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A futuristic robot polices the chaotic streets of a developing nation in this [creepy] spec commercial/corporate video." Quicktime is involved. Also, people who are scared of robots might not want to watch, because there is a robot in this video.
posted by Hildago at 11:40 PM PST - 31 comments

Apparent terrorism threat to Los Angeles West Side. According to KNBC News 4 in LA, Federal authorities in Westwood have received a threat of terrorism against a local shopping mall somewhere on the West Side, to take place sometime tomorrow, Thursday April 29. Though unsubstantiated, the threat is being taken seriously enough that all local police forces have been notified and at least partially mobilized. I don't know about you, but I won't be shopping tomorrow.... are any other places in the US getting local threats like this, either now or recently?
posted by zoogleplex at 11:13 PM PST - 39 comments

Supermodel Personals. "Nervous short girl into fantasy novels and The Simpsons seeks quiet, sensitive guy to while away the hours with me in my library of cocaine." (NSFW)
posted by PrinceValium at 11:05 PM PST - 24 comments

The University of Minnesota is allowing students to create their own Movable Type blog with just one step. Just give your blog a name and a tag line, hit submit, and your MT blog is all set to go.
posted by MrAnonymous at 10:54 PM PST - 5 comments

PhotoSymphony.
posted by Gyan at 10:42 PM PST - 3 comments

Visit sunny Molvanîa! The guidebook is here. Just don't mix them up with Moldavia. They hate that.
posted by trondant at 9:59 PM PST - 16 comments

Grin And Bear It, Woman! Think Of England! Caesarean births in the U.K. should be severely curtailed, say the medical mandarins. Germaine Greer says, in a cracking column, that the new guidelines are misogyny pure and simple. Is it just my impression (think of American Pie-type teenage movies; advertising; "guy lit") or are hatred of women and beery, bozo celebrations of indifference to the feminine sex on the up and up?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:51 PM PST - 64 comments

Web Gallery of Art: European art from 1150 to 1800.
posted by hama7 at 6:16 PM PST - 6 comments

"Hubert Selby died often. But he always came back, smiling that beautiful smile of his, and those blue eyes of his... This time he will not be back. My saints have always come from hell, and now, with his passing, there are no more saints". Selby is the author of Last Exit to Brooklyn, (tried for obscenity in England and supported by, among many others, Samuel Beckett and Anthony Burgess), Requiem For a Dream, Song of the Silent Snow. He is being eulogized in the USA and UK, but also, massively (I've just watched a fantastic TV special) in France, where he is much more popular than in his native land (Selby's death was the cover story -- plus pages 2, 3 and 4 -- in the daily Libération today -- .pdf file): Dernière sortie vers la rédemption, L'extase de la dévastation. What makes all this kind of ironic -- in a very Selbyesque way -- is that Selby himself used to say, "I started to die 36 hours before I was born..." (more inside)
posted by matteo at 5:21 PM PST - 16 comments

There is this wonderful Seattle group, Uncle Bonsai, who perform, among other songs, Cheerleaders on Drugs. Now, another Seattle group, the University of Washington Women's Softball team, has their own take on the subject.
posted by Danf at 3:40 PM PST - 10 comments

Sterile couture. A Dutch architect designs surgical masks for the Japanese.
posted by plexi at 3:12 PM PST - 4 comments

The Sinking of Tuvalu, by Kevin Maney. The bizarre story of an island nations sinking fortunes.
posted by stbalbach at 1:41 PM PST - 9 comments

GPS Drawing. The world is your canvas.
Spirograph. Cat. The Magic Roundabout. Airplane ride.
posted by ssmith at 1:39 PM PST - 5 comments

It's not Christmas just yet, but get your hands on the Jesus Christ Action Figure. With walk-on-water action!
posted by xmutex at 12:19 PM PST - 16 comments

Time to blow the whistle. Is the "obesity epidemic" a medical emergency, or a big fat lie? Paul Campos says it's time to tell the truth.
posted by frykitty at 11:58 AM PST - 78 comments

Marcel Duchamp and William Burroughs take on Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh at WPS1, art radio from New York's Museum of Modern Art. There's also a variety of music programmed by Elliott Sharp.
posted by liam at 11:26 AM PST - 2 comments

One of the finest poets in English, Thom Gunn, has died. Along with Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes, Gunn became famous as a young poet in England in the 1950s as part of "The Movement," writing fine poems in rhyme and meter. But then he fell in love with an American soldier, Mike Kitay, and followed him to San Francisco, where he crafted one of the most daringly original voices in the 20th century, handling taboo subjects like LSD, orgiastic sex, and his 50-year relationship with Kitay with the precision of a diamond cutter. Gunn lived in my neighborhood, and was a dapper, subtle, sexy and hilariously witty man until the end. Ten years ago, when I asked him what music he was listening to he replied, "Oh, Nirvana and Social Distortion. I'm a flighty teenager that way."
posted by digaman at 11:22 AM PST - 24 comments

Veith v. Jubelirer affirmed by the US Supreme Court
In a 5-4 opinion, the US Supreme Court upheld that gerrymandered Congressional districts are legal and overruled Davis v. Bandemer. Full opinions available. For a background on why this is a structural constitutional problem and why we should be worried about it, read Gerrymandering - "The Great Contradiction".
posted by plemeljr at 11:15 AM PST - 19 comments

White House "disappears" women's info. The Bush administration has quietly removed 25 reports from its Women's Bureau Web site, deleting or distorting crucial information on issues from pay equity to reproductive healthcare. There's a long article about it over at Salon, behind the premium wall.
posted by dejah420 at 10:12 AM PST - 16 comments

jeff goldblum is watching you poop... - NSFW.
posted by triv at 9:40 AM PST - 17 comments

That boy ain't right...

Recently -- for some reason -- I have found myself listening to the song Hazard by Richard Marx, and my interest in the murderous storyline has been re-piqued. This place has the whole shebang. Background information, conspiracy theories and even a kangaroo court!
posted by catchmurray at 9:23 AM PST - 10 comments

The Blissful Life in Utopia
SUGAR LAND, Tex. -- This is the home of Britton Stein, who describes George W. Bush as "a man, a man's man, a manly man," and Al Gore as "a ranting and raving little whiny baby." Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican. He lives in a house that has six guns in the closets and 21 crosses in the main hallway.

Diary of a Freeper. Fascinating read. Insightful.
posted by nofundy at 8:58 AM PST - 130 comments

"At some time in the past, according to both [redacted] and [redacted] the President suffered what one of his aides called "a very minor seizure" and as a result of this, the President has a very difficult time following any unscripted conversations."

Note: this link comes from a rather conspiratorial website [another source], but claims to be a report from a reporter with White House access. [/caveat] Via Easybakecoven.
posted by moonbird at 8:30 AM PST - 28 comments

A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:24 AM PST - 9 comments

Taiwan Cam. A geography of views for the people.
posted by the fire you left me at 8:24 AM PST - 1 comments