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"As American as Apple Pie" is an oft-repeated remark on the innate "Americaness" of the dish - but when was the last time you actually had apple pie? When was the last time you had General Tso's Chicken?

Jennifer 8. Lee gives an interesting talk on the cultural phenomenon of Chinese Food.
comment posted at 4:07 AM on Apr-18-08

"Bruce Springsteen" sings the glories of Vista SP1. I wouldn't be surprised if the real Springsteen leads a strike force into Microsoft headquarters when he sees his duplicate (complete with faux Courtney Cox in the audience) singing "See what's on employees' desktops / with AIS and M-DOP".
comment posted at 6:54 PM on Apr-16-08

"Bitter" harvest The week started off in classic campaign form: a report of remarks made by Obama percolated through the media and came to dominate the news cycle. In typically circular fashion, the exhaustive coverage came to provide its own justification, as journalists covered the controversy that they had largely created...
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Enough bad news, enough gloom and doom. You remember that Asteroid 99942 Apophis that we were afraid might hit Earth in 2029? Ain't gonna happen. But it will get close enough for Earth's gravity to alter its orbit and there's a chance it could hit the next time around in 2036. But only a tiny chance: "less than 1 in 45,000 using standard dynamical models". according to NASA. Oh wait... NASA just got skooled by a 13-year-old German Astronomy Geek who says the chances are more like 1 in 450. Still a tiny chance, and the official numbers were only off by a factor of 100. Oh yeah, we're doomed.
comment posted at 2:07 AM on Apr-16-08

Some of the world's biggest grain exporters barred their farmers from selling in global markets yesterday, exacerbating the food price crisis for poorer nations that import their food and highlighting the failure of governments to nurture stronger rules for agricultural trade. Google news on restrictions on grain exports... Previously on MetaFilter.
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Yahoo! Answers answers the question "since when is the word 'boy' a racial slur?"
comment posted at 5:39 AM on Apr-15-08

By 2020, Mars may have monkeys, adding to the impressive roster of primates in space.
comment posted at 2:09 PM on Apr-14-08

Who said anything about a recession? Sometime between the government bailout of Bear Stearns and the Bureau of Labor Statistics report that America lost 80,000 jobs in March, Lee Tachman, a Wall Street banker, spent roughly $50,000 last month on a four-day jaunt to Miami for himself and three close friends.

“It was just all out — it was insane,” said Mr. Tachman. “I’m not afraid to spend money like that.”
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A Saudi national has made a short film intended to illustrate how all religions can be depicted as preaching violence. The Daily Telegraph reports that "Schism" is Raed al-Saeed's answer to Geert Wilder's "Fitna".
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