A Real World Series: Inside the world championship of blind baseball. "It’s different this year. I can’t get last year’s Series out of my mind, even though it ended in the last week of July, when Taiwan took two from Austin on a rainy Saturday in Ames, Iowa, to win the title in the 37th annual world series of blind baseball." [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Feb 17, 2013 - 7 comments

Chagos Islanders Lose the European Court Battle but the Struggle Continues Former residents of the Chagos Islands have lost their latest legal bid for the right to return following a European ruling. What next for the islanders? James Wan recaps the decades long struggle and the implications of the latest ruling on the fate of the former residents of Diego Garcia. Previously in 2002, 2003 2006 and some archives.
posted by infini on Jan 5, 2013 - 32 comments

Scientology's international headquarters - known as Gold Base - is located on a 500-acre parcel of land south of San Jacinto, California. It "has a number of unusually strong security measures, including razor-tipped fences, motion sensors, snipers nests and a large number of regular and infrared CCTV cameras." It also houses a detention center for executives referred to as "The Hole". (previously) [more inside]
posted by Egg Shen on Aug 5, 2012 - 125 comments

"It was hot as blazes as we tore through the south side, pulling up at lights all the people laughing at the white kids doing their little dance in the car." John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats performs 'The Sign,' by Ace of Base, interspersed with a story about the song and hand-signal dancing.
posted by kaibutsu on Mar 17, 2012 - 29 comments

Grounded. Jeb Corliss pays the price. [more inside]
posted by Manjusri on Feb 23, 2012 - 38 comments

Do-it-yourself film manufacturing. "Can't buy the film you want any more? Just make the stuff! In this set you will find random photos and information on a project a friend has undertaken - a machine to make his own camera film. Plastic and goop go in one end, and camera film comes out the other end. This is not a trivial undertaking."
posted by ethel on May 9, 2008 - 14 comments

Something about the library inspires one to jump.
posted by phrontist on Apr 1, 2008 - 33 comments

An Unfortunate View From the Sky. The U.S. Navy has decided to spend as much as $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications to obscure the fact that one its building complexes looks like a swastika from the air.
posted by brain_drain on Sep 26, 2007 - 70 comments

What did you do this weekend? I played Onslaught a mildly addictive, protect your base using upgradeable towers, flash game. Basic manual, extra detail FAQ and unlimited^* money sandbox version.
posted by Mitheral on May 22, 2007 - 12 comments

Looking for a spacious home in a unique, quiet and safe location? It may be a fixer-upper, but buy now before the value skyrockets.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Nov 30, 2006 - 21 comments

Snakes on a Base! In the wake of today's announcement that Raul Castro will be 'temporarily' taking power in Cuba while Big Brother (did I say that?) has an operation for some GI bleeding, The Smoking Gun has published some declassified Spec Ops planning cover sheets from the 60s and 70, listing plans to destabilize Cuba. Operation Bingo, on page 3, is especially amusing.
posted by baylink on Aug 1, 2006 - 15 comments

im in ur sub base killin ur d00dz. Eerie photos of a decomissioned Russian submarine base. [via]
posted by dersins on Jul 27, 2006 - 38 comments

Robert Novak gets it wrong again. Predicting that Ellsworth Air Force Base in North Dakota would fall victim to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BARC) thus damaging the political career of Republican John Thune, Novak argued that the White House was "ignoring Thune" contradicting "the image of a White House that puts politics first. Instead, the Bush team looked like tone-deaf, old-fashioned Republicans interested more in going by the book than winning elections." Thune promised that only a Republican senator could save Ellsworth, South Dakota's largest employer, from closure. That promise played a prominent role in his campaign. In defeating senate minority leader Tom Daschle, Thune's victory marked the first time since 1952 that a party leader in the senate was defeated. When Ellsworth was nevertheless put on the list for closure, Thune's politcal future appeared doomed. As promised, Thune went into action. Yesterday, Thune announced Ellsworth is saved! Contrary to Novak's opinion, the image of a White House that puts politics first is as strong as ever.
posted by three blind mice on Aug 27, 2005 - 21 comments

we may not know where they are - but here's where they've been... An incredible amount of information - current and historical - well indexed and with about a billion options for searching through it. pretty impressive for what is at least unofficially a quasi-federal government site despite protestations to the contrary.
posted by ab3 on Aug 17, 2005 - 6 comments

Washington Secures Long-Sought Hemispheric Outpost, Perhaps at the Expense of Regional Sovereignty This press release from the Center for Hemispheric Relations is just about the only reporting I've found about the establishment on July 1 of a new US military base in Paraguay. There was a short article in Prensa Latina on July 11, only 3 days after it first published a story that Paraguay had denied the establishment of the base.

There are a very few stories here and there online, but nothing in the American press about this development. You have to know the story exists to find out anything about it. Which is more disturbing, that the US military is on the verge of establishing a new foothold in another sovereign nation or that the US media is not reporting it at all? I really can't decide what I think about this.
posted by elgoose on Jul 22, 2005 - 3 comments