A chapter from Edward Tufte's upcoming book is online. [link contains roughly 2.2 MB of scanned images] Tufte, discussed here previously and author of what could be called the Strunk and White for scientists, statisticians, producers and consumers of visual information, takes a stab at a few issues right up the average MeFite's alley: the 9/11 commission report, fraudulent medical studies, and the rather dubious quantitative work of this unfortunate economist/art historian. For the ShillFilter suspicious, check out some of the great threads that haunt his site.
posted by fatllama at 11:20 PM PST - 24 comments

Metahistory. A system of demystification of histories, historians, journalism, and journalists who claim to present things "as they are", while providing some brilliant methods for determining in what ways a given account lacks "complete objectivity" and how it can be seen as ultimately ideological.
posted by stbalbach at 9:21 PM PST - 57 comments

Physically and sexually mistreating detainees at Abu Ghraib under orders... 10 years.
Abusing prisoners, raping a young Iraqi boy, and lying under oath(allegedly) because you're a "go-getter"... $164 million, $16 to $85 million.

Knowing the President and members of congress on both sides of the aisle have your back so long as you're not enlisted(wouldn't have covered corporate types, but what the hey, thought I'd toss it in)... Priceless!
posted by rocket_skates at 7:33 PM PST - 79 comments

Journalism's vacation from the truth One day after Tucker Carlson, the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," made his farewell appearance and two days after the network's new president made the admirable announcement that he would soon kill the program altogether, a television news miracle occurred: even as it staggered through its last steps to the network guillotine, "Crossfire" came up with the worst show in its 23-year history
posted by Postroad at 4:23 PM PST - 44 comments

Eight years of Reading Rainbow's children's story winners. (This one's a gem.)
posted by Pinwheel at 1:16 PM PST - 8 comments

Taking care of the children, present, past, America and elsewhere... (following on from XQUZYPHYR's Thursday post, with all NYT links reg-free)
posted by billsaysthis at 12:54 PM PST - 2 comments

Farmer Homer McFarland is being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Monsanto corporation. His crime? Replanting his crops' own seed, as farmers have done for millennia, which violates the biotech giant's intellectual property rights, the company claims. Quietly, Monsanto's aggressive "seed police" have been suing farmers in 25 states for years, often settling out of court for huge sums, according to the Center for Food Safety's new report, Monsanto vs. US farmers [PDF link]. For more information, also see a new documentary called The Future of Food.
posted by digaman at 11:32 AM PST - 55 comments

iPod World [QuickTime]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:17 AM PST - 15 comments

Do you remember Hüsker Dü? No, not that Husker Du, this one. This site contains one of the most complete collections of guitar tabs I have ever seen for any band. It might even exceed my previous favorite band site, Swervedriver.com, if not in flash, then in content. The owner of the site seems to be more of a Grant Hart fan than a Bob Mould fan, as there are tabs for most of Hart's solo stuff and for Nova Mob, but only a smattering of Mould tunes and none for Sugar. There is also, suprisingly, a tab of the Posies' excellent song (and loving tribute to the Huskers) "Grant Hart".
posted by psmealey at 10:39 AM PST - 60 comments

TCF bank dooces The Star Tribune , pulling all their ads from the paper after A Star Tribune columnist posts a negative column about a TCF exec's blog .
posted by drezdn at 10:37 AM PST - 16 comments

If Terry Gilliam and Rube Goldberg made flash games, they may go something like this.
posted by onkelchrispy at 8:33 AM PST - 75 comments

The gallery of random art: computer generated random images posted daily, with voting enabled. To see the most popular images since the project began, check out the best-of gallery.
posted by moonbird at 7:17 AM PST - 10 comments

The Brampton Bugle News, Culture, Health, Fashion, Jobs and much, much more. The charming English village of Brampton in Derbyshire goes on-line. Brampton’s Website offers a “behind the scenes” view of British village life written by the people themselves (and most of them seem to contribute). Click also on the banner/display adverts which provide deeper insights. Some pages have sound….when you least expect it! Other than that, SFW.
posted by JtJ at 7:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Rubberboy [flash & music]
posted by srboisvert at 6:48 AM PST - 8 comments

The biology of B-movie monsters ; ancient Greek curse and love magic; the correspondence of Elizabeth I and James VI; Egil Skallagrimsson, poet and killer; the mythology of Harry Potter; Pinocchio's cultural heirs; Tiananmen's legacy; experimental art in China; the question of Hatshepshut's character. Articles courtesy of the Fathom Archive, 2000-2003.
posted by plep at 6:19 AM PST - 11 comments

The General Dennis J. Reimer Training and Doctrine Digital Library. Infantry Platoon Defense. Combat in Built-Up Areas. Land Navigation. Field Fortifications. Land-Mine Warfare (Part I). Ground Surveillance Assets. Electronic Warfare. Introduction to Tactical Radio Communications. Basic Baton Techniques.
posted by Ritchie at 5:57 AM PST - 8 comments

The Rocky Horror Muppet Show.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:55 AM PST - 22 comments

The damage wrought by the construction of an American military base in the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon must rank as one of the most reckless acts of cultural vandalism in recent memory. And all the more so because it was unnecessary and avoidable... but given that it was, the US authorities were very aware of the warnings of archaeologists of the historic importance of the site. Yet, as a report by Dr John Curtis of the British Museum makes clear, they seem to have ignored the warnings. Dr Curtis claimed that in the early days after the war a military presence served a valuable purpose in preventing the site from being looted. But that, he said, did not stop "substantial" damage being done to the site afterwards not just to individual buildings such as the Ishtar Gate, "one of the most famous monuments from antiquity", but also on an estimated 300,000 square metres which had been flattened and covered in gravel, mostly imported from elsewhere. This was done to provide helicopter landing places and parking lots for heavy vehicles that should not have been allowed there in the first place...

Cultural vandalism. Months of war that ruined centuries of history. American graffiti.
posted by y2karl at 12:45 AM PST - 65 comments