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How to Walk of Japan. Strange tourist attractions - some NSFW.
posted by plep at 11:52 PM PST - 7 comments

Satellite pictures of the Mesopotamian marshlands, published by the United Nations Environment Programme, show that the wetlands are beginning to return to life. [Via Best of the Web.]
posted by homunculus at 11:42 PM PST - 7 comments

Mr. Spock's Nudes David Bowman talks to 72-year-old Leonard Nimoy about Leonard Cohen's music, the famous Vulcan hand sign, and his movie career, but especially about his new book of female nude photographs, and how they relate to the Kabbalistic idea of Shekhinah. Nimoy comes across as more than a little flaky (but that's nothing new); turns out he can also be thoughtful, perceptive, and dryly funny.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:22 PM PST - 6 comments

20 days in Spring 2003 one artists response to 20 days in spring 2003 that have reshaped the world we live in.
posted by specialk420 at 6:45 PM PST - 18 comments

I find this relaxing - should I be institutionalized?
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 4:38 PM PST - 26 comments

The Clickz Weblog Business Strategies 2003 Conference & Expo kicks off on June 9, with the highly-relevant keynote: "What Are Weblogs?" Also on the schedule: "Business Blogs: Hype or Opportunity?"

Kathleen Goodwin (conference chair) Blogs : "Someone wrote that they are offended that blogs, what used to be "an 'innocent' repository of ideas," are now becoming commercialized. Hello! Get with the program. It is the 21st century and every great idea gets commercialized in a nano second these days."
posted by scarabic at 3:50 PM PST - 21 comments

japanese wood-block masters, flash-enabled gallery.
posted by crunchland at 2:59 PM PST - 4 comments

For those concerned about loss of Liberty in the United States: a look toward China. Four young friends who met on Bejing University campuses to discuss their progressive politics and posted occasional essays on the Internet have been sentenced to long prison terms, accused of "subverting state power."
posted by the fire you left me at 2:45 PM PST - 22 comments

The Modern Modular. Resolution: 4 Architecture is redefining prefab housing with its thoroughly modern-looking modular designs. Their premier design just won the Dwell Home competition sponsored by Dwell Magazine. Nice profile in today's WSJ.
posted by me3dia at 2:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Child Pornographers Using Small Storage Drives. Small drives like this are giving the police quite a bit of trouble. One of the more interesting quotes from the story, "Even if the photos are encrypted, computer forensics specialists can break through most encryption schemes these days anyway."
posted by banished at 12:46 PM PST - 33 comments

Tyson spouting off again In Thursday night's "The Pulse" on Fox, Mike Tyson goes on the record about his 1992 trial that put him in jail for three years. (sentenced to six, paroled after three). He denies raping Desiree Washington and says "I just hate her guts. She put me in that state, where I don't know...... I really wish I did now. But now I really do want to rape her.'' Reuters has an article on it too I thought after Tyson's statements about breaking his back after his last fight he would calm down a bit....but it's Tyson.
posted by meanie at 12:08 PM PST - 35 comments

"The roots of Hip Hop Culture will no longer be ignored. Hip Hop's pioneer MC's, DJ's, B-boys and Graffiti Artists finally get to tell their stories.  Travel with the real Hip Hop historians (Ralph McDaniels, DJ Red Alert, Grandmaster Caz, Kool Herc) through their old stomping grounds and listen to them reminisce as we drive down memory lane.  Hush Tours takes you to all the hot spots Uptown (Harlem and the Bronx) giving Hip Hop Culture more than a venue... also a voice."
posted by monkeymike at 12:02 PM PST - 10 comments

Need a job? The winner of the Google Puzzle Contest might recieve a prestigious spot in the Google engineering labs. So whip out all your old Martin Gardner books and get practicing, because the competition is on May 1st (and registration closes today).
posted by kaibutsu at 11:10 AM PST - 6 comments

The kilogram has lost some weight (and/or mass, depending on your point of view) in the past 2 centuries. Scientists race so their spiffy idea will be the next benchmark. via Ars Technica
posted by Nauip at 10:32 AM PST - 22 comments

Oh, the mundanity!

In the lyrics of the Beatles; in our tastes for amateur porn; in how to prepare a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; and, by extension, in The Journal of Mundane Behavior. It's about nothing extraordinary
...and everything ordinary. Think of it as Lilek's ...with Science.

--And here's one for MrBaliHai: Squat Toilets and Cultural Commensurability: Two Texts, Plus Three Photographs I Forgot to Take. (Earthquake not included.)
posted by y2karl at 10:01 AM PST - 9 comments

When Most Of The Reviews (And Indeed Books) Are Long Since Forgotten, David Levine's extraordinary portraits of the public figures and obsessions of the last 40 years will stand as a lasting impression of our literary and political lions, masters, avatars and bugbears. The generous and ever essential New York Review of Books offers us a complete and fully searchable gallery of the great caricaturist's work since its first issue hit the stands back in 1963 - almost 2,000 cartoons in all. It's fascinating to trace the sequence and evolution of Levine's drawings through the years of particular figures: Nabokov and Beckett, for instance.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:49 AM PST - 10 comments

Bob Hope turns 100 today. And he's still alive, unlike that Emerson fellow.
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:38 AM PST - 43 comments

"Are You a Manly Man Full of Vigor?" Such was the come-on in John Romulus Brinkley's ads for his goat-gland operations. He made enough money from them to start first station KFKB (Kansas First, Kansas Best!), then (after he was run out of Kansas) XER out of Del Rio, Mexico, at a half-million watts the most powerful station in the world, which made the Carter Family (among many others) famous. Read William Bryk's brilliant account, and if you get nostalgic for the old days of AM, listen to the Blasters' great "Border Radio."
posted by languagehat at 9:35 AM PST - 7 comments

Welcome to the World Sex Guide forums • Ever wonder if your town had a seamy underside? The WSG forums exist to facilitate "the exchange of information between men who are looking for sex with women," and allow users to browse by city & country to discuss the local cruising scene with other Johns in the field. It's replete with much insider lingo, curious acronyms, awkward tiptoe language (think "bong" vs. "water-filtered tobacco pipe" in headshop culture), and red-herring posts left as bait for the law enforcement (LE) who evidently monitor these forums. Agree or disagree morally with the John lifestyle, it's still worth a glimpse into this strange subculture.
posted by dhoyt at 9:29 AM PST - 19 comments

Now here's a business plan... give me some money, and I'll do some traveling and tell you all about it. Gimme a little more, and I'll even send you something back.
posted by COBRA! at 9:19 AM PST - 3 comments

Threat of ban to Dutch cannabis cafés...
It'd be like an airplane without wings! Surely the whole point of buying some weed at these places is to smoke it on the premises?
posted by tomcosgrave at 9:05 AM PST - 7 comments

UH OH, Fantagraphics Books in Seattle, home of chris ware, dan clowes, r. crumb, charles burns and a host of other awesome comic artists is facing desperate times!
posted by Peter H at 8:42 AM PST - 22 comments

A miniture underground railway, known as Mail Rail has carried the post from one end of London to another. The system is closing down this weekend. An employee gives her story. Another quirky piece of London consigned to history....
posted by brettski at 8:36 AM PST - 6 comments

The treasures of the sea. A fascinating look at underwater archeological sites in France. The Cosquer Cave is particularly enthralling due to the art and the difficulty in getting to it. (warning - annoying frames and popup info boxes that don't work so well in Mozilla) [More inside...]
posted by Irontom at 8:35 AM PST - 2 comments

Haifaa al-Mansour might be the only active female Saudi filmmaker in existence. Her film recently debuted at a festival in the United Arab Emirates, and although it didn't win, it did create quite a stir among the attendees. Her father, also a director, and her family helped her get the project off the ground in a country where some believe even owning a television set is a sin, and where women have very little opportunity outside the home. Using the web as a means of distribution, al-Mansour hopes to someday see her creations on the big screen all over the world.
posted by greengrl at 8:27 AM PST - 7 comments

Guess who wants presidential term limits to be repealed... Putting aside your feelings for Bill Clinton (or Ronald Reagan for that matter), should the U.S. president be allowed to serve more than two terms?
posted by Durwood at 7:38 AM PST - 50 comments

Does Information Technology(IT) matter? A recent Harvard Business Review paper has been criticized for its controversial stance that IT does not matter. Does it?
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 7:11 AM PST - 13 comments

Richard Blechynden's invention from the 1904 World's Fair is the quintessential summer drink. Not only is it good for you, it can also come in a multitude of flavors, or even with a little kick to it.
posted by debralee at 6:32 AM PST - 9 comments

The bait and switch. A last-minute revision by House and Senate leaders in the tax bill that President Bush signed today will prevent millions of minimum-wage families from receiving the increased child credit that is in the measure.
posted by four panels at 6:14 AM PST - 21 comments

Miss, Miss! Little Jimmy Bond peeked at my intelligence report! "The UK's latest move in the fight against terrorism is a secret project to bring together intelligence data from the UK's security agencies, say reports." Because normally, it's far more sensible to have all the different agencies hoarding their own information and not letting anyone else see it... But seriously: first steps to a UK TIA? Knowing the inefficiences, bureaucratic in-fighting, and awful data mess that these agencies routinely engage in, I doubt it.
posted by humuhumu at 5:26 AM PST - 3 comments

2 stabbed in an attempted Qantas hijacking over Melbourne. I hope this isn't the start of a worrying new trend.
posted by Jubey at 2:32 AM PST - 18 comments