MetaFilter

London prides itself on having the most highly trained cab drivers in the world. Black cab drivers (as opposed to their unlicensed minicab counterparts) must pass a gruelling test of local geography known as The Knowledge. Applicants take several years to master over 300 "runs" through London, and are often seen scouring the streets on mopeds with maps on clipboards as they prepare. Knowledge Boys (and Girls), as trainees are known, practise calling over the runs with "callover" partners (Forward, Orchard Street. Right Oxford Street. Comply Marble Arch...). Passing The Knowledge requires appearing before the Public Carriage Office multiple times before obtaining a license, and has been scientifically proven to grow the cabbies' brains, findings which could help those whose memories have been damaged by stroke or trauma. The Knowledge even forms the basis of a dystopian future religion in Will Self's The Book of Dave. Naturally, London's cabbies were incensed when the Immigration Minister recently referred to them as "low-skilled".
comment posted at 8:57 AM on Sep-6-07
comment posted at 9:01 AM on Sep-6-07

ENDA House hearings start tomorrow --a record 94% of Fortune 500 companies now provide Sexual Orientation Discrimination Protection, and 89% of Americans polled believe Homosexuals should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities. Repeatedly introduced and then killed since 1994, the 2007 version--H.R. 2015--Employment Non-Discrimination Act (text of bill)--includes transgender protection for the very first time. The TVC is just one of many organizations fighting it. (there is a religious exemption, but groups like the TVC would be covered by it)
comment posted at 6:18 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 6:58 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 7:01 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 10:39 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 10:57 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 11:02 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 3:50 PM on Sep-5-07
comment posted at 5:21 PM on Sep-5-07
comment posted at 10:20 PM on Sep-28-07
comment posted at 10:23 PM on Sep-28-07
comment posted at 3:09 PM on Sep-29-07
comment posted at 1:39 PM on Oct-1-07
comment posted at 1:43 PM on Oct-1-07
comment posted at 9:51 AM on Oct-2-07

On Sept. 4th, 1957, a 15-year-old girl named Dorothy Counts took a walk that changed Charlotte. The photograph was taken by Don Sturkey. He took a lot of great pictures of North Carolina history.
comment posted at 1:50 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 4:52 PM on Sep-4-07

In God we doubt.

This is not an intellectual game. Even if we know what is true – and we don’t – you cannot reduce life to a set of provable realities. Humanity is too complex for that. In the end, it comes down to whether the world would be a better place without religion; and that is a matter of judgment, not certainty.

comment posted at 12:20 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 12:23 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 12:24 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 12:43 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 12:45 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 2:08 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 2:15 PM on Sep-2-07
comment posted at 9:17 AM on Sep-3-07
comment posted at 5:37 PM on Sep-3-07
comment posted at 8:21 AM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 8:29 AM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 8:44 AM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 10:28 AM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 1:55 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 4:56 PM on Sep-4-07
comment posted at 5:00 PM on Sep-4-07

The Way of All Flesh Fascinating series of found photographs, all of the same woman, documenting 50 years of changes. Sort of like those before and after meth photos, but without the meth and without the sleaze. Sort of not like that at all, actually. Previously (that link at bit NSFW) Also, see photobooth.net (previously) and this link (very web 2.0, that fancy "press here, no HERE" link technique) to Betty Hines' show of found photobooth photos has lots of other similar sites linked.
comment posted at 12:13 PM on Sep-1-07

Ghetto Man roasts the Superheroes As Scott Tipton says, "No superhero movie, no matter how bad, how awful, how soul-numbingly un-good in every sense of the word, can hurt me. I’ve seen LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES. Truly, nothing else comes close
comment posted at 4:49 PM on Sep-1-07
comment posted at 4:49 PM on Sep-1-07

Fate, Absolute Life and Death, the Aleph, the Zeitgeist, the sinking of the Atlantis, the World Trade Center, the formation of the universe...what more could you want from art? There's probably already been a been a post on this guy, Paul Laffoley, but I should hope more people could get a glance at some of this man's work. Crazy or brilliant, you make your decision. A video from his website.
comment posted at 2:45 PM on Aug-31-07

Why stop at one great undiscovered site when you can have 100? PC Magazine released its top 100 undiscovered websites for 2007 which you can view as a slideshow or download as bookmarks. There are some cool new sites that would be postworthy in themselves, such as: Footnote, which has digitized millions of national archive documents; WebsiteGrader, which automatically tells you how good your website is (MeFi gets a 98%); Rentometer, which compares your rent to others in the neighborhood; and Yapta, which lets you take advantage of airline policies that refund part of your ticket when prices drop. Many others have been covered on the blue, but are still worth revisiting such as OldVersions.com for finding software before the bloat, the video how-to site VideoJug, and Zamzar for conversion between file formats. If you can't get enough, check out the 100 classic websites.
comment posted at 10:01 PM on Aug-30-07

Is there anything Japanese sailors won't have sex with? [via]
comment posted at 6:49 PM on Aug-30-07

Since when did we get cat 5 levees? Or a working flood plan? Behold the New Orleans Levee, where 'We don't hold anything back.'
comment posted at 9:18 AM on Sep-1-07

The proper way to deal with a KKK march (Do not click link while drinking liquids) With all the doom and gloom in the news these days, I was beginning to think there was nothing to be done to make things better. I was proven wrong. By clowns.
comment posted at 5:32 PM on Sep-3-07

The origin of the peace sign. Various histories of designs, top 10 tools for artists and designers, hilarious pencil attachments and other cool stuff at designboom (previously).
comment posted at 12:52 PM on Aug-29-07
comment posted at 12:55 PM on Aug-29-07

Hilly Kristal has died at age 75. First the club, now the man.
comment posted at 11:54 AM on Aug-29-07
comment posted at 11:55 AM on Aug-29-07

In 1955, at least twelve men in Boise, Idaho were arrested for "infamous crimes against nature.". In the resulting dragnet, the vice president of the Idaho First National Bank was sentenced to seven years in prison, while national magazines fomented a McCarthyite Lavender Scare with headlines such as Male Pervert Ring Seduces 1,000 Boys. This dark chapter in Idaho gay history was documented in both John Gerassi's 1966 book, The Boys of Boise and the recent film, The Fall of '55, by documentarian Seth Randal, but neither Gerassi nor Randal could identify The Queen, a closeted but politically connected homosexual who allegedly used his massive clout to stop the witch hunt.
comment posted at 10:38 PM on Aug-28-07
comment posted at 11:23 AM on Aug-29-07

It sounds like a bad Newfie joke: the Newfoundlanders who had never seen a black person before and tried to scrub the colour off his skin. But the story is real: in 1942, Lanier Phillips was the only black survivor of the wreck of the USS Truxton off the coast of Newfoundland. Like the white survivors, he was half-dead and covered in oil when he arrived on shore, and the women nursing the survivors were puzzled when they could not clean the black colour off his skin. What happened next affected Phillips' self-perception and prompted him to push for equal treatment in the US Navy. He went on to become the first African American US SONAR technician, and continues today, at the age of 84, to speak across the US about his experience with the people of St. Lawrence. [previously]
comment posted at 4:02 PM on Aug-28-07
comment posted at 4:07 PM on Aug-28-07