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The stupa (aka the chorten or the pagoda) is Buddhism's universal piece of symbolic architecture. Borobodur in Java is probably the most famous, while Burma's Shwedagon Pagoda is the largest, and the Kyaik-htiyo Pagoda on the Golden Rock may be the most precarious. They're common across the Himalayas, and sometimes hidden in caves.
posted by homunculus at 11:15 PM PST - 19 comments

Restoring a sense of pleasure The Raelian movement has been discussed here before . Clitoraid is their latest scam and you can donate now to adopt a clitoris and help them build the Pleasure Hospital in Ouagadougou.
posted by theemperorhasnoclotheson at 9:54 PM PST - 21 comments

"Some legal experts said the charge against Allen Lee is troubling because it was over an essay that even police admit contained no direct threats against anyone at the school." Newsfilter: A high school senior is arrested for a "disturbing" essay in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting.
posted by Many bubbles at 9:01 PM PST - 78 comments

The Computer Monster (YouTube, approx. 4 minutes). Also known as "The Coffee Break Machine," the original version was created for IBM, in 1967, by Jim Henson and Frank Oz, as part of the Muppet Meeting Films series. The posted version is a remake that was performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Via The Presurfer.
posted by amyms at 8:58 PM PST - 13 comments

Bruce Shapiro builds wonderful art using industrial motors and actuators. Examples: a sand plotter, A bubble display, and a dancing ribbon (2M WMV). [via Make]
posted by pombe at 8:39 PM PST - 7 comments

In this century, you may have dozens of programming languages lurking on your machine. But how to use them?? A fundamental secret! Well, no more. We cannot stand for that. Hackety Hack will not stand to have you in the dark! Now with 100% more MeFi.
posted by signal at 8:03 PM PST - 31 comments

Tha interweb have the 70's funk you need: Stevie Wonder. Sly & the Family Stone. James Brown. Ohio Players. Bootsy Collins. Edwin Starr. And the documentary Make It Funky, parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:29 PM PST - 51 comments

This is interesting. Presented by the NOAA Space Environment Center (SEC) The official NOAA, NASA, and ISES Solar Cycle 24 prediction was released by the Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel on April 25, 2007. The Prediction Panel included members from NOAA, NASA, ISES and other US and International representatives. Press Briefings and presentations at the SEC Space Weather Workshop, plus additional announcements and information from the Panel are linked below. The Panel expects to update this prediction annually.
posted by RoseyD at 7:13 PM PST - 9 comments

ObitFilter: Bobby "Boris" Pickett, 69 To remember him by: "Monster Mash" video mashup, his official site (with spooky 1998 sound), "The Climate Mash" (2005 eco-political rewrite with Pickett's vocal), and his lesser-known co-creation (with Peter Ferarra): "Star Drek"
posted by wendell at 6:35 PM PST - 24 comments

Classic Short Stories — "Fewer and fewer people these days read short stories. This is unfortunate—so few will ever experience the joy that reading such fine work can give. The goal of this site is to give a nice cross section of short stories in the hope that these short stories will excite these people into rediscovering this excellent source of entertainment." Authors represented include Saki, Edith Wharton, O. Henry, Guy de Maupassant, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Gabriel García Marquez, H. G. Wells, Roald Dahl, Anton Chekhov, Charles Dickens, William Carlos Williams and Katherine Mansfield.
posted by Kattullus at 5:10 PM PST - 27 comments

Jack Valenti, RIP.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:07 PM PST - 93 comments

Who's feeling sick? Probably a whole lot of people around you by the looks of this service, which tracks illness around the country as people report their symptoms. Mostly US and European-centric at this stage, but as more people around the world report their symptoms that can begin to change.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:35 PM PST - 16 comments

Is your plan of spending an idyllic Saturday at the lake playing fetch with your chocolate Lab hampered by the fact that you don't own a chocolate Lab? Flexpetz to the rescue! If you live in Los Angeles or San Diego, you can rent a dog by the day.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 3:54 PM PST - 37 comments

All your donuts are belong to us. The US government has mandated that by 2012, all new vehicles must have Electronic Stability Control. ESC senses when a driver may lose control of the vehicle and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to help stabilize it and avoid a rollover.
posted by jaimev at 3:27 PM PST - 39 comments

Frozen Indigo Angel Video producer Paul Denchfield recently noticed the words 'Frozen Indigo Angel' appearing on some work he'd produced for the BBC's Radio One website. Wanting to know what it was about, he contacted the corporation but they were evasive about it and not long afterwards he was told his services were no longer required. Not wanting to take it lying down, he's started blogging about the phenomena, which is virally spreading across the BBC's digital content, even popping up in the information window of DAB radios, trying to get to the bottom of this thing which has apparently cost him his job. Simple marketing or something more sinister?
posted by feelinglistless at 3:26 PM PST - 40 comments

Two police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. A third officer still faces charges. (Previous MeFi)
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:18 PM PST - 85 comments

The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss, online gallery. Revealing nature's oddest and most mesmerizing creatures in crystalline detail; color photographs of deep ocean species, some photographed for the first time. An online companion to the book by Claire Nouvian. Deep-sea photography.
posted by nickyskye at 3:03 PM PST - 36 comments

Getting around underground in NYC is no longer only for people who already know how to get around underground in NYC. Graphic Designer Eric Jabbour has been spending his free time obsessively redesigning MTA transit maps. And the results are striking. Non-New Yorkers will undoubtedly be able to figure out what's what. Cleaner lines and neighborhood boundaries are just a few features. Also, one can clearly see and understand transfer points and more street names.
posted by sneakin at 2:07 PM PST - 91 comments

Ross The Intern is now video blogging. Some of his segments from Jay Leno's The Tonight Show -- Burbank Fire Department | Christina Aguilera | Crocodile Hunter | Golden Globes | Jesse James | Pit Crew | Weatherman | The Winter Olympics.
posted by ericb at 1:18 PM PST - 16 comments

Two peregrine falcon chicks hatched today (almost) live on downtown Indianapolis' FalconCam. Yay! They're very cute, but the parent sits on them a lot.
posted by thirteenkiller at 12:20 PM PST - 12 comments

How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran by Joshuah Bearman. As history keeps on happening, all people and events are becoming linked to each other in strange and inexplicable ways. Once in a while those links surface into view. Here, then, is the key event that connects Jack Kirby and Roger Zelazny to the CIA's handling of the Iranian hostage crisis. Via Wired Magazine and good evening.
posted by JHarris at 12:17 PM PST - 38 comments

Senate backs Iraq withdrawal date The US Senate has voted to approve a bill which requires US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq within 11 months.
posted by chunking express at 11:15 AM PST - 133 comments

Prototaxites, what is it? Is it wood? Is it algae? Why, it's a humungous fungus. Scientists were long baffled by the mystery organism, which was recently verified to be a 350 million year old fungus that stood more than twenty feet tall. It doesn't look like much in the hands of Geologist Kevin Boyce, but the far sexier artist's rendering gives you a better idea of what an odd geological bird Prototaxites was.
posted by The Straightener at 11:05 AM PST - 22 comments

impeachy keen! learn why cleveland is the capital of polka, bowling and kielbasa.
posted by quonsar at 10:28 AM PST - 37 comments

Full of throttle (Via)
posted by Abiezer at 9:55 AM PST - 14 comments

A Japanese actress complains that her new poodle doesn't bark and won't eat dog food. Why's that? Because it's a lamb. Apparently as many as 2,000 people in Japan may have been duped. Let the punning commence.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:55 AM PST - 106 comments

"The story of how high officials misled the country has been told. But they couldn't have done it on their own; they needed a compliant press, to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on." Bill Moyers returned to PBS last night with this documentary (transcript) examining the mainstream media's role in the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
posted by ibmcginty at 9:50 AM PST - 56 comments

Facebook informericial parody This is a pretty hilarious video of Facebook users. Very well done.
posted by willthethrill at 9:18 AM PST - 28 comments

I stumbled across this incredible photograph and discovered Dar Robinson. One of his first professional stunts was jumping 100 feet into the ocean for Papillon. He jumped from one plane and into another in free fall over the Mojave desert. He jumped 1200 feet attached to only an 1/8-inch cable from Toronto's CN Tower. He set the world record (one of the 20+ he ultimately held) for free fall from a helicopter (music warning) in 1979. His unique falling stunts (1:56 & 2:36 in, Charles Durning in a wig & Hawaiian shirt warning) used a decelerator instead of air bags which allowed for camera angles that showed the ground, unique for pre-cgi days. He never broke a bone in his body during his 19-year career, making his untimely death from a non-stunt motorcyle accident on location all the more ironic, although lack of adequate medical services contributed (scroll down to filming hazards). Commemorated with a tv documentary and given an honorary Oscar in 1995, there is surprisingly little on the internet about him or his work.
posted by ambulance blues at 9:13 AM PST - 16 comments

“With the number of human beings having increased more than six-fold in the past 200 years, the modern mind simply assumes that men and women . . . will always breed enough children to grow the population . . . Yet, for more than a generation now, well-fed, healthy, peaceful populations around the world have been producing too few children to avoid population decline. . . . Throughout the broad sweep of human history, there are many examples of people, or classes of people, who chose to avoid the costs of parenthood. Indeed, falling fertility is a recurring tendency of human civilization. Why then did humans not become extinct long ago? The short answer is patriarchy.”
posted by jason's_planet at 9:10 AM PST - 79 comments

Looking for a mermaid or chimera for your trophy room? Artist Sarina Brewer uses roadkill and discarded livestock to create unusual fashions, art and more. Links maybe nightmare fuel for sensitive readers.
posted by drezdn at 9:01 AM PST - 14 comments

"I am a transsexual sportswriter," reads Mike (soon to be Christine) Penner's touching, brave column in today's L.A. Times. Although Mike's transgender identity is rare, it's natural ... and it seems that he is not alone. Christina Karl started her sportswriting career as Chris, and according to her, "nobody has batted an eye." Nip/Tuck's creators are even developing a series about a transsexual sportswriter's career and family life. One thing's for sure: the USTA's non-discrimination policy just got a lot more blurry ...
posted by chinese_fashion at 8:55 AM PST - 74 comments

For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates, according to former department lawyers and a review of written records.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:58 AM PST - 157 comments

In honor of tomorrow's Freedom Day (April 27), please enjoy these tales from elections past...
posted by loosemouth at 5:47 AM PST - 15 comments

A communication primer. A pretty basic, but well-written primer on effective communication, and proper understanding of the communication process, barriers, listening, feedback and non-verbal hints. Don Clark's site contains a lot of well-formed ideas on leadership and human performance without resorting to mumbo-jumbo and buzzwords. Not your typical MBA / self-help bs.
posted by psmealey at 5:31 AM PST - 9 comments

The University of Columbias Earth Institute has successfully demonstrated carbon dioxide air capturing. As to what could be done with the carbon dioxide after, the IPCC has some ideas (pdf). Unfortunately they don't state how much energy these machines consume or how expensive (toxic, etc.) their prodction is going to be.
posted by Glow Bucket at 2:25 AM PST - 38 comments

MBAs Without Borders - the Médecins Sans Frontières of the business world. [via the slightly alarming Springwise]
posted by patricio at 2:13 AM PST - 17 comments

I like a good laugh, but this gave me stomach cramps. If you tend to pee when you laugh you might want to take care of that first. And in case that's not enough baby, just wait, there's more! hoooo. hah. warning: YouTube loving double whammy
posted by From Bklyn at 2:03 AM PST - 75 comments