Sunday Flash Fun: Run.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:19 PM PST - 40 comments

As much as you may enjoy using your discarded tin cans to have top secret conversations make yourself taller, you'd like to know if there's anything creative to do with tin cans. Here are some ideas to get you started.
posted by orange swan at 8:21 PM PST - 32 comments

In 1972 Lady Sings the Blues was released. Ostensibly a biopic about the life of Billie Holiday, it was a travesty of made up history and glaring ommissions. In response to that release a symposium was held on Lady Day's life and work which included storytelling from Artie Shaw (about hiring her in 1938) and Carmen McRae (about her drug life). The CBC recently put together an excellent podcast with these stories and some interview tape from Billie Holiday herself.
posted by salishsea at 8:03 PM PST - 3 comments

[NSFW] The Bathroom Graffiti Project | The Writing's on the Stall [previously] | The Writing is on the Wall | And the Words of the Prophets Were Written on the Bathroom Stalls | It's All in the Head | Microsoft Bathroom Graffiti | Documentary: In Search of Bathroom Graffiti | The Flickr Bathroom Graffiti Pool
posted by not_on_display at 7:47 PM PST - 14 comments

Zombies don't run, says Simon Pegg. Well ours do, says Charlie Brooker, director of Deadset. (also some stuff about the election and skeletor and stuff)
posted by Artw at 7:23 PM PST - 84 comments

In 1972, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were convicted of murdering a prison guard in Louisiana's notorious maximum-security prison, Angola. The warden sentenced them to solitary confinement, where they remained for the next 36 years. Until March 2008, the men had spent at least 23 hours per day in cells that measured only 6 x 9 feet. Woodfox's conviction was recently overturned, evidently through a federal habeus proceeding, and he is awaiting a new trial. NPR did an outstanding job of tracking down people involved and telling a riveting story: Part I, Part II, Part III. No doubt that much of the attention brought to the case is due to the efforts of Jackie Sumell and her Herman's House project.
posted by ajr at 7:10 PM PST - 8 comments

GM has been touting the Volt as it's triumphant entry into green transportation, but 2011 is a long way off and the big three aren't doing so hot and neither is the Volt, it would seem. Meanwhile, Dean Kamen shows off a working Hybrid Electric/Stirling Engine car based off the TH!NK, a car Ford canceled over a half decade ago (and shipped to Norway where they still live on). The full Frontline Documentary, Heat, which is about the current state of energy policy, implementation, and the climate (which is not good!) is online and well worth watching.
posted by Large Marge at 6:22 PM PST - 58 comments

Steroids Saved My Life. Enjoy watching ten episodes of a pasty, skinny Canadian gain 20+ pounds of muscle, a luxurious tan, a website and a new chemical habit.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 5:02 PM PST - 57 comments

In addition to hosting the stuff we all know and love (loathe?), the anime music videos, the World of Warcraft ego films, the leave Brittney alone guy, youtube is also a medium for distributing indie video. Often combining moderately good production values, bizarre humor and genuinely funny writing, Kim Evey is one such producer/writer/actor, in between doing various TV roles.
posted by sotonohito at 4:41 PM PST - 10 comments

The British Cartoon Archive holds more than 130,000 original editorial, socio-political, and pocket cartoons, supported by large collections of comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines. The collection of original artwork dates back to 1904. The Independent reviews nine of the finest.
posted by stbalbach at 3:56 PM PST - 9 comments

Covered in lava, Goma in the DRC, was destroyed by the Nyiragongo Volcano a few years back. Since then, the aid hub has seen a lot of turmoil. As Rebel General Laurent Nkunda of the CNDP nears Goma, 250,000 have fled the area and disease is rife.
posted by gman at 1:47 PM PST - 7 comments

After the Imperial Presidency. "Will the new president and Congress undo the executive-power plays of the Bush era?"
posted by homunculus at 12:51 PM PST - 83 comments

A sanitized look at the use of UAVs 1.9 miles above Sadr City, Iraq. [print version]
posted by odinsdream at 11:31 AM PST - 36 comments

Adam Smith in Beijing Embedded Flash film 1hr59mins "Is US power in decline? What are we to make of the rise of China? Will a possible equalization of North-South relations herald a more brutal capitalism or a better world? Giovanni Arrighi, Joel Andreas, and David Harvey give their perspectives in this forum, for a discussion of Arrighi's 2007 book Adam Smith in Beijing. The event, filmed in Baltimore, MD, in March of 2008, was organized by the Red Emma's collective."
posted by Abiezer at 10:21 AM PST - 10 comments

You may remember Stan Brock from as the British anaconda wrangler from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (top right video). These days he runs Remote Area Medical, a volunteer airborne relief corps that brings medical, dental, and educational assistance to remote areas of the world. Every year, they go to remote Appalachian Virginia, a one day drive from Washington DC, for a 3 day event at the fairgrounds.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:30 AM PST - 10 comments

What does it all mean? In many ways, today's remix culture kicked off in earnest one weekend in 1983 when two ad men (one a recording engineer) spent a weekend in a studio crafting the first pop record made up entirely of samples in the hopes of winning a $100 remix contest.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 8:26 AM PST - 20 comments

A math professor was explaining a particularly complicated calculus concept to his class when a frustrated pre-med student interrupts him. "Why do we have to learn this stuff?" the pre-med blurts out. The professor pauses, and answers matter-of-factly: "Because math saves lives." "How?" demanded the student. "How on Earth does calculus save lives?" "Because," replied the professor, "it keeps certain people out of medical school."
posted by cthuljew at 8:09 AM PST - 84 comments

Fighting monks: not just in your D&D campaign anymore.
posted by baphomet at 7:59 AM PST - 24 comments

Now that we can dispense with trivia about the U.S. elections, it's time for everyone to get better acquainted with President-Elect Obama: 50 things you should know about Barack Obama vs. Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know. (via Buzzfeed)
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:22 AM PST - 112 comments

When you write, will you pick Gentle, Normal, or Kamakaze mode? - “Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.”
posted by buriednexttoyou at 7:13 AM PST - 28 comments

Dionisio González makes photographs of imaginary favelas, Filip Dujardin makes photographs of imaginary buildings.
posted by jack_mo at 5:56 AM PST - 6 comments

The beautiful and amazing caped crusader, Tremoctopus. Amazing Cephalopods, that can moonwalk, run, cleverly open a variety of jars and shapeshift. Masters of illusion. Giant octopus encounter. Shark vs. Octopus.
posted by nickyskye at 3:06 AM PST - 60 comments

Sunday Morning Movie - A moving and fascinating documentary, Dark Days is on Google Video. Marc Singer lived in the tunnel, and started filming with the help of his fellow tunnel dwellers. Trivia here. Inevitable Wikipedia link here.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 1:19 AM PST - 20 comments