Pandora. Bound to draw comparisons to Last.fm, LAUNCHcast, and Musicplasma, Pandora (formerly Savage Beast) is a music discovery web application that recommends music based not on popularity, usage habits of other users, or genres/categories but on the deconstructed elements of how the music itself sounds. Fruit of the Music Genome Project, music analysts have for more than five years spent 20 minutes analyzing each song in its ever-growing database for nearly 400 distinct attributes, so when you ask it, "Why is this song playing?" It answers, "Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features electronica influences, mild rhythmic syncopation, surreal lyrics, use of call-and-response vocals, and string section beds." (YES! Thank you!) Currently live on public beta. [Flash, 128kbps streams]
posted by Lush at 11:10 PM PST - 44 comments

It was 100 years ago today. Tyrus Raymond Cobb, humanitarian and/or killer, argubly the most talented man to play Major League Baseball, appeared in his first game for the Detroit Tigers. It was just three weeks after Cobb's mother shot to death his father.
posted by ?! at 10:56 PM PST - 14 comments

The SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) isn’t a particularly novel way of stifling dissent: indeed, there are laws in California and other US States to prevent them. Their potential for misuse has also been identified in the Australian context, which has no clear definition of protected free speech. The latest effort at a SLAPP is by Gunns Ltd., a successful forestry company based in Tasmania. They’re suing the ”Gunns 20” for charges including conspiracy and ‘vilification’ (which is not actually a tort). Defendants include a Senator, Dr Bob Brown of the Australian Greens political party. The case is being compared (by the defendants) to the infamous PR disaster McLibel case, however Gunns should perhaps get a better lawyer: their initial pleading has been described by the judge as an "unintelligible embarrassment", showing that a bit of judicial common sense can still work wonders.
posted by wilful at 10:07 PM PST - 6 comments

The winning design for the British Antarctic Survey's Halley VI station looks very futuristic. It's built on legs with skis (a runner up - walked) so that it can be moved around and avoid being buried like some 1, 2 in the past.
posted by tellurian at 9:12 PM PST - 13 comments

The country formerly known as Burma officially denies reports of a coup. Rumors circulated last week that Senior General Than Shwe had been deposed by his military regime's number-two, General Maung Aye. Burma-watchers discounted the reports, with some suggesting that the junta concocted the story as a trick. The country's "ossified leaders" blamed the BBC for the rumors, while astrologers in Rangoon believe that Than Shwe's wife spread the story. The general's wife, it seems, is worried about Mars.
posted by soiled cowboy at 5:32 PM PST - 65 comments

Cats in sinks. Nothing less, nothing more.
posted by mathowie at 3:21 PM PST - 76 comments

you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped
"No, no, I never met Paul Celan. This poem is too CLASSIC, too cold, and too difficult to follow. It does nothing to me".
Singing, Painting and the Holocaust: Interview with Leon Greenman, Auschwitz Survivor 98288
posted by matteo at 12:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Language Corner by Columbia Journalism Review, is incredibly helpful when it comes to learning the English language's subtle nuances and rather obvious rules.
posted by riffola at 12:22 PM PST - 20 comments

The most expensive $20 you’ll never see. (Unless you happen to be kickin’ it in Long Beach next month...) The 1933 “double eagle”, a one oz. gold coin minted by the United States just prior to dropping the gold standard, is now worth approximately $10,000,000 and is the stuff of coin collection legend. A collector by the name of Israel “Izzy” Switt acquired and held on to 10 of them—just after the last “double eagle” had officially been melted down by the government in 1937. (Timeline.) Now, decades later, the coins are the subject of an intense legal battle between the US government and Switt’s descendants. “It’s a hell of a story.”
posted by voltairemodern at 12:18 PM PST - 20 comments

Cow racing is serious business. Think you've got the world's fastest heifer? Can your Bessy beat Taffy's Guiness world record? Ever wonder what a cow race looks like? Sounds like? Do you feel inspired?
posted by analogue at 12:05 PM PST - 9 comments

The Lotus Eater ... a creepy gallery that has a flash interface that doesn't actually suck.
posted by crunchland at 11:54 AM PST - 30 comments

The Jack Kirby Museum opened yesterday on what would have been Kirby's 88th birthday. While just an online museum at this point, it promises to be a great resource for learning about the life and contributions Jack "The King" Kirby made to comic book culture. Largely under-credited for his role in co-creating many of Marvel's characters during the Silver Age of comics, his career spanned over 50 years.
Largely from The Jack Kirby Weblog, natch!
posted by jpburns at 4:52 AM PST - 23 comments

Don't Call Me Madam: The sad and crazy life of Ray Bourbon A pioneering drag comedian, friend of Mae West and an early independent recording artist, Ray was a deliberately enigmatic pop cult figure who may or may not have had a sex change operation in 1956. He was a frequent target of police raids and died in prison as a convicted accomplice to murder. "Ray’s comedy was, at once, highbrow and lowbrow, overtly Gay and covertly subversive. Despite his influence on Gays, he remained vague about his own sexuality."
posted by mediareport at 12:18 AM PST - 7 comments