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Why bureaucracy, like gas, fills up all available space. From the archive of The Economist, 1955 [via ArchiveDigger.]
posted by digaman at 9:56 PM PST - 12 comments

The THX logo theme consists of 30 voices over seven measures, starting in a narrow range, 200 to 400 Hz, and slowly diverting to preselected pitches encompassing three octaves. [mp3 link] [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:14 PM PST - 59 comments

Janet Reid is a literary agent who helps aspiring fiction writers pitch their work in a public forum. Her feedback can be kind of brutal, but there are a few winning queries in there and it illuminates a part of the writing process that we civilians don't often get to see.
posted by ubermuffin at 9:05 PM PST - 38 comments

The makers of Ninja Gaiden 2 have decided on an unorthodox ad campaign. The game is being advertised by two white breasts protruding from a wall facing the street (SLYT). There are predictably funny reactions from passers by. Obviously, this is NSFW.
posted by reenum at 8:30 PM PST - 44 comments

Roots Reggae 7in's
posted by geos at 6:40 PM PST - 20 comments

Do you like Daft Punk? Do you like 8 Bit tribute albums? Then you'll probably dig Da Chip, a Daft Punk tribute album. [more inside]
posted by hellojed at 6:13 PM PST - 21 comments

You Only Live Once - Happy Belated Flash Friday.
posted by empath at 5:50 PM PST - 24 comments

The Mormon church's plaza walkway runs through the heart of downtown Salt Lake. It was originally a public sidewalk, and is still used as such by the city's downtown residents. It is common to see couples holding hands and walking arm in arm as they stroll. This hasn't been a problem, until recently. The church claims the couple was necking and groping. Video obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune doesn't show this., but it does show Mormon security in action. Charges were dropped, and the city's gay community is weighing in with a series of "kiss-ins."
posted by Crotalus at 5:41 PM PST - 46 comments

60 sticker-plastered Apple laptops
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 4:22 PM PST - 94 comments

...a very long time ago, a calendar came into my possession, a kitten calendar. It was placed on my wall as it was so offensively sickly I found it funny. But then, the graffiti started. And one by one the kittens had things added... creating... kitti graffiti!
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 3:55 PM PST - 27 comments

Evolution's third replicator: Genes, memes, and now what?
posted by homunculus at 2:40 PM PST - 68 comments

In the name of the Smith and Wesson and Glock.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:32 PM PST - 24 comments

Friday Flash Fun: William and Sly is a relaxing and fun side-scoller, reminiscent of Knytt and other recent "atmospheric" flash games. You play as Sly, the pet fox of William, and the game involves exploring the mountains and forests around William's house.
posted by i less than three nsima at 1:49 PM PST - 11 comments

Friday Frivolity. We use only the finest baby frogs, dew-picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in the finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope, and lovingly frosted with glucose. A recipe for the infamous Crunchy Frog. No frogs were killed in the making of this recipe. (via Neatorama)
posted by caddis at 12:37 PM PST - 35 comments

Herb & Dorothy Vogel is a documentary about a postal clerk and a librarian who amassed over 4000 works of conceptual and minimalist art on their modest income. Their only criteria: it had to be affordable, and it had to fit in their apartment.
posted by Extopalopaketle at 12:29 PM PST - 33 comments

Freakazoid! tells the tale of a hyperactive teen super hero whose personality is a bit of Jerry Lewis, Chris Farley and Batman. The show ran for two seasons from September 9, 1995 to June 1, 1997, with Cartoon Network airing reruns until March 8, 2003, and is available in full, online (YouTube Playlist). The love for the show lives on, with an amateur movie adaptation, memories from the cast, and other bits of show history. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:09 PM PST - 46 comments

Some famous cases of cannibalism at sea: 1816 The Medusa. 1821 The Essex. 1878 The Sallie N. Steelman. [pdf] 1884 The Mignonette [pdf] 1889 The Earnmoor. [pdf] 1988 Bolinao 52 incident. [story starts on page 2] 2008 Vessel not named. As a bonus here's the legal decision in the case of The Queen vs. Dudley and Stephens, who were on The Mignonette.
posted by Kattullus at 12:07 PM PST - 53 comments

Lernert Engenberts produces tiny, beautiful and exquisitely cruel films. Revenge on an innocent egg. Three ways to melt a chocolate bunny. Teasing the colour blind with colour correction. Abstract artists explain their work to their parents. But this may be the cruelest one of all. See more, including an ode to Alaska via AOL, on his site.
posted by maudlin at 11:57 AM PST - 23 comments

How to destroy an engine. (slyt) [more inside]
posted by nervousfritz at 11:17 AM PST - 134 comments

Challenge Your Senses
posted by blue_beetle at 11:06 AM PST - 24 comments

Dracula's drycleaner must die!
posted by Artw at 10:42 AM PST - 34 comments

Sitcom Idea #2 from the folks at The Blogulator.
posted by dersins at 9:55 AM PST - 35 comments

The latest tool to challenge homophobia: same-sex hand-holding. This past weekend, a same-sex hand-holding relay was held in London, to coincide with Olympic-related events. It's not just for gay and lesbian couples; sympathetic heterosexuals are encouraged to join in and take a stand, or rather a stroll, for tolerance.
posted by acb at 9:52 AM PST - 72 comments

Symbolic Gestures. How, exactly, does a simple picture go about telling you, "Be careful here. It's cold, and sometimes ice forms on the roof, and it can fall off, and it can be sharp, and that can hurt you"? Inspired by the upcoming Ken Burns documentary, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Jesse Smith of The Smart Set examines the pictograph designs that convey important information to park visitors. [more inside]
posted by amyms at 9:12 AM PST - 35 comments

Football legend Sir Bobby Robson dies, following a long battle with cancer. Further tributes via the Guardian. Donate to his foundation via here.
posted by Webbster at 9:06 AM PST - 25 comments

Little Wesley sings Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."
posted by phaedon at 8:22 AM PST - 60 comments

Peter Morville is widely recognized as a father of the information architecture field, and he serves as an advocate for the critical roles that search and findability play in defining web user experience. His recent project titled Search Patterns, is a sandbox for collecting search examples, patterns, and anti-patterns; for example spime search, the ability to query objects in motion and find things in the real world. Morville is also on the editorial board of the new Journal of Information Architecture.
posted by netbros at 8:06 AM PST - 4 comments

With tensions high on both sides, it might be time for a teachable moment. What made Pabst Blue Ribbon in alcoholic fuel of choice of the stereotypical hipster? Some think it is its No Marketing Marketing strategy. But Pabst's avoidance of advertising wasn't always the case (previously). Pabst marketed pretty heavily on TV back in the day, but given the quality of one of their final commercials, one could see why they gave it up. [more inside]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:50 AM PST - 183 comments

Apologies in advance for yet another reddit link, but I thought these were worthy enough to post for the uninitiated. Reddit, a link aggregator site, is often dismissed as another digg, 4chan, or fark, perhaps justifiably so. Users, however, know there's some excellent subreddits (among the thousands) lurking beneath the main page... [more inside]
posted by thisperon at 12:48 AM PST - 61 comments

Fox have offocially announced that Ridley Scott has officially signed on to direct the new 'Alien' prequel. He certainly did a great job on the original but can he match his previous truimph? Given the number of projects he has in gestation (heh) maybe any celebration is premature...
posted by Mintyblonde at 12:31 AM PST - 166 comments

New technique to block spam in the server -
posted by vvurdsmyth at 12:07 AM PST - 51 comments