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Never Mind the Bollocks.
comment posted at 11:17 AM on Feb-27-06
comment posted at 1:03 PM on Feb-27-06

Hello and welcome to Weird Meat(.com).

I've eaten dog, cat, rat, cockroach, camel penis, bee larve, scorpions, spiders, night hawk, and pre-born duck embryo without feeling ill. Can't say the same for Taco Bell or McDonalds.

Also see Ox Knee and One Day Old Chicks for more wonderful articles documenting the Weird Meat experience.
comment posted at 3:58 PM on Feb-24-06

Meditation found to increase brain size (maybe) according to research led by Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar. Meanwhile, Atheist Manifesto author Sam Harris recently went on a meditation retreat and seemed to find it pleasant enough.
comment posted at 2:36 PM on Feb-22-06
comment posted at 3:59 PM on Feb-22-06

A meditating teenage boy in south-central Nepal First mentioned by the BBC at the beginning of December; Ram Bahadur Bamjan is drawing the attention of scientists after attracting huge crowds in the past eight months and earning himself the name Buddha-reincarnate. No food, no water just snakebite. Is this: - holy or hoax?
comment posted at 9:06 AM on Feb-10-06
comment posted at 9:59 AM on Feb-10-06

While my guitar fiercely weeps Next on YouTubeFilter: Prince shares a stage with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison's son Dhani, at Harrison's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. No, scratch that: Prince ain't sharin' with nobody -- that stage is all his.
comment posted at 4:45 PM on Feb-9-06

""We only have to recall the colour of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who are most devastated by Katrina to know that there are not yet equal opportunities for all Americans." - Former President Jimmy Carter.

Coretta Scott King was laid to rest Tuesday after a six-hour service attended by four presidents and 10,000 ordinary people who came to pay tribute to the first lady of the civil rights movement - and one of its last icons. But at an event designed to remember the lady who was as memorable as her late husband in fighting for civil rights, politics entered the fray with both former President Jimmy Carter and Rev Joseph Lowery taking swipes at the Bush Administration. They say that there's a time and a place, and while this was clearly not the place, with thousands of Katrina victims (mostly African-American) about to be evicted because of budget cuts by the Bush administration, was it the time?
comment posted at 4:27 PM on Feb-8-06

Recent surveys show that fast-food packaging makes up about 20 percent of all litter, with snack foods comprising another 20 percent. Oakland, CA is the first city to tax companies who create "Fast-Food Trash".
comment posted at 11:03 AM on Feb-8-06

*Look* both ways before you cross the street "The dangerous drawbacks of driving a hybrid: it's so quiet that pedestrians can't hear it when it's starting up or idling, and they often walk right into the path of the moving vehicle." I've got a feeling this is how I'm going to buy it. Oh well, like the lady said, if it's not one thing it's another. Tip of the hat to Kausfiles via Auto Blog.
comment posted at 1:20 PM on Feb-7-06

of pit bulls, terrorists and generalization "...the Ontario ban prohibits not only these three breeds but any 'dog that has an appearance and physical characteristics that are substantially similar' to theirs; the term of art is 'pit bull-type' dogs. But what does that mean? Is a cross between an American pit bull terrier and a golden retriever a pit bull-type dog or a golden retriever-type dog?" (from the New Yorker)
comment posted at 4:10 PM on Feb-2-06

Dumb Moments. Post your embarrassing moments and cringe at those of others. Related Doctor moments here.
comment posted at 10:02 AM on Feb-1-06
comment posted at 10:11 AM on Feb-1-06

SupersizedMeals.com - Foodstuffs of Epic Proportions. [via]
comment posted at 12:50 PM on Jan-30-06
comment posted at 1:43 PM on Jan-30-06

NPR’s Live Concert Series site offers recordings of recent live performances by James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, Iron & Wine and Calexico, Son Volt, My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes, M. Ward, Sigur Ros, Bloc Party, The Decemberists, and live tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET, Colin Meloy.
comment posted at 9:22 AM on Jan-27-06
comment posted at 11:05 AM on Jan-27-06
comment posted at 1:07 PM on Jan-27-06

Asteroid to graze past Earth this summer...but how close? If you liked 2004 MN4, you're bound to enjoy 2006 BQ6. Very small but real chance it could even hit around the end of July, beginning of August this year. NASA isn't officially tracking it yet, but they are including it in their report of upcoming close approaches, where the minimum possible distance is...zero. The space.com discussion puts everything into perspective, including graphs and charts and such.
comment posted at 8:14 AM on Jan-27-06

Can we have an intelligent non-religion-bashing discussion about this article? ". . . perhaps the most shocking implication of my inquiry into the role religion plays in our lives" : ". . . those who have an unquestioning faith in the correctness of the moral teachings of their religion are a problem: If they haven't conscientiously considered, on their own, whether their pastors or priests or rabbis or imams are worthy of such delegated authority over their lives, then they are taking a personally immoral stand. Please RTFA before commenting.
comment posted at 9:11 AM on Jan-26-06

The Beast - 50 most loathsome Americans, 2005 edition Also, see discussion from last year, and 2002. So Buffalo has given us wings, and this list, thanks upper NY! Deride it as petty vindictive shooting fish in a barrel if you must, but any publication that claims Terry Schivo feels the same way about her case today as she did a year ago is okay in my estimation.
comment posted at 11:19 AM on Jan-23-06

Rick Moranis - Alt Country Balladeer. Whatever happened to Rick? The former SCTV star and 80s/90s movie comedian apparently doesn't miss "acting." His new album of humorous country songs is nominated for a Grammy.
comment posted at 8:33 AM on Jan-20-06
comment posted at 9:33 AM on Jan-20-06

Voters in the US state of Minnesota may find a self-proclaimed vampire on the ballot for the office this year when Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey of the Vampyres, Witches and Pagans Party announces his plan to run for Governor, expected later today. Acknowledging that "politics is a cut-throat business", Sharkey has let voters know that whilst he is a Satanist, he dosen't hate Jesus, "just God, the Father."
comment posted at 8:50 AM on Jan-13-06

Opium
comment posted at 9:56 AM on Dec-21-05

Serious vegetarians know to keep on the lookout for isinglass and other animal products in their beer. Isinglass is a fish-derived additive that's primarily used to help speed up the clarification of cask-conditioned ales, although some beer-makers will use it to reclaim batches that didn't filter properly. You can help keep your diet swimbladder-free with this awesome list.
comment posted at 9:05 AM on Nov-30-05

Starbucks vs. Red Bull. After reading this article, you will think twice about drinking Starbucks Coffee. It's utterly shocking just how much caffeine is in a single cup!
comment posted at 2:00 PM on Nov-10-05

Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Hellbound, Flesh-Eating Subhumanoid Zombified Living Dead, Part 3 is currently in production. Some other long movie titles of note.
comment posted at 3:43 PM on Nov-9-05

The appeal of Calvin and Hobbes (click "launch" to open the feature)
comment posted at 12:46 PM on Nov-9-05

Return of the Recluse. After twelve years' absence, this week sees the return of Kate Bush. Released in the States today, Aerial is being received to the expected glowing reviews. Called a prodigy by some, overrated by others, she has had an undeniable impact on a diverse range of artists.
comment posted at 1:01 PM on Nov-8-05

WoWFilter: It's official. The Burning Crusade debuts today in Los Angeles at BlizzCon, a company-sponsored event that is also showing off Starcraft: Ghost. The convention has been sold out for nearly 3 months now. Surprisingly, even after selling out all the tickets, Blizzard went on to announce that The Offspring will perform (with an opener from Christian Finnegan), there will be a fully equipped exhibit hall, and the event will take place right next to Disney Land. The convention opened its doors this morning, and Blizzard promptly put up the official site for the expansion. The only question that remains is: What is the new mystery playable race for the Alliance? My vote is for drunk Panda Ninjas.
comment posted at 1:34 PM on Oct-28-05
comment posted at 2:08 PM on Oct-28-05
comment posted at 4:01 PM on Oct-28-05

"Should comic book characters age? A Boy Wonder doesn't stay a boy for long if a book is set in real time. That makes it so that any Robin can have an active career for, what, ten years? And that's if you buy that a fighting mad ten-year old can really kick anybody's ass." Some insightful comicbook commentary by Erik Larsen, creator of Savage Dragon.
comment posted at 12:44 PM on Sep-27-05

4 8 15 16 23 42 - Lost in Theory? Could Genetic Mirror Theory and other Natuarlly Occuring Phenomenon, by Marsille Roussau have something to do with the TV show Lost and those wacky numbers?
comment posted at 8:59 PM on Sep-22-05

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are a special set-aside in the Superior National Forest in the north woods of Minnesota. Containing over 1,000 lakes and streams, 2,200 designated campsites, and 1,500 miles of canoe routes, this treasure provides a great place to escape from the world of civilization. It also, apparently, provides a great reason for cool websites. The Swanson party website is one of the most impressive feats of private naturalism I've seen. It has everything from the 68 types of ferns and fern allies you can find in the BWCAW to lake commentaries for 356 of the biggest (and smallest) lakes that travelers encounter. There's also the DC³ website, which has diaries and pictures from a group of BW adventurers from 1977 to 2003. A truly impressive effort, if apparently not ...quite... finished. And while the diaries tell a story arc about a group of friends, the distance between the stories always leaves tantalizing details for the reader to imagine. Such as this tidbit at the end of the 1986 trip, which has as its central detail the fact that one of the party's wives received major burns and had to leave early:

They traveled almost ten miles and portaged four times, (a total of 465 rods), before they reached Snowbank Lake. The wind was very strong. They had to cross the lake the long way and directly into the wind. At one point they didn't move for twenty minutes even though they paddled as hard as they could. They finally reached the landing and headed for the A&W in Ely. From there, Tur called home to check on Beeps. There was no answer. But that's another story.

Naturally, there are also messageboards set up to discuss trips to the BWCAW, advocacy organizations to make sure it stays wild, and you can even make entry point reservations online nowadays. The Bee Dub previously referenced here on MeFi
comment posted at 2:47 PM on Aug-25-05

According to the LA Times, "[g]raffiti is a growing part of the landscape as taggers deface parks and canyons" in California. While the tone of the article was overwhelmingly negative towards the pictographs, people have been painting on these same rocks for millenia. Ancient pictographs and petroglyphs add to our understanding of what the people who lived before us were like; won't contempory pictographs help future anthropologists understand us?
comment posted at 2:01 PM on Aug-25-05

Glenn Feron - The Art of Retouching
(warning, site is potentially NSFW)
The site is slow but his work is impressive, taking fairly dull celebrity shots and shining them up to magazine quality perfection.
Previous retouching post with a link to a site with a much nicer interface but nowhere near as much content.
comment posted at 12:54 PM on Aug-24-05

Jon Stewart in Wired
comment posted at 8:57 AM on Aug-24-05

Remember the Twixters? Now meet the Yeppies: Young, Experimenting Perfection Seekers^1,2,3. "Another survey, another invented tag for a group of young people. This survey was for eBay, carried out by Kate Fox, a social anthropologist at the Social Issues Research Centre. It argues that young people are now shopping around and experimenting to find, as she puts it, 'the perfect job, the ideal relationship and the most fulfilling lifestyle.'" - as noted by World Wide Words. [See also: this Venn diagram.] Will researchers ever tire of all this name-calling, though? If they really want to RTFM about this particular generation, they should just watch Wonderfalls.
comment posted at 9:58 AM on Aug-19-05

This journal is intended to share my love and appreciation for the hard work farmers and their families do to create such beautiful places and beautiful food. Tana Butler visists small farms near Santa Cruz, CA, sharing her thoughts and photographs [ farms | farmers | markets | food ].
comment posted at 2:29 PM on Aug-16-05

Crocodile Immune System Kills HIV
Because crocodiles fight amonst themselves and get seriously wounded from time to time they developed incredibly strong immune systems and natural antibiotics. So strong that they, well, let's hear from one of the scientists.... "The crocodile has an immune system which attaches to bacteria and tears it apart and it explodes. It's like putting a gun to the head of the bacteria and pulling the trigger," said Australian scientist Adam Britton.
Sounds like good news to me.
comment posted at 11:17 AM on Aug-16-05

For all you cutters - Scar Wars. If you think that ink is too dirty and want to go au natural.
comment posted at 3:09 PM on Aug-10-05

Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of famed guitarist Jerry Garcia. He remains one of the top earning dead celebrities through his name branded sales of ties, wine and action figures. To commemorate his passing, fans put on Jerry Day in San Francisco on Sunday. Love him or hate him, his legacy lives on through his music. What's your favorite Jerry memory?
comment posted at 9:29 AM on Aug-9-05

A giant octopus takes on a shark in a video like something from a horror movie (low-res version). Octopuses are remarkable creatures, and are much more intelligent than you may think, especially given some of the movies they've inspired.
comment posted at 10:31 AM on Aug-8-05
comment posted at 10:55 AM on Aug-8-05
comment posted at 11:34 AM on Aug-8-05

Deep into Sleep. "While researchers probe sleep's functions, sleep itself is becoming a lost art." [Via Mind Hacks.]
comment posted at 1:24 PM on Aug-5-05

A Brief History of Game: A nine-part review of the major highlights in rpg history. Other interesting if generally unrelated pieces on the history of gaming, pen & paper or otherwise: "Where Have All the Demons Gone?", discussing the history of Magic the Gathering; A somewhat flippant piece by GameSpy; and some obligatory RPG theory regarding the historical popularity of various styles of RPG.
comment posted at 1:53 PM on Aug-5-05