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Relevant after all? Daft Punk are experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Whereas it seemed only a few months ago they were washed up and out of ideas, in danger having run their persona into the ground, they can now claim to have been the undisputed highlight of the Coachella Festival, responsible for one of the most memorable rap hooks of recent years and are on their way to Cannes to attend the premiere of their first self-directed film, 'Electroma'. At the same time, their influence is the driving force behind the new wave of French electronic music. People are even starting to come around to their previously unloved third album. hint: listen to it loud.
posted by setanor at 9:53 AM - 24 comments

Freetar Hero - Create and play any song on your PC. In development.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:45 AM - 27 comments

He's so penetrating that even I sometimes can't look, because it's so painful. He brings tremendous pain into his vision, and he makes you very aware of what you're looking at.
Don McCullin thinks that Eugene Richards is "possibly the best walking, living photographer in the world". Richards, who has recently been working on the War Is Personal project for The Nation Institute, has just joined Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey, John Stanmeyer, Lauren Greenfield and Joachim Ladefoged (their portraits are here) in the VII collective. More inside.
posted by matteo at 8:33 AM - 18 comments

Ecuador takes over operations of Occidental Petroleum Ecuador began on Tuesday to take over operations of U.S. oil giant Occidental Petroleum Corp, the latest move in Latin America against foreign energy producers after nationalization in Bolivia and growing state intervention in Venezuela.
posted by mountainmambo at 8:18 AM - 51 comments

If Banks were Bands, which would they be? A Bloomberg columnist writes about the 'personalities' of the world's big investment banks, and compares them to well-known bands. Some amusing, and insightful, descriptions
posted by darsh at 6:34 AM - 57 comments

The World in Contemporary Islamic Art (via bbc) 18 May – 2 Sept; at the British Museum in London. Among the exhibitors are The Iraqi calligrapher Hassan Massoudy Iranian photographers: Shadi Ghadirian and Malekeh Nayini and artists Farhad Moshiri and Khosrow Hassanzadeh The Egyptian artist Sabah Naim The Palestinian artist Laila Shawa and the Saudi Arabian X-ray artist Fahad Mater-al-Ziad (pdf) If, like me you can’t get to see the real thing maybe these will help. Enjoy.
posted by adamvasco at 5:49 AM - 11 comments

FRANK R. PAUL: At a time when most Americans didn't even have a telephone, he was painting space stations, robots and aliens from other planets... he was the guest of honor at the first world science fiction convention, and he was the first person to ever make a living drawing spaceships. What could be cooler than that? via the one and only BLDBLOG, with an interesting take on the subject.
posted by signal at 5:12 AM - 18 comments

A Story of Survival. The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous was established to fulfill the traditional Jewish commitment to hakarat hatov, the searching out and recognition of goodness .
posted by hortense at 12:25 AM - 3 comments

Injunctions in patent cases not automatic. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision (16 page pdf) on Monday in the dispute between eBay and MercExchange. The Court ruled in favor of eBay finding that the lower Appeals Court erred as a matter of law in creating a general rule that “courts will issue permanent injunctions against patent infringement absent exceptional circumstances.” In the concurring opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Scalia and Ginsberg, Roberts citing Court precedent noted that: “[d]iscretion is not whim, and limiting discretion according to legal standards helps promote the basic principle of justice that like cases should be decided alike.”
posted by three blind mice at 12:01 AM - 23 comments

Radiohead's inventive use of the Web, integrating music and art with deceptively archaic programming. Cryptic web-labryinths, flickering video-collage (click minotaur), The Byzantine Ziggurat ("THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE INITIATIVE IS A ZIGGURAT IN HYPERSPACE THAT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH."), a "disturbing focus on psychological profiling," consumer survey, Spin With a Grin, The Eraser. Don't forget to consume.
posted by bukharin at 8:53 PM - 34 comments

A9 Maps now combines Amazon's BlockView images in another ajax map interface (with the maps by Mapquest, interestingly). Amazon has been driving around major cities taking photos of each block and now as you browse the map, street-level images come up alongside. The interface isn't quite intuitive, but it is nice to see the idea coming together.
posted by pithy comment at 8:25 PM - 17 comments

Two girls, three wheels, 10,000 miles: an epic overland adventure from Bangkok to Brighton. Two women are about to embark on a very long and very uncomfortable voyage: driving a "tuk tuk" from Thailand to Britain to raise £50,000 for the mental health charity Mind.
posted by soiled cowboy at 8:05 PM - 22 comments

Water Power (embedded video). Inventor creates a hydrogen-powered vehicle that can run completely on water, or rather HHO. This is perhaps nothing new (or is it?), but fasinating nonetheless. Warning: annoying local news reportage.
posted by zardoz at 7:17 PM - 38 comments

Tony Snow doesn't want to hug the 'tar baby' of commitment. [WMV] [QT]
posted by SweetJesus at 7:12 PM - 189 comments

The Nintendo Physically Augmented Reality Amusement Park
posted by bingo at 6:33 PM - 29 comments

Scott Walker has, after an 11 year break, released a new album (Statesiders will have to wait until the 23rd). If it's anything like his previous release, Tilt, I'll be more than pleased. He is also to be the subject of an upcoming documentary. [related]
posted by tellurian at 6:23 PM - 12 comments

With little fanfare, after a hiatus that began in May, 2001, and following Greg Knauss's recent guest stint on kottke.org, An Entirely Other Day has returned. Just in case you missed it.
posted by staggernation at 5:07 PM - 19 comments

The Work Of Jorg Sasse
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:36 PM - 8 comments

The latest victim group: Albinos. "There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture."
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:22 PM - 86 comments

"...to me it is like finding Jesus," if Jesus were crunchy, wet and cold, that is. This, and other tales of what will no doubt be America's next popular reason for medication, therapy and loss of productivity, can be found at The Ice Chewers Bulletin Board.
posted by Framer at 1:57 PM - 39 comments

Gamma is the new beta. Web 3.0 is here, via the new Flickr interface. And it's sexy.
posted by keswick at 11:02 AM - 75 comments

From Dictatorship to Democracy. This guide to non-violent revolution by Gene Sharp was the handbook for turning over dictatorial regimes in Serbia, Georgia and the Ukraine. you know... just for future reference.
posted by empath at 10:27 AM - 19 comments

It's going to be as fake as the moon landings! The BBC reports that the US defense department is to release a video of the plane crashing into the Pentagon on 11 September. We've touched on this before, but will this close the conspiracy case for Flight 77?
posted by Meccabilly at 10:08 AM - 240 comments

Bush out of favor in 47 out of 50 states. The SurveyUSA 50-state-poll shows some interesting details on Bush's approval rating, which has fallen to just 35% in North (and South) Carolina, 29% in Missouri, and 42% in Texas. He remains popular in only three states: Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Could the Democrats have a shot even in Utah in the not-too-distant future? A lot of Utahns think so.
posted by insomnia_lj at 9:40 AM - 84 comments

A growing crop of towers pushing 2,000 feet: though just shy itself, the much-redesigned Freedom Tower is finally under construction for completion in 2011; but there is also the stunning Fordham Spire, approved in Chicago, that will rise to 2,000 feet by 2010. Moscow is planning the tallest tower in Europe, while there are a number of sightseeing and radio towers under construction in Asia. In Dubai, two towers under construction (despite worker protests) are racing to be the world's tallest, both are keeping their final heights secret, but will likely be over half a mile in height -- the Burj Dubai and the Al Burj. As previously discussed, there are great illustrations comparing buildings both built and under construction. Bring on Frank Lloyd Wright's The Illinois!
posted by blahblahblah at 8:23 AM - 60 comments

DIY Instruments: Guitar, Bass, A Drum, Yokobue, Pipes, analog synth sound effects. And for those of you who don't want to build anything - you can play the spoons.
posted by bigmusic at 8:18 AM - 8 comments

Sir! No Sir! The Vietnam GI Antiwar movement. (49 minute video)
posted by leapingsheep at 5:07 AM - 34 comments

W32/Hoots-A : Where overworked internet fads leave the basement and become exposed to the harsh light of day. "Why the author should want to print out pictures of an owl is, of course, anybody's guess..."
posted by setanor at 10:21 PM - 30 comments

The Rubik's Cube was of course primarily intended as a live music-making instrument. The whole 'solving it' craze was missing the point.
posted by signal at 9:34 PM - 5 comments

Hardrock Hallelujah Finland's entry for this year's Eurovision contest. It is indeed the day of Rockening.
posted by EtJabberwock at 9:18 PM - 50 comments

FakeNewsFilter: The Daily Show affects young voters. Researchers at East Carolina University claim that "The Daily Show may have...detrimental effects, driving down support for political institutions and leaders among those already inclined toward nonparticipation."
posted by greatgefilte at 8:53 PM - 67 comments

"The water, it came to your school. The gasoline, chemicals, sewage and blood came to your doorstep. It settled into the ground of this courtyard where we now gather." Chris Rose's commencement speech at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans.
posted by ColdChef at 8:08 PM - 13 comments

The evolution of dance (YouTube video)
posted by chicken nuglet at 7:12 PM - 46 comments

Bear v. monkey
posted by docpops at 3:27 PM - 68 comments

A song has flown. Former Poet Laureate of the United States Stanley Kunitz has died at the age of 100. Through his work as a founding member of the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, a former judge for the Yale Series of Younger Poets, and through his own delicate words, he has left an indelible mark on the world of poetry.
posted by jesourie at 2:48 PM - 15 comments

For a star as big as our universe the calculated vacuum energy inside its shell matches the value of dark energy seen in the universe today. "It's like we are living inside a giant dark energy star" say two physicists and their collegues. Dark energy stars may do away with the concept of black holes. (also seen recently on )
posted by Smedleyman at 2:45 PM - 34 comments

Cool site of the day times 2006: PopURLs! [via]
posted by airguitar at 1:54 PM - 39 comments

Author Interviews from the Center for Book Culture. I particularly liked the interview/bout with David Foster Wallace. Also the only interview Gaddis has ever done stateside is here. Good times.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 1:07 PM - 9 comments

FedEx Thunderstorm Deviations. "FAA radar track sequence of a bank of FedEx aircraft getting into Memphis as thunderstorms pass over the airport" (Google video). I'm having Rip Off flashbacks.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:30 PM - 55 comments

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (née Magan) has already been mentioned in several times in Metafilter. Whether you consider her a couragous campaigner for women's rights and against Islamofascism, or a crass opportunist, there's no denying that she's some character. However, it now seems that her Becky-Sharp-ish rise to fame and power also left a similar trail of embittered ex-friends and lies that has ended up landing her in serious trouble with fellow right-winger (also previously mentioned in Metafilter) Rita Verdonk, Dutch Immigration Minister. Before feeling too sorry for Ayaan, consider that she's moving to Washington DC, where she's landed a job at the American Enterprise Institute. I'm sure she'll fit right in...
posted by Skeptic at 11:47 AM - 34 comments

Skype now provides free calls to all landlines and cellphones in the US and Canada. A milestone in the telecommunications revolution.
posted by bobbyelliott at 11:25 AM - 49 comments

David Hart: L.A. Public Access TV Legend left me flabbergasted (video).
posted by Scoo at 10:28 AM - 12 comments

Michael Wolf (previously mentioned for his Architecture of Density series) has a new project called 100x100, cataloguing 100 individuals and their apartments. Each apartment is 10 feet by 10 feet in size. (via kottke)
posted by tim451 at 10:09 AM - 21 comments

Burying Freud. A collection of essays and responses by and about Freud's harshest critics, including "Confessions of a Freud-Basher" by anti-Freud point man Frederick Crews, interviewed at length here.
posted by mediareport at 9:16 AM - 32 comments

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling
posted by EarBucket at 7:59 AM - 200 comments

You just can't drink and dial. No, really, you can't. Not if you're dialing on this phone (scroll down to "Voice of Reason".). Need more help?: See also...
posted by Shane at 6:39 AM - 19 comments

Christian Nationalism is just one name for that ideological and aggressive species of Christianity just may be more organized, ambitious, and successful than you imagined. The dream transcends the elimination of abortion, the teaching of intelligent design, and the preservation of marriage within American politics, but instead reaches out to restore America to an imagined Christian state. Or more? "World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish." Or maybe just 29% of it. But some resistance from within Christianity is starting to appear.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 5:34 AM - 83 comments

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. What would you choose to do?

06. Draw on a sidewalk with chalk?
23. Sing Milli Vanilli in a karaoke bar?
27. Be flexible?
28. Find your biological father?
31. Panic on the 1000th day?

Maybe you'd like to team up with others?
posted by divabat at 4:50 AM - 16 comments

TV Theme Songs: The Dukes of Hazzard, The Love Boat, Taxi, Knight Rider, Air Wolf, The Prisoner, and many more. From TV Cream previously mentioned 1, 2, 3.
posted by bigmusic at 2:17 AM - 30 comments

bomb sniffing flowers. Danish, Canadian and U.S. scientists are closing in on a genetically engineered plant that will send up a floral signal: “DANGER—land mines below." Scientists in Denmark have been tinkering with Arabidopsis thaliana [...] to produce a plant [that] will turn a warning red whenever close to a land mine.” Arabidopsis can be genetically sensitized to the nitrogen-dioxide (NO2) that leaches from buried explosives.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 1:41 AM - 29 comments