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William Gibson’s blog is back.
So far, it’s mostly about Bush and Osama bin Ladin. ”You know who would’ve completely gotten OBL? Andy Warhol.”
posted by Termite at 9:53 PM PST - 10 comments

Interesting Optical Illusion - and explanation. {It's just a single page with an image. Go on, click it!}
posted by dobbs at 8:50 PM PST - 24 comments

OMG! ODB DOA. WTF?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:10 PM PST - 56 comments

Robert Cutter, Phillip Kuhn and Marlene Kuhn, Thursday night league bowlers: "I take the bus to the bowling alley," says Robert. "It takes me about an hour. I've been bowling 36 years. I've never missed bowling in 36 years. I'm the first one here and the last one to go home. I even beat the sheet maker (the guy who keeps score for the teams). If I have the flu, I'm still bowling. I still come. I've got rheumatisim and I'm still bowling. If I don't bowl I sit on the couch." When asked if he'd ever consider quitting bowling, he said, "Hell no! I gotta be dead first!" ..."Phil and I have been bowling five years," says Marlene. "We've only missed bowling once in five years. We walk here. We walk even when it rains or snows. It's about 4-1/2 miles to get here. I try to do my best. I've got a bad leg. I've got a trick knee that goes out on me. We're going to start up our own team soon: the Klingons. We watch Star Trek all the time. We're Trekaholics. We have a cat named Leonard 'Bones' McCoy."
                                        Marzano's Miami Bowl
posted by y2karl at 2:32 PM PST - 17 comments

Man bites Dog
posted by Mwongozi at 1:47 PM PST - 15 comments

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2: A fascinating look at the development hell that HL2 went through in the last year and a half. (via, of course, PA)
posted by hughbot at 12:23 PM PST - 33 comments

Spiritual Woodworker. Furniture designer George Nakashima's (1904-1990) exquisite creations merged traditional woodworking techniques with innovative design, resulting in (very expensive) work that demonstrates a high level of craftsmanship coupled with a reinterpretation of modernist design. Nakashima also prided himself on being the "world's first hippie", Hindu Catholic and Japanese druid (.pdf file). The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles pays tribute to this great artist with a unique exhibit. More inside.
posted by matteo at 10:21 AM PST - 5 comments

"Marlboro Man" reflects on his sudden fame
posted by falconred at 9:55 AM PST - 70 comments

Utterly terrifying! [Windows Media, from Grand Illusions]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:06 AM PST - 15 comments

Mr. Lippy, 41, is single-minded about the need for a general-interest magazine that is not dumb (NYT). The result is Esopus.
posted by semmi at 8:39 AM PST - 4 comments

'Runaway': Alice's Wonderland Knockout of a book review by wonderful writer about a marvelous author: "JONATHAN FRANZEN I want to circle around Alice Munro's latest marvel, "Runaway," by taking some guesses at why her excellence so dismayingly exceeds her fame."
posted by Postroad at 7:14 AM PST - 11 comments

"The Real Toy Story," by Michael Wolf. [via things magazine]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:59 AM PST - 5 comments

Which Major League pitchers should we have expected no-hit games from who didn't deliver? Who statistically didn't deserve one but has one? A fascinating demonstration of baseball stats in action, whether you're a sports fan, a math fan, or just want to know how things like this work for the sake of future conversation. via our own yerfatma at sportsfilter.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:16 AM PST - 29 comments

Flash CV.
posted by swift at 4:49 AM PST - 13 comments

Today, the National Archive made over 5 million records of World War I Medal Cards available online. Search for an ancestor, or an historical name. As an example, here's Winston Churchill's record [pdf]. It costs £3.50 to download an image such as this, but the search function is thorough. I tracked down a relative from a general search of my surname.
posted by davehat at 3:26 AM PST - 2 comments