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Resolve.org is a site devoted to providing support, both emotional and practical, to people struggling with infertility issues. The immediately apparent benefits to visiting would be their informational documents and errata, but of at least equal value are the bulletin boards where you can talk with other people dealing with infertility, whether it's for the sake of venting, chatting or just to have someplace you can go where you don't have to hear the words "well, adoption isn't so bad..."
posted by shmegegge at 11:40 PM PST - 66 comments

...These findings come from a poll released today by ORB, the British polling agency that has been tracking public opinion in Iraq since 2005. In conjunction with their Iraqi fieldwork agency a representative sample of 1,499 adults aged 18+ answered the following question: How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (ie as a result of violence rather than a natural death such as old age)?

Answer: 1,220,580
Tables pdf
FinalDeadNumbersWEIGHTED.xls
See also Poll: Civilian toll in Iraq may top 1M
See also None Dare Call It Genocide
posted by y2karl at 11:20 PM PST - 131 comments

"Pet custody disputes have become an increasingly common fixture in divorce cases." Related: "Animal lawyers are careful to distinguish themselves from animal rights advocates... These lawyers are concerned primarily with getting the legal system to acknowledge that animals have an intrinsic value beyond mere property."
posted by amyms at 10:15 PM PST - 15 comments

Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment in comic book form. Batman comic book form, to be specific. Via.
posted by jonson at 10:10 PM PST - 15 comments

Hi, Dad, I'm in Jail. Earth to Doris.
Two brief videos made for Was(Not Was) by Christoph Simon, which aired on Liquid Television.
posted by klangklangston at 6:24 PM PST - 52 comments

The "paint with sound" concept has been done before though perhaps never so beautifully (IMO). I found it best with just piano and upright bass, but YMMV. Via Unusual Instruments' Music Videos blog, which doesn't have craploads of content, but I did find the array mbira video quite interesting. This whole concept reminds me of other unusual instruments I've seen on the internet, like this guy and his broccoli ocarina and these folks and their pipe hat and this guy playing what appears to be an electric tennis racket violin. Previous (a, b)
posted by Kickstart70 at 6:06 PM PST - 6 comments

Tasers are the new black. University of Florida student gets tasered while police try to restrain him for "disrupting a public event" at an open mic when he brazenly began dogging John Kerry about the state of the 2004 election, Bush's potential impeachment, and Kerry's affiliation with the Skull & Bones Society. Video of the incident here and here. Echoes from this incident a little less than year ago.
posted by Mach3avelli at 5:40 PM PST - 479 comments

As of September 18 at midnight, access to all of the New York Times website will be free. In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain.
posted by russilwvong at 5:02 PM PST - 81 comments

Darren Aronofsky has posted a bootleg commentary for his film The Fountain (the one with Hugh Jackman in a bubble with a tree flying through space) since the film company decided the actual dvd itself didn't need one. The direct mp3 download is here (16mg) [via].
posted by feelinglistless at 4:30 PM PST - 72 comments

101 Things I Hate About Your House Advice on how to choose safe cleaning products for the home, create chocolate dessert recipes and book reviews. No, it's not Martha Stewart, but rather, helpful tips from interior designer James Swan.
posted by CameraObscura at 2:01 PM PST - 20 comments

Tips for expressing gender in Japanese. Or, how to avoid becoming a "gaijin peto". Plus: obligatory wikage.
posted by Laugh_track at 1:43 PM PST - 76 comments

Was 1997 the new 1967? Discuss. [via]
posted by bardic at 1:17 PM PST - 110 comments

Using a $20,000 CCD camera and some new software, ground-based telescopes can now get images as good as the Hubble Telescope in many situations [some images ]. By taking many high-quality pictures quickly and taking the best parts of each, Lucky imaging compensates for atmospheric effects to produce lovely images. You can do it too, using free software and any webcam.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:50 PM PST - 13 comments

Land of the free. So long as you don't wear unapproved pants. The racist angle kind of surprised me; I would think people would be outraged on the basic principle alone.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:50 PM PST - 88 comments

A run on the bank: Ever since the Bank of England announced that they were offering Northern Rock an emergency line of credit, people have been queueing to withdraw to withdraw their money in the first bank run in the UK for decades. [more inside]
posted by pharm at 12:21 PM PST - 44 comments

Fueled by Rice - Five recent grads from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's Unviersity recently set off from Beijing to bike across Asia and Europe. The goal of their bike trip is to spread international good will on the local level and advocate reducing carbon emissions and living slower-paced, more enjoyable lives. Along the way they will bike through rural areas and play music in villages. As they travel, the group is posting photos, a blog, and will attempt to get a podcast up and running. They've even got the site up in Chinese, though the site seems to be blocked for most folks in China.
posted by pithy comment at 12:15 PM PST - 12 comments

Fantasy Stock Market Limit Break Go! A literal interpretation of fantasy stock market trading in Dungeons and Day Traders reg. req. Start with the rules and get trading in a week long mishmash of pyrolisks and porkbellies, mushrooms and margins, dragons and drawdowns...
posted by boo_radley at 10:59 AM PST - 9 comments

"That's not what we meant by the 'improving the security of the Iraqi people' benchmark." At least the Wonkette comments are humorous.
posted by spock at 10:03 AM PST - 81 comments

Mukasey Mukasey Mukasey Mukasey
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:49 AM PST - 34 comments

Incredibly expressive portraits of apes and monkeys by photographer Jill Greenberg whose pictures of crying babies raised heckles last year.
posted by Kattullus at 8:57 AM PST - 71 comments

The Face2face project. JR, an "undercover photographer", and Marco, a technology consultant, had 41 people - israelis and palestinians - mugging for the camera and plastered the huge, unavoidable pictures on both sides of the Israeli West Bank barrier, pair by pair : one israeli, one palestinian, both having similar jobs and posing in a similar fashion (+an imam, a rabbi and a christian priest). See also the trailer (YT, other videos available on the main site).
posted by elgilito at 8:56 AM PST - 15 comments

Socially conscious rap and hip hop may be making a comeback, but it seems to be doing so at the expense of stereotyping and bigotry. Videos like Read a Book (hilarious) and Serve Below Zero may be intended to send a “good” message to the black community, but it’s hard to ignore blatant racist undertones (or overtones) in the lyrics and images. [more inside]
posted by FeldBum at 8:05 AM PST - 64 comments

The first OzBus left London last night. A latter day Magic Bus, the new service will cover 15 000 miles in 12 weeks and cross 20 countries before reaching it's destination. Follow one pasenger's journey here.
posted by brautigan at 3:42 AM PST - 49 comments

Afro-Punk - The Rock n Roll Nigger Experience. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:57 AM PST - 37 comments

An espalier is a plant trained to grow flat against a wall, fence, or trellis. Developed by the Romans, they were popular in Middle Age Europe as a source of fruit in castles and monasteries because they could be grown against the keep's stone walls leaving open space unencumbered. Now they are an excellent choice for apartment and condo dwellers with small yards. For larger yards espaliers can be used as a decorative feature, to provide shade or to increase the variety of trees under cultivation. University of Florida PDF detailing the technique.
posted by Mitheral at 1:52 AM PST - 16 comments

shock doctrine at work
Fisk documents the dismantling of Iraqi culture - Klein exposes the history behind the destruction.
posted by specialk420 at 12:22 AM PST - 40 comments

Leave Jesus Alone!
posted by homunculus at 12:05 AM PST - 72 comments