How do I make my document look like it was written by an Cthulhu worshipping madman? Some LaTeX solutions.
posted by OmieWise on Sep 28, 2011 - 60 comments

'It was an instant success,' Stan says. 'It's not surprising, because it meets all the criteria of a good gag. It's very cheap to make, so you could make a decent profit on it. It sells for a very cheap price, so it's easy to sell. And people just went after it. The numbers we hear tend to vary, but the story is it initially sold about 100,000 units a year, which, at the time, was a lot. Fishlove did very well with it.' The Inside Scoop on the Fake Barf Industry.
posted by shakespeherian on Aug 26, 2011 - 29 comments

iTex2Img converts LaTeX equations into images online.
posted by Upton O'Good on Aug 16, 2011 - 13 comments

"I assume capes aren't functional because they can get snagged on things." A fascinating article by Jon Ronson profiling costumed avengers in the real-life superhero movement. Also: Why Doesn't Batman Kill? and Teaching Philosophy With Spiderman. [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Aug 12, 2011 - 90 comments

Artist Landon Meier crafts realistic latex masks of babies.
posted by logicpunk on May 30, 2011 - 29 comments

"MathJax is an open source JavaScript display engine for mathematics that works in all modern browsers." Displaying math and equations in web pages has been a pretty consistent problem. MathJax allows you to use either MathML or TeX/LaTeX as input and then formats it into beautiful, scalable HTML.
posted by Deathalicious on Mar 14, 2011 - 24 comments

Slate says putting more than one space between sentences is "totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong." Microsoft's Bill Hall agrees. LaTex does not. The American Psychological Association used to agree but has changed its mind. The exhaustive Wikipedia article on sentence spacing has a predictably prickly discussion page.
posted by escabeche on Jan 14, 2011 - 273 comments

Detexify is a neat little tool that let's you draw a symbol and then finds the corresponding LaTeX notation. The explanation is an interesting read as well.
posted by swordfishtrombones on Jul 21, 2009 - 38 comments

Word Processors: Stupid and Inefficient. Oldie, but a goodie. All text, no pretty pictures.
posted by ontic on Apr 12, 2006 - 109 comments

Latex Vac-Bed "By vacuuming the air from between two layers of 14 gauge latex, the vac-bed immobilizes the person inside and produces an extremely restrictive and sensual experience." Safe for work, but the rest of the site isn't.
posted by Mwongozi on Jul 3, 2003 - 33 comments

Look who's wearing your old tires! If you thought recycled fashion was all about clunky rubber sandals, think again - recycled fashion has turned chic. It can be elegant, fun and funky or just plain kinky. Oh, and don't worry guys - there are some fashions designed for you, too! (some links may not be sfw)
posted by madamjujujive on Mar 8, 2003 - 10 comments

An undeclared war on latex is apparently being waged by the Bush administration, which is taking all sorts of steps to avoid condoning their use. This is a patently ridiculous stance to take in the face of a global AIDS epidemic, but this interesting essay also raised my eyebrows:

According to figures in a report on condoms by Population Action International, the average man in Botswana gets less than one condom per year from international donors.

Uhhh...doesn't the idea of condoms as a staple of international relief seem a bit strange? Haven't governments around the world devoted any resources to their own public health? Surely donor-nations can't keep everyon else's penises safely sheathed forever.
posted by subpixel on Jan 10, 2003 - 12 comments