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"The Hole is a small triangle of land divided in half by Brooklyn and Queens, and is located west of the intersection of Linden and Conduit Boulevard. The Hole is literally a hole. It is "30 feet below grade," according to the NY Times, sunken down from the busy roads around it. The neighborhood floods often and is only a few feet above the water table, so its homes are "not incorporated into the city sewer system. They all have cesspools," according to the NY Times. Streets are threatened by reedy marshes, and many residents keep a boat parked in the driveway." It's also home to some stables used by the Federation of Black Cowboys. Brooklyn's Lost Neighborhood [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:51 PM PST - 37 comments

How to Buy a Daughter: Choosing the sex of your baby has become a multimillion dollar industry "Gender selection now rakes in revenues of at least $100 million every year. The average cost of a gender selection procedure at high-profile clinics is about $18,000, and an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 procedures are performed every year. Fertility doctors foresee an explosion in sex-selection procedures on the horizon, as couples become accustomed to the idea that they can pay to beget children of the gender they prefer... Much of the evidence that Americans preferentially choose girls is anecdotal, as no larger body tracks gender selection procedures. But data from Google show that “how to have a girl” is searched three times as often in the United States as “how to have a boy.” Many fertility doctors say that girls are the goal for 80 percent of gender selection patients. A study published in 2009 by the online journal Reproductive Biomedicine Online found Caucasian-Americans preferentially select females through PGD 70 percent of the time. Those of Indian or Chinese descent largely chose boys."
posted by bookman117 at 10:57 PM PST - 222 comments

Like Thief or System Shock 2 but have trouble running them on a modern computer?
A user over at the French-language Ariane Thief forums has uploaded a pair of unofficial patches that not only allow the games to run well on modern hardware, but also update the games' underlying Dark Engine to greatly improve graphics.
So far, Kotaku has a short write-up on the patch but otherwise this is still breaking news. Dedicated Thief fans at TTLG are currently putting the release through its paces to see what the updated engine is capable of.

Thief 2 v.1.19 patch (apparently also supports Thief 1) - Thief 2 HD Patched Demo
System Shock 2 patch - SS2 HD Patched Demo

(Thiefy stuff previously, previouslier.)
posted by dunkadunc at 9:12 PM PST - 65 comments

If you think cam girls—those flirty naked characters that plague porn site pop-up ads—are raking in easy money, you're right. If you think cam girls are bleakly stripping online out of desperation, you're also right. Peel away the sex and pixels and money and you're left with the cloudy truth about the Internet's relationship status with these on-demand entertainers: it's complicated..
posted by latkes at 8:37 PM PST - 30 comments

Thousands of drug-related convictions in Massachusetts may be challenged as investigators learn more about improper evidence handling and testing at a Department of Public Health laboratory. Over 50,000 samples related to 34,000 convictions were tested by a single chemist at the lab, who is alleged to have violated multiple laboratory protocols. Governor Deval Patrick's office has identified 1,141 inmates currently serving time in Massachusetts whose convictions may be affected by the investigation. [more inside]
posted by catlet at 8:03 PM PST - 36 comments

Celeste doodles grown-up versions of characters from Hey Arnold, Rugrats, and Recess - most of them going into the arts, alt lifestyles, or hipsterdom.
posted by divabat at 7:14 PM PST - 25 comments

How did space travel turned into an office park when it was sold as being a unique adventure?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:18 PM PST - 49 comments

"It's like 'Carrie' with a happy ending."
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 4:16 PM PST - 67 comments

Ever heard of the Jewett City Vampires? Sure, you know about Salem and its witches, but New Englanders also went through several vampire panics that come far closer to the present than any Salem shenanigans. But who were the real people behind the modern legends? One common thread in the American myths: Tuberculosis (PDF).
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:37 PM PST - 10 comments

Just in time for election season, royalty-free music site firstcom has released a playlist of music for attack ads. You can choose the dramatic "Negative Vibes," the dual-mood "Compared to What's His Name," the dark "He's a Sneaky One" or the anthemic "Better Days Ahead." Firstcom also has playlists for pirates, extreme weather and science and technology.
posted by Clustercuss at 3:32 PM PST - 12 comments

A comet has been discovered and we may get to see it. If it doesn't boil away first, we'll be able to see it November 29th, 2013, give or take a day. Lots of back-slapping on the comet email list. (Via.)
posted by univac at 3:20 PM PST - 30 comments

Fifty-five years ago this month, nine black students attempted to integrate Little Rock Central High School. [more inside]
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:17 PM PST - 11 comments

It's The Princess Bride's 25th anniversary! Little known facts about it. Fred Savage remembers. Why it's Jonathan Haynes's favorite film. Reunion. And don't worry, there's no remake in the works.
posted by Artw at 3:11 PM PST - 160 comments

Agustin is a Honduran shoemaker. Stricken with polio in his youth, he has spent more than 50 years creating something incredible. (SLVIMEO)
posted by Isosceles at 3:09 PM PST - 21 comments

England 3,000 years ago was already as suburban as the outskirts of Basildon.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:33 PM PST - 32 comments

eXtreme Deep Field (1.4 MB JPG) is the deepest-ever view of the universe - a new assemblage of 10 years of Hubble Space Telescope photographs focused on a small area at the center of the original Ultra Deep Field. With a cumulative exposure time of 2 million seconds, XDF shows approximately 5,500 galaxies - some of them 10 billion times too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
posted by Egg Shen at 2:17 PM PST - 64 comments

"The Mexican drug cartels are at war... with Mormons. VICE founder Shane Smith went down to Ciudad Juárez, near the US border, to investigate this story ... filled with guns, drugs, murder, and Romneys." [more inside]
posted by empath at 1:31 PM PST - 34 comments

A Scott Pilgrim themed trip to Toronto, followed by a surprise (single-link photo album).
posted by jb at 1:28 PM PST - 29 comments

"The Justice Department estimates that more than 209,400 people are sexually abused in US detention every year… A great deal has been learned about this over the past few years. The [Prison Rape Elimination Act] legislation, which charged the [Bureau of Justice Statistics] with undertaking annual statistical analyses of the problem that have proved indispensable, also created a body called the Review Panel on Prison Rape.… A commission charged with issuing recommendations didn’t do so until six years after the bill’s passage; then Attorney General Eric Holder missed by nearly two years the statutory deadline for promulgating them. But the standards that Holder’s Department of Justice finally did issue are very strong."
posted by the mad poster! at 1:23 PM PST - 56 comments

Research In Motion really, really, really wants developers to stick with them until they launch Blackberry 10. Really. [more inside]
posted by oulipian at 1:10 PM PST - 59 comments

Living Under Drones: Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices in Pakistan. An extensive new study (PDF) by human rights lawyers from Stanford and NYU examines the impact of drone strikes on civilians in Pakistan, including the strategic effectiveness of the policy as well as the psychological impact on those living in constant fear that they might come under attack. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 1:09 PM PST - 47 comments

Over the last forty years, many young women – most of them indigenous – have been murdered or gone missing along northern British Columbia's Highway 16, now nationally known as the Highway of Tears. Nobody knows just how many have disappeared: estimates range between a handful and hundreds. Their families have spent decades fighting institutional racism and governmental bureaucracy in a tragic tale that has seen no conclusion. Since 2007, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police have been investigating eighteen of these cases as part of Project E-Pana. Today, the RCMP announced its first major development: the death of Colleen MacMillen, who disappeared in 1974, has been linked to American serial killer Bobby Jack Fowler, who died in an Oregon prison in 2006. Previously on MeFi.
posted by avocet at 12:23 PM PST - 19 comments

Gregory Barsamian is a sculptor who creates three-dimensional objects, fixes them to arms radiating from a center point, and then spins the whole creation in a darkened room, lit only by a strobe light. The result is something akin to a 3D flip book. [more inside]
posted by 4ster at 11:35 AM PST - 18 comments

“What Exactly Does a Dramaturg Do?”
posted by shivohum at 11:21 AM PST - 50 comments

Over the weekend, the cast of Full House (minus the Olsen twins) attended their 25 year reunion. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:12 AM PST - 85 comments

Why does some cave art feature animals with multiple limbs and heads? French and Finnish researchers claim that prehistoric man was deliberately creating animated art, with the animals appearing to move in flickering torch or fire light.
posted by Wordshore at 11:07 AM PST - 29 comments

Former MTV State member Ken Marino will make you fall in love with him all over again! Did you love The State on MTV? More recent collaborations like Reno 911? The Ten? Party Down? Adult Swim's Children's Hospital? You may enjoy the Yahoo web series Burning Love, a pitch-perfect parody of reality shows like The Bachelor, but with so much more DRAMA! Narcissism! Alcoholism! Sexuality! Crazy eyes! Homelessness! Pantslessness! [more inside]
posted by Queen of Spreadable Fats at 11:06 AM PST - 26 comments

They're best known for one song: I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), as featured in Benny and Joon in 1993, and though the identical twin brothers faded from the public eye in the US, 500 Miles was lovingly parodied by Homer Simpson in 2001, and the brothers appeared on Family Guy in 2006. That song was featured in Comic Relief 2007, and that rendition was the number 1 song in the UK for three weeks. Given this focus on a single song that was first released in 1988, you might want mark The Proclaimers as a one-hit wonder and leave it at that. But David Pollock, writing for The Guardian, wants you to reconsider: The Proclaimers are a lot better than you probably remember. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:03 AM PST - 73 comments

Now that the NHL Lockout is fully upon us, some have wondered what NHL fans should do with their unmoored fandom. They have missed a greater conundrum: what are the listless captains of the NHL going to do with their pent-up energies? The Classical's Chris Collision has delved into the lockout activities of every NHL captain, from Jonathan Toews's train nightmares to Shane Doan's fedora delivery service and Joetho Rnton's abdication of his rule of the Gatlatian Smatet: Part 1, Part 2.
posted by Copronymus at 9:39 AM PST - 20 comments

Chicago's WBEZ has created an interactive map of the city and where its various gangs operate, using data provided by the Chicago Police Department. Chicagoist considers the map and its implications while Progress Illinois discusses the changing nature of gang violence.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:19 AM PST - 48 comments

An opinion column: Why do Russians hate ice? (SLNYT)
posted by Nomyte at 9:09 AM PST - 81 comments

Starting with a bracket for every letter of the alphabet, a bracket suggested by readers and a "Fuck" play-in bracket, blogger Ted McCagg just finished a contest for the Best Word Ever. In the running were Umpteen, Eke, Isthmus, Skedaddle and Akimbo. The Final Four. The finals. The champion. [Via The Paris Review & Kottke.]
posted by mediareport at 8:54 AM PST - 68 comments

The great naturalist Aldo Leopold took detailed notes in his journals every morning before sunrise, logging the birds he heard calling on his farm in rural Wisconsin. Now, using journals from the Aldo Leopold archives, and bird calls from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, researchers at UW-Madison have replicated what Aldo Leopold would have heard one morning on his farm in the 1940s autoplays bird calls.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:55 AM PST - 24 comments

The World of C86 showcases the bright, abstracted artwork of Matt Lyon. [more inside]
posted by Mizu at 4:17 AM PST - 12 comments

The tragedy of climate change: the UK Pig Association is warning that due to droughts causing high pig food prices, a global bacon shortage is now unavoidable.
posted by unSane at 3:47 AM PST - 108 comments

Joe Arridy didn't ask for a last meal. It's doubtful that he even understood the concept.

An article (one page print version) in Denver Westword News by Alan Prendergast recounts the life of Joe Arridy (1915 - 1939), his conviction and execution and Robert Perske's later investigation of the case. Perske has documented many cases of innocent people with mental disabilities being coerced into confessions, and he considers the case of Joe Arridy the most telling. [more inside]
posted by tykky at 1:50 AM PST - 19 comments