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A Year in Pyongyang.
comment posted at 6:59 AM on Jan-21-07

Hillary Clinton Announces Bid For Presidency in 2008. Mefi predicted it earlier! If elected, Senator Clinton would be the first female president of the United States.
comment posted at 7:10 PM on Jan-20-07

Ever wondered what Art Garfunkel does when he's not walking across one continent or another? No? Well he'd like to tell you anyway. He reads. A lot.
comment posted at 7:32 PM on Jan-20-07

Things My Boyfriend Says. Not my boyfriend, mind you. I'm just posting it.
comment posted at 7:29 PM on Jan-20-07

The UKs Celebrity Big Brother provokes a diplomatic incident after bullying and alleged racism in the Big Brother house. At the center of the furor are Shilpa Shetty, massive bollywood film star, and Jade Goody, a previous Big Brother content famous for being a previous big brother contestant and her odd views on geography. Both Jade and Shetty are now up for eviction, with the formerly popular Jade being widely expected to be evicted. She could face trouble on the outside, where already an anti-bullying charity she represents has dropped her. Meanwhile Shetty has become favorite to win.
comment posted at 5:23 AM on Jan-18-07

California's Governor Seeks Universal Care: Under a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California would become the largest state to attempt to provide near universal health coverage.
comment posted at 4:44 AM on Jan-9-07

Angelina Jolie as Madonna of Consumption. Artist Kate Kretz is displaying her painting at Art Miami 2007.
comment posted at 5:17 AM on Jan-5-07

Who was the most dominant athlete of all time? If athletes include draughts players then Marion Tinsley makes a good candidate, losing but 7 games plus 2 more to a computer over the course of a 45 year career. [more inside]
comment posted at 1:33 PM on Dec-19-06

Withnail & I on the YouTube:

Drinking the Lighter Fluid
In the tearoom
Withnail and Danny argue about drugs
Withnail and the Telephone Box
Monty and I
Withnail's monologue in the rain

Withnail & I - A review, Sanjek on Withnail and I
Concerning film maker Bruce Robinson
Withnail & I - The Screenplay
Withnail & I  locations, Withnail and I  quotes and picturesand...
Kids, don't try this at home!--Regarding the Withnail & I drinking game
comment posted at 6:45 AM on Nov-25-06

Lichen: The Fungus Meets the Alga. Beatrix Potter was an early proponent of this symbiotic life form. Once thought to be scabs of the gods, lichens can survive exposure in outer space and British churchyards. They can be antibiotic, hallucinogenic, reindeer food, and when steeped in urine make great dyes for tartans and tweeds. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, "The beauty of lichens, with their scalloped leaves, the small attractive fields, the crinkled edge! I could study a single piece for hours. How they flourish! I sympathize with their growth."
comment posted at 7:04 AM on Nov-24-06

The 100 Most Powerful Women in the world has been an education in showing me the beauty inherent in strength, particularly when a woman has embraced her own sense of power. Look at these red lips, these kohl lined eyes, this frank face full of mischief. These are Queens, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Heads of State, powerful government officials, CEO's and more. Just reading their bios tells you so much about who they are and what they believe in. Would a similar collection of 100 men offer as much to ponder over and respect?
comment posted at 8:32 AM on Nov-24-06

Women, know your limits.
comment posted at 7:53 AM on Nov-24-06

Livingstones furniture for surrealist living. via Ursi's excellent blog
comment posted at 4:04 PM on Nov-23-06
comment posted at 7:29 PM on Nov-23-06

The Night Andy Kaufman Sabotaged After Michael Richards flipped out at the Laugh Factory, some speculated that Kramer had an "Andy Kaufman moment" gone horribly wrong, but did you know that Richards was once a target of Kaufman's humor himself? On February 20, 1981, Andy Kaufman hosted ABC's late night comedy show, Fridays , but refused to stay on script during the live Broadcast. After deliberately blowing lines in several sketches, Kaufman instigated a fight during one sketch, by pouring water on Fridays cast member, Michael Richards. The next year, ratings for Fridays were so low that they asked Kaufman to host a second time to boost ratings. (More inside.)
comment posted at 12:06 PM on Nov-23-06
comment posted at 12:08 PM on Nov-23-06
comment posted at 12:11 PM on Nov-23-06
comment posted at 4:08 PM on Nov-23-06

Michael ("Cosmo Kramer") Richards loses his mind. On stage at the Laugh Factory in L.A. last Friday, Richards flipped out at heckler and launched into a stream of racist taunts, all caught on video. The Seinfeld Curse strikes again.
comment posted at 4:04 PM on Nov-20-06
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comment posted at 4:25 PM on Nov-20-06
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comment posted at 4:32 PM on Nov-20-06
comment posted at 4:53 PM on Nov-20-06

What will be the biggest scientific breakthroughs of the next 50 years? As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, the New Scientist asked 70 prominent minds for ideas on the subject. You can read the thoughts of scientists like Freeman Dyson, Benoit Mandelbrot and Jane Goodall individually, or browse by topic. For example, eight thinkers have something to say about alien life. The links to browse by topic can be found at the beginning of the main link. Also, compare with this thread about similar predictions from 1950.
comment posted at 4:44 AM on Nov-20-06

"I don't have any more babes." After offering fans $75 each to show up, Martin Scorsese's film crew prettifies the front row [Coral Cache] of NY's Beacon Theatre for the Rolling Stones' 2007 documentary. Are the boys — not to mention their audience [PDF] — getting a little long in the teeth, or can they rock for ages?
comment posted at 5:29 AM on Nov-17-06

Only 35 days left until the Global Orgasm. Remember that you're doing it for Peace On Earth or Purity Of Essence or Projection Of Energy or whatever. Don't forget to visit the GlobalO Blog for more information.
comment posted at 3:42 PM on Nov-16-06

Are you tonedeaf? Take the (6-minute) test. via
comment posted at 3:48 PM on Nov-11-06

Nikos Salingaros is a mathematics professor and architecture theorist. His career has crossed disciplines: after starting out as a painter, Salingaros earned a Ph.D. in theoretical physics and published work in mathematics and physics. In 1983 Salingaros helped edit Christopher Alexander's book The Nature of Order (here are Salingaros' notes on the book), and thereafter began a career as a noted architecture theorist in his own right. Salingaros is an advocate for "new urbanism" in architecture, and he champions the ideas of architect Léon Krier (the "godfather of new urbanism") with the "pattern language" theory of Christopher Alexander ^(wiki). The excellent arts blog 2Blowhards conducted a fascinating five-part interview with Salingaros: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Salingaros just published a new book, A Theory of Architecture (2Blowhards discusses it here) with a preface written by HRH the Prince of Wales ^(wiki).
comment posted at 11:53 AM on Nov-5-06

Our Man at Yale: 2 versions one link via Linkfilter.com but worth the reading
comment posted at 5:15 PM on Nov-4-06

The weird world of Deal Or No Deal.

"My God," I thought, as I climbed off the treadmill, exhausted. "They're in a bubble. They've got no sense of reality. They have, in Noel Edmonds, a charismatic leader who believes in nutty things. It's like a religious cult! An incredibly nail-biting and entertaining cult, brilliantly presented by Noel, but a cult none the less."

Jon Ronson (previously discussed here, here, here and here) goes behind the scenes of the wildly successful British version of Deal Or No Deal.
comment posted at 2:26 PM on Oct-22-06
comment posted at 2:28 PM on Oct-22-06
comment posted at 5:48 AM on Oct-23-06

Fan jumps Jeff Tweedy. Jeff Tweedy jumps fan. Incident. Apology. Pitchfork. WILCO (scroll down to "Springfield Masacree)
comment posted at 2:53 PM on Oct-22-06
comment posted at 3:04 PM on Oct-22-06

OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!!
EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!!!!
comment posted at 10:30 AM on Oct-22-06

Surviving office work: 2006. Surviving office work: 1853. The more things change......
comment posted at 3:54 PM on Oct-21-06

A letter, written in Spanish , sent to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time." A fine example of often-GOP tactic called "caging" but you can call it good ol' intimidation, and just for sake of irony the guilty appears to be the campaign of GOP Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen who is himself an immigrant. You may also recall his party is fond of drafting legislation to complicate the ballot process with voter id requirements and thus make caging a little more legal.
comment posted at 6:00 PM on Oct-19-06

The Top 200 Universities in the World. [logon:mefier/pass:metafilter] For the second year, the Times Higher Education Supplement has exhaustively ranked the top schools in the world. The US, and, to a lesser extent, the UK, dominate the list, but Australia continues to have a strong showing, and China makes more appearances. If you don't like that list, try Newsweek's Top 100 Global Universities, or the ranking by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which looks at Nobel Prizes and highly cited articles, or just judge universities by their age. All of this a little too global? Washington Monthly rates universities by how they contribute to social mobility and the US as a whole, Mother Jones ranks by social activism, and Young America's Foundation lists the 10 best conservative colleges. [prev.]
comment posted at 4:47 AM on Oct-19-06

America's 10 Dumbest Congressmen. How dumb are they? Bill Frist isn't even on the list.
comment posted at 1:08 PM on Oct-16-06
comment posted at 1:11 PM on Oct-16-06

The Magic of NSFW. Ursula Martinez has been discussed here before, but I searched for, and failed to find, the first link (google video).
comment posted at 5:16 AM on Oct-16-06

Bitflicks : very large and accurate representations of video games made out of Lego blocks.
comment posted at 1:20 PM on Oct-9-06

A recently discovered species of polychaete annelid worm dating from the Silurian now bears the name of Motorhead fronstman, Lemmy Kilmister.
comment posted at 9:08 AM on Oct-8-06

Ima Gangsta -- the motivation and the regret. "San Francisco has an out of control gang violence problem, but what motivates young people to join gangs? Ruben City Palomares -- in his first film -- explores the reasons young homies choose to get jumped into a gang and reveals the lifetime of regret older gang members carry as a result of their fateful decision to be a gangsta. Palomares, 16, is a filmmaker with Conscious Youth Media Crew."
comment posted at 2:02 PM on Oct-4-06

Hadley Centre: Climate Projections Two computer models showing how the North Pole is melting and what the surface temperature of the earth will be like at the end of this century. A spinning globe visualises the changes. This is not hyperbole just lots of data.
comment posted at 2:15 PM on Oct-4-06
comment posted at 4:13 PM on Oct-4-06

So this horse walks into a bar ...
comment posted at 4:20 AM on Oct-4-06

Music for Funerals - 5000 Brits were surveyed about songs they'd like played during their funeral. I'm warning you right now, Bon Jovi made the top 20.
comment posted at 11:39 AM on Oct-3-06

Funny Farm What four-letter word links Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey? A word-association puzzle.
comment posted at 9:53 AM on Sep-30-06