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Burton had his time. Now "R.F. Burton", a long time pseudonymous expat in Saudi Arabia, is writing occasional pieces on the place he calls the Magic Kingdom. They are by turns appalling, alarming, fascinating, outrageous, odd, dispiriting, interesting, depressing, enlightening, and provoking. Eleven so far. The index (along with the latest entry, if you have the stomach for it) is here. Request to those who know Saudi first hand- is the brush too broad or are the pieces nicely observed? Or something in between?
posted by IndigoJones at 6:03 PM PST - 27 comments

Today the Saudi Oil Minister announced that they are setting aside OPEC production quotas. Is the end for OPEC? More importantly, when the Texas Railroad Commission did the same thing in 1971, it signaled the peaking of US oil production. Oil prices keep rising, and the Main Stream Media blames it on tight refinery capacity. But simple economics tells us that this should actually cause crude prices to drop. So what is happening? Is this the peak of global oil production? President Bush is concerned, and he is hosting Crown Prince Abdullah at the Crawford Ranch this week. Leading Oil & Gas investment banker Matt Simmons thinks that the peak is upon us, and even the Saudi Oil Minister admits that they probably won’t find any more light, sweet crude…
posted by DAJ at 5:34 PM PST - 81 comments

Tactical Voter has resurfaced just in time for next month's British general election. Thanks of the large number of elected representatives in the UK (659), vote swapping promises to have a more widespread effect on the contest than similar exchange networks did in the the last two US Presidential Elections. Indeed, most political analysts believe that, during the last General Election in 2001, vote swapping accounted for the demise of at least two Conservative Members of Parliament. Other vote swapping sites want to sack Blair, while musicians Billy Bragg and Brian Eno (the latter previously posted) are waging tactical voting campaigns of their own. What is this type of activity going to do to the future of elections? Is this type of activity restricted to the UK and USA? And are there any historical ancendents to online vote swapping?
posted by MrMerlot at 5:34 PM PST - 27 comments

Lollapalooza returns to Chicago this summer with a line up that I'm actually a little excited about. Presented by Parkways Foundation it looks like the damage that might be done to Grant Park by the two day festival might just be covered by the proceeds.
posted by FlamingBore at 4:31 PM PST - 87 comments

Some eighteen months ago, I posted a link detailing the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen scooped up at an American airport and sent to Syria by the American governement. A month later, Arar released a frightening statement describing the conditions of his torture at the hands of the Syrian government. And now comes word that not only was the response of the Canadian government wholly lacklustre, but "Canadian officials failed to act to prevent Arar's deportation – and once he was in Syria, Canadian authorities appeared more interested in Arar's interrogation than his treatment."
posted by The God Complex at 1:52 PM PST - 24 comments

More Photoshop mischief? After raising a spot of trouble in the British election campaign, use of that most ubiquitous piece of software may now have landed some egg on Marvel Comics' face. Or was the offending picture traced? The answer to that question could have some relevance in the copyright infringement lawsuit which Spain's less than amused Royal Household is more than likely to start against Marvel, according to the Spanish press. (First FPP...please have some mercy)
posted by Skeptic at 1:36 PM PST - 35 comments

On the revival of a forgotten piece of infrastructure: Britain's massive canal system was constructed in the late 18th century to move goods throughout the country and provided an extensive logistical network for the industrial revolution. Since the rise of rail and truck transport, the canals were left to decay for generations. Today many are being restored, providing revenue for local communities and acting as a catalyst [PDF] for urban renewal.

One group of fun-lovin' Brits has been touring these man-made waterways since the 1970's and documenting their journeys in copious detail. The canals traverse every conceivable type of landscape, and evince some pretty amazing engineering.
posted by pieisexactlythree at 12:52 PM PST - 14 comments

Get Back in the Box says Douglas Rushkoff in his upcoming book of the same name. Kris Krug interviewed Rushkoff last week just after he wrapped up writing. Apparently the author is going to explore how we're undergoing a renaissance of collaboration where identity is defined by connection to others. Douglas seems to be pulling together a lot of ideas that have been bubbling up in the blogosphere (a connected creative/technology class, social networks) but is business ready to hear his message? Sounds like he'll be well received by many webby people, but it remains to be seen how long the traditional definitions he challenges will remain - one generation, two maybe?

You may remember Rushkoff from the PBS Frontline series' Merchants of Cool and Persuaders. He's been discussed quite a bit before here on MeFi, 9 times in fact.
posted by will at 12:40 PM PST - 19 comments

Todd Parr, the inspiring children’s author whose artwork has been compared to Keith Haring, was nominated for the Outstanding Children's Animated Program Emmy for his series, Toddworld. His books teach kids about love, inclusiveness and how to be silly. Warning: some links include flashy animation and sound.
posted by grateful at 11:29 AM PST - 10 comments

Business Card Etiquette. Do not play or fiddle with people's business cards - treat them with respect. A Western businessman once famously lost a big deal for picking his teeth with one of his colleagues' business cards, and was never given the opportunity to do business with the company again. (more inside).
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:14 AM PST - 47 comments

RIP Eduardo PAOLOZZI, gifted POP artist has died at 81.
posted by Lanark at 11:08 AM PST - 3 comments

The Stop Global Warming Virtual March on Washington starts today in Fairbanks, Alaska. You can join in.
posted by liam at 10:41 AM PST - 10 comments

Lion Heart is the nickname given to Saleh Khalaf, a nine year old boy maimed by an explosion in Iraq. Deanne Fitzmaurice's photo essay about his ongoing recovery won the 2005 Pultizer Prize for Feature Photography.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 10:37 AM PST - 19 comments

Reclaiming the economic usefulness of the American worker as patriarch is a lot of weight for a little pizza cutter to bear. [via]
posted by Capn at 10:17 AM PST - 21 comments

Civil War Richmond: an online research project designed to collect documents, photographs, and maps pertaining to Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War.
posted by breezeway at 9:57 AM PST - 8 comments

The Lesson of Sativex - By approving liquid marijuana, the Canadian government has just certified that virtually everything our own (American) government has been telling us about marijuana is wrong. A little more on Sativex from GW Pharm. (via The Media Awareness Project ... and the MPP)
posted by mrgrimm at 9:27 AM PST - 50 comments

Recently scanned article from the April 29th, 1974 Newsweek detailing Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Like many, I was vaguely aware that this had happened by had never read the details. (Direct page links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 9:00 AM PST - 33 comments

The Reader of Gentlemen's Mail In the spring of 1919, when the father of American cryptography, Herbert O. Yardley, drew up a plan for a permanent State Department codebreaking organization — a "black chamber — he estimated that a modest $100,000 a year would buy a chief (Yardley) and fifty clerks and cryptanalysts. Yardley rented a three-story building in New York City: on East 38th Street just off Fifth Avenue, he put two dozen people to work under civilian cover—as the Code Compiling Company. His summary dismissal happened in 1929 at the hand of incoming Secretary of State Henry Stimson, who closed down the Cipher Bureau with the casual observation that "gentlemen do not read each other's mail". The son of a railroad telegrapher, a man with a lively Jazz Age interest in money, good-looking women, and drinks at five, Yardley not only taught his country how to read other people's mail but wrote two of the enduring American books—the memoir The American Black Chamber (1931), and The Education of a Poker Player (1957).
posted by matteo at 8:47 AM PST - 6 comments

Shakespeare was a barber? Possibly, possibly. Not a bad way to make a farthing if true. Barbers have collected in their long and colorful history their own medical ailments, their own mathematical paradoxes, heck, they've even picked up one or two patron saints along the way.
Their members include singers, dancers, psychics, psychopaths, and cross-dressers. Ol' Will may have had tonsorial talent, but I suspect he'll never replace America's sweetheart.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 8:44 AM PST - 4 comments

Sometimes Friday Fun doesn't have to involve Flash. Take, for example, the Random Vin Diesel Fact Page, or other existing ones, some serious, some not so serious. There's also random news generators and even random band name generators. Plenty of reloading, time-wasting fun for your Friday.
posted by twiggy at 8:42 AM PST - 21 comments

Saunders Mac Lane, mathematician, has died, age 95. Winner of the National Medal of Science, Vice-President of the National Academy of Science, President of the American Mathematical Society, author of three of the canonical texts in algebra [reg. maybe req., here's a local copy], Mac Lane was also mathematical ancestor to over a thousand mathematicians, father of category theory and homological algebra, and expert in topology, topos theory, group cohomology, logic, and applied mathematics. He was one of the towering figures of postwar mathematics. Remembered by his students and all of us who were affected by his work and his life.
posted by gleuschk at 7:31 AM PST - 7 comments

Japanese PM Koizumi has apologized for causing “tremendous damage and suffering for the people of many countries, particularly those of Asian nations,” but made no direct acknowledgement of atrocities like those committed at Unit 731.
posted by dfowler at 7:30 AM PST - 73 comments

Your Daily Art is a weblog that provides a short and sweet art history lesson on a daily basis.
posted by sciurus at 7:21 AM PST - 12 comments

All the music from the Simpsons collected on one handy dandy page. What more needs to be said? All the songs performed on the Simpsons since season 1, categorized by character. Some of my personal favorites: Happy Birthday Lisa by Michael Jackson/asylum inmate, Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel and See my Vest by Montgomery Burns. Please say a prayer for the bandwidth hosting bill.
posted by jeremias at 7:17 AM PST - 44 comments

Matisyahu Revisited: While he's been mentioned here before, a new AP profile on Matisyahu finds Brooklyn's reggae Hasid still hard at work. Catch his performance on Jimmy Kimmel, then give a listen to his amazing new live album from Jewish-oriented JDub Records — currently streaming its *entirety* on Heavy Radio.
posted by MaxVonCretin at 7:09 AM PST - 13 comments

Happy Earth Day! Today is the 35th celebration of the world's biggest secular holiday--a time for platitudes and complacency. Of course, beyond global warming, there's also an ongoing mass extinction. Might such tokens as "Earth Day" be serving more to make us ignore our environmental problems than focusing on them?
posted by jefgodesky at 7:02 AM PST - 25 comments

LilyPond is a free, mature, actively developed "automated engraving system" for the production of beautifully formatted musical scores. Essay and examples from the site. All major platforms are supported.
posted by teleskiving at 6:41 AM PST - 9 comments

Leading Scottish pop-art sculptor/artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi dies aged 81. obituary, works, images, works/book review, wiki, 1971 interview
posted by peacay at 5:51 AM PST - 3 comments

A tale of marriage and, eventually, sex in the Unification Church. One of Nerve's 'personal essays' section. (much of Nerve may be NSFW)
posted by iffley at 4:57 AM PST - 24 comments

Public Lectures at the London School of Economics are mostly free and cover a wide variety of topics. For those of you that can't attend, there's a list of transcripts from most of the lectures.
posted by mikeanegus at 12:12 AM PST - 17 comments