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"I have been inspired to write a post about, what seems to be, the number one thing on every pregnant woman’s mind…POOP!". On Jezebel: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Pooping During Childbirth. The Poop Report (Your #1 Source for #2, previously) weighs in.
posted by Deathalicious at 9:44 PM PST - 106 comments

As Wikipedia expanded to lesser known languages it ran into a problem: What is knowledge for Wikipedia purposes? Traditionally knowledge has been defined by citations, but many languages don't have a lot of written material, greatly limiting what could be created on Wikipedia. The solution (NYT) may be that People are Knowledge (45min), a project funded by a Wikimedia Foundation grant.
posted by stbalbach at 9:32 PM PST - 9 comments

“Before me as I write lies an inch-square bit of brown leather --- not, you would think, an inspiring subject for a tale. But perpend. This fragment of human skin, for such it is, has been since 1829 in the possession of three persons only: The original owner, my grandfather, and myself. Inconsiderable in size and unimpressive of aspect, it was nevertheless potent to influence the direction of my future studies… While yet a small boy, my grandfather would often show me by request this singular relic and I never wearied of hearing how he came by it. As a matter of history, its first proprietor, the late Mr. William Burke of Edinburgh, in the circumstances hereafter to be related, was publicly anatomized, his carcass thereafter flayed, his hide tanned, and his skeleton by order of Court preserved in the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh University, where it remains as a memorial of his infamy even unto this day. Mr. Burke’s integument being cut up into sortable parcels to suit buyer’s tastes and exposed for sale by private bargain, my grandfather, who was then but a young man, invested a modest shilling’s worth. Wealthier purchasers bought larger lots --- I have heard that the late Professor Chiene had a tobacco pouch made of this unique material. Personally, despite my predilection for crime, I prefer India-rubber.” --- "The Wolves of the West Port" [more inside]
posted by Diablevert at 9:14 PM PST - 12 comments

"The Justices all sit in high-backed leather swivel chairs, and Thomas has set his so that he can recline so far that he appears almost to be lying down. He stares at the ceiling. He rubs his face. He does not appear to be listening. He closes his eyes and sometimes appears to be asleep. The over-all effect is rude, if not contemptuous." The New Yorker profiles Justice Clarence Thomas, his wife Ginni's Tea Party connections and what they might mean for the inevitable SCOTUS ruling on Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and looks back on his confirmation hearings. Previously, Justice Thomas and Ginni; Obama and healthcare; SCOTUS.
posted by reductiondesign at 8:52 PM PST - 125 comments

The annotated scores for [*and Filmtracks.com's reviews of] Howard Shore's soundtracks to The Fellowship of the Ring*, The Two Towers*, and The Return of the King*
posted by Trurl at 8:42 PM PST - 21 comments

Fighting Trousers [SLYT ChapHop]
posted by quin at 7:38 PM PST - 39 comments

Songs by Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Katy Perry are among those newly banned by China's culture ministry. Chinese Internet sites must remove them by 15 September in the interests of "national cultural security". Last May China banned a Mongolian protest song and arrested the student who made it, while Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup was sentanced to one year and seven months’ imprisonment for producing a music album with “subversive songs”. Funnily enough, they also banned 'Guns'n'Roses' long awaited Chinese Democracy. No word yet on China Crisis.
posted by joannemullen at 6:40 PM PST - 35 comments

The Daily Dot delivers news about social media communities such as Reddit, Facebook and Youtube the way a local newspaper might deliver news about a city.
posted by reenum at 6:25 PM PST - 10 comments

New Wave Time Warp is a tumblr featuring video of songs exactly thirty years after their release. Thirty years ago today: Pete Shelley, Homosapien.
posted by escabeche at 5:57 PM PST - 30 comments

The hidden meaning of pronouns. I particularly liked the counterintuitive bit about men's and women's use of pronouns. Also fascinating about the declining use of the 1st person as status increased: "When undergraduates wrote me, their emails were littered with I, me, and my. My response, although quite friendly, was remarkably detached -- hardly an I-word graced the page. And then I analyzed my emails to the dean of my college. My emails looked like an I-word salad; his emails back to me were practically I-word free."
posted by anothermug at 4:58 PM PST - 66 comments

Realtors in Cars is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these agencies got their realtors wedged into their cars, or why.
posted by mek at 4:28 PM PST - 36 comments

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has resigned.
posted by lohmannn at 3:44 PM PST - 450 comments

Facepaint in Motion (dozens of flickr videos of facepaint artist James Kuhn.)
posted by crunchland at 3:20 PM PST - 7 comments

Jerry's Map: a short film about the fictional world of Jerry Gretzinger, which he has been building for decades through a process of procedural cartography. His website.
posted by avocet at 2:16 PM PST - 20 comments

Is that review a fake? A new paper from Cornell researchers proposes an algorithm for sussing out fake reviews from websites. Here's a summary of tell-tale signs.
posted by empath at 1:37 PM PST - 71 comments

What's it like to have your film flop at the box office? "When you work "above the line" on a movie (writer, director, actor, producer, etc.) watching it flop at the box office is devastating. I had such an experience during the opening weekend of Conan the Barbarian 3D."
posted by Fizz at 1:27 PM PST - 134 comments

See history roll over the world. Today, the Internet Archive has released to the world an archive of all news programs on nearly every major television channel from 9/11/2001 to 9/16/2001. This exhibit, called Understanding 9/11: A Television News Archive provides a grid navigation system of these many hours of footage from dozens of worldwide news programs and gives us a comprehensive overview of television's reaction to 9/11, on 9/11.
posted by jscott at 12:28 PM PST - 66 comments

As Khoi Vinh describes them, "Dan Hipp’s extraordinarily lively illustrations are borne of some mash-up universe in which comics, sci-fi and action-adventure fiction have both been flipped over on their backs, only to reveal their shockingly adorable undersides." via Subtraction [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco at 11:48 AM PST - 17 comments

Fukushima Robot Operator Writes Tell-All Blog. "An anonymous worker at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has written dozens of blog posts describing his experience as a lead robot operator at the crippled facility." [Via]
posted by homunculus at 11:11 AM PST - 19 comments

Some news about the return of Chumley's. Chumley's in New York's West Village has been closed since 2007, when a chimney collapse shut it down "temporarily." The building began life around 1830 as a blacksmith's shop, and during the Civil War may have been used to shelter runaway slaves. In the 1920s, Leland "Lee" Chumley, a "Soldier, Artist, Writer and Covered Wagon Driver," [paid NYT archive link] established it as a speakeasy, with two unmarked entrances – one on Barrow Street, and one at 86 Bedford Street [Google map]. [more inside]
posted by precipice at 11:08 AM PST - 8 comments

NPR reports about The Evangelicals Engaged In Spiritual Warfare who orchestrated Rick Perry's recent prayer rally; as previously exposed by Rachel Maddow.
According to The New Apostolic Reformation "a chain of powerful prophecies had proclaimed that Texas was 'The Prophet State. Both Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry have deep ties to a fringe fundamentalist movement known as Dominionism, which says Christians should rule the world. Dominionism means that Christians have a God-given right to rule all earthly institutions.
Rachel Tabachnick has been reporting on the religious right who among other things want to kill public education. (Previously 1; 2 ).
posted by adamvasco at 10:53 AM PST - 287 comments

This week marks the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a long awaited and fairly well received prequel to the PC classic Deus Ex. Included in retail PC copes is a free redemption code for the OnLive version of the game. Unless you happen to buy the game from GameStop (no stranger to shenanigans), which ordered its employees to open the boxes and remove the code coupons. Perhaps of note, GameStop acquired Spawn Labs in April to develop a potential OnLive rival.
posted by kmz at 10:50 AM PST - 93 comments

In a widely discussed tweet last week, Jon Huntsman broke with the stated opinion of every other major Republican presidential candidate†:

@JonHuntsman "To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy."

Is Huntsman's announcement a shrewd move to establish his campaign as "the only moderate" candidacy in the crowded G.O.P. field, or is it evidence of a man sticking by his principles and "having a little fun" in a primary he knows he cannot win? [more inside]
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:31 AM PST - 130 comments

Comic Syrup. A Blog About Canadian Comic Books.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:40 AM PST - 4 comments

"Japanese Jazz Opera" begins with "Now's The Time," by Charlie Parker. An old peasant couple sings along with the standard, in Japanese. [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 8:50 AM PST - 9 comments

We talk about Lego a lot here on the blue. We also talk about Arrested Development. Now we can do both... at the same time.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:41 AM PST - 39 comments

"Call me nuts, but I find extraordinarily endearing the improbable blend of country music traditionalism and tastefully restrained space-age guitar pyrotechnics that can be heard in these tunes." Yes, friends, the fine folks at WFMU are back with the long-awaited 2nd installment of the tasty and wonderful Country Fuzz Spectacular! [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:20 AM PST - 8 comments

Lynda Barry, cartoonist and author of One! Hundred! Demons! has a lovely art tumblr.
posted by The Whelk at 7:35 AM PST - 44 comments

Cartoonist and teacher James Sturm takes a crack at The New Yorker. Via [more inside]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:33 AM PST - 45 comments

Tabletop: Analog Game Design - A commons licenced book containing a series of essays about digital and non-digital games from some esteemed boardgame veterans: "Much has been written about the videogame revolution, [...] In a scant thirty some-odd years, we’ve grown from nothing to one of the world’s largest entertainment forms, grossing tens of billions annually [...] Works that discuss the evolution of the game industry from an historical perspective generally talk about the connection between the pre-digital arcade and the earliest digital games; I’ve even heard some claim that “without the arcade, videogames would not exist.” This is, of course, bosh..." [more inside]
posted by Cogentesque at 7:16 AM PST - 36 comments