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Giant Crab, Enemy Crab
After a Sony exec gave gave a really bad demo at E3 for an upcoming PS3 game, mean gamers re-edited the embarrassing footage to segue into a cool dancefloor remix.
posted by w0mbat at 11:08 PM PST - 38 comments

"A language is a dialect with an army and navy":
A linguistic summery of African American Vernacular English also known as Ebonics. (Mostly framed through the lense of a Nationwide debate on the subject sparked 10 years ago by the Oakland School Board.) previously...
posted by serazin at 10:42 PM PST - 48 comments

The New Yorker appends a correction (scroll to bottom)... It seems that Essjay, an inner-circle Wikipedian favored by Jimbo Wales, has been lying about his "credentials " to everyone for years, including to The New Yorker (covered previously prior to correction.)
posted by bhouston at 10:06 PM PST - 112 comments

Whu? Bill O'Reilly does a respectably good interview with... Marilyn Manson! This is surprising on so many levels. And the content, superb. Well worth the viewing. [video link] via Cyberdork via Reddit
posted by five fresh fish at 7:50 PM PST - 59 comments

Daniel Tammet (60 Minutes clips) is a highly functioning autistic savant able to learn Icelandic in a single week and recite PI to 22,500 places. "Savants can't usually tell us how they do what they do. It just comes to them. Daniel can. He could be the ‘Rosetta Stone." Previously on MeFi, he has a new book and movie (Google Video, 48m).
posted by stbalbach at 6:51 PM PST - 22 comments

This apartment is so cramped. I wish I could find a little extra space. (previously)
posted by caddis at 6:20 PM PST - 22 comments

Elyse Sewell (some language NSFW), the nerdy, smart-mouthed, pre-med athiest who lost the first season of Tyra Banks' America's Next Top Model ("ANTM") to Adrianne Curry, has since arguably achieved more success as a model than any actual ANTM winner. Her blog is the only internet site I'm aware of that provides mordant commentary on very strange modeling jobs, odd local food variants, ANTM, dating a Shin (bus, SNL, Christmas, album, tour), and the heretofore sadly underexplored existentialist moments of modeling. (ANTM previously.)
posted by onlyconnect at 5:04 PM PST - 51 comments

Monstropedia: Exactly what it sounds like
posted by edgeways at 4:24 PM PST - 17 comments

You: a man with incredibly bad gas. Location: A busy street. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Fart without the man next to you noticing. Because scatological humor is timeless.
posted by kyleg at 4:23 PM PST - 29 comments

Ask a Biologist. "We think that kids don't always get the access to real scientific information (or real scientists!) outside of the classroom so we are here to do just that." One of the newest in a line of question-and-answer sites, this one is run by fifty professional scientists and directed toward school kids. Is is possible to clone dinosaurs? Why do I sneeze when I look at the sun? How many mutations do I have? How do polar bears keep their feet warm?
posted by arcticwoman at 3:39 PM PST - 7 comments

Wellington Grey used to be an essayish personal blog, but lately Grey has taken to posting amusing graphics. Don't miss out on gems such as Bedtime Entropy, W.W.G.W.B.D., W.W.R.F.D., Why Go?, Roomba and Things I Teach At a Girls' School.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:49 PM PST - 22 comments

Boston: First Aqua Teen Hunger Force terrorizes these gentle souls, now traffic monitors are terrorizing the residents. Who are they going to get to compensate them this time?
posted by Bovine Love at 1:46 PM PST - 55 comments

The Singular Image recognizes outstanding individual photographs in color and black and white. Center, formerly known as the Santa Fe Center for Photography, was founded in 1994. Center is a nonprofit organization that honors, supports and provides opportunity for gifted and committed photographers. Our programs bring exposure to worthy photographic projects and series, and create fellowship among photographers and influential members of the photographic community. (some images NSFW)
posted by ColdChef at 12:08 PM PST - 4 comments

The Great Firewall of China connects to a server within China, and lets you know if your site is blocked or not, per the government's internet censorship.
posted by mathowie at 12:00 PM PST - 66 comments

Single....err....232bleLinkYouTubeFilter Set of videos made by a user to teach drawing of the human form from head to toe without reference to a model. Very raw and unpolished, but an incredible (and, incredibly, free) resource. Also in blog form.
posted by DU at 10:21 AM PST - 21 comments

"Inexplicably, a man in a Superman costume could be seen walking around the car, but he did not stop to help the driver or any of the victims."
posted by empath at 9:59 AM PST - 47 comments

Starting tomorrow The ZBS Foundation will be running a free podcast re-broadcast of Moon Over Morocco, a radio series from the 70s featuring the continuing strange adventures of Jack Flanders. Some of you may be familiar with the first Jack Flanders story, The Fourth Tower of Inverness, a mystical and hilarious little cult favorite that would occasionally pop up on independent radio stations. Moon Over Morocco is its sequel.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 9:43 AM PST - 13 comments

Dorothy Parker in her own words. Audio clips of Ms. Parker reading her own work in 1964, near the end of her life.
posted by hermitosis at 9:11 AM PST - 33 comments

Running The Numbers. This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. [via]
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:32 AM PST - 20 comments

Vanity on the rise among young people today. Findings from a recent San Diego State University workshop shows that a couple decades worth of self-esteem parenting, may have engendered an entire generation of narcissists.
posted by psmealey at 8:20 AM PST - 104 comments

A one , a two, a one, two, three, four, five. Gene. Gene/Rich. Rich/Animal. Rich/Lewis. Wonder. Billy. Joe. Swiss cheese.
posted by unSane at 7:35 AM PST - 37 comments

Killered Bees. The NYTimes covers the mysterious collapse of commercial honeybee colonies over the last 5-months, covering dozens of states. The disease, Colony Collapse Disorder, does not have a determined cause. The Canary Database indicates that bees can serve as "canaries in a coalmine" for human diseases, as many other animals do. Some of the suspected causative agents (as reported [pdf] by Penn State) include a immunodeficiency, the hive consumption of high-fructose corn syrup, nutritional stress, parasites, infectious diseases, stress due to colony splitting and relocation, insecticides, and antibiotic use. The die-offs are likely to adversely impact both prices and crop yields.
posted by rzklkng at 7:04 AM PST - 45 comments

Idiocratic Design. A look at the signs and logos that litter the world in Idiocracy.
posted by chunking express at 6:52 AM PST - 53 comments

Billy Thorpe died of heart failure this morning.
posted by flabdablet at 6:13 AM PST - 23 comments

What a menu: White meat chicken florentine in a delicate sauce with garden greens. Shredded white meat chicken in a savory broth with garden greens. White meat chicken and whipped egg soufflé with garden greens. Sound tasty? It's the new "Elegant Medleys" line of cat food from Fancy Feast, being pimped by none other than Mr. Restaurant himself, Rocco DiSpirito. So: a new way to show those kids in fur coats how much you love them, or just a bunch of overpriced hooey?
posted by shiu mai baby at 4:58 AM PST - 69 comments

Happy Mardi Gras! Originally a serious protest march, the annual Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, to be held this Saturday, is now a riotously festive celebration of queer pride & probably Sydney's largest & most fabulous party all year. For the first time, this year the event will also be streamed across the web, for all those who cannot come down under.
posted by UbuRoivas at 11:12 PM PST - 46 comments

OpenCongress.org is a site that aggregates data about the United States Senate and House. Keep track of your senators or representatives through rss feeds, read bills on topics that are important to you, and find out what industries are behind the scenes providing money to your politicians in Washington among many other uses of this new resource.
posted by rfbjames at 10:55 PM PST - 18 comments

Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrica
Sounds the call to come together,(youtube)
And united we shall stand,(audio)
Let us live and strive for freedom, (wmp)
In South Africa our land. (scroll down for writer Sol Plaatje performing the first recorded version of the song.)
posted by serazin at 10:28 PM PST - 7 comments

Secret Fun Blog. A mixture of pop-culture artifacts, retro goodness and childhood nostalgia. Don't miss the audio and video offerings. [Secret Fun Blog is an auxiliary of Secret Fun Spot, which appeared on Metafilter in 2002 and is worth revisiting as it has been greatly expanded and updated since then.]
posted by amyms at 10:25 PM PST - 10 comments

Need more cowbell?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:45 PM PST - 22 comments

December 2006: carbon credit market to crash-land? One problem, most of the countries submitted emissions plans that allocated permits for more than is currently being emitted--in other words, instead of reductions, they proposed increases. Collectively, EU countries have allocated permits allowing emissions 15 percent higher than actual emissions. February 2007: Splat. The collapse in the price of a tonne of carbon dating back to May last year when it emerged that most countries in the scheme had set their carbon caps far too high, resulting in fewer firms than expected having to buy credits and causing the price of a tonne of carbon to plummet from over €30 to less than €10. SPLAT!: A year ago, CO2 was changing hands in the ETS at 30 euros (33 dollars) a tonne, triple that at the market's launch in January 2005. Today, a tonne of CO2 can be bought for little more than one euro. I'm a good greenie, I'm buying enough credits to offset my coal-fired barbie and my Bradley Shopping Vehicle for the rest of eternity. That should cost me about fiddy cents. (Buy yours here.)
posted by jfuller at 8:11 PM PST - 18 comments

Jen Stark creates sculptures from construction paper.
posted by solistrato at 7:28 PM PST - 31 comments

Is Porn out of Control? As the internets exploded, Clinton didn't seem to care.. Should the government now focus on shutting down the industry? Some loudly think so.
posted by UseyurBrain at 6:14 PM PST - 80 comments

I'm sorry to do this to you, but you must share my agony. Let me know if you get #41 (I have to skip it every time).
posted by Rock Steady at 5:34 PM PST - 83 comments

Let's not do that again, okay? Little Miles gets hung up in a cat door. [Quicktime requiring ActiveX] via
posted by onlyconnect at 4:51 PM PST - 42 comments

Esquire sends out 250 napkins to writers across America - from prolific novelists to those finishing off first works. Nearly a hundred respond back - from sex to frustration, poetry to twisted liaisons, even a mini book and plans for murder.
posted by divabat at 4:12 PM PST - 22 comments

Super Indian: Superhero comics from the culture that invented the genre. Check out Nagraj (and Nagrani?), Tiranga, and Shakti. The somewhat less muscular Chacha Chaudhary. And... whatever is happening here. Meanwhile fun British rich guy Richard Branson brings you Indian-themed comics Ramayan 3392 A.D., Snake Woman (another Naga), Devi and The Sadhu. previously. Dishoom!
posted by Methylviolet at 4:04 PM PST - 16 comments

Mach 20- O Superman- PSA- Soho 1982
posted by vronsky at 3:57 PM PST - 34 comments

New Media from the future ... a look at infographics and commercials from 2027, courtesy of a the movie Children of Men. (qt, sound)
posted by Dave Faris at 3:00 PM PST - 85 comments

Dylan Hears a Who! Bob, that is. Caution: autoplaying audio. (Via)
posted by staggernation at 1:11 PM PST - 43 comments

ESA's Rosetta probe just flew by Mars en route to a deep space rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During the 200 km close flyby, the Rosetta's Philae Lander camera got this lovely view of the craft's solar panel backdropped by the Martian arc, plus an animation of the moon Phobos' shadow on the Martian surface, and more lovely Mars imagery.
posted by brownpau at 1:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Google [sic] chairman pwned [sic] on business card.
Also, save $$money$$ with typos!!
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 12:20 PM PST - 58 comments

The Integrator is Mathematica's integration capabilities, available over the web. Other online resources from Wolfram include Tones, an automatic music generator, and the venerable Mathworld, an extensive collection of math terms and theorems. (which, yes, has been mentioned previously.)
posted by Upton O'Good at 11:35 AM PST - 29 comments

The Philosophy Podcast seems to be a podcast where great philosophical works are read aloud. Unfortunately you need to pay for the full works, but the bits are fun. For something a little more contemporary, check out Philosophy Talk, hosted by Ken Taylor and one of the funniest contemporary analytic philosophers: John Perry. In particular, check out Perry's light essays in which the power of procrastination can be harnessed (and apparently now put on t-shirts), an ideal desk is a giant lazy susan, and connections are drawn between golf and suffering.
posted by ontic at 10:47 AM PST - 8 comments

The Hillary Show. For those that base their political ideas on poorly drawn caricatures.
posted by four panels at 10:20 AM PST - 68 comments

From Human Rights Watch:

...He had spent a year and a half in captivity without even a glimpse of natural light. One day the Americans opened up a skylight in his building. “They brought me a chair and let me sit under the skylight,” he remembered. “I was so happy. I joked with them, pretending to call outside, ‘Help! Someone help me! Let me out!’” ...One photo that surprised Jabour was of a boy named Talha, who appeared to be nine or ten years old. His father was said to be Hamza al-Jofi, a militant leader in Waziristan. When Jabour saw the photo of Talha, who was apparently in custody, he expressed amazement that the United States was holding someone so young.

The Case of Marwan Jabour
US: Secret CIA Prisoners Still Missing
posted by y2karl at 8:28 AM PST - 70 comments

An illustrated edition of the Ise Monogatari (Wikipedia, review of translation). Yeah, yeah, it's in Japanese, but just keep hitting the forward button (the leftmost of the two on the right, red/brown rather than blue/green) and you'll find lots of pretty pictures. I can't improve on the descriptions by Matt of No-sword, where I found it, so I'll just quote him: "Behold our hero maxin' and relaxin' at his writing-desk, looking like he just got hired as a middle manager at his dad's lighter-flint concern! Thrill to the famous scene where he is visited by the Pineapple of Golden Week Past! Laugh as he is mistaken for a member of Aerosmith! Wonder why everyone is just sitting around smiling contentedly when the building is obviously on fire!"
posted by languagehat at 7:59 AM PST - 23 comments

Batmobile Up for Auction today in the UK. A classic car from 1966.
posted by three blind mice at 6:37 AM PST - 28 comments

"From the first day on pots and pans, I knew what I wanted. I was never cool with being small-time -- that's what got me locked up in the first place: I wanted to be the man."
In 1988 Jeff Henderson landed himself in a federal prison for dealing cocaine. In 2007 he's executive chef at Cafe Bellagio in Las Vegas. Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras is his story.
posted by teem at 4:44 AM PST - 15 comments

The effects of weightlessness are most associated with astronauts, but a more practical application can be seen in this dog.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:54 AM PST - 38 comments

The Complete Sherlock Holmes, featuring "the largest collection of Holmesian graphics online", a Scholars' Wing featuring essays and articles, pastiche and parodies. Arthur Conan Doyle's champion of logic and reason is the antithesis of the author's spiritualist beliefs. In his will (5.B), Doyle left sums of money to the Spiritualist Alliance of London and the Psychic College stating "...these institutions represent the most important religious movement that this world now holds". His belief in the occult and in particular fairies is surprising, yet somewhat understandable considering the era in which he lived.
posted by sluglicker at 2:37 AM PST - 8 comments

Cheney unharmed. (The closest he ever came to seeing action in battle though)
posted by growabrain at 12:13 AM PST - 153 comments

Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.? (pdf) We assemble a dataset on technology adoption in 1000 BC, 0 AD, and 1500 AD for the predecessors to today’s nation states. We find that this very old history of technology adoption is surprisingly significant for today’s national development outcomes. Although our strongest results are for 1500 A.D., we find that even technology as old as 1000 BC matters in some plausible specifications. (via)
posted by Kwantsar at 10:57 PM PST - 53 comments

The Money Maker :"On the 1000 guilder note, it became a “sport” for me to put things in the notes that nobody wanted there! I was very proud to have my fingerprint in this note – and it’s my middle finger!"
posted by dhruva at 10:38 PM PST - 32 comments

Vox Imperium A pretty deep web based civilization game.
posted by boo_radley at 9:17 PM PST - 19 comments

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3, in D minor, with Martha Argerich on piano. Many know the Rach 3 from the movie Shine. [Via C&L.]
posted by homunculus at 8:38 PM PST - 27 comments

You missed Caturday! but you'll be prepared for the next one. "It's lolcats pix with tags! Does also peoples call it cat macros? You may also find non-lolcat pictures -- this is a treasure for you." This makes some happy. This makes others cross. Not a cat person? How about a dog person? Me either. Yes I searcheds b4 I posteds. =P
posted by ZachsMind at 7:46 PM PST - 42 comments

US TaxFilter: Your real tax rate: 40%.
"In a study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Boston University economists Laurence J. Kotlikoff and David Rapson have found that our all-in marginal tax rate is 40%, give or take a bit. Yes, you read that right: 40%." The table at the end is telling.
posted by knave at 5:41 PM PST - 86 comments

"Cohen on the Telephone" (real audio) is "not politically correct by modern standards, due to its Yiddish stereotyping, but certainly popular in its time and rumored to be the first comedy record to sell a million copies. This bit primarily made fun of the crude telephone system in use during 1913, when Joe Hayman recorded it in London in July of that year for Regal/Zonophone (it was issued on Columbia here in the States the following year). Several other labels hastily released versions by other artists, and a series of sequels followed right up into the mid-20's." Such as "Cohen Exceeds the Speed Limit", "Cohen at the Pay-station", "Cohen Phones His Tailor", "Cohen Telephones the Health Department" and "Cohen's Recruiting Speech" (all mp3s from The Virtual Gramaphone). There was even a movie.
posted by grumblebee at 5:25 PM PST - 10 comments

"In 1964, a computer - the IBM 1401 Data Processing System - arrived in Iceland, one of the very first computers to be imported into the country… The chief maintenance engineer for this machine was Jóhann Gunnarsson, my father. A keen musician, he learned of an obscure method of making music on this computer - a purpose for which this business machine was not at all designed… When the IBM 1401 was taken out of service in 1971, it wasn't simply thrown away like an old refrigerator, but was given a little farewell ceremony, almost a funeral, when its melodies were played for one last time. This "performance" was documented on tape along with recordings of the sound of the machine in operation." The whole story with samples, pictures and video at Jóhann Jóhannsson's site. [via]
posted by tellurian at 5:21 PM PST - 15 comments

Awesome: Gore "emphasizing the nonpartisan nature of the climate change threat," and his movie, An Inconvenient Truth netting a Best Documentary Oscar. Not so awesome.
posted by allkindsoftime at 4:47 PM PST - 147 comments

Abashiri prison of the present which became famous completely by the movie "Abashiri extra area" is in the modern building rebuilt in the 59th year of Showa. The old building which has been used since Meiji is preserved as a "museum Abashiri prison" at the foot of the Mt tentozan .
posted by breezeway at 4:01 PM PST - 5 comments

Female koalas indulge in lesbian "sex sessions", rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.
posted by ibmcginty at 2:10 PM PST - 62 comments

Teddy Babes love dolls are available in a number of sexy characters. (NSFW)
posted by bigmusic at 2:10 PM PST - 53 comments

Rebecca Riley died of a drug overdose in December. The police charged her parents with murder, alleging that they poisoned her with an overdose of clonidine. What's clonidine? A drug used to treat hyperactivity. You see, Rebecca was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and was prescribed clonidine. She was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put on valproic acid and Seroquel. Rebecca was diagnosed with both disorders by a psychiatrist when she was 2 1/2 years old. She died when she was 4 years old. Some in the psychiatric community are outraged.
posted by Pastabagel at 1:51 PM PST - 78 comments

After two big Antarctic ice shelves broke off several years ago, a world of new species was found underneath. Pictures and a press release came out yesterday, showing spindly orange starfish among other interesting creatures. Here is some more information on the expedition. The fact that the shelves melted when they did is most likely a result of global warming, but having them out of the way gave researchers a golden opportunity to study what lives beneath the ice. Other occassions where a disaster has simultaneously been a great research opportunity include radioactive fallouts: at Chernobyl the evacuated area has been monitored for the past decades to see which species move in and how they thrive (previously on Metafilter)
posted by easternblot at 1:29 PM PST - 21 comments

David Copperfield is stealing my godly powers. Chris Roller believes himself to have godly powers and is suing Copperfield, and also David Blaine, for using them. What better way to protect godly powers than by filing a patent application? Oh, he's suing the Bush administration too.
posted by caddis at 1:28 PM PST - 21 comments

Steve Canyon. Starting last month, the comic-strip site Humorous Maximus has been re-running (with his estate's permission) Milton Caniff's classic daily strip.
posted by staggernation at 1:05 PM PST - 4 comments

Packet Garden observes how you use the internet, then takes that info and generates a 3d world based on it. [via]
posted by brundlefly at 12:41 PM PST - 13 comments

Lost Cities.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:20 PM PST - 27 comments

Turkey Cinemascope is a series of dramatic photographs from director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Shot all across Turkey, he used them to record locations he was scouting for his films. Many are panoramic, some are epic, others intimate, and all are beautiful. (via and via)
posted by ztdavis at 12:12 PM PST - 11 comments

Regularly marred by casualties, the two-day Basant festival in Pakistan leaves 11 dead and more than 100 injured. Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival's string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome. Previously mentioned on mefi, the practice was banned in 2005 because the sport has become increasingly deadly. The ban on kite running was temporarily lifted for this year's festival. In an obvious flip-side, the ban proved to be a huge loss to the kite-twine manufacturers.
posted by beta male at 11:46 AM PST - 10 comments

Would you like to listen to some bad music? You know, just in case your good music gets boring. Opinions will vary of course. I kind of like the Temple City Kazoostra's version of Also sprach Zarathustra. The Museum of Bad Album Covers on the same site was discussed previously.
posted by chillmost at 10:57 AM PST - 21 comments

Twelve Moons on Gichigami: (YT) ~1500 frames from a web camera in Canal Park Duluth Mn, A year's worth of time in just under 7 Mins, by Mark Ryan. (via)
posted by edgeways at 10:10 AM PST - 26 comments

30 years of thrillpower! British weekly comic 2000ad celebrates it's 30th aniversary. Previously discussed here, current Tharg Matt Smith interviewed, special birthday Prog. Splundig vur thrigg!
posted by Artw at 9:55 AM PST - 20 comments

Registerfly falls apart as ICANN watches As the registerfly fiasco continues, ICANN seems feckless and befuddled. Some people's anger seems to have spiraled out of control. Others take this opportunity to hone their movie making skills.
posted by a_day_late at 9:02 AM PST - 52 comments

A glossary of famous brands
posted by deern the headlice at 8:29 AM PST - 24 comments

The Beer Launcher. From the starry eyed minds of the students of Duke University comes the next great innovation in humankind's continued struggle to stay sedentary.
posted by parmanparman at 7:03 AM PST - 69 comments

Belief and knowledge - a primer on science communication
posted by Gyan at 6:51 AM PST - 43 comments

Good artists copy. Great artists steal. -- Pablo Picasso
posted by borkencode at 6:33 AM PST - 37 comments

60 years ago today, an incident took place in Taipei, which led to the massive slaughter of thousands of Taiwanese at the hands of Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese troops. Many were imprisoned for torture and execution on Green Island off Taiwan's eastern coast. More on Green Island here, and an interesting-ish flickr photo set here
posted by mattoxic at 6:12 AM PST - 8 comments

Shrooming in Late Capitalism: The Way of the Truffle.
posted by peacay at 5:21 AM PST - 29 comments

Use this guide to help you become familar with the many complex, sometimes strange customs of the British People.
posted by sluglicker at 2:26 AM PST - 77 comments

The 100 Worst Porn Movie Titles ! (NSFW, masturbating cartoon chihuahua)
posted by granted at 9:52 PM PST - 62 comments

The Indie Band Survival Guide: A fantastic, free, 101 pages collection of useful information for musicians - covers topics such as recording, copyright, major label contracts, commercial radio, promoting your music, band websites, distribution, filesharing and live shows.
posted by Ira.metafilter at 6:34 PM PST - 8 comments

The 50 Craziest Pop Stars Ever - unsurprisingly, there is some crossover with the 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars.
posted by madamjujujive at 5:45 PM PST - 51 comments

When will Indians and Pakistanis release such a video on YouTube?
posted by infini at 5:36 PM PST - 22 comments

Welcome to the world of giant Cambrian predators! The anomalocaris is one of the ancient creatures found fossilized in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, a particularly rich trove of fossils from the Cambrian period (543 to 490 million years ago), in which one finds not only the hard parts of animals, but also the soft, squishy bits. Some of the finds were so weird, that they got names like hallucigenia and odontogriphus ("toothed riddle"). Other sites for finding fossils of equal quality from that era are Chengjiang in China and the House Range in Utah.
posted by Kattullus at 4:51 PM PST - 18 comments

PicTaps: Make Your Drawings Dance! Draw yourself a character, and then watch him dance to a silly song. The music will begin to get on your nerves, but you won't be able to leave the page, the dancing is so hypnotic! Warning, flash is involved! via
posted by LoopyG at 4:40 PM PST - 35 comments

Genealogists: Thurmond's family owned Sharpton's kin It seems like a poor joke or a REALLY bad idea for a TV movie but apparently it's quite real. Truth sometimes IS stranger than fiction.
posted by orbis23 at 2:17 PM PST - 51 comments

The Jules Verne Collecting Resource. If you're a Verne fan or a book collector at all, this site is an absolute treasure. There are pictures of almost every single edition of his works, major and minor, as well as everything even slightly Verne-related, including: movie posters, matchbooks, autographs, playing cards, cards for stereoscopes, postcards he sent, board games, Jules Hetzel's excellent covers and posters for his work (more here, and this one is amazing), the man himself, and god knows what else - pretty much everything.
If it's not here, it's somewhere else, like the extraordinary maps which adorned some editions, or the virtual library with links to all of his works, the many, many incredible illustrations therein, and even one scanned manuscript (in French, obviously). Hope this makes somebody's day as much as it made mine.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:04 PM PST - 16 comments

In 1971 Delancey Street began with four residents, a thousand dollar loan, and a dream to develop a new model to turn around the lives of substance abusers, former felons, and others who have hit bottom by empowering the people with the problems to become their own solution. With no professionals, no government funding, and at no charge to the clients, Delancey Street Foundation has rehabilitated and provided job skills to thousands of former drug addicts and criminals. They have a successful moving company, a well loved (although not necessarily critically acclaimed) restaurant, a thriving Christmas tree business, and a partnership with the local state university. Founded in the heady radical days of the early 70s, they've had a few bumps along the way, (cofounder John Maher died of a drug overdose) but they are one of the most well respected models for rehabilitation in the world. In recent news, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has been spending a lot of time there.
posted by serazin at 11:37 AM PST - 24 comments

R. Luke Dubois' Billboard is a study in time-lapse phonography. Dubois digitally analyzed every #1 Billboard single from 1958 to 2005 and found a "spectral average" sound for each song. Every second of the piece represents one week in music history. The results are more interesting than you might think: compare the Beatles-dominated 1964 with the more processed, percussive sounds of 1997. Dubois has also created a time-lapse study of Oscar-winning movies. See also: "Chart Sweep" (scroll down to bottom of page). (via)
posted by roll truck roll at 11:26 AM PST - 10 comments

Oscar Lists: Records And Curiosities. A plethora of fun facts to keep you entertained while you wait for the start of the 79th annual Academy Awards ceremony today/tonight. It's part of Oscar Lists: The Index, which is filled with almost every Oscar fact you could possibly need.
posted by amyms at 11:08 AM PST - 42 comments

Tattoos of Celebrities. "You really have to wonder how this person is gonna feel a few years down the road." [flash]
posted by Dave Faris at 10:57 AM PST - 113 comments

Children losing sleep over global warming, with comments from The Scotsman readers.
posted by stbalbach at 10:12 AM PST - 51 comments

The Redirection. "Is the Administration’s new policy aiding our enemies in the war on terrorism?" New article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker.
posted by homunculus at 9:22 AM PST - 40 comments

Oh say can you see... (YT) the sound of Auto-Tune gone berserk?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:14 AM PST - 86 comments

Four Men And A Cello Some Bolero, to go with your Sunday morning coffee...

More Here:
Stringfever - History Of Music
posted by vronsky at 6:57 AM PST - 17 comments

What Brazil tells us about torture today. A thoughtful discussion by Clive James of torture in the context of the movies in general and Terry Gilliam's Brazil in particular. Warning: occasional descriptions of awful behavior, and the reader may have his opinion of humanity lowered. "The historical evidence suggests that on the rare occasions when a state begins again in what a fond humanitarian might think of as a condition of innocence, a supply of young torturers is the first thing it produces... In the Nazi and Soviet cellars and camps, people were regularly tortured for information they did not possess: i.e., they were tortured just for the hell of it."
posted by languagehat at 6:45 AM PST - 50 comments

Sasquatch!, the indie music festival, returns to The Gorge with an impressive line-up headlined by Bjork and the Beastie Boys. As usual, KEXP has a veritable cornucopia of live performances from the artists. If you're wondering what might be in store, check out select songs from The Arcade Fire, M.I.A., Citizen Cope, Neko Case, The Thermals, Viva Voce, Interpol, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Ozomatli, Bad Brains, The Dandy Warhols, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Common Market, Smoosh, and Minus The Bear. Bring sunscreen and an umbrella on your short drive from Seattle to George, Washington
posted by 0xFCAF at 6:13 AM PST - 13 comments

The Navy's detention facility at Hanrahan has a created a secret prison-within-a-prison and, per the article, developed elaborate plans to dodge public scrutiny of its operations to detain enemy combatants. "In detaining American citizens, full constitutional rights are afforded except where curtailed by higher guidance or accepted prison practice," the report said.
posted by Malor at 6:02 AM PST - 23 comments

Father Ted Festival: 9 years after Father Ted aka Dermot Morgan suddenly died, a weekend festival, based on the Father Ted series is taking place (will include such events as the Father Jack cocktail evening, Buckaroo speed dating, a cleaning fluid drinks reception, the Inis Mór lovely girls competition, and the drafting of the island’s Eurovision entry). Two Aran Islands, Mór and Oirr, are at loggerheads over the right to host it. This will culminate in a five-a-side football match, and Paddy Power is taking more bets on this than on yesterday’s England Ireland six-nations championship game (which Ireland won, just saying).
posted by Wilder at 3:17 AM PST - 32 comments

A thoughtful man named Maxwell Mouser had just produced a work of actinic philosophy. It took him seven minutes to write it. To write works of philosophy one used the flexible outlines and the idea indexes; one set the activator for such a wordage in each subsection; an adept would use the paradox feed-in, and the striking analogy blender; one calibrated the particular-slant and the personality-signature. It had to come out a good work, for excellence had become the automatic minimum for such productions. "I will scatter a few nuts on the frosting," said Maxwell, and he pushed the lever for that. This sifted handfuls of words like chthonic and heuristic and prozymeides through the thing so that nobody could doubt it was a work of philosophy.

Slow Tuesday Night by one Rafael Aloyius Lafferty (more within)
posted by y2karl at 1:48 AM PST - 15 comments

Lenny Bruce -Swear to Tell the Truth 1995 documentary of the rise and fall of the patron saint of samizdat 1:40 nsfw language nudity via
posted by hortense at 11:58 PM PST - 15 comments

The Karbis of Assam, and their sprightly dance.
posted by hadjiboy at 11:42 PM PST - 6 comments

A dozen of Putin's critics have been assassinated and Russia's vast natural resources are in the pockets of a chosen few. A 2 part article in The Guardian.
posted by jouke at 11:30 PM PST - 33 comments

Gems of Penmanship, Penman's Leisure Hour, Ninety-five Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship, The Champion Method of Practical Business Writing and other Rare Books on Calligraphy and Penmanship from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Lots of neat tidbits. [via mlarson.org]
posted by mediareport at 9:40 PM PST - 10 comments

The Stupid Ring is 'Earth's largest Tolkien parody.' Given a taste of The Lord of the Rings on the big screen [warning: sound], some wacky Tolkien fans craved more. So they rewrote the entire book as a movie script. All sixty-plus chapters. Every scene, every song. And then some. Possibly while drunk.
posted by zennie at 8:41 PM PST - 14 comments

The World Lecture Hall is a compedium of links to open university materials. Some include lecture notes, text books and even video. The OCW at MIT is probably the most well known but there are many universities that provide online access to course materials. Want to learn about medicine? John Hopkin's kindly provides some popular courses (Cadaver not included). Notre Dame provides a number of courses focused on the liberal arts. The University of Washington provides Computer Science and Engineering courses. Tufts provides a potpourri of courses, including dentistry.
posted by substrate at 4:39 PM PST - 13 comments

"In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene."
posted by exlotuseater at 3:37 PM PST - 163 comments

The Ecstasy of Influence, A Plagiarism
posted by Captaintripps at 3:19 PM PST - 20 comments

Sorority Evictions Raise Issue of Looks and Bias

"Delta Zeta’s national officers....judged 23 of the [DePauw University] women insufficiently committed and later told them to vacate the sorority house. The 23 members included every woman who was overweight. They also included the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members. The dozen students allowed to stay were slender and popular with fraternity men — conventionally pretty women the sorority hoped could attract new recruits. Six of the 12 were so infuriated they quit."

Many at the university are not happy.
posted by ericb at 2:59 PM PST - 119 comments

So, what do you &heart;? Shoes? Languages? Coffee? Sandwiches? America? Purple? Asta? Israel? Librarians? Vodka? Spam? Philosophy? Peanut Butter? Karl Rove? Rock & Roll? God? To love? Gardens? Egg? My way? Your mac? Calculus? Trista? Mullets? Porgy? Jet noise? LA? Drums? Pickles? Little girls? Being loved by black people? Monkeys? Speech? A good mystery? Lemon tea? Celebrity-owned restaurants? Crossdressing? Alpacas? The Pixies? Belly buttons? Your homies? Latin ladies? Santa? Marmite? Kenisha? Gay? Tehran? Lamp? Fonts? The ol' ball & chain? Zombies? Binary, Primes & Factors? Boys? Jazz? Diet soda? Zoos? A clean San Diego? Pez? Satisfied women? Hondas? Dixie? The Devil? Neil Diamond? Please, do tell!
posted by miss lynnster at 1:19 PM PST - 51 comments

While the world debates the use of cluster bombs due to their impact on civilians in post conflict areas, today is also Landmine Awareness Day in Cambodia. Some ignore the warnings and seek out the landmines to defuse and sell... while others seek a much larger quarry (Youtube)
posted by james_cpi at 12:12 PM PST - 15 comments

Bombing Iran - motive, opportunity, means (and thuggish accomplice).
posted by RichLyon at 11:27 AM PST - 54 comments

A View In Your Mirror: Painter Jan Verhulst compiles self portraits made by artists in their preferred medium.
posted by fair_game at 11:10 AM PST - 8 comments

The major label machine sucks in and churns out young bands all the time, leaving plenty of good music unheard by the public. Boston's trip-hoppy Splashdown were one of the acts brought low by this process, disbanding two years after Capitol decided not to release their major label debut LP. The late 90's were a commercially bad time for female-fronted electro-pop, of course, but the band found an outlet for their material by releasing it for free online -- their whole catalog, including three LP's, two EP's and some double-secret-unreleased tracks, is available with the band's blessing. Members have since joined other bands -- Freezepop, Universal Hall Pass -- which hopefully will avoid the trouble Splashdown had.
posted by aaronetc at 10:30 AM PST - 37 comments

"When you squeeze it, its golden brown crust should crackle and even sing. Its aroma should be a little bit sweet, a little bit toasty. There should be a good marriage between its crust and its interior crumb. When the crumb is pressed, it should spring back rapidly. Its color should be off-white and its cavities widely distributed and uneven in size. Its nutty, buttery taste should be both sweet and savory - like a good chardonnay.” Bread expert and Cornell prof Steven Kaplan talks with Conan, to pretty hilarious effect, about his latest book. You may have to snoop around the NBC site - I couldn't find a direct link. The man is really into baguettes. He's given a few entertaining radio interviews as well, and a New York magazine profile of him features a list of his six favorite NYC baguettes. If you don't have a great bakery nearby, you can try your hand at home. Bonus Game: Balance the Baguette! (from a previous post)
posted by jtajta at 9:09 AM PST - 21 comments

Speedcluster , a frentic combination of Speed, Solitaire, and Tapper, is an extremely compelling virtual card game which is sucking up a lot of my casual time, so I might as well pass along the obsession.
posted by Durhey at 1:30 AM PST - 24 comments

The truth is rarely pure and never simple starts the website of Magic Pencil award winning illustrator Sara Fanelli
posted by grapefruitmoon at 1:03 AM PST - 4 comments

Robert "Bobe" Cannon's 1951 Oscar-winning animated short "Gerald McBoing Boing" (u2b), is an early example of a modernist animation style (previously) experimented by UPA studios in an attempt to counteract the mounting realism of Disney cartoons. (The 2005 series it inspired is currently re-running on Boomerang.)

On another note entirely, Theodor "Seuss" Geisel's character Gerald is considered one of a number of celebrities with autism.
posted by progosk at 12:40 AM PST - 43 comments

Drive Thru Church Service? Check. Drive Thru Wedding? Check. Drive Thru Funeral? Check. Drive Thru Strip Club? Huh? If you're too lazy or too tired to get out of your car, Fogonazos has a list of convenient drive-thrus for you.
posted by amyms at 11:33 PM PST - 28 comments

In the 1920s Joseph Rock, an Austrian-born botanist went to live in Lijiang, in Yunnan province. During expeditions over the next three decades he photographed shamans, trulku, petty kings, nomads, astounding scenery and flora and fauna across much of southwest China. He also studied the language and culture of the Nakhi people previouslywhose homeleand centred around Lijiang. A contemporary blogger is now posting some then-and-now images of the places and people Rock recorded.
posted by Abiezer at 10:07 PM PST - 18 comments

Taxgirl is a tax lawyer who invites you to ask her offbeat and unique questions about federal taxation in the United States, as well as Philadelphia-specific tax questions. She also covers the fun side of taxation and the not-so-fun side of tax evasion, usually the domain of Posse Comitatus and white supremacist groups, but lately extending in bizarre ways to celebrities like Wesley Snipes and Ron Isley.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:19 PM PST - 20 comments

Some Friday night entertainment:
• Baby Got Back - Gilbert and Sullivan Style (mp3) (youtube) (wmv) (via)
• George W Bush Role Playing: Screw America (youtube) NSFW
• Cancer Has Become the Number One Killer Disease (pdf) (youtube) (flash) (via)
posted by sequential at 8:32 PM PST - 27 comments

Sunset on Mars. Crop Circles in Kansas. Total Eclipse. Tenerife. Meteor Crater, AZ. European Superstorm. Lake Effect Clouds. Where on Earth...?
Find these and other images, as well as a learning lab and data animations, online courtesy NASA. If you are patient, also see Visible Earth (previously . . ).
posted by owhydididoit at 7:38 PM PST - 12 comments

A sneak peak of the upcoming Showtime edition of This American Life (direct QT link).
posted by JPowers at 7:33 PM PST - 37 comments

The First Freedom Project --new from the Dept of Justice, announced at the Southern Baptist Convention along with a call for their help---specifically and only to protect the religious from discrimination against them. Many are not impressed: The administration has often ignored the importance of the no establishment principle by supporting attempts of governments to endorse a religious message, using tax dollars to fund pervasively religious organizations, allowing religious discrimination in hiring for federally funded projects, ... Legal strategies and actions from groups like the Alliance Defense Fund and ACLJ are now official DOJ policy, it appears. ...In his statement, Gonzales mentioned several cases litigated by ADF and its allies ...
posted by amberglow at 7:13 PM PST - 56 comments

Video: Nuclear Weapons: Who's Got 'Em?
posted by augustweed at 6:47 PM PST - 13 comments

I Am Babycakes , created by Creased Comics' Brad Neely (who did that "Washington" video seen some time ago), is the good-natured, incredibly dark musings of a man-child who lives with his dad/wizard, roleplays ("I had described to my friends the most beautiful demon"), writes songs, and fills both his diary, and his days, with emptiness. Alternating funny, then sad, then cool as one turns it over in the mind. Or I think so anyway. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 (All links NSFW due to language.)
posted by JHarris at 5:31 PM PST - 15 comments

"Tired of the LIBERAL BIAS every time you search on Google and a Wikipedia page appears?" At Conservapedia, a "conservative encyclopedia you can trust," you can learn that "faith" is a concept "exclusive to Christianity," and about how Wikipedia is biased in matters such as its description of the Bell Trade Act of 1946, its gossipy treatment of the private life of NPR reporter Nina Totenberg, and its seeming acceptance of evolution. The Wikipedia bias entry also complains of a "rant" against the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group for which Conservapedia founder (and son of conservative gadfly Phyllis Schafly) Andrew Schlafly has worked. Signups are here; its take on evolution is criticized here.
posted by ibmcginty at 5:17 PM PST - 151 comments

Foolyoo is a flash game where you fight masked eyeball monsters, avoid disrobing village idiots, slice vegetables according to the ever-changing edicts of a mad old monk and learn how to count in kanji.
posted by Kattullus at 4:30 PM PST - 9 comments

Restaurant crybaby lashes out at NYT's Frank Bruni (pdf). Jeffrey Chodorow's new restaurant (where each diner is constantly threatened with impalement by samurai sword, apparently) got a (funny and) decidedly lukewarm review in the Times. So he took out a full-page ad to complain about it (pdf linked above), price tag: at least $30k. He also whines about it on his new blog. The word "critic" is deployed in scare quotes.
[via this Slate piece by a former NYT food critic; interesting in itself]
posted by grobstein at 4:18 PM PST - 53 comments

How do you subdue a crazed astronaut? Duct Tape! By now we've all heard of astronaut Lisa Nowak's diaper-clad race to kidnap/kill her competition for fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein, but today we learned how NASA plans to deal with such trouble-makers in space: duct tape them into submission. NASA's idea isn't very original - restraining people with duct tape has been well documented in the movies, for use on airplanes, by bad parents, and for unruly patients. So, it appears this miracle adhesive can not only save us from terrorists, it can save us from ourselves. Bless you duct tape.
posted by Muddler at 3:30 PM PST - 29 comments

Yoshiro Nakamatsu aka Dr. NakaMats has invented everything, other than all the other stuff that the rest of us have invented. He has 3218 patents to his name. (Edison had 1093.) Among his many inventions? The compact disc, the compact disc player ('natch), the digital watch, a unique golf putter, the floppy disk (!), and a water-powered engine. Besides being the founder of the World Genius Convention (where the world first learned of ingenuity of ADR ceramic disks, for instance), Dr. NakaMats was voted by the US Science Academic Society as one of five greatest scientists in history - in the company of Archimedes, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, and Nikola Tesla - and he plans to live until 144!
posted by humannaire at 3:09 PM PST - 27 comments

Kirupa.com is a resource for designers who want to become better developers. Whether you want a tutorial to help you make a Flash zoom motion blur, some help with php and html, learn object oriented programming, or use photoshop well, kirupa might be of assistance to you.
posted by localhuman at 12:07 PM PST - 6 comments

Tea Birds Nothing but pictures of cute girls at tea. A tea blog like no other. [nsfw]
posted by Stynxno at 12:00 PM PST - 63 comments

Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World.
posted by chunking express at 11:42 AM PST - 71 comments

Want to increase your energy efficiency and use more renewable energy? Want to install solar panels on your roof, buy a hybrid car, put in new storm windows, or make any number of other green improvements to your home or business? Want to save money doing it? DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Just click on your state and take it from there.
posted by alms at 11:21 AM PST - 13 comments

Yuri Kochiyama: held in an internment camp during WWII, cradled Malcolm X as he took his last breaths, raised six children, and has spent her life working towards radical social change. Last year she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Read an interview or listen to one, watch footage of her, or if you want more, there are two books and a couple documentaries about her life.
posted by serazin at 10:57 AM PST - 24 comments

Bachmann on Iran: “There’s already an agreement made. [Iran is] going to get half of Iraq and that is going to be a terrorist safe haven zone.” Claims made by Minnesota's freshman 6th district representative Michelle Bachmann during a taped interview. Bachmann is previously known for her compelling arguments in favor of intelligent design (YouTube), getting attacked in a Scanida bathroom, opposing same sex marriage, and, perhaps most famously, catching President Bush in an awesome death squeeze.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:38 AM PST - 59 comments

Born to War is a series of paintings of American women killed in Iraq. The combination of the increasing role of women in the American military and the blurring of lines between combat and non-combat roles in Iraq have made this the first war in which female US soldiers have died in direct combat. The focus on a smaller number of women provides a more approachable view of casualties than more general sites like Iraq Body Count and raises some interesting questions about the role of women in the US military.
posted by scottreynen at 10:27 AM PST - 13 comments

Newspaper Blackout Poems "So much thrives on facsimile that when you see the real deal, it has none of the passion and feels like a desperate pose."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:46 AM PST - 25 comments

Chile Pepper's Lonely Endorphins Club Cinema: I, II, III

Can all this be explained by Dr. Paul Rozin's Benign Masochism / Constrained Risk theory? I, for one, am not buying it, but any way you slice it, hot cock sauce is here to stay.
posted by NaturalScinema at 8:37 AM PST - 35 comments

Say What Again [audio NSFW] Pulp Fiction dialogue done with motion typography. [via]
posted by kirkaracha at 8:24 AM PST - 24 comments

The Illustration Portfolio of Lauren Simkin Burke. See also the Drawing of the Day.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:41 AM PST - 3 comments

Indian Government proposes bill to penalize children for neglecting their aged parents.
posted by hadjiboy at 7:35 AM PST - 21 comments

Resolved, that Richard B. Cheney, vice president of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that these articles of impeachment be submitted to the American people. If the evidence presented at the Scooter Libby trial was not already enough of an indictment of Real Journalism in the U.S. mainstream media (when it falls to New Yorker magazine to break the really big stories) it takes a magazine with the political prowess of GQ (and bloggers) to make a cohesive case for action against most unconstitutionally powerful Vice President in U.S. history. Those following the Libby case closely are beginning to realize that the Plame leak prosecution is anything but over. With a guilty verdict for Perjury and Obstruction of Justice, Libby would effectively be removed from being a defense witness in any forthcoming charges against Cheney. Fitzgerald still has Sealed v Sealed in his back pocket and it is now beginning to dawn on some that it indicts not Rove, but Cheney. Hat's off to Emptywheel for seeing this as far back as Oct. 30th, 2005: Tricky Fitzgerald!! He's been hiding Dick right in the middle of his Libby indictment. Now with a job approval rating in the teens the Curse of Dick Cheney continues. (Interesting to note that both New Yorker and GQ are owned by Conté Nast)
posted by spock at 7:26 AM PST - 109 comments

Dave Sim gets a book proposal from a furry.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:12 AM PST - 79 comments

Havidol® (avafynetyme HCl, 20mg tablets & suppositories) When more is not enough.
posted by theemperorhasnoclotheson at 7:04 AM PST - 24 comments

"I think that the appetite for me is to make a movie that feels more like Taxi Driver than like Fantastic Four."
Zack Snyder talks about his upcoming Watchmen adaptation, which may start filming this summer.
But some fans couldn't wait: 1, 2, 3 (youtube)
posted by empath at 6:03 AM PST - 109 comments

Best opening (or closing) paragraphs of academic works, a discussion at Crooked Timber. (This is of course different from first lines of novels, as discussed here, there, and elsewhere.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:21 AM PST - 39 comments

Cartoon and classic painting mash-ups. The beginners' entries.
posted by nickyskye at 10:43 PM PST - 24 comments

How to blow up the Earth (with a coffee can), and why we should, along with some discussion of how it is done in fiction. Blowing up the moon (and how the US nearly did in 1958, with the help of Carl Sagan), and lots of reasons why, including one in song [YouTube]. How to blow up a star. How we might accidentally blow up the universe in November. [prev. discussion of Earth destruction]
posted by blahblahblah at 10:41 PM PST - 32 comments

17 Dots is a new blog by employees of emusic. Not much there yet but for MeFites who use the service, this looks like it could prove handy for keeping on top of what's worth checking out.
posted by dobbs at 9:47 PM PST - 9 comments

Skyfish have been well documented on the interweb. Want to capture your own as a pet? Lure them into your home by replicating their natural environment. Warning: three Youtube links and only the third is really cool, but at least they're all pretty short. Related.
posted by Area Control at 7:48 PM PST - 24 comments

A modern eyewitness account of secretive ritualized duelling known as "academic fencing". Its stylized format has changed little since Mark Twain observed it. Despite dubious legality it is alive and well in German universities. The raison d'être of this swordplay is the creation of a schmiss or duelling scar. These scars are considered by the bearers as a mark of courage and nobility, and by outsiders as an indication of semi-latent Nazi tendencies. In March a medical conference is beng held for the first time in Freiburg, for doctors who tend to duelling injuries.
posted by roofus at 3:37 PM PST - 72 comments

The three-decade decline in teenage and young-adult rape accompanies huge drops in all crimes -- murder, assault, drug abuse and property -- committed by youth... Women's rapidly rising status and economic independence in the larger society fostered new attitudes and laws that rejected violence against women. That younger people growing up in this environment of greater gender equality should show the biggest decreases in rape, while older generations lag behind, is consistent with this explanation... Over the last 30 years, rape arrest rates have fallen by 80% among Californians under age 15, much larger than the 25% drop among residents age 40 and older.

The decline of rape
So, kids today are different.
posted by y2karl at 2:36 PM PST - 92 comments

The Iraq Effect: The War in Iraq and its Impact on the War on Terrorism. "The war has inspired a wave of terrorism around the world. Excluding Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of jihadist attacks has jumped 35 percent in the past four years. A Mother Jones exclusive study by Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank."
posted by homunculus at 1:49 PM PST - 31 comments

Chimpanzees have Learned to Hunt with Spears. While it may not quite be on the level of Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs, it's probably at least a half-step on the "we-are-so-screwed" ladder.
posted by yhbc at 1:31 PM PST - 66 comments

“We’re selling magazines to earn points in a contest to win a trip abroad,” begins the standard spiel. At any given moment there are roughly 2,500 of these fresh-faced teens travelling across the USA hawking subscriptions for periodicals door to door. Welcome to the violent exploitative world of the Magazine Crews. via
posted by maryh at 1:23 PM PST - 96 comments

Mo Rocca: Mo Rocca, former Daily Show correspondent and wandering funnyman, has begun blogging and vlogging for AOL News.
posted by untitledalex at 12:04 PM PST - 30 comments

Everything you know about Pythagoras is wrong (except the bit about the beans). Less the golden-thighed Einstein of the Ancient World and more the L. Ron Hubbard of Magna Graecia. [Last link has some rude words]
posted by Kattullus at 9:40 AM PST - 39 comments

The cover of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' symbolises the way anti-Iranian propaganda in the U.S. works:

The original picture from which this cover is excised is lifted off a news report during the parliamentary election of February 2000 in Iran. In the original picture, the two young women are in fact reading the leading reformist newspaper Mosharekat. Azar Nafisi and her publisher may have thought that the world is not looking, and that they can distort the history of a people any way they wish. But the original picture from which this cover steals its idea speaks to the fact of this falsehood.

The cover of Reading Lolita in Tehran is an iconic burglary from the press, distorted and staged in a frame for an entirely different purpose than when it was taken. In its distorted form and framing, the picture is cropped so we no longer see the newspaper that the two young female students are holding in their hands, thus creating the illusion that they are "Reading Lolita"--with the scarves of the two teenagers doing the task of "in Tehran." In the original picture the two young students are obviously on a college campus, reading a newspaper that is reporting the latest results of a major parliamentary election in their country. Cropping the newspaper, their classmates behind them, and a perfectly visible photograph of President Khatami--the iconic representation of the reformist movement--out of the picture and suggesting that the two young women are reading "Lolita" strips them of their moral intelligence and their participation in the democratic aspirations of their homeland, ushering them into a colonial harem.

Read Hamid Dabashi's full essay 'Native informers and the making of the American empire.'
posted by hoder at 9:38 AM PST - 67 comments

Krazy... Katheists? We see plenty of stories about religion in schools crossing the line. For good reason -- it's pretty topical. This time, though, it's an atheist teacher who crosses the line.
posted by gurple at 9:17 AM PST - 190 comments

Wake County, NC: Solomon Kamil invited to speak at a public school in Raleigh tells the students to shun Muslims "You may be excited that you found the 'tall, dark, and handsome man' you have been looking for. His sweet words and attention may blind you regarding the power, importance, and influence of his culture and Islamic faith."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:28 AM PST - 75 comments

I'd like you to meet Africa. It's a continent. You probably don't hear about it a lot in the news. That's because there's only like a billion people who live there. Global Voices has some further background on one news organization's quest to inform the masses about this little-known land.
posted by panoptican at 8:03 AM PST - 45 comments

Late Night with Conan O'Brien Bumper Art Site, mostly from HD TV screencaps. [Personal faves: 1, 2, 3.]
posted by myopicman at 7:42 AM PST - 36 comments

The making of the Korean Actress "Song Hye Kyo" by Max Edwin Wahyudi. Computer graphics have come a hell of a long way.
posted by chunking express at 7:33 AM PST - 38 comments

A set of ideal conditions earlier this week -- cold weather, little wind and snow -- created a large skating rink. On Lake Superior. Beautifully clear (YouTube - minor swearing if you're at work). Ever skate for a mile? Cracks on the ice. With sound (YouTube). And of course, hockey (YouTube). Or maybe just some skating and kite flying (YouTube). Duluth News Tribune's story. (With annoying registration but nice photo gallery)
posted by starman at 7:29 AM PST - 24 comments

The break up on Valentine's Day, with a crowd of hundreds and an a capella Dixie Chicks song thrown in for good measure.
A University of North Carolina student, in front of an invited audience, splits up with his girlfriend (who goes to NC State) in the "pit". All of this recorded and YouTubed for your entertainment.
Bonus feature: View a different angle and an interview with the breaker upper.
News item found via the London Metro of all places.
posted by Webbster at 7:27 AM PST - 54 comments

Why is this man screaming? Maybe because it's a Mad World.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:10 AM PST - 8 comments

Yanka (Янка) Dyagileva (1966-1991) was one of the foremost members of the former USSR's magnitizdat circuit. Albeit overshadowed in time by the likes of Vysotsky, she (along with longtime collaborators Grazhdanskaya Oborona [Civil Defence]) played a mixture of folk and punk: raw, unrelenting and angry. Sadly, the greatest memorial to her on the web is entirely in Russian, but offers interest to even those that do not speak the language: her complete discography is available for download, a bevy of photographs providing an inside look into the late 80's underground music scene in the USSR (...and the penalties for participating in it), and some tablatures if you ever just want to play along. She's even got a Myspace profile.
posted by griphus at 2:45 AM PST - 22 comments

Scientists claim that cosmic rays from outer space play a far greater role in changing the Earth's climate than global warming experts previously thought. For a demonstration of how cosmic rays affect cloud formation, you can build a Cloud Chamber.
posted by augustweed at 12:19 AM PST - 54 comments

The digital book index
posted by serazin at 10:37 PM PST - 18 comments

Virus is a very simple, addictive flash game; using the colors available to you at the bottom of the screen, convert all the tiles on the board into a single color. Similar colored connecting tiles become part of the viral mass. Via.
posted by jonson at 9:52 PM PST - 75 comments

Planetary Maintenance Engineer
posted by Chuckles at 9:46 PM PST - 18 comments

Imaginary places in detail: Start with a wonderful overview of megastructures in science fiction and examine a dictionary of 76 locations from recent fantasy novels. Then move on to the interactive maps: Mordor, Narnia, the Simpson's Springfield, England as seen in many stories, New York in fiction, Lovecraft's New England, maps from almost any video game, Star Trek, the Marvel Universe, and the DC Universe.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:44 PM PST - 29 comments

Nazi collaborator buried in France with his Légion d'honneur medals.
posted by pwedza at 9:43 PM PST - 29 comments

Recent comments about the food. Oklahoma University has turned their complaints about campus dining into one of the most hilarious blogs on the internets! IT WASN"T COOKED! Awesome.
posted by parmanparman at 7:25 PM PST - 51 comments

music files is a neat site I found while looking for information on a classical piece I'm learning on guitar. It seems to predominantly cover classical music but also covers other genres. It has biographies, mp3s, sheet music and so on.
posted by substrate at 7:12 PM PST - 4 comments

Tales of Game's Studios Presents Chef Boyardee's Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa. [youtube trailer] disclaimer: I haven't actually played it. The title & idea alone seemed amusing enough for it to be worthwhile posting.
posted by juv3nal at 4:30 PM PST - 17 comments

A CNN scare piece on the rise of teen "sport killings" lead off with the story of a group of teenagers who brutally murdered a homeless man and then blamed it on violent video games. Penny Arcade's Gabe responded with an equally inflammatory, though tongue-in-cheek, post blaming the parents.

It seemed like just another case of the media rushing to blame video games while the truth lay somewhere else. It turns out that the stepmother of one of the murderers is an avid reader of Penny Arcade and she emailed them with the real, unreported story. (you'll need to scroll down for both Penny Arcade posts)
posted by unsupervised at 4:13 PM PST - 90 comments

Man thinks the screams from neighbors porn is rape, breaks down door armed with a cavalry saber.
posted by Faux Real at 3:57 PM PST - 72 comments

Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. What are the climate change policy options? Paul Krugman on tax-shifting. William Nordhaus on carbon taxes vs. cap-and-trade (PDF). Mark Jaccard, Nic Rivers, and Matt Horne note that in Canada, voluntary measures and subsidies haven't worked, and propose a detailed policy package (PDF). [more inside]
posted by russilwvong at 3:56 PM PST - 6 comments

What should we get Erich for his birthday? How about a desk set with a radio, a thermometer disguised as a TV mast, a clock topped with a tank, a calendar, and four ballpoint pens disguised as missiles. Iconographia socialistica from the GDR.
posted by tellurian at 2:09 PM PST - 16 comments

Mohammed Riaz, 49, found it abhorrent that his eldest daughter wanted to be a fashion designer, and that she and her sisters were likely to reject the Muslim tradition of arranged marriages.

So he sprayed petrol throughout their terraced British home in Accrington, Lancashire, and set it alight, killing his wife and four daughters while they slept in an honor killing for being "too Western."
posted by four panels at 1:54 PM PST - 114 comments

"That is an American salute?" "It will be." n July 1935 Heinz Spanknobel's Friends of New Germany (FONG) established Camp Siegfried in "Yip Yip" Yaphank, Long Island (postcard). The Camp Siegfried Special left Penn Station every Sunday at 8:00; tens of thousands of summer campers enjoyed Nazi salutes, Nazi rallies, and Nazi swimming. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 12:32 PM PST - 48 comments

WANTED: The Limping Lady. The Gestapo's poster read "She is one of the most valuable Allied agents in France and we must find and destroy her" but Virginia Hall, who used a prosthetic limb after losing a leg years before in a hunting accident, eluded them and saved countless Allied lives while working as a spy during WWII. Additional biographical information, as well as the biographies of other famous female spies, at WWII Female Spies (which has many outgoing links to other great informational resources about female spies in WWII).
posted by amyms at 11:28 AM PST - 8 comments

The Red Army Choir vs The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (hypothetical) Battle of the Century.
posted by Stynxno at 11:17 AM PST - 15 comments

Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show gives Britney Spears some advice. (12:30m YouTube. It's a monologue. And it's not really about Britney all that much.)
posted by Cyrano at 10:57 AM PST - 129 comments

Soon you may find yourself in the company of mushrooms. If you're curious about them, Mykoweb, Tom Volk's Fungi (especially his FOTM section), Fungal Jungal, David Fischer's American Mushrooms, MushroomExpert.com, BCERN's Matchmaker and the recently mentioned Roger's Mushrooms are remarkably handy, replete with descriptions and keys for reading up and identifying whether something growing in your yard is heavenly or hellish. The North American Mycological Association maintains a list of affiliated clubs, too, if you want to enlist help in identifying something.
posted by cog_nate at 10:55 AM PST - 17 comments

iLike "provides a buddy-list for your iTunes - it helps you discover new artists based on what you're already listening to, and it helps you browse your friends' music libraries and share music suggestions with each other." Basically, there's an iTunes plugin (OSX only) that automatically sends your iTunes metadata to the iLike site to be shared with the community.
posted by Kwine at 10:53 AM PST - 19 comments

Before the repeating rifle, there was the repeating airgun. While most people consider the airgun a toy, it has an interesting history as a serious weapon. Now large bore airguns are seeing new interest amongst discerning gun collectors and hunters of big game.
posted by mock at 10:23 AM PST - 9 comments

Never mind the monkey! Wait til the open-dildonics community implements it. Some links NSFW, duh.
posted by unSane at 10:13 AM PST - 15 comments

Clown death.
posted by docpops at 9:33 AM PST - 57 comments

For Your Eyes Only? Allegations that the government is reading your e-mails, with the help of AT&T. The latest episode of NOW did a good piece on the NSA's domestic surveillance program (previously discussed here.) It can be viewed on their website. Meanwhile, Canadian human rights attorney Maureen Webb has written a new book on the scope of government surveillance, and found that the use of sophisticated methods to search for terrorists is not identifying the right suspects.
posted by homunculus at 12:33 AM PST - 72 comments

Today is the centenary of W.H. Auden, one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Why not commemorate it by attending one of the many events honoring the man and marking the day? Auden wrote about anything and everything; his poems addressed such topics as the advent of World War II ("September 1, 1939", which gained new resonance after 9/11), grief ("Funeral Blues", used to great effect in Four Weddings and a Funeral), physics ("After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics"), commencement addresses ("Under Which Lyre: A Reactionary Tract for the Times") unrequited love ("The More Loving One"), and the way life goes on ("Musée des Beaux Arts"). [more inside]
posted by Vidiot at 10:57 PM PST - 36 comments

You think these were bad? Wait till the terrists get these!
posted by pjern at 9:42 PM PST - 28 comments

Donald Rumsfeld, Revealed - Parts 1 and 2. A nice, brief historical roundup of the man who - in the words of John McCain - is "one of the worst secretaries of defense in history."
posted by nevercalm at 9:39 PM PST - 39 comments

We've talked about the Archimedes death ray, but it is not the only mysterious ancient war machine the Greek scientist constructed. A contemporary Greek historian describes a wide number of clever devices developed by Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse by Roman forces - most notably a mysterious "Claw" that destroyed invading ships. You can see animations and scale models that attempt to reconstruct the Claw. Other, less-warlike, Archimedes secrets are being revealed as the Archimedes Palimpset, an overwritten text of some of the scientist's mathematical writings, has been gradually recovered using new techniques. Among the suprises is the Stomachion, a mathematical puzzle (tangrams, anyone?) and early discussion of combanitorics.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:07 PM PST - 18 comments

Sex Toys are Just Like Prostitution
posted by expriest at 7:33 PM PST - 72 comments

Got a few hundred hours to kill? (pdf) A Ship in a Bottle is a type of impossible bottle. No, not this Ship in a Bottle. Have you ever wondered how it gets in there? Or thought about building one yourself? Here's some tips and tricks. If you are not mechanically inclined, how about making a PSP version? Or, heck, just go buy one.
posted by figment of my conation at 6:07 PM PST - 10 comments

In an attempt to address reliability problems with the M-16/M4 rifles currently employed by the US military, German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch developed the H&K 416. Considered by many who have used it to be vastly more reliable than the current weapon systems, it seems like the Army would be interested in giving it a try. Unfortunately they aren't.
posted by quin at 5:40 PM PST - 55 comments

Tons of bands playing at this year's SXSW. Not going or going and don't know what to check out? They've put up a torrent of 739 MP3s by 739 artists. The organization also has plans for an upcoming torrent of trailers for scheduled films. {via waxy}
posted by dobbs at 4:30 PM PST - 39 comments

What's in your milk? Estradiol, testoerone, and growth hormones (IGF-1) IGF-1 is what Fox News doesn't want you to know is in your milk.
posted by bigmusic at 3:43 PM PST - 57 comments

George Takei responds to Tim Hardaway's recent comments.
posted by EarBucket at 3:37 PM PST - 85 comments

Matthew Yglesias: Bill Richardson--former ambassador to the UN, former Energy Secretary, and current governor of New Mexico--is "clearly more qualified for the White House than anyone else in the race," so why isn't anyone paying attention to his candidacy? Includes link to a recent speech by Richardson on foreign policy at CSIS.
posted by russilwvong at 2:01 PM PST - 50 comments

Greenpeace doesn't know it has a new ad campaign that asks "Who's f***ing Mother Earth," but their logo is on it. The copywriter admits he hasn't told the organization yet about the ads he's designed in their name. "It's probably not legal, but there's too much paperwork, meetings and phone calls involved to get the campaign approved in time for Earth Day," he explains. "I figure Greenpeace is too busy getting sued by conglomerates to bother suing a few people who are trying to promote the cause. They can always officially deny the vulgarity."
posted by jbickers at 2:00 PM PST - 35 comments

The Big Four Become to Become the Big Three? EMI confirms Warner Music takeover offer.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:41 PM PST - 26 comments

Circus of the Spineless [more inside].
posted by expialidocious at 1:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Drew Marshall hosts Canada's "most listened to" spiritual radio program. As a former pastor who is fed up with phony church culture, he does an interesting job of critiquing North American Christianity from the inside. This fair-minded interview with Richard James, the high priest of the Wiccan Church of Canada, is worth a listen, as is the longest interview ever recorded with the late James Brown. Those unfamiliar with Marshall can get a feel for his style by watching his interview on 100 Huntley Street, a Canadian Christian talk show. It aired only once and was then pulled due to the ensuing controversy.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:16 PM PST - 23 comments

The Castle in Front of the Cave is, unsurprisingly, a castle in Slovenia fully integrated with a cave system; built in several stages beginning in the 13th century, the castle serves as the front to a large network of caves in the side of a mountain. This excellent flickr photoset has plenty more detail about the castle's history, defense systems & more. For those who want more detail, a series of QTVR panoramic images of the insides of the castle available on this Slovenian site. Via.
posted by jonson at 11:49 AM PST - 24 comments

The Nisshin Maru is on fire. After being rammed by the Greenpeace Ship Sunrise, chased and harassed by anti-whaling activist Captain Paul Watson, and playing set to contemporary artist Matthew Barney's film Drawing Restraint 9 (which co-starred Barney's wife Bjork), the Nisshin Maru, flagship of Japan's whaling fleet has been crippled by an onboard fire fueled by whale oil, spelling a possible end to whaling in Japan.
posted by AtDuskGreg at 11:42 AM PST - 101 comments

Looking Rather Unworldly, the pharaoh hound, believed by some to have originated in Egypt, is the National Hound of Malta and is claimed by the Maltese. This love of hunting is used to advantage in lure coursing, which seems like a blast, for the dogs. They are the only breed in the sighthound group never to place at the Westminster Kennel Club's dog show.
posted by Danf at 11:29 AM PST - 16 comments

Youtube stars NSFW MC Mack, Little ***king Kev and Ginger Joe getting more fame then they could have possibly imagined. More inside...
posted by asok at 11:08 AM PST - 41 comments

Tighter restrictions on damage awards. The two questions presented to the U.S. Supreme Court centered on whether or not the highly reprehensible conduct of a defendant is analogous to a crime and can "override" the constitutional requirement that punitive damages be reasonably related to the plaintiffs harm. The answer is no. (21 page pdf) Held: 1. A punitive damages award based in part on a jury’s desire to punish a defendant for harming nonparties amounts to a taking of property from the defendant without due process. The majority: Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Souter, and Breyer. Dissenting: Ginsburg, Scalia, Stevens, and Thomas.
posted by three blind mice at 11:03 AM PST - 36 comments

Ben and Nate do Asia...or does Asia do them? Ben and Nate are a couple of food and wine freaks on a mission from God: to find the best bowl of noodles in Asia...if they survive to tell about it.
posted by darkstar at 10:30 AM PST - 12 comments

Ahh, the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. The classic stands as the benchmark: but are there better? Many think so: Sherry Yard, David Lebovitz, the folks at Cooking Illustrated, Martha Stewart, Hillary Clinton, beloved New York bakeries, intrepid webloggers. Alton Brown in an episode of Good Eats shows how to get them thin, puffy, or chewy. Cookbook after cookbook and competition after competition try to ferret out the best of this american icon. Web recipe sites have their own favorites. Some people swear by secret ingredients: cornstarch, pudding (which has cornstarch in it), oats, great chocolate. Two thirds of Americans prefer their chocolate chip cookies "nutless." Others find technique of greatest importance. Is there any end to this quest for one of baking's holy grails?
posted by shivohum at 9:46 AM PST - 53 comments

Jet Blue Unveils its Image Revival/Damage Control Plan. The low-fare airline rolled out a customer bill of rights Tuesday that promises vouchers to fliers who experience delays in a move it hopes will win back passengers after an operational meltdown damaged its brand and stock price.
posted by wfc123 at 9:14 AM PST - 41 comments

The Samjhauta Express was fire-bombed yesterday night, killing 68 people as of now, of which 17 have been identified. Two of the suspects’ faces have been released to the media, and the governments of the two countries (India and Pakistan) have vowed to work together, for the time being at least. Further fears of attacks have increased security at Railway stations, and the Bus service from Delhi to Lahore.
posted by hadjiboy at 7:46 AM PST - 23 comments

Happy National Pancake Day! Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday (or Mardi Gras), Paczki Day, Sprengidagur (Bursting Day)... Whatever you call it, today is the liturgical equivalent of a foodie free-for-all. Today is the last day before the season of Lent so Christians are supposed to only eat the plainest of foods for the next forty days. To celebrate it's time to use up all the eggs and milk and flour. What better way than to make a steamy stack of pancakes, or Paczkis or doughnuts? Better yet, head to IHOP tonight for a free stack of their pancakes.
posted by DragonBoy at 7:05 AM PST - 35 comments

The fascinating world of the tapeworm. Everyone has heard of these parasites, but what do you really know? Not much, if you get your medical information from House. They are a menace to pets as well as humans, but they may have some hidden benefits. They have even been discussed on MeFI before! Is there anything they can't do?
posted by TedW at 6:42 AM PST - 33 comments

These are links I found a long time ago, and they're all sorta old, but it's nice to know they're available whenever I want a refresher on the physiological implications of travel in an airplane wheelwell, generally because yet another poor dead stowaway has made the news. That first Slate link is short and sweet and sums it up pretty well, but, for those of you who want more details, here is a PDF of an FAA report on the subject.
posted by thirteenkiller at 6:15 AM PST - 9 comments

Royal Shrovetide Football is a traditional ball game played each year in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on a 'pitch' three miles long, lasting the two days of Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. It's been going since at least 1683 and likely much earlier.

After a ceremonial rendition of Auld Lang Syne and God Save The Queen, the cork-filled ball is thrown from the starting plinth into the crowd, and then it's the Up'ards versus the Down'ards, forming giant scrums (or 'hugs') of people moving up and down the River Henmore, with the aim of 'goaling the ball' at their respective goal post.
posted by chrismear at 4:22 AM PST - 15 comments

Flame wars as psychopathology. What's behind those flaming hot e-mails or UseNet flame wars or MetaFilter comments?. Perhaps, as John Suler suggested, there are a number of factors, including dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection (altered self-boundaries), dissociative imagination, and minimzation of authority, as he discussed in his fascinating 2004 paper (note: .pdf). Is there, as the NY Times piece asks, "a design flaw inherent in the interface between the brain’s social circuitry and the online world"? Flaming previously covered by MeFi here, here, here, and of course, here.
posted by scblackman at 2:11 AM PST - 39 comments

Dave's Garden is a website where roughly a quarter of a million gardeners and farmers exchange plants and seeds, horticultural tips, photos of produce, and garden diaries. It also offers PlantFiles (an online plant database), Garden Watchdog (a merchant list that aggregates site members' ratings), Garden Bookworm (members rate books), BugFiles (about bugs) and PlantScout (helps you find a nursery that has the plant you want). Dave apparently likes to coin words, as there's also a Gardenology (glossary) and a Botanary.
posted by owhydididoit at 10:47 PM PST - 11 comments

Politcal cartoons... not quite ready for prime time.
posted by Huplescat at 9:24 PM PST - 39 comments

Bridging the digital divide - The ubiquitious cellphone has been recognized as a key tool for the social and economic development for many at the bottom of the pyramid - Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Yunus' GrameenPhone received an award in a category that didn't exist last year - "Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development" for their Healthline project at the recently concluded 3GSM Congress in Barcelona last week. Another winner was the ultra low cost Motofone which was designed after two years of research into the needs of the rural and urban poor in India. We need many more such applications available for the "other 4 billion" if this bridge is to be built across the divide.
posted by infini at 9:05 PM PST - 36 comments

A somber video with music purporting to show the downing of a US helicopter surfaces on the New York Times and YouTube. Some background here.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 8:08 PM PST - 51 comments

Watch BBC's documentary: Iran, the least understood country (Google video | Torrent) Rageh Omaar discovers that Iran is a country that bans women from riding motorcycles but where 60 per cent of the student population is female. There are stories of taxi drivers, wrestlers, business women, people working with drug addicts and the country's leading pop star and his manager - the 'Simon Cowell' of Iran. Read his article in the Sunday Times.
posted by hoder at 7:15 PM PST - 28 comments

Hamster-ific! If you're tired of blowing up aliens or your roommates in Unreal Tournament 2004, you can switch gears and play a game in which you're the hamster, complete with your very own hamster ball.
posted by drstein at 6:29 PM PST - 7 comments

The Prisoners of YouTube is a pretty good longish article on all the reluctant internet video celebs, including Star Wars Kid, Afroninja, the Numa Numa Kid, and more. It's an interesting look at the downside of unwarranted attention and how a few people have turned these embarrassing moments in the sun to their advantage.
posted by mathowie at 6:05 PM PST - 51 comments

This site is very strange and very lovely.
posted by leahwrenn at 5:08 PM PST - 35 comments

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda believes he is the Apostle Paul. Or Jesus. Or maybe the antichrist. Many disagree, but he and his purported thousands of followers continue to present their case.
posted by saraswati at 4:30 PM PST - 36 comments

Haka is a type of ritual performance native to Aotearoa. Occurring before battles or peacetime ceremonies, it is less of a "war chant" than a way of fiercely asserting group solidarity while referring to a specific ancestry or significant event. The best known haka are probably the versions practiced by the New Zealand All Blacks: Ka Mate and, more recently, Kapa O Pango. More than just a traditional dance, haka has been an important element of the Maori Renaissance- the revival of language, culture and arts that has occurred since the re-affirmation of the Treaty of Waitangi (and has recently come under attack). For the All Blacks, haka now connects both Maori and Pakeha (outsider) players through a shared history and physical discipline, although this was not always the case. Nevertheless, the haka can make a powerful impression, particularly when someone answers in kind.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:21 PM PST - 63 comments

The Hamster Ball for Gamers
The VirtuSphere is a fully immersive virtual reality sphere that enables free movement in any direction for military and first-responder training (gaming), tourism (gaming), education (gaming), real estate walk-throughs (gaming), the possibilities are only limited by your imagination (gaming). You can run, jump, walk or otherwise locomote (i.e. roll a wheelchair) through an endless virtual world. And look like a total dork doing it but who cares? The videos make it look totally badass and fun and great exercise too! Though I do wonder what happens if/when you trip and biff.
posted by fenriq at 3:12 PM PST - 15 comments

An Estimate of the Number of Shakespeare's Atoms in a Living Human Being
posted by mrbula at 3:12 PM PST - 31 comments

Fat MRI shows the difference between subcutaneous and deep body fat, and makes some distinctions beyond just apple/pear. Here's another article, same site. I originally found this strange image searching for info on health effects of fat/red meat depending on whether it's mainly pastured as frequently discussed here or mainly unnaturally fed (as per Omnivore's Dilemma.)
posted by Listener at 3:02 PM PST - 11 comments

New York's Quiet Library Sketch Comedy Group calls UCB Theatre their home, and they offer their videos online as well as a podcast - my favorite clips are Marcel the French Rapper, Perfectly Aligned and Roofie Roulette. [last link NSFW]
posted by phaedon at 3:01 PM PST - 8 comments

Researchers have discovered men with an unusual form of dementia have a higher rate of vasectomy than men the same age who are cognitively normal. Okay, so maybe it should be that men think with their cojones? But will this be enough of a risk to outweigh the declared benefits of this procedure?
posted by jeanmari at 2:31 PM PST - 31 comments

The Hands of God. Alyson Levy visited a Christian puppetry camp and made a short documentary out of it (direct links to parts 1, 2, 3, and 4).
posted by hypocritical ross at 1:21 PM PST - 35 comments

Very odd illustrations from caricaturist J.J. Grandville's 1868 book L'Exposition de l'Avenir. More oddities from 1829's Les Métamorphoses Du Jour (some in color here), and lots of delightful garden scenes from his 1847 classic Les Fleurs Animees (vol 1, vol 2). Some consider Grandville one of the earliest proto-surrealists. [more Grandville links in this great post at BibliOdyssey]
posted by mediareport at 1:08 PM PST - 15 comments

"A Naked-Eye Nova in Scorpius" - Scorpius, the constellation home to M4, has a nova visible to the naked eye. Skytonight.com has a cool javascript almanac for you to see when it will be most visible for where you live.
posted by frecklefaerie at 12:45 PM PST - 7 comments

Sweet Meats are the perfect stuffed meat to decorate your home.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:52 AM PST - 25 comments

Artificial reef off Fort Lauderdale coast now an ecological disaster. Then: A 1972 Goodyear news release proclaimed the reef would "provide a haven for fish and other aquatic species,' and noted the "excellent properties of scrap tires as reef material.' Now: "They're a constantly killing coral destruction machine."
posted by nevercalm at 9:50 AM PST - 42 comments

Beware of the flying guillotine! supposedly created for the emperor Yung Cheng of the Qing dynasty, the flying guillotine was featured in some of the strangest martial arts movies of the 70s and even challenged the not-so-legendary one armed boxer (not to be confused with the really legendary one armed swordsman).
posted by darkripper at 9:02 AM PST - 35 comments

A beginner's guide to faking your death on the internet - a post without an omg is a post incomplete. (YouTube alert - via Borklog)
posted by madamjujujive at 8:44 AM PST - 44 comments

Cheap solar power poised to undercut oil and gas. The "tipping point" will arrive when the capital cost of solar power falls below $1 per watt, roughly the cost of carbon power.
posted by stbalbach at 7:42 AM PST - 81 comments

McCain: I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, Back then our hero said keep abortiion rights. Now, though, with the gift of a more mature perspective (and a hankering for power), he says: McCain: Roe V. Wade Should Be Overturned
posted by Postroad at 7:21 AM PST - 98 comments

Jazztube.com has hundreds of great jazz performances in one place
posted by petsounds at 7:12 AM PST - 9 comments

We could wait for NASA to build that permanent moon base they keep promising. Or we could just turn our apartments on earth into our own moon bases, space ships, or spy pads.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:49 AM PST - 12 comments

Hailed as the first major development in bicycle design for 150 years, ladies and gentlemen, it's the Sideways Bike.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:05 AM PST - 41 comments

Iridology may be bogus science, but it appears that the eyes really could windows to the soul as Swedish researchers reveal it may be possible to read a person's personality from their irises.
posted by electricinca at 5:56 AM PST - 14 comments

The word “scrotum” does not often appear in polite conversation. Yet there it is on the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky,” by Susan Patron, this year’s winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature. Apparently this is a problem for some librarians and parents.
posted by three blind mice at 1:15 AM PST - 85 comments

Iraq: The Hidden Story is a very interesting 48 minute Channel 4 report on the news you see and the news you don't. Not for the squeamish. via
posted by sergeant sandwich at 12:52 AM PST - 20 comments

The Vija Celmins of scrotal art (NSFW).
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:10 AM PST - 41 comments

Gang rape. Animal cruelty. Exploitation. Cannibalism. Put these elements together and you have Cannibal Holocaust, arguably one of the most well known exploitation films ever made. [Some of the following links are arguably NSFW]. Released in 1980, Cannibal Holocaust was a film so shockingly violent that it saw director Ruggero Deodato arrested by Italian authorities on the mistaken belief that he had made a snuff film and saw it being banned in almost every western country in the world for the actual deaths of several animals in the film. Although Deodato now regrets the introduction of the animals and although this ban has now been lifted in many of the countries that originally censored it, the horror of this landmark film is still as powerful as it ever was, a point evidenced by the often visceral reviews the film has garnered in its time. Whilst an official sequel has never been made (there have been at least two unofficial sequels), following his cameo appearance in Grindhouse movie Hostel II, Deodato has said an official sequel is in the works with an expected release date of 2009.
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:21 PM PST - 59 comments

The Design Disease "People with the disease will always choose books by their covers."
posted by dhruva at 8:30 PM PST - 91 comments

The 50 most underplayed and under-appreciated rap tracks according to ohword.com, all in one download. Some of my favorite hip-hop music blogs. For those who aren't hip-hop fans, an exhaustive list of MP3 blogs.
posted by rollbiz at 6:34 PM PST - 26 comments

Just Coffee is a vertically-integrated coffee cooperative with a mission to provide the training and resources to create a sustainable small-scale international coffee company fully owned and controlled by the coffee growers. Could they also provide a model solution for the immigration problem?
posted by carsonb at 5:37 PM PST - 16 comments

Jack's Big Music Show features Nuttin' But Stringz , an extremely talented duo featuring Damien and Tourie Escobar, Julliard-school violinists and brothers who kick out some amazing Hip-hop/R&B tracks. They're most recently featured as an interstitial musical performance on Jack's Big Music Show, my daughter's favorite show on Noggin, a cable channel from Nickelodeon aimed specifically at preschoolers. N.B.S joins other Jack's favorites like Laurie Berkner and the Flaming Lips (who tear up the dance floor with guest singer-songwriter Steve Burns, who you may or may not remember as Steve from Blue's Clues). You don't have to be a preschooler to enjoy the show or the music. N.B.S., in particular, were recently featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Ellen Show, as well as making an appearance at the Apollo Theater. Amazon has some listen links if you want to check them out. The track featured on Noggin is "Thunder".
posted by thanotopsis at 4:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Everybody loves Zombies. Everybody loves killing Zombies. Nobody wants to suddenly wake up surrounded by Zombies. Not when you thought you were just playing a video game.
posted by Elmore at 4:00 PM PST - 40 comments

Imagine you live in Portugal and you're moving into a lovely farm house on a large swath of land. The place has been empty for 15 years! While exploring your new property you find a large barn in the trees. The door is padlocked shut and its all rusted solid. so you grind the padlock open... [more inside]
posted by MegoSteve at 3:53 PM PST - 68 comments

There's about to be an election (pdf) in the British Parliament's second chamber, the House of Lords. Not an election where the public can choose their lawmakers: that's still a matter of debate. No, one of the 92 hereditary Lords has died, and those of his party colleagues that remain get to choose another hereditary peer to take his place. So the election, in which only hereditary peers registered as Conservatives can stand, will be decided by the votes of the 47 Conservative hereditary peers still clinging to the twig. And just to make sure it's properly democratic - the vote is by proportional representation.
posted by athenian at 2:49 PM PST - 40 comments

Nueva Cañcion: Starting in Chile in the 50's and spreading through Latin America through the 60's and 70's, Nueva Cañcion celebrated liberation movements, and took inspiration from indigenous folk music traditions as well as the international folk revival of the time. Listen to some audio examples and watch a few videos on youtube.
posted by serazin at 2:25 PM PST - 10 comments

Gillian McKeith banned from calling herself 'Dr'. Gillian McKeith, a "nutritionist" who has had several UK TV series, endless adverts for health supplements and sex pills, has for years used her title of Doctor to persuade people that she actually knows what she's talking about. Except now, thanks to the Advertising Standards Authority, she's no longer allowed to call herself a Doctor. I guess non-accredited correspondence-course PhDs and the membership of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, something that a dead cat can be a member of for the princely sum of $60, doesn't actually mean much after all.
posted by TheDonF at 12:24 PM PST - 65 comments

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility. The Iraq war has transformed Walter Reed into "a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients." Meanwhile, despite predictions that the cost of medical care for veterans will skyrocket, the Bush administration apparently plans to cut funding for veterans' health care. Tired of waiting for the government, more people are taking the initiative in developing alternative facilities to help veterans.
posted by homunculus at 12:23 PM PST - 88 comments

White-o-glyphics. The idea: "If we took all the common graphic symbols floating around nowadays, would we have enough to make a viable hieroglyphic language? Would it be possible to translate Finnegan's Wake or Moby Dick entirely into dingbats, whim-whams and clip art?" Matthew White makes the effort to find out.
posted by Kattullus at 11:51 AM PST - 24 comments

Waffle House Family and other classics are now available for listening in the comfort of your own home via online jukebox. No longer must you drive the darkness of the American Highway seeking that 24-hour beacon of yellow squares; no longer suck your sweet tea from the straw as you seek out original Waffle House tunes while waiting for your hash browns (scattered, smothered, and covered, of course) to arrive. Mary Welch Rogers, wife of House founder Joe Rogers, is one of several artists who recorded Waffle House-themed songs for the fast-food chain's jukeboxes. Most were penned by Buckner and Garcia of Pac Man Fever. While you're at it, visit the shrine, and enjoy David Wilcox's song about feel the peace that's cooked in grease.
posted by Miko at 11:45 AM PST - 15 comments

Mr. Deity!
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:26 AM PST - 11 comments

It's been a rough first two years for new William and Mary president Gene Nichol. First, he reluctantly let go of a beloved logo. Then, he removed a cross from a chapel in America's oldest academic building. Some students and alumni revolted. One threatened to sue, others withheld donations. Nichol backtracked slightly, but to no avail. Outsiders weighed in. Dinesh D'Souza (previously on MeFi) came to campus to debate. Some students support Nichol and are tired of outside attacks. Maybe it wasn't the best timing for W&M to host the Sex Workers Art Show: conservatives are pissed.
posted by naoko at 10:15 AM PST - 45 comments

Baztab, an alternative Iranian news wesbite from Tehran, (feed) was launched last month. But last week, it defied Ahmadinejad's government's order to shut down its service.
posted by hoder at 9:46 AM PST - 12 comments

"Up to about age 2, people can consistently regrow fingertips...." If you're older, try extract of pig-bladder. Or, if you don't mind the lupus, a Heber-Katz's Murphy Roths Large.
posted by orthogonality at 9:33 AM PST - 11 comments

Marjoe Gortner, world's youngest preacher kicked off his religious career by performing a marriage at the age of four and a half. Although he eventually left the evangelism gig and became a hippie, lack of cash led him to take it up again part time as an adult. That is, until a crisis of conscience precipitated a documentary where he exposed the business of evangelical ministry. "Marjoe" won the 1972 Oscar for "Best Documentary" and has been recently re-released. An interview with Marjoe. You tubery inside.
posted by arcticwoman at 8:58 AM PST - 19 comments

Are Africans Black? The population of African immigrants in the United States is rapidly growing. Since 1990, about 50,000 Africans have come to the United States annually, more than in any of the peak years of the international slave trade, which was abolished in 1807. They add to the steady influx of black immigrants from other continents and the Caribbean, and those who have been in the United States for generations but who don't racially and culturally define themselves as African American. These blacks feel cramped by the narrowness of American racial politics, in which "blackness" has not just defined one's skin color but has served as a code word for African American.
Maybe Not. After all, Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not - does not - share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves.... when black Americans refer to Obama as "one of us," I do not know what they are talking about. In his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama makes it clear that, while he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own - nor has he lived the life of a black American.
posted by jfuller at 7:59 AM PST - 161 comments

Introducing.... the Book.
posted by drhydro at 6:58 AM PST - 14 comments

Hot dog joint hit with foie gras fine. The City of Chicago Health Department has issued a citation to a Northwest Side eatery (Hot Doug's, all all places!) for serving foie gras in voilation of the city ban. “People are actually dying from the cold, and I’m getting hassled because of some sausage,” owner Doug Sohn said Friday afternoon...
posted by Durwood at 6:20 AM PST - 70 comments

Luigi Colani, Biomorphic Designer — This prolific master of plastic has been creating organically streamlined planes, trains, automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, ships, cities, homes, computers, cameras, televisions, furniture, pianos, ceramics, shoes, eyewear^PDF, pens, airbrushes, and other wonderful stuff (including the kitchen sink) for some 60 years. Wherever you need to go, you can reach your final destination in Colani style. More designs here, here, here, and here. [Brits and touristas take note: London's Design Museum will host a Colani exhibition, Translating Nature, from March 3 to June 17, 2007. Bibliophiles can check out the book Colani: The Art of Shaping the Future.]
posted by cenoxo at 1:04 AM PST - 14 comments

AutismTown? Autism is a puzzling and disastrous disorder which has recently spread to affect 1 in 150, according to new government data; now there is a new non-profit "pixel-based" site to organize the community and fund research and services. A bit of a "who's who" in the field...
posted by oberleit at 9:49 PM PST - 21 comments

Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch, Scammer-Style. (YouTube, approx. 7 mins.) The video was created by a Nigerian email scammer who thought he was producing a video for a victim he tried to scam. The victim fought back. Read the whole story (it's a long story, with many tangents, but fascinating) in two parts from 419 Eater: Part 1, Part 2. For reference, here's the original Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch.
posted by amyms at 8:31 PM PST - 70 comments

If you enjoy strange art, you may like these artists' sites:

• Jade Christina Green
• Michael Onona
• Zademack
• Zalibarek
• Eric Fischl
• Battista Brevigliero
• Ana Szoc

Courtesy Max Szoc.
posted by owhydididoit at 8:10 PM PST - 11 comments

The Authoritarians - Robert Altemeyer's book on authoritarianism is freely available online [via]
posted by daksya at 6:13 PM PST - 42 comments

Sampled by Daft Punk. They've been mentioned here before, sometimes disparagingly. Here, gathered and laid bare for all to see, are a collection of samples (primarily from their album Discovery) the House music duo have used. Depending on your view of them, this may shock or delight you.
posted by tumult at 6:07 PM PST - 35 comments

Simplicity v. Complexity Torvalds strikes. López Godwins. Torvalds submits patches!
posted by clawtros at 4:31 PM PST - 49 comments

In The Air Tonight. Acapella R&B group Naturally 7 perform their version of the Phil Collins classic on a Paris Metro.
posted by empath at 2:09 PM PST - 75 comments

Kids today. They have no sense of shame. They have no sense of privacy. They are show-offs, fame whores, pornographic little loons who post their diaries, their phone numbers, their stupid poetry—for God’s sake, their dirty photos!—online. They have virtual friends instead of real ones. They talk in illiterate instant messages. They are interested only in attention—and yet they have zero attention span, flitting like hummingbirds from one virtual stage to another.

So goes the common wisdom but things in fact are more complex.
Say Everything
posted by y2karl at 1:45 PM PST - 93 comments

One creative cartoonist claims that micropayments would virtually eliminate the problem of piracy. On the other hand, programmer Sean Barrett disagrees.
posted by alon at 1:28 PM PST - 15 comments

We Are Not Freaks --from Silber's Power of Narrative--and applicable to all who fall outside the norms.
posted by amberglow at 1:01 PM PST - 31 comments

Ryan Larkin [1943-2007]
posted by docgonzo at 9:41 AM PST - 32 comments

Edward 40hands. No, not Edward Scissorhands, Edward 40hands. That's right, I said Edward 40hands. An interview with Edward 40hands. (you tube, NSFW, swearing) One difficulty in becoming Edward 40hands. (you tube, NSFW, bathroom humor) The Edwina 40hands Beauty Contest.(you tube) A Modest Proposal. Certainly, the future of our civilization is in sure and (sort of) steady hands. I have to pee.(google video)(pee humor)
posted by pyramid termite at 9:41 AM PST - 24 comments

How can you have a normal life when you have to share your body with a conjoined twin? Some do remarkably well
posted by petsounds at 9:24 AM PST - 45 comments

I know you people like words and language, and I know you like Google, so when I found a clip of Erin McKean giving a talk about dictionaries at Google, I thought "Normally, I wouldn't watch a 54-minute video of someone giving a talk, but this one was really interesting, and maybe my fellow MeFites will think the same thing." (Be sure and stick around for the Q&A session at the end; Google people, as you might expect, ask really interesting questions.) Erin McKean is not only the editor of The New Oxford American Dictionary, she's got a dressmaking blog. And if you don't feel like watching a video right now, here's a transcript of an hour-long online chat at Wordsmith.Org from a couple years ago. (Video link via Taccuino di traduzione.)
posted by languagehat at 7:26 AM PST - 34 comments

Mr Fusion - coming soon. Startech Environmental Corporation's "Plasma Converter" works like "the big bang in reverse," creating nothing out of something. With the ability to break down any type of material (other than nuclear waste) into component molecules and and actually generate energy in the process, we may be at the twilight of the landfill industry. Via.
posted by jonson at 7:22 AM PST - 45 comments

With apologies to the European masters [ARTY NUDITY] Beijing photographer 潘鉞 (Pan Yue) recreates some famous European paintings in a Beijing Opera style. Other series by yer man: Farmers in Opera costume, Secret Opera Main link via.
posted by Abiezer at 4:56 AM PST - 20 comments

An artificial fin has given a bottlenose dolphin a new lease on life. Fuji, a dolphin at Okinawa's Churaumi Aquarium, lost 75 percent of her flukes to an unknown disease. But a prosthetic fin developed by Bridgestone Corporation engineers has enabled Fuji to swim again in the aquarium's dolphin lagoon. Watch the BBC video report here. Read the aquarium's notes on the project and see photos of Fuji both during and after the disease's onset here.
posted by jeffmshaw at 3:54 AM PST - 17 comments

The Way We Are: David Sedaris makes coffee with tea while ruminating on identity
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:33 AM PST - 36 comments

How about a pleasant diversion? Warning, flash and mellow sound.
posted by fenriq at 10:35 PM PST - 14 comments

Feed Me Bubbe
Why doesn't everyone do this with their grandmother? Avrom and his bubbe in a charming series about her great looking food. Learn a little yiddish while you're at it. O, yeah, there's videos here people...
posted by dozo at 10:16 PM PST - 14 comments

"Oh bother" said the Disney corporation. "It seems we've lost Pooh."
posted by Second Account For Making Jokey Comments at 9:43 PM PST - 33 comments

The Hatto Hoax. Joyce Hatto has been described as "the greatest living pianist that almost no one has ever heard of." Her performances of piano works by Liszt, Schubert, and Rachmaninov were praised by classical afficionados for their "addictively beautiful sonority, cultured musicianship, and total instrumental mastery." Since she died in June 2006, however, Hatto has been at the center of one of the stranger scandals to hit classical music in years. It's starting to look like some or all of her treasured, hard-to-find recordings made since 1990 are not her playing at all. [Via]
posted by gottabefunky at 6:52 PM PST - 52 comments

The world is never as perfect as we wish it was. When injustice strikes, everyone wishes they had a hero to turn to... so some people take the direct route and become a superhero themselves. Meet Captain Ozone, Angle Grinder Man, Super Hero Monkey, Zora the Wonder Woman, Superbarrio, Polarman, Terrifica The Anti-Cupid, and the team of Tothian, Squeegee Man and Dark Guardian.

What superhero would you be? What would you fight against? What would your superpowers be? Can't decide? Well, here's a quiz.
posted by miss lynnster at 6:09 PM PST - 53 comments

It skateboards, it rollerskates it DESTROYS ALL HUMANS! Meet the Plen Robot
posted by delmoi at 5:56 PM PST - 20 comments

Remember today as the day that Blogging jumped into the shark's mouth.
Spam blogs, fake blogs, celeblogs, fake celeblogs, moblogs, miliblogs, lawblogs, catblogs, dogblogs*, everybody's got a blog and if they use WordPress, it came with a prepackaged post and comment from "Mr. WordPress". Well, the inevitable has happened. Mrs. WordPress has a blog.**
*because on the internet, no one knows you're a dog unless you tell them
**and based on the picture on the front page, Mr. WP's first name may be Waldo
posted by wendell at 5:52 PM PST - 21 comments

Angela Merkel to fire organiser of Munich security conference over Iranian envoy's criticism of the U.S. policies in the Middle East, Der Spiegel reports. (Translated English version) Read the full speech of Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotioator at the conference.
posted by hoder at 5:09 PM PST - 11 comments

Full of slurs and racist depictions of foreigners, the "Foreigner Underground Crime File" has been causing a stir in Japan. Under threat of boycott, many convenience store chains and online retailers have apologized and withdrawn the magazine. However, author Shigeki Sakai has not. Activist and naturalized Japanese citizen Arudou Debito and website Japan Probe respond. Though now out of stock, you can read the publication for yourself.
posted by armage at 4:30 PM PST - 54 comments

Super Mario Brothers.
Beatbox.
Flute.

Super Mario Brothers Beatbox Flute.

posted by LordSludge at 3:35 PM PST - 25 comments

This is NSFW. It's crass, crude, cheap, rude, nasty and vulgar. This is a one link 10 minute YouTube video that shows cannibalism, fire, nudity, nerds, fried sperm, rednecks, and perversion aplenty. It is certainly not to everyone's taste, but that's because it's the Butthole Surfers' BBQ.
posted by Elmore at 2:45 PM PST - 49 comments

Paraglider survives 32,000ft fall. A German paragliding champion named Ewa Wisnierska was "sucked into a storm that pulled her higher than Mount Everest." She "soared skywards," and was soon "covered in ice" as she "battled hailstones the size of oranges," becoming one with the weather. "I could see the Earth coming," she later said, "wow, like Apollo 13 – I can see the Earth."
posted by BLDGBLOG at 2:15 PM PST - 57 comments

Lawrence Livermore National Lab produces fascinating charts of energy flow in the US (more). More energy use statisitics can be found at the Energy Information Administration.
posted by pombe at 2:12 PM PST - 30 comments

What do Black Holes and Electric Razors (American) have in Common?
posted by drezdn at 2:10 PM PST - 26 comments

Let's play 20 questions. 20 candidates for President, 20 personalized questions.
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:01 PM PST - 19 comments

Pop Vs Soda
posted by Stynxno at 1:58 PM PST - 52 comments

When you care enough to send the very best. Has your friend lost their hair to chemotherapy? Suffered a miscarriage? Admitted their powerlessness over cocaine? Come out of the closet? Why waste time crafting your own words to express yourself. Send one of the new Hallmark greeting cards for the low, low price of $2.29 - $2.99.
posted by scblackman at 1:42 PM PST - 37 comments

Miss Abigail's Time Warp Advice. Miss Abigail dispenses wisdom from her collection of vintage advice books (published from 1822 to 1978). Topics include Minding Your Manners, Looking And Feeling Good, Around The House, Frank Talk About Petting, and much more. The advice ranges from the very useful to the hilariously quaint, with some unenlightened shockers thrown in for good measure.
posted by amyms at 12:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Before the Music Dies Documentary of the current state of the music industry now on DVD. Perhaps not much we don't know, but certainly some insight and perspective by those entrenched. And it's got a nice marketing technique to it. Reminds me of the Wilco doc screenings I attended in Brooklyn warehouses.
posted by adamms222 at 12:48 PM PST - 31 comments

Theme Magazine I'm not even going to try and flesh this out with my favorite sub-links. Just dive in.
posted by The Deej at 12:42 PM PST - 3 comments

Meh.
posted by metaplectic at 11:24 AM PST - 129 comments

Random Friday! pictures, confessions, quotes, wiki, word, kittens, livejournal, family circus, flickr groups, essay, comic strip, idea, haiku, howto, bullshit, inspiration
posted by petsounds at 9:00 AM PST - 21 comments

Rep. Ben Bridges (R-Cleveland, GA) is in trouble. A recent memo from his office -- one circulated this week by Warren Chisum, a ranking member of the Texas state legislature -- has caught the attention of the Anti-Defamation League. They are not pleased. And they're not alone. Why? Because in his memo, Rep. Bridges -- sponsor of a perennial anti-evolution education bill in the Georgia State House -- claims that "so-called ’secular evolution science’ is the Big Bang, 15-billion-year, alternate ‘creation scenario’ of the Pharisee Religion." And that's not all. It would appear that Rep. Bridges is getting his information (and templates for his legislation) from www.fixedearth.com -- a website dedicated not only to the removal of pro-evolution education from schools, but to the idea that "[t]he Earth is not rotating...nor is it going around the sun." Because you see, it's all part of the Copernican Deception, a massive conspiracy propagated by Christian Zionists, NASA and ... Madonna?
posted by grabbingsand at 8:33 AM PST - 111 comments

Cheating at the Daytona 500. Blood doping in cycling. Rampant use of steroids in professional baseball. Don't even bother with the Olympics. Is the idea of professional and amateur competition doomed, is looking at this as a symbol of something larger about our culture(s) valid, or what?
posted by nevercalm at 7:36 AM PST - 47 comments

'Films from the Homefront' is a (new) collection of amateur documentaries, newsreels, government films, and home movies documenting life for the ordinary people in Britain during World War II, with background text descriptions/explication. Browse the themes. The films are QT and wmv format. I found it both poignant and funny, for instance, seeing kids don gasmasks during air raid drills then attempt to continue writing in their lessons. [via Glasgow School of Art Library]
posted by peacay at 7:03 AM PST - 4 comments

Carla Bruni puts poems by Emily Dickinson, W.B. Yeats, Dorothy Parker, Walter de la Mare, W.H. Auden, and Christina Rossetti to music. Listen. (via)
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:50 AM PST - 17 comments

Resonance FM gives you an interview with writer Alan Moore in three parts. I,II & III [.mp3]
posted by oh pollo! at 6:48 AM PST - 5 comments

Somehow the Canon City, Colorado branch of the KKK was not quite as fear-inspiring as their brethren to the South. Home page.
posted by spock at 6:35 AM PST - 29 comments

An interesting project from the latest Vectors Journal. "Legend has it that Paglen, who has been called the Fox Mulder of cultural geography, was personally instrumental in provoking the military to extend the perimeter around Area 51 by several miles in an attempt to thwart one of his counter-surveillance efforts" [via]
posted by tellurian at 6:31 AM PST - 5 comments

IntraText Digital Library - a few thousand texts in English and many other languages in a heavily hyperlinked concordance format.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:06 AM PST - 5 comments

In Setback for New Orleans, Fed-Up Residents Give Up. After nearly a decade in the city of their dreams, Kasandra Larsen and her fiancé, Dylan Langlois, climbed into a rented moving truck on Marais Street last Sunday, pointed it toward New Hampshire, and said goodbye.

Not because of some great betrayal but a series of escalating indignities: the attempted carjacking of a pregnant friend; the human feces deposited on their roof; the two burglaries in the space of a week; and the overnight wait for the police to respond.
posted by four panels at 6:04 AM PST - 73 comments

A Happy Maha Shivratri to you all!
posted by hadjiboy at 6:02 AM PST - 11 comments

Bob Dylan recites "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" Dylan reads the Christmas classic from his radio show.
posted by flarbuse at 9:17 PM PST - 20 comments

A Gallery of Topless Women on the Streets of New York (nsfw) - Jordan Matter's photographs are alternately stunning, striking, inspiring, and provocative.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:16 PM PST - 60 comments

How does your country measure up as a place to raise kids? It turns out that growing up in the UK is a bleaker experience than in any other wealthy country. UNICEF studied all the wealthiest nations (full report PDF here), and the US and UK came in at the bottom on almost all indicators (material wellbeing, health and safety, education, family and peer relationships, behaviours and risks, and the subjective feelings of kids and teens themselves ). Doing best for kids were the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. It turns out that GDP and material wealth alone does not ensure healthier or happier or more well-educated kids--the Czech Republic scored very well despite being one of the poorest nations surveyed.
posted by amberglow at 7:48 PM PST - 112 comments

Graphs
via
posted by Tlogmer at 7:14 PM PST - 26 comments

Jan Ruff-O'Herne's idyllic childhood in Indonesia came to an abrupt end in 1942 when the Japanese invaded and forced her into sexual slavery. In this transcript she reveals her story; how she hid the secret from her children until she finally broke her silence in 1992 to demand an apology from the Japanese government. This week Ruff-O'Herne joins other former sex slaves in testimony before the US Congress as part of a resolution urging Japan to apologize. Japanese politicians are working to stop the resolution from passing.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 6:36 PM PST - 40 comments

RIP Heather MacAllister. "Any time there is a fat person onstage as anything besides the butt of a joke, it’s political. Add physical movement, then dance, then sexuality and you have a revolutionary act.”  Founder of Big Burlesque and Venus Group, she died Feb 13 after a long fight with ovarian cancer. She was notably photographed by Leonard Nimoy. Multiple memorial services are planned for her birthday, Feb 25. [some links may be NSFW]
posted by cubby at 6:21 PM PST - 14 comments

Man attacks Shark with his bare hands; blames vodka.
posted by Second Account For Making Jokey Comments at 5:28 PM PST - 27 comments

The One that Got Away - Tom Waits
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:25 PM PST - 34 comments

Alien vs. Predator? *Yawn* Freddy vs. Jason? *Puh-leeze* For true ass-kicking video mashup fun, I'll take Terminator vs. Robocop. [Part 2]
posted by gottabefunky at 5:15 PM PST - 33 comments

The Pandora Podcast Series: "The idea behind them is to provide some interesting, and hopefully entertaining segments on various aspects of music theory. Kind of like a peek under the hood of music composition and performance using lots of musical examples." So far they've covered vocal harmony, drumming, electric guitar effects, recording vocals and elements of salsa. Schedule for rest of 2007.
posted by Ira.metafilter at 3:04 PM PST - 7 comments

One key to rule them all - As if the previous crack wasn't enough, now it's been discovered that there's a single key that can crack all HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVDs.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:06 PM PST - 66 comments

Emily, a history major at Princeton University, took a seat. “I am upset by the Iraq War, but I don’t focus on it, because it’s a negative energy,” she said. “I think we are overanalyzing the situation. I mean, here we are at Bungalow 8!” Via Wonkette, natch.
posted by unSane at 1:43 PM PST - 103 comments

Philip Martin Chavez is paralyzed, so he creates art using DragonDictate and Paint.
posted by brundlefly at 1:36 PM PST - 16 comments

Jazz '71-'89 Dave Douglas posed the challenge: “Is there a writer who can take on the project of an unbiased overview of music since the end of the Vietnam War?” The Bad Plus answered (though not unbiased). The Guardian and NY Times weighed in. Suck it, haters. And ultimately, Behearer used a wiki to answer the call.
posted by klangklangston at 1:32 PM PST - 20 comments

First Nations Histories is a site with compact histories of 48 first nations, from the Abenaki to the Winnebago, written by Lee Sultzman. They are primarily focused on nations in the Northeast, Midwest, with a smattering in the Plains and the Southeast. It also hosts two articles that aren't part of the project, Manifest Destiny and Western Canada and The Coree are Not Extinct.
posted by Kattullus at 12:12 PM PST - 10 comments

BoxHead - An entirly addictive zombie shot 'em upper. (via digg)
posted by Dr.James.Orin.Incandenza at 11:44 AM PST - 71 comments

Everyone loves pixel art.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:35 AM PST - 26 comments

TechDawg's I Ride the Lines has the best Line Rider movies I've ever seen. Van Halen is nuts, as is this awesome video with an atrocious soundtrack. (Previously)
posted by mrgrimm at 10:58 AM PST - 21 comments

These artworks are produced under the Islamic Republic of Iran , by young artists educated in Iran's current numerous art schools. (Click on each to see a set of photos.) Do they need to be liberated by Bush and Cheney?
posted by hoder at 10:40 AM PST - 44 comments

Kit Up! is a site where current and former soldiers report the one thing they absolutely could not have done without in their military life. Whether hitchhiking the galaxy or fighting the enemy, don't forget your towel. And don't even think about going door kicking without your Silly String.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 10:32 AM PST - 10 comments

Behind Iron Bars. A short comic of the Spanish Civil War. From the latest, international comics, edition of Words Without Borders.
posted by OmieWise at 10:14 AM PST - 8 comments

Peter Doig's White Canoe just sold at auction for £5.7M making it the most expensive work by a living European painter. Gallery 1, 2.
posted by johnny novak at 9:28 AM PST - 39 comments

POSSUM LIVING: How To Live Well Without a Job ..building a $100 Log Cabin, a geodesic dome out of cardboard.. handbook for cob building.. cheap solar power system.. stocking up on food.. some more
posted by petsounds at 8:53 AM PST - 37 comments

"It's quite frustrating the way this works, but the way we do things nowadays is combatant commanders brief their products in PowerPoint up in Washington to OSD and Secretary of Defense... In lieu of an order, or a frag [fragmentary] order, or plan, you get a set of PowerPoint slides... [T]hat is frustrating, because nobody wants to plan against PowerPoint slides." Lt. Gen. McKiernan

Top Secret Polo Step: CentCom PowerPoint Slides Briefed to White House and Rumsfeld in 2002, Obtained by National Security Archive through Freedom of Information Act.
"Desert Crossing" 1999 Assumed 400,000 Troops and Still a Mess
See also A Prewar Slide Show Cast Iraq in Rosy Hues
posted by y2karl at 8:50 AM PST - 13 comments

At last, the Receda Cube is found. Perplex City season one is at an end. The winner explains how he found the cube.
posted by empath at 8:03 AM PST - 37 comments

Paper Putin Build your own paper toys craze is sweeping the globe. Some examples include flying pigs, sushi classes, and discovering photography. But my favorite is the Glue Yourself a Putin.
posted by wiggles at 7:43 AM PST - 6 comments

NASCAR as an example of a meritocracy with equal opportunity for all. While frequently maligned for it's relatively primitive technology (excluding safety ), the total lack of mechanical resemblance (other than appearance) of the "stock" cars to the brand they represent, soap-opera-slash-professional wrestling story lines, and being ripe political target for both the right and the left as well as marketers, it is a strong cultural force. The entrance of Toyota (likely to surpass GM as #2 US automaker in the near-future) into NASCAR (with the hopes of "winning on Sunday and selling on Monday" in the heartland) and the cheating scandal currently unravelling highlight an important concept woven into NASCAR's culture. [more]
posted by rzklkng at 6:51 AM PST - 74 comments

Seb Przd's photos specialising in delightful and mind-bending spherical panoramas and conformal mappings.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:21 AM PST - 10 comments

James Bond eat your heart out - the name's Chapman, Eddie Chapman. A German spy who was awarded the Iron Cross and a yacht. A British spy who probably saved vast chunks of London from bombs. But above all, a conman with a penchant for "prostitutes, cognac, gambling, Savile Row tailoring and fast cars" according to his spymasters (warning - PDF). Read the book. Or the other book. Or see the biopic he reportedly didn't like. He died aged 83, in case you're wondering.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:26 AM PST - 12 comments

Jim Flora is best-known for his wild jazz and classical album covers of the 1940's and 1950's. He authored and illustrated children's books and flourished for decades as a magazine illustrator. Flora was also a prolific fine artist with a devilish sense of humor and a flair for juxtaposing playfulness, absurdity and violence. And it's not widely known, but he also liked painting ships.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:07 AM PST - 15 comments

The Quest for Life. And while you're at it, play out the life of an astronaut on this simulated mission. Do you have the right stuff to succeed and survive?
posted by sluglicker at 2:24 AM PST - 14 comments

Famous Fat Dave is an NYC cabbie. Try his Famous Fat Dave's Five Borough Eating Tour on the Wheels of Steel (myspace, embedded theme song). (via)
posted by bardic at 12:13 AM PST - 8 comments

Tentative agreement reached with North Korea. The six-party talks in Beijing finally succeeded: under the agreement, North Korea will close its main nuclear reactor within 60 days, in exchange for food, fuel aid, and steps towards normal relations with the US and Japan. The deal still has to be approved by the six governments. Analysis from the New York Times. Background from Richard Bernstein in the New York Review of Books, and from the International Crisis Group. Previously.
posted by russilwvong at 11:29 PM PST - 42 comments

Kulning: "Kulning is an archaic style of singing/cattle call, traditionally employed outdoors in the grazing pastures of Scandinavia from the Middle Ages to this day. It consists of shepherdess's tunes, calls and tones of enticement, mainly used to keep contact with, and to call the cattle, but also to communicate with other people over long distances". Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. (related MeFi post)
posted by dhruva at 10:06 PM PST - 17 comments

Paglia's back. "I had certainly assumed the Web was surfeited with more than enough material, but evidently many others beside myself find the partisan polarization of the blogosphere numbingly predictable and its prose too often slapdash, fragmentary or drearily prolix." If you like that sentence, you'll love the return of Camille Paglia to Salon.com.
posted by staggernation at 9:41 PM PST - 61 comments

Joe Rogan vs. Ned Holness What do you do when a famous comedian is stealing jokes? If you're Joe Rogan, you climb onstage, embarrass him in front of his audience and post the entire exchange to your MySpace page.
posted by dhammond at 9:03 PM PST - 159 comments

Beyond First Aid: How to handle being pepper sprayed, How to help a woman who is giving birth, How to suture, How to survive a gunshot wound, etc.
posted by serazin at 8:35 PM PST - 11 comments

Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet ...Scroll down and play the audio clip..."The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping." Sez Wikipedia: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a piece of music composed by Gavin Bryars in 1971. It is based around a recorded loop of an un-named tramp improvising a hymn. The track was rerecorded with Tom Waits in the 80's, and can be bought on Amazon. Originally heard on CBC's (soon to end) Northern Lights.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:27 PM PST - 27 comments

I've seen sampled rap videos, old school rap videos, new school rap videos, materialistic rap videos and geek rap videos but then there are just odd rap videos.
posted by Hands of Manos at 7:56 PM PST - 9 comments

Do love experts work? It's a year round profession for pick up artists and professional bad boys. Well, folks, I've tried them all and I have had fewer girlfriends than Hitler.
posted by CameraObscura at 7:32 PM PST - 17 comments

Fantastic dancing and singing.
posted by tellurian at 7:07 PM PST - 37 comments

Be my Anti Valentine. A little late in the day, but you can't beat stuff like "One Day in February isn't special...you are. Happy VD everyone!
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:51 PM PST - 10 comments

You knew it was coming. Fox News's "Daily Show for conservatives", The 1/2 Hour News Hour.
posted by Arcaz Ino at 5:02 PM PST - 126 comments

The Homicide Report, by Jill Leovy: An L.A. Times blog built on the list of homicide victims reported to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office each week.
posted by docgonzo at 5:02 PM PST - 12 comments

Forgotten Media. Rediscovered technology of the past. (For those that don't read Boing Boing).
posted by aisforal at 4:48 PM PST - 6 comments

Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision 1978 BBC Omnibus documentary (Google Video)
posted by Elmore at 3:34 PM PST - 10 comments

Georg Gerster's aerial photography (main site). At a store I saw a book of travel posters he shot for swissair, took it home and got lost in the details for hours. A gallery with larger images. He also released a book, in 2005, of aerial photographs documenting archaelogical sites. His process.
posted by lovejones at 3:03 PM PST - 11 comments

Sammy Davis Jr—entertainer, photographer... camwhore?
posted by keswick at 2:22 PM PST - 25 comments

"Police in Mexico are investigating claims that rival drug gangs are using the internet as a new battle ground."
posted by jason's_planet at 12:58 PM PST - 30 comments

Love is in the air on Valentine's Day.
Dead Kennedys "Too Drunk to F***"
Holy Moses vs. Doro "Too Drunk to F***"
Purple Sex Heads "Too Drunk to F***"
Nouvelle Vague "Too Drunk to F***"
posted by Falconetti at 11:58 AM PST - 25 comments

Science says opposites may attract.* So does this cat. *Or, opposites may be less likely to cheat.
posted by onlyconnect at 11:33 AM PST - 22 comments

It seems apropos today to post about Bollywood and its style of romance and love. Songs are often the equivalent of a bedroom scene, a fact I didn't believe until it was pointed out to me that there were numerous instances of extremely suggestive songs followed by pregnancy. Bollywood also uses songs to arouse patriotic fervour, a trait that master music director A.R. Rahman takes to new heights with his release of the classics Vande Mataram [Motherland, I salute thee] and Jana Gana Mana [India's national anthem]. But even before him, there were classics of public service advertising such as "Mile sur tera hamara..." a fuzzy video but inspiring nonetheless of the myriads of voices and languages spoken in India. Other loves that hindi cinema celebrates through its songs is that of a mother for a child, god, love across cultural boundaries and what is politely termed as "conjugal love".
posted by infini at 10:33 AM PST - 31 comments

Hacking The Superbowl. John Hargrave spends $40,000 for an elaborate Superbowl prank -- duping the feds, cops, and stadium security in order to pass out thousands of lights to fans, who were told they would spell out "Prince" during the halftime show. Instead, they spell out, uh... well, something. Just what they spell is unclear (though some are having fun "guessing") and Hargrave hasn't said yet (his write-up is up to part 5, hopefully of 6). Can you tell? And was it worth the effort, or is this just an expensive dud?
posted by notmydesk at 10:15 AM PST - 71 comments

Charity-by-Numbers. Re-Paint-By-Number. Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles is holding an exhibition & charity auction for The Alliance for Childrens Rights. The show features old paint-by-numbers art work that has been altered by many contemporary artists. You can find Before and After images of all the artwork in their ebay listings as well as many on the gallery's site. (Sorry, no direct link to the embedded feature.) Many larger views are on the Juxtapoz blog. Some are subtle, while others bury the original almost entirely.
posted by JBennett at 10:10 AM PST - 1 comment

For each of the last three years, Robert Pinsky has collected a small set of Valentine's Day poems (and insightful analysis) around a particular theme - poems about love, poems against love, and poems about lust.
posted by blahblahblah at 10:04 AM PST - 12 comments

An Interactive Map of Charles Dickens' London. After you have had a chance to peruse the map, see then and now pictures or take a quiz about Dickens' London. If you want to see it with your own eyes, take a walking tour. Or if you are daring enough, you can try to virtually survive Dickens' London.
posted by dios at 9:42 AM PST - 7 comments

The bastard offspring of Borat and Inspector Clouseau shares his insights on internet marketing, the time to take action, the correct use of videos (!!) and plenty more. Warning: his website crashed my browser.
posted by unSane at 9:41 AM PST - 15 comments

Chrome Children, Volume 2. From the unlikely entertainment coalition of Stones Throw Records and Adult Swim ... the fine folks that brought you DangerDoom and Chrome Children, Volume 1 ... come sixteen glorious and eclectic tracks, each proving that hip-hop is alive, well and evolving. And you can have all sixteen for the low, low price of absolutely nothing.
posted by grabbingsand at 9:32 AM PST - 10 comments

The Penitent Yanks are a team of Americans driving a school bus 3, 600 miles from Plymouth, England to the Gambia. They're part of the 2007 Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, an annual road rally to benefit charities in Gambia. Their bus has broken down in the Sahara, and they need help.
posted by chinese_fashion at 9:08 AM PST - 2 comments

Sign Up To Be A Bone Marrow Donor Without Leaving Your House On this day of love, do something great for the human race and sign up to to be a bone marrow donor. For a small fee, Gift of Life will send a registration kit to your house, so you don't even have to leave your chair.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:07 AM PST - 62 comments

Oil Rig Disasters--Deadliest, most expensive, blowouts, sinkings. Building a rig. Barrels of rig pictures. NOAA's archive of spill pictures. ROVs, rigs, vessels. All kind of Canadian rig (and related) pictures. More.
posted by OmieWise at 8:12 AM PST - 19 comments

Daft Punk, a capella. That is all.
posted by piratebowling at 6:04 AM PST - 43 comments

SEIU President Andy Stern says unions should be less like unions. He recently teamed up with Wal-Mart to call for incremental healthcare reform, and has said that unions should assist employers in outsourcing their employees. His union once teamed up with CA nursing home operators to limit the rights of abused patients. This is the same union that promoted this insipid PR campaign.
posted by univac at 2:46 AM PST - 74 comments

Shut Up And Date. Are you lonely this Valentine's Day? "Dating Expert Jean Singer" wants you to Shut Up And Date. Watch clips of her seminar, Internet Dating: Oh, The Mistakes Men Make! Check out her Ten Commandments Of A First Date. But, before you start, make sure you're worthy by taking the self-assessment quiz. Shut Up And Date offers helpful advice and affirmations for all the relationship-challenged men out there.
posted by amyms at 10:32 PM PST - 113 comments

Criminals and Scoundrels: The Top 25 Most Corrupt Officials of the Bush Administration. Maybe we could make playing cards for them? (found via del.ici.ous)
posted by exlotuseater at 9:52 PM PST - 27 comments

The Fountain "No matter how good CGI looks at first, it dates quickly...So I set the ridiculous goal of making a film that would reinvent space without using CGI." Director Aronofsky tapped into the microphotography work of Parks and Parks to bring a new look to special effects in science fiction cinema.
posted by dhruva at 9:10 PM PST - 95 comments

Worst Commercial Ever? ..Worst Weatherman? Sports Announcer? Goalie? Worst Woman driver? Author? Burgular? Bag Piper? 80s Music video? Singing in a Stadium? Oh, how we enjoy other people's misfortunes
posted by petsounds at 8:49 PM PST - 97 comments

Mahavishnu Orchestra - One Word
Weather Report - Seventh Arrow/Umbrellas
Squarepusher's 8-track [1] [2 + Buddy Rich]
Jaco Pastorius - Portrait of Tracy
Cannibal Ox - Pigeon
posted by rxrfrx at 8:35 PM PST - 20 comments

Russian fisherman catch squeaking alien and eat it. Footage of the 100kg monster was also caught on camera phone (possibly nsfw page).
posted by premiumpolar at 7:02 PM PST - 46 comments

Robot plays Coltrane (via)
posted by roll truck roll at 6:45 PM PST - 59 comments

Lunar Eclipse The first lunar eclipse of 2007. Can you see it? Pretty... but also previously. Put your thinking caps on.
posted by fluffycreature at 6:14 PM PST - 6 comments

Dancers caught in midair. Dancers as seen through a kaleidoscope. Dancers jumping in stuff.
posted by found dog one eye at 6:10 PM PST - 11 comments

Rogue nations? Nah, that's old stuff. What we're looking for now is rogue swimmers. Well, actually, it's the dolphins and sea lions that are looking for them. Of course, there's always the possibility that the animals will become the rogues and terrorists themselves.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:18 PM PST - 4 comments

You know Bruce Schneier the polymath security genius. Now meet Bruce Schneier the kind-hearted reviewer of local Minnesota restaurants. (He doesn't like to give bad reviews -- sounds like "security through obscurity" to me!)
[previously, also]
posted by grobstein at 3:52 PM PST - 15 comments

Two men go skydiving with cameras on their helmets. For one of them, everything goes well. For the other... not so well: neither chute functions and he hits the ground at 80mph. Video footage and post jump interview here. {via waxy}
posted by dobbs at 3:45 PM PST - 69 comments

The history of cake has been long and varied, and many have interesting histories. Some are misleadingly named. However, few have had as mysterious and interesting a history as one of the 20th century's most famous cakes, the Chiffon.
From the always wonderful Rake Magazine.
posted by wander at 2:09 PM PST - 23 comments

Cheatneutral. "When you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere. Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and NOT cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a clear conscience." [Via Gristmill.]
posted by homunculus at 1:03 PM PST - 39 comments

I Am Trying to Believe. Well, maybe not. (Previously: Best, shortest review of a NIN cd, ever.)
posted by loquacious at 12:36 PM PST - 58 comments

The Last Jews of Cairo As soon as we saw the guns, we knew we’d arrived at the synagogue. Egyptian policemen thronged behind barricades, white uniforms in the dusk, handguns at their hips. Above them, on stairs, Special Forces soldiers in black with red armbands held machine guns as easily as we did point-and-shoot cameras.
posted by MDA38 at 11:58 AM PST - 34 comments

The one dollar bill: 2.61 inches wide, 6.14 inches long, 0.0043 inches thick. Wait - that's all of them. What happens if you just can't see the bill? Some 180 other countries have non-visual ways to determine what denomination a bill is, but the USA does not. The ACB has twice tried to introduce resolutions to fix this, with no results. A recent lawsuit, however, may finally make the change happen. After all, It's Our Money, Too.
posted by niles at 9:48 AM PST - 78 comments

Steve Carell may be hilarious in the office, but how much would his jackass behavior cost in real-life? clips (youtube)
posted by tylerfulltilt at 8:42 AM PST - 45 comments

Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Maybe your dream mate just hasn't gotten out of prison yet? Find them now and they'll be yours when they do get paroled in five to ten years. (somewhat NSFW). The bonus early 90's flaming gif and site design is just icing!
Be sure to read the disclaimer. Here, I'll summarize, use a PO Box to correspond with the inmates, don't give your phone number unless you want to accept collect calls and don't sue the site if your dream man gets out and chops you into little pieces. Seems reasonable enough.
posted by fenriq at 7:45 AM PST - 28 comments

"You're really smart!" Psychologist Carol Dweck says that praising a child for being smart only teaches the kid to avoid any effort that might fail. "When we praise children for their intelligence, we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don't risk making mistakes." Malcolm Gladwell chimes in with his thoughts on the importance of being a smart kid, "What a gifted child is, in many ways, is a gifted learner. And what a gifted adult is, is a gifted doer. And those are quite separate domains of achievement."
posted by revgeorge at 7:15 AM PST - 216 comments

Murder Map Mashup: New York, Boston, Baltimore, and New Orleans have all mapped Google to murder.
posted by four panels at 6:59 AM PST - 25 comments

What if Euclid had been Japanese? There are traditionally stated and proved theorems about origami. And MetaFilter has previously explored modular origami (as well as the boring old artistic kind), which has a geometric foundation. However, origami itself is a powerful mathematical framework that allows one to, for instance, solve the famously insoluable problem of trisecting an angle. More generally: Traditional geometry solves quadratic equations, origami solves cubic ones. (Many more mathematical items about and using origami can be found in the excellent mathematics teachers' book: Project Origami: Activities for Exploring Mathematics, most of which are unfortunately not findable online).
posted by DU at 6:45 AM PST - 9 comments

Float-on, Float-off cargo ships. They're huge. One carried the USS Cole. One class is called the Mighty Servants. There are also the Marlins, or the elegant honesty of the "Transshelf". Big ships need big dock cranes. For maximum impact, compare these monsters to the common penny. Previously, "Where do Supertankers go to die?"
posted by OmieWise at 6:36 AM PST - 45 comments

dlog is a new document visualization system that attempts to show writing not as a static document but a progression of frames over time. I find the suspense of the process mesmerising/delightful. I'm surprised it hasn't been trashed.
posted by tellurian at 4:11 AM PST - 30 comments

"A Ninja Pays Half My Rent" (YouTube 5:23) A short film directed by Steven K. Tsuchida.
posted by rfbjames at 10:36 PM PST - 13 comments

Treasure Hunt Puzzle I've been nutting my way through some of these puzzles with some difficulty but with a great deal of fun. Thought I would share...
posted by gnomesb at 9:40 PM PST - 63 comments

How to use MS PowerPoint to exploit the U.S. Oh, the humanity...
posted by whozyerdaddy at 8:38 PM PST - 45 comments

What's attractive? Averaged female faces from Hot or Not "These women do not exist.They are a composite of about 30 faces that I created to find out the current standard of good looks on the Internet." also by age and origin
posted by petsounds at 8:35 PM PST - 102 comments

The Twelve Commandments Of Flaming. Andrew Heenan's Guide To Flaming also features sections on Winning and Strategy, as well as Word Skills , Psychology of Flaming, Definitions Of Flaming, Profiling Flamers and more. "I get the occasional accusation that this site, while claiming to be about resisting and surviving flaming, is actually intended as a training course for would-be flamers," he says... Maybe it's both?
posted by amyms at 8:13 PM PST - 63 comments

Heil Honey, I'm Home! Somewhere in suburbia, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun live next door to a Jewish couple in this curious artifact from the BBC. The curiosity was canceled after one episode, for reasons somewhere between quality and taste, but now you can see it for yourself.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:56 PM PST - 33 comments

Coach vs Borges This is the one link posts to end one link posts.
posted by cascando at 5:32 PM PST - 62 comments

How the underground hacker economy works. Black hat hackers and other scammers make money through methods ranging from pumping penny stocks to re-shipping rings. Meet the four most wanted cybercriminals.
posted by blahblahblah at 4:55 PM PST - 13 comments

Tales of Future Past* — It's been a looong Monday. Do you want to get off the planet and out of the city to a place where you can really live? Well, here's some food for thought on the way home down life's highways. First, take a break from all this depressing war talk. Then empower yourself by giving yourself some space and maybe taking off for a few days. Drive just a bit slower, turn up the volume and imagine that your mechanic will say the tranny's OK after all. Once you're in the front door, take time to get slightly wired and forget all about politics. Get recharged for tomorrow: have a nice long bath, put your mind at ease, watch Ur Fave shOw, and listen to some soothing music. Now, don't things look a lot better? [*Note the 'Start the Tour' links at the bottom of each page.]
posted by cenoxo at 4:36 PM PST - 10 comments

Gerrymandering v. Progressives Al Gore's former Chief of Staff argues that, even if liberals are drawing voting lines to benefit Democrats, gerrymandering always hurts progressives.
posted by expriest at 4:30 PM PST - 20 comments

Gizmoz : for those of you who want your own video blog but don't want to mess with the intricacies of a webcam.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:11 PM PST - 9 comments

Odds of dying This might not be all that useful in Vegas, but still not bad to know.
posted by konolia at 3:56 PM PST - 54 comments

Corporal Punishment Imagery in Print Advertising. Only NSFW if your coworkers like to jump to conclusions.

Unfortunately, it's probably a different Colin Farrell.
posted by staggernation at 3:13 PM PST - 11 comments

A hacker breaks into the forums of the guild Band of Brothers on the MMORPG Eve, where he discovers an Eve devolper, called t20, is not only a high-ranking member of the alliance, but has been feeding BoB expensive and rare in-game items. CCP, the company who runs EVE, denies any wrong doing, before it is revealed that CCP knew about t20's abuses for over six months. Players are not happy.
posted by Snyder at 3:11 PM PST - 49 comments

ORDER OF THE SCIENCE SCOUTS OF EXEMPLARY REPUTE AND ABOVE AVERAGE PHYSIQUE Many people are probably eligible for the talking science badge; hopefully less are due the knows how to collect semen from more than one species one.
posted by chorltonmeateater at 2:14 PM PST - 18 comments

What do with... Your Dead Hooker . For more (fake) educational extravaganza: Is it time to swap?
posted by darkripper at 1:46 PM PST - 19 comments

Sixty-seven scenes of torture in five seasons. Is 24 responsible for an increase in real-life torture? They at least feel guilty enough to meet up with some actual interrogators encouraging them to make their torture scenes more authentic. But it's not just 24 - torture is becoming more prevalent on all American television.
posted by meech at 1:40 PM PST - 107 comments

Japanese packaging design: snack characters. From the awesome Pingmag (previously 1, 2, 3). Via AT Chicago. Also recently in Pingmag: First Generation Graffiti in Iran.
posted by jokeefe at 1:39 PM PST - 9 comments

Teens convicted of producing and possessing child pornography for taking pictures of themselves. [via]
posted by brundlefly at 1:24 PM PST - 53 comments

Tea has had its tour on MeFi before, but have you gone on a Tea Tour of New York? As tea continues to become the hot beverage (although Americans seem to prefer it iced), the number of tea blogs can only continue to rise. Want to get closer to the source? Try this blog in Bejing.
posted by mikeh at 12:47 PM PST - 16 comments

Discount Stores of the 1960's
posted by anastasiav at 11:56 AM PST - 49 comments

Bader Meinhof Gang Member To Be Released And we thought that death and taxes were the final arbiters of human existence, there is always more, and I guess if you don't go with the flow, there are alternative funeral planning options. Self immolation is sounding better all the time. If you want to be sure of your final destination. You can go home again. Apparently enough can't be said about having a living will, as long as your will hasn't been surgically removed.
posted by Oyéah at 9:39 AM PST - 18 comments

Is this a portrait of young Abraham Lincoln?
posted by edverb at 9:38 AM PST - 66 comments

The AIA 150 The blue has been filled over the years with "greatest" posts We all have seen the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Movies. The 100 Greatest British Albums, the 50 Greatest Commercials of the 1980's, you name it, they've all appeared on MeFi. The American Institute of Architects has taken a different tack. Instead of relying on a "blue ribbon panel", like the AFI, and despite being the experts, the AIA took a public poll to find out what the people actually think are the Greatest American Buildings. The results are the AIA 150. The whole thing is being turned into a website and a museum exhibition which will tour the country.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:10 AM PST - 35 comments

Thor. More Thor. Yet more Thor. More and more Thor. Thor Store. Thor of yore.
posted by unSane at 7:36 AM PST - 33 comments

Intentional Communities Once thought to be a relic of the sixties, the communal living movement is enjoying renewed interest. There are now hundreds of "intentional communities" spread throughout North America, ranging from small to large. Some have received media attention.
posted by triolus at 6:56 AM PST - 25 comments

Would you drive a pick-up truck with "Man Love Rules OK" across Alabama? (YouTube video) The presenters behind UK motoring/male-entertainment show Top Gear did. See what happens when they pulled into a "gas" station. More information here. Do you think the footage was manipulated?
posted by badlydubbedboy at 5:48 AM PST - 334 comments

On January 1, 2007, the book industry began using 13 digits to identify books in global trade. There's a 10 to 13 digit converter and of course the ISBN 13 For Dummy's.
posted by sluglicker at 12:34 AM PST - 29 comments

Flurb! Issue 2 of the Webzine of Astonishing Tales -- edited by Rudy Rucker, featuring 'demented and counter-cultural' stories from luminaries of the cyberypunkery like Charles Stross, John Shirley, Mark Laidlaw (who also wrote the story for Half Life 2), Richard Kadrey, one of MeFi's favorite snark-targets, Cory Doctorow and others besides -- is out. [found via the RU SIRIUS podcast] [Previously: Issue #1]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:18 AM PST - 13 comments

Fluffy motorcycle. From the excellent EnglishRussia blog.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 11:02 PM PST - 21 comments

A Call to Free the Cell Phones. Law professor and Net Neutrality activist Tim Wu throws down the gauntlet to wireless industry. Building on the Carterphone ruling, he makes the argument for Wireless Net Neutrality: that consumers, not wireless carriers, should choose how they connect to the wireless networks, what devices they use, and what they do with the bandwidth.
posted by alms at 9:25 PM PST - 37 comments

Malagasy Gangsta
posted by pwedza at 8:42 PM PST - 15 comments

Human Rights Watch indepth report on male rape in US prisons. "I've been sentenced for a D.U.I. offense. My 3rd one. When I first came to prison, I had no idea what to expect. Certainly none of this. I'm a tall white male, who unfortunately has a small amount of feminine characteristics. And very shy. These characteristics have got me raped so many times I have no more feelings physically. "
posted by petsounds at 7:46 PM PST - 146 comments

Bubble Artist: Science and entertainment combined. "With every performance my goal is to leave [the] audience with a tingling sense that they've just encountered something mysterious and wonderful." ~ Keith Johnson
posted by amyms at 7:36 PM PST - 6 comments

Detailed images of a complete miniature city
posted by deern the headlice at 6:30 PM PST - 40 comments

Travelling Exhibition of Broken Toys. [flash] A whimsical distraction.
posted by tellurian at 6:29 PM PST - 12 comments

Dude gives a homeless friend a camera. Months later, dude receives prints in the mail.
posted by tylermoody at 4:20 PM PST - 63 comments

Long un-updated, but still chalk full of anarchist theory, The Spunk Library (catalog indexes on upper right). Of possible interest to metafilter users: Maybe a "group" discussion dominated by two or three people ISN'T.
posted by serazin at 3:25 PM PST - 57 comments

The mobile content market is big but the mobile service companies control the bottleneck of data to your phone and may well be holding the industry back. A NZ site has launched offering a platform for mobile content producers to sell direct to mobile content consumers globally: Voeveo.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:42 PM PST - 7 comments

This simple hack actually only crashes the in-flight entertainment system (perhaps this one?), but that's already enough to cause concern with the kind of people who comment anonymously on a blog for "security executives."

I'm certain that this vulnerability (like this vulnerability) will be taken seriously.
posted by jdfalk at 2:19 PM PST - 36 comments

rideaccidents.com -- "is the world's single most comprehensive, detailed, updated, accurate, and complete source of amusement ride accident reports and related news." Includes sections on ride fatalities going back to 1972. (Man, what a bunch of spoilsports!)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:01 PM PST - 16 comments

One more time? It looks like the case against Iran has begun publicly. Unfortunately, this seems eerily familiar. Unnamed officials with unverified claims are holding press conferences - on a Sunday, no less. Is this an attempt to explain our difficulties in Iraq or a prelude to retaliation with Iran? Worrisome, or not?
posted by Benny Andajetz at 12:49 PM PST - 144 comments

When I was a kid, my dad, who grew up in London, during the Blitz, used to play this old record: a song called "The Laughing Policeman." It always put a smile on my face. According to Wikipedia, it was written in 1922 by Charles Jolly, who wrote "numerous other laughing songs (The Laughing Major, Curate, Steeplechaser, Typist, Lover, etc)." If you want to hear the happiest policeman ever, here's the mp3. The song has inspired cartoonists, mystery novelists (great series, by the way!), filmmakers, a more-recent recording (mp3), and, inevitably, some scary people on youtube. Speaking of youtube, this is how I remember the song.
posted by grumblebee at 12:05 PM PST - 40 comments

Meet the Raven. Robert "Raven" Kraft has run barefoot in the sand at least three miles a day everyday since 1/1/75. He may seem a little obsessive, but he's only number 10 on the list. 1-9 are far more obsessive.
posted by Xurando at 11:15 AM PST - 19 comments

Breakfast of the Gods: The Last Good Morning. A serialized webcomic featuring the sugary, crunchy stars of your childhood - destroying your childhood dreams one after another. Via Monkeyfilter.
posted by loquacious at 10:22 AM PST - 32 comments

Track aircraft visually or listen to live air traffic control.
posted by grouse at 10:13 AM PST - 7 comments

"The Uncontainable Kurds" (NYRB). Nice summary of recent Kurdish politics in Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
posted by stbalbach at 9:49 AM PST - 21 comments

Sunday sillibiz: Snackimals, really fancy fashions for dogs, RubikCubism, hairstyle names from 1970s Ebony ad, burquas for men, fetish dollies [nsfw], Art Car Museum, the hideaway cosy, baby tiger cub sleeps and plays. [via]
posted by nickyskye at 9:35 AM PST - 14 comments

On Friday, Ian Richardson died in his sleep. He was probably best known in the UK for the BBC "House of Cards" trilogy starring as the scheming politician Francis Urquhart with his now infamous "You might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment." Busy until his death, he recently featured in the TV series "Midsomer Murders" and played Death in the Sky One adaptation of Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather". Sadly, to many he was just the guy who asked for Grey Poupon mustard.
posted by twine42 at 7:03 AM PST - 30 comments

Super-sized cosmic double helix For all the many different (sometimes ignominious) ways in which we imitate nature, sometimes it is nice to see the dynamic change a bit - this time, in the guise of something at the heart of our essence found at the heart of our local island miniverse.
posted by anatinus at 4:49 AM PST - 14 comments

The Beginner's Guide to L Ron Hubbard. A surprisingly sympathetic look at the cultists everyone loves to hate. Or more specifically their slightly less crazy splinter church.
posted by mock at 4:44 AM PST - 147 comments

Horses eat a lot / prances in the lovely field / They are beautiful.
Pandas eat bamboo / All pandas live in Japan / Pandas are harmless.
CAT'S sit and lay down / CAT's are big and fluffy / My cat is a Maine coon / I'm chasing my cat.

The assorted haiku of Bloomfield Elementary School in Skowhegan, Maine.
posted by four panels at 11:36 PM PST - 34 comments

Sally Wallace creates highly detailed miniature dollhouses, including several from the Harry Potter films (Olivander's wand shop & Honeydukes, Hogwarts, The Stairs). Via. Warning, every single annoying web 0.9 trick in the book is employed somewhere on this site, including but not limited to: embedded midi files, that java fake reflecting water deal, virtual exploding fireworks, etc. ugh.
posted by jonson at 11:33 PM PST - 4 comments

Modest, yet fashionable. It may be February, but you'd best get an early start finding the perfect modest swimwear. Onesies are probably best left the domain of christian harlots. A two-piece is right out. How about a four-piece? The fine folks at Haşema and Ahiida can hook you up with the hottest styles this season. After a refreshing swim, why not go for a jog?
posted by phrontist at 10:54 PM PST - 96 comments

Naughty Kitties love their spankings! [YouTube]
posted by CrunchyFrog at 8:21 PM PST - 69 comments

As the war in Iraq nears its fourth anniversary, and with no end in sight, Americans are owed explanations. The Senate Intelligence Committee has promised a report on whether the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence to justify the war against Iraq. An explanation is due also for how the U.S. press helped pave the way for war. An independent and thorough inquiry of pre-war press coverage would be a public service. Not least of the beneficiaries would be the press itself, which could be helped to understand its behavior and avoid a replay.

Cranberg wants a serious probe of why the press failed in its pre-war reporting
posted by y2karl at 8:01 PM PST - 57 comments

The Shame Game. Perverted Justice (prev.) and Dateline NBC's series of To Catch A Predator specials are of questionable-at-best morality and have received much flak, particularly on the part of the former party. At the Columbia Journalism review, Douglas McCollum shares the case of Louis Conradt Jr., who killed himself upon being pounced upon by police and Dateline's cameras. McCollum also takes issue with NBC's paying of Perverted Justice for their services. And, for the other side, PJ's rebuttal.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 7:09 PM PST - 162 comments

Writers on America is a collection of essays by various American authors on different aspects of America. It was conceived in the direct aftermath of 9/11 as a way to introduce readers to a United States that is not prominent in American pop culture. It is published by the US State Department and distributed by embassies. Michael Chabon writes about growing up in the utopian planned city of Columbia, Maryland. Bharati Mukherjee writes On Being an American Writer rather than an Indo-American one. Charles Johnson writes about a great uncle who started a milk company, and after that went belly-up in the Great Depression, founded a construction business. The other authors with essays in the volume are Elmaz Abinader, Julia Alvarez, Sven Birkerts, Robert Olen Butler, Billy Collins, Robert Creeley, David Herbert Donald, Richard Ford, Linda Hogan, Mark Jacobs, Naomi Shihab Nye and Robert Pinsky. On Voice of America Eric Felten interviewed Mark Jacobs, George Clack, executive editor of the publication and Joseph Bottum, books and arts editor of the Weekly Standard. NPR interviewed Clack and Elmaz Abinader [RealAudio] about the project and On the Media interviewed Clack by himself.
posted by Kattullus at 6:17 PM PST - 34 comments

Your husband left you? It could be worse. Divorcing couple builds a wall through the family home neither will leave. Apparently breaking up, but not moving out, is not uncommon, it is even recommended. Even among us.
posted by Methylviolet at 6:04 PM PST - 20 comments

Guide to the Danish Golden Age
posted by Silune at 6:03 PM PST - 11 comments

Save Boston from the Mooninites! Be sure to play this with the sound on. via
posted by cerebus19 at 5:39 PM PST - 28 comments

jorn's been somewhat under the radar of late. looks like he might need a helping hand (again?).
posted by progosk at 4:36 PM PST - 37 comments

The United States has overstepped its borders in all spheres - economic, political and humanitarian, and has imposed itself on other states . That was a remark by Russian President Vladimir Putin at Munich Security Conference.
posted by elpapacito at 4:25 PM PST - 98 comments

Police officer ejaculates on motorist, escapes liability.
posted by tehloki at 2:50 PM PST - 144 comments

Don't Buy this Book! Seth Godin, author and marketing guru, has his book, Everyone is an Expert, for purchase on Amazon. The problem? He wrote it as an ebook in 2005, and it is downloadable for free. And it isn't even illegal, as it was licensed under a Creative Commons license that allows for for profit reproduction.
posted by zabuni at 1:54 PM PST - 37 comments

'Americans don't do irony' : an essay by Simon Pegg
posted by dash_slot- at 1:10 PM PST - 91 comments

Is blood plasma salinity the same as seawater? No, but that proves evolution. "The answer is most definitely NOT that oceans were 1/3 as salty back then. It most definitely IS that the earliest vertebrates did evolve in salt water and then moved into fresh water....They have devised an extremely clever trick in kidney structure to allow salt transport pumps which really take salt back INTO the body from the urine but still manage to use them to produce urine much more concentrated that their body fluids and so excrete salt FROM the body."
posted by Brian B. at 11:06 AM PST - 65 comments

Great White Sharks feeding on a whale carcass. Ever wanted to see what a dead whale looks like? Find it here. How about multiple great white sharks feeding on said carcass? Find it here. How about a mad scientist who climbs on said carcass? And films said sharks with fricken' lazer beams feeding on stinking whale carcass?
posted by KokuRyu at 9:26 AM PST - 38 comments

Barack Obama is running for president. [Previously: 1, 2]
posted by patr1ck at 9:26 AM PST - 191 comments

Watada case mistrial declared A new trial has been scheduled, but the attorney for the defense says they will invoke double jeopardy if it goes forward. The army has apparently tried to compel reporters to testify in the case. Plenty of people weighing in on the case lauding him or calling him a caudillo. (previously and oblig. NYT link)
posted by Smedleyman at 8:27 AM PST - 33 comments

Contact Press Images - 30 Years of Excellence - Digital Journalist highlights three decades of photojournalism from this premier independent agency dedicated to producing "in-depth photographic essays of pressing global concern." [more]
posted by madamjujujive at 7:18 AM PST - 8 comments

Fifteen hundred cat pictures. (56k, no way.)
posted by BeerFilter at 5:23 AM PST - 51 comments

Satoshi Kamiya makes some pretty incredible origami.
posted by grouse at 2:28 AM PST - 17 comments

"I know that what I saw and what a lot of other people saw stood out very clearly, and it definitely was not an [Earth] aircraft." A United Airlines mechanic and other witnesses see a disc-shaped object over Concourse C at O'Hare Airport for nearly 20 minutes in afternoon daylight. At least one purported photo of the object has surfaced. NPR interviews the Chicago Tribune reporter who first wrote about the object. The FAA (which claimed to have no information on the incident before a FOIA request forced them to acknowlege it) theorizes the object was a "weather phenomenon" and is conducting no further investigation.
posted by Hat Maui at 12:21 AM PST - 67 comments

They are capable of loading lifts from approximately 50 to as much as 45,000 tons.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:43 PM PST - 62 comments

I am so tired of being abducted by aliens. Only two people have been abducted while using this new anti-alien abduction technology. Only two!
posted by Mister_A at 8:26 PM PST - 35 comments

Children for Hire.
posted by hadjiboy at 8:07 PM PST - 5 comments

Can't you see? There's one in a tree, and he's looking at me. A St. Louis TV station took a bunch of footage of bald eagles for a segment, but half of the interview footage was lost due to microphone problems, so they improvised. What resulted is a sweet-ass-sweet musical montage on the awesomeness of eagles. [YouTube filter, by the way, via the boing.]
posted by c:\awesome at 7:55 PM PST - 37 comments

Is the 21st century making you miserable? This young fellow may know why. Is he right, folks?
posted by wallstreet1929 at 7:34 PM PST - 51 comments

Singer-songwriter Margo Guryan takes the 16 words from George W. Bush's 2003 State Of The Union address and set them to music. Comes with great video, directed by James Reitano (iFilm, youtube). [more inside]
posted by Ira.metafilter at 7:03 PM PST - 8 comments

Elie Wiesel was attacked in a San Francisco hotel today by a Holocaust denier, intenton forcing the Nobel Prize winner confess that his book Night was a fictionalized account of his survival of Dachau. Incredibly, someone is taking credit for the attack.
posted by mkb at 6:28 PM PST - 116 comments

America's Test Kitchen, On Demand | Chowhound Cooking Videos | FOOD Network, Videos on Demand
posted by Dave Faris at 3:18 PM PST - 32 comments

Rosmarie Fiore is doing some fascinating and beautiful things with long exposures and 80's arcade games.

In the meanwhile, Patrick Dougherty is doing some fascinating and beautiful things with sticks and twigs. [more inside]
posted by wander at 1:22 PM PST - 17 comments

Blandlands. Videoblogger Aaron Valdez (previously) has entered his minimalist phase. These short, wordless scenes of suburban landscapes are quiet meditations on beauty and decay. Great for people who don't have windows in their offices. Other Valdez offerings include The Life and Times of Robert Kennedy Starring Gary Cooper, America's Way, and Subterranean Homesick 41 Frame Delay Blues.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:25 PM PST - 7 comments

How to remember stuff Or not: part I, II, and III.
posted by serazin at 12:21 PM PST - 15 comments

When I grow up I want to be an environmental engineer. I want to work on projects that can provide potable water for people. I want to clean the polluted Mother Ganga [Ganges] who provides life giving water from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. Or the Nile, both blue and white, spilling fertility from her bunds on a regular cycle. I want to design products that use the least amount of energy and fuel, from recycled materials and are biodegradable. I want to seek alternative sources of energy, such as using biofuel to power cellphones. I want to design with maximum constraints. Call her mother earth, gaia, demeter, ceres or inanna, our planet is on the brink of no return. Or is it all just a matter of perspective?
posted by infini at 11:52 AM PST - 21 comments

Boy chimp meets Girl chimp boy chimp beats girl chimp to keep her from having sex with his buddies. New scientific study.
posted by angryinla at 11:24 AM PST - 37 comments

"I failed to disobey a meritless order, I failed to protect a prisoner in my custody, and I failed to uphold the standards of human decency. Instead, I intimidated, degraded and humiliated a man who could not defend himself. I compromised my values. I will never forgive myself."
posted by empath at 10:25 AM PST - 57 comments

Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell's blog Observations on film art and Film Art is never less than engaging. These are the writers I turned to during the writing of my dissertation through their many books, particularly Film Art and it's exactly that kind of academic yet accessible style that can be found here, in their discussions of the vagueries of shot length and scene blocking methods as well as comment on other recent film related subjects.
posted by feelinglistless at 10:07 AM PST - 10 comments

For Saddam Hussein, he is an oppressor, but the solution is not to kill every oppressor to smash a whole people, destroy civilizations, and kill children and women and deceit.
Signature: Iraq Victims Team
posted by Meatbomb at 10:05 AM PST - 8 comments

AMPAS ankles Oscarwatch skein The Academy has brought the banhammer down on the Oscarwatch blog, issuing a demand that blogger Sasha Stone cease and desist from using the Oscar trademark in her domain name. Why now after 7 1/2 years of blogging under that name? Maybe because they found out about her whopping $20k yearly ad revenue.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:54 AM PST - 15 comments

Mirin Dajo (1912-1948, born Arnold Henske) was pierced thru the torso (YouTube) with fencing foils and skewers many times, without bleeding or showing any sign of injury. Warning: some links contain graphic content.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:47 AM PST - 17 comments

A remarkable wedding portrait. Portraits: First Prize, Singles from the 2007 World Press Photo Winners Gallery by Nina Berman.
posted by spock at 8:36 AM PST - 98 comments

BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT!
I extend this warm invite / to the
BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT!
We're gonna do it every single night
BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT!
And you know it'll be alright / cuz when we
BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT! BASSFIGHT!
it's always outta sight! dynomite! BASSFIGHT!!!!11!!!!!!
posted by Eideteker at 8:27 AM PST - 54 comments

Coffee Pot Meth. "I know enough now that whenever I go to a hotel, regardless of how nice it is, I'll never use a coffee pot."
posted by stbalbach at 6:54 AM PST - 136 comments

Put Down the Duckie! A silly, jazzy song from the Muppets, featuring an all-star cast. Careful: it may change your life? [First Link = YouTube, Awesome]
posted by papercake at 6:24 AM PST - 49 comments

The premise of Marvel Comic's Civil War storyline is that after a hero-related disaster, the government decides to force all superheroes to register, causing a split in the hero community. While heroes debate and decide which side to join, fans debate whether or not the cross-over series is actually any good. Clearly, Christopher Bird falls squarely on one side and has attempted to "improve" the story by starting a project to edit the dialogue of the series. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:21 AM PST - 53 comments

Cute five-year old breaks out moves, kicks out jams, etc. (Warning: Fun streaming video links.)
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:25 AM PST - 14 comments

The steampunky lighting designs of Frank Buchwald. Courtesy of the ever-delightful Tinkergirl at Brass Goggles (alerted by Mr Pfeifer, Mr Lemieux and Mr Hildebrandt), prepared to be awed by Frank Buchwald's skill and imagination. Release your inner mad scientist. See how he makes them from steel and brass and glass. My favourite may well be this one. (It's all in German, but that's no problem, right? Just look at the pictures like I did.)
posted by No Mutant Enemy at 5:12 AM PST - 18 comments

Das Rad ("The Wheel") google video Apparently rocks speak to one another. They just do it very, very slowly. An stop-motion short from Germany with English subtitles. Creators' website.flash
posted by maryh at 4:36 AM PST - 15 comments

The Reedy Creek Improvement District's goal "is to provide effective and efficient services to the public and our taxpayers." The taxpayer is Disney, and the taxes are used to provide services for Disney by contracting the services to Disney. The RCID is a county-like entity in Florida, composed of the cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, which are also controlled by Disney. The government of the RCID is elected by the landowners - Disney executives who own five-acre plots, the only non-corporate and non-government landowners. The governments of the cities are elected by the residents - about 40 Disney employees split between Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. The Rotten Library (SFW article on a NSFW site) discusses the district, which is administered from a SimCity 2000 construction site.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 3:37 AM PST - 17 comments

a Google Maps view of NYC, centered on Central Park Google Maps has started displaying subway stops (with the names of the lines that serve each each stop) in New York City. Clearly this is a work in progress (full building outlines are available only in some parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, and some subway stops currently list only one of the multiple trains that serve the stop). Still, this is excellent news not only for natives but also for tourists (whose only subway-map reference may be the significantly, sometimes radically "not to scale" version put out by the MTA).
posted by allterrainbrain at 1:49 AM PST - 46 comments

So.. who's ready for Quantum Computing?

British Colombia-based D-Wave says they've got one and they're going to demo that sucker in Mountain View, CA on Feb 13th and then at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, Canada on February 15th.

Quoting from TechWorld :

"Multiple quantum states exist at the same time, so every quantum bit or "qubit" in such a machine is simultaneously 0 and 1. D-Wave's prototype has only 16 qubits, but systems with hundreds of qubits would be able to process more inputs than there are atoms in the universe."

Naturally, the tech-savvy blogosphere is skeptical. But what do you think? (previously, previously)
posted by revmitcz at 1:01 AM PST - 54 comments

In 1999, at the age of 93, legendary theoretical physicist Hans Bethe delivered three lectures on quantum theory to his neighbors at the Kendal of Ithaca retirement community (near Cornell University).
posted by panoptican at 10:00 PM PST - 12 comments

Norway unveils "Doomsday Vault" design. The Svalbard International Seed Vault, administered by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophies.
posted by amyms at 8:46 PM PST - 34 comments

Hoohaw? Florida comedy club changes marquee advertising a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" after a resident complains. The local news video (embedded windows media) had me laughing out loud. What's your favorite euphamism? And don't forget Woody's list.
posted by Brittanie at 8:09 PM PST - 65 comments

Tastespotting is a wonderful visual blog for food enthusiasts, by the makers of notcot.
posted by jonson at 7:19 PM PST - 12 comments

Gallery of artwork by Tom Bagley. There is something manically amusing about this stuff. #2 and #3
posted by edgeways at 6:50 PM PST - 4 comments

Do not attempt this experiment with an actual penis. (possibly NSFW)
posted by bac at 5:56 PM PST - 37 comments

Christmas Island sits just northwest of Australia, and is the perfect place to go if you're trying to get over a fear of being surrounded by small animals. Every November/December about 120 million Red Crabs make their annual migration to the ocean to mate and spawn. The masses of crabs cover some routes so densely that they can be seen from the air.
posted by debralee at 3:38 PM PST - 47 comments

Road Closed for Tribal Council: Vunivutu Villagers Latest Beneficiaries of the Survivor Boomtown Effect
The hit "reality" TV show, Survivor, premieres tonight on CBS in the United States. Over the past year, a sleepy village on Vanua Levu, the second largest island of Fiji has been hosting the production crew—and reaping the benefits. 150 villagers have been employed by the crew to work about 10 hours a day, seven days a week, for USD 5.00 per hour (and double time on Sundays and holidays). For some it was their first experience in any form of paid employment. This article from the Fiji Post, reposted by a Vanua Levu blogger, gives some behind the scene details. Meanwhile the island's new eco-resort village is putting finishing touches on their community hall. Globe-trotting gap year students and reality TV junkies, look north. Vanua Levu is for lovers. [Survivor Maps, Vorovoro, the eco-resort with a difference, Vorovoro's new bure (community hall), Google's hires satellite image of the area]
posted by rschram at 3:02 PM PST - 3 comments

Adventure Time is an awesome animated short by Pendleton Ward, who also has a site with some cartoons, animation, comics, and a blog.
posted by dobbs at 1:18 PM PST - 20 comments

The Psychology of Security. An essay by Bruce Schneier on the difference between the feeling of security and the reality of security. [Via MindHacks.]
posted by homunculus at 1:07 PM PST - 25 comments

News Filter Anna Nicole Smith collapses and dies suddenly.
posted by gigbutt at 12:53 PM PST - 417 comments

Can a Bunny be your friend? Move over Tamagotchi, Move over Elmo. He can talk, smell and has a bellybutton. Strange, but kind of cool...unless they turn into this.
posted by bustmakeupleave at 12:06 PM PST - 30 comments

Bourdain VS the Food Network Tony in his most snarky, but oh man, is he right. His take on Alton, Mario and the ewok.
posted by ShawnString at 11:29 AM PST - 167 comments

Toutes les autos de Tintin Including pictures of the original models where available.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:52 AM PST - 29 comments

..."Shifting to StratCom indicates that they are talking about a really punishing air-force and naval air attack [on Iran]," says Lang. ..."If they write a plan like that and the president issues an execute order, the forces will execute it. He's got the power to do that as commander-in-chief. We set that up during the Cold War. It may, after the fact, be considered illegal, or an impeachable offense, but if he orders them to do it, they will do it." ...by the end of February the United States will have enough forces in place to mount an assault on Iran. That, in the words of former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, would be "an act of political folly" so severe that "the era of American preponderance could come to a premature end."

From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq
Stepped up US preparations for war against Iran
The United States and Iran: the logic of war
How the press can prevent another Iraq
What to Ask Before the Next War
posted by y2karl at 10:28 AM PST - 105 comments

Eric Schaeffer wants to marry you
posted by skjønn at 10:28 AM PST - 53 comments

LA6NCA's WW2 German Radio Collection Pictures and a little history on many WW2 German radios including a cute as a button spy radio and the Lichtsprechgerät 80, an incoherent light audio transceiver. Also featured are a few photo essays of the equipment in use (Enigma, Luftwaffe Signals unit redeploying). [dorian
posted by Mitheral at 9:22 AM PST - 20 comments

The Black Light Theatre of Prague ("Černé Divadlo" or simply Black Theatre) is a Czech performance style characterised by the use of black box theatre augmented by black light trickery. Although this performance style can be found in many places around the world, nowhere is it more prolific or specialized than in Prague. Some sample images: 1 2 3 4. YouTube: 1 2 3.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:47 AM PST - 13 comments

Can photographers be plagarists?
posted by Meatbomb at 7:57 AM PST - 57 comments

Supertrain. A show about a supertrain that costs an assload of money and has no real direction or over arching story? why the hell not? link clips(youtube)
posted by tylerfulltilt at 7:30 AM PST - 35 comments

Turn it off: The Society for Ethnomusicology issues a position statement against the use of music as an instrument of torture.
posted by Miko at 6:07 AM PST - 39 comments

"I did not evolve from Turkana Boy or anything like it" says Bishop Boniface Adoyo of Nairobi Pentecostal Church, who is championing the 'hide-the-fossils' campaign to force the National Museums of Kenya to not discredit the Christian belief of a universe that is only a few thousand years old.
posted by four panels at 5:45 AM PST - 62 comments

Jamaican Label Art. J.L.A. is a website for those people who are obsessed with Caribbean music and the artwork and design of the labels on the vinyl reproductions of that music. It doesn't matter if those labels are on recordings of Jamaican music released in the U.S.A., or indeed Trini Calypso released in the U.K. It's all the same to us!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 4:10 AM PST - 5 comments

How marbles are made. Video showing colored marbles being hand-crafted, layer upon layer, into miniature works of art.
posted by ReiToei at 2:24 AM PST - 29 comments

Clip/Stamp/Fold. The current show at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City explores an era when architecture was actually interesting. We go from "an elephant attacking the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan to a skyscraper made of Swiss cheese." On the way, we visit astronauts, bunkers, walking cities, and robots fucking – and it's all waiting for you inside these little magazines.
posted by BLDGBLOG at 11:58 PM PST - 5 comments

The internet is a series of Pipes. Create your own feed mashups with a visual programming environment.
posted by 2sheets at 11:30 PM PST - 29 comments

While there have been many posts on Mefi of blogs written by those affected by the Iraq War, I have not seen this one posted. No matter your stance on the war, your opinion of American soldiers, or the amount of other Iraq war blogs you've read, all I ask is that you at least read these few entries. I've used too many words already, when the journal does more than enough to speak for itself. A Soldier's Thoughts. (via) [more inside]
posted by wander at 9:52 PM PST - 13 comments

Professional wrestling. Insanity. Apparently, The world loves this strange tradition.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 8:56 PM PST - 19 comments

Joanna Newsom "a special treat from your friends at Moistworks: Three bootlegs from Joanna Newsom's performance in Greensboro, North Carolina, last November, unavailable anywhere else. You won't be disappointed (unless, to steal the best thing Dave Eggers ever said, you are the sort of person who is usually disappointed, in which case this will be yet another disappointment)."
posted by vronsky at 7:55 PM PST - 81 comments

Cowboys & Indians. Literally.
posted by phaedon at 6:51 PM PST - 8 comments

The Gummy Bears pool on Flickr is more compelling than I first expected it to be.
posted by jonson at 6:47 PM PST - 29 comments

Kumbh Mela. Currently under way in Allahabad, India, the three-yearly Kumbh Mela festival is the largest gathering of people on the planet, as up to 70 million Hindus converge to wash away their sins where droplets of the nectar of immortality are said to have been spilt when the gods & demons struggled over it. Of perennial interest to foreigners are the hordes of sadhus (often naked, ascetic holy men) who attend, not always without incident. Recently, however, an Australian historian has cast doubt on the supposedly ancient nature of the mass gathering, suggesting that it was largely invented as a way of circumventing British control following the unsuccessful Indian Mutiny of 1857. [reg for final link: mefi / mefi]
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:45 PM PST - 16 comments

Kotaku interviews Dez , the producer of Whores of Warcraft (NSFW)(previously), as well as Mia Rose and Hannah Harper, 2 porn stars recently added to the rolls of addicted World of Warcraft players. Apparently, Dez has at least 2 level 70 characters, and plays in a guild with Hannah's husband, where she's taken her Blood Elf Priest to level 26 already. Talking about Phat Lewt not getting you hot? How about some Bare Maidens? (gee, NSFW, you think?). Dez also has a fascinating MySpace page, mostly for his ...interesting mix of friends.
posted by thanotopsis at 5:31 PM PST - 22 comments

The 2006 Village Voice Pazz and Jop critics poll is now online: 494 music critics picked their favorite albums and singles from the past year. It's the first poll since Robert Christgau was unceremoniously let go from the paper. How did they do? Is this thing even relevant anymore? See for yourself: here's the lists and "xgau's" essays since it started.
posted by nevercalm at 5:22 PM PST - 29 comments

Knight Science Journalism Tracker is a new-ish blog (project of a program at MIT and Charles Petit) that follows science writing and reporting in a very wide range of publications. It's a good way to learn about how science news is reported, and an efficient way to keep up with the news itself. [some recent examples]
posted by grobstein at 4:17 PM PST - 4 comments

A good write-up on a different kind of fried chicken. [via nytimes.com] Registration-free link here.
posted by paulinsanjuan at 1:19 PM PST - 63 comments

BC cabinet minister flames out.
posted by russilwvong at 12:13 PM PST - 50 comments

US Army clears itself of abuse in Gitmo An Army officer who investigated possible abuse at Guantanamo Bay after some guards purportedly bragged about beating detainees found no evidence they mistreated the prisoners — although he did not interview any of the alleged victims.
posted by CameraObscura at 12:12 PM PST - 43 comments

Bricks, tiles, and other textures.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:49 AM PST - 15 comments

Pepsi Blue, et al. Dead soda visited by X-Entertainment, purveyors of much 80s-90s nostalgia. Previously.
posted by luftmensch at 10:04 AM PST - 107 comments

Effects of Agent Orange Following Jonson's Hiroshima post, a (prob. NSFW) collection of images of Vietnamese children born to parents exposed to Agent Orange. Via a Matt Taibbi article on Joe Klein.
posted by adamms222 at 9:38 AM PST - 29 comments

RONJA is an optical networking device that can be built by nearly everyone, using readily available components and using only free software.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:45 AM PST - 22 comments

On this day (February 7) in 1964, the Beatles arrived in America for the first time.. Two days later they made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (YouTube, approx. 9 mins.). Read a transcript of their first American press conference, snippets from other 1964 interviews, and a fictional 1963-64 blog written from the point of view of a 15-year-old fan in New York.
posted by amyms at 7:49 AM PST - 67 comments

Venezuelan State TV aired a show yesterday in which they complained about a certain videogame, in which the goal is to overthrow the "power-hungry tyrant who messes with Venezuela's oil supply." In Venezuela, people are a bit offended by the images of Caracas being destroyed in the game, outside, some people are offended because one of the owners of the controversial company that created the game is Bono, The Defender of the Poor, Bono, and they are trying to stop it.
posted by micayetoca at 6:33 AM PST - 39 comments

13 Malamutes for sale
posted by Flashman at 5:54 AM PST - 27 comments

[ImageFilter] The Neolithic embrace. Happy pre-Valentine's Day.
posted by digaman at 11:37 PM PST - 54 comments

Day late and a dollar short filter: We all just missed a great show at the Brooklyn Museum, namely the hyper-realistic works by sculptor Ron Mueck. Mueck specializes in life-like castings of people in non-life-sized dimensions ranging from the huge to the very small. (Some links NSFW) (More inside)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:38 PM PST - 40 comments

Surreal Barbie and Ken jewelry art by Margaux Lange. Previously (but her work and site have evolved since then). While in China, voodoo dolls have been banned and immediately became a jewelry/accessory craze.
posted by nickyskye at 9:20 PM PST - 20 comments

No spotted dick until you finish your bubble and squeak! An American girl eats her way through the UK, detailing her adventures tasting such traditional delicacies such as haggis and scotch eggs.
posted by SassHat at 8:43 PM PST - 138 comments

Photos from Hiroshima in August of 1945. Long supressed by the occupying U.S. forces, a highly unsettling (and decidedly NSFW) collection of photos from the days immediately after August 6th. Via.
posted by jonson at 6:41 PM PST - 197 comments

Asininity? Not just for poets, asininepoetry.com, just in time for St. Valentine's Day. A great place to waste a lot of time. You may want to wax poetic yourownself.
posted by longsleeves at 6:30 PM PST - 2 comments

An exotic West African berry, known as miracle fruit, has gained a cult following by radically changing the way things taste: it eliminates sourness, making lemons taste like lemonade and limes like candy. Despite a long history of cultivation, the FDA has not approved the fruit or miraculin, the protein that causes its odd effects. In Japan, where it has been intensely studied, the fruit is served at cafes to help dieters.
posted by blahblahblah at 6:14 PM PST - 34 comments

Be your own video game hero! Troy Hurtubise, the undisputed master of the bear-proof suit (among other things) has failed to find a buyer for its latest incarnation, and is selling the prototype on eBay.
posted by flabdablet at 5:32 PM PST - 27 comments

BASE! How low can you go? Four and a half minutes of base jumping goodness. Google vid.
posted by vronsky at 5:30 PM PST - 45 comments

If you're lucky enough to own the Nintendo Wii and are of the left brain variety, have a look at MiiStation.com, where you can submit a photo and have an artist create your Mii - you know, Mr. Potato Head for the console generation. This is real people (in Japan!) sittin' in front of the tube (probably LCDs or plasmas, maybe even OLEDs?), lookin' at your photos and wavin' that Wii wand.
posted by gen at 5:27 PM PST - 7 comments

Pauline Oliveros, pioneer of electronic and new music, and Deep Listening. Inspired by Valerie Solanas, utilizes just intonation, plays accordion. Hear her . Watch her .
posted by serazin at 4:35 PM PST - 11 comments

The iJoy Ride™ is a "unique and exciting way to work out." It is not to be confused with the Sybian sex toy. (Please press "Play" for the embedded video and enjoy the smiles.)
posted by mrgrimm at 4:13 PM PST - 17 comments

Why having two African-American coaches in the Super Bowl is important. A postgame analysis of an over-analyzed subject.
posted by AVandalay at 2:37 PM PST - 48 comments

A Tranquil Star ...for a discussion of stars our language is inadequate and seems laughable, as if someone were trying to plow with a feather. (via)
posted by grateful at 1:47 PM PST - 10 comments

The Belfry WebComics Index is a site that lists just about every webcomic in existence, and a few that no longer are. You can add any that it's missing. Even better, if you tell it which ones you like, it'll compare that to other users' picks and make suggestions. The top ten are Better Days, Sabrina Online, Faux Pas, Jack (NSFW), Freefall, VG Cats, Kevin & Kell, Peter is the Wolf (NSFW), Ozy & Millie, and Dan & Mab's Furry Adventures. If you dislike talking animals, you can set the furry-bit to off, to highlight such webcomics as Penny Arcade, Girl Genius, Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Sluggy Freelance, PvP, MegaTokyo, Misfile, Schlock Mercenary, Something Positive, The Wotch and many more.
posted by DataPacRat at 1:19 PM PST - 46 comments

Chalmers Johnson whose Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic is out today, provides something the CIA won't: a National Intelligence Estimate for the United States.
posted by inoculatedcities at 1:12 PM PST - 44 comments

Apparently it's time for conservatives to take humour seriously. Warning: may cause your ass to bleed with sadness.
posted by unSane at 1:08 PM PST - 88 comments

Thoughts on Music "...in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store." — Steve Jobs
posted by timeistight at 12:52 PM PST - 137 comments

Custom motorcycles aren't just for cruising. The art of small-run or one-off custom motorcycle construction isn't limited to choppers and cruisers. Racers and constructors like Dr. Rob Tuluie and Michael Czysz are a different breed. On or off-road, they keep the tradition of constructors like Vincent alive. Want to build your own? With a little help and some information, anything is possible.
posted by hackwolf at 12:08 PM PST - 22 comments

Interview with Lee Harvey Oswald's daughter, June. (not recent, but fascinating)
posted by mattbucher at 12:02 PM PST - 11 comments

Useless Account is the newest, hippest web 2.0 site, with gradient blends, large text, and bright colors. And right now, they're offering free accounts with unlimited account editing. Sign up quick before your username is taken!
posted by scottreynen at 12:01 PM PST - 29 comments

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has endorsed the recent IPCC report, reversing the White House stance on the existence of global warming. Bodman claims that the Bush administration has always accepted scientific studies pointing to man-made climate change, even as Henry Waxman, House oversight committee chair, has been holding hearings on the White House's misleading the public on global warming for the last six years; hearing documents. Bodman also rejects caps on CO2 emissions, claiming that the US is "a small contributor when you look at the rest of the world," when in fact it's the largest contributor worldwide (and has an even greater share of cumulative CO2 emissions). Previously: IPCC, Waxman.
posted by russilwvong at 11:26 AM PST - 28 comments

"Deus is an experimental, serialized online comic about myth, consciousness, death, and tomfoolery. Following a set of quasi-mythical gods and a poor fool named Cam, the styles and themes of Deus are constantly evolving." From the utterly talented Gareth Hinds, whose fully painted interpretation of Beowulf is about to be issued in hardcover by Candlewick Press.
posted by jbickers at 10:28 AM PST - 4 comments

Unintelligent Design. The History Images of Sze Tsung Leong. "Then there's the other type of history that is recorded in the fabric of cities. This includes the houses that are being destroyed; it has to do with the history of quotidian things, really, the layers of history that have slowly accumulated. The loss of this fabric the spaces and histories particular to different cities means that the particular cultural value and artistic qualities they contain, are lost." also here and here.
posted by arse_hat at 10:13 AM PST - 8 comments

If you've ever thought that music can be an extremely intuitive and effective way to communicate things, then Stanford Professor Jonathan Berger (samples of his music) is doing some research that might interest you. (via)
posted by wander at 9:59 AM PST - 8 comments

Two industrial robots spin records.
posted by phrontist at 9:44 AM PST - 21 comments

Haggard and his church have been taking Dan's advice. Except for the discreet thing .
posted by lalochezia at 9:44 AM PST - 102 comments

A crufty but invaluable resource for anyone interested in the classic era of sports car racing.
posted by machaus at 6:56 AM PST - 12 comments

Superbowl in three minutes. (I love you Dallas Clark and Bobby Sanders.)
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:56 AM PST - 28 comments

Beautiful early Zionist propaganda posters, courtesy of the Swann Galleries. The first 73 items in this large batch of vintage posters up for auction are related to Israel, Jews or anti-Semitism. [via Paperholic]
posted by mediareport at 5:36 AM PST - 6 comments

On walls and pavements in cities around the world you may encounter poetry.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:55 AM PST - 7 comments

The Indian Patang (pdf). Kite flying in India. Kite flying across the world. A link to the history of Kites resources. And India’s Kite flying effects on birds.
posted by hadjiboy at 4:38 AM PST - 6 comments

Footage of the 'friendly fire' incident [Embedded wmv 15m20s] in which Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull was killed is obtained by The Sun. The inquest into L/Cpl Hull's death, earlier suspended in part because of failure to release the video, will now go ahead. Direct link to video stream Discussion on UK forces' message board
posted by Abiezer at 3:59 AM PST - 95 comments

French Jewish writer Irène Némirovsky's claim to fame rests on Suite Française, a novel that she wrote about the German occupation of France while awaiting death in Auschwitz but which was not published until 2004. Irène may also provoke interest because her early fiction was steeped in anti-semitic stereotypes and serialized in right-wing newspapers. [More Inside]
posted by gregb1007 at 3:15 AM PST - 12 comments

The utilitarian shopping cart has an interesting history. February is "Return Shopping Carts To The Supermarket Month" in America (yes, it really is). Apparently shopping cart loss is such a problem that there is an industry of shopping cart bounty hunters. Some cities seek to make it a crime for homeless people to possess shopping carts. Some people would rather make art and sculpture out of them. Previously on Metafilter: Shopping Cart Abuse and The Stray Shopping Cart Project.
posted by amyms at 11:36 PM PST - 41 comments

Raï is North African music. Cheb Khaled goes from pop to more traditional. Cheb Mami does sexy and more sexy and Sting! Recently, young and handsome Faudel tops the charts in France and son pays. And all together with Abdel Khader!!
posted by pwedza at 10:18 PM PST - 17 comments