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Meet the man who "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth history" - Thomas Midgley, Jr. Midgley invented leaded gasoline in 1921 to stop cars from knocking. In the process, he created a huge new industry, increased by 500 times the atmospheric lead levels, and was part of a multi-decade coverup of lead's effects that put the tobacco industry to shame [note: article is both terrific and very long] and still continues today. Just a few years later, he invented chlorofluorocarbons, and, with a dramatic demonstration of their safety, usured in an era of cheap air conditioning and social change, as well as ozone depletion. In the end, he was killed by one of his inventions, though it was neither lead nor CFCs that were responsible. He is sometimes remembered fondly, he is more often vilified.
posted by blahblahblah at 11:47 PM PST - 30 comments

GamerDad, a site which has been around since 2003 (and is a registered trademark), has been a source of amusement and reviews for parents who play games, and parents who want to know what their kids are playing. Microsoft decided that they liked the name so much, they would steal it. But at least they had the courtesy to admit they knew about GamerDad before they stole the name.
posted by dejah420 at 10:41 PM PST - 19 comments

Congressman Jim Gibbons's was 5 points ahead in the polls for the Nevada Governor's race, but that was before these drunken 911 calls. [more at wonkette]
posted by delmoi at 10:07 PM PST - 46 comments

So Predictable - Malcolm Gladwell talks at the recent New Yorker Festival about success-predicting software for the music and film industries.
posted by forallmankind at 9:49 PM PST - 18 comments

...Would it surprise you to learn that if the Johns Hopkins estimates of 400,000 to 800,000 deaths are correct -- and many experts in the survey field seem to suggest they probably are -- that the supposedly not-yet-civil-war in Iraq has already cost more lives, per capita, than our own Civil War (one in 40 of all Iraqis alive in 2003) ? And that these losses are comparable to what some European nations suffered in World War II ? You'd never know it from mainstream press coverage in the U.S. "Everybody knows the boat is leaking, everybody knows the captain lied," Leonard Cohen once sang. The question the new study raises: How many will go down with the ship, and will the press finally hold the captain fully accountable ?

Iraqi Death Rate May Top Our Civil War -- But Will the Press Confirm It ?
See also Debating the Body Count in Iraq
See also Deaths in Iraq: how many, and why it matters
See also The Science of Counting the Dead
See also How the Media Covered The Lancet’s Iraqi Casualty Study
See also More deadly than Saddam
posted by y2karl at 9:23 PM PST - 80 comments

The Hollywood moguls were appalled...Hitherto, Tinseltown had the police and politicians in its capacious pocket, yet here, landing like a ton of hot manure, was this crummy magazine from the east coast. A sharp look from British Journalism Review at the career of Robert Harrison, whose 1952 magazine Confidential single-handedly "opened the floodgates of tell-all sleaze." Seems Harrison branched out from publishing a long string of 1940s girlie mags after being inspired by the Estes Kefauver organized crime hearings that gripped early TV audiences in the U.S.A.
posted by mediareport at 9:13 PM PST - 2 comments

These institutions have one very clear problem: they promote facts and books. Clearly something needs to be done. Call your local police or FBI field office or speak clearly into the closest potted plant to give the NSA all pertinent information regarding these and other terrorist elements. View a rough sketch of Hell. What we're doing is bringing democracy to knowledge.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:51 PM PST - 16 comments

Iraq Was a Worthy Mistake by National Review editor Jonah Goldberg.
posted by bardic at 4:53 PM PST - 111 comments

Had he not died in 1971, Tor Johnson would be 103 today. Who could forget his face? Or that it makes a great mask? Don't we often think back fondly on his remarkable filmography? He made a great partner for Bela Lugosi! Who could forget that he tended to break toilet seats when he sat on them, and so would often steal them?
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:48 PM PST - 12 comments

I'm Paul R Nelson, and I approve of this message anything that might get me elected. Why? Well, his congressman Ron Kind is the (cue menacing music) WRONG KIND. For starters, he pays for sex, but not soldiers (wmv). On top of that, he also voted to let illegal aliens burn the American flag (wmv). But worst of all? Because of him, we're dependent for oil on islamic fascists and nations that support terrorism. Elect Paul R Nelson, and he'll finish the job he started 23 years ago (wmv). Best. Smear ads. Ever. Check out the radio ads and his photo collection for even more stomach-churning right-wing meretriciousness.
posted by nTeleKy at 4:22 PM PST - 33 comments

The Grand Comics Database is aiming to become the IMDB of comic books cover art. I only tested a couple from memory, but they seem to have a pretty deep reservoir of content, and fairly large scans of the results. Searchable by series title, character appearance, writer, illustrator and a number of other criteria.
posted by jonson at 3:29 PM PST - 21 comments

Tanya Streeter is a champion in the sport of competitive freediving. Anyone who can dive to 400 feet and return using muscle power and fins, or to 525 feet below the surface of the water using a special sled, on just one breath of air, has won my undying respect.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:53 PM PST - 44 comments

It needs an awful lot of RAM, disk space, and VRAM. Yet, with all this power, it suffers from very limited mobility (no, really); it's a big change from previous editions. It might even stop working on you, transforming your powerful workstation into a locked-down web-browsing paperweight (but what about your data?). It might not have the drivers you need to get your equipment working, which will be a problem because it won't load drivers that haven't been "blessed" by its maker. Certainly the technical challenges with Windows Vista are a handful, but what on earth were the Microsoft lawyers thinking when they inserted a clause in its EULA that specifically forbids problem-solving (clause 4)?
posted by clevershark at 1:27 PM PST - 49 comments

Wal-Mart workers walk out. "It's the first time that Wal-Mart has faced a worker-led revolt of such scale, according to both employees and the company". Apparently the working conditions of Wal-Mart employees is not much of a concern to The Eagles though. Time to start greasing the wheels for the new album.
posted by gfrobe at 12:51 PM PST - 46 comments

EZ does it. "Unventor" of the Möbius scarf and the Pi Shawl, "ur-geek of knitting" Elizabeth Zimmermann will be honored at the University of Wisconsin's Design Gallery in the retrospective exhibit New School Knitting: the Influence of Elizabeth Zimmermann and Schoolhouse Press (opening Oct. 27). "EZ" has been called "the Jerry Garcia of knitting: jolly, kind, unconventional, endlessly creative, often quoted, and much-loved by countless people." More than all those things, however, EZ was an Opinionated Knitter who urged her fellow needlepersons to think critically and inventively about their craft; in her 1999 obit the New York Times said she "brought a penetrating intellect and a sculptor's sensitivity to revolutionizing [this] ancient art." Plus she was funny. The Wisconsin knit camp she founded is now run by her daughter, Meg Swansen (heir to the throne in more ways than one); it was featured in a Wisconsin Public Television segment that aired last December (warning: RealPlayer format; transcript here).
posted by GrammarMoses at 12:20 PM PST - 11 comments

Swords and Sandals.. Create a gladiator, arm him up with a variety of armour and weapons, and send him into battle against a horde of crazy gladiators. [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 11:37 AM PST - 25 comments

A letter, written in Spanish, sent to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time." A fine example of often-GOP tactic called "caging" but you can call it good ol' intimidation, and just for sake of irony the guilty appears to be the campaign of GOP Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen who is himself an immigrant. You may also recall his party is fond of drafting legislation to complicate the ballot process with voter id requirements and thus make caging a little more legal.
posted by StarForce5 at 11:16 AM PST - 66 comments

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.

Quite possibly one of the most inspirational stories that I've ever encountered -- Team Hoyt.
posted by purephase at 10:53 AM PST - 20 comments

As Americans, we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.
posted by EarBucket at 10:19 AM PST - 47 comments

Larry Harlowe (born Lawrence Kahn) was a Jewish kid from a racially mixed Brooklyn neigborhood who discovered the clave rhythm. Encouraged by his musician parents, he pursued his new love and became one of the genre's most admired players and one of the first artists signed to the legendary Fania (lovingly annotated reissues are on the street from this label), working with legends of the form. He also was one of the men behind 'Hommy,' the first 'salsa opera,' about a deaf-dumb-and-blind conga player (gee, that sounds familiar). One of the more interesting and illustrious musical charcters of our time.
posted by jonmc at 9:12 AM PST - 13 comments

BLACK MAN #1: "If you make a little mistake with one of your 'hos,' you'll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked."

BLACK MAN #2: "That's too cold. I don't snuff my own seed."

BLACK MAN #1: "Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican."

Holy mackerel! Republican issue ad woos black voters with modern versions of Amos 'n' Andy talking about knocked up "hos". Yo bettah votes fo' Kingfish!
posted by orthogonality at 8:42 AM PST - 123 comments

The Beginning of the End of America. (YouTube, Keith Olbermann)
posted by Malor at 7:48 AM PST - 290 comments

Fun Motion - a blog dedicated to physics-simulating games, currently with 49 reviews (and counting) of well known favorites like Stair Dismount and Truck Dismount, Towers of Goo, Toribash and many, many more. (A follow up to my previous YouTube post.) Kiss your precious, fleeting motes of productivity goodbye, cube-farmers!
posted by loquacious at 4:21 AM PST - 26 comments

BramTV [flash] [possibly NSFW] Art + interaction = data-dandy behaviour. If you like to be in control you may well find this extremely annoying.
posted by tellurian at 1:07 AM PST - 12 comments

It is done. Windows Internet Explorer 7 has been released.
posted by armoured-ant at 12:43 AM PST - 131 comments