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The Patrick Mimran Billboard Project, an eyesore to New York City inhabitants for the past few years, has imposed the French "artist's" lame, clichéd grievances about the art industry onto anyone driving or walking down W24th, 25th, or 26th Street in Chelsea. It's an infestation. Now, happily, some New Yorkers who have tired of M. Mimran's pretentious sloganeering have decided to fight back. Hurrah!
posted by jeremy b at 9:00 PM PST - 43 comments

More than starwars kid...check out the dangerzone. Some kids from the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science have been winning local film awards with their movie Noir, but I prefer Dangerzone (on the same site as Noir). Their webpage isnt too shabby either.
posted by nile_red at 8:42 PM PST - 22 comments

Come on in to The Fedora Lounge. Grab a martini, maybe a pack of smokes, and join in the conversation about the clothing, music, furniture, architecture, lifestyle and just plain old style of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. From the folks behind Retro Radar.
posted by braun_richard at 6:51 PM PST - 13 comments

America Beyond Capitalism
What a "Pluralist Commonwealth" Would Look Like
from the author of The Coming Era of Wealth Taxation (pdf)
posted by y2karl at 6:06 PM PST - 22 comments

How well do you know your neighbors? With the California Megan's Law database, just breeze through the first few pages, and you'll get a map interface searchable by city, zip code, county, etc. Zoom in, and see little icons that tell you the location of registered sex offenders, and schools. Click on one of those little icons, and you'll see pictures, addresses, descriptions of their crimes, scars, and aliases. This strikes me as an internet app that is both cool and entirely creepy.
posted by jasper411 at 4:52 PM PST - 125 comments

A chilling reenactment of slavery in the Americas. (RealPlayer Link.rm)
posted by Paddle to Sea at 4:01 PM PST - 17 comments

Female pirates.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:58 PM PST - 17 comments

Don't miss tonight on PBS the final NOW with Bill Moyers. "Bill Moyers looks inside the right-wing media machine that the conservative NEW YORK TIMES columnist David Brooks called a "dazzlingly efficient ideology delivery system." The program examines how a vast echo chamber that is admittedly partisan and powerfully successful delivers information — and misinformation — with more regard for propaganda than fact. Founding father to the conservative movement, Richard Viguerie tells Moyers, 'That’s what journalism is, Bill. It’s all just opinion. Just opinion.'”
posted by semmi at 3:36 PM PST - 45 comments

"Face-crushing guitars, head-pounding drums, bass so low you'll vacate your bowels, and vocals so scorching, so extreme they simply can't be human! They're not." You cannot dodge the talons of hate.
posted by scrim at 2:59 PM PST - 33 comments

The battle for the NFL After EA Games bombshell announcement that it had signed a five-year exclusive licensing deal with the NFL, many sports games fans are wondering what will happen to their favorite franchises that don't feature John Madden. You can bet ESPN is hoppin' mad (and probably Microsoft as well), as are fans of its NFL 2K series (of which I'm a proud member). Do deals like this hurt the fans or the sport ... or even the gaming industry itself? I certainly think so. Sports is about competition! Oh, no, wait it's about money. Never mind.
posted by WolfDaddy at 2:52 PM PST - 34 comments

Let me on survivor!!! Oh the lack of justice! Canadians make up 10% of the Survivor audience and yet the show doesn't want to allow canadians to be on the show. This young courageous man wants to change the rules, and he thinks he qualifies to be a good survivor. Because after all 'Canadians live in igloos 50% of the year, so we're perfect for outdoor survival reality-tv shows '. So he's on a crusade to be the first canadian citizen on the show, and ask people to sign his petition.
posted by Sijeka at 2:49 PM PST - 40 comments

The year in verse, from The Economist. Via Slate.
posted by grrarrgh00 at 2:46 PM PST - 9 comments

Randall the Enamel Animal is an organoleptic hop transducer module. Click on the links, they're about beer!
posted by turbodog at 1:55 PM PST - 14 comments

No Xmas in U.S. this year: Santa on Fed's "No Fly" list.
Okay, that's just "News" from the website of satiric rockers Bah and the Humbugs, skewering Xmas since 1985. MP3s of the entirety of this year's CD Farhenheit 12/25 are available on the website, or you can buy the CD for $10 and all ten sheckles go to the UN World Food Programme. More tracks here, including the "Jolly Roger the Xmas Pirate" series and "Free the Reindeer. " Great stuff for that awkward holiday family get-together, where the music won't offend but the cool lyrics can keep you chuckling to yourself all night.
posted by Shane at 12:44 PM PST - 4 comments

Freebord explained. (Rest of life still a mystery.) Via Bifurcated Rivets.
posted by 327.ca at 12:16 PM PST - 30 comments

Introducing the International Journal of Web Based Communities (IJWBC), a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal whose first issue just went online. Growing out of the papers presented at the IADIS International Conference on Web Based Communities, the journal lists among their intended subject coverage such topics as "the history, architecture and future of virtual communities", "group processes and self-organisation", and "fading hierarchies and epistemic dictatorship". Read it while you can, because future hardcopy subscriptions will run you $450/€430 a year.
posted by Asparagirl at 12:15 PM PST - 8 comments

DR3I is a Macromedia Flash game. Avoid vomiting.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 11:49 AM PST - 14 comments

Reflex is the game responsible for a significant drop in the scores of my final exams. (Friday Flash)
posted by anomie at 11:36 AM PST - 26 comments

Rectal Foreign Bodies Courtesy of Rectal Foreign Bodies . ( (NSFW maybe) )
posted by protocool at 11:21 AM PST - 18 comments

Christmas Letters to Christopher Walken - Santa not coming through? Try Mr. Creepy.
posted by amandaudoff at 11:16 AM PST - 26 comments

Photographer Jim Brandenburg gave himself a challenge: for 90 days between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice he would take exactly one photograph each day, around his home near Minnesota's million-acre Boundary Waters Wilderness. He then repeated the challenge in the summer, again taking one photograph each day from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox. You can see the results here: Chased by The Light and Looking for the Summer.
posted by driveler at 11:16 AM PST - 22 comments

I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island! The virtual economy gets more interesting. (More inside)
posted by malaprohibita at 11:01 AM PST - 35 comments

Grey Holiday Puppet. Festive Friday Flash Fun
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:56 AM PST - 6 comments

Speaking Of weight loss and exercise... Those who like their booze also like their nicotine. People who drink to excess also tend to be chronic smokers, and a new report suggests the combination of the two might prove more toxic than either one alone. a small study found chronic smoking + alcohol dependence = increased severity of brain damage. The frontal lobes (short-term storage sites) turn out to be the most damaged. A separate study used rats to show that alcoholism and excessive food intake may share the same chemical pathways in the brain. Forbes has the HealthDayNews report that focuses mainly on the smokes, MSNBC looks more at the eats. They also have an interesting Addictions Sections. Could it be that some folks are just prone to addictions and everyone settles on something different?
posted by Blake at 10:35 AM PST - 21 comments

"There is no excuse for superior authority not choosing the most suitable agents for particular duties, and not removing unsuitable agents from particular duties." With all the talk of empires and resignations, a reflection to history turns up a remarkable story about an already remarkable man:

A tense time in British India came to a head when General Reginald Dyer's brigade opened fire on an unarmed crowd assembled in Amritsar with machine guns, killing 379 and wounding over 1500. Command wanted to relieve him of duty, but patriotic (and imperialist) fervor at home led to a parliamentary debate which was expected to repudiate this decision and honor him. Enter War Secretary Winston Churchill who defended the Government so eloquently that the minds and hearts of the entire deliberative body were turned.
posted by allan at 10:12 AM PST - 16 comments

What Killed Hitchhiking? Well, some people don't think it is dead.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:06 AM PST - 30 comments

Shower gel gets you laid. iTunes gets you laid. National Public Radio gets you laid. Craigslist gets you laid (if you're a Republican). Obscure Jewish humor apparel gets you laid. Going vegan gets you laid, unless you're a nice guy, natch. [All links SWF. First link leads to an advert that may not be.]
posted by fatllama at 10:04 AM PST - 30 comments

Tired? Need a boost? Everything you ever wanted to know about one of America's favourite energy boosters. This website contains 25 pages covering the history, uses (both legitimate and illegitimate), and biological characteristics of cocaine and the coca plant. An interesting read for those with time to kill (like me). Possibly NSFW.
posted by LunaticFringe at 9:41 AM PST - 10 comments

URL Fun
Ever need to make a really long or convoluted URL shorter? Or need to hide some bit of web naming from someone? You'll want to use something like TinyURL, BabyURL , URL123, and Make A Shorter Link.

All that shortening can't be good. Fun ways to play with your enemies! HugeURL and my favorite - EvilURL (Evil - NSFW)
posted by filmgeek at 9:28 AM PST - 27 comments

The good ladies of Go Fug Yourself have created an elegant little Web freakshow devoted to the fashion aberrations of the rich and frumpy. Less annoying than the shrill harridanry of Rivers mere et fille, hipper than Mr. Blackwell's "Worst Dressed", and much safer for work than AwfulPlasticSurgery.com, it's a must-see for anyone whose veins, like mine, are a-fizz with the coruscating combination of Schadenfreude and diet Coke.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:24 AM PST - 15 comments

Medals of Freedom awarded and I'd like to make some smart comment about current Iraqi conditions and the award and the presenter, but why bother - make your own.
posted by jim-of-oz at 8:47 AM PST - 27 comments

John Perry Barlow's trial commences and is commented upon by Seth David Schoen. A most interesting paragraph was: "First follow-up question: If you think a bottle contains an improvised explosive device, is it appropriate to shake it? No, that's almost the worst thing you can do. Second: Is it appropriate to open the bottle? No, that's the worst thing you can do. The defense then argued that Ms. Ramos could not really have believed that the ibuprofen bottle in question contained an improved[sic] explosive device, because she had testified that, on removing it from Barlow's bag, she became suspicious of it, then shook it, and then opened it. These actions were the most dangerous actions she could possibly have taken if she really believed that the bottle might contain explosives..." Followup for this post.
posted by Captaintripps at 8:39 AM PST - 9 comments

My coming My going, Two simple happenings that got entangled... Japanese Death Poems. Small beautiful simple poems written before death. I just discovered them and thought I would share. A few more here
posted by mrs.pants at 7:22 AM PST - 15 comments

The Floating Logos Project.'Floating Logos' is a working title for this project. The images are inspired by signs perched high atop very tall poles in order for people to view them from a very long distance. The poles are digitally removed from the image in order to give the illusion that the signs are disconnected from the ground as they ominously float above us.
posted by Hands of Manos at 6:35 AM PST - 61 comments

Cousin Marriage Conundrum [...]By fostering intense family loyalties and strong nepotistic urges, inbreeding makes the development of civil society more difficult. Many Americans have heard by now that Iraq is composed of three ethnic groups -- the Kurds of the north, the Sunnis of the center, and the Shi'ites of the south. Clearly, these ethnic rivalries would complicate the task of ruling reforming Iraq. But that's just a top-down summary of Iraq's ethnic make-up. Each of those three ethnic groups is divisible into smaller and smaller tribes, clans, and inbred extended families -- each with their own alliances, rivals, and feuds. And the engine at the bottom of these bedeviling social divisions is the oft-ignored institution of cousin marriage[...]
posted by Postroad at 6:06 AM PST - 36 comments

US to forgive Iraq’s 4 billion-dollar debt - so, I'm curious as to the benefit of such an action. A "bilateral agreement" was signed - if this is our part, what's theirs?
posted by FormlessOne at 6:01 AM PST - 36 comments

Slab City, CA "is not so sinister as it is a strange, forlorn quarter of America. It is a town that is not really a town, a former training grounds with nothing left but the concrete slabs where the barracks stood. [...] The land belongs to the state, but the state, like the law, does not bother, and so the Slabs have become a place to park free. More than 3,000 elderly people settle in for the winter, in a pattern that dates back at least 20 years." [NYT Reg Req]
posted by LondonYank at 4:56 AM PST - 23 comments

Happy Harold Holt Day! On this day in 1967, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared whilst swimming at Cheviot Beach near Melbourne. Conspiracy theories abound. Today, his memory is honoured by a memorial swimming pool.
posted by Pinback at 4:52 AM PST - 7 comments

Proof of Ohio Election Fraud Exposed. Move over "election irregularities", say hello to "recount irregularites". Hot on the heels of Blackwell's about face on his promise to let the recount proceed unmolested, and a Karen-Silkwood-esque attack on the "recount activist" who broke that story, comes even more damaging allegations concerning the central tabulators. The Kerry-Edwards campaign is nominally on the case, and the NY Times is finally picking up the story. Is American democracy hanging by a thread?
posted by dinsdale at 1:43 AM PST - 69 comments