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We may have avoided a trade war, but it looks like a space race is on.
posted by kliuless at 9:32 PM PST - 52 comments

Trains vs. Airplanes. Amtrak has reported record ridership levels for the Thanksgiving season. But the success of the rails is indebted to post 9/11 air-travel anxiety. Maybe, it would be better for travelers to stop fearing hijackings and resume flying planes instead of riding intercity trains out of fear. On the other hand, it could be a good thing that rail travel is getting a second look after years of decline.
posted by gregb1007 at 9:14 PM PST - 51 comments

The Brick Apple - New York City in LEGO®
posted by riffola at 8:50 PM PST - 8 comments

The Diebold scandal might have reminded us all of Stalin's famous quote, "who votes doesn't count, it's who gets to count the votes." But, perhaps another modern version might read, "who votes doesn't count, it's who gets to draw the maps of the voting districts." As you are settling in to greet your new overlords, you might want to take a look at one of their software tools: Caliper Maptitude.
posted by limitedpie at 7:14 PM PST - 19 comments

Now children, time for spelling--B is for: Bechtel? Schools have been highlighted as an under-reported success story of the new Iraq: “We want young Iraqis to learn skills and to grow and hope, instead of being fed a steady diet of propaganda and hatred," says the pres, but...."The first time they came here, they went from classroom to classroom with guns dangling over their shoulders, asking the terrified children whom they loved more, Saddam Hussein or George Bush," says a principal. (more inside)
posted by amberglow at 5:00 PM PST - 29 comments

RIAA Targets Computer-Less Elderly Couple
The RIAA levels its pack of rabid lawyers at an older couple who don't own a computer. Not without any cause but they're pursuing the wrong "criminals".
posted by fenriq at 4:35 PM PST - 34 comments

What is the sound of one hand clapping? An interesting excerpt from The Sound of the One Hand: 281 Zen Koans With Answers that involves a dialogue between the master and the student that answers this koan. (I suppose this could technically be considered a spoiler.)
posted by antifreez_ at 1:44 PM PST - 30 comments

A study to see if MDMA can help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder is finally set to begin. Coordinated and funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, the study was originally approved in 2001 (and discussed here.) Another study has identified a protein in mice which is the key to the overheating associated with ecstasy, and may lead to a treatment for people. Hopefully this research was more sound than the recent study in which the test monkeys were given the wrong drug (discussed here.)
posted by homunculus at 1:21 PM PST - 22 comments

Necessity Is the Mother of Invention. (NY Times, reg. req.) Amy Smith teaches MIT students about the politics of delivering technology to poor nations and the nitty-gritty of mechanical engineering and helped start the IDEAS competition; she herself designed (among other things) a screenless hammer mill suited to third-world conditions and using "materials available to a blacksmith in Senegal."

Smith's entire life is like one of her inventions, portable and off the grid. At 41, she has no kids, no car, no retirement plan and no desire for a Ph.D. Her official title: instructor. ''I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. Why would I spend six years to get a Ph.D. to be in the position I'm in now, but with a title after my name? M.I.T. loves that I'm doing this work. The support is there. So I don't worry.''...
Likewise, the inventors who most inspire her will never strike it rich. ''There are geniuses in Africa, but they're not getting the press,'' she says. She gushes about Mohammed Bah Abba, a Nigerian teacher who came up with the pot-within-a-pot system. With nothing more than a big terra-cotta bowl, a little pot, some sand and water, Abba created a refrigerator -- the rig uses evaporation rather than electricity to keep vegetables cool. Innovations that target the poorest of the poor don't have to be complicated to make a big difference. The best solution is sometimes the most obvious.

A rare optimistic story for these downbeat times.
posted by languagehat at 1:02 PM PST - 18 comments

US fires Guantanamo defence team If we make the rules, we will win the game. "A team of military lawyers recruited to defend alleged terrorists held by the US at Guantanamo Bay was dismissed by the Pentagon after some of its members rebelled against the unfair way the trials have been designed, the Guardian has learned"
posted by Postroad at 12:11 PM PST - 22 comments

Framley Museum. 'The museum was founded in 1882 when objects of local interest began to gather in the field where the museum now stands, due to the natural action of the wind and rain. '
'In 1886, visionary Whoft philanthropist, Manimal MacCorkindale proposed building some walls around the objects, forming Framley's first museum. A door fitted in 1932 cemented the museum's popularity.'
Courtesy of the mighty Framley Examiner.
posted by plep at 11:00 AM PST - 9 comments

This Super Bowl halftime, make it to the Lingere Bowl. American TV hits a new low by inventing another sport along the lines of Foxy Boxing and Hot Oil Wrestling. The gridiron action features Team Dream vs. Team Euphoria (featuring washed-up former NFL players as coaches) in full contact football while wearing skimpy clothing. Even weirder, but there will be cheerleaders to cheerlead the players that are already dolled up to look like cheerleaders in some sort of subtle hot lesbian action. It's all pay-per-view, but this "Girls Gone Football" seems more like a new low than a step forward for real women's sports.
posted by mathowie at 10:48 AM PST - 40 comments

I am a BoatNerd.
posted by norm111 at 10:44 AM PST - 6 comments

Blogshares has left the building Never really got into this, and not sure how much it will be missed, but that doesn't matter anyway as it's gone the way of the dodo. Too successful for it's own good it seems. I'm surprised that it hasn't been picked up by someone else yet...
posted by snowgoon at 10:11 AM PST - 16 comments

Animal, Vegetable, Video — vibrant vids of vitality.
posted by pedantic at 9:35 AM PST - 4 comments

Ever wonder what it's like? Do you hit the brakes, swerve left, swerve right? If it's never happened to you, take a look at this and see just how fast it all happens. Talk about "in the blink of an eye".... WOW.
(.wmv file... and possibly not safe for the squeemish.)
posted by Witty at 9:30 AM PST - 80 comments

Metafilter as a screenplay.
posted by Vidiot at 9:10 AM PST - 21 comments

Hobby or Fetish? One man's collection of over 270 stewardess uniforms
posted by anastasiav at 8:58 AM PST - 26 comments

Teaching the Test
As a student at Jefferson Davis High here, Rosa Arevelo seemed the "Texas miracle" in motion. After years of classroom drills, she passed the high school exam required for graduation on her first try. A program of college prep courses earned her the designation "Texas scholar." At the University of Houston, though, Ms. Arevelo discovered the distance between what Texas public schools called success and what she needed to know. Trained to write five-paragraph "persuasive essays" for the state exam, she was stumped by her first writing assignment. She failed the college entrance exam in math twice, even with a year of remedial algebra. At 19, she gave up and went to trade school.

This doesn't look good for our new, unfunded, "Leave No Child Behind" education bill. Smells like another bait and switch to me.
posted by nofundy at 8:34 AM PST - 31 comments

Knack for language? Great! Gay? No thanks. Interesting WaPo story of how DoD desparately needs linguists trained in Arabic, but dismisses linguists when it comes out that they are gay.
posted by cpfeifer at 6:00 AM PST - 34 comments

Are You A Balanced Individual? Can You Handle Life's Topsy-Turvy Leanings? I doubt it. (Via Bifurcated Rivets. File under "No Good Can Come Out Of This".)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:19 AM PST - 6 comments