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A fascinating interview with Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima and president of Mayors for Peace. Dr. Akiba is New York for the UN conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty, and he took the time for some eloquent straight talk about the nuclear weapons and international politics. (First link is to a real audio file.)
posted by fingers_of_fire at 7:23 PM PST - 5 comments

Echoes of DaVinci code? A scholar in Wales found (rediscovered?) a 400+ year old folio at Llandovery College in Wales that may shed light further light on the genealogy of Christ. Whether a hoax or not, 'tis always interesting what you may find hiding in the stacks when you're just perusing things. [via original article at Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter]
posted by PeteyStock at 6:25 PM PST - 16 comments

"His authority was extraordinary. He was always polite and charming." Erna Flegal, Adolf Hitler's nurse in the bunker during the last days of World War II, breaks 60 years of silence in this interview. She was also interviewed by US intelligence officers in 1945.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:48 PM PST - 12 comments

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posted by ColdChef at 5:15 PM PST - 16 comments

We are hosting the first and only Time Traveler Convention at MIT in one week, and WE NEED YOUR HELP! Anyone plan to attend?
posted by Ricky_gr10 at 3:11 PM PST - 64 comments

Greenpeace co-founder Bob Hunter dies.
posted by Hanover Phist at 2:54 PM PST - 15 comments

Wonderful Town... Director Ryan McFaul (whose music video for Gay Boyfriend was previously seen in this MeFi thread ) is back with a dizzying MGM-meets-digital-compositing advert for a Broadway production of Wonderful Town. (Slightly less dazzling, but still worth seeing, is his ad for a San Francisco production of White Christmas.) Somebody give this man a feature film!
posted by yankeefog at 10:46 AM PST - 5 comments

Apparently, what it boils down to is this: V-day is "empowering" while P-day is "subversive," "harrassing," or just plain wrong. More tales of PC run amok, this time from Roger Williams University in Providence, RI. [warning: the P-Day link is NSFW, if it's NSFW to look at a mascot costume of a penis.]
posted by LilBucner at 10:19 AM PST - 159 comments

Ogopogo is Canada's most famous water monster. This bashful monster (Win Media clip) resides in British Columbia's Lake Okanagan and recorded sightings date back as far as 1872. If you're thinking about heading out to Lake Okanagan to try and catch a glimpse (Windows Media clip) of Ogopogo for yourself, remember these helpful tips.
posted by debralee at 9:59 AM PST - 10 comments

"When George saw 21-87, a lightbulb went off".
"21-87" is an experimental film made in 1964 by Canadian avant-garde director Arthur Lipsett ,who committed suicide in 1986. "George" is George Lucas, who was obsessed by underground movies until "a little movie called Star Wars lured him to the dark side". (more inside)
posted by matteo at 8:47 AM PST - 25 comments

Add one part Icelandic Aerobics Champion, one part Child Broadway actress, add some synthpop music, CGI green screen work, and some latex puppets and prosthetics, and what do you have? Lazytown! Comes complete with music videos guaranteed to give you earworms.
posted by willmize at 8:31 AM PST - 16 comments

NASA is funding a research project that looks into a new and much faster way of getting astronauts to Mars.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 8:13 AM PST - 24 comments

Good luck, blessings, positive thoughts, and an early mazel tov to Mathowie, Kay, and Fiona!
posted by digaman at 7:30 AM PST - 95 comments

Student Attacks Against Teachers: The Revolution of 1966 At the Middle School attached to Beijing Teacher's College, Yu Ruifen, a female biology teacher, was knocked to the ground and beaten in her office. In broad daylight, she was dragged by her legs through the front door and down the steps, her head bumping against the cement; a barrel of boiling water was poured on her. Though she died after approximately two hours of torture, it did not satisfy the students. All other teachers in the "ox-ghost and snake-demon team" were forced to stand around Yu's corpse and take turns beating her.
posted by Kwantsar at 6:52 AM PST - 41 comments

British Asian Women Have Lower Risk Of Breast Cancer Than All Other Women
Japanese Women Found To Have Much Lower Recurrence Of Breast Cancer
Exposure to carcinogens in traffic emissions at particular lifetime points may increase the risk of developing breast cancer.
posted by dfowler at 6:31 AM PST - 19 comments

Kevin Smith reviews Revenge of the Sith [BIG spoilers] and goes head over heels for it, saying it rights all the wrongs of the previous two movies. We all know Smith is a diehard Star Wars fan who was just as disappointed by the prequels as the rest of us - viz his recent conversation with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright for Empire magazine. But do we still trust him after Jersey Girl?
posted by LondonYank at 6:17 AM PST - 60 comments

The Ultimate Beer Bong. "The basic idea, simultaneously tap two beer sources being either a sankey Keg, or a 5-gallon party ball, push it with a replenishing air compressor to either a faucet, or up to a 4-gallon upper holding tank with four hoses leading off into four mouths racing to finish their hose." Something in the deep core of my hindbrain went all tingly when I saw this. They go on: "I have submitted this device as 'The largest Beer funnel in the world' to Guinness World Records, and is currently under review. I am also awaiting a call from the Idaho Alcohol Beverage Control to ascertain this device's legality."
posted by gsb at 6:08 AM PST - 23 comments

"I'm a sucker for serial killers." - Teller (of Penn and Teller) wrote something way back in 1994 about Jeffrey Dahmer that is still interesting, though short, after all this time. "One day when he was driving home, Dahmer gave a lift to a hitchhiker. I've done that. He saw beauty and wanted it in his power, utterly, as only a well-placed blow to the head can deliver. OK, I confess, I've wanted that as well -- but I chose not to pick up a sawed-off baseball bat and make my wish come true. That's why I can drive to the beach whenever I feel like it, while Dahmer has to live in a prison and talk to Stone Phillips. "
posted by soulhuntre at 5:04 AM PST - 28 comments

PBS: crosshaired? NYTimes link. Previously, related. Hmm. No mention of David Brooks!
posted by yoga at 4:09 AM PST - 26 comments