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China kills 50,000 dogs in rabies scare by bludgeoning them. Human rabies a big problem in China. Lack of animal vaccinations to blame. But will culling dogs really help, when effect rabies control includes creating a buffer of vaccinated domestic animals[pdf] between humans and wildlife? Meanwhile, some areas in the US and Canada are proactively vaccinating wildlife.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:16 PM PST - 29 comments

Chilling Out Mr. Radioactive
A group of scientists at Germany's Ruhr University may have a way of cutting down the time it takes for radioactive waste to decay to a safer state. Instead of 1600 years for Radium-226, Prof. Claus Rolfs theorizes that he can cut that down to a mere 100 years, by encasing the materials in metal and then freezing them to very, very low temps to accelerate the radioactive decay.
posted by fenriq at 10:03 PM PST - 28 comments

WSJ: Moguls of New Media Have nearly a million friends on MySpace and you get $5000 endorsements. Make a comedy podcast with cocktail recipes and you get endorsed by Steve Jobs and get interest from advertisers. Post seemingly impossible self-potraits on Flickr and you get hired by Toyota. The Wall Street Journal looks at these and many more "whos' who of new media". from BlogHer
posted by divabat at 9:06 PM PST - 22 comments

Altered Oceans: A Primeval Tide of Toxins The fireweed began each spring as tufts of hairy growth and spread across the seafloor fast enough to cover a football field in an hour. When fishermen touched it, their skin broke out in searing welts. Their lips blistered and peeled. Their eyes burned and swelled shut. Water that splashed from their nets spread the inflammation to their legs and torsos.
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:06 PM PST - 32 comments

Charts. This page contains many charts.
posted by Kwantsar at 7:09 PM PST - 22 comments

Awesome J-Pop Videos. For a genre few in the U.S. are familiar with, it certainly garners some very heated opinions (likely because of Morning Musume and the like.) Still, there are some who go above and beyond the fold. (largely youtube filter.)
posted by Navelgazer at 7:06 PM PST - 30 comments

Compromise any Windows XP machine (that you have physical access to) with one single line of code. Even if you're logged on as guest, this cmd line text will upgrade your account to root level on the fly, after which time you can do anything you wish to the machine, (even reformat the drive & install linux!). ACHTUNG: Link goes to video that, for inexplicable reasons, has Limp Bizkit for the soundtrack.
posted by jonson at 5:23 PM PST - 44 comments

Let's Paint and Exercise TV! Four videos of a public access TV show where a guy paints pictures of a fat naked dude and runs on a treadmill at the same time. Features four letter words and a fat naked guy, so may not be work - or mind - safe. Presented by artist John Kilduff and featuring musician Frozen Plastic and model Michael Q Schmidt, star of 'Huge Naked Guy'.
posted by tapeguy at 5:15 PM PST - 9 comments

Carnival of Mel: Moxie and Steve H are getting drunk and blogging it in real time. It's a controlled (ha!) experiment to see if it makes them anti-semitic, the way Mel Gibson says it does.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:51 PM PST - 29 comments

The Neon Philharmonic consisted of members of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, a producer of country & western records named Don Gant (who produced Jimmy Buffett's first hit), and a jazz pianist named Tupper Saussy. Strangely enough, this odd combination produced an unexpected Top 20 hit, Morning Girl. The group was briefly mentioned as an obscure music hipster reference in a devastating indie-rock takedown of current critical darling Sufjan Stevens, but such a throwaway reference to the Neon Philharmonic does not do justice to the bizarre life of its founder, Tupper Saussy.(more inside)
posted by jonp72 at 4:47 PM PST - 6 comments

Internet celebrities sing for net neutrality.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:38 PM PST - 43 comments

I Humped Your Hummer. Sticking it to the gas guzzling Republicans one thrust at a time or just a bunch of dudes humping SUVs?
posted by JPowers at 4:36 PM PST - 42 comments

Most people know that Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860. However, not many people know that a man named John J. Crittenden made a last-ditch effort to amend the Constitution, as a compromise between the north and south. How would have American history have progressed if this was the 13th Amendment as opposed to this?
posted by JoshTeeters at 3:41 PM PST - 39 comments

Worst Ever Security Flaw in Diebold Voting Machine A single switch is all that is required to cause the machine to boot an unverified external flash instead of the built-in, verified EEPROM."
posted by Unregistered User at 3:28 PM PST - 57 comments

"The Bible describes how to make ice on the desert. Please describe the procedure and explain how it fits your knowledge of heat transfer."

Your assignment: make ice in the desert. Without electricity. Without extra chemicals. Without extra gadgetry or imports. Oh, and the temperature is about 55 degrees (13C). It can be done, there is science behind it. And yet we seem to have forgotten something that everyone used to know.
posted by jessamyn at 3:04 PM PST - 43 comments

Wikiality: the reality that the majority of people agree upon. Stephen Colbert is at it again, provoking some chaos in his segment, "The Word," by asking viewers to change the Wikipedia entry on elephants to say that the population has tripled in the last three months. How can Wikipedia deal with the problem of vandalism? Here's an interesting article from the New Yorker about "the world’s most ambitious vanity press."
posted by farishta at 2:01 PM PST - 66 comments

OR-Live is a resource for live and on-demand medical webcasts. Upcoming today at 21:00 UTC, surgeons at St. Joseph's Hospital host a panel discussion on procedures for treating brain aneurysms, such as brain coiling and clipping. And if you just can't wait, there are plenty of other surgical videos on the web.
posted by milquetoast at 1:39 PM PST - 7 comments

Kerouac's essential On The Road is celebrating it's 50th year in publication next September. To commemorate, Viking Press plans to publish the raw, unedited "scroll version" that's been touring around the country. The hardcover -- due out somtime next year -- contains "some sections that had been cut from the novel because of references to sex or drugs" along with real names of characters, and "a different first sentence than the published novel, as well as a more abrupt ending."
posted by nitsuj at 12:23 PM PST - 20 comments

THEL (Tactical High Energy Laser) is an anti-missile weapon jointly developed by the US and Israel (at great expense) to track and destroy incoming Katyusha rockets. It had even been recently suggested to deploy it in Iraq. Unfortunately, it seems that the program was shelved in September 'cause it doesn't work. You know the rest
posted by Skeptic at 11:50 AM PST - 30 comments

Jack Shafer takes on the mothball epidemic that's sweeping through the United States. CNN
posted by geoff. at 10:42 AM PST - 42 comments

MTV turns 25 today. Music Television, otherwise known as MTV, was launched with its first broadcast on 1 August 1981, 25 years ago today. Famously, the first video broadcast was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." Ironically, MTV evidently isn't going to acknowledge its anniversary on-air in any way, with a spokeswoman saying that "We made the decision when MTV was founded to always stay young and evolve with our audience. To do that, it has been important to serve our audience at that moment, not our audience of yesterday." This is about par for the course, though, since when was the last time that MTV actually broadcast music videos? A broader question: does anybody who wasn't weaned on MTV (or anybody who was, for that matter) care anymore?
posted by blucevalo at 10:41 AM PST - 121 comments

Get Rich Slowly, a personal finance web site (created by our jdroth), has been educational to someone who spent most of his life until now pretending financial matters don't exist. His blog is updated frequently, and contains insightful tips on living frugally, eliminating debt, saving and investing. Between his site, and another very educational site entitled I Will Teach You To Be Rich (start here), I've greatly expanded my knowledge about managing my money effectively. Perhaps most importantly, they're both consistently interesting and easy reads. [more inside]
posted by knave at 10:35 AM PST - 73 comments

96 Minutes... 40 years later. Texas Monthly has an article that, through eyewitness accounts, tells the tale of Charles Whitman. Forty years ago today--before 9/11, Columbine, Oklahoma City, "going postal"--Whitman perpetrated an act of public terror that impacted the national conscience. It all began when he killed his mother. Then he started typing a letter that, after he killed his wife, he finished hand-writing. Then he went to the Tower with a small arsenal and began the slaughter. Over 96 minutes he killed 13 more people and wounded 34 others until off-duty Officer Ray Martinez made it to the top of the tower and killed Whitman. (more inside)
posted by dios at 9:34 AM PST - 71 comments

One might think that in today's world of cell phones, text messaging and the Internet, you shouldn't write off ham radio just yet. Not only can Morse code be faster than text messaging, but when when you need it most, you can still communicate with the world [PDF]. If you're lucky, and the conditions are right, you might be able to chat with operators hundred of miles away thanks to tropospheric ducting. There's more to ham radio than just the old chatter, though: you can use the ham radio bands to operate radio-controlled planes, send and receive TV [PDF] (sort of), wirelessly connect to networks, or talk with astronauts.
posted by Godbert at 9:34 AM PST - 44 comments

Snakes on a Base! In the wake of today's announcement that Raul Castro will be 'temporarily' taking power in Cuba while Big Brother (did I say that?) has an operation for some GI bleeding, The Smoking Gun has published some declassified Spec Ops planning cover sheets from the 60s and 70, listing plans to destabilize Cuba. Operation Bingo, on page 3, is especially amusing.
posted by baylink at 9:16 AM PST - 15 comments

What's playing? What songs are playing on the radio right now and where, an interactive map. Less fun, but much more useful is the site's ability to look up a station and tell you what songs they recently played. (via J-Walk)
posted by caddis at 8:42 AM PST - 18 comments

Today is the first day of the month of August!

Did you remember to say "Rabbit, Rabbit" (or, "White Rabbit") upon waking this morning in order to insure yourself good luck for the remainder of the month? There are competing theories as to the origin of this superstition. It was a commonly held superstition in the 1920's in the United Kingdom. Many variations of the custom exist.
posted by ericb at 8:36 AM PST - 24 comments

Between 1912 and 1948, one could win an Olympic medal by excelling in creativity rather than athletics. Works contending in this "Pentathlon of the Muses" had to be sport-related, though: see for example this gold-winning drawing by Jean Jacoby. Perhaps the most famous Olympic artist is Oliver St. John Gogarty (Google cache), after whom Joyce's character of Buck Milligan was modelled. In later years, the tradition was incorporated into the concept of a Cultural Olympiad held alongside the main event.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:34 AM PST - 5 comments

Bush = Christ?! William Smatt is under the impression that Dubya is the returned Messiah. More here. On behalf of all Christians everywhere, I'm going to go vomit now.
posted by Doorstop at 8:32 AM PST - 53 comments

The Boston Wi-Fi Network may be constructed within the year by a non-profit corporation. An appointed task force has produced a report (pdf) which recommends building the network on the cheap and allowing providers to compete over the chance to provide service. It won't be free though. Can this possibly work?
posted by cubby at 8:03 AM PST - 15 comments

The blooms, the iced tea, and the gossip. This summer, NPR gives the front porch the credit it is due - although it’s not the first time.
While some are contemporary professionals of the porch, others simply accept that we have become a "back deck" society. Andrew Jackson Downing would surely prefer this view. If you find yourself in Washington D.C., be sure to visit him in front of the castle. Pictures of porches. Previous.
posted by RobertFrost at 7:46 AM PST - 16 comments

James Patten creates interactive works in diverse media with themes including performance and social commentary. Projects include Tactile Photography and, most impressive to me, The Audio Pad.
posted by dobbs at 7:29 AM PST - 4 comments

Muppet Wiki. It's like Wikipedia, except, y'know, about the Muppets.
posted by chrismear at 7:22 AM PST - 24 comments

Pastor to Candidate: Prove You're Not Gay. The Religious Right and the Ohio GOP team up to address the important issues of the day.
posted by Otis at 6:51 AM PST - 50 comments

The many lives of Jean-Jacques de Mesterton: A simple-minded hack for FOX News, a soldier of fortune, or perhaps something much, much more sinister?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:35 AM PST - 31 comments

"I may be an SOB, but I'm your SOB." Jim "the Hammer!" Shapiro, a personal injury lawyer, had some of the craziest commercials in Rochester NY, [despite living in Florida]. The best commercials are here [avi / youtube] and here [avi / youtube]. While he admitted he could not "rip out the hearts" or "hand you the severed heads" of those who hurt you, he promised to "hunt them down and settle the score." Shapiro & Shapiro were sued for malpractice in 2002 for $1.9 million, and their website has been "under construction" ever since. Web archive has a great glimpse from May 2000. You call. I hammer.
posted by yeti at 5:33 AM PST - 33 comments

GX Jupitter-Larsen - noise maker, video artist [some NSFW] and inventor of the TNU.
posted by tellurian at 12:32 AM PST - 9 comments