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Electric Sheep: Collaborative Fractal Generation
Electric Sheep is a distributed screen-saver that harnesses idle computers into a render farm with the purpose of animating and evolving artificial life-forms.The project is an attention vortex. It illustrates the process by which the longer and closer one studies something, the more detail and structure appears.

You can look at some fresh samples or you can read the Interpretation, watch the Sheepumentary, post a comment, design your own or design them and post them to their server or download a copy and play along at home.
You can even get a copy of the source code to play around with if you're so inclined.

Me? I'm just gonna look at the pretty pictures.
posted by fenriq at 10:59 PM PST - 17 comments

Snobs & the uber-snobs who snub them by William F. Buckley, Jr. "...Snobs should read this book. Also, anti-snobs. Also those who wonder... deep down whether they are more like... Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Dante, and Christ"
posted by growabrain at 10:34 PM PST - 18 comments

An Indonesian man was recently jailed for digging up and eating his neighbour's corpse and a Zambian man has been arrested for exhuming, cooking and eating his grandson's corpse. Most cultures have a strong taboo against eating the dead, even indirectly. This taboo has been exploited for intimidation and torture and by artists, writers and even game programmers (the latter resulting in bizarre code documentation). The practice of corpse eating is the subject of ancient myths and is embraced by at least one contemporary religious sect.
posted by Deepspace at 10:22 PM PST - 14 comments

Bravery and citizenship: Memphis Norman died the other day. He was one of the citizens, who, along with Anne Moody, whose book "Coming of age in Mississippi," vividly describes their action, sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter and took abuse in 1963.
posted by goofyfoot at 9:47 PM PST - 1 comments

Quantum Diaries - follow physicists from around the world as they experience the World Year of Physics 2005.
posted by Gyan at 8:52 PM PST - 4 comments

So you've had your appetite whetted by the Potted Meat Museum (as seen here), been mildly puzzled by the Toaster Museum, and found yourself subtly repulsed by the Mountain Dew Memorabilia Museum. You've stumbled through the sparsely populated halls of The Ohio Power Transformers Museum, and wondered why exactly Martin has so many owls. Once, on a dare, you sneaked a look at the AOL CD Preservation Guild and Museum, and came away with only a lingering pain in your knee when the wind is from the south.

And yet there you are, spending nights alone, bathed in the blue glow of the screen, wondering where you can find more disturbing collections. Fine, here.
[Inspired by the memepool].
posted by scrim at 7:49 PM PST - 6 comments

Comparing the victims of 9/11 to Adolf Eichmann has lead to controversy and credible threats of violence toward CU Professor Ward Churchill and the small liberal arts college where he was scheduled to speak on the "limits of dissent." A pacifist and human rights activist, Churchill claims that, as Eichmann ran the machinery behind the Holocaust, the "technocrats" of the WTC facilitated the execution of a destructive U.S. foreign policy.

A tip to Bill O'Reilly led to the death threats against Churchill and other bizarre forms of protest (PDF). Major media outlets cite the comparison of 9-11 victims to Nazis out of context without tackling Churchill's views on American foreign policy. Is this just another typical dismissive reaction against the radical left?
posted by themadjuggler at 6:26 PM PST - 116 comments

Revenge is a dish best served cold. The NY Times [bugmenot ] tables a tasty selection of vindictive waitstaff blogs. MeFi (ahem) servers, past and present, who were your worst customers? And did they get their just desserts?
posted by stonerose at 6:24 PM PST - 102 comments

Nepal is shut off from the world as King seizes power in 'coup'. Just as Iraq finishes voting, Nepal has taken a step in the opposite direction. India is concerned.
posted by homunculus at 5:20 PM PST - 15 comments

Iraqi militants claimed...to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him... The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what that statement said was an American soldier, wearing desert fatigues and seated on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back. The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless... Looks like a bunch of newspapers got duped.
posted by furtive at 4:58 PM PST - 32 comments

The Internet alphabetically: First --- Last
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:57 PM PST - 19 comments

The Transport for London Journey Planner shows you how to get from anywhere in London to anywhere else by public transport, on foot or by bike. Fancy a stroll from Trafalgar Square to Big Ben? Help yourself to a custom-built PDF route map. If you're travelling by road, you can use webcams to see exactly what the traffic's like. (But the best downloadable London maps are still on the BBC web site)
posted by iffley at 3:57 PM PST - 13 comments

Bill Clinton to become Secretary-General of the United Nations?
posted by semmi at 3:46 PM PST - 73 comments

Meet Jeff Gannon, White House Correspondent for the conservative Talon News Service. Jeff has become known for asking ridiculously leading questions and for writing news stories containing pure Republican boilerplate. Some people think something weird is going on here. You see, Talon News Service is not so much a news organization as it is a branch of conservative advocacy group GOPUSA. Then there's the fact that Jeff Gannon is a pseudonym - not a big deal, except that the White House press office has apparently broken with tradition and allowed him to register with them as his pseudonym. Who is this guy? Why does he have White House press credentials? And how did he apparently get hold of a secret intelligence document concerning the Plame affair? Inquiring liberals want to know, and several blogs -- including Daily Kos -- are trying to figure it all out.
posted by barjo at 3:26 PM PST - 50 comments

The beginning of the end for Dear Leader? This Times (of London) report is filled with telling details.
posted by Tlogmer at 3:16 PM PST - 44 comments

U Penn's Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing launches PennSound, an mp3 poetry library. Press release is here. Listen to sound files of single poems; read the manifesto; browse the author index; check out the webcast archive; and more (from the related Ubuweb).
posted by jokeefe at 3:06 PM PST - 6 comments

What I Heard about Iraq --from 1992 until today. head-spinning.
posted by amberglow at 2:36 PM PST - 84 comments

The search for Alfred E. Neuman Carl Djerassi emigrated to the US after Hitler's annexation of Austria, and in his essay traces the gap-toothed Mad Magazine spokesman from his original sighting on a German anti-semitic propaganda poster (PDF).
posted by docpops at 12:43 PM PST - 27 comments

Stand Up, Speak Up -- Against Racism (and for Nike) A new campaign against the ugly, very present problem of racism in the game of soccer, with soccer stars like Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand. An elegant (if more than a bit tame and unimaginative) new ad by Wieden+Kennedy. The campaign aims to encourage fans to wear interlocked black-and-white wristbands as a symbol of their stand against racism, which can be bought for €2, or £1.50 in the UK.
In every Nike store near you. (more inside)
posted by matteo at 12:33 PM PST - 32 comments

I wasn't sure what Move On would do after the election and inauguration, but it appears they are coming out with guns blazing over Social Security. Tomorrow they'll take out a full page ad in the NYT (pdf) and start spreading a new commercial (wmv) that is reminiscent of the "working kids" Bush in 30 seconds ad (I assume they hired the same director).
posted by mathowie at 12:32 PM PST - 51 comments

Playground Finder is a community service created by Ben and Suzette Hosken. The parents of two young children, they saw a need for a service providing details of playgrounds within their local area as well as when travelling. This idea grew into Playground Finder. [found while eyeballing loobylu]
posted by FunkyHelix at 12:26 PM PST - 8 comments

2006 World Cup Tickets went on sale last night at midnight, and since then over 500,000 tickets have been ordered. Orders have come in from over 108 countries from people looking for their chance to see the premier competition of the most popular sport on the planet. Everyone will get a fair shot at the tickets with any orders between now and the end of March being put into a lottery to see who gets tickets.
posted by daveirl at 11:57 AM PST - 8 comments

Tennessee Fainting (or Myotonic) Goats.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:18 AM PST - 31 comments

Annoyed at your coworkers? Nerf guns not repelling the marketing guys like they used to? Perhaps you need a micro-claymore mine to deter them. Or, for less impersonal delivery of injury, an office bow of death! A scary selection of weapons, all easily constructed from things in the supply cabinet.
(note: site has flash animation and some nsfw text)
posted by bitmage at 11:03 AM PST - 19 comments

FCC Denies PTC's complaints. (Salon article, get daypass or bugmenot) The FCC succinctly denied (pdf) the 36 count complaint from dismayed Parents Television Council. We've talked about previous decisions here and here - could this be a light at the end of the tunnel?
posted by beezy at 10:44 AM PST - 18 comments

Tsunami visualizations Visualizations of recent and historical tsunami episodes, collected by John McDaris at Carleton College. Includes large but visually effective animations, such as this NOAA visualization of the global propagation of the 26/12/04 tsunami (24MB Quicktime).
posted by carter at 10:43 AM PST - 2 comments

Don't want to be alone on Valentines Day?
posted by philcliff at 9:50 AM PST - 37 comments

The Touhou, or Shrine Maiden, series of "curtain fire shooting games" start off challenging and quickly become hard enough to satisfy any hardcore gamer/masochist. They're also gorgeously crafted works of art, and were created in their entirety by one man, ZUN. If you want to play them you'll have to import them* from Japan, but you can download the demos here.
* site sells naughty things as well. Don't order at work.
posted by squidlarkin at 8:15 AM PST - 10 comments

Congratulations to the winner of this year's Sundance World Cinema Documentary Audience Award - The story of the Canadian general who, under the auspices of the United Nations, could only watch helplessly as the Rwandan genocide occured.
posted by Caffine_Fiend at 8:10 AM PST - 18 comments

In 1958 The Plowshare Program, under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission, designated Ogotoruk Creek in Alaska as the site for an experiment for the Atoms for Peace mission called Project Chariot. Specifically the idea, led by Edward Teller, was to create a harbor using nuclear bombs.
posted by Vaska at 8:09 AM PST - 8 comments

Deep in the (dark) Heart of Texas Is it a bar? a restaurant? a newsradio listening hub? a republican hangout? Is everything political these days? even your beer and chicken wings?
posted by chris0495 at 7:21 AM PST - 158 comments

Ann Coulter and the facts on Vietnam
Its nice seeing Ann Coulter squirm. While being interviewed by the CBC's Bob McKeown, Coulter displayed her lack of historical knowledge on Canada's involvement (or lack of) in Vietnam. What's even more telling is her inability or refusal to back down even when she is dead wrong. Here is the video.
posted by mountainmambo at 4:24 AM PST - 155 comments