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Under Foot and Between the Boards in the Laurential Library "Within the Laurentian Library, the enigmatic masterwork of Michelangelo, there exists a complex geometric pavement that is hidden from view, little known about and shrouded with mystery...Why had an immensely complicated pavement been constructed, only to be covered over?"
posted by dhruva at 11:22 PM PST - 13 comments

Amazing Stories... every cover of this seminal sci-fi pulp magazine, from 1926 to 1967, plus.
posted by crunchland at 11:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Hurricane Tracker A god-like view of current hurricane activity.
posted by Muirwylde at 9:36 PM PST - 20 comments

Brent Scowcroft "Breaks Ranks" with George W. Bush
Longish excerpts from Jeffrey Goldberg's forthcoming article in The New Yorker.
posted by Kwantsar at 8:26 PM PST - 18 comments

You assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk! The first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has already killed 61 people in the Far East, has been identified in Britain. Scientists confirmed last night that a parrot, imported from Surinam in South America, contracted and died from the disease while in a quarantine unit in southern England.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:44 PM PST - 34 comments

If You're a Christian, Muslim or Jew - You are Wrong - A rant over at the Huffington Post.
And let's be clear about this, it IS a rant, and a beaut at that. But it's a sentiment that's run through the head of everyone who isn't a member of the three mentioned groups. No one in the mainstream media says things like this, I wonder why?
The post is made. Let the emphatic agreements, and the vicious denials... begin!
posted by JHarris at 4:30 PM PST - 260 comments

Double Plus Ungood --so there's this soldier in Iraq with a blog, All The King's Horses. He usually complains a little, tells readers about what he does, talks about the stop-loss thing that's keeping him in Iraq, etc. So, the Operation Truth site posts something by him, and the next thing you know, the blog is dead, and an unwilling public apology and retraction and statement of support for Bush and his leadership is posted. ... it breaks my heart to say that this will be my last post on this blog. I wish I could just stop there, but I can not. The following also needs to be said: For the record, I am officially a supporter of the administration and of her policies. ...
posted by amberglow at 3:29 PM PST - 77 comments

Photo gallery of European storm drains. Giant, intimidating & beautiful, 148 photos in all.
posted by jonson at 3:10 PM PST - 15 comments

The 'missing masterpieces' (of literature).
posted by stbalbach at 2:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Hooyah! "I imagine being a government contract killer who has taken an active role in an illegal and immoral invasion and occupation must be somewhat stressful. The poor - dears. My heart is struggling real hard to bleed here." Lots of folks agree with that apparently. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman at 1:06 PM PST - 79 comments

As Brazil Votes to Ban Guns, NRA Joins the Fight. Today an estimated 122 million Brazilians will vote in a national referendum on whether to ban the sale of guns and ammunition to private citizens.
posted by furtive at 12:00 PM PST - 89 comments

The Barrison Sisters, a vaudeville act of double entendres, would raise their puffy dresses to their knees and ask the audience, “Would you like to see my pussy?” They would reveal a kitten positioned in a pouch in their underwear. Here is a script from one of their performances. Lona Barrison, the group’s sultry leader, was involved in many affairs in Europe, including such auspices as Kaiser Wilhelm II, and also posed for mild erotica and a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. The Machinson Sisters were imitators from England.
posted by luckypozzo at 11:56 AM PST - 13 comments

Where'd the remaining 27% go. Researchers in Germany have finished a survey that tells them how people spend their time. With an average life-span of 78 years most time is spent sleeping with the least time spent making new people. Number crunching this research [direct image link] reveals:

5.12% 4 years housework | 0.96% 9 months washing and ironing | 1.71% 16 months cleaning | 2.78% 26 months cooking | 6.41% 5 years eating and drinking | 7.05% 66 months watching television | 0.53% 5 months diy | 8.97% 7 years at work | 0.96% 9 months commuting, plus | 0.64% 6 months traffic jams | 2.14% 20 months in school | 1.71% 16 hours orgasms | 0.05% 2 weeks kissing | 32.20% 24 years 4 months sleeping | 0.64% 6 months sitting on the lavatory | 0.05% 2 weeks praying | 1.92% 18 months shopping

So where does the rest of the time go.
posted by Schroder at 11:43 AM PST - 23 comments

Erection Photographs. What it says. "This site contains research information on penile erections. It also contains photos of erect penises. The text information is not sensational and the pictures are not pornographic. They are provided to allow anyone who feels they need this information (or is just curious) to see the natural variation that exists in male erections." Of particular (or prurient) interest is the Hard-Soft Gallery. Big-time NSFW (or rather: smallish, average and very occasionally big).
posted by jokeefe at 11:37 AM PST - 68 comments

How Babies are Made in Germany. A book for children. (Possibly NSFW.)
posted by thebabelfish at 9:47 AM PST - 56 comments

Office of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's webpage. Via Billmon
posted by afu at 8:26 AM PST - 22 comments

Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex with You. That quack Dr. Phil says that while sex is only 10% of a marriage, it's 90% when you're not getting it. Or words to that effect. There's some truth to that. This site discusses, from woman's point of view, why a wife might not feel like sex--often for years at a time. She also goes into greater detail (with insights taken from her own life and experience) such issues as some causes and what a man can do.
posted by John of Michigan at 8:09 AM PST - 55 comments

Soda Can Museum.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 6:54 AM PST - 14 comments

Not your Mother's pumpkins - A repost via xmutex, but who wouldn't want to carve conjoined twin or a radioactive pumpkin? I did the puking pumpkin last year and it was a hit with the kids.
posted by CoolHandPuke at 6:52 AM PST - 8 comments

"This book isn't as good as Harry Potter in MY opinion, and no one can refute me. Tastes are relative!" A review of Orwell's 1984 on Amazon, from a list compiled by Matthew Baldwin at The Morning News with a selection of the funniest one-star reviews of books from Time's list of the 100 best novels.
posted by funambulist at 6:42 AM PST - 99 comments

James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, calculated that on this day in 4004 BC the Universe was created by God. His magnum opus, Annals of the World, has recently been republished. An overview of Ussher's methodology and an account of the man by Larry Pierce, who prepared the new edition with his wife Marion. Bishop Ussher also figured in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Some people dispute Ussher's adherence to what the Bible says.

But let's not listen to the partypoopers and instead wish the Universe a Happy Birthday!
posted by Kattullus at 2:15 AM PST - 25 comments

The Use of Computers in Movies. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, will have easy to understand graphical interfaces. Those that don't, have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:25 AM PST - 61 comments