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Canada's first manned space launch is to be sponsored by an online casino. The Canadian Da Vinci team who is vying for the X-prize gets a surprising boost by an online casino known for their creative marketing strategies. In exchange for the sponsorship, the casino asks that the astronaut-to-be play a game while in mid-flight. Jokes aside, this looks like the perfect partnering of marketing and private space exploration.
posted by phyrewerx at 11:59 PM PST - 8 comments

Another person gets fired for their blog. This is a strange story, the blog is here, and her former employer is here. According to the story, she was fired due to a complaint from a local, but it sounds like another factor was the blog outdoing the main site in Google searches. Of course it's only half the story, but this seems weirder than any previous occurrence.
posted by mathowie at 7:52 PM PST - 36 comments

Followup: Wired runs an article called "Fark Sells Out, France Surrenders". Drew Curtis writes a response (note the sycophantic totalfarkers and more annoyed normal-farkers) -- but, as the article says, "when pressed on the issue, Curtis refused to deny that Fark accepts payment for placement of links". Was this really a case of one sales rep getting "a little overenthusiastic"? Is Drew ever actually going to deny selling Fark out, or will he just keep writing non-responses detailing his plans for selling it out even more in the future?
posted by reklaw at 6:48 PM PST - 43 comments

Baghdad Journal An eyewitness artist's report from the Iraqi capital. Amazing watercolors.
posted by ColdChef at 4:46 PM PST - 8 comments

Because you never know when you might need to purchase some historic(al) hair
posted by magullo at 3:42 PM PST - 5 comments

Real and France's Virgin claim that they deserve to be able to sell their music on Apple's iPod. To prove they're serious, Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple to do so. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but last I checked it wasn't anybody's responsibility to open up their product or service to purposely allow the competition in. That is, of course, unless the government steps in. Are Real and Virgin Mega just being whiny little brats, angered that they're not invited to the party? What are legitimate reasons for the legal system to get involved and to rule in favor of such plaintiffs? While the obvious Microsoft may come to mind, are there other examples you can think of? As for me, I'd like to hand out copies of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" to both Real and Virgin Mega...
posted by tgrundke at 3:21 PM PST - 41 comments

The Freeloader Registry. When an employer pays low wages and doesn't provide health care benefits, its employees often end up getting free care through state and federal programs. How much does this cost you, and which companies benefit from the practice? A new Massachusetts state law will provide detailed information about top corporate welchers. (This follows recent discussion of the topic in the context of Wal-Mart.) Via Good Jobs First.
posted by alms at 2:52 PM PST - 21 comments

A new meaning for the expression: to google? In a stunning revelation, Internet search engine king Google reported it had neglected to register 28.8 million shares and stock options issued to employees and consultants between September 2001 and June 2004 in violation of state and federal securities laws. The regulatory fiasco was revealed in the company's S-1 filing with the SEC on Tuesday, and it has imperiled Google's much-ballyhooed IPO.
posted by psmealey at 2:36 PM PST - 10 comments

Is phonebooking illegal? No. Well...yes. Assault is assault. Just don't get caught.
posted by chunking express at 2:10 PM PST - 26 comments

Babyface: A Times Square Odyssey "This interactive web piece about the Babyfaces of Times Square takes place in the past, when the center city was a clash of classes rather than today's funeral of a theme park controlled by middle class undertakers." This is definitely not safe for work (drugs, porn, men in bathroom stalls), but if you want to remember the seedier side of NYC, this is one way to do it.
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:56 PM PST - 6 comments

Rick James dead. Big red breaking news box at CNN.com, also here. :(
posted by adampsyche at 12:28 PM PST - 64 comments

The Shore, a short-story by Richard Ford.
posted by semmi at 11:55 AM PST - 4 comments

I just ordered mine. [via Kevin Rose]
posted by tranquileye at 10:35 AM PST - 48 comments

The HIV virus has jumped from primates to people on at least seven separate occasions in recent history, not twice as is commonly thought. And people in Cameroon are showing up with symptoms of HIV, but are testing negative for both the virus and its primate equivalent SIV, the virus from which HIV is thought to have evolved. That suggests that new strains of an HIV-like virus are circulating in wild animals and infecting people who eat them, sparking fears that such strains could fuel an already disastrous global HIV pandemic.
posted by dejah420 at 10:17 AM PST - 15 comments

On July 6th, 1988 Dennis Dechaine of Bowdinham, Maine came home from work (transporting frozen chickens from a slaughterhouse) and planned to work on constructing a greenhouse. However, that project hit a glitch and sometime that afternoon he decided instead to take some amphetamines and go exploring in the woods near his home. When he emerged from the woods, lost and looking for his truck, about 8:30 pm that night he was questioned by the police who were looking for a missing 12 year old girl named Sarah Cherry. Two days later, Sarah's body was found and Dennis Dechainewas charged with the girl's murder. He was convicted in March of 1989 to life in prison without parole and an entire generation of Maine girls were told to 'remember Sarah Cherry' as a caution to not talk to strangers.
The question before us now, is, of course, did he do it?
posted by anastasiav at 9:59 AM PST - 19 comments

Mail Room Veterans for Bush
Not exactly your Swift Boat Veterans, but staunch defenders of all things holy and honorable and patriotic just the same. Submitted for your Friday fun.
posted by nofundy at 9:46 AM PST - 1 comments

Attention Alpha Complex troubleshooters of blue clearance or higher, good news! The open source version of Paranoia has gone gold. Just in time for GenCon. The happiness control officer will be around soon, to check on your compliance. Have a nice day!
posted by milovoo at 9:35 AM PST - 19 comments

Flash guru Yugo Nakamura relaunches his site.
posted by gwint at 9:31 AM PST - 3 comments

Lawyer files class action lawsuit after being flamed by message board users on Yahoo. Message Board users over-react, and then Slashdot gets hold of the story. Let the emailing, telephoning and name calling begin. (via slashdot)
posted by seanyboy at 3:03 AM PST - 25 comments

The guys who brought you the timeline of terror alerts have been at it again. This time they made a chart comparing Bush's approval rating and the terror alerts. It's getting harder to believe this isn't s big slight of hand going on. Follow the ! icons and the thin red line.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 2:49 AM PST - 16 comments

Old school radiohead. Ah grade 9! An early start on Friday Flash Fun. The only version available is Flash. I've linked to the menu.
posted by aclevername at 12:19 AM PST - 9 comments