’s playmate centerfold into the USC image lab computer system to spice up a presentation on image processing. The lena image has been used countless times to evaluate image compression algorithms, not without some controversy. Enamoured with the image, the Society for Imaging Science and Technology invited Lena to attend their 50th annual meeting. (note, all links safe for work, though a few sites link to the full playboy image).
posted by phatboy at 5:04 PM PST - 37 comments

Classic Cat describes itself as "the free classical music directory," and offers links to 3rd-party-hosted downloadable recordings, sliced and diced by hits, composer, performer, and more. There are active fora. Given the old-school look of the site, I was surprised not to find it in my repost search.
posted by mwhybark at 3:58 PM PST - 13 comments

Shock and Disbelief: For parents new to the area it comes as a surprise to discover that in 20 locations around West Virginia, public school students are sent to Bible classes in nearby churches.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:56 PM PST - 58 comments

Brittan Elementary, a rural Californian school, has begun requiring their students to wear RFID tags manufactured by Alien Technology. This was done without parental consent and is mandatory. The ACLU is less than enthusiastic.
posted by cedar at 3:38 PM PST - 28 comments

How to Watch the Grammys. The drummer for "Closing Time" Semisonic writes an amusing bit on The Grammy Awards, for those unsophisticated as to watch.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 3:18 PM PST - 42 comments

The feeding frenzy. Carly Fiorina has been attacked by the media. But, oh no, not because she was a woman. Those who sang her praises now chronicle her demise.
posted by nj_subgenius at 12:10 PM PST - 47 comments

This comment got me thinking about the pro-life/pro-vegan movement. I first encountered these folks at my local food co-op when I noticed some interesting bumper stickers. I was already somewhat aware of the "Consistent Life Ethic" movement, but they don't seem to talk about animals much. Is being pro-choice philosophically inconsistent with veganism? Some claim a resounding "yes", for others it comes down to when a fetus can experience pain, and still others take a hardline. I have to admit that I respect some of these people, if only because they're obviously not in it to make friends. To paraphrase something Steve Colbert said about Jews for Jesus, can you put a price on annoying two extremist groups at once?
posted by brevator at 10:53 AM PST - 109 comments

A group of psychics led by colourful 'SilverJade', based in Johannesburg South Africa, have predicted that a series of earthquakes and other natural disasters will strike the western coast of the United States on or around the 23rd of February 2005. The prediction is based on the interpretation of a series of dreams by SilverJade, and the technical analysis of earthquake patterns occuring worldwide throughout the month of January 2005. As of 11th of February 2005, they have successfully predicted a significant event, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in south eastern Alaska, as being a first step in a series of smaller events leading up to the big bang. The next step of the prediction is set to occur at some time on or around the 13th and 15th of the month.
posted by stbalbach at 9:50 AM PST - 43 comments

Thundercats: The Movie. Nameless Entertainment's blockbuster is a one hour forty eight minute adventure based on a certain 80's cartoon. The prize winning movie was praised by Alex Ross and Kevin Smith at a convention.
(link is an mpg, noose is in the closet)
posted by Hands of Manos at 9:16 AM PST - 42 comments

Population: 1 Plus 5,000 Books. "Rudy's Library is less than 350 square feet. The books are worn, disorganized and eclectic beyond description. It's impossible not to linger."
posted by naomi at 8:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Net label postmoderncore is based in and documents the fringe music scene of Wellington, New Zealand. It celebrates it's fifth birthday this year as a netlabel. Good noise.
posted by onkelchrispy at 8:07 AM PST - 3 comments

Escher Web Sketch [Java]
posted by Gyan at 7:48 AM PST - 6 comments

U.S. Denies Patent for a Too-Human Hybrid - what happens when your DNA violates a patent? Not sure where to begin on this one.
posted by FormlessOne at 7:44 AM PST - 12 comments

Alan Keyes disowns gay daughter. Follow up to this thread during his Senate campaign.
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:08 AM PST - 109 comments

How small could you go? Tumbleweed houses, the m-house, the wee house, the mobile hermitage and other varieties of tiny houses serve as charming abodes, offices, or retreats. Some are evocative of the gypsy vardo or the caravan. Many aficionados are attracted by the whimsy while others see small space homes as a vital cornerstone for sustainable living.
posted by madamjujujive at 5:03 AM PST - 33 comments

The Global Consciousness Project at Princeton (which may be remembered from this MeFi Post, and this one) has apparently claimed a detected prediction (or statistical anomaly) for the recent tsunami catastrophe. See the Registry of Formal Specifications for Global Events at the main project site. (The tsunami event is listed near the bottom.) For further random statistical anomaly reading, see Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, which has a more local focus. Or attempt to bend some digital forks in the not-quite-real-time Egg Basket Observer (Java). Find your nearest egg if you prefer shorter distances.
posted by loquacious at 2:34 AM PST - 26 comments

brickwallers and douchebags. It's incredibly cruel but oh so clever. Exposing the band promo photo. You might think you look good but this guy will identify your weak point and skewer you with a bon mot - which is a hell of a lot more painful than anything else you can be skewered with. Even sharp things. A couple of favourites are this one and this one, which almost killed me. If you get it you'll know what I mean.
posted by milkwood at 1:53 AM PST - 42 comments

Text adventures by Adam Cadre, including the amazing Photopia.
posted by jimmy at 12:45 AM PST - 13 comments

The Barcode of life is a short DNA sequence, from a uniform locality on the genome, used for identifying species. This can revolutionize taxonomy, if more people join the consortium and more species are added to the database. This device would be a biologist's Uber-pony. (via World Changing)
posted by dhruva at 8:14 PM PST - 3 comments

I love rugby I love playing, I love talking about it, I love the video game,, fans on the other hand.... Why is it Americans tend to be lower key about sports (as fanatic as we are) than the British or other folks who riot, blow stuff up, behead each other, etc.? I mean, I've slid naked on tile floor through puddles of beer, but cutting off your nuts, that's crazy!
posted by Smedleyman at 5:59 PM PST - 44 comments

Chicago's current archetectual and artistic showcase, Millenium Park seems to be causing some problems. The pedestrian bridge was closed because the hardwood used to build it can not take the salt used to remove ice from pedestrian walkways. But it also seems that the massive sculpture Cloud Gate aka "The Bean" is a copyright elephant in public space. Park security are shaking down photographers for permits. As is typical, the copyright shakedown appears to be less about protecting the rights of the original artists, and more about the rights of the distributor (in this case, the city's desired monopoly on postcards and prints). See boing boing for editorializing and Slashdot for the typical herd reaction.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 4:34 PM PST - 22 comments

Hans Hoppe is in trouble. Why? In one of his lectures at UNLV, the world-renowned economist stated that homosexuals plan less for the future than heterosexuals. According to Hoppe, homosexuals tend not to have children, so they have little stake in the world beyond their own time. Other poor future planners include the very young (no concept of the future) and the very old (their time is almost up). A student filed a compaint against Hoppe for his "anti-gay" remarks, and UNLV wants to issue a letter of reprimand and force Hoppe to give up his next pay increase. So should an economics professor be forced to consider his students feelings prior to presenting economic theories? As Hoppe fights back, the libertarian community voices its support.
posted by b_thinky at 3:33 PM PST - 87 comments

Newsfilter: changing of the dems? So our dear old friend Howard Dean has got himself a new home. So this begs the question, is it a new grassroots democratic party or just another sign of a little bit of reeling before the corpse gives up the ghost. Let the trolling begin...
posted by NGnerd at 2:37 PM PST - 44 comments

Rock don't Walk by Thundercut
posted by srboisvert at 12:25 PM PST - 9 comments

musicplasma evolves into liveplasma (movies and music)
musicplasma (last discussed here and mentioned here), has become liveplasma and added a movie database to its excellent graphical display system. Type in an actor, director or movie and explore an entire range of movies easily.
It's not fast but it is a great way to find new movies or music. One favorite thing is that there are no ads on the site (though clicking on an album cover or movie cover will take you to an Amazon page). Other new features: free registration to save searches and email them to your friends.
posted by fenriq at 12:20 PM PST - 4 comments

flickrgraph Dynamic visualization of flickr contact networks [java, flash, assorted technical jiggery-pokery]
posted by carter at 12:19 PM PST - 8 comments

Mountain photography from Russia and around the world, including some nice panoramas. Browse the archive by date from the left column, or choose albums (such as this one) from the right column.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:03 PM PST - 7 comments

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is not just a novel, it's an experience. Danielewski's sister, the recording artist Poe, wrote the soundtrack to the book. If a novel with its own soundtrack isn't a complete enough experience for you, the book has spawned its own web forum, to discuss any and all related minutiae.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:36 AM PST - 41 comments

Ever see a cat run an obstable course? It's time for that great new sport, Cat Agility!
posted by ilsa at 11:09 AM PST - 11 comments

'01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan The Right and the Left are busy (see link beneath) attacking or defending Eason Jordan or Jeff Gannon, and meanwhile we learn that our clever, learned, trustworthy new Sec. of State had been given warnings about what might well take place and did nothing, allowing 9/11 to occur. A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United States and 40 other countries and sought unconventional weapons, according to a declassified version of the document" "
posted by Postroad at 11:08 AM PST - 34 comments

CNN Executive Eason Jordan has resigned. He says he is leaving the news network before his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos "unfairly tarnish" CNN. Sources allege he said at a panel on "Will Democracy Survive the Media?" that American servicemen are intentionally targeting and killing journalists in Iraq. Congressman Barney Frank, who was also on the panel at Davos, was one of the first to criticizes Jordan. Oddly Jordan, who claims his comments are being misunderstood, has resigned before a transcript or video of the event has even surfaced.

While there has been very little coverage of this in the "traditional media," motivated people mobilized quickly across the Internet(s). All of this very similar to the recent controversies with Dan Rather, and "Jeff Gannon."

Both Left & Right, has there been a power-shift in the media to the general citizens of this country? What does this say about the accountability of the media in the future?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:49 AM PST - 80 comments

My Armoury - A resource for historic arms & armour collectors (Unfortunately, mostly replicas)
posted by growabrain at 4:17 AM PST - 8 comments

Six million pixels from Gracela... er, Pluto. A scale model of our solar system. It turns out, we're really, really small.
posted by panoptican at 12:28 AM PST - 52 comments

Drug-resistant HIV strain alarms officials Speculation abounds about the 40something year old man, but doctors think that he had sex with someone who had AIDS and had already developed a resistance to drugs, and then his own crystal meth use created an unkown strain in him. [NYT article]
posted by FunkyHelix at 11:34 PM PST - 45 comments

incredibly weird military recruitment drive/sermon/men's night out thing in a Baptist Church ... Every word of this might be true, but it was also part of a “The lord will protect you in the military” themed sermon. I have never had both respect and disgust for a single individual with such volume in my life. When I asked him for a picture with him holding the same bible he is in the sermon picture I think my attitude came off as “fan boy”. ... (might be slow-loading--tons of pics)
posted by amberglow at 9:02 PM PST - 76 comments

How to extract DNA from any living thing. Don't just watch the show, create a CSI lab in your own kitchen!
posted by numlok at 8:43 PM PST - 12 comments

So, ya got bears. And you've got bears, BEARS, Bears!, and guys who love Bears. (From here, probably NSFW) But bears? I had no idea. I guess they're everywhere. We know they're in Chicago, but they also inhabit northern woody areas, southern coastal habitats, and from June 10-12 they will ravage the countryside (can't deeplink, check "events"). These bears have their own spam portals, non-spam resource guides, personals, merchandise, graphic novels, newsfeeds, rules and regulations, and of course lots and lots of pr0n (that's not too graphic, but they're not called "bears" for no reason). I knew one of these guys my freshman year. I'm straighter than Peter North but he and his friends were some of the coolest people I've ever known. What are your favorite sex subcultures?
posted by saysthis at 7:30 PM PST - 26 comments

Every audience seems to be niche audience these days but this guy (not forgetting this guy) were the goods. I was reminded of them when a friends sent me this link from Germany. Made my day, it should at least raise a smile. (Guitar players may want to weep) And there seems to be a lot more of it out there than I had suspected, predictably in France and Holland, but even places like Argentina, Finland, and Japan . America does her part, and count on Britain to be encyclopaedic on the subject Okay, some are better than others, but they all have heart. Just now I could almost wish to live in Southern California just for this
posted by IndigoJones at 7:14 PM PST - 16 comments

The 48 Laws of Power. Law 1: Never Outshine the Master.
posted by swift at 7:03 PM PST - 38 comments

Piano Chords One would think that searching for such a pedantic string via Google would not net much in this post-adwords age, however Chord House's (apparently HTML-based) Chord Generator app is suprisingly nifty, with visualizations and audio samples of both each of the notes and and chord itself. Now don't go hogging all the bandwidth -- I aim to plunk down "People Just Ain't No Good" from available chord tablature for the next half hour or so...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 5:01 PM PST - 8 comments

When your love is locked up. An everyday story of prison, inhumanity and profiteering in “civilised” CA.
posted by adamvasco at 3:02 PM PST - 28 comments

Opening the Gates. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's The Gates opens tomorrow and many are excited about this potentially record-breaking public event. The finishing touches are now being put on the saffron-colored structures, which span 23 miles of path through New York's Central Park. Bloomberg hails the project as "a once-in-a-lifetime work of art," but others aren't so sure. For some, the question remains: is this art?
posted by interrupt at 2:11 PM PST - 65 comments

Microsoft AntiSpyware Program Hit by Trojan. Microsoft's Antispyware isn't out of beta yet, and already the virus writers are on the attack. "The Bankash-A Trojan shuts down the AntiSpyware program and then logs keystrokes in hopes of stealing passwords from users. The Trojan is triggered when the user opens the malicious e-mail attachment."
posted by Outlawyr at 2:06 PM PST - 38 comments

Voting Documents for sale on eBay: A Nebraska man upset that his absentee ballot wasn't counted has attempted to rally support for his cause by contacting local new agencies. When that failed... post it on ebay.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 12:55 PM PST - 3 comments

Saul Steinberg exhibition.
posted by semmi at 12:35 PM PST - 8 comments

Friday MeFi: Many of y'all are familiar with Don Hertzfeldt's animated shorts, but have you seen his comic strip? (If you like Cordell Barker or Roman Dirge, you'll probably find this amusing...)
posted by Specklet at 12:34 PM PST - 18 comments

Kanahakkliha! QT (mirror)
posted by Tlogmer at 12:16 PM PST - 16 comments

Hapland! Charmingly frustrating little puzzle... Good luck!
posted by Robot Johnny at 11:26 AM PST - 23 comments

Radioactive Material Lost By Halliburton Found In Boston Shit hapens:: "Halliburton Co. (HAL), an oil services company and major military contractor in Iraq and elsewhere, lost track of a shipment of radioactive material in October but didn't alert the government until this week. Federal authorities mounted an intensive search and found the material Wednesday in Massachusetts.
posted by Postroad at 10:17 AM PST - 30 comments

Throwing the Book at Em'. 2,500 words about a memoir of growing up poor in South Boston. It seems like a great idea, but the book has glaring errors and many Southie faithful consider it a work of fiction. Nevertheless, it has to be a better educational tool than this Southie memoir written by a sociopath.
posted by Cassford at 10:06 AM PST - 10 comments

rainwater harvesting As posted on metaefficient Aaron up in the northeast has his own home based business producing rain harvesting barrels It seems like an idea we all should consider doing. A rain barrel is a rainwater harvesting system that is connected to a down spout tube from a house or building. We make quality rain barrels that collect, store and divert rooftop runoff during a rain shower.
posted by halekon at 9:59 AM PST - 22 comments

More to the story? So what are the chances that the whole Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert thing is about more than partisan media manipulation?
posted by kgasmart at 9:58 AM PST - 64 comments

Teach Evolution: Leave No Child Behind. Teaching the age and history of our planet takes us back about 4.6 billion years; it is included in only 55% of our 50 State’s science education standards. Human evolution is included in only 8% of the state science standards, and is therefore not required in almost all American elementary, middle or high school science courses. (Don't forget Darwin Day is tomorrow, kids!)
posted by travis vocino at 9:53 AM PST - 10 comments

For me smoked reindeer heart and fermented herring are delicacies, on the other side of the world thousand year eggs and chicken feet are the gems. What are your local foods that may seem strange to others? Would you like some weasel coffee, or civet coffee after dinner?
posted by dabitch at 9:45 AM PST - 80 comments

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor

presents approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States. On December 8, 1941..., Alan Lomax... sent a telegram to fieldworkers in ten different localities across the United States, asking them to collect "man-on-the-street" reactions of ordinary Americans to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war by the United States. A second series of interviews, called "Dear Mr. President," was recorded in January and February 1942. Both collections are included in this presentation. They feature a wide diversity of opinion concerning the war and other social and political issues of the day, such as racial prejudice and labor disputes. The result is a portrait of everyday life in America as the United States entered World War II.

Try the Subject index as a point of entry; there are transcripts as well as audio. (Via Plep.)
posted by languagehat at 9:43 AM PST - 10 comments

London Underground Warning - very bad language and 750k but well crafted critique of the state of the transport system in London.
posted by Cancergiggles at 9:20 AM PST - 11 comments

"He knew he was saying dangerous things." In a calmed Amsterdam following a recent explosion of ethnic violence, 1000 radical Muslims stand by.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 8:18 AM PST - 102 comments

Playwright Arthur Miller dies at 89 Sigh
posted by Constant Reader at 7:57 AM PST - 60 comments

US House of Representatives approves national electronic ID cards. Under the rules, which passed by a 261 - 161 vote , federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to airplanes, trains, national parks, federal courthouses and other areas controlled by the federal government. More at c|net.
posted by dejah420 at 7:07 AM PST - 95 comments

World Press Photo Awards 2004
posted by biffa at 5:53 AM PST - 21 comments

Former head of Vivendi, Jena-Marie Messier, is being investigated by the FBI for possible involvement with the infamous Gardner Museum art heist.
posted by anathema at 5:45 AM PST - 7 comments

Google wants to host Wikimedia projects. Some call it corporate imperialism; some call it humanitarianism demonstrating Google's hope for society. In any event, folks are talking.
posted by NickDouglas at 5:44 AM PST - 27 comments

A flashy website ... but the photos are beautiful, especially the portraits. Some look as if they could have come straight from the pages of 'Life' magazine c.1935. Note: A couple of pics are NSFW
posted by essexjan at 3:33 AM PST - 31 comments

Gliding ants have an uncanny ability to land on the tree's trunk and climb back to the very spot from which they'd fallen. FAQ, more videos. (via boingboing)
posted by dhruva at 12:13 AM PST - 14 comments

Louis John Sutter dead at age 73. He fathered six sons, all of whom, played in the NHL.
posted by arse_hat at 12:12 AM PST - 14 comments

Covert Call allows you to alter the caller id that is sent to the phone you are calling. It can operate just like a calling card, all for the price of a normal long distance call. Caller-ID spoofing for 5¢ a minute, for all your prankster/paranoid/social engineering needs.
posted by crunchland at 10:17 PM PST - 12 comments

Mushroom Life
posted by loquacious at 9:50 PM PST - 16 comments

Melbourne artist Polixeni Papapetrou takes photographs of her daughter that are inspired by Lewis Carroll. For the same reasons. [Links SFW but be careful clicking around]
posted by tellurian at 7:44 PM PST - 14 comments

LokiTorrent was a popular spot to get movies and they even put up a fight against the recent crackdown, raising thousands in a legal defense fund. Today, it seems the MPAA won, forcing the owner to shut down. That's understandable and I'm not surprised, but they've gone a bit further than I expected, turning the site into a big scary ad against filesharing and warning that you're next. Even worse, the old owner is turning the logs over to the MPAA, for them to go after folks.
posted by mathowie at 7:34 PM PST - 109 comments

Peridromophile William James Sidis was so fascinated with with streetcar transfers that he wrote a 300 page book about them.
posted by gregb1007 at 7:04 PM PST - 12 comments

And you thought Elvis had problems...
posted by blindsam at 5:37 PM PST - 28 comments

The Washington Times--not just for moonies anymore. Racists love it too! White men should "run, not walk" to wed "racially conscious" white women and avoid being out-bred by non-whites. Latinos are "rising to take this country away from those who made it," the "Euroamericans." Muslims are "human hyenas" who "smell blood" and are "closing in" on their "weakened prey," meaning "the white race." Blacks, Coombs sneers, are "saintly victims who can do no wrong." Black solidarity and non-white immigration are imposing "racial revolution and decomposition" in America.--the writings of Marian Kester Coombs (in the Wash. Times and out of it), her husband (the managing editor of the Times), and Regnery Publishing.
posted by amberglow at 5:22 PM PST - 38 comments

There She Goes - the monstrous hit single off the only (self-titled) album The La's ever released, is the only track enigmatic perfectionist songwriter and La's frontman Lee Mavers has ever been happy with. Described as the JD Salinger of Pop, Mavers has had problems with heroin (not everyone seemed to be aware of this) yet rumours of a return to the spotlight seem to continue to surface.
posted by jimmythefish at 4:58 PM PST - 62 comments

...they are what Republicans in Washington used to call "Beltway Bandits," profiteers who manipulate the power of big government on behalf of well-heeled people who pay them tons of money to do so. Sometime around 1995, Republicans in Washington stopped using the term "Beltway Bandits."...
posted by GriffX at 4:08 PM PST - 15 comments

How do we see? This site by Dr. Dale Purves makes it obvious we don't see things like a camera in any way. Check out the interactive demos, test your perceptual abilities, and read the research explaining why this happens. Number 12: Color Contrast Cube is particularly startling. Warning: Totally Flash interface, but appropriate for subject matter. More experiments at a less Flash-y associate's site.
posted by JZig at 3:57 PM PST - 19 comments

Imps imparting the secrets of magic : a visual history of a recurring motif through 19th Century magicians' posters. via Airbag : Longboard
posted by elphTeq at 3:09 PM PST - 11 comments

What Comes Next? Big scientists answer some big questions: apparently Elvis may still be alive in a parallel universe.
posted by Holly at 2:46 PM PST - 29 comments

"After all, women are fragile and delicate creatures; that is why men should lead the way to distant planets and carry women there in their strong hands," said Russian Academy of Sciences' Anatoly Grigoryev to students of the Moscow International University, by way of explaining why there will be NO WOMEN on the first flight to Mars. Ok, that sounds right. But they might at least need some swishy gay guy to wash socks and do dishes for the fellas, nyet? (Meanwhile, looks like Comrade Anatoly here is bucking for a job at Harvard.) (RIA link via NASA Watch).
posted by jellybuzz at 2:36 PM PST - 49 comments

Bye Cleveland. Democratic Official wants Northeast Ohio to secede the state.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 2:23 PM PST - 23 comments

Few would disparage the benefits of sport and recreation except, perhaps, those elected and charged with the responsibility for funding them. In a day when even the IOC is charged with catering to professional sports it's easy to see the roots of the coming epidemic. After all, only the elite have reason enough to train, eh?. One hopes that, while the fallout after the loss was considerable, we might be able to refocus and do these things for the right reasons.
posted by mce at 12:42 PM PST - 12 comments

Safe Drunken Dialing: Its a fairly new and growing issue and we here at slackertown are tackling it head on with booze in hand. We've taken the liberty of setting up a number (321) 600-1200 for whenever the drunken dialing urge takes a hold of you. Whatever message you leave will be added to the slackertown web site so when you sober up you can check back see just how drunk you were.
posted by page404 at 12:28 PM PST - 17 comments

WFMU has a blog! (Me very happy!)
posted by lilboo at 10:35 AM PST - 21 comments

To live in a pristine land ... to roam the wilderness ... to choose a site, cut trees, and build a home ... Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. In 1968, at 51 years of age, Richard Proenneke retired to Upper Twin Lakes, Alaska and using nothing but hand tools, built a cabin where he lived for the next 30 or so years. He filmed the cabin's construction (as well as much of nature's wonder) and kept meticulous notes on the back of wall calendars. In 1973, Sam_Keith produced a book (One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey) based on Proenneke's journal entries and photography. In 1999, at the age of 82, Proenneke could no longer endure the harsh winters of Alaska and moved to California to be with his family. He died there on Easter Sunday, 2003.
posted by a_day_late at 10:05 AM PST - 16 comments

Fun with statistics. Why the PHB is a mathematical certainty.
posted by delmoi at 10:02 AM PST - 11 comments

We've Got 'Em The North Korean goverment has threatened to "bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal." It is a well known secret that as a charter member of the axis-of-evil, North Korea has an active program to enrich nuclear fuel. And this is not the first time North Korea has made such an annoucement. But why are they are trying to take pressure off Iran?
posted by three blind mice at 9:13 AM PST - 22 comments

A Skeptics View of Fringe Archaeology
posted by anastasiav at 8:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Movie to release DVD within FOUR DAYS of theatrical release : This is of interest as a shift in marketing strategy that could be highly significant. Consider the implications.
posted by spock at 7:51 AM PST - 46 comments

9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About Hijackings Rice claimed we were totally surprised by 9/11...not so! "In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission....
posted by Postroad at 7:41 AM PST - 55 comments

(Project) Mayhem? The IKEA "nesting instinct" strikes London. I am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:34 AM PST - 45 comments

When you create living, self-replicating cells from scratch in your lab, please include a barcode!
posted by mcgraw at 7:31 AM PST - 15 comments

Yesterday President Bush said, "Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent." Is he advocating that the US default on its Treasury bonds?
posted by Sixtieslibber at 7:30 AM PST - 110 comments

"This is the police, pull 'em up!" Perhaps feeling pressure from Louisiana to keep pace in the stupid laws arms race, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 60-34 on Tuesday to impose a $50 fine on anyone found wearing pants low enough that a substantial portion of undergarments is showing. The bill (still pending in the Virginia Senate), introduced by Virginia Beach fashion maven Algie Howell, has attracted international attention and charges of racism.
posted by casu marzu at 7:23 AM PST - 42 comments

Buttercup Festival , my favorite local cartoon, has been retired. You can still find everything but the first volume in the archive. Kind of like a college calvin and hobbes (though it's much better than that sounds), Buttercupfestival stars a very confused goth kid, the mysterious off-panel man, and Rodney, the second grade t-ball jockey.. my personal favorite
posted by es_de_bah at 6:27 AM PST - 11 comments

Flash Fiction is a site which publishes short stories (under 1000 words). While the format (3 columns, not evenly filled) is a little annoying, the concept is interesting. My favorite story so far is 'A leaf falls', in the first column scroll halfway down the page. The site is maintained by a writer/ artist/musician, whose eventual aim is to print the stories on coffee mugs. Morning reading anyone?
posted by darsh at 5:43 AM PST - 6 comments

Everything you always wanted to know about drone but were afraid to ask. Written by Ron Scheppa of textura fame. (A shorter version of this article can be found in the current issue of Grooves Magazine.)
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:25 AM PST - 5 comments

George Washington University's National Security Archive carries a collection of declassified US documents and articles on Saddam Hussein; Mexico, Cuba and other Latin American countries; Nixon's meeting with Elvis; the CIA and Nazi war criminals; etc.
posted by plep at 5:11 AM PST - 8 comments

The Gettysburg Cyclorama was my first exposure to the type of art known as cyclorama, when I saw it as a child. Imagine my pleasure to discover that in addition to several other cycloramas that still exist worldwide, there is a society to preserve them.
posted by plinth at 5:08 AM PST - 10 comments

Nice Melons. Entirely and completely worksafe.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:34 AM PST - 21 comments

Reason interview with Neal Stephenson containing (among other things!) libertarian-statist-terrorist triangulation, the epidemiology of domination systems, praise for 17th century financial & philosophical sophistication and... oh and an apologia for his endings :D [via SE, also see :]
posted by kliuless at 3:33 AM PST - 23 comments

Who is "Invader"? We may never know but what is known is the artist has installed more than 600 mosaics in Paris. His influence has spread to other places such as New York and Los Angeles and some have been chronicling the invasion. [quicktime may be req. for some sites]
posted by squeak at 3:11 AM PST - 26 comments

Fantasy Planes. Sometimes I think the most interesting airplanes are the ones that never got built
posted by growabrain at 1:05 AM PST - 7 comments

At Nine Past Nine everyday, he takes a selfpicture and posts it.
He's been doing this since October of 2002. Twenty eight months of selfpictures at 9:09 am with whoever he happens to be with or whatever he happens to be doing.
posted by fenriq at 12:51 AM PST - 19 comments

Miss McDonald
posted by jimmy at 9:58 PM PST - 33 comments

Crothersville, Indiana. John Neace forces himself to pass by the run-down apartment buildings every day. Inside, the police say, Mr. Neace's 10-year-old daughter stumbled on someone with methamphetamine last month. Her drowned body was found five days later at a nearby creek, small hands tied tightly behind her back.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 9:00 PM PST - 48 comments

Poor little Daisy Moshammer... After a life of leisure, immortalized on the arm of her famous, eccentric papa, the little dog's troubles began on the tragic evening of January 13th in Grünwald. Alas, poor little Daisy was fast asleep in bed when strange man strangled her beloved fashion icon daddy to death with a telephone cord. As he was a huge celebrity in Germany, the country mourned.

"What will become of me without Daddy?" Daisy whimpered. "I've been carried around so long, I don't even know how to walk anymore..."

When the will was read, Daddy proved he loved her! But without him to carry her, Daisy's world began to spiral out of control. Suddenly wealthy and thrust into the spotlight alone without her beloved big-haired father... how will she ever fill the void? Sex? Drugs? Are you kidding? Daddy would've much prefer shopping!
posted by miss lynnster at 8:48 PM PST - 15 comments

A thorough tour of the Gigabyte motherboard factory. 20 pages with lots of photos showing the complete motherboard assembly process. The 'wave soldering' techique is pretty cool.
posted by giantkicks at 7:59 PM PST - 17 comments

Paper Snowflake Patterns We've all had hours of joyous fun making virtual snowflakes, but Dave here has made some that you can print and cut out and stick up on the wall.
posted by exceptinsects at 7:35 PM PST - 2 comments

Some people said they sucked, but either way they're all here: the 2005 Super Bowl Commercials courtesey iFilm. Meanwhile ESPN dished up an all-time top ten list for Super Bowl commercials and had the readers do the same. (previous posting attempt credit to Doohickie)
posted by rooftop secrets at 7:22 PM PST - 18 comments

Penopoly- a fountain pen website. Fans of pens, a history of pens, vintage pens, anatomy of a pen, pens, pens, PENS!
posted by headspace at 6:22 PM PST - 11 comments

Want to know where David Bowie was on a given day between 1974 and 1980? Now you can find out.
posted by cedar at 5:16 PM PST - 34 comments

"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you". Murakami Haruki writes about love, earthquakes and -- in his new novel "Kafka on the Shore" -- mackerel raining from the sky. He is so famous in Japan that he was forced to flee the country, and now the rest of the globe (.pdf file) is fast catching on to his singular vision. More inside.
posted by matteo at 4:32 PM PST - 18 comments

Why don't you buy a pen from the good people of Pen Island.
posted by Kattullus at 4:29 PM PST - 18 comments

Making your loved one comfortable during the last days of life. You'll have your turn.
posted by semmi at 3:19 PM PST - 34 comments

A followup on the Ward Churchill controversy by fellow CU professor Paul Campos alleges that in addition to research fraud and plagiarism, Churchill is guilty of "bullying his way into academia" by fabricating the story of his Cherokee heritage--an idea corroborated by AIM, who called him a "wannabee" Indian, and by IndianCountry.com, which also questions Churchill's qualifications for chairing the Ethnic Studies program at CU.

Churchill's prior education began at the now-defunct experimental Sangamon State University which solicited educators with ads in Rolling Stone. In his climb to tenure at CU, did Churchill's supposed Native American heritage & activism play a more important role than his academic record? Not long ago, CU was noted for its lopsided rules of dissent. Does the environment at CU embody Cass Sunstein’s "law of group polarization", ie, "when like-minded people deliberate as an organized group, the general opinion shifts toward extreme versions of their common beliefs"?
posted by jenleigh at 2:18 PM PST - 47 comments

Bolt Gallery
posted by srboisvert at 1:30 PM PST - 22 comments

43 Amazon Things? Merlin Mann posted a link to a Salon article (registration required, watch an ad) that indicated that 43things is funded by Amazon. What does it mean? What would they do with people's 43 things?
posted by fixedgear at 1:07 PM PST - 22 comments

Frick'n Lasers! When an UT Austin student finds a stash of graded freshman physics homework, he decides to pitch in and add his own comments to those of the TA. Our children is might not be learning, but at least they're getting to play with lasers!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:43 PM PST - 79 comments

Jimmy Smith (wikipedia) passed away last night. [ mi ]
posted by bluedaniel at 10:52 AM PST - 46 comments

Fake "reporter" flees before bloggers. How did a man with no known journalism experience get repeated White House press room access, where he denounced Democratic leaders at press conferences and loudly supported President Bush? It's a question asked here before. But now, in an example of citizen journalism, bloggers have apparently exposed "Jeff Gannon," whose other activities may lend a new definition to the label "Republican tool."
posted by sacre_bleu at 10:39 AM PST - 127 comments

Single-Sex Education When WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show decided to discuss (audio) the Summer's gender brouhaha, an interesting thing happened. The guest expected to support gender difference interpretations, Dr. Sax, and the guest expected to discuss structural challenges to women in the sciences, Dr. Bell, agreed on one solution: single-sex education. As the AP noted last summer, single-sex public education is up. Though some object on the basis that separate is never equal, Dr. Sax's organization claims both boys and girls see definite results. And even if you don't agree with Dr. Sax's reasoning, he says the studies are on his side. After all, girls schools have given us awesome ladies like Rosa Parks, Sally Ride, and me.
posted by dame at 10:03 AM PST - 115 comments

Is the aroma of burning flesh putting you off your lunch? An Israeli company called Patus is marketing a new product called Odor Screen to EMTs, soldiers, cops, and medical staff who work at the sites of suicide bombings, combat zones, and other modern catastrophes. The Proustian link between smell and vivid memories is well established, and by displacing traumatic odors with a "calming vanilla aroma," the company hopes to lessen PTSD in first responders, and that's no laughing matter. [via medgadget]
posted by digaman at 9:25 AM PST - 25 comments

Sketch-A-Move Draw a straight line on top of the car, lift the pen and the car shoots off in a straight line. Draw a circle on the car and the car starts wildly spinning around. Draw a complicated squiggle and the car spirals in and out. Quicktime Video Link#1 and Link#2
posted by Hands of Manos at 9:17 AM PST - 35 comments

Art in Cities. Pretty cool.
posted by jonah at 9:16 AM PST - 10 comments

Magic trix. With pix!
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:50 AM PST - 7 comments

"Wake up and smell the fascism" ??? Me-Fites seem to be concerned with fascism in America recently. We've secretly replaced their regular government with new Folger's Crystals! Let's see if they notice the difference!
posted by spock at 7:47 AM PST - 74 comments

Nursing moms are aphrodisiacs, but if you're lonely tonight, don't let it get you down.
posted by mcgraw at 7:28 AM PST - 20 comments

MIT Media Labs' concept car project - redefining automotive design and thought, overseen by William J. Mitchell and Frank Gehry [PDF]...via Don Norman's Concept Cars essay...
posted by tpl1212 at 6:43 AM PST - 20 comments

orz. Picture a guy facing left and kneeling on the ground. The "o" is the head, the "r" symbolises the hands and body whilst the "z" is the legs. Because Hao-Ren finish last.
posted by seanyboy at 6:06 AM PST - 40 comments

Alabama lawmaker to introduce a novel new way to keep people from catching "the gay". I can hear the ACLU drooling from here. Does the state have any power to limit the books available in a public library?
posted by ozomatli at 6:05 AM PST - 53 comments

They haven't gotten around to 2004 yet. But they perfectly sum up the state of hollywood by presenting...The Three Least Shitty Movies Of 2003. Plus the Least Shitty Actors, etc. SFW except for some language. Handy if you are looking for bittorrent inspiration. Also see THE TOP 100 MOVIES OF OUR TIME on the front page. You can argue your case streuously but no fighting. Though how anyone can take it seriously when Withnail & I does not appear on it is beyond me.
posted by milkwood at 2:32 AM PST - 25 comments

Scams. There's always someone trying to get what's yours. They take advantage of the misery of others, and if you're labeled a sucker, then you could end up being deluged. Can you tell what is real?
posted by viama at 12:03 AM PST - 19 comments

Apollo 11 - 17 Mission Panoramas - Hans Nyberg treats us with a stunning full-screen use of QTVR, taking high-resolution scans of Apollo 11, 12 and 17 panoramic photographs, stitching them together for a full 360° view. [from Slashdot]
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:24 PM PST - 17 comments

Jack Hylton's career spanned the early 1920s and up until his death in 1965, he was a successful bandleader setting trends within popular music of the time in the U.K. and expanding into the world of entertainment. Real Audio files here. Earworm here (ram).
posted by dhruva at 11:20 PM PST - 2 comments

Twelve Days Of Christmas : as sung and customised by the cast of Twin Peaks circa 1990. A disturbing new addition to your 2005 Halloween party mix! Note distinct lack of Lynchian subversiveness. via The Morning News
posted by elphTeq at 10:12 PM PST - 27 comments

Last night, I watched François Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player. While looking for information on the movie today, I came across this website which features famous uses of the Giuoco Piano opening in chess. Yes, it is the only chess move I know, aside from losing....
posted by WC_Helmets at 9:42 PM PST - 6 comments

"My daughter and I, searching for comfort, spent many hours looking at memorial sites for others, especially children. It seemed to ease the pain a little knowing that there were others who knew and understood our pain and that through the internet we could be united with them."

Haye's Friends in Heaven links to a variety of websites complete with heart-wrenching graphics and bizarre animations. You can vote on your favorite; winners recieve nightlights.
posted by iamck at 8:55 PM PST - 44 comments

Need three jobs to support your family? That's great, Uniquely American at that.
posted by delmoi at 7:46 PM PST - 71 comments

Google blogger fired. Mark Jen, a blogger whose candid (but oh-so-inane) comments about life on the job at Google sparked controversy last month, has left the company. Do no evil. Blog no evil. And so forth.
posted by aliendolphin at 6:33 PM PST - 27 comments

Pornocracies, sterile atomic flies, intellectual property absolutism, and the heavy metal umlaut. Plus an amazing amount of information about people who went up against the laws of thermodynamics and lost. All this and much, much more in the Wikipedia unusual articles category.
posted by ontic at 5:52 PM PST - 24 comments

Live from Bourbon St. Today is Mardi Gras. Nola.com provides a live free uncensored webcast (realplayer link)(wmp link)hosted on the streets of Bourbon St. till midnight tonight. (may be nsfw at times.)
posted by Merik at 4:08 PM PST - 20 comments

The psychology of taboo. Commenting on the Harvard hullabaloo that took place a few weeks ago, linguist/cognitive scientist Steven Pinker offers his opinion, using ideas he previously presented in The Blank Slate (via AL Daily)
posted by greatgefilte at 3:27 PM PST - 63 comments

Drinking with Christopher Hitchens and the Iraqis Blogger Michael J. Totten recounts a night out with several angry Iraqis and one famous polemicist.
posted by Asparagirl at 1:56 PM PST - 54 comments

'Falling in love with the truth'. On Dec. 10, 1956, exactly one month after Soviet troops crushed the last hopes of the Hungarian Revolution, 13-year-old Sylvia Plachy lay hidden in a farm cart that was carrying her toward the Austrian border. That night, Plachy and her parents escaped, finally making their way to the United States. The family settled in Queens, New York, where the teenager grew up to become one of the most incisive photographers of her generation. Many of the photographs will be displayed this spring at the Rose Gallery in Los Angeles, and are on view now at New York's Hunter Fox Gallery, where Plachy (scroll down) recently talked about the book and her career. Her pictures "have to do with what memory looks like,' she explains. "How you remember things. Not so much how they are, but how they get translated." Oh, she's Adrien Brody's mom and she uses a Holga.
posted by matteo at 1:39 PM PST - 15 comments

Twenty-year sentence for selling two Oxycontin pills "I want to be a good person." said Johnson. "I wish I could have the chance to better myself and repay my debt to society. I want to go to college. ... It was just two little pills. ... This one time, please give me a chance. Please." A small town in Indiana doles out tough sentences and offers classes on the community's out of control drug problem.
posted by billysumday at 10:54 AM PST - 266 comments

Why did your last diet fail? If you're over thirty, over-stressed and overweight... take a look in the mirror. You've got excess fat around your waste hips and belly, right? Well diet failure is not your fault!

Surprise surprise... Relacore's representative isn't a real dietician! Who cares about that though... at least she's not as nauseating as Dr. Greg Cynaumon.
posted by catchmurray at 10:49 AM PST - 54 comments

SPOILER ALERT: There's a movie out now that, like The Crying Game, depends for much of its impact on a plot twist. Are critics honor-bound not to blab that development to readers? (More Inside, including, duh, spoilers)
posted by soyjoy at 10:41 AM PST - 63 comments

The Brain on the Big Screen: films of patients in a neurology ward of a Romanian hospital circa 1899. Between 1899 and 1902, Gheoghe Marinescu perfected the use of cinematography as a research method in neurosciences and published five articles based on cinematographic documents. He focused his studies particularly on organic gait disorders, locomotor ataxia, and hysteria. He adapted Charcot's method of lining up several patients with the same disorder and showing them together to permit appreciation of archetypes and formes frustes. He decomposed the moving pictures into sequential tracings for publication. He documented treatment results with cases filmed before and after therapy. Films 1-4 and films 5-8
posted by derangedlarid at 10:26 AM PST - 9 comments

Endangered Gizmos via the EFF (warning, they do want your money to continue fighting "to defend our rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using new technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web.")
Lawsuits have driven some excellent consumer products into extinction, like the ReplayTV 4000, DVD X Copy and the lamented wild and crazy Napster 1.0 including what drove them into extinction. They also list endangered gizmos like the HD TV PCI Card, Morpheus and Generic FireWire, open Wifi hot spots and CD burners.
Among the "saved" gizmos is the Skylink garage door opener which had been attacked under the DMCA.
posted by fenriq at 10:11 AM PST - 5 comments

Mental Health & Behavior (NYT). The work (and controversy) among psychiatrists and forensic scientists to classify extreme, psychopatic, anti-social, "evil" behavior. The items to rate the peacetime offender includes a 20-item personality test qualifying glibness and superficial charm, grandiose self-worth, pathological lying, proneness to boredom and emotional vacuity.
posted by semmi at 9:55 AM PST - 14 comments

Superman is a Dick. The worst comic book covers.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:52 AM PST - 37 comments

Outsourcing Torture The secret history of America’s “extraordinary rendition” program.
posted by y2karl at 9:51 AM PST - 16 comments

New Firefox build fixes IDN toggle Hear about the IDN debacle yesterday? Last night's build of Firefox fixes it. Download and install over your existing Firefox. The Mozilla tree is fixed too. [instructions inside]
posted by cavalier at 9:49 AM PST - 38 comments

Look at all the .gov sites infected by the "0wn3d by NoPh0BiA" hack. Sad.
posted by basilwhite at 8:53 AM PST - 20 comments

For all your sizearching nizeeds.
posted by taumeson at 8:25 AM PST - 22 comments

Pinhole photographs of London and New York "I am walking London Underground's Circle Line. On the tube it ordinarily it takes a little over an hour. I'll be doing it on foot, taking slow pinhole photographs, between two stations at a time." Plenty of other stuff on the site too.
posted by carter at 8:23 AM PST - 14 comments

Saint Paul's Vulcan King faces sexual harassment charges. No, nothing to do with Spock. The Vulcan King, or Vulcanus Rex, and his Krewe fights King Boreas every year to bring warmth back to Saint Paul during the city's famed Winter Carnival. Decades ago, the Vulcan Krewe used to kiss ladies and smear their faces with soot, but now, they have to ask first. They do a lot for the community, but their questionable traditions put a shadow on their charity work. Even so, some are still behind the Krewe. Hail Vulcans! Jail Vulcans?
posted by TacoConsumer at 7:51 AM PST - 5 comments

Now With 42% More Death Wish! Tipping out the contents of the plastic wrapper onto my rice seemed to make a noise that sounded almost like colooostommy baaaag but I ignored it and took a bite. Rather good.
posted by naomi at 7:38 AM PST - 25 comments

Names in Time [babyfilter]
Martin Wattenberg has crafted an elegant interactive visualization of this baby-name data (discussed mefiwise here ). Martin's work discussed here before: 1 2 3
posted by e.e. coli at 6:58 AM PST - 70 comments

Peasant's Quest coming soon to theatres. A Lem Sportsinterviews Joint. [Macromedia Flash; largely injoke]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:50 AM PST - 14 comments

Dorkstorm: The Annihilation The ten geekiest hobbies
posted by ColdChef at 6:45 AM PST - 53 comments

Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded: "A theory that the ancient Mayans built their pyramids to act as giant resonators to produce strange and evocative echoes has been supported by a team of Belgian scientists." Others are not so sure... Coincidence, or engineering? Did the designers of El Castillo pyramid cannily build in a sound effect that mimics the warble of the sacred quetzal bird? Listen for yourself, with the .wav file (first set is the real bird, the second is the pyramid) featured in this Acoustical Society of America page. I prefer to think it's deliberate; after all, it's possible that early man was experimenting with cave acoustics to to create sound-enhanced rock art (there are sound samples for this included here - unfortunately a Geocities site). Also of interest, the BBC programme "Acoustic Shadows" (requires RealPlayer - *heavy sigh*).
posted by taz at 4:00 AM PST - 24 comments

Tired of having to go through directors and producers, more and more screenwriters have their own websites to speak directly to the public (and to speak privately to each other.) Craig Mazin (screenwriter of the upcoming Opus the Penguin film) talks about why the hero aims low and how the screenwriter is like the Director of Photography. John Rogers worked on Catwoman and says "The one tiny shred of my artistic integrity I can take out of that process is that I've never actually seen the movie". Max Adams (whose Excess Baggage is reputed to be one of the best scripts ever made into a crappy movie) talks about how scripts get ruined. William Martell (the Robert Towne of made-for-cable movies) thinks it's a mistake to be too original. Terry Rossio (co-author of Pirates of the Caribbean reveals the physics of the story molecule. (Terry Rossio's site was mentioned in this thread on screenwriter John August's website but is worthy of a front page post of its own.)
posted by yankeefog at 1:44 AM PST - 19 comments

Live and Let Die. So you thought Paul McCartney's Super Bowl appearance was boring? Well, here's a little clue for you all: maybe that wasn't Paul. Of course, the "Paul Is Dead" phenomenon is well documented--but could that just be a coverup for a much larger conspiracy?
posted by First Post at 12:53 AM PST - 37 comments

whoa...
posted by machaus at 9:49 PM PST - 132 comments

The Generator Blog describes and links to about 190 Generator sites, where you can make all sorts of different things online: Dymo-style labels, Wisconsin city names, walking insects, Bart Simpson chalkboards, Guitar Chords, Sound effects (onomatopoeia) and more. Disclaimer: I found out about this in my HTTP logs, so while nothing here is a self-link, one of those 190 generator links is. Tiptoe carefully around it.
posted by kurumi at 5:50 PM PST - 10 comments

Disgusting Trucks Can you identify any worse? Yeah and Yeah.
posted by nj_subgenius at 5:48 PM PST - 46 comments

Terrorháza [Flash]. Having survived two terror regimes, it was felt that the time had come for Hungary to erect a fitting memorial to the victims, and at the same time to present a picture of what life was like for Hungarians in those times. A tour of the Terror Musuem at 60 Andrássy út in Budapest. After the introduction, proceed to the Exhibition link.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:16 PM PST - 5 comments

Aïna Photo Agency : Afghanistan Through Afghan Photojournalists' Eyes. "In October 2002, 25 students -- men and women ranging from age 13 to 40 -- were selected from a list of 400 candidates and began training at the Kabul-based Aïna Media and Cultural Center. The goal was to train a young generation of Afghan photojournalists, and Aïna Photo became the first photojournalism school in Afghanistan." Via Digital Journalist. Some pictures NSFW (opium production/use related.)
posted by NewBornHippy at 4:41 PM PST - 4 comments

Tired of EBay scams? Think EBay is a haven for criminals? Maybe you ought to surf on over to MormonBid.com.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:41 PM PST - 18 comments

Remember when game shows had a soul? All the bug-eating and voting off has left me wishing for the golden age of games. Reminisce with some well-designed classic bonus rounds here.
posted by AloneOssifer at 3:34 PM PST - 18 comments

Martin Amis visits Colombia. Life in the hellholes of Cali:

To say this of human beings is to say both the best and the worst. They can get used to anything. And I got used to it too. You find yourself thinking: if I had to live in El Distrito, I wouldn't stay at Kevin's but at Ana Milena's, where they have cable TV and that nice serving hatch from the kitchen to the living room... Similarly, I now found myself thinking: you know, this crippled murderer isn't nearly as interesting as the crippled murderer I interviewed the day before yesterday.

One of the scariest things I've read recently. (Via Arts & Letters Daily.)
posted by languagehat at 1:39 PM PST - 19 comments

The E Commerce Times is reporting that Ask Jeeves may be trying to purchase Bloglines.
posted by lobstah at 1:35 PM PST - 6 comments

Call her Madame. Among the old-timers, the story went like this: a woman known to everyone as Madame came to California from Kentucky with her children and her husband. But once they were in the Gold Rush State, her husband left her. Desperate to find work, she introduced herself to a movie director named D. W. Griffith. He not only cast her in his movie, but the two became friends for life. And with this woman, called Madame Sul-Te-Wan, what we now call Black Hollywood began -- as a new book by historian Donald Bogle explains. (more inside)
posted by matteo at 1:31 PM PST - 6 comments