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The Pond is the history of a secret, independent US intelligence-gathering group which preceded (and outlasted) the OSS. Shuffled from Cabinet to Cabinet to the CIA, it eventually ran aground against the infighting of McCarthy's Red Scare hearings and was no more by 1955.
posted by trondant at 9:14 PM PST - 8 comments

Pure Pwnage Gamer parody from the Great White N0rth.... ROFL!!!!111oneeeee!!
posted by The Thnikkaman at 8:04 PM PST - 16 comments

Ayn Rand was born 100 years ago today. The essentials of her philosophy "Objectivism," as summarized by Dr. Leonard Peikoff, and a critical biography of her life and activities.
posted by semmi at 6:44 PM PST - 168 comments

Bullet Bras: "Sagging breasts, caused by the effects of age and breaks in the mammary fold due to ill-fitted, underwire brassieres have nearly flattened women's shapes over time. Enhance your profile and enjoy comfort with one of our specially designed bras." With a helpful guide to distinguish bullet bras from cone bras. [Taken from, of all places, Fatwallet.]
posted by LarryC at 6:40 PM PST - 34 comments

The clueless reviews the Mac Mini His chief gripes are "The Mini boots up into a stripped-down operating system which Apple calls OS X, similar to the stripped-down WindowsCE OS found on many handhelds." and "No serial ports, no way to connect a printer, no PS/2 ports, no floppy drive, no 5.25" bays." Let the hate mail campaign begin!
posted by StormBear at 6:30 PM PST - 47 comments

The Abounding Gutter. Cintra Wilson's new seven part serial begins today in USAToday. Enjoy/Discuss
posted by garethspor at 6:03 PM PST - 11 comments

Pre-emptive protest: Iranians for peace "No war can contribute to the establishment of liberty and democracy in our country. 'Iranians for Peace' welcomes the opinions of Iranian people around the globe who are in opposition to war."
posted by hoder at 5:27 PM PST - 17 comments

Nostradamus vs. Nas: We here at Terminus En decided to see who is the wiser prophet Since the world is completely obsessed with end times and the apocalypse nee armageddon, it is really nice to see that someone is looking for the modern-day Nostradamus. And who would have known that the new prophet is Nas.
posted by chrisabraham at 3:18 PM PST - 19 comments

How to Cut illustrates proper knife techniques for a variety of vegetables. [Via Lifehacker]
posted by turbodog at 2:51 PM PST - 66 comments

Welcome to the world of the Fuccon Family, aka OH! Mikey, a bizarre and amazing "mannequin drama" that has taken Japan by storm.
posted by OpinioNate at 2:49 PM PST - 10 comments

Pete Miser's Scent of a Robot. Music clip. Quicktime. Via e-ringo
posted by madamjujujive at 2:37 PM PST - 11 comments

Alcohol and the State of the Union. The most painless - or painful - way to get through the State of the Union address. I know, it was briefly discussed two years ago, but I thought we could all use a refresher. Hey, I clicked on that link and ended up playing the game. It was much more fun than undiluted politics. This one is harder, you have to wear costumes; and last years is a little better written, but just not as concise and to the point. Cheers!
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:55 PM PST - 27 comments

An umbrella that melts in the rain WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with health insurance, researchers said on Wednesday. "Our study is frightening. Unless you're Bill Gates you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy."
posted by Shanachie at 1:49 PM PST - 70 comments

We've discussed it before. But now it's actually made it to the screen. And it looks to be one of the worst films ever made.
posted by fungible at 1:45 PM PST - 52 comments

He was the Taster's Choice model for 16 years and he never even knew it. A jury awards $15.6 million to a man whose face was used on the Taster's Choice coffee jar without his permission.
posted by braun_richard at 1:21 PM PST - 36 comments

Ahhhh Germany 1933 German unemployment surged to 5.04 million, the highest since the 1993 and the dark days surrounding the rise of Adolf Hitler, according to data released on Wednesday by the Federal Labour Office. Ominous sign of things to come?
posted by halekon at 12:48 PM PST - 41 comments

Iraqi-Americans Vote in Washington • Jeff Simmermon photographs & transcribes his experience with Iraqi-Americans at the polls in Washington DC on Sunday. "You may think that you have felt dumb before, but let me tell you something: until you have stood in front of a man who knows real pain and told him that you are against your country's alleviation of his country's state-sponsored murderous suffering, you have not felt truly, deeply, like a total fucking moron.... I took refuge in a knee-jerk liberal identity for a long time, but now it's threadbare and not as comfortable as it once was." Lt. Smash responds.
posted by dhoyt at 12:48 PM PST - 65 comments

Redefining House Music “The Wege House explores in first steps the integration of site, sight and sound... As a main theme in their newly designed and built house, they have commissioned the creation of architecture as musical instruments. Architect David Hanawalt and Sonic Installation artist Bill Close collaborate to bring forth a home that is truly in resonance.” Via Gizmodo
posted by Man O' Straw at 12:08 PM PST - 3 comments

Esuvee. From USA Today: A coalition of state attorneys general is launching an ad campaign Monday aimed at SUV safety and funded with money received from Ford Motor to settle a lawsuit that said its ads were deceptive. The campaign shows people riding on a large, hairy fictitious animal, dubbed the Esuvee, to illustrate the point that drivers need to treat SUVs differently than cars. SUVs sit higher than cars, making them more prone to roll over in an accident.
flash enabled site
posted by Hands of Manos at 11:49 AM PST - 42 comments

The Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Documentary is going to be an interesting project. Filmmaker Eric Steel applied for a permit to film the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for a year, saying he was trying to "capture the grandeur" of the bridge. But what he actually ended up doing was capture 19 suicides and many attempts. He is now working on a feature-length documentary about these suicides, and has 100 hours of interviews with family members, psychiatrists, and some of the people who attempted suicide but didn't follow through. Now that he's revealed what his documentary is and what it will be about, a lot of people are pretty ticked off.
posted by jscott at 11:39 AM PST - 27 comments

Meet Chet Zar, February's featured artist on OPi8.com. In addition to his own art, animation, and work with Cannibal Flower, Chet designed Hellboy's arm; the villain Serleena from MIB2; the gut-shot animation from Three Kings (sepsis!); and a bunch of videos, live show projections, and web stuff for Tool. Gooey. I mean, groovy.
posted by goatdog at 11:33 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Nearly half of the world's population cannot read. Many people live in remote areas without electricity. But that's no excuse for being non-Christian, right? What would Jesus' marketing department do?

Introducing the GodPod. (Who knows... if it's successful, maybe Apple will make that Billy Graham iPod after all!)
posted by miss lynnster at 10:52 AM PST - 35 comments

Coptic Christans comprise 15-18% of Egypt's population, and are the MidEast's largest Christian minority. Violence between Muslims and Coptics in Egypt has flared up before, but relations inside American borders have been civil, most say. This month, an emigrated Coptic family of four were murdered in New Jersey just months after the father received death threats for his remarks about Islam in a chatroom on which Christians are allegedly "monitored". Did Armanious Hossan's comments about Islam put his life in jeopardy, ala Salman Rushdie, or Theo Van Gogh, or Geert Wilders (login req), or Rachid Ben Ali?
posted by jenleigh at 9:19 AM PST - 10 comments

When boys play with dolls, the results can be a bit startling. Some terrorists/insurgents are GI Joe fans. and here is an extensive collection of Little Nazi Dolls. my little nazi dolls via Mofi
posted by theora55 at 8:56 AM PST - 26 comments

Does "Tried As An Adult" Mean Anything Anymore? I don't like the kid. I despise the defense. But what does it mean to try a 12 year old as an adult? Are we only willing to grant the responsibilities of adulthood, and not the rights? Or are some things too horrifying to yield to the innocence of youth?
posted by effugas at 8:12 AM PST - 52 comments

What if Bush has been right about Iraq all along? [...]By now, you might have even voted against George Bush -- a second time -- to register your disapproval. But after watching Sunday's election in Iraq and seeing the first clear sign that freedom really may mean something to the Iraqi people, you have to be asking yourself: What if it turns out Bush was right, and we were wrong? It's hard to swallow, isn't it?[...]
posted by Postroad at 7:39 AM PST - 240 comments

Sure, monkeys are willing to pay for pr0n, but will the robots?
posted by mcgraw at 6:20 AM PST - 20 comments

We Were All On That Train If any adventurous film festival directors happen to be reading, a Spanish production company called Docus Madrid has just released a fine documentary, comprising 24 short films, about the terrorist train attacks in March. The pressbook can be downloaded from the home page in MS Word, in English: otherwise, it's all in Spanish. Ticket money goes to relatives of the victims.
posted by Holly at 4:44 AM PST - 14 comments

Young UK slappers. Then it gets out of hand. So Clockwork orange got it wrong, violent images wouldn't ruin it for you , you can relive the moment again and again...
posted by dprs75 at 2:05 AM PST - 54 comments