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Why Poor People are pretty much f*cked. No one can make reading about the growing gap between the rich and the poor as fun as the Onion; but other than describing the issue in humorous terms, the story makes it more accessible than your typical article in a newsmagazine.
posted by gregb1007 at 11:30 PM PST - 44 comments

The fabulous ruins of Detroit: "After decades of blight, large swathes of Detroit are being reclaimed by nature. Roughly a third of this 139-square-mile city consists of weed-choked lots and dilapidated buildings . . . rather than fight this return to nature, urban farmers have embraced it, gradually converting 15 acres of idle land into more than 40 community gardens and microfarms — some consuming entire blocks." [note: NY Times link]
posted by ryanshepard at 10:40 PM PST - 22 comments

Chess Boxing. "The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the #1 thinking sport and the #1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors – both mentally and physically, yet which can be performed by easiest means. In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on." Radio Netherlands recently did a show about it. (RealAudio, 29m30s)
posted by tpoh.org at 8:37 PM PST - 15 comments

Iraq Reconstruction Contracts Limited To Coalition Countries In a Determination & Findings[pdf] document dated Dec. 5, the Administration outlines why it is "essential" to national security to limit New-Texas reconstruction contracts to companies based in pro-iraq-war countries. As expected, the terrorist-led corporations of Canada, Germany, France, Russian and China are not allowed to bid. (Despite years of previous work in Iraq for many of these companies). Hello Halliburton, goodbye Schlumberger. Mr Bush, is this uniting or dividing?
posted by H. Roark at 6:00 PM PST - 86 comments

Why was the sky red in Munch's "The Scream"? I would have said "red paint."
posted by etc. at 5:08 PM PST - 12 comments

A little Shockwave diversion, to tide over those waiting impatiently for Return of the King to open. (You might want to turn down your speakers before clicking...)
posted by Kat Allison at 4:14 PM PST - 12 comments

Happy Christmas, from Ozzy Osbourne
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:49 PM PST - 15 comments

A new MS Internet Explorer vulnerability is discovered. Most digerati already know about the spammer and lamer trick to publish URLs that look like legitimate hostnames to fool people in to trusting a malicious site. This trick is frequently used by spammers to steal people's PayPal accounts, by tricking them in to "resetting" their password at a site owned by the spammer but disguised as PayPal.com. Today's new IE vulnerability is significantly worse. By including an 0x01 character after the @ symbol in the fake URL, IE can be tricked in to not displaying the rest of the URL at all. Don't expect a patch right way, the guy who found the hole released it to BugTraq on the same day he notified Microsoft. (via Simon Willison)
posted by dejah420 at 2:28 PM PST - 29 comments

Fan and ball [flash] is an addictive and fun little game. It may not be friday yet, but it was such a neat little idea that I couldn't resist posting it here. [via b3ta]
posted by twiggy at 2:16 PM PST - 12 comments

New York's Subway turns 100 years old in 2004. All of us NYers have at least one subway story... what's yours? A few historical links here, here and here.
posted by adamms222 at 2:06 PM PST - 22 comments

Are you miffed that Christmas just isn't about Jesus anymore? Annoyed that is all seems to be about commercialism and spending money? You Christians can now empathize with the ancient pagans who were miffed that Christmas just wasn't about Mithras anymore. But don't feel bad about jacking Christmas from them, Mithras jacked it from Apollo, who borrowed it from the Etruscan god Sol.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 2:06 PM PST - 25 comments

4.5 earthquake in Virginia.
posted by SuzySmith at 1:39 PM PST - 28 comments

The Rwanda Project It began as a photographic workshop in 2000 for child survivors of the Rwanda genocide. Using disposable cameras, the children originally took pictures for themselves and to share with others, exploring their community, and finding beauty as the country struggles to rebuild via Jonny Baker
posted by Coop at 1:36 PM PST - 7 comments

Net censorship in Iran: myth or reality? Over hundred Iranians have the answer on the DailySummit.net, official blog of the World Summit on the Information Society. Would this be enough to embarass the big Iranian delegate in Geneva in front of the world--and the press?
posted by hoder at 12:59 PM PST - 22 comments

'Tis the season to donate! How does your favorite charity stack up?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:57 PM PST - 6 comments

J.M. Coetzee's Nobel Speech. It seemed to him, coming from his island, where until Friday arrived he lived a silent life, that there was too much speech in the world. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, delivers his lecture from the perspective of Robinson Crusoe.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 12:39 PM PST - 8 comments

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record. 'This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public -- in brief, anyone interested in the experiences of Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas and the lives of their descendants in the slave societies of the New World. '
posted by plep at 11:52 AM PST - 3 comments

The Mushroom House in Whistler, Canada, is the result of 22 years of work by artist/creator Zube. "The interior design is based on the anatomy of a tree. All aspects of the décor reflect this motif, from the womblike hues of the Jacuzzi room in the 'roots' to the vivid leaf greens on the walls in the 'canopy'." [Via Boing Boing.]
posted by homunculus at 11:24 AM PST - 29 comments

What's a bigger waste of taxpayer money: Throwing a concert in a tunnel for a public works project years late and over budget or putting on a New Year's fireworks display for TV cameras only?
posted by MediaMan at 9:58 AM PST - 23 comments

'tis the season for ... Rankin-Bass TV specials! The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass is a fan-site devoted to the distinctive animation of Arthur Rankin, Jr and Jules Bass. In addition to extensive and interesting background information on your favorite Christmas specials (like Rudolph), you can also learn about lesser-known specials such as The Ballad of Smokey the Bear. The site also includes some rare video clips, including a pencil-test from Frosty the Snowman. There is also a very complete section on the Rankin-Bass TV series, Thundercats. Please also see additional note inside....
posted by anastasiav at 9:48 AM PST - 24 comments

Bush Opposes Taiwan Bid for Independence We invade Iraq to help bring about democracy to the region--the Middle East. The Far East? Forgettaboudit.
posted by Postroad at 9:42 AM PST - 36 comments

Apple must be putting something in Tokyo's watersource.
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:20 AM PST - 47 comments

Expensive clowns. Some Wisconsin senators want to "save Milwaukee's Circus Parade by giving $1.5 million in tax dollars to the Baraboo-based Circus World Museum."
posted by Tubes at 9:07 AM PST - 22 comments

Possible solution to global warming: bury the carbon dioxide.
posted by tranquileye at 9:05 AM PST - 18 comments

Great, intelligent use of Flash for johncoltrane.com.
posted by taz at 5:43 AM PST - 18 comments

Lana Landis... classy and amazing retro-looking vanity site. [note : flash, some cheesecake, sfw]
posted by crunchland at 3:30 AM PST - 18 comments