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The Number 23 has a movie. It's been associated with everything from conspiracy theory to historical and scientific fact, and now the obsession of thousands of Discordians and worshippers of Eris (not to mention KLF fans) is the specific subject of a movie directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jim Carrey. It comes out in February. I don't think I need to tell you which day.
posted by deusdiabolus at 11:44 PM PST - 70 comments

“We work, we do not steal” is what the Rickshaw Wallahs have to say about it, whose means of livelihood the Kolkata assembly plans to ban soon, but hasn’t figured out an alternate source of income for yet. Meanwhile, the good old rickshaw has been finding a new home abroad, albeit one of a more novel nature. (More on the state of Transportaion in India, and a World Bank perspective on the facilities provided by the subcontinent. Plus, some more images of the Rickshaw.)
posted by hadjiboy at 10:42 PM PST - 8 comments

From 1977 to 1983, between 16-70 Japanese citizens were abducted in their home country by agents of the North Korean government. 13-year-old Megumi Yokota was the youngest. This is her story.
posted by JPowers at 10:15 PM PST - 48 comments

Girl in Human Slingshot (google video). Looks like fun.
posted by kisch mokusch at 9:07 PM PST - 51 comments

I found this anime clip [youtube] suitably trippy. It was created by the producers of GA-RA-KU-TA and features the 2003 debut song from the j-pop duo HALCALI (proper PV of the song -- "TANDEM" -- is here).
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 8:37 PM PST - 13 comments

Contra Café: Wake Up With Freedom Fighters.
posted by stammer at 8:19 PM PST - 20 comments

333-333-333 YOU WILL SEE SUCH PRETTY THINGS (via) 333-333-333
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 6:36 PM PST - 50 comments

Aniboom bills itself as "the home of animation," a place to discover new up & coming artists online. Towards that end, they've sponsored a $50,000 competition for the best animation across five categories. The field has been narrowed to 25 finalists, and all 25 entries are online for viewing/voting here.
posted by jonson at 3:31 PM PST - 11 comments

Investigation reveals British Police knowingly employed serial killers as informers. Or should that be "knowingly employed informers as serial killers"? Film at 11.
posted by dash_slot- at 3:08 PM PST - 36 comments

Deliberative Polling®, developed by Professor James S. Fishkin, is a technique which combines deliberation in small group discussions with scientific random sampling to provide public consultation for public policy and for electoral issues. Since deliberation is good for civic health, this model has also been floated as a fourth branch of government: Deliberation Day. This proposal has met with some criticism. (Many links are pdf.)
posted by anotherpanacea at 2:57 PM PST - 16 comments

Happy Saddest Day of the Year
posted by tsarfan at 1:38 PM PST - 60 comments

Since Wordplay has come out, crossword puzzles have been on the rise. If you want to join in on the fun, read this primer by Will Shortz to get started, then download Across Lite, head to Cruciverb, and do free puzzles in the right-hand sidebar. Will Johnston's page contains a huge repository of Across Lite puzzles. If you get stuck, can't figure out why an entry is correct, or just want to chat about a grid's brilliant construction, try reading the crossword blogs. The best two are Diary of a Crossword Fiend and Rex Parker Does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. (Caution! Spoilers abound!) And, if you want to try your hand at constructing some crosswords of your own (submission guidelines for various papers here), Crossword Compiler is an outstanding piece of software. [Via this AskMetafilter question]
posted by painquale at 1:07 PM PST - 26 comments

The Zodiac made me do it.
posted by dov3 at 12:08 PM PST - 49 comments

Time of the Season: Conceptual artist Chris Hardman of Antenna Theater has reimagined the calendar. His ECOcalendar abandons the grid concept, instead unrolling like a scroll to define days vertically. Each day appears in its unique position along the arc of gradual seasonal change, with graphics linking stars to tides to the terrestrial world . Radio interview here.
posted by Miko at 11:32 AM PST - 17 comments

The girls, a probably-nsfw series of near-abstract shapes from Australian illustrator Sarah Bishop. [via Jahsonic]
posted by mediareport at 10:42 AM PST - 38 comments

Heavy Metal (youtube, stupid)
posted by empath at 8:20 AM PST - 72 comments

Rumors were circulating at the hospital that insurgents dosed their homemade bombs with the flesh of dead animals. ---multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter, and how we brought it to Iraq ourselves. "My colleagues and I have been looking for Acinetobacter baumannii in soil samples for years, and we haven't found it," she says. "These organisms are quite rare outside of hospitals." In other news, conditions in Iraqi hospitals are so bad due to lack of even the most basic supplies they're calling it a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
posted by amberglow at 8:04 AM PST - 63 comments

Some Japanimation-y illustrations (Simpsons, Futurama) got spacecoyote a job at Bongo Comics. Nifty.
posted by hjo3 at 6:14 AM PST - 33 comments

Magazine junkies New magazine in beta, looks promising. Nice interface lets you preview the entire issue online. Contains interviews with some of my favorite online personalities. I hope it flies!
posted by sparky at 6:04 AM PST - 17 comments

Makoto Nagano: (YOUTUBE) 33 year-old fisherman from Japan and a Ninja Warrior.
posted by arruns at 5:31 AM PST - 34 comments

Amazon-ian Warrior. An unassuming Canadian chap has been quietly submitting ludicrous reviews of products sold on Amazon.com for nearly 5 years. For example, his detailed commentary on George P Joyce's A Comparative Analysis of Two Alternatives to Chemical Aircraft Paint Stripping:

Joyce is an alchemist, taking the leaden medium of technical report writing, and transmuting it with his warm spirit, pouring his pen over the obscured voices of the chemical aircraft paint strippers like a mellifluous caramel gold; redeeming them in a universal chorus of aircraft paint strippers, their individual spirits vibrating like strings in a cosmic harp.

Part of the fun is seeing how many people rated each review as helpful; for example, he gets 100% approval for his comments on Flautist Angel Statuette (This 'flautist angel' is crude, eschewing classical representation to debase itself in the distortions of folk art. A freak frisson of masochism prompted me to order an item that believes human anatomy is modelled upon slurry running from a faucet. Look at it.) while virtually no-one was impressed by his analysis of How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America (Thought-provoking. I did not know that the "heart of America" is an actual item the Conservatives won in a game of squash in 1972; I assumed it was a metaphor.) Since Amazon started adding RSS feeds and enabling comments on reviews, he finally appears to be starting to reach an audience; those wishing to keep updated with his sporadic but fantastic work may appreciate this handy Feedburner URL.
posted by rhodri at 3:26 AM PST - 60 comments

The Anonymous Message Server - leave a message, get a message. (or a URL, if you want.)
posted by divabat at 3:12 AM PST - 28 comments

Eygption Police officer use a cellphone to film a man being sodomized by police. Egyptian opposition media have claimed that in the police academy, recruits are trained to use torture to extract confessions. (NSFW) video on youtube.
posted by IronWolve at 2:36 AM PST - 51 comments

Load testing a Boeing 777 wing. To failure! Also, engine testing, and maximum rejected takeoff.
posted by loquacious at 2:24 AM PST - 26 comments