March 2006 Archives
"I don't think they heard me very well."
Yukio Mishima led a remarkable life: in addition to being an internationally renowned writer, he was also an actor, a filmmaker, a gay icon, a bodybuilding exhibitionist(possibly slightly NSFW), and leader of a paramilitary organization. Yet, all of this is often overshadowed by the even more remarkable way he ended his life. [more inside]
posted by a louis wain cat at 10:52 PM PST - 32 comments
Because puppet rape actually is funny
The Puppet Rapist show on Channel 102 Can a convicted puppet rapist change his ways? Only one new show, Puppet Rapist, dares to confront this new social dilemma. You should start with the first episode. (.mov link) You can talk to the show's creator on this somethingawful thread or find out more about the show's production here
posted by clockworkjoe at 9:18 PM PST - 44 comments
I'm laughing and I'm dancing and it's fun!
Chic-a-go-go is an all-ages dance party that airs weekly on local access in Chicago, hosted by Miss Mia and Ratso, a teenage rat puppet. Costumed hipsters, youngsters and oldsters shake their groove things in a sparsely decorated studio, often while musical guests lip-synch their hits. Ratso gets to interview some real legends too. (Although Lemmy dissed him, and Vanilla Ice was too freaked out.) They've spawned at least one imitator. This Saturday, they'll be taping their tenth anniversary show. (More inside)
posted by hydrophonic at 7:31 PM PST - 16 comments
Victorian crime and (perhaps) punishment
The History of the Metropolitan Police offers a useful overview of both policework and assorted Shocking Crimes in nineteenth-century London. But there are so many more Victorian detectives--not to mention Victorian murderers--lurking about on the net. Sneak a peek at Charles Booth's notebooks, which record his walks with various London police officers, or read Charles Dickens' famous account of a night out with Inspector Charles Field (who later inspired Bleak House's Inspector Bucket). Put John Mapp on trial. Read some broadsides. Try to avoid Dr. Cream and Mary Ann Cotton. Executions, anyone? The Victorian Dictionary reprints a number of Victorian newspaper articles about criminal activity (click on "crime" to see a detailed listing). Of course, you can't forget this fellow.
posted by thomas j wise at 6:30 PM PST - 7 comments
Conspiracy?
The Fallaci Code. via
posted by semmi at 5:20 PM PST - 50 comments
Window Exchange
Window Exchange, Snowflake Series. Ambient techno with nice imargy for your enjoyment.
posted by nickerbocker at 3:37 PM PST - 14 comments
Squirrel Holocaust
British government one step closer to Final Solution. The inferior race has taken over the great majority of our country, forcing out the decent natives, and must be exterminated. The £1 per confirmed kill bounty proved inadequate. Only through a mass poisoning campaign can our local boys gain deserved ascendance over the invaders. The plan has sterling supporters.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 3:21 PM PST - 40 comments
PSAs from NBC
Public Service Announcements from the staff of NBC's "The Office."
posted by ColdChef at 3:05 PM PST - 41 comments
Great Caribbean coral die-off
The great Caribbean coral die-off. "The 2005 die-off is bigger than all the previous 20 years combined".. magnitude never before-seen.. sea surface temps worst in the 21 years of satellite monitoring. NOAA preliminary reports with cool graphs to left.
posted by stbalbach at 2:54 PM PST - 39 comments
Lying in International Politics
Lying in International Politics is a 2004 speech given by John J. Mearsheimer which reminded me of yesterday's post on but controveral but well spoken Michael Ignatieff. Mearsheimer argues that...
"...international lying takes four forms. Inter-state lying is where states lie to each other to gain strategic advantage. Fear-mongering is where foreign policy elites lie to their own public because they believe that the people do not recognize the seriousness of an external threat and they need to be motivated to deal with it. Nationalist myth-making is where elites tell lies about their state's history to help foster a powerful sense of national identity among all segments of society. Anti-realist lying is where elites attempt to disguise brutal behavior carried out in pursuit of realist (or other) goals, because it conflicts with widely-accepted liberal norms." (more...)
(Mearsheimer has recently been covered on mefi on a more controversial subject.)
posted by bhouston at 2:16 PM PST - 10 comments
Sad, but true.
If they ever make a K-Tel Greatest Hits of found footage, Metallica Drummer [iFilm | YouTube] is bound to be the grand finale.
Meet the hesher behind the mirth, and catch a glimpse at Metallica Drummer: The Next Generation.
posted by keswick at 1:59 PM PST - 11 comments
Chinese Democracy to be released April 1
The Endless Wait Is Over! After 15 years, Guns N' Roses will finally release its nearly mythical album, Chinese Democracy. Chuck Klosterman has the exclusive first review of the new record, which features a 14 minute "rap-rock anthem" called "Pound You (Good)," several songs that "make thinly veiled references to the architect who designed Rose's backyard topiary garden," and attacks on the media, including "the editors of Vanity Fair, MTV personality Sway, numerous teenage bloggers, and the city hall reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer (who, curiously, has never written about pop music)." Rock on, Axl Rose. Rock on.
posted by pardonyou? at 1:19 PM PST - 39 comments
you're telling lies!
HERE COMES DR. TRAN! What? I'm not a doctor! HE'S A REAL DOCTOR! I'm not a doctor! I'm only five years old! NOT ONLY IS HE A REAL DOCTOR, HE'S A DASHING SPECIAL AGENT WITH A PH.D. IN KICKING YOUR ASS! Please go a-way! I haveta do chores! via
posted by loquacious at 12:32 PM PST - 34 comments
If The Journal and The Sun had a baby...
Elizabeth Spiers, of Gawker fame, has a new site, Dealbreaker, which bills itself as "an online business tabloid and Wall Street gossip blog." Content-free snark, with links to articles of interest to Wall Street fanboys? Oh, Elizabeth, you steal my heart. But, perhaps just mine.
posted by rush at 12:15 PM PST - 17 comments
What Dreams May Come
"Have you got experience with...well, you know", she asked him. And he said, "I've got 500 miles". She scoffed. Because, you know, 500 miles is not enough. An animated 3D short by Hans Spilliaert. Music by Joachim Brackx.
posted by sluglicker at 11:57 AM PST - 5 comments
Lego Worldbuilder 2 An enjoyable and challenging sequel to the Lego Worldbuilder. Mefi post about the original
posted by boo_radley at 9:58 AM PST - 10 comments
数独 Friday
It's Friday, waste some time: Iron Sudoku, a daily sudoku challenge from the makers of Babble. (Free) registration required.
posted by sellout at 9:57 AM PST - 15 comments
Advertise THIS!
It's Hard Out Here for a (Ta)Hoe: The smartypants over at GM are running a contest to "make your own" commercial for the gas-guzzling Tahoe SUV. People are giving them just what they deserve. These are likely to be yanked sooooooon, so get 'em while they're hot!
posted by MaxVonCretin at 8:28 AM PST - 190 comments
short films goodness
Never ever borrow a friend's mobile, trust hitch hikers or strangers in furry costumes, never get distracted, worry about the first time or about your young son not being manly enough, and most of all never, ever forget stuff. Also, remember to always be nice to your enemies, your granny and policemen, but don't be too nice to your neighbours, and don't forget to get the car washed. Lots more brilliant short films viewable online from UK's Channel 4 Film (Real/WM streams).
posted by funambulist at 8:01 AM PST - 4 comments
Morality as Strategy
Are you a Republican candidate for Senate facing a tough election and having trouble getting endorsements from your own party? It's time to take in an all-American baseball game with the Commander-in-Chief, target teh gay menace, and amend the US Constitution so American voters don't have to see any more of this over their morning corn flakes. "I think this will save him," Burress said of DeWine. "I think this move right here, regardless of the reason, will send him back to Washington." Of course, it's not just a GOP thing.
posted by digaman at 8:00 AM PST - 39 comments
FOVICKS
FOVICKS - Friends Of Vast Industrial Concrete Kafkaesque Structures - a photo essay on the concrete geometries of the Los Angeles River flood control channels. [via inhabitat]
posted by carter at 7:36 AM PST - 24 comments
Aegroto, dum anima est, spes esse dicitur
Prayer as placebo. Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found. And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:17 AM PST - 137 comments
"People have an absolute right to just sit there."
Extreme laziness may have a medical basis, say a group of Australian scientists, describing a new condition called motivational deficiency disorder (MoDeD). The condition may cost the Australian economy $1.7bn a year. Could the new drug Indolebant help sufferers leave their couches? Or is this just disease mongering?
posted by Bletch at 6:40 AM PST - 31 comments
Nomi I just discoed Nomi. Here, here and here( that site is broke in way that I think is some sort of artistic statement. Or it could be just bad html.) I was a teenager then and had never heard of him, but I'm strangely impressed. He's a bald Gary Numan, he's like the Cirque du Soleil playing bluegrass.
posted by nyxxxx at 12:00 AM PST - 34 comments
Orbox B
Friday Flash Fun: Orbox B, the sequel to Orbox. [previously]
posted by knave at 11:05 PM PST - 21 comments
What to Take When Deploying To the Middle East
Living and working in the desert. I was reading this interesting article when I came upon this: [more inside]
posted by tellurian at 9:54 PM PST - 28 comments
Before teh Interwebs...
Remember life before the internet? How did anyone cope?
posted by Effigy2000 at 7:45 PM PST - 107 comments
videoville.org
videoville.org .. a wiki for cool music videos. An extension of videos.antville.org.
posted by crunchland at 7:41 PM PST - 7 comments
Fahrenheit 33.33
Ten banned records, burned and played. (Flash with audio.)
Meanwhile, in Canada...
Michael Ignatieff, the candidate parachuted into Etobicoke by supporters who would see him as the next leader of the federal Liberal Party of Canada, has just given a speech outlining his vision for Canada, which is probably the forerunner to an official announcement about his candidacy. (Previously, on MeFi.) If he runs, he will be up against Martha Hall Findlay, John Godfrey, and Maurizio Bevilacqua who have all declared. Other contenders might well include Stéphane Dion, Joe Volpe, and hockey legend Ken Dryden. Finally, the race appears to be hotting up.
posted by Zinger at 7:03 PM PST - 41 comments
One careful owner
New Zealand's monopoly Pay TV service went dark for about 14 hours last night. The Sky TV outage was apparently due to an error positioning a satellite, but not helped by the fact that said satellite is running on a backup processor and is years out of its regular service life. One enterprising viewer is taking things into his own hands.
posted by pivotal at 6:11 PM PST - 29 comments
No More Free Prostitution
It's Time To Get Back To The Basics In Missouri: "A year after Republicans took control of state government, conservative lawmakers are promoting a wide range of social legislation designed to rein in sex and unshackle the Bible." One proposed bill, for example, would recognize a Christian God as the deity for most Missourians. Other bills deny alimony to ex-spouses who live with a boyfriend or girlfriend, ban all abortions, allow pharmacists, insurance companies, doctors and hospitals to deny treatment if the procedure or medication offends their moral values, and require sex education classes to teach that life begins at fertilization and that an unborn child has "sensory awareness" long before birth. Rep. Cynthia Davis, Republican and sponsor of several bills, said conservatives are tired of an overly permissive society in which high school students are taught how to use condoms. "...if the state starts paying for contraceptives we will have more babies than if we just teach people to not expect free prostitution from poor people. "
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:38 PM PST - 73 comments
Another year, another batch of loathsomeness
You knew it was coming: This year's 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers revealed (previously covered: 2005, 2004, 2003 ) [apologies for NYCfilter]
posted by rottytooth at 3:05 PM PST - 39 comments
Kneel on the Bottom Line
God ... to get paid. Does doubling your church (temple, mosque, buddhist shrine, wiccan house of worship, etc.) attendence really lead to an increase in your income? Or someone elses? Let the causation/correlation games continue.
posted by scblackman at 2:56 PM PST - 14 comments
Little Beauty
Loes Modderman's Science Art
Beautiful microscopic art, often striking similar to some modern art. Dig the abstract crystal images: cholesterol, crystal landscapes, vitamin c is psychedelic. Explore the sands of the world! Bubbles are pretty, plastics rock, fluids are minimalist. (via)
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:41 PM PST - 5 comments
Vid and podcasting magazine Culture Catch
Culture Catch is an online "magazine" featuring vid and podcasts of musicians such as Mark Kozelek, American Music Club, Les Paul and Tony Visconti. Plus: Todd McFarlane, Sir Richard Branson, Henry Rollins, Gisele, David Cronenberg and more.
posted by edlundart at 2:33 PM PST - 7 comments
happy happy happy
When all else fails, go to your happy place.
via BLDGBLOG
posted by signal at 1:58 PM PST - 25 comments
i see goatse: iGoatse
When you just can't get enough... Comes the iGoatse, protect your iPod with the one thing that might actually keep people from stealing your iPod. [via Gizmodo]
posted by FlamingBore at 1:49 PM PST - 42 comments
Taste the excitement!
You might be a redneck if ... you enjoy Jeff Foxworthy Jerky. Or maybe you'd prefer some NASCAR brand meat. Remember when sports food tie-ins were simpler? Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? via spofi
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:39 PM PST - 13 comments
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts released with CC license.
Brian Eno and David Byrne released My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in 1981. It's a great album--and now it's available with a Creative Commons License. "This is the first time complete and total access to original tracks with remix and sampling possibilities have been officially offered on line."
posted by dobbs at 1:36 PM PST - 44 comments
Superglue and You, Be Careful Now
How To Save a Snowflake Forever
Theodore Gray, of the too-cool for words Periodic Table Table (discussed a long, long time ago here) gives step-by-step instructions on how to preserve a snowflake in superglue forever.
And much more coolness to explore. Smelting in a Microwave, anyone? Shrinking coins with magnets and electricity?
posted by fenriq at 1:32 PM PST - 17 comments
Cops on Myspace
posted by Lusy P Hur at 1:01 PM PST - 40 comments
I'm not drunk, that monolith is invisible !
Hard to See Uluru (formerly Ayers' Rock) the "red center of Australia" isn't just as tall as an 85 story building, it's surrounded by hundreds of square miles of nothing. Uluru - It's not just big, it's [insert your tagline here].
posted by AuntLisa at 12:59 PM PST - 39 comments
Vronk!
Everything from Aieee! to Zzzzwap! Las Onomatopeyas has lots of the onomatopoeic title cards from the 1960s Batman TV show.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:34 PM PST - 24 comments
Rove Concealed Top Secret Paper Warning Bush Iraq Intelligence False
Insulating Bush Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration. Rove expressed his concerns shortly after an informal review of classified government records by then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley determined that Bush had been specifically advised that claims he later made in his 2003 State of the Union address -- that Iraq was procuring high-strength aluminum tubes to build a nuclear weapon -- might not be true, according to government records and interviews
posted by Postroad at 11:41 AM PST - 47 comments
The BBC profanity index
The BBC uses a survey , apparently, to rank words by their perceived offensiveness.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:14 AM PST - 63 comments
Boredom detector
Device warns you if you're boring or irritating MIT develops emotional intelligence prosthetic.
posted by srs at 10:53 AM PST - 21 comments
MyDeathSpace keeps track of the MySpace profiles of people that die.
posted by xmutex at 9:35 AM PST - 36 comments
I <3 the baby squidling on the latest entry.
i give you c'thulu's progeny. SQUIDBLOG!!! enjoy the squidlings.
posted by Doorstop at 9:24 AM PST - 14 comments
Booby boomies
No implants on this Virgin? Sounds like some celebs won't be able to fly Virgin's space flights. Too bad. But what about other implants?
posted by underthehat at 9:19 AM PST - 13 comments
New meaning for "Fightin' Phillies."
Baseball meets cock fighting! Now on DVD!
posted by usedwigs at 8:41 AM PST - 8 comments
Scalia pulls a Cheney (not the shooting kind)
Justice Scalia has trouble minding his manners. Reminds me of this.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:40 AM PST - 100 comments
Wild Books, Homeless Books
Sudden capricious friendship with secondhand books -- a lovely little tribute to quiet expansive pleasures by Virginia Woolf. Where do used books find you? [via the ever-marvelous wood s lot]
"a little in love with death"
Forty-nine published plays. Four Pulitzer Prizes. Three marriages. A suicide attempt. A celebrity for a father. A drug-addicted mother who blamed her habit on her son. A daughter estranged, a son who committed suicide. A Nobel Prize, the only ever awarded to an American playwright.
Eugene O'Neill from inside out: a documentary film for American Experience. More inside.
posted by matteo at 7:43 AM PST - 16 comments
TELIDON
The Internet Before its Time. Telidon was a novel "two-way TV" system that debuted in Canada in 1978. It used NAPLPS, a basic vector-graphics protocol, for presentation and operated over a 1200 bps modem. It was never a commercial or technological success, but I was 10, it was 1981 and I was playing hangman... ONLINE.
posted by GuyZero at 7:11 AM PST - 25 comments
best sex scenes?
Filmsite.org's "Sex in Cinema: The Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes" (NSFW). Filmsite.org's been mentioned a few times on MeFi, and I've come across them again looking up information about Natalie Wood. She's on page 12 (NSFW) for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
posted by taumeson at 7:03 AM PST - 10 comments
Free condoms for your Windows install
Safely install software in a virtual layer. Sick of buggy or beta software screwing with your Windows install? Altiris SVS provides a free and nifty alternative to the software diet by letting you install software into protected layers which can be removed or restored with a single click. (It's like a thinly-sliced version of VMware.) Altiris's Juice site lists lots of interesting tricks such as easily rolling back software patches. Pre-layered software installs available here.
posted by yoz at 5:33 AM PST - 16 comments
Jill Carroll has been released unharmed
"She was released this morning, she's talked to her father and she's fine" Jill Carroll has been released and is safe. [newsfilter]
posted by stilgar at 5:21 AM PST - 79 comments
Slips of the tongue injurious
Slips of the tongue are usually a result of the sound structure of an utterance. For example, saying 'Martin Luther Koong Junior', where the vowel in 'Koong' might be taken from either of the two flanking words. Freudian slips are much rarer. Why then, are these two people losing their jobs? [More inside]
posted by fcummins at 4:13 AM PST - 78 comments
"Inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet."
This is Darrow,
Inadequately scrawled, with his young, old heart,
And his drawl, and his infinite paradox
And his sadness, and kindness,
And his artist sense that drives him to shape his life
To something harmonious, even against the schemes of God. [MI]
posted by amro at 4:06 AM PST - 7 comments
2. "Immigrant" is not synonymous with "Latino" ...
Some facts about Latinos and immigration, and chances are good they haven't been mentioned at all during coverage of the "immigration crisis" . (and take a stroll down memory lane to past GOP platform statements on the issue)
posted by amberglow at 4:02 AM PST - 110 comments
Who's Poor?
The Measurement of Poverty
posted by Gyan at 11:19 PM PST - 6 comments
Mavis Beacon teaches how to efficiently kill zombies without using Shotguns or Dvorak.
The Typing of the Dead was a much loved game for the Dreamcast and PC. The out of print PC game was once available at the venerable Home of the Underdogs, but their site is borked after their domain expired, due to their insanely restrictive .htaccess referer blocking.
Alas! Have no fear: Some kind soul upped it to the Pirate Bay, where I'm currently seeding it.
posted by blasdelf at 11:17 PM PST - 50 comments
Who will shed a tear for Blue Randar?
Hardcore Gaming 101 has a e-newsletter, but the best things there are the loving introductions to dozens of classic games and game series, all either sadly forgotten or practically unknown to the Western World. Thrill to the serious action of Compile shooters! Avoid the mocking gazes of friends, roomies and significant others while reading about venerable Konami cute-em-ups Twinbee and Parodius! Figure out why the hell so many Namco games have Valkyrie in them! Try to keep a straight face when confronted with the likes of Ganbare Goemon, Phoenix Wright, The Neverhood, No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!!!, Panic!, Urban Yeti and Segagaga, the Sega Simulator! Do, uh, something along with the T&A delights of Keio Flying Squadron, Popful Mail and Valis! All this and much, much, much much more.
posted by JHarris at 9:22 PM PST - 26 comments
Mr Berlusconi!
Silvio Berlusconi humps a meter maid. Ubiquitous youtube link.
posted by wilful at 7:02 PM PST - 56 comments
Farang Men and Thai Bar Girls.
Farang men and Thai bar girls:
Some farangs quickly lose the plot; some know how to treat a bar girl; some run complicated "free sex" scams; some are exploitative creeps.
Bar girls can be sticky; some like to collect sponsors.
Is true love possible? The odds are against it.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:32 PM PST - 116 comments
Gotcha CT
A step toward justice in West Africa.
posted by pwedza at 3:34 PM PST - 7 comments
March 2006 Solar Eclipse Photos
There was a lovely total solar eclipse over parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia yesterday. See the photo galleries from Spaceweather, BBC, various Flickr users, and the International Space Station.
posted by brownpau at 3:26 PM PST - 12 comments
You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to...
Taste's great! Less filling! So did "several former judges who served on the panel also voiced skepticism at a Senate hearing about the president's constitutional authority to order wiretapping on Americans without a court order" or did "FISA judges say Bush within law"? Just in case you doubted that different newspapers present news stories (even those with official audio coverage available!) differently...
posted by twsf at 3:03 PM PST - 15 comments
the perfect penis ?
the perfect penis? (very NSFW) guy injects silicon into his groin for several years and ... well...
posted by vronsky at 3:01 PM PST - 115 comments
How Starbucks Saved My Life
Tom Hanks to star in some movie about Starbucks
Everyone knows big business does things better than nature, god and everything else. Not everyone agrees though. The Future of Food (1hr 29 mins) has the nerve to criticize Monsanto for simply protecting its own rightfully acquired genetic property from thieving farmers. And why do they steel it? Because it's good for you and it's going to save the world. (warning: glossy corporate brochure in pdf format).
posted by piscatorius at 2:58 PM PST - 16 comments
The Little Plant That Could
The little coffee plant that almost died. A fascinating and inspiring radio piece detailing the story of the wild coffee plant, "cafe marron," that almost disappeared from the one island where it grew, Rodrigues, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
posted by billysumday at 2:46 PM PST - 3 comments
BikeTown
Free bikes! BikeTown will give away 600 bicycles this year to residents of NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Dallas, Houston, LA, Chicago, Detroit, Boise, Baltimore, MD (and the Gila River Indian Community in AZ). BikeTown research has shown that, on average, its participants rode 10 miles per week, mostly for pleasure or exercise. But more than 40% rode for transportation purposes, happily trading their car and the cost of gasoline for a bike...
posted by RockyChrysler at 2:43 PM PST - 16 comments
The seven-year old racist.
Autum Ashante is a racist.
posted by xmattxfx at 2:26 PM PST - 77 comments
Arrested Production
Arrested Development is officially over. A source close to the negotiations said that creator Mitch Hurwitz had decided after a lengthy period of debating an offer from Showtime that "Arrested Development reached its end, creatively, as a series."
posted by empath at 2:04 PM PST - 58 comments
The Liberal Media Strikes Again
Who speaks for Jesus? Why are liberal churches ignored by the American media? Why is the religious right given so much play? Media Matters gives credence to the claim that the religious right is overrepresented in the American media, and liberal religious leaders are excluded. I can't remember the last time I saw a liberal religious leader on American TV who wasn't Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:34 PM PST - 83 comments
Village Idiot
We may run out of oil, but we'll never run out of irony. Victor Willis, the policeman from the 70s disco band "Village People" was arrested for going AWOL (at the age of 54) after agreeing to a plea bargain for 2005 gun and drug possession charges. He'll be exploring a new fan base in prison. Good thing the folks from America's Most Wanted were on this case. It's not like we have terrorists out there on the lam. Maybe he should've hidden in Paris. Somebody there seems to fancy him.
Maya Ruins
Maya Ruins - Nice images of Maya ruins in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, indexed to site plans. See for instance Uxmal: the Grand Pyramid, the House of the Doves, the Nunnery Quadrangle, and the Pyramid of the Magician. See also: the Meso-American Photo Archives.
posted by carter at 1:15 PM PST - 17 comments
"His M.O. is to spring from behind you"
Lewis The Cat In Hot Water After Alleged Attacks
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:38 PM PST - 65 comments
Perhaps the world's saddest pug.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:15 PM PST - 57 comments
WalMart, a Christian company
WalMart Manager: We feel that as a Christian Company it was inappropriate to carry things associated with morally corrupt themes.
posted by skwm at 11:07 AM PST - 228 comments
geeks fighting geeks
Gentleman's Fight Club.
posted by the cuban at 10:59 AM PST - 39 comments
Flash Game Repository
Don Pixel is a collection of little diversionary flash games, like Light Brigade, Zelda : The Collecting of Pills (a mashup of pacman and zelda), and Hapland, a sort of samorost clone. All in flash or shockwave. Something for everyone.
posted by crunchland at 10:41 AM PST - 15 comments
Iraq? Turkey? Ah, who cares, they're all Ay-rabs anyway...
Baghdad is calm, except it's neither. So this guy Howard Kaloogian is running for Congress in California, and he supports the troops. Thinks they're making all sorts of progress that simply isn't reported by the evil lib'rul mainstream media, so he went to see Baghdad for himself, and posted a picture of a calm Baghdad street - See? No terrorists here! Except that certain sleuthing types found something awfully fishy about that photo...
posted by kgasmart at 9:54 AM PST - 146 comments
Other loves
still breathe deep inside me.
This one's too short of breath even to sigh.
"First Love", by Wislawa Szymborska. (via the Daily Poems of poems.com)
Skulls and Skeletons
A collection of bird skeletons (with 3d rotating skeleton goodness). The site also has tips on cleaning your own, and identifying those you might, uh, stumble across. Comparative pictures and anatomy of orangutan, chimp, marmoset, and lemur skeletons. Will's Skull Site, with close to 100 skulls and details (Cougar!). The California Academy of Sciences site on skulls, including this cool animal-to-skull match tool. Skeleton specimen tutorials from the Vetrinary Museum. The Human Osteology pages. A x-ray anatomy of the human skeleton. The Human Skull module at CalState Chico. And, you know, dragon physiology. And previously, the skeletal systems of cartoon characters.
posted by OmieWise at 6:48 AM PST - 8 comments
Shania Twain defence works in drunk driver's favour
It's okay...Shania was driving for me. Chalk another one up to insanity. Hinkley had Jody. Berkowitz had Sam. God told Peter Sutcliffe what to do. Of course, no one told Ted Kaczynski what to do.
posted by thejimp at 5:31 AM PST - 45 comments
singularity gets just slightly closer
Italian & German researchers have created a "neuro-chip" for linking computers with mammalian neurons (A NewScientist, LiveScience, MSN). They added neuron gluing proteins to the chip to attract the sodium pores, and genetically modified the neurons to add more sodium pores.
In the short term, the work is expected to aid the pharmaceutical industry in testing the effects of drugs on neurons, assist basic research into the workings of the brain, and perhaps help treat neurological disorders. In the long term, numerous sci-fi technologies are slightly closers, such as computers with living components, useful brain implants, and Beowulf clusters of humans.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:52 AM PST - 15 comments
Don't blink...
Quick change artists David and Dania, who got her start in the Moscow Circus, entertain crowds at NBA half-time shows by performing quick changes of clothing. They've performed on numerous other shows around the world. You can even buy one of David's quick change tophats... (!!!).
posted by saketini99 at 3:17 AM PST - 31 comments
unf.
Enigma machine + eBay = Nerdgasm
posted by loquacious at 2:28 AM PST - 22 comments
Waikiki Stinks
Waikiki Stinks -- Millions of gallons of raw sewage are flowing into the ocean at the edge of Waikiki Beach. Sewage overflow is becoming a common part of Hawai'i winters. This annual sewage and rain runoff has raised serious concerns about health, reef devastation, and shark attacks. Surfers are pissed. The business community, meanwhile, is euphoric over the raging construction boom that is changing the Honolulu skyline, and lining pockets. Although the sewage/runoff has caused the state to be heavily fined by the Feds, there is no buzz about how this same island infrastructure will support the increased flushing of all the new high rises being built.
posted by Surfurrus at 2:19 AM PST - 18 comments
bald eagle cam
Live Eagle Cam High quality stream from a camera pointing at a Bald Eagle's nest on Hornby Island. Direct link to video here. [via digg]
posted by null terminated at 10:21 PM PST - 43 comments
You Suck!
Nice Bill Hicks video on google video. It's nice to hear such warm, life-affirming humor with all the cynicism these days.
posted by Paris Hilton at 9:12 PM PST - 193 comments
"In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, you are going to see another first -- attempted suicide." The 1976 multiple-Oscar-winning movie Network is said to have been partially inspired by this suicide. [Aug. 4, 1974 Washington Post story (PDF)]. This guy doubts that a tape exists.
posted by spock at 9:01 PM PST - 30 comments
Ukraine is divided on the issue of Russian
Ukraine is divided on the issue of Russian: The Russian speaking population from the eastern part of the country has increasingly attempted to make Russian into an official language only, provoking bitter opposition from the Ukranian speaking majority in the western part. [More inside]
posted by gregb1007 at 8:41 PM PST - 13 comments
googlebot IS evil!
Googlebot deletes inept company's site content.
Lessons to be learned, kids, lessons to be learned.
posted by Hackworth at 8:24 PM PST - 36 comments
Sleep . . . .SLEEP!
Engineering the perfect night's sleep. Because I want my bed to monitor my heartbeat.
posted by jeremias at 8:20 PM PST - 3 comments
wacky eye candy
The book of numbers - fun flash frippery.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:15 PM PST - 17 comments
Urville: The Imaginary City
Welcome to Urville, the city that autistic Frenchman Gilles Trehin has been designing since he was 12 years old. The drawings, in particular, are incredible.
posted by jimmythefish at 7:31 PM PST - 27 comments
I won't grow up and you can't MAKE me!
He's a Gruppie, she's a Gruppie... Wouldn't you like to be a Gruppie too?
posted by dejah420 at 5:56 PM PST - 119 comments
How do I clear my google cache again?
I'm embarassed for my mice to have to say this but ... Their testicles are HUGE, like almost as big as their heads. Good thing for humanity too, as mice testicles may provide a source of stem cells free of the usual ethical considerations.They may also hold the solutions to transplant rejection and infertility. Is there anything those fuzzy globes can't do?
posted by hindmost at 3:08 PM PST - 22 comments
The Story of Menstruation
The Story of Menstruation (youtube video) -- A 1954 cartoon from Walt Disney, created at the behest of Kotex.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:51 PM PST - 47 comments
Man, that sucks.
Early in the morning on November 21, 1980, twelve men abandonded their oil rig on Lake Peigneur in Louisiana, suspecting that something was wrong. Little did they know they created a SWIRLING VORTEX OF DOOM!
posted by punkfloyd at 1:50 PM PST - 59 comments
Hnefatafl
Hnefatafl is an anglo-norse boardgame whose many variants are mentioned in the sagas (wearing a helmet during play is entirely optional) . Chess superseded it during the rennaisance, but Scholarly work has allowed the rules to be deduced in modern times, mainly on the basis of a 1732 diary account written by Linnaeus (he of the botanical naming system).
And now, thanks to the magic of the internet, you can play online.
posted by apodo at 1:47 PM PST - 17 comments
My Dinner With Jack.
My Dinner With Jack. "Three years ago, I had dinner with now the now infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff (really). I sat down at his now infamous restaurant Signatures, he told me and amazing and wildly improbable story about how he made Red Scorpion and I never heard from him again." [via mefi projects]
posted by delmoi at 1:05 PM PST - 31 comments
The Forest In Winter
TheForest In Winter. [qt] CHIMZTS! [via]
posted by Armitage Shanks at 12:34 PM PST - 25 comments
Fake money 2000 years ago
Great fakers scammed ancient Italy. An ingenious counterfeit-coin scam has been rumbled by scientists in Italy. But no one is going to jail, because the forgers lived more than 2,000 years ago.
posted by riffola at 12:14 PM PST - 7 comments
My wife is obsessed with this albino squirrel
I finally saw it and captured it on film. The picture got me wondering whether or not anyone else was equally smitten by these freaks of nature. Apparently the good people at The Albino Squirrel Preservation Society are. So are these seemingly nice folks. Leave it to the BBC to be the definitive authority on the topic. Of course there are those who will turn this into a tourist attraction or a way to make a quick buck. There are frauds. There are criminal aspects. There is always a detractor or two, and as always too much hype.
posted by scblackman at 11:43 AM PST - 39 comments
The Emperor Jones
"The Emperor Jones was a landmark drama, not only in conception but also in production: a black actor, Charles Gilpin, was permitted for the first time to enact the leading role in a New York drama." James Earl Jones and collaborators discuss and rehearse a later production. Currently Elizabeth LeCompte directs Kate Valk, a middle-aged white woman in blackface, in a contemporary production from the Wooster Group. They've courted this type of controversy before. The NYTimes loved the show, this review isn't as glowing.
posted by jrb223 at 10:46 AM PST - 8 comments
The Routes of English
The Routes of English on BBC Radio 4 tells the story of spoken english. If that's not enough for you, you can test your knowledge, learn about the spread of the language, play games (Do you know where 'ketchup' originates?) Check out the Q&A. Learn about Churchill's roar. Then check out the related links. Most sound clips are in RealPlayer format. Real Alternative here.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:24 AM PST - 9 comments
Whither Apple?
Avie Tevanian to leave Apple. Long regarded as the brains behind OS X (and NeXT before it), Tevanian's unexpected departure is "too pursue other interests," and his last day is Friday, 1 day before Apple's 30th anniversary. Noted tech curmudgeon John C. Dvorak recently claimed, to much ridicule, that Apple was going to ditch OS X and move to Windows. Coincidence? Or has Steve's famous temper gotten the better of him again?
posted by mkultra at 10:05 AM PST - 76 comments
Good teenagers, take off your clothes!
Are Satanic messages hidden in Catholic art? According to the new documentary Rape of the Soul [embedded Quicktime], the answer is, "so completely yes that you could shit." Featuring such experts as Wilson Bryan Key and Judith Reisman, this movie will literally, physically blow your brain apart by cutting little holes in classic art that might conceivably look like three sixes if you arrange them properly, or maybe finding a small patch of red and black that could look like a lumpy Devil head if you're looking for one and squinting. [via]
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:56 AM PST - 64 comments
The Devil went down to Georgia
In Georgia public schools, the Bible is the textbook. Georgia would become the first to require its Department of Education to put in place a curriculum to teach the history and literature of the Bible. Schools would use the book itself as the classroom textbook. Specifically the bill would establish electives on both the New and Old Testaments.
Just tryin to get some rest from the unborn chicken noises in my head
Easy Star Records, which previously released the underground hit reggae album The Dub Side of the Moon, is nearing completion on a followup, Radiodread, "a reggae re-vision of Radiohead's OK Computer." Listen to four tracks from Dub Side online (via flash). Don't miss the gurgling bong sound effects on "Money". Artists on Radiodread include Toots Hibbert, Citizen Cope, Sugar Minott, Junior Jazz, Tamar-Kali, Horace Andy, Morgan Heritage, Frankie Paul and Kirsty Rock.
posted by fochsenhirt at 7:42 AM PST - 15 comments
Exit Card, Rove Flips?
Intrigues at the White House: Andrew Card, Bush's longtime chief of staff -- the guy who briefly interrupted the President's reading of The Pet Goat one rough morning in 2001 and took heat for the Katrina and Dubai debacles -- is out, replaced by budget director "Yosh" Bolten, the one-time founder of a club called "Bikers for Bush." Meanwhile, is Rove rolling over for Patrick Fitzgerald, and if so, what's the angle?
You are what you eat? How about eating Gingerbread House on the Rock, Neverwhere Soup, Coraline-au-prune, and having ambitions to eat the Compleat Works of Neil Gaiman. I agree with his taste in books, but I thought people grew out of that paper-eating phase by their teenage years (except when meals are prepared by a Sous-Chef with an Inkjet).
posted by Silki at 6:31 AM PST - 19 comments
Owls are rad.
Owls are rad. Sometimes they look kind of metallic and scary, sometimes wise, sometimes puzzled, and sometimes like skulls, (Index); sometimes they sound like dogs or pigs, sometimes they sound like a little train, sometimes they sound alarmed, (Index of MP3s); sometimes you come across an extensive gallery of Central and North American owls with pictures, ranges, video, and even a description of the '04-'05 Northern Owl Invasion; sometimes it's a dynamic range map of Owls of the Western Hemisphere; sometimes it's the OwlCam homepage with downloadable owl movies, sometimes it's a series of articles on all things owl; sometimes at BiologyBase it's a printable owl sighting lifelist, sometimes it's Ruru, the morepork, New Zealand's native owl at NZBirds. Or, w0t! w0t!, it's attracting barn owls and building nest boxes at World Owl Trust. Previous MeFi birding FPP.
posted by OmieWise at 6:27 AM PST - 34 comments
Justice Scalia spoke in support of Guantanamo Bay earlier this month, despite the fact that Gitmo cases such as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld are pending before the Supreme Court. "War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts," Scalia said, prompting calls that he recuse himself from the case, which will be heard today. Justice Roberts has already done so, as he has previously ruled on Hamdan.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:19 AM PST - 31 comments
...almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
"...the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is..." "Yes? Yes!?" "...42."
via Dyson, Montgomery, Princeton, a cup of tea - as presented by Seed Magazine.
The oil in your oatmeal is just a bit of The Oil We Eat.
posted by stbalbach at 11:18 PM PST - 28 comments
Because we need more than chunky bacon...
Ruby on Rails 1.1 is out and you can pretend you know what Ruby on Rails is after reading the overview on the homepage or checking out the screencasts if you have some time. Some might recognize this from prior posts (perhaps, undeservedly) or from some of the web applications that were developed with it.
posted by jmhodges at 10:50 PM PST - 36 comments
Gettysburg of the West
The Battle of Glorieta Pass is considered the turning point of the Civil War, in terms of the New Mexico Territory. It happened March 26-28th, 1862. Initially Charles L. Pyron and William Reed Scurry's Confederate force, based at Johnson's Ranch, thought that they had won the battle. They would soon learn that the Union troops, lead by John P. Slough, had circled and destroyed their supplies, leading to Scurry's retreat towards San Antonio. More detailed battle info: [1] [2]-Some site photos.
posted by rollbiz at 8:17 PM PST - 27 comments
Monolith....muddying the waters of the digital copyright debate...
Does copyright extend to the bit encoding sequences used in P2P applications? A case is made for the myriad paths bit encoding can take in the formation of MP3 files, the argument being therefore that said bit encoding sequences used in the formation of MP3 files are exempt from copyright law. Furthermore an application is offered to demonstrate the point. But isn't bit encoding just another 'language' like French, German, Spanish and therefore a copyrightable adjunct to the authors/copyright owners work? (Even if there are myriad dialects.)
posted by Muirwylde at 7:02 PM PST - 57 comments
Brother's Keeper.
Brotherly Love. "When a young Fort Lewis soldier returned from Iraq paralyzed from the upper chest down, it was his teenage brother who assumed the role of roommate and primary caretaker." The Seattle Times tells the story of Brandon and Blaine Powell. Be sure to check out the audio slideshow, which features Brandon speaking over photographer Alan Berner's images.
posted by jeffmshaw at 6:32 PM PST - 13 comments
Oh Mr Hart!
Australian artist Pro Hart has died. Hart used DNA in his paintings to foil counterfeiters. Sometimes he painted with a cannon, other times with a plane.
Wilshire Boulevard
Curating the City A Flash exhibition exploring the past and present urban landscape of Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles. A modest topic explored in depth - which is perhaps what makes it so fascinating. The site includes a pdf guidebook, in case you want to check out the bricks-and-mortar version.
posted by carter at 1:16 PM PST - 8 comments
Shuck an Oyster, Smoke a Bluefish, Sail a Skipjack, Call a Duck, Haul a Net
Wade in the Water In 2004, Smithsonian Folklife Festival featured the maritime cultures of the Mid-Atlantic region, from Long Island to North Carolina. Now, this site gives a home on the web to the cultural documentation gathered for the festival -- music, recipes, stories and oral history, an interactive map, the occupational folklore and natural history of regional fisheries, photos, video, and more. The material, ably compiled by folklorists and educators, creates a lasting and very accessible archive of festival highlights as well as an excellent overview of the distinct coastal culture of the Mid-Atlantic. Don't miss the great menhaden net-hauling chantey Help Me to Raise 'Em (links to mp3).
posted by Miko at 12:50 PM PST - 7 comments
Smells like MC Hammer
Engadget points out Sven König's Scrambled Hackz, an Ableton Live-like app that takes in sound samples, analyzes their spectrum, and builds a triggerable, interactive beatbox set upon which hilarious and remarkable performances can be built. A GPLed package will be released soon.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:34 PM PST - 23 comments
Xeni sucks
I'm positive one of you people did this. Predated by Cory sucking and as foretold by prophecy.
posted by boo_radley at 12:32 PM PST - 112 comments
Our next health food craze: bacon?
A group of scientists have announced that they have created cloned and genetically modified pigs that make their own omega-3 fatty acids. NPR has more on the story, including an audio report from Joe Palca. There are apparently some naturally occuring pigs with their own omega-3 fatty acids, primarily a Spanish breed called Ibérico. Descended from native Iberian wild boar, black-footed Ibérico hogs are raised in specially maintained oak forests, and feed primarily on acorns. Until last September, however, no Spanish producer had been approved to export Ibérico products to the United States, and consumers may have to wait a few more months before they can get their hands on the tasty pork. As the ham is sure to be in short supply, you can put down a $199 deposit now for a ham that will carry a final price tag of as much as $1000. If you're unable to wait for—or afford—the Spanish version, you can treat yourself now to the Bacon of the Month Club, which serves up a different artisanal bacon each month. For more on raising hogs, read James Buchan's account in the London Review of Books. And don't forget the bacon blogs: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
posted by monju_bosatsu at 12:25 PM PST - 28 comments
Nikki Sudden is dead. After playing a show this weekend at the Knitting Factory, Nikki Sudden of the Swell Maps and The Jacobites, as well as tons of solo stuff, died suddenly. Details and discussion. Remembrance and a live set from just this past Monday on WFMU.
posted by jann at 12:21 PM PST - 24 comments
TGTTM Creator gets stabbed
Tim Heidecker Gets stabbed (he's ok) Tim Heidecker, of TimandEric.com, co-creator of Tom Goes to the Mayor, (Adult Swim) and pal of Bob Odenkirk was stabbed by a kid on PCP last week. He wrote about the experience and included some neat photos on his blog. I couldn't find the police blotter.
posted by sswiller at 11:58 AM PST - 35 comments
robert jordan has a disease
Robert Jordan has amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder that is remarkably fatal. The link has all the info you need, including: "[amyloidosis is] a rare blood disease which affects only 8 people out of a million each year, and those 8 per million are divided among 22 distinct forms of amyloidosis" and "Untreated, it would eventually make my heart unable to function any longer and I would have a median life expectancy of one year from diagnosis."
posted by taumeson at 11:48 AM PST - 49 comments
The Chapman Stick was developed by, who else, Emmett Chapman in the early to mid 70's. One taps the strings rather than plucking and is closer to a piano than a guitar. Noted musians using the stick are Tony Levin (with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) and Greg Howard (The Dave Mathews Band). Then there's the chick with a stick.
posted by sluglicker at 11:11 AM PST - 31 comments
Stuckism
Soft Fury Monsters with Hard Pink Genitals and other oddities of Stuckism.
posted by dios at 10:50 AM PST - 33 comments
"Sometimes I equate it to the elephants."
Stone-aged and primitive are what you call people when you want their land. Baroness Lady Tonge of Kew told the British House of Lords that the Bushmen are "holding the government of Botswana to ransom." And how, you ask, can a bunch of hunter-gatherers hold the government that's herding them into "resettlement camps" "ransom"? Because they want to "stay in the stone age," of course. Not that this might be motivated by stones of a different sort. And you thought the Trail of Tears was just something in your history book.
posted by jefgodesky at 9:02 AM PST - 20 comments
Stanislaw Lem: 1921-2006
Stanislaw Lem: 1921-2006. Polish science-fiction giant Stanislaw Lem died this morning. He was 84. Though Lem was not as well known as Asimov or Heinlein or the other "Masters", he was just as important to the genre. Lem was not a fan of traditonal science-fiction, and in his work tried to approach futuristic themes from a more humanistic, almost psychological, perspective. (And his books are funny!) His best-known work, Solaris, was twice made into a film, most recently in 2002. [Woefully out-of-date official site.]
posted by jdroth at 8:54 AM PST - 87 comments
Keep the Dream Alive
John Vanderslice live, b-sides, and demos. Formerly of the band MK Ultra, John Vanderslice, owner of the Tiny Telephone analog recording studio in San Francisco, California, has become a respected record producer and solo artist. He recently produced The Sunset Tree, the newest record by The Mountain Goats, the musical vehicle of songwriter John Darnielle. Darnielle is credited as a lyrical collaborator on Vanderslice's latest, Pixel Revolt. John likes to put it all out there, offering up a meticulous Pixel Revolt recording diary, user's guide, and detailed album credits. JV on NPR. Cooking with JV.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:47 AM PST - 20 comments
Peak oil? Yesterday's news. Global warming? You won't live to see it. Today's end-of-the-world-as-you-know-it message is mad cow disease in the human blood supply.
posted by jfuller at 5:57 AM PST - 68 comments
All Politics is Thymotic
All Politics is Thymotic. "Let me tell you what men want. Let me tell you why some middle-age men wear the sports jerseys of semiliterate behemoths half their age while others customize their cars with so many speakers they sound like the hip-hop version of the San Francisco earthquake as they roll down the street.
Recognition. Men want others to recognize their significance. They want to feel important and part of something important." (NYT via donkey o.d.)
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:27 AM PST - 36 comments
'Study, study, and study, to overtake and surpass the capitalist world!' - K.Radek
The Parade of the Red Army and other scans of Soviet Children's Books from the '20's and '30's. [via DaddyTypes]
posted by anastasiav at 5:17 AM PST - 14 comments
Homemade Earth
Artificial images of our real planet : computer-generated Earth views and panoramas, all created using various free tools and resources, including the Blue Marble and USGS datasets, POV-Ray and the Gimp. CGI Mount Saint Helens vs the real thing. For truly artificial landscapes, see also the randomly-generated Landscape of week from the same author.
posted by elgilito at 4:16 AM PST - 16 comments
Who gets married these days?
"Marriage is for white people."
posted by Marky at 11:47 PM PST - 71 comments
One Honest Wo(Man)
Diogenes the Cynic sought One Honest Man. Lately we have had some wonderful examples that would seem to confirm the philosopher's most cynical suspicions. And then along come some Honest {quicktime movie} Women and it's just so refreshing.
posted by fourcheesemac at 11:41 PM PST - 13 comments
New York Times to release Bush/Blair memo.
New York Times to release Bush/Blair memo tomorrow. The memo, which was mentioned previously, but never publically disclosed, confirms that George W. Bush and Tony Blair were determined to invade Iraq, regardless of UN approval, and despite what both leaders told their citizens. More troubling, the memo also indicates that Bush may have conspired to assassinate Saddam Hussein, which appears to violate Sec. 5g of Executive Order 11905, which states that "No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination." This executive order was considered the law of the land even after 9/11, when Bob Barr proposed legislation H.R. 19, which was never enacted into law.
posted by insomnia_lj at 11:04 PM PST - 74 comments
"When you come up and tell people there are elephants down there they really think you've gone crazy"
Cenotes (say-NO-tays), scattered across the Yucatan peninsula, vary greatly in shape and size, but are often quite beautiful in any case. Some cenotes were apparently used for ritual human sacrifice by the Mayans, and some, say scientists, contain waterlife which may be helpful in treating cancer. However, these cenotes and their connected ecosystems may be in danger if the rapid and largely unchecked development of the Maya Riviera continues.
posted by Stauf at 10:44 PM PST - 16 comments
Reilly Stroope
Illustrations by Reilly Stroope. (Flash interface.)
posted by Gator at 10:06 PM PST - 11 comments
Desmond Doss
Desmond Doss dies at 87. Desmond Doss, first conscientious objector to win a Medal of Honor, was a Seventh Day Adventist who refused to carry a gun, eat meat, or work on Saturday. Under heavy Japanese fire, he lowered 75 wounded men to safety from the top of the Maeda Escarpment on Okinawa. That was only one of his acts of heroism.
posted by forrest at 9:07 PM PST - 17 comments
The omega strain
Bacon as health food. Scientists have added a gene to a cloned pig that converts omega-6 fat to to the more healthy (and trendy) omega-3. Link to full Nature Biotechnology article (may need subscription).
posted by 445supermag at 8:55 PM PST - 12 comments
Hapland 3 (flash puzzle) - Here we go again.. Good luck! (Hapland, Hapland 2)
posted by hypersloth at 6:20 PM PST - 12 comments
The truth is what you believe [flash game] I'm stuck with a matchstick with a number on top [found in the fabulous Surreal & Visionary Artists of the 21st Century].
By George! and other puns
March Madness: 11th seeded George Mason upset UConn in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament this afternoon, continuing their unexpected streak of upsets. Their wins validate not only their inclusion in the tournament, but the rising status of mid-major conferences. The most prominent critic of the inclusion of these smaller schools has been CBS analyst Billy Packer, who verbally assaulted the head of the selection committee on live TV just two weeks ago, and has yet to apologize for his obvious error.
posted by kyleg at 4:28 PM PST - 49 comments
Warner Music buys Rykodisc
Warner Music set to buy Rykodisc. Although Rykodisc has already lost its independence, its apparent corporate resting place is bad news to fans of Ryko's many remarkable but commercially underperforming artists, and particularly to the legion and devoted fans of Frank Zappa [flash, audio], whose conflicts with and hatred for WB are well documented. Prove me wrong, Warner Bros. For the love of that which is best (music), prove me wrong.
CAVEAT It would be dishonest of me to post at WB's expense without publicly giving them credit for letting Mr Bungle do whatever they wanted.
posted by Eothele at 4:12 PM PST - 10 comments
April 10 is Dirty Diaper day
In the great olfactory tradition of stinky protests caregivers across America are text mobilizing themselves into action: "APRIL 10 IS DIRTY DIAPER DAY. ALL POLISH, RUSSIAN, FILIPONO (sic) AND OTHER CAREGIVERS IN THE U.S. ARE URGED TO TAKE A DAY OFF IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMMIGRATION REFORMS. REMEMBER TAKE A DAY OFF ON APRIL 10, DIRTY DIAPER DAY. YOUR FUTURE "DEPENDS" ON IT! (Entry #27 here). Yes, they are incensed!
posted by azul at 1:20 PM PST - 69 comments
The History of Almost Everything
"The Movie Timeline is the history of everything, taken from one simple premise - that everything you see in the movies is true..." For example, "November 6, 2012: The United States elects a female president (Back To The Future Part II)" [via]
posted by feelinglistless at 1:19 PM PST - 18 comments
the last flight
Death of a birdman: the first man to fly in a hang glider over Everest, Siberia and Sahara, breaking altitude records, flying with eagles, cranes and condors born in captivity (Flash video), he lost his life today in a plane crash. Angelo D'Arrigo, 1961-2006.
posted by funambulist at 12:21 PM PST - 12 comments
Researchers peg Putin as a plagiarist over thesis
Vladimir Putin can add a new line to his resume: plagiarist.
posted by rxrfrx at 12:12 PM PST - 14 comments
Someone at google finance made a funny.
The pope of the government. Hatred. Dou**e bag. Sneakers.
posted by docgonzo at 11:55 AM PST - 36 comments
Cornish Bush π
That Kate Bush song where she sings 150 digits of π and gets it wrong [possibly]? Turns out it contains secret references to, among other things, some stones in Cornwall that look sort of like a steam locomotive and a number of megalithic sites. No, seriously. He's got proof.
posted by gleuschk at 11:37 AM PST - 26 comments
Pretty cities.
The 15 Best Skylines.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:36 AM PST - 70 comments
Dawkin's The Selfish Gene, 30yrs On...
The night's event featured speakers Daniel C. Dennett, Matt Ridley, Sir John Krebs, Ian McEwan, and -- the man himself -- Richard Dawkins. It was, as you might suspect (based on the title), an event celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Dawkins' seminal work. If you didn't get a chance to attend, you can still read the full transcript or stream/download the audio of it in MP3 format (many thanks to Helena Cronin, founder/director of Darwin@LSE, for hosting the file). Thanks to 3QD for the link.
posted by Moody834 at 10:39 AM PST - 20 comments
I told you I was hardcore
Dead ravers littered the floor. A gunman/rave kid walked into the Capitol Hill house Saturday morning during an after party for the 'Better Off Undead' rave. With a pistol grip shotgun he killed 7 men, two women, and then himself.
Small screen vs. big screen
It's still about the means of production, you see — but in the overdeveloped world, at least, it's not about the production of goods and services anymore. Today's virtual revolutionary is happy to leave all that to capitalists. The virtual revolutionary wants to control the production of meaning — representations of herself and her world as she wants them to seem. Or be. Or whatever. That's all she asks.
Or, rather, takes.
Thomas de Zengotita welcomes the big world of the small screen. Peter Bogdanovich, instead, still mourns that last picture show.
The human cost of the Iraq "war"
This heart-wrenching 4 part story of the lives of some of the severely wounded US soldiers brought tears to my eyes - the descriptions of what these kids are enduring, the difficulties faced by their families, the courage they display under circumstances that would reduce most of us to useless blobs. These are the true costs of an illegal, immoral war. Truly tragic in scope.
posted by dbiedny at 7:22 AM PST - 44 comments
Korat Bar girls
Korat bar girls. R and R from the Indochina war.
posted by the cuban at 2:55 AM PST - 43 comments
I Got Your 'One Giant Leap' Right Here
"It was the quickest way down." On August 16, 1960, Joe Kittinger jumped from a helium balloon at 102,800 feet, over 19 miles up. After free-falling for four and a half minutes and reaching 614 MPH, almost breaking the sound barrier, he opened his parachute at 18,000 feet and landed safe and sound after an almost 14 minute descent. He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall and fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere. [more inside]
"I didn't hear a sonic boom; I didn't even hear any whooshing or whistling of the wind. But when I flipped over and looked back at my balloon, it sure was an eerie sight--the sky was black as night but I was bathed in sunshine."
posted by kirkaracha at 1:02 AM PST - 48 comments
But he didn't look a day over 30
Addwaita is no longer. He has ceased to be. What we have here is a dead 255 year old Aldabra tortoise.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 12:15 AM PST - 26 comments
East Europe IV Drug Use Images
Be Warned: some very disturbing and NSFW intravenous drug abuse images from Eastern Europe. [More Inside]
posted by peacay at 11:45 PM PST - 39 comments
DIY subcutaneous RFID tagging
People are tagging themselves, with microchips. [via] [previous]
posted by airguitar at 10:08 PM PST - 11 comments
Black and viscous, bound to cure blue lethargy
US Army acknowledges "Peak Oil" - Jay Hanson has been beating the Peak Oil drum for years now. Well, "dieoff" scenarios aside, the US Army has now joined in : "The days of inexpensive, convenient, abundant energy sources are quickly drawing to a close". Indeed. "Mexico's giant Cantarell oilfield, which has financed government spending and held down U.S. gasoline prices for 20 years, is facing a production decline, a prospect that could heighten U.S. dependence on Middle East oil.". There's even a community discussion site on "Peak Oil"
Well, HELLO reality.
posted by troutfishing at 9:58 PM PST - 76 comments
The King of Bombs
"Ivan", aka "Tsar Bomba" was detonated on October 30, 1961. It made "Ivy Mike" look like a firecracker.
posted by sluglicker at 4:40 PM PST - 22 comments
Geek Pr0n
Geek Pr0n. Black and white and colour. [a little NSFW]
posted by RufusW at 2:57 PM PST - 33 comments
I'm thinking so loudly I can't hear myself think
NASA researchers can hear what you're saying, even when you don't make a sound. When we speak in our minds, we send weak electrical signals to our larynx and tounge. Tricksy new technology is able to interpret these micromovements into the words we were thinking.
posted by 6am at 2:50 PM PST - 46 comments
Private Rocket
This so reminded me of ...... Salvage (1979) (TV) Andy Griffith stars as a junkyard owner who builds a space ship from his scrap pile in order to retrieve valuable parts left on the moon by American Astronauts. Please discuss..................
posted by lee at 1:50 PM PST - 25 comments
I am computer literate! I have 22 years in computer systems engineering and operation. Now, can you tell me how to remove "your software" that you acknowledge you provided free of charge? I consider this "hacking". I have no fear of the media, in fact I welcome this publicity.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:14 AM PST - 176 comments
Buck Owens 'Hee Haw' country star dies at 76
posted by hortense at 10:19 AM PST - 58 comments
an ever-widening gulf between official language and the reality of the actual situation in Baghdad
Prisoners of their Bureaus--the Besieged Press of Baghdad What it's like to be a journalist in Iraq now--and especially relevant given the current attacks on the media for not reporting all the good that's happening in Iraq-- ... an ever-widening gulf between official language and the reality of the actual situation in Baghdad. While official language is relentlessly upbeat, the already nightmarish reality has been getting worse with each passing day. ... the insurgent attacks on the US forces and Iraqi government and the sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shiites have become destructive beyond what most journalists have been able to convey ... (NY Review of Books)
posted by amberglow at 10:18 AM PST - 35 comments
o/` We like the cars / the cars that have smilie faces on them? o/`
PimpStar Wheels are the latest in *bling* for your truck or SUV, with some impressive (embedded video) technology.
posted by gren at 10:10 AM PST - 35 comments
Being John Malkovich Frank Sinatra,
Being John Malkovich Frank Sinatra, in Palm Springs, for one day. (BugMeNot, more inside)
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:58 AM PST - 4 comments
Vaffledagen!
Today is International Waffle Day. All around the globe, people are lining up at their favourite waffle establishments, waiting for that wonderful grid-laden batter construct we all love. Catholics refer to March 25th as the "Feast of the Annunciation", but we all know that's really code for "Feast of Countless Tasty Waffles".
posted by Mikey-San at 8:16 AM PST - 16 comments
The Digital Bridges Project
The Digital Bridges Project Digitized 19th century bridge engineering documents. Luckily for people like me, they've collected links to all the illustrations on one page. See for instance an amazing chronological series of pictures documenting the construction in 1892 of the 330 feet high, 3000 foot long, Pecos Viaduct in Texas.
posted by carter at 7:40 AM PST - 6 comments
Freed and ungrateful? "Norman Kember, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him." "Rescued British hostage Norman Kember yesterday refused to fly home from Iraq in a RAF military jet." Kember is a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams: Committed to reducing violence by "getting in the way". This is not the first controversy regarding western hostages freed in Iraq. Former kidnap victim Susanne Osthoff kept parts of the ransom money: "Politicians and the public were yesterday asking new questions about her ordeal. Many have lost patience with Miss Osthoff, a convert to Islam, since she declared her intention to return to Iraq and failed to thank them for their efforts to free her." Former kidnap victim Giuliana Sgrena was accused of cooperating with her abductors.
posted by iviken at 12:51 AM PST - 59 comments
If you're evil, Google will know
Google fights terrorism!
posted by panoptican at 11:02 PM PST - 4 comments
Sex sells???
Sex sells NSFW NSFW NSFW!!! Not even safe for home use. This is porn. Pure and simple. 'Cept, it's also a clothing catalogue. Yes, this is an XXX "tab A in slot B" porno movie but with imbedded links to the clothes they've just removed. Get it? It's a clothing ad, but a porno movie. No, a porno movie that's also a clothing ad. It's also WAY slow to load, but when it's loaded, it's...well, it's porn that's also a clothing catalogue. (sort of SoaP, but Sex selling Clothes.) As someone else said, Abercrombie might want to look at this, and maybe Fredericks and VS. You too, if that sort of thing interests you, which it probably does. I'm sure I could load this with all sorts of cultural memes regarding the sexualization of advertising, but I'll let their fingers do the talking.
posted by johngumbo at 11:00 PM PST - 59 comments
Sea levels are on the rise. Flood Maps mashes up NASA elevation data and Google Maps, and offers a zoomable localized visualization of the effects.
H I L L B I L L I E S.
posted by snsranch at 5:23 PM PST - 38 comments
The Madness of King George
George Bush is exempt from the parts of the much reviled Patriot Act that he doesn't like -- by decree of George Bush. He signed the bill with pomp and circumstance. But after the reporters and guests went home, he issued a "signing statement" that he can withhold information from Congress in violation of the law.
posted by hipnerd at 4:46 PM PST - 86 comments
GO WEST EAT DOT GO WEST EAT DOT
DotQuest Can you survive the deadly ghosts in this text adventure? via languagehat's blog in an oblique fashion.
posted by boo_radley at 3:59 PM PST - 24 comments
3 Years 3 Minutes
3 Years 3 Minutes. Every photograph this MeFi member has taken for the past three years, artfully set to music — over 11,000 images, each one there and gone in a flicker-flash. May provoke seizures in the susceptible. [via mefi projects]
posted by killdevil at 1:57 PM PST - 47 comments
Your New Favorite Open-Source HTML, XHTML, CSS Compliant Browser Sucks
Camino goes 1.0 As if us Mac users weren't smug enough, now we have a Mac OS only stable release browser built on Mozilla. Don't forget to install camitools. [via laughingsquid]
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:52 PM PST - 49 comments
NYTimes makes OB recommendations
NYTimes makes OB recommendations - I'm not sure what this is doing on the Times op-ed page. It purports to criticize obstetricians for recommending bed rest. It is more enlightening as a window into the doctor patient relationship. The doctor shared his doubts with the patient and she's still angry.
posted by DrAmy at 1:00 PM PST - 35 comments
I've read all his stuff; who else would I like?
The Literature Map. Type in an author, and it tells you who wrote similar stuff. Includes a nifty floaty effect. And you know, I never knew that Jane Austen and Socrates had so much in common.
posted by JanetLand at 12:48 PM PST - 57 comments
I Want to Be Your Dog
New version of Firefox revealed.
posted by billysumday at 12:07 PM PST - 43 comments
The International Crisis Group is a private agency which attempts to improve the response to international disasters by working out a strategy and providing detailed recommendations to policymakers. Their website is full of reports on crises around the world; here's what they have to say about Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Islamism. For the rationale behind the ICG, see William Shawcross's tribute to humanitarian aid worker Fred Cuny, who disappeared in Chechnya.
posted by russilwvong at 12:03 PM PST - 3 comments
Apparently there is an uncanny valley in Japan, too.
The tradition of making Japanese dolls, called ningyo—meaning human figure—goes back as far as 10,000 years to clay figures made during the Jomon period. The more recent rise in popularity, though, is most often traced to Hina Matsuri--Girls' Day, or the Doll Festival, celebrated on March 3--originating during the Edo period. These antique ningyo are highly sought after by collectors, such as the American expert Alan Pate, who has written a number of articles on the subject. The modern Japanese doll culture, however, is anything but traditional. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ningyo tradition was exported to make toys for the West (previously featured on MeFi), and has culminated in popular Barbie-type dolls such as Superdollfie and others. Contemporary artists have transformed the Japanese doll tradition into something else entirely: Simon Yotsuya, Ryo Yoshida, Koitsukihime, Yoko Ueno, Mario A., Etsuko Miura, and Kai Akemi. A number of these artists were featured in the Dolls of Innocence exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Of course, notable artists outside Japan have worked with dolls before, including Hans Bellmer, who inspired much of the artwork in Innocence, the follow-up to Ghost in the Shell. Explore more: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. [Several links are nsfw.]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:55 AM PST - 11 comments
Noel Mewton-Wood (1922-53)
After a Noel Mewton-Wood performance of Hindemith's (.pdf) Ludus Tonalis, Dame Myra Hess exclaimed: 'The boy is truly remarkable, and what shall he be like at 40-odd?'. Glowing testimonials to his 'genius' (Sir Malcolm Sargent) from Beecham, Schnabel, Bliss, Hindemith and Britten were countered by indifference from the major record labels and concert managements. In 1953, at the age of 31, the pianist, a shy young man susceptible to depression, committed suicide. Now, the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive of Middlesex University offers a scan of the The London Evening News page with the report of Mewton-Wood's death. And here is a mp3 page with some of his out-of-print work.
posted by matteo at 10:53 AM PST - 11 comments
Density-equalising maps
Worldmapper, because you can never have too many cartograms.
posted by signal at 9:30 AM PST - 13 comments
The Birth of Sean Preston
"First Pro-Life Monument to Birth" (NSFW) featuring a nude Britney Spears giving birth on a bear-skin rug.
posted by rottytooth at 9:13 AM PST - 100 comments
In your cups
A vessel to fill with mirth. Drinking vessels from days of yore, including Lord Byron's skull cup, a fuddling cup, a black jack (leather cup), a pot crown ( a precursor to the beer helmet?), and a whistle cup. The site contains lots of other wine history as well. Ah, but they didn't have lover's cups back then. (via Cynical-C)
posted by caddis at 8:47 AM PST - 5 comments
Artifical gravity via spinning superconducting disks? It sounds like an experiment very similar to the work of Yevgeny Podkletnov, who read about in wired in 1998. Most people thought he was a crackpot at the time. But now it's being reported on a .int site, so it must be true.
posted by delmoi at 8:44 AM PST - 38 comments
Pot, boobies and panties in the Alabama Govenors Race
Pot, boobies and panties in the Alabama Govenors Race Loretta Nall is running for govenor of Alabama on the Marijuana Party ticket and also trying to the the nomination from the Libertarian Party. Her cleavage recently became an issue when a columnist for an Alabama newspaper got huffy because his newspaper ran a picture of her showing cleavage. But that's not all. Ms. Nall was also denied permission to see her brother in jail because she wasn't wearing panties. She tells all about it in her blog.
posted by nyxxxx at 8:24 AM PST - 50 comments
Google result Limits
Google must know exactly what you're you're looking for, right? Unfortunately, they limit the results of your query to 1000. If you're doing research on crack whores, you'll get 2,800,000 results. If the page you want is at 14,673, you're out of luck. But there's still hope for finding what you need in this vast, uncharted web.
posted by sluglicker at 8:13 AM PST - 20 comments
Kirk Cameron is GAY
Growing Pains... In my PANTS! Kirk and Ray go to San Francisco and West Hollywood to witness to homosexuals, showing how to share the way of salvation without causing undue offense.
posted by thefreek at 8:13 AM PST - 71 comments
Jo Spence and the Half Moon Photography workshop
Community photography projects abounded during the 1970's, but the most influential was the Half Moon Community Workshop. Besides the workshop, this group also ran a gallery and a journal, Camerawork that introduced many British photographers to a theoretical and politically engaged aesthetic practice. Much of the theory espoused in Camerawork might seem naive or overly polemical for today's jaded post-Marxist intellect, but one thing that came out of the collective that does stand the test of time is the work of Jo Spence.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:08 AM PST - 1 comment
Moonlight, Baghdad.
A Dweller in Mesopotamia. Donald Maxwell was Official Artist to the Admiralty during World War I, and the end of the war found him in what was then called Mesopotamia (now Iraq); he compiled the sketches and paintings he did there into a book which Project Gutenberg has put online. I'm posting it for the frequently beautiful images, but the text is interesting too. He says Baghdad and Basra don't live up to the Westerner's romantic preconceptions ("The first general impression of Basra is that of an unending series of quays along a river not unlike the Thames at Tilbury"), but he also describes age-old scenes that are now gone for good. (Via wood s lot, one of the few sites I visit every day.)
posted by languagehat at 7:12 AM PST - 9 comments
In 1938 the British Balloon Command was established to protect cities and key targets such as industrial areas, ports, landmarks and harbours.Barrage balloons or "Bulging Berthas" were inflatable shiny silver-painted balloons, made of rubber-coated fabric, and filled with hydrogen gas used prevent low level attacks by enemy aircraft. The balloons flew anywhere from 500 feet to 10,000 feet. The 15 gauge flying wire that tethered them could clip the wings off a plane. They were also used at sea and to cover invasions. They were also effective against the V-1 flying bomb and back in the late 80s, at least one general thought they could still be used to protect airfields.
posted by Smedleyman at 6:50 AM PST - 16 comments
The Kingdom of Redonda
The Kingdom of Redonda. In 1865, a Caribbean trader laid claim to a small island near Antigua, and declared himself king. His son, M.P. Shiel, was an author of fantasy fiction. When Shiel died in 1947, he left the island to a young poet, John Gawsworth, King Juan I of Redonda.
posted by steef at 6:18 AM PST - 7 comments
Penny dreadfuls, six cent weeklies, and dime novels were aimed at youthful, working-class audiences and distributed in massive editions at newsstands and dry goods stores. Though the phrase conjures up stereotyped yarns of Wild West adventure, complete with lurid cover illustration, many other genres were represented: tales of urban outlaws, detective stories, working-girl narratives of virtue defended, and costume romances.
posted by hortense at 3:15 AM PST - 18 comments
les manifs
The evolution of the French students' CPE protests in photos.
posted by pwedza at 11:29 PM PST - 21 comments
Television is furniture.
Marcels TV Museum Quite why some are pictured on the lawn is not clear. Videos, cameras, radios and 8-tracks too. [via]
posted by tellurian at 11:16 PM PST - 10 comments
Ya lard brained nonce Nazi
Warning to chatroom users after libel award for man labelled a Nazi. "Mr Keith-Smith told the Guardian that he took action after a debate about the Iraq war in 2003 on a Yahoo! message board with about 100 members turned ugly. "She was very pro-Bush. Initially, she called me lard brain and I wasn't particularly concerned about that. Then she called me a Nazi," he said."
posted by gsb at 11:11 PM PST - 45 comments
I'll take my propaganda with a side of loony tunes
Education for Death. (YouTubefilter.) Disney-produced anti-Nazi cartoon short from 1943. Look for Hitler's Satanic horns. More weirdness from WWII: Warner Bros Snafuperman, starring Pvt. Snafu (originally created by Dr. Seuss!), who also deals with spies, all while jabbering away in a voice that sounds disconcertingly like that of a certain cwazy wabbit. From Archive. org -- Pvt. Snafu learns about booby traps, in one case literally. Bugs himself joined the Air Force, and was faced with gremlins for his trouble. Superman himself got in on the act, battling Japoteurs. After all, during the War we were plenty worried about those canny Japanese.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:46 PM PST - 26 comments
Daniel Ellsberg interview
I don't believe they'll give up on the bases and the oil. Nor will its successors, Republican or Democrat. So I think that's what we will be doing, staying forever. Unless the rest of us, outside the government, force change on the leadership of the Democrats as well as the Republicans, which will be difficult and take a long time.
From DailyKos comes an excellent series of interviews with Daniel Ellsberg; leaker of The Pentagon Papers. Part 1: The Pentagon Papers and the Overlooked 1968 Leaks, Part 2: Judith Miller, the New York Times and Government-Controlled Press, Part 3: The Cult of Secrecy in Government and Its Undermining of Democracy, Part 4: Whistleblowing and Effective Activism, Part 5: Iraq/Vietnam Parallels and Other Foreign Policy Fiascos and Part 6: Bush, the Next 9/11 and the Approaching Police State.
posted by afu at 7:57 PM PST - 48 comments
I'm Movin' Out.... to a courtroom
Dancer Sues Movin' Out for breach of contract and sexual harassment she claims to have suffered during her run in the National Touring company of the Broadway hit. In an interesting move, the dancer, Alice Alyse, has created a lawsuit website to explain her side of the story. Perhaps she'll win, but will she ever work again?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:29 PM PST - 29 comments
"The trends that will shape our future"
A conversation about the future is a 1 hr. 15 min. Time magazine podcast (mp3 file) of a panel discussion, featuring Internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban, LA Times op-ed editor Andres Martinez, author Steven Johnson ("Everything Bad Is Good for You") and magazine writer Caitlin Flanagan.
posted by edlundart at 5:47 PM PST - 10 comments
Won't somebody please think of the pixels?!?
The face of gaming. (via /.) A glance down memory lane to 20 years ago, when games looked and felt completely different. Were those old games really as great as our memories tell us? Other than all of our graphical splendor, can we really say that games have had any real new innovation?
posted by mystyk at 4:56 PM PST - 56 comments
Hmm, but will it be Platinum RECORD Weird?
Platinum Weird is a mysterious band formed in 1973 (or '74, depending on the website) by future Eurythmic Dave Stewart and his "soulmate" Erin Grace. Tidbits from various sources speak of underground parties with celeb devotees, a lost collaboration with George Harrison, and a sudden disappearance by Ms. Grace who was never seen again. Except it seems the whole thing is a to-be-released album on Interscope, created by Stewart and Kara DioGuardi, a songwriter who pens tunes for top 40 artists.
posted by ktoad at 4:21 PM PST - 17 comments
"50% do not cover evolution because they felt intimidated, saw no need to teach it, or might lose their jobs"
"I am under censure for mentioning numbers...." "I am instructed NOT to use hard numbers when telling kids how old rocks are. I am supposed to say that these rocks are VERY VERY OLD... but I am NOT to say that these Ordovician rocks are thought to be about 300 million years old."
Essentially, they are not allowing Bob to teach a certain set of scientific data in order to protect their ability to provide students the good science curriculum they do teach. The directors... have heard from them more than enough times that teaching evolution would be "political suicide".
In Arkansas, even supporters of teaching evolution feel they must hide, obfuscate, and water-down evolution.
posted by orthogonality at 2:45 PM PST - 111 comments
What happened to Hero Joy Nightingale?
"I have no desire to be a dependent thwarted bitter crip living out decades of boring meagre existence. I have my path mapped out clearly. Artist."
The Thwarting of Dreams, by Hero Joy Nightingale
posted by iffley at 2:22 PM PST - 15 comments
Character First!
Character Counts! Last year, Arizona State Treasurer David Petersen stood in front of the International Building Cities of Character Conference to deliver a keynote address. Inside the Character Training Institute's headquarters, Petersen took to the conference podium to tell how his state's Family Services Committee passed "Character Education Legislation." "All schools now have it implemented," he said. "We're fighting for the soul of this nation." Petersen added that he attributed his passion for character to a personal meeting with evangelist Bill Gothard, founder of Institute in Basic Life Principles. Petersen is now the focus of a theft and fraud inquiry alleging that he used his position and state funds to promote the character education program, a program to which he had financial ties. Is your city a City of Character?
posted by Otis at 2:21 PM PST - 17 comments
I want these motherfucking snakes off the motherfucking plane!
Samuel L. Jackson and other Snakes on a Plane cast called in for reshoots. And yes, it has been confirmed that Samuel L. Jackson will say (shout it with me)... [more inside]
posted by UKnowForKids at 1:28 PM PST - 144 comments
Real big fish
George Perry, a poor 19 year old farmer, set the world all-tackle record for large mouth bass in 1932, when he caught a 22 pound, 4 ounce bass in Montgomery Lake, Georgia. It's a good story -- he was a poor farmer, he and his buddy only had one lure, it was during the Depression, and the fish was not caught for sport but for food. Furthermore, it was only weighed as an afterthought, after he was told that Field and Stream had a big bass contest that paid a $75 prize. Amazingly, that record has stood for over 73 years. In the interim, sport fishing for bass has become widely popular around the world, a multi-billion dollar market served by its own retail establishments, tournament tour, TV shows, corporate sponsorships, and legions of amateur fisher-men and -women, all trying to catch a bass bigger than the one George Perry caught back in 1932.
On Monday, after years of trying, a trio of San Diego fisherman hooked a 25 pound, 1 ounce fish that may have broken that record. (Includes picture of obscenely huge large mouth bass.) And they let it go, passing up potentially millions of dollars in endorsements. And their decision to release the fish and not pursue the record is the real story here.
posted by mosk at 12:27 PM PST - 24 comments
Oprah From Space
Oprahhhhh Froooooom Sppaaaaaaaaacccceee... and other interesting landmarks via The World According to Google.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 11:46 AM PST - 25 comments
Rivers of Light
Rivers of Light Hypnotic night-time helicopter shots, floating over downtown LA offices and highways. From Grass Collective. Flash interface, so find your way to the fifth column from the left ('free downloads'). [Large (91MB, 146MB) zipped QT files - a smaller (12MB) sample here]
posted by carter at 11:20 AM PST - 12 comments
The Ted Kierscey Collection
The Narrow Gauge Circle hosts, among other fine features, the Ted Kierscey Collection -- page after page after page of historical photographs of Colorado's railroad and mining towns.
posted by Gator at 11:15 AM PST - 7 comments
Oh my god! They killed Chef! You bastards!
Did Isaac Hayes really quit South Park? Last night's show roasted Hayes for his irate departure following the now-infamous Scientology episode (banned from the air in Tom Cruise's litigious wake, full episode here). In the latest episode, masters of subtlety Trey Parker and Matt Stone depict Chef as having fallen prey to an insidious cult, the "Super Adventure Club", subsequently killing him off in a manner that would make Kenny jealous. But today FoxNews reports that Isaac Hayes has been in the hospital since Jan. 17th, following a stroke, and never issued a statement. Apparently, the Scientology Center issued it "for" him. [via] [previously discussed here here and here]
posted by mowglisambo at 11:15 AM PST - 81 comments
You know, Murphy Brown's look more red-state all the time.
Remember back in the '90s when the GOP was still the party of fiscal conservatism, and the shiny new code word was "family values"? Well, they still believe in family values part: Exhibit 1. Exhibit 2. Exhibit 3.
posted by hwestiii at 11:05 AM PST - 31 comments
The only moral abortion is my abortion?
The only moral abortion is my abortion? What do some anti-choice women do when they experience unwanted pregnancies themselves? "I never dreamed, in my wildest nightmares, that there would ever be a situation where I personally would choose such an act. . . ."
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 10:54 AM PST - 106 comments
"Spring." That was the complete text of an email I received from houseofleaves.com last night. It seems as if Mark Z Danielewski is getting the hype started early for his new novel. Not much is known about it beyond its (again) creatively colored title-- Only Revolutions -- and this enigmatic forum post from last August.
posted by empath at 10:44 AM PST - 20 comments
Is the News Media in Iraq practicing "compensatory criticism"?
The big payback in Iraq. Last night on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, ROBERT LICHTER, President, Center for Media and Public Affairs put forth the following: You know, Charlie Peter, a great Washington journalist, once said, "The message of Watergate was dig, dig, dig, but journalists thought the message was act tough." And so I think you're getting negative coverage that may be kind of compensatory criticism.
Should the news focus more on the optimistic elements or is it reflecting public opinion. Is "compensatory criticism" justified for what it might wrongly perceive as possible White House manipulation during the run up to the war?
posted by Skygazer at 10:10 AM PST - 22 comments
Please don't let the cops in the house while I'm at the store.
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5-3 decision (.pdf) that police may not search a home if any inhabitant of the home is present and objects to the search, even if another inhabitant consents. The Court drew what it acknowledged is a "fine line" – if a co-inhabitant is at the door and objects, the police can't enter; but if the co-inhabitant is somewhere else – even in a nearby police car – and has no opportunity to object, then police don't need his or her consent. Chief Justice Roberts issued his first written dissent, blasting the majority's "random" and "arbitrary" rule and suggesting that the ability of police to respond to domestic violence threats could be compromised. The zingers in the footnotes may reveal "strains behind the surface placidity and collegiality of the young Roberts court."
posted by brain_drain at 10:00 AM PST - 88 comments
Ansel Adams' Lost Los Angeles
Ansel Adams' Lost Los Angeles. Flickr set
posted by srboisvert at 9:36 AM PST - 11 comments
Free printable cardboard lens hoods
Free printable cardboard lens hoods. Not only are they free (except for the cost of printing/cardboard), but they are collapsible. [via iStock]
posted by jonah at 8:24 AM PST - 14 comments
Stylin' with Beer!
"How to Save a Beer Style" by Michael Jackson (no, not that Michael Jackson). It seems that there are one or two, including the 10 Easiest to brew yourself. There are several styles of Belgian beers alone. In the U.S. we can thank Alan Cranston and Jimmy Carter for decriminalizing homebrewing in 1978. For those requiring an education there's Beer 101. Cheers!
posted by spock at 8:22 AM PST - 18 comments
When Firefox, privacy and relationships collide...
Firefox "causes" breakup... One man uses his fiance's computer to surf dating and swinger websites. He's careful to wipe his passwords etc. as he surfs - and then for good measure, de-installs Firefox.
The fiance then decides to install Firefox for the usual reasons, not knowing the above and happens to decides to edit the list of sites to never save passwords for. And comes across a list of said websites, and realises that he's still an active member of those websites.
Surely when you de-install a program, the uninstallation process should get rid of program-related data too, like in games? Although the geniuses at Firefox manifestly disagree with this. Other commenters also think the man was in the right.
posted by badlydubbedboy at 8:21 AM PST - 61 comments
this is not a question?
So we're at this bar and I'm like, Jessica, your uptalk is totally annoying?, and she goes, actually Stephanie, it's called HRT? and I'm like, whatever, I heard it'll destroy your career? and she's all, no way, even the President does it now? so I go, just forget it ok? and order another Stooooohhhleee owwrindge and taaaahnick.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:06 AM PST - 158 comments
"I don't want this, I want large bread"
Sprite, 68 degrees and all TVs set to Fox News. The Smoking Gun brings us Vice President Cheney's backstage requirements.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:21 AM PST - 68 comments
Painting in Miniature
I'd like your smallest painting. No, smaller than that. Even smaller. Wait, that's too small.
posted by justkevin at 6:25 AM PST - 21 comments
The cops and the soldiers nailed him in the air
If Jesus was to preach like He preached in Galilee
They would lay Jesus Christ in his grave.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:40 AM PST - 57 comments
Digital Funnies: Comics Preservation by Jonathan Barli
Digital Funnies: Comics Preservation by Jonathan Barli. Welcome to Digital Funnies, dedicated to preserving the history of this most neglected of art forms and reintroducing it to scholars and new readers alike. While several well-known titles such as Krazy Kat, Gasoline Alley, and Peanuts are being given their proper due in published form, there is still much of the rich history of comics and cartooning that will more than likely never see print again and worse, fade away with time. [Via Drawn!. And involved in this project is our very own Adam Kempa.]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:36 AM PST - 9 comments
Britannica's mad at Nature
Britannica's issued a salvo against Nature's famous "Wikipedia and the EB are comparably error-strewn" analysis. Here (pdf).
posted by Tlogmer at 2:26 AM PST - 42 comments
The city is ours!
Город наш! The city is ours! Belarussians are using weblogs, online communities, and text messaging to organize, share news and numerous photos, and oppose their corrupt government's fraudulent election. Patriotism, flags, and dark blue is in fashion, whether the government likes it or not.
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:09 AM PST - 32 comments
My Dumb Quotient is 86
Dumb: The Game is an extremely addictive puzzle game, with the added addictiveness of a "world rankings" scoreboard to prove to the world just how smart you are. If you get stuck, the forums contain a LOT of hints. [More inside]
posted by antifuse at 1:55 AM PST - 23 comments
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Author of the excellent book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" which investigates the phenomenon of the happiness of doing, how the balance between stress/anxiety and slack/boredom effect experience and happiness, and how we can all use it to our advantage.
I know that face
Riya – Face recognition + autotagging. Now in beta.
posted by tellurian at 11:03 PM PST - 6 comments
"this will be seen as one of the largest patronage programs in American history"
"These are just slush funds for conservative interest groups" --The Compassion Capital Fund ($148 million of our money), and the Community-Based Abstinence Education grant program ($391.7 million of our money)--just 2 of many new programs. ...The distribution of new money to conservative organizations is a small part of an estimated flood of $2 billion a year in federal grants to religious and religiously affiliated organizations.--except it's only to organizations who have policies that agree with Bush and the GOP agenda on social issues, and not about need.
posted by amberglow at 10:26 PM PST - 61 comments
Top 25 Inventions of 2006
The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge named 25 finalists (selected from over 4,000 entries) in a competition to find the greatest invention of 2006. The winner will be named during History Channel's Great Inventions Week (May 24-27th), but you won't have to wait to check out the finalists. MAKE: Blog briefly profiled each invention in a series of posts this week: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. The inventions will also be on exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles (April 7-15th), the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (April 20-30th), the Museum of Science in Boston (May 5-14th) and Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal in New York City (May 22-27th), and finally, the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, OH (through August 2006).
posted by paulychamp at 8:47 PM PST - 10 comments
the axe for the frozen sea inside us
Literary novels going straight to paperback. Because, you know, nobody reads them.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:59 PM PST - 44 comments
But can we make the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs?
Howdy, neighbor! A direct detection of a brown dwarf only 12.7 light years away (practically next door in interstellar terms) adds another substellar object to the list of those relatively close by. While not quite the closest such object yet detected, it's notable for being pinpointed with a combination of ground-based adaptive optics and Simultaneous Differential Imaging, a special set of filters designed to subtract out starlight while leaving the light from substellar objects. This could be an important milestone in the ongoing quest to directly detect extrasolar planets, as opposed to finding their traces indirectly via methods such as stellar wobble or gravitational microlensing. Direct detection, among other things, makes it much easier to analyze planetary atmospheres for traces of life. An object that could be as small as 9 Jupiter masses, less than 13 light years away, is a heck of a good step forward, especially considering that the very first indirect detections of extrasolar planets weren't made until the 1990's, and I recall serious arguments being made in the 1980's that they did not, in fact, exist.
posted by kyrademon at 7:53 PM PST - 8 comments
Chicano/Mexican/Latino-Art
Cheech has become a minor force behind a movement that has been expresed in many different ways.
Who's Afraid of Opera?
Panda's Thumb reports elementary music teacher Tresa Wagonner was put on paid administrative leave by the superintendent of schools in Bennett, Colorado. Her offense? Playing a 12-minute clip from the thirty-year-old children's series "Who's Afraid of Opera?" for her classroom. The series features legendary soprano Joan Sutherland and some cute little hand-puppets who alternate elementary explanations of the libretti with vocal performances of selections from the operas featured. Apparently, Ms. Wagonner's selected episode, Gounod's Faust, angered fundamentalist Bennettians, already on the warpath over Waggoner's musical choices for last year's Christmas pageant.
posted by VMC at 6:30 PM PST - 38 comments
Good evening, ossifer!
Don't Drink and Drive.
posted by I Love Tacos at 5:58 PM PST - 70 comments
Google Stock Info Page Improved
Google has quietly improved their stock info page. I'm not a huge fan of posting every new Google feature, but this is by far the best UI for stock price tracking, history, etc I've seen. Think google-maps-good. Until recently they were just linking to a Yahoo! Finance version.
posted by scarabic at 5:32 PM PST - 24 comments
Neener Neener Neener!
Remember HB 1215, the bill banning almost all abortion in South Dakota? Cecilia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota, has a solution: "I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction." An impassioned blogger has spoken to President Fire Thunder and is trying to drum up support for the proposed clinic.
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:01 PM PST - 112 comments
There's music in them there hills
The Great Stalacpipe Organ. This unique, one-of-a-kind instrument was invented in 1954 by Mr. Leland W. Sprinkle of Springfield, Virginia, a mathematician and electronic scientist at the Pentagon. He began his monumental 3 year project by searching the vast chambers of the caverns selecting stalactites to precisely match a musical scale. Electronic mallets were wired throughout the caverns and connected to a large four-manual console. When a key is depressed, a tone occurs as the rubber-tipped plunger strikes the stalactite tuned to concert pitch. (scroll down for mp3).
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:58 PM PST - 24 comments
brum 0 - 7 l'pool
Fan predicts 7-0 win on BBC site
posted by Ugandan Discussions at 3:35 PM PST - 34 comments
Whiny future conservatives?
Things we already knew: Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. ... A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity. The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests.
posted by caddis at 3:19 PM PST - 29 comments
MOM SHOOTS!
The ATF has sponsored an art contest for the children of its employees. Some of the children depicted their parents as heroes. Others seemed to tell a story that's a bit more grim. Still others were truly elliptical or perplexing. Oh, and the turtle. [via.]
posted by dersins at 3:01 PM PST - 48 comments
Ding Ding Ding went the bell
A carillon is a musical instrument that is played by a performer striking a keyboard which causes clappers to strike bells. The bells are the stars of the instrument: they are constructed in foundries, made of bronze, and tuned by shaving the insides of the bells until a perfect harmonic sequence is attained. The largest bell, weighing in at over six and a half tons, is located at the Kirk-In-The-Hills Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Here are some samples of what one sounds like. Music performed on the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon in Chicago.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 2:40 PM PST - 26 comments
Ontology=Zen, Material Reality=Nothingness, Jurgen Reble=Film Alchemist
"It was only natural that one day I should decide to toss my film into a dank corner of my garden. After a hot, humid summer, I came to gather up the film(Embedded Quicktime), which over the course of the summer I'd entirely forgotten. The colors remained very pure and intense, but had departed from their previous form. Indeed, they were laying themselves down upon the old action film to form veritable mosaics of color, remarkably like the stained glass of church windows. This was a really pleasurable experience." – Jurgen Reble, on his art
posted by jrb223 at 2:33 PM PST - 7 comments
Nobody Loves You When You're Godless And Out
A recent poll ranks atheists as America's most distrusted minority. Despite some inroads into American's acceptance of religious diversity, distrust of the godless appears to have held steady. Should atheists evangelize, or perhaps follow in the footsteps of certain Christian fundamentalists and seek an Atheist Homeland? The sticks and stones seem endless, after all. via
posted by maryh at 2:02 PM PST - 305 comments
Shari'a law vs. the US Constitution. In the matter of the establishing in the US Muslim enclaves practicing, imposing, and enforcing Islamic law, Shari'a.
Bridge to the past
In case of Soviet attack, head to the Brooklyn Bridge.
posted by keswick at 12:51 PM PST - 36 comments
Code Snippets is a tag-based repository for (duh) code snippets.
posted by turbodog at 11:58 AM PST - 15 comments
Slashdot interview with Isam Bayazidi
Slashdot interview with Jordanian blogger Isam Bayazidi, focusing on open source in the Arabic world.
posted by russilwvong at 11:55 AM PST - 1 comment
my dear mother left me, when I was quite young....
Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson was one of the more interesting characters on the 60's music scene. A contemporary (and fellow traveler) of John Fahey, and student of blues history and with Bob Hite, the founder of seminal 60's blues-rockers Canned Heat (youtube video of Wilson and the Heat featuring the Owl on vocals) . A painfully introverted man who suffered from depression and addiction throughout his life, Wilson had a light touch and lack of histrionics uncommon among his blues-revival contemporaries. He died by his own hand at 27. Blind-owl.net is a loving and comprehensive tribute, featuring many rare interviews and photos.
posted by jonmc at 11:51 AM PST - 11 comments
He has cavorted naked with Charlotte Rampling [this is VERY NSFW] and covered himself in caviar for Marc Jacobs, but Jürgen Teller thinks "fashion is a wank". Teller's first solo show in Paris is entitled "Nurnberg", it consists of a sequence of images (annoying Flash site, sorry) taken at the infamous Zeppelintribune parade ground, site of Nazi propaganda rallies, which was designed by Hitler's favourite builder, Albert Speer. Over several months, Teller (.pdf) has photographed the monument, the podium and the steep, ruthless steps, all of which have been left to decay. Or not. "It wasn't really maintained, but if there was a broken step, or a smashed wall, it would be mysteriously replaced with a new one." Teller's photographs show the delicate weeds, flowers and lichen [NSFW] that have grown up around the stone blocks. "In Germany, there is a saying about letting the grass grow over things, meaning that events will eventually be forgotten".
Wo0t u d1e n00Bzz
Hey, do you guys remember that awesome online FPS Phosphor Alpha? Yeah, Nick Kang is back with Phosphor Beta - and this time it's got multiplayer.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:21 AM PST - 12 comments
Ant cam
Ants are so cool. Click previous sentence for more information.
posted by thirteenkiller at 10:58 AM PST - 18 comments
more Flash cleverness today
from a French dude Now this is clever. All kins of fun crap here. I personally enjoy the Raga Music Machine .. others might get a kick out of shaving the guy. heh hee
posted by celerystick at 10:00 AM PST - 13 comments
Bears are godless killing machines without a soul
Превед! Russia's newest internet craze involves a painting called Bear Surprise [NSFW] by New York artist/musician John Lurie. "Превед", or "preved", is an intentional misspelling of "privet", or "hello" in Russian. There's a month-old Livejournal community dedicated to the meme and even a branded range of condoms. [Via freewilliamsburg.com.]
posted by tapeguy at 9:40 AM PST - 44 comments
Light at the end of the tunnel?
ETA declares permanent ceasefire. For more than 40 years the terrorist group ETA has been making life in Euskadi (Basque Country) and Spain a nightmare. After its political arm Batasuna dropped hints at wanting to resolve this conflict politically, rather than with bombs, ETA itself has finally come out and said the same. The majority of the Spanish population want to negotiate a peace, but not everybody. Can the terrorists be trusted?
posted by sic at 8:47 AM PST - 41 comments
You know you've always wanted this
Jeopardy search goes on-line. I imagine half of MeFiers imagine have Jeopardy wet-dreams. Now the hunt for new contestants is being screened on-line (under Jeopardy news). Not the same as Jeopardy online. Are we all obsessed with Alex Trebek?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:37 AM PST - 32 comments
No, W is not on the list.
The 20 Greatest Tools of All Time. As chosen by Forbes magazine.
posted by empath at 8:28 AM PST - 97 comments
Universal Connections
For those lacking a little extra USB in their lives: Universal Connections.
You see this watch? It has so many diamonds in it, the hands can't move...
The Secret Agent - whilst talk has gone on for many a year about things like 'bubbles' and 'bursting' on the topic of real estate, never before has it been seriously considered that regular offer-withholding, mortgage-falsifying, and price-gouging to the tune of £50,000 by real estate agents might be affecting the housing market altogether. I challenge metafilter to make the links, and see who's first on that merry conspiracy theory bandwagon. And why is it that people who work with selling or developing buildings are just, well, evil?
posted by jrengreen at 3:18 AM PST - 65 comments
The Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment provides, in part, that "...no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause." The Supreme Court has issued its (yet another) 8-0 opinion, authored by Justice Scalia in the case of United States v. Grubbs, overturning the Ninth Circuit decision. Justice Souter filed a concurring opinion. Grubbs deals with the question of anticipatory warrants, and it is the first time that the Court has addressed the practice. It appears that under this ruling, preemptive warrants can issue without existing probable cause, but merely on the supposition that probable cause will exist in the future.
Some legal scholars had anticipated that at least the more conservative members of the Court would rule against anticipatory warrants. After all, under Blackstone's analysis of the common law rule that contributed to the Fourth Amendment, as noted by Professor Orin Kerr in the NYU Journal of Law and Liberty symposium on the subject, warrants "issue" when they are signed by the judge, and not when the precedent condition occurs. Professor Chris Slobogin disagrees. Kerr has posted a preliminary analysis of the decision on his new blawg. The case has previously been discussed by the smart people over at the Volokh Conspiracy.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 2:39 AM PST - 45 comments
Starforce calls agent Ness!
Not only is Starforce an evil driver-based copy-protection system that will spontaneously reboot your machine without warning if it thinks its being circumvented, not only is it on surprisingly many PC software products including a few you just might own, not only does it not remove itself when the game that installed it is uninstalled, but now they're claiming that the complaints about their software ultimately come from the Russian Mafia, and are asking authorities in the U.S. and Russia about looking into them.... (Previous Starforce idiocy on MeFi.)
We are not responsible for any voided warranties..
Did you used to take things apart for the fun of it? Relive those heady days of destruction with this new blog dedicated to disassembly. [link via Readymade]
posted by drezdn at 9:41 PM PST - 16 comments
Keepers of the Public Record
Ten guiding principles for policy and practice in maintaining the public record as a public trust are: [+] [via]
posted by mlis at 9:31 PM PST - 2 comments
Micro Econ Comix
President Bush on the state of the US Economy, including a discussion of the national debt and rising global interest rates, from today's news conference.
posted by alms at 6:59 PM PST - 100 comments
One of Thailand's most revered shrines destroyed.
One of Thailand's most revered shrines destroyed. Bangkok's most popular religious site -- the shrine to the four-headed Hindu god Brahma at the Erawan corner (ศาลพระพรหม) -- was smashed to pieces early Tuesday by a hammer-wielding mentally-ill Thai Muslim man. In the context of Thailand's current political instability, the disaster is seen by many in this deeply spiritual country as a terrible omen.
posted by soiled cowboy at 3:53 PM PST - 59 comments
the professors
Pat Robertson on College Professors (warning a wmv from crooksandliars.com) David Horowitz' new book "The Professors" in his own words. Also a list of the professors in question. Book Description : Bestselling author David Horowitz reveals a shocking and perverse culture of academics who are poisoning the minds of today's college students. The Professors is a wake-up call to all those who assume that a college education is sans hatred of America and the American military and support for America's terrorist enemies. I don't know about you , but i need a cup of coffee
posted by nola at 2:37 PM PST - 79 comments
Star Wars in 2008?
Star Wars in 2008? Rick Mccallum, producer of all six Star Wars movies and the franchise's only tv series to date, has told BBC Radio that he and George Lucas are set to do a Luke Skywalker tv series which should debut in 2008. Supposedly there will be at least 100 episodes covering the first 20 years of the young Jedi's life. It's not the first time there's been talk of taking Star Wars to tv.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 2:21 PM PST - 72 comments
Cuz I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh.
Omedetou! Japan beat Cuba 10-6 to win the first World Baseball Classic. The team was coached by Sadaharu Oh, one of the great stars of the Japanese leagues (868 home runs to boot), and featured the talents of a few Japanese players who have made the jump to American ball--Ichiro Suzuki and Akinori Otsuka. Is the World Series now an outdated misnomer?
posted by bardic at 2:18 PM PST - 22 comments
Dictator of the Month. Your one stop shop for all your dictator-oriented needs. Even includes scorecards. From Amin to Zedong, they're all right here, folks. Enjoy some righteous anger.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:03 PM PST - 17 comments
Star Trek Kid?
Star Trek Kid? One man video reconstruction of First Contact, the scene in which Alfre Woodard quotes Moby Dick at Picard. Interesting choice. YouTube link.
Feliz cumple, presidente.
"The make him into something he wasn't." Today, on the 200th anniversary of his birth, a national holiday, Mexico both honors and reconsiders Benito Juarez (Wikipedia: Eng/Span): "Mexico's Lincoln," the nation's first indigenous president, who served two terms in the 1860s and 1870s. The capital city's airport, a border city of 1.1M, universities, and streets and monuments in just about every town are named after Juarez, widely considered a national hero. Politicians left and right invoke his name, especially this year as Mexico prepares to elect a new president in July. For many in the Latin American left, he's a regional icon in the vein of Simon Bolivar and Ernesto "Che" Guevara; Havana unveiled a bust (Span) of him last year. He's held up as a defender of the poor and the indigenous and an opponent to free trade. Today, however, some historians say he was neither. For those who read Spanish, a leading Mexican (right-of-center) newspaper, El Universal, also touches on the topic in "Juarez, a controversial icon."
posted by donpedro at 1:37 PM PST - 5 comments
In the meantime back at the ranch. Afghan man faces death for abandoning Islam for Christianity.
"I genuflect before Jack Smith..." - John Waters
The Tribeca Film Festival announced its 2006 lineup last week. Among the films in competition is the documentary Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis. Filmmaker Jack Smith (a major influence on later filmmakers, from Warhol to Waters(NSFW)) is perhaps best known for his 1963 film Flaming Creatures, was shot on expired army surplus film, and banned soon after its release (with some help from Strom Thurmond). New controversies surround his work. See also Smith's Scotch Tape (YouTube), from the same year.
posted by jrb223 at 12:33 PM PST - 8 comments
Welcome to Religious Tattoos: A Web site devoted to Judeo-Christian body art .
The Good Burns, Not C. Montgomery Burns
Everyone in the blue and the green loves David Burns.
His landmark (and most often recommended) book, "Feeling Good" is available in Small, Medium, and you can even Supersize it, complete with exercises, questionnaires and expanded section on medications for depression.
"Feeling Good" is a great book, but Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is good for lots of stuff besides depression.
Like dating, relationship or shyness issues. Solutions that do not involve John Gray, Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, or heck, even the song "Doctor Doctor" from the Thompson Twins.
No worries, because Dr. Burns has a book for that too, and it rocks. It will get you off the couch, and get you out and smooching in no time.
There are others out there also working with CBT to help you make your life all it can be.
posted by willmize at 11:17 AM PST - 19 comments
Super bad ASS, maybe.
Superbad. I'd forgotten what an evil time-waster this site is. OK, maybe you haven't. Yes, it's a double. But it's an OLD double.
posted by dersins at 11:04 AM PST - 37 comments
Seeing double or worse
Twincerely yours .... Specialising in single malts.
posted by johnny7 at 10:13 AM PST - 37 comments
"The drama of our times seems to have upstaged even you". "Not Booth".
America's First Superstar. He was the highest paid actor in the world, beloved by fans so passionate about his performances that a riot (23 people killed, more than a hundred wounded) ensued when a rival dared to perform the role that had made him famous. He enjoyed all the trappings of a superstar's life: portraits taken by America's most famous photographer, a large mansion (now a historic landmark), and of course a scandalous divorce trial (he lost). He was also one of the most prominent book collectors in the country. Edwin Forrest was born 200 years ago.
Yellow Sheep River keeps on Sputniking along
Sputnik for the digital g-g-g-generation? No, thats probably hyperbole. But despite yankee plans for a $100 Laptop for Every Kid, those dang Chinese have gone ahead and created a €123 (that's Euros, son) Personal Computer, the YSR-639.
As a perfect nightmare for Gates, Jobs and Barrett all it runs a version of linux (ok, that was probably everybody's guess) on a processor I had never heard of before: the Godson CPU. The company espouses an unusual amount of populist rhetoric, the kind that I thought had been eliminated in now-capitalist China, claiming this a computer for all. Basically, they aim to end the Digital Divide--in China, anyway. Check out the video at CEBITvideo.com (Google Video. [VIA]
posted by illovich at 7:46 AM PST - 64 comments
Tom Judd's Everyday
Tom Judd's Everyday - "365 PAGES AGO I HAD A VERY SILLY IDEA. Draw a page everyday for one year. Each day I spent around 1 hour on the page, sometimes more, sometimes less. There was never any planning or preparation, I would just go at it whenever I had a spare moment in my day and had something I needed to write or draw. Some of the drawings are observational and some are just plain weird. Monsters and things seem to crop up a lot (robots too)."
Also of note...in 2006, Tom Judd is undertaking a "Once A Week: Art vs Advertising" project...
posted by tpl1212 at 4:52 AM PST - 19 comments
sweet, sweet nectar
Nectivorous!!! Those that eat nectar: hummingbirds, honeyeaters, miners, honeycreepers, spinebills, wattlebirds, friarbirds, lorikeets, warblers, some parrots, and of course some bats!!! Many plants are adapted to such creatures!
posted by beerbajay at 4:29 AM PST - 18 comments
When you go to the wall, / You can feel all the heat of that cool decade
"Next, have those who lost legs crawl forward and neatly/ stack them. Then bowl the skull of your best killed buddy/ down the aisle / Finally, have the blind push the quadruplegics forward / (they will have knives in their teeth to give to the legislators / to use on themselves). We leave."
Or: "Today you reached retirement/ with a disturbed and primal conscience / .... / Drunk and stoned, down in your worst / moment, you subpoenaed yourself / into believing the mission / was more important than the man."
Or: "Terrified, by the death grins. / Afraid, I'll be one of the dead. / Wondering, why did I ever think, / it wouldn't be as bad as they said?"
Soldiers' stories told in the veterans' poetry, from the archives of the Viet Nam Generation Journal.
posted by orthogonality at 11:56 PM PST - 18 comments
What to read. A list of lists for book recommendations, includes a compiled "Great Books" Lists with a World Literature list and lots more.
Echoes of the past.
Democratic presidential candidate rails against US imperialism. "The platform . . . condemns the experiment in imperialism as an inexcusable blunder, which has involved us in enormous expense, brought us weakness instead of strength, and laid our nation open to the charge of abandoning the fundamental principles of a republic."
A prominent American author who initially supported the conflict, changed his mind, calling it "a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater." The US is "the kind of World Power . . . that a prairie-dog village is . . . it is the duty of our Government to stand sentinel, with solemn mien, and lifted nose, and curved paws, on top of our little World-Power mound."
posted by insomnia_lj at 7:24 PM PST - 25 comments
A trailer. (link to vid) Some Music. (hit the mp3s-not the photos) A body of work. (embedded .mov) All from you very own MefiProjects! (M.I.)
Idol 2.0
Google Idol is perfect for people who want to embarrass themselves in front of large audiences, but couldn't make it onto the American, Arab, Australian, Brazilian, Canadian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finish, French, German, Icelandic, Indian, Iraqi?, Malaysian, New Zealander, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Singaporean, South African, or Swedish incarnations of the show. There's also, of course, YouTube Idol.
posted by scottreynen at 6:20 PM PST - 21 comments
Now we're cooking!
Now we're cooking! Burlesquercize! (Apparently it's all over the country.)
Muslim Beauty
The Beauty Academy of Kabul is Liz Mermin's documentary about hairdressers from America teaching young women in Afghanistan how to beautify themselves. Could female self-expression and vanity be an impetus for more pervasive cultural transformation? In a related development, Nike has designed a sporty hijab for use by Somali volleyball players. Whether it's an improvement over traditional variations is debatable.
posted by mert at 3:21 PM PST - 11 comments
Not as nice as Larry Emdur.
[Newsfilter] Australia's far north has been hit by a tropical cyclone, named Larry, likened by some to have been powerful as Hurricane Katrina, and considered worse than Cyclone Tracy, which virtually wiped Darwin off the face of the map just over 30 years ago.
The ABC has captured some stunning footage which shows the worst affected town of Innisfail both during the storm, and in its aftermath. [Win Broadband, Real Broadband]. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:31 PM PST - 38 comments
The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll
The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll New York Magazine's Mark Jacobson has an excellent write up on the 9-11 theories and the conspiracy theorists out for the truth. From the March 27 issue. I recommend passing it on to your friends because it raises real questions while not sounding batshit insane at all. It all boils down to whether you believe in LIHOP or MIHOP. One page link here.
posted by daHIFI at 1:31 PM PST - 223 comments
Conversation is an art. "Hume suggested that politeness was not, in fact, "natural to the human mind," but "presumption and arrogance" were. Society depends on artifice. Conversation is an art." "American conversation now prides itself on angry authenticity or on being kind and "nonjudgmental"; it is meant to be "natural" and full of "self-expression." This does not make for great conversation or a vital political life."
posted by semmi at 11:19 AM PST - 21 comments
What if you get rejected?
Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, MA, has announced that it will do away with traditional acceptance letters and will instead email accepted students a link to an acceptance podcast on iTunes.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:13 AM PST - 40 comments
Two or Three Things About David Cronenberg
Three new ways of thinking about David Cronenberg (director of Videodrome, Dead Ringers, etc.). A documentary filmmaker, an avant-garde filmmaker, or maybe just a guy who looks at couples and probably wonders what they look like having sex. Kind of par for the course.
posted by Joe Hutch at 10:12 AM PST - 45 comments
A portrait an artist makes usig himself or herself as its subject...
Self-portrait: A portrait an artist makes using himself or herself as its subject, typically drawn or painted from a reflection in a mirror. There are many famous painted self portraits, but now that everyone has a digital camera, more and more photographic self portaits are popping up everywhere. Whether you think of it as vanity, narcissism, self-invovlment, or just art, it is hard to deny that there are a lot of interesting and well-composed shots out there. Sure, there are plenty of arm-length camera angles, but there is also work being done with black and white images, hands and feet, and, of course, eyes. Even photoshop is used sometimes. People are still speculating on what exactly all these pictures mean, but I think it is clear that from totally innocent to intensely personal to NSFW, self portraits are here to stay.
posted by nuclear_soup at 9:53 AM PST - 14 comments
The Biggest Collection Of Full Cigarette Packs In The World
Igor Sergeev has been collecting full, unopened cigarette packs from all over the world since 1976. His site now features over 21,000 photos, arranged in alphabetical order by brand name. Some are fascinating simply for the way they differ from what we're used to seeing at the 7-11; others are straight-up nine kinds of awesome.
posted by Gator at 9:38 AM PST - 38 comments
Emirates Aided Kin of Palestinian Militants
Emirates Aided Kin of Palestinian Militants The American people, for reasons of possible anti-Arab feelings, made it clear that the Arab Emirates were not to gain control over our ports, despite the statements from the White House that this group is our friend and a partner in the fight against terrorism. Despite our 'friendship," there is now this evidence to the contrary. But will this news be sufficient to prevent Dubai's $1.2 Bln Bid for U.S. Weapons Maker ?
posted by Postroad at 9:36 AM PST - 31 comments
The Fourth Year of An Endless War Begins
From on the ground in Iraq, with death squads on the prowl in a nation paralysed by fear, with each mile, the divisions deepen. Some suggest Iraq is about to look a lot like Lebanon. Others think we should be so lucky, that what looms is much worse than mere civil war: an archipegalo of complete and total anarchy, the war of all against all.
As the saying goes, even a blind squirrel may find an acorn now and then, especially one planetary in size--like here: predictions of a better Middle East have evaporated.
posted by y2karl at 9:23 AM PST - 108 comments
What's Wrong with the Democratic Party?
What's wrong with the Democratic Party? Leave it to the Daily Show's Matt Haughey Ed Helms and former Ohio senatorial candidate Paul Hackett to hit the nail on the head.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 6:03 AM PST - 100 comments
Alan W. Pollack's "Notes On' The Beatles Series
Beatlemaniac It took Alan W. Pollack 10 years to pick apart every Beatles song and describe in detail the mechanics behind the music.
posted by minkll at 2:23 AM PST - 36 comments
Use flash navigation? You're fucked.
Patent squatters Eolas decide to break a significant portion of the websites in the world. (Previously)
A smaller scale Mai Lai in Iraq?
According to eyewitnesses and local officials interviewed over the past 10 weeks, the civilians who died in Haditha on Nov. 19 were killed not by a roadside bomb but by the Marines themselves, who went on a rampage in the village after the attack, killing 15 unarmed Iraqis in their homes, including seven women and three children.
posted by jonson at 11:07 PM PST - 56 comments
Aero Warriors: Putting rubber to pavement at 200mph.
Aero Warriors: Battling at super speedways on Sunday to sell cars on Monday. In 1969 only showroom stock cars were permitted in NASCAR sanctioned events. This meant in order to compete a car had to be produced and available through dealers in minimum quantities. Only minor changes for racing were allowed. And in 1969 Ford and Chrysler were locked in a Battle Royale to win races. To this end both produced cars designed to dominate on the 1+ mile speedways. For Chrysler: the Dodge Charger 500, Dodge Charger Daytona, and Plymouth Road Runner Superbird. For Ford: the Ford Torino Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. Aero Warriors is the story and history of these street legal, 200mph (320kph) capable, wildly winged cars from the Chrysler side of the line.
posted by Mitheral at 9:18 PM PST - 16 comments
Strange bloodsucking bedfellows.
Sleep tight, don't [pdf] let the bed bugs bite.
posted by bigmusic at 9:08 PM PST - 22 comments
Neil Gaiman Gets a Cease-and-Desist Letter
Neil Gaiman gets cease-and-desisted. In a rather bizarre legal turn of events, Neil Gaiman posted in his journal today that he received a cease-and-desist letter from Mark I. Reichenthal of Branfman & Associates insisting that he remove an "unauthorized" link from tomatoesareevil.com to the official movie website for "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". (Interestingly enough, Reichenthal evidently has previously been deployed to defend the "... For Dummies" trademark.) Problem is that Neil doesn't own the site; they merely posted a photograph of him with a particularly evil-looking tomato, a tomato which Gaiman is turning into salsa in the hopes of becoming "the Paul Newman of satanic salsas." Neil's reaction: "What an astonishingly small amount of research they must do before firing off these bizarre letters."
posted by WCityMike at 8:58 PM PST - 36 comments
Allez Oop
Les Kiriki Acrobates Japonais [YouTube] by Segundo de Chomon.
Spreading the Grace of God, 400 words a minute
Team debate (or 'policy debate') has been discussed here recently, and the various eschatological rudderings of the American evangelical Christian right wing are discussed here basically every day -- this week, the New York Times Magazine finds the nexus between the two. Meet the Liberty University debate team [NYT link], a pet project of Jerry Falwell's, one of the top debate squads in the nation, coached by Brett O'Donnell, who also coached George W Bush in the 2004 Presidential debates.
posted by greggish at 7:50 PM PST - 20 comments
Black-Bag Jobs
"Don't worry Mr. President, we have Kansas surrounded." Warrantless searches: they're not just for wiretaps anymore. U.S. News and World Report probes the Bush administration's covert drive to conduct physical searches of American homes without court approval.
posted by digaman at 6:33 PM PST - 52 comments
mini mike
Beat it. (Google clip)
The Framers and The Faithful.
How modern evangelicals are ignoring their own history. "Even though Jefferson was labeled anti-religion by some, he had become a hero to evangelicals—not in spite of his views on separation of church and state, but because of them." (via A&L Daily)
posted by darkstar at 5:18 PM PST - 18 comments
Don't think citizen, you may have to pay royalties!
Today SCOTUS will hear a case to decide the scope of what can and cannot be patented. At the heart of this case lies the decision about whether a patent can validly include a step of 'correlating a test result' that arguably monopolises a basic scientific relationship used in medical treatment 'such that any doctor necessarily infringes the patent merely by thinking about the relationship after looking at a test result.' If as expected the court uses this as an opportunity to reign in the scope of what can be patented this will surely be a victory for common sense.
posted by bap98189 at 4:02 PM PST - 18 comments
When grown adults act like children.
Kinderstart sues Google to get a higher page ranking. Why on earth should Google be obligated to give another search engine access to their proprietary page ranking methods, unless the goal is for Kinderstart to either steal or play games with Google's ranking methods... again?
They've had enough of the daily grind.. get it? grind? it funny cuz they work in a coffee shop.
Every act of resistance is a battle won, no matter how big or small. I think we've all wanted to do this at one point or another. (via)
posted by sambosambo at 11:30 AM PST - 56 comments
La Fuga - "The Escape" - can be found inside an old bank in Madrid. A "live immersive gaming" experience, its players try to "escape" equipped only with a networked PDA and their wits. Think of it as a cross between the Tactile Dome and The Game, with a bit of Myst and a dash of Cube mixed in.
posted by TunnelArmr at 9:25 AM PST - 17 comments
It's not funny
It might not be funny, but it's true. An educational episode of South Park, via Waxy.org.
posted by mokey at 9:21 AM PST - 111 comments
Going Once... Going Twice...
Money on the Wall: PostMichael McKeeism meticulously perfects the art-form that Warhol dreamed of, The Who toyed with, and and others are desperate to avoid. Transactionism is an observation of art, the artist/patron relationship, and our own values, such as they are.
posted by hermitosis at 8:32 AM PST - 7 comments
The Real Thing, hecho in Mexico
Want the real "Real Thing", plenty of people know to look for the yellow cap and stock up on some passover Coke. But unsanctioned by the corporation, Mexican Coke is now showing up in the USA, in the old fashioned glass bottles.
posted by 445supermag at 8:24 AM PST - 62 comments
Plundered body parts implanted in thousands
Plundered body parts implanted in thousands A macabre scandal in which corpses were plundered for body parts could be even bigger than previously disclosed, with one company alone saying it has distributed thousands of pieces of human tissue that authorities fear could be tainted with disease....But the company noted here is not alone. The People's Republic Has Long Been Suspected of Selling Organs From Prisoners. Now One New York Doctor Knows the Rumors Are True. But since there is a great need for parts, and money to be made, others also are getting into this flourishing business too. And parts can serve other purpose . But for quick insights, go to EBay
Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing (Google video) A fascinating 30 minute documentary about ARPAnet - the precursor to today's Internet. (Can you spot the real ubernerd mover and shaker at BBN? Hint: He wears no tie!) (via: all over the place)
Festivals of the World
Looking for somewhere to go and see how humanity celebrates being alive? Or maybe you're just interested in nettle eating, a parade of the unmarried women, wife carrying championships, sand sculpture or kinetic sculpture. If you're gonna make an omlette, you have to break some eggs.
posted by lalochezia at 10:53 PM PST - 6 comments
Five months plus 31 more
"The rationale for a free and democratic Iraq is as compelling today as it was three years ago.... Consider that if we retreat now, there is every reason to believe Saddamists and terrorists will fill the vacuum -- and the free world might not have the will to face them again. Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis."
More wisdom from the man who said in 2002 "I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that."
posted by orthogonality at 7:47 PM PST - 99 comments
Countess Dracula
Elizabeth Báthory is hot. I'd do her. The thing is she holds the world record (according to GWR) for being the most prolific serial killer in history. Supposedly, she may have tortured and killed as many as 2000 young girls, which probably makes her bi or lesbian (not that there's anything wrong with that). Some say she is the real inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
What hope hath man / who takes up arms / against h'brother / for space only?
Tabs vs Spaces or Tabs or Spaces? Why, Tabs and Spaces! No, Tabs! No, Spaces! No, no, no - Tabs Tabs Tabs! Nuh-uh, Spaces Spaces Spaces! Spaces, not Tabs. Tabs and Spaces! Tabs! Spaces! Tabs! Spaces! Tabs! Spaces! Tabs! Spaces! Tabs! Tabs! Modelines?
That's a lotta simoleans
Cost of Iraq war may exceed $1 trillion dollars. That number is hard to comprehend. To get a grip on it, observe that the CIA says the average annual purchasing power of Iraqi citizens is $3,400, and there are about 7,500,000 males between 15-65 years old in Iraq. Divide this out, and it turns out that by the time we're "done" with Iraq, we could have hired each and every man in Iraq and paid them their average annual income for 39 years. Yup - we could have hired every man in Iraq for their entire career. In the past, when great pharaohs hired thousands (let alone millions) of men for decades, he'd have some big damned pyramids or something to show for it.
posted by gregor-e at 2:08 PM PST - 96 comments
How I got my groove back
Crippled Dick Hot Wax! ...has reissued "Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party", a compilation of skewed gogogirlloungefuzzfunk tracks from the films of schlock master Jesus (Jess) Franco. Much props to Mondo Macabre, Synapse Films, and Something Weird Video for ressurecting "classic" fringe cinema. (links are slightly NSFW)
posted by visit beautiful mount weather! at 1:29 PM PST - 12 comments
ATL roller-skating dance party
In the roller-skating comedy-musical ATL, rapper T I channels Olivia Newton-John, strapping on the skates and shaking it in an 80's styled roller-rink. Directed by noted video director Chris Robinson and with a screenplay by Tina Chism (Drumline), the self-appointed King of the South shakes his felon image and plays a teenager who leads a skate crew in this coming-of-age saga set in Atlanta. This closes the circle started by the teeny-bopper band Sugar Hill Gang with "Rapper's Delight" in 1979.
posted by mischief at 1:26 PM PST - 18 comments
Whatte the swyve?
Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog. Take thatte, Gower! Some favorite entries: top search engine referrers, abbreviaciouns, and Aske Chaucere, parte the firste.
The Haunting of Maxwell House
The Coffee Pot Ghosts. In November of 2000, a Maryland woman bought a black Krups coffee maker from Sears. Shortly thereafter, her lizard died mysteriously, strange white lights appeared and she began experiencing "classic Poltergeist phenomena of every description." Then the spirits began to speak.
posted by jrossi4r at 11:54 AM PST - 34 comments
Borderline Photography
The Border Film Project. "For three months last summer, three filmmakers with ties to Arizona passed out hundreds of disposable cameras to two groups: [...] undocumented immigrants on the perilous journey to enter the United States and Minuteman volunteers determined to stop them." [article] [previously]
posted by milquetoast at 11:44 AM PST - 20 comments
Fine print: tiny tomes
2-inch books (flash) is a delightful exhibit of tiny hand-crafted books. The 2005 winners (pdf) of the Miniature Book Society's annual competition offers a sampling of little books that have been published. Tiny tomes have been delighting readers and collectors for 4,000 years. If these tiny treasures intrigue you, perhaps you'd like to collect your own vintage or contemporary library.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:44 AM PST - 11 comments
Princess Caraboo
In April of 1817, a distraught, exotic, bizarre young lady wearing a black turban appeared in the village of Almondsbury, England. She spoke an unintelligible language, and mystified villagers brought her to see the local magistrate. Linguistic experts of the day were baffled: until a Portuguese sailor appeared, who claimed to be able to translate. He explained that she was kidnapped royalty from the island of Javasu. She called herself Princess Caraboo.
posted by Count Ziggurat at 10:43 AM PST - 11 comments
Warning: Video May Be Manicly Energetic And Irresistibly Cute
The J Marimba Ponies have performed at Carnegie Hall, as well as in concert halls from Vienna to Japan. Even more impressive, the oldest member of the group is 12, and the youngest is 4 years old. Musical prodigies or novelty act? See them play Khachaturian's Sabre Dance (Coral link to Quicktime video) and judge for yourself. Via Music for Maniacs. Previously mentioned on MeFi but worth its own thread.
posted by yankeefog at 10:34 AM PST - 16 comments
Oh, the YUmanity!
When tradition and modernity clash. "While Yeshiva University is officially a nonsectarian institution except for its Orthodox rabbinical school, it is the oldest and largest American university under Jewish auspices. Although commonly thought of as an Orthodox institution, Yeshiva University has been chartered since 1969 as nonsectarian, enabling it to receive state and federal funding." Which is all fine and dandy, except that YU has a history of confrontation with its gay and lesbian students. There was major opposition to the funding of gay and lesbian student organizations. Gay couples sued Yeshiva over apparent housing discrimination. And now, a gay medical student claims he was expelled because of his sexual orientation, and he has a memo that he claims proves his case. Oy.
posted by greatgefilte at 10:26 AM PST - 12 comments
Photos from the squatter nation of Frestonia.
Life in the nation of Frestonia. In 1977, Freston Road, a squatters' community in Notting Hill Dale, West London, attempted to secede from the United Kingdom, giving itself the name Frestonia. Photographer (and former Minister of State) Tony Sleep beautifully documented its citizens and setting. via
posted by soiled cowboy at 9:56 AM PST - 11 comments
βίβλια
Biblical Errancy. Complete with an Index of Biblical Citations.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 8:53 AM PST - 47 comments
Oh, I Love That Movie
Overlooked Films of the 1990s ...Some were better then others. Some people will definitely disagree with. And some are my favorite movies... via
posted by ShawnString at 4:45 AM PST - 97 comments
Cheesy Photo Goodness
8 X 10 glossies of a bygone era. Stacks of professionally taken promotional photos of early 1970s performers (mostly from the cocktail lounge circuit, it appears) were found in an alley and rescued. You can almost hear the tinkly piano music in the background as you look at these hopeful showbiz faces. (via Sharpeworld)
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:39 PM PST - 59 comments
Oney Judge slipped away from the household where she was kept as a slave in 1796. Neighbors were probably involved in the escape. Although a fugitive, she managed to live out the rest of her life in safety in New Hampshire. The owners she was escaping from? You may have heard of them.
posted by gimonca at 8:39 PM PST - 48 comments
My caps are backwards
Bad Caps. A site dedicated to the faulty capacitors present in even highly-rated manufacturers' boards. There's a forum with individual boards dedicated to identifying specific boards with faulty caps.
posted by cellphone at 8:29 PM PST - 17 comments
Our album is done, and so is our crappy website.
The 23rd Century is a sweet band that just released their new CD, "Take A Trip Though Time With...The 23rd Century", for free online in mp3 format. The album was created by metafilter user tcobretti and his cousin. You can purchase the album here to support them, or you can buy their tshirt, obviously inspired/ripped off from the John Titor insignia. There is also a cool schematic-based navigation to the site, presumably from the same great mind who brought us runoffgroove.com. [via mefi projects]
posted by banished at 7:39 PM PST - 12 comments
"We were surprised by how few had tested their websites with disabled users," he said.
Usability Exchange -- a testing service determining site accessibility for disabled users. They're only in the UK now, but it seems like a great idea. Organisations set up their tests online and submit them directly to disabled testers in our database. Testers are then free to complete these tests in their own time, earning money for each test they complete. As tests are completed by users, organisations can view test results, web page logs and other information in real time. More here at BBC, including some concerns.
posted by amberglow at 7:26 PM PST - 17 comments
Jesus The Pug
I thought my pugs were awesome, but that was back before I found out about Jesus. No, not our lord & savior, silly, the REAL Jesus, Jesus the Pug. Don't tell me you've never heard of him? He's been in a number of famous events over the years.
posted by jonson at 7:23 PM PST - 19 comments
As you might have heard on the news today, two more women have died after taking RU-486.
The number of patient fatalities in mifepristone abortions is estimated at 1 in 200,0001, about double the rate for suction-aspiration abortions of comparable terms, and about equal to the combined early and late term fatality rates for vacuum aspiration abortion.2 (source) (via) [More inside]
posted by sequential at 7:01 PM PST - 30 comments
Thou Shall Not Kill On Sunday
No Hunting on the Sabbath, Y'all: RALEIGH, N.C. - A longtime lobbyist for the National Rifle Association has stepped down from the job because he can't support the group's endorsement of Sunday hunting in North Carolina.
I'm sure we can talk about this without sounding conspiratorial
The Israel Lobby. Writing the London Review of Books, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Harvard University's Stephen Walt argue that American foreign policy in the Middle East has been diverted from the national interest by a powerful domestic Jewish lobby:
[T]he thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the 'Israel Lobby'. Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical.
The article is an edited version of a longer working paper (pdf). While the authors focus on the potency of the Jewish lobby, including organizations such as AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, they also point to the role of evangelical Christians who believe that Israel's existence is a necessary precondition of the Second Coming, a group whose importance has been remarked upon elsewhere.
posted by Dasein at 4:23 PM PST - 145 comments
16...er...6:15 on a Saturday morning.
Pierce Bush in 2024?
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:56 PM PST - 96 comments
Blogger Destroys Router
Ah, remember the olden days when Blogger had to beg for money from users to get new hardware? These days, the hardware is begging Blogger -- FOR MERCY.
posted by brownpau at 2:20 PM PST - 9 comments
FlapArt
Must-haves for your coffee table, lavatory reading, or just killing time on the subway: The Nutritional Benefits of Nose Picking; Perfecting the Art of Fart Projection (NEVER be blamed again!); How to Murder a Complete Stranger (and get away with it) [paging scarabic]. These and other eyebrow-raising books can be yours, assuming you already have a book that you can put these dustjackets on. FlapArt: The Alternative Book Cover.
posted by Gator at 1:54 PM PST - 17 comments
"That's his hazel eye," Mrs. Till said. "Where is the other one?"
That big .45 jumped in Big Milam's hand. The youth turned to catch that big, expanding bullet at his right ear. He dropped. In Money, Mississippi on August 24, 1955, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant abducted 14-year-old Emmet "Bobo" Till, tortured him, shot him in the head, and dumped his body in the river for whistling at a white woman. Emmett's mother insisted on an open-casket funeral so people could see what had happened to her son. On September 15, 1955, Jet magazine published photos [NSFW] of Emmett's corpse, which brought the case national attention and helped ignite the civil rights movement. On September 23, 1955, an all-white jury acquitted Bryant and Milam after deliberating for about an hour. Milam and Bryant confessed in a January 24 , 1966, Look magazine article. Milam died in 1980 and Bryant died in 1990. After reopening the case in 2004 based on new evidence that more people may have been involved, the Justice Department closed the case today without filing any new charges. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 1:30 PM PST - 19 comments
Slavomir Rawicz
Slavomir Rawicz was a Polish calvary officer, who was imprisoned by the Soviets and eventually taken to a prison in Siberia. With 7 companions, including one mysterious american, he escaped and journeyed to the south, crossing Mongolia, the Gobi Desert and Tibet before making it to British India. Or at least this is what he claims in his book "The Long Walk." Nobody has ever found evidence that he was ever in russia or that any of his companions ever existed. Oh and he also claims to have seen Yetis.
posted by afu at 12:58 PM PST - 21 comments
We talked about "Snakes On A Plane" last summer, but since the thread is closed and this trailer really deserves to be seen... Here you go. [youtube] For those of you yet unaware, prepare yourself for my nomination for "worst movie ever."
posted by pwb503 at 11:43 AM PST - 185 comments
How do you say "Webhead" in Arabic?
Spider-Man in Arabic. Through a licensing arrangement with Marvel Comics, Kuwait-based Teshkeel Comics has started producing the adventures of your favorite heroes in Arabic, starting with Spider-Man. The Hulk is next. But don't miss their own in-house pack of super-powered do-gooders: The 99 ("the world's first superheroes conceived from Islamic culture"). India in 2004. Saudi Arabia in 2006. Where will the world-travellin' webslinger be in 2008?
posted by grabbingsand at 10:51 AM PST - 23 comments
William Blake's Grave.
William Blake's Grave. Museums and galleries only have a few weeks left to save William Blake's long-lost watercolour illustrations accompanying Robert Blair's poem "The Grave", before they are dispersed at auction in New York on 2 May.
Fancy Feasts of Future Foods.
Upset that the NYC Department of Health has ordered(nytimes) restaurants around the city to stop using Sous-Vide methods and machines? Buy your own, do it yourself, or maybe drive to DC.
posted by jrb223 at 10:20 AM PST - 17 comments
Bruce Sterling on the State of the World
Bruce Sterling : The State of the World (mp3) from the South By South West Media Conference. (SXSW)
posted by blue_beetle at 9:59 AM PST - 33 comments
Build a better Leprechaun trap.
Who knew that the building of Leprechaun traps are to St. Patrick's day what candy hearts and valentine mailboxes are to Valentine's day. All over the country, elementary school kids are displaying their Leprechaun traps today. What to use for bait? Gold, shamrocks, 4 leaf clovers, rainbows...
A good place for a blind date
At Dans Le Noir ? you can "experience the unique interaction between clientele and guides as your food and wine are served in total darkness". Is it really a pitch-black dining room? "Yes it is ! The room where the dinner takes place is completely dark! We aren't used to completely dark environment since you hardly find this level of darkness in daily life as, we are used to small rays of light from the streetlights or moonlight but in the Dans le Noir ? restaurant there is no light at all!" Worried about going to the loo? Don't be, because "the toilets are fully lit".
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:28 AM PST - 52 comments
Demolition, man.
At 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, one push of a button will bring down the 30-story Landmark Tower in Fort Worth, Texas, one of the tallest buildings ever to be imploded. Thousands will watch. Here's a preview and detailed explanation of the process. Many locals remember the giant, 77-ton electric clock that once spun on the roof.
posted by punkfloyd at 9:22 AM PST - 53 comments
Sistani on gays.
Ayatollah Sistani says it's OK to kill gays. More here and here. Kind of sobering to think about how conservative the man is, a man who is so crucial (just imagine if he were assassinated) to Iraq's future and the U.S. effort there. If it were up to him, chess would be banned! Check out Sistani wisdom on the full range of issues. Here's a no brainer: "Question : Is having an orgy permissible under the Qur'an? Answer : It's forbidden."
posted by js003 at 9:12 AM PST - 86 comments
It's the Chronic - what? - Polls of Zobgy!
Nearly Half of Americans want to let states legally regulate and tax marijuana the way they do liquor and gambling.
Zogby International will pimp there services to just about anyone these days, including NORML for a poll on American's attitudes towards pot. According to the poll 65% of 18-29 year olds and 50% of 50-64 year-olds are cool with weed being legal and controlled like booze. The former slackers of Generation X, 30-49 year-olds, oppose it by 58% and the geezers over 65 oppose it by only 52%.
The pool shows some interesting generational attitudes. Is the 30-49 age group still following Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" mantra or is this the attitude of parents worried about their kids? I thought these folks were supposed to be the slacker generation, and now they're the strongest opponents to legalization.
posted by DragonBoy at 8:43 AM PST - 130 comments
Drawball is a large, circular, online space for anonymous artists to draw whatever they like. Equally as interesting as the art itself is the opportunity to watch the various online groups interacting with each other. Your ink supply is limited, so careful application is rewarded, perhaps even with a well of unlimited ink tied to your IP address. The hall of fame is a great chance to see the best pictures archived and to see exactly how they were drawn, stroke by stroke.
posted by ktoad at 8:41 AM PST - 37 comments
Signs, signs, everywhere is signs.
Warning Signs are so ubiqutous that I hardly take notice, but one that caught my attention was one like this. Anti-climb paint? What the hell is that? It's a paint that never dries. And it is everywhere.
posted by three blind mice at 2:27 AM PST - 101 comments
Body image and sex
Body Image Relates Differently To Sexual Risks Taken By Men And Women. Males with positive body image may seek multiple sexual partners and engage in unprotected sex. Women, on the other hand, may use the confidence that comes from a positive body image to resist multiple partners and insist that a condom be used when they do engage in sex.
posted by semmi at 10:49 PM PST - 48 comments
Rare reaction to new drug during trial.
Newsfilter: The trial of a new drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis and leukaemia goes horribly wrong. 6 normally healthy volunteers have a freak reaction to the drug resulting in multiple organ failure. All 6 men are in intensive care. 4 are seriously ill while 2 remain in a critical condition. An eyewitness, fortunate to have taken only a placebo recalls the nightmare as the men around him begin to fall ill.
The uneasy path to death
How NOT to commit suicide
posted by Gyan at 3:41 PM PST - 120 comments
First wave: Juan Atkins (Metroplex), Derrick May (Transmat), Kevin Saunderson (KMS). Second wave: Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes, Carl Craig (Planet E), Jeff Mills (Axis), Drexciya, Mike Banks (Submerge, Underground Resistance, Red Planet).... And you don't even need a turntable.
posted by hyperizer at 3:27 PM PST - 33 comments
High School Musical is becoming somewhat of a phenomenon amongst preteens and teens a like. Recently hitting the top of Billboard Charts, and drawing unprecedented amounts of traffic toThe Disney Channel's website. Yet, there are still detractors . The made-for-tv movie is also involved in a controversy related to its pricing (via digg.com) in the ITunes Music Store.
posted by matkline at 3:14 PM PST - 21 comments
Name Tom's Tumor. Tom Lunt has a brain tumor. It's a benign tumor and not life-threatening; the symptoms are "merely strange." Turn his misfortune to your personal gain by winning the contest and taking home the tumor.
posted by ba at 2:32 PM PST - 21 comments
How about a slice of... screen?
Engadget turns 2. There are lots of famous birthdays in March, but I'm willing to bet none of them had cakes quite as elaborate as the ones Engadet fans made.
RoombaFrogger: Game of the Future
RoombaFrogger. At SXSW, DIY hackers took an innocent Roomba, modded it and used it to play real-life Frogger on the streets of Austin.
posted by scalefree at 1:58 PM PST - 21 comments
Who Looses? Nerds Do!
Ever thought about the economics of nerd sex? If this guy's "men's rights" lawsuit succeeds will the real losers be "risk-loving, sex-crazed nerds who like to sleep with strange women and are willing to chance paternity". Why date a nerd in the first place? Ask Craigslist, of course.
posted by Jos Bleau at 1:46 PM PST - 30 comments
Despotism. In 1946, Encyclopedia Britannica and Harold Lasswell produced an educational film about the nature of Despotism. Calls to mind contemporary examples of despotism, and (in view of Lasswell's own views on the subject) raises some interesting questions about the uses and misuses of persuasion and propaganda. Film link via the Prelinger Archive, previously discussed here).
posted by washburn at 1:40 PM PST - 8 comments
Water drums and rainforest music.
Afro-Celtic music inspired by the Baka, pygmies living in the Central African rainforest of Cameroon. Rivers running through the rainforest are one of the alluring Bakas' favorite instruments, the water drum. Highly inventive and constantly changing, the vocal polyphony and the polyrhythmic sounds of hands and drums are prodigious achievements which astonish modern composers. There are various albums.
posted by nickyskye at 12:54 PM PST - 11 comments
A billion smiley faces in a drop of water
A billion smiley faces in a drop of water. In this month's Nature, Caltech researcher Paul Rothemund has described a method of creating nano-scale structures using DNA in a process simple enough for high-school chemistry class. This is the real nanotech.
posted by todbot at 12:52 PM PST - 14 comments
The Hart/Devlin Debate
The Hart/Devlin debate. One of the primary issues in the philosophy of law was addressed in a dispute between HLA Hart and Lord Devlin. The issue is to what extent morality can be embodied by the law. It is a debate which continues today.
posted by dios at 12:46 PM PST - 18 comments
premptive strike as last resort
The National Security Strategy of the United States of America The new(ish), policy statement from the US govt. News stories: The Times, US News & World Report, Bloomberg, BBC (newsfilter +)
posted by edgeways at 12:16 PM PST - 42 comments
The impact of food on mental health
Feeding Minds - the impact of food on mental health. 3Mb PDF, Google cache. Only 3% of men and 5% of women now eat five portions of fruit and veg per day. This report lays out the evidence linking trends in food consumption with mental ill-health.
See also: Myths About Food and Low Income (PDF 168Kb)
posted by Lanark at 11:45 AM PST - 86 comments
Bluegrass Radio
Bluegrass Talk Radio
posted by liam at 11:16 AM PST - 12 comments
Feedwhip
Feedwhip monitors web pages and emails you when they change. This is handy for keeping tabs on a site without an RSS feed.
Blood & Bacchanalia: Hermann Nitsch and the Viennese Aktionists (links are NSFW). High weirdness and ritual debauchery, 1960s Austrian style.
posted by visit beautiful mount weather! at 10:45 AM PST - 18 comments
Grunge *is* dead.
Hello, hello, hello, HOW LOW.
posted by keswick at 10:06 AM PST - 126 comments
Hint: Did you shoot the puppy? Then don't do that again.
Don't Shoot the Puppy. RRRRThats5Rs, maker of truly pointless games, has made the opposite of every shoot-em-up on the Internet. (Warning, the "truly pointless" link, like many games on the site, is a total waste of time.)
posted by CrunchyFrog at 9:25 AM PST - 48 comments
Ben Franklin Slept Here
Jefferson has his Monticello; Washington, Mount Vernon. Now, Benjamin Franklin's only surviving residence, Number 36 Craven Street, London, opened its doors to the public. More inside.
Happiness poll results are in
The happiness poll results are in and to no one's surprise, rich people are happier than poor people. Also, Republicans are happier than Democrats.
Hot, hot, XP on Mac action!
Windows XP booting on Apple hardware: confirmed. The $14000 contest to get Windows XP to boot on the new Intel hardware from Apple is over as of today. While considerable work in the realm of device drivers needs to be done, (and the rumored method may violate the Windows EULA) much of the hardware is straight Wintel. Considering that the MacBook Pro and Intel-based iMac (not currently working) both pack ATI Radeon X1600s, serious PC gaming on Apple hardware via dual-booting may finally be in the realm of possibility. [Via: slashdot, engadget]
posted by Ryvar at 8:37 AM PST - 87 comments
Olberman v O'Reilly on Colbert
The current (and very amusing) Keith Olberman v Bill O'Reilly feud spilled over onto the Colbert Report last night during Olberman's guest stint. (link goes to embedded 7 minute video).
posted by jonson at 8:25 AM PST - 64 comments
Bots, spiders and crawlers, oh my!
"Imagine this: a digital butler that roams the Internet, intuitively knowing your likes and dislikes, retrieving perfect strands of news and information that you never would have discovered through old-fashioned surfing." There's RumorBot and the Iliad fetchbot (perfect for bot newbies), or you can try your hand at writing your own in php using this as a tutorial, or if you prefer, C++ or Perl.
Africa splits
Africa splits (Geographically speaking). Take a look at the photos, they are breathtaking.
posted by dov3 at 6:19 AM PST - 27 comments
Delaystation
to my left is a youngish software developer from Yokohama, incandescent with rage. To my right is the finance officer of a major games publisher. Worryingly, he is tapping sums into a pocket calculator and shaking his head...
It shouldn't have been a surprise (...) but yesterday's announcement (pdf) from Sony has crushed 14 year-olds of all ages. The Playstation 3 is shaping up as a great IT Disaster. The 'Times' man in Tokyo - Leo Lewis - elaborates, muses on being a games geek in Akihabara (with cash and a proper job) and explains the delights of "beer flavored alcohol", just what we need to drown our sorrows.
posted by grahamwell at 5:08 AM PST - 61 comments
What is wrong with fake ??
Real good, fake bad ... but, why ?
posted by Brainstormer at 4:19 AM PST - 29 comments
earthquake and fire!
The first clip (QuickTime movie, 15 MB) from The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry's new film, starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg (set photos), out later this year and hailed by reviewers at Sundance as a "a glorious mess", "loaded with gags and gimmicks and spectacularly beautiful and memorable images", a "wild visual phantasmagoria... and a lot of fun".
posted by funambulist at 2:33 AM PST - 33 comments
Who can name the bigger number?
Who can name the bigger number? I guarantee you will lose to the Busy Beavers. (No, infinity is not allowed, the bigger infinity is a different game.) The author also debunks in very simple terms the recent story that quantum computers perform calculations without being turned on. My first post and disclaimer: I know the author from our mutual field of quantum information.
posted by gregv at 12:16 AM PST - 113 comments
Snake! Oh, It's a Snake!
Robotic Sea Serpent.
posted by fandango_matt at 11:15 PM PST - 18 comments
Thanks for the news!
Quotes from pundits during the beginning and early stages of the Iraq War. I love the Joe Scarborough rant where he calls Scott Ritter the "former chief U.N. weapons inspector who played chief stooge for Saddam Hussein...".
posted by DougieZero1982 at 10:03 PM PST - 92 comments
Med students who wake up this morning will learn....
Today, about 17,000 American medical students and almost as many foreign trained doctors learn what types of doctors they will be. Yes, it's Match Day. Ok, while most people probably could care less about this post, it presents an intriguing look into the forces (i.e. how the ratio between specialists and generalists arises and to note: more specialists equals more procedures and costlier health care) that shape American health care today. And, it represents the strange culmination of years of study (at least 8+ years after high school) that many students take just to leave it up to a strange algorithm that is under a anti-trust lawsuit as they wake up one day in March and learn where they will be spending the next (at least) three years of their life. Also, if you see a recent graduate of an "ADORE+P" residency -- Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Orthopedics/Optho, Radiology, ENT/Emergency Room medicine (plus, of course, Plastic surgery) -- (the professions that work great hours and make the most money) -- congratulate her or him on being the best (statistically) of the crop.
posted by narebuc at 9:49 PM PST - 33 comments
Cat 5 Joe
posted by riffola at 9:16 PM PST - 29 comments
Books that never were
Famous books that never existed: The Necronomicon, A First Encyclopaedia of Tlön and others by Borges, The Planet Gobblers, The Book of Counted Sorrows, S. Morgenstern's A Princess Bride (unabridged), the library of the Comte de Fortsas, and The Case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra; among others in a tradition dating back many centuries. For a fairly complete list of books that don't exist, check out the Invisible Library, which also features essays on the subject. [prev.]
posted by blahblahblah at 8:38 PM PST - 54 comments
Dave Winer: "Real" or "Virtual" Tyrant?
Winer goes after Cadenhead in litigious fashion. Never mind that the $10,000 Cadenhead earned transformed into $2.3 million for Winer. Meanwhile, Winer, on the verge of retirement (or so he claims), provides "real Dave" and "virtual Dave" explanation.
posted by ed at 8:15 PM PST - 37 comments
The Simulacrisation of Technology into Life
As the Pentagon ousts plans to turn insects into cyber war machines you'd be forgiven for asking the question: Where does the real digital end and the faked life begin? Are we simulating life synthetically? or just speeding up an entirely natural process? Technologically engineered life is here to stay. Its not far fetched to speculate that simulacra may become all there is.
posted by 0bvious at 8:09 PM PST - 13 comments
Not coming soon to a Googleplex near you.
Matthew Barney, of The Cremaster Cycle fame, has a new film coming out. Starring Bjork and Barney himself, along with a largely Japanese cast, Drawing Restraint 9.
"The film concerns the theme of self-imposed limitation and continues Matthew Barney's interest in religious rite, this time focusing on Shinto."
"The core idea of Drawing Restraint 9 is the relationship between self-imposed resistance and creativity, a theme it symbolically tracks through the construction and transformation of a vast sculpture of liquid Vaseline, called "The Field", which is molded, poured, bisected and reformed on the deck of the ship over the course of the film."
Uh huh. If you liked the beautiful weirdness that was TCC, check out the trailer {embedded QT}.
posted by zardoz at 8:05 PM PST - 28 comments
Hurricane forecasting
National Hurricane Center and the Likelihood of Hurricanes. In December 2003 the NHC predicted a 68% chance of a major (Category 3-4-5) hurricane hitting the US, in fact there were three major hits on the US (Charlie, Ivan, and Jeanne). In December 2004 the NHC predicted a 69% chance of a major hurricane, in fact there were four major hists (Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma). The odds of that happening are about 0.9% (see link for math), or "statistically very significant evidence" the NHC predictions are understated. Forecast for 2006: 81% chance of a major hurricane.
Rent-a-Realdoll
Milky Lovers (NSFW) is a love doll brothel: Being not to be the woman of the raw body, there is no inconvenience, there is no how thing where "affinity of the girl is not agreeable". Manner of play spreads unlimited with imaginative power circumstance of the customer. Combination and double of each course, the triple is possible. From everyone the large quantity inquiring, thank you for. [via sexblo.gs]
posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:09 PM PST - 27 comments
The Truth About Smart Bombs
Or how I got comfortable with living six city blocks in any direction from insurgents. You're sitting down for afternoon coffee in Baghdad. The Americans no longer come into the neighborhood anymore. Instead, it's the Iraqi security forces now. No big deal, you can handle that. They're your people. Or maybe they're not. At least the Americans help out with air strikes against the insurgents. It's a shame no one has a way of determining whether they're within six and a half blocks of an insurgent until it's too late, because that's the blast radius of a 2,000 lb bomb equipped with JDAM smart technology to make sure it doesn't ruffle any feathers of anyone close by. Precision weapons? Hardly. The minimum safe distance with the smartest of the smart bombs is three city blocks. Any closer than that and you can look forward to the strong possibility of a permanent dirt nap. Does that sound fair to you? As you're sitting there reading this now take a moment to think of three city blocks from your job, from your home, from where you shop for groceries. Does this sound like a situation you can remove yourself quickly from on foot? To avoid being tagged in death as being 'one of the insurgents or an insurgent sympathizer?' Of course, failing all that we can just send in the sharks with laser beams on their foreheads. They'll fix everything.
posted by mk1gti at 6:01 PM PST - 52 comments
Who wants to be a superhero?
Who wants to be a superhero? Forget Survivor. Forget Beauty and the Geek. This is the ultimate reality show. Who wouldn't want to see a middle-aged comic-book geeks decked out to fight crime? Apply now! Our safety depends upon it! (Maybe Peter Pan would be interested?)
posted by jdroth at 5:35 PM PST - 22 comments
Rich state, poor state, red state, blue state
Rich state, poor state, red state, blue state: a November 2005 statistical analysis [PDF] and presentation [PDF] on the the relationship between income and voting. Republicans are richer than Democrats, "blue states" are richer than "red states," and income matters more in "red states." Recent writeup by E.J. Dionne, with a response by the paper's authors. Discussed earlier at the Washington Monthly .
near the end of history on the edge of the desert?
Last Man, Las Vegas. Bernard-Henri Lévy and Francis Fukuyama discuss the habits and habitat of the American demos.
posted by Urban Hermit at 4:46 PM PST - 12 comments
The Liquid Crystal Teat
AOL launches in2tv. Why pay for Lost when you can be watching Wonder Woman for free? Maybe because you own a mac or hate streaming media. (Ok, so it's probably all over teh interwebs by now - but hey - free Wonder Woman!)
posted by Sparx at 1:56 PM PST - 24 comments
and if a double-decker bus crashes into us
Icons of England. Stonehenge? Shakespeare's plays? A cup of tea? What are the icons of England?
Pleasing to the eyes. Degas once said that "its essential to do the same subject over again, ten times, a hundred times" but it looks like it took him at least four hundred times. Artst.org is a nice and simple resource with high resolution paintings by picasso, matisse, degas, and okeefe as well. Its fun to browse by date.
posted by petsounds at 1:24 PM PST - 14 comments
Brother Power started out as a dummy left in an abandoned tailor shop inhabited by a bunch of shiftless hippies
It's 1968. Hippies are everywhere, and they're reading underground comics. Your name is Joe Simon. You want to create a mainstream comic book with a hippie as a hero. What do you come up with? Brother Power the Geek.
It only lasted two issues. Of course, it did a little better than the Black Bomber, a white bigot who sometimes turned into an African-American superhero. That comic was never printed.
cd c:\wolf3d\
Classic DOS Games : another great site to be added to the growing list of ancient game repositories. This one has a few you may have missed as well as your old favorites, divided by genre or by publisher - and everything is local. There are some suspicious utilities, and useful ones (use d-fend as a frontend for DOSbox), and even a wiki and some developer interviews. Other classic game sites here previously: Everyvideogame, Abandonia, Home of the Underdogs and its subsidiary, the Macintosh Garden (for fruit lovers).
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:04 PM PST - 23 comments
In which a bill is being unconstitutionally treated as law
In February, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that did not pass the House of Representatives. Did he do so intentionally, and will the error be corrected?
posted by rxrfrx at 11:39 AM PST - 70 comments
At Long Last, Have You Left No Sense of Decency?
When students fail, and citizens are not allowed, to protest, maybe only actors can say what needs to be said. [WMV link here].
posted by dash_slot- at 11:10 AM PST - 31 comments
That forest is such a lush...
With global warming trends melting permafrost throughout the arctic circle, we may be seeing more and more of this phenomenon: Drunken Forests. An artist responds.
the crew that never sleeps
Rube Goldberg, former mining engineer, Godfather to Mad Magazine's "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," cartoonist for Boob McNutt and Mike & Ike (they look alike), is best known for the now eponymous machines he started cartooning back in 1914 such as: how to not forget to mail a letter. Or the reminder to take out the garbage. Or the local government efficiency machine. Or the oversleeping cure. Or the German webserver wakeup device (it's got sound). There are amateurs making 'Rube Goldberg machines,' but there are also serious contests, sponsored by serious engineers. (There are even do it yourself plans - y'know, for kids). Goldberg's influence can be seen in a variety of media, but by the time he turned 80 he'd tired of cartooning and decided to begin sculpting. Needless to say he excelled and of course, influenced humorous kinetic sculpture.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:06 AM PST - 13 comments
From the Pole vault...
For Shame, For Shame!
posted by gilgamix at 10:26 AM PST - 13 comments
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich has some excellent online collections related to maritime history and technology, including telescopes, marine chronometers, sundials, and a whole lot more. Some stuff I've been looking at: John Harrison's chronometers (described in Dava Sobel's book Longitude), polyhedral sundials, and pocket globes.
posted by carter at 10:25 AM PST - 4 comments
Or would that be the non-evil twin?
It was his EVIL TWIN! Remember Claud Allen, the bush administration domestic pollicy assistant who got busted for shoplifting? Turns out it might have been his twin brother. Jean Schmidt (R-OH, best known for calling John Murtha a coward) may be using the same excuse for calling College Republicans "Little Hitlers" in the 1980s
Maureen Stapleton has died.
Maureen Stapleton has died. A fat teenager with dreams of stardom moves to the big city, loses a lot of the weight but becomes a hard drinker and hard smoker, takes acting lessons, and then gets lucky in classic Hollywood style: a big actress turns down a choice role in a Tennessee Williams play and Stapleton gets the part. But it was talent, not luck, that won her the Tony. This was the start of a long and honored acting career in which she also won Oscars and an Emmy. And yet you're thinking, "Archie's wife?"
posted by pracowity at 7:44 AM PST - 30 comments
Unpimp Your Credit Score, Say Yahhhh
In the last few years, Fair Isaacs, along with the FTC have made considerable effort in educating us in how our credit scores are derived. But is the whole system about to change? In a somewhat quiet AP story, the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Transunion, and Experian, announced they had agreed on a new common formula for generating your credit scores: VantageScore. [more inside]
posted by poppo at 6:57 AM PST - 42 comments
Your sensible source for apocalyptic predictions.
itulip.com has returned. Back in the go-go days when Internet stocks ruled the world, iTulip was one of a very few voices warning about the Nasdaq bubble and the likely fallout. (Prudent Bear was another.) As bad as things got, the overall financial bubble never really popped, it just shifted into debt and real estate after furious slashing of interest rates and money-printing by the Fed. Financial manias are terrible; their unraveling has been compared with economic nuclear weapons. (cf: The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble [amazon book link] and the Dutch Tulip Mania.) The only good solution to a bubble is not to have one in the first place. [more inside]
posted by Malor at 6:46 AM PST - 13 comments
Amazon S3: Unlimited Simple Storage
Amazon launched S3: Unlimited Simple Storage. Take advantage of Amazon's global infrastructure to serve content, store data, and serve bittorrents.
posted by ph00dz at 5:48 AM PST - 30 comments
ARTnatomy
ARTnatomy: Anatomical Basis of Facial Expression Learning Tool. See how all the different muscles in your face work. Flash interface; via Drawn!
18th Commonwealth Games
The 18th Commonwealth Games are about to be opened by the HM the Queen of Australia, in Melbourne. Formerly the British Empire Games, from the days when much of the world was coloured pink, the Games may mean little , with few world class performers, and the usual list of questions and run of controversies, but there's nothing like circuses to keep the plebs entertained. At least Australia will thrash Sierra Leone in the althletics.
posted by wilful at 2:15 AM PST - 34 comments
Crash, the real-life version
I was waiting for the D train to take me up to Lehman College in the Bronx on Saturday evening... A short and bittersweet encounter that could only happen in New York.
posted by invisible ink at 12:54 AM PST - 63 comments
The Wettest Place on Earth
8 people and 3 houses were swept away on Kauai today - the island that was already slammed and battered by weeks of rain (over 18 inches in 24 hours last month). More dams are expected to fail. Today's disaster should have been predicted?
posted by Surfurrus at 9:27 PM PST - 19 comments
Amorphia Apparel
Amorphia Apparel (via projects)
posted by philcliff at 8:51 PM PST - 31 comments
No more boardslides
Freeline Skates [embedded video] make skateboards. One for each foot. As I watched these videos my brain was trying to put a regular board where it expected to see one.
In your dreams
If Eadward Muybridge and Rene Magritte had had a child togther... it would have been Christopher Lee Donovan. Very trippy digital photography filtered through a 19 century sensibility. NSFW [surreal female nudity] Requires Flash. via SpartanDog
posted by hwestiii at 8:16 PM PST - 23 comments
Arthur Boyt is a connoisseur of roadkill flesh. Yummo!
Arthur Boyt is a connoisseur of roadkill flesh. He's even writing a recipe book.
posted by sjvilla79 at 6:43 PM PST - 19 comments
computer whiz vs extortionist
How a Bookmaker and a Whiz Kid Took On an Extortionist — and Won Facing an online extortion threat, Mickey Richardson bet his Web-based business on a networking whiz from Sacramento who first beat back the bad guys, then helped the cops nab them.
posted by dhruva at 4:51 PM PST - 27 comments
Not just 'chicks with guns'
Rachel Papo - photographer and soldier Some great pictures from Rachel Papo, a photographer and sometime (1988-90) soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces...
posted by runkelfinker at 4:27 PM PST - 21 comments
A gasmask and a camera.
The Vinyl Enthusiast. The Poet. The Dinner Guest. The Bass Player. The Showman. The Search Party. The Grandfather. The Tourist. ... The Regulars.
Architecture of the Arctic
A restaurant. A cathedral. A research center. Welcome to the Canadian territory of Nunavut, "where high winds, freezing temperatures, and the difficulty of transporting raw materials pose some interesting architectural constraints."
posted by cloudscratcher at 4:04 PM PST - 32 comments
Parenti's new book
Michael Parenti has written a new book called The Culture Struggle and talks about it here.
posted by mickeyz at 4:03 PM PST - 5 comments
Hi, How Are You?
A new documentary is about to be released about Daniel Johnston. Johnston is the mind behind Hi, How Are You?, a basement tape which has enjoyed a cult following since not long after he distributed it to strangers in the streets of Austin, TX. Despite a constant battle with mental illness, he has managed to assemble quite a discography as well as creating artwork. More on Johnston here and here. [ (not much) More Inside.]
The "Axe Murder Incident"
The "Axe Murder Incident" On Wednesday 18 August 1976 at 1040 hours in the morning, a United Nations Command (UNC) work force of five Korean Service Corps (KSC) personnel accompanied by and UNC security force...started to prune a large tree in the vicinity of UNC Check Point #3...Lieutenant Pak then shouted "MI KUN UL CHU KI GI CHA." Translated, it means, "Kill the U.S. Aggressors."; the UNC security force was attacked by a superior force of 30 KPA guards wielding pick handles, knives, clubs, and axes.
posted by Postroad at 3:17 PM PST - 20 comments
Lore's new bag
Lore Sjöberg (who was once one half of the Brunching Shuttlecocks, the compiler of the Book of Ratings, and the creator of memorable internet doohickeys such as Untitled States and The Star Wars Title Generator) is now running a rather exquisite links blog called Table of Malcontents over at Wired.
posted by CRM114 at 2:50 PM PST - 14 comments
iPod film fest
I guess it had to happen eventually, but an iPod Film Festival has launched. You can watch them online (sans iPod) or offline (mit iPod!), and they've got indie and student films as well as music videos, all formated for the new players. The music videos are surprisingly good.
posted by mathowie at 2:15 PM PST - 9 comments
It's time you exercised your music muscle again.
Remember that image where you had to guess the band names? Well, this time the image is a movie, and the band names are song titles. [quicktime]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:41 PM PST - 45 comments
rice U builds nano-car
The Nano-Road is paved with gold.
Rice University built these single-molecule vehicles which measure just 4x3 nanometers and have four buckyball wheels connected to four independently rotating axles and a organic chemical chassis. They're also building a "nanotruck" which uses nitrogen atoms to be able to carry a payload.
posted by TeamBilly at 1:31 PM PST - 34 comments
Worried how Bird Flu will affect your portfolio?
We've been talking about bird flu here in the blue and in the green for a while. Now to help us answer the question eveyone is asking, Citigroup and Smith Barney bring us the Global Portfolio Strategist: Avian Flu [pdf].
posted by pwb503 at 1:15 PM PST - 12 comments
Belsen was a gas.
Gas chamber art shut down. Santiago Sierra whose controversial work (some NSFW, auf Deutsch) had taken a turn toward the holocaust, has suspended his latest work in response to criticism.
posted by klangklangston at 1:14 PM PST - 13 comments
The United States does not torture -- GWB, 11/05
Abu Ghraib, continued. A new cache of disturbing images and videos from the original interrogations, with commentary from Salon. [Definitely NSFW, or for Earth, for that matter.]
posted by digaman at 12:59 PM PST - 48 comments
Welcome Back, Kotter
The inevitable deal for a Welcome Back, Kotter movie has been struck. It will be scripted (and DIRECTED) by Tom Brady, responsible for not one, but two Rob Schneider vehicles. And in the lead role as Kotter we have ... Ice Cube???
posted by rottytooth at 12:43 PM PST - 35 comments
Even Larry Johnson is afraid of the I.C.O.T.I.G.
Earth-friendly evangelicals have been in the news a lot lately. Are they related to the Crunchy Cons (or Green cons?!?)? Maybe they're all just afraid of the wrath of grandma...[first link requires nyt account, or a library card]
posted by ericbop at 12:27 PM PST - 3 comments
Maximizing your ROI at Pizza Hut
Like the salad served at the Pizza Hut but dislike the idea that it's expensive and you are not allowed to take more than once? Here is a guide on how you can maximize your return of investment, invented by some creative Taiwanese students. [via]
"I grew up on a farm and have been farming all my life. I believe the man upstairs looked over this farm and my family"
Black Farmers in America: video presentation (Quicktime) and photo essay by John Ficara
posted by matteo at 11:18 AM PST - 3 comments
Comment is free It will incorporate all the regular Guardian and Observer main commentators, many blogging for the first time, who will be joined by a host of outside contributors - politicians, academics, writers, scientists, activists and of course existing bloggers to debate, argue and occasionally agree on the issues of the day.
posted by srboisvert at 11:04 AM PST - 11 comments
Second verse, same as the first!
Niger Venezuela is planning to sell uranium to Iraq Iran.
posted by EarBucket at 10:56 AM PST - 51 comments
Can you hear me now?
Safety of In-Flight Cell Phone Use Airlines are currently preparing to allow use of cell phones for in-flight calling. A Carnegie-Mellon study raises interesting questions about potential interference with critical avionics.
posted by docpops at 10:09 AM PST - 43 comments
As supreme monarch, I've had to make the tough decisions.
King Mike for Monarch NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg stars in a political ad parody. From the Inner Circle, via YouTube.
Get the word out about Sony
Sony BMG won't be held accountable for its dangerous DRM if music fans don't have an easy way to learn about the flawed software, the settlement, and how to submit claims. By posting a banner on your website or blog, you can help music fans protect themselves and get what they deserve. [via A Copyfighter's Musings]
Imagining Ourselves
Imagining Ourselves: Global Voices From a New Generation of Women is a new online exhbit from the International Museum of Women "featuring personal stories, paintings, photographs, essays and poems by hundreds of young women from more than 100 countries around the world" answering the question, "What defines your generation of women?" [via]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:21 AM PST - 5 comments
Saddam's Delusions: The View from the Inside.
posted by semmi at 9:19 AM PST - 22 comments
The horse of freedom!
Venezuela gets a controversal new flag and seal. In the words of Chavez: "The white horse is now liberated, free, vigorous, trotting toward the left, representing the return of Bolivar and his dream. Long live the fatherland!" Of course, national flag controversies are nothing new, for example, in Iraq, the Confederate States, Macedonia, and Canada. If you want to stay current, there is Flagwire, a site devoted only to flag news, and the extremely cool flag identifier, for those times when you don't know which country you are in.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:41 AM PST - 56 comments
Pancakes: Is there anything they can't do?
Pancakes delayed the end of WWII.
Don't disrespect Scientology
Isaac Hayes Quits 'South Park' Forgive the link to Fox News, however it is an AP story.
posted by Tablecrumbs at 8:07 AM PST - 102 comments
Purim in Jerusalem
Purim in Jerusalem: An exhibit of photographs by the late Yankl Conzen, currently on display at The Jewish Theological Seminary (NYC) in recognition of the Jewish festival of Purim (March 13-14, 2006), which features 45 works from the late 1990s depicting children from Jerusalem's Orthodox Me'ah She'arim neighborhood dressed for Purim celebrations:
"Conzen's photographs offer an unflinching look at children in military and police uniforms, princess outfits, masks, and more traditional roles like Esther and Mordecai. Others mimic their elders with fake beards, long black coats, and wide-brimmed hats. Some are smiling, but many appear troubled. In effect, they serve as a microcosm of childhood itself, with its rapid emotional swings among fear, sadness, and happiness."
posted by naxosaxur at 8:04 AM PST - 16 comments
STFU Newb
Cyberbullying Report. It's a Microsoft sponsored report talking about intimidation and bullying online. Here's a digested version of the survey [PDF]. And don't forget your dose of Cyber Wellness, too.
posted by gsb at 8:02 AM PST - 13 comments
Love The New World or Die!
"It is nothing less than a generation-defining event.... It is this era's 2001: A Space Odyssey." Even as the second, shorter cut of Terrence Malick's Pocahontas epic is slinking out of theaters, The New World is dividing and confounding critics, audiences, and bloggers: "The New World is my new religion." - "The New World separates the wheat from chaff." - "The first necessary film of this young year." The Village Voice's J. Hoberman observes the growing cult, Dave Kehr of the New York Times weighs in and gets testy. Matt Zoller Seitz responds. In the meantime, Malick is reportedly preparing a third, longer cut for the DVD.
posted by muckster at 7:23 AM PST - 55 comments
I'm a drunken hard man?
Mmmm ... I had a bad dream ... I was standing at the crossroads For those days when the boss man (or woman) has got you down, your lady (or man) has left you, or your dog (or cat) has died. Or when you just got them desktop blues. warning: sound
posted by terrapin at 6:30 AM PST - 22 comments
UK campaign for cheaper SMS messages
In the UK, people are sending 100 million SMS messages with their mobile phone every day, at prices that are far higher than you would expect. Now, some people have started an online campaign to try and influence the mobile phone operators to drop their prices. (more SMS statistics)
posted by SharQ at 6:21 AM PST - 56 comments
MIT researchers play Borg God
New hope for blind hamsters. According to the Guardian, scientists at MIT have repaired brain damage and restored eyesight to rodents using nanotechnology. In the study, minute particles were injected into damaged parts of the brain, and subsequently arranged themselves into a "scaffold" gel throughout the damaged area. The scaffold allowed severed nerves to regrow and form new connections. 75% of test animals' injuries were improved with the new technique. (The article did not note if the test subjects offered any resistance to the therapeutic measures.)
posted by rob511 at 2:36 AM PST - 18 comments
i just like saying...
Honore de Balzac. Inspired by Dante, a contemporary of Flaubert, a profilic author of an enormous body of work published under the title La Comédie humaine. Oh, and pulp smut. "I am not deep," the author once said, "but very wide." Free Gutenburg downloads.
In case it has escaped your attention, tomorrow is 14 March which, in American notation, is written 3/14. If you have a certain type of mind you will immediately notice that these digits bear a close approximation to one of the most important numbers in mathematics - pi.
posted by infini at 11:47 PM PST - 53 comments
March Madness turns to Gladness for One Lucky Athlete
March Madness? Try March Gladness, at least if you're Villanova star Allen Ray, who nearly had his eye poked out last Friday vs Pittsburgh. This gruesome YouTube video shows just how lucky Ray is. Not only is Ray and his eye ready to play, but 'Nova also locked up a #1 seed, which means they're among the favorites to win it all.
posted by b_thinky at 10:46 PM PST - 12 comments
But I was in a different country! That doesn't count right? RIGHT!?
Don't date him girl! Good news for the paranoid. Invasive site for documenting those unsavory men who have cheated on women. The rebuttal: warning: flash site with annoying birds. bugmenot
posted by AllesKlar at 10:37 PM PST - 40 comments
How to shut up Rush Limbaugh
Why Rush Limbaugh prefers radio. Back in 1990 Rush Limbaugh guest-hosted a talk show in front of a live audience. The audience did not agree with him and tore him to pieces. His facial expressions are priceless. Watch the video at The Panopticist.
posted by Termite at 10:29 PM PST - 55 comments
Demonbusters
Paisley: "Burn it, don't wear it". Also, learn how to defeat the weather demon Chango, break the curse on "the Black Race", and much, much more, brought to you by Steve and Elizabeth Madrak's End-Time Deliverance Ministry (Warning: Crappy MIDI organ music throughout the site).
posted by bcveen at 10:01 PM PST - 17 comments
Sing out Louis!
Can a young kid sing the Queen of the Night's aira, stay in tune and hit the notes? This one should probably steer clear of opera fans carrying sharp knives until he passes puberty.
posted by BlueMetal at 9:48 PM PST - 27 comments
From Good Cheer to "Drive-By Smiling": A Social History of Cheerfulness
The history of emotions has yielded substantial studies on love, anger, fear, grief, jealousy, and many other discrete emotions. However, there is no particular study of cheerfulness, a rather moderate emotion, which, for reasons that I will discuss further, has remained unnoticeable to the scholarly eye. Based on much of the historical literature on emotions, some primary sources and some other areas of cultural history, I outline here the social use and conceptualization of cheerfulness over the last three centuries. I argue that, in the modern age, cheerfulness rose in value and became the most favored emotion for experience and display; as such, it was individually sought and socially encouraged until it became the main emotional norm of twentieth-century America.
And the Taxonomy of Emotion Terms there is of interest on its own.
posted by y2karl at 9:06 PM PST - 10 comments
"...he just loved the genre of game shows." Peter Tomarken was killed today in a plane crash in Santa Monica, CA, while on an errand of mercy. As the host of the original Press Your Luck, he was associated with some wacky (and later controversial) Eighties television.
posted by LinusMines at 8:56 PM PST - 15 comments
Dr. Ross tells the Democrats to stop bending over.
Dr. Ross tells the Democrats to stop bending over. Clooney: " ... [I]t drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, 'We were misled.' It makes me want to shout, 'Fuck you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic.' Bottom line: it's not merely our right to question our government, it's our duty."
The Bible is perfect in all things. The value of pi is three, dammit.
The Earth is Not Moving. From the foreword: "The second [goal] is to establish a real understanding of how the theory which says that the Earth turns on an axis and orbits the sun has triumphed in spite of having no evidence whatsoever to support it." The explanation of why tides can't possibly be due to the Moon's gravity is particularly enlightening. As Wikipedia's page on modern geocentrism points out, General Relativity says that all frames of reference are equally valid, so at least some of these people aren't completely wrong. Will the return of geocentrism be the next step after creationism? When do we get to burn witches again? First link [via].
posted by Malor at 8:29 PM PST - 36 comments
Mono wants you to have a seizure. Fast paced 2D shoot-em-up where your goal is to paint the screen white (or black) by shooting aggressive blobs of red, blue and green. (Free downloadable exe) [More Inside]
Mascots helping Mascots
Mascots helping Mascots High schools across America have witnessed the devastation brought about by several recent natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. An outpouring of sympathy and concern, and a desire to help, have come forth from high schools wanting to assist those in need. To enable schools to help other schools, the National Federation of State High School Associations has initiated a fundraising program called the Mascot Adoption Program.
posted by ColdChef at 8:07 PM PST - 3 comments
Terminator Seeds
The 8th Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity begins March 20th. On the agenda? The possible overturning of the 2000 de facto moratorium on genetically modified Terminator Seeds. The US, Australian, New Zealand, and most recently Britain are already on board. Other countries and environmental groups are not so keen, and are pushing to ban terminator.
posted by stray at 7:24 PM PST - 8 comments
Use suncreen.
World Naked Bike Ride (NSFW) Yes, it's that time again.
posted by fixedgear at 2:41 PM PST - 25 comments
"There it is. Take it."
Eighty years ago, William Mulholland completed his final project: the St. Francis Dam, which converted San Francisquito Canyon--about 5 miles northeast of what is now Santa Clarita, California--into a 38,000 acre-foot reservoir for Los Angeles/Owens River aqueduct water. You're probably familiar with Mulholland's name --he designed and built the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the beginning of the system with which Los Angeles is supplied water from the Central Valley--and as a gesture of gratitude, the city named its most scenic highway in his honor. Mulholland, the California Water Wars, the aqueduct, and the dam were also referenced and alluded to extensively in Roman Polanski's Chinatown. But the man who helped build an immense metropolis by bringing water to the desert has only a small fountain as a memorial to his legacy. Three minutes before midnight, on March 12, 1928...
posted by fandango_matt at 2:12 PM PST - 20 comments
"In the long run, we'd like to power the world:" Nanotech and solar energy
Nanocrystal technology shows promise for cheaper, more efficient solar energy generation [more inside]
posted by expialidocious at 1:57 PM PST - 21 comments
Leaked: Screenshots of Google Calendar App
TechCrunch has published screenshots of the upcoming Google Calendar application , codenamed CL2. "It includes now-standard web 2.0 features - Ajax, subscription feeds for integration with iCal and other desktop calendars, event creation, search, sharing, notifications (including SMS) and more." The login screen is even functional.
posted by charmston at 12:55 PM PST - 35 comments
Fifty-thousand.
50,000!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:53 PM PST - 94 comments
Congrats Metafilter!
Metafilter posts its 50,000th post today. Congrats Metafilter! Here is to 50,000 more!
At Least Hobbes Will Be Happy.
The bird flu is coming, and Secretary of Health and Human Services wants us to be ready. How? By storing canned tuna and powdered milk under our beds.
posted by ewagoner at 12:23 PM PST - 58 comments
Why I am getting out of the Marines
Why I am getting out of the Marines As I sit here I am still shaking. I can't take much more of this shit. I am a Marine Pilot. Not that it means anything anymore. Today was another safety stand down put on by the mother fuckers in DOSS. Why? Cause another one of my friends is dead and gone. Why? Cause he flew his shit into the water that's why. Why'd he do that? Cause the mother fuckers that "be" i.e. the boys at the top have lost their fucking minds and can't say no.
posted by stenseng at 12:15 PM PST - 54 comments
You are a Mystery, It's so Confusing
Amanda Lear is one of the greatest enigmatic personalities to emerge from the 70's. Known in equal measures for her disco hits (such as Enigma,Queen of Chinatown, and Follow Me WARNING, youtube link) and her affairs with David Bowie, Brian Ferry of Roxy Music (and thus appearing on their For Your Pleasure album cover) and Salvador Dali. Her past was hazy at best. The most debated aspect of her past (so prevalent as to be mentioned even in reviews of her paintings is what sex she was born (One popular telling of the rumor even claimed it was Dali who paid for her surgery to become a woman). Her more recent, very private life took a tragic turn in 2000 when her home in France burned down killing her husband, the equally interesting Alain-Philippe Malagnac d'Argens de Villele. [MI]
posted by piratebowling at 12:14 PM PST - 17 comments
Oh, What a Tangled Web
Knots to the Left of Me, Knots to the Right. No, not the recently departed Knotts, Knots!
posted by fenriq at 11:00 AM PST - 20 comments
Pai Mei taught you the five point palm-exploding heart technique?
The Ultimate Foosball Technique. (YouTube video, 13 seconds)
Jerry Lewis at 80
Jerry Lewis at 80 (more inside)
Censuring Domestic Surveillance
"Resolved that the United States Senate does hereby censure George W. Bush, president of the United States, and does condemn his unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans." Invoking "high crimes and misdemeanors," Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduces a motion to censure [PDF link] President Bush for his controversial, legally dubious NSA wiretapping program. Feingold declares: "The President must be held accountable for authorizing a program that clearly violates the law." Republican leader Frist retorts: "It's a crazy political move" that sends a "terrible" signal to Iran. Democratic bloggers say: Call your senator. [More legal fallout from the NSA program recently discussed here.]
posted by digaman at 9:22 AM PST - 259 comments
So for the Left-Wing media bias
300,000 March in Chicago against Immigration Control Act of 2005. General Question, Why did this not make national news? Compare to their front page now. Its like it never happened. 1/4 million people didn't matter enough.
posted by Elim at 9:01 AM PST - 71 comments
Rock art in the Sahara
Rock art tour in the Sahara.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:49 AM PST - 6 comments
Animation... More clips available at his homepage.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:19 AM PST - 6 comments
Then and Now: The 2004 Thailand Tsunami
Thailand Tsunami: Then and Now. A series of photographs, taken by Zoriah, shows the some of the devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami and the subsequent recovery in Thailand. [via warshooter]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:08 AM PST - 13 comments
3d Data
"SEARCHSCAPES: MANHATTAN" is an attempt to create a tridimensional map of Manhattan, using existing data from the web. The objective is to compare the city's "physical spaces" and "information spaces"
posted by signal at 6:28 AM PST - 8 comments
Buddhist Tattoo Festival
Wat Bang Phra Tattoo festival
I am shocked -- shocked! -- to hear the Academy doesn't always vote for quality
A Sour Grapes Rant: "The people connected with Brokeback Mountain, including me, hoped that, having been nominated for eight Academy awards, it would get Best Picture... We should have known conservative heffalump academy voters would have rather different ideas of what was stirring contemporary culture... Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver." -- E. Annie Proulx unleashes in The Guardian.
posted by docgonzo at 4:24 AM PST - 154 comments
Untermenschen
'I didn't join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy' A former SAS soldier talks about his experience in Iraq. [more inside]
the Site of Reversible Destiny
The Site of Reversible Destiny is an "experience park" conceived on the theme of encountering the unexpected. By guiding visitors through various unexpected experiences as they walk through its component areas, the Site offers them opportunities to rethink their physical and spiritual orientation to the world. [via]
posted by dhruva at 12:20 AM PST - 14 comments
Liberal Capitalism and Evil
On Evil: An Interview with Alain Badiou
posted by kuatto at 11:40 PM PST - 19 comments
See? It WAS doomed.
Fast cars, elderly terrorists, the swedish mafia, and video games. Remember the Gizmondo? So, let's just say that the swedish mafia decided to scam a bunch of investors by creating a largely imaginary game device. Pretty good plan, eh? Well, it is until you crash your rare, $1million Ferrari into the side of the road. But, don't worry, the anti-terrorist branch of your local elderly transport service will save you! Confused? Here's the flow chart.
posted by JZig at 10:18 PM PST - 40 comments
Google Maps now on Mars.
Google goes to Mars. Mars looks big [video].
posted by bigmusic at 10:09 PM PST - 29 comments
Has the New York Times Violated the Espionage Act?
Commentary Magazine's Gabriel Schoenfeld suggests that the New York Times has violated the Espionage Act of 1917. Slate's Jack Shafer remarks that the case is not too far-fetched, while noting that Scott Johnson of The Weekly Standard seems to have anticipated the Commentary article. via
posted by Kwantsar at 9:56 PM PST - 6 comments
Which Way Adventure
Which Way Adventure, a weird-ass choose-your-own-adventure-type "game" with several different endings and some manticores. A few scenes are not safe for work. The other game on the site, Hunter of Vampires, is completely different in that it's cute, it appears to have a point, and it has a gizmo to toggle the sound off. (Both in Flash.)
Flow in Games
Flow in Games: a Jenova Chen MFA thesis
'This site is currently focused on Jenova's MFA thesis research. It is about inventing new methodologies usable by the frontline game designers to help realizing dynamic flow experiences for different individuals and more importantly for potential gamers who are still out of the current video game market.'
Try the experimental game fl0w (instructions, more info, discussion). Learn more about the thesis methodology, or take a look at some further reading. [warning: site appears to be under development somewhat] (see also)
posted by MetaMonkey at 9:21 PM PST - 24 comments
Dwight Whorley is the first person in the U.S. to be convicted for possessing virtual child pornography in the form of Japanese anime (lolicon?) as well as photographs of real children. Anime fans are none too happy.
puppettool
Puppettool lets you animate a variety of avatars. [note: shockwave, nudity]
Geocities 2.0
newsfilter: Myspace gets half as many page views as Google.
Best Bearded Bands
My latest two favorite bands with bearded singers, Herman Dune and Gil Mantera's Party Dream have awesome videos. check out Herman Dune's video for "Not on Top" and Gil Mantera's Party Dream's video for "Elmo's Wish."
posted by hurting.the.feelings.of.thechinesepeople at 5:40 PM PST - 12 comments
You should probably buy a shredder today.
The Torn-Up Credit Card Application. Can you get a credit card with a torn-up application? One citizen puts in the minimal effort to find out.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:38 PM PST - 49 comments
Unicycling through Laos
In January 2006, nineteen people unicycled through Laos, juggling cameras and notebooks in their oh-so-steady hands.
posted by dmd at 2:16 PM PST - 8 comments
Missing Pages Movie
Missing Pages. This is a 24 minute short shot entirely with a digital still camera. The first seven minutes are available online (quicktime link). It was derived from 40,000 digital still images by Jerome Oliver in a method (that looks cool) that he calls fotomation.
posted by filmgeek at 2:08 PM PST - 29 comments
Do-it-yourself funerals
Home funerals Think the cost of funerals is out of control? Do it yourself!
posted by annieb at 11:15 AM PST - 79 comments
Slavoj Zizek in Spiked, and Op-Ed in NYT.
It's because we're playing DDR on a Friday night.
Yellow Fever On why white girls won't date Asian guys.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:11 AM PST - 100 comments
War: Canadian-style
War: Canadian-style A special report by 2 journalists embedded with Alpha Company of the First Princess Patricia's Light Infantry Battle Group puts human faces to the peacekeeping effort in Afghanistan. It's good to know that our troops stationed there will soon have a taste of home.
posted by phoenixc at 10:00 AM PST - 28 comments
Download interent video easily
Keep Vid is an excellent web based utility for downloading web video from many of the most popular sites (iFilm, google video, YouTube & a ton of others) to your hard drive.
posted by jonson at 9:58 AM PST - 6 comments
Hell's Angels Sue Disney for Trademark Infringement
Bikers, Mousies, and big scary death heads The legendary Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club is suing Walt Disney, Buena Vista Motion Pictures, and a movie production company for trademark dilution and infringement for developing and producing "Wild Hogs," a movie about "[a] group of middle-aged wannabe bikers look[ing] for adventure out on the open road, where they soon encounter a chapter of the Hell's Angels."
posted by dejah420 at 9:42 AM PST - 33 comments
Waste some time on a lazy Sunday with Monty Python's Silly Walks Generator.
posted by caddis at 9:28 AM PST - 15 comments
Fifty years ago did Viagra kill fifteen whales...
The world's longest MadLib, based on Moby Dick, can be downloaded as a blank, or filled in by some 200 collaborating writers (in Microsoft Word format, I'm afraid).
posted by Wolfdog at 8:45 AM PST - 13 comments
"Look at those big long legs on 9-inch heels," she said. "I look 9 feet tall."
A Golden Age for a Pin-up Cult Playboy centerfold and "queen of pin-up" Bettie Page soldiered in the sexual revolution. At 82, she finds her image (NSFW) earns a respectable living.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 7:28 AM PST - 30 comments
Newspaper schools CIA on internet research
Internet blows CIA cover The identities of thousands of Central Intelligence Agency employees, many of them operating under cover, have been available to anyone looking for the right information in public records searches. Only problem: The CIA was kind of surprised to find this out. (Site may require registration for some. Use BugMeNot.)
posted by emelenjr at 5:34 AM PST - 41 comments
Little grey/gray boxes...
Trapped in cubicles. Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle. Cubicle etiquette.
posted by fixedgear at 3:53 AM PST - 14 comments
Inactive enterprises
Witness the witlessness of Active Enterprises, who not only tried to sell their NES cartridge, Action 52, for up to $200 retail in the early 90's, but also claimed to be developing a revolutionary multimedia platform.
posted by starkeffect at 1:33 AM PST - 10 comments
Doctor, what do you make of these x-rays?
Just when you thought you'd seen all that the Internet had to offer: Um, here's some lovely, haunting x-ray porn. Yeah, it's art, but it's still probably NSFW. [MI]
posted by sjvilla79 at 1:06 AM PST - 53 comments
Zoom zoom zoom goes the mail
So how DO those discs go back and forth? We all love Netflix and LaLa, but doesn't it seem just a little bit amazing that those little silver discs go back and forth quickly and safely? How about a shout out to our friends at the USPS and their nifty machines that make it all happen? Scroll down toward the bottom of the page for a few short movie clips of the machinery in action.
posted by twsf at 11:18 PM PST - 29 comments
Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted
"To dream of eating pancakes, denotes that you will have excellent success in all enterprises undertaken at this time." "To dream of lard, signifies a rise in fortune will soon gratify you." "Dairy is a good dream both to the married and unmarried." "To dream of seeing your thigh smooth and white, denotes unusual good luck and pleasure." "To dream of noodles, denotes an abnormal appetite and desires. There is little good in this dream." "To dream of seeing a marmot, denotes that sly enemies are approaching you in the shape of fair women." -- What's in a Dream? A Scientific and Practical Interpretation of Dreams by Gustavus Hindman Miller, published in 1901.
Rattlesnakes, rattlesnacks
Sweetwater Texas Rattlesnake Roundup! An annual tradition since 1958, people from miles around come to look at the thousands of collected rattlesnakes, join in the hunting, watch them get milked, killed, and skinned, and then eat them. Check out Chris Hamilton's engaging b&w photo essay.
posted by donovan at 8:38 PM PST - 41 comments
Electromagnetic Pulse
EMP's are not just for war, there are some everyday practical uses too such as instantaneous, non-recoverable destruction of data on your home or business pc. Good to know if you're a soon-to-be indicted politician.
posted by sluglicker at 7:44 PM PST - 8 comments
This just in--Starforce still sucks.
It turns out, in the PC game business, no copy protection doesn't mean everyone pirates your game. This makes some people angry. From the article:
"For example, we were quite disturbed to discover that the company that makes Starforce provided a working URL to a list of pirated GalCiv II torrents. I'm not sure whether what they did was illegal or not, but it's troubling nevertheless and was totally unnecessary."
via digg
posted by graventy at 6:16 PM PST - 25 comments
AWESOME - O!
posted by vronsky at 6:12 PM PST - 59 comments
Adapted from a work by Allan Smithee?
"He said to me, 'I'm going to hang up on you if you don't stop talking to me,' " Graphic novel author Allen Moore takes a hard line with Hollywood. Reminds me of this story about Ex-Door John Densmore.
Sperm Dress
The seller called 'em polkadots. "When I got the dress, my eyes about popped out of my head. These were NOT creamy white polkadots. My mind raced. This was a novelty print, yes, but not of balloons or cheerfully wriggling tadpoles. There's no way…could it be!? Could the 1950's designer Mark-Robbins been so devious as to devise a blue dress covered—literally covered—in…"
posted by Mo Nickels at 4:10 PM PST - 16 comments
Roll Up The Rim To Sue
Tim Hortons is once more running it's Roll Up The Rim To Win contest where each cup of coffee is a potential prize winner. This week controversy hit when a 10 year old found a cup in the trash. Unable to roll the rim she asked a 12 year old friend for help and they discovered the cup was a winner. Now comes the dispute over who actually won [quicktime] the SUV. An added twist is the man demanding a DNA test to prove the cup is his. I love the smell of lawsuits in the morning.
posted by cm at 1:10 PM PST - 55 comments
Claude A Allen
Former White House Aide Arrested on Theft Charges: Claude Alexander Allen was Bush's Assistant for Domestic Policy until he announced his resignation last month, reportedly because he wanted to spend more time with his family. Previously, he had been a controversial Bush nominee to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Allen was also once the subject of controversy for a homosexual slur he had made while working for Sen Jesse Helms. Now, a few weeks after his resignation, he's been arrested for a retail theft scheme that allegedly netted him more than $5000, still small change for a man that was being paid the same six-figure salary as Karl Rove. Bush has said he is shocked and saddened by the arrest of his former aide (via Think Progress).
A Letter To Her Future Men
One of the most powerful blog entries I've ever stumbled across. This woman writes her two young sons a letter to be opened and read in twelve years. It's a profound piece on what she expects of them as men.
posted by brittney at 10:56 AM PST - 119 comments
Secret Justice
Newsfilter: Secret arrests, secret renditions, secret interrogations in secret jails, and now, secret rulings from US federal judges. More fallout from the Bush administration's NSA domestic-spying program [recently discussed here].
posted by digaman at 10:04 AM PST - 70 comments
CPT activist killed in Iraq
The body of Tom Fox (a Quaker peace activist and Christian Peacemaker Team member who was abducted [previous MeFi discussion] by insurgents last November) has been found in Baghdad.
posted by the_bone at 8:48 AM PST - 64 comments
"It hit the public like a hurricane, like some uncontrolled primeval force".
The Riot of Spring. Théâtre Champs-Elysées, Paris, May 29, 1913. Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Proust, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy are among those present at the premiere of The Rite of Spring (the score is here), written by Igor Stravinsky and choreographed by the great Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. The music and the choreography shocked the audience with its daring modernism, ripping up the rulebook of classical ballet with its heavy, savage movements. Many in the audience promptly booed, then yelled, insulting the performers and each other. Then fistfights broke out. The police was summoned, but was unable to stop an all-out riot.
Now the BBC has made a TV movie about that night. More inside.
Turbo Tanks Game
Turbo Tanks is a vector graphics based Flash game where you control one tank vs another from a top down view, using ammunition that ricochets a lot. Each tank can sustain ten hits from live ammo, and each level has shifting obstacles (the "buildings" in the way for the ammo to bounce off of) so a good strategy is to catch your opponent in a heavy collision alley and unleash your entire weapon stock at once). Massive nerds will be reminded of Armor Attack for the Vectrex.
Sometimes death comes too late
Slobodan Milosevic dies in cell Slobo dead.
posted by terrymiles at 5:25 AM PST - 66 comments
For Boston's Catholic Archdiocese, kids in state care are better than kids "living in sin" with gay adoptive parents
'This is a difficult and sad day for Catholic Charities," says a representative of the church, who announced their decision to stop helping all foster children find homes rather than allow any of them be adopted by gay parents. After one hundred three years of service, Catholic Charities of Boston is exiting the adoption assistance arena because state anti-discrimination laws force them to allow same-sex couples to adopt children (despite the fact that the church considers this to be a sin).
While adoptions in progress will not be affected, on or about June 30, the group that proffers a "just and compassionate society rooted in the dignity of all people" will make chrystal clear who is included in that definition of "all." (Of the 720 children placed in homes through CCAB, 13 of them were placed with "same-sex families" [sic].)
posted by andreaazure at 4:38 AM PST - 98 comments
Underground, Overground, Wandering Free
Subterranea Britannica is a website devoted to underground sites in the UK, be they storage facilities, old kilns, chalk mines, military facilities from the cold war, astronomical observatories or even a precursor to the Channel Tunnel. It's full of photographs and informative articles and is a great resource for those interested in spaces beneath the earth. Dig deep and fill those gaps in your knowledge of British holes!
posted by longbaugh at 12:45 AM PST - 16 comments
Brandmarker
Lacoste. No, Lacoste. Lacoste. Austrian art collective Monochrom asked 25 people to draw famous corporate marks from memory.
No meisterwerk, but in aggregate, they have a certain kind of poetry.
Rejoice, rejoice greatly!
So long, farewell, aufwiedersehn... The Canadian Tire Guy has left the airwaves for greener pastures and shinier decks. He's been profiled by Maclean's, who also managed to get a few of his diary entries online). He's been lampooned not once, but twice by The Royal Canadian Air Farce. And now, at long last, the 'Ned Flanders of home improvement,' played by Ted Simonett, will no longer appear in advertisements for Canadian Tire.
posted by greatgefilte at 8:45 PM PST - 27 comments
How Islamic inventors changed the world
From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential- and identifies the men of genius behind them via The Independent
posted by infini at 8:11 PM PST - 30 comments
Desktop Earth 2.0
"Desktop Earth 2.0 is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you're logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment." The images are fantastic. Oh, and it's free. (See similar - via digg).
posted by purephase at 7:37 PM PST - 56 comments
It's Everybody's Fault
"The Hayward Fault is locked and loaded. It is ready to fire at any time." The U.S. Geological Survey has a Google Earth-based "virtual helicopter tour" and other annotated views of The Hayward Fault. There's a 70% probability of a major earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay Area before 2030, and Hayward is the most likely fault [PDF] for an earthquake (or is it?). Bad things will happen. Fortunately we're completely unprepared. [more inside]
Video artists can be such divas...
DIVA 2006The Digital & Video Art Fair just opened in New York (nytimes) some highlights if you don't live in the New York area, or have a better way to spend $10: Martin Sastre's BOLIVIA 3: Confederation Next (Barney represents Matthew Barney, see here he is slaying Sastre with a lightsaber) part of his Iberoamerican Trilogy; Vincent Goudreau's Sub-Paradise – about sugarcane farming in Hawaii (excerpted .mov here); My Favorite – 'Panoscopic' images by Luc Courchesne. more inside.
posted by jrb223 at 2:48 PM PST - 11 comments
Keep an Eye on Khuzestan
Keep an eye on Khuzestan. Khuzestan is an Iranian province on the western border with Iraq, with a coast on the Persian Gulf. While most Iranians are Persian, Khuzestan is primarily Ahwazi Arab. Of course, this has led to some problems. Did I mention that Khuzestan also has a lot of oil?
posted by jefgodesky at 1:22 PM PST - 9 comments
The last feudal government in Europe
Democracy comes to the English Channel as the island of Sark, the last feudal government in Europe, is switching to a semi-democratic system. Previously, only the 40 landowners, out of a population of 500, could vote, and the island was ultimately ruled by a lord, the Seigneur. Though the "serfs" were quite happy with the arrangement, the winds of change arrived in the form of the enigmatic billionaire Barclay twins and the European Court of Human Rights. One old Norman law that still remains, however, is the "Clameur de Haro" where any person can demand the immediate end of any action that infringes their rights by yelling "Haro, Haro, Haro" and reciting the Lord's Prayer in French.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:14 PM PST - 58 comments
A Government with No Military and No Territory : Disintegrating Iraqi Sovereignty
At this point in Iraq, you do not have a central government -- so you don't have a legitimate authority running the country. You don't have a government with the power to establish or maintain order. What you have is a nominal government that can only stay in power because the Americans are there. The government is supposed to have derived legitimacy from the constitution and the elections. It is now almost three months after the elections and there is still no government... A government that takes over five months to form is not a government that is going to have very much legitimacy in the end. The country has already collapsed. Now the challenge is figuring out a way to deal with this fact...
"The Country Has Already Collapsed"
Remember Beirut? Welcome to Baghdad
A Government with No Military and No Territory
Studies of the Iraq Disaster: When Democracy Looks Like Civil War
posted by y2karl at 11:45 AM PST - 127 comments
To orbit or bust
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is due to arrive today. The Orbiter, launched back last August, is set to begin its slow down for Mars orbit at 3:50 pm EST. Its mission will be to study the planet's atmosphere, surface, and underground. Courtesy of NASA, you can track its relative position to mars every ten minutes, download a podcast, and pass your time waiting with a series of informative videos. The orbiter also has the most powerful camera ever to leave Earth orbit.
posted by Atreides at 11:12 AM PST - 31 comments
Soundtoys revamped
Soundtoys website relaunched, with tags, artist feeds, etc.
posted by signal at 11:11 AM PST - 5 comments
Don't get me started on his brother Seymour...
Northwestern engineering professor Arthur R. Butz has over 6,000 signatures denouncing his commendation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion that the Holocaust is a myth. Rumor has it the university was going to stop hosting faculty sites instead of singling out Butz. His (lousy) university webpage is still up though. Prompted in part by prev discussion here
posted by Smedleyman at 10:47 AM PST - 100 comments
What do they do with those plastic horses?
The exciting world of model horses.
posted by zonkout at 10:41 AM PST - 14 comments
Shut Up! No, *You** Shut Up
Shut Up! No, *You** Shut Up At ETech, Clay Shirky covered patterns of community moderation during "Shut Up! No, *You* Shut Up." Notes were taken.
posted by k8t at 10:09 AM PST - 13 comments
Loss and helplessness
I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator's wings.
First Church of the Last Laugh. You may already be a member.
Lobbying Reform, GOP style
Great local investigative piece on the GOP's "point man on lobbying reform". (check out the video) Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)'s "charity" has spent almost half as much on "unexplained" T&E as it has given out to the needy. What's more, the treasurer of this organization is not only treasurer of his re-election campaign, but is also the the treasurer of Americans for a Republican Majority, the PAC run by Tom DeLay, who is no stranger to lobbyist scandals.
Deep in west Texas town of El Paso....
Classic poetry of the Old West. Alone on the prarie, with only their thoughts to comfort them these poets wrote. Not always the greatest of poems, they still capture the essence of the romantic cowboy.
posted by ozomatli at 9:58 AM PST - 6 comments
Librarians vs. nuns
Librarians vs. Nuns in a caged death match! (video) (Did I say "caged death match"? I meant "Spelling Bee".)
The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo , the latest film by prolific UK director Michael Winterbottom, details the experiences of the Tipton Three (previously discussed here), a trio of British Muslims who stumbled into US custody in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and ended up spending two years in Gitmo. The film tells a powerful if somewhat one-sided story of naivety, incompetence and rank injustice.
Last night the film was shown on Britain's Channel 4 to an estimated 1.6 million viewers, and it was the talk of the Berlin Film Festival a couple of weeks ago. In a bizarre twist, on their return from attending the premiere of the film in Berlin, the Tipton Three and the actors who played them were arrested and interrogated about terrorism links. Luckily for them, this time their captivity was measured in hours, not years.
posted by LondonYank at 8:58 AM PST - 23 comments
Don't take your guns to town, son
When Gregg Revell packed his bags for a trip to Pennsylvania last April, he had no idea how far he'd be traveling. Before the week was out, the 57-year-old suburban real estate agent and grandfather would be arrested, thrown into one of the country's most notorious jails, strip searched and inoculated against his will. The soft-spoken Utah native would be on his way to becoming a poster child for the National Rifle Association in a $3 million lawsuit.
Your rights end where my nose begins.
Why are some religious rituals acceptable (NSFW), some marginal, and others illegal? Surely, a grown man sucking the blood out of the penis of a just-circumcised little boy should be, shouldn't it? And we're not even considering infecting the baby with herpes [full article from the NY Times].
posted by sluglicker at 7:22 AM PST - 179 comments
Classic Videogame Mashup
Megaman Vs. Ghosts and Goblins Megaman's trapped in the fiendishly difficult world of Ghosts and Goblins in this fan made flash game. The game's instructions don't mention that once the game is loaded, you need to click on START, then tap enter a few times to get things rolling.
Harold Ford, take me away!
Fancy Ford is the most elegant-looking political smear site you've ever seen. But is there a racial message?
posted by barjo at 7:14 AM PST - 47 comments
Cityscape puzzle game (Flash)
Cityscape. (Flash game) Build a city with 18 available components. The order in which those components are employed determines how they'll interact and how far the city will develop. There's one correct order that will score the full amount of points. (via)
posted by Melinika at 7:10 AM PST - 22 comments
Advanced Dissing
Bliss sucks. See?
posted by I Love Tacos at 6:40 AM PST - 59 comments
Where's My Flying Car?
Where Science Meets Fiction "Explore the wide variety of inventions and ideas of science fiction writers - over 975 are available on Technovelgy (that's tek-novel-gee!)." Science fiction inventions become reality. Sort of.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 6:36 AM PST - 3 comments
Nudibranchs
What are nudibranchs? Jewels of the sea. Page after page of photographs of these squishy hermaphrodites.
And a smile can hide all the pain
The Original Rhinestone Cowboy. "I was laying on my bedside just as lonesome as I could be. I was by myself and so lonesome the tears just come in my eyes. I was so lonesome I prayed and said: 'Lord, give me something to make me happy' Now, you won't believe this, but the Lord told me to make an outfit. I went downtown and bought me a suit and became Rhinestone, and I ain't had one moment of lonesomeness since."
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:38 AM PST - 3 comments
I'd like an interview, please.
Lost Monty Python interview from 1975 Dallas TV station unearths interview with four of the Pythons from 1975, just as they were hitting it big in the states. Love the hair! Love the armadillo!
posted by darren at 4:41 AM PST - 14 comments
Call me Ol' Angelo Fatnose.
Call me Ol' Angelo Fatnose. In anticipation of the return of The Sopranos on Sunday night, I'm wondering: what's your Mafia name?
posted by mickeyz at 4:30 AM PST - 34 comments
Photography, traditional and not-so-traditional
Black and white photos of France, Black and white photos of Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. And erie colour photos of the inside of some guy's fish tank.(via, via)
posted by primer_dimer at 4:02 AM PST - 9 comments
'Shane's still alive?"
'Shane's still alive?" That MacGowan is still standing, albeit not for long periods and not without help, is part of the reason the public is still fascinated with the group, which has reconvened for a brief US tour -- the Pogues' first stateside shows since 1989. (BugMeNot)
ooglegay?
Bork, bork, bork! Bork? Mageia Earchsa. Igpay Atinlay. Mom? What? WTF!? strange google links via
And We're Confiscating Those Cartoons, Professor
Miguel Tinker Salas is the Arango Professor in Latin American History at Pomona College, a political historian and sometime commentator on U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. On Tuesday, an FBI/LA County Sherrifs Office Joint Terrorism Task Force came calling during Tinker Salas's office hours. "After identifying themselves, they proceeded to ask about my relation to Venezuela, the government, the community, my scholarship, my politics...After they departed, the three or four students who were outside my office informed me that these individuals had asked them about my background, my classes, what I taught, my politics and they even wrote down the cartoons that are on my door."
posted by BT at 9:46 PM PST - 47 comments
Well, it's an unusual campaign ad...
Vernon Robinson is a Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 13th District. This is his campaign ad. (Links to 2MB Quicktime movie). Both bitterly racist and homophobic, it's straight out of, err... The Twilight Zone. (Via WFMU)
posted by huskerdont at 9:33 PM PST - 101 comments
The Shavian adjective
So where here the b****y hell are you? has been banned from UK TV screens by the BACC (Thanks a b****y lot) for being offensive even though a study (Language and Sexual Imagery in Broadcasting: A Contextual Investigation) [PDF] released by Ofcom in September 2005 found that b****y was "Not really offensive to any group, seen as everyday sort of language". This from the nation that brought us Little Britain [NSFW]. Some banned advertising still lives on though.
Hallelujah, I adore it!
Here are pictures of women with extremely long hair.
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:23 PM PST - 70 comments
The Z Machine
"At first, we were disbelieving," said project leader Chris Deeney. "We repeated the experiment many times to make sure we had a true result." Scientists set record for hottest ever temperature record - 2 billion degrees Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit, at one point the machine produced more energy than was put it. But they're not sure how, possibly fusion. High-res photo, higher-res photo, wikipedia, everything2.
Vegan food for consenting adults
Now that we've got the fights out of our system, don't you all want to read some awesome vegan recipes? From amateur and pro chefs radical, domestic, sweets-craving, post-punk, healthy...and hey, even naked. (Naked vegans NSFW.) And not a cutesy-poo lunchbox in sight. (More inside.)
posted by Tomatillo at 5:44 PM PST - 50 comments
Grey Gardens -- The Return of the Marble Faun.
"The trouble is, he's madly in love with Edie." Not quite. Jerry Torre, the teenage handy man from Grey Gardens, describes his relationship with Little Edie Bouvier Beale as more of a "sibling rivalry." Be sure to check out Grey Gardens the musical and the remake that's in the works.
posted by rokabiri at 5:16 PM PST - 13 comments
Or, maybe not
Democratic Party leaders become relavent, take couragous position on war, civil liberties, and other issues vitally important to country's future.
RFID is a known security/privacy issue waiting to happen. Bruce Schneier even likes to talk about it on his blog. You can learn how to make your own tinfoil wallets. Or if you haven't the time... you could just purchase a premade one HERE. This vendor also has secure slips for US passports. Very nifty stuff.
posted by thecollegefear at 1:16 PM PST - 51 comments
Dubai Firm Blinks On U.S. Port Deal
L. A. Times Story Dubai Ports World announced today that it would divest itself of operational roles in U.S. port facilities.
posted by BillyElmore at 12:28 PM PST - 100 comments
Your Hosts, Lynndie and Charles, Welcome You to the New Interrogation Facility
Adieu, Abu Ghraib -- we hardly knew ye (classified, ya know.) In the wake of a damning Amnesty International report, military spokesperson Keir-Kevin Curry says the infamous Baghdad prison will be closed within three months, its occupants transferred to other facilities in Iraq, including Camp Cropper (and don't ask what's happening there , or the terrorists win.) Or is Curry's statement premature? And would the closing of Abu Ghraib represent a change of policy, or merely rebranding the same old same old to avoid bad associations?
Enceladus.
There's water on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Here's hoping space tourism can pick up the pace a little.
posted by jrb223 at 11:33 AM PST - 123 comments
Olympics on Hoth
Hoth is making a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Featuring sports like the two-man snowspeeder race, the creator of the effort claims to be protesting the lack of American interest in the Winter Games. Need more Star Wars meets sports info? (And yes, you do.) Howabout a quiz on the sports of Star Wars, or various Star Wars characters hosting SportsCenter. [Note that the main link sometimes loads slowly. Some sites feature the Star Wars theme.]
posted by blahblahblah at 11:33 AM PST - 8 comments
Who's your babydaddy?
Roe v. Wade for Men? "The laws that protect men and women from being forced into parenthood are highly discriminatory. Women are protected by abortion and abandonment laws. But when men are lied to about birth control or fertility, paternity and child support laws can disrupt their education and force upon them a future of distress associated with the unwanted child, support payments, the stigma of illegitimacy and a gut wrenching anguish that most people can't imagine." Or so says The National Center For Men who filed a lawsuit today to give men the same reproductive rights as women.
posted by Heminator at 10:36 AM PST - 378 comments
'Origami project' unveiled
Microsoft finally unveils its mysterious 'origami project'
posted by londontube at 10:25 AM PST - 96 comments
So much "faith", so little time.
"Faith-Based Homeland Security" ? - the "Stealth Presidency" To scant media coverage, George W. Bush has signed an executiver order establishing a "Faith-Based" office within the DHC. The Washington Post depicted this as relating mainly to the Katrina relief effort. But is this The Stealth Presidency" ?: Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, "confirmed [ to Esther Kaplan, author of "With God on Their side..." ] that no direct federal grants from his program had gone to a non-Christian religious group" . Prior to 2000, many Christian right groups were on the skids, says Kaplan, but many are now riding high on wave of [ largely unaudited and untracked ] faith based federal and state $. How much ? Bill Berkowitz ventures an asessment. TheocracyWatch has a compendium of all things "Faith Based". Prisons, science, sex ed....
posted by troutfishing at 10:08 AM PST - 42 comments
Opus Posthumous
Elizabeth Bishop is one of the most esteemed modern American poets, yet her Collected Poems, containing all of the poems published during her lifetime, runs to a scant 287 pages. Now, 27 years after her death, a selection of her unpublished poems has been published as Death and the Juke-Box by Alice Quinn, an editor at the New Yorker. (more inside)
posted by whir at 10:08 AM PST - 14 comments
"No, where are you really from?" "Screw off."
"STRANGER: 'Do you mind my asking where you are from?' [This is code for 'What is your race?'] "ME: 'Canada.' [This is code for 'Screw off.']" Sometimes, "Where are you from?" means what it says. Sometimes it doesn't.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 9:57 AM PST - 138 comments
Do-it-yourself terrorism
Why terror financing is so tough to track down. "Five years ago, we had large movement of funds which went through the international financial system. ... Now we are just talking about four friends who raise £1,000 to stage an attack. The unit cost of terrorist financing has crashed to the floor." WINEP dissents. Reports of the UN team responsible for monitoring al-Qaeda. Background articles on UN sanctions against al-Qaeda.
posted by russilwvong at 9:52 AM PST - 7 comments
What's happened to the London Night?
Nighthaunts www.nighthaunts.org.uk I have come across "London website of the week" on TimeOut magazine. I really like the idea of writer Sukhdev Sandhu hanging out with London nightworkers and writing up a journal. I've always felt fascinated about what is going on in the city at night, whilst (almost) everybody is sleeping. We should be able to find out as journal unfolds … Great recognition to people who work at night in order to keep the city going, and we often forget about …
posted by Brainstormer at 8:45 AM PST - 5 comments
The "medieval synthesizer"
Hurdy Gurdy. Swedish techno band that uses only sounds sampled from the hurdy gurdy. [via NPR] [a little more inside]
posted by Squid Voltaire at 8:45 AM PST - 12 comments
Dilbertville
Robert Oppenheimer agonized over building the A-bomb. Alfred Nobel got queasy about creating dynamite. Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity."
posted by PenDevil at 7:24 AM PST - 47 comments
You do it to yourself, you do
Excellent music video for an interesting cover version of Radiohead's Just (originally off of The Bends) by British musician Mark Ronson. Song is done in a more 1960's Stax-Volt Records style, using gratuitous horn samples; video is shot on the streets of an English city (I believe London, but am not sure) and features animated graffiti coming to life & dancing to the song, as well as a cameo by the tiled creations of Invader. First link goes to a page about the song, with video download links in wmv & qt at the bottom. Still no answer as to what that guy was saying in the original version of the video, sadly.
The FDA took my label away
NewsFilter: U.S. House strips states right to require food warning labels. The bill, which has never had hearing and is backed by well-connected industry lobbyists, seeks to make labels uniform across the country under the sole authority of the FDA, but it could gut 200 state laws in the process. Thirty-seven state attorneys general oppose losing the ability to require warnings such as California's for mercury in fish (though that particular one may have been saved by a last-minute ammendment). The legislation has not yet been introduced in the Senate.
Art Teacher Suspended for Suggesting Nudes
Mention nude art, get suspended. 25-year veteran art teacher Pete Panse recommended several ways for his ninth grade advanced art students to improve their skills, one of which included nude life figure drawing sessions at other art schools. For this, the Middletown, NY School District Board of Education suspended him, pending hearings in which he may be fired. They'll be after our bathroom mirrors next. [via DC Art News]
posted by brownpau at 6:55 AM PST - 78 comments
For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
How to Minimize Investment Returns. (2.31 mb pdf file, page 18) In Berkshire Hathaway's annual report to shareholders, chairman Warren Buffet, the Sage of Omaha, the Most Successful Investor in the World, the one-time second most wealthy person in America, and advisor to John Kerry's presidential bid observes that "[a] record portion of the earnings that would go in their entirety to owners.. is now going to a swelling army of [brokers, managers, and consultants.]" Buffet warns that "costs are now being incurred in amounts that will cause shareholders to earn far less than they historically have." (emphasis in the original)
posted by three blind mice at 6:07 AM PST - 17 comments
Superman tribute video
Cool Superman tribute video. It's a DVD trailer but it made me feel nostalgiac as hell.
posted by johndog at 2:26 AM PST - 41 comments
Ten thousand Nudie fans can't be wrong
Remember Elvis's gold lame suit? And how about Hank Williams' white suit with musical note sleeves? How about Roy Rogers' crazy cowboy outfits?
We have one man to thank for all these outfits, the height of hillbilly hepcat sartorial magnificence. That man was Nudie of Hollywood.
Type Righter
The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web. Robert Bringhurt's undisputed bible of typography until now has been limited to print design. This site, a work in progress, presents his principles one at a time, and explains how to follow them as a web designer using HTML and CSS.
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:14 PM PST - 29 comments
vegan lunch box
vegan lunch box... In a meat eaters world, a stay at home mom's blog about packing school lunches for her vegan kid.
posted by trishthedish at 8:59 PM PST - 255 comments
Back in the USSR
Beautiful decay pictures of Russia in decline.
Thanks for the add
danah boyd on MySpace - "In MySpace, comments are a form of cultural currency."
Unpacking those govt numbers
"Real unemployment right now -- figured the way that the average person thinks of unemployment, meaning figured the way it was estimated back during the Great Depression -- is running about 12%. Real CPI right now is running at about 8%. And the real GDP probably is in contraction." Bill Fleckenstein, writing at MSN Money, provides a summary of an interview with economist John Williams on government number crunching. The full interview, with Kate Welling can be found here (PDF link) . More from John Williams at Shadow Stats.
All we are saying...
Is a Peace Studies class appropriate to be taught in a public high school? Ok, but what if it's an elective? And if it's taught by this guy you could probably understand why some people would think it's lame.
posted by butterstick at 6:29 PM PST - 35 comments
I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you...
Volcanoes are so cool. Click previous sentence for more information.
posted by thirteenkiller at 4:58 PM PST - 33 comments
Bad Engrish Menu
Bad Engrish can be found on popular sites on the net, and not so well known as well.
There are some that consider such sites racist, but it also cuts both ways.
(More inside)
posted by Vicarious at 3:30 PM PST - 52 comments
I'll wear camo and you wear leather
Jack is looking for love, specifically someone who shares his love of chowder and his desire to wait out the apocalypse in a bunker. He sings, he dances, and he's one of the world's top five camouflagists.
posted by cilantro at 12:42 PM PST - 30 comments
Bloody embedded FLV
Download Flash Video. This site makes it easy to download all of the You Tube, Google Video and iFilm content that has been appearing on the front page. Ideal if you can't view them at work and your home connection is arthritic. Similiar functionality can be provided for Google and You Tube by a greasemonky script. The downloaded file is in .FLV format which can be viewed with VLC or FLV Player. .FLV can be converted to other formats with TVC once you have it on your system.
posted by Mitheral at 12:16 PM PST - 18 comments
Untold creatures of the deep!
The hydrothermal vents between Easter Island and Juan Fernandez are considered to be the Earth's fastest spreading center at approximately 150km per million years. Not only is this a geological hotspot, but a biological one too where at temperatures of up to 187c and depths of 2200m researchers have discovered amongst other things a blind hairy albino lobster. Ladies, gentlemen and MeFites I present to you Kiwa hirsute (aka The Yeti Crab).
posted by furtive at 11:44 AM PST - 46 comments
I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty
Special operations were fully engaged in Iraq back in 2003. Since that time the mission has (officially) shifted focus a bit to hunting down high value individuals like Osama bin Laden and a cavalcade of al-Qaida stars. But if that's the case why are we drawing down our forces in Afghanistan? Apparently a bunch of things are going on folks are hard pressed to figure out: "Nobody understands — other than the SecDef — what the hell Kearney is supposed to do," the Pentagon source said. "Is he supposed to be the future JSOC commander, or is the intent to continue JSOC as a three-star billet? Only the SecDef, as far as I know, knows. There's been absolutely no explanation."
Itchana Tchones
Itchana Tchones resembles-but-is-legally-distinct-from a certain beloved adventurer whom you may remember from a certain series of copyrighted movies. The first few games in which he stars are in French (and a little on the primitive side), but the gameplay is simple enough: Arrow keys to move, jump, and duck, spacebar to attack with the whip. The latest game in the series, Alien Wars, can be played in English. Lovely squishy little blood spurts, among other things, when death ensues. (Flash.)
Rare Livestock Breed Conservancy
The Last Days of the Ark: "We found that in 90 to 95 percent of turkeys produced worldwide, the genetic stock comes from one of three breeding stocks" but there are heritage breeds being preserved throughout the world. American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Heritage Breeds Conservancy. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Rare Breeds Canada. Rare Breeds Australia, with by far the best Breed Profile pages. New Zealand Rare Breeds. Desert Heritage Breeds. Rare Steeds. "Eating these breeds may be the best way to save them", so, for shopping. [more inside]
posted by OmieWise at 10:52 AM PST - 14 comments
'Atsa one catchy-a tune-a!
The Sounds of Pasta
posted by grumblebee at 10:34 AM PST - 23 comments
Typing with your brain. A new device, picture d here, allows people to type with only their thoughts, though only slowly. Add this to the monkey-brain controlled robot arm (avi), and the soon-to-be commercially available BrainGate implant, [previously], and you've got, well, an interesting future...
posted by blahblahblah at 10:23 AM PST - 18 comments
long live waterfall
The Waterfall process is back. Attention all project managers.
posted by bingo at 9:11 AM PST - 32 comments
Tell 'em Uncle Alberto Says It's Cool
'The committee is, to put it bluntly, basically under the control of the White House," said Jay Rockefeller, vice-president of the Senate Intelligence Committee, after the committee quashed a broad inquiry into the legality of the NSA spying on Americans -- despite an increasing number of legal scholars coming forward and declaring that the program is "blatantly illegal," in the words of Yale Law School dean Harold Koh. Meanwhile, the GOP proposes giving spying on Americans the "force of law" while subjecting it to "rigorous oversight."
"God created man exactly how Bible describes it." A Gallup report released today reveals that more than half of all Americans, rejecting evolution theory and scientific evidence, agree with the statement.
Expat Power?
It can be tough to be a Canadian expat in the US. All those silly little misconceptions about igloos, dogsleds and hockey to combat. Oh, and some stuff from American pundits that makes us feel bad. But don't feel too blue. The Canadian Embassy in Washington has you covered. Are you doing your expat duty?
posted by generichuman at 7:36 AM PST - 79 comments
strawberry in Kanji?
A history of computer character sets in Japan JIS X 0208 (originally JIS C 6226) of 1978 was the first JIS character set to include kanji. It specified 6,335 kanji, arranged by frequency into two levels ... Many bizarre mistakes were made in transcribing names, resulting in several new kanji coming into existance.
Internet Success Story: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are a band that, less than a year ago, were making music without the help of a record label, pressing CDs themselves and selling them at concerts and on the Internet. Then the following happened: June 9: Dan Bierne writes about the band on his MP3 blog, June 14: Pitchfork Media posts a review of the song "In This Home On Ice", June 15: Blogger Gothamist posts an interview with the band, June 20: Blogger Stereogum announces the band's show at the Knitting Factory, June 21: Gothamist reports that David Bowie was in the audience at the Knitting Factory show, and June 22: Pitchfork posts one of a slew of reviews of Clap's first album. Now, they've been named to dozens of critics 'best of' lists, they're playing Conan and Letterman, and are about to embark on a new tour. Why choose today to post an article about a band blowing up written in November you ask? Because their tour kicks off tonight at the 9:30 club in DC, and you can listen to it live.
posted by ND¢ at 6:44 AM PST - 140 comments
The coming peasant uprising
China's next great uprising. Folks in the countryside are mad. Real mad. Hence the not-so-"new socialist countryside" plan. Welcome to the dark side of China's rise.
Want to be obsessed with your grocery store?
It took 30 years to spread from California to New York but the Trader Joe's grocery store chain is finally making a foothold in the Big Apple. The deniznes of NYC will now be able to obsess about something new. Not everyone is a fan, but maybe it's just that they haven't yet tried the Two-buck Chuck.
posted by scblackman at 4:39 AM PST - 113 comments
Hanoi Panoramas
Beautifuly atmospheric 360 degree photography in the streets of Hanoi, by Vietnamese photographer Thinh Le. Also black and white panoramas of Downtown Saigon and Chaudoc. A little info on the camera and technique.
posted by MetaMonkey at 3:39 AM PST - 11 comments
Juggernaut dubbing
Exclusive X-Men 3 footage
posted by jimmy at 11:59 PM PST - 47 comments
Call them bum wines, street wines, fortified wines, wino wines...
Bumwine.com: "Call them bum wines, street wines, fortified wines, wino wines, or twist-cap wines. Whatever you call these beverages for the economical drunkard, this page explores the top five. So curl up on a heating duct and enjoy..." I stumbled (sober, honestly) across Bumwine.com while researching the right beverage to enliven a fictional description of lewd drunkenness in an email to a friend. It's an informative, sometimes humorous, reference site--historical and otherwise--to the world of inexpensive wines with useful links to other sites and articles, like this one (including a tutorial) from the Michigan Daily.
posted by josephtate at 11:39 PM PST - 52 comments
Before Little Nemo, there were the Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend
I feel so bad since I ate that rarebit!
March 8 is International Women's Day.
March 8 is International Women's Day. And I stumbled across some stunning graphic design, a collection of classic Russian posters, the history of the poster as a form of protest, this cool pin to wear tomorrow, and much much more. Take a moment to commemorate a special woman tomorrow.
Is the unconscious clinic worker hot?
Debating the Moral Status of the Embryo. A favorite scenario of some bioethicists in this debate is often a variation of "if a fertility clinic were on fire and you had only enough time to run in once to effect a rescue, which would you grab—the unconscious clinic worker/or a tank full of hundreds of frozen embryos?" Sometimes the debate degenerates...
posted by homunculus at 7:33 PM PST - 98 comments
Farmadelphia
Farmadeliphication (fahr'muh'deli'fi'kay'shun), n. 1. The process of turning all of Philadelphia's vacant and abandoned lots into urban farms. n. 2. An entry in the UrbanVoids international design competition to redo Philadelphia's inner city.
His weapon was a camera....
A true pioneer has left us. Gordon Parks dead at 93. His ground-breaking work as a still photographer of color during the civil rights movement was enough to garner him a place in history but he strove for excellence throughout his life. His first movie, the Learning Tree is a classic and of course he also gave us Shaft. He was a bonafide renaissance man excelling in music and painting and even wrote a ballet based on Martin Luther King. He was truly one-of-a-kind.
posted by photoslob at 5:57 PM PST - 26 comments
Will Wright demonstrates "spore". Almost unquestionably the most ambitious game ever, being demonstrated by designer Will Wright, of SimCity and Sims fame.
posted by thanatogenous at 5:41 PM PST - 101 comments
The Star Wars Holiday Special, my god is it awful.
Q. What was the worst program to ever air on U.S. network television that George Lucas has been trying to silence since its first airing?
A. The Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978 can be viewed HERE.
Random highlights of this truly horrible program can be found here. (.mov, ~5 min.)
posted by Mijo Bijo at 3:55 PM PST - 96 comments
'The work is located on the outskirts of Valentine, Texas near Marfa on desolate ranching land with no other visible trace of civilization. As one drives toward the artwork it will appear to be a large minimalist sculpture, as one gets closer it will look like a luxury boutique where a display of Fall 2005 high-heel Prada shoes and bags will be seen through the store front windows. Yet, one cannot open the door, it is a sealed time capsule and will never function as a place of commerce.'
posted by driveler at 2:22 PM PST - 27 comments
Are we not men?
A Kurdish family in Turkey can only walk on all fours. Some claim that their genetic defects have led to a sort of "backward evolution." An upcoming BBC documentary (pdf) will share their story.
posted by zonkout at 2:19 PM PST - 55 comments
Here, God exists in Four Colors and Two Dimensions.
Jimmy Olsen is a Lutheran. Really. And Clark Kent? Methodist, it seems. Daredevil, Gambit, Huntress and The Punisher? Catholics, all of them, though I have to wonder when Frank Castle last went to Confession. With about half of DC Comic's line-up heading to church in the latest issue of Infinite Crisis and knowing that Civil War is imminent in the House of Marvel, what better time than now to contemplate the particular faiths of our two-dimensional heroes.
posted by grabbingsand at 1:25 PM PST - 45 comments
Can I borrow a fiver? No? How about a grand?
Prosper is people-to-people money lending online. [via fosfor]
The Muslim Brotherhood The Muslim Brotherhood Are they Islam's version of the KKK or something much different? According to Robert Baer's books on his experiences as a CIA agent in the middle east, the followers of the brotherhood are the one's really responsible for the Lockerbie 747 terrorist attack, attacks against the embassies in Lebanon and Kenya, and very possibly 9-11. What is the history of the brotherhood and why have they been overlooked for so long? Britain seems to be taking an interest in them lately, what do they know that the U.S. refuses to acknowledge? Funded by the Saudis, supported by Iran, supporters of Hamas; by going after Al-Qaeda is the west on a wild goose chase that may end up with their own defeat? And finally, is this part of a secret war that Iran has waged against the U.S. since the embassy takeover after the Shah was forced to leave back in the late 1970's? And finally, what does the Muslim Brotherhood have to say about all this?
Worst Product Design...EVAR
50% of all product returns are due to poor design. Well color me surprised, kids. It seems as though we always take for granted the products we use on a regular basis. But most things I use just plain suck due to the design and resultant user experience. How often do you find yourself fighting with your mobile phone, DVD player, 80-button AV receiver and 15 component TV systems? Which products are paragons of good design, and which should be thrown away with the dishwater? What's the most infuriating product you've ever used? My choices for bad design: BMW's iDrive. Good design: iPod.
posted by tgrundke at 12:43 PM PST - 137 comments
New Online Image Editor
Pixoh is a new online simple image editor in the vein of PXN8. Pixoh, however, allows quick image import and export from Flickr or upload any other webpage via bookmarklet. At the moment, only the most basic of editing tools are available, but the creators - in the spirit of Web2.0 openness - promise new features based on user votes. Effect for MeFi? Oversized inline images won't know what hit 'em.
posted by youarenothere at 12:21 PM PST - 7 comments
Sports Illustrated has an excerpt from the upcoming book Game of Shadows. The book claims to have detailed evidence of heavy drug use by Barry Bonds. Tom Verducci of SI (who has a Hall of Fame vote) has suggested this will keep him out of the Hall and is damning as the Dowd Report, which lead to a lifetime ban for Pete Rose. Would this provide any kind of closure to the steroid era? If Bonds does not sue, is that as good as an admission? And although his motives can be considered dubious, did Jose Canseco end up becoming a savior of baseball?
posted by dig_duggler at 12:18 PM PST - 78 comments
Bombing religious site.
Newsfilter: Indian temple city hit by blasts.
"Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution" -- an online exhibit
Behind the microphone...
CSN has been called the Clear Channel of the low power FM's. One of the many broadcasting arms of Calvary Chapel. It owns and operates over 400 stations. Apparently its board, consisting of two members, is about to self destruct. But the story doesn't end there. Its president is being accused of sexual harassment and is also being accused of defaulting on a million dollar loan. The loan came from Calvary Chapel founder and Pastor, Chuck Smith, who has a history with the guy. CSN's president wants the board dissolved but that could be a problem. By some accounts, next in line to head the board is one Pastor Skip Heltzig, who seems to be involved in a bit of a scandal of his own. Church defenders say the troubles are private matters, critics say the movement has a history of covering things up. (Some links are .pdf)
posted by wyldeboi at 11:50 AM PST - 4 comments
Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
Prof. Daniel Dennett's (New York University, Philosophy) new book Breaking the Spell appears to have frightened its NYT book reviewer, Leon Wieseltier (The New Republic, Literary Editor). Wieselter claims "The question of the place of science in human life is not a scientific question. It is a philosophical question", and promptly proceeds to demonstrate that he himself knows nothing about philosophy. Dennett responds.
Prof. Brian Leiter (University of Texas, Philosophy) responds that "'The view that science can explain all human conditions and expressions, mental as well as physical' is not a 'superstition' but a reasonable methodological posture to adopt based on the actual evidence, that is, based on the actual expanding success of the sciences . . . during the last hundred years."
b l o g s s and serious reviews.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:10 AM PST - 142 comments
Braaaii*hic*nzzz
Philly Zombie Crawl Do a little dance. Make a little love. Get dead tonight. Get dead tonight.
posted by FunkyHelix at 11:07 AM PST - 9 comments
"Democracy Now!"
Democracy Now! Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" has been featured in many Metafilter posts over the years but I didn't find any direct links to the main site recently. Daily video webcasts are available and the program is also heard on many Pacifica stations. Today's reports :
Lawless World: Bush Considered Flying US Spy Planes Painted With UN Colors Over Iraq In 2003 to Provoke War. Interview with the author of "Lawless World", Philippe Sands, detailing Bush-Blair meeting committing to Iraq war in January 2003.
Former UK Soldier Urges Others to Refuse To Fight in Iraq.USA Today is reporting at least 8,000 men and women have now deserted the U.S. military since the United States invaded Iraq three years ago.
posted by notmtwain at 11:00 AM PST - 40 comments
Flickr Leech
Flickr Leech is an API hack that, among other features, allows you to view all the photos with the flickr "interestingness" attribute by date in a single thumbnail page.
posted by jonson at 10:02 AM PST - 10 comments
Beatpick: not evil at all at all?
We know Magnatune aren't evil, but as web record labels go, are Beatpick less evil still? In his response to a post at the Creative Commons blog, Beatpick's David D'Atri sets out their philosophy, and highlights some differences.
posted by nthdegx at 9:29 AM PST - 10 comments
Setting the records straight
This guy designed the famous Rolling Stones logo. Not this guy. Talk amongst yourselves.
Fractal Bacteria
These images remind us never to underestimate our opponent. -- The science behind the art (.pdf). Fractal art by way of bacteria growin' in a petri dish. A few more images here.
posted by Gator at 8:20 AM PST - 7 comments
Solomon Amendment held constitutional
The Solomon Amendment is constitutional. The 8-0 holding in Rumsfeld v. FAIR (PDF), contrary to much of the media coverage, does not force law schools to allow the military to recruit, it merely ensures that they will not receive federal funds if they do not (text of the U.S. Code affected by the Solomon Amendment). A distinction without a difference? The ACLU is not happy with the outcome; "Protest & Amelioration" have been demanded. More inside.
posted by rkent at 7:59 AM PST - 78 comments
Plane? What plane?
Blackstar to orbit? Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in its most recent issue that a two-stage-to-orbit system may have been declared operational during the 1990s. The Blackstar system appears to have heritage from three other X-Planes, the X-20 Dynasoar, the XB-70 Valkyrie, and the X-30 National Aerospace Plane. [Related MeFi post] [via]
posted by Fat Guy at 7:59 AM PST - 32 comments
NJ Assemblyman Proposes Outlawing Anonymous Internet Flaming
New Jersey Assemblyman Peter Biondi didn't like that he and his friends are getting flamed on the news portal NJ.com by people named, inter alia, "frenchtoast2." So he introduced a bill, and that bill would require "operators of interactive computer services" to make members' real names available upon demand, and allow content providers to be sued for contributory defamation. And he saw that this was good. And that was the first day.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:56 AM PST - 35 comments
Welcome to North Carolina
"I just hit several people with a vehicle," he told the dispatcher. "I don't have any weapons or anything on me; you can come and arrest me now." Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar punishes 9 Chapel Hill students for the actions of the United States government. "People all over the world are being killed in war and now it is the people in the United States turn to be killed."
Dana Reeves dies at 44.
Dana Reeves wife of Christopher Reeves, although not a smoker, died today from lung cancer. (WP)
posted by sierray at 6:59 AM PST - 42 comments
Timbuktu Sings the Blues
Malian bluesman and Ry Cooder collaborator Ali Farka Touré has died at age 66 (or maybe 67). Through his music, and especially his collaborative projects with Western musicians, Touré convincingly made the case that the rhythms and melodies of the Delta blues came straight from Mali and neighboring countries.
posted by kcds at 6:33 AM PST - 33 comments
Behind the numbers: Indian weddings
70 private cars, 50 000 kilos of flowers, 3000 candles, 65 000 yards of fabric. Those are just a few of the figures from the wedding of New York playboy and (wait for it) hotel heir Vikram Chatwal to model Priya Sachdev. Last year, Lakshmi Mittal (the world's third-richest man, according to Forbes) spent over $60 million for his daughter Vanisha's wedding. What kind of wedding does $60 million buy? A song-and-dance by Aishwarya Rai, among other Bollywood luminaries; ceremonies at the Tuileries and Versailles; and top chefs and designers at your beck and call. In 2004, the Sahara Group's Subrata Roy built three mock palaces on the edge of a lake in Uttar Pradesh; his sons' double wedding had 11 000 guests. Mr. Roy's company paid for the weddings of 101 couples (numbers ending in '1' are considered auspicious) who couldn't afford to get married, and also fed 140 000 poor people across the country (all as part of the festivities). All of this sound like idle gossip? The wedding business is huge in India; it's a $10bn business (and growing at 25% annually), and the demand for gold wedding jewelry, according to analysts, "helped lift the metal's price to a 25-year high last month." Appliance retailers offer discounts during weddings season; there are personal loans available for weddings; and there's even an entire mall devoted to weddings. As the Christian Science Monitor notes, the minimum a middle-class Indian family will spend on a wedding is $34 000. (The average American wedding? $26 327.) And who makes up the Indian middle class? "Those making $4,545 to $23,000 a year." More on Indian wedding traditions here.
posted by anjamu at 8:57 PM PST - 58 comments
Remember the UHB?
What became of Whit Stillman.
posted by grumblebee at 7:30 PM PST - 23 comments
totally unexpected
Simply the best Rice Krispies commercial ever. ....from YouTube. I'm speechless...
posted by lilboo at 7:00 PM PST - 54 comments
A Real Man Passes
Ivor Cutler, 1923-2006; poet, artist, musician, mensch; passed away on Friday. (previously)
posted by scruss at 5:54 PM PST - 31 comments
Kirby Puckett, RIP
Kirby Puckett has died at the age of 44 after suffering a stroke.
posted by billysumday at 5:36 PM PST - 99 comments
Cease & Desist this! Bill Cosby still has no sense of humor.
waxy.org vows to fight Bill Cosby's lawyers and continue to provide hosting to House of Cosbys despite receiving a cease & desist letter [PDF]. Andy Baio, founder of waxy.org, discusses this in the NY Times and provides updates on his site. As previously posted, Bill Cosby's lawyers were successful in getting the creators of House of Cosbys to stop hosting and making new episodes of their parody series.
It appears that threatening letters and lawsuits will continue to be filed against internet parody sites as celebrities try to protect what they view as their copyright, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Porcine Personality.
Draw a pig and see what it says about your personality.
Not in a million years, did we believe he would be able to wheel that bomb right through the front door of that casino
In the early hours of August 26, 1980, two men wheeled a large metal box into one of Lake Tahoe's largest casinos. Thus began a 48-hour saga involving a US$3,000,000 ransom and bungling on both sides resulting in the detonation [MOV] of the device, causing $13 million in property damage and all but demolishing the casino. To this day, the bomb in question remains one of the most sophisticated ever created -- in this case by a former patron hard on his luck. A drama in nine parts: 1•2•3•4•5•6•7•8•9. [via]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:38 PM PST - 21 comments
Living the life of men of leisure
It's hard out here for a pimp. (Photo gallery, flash, some images NSFW.)
Origins of blond hair.
Why are so many Europeans blond(e)? Recent genetics research shows blond appeared only about 10,000 years ago, too quickly for normal natural evolution; an anthropologist has a suggestion why.
Romantic Natural History
Romantic Natural History: "A website designed to survey relationships between literary works and natural history in the century before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859)." Including links to various natural historians from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, illustrations and illustrators, literary figures in Romanticism, and, of course, much more.
posted by OmieWise at 1:50 PM PST - 9 comments
"This One's For You, Walt!"
Thomas Kinkade, Painter of LightTM, seeks to "to touch people of all faiths, to bring peace, and joy into their lives through the images he creates." Not all of his side ventures have been considered successful. But now the Christian-themed artist is accused of ruthless business tactics and seamy personal conduct, including drunkenly heckling Siegfried & Roy and, um, wantonly marking his territory. Perhaps Kinkade hopes to follow in the footsteps of Jack the Dripper?
posted by maryh at 12:27 PM PST - 110 comments
Calling all Peytons
All I have to do is change my name to Peyton, motivate my girlfriend to marry me and have a baby, and hey presto! young Peyton will receive a six-figure scholarship to Brighton College in England, explains the BBC because the college can't fulfil the bequest by former pupil Derek Wakehurst Peyton. Brighton looks a nice place so roll up all Peytons, the college principal is spreading "the net wider to the United States, Australia and beyond." Second thoughts ... maybe simpler for me simply to motivate her to change her name ...
posted by Schroder at 11:23 AM PST - 11 comments
Pocket Death Ray
Anybody need a pocket death ray? These guys sell a green laser pointer which is powerful enough to ignite matches, pop balloons, and cut black electrical tape.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:53 AM PST - 49 comments
Oscar Roundups
"Mixed" reviews of John Stewart's performance last night. A reminder that someone warned in February that Crash might win best picture because many Academy members were "unwilling to screen Brokeback Mountain" [permalinks broken, scroll down]. Marvel that YouTube somehow managed to get rights [cough] to Oscar video, at the Oscar frocks and that thing on Charlize Theron's shoulder, and at the persistent myth that a billion people watched the awards.
posted by mediareport at 10:47 AM PST - 188 comments
Humanities in Academia
Camille Paglia: WHAT went wrong at Harvard? "Over the past 40 years, there has been a radical expansion of administrative bureaucracies on American college campuses that has distorted the budget and turned education toward consumerism, a checkbook alliance with parents who are being bled dry by grotesquely exorbitant tuitions."
Massive Resistance
Tom Parker writes that "State supreme courts may decline to follow bad U.S. Supreme Court precedents.... faithful adherence to the judicial oath requires resistance to [U.S. Supreme Court] activism...." Parker hopes that a lower court's decision against precedent might prevail, either because the U.S. Supreme Court's membership may have changed since the precedent was decided, or just by jamming the docket, "[b]ecause the U.S. Supreme Court can accept only a handful of the petitions it receives...."
So who is this Tom Parker who advocates a massive resistance to Federal Supremacy? A fringe nut? A southern succesionist? Why, he's just an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama.
posted by orthogonality at 10:26 AM PST - 42 comments
The Aural Times - Singing the News So You Don't Have To
The Aural Times - We Sing the News So You Don't Have To [from the talented mind of Josh Millard, a.k.a. cortex.]
posted by dios at 9:12 AM PST - 16 comments
Beating petty persons in Wan Chai
Today is Jingzhe (驚蟄). Legend has it that on the day when insects and hibernating animals are awakening and the demon white tiger starts to seek its prey, the petty person would also start to offend others by making rude remarks. Therefore it is advisable to honor the white tiger with sacrifices and beat the petty person on this day.
From CXB: In the days of yore, the petty person you hated so much was beaten up for some good time by the professional beaters (about HK$50 per fix) with Chinese cloth shoes vigorously. But what a sad fact for your nemesis! These beaters these days use high heels, which in my opinion is ten times deadlier than cloth shoes.
posted by rxrfrx at 8:17 AM PST - 15 comments
Curtis Salgado - the original Blues Brother
"John Belushi is here," Curtis Salgado said to his bandmates after that fateful show in Eugene, Oregon, one evening in 1977 (pdf). "[We said, 'Who's John Belushi?' because for as long as we could remember, we'd always had to work on Saturday nights."
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:11 AM PST - 16 comments
Why aren't western marriages arranged? So the Church could make more money. (via fark)
360-degree panoramic galleries of European cities
Arounder has an ongoing collection of high-quality full screen Quicktime VR panoramas of European cities, focusing on famous artistic and cultural landmarks (in Rome, Florence, Köln, Barcelona, Cyprus), with interactive maps and travel information. A collaboration with national tourist offices by Swiss company Vrway Communication, which also publishes Vrmag, a bi-monthly review of panorama photography, and the FullscreenQTVR directory in collaboration with the well-known panoramas.dk (previously mentioned on metafilter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Muslim heritage is an intriguing and rather pretty website detailing contributions of a thousand years. Make sure to see the timelineand events sections. Their new "weblog" seems to be shaping up to be interesting too, have a rummage.
posted by Mossy at 3:43 AM PST - 60 comments
Married to the sea
Married to the sea. Drew of toothpaste for dinner fame and his wife Natalie have now paired up in this collaborative work, turning old-style comics and drawings into something we've grown to expect from them.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 10:26 PM PST - 50 comments
The Curious Lentograph
The Curious Lentograph Coming soon to a thrift store near you.
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 9:33 PM PST - 18 comments
Govoreet Dobby, Droog?
An index to 1,696 constructed languages. (or just look at the top 200) From the Nadsat of a Clockwork Orange and Tolkein's Quenya to Star Trek's Darmonk, a language based solely on parables (though Gene Wolfe got there first) and Borges's language of Tlon, there is plenty here for science fiction fans and language geeks alike. And, yes, for all you fanatics, Esperanto is listed, as is your source for news in Special English, limited to a 1500 word vocabulary.
The great horseshoe controversy
The stranger asked to see the shoe; The farmer brought it into view; But when the old man raised his head, He laughed outright and quickly said: "No wonder skies upon you frown, You've nailed the horse-shoe upside down; Just turn it round, and soon you'll see How you and Fortune will agree. In some cultures, the horseshoe is hung points down (so the luck pours onto you); in others, it is hung points up (so the luck doesn't fall out). Some think this controversy has precedes superstitious Pennsylvanian farmers. And lets not get started with hex signs.
Celebrate March 20th
Celebrate March 20th Women have a special day set aside: Valentine's Day. Now a new holiday being promulgated for Men to show love and devotion from their significant others. [nsfw]
Seth Godin @ Google
An engaging presentation given by bald marketing dude Seth Godin to the Google people on February 28. Godin goes over his usual themes, Permission Marketing, Ideas as virus, marketing as stories, etc. He also claims that technology without marketing can't win in the marketplace. 48 minutes on Google Video
posted by growabrain at 4:05 PM PST - 46 comments
Jet-Powered VW Beetle
The Beetle was chosen because it looks cool with the jet and it shows it off well. [link via Make Blog (with photos)]
Take us to your . . . meteorologist?
Red Rain of Kerala "A red rain phenomenon occurred in Kerala, the place where I live, during July-September 2001. The characteristics of this phenomenon were very strange. Conventional explanations appeared totally inadequate to account for this phenomenon." Could this red dust be evidence of comet-borne life? More
posted by John of Michigan at 3:52 PM PST - 19 comments
"I know--that's redundant."
Colbertfilter: Stephen waxes nostalgic with the release of Stormreach: DnD Online. Need a glossary? Len Lakofka. Lawful Good. Displacer Beasts. Beholders. GenCon. Mindflayer. Need some new dice? What DnD character are you? Grognards rejoice! You are not alone!
posted by bardic at 3:27 PM PST - 165 comments
His most notable eartly role was as a contestant in the "ugly man competition" (which he loses to Charles Laughton) in the RKO production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
There was a time when his scowling, oversized visage, his battered black fedora, and his long black coat, were as familiar to horror fans as such characters as Frankenstein and Dracula. This character, who appeared in three films, was called "The Brute Man" or "The Creeper."
Only that terrifying face wasn't a mask or a creation of makeup. It was an actual face, a product of a condition called agromegaly. And The Creeper never planned to be an actor at all, he was simply decorated war veteran-turned-Tampa reporter who had shown up one day to cover a film. The movie's director noticed him and recommended he move to Hollywood and pursue a career as a character actor.
He was Rondo Hatton.
The Coming Meltdown. The incredible story of Lonnie Thompson - West Virginia conservative, world-class mountaineer, glaciologist, and leading climatologist who first told Congress the world is heating up in 1988, "the moment at which the greenhouse era really began".
Why we can't get along
Incredibly bold opinion offered on Al-Jazeera by Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian expatriate, psychologist and woman giving her opinions on the root cause of the current Islam/Western conflict. (video with subtitles).
posted by SwingingJohnson1968 at 1:11 PM PST - 138 comments
Obviously you know what's going on inside the tent...
Lego Brokeback Mountain Are we bored of Brokeback yet or can we still have a laugh at some cute little lego scenes...?
posted by atticus at 12:01 PM PST - 25 comments
"The new Audrey Hepburn?"
"Damn, Natalie, you a crazy chick!" (video) Natalie Portman, rapper and riot grrl? Maybe Lazy Sunday (video;mefi post) wasn't a freak occurence after all. Personally, I had expected the Lonely Planet guys to end up a one-hit wonder, but in my book they've (at least) moved up a notch to talented one-trick pony. Another very well-done digital short that should be seen by a lot more people than SNL's dismal ratings will allow.
posted by Sinner at 10:46 AM PST - 99 comments
"I am zooming in on a tight shot of the dead guy and a splash of red. Going into his khaki uniform in a pool of blood in the sand. The dead man's face is slightly gray. You are making a visual here. But inside something is screaming, "My God.' But it is time to work. Deal with the rest later. If you can't do it, get out of the game." Just two months after winning the Pulitzer Prize, South African photojournalist Kevin Carter, a member of the Bang Bang Club, a group of four incredibly brave apartheid-era South African photojournalists, got out. A film about his life and death is nominated for an Oscar.
posted by biscotti at 9:56 AM PST - 29 comments
The stray shopping cart project
Trolley-spotting : Dedicated to developing a system of classification that allows stray shopping carts to be identified based on the situations in which they are found.
þykja
The Answer : A one minute video shot in Iceland. (google video)
posted by hypersloth at 9:13 AM PST - 70 comments
the longest storm
The New Orleans Effect: Crime is up. Schools are overcrowded. Hospitals are jammed. Houston welcomed a flood of hurricane evacuees with open arms. But now the city is suffering from a case of 'compassion fatigue.'
illustrated journeys
Kathrin2305's Moleskine slideshow The non-flash version. (via robot wisdom) -more-
posted by madamjujujive at 6:38 AM PST - 22 comments
Haven't we learned anything?
White House dedicates itself to rooting out true danger to the country. No, I am not talking about Al Qaeda. Actually the true danger appears to be any news that puts this administration and their tactics in a bad light. It's okay to use leaks when needed, but the safety of this country relies on the need to quit thinking about what is being reported and uncovered, and to start focusing on the fact that anyone would dare report it in the first place.
posted by UseyurBrain at 6:08 AM PST - 39 comments
No Jaws of Life here.
How to build a bike. Much more inside.
Mashup bites back
Corysucks.com is an index of Cory Doctorow's posts to Boing Boing ranked according to how much they suck. [not via boing boing]
posted by srboisvert at 4:09 AM PST - 135 comments
I Hope All Your Troubles Get Zapped
Starcade was an arcade-themed game show that aired in the early 1980's. Today is the last day to watch episode #59 online.
posted by milquetoast at 4:07 AM PST - 20 comments
What does a dollar buy these days?
"If ever a company needed a marketing department, it's New Choice, whose Original Flavor Round Crackers take the cake for stating the obvious. Points should be awarded for attempts to woo health-conscious consumers with facts about added DHA ("prevents heart attack, enhances eye sight"), but there's no two ways to look at Round Crackers: It's a badly executed Ritz rip-off." So sayeth the wits at the Onion A.V. Club, who scour the nation's dollar stores for food products to evaluate in their sporadic feature "Dining for a Dollar." Round crackers too boring? You might prefer Freakin' Nuts (tagline: Is it a chip? Is it a nut? Yes!), Thick Mints, or maybe just a handful of Balls. Their annual Cheap Toy Roundup is just as good; last year's featured products such as Preeminent Car ($1), Stretchy Body Bits ($1.19), and a DVD titled Clothes That Went to a Party ($2). Perhaps the all-time best, though, is the Mini Wooden Furniture: Table: a "plain, unadorned wooden table." ($1)
posted by anjamu at 11:40 PM PST - 12 comments
Ascaris lumbricoides
Ascaris lumbricoides. According to estimates, about 1.5 billion people--about a quarter of the earth's population--are hosts to the Ascaris lumbricoides parasitic worm. Ascaris worms can grow to be 18 inches in length, and use their host's windpipe and esophagus to migrate between the small intestine and the lungs. A single human host may support dozen of large worms, which can be contracted by contact with fecal matter, animals, or undercooked pork. Under some circumstances (the worms dislike anesthesia, for example) one or more worms may exit from the mouth (a horrifying image), or the anus (one of the most disgusting images I have ever seen, and not safe for work, obviously). Here, the removal of a worm is caught on video (Realplayer). Too disgusting to post? Almost. But 1.5 billion people have got these in their bodies right now. That's what's grosser than gross.
posted by washburn at 10:06 PM PST - 96 comments
Focus! some high nrg rock video from the 70's via YouTube via WFMUs beware of the blog.
posted by celerystick at 9:44 PM PST - 25 comments
Monks and Beer
Trappist Ale. (warning, music on first link.) The six Belgian breweries Achel (little English), Chimay, Orval, Rochefort (unofficial site), Westmalle (no English), and Westvleteren, along with the Dutch brewery De Konigshoeven/La Trappe (first is English link to monastery, second is non-English brewery site.) are the only recognized producers of Trappist beers, although the latter was only recently granted the appellation after several years without it. Ranging from the relatively commercial and large-scale operations of Chimay and La Trappe to the other extreme of Westvleteren, who want to live quietly and don't want their beer distributed, these beers are considered some of the best in the world.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 9:30 PM PST - 38 comments
Drive for show, put for dough
A little high stakes golf, anyone? It's no surprise that people play golf for high stakes, but it does make for an entertaining read.
posted by mosk at 8:11 PM PST - 13 comments
Tamborine hero is next
Ever since someone wrote software to teach geeks to dance, the DDR craze has enjoyed quite a number of spin-offs. Karaoke Revolution got people singing. Donkey Konga is the same thing but for bongo drums. Guitar Hero for the PS2 has gotten rave reviews and while letting you rip some guitar solos. Christian game makers are even cashing in with Dance Praise. But nothing comes close to the coolness of Accordion Hero. Squeeze hard, die young.
posted by mathowie at 7:21 PM PST - 31 comments
Restores My Faith in the Internet
The Incredible Aine Chambers has a website. Chock full of everything you need to know should you visit County Sligo, Ireland. Some are comparing her to Mahir - some folks commenting are taking the piss. But the fact is there is more energy and vitality in Aine's site than 100 blogs. Oh, and she's got video as well.
posted by jettloe at 6:05 PM PST - 32 comments
Pink-skinned five-fingered Simpsons
Real-life recreation of The Simpsons opening. (YouTube link)
Honda's last TV ad was a treat for Rube Goldberg fans everywhere. Their latest (9.4MB zipped H.264 video) is an excellent demonstration of the human voice as an instrument.
posted by Mwongozi at 3:56 PM PST - 22 comments
Alien in a barrel comes ashore
Pram bugs invade Shetland. It's a strange wee sea beastie called a phronima. which cruises the oceans in its clear jelly barrel made from an unlucky sea squirt. More at the bottom of these Shetland nature notes here
posted by Flitcraft at 3:31 PM PST - 15 comments
Why is there more social acceptance, but less and less progress towards legal rights and equality?
...his boyfriend Josh. --beautiful story, made all the more poignant at a time of more and more state constitutional amendments ensuring second-class citizenship, and a Democratic party urging us to just shut up already, but still give.
Son of playwright Bruce Jay Friedman, by the way
It's been a while since the glory days of Raw Magazine, but when it was still published the cartoonist whose work I found most intriguing was the pointillist-styled, celebrity obsessed world of Drew Friedman.
Through All the Lousy Luck
I first read "Ask the Dust" in 1971 when I was doing research for "Chinatown". I was concerned about the way people really sounded when they talked, and I was dissatisfied with everything else I had read that was written during the '30s. I wanted the real thing, as Henry James would say. When I picked up Fante's "Ask the Dust," I just knew that was the way those kids talked to each other—the rhythms, cadences, racism.
Robert Towne on adapting John Fante's novel for the big screen. More inside.
The Reinvention of the Self
Neurogenesis Neurogenesis, the birth of new brain cells, was something we were all taught was impossible after a certain point. Professor Elizabeth Gould, doctor of psychology at Princeton, has claimed that it happens all the time. (more) Now, she and her team at Princeton are saying not only is our brain always changing, stress and environment directly affect brain development.
posted by blacklite at 10:44 AM PST - 27 comments
Ask Your VA Doctor About Sucrosa
Are you a Gulf War veteran still suffering from mysterious symptoms or post-combat trauma? The Veteran's Administration has just the prescription for you: "Obecalp," otherwise known as placebo. (p.s. -- They'd better start working on an Extra-Strength version for Iraq War vets.)
Write this one in your diary Anne!
When Iranian paper Hamshahri (in Persian) launched a contest for Holocaust cartoons, an Israeli group responded in turn with a contest of their own for cartoons that make fun of Jews. Too bad it closed yesterday, or the Dutch branch of the AEL could submit theirs. (WARNING: some of the linked content may be offensive to readers' ethnicities, cultures, religions, or tastes.)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:07 AM PST - 20 comments
The $39 Experiment
About ten hours (over the course of two days) and exactly two bloodshot eyes later, it was complete. I had 100 letters to 100 different companies — stuffed, sealed, stamped, and ready to go. I put all 100 letters into the mail on Friday, February 24, 2006 at 9 AM. Now all that was left to do was sit back and wait for a response (or two?) via
posted by Kwantsar at 8:54 AM PST - 62 comments
Time management for anarchists
Time Management for Anarchists is an idea long overdue...if you ask me.
The Open Earth Archive
The Natural World is yours to play with now courtesy of the BBC, but only if you live in the UK!
The BBC have released their wildlife archives as part of the Creative Archive Licence, including unseen clips from the new Planet Earth series.
Unfortunately, it's only available to those who live in the UK because "the member organisations who supply the content are funded with public money to serve the UK population."
posted by Nugget at 4:50 AM PST - 35 comments
A world of sounds.
A world of sounds. Despite their difficult URL, The Freesound Project has grown at a rapid pace over the last year, arguably surpassing archive.org's audio library when it comes to sound effects, field recordings, site design, and usability. Now Freesound is combining their sound library with geotagging and Google Maps, allowing users to navigate the world by sound too! (previously on mefi)
A 'startup school' was hosted by net guru Paul Graham in late fall in Boston last year, which brought together a few hundred would-be Web 2.0 success stories to hear advice from previous success stories, players in the tech industry, and even a few pieces of legend. The Presentations page contains links and slideshows for each presenter, and you get to hear (mp3) from an excellent cross-section of some of the modern web's most influential tinkerers.
posted by spiderwire at 3:17 AM PST - 19 comments
The Day Vegas Shook
The Day Las Vegas Shook What were you doing at 11:45am on May 4, 1988? If you were a resident of southern Nevada, you'd remember. That was the day rocket fuel factory PEPCON was wiped off the map in a series of 7 explosions, two of which measured 3.0 and 3.5 on the Richter scale. The explosions sent shockwaves across the valley, taking with it marshmellow cream from the marshmellow factory next door, denting garage doors miles away, and shattering damn near every window in Henderson. As the valley's 500,000 residents stood outside wondering what caused the explosion and the massive plume of smoke, many speculated the Russians had inexplicably attacked Henderson. Miraculously, only two people died. PEPCON never operated another day in Nevada and moved to Utah.
posted by b_thinky at 3:16 AM PST - 37 comments
Is this Zebra Chair Too Realistic?
Is this Zebra Chair Too Realistic? "We prefer to get our chicken cutlets cut up and packaged neatly so as not to have to look at the poultry as something that once walked the earth. Ditto with beef. We love a good leather chair, but again anything too realistic (think "cow print") can give us the heebie-geebies..." Folks at Apartment Therapy ponder this piece of purrniture.
posted by azul at 3:00 AM PST - 17 comments
Howzat!
The Googly blog has been launched by Shiny Shiny. With the entry of China into the arena, cricket is poised to become the number one international sport.
posted by tellurian at 1:52 AM PST - 15 comments
"Awesome."
Kid Radd is a sprite comic. Wait, don't roll your eyes and start work on that snarky comment. It is, actually, good. It tells the light-hearted and philosophical tale of a self-aware video game sprite. Original art, and bits of animation. Read, watch, enjoy.
posted by TwelveTwo at 1:17 AM PST - 20 comments
L.A. South Central Farm Receives Eviction Notice
L.A. South Central Farm Receives Eviction Notice 350 families have been growing organic produce on 14 acres in inner-city LA for over a decade. Now the owner wants them out -- so a warehouse for Wal-Mart can be built on the site. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he wants to see the farm saved, but the city can't afford to buy the land.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:06 AM PST - 53 comments
Friend, brother, lover.
So... Kirk/Spock slash fiction may be nothing new, but did you ever think about the fan art? (not really safe for work - or eyeballs)
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:03 PM PST - 49 comments
Get along, big doggie.
BigDog! Check out this video (Windows Media) of the new packhorse for the infantry! "A nimble, four-legged robot is so surefooted it can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick," A robotic beast of burden from the same guys that brought us weaponized bees and robotic rats. It's a cool concept for a robot, better than most I've seen.
posted by Balisong at 9:06 PM PST - 39 comments
Podbop
Podbop. Completely stupid name. Not a bad idea. Enter your city, and it will come back with MP3 links and podcasts from bands soon to play in your town, in a "try before you buy tickets" kind of way. Works quite well for the US, other countries look like they need updating.
posted by Jimbob at 8:48 PM PST - 18 comments
World Champion Stone Skipper
Kurt Steiner is better at stone skipping than you are. Link goes to brief bios with downloadable avi's of the proof.
Operation Photo Rescue: Restoring Photos Damaged by Hurricane Katrina
Operation Photo Rescue: In an effort to help the residents of Pass Christian, MS in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, photojournalist Becky Sell and photo editor Dave Ellis have embarked on a mission to recover the photos and memories that would be lost to the storm. Read about it from Day 1, or hear about the backstory.
posted by tozturk at 4:11 PM PST - 7 comments
"I won't let my husband be blank on a wall for too long." Patrick Stewart (no, not that one) gave his life for his country. Normally his family should expect quiet, peaceful surroundings, and ... an atmosphere of respect and dignity. But because his faith lacks "a viable organization", he is being denied his choice of emblem of belief. His wife is waiting for justice before any marker is set. [via]
What is positive music?
If you play a plant constant rock music, it will die. In the 1970s, Dorothy Retallack conducted a series of experiments to discover the effect certain types of music had on plants. The results might surprise you.
It's All Jon Stewart's Fault
"Why Jon Stewart Isn't Funny" (Boston Globe) In an op-ed in the Boston Globe, Michael Kalin, a "2005 Harvard College graduate" isn't predicting that Stewart will bomb on Sunday night's Oscar show. Instead, "Stewart's ever-increasing popularity among young viewers directly correlates with the declining influence of progressive thought in America. Coincidence? I think not." He blames Jon Stewart for turning tomorrow's leader away from potential careers in politics. His evidence, "Meet Joshua Goldberg, a fictional composite of the typical apostle of 'The Daily Show" who goes to work on Wall Street instead of pursuing a job in inner-city teaching like Kalin did, as he told CBS. "Although Stewart's comedic shticks [sic] may thus earn him some laughs Sunday at the Oscars, his routine will certainly not match the impact of his greatest irony: Jon Stewart undermines any remaining earnestness that liberals in America might still possess." This left me speechless. In my personal experience, Jon Stewart has dramatically increased my own children's interest in politics.
posted by notmtwain at 2:15 PM PST - 154 comments
The memory of love's refrain....
Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
And now my consolation
Is in the star dust of a song...
Lucy is holding a saxophone. It turns out, as she informs friend Ethel Mertz, she's an amateur musician. Who knew? Lucy then blows into the mouthpiece and produces a few dyspeptic squawks. "It kind of sounds like 'Star Dust,' " says Ethel, diplomatically. "Yeah," Lucy responds, "everything I play sounds like 'Star Dust.' "
The story of 'a song about a song about love' (elaborated within)
Kate and Jack's cartoon beach party
LOSTed -- Flash Friday (you don't *really* need the language pack)
posted by LordSludge at 12:41 PM PST - 12 comments
Attack on Nazareth church by mentally ill man sparks riot
Truth slightly more plausible than fiction
posted by hwestiii at 12:01 PM PST - 14 comments
X-rated basketball?
X-rated basketball? The editor of the Bryan-College Station paper says it ain't so. But to many, the picture of a basketball player in their sports section looks like he's exposing himself. At least they sold all their papers.
posted by nospecialfx at 11:54 AM PST - 118 comments
There are plenty of times when knowledge gets in the way of judgement...
There's an excellent two part dialog between Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell on ESPN's Page 2 this week. The two cover a wide variety of topics such as writing, how a kid with no TV from the middle of nowhere in Canada can be a sports fan, the NFL, the economics of sports, and everyone's favorite NBA GM Isiah Thomas.
posted by togdon at 11:45 AM PST - 13 comments
What you gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on YOU, America?
The Greatest American
posted by stenseng at 11:09 AM PST - 30 comments
This bike is a what?
Sticker causes panic. This bike is a pipe bomb sticker causes Ohio University officials to call the bomb squad. Pic here.
posted by fixedgear at 11:00 AM PST - 104 comments
Don't call me "Gramps", sonny.
The Mighty Atom. At 5'4", 145 lbs, and 82 years old, Joseph Greenstein's power of mind over matter made him one of America's greatest strongmen.
posted by cenoxo at 10:36 AM PST - 6 comments
light(en) up
Does smoking have health benefits? Some argue yes, but is it enough to stop the masses from making this seed bearing plant the root of all evil? If we feel it wise to keep the young from smoking is it OK to outright lie if the end justifies the means?
posted by Tablecrumbs at 10:22 AM PST - 70 comments
"Cookie Monster singing"
Betcha didn't know: "While the extreme branch of heavy-metal music known as death metal is defined in part by often-vile lyrics about violence, catastrophic destruction, nihilism, anarchy and paranoia, its singing style is associated with a beloved goggle-eyed, fuzzy blue puppet." The Wall Street Journal considers death metal and Sesame Street in an article I'm sure Lester Bangs would have enjoyed.
posted by scratch at 9:56 AM PST - 27 comments
Bespoke furnishings
Bike furniture - now that's recycling!
99 out of 100 Doctors Say, "Fuhgeddaboutit"
The cheesesteak -- a veritable cornucopia of heart-healthy ingredients on a bun. Pat and Geno make 'em in Philly (where else?), inspiring a rivalry not quite as intense as Sunni vs. Shi'a. (In bad taste, you say? Since when is a cheesesteak in good taste?) Some people put Cheese Whiz on 'em (a "Whiz wit"). Jim FedExes 'em. Philadelphians have strong opinions about 'em. The leader of the Free WorldTM eats 'em and then lies about 'em. Faux-fu, they ain't. Ever eaten one and lived?
Riyadh International Book Fair. "Last night I went to a panel on cultural diversity, and I have enjoyed a very good discussion. The panel was done the Saudi style, with the only female speaker Dr. Khairia Al-Saggaf talking from another room, where we could not see her but only listen to her voice." "Shiites were the subject of a hot debate at the end of the panel, when Dr. Khaled Al-Dakheel said that Shiites are part of us. This was the point where the panel went out of control. Before Al-Dakheel was able to complete that sentence, a Sheikh from the first row interrupted and told Dr. Al-Dakheel that Shiites are not Muslims, and that he has to say this."
Vulva Original
Not safe for work: "Vulva Original: Authentically natural vaginal flavour." (Flash interface; much gratuitous nudity.)
Pants.
Please don't hurt 'em. Hammer got a weblog.
Dig short stories? Digg for short stories.
ShortStoryFilter. Submit, link and vote for short stories. A lot of it may be a bit sub-McSweeney's at the moment, but with a bit of luck, The Lit List might scratch a readerly itch or two.
posted by Hartster at 7:53 AM PST - 3 comments
Guantanamo interrogation log
Now, as an increasing number of detainees mount legal challenges to their incarceration, TIME is making the record of al-Qahtani's treatment available to the public in its entirety [pdf]. Also read the companion Time article about Mohammad al-Qahtani, the so-called "20th hijacker."
The war on tourism
For the sake of the world's poor, we must keep the wealthy at home, writes George Monbiot, calling the aviation industry "the greatest future cause of global warming," and asserting that growing passenger numbers is "an utter, unparalleled disaster". The airline industry responds: Stop this war on tourism. "Would the unfolding Darfur tragedy be tolerated if the country had a thriving tourism industry? How much of the relief money for victims of the tsunami was raised because so many of us had visited the affected areas on holiday?"
Well I've got this guitar and I've learned how to make it chat
The Intel-Fender Concept Telecaster Guitar, or Intelecaster, is exactly what you think.
Stop Look Listen
Public Information films have a special place in British TV history as they earnestly try to educate the public about how to cross the road safely or survive a nuclear bomb. Over the past few weeks, the BBC has been compiling some of the classics and making them available online (with the sad exception of Reginald Molehusband). Some of the best videos, however, have been made by the public in the traditional style - check out the brilliant special effects of Driving Backwards is Dangerous, the bizarre Pylon Peril, and the topical Stop Look Zombies.
posted by adrianhon at 6:24 AM PST - 12 comments
Happy Whiskey Tax Day! "Celebrate as you see fit."
You can have my bottle when you pry it from my flaccid, passed-out fingers. Happy Liquor Tax Day! On this day in 1791, the 1st Congress passed "An act making farther provision for the collection of the duties by law imposed on teas, and to prolong the term for the payment of the duties on wines." The brain child of founding Federalist and that guy on the ten-dollar bill, Alexander Hamilton, it led to the second of many (mostly forgotten) popular uprisings in U.S. history. Special thanks for inspiration to dios and Rough_Ashlar.
posted by lodurr at 5:19 AM PST - 10 comments
Buck O'Neil, 94, was a star player for the Kansas City Monarchs, of the The Negro Leagues, the first black coach hired by Major League Baseball, one of the founders and current Board Chairman of The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a scout, who signed such stars as Ernie Banks, and Lou Brock, was denied his last chance to enter baseball's Hall of Fame this week. Considered by many to be the unofficial " Ambassador of Baseball", Buck was most diplomatic in his response, saying: "Shed no tears for Buck," he says. "No, no. Ol' God's been good to me. You can see that, don't you? If I'm a Hall of Famer for you, that's all I need. Just keep loving ol' Buck." ", and " You think about this,' he said. "Here I am, the grandson of a slave. And here the whole world was excited about whether I was going into the Hall of Fame or not. We've come a long ways. Before, we never even thought about anything like that. America, you've really grown and you're still growing." Keith Olbermann is outraged...I am just sad.
posted by lobstah at 5:17 AM PST - 37 comments
Addicted to Blobs
Friday Flash Fun. Add drops to the blobs, make them blow up, combo other blobs. Via
posted by Dipsomaniac at 4:46 AM PST - 23 comments
The Mercy Seat. Mapping out a Multifaceted Iconography.
The Mercy Seat. Described in the book of Exodus, the throne of mercy has quite a variety of meanings. Some contemporary Christians are interested in "reconstructing" an image based on Egyptian and Phoenician culture. In Judaism, the kisei rachamim is part of the narrative of Yom Kippur, as God moves from the seat of justice to the seat of compassion. In medieval Europe, and especially in Germany, the Gnadenstuhl was a perfect representation of the trinity, combining the cruxification, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit (usually a bird), into one image of mournful compassion. Nick Cave used the idea of the mercy seat as the frame for a song about murder, sin, capital punishment, and atonement/redemption, which was later covered by Johnny Cash (mp3 clip). The chair of mercy is even visually alluded to Jodorowsky's Montana Sacra, aka Holy Mountain. (Which have been inspired in part by the Ascended Masters of Mount Shasta, but that's technically another story - the bizarro California cultists story.)
posted by jann at 12:32 AM PST - 25 comments
Serge Gainsbourg. Who died fifteen years ago, yesterday.
Whipping and chasing and drinking and praying
A strange ritual is played out in Choupic, Louisiana on Mardi Gras day. Something similar happens in Prague on Easter Monday too. [via]
Brian Jungen is one of Canada's most innovative artists. His Native ceremonial masks, Prototypes For a New Understanding crafted from Nike Air Jordans showed an unique meld of cultures. Juxtapositions continue in his Capp Street Project scale model of the Arts & Crafts Gamble House and Habitat 04 (Habicat 04?) which pays homage to Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67.
posted by angrybeaver at 10:39 PM PST - 10 comments
For anything but privacy, there's MasterCard
DHS monitors your credit card payments. (via)
posted by trondant at 9:52 PM PST - 56 comments
Maybe Terri Schiavo's parents should have tried this one?
Bush Admin lawyers argue that torture ban dosn't apply to Gitmo In addition to making the argument that force-feeding one Mohammed Bawazir does not constitute torture, they Lawyers for the administration argue that Mr. Bawazir is not entitled to protection under the act, because the law itself bans judicial review for writs of habeas corpus by (among a few others) any " alien detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba". Cute.
The 10 Commandments of Simon
The 10 Commandments of Simon is a comic by Derek Kirk Kim about a 29 year old virgin (cartoon nudity, NSFW).
posted by mcsweetie at 8:33 PM PST - 41 comments
Pedaling & Paddling Around America
Pedaling & Paddling Around America. Swedish adventurer and climber Renata Chlumska is circumnavigating the USA's lower 48 states by bicycle and kayak. She originally planned the trip with her late partner, the great climber Göran Kropp who most famously rode his bike from Sweden to Nepal, climbed Everest, then rode back. After his death, the project was put on hold while Chlumska dealt with US visa regulations. If you are on her route, go out and say hello.
posted by liam at 7:43 PM PST - 11 comments
A Solid Foundation for Fascism?
Emory University study describes the Millenial Generation An interesting comparison of Gen Xers and the so-called Millenial Generation, born since 1982, from Emory University. The M.Gen kids apparently want to do good, as long as there is a clear structure and leadership that tells them how and what to do . . . oh, and don't question the leaders. Really. Why would you?
posted by pt68 at 7:34 PM PST - 67 comments
Atheism in Hinduism
Elements of Atheism in Hindu Thought
posted by Gyan at 6:18 PM PST - 19 comments
Oscars moments
The Oscars don't only breed argument about who should have won--but also about the speeches? Were they good? Did they suck? What are the classics? What's Memorable? What's Misquoted? How would your speech go? Would you thank your "makeup man"? Oprah? Complain? Or just go crazy? And here are some more top ones (1,2,3) and another bottom. And Oscar Night bingo in case it all gets to be too much, too boring or too damn long.
posted by FeldBum at 5:45 PM PST - 17 comments
To think I can walk, but don't get up to change the channel
Wheelchair mountaineering: stunning ascents by the seemingly disabled.
posted by mek at 4:35 PM PST - 13 comments
From Foreign Policy, Patriarchy's Big Comeback. Maybe you didn't believe it had been away. But Societies that are today the most secular and the most generous with their underfunded welfare states will be the most prone to religious revivals and a rebirth of the patriarchal family. The absolute population of Europe and Japan may fall dramatically, but the remaining population will, by a process similar to survival of the fittest, be adapted to a new environment in which no one can rely on government to replace the family, and in which a patriarchal God commands family members to suppress their individualism and submit to father.
posted by jfuller at 4:23 PM PST - 58 comments
It's like The Producers, only, you know... real.
It's lonely to be a Jewish neo-Nazi.
posted by huskerdont at 2:50 PM PST - 43 comments
Request information using the Freedom of Information Act with this handy form put together by the People For The American Way
posted by Mr_Zero at 1:05 PM PST - 9 comments
Rhythmic Research Fellows
American Mavericks: Fascinating radio piece about the ultra-modernist composers, narrated by Suzanne Vega. [more inside]
posted by Squid Voltaire at 12:24 PM PST - 22 comments
The AP Katrina Video
"In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage."
posted by muckster at 11:26 AM PST - 162 comments
Today is Texas Independence Day On March 2, 1836, the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos. The document was created by the Convention of 1836 while almost a couple hundred brave Texans at the Alamo held Gen. Santa Anna's army of several thousand at bay for 13 days. On March 6, the Alamo finally fell, slaughtered to the last man. On March 27, 352 Texas soliders were slaughtered at the Goliad Massacre. Finally on April 21, the untrained armies of Texas, outnumbered and under the command of Sam Houston, decisively defeated the much larger and better trained and equipped Army of Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto and captured the Mexican dictator Santa Anna. Happy Texas Independence Day.
America, you so bad!
Sex in an online game? It's about time. Naughty America: The Game is the first of its kind: A massively multiplayer online world that allows players to do what they've always wanted to: be naughty. Check out the trailer.
All links NSFW. Site contains cartoon nudity. Oh, Flash and crappy music abound. You have been warned.
posted by purephase at 11:17 AM PST - 58 comments
Rock out with your Kraut out
Krautrock: From the hypnotic rhythms and melodies of Can, to the revolutionary electronics of Kraftwerk. Krautrock was a genre that spawned many genius acts. The communal bands like Amon Duul II and Siloah that were soon to be emulated by cult-like restaurant owners, Ya Ho Wha . There were the obscure acts like Zweistein whose sound evokes thoughts of current bands like Animal Collective and Wooden Wand. And there were albums the ground-breaking albums like Tangerine Dream's dark, ambient, Phaedra and the Manuel Gottsching record E2-E4 which is considered to be the first techno album ever produced. Needless to say, Krautrock's influence has been lasting and monumental.
posted by cloeburner at 10:39 AM PST - 48 comments
Davy Crockett gives good head.
Invincible Defense Technology. When the U.S. developed the nuclear rifle in the 1950s —and then refined the technology with the backpack-sized nuclear weapon in the 1960s— our fate was probably sealed. Karma is a bitch after all, and small-scale nuclear terrorism is seen by many as inevitable. Just like Osama Bin Laden —and Mechano before him— America seems destined to create monsters which will turn against us. Our military's only hope, it seems, is Transcendental Meditation.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 10:26 AM PST - 23 comments
Newsvine launches to the public. It's sort of digg (there is voting) meets metafilter (there are comments) meets the news. It could be really cool, but my first impression is that it takes a lot of work.
posted by mathowie at 10:25 AM PST - 23 comments
Windows Vista 5308
Microsoft has released their latest CTP (Community Technical Preview) of Windows Vista. Build 5308 Supposedly incorporates many more of the final features then previous CTP builds. Microsoft has also hinted at a final release during the first week of October this year.
posted by Hexidecimal at 10:23 AM PST - 26 comments
MOOOO-F.O.
Alien cow abduction is a serious problem. Countless bovines have disappeared from dairy farms everywhere. And the numbers of missng cows are on the rise. (Maybe show your support for the cause with this stylish clock?)
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:20 AM PST - 16 comments
Gender signs
Gender signs. A Flickr set and public group of photos of men's and women's bathroom signs from various places. So far these two are the best. (More info.)
posted by kirkaracha at 10:05 AM PST - 22 comments
telescope worthless by 2050
via BBC Ground-based astronomy could be impossible in 40 years because of pollution from aircraft exhaust trails and climate change, an expert says.
posted by goldism at 9:41 AM PST - 17 comments
The New Secular Jihad
The New Secular Jihad. Together the Patriot Pastors flanked by warrior Ken Blackwell are fighting an apocalyptic clash between the forces of righteousness and the hordes of hell. "Make sure that when the shootin' starts, all of the enemy is in front of you."
posted by Otis at 9:37 AM PST - 18 comments
Deal or no Deal?
Warning: Third link goes to not-much-fun-without-real-money-at-stake NBC corporate game. Interesting to watch the offers change, though.
posted by gilgamix at 8:19 AM PST - 38 comments
Not safe for work: Baby Art: the profoundly fucked-up artwork of one Trevor Brown, a fabulously unwell individual.
The Order Of The Stick is a great "hifi-lofi" webcomic from Rich Burlew about the meta-adventures of an adventuring party in the D&D world. Lots of inside humor to go along with broad appeal. It's been running for over 2 years, so there are close to 300 episodes to rummage through.
posted by mkultra at 6:12 AM PST - 43 comments
'In all of rock history, there can be few stranger stories than that of Yahowa 13', formed in 1969 in Los Angeles by a middle-aged beatnik called Jim Baker, who believed himself a god and went by the nickname of Father Yod. Yod became a guru of sorts for a group called the Source Family. Based around the group of disciples, Yahowa 13 made almost a dozen limited-circulation LPs (slightly nsfw cover art), most within the course of just a couple of years. 'Yahowa 13's most successful artistic statement was 1974's Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony... At the end of 1974, the Source Family moved to Hawaii. On August 25, 1975, Yod went hang-gliding for the first time and was mortally injured upon landing, dying after about nine hours. His disciples scattered within two years after his passing.' See also: 2002 interview with band members.
Kenya's free press under attack
Hooded police commandos [wearing] gas masks raided the 'Standard' and KTN-TV offices early Thursday morning, made a bonfire out of the day's stack of newspapers and shut down the television station. (1, 2 (bugmenot))
posted by davehat at 1:18 AM PST - 12 comments
Prisons Often Shackle Pregnant Inmates in Labor
Prisons Often Shackle Pregnant Inmates in Labor. Sometimes human rights abuses are committed right in our backyard [the U.S.]. Shackling females to beds while they give birth is a practice that has been investigated by Amnesty International. A woman in labor writhes in pain on a hospital bed, and as she does, a shackle secures one of her ankles to the bed rail. It sounds like something out of a medieval chamber of horrors. But believe it or not, that's what happens when a female prisoner in California -- and in 20 other states -- gives birth. More here, and on prisoners' rights in general.
posted by gagglezoomer at 11:50 PM PST - 137 comments
THE SAINTLY SINNER. "Maudlin," a derivative of Magdalene, in the English language, with the meaning of "mawkishly lachrymose."
Double Fine Action Comics
Double Fine Action Comics. My favourite adventures, from their beginning episodes: Art Director Scott Campbell's 2HB & friends, and Nathan Stapley's My Comic About Me. Prepare thine LOLerskates for some fun terrain! p.s. your favourite webcomic sucks.
posted by elphTeq at 11:29 PM PST - 7 comments
One Billion Page Views
AJ Needs 650,000 more page views, and only you can help.
Dave Werner has an awesome portfolio site. He uses Flash video to present the back story on his projects.
I forgot to set this
$1000 reward to anyone who can produce a published case of "repressed memory" (in fiction or non-fiction) prior to 1800. I figure this is something someone here on MetaFilter could dig up.
posted by mulligan at 9:56 PM PST - 21 comments
Get on with it!
Hanging up the microphone for a cause He was a Fleet Street sportswriter and a boxer. His "Action Line" show had Winnipeggers talking for 27 years. Since moving to the West Coast with the purpose of retiring, Peter Warren has kept busy with a national talk radio show where his brusque replies to insipid callers have made him infamous. But after this weekend, he leaves it all behind to focus on investigative work, including a dossier of 14 murder cases.
posted by evilcolonel at 9:07 PM PST - 3 comments
pet pathos
50 animals in casts. nuff said. (via mira y calla)
Praise the Lord and Pass the Petition, Onward Christian Organizers
The Other Christian Activists "Any Christian who believes that homosexuality is a more important issue than justice for the poor just hasn't read his Bible straight." - David Hilfiker
"If you are waiting for a religious left to emerge to offset the power of the religious right, it may already be in your own neighborhood at a local church or synagogue." - Ira Chernus
posted by quonsar at 7:32 PM PST - 33 comments
Stickier than PepsiBlue, The Monster Pod (tripod)
The Monster Pod tm *Now with more viscoelastic morphing polymer* AS SEEN ON Book of Joe (p.s. it's not an apple product, it's a tripod and a very sticky one at that!)
posted by shoepal at 7:23 PM PST - 24 comments
*Meow meow HISS* Ah, yes. Needs tuning, madam.
A piano. A catgut free piano. A catgut free piano that includes cats. Very angry cats.
posted by loquacious at 7:05 PM PST - 36 comments
SURF!
Freddie's Home Page features streams of some classic hard-to-find instrumental surf albums from The Ventures, The Shadows, The Spotnicks and more, including my personal all-time favourite surf record. In other surf music news the previously mentioned Surf Guitar 101 has recently relaunched as a community site dedicated to surf music. Not familiar with instrumental surf music? Check out Delvar Surf Sessions Online Radio for a taste of some of the finest instrumental surf around.
posted by The Wig at 6:13 PM PST - 14 comments
Quiz time boys and girls
Quiz #1 is about survival. #2 is about movies. #1 is a little weird (with its answers) and #2 has no answers! Drove me nuts.
Maybe it wasn't *that* beautiful...
She was a female guard. At Ravensbruck. While she was having 'the most beautiful time of her life', women were suffering and dying. 'Blond beasts', indeed.
posted by ersatzkat at 5:36 PM PST - 43 comments
sega penn teller
sega cd emulator with the penn and teller and stuff
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 5:13 PM PST - 22 comments
Visit Somalia!
Visit Somalia! Okay, so it has no government that is recognized by another country. It has a provisional parliament, though - but they usually opt to convene in another country's capital, over 600 miles away, out of fear. But hey, look at the bright side: They've got a minister of tourism, and he'll do his best to make sure you won't be kidnapped. No guarantees, though - it can still happen.
English Wikipedia hits 1,000,000 articles
1,000,000th article (Jordanhill railway station) - Wikipedia Press release about this milestone.
posted by Kickstart70 at 5:07 PM PST - 22 comments
Hungry like the wolf?
Sheeps get their grooves on. Practice your chops on this flash- and sheep-based sequencer. [via]
posted by Espy Gillespie at 4:30 PM PST - 6 comments
Imperator Howard's Tenth Year.
Today marks Australian Prime Minister John Howard's tenth year in the top job. The event has sparked the usual calls of when, if ever, he will step down to make way for his annointed successor, Peter Costello, and has also opened the flood gates on a range of editorial criticisms and praise from the usual suspects. But even with a new poll released today claiming that he is the most popular PM in Australia's modern political history, will the continuing AWB scandal (previously discussed in one of my own FPP posts here) and an unhappy Coalition partner finally end his seemingly endless run of political good fortune?
Pee and save water
Urinate and save water at the same time. Water-free urinals in California. Is it good not to flush?
posted by dov3 at 2:56 PM PST - 49 comments
Supersize that for you God?
The McPassion Get your free crown of thorns with every meal!
We're all going to hell but hey, with a vinegar sponge drink to keep us going and a handy game of Pin the Noose on Judas, the trip's gonna be a lot more fun..
A short comedy from Benjamin Hershleder and Rik Swartzwelder, but get it quick cause it won't be around forever!
posted by Nugget at 2:41 PM PST - 7 comments
Choose your choose your choose your own adventure
Rejected choose-your-own-adventure books are pretty hilarious.
posted by yonation at 1:35 PM PST - 46 comments
Jeb Bush Asked to Explain Cruise Ship Deal
Jeb Bush Asked to Explain Cruise Ship Deal The post below on impeachment of Pres. Bush might also consider how the abuses seem to be a family affair: A top House Democrat released e-mails Tuesday detailing Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's role in pushing a $236 million federal contract for Carnival Cruise Lines to house Hurricane Katrina victims.
All of the young people mentioned in this story, save Natalie, are considered by the church hierarchy to be Potential Trouble Sources.
Scientology has a plausible explanation for everything they do -- that's the genius of it," says Sara. "But make no mistakes: Scientology is brainwashing." [Previous MeFi Scientology Threads]
posted by nuclear_soup at 1:04 PM PST - 105 comments
Ol' 55
An act of civil obedience. Kids with cameras drive the speed limit en masse, thereby blocking traffic and raising questions not only about the difference between de facto and de jure speed limits, but also about how incredibly pissed I'd be had I been behind them. [via]
posted by Sticherbeast at 12:30 PM PST - 155 comments
The Rise of Crimeware
Scientific American looks at the Rise of Crimeware Crimeware, or malware with criminal intentions is increasing exponentially. "My company scans 13 million emails a day, and of that email we stop between 3 million and 10 million messages a day because they contain some kind of malware [malicious software]. Of the malware we're seeing, 99.9% is crimeware--something where the bad guys are trying to steal money from the end user. We're detecting one to five new species of virus a day and seeing 100 to 200 new phishing sites appearing every day." Take a look at who's getting attacked. What can we do about it? (PDF report by DHS on crimeware)
posted by clockworkjoe at 11:58 AM PST - 21 comments
The Case for Impeachment. An essay by Lewis H. Lapham. Another one by Garrison Keillor. And Elizabeth Holtzman. Legislation by John Conyers.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 11:27 AM PST - 149 comments
The Greatest Curling Shot Ever
I will never mock curling again. This shot was from the winter games that just passed.
posted by chunking express at 10:37 AM PST - 98 comments
9dots
9dots. En quelques mots, 9dots est un dispositif visuel et sonore qui vous permet d'éditer une séquence de 8 images sur lesquelles vous pouvez afficher ou masquer des points. Chaque image de la séquence est construite sur une grille de 3 points de haut par 3 points de large.
MetaFilter Goes Nudist
She made movies. They were cheap, They were shot in her apartment. She didn't film in sound, and so, when characters spoke, rather than sync the sound, she often cut away to objects in the room, or the feet of those who were speaking.
Her films had titles like Nude on the Moon, Bad Girls Go to Hell, and Blaze Starr Goes Nudist.
She was Doris Wishman
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:15 AM PST - 30 comments
The Hippest Sounds on Earth
John Coltrane. Thelonious Monk. Hank Mobley. Lennie Tristano. Blue Note. Impulse. Riverside... In other words: jazz. Now three fans in Japan -- a country that has always appreciated America's gift to music even more than the US itself -- have created The Jazz Discography Project, a bare-bones, open-source, astonishingly exhaustive database of the hippest sounds on the planet. For aficionados, just reading an ASCII entry for long out-of-print stuff like A Message from Garcia, featuring a young and then-unknown musician named Bill Evans who would later reinvent his instrument, is thrilling.
Random Rules
Random Rules , a new[ish] feature of the Onion: A.V. Club. They ask a rocker/writer/comedian/whatever to set their MP3 player to "shuffle" and comment on the first few tracks that come up. This probably could have been very boring, but it actually ended up kind of interesting. See Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse call Belle and Sebastian a "one-fuckin'-trick pony". Enjoy David Cross waxing poetic about R.E.M.'s Murmur. From the main link, read the description of the raw sexual chemistry that existed between David Berman of the Silver Jews and the actress that played Ginger on Gilligan's Island.
Domino Pressure
If the high scores are to be believed, there are at least 400 (random) levels in Domino Pressure. The object: Figure out which domino is the one which, when tipped, will knock over all the other dominoes before squishing the tomato. For every domino you leave standing, you lose precious seconds to complete the next level. The secret seems to be to work your way backwards from the tomato; you can skip up to three levels.
Pigs against Poverty
True Majority Weird+political+gadgets: The inventor of Hokey Spokes has teamed up with Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's fame) to add a computerized EL-wire light display system to Ben's family of motorized pigs, which illustrate the relative size of the military, education, and world health/AIDS budgets. All is service of Ben's TrueMajority project. Pics here.
posted by re6smith at 12:36 AM PST - 10 comments