Be forewarned, the sound quality isn't the best. But for a dose of pure surreality strong enough to turn your socks into melted Dada timepieces, try mixing "Weird Al" Yankovic on accordion with the Presidents of the United States, performing a (non-parody) cover of Boston's "More Than a Feeling" (SLYT). (via Dave Dederer's Reddit interview)
posted by WCityMike on Oct 22, 2009 - 29 comments

Prelude to Federation - Like a neocolonial SEZ (or TAZ) Paul Romer, not to be confused with David, posits "less developed countries contract with capitalist nations to set up Hong Kong's for them... that we rethink sovereignty (respect borders, but maybe import administrative control); rethink citizenship (support residency, but maybe import voice in political affairs); and rethink scale (instead of focusing on nations, focus on cities—on city states like Hong Kong and Singapore)." cf. neocameralism [1, 2, 3] [more inside]
posted by kliuless on May 21, 2009 - 16 comments

In Our Own Backyard: Resisting Nazi Propaganda In Southern California 1933 - 1945, a digital exhibition from the Oviatt Library at Cal State Northridge. "The Nazi Propaganda period, 1933 to 1945, chronicles a crucial twelve years in American history. This exhibit's story about the local threat to American ideals demonstrates how European events reached across the ocean and affected people in Southern California -- in our own backyard." Magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, stickers and more. [more inside]
posted by dersins on Apr 10, 2009 - 33 comments

14 large color photos from the Farm Security Administration. [more inside]
posted by Happy Dave on Mar 13, 2009 - 32 comments

Strangemaps presents a unique map of the United Statements of America; it's a map of the USA with each state's motto (or a translation thereof) by artist Emily Wick. The strangemaps post includes an explanation of most of the mottoes below the image.
posted by Eideteker on Jan 19, 2009 - 30 comments

StateStats: Explore the popularity of search queries in U.S. states [more inside]
posted by sambosambo on Dec 4, 2008 - 40 comments

Two Washingtons: Washington, DC is defined by its income inequality. [more inside]
posted by l33tpolicywonk on Sep 6, 2008 - 34 comments

Texas executes Mexican national who was denied consul visit. [more inside]
posted by mrducts on Aug 6, 2008 - 121 comments

Cute quiz: Name the Simpsons characters. Also: US states, countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America, periodic table of elements. More.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Jun 25, 2008 - 75 comments

The Western States Trail Ride, more commonly known as the Tevis Cup, is an equestrian competition held annually in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It begins near Squaw Valley, and ends in Auburn - a distance of 100 miles, to be covered in under 24 hours. [more inside]
posted by po on Oct 23, 2007 - 10 comments

Statetris is Tetris with European countries or American states as blocks.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Aug 7, 2007 - 28 comments

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ends tonight, and Aaron Sorkin will be leaving television production for a while. His current project is Charlie Wilson's War, a movie starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman, based on the late George Crile's excellent, funny nonfic book of the same name. The movie will trace "party animal" Congressman Charles "Good Time Charlie" Wilson's (D, TX) rise from a scandal (he was caught in "a hot tub tryst with two cocaine-sniffing showgirls in Las Vegas",) to his role in the 1980's covertly funding Afghanistan guerrillas so they could expand their war with the Soviet Union. Wilson's actions would eventually help collapse the Afghan PDPA government, a power vacuum which would be filled by the Taliban. Who would have thought ending the Cold War would be so easy?
posted by zarq on Jun 28, 2007 - 60 comments

Don't click this link yet. Think about all 50 United States, and then, when you're ready, click the link. It goes to an ajaxified quiz page, with a timer set to 10 minutes which starts counting down on page load, and a form entry field where you start typing the names of the states. When you get one right it automatically moves to a spontaneously generating list at to the bottom of the page. If the ten minutes elapse & you fail to name all fifty, the ones that you missed are revealed. Okay, now go.
posted by jonson on Mar 2, 2007 - 235 comments

Twenty-one years ago today a plane crashed in Gander, Newfoundland. The flight carried American soldiers heading home for the holidays, returning from a mission in the Sinai. Called the worst aviation disaster on Canadian soil, the crash killed the 248 soldiers and 8 crew members aboard. On December 16th, mere days after the crash, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, to comfort the victims' families. As time passed, however, some of the families demanded answers from the US Government regarding the circumstances of the crash. In 1989, Robin Tallon, member of congress from South Carolina, assisted the families' by bringing the matter before Congress - and also sending a letter to then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (scroll down page). In 1992, a Time Magazine article addressed forensic evidence which supported the idea of an on-board explosion prior to impact, as well as the flight's connections to Iran Contra and the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. This article also discusses the book written on the crash by Les Filotas, a dissenting member of the air safety board. The question was brought forth again in 1993, with a bill introduced requesting that a commission be formed to further investigate the circumstances of the crash. As with any disaster with unanswered questions, conspiracy theories abound. To this day, many of the questions surrounding Flight 1285 remain unanswered. While the crash may never be fully explained, one certainty remains - for the families whose loved ones never came home for Christmas, the twelfth day of the twelfth month will never be forgotten.
posted by SassHat on Dec 12, 2006 - 22 comments

Rich state, poor state, red state, blue state: a November 2005 statistical analysis [PDF] and presentation [PDF] on the the relationship between income and voting. Republicans are richer than Democrats, "blue states" are richer than "red states," and income matters more in "red states." Recent writeup by E.J. Dionne, with a response by the paper's authors. Discussed earlier at the Washington Monthly.
posted by kirkaracha on Mar 15, 2006 - 11 comments

...his boyfriend Josh. --beautiful story, made all the more poignant at a time of more and more state constitutional amendments ensuring second-class citizenship, and a Democratic party urging us to just shut up already, but still give.
posted by amberglow on Mar 4, 2006 - 49 comments

Temples of democracy A long time ago, Matt apparently stated that state capitols look phallic in order to advertise that the Man does business there. Now you can judge for yourself. Here are all 50 capitol buildings, including artistic renderings, photos and histories. And Alaska's is decidedly non-phallic--the same goes for the proposed Gehry-like giant air conditioner-esque one too. And get a load of North Dakota's Ed Wood-ish house chamber.

So . . . what makes a good capitol building (or state house or what have you) to you? (For the record, I favor the more capitol-ey capitol, the traditional; like those of California, Mississippi, Colorado, Missouri and Wisconsin, etc. Then there's the impressive simplicity of the Jefferson-designed Virginia capitol. But I also like Oregon's art deco capitol, from what I see in the photos.)
posted by raysmj on Jan 26, 2006 - 40 comments

UN Hits Back at US in Report Saying Parts of America are as Poor as Third World Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality.
posted by zouhair on Oct 15, 2005 - 95 comments

Where are the areas in the United States with highest marijuana use? Where are the areas with the lowest? A different kind of red versus blue. But wait, there's more, especially if you would prefer to be binge drinking to wash away those lonesome blues. And a list of information broken down by drug, if your fix is more obscure.
posted by nervousfritz on Jun 17, 2005 - 48 comments

Micronations have existed for some time. Some were a frauds and shams. Some were seized or destroyed. Some for profit and others for promotion. Australia had a rash of them. Meanwhile others were lost dreams that others wish to resurrect. Some were created for artistic reasons. Some were meant as protests both playful and serious. Some dedicated to old ideas and others to new ones.
posted by Vaska on Dec 23, 2004 - 27 comments

In your face Nevada... What's your states percentage of obese adults?
posted by drezdn on Oct 24, 2004 - 33 comments

Can You Pass the Third Grade? (Flash)
posted by konolia on Sep 28, 2004 - 30 comments

State Blogs As a companion to the Blogs around the world project, Oscar Jr. posted the Blogs around the US project. His point/focus being blogs that focus on the US states in which they reside. All of this as a lead up to Big Sky Blog. A blog by Montanans, about Montana, a project of our own davidmsc. (Whoops, USAfilter. Miguel's gonna be pissed ...)
posted by Wulfgar! on Aug 25, 2004 - 10 comments

America Is is the weblog of a "freelance photojournalist traveling across the US on a mission to hit all 48 contiguous states." Some nice photos.
posted by kirkaracha on Jun 23, 2004 - 7 comments

talking loud, voting on nothing. georgia's new governor is following through on his campaign promise to "let the people speak" regarding the design of our state flag. the flag was last redesigned in 2001 to put to rest a substantial amount of controversy revolving around the inclusion of a confederate battle flag.

this opportunity to voice an opinion will be offered to the populace next spring in the form of a non-binding referendum. and while the results will not result in an official decision either way, the mayor of atlanta has said she will take a strong stance in the matter by "purposely not [voting] either way on the ballot questions."

is doing nothing an effective means of protest? sounds more like a kid on a playground declaring themselves "switzerland" in the middle of a fight.
posted by grabbingsand on Feb 19, 2003 - 13 comments

It's the ten-year anniversary of NAFTA this week. Has it been a success? [more inside].
posted by acridrabbit on Dec 12, 2002 - 31 comments

U.S. helped Iraq start bioweapons program

"I don't think it would be accurate to say the United States government deliberately provided seed stocks to the Iraqis' biological weapons programs,'' said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N. biological weapons inspector. "But they did deliver samples that Iraq said had a legitimate public health purpose, which I think was naive to believe, even at the time."

" -isn't iraq just another case of blowback and is anyone asking what the next round of "blowback" will be if we go in again?
posted by specialk420 on Sep 30, 2002 - 35 comments

Americans against World Empire. This Conservative/Libertarian coalition presents analysis, articles, links, opinions and rants from every corner of the political spectrum. ""Perpetual war serves a number of purposes.....It is under wartime conditions that the U.S. state will, at least initially, face the least resistance as it finishes the......process of gutting the Bill of Rights and voiding inconvenient parts of the U.S. Constitution......It is under wartime conditons that all opponents of U.S. policies anywhere in the world, including within the U.S. itself, can be most easily labled 'terrorist.'" This statement would have come from a conservative in 1940. Today it is from the Left. (Alternative Press Review, spring 2002).
posted by Mack Twain on Jul 14, 2002 - 6 comments

As the violence in the Middle East escalates, and Arab anger grows over American support of Israel (especially among the masses), is another oil embargo possible? Oil may be the Arab world's daily bread, but it's also its only weapon — if, say, Arafat is killed or Israel goes too far in its incursions into Palestinian territories, popular sentiment in the already-shaky local regimes could force Arab governments to put up a show of defiance to calm their constituencies.
posted by Rastafari on Apr 4, 2002 - 13 comments

The healthiest states in America "Louisiana finished last, preceded by Mississippi (49), South Carolina (48), West Virginia (47), and Florida (46)... Minnesota captured first place by scoring highest overall in categories measuring access to health care, disability, disease, mortality, and occupational safety." full report here.
posted by kliuless on Dec 2, 2001 - 9 comments

Are the rights of states unfairly impacting commerce? It isn't just Ford selling used cars that is being curtailed, kafkaesque laws regarding the direct shipment of alcohol across state lines also result in less consumer choice. Where is the middle ground?
posted by machaus on Aug 30, 2001 - 12 comments

Hitting all 50 by 30. Have you come close? Do you keep track? How many countries and continents have you racked up?
posted by mathowie on Aug 29, 2001 - 102 comments

can states have a foreign policy? the Supreme Court today will review whether state and local governments can protest human rights in other nations by restricting purchases from companies that operate in those countries. the court will decide whether states, by restricting purchases, are making foreign trade policy, which, under the Constitution, is the duty of the federal government.
posted by palegirl on Mar 22, 2000 - 0 comments