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Taxi_onomy – classification and urban mapping from the purview of the taxi.
posted by dhruva at 9:51 PM PST - 5 comments

Leisure Town has long been considered one of the most brilliant web 'comics' to ever exist. Authored by one of the geniuses at Jerkcity, the site is finally back after an extended hiatus. Enjoy some of the finest offensive humor ever written. [all links offensive, probably NSFW]
posted by Ryvar at 9:04 PM PST - 22 comments

The Edelweiss Pirates - Not all German kids joined the Hitler Youth in the 1930's and 40's. A loosely-knit group of thousands of working-class teenagers called the Edelweiss Pirates existed in Cologne and nearby towns. Growing out of a youth hiking group (rather than swing dancing), they created their own anti-Nazi subculture through clothing and protest music. Many were arrested for tagging the city with anti-Nazi graffiti and working with the Underground--and they eventually killed the head of the Cologne Gestapo in 1944. Orders to root them out came from Himmler himself, and some were hung in the streets or killed in the camps. Their story is now being told in a film playing at film festivals around the world, including its European premiere in Berlin a few weeks ago. But the surviving members' criminal records officially remain on the books in Germany.
posted by Asparagirl at 8:58 PM PST - 42 comments

If natural born leaders are also natural born liars, can we really hold it against them when they do what comes naturally? Maybe instead of dwelling on it, we just need a little more sanity in our lives. Or are we better off deluding ourselves?
posted by all-seeing eye dog at 6:58 PM PST - 20 comments

Gallery of Albinos.
posted by ori at 6:51 PM PST - 23 comments

Interactive Human Body Rotate, drag, and drop human organs into place. Educational and fun.
posted by ColdChef at 6:39 PM PST - 16 comments

Timelines and a family tree or two. Got a wide screen? Bring it.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:38 PM PST - 5 comments

You Suck! Forbes recently published an article detailing [their favorite] top 10 corporate hate websites, with some not so surprising names on the list. Or you can roll your own. Grassroots in action, but does that action actually change anything? (found via /.)
posted by raygun21 at 4:09 PM PST - 13 comments

Young + Brilliant, Blessed + Cursed
posted by Gyan at 3:55 PM PST - 36 comments

Easy colorization of photos and videos, with examples. Matlab code for algorithm available. [via]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:50 PM PST - 29 comments

Man takes apart Google's cookie - Google bites man.
posted by iffley at 2:43 PM PST - 84 comments

Ah, the toon filled memories.. Remember all those 80's cartoons that used to keep us amused when our parents were too busy to do the job and game consoles were unheard of? Great little collection of cartoon nostlagia that includes most of the theme tunes and a great Thundercats Bloopers mp3 of Snarf swearing! (some NSFW)
posted by Nugget at 2:11 PM PST - 21 comments

Aerial Propaganda Leaflet Database. Propaganda from WWI to Operation Iraqi Freedom, including many safe conduct passes. Also, leaflets from the Korean War & Vietnam, Sefton Delmer's "Black Propaganda Radio, and even some NSFW (work, not war) propaganda. Come On Boys, Himmler For President!
posted by armage at 2:01 PM PST - 6 comments

Let's say you like cats. When you visit a friend's house and he happens to have a cat, you make a big deal about stroking it, picking it up, talking to it. And you do the same thing with every cat you encounter. It demonstrates to the people around you that you're a sensitive, sympathetic, tactile person. All these things are true of you, including your innate adoration of cats. But that doesn't mean to say you haven't cultivated your cat-fancying into a self-conscious, gushing performance that somehow represents you. This doesn't make you a phony; it makes you something else: mediated. "Me" culture : Reality is so passé
Salon interviews Thomas De Zengotita, author of The Numbing Of The The American Mind and Closure for You, Jedermensch ein Übermensch.
posted by y2karl at 1:13 PM PST - 50 comments

It's all about the journey, not just the ending.
posted by Jim Jones at 1:03 PM PST - 17 comments

It's a dance-off A new take on cross-promotion of movies.
posted by dougkess at 12:55 PM PST - 11 comments

The Japanese Gallery of Psychiatric Art. Images from Japanese psychiatric medication advertisements: 1956-2003 (via Absent without leave)
posted by matteo at 12:46 PM PST - 14 comments

Alnwick Castle, used in various films including Harry Potter and Robin Hood, has started planting the Poison Garden as part of its most recent additions (pdf). The Poison Garden includes belladonna and other examples of the worlds most deadly plants. Some specimens are kept behind bars for security purposes. Both the castle and the extensive garden seem like wonderful places to visit.
posted by onhazier at 12:38 PM PST - 2 comments

Naked portafilter photos!!1! (SFW) Naked is hot (about 200 degrees F)
posted by turbodog at 12:17 PM PST - 33 comments

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army. "I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.
posted by Postroad at 10:40 AM PST - 68 comments

Creationism in our schools may be more a product of liberal relativism than of Christian Fundamentalism. "But even on a seemingly clear-cut issue such as creationism, the division is not so sharp. Liberals have often been at the forefront of questioning the authority of science. It is liberals who have argued that science education should respect cultural differences and that the curriculum should be immediately relevant to everyday life of students. Creationists have leapt at the opportunity presented by educational theories to put the knowledge of pupils on the same level as that as scientists, by putting forward the demand to 'teach the controversy'." Previous (and very different) MetaFilter discussion of ID here. Current FPP about the dangers of PC liberalism here.
posted by OmieWise at 10:24 AM PST - 112 comments

Who really killed Rafik Hariri? Does it really matter? Is the current finger-waving at Syria really about an assassination, or the culmination of long-held US plans?
posted by clevershark at 9:52 AM PST - 22 comments

Oh Say Can You Seethe • The Board of Education in Brick, NJ "may toughen its policy on use of wireless telephones in schools, after a videotape showing a Brick Township High School teacher screaming at his students to show respect for the national anthem — and then pulling the chair from underneath one student who refused to stand — was posted on several independent Web sites (.wmv)." Some have come to the teacher's defense, and three students connected to the incident have been arrested for separate charges of prior vandalism--which they also taped.
posted by dhoyt at 9:35 AM PST - 128 comments

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. "As far as I could determine, this 1969 session features tracks from a CBS Studios session in Nashville, TN that did not see an official release." Nineteen largely unknown MP3s of the two greats singing together.
posted by BackwardsCity at 9:11 AM PST - 44 comments

fore-edge painting. Books that, when fanned, reveal paintings on their edges. Hot, fore-edge action! (QuickTime.)
posted by steef at 8:13 AM PST - 34 comments

"It's time for the IRA to go out of business." So says a US envoy after the IRA offers to kill suspected murderers of a Belfast man (hoping to mollify claims that they held up investigation of the murder). Britain and the US have called for an end to the IRA, as "criminality will not be tolerated" in a democratic party. Meanwhile, one suspect turned himself in. Things aren't looking bright for St. Patrick's Day.
posted by NickDouglas at 6:19 AM PST - 35 comments

How will civilization end? With a bang, a crunch(last link is PDF), a splash? Are we no longer more likely to kill ourselves than being killed by "Mother Nature"? (more inside)
posted by Chunder at 6:03 AM PST - 30 comments

Indiana University's main library is not sinking. Neither is the University of Waterloo campus library, but what about the University of Calgary's Mackimmie Library? If the University of Nottingham's Jubilee library is really sinking, readers better grab their snorkels. But guess what — The University of Nebraska at Omaha library is actually sinking, and the University of Las Vegas Lied Library came this close. This library sunk into an ancient burial site, and now it's haunted! Finally, is it art? Or does Melbourne, Australia have the greatest sinking library ever? See Snopes on one of the most persistent of urban legends — the amazing sinking library.
posted by taz at 5:32 AM PST - 36 comments

Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal is a photographic trip through the Bosnian War that is heart-breaking, odd, horrifying, brutal and even eerily beautiful. [via Neeka's Backlog]
posted by Ljubljana at 5:20 AM PST - 8 comments

$127 Billion Army Modernization Project Sidesteps Oversight. A nice story about how a system designed to streamline simple and small commercial purchases is being used to avoid congressional oversight while spending $127 Billion USD in taxpayer funds.
posted by fixedgear at 1:41 AM PST - 13 comments

Is political correctness the enemy from within? (via A&L Daily) Lillian Rubin writes, "...the consolidation of power by the political right in recent years has convinced me that by insisting on political correctness, we not only played a part in impoverishing the national discourse but, in doing so, we also marginalized ourselves politically and lost what should have been our natural constituency."
posted by mono blanco at 12:48 AM PST - 194 comments