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The Orange Revolution -- A coup is taking place right now in the streets of several Ukrainian cities. Following the "election" of Viktor Yanukovych, an election that everyone from the Ukrainian man-on-the-street to EU observers and the US and Canada say was marred by serious and obvious fraud, Ukrainians are turning out by the hundreds of thousands to show their support for the opposition candidate, the pro-West reformer Viktor Yushchenko. Individual cities and municipalities, not to mention heads of Ukrainian religious groups, have even announced that they will refuse to recognize Yanukovych as the Prime Minster.

The problem is, Yanukovych is supported by the Kremlin. Russia's state-run TV stations had been broadcasting propaganda on his behalf, they called the election on his behalf before the polls were closed, and their increasingly despotic President Putin even congratulated him on his "win", before backtracking slightly. And now reports are trickling out--from former American congressmen communicating via Blackberry, no less--about Russian soldiers being flown across the border into Ukraine, dressed in Ukrainian militia garb, and set among the protestors. Phones have been cut across much of the country, including at the embassies. A semi-covert Russian-backed military push against the pro-democracy protestors is feared. Will this be another peaceful Rose Revolution, as happened in Georgia one year ago today, or more like Hungary, 1956? Stay tuned to the Ukrainian bloggers and webcams; this could get messy.
posted by Asparagirl at 8:40 PM PST - 147 comments

Economic 'Armageddon' predicted by Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley. He's been right before.
posted by stbalbach at 8:28 PM PST - 68 comments

What the Bleep Do We Know? Has anybody else seen this movie, about quantum physics and the nature of reality? We went to see it last night and were flummoxed by the 100-person line sprawling up the sidewalk outside our little downtown art theater. The movie was good, but for the most part didn't cover anything I hadn't heard or thought about before. Except for the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto, whose experiments seem to prove that ice crystals form in different shapes depending on the mood that the water is subjected to. As somebody with only the most introductory familiarity with quantum physics, I'm curious to know from people who've spent more time around the subject: What do you think (of the theory, and of the movie if you've seen it)?
posted by damn yankee at 6:28 PM PST - 125 comments

Wait... there's a NEW Mexico??! Old but funny.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:23 PM PST - 48 comments

McDonalds CEO "Flipping Burgers at 15" Quits Due To Colorectal Cancer You know, losing one CEO to coronary heart disease is unfortunate. However, losing another to colorectal cancer just seems careless. An increased occurrence of both diseases is linked with the consumption of red meat, especially processed red meat cooked or seared at high temperatures. Not exactly a good advertisement for McDonalds. Maybe it's time to recruit some people who haven't been enjoying the free employee meals quite so much?
posted by meehawl at 6:17 PM PST - 64 comments

Houses of the Future - houses made of cardboard, steel and clay.
posted by cmonkey at 3:02 PM PST - 26 comments

Do you enjoy a game of no skill?
posted by jonah at 2:57 PM PST - 47 comments

Lakoff say - mellow frames sooth savage Thanksgiving : The guru of framing offers a handy free excerpt from his all-the-rage book, just in time to defuse tense Thanksgiving dinner situations ( All fall asleep - Lakoff or the turkey ? ). Says Penny Kolb, on the practical magic of Lakoff's approach : "....By last night, the chat room was civil. An amazing (to me) number of posters turned off their capitalization and we were actually having conversations."
posted by troutfishing at 2:53 PM PST - 20 comments

The Okinawa digital archive is a collection of images, video and narrative about the rich culture, history and ecology of the Ryukyu Islands. There's so much more to karate's birthplace than the famous, landscape-dominating military bases -- from music and dance to castles to a language and identity distinct from mainland Japan. Be sure to check out the picture gallery, searchable and sorted by region. [MI]
posted by jeffmshaw at 12:53 PM PST - 6 comments

Destroy Evil. Superbad meets MNFTIU.
posted by me3dia at 12:16 PM PST - 17 comments

happiness is a t-shirt whilst poking around to see what's new and cool these days i came across some of the coolest t's i've seen in a long time. check'em out. nice "mantra," too.
posted by tatochip at 12:15 PM PST - 41 comments

An odd category for this DVD. I was searching for a favorite film of mine, The Hebrew Hammer, when I noticed that Overstock.com had filed it under the wrong category. This made me chuckle and I hope it makes you smile too. Happy two days before thanksgiving everyone!
posted by aj100 at 10:19 AM PST - 48 comments

Photographs of Nunavut, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories: the three northern territories of Canada which are possibly one step closer to becoming the 11th, 12th and 13th provinces and further establishing "Canadian sovereignty" of the Arctic. (Perhaps as a rebuke to the Denmark's plans to claim the North Pole?) [more au verso]
posted by myopicman at 10:09 AM PST - 54 comments

dolphins protect human swimmers
"A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday."
posted by specialk420 at 9:33 AM PST - 73 comments

Acid Keg is a titter-inducing webcomic that delivers a story of spies, tikis and rock n' roll. Retro done right. The story starts here.
posted by picea at 8:27 AM PST - 8 comments

The Wellington Valley Project. The history of a failed Christian mission in colonial Australia.
posted by plep at 8:02 AM PST - 2 comments

Do you have trouble distinguishing between a crow and a crocus, or a parrot and a carrot? You may want to refer to How To Tell The Birds From The Flowers: A Manual of Flornithology for Beginners. (caches inside)
posted by iconomy at 8:00 AM PST - 12 comments

From cells to bells, 10 things the Chinese do far better than we do Ah, those clever Chinese. First they invent gunpowder and a few other essentials of modern civilization. Now they're gunning their economic engines. Yet who would have thought that, after a millennium of poverty, they'd already do so many things better than we? In fact, compiling a Top 10 list of what China does better than Canada isn't easy. There are so many items. To whittle it down, let's assume it's unfair to count anything related to cheap labour. So we won't include the wonderfully thorough mop-ups of supermarket spills: The staff don't plunk down those yellow you-can't-sue-us caution signs. They actually fan the floor with a broken sheet of Styrofoam until it is dry. Nor will we mention the exquisite, free head-and-shoulder massages that come with every shampoo and haircut....
posted by Postroad at 7:18 AM PST - 72 comments

When I look at you with my eyes,
be the coolness of my eye.
Solace, a textbook of romantic psychology.
posted by kenko at 6:45 AM PST - 7 comments

An Evolution of Evolution Warning Stickers. This intelligently designed website creation should be viewed with caution
posted by srboisvert at 5:42 AM PST - 105 comments

Nuclear Terrorism videos and links here...plus a blast map-enter your zip code and see how far the effects go.
posted by konolia at 5:32 AM PST - 32 comments

"Something was not right." Kevin Sites, the cameraman at the centre of the recent controversial shooting in Faluja, has posted an open letter on his blog to the marines with whom he was embedded.
posted by Hartster at 3:36 AM PST - 86 comments

Anime Popeye Quicktime.
posted by kenaman at 12:55 AM PST - 33 comments