The day in posts: 04/01/2008

The End Of The World As We Know It. If you want to imagine the catastrophe - how you would cope, what would you do to save yourself and your family - where do you turn for advice?... The idea of dying together, all of us, in some ways seems less appalling than the thought of going alone. Via.
posted by amyms at 11:32 PM PST - 29 comments

Porn for the Blind is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing audio descriptions of sample movie clips from adult web sites. This service is provided free of charge. [NSFW]
posted by basicchannel at 11:09 PM PST - 32 comments

Mack Truck History. Mack Truck Photos. Mack Truck Forums. Lots and lots and lots of Mack Truck videos.
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:53 PM PST - 11 comments

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:03 PM PST - 26 comments

Gravelter Skelter [video, WTF content].
posted by digaman at 9:50 PM PST - 20 comments

A cool map of lightning frequency over time across the globe. And a live version for the U.S. Heck, a zoomed-in version on the Northeast for the past 60 minutes. It turns out that you can even buy a small Lightning Detector to map local lightning strikes on your PC. It listens for the signature static crashes from lightning, sometimes called sferics (short for atmospheric noise), much like you can hear on an AM radio during a storm. You can even listen to streaming audio from NASA's (Alabama) VLF receiver.
posted by fogster at 8:55 PM PST - 22 comments

Biographicon : crowd-sourcing non-notables.
posted by stbalbach at 8:35 PM PST - 8 comments

The little windows in the walls of time amber provides aren't always open. Opaque amber is common and, until now, has hidden away many fossil creatures. 100,000,000 years.... via bbc [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:34 PM PST - 7 comments

H o t F o r W o r d s - a youtube classroom series on etymology taught by Marina, a... hot Russian philologist. Mildly NSFW. [more inside]
posted by Navelgazer at 7:42 PM PST - 34 comments

An ancient tradition or despicable exploitation? As in ancient Greece and Shakespeare's theatre, boys dress as women to entertain men. A hint of Afghan homosexuality was included in the movie The Kite Runner. An Uzbekistan theatre group is presenting two plays on this theme in Seattle this month. The homosexual element of Afghan culture has waxed and waned depending on who is invading their country at the time.
posted by binturong at 4:22 PM PST - 109 comments

Biomimetics: Design by Nature. "Burs on a dog's coat led to the invention of Velcro. That's an example of biomimetics—the young science of adapting designs from nature to solve modern problems. Now it may be coming of age."
posted by homunculus at 4:15 PM PST - 10 comments

Something about the library inspires one to jump.
posted by phrontist at 3:45 PM PST - 33 comments

According to the English language edition of the Asahi Shimbun, an Israeli airstrike against Syria last September targeted a nuclear-related facility that was under construction with technical assistance from North Korea, according to Israel's prime minister...It is apparently the first time that the intended target had been disclosed to the head of a foreign government. Original Japanese link here. Via the wonderful Marmot's Hole. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 3:09 PM PST - 15 comments

Mario Paint Composer emulates and extends the composer function from Mario Paint for the SNES. It has been used extensively to cover classic game music, popular hits both old and new, some of the greatest songs on earth, and even the occasional classical piece
posted by grandsham at 3:05 PM PST - 9 comments

Facial Expression Simulator Apparently it's useful for helping autistics learn facial expressions, among other things. Related.
posted by shivohum at 2:03 PM PST - 35 comments

How To Speak Hip with Del Close and John Brent
posted by Del Far at 1:24 PM PST - 27 comments

Max Mosley, contro versial president of the FIA (the governing board of F1 and other international motorsports), made headline news this past weekend for a "sick nazi orgy with 5 hookers" that was caught on tape (posted, but has since been pulled down). He has apologized, but does not plan to leave his position, despite many who feel his vices may detract from motor racing.
posted by jaimev at 1:22 PM PST - 88 comments

Researchers at Newcastle University have created a human-cow hybrid embryo. [more inside]
posted by WalterMitty at 12:38 PM PST - 60 comments

The hippest of today's French youth can't get enough of Tecktonik--a dance (YT), cultural movement and apparent marketing ploy (in French), Tecktonic is a style of dance characterized by its lack of footwork and embrace of various ridiculous arm gestures. Coupled with a strong fashion sense (in French) involving copious amounts of neon, pseudo (or full-on) mullet haircuts and jeans that could be painted on, Tecktonik is a dance craze that, since its birth in 2000 at a Parisian nightclub, has only increased in popularity. [more inside]
posted by nonmerci at 10:51 AM PST - 84 comments

"In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue—that is why academic politics are so bitter." The Michigan Federation of College Republicans deals with back-biting, bribery, barratry and small stakes. [more inside]
posted by klangklangston at 10:27 AM PST - 33 comments

Over 2000 classic tales and fables including Aesop's Fables, Bulfinch's Mythology, Indian "Why" Stories, tales by Oscar Wilde, Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling, Louisa May Alcott, L. Frank Baum and Harriet Beecher Stowe and stories about Abraham Lincoln, Robin Hood and Baron Munchausen. And more! The folk and fairytale collection is particularly rich, with hundreds of stories from all over the world.
posted by Kattullus at 9:41 AM PST - 15 comments

Who is Janek Makowski? One man, in a struggle against the trolls and spammers of the internet. One man, spreading the friendliness across untold forums. One man, Janek Makowski. [more inside]
posted by klik99 at 9:36 AM PST - 37 comments

"When you have a TV at full blast, and there's a talking head, you hear his intake of breaths in between sentences really, really clearly. Ha-ha! And if you listen carefully for those, as though that was the important part of communication, you wind up not really hearing anything else! It is just a person gasping for breath! Ha-ha. The effect is especially great with Nancy Pelosi." Gene Weingarten spends a day with the media firehose. [more inside]
posted by nasreddin at 9:35 AM PST - 25 comments

Life Before Death - (from the site) "This sombre series of portraits taken of people before and after they had died is a challenging and poignant study. The work by German photographer Walter Schels and his partner Beate Lakotta, who recorded interviews with the subjects in their final days, reveals much about dying - and living."
posted by blue_beetle at 8:41 AM PST - 67 comments

Lords of the Blog is a collaborative blog written by Members of the House of Lords for the purposes of public engagement - a pilot project. [more inside]
posted by Phanx at 8:11 AM PST - 17 comments

The New Kids on the Block are getting back together according to the Boston Globe. It wouldn't be the first time the Globe played an April Fool's Day prank on its readers. But it's also in RollingStone. Countdown to the reunion. NKOTB myspazz.
posted by brooklynexperiment at 8:10 AM PST - 45 comments

Record levels of immigration have had "little or no impact" on the economic well-being of Britons says a report (pdf) from an influential House of Lords committee. Initial reactions from the various parties, institutes and publications have been largely predictable. Coming so closely on the back of the BBC's recent "White" series on white working-class Britain, it looks likely to provoke some debate on British attitudes to immigration (pdf). [more inside]
posted by Jakey at 7:54 AM PST - 28 comments

Finnish band Leningrad Cowboys perform "Sweet Home Alabama" backed by the Red Army Choir.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:40 AM PST - 37 comments

"Once you've constructed your Hexapawn opponent, it's time to start playing against it... If you play this game repeatedly ... you'll quickly notice that your matchbox opponent plays better and better until it is unbeatable!" Martin Gardner created a game called Hexapawn, and also devised an artificially intelligent opponent you can build yourself out of matchboxes and colored beads. Bonus link: An interview with Martin Gardner.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:50 AM PST - 17 comments

Excavation Starts at Stonehenge - "The two-week dig will try to establish, once and for all, some precise dating for the creation of the monument." [more inside]
posted by Burhanistan at 6:37 AM PST - 27 comments

"Google and Virgin Group today announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars." Virgle - with their 100 year mission to boldly go where no tycoons have gone before - to Mars! Why not join their startup civilization (apply here folks), become a pioneer and live in Virgle City! But for all of you potential astronauts out there - don't look here!
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 3:01 AM PST - 37 comments

3D map of Shanghai. Double Click a building and get a pic of the building My Chinese isn't up to it but if you double click a building you seem to get a pic of the building and nearby flats for rent. The links on the lower left seem to take you the nearest McDonalds, Hospital, and KFC. You start in the new area of Pudong, go west of the river (direction left) to find the older sites. The cranes on building sites is a nice touch. If you want to see Shanghai from ground level try here: City8
posted by priorpark17 at 2:33 AM PST - 13 comments