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Race to Nowhere (trailer) is a documentary film by first-time director Vicki Abeles that discusses her perception that the US education system has become "obsessed with the illusion of achievement, competition and the pressure to perform. Cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired." [more inside]
posted by Phire at 11:14 PM PST - 18 comments

An eight-year, extremely large study (p = 1.34 × 10^-11) has found statistically significant results that point towards a human capability for precognition. Reviewers for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology are puzzled by the paper but cannot find any flaws in its methodology. Is this confirmation of the fluid nature of time? Or is it simply another candidate for the Journal of Irreproducible Results?
posted by shii at 10:50 PM PST - 100 comments

A charity auction whose grand prize was a business lunch with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch has been won by David Brock. Brock is the CEO of Media Matters, a group consistently critical of Murdoch.

Auction site Charity Buzz described the auction as a "once in a lifetime chance" to sit with Murdoch "face to face over a friendly lunch and get his feedback firsthand on your proposed business ideas." It said it was valid for a total of six people and would be held in New York at a "mutually convenient" time with Murdoch covering the cost of lunch. "Winner will be subject to security screening and background check," it stipulated.
Media Matters founder and chief executive David Brock expects the lunch to go ahead. "I look forward to this opportunity to have a friendly lunch with Rupert Murdoch, along with five of my invited guests," Brock said in a statement. "I will soon contact Mr. Murdoch's office to determine a mutually convenient time and place in New York," he added.
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:46 PM PST - 33 comments

Baltimore area schools are using this Johns Hopkins program In an effort to combat rampant absenteeism and improve graduation rates, several Baltimore area middle schools are adopting the Stocks in the Future program developed by Johns Hopkins University program. Students are paid up to $80 a year based on their attendance and grades, which they are then allowed to invest in the stock market. Upon graduation, students keep their own portfolios (surprisingly, not all of them do). The program allows students to develop some financial literacy and has improved attendance rates.
posted by foxinsocks at 8:57 PM PST - 16 comments

PanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame of armoured combat set in the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The game is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation (wargame). It also pioneered concepts such as isomorphic mapboards and open-ended design, in which multiple unit counters were provided from which players could fashion their own free-form combat situations rather than simply replaying pre-structured scenarios. (related)
posted by Joe Beese at 8:14 PM PST - 35 comments

Founded by former Philadelphia 76ers cheerleader Darlene Cavalier, Science Cheerleaders is a squad of cheerleaders from professional sports teams who have gone on to have careers in science-related fields. Now they break out the pom-poms to cheerlead for science and challenge the stereotypical image of female scientists. [more inside]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:58 PM PST - 49 comments

Amateur Photographer Captures a Grizzly Bear Chasing a Bison Down a Highway in Yellowstone [more inside]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:46 PM PST - 81 comments

In the search to find this year's European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the German Society of Wildlife Photographers has compiled a collection of the most spellbinding moments caught on camera in the natural world.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:06 PM PST - 21 comments

Maclean’s Magazine ('Canada’s only national weekly current affairs magazine') publishes an annual edition ranking Canadian universities. In this year’s issue, with strong showings of Asian student populations at the top schools, an article asks, whether Canadian universities are “Too Asian”? [more inside]
posted by typewriter at 4:14 PM PST - 80 comments

"A pious, peaceful man, York had fought his country's enemy only after great deliberation and had to be convinced that war was sometimes necessary."¹ On this day let us remember Sergeant York.
¹ Celluloid Soldiers: The Warner Bros. Campaign Against Nazism By Michael E. Birdwell.
posted by unliteral at 3:13 PM PST - 14 comments

Depending on who you ask, Ohio's C3 Railroad project is either a) a conventional railroad project that's going to restore slow rail service between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati or; b) it's a visionary initiative of President Obama and Transportation secretary, Roy LaHood, that has the intention of rebooting Ohio's entire infrastructure. [more inside]
posted by vhsiv at 3:06 PM PST - 49 comments

Pulp's Common People - the great class-based song of the 90s?
posted by Artw at 2:05 PM PST - 119 comments

The disappearing act of a pedophilia how-to on Amazon shines a spotlight on Amazon's shaky content guidelines.
posted by morganannie at 1:47 PM PST - 70 comments

Slaves of the moment: "The Mexican Agustín Víctor Casasola, with the intermittent help of his brother Miguel, began to set up around 1900 one of the most important photographic archives for the history of a country. However, the international recognition of these almost 500,000 photos has not matched its importance. Born in 1874 and raised in the years of the Porfirio Díaz government, Agustín Casasola was a direct witness to all the adversities that led to modern Mexico, and breathed as nobody else the air of a country and a city that developed during the first third of the 20th century at a runaway pace."
posted by puny human at 1:36 PM PST - 8 comments

"Whatever happened to Suburban Rhythm? Why did Ed and Scott quit? Please don't go, Suburban Rhythm! All the other bands are just shit." So goes the (many versions of) the song "S.R." by a little ska band called the Reel Big Fish. [more inside]
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:17 PM PST - 39 comments

History of Western Philosophy, illustrated in huge scroll-down timelines. Kevin Scharp at OSU made these, based on work by Randall Collins, and they are great. Includes the influence of the Muslim world. He also has separate diagrams on a few specific issues, eg paradoxes, theories of truth, etc. This link goes to his fast-loading index page, where you can click to load the (big) charts. [more inside]
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:07 PM PST - 43 comments

Consider Humanism. You'd be in good company.
posted by GernBlandston at 10:09 AM PST - 152 comments

He's Now in the Great Screening Room in the Sky Dino de Laurentiis has passed on, aged 91. Over 150 films produced. He gave this young guy a second chance after this bomb. One of his movies had the best Haniball Lektor/Lector ever. He worked with Fellini, Pacinio, Redford, Schwarzenegger, Bridges, (Jeff), Raimi, and Fonda, (Jane). Goodnight, sweet prince of cinema.
posted by jettloe at 10:07 AM PST - 53 comments

Tweets of Anarchy and Replying with the Enemy: A look at television showrunners' Twitter feeds by Myles McNutt.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:38 AM PST - 20 comments

Thinking of giving that special someone a cat for Christmas? Well, you need to know how to properly wrap it for placement under the yule tree. Thankfully, there's a handy instructional video for that.
posted by NoMich at 7:23 AM PST - 39 comments

Can't think of what to make for Thanksgiving? How about Marilyn Monroe's secret stuffing recipe.
posted by Xurando at 6:21 AM PST - 26 comments

35 hours of video are uploaded every minute to YouTube. (SLYTBP)
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:34 AM PST - 39 comments

Can a hula hoop make you cool? Philo Hagen of hooping.org makes a visual arguement for yes. [more inside]
posted by kthanksbai at 5:23 AM PST - 38 comments

"I woke up out of sight of land," the 84-year-old actor told reporters. "I started paddling with the swells and I started seeing fins swimming around me and I thought 'I'm dead!'" Dick Van Dyke rescued by porpoises (SLGA).
posted by fight or flight at 5:15 AM PST - 67 comments

Apple’s Tablet Computer History - A collection of beautiful prototype designs for some of Apple's early tablet computers from the 1980s and 90s, including the famed Newton [ related | via ]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:02 AM PST - 25 comments