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Let's learn about wavelets! OK, let's not. Notice, however, how differently wavelets are introduced across the web, and how widely authors construe terms like "gentle", "beginner", and "approachable." Do you know a website that clearly and creatively describes some complex topic? How do you teach well with the Internet?
posted by tss at 10:14 PM PST - 14 comments

"Don't Question Whether [They] Deserved Them or Not." Not only was no one held accountable for the visas unlawfully issued to the 9/11 terrorists, but now the State Department has rewarded officials responsible for the lax visa policies — that paved the way for the deaths of 3,000 innocent Americans — with large cash bonuses. [More Inside]
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 8:39 PM PST - 57 comments

Claude Dallas: the last outlaw? In 1981, Claude shot two Fish and Game officers who had come to take him to town for being in violation of wildlife laws. Apparently he "lived by the laws of nature; not the laws of man." It took 15 months to finally bring him in and his run from the law inspired a movie. After being sentenced to 30 years in prison, Claude escaped from the Idaho State Penitentiary and inspired a song of his exploits. Was Claude "the last outlaw" or just a murderer? What place do outlaws and renegades have in today's society?
posted by Hall at 6:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Why 'sustainable development' is neither. Globe & Mail Columnist Doug Sanders takes a shot at "Sustainable Developemnt." He says the Left likes it because it doesn't involve big corporations, and the right likes it because it reduces government spending, but the phrase now has as many as 57 competing definitions.
He asks "Should we rush to make the world wealthier first, so that cleanliness will then take care of itself?", since the countries that are the cleanest and have the most protected land are those that are the richest. After all, he says, "we all want to be rich, and we all want to be clean -- but not necessarily at the same time". India Is Interested, China Has A Plan, and I think we've discussed The Big Summit.
posted by Blake at 5:28 PM PST - 26 comments

Track down who gave you flu. Phylogenetic analysis will give you the power to point an accusing and probably infectious finger at your cold passing associate with scientific rigor. I look forward to the legal circus that will ensue as everyone on the planet sues everyone else for passing on a cold.
posted by srboisvert at 4:37 PM PST - 8 comments

The strange range of human behavior continues to draw us like moths to a flame. Consider Amanda Fielding who continually performed self-surgery on her braincase, Catharina Geisslerin, the woman who vomited frogs, and the Collyer brothers, who collected so much junk that it crushed them in their own home. Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first dictionary of the English language, was compelled to whirl, twist, and make highly ritualized hand motions when going through doors. When he went for a walk, he touched every post he passed. If he missed one, he went back to touch it. Recent research suggests that obsessive-compulsive child behaviors can be caused by strep infection. Who do you think are the most interesting, eccentric, and compulsive personalities?
posted by Morphic at 3:43 PM PST - 31 comments

What do Margaret Mitchell , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , George Orwell & Adolf Hitler have in common - other than that they are authors? [Answer inside]
posted by dash_slot- at 3:23 PM PST - 21 comments

It's fun to watch your tax dollars put politicians in office. "Cheney has been the White House road warrior this year, hauling in more than $22 million for Republicans in 74 campaign appearances"
posted by the fire you left me at 2:22 PM PST - 14 comments

The First Measured Century contains quite a bit of information about American society; population, work, education, religion, health, money, politics, crime and more. Everything from the median marriage age to the percentage of Americans who believe it is wrong to go to the movies on Sundays (13%).
posted by edlundart at 2:17 PM PST - 5 comments

Hannes Bok - Virgil Finlay were the premier illustrators of fantasy and science fiction for the first three quarters of the XXth Century. Bok was influenced in both technique and theme through correspondence and visits with Maxfield Parrish. Finlay learned scratch board, hatching and stippling in high school and began his career by sending six unsolicited drawings to Farnsworth Wright, the editor of Weird Tales, and becoming an immediate hit with readers and writers alike. The two primary online collections of Bok are The Art Work of Hannes Bok, from Poetic's Pagan Pages, and this Hannes Bok cover gallery from from Richard Garrison's Art of the Fantastic. Finlay is more well represented, with these two galleries, provided by one indexxs, being the treasure trove......... --Step within the tent for the rest of Dr. Lao's presentation...
posted by y2karl at 2:16 PM PST - 12 comments

Carthalia. Andreas Praefcke's postcard collection of theatres and concert halls worldwide. I wish I had a passion for something.
posted by Catch at 1:52 PM PST - 7 comments

Gunmen hold about 700 hostage in Moscow theater Gunfire has been heard from a Moscow theatre where about 20 armed gunmen are reported to be holding the audience, believed to be about 700 people, hostage. More: Muslim members of the audience ... were also allowed to leave, Interfax said.
posted by falameufilho at 12:58 PM PST - 58 comments

There are 202 initiatives on the ballot in 40 states this election cycle. "53 of the measures represent direct democracy at work: ideas placed on the ballot by citizen initiative, often designed specifically to reverse legislative action." Some of the initiatives make sense, some of them do not. I've got a list of awards for various categories of initiatives. Some of these awards are given with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

• Most Wasteful: This award goes to the initiative that will waste the most tax-payer dollars. And the winner is North Dakota's Youth Investment Initiative.
• Do-it-for-the-kids Award: Arnold Schwarzenegger may be rehearsing for a political role as he leads the campaign for Proposition 49, which would require state funding for after-school programs. Shouldn't parents be taking care of their kids after school? Why is the state of California becoming a nanny?
• Highest Ballot Measure: Nevada's initiative to legalize marijuana. 'Nuff said.
• Up-in-smoke Award: It's a tie between the Missouri and Arizona initiatives increasing the tax on a pack of cigarettes.
• Dumbest Initiative: Animal rights activists have place an initiative on the ballot in Florida to protect pregnant pigs. This initiative is dumb because it takes the extreme measure of making an amendment to the Florida constitution.
• Smartest Initiative: "Politicians are like diapers, they both must be changed frequently—and for the same reason." Idaho's term-limits proposal takes this award. Runner up goes to Oregon voters who will decide whether to list a choice of "none of the above" on all state ballots.

Anybody else have any more nominations?
posted by jasontromm at 12:39 PM PST - 75 comments

Liftoff with the Space Shuttle. NASA attached a small RocketCam to the side of the External Tank on the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis earlier this month. You can also download the full video.
posted by Mwongozi at 11:45 AM PST - 3 comments

Iraqis linked to Oklahoma atrocity This rumor has been arond for some time now, and the Bush group certainly might like to see a connection to Iraq, though the official version seems to deny such a connection. Is this a political move to make legitimate a war against Iraq or an attempt to re-open what might have been a botched detective job originally, or just plain utter nonsense?
posted by Postroad at 11:41 AM PST - 16 comments

Many of us learned about Rick Gleason, the Canadian badly injured in the Bali explosion, through the efforts of his friend, known to us on MetaFilter as stavrosthewonderchicken, who published regular updates on Rick's condition on his blog (see also this thread). Sadly, Rick has died in a Melbourne hospital (CBC, Canadian Press).
posted by mcwetboy at 11:16 AM PST - 131 comments

Helplessly Addicted to eBay Barbie!
posted by bclark at 10:59 AM PST - 10 comments

Strippers a better catch than a woman lawyer in a big firm? The Greedy Associates boards typically obsess over how hard it is for a 27-year-old, already making $150,000 a year, to make their Christmas bills without a mid-four-figures bonus. "Howard Beale" sparked a debate on whole 'nother issue...
posted by MattD at 10:33 AM PST - 24 comments

KozmoPr0n! Problem: You're ready to rub one out, but the adult video store is a lengthy 2 blocks away! For those of us living in Manhattan or Brooklyn, quality DVD porn is now just a phone call away, a la Kozmo or UrbanFetch. (something tells me this place will stay in business a bit longer...)
posted by adamms222 at 10:21 AM PST - 26 comments

The Mac is a typewriter. The ElectriClerk combines a 1988 Mac SE with a 1923 Underwood typewriter to produce "a fully-functional retrofitted prop computer." (Hmmm...where have I seen this before?) [via dive into mark]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Hyping the Sniper scared? Are you safely bunkered down at home watching Sniper Network News? Or do you, all spocklike and rational, calculate your risk from sniper fire from CDC mortality tables and conclude that death by sniper is only a little more likely than death by falling coconuts? Or do you decide to make your own 50 caliber sniper rifle in your home workshop to get them before they get you?
posted by troutfishing at 10:03 AM PST - 20 comments

I must keep on the move. I must not allow them to stop me or trace my whereabouts. I must keep on the move. I must not allow them to stop me or trace my whereabouts. I have set the date for the release in the future to allow time to build publicity. With the worlds full attention, these secret agencies or privately run factions cannot deny or lie to the public about what I will reveal. This smacks of hoax, but I'm leaving the final decision on that up to you.
posted by bryanzera at 9:46 AM PST - 85 comments

"Religions potentially offer practical, social, and motivational benefits to their adherents. But religions differ among themselves in the degree to which they motivate their adherents to have children, to rear those children to become productive members of society, and to convert or kill believers in competing religions. Those religions that are more successful in these respects will tend to spread, and gain and retain adherents, at the expense of other religions." So says Jared Diamond in his review of David Sloan Wilson's book, Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, which views religion from an evolutionary perspective. Another writer interested in the evolution of religions is Toby Lester, who examines how present-day religious movements are "mutating with Darwinian restlessness."
posted by homunculus at 9:45 AM PST - 5 comments

Elephant 6 is no longer. The sprawling music collective centred around the Apples in Stereo has officially disbanded. Alas, I guess that really does mean Neutral Milk Hotel and the Olivia Tremor Control are kaput. Sad. If these names mean nothing to you, and you're in search of good new music (as seems to be a recurring MeFi thread), check out the E6 collective, not to mention the new Apples album. You won't be disappointed.
posted by chumptastic at 9:42 AM PST - 13 comments

Postmodernism is hard to define; however it is easy enough to apply to academic writing. The ideas set forward by Foucault have now been (successfully?) combined with computer programming. Not sure what it all means? Take a look at some background reading for art-theory-challenged.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 9:40 AM PST - 11 comments

What's wrong with this teacher's comments? A Pasadena HS teacher circulated a letter with his complaint that African American students at the school are the reason for bad behavior and low test scores. He's now suspended...rightly? More inside...hoping to keep this civil, too...(thanks to Jim Romenesko)
posted by serafinapekkala at 9:28 AM PST - 67 comments

Tom Lehrer Sings The Periodic Table. [Flash required]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:05 AM PST - 19 comments

The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard M. Helms, former CIA director, is dead. "We're not in the Boy Scouts," Richard Helms was fond of saying when he ran the Central Intelligence Agency. He was involved in many suspicious covert operations -- in 1970's Chile for example -- and JFK consipracy nuts even linked him to the president's assasination. George Tenet now calls Helms "a great patriot". He was fired by President Nixon when he refused to block an FBI probe into the Watergate scandal. Want to know more about the man? Check out Thomas Powers excellent story in "The Atlantic" Oh, and his niece was the semi-official Taliban ambassador to the USA
posted by matteo at 9:04 AM PST - 14 comments

"Bird of Prey" unveiled. Boeing revealed the formerly supersecret stealth prototype last Friday in St. Louis. More information at: a New Scientist story, a Popular Science report, Jane's Defense Weekly (subscription required), Boeing's press release and a couple of movies (13 Mb mov or 50 Mb mpg). More...
posted by Irontom at 8:50 AM PST - 22 comments

The international Press Freedom Index (Sept 2001-Oct 2002), published by Reporters Without Borders contains some surprises. Based on questionnaires sent to "...journalists or foreign correspondents living in the country, researchers, [and] legal experts...", RWB ranked the United States 17^th, below Slovenia and Costa Rica. Why? "The poor ranking of the United States (17th) is mainly because of the number of journalists arrested or imprisoned there. Arrests are often because they refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings. "
posted by astirling at 8:47 AM PST - 9 comments

"It's a postmodern waste-scape of continuous urbanization." Welcome to the Pearl River Delta, China. (via /.)
posted by four panels at 8:30 AM PST - 3 comments

Bin Laden Unmasked? Robert Fisk [ducks] reviews a '215 page treasure trove' written by an Al Jazeera journalist and published in Beirut. It contains a 'wealth of information' about the elusive billionaire and his followers. He communicates over the Internet - no surprise there - but the book gives some clues as to the site used: al-Nidaa, 'The Calling'. Can you find it? The words of Mullah Omar are apparently distributed on site called the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan', wild goose chase? You decide.
posted by grahamwell at 7:39 AM PST - 5 comments

"A play? In Gaza? About feminism? With Palestinian actresses? Unbelievable!"
posted by talos at 6:52 AM PST - 5 comments

The Wildlife Conservatory Society has just released a new map of the Human Footprint on Earth. With this map (pdf) you can see just how much wild space isn't left. For a closer look at each continent look here. So what do we do about it? Terraform the moon? Or maybe Mars? Or is our best bet for keeping Earth habitable simply to go electric?

And just to clarify, I'm talking about the impact of humanity on the earth's natural resources, not the supposed giants humans that walked with dinosaurs.
posted by Bones423 at 6:38 AM PST - 28 comments

Butter sculptures can be rather elaborate, and are a folk art favorite at country fairs in the U.S. And on the other side of the globe in the ancient Himalayas, butter sculpting is an ancient symbolic tradition among Tibetan Buddhists, and is also an integral part of annual festivals and celebrations.
But in other dairy art, cheese sculptures haven't achieved quite the same level of dignity.
thanks to Wordforge for the Jim Victor link.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:24 AM PST - 14 comments

Our creative team... will come up with ideas you never even thought of. How could you? You don't have the talent we do.
Their clients are more than a "faceless conglomerate", they have cats.
posted by psychotic_venom at 6:06 AM PST - 10 comments

Who owns the moon? Apparently these people do, and they’re selling it off acre by acre. They are “The founders and leaders of the extraterrestrial real estate market.” Do we really need a Galactic Government with an embassy on the moon? I guess The Federation had to start somewhere. This just begs the question, “Does Venus have its own laws?”
posted by archimago at 6:03 AM PST - 17 comments

President Bush is in fact doing just about everything his critics demand: If the administration really had contempt for the UN, it could withdraw its support and let that organization complete its collapse into a Third World debating society. If Bush wanted to lash out at every threat in the world, America's near-$400 billion defense budget could provide the soldiers, tanks, airplanes, and missiles to wage several small wars at a time, from Libya to North Korea (and most places in between). If America were trying to seize the world's oil reserves, we could have swept aside the Saudi sheiks long ago. If we were indifferent to the casualties of enemy civilians—and the only alternative is to be indifferent to the deaths of our own soldiers and civilians—then anti-war academics would have to give up tallying those casualties one-by-one. But none of this is actually happening.
posted by dagny at 3:47 AM PST - 101 comments

I generally give little thought to how the Internet works, as long as it does work. Well, on Monday, 9 of the 13 "root servers" that manage traffic on the Internet were hit with a denial of service attack for about an hour. You can see the spike in traffic on one of the servers in this graph. All this made me think about the fragility of the Internet and what I would do with myself if the Internet got knocked out, say, for a matter of days. Maybe I would finally learn to cook something besides pasta... What would you do?
posted by epimorph at 1:26 AM PST - 37 comments

a flash rubik's cube.
posted by Spoon at 12:53 AM PST - 12 comments