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Paperback books used to be a lot more entertaining(NSFW links). Vying for a market both literary and prurient (embedded tunes, NSFW), publishers found that judging the book by the cover was in many cases the best way to move their product off the shelf. James Bond and Mickey Spillane benefited. So did detectives, hillbillies, romantic fools, druggies, lesbians (NSFW) and Billy Graham. The genre has changed over the years, in no small thanks to our good friend Fabio.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 11:13 PM PST - 9 comments

He Shoots He Scores! It won't be considered a classic, but this little game is the perfect one to be playing while you're on that conference call. Happy weekend!
posted by TheFarSeid at 10:57 PM PST - 16 comments

Gestapo traffic stop. In the world's most powerful country, even the faintest shadow is a dangerous precipice. Enter South Florida's finest.
posted by a thousand writers drunk at the keyboard at 10:07 PM PST - 387 comments

Disney goatse? I dare you to see this if you know what goatse is and not have the image of Mickey's colon telling time...[Completely SFW] via boingboing
posted by birdsquared at 10:04 PM PST - 34 comments

Urban exploration in the Russian style.
posted by arse_hat at 9:33 PM PST - 14 comments

50 years with Lew Archer A detailed tribute to classic hard-boiled mystery writer Ross Macdonald, including a fascinating interview with Macdonald's biographer. Considered one of "the big three of the American hard-boiled detective novel" (with Hammet and Chandler), Macdonald has unfortunately "slipped to the back shelves." He had a lifelong lover's quarrel with Hollywood and - oh yeah - probably saved Warren Zevon's life back in 1979.
posted by mediareport at 9:05 PM PST - 10 comments

Why We Should Build Apartments at Ground Zero by Paul Goldberger:
In an ideal plan, most of Ground Zero would be devoted to housing, hotels, and retail space. Lower Manhattan currently has a range of housing options: the converted lofts of Tribeca, the converted office buildings of Wall Street, and the retro-style apartment complexes at Battery Park City. The one thing missing is experimental architecture. Ground Zero would be the perfect place for an inventive alternative to the prim, packaged urbanism of Battery Park City. [...] With several blocks to build on, Ground Zero provides an opportunity to think not in terms of single buildings that are stand-alone works of sculpture but of ensembles that fit together to make coherent streetscapes and complete neighborhoods – something modern architecture has rarely succeeded in doing, in New York or anywhere else.

Martin Filler in the NY Review of Books on books about the proposals for Ground Zero, including Goldberger's 2004 addition, Up from Zero:
Goldberger's establishment-friendly attitude toward architecture has always lacked a discernible moral center. Although here he displays less of the maddening equivocation that has been his most defining characteristic as a critic, the targets he picks are most often easy ones, and unlikely to bar him from the corridors of power.
posted by gramschmidt at 8:38 PM PST - 13 comments

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby So you’ve got to know that synergy doesn’t actually mean synergy in this book. I can’t do normal synergy. No, in this book, synergy means cartoon foxes. What I’m saying is: this book will be starting off with an exorbitant amount of cartoon foxes. And I will be counting on you to turn them into synergy. Possibly the funniest computer programming book ever written.
posted by carmen at 7:17 PM PST - 17 comments

The 100 Greatest Americans ? This Sunday night at 8:00, the Discovery Channel will begin a seven hour series that starts with the top 100 Americans nominated by an on-line poll and culminates in real-time election- style voting, as America selects one person to be named the "Greatest American." Dr. Phil vs. Oprah, Barbara Bush vs. Laura Bush, and Jacko vs. Madonna. Can you feel the excitement?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:53 PM PST - 45 comments

The Pimping of the President --Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist Billing Clients for Face Time with G.W. Bush: ...He had just concluded his work on the Bush Transition Team as an advisor to the Department of the Interior. He had sent his personal assistant Susan Ralston to the White House to work as Rove’s personal assistant. He was a close friend, advisor, and high-dollar fundraiser for the most powerful man in Congress, Tom DeLay. Abramoff was so closely tied to the Bush Administration that he could, and did, charge two of his clients $25,000 for a White House lunch date and a meeting with the President. ... Jack Abramoff, in the news due to his shady dealings with DeLay, and Grover Norquist, and the White House. Norquist has not responded to inquiries about using the White House as a fundraiser.
posted by amberglow at 6:18 PM PST - 11 comments

Discover meesimo! Fun comics, illustrations, sketches, storyboards and more. Awesome artist originally from the St. Louis, Missouri area and now living and working in Miami, Florida. In St. Louis, his works adorn the walls of Bailey's Chocolate Bar. In Florida, go to the Dorsch Gallery.
posted by horseblind at 1:49 PM PST - 3 comments

On Orogenesis by Joan Fontcuberta Using computer programmes that generate virtual landscapes and using as a scource landscapes painted by Dali.
posted by adamvasco at 1:10 PM PST - 8 comments

Judge orders Abu Ghraib videos, pictures released.... and all hell's gonna break loose.

To quote Sy Hersh:
"The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
posted by insomnia_lj at 1:07 PM PST - 203 comments

The Climate of Man. The New Yorker has made Elizabeth Kolbert's three-part series on climate change (previously mentioned here) available online. Part I: How the earth is changing, Part II: The curse of Akkad, and Part III: What can be done? Say goodbye to the Holocene, and hello to the Anthropocene. [Via WorldChanging.]
posted by homunculus at 1:07 PM PST - 7 comments

"The latest 'must-have' in the world of plastic surgery is the 'designer vagina'. As if we didn't have enough to worry about (bikini-line waxes, highlights, Botox injections), it seems we're now meant to be worrying about our vaginas not being pretty enough. Labia-envy is apparently rife, if you believe the ads in many women’s magazines. And like those who head for the hairdresser clutching pictures of Jennifer Aniston, many women are now taking copies of Playboy to their plastic surgeons, saying: 'I want one like that'." Price list here. Sort of previously discussed here. [First link SFW; others questionable.]
posted by mudpuppie at 12:56 PM PST - 100 comments

Everybody's workin' for the weekend. A little non-Flash Friday fun. (Link goes to a page with an embedded QuickTime movie.)
posted by Reggie452 at 12:45 PM PST - 22 comments

Action Item Man Commissioner: We need you to put a stop to Dr. Diabolical's nefarious plan! Action Item Man: To fully own this challenge, I'll need to be goal-oriented and results driven!
posted by carter at 12:21 PM PST - 12 comments

Creationism: God's gift to the ignorant - Richard Dawkins talks about how the Fundamentalists distort science.
posted by bshort at 12:09 PM PST - 58 comments

One fifth of all bird species are in danger of extinction. And right when we're finally understanding where they came from, too.
posted by jefgodesky at 12:08 PM PST - 3 comments

The Golden Era Missile Command Challenge! The Epic Battle of Billy Mitchell vs. Mr. Awesome (Roy Shildt), in which, Pac-Man Champion and renowned creator of Rickey's Chicken Wing Hot Sauce, Billy Mitchell, has his status as "Player of the Century" challenged by Missile Command record holder and arch-nemesis, Roy Shildt. Funspot Classic Games Message Board For World Record Holders CLOSED Because of too much airing out of dirty laundry. Below: Conversations With [Roy Shildt,] Guinness Book Missile Command Champion, who is always in hot water with Twin Galaxies due to his accusations and fight to stay on the scoreboard. He has apologized, even though Mitchell has moved on, insisting that "his passion for winning has abated somewhat, or at least shifted." ... "Now," he says, "I bring my passion to the sauce." Billy Mitchell never gives up." (Warning: Crazy site design and information overload! Be sure to scrooooooll down)
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 11:55 AM PST - 11 comments

D O O O O O O O O O O D L E S
posted by grumblebee at 11:51 AM PST - 24 comments

The New Yorker's ongoing Caption Contest is seven weeks old. Think the the cartoons are dumb? Well here's your chance to show your skills.
posted by brheavy at 11:34 AM PST - 28 comments

"The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated."(Wilde)
A dandy eschews fashion but embraces style.(.pdf)
He is an aficionado of personal elegance and refinement. From the archetype in George 'Beau' Brummell there is a lineage tracking through to Tom Wolfe in which the personal artistry of the dandy knows no bounds save for those of exquisite taste.
posted by peacay at 10:54 AM PST - 9 comments

Rep. John Conyers has a petition on his congressional website urging constituents to sign on to a letter to President Bush requesting he answer the questions about the "Downing Street Memo" posed to him by 89 Members of Congress. Going even further, Ralph Nader, and former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark among others, are calling for impeachment. Recently, Reps. Kucinich & Abercrombie wrote a USA Today Op-Ed calling For US withdrawal from Iraq. Meanwhile, approval ratings for President Bush and the war in Iraq continue to plummet. Does this represent a sea change in public opinion and a coming shift in the political landscape?
posted by stenseng at 10:09 AM PST - 123 comments

The Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence (PDF). A fascinating new theory from physicist turned renegade evolutionary theorist, Gregory Cochran (see this Atlantic Monthly cover story on Cochran's already path-breaking germ theory of disease), and genetic anthropologist Henry Harpending, proposes that a unique evolutionary history, and a number of improbably clustered neurologically related genetic diseases among Ashkenazi Jews could help explain their incredible intelligence test scores and extraordinary intellectual achievements (e.g. Ashkenazi Jews are 3% of the American population but win 27% of the Nobel Prizes). The paper is set for publication in the Journal of Biosocial Science, and is already getting major press in the New York Times and The Economist. Does the recent Harvard fracas over Larry Summers herald a new "arms race" in academic debate about genetics, man and society for the 21st century? [compelling post by Jason]
posted by mathowie at 10:08 AM PST - 68 comments

Online poker company's flotation sends owners into billionaires list. Party Poker.com has announced plans to float on the London Stock exchange. This will see the biggest online gambling site on the planet get even bigger. Will the stock market be happy with the current returns or are the voracious demands of shareholders mean we are going to see more people needing help?
posted by ClanvidHorse at 10:00 AM PST - 29 comments

Gode Cookery. A compilation of medieval recipes adapted for the 21st century kitchen. [via Monkeyfilter]
posted by jb at 9:27 AM PST - 15 comments

The Art of War is a beautiful British National Archives online exhibit of propaganda illustrations, posters, and films (Dance, Nazis! Dance!) by the Ministry of Information during World War II. Related: more posters, and Alfred Hitchcock also did propaganda films.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:48 AM PST - 4 comments

Demetrio Stratos's 1978 solo album of experiments in vocal technique Cantare la Voce in RA format. "Settembre Nero" [mp3], by Area, which he fronted. Some links in Italian.
posted by kenko at 8:48 AM PST - 4 comments

Ratablog If the rats could type (or more accurately, if they could type actual words and refrain from peeing on the keyboard) they would tell their own stories. They can't, so we will.
posted by srboisvert at 8:29 AM PST - 10 comments

Monthly multifaith calendar of religious holidays and festivals.
posted by matteo at 8:16 AM PST - 4 comments

Phantom limb illusions Dr. Ramachandran is an investigator of the senses. His explorations on synesthesia, phantom limbs, and human consciousness are revealing excursions into sensory awareness. And his reader-friendly books, such as A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness and Phantoms in the Brain (both from Amazon) are a pleasure to read. His greatest gifts appear to be a childlike simplicity, coupled with straightforward empiricism. His writing is easy-to-understand, often sparked with unpredictable humor. Recommended for all mind & brain enthusiasts who may not have heard of him yet.
posted by ember at 3:57 AM PST - 10 comments

Worth picking up if you have a library with a subscription. The May 20th issue of Science was devoted to the Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of December 24 describing the full power of that event, the most powerful recorded since the deployment of modern electronic sensors. The multiple effects claimed include swarm earthquakes in Alaska, a shock wave that moved every place on Earth a centimeter, and resonant waves continuing weeks after the event. It is also the the longest rupture recorded and took over an hour to complete. Animated simulations of aspects of the event are linked through PhysOrg.com.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:12 AM PST - 4 comments