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Is the Earth Hollow? Does this explain why people are abducted by UFOs? Is this too outlandish to be possible, or is it the truth?
posted by banished at 10:11 PM PST - 17 comments

The therapists are divided and the film geeks are disappointed but I, for one, thought last night's "Sopranos" season finale was fantastic (mostly due to the brilliant Edie Falco). What did you think?
posted by adrober at 9:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Budget Orgy Calculator - tis the season for festivities, but all those galas can be a bit hard on the wallet. This handy party planner helps you to calculate your costs in advance and keeps you from forgetting important details.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:07 PM PST - 8 comments

No-Hit Wonders Ever hear of Thuh Sqwamps? How about Rhinoceros Snot? Perhaps you're familiar with King Solomon's Minds? Not ringing any bells? Of course not. These are all local garage bands from the 1960s that would have fallen into pure oblivion if it wasn't for the My First Band web site. Several of the stories are so bizarre that a very entertaining movie could be made out of any one of them.
posted by jonp72 at 6:52 PM PST - 7 comments

Everything you ever wanted to know about pimping but were afraid to ask "Money is a motivator. Pimping is perfect for a down-and-out freelance writer. Moreover, I do love danger. Not too much danger though, just enough to keep the nerves popping." A ripping yarn - a San Fransisco treat o< ! (via brutal.com).
posted by KettleBlack at 4:40 PM PST - 17 comments

The Dubya Doll is making its way through commercial America. With 17 slogans and phrases, such as "We will continue putting food on your family." what red-blooded American wouldn't want one?

"My Daddy was President you know." not included.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 4:06 PM PST - 17 comments

Score one for the RIAA. I don't know if this slipped below the Mefi radar, but CD Covers has been successfully targeted by the RIAA.
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:56 PM PST - 17 comments

Enter ... the Rawhide Kid! Marvel is about to unveil the first openly gay gunslinger. Name's the Rawhide Kid. Its creators say it will likely be campy. With a name like that, how could it be anything but?
posted by risenc at 3:23 PM PST - 22 comments

The pictures Kissinger doesn't want you to see. The book kissinger doesn't want you to read.(via memoryhole.org)
posted by elwoodwiles at 3:15 PM PST - 15 comments

US foriegn aid at work wtf?!! you think we'll be able to get this straightened out before they get another check?
posted by specialk420 at 2:02 PM PST - 36 comments

Do you have problems finding the cheapest flight? Well so do computers.
Carl de Marcken, the man who created the engine behind Orbitz and other travel search engines posits that finding the cheapest fare from one point to another is a NP-Hard problem. Even if you fix the specific route between destinations there can be as many as 10³⁶ combinations.
posted by patrickje at 1:39 PM PST - 18 comments

Beautiful galleries of alchemical imagery selected and complemented with watercolor by Adam McLean. This is a fascinating collection of bizarre medieval illustration, as well as an interesting window on the proto-scientific worldview. His website features more images and even complete alchemical texts, for those inclined to explore further.
posted by eyebeam at 1:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Architectural Construction Toys From the art nouveau style of Arquitectura Moderna to the futuristic cities (circa 1969) of Astrolite, this site has it all.
posted by snez at 1:13 PM PST - 9 comments

The Liberaral Quandry on Iraq [nytimes reg req'd]. [warning : iraq political story]. As a "liberal hawk", I have had some issues regarding whether to support a war with Iraq or not. In this article, George Packer talks to four liberals (David Rieff, Leon Wieseltier, Michael Walzer and Paul Berman) about what they think, and presents a sort of top ten list of reasons for or not. After reading the article, I'm a little less confused about where I stand, and a little closer to coming to grips with it
posted by rshah21 at 12:55 PM PST - 29 comments

What's the real story here? "An international team researching particle physics at Tohoku University has observed a new kind of neutrino." BZZT! Try again."Sun is ok, says latest neutrino experiment." BZZT. Wrong answer. The media sure made a hash out of this one. [more inside]
posted by ptermit at 12:33 PM PST - 17 comments

MikWright: Find old family photos. Slap them on greeting cards with hilarious captions. Sell them. Make many people very happy and entertained. MikWright rules.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:31 PM PST - 10 comments

This vibe is free. The anti site. Don't get busted! Just a little Buzz? Take the initiative.
posted by four panels at 12:27 PM PST - 15 comments

oh look. it's chris rock impersonator, chris tucker, up to his old tricks again. ha ha... such a kidder that guy.
posted by xmattxfx at 11:04 AM PST - 39 comments

Were the Mayans expert sound engineers? Perhaps we could learn something from them to aid our pursuit of technological solutions to modern noise pollution problems.
posted by rushmc at 10:55 AM PST - 16 comments

Bullets Frozen in Mid-Impact. This may have been posted before, but I couldn't find it; it's a series of photographs of bullets hitting objects, taken with a VERY high speed camera, frozen in mid-impact. This is NOT, for the record, an invitation to discuss your POV on gun control.
posted by jonson at 9:54 AM PST - 33 comments

Disused Stations on the London Underground - they're there, but we don't see them. This site gives a list of places to spot glimpses of these mysterious stations, as well as details of stations that were almost built. Fascinating for a Londoner, and perhaps something to look out for if you plan on visiting the city.
posted by Orange Goblin at 9:02 AM PST - 22 comments

Google + Too Much Time on Hands = "Who Owns the Alphabet?" The English-language alphabet gets fully Googled, one letter at a time.
posted by Dirjy at 7:49 AM PST - 6 comments

A monster of a poll (by America's monster pollster PEW) asking 38.000 people (!) in 44 countries what they think of America. VERY interesting!
posted by acrobat at 7:04 AM PST - 41 comments

Walter Sickert was a renowned impressionist painter. In her new book, author Patricia Cornwell also claims that Sickert was Jack the Ripper. Whether you believe her theory or not, Cornwell is certainly getting a lot of press out of this. If all these links aren't enough for you, you can also watch a documentary on Cornwell and her Jack the Ripper theory tonight at 10 p.m. EST on The Learning Channel.
posted by Reggie452 at 6:51 AM PST - 18 comments

In the late 19th and early 20th century, at a time that might be considered the height of colonial exploitation, the regrettable spectacle of human zoos swept through America and Europe. Two of the most popular victims of these ethnological exhibits were Ota Benga, a four-foot-eleven African pygmy with filed teeth, who was successfully (and fraudulently) billed as a wild cannibal, and Saartjie Baartman, a Khoisan slave woman who was exhibited naked in the streets of Paris and London for the public to examine her so-called 'Hottentot apron'.
posted by dgaicun at 6:29 AM PST - 49 comments

The long history of Iraq. Iraq has been ruled by a lot of regimes, ranging from Mesopotamian to British rule. It gained independence on 1932, and has since then seen more regime changes. According to their official site there still is tourism, but other sites have a more practical view of that. Altough it is not in my holiday plans this year it could be a very cultural rich destination in the future.
posted by sebas at 2:46 AM PST - 7 comments

I'm Afraid Happy To Say We're Out Of Stock: Heh. Shopping in Southern Europe is indeed very much unlike shopping anywhere else in the world... [ More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:01 AM PST - 104 comments