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EXPOSED!!! TUFTY the traffic safety squirrel 'Patriots, would you trust a skwerl to teach children the fundamentals of safety at home and on the road? Of course not!' Read the execrable Tufty Fluffytail song sheet music! Weigh in on the enigma that is the Shroud of Tufty! Watch insidious squirrel propaganda!
posted by owhydididoit at 10:43 PM PST - 12 comments

The Top 200 Universities in the World. [logon:mefier/pass:metafilter] For the second year, the Times Higher Education Supplement has exhaustively ranked the top schools in the world. The US, and, to a lesser extent, the UK, dominate the list, but Australia continues to have a strong showing, and China makes more appearances. If you don't like that list, try Newsweek's Top 100 Global Universities, or the ranking by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which looks at Nobel Prizes and highly cited articles, or just judge universities by their age. All of this a little too global? Washington Monthly rates universities by how they contribute to social mobility and the US as a whole, Mother Jones ranks by social activism, and Young America's Foundation lists the 10 best conservative colleges. [prev.]
posted by blahblahblah at 10:42 PM PST - 69 comments

Why Don't We Do It In Our Sleeves? A short instructional video.
posted by graventy at 8:40 PM PST - 34 comments

Potty Whispering (otherwise known as Elimination Communication or Natural Infant Hygiene) results in Diaper-Free Babies (and a more diaper-free environment). See also: 101 Reasons to EC.
posted by spock at 8:06 PM PST - 41 comments

Hotline TV Is an original internet video show for political insiders and junkies that I've been watching for the past few weeks. Today's episode on hot candidates was pretty entertaining, if a bit glib. Their first episode after the Foley story broke is another good one. (note: there's a 30 second pre-roll ad in the video that you might want to skip)
posted by delmoi at 7:42 PM PST - 6 comments

Charlie Darwin joins the fray. Yes, The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits is there.
posted by jfuller at 6:12 PM PST - 19 comments

$250,000 Reward For Information About Election Fraud In The November Election VelvetRevolution is offering a $250,000 reward for information about election fraud and manipulation in the November 7th mid-term elections. That’s a quarter million dollars to the persons or persons who provide us with definitive and conclusive proof that a United States House or Senate election has been rigged by illegal means. Meanwhile, Drudge runs this forthcoming piece NYT: BE PREPARED FOR CHAOS ON ELECTION DAY; NEW MACHINES, LINES, CONFUSION Wed Oct 18 2006 19:12:07 ET With an unusually large number of tight races and dozens of states shifting to new electronic voting systems, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines and heightened confusion at the polls on Election Day, Nov. 7, the NEW YORK TIMES will front on Thursday. "North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi and Missouri are among the states considered most likely to experience difficulties, according to voting experts who have been tracking the new technology and other election changes. Developing...
posted by Postroad at 6:11 PM PST - 61 comments

Bonkers Candy was my all time favorite, especially for the commercials and the idea that everytime I chomped it, a gigantic piece of fruit was trying to crush me from the sky. But, the real mystery is : WHAT HAPPENED TO THE "BONKERS MOBILE" ? Anyone ?
posted by screenname00 at 6:09 PM PST - 14 comments

The real James Bond — Sidney George Reilly, the shadowy 'Ace of Spies' and inspiration for Ian Fleming's 007, was born Shlomo/Sigmund Georgievich Rosenblum in Ukraine/Poland in 1874. Perhaps illegitimate, dapper Sidney was a tireless self-promoter, patent-medicine chemist, world traveller, and high-stakes gambler (not only at the tables: he married four women but divorced none.) A Czarist Okhrana informer as a Parisian student, he was hired as an undercover agent in the late 1890s by M of Scotland Yard. Reilly worked both sides of the Russo-Japanese War, influenced British oil interests in Iran, brokered World War I arms sales, and volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps in Canada. Sent to Russia by C of Britain's SIS in 1918, he joined a plot to overthrow the Bolsheviks: it failed, but he escaped to London. Returning to Russia in 1919 to help the White Army, he was later awarded the British Military Cross. A staunch anti-Communist, Reilly schemed against them throughout his career. Lured back to Russia by agents of the 'Trust' — an anti-Bolshevik trap set by the Soviet OGPU — Sidney was arrested, interrogated, and shot in 1925.
posted by cenoxo at 5:16 PM PST - 14 comments

Testicular protection for the 21st century... (via Deadspin) (embedded video) Seen previously here, but marketed with much more enthusiasm this time around.
posted by lovejones at 4:00 PM PST - 38 comments

just a reminder..now that google is facing lawsuits and will have to delete some great youtube videos you can always download the flv videos of your favorites and burn them onto blank dvds
posted by petsounds at 2:24 PM PST - 37 comments

The Worst Congress Ever. How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts -- in five easy steps. By Matt Taibbi. [Via TalkLeft.]
posted by homunculus at 2:15 PM PST - 80 comments

“See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a last few wolves. His folk are known for hewers of wood and drawers of water but in truth his father has been a schoolmaster. He lies in drink, he quotes from poets whose names are now lost. The boy crouches by the fire and watches him. Night of your birth. Thirty-three. The Leonids they were called. God how the stars did fall. I looked for blackness, holes in the heavens. The Dipper stove. The mother dead these fourteen years did incubate in her own bosom the creature who would carry her off. The father never speaks her name, the child does not know it. He has a sister in this world that he will not see again. He watches, pale and unwashed. He can neither read nor write and in him broods already a taste for mindless violence. All history present in that visage, the child the father of the man.” --Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
posted by jason's_planet at 1:10 PM PST - 41 comments

Krishna Maharaj is a British businessman who was convicted of the 1986 murder of a Jamaican father and son in a hotel room in Miami, Florida. He was given the death penalty, but this was commuted to a life sentence in 2002 due to irregularities in his trial. Well, "irregularities" is an understatement: none of Maharaj's seven alibi witnesses were called to the stand. Maharaj is widely understood to be innocent, and another prime suspect has been identified. In 2001, 300 British politicians wrote to Jeb Bush, requesting a retrial. Considering this possibility in 2004, the Florida judge said that “newly discovered evidence which goes only to guilt or innocence is insufficient to warrant relief" and denied the motion. The US Supreme Court refused to take the case. Krishna Maharaj must now rely on the mercy of Jeb Bush.
BBC Newsnight with 2-part video documentary
2004 FAQ
Campaign website
posted by thirteenkiller at 1:08 PM PST - 58 comments

How Much Fossil Fuel Does Your Dinner Burn? Ingredients for the average American meal travel well over 1500 miles to reach your plate. Our food might be inexpensive, but it's costing the planet a lot (and doesn't taste so hot either, since it's bred to withstand shipping and have long shelf life rather than to taste good). So what happens when people reject the large-scale industrial food system? One recent development in the growing localism movement is the 100-Mile Diet, originated by a Canadian couple who spent a full year eating only foods grown or raised within 100 miles of their home. They'll even give you a road map to having a 100-Mile Thanksgiving. For other variations on the eat-local idea, check out ideas like the Eat Local Challenge, Slow Food, and Locavores encourage you to rediscover your place on earth, build community, and enjoy the Local Harvest.
posted by Miko at 12:56 PM PST - 66 comments

Canada's governing Conservative Party has expelled one of its Members of Parliament -- for blogging. Garth Turner, Conservative MP for Halton, author of "The Turner Diaries Report" (link) was today suspended from the ruling party's caucus because of his blog. "There is [sic] attacks that were made on individuals, including the Prime Minister," explained Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer. "The theme of confidentiality was not being respected, in their opinion, and it restricted the ability for members to operate in a confidential way." At least one national pundit compares the exiling to 1984.
posted by docgonzo at 12:34 PM PST - 75 comments

Farewell on a Dark Tarmac When American service members are killed in Afghanistan or Iraq, people from their base form a Patriot Detail, an ad hoc honor guard that escorts the flag-draped coffin to the airplane that will carry their body home. A reporter recently observed one of the ceremonies; some earlier descriptions.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:21 PM PST - 6 comments

Browniegate! Incensed by confusing essay questions in the New York City 4th grade ELA (English Language Assessment) test, a group of parents have created browniethecow.org. Could you answer the question for "Why the Rooster Crows at Dawn" or "The Stolen Moon"?
posted by Armitage Shanks at 11:50 AM PST - 72 comments

Tag, you're out! "I've witnessed enough near collisions" in the playground area, D'Elia said. "I support anything that makes the playground safer and helps teacher to keep track of them."
posted by setanor at 10:31 AM PST - 123 comments

Life Lessons from the 70's
Use your shape to be a mindsticker.
Smoking in a cab is like going on a horse ride.
Keep things moving forward or your boyfriend will leave you for some women he finds on the beach.
Youtube, popcorn post.
posted by Lord_Pall at 10:30 AM PST - 33 comments

We've seen zombie flash mobs and zombie flash games (this awesome post deserves a resurrection - pun intended - for Halloween)... even zombie awareness products and laser controlled headless zombie flies. But do zombies really exist? This video makes a sound case.
posted by shoppingforsanity at 9:30 AM PST - 22 comments

Web-rage. Man attacked with pickaxe after insults exchanged in an internet chatroom.
posted by GuyZero at 9:00 AM PST - 67 comments

The Air Force finally went and got themselves a proper memorial. Although he’s now deceased, the man who designed it also designed some other buildings around town. It’s a unique structure, with time-tested big lead balls to compensate for the wind. On opening day, a ‘sky-parade’ of old and new aircraft paid tribute, flying overhead in sequence. Some like it, some don’t.
posted by matty at 8:12 AM PST - 40 comments

Sniper training starts a little earlier these days. Forget violence in video games - the best way to teach your kids how to kill is still with a good old-fashioned Nerf war. Still, is creating a new generation of sharpshooters really the best idea?
posted by OverlappingElvis at 7:57 AM PST - 41 comments

Mass infection from bellybuttonpiercing was left untreated. This Mom, seemingly neglectful, ignored her teen's self-piercing gone wrong, and now faces up to 5 years in prison. I let my teen daughter get a small tattoo and nose piercing. I have a tattoo, but no piercings. All done by trusted professionals in sterile environments. Another teen's tongue piercing causes ‘suicide disease.’ Maybe a little upfront information is a good idea before proceeding. What are your piercing / tattoo experiences?
posted by The Deej at 6:51 AM PST - 74 comments

Altar•ations [flash] Remember YOU'RE in control.
posted by tellurian at 12:37 AM PST - 16 comments

Ricky Gervais reads the Bible GoogleVideo
posted by jonson at 12:37 AM PST - 25 comments