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Acoustic OutKast cover by a Tempe, AZ musician named Mat Weedle from local band Obadiah Parker.
posted by cgc373 at 10:14 PM PST - 79 comments

The Berlutis have been making shoes for four generations. Often at Maison Berluti relationships are formed around the language of shoes. Men gather for shoe-polishing sessions, where champagne flows.
posted by owhydididoit at 9:30 PM PST - 11 comments

Suicide Bombing: Just Say No. Hollywood-style anti-suicide bombing PSA now in heavy rotation on Iraqi TV. Previously discussed here before the spot was finished.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:09 PM PST - 57 comments

Is this the most valuable PEZ dispenser in the world? Collectors know of only two examples of this 1982 World’s Fair astronaut design PEZ dispenser - each in a different color scheme. Between 06:29:59 PDT and 06:30:12 PDT, the eBay bid for the green stem example from the Headley-Du Vall PEZ Collection exceeded the current world record of $6,000 for a single dispenser. (More inside).
posted by nanojath at 8:37 PM PST - 30 comments

The strange saga of Harvey Matusow, "most hated man in America". Said to be the most notorious of the paid perjurious snitches for the Communist witch-hunters, married 12 times, gave LSD to Robert F. Kennedy, tangled with Roy Cohn, was prison buddies with Wilhelm Reich, recorded a psychedelic Jews Harp record, started the rumor that smoking dried banana peels gets you high (as an act of revenge against Chiquita Banana), wrote one of the first how-to books on computer hacking. [via]
posted by nickyskye at 7:32 PM PST - 20 comments

Proverbs which also work the other way around.
posted by signal at 6:43 PM PST - 31 comments

Street Cents, a staple on The CBC for 17 years, has been canceled. The Emmy award-winning show focused on consumer and media awareness for teens and pre-teens.

Street Cents is filmed in Halifax, NS and airs without commercial interruption in order to avoid potential conflict with advertisers who were regularly taken to task on the show. The last episode will air on October 1st, 2006.
posted by purephase at 6:26 PM PST - 33 comments

Twice the budget, more stars vs. an Oscar-winning film a year old. The release of the Infamous trailer begs the question: is there really that big a market for Truman Capote-inspired films? Especially since both revolve round In Cold Blood? On the other hand, Infamous might at least still make a profit.
posted by starman at 6:13 PM PST - 14 comments

From WalMart's latest PR campaign: "I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs..." The author? Former MLK lieut, Andrew Young.
posted by mischief at 6:02 PM PST - 46 comments

Confused by "The Case of the Speluncean Explorers"? Here's a timeline. Perhaps you need a different perspective? How about a real-life analogy?
posted by anotherpanacea at 3:24 PM PST - 4 comments

Japanese leftists seize plane with samurai swords. AWOL Marine sets record by hijacking plane from Fresno to Rome. Female Palestinian hijacker becomes radical chic pin-up. D.B. Cooper parachutes from 727 with $200,000 in unmarked bills. Have airplane bombings made us nostalgic for old-school skyjackers who just wanted money or a trip to Cuba? Academic papers analyze skyjacking in the 60s & 70s according to contagion and rational choice models. Check out a prescient pre-9/11 documentary on the subject with great archival clips.
posted by jonp72 at 2:39 PM PST - 21 comments

Donk, box, or bubble?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:19 PM PST - 13 comments

This is the Fish calling from Microsoft Support Santro. No, not that fish.
posted by GernBlandston at 1:00 PM PST - 28 comments

How a Right-Winger Sees the New York Times.
posted by brain_drain at 12:50 PM PST - 78 comments

HI Ladies, It’s your Knight in Shining Armor! The interweb has revolutionized the time-honored tradition of prison pen-pals. Meet a soulmate. A lover. A fighter. An artist. OMG a girl!!! Be still my heart -- someone to spoon with. Really, there's someone for everyone.
posted by turducken at 12:43 PM PST - 37 comments

After breakfast we elected a man by the name of Walker, from Detroit, for supper. "Cannibalism in the Cars," by Mark Twain.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:29 PM PST - 15 comments

Worker falls into chocolate vat. His quick-thinking co-workers understand the chemistry of of confection.
posted by Kibbutz at 12:18 PM PST - 40 comments

Beauty in bitmaps- Some artists work in watercolors, some oils, and some with clay. The 'artists' at tacoholic express themselves in the universally accessible medium of really bad MS Paint drawings. Its public so you can submit your own masterworks.
posted by AVandalay at 11:33 AM PST - 7 comments

FFF: Pac Xon is like Qix, only with graphics from Pac Man, and the red ghosts eat your territory, and the popsicles freeze the ghosts. So maybe it's not so much like Qix, but it's similarly addictive. [via]
posted by scottreynen at 10:52 AM PST - 17 comments

The active component of marijuana, 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), competitively inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as well as prevents AChE-induced amyloid -peptide (A) aggregation, the key pathological marker of Alzheimer's disease.
posted by Mr_Zero at 10:49 AM PST - 49 comments

Tehching Hsieh – Life Performance Never one to back down from performance art, Tehching Hsieh, a Chinese emigre to the US, has done some pretty impressive things: - A year in a cage in his loft without talking; -Punching a time clock every hour of every day for a year (and missing tons of REM sleep and making a film in the process;) -Spending a year outside, never entering a single building or roofed structure until he was arrested in a scuffle; Tied together with artist Linda Montano with a 8-foot piece of rope. Does Tehching Hsieh deserve to be called America's Greatest Performance Artist?
posted by parmanparman at 10:29 AM PST - 27 comments

McKinley Assassination Ink: "The goal [...]: to gather the largest possible selection of full-text primary source documents relating to the assassination of William McKinley and the immediate aftermath of that event, including the succession of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency and the incarceration, trial, and execution of [anarchist] assassin Leon Czolgosz."
posted by OmieWise at 10:11 AM PST - 9 comments

200 liters of condensed liquid nitrogen (LN₂) were delivered to Berkeley’s Condensed Matter Lab this past Monday. Sent to retrieve the 400lb dewar from the loading dock but faced with a non-working elevator, an enterprising young lab student decided to carry it down the stairs. Gravity is a harsh mistress.

If things had turned out differently, they could have been scraping his remains off the walls with a spatula. At Texas A&M in January a lab was badly damaged when someone ignored the Ideal Gas Law, removed the pressure valve and rupture disk off an old (LN₂) tank and filled the remaining holes with metal plugs. "How to Tell a True Lab Story" talks about a similar incident. LN₂ is good for more than just blowing up a school (or, um a watermelon), though: Spanish Chef Ferran Adrià uses it to create dishes at his restaurant. Previously on MeFI: How to make LN₂ ice cream (careful!) and unwise science experiments.
posted by zarq at 9:20 AM PST - 27 comments

First they came for the atheists - Arkansas state constitution says: "Atheists disqualified from holding office or testifying as witness:- No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court" Link to pdf, pg 74 in pdf(via reddit).
posted by forwebsites at 9:04 AM PST - 102 comments

Esposing Earmarks: networked journalism's first assignment. Today marks a key moment in the evolution of the Web as a reporting medium. The first left-right-center coalition of bloggers, activists, non-profits, citizens and journalists to investigate a story of national import: Congressional earmarks and those who sponsor and benefit from them. Join the hunt!
posted by scalefree at 8:50 AM PST - 9 comments

"Sometimes our stomachs would hurt, because we would go up to 15 days without eating." Three Mexican fisherman were found alive after drifting in the Pacific for nearly a year. They were found in their 27-foot boat, 5500 miles from where they started.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:42 AM PST - 56 comments

Whether or not you generally enjoy testosterone-ridden activities, watching Greg Gasson jump from one plane to another is pretty cool. Also: a longer video of a second such jump, plus lots of annoying commentary. Registration required.
posted by louigi at 7:31 AM PST - 21 comments

Collection of Divine Messages, vol. 1. In 1926, Vietnamese intellectuals tried to unify the religions of the world. After a year of intensive seance, here's what they came up with: Spiritist mediumship, Taoist cosmology, Christian rhetoric, Catholic structure, Buddhist/Confucian morality, .....Masonic imagery? Their take on vegetarianism: "An impure physical body will create an impure spiritual body, which cannot conduct electricity well. As a result, it will then be struck by lightning and be destroyed in the atmosphere. Even if the impure spiritual body is wise and remains on the earth to avoid the lightning, it will remain an Immortal and never proceed to Buddhahood. This is why I recommend the practice of complete vegetarianism before attempting meditation." More via Sydney Centre for Studies in Caodaism.
posted by Laugh_track at 6:33 AM PST - 9 comments

Ronald McHummer. "This month McDonald's is giving away toy Hummers — 42 million of them, in eight models and colors — with every Happy Meal or Mighty Kids Meal. That's right: The fast-food chain that helped make our kids the fattest on Earth is now selling future car buyers on the fun of driving a supersized, smog-spewing, gas-guzzling SUV.."
posted by stbalbach at 5:19 AM PST - 117 comments

Anna and Laura Tirocchi ran a dressmaking shop for the elite of Providence, Rhode Island between 1915 and 1947. In 1989 the building, which had been shut for 42 years, was found to contain a time capsule of the development of early 20th century fashion - from fabric and dresses to photographs and sewing machines and associated ephemera. The A&L Tirocchi Dressmakers Project website showcases the collection (after 12 years of research by RISD) through: the 514 project (with an image archive), essays, databases and exhibition sections. [via Intute]
posted by peacay at 4:04 AM PST - 12 comments

CensusScope. US Census 2000 data displayed through maps, rankings, and charts. [more inside] Warning: some pages render funny, but usable, under Firefox 1.5.0.4.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 4:01 AM PST - 7 comments

Google Video + Google Maps + Rendezvous = Awesome Its been posted previously, but now with a map illustrating the route taken in real-time.
posted by lemonfridge at 1:43 AM PST - 26 comments

Friday Flash Fun: Dolphin Edition. It takes a little practice, and you probably should read the directions first.
WARNING: May lead to a drop in productivity, sensation of lost time, or feelings of isolation.
posted by kyleg at 1:03 AM PST - 16 comments

Gir, it's time for PANCAKES! youtube
posted by jonson at 12:08 AM PST - 64 comments

Phisick - Beautifully presented historical medical instruments. Check out the French Nasal Rectificateur. Take a look these ear trumpets too: 1, 2, 3, 4. [Click on the images in the top strip for alternate views and close-ups]
posted by tellurian at 12:08 AM PST - 19 comments

Ilha Das Flores video "A tomato is planted, harvested and sold at a supermarket, but it rots and ends up in the trash. The end? No. ISLAND OF FLOWERS follows it up until its real end, among animals, trash, women and children. And then the difference between tomatoes, pigs and human beings becomes clear." A remarkable and devastating 12 minute film from director Jorge Furtado.
posted by maryh at 12:06 AM PST - 15 comments