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Four days after cows broke into her home, a woman in Murfreesboro, Ark., says she's still in shock.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 8:06 PM PST - 107 comments

Centaur-A-Day, a new blog by illustrator Miriam Gibson, does what it says on the tin. Some previous days' centaurs: Octo-taur (and Baby Octo-taur!), Government Official in the [Japanese] Feudal Era Centaur, Tapir-taur, Cheshire Cat Centaur, Centaur Wearing an Owl Hat, and Never Ending Centaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaur.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:57 PM PST - 19 comments

Who's the man behind the sounds you hear, every time you startup and use your Mac? Jim Reekes (via)
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:50 PM PST - 27 comments

The David Foster Wallace Audio Project, a still-growing collection of interviews, radio profiles, and readings (including staged ones of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men).
posted by auralcoral at 6:15 PM PST - 21 comments

Enjoy videos of RMS Titanic models sinking? How about Lego Titanic sinking? Perhaps you'd like your own sinking Titanic model? Historical accuracy not included: Titanic meets sink faucet & Titanic (anticlimactically) strikes cargo ship.
posted by Hoenikker at 5:29 PM PST - 15 comments

Alice in Wonderland (1903), directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow
posted by brundlefly at 4:09 PM PST - 32 comments

A letter by Rene Descartes, stolen in 1840s, recovered in 2010 by online detective work. The letter was stolen by Guglielmo Libri, inspector general of the libraries of France, who stole thousands of valuable documents and fled to England in 1848. Since 1902 it's been in the collection of Haverford College, its contents unknown to scholars, and nobody there realized that it was an unknown letter. But because they had catalogued it and recently put their catalogue on line, Dutch philosopher Erik-Jan Bos found it "during a late-night session browsing the Internet". (A Haverford undergraduate thirty years ago had translated it and written a paper on it, in which he recognized that the letter was unknown -- but nobody followed up and the letter had sat in the library since then until it was listed online.) The letter includes some last-minute edits to the Meditations, and some thoughts on God as causa sui. Haverford, whose president was a philosophy major, is returning the letter to the Institut de France.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:47 PM PST - 21 comments

Here you are on the computer when you could be making all kinds of your own traffic circle art in your neighborhood. You could even give a performance on your traffic circle! [more inside]
posted by cashman at 2:35 PM PST - 41 comments

The Perimeter Institute is a center for theoretical physics in Waterloo, Canada. Among other outreach activities, they host a series of public lectures on a variety of physics related topics. [more inside]
posted by empath at 2:26 PM PST - 11 comments

Festive Friday fun: three parties. Coffee, tea or weed?
posted by GrammarMoses at 12:05 PM PST - 33 comments

A playable version of Eschaton! Inspired of course by the beloved game of the students of the Enfield Tennis Academy in Infinite Jest. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:39 AM PST - 52 comments

Come on up to the (Single Link YouTube) house.
posted by clarknova at 10:57 AM PST - 19 comments

President Gaddafi Calls for Jihad Against Switzerland SLYT "Let us wage jihad against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression. Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against Muhammad, God and the Koran." Previously
posted by fiestapais at 10:35 AM PST - 89 comments

Building Codes for the US by state.
posted by Mitheral at 10:11 AM PST - 38 comments

Craig Ferguson talks to Stephen Fry. In five parts, without an audience.
posted by Harry at 9:54 AM PST - 90 comments

Strange and peculiar electicity. Electrotherapy, Furby stress test, pre-Edison electric lights. Historic pictures of powerlines, and the men that made it possible.
posted by Kilovolt at 9:51 AM PST - 7 comments

BBC Radio 6 Music, home of amongst other things the Adam and Joe show, is facing the axe. Phil Jupitus on why this sucks. (Previously, previously, previously, previously)
posted by Artw at 9:13 AM PST - 36 comments

Long out of print, Maitland McDonagh's Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento, is finally being republished by the University of Minnesota Press in a new edition that incorporates studies on the director's work from 1995's The Stendhal Syndrome to last year's Giallo. [more inside]
posted by Toby Dammit X at 8:44 AM PST - 8 comments

Last spring Young Jean Lee, an American playwright and director, spoke plainly on the state of American theatre to the Nation. She described it as "our most backward art form."
posted by Tlery at 8:23 AM PST - 34 comments

The Google/China hacking case, or "How many news outlets do the original reporting on a big story?"
posted by flatluigi at 8:06 AM PST - 20 comments

Searching for Saddam : how the U.S. military used social networking to capture the Iraqi dictator
posted by Gyan at 8:04 AM PST - 8 comments

Actor Andrew J. Koenig was found dead in Vancouver yesterday. Andrew, who changed his name from Josh Koenig midway through his acting career, was best known for his role as Richard "Boner" Stabone on Growing Pains. [more inside]
posted by SassHat at 8:03 AM PST - 115 comments

Flash Physics Friday Fun: My Solar System is a fun little physics toy that will do 2-, 3-, and 4-body 2D gravity simulations. [more inside]
posted by BeerFilter at 7:47 AM PST - 31 comments

Strange & wonderful album covers. [more inside]
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 7:47 AM PST - 16 comments

Blue Hippy Cat reviews Avatar (SLYT) Not sure who made this, came to me via ILM alumni list, it's a genius piece of MOCAP, humor, and check out the D song in the background! Too much fun for this snowy Friday.
posted by dbiedny at 7:18 AM PST - 15 comments

Spread the Word to End the Word

Plus a message from Dr. Cox (SLYT)
posted by MustardTent at 6:57 AM PST - 130 comments

Physics shorts: odd & weird
posted by DU at 6:42 AM PST - 15 comments

Use the Internets the way God intended, on a VT100 oscilloscope.
posted by pashdown at 6:42 AM PST - 13 comments

FantasySCOTUS. For the Tenth Justice in all of us.
posted by OmieWise at 4:58 AM PST - 15 comments

Extremely bleak, frequently poignant, always hilarious: Hulu is now offering the UK version of The Office in its entirety. That includes two series of six episodes each and the two-part Christmas Special. [more inside]
posted by Rory Marinich at 4:56 AM PST - 73 comments

What are your pop-culture rules? That is, the up-front guidelines that will prevent you from seeing/reading/listening to something, or that will guarantee that you’ll see/read/listen to it even if reviews or word of mouth or past experience with the creators have been negative?

'If it features superheroes, I’m generally there', “The Robins Williams Rule”, 'I just cannot bring myself to purchase new hardcover books', 'anything with a trailer that utilizes the record-scratching sound', 'I will see or read literally anything featuring dinosaurs'. The AV Club writers & readers hold forth. I'm sure nobody on Metafilter would live by such restrictions...
posted by i_cola at 4:38 AM PST - 318 comments

The Daily Bunny
posted by nthdegx at 3:31 AM PST - 39 comments

Yelp facing class-action lawsuit over extortive ad sales. "The victims tend to be small businesses, such as our client, who often have no choice but to pay Yelp exorbitant sums in order to prevent further harm to their livelihoods." First reported a year ago in the East Bay Express, "Several business owners likened Yelp to the Mafia, and one said she feared its retaliation."
posted by Afroblanco at 1:07 AM PST - 65 comments