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The Unsettling Origins of the "Curse of the Bambino." As of this writing, the Boston Red Sox seem to have a good chance of breaking their 86-year championship drought, popularly attributed to a curse brought upon the Sox in 1920 when then-owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. But as Glenn Stout writes, popular wisdom (as usual) has it wrong. A fascinating article on how misplaced anti-Semitism, Henry Ford, and an influential sportswriter in thrall to baseball's controlling interests gave birth to one of the best-known pieces of baseball mythology. [via the SDMB]
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:13 PM PST - 45 comments

I was wandering around the internets looking for early twentieth century ephemera and look what I found. Digital Dada Library “This page provides links to some of the major Dada-era publications in the International Dada Archive. These books, pamphlets, and periodicals are housed in the Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries. …Each document has been scanned in its entirety.” EphemeraNow “is a family-friendly Web site dedicated to the commercial art of mid-century America.” The Ephemera Society “is a non-profit body concerned with the collection, preservation, study and educational uses of printed and handwritten ephemera.” and more! For those of you who have complained that this place is getting too “US politics-filter” I give you Glasgow Digital Library Collections which has all sorts of stuff including a great history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932
posted by Grod at 6:58 PM PST - 10 comments

Why is there a tiny video camera inside my intestines... Jeffrey Rowland, creator of WIGU, has a new comic telling "true" stories from his life.
posted by drezdn at 6:56 PM PST - 9 comments

Collect Britain - The British Library portal site for collections, themed tours and virtual exhibitions, including Literary Landscapes, and Lost Gardens (several pages use flash). [via monkeyfilter]
posted by jb at 6:39 PM PST - 1 comments

AppleFilter. There's a new iPod out, with a 60 gig harddrive, colour screen, and iPhoto compatibility. There's also a Super Keen Black iPod, with U2 on it or something.
posted by hughbot at 5:46 PM PST - 57 comments

Howard Stern faces off against Michael Powell. Earlier today, Howard Stern finally got to confront his nemesis, FCC chair Michael Powell. This occurred, naturally, on the radio, when Howard called in to another talk show. Powell was a guest of KGO's Ronn Owens and Howard called in, asking Powell, "Does it make you nervous to talk to me?" He accuses Powell of getting his position due to nepotism; Stern also asks about Oprah's indecency, and Powell says Stern "personalizes" the debate and says "I don't think we have made any particular crusade of the Howard Stern Show or you." Howard disagrees, saying, "I hope there's no sort of retribution as a result of my phone call which I believe Michael's capable of." After Howard hangs up, Michael admits, sort of, that "Howard has an argument." KGO has audio of the show for Windows Media or RealPlayer (skip ahead to 32:05 to hear Howard's call).
posted by realityblurred at 5:24 PM PST - 21 comments

Delta Airlines to announce chapter 11 tomorrow around noon.
posted by Keyser Soze at 4:01 PM PST - 58 comments

Nanoloop 2.0 released : Long live retro music!
posted by starscream at 3:25 PM PST - 15 comments

French TV Gets Gay Channel (Guardian link, reg. req.)
From the story, "Pink TV, which launched last night, promises viewers a mixture of Wonder Woman repeats, prime-time opera and gay and lesbian porn. A daily cultural review will look at issues like tourism, health, poetry and clubbing from a gay perspective, in a style which aims to be 'more cosy than cheeky'."

So does it mean I'm gay if I watch Wonder Woman repeats?
posted by fenriq at 2:52 PM PST - 21 comments

GizmoFilter: the XM MyFi, a Walkman-style satellite radio that can store up to five hours of XM audio and displays sports scores and stock quotes. Now all they need to do is bring back Special X...
posted by tranquileye at 1:40 PM PST - 7 comments

God help us if the Democrats find out. After Cheney's .com/.org mixup, Republican domain name confusion continues as Bush campaign staffers accidentally send email--including lists of voters that may be used to challenge voters--to addresses at georgewbush.org instead of georgewbush.com
posted by kirkaracha at 1:22 PM PST - 26 comments

Democracy Republican style.
Greg Palast's film will be broadcast by Newsnight on Tuesday, 26 October, 2004 by the BBC. You can also watch the show from the BBC website, either live or on demand for 24 hours after originally broadcast, by clicking on the latest programme button.
posted by DrDoberman at 12:01 PM PST - 8 comments

NSFW: Realdoll vs. Superbabe. A side by side comparison of top of the line ($5000.00 plus) pleasure dolls. Realdoll has a removable tongue but Superbabe has no tongue at all.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 10:47 AM PST - 53 comments

Best damn vaporware since the fabled OSX is going soft — yup: real live software, folks! I just can't wait to scan my entire book and music library into this beast. *drools*
posted by silusGROK at 10:22 AM PST - 70 comments

Chris Harding Animation Concern: featuring clips from Make Mine Shoebox and Learn Self Defense
posted by shoepal at 9:15 AM PST - 3 comments

Your Check Won't Float As of Thursday, October 28, "floating" checks will become a thing of the past. Be forewarned or stand by for major insufficient funds fees on your accounts. More info inside.
posted by Pressed Rat at 8:27 AM PST - 71 comments

BitTorrent of Excel Saga episode 1. It is funny. I urge you to watch it. Preferably drunk. There is a DVD you can buy. The guy with the afro is the animator.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:09 AM PST - 29 comments

Why I believe in our president
by Thomas F. Schaller, Executive Editor 10.26.04
I believe in President George W. Bush.
I've always believed him. ...
posted by nofundy at 6:35 AM PST - 47 comments

Legendary radio DJ John Peel dies of heart attack at 65. Peel's contribution to modern music and culture was "immeasurable".
posted by dash_slot- at 6:07 AM PST - 118 comments

With one week to go, Americans are being inundated by polls. At least 112 have been published for the presidential contest in the last week alone. Democratic pollster Mark Blumenthal maintains that, in the campaign's last hours, we tend to see 'undecided' voters 'break' for the challenger. Testing this theory, blogger Chris Bowers examined presidential poll results since 1976, and calculated that undecided voters broke for the challenger 86% of the time. So, is this really how it's going to turn out? Are the Republicans' attempts to 'steal' another election going to bear any fruit?
posted by acrobat at 4:03 AM PST - 11 comments

Mosh.
posted by dhartung at 3:13 AM PST - 83 comments