The day in posts: 12/14/2009

[MLYT] Reddit has been hosting some interesting and quite candid interviews with prominent public figures recently. Today they posted their session with Dennis Kucinich. Previously: Barney Frank, Ron Paul, and Mike Rowe (host of Dirty Jobs on Discovery). All questions created and voted on by the community.
posted by sophist at 10:06 PM PST - 19 comments

After many many delays, Boeing's newest widebody jet, the 787 "Dreamliner", will fly for the first time today. Watch a live webcast starting at 9:40AM PT.
posted by joshwa at 9:47 PM PST - 59 comments

Ninite is an incredibly nifty website/service that packages and lets you choose and install the correct versions of 59 of the best free Windows software packages in one click. It joins its mass-installing brethren: the venerable Google Pack (10 applications) and the Lifehacker Pack (22 applications), as well as a variety of specialized packages for Installpad, including those specializing in PC rescue or media.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:15 PM PST - 32 comments

David Bowie's response to his first American fan letter. In 1967, 14 year old Sandra Adams wrote a letter to Bowie. According to Bowie himself, this was his first bit of fan mail from the States. The response, though brief, is funny and sincere.
posted by spaltavian at 7:14 PM PST - 79 comments

Roommate Leaves Town, Christmas Prank Ensues [SLYT]
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 6:58 PM PST - 38 comments

Modern Alphabets (Single Link Flickr Post)
posted by grumblebee at 5:36 PM PST - 24 comments

The New York Times online's Room for Debate blog tackles the issue of race in China. [more inside]
posted by inara at 5:27 PM PST - 32 comments

Christmas Lights + Guitar Hero
posted by empath at 5:25 PM PST - 21 comments

"It's just a thing ... I worked so hard to get that title." And with that, her political enemies pounced. Sen. Barbara Boxer upbraided an Army general for repeatedly calling her "ma'am" in a hearing. The moment is now campaign fodder for Republican candidates, including former HP CEO Carly Fiorina.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:50 PM PST - 141 comments

(NSFW) So Much For the Stiff Upper Lip. Slate writer gets jiggy wit the history of Georgian Britain's aristocratic sex clubs.
posted by jason's_planet at 4:18 PM PST - 38 comments

Computer technicians have uncovered 22 million messages believed lost by the George W. Bush administration. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) and George Washington University's National Security Archive "...reached a final settlement of their long-running lawsuits challenging the failure of the Bush White House and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to take any action after confronted with evidence that millions of emails had gone missing from Bush White House servers over a two and one-half year period." "Documents produced so far show the Bush White House was lying when officials claimed no emails were ever missing. The record now proves incontrovertibly that Bush administration officials deliberately ignored the problem and, in fact, knowingly allowed it to worsen."* "We may never discover the full story of what happened here," said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director. "It seems like they just didn't want the e-mails preserved." [more inside]
posted by ericb at 2:39 PM PST - 86 comments

"A suite of five ancient crocs, including one with teeth like boar tusks and another with a snout like a duck’s bill, have been discovered in the Sahara." [more inside]
posted by brundlefly at 1:49 PM PST - 53 comments

Adnan Khashoggi was one of the high society news makers in the 80's, considered by some to be on Donald Trump's level. While things have gone alright for the Donald, Khashoggi hasn't done as well... [more inside]
posted by reenum at 1:40 PM PST - 19 comments

Blondie's new single, We Three Kings. mp3 download available. (New album in 2010!)
posted by hippybear at 1:16 PM PST - 101 comments

Su Majestad 'El Bolero' - Sonidos del Mundo::2::3::4::5:: Special bolero, a musical genre with Iberian and African mergers that are installed in the Cuban archipelago in the late nineteenth century. Classical introduction of Matt Ramirez (Radio Felicidad 88.9 - Peru) who is involved in a musical gatherings led by Mabel Martinez. The same applies to journalists Eloy Perez and Agustin Jauregui Aldave. Since my senses perceived that needle to settle into the grooves of vinyl. After listening to the announcer's voice and even at that moment, unknown bolero invaded me as they say, the sweet joy of 'sad', called melancholy. I remembered that magical scene of an afternoon in which, from a makeshift place, interrupted the dance of two lovers who blushed as teenagers after being discovered. Well I wrote my Father on the album cover photo she shared with 'her pimp'. Love? There are lots... but like ours are very few people there. Now imagine how lucky I am to have been a spectator of so simple and beautiful moment. (google translate)
posted by vronsky at 12:38 PM PST - 6 comments

Exactly how worried should we be? The Octopus is a MetaFilter favourite, but their skill development is coming on apace. Previously 1, previously 2.
posted by She Kisses Wyverns at 12:37 PM PST - 70 comments

Manufactured Landscapes: Photographer Edward Burtynsky captures haunting and beautiful images of landscapes devasted by industy and by waste. He has won numerous awards including the TED prize. [more inside]
posted by blue shadows at 12:15 PM PST - 14 comments

The People Who Ruined The Decade [more inside]
posted by philip-random at 10:35 AM PST - 148 comments

Self assembling GSX-R (SLYT) Five minute stop motion video of a bike being assembled. [more inside]
posted by Mitheral at 10:01 AM PST - 19 comments

Millenium Falcon Bed. I want to put this on my Amazon wishlist. Don't you?
posted by pjern at 9:50 AM PST - 40 comments

Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound and Deerhunter posts Deerhunter's 2005 album, Carve Your Initials Into the Walls of the Night, for free download.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:44 AM PST - 15 comments

A female freelance writer assumes a male pseudonym and finds much more work, respect, and pay. She tells the story of her accidental experiment. (via)
posted by fontophilic at 9:39 AM PST - 107 comments

The Top 100 Freedom of Expression posters from Posters4Tomorrow.
posted by OmieWise at 9:32 AM PST - 9 comments

Signs of what could be a previously unknown ancient civilisation are emerging from beneath the felled trees of the Amazon. Some 260 giant avenues, ditches and enclosures have been spotted from the air in a region straddling Brazil's border with Bolivia. (Previously: Lost City of Z and Colonel Fawcett)
posted by geoff. at 9:24 AM PST - 25 comments

Brando, Depp, the missing millions and Divine Rapture, the lost movie: "After settling into his rented Georgian mansion, Brando phoned [director] Eberhardt asking if they could meet at 11pm. "I said, 'No, Marlon, I'm too tired. I've been rehearsing all day.' Then he said, 'I'm going to shave my hair off and wear an orange wig'."" [more inside]
posted by Len at 8:36 AM PST - 14 comments

At ComiCon 2009, comedian Paul Scheer stood up during the LOST panel and introduced Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear, a painting on black velvet of the two head writers/executive producers of LOST with a friendly polar bear, as well as a website that turned into an almost five month scavenger hunt/Fan appreciation event, where fans were given the opportunity to purchase 16 LOST-inspired posters commissioned by artists such as Daniel Danger, Dan McCarthy and Olly Moss. The hub page, which has been updating with clues since the beginning of August, has brought out fans from Tokyo, Argentina, Arizona, Honolulu, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Glasgow to events where the URL to purchase these prints (300 limited editions, less than 200 for sale) has been given out. LOSTArgs has been following the action since the beginning. Tomorrow, the LOST Underground Art project wraps up with the reveal of the 16th poster (rumored to be a Season 6 spoiler), at the Gallery 1988 art show in Los Angeles.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:16 AM PST - 10 comments

An Omnivorous Google Is Coming. "Imagine what it would be like if there was a tool built into the search engine which translated my search query into every language and then searched the entire world’s websites," she says. "And then invoked the translation software a second and third time – to not only then present the results in your native language, but then translated those sites in full when you clicked through.” Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president for search products and user experience, shares her unparalleled insights into the future of internet search engines. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 6:16 AM PST - 65 comments

So the French do lip dub too? Sometimes it's good and fun (starring employees of the W9 TV channel) and sometimes bad and corny (starring many French political celebrities from president Sarkozy's party, such as the minister of economic affairs and the secretary of state for sports).
posted by rom1 at 5:32 AM PST - 10 comments

Faux Friendship traces the evolution of friendship from classical times to the modern Internet age. By William Deresiewicz, literary critic and former associate professor of English at Yale. (Warning: long.)
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 5:23 AM PST - 24 comments