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Steve Irwin, better known as The Crocodile Hunter, is dead after a sting-ray barb went through his chest. He is survived by his wife and two children and both he and his larger than life persona will be missed.
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:33 PM PST - 473 comments

In 1992, Maureen Dabbagh's ex-husband kidnapped their daughter and fled to Syria. Now Maureen was about to step into a universe she had no idea existed: the covert world of the "snatchback industry." She would go on to become a snatchback agent herself, to help other "left behinds."

Also, How to kidnap your children and get away with it.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:16 PM PST - 18 comments

Either you liked them or you didn't, but for 60 years, the National School Lunch Program has been feeding American school children low cost, nutritious meals. Personally, from the 1960's, in small town Kansas, I miss the fish sticks, the thick oil crust sheet pizza, and the corn bread. And subsidized milk, at 2 cents an 8 ounce carton.
posted by paulsc at 6:57 PM PST - 87 comments

Kirk Rademaker makes sand sculptures that look like whimsical, steampunkesque machines (among other things).
posted by jonson at 6:08 PM PST - 8 comments

as often nostalgic and sad as they are summery and blissful, indiepop songs have long been the refuge of popkids the world around who embrace DIY but reject the rebellion of punk and pretentiousness of indie-rock. Over the years the regional focus has shifted from the twee bands in the united kingdom in the 80s to australia in the early nineties, to the northwestern united states, and to strangely.. sweden. Maybe its the combination of warm scarfs and good social services, but for whatever reason sweden's young generation has embraced the genre and, armed with casios and knit sweaters, have set about reminding the rest of us how truly wonderful and affecting it can be
posted by petsounds at 5:42 PM PST - 29 comments

Ultimate Wingnut Fantasy Wankball: "Fantasy football" (??) played with right wing bloggers. (Me, I think I want a raise.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:33 PM PST - 25 comments

MySpace has announced that it intends to sell the music of nearly 3 million unsigned bands who use the service as an alternative to iTunes. If nothing else, at least Metafilter should see an end to these sorts of links.
posted by Second Account For Making Jokey Comments at 4:30 PM PST - 54 comments

Living Without Ultimate Moral Responsibility. Is it desirable to live without the idea of free will as we normally understand it? Is it even possible? This interview with Galen Strawson explores these questions. Those who like something meatier may enjoy Derk Pereboom on the same subject (from the previously linked Determinism and Freedom Philosophy Website). Also of note: Susan Blackmore on living without free will.
posted by teleskiving at 4:15 PM PST - 101 comments

dg28.com: photographer eduction - 'Technique - Photography is all about light, and digital is no different. I try to light as much of my work as I can, and this was true before "Dig' day"'. Some great photography tips and techniques here, apparently from portrait photographer Neil Turner. Via Civil_Disobedient at Ask MetaFilter.
posted by nthdegx at 3:54 PM PST - 8 comments

'Thanks to FlexiSpy, I finally figured out my wife was cheating on me with my brother,' he claims. 'My life is so much better.'
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:46 PM PST - 27 comments

20 Years of Punishment
Agassi's incredible journey ended today with his loss at the U.S. Open. A class act throughout the years.
posted by ericb at 3:43 PM PST - 27 comments

Ghost Islands. Hashima: The Ghost Island. San Borondon: The Ghost Island. Ballale: The Ghost Island. Kandolhudhoo: The Ghost Island. Pulau Hantu: The Ghost Island.
posted by Falconetti at 3:13 PM PST - 7 comments

Making a watch by hand. In these days of “fast” and “convenient” I decided to commence a work of “painstaking” and “craftsmanship”, making my own wristwatch. I have had the idea for a certain arrangement of the watch dial, as on the image at the right, for a while now. My investigations into available movements showed that no production movement would give me this layout. After a long period of indecision and wondering what I was really getting myself into I decided to make my own movement, followed by the case and dial.
posted by caddis at 2:48 PM PST - 21 comments

The technology seemed so harmless at first. But as in any war, there was escalation. The pursuit of pointless perfection in shaving comfort now offers our beards only insanity. And now the multiblade wars have spilled over into electrics! Will these shaving firms not be satisfied until they've peeled the skin from our chins? Tell you the truth, I'd rather grow a beard.
posted by EatTheWeek at 12:13 PM PST - 63 comments

It's about the size of a golf ball. It is shockingly deadly. It has enough poison to kill 26 humans in minutes. If you see it's blue rings, it may already be too late. You will stop breathing. You will go blind. And the only way you will survive it is hours of artificial respiration and heart massage until the poison has worked its way out of your system. It is the blue-ringed octopus.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:41 AM PST - 45 comments

The Mesopotamian Marshlands have been inhabited for so long that some consider them to be the Garden of Eden. If this is true, then paradise is mostly lost. The marshlands have been shrinking since the 1970s, catastrophically so between 1990 and 1997. The Marsh Arabs have a pastoral lifestyle, relying on fishing and farming. They traditionally live in floating thatched huts, and build grand mudhifs, which serve as public spaces, but as the marshes have receded, the villages have moved ashore. As dire as it seems, restoration efforts are underway. But is it too little, too late?
posted by owhydididoit at 11:15 AM PST - 4 comments

In 1996 Frenchman Michel Guyot set out to build a XIII century castle the medieval way¹ -- using hammers and chisels to carve the stones, horses to cart the rock and no power tools. Ten years later it is one third completed and if all goes well will be finished by 2023, after which the plan is to build an abbey, then a village.²

1. Guyot, Michael (1996). "Guedelon: Chantier Medieval". Online project home page. Multi-lingual.
2. Doland, Angela (August 31, 2006). " Stone by stone, craftsmen build medieval-style castle". Associated Press, via CNN.
posted by stbalbach at 8:46 AM PST - 19 comments

"Everything is foggy. Everything is not clear. He was alive when we got to the other side. And now I have brought him back dead. Whatever hopes we had, that's where they ended."
The Summer of the Death of Hilario Guzman (BugMeNot)
posted by matteo at 8:38 AM PST - 13 comments

Street Artist Banksy "Shop Drops" 500 remixed copies of Paris Hilton's new album across the UK

Instead of Ms Hilton's own compositions, the replacement CD features 40 minutes of a basic rhythm track over which Banksy has dubbed Ms Hilton's catchphrase "That's hot!" and other extracts from her reality TV programme The Simple Life. Inside the accompanying booklet, a picture of the heiress emerging from a luxury car has been retouched to include a group of homeless people. In another shot, Ms Hilton's head has been superimposed on a shop window mannequin beneath a banner reading: "Thou Shalt Not Worship False Icons". [Independent] Mp3 soon, no doubt.
posted by takeyourmedicine at 8:33 AM PST - 57 comments

During his downtime on early worldwide tours with DEVO, Mark Mothersbaugh began illustrating on postcards to send to his friends, which he still creates, and has been creating every day for over 30 years. It's an obsessive habit/hobby which still yields anywhere from one to a couple dozen new postcard-sized images per day.
posted by furtive at 7:25 AM PST - 11 comments

1K Project II. 1000 cars racing at the same time in Trackmania Sunrise [via waxy].
posted by srboisvert at 5:20 AM PST - 34 comments

My Quonah. "My name is David C and I am the biggest idiot on this planet! Every girl I've ever met has done nothing except want me for what I had to offer them, the amount of cash I could throw their way and not for the person I was. One day that all changed when I meet a lady called Quonah..." Should she call him?
posted by feelinglistless at 3:27 AM PST - 34 comments