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Inspired by Harry Beck's London Underground maps, Daniel Huffman designed a series of stylized river maps for Michigan, North and Central California, Southwest New England, The Colorado River, Columbia River, and The Mississippi River. He also writes about the process he used in creating them.
posted by sambosambo at 9:58 PM PST - 31 comments

The Légion Étrangère is a French special forces unit comprised mostly of foreign nationals who wish to fight for France, and the promise of a French citizenship. They are today considered an elite unit, on par with or superior to the British SAS or Russian Spetsnaz, and have in their long history served in campaigns as far-flung as Mexico and Vietnam, but are most famous for their image as colonial shock-troops in North Africa and the Middle East. Legionnaire fought Legionnaire in the Second World War during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign, as the Vichy's 6e Régiment Étrangère d'Infanterie lined up against the Allied 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère in a critical, yet unsung battle for North Africa. Their first campaign was in Algeria - will their latest be in Libya?
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:33 PM PST - 47 comments

In the 80s, US intelligence services were claiming to have uncovered a host of un-American plots concocted by Gaddafi such as sending hit squads to kill Reagan and other members of the administration, launching terrorist targets in Europe and elsewhere , a plan to kidnap or execute the American ambassador to Italy, and a suicide mission against the USS Nimitz.

Then in 1986, Bernard Kalb stepped down as spokesman for the State Department after hearing of government plans to plant false stories about Gaddafi.
posted by destro at 9:02 PM PST - 57 comments

America's greatest president... Buddy Knox. (SLYT)
posted by whitneyarner at 7:44 PM PST - 27 comments

ICorrect: The universal website for corrections to lies, misinformation and misrepresentations. [more inside]
posted by bwg at 6:49 PM PST - 48 comments

Pictory is a showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures. Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. The recent theme was Infrastructure, where Japan’s near-simultaneous earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis has provided a graphic reminder about the centrality of infrastructure in our lives. Another theme was Platonic Love Stories, about the folks who laugh at the same dumb jokes you do, have been there for you through thick and thin, and are still friends with you despite it all. Pictory of the Day photo blog. The Pictory Feature Archive. Here are the presently open themes. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 4:34 PM PST - 6 comments

Francesco Marciuliano (writer of the comic strip Sally Forth) presents The Catalog of Unfit Toys, mixed in among many other random amusements and strange humor at the blog for his webcomic Medium Large (oh yeah, and there's a cat: cat poetry, that is - parts 1, 2, 3). [more inside]
posted by flex at 4:11 PM PST - 9 comments

Slow Action is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film that brings together a series of four 16mm works which exist somewhere between documentary, ethnographic study and fiction. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 2:10 PM PST - 4 comments

A few tiny towns in Maine have enacted new ordinances described as "food sovereignty laws". [more inside]
posted by Leta at 11:56 AM PST - 116 comments

Knut, who charmed visitors to the Berlin Zoo as an orphaned cub in 2007, died in his enclosure today in front of a crowd of 600-700 people. Knut was only four years old, as opposed to the typical polar bear lifespan of 15-18 years. Tragedy seems to have followed Knut for his entire brief life: his twin died at only four days old, and the zookeeper who hand-raised him died in 2008. As Knut grew, he stopped being the cute cuddly cub everybody loved; like many zoo animals, his behavior became problematic, and people avoided visiting him. A post-mortem is scheduled for Monday.
posted by briank at 11:42 AM PST - 79 comments

What if Mario was really just drug-addled and lovesick? [SLYT] Filmmaker Joe Nicolosi's short film remakes Super Mario as indie flick, produced for South by Southwest. WARNING: May contain content hipsters find appealing.
posted by Fizz at 11:31 AM PST - 24 comments

Posh Nosh "I once ate a Flayed Swordfish And Guava Millefeuille that reminded me, in one sweet mouthful, of a Sea Interlude by Britten, a painting by Turner and one of Michael Holding's rampant, perfect-length balls. Sniff your computer screen. What does it remind you of? Roasted fruits? A Hockney? Cherry blossom? No. It reminds you of nothing. Computer screens look, smell, feel (even taste) like nothing. They're devoid of sensuality. People who stare at screens all day should be shot. But there are so many millions of them. There simply isn't time." Architect's Fish and Chips :: Birthday Parties:: Paella :: Beautiful Food :: Bread and Butter Pudding :: Leftovers :: Sauces :: Comfort Food :: (BBC 2, Arabella Weir, Richard E. Grant, each episode 9 mins., previously)
posted by puny human at 9:57 AM PST - 43 comments

Six months ago, MetaFilter discussed Russian LGBT activist Nikolai Alexeyev's disappearance. This past week, an interview with him was aired on Gay USA. (Interview starts around 30m10s, and runs for 17m30s ) Episode also available as audio only, and available through iTunes as a free podcast. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:06 AM PST - 4 comments

A video has leaked online showing Microsoft's vision for their next generation gaming platform. The video comes from the WGX (Windows Gaming eXperience) team, and as ZDNet reports, the video shows "[the] team’s ambitions for next-generation gaming between Windows, Xbox Live, and mobile platform[s]." [more inside]
posted by codacorolla at 8:25 AM PST - 85 comments

Chickam 2011 has begun. Live cam of a chicken-egg incubator run by a Something Awful regular. So far five chicks have hatched, please welcome Rambo, Spaghetti, Weedcat, Pompadour and Duck. [more inside]
posted by Iteki at 8:24 AM PST - 28 comments