Six days ago, the Chaitén volcano in Chile began a surprise eruption. So far, more than 8000 people have been evacuated, and NASA has tracked the results from space. Even more stunning however, are the images that occurred when a thunderstorm collided with the volcanic plume.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:53 AM May 8 2008 - 55 comments [51 favorites]

15 Great Examples of Web Typography. Because 95% of web design is about typography in the first place.
posted by signal at 6:46 PM May 8 2008 - 41 comments [28 favorites]

Every issue of Simplicissimus from 1896 -1944 as PDFs.
Click 'Abruf der Hefte'.
posted by Taksi Putra at 12:16 AM May 8 2008 - 16 comments [28 favorites]

"The Daily Show is no doubt entertainment, but it is entertainment, measurably, with a substantive point. It is, in its own way, another kind of No Spin Zone." The Project for Excellence in Journalism discusses what is and is not journalistic (PDF) about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:51 AM May 8 2008 - 121 comments [13 favorites]

Harmanz ha haz b bargan ahn za MMARBG Ahban Bahb [brahbazazzah ] ar zambahz. Zambahz haz AAGHZ g!bz gab azzar zambahz: a, b, g, h, m, n, r, z. Zambahz maz hab gab, za Zambahz zgrabbarh Zamgrh, a gab grh a gab bag, a grammah, n zhranzazzaz. Habganna barbaga zaarz grh za bra!nz?
posted by xthlc at 9:32 PM May 8 2008 - 29 comments [13 favorites]

Nothing signals the death of a trend like an article in the NY Times Style section. Steampunk: "The subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world..."
posted by dersins at 7:47 AM May 8 2008 - 209 comments [17 favorites]

Beyond the McIntosh. The apple whisperer of New England.
posted by veedubya at 1:39 PM May 8 2008 - 21 comments [11 favorites]

The year was 1978. The US Dollar was collapsing, inflation was beginning to surge, the American economy was on the brink of recession and many warned of the perils of easy money. Needless to say, Arthur Burns, 10th Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, had a tough job.
posted by Mutant at 4:27 AM May 8 2008 - 81 comments [26 favorites]

It turns out if it looks like a duck it's partly a duck. A bunch of scientist got together and set about to decode the platypus genome, and guess what!?! "What we found was the genome, just like the animal, is an amazing amalgam of reptilian and mammal characteristics with quite a few unique platypus characteristics as well". “You have got these reptilian repeat patterns and these more recently evolved milk genes and independent evolution of the venom. It all points to how idiosyncratic evolution is.” “We have microRNAs that are shared with chickens and not mammals as well as ones that are shared with mammals, but not chickens.” Also, apparently, male platypi have venomous spikes on their heels that can kill dogs!
posted by Large Marge at 9:09 PM May 8 2008 - 41 comments [10 favorites]

A letter from the whole world: "Dear sir, you won the internet!" And more from Patrick Alexander and his Hilarity Comics. "I want the... the Sonic. The Facebook. I'm sorry."
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 10:19 PM May 7 2008 - 20 comments [17 favorites]

Medici.tv is an online "television" dedicated to performing arts and music documentaries. Its current catalogue includes many classical concerts, documentaries by Johan van der Keuken and on the Kinshasa musical underground (previously), portraits (lots of Glenn Gould, Shostakovich by Sokurov, Maya Plisetskaya...), and plenty more. Launched April 30th, it's streaming its full contents in lovely quality for free until May 15th.
posted by progosk at 7:21 AM May 8 2008 - 8 comments [11 favorites]

Bebe Barron, 82, Pioneer of Electronic Scores, Is Dead. Best known for the soundtrack to the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet -- the first full-length feature to use only electronic music -- she and her husband Louis Barron recorded the film's pre-synthesizer "electronic tonalities" with electronic circuits of their own invention. She never scored another feature film, but remained active in the avant-garde music scene.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 4:10 PM May 8 2008 - 17 comments [8 favorites]

Patrick Dangin on the work of a photo retoucher . Make no mistake about it: in this age, even Real Beauty is fake.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:16 PM May 8 2008 - 36 comments [7 favorites]

It's Now Completely Impossible To Sell a Laptop on eBay. See also: A Few Thoughts About eBay's Decline
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:21 AM May 9 2008 - 97 comments [7 favorites]

The Heritage of the Great War
posted by anastasiav at 6:27 AM May 8 2008 - 8 comments [16 favorites]

Tom Waits Press Conference (that is all)
posted by ornate insect at 8:24 PM May 7 2008 - 78 comments [23 favorites]

UFC 75. Boucher V. Mathis. (SLYT)
posted by tkchrist at 10:02 AM May 8 2008 - 45 comments [5 favorites]

1968: Lessons Learned. Dissent Magazine examines the transcontinental legacy of one of the most tumultuous years in world history. Essays from Marshall Berman, Robin Blackburn, Mitchell Cohen, Ralf Fuecks, Vivian Gornick, Michael Kazin, Enrique Krauze, Lillian B. Rubin, Christine Stansell and Michael Walzer.
posted by amyms at 11:33 PM May 7 2008 - 42 comments [9 favorites]

The full length of Tom Davenport's "Born for Hard Luck" featuring Peg Leg Sam, the last of the great medicine show singers/dancers/musicians.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 12:37 PM May 8 2008 - 4 comments [4 favorites]

Too much traffic? Can't find parking? Choking on smog? Worried about climate change? Gas prices too high, but you still have to drive? Send your city planner a link to the Online Encyclopedia of Transportation Demand Management strategies.
posted by salvia at 9:04 PM May 8 2008 - 5 comments [4 favorites]