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Which 2004 U.S. presidential candidate are you? Think you know which candidate best aligns with your political ideals? You may be surprised. Me, I got 100% for Howard Dean, who I'd never heard of before. I don't really believe that anyone sharing my political leanings is going to get anywhere near the White House, but it's nice to know that there's someone out there for me... (ps. Posted before, but I think that three years is a good in-between time, and it's about that time again.)
posted by majcher at 9:01 PM PST - 62 comments

Fucked up cats. Including but not limited to winged, extra-toed, and dwarf cats.
posted by angry modem at 8:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Doctors baffled as boy explains 'unique' problem. His parents didn't believe him at first, but can you blame them? This is beyond bizarre.
posted by christian at 3:20 PM PST - 76 comments

If someone says spam, tacky unsolicited emails usually come to mind instead of that meat product. Watch Hormel fight back to assert their trademark rights.
posted by illusionaire at 3:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Irish Marshall Arts. Will we see a new wave of films with high-flying Gaelic masters of fighting?
posted by Dukebloo at 1:48 PM PST - 13 comments

The latest Honda television commercial, "Sense" being shown in the UK, is the follow up to the widely discussed "Cog." It's quite not as cool as its predecessor, but still, an elegant, interesting concept. Apologies for the somewhat low quality of the java video stream.
posted by jonson at 1:25 PM PST - 23 comments

What Happens When Technology Zooms Off the Chart? (pdf) Singularity is the subject of the Spring 2003 issue of Whole Earth magazine.
posted by Ty Webb at 1:03 PM PST - 14 comments

Susan Smith needs pen pals. Remember the woman who killed her two sons by driving her car into a South Carolina lake while they were strapped into their car seats back in 1994? Well, she's 31 and looking for people who are "not judgemental" and "sincere". She's a Christian who enjoys attending church and loves "rainbows, Mickey Mouse, the beach, the mountains, and waterfalls."
posted by Irontom at 12:50 PM PST - 58 comments

Since we're being morbid today, how 'bout a dose of Body Identity Integrity Disorder? People with this disorder really, really want to amputate part of their own body. Here's a first-person account from a so-called wannabe, a story about a doctor who used to perform amputations of healthy limbs for BIID patients, and the article in today's Slate about a new documentary. A couple of these sites raise an interesting question: why do psychiatric disorders seem to come and go with the times?
posted by LittleMissCranky at 11:36 AM PST - 34 comments

The challenge was to take the top 3 most emailed photos on yahoo and create a hopefully amusing story about the sequence. I reserve the right to refuse a disturbing picture, this includes any pictures of celine dion.
posted by magullo at 11:08 AM PST - 12 comments

Faster. Genius. Chaos. What Just Happened. Gleick's website, in addition to existing to promote his excellent books, has some rich content goodness and an "admittedly peculiar" collection of links. "No particular order. No apologies," he says.
posted by weston at 10:44 AM PST - 3 comments

Badgirs (Farsi) or barjeels (Arabic) are windcatchers that work as low-tech air conditioners. The city of Yazd, Iran is probably best known for them. Badgirs are built so that they can be opened to catch the wind from different directions, the air is then cooled as it travels down the tower, and in turn cools the rooms below. When there is no wind, air in the tower is heated and rises, which draws cooler air from the courtyard into the house. (There is no URL to link to for the search result for “badgir” on Encyclopaedia Iranica, but I recommend checking out their definition and diagrams even though you’ll have to go through three different PDF pages.) Badgirs have been around in some form “since the New Kingdom (1500- 300 BC) in Egypt”, but global warming might make them ineffective.(scroll down to #16-#18) Variations, such as malqafs, can be found from Egypt to Pakistan. You can get a modern one for your own house. You can win an award shaped like one for advancements in sustainable development. Or you could just stay in the Fairmont Dubai Hotel which is shaped like a huge badgir. So even after all this, I still don't know what those sticks sticking out of the sides are for.
posted by lobakgo at 10:42 AM PST - 28 comments

comic book guy says, "best comic book cover site, ever."
posted by crunchland at 10:23 AM PST - 8 comments

"It was hard on the ear, and my dog hated it too." The Robot Rock Critic generates album reviews. "Type in an artist name. Pick from a list of ten music genres, from 'teenage pop' to 'frighteningly loud music.' Specify whether it's a band, a male solo artist, or a female solo artist. Then click 'review.'"
[via Easy Bay Express]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:57 AM PST - 14 comments

Pledge allegiance as well as lifelong fealty at your wedding. Though some of us confirmed singletons might consider weddings to be about a loss of liberty, there are a lot of products out there "perfect for any bride who wants to make her wedding day a tribute to America."
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:30 AM PST - 21 comments

Yoda in Ireland! What do you get when you combine a wizened Jedi master, the fabled Emerald Isle, and perhaps a pint too many of Guiness™? The best vacation pictures ever!
posted by tankboy at 9:11 AM PST - 12 comments

How much trans fat is in that Devil Dog? The FDA has announced that starting in 2006 food manufacturers must list the number of grams of trans fatty acid -- very bad fat -- on food packages. This is supposed to be a big deal, meant to save lives and billions of bucks. Not so fast. I say, it is a useless addition to the already confusing line-up of numbers on the nutrition panel. Besides, the presence of trans fats is already revealed in ingredients lists on food boxes and wrappers -- look for hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. But the stuff flies off shelves anyway. I say, if the FDA really wants to tell people how bad these foods are, they should come right out with it. It's time for warning labels on junk food. THIS PRODUCT CAUSES OBESITY. THIS PRODUCT WILL CLOG YOUR ARTERIES. THIS PRODUCT MAY LEAD TO HEART DISEASE AND DEATH.
posted by jellybuzz at 8:21 AM PST - 62 comments

Test your senses A 10 minute flash test.
posted by Mwongozi at 8:09 AM PST - 14 comments

Top Ten Spam Subject Lines. (PDF) Inside: I'll save you the clickthrough
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:48 AM PST - 64 comments

Tired of your mullet and acid-wash jeans being sneered at in the local gay bar? Wishing that there was someone other than Rob Halford out in the metal scene? Pink Stëël is for you, my gay heavy-metal-loving brethen! Be out, be proud, and crank up "We Fight For Cock!"
posted by Katemonkey at 6:10 AM PST - 10 comments

Nation Master An amazing resource that displays all sorts of comparative national statistics on practically everything, and with an option of selecting any region / list of countries you choose. It plugs itself as "The world's biggest general stat site" (which might or might not be true I don't know), and it has a wealth of data on economics, sports, population, geography and a dozen more categories. Some interesting statistics; Top 100 in Olympic medals per Capita. Top 100 Murders with firearms (per capita). Top 100 Military Expenditures as a percent of GDP . Top 100 Net migration rate .
A heaven for data freaks.
posted by talos at 4:56 AM PST - 30 comments

Blogs For the Morbidly Inclined :

i am sixteen and weigh ninety-eight pounds, but rather be ninety or less. will i gain more weight if i stop eating altogether for a few weeks? can anyone help me?

- Pro Anorexia Blog

We had a plane crash today. A small two-engine plane crashed into a pond killing three people inside. The pilot's face was pretty much nonexistant, which is mostly due to the trauma. However, the investigators did have to fight the turtles in order to collect the body. They ate the eyes and were in the process of "giving kisses" to what was left of the face.

- Autopsy Blog
posted by dgaicun at 4:24 AM PST - 31 comments

If this article toes the line, then this one completely jumps overboard. In the wake of basketball player Kobe Bryant's recent legal problems, ESPN freely insinuates that perhaps his legal troubles are caused by his desire to boost the sales of his endorsed products. But don't sell Kobe short on marketing power, as we meFites can already attest. [more inside]
posted by cohappy at 2:07 AM PST - 12 comments

Hot See-thru action! Radiography and Art: The obliging X-ray can detect forgeries, reveal the hidden process of genius (Picasso 1 [6 pages], 2, 3), and even serve as a glorious medium itself (Innervisions; Beyond Light; Mefi thread The Secret Garden).

Intrigued? Perhaps you'll want to check out How to make radiographs on Polaroid film from noah.org's X-ray page.
posted by taz at 12:09 AM PST - 8 comments