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Dude-a-day: 365 Days of Dudes - October 2008 through October 2009.
posted by boo_radley at 12:35 PM - 27 comments

"The brief was simple: to build a house to retire to in order to grow food, entertain and enjoy the East Anglia landscape. The outcome was as unconventional as they come. A structure that has the ability to vary or connect the overall building's composition and character according to season, weather or simply a desire to delight. Wallpaper* took a trip to the site to capture the physical phenomenon in the only medium that serves it justice - film." via
posted by Knappster at 12:34 PM - 15 comments

Though not usually made official (well, except for Texas*, which designated chili as its official dish in 1977), most countries have a generally acknowledged national dish that represents its history, culture, flora and fauna.**

For Aruba and Curacao: Keshi yena, a stuffed cheese. [more inside]
posted by mudpuppie at 12:17 PM - 17 comments

Another camera-on-conveyor incident rocks Sushi-loving Japan.
Previously
posted by Mwongozi at 11:34 AM - 112 comments

West 'uses Tibet to attack China'. Against a background of Chinese authorities denying police had shot a young Tibetan monk who tried to set himself on fire, China has issued Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet. For a little background: FACTBOX - Historical ties between China and Tibet. [more inside]
posted by shetterly at 10:57 AM - 33 comments

Conspicuous Combustion: since May 2007, 292 luxury cars have been burned in Berlin. A simple Google Map at brennende-autos.de ("Burning Cars") charts the date, model, and location of each.
posted by anotherpanacea at 9:45 AM - 66 comments

Reproduction Cycle Among Unicellular Life Forms Under the Rocks Of Mars A 9-minute claymation exploration of the various reproductive stages of the Martian peenworm, so crucial to our nuclear beer and the Martian war. [Some monster nudity, simulated stop-motion sex] [via] [more inside]
posted by mediareport at 9:18 AM - 15 comments

Irish poet and writer Christopher Nolan died on the 20 Feb. Nolan was born with cerebral palsy, and typed using a 'unicorn stick' attached to his head. Nolan has never spoken, yet his poetry has been compared to that of Joyce, Keats, and Yeats. [more inside]
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 8:17 AM - 27 comments

Scott Summit, a self-anointed solution engineer and life hacker, shows you how to beat the traffic system at its own game.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 5:46 AM - 42 comments

The notorious torrent tracker The Pirate Bay was originally established with the support of Carl Lundström, who continues to hold a significant stake in the enterprise and support it financially. Carl Lundström is also a supporter of far-right anti-immigrant parties and was allegedly involved in an violent attack against three Latin Americans. Now a well known online computer magazine suggests that geek sympathies for The Pirate Bay have kept reporters from covering this issue. Wired's coverage only says that Lundström's detractors point to a past in nationalist politics. The Pirate Bay's defenders dismiss the questions as being nothing more than a slur, but the attacks and defense beg a fundamental question: can the views of a financial supporter taint an otherwise neutral organisation?
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:50 AM - 86 comments

They call themselves Visual Journalists. Prime among them is the Bombay Flying Club, a group of photo-journalists who are using the latest web and flash technologies to frame their online news gathering and documentary storytelling. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 9:45 PM - 19 comments

The Essence of Line is a collection of over 900 drawings by French artists "from Ingres to Degas" by the Baltimore Museum of Art. I'd link to some highlights but the site did such a stellar job of it that I'll just direct you there. They also have some sketchbooks. Note that some of the drawings have short essays about them. As a related link, here is the famous Demonographia, with drawings of demons by Louis Breton and descriptions by Collin de Plancy.
posted by Kattullus at 9:39 PM - 7 comments

The French UMP party are being sued by the duo MGMT over the use of their song Kids. UMP paid a standard €53 fee to France's music licensing body, but MGMT's lawyer Isabelle Wekstein says that this was not enough to cover subsequent uses of the song, particularly on the Web. UMP has admitted using it, but said it was a mistake and has offered a symbolic gesture of one euro (£0.89). The story is getting more coverage as the UMP has been pushing hard for a 'three strikes law' that would banish pirates from the Internet after two ignored warnings, which may be close to passage in the French National Assembly.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:34 PM - 14 comments

Vitaly S Alexius, a Siberian born artist living in Canada, creates some gorgeous digital and traditional art, mostly with a sci-fi or fantasy, vaguely post-apocalyptic theme. He is also a remarkable photographer.
posted by Caduceus at 8:50 PM - 29 comments

You strike up a conversation with someone you don't know, and you're getting on OK, and then suddenly, without warning, you hear the five words that mean the relationship has no future beyond the time it takes to say them: “I think you'll like it.” via 3quarksdaily [more inside]
posted by cgc373 at 7:43 PM - 108 comments

USA Night Flight presents Dynaman. 1980s. "Plot -- The Jashinka empire (Combination of the Japanese words for 'evil,' (Jashin) and 'evolution' (Shinka) as an English Word as evilution ) rises from the depths of the Earth to conquer the world. To stop them, Dr. Yumeno assembles five inventors to his laboratory, Yumeno Invention Laboratory and gives them the power to become Dynamen. Each member has their own goal, but as the Scientific Squadron Dynaman, they are united to stop the Jashinka empire in their tracks." There is also a flying octopus.
posted by vronsky at 7:00 PM - 18 comments

Homophobia is still alive and well in... San Francisco?! The DNA Lounge, the high-tech nightclub of former Mozilla/Netscape wunderkind Jamie Zawinski, has apparently run afoul of the local Alcohol Beverage Control board. In 2008, during a period of time when the DNA Lounge -- with SFPD and neighborhood approval -- successfully appealed an ABC decision blocking the club from offering all-ages live music, the ABC sent agents into the club during their GLBT nights, and are now trying to shut the club down for "lewdness", "discrimination", and "running a disorderly house injurious to the public welfare and morals".(NSFW!) The DNA is determined not to go quietly into this goodnight.
posted by markkraft at 7:00 PM - 36 comments

The Nano Song. Teaching the wonders of nanotechnology to puppets. This is one of the submissions to the NanoTube Contest. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 6:50 PM - 13 comments

Classic game characters redrawn
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:25 PM - 35 comments

Just like your grandma, Jason Belmonte bowls with two hands but unlike your grandma he bowls 300s [more inside]
posted by BrnP84 at 6:20 PM - 16 comments

I'll tell you one thing: if I was in London, I'd mosey on over to the Kinetica Art Fair. It looks like fun.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:07 PM - 15 comments

Warren Buffett recently released his annual letter to investers (for 2008). [more inside]
posted by jourman2 at 3:01 PM - 41 comments

the doyouinverts sings songs about old friends who don't play videogames anymore, Edge Magazine's scoring system and a love song to an imported Japanese videogame. They are a regular feature on British videogame radio show/podcast One Life Left.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 2:33 PM - 4 comments

Viking Defense. Another tower defense game, with a few interesting twists. And, of course, Vikings.
posted by EarBucket at 11:47 AM - 32 comments

Variations in normal human genitalia. All links NSFW. Breasts (of women who have not given birth; of women who have), vulvae, and penises. Previously, erection photos. [more inside]
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 9:04 AM - 233 comments

A few years ago, we had "Peanuts Meets Marvel." In another thread, someone name-checked Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown. The Web currently brings us Peanuts characters anime-style, a la Jack Kirby, by way of Family Guy and as seen on The Simpsons. (See also this pessimistic vision of a grown-up relationship between Charlie Brown and the Red-Haired Girl.)
posted by GrammarMoses at 8:10 AM - 29 comments

Note, too, that “interesting” first appears just two years after “bore.” 1768. Mark this, two years after. Can this be so? From "The Pale King," David Foster Wallace's last, unfinished novel, parts of which, it turns out, we have already seen.
posted by oldleada at 6:16 AM - 21 comments

Twelve Angry Lebanese - inmates from Lebanon's infamous Roumieh Prison are putting on an adaptation of Twelve Angry Men - to stunning reviews. [more inside]
posted by ruelle at 6:08 AM - 7 comments

Science fiction stories in six words. Some by well known scifi authors. Click "Previous Articles" for earlier stories. For me, A.S. Byatt's is most haunting. A sub-genre of "Six Word Stories".
posted by orthogonality at 12:57 AM - 214 comments

While lobbyists line up to torpedo Obama's proposals, and while John Bolton dreams about nuking Chicago, it has been revealed that CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli's recent, supposedly spontaneous on-air outburst against Obama, was most likely a fake-news stunt coordinated by right wing PR operatives. (last link to a Playboy article, but it's SFW) [more inside]
posted by ornate insect at 12:45 AM - 66 comments

American customers “demand soft and comfortable, recycled fiber cannot do it.” [more inside]
posted by IvoShandor at 11:52 PM - 70 comments

A recent study [PDF] conducted by Benjamin Edelman (Harvard Business School) found that conservative and religious states consume the most online porn. "The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1,000 home broadband users....Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election..." [more inside]
posted by ericb at 9:42 PM - 67 comments

Meta-efficiency is the analysis of efficiency at a more comprehensive level. Metaefficient Review assesses products considering not only their energy efficiency but also the embodied energy, toxicity, affordability, and usability. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 9:01 PM - 4 comments

Sufficiently usable read/write platforms will attract porn and activists. If there's no porn, the tool doesn't work. If there's no activists, it doesn't work well.
Some interesting commentary from an early employee of Tripod. Systems designed for the sharing of cute cats and other banal user-generated content will inevitably attract political activists, provided they work well enough.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 8:09 PM - 18 comments

What if you were one of the Rohingya people, and you faced death in trying to escape, or were expelled from your Homeland. Would you wait for others to help, or would you try and do it yourself...
posted by hadjiboy at 7:18 PM - 6 comments

The Armadillo (with audio) by Elizabeth Bishop + Lantern Festival"... between the kite sticks of the Southern Cross, receding, dwindling, solemnly and steadily forsaking us, or, in the downdraft from a peak, suddenly turning dangerous. Last night another big one fell. It splattered like an egg of fire against the cliff behind the house. The flame ran down. We saw the pair of owls who nest there flying up and up, their whirling black-and-white stained bright pink underneath, until they shrieked up out of sight. The ancient owls' nest must have burned. Hastily, all alone, a glistening armadillo left the scene, rose-flecked, head down, tail down, and then a baby rabbit jumped out, short-eared, to our surprise. So soft!—a handful of intangible ash with fixed, ignited eyes. Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry! O falling fire and piercing cry and panic, and a weak mailed fist clenched ignorant against the sky!"
posted by vronsky at 6:02 PM - 9 comments

Paul Harvey 1918 - 2009. At 7:30 PM the Paul Harvey site looked like this. Now if looks like this. (via) [more inside]
posted by cjorgensen at 5:48 PM - 101 comments

15 year old girl in holding cell beaten by Seattle Cop Caught on Camera. 15 year old girl in holding cell beaten by Seattle Cop. Not surprisingly the cop's lawyer didn't want this video published.
posted by ginky at 4:16 PM - 154 comments

Urban legend has it that the province of Saskatchewan, Canada appeared in red in some 1950's American social studies textbooks, along with other "communist" countries such as Russia, China and Cuba. It is true that Saskatchewan's "natural governing party", the socialistic New Democratic Party have held power in the province for 47 of the last 65 years. And it's true that the NDP's most famous leader (and Canada's Greatest Canadian), Tommy Douglas, brought universal healthcare to the province, an achievement which paved the way for it to come to the rest of Canada. But now, after suffering their worst defeat in 20 years, Saskatchewan's New Democratic Party is searching for a new leader... [more inside]
posted by Jaybo at 4:13 PM - 20 comments

Japanese voice actresses cover legendary punk songs (SLYT)
posted by MegoSteve at 3:56 PM - 44 comments

Egg Timer. Instructions here, not that you need any.
posted by william_boot at 3:27 PM - 40 comments

His name is Ugly Bat Boy, and no, there's nothing wrong with him. He's perfectly normal.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 1:55 PM - 47 comments

Scans_daily is was a LiveJournal community specializing in posting scans of comic books, both older and current ones. On Friday night, however, the community got suspended, allegedly because comics author Peter David complained that one of his books was posted to it (David denies this in the linked blog post.) Regulars at scans_daily are outraged that the community has been shut down, claiming that the ability for people to "try before they buy" encouraged readers to buy more comics. Other comics fans are not so kind and cite that, for better or worse, the community was knowingly violating copyright. The community has resurfaced and is at least discussing what changes should be made to avoid this "unpleasantness" in the future and make the community more "copyright friendly". We've seen these issues come up with movies, games, and music; now it's comic books' turn to try to figure out what to do about the internet and digital technology.
posted by Legomancer at 1:55 PM - 48 comments

Herod's Temple, originally an expansion on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Now a retired farmer has spent 30 years building a scale model of it
posted by Deflagro at 1:29 PM - 34 comments

The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is an astounding collection of historical material on mathematics, especially biographies. (Previously: 1 2 3 4.)
posted by parudox at 12:47 PM - 5 comments

China hits back at US criticism on human rights After the US needles China with human rights criticism, China responds with Human Rights Record of United States in 2008. From its preface: "As in previous years, the [United States'] reports are full of accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but mention nothing of the widespread human rights abuses on its own territory."
posted by shetterly at 11:31 AM - 76 comments

It seems that there is a large DDoS attack targeting Time Warner's DNS servers in Southern California. JeffTWC's latest statement. A solution for those affected? [more inside]
posted by wayofthedodo at 9:42 AM - 46 comments

Hate Group Numbers Up By 54% Since 2000 according to Southern Poverty Law Center. Glen Beck thoughtfully wonders about the coming civil unrest (that he'll be stoking from the sidelines) And Sean Hannity takes down a poll on his forum about "What kind of revolution appeals most to you?" [more inside]
posted by nola at 9:23 AM - 74 comments

In a recent report for the Abell Foundation, University of Maryland Criminologist Peter Reuter asks whether, in light of the evidence from Switzerland, The Netherlands and elsewhere, Baltimore might not be the best place to try the first US heroin maintenance programme?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:14 AM - 17 comments

The OMB has a blog (feed) -- Peter Orszag started one at CBO (still going under Douglas Elmendorf née Bob Sunshine) and carried blogging over to the White House. The Atlanta Fed has one too (not to be confused with Macro Man). David Altig unofficially began it as an economist at the Cleveland Fed and then, when he became research director in Atlanta, made it official (altho still hosted on TypePad). Are there any other (federal/state/local/non-US) worthwhile government blogs (wikis sure) out there from our shiny new iPod gov't? cf. DoD live (check out the other service blogs, e.g.)/air force live & USAgov on twitter
posted by kliuless at 8:32 AM - 5 comments