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MU QT [via S/FJ]
posted by felix betachat at 11:43 PM PST - 23 comments

Everyone hates spyware (even MS is getting into the anti-spyware game) for a whole host of obvious reasons, but someone out there must like it, right? One person tracked down the people that love it so much they've given millions of dollars in funding for spyware companies. That's over $100 million to make more spyware. If you check out the portfolio of some of these investment firms (1, 2, 3, 4 and even the dude in charge of The WELL is in on it?!) there are quite a lot of everyday brands funded by the same group that fuels such great software as the uber evil Gator.
posted by mathowie at 10:26 PM PST - 19 comments

Scary recipes from the past! Included: Jello molds with meat inside, weird dinners made with hot dogs (including Circle Dogs, which would be the name of my band if I had one), and tuna spaghetti. Actually, I'd like to try some of the desserts...
posted by braun_richard at 10:25 PM PST - 27 comments

Big Crash! An iceberg the size of Long Island is about to impact a land-bound ice mass in Anarctica. Stand back!
posted by erebora at 9:04 PM PST - 10 comments

The NHL? Fix it for forget it. ESPN suggests how we could start over.
posted by tranquileye at 8:37 PM PST - 70 comments

Everything will be good. (flash) via ELVIStazo
posted by madamjujujive at 8:03 PM PST - 19 comments

Maps
Looking for Maps? Please click on the country of interest.
• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• United Kingdom
• United States

Found while searching for this thread.
posted by fenriq at 7:12 PM PST - 23 comments

Platonic Ideal? Or banality? Some chums and I were having the classic argument over 3d package superiority when we discovered, overjoyed, that they all had one thing in common, the Utah Teapot. I didn't realize this oddball shape had a history, or that is was real . . . but if the virtual (actual scan!) isn't your gig, whip out yer foldin' fingers.
posted by undule at 7:09 PM PST - 12 comments

Some films are great, others bomb, but only one truly stank. Twenty-five years ago today, "Scent of Mystery" opened in New York and became the only movie released in Smell-O-Vision.
posted by ..ooOOoo....ooOOoo.. at 6:45 PM PST - 10 comments

THE SITE OF MOVIE MAGAZINES has it all... Whether you like Continental Film Review, Trash Times, or Sleazioid Express, if it's low-budget, they probably have it.
ATTN: Magazines mostly NSFW, unless your tastes run more towards the Christian Filmworks oeuvre....
posted by lilboo at 6:40 PM PST - 3 comments

Yet more amazing secret new stuff from Apple already in store. Maybe.
posted by skylar at 4:45 PM PST - 35 comments

Was the Amazon rain forest home to complex societies?
posted by stbalbach at 4:15 PM PST - 8 comments

Mappr demonstrates the potential of open web APIs by plotting recently uploaded Flickr photos onto their locations using an interactive map of the US. Map24 mixes Mapquest and Keyhole (previously discussed here) by doing realtime zooming on your driving directions; good for not losing context on those tricky merges. The National Map lets you see overlaid info from the US government's geologic surveys. What are some of the best designed interactive map sites?
posted by acid freaking on the kitty at 4:06 PM PST - 19 comments

Bob Marley goes home? Looks like Bob Marley will get what he wished for here and return to Africa. Well, his bones will anyway. I always thought exhumed was an interesting word, see also disinter.
posted by fixedgear at 3:01 PM PST - 23 comments

The DNA of Literature. The Paris Review, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, makes available free .pdfs of fifty years of interviews with leading writers.
posted by rushmc at 2:37 PM PST - 7 comments

The University of San Diego maintains an archive of Ethics Videos on the Web, with RealMedia streams of thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum [Wikipedia] (on "Shame, Stigma, and Punishment"), Richard Rorty, and many others. Check out the full catalogue or browse by topics such as End of Life Decisions or Bioethics. [RealPlayer required to watch videos.]
posted by ori at 2:09 PM PST - 4 comments

"I don't see how you can be president at least from my perspective, how you can be president, without a relationship with the Lord," said George W. Bush yesterday. (Really? I do.) While giant crosses are banned from next Thursday's inauguration, Jesus likely won't be, despite Michael Newdow's protestations. By the way, the benediction is scheduled to be delivered by The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, who also got the honor in 2001. Back then, he said to millions of bowed heads gathered to mark the beginning of the Bush presidency: "We respectfully submit this humble prayer in the name that's above all other names, Jesus, the Christ. Let all who agree say, 'Amen.'" After gay rights, is discrimination against atheists the next great civil rights battle of our time? Or should we just shut up and move to France?
posted by Saucy Intruder at 1:10 PM PST - 90 comments

Roots Manuva's "Ventriloshiznit Machine" Recombine rhymes as you please and hear them spit back via Mr. Manuva with this flash toy/promotional item for his new single "Colossal Insight." Helpful for the flow-impaired or those who would like those magnetic poetry things more if they were recited to them by a bobble-head MC. [Flash + Audio]
posted by Swampjazz! at 12:58 PM PST - 6 comments

Linguists Gone Wild Linguists from The American Dialect Society and the Linguistic Society of America recently met to vote for the Words of the Year, in various categories—Most Useful, Creative, Unnecessary, Outrageous, and Euphemistic; Most and Least Likely To Succeed; and an overall Word of the Year... no one really cares unless we pretend that These Are Important Words That Define Us as Americans. Still, that's marginally better than the alternate interpretation: This Is How Scholars Waste Their Time When They Could Be Doing Real Work.
posted by weepingsore at 11:42 AM PST - 23 comments

MGM animator Irv Spence's cartoon diary for 1944. A cartoon of the day's happenings for every day in 1944 -- reprinted daily thoughout 2005. "These images are scanned from xeroxes an incalculable number of generations removed from the originals. Apparently, no amount of shoddy reproduction can suck the life out of these drawings..."
posted by Robot Johnny at 11:23 AM PST - 6 comments

It's official: US gives up search for Iraq WMD.
posted by airguitar at 10:57 AM PST - 232 comments

Woman Blows Up Home, Roaches Survive ... A 20-something woman in Jersey City, NJ, had a roach infestation, so she bought a few roach foggers and set them off in her kitchen. She then walked out of the house just before the pilot light on her stove ignited the fog. The resulting blast blew out a window, messed up the kitchen, and -- in a lucky break that saved her from injury -- slammed the door shut behind her. The truly sad part is that the roaches survived both the fogging and the explosion, according to firefighters who put out the blaze.
posted by nathanrudy at 9:38 AM PST - 41 comments

B of the Bang. Manchester's commemoration of the Commonwealth Games "unveiled" tonight. This is far from the first Thomas Heatherwick design to grace urban areas: other sculptures of note include Paddington's roll-up bridge, Newcastle's Blue Carpet, some roundabouts in Essex and this, er, thing. Shame his website design doesn't match the beauty of his other creations.
posted by grahamspankee at 9:29 AM PST - 8 comments

Charles Eames (1907-78) and Ray Eames (1912-88) gave shape to America's twentieth century. Their lives and work represented the nation's defining social movements: the West Coast's coming-of-age, the economy's shift from making goods to the producing information, and the global expansion of American culture. This Library of Congress exhibit outlines major themes of the Eames' life and voluminous works, including architecture, furniture, and the film Powers of Ten. It is wonderfully illustrated with artifacts, photos of their life and work, and examples from the Eames' collection of 350,000 slides.
posted by carter at 9:22 AM PST - 14 comments

Life in the future. In the year 2,000 "everything will be so easy that people will probably die from sheer boredom." Workweeks will be 24 hours and the home computer will be the new status symbol.
posted by caddis at 9:19 AM PST - 46 comments

Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary Containing over 3000 pages the Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary was billed as A description of tools, instruments, machines, processes and engineering; history of inventions; general technological vocabulary. Published in 1876 it is a great resource for those trying to figure out how things were done in the time of our great (great?) grand parents. Ilustrations, upwards of 5000 engravings, include a ride inside monocycle, trestle bridges, compound microscope, clod crushers, washing machines, spoke driver, hydraulic wagon-tipper, and a farmers tool-house. Warning: the book has been scanned in and all the item links are to 100-150K images.
posted by Mitheral at 8:12 AM PST - 10 comments

Ann Telneas is an editorial cartoonist. She started out working for Disney Imagineering as a designer. She has also been an animator for various studios in London, Los Angeles, New York and Taiwan. She now holds many awards for her cartoons and is in several prestige publications. Her works are an impressive array of political caricatures, feminism, and cultural issues
posted by Hands of Manos at 8:04 AM PST - 12 comments

Upon this desiccating planet, will I employ religion to increase pain threshold. Why? So I may get my freak on.
posted by mcgraw at 8:01 AM PST - 28 comments

Texan MeFites, finally there's a candidate you can believe in. Singer/Songwriter, novelist and now statesman. God bless america...
posted by jonmc at 7:23 AM PST - 44 comments

sacred science The scientific method is a tool for determining objective truth about the world around us, right? But not everybody thinks so. From being a proof of God's existance to a mere socio-pilotical construct, scientific humanism is under attack.
posted by MadOwl at 3:31 AM PST - 50 comments

Boycott Bush's inauguration by not spending any money on inauguration day
posted by three blind mice at 2:24 AM PST - 51 comments

More incredible stuff from MacWorld!!! Extra little bonus item announced!! Weeeee! I'm sure you all can't WAIT!!!
posted by jimjam at 2:09 AM PST - 110 comments

Another working blogger bites the dust - "This was moaning about not getting your birthday off or not getting on with your boss. I wasn't libelling anyone or giving away trade secrets."

The company he worked for, Waterstones, saw differently. More on the subject here.
posted by triv at 1:31 AM PST - 56 comments