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You Are the Prize to be Won: The Adventures of Guy Alpha

This is Guy Alpha™, a salesman and delivery person for the Pleasure Factory™. He can transform into Super Hot-Man™ with the help of the Alpha Mind-Power Robe™ stored within his sidekick, Zed Suit™, a walking and talking robotic suitcase.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:51 PM on June 14, 2008 (29 comments)

Brain Cake.

How to Make an Anatomically Correct Brain Cake.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 2:33 PM on April 14, 2008 (29 comments)

The King of Kings

The youngest of the three kings of blues guitar, Freddie King (The Texas Cannonball) is probably best known for his instrumental Hideaway, but what stands out in retrospect is his amazing intensity. Having grown up in Texas and then Chicago, during the 1970s he found a niche playing to mostly white audiences in supper clubs and at festivals -- what he called the Fillmore Circuit -- although he also played other more challenging venues. His music, always funky and sweaty, just got funkier and sweatier. His death in 1976, at the age of 42, took him at his prime.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 2:23 PM on March 25, 2008 (10 comments)

A road is a road is a road

Did you know that you can create a simple set of directions to your house that works no matter where the recipient starts from? After 38 years this remarkable conjecture has now been proved by a 63-year old former security guard.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 6:48 AM on March 21, 2008 (46 comments)

Keep eating the mushrooms.

Hands. Twin Tesla coils. Ruler. Ocarina. Ukelele. 7 String bass. Two guitars played at once. Tuba. Trombone quartet. Bassoon quartet. Previously here and here
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 3:14 PM on March 18, 2008 (14 comments)

Where's my parachute?

Fasten your seatbelts. Late Sunday Evening, JPMorgan announced it would be buying Bear Stearns for $2 per share, less than 1/10th the traded value on Friday. The move was backed by the Fed, which assumed most of the risk, and simultaneously cut the rate for borrowing by a quarter percent. According to Alan Greenspan, the US now faces the worst financial crisis since WWII. Monday looks like a wild ride.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:51 PM on March 16, 2008 (322 comments)

Mukasey's Nuremburg defence

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, US Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to investigate allegations of illegal waterboarding and wiretapping, arguing that the Justice Department could not investigate or prosecute somebody for acting in reliance on a Justice Department opinion, such as those written by John Yoo authorizing torture, even if that opinion turned out to be wrong and the behavior criminal. (The former head the Office of Legal Counsel has described these memos as "advance pardons" for lawbreaking.) Mukasey also told the Committee that he would not enforce contempt citations against former White House officials who refused to respond to Congressional subpoenas.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 6:31 AM on February 8, 2008 (110 comments)

Hollywood Kabuki

A Hollywood writer's strike now looks all but certain. With late night TV due to go dark immediately and your favorite network series drying up around Christmas, maybe you'd like to get your popcorn out and follow the fireworks between the writers and the producers. Meanwhile, the trade dailies provide coverage which reflects their dependence on the studio advertising dollar. Me? I'll be writing my novel.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 6:30 AM on November 2, 2007 (202 comments)

Do not collect $200. Do not pass Go.

Despite letters of support from the likes of Henry Kissinger, John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz and James Carville, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby gets 30 months and a fine of $250,000. (Judge Walton apparently also got letters from regular folks). Arguments about whether Libby stays out on bail pending appeal will be heard next week.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 9:55 AM on June 5, 2007 (120 comments)

At least a chimp will never be elected president. Oh, hang on...

"Our main argument is that Hiasl is a person and has basic legal rights,” said Eberhart Theuer, a lawyer leading the challenge on behalf of a Vienna animal rights group. “We mean the right to life, the right to not be tortured, the right to freedom under certain conditions,” Theuer said. “We’re not talking about the right to vote here.” Some primatologists support the legal action, while others aren't so sure. Brazilian courts have already granted a chimp the right to a petition of Habeas Corpus.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 12:40 PM on May 8, 2007 (80 comments)

User revolt at Digg

Total user revolt at Digg over HDDVD key 'censorship'. Every single front page post at Digg is currently a post about the HD DVD processing key, which the MPAA seems to have forced Digg to censor. A web 2.0 riot in progress, and a fascinating insight into the impossibility of censorship in a medium which routes around damage.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 8:35 PM on May 1, 2007 (257 comments)

I may disagree with what you say, so fuck off.

"The president's right to control his own message includes the right to exclude people expressing discordant viewpoints from the audience". (NYT, reg req). More. Lots more
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 8:58 PM on April 16, 2007 (87 comments)

The best 100 books written since 1982.

British bookseller Waterstones asked its 5,000 staff to name their favourite five books written since 1982, the date Waterstone’s opened its first store. These are the results.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 8:55 PM on April 14, 2007 (53 comments)

Out, damned spots!

Sunspot activity is closely linked to climate. Although it observes an 11 and 22 year cycle, the overall trend of activity shows much longer term variations. The so-called Maunder Minimum (1645-1715) coincided with the Little Ice Age, while the Medieval Maximum coincided with the Medieval Warm Period. Analysis of beryllium isotopes from ice cores in Greenland shows that sunspot activity is currently at a 1000 year high. Could this account, at least in part, for global warming? Recent data from Mars suggests this may be so, while others remain sceptical. Bonus pix, more here.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:38 AM on April 10, 2007 (60 comments)

The End of the End of History

"The End of History was never linked to a specifically American model of social or political organisation... I believe that the European Union more accurately reflects what the world will look like at the end of history than the contemporary United States." Francis Fukuyama, one of the leading lights of the canonically neoconservative Project for a New American Century, jumps ship. Via.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:15 PM on April 4, 2007 (120 comments)

Vagina Dentata Redux

"Seeing those photos from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, I decided I was looking at the perfect conflation of two constituents of Julia Kristeva's 'Abject': Horror and the Female. Every theater of war requires specific armory, and now America has produced a narrowly targeted new weapon, incorporating a kind of 'vagina dentata', designed to inflict maximum psychological damage in traditional societies." Russian/Dutch artist Bee Flowers has a new (NSFW) show at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. See also Megastructure, Soviet Sublime, and much more.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:08 AM on March 11, 2007 (31 comments)

Hit me with your rhythm sticks.

A one , a two, a one, two, three, four, five. Gene. Gene/Rich. Rich/Animal. Rich/Lewis. Wonder. Billy. Joe. Swiss cheese.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:35 AM on February 28, 2007 (37 comments)

You think about sex. We do the rest.

Never mind the monkey! Wait til the open-dildonics community implements it. Some links NSFW, duh.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 10:13 AM on February 21, 2007 (18 comments)

A rack? You mean titties? Like a really big rack?

Emily, a history major at Princeton University, took a seat. “I am upset by the Iraq War, but I don’t focus on it, because it’s a negative energy,” she said. “I think we are overanalyzing the situation. I mean, here we are at Bungalow 8!” Via Wonkette, natch.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 1:43 PM on February 15, 2007 (103 comments)

Viral, as in it makes you ill

The bastard offspring of Borat and Inspector Clouseau shares his insights on internet marketing, the time to take action, the correct use of videos (!!) and plenty more. Warning: his website crashed my browser.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 9:41 AM on February 14, 2007 (15 comments)

Godlike

Thor. More Thor. Yet more Thor. More and more Thor. Thor Store. Thor of yore.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 7:36 AM on February 12, 2007 (33 comments)

Thank you! I'll be here all week! Try the veal!

Apparently it's time for conservatives to take humour seriously. Warning: may cause your ass to bleed with sadness.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 1:08 PM on February 6, 2007 (88 comments)

Allegations of rape-as-torture at Abu Ghraib surface on YouTube.

Last week a video was posted to YouTube and linked to by the Iraqslogger site. The YouTube account ("Deathlyillington") is now defunct but the video survives and purports to show a former guard from Abu Ghraib talking about torture techniques employed at the American-run prison. The man recounts the gang rape of a female teenage detainee, in which one guard "pimped" the girl to others for $50 each. As he recalls, "I think at the end of the day he'd made like 500 bucks before she hung herself." The US Army's Criminal Investigation Department has now launched an investigation, but the question remains, is the video real, or is it a hoax along the lines of Jesse Macbeth, the Daily Mirror fake torture photos or the fake beheading video. The video contains few clues to the identity of the alleged soldier, who is shown in silhouette but seems potentially recognizable. A transcript is available.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 6:13 AM on February 1, 2007 (67 comments)

Botflies redux.

Man pulls botfly larva from his own stomach. Previously, from head. From eye (Snopes, w/pictures). Wikipedia.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 9:29 PM on December 15, 2006 (68 comments)

Steampunk'd!

Before Hollywood brats got "Punk'd," and before political opponents hacked each other's Web sites, the art of the practical joke was a bit simpler.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 8:56 AM on October 24, 2006 (11 comments)

No flys on these guys

What does everyone called Gary Smith, John Williams or Robert Johnson have in common with Saddam Hussein, the Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon, the President of Bolivia, and the dead 9/11 hijackers? They're on the No-Fly List, that's what, even if they're babies. But the 11 British suspects recently charged with plotting to blow up airliners with liquid explosives were not on it, despite the fact they were under surveillance for more than a year. They were deliberately left off the list. in case it fell into the wrong hands.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 12:14 PM on October 5, 2006 (65 comments)

Russian urine against a scalpel of the doctor!

It is imported from Russia in three different flavors. What can't it do?. Why not attend a conference and sing the song. Previously. Skeptical?
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 6:29 AM on September 6, 2006 (16 comments)

Google Books offers PDFs of public domain books

Google is now offering PDFs of public domain books. Okay, this is a direct lift from Boing Boing but I figured it was too juicy for Metafilter to miss. On my first search I found An Historical Account of the Discovery and Education of a Savage Man, E. M. Itard's account (translated) of his experiences with Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron. What else is there, MeFiers?
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 9:40 PM on August 29, 2006 (55 comments)

The Final Theory

Mark McCutcheon's book is a Top Science Bestseller at Amazon.com (currently #28, ahead of The Feynman Lectures on Physics. The reader reviews are overwhelming five star. In other news, the correct value of PI is 3.125 and the wheel has been reinvented. You may find this simple method for rating potentially revolutionary contributions to physics useful when considering these ideas.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 8:59 AM on June 28, 2006 (48 comments)

Flaming anonymously is now a federal crime.

Flaming anonymously is now a federal crime.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 8:30 AM on January 9, 2006 (125 comments)