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US Meat Supply at Risk of Mad Cow Disease is one of the headlnes I missed last week week. Auditors can’t say whether meat plants followed mad-cow rules is another. Plus 'Downer Cows' Entering Meat Supply, USDA Inspector General Says | USDA slammed for letting high-risk downer cattle reach consumers | USDA Didn't Follow Procedures In '04 BSE Test | Agency Fought Retesting of Infected Cow | USDA feared beef test and, um... Confidence in U.S. called key to exports. [more inside]
posted by soyjoy at 11:06 PM PST - 39 comments

Remember that really shocking circa-2003 PUMA advertisement that no one would take responsibility for? Its mystery has finally unraveled.
posted by Bryan Behrenshausen at 8:09 PM PST - 42 comments

The Hall of Best Knowledge "combines lush imagery with lucid prose—imagine the works of Chaucer projected on the ceiling of the Sistine hapel—creating a weekly learning experience that is without equal in this or any age." Updated weekly. A collection of hand-drawn typographic teachings on Flickr. (from Drawn!)
posted by TimTypeZed at 7:26 PM PST - 10 comments

Marilyn Monroe, The Exhibit is a near-complete hoax, if Mark Bellinghaus — a man who appears to put the "fan" into "fanatical" — is to be believed. [wikipedia]
posted by five fresh fish at 4:53 PM PST - 11 comments

Rap Producer J-Dilla Dies; Kidney Failure Suspected J-Dilla, born James Yancy, was a member of Slum Village and worked with various Hip-Hop artists including Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and Common's Grammy-nominated album, BE.
posted by svidrigailov23 at 4:13 PM PST - 14 comments

Good Web Design
posted by Tlogmer at 4:05 PM PST - 96 comments

Now you too can feed your pet endangered meats! Meat from whales caught under Japan's "research" programme is so abundant that it is being sold as pet food. </one link newsFilter>
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 2:38 PM PST - 38 comments

Newsfilter:Former FEMA Director Michael Brown engages in a heated exchange during a Senate hearing Friday. Here is the C-SPAN coverage.
posted by nola at 2:32 PM PST - 20 comments

It's all about the Hamiltons. The new US $10 bill makes it's debut on March 2nd, 2006. How will it 'stack up' against other nations' works of art?
posted by afx114 at 1:43 PM PST - 73 comments

Amazon's "Top Selling Videos" Here's a mystery: Amazon has a page showing their top selling VHS videos. It is "updated hourly." Before you look at what the top sellers are, take a guess. I doubt that anyone would think that the 1994 Richard Simmons "Sweating to the Oldies" video would be listed as No. 1 -- particularly in view of the fact that it is described as being "unavailable." The others in the top 10 are also interesting: #3 is the 1945 black and white "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Would you guess that #7 is "Fatso", a 1993 comedy starring Dom DeLuise? I may be wrong but I suspect that Amazon's ratings are not accurate. Now I wonder about their book ratings . . .
posted by AJ at 1:25 PM PST - 24 comments

KookyChow. All your favorite real grocery items are here: Sweet pickled watermelon rind, Gerber Graduates Meat Sticks, Pork Brains, and my personal favorite, Instant Natural Jellyfish. Just remember, "there’s nothing wrong with eating food that other people find absurd. In fact, there’s a big difference between absurd food, and bad food. Absurd food is a good thing. Bad food is, well..., not good."
posted by sdrawkcab at 1:23 PM PST - 26 comments

Just how far does this Abramoff stuff go? Sure, we've heard all about the charges of political corruption, but Wampum has been diligently putting the pieces together, and some strange things are coming up, like the Dawes act of 1887, Cobell v. Norton, and $176 billion owed by ranchers and the oil and gas industry to Native Americans. Dustin Wax at Savage Minds concluded that "Abramoff and his peers both in Congress and the business world are working to undermine the last vestige of autonomy Indian peoples possess."
posted by jefgodesky at 1:20 PM PST - 15 comments

The "Jap Doll" -- Ningyô on the Western Toyshelf 1850-1940
posted by matteo at 12:23 PM PST - 10 comments

Live steam creations. We've seen steampunk robots in artwork, and read about them in fiction, but now someone has gone and built real, radio-controlled, steam-powered creatures that roll and creep and swim.
posted by Gamblor at 12:18 PM PST - 13 comments

South Dakota House approves sweeping abortion ban Although saying they personally abhor abortion, opponents made several unsuccessful attempts to make exceptions in cases of rape and incest, and to protect pregnant women whose health may be endangered.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 12:11 PM PST - 50 comments

He liked blue. In fact, he patented his own blue. He like to claim that he could fly unaided. There was a movie. In it, he colored naked women blue and had them make a painting. The film treated this comically, and he was crushed. Two weeks after the film opened, he died of a heart attack.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:03 AM PST - 23 comments

The inside and underground look at the USAFA. Quite simply this is basically an underground e-zine of sorts focused on the United Stated Air Force Acadamy. A major part of the site is The Hate Machine, a flash cartoon featuring the Fightin' Ostriches. A read through eDodo is a good look into what the USAFA looks like inside the zoo.
posted by ozomatli at 11:02 AM PST - 19 comments

Newsfilter: PBS Station Nixes Show On Terrorism. Following last-minute cries of protest from Muslim leaders last week, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate in Dallas canceled the premiere of a documentary on the roots of Islamic terrorism.
posted by semmi at 10:16 AM PST - 29 comments

I never thought a string of videos of car accidents taken from automatic tunnel cameras in metropolitan tunnels would make for compelling viewing. But it turns out you learn something new every day. warning - embedded video on page contains horrible dance music
posted by jonson at 10:16 AM PST - 59 comments

WOXY.com has begun charging a subscription fee. One of the best radio stations in America, it was a sad day in January of 2004 when WOXY in Cincinnati ceased being a terrestrial radio station. As one of the last truly independently programmed commercial rock stations in the country, it broke new ground and supported many worthy and truly alternative artists and unsigned bands. Unlike other radio stations, it actually lived up to its tagline "97X - The Future of Rock and Roll" -- a slogan you might be familiar with if you've seen Rain Man. Fortunately, with the help of some anonymous "angel" investors it was quickly resurrected as an internet radio station. In the past year or so, WOXY's terrific Live Lounge Act series has seen bands such as Gorrilaz, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Wedding Present, Neko Case play in their studio (The station also makes the performances available as podcasts). Now the station says it's going to have to charge $9.95 a month to listen, in part because of increasing royalties and increasing broadcast taxes. It's worth the money.
posted by Heminator at 10:10 AM PST - 25 comments

New Republican backed ads say our troops should be used as flypaper
and attempt to advance the iraq/al queda link. More on the Progress for America Voter Fund and their links to the swift boaters here. Are they airing these to counter the Bush administrations own admissions that the things are actually worse on most fronts in Iraq than before the war?
posted by specialk420 at 10:06 AM PST - 35 comments

Top 12 media myths and falsehoods on the Bush administration's spying scandal Summary: Media Matters presents the top 12 myths and falsehoods promoted by the media on President Bush's spying scandal stemming from the recent revelation in The New York Times that he authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on domestic communications without the required approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court.
posted by Postroad at 9:52 AM PST - 12 comments

"I hypothesize that if you remove all the text of Garfield's speech, or thoughts, or whatever that is, that it becomes an oddly surrealist comic."
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:50 AM PST - 28 comments

USAF Changes Guidelines to Allow Religious Discrimination Apparently, mainstream media considers this close to a non-story : "The Air Force released new guidelines for religious expression, dropping a requirement for chaplains to respect others' rights to their own beliefs and no longer cautioning top officers about promoting their personal religious views." ( AP ) The NYT carried a a one paragraph AP release on this. Forbes carried an extended AP story. Other coverage ? Well, there's the Daily Kos, Metafilter...
posted by troutfishing at 9:33 AM PST - 54 comments

Today is the last day of Fashion Week in New York. Fall 2006 collections have ranged from the sublime to the regrettable. Check out the list of reviews, or peruse runway videos. Long for the good ol' days of fashion? Amazing vintage pieces at thefrock.com will satisfy your style cravings.
posted by Alison at 9:23 AM PST - 27 comments

Werner Herzog shot at during interview Film critic Mark Kermode was chatting to the director of new film 'Grizzly Man' a few weeks ago for the BBC's Culture Show when someone with an air rifle took a few shots at them. If you think its a hoax you can hear Kermode talking about what happened, during this radio broadcast from a few days later. [sorry everyone but this requires Real but you could try an alternative] [via]
posted by feelinglistless at 8:40 AM PST - 67 comments

xFamily Values. A collaborative work by former members documenting The Family/Children of God religion/cult. Uniquely reflecting the sexual revolution, they encouraged prostitution as a means of gaining converts and offerings (Flirty Fishing). Plus they had comic books for the kids. But in concordance with other cults, abuse, incest, mind-control, secrecy, charismatic leaders and leaderettes, insanity, and irreparable harm were in full swing. (No more inside. There may be PDFs involved. Please note that much of this material is not safe for work, or anywhere else.)
posted by cytherea at 8:38 AM PST - 34 comments

The Pearl A journal of voluptuous reading for discerning readers, hosted in a larger collection of bawdy books, dirty ditties and assorted salacious songcraft. Thrill to cousin-fucking in Sport Among the She-Noodles. Puzzle over endless lashings by old women in Ms. Coote's Confession. Giggle over the protagonist of Lady Pokingham. Note for edification the blasé treatment of homosexuality, both male and female. Memorize limericks that provide both racial and sexual offense for your next social gathering. And learn obscenities you can sneak past all but the most agile editor! Main site also contains hours of mp3s and reams of naughty toasts, drinking songs and folk stories. Other highlights include the ability to compare American ribaldry with earlier British off-colour humour. Some engravings arguably NSFW.
posted by klangklangston at 8:22 AM PST - 21 comments

The Valley of the Kings not done yet? British archaeologists have discovered a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings - the first such find since Howard Carter found Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Ironically, the new tomb was a mere 5 meters from Tutankhamun's. The tomb includes unopened sarcophagi and 5 undisturbed mummies. Patricia Podzorski, curator of Egyptian Art at the University of Memphis, said "People have been saying the valley was done for 100 years. They said it before Howard Carter found King Tutankhamun's tomb and they said it after. But, obviously, they are still wrong."
posted by robhuddles at 8:16 AM PST - 19 comments

Video games pioneer Atari fears plug set to be pulled. Hope is fading at Atari, a company that has existed in many forms over the years, but was founded in the United States in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Now might be a good time to take a walk through the Atari Museum, ponder the Zen-like instruction: AVOID MISSING BALL FOR HIGH SCORE, see the world's first video game 'Easter Egg' and pay your respects at the E.T. Landfill. But whatever you do, don't lose hope.
posted by Otis at 8:03 AM PST - 25 comments

"It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized," writes former CIA official Paul Pillar, coordinator of U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until 2005, in an article soon to appear in Foreign Affairs, hardly a radical rag. More confirmation that Seymour Hersh was right about the administration "cherry-picking" intelligence to justify a foregone conclusion to go to war in Iraq.
posted by digaman at 7:49 AM PST - 49 comments

A meditating teenage boy in south-central Nepal First mentioned by the BBC at the beginning of December; Ram Bahadur Bamjan is drawing the attention of scientists after attracting huge crowds in the past eight months and earning himself the name Buddha-reincarnate. No food, no water just snakebite. Is this: - holy or hoax?
posted by adamvasco at 7:07 AM PST - 82 comments

We could bomb Iran. But we wouldn't really know what to hit because we don't know enough about Iran's nuclear program. If the Russians don't work something out, maybe helping Iran is the best way to figure out what they have and to stop them from getting the bomb.
posted by js003 at 6:23 AM PST - 55 comments

World Press Photo Awards 2005. See the Gallery of winning shots here.
posted by biffa at 6:15 AM PST - 17 comments

McDonald's: The Videogame. A scathing critique of lousy corporate and environmental practices, or an entertainingly complex little game about the fast food industry? A little from column A, a little from column B. Torch diseased cows with the flamethrower, corrupt politicians and environmentalists, plant genetically modified soy in what used to be the rain forests of South America, force your employees to smile all the livelong day, and try not to bankrupt the company. Be sure to read the tutorial first. (Flash.)
posted by Gator at 5:45 AM PST - 11 comments

Vault Radio. Remember Wolfgang's Vault? They've now started releasing the massive amounts of music that they discovered via FM-quality 128k stream. The current rotation isn't huge (not much worse than commercial radio), but there's a lot of great stuff on there that you've never heard before, presumably.
posted by bigmike at 5:34 AM PST - 9 comments

Real Estate Value + Google Maps Fly around a neighborhood with Google maps and see not only the houses but what they are worth. Click on an individual house for recent selling information, house details, tax assessments etc., all for free and no strings attached.
posted by caddis at 4:54 AM PST - 53 comments

Abramoff says Bush is lying. "Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with them or know them very well." - George W. Bush, Jan. 26, 2006.

"The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows." - Jack Abramoff

Mr. Abramoff, who raised over $100,000 for the Bush campaign, also indicated that he was sent a personal invitation to stay at the President's Texas ranch.
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:51 AM PST - 37 comments

Murder for hire, hypnotism, celebrity marriage, Federal agents, million-dollar yachts, hang-gliding "accidents", collegiate endowments, and diploma mills. Even the author of the piece has an interesting back-story.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:23 AM PST - 7 comments

Riba - a gorgeous animation with great 3-D effects - very charming! (6 min. QT clip) (via robot wisdom)
posted by madamjujujive at 12:10 AM PST - 18 comments