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"I can absolutely understand why Brazil is devoted to my favorite body part - the ass." Alternately cringe inducing & hilarious clip of California's national shame Arnold Schwarzenegger down in Rio in the late 70s, groping the dancers and making obscene (and obscenely awkward) passes at his co-hosts. link goes to embedded quicktime video
comment posted at 10:35 AM on Nov-27-05

Deep Time. “Once we realize that Deep Time can never support narratives of evolution, we are forced to accept that virtually everything we thought we knew about evolution is wrong.”
It’s not the latest salvo from the proponents of intelligent design... [more inside]
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'Gay' horse jibe lands student in court
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The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as good or even better than their commercial alternatives. This list features my personal pick of the "best of the best."
comment posted at 1:25 PM on Nov-25-05

Lenticulars - fun 3-d art from Howard Hallis, the guy who did the the picture of everything. For the graphic designer, here's more info on the art of lenticulars.
comment posted at 11:08 AM on Nov-25-05

George Best dies at 59. Footballer George Best has died today from an infection after a protracted iillness due to ill health following his battles with alcoholism. A great talent he was famous for his good looks, ability and love of the ladies.

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered."

Rest in peace Besty.
comment posted at 11:22 AM on Nov-25-05

Despite the vast number of religions, nearly everyone in the world believes in the same things: the existence of a soul, an afterlife, miracles, and the divine creation of the universe. Recently psychologists doing research on the minds of infants have discovered two related facts that may account for this phenomenon. One: human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena. And two: this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry. Which leads to the question ...

Is God an Accident ?
This is a fascinating essary from the current Atlantic reprinted apparently in full for non-subscribers
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Tupac & Barney the Dinosaur: a Video Mashup.
comment posted at 12:07 PM on Nov-24-05

Glossophobia aka Lalophobia or, more commonly, stage fright is allegedly the biggest fear for Americans. If you experience it, you are hardly alone. Many well known performers, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Barbara Streisand, Donnie Osmond, Dusty Springfield and Andy Partridge of XTC, share your fear. Indeed, all kinds of performers suffer from it, including musicians, jugglers, and public speakers. Many people have (sometimes contradictory) advice about overcoming your fear of speaking in public. However, in a pinch, one can always use a Beta Blocker. Drinking booze, however, is not frequently recomended.
comment posted at 4:46 PM on Nov-23-05

If the universe is a hologram and the healthy human brain a valve of consciousness then where'd this mental infinity come from? Are we simply living the simulacrum? Or does Pi protect us all, forever, infinitely?
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Diggdot.us Digg, slashdot, and del.icio.us/popular - this is a constant browsing cycle for us. So why not combine them into a unified format without all the extra chrome? We can eliminate dupes and add some extra niceities.
comment posted at 11:30 AM on Nov-21-05

Wonderful toys for geeky girls and boys. A collection of unusual and intensely desirable science-based gewgaws and gadgets. Don't miss the lucidly written articles that explain the underlying principles. (via)
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Untitled States is Lore Sjöberg's latest creation. You may remember Lore from such hits as The Brunching Shuttlecocks and Name Decoder. His new instance of Sensation Heightening Interactive Technology is yet another effort by Lore to capture the interest of today's hip young Webloggy crowd.
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The Radiant Vista is a new photography site on the web that offers photoshop tutorials (in Quicktime and PDF) and daily photo critiques (Quicktime). Not much here for non-photographers, but I know a number of members have some interest in taking pictures and might find something good here.
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Bush in the bunker. [this link takes you directly to the article, but will call up the print dialog] In a story seemingly out of Capital Hill Blue, sources say that "Mr. Bush maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes. The sources also say that Mr. Bush has stopped talking with his father, except on family occasions."
comment posted at 9:57 PM on Nov-15-05

Pitchfork's Worst Album Covers of All Time. (Previous discussions of worst and best album covers)
comment posted at 10:34 PM on Nov-15-05

Oliver Stone has begun shooting a movie about the September 11 attacks. Despite promising to tread carefully on what is surely sensitive ground, one cannot be worried about Stone's possible interpretation of the events of that day. Furthermore, is it too soon, or does this movie come at just the right time? And finally, will it be more, or less, historically 'accurate' as his last film, Alexander?
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Blair loses in the Commons for the first time since his election in 1997. MPs refused to pass laws allowing terrorist suspects to be jailed without trial for 90 days, and Blair's parliamentary majority of 66 turned into a minority of 31. The government has been holding back on the vote for months in an attempt to persuade their party to back the Prime Minister - they failed.
comment posted at 10:25 AM on Nov-9-05

Diagnosis or job description? UK tabloids sometimes lead people to believe that all journalists are the scum of the earth. That's obviously not true, but one journalist who actually fits the bill seems to be ex-Woman's Wear Daily staffer, Peter Braunstein. On halloween, he dressed up as a fireman, called around at the apartment of a friend of his ex-wife and repeatedly drugged and raped her. Normally, this would just be another tawdry true crime, but like most writers, he's ended up leaving his mark all over the net.
comment posted at 10:14 AM on Nov-9-05
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Free Visual Studio Express Is Microsoft suddenly feeling generous, or are they just trying to further improve market share? (It's the latter).
comment posted at 8:03 AM on Nov-9-05

Flying Spagetti Monster expelled from Kansas The Kansas School Board has decided that it knows much more about the origins of life than the combined intelligence of all the scientists on the planet, and that fiction can be taught as fact. But seriously, if you don't even understand the scientific method, what business do you have setting academic policy?
comment posted at 9:09 AM on Nov-9-05

Empire Online's 50 Greatest Independent Films
I had no idea The Terminator was an independent film but they explain (a little) how they choose the movies as being made with "an independent spirit".

And if you think they got some wrong or missed the boat entirely, let 'em know. I, for one, wholeheartedly agree with #1, though I'm sure some of you will not.
comment posted at 11:56 PM on Nov-8-05

Once in a while you might come across a website about a celebrity that appears to be maintained by the very celebrity it touts. We've discussed some of these before. But you just haven't lived the 'Web 2.0' until you visit the Official StevenSegal.com. Herein you will find exciting possibly even working links to "Spirituality" and even a very exciting "Steven's Mp3 Page" (where all audio files are in .ram format). There is even 100% Pure Steven Seagal Juice and Steven's Essentail Oils are for sale as well.
comment posted at 12:04 AM on Nov-9-05

Acid Round the Clock : stories. No, not stories about acid. (Or are they?) "This isn't my fucking persona," he said, louder, more forcefully, turning over more tables as he headed for the door. But instead of using the door when he got there, he jumped through the plate glass front window beside it, and, while he was still in midair, continued intoning, even louder, "And THIS isn't my fucking persona EITHER!"
comment posted at 7:14 AM on Nov-4-05

Is Maureen Dowd necessary? Asks Katie Rolph (Slate). I'm not sure... but from a big article in the NY Times Magazine section last Sunday, to a spread in New York Magazine this week, all to support her new book release, she sure as hell seems to be everywhere these days. Rolph sums up Dowd pretty nicely, though:

... Dowd is extremely fond of clever stereotyping. But this strategy is better-suited to satirizing a real person (say, President Bush) than it is to offering insights into the already cartoonish "war" between the sexes. In Are Men Necessary? she gravitates toward quotes like this: "Deep down all men want the same thing: a virgin in a gingham dress," or "if there's one thing men fear it's a woman who uses her critical faculties..."

Her shallow insights are sometimes amusing in the context of 250 word op-ed, but a whole book, press junket and PR tour? The woman who suggests that oedipal conflict is at the root of current US foreign policy speaks out on feminism and culture, and we're supposed to care? Strangely enough, I do. I must be hypnotized by the red hair.
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Babycal Throw A simple and enormously addicting game. Consider yourself warned.
comment posted at 12:01 PM on Oct-26-05

A statue of Tommie Smith and John Carlos was recently unveiled at San Jose State University. Smith and Carlos were (in)famous for their raised fist protest on the medal podium at the 1968 Olympics, for which they paid a heavy price.
comment posted at 11:53 AM on Oct-26-05

Climbing Eiger ... 40 years after your father died trying - New docu-drama from Yahoo - pretty gripping.
comment posted at 12:58 PM on Oct-26-05