May 17

In 1993, we said goodbye to Frank Zappa, fallen victim to prostate cancer. A 1993 Today Show interview with Frank. A 1993 BBC documentary about Frank. {Parts 2, 3, 4.} "Outrage at Valdez," from 1993's The Yellow Shark. [Zappa mega-post previously on MeFi]
posted by not_on_display at 1:18 PM - 3 comments

Feeling nostalgic for cheap gas and and a "poke-through air cleaner that jumps when the engine cries"? The Mustang Mach I was the way to swing in '69! But 9 years later, the Cougar XR-7 was the 1978 choice of Cheryl Tiegs for her midnight driving. Speaking of women, what if your wife has to drive alone? It's a shocking concept, sure, but when a woman's at the wheel, you need Polyglas tires. Yep, crazy things used to happen. Heck, Pontiac even sold this thing for a few years. All that and more at Jalopnik's classic ad watch.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 12:33 PM - 8 comments

Exercising your brain makes you smarter, and there is no better gym for it than the MentatWiki. [more inside]
posted by splice at 11:47 AM - 9 comments

PTSD: The War Within. A Marine writes about his PTSD experience. This article from the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette was written by USMC Staff Sergeant Travis N. Twiggs. Twiggs killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona earlier this week.
posted by homunculus at 11:40 AM - 12 comments

Mercedes Allen looks at who's in charge of deciding the fate of Gender Identity Disorder in the DSM-IV. The APA (American Psychological Association) has announced it's intention to revise the DSMV (Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The expert they've named to chair revisions on sexuality and gender is Kenneth Zucker. Zucker is the major remaining proponent of Reparative Therapy for LGBT folks. [more inside]
posted by FunkyHelix at 10:40 AM - 28 comments

The year is 1989, the world of hip hop in mainstream America is dominated by the street hard, in your face West Coast Gangsta Rap genre headed by NWA. And an army of increasingly forgettable imitators as well as genuine ingenuity coming from the opposite coast The pop music market is dominated by the sugary sweet vaguely hip-hopish pop of The New Kids On The Block. And on the corner Crendshaw and Exposition in South Central Los Angeles a group of kids at a health food store called The Good Life Health Food And Resource Center take a weekly Open Mike and turn it into an ongoing hip hop workshop where lyrical prowess, performance, and positivity instead of battling and trash talking was encouraged. In fact, swearing was strictly disallowed at The Good Life. [more inside]
posted by mediocre at 9:05 AM - 23 comments

Well, young folk, there was a time, y'know, when bands would put their band name on the kick drum head, so the audience could see the name of the band, y'see? Why, best as I can recall, the The Yardbirds did it, and The Zombies, too. And The Hollies. Oh, and did I mention The Yardbirds? Well, my memory's not what it used to be... oh, and there was those boys from Liverpool, used to sing about Kansas Cty so well, why, you'd think they'd actually been there! Now, there was this one band called themselves the Spencer Davis Group, but I never could figure out why, cause it was that little Winwood fella just outta knee pants who was the star of that show! [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:08 AM - 14 comments

Reportret: What did they really look like? Charlemagne "..was a large man, with light coloured hair, a long nose, a thick neck, and a quite prominent belly."
posted by stbalbach at 7:28 AM - 6 comments

We The Robots, a web comic that hits where it hurts.
posted by orthogonality at 1:00 AM - 40 comments

May 16

PhotoGrahambo.com ― Alaskan photoblog by Graham Siebe. Where, what, and how.
posted by netbros at 10:09 PM - 6 comments

On May 13, security advisories published by Debian and Ubuntu revealed that, for over a year, their OpenSSL libraries have had a major flaw in their CSPRNG, which is used by key generation functions in many widely-used applications, which caused the "random" numbers produced to be extremely predictable. [lolcat summary] [more inside]
posted by finite at 10:01 PM - 61 comments

Blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah.
posted by LSK at 9:02 PM - 48 comments

A very, very funny Bill Murray guest stars on the first episode of Late Night with David Letterman -- 1982
posted by vronsky at 8:56 PM - 41 comments

The end of Rice-Boy. T.O.E, Angel Eye, Calbash (alas we hardly knew ye) and Rice-Boy have ended their adventure. 2 years 1 month and two weeks after the start. Evan Dahm produced one of the most engaging and beautiful webcomics over the past two years and it has concluded. A moment of silence......... Ok now, the good news. Rice-Boy is done, but further Overside stories are likely. YAY. [more inside]
posted by edgeways at 8:49 PM - 10 comments

Beyond the Torture Debate On May 6th the American Strategy Program hosted an event with Philippe Sands, Professor of International Law at University College London and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff for Colon Powell. Mr. Sands was in DC to testify to the House Judiciary Committee about the findings in his new book, Torture Team, which examines the legal implications of the Bush administration's policy of torture. Col. Wilkerson was on hand for commentary on the subject. The event was moderated by Patrick Doherty, deputy director of the American Strategy program. The event was recorded and posted by the New America Foundation to YouTube. It is 1 hr 31 minutes long, but well worth it. [more inside]
posted by dougzilla at 7:08 PM - 10 comments

“They’re the ant of all ants...and are moving about half a mile a year.” Crazy Raspberry Ants! (And you might want to check your computer....)
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 6:18 PM - 54 comments

There is something creepily colonialist in Madonna’s attitude to Africa. First we had the White Man’s Burden -– now we have the White Madonna’s Burden. More and more celebrities are treating Africa as a wide-eyed child that needs a Hollywood hug -– or as a wicked devil that needs a Hollywood hammering. [more inside]
posted by dawson at 2:54 PM - 64 comments

A transatlantic tunnel, hurrah!
posted by Phanx at 2:29 PM - 40 comments

Chicagofilter: In Search of the Delta Tamale
posted by timsteil at 1:28 PM - 6 comments

Iron Man, who represents an imperial America, can only win Pyrrhic victories. Spencer Ackerman of Tapped Online has a nice history of the Iron Man comics that reads the character's alcoholism, Civil-War overzealousness, and persistent blundering "into a hell of unintended consequences" as a symbol and subtle critique of American exceptionalism and what Jonathan Schell among others has called "impotent omnipotence".
posted by gerryblog at 12:53 PM - 111 comments

Some readers will appreciate their typographic form, while others will see further strategies at work — informational, strategic, philosophical, literary. There are odd, even anachronistic cultural references, gestures that date these books in a manner oddly soothing.
The Next Page: Thirty Tables of Contents [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 12:09 PM - 14 comments

Death Cab For Cutie. Live, in a Black Cab. One Song ("No Sunlight"). One Take. One Cab.
Also: Daniel Johnston, Bill Callahan, The New Pornographers, The Raveonettes, Okkervil River, Spoon, & The Futureheads.
posted by msalt at 10:01 AM - 27 comments

Photos of cleaning crews on the Space Needle (via.)
posted by 1f2frfbf at 9:14 AM - 62 comments

The Promise of Prediction Markets (full text link; .pdf here). A group of distinguished economists and other scholars has published a call to exempt prediction markets (previously on MeFi: 1, 2) from American laws that restrict internet gambling. [more inside]
posted by googly at 8:54 AM - 21 comments

China's All-Seeing Eye. Naomi Klein's piece in the May 29th edition of Rolling Stone details how China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state with the help of U.S. defense contractors. And it's a growth market!
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:18 AM - 40 comments

In recognition of American Craft Beer Week, I present to you, the 10 best beer names ever.
posted by grateful at 6:33 AM - 102 comments

An analog textual clock - An analog textual clock
posted by cillit bang at 6:22 AM - 24 comments

With a pickup mounted on the body of the instrument just below the strings, Revathy Krishna, KP Sarada and Sivanandam and Jayanthi Kumaresh get an unexpectedly fat sound out of their veena. Rocking! The instrument is more often amplified with a microphone, in which case it sounds more like this performance by D. Balakrishna, who, as you'll hear, ain't no slouch, neither. And here Pichumani gets his groove on, no doubt about it. So, hey, two more raags for the road, courtesy of Rajeswari Padmanabhan. The second tune on her clip, by the way, has got some deep blues in it, so I'm thinking maybe Rajeswari might've been down to the crossroads at midnight... [NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:24 AM - 28 comments

May 15

The 46 Anime Laws of Physics.
posted by msaleem at 10:31 PM - 34 comments

Kim Neely has enjoyed a very rich professional life already. A writer for Rolling Stone for fifteen years, she also penned the Pearl Jam biography. These days find Kim involved in an entirely different pursuit. Lampworking is a type of glass work that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. At her mom's unused workshop Kim created Bluff Road Art Glass. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 9:32 PM - 7 comments

United States election logos, 2008-1960.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:49 PM - 83 comments

A 3D Exploration of Picasso's Guernica (flash movie via)
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 5:57 PM - 27 comments

Hentai sculpture sells for $15m (NSFW) [more inside]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:45 PM - 98 comments

Kittiwat Unarrom is a baker with a unique passion- sculpting delicious gourmet bread treats in the likeness of human body parts. Think bread sculpture meets BodyWorlds. If that's not quite gruesome enough for you, you can feast like a cannibal! (NSFW, no real cannibalism involved)
posted by baphomet at 4:49 PM - 21 comments

Arnold Smit shows, step by step, the crafting of a bow. More of his beautiful bows here. (Also available in Dutch.)
posted by Upton O'Good at 3:35 PM - 15 comments

In the wake of Iggy Pop's high-larious tour rider, Foo Fighters have updated their 2008 rider (earlier rider here.) Full of jokes about Dio and bacon witticisms, you've got to admire these hardworking young men, for, as they say, "We are just another bend trying to make enough money to fuel our private jet. Please help."
posted by porn in the woods at 3:07 PM - 40 comments

Lori Drew was charged today for her involvement in the MySpace-related suicide of Megan Meier last fall.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:42 PM - 129 comments

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent resource for matters philosophical. There you can be enlightened on such diverse subjects as paradoxes existential or logical, Greek or American philosophers obscure to the wider world, philosophers whose names have resounded through the ages, both well-attested and possibly mythical, Buddhist thought and Western mysticism and definitions of thorny and difficult concepts. And that's just a small sampling of the letter P section. All articles are written by specialists on the subject and the editors of the IEP are all academic philosophers. The encyclopedia is far from complete, so if you think you can help out, they have a list of their 100 most desired articles.
posted by Kattullus at 12:42 PM - 31 comments

While Alaskan senators get mopey about polar bears and climate change, the capitol city is busy cutting their power use... even if it is a bit against their will. The Snettisham Hydro plant suffered a massive avalanche this Spring, taking out the main source of power for Juneau. Some more info
posted by Foam Pants at 12:08 PM - 11 comments

People can handle the truth about war. Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas reflects on how the media's willingness to show the horrors of war has changed since Vietnam.
posted by homunculus at 11:15 AM - 47 comments

WOW is the largest role-playing game in the world. Monster Camp is a new documentary that follows the folks that participate in a real life role playing camp/organization. A WOW camp. For some, this might be heaven. Here are some reviews: Variety, Rotten Tomatoes. [more inside]
posted by octomato at 11:13 AM - 81 comments

7 Reasons Why Scifi Book Series Outstay Their Welcomes
posted by Artw at 10:59 AM - 98 comments

NewsFilter: The California Supreme Court has just overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages. Read the decision.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:41 AM - 198 comments

3 interesting sites: Isidore-of-Seville and Metrum and Elbruz
posted by Taksi Putra at 9:45 AM - 12 comments

We're all used to animal cams at the zoo. You can watch animals in the wild or in captivity. But how about a live animal cam at...the library!
posted by nax at 9:08 AM - 10 comments

120 years of Billboard data. Eternally curious blogger Andy Baio starts a three-day analysis of the data in the Whitburn Project, "a huge undertaking to preserve and share high-quality recordings of every popular song since the 1890s. To assist their efforts, they've created a spreadsheet of 37,000 songs and 112 columns of raw data, including each song's duration, beats-per-minute, songwriters, label, and week-by-week chart position." It all happens on good ol' Usenet--here's a FAQ.
posted by dbarefoot at 9:06 AM - 19 comments

Kevin Colvin may have gotten busted, but his generation is taking over. Millenials are everywhere -- and while some people welcome our bright-eyed, tech-savvy overlords, Gen-X is steadfastly unimpressed
posted by chinese_fashion at 8:48 AM - 78 comments

10 optical illusions in 2 minutes - SLYT, Samsung promotion.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:39 AM - 18 comments

The Adventures of God-Man an occasional feature of Ruben Bolling's Tom The Dancing Bug strip
posted by milestogo at 8:27 AM - 22 comments

Two Buddhist teachers live a purportedly celibate life together as they strive for new heights of intimacy. But Tibetan Buddhist leaders and scholars are alarmed; the Dalai Lama refused a birthday offering. His teachings on yoga and business are controversial; so is the matter of his three-year "silent" retreat. More on Geshe Michael Roach. (Wiki.)
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:25 AM - 66 comments

« Older posts