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Something's got to keep all those unruly Beanie Babies in line. HP Lovecraft's got nothing on the attack of the Plush Cthulhu.
posted by SuzySmith at 11:44 PM PST - 21 comments

Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps at which Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II. Ansel Adams photographed the camp in 1943 and published a book the following year to publicize the loyalty of the internees. You can take a QuickTime VR virtual tour, tour the camp in 3D VRML (screenshots), or read the memoirs of a woman who was interned there.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:17 PM PST - 22 comments

Jose Padilla is an US citizen being held without any rights granted to US citizens. And now the AG thinks he's a small fish will they let him go or give him a trial? Or will the government just keep him?
posted by elwoodwiles at 7:33 PM PST - 8 comments

Now here's guy who'll be pretty popular with the ladies: Italian man refuses to stop shtupping woman -- whom he'd just met -- in pool, until she has an orgasm.
posted by baylink at 7:11 PM PST - 55 comments

Prejudice! Deaf student turned down for place at Oxford University! Every year we have stories about how students were turned down for places at Oxford and Cambridge (the Yale and Harvard of the UK). The argument usually revolves around elitism, and that not enough state educated students are accepted into the top universities. This year, the story is of deaf student, Anastasia Fedotova, whose mother believes Oxford has discriminated against her daughter for not letting her in. And this just in, thousands of other parents are also claiming their able-bodied children have also been discriminated against. Oh, why can't those heartless admissions staff just accept every applicant!?
posted by wackybrit at 5:01 PM PST - 26 comments

"The Royal Bank, last year, refused to open an account for the "No Committee 2006" saying it believed the committee was violating the human rights of gays and lesbians." (The No Committee being an anti-gay group whose only reason to exist is to oppose bringing the gay games to Montreal.) The Royal Bank stated that "we will not knowingly open and operate bank accounts for groups whose express purpose is to incite discrimination against minorities." (via Soapboxgirls)
posted by monkeymike at 4:06 PM PST - 30 comments

Sell it. Cut notches in a stick. Spit tobbaco. Tie knots in black string. Rub it with a pebble. Bleed on a coin. [more ->]
posted by Spoon at 1:18 PM PST - 50 comments

KEKeKEKe "Possession of blue objects."
Visual poetry diamond of the Hungarian language - I'd love a pronuciation guide. Have you a favorite lexical chunk?
posted by dorcas at 12:53 PM PST - 10 comments

Af-Am poet disses Maya Angelou's new book, gets disinvited to book signing In this calm and thoughtful piece, smart, sharp poet Wanda Coleman reflects on the "furor" she caused in the Af-Am community with a savage review of Angelou's latest work. After the review appeared, she was asked not to attend a signing at a famous black bookstore for an anthology she participated in (story confirmed halfway down this page). She notes, "Critically reviewing the creative efforts of present-day African-American writers...is a minefield of a task." Also: Coleman on American poetry, Coleman recalls a mid-70's interview with Marley and Tosh and ponders black hair, Wanda's all-time top 10 books. [more inside]
posted by mediareport at 12:02 PM PST - 26 comments

Justice, American style. In July 1997, Michelle Bosko is raped and murdered. Police find no sign of forced entry and recover numerous semen and skin samples as well as fingerprints. The detectives ask the husband for his "gut feeling" for who did it. The husband fingers their neighbor. After many hours with a detective with a history of coerced confessions, he confesses and implicates his roommate. His roommate implicates three other men. Subsequent confessions from those men implicate a total of seven men. None of the suspects match the DNA or fingerprint evidence. Two years later, on a chance recovery of a jailhouse confession, a suspect admits to the killing. He has several rapes/assaults to his record and was a friend of the victim. He later confesses to the crime and says he acted alone. He matches the DNA and fingerprint analysis. The district attorney does NOT believe him, and convicts a total of five people for the crime.
posted by patrickje at 12:00 PM PST - 51 comments

The Grey Goo guys gain ground.
"The controversy involves the potential perils of making molecule-size objects and devices - a field known as nanotechnology ... The ultimate nightmare was the so-called Gray Goo catastrophe, in which self-replicating microscopic robots the size of bacteria fill the world and wipe out humanity."

While 'gain ground' may not be wholly accurate (it was alliterative), the theory is being given lots of play in scientific circles as nano-devices approach practical status.
posted by o2b at 11:49 AM PST - 26 comments

Trio arrested in Virginia for alleged sex act in cathedral. Copulating couple and their radio commentator co-conspiritor violated sanctity of church. Maybe if he'd been an altar boy...
posted by runthegamut at 11:46 AM PST - 51 comments

The new tapes obtained by CNN are somewhat disturbing. Has anyone else been able to catch some of them, either online, or on CNN Live? The chemical testing on the dogs is particularily interesting. Suddenly, experts are wondering if Al Qaeda has more technological capability then was previously estimated. Do you think that they have indeed made it past the stage of torturing dogs, and could pose a serious chemical threat? What is the likelihood that these weapons will be used?
posted by dgt at 11:17 AM PST - 36 comments

Oh no...not again... In the latest twist to the long-running Ginger saga, it's now being rumored that the two-wheeled device unveiled by inventor Dean Kamen last December isn't in fact the real deal.
posted by mathis23 at 10:18 AM PST - 39 comments

The other other reparations movement: Penile reparations. "...even where the procedure is performed at the professional standard, a circumcision is litigious if the consent is not informed... An army of lawyers will be there with this precedent and many more in their arsenal." [more inside]
posted by Slithy_Tove at 10:10 AM PST - 158 comments

Chindogu is the ancient Japanese art of the Unuseless Invention -- that is, a creation which seems like a great idea, but which, in reality, causes more inconvenience than it cures. Behold the almost handy Backstratcher's T-Shirt, the Eyedrop Funnel Glasses, the Butter Stick and the Kitty Dust Slippers. Because everyone enjoys a good Unuseless Invention, I have given this book as a gift more than any other.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 9:52 AM PST - 5 comments

Fancy Helping Rearrange The Deckchairs On The S.S.Nation? Witness the lavish excesses of Newport's "gilded age" as you visit the summer cottages of the Vanderbilts, Astors and Morgans; relive the fairy-tale wedding reception of Jacqueline Bouvier at her childhood summer home, Hammersmith Farm... Got a few thousand dollars to spare? Fancy a luxury cruise, leisurely discussing the evils of globalisation and the Bush administration with the likes of George McGovern, Howard Zinn, Katha Pollitt and the editorial gang of The Nation? Welcome aboard! Or perhaps Sir or Madam would feel more at home rubbing elbows and spilling eggnogs with Kenneth Starr, Milton Friedman, Dan Quayle, Tom De Lay on the S.S.National Review. What?! Still too left wing? Well, go ahead and join Oliver North, the NRA and other soft-spoken voices of moderation on their Freedom Cruise to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the glorious liberation of Grenada! Your own private tour of the island, conducted by Ollie himself, is included.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:46 AM PST - 8 comments

Archaeoastronomy examines how ancient cultures studied and worshipped the heavens. From the arrangement of the Stonehenge stelae to the Mayan reverence for the planet Venus, this science has resulted in some fascinating and often beautiful discoveries, including star charts found in tombs in Ireland and Japan, the Lascaux caves in France, and rock paintings of a supernova in 1054 that resulted in the Crab Nebula. My personal favorite is the “Sun Dagger” in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (scroll down for photos).
posted by gottabefunky at 9:36 AM PST - 11 comments

The other reparations movement. According to this article, Jack Kershaw, of Memphis, Tennessee wants to file a lawsuit which seeks redress for grievances with the federal government for gross violation of international law during the War Between the States, especially during Sherman's March to the Sea (some call it a myth). Kershaw is a board member of the League of the South, a non-racial Southern secessionist movement located in Alabama). Can a small secession movement which publishes a magazine called the Southern Patriot and sports a Confederate flag everywhere be taken seriously by mainstream America? I personally don't think Kershaw has a snowball's chance in hell of winning such a suit, but the idea is interesting, especially if one is trying to trace the origins of America's practice of ignoring international law and just conduct in war, which seemed to start with the un-Civil War. What do you think?
posted by insomnyuk at 9:25 AM PST - 45 comments

Lesson learned in Houston, Texas yesterday: shop at a 24-hour Kmart in the middle of the night, go directly to jail. If you're a 10-year-old girl having a late dinner with your father at the next door Sonic, well, it's off to jail with you, too.
posted by ewagoner at 9:23 AM PST - 103 comments

Joint Chiefs planned US Terror back in the 60s to build popular opinion against Cuba. Why is it so hard to believe that this type of 'strategic planning' isn't still commonplace? -via camworld
posted by tellmenow at 9:07 AM PST - 22 comments

WarFlying
Well it had to happen eventually didn't it? Have you ever gone on a hunt for wireless networks in your neck of the woods? Find anything you shouldn't have? And have you ever actually seen a WarChalk yet?
posted by Mwongozi at 8:57 AM PST - 7 comments

Farah Janjua, a diverse photographer has many accomplishments in her field. Since her debut as a photographer in 1990, her work has been displayed in numerous exhibitions both national and international. Her most outstanding achievements include her photograph "Hopeless"(scroll down) being the only photograph from outside the United States published by The International Library of Photography in their book 'America at the Millennium' in the year 1999. My personal favorite is this picture named "Malang" on her official website.
posted by adnanbwp at 8:04 AM PST - 4 comments

Hosting Provider Bans RIAA - According to this press release, Information Wave Technologies will actively block all RIAA IP space because RIAA is intentionally seeking to invade customer networks / hosts to check for copyright violations. Additionally, they are going to deploy a "honeypot" system (simulates a GNUtella client sharing copyrighted material) in order to log requests for the files and correlate them with attempts to invade the host -- RIAA's stated plan to combate music piracy.
posted by Irontom at 6:42 AM PST - 24 comments

The Washington Post follows an agenda. There truly exists a bias in the press and here's an example. Metatalk had a thread on there being so many NYT links, perhaps this helps explain why. Many many more examples of the Post's biases can be found at SpinSanity and other such sites but this one comes from "next door" in Baltimore.
!Only MetaFilter is trustworthy!

( P.S. Looking for an example of "liberal bias?" This isn't it.)
posted by nofundy at 6:08 AM PST - 28 comments

Abu Nidal is Dead. The Bin Laden of the 70s and 80s. Having read his biography years ago he makes Kyzer Soze childsplay...possible suicide.. yeah, suicide Israeli style. The War On Terror heats up one more terrorist scum dead.
posted by stbalbach at 6:07 AM PST - 12 comments

Death to the Prince of Darkness! I have never been prouder to live in CT. We're finally getting some REALLY DIRTY politics.
posted by clango at 5:22 AM PST - 6 comments

Coke paints the Himalayas red. Will this finally boost soft drink sales in the region?
posted by popkick at 1:25 AM PST - 26 comments

The Johnny Carson website, where many episodes are for sale on VHS. Bad news: It will cost me about $3,000 to collect all the Albert Brooks appearances. This week they're playing a (quicktime) monologue from 1977. Anybody else got the warm fuzzies for Johnny?
posted by luser at 12:40 AM PST - 13 comments

Look at Me A stirring gallery of found photographs. Surely, others have gathered such found contacts of human iteration?
posted by plexi at 12:05 AM PST - 16 comments