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Talk about holding a grudge. Thirty-six years after its initial publication, the Wacky Pack sticker for "Moron Salt", a toothless parody of Morton Salt, has become perhaps among the more sought after of all non-sports collectible cards. Why? Because to this day, the makers of Morton Salt are vigorously attempting to banish it from the face of the earth, including going so far as to threaten legal action against eBay to get them to delist anyone trying to sell it. Details on the legal battle (as well as much more Wacky Pack goodness) available at MoronSalt.
posted by jonson at 10:51 PM PST - 18 comments

The Last Stage of Delirium Research Group (LSD-PLaNET) have posted code on the Internet that can allow hackers to exploit a previously disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft's Windows operating system. This kind of thing happens all the time. What never happened before is a widespread government and media panic perpetuating the buffer overrun threat as terroristic in nature, originating from the Department of Homeland Security and upsetting the gerneral public at large.
posted by jdaura at 10:36 PM PST - 5 comments

Experimenting with images using animated .gifs, Jim Gaspernini presents stereo images on the screen by simply putting the right and left images in an animated .gif. (more inside)
posted by bluedaniel at 9:13 PM PST - 50 comments

Is Male Infidelity Hardwired? The Washington Post reports on an academic study by the International Sexuality Description Project that "found that men everywhere--whether single, married or gay--want more sexual partners than women do." Part of the research may have come from this web site, which is run by the author of the survey.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:50 PM PST - 42 comments

Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Rum! In August, one's lazy fancy turns naturally to sex mush daiquiris; caipirinhas; mojitos; piña coladas and other rum cocktails. Why is the great cane spirit, infinitely complex and delightful - which, in its young, white distillation can be used instead of vodka or gin in any highball or cocktail - so neglected nowadays? And whatever happened to the most politically delicious reason for drinking Coke: the embargo-busting Cuba Libre, made with delicious, sinful Cuban Havana Club?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:03 PM PST - 54 comments

Canada: Hippie Nation?
posted by Rastafari at 7:45 PM PST - 16 comments

Israel passes marriage law that prevents Palestinians who marry Israelis to live together. The new law, effective for one year, was inacted today to prevent residency permits from being abused for terrorist intentions. Does any of this sound familiar?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:17 PM PST - 41 comments

Spam.la is a great tool for those of you who hate the hassel of regestering with an email to views websites (newspapers, etc). [More Inside]
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 5:04 PM PST - 10 comments

Half Life 2 may be postponed , but there's something here to keep you going - Natural Selection. The site is currently sporting a spartan look because they just released a new version of this essential Half Life mod, which combines games such as Command and Conquer with that of action shooters. Visit The Ready Room for more info.
posted by Orange Goblin at 3:50 PM PST - 17 comments

Dr. Seuss, politcal cartoonist. Before the Cat strode in wearing a Hat, and before Horton heard a Who, Dr. Seuss drew for a liberal New York newspaper called PM. Through most of 1941 he drew images that criticized isolationists who thought we could sit out the war. He already had developed his idiosyncratic style, and the University of California at San Diego has all 400 of his PM cartoons on its site. Here's what he drew Dec. 5, 1941, and this is his cartoon of Dec. 8. Later in the war, he wrote scripts for 28 "Private Snafu" animated cartoons, which taught servicemen what not to do. Some were directed by Chuck Jones.
posted by Holden at 1:42 PM PST - 42 comments

The war just got $30mil more expensive. (More inside)
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 1:42 PM PST - 29 comments

The day the sky exploded. Ever wondered exactly what happened when the H-bomb hit Hiroshima? So did lots of scientists.. It's not pointless curiosity - these discoveries should help us all in the future. Of course, those in charge had other things in mind at the time. Hiroshima previously well examined here.
posted by ascullion at 1:01 PM PST - 17 comments

You will obey your crazy-eyes-red-spiral overlords. Contact lenses for those who would like to escape the quaint simplicity of the iris. (*The eye can also be valuable advertising space. Put your favorite NFL logo right around your pupil! […scroll to bottom of page...]) More styles here (flash, with really bad music.)
posted by limitedpie at 12:02 PM PST - 9 comments

Don't bump into a Southerner Paul Robinson on the ancient code of insult and revenge that is still prevalent in the American South
posted by konolia at 11:17 AM PST - 91 comments

"The morning started again with a series of four mortar shells exploding with a muffled thump in the ocean behind our hospital..." Reports from Monrovia, Liberia by Dr. Andrew Schechtman, a volunteer with Medecins Sans Frontieres -- graphic but compelling.
posted by serafinapekkala at 10:24 AM PST - 11 comments

Bar Mitzvah Disco • When We Were Shtetl Fabulous
"If you are Jewish, there would have been a golden year when it seemed like you attended a bar mitzvah disco almost weekly. Each one was like a pee-wee Studio 54, a potent cocktail of ritual, acne, insecurity, and hormones run amok." Help the folks at Bar Mitzvah Disco gather photos, stories and details from Bar/Bat Mitzvahs from the 70s and 80s to publish in their forthcoming book on the subject.
posted by dhoyt at 10:20 AM PST - 23 comments

Australian Stories from Australian museums about unusual aspects of Australian history : rabbits in Western Australia (where they came from, attempts - mostly failed - to control them); the National Quilt Register and quilt stories; fish; Chinese-Australians in rural Australia; indigenous stories from Napranum and Thursday Island; the trams of Ballarat; William Buckley, an escaped convict who lived in the bush for 33 years; Annie Russell of Brewarrina in northern NSW; the Benedictine Community of New Norcia in WA; an ambush at Broken Hill; Australian fashion; conserving a 17th century musical instrument.
Related :- Koori hidden histories and children's art in Victoria (as well as some oral histories from around the world); 100 years of Queensland Aboriginal life; Antarctica and pictorial collections from the State Library of NSW.
posted by plep at 9:26 AM PST - 8 comments

Bill Maher joins the blogging fray.
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:54 AM PST - 19 comments

Sam Phillips dies. [More inside.]
posted by timeistight at 8:30 AM PST - 14 comments

Plastic Balls - addiction alert. Flash alert. (via random abstract)
posted by madamjujujive at 8:13 AM PST - 11 comments

"Skydiver in record Channel flight" is the claim made by an Austrian skydiving across the channel aided by small strap-on wings. Evidently he needed a 1 in 4 glide angle to make it, but a simple understanding of flight mechanics would suggest that the distance he could fly is proportional to the amount of strap-on wing area. At what point does skydiving become gliding?
posted by marvin at 7:48 AM PST - 12 comments

Music labels charged with price-fixing ... again While their organization is fighting hard to picture potential consumers as de-facto delinquents, the FTC has issued a rulign prohibitng them from agreeing with competitors to fix the prices or restrict the advertising of products they produced independently . The labels deny any wrongdoing, as they did with earlier FTC charges of a much larger price-fixing scandal that cost consumers an estimated $480 million (and was settled by paying 41 suing states $67.4 million in cash and offering $75.7 million in CDs.). Here is an idea: the main culprits of the labels losses, by far, are the rapidly receding sales of ... cassette, LP and vinyl products. Who'd have thought of that?
posted by magullo at 7:32 AM PST - 12 comments

Axis of Medieval? Hot on the heels of Bush's announcement that his adminstration is seeking ways to ban gay marriage, the Vatican has issued a document condemning same-sex unions as "deviant" and "gravely immoral." One Bishop has warned Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien (a Catholic) that "his eternal salvation is in jeopardy. He is making a morally grave error and he's not being accountable to God." Are we witnessing a coordinated attack on the burgeoning campaign for broader gay rights? What is the relevance of the Church's edicts, in combination with Bush's announcement? Are we about to see "the backlash" that some gay rights activists have warned of, or is this the (almost) last gasp of self-evidently outmoded thinking?
posted by stonerose at 7:10 AM PST - 160 comments

The Pop-Up Brady Bunch! Human ingenuity at its finest. Or truly frightening, your choice. (warning: will temporarily commandeer your screen, contains the Brady Bunch theme song, disturbingly pixelated Bradys, and will not work if you have 'pop-up killer' software)
posted by nelleish at 7:09 AM PST - 3 comments

Not Your Usual Morning Commute
posted by alms at 6:44 AM PST - 43 comments

Apronyms: Apt Phrases, Redolent Of Novel Yet Meaningful Sense.
"An apronym is a special kind of acronym where the initials spell out a word or phrase relevant to the expanded version". This in contrast to you run-of the-mill acronyms. Yes, the link might come in handy for the perpetuation of this, already legendary, thread.
posted by talos at 5:59 AM PST - 18 comments

Russian Roulette live on TV! On October 26th, Derren Brown is going to play russian roulette live on Britain's Channel 4. Good as he is, is this really responsible?
posted by salmacis at 3:20 AM PST - 31 comments

The 12hr-ISBN-JPEG Project began on December 30^th, 1994, a 'round-the-clock posting of sequenced hypermodern imagery by Brad Brace, which are simultaneously posted to FTP sites, mailing lists, and Usenet's alt.12hr newsgroup. The basic structure of the project has been over twenty-four years in the making. While the specific sequence of photographs has been presently orchestrated for more than 12 years' worth of 12-hour postings! (Mirrors: 1, 2, & 3) [via waxy]
posted by riffola at 1:53 AM PST - 11 comments

Flash Mobs are cool. A couple hundred people spontaneously assemble in seconds, applaud (or ask for books, or do the robot), and leave. There are several ways to take part, if you're so inclined.
posted by Tlogmer at 1:18 AM PST - 47 comments

Ever wonder what women are really talking about? Now's your chance to find out! Learn the secret woman-language of Láadan, and drive the ladies wild!
posted by majcher at 10:57 PM PST - 28 comments

Sharpie Takes Blame for Flag Desecration. The flag-signing scandal has finally been put to rest.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:46 PM PST - 15 comments

How well do you know your Middle Eastern and North African geography? In my case, the answer would probably be 'decent, but not great'.
posted by GriffX at 5:17 PM PST - 39 comments

This Guy in Minnesota just got laid-off and he's spending his time following around Bush's economic team on their tour of the upper midwest as they share their "upbeat outlook" on our nation's economy. He's following their tourmobile with his own tourmobile and has been chasing them around in parkinglots and at fast food places. He finally cornered the Treasury Secretary whose advice to the job-seeker was to "just wait." What's your economic reality? Is it closer to the sunny optimism of the big shiny tourbus, or the laid-off reality of the homemade minivan? (Check out the particularly funny bit about how he stumbled on the entire press corps only when he was looking for a dumpster.)
posted by amoeba at 3:47 PM PST - 75 comments

people are leaving san francisco in droves? craigslist published a graph that shows a huge increase in ads for new apartments for rent since jan. 1, 2001. (The recurring sharp dips correspond to the thanksgiving and christmas holidays.) (yes, via boingboing.)
posted by crunchland at 2:23 PM PST - 68 comments

Want to create your own TV Show? So do some folks who aren't from the big lit up place we call Hollywood.... All you've got to do is click up on the site, sign up, pay $25 bucks, and you're in... Oh - and you have to have an idea, too. [thanks MSNBC]
posted by djspicerack at 2:19 PM PST - 3 comments

mother earth fights back "Global warming, which most climate experts blame mainly on large-scale burning of oil and other fossil fuels, is interfering with efforts in Alaska to discover yet more oil." via dangerousmeta and " It’s so hot windshields are shattering or falling out, dogs are burning their paws on the pavement, and candles are melting indoors." - are the naysayers ready to get on board? and start acting like good global citizens?
posted by specialk420 at 1:29 PM PST - 24 comments

$10,000 for information on attacks in Iraq Sort of like playing the lottery. If you figure the odds on getting the big fish as in Powerball --Saddam for 25 million--are against you, then play the daily for 25 thousand. Turn in your brother-in-law, for example for some quick bucks. Sounds like a worthwhile way to snag some bad folks and I am surprised it hadn't been used earlier. Good use of my tax bucks.
posted by Postroad at 1:08 PM PST - 5 comments

Britney's Guide to Semiconductor Physics A genuine web-based introduction to semiconductor physics, Edge Emitting Lasers, and VCSELs, with photos of Britney Spears mixed in. Cheap geek humor, or one of the seven signs of the apocalypse?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:35 PM PST - 8 comments

Attack Nader early and often to prevent the Greens from throwing another election into the hands of the Republicans. Michael Tomasky in the American Prospect argues that Howard Dean is the man who can best profit from this technique. Will Nader give us four more years of GW? He makes a good point that the Green Party would get more results from working within the Democratic Party than from essentially attacking it like they did in 2000.
posted by caddis at 12:20 PM PST - 71 comments

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, this guy makes the Star Wars kid look normal.
posted by Macboy at 12:10 PM PST - 33 comments

'The Search For Osama'. A long, well-researched article in the 'New Yorker' about the ongoing global manhunt for the leader of al Qaeda and the architect of the September 11 attacks.
posted by eyebeam at 11:59 AM PST - 5 comments

Don't be fooled by fake blogger.com. Crackers are after your Blogger password.
posted by hoder at 11:44 AM PST - 14 comments

Is President Bush a Homo? "Even our least vigilant Republican social commandos have noticed that Mr. Bush has been peppering his otherwise delightful litany of patriotic jingoism and pleasantly embroidered CIA-intelligence recaps with the effeminate mating call 'fabulous'--three giddy syllables that are tantamount to coyly cooing, 'Hello, sailor!'"
posted by kirkaracha at 11:38 AM PST - 26 comments

A new way to go How would you like to get to the next world: burial, cremation, or alkaline hydrolysis?
posted by gimonca at 11:25 AM PST - 8 comments

A heartbreaking death. Police in Shreveport, Louisiana shoot an unarmed man eight times in nine seconds.
posted by the fire you left me at 9:27 AM PST - 50 comments

Bush looks to ban gay marriage and implies gays are "sinners." I'm not surprised; I guess the neo-cons got jittery when Bush refused to do their bidding and have asked for the value of their campaign contributions.
posted by Bag Man at 9:18 AM PST - 196 comments

U.S. Energy Scenarios for the 21st Century. There are three for you to choose: Awash in Oil and Gas, Technology Triumphs or Turbulent World.
posted by samelborp at 9:15 AM PST - 3 comments

The pictures that reveal UK's hidden history For the first time the complex and sometimes harrowing history of immigration to the UK is being told, through rarely seen photographs, official documents, maps and personal papers. And it's all online.
posted by turbanhead at 8:53 AM PST - 5 comments

Album-A-Day is a Crap Art project open for artists willing to write, record and mix an entire album's worth of songs in 24 hours and upload the results for others to hear. [via Travelers Diagram]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 8:12 AM PST - 8 comments

Roman Cosmetics Found at Temple Dig: Stunningly well preservered, the cream still bears the fingerprints of whoever used it last, almost 2,000 years ago.
posted by Irontom at 7:21 AM PST - 14 comments

BlogStop. Where the last word of an entry must be used as an acronym for the next entry. Simple.
posted by coudal at 7:07 AM PST - 993 comments

Toronto is expecting 450,000 to attend today's Toronto Rocks SARS benefit concert with The Rolling Stones! AC/DC! Rush! Justin Timberlake! The Flaming Lips! Blue Rodeo! And more! CBC TV (2-hour TV special at 9pm ET), CBC Radio (12-hour webcast starting at 12pm ET), and MuchMoreMusic (12-hour TV coverage) will be broadcasting from the event. Are you attending the 'largest ticketed event in North American history'? Ever been to a mega-concert? Let's hear about it.
posted by stonerose at 6:56 AM PST - 46 comments

Liquid man follows your every move - found at Bloggerheads.
posted by Orange Goblin at 6:03 AM PST - 24 comments

The world's oldest yearly sportsmatch is held today in Franeker on the holy grounds of The Sjûkelân. Kaatsen, a variant of Petola, has been played since the Middle Ages. De dei is begûn, for the 150th time.
posted by ginz at 4:18 AM PST - 5 comments

Roads We've all heard of lorry spotting and maybe know about bus spotting and have probably indulged in a bit of car spotting but now it's the turn of the roads themselves.

You can travel the UK motorway network without leaving the house, discover rare roads, get your wheels wet, plan your route bend by bend and find somewhere to refresh yourselves.

And don't worry, the US Roadgeek community is not left out..
posted by jontyjago at 2:30 AM PST - 15 comments

Free Wireless through the end of August in Cometa's wireless installations in McDonald's stores in and around New York. Supposedly there's a list of the installations here, but not for the Flash-less. Anyone care to post a review of the service?
posted by j.edwards at 1:20 AM PST - 6 comments

Amidst new warnings of Al Qaeda hijacking plots, Bush Administration pulls air marshals from duty The argument for this? - hotel rooms for the marshals are too expensive. OK, then.
posted by troutfishing at 12:06 AM PST - 35 comments

The NY Times is running a series of fishy articles about the ocean environment, fish and health. Of note the Java Interactive Feature "Heavy Toll" (see link 1) has an underwater cam of a trawlnet to help visualize ocean floor carpet bombing. Article links 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
posted by stbalbach at 9:19 PM PST - 13 comments

Weaponizing Space
The Case Against
Four Myths about Space Power - From Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly
Star wars could make space unusable
posted by y2karl at 7:58 PM PST - 20 comments

Make Your Own Movie. Actually, what I think I love best about this is the stereotypically hipster-esque cast of character options. Ahh, cartoon hipsters!
posted by sodalinda at 3:25 PM PST - 12 comments

PlayTarot -- the major arcana depicted with Playmobil.
posted by me3dia at 2:34 PM PST - 18 comments

Czech linguist Bedrich Hrozny first identified Hittite in 1915. It's an extinct Indo-European language that I thought would be of limited interest when I mentioned it in a previous post. However, I've been urged to share some related links, like this one which explains why Hittite is a black sheep in the IE family, this one, which contrasts the phonetics of Hittite and its relatives, a morphology page with many examples in Hittite and a short description of the relationship between Hittite and Sanskrit. If you haven't gotten your fill, there's Translated Hittite texts
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:21 PM PST - 20 comments

Sponsor Seth's ride for cancer in the PMC Seth Dillingham, a weblogger and creator of the Free-Conversant weblogging service, has been training for months to ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge this weekend. The PMC hopes to raise $16 Million for the Jimmy Fund in support of cancer research and treatment. 4000 riders are registered to ride the approximately 200 mile route, and each rider needs a $2500 sponsorship to qualify for the ride. Seth needs about $750 more to qualify, but there are only a few days left to raise this amount. Please donate!
posted by jroepcke at 2:20 PM PST - 5 comments

Buymusic.com may be acquiring their “300,000 song” music catalog from distributors who have no rights to the digital distribution of the songs. In other words, piracy on a massive, corporate, for profit scale.
posted by alana at 1:52 PM PST - 22 comments

Severn Cullis-Suzuki is best known as the eldest daughter of environmentalist David Suzuki, and famous for her speech at the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit. Since that time she has travelled internationally as a public speaker and environmental activist. Now Severn has chosen to break out of her father's shadow, and that of her childhood speech, to focus on grassroots projects that emphasize action instead of only talking about the state of the world. She is the founder of the Skyfish Project, a forum for environmental discussion. It is also where she first presented the Recognition of Responsibility to encourage individuals to take the pledge towards sustainable living.
posted by twos at 1:20 PM PST - 7 comments

Do men deserve it? A new commercial for lingerie airing in the UK shows an attractive woman getting ready for her date (putting on a number of sexy unmentionables), then walking by all the men at the bar to kiss her equally lovely girlfriend, sitting alone waiting for her. The tagline implies the lingerie is too sexy to waste on men. (warning: Quicktime)
posted by jonson at 1:03 PM PST - 48 comments

Fifteen ways to leave your lover. In seventh grade, my then girlfriend had her best friend dump me. On the bus. I thought that was hell. I was wrong. The Guardian, in tribute to a Malaysian man that divorced his wife via text message, lists the fifteen harshest break-ups in history.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:39 PM PST - 83 comments

The exciting hobby of collecting Cinematographica is a great resource whether you are a collector or if you just found some old family home movie relics. Browse the 100 Years of Film Sizes or salivate over the author's own collection. Perhaps, you, a do-it yourselfer like myself, do have some old family movies laying around that you want to digitalize. Read the tips about converting before you jump in and possibly spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
posted by jasonspaceman at 11:44 AM PST - 1 comment

Are you a breeder and don't care who knows it? Show the world by wearing one of these delightful straight pride t-shirts. Display it at the next straight pride march!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:35 AM PST - 113 comments

I hope you have your consent forms. According to page 23 of The 2003-2004 Colby Sawyer Student Handbook, students accused of date rape are expected to provide "evidence of unequivocal consent" to defend themselves from the charge. The handbook does not state what constitutes "evidence of unequivocal consent".
posted by DWRoelands at 11:16 AM PST - 37 comments

Responses to Bush's 2003 "State of the Union" Address put together by the folks at IPA expands the analysis of the speech a bit beyond the yellowcake issue. (Via Plastic)
posted by mss at 11:12 AM PST - 10 comments

Ray's Place: Ever since Jeremias turned me on to Achewood back in November, I've been hooked. Some of y'all at that time objected to Chris Olmstead's drawing style, which is, admittedly, an acquired taste. Well, now in the interest of not doing as much work, he's given popular character Ray a weekly advice column, "Ray's Place." Bearing in mind that Ray is a self-centered cat with a swingin' lifestyle, this almost redeems the whole well-worn format of Internet advice column.
posted by soyjoy at 11:04 AM PST - 22 comments

Diego Garcia islanders await call to go home. 'Cherry and thousands of other islanders were the victims of a brutal depopulation strategy by Britain in the 1960s and 1970s which sought to hand over an empty island to the United States for use as a key military base. The depopulation campaign ended in 1973 with the removal of the last islanders, who were dumped on the quays of the Mauritian capital, Port Louis ... '
The Chagos Islands: A sordid tale. 'The story involves "bribes" from the United States, racism among senior civil servants, and the UK Government deceiving parliament and the United Nations.'
The Chagos archipelago: Decolonisation and human rights., by the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network, includes a brief history of the islands from original settlement by French settlers and African slaves. 'For a people as a whole to be actually victimised by the act of forced eviction from their homeland must be the most humiliating, supreme injustice and degrading treatment any people can be made to undergo. '
posted by plep at 10:12 AM PST - 4 comments

Qur’an in Aramaic? Virgins become raisins, veils become belts. "Luxenberg’s chief hypothesis is that the original language of the Qur’an was not Arabic but something closer to Aramaic. He says the copy of the Qur’an used today is a mistranscription of the original text from Muhammad’s time, which according to Islamic tradition was destroyed by the third caliph, Osman, in the seventh century. But Arabic did not turn up as a written language until 150 years after Muhammad’s death, and most learned Arabs at that time spoke a version of Aramaic."
posted by four panels at 9:53 AM PST - 16 comments

Bicycle tire sizes You thought paper sizes was an obscure and dull topic? Wait till you explore the historical arcana of bike tire sizing, where 1.25" does not equal 1 1/4".
posted by adamrice at 9:16 AM PST - 17 comments

The Price of Nice. I am out to prove once and for all that nice guys truly finish last and prove to myself that women are a lost cause in the realms of romance and love. [via deviantART; Message Forums]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 8:09 AM PST - 90 comments

I always thought that starting the day by tying a rope around your neck made no sense. No it turns out that wearing a tight tie may damage your eyesight
posted by magullo at 7:45 AM PST - 18 comments

Ready for a new religion? Or maybe not so new. But it may explain a few things.
posted by donfactor at 7:35 AM PST - 11 comments

ece4co - nine cute little kitty flash games from Yoshio Ishii.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:26 AM PST - 3 comments

Hummerdinger! The Sierra Club spoofs the Hummer, Onion-style.
posted by liam at 7:10 AM PST - 11 comments

Kerouac becomes a bobblehead. From the sports promoters in Lowell, Massachusetts, to the literati, everybody thinks it's a terrific idea. "Certainly, Jack would love it," says the executor of his estate.
posted by beagle at 6:52 AM PST - 12 comments

Help NYC break the record for world's largest picnic... Local NYC cable access freaks The Unbelievable Show will be hosting an attempt at the Guinness-certified world's largest picnic in Bryant Park on Sunday, August 3rd. Hulabilly, a Hawaiian/Western Swing/Hot Jazz band will be there and donations will be accepted for City Harvest. Wherever you are, back away from the glow and enjoy the summer while you still can...
posted by adamholz at 6:51 AM PST - 4 comments

"My influences come from China; my style comes from Africa, Egypt, Tokyo, and Russia, with love; and the rest comes from Neptune." A chat with the artist formerly know as Ol' Dirty Bastard.
posted by Dr_Octavius at 6:05 AM PST - 8 comments

How About Raising Money for Him Instead of The Star Wars Kid? Perhaps the most faithful of Delhi's unpaid city servants turns 80 on Tuesday, but has no plans to retire. Mohammed Habib has had the grisly task of collecting the city's unclaimed corpses since he was 12. He says he has disposed of hundreds of bodies - and all for free - in a country where millions live in poverty.
posted by turbanhead at 5:08 AM PST - 8 comments

Trading on the Future of Terror [LA Times] The war on terrorism has come to this: The Pentagon is setting up a commodity-style market to use real investors — putting down real money — to help its generals predict terrorist attacks, coups d'etat and other turmoil in the Middle East. You can sign up here to bet on suicide bombings.
posted by srboisvert at 4:03 AM PST - 7 comments

Fix Up, Look Sharp With stateside hip hop in an unprecedented doldrum, the torch has been snatched up on this side of the Atlantic by 18-year-old Eastender Dizzee Rascal. He's recovering from a stabbing carried out rival fans of a rival garage collective in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. The attack took place a few days before being nominated for the Mercury Music prize. Guaranteed not to be everybody's cup of tea, but he's an interesting character and challenging music make it, and his album, worth a look.
posted by hmgovt at 1:49 AM PST - 25 comments

the kid in the orange shirt has no bones. [Windows Media, 3.7mb]
posted by crunchland at 12:48 AM PST - 15 comments

The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California takes the impeachment question directly to the local street and neighborhood and asks the following question on it's marquee. What is an impeachable offense? Lying to wage war? Or lying about sex? Across the country billboards and marquees have been commonly used to express political sentiment (original link from Buzzflash)
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:47 PM PST - 11 comments

Digimorph, headed by University of Texas professor Timothy Rowe, is a collection of 2D and 3D cross-sectional images of everything from dinosaur skulls to fertilized emu eggs. Using an advanced X-ray Computed Tomographic scanner, researchers are able to capture minute details of a subject's internal structure. DigiMorph provides data on almost 300 species in the form of Quicktime animations, 3D movies, and stereolithography files which can be used (with the proper tools) to create your own 3D specimen.

If you've ever wondered exactly what's up with the stimulating hummingbird or the confounding platypus, now's the perfect time to take a more in-depth look.
posted by lychee at 10:45 PM PST - 4 comments

"hey mom and dad"
a word from the front - i feel horrible for this guy and his family. why isn't he getting food, water and being rotated? where are all our taxpayer dollars going anyway?
posted by specialk420 at 10:39 PM PST - 38 comments

Kidnapping women and children is a justifiable action, says Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division when his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." A quick glance at the Geneva Conventions and Protocols would suggest that this is illegal. "The ends justifies the means" seems to be the current Conservative meme, but how well will these tactics serve us in the long run?
posted by dejah420 at 9:53 PM PST - 58 comments

A4 Paper / International Standard Paper Sizes ... that there was such an intricate system used to figure out what size of paper you are using. Stumbled across this while setting up my printer and needed to verify that A4 was indeed the same as the 8.5 x 11 paper that I was using.
posted by synecdoche at 6:58 PM PST - 71 comments

An article in the newest Adbusters magazine asks the question - is America becoming fascist? (a condensed version of this article written by Anis Shivani Oct. 2002). In it, Shivani states that “American fascism is tapping into the perennial complaint against liberalism: that it doesn't provide an authentic sense of belonging to the majority of people. And that is a criticism difficult to dismiss out of hand. As the language of liberalism has become flat and predictable, some Americans have become more ready to accept an alternative, no matter how ridiculous, as long as it sounds vigorous and muscular.” More inside...
posted by Quartermass at 6:43 PM PST - 48 comments

Remember Steve Burns, of Blue's Clues fame? We've discussed him here, and I have been desperately antsy for his album (delightful flashy thing) to come out. Well, according to my email today, it's about to! Check out his page and find out when he's playing near you, or if the video for Mighty Little Man is half as cool as the song itself.
posted by verso at 3:42 PM PST - 13 comments

Cue Banjo Music Texas Democrats have again hauled ass across state lines, this time to New Mexico. Texas' governor and lt. governor have decided to hold a third special session of the state Senate, for which they will suspend the 2/3 supermajority needed for redistricting plans. via TPM
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 3:17 PM PST - 36 comments

Consider: a man in a suit on the roof of the Pan Am/Met Life Building. Yeah, that's a real photograph. Continuing the ever popular theme of urban exploration, the Jinx Magazine guys have documented some of their more audacious adventures. (warning: flash on the last link)
posted by sodalinda at 2:43 PM PST - 19 comments

Pentagon Plans Futures Market for Events in Mideast Good and useful idea or repugnant and stupid?
posted by Postroad at 2:19 PM PST - 42 comments

Port of San Diego Considers Gigantic, Cartoonish Eyesore for Park Sculpture
An unsolicited proposal for a 200 foot long, 50 foot high sculpture in bronze, granite and water is under review by the public art committee of the Port of San Diego. The artist is A. Wasil, a master builder of the Robert Kaskey (Portlandia, WWII Veterans Memorial) school. The presentation is high tech, the concept is 'bold,' the corporate backers are many (and they're bidding for naming rights). One problem: it sucks. Read Robert Pincus's review of a piece of public art he (and I) hope will never be.
posted by rschram at 1:52 PM PST - 61 comments

Who's a hero now? (NYT reg. required) It has been a year since the 9 miners in Quecreek were rescued after spending 77 hours underground. One of the rescuers, Bob Long, recently committed suicide. He was the only rescuer to get cut in on the $150,000 deal from Disney. According to the linked NYT article:
Vaughn Donaldson, district chief of the fire department in Midland, Tex., knows very well the stress that traumatic events, combined with sudden celebrity, can put on people. In the years after the rescue of baby Jessica from the well in Texas, Donaldson watched the man who saved her, Robert O'Donnell, become a national hero, before declining into substance abuse; seven years after the rescue, he shot himself. There have also been suicides among rescuers at Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center. ''Whenever you elevate one person as a hero, you necessarily leave others out, and that leads to jealousy and alienation,'' says Donaldson, who speaks to fire and police departments all over the country.
Hmm, That's enough to make you hesitate the next time you see someone who is in trouble.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 12:47 PM PST - 30 comments

For $40,000 your little princess can sleep in Cinderella's Carriage. At that price it better come with a team of white horses. Next to that, the Fairytale Cottage for $5,000 seems like a steal! Or with all the pirate mania... maybe they'd like this pirate's ship for a mere $25,000? Low on funds? This paupers pirate-themed ones is just $4,000. Not into all the European legend junk? Or maybe a tee pee for $3,066? Or a vintage race car for $25,000. And there's even more if you want to torture yourself for being a moneyless loser.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 12:02 PM PST - 21 comments

"Global warming is now a weapon of mass destruction. It kills more people than terrorism, yet Blair and Bush do nothing." So writes Sir John Houghton, former chief executive of the Meteorological Office and co-chair of the scientific assessment working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
posted by homunculus at 11:47 AM PST - 24 comments

First Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender public high school to open in New York City. "I think everybody feels that it's a good idea because some of the kids who are gays and lesbians have been constantly harassed and beaten in other schools." says NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but couldn't the same argument have been used against the racial integration of schools in the 1950s?
posted by 4easypayments at 11:26 AM PST - 87 comments

"It's time for people to show their cards." Ostensibly modeled after these, and perhaps a step up in quality from these, they look to face competiton from these. A game of Texas Hold 'em, anyone?
posted by subpixel at 10:35 AM PST - 13 comments

"Pick. Lock. And Load. It's like flicking a booger at spam." (from linkfilter)
posted by limitedpie at 10:16 AM PST - 27 comments

100 Years of New York City. A New York Times special, originally published in 1998. 'The following articles offer a glimpse into the past 100 years of New York City -- a decade at a time. Each decade includes a full time line prepared by the staff at The New York Times, photos from The Times archives, headline clippings from archive copies of The Times, and essays by noted authors and Times staff writers. '
The new born city, seen from above - a panorama from 1902.
posted by plep at 9:44 AM PST - 7 comments

An alternative means towards alternative energy? Duke Energy in NC is offering its customers an opportunity to vote for alternative energy sources with their wallets starting today. While you are not really buying the Green Power directly, you are in effect subsidizing it. Is this a creative way to Go Green, or just another feel good gesture?
posted by ElvisJesus at 9:29 AM PST - 13 comments

*Boop* *Boop* *Boop*! We're sorry, but the phone message you have called, is dead. Please hang up and dial again. Yes, Jane Barbe, the woman on phone messages, has been put on hold while she waits for St. Peter to take her call at the age of 74.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 9:22 AM PST - 8 comments

From the guy that predicted back in 1976 the demise of the Soviet Union: “There will be no an American Empire”. Emmanuel Todd (scroll down for another Todd interview) is the author of “After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American System". His arguments? economic weakness (debt, massive trade imbalance, internal deficit), and emphasis on military power are signs that US power is in decline.
posted by samelborp at 8:32 AM PST - 46 comments

Fifteen years ago, the venerable Royal Shakespeare Company staged a musical adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie. Wackiness ensued, to the tune of $5 million.
posted by pxe2000 at 8:18 AM PST - 3 comments

Jamaican Riddim Directory. Run it selecta! [audio]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 8:05 AM PST - 10 comments

Every worker is entitled to a pension.
Kerala elephants working for the local government will enjoy a number of work benefits according to the Indian state's decision on a set of rules for their upkeeping. West Bengal seems to have taken similar measures some years ago.
posted by talos at 7:28 AM PST - 4 comments

Bob Hope passes way. Will there ever be another like him? Thanks for the memories Bob!
posted by da5id at 6:45 AM PST - 66 comments

Phrenology makes a comeback.
posted by phylum sinter at 3:24 AM PST - 11 comments

Quote Some Reviews of some very bad movies, and wrap it all up in a pretty package that parodies the movie's posters. Hilarity ensues. (I'm not being sarcastic. I woke my spouse up out of bed laughing at this-- and I was in the kitchen.) It's a feature of Moviepoopshoot.com, which has evolved from a promo site for a Kevin Smith movie. I guess we'll know if Smith really has a sense of humor if we see the Critical Mess treatment given to Jersey Girl, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, or Mallrats.
posted by Shoeburyness at 12:26 AM PST - 17 comments

Study Finds 2.6% Increase in U.S. Prison Population The nation's prison population grew 2.6 percent last year, the largest increase since 1999, according to a study by the Justice Department. The jump came despite a small decline in serious crime in 2002. It also came when a growing number of states facing large budget deficits have begun trying to reduce prison costs by easing tough sentencing laws passed in the 1990's, thereby decreasing the number of inmates. The key finding in the report is this growth, which is somewhat surprising in its size after several years of relative stability in the prison population, said Allen J. Beck, an author of the report. U.S. Prison Population Grew 2.6% in 2002. The country's prisons, jails and juvenile facilities held 2,166,260 persons at the end of last year, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) said in a report released today. Prisoners in 2002 Abstract
posted by y2karl at 12:17 AM PST - 17 comments

Georgy for Governor So I am reading the SF Chronicle on Saturday and there was an article about unusual candidates running for California's recall election for governor. In addition to big name politicians, millionaries and hollywood actors, there's a 19 year old kid, a software developer in silicon valley (who's selling thongs online to finance her campaign) and more... So my thought it... should you or I run for governor? Would there be any chance any one of us could win? Could we harness the power of the web and memes to get a campaign some steam? Would a web-saavy person make for good changes in the office? I just got paid for a freelance project the other day, and so I have $3,500 to spend if I wanted to... wondered what sort of value might be in it even if there was no chance that I could win. Would it just be me telling my grandkids one day that I was on the state's ballot with Arnold Schwarzneggar? What would you see as a positive, worthwhile result from spending $3,500 to be one of the names on the ballot? Curious.
posted by matte at 8:16 PM PST - 33 comments

Little Stalker Boy is tired, but mostly he's just restless. Little Stalker Boy is outside her house again tonight - hanging in a tree and taking photos as she passes the front window.
posted by dg at 5:19 PM PST - 30 comments

Nixon Ordered the Watergate Break-in. Jeb Stuart Magruder, the deputy director of Nixon's 1972 campaign, revealed in a PBS documentary to air on Wednesday that Nixon personally ordered the bungled break-in at the luxury Watergate Hotel complex. It took 30 years, but the truth finally comes out.
posted by zaelic at 5:09 PM PST - 18 comments

The Real Hussein Warning: Shockwave
posted by konolia at 3:20 PM PST - 4 comments

VeriSign Can Be Sued for Losing Your Domain Name A Federal appeals court (Ninth Circuit) has ruled that the owner of the sex.com domain, who lost the domain when VeriSgin transferred it on the basis of a forged letter, can sue VeriSign for damages resulting from VeriSign's mistake. The sex.com case is worth millions, but anyone who has lost a domain name due to VeriSign's incompetence may now be able to draw their pound of flesh straight from those entrusted with making sure the registry process works.
posted by mikewas at 2:33 PM PST - 7 comments

The Visible Embryo. "This spiral represents the 23 stages occurring in the first trimester of pregnancy and every two weeks of the second and third trimesters. Use the spiral to navigate through the 40 weeks of pregnancy and preview the unique changes in each stage of human development." via The Eyes Have It, which sadly looks as if it hasn't been updated since February, but still has much of interest to offer.
posted by jokeefe at 12:40 PM PST - 13 comments

Made a terrible mistake in Las Vegas? Just say "talaq, talaq, talaq"
posted by kodas at 11:52 AM PST - 6 comments

When Is It OK To Lie To Your Doctor? Legislation to deny first class medical assistance to those who persist with an unhealthy lifestyle is now being seriously discussed in the UK. Can lie detectors be far behind? Will smokers, heavy drinkers and couch potatoes now have to add the art of lying through their teeth - as if their lives depended on it, which they may soon do, to their solitary, sedentary and increasingly melancholy skills? More importantly, will doctors be able to help them, if the information they get from their patients is all wrong?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:56 AM PST - 46 comments

The Tango is an electric concept car developed by father and son team Rick and Bryan Woodbury, which gets 80 miles per charge and does 0 to 60 in four seconds, with a top speed of 130 mph. Says Rick, who used to race Porsches and has been initiated as a Zen priest, "As far as getting rid of war and nuclear weapons, solving the world's hunger problem, that would be great, but I have no idea how. This car, we know how. We've done it. And if 50 million Americans started driving Tangos, the world would be better."
posted by homunculus at 10:19 AM PST - 40 comments

The Great Arc of India is a travelling exhibition that celebrates the two hundredth anniversary of the trigonometric survey of the Indian subcontinent by William Lambton, George Everest, and many others. The exhibition will visit Edinburgh, Birmingham, London, and Manchester. In case you can't catch the actual exhibition, the site includes a PDF of the exhibition guide, in two parts. Along with the exhibition there is a programme of performances and visual events by Indian artists.
posted by carter at 6:57 AM PST - 5 comments

the tribe (Note: flash)
posted by crunchland at 5:36 AM PST - 26 comments

The Swann Foundation (Library of Congress). Many links to online exhibitions of American caricature and cartoon: Al Hirschfeld, Arthur Szyk, Blondie gets married, Herblock, Elizabeth Shippen Green, performing arts caricatures, the Water Babies.
posted by plep at 3:54 AM PST - 4 comments

Insiders suggest Condoleezza Rice could leave As White House officials try to control the latest fallout over President Bush's flawed suggestion in the State of the Union address that Iraq was buying nuclear bomb materials, there's growing talk by insiders that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice may take the blame and resign.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 10:08 PM PST - 62 comments

The Sun will not rise, or set, without my notice, and thanks. - Winslow Homer
posted by hama7 at 6:31 PM PST - 7 comments

Thrilla in Manila! As yet another coup attempt unfolds in Manila, Dean Jorge Bocobo blogs on. Mabuhay!
posted by azul at 4:10 PM PST - 17 comments

Words fail me.
posted by erebora at 2:10 PM PST - 62 comments

"Alistair cooke is the master of the past tense: a living archive of American and British history. Such experience, wisdom and education are unlikely ever again to combine in one journalist." High praise indeed, recently I have been gripped by his documentary charting the rise of modern america. Although in blighty he is probably best known for his weekly letters from america.
posted by johnnyboy at 11:09 AM PST - 7 comments

Ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed. Please remain perfectly still. What you are about to see is real, the performers are not grinning scarecrows sent here to torture and manipulate you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the twin quasars of rock: They! Might! Be! Giants!
posted by kaibutsu at 10:48 AM PST - 43 comments

Blog Change Bot is an AOL Instant Messenger-based bot that will send you an IM whenever your favorite blogs are updated. (via Blogroots; more inside)
posted by UKnowForKids at 10:27 AM PST - 8 comments

Blogathon 2003 is upon us. What sites, if any, are you guys and girls watching? Personally I'm pretty interested in Pet Rock Star^S, wherein musicians Scott Andrew and Shannon Campbell write music together, documenting the entire process along the way.
posted by frenetic at 7:52 AM PST - 25 comments

Comics for Grown-Ups
David Hadju discusses Joe Sacco's Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde and Daniel Clowes' Ghost World. I wanted to link the Ghost World movie site but it's currently down. Whether this is permanently or not, I know not. I'll be sad if it's gone--it was so darn cool and so elegantly done.
posted by y2karl at 3:35 AM PST - 43 comments

The Icelanding Phallological Museum. A museum dedicated to the male sexual organ, with an online gallery of phalluses of many species.
Lingam Gnosis is the 'ancient art of penis reading' - like palmistry, only with penises, which can be classified into alchemical earth, fire, water and air types.
Foreskin.org is an educational site about the male foreskin (with photographs and articles).
(Needless to say, probably not suitable for work).
posted by plep at 11:46 PM PST - 5 comments

112 Gripes About the French One of the best selling books in France today is about why Americans seem to hate the French so much (well hated them 60 years ago). The book, originally published by the US military to teach GIs in France how to get along with the natives, was translated into French and is now flying off the shelves. Now you too can hate the French (en anglais, naturellement).
posted by m@ at 9:09 PM PST - 35 comments

3D Artists is another online art collective. This time, the artists specialize in using 3D rendering tools. (Note: some images may not be safe for work.)
posted by crunchland at 8:20 PM PST - 8 comments

He gave up everything for him and now he describes himself as "a nullo". If true, this has got to be one of the most bizarre and disturbing stories I've ever read. Text, but NSFW or for the squeamish.
posted by pyramid termite at 7:49 PM PST - 27 comments

Kevin Kelly's Recommendo provides links to cool stuff for home, school, work and play. via boing boing
posted by crunchburger at 6:34 PM PST - 7 comments

Don't fear the police state, fear semicolons.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 6:25 PM PST - 15 comments

Why bother figuring out universal truths for yourself when someone else has already done it for you. Find out how a neurotic comedian, a sausage magnate, a genome decoder, and the world's most famous nuclear power plant safety inspector distill life's truths into twenty or so insightful and humorous statements.
posted by euphorb at 3:20 PM PST - 17 comments

Search the New York Times website for any occurrence of the words "Valerie Plame" during the last week ...and you'll find nada, zilch, zip. The so-called "paper of record" has remained totally mum on what may be one of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration yet. You can read about it at Newsday, CBS, Time, and The Nation, and it's been mentioned on NBC... but not a word from the New York Times (save for a reference to it last week by syndicated columnist Paul Krugman, and a wire service story today; neither of those pieces mentions Plame by name). The Times' news and editorial divisions are asleep at the switch on this story. Maybe the Jayson Blair scandal was a distraction from the deeper problem: a paper that is so concerned with being balanced and respectable, it refuses to cover any politically controversial stories. You can e-mail letters@nytimes.com to ask why the Valerie Plame news blackout. Or just click this link a few dozen times to send 'em a message.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:49 PM PST - 38 comments

Dolphin or Shark? It's a question that has been brewing on surf boards (ha!) for months. After much armchair marine biology, the photographer posted the answer on his own site.
posted by mathowie at 2:46 PM PST - 30 comments

Books Go To War Between 1943 and 1947, the Council on Books in Wartime published 1322 small-format books (4 in. x 5.75 in. — designed to fit easily into the pockets of service uniforms) for distribution to United States service personnel. These books were unabridged volumes spanning a variety of topics: popular fiction, humor, classic literature, music, psychology, war stories, etc. Because the books were distributed only to overseas troops, and printed on cheap paper (intended to be read, passed around, and discarded), they've become hard-to-find, the subject of museum exhibits and, in the case of the rarer titles, the object of collectors' desire.
posted by jdroth at 1:22 PM PST - 7 comments

Fishy is a simple, relaxing, hypnotic, zen-like, and infuriating game. Control your fish with the arrows. Eat fish smaller than you. Avoid fish larger than you. The more you eat, the more you grow.
posted by leapfrog at 12:42 PM PST - 31 comments

From MIT's Media Lab: "The Corporate Fallout Detector reads barcodes off of consumer products, and makes a noise similar to a gieger counter of varying intensity based on the social or environmental record of the company that produces the product"
posted by sharksandwich at 12:40 PM PST - 18 comments

A new TV series described as "Sesame Street for adults" gets a wide release next month on PBS stations nationwide. Its producers hope it will reach a few of the estimated 90 million "low-functioning" grown-ups. In 1992, when researchers last rated the skills of adults 16 or older, they found that nearly half weren't proficient in applying basic skills to accomplish daily tasks. Is this a bold step toward improving the lives of less fortunate adults, or a disturbing sign of the increasing ignorance of the American public?
posted by eyebeam at 11:11 AM PST - 64 comments

Bush OKs troops in Liberia even though President Charles Taylor remains. (Taylor's abdication of the presidency had been a US requirement before troops would be sent.) It's obviously a tough call for the White House to make, but are we in for a repeat of Somalia 1993?
posted by jpoulos at 10:33 AM PST - 31 comments

Mind the Gap... Karl Bushby braved the infamous and road-less Darien Gap in 2001 and is now trying to smuggle love into the Great White North. All while on one loooong walk from southern Chile to Kingston-upon-Hull, England.
posted by hellinskira at 10:25 AM PST - 5 comments

The Chevrolet of Caviar Paddlefish roe - caviar for the rest of us? caviaremptor.org has some good information about the decline of beluga sturgeon. And what's caviar without Russian vodka? (Whatever your feelings on Kentucky paddlefish roe, you should probably not accompany your caviar with Kentucky spirits). Na zdorovia, y'all!
posted by stonerose at 9:25 AM PST - 15 comments

I think that it is Friday, so maybe you would like to view many strange and wonderful flash animations from Japan, all collected on one page in order to hasten your head exploding. Most feature Doraemon, everyone's favorite earless blue robot cat from the future.
posted by donkeymon at 9:06 AM PST - 2 comments

If you're the type who gets creative when you drink a lot, the folks at Canstruction have a few ideas about what you can do with the discarded empties. Here's a slide show of some good examples, and here are the winners of their contests in 2002 & 2003 respectively.
posted by jonson at 7:51 AM PST - 14 comments

The Lycette Brothers have a nice little flash and shockwave collection. Their oldest is the Goreyesque Illustrated Alphabet of Unfortunate Chance, in which dire alphabetic catastrophes plague the dapper but unlucky Monsieur Maurice. Their newest is The Modern Compendium of Miniature Automata, in which you can make your own creaky, whirling, steam age nanobot or just browse through the endless collection of books displaying automated creatures.
posted by iconomy at 7:35 AM PST - 7 comments

This is a rather strange, poorly reported, context free article about some troubling things that were recently said by Mel Gibson's parents. It's especially interesting, considering that Gibson has just directed a film called "The Passion", detailing the final days of Christ. Is anyone out there aware of the various controversies surrounding this film? Charges of anti-semitism, historical revisionism, and the bizarre decisions whether or not to include subtitles (the film was, daringly, I guess, shot in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin) abound. What the hell is going on here?
posted by ghastlyfop at 6:52 AM PST - 97 comments

Friday flash fun in the form of a rather amusing game to promote the Rolling Stones tour. Catch the bras, dodge the bottles and knock away the pants thrown by the men! Predictably enough, I was rubbish at it.
posted by ralawrence at 4:22 AM PST - 2 comments

on the internet nobody knows you're a horse .. via newstoday.com
posted by specialk420 at 11:36 PM PST - 9 comments

Kolyma: The Land of Gold and Death. 'Stalin's prisoners, or "lagerniks" as they were commonly called, referred to the frozen land of Kolyma as a planet, although it physically remained part of Mother Earth. This vast piece of Arctic and sub-Arctic territory, with its undefined political and geographical borders, was located in the furthest North-East corner of Siberia ... ' An online book by a survivor of the gulag.
posted by plep at 11:32 PM PST - 7 comments

Someone needs Photoshop classes. Cat Schwartz, TechTV vixen, posted some pictures of herself on her blog. Due to an obscure bug in Photoshop, she also inadvertently posted pictures of herself nude. Oopos. Warning: Minor nudity enclosed.
posted by manero at 9:26 PM PST - 89 comments

Government statistics.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:25 PM PST - 9 comments

RAGBRAI (the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). Perhaps a better way to experience Iowa than the CornCam... or consider smaller rides.
posted by weston at 6:22 PM PST - 13 comments

Mark Twain on evolution: It now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one...the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. And, on war: Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. Alphabetized Mark Twain quotes.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 5:47 PM PST - 16 comments

douglas adams mp3 audio archive ... "The Douglas Adams media archive is presented here by the wi2600.org groups for your enjoyment. This allso is to serve as a tribute to Mr. Adams's great, but suddely shortened career. Those who have not heard his voice and those who know it well will both enjoy having this material available. We will miss him!"
posted by crunchland at 4:07 PM PST - 15 comments

You think it's moving but it's not.
posted by xmutex at 12:17 PM PST - 85 comments

"We're walking from Chicago to San Francisco. Many have responded with, "You guys are stupid!" Some, on the other hand, have said, "Wow, that's cool!" Either way, we hope you'll keep coming back to see what will happen next in our walking adventures."
Current mileage, photo galleries, and journal entries abound -- and really, when was the last time you walked 627 miles (inside of 60 days)?
posted by wells at 11:53 AM PST - 20 comments

And you thought real bubble wrap was fun this digital bubble wrap never runs out and is 17% more awesometacular! Manic mode turns that fun knob way up past 11. Hot damn.
posted by Phlops at 11:44 AM PST - 17 comments

It's a crazy idea, but it just might work. Anyone have a couple of million to invest in getting rich and putting the RIAA out of business?
posted by tdismukes at 10:54 AM PST - 53 comments

The massive engineering feat of Stonehenge meets the conspicuous nature of fiercely gated communities. The resulting bastard child: The Palm, a man made island community shaped like a palm tree off of the coast of Dubai, UAE. (warning: site entirely flash-based) (via willnot)
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:32 AM PST - 10 comments

"Even a brilliant piece of writing will have difficulty finding a publisher if the author has neglected to dress his manuscript decently." 'The Chicago Manual of Style' enters the 21st century. Calling all MeFi Schoolmarms! (Also: CSM New Questions & Answers)
posted by ColdChef at 9:26 AM PST - 26 comments

Uday & Qusay's death - a failure?! Salam Pax thinks the U.S. "wasted a chance to show Iraqis they really are doing something". Robert Fisk asked in yesterday's press conference "Surely, the possibility of the immense amount of information they could have given coalition forces" justified efforts to try to take them alive. The military had time, the element of surprise, special forces troops, and nonlethal weapons -- so why did they attack with rockets and TOW missiles? Where is Saddam? Could we have learned more about Iraq's WMD programs? Is it better for the Bush administration to not have some questions answered?
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:30 AM PST - 104 comments

On a recent visit to The Minneapolis Institute of Art, I noticed a newly acquired painting titled Funeral March for the Minimal Man, by Chris Mars. Yes, that Chris Mars. It is notable that most recent paintings have been "created [as] a monument to his brother. In each painting he is attempting to interpret his world and set him free from the constraints of mental illness." So much to discuss, so little time.
posted by ScottUltra at 8:25 AM PST - 11 comments

Like many of us, I enjoy the bad women, from your garden variety betrayed women to the problem girls, the untamed youth running wild. An all too brief gallery of documentary films about this fascinating subculture is up over at retrocrush.
posted by jonson at 7:24 AM PST - 10 comments

Seal kills scientist A British scientist has been killed by a leopard seal whilst snorkelling in Antarctica. I had no idea that a seal could (or would) attack a human. These things can grow to 23ft long! They are known to feed on penguins, but a human is a fair bit bigger than a penguin, so this is one nasty animal, not the doe-eyed creature we coo over in nature programmes...
posted by jontyjago at 6:54 AM PST - 44 comments

As to The Uses and Disadvantages of Socrates, sources differ but seem to share in common an ideal fictional Socrates to speak their understanding of the common account. From Doug Linder's Famous Trials--for your bookmarking convenience--comes The Trial of Socrates, featuring ample background materials, including I.F. Stone's take. Marilyn Katz's Background Materials on Socrates' Trial and Death are essential, too. Several other accounts are offered online--consider Socrates and his Audience, The Accusations Against Socrates, Gadfly on Trial: Socrates as Citizen and Social Critic and the rather d.i.y. Socrates Had It Coming. But as to the historical Socrates, the man in context becomes key--as all of the above do contend, more or less, let it be noted--and therefore one needs to become become familiar with things like sexuality in Fifth-Century Athens, desecration of the herms, Eleusian Mysteries, the Peloponnesian War, the fateful Sicilian Expedition and the collective memory of civil war and civic memory in ancient Athens that ensued, as well as the personalities of Critias and Alcibiades to answer the question entitled in my own favorite account, the book entire: Who Was Socrates ?
posted by y2karl at 6:33 AM PST - 38 comments

No Iraq link to al-Qaida "The report of the joint congressional inquiry into the suicide hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, to be published Thursday, reveals U.S. intelligence had no evidence that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks, or that it had supported al-Qaida, United Press International has learned." [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 6:26 AM PST - 69 comments

Big Monsters, Little Poems. "Last night I dreamed I / Destroyed New York City in / My Maidenform Bra"
"Twin six-inch singers / Banshees, worse than the monsters / Mercy, make them stop!"
...and dozens more haiku monster movie reviews, promoting a forthcoming indie PC game.
posted by arto at 3:11 AM PST - 2 comments

Davis to face recall
posted by raaka at 9:31 PM PST - 46 comments

Yet another part of Kim Stanley Robinson's wonderful Mars Trilogy is now a reality.
posted by freebird at 8:59 PM PST - 16 comments

Blessing of the Cars. This Saturday, at at Hansen Dam in Los Angeles, there will be a mass blessing of cars by a Catholic priest, followed by individual blessing of each vehicle.
posted by xowie at 7:35 PM PST - 7 comments

"Un-******-believable" is how this link was related to me, and I think you will agree. The link is a video showing a player of a DDR-type synchrony game involving buttons musical notes. I found his display a simply stunning display of human adaptability. Wow!
posted by rudyfink at 7:25 PM PST - 49 comments

The RIAA hit list. Are you sued or not? I would have thought defaultuser@kazaa would get targeted.
posted by srboisvert at 6:05 PM PST - 43 comments

Tyler Hamilton on his win today in State 16 of the Tour de France. [via the brilliant notd tour blog]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:04 PM PST - 16 comments

Unbiased (ideally) but not inhuman (hopefully) The Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma at the University of Washington studies the effects of crazy badness ("if it bleeds, it leads") on reporters and studies ways in which the news media can better cover traumatic events in the life of the world: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. From a piece on the site, "9-11 Journalists Share Memories, Support," "Long before Sept. 11, he was interested in how journalists respond to the pain and misery they encounter in their work, and the lack of support they often find in a traditionally tough-minded business. Then he nearly died while photographing the World Trade Center attack, and found those issues hit closer to home than he ever imagined."
posted by jengod at 5:43 PM PST - 2 comments

Now you see it, now you don't. The infamous blink tag, maligned for so long by almost, but not quite everyone, can now be supported in IE. Isn't that great news?
posted by dg at 5:10 PM PST - 27 comments

Is the Moon a Good Place to store your Data? A company called TransOrbital of La Jolla, Calif., is seriously considering the idea of putting storage facilities on Earth's only natural satellite.
posted by randomnfactor at 4:26 PM PST - 11 comments

Erotic pictures. Of clowns. NSFW, obviously. [more inside]
posted by eilatan at 3:57 PM PST - 27 comments

Teenagers find the internet a frustrating experience A survey in the north east of England finds that teenagers are increasingly being alienated in their online experience because they aren't being given the skillsets to cope with finding or using the information. Seems to be the old story of schools buying computers but the kids not being engaged enough on how to use them (which has been the case since I was stuck in front of an Acorn Archimedes fifteen years go). Here is a similar article from Australia which describes how their eductation system is coping with the issue.
posted by feelinglistless at 3:22 PM PST - 14 comments

Proving that he is the geekiest man in film, Kevin Smith relates the tale of how he almost got to egg the house of Reese Witherspoon, and why he wanted to in the first place - a rather funny story. Would that all Hollywood ego-battles could be resolved in such a fashion.
An old link, but worth checking out
posted by GriffX at 2:38 PM PST - 46 comments

Congress to bicyclists: get a car! A new transportation appropriations bill would eliminate $600 million of annual federal funding for "transportation enhancements" (more info here), such as bike paths and walkways, while increasing funding for highways. Is this a proper reflection of U.S. transportation habits, or just a scheme to deprive alternate transportation of much-needed funding?
posted by jdroth at 1:57 PM PST - 20 comments

Have you or your neighbors killed any kittens lately? Way back in the mists of time, a farkism combined a kitty with a couple of domo-kuns and came up with a saying equating masturbation with killing a kitty.

This site has taken the concept and is attempting to make it into a community weblog -- except the community is limited to those who are taking solo flights into orgasm. The site seems almost innocent, at least now (though it'll probably get over-run with explicit commercial grossness in a while).

Although the interface is nowhere near as clean, my experience with the site reminded me of the early days of amihotornot. I was at it for hours, tripping out on who was masturbating in my state, and what they were thinking, let along who was doing what in other places all over the world (not many global participants, yet).
With this wierd mixture of deeply personal revelations and total anonymity, is this one of those things that only the internet can do? Or am I a total git for thinking this is interesting? (via memepool)
posted by jasper411 at 1:56 PM PST - 19 comments

online archive of x-ray images
posted by crunchland at 1:32 PM PST - 8 comments

Sinn Fein "cashing in on the victims"? As Sinn Fein launch their new website they have been accused of "promoting the IRA and cashing in on violence". From a party which is bound by the Good Friday Agreement, is it acceptable to promote goods associated with the atrocities committed in Northern Ireland since the 1960's?
posted by knapah at 1:28 PM PST - 10 comments

Shots fired from within NY City Hall. Shooter still on the loose, but apparently wounded.
posted by Oddly at 12:28 PM PST - 54 comments

A keyless keyboard designed to reduce RSI and other typing related injuries - sounds interesting, but slow, and of course useless for gaming. Bit pricey as well.
posted by Orange Goblin at 11:50 AM PST - 14 comments

Baby you can drive my car. Mini RC cars are all the rage but how often do you get to control a RC car in Tokyo from your browser. Bascule created a web interface for controling an RC car in their office, hooked up a couple of web cams on the track and now allows anyone with the Flash 6 plug-in to log in and drive their car for 60 seconds.
posted by DragonBoy at 11:16 AM PST - 6 comments

Congress to Big Media: Not so fast Debate in Congress is shifting as grassroots organizers put pressure on to override FCC ownership rule changes. Not that Fox is looking to buy MeFi anytime soon, but still, who wants to repeat what happened in Minot?
posted by drywall at 11:08 AM PST - 6 comments

A soldier's letter home, or clever propaganda? This "letter" has been making the rounds as an email, supposedly from an officer, stationed in Iraq, named "Mark". He certainly seems to know a lot about what's going on. He loves his job, likes his generals, and admires the Iraqi people, who like him and other Americans; and he hates the press and the foreigners he says are fighting reconstruction. Sounds a little too good to be true.
posted by kablam at 10:45 AM PST - 44 comments

Probes Expected in ID of CIA Officer Remember this story? Turns out it has legs, after all.
posted by stonerose at 10:31 AM PST - 15 comments

GOP Warns TV Stations Not to Air Ad Alleging Bush Mislead the Nation Over Iraq They claim that the ad itself is dishonest, and cite the obligation of broadcast outlets to be free of misleading information. “Such obligations must be taken seriously. This letter puts you on notice that the information contained in the above-cited advertisement is false and misleading; therefore, you are obligated to refrain from airing this advertisement.” Despite the implicit threats, only one station has refused to run the ad, a Fox station.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 9:57 AM PST - 69 comments

They’re a little like Operation. Today students can practice all sorts of skills on surgical models like TraumaMan®, the Hillway Man, or Geri, the Geriatric, who comes complete with wrinkles. There’s spinal surgery, gall bladder surgery, ultrasound/amniocentesis, suturing, and casualty kits. Some of them give me the I’m-a-silly-git giggles and naming a company Limbs & Things doesn't help. There’s the head with all sorts of things wrong with it, including “Extraneous Lumps”. The toe with refills is pretty nifty, but disturbingly life-like. There are strap-ons and table-top models.(Possibly NSFW) Some could make interesting conversation pieces.(Also poss. NSFW)
In addition, Somso, maker of the “dial-a-prostate” model above, also makes interesting non-interactive models like this fandex of a head, a larynx with tongue, or a fingertip. They also have neat models of animals, fungi, and flowers.
posted by lobakgo at 9:46 AM PST - 7 comments

Genki Gang has the most amazing anime-inspired hats ever. I wonder if I can get a Totoro one in time for the DC Meetup? Kawaii! (Sorry, Flash site so no direct links...click on "store" then "hats".)
posted by JoanArkham at 9:40 AM PST - 5 comments

Typeface Smackdown. (via Kottke.)
posted by Vidiot at 9:18 AM PST - 12 comments

Ecotonoha - the word tree. Add a signature leaf to this interactive tree...between now and Christmas, for every 100 leaves added, NEC will plant a tree on Kangaroo Island as part of their Australian afforestation program. The tree is rebuilt each day - so far, 6,000+ participants are responsible for 60 new trees. An intriguing collaborative flash project designed by Yugo Nakamura.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:17 AM PST - 7 comments

The American Gallery of Psychiatric Art. 'Sanity For Sale: 1960-2000'. Magazine advertisements for psychiatric medications in the latter half of the twentieth century.
posted by eyebeam at 9:08 AM PST - 15 comments

"Every war needs a hero ... the facts don't particularly matter"
posted by magullo at 8:41 AM PST - 56 comments

Saving the Net isn't just really about saving the net: the article is a great point of confluence on the issues of Intellectual Property, Property and Success as American values, as well as the future of the Internet as a true commons. Especially interesting is the observation that Presidential candidate Howard Dean's campaign contribution lead – raised via the Internet – is owed to a huge number of small donations, not to a small number of large special interests. If he's being bought, it's by his voters." [via Slashdot]
posted by weston at 8:17 AM PST - 9 comments

The Gutenberg Bible : the first book printed with movable type, is the one of the greatest treasures in the University of Texas's Ransom Center's collections. It was printed at Johann Gutenberg's shop in Mainz, Germany and completed in 1454 or 1455. The Center's Bible was acquired in 1978 and is one of only five complete examples in the United States. All 1,282 pages now available for viewing on the Ransom Center's Web site. Also check out the anatomy of a page.
posted by ColdChef at 7:51 AM PST - 16 comments

Oliver makes the mainstream media!
posted by Fenriss at 7:22 AM PST - 33 comments

"GOLDILOCKS. Slim blond avatar of unreasoning womankind: who loved not the porridge itself, nor even the act of receiving it from whatever unknown animal might have been responsible for its preparation..."

From the winning submission of the Faux Faulkner contest. Also check out Faux Hemingway.
posted by Pinwheel at 6:37 AM PST - 11 comments

Not to be opened before 6970. The Osaka Time Capsule was buried in 1970 and contained 2008 objects (listed here). Two identical units were built, one of which is not be opened until the year 6970. That's a mighty long time to wait. Oglethorpe University's International Time Capsule Society is attempting to collect a comprehensive database of the world's time capsules, most of which, it appears, are missing. Online mini-time capsules can me made at dMarie.com. Alternatively, make your own or buy a proper one.
posted by nylon at 6:03 AM PST - 11 comments

Technology is about finding the best road to your destination. Some are fast. Others are slow.
Having one speed limit seems redundant. Put it to a test and let skills decide.
posted by lightweight at 2:00 AM PST - 21 comments

From Derby Winner to Horsemeat. Victories in the 1986 Kentucky Derby and the 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic figured to have earned Ferdinand a cushy retirement when his racing days were over. Instead, his life apparently ended in a Japanese slaughterhouse in 2002 (NY Times link). The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation argues for a stop to horse slaughter in this white paper, and there is pending legislation to ban the practice. Sooooo, how many of you have visited a boucherie chevaline?
posted by letitrain at 12:23 AM PST - 24 comments

Hate on display. The Anti-Defamation League has a visual database of symbols devised or co-opted by neo-Nazis and supremacist groups worldwide, as well as numbers and acronyms with racist connotations. Although most of us know what 88 means, there's also info about others such as the communist-separatist American Front and the Five Percenters. More neo-Nazi flags here; flags and badges here. Please remember: while racism is always immoral, symbols themselves can have several meanings.
posted by 111 at 12:01 AM PST - 25 comments

Public Art in Los Angeles , including murals. The Mural Conservancy of LA. Murals in Tucson. Loyalist and republican murals in Northern Ireland. The murals of Diego Rivera (at the Diego Rivera Web Museum). the Diego Rivera Mural Project.
posted by plep at 12:01 AM PST - 8 comments

Mississippi Gulag. Remember Tranquility Bay? Kids being forcibly deported to Jamaica, where they have to earn their right to speak by advancing in a perverted "level" system, with punishment ranging from laying on the floor for hours to painful "restraint" sessions? A report by Assistant Attorney General submitted on June 19, 2003 to Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove sheds light on two different "correctional" facilities, the Oakley and Columbia "Training Schools" in Mississipi. Boys and girls aged from 10 to 17 are hogtied for hours, pepper sprayed for disobedience, forced to eat their own vomit during exercises, or stripped naked and locked in a dark room for days because of suicide attempts. Between torturing sessions, they have to participate in good Christian prayers. These kids have to suffer abuse that would lead to a nationwide scandal if it happened to adults (or if sex was involved). AP has a brief summary.
posted by Eloquence at 11:52 PM PST - 11 comments

I'll say it: It's time someone did something about the Monkeys. Over the last two years they have established a clear cut pattern of terror & harassment in countries ranging from Eastern India, Jakarta, Tokyo, Sri Lanka or New Dehli, and the fact remains that it's only a matter of time before these crazed foreign monkeys make their way to places I could actually find on a map, or possibly even America, (possibly in this guy's pants). When they come, and they will, will our leaders protect us from their savage rampage? Or is it too late - are they already among us?!?
posted by jonson at 11:01 PM PST - 18 comments

Poultry poetry? Bitten by the Silkie bug? Got left over bird diapers that you would like to put to use? Pick up a few new feathered friends at bargain-barn prices. But please, keep the poultry porn to yourself (bad design/mild ickiness warning)
posted by answergrape at 9:39 PM PST - 3 comments

Darwinian assembly lines.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 5:59 PM PST - 15 comments

An Elegant Gothic Lolita, EGL or Gothic Lolita for short, is a Japanese teen or young adult who dresses in amazingly elaborate Gothic looking babydoll costumes. Of course, you could make your own.
posted by signal at 5:26 PM PST - 38 comments

Jesus, Told the US A Bald-Faced Lie, I Got Proof Satan Has A Brother! Good stuff from Prophet Freddie. It says "comedy" on the homepage, but I don't think he's joking.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:29 PM PST - 2 comments

One Ring Circus -- insanely detailed Lord of the Rings costumes stitched up by some fans...for those who can't wait 147 more days.
posted by serafinapekkala at 1:06 PM PST - 12 comments

Prior to Heinrich Schliemann's excavations in 1871, the academic world held that the city of Troy had never existed; it was just a tale in a book; as silly to search for as Utopia or Robinson Crusoe’s Island. But Schliemann believed Homer’s Troy must have existed. He wanted it to exist, the story had caught his imagination. Acting upon descriptions of Troy’s location from Homer’s ‘Iliad’, (written more than 500 years after the fall of Troy) Schliemann started digging…and proved everyone wrong.
posted by rrtek at 12:57 PM PST - 16 comments

Dissection videos. Dartmouth: Human Anatomy. University of Wisconsin Medical School: Human Anatomy. TissueLink: Liver. University of Michigan: Peritoneum. Palo Alto School District: Sheep's Heart. University of Alberta: Cat; Squalus. American Museum of Natural History: Dogfish Shark. University of Virginia: Frog. Scott Middle School, Fort Knox, Kentucky: Frog; Worm (On the first frog dissection video the teacher tells the students, "He's dead, he won't complain. I promise he won't sue."). University of Kentucky: Esophageal Hiatus. ThinkQuest: Starfish. Carolina Biological Supply: Owl Pellets. Science Man: Television Set. Greg Frederickson: Twist-hinged dissection of an equilateral triangle to a square. More geometric dissections: Geometric dissections on the web.
posted by Mo Nickels at 12:27 PM PST - 10 comments

Cartoon in Times Prompts Inquiry by Secret Service I know these guys have to investigate jokesters and fools who threaten the President, but this has the broad outlines of Federal intimidation of the press. Bah humbug on the SS, good for the lawyers for smackin' the guy down, and double good for the L.A. Times for reporting it to their readers. (Reg. req. to read story. Sorry 'bout that, kittens.)
posted by jengod at 12:14 PM PST - 35 comments

BuyMusic.com debuts, a service that allows the 90-some-odd percent of people out there who use Windows to legally download music like their Mac-loving brethren have been able to do with iTunes. I went and used it today and give it an initial grade of "C": The music collection is adequate but could be larger and definitely needs indie artists, the UI is tolerable but needs improvement, and the music files themselves are generally okay but of inconsistent quality. One major problem I saw is that it listed -- and let people buy -- albums that they couldn't actually download: I had this happen with a Depeche Mode singles collection. Has anyone else used it yet? What are your thoughts? And notwithstanding the imminent Windows version of iTunes (which we are told will arrive by the end of the year), how long until this site has more real competition?
posted by jscalzi at 12:11 PM PST - 36 comments

samorost ... an entrancingly beautiful and organic, flash-based puzzle/story. Move your cursor around the screen and figure out how to help the little guy save his home.
posted by crunchland at 11:33 AM PST - 61 comments

St. Jude is dead. Senior editor of influential cyberculture magazine Mondo 2000 (the magazine that arguably inspired Wired) and the original grrl-hacker, dead at age unknown. She coined the term "cypherpunk," wrote interesting books, and encouraged every girl to get online.
posted by waxpancake at 11:23 AM PST - 14 comments

The Mercury Music prize has rolled around again. 12 top artists from the UK and Ireland are up for glory. Winning is no guarantee of long term success, so frankly,what's the point?
posted by ascullion at 10:35 AM PST - 12 comments

Tool Making Crow
"In the experiments, a captive female crow, confronted with a task that required a curved tool (retrieving a food-containing bucket from a vertical pipe), spontaneously bent a piece of straight wire into a hooked shape -- and then repeated the behavior in nine out of ten subsequent trials." The behavior was captured on an amazing video clip.
posted by Irontom at 10:17 AM PST - 55 comments

$15 million burning a hole in his pocket. Having made millions in real estate, this Philadelphia philanthropist is using the money as an object lesson to his children by giving it all away. Now that all the money is pretty much gone, he's in the hospital today giving away a kidney to a complete stranger. Will his children get more out of this example than they might have out of college? Could you do what this couple is doing? (Before you answer, note: they don't even have cable!)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:59 AM PST - 41 comments

RIP: Walter "Matt" Jefferies - designer of the original U.S.S. Enterprise and contributor of much of what made Star Trek what it is today. And the guy who the Jefferies tube was named after.
posted by QuestionableSwami at 9:48 AM PST - 33 comments

PC Audio 'toy' now an inexpensive MIDI controller , thanks to this program. The Mixman DM2 is still a toy, but DM2 to MIDI opens up a world of soft/hardware options for this cheap device. I've tried it with NI's Traktor and Ableton Live, and it works very nicely.
posted by ewwgene at 9:33 AM PST - 18 comments

Harlan Ellison vs. AOL This case has been discussed before, but here's an update from the Wall Street Journal.
posted by sassone at 8:40 AM PST - 67 comments

Dokaka Insane Japanese a cappella that makes Jud Jud or Anton Maiden seem sober. Check out his 3 albums: One of heavy metal covers (including an incredible version of Metallica's Creeping Death), one that includes classics like Ramblin' Man, and another that's just a wonderful hodgepodge (Stevie Wonder Triple, oh my....). He's got a fairly useless homepage, but it's worth keeping an eye on because he posts new songs there.
posted by ubueditor at 8:27 AM PST - 6 comments

Old white Congressman tells black activist to get out of his state: "The people of Michigan have a simple message to you: go home and stay there. We do not need you stirring up trouble where none exists. Michiganders do not take kindly to your ignorant meddling in our affairs. We have no need for itinerant publicity seekers, non-resident troublemakers or self-aggrandizing out-of-state agitators." (pdf link -- emphasis added) You'd be forgiven for assuming this letter was written in 1965 from a southern segregationist to a civil rights activist. But the writer is actually the most senior Democrat in Congress, John Dingell, the activist is University of California Regent (and Affirmative Action opponent) Ward Connerly, and the letter was written July 6, 2003. It seems Dingell isn't happy with Connerly’s efforts to promote a Michigan ballot initiative outlawing the use of race as a factor in hiring and college admissions. But Connerly isn't one to just bow his head and shuffle back to Cali: "[T]he term arrogance does not begin to capture the essence of a United States Congressman advising an American citizen to refrain from participating in the affairs of his government. Ironically, your advice is the echo of southern segregationists who sought the comfort of states' rights to practice their discrimination against black Americans. Have you learned nothing about 'civil rights' from that horrible chapter in our nation's history?" [via Critical Mass]
posted by pardonyou? at 7:24 AM PST - 53 comments

A plucky anti-abortion crusader has convinced Berkshire-Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett to end a philanthropic program that has donated $200 million over 2 decades. She is delighted. Does any of this (his decision, her delight) make sense? What are some other successful examples of small, grassroots movements exerting a major impact on philanthropy?
posted by stonerose at 7:19 AM PST - 28 comments

GWU's Encyclopedia to the 2003/2004 Election Cycle - I was impressed when I checked out "Democracy In Action", GWU's excellent breakdown of everything political in the 2003/2004 cycle. It features an excellent detailed comparison of Democratic presidential candidates (e.g., here's my personal fave) featuring their voting record, stances, finances, and organization. Also, you can understand how a candidate campaigns in NH or IA, see ads that were placed by interest groups, check out which member of congress has endorsed who, where all the staffers from the 2000 election are working now, -- you can even see who's on the Green Party's Presidential Exploritory Committee. Thanks, GWU -- I'll never be productive ever again!
posted by jennak at 6:32 AM PST - 3 comments

Bill Barilko immortalized by The Hip in the song Fifty Mission Cap won the cup for the leafs in 1951. Later that summer, he disappeared in a plane crash north of Cochrane, Ontario. In an ironic twist of fate, the Maple Leafs did not win another Stanley Cup until 1962, the same year that his remains were finally found. Now, The body of a former NHL first-round draft pick who disappeared in Austria almost 14 years ago has been found frozen in the Alps. Someone tell Gord, maybe he can get a new song out of this.
posted by Blake at 6:27 AM PST - 4 comments

Google: the God that failed? is the title of the article on MSN Slate. All of us know Microsoft is working on a new search engine technology. Till date everyone considers Google to be the Guru. MS obviously doesn't like that, so what it is doing? Well, the same thing it always does - to survive competition, eliminate it. The reasons being given by the article are pretty silly and more aimed at 'faming down' Google.
posted by jayantk at 5:17 AM PST - 39 comments

Audiopad is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music. More info here. [.pdf]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 4:54 AM PST - 6 comments

MJ pro-tech, anti-jail: "I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans -- mostly teenagers -- in jail for downloading music," he said in a statement from his Neverland Ranch in the western state of California. "It is wrong to illegally download, but the answer cannot be jail. Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws, and we should look to new technologies ... for solutions. This way, innovation continues to be the hallmark of America. It is the fans that drive the success of the music."
posted by allaboutgeorge at 2:15 AM PST - 20 comments

Beginner's guide to trackback. Old news to most here, but with even Radio Userland now implementing the technology, trackback has the potential to be another kind of spam, with gratuitous self-links popping up all over the place. When everyone can blog, will the Blogosphere be the next victim of Usenet's neverending September? Whether providing "community support" or "publishing tool", how long before popular bloggers are forced to implement Bayesian trackback filters?
posted by cbrody at 1:35 AM PST - 10 comments

Cirque Du Soleil fires HIV positive gymnast. "It's preposterous for Cirque de Soleil to call Matthew a 'known safety hazard,'" Gorenberg said. "Cirque du Soleil denied Matthew this job not because of sound science or rational concern for other employees but because of unfounded fear. It defies both common sense and science to think that Matthew would exchange bodily fluids with another gymnast while flying through the air."
posted by adrober at 12:28 AM PST - 28 comments

Mont St. Michel on the Normandy coast of France is a 12th century gothic abbey purched at the top of a tiny fortified village built around a small mountain; what's most unique about the location is that due to the very gentle incline of the coast, the mountain is located on salt marsh flats at low tide, but becomes an isolated island in the sea at high tide, accessible only by a raised road (added in the 1950s). It's also one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. While there are no shortage of photos of it online, this gallery had some of the most beautiful ones I'd ever seen. For those who can't make it to France, here's a quick guide to recreating the experience in miniature. warning - last link is from geocities, good for first six visitors only
posted by jonson at 9:56 PM PST - 28 comments

Dude. To hell with moving to Canada. I'm not giving up that easily. This may not be the best time to be a liberal, but why concede? Secede! With the 5th largest economy in the world, prodigious industry, a diverse population, rich natural resources, and a growing rift with the federal government, why is California sharing a budget with the unbeautiful when we could be enjoying our very own Republic? Is it for lack of leadership? Or lack of a clue?
posted by scarabic at 5:24 PM PST - 82 comments

Gary F. Clark photographs the homeless and tells you their story in his Fotolog.
posted by mcsweetie at 4:54 PM PST - 13 comments

Today the British government released a major report on the safety of genetically modified foods. According to New Scientist, "existing genetically modified crops and foods pose a 'very low' risk to human health and are 'very unlikely' to rampage through the British countryside", but others disagree.
posted by turbodog at 2:10 PM PST - 56 comments

Lock 'im up. For a long time. That's what I say you do with anyone who commits multiple counts of vehicular manslaughter (in this case, ten). But will this driver even be charged, or will we just let him be? After all, he's 86. We, as a society, can't make this nice old man spend the rest of his days in prison, if convicted? Sure, the public discussion regarding his age in this horrible tragedy centers around the right of older people to continue driving without testing their ability and senses, but I want to focus on this: What's the unwritten age limit on convicting and sentencing someone like Russell Weller?
posted by msacheson at 1:47 PM PST - 100 comments

Fancy a lordship? The Barony of Pencelli Castle is up for sale, as is Timberhonger, Wimple, and Bradfield St Clare. Just make sure they’re not fake.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:13 PM PST - 2 comments

If this summer's unending parade of spiritless sequels has you down on that whole film-can-be-art thing, I strongly recommend you rejuvenate your sense of wonder by taking a journey with the Polish Brothers to the Heartland of their America, Northfork, Montana. It's the third installment of a cinematic trilogy that has taken them to Twin Falls Idaho and Jackpot, Nevada. You will either love Northfork (Ebert: "There has never been a movie quite like "Northfork"") or you'll hate it (McDonagh: "meticulously crafted but frustratingly meaningless"); there seems to be very little in between. Some background won't hurt, if you're the literal type; hearing from the filmmakers in their own words provides some additional perspective. But in the end, all that matters is what you see... Please. Just go - it's not very likely you've ever seen much else like it... (Flash-enabled pages at those official film sites, sorry...)
posted by JollyWanker at 1:05 PM PST - 14 comments

Remembering the Dragon On July 20th, 1973, Bruce Lee died, a month before the premiere of the film that would affirm his star power to Hollywood. As of 2003, an exhibition, a DVD boxset, a documentary and global fan worship continue to mark his rise to immortality. As far as a younger I was concerned, he'd already achieved it in his lifetime (viewing note...cable channel AMC will be airing the above-mentioned movies and documentary as part of a tribute this coming weekend).
posted by LinusMines at 12:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Alcoholic Spring Water. For those who don't like caffeine, fluoride, "fitness", or extra oxygen in their water....or caffeine , "energy", or extra water in their beer, i guess.
posted by serafinapekkala at 12:01 PM PST - 32 comments

Luke Burrage is a juggler.
posted by crunchland at 11:12 AM PST - 5 comments

The Right to Flash is an online petition for Macromedia to properly support Arabic and Hebrew languages which read from right-to-left.
posted by hobbes at 9:52 AM PST - 24 comments

Sure, we'd like to boycott the RIAA, but how do we go about it? With the RIAA Radar, that's how. The Radar can tell you whether a particular album was released by a member of the RIAA. Not only that, it will show you the RIAA membership of the top 100 albums as well as the the top 100 non-RIAA albums on Amazon. There's even a bookmarklet. [via magnetbox]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:34 AM PST - 42 comments

deadly weekend in iraq this weekend was a particularly bad one in iraq, with numerous american deaths and casualties ... yet there is barely a mention of the death toll in the media (check washington post, ny times, drudge, etc. etc.) this morning. is something going on here? or are editors and the american public bored with the story? - i had to dig for the links in this post.
posted by specialk420 at 8:31 AM PST - 116 comments

The answer to Life, The Universe and Everything is 42. Just kidding. In fact scientists say the answer is 4.
posted by stbalbach at 7:16 AM PST - 42 comments

This is the 58th Anniversary of the Atomic Age. The successful Trinity nuclear test was made July 16, 1945, in which a six-kilogram sphere of plutonium, compressed to supercriticality by explosive lenses, exploded over the New Mexico desert with a force equal to approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The Stafford Memo (original in PDF), dated 58 years ago today, is the declassified official report. Outside the use of the weapon in warfare, the risks to humans were uncertain.
posted by Mo Nickels at 6:45 AM PST - 10 comments

The Nintendo Famicom is 20 years old ..... and I (along with may others here I suspect) have owned every single last version. It's oulasted many bizzare offerings from it's now defunct arch rival. There's even a booming market it both retro consoles. It all makes me feel older than I thought I was though.
posted by MintSauce at 6:25 AM PST - 46 comments

The Abilene Paradox: A sunny afternoon, a family playing cards on a terrace. One of them thinks they should move - not that he cares, on the contrary, but he thinks the others want to - so he proposes a trip to Abilene. No fun, hot, bad food. Back home one of them admits that he had preferred to stay home. Everybody would have liked that, only they did not admit to it when it was still time to enjoy the afternoon.
Everyone talks about free speech, but it's surprising how few people (even its most vociferous defenders!) realize why it's so important. The Abilene Paradox -- which describes in familiar terms how entire groups can be motivated to act contrary to their own wishes -- can only occur when communication breaks down...or is broken down. Just a bit of pragmatism to start your day.
posted by effugas at 3:15 AM PST - 8 comments

Chinese Pop Posters. More :- Guangzhou's racing track, patrolling despair, Cuba, under New York, Bombay bazaar, and Chinese rural architecture. All from the excellent Atlas magazine - more here.
posted by plep at 12:54 AM PST - 10 comments

I can see your house from up here Welcome the SDDS Raster Extraction Website. I was downloading some DEMs for grayscale to height mapping when I stumbled across this lovely project. This is really a lot of fun.
posted by Grod at 9:56 PM PST - 20 comments

Idi Amin close to death The former big man of Uganda, self-proclaimed Conqueror of the British Empire, scorn of satirists and subject of a 1974 Barbet Schroeder documentary is near death. His overt support of the infamous Entebbe hijacking, intended as his show of strength and global defiance, led (in)directly to his overthrow. (More inside.)
posted by philfromhavelock at 8:31 PM PST - 24 comments

MPAA Blocked From Techfocus
:Effective immediately, the RIAA and MPAA will need to find another way to get to Techfocus. In response to their legal targeting of individual file-swappers, access from their known networks to this site has now been blocked. While it may still be possible for them to access Techfocus via address ranges which we're not aware of, they'll otherwise have to use non-RIAA and non-MPAA networks to view the site."
posted by metameme at 5:27 PM PST - 33 comments

This animation freaks me out. And now it will freak you out too! via the everlasting blort
posted by jonson at 2:03 PM PST - 29 comments

Veterans for Common Sense seeks to inject the element of Common Sense into debates over war and national security. In an age when the majority of public servants have never served in uniform, the perspective of war veterans must play a key role in the public debate over national security issues in order to preserve the liberty veterans have fought and died preserving. With the rift growing between the military and their Executive Branch bosses, here's a different approach to supporting the troops.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 10:54 AM PST - 32 comments

Articles on Indian art. There are many great articles here on Buddhist and Hindu art from India and Tibet. Exotic India Arts also sells various Indian arts and crafts.
posted by homunculus at 10:20 AM PST - 4 comments

adrian's cool flash toys featuring adrian's battlebots.
posted by crunchland at 9:23 AM PST - 4 comments

Sculptural Robotics are whimsical "artificial lifeforms and other curious artifacts," mostly created from hard drive components, solar engines, and brass. Artist Dan Roe also links to Arthur Ganson's Machines, a portfolio of wonderful mechanical creations. Ganson in turn links to Tim Prentice's awesome Kinetic Sculptures - all are fun examples of when technology, machines, and art collide.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:52 AM PST - 6 comments

This truck left me speechless.
posted by srboisvert at 7:06 AM PST - 104 comments

Kelly warned of 'dark actors playing games Dr David Kelly's recent death has the British press in an uproar. Kelly was the former head of biological inspections in Iraq for the UN mission, Unscom, former deputy head of Porton Down and the Ministry of Defence's senior adviser on biological defence. In July 2002. According to reports the Carlyle Group took a 34% stake in QinetiQ which was splitoff in 2001 from the Porton Down research lab and is now a private company according to this story The Carlyle Group is profiled here in this explosive explosive Dutch expose (note the first 1.48 minutes are in Dutch the rest is in English Since David Kelly was himself a micro-biologist in the past connected to Porton Down does he have any connection (as some have claimed: including a radio show I heard this evening) to the 11 or so micro-biologists that have died mysterious deaths after the 911 event? These deaths and there timelines are are extensively documented around the web.Including the following web page----(http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/)---- Is this is an area some creative journalists need to investigate?
posted by thedailygrowl at 2:09 AM PST - 48 comments

Campaign Donations Sway Lawmakers' Votes. Is this really news? I doubt it, but it's interesting to see the AP's analysis of campaign donations and representatives' votes on related issues. More interestingly, see how your Congressperson stacks up.
posted by Vidiot at 10:26 PM PST - 25 comments

America....love it or leave it?
posted by gimonca at 7:54 PM PST - 119 comments

"Taibbi launched the Guillotine Channel. For the premiere, Taibbi assigned ten crack Russian mobster employees to arrest Fox News chief Roger Ailes, drive him to the TGC studios in Burbank and, using a restored 18th-century French guillotine, chop off his head on live television. The privilege of releasing the rope was awarded to an Hispanic single mother in Los Angeles, whose application was chosen via a televised lottery..."
posted by GriffX at 4:48 PM PST - 4 comments

Bleak photography of deserted farms in Iceland (farms? Iceland?) is what photographer Nokkvi Eliasson specializes in, and this gallery (one of two - here's the other) showcases some of his best stuff.
posted by jonson at 1:18 PM PST - 14 comments

The Blue Marble ... true color global imagery at 1km resolution.
posted by crunchland at 9:20 AM PST - 14 comments

What threat to the Bush administration are you? A fun, partisan quiz.
posted by the fire you left me at 8:56 AM PST - 30 comments

1: dear fruit master, you never got my first letter! i'll tell you what it said- i hate the stupid, idiotic game of fruit! the new one and the old one! they both stink! if i lose again i'm going to smash in the computer screen! i will win i will not lose again! or in three words- I WILL BE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Signed, LAURENE 2: Dear Fruit Master, I lost your game after I tried about 200 times!!!! This game is really hard, and I thought you improved it. My child is highly upset and we will never go on the internet again!!!!! signed,a very angry parent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
posted by iconomy at 6:57 AM PST - 27 comments

EFF co-founder John Gilmore was prevented from flying because he was wearing a button deemed to be in "poor taste" and refused to take it off. Seems he won't be flying anywhere for a while, unless he wins his court case. [Source: Boing Boing]
posted by cbrody at 5:13 AM PST - 139 comments

A pole in the ground + an old Plane on top of it = home sweet home. A company in Tennesee is selling old airplanes as homes on ebay. I wonder if the new homeowners ever get tired of eating those little packets of peanuts every night.
posted by mathowie at 12:53 AM PST - 14 comments

Upload a File, Go to Prison. A new bill called the Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003, or ACCOPS, proposed in US Congress on Wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network. The bill "clarifies" that uploading a single file of copyright content qualifies as a felony. Penalties for such an offense include up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. In addition, filming a movie in a theater without authorization would immediately qualify as a federal offense.
posted by riffola at 11:58 PM PST - 30 comments

From the NYT (reg req.'d) This is the saddest story I can imagine. "It was only a week ago that the tiny body of Stephanie Ramos was found in a plastic bag in a garbage truck in the Bronx, discarded by a foster mother who told the police that she panicked when the severely disabled girl died. It was an ugly ending by any measure, but particularly cruel in this case because the little girl's life began the same way: wrapped in a plastic bag and discarded on a New York City byway." Has anyone ever been a foster parent? A foster child? Are things often this bad - and this good? (That'll make sense when you read the story.)
posted by Jos Bleau at 7:21 PM PST - 9 comments

"This summer Mars will be the brightest it will ever be in our lifetimes." On August 26–27 Mars will be the closest it has been in 60,000 years. Some viewing tips can be found here. You can generate different viewpoints with NASA's Solar System Simulator as some have done recently.
posted by john at 6:57 PM PST - 11 comments

Silence of the Lambs: The Musical - Featuring the showstopping tune "If I Could Smell Her..." Ummm...you know what? Just click the link.
posted by ColdChef at 6:26 PM PST - 22 comments

Preparing for War, Stumbling to Peace The Bush administration planned well and won the war with minimal allied casualties. Now, according to interviews with dozens of administration officials, military leaders and independent analysts, missteps in the planning for the subsequent peace could threaten the lives of soldiers and drain U.S. resources indefinitely and cloud the victory itself. Lonely At The Top Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week that he hoped to enlist as many as 30,000 troops from 49 nations. The problem, however, is that many of the recruits the Pentagon has tried to line up so far appear to fall into two categories: the not so willing and the not that able. Report: U.S. May Call National Guard for Iraq Duty - The Pentagon could start a call-up of as many as 10,000 U.S. National Guard soldiers by this winter to bolster forces in Iraq and offset a lack of troops from allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Postwar Window Closing in Iraq, Study Says A team of outside experts dispatched by the Pentagon to assess security and reconstruction operations in Iraq reported yesterday that the window of opportunity for achieving postwar success is closing and requires immediate and dramatic action by U.S. military and civilian personnel. Turning and turning in the widening gyre...
posted by y2karl at 3:05 PM PST - 49 comments

House Democrats Storm Out of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Calls Capitol Police to Restore Order - ARRRGGGGH! This government is so frustrating. No side is right they are all wrong. Is anything being done for the good of the nation anymore or do they all just do what they want? Poor impulse control all around.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 2:00 PM PST - 66 comments

mmm! Mr Brain's faggots!. Ever tried one of Mr Brain's faggots? You can read a review of "Mr. Brain and his faggots" or check out the Doodys the official faggot family or even become a faggot fanatic yourself!
posted by bitdamaged at 12:32 PM PST - 30 comments

He's Canadian, if you know what I mean: According to Matt Drudge, the White House press office specifically tipped him off to the fact that ABC News reporter Jeffrey Kofman is not only gay, but Canadian. Kofman angered the White House with his recent report on the plummeting morale of US troops in Iraq. What's next, White House interns tp'ing the houses of NYTimes columnists? Slam books? Impeachment?
posted by serafinapekkala at 11:16 AM PST - 38 comments

Retro phone fun. Remember the days when telephone numbers included an exhcange, like BUtterfield 8, MUrray Hill 7, or YUkon 5? Even you young whippersnappers can look up your current phone number and see what it's exchange name used to be. If your number isn't in the database, you can check Ma Bell's list of recommended exchange names. The next time someone asks for your number, use the exchange and watch hilarity ensue.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:58 AM PST - 34 comments

The U.S. government launches Hi, a new Arabic-language lifestyle magazine targeted at 18-35 year olds in Middle Eastern countries. Story ideas for the first issue.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:37 AM PST - 13 comments

Defend your castle! Just in time for flash friday...Watch out, it's addictive :)
posted by unreason at 10:22 AM PST - 32 comments

A "Nuremberg Files" of Dogs. In the last week in Portland, OR, 8 dogs have been fatally poisoned by vigilante dog haters planting herbicid-laced sausage in dog parks. Now this group [who claim not affiliation with the dog-killers] has posted a photo gallery of "surveillance" photos of people walking their dogs.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 10:17 AM PST - 107 comments

FBI questions man for reading a critique of Fox News. Marc Shultz, a freelance Atlanta writer was reading a print out of this article in a coffee shop when another patron reading over his shoulder apparently found the content seditious enough to deserve a quick call to the Feds, who sent out two agents to check it out.
posted by jonson at 10:11 AM PST - 53 comments

What does your last name mean? This site has a good variety of surnames with etymologies that seem to be trustworthy in general. You may have to try variant spellings; for instance, "Cardoso" comes up empty, but "Cardozo" gives:

Spanish and Portuguese, derived from Cardoso 'place where thistles grew', town or city from which the first bearer moved; also found in the form CARDOZA; made popular by the Sephardim moiety (Spanish-Portuguese group of Jews).

And if your name isn't there, you can try Behind the Name, which depends on submissions from readers and so is spottier, but has (for example) Nixon ("son of Nicholas"), which vitalog omits. Enjoy!
posted by languagehat at 9:32 AM PST - 52 comments

Little robots in your pants -- Popular Science calls Dockers to investigate their claim that the stain-repellent "Go Khakis" use nanotechnology. Certainly my favorite headline of the day thus far.
posted by logovisual at 9:08 AM PST - 16 comments

Intacto - An interesting foreign language film about the mechanics of luck as a commodity. I just wanted this film last night and am trying to understand all of the possible permutations of how luck worked in this movie. Anyone interested in discussing it is encouraged to do so.
posted by Wong Fei-hung at 8:52 AM PST - 7 comments

Script-O-Rama! Hundreds and hundreds of film scripts, film transcripts, tv show scripts, and anime scripts.
posted by crunchland at 8:43 AM PST - 5 comments

A University, far away. Tens of thousands of U.S. students will lose most or all of their financial aid.
posted by plexi at 8:22 AM PST - 14 comments

Anyone want a prestigious award for journalism? The USC Annenberg School for Journalism is accepting entries for the 2003 Online Journalism Awards, for independent and affiliated sites in eight different categories, including online commentary and creative use of the medium. So, who would you nominate? Any hidden treasures of the web this year?
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:18 AM PST - 2 comments

The Online Etymology Dictionary. I'll be spending most of my day here.
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:03 AM PST - 18 comments

Stone inhabitants and extraordinary houses of Prague. More at the Praha experience.
If you like this, you might also like fifty doors of Paris and San Francisco.
posted by plep at 7:08 AM PST - 6 comments

The World Body Painting Festival will be held in Austria at the end of the month. The event site has some colorful photo galleries from prior years. Are these festivals the modern incarnation of an ancient art and tradition? Is there a gold standard? Some works show great artistry while others, not so much. This photo has always been one of my favorite examples. NSFW - nakedness abounds!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:06 AM PST - 14 comments

Dr David Kelly the alleged 'mole' in the WMD row apparently found dead. He was at the centre of the UK Government's row with the BBC over reporter's claim that the Prime Minister's special adviser, Alistair Campbell, sexed up a dossier on Iraqi WMDs by adding a claim that they could be launched in 45 minutes. The Government says there will be an independent judicial review of the WMD affair if the body is Dr Kelly.
posted by brettski at 7:01 AM PST - 52 comments

The jig is up. Robert Jospeh, a top aide to Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, worked with Dick Checny's office and "insisted" the uranium intel be included in Bush's State of the Union speech.
posted by the fire you left me at 6:34 AM PST - 16 comments

Southeast Airlines has plans to install digital video cameras throughout the cabins of its planes to record the faces and activities of its passengers at all times. Furthermore, the charter airline will store the digitized video for up to 10 years. And it may use face recognition software to match faces to names and personal records.
posted by Irontom at 6:18 AM PST - 17 comments

As a matter of fact, you can tell a book by it's cover.
posted by coudal at 6:14 AM PST - 15 comments

Watchdog's Bark Judicial Watch, the group that's been suing for access to Cheney's Energy Task Force notes, finally gets some docs, and guess what? Way back in 2001, Cheney, et al, were looking at maps of Iraqi oil fields. Is this the bookend clue, that coupled with Rumsfields 9/12 comments about going after Iraq, starts to shed real light on the administrations foreign policy objectives?
posted by tellmenow at 5:30 AM PST - 36 comments

The Star Wars Alphabet Project is where it's at. Jon Palmer is constructing LEGO models of every alphabet starfighter not visualised in the Star Wars universe. I can only wish that I'd thought of this first. Via
posted by armoured-ant at 5:03 AM PST - 14 comments

John Dean's analysis of the administrations case for War. "What I found, in critically examining Bush's evidence, is not pretty. The African uranium matter is merely indicative of larger problems, and troubling questions of potential and widespread criminality when taking the nation to war. It appears that not only the Niger uranium hoax, but most everything else that Bush said about Saddam Hussein's weapons was false, fabricated, exaggerated, or phony."
posted by thedailygrowl at 1:42 AM PST - 72 comments

Tucker Max produces evidence of encounters with Miss Vermont. Remember Tucker Max? Found earlier in this MeFi thread, Max was sued by Miss Vermont Katy Johnson for allegedly lying that he slept with her (she's a champion for abstinence) and then writing the gory details of her getting sozzled at a wedding. A judge forbade him from writing about her or linking to her. But now Tucker posts pictures and a video to back up his story. Will he now counter-sue? (Oh, and please think twice before clicking the Katy Johnson link. I beg you.)
posted by madman at 10:49 PM PST - 39 comments

The White House has a new system for email from the public. Dashing off a rant, a rave or a question to president@whitehouse.gov won't cut it anymore. Now it takes a maze of forms and clicks and filters. The first question: is this a supportive message or a differing opinion? Then you have to pick your topic from various menu lists. And list a name and address and email. And reply to an automated message making sure it's really your email. White House tech guy tells the NYTimes: "When it comes to a Web site, it's a bit like a movie. Some will say it's a tour de force; some will say it fell flat." Fun Fact: all emails are saved and must be publicly disclosed in 12 years.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:44 PM PST - 26 comments

Lunar gardening is the oldest form of gardening known to man, the practice centers on the moon's gravitational effect on the flow of moisture in soil and plants and, to a lesser degree, the effect of moonlight on seed germination. "I've got a large area in potatoes. We've got some planted at the right time of the moon and some crops at the wrong time of the moon. The difference is so obvious and there for everybody to see"
posted by stbalbach at 7:43 PM PST - 11 comments

Meet Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, whose nomination to a federal appeals court may be running into trouble.
posted by stonerose at 6:43 PM PST - 12 comments

The Hasidic Rebel. A blogger from inside the Hasidic community provides some insight into a lifestyle few are familiar with.
posted by srboisvert at 6:30 PM PST - 11 comments

In france, neo-nazis and extremist jews unite against arabs -- so says left-leaning anti-racist group MRAP (view machine-translated page) in a new report. Yeah, the conspiracy theorists sure need more ammo...
posted by Tlogmer at 6:25 PM PST - 17 comments

Hipster Bingo is coming to your favorite rock club or coffee shop. [via boingboing]
posted by turbodog at 4:58 PM PST - 25 comments

Sir Mix-A-Lot is a very smart cat. An Onion link, I suppose - but their AV Club interviews are missed more often than they should be. In this one, Sir Mix-A-Lot shows that he is a very thoughtful man, who has been handling the lot of a 'one-hit-wonder' very well, thank you.
posted by GriffX at 3:48 PM PST - 12 comments

The other shoe is dropping for the Bush administration. Yes it's old news, but relevant to recent events. Cheney ordered to name members of energy panel. Ken Lay, pack your bags!
posted by CrazyJub at 2:57 PM PST - 21 comments

Honku : haiku poems about cars and traffic (from NPR)
posted by ColdChef at 2:21 PM PST - 19 comments

Tv Licenses do not infringe people's human rights. Journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Miller refused to pay his license because it seemed as though the BBC had license to charge what they like raise the charge when they like; and that it didn't take into account the gulf between someone only receiving an Analogue service as opposed to digital. He lost the case. Serious implications.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:03 PM PST - 51 comments

While shaft-driven motorcycles have been around for nearly a hundred years (and in bicycles even longer), they've only recently been re-introduced to bicycles. Chainless.com is a company promoting a new shaft drive system for use in low-end bicycles (looks like mountain, road, and bmx are offered). Without chains, it's easier to repair, safer, and they claim it is more efficient, though gearing is limited to a few hubs that feature up to 7 internal gears. If it really is more efficient, how long until Lance Armstrong is sporting a shaft-driven Trek?
posted by mathowie at 1:20 PM PST - 39 comments

On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 American citizens. Was it a tragic error or was it coldblooded attack on an ally?

The National Security Agency has recently released redacted transcripts and recordings of intercepted Israeli communications just after the attack. Fascinating reading, but will it clear up the controversy?
posted by ptermit at 12:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Payback? How did Bush officials get back at Ambassador Joseph Wilson for talking publicly two weeks ago about his trip to Niger to investigate claims of an Iraqi uranium deal? By outing his wife as an undercover CIA operative. As David Corn of The Nation says, "...the Bush administration has screwed one of its own top-secret operatives in order to punish Wilson or to send a message to others who might challenge it..... a pair of top Bush officials told a reporter the name of a CIA operative who apparently has worked under what's known as 'nonofficial cover' and who has had the dicey and difficult mission of tracking parties trying to buy or sell weapons of mass destruction or WMD material. If Wilson's wife is such a person--and the CIA is unlikely to have many employees like her--her career has been destroyed by the Bush administration." The exposure of an undercover CIA agent is in fact a federal crime.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:34 AM PST - 157 comments

Operation: Air Conditioner
It's about dropping our differences and getting together to support our troops and keep them cool.
Should I feel terribly guilty about giggling at some of the things on this web page? Like: "Together We Are: An Army of One" (Say what?) and "Here are some of the items that I buy and send besides air conditioners: Baby Wipes, Powder... Liquid Soap (I heard the bar melts)... Tiki Torches. Check out the Baghdad Weather Report near the bottom, and... wait a minute... "I’ve organized people to begin “Operation Christmas” and we need to start planning that in August." (So we aren't leaving anytime soon?)
And, while they seem to have enough power to run the A/C at the Army camp, electricity for the rest of Iraq is still gonna take some more money.
posted by wendell at 11:22 AM PST - 30 comments

Soy Luke Skywalker, vengo a rescatarla! [geocities... unfortunately]
posted by Witty at 10:50 AM PST - 14 comments

Salam Pax and the Book Deal Not much info, but I thought some might be interested in the followup on ole Salam Pax.
posted by eatdonuts at 10:15 AM PST - 4 comments

Is high voter turnout due to Jerry Springer's celebrity status a good thing? Jonah Goldberg of the NRO says "Whores should have as much say as nurses, according to a worldview which says nobody can be judged, all citizens are equal, all views valid." Jerry says he's an example of media elitism and that the elitists are "afraid" of real Americans voting in large numbers. Opinions of Springer as a potential Senator aside, the issue of voter turnout is interesting.
posted by john1800 at 9:55 AM PST - 25 comments

America's Army wants you, Mac users. The recruitment tool game has been out for some time now, available only for Windows, but as of this week Mac users can get in on the action. Broadband and robust Mac horsepower required, but for $6 somebody hands you an M-16 and tells to go shoot stuff. Why not?
posted by emelenjr at 9:39 AM PST - 26 comments

Skinema. It's not what you think.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:10 AM PST - 7 comments

Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991 ~ 4000+ images archived, courtesy of they US Library of Congress.
posted by crunchland at 8:39 AM PST - 10 comments

The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, California is one of many places in the US that challenge the theory of relativity. Berkeley psychologists have a theory about these mystery spots. Another Berkeleyan visited the spot and documented his tour. Some have done their own comprehensive tests and came to a different conclusion. A book was written to describe these gravitational anomalies, skeptics and believers all have an opinion ... but where does the truth lie?
posted by jasonspaceman at 8:29 AM PST - 32 comments

With violent crime rates on the rise, a police chief under fire for his department's inefficiencies and a city that seems powerless to stop the trend, one Senator has a brilliant solution to all of Washington, DC's crime woes!
posted by Pollomacho at 6:47 AM PST - 83 comments

The New Yorker's James Surowiecki writes about patent creep. With eBay losing one court case and being threatened by another, Spike Lee trying to stop his first name being used, Amazon owning the concept of threaded discussions, the never-ending Un*x wars, and bands trying to protect certain chord progressions (OK that one's a hoax), is this a worrying pattern that needs to be reversed, and is it just the beginning of an anti-competitive trend that will see our own genes being patented?
posted by cbrody at 6:15 AM PST - 10 comments

Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African. 'According to his famous autobiography, written in 1789, Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797) was born in what is now Nigeria. Kidnapped and sold into slavery in childhood, he was taken as a slave to the New World. As a slave to a captain in the Royal Navy, and later to a Quaker merchant, he eventually earned the price of his own freedom by careful trading and saving. As a seaman, he travelled the world, from the Mediterranean to the North Pole. Coming to London, he became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade, an involvement which led to him writing and publishing The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African (1789) a strongly abolitionist autobiography ... '
Of interest :- Ignatius Sancho: African Man of Letters; Quobna Ottabah Cugoano: a Former Slave Speaks Out; American Slave Narratives ('From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration'); Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938; Excerpts from Slave Narratives.
posted by plep at 6:09 AM PST - 8 comments

Bill Would Put Internet Song Swappers in Jail. This is the story of the middle man that doesn't want to die.
posted by the fire you left me at 5:43 AM PST - 22 comments

Tenet tells all! "Sen. Dick Durbin, who was present for a 4 1/2-hour appearance by Tenet behind closed doors with Intelligence Committee members Wednesday, said Tenet named the official. But the Illinois Democrat said that person's identity could not be revealed because of the confidentiality of the proceedings." Alright, politically savvy mefites, who is it? Register your guesses now, and get the grand prize (umm, a sense of accomplishment?) when the info gets leaked!
posted by hank_14 at 5:33 AM PST - 54 comments

Swedish pixeldesign guy goes on vacation to Italy and England and makes Flash animation scrapbook more fun than most TV shows I've seen lately. via JeanSnow.net
posted by planetkyoto at 3:30 AM PST - 13 comments

Metallica sues over use of E, F chords. No, it's not an Onion article. Really. They're completely serious. No exaggerating is taking place here. Honestly, they really are suing another band for using the E and F chords. It's on their website, for god's sake. All I know is, I'm getting drunk tonight.
posted by tweebiscuit at 1:12 AM PST - 39 comments

Did America Walk Into A Trap? In stories reported by Newsweek and Fox News it appears possible that the armed resistance now being encountered by US/British forces was part of Saddam Hussein's plan all along. The documents that have been found essentially say that should Baghdad fall, the Baath party loyalists should fade into society and extract vengeance on the occupying soldiers bit by bit. The nightmare scenario before the war was urban combat, Mogadishu style. But now it appears that Hussein may have upped the ante with this "guerrilla-type campaign".
posted by owillis at 8:59 PM PST - 62 comments

The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World provides beautiful detailed topographical maps of the ancient world. A mammoth undertaking in production over 12 years with 160 scholars and cartographers (with help from MapQuest) and estimated to cost over $5 million it is the largest and most accurate Ancient World Atlas ever. Composed of 99 maps (examples) the Atlas is easily available to the layperson. "If you're gripped by Hannibal and want to sort out which way you think he went through the Alps, you'll have enough of a clear landscape to do it. If you want to follow St. Paul around the eastern Mediterranean, you can."
posted by stbalbach at 5:30 PM PST - 15 comments

Dave Barry posts a letter in his weblog encouraging users to submit poems to poetry.com containing the phrase "the dog ate mother's toes" under the penname of Freemont. Hilarity Ensues.
posted by woil at 4:40 PM PST - 40 comments

escaped robo balloon will we be seeing more of this in coming years? this story is amusing - and perhaps a caution? via the always good yewnkee.com
posted by specialk420 at 4:39 PM PST - 5 comments

The Bush/Cheney campaign lets you look up campaign donors on their web page. With its help, we can now answer the burning question "Forget about me...who does the incredibly popular, beloved-by-millions television personality Wink Martindale support?" Now we know.
posted by Vidiot at 2:33 PM PST - 19 comments

General Thinking "began in early 2001 as a collaboration between Remo Giuffré, Geoffrey Gifford, along with a shared intuitive desire to gather together a global Network of Thinkers who shared certain Beliefs." Their "roster" includes Erik "MetaDesign" Spiekermann and a variety of interesting folks. Friendster for the digerati? Always interesting to read what the elite think of their peers...
posted by shoepal at 2:09 PM PST - 4 comments

NASA laboratory enhancement of the surveillance tape used to nab suspect in West Virginia Target sexual assault. It's nice to know NASA can use image enhancement technology to catch child molesters, but can't use it to find holes in space shuttles.
posted by dayvin at 1:57 PM PST - 12 comments

Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten you lower your chance of getting prostate cancer. Won't somebody think of the kittens?
posted by yhbc at 1:40 PM PST - 64 comments

Improve your profanity with the aid of the guides and dictionaries in this Guardian compendium. As item 10 notes, the term zuffle is too crude to be described up front (and possibly NSFW, if your boss is looking over your shoulder), but it's a fascinating concept nonetheless.
posted by SealWyf at 1:04 PM PST - 17 comments

"The Day The Clown Cried." Even unfinished, the breathtaking scope of it's...awfulness has for thirty years both attracted and repelled would-be producers and distributors. (script, zipped Word doc) Just the concept is startling, like some kind of hellish Sad Lib -- Jerry Lewis plays a clown in Auschwitz who leads children to the gas chambers. Harry Shearer, one of the few to see the film: "You are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. 'Oh my God!' -- that's all you can say." Can this movie ever be made?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:18 PM PST - 39 comments

Web Project Seeks to Digitize Religious Images for Theological Libraries The American Theological Library Association's Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative aims to create a large database of religious images to spare research librarians the expense of digitizing documents that other institutions have already scanned
posted by turbanhead at 11:57 AM PST - 4 comments

Bob Cringely thinks the government's information gathering capability is a disaster waiting to happen. Does our government have too much faith in computers as a solution to our problems? Just as electronic voting is looked at skeptically by the computer-savvy among us, so should the use of computers to gather information.
posted by TedW at 10:27 AM PST - 13 comments

Copyright to the Revolution (translation): "On Wednesday, 9 July 2003, the superior court of Paris banned a poster campaign launched by the group Reporters Without Borders to protest the totalitarian policies of Cuba. This campaign, designed by the agency Rampazzo & Associates, was built around an iconic image of Ernesto Che Guevara, inspired by the original image by the Cuban photographer [Alberto] Korda. The decision came in a suit brought by Diane Diaz Lopez, the late photographer's daughter, accusing the organization of misappropriating the original image taken by her father." The poster reads: "Welcome to Cuba, the world's largest prison for journalists." Korda had sued in 2000 to prevent use of the image in an Absolut vodka campaign. An article at Uzine (French) shows how the image in question was composited.
posted by hairyeyeball at 9:23 AM PST - 25 comments

The annual Bulwer-Lytton contest recognizes and awards the very worst opening sentences found in novels. The 2003 results are in (2002 results, 2001 results) and the winning entry begins "They had but one last remaining night together, so they embraced each other as tightly as that two-flavor entwined string cheese..." [via girlhacker]
posted by mathowie at 9:19 AM PST - 11 comments

Got $100? Then you can pay FOX Sports Net to let you be their NASCAR columnist!
posted by sassone at 8:38 AM PST - 10 comments

Put The Star Wars Kid in Episode III Finally, a petition worth signing.
posted by oissubke at 8:36 AM PST - 33 comments

Hubble Heritage Image Gallery. (Be sure to also check out the Index Listing for links to higher resolution versions of each of the images.)
posted by crunchland at 8:36 AM PST - 6 comments

Man sentenced to read "To Kill A Mockingbird." For spitting at a cop and disorderly conduct, a PA man is jailed and required to read and write a report on Harper Lee's classic. What other books might be fit punishment for certain crimes? (via Obscurestore)
posted by serafinapekkala at 8:04 AM PST - 50 comments

First Documented Case of HIV hybridization in a human being was presented at the International AIDS Society conference in Paris. In this case, genetic tests on a superinfected woman showed that the two strains she was infected with swapped genetic material, creating a new hybrid strain of HIV. The actual effects are not yet clear, but this could pose a serious problem for researchers trying to create a vaccine.
posted by Irontom at 5:15 AM PST - 8 comments

The Elliot Avedon Museum and Archive of Games. Board games from a thirteenth-century 'Book of Games', Inuit games, card games, row games, puzzles, ethnographical papers on games, etc.
A different kind of game at Streetplay - stickball, hopscotch, galleries, and street games worldwide.
posted by plep at 12:34 AM PST - 2 comments

America's Most Literate Cities - A study authored by the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater looked at factors ranging from newspaper circulation to library and bookstore penetration within the 64 largest cities in the United States. His conclusion? Minneapolis is the most literate city in the country, directly followed by Seattle and Denver. San Francisco ranked fifth, Boston 13th, Chicago 45th and New York 47th.
posted by mrbula at 11:48 PM PST - 49 comments

Breaking up is hard to do. U.S. Senate intern sends an ill-advised email to a young woman he calls his "intellectual, moral, social, and emotional" inferior. Unclear if he sent it from his senate.gov address or not, but it quickly finds a wider audience. Here's the WashPost article mentioned on the Snopes page.
posted by GaelFC at 10:26 PM PST - 63 comments

Rumsfeld's personal spy ring The defense secretary couldn't count on the CIA or the State Department to provide a pretext for war in Iraq. So he created a new agency that would tell him what he wanted to hear. Today, Salon also looks into the role played by John Bolton. Is investigative journalism now just relegated to the web? [you have to look at an ad, I believe]
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:32 PM PST - 24 comments

Is the budget deficit going to be the other shoe that drops on the Bush administration? In the OMB's mid-session review [pdf], it admits the federal budget deficit would balloon to a record $455 billion this fiscal year after absorbing immediate costs from the war in Iraq, and then climb $20 billion higher in 2004. That's a 50% increase since the administration's last forecast five months ago. At least a few economists think even that number is underestimated. To top it off, the consequences of an increasingly large deficit and accompanying tax cuts are being passed on to the states. How's that for a neat twist on federalism?
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:25 PM PST - 9 comments

So What Went Wrong With Your Wedding? Any brawls? A drunken minister? The cake collapsed? The bride had the groom arrested? Was it a happy day?
posted by LeLiLo at 7:56 PM PST - 36 comments

China's Loch Ness Monster Returns Couldn't a SEAL team sort this out pretty quickly? Or one of those minisubs they use to find the Titanic? How do lake monsters manage to be so elusive? I mean, it's like there's anywhere for them to go! Unless, of course, they're lake monsters with legs. That's a whole other thing. In that case they could totally be hiding out in the next Chinese lake over.
posted by jengod at 7:19 PM PST - 8 comments

AOL Kills Netscape AOL "has cut or will cut the remaining team working on Mozilla in a mass firing and are dismantling what was left of Netscape (they’ve even pulled the logos off the buildings)." According to some former Netscape employees, "everybody in CPD is getting laid off." Meanwhile, Mozilla goes on at the new Mozilla Foundation. [via Zeldman]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:58 PM PST - 56 comments

"A Shoggoth on the Roof," a musical theater adaptation of HP Lovecraft's work, was set to be staged this fall by Chicago's Defiant Theatre, but the production has been scrapped due to legal threats by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, the creators of "Fiddler on the Roof".
posted by starkeffect at 3:37 PM PST - 22 comments

The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players have been lauded by The New Yorker ("arguably the best-known local act of the new millennium"), Entertainment Weekly ("Okay, maybe it is a joke, but it's a very good one") and David Cross ("When I first saw them, I felt something that reminded me of the feeling you have when you’re, like, 11 or 12, and a not-unattractive girl tells another girl to tell you that she might think you’re cute.") This mom, dad and daughter play punk-rock anthems to slide show pictures they purchase at garage sales. And they're playing L.A. tomorrow!
posted by adrober at 3:21 PM PST - 15 comments

Night of the Johnstown Flood. "There was no larger news story in the latter nineteenth century after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The story of the Johnstown Flood has everything to interest the modern mind: a wealthy resort, an intense storm, an unfortunate failure of a dam, the destruction of a working class city, and an inspiring relief effort." Curious about about a line in this song, I went looking for information and found this story and this monument and the wonder/horror of this playground, where a giant force played with masses of iron, weighing scores of tons each, as a child might play with pebbles.
posted by weston at 3:10 PM PST - 23 comments

The wonderful online history journal Common-Place is presenting a special issue entitled "Early Cities of the Americas." Nineteen essays, each concerning a particular incident, person, place or encounter in the early life of a city, together provide a "worm's eye view" of what urban life was like in early postcolonial North and South America. Learn about vigilante justice and press sensationalism in 1856 San Francisco, or about a day in the life of a peasant family in Lima of the 1760s. Other essays concern the 17th-century "treasure city" of Havana, searching for salvation as a slave in 1647 New Amsterdam (New York), and capital punishment in colonial Paramaribo, Suriname. "Reading these essays cannot but help readers gain some historical perspective on the modern condition," especially as you see how many of the issues we associate with modern urban life (poverty, crime, bowling?) are not exactly recent developments.
posted by arco at 11:47 AM PST - 5 comments

In launching his 21-day "prayer offensive" directed at the Supreme Court, Pat Robertson asks his viewers to help him pray for three justices' death. "One justice is 83-years-old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?"
posted by mathowie at 11:32 AM PST - 189 comments

What's on the menu? Perhaps fat and calories. "Five states have taken up similar bills this year, with none being passed so far." Will bills like these ever get passed? Will we ever see nutrition facts on fast food wrappers? Will consumers ever bother to read them?
posted by sharksandwich at 11:26 AM PST - 31 comments

spectacular attacks [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 8:13 AM PST - 32 comments

Volvo SCC definitely provides some great new ideas - both innovative and practical for the near future (i.e., heartbeat sensor, adaptive headlights)
posted by adamms222 at 7:36 AM PST - 23 comments

The day the dinnertime phone calls stopped. We've previously discussed the new national do-not-call list on Mefi, but this Salon piece puts a new spin on the subject. Millions of rural Americans will inevitably lose telemarketing jobs because telemarketing will be regulated out of business. But the government isn't regulating them out of business, it is just providing a way for people to choose not to participate in this business scheme. The people who add their names to the list are the people who are going to hang up in the telelmarketer's face anyways, so where's the harm in this list? And what about the DMA's 10 reasons to protect the teleservices industry?
posted by archimago at 7:10 AM PST - 64 comments

The monstrous fauna of the cathedrals... although less polished than the prev. mentioned A Love of Monsters, this collection of gargoyle photographs - largely from British churches - more than makes amends with its enthusiasm for its subject.
posted by nthdegx at 5:27 AM PST - 6 comments

Cooked intel revolts spooks - Spooks revolt : elements of the US intelligence community are between outrage and open revolt, and Veterans for Intelligence Sanity, a group of ex - CIA professionals led by Ray McGovern, a 27 year veteran of the CIA who used to brief George Bush Sr., has called for Dick Cheney's resignation in an open letter to GW Bush, reports Nick Kristoff. "You may not realize the extent of the current ferment within the intelligence community and particularly the CIA" they have warned Mr. Bush. At the heart of the matter is the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans (OSP) under the leadership of Abram Shulsky. Meanwhile, "It's like, duh, the net doesn't forget. Get it?" : a blogger compiles a chronological list of Bush Administration statements on Iraq's WMD's - from "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." (George W. Bush Address to the Nation, March 17, 2003) to "They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer." (Donald Rumsfeld, Remarks to Council on Foreign Relations, May 27, 2003) and "U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction. (Condoleeza Rice, Reuters Interview, May 12, 2003) Also in above link: scroll to bottom for memorandum to GW Bush.
posted by troutfishing at 5:20 AM PST - 103 comments

I Can't Believe I Missed BlobFest 2003!
The annual celebration of the cheesy sci-fi movie that made Steve McQueen a movie star and the town of Phoenixville, PA proud was last weekend... But even if you weren't there you can still...
» Meet The Man Who Owns The Blob and giggle when you learn just what it's made of.
» Read the liner notes from the Criterion laserdisc (yes, there was one).
» Listen to that awful theme song (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David).
» Be shocked that the basement window that our heroes used to escape in the movie is now blocked by a wheelchair ramp!
» Or buy a ticket to the newly-restored historic Colonial Theatre, just so you can run out of it, screaming. They won't mind.
posted by wendell at 1:28 AM PST - 10 comments

Drifiting towards war - "I have held off public criticism to this point because I had hoped that the administration was going to act on this problem, and that public criticism might be counterproductive. But time is running out, and each month the problem gets more dangerous." - Fmr Defense Secretary William Perry
posted by jdaura at 1:06 AM PST - 20 comments

JCM Artistamp Gallery. More at the Jas Cyberspace Museum. Don't miss bugpost.
posted by plep at 12:29 AM PST - 3 comments

Fake lie-detector reveals women's sex lies - "Women are more likely than men to lie about their sex lives, reveals a new study ... Women who thought their responses might be read said they had had an average of 2.6 sexual partners, compared with 3.4 partners for those who thought their answers were anonymous. But those who thought they would be caught out by the polygraph reported an average of 4.4 partners." I'm guessing a similar study done on men would reveal that as the likelihood of getting caught in a lie increases, the number of partners claimed would decrease...
posted by RylandDotNet at 6:46 PM PST - 25 comments

You'd Be So Easy To Hate: From Ben Tripp's excellent article, it's difficult not to reach the conclusion that Hate is to the new century what Love was to The Sixties.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:36 PM PST - 19 comments

"Originally I'm from New York. What am I going to hunt? Squirrels? Someone's cats? Someone's dogs? I don't think so." Now that he's living in Las Vegas, George Evanthes is finally getting his chance to put on his camouflage, grab a rifle, and pull the trigger. But he's not hunting ducks or even deer. He's hunting women. Naked women.
posted by delapohl at 6:03 PM PST - 47 comments

The Gullwing is back. More photos here. Are any manufacturers other than Lamborghini using a gullwing design? Maybe DMC will reappear in the future with their own throwback.
posted by fezdel at 5:27 PM PST - 22 comments

METALFILTER: Rob Halford reunites with Judas Priest. "Ripper" Owens, the fan who replaced Halford (inspiring the movie Rock Star), has been a "complete gentleman" about the decision, though opinion of the fans is mixed. Still no hope for a Osbourne/Black Sabbath Reunion, but (on the plus side) also no plans for a Halford reality series.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:48 PM PST - 17 comments

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted by Stan Chin at 4:47 PM PST - 79 comments

The last chapter of Broken Saints is finally live. The finale of this Flash epic contains 7 parts and is 80 minutes long. As a whole, it's an amazing achievement. [Here's a previous thread.] [Via /.]
posted by homunculus at 1:20 PM PST - 11 comments

The End of the Deep End. Citing safety reasons, North American cities are abolishing the standard public swimming pool that many of us grew up with. The deep ends of existing pools are being filled in, and new pools are being built shallower. Is this action too extreme, or are deep ends a real threat to public safety? (via Manifesto Multilinko)
posted by sanitycheck at 11:52 AM PST - 49 comments

Got roots? The American Family Immigration History Center has made available online the passenger manifests for all the ships that docked at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1924. It's searchable by name, and you can look at a photostat of the actual page of the manifest. I found my great-uncle (Demetrios Calisperis, from Samos, Greece, debarked Ellis Island Nov 1907, at age 11 -- hiya, Uncle Jim!). Free to register and search. Paid membership lets you build a family scrapbook about your ancestor that can be searched by other researchers.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:12 AM PST - 9 comments

The Ivy League pop stars! Gossipy article reveals how universities throughout the USA are frantically fighting each other in order to attract celebrity professors. Niall Ferguson, Deirdre (born Donald) McCloskey and Saul Bellow ("teaching load: one course a year") are some examples. Considering these people are already engaged in their own love affair with the public eye (book tours, book deals, media events etc), are they the best choice from the academic point of view? Do traditional universities really have to resort to namedropping? And just between us, anybody out there ever had or currently has classes with bigwigs that turned out to be really fascinating or really disappointing? first link via those elitists from aldaily
posted by 111 at 10:33 AM PST - 36 comments

Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships You can register either in Freestyle or Original (the traditional over the shoulder -style). Alternatively, you can register as a team (max. three persons / team). There's also have a Junior category for competitors of under 12 years. Grading in Freestyle is based on style and aesthetics, whereas in Original the grading is purely based on length and style. In both categories theree prizes will be awarded. The current Ukranian record is 57 metres.
posted by riffola at 10:20 AM PST - 10 comments

Amusing/interesting transcript of Bill Moyer's recent interview with Jon Stewart concerning the Daily Show & the state of media's involvement in political discourse in America.
posted by jonson at 10:07 AM PST - 30 comments

Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan. Emily, Madison, Hannah, Emma, Alexis. Wha? Who? These were the five most popular baby names for boys and girls respectively in 2002, according to the US Social Security Administration’s Popular Baby Names page. You can also get the top names by year of birth since 1880 (now I know why half my female friends are Jennifers), and best of all, see how the fortunes of your own name have waxed or waned over the last decade. (#79 with a bullet baby! Woo!)
posted by gottabefunky at 6:56 AM PST - 104 comments

(NYT) The death row trifecta: juvenile, retarded and ... proved innocent by DNA testing
But unlike other trifectas, this one will not necessarily get you off the hook. Never mind that the real perpetrator has been identified (due to his prison yard bragging initially and through a DNA perfect match later). One of the great problems of the American criminal justice system is that once an innocent person is trapped in the system, it's extremely difficult to get him — or her — extricated.
posted by magullo at 6:35 AM PST - 29 comments

Bananaslug is a serendipitous search engine. It uses the google API to mix your search term with a random seed and returns results that are probably orthogonal to what you were looking for. Minutes of fun.
posted by walrus at 6:14 AM PST - 5 comments

Images of the Southwest. The American southwest, that is. The Bisbee Deportation of 1917 - 'an event specific to Arizona that influenced the labor movement throughout the United States'; early cartography of the southwest; a rural school newspaper; mission churches; folk arts - Easter eggs, murals and so on; War Relocation Authority camps (some photos ; and more.
posted by plep at 12:12 AM PST - 6 comments

breed ... an online, international community of digital artists, specializing mostly, it seems, in moody and dark post-modern imagery.
posted by crunchland at 7:43 PM PST - 16 comments

Stairway to Heaven - a deep, philosophical rendering of the crappy contracting work at Page's castle. Better yet is the feedback from fans who take exception to satire.
posted by PrinceValium at 6:02 PM PST - 33 comments

the short but happy life of eric humphrey gordon Forget "Do not call" lists - a better way to get your alma- mater to stop soliciting you. The Harvard Magazine obituary section had to print their retraction in the July/August 2003 issue.
posted by Voyageman at 3:38 PM PST - 16 comments

Will Ferrell's Harvard commencement speech quotes from the greatest -- "I believe it was Shakespeare who said it best when he said, 'Look yonder into the darkness for knowledge onto which I say go onto that which thou possess into thy night for thee have come with only a single sword and vanquished thee into darkness.'" - Some Sunday humor for MeFolk.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:53 PM PST - 21 comments

Gaytona.com... A site for gay NASCAR fans.
posted by machaus at 1:49 PM PST - 24 comments

I'll take the Ronald Reagan and JonBenet Ramsey velvet paintings please. Do you accept John Wayne Gacy Discover Cards?
posted by MrBaliHai at 11:24 AM PST - 8 comments

Randall Trigg's taxonomy of hyperlinks. Detailed thesis here.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:56 AM PST - 2 comments

Pixeltees - use a (shockwave) editor to produce t-shirt designs. The low resolution, restricted palette and video-game connotations give interesting restrictions - a lot of designs are terrible, but some are pretty neat.
posted by andrew cooke at 10:47 AM PST - 13 comments

Randomcat.co.uk - Bring your own pussy jokes.
posted by armoured-ant at 10:20 AM PST - 10 comments

Common sense, really. Need something to do on a Sunday morning? Charles Osgood's fine, but he's got nowhere near the entertainment value of the New Age IQ Test. It's a stunning exercise both in web design and rational outlook. Brought to you by the folks at the Salem (Massachusetts)New Age Center. Don't miss the writings of John Cali, who "channels Chief Joseph."
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:53 AM PST - 20 comments

Competitive typing.
posted by rushmc at 5:11 AM PST - 46 comments

Pay No Attention tothemenbehindthe Curtain. You maybe read about PNAC here, wherein numerous members of the current administration wrote down their grand plans for an American-led NWO. Pretty heady stuff, with Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz writing to Clinton in 1998 that "the only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction." Umm, that is... move along, citizen. Nothing to see here (thank goodness for Google's cache).
posted by RKB at 11:01 PM PST - 39 comments

Self-built science toys. Too much fun with the world around you. I'm making the Binaca cannon first thing tomorrow.
posted by skyscraper at 8:54 PM PST - 13 comments

hundreds of vintage camera-related advertisements.
posted by crunchland at 5:52 PM PST - 4 comments

Stop thief! Put down the brush. Step away from the breasts. Theft and plagiarism in the art world is nothing new. What happens when it involves the world of modern pin-up fetish/hardcore art, dueling pin-up artists, and a sticker company interested in profit from the fallout? [Links NSFW]
posted by jca at 3:28 PM PST - 23 comments

Further Iranian Oppression. The "government" of Iran has evidently teamed up with Cuba in efforts to further suppress the growing democratic movement in Iran by jamming pro-democracy satellite broadcasts. Two un-elected governments combining forces to make sure that their will is enforced, not that of their citizens.
posted by jsonic at 11:31 AM PST - 60 comments

Tenet Had to be Pushed to Take Responsibility. George W. Bush may believe that the yellowcake controversy is over, but the underlings of the fall guy Tenet in the CIA are already starting to sing. The administration have gone out of the way to stress that they still trust the CIA, despite the brewing scandal. So maybe we should all pay attention to these leaks?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 9:52 AM PST - 36 comments

Trading on fear
"But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship ... That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." - Nazi Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering
posted by carfilhiot at 9:51 AM PST - 26 comments

A bad seafood salad would have crippled the global auto industry. "Doesn't that new Nissan Maxima look like a larger-scale Saturn Ion? Could the Kia Sorento be a Lexus RX 300 in disguise? Doesn't the face of the Nissan Z look like that of the Toyota Celica (and its taillamps like those of the Lexus SC 430)? Is that the new Bentley — or the new Hyundai?" The sudden similarities in automobile design.
posted by the fire you left me at 9:13 AM PST - 34 comments

An American soldier maintains a weblog from Iraq. It contains details about his day to day life as a non-combat (and non-career) soldier during this conflict. Some people think he is an imposter, others think he's a dissident for using his voice in any manner other than as a Stars and Stripes reporter would. Thanks to I thought his weblog was interesting, including his responses to people's assertions that he isn't real or is somehow a dissident for using his voice. Thanks to Sensible Erection for the link.
posted by substrate at 7:36 AM PST - 26 comments

Soundtoys - cool things you can click on, prod, poke, play with, drag, chew on & diddle...a gallery of interactive audio-visual projects from a variety of web designers, musicians and programmers. Absolutely no uranium involved!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:04 AM PST - 7 comments

'No real planning for postwar Iraq' "The officials didn't develop any real postwar plans because they believed that Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops with open arms and Washington could install a favored Iraqi exile leader as the country's leader. The Pentagon civilians ignored CIA and State Department experts who disputed them, resisted White House pressure to back off from their favored exile leader and when their scenario collapsed amid increasing violence and disorder, they had no backup plan. Today, American forces face instability in Iraq, where they are losing soldiers almost daily to escalating guerrilla attacks, the cost of occupation is exploding to almost $4 billion a month and withdrawal appears untold years away." Bring 'Em On!
posted by owillis at 6:41 AM PST - 62 comments

Baghdad Bulletin “The Baghdad Bulletin is Iraq’s only English-language newsmagazine and one of the country’s only independent publications. The third issue (published Monday, July 7) is now being distributed across Iraq and in Jordan.” They have a short bit about how Chemical Ali may have escaped Baghdad.
posted by raaka at 9:32 PM PST - 1 comment

Van Gogh's Moon Shines Again This Weekend If you go out this Sunday evening and look up at the Moon, you will see not only our closest celestial neighbor, but a piece of art history as well. The rising full moon will appear exactly the way it did 114 years ago, when Vincent Van Gogh captured the scene in his famous painting "Moonrise.". Also learn how the moon helped date the painting.
posted by NewBornHippy at 6:58 PM PST - 12 comments

where r u? where would u like 2 b? Just answer those questions in the popup window (hit "click here to find out how..." or via email or text message)--your response will live online and will be launched at sunset from the banks of the River Avon on July 13th 2003...Possibly to be discovered by someone, somewhere. More info here (you can be anonymous if you wish, and javascript and flash are in the popup)
posted by amberglow at 6:02 PM PST - 13 comments

The best thing about Polygamy.com is not the educational benefits (for example, did you realize that Polygamy is the ultimate feminist lifestyle?), it's reading the personals, such as this heartwarming story of Adolph & his two wives - they're looking for a 3rd sister wife, if any female mefites are interested.
posted by jonson at 5:46 PM PST - 36 comments

It's a Giant Sperm! Whale! The Chilean sea blob is revealed to be the carcass of a Moby Dick.
posted by jengod at 4:13 PM PST - 6 comments

Judge Finds Documentation Connecting Iraq with Al-Qaeda? Federal appellate Judge Gilbert S. Merritt of Nashville is in Iraq as one of 13 experts selected by the U.S. Justice Department to help rebuild Iraq's judicial system. And in an article from the Tennessean, he claims to have found a newspaper published in the Babylon Daily Political Newspaper, run by Uday Hussein, in which was a "List of Honor" containing the names of 600 men in high esteem by the former ruling regime. Among these was, apparently, ''Abid Al-Karim Muhamed Aswod, intelligence officer responsible for the coordination of activities with the Osama bin Laden group at the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan.''
posted by namespan at 3:19 PM PST - 31 comments

Mark Pilgrim and Dave Winer are fighting, again. It started over a remark Dave made about various blogging services. Mark turned around and created a bot that reads Dave's RSS feed every 5 minutes and spits out the text, annotated to show what's been added/deleted/changed since the last time it ran. Dave's claiming copyright infringement, Mark's claiming fair use. Okay MeFi folks, which side are you on, and why?
posted by tommasz at 1:29 PM PST - 60 comments

The public socks it to the FCC "This is not about race - It's about voting for the very best one and being cheated out of that vote!" Clay Aiken fans and Reuben Whatshisname haters unite to make their voice heard. Oh, the outrage! (via The Smoking Gun)
posted by Gilbert at 12:48 PM PST - 23 comments

Bob Masse's Rock Posters ~ Thirty-five years of poster art by one of North America's premier poster artists.
posted by crunchland at 11:20 AM PST - 5 comments

is george george tenet the administrations fall guy on niger/uranium issue? should he be? and where does our vice president fit into the puzzle?
posted by specialk420 at 10:36 AM PST - 85 comments

Comeuppance is served: Blair Hornstine, the litigious valedictorian MeFi loves to hate, has been dropped from the Harvard class of '07 for her adventures in plagiarism. Quoting Nelson Munz here would be superfluous.
posted by serafinapekkala at 9:54 AM PST - 155 comments

Chucks News of Nike's buyout of Converse got me thinking about the oldest sneakers around. I don't mean that crusty pair buried in your closet, unless it's (likely for some of us) the Chuck Taylor All-Star basketball shoe. Sure, some of us wouldn't be caught in a pair, but as the choice of legends, the uniform footwear of baby-boomer youth (knock-offs were worn at risk of mild derision) and as a cultural mission statement, this 80-year-old low-tech affair is still chuck-full of game, and still as affordable as that other guy's shoe isn't. Fortunately for the shoe's many adoring fans, the word is that the Star won't be replaced by a Swoosh.
posted by LinusMines at 9:07 AM PST - 39 comments

A lightning bolt created a beautiful smoke ring in the sky the other day. It resembles of Mt Etna's and other volcano's beautiful rings. Nature at it's best.
posted by tomplus2 at 8:05 AM PST - 20 comments

We are because of others. We are born into this world with minds as naked as our bodies and we have to rely on others to feed, clothe us, and to teach us to think of ourselves as selves. The key is language -- grammatical speech and human culture build upon the brain's biological capacities to create a mind that is something different again than that with which we are born. We are conscious because we can speak to others and ourselves, because we can speak of ourselves to others and ourselves. Language gives us as individuals, memory, and as groups, culture, the social memory. Or so thought Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, among others. Welcome to the the neuronaut's guide to the science of consciousness.
posted by y2karl at 7:57 AM PST - 36 comments

So very silly: Make a pillow dance to the lovely music.
posted by taz at 7:56 AM PST - 4 comments

Interview with Jim Gray, head of Microsoft's Bay Area Research Center. "Clear your schedule, because once you've started reading this interview, you won't be able to put it down until you've finished it. Who would ever, in this time of the greatest interconnectivity in human history, go back to shipping bytes around via snail mail as a preferred means of data transfer? (Really, just what type of throughput does the USPS offer?) Jim Gray would do it, that's who. And we're not just talking about Zip disks, no sir; we're talking about shipping entire hard drives, or even complete computer systems, packed full of disks."
posted by mooncrow at 6:41 AM PST - 23 comments

You are your record collection. If you really want to get to know someone, try rummaging through their CD collection. "I don't think anyone who's really passionate about music just 'listens' to it. This research is positive confirmation of the fact that songs are emblematic of people's characters. I've always believed that people's musical taste says a lot about them. If you like Avril Lavigne, for example, you probably need to have your ears syringed."
posted by eyebeam at 6:37 AM PST - 51 comments

The Mythical Quest , an old exhibition at the British Library. 'Throughout the world, tales have always been told of heroes and heroines embarking on perilous quests in search of lost loved ones, the secret of immortality, earthly paradise or simply great riches. Many of these stories have elements in common, such as clashes with monsters, battles with the elements, interventions by the gods and tests of moral character, mental cunning and physical strength. These tales have been expressed in songs, literature, art and dance for thousands of years, and are still being reinterpreted today in books, comic strips, interactive games and adventure films.'
More British Library exhibits here, from early Indian photography to the secret life of maps.
Examples of mythical quests :- Monkey: Journey to the West (another version here, not to mention the TV series); the Ramayana (and the Ramakian, the Thai version); Cupid and Psyche at the Classics Pages (subject of a previous thread); the Holy Grail (more at the Catholic Enyclopaedia); the journey of Alexander the Great; Pilgrim's Progress and John Bunyan; the world of Dante and a map of Hell.
posted by plep at 6:25 AM PST - 17 comments

They'll put anything on a postage stamp. Or will they? Some Friday quiz fun from mental_floss magazine.
posted by Oriole Adams at 5:56 AM PST - 4 comments

Which 2004 U.S. presidential candidate are you? Think you know which candidate best aligns with your political ideals? You may be surprised. Me, I got 100% for Howard Dean, who I'd never heard of before. I don't really believe that anyone sharing my political leanings is going to get anywhere near the White House, but it's nice to know that there's someone out there for me... (ps. Posted before, but I think that three years is a good in-between time, and it's about that time again.)
posted by majcher at 9:01 PM PST - 58 comments

Fucked up cats. Including but not limited to winged, extra-toed, and dwarf cats.
posted by angry modem at 8:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Doctors baffled as boy explains 'unique' problem. His parents didn't believe him at first, but can you blame them? This is beyond bizarre.
posted by christian at 3:20 PM PST - 75 comments

If someone says spam, tacky unsolicited emails usually come to mind instead of that meat product. Watch Hormel fight back to assert their trademark rights.
posted by illusionaire at 3:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Irish Marshall Arts. Will we see a new wave of films with high-flying Gaelic masters of fighting?
posted by Dukebloo at 1:48 PM PST - 12 comments

The latest Honda television commercial, "Sense" being shown in the UK, is the follow up to the widely discussed "Cog." It's quite not as cool as its predecessor, but still, an elegant, interesting concept. Apologies for the somewhat low quality of the java video stream.
posted by jonson at 1:25 PM PST - 23 comments

What Happens When Technology Zooms Off the Chart? (pdf) Singularity is the subject of the Spring 2003 issue of Whole Earth magazine.
posted by Ty Webb at 1:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Susan Smith needs pen pals. Remember the woman who killed her two sons by driving her car into a South Carolina lake while they were strapped into their car seats back in 1994? Well, she's 31 and looking for people who are "not judgemental" and "sincere". She's a Christian who enjoys attending church and loves "rainbows, Mickey Mouse, the beach, the mountains, and waterfalls."
posted by Irontom at 12:50 PM PST - 58 comments

Since we're being morbid today, how 'bout a dose of Body Identity Integrity Disorder? People with this disorder really, really want to amputate part of their own body. Here's a first-person account from a so-called wannabe, a story about a doctor who used to perform amputations of healthy limbs for BIID patients, and the article in today's Slate about a new documentary. A couple of these sites raise an interesting question: why do psychiatric disorders seem to come and go with the times?
posted by LittleMissCranky at 11:36 AM PST - 33 comments

The challenge was to take the top 3 most emailed photos on yahoo and create a hopefully amusing story about the sequence. I reserve the right to refuse a disturbing picture, this includes any pictures of celine dion.
posted by magullo at 11:08 AM PST - 12 comments

Faster. Genius. Chaos. What Just Happened. Gleick's website, in addition to existing to promote his excellent books, has some rich content goodness and an "admittedly peculiar" collection of links. "No particular order. No apologies," he says.
posted by weston at 10:44 AM PST - 3 comments

Badgirs (Farsi) or barjeels (Arabic) are windcatchers that work as low-tech air conditioners. The city of Yazd, Iran is probably best known for them. Badgirs are built so that they can be opened to catch the wind from different directions, the air is then cooled as it travels down the tower, and in turn cools the rooms below. When there is no wind, air in the tower is heated and rises, which draws cooler air from the courtyard into the house. (There is no URL to link to for the search result for “badgir” on Encyclopaedia Iranica, but I recommend checking out their definition and diagrams even though you’ll have to go through three different PDF pages.) Badgirs have been around in some form “since the New Kingdom (1500- 300 BC) in Egypt”, but global warming might make them ineffective.(scroll down to #16-#18) Variations, such as malqafs, can be found from Egypt to Pakistan. You can get a modern one for your own house. You can win an award shaped like one for advancements in sustainable development. Or you could just stay in the Fairmont Dubai Hotel which is shaped like a huge badgir. So even after all this, I still don't know what those sticks sticking out of the sides are for.
posted by lobakgo at 10:42 AM PST - 27 comments

comic book guy says, "best comic book cover site, ever."
posted by crunchland at 10:23 AM PST - 8 comments

"It was hard on the ear, and my dog hated it too." The Robot Rock Critic generates album reviews. "Type in an artist name. Pick from a list of ten music genres, from 'teenage pop' to 'frighteningly loud music.' Specify whether it's a band, a male solo artist, or a female solo artist. Then click 'review.'"
[via Easy Bay Express]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:57 AM PST - 14 comments

Pledge allegiance as well as lifelong fealty at your wedding. Though some of us confirmed singletons might consider weddings to be about a loss of liberty, there are a lot of products out there "perfect for any bride who wants to make her wedding day a tribute to America."
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:30 AM PST - 21 comments

Yoda in Ireland! What do you get when you combine a wizened Jedi master, the fabled Emerald Isle, and perhaps a pint too many of Guiness™? The best vacation pictures ever!
posted by tankboy at 9:11 AM PST - 12 comments

How much trans fat is in that Devil Dog? The FDA has announced that starting in 2006 food manufacturers must list the number of grams of trans fatty acid -- very bad fat -- on food packages. This is supposed to be a big deal, meant to save lives and billions of bucks. Not so fast. I say, it is a useless addition to the already confusing line-up of numbers on the nutrition panel. Besides, the presence of trans fats is already revealed in ingredients lists on food boxes and wrappers -- look for hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. But the stuff flies off shelves anyway. I say, if the FDA really wants to tell people how bad these foods are, they should come right out with it. It's time for warning labels on junk food. THIS PRODUCT CAUSES OBESITY. THIS PRODUCT WILL CLOG YOUR ARTERIES. THIS PRODUCT MAY LEAD TO HEART DISEASE AND DEATH.
posted by jellybuzz at 8:21 AM PST - 60 comments

Test your senses A 10 minute flash test.
posted by Mwongozi at 8:09 AM PST - 14 comments

Top Ten Spam Subject Lines. (PDF) Inside: I'll save you the clickthrough
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:48 AM PST - 64 comments

Tired of your mullet and acid-wash jeans being sneered at in the local gay bar? Wishing that there was someone other than Rob Halford out in the metal scene? Pink Stëël is for you, my gay heavy-metal-loving brethen! Be out, be proud, and crank up "We Fight For Cock!"
posted by Katemonkey at 6:10 AM PST - 10 comments

Nation Master An amazing resource that displays all sorts of comparative national statistics on practically everything, and with an option of selecting any region / list of countries you choose. It plugs itself as "The world's biggest general stat site" (which might or might not be true I don't know), and it has a wealth of data on economics, sports, population, geography and a dozen more categories. Some interesting statistics; Top 100 in Olympic medals per Capita. Top 100 Murders with firearms (per capita). Top 100 Military Expenditures as a percent of GDP . Top 100 Net migration rate .
A heaven for data freaks.
posted by talos at 4:56 AM PST - 30 comments

Blogs For the Morbidly Inclined :

i am sixteen and weigh ninety-eight pounds, but rather be ninety or less. will i gain more weight if i stop eating altogether for a few weeks? can anyone help me?

- Pro Anorexia Blog

We had a plane crash today. A small two-engine plane crashed into a pond killing three people inside. The pilot's face was pretty much nonexistant, which is mostly due to the trauma. However, the investigators did have to fight the turtles in order to collect the body. They ate the eyes and were in the process of "giving kisses" to what was left of the face.

- Autopsy Blog
posted by dgaicun at 4:24 AM PST - 31 comments

If this article toes the line, then this one completely jumps overboard. In the wake of basketball player Kobe Bryant's recent legal problems, ESPN freely insinuates that perhaps his legal troubles are caused by his desire to boost the sales of his endorsed products. But don't sell Kobe short on marketing power, as we meFites can already attest. [more inside]
posted by cohappy at 2:07 AM PST - 12 comments

Hot See-thru action! Radiography and Art: The obliging X-ray can detect forgeries, reveal the hidden process of genius (Picasso 1 [6 pages], 2, 3), and even serve as a glorious medium itself (Innervisions; Beyond Light; Mefi thread The Secret Garden).

Intrigued? Perhaps you'll want to check out How to make radiographs on Polaroid film from noah.org's X-ray page.
posted by taz at 12:09 AM PST - 8 comments

The Synchronicity Archives includes the well known synchronization of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with a viewing of The Wizard of Oz, as well as other entertaining combinations. Has anyone tried Led Zeppelin and Lord of the Rings ?
posted by mecran01 at 10:33 PM PST - 20 comments

Geniuses and criminals 'fade' after marriage. Men are most creative and competitive before they settle down, resulting in a drop in both academic output and criminal records after tying the knot.
posted by spazzm at 9:01 PM PST - 59 comments

Montana Goes Nuts! The Rock Creek Lodge, outside Clinton, Montana, invites you for a four-day celebration of Pabst, prairie fries, and... well... pud: "Have a Ball at the Testicle Festival!" [via Blowfish.com's newsletter, 1st page = SFW].

Anyone here been to a "hicks-gone-wild" type of event? I've heard of backwoods "show us your tits" type festivals before, and I would tend to generalize them as isolated outbursts of the repressed (and very sexist toward women). This one seems to have a slightly different... um... bent.
posted by scarabic at 5:39 PM PST - 16 comments

R.I.P., Colonel Walter E. Kurtz 1925 - 2003. "In the post-Sept 11th security environment, fearless men like Tony 'Poe' are what America needs to combat and counter terrorism and the new unconventional threat that America faces from abroad in exotic and uncharted lands."
posted by majcher at 3:47 PM PST - 21 comments

The Lizzie Method : 16-year-old Elizabeth Seagle figured out a better way of factoring quadratic equations. What do the Me-Fi mathematicians think? Will it be taught in future textbooks? Personally, I never touch the stuff.
posted by bluno at 3:46 PM PST - 72 comments

The Lords of the Rhymes are at it again, providing more hip-hop satisfaction with their latest song Nine Fingered Frodo (and the Ring of Doom) (MP3). They've also remixed (MP3), with much success, their original, self-titled hit. Still don't have enough of them? Then check out the videos from their live show in NYC. There ain’t no party like a hobbit party, cause a hobbit party don’t stop!
posted by thebabelfish at 3:36 PM PST - 3 comments

The Future is Now. "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face… was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…"
posted by the fire you left me at 2:55 PM PST - 15 comments

One egg, one month. Seemed like such a simple, comprehensible system - until now. "We are literally going to have to re-write medical textbooks," said Dr. Roger Pierson. Turns out many women may ovulate more than once a month, which may be why the rhythm method fails so often.
posted by soyjoy at 2:03 PM PST - 56 comments

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!" Who says 'Murricans are insular and self-absorbed?! Okay, everybody, but everybody's wrong. Proof positive? The absolutely last and final word that'll make everybody believe we really do care about their mangy foreign butts? The fact that the Library of Congress has a wonderful site called A World of Books: Annotated Surveys of Noteworthy Books from Around the Globe, devoted to "some of the most important and interesting books published abroad that an American public may have overlooked. The results provide a fascinating insight about other peoples and cultures." It's good times.
posted by jengod at 12:29 PM PST - 10 comments

Superior Victory Ping Pong (Windows Media) - a splendid fusion of human puppetry, bullet-time, and table tennis.
posted by gravelshoes at 11:06 AM PST - 32 comments

Where are we headed? An article that popped up on Salon last night discusses a favorite MeFi topic, cognitive dissonance, and the role that the writer sees it playing in the near-term future of the US.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 10:57 AM PST - 55 comments

American Antigravity makes lifters, devices that defy gravity thanks to a few thousand volts of electricity coursing through them. A video gallery features fascinating Windows and Real video clips. (More inside)
posted by emelenjr at 10:17 AM PST - 7 comments

munktiki ~ cool tiki mugs, rumba cups, and monster shots.
posted by crunchland at 10:15 AM PST - 10 comments

Du'a of Sheikh Muhammad Al Mohaisany (warning: flash, sound) The singing is beautiful, the images disturbing, the worldview very different from what we're used to in the rational west. I've only found this linked from Zionist sites. Questions of provenance? More on Du'as here.
posted by alms at 9:28 AM PST - 13 comments

The first rule of Junior Fight Club is don't tell your mom.
posted by machaus at 9:18 AM PST - 40 comments

"[A] team of scientists reports that it has produced a dry, glueless adhesive that would allow humans to scurry across the living-room ceiling." Though still a long way from being practical -- one half-inch square of the prototype is worth around $500k -- this still-developing project never fails to bring a massive grin to my face. And how does it work? Well, you apply a keen knowledge of van der Waals forces combined with an all-consuming interest in gecko podiatrics.

And yes, I suppose this could be considered a double-post, but I much prefer the term follow-up.
posted by grabbingsand at 9:11 AM PST - 20 comments

You can never have too many Chess sets. The artists at "Sticks", whose website seems to be barely functioning at all, have put their entire collection of hand carved & painted whimsical chess sets & boards online. This web collection doesn't do the work justice, as the detail on the boards & pieces is fantastic. The themes, however, are what make it great. From Junk Food vs Healthy Food or Farmers vs Livestock, the collection is seemingly endless. To navigate, just keep clicking the right arrow. Warning - the site is not working all that well (at least not for me), so if you click the up arrow you might get stranded. Stay off of the moors, stick to the path!!
posted by jonson at 8:54 AM PST - 15 comments

Finally... something good has come from a newsfilter post! In a trackback to a recent post on something-or-other (aren't they all the same?) I discovered a gem of a site dedicated to maps.
posted by silusGROK at 8:42 AM PST - 11 comments

A very bloody "democracy" is what we've managed in Iraq. Yeah, who counts? Well, some do!
posted by acrobat at 8:18 AM PST - 51 comments

Burnt Offerings: to ceremoniously transform recycled, organic, and found objects into unique works of art. (via the solipsistic gazette)
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:15 AM PST - 3 comments

Mile High Dating: combining Internet dating with unlimited free flights is allowing America West employees to become jet setting bachelors (anyone can do it, but according to the story it's mostly men taking advantage of this combination). It costs them next to nothing for a weekend trip (if everything works out) but seems amazingly romantic to the women. [more inside]
posted by Irontom at 8:11 AM PST - 15 comments

Are our elections fixed? Diebold Election Systems makes electronic voting machines being installed throughout the US. The problem? The systems contain serious security flaws that could possibly have been the reason for major swings in vote counts and discrepancies with exit polling. Also, a step-by-step guide to manipulating Diebold results -- and covering your tracks.
posted by dogmatic at 8:08 AM PST - 39 comments

America in the 1930s : on film, in print, on the air. Some highlights : War of the Worlds, the Robert Johnson notebooks, Superman's identity crisis, Babe Ruth, a female evangelist, building the Chrysler Building.
posted by plep at 7:53 AM PST - 7 comments

The summer wind came blowing in... from across the sea. It lingered there and touched your hair to walk with me..." It's time to clear your pipes, stretch those cords, make with the air microphone and make a complete fool of yourself in front of your horrified monitor. Yes, it's Sinatra karaoke! From Italy! Just scegli la canzone e buona cantata! Start spreading the news...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:30 AM PST - 6 comments

McD Wireless Beginning today, many McDonald’s restaurants around the Bay area will provide Wi-Fi with a side of fries... Previously discussed in March.
posted by sparky at 6:17 AM PST - 18 comments

Did you know that... Aid fell in the 1990s—by nearly a third on a per capita basis in Sub-Saharan Africa? In Sub Saharan Africa, half the population lives on less than 1$ a day? At current rates Sub-Saharan Africa will not meet the poverty Goal until 2147? If all the food produced worldwide were distributed equally, every person would be able to consume 2,760 calories a day (hunger is defined as consuming fewer than 1,960 calories a day)? These and more facts can be found in the 2003 UN Human Development Report.
posted by stonerose at 8:18 PM PST - 25 comments

Avast, ye scurvy dogs! It's the pirate image archive! Here there be dozens of period prints of privateers! Highlights include monk riding, pirates forcing a man to drink to excess, and, of course, a fine selection of actual pirates. Craving more rich pirate booty? Visit The Pirate's Hold, The Pirates Site and, a personal favorite, The Pirates of the Spanish Main. Yar!
posted by Joey Michaels at 7:25 PM PST - 34 comments

Photos by Martin - a gem of a site for vicarious travelers, it features wonderful, charming photos and fascinating stories from a guy who quit his job three years ago to travel the world. He credits global photojournalist Steve McCurry as an influence. I am such a fan of these photo travel narratives, professional and amateur alike - has anyone else discivered some special favorites?
posted by madamjujujive at 7:13 PM PST - 22 comments

The first lawsuit in the wake of Lawrence v. Texas was filed today.

Lieutenant Colonel Steve Loomis is a decorated Vietnam combat veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart, who was eight days away from his twenty year retirement date and a million dollar pension, when an arsonist set fire to his home. A private sex tape involving Loomis was found during the arson investigation, and turned over to the Army.

Shortly there after LTC Loomis was discharged, losing his pension, because he was gay. His complaint[PDF] seeks to reverse his 1997 discharge.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 6:22 PM PST - 46 comments

Concevons un million de singes à frapper au hasard sur les touches d'une machine à écrire ... A short history of the Million Monkey Meme, 1913-1996.
posted by carter at 6:09 PM PST - 19 comments

Britney Spears not a virgin. "Seriously, I haven't had a boy in a really long time, and I'm really craving ... just a kiss, man. Just a kiss would be nice."
posted by swift at 5:03 PM PST - 88 comments

The Internet is ... Would anyone like to disagree with this argument?
posted by feelinglistless at 4:44 PM PST - 47 comments

This gladiator looks like he's trying to step up to the red robot for the human crushing title. But, in all seriousness, am I the only one whose first reaction on reading this was: "Oh man, what if they had one of those during the Seattle protests?" It has apparently been in development for some time now, but somehow this version seems a little scarier. [main two content links via boingboing.]
posted by jann at 3:03 PM PST - 11 comments

Poogle? I was was bored so I started with bloogle and did several more until I came across this.
posted by Fidel at 2:51 PM PST - 23 comments

How to respond to critics. Recently, Liz Phair wrote a rambling letter in response to criticism from the old grey lady. She's not the first though, when Dylan wannabe Ken Oakley received bad reviews her personally wrote responses to everyone. The responses were so over the top that magazine writers began reviewing albums he never wrote just to receive the responses. Then there's Vincent Gallo.
posted by drezdn at 2:39 PM PST - 11 comments

He can click on a bank in Manhattan and see who has communication lines running into it and where. He can zoom in on Baltimore and find the choke point for trucking warehouses. He can drill into a cable trench between Kansas and Colorado and determine how to create the most havoc with a hedge clipper. Using mathematical formulas, he probes for critical links, trying to answer the question: "If I were Osama bin Laden, where would I want to attack?" In the background, he plays the Beastie Boys.
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:13 PM PST - 21 comments

Sept. 11, 2003: Photoblog your life

"I've been thinking about September 11th. I've been thinking about the United States response - The Patriot Act. Invading Afganastan & Iraq. Death. Fear. Oppression. It seems to me that this is NOT the America I want the world to know. So I propose a blogwide Photoblog your Life day on September 11th. Take your camera with you. Take pictures. Show the world your life. Show the world your daily delights. Show the world that we choose life, happiness and freedom."

[via Big Pink Cookie]
posted by kirkaracha at 11:22 AM PST - 60 comments

If you liked the lyrics on Dylan's last album, you'll probably also like the Japanese gangster novel he lifted some of them from. Verdict: Not guilty, on grounds of prior artistic achievement. (Long article in today's WSJ not linked because the old WSJ free-linkification doesn't work anymore!!?)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:07 AM PST - 42 comments

Bush: "a bottomless void"? Jon Carroll's Boston Globe op-ed asks whether it's ever possible to rid the world of evil, as W. claims is his ultimate goal, and answers in the negative. Is presidential rhetoric on good and evil helpful? Elaine Pagels doesn't think so.
posted by serafinapekkala at 10:59 AM PST - 14 comments

British Columbia joins Ontario as the second province in Canada to allow gay marriage. Not everyone is happy though.
posted by cyberbry at 10:35 AM PST - 51 comments

White House admits fudging Niger documents. The administration today admitted that forged evidence of Iraq's attempts to buy nuclear material should not have been presented as valid. This came about as a result of an atypically harsh period of questioning from the press following the publication of this editorial over the weekend... [more inside]
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 9:21 AM PST - 113 comments

A little coffee shop in a little North Carolina town closes. When I worked in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., the opening of the Hyphen (get it? get it? the Hyphen in Fuquay-Varina?) was a miracle. There, in the midst of antique stores, clothiers, and the Bob Barker Co., was this hip, unique eatery owned and operated by two local artists. Owner Nina Fortmeyer partially cites that the little tobacco town has simply become "Wal-Mart-ized" in its growth, leading to a loss in downtown foot traffic, leading to lost business. This, methinks, is the greatest and most obvious consequence of globalization, the mom-and-pops being run out of town. If this is happening in Fuquay-Varina, it is absolutely happening everywhere. Very sad.
posted by NedKoppel at 8:58 AM PST - 60 comments

World's tallest rideable bicycle? On Canada Day, Brad Graham rode a 14 foot high bicycle without assistance for about 20 minutes. As the event is processed by Guinness, Brad's book on building your own bike will be published later this year, detailing his 20 years of building strange bikes and robots, amongst other vehicles and gadgets. This is not just a hobby done in his Thunder Bay garage; there are many other builders throughout Canada, although they may not test their vehicles using their own children.
posted by myopicman at 8:22 AM PST - 10 comments

Indigo Arts. Folk art from Africa, Asia, and the Americas - barbershop signs, Hindu gods, vodou, Cuban art and more.
posted by plep at 7:38 AM PST - 8 comments

RFID tagging and tracking plans (mirror 1, mirror 2) With the tag line "Identify Any Object Anywhere Automatically", this group (the MIT Auto-ID Center) is leading the way into our bold new future of total tracking. {Originally uncovered by CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)}
posted by Irontom at 7:35 AM PST - 18 comments

Keyboard sumo is one of the most silly games I have ever seen, but why not have a go at it ? Or, if you're not the sporty type, why not ask the (slightly cynical) music critic Bile ? More stuff at chthonicionic.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 6:50 AM PST - 2 comments

tessellating animation
posted by crunchland at 5:31 AM PST - 13 comments

You won't like me when I'm mad [Flash]. And you probably won't like me when I'm glad either. [via Just Orb]
posted by DBAPaul at 3:32 AM PST - 9 comments

Buddy Ebsen aka Jed Clampett and Barnaby Jones, dies... I don't recall ever seeing The Beverly Hillbillies on Irish TV, but I clearly remember Barnaby Jones as a kid, which got shown in syndication here. I always thought he was too old to be a detective, but I always found the show strangely watchable. He had quite a career - a career in vaudeville, he danced with child star Shirley Temple, he was the singing voice of the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, he was the framework for Mickey Mouse in some of the early Mickey Mouse cartoons....truly, he was one of the last connections to the golden age of Hollywood. RIP Buddy.
posted by tomcosgrave at 3:03 AM PST - 6 comments

Inspector Maigret And The Strange Case Of The Immortals: The immensely prolific Georges Simenon, most well known for his Maigret mysteries, has just been published in 2 volumes by France's most prestigious collection, the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Crime fiction looks like it's slowly becoming respectable. What popular crime novelists would you like to see elevated to literature's highest pantheon? Or does it somehow ruin the fun a bit? For comparison purposes, I'd say The Library of America is the nearest English language equivalent. [First, second and fourth links in English; others in French.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:29 PM PST - 32 comments

Apologies come from the top Queensland, Australia: "QUEENSLAND'S elite anti-terrorism police will no longer use photos of real people in target practice after concerns were raised by indigenous and civil liberties groups." Dp the police have the right to use someone's mugshot for target practice, without permission or consent?
posted by skinsuit at 9:10 PM PST - 16 comments

JINRO: The liquor thrice-filtered with charcoal made from bamboo In Korea, Chamjinisulro is the first clean and safe soju filtered three times with charcoal made from bamboo, which is cooked at 1,000 degrees celsius. Because Chamjinisulro has been filtered twice, it has never been leaving no harmful ingredients or impurities. You can enjoy pure taste without the burden of hangovers due to it's containing asparagine and affulent minerals.
posted by cmicali at 8:50 PM PST - 32 comments

Things That Never Were is a new novel from an ex-weblogger. First it was Cory and now Matthew. Who's next and are there any other webloggers turned authors? Not the other way around.
posted by john at 8:47 PM PST - 28 comments

"Oh, you're one of those sodomites," Savage said. "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it."

He was fired the next day.
posted by delmoi at 7:18 PM PST - 56 comments

It’s not a mass-produced American product. It's either "a turnaround in American publishing, or... radically wrongheaded" - but it looks like The Guardian may be launching a version in the USA soon. Could such a venture lead to the demise of the venerable old Fleet Street institution, owned by an independent trust? Is it overreaching ambition or a daring entry into niche market? More interesting to me, are there any similar non-profit media organisations in your part of the world (wherever that may be)?
posted by dash_slot- at 5:40 PM PST - 13 comments

Faery Lands Forlorn A.S. Byatt, author of Possession and other novels, looks at the phenomenon of adults reading the Harry Potter children's books: Ms. Rowling's magic world has no place for the numinous. It is written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip. Its values, and everything in it, are, as Gatsby said of his own world when the light had gone out of his dream, "only personal." Nobody is trying to save or destroy anything beyond Harry Potter and his friends and family.... Ms. Rowling, I think, speaks to an adult generation that hasn't known, and doesn't care about, mystery. They are inhabitants of urban jungles, not of the real wild. They don't have the skills to tell ersatz magic from the real thing, for as children they daily invested the ersatz with what imagination they had.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:45 PM PST - 105 comments

Heaven or Hell? It's Your Choice
A new shareware E-Book is out, penned by the likes of Captain Crunch and Matthew Smith, that makes the claims:

Don't bother planning your pension, the world is about to change and we can prove it, please just take 2 minutes out of your life to read this page, it may change your life. Artificial intelligence is coming and it may become smarter than any of us. Smart networks using grid technologies could become a threat to us ALL, this is the real Matrix. From Dot.Net to the X-Box, from M-Theory to the Playstation 3 the future is V.R. / A.I. and Nanotech. If you ever wanted to know what the system is and what it has done to you, then this ebook is for you. You left school, you were standardised, you took an exam, you were graded, they made you believe in money, this is the last great social control mechanism. There's more to this, than you can imagine.

...and there you have it. Or do you?
posted by metameme at 2:54 PM PST - 24 comments

Michael Savage fired from MSNBC for hateful remarks I know, I know, newsfilter, newsfilter, but I thought you'd want to know (they don't, yet). Hopefully this will be the fourth and final installment ( 1, 2, 3) in this series.
posted by soyjoy at 2:13 PM PST - 97 comments

This is the story is a fantasy book is a book with a real tale, only it's not between the covers. Will Allen would retire to his bedroom and his family would hear the typewriter going at all hours. When asked what he was doing, he only smiled and said "you'll see." Later that year, at Christmas 1979 they did. He presented his family and friends with manuscripts of Swords for Hire . Months later, just short of his 23rd birthday, he died of terminal cancer. His older brother Paul, loved the book, read it several times over the years, it was a beloved family story that he read to his daughters. He felt his brother could (and should) have been a published author he surely was meant to be, and got the books published. It won some rave reviews and awards as well. What got me most about this story and I'm not sure why, but the author is on the cover of his book as one of the characters. (You can see the original picture on the author page of the Author's bio page). I thought that was really beautiful.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 1:13 PM PST - 10 comments

Recent developments in hot dog manipulation.
posted by anathema at 1:05 PM PST - 8 comments

Creatures from Waaay Down Under. Things you won't find in your average bathtub. Things that did not appear in the Little Mermaid. And believe it or not, the web design is pretty good, and it's a public institution. Strange indeed. [via slashdot]
posted by namespan at 11:13 AM PST - 16 comments

Are the days of French as a world language numbered? The French language is still considered a "world language," but it is slowly losing its relevance in an English-dominated world. "What is at stake is the survival of our culture. It is a life or death matter," said Jacques Viot, head of the Alliance Francaise in Paris. Will French finally surrender to English?
posted by laz-e-boy at 9:51 AM PST - 58 comments

Buy your very own title! You too can become a Lord, a Lady, a Duke, a Duchess... except you really can't, according to the very annoyed Richard, 7th Earl of Bradford.
posted by headspace at 9:50 AM PST - 23 comments

U.S. troops looted and vandalized Iraqi airport. More rape and pillage from British troops. Is this standard fare for tired troops?
posted by the fire you left me at 9:46 AM PST - 53 comments

...Baby Ink will not work on anyone under 6 months of age, as their sensitive skin does not react well to the ink. "Although we are the ORIGINAL body art chain to cater to toddlers and children, our experienced, talented staff is glad to work on people of all ages. So whether you're 8 months or 88 years old, if you're ready for a tattoo or a body piercing-the clear choice is Baby Ink!" I don't quite know what to think of this. [via die puny humans]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:55 PM PST - 49 comments

the cramps. I don't know anything at all about this band, but I think their posters are pretty cool.
posted by crunchland at 8:45 PM PST - 35 comments

No kids in the casino A stunning new casino opened recently in Atlantic City, filled with fancy restaurants and other relaxations for adults, but if you're in A.C. with the kids and aren't staying at the big B, don't bother bringing them. The friendly guards will be turning you away at the door.
posted by billsaysthis at 8:37 PM PST - 16 comments

A Flame That Must Not Die -- a David Gergen (US News and World Report) column on the gutting of Americorps. To whom do I return my tax cut?
posted by fpatrick at 8:34 PM PST - 18 comments

They came to attack us - a cool little must-see independent sci-fi flick.
(Warning - bandwidth hog & quicktime plug in required.)
posted by madamjujujive at 8:26 PM PST - 14 comments

I've been ping mad all day since I found this neat little utility that can ping multiple hosts. Not very useful to the huge legions of loggers who use MoveableType, but a boon indeed to those who use homebrewed setups or others like e107 that currently don't have ping capability.
posted by Fidel at 8:17 PM PST - 20 comments

Ugly money : burnt bills, Santa singles, good time greenbacks, bodacious bum bucks and then some. On a related but cool note, conceptual currency.
posted by pedantic at 7:27 PM PST - 7 comments

A movie theater in Kansas City, MO now prohibits children under 6, and requires children between 6 and 16 to be accompanied by an adult. They no longer show movies rated G or PG, instead deciding to go with "adult films, independent films and films geared toward adult audiences." There's even a VIP lounge where adults can sit in recliners and drink alcohol while watching the film. Speaking as someone who actually goes to movies to see the movie, not use it as a place to park brats for two hours, this is a revolution, but I can understand why parents would feel discriminated against.
posted by RylandDotNet at 8:32 AM PST - 88 comments

DOJ Introduces New Threat Levels Citizens should be alert, but continue to go about their normal daily spending activities.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:28 AM PST - 12 comments

The other side of liberty "At the very moment they were in Philadelphia declaring that all men are created equal, many of America's Founding Fathers were slave owners. Activists are now demanding a fuller accounting at democracy's birthplace."
posted by Postroad at 7:26 AM PST - 13 comments

Amien Cathedral. A virtual tour. Exterior and interior photos, drawings, movies, texts - most impressive.
Related :- virtual tour of Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle.
posted by plep at 6:48 AM PST - 4 comments

Become a GLM (Galactic Lord and Master) Your chance to invest in an expanding market (or is it steady state now, I forget), the Universe is up for grabs! Do you have a favourite astral body that you'd like to lay claim to? From Newscientist - Feedback.
posted by asok at 2:44 AM PST - 5 comments

Out of the desert, out of Africa: In war-torn Eritrea, former atomic physicist demonstrates radical new vision of Free-Market environmentalism. "...Imagine a farm where water is never in short supply and each crop leaves the soil more fertile. Now imagine that farm offering a solution to....global warming, declining water tables, loss of arable land, collapsing fisheries, and shrinking biodiversity. Finally, imagine that farm making money....Carl Hodges, an atmospheric physicist from the University of Arizona, no longer imagines such a farm. He's built one....Seawater Farms, a joint venture with the government of Eritrea on the Red Sea, is the first commercial-sized saltwater farm in the world....."
posted by troutfishing at 12:07 AM PST - 18 comments

Automatic Bad Movie Trailer Generator What's the worst movie title you can imagine? And who just has to be in it?
posted by quonsar at 10:17 PM PST - 22 comments

THIS OBJECT DOES NOT EXIST
so the world is flat and five-pointed, there is only one Springfield, and there will soon be fake fossils on Mars. and don't let any of these so-called "scientists" tell you something different.
posted by magikeye at 8:02 PM PST - 32 comments

Extreme Piggy Back Riding For the past 11 years, couples from around the world have been participating in the Carry Your Wife competition in Finland. Based in local legend, the husbands are required to carry their wives through water, across sand, and over man-made obstacles. The prize? Her weight in beer. warning: last link is video
posted by Stynxno at 4:32 PM PST - 1 comment

Oh, I So Wish So-And-So Were On The Other Side! Just move over, dude! For conservatives, it's often the case that our allies are a damn sight worse than our worst so-called enemies. Here's a prime example, extremely rare in its totality: an embarrassing piece by an embarrassing neo-con, John Laughland, about an even more embarrassing neo-con, Michael Ledeen, in a totally embarrassing magazine, American Conservative. Do liberals and lefties have it any easier? Who are the Center's and the Left's most difficult-to-explain compagnons de route dudes? Quite honestly - and although they're certainly not immune to the exquisite unease of political companionship - I enviously fear that they do.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:58 PM PST - 63 comments

July 1942: United We Stand "Seven months after the United States entered World War II, magazines nationwide featured the American flag on their covers. Adopting the slogan United We Stand, some five hundred publications waved the stars and stripes to promote national unity, rally support for the war, and celebrate Independence Day."
posted by owillis at 9:18 AM PST - 60 comments

Preacher asks for a sign, and gets one. Is this the wonder-working power Bush was talking about in the State of the Union Address? Oddly enough this list of indoor lightning safety tips doesn't suggest staying the hell away from charismatic preachers.
posted by stonerose at 8:46 AM PST - 22 comments

Exotic Entomology. 'Provided for your delight are a small number of the world's butterflies and moths, taken from Dru Drury's three-volume monograph entitled Illustrations of Exotic Entomology.'
Related :- Schreber's Fabulous Beasts. 'In 1774 Johann Christian Dan Schreber authored a multivolume set of books entitled Die Saugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Focusing on mammals of the world, these books were lavishly illustrated with 755 hand-colored plates ... '
posted by plep at 6:42 AM PST - 8 comments

That's enough about you.How about me? More from the New Int article (can't find a link) "comic books,films,mobile phones that take pictures all value the look of things much more than the meaning of things" Can't we all just love .... ourselves ? (don't mention blogging)
posted by johnny7 at 4:13 AM PST - 7 comments

Arnold Schwarzenegger is The Terminologist. (Real Audio link, relevant part starts at about 06:45)
An 'ill-literate' take on a summer blockbuster movie from Gary Roma, winner of the "Whad'ya Know" radio show's "Not Much Talent Contest" and "2001 Punster of the Year" according to the International Save the Pun Foundation (an award previously punwon by famed 'Verbivore' Richard Lederer).
Avoiding Real Audio? Here's a similarly themed piece, and more from his stand-up act.
Are you a glutton for pun-ishment? I've o-punned a Pun-dora's Box!
The Web has tons of puns! (homage to y2karl, who has one of MeFi's most punnish user names)
Hilarity en-sues (in small clowns court)! If there's justice, they'll throw the book at me... a Karmic Book! It's pun-demonium! Pun-cakes for everybody!!!
Or as Gary Roma puts it, "Take my word! Please!"
posted by wendell at 1:54 AM PST - 10 comments

Ebay Will Buy Oracle? Tim O'Reilly reads the trends and tea leaves, and forsees a day when "The value will be driven up the stack to data." One implication of this is that web-service based companies will take over the world. Thus his prediction that Ebay will buy Oracle, which is less a specific prognostication as a potential example. [via slashdot.org]
posted by weston at 12:00 AM PST - 12 comments

Independence Days Worldwide. Happy Independence Week, Bahamas! or What else happens in July? There's a lot of independence holidays, as there was a fair bit of colonialism to get out from under during the 19th/20th centuries. And most countries in general have important victories and events to celebrate... many of us are familiar with Bastille Day and Cinco de Mayo, for example. The dates aren't so much important as the realization of the stories and struggles that have gone on and still go on around the world, but the dates are a place to start.
posted by namespan at 11:45 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm not precisely sure what's going on here, but it's pretty, and it tinkles. [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 9:27 PM PST - 25 comments

Microsimulation of road traffic with a time-continuous model [via MagentBox]
posted by riffola at 6:34 PM PST - 14 comments

Meet the People of the Peacock Angel, the Yezidi. Theirs is a religion and culture centered near Mosul, Iraq, as well as Syria, the Caucasus, the via the diaspora in Germany. Seclusive and secretive, the Yezidi have often been maligned by outsiders due to misinterpretations of the nature of their primary Deity, Malak Taus (once a rebel angel who recreated the world and doused the fires of hell with his tears). Gurdjieff (pt. I, pt. II) may have been heavily influenced by them. Unlike other middle-eastern religions, the Yezidi have rejected dualism and, therefore, the ideas of sin and evil. Various versions float around of the Black Book of the Yezidi and other works that form their sacred literature. Wars, political pogroms and proselytizing have placed this beautiful, complex and misunderstood tradition in jeopardy.
posted by moonbird at 4:34 PM PST - 14 comments

Scamming the scammer Somewhere along the line I think we've all wondered what would happen if we answered the Nigerian 419 scam email. Now we don't have to. Someone calling himself 'ebola monkey man' has been taking the scammer's on a email journey to the point that he will only agree to send them money if they send him a silly picture of themselves holding up a sign with their name on... [via b3ta]
posted by feelinglistless at 3:59 PM PST - 11 comments

The First, The Last, The Everything. Barry White, soul legend, dies at 56.
posted by metaxa at 1:56 PM PST - 27 comments

You got me trippin.' For those of you who miss some of the visuals of controlled substances. Not high-tech, but some fun candy.
posted by datawrangler at 1:32 PM PST - 10 comments

living in atlanta? missing kozmo? meet zifty! they're closed for the holiday today, but if you've got a hankering for snackage, movies or the essentials of life (and you live in cental atlanta), then zifty might just fill that portion of your life that's been empty since april 11, 2001.

has anyone spotted any other companies attempting to reproduce the kozmo experience on a low-coverage, one-city-only scale? even with all of its instant gratification, does this idea really stand a chance?
posted by grabbingsand at 12:21 PM PST - 10 comments

Wales and sports. I'd not put the two together, being from across the Atlantic. But, as we approach next weekend's Mountain Bike Bog Snorkeling Championship, I'm amazed the sport isn't better known in the States. Though, after reading about it from the 2000 Woman's champion, I think I'd rather participate in their horse racing marathon (there's a big bonus for crossing the finish before the horse) or bikeless bog snorkeling events. What sporting events are there where you're from that haven't yet gotten the world wide audience they deserve?
posted by bragadocchio at 11:03 AM PST - 1 comment

Box-Bots are robot-like collages made only from product packaging and labels. My favorite: Strawberry Pop Tarts.
posted by iconomy at 10:45 AM PST - 13 comments

Watch the watchers. Government Information Awareness:A single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations related to the government of the United States of America.
posted by srboisvert at 9:27 AM PST - 5 comments

Sweatshop-free T-shirts "We are not about "made in USA". We are about American values. We believe in the American dream and want to do more for our customers and employees. We are pro-workers rights— whether in Los Angeles or anywhere in the world. We manufacture in the United States not because we are crazy flag fanatics but because it is the most vibrant T-shirt market in the world and therefore the most efficient place to manufacture our T-shirts." In the middle of one of the worst economic climates in decades, with (actual) unemployment near 9 percent, an American company with the courage to compete against the Global Sweatshop economy. Is Politically-driven consumer markets the future? Or do you really need that Nike logo? Could "Sweatshop-free IT Services" be far behind?
posted by reality at 7:44 AM PST - 38 comments

Anyone for tardis tennis? Not much of an FPP, but its Friday and its Flash and its mildly irritating fun.
posted by biffa at 7:38 AM PST - 8 comments

432: Cosmic Key. 'A compendium of fact, theory and speculation relating to the number 432, and its primary divisors and multiples - 108, 216, 864, 1296; and also the number 9 - being the sum of digits 4+3+2; with excursions into many other mysterious and exotic phenomena. ' Good clean fun.
posted by plep at 5:19 AM PST - 10 comments

The Vertically Inclined Photographer: Shooting Paris, Rome, the French Riviera and the Loire Valley from a low-flying plane is Patrick Durand's photographic obsession. It's an interesting flat alternative to Horst Hamann's [click on "Gallery" and go to "New Verticals"] tall vertical New York. There's something very exciting about looking at familiar sights from an unfamiliar point of view. [Both sites very, perhaps too Flash.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:34 AM PST - 14 comments

You too can build thunderous and exciting matchstick rockets!
posted by crunchland at 7:53 PM PST - 18 comments

If you want something done, do it yourself; tired of the browser timeout that came when he mis-spelled the domain name of one of his favorite (and most-visited) sites, this enterprising young man took matters into his own hands. But I encourage you to take his advice and not mess with him while looking for backdoors.
posted by jonson at 7:03 PM PST - 29 comments

How to photograph fireworks. Courtesy of the New York Institute of Photography.
posted by riffola at 5:04 PM PST - 7 comments

In honor of the centenary of the artist's death, the Centre for Whistler Studies at the University of Glasgow is releasing an Online Centenary Edition of the correspondence of James McNeill Whistler (bio, images). Part I of the edition, just released, includes about 1,700 fully annotated and cross-referenced letters from 1855-1880, which can be searched by, among other things, subject and the work of art discussed--including the famous "Portrait of the Painter's Mother" (image). By next year, the edition will include over 8,000 letters that together illuminate the life of one of America's first master artists.
posted by arco at 2:56 PM PST - 4 comments

Latex Vac-Bed "By vacuuming the air from between two layers of 14 gauge latex, the vac-bed immobilizes the person inside and produces an extremely restrictive and sensual experience." Safe for work, but the rest of the site isn't.
posted by Mwongozi at 2:05 PM PST - 33 comments

Did UFO's originate in Ancient India? According to Indian legend, the kingdom of Rama existed at the same time as the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Both kingdoms developed airships that could fly not only between countries, but also into outerspace. The Indian ships, called Vimanas, are described in many ancient manuscripts, and perhaps most spectacularly in the Mahabarata, in which some believe there is a description of an ancient nuclear war. Is it possible that such technology could have been lost in antiquity, or kept in the posession of some "secret society"? Fascinating stuff...
posted by greengrl at 12:46 PM PST - 28 comments

Greendale. For his recent tour, Neil Young is staying true to form and surprising the hell out of people by performing his new multimedia-rock-opera-dvd-epic-type-thing in its entirety and yelling at the increasingly unruly audience who came to hear his classics. Although a project of this magnitude has long been the domain of wonderfully, unashamedly pompous old bands in the 70's, I find myself rather intrieged. Am I alone in welcoming this kind of concert surprise?
posted by ghastlyfop at 12:24 PM PST - 47 comments

A Lifestyle Phenomenon An interview with TiVo's Michael Ramsay where he talks about free celebrity promotion, drop in price, competition, and viewing habits (previously discussed). An interesting read on an American phenomenon.
posted by evening at 12:09 PM PST - 15 comments

Finally! Sauna Pants! Please, won't you think of the spermatozoa for the children? via Portal of Evil
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:07 PM PST - 7 comments

In the spirit of July 4th, the National Review made a list of ten great things to love about the United States.
posted by Beholder at 11:50 AM PST - 124 comments

Verbal Attack: Dave Suthibut ignores the crappy job market and applies for positions like it's 1999. He uses his blog to keep track of e-mail exchanges between himself and H/R personnel. (via handcoding)
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:04 AM PST - 34 comments

More details on the Blair Hornstein case. Read how she manipulated the grading system, what her illness is supposed to be, and how much she was able to accomplish despite "exhaustion."
posted by MikeB at 10:18 AM PST - 32 comments

The Exonerated
Want to see some great theater and learn a bit about our great system of justice and capital punishment? Then The Exonerated may be the show for you.

The other night I went to see The Exonerated, which has been playing Off Broadway since last fall and is also appearing in theaters around the country this year. Composed wholly from court records and interviews by playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, this documentary drama recounts true tales of horror from the American criminal-justice system. The actors sit downstage and read their parts as the stories of six innocent citizens condemned to death row unfold. If this sounds like a worthy endeavor, it is; if it sounds dull or didactic, it isn’t.
posted by nofundy at 9:09 AM PST - 2 comments

Miracles You Will See In The Next 50 Years From Popular Mechanics, February 1950, Page 112. Ah, yes, I remember Yesterday's Tomorrows. Hey! Where's my robot slave? Why, I oughta... I'll Futurama you! Hey everybody--let's all sing There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow! Mmm... The Future In Song
posted by y2karl at 6:07 AM PST - 33 comments

Dinosaur says what? A spokesman for the company that manages the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and other acts said that his clients "would rather not contribute to the demise of the album format." As if the years of filler-crammed CDs (from nearly every band) hadn't killed it off already.
posted by baltimore at 5:38 AM PST - 53 comments

Now that a certain disasterous movie is all but forgotten (everywhere but Robert DeNiro's bank account), here is the script that should have been produced:
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Horror Picture Show.
Two great tastes that taste great together...
posted by wendell at 5:27 AM PST - 6 comments

The world's weather is going haywire. So says the World Meteorological Organisation. "The unstable world of climate change has long been a prediction. Now, the WMO says, it is a reality." Where is the Kyoto Protocol when you need it?
posted by jonvaughan at 4:38 AM PST - 51 comments

Are You A Cheapskate? Do you avoid paying for anything? Does the word "free" set your heart racing? Are you bargain-mad? Does this sort of thing interest you? Is the Web the ultimate cheapskate arena?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:49 AM PST - 19 comments

The Official Ray Gordon FAQ. From the 'Eeeek! Usenet!!' files vol. MCXII. With a a lot of legal stuff going on for added zing. [via lightningfield.com]
posted by i_cola at 2:17 AM PST - 7 comments

US National Archives & Records Administration Exhibit Hall. Some good American history pieces - the Emancipation Proclamation, government drawings, 20th century photographs, the New Deal and the arts, panoramic photography, 1970s Chicago, World War 2 posters, gifts to presidents, and more.
posted by plep at 2:08 AM PST - 4 comments

The Dance of Death. Die Totentanz: A German-language site spotlighting, for example, the dance of death in literature, graphic art, music and film. For those, like me, whose German is not so good, this page offers an English-language history of the phenomenon, and the Catholic Encyclopedia has an article too. See also Holbein's Dance-of-Death; Lübeck's Dance-of-Death; and umm, this.
posted by misteraitch at 12:21 AM PST - 14 comments

Music crticism in weblogs: Chat rooms and vanity sites seem so mid-’90s in internet terms, but the future of music criticism is lurking deep in the blogosphere. An article from Toronto-based free magazine, Exclaim!
posted by hoder at 10:21 PM PST - 21 comments

How to not get caught downloading from Kazaa. Download Kazaa Lite 2.1.0. Delete your old kazaa through add/remove. After installing, go to Options-More Options and check prevent other users from getting a list of all your files. You will still be able to share your files, but people cant see an entire list of the files you are sharing! Brought to you by the same people who made Quicktime Alternative, the alternative quicktime codec that doesn't require bloatware.
posted by Keyser Soze at 8:58 PM PST - 38 comments

What's that up in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Warrior of Love Rainbowman!
Japanese superheroes from the 70's. Via Coudal
posted by btwillig at 8:46 PM PST - 11 comments

traffic jam simulator [note: java applet]
posted by crunchland at 7:43 PM PST - 20 comments

Roobarb For people of a certain age in Britain, the name Roobarb conjures up visions of a large green dog in wobbly animation, with Richard Briers describing his every turn. Now we have the news that new episodes are to be made using Flash animation for the web. While that's being prepared, the entire series is being released for viewing online over the coming months, starting with 'When Roobarb Made A Spike'. Cue pub discussion about old kids programmes ... Anyone remember 'Henry's Cat' or 'Chips Comic'?
posted by feelinglistless at 4:19 PM PST - 18 comments

Unidentified marine blob stages first beach landing assault of unidentified marine blob species! Can't survive in air! Dies. I for one welcome our new blob... Aw, sorry, guys, it's a reflex.
posted by klaatu at 2:42 PM PST - 37 comments

Why Girls are Weird. In the ongoing debate of weblogs versus online journals, one journal-writer just hit a major milestone: bestselling fiction. Pamela Ribon, also a recapper for Television Without Pity, attracted recent attention when she asked her readers to support the Oakland Public Library, and they responded in record numbers. Those online fans are now responding again. Ribon released her first novel, Why Girls Are Weird, on July 1st, and her Amazon Sales Rank has shot up to 212 on some days, beating out other best-sellers for sales. Pretty amazing feat, considering the book was still in pre-sales and has yet to have publicity outside of her own web presence. The story, a fictional account of a woman who creates an online journal only to find fame, fortune and romance, is loosely based on Ribon's own experiences at pamie.com. In fact, sections of the book are from her former archives. So, will history repeat itself? How many of you are planning to try and publish your archives?
posted by astruc at 1:32 PM PST - 26 comments

Go south, young man! An MIT student attempts to sail to Cuba on an outrigger canoe. Hallucinations, not hilarity, ensues.
posted by xmutex at 1:13 PM PST - 23 comments

The French Flash Festival website provides an introduction to many francophone flash treats such as a visit to the surreal Rolitoland, the fun sound experiments at Audiogame, the endearing Plok! or the strange goings on at Incorect. Lots more to explore on the festival site (click on 'preselections' for the shortlist)
posted by gravelshoes at 11:44 AM PST - 5 comments

Bush dares Iraqis to kill U.S. soldiers "There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring them on," Bush said. "We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."
Is it wise to goad Iraqis into killing Americans?
Is it an impeachable offense?
posted by Holden at 11:35 AM PST - 133 comments

Kraft announces plans to stop marketing in schools and to make products healthier Sure, maybe they're only doing it because they're being sued, but it's nice to see a company taking responsible steps without being forced to. Now if only all other junk food makers would do the same, or schools stopped allowing the junk foods in.
posted by callmejay at 9:57 AM PST - 85 comments

Vancouver gets the games. 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, BC. Maybe now we can get a Mefi meetup.
posted by timeistight at 8:50 AM PST - 36 comments

Berlusconi calls Godwin. Berlusconi lost his cool in response to criticism of an alleged conflict of interest between his political office and his extensive Italian media interests by German Socialist MEP Martin Schulz. "Mr. Schulz, I know there is in Italy a man producing a film on the Nazi concentration camps. I would like to suggest you for the role of leader. You'd be perfect,'' Berlusconi exclaimed to jeers in the chamber.
posted by four panels at 8:19 AM PST - 28 comments

The BBC are liars who put out Nazi propaganda, are rife with political bias and seem to taking it from all sides recently (though the publically funded body is not without a history of this sort of thing.)
The Guerilla News Network writes a nice little summation of the corporation's recent fisticuffs, and wishes America had a news organisation with balls like Auntie.
Snubbed by the Chinese, Israel and Alistair Campbell... they must be doing something right, surely.
posted by Blue Stone at 8:12 AM PST - 36 comments

"Mail order brides are not British Airway's normal line of business." BBC reporter wonders where his spam comes from and is surprised to learn that a major airline has become an unwitting accomplice with a trail leading through South America, Moscow, and Scandinavia.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 7:54 AM PST - 7 comments

Piven World - a fun flash portfolio of celebrity caricatures and portraits. I like his witty technique of incorporating "defining" objects. (via oink!)
posted by madamjujujive at 7:46 AM PST - 5 comments

Welcome back, Jorn -- The host of RobotWisdom and coiner of "weblog" has been on an unexplained break since mid-May, leaving some to wonder if it was for good. But he's back. Now if he would drop the Iraq-protest-black background so we could actually read it . . .
posted by beagle at 6:28 AM PST - 41 comments

The United States is cutting off military aid to 35 countries, including Colombia and six east European nations, because they back the International Criminal Court and have not exempted Americans from possible prosecution.
"...the Bush administration is afraid the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, backed by most European countries, might hear politically motivated prosecutions of U.S. military and civilian leaders."
posted by jonvaughan at 4:17 AM PST - 55 comments

Walking Things is an environment that generates small, walking computational organisms. "Each walking thing is built up from totally random conditions. Appearance, behavior, and walking characteristics are all assigned from a range enabling effective, functional mobility. Click on a walking thing to permutate its characteristics".

Just one of the very many wonderful (open source) creations at levitated.net (more bugs with bling here). Kick off your shoes, fill your coffee cup or wine glass, and dip in.
posted by taz at 3:47 AM PST - 12 comments

It's Not Easy Being B: Like Avis, they try harder. So let's hear it for for the only slightly famous; the not famous enough; the famous for infamous reasons; the heard-of but couldn't-give-a-shit-for; the over-eager and under-achieving B-Listers. Poor bastards. Only A-Listers and C-Listers are worse, no?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:13 AM PST - 16 comments

The video MTV doesn't want you to see [.asx. file]: Apparently the new Foo Fighters video is just too risque for the cutting edge entertainment channel (~pffft). This brief NYpost article has more. Either way, it's hilarious. It co-stars Jack Black, which is good enough for me. "Let's put the hammer down!"
posted by Witty at 12:59 AM PST - 33 comments

Rocklist. Lists may not be everyone's thing, but I love this stuff. Not the prettiest of sites but Julian White has collected End of Year music polls from many different publications, ranging from the now-defunct Select to the Village Voice to The Face. The NME Readers Poll (Pop Poll) is one my favourites. Bjork was 1993's most Desirable Human Being which I find a little strange - much happier with 1990's choice. Aahh Betty Boo...
posted by jontyjago at 12:39 AM PST - 7 comments

Flaoting Wreckage: Jettisoned Cargo has ceased to be. Often it was the only place you would need to visit, so good were the links it provided. Hats off to Kirk Smith, I can barely comprehend that it was a solo operation. I feel quite bereft. There is still plenty to look at though, he just isn't updating.
posted by Fat Buddha at 12:29 AM PST - 3 comments

A Year in the Life of a Kyoto Neighbourhood. Actually, more like about six months, but still a worthwhile project.
Related :- the Play of Light, Kyoto and Nepal at night.
Also :- seasons in the Natural History Museum garden, London.
posted by plep at 11:54 PM PST - 4 comments

Wussy Boy. Wussy Boy Manifesto. The Wussy Boy Chronicles.
Excerpt: Is A Wussy Boy/Is Not A Wussy Boy - A wuss upon wusses.
posted by y2karl at 8:24 PM PST - 8 comments

Physicists have discovered a new class of subatomic particle that will provide unexpected insights into the fundamental building blocks of matter. The new particle is the so-called pentaquark - five quarks in formation.
posted by stbalbach at 8:10 PM PST - 11 comments

Nepal: A Travel Journal
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:00 PM PST - 4 comments

Bitpass.com: A micropayment service for content providers. Many many worthy sites have been lost because they could not afford to continue, even though users would have been happy to pay for their service. Unfortunately, a system has not been in place to service the small transactions (paying fifty cents for a ten cent transaction is the opposite of making money). Enter Bitpass. Facilitating transactions as little as one cent, maybe online artists, cartoonists, pundits, humorists, etc, can start making money.
posted by o2b at 7:56 PM PST - 20 comments

unknown movies ~ database of the obscure, unknown & little-shown movies.
posted by crunchland at 7:39 PM PST - 7 comments

You say this coming, I'm sure. It's Canada's 136th birthday. Come up to Ottawa for the biggest, and I mean BIGGEST party of the year. Enjoy free live shows from The Guess Who, Leahy, Daniel Lanois or La Bottine Souriante, to name a few. Watch the parade. Oh, and fireworks. Be proud of the Maple Leaf!
posted by ashbury at 7:33 PM PST - 8 comments

Flame on. Bloggers gain libel protection .
posted by the fire you left me at 6:55 PM PST - 10 comments