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June 28th is the 90th Anniversary of the terrorist assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which touched off the First World War. The world today is not much different then 90 years ago. Nuclear 1914: The Next Big Worry, by Henry Sokolski.
posted by stbalbach at 11:50 PM PST - 7 comments

While others are busy writing fan fiction about Dune, it’s nice to see that someone has discovered the TRUTH.
posted by Pockets at 10:23 PM PST - 24 comments

America's Black Budget - the Manipulation of Mortgage and Financial Markets Investors benefit from understanding the federal budget, credit policies and covert intervention that drive markets -- often overriding fundamental economics. How has the US governmental apparatus become so powerful in the marketplace and what does it mean to the health of our economy? How unstable is the mortgage bubble and where are the opportunities for investors if the bubble bursts?
posted by willnot at 9:29 PM PST - 21 comments

Looks like a minority liberal government for Canada. The entire process will have been completed in a single day. The voters used pencils to mark X's on paper ballots, which were stuffed into ballot boxes then counted by hand. Despite the differences in population, is there a lesson here for our southern neighbours?
posted by Turtles all the way down at 8:57 PM PST - 91 comments

njam... all you have to do is rotate the circle in the middle so it matches with the color of the spheres that come in from the corners. seems simple enough ... [note: shockwave, loud audio]
posted by crunchland at 8:06 PM PST - 8 comments

Legal abortion tips the voter balance from Democrat to Republican. That's Larry Eastland's theory. Abortion has caused missing Democrats--and missing liberals. For advocates so fundamentally committed to changing the face of conservative America, liberals have been remarkably blind to the fact that every day the abortions they advocate dramatically decrease their power to do so.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:58 PM PST - 43 comments

Shooting outside of our vision. Infrared photography is cool - the world looks surreal. But man, it's a PIA. Just keeping the film at the right temperatures is difficult. So, all of this can be done digitally. I still haven't gotten around to buying the necessary pieces, but in replying to this Ask MetaFilter question, I remembered eric cheng's page. For your perusal.
posted by filmgeek at 7:34 PM PST - 6 comments

"Without American hegemony the world would likely return to the dark ages" according to historian Niall Ferguson, author of the book Colossus: The Price of America's Empire, which one of his former housemates is critical of.
posted by homunculus at 5:10 PM PST - 41 comments

Moving Sight: Tatsuya Ishiguro's Photo Gallery.
posted by hama7 at 3:35 PM PST - 5 comments

Rude place names. If you're in England then this is for you. Please bare with us rest of the world, this is what we really like in our humour (at least it in Kilburn). If you're not in England then feel free to use my postcode, NW2. Ooooo, titter ye not (and who will be the first wag to post "not"?)
posted by ciderwoman at 3:28 PM PST - 30 comments

Cool images of tornadoes and other freaky weather at the NOAA Photo Library.
posted by scarabic at 2:39 PM PST - 16 comments

4.5 magnitude earthquake hits Chicagoland.
posted by whoshotwho at 10:25 AM PST - 44 comments

Court throws out FCC media ownership rules The appeals court in Philadelphia said the methods the FCC used to craft their new media ownership rules were bunk. Major media outlets aren't devoting much to this setback, but activist groups have reacted by calling for hearings across the country. No one seems to know what's next.
posted by drywall at 9:46 AM PST - 11 comments

This year's 00101 inductees into the Robot Hall of Fame.
posted by LinusMines at 8:30 AM PST - 12 comments

Mmmmm... girthy. "I think many people, upon seeing this ad, will avoid buying Ball Park Franks. That's pretty much the acme of terrible marketing. Alternative: I am wrong, and Ball Park has happened on a brilliant - and profitable - means of letting straight men express their sublimated homoerotic fantasies."
posted by soyjoy at 7:55 AM PST - 77 comments

Give my body to medical science (If medical science will have me).

This might make owning a donor card somewhat academic (for UK humans at least), but until then I am making sure it's something I not longer perpetually forget to do. How to become an organ donor; or sign up online.

(Provide a link for your own homeland please!)
posted by ed\26h at 1:20 AM PST - 25 comments

It's all yours, boys. The US just announced the handover of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government, two days early. Paul Bremer has said that he'll be leaving the country soon. Is this truly the beginning of an independent Iraq, or is it simply making way for John Negroponte to be in charge?
posted by Dipsomaniac at 12:39 AM PST - 130 comments

Irdial Records sues WEA over copyright infringement. A recent Wilco album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sampled part of the "The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations" 4CD set without the permission of the label. The Cd is simply recordings of mysterious shortwave radio emissions. WEA have settled out of court. (misrepresented on Boing Boing)
posted by mary8nne at 12:16 AM PST - 29 comments

Spy vs. Spy sell out! Mountain Dew has roped in the infamous black & white spies to shill their beverage. Quicktime needed to view the commercials. [via waxy.org]
posted by riffola at 12:00 AM PST - 11 comments