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Ms Dewey: A is a search engine with a "human" face. I can't understand why anyone would think this is a good idea, but whoever did seems to have spent a lot of money doing it.
posted by delmoi at 10:49 PM PST - 104 comments

As he read, Mr Sterling became convinced he had to publish the book. Jed Rubenfeld's "The Interpretation of Murder" had an intriguing cast of characters, an engaging plot and a dash of kinky sex. It was a historical thriller, one of publishing's hottest recent categories. It had the potential, he thought, to be the next "Da Vinci Code."

The Wall Street Journal details the fascinating mechanics of modern-day book marketing as Henry Holt & Co labors to birth this year's must-buy publishing phenomenon.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:35 PM PST - 14 comments

The Worlds of David Darling. British astronomer and science writer David Darling has written over 10,000 articles for three massive online efforts: the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight, the Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living , and a related encyclopedia of concept vehicles. Though the diversity of entries can be eccentric, and some are quite short, the science seems solid: learn about the illicit corned beef sandwich of Gus Grissom, peruse a comprehensive set of advanced space propulsion concepts, and see a terrific illustrated listing of strange land and air vehicles (don't miss the Peel P50 microcar and the Volvo Gravity Car).
posted by blahblahblah at 9:34 PM PST - 2 comments

We live in a weird time. via plasticbag.org
posted by cgc373 at 8:23 PM PST - 17 comments

For centuries mankind has wondered if the Alien (from the movie Alien) could viably gestate in the plastic belly of a My Little Pony doll, and if it could, what would the offspring look like. Well, wonder no more. Final images here. Making of here.
posted by jonson at 7:58 PM PST - 67 comments

Yahoo! Time Capsule, from the artist that brought you justcurio.us (Mefi'd here), is the world's first digital time capsule. Submit images, words, videos, and sounds to a digital archive that will be sealed up in Smithsonian Folkway Recordings - Users have until November 8th to make submissions, at which point the capsule will be sealed. Check out the about page for a little more information on the project and the artist's statement.
posted by TheRoach at 7:09 PM PST - 6 comments

Does television cause autism? A statistical study by two professors at Cornell appears to find a correlation between autism and toddlers watching television.
posted by winston at 7:07 PM PST - 72 comments

Hearing Aid waiting list The BBC reports that in some British NHS hospitals the waiting list time for a digital hearing aid is 200 weeks (in others it is 2 weeks...) and perhaps 4m people could benefit from an aid, but don't have one. Not an NHS bashing - but what would the situation be elsewhere? Presumably in some countries - the US? - the waiting list for a digital hearing aid would be infinite, eg if you don't have the money you'll not get one? Does Medicare/Aid cover this over 65? What about Canada?
posted by A189Nut at 4:39 PM PST - 48 comments

Mexican government bans American Catholics who sued Mexico City Prelate The Mexican government took the unprecedented and controversial step of banning Dave Clohessy of SNAP and Jeffrey Anderson, a lawyer specializing in abuse cases, from entering the country for five years. The men had filed a lawsuit against Mexico City Archbishop Norbeto Rivera, who they allege covered up sex abuse in his diocese.
posted by parmanparman at 3:46 PM PST - 14 comments

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.
posted by landis at 3:43 PM PST - 137 comments

A Reuter's media reporter has been assigned to a new bureau in the virtual world of Second Life: "This is where the story is."
posted by camcgee at 2:37 PM PST - 49 comments

Stick magnetic ribbons on your SUV. A downloadable ditty from the Asylum Street Spankers. "The Spankers preemptively state that current and former members of our band are veterans of the military, we support American troops and we love our country, especially its Constitution and Bill of Rights, but also its movies, music, whiskey and regional cuisine." (YouTubeFilter, IraqFilter, language NSFW, ouch!)
posted by chipr at 2:20 PM PST - 26 comments

The Transportation Research Board released their 3rd edition of Commuting in America. Among their findings, a 50% increase in "extreme commuters", those with a one way commute of more than 60 minutes; 8% of Americans are now in this category. 25 years ago, 1 in 5 commeters carpooled. Today, only 1 in 10. And the dominant commuting pattern is now suburb to suburb or city to suburb. [via NPR]
posted by jaimev at 12:40 PM PST - 31 comments

Why don't Americans care about the loss of privacy? Give your SSN for a 50 cent coupon? Have your car tracked by EZ-Pass? Have a security camera on the corner? Who cares?
posted by SansPoint at 12:16 PM PST - 112 comments

Great White Shark Live on the Monterey Bay Aquarium webcam. This is the second time [mefi thread] they've kept a carcharodon carcharias in captivity. They hope to raise awareness of ocean conservation and the complexity of Great Whites. They are far from simple killing machines as the media often makes them out to be. They are also endangered despite legislation to protect them. Amazing creatures though [youtube].
posted by cal71 at 12:15 PM PST - 40 comments

"THIN is a photographic essay and a documentary film about the treatment of eating disorders. In 1997, Lauren Greenfield began documenting the lives of patients at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Grove, Florida, a forty-bed residential facility for the treatment of women with eating disorders. She subsequently returned to Renfrew to take more photographs, and was eventually given unprecedented access to film the daily lives of patients". (scroll down or search for "Greenfield"). 2002 MeFi post on Greenfield's previous project, "Girl Culture", here.
posted by matteo at 10:43 AM PST - 23 comments

"Over the last few weeks I have been introducing you to eight schools of criticism – Biographical, New Critical, Marxist, Structural, Jungian, Psychoanalytical, Feminist, and Post-Colonial – giving a little history behind each, and showing how they can be used to critique the video game Katamari Damacy for the PlayStation 2." [Part One | Part Two | Part Three]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:03 AM PST - 63 comments

America's 10 Dumbest Congressmen. How dumb are they? Bill Frist isn't even on the list.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 9:33 AM PST - 96 comments

The Computer Gaming World Archive. The first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World downloadable in pdf form, ads and all. 1981-89. (Url directs to splash page with ad, click link below to continue, pdf files somewhere around 20 megs.)
posted by pyramid termite at 9:11 AM PST - 17 comments

A 6.6. magnitude earthquake hit Hawaii on Sunday. The quake originated from 24 miles below the west coast of the Big Island. Mefi's own pzarquon posted photos of Honolulu without power, and there's also a photo pool. AP reports: "Across the state, residents reported little panic, and for some the loss of power meant it was time to sit outside, set up barbecues and talk with friends and neighbors."
posted by NemesisVex at 9:07 AM PST - 12 comments

Tomorrow morning at 7:46am, the US Population Clock will hit 300 million. As the world population continues to grow at a similar rate to ours, perhaps its time to start asking some questions. After all, if you can read this post, chances are you don't live in Africa, where "more than 2,500 children are dying each day," simply for lack of access to fresh drinking water. Its so easy not to worry about when you're not the 1 in 5 who can't get a clean drink. But there's lots of ways you can help.
posted by allkindsoftime at 9:03 AM PST - 39 comments

Washingupfilter: Bill Murray attends student party in Scotland with Scandinavians, does dishes.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:58 AM PST - 51 comments

Peter Gabriel has introduced a new iTunes plugin for Windows XP called The Filter. Using the All Music Guide in a fashion similar to Pandora, the software builds playlists from your library for you after you select a few tracks. Their marketing copy tells you that you should "Prepare to be reengaged and reinvigorated by your iTunes library."

OS X, WinAMP, and WMP versions are slated for the near future.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 7:07 AM PST - 55 comments

In Saturn's Shadow. Pictures of Saturn like none you've seen before, taken by Cassini while the planet was in between the probe and the sun. You can just make out Earth in the photos. Previously.
posted by cerebus19 at 6:45 AM PST - 17 comments

Arguing Against Datamining MySpace in search of Pedophiles. In certain circles, MySpace has become the villain de jour for all sorts of debauchery (threatening the President, phishing , dismembered women , etc.), as well as being fertile hunting grounds for the pedophile. Given the huge size of MySpace, reported as 100 million accounts (although estimates of active accounts are far lower, at approximately 43 million ), and an hypothetical and absurdly low natural incidence of pedophiles and pedarasts (let's say just 1%), one could assume that there could be as many as 430,000 to 1,000,000 of them out there. Wired contributor and reformed hacker (Kevin Poulson) has developed a script to weed out the bad seeds [via]. His script was effective, although it took several months of sifting and refining, as well as numerous false positives - 744 registered sex offenders, 497 with convictions for crimes against children. While such an experiment has merit, how much time, resources, and law enforcement manpower will be wasted chasing down the ""high-cost "false positives", and what will be neglected and sacrificed for that effort?
posted by rzklkng at 6:27 AM PST - 38 comments

Monday quiz fun. Can you spot the incorrect logos?
posted by Oriole Adams at 5:59 AM PST - 26 comments

Splice gives anyone, anywhere the ability to collaborate on music right through a web browser. Users can upload or record sounds, make songs, listen to other user's songs, make remixes, make friends and a whole lot more.
posted by crunchland at 5:14 AM PST - 7 comments

JJ Casalonga's Gallery of Odd Watches contains a number of rare and esoteric designs. Some are conventional but for being nearly transparent or made of wood, while others are truly bizarre and impractical. Is this what the timecube guy wears? Don't miss the Bolshevik counter-clockwise design.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:06 AM PST - 12 comments

Games games games. You've probably seen some of them before. But they're all based on good physics.
posted by Jimbob at 2:37 AM PST - 10 comments

From model to billboard in 60 seconds (qt mov).
posted by zardoz at 1:40 AM PST - 35 comments

...Objectives    This double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions...

Results    Psilocybin produced a range of acute perceptual changes, subjective experiences, and labile moods including anxiety. Psilocybin also increased measures of mystical experience. At 2 months, the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior consistent with changes rated by community observers.

Conclusions   When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. The ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.

Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance
posted by y2karl at 12:11 AM PST - 58 comments