In 300 B.C., years before the birth of black Jesus, Aristole postulated that all good things were made of "win." That was a pretty good guess, but he was drunk and probably also having an orgy. Modern day awesominers know there are actually 118 fundamental "awesoments" that compose all good things. The Periodic Table of Awesoments can be a very useful tool. It's designed to show the relationships between awesoments, and often one can even predict how awesoments interact simply by their positions on the table.
posted by crossoverman at 11:08 PM PST - 90 comments

Boy in the Water ― The website of artist Miran Kim. Her art is characterized by an eerie, gruesome quality, which she achieves without the use of computer effects. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 10:45 PM PST - 12 comments

Anthony Gatto The worlds best juggler (autoplaying sound).
posted by dead cousin ted at 10:19 PM PST - 21 comments

Japanese cat humiliation. SLYT
posted by MaryDellamorte at 9:22 PM PST - 46 comments

Dolphin Stampede. 58 seconds of unscripted, unexpected nature awesomeness. SLYT.
posted by CitizenD at 7:20 PM PST - 45 comments

The year 2008 in photographs (boston.com, parts 2 & 3 coming tomorrow and the next day)
posted by allkindsoftime at 7:12 PM PST - 28 comments

Meshes of the Afternoon, part 1 and part 2. The seminal 1943 avant-garde film by Maya Deren (previously on MetaFilter).
posted by hermitosis at 6:43 PM PST - 18 comments

Gay marriage equals incest and pedophilia. Abortion equals the Holocaust. Or so thinks "America's Pastor Rick "Saddleback" Warren, bestselling author of The Purpose-Driven Life, vocal supporter of Proposition 8, and the spiritual leader chosen by President-elect Obama to give the invocation at his inauguration. But hey -- don't call him a homophobe: He even eats dinner with gays.
posted by digaman at 6:11 PM PST - 272 comments

Sweden-born Yukimi Nagano has worked with José González, Koop several times and is now the lead singer of Little Dragon. When cornered to characterize Little Dragon's style, the answer was somehow "Disco Dub", though Yukimi herself is probably just better listened to than labeled. (Hover for descriptions) [more inside]
posted by cashman at 4:40 PM PST - 12 comments

The Smoking Gun's 2008 Mug Shots Of The Year. At long last our legal standards have been boiled down to "innocent until proven hilarious".
posted by shii at 4:03 PM PST - 68 comments

In the last Depression, professional sports were a cheap source of entertainment. With today's contracts, can teams survive?
posted by gman at 3:41 PM PST - 42 comments

Face Off/Face On. [more inside]
posted by Faze at 2:15 PM PST - 22 comments

"Courage is the ennabling virtue for any philosopher," says Cornel West in this clip from The Examined Life, a film by Astra Taylor. Peter Singer talks about the morality of consumption and how we should spend our money, as he did in this NY Times Magazine essay published two years ago today. Given the internecine violence in the Congo, for example, Singer's 1971 essay, Famine, Affluence, and Morality is worth a second (or first) look. The film features several other contemporary philosophers, including Judith Butler, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Slavoj Zizek. Of course, people looking for a more musical version of philosophy, could forgo the film and just watch this Monty Python bit.
posted by cal71 at 1:57 PM PST - 11 comments

Time for your local on the 8's -- and that brain-numbing music that accompanies it! The Weather Channel offers playlists and samples, but better yet, TWCClassics asks you to help "name that tune," offering mp3's of stumpers and identified tracks, along with random playlists dating back to 1986. (TWCClassics also has a YouTube channel. And, for those of you who just can't get enough Weather Channel Music, weatherchannelmusic.com is there for you. So sit back, and let the smooth music soothe or enrage you. [previously--thanks sourwookie!]
posted by not_on_display at 1:46 PM PST - 17 comments

Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:43 PM PST - 46 comments

Alex Kanevsky paints waves, portraits. Of further interest, the progression of some of his paintings, and some amazing prints. Be aware, some of his paintings are nudes. [more inside]
posted by klangklangston at 12:48 PM PST - 20 comments

Minnesota recount live!
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:43 PM PST - 104 comments

LiveDosGames is a free, portable, fast Linux Operating System, which contains old, but legendary Dos games (and fits on a USB stick)
posted by Wolfdog at 11:03 AM PST - 47 comments

Bracing for Islamic Creationism (PDF). "To avoid a vast rejection of evolution in the Muslim world, scientists can present the theory as the bedrock of biology and can stress its practical applications." [Via]
posted by homunculus at 9:31 AM PST - 47 comments

Dropbox syncs and backs up files between computers instantaneously. Site. Via.
posted by chuckdarwin at 8:54 AM PST - 99 comments

A tower on the Excalibur gondola at Blackcomb Mountain north of Vancouver collapsed yesterday. Early speculation centres around the possibility of the tower filling with water and freezing. The Excalibur gondola is built by the same company who recently finished constructing the record-breaking Peak2Peak gondola. This is not the first lift incident at the resort, which is set to host alpine events for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
posted by vansly at 8:18 AM PST - 28 comments

Handy Guides for how to win at rigged carnival games like the dime toss, the milk bottle toss. or even beat those claw on a crane machines. But what about matching wits with an online guess a number carny?
posted by tatnasty at 8:00 AM PST - 35 comments

What is important to me? Short video interviews with mostly alternative rock/pop folk, in which they answer the question 'What is really important to me'. For Elbow it's hope, Lambchop breakfast, Bob Mould turning life upside, New Model Army a sense of proportion, Nada Surf respect and caring, Sterolab hedonism, Calexico space...the rest are here..
posted by therubettes at 7:56 AM PST - 20 comments

The first episode of the new season of Flight of the Conchords is available to watch free online (US only, sorry). "Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo," their first season was chock full of hilarious moments and musical interludes, including some drawn from their live performances. Previously on Metafilter.
posted by explosion at 7:20 AM PST - 73 comments

"For having the confidence to sketch an ambitious future in a gloomy hour, and for showing the competence that makes Americans hopeful he might pull it off, president-elect Barack Obama is TIME's Person of the Year." Henry Paulson and Sarah Palin are among the runners-up.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 7:15 AM PST - 77 comments

Heart :: Amplifier :: Brain :: Convertible :: Feet
posted by vronsky at 7:01 AM PST - 15 comments

Play Trivia to Help Save Abandoned Animals. Free Rice set the standard for on-line charity games and Free Poverty soon followed by donating water. Now you can play for free kibble to be donated to either Rocket Dog Rescue or The Urban Cat Project.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:30 AM PST - 11 comments

What's in a name? The Puritans and Victorians thought names could convey virtue onto whom they were bestowed; in Zimbabwe this is still a popular practise. Some names are thought to be 'high-end', some 'low-end' (even neighbourhoods) and our perceptions of what makes a good name changes in time. Meanwhile there are some human names that seem to suit dogs well.
posted by mippy at 5:55 AM PST - 61 comments

Hawala or the Bank that Never Was.
Here's how it works.
However this honorable system has been hijacked by drug smugglers, terrorists, even Pirates; although there are problems.
Regulation has its drawbacks hurting some of the worlds poorer economies.
MI6 believes that terror organisations have used the global banking system to its advantage by investing Hawala money in stocks around the world.
posted by adamvasco at 3:40 AM PST - 29 comments

Britney Spears loves Japan for its tiny cars. Tiny cars are huge in Japan. But Americans are not very big on very small cars. Nonetheless, automakers may bring tiny microcars to the U.S.. The trick will be making money on smaller cars. Small cars are nothing new, but soon they may be cool.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:55 AM PST - 98 comments