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Demography is destiny Alan Greespan in Senate testimony discusses the implications of an aging population. While the US is getting older, other countries are relatively young. Can immigration and technology provide, as Greenspan says, a "potent antidote for slowing growth in the working-age population," or are such projections academic?
posted by kliuless at 10:08 PM PST - 5 comments

When Flash meets news cheese. The drums come in like Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks." The cop show synth-strings are ratcheted up to the most intense possible level. It's CNN having a war orgasm, in this ad for the Iraq Tracker, which apparently sits on your desktop and provides news as exciting as a coke overdose.
posted by inksyndicate at 8:33 PM PST - 31 comments

Even the ugliest cuts make beautiful flakes.
posted by crunchland at 8:20 PM PST - 35 comments

20 Years of Frontline... Online The PBS documentary show Frontline has been discussed many times here on MetaFilter. This year, in September, it turns twenty years old, and to commemorate this event a number of popular and recent shows have been put online: The Merchants of Cool, A Class Divided, American Porn, Abortion Clinic, The Choice 2000, and more. Rewatch some of the episodes, then reread the comments. How's that for meta?
posted by tittergrrl at 8:10 PM PST - 11 comments

It's Carnival Time! New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations are steeped in tradition. From beads and king cakes to invitation-only balls, carnival has been a part of the city's history since the French held private masked balls and parties in 1718. Although Spanish rule interrupted the party for 90 years, many of the krewes have been around since the 1800s. Today, parade floats are considered an art form and some krewes spend up to $700,000 on a single float. With such excess abounding, consider yourself warned.
posted by ajr at 7:42 PM PST - 15 comments

A new study published by the Institute for Policy Studies examines the methods that the U.S. uses to bully, cajole and bribe other nations to support its policies in the U.N. Security Council. Full report [pdf]
posted by cbrody at 7:27 PM PST - 15 comments

Say hello to audioBLOGGER - a service ("simpler than publishing a text post") that lets bloggers post 2 minutes of audio to their blogs from any phone.
posted by boost ventilator at 7:12 PM PST - 21 comments

"May I have the envelope please? Oh, the paperboy threw it up on the roof?" The National Cartoonists Society has annouced the finalists for their annual Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year: "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, whose weekly "Life in Hell" is alive and well, Pat Brady of "Rose is Rose", Greg Evans of "Luann", and Dan Piraro of "Bizarro" Gamut running at its semi-best.
posted by wendell at 5:19 PM PST - 16 comments

On the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix spare a thought for Rosalind Franklin the chemist who produced the data that supported the structure.
Franklin, who died before the Nobel prize was awarded, never received credit for her contribution and was on the receiving end of Watson's sexism . But with a new book let's hope in this 50th anniversary year that Rosalind Franklin gets her contribution to this great discovery recognised.
posted by stunned at 5:17 PM PST - 4 comments

Basketball player refuses to honor flag. Going along with the anti-protesting sentiment found here, A Vietnam veteran ran on to the court waving an American flag in response to Toni Smith, a Div. III basketball player who refuses to face the flag. Conservatives have already chimed in here . Smith briefly explains her position in this article. Should players be allowed to protest during collegiate basketball games? What if she wasn't protesting the war?
posted by cohappy at 4:52 PM PST - 63 comments

Freedom and the Future. Text of President Bush's speech last night to the American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner.
posted by Ty Webb at 3:26 PM PST - 30 comments

Women in the Middle Ages [er, 1969] and now. Here are funny articles on money, work, sex and some other things, from the wonderful Pussycat Magazine. Women may have "come a long way, baby" - but have men? Do some of them still secretly approve of - or yearn for - the ideal woman of days gone by? Or, given the present climate of surrendered wives and secondary virginities, are there still some women who agree? [Even though I harbour a secret suspicion Pussycat Magazine is at least partially written by men...]
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 2:53 PM PST - 12 comments

Who would you rather vote for - Frankenstein, Hitler, or Tony Curtis? That's the decision facing some voters in India ... Have you ever run across other 'repurposed' names?
posted by Jos Bleau at 2:52 PM PST - 6 comments

Radio-controlled blimp: harmless toy, or minion of evil? Read the story, then decide. Too bad Zany Brainyis going bankrupt.
posted by kewms at 2:28 PM PST - 32 comments

The Name Game Valley Creek Farms "solicits help from clever people each year to help name their young horses." If you consider yourself a gifted wordsmith with a knack for penning equine monikers that will get the bugs a buzzin' and make the farrier smile, this is your chance to take the reins. But it's not easy. The rules are extensive and your choice may already be taken. But with luck, you may one day hear your literary masterpiece of 18 letters or less roll off the caller's tongue and become part of thoroughbred history.
posted by snez at 10:32 AM PST - 13 comments

Listening in. Marches are debated, but few of us get to watch them happen and hear the thoughts of the marchers. This is one of the items we're looking for: "most interesting of the web."
posted by ?! at 10:25 AM PST - 8 comments

Protest Is Not Tolerated

I wasn't sure how much good I could do or how much power one person has but I wanted to do it. When I took my place on the sidewalk across the street from my church, I was struck with this Norman Rockwell picture of America. Families with their balloons, flags and signs made it feel like the Fourth of July. I was thrilled by all the patriotism and was proud to be part of this community that cares enough to turn out to greet the most powerful politician in our land. But when I unrolled my sign, all that changed, and I may never be able to look at my community the same way again.

Ain't that America? Proud to be Born in the USA? Constitutional rights? Not with the "Defenders Of All Things Duhbya!"
posted by nofundy at 9:21 AM PST - 141 comments

Jacqui's fight to become whole again after a devastating accident. She has a whole lot of love, courage, and hope.
posted by john at 9:04 AM PST - 6 comments

The crew of the ISS captured a fantastic picture of London at night [1M jpg]
posted by stbalbach at 8:52 AM PST - 24 comments

A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge I found this while I was googling for Howard the Duck. Enjoy!
posted by konolia at 8:03 AM PST - 13 comments

You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub
Look mami I got the X if you into taking drugs
I'm into having sex, I ain't into making love
So come give me a hug if you into to getting rubbed

Lyrics from crack dealer/rapper 50 Cent's "song" "In Da Club", this week's most popular single according to Billboard.
posted by johnnydark at 7:45 AM PST - 74 comments

RIFT: in "The madness of empire", American Conservative Magazine breaks with Neoconservatism. Meanwhile Norman Mailer, in Gaining an empire, losing democracy? warns "America is going to become a mega-banana republic where the army will have more and more importance...democracy, noble and delicate as it is, may give way".

What can we say about a nation so powerfull that it can simply bury thousands of troublesome humans with bulldozers?
posted by troutfishing at 5:45 AM PST - 102 comments

Thought you were rid of the telemarketers? Perhaps not. It looks like they're fighting back to items like the TeleZapper that fake telemarketers into thinking your phone is disconnected by playing the three tones you get if your phone doesn't work. Castel, Inc claims their DirectQuest software defeats devices like Telezapper by reading the connect messages delivered by your public switched telephone network. Fave quote - “It’s a privacy arms race.." Will this ever end?
posted by djspicerack at 5:31 AM PST - 17 comments

According to toxicologists, pollution is good for you in small doses. Pardon my pedantism, but isn't the term "pollution" synonymous with "too much"?
posted by titboy at 5:21 AM PST - 9 comments

"The National Palace Museum collects, preserves, and promotes the essence of Chinese art and crafts. Accumulated over a thousand years by Chinese emperors and royal families, its collections include ceramics, porcelain, calligraphy, painting, and ritual bronzes". [more]
posted by hama7 at 5:18 AM PST - 7 comments

Hard of Hearing Radio (warning: link goes fullscreen AND has popup windows. but it's worth it, really!) is a Canadian radio program targeted at listeners with mild hearing loss, that aims to "challenge the assumption that broadcast media should be tailored only to those with a flawless ability to perceive it's content." The site contains lots of high quality mp3s of broadcasts as well as some articles about the subject and links to related topics. Recommended listening for fans of bands like Sigur Ros, Godspeed You Black Emperor, labels like Constellation, and readers of FakeJazz. Quite possibly might also be enjoyed by those who smoke a lot of . . . Yeah. So for those deaf folks out there, what do you listen for in music? What are your favorite genres and groups?
posted by atom128 at 4:08 AM PST - 10 comments

Yay, after the flash fest that was Royksopp's 'Remind Me', here's anoter retro-pixel music video (and a damn catchy choon), from Junior Senior and it can be distributed freely too. "A Tummy Touch-esque slab of nu-disco breaks. The single The Avalanches forgot to make, slick discoid beats, wonderful smile-inducing vocal & beats to make you throw down the funk." according to breaksworld.com
posted by MintSauce at 3:25 AM PST - 7 comments

Mr. Rogers Dead. Fred Rogers of "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" died of stomach cancer at age 74. To be honest, his was never my personal favorite PBS kid's show growing up (I preferred off-brand shows like "Zoom" and "3-2-1 Contact"). But my appreciation for him when I was an adult was pretty high. Anyway, it's a sad day in the neighborhood.
posted by jscalzi at 2:17 AM PST - 130 comments

A complex of angular buildings and a 1,776-foot spire designed by architect Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the plan for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, The Associated Press has learned. (via Salon)
posted by black8 at 1:51 AM PST - 47 comments

The Wooly Bullies Of MetaFilter - Uncovered! Sweating heavily as I perused this unholy website's rhetorical machinations late into the night, I was suddenly shaken by a strange feeling of dread, for it was the spectre of MetaFilter itself I was seeing before my bulging eyes, in all its hideous familiarity, emerging from the fetid depths of my guilt-wracked soul...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:00 AM PST - 16 comments