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45 things you can learn online for free. To sample: Play craps. Chant. Dance Merengue. [more inside]
posted by drea at 11:46 PM PST - 11 comments

Paris Changing Photographer Christopher Rauschenberg rephotographed the Paris images Eugène Atget around 100 years later for his book Paris Changing.
posted by doug3505 at 10:18 PM PST - 25 comments

I've internally debated the merits of addressing my appearance in, (and thus tacit condoning of) "Alvin and The Chipmunks". I am not stupid nor unobservant. I knew going into this movie that I would be eating a lot of delicious sh*t for it.
-David Cross, on appearing in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:40 PM PST - 104 comments

Who Speaks for Earth? "After decades of searching, scientists have found no trace of extraterrestrial intelligence. Now, some of them hope to make contact by broadcasting messages to the stars. Are we prepared for an answer?"
posted by homunculus at 9:36 PM PST - 63 comments

Sesame Street video archive from Sesame Workshop itself, searchable and keyword-tagged. It's not quite comprehensive (yet), but includes many Monsterpiece Theatre, Kermit's News Flashes, and Ernie & Bert sketches. [more inside]
posted by cerebus19 at 8:35 PM PST - 28 comments

The Last Knit. Yes, it's a one link YouTube post -- but it's a one link YouTube post about knitting, and that makes all the difference.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:27 PM PST - 29 comments

Human Tetris. [more inside]
posted by yhbc at 6:03 PM PST - 31 comments

Mea maxima culpa
posted by ardgedee at 5:01 PM PST - 98 comments

The 2007 International Privacy ranking. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:01 PM PST - 33 comments

Life isn't always easy if your father or grandfather was Jim Jones, the legendary founder of the People's Temple. Jones and wife Marcelline adopted seven children of varying ethnicities. Son Jim Jones Jr. lives an upstanding existence as a pharmaceutical sales rep and volunteer basketball coach, but has been hounded by his past throughout his life. Meanwhile, grandson Rob Jones is San Francisco's top high school basketball player. But sometimes the legacy just follows you. (Video)
posted by huskerdont at 3:06 PM PST - 22 comments

"This year, in a gesture of humanitarian relief, the (Lake Superior State University Banished Words) committee restores "truthiness," banned on last year's list, to formal use. This comes after comedians and late-night hosts were thrown under the bus and rendered speechless by a nationwide professional writers' strike. The silence is deafening."
Of course, "(thrown) under the bus"* is on this year's Banished List, along with "perfect storm", "webinar"*, "waterboarding", "post-9/11", "wordsmith", "back in the day", "surge", "x is the new y", "give back" and other seemingly "random" words and phrases.
*One of the requirements for a Banished Word or Phrase is that it has been used as a title for a Blogspot or Typepad blog. [more inside]
posted by wendell at 11:42 AM PST - 102 comments

Mythbusters explores Do Pretty Girls Fart?
posted by spec80 at 9:56 AM PST - 100 comments

The biggest diamond in the world is insignificant, compared with the biggest diamond in the galaxy. Discovered in 2004, the Center For Astrophysics suggests that you should use the galactic one "to impress your favorite lady." Here's information about how diamonds are formed, and where they are found.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:52 AM PST - 24 comments

Subtropical sea-louse! It's the Tintinologist, an encyclopedia of Tintin, including such treats as all 195 of Captain Haddock's curses and an interview with Tintin's longtime translators.
posted by Rumple at 12:02 AM PST - 20 comments