Walking a mile in our heels.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:19 PM PST - 186 comments

Ray Parer & J C McIntosh; The Flying Wreck. In 1919 six teams entered an Air Race from England to Australia, but only two teams finished. The winning team finished in 28 days, while the second team didn't even get started until the race was already over, but they didn't let that stop them. Ray Parer and John McIntosh in their de Havilland DH9 airplane deviated considerably from their intended course, suffered many mechanical problems, had 7 crash landings, and took 237 days to finish. But they sure did have an adventure.
posted by homunculus at 7:25 PM PST - 8 comments

Häagen-Dazs wants you to know they are concerned about the disappearance of honeybees through a nice little flashed website. But we all know that the real reason our bees are disappearing is because of that damned hip hop music.
posted by Hands of Manos at 7:04 PM PST - 29 comments

Sysco : whether it's Wendy's, Applebee's, the local diner, a fancy restaurant, the cafeteria, or Guantanamo Bay, it's what you eat. Serving over 400,000 businesses, the "Wal-Mart of Food Service" has all the bases covered, from "Unique 3-D technology gives you the look and texture of a solid muscle chicken breast, at a fraction of the cost" to more gourmet offerings.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:12 PM PST - 135 comments

The Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Countdown. The Large Hadron Rap.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:52 PM PST - 76 comments

Uncle Bobby's Wedding: A librarian's rebuttal to a book removal/relocation request involving a children's title dealing with gay marriage. Via MyLiBlog.
posted by rollbiz at 4:49 PM PST - 86 comments

The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to repeal a ban on out of state marriages that has been on the books since 1913. The up-shot? Out of state gay and lesbian couples may soon wed in Massachusetts. The vote goes next to governor Deval Patrick, who has already indicate that he is in favor of repealing the law.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:32 PM PST - 42 comments

You're planning on baking a cake, but you're bored of your plain old square pan, round pan, or bundt pan? If you live in the US Midwest, it's very possible that your nearby library allows you to check out cake pans.
posted by Deathalicious at 3:05 PM PST - 52 comments

Are you looking for a nice, big kitty to let into your heart? Princess Chunk, at 44 pounds, might fit the bill nicely. Just two pounds shy of the world's record, the pudgy kitty was roaming sans collar in Voorhees, NJ and is now in good hands at the Camden County Animal Shelter. Chunker's owners have until Saturday to claim their big pal - after that, this big quarterback of a kitty is ready for a loving home.
posted by porn in the woods at 2:31 PM PST - 61 comments

Andrija Ilic is a photographer from Belgrade, Serbia. He uses photography to document social change to his environment and events in his homeland. He has covered some of the most important events in the region: war in Kosovo in 1998, NATO maneuvers in Italy in 1998 and intervention in 1999, numerous anti-regime protests 1996-2000, events surrounding the fall of government in Belgrade in October 2000, the crisis in southern Serbia. More recently, he has published new photos from the conflict in Israel and Palestine, every day life in Gaza, and reportage from the Faroe Islands. [some images NSFW - war violence and gore]
posted by netbros at 1:49 PM PST - 6 comments

The Antikythera Mechanism has been decoded. Two years ago, it was confirmed that the machine was capable of astronomical calculations. Now it appears there's just one more thing: 3D imaging of the machine made it possible to reconstruct the complete workings, and it turns out it was also capable of tracking the timing of the Olympic games. The findings were reported today in Nature. Previous Apple joke here, an incredibly deep post about it here, and a longer report from the New Yorker.
posted by one_bean at 1:29 PM PST - 40 comments

"That's why so many insights happen during warm showers."[pdf/html]
A print-only print-mostly article in last week's New Yorker magazine fascinatingly describes the neurological processes behind human insight, with nods to Henri Poincaré's omnibus eureka ("Having reached Coutances, we entered an omnibus to go some place or other. At the moment when I put my foot on the step the idea came to me, without anything in my former thoughts seeming to have paved the way for it") and Archimedes' bathtub eureka* ("Eureka!")
posted by jckll at 12:40 PM PST - 33 comments

Light Photography
posted by empath at 12:34 PM PST - 12 comments

A three-and-a-half minute video explaining the American electoral process. As a Canadian, I've also found the American electoral system a little baffling. Electoral colleges? Maine and Nebraska do it differently? I thought this video by the smart folks at Common Craft did an excellent job of explaining how somebody gets to the White House.
posted by dbarefoot at 12:04 PM PST - 88 comments

There's something about Mary. Sarasota, Florida, resident Mary McFate was a prominent gun control activist, active in anti-gun groups around the country. Mary Lou Sapone was a freelance spy with an NRA connection. They are the same person.
posted by parmanparman at 11:10 AM PST - 59 comments

Don Hodges writes scholarly (but readable) articles on the mathematics and logic of classic video games - with a special emphasis on kill screens, such as "Stage Zero" in Galaga, Level 22 in Donkey Kong, and the legendary split screen at the end of Pac-Man. More here.
posted by jbickers at 10:58 AM PST - 30 comments

Anti-Israel Facebook group "seized" - the Jewish Internet Defense Force (warning: self-starting Google video) says that it has taken control of an anti-Israel Facebook group and is steadily deleting members by the second. "It has also changed the group's administrator titles to read 'Mossad Zionist.'"
posted by mrgrimm at 10:55 AM PST - 62 comments

John C. Frémont is a secret Catholic.
posted by EarBucket at 10:23 AM PST - 16 comments

Twones is a music tracker that monitors Last.FM, YouTube, MySpace, iTunes, Muxtape, and a few other services.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:19 AM PST - 10 comments

20 Ways to Die Trying to Dunk a Basketball - the only thing more triumphant than throwing down a tomahawk slam is having 20,000 people see you fail at doing it. (youtube)
posted by puke & cry at 9:52 AM PST - 44 comments

Transcendence, the outer space exploration/trading/shoot 'em up, has hit version .99. I cannot begin to tell you how much time I sunk into previous releases -- the Nethackish randomness, both in the layout of the systems to explore, and the mysterious devices and substances to apply to your ship in hope of an extra edge, makes the replay value immense. RGCD has a glowing review and an interview with the developer. (Mentioned but not actually linked to earlier.)
posted by CrunchyFrog at 9:45 AM PST - 48 comments

12 Angry Men + Glowing = 12 Glowing Men. An absolutely beautiful film by Martijn Hendriks.
posted by hubs at 9:30 AM PST - 36 comments

St. Louis group Pray at the Pump is trying to lower gas prices the old fashioned way - by praying for them.
posted by ericbop at 9:10 AM PST - 145 comments

Vaughn Toulouse was not born Toulouse. He was born Vaughn Cotillard on the island of Jersey on this day in 1959. In the summer of ’78, he left home to tag along on tour with the Clash, which he chronicled in an early issue of The Face. Thus inspired, Toulouse formed a series of bands of his own including Guns For Hire and Department S, which scored a big hit with Is Vic There? (TOTP, Cheggers) and a lesser one with I Want.
posted by grounded at 9:00 AM PST - 5 comments

Von Wernich signed the baptism certificate of a girl born in a clandestine prison, whose mother was murdered at his orders. He encouraged torture victims to "testify, for the sake of god and country," perverting the confession into an interrogation tactic. Under a Nazi flag, he witnessed the torture of Jewish journalist Jacobo Timerman [...] Von Wernich was convicted on nearly all counts "under the mark of genocide." The crowds inside and outside the courthouse broke into celebration, singing, lighting firecrackers, some burning effigies of the priest. After thirty years, the saga to bring Von Wernich to justice was over.

The Unending War — Argentina's quest for justice by Sam Ferguson is about how Argentine society is dealing with the legacy of the junta's Dirty War of 1976-83.
posted by Kattullus at 8:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Libraries are neat. The New York Public Library has uploaded a collection of menus dating from 1851 to 1956 thanks largely to the efforts of collector Miss Frank E. Buttolph, a "mysterious and passionate figure whose mission in life was to collect menus" and whose unique collection aroused the interest of the NYT of her day (1, 2).
posted by prefpara at 7:41 AM PST - 28 comments

Back in 1978, Jack Nicholson was ahead of his time.
posted by gman at 4:40 AM PST - 49 comments

Australian short film - I Love Sarah Jane 'Jimbo is 13. All he can think about is one girl, Sarah Jane. And no matter what stands in his way - bullies, violence, chaos, zombies - nothing is going to stop him from finding a way into her world.' NSFW - swearing and gore. SLYT.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:14 AM PST - 16 comments

On 30th July 1908, after 169 days of competition, the 4-cylinder, 60-horsepower Thomas Flyer, driven by George Schuster from America, crossed the finish line to win the Great 1908 New York-to-Paris Automobile Race. After driving to the West Coast, the vehicles were shipped to Vladivostok from where only three teams managed to continue with the race across Asia and Europe.
posted by peacay at 12:32 AM PST - 5 comments