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Peace Activist Philip Berrigan Dead at 79 Yes, I know, obituaries are depressing. But this man was one of my very few heros. He fought a good fight, but in this age of corporate sponsored and government promoted dimunation of conscience can a single person "bearing witness" to the immoral actions that go on in this world really make a difference? Or is the idea of citizen protest just a quaint vestige of another era? [NYT link]
posted by ahimsakid at 9:18 PM PST - 8 comments

Her! Girl vs. pig. A comic strip by Chris Bishop. Well done. Some are quite funny. Some are just twisted. Some are both.
posted by chipr at 9:00 PM PST - 18 comments

CDNow cedes operations to Amazon.com. While looking up some 'non-traditional' Christmas music, I noticed this site's layout looked oddly familiar. Is there reason for concern about the fact that Amazon is taking over shop for it's rival or is this an example of using what's the 'best' in a competitive market?
posted by phyrewerx at 7:43 PM PST - 26 comments

Chiengora is the fancy term for dog hair used to make mittens, hats, sweaters, and more. This site will teach you all about chiengora and how to hand spin it into yarn. If you'd rather just brush your dog and send the fur to someone else to knit, check out Rover's Comb.
posted by acridrabbit at 6:33 PM PST - 12 comments

One word posts a word a day. You have one minute to type as much cobblers as you can. It sounds daft, but it's a bit compelling.
posted by Fat Buddha at 1:56 PM PST - 16 comments

Global Beauties More info than you would ever care to know about international pageants like Miss World.
posted by konolia at 11:23 AM PST - 8 comments

Everybody has a hobby. Mine is collecting images of pantyhose packages, as well as pantyhose ads from magazines and catalogs. (geocities, NSFW? Guess.) We've previously discussed vintage skivvies for men here, but the gallery of packages is kind of interesting. Or maybe you just Hate Pantyhose.
posted by Stan Chin at 10:55 AM PST - 10 comments

U.S. Writers Do Cultural Battle Around the Globe (NYTimes, reg. req'd). So many questions spring to mind... Is it productive for the government to do this, or should it be the role of civil society? Should such efforts attempt to portray an appealing version of the U.S., or an accurate one? Where would you direct people who, in good faith, want to gain insight into the "American mind" through the written word, or others forms of art?
posted by stonerose at 9:20 AM PST - 9 comments

"Customers who bought this product from Amazon also bought fake recommendations? Yes, Amazon just admitted algorithms don't work alone in the recommendations and shopping histories department. What happened is that, besides betraying those of us who thought recommendations were made by objective software, strange things started to happen at the store. Like the one Joshua Allen wrote about on his blog (Better Living Through Software): while trying to buy the book Essential.NET, he received the following hint: "people who shopped for this product also wear clean underwear". It's not an algorithm, it's a super-algorithm with x-ray vision.
posted by nandop at 9:01 AM PST - 17 comments

Son of NRA big wig arrested in road rage shooting. How will Chuck Heston spin this one? The local TV news reported this without a hint of irony, and the post barely covered it. What Happened to the "Liberal Media"? Have they been co-opted? Has anyone seen more extensive coverage of this? I realize that the article I linked does not contain much info, but I guess that is sort of my point. Should this not be a catalyst for discussions about gun control in this country?
posted by buz46 at 7:06 AM PST - 89 comments

The Humble Penny? A site to help visualize large numbers with the common US coin. And to think I've been cursing them for so long. If I'd saved 10 million of the little buggars I'd have $100k.
posted by yoga at 6:57 AM PST - 15 comments

Another "magnificent obsession" site, seasonally spiced: oldchristmaslights.com is a huge attic space, packed to the rafters with illuminating images and information; history and pre-history, manufacturer backgrounds, timeline, patents, vintage advertising, trivia - it's all here, plus a "Light Set Gallery" and more. Plug in and enjoy.
posted by taz at 3:15 AM PST - 23 comments