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Against Pandas: "Pandas are endangered because they are utterly incompetent... Pandas are badly designed, undersexed, overpaid and overprotected. They went up an evolutionary cul-de-sac and it is too late to reverse."
posted by kliuless at 10:50 AM - 53 comments

Net neutrality hurts consumers, and Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) gets it completely: "I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?" Huh? Enlightening audio of the entire Jabberwocky-esque speech here, as he "explains" why he voted against a proposal that would have required broadband providers to give their competitors the same speeds and quality of service as they give to themselves or their partners.
posted by youarenothere at 9:32 AM - 72 comments

The Jackie Robinson of architecture. An orphaned African American boy from downtown Los Angeles, Paul Revere Williams wanted to be an architect, and when he mentioned his career goal the high school guidance counselor ”stared at me with as much astonishment as he would have had I proposed a rocket flight to Mars... Whoever heard of a Negro being an architect?”. Therefore, Williams learned to read and draw upside down -- he knew that white clients would not sit next to him -- graduated from USC and in 1924 became the first certified African American architect west of the Mississippi. In a 50-year long extraordinary career, he designed landmarks like the Theme restaurant at Los Angeles International Airport (with Welton Becket), the LA County Courthouse, the Hollywood YMCA, Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, restored the Beverly Hills Hotel. Some of his most interesting buildings, like the La Concha Motel in Las Vegas have either been razed to the ground or, like the "Batman house", aka 160 S San Rafael mansion in Pasadena, have been destroyed by fire. Now, Williams' historic Morris Landau House has been cut into 21 separate pieces and sits in a Santa Clarita storage yard, rotting away. More inside.
posted by matteo at 9:25 AM - 25 comments

Llama Drill Team. Yes, it's true. Every June at the Maine Fiber Frolic, which takes place over a full weekend at the Windsor Fairgrounds on Rt. 32, a cadre of camelids and their handlers (who range in age from grade-schoolers to retirees) perform carefully choreographed routines. According to news reports, music for this year's program included marches by John Philip Sousa and Elton John and Tim Rice's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" (Photos here, here and here.) But Maine isn't the only place you can catch one of these barnyard extravaganzas. Ohio's well-known "All-Star Llama Drill Team" (established in the mid-1990s) are a fixture at the Buckeye State's 17-day state fair, which also features a llama costume contest and a llama obstacle course. What's more, the troupe has traveled around the Midwest to perform at, for example, a camelid convention in Minnesota. [more inside]
posted by GrammarMoses at 8:48 AM - 7 comments

freedb.org is closing down. After the main developers quit yesterday, freedb will shut down "in the forseeable future".
posted by scruss at 8:18 AM - 27 comments

Nature has a somewhat technical but free supplement on stem cells (alongwith a podcast and related blog).
posted by Gyan at 8:12 AM - 6 comments

A fairly comprehensive tour of what's left of the historic Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
posted by loquacious at 7:04 AM - 4 comments

Inside the Pentagon, senior commanders have increasingly challenged the President’s plans, according to active-duty and retired officers and officials. The generals and admirals have told the Administration that the bombing campaign will probably not succeed in destroying Iran’s nuclear program. They have also warned that an attack could lead to serious economic, political, and military consequences for the United States. A crucial issue in the military’s dissent, the officers said, is the fact that American and European intelligence agencies have not found specific evidence of clandestine activities or hidden facilities; the war planners are not sure what to hit. “The target array in Iran is huge, but it’s amorphous,” a high-ranking general told me. “The question we face is, When does innocent infrastructure evolve into something nefarious?” The high-ranking general added that the military’s experience in Iraq, where intelligence on weapons of mass destruction was deeply flawed, has affected its approach to Iran. “We built this big monster with Iraq, and there was nothing there. This is son of Iraq,” he said.

The Last Stand
See also Iran: war by October?
See also The countdown to war
See also Iran: Consequences Of A War
posted by y2karl at 6:47 AM - 62 comments

Best designed stuff of '06. The Industrial Design Excellence Awards. Winners include the 2 second tent, a new coffin and the hover creeper. Want more design? See what shaking in ecodesign, gadgetry, or concept cars. Perhaps you just want to know what's cool or what those crafty Germans are up to. Then again, maybe it's all just too much to handle.
posted by cubby at 4:48 AM - 22 comments

A video broadcast of György Ligeti's Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes (AVI, French), with helpful background on the controversial piece located here. For those who know French, you may also be interested in 1993's György Ligeti: Portrait, A Documentary by Michel Follin, showing Ligeti as "the displaced cosmopolitan", through the metaphor of train ride through the European countryside. These and many other avant-garde films can be found at Ubuweb, including features with William Burroughs, a recent "performance" of Cage's 4'33", and Varése and Le Corbusier's 1958 World Fair collaboration Poême électronique, a 400-speaker soundspace installation predating later, more experimental feedback pieces.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:56 AM - 14 comments

Why Vegetarians should be force fed lard
posted by Mutant at 2:32 AM - 77 comments

Project Aon is the internet-based revival of the Lone Wolf series of fantasy gamebooks, first published in 1984 and now in the process of being released online (with the authour's blessing); also available is an atlas, colouring book, and graphic novel. There is also a new traditional RPG being published in dead-tree form.
posted by DataPacRat at 2:21 AM - 18 comments

Invasion of the digg-alikes - if you like advertising, see marktd or adveracio.us . If you fancy brainy stuff see braindigg. If you like to spy on blogs there's blinklist and blogniscent. There's even a chinese digg. If none if these tempt you build your own digg-clone. [a lot via]
posted by dabitch at 2:20 AM - 11 comments

"We take clowns breaking into a nuclear facility serious in McLean County."
posted by Smedleyman at 1:31 AM - 11 comments

"Doctor, it hurts when I do that." Doctors and patients agree - doctors are lousy when it comes to recognizing, diagnosing and treating pain. The AMA developed this free Continuing Medical Education tool (requires Flash) to help docs learn and understand how to deal with pain - but other folks, folks who are now in pain or might someday be in pain, might find it quite interesting as well. All docs in California have to complete this seminar or a similar one by the end of 2006 to get relicensed; the hope is that this will help the docs and the patients who have to deal with pain on a daily basis.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:32 PM - 24 comments

Dallasfood.org is home to some excellent food journalism. The author mostly reviews BBQ joints around the Dallas area. There are some additional features, such as the (currently in-progress) review of 50 chicken-fried steaks, counted down from worst to best.
posted by rxrfrx at 9:27 PM - 9 comments

MIT SIMILE Timeline — a unique AJAX-based scheduling manager with a unique Google Maps-like graphical interface
posted by Mr. Six at 8:20 PM - 16 comments

The Information Machine, [YouTube]. This short animated film was written, produced and directed by Charles and Ray Eames for the IBM Pavillion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair [embedded sound]. Animation by Dolores Cannata. The topic is the computer in the context of human development.
posted by nickyskye at 8:20 PM - 6 comments

The problem with public restrooms; a monologue for both men and women. [Flash animation; no pun intended].
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:40 PM - 22 comments

Heard of Alasdair Gray? He's a legendary Scottish author/artist. He's 72. He wrote the astonishing Lanark. And now he's got his own blog. Where he's giving away a new play. So you can "re-write it in a dialect or language" you prefer, and "give it a different title and announce that the version is based upon my play."
posted by ascullion at 3:38 PM - 13 comments

I found ljc while researching bamboo fencing for the backyard. She's got loads of kickass DIY home improvement projects and it's so well documented that I want to cash in my 401k and blow it all at Home Depot.
posted by pieoverdone at 3:37 PM - 12 comments

The Strippy Tickle Putting the "ick" back in comics; daily remixing of stodgy syndicated comic strips. [via mefi projects]
posted by sveskemus at 2:53 PM - 22 comments

Strange Statues From Around the World
posted by IndigoJones at 11:33 AM - 40 comments

The Phrontistery presents A Compendium of Lost Words
posted by anastasiav at 10:07 AM - 14 comments

101 "Crackerjacks". The best sea books.
posted by stbalbach at 8:06 AM - 17 comments

Good bathroom reading. A book of photos has been published. The theme of the photos is public urination. Apparently, this is art, but not in China. More dribbles here and here. Oh, and the book also has an interview with good ol' Annie Sprinkle.
posted by scratch at 7:52 AM - 18 comments

Fsaturday Flash Fun: Farm Hustle. Line up the cutesy critters in rows or columns of three or more; speed up the process with bombs. Advance levels by turning every square white.
posted by Gator at 7:24 AM - 13 comments

The Mexican General Elections are held tomorrow, and the campaign has been extremely fierce and dirty. Long-time favorite center-leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, who had been running with an up to 10 percentage point lead earlier this spring, is down to a 2-3 percentage point lead in the last polls before the poll blackout started on the 23rd of June. His main opponent is Felipe Calderón, of the right-wing National Action Party, whose Vicente Fox, an ex-executive of the Coca-Cola company, is the current president. But attacks against López Obrador started several years ago, when he was the head of government in Mexico City, as right-wing interests and the upper classes saw his populist rhetoric and support from the huge lower classes as a threat to their privilege and way of life. They compare him to Castro, Chavez and Morales, while his politics may in reality be closer to those of Kirchner, Lula, Vázquez and Bachelet. López Obrador has accused Calderón of corruption and nepotism, while Calderón has declared López Obrador a danger to Mexico. Meanwhile, the US would much prefer a right-wing president in Mexico, and some track that to the right wing's willingness to privatize the national oil monopoly, and of course, most of Latin America has been turning left lately.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:53 AM - 15 comments

Request anything and this guy will draw it.
posted by johndog at 3:34 AM - 22 comments

Is Keith Ellison liberal enough? Ellison is currently the representative from Minnesota district 58B. Now, he's the DFL's candidate to replace outgoing DFLer Martin Olav Sabo as representative for Minnesota's 5th district in the US House. Ellison got the nomination pretty easily. If he wins, he'd be the first Muslim in the House of Representatives.

Some people are worried about him, though. He's apparently had links to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, but it's mostly only conservatives pointing that out. A better question might be, Is he liberal enough for Minnesota's 5th district? The Fifth District (located in Minneapolis and the western suburbs) has traditionally been a very strong Democratic stronghold. Ellison will probably have little trouble defeating his opponents (who were they again?), so the question for liberals in his district is: Is he liberal enough? One of the few opportunities for liberals to get someone who really goes the whole nine yards -- so does he?
posted by jiawen at 2:03 AM - 16 comments

90 years ago today, whistles blew around the river Somme in France as British troops prepared for an attack on German trenches. By the end of the day they had suffered 57,470 casualties. By the battle's end in November, there were over 600,000 Allied casualties, with perhaps the same number of German casualties. The Imperial War Museum has launched an online exhibition, where you can find out more about how the battle was planned, personal stories of those involved, and myths about the attack. Elsewhere you can find copies of Army reports on the first day, look at film of the attack, diaries and letters home from the troops, go on tours of the trenches, listen to contemporary songs and music inspired by the battle, and see some more modern responses.
posted by greycap at 12:54 AM - 38 comments

Switched on Game Boy (zip of mp3's) by Pharmacom , released on 20kbps rec. Wendy Carlos, beware.
posted by bigmusic at 11:17 PM - 9 comments

Shuttle crew faces 1-in-100 chance of dying. "Discovery astronaut Mike Fossum described how his family is dealing with the risk: 'I have to look my wife in the eye. ... We've had those discussions. It's not one she is really comfortable with. It's not one anybody really is.' " Launch decision ignores advice of safety officer and engineer. Vaya con Dios, Discovery.
posted by paulsc at 10:02 PM - 51 comments

It's not your grandfather's Bazooka Joe. The ol' reliable chewing-gum icon gets hipsterized and multicultified, with a new DJ buddy and an African-American nerd sidekick. The classic pink mouth-filling wad in the goofy wrapper has also been reformulated, apparently. Note that it's not the first time Joe has tried to be down with teh youth, with decidedly mixed results. Next up for Bazooka Janes in Japan: gum that enhances your bustline. (Bazooka Joe previously chewed over here.)
posted by digaman at 8:42 PM - 20 comments

Ask A Ninja. Have a question? Now you know who to ask. What is Podcasting? What's it like being a Ninja? How can we save the Internet? Do you want to come over and watch some Merchant Ivory films with me? Oh, and the theme song is pretty catchy too. Lots of embedded flash, with links to download or subscribe as well
posted by JZig at 8:13 PM - 11 comments

Andre's NES Emulator — play the classics online
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:09 PM - 16 comments

Burned: a photoset on Flickr "In 2001 I met a burn survivor who allowed me to photograph her. She told me that she wanted to be photographed so that people could stare at her without feeling embarrassed. It was such an extraordinary experience that a few months later I flew to a burn conference and set up a makeshift studio in a hotel room, and asked people to let me know if they would like their portraits made. I was astonished at how many people did. What I learned from this extraordinary experience was that every burn survivor has a tale of courage to tell, and that the burns have their own eerie beauty." Amazing, unsettling, inspiring.
posted by mathowie at 6:39 PM - 48 comments

Foucault’s Pendulum Art Inspired by Umberto Eco’s novel, entitled: Foucault’s Pendulum the artist Lukas Arciniegas has created a series of beautiful illustrations. Also of note: The Holy War: Mac VS Dos [Do check out the sidebar] "Faith in Fakes"? Also see: an actual pendulum. And Dan Brown? Bleh...
posted by Unregistered User at 5:27 PM - 33 comments

America's craziest bookstore has gone out of business. Loompanics, a libertarian publisher in Washington State, has gone out of business. Some blame the changed political climate after 9/11. Others blame Amazon.com and the big bookstore chains. No matter what the cause might be, I will miss them. What will I do if I decide I want to try to cook some crank? And if that doesn't succeed in paying the bills, what if I need to go dumpster diving for my dinner? And if get truly desperate, what if I decide to rip off a drug dealer instead? I'm glad that Amok is still with us.
posted by jason's_planet at 2:59 PM - 22 comments

Who are the jihadists? Marc Sageman on the global Salafi jihad: its goals, its history, who the jihadists are, how they're drawn to the jihad, how the movement is organized. [more inside]
posted by russilwvong at 2:28 PM - 37 comments

"The Death of Zarqawi", a computer game which simulates the raid that sent Zarqawi to his 72 virgins. "Created within two weeks of the real-life bombing, the episode allows gamers to join the U.S.-led coalition stationed just outside the house where al-Zarqawi is meeting with other insurgent leaders and choose between two strategies of attack: calling-in the real-life air strike that killed Zarqawi, or an alternate on-foot ambush which involves storming the guarded house and attempting to capture the terrorist leader alive."
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:25 PM - 71 comments

Gallery of Soviet governmental posters
posted by jonson at 1:30 PM - 31 comments

Operation removes lightbulb from anus. Fateh Mohammad, a prison inmate in Pakistan, says he woke up last weekend with a glass lightbulb in his anus.
posted by three blind mice at 12:33 PM - 78 comments

Reading up on Sealand's recent fire, I came across Bob Le-Roi's excellent site which covers all manner of information about the English offshore sea forts and various pirate radio squatter groups that utilized them once they were abandoned by HMG -- amazing coverage, really. Lots of candid photos aboard. Warning: 1996-style design.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:57 AM - 9 comments

Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday... The killings appeared to have been a "crime of opportunity," the official said. The soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.

U.S. Troops Accused of Killing Iraq Family
A brief look at the 3rd Brigade, 502nd Infantry Unit, 101st Airborne...
formerly 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment - 101st Airborne Division
see also AP Embed Gets Scoop on Latest Alleged U.S. Atrocity in Iraq
posted by y2karl at 9:42 AM - 144 comments

Polluting the blogosphere businessweek is writing about a new company that is basically paying bloggers to write about products --- disclosure is optional... congratulations marketers --- you ruin everything
posted by bliss322 at 9:05 AM - 43 comments

Gamma Bros. Some oldschool shooter Friday Flash Fun. Utterly addictive. [via]
posted by popkinson at 8:45 AM - 24 comments

Supposing ... I'm too old for MySpace.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 8:05 AM - 70 comments

Live videos of TV On The Radio performing Dreams(QT), Final Solution(QT) and Bela Lugosi's Dead(QT) with Peter Murphy and Trent Reznor on vocals.
posted by The Radish at 8:00 AM - 22 comments

Like many internet communities, the Harry Potter fan community is a close knit one and prone to outbursts of drama and strife. But what happens when a single member is pulling the strings? This long account is about msscribe who through sock puppetry, trolling, and some flat out lies polarized online Potter fans for the past four years.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:40 AM - 88 comments