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The Amazing Spider-Man and Planned Parenthood team up to thwart a baby-stealing alien who encourages young people to have unprotected sex. [Via scans_daily]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:27 PM PST - 16 comments

Every number from Alan Parker's "kids as mobsters" 1970's musical, Bugsy Malone.
posted by jonson at 9:20 PM PST - 38 comments

This is a video of a smug-looking guy playing Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" on his hands. And there's more.
posted by nowonmai at 8:09 PM PST - 24 comments

On October 26, 1965, a sixteen-year-old girl named Sylvia Marie Likens was reported dead to Indianapolis police. It was soon discovered that her death was the culmination of weeks of torture at the hands of an adult caretaker and several neighborhood children; when the case went to trial, the prosecutor declared it "the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana." In 2007, not one but two films inspired by the case make their debut: The Girl Next Door (trailer), based on a fictionalized version of the events, and the docudrama An American Crime (trailer). One person, at least, will probably be skipping both -- the victim's sister, who says of the latter film, "No one ever even asked us about it. It's their gain, our pain."
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:32 PM PST - 118 comments

Fifty Years of Space Exploration Professor John Zarnecki gives the The Open University Lecture 2007. You can watch or listen whilst exploring the resources elsewhere on the OU site.
posted by Abiezer at 7:23 PM PST - 2 comments

It's All Because. Have you ever had those days where you're wondering just why everything about your life is feeling like it's going down the toilet bowl? Oded Gross knows, and he will tell you all about it. In a song.
posted by brownpau at 6:54 PM PST - 17 comments

Dying for Lifesaving Drugs: Will desperate patients destroy the pharmaceutical system that produces tomorrow's treatments?Reason Magazine
posted by BrotherCaine at 6:48 PM PST - 43 comments

Art Crimes is a fascinating site about the history of vandalism in the fine arts, recently revived by a Frenchwoman who left a lipstick imprint on a 2 million dollar painting by Cy Twombly. Other examples include a British suffragist attacking a Velazquez with a knife, an installation vandalized by the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, two Chinese performance artists who urinated into Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, and a Canadian art student who vomited blue gelatin on a Mondrian. Oddly enough, the artwork that has weathered the most attacks is Rembrandt's The Night Watch, which has survived two knife attacks (one by an unemployed teacher with a butter knife) and an attack by a mental patient who had a compulsion to fling sulfuric acid at fine artworks. Other art vandalism methods, including glass cutters, hammers, scissors, guns, and ink, are discussed here.
posted by jonp72 at 3:48 PM PST - 38 comments

Knob Creek Gun Range, a former military-munitions test range situated near Fort Knox is home to the "World's Largest Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun Show". Run by private citizens excercising their second amendment rights (Kentucky has no state-level gun laws) the focus is on Class III firearms - things like assault weapons and anti-tank rifles, but also the occasional high-caliber sniper rifle and cannon. Hold my bourbon and watch this! (more)
posted by phrontist at 3:29 PM PST - 78 comments

Devolution: Nature's U-Turn is a new music video concept by rock band KoRn for their single Evolution. The premise? Mankind isn't evolving, it's devolving... getting dumber by the day. Wait. Haven't we seen this before? We have, and Devo's Gerald V. Casale isn't happy. "We denounce this as impostors playing with fire." he says of Korn on the Club Devo website. He elaborates in a new interview with Rolling Stone, including a possibility of their first new record in 20 years. Devo's also put out a new song, "Watch Us Work It", which appears in a commercial for Dell laptops [youtube link], with a official music video and single release to come.
posted by SansPoint at 2:43 PM PST - 59 comments

The International Disaster Database provides a complete summary of natural and technological disasters from 1900 to 2006. You can see disaster summaries by country or by disaster, such as volcanoes, industrial accidents, transportation accidents, or floods, along with even more detailed data. If this is too much, the tonic is the World Database on Happiness which will allow you to look at happiness trends among countries and happiness maps [prev.].
posted by blahblahblah at 2:38 PM PST - 2 comments

As it builds a presence and invests in virtual worlds, IBM is hoping to avoid potentially embarrassing incidents by establishing official guidelines for its more than 5,000 employees who inhabit "Second Life," Entropia Universe," "Forterra," "There" and other virtual worlds. "IBM, whose 20th century employees were parodied as corporate cogs in matching navy suits, doesn't have an avatar dress code. But guidelines suggest being 'especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona's appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business.'" Other directives: "Don't discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people." "Don't discriminate or harass" and by all means, "Be a good 3D Netizen."
posted by ericb at 2:23 PM PST - 9 comments

An unexpected treasure trove online... The audioguides for Rome's city museums are available as mp3s! Not only can you find guides to one of the oldest public museums in the world, the Capitoline Museums, but you can also hear several commentaries (including video) on the ancient Roman Altar of Augustan Peace, and download the audioguide of both the Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture, and that of the Museum of Rome. Download them before you go and save 5 euros at each museum, but they're *invaluable* even if you listen to them from home! Enjoy!!
posted by Misciel at 2:19 PM PST - 7 comments

NASA has a rule requiring that astronauts go at least 12 hours between "bottle and throttle." Reports say not everyone followed it, and they went up anyway.
posted by djlynch at 1:39 PM PST - 40 comments

Burmese artist Htein Lin was imprisoned by his country's military government from 1998 to 2004 on charges of planning opposition protests. In prison he was forced to improvise to continue painting, using paints smuggled in by guards and white cotton prison uniforms as canvases. In place of brushes he used his fingers, cigarette lighters, syringes, pieces of netting, dinner plates, and blocks of soap. Burma Inside Out (PDF), an exhibition of some of his prison work, will be on display at the Asia House Gallery in London from July 27 to October 13.
posted by homunculus at 12:26 PM PST - 10 comments

B. H. May, CBE, as an astronomy student at Imperial College London co-authored two papers, MgI Emission in the Night Sky Spectrum and An Investigation of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (pdf) and was on the way to completing his doctorate when he dropped out to form a band. After a 36-year break May went back to school to get his PhD. Last year he co-authored Bang! the Complete History of the Universe. This year he is finishing up his thesis-"Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud" and this week is in La Palma finishing spectographic observations. Mr May also plays guitar.
posted by MtDewd at 12:22 PM PST - 24 comments

Abandoned places: A satellite facility. A drag strip. A sports arena. A factory. A highway. A school. Another factory. An industrial park. A missile site. A church. A brewery. And much more at Abandoned But Not Forgotten. (Warning: Web 0.2 site with very large photos of variable quality...)
posted by dersins at 12:00 PM PST - 42 comments

Parody is... also a sincere form of flattery, in the advertising biz. Sonic's ad agency, after a couple of dud trys at viral marketing to complement their popular campaign, decides instead to jump on all the parodies that people are posting on YouTube, then recognize some of the better ones, also on YouTube.
posted by dammitjim at 11:26 AM PST - 55 comments

Zeitgeist, the movie [Google Video link embedded] - An interesthing, if bizarre, mix of buffed-up comparative mythology, 9/11 conspiracy theories and New world order rambling about banks, loans, debts and war. Is paranoia the spirit of our times?
posted by Baldons at 11:16 AM PST - 32 comments

Over 1100 cattle have died in South Dakota in the last few days due to high temperatures and humidity. This is certainly not the first or even the worst event of its kind. Some are saying they were caught off guard, but warning signs are common. For the most part, only confinement cattle are being affected despite extremely high temperatures all over cattle range lands in the US and Canada.
posted by limmer at 10:45 AM PST - 17 comments

Formerly 23, now 22 Korean Christian missionaries have been taken hostage in Afghanistan. The group's leader and pastor was killed on his 42nd birthday. Hostages have been taken before in Afghanistan, but a video on YouTube, perhaps connected with the missionaries, has been creating a stir. Here.
posted by suedehead at 10:30 AM PST - 73 comments

Modern shunga by Bob Kessel. What's shunga? Previously. NSFW.
posted by nthdegx at 10:18 AM PST - 16 comments

Four endangered gorillas were found shot dead in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a conservation group announced today. For all the evil bastards that do this, there are many, many more good people fighting the good fight to help keep gorillas healthy. One, even has a blog.
posted by james_cpi at 9:21 AM PST - 41 comments

Vinokourov. Rasmussen. Luke Bream?
Looks like he'll make it! [via]
posted by Chuckles at 9:02 AM PST - 58 comments

Can't Tell Me Nothing: Kanye West's new video features Zach Galifinakis and Will Oldham. "The hilarious clip was shot on Galifianakis' farm in North Carolina and illustrates the many trappings of big pimpin' on the homestead: rollin' tractor-style, hay bailin' and stayin' faithful in a room full of hoes (better known as cows)." Some backstory.
posted by deern the headlice at 8:35 AM PST - 59 comments

Peanuts, by Charles Bukowski. via
posted by xmutex at 8:30 AM PST - 29 comments

Ever wondered what it is like to have your portrait painted? How would you pose ... "sidelong glance, coy grin, gazing into the distance, serious and stylish"? Here's an interesting perspective on the subject, describing the process start to finish, written by a sitter, but published on the website of the painter, together with his added commentary on the process. And how did the subject like his finished portrait? "In a word, the painting makes me uncomfortable. ... It must be a terrific portrait." (via)
posted by woodblock100 at 7:54 AM PST - 11 comments

Zotero is one of several free, open source research tools developed by the previously mentioned Center for History and New Media. It runs within Firefox and allows you to easily capture bibliographic information from a variety of online databases and catalogs, insert in-text citations and generate properly formatted bibliographies... if you're into that. (Also check out CHNM's fantastic projects page.)
posted by cog_nate at 6:55 AM PST - 13 comments

Other Women's Voices: "Below are links that will take you to passages from over 125 women writers. The entries are on women who produced a substantial amount of work before 1700, some or all of which has been translated into modern English. Each entry will tell you about the print sources from which the translated passages are taken; it will also tell you of useful secondary sources and Internet sites, when those are available." An amazing resource. (Via wood s lot.)
posted by languagehat at 6:49 AM PST - 20 comments

What did XTC, The Cramps, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dead Kennedys, Klaus Nomi, The Go Gos, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Alley Cats, Oingo Boingo, Pere Ubu, The Au Pairs, Gang of Four, The Members, UB40, Steel Pulse, DEVO, X, The Fleshtones, The Police, Wall of Voodoo , Gary Numan, Skafish, Joan Jett, Chelsea, John Cooper Clarke, Invisible Sex, and many more have in common? URGH A MUSIC WAR.
posted by mattoxic at 6:37 AM PST - 65 comments

The Reading Experience Database is collecting information about 'what British people read, where and when they read it, and what they thought of it' between 1450 and 1945. You can sample the database by searching for reader responses to (e.g.) Shakespeare or Dickens or Karl Marx, or to newspapers in general. It's a collaborative project, open to everyone, so why not contribute?
posted by verstegan at 6:24 AM PST - 2 comments

FolkStreams:" Remembering The High Lonesome " - Dillard Chandler
Roscoe Holcomb - Little Birdie
Roscoe Holcomb - Graveyard Blues
And from Roscoe Holcomb comes the song which is the soundtrack of the eponymously entitled Moonshiner. Dylan described a certain untamed sense of control in his singing and Ralph Stanley once said 'you could feel the smell of wood smoke in his voice'.
Yes, I watched High Lonesome Sound again, last night...
posted by y2karl at 6:12 AM PST - 12 comments

Charming, informative and interesting range of stories about antiques and collectibles: Antiques Roadshow, Follow the Stories; from Cornucopia of Crate Labels, A Lost Little Picasso, Space "Junk": Buying, Owning, and the Law to What is Catlinite?
posted by nickyskye at 5:51 AM PST - 4 comments

Learn to navigate using the stars in 15 minutes! OK, well maybe not navigate, but you'll know exactly where Orion, Betelgeuse, Polaris (the North Star), Cassiopeia, and Jupiter are.
posted by Mave_80 at 5:51 AM PST - 36 comments

It is just over 10 years since Billy Mackenzie committed suicide. As frontman of The Associates, Mackenzie was, even by rock star standards, an eccentric individual. There is a great fansite with many articles on Mackenzie and his music which gives further info for those who want to know more. A Scottish TV documentary on Mackenzie and the Associates is here: Part 1;Part 2; Part 3; Part 4. For those who want to get straight to the songs and that wonderful voice, many Top of the Pops performances are on youtube: Party Fears Two; Club Country; 18 Carat Love Affair (featuring Alan Rankine playing a chocolate guitar).
posted by ClanvidHorse at 4:36 AM PST - 9 comments

Pjotro - aka The Man With The Musical Suit - is "upset that his [viral ad for Nokia] was leaked".
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:46 AM PST - 19 comments

An excellent example of the consequences of the Supreme Court's Gonzales v. Raich decision: today the United States House of Representatives voted down a bill which would have prohibited the DEA from targeting State-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. Almost simultaneously, the DEA raided 10 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.
posted by mullingitover at 12:53 AM PST - 68 comments

Dudeism, the slowest-growing religion in the world, an "ancient philosophy that preaches non-preachiness." Duuude, be sure to check out The Tao Of The Dude and Duderonomy, and if everything is copacetic with you, get your instant online ordination, whoa! Via.
posted by amyms at 12:08 AM PST - 40 comments