MetaFilter

If you were to make a huge database of skyscrapers where users could submit their own isometric drawings, I'd tell you that you'd done a wonderful thing.

If you compiled these isometric drawings in to neat collections (see: World's Tallest, New York 1935, and Evolution of World's Tallest) I would then acknowledge that you had made something of substantive import and value, and extend my sincere thanks.

But it is when you provide a robust and responsive search functionality that allows me to include any type of structure, and sort by city, by project status, (eg. "Built", "Under Construction", "proposed", "destroyed") that I drop to my knees and reverently fellate you while holding back tears.
posted by cadastral at 10:56 PM PST - 40 comments

Welcome to Cold War City It covers 240 acres and has 60 miles of roads and its own railway station. It even includes a pub called the Rose and Crown. Oh, and it's underground. And for sale. Much more interesting than the article, though, are these photo galleries.
posted by dersins at 10:51 PM PST - 18 comments

"They use my lines for free -- and that's bull." The CEO of SBC Communications Inc. Ed Whitacre launched this criticism at the likes of Vonage, Google,Yahoo and MSN. Meanwhile Google is seeking some alternative paths to the Internet.Perhaps SBC should head the old adage from John Gilmore "the net treats censorship as a defect and routes around it”Or perhaps these companies need to pay the proverbial Internet plumbers; myself, I prefer more competition;my phone bill has never been lower!
posted by thedailygrowl at 10:30 PM PST - 22 comments

A kick-ass guide to doing stuff on the web.
posted by JPowers at 10:06 PM PST - 18 comments

Up for auction is Vincent Gallo's sperm.
posted by radiosig at 9:52 PM PST - 22 comments

500 panoramic views of parks in 'quality' order. [QTVR] Here are the full screen VRs. All by Erik Goetze.
posted by tellurian at 8:27 PM PST - 8 comments

Old Haunts :: A Halloween Bonanza!
posted by anastasiav at 8:00 PM PST - 3 comments

Ever wonder where lab mice come from? [warning: flash.]
posted by Jon-o at 7:40 PM PST - 20 comments

"Help! My Joe Broke in Half!" From 1982 to 2005, The Complete Guide to G. I. Joe is one man's "one-stop shop" for the die-hard G. I. Joe aficionado, including (but not limited to) theme song lyrics, cartoon transcripts and the aforementioned action figure repair procedure.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:14 PM PST - 19 comments

Oh, Color! From abstract artistic applications to the history of pigments, color has lots splainin' to do. For example, who put color in my World War I photos?! (insert Michael Jackson joke here)
posted by Lockeownzj00 at 6:56 PM PST - 2 comments

We want brains
posted by afu at 6:48 PM PST - 16 comments

The Mystery of the Green Menace "It's been celebrated as a muse and banned as a poison. Now an obsessed microbiologist has cracked the code for absinthe - and distilled his own."
posted by dhruva at 6:28 PM PST - 47 comments

Do you play Sony DRM-protected CD's on your computer? If so, you might be wide open in terms of security. It seems that Sony is installing an almost-impossible to find rootkit on the computers of purchasers of their music. Their EULA doesn't mention the fact that their "small, proprietary" program goes much too far, managing to bypass security software, firewalls, etc. You might want to do this, anyway.
posted by pjern at 5:01 PM PST - 59 comments

John Peel's box of 142 favorite singles discussed in The Times and The Observer. These guys are collecting the whole set (NSFMPAA). [via Stereogum]
posted by Armitage Shanks at 2:57 PM PST - 83 comments

Armagetron Advanced is a free network enabled Tron lightcycle racer for windows, OSX & linux. Attractive graphics and interesting camera controls make up for a fairly difficult opponent skill level. Screenshots here, download link here.
posted by jonson at 1:25 PM PST - 9 comments

Dear Mrs Bergman,
... I want you to know how deeply I wish to translate those ideas into images, just to quiet down the turmoil of my brain... Yours very truly and devoted,
R. Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini writes to Ingrid Bergman.
The Swedish movie star had written a fan letter to the Italian Neorealismo director Roberto Rossellini, expressing her desire to work in one of his films: "If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only "ti amo", I am ready to come and make a film with you".
This is how he responded -- by writing a part for her in his 1949 film "Stromboli." It was the beginning of one of the most famous love stories of the twentieth century. More inside.
posted by matteo at 10:08 AM PST - 14 comments

Anocht Oidhche Shamhna! (Happy New Year!) Samhain (pronounced Sow-en) or Samhuinn (also pronounced Sow-en I guess) "was (and is) considered a very magical time, when the dead walk among the living and the veils between past, present and future may be lifted in prophecy and divination." It's also a good candidate for the most important historical holiday in the European pagan calendar.

Isaac Bonewitz's Neopagan.net has a few pages about the history and misconceptions & lies about All Hallows Eve from the neo-pagan perspective . Concerned that he's trying to get you join some loony cult of tree huggers? While you're there, run Mr. Bonewitz through his own Cult Danger Evaluation Frame and see if you're still scared.
posted by illovich at 9:59 AM PST - 94 comments

Get in the mood for Halloween. To begin, you can carve a virtual pumpkin . Then, over at PingRay, "a free, weekly eguide to the Net's best entertainment," there's a scary short film, a voodoo boss doll and talking monster cards to round things out.
posted by WildThang at 9:37 AM PST - 2 comments

David Skal talks about the Origins and Myths of Halloween. [MP3 file] The author of Death Makes A Holiday was interviewed in 2004 for the radio program Talking History. The Skal interview runs from 4:47 to 18:20 of the program. Skal briefly addresses some Halloween urban legends, which are more thoroughly debunked at Snopes Halloween page.
posted by LarryC at 8:44 AM PST - 1 comment

Illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico is, for the people coming across, a dangerous and not always successful method of trying to live and work here. The Mexican government has published a booklet (english version) which is distributed with some popular comic books and is designed to both discourage citizens from crossing over and offer advice on the dos and don'ts of safe crossing.

Reactions north of the border to this are predictably mixed.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 8:42 AM PST - 11 comments

Google has a blog. Yahoo doesn't.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 8:12 AM PST - 26 comments

No list that puts MeFi at #55 is perfect, but Yahoo's 100 Sites for Men includes lots of other goldmines, like an info source for embarassing problems, hangover cures, and other gems like Draw Your Boss. Ladies, don't miss the top 100 Sites for Women, and if anyone's Ball of Paint needs are unfulfilled, you can always check out the Top 100 Weird Sites.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 7:41 AM PST - 29 comments

A final resting place for bad animation. Half-rendered halloween horrors. A tangled corpse (quicktime) not fit for this world. Avert your eyes from these demonic beings (quicktime).
posted by phirleh at 5:41 AM PST - 6 comments

Newsfilter: Samuel A. Alito Jr. is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His ideological likeness to United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia has earned him the nickname "Scalito." According to CNN, he is expected to be nominated to the Supreme Court later today. This site provides more background and links to some of his important decisions. Here's one anecdote about him. If you want, you can even rate him at Rate It All.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:36 AM PST - 213 comments

A fantastic collection of old school toys posing in many astounding and awkward landscapes consolidated into a Flickr slideshow. Just as life should be.
posted by panoptican at 5:40 PM PST - 11 comments

Cleaning up the WMD's 20 years ago the US passed a law to destroy the stockpiles of WMD's it has. There have been many snags and lack of funding. We need to get rid of them before they are used against us and the old ways of disposal just won't work anymore. What can be done?
posted by Balisong at 5:39 PM PST - 11 comments

Express Yourself, It's Later Than You Think (warning - tiny grey type. also available here with original illustrations and an all over the place old-style table layout.) Illustrator Brad Holland defines some basic terms of Postmodern Art. For additional reading, see his memories of hanging out at the Playboy mansion with Shel Silverstein.
posted by TimTypeZed at 3:59 PM PST - 14 comments

Japan's Ruling party, has released a new draft of the Japanese Constitution The draft drops the whole 'renouncing war' bit, and re-titles article 9 'national security'. Japan is one of the largest military spenders in the world. Second only to the United States (IIRC). The new constitution also stipulates that the Emperor is the "head of state".
posted by delmoi at 3:58 PM PST - 44 comments

Death as we know it will die. If you wish to be a prophet, first you must dress the part. No more silk ties or tasseled loafers. Instead, throw on a wrinkled T-shirt, frayed jeans, and dirty sneakers. You should appear somewhat unkempt, as if combs and showers were only for the unenlightened. When you encounter critics, as all prophets do, dismiss them as idiots. Make sure to pepper your conversation with grandiose predictions and remind others of your genius often, lest they forget. Oh, and if possible, grow a very long beard. By these measures, Aubrey de Grey is indeed a prophet. The 42-year-old English biogerontologist has made his name by claiming that some people alive right now could live for 1,000 years or longer. Maybe much longer. Growing old is not, in his view, an inevitable consequence of the human condition; rather, it is the result of accumulated damage at the cellular and molecular levels that medical advances will soon be able to prevent — or even reverse — allowing people to go on living pretty much indefinitely.
posted by sharksandwich at 3:58 PM PST - 43 comments

If you're going to to break into the cowboy business, this is as good a place as any to do it. [more inside]
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:49 PM PST - 8 comments

Illustration Friday is exploding dog for the rest of us. Each week, they post a theme (this week it's "broken") and anyone can submit a drawing based on that theme. Surely this is a double post. But I searched and couldn't find it.
posted by grumblebee at 1:32 PM PST - 20 comments

A retired Chinese chemist whose daughter is a PhD student at Caltech, regularly posts his earthquake predictions on his website. He claims to have successfully predicted the Bam earthquake in 2003, the Indonesian earthquake in 2004, the Pakistan earthquake in 2005 and numerous others by identifying earthquake clouds in satellite images supposedly caused by stress and friction acting on underground water. Oh and Southern California? Brace yourself. You are heading for a 7.0 plus quake on or before February 3rd, 2006.
posted by DirtyCreature at 12:57 PM PST - 24 comments

Mologogo Track any Java/GPS enabled phone through a convienent Google Maps based interface with mologogo.
posted by phrontist at 12:15 PM PST - 9 comments

Risen from the ashes. For nearly half a century, the ruins of the Dresden Frauenkirche lay untouched, as a memorial to the Allied bombardment in February 1945 that devastated the city. Over the past decade, the church has been painstakingly rebuilt, with assistance from former enemies. Today it was reconsecrated.
posted by holgate at 9:13 AM PST - 31 comments

On this day in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, 32 year old Muhammad Ali knocked out 25 yead old George Forman and regained the World Heavyweight Title. "The Rumble in the Jungle was a fight that made the whole country more conscious," Ali wrote at the time. "The fight was about racial problems, Vietnam. All of that." Above all the fight was a demonstration of Ali's inventiveness in the ring. After dazing Foreman with his trademark quickness in the first rounds, Ali fell back against the ropes, and waved Foreman to come get him. Protecting his head, Ali let Foreman pound away at his ribs and his gut. "At about the seventh round, I had him beaten, I knew I had him," Foreman recounted after the fight. "He fell on my side and whispered, ‘Is that all you got George?’ I knew something strange was happening in my life especially because that was all I had." In the eight round Ali came off the ropes and unleashed a fury of punches against his exhausted opponent. The dope went down. "I did it," Ali boasted after the fight. "I told you he was nothing but did you listen? I told you I was going to jab him in the corners, I told you I was going to take all his shots. I told you he had no skill. I told you he didn't like to be punched."
posted by three blind mice at 7:57 AM PST - 58 comments

Photos before the show starts Yakutat AK; Portland, OR; San Diego, CA; L.A; Cleveland, OH.
posted by efalk at 4:35 AM PST - 15 comments

I guess if you already have X-Box, this will have to suffice. [Warning: Embedded WMV file]
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:04 AM PST - 56 comments

To invoke Fast and the Furious: It's not how you play the game that matters, it's the color of your uniform
posted by daksya at 11:10 PM PST - 21 comments

Harmonie/Harmony: a beautiful flash of birds,poetry imbedded 435 clicks
posted by hortense at 10:57 PM PST - 8 comments

Gallery of funeral art. On this halloween weekend, a brief collection of photographs of tombstone carvings & other cemetary decorations.
posted by jonson at 10:21 PM PST - 6 comments

Sophie Scholl , a member of the White Rose, was beheaded in 1943. Her crime? Being brutally honest with a brutal regime. Her punishment was death. It's now a film, Sophie Scholl, the Last Days. I'm looking forward to seeing this. Finally Germany is showing great films.
posted by movilla at 6:01 PM PST - 26 comments

Why Does God Hate Amputees? - Marshall Brain, creator of HowStuffWorks and author of Robotic Nation, has posted his latest work, a multi-chapter website examining the delusion of religious belief. If you're busy, he suggests reading Understanding Delusion. If you want the whole story, start at the beginning. (title explaination)
posted by jsonic at 5:53 PM PST - 202 comments

Global Voices Online. I was a bit surprised to find that this hasn't been posted. Global Voices aims to foster a more diverse online conversation primarily through spot-lighting blogs written by people all over the world. It started last October and has really picked up steam these last few months.
posted by panoptican at 4:25 PM PST - 9 comments

Bomb blasts in New Delhi. The three explosions seemed to target shoppers preparing for the festival of Diwali (previous post on Diwali here).
posted by homunculus at 12:02 PM PST - 34 comments

'My religion contains pain, suffering, sacrifice,/Hardship, and bliss. My shoes are God.' H.G. Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights told the story of a town consumed by devotion... to its high school football team. 'These places really are like shrines,' said Bissinger in an interview for the movie's web site (flash). Nike ads invite viewers to 'test your faith daily' and Muscular Christians distance themselves from 'musclemen.' Secular America still bends its knee in the name of the sound body, and Hail Mary passes are recalled in detail twenty-five years later. Of course, not everyone subscribes to the culture of fitness.
posted by rebirtha at 10:48 AM PST - 16 comments

Nature has a somewhat technical but free supplement on sleep
posted by Gyan at 9:28 AM PST - 19 comments

Richard Smalley , Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of C60 (buckminsterfullerene) passed away yesterday. He was 62 years old. RIP.
posted by lalochezia at 8:06 AM PST - 21 comments

A literal cornucopia of online web design resources to help you keep on top of specifications and sites related to CSS, accessibility, graphic design (color tables and theory), DOM, typography, and much, much more...
posted by Rothko at 7:28 AM PST - 40 comments

Alter Egos. Robbie Cooper explores the world of online gamers again.
posted by brautigan at 10:59 PM PST - 7 comments

Arthur Kane used to play in a band
While working in a Mormon genealogy library, Arthur asked a member of his congregation if he could get a ride to the pawn shop to get his guitars out of hock. Apparently, the former president of his band's fan club, someone named "Morrissey" had called and wanted Arthur to play a reunion concert with his old band. His friend made a documentary about it.
posted by mecran01 at 10:01 PM PST - 29 comments

Rusty's family tried to accept his kinkier interests. "Father, will you buy me that leash for my birthday?" "But Patches already has a leash," said Father. "I didn't want it for Patches," said Rusty. Father chuckled uncomfortably.
posted by jonson at 8:55 PM PST - 36 comments

Go Rangers This is the tale of a young man who lost an eye to a suicide bomber in Iraq and THEN joined the U.S. Army Rangers. I don't think that he was busy calling his Mom.
posted by snsranch at 5:56 PM PST - 50 comments

U2, the Pope, Bush, Blair and Oprah together -- doing head and shoulders! Yet more Flash Friday fun.
posted by Hot Like Your 12V Wire at 5:49 PM PST - 23 comments

The Best Banned Advertising, from the publishers of the Best Rejected Advertising books, is a collection highlighting quality ads that received numerous consumer complaints and in some cases government bans. Most aren't your typical "too hot for tv" commercials; some are fantastic.
posted by kyleg at 5:13 PM PST - 23 comments

What to do when you have more richies than quaint antique European towns for them to buy? Create a new one. The newest in über premium five-star living for the non-cyclical rich. [via We Make Money, Not Art]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:36 PM PST - 11 comments

Sinister Dolls: "They lived. They died. They were raised from the grave. Sinister Dolls were once ordinary dolls". More creepy art by the same artist. Happy Hallowe'en!
posted by biscotti at 1:51 PM PST - 13 comments

This has got to be the awesomest pumpkin ever.
posted by essexjan at 1:41 PM PST - 32 comments

Now there's hope. Ask your doctor about Hetracil. [Honestly, I've posted this thinking it's a parody... These days, though, one never knows.]
posted by ancientgower at 1:20 PM PST - 47 comments

Have you seen this person? Friday flash fun. Make your own police sketch.
posted by Gamblor at 1:20 PM PST - 9 comments

WoWFilter: It's official. The Burning Crusade debuts today in Los Angeles at BlizzCon, a company-sponsored event that is also showing off Starcraft: Ghost. The convention has been sold out for nearly 3 months now. Surprisingly, even after selling out all the tickets, Blizzard went on to announce that The Offspring will perform (with an opener from Christian Finnegan), there will be a fully equipped exhibit hall, and the event will take place right next to Disney Land. The convention opened its doors this morning, and Blizzard promptly put up the official site for the expansion. The only question that remains is: What is the new mystery playable race for the Alliance? My vote is for drunk Panda Ninjas.
posted by thanotopsis at 12:58 PM PST - 42 comments

"Hey Mom it’s me." Something my son always said every time he called, but this time his voice sounded unusual. He had a really serious tone in his voice and the automatic gunfire in the background was loud and more constant than usual. My heart began to race and I took a deep breath. "Hey, I'm trapped on a rooftop and I don't think we are going to make it out of here, so I just called to tell you that I loved you and that I am thinking of all of you."
posted by caddis at 10:47 AM PST - 114 comments

Einstein Speaks from Beyond the Grave... To issue a vigorous challenge to the muddled claims coming from all sides about the inherent incompatibility of science and religion. (No secondary links to go with this, but in my opinion, this link is interesting enough to stand on its own.)
posted by all-seeing eye dog at 10:20 AM PST - 69 comments

Heiterkeit (12 meg quicktime movie) is an utterly charming German music video about all the other fun things you can do lying down. (Yes, it's entirely safe for work, unless your workplace forbids quirky charm.) If you enjoy it, check out Transsylvanische Verwandte(12 meg quicktime movie), another work by the same director. For a look behind the scenes of both films, there's this making-of video. (The making of video is a realplayer file, and it's in German--but I don't speak German, and I got the general idea.) Via Antville.
posted by yankeefog at 10:03 AM PST - 12 comments

Last night I didn't fall asleep until early in the morning. And I've got a long day ahead of me. So, what the hell is making me smile at seven thirty-five in the morning? (embedded quicktime)
posted by still at 9:59 AM PST - 57 comments

Its official. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby indicted on two counts of Perjury, two counts of Making False statements and one count of Obstruction of Justice. All of which are felonies. It is expected Libby will tender his resignation today.
posted by SirOmega at 9:48 AM PST - 313 comments

Is the US broken beyond repair? Columnist Peggy Noonan asks some disturbing questions about the US and its future. Have the wheels come off the trolley and are we headed off the tracks. Can anyone put us back on the tracks or is it too late? A very thought provoking article.
posted by waltb555 at 9:28 AM PST - 117 comments

Old School tough guy. Perhaps the single most hated villain in wrestling, Dick the Brusier was a midwest legend and his matches always scored a high positive on the Muta Scale before there was a Muta Scale. Brusier typifyed t.v. wrasslin' before the second golden age, as late as 1976 you could still catch a match on the small time UHF channels. But whether he and his tag team partner Crusher were real blue collar guys or not, you can smoke cigars, drink beer and gobble bbq in his old stomping grounds.
posted by Smedleyman at 8:59 AM PST - 18 comments

Famous last words

and a famous last ramble

"Hey, Jimmie! The Chimney Sweeps. Talk to the Sword."
posted by Mr T at 8:49 AM PST - 26 comments

Dengue in Texas. If it ain't the flu, it's the haemorrhagic fever. Disease info from WHO, CDC, Wikipedia.
posted by Eothele at 8:35 AM PST - 10 comments

Hundreds of hours of unedited interview footage with television pioneers. From the Archive of American Television, previously available via appointment, now available via Google Video. Okay, so maybe Michael J. Fox [video link] is no pioneer, but Norman Lear [video link] is. Also Mister Rogers [video link].)
posted by nobody at 8:19 AM PST - 2 comments

Good smell perplexes New Yorkers How odd the city smelled sweet, like maple syrup, and all over: up in Harlem, downtown, in Astoria, Park Slope, other parts of Brooklyn. And what was it? A breakout of MSUD and public urination? Or something more fortean or more sinister?
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 7:54 AM PST - 120 comments

A slideshow via Beware of the Blog: "Pathways To Music, Part One: The Birth of Electronic Music" [QT req].
"This installment covers electronic music from 400 BC to 1950, including analog techniques such as the "soundhouses" of the 17th century to the glass harmonica, before finally moving along to early electronic instruments such as the Dynamophone and the Ondes Martenot." View Part II [MP4]
posted by hall of robots at 7:01 AM PST - 3 comments

Death in Sakkara: An Egyptian Adventure (flash).
An Indiana Jones style web-based game from the BBC's Ancient History department.

Egypt, 1929. Journalist Charles Fox plunges into a darkly sinister world of intrigue, murder and mysticism in the hunt for a missing archaeologist.

Oh yes, it's really hard.
via Wonderland
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:19 AM PST - 17 comments

To boldly go where no one has gone before. George Takai comes out of the closet! Old Star Trek episodes suddenly become gay kitsch, develop strange, new context. Sexuality: The Final Frontier?
posted by insomnia_lj at 12:59 AM PST - 104 comments

It's Comcastic! Manipulate and record messages with digital flash-based puppets. All the fun of real marionettes, but without the pesky strings. (The site also features some dexterity tests/games for your mad mousing skillz)
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:56 PM PST - 22 comments

The Yoda hip hop dance easter egg from the latest Star Wars DVD is posted at Google Video. 1 min long, flash video.
posted by jonson at 8:35 PM PST - 53 comments

"Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo."

A frothing rant on bloggers and blogging by Forbes [bugmenot]. Don't miss their advice on how businesses can fight back!
posted by nyterrant at 6:56 PM PST - 54 comments

How things do change! A short Guide to Iraq published in 1942 by the US government. The handbook was written for American soldiers who were stationed in Iraq to prevent Nazis from seizing the country’s oil. .... 63 years later.
posted by threehundredandsixty at 6:51 PM PST - 29 comments

Bill O'Riley's Cowards List. Includes such luminaries as Dick Cheney, Michael Chertoff, Jeb Bush, Tom DeLay... Cindy Sheehan. And many more.
posted by delmoi at 3:35 PM PST - 62 comments

I love to guita-r. (QT required, but the downloads were pretty fast.) Wha-wha without the paddles. These are videos of past winners and hall-of-famers of US Air Guitar Championships. Makes for a laugh.
posted by countzen at 3:27 PM PST - 12 comments

Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything. Suggesting specific podcasts might be a little iffy but if you haven't heard Benjamin Walker, you're really missing out. A self-described "radio artist," Walker's delivery immediately jumps out. And once you start to listen to whatever it is he's saying, you'll find yourself angry, fascinated, entertained and/or perhaps enlightened.
posted by panoptican at 1:58 PM PST - 15 comments

Wild-Landscape photography
posted by Gyan at 12:56 PM PST - 15 comments

Retrieved photos: This fellow develops film that has been locked away in cameras, often for a long time. Some interesting photos. The commentary under the photos is a bit ... lackluster. A nice little site to waste a little time with.
posted by edgeways at 12:32 PM PST - 49 comments

The last remaining Brown Derby in Los Angeles has been sold, and is reportedly facing demolition in favor of a condo complex. Will the historical landmark go by the way of the Ambassador Hotel, or will signing the petition help?
posted by Lillitatiana at 12:31 PM PST - 12 comments

Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) uses a mild electric current, applied to the head, to influence the perception of motion. [NTT Lab] [AP article] [Making people act drunk]
posted by rxrfrx at 12:27 PM PST - 5 comments

GrooOOoovy Halloween Sharity Tiki-Tim's Exotica Lounge has been posting a fab collection of 60s Halloween novelty records, including Frankie Stein and His Ghouls, Gene Moss and His Monsters, a Munsters album, and other gems. Just the thing to get the party going!
posted by carter at 11:37 AM PST - 7 comments

Named after the hill on which Jesus was crucified, Golgotha Fun Park, once the country's #1 shaded biblical mini-golf destination, is now but a memory. Fortunately, there are still other options.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 11:23 AM PST - 14 comments

Meet the only out player in Major League Professional Sports: Sheryl Swoopes, of the WNBA. Will Swoopes's revelation help chip away at the homophobia that is rampant in some locker rooms and fuels much of the negative recruiting that goes on in women's sports? She has her own Nike shoe--the only woman to ever get one, and now, another first for this rarest of athletes – someone who comes out publicly during their career.
posted by amberglow at 10:56 AM PST - 181 comments

Newsfilter: If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the destruction of Israel, would anybody listen? Apparently this time they are. While vague threats from Iran are a dime a dozen, "Since 1945, the establishment of the United Nations, no head of state which is a member of the United Nations ever called for the destruction of another member of the United Nations, publicly and clearly, as the president of Iran did." according to Shimon Peres, in demanding that Iran be expelled from the UN for the statement. Much of the world seems pretty upset (including the US, who's destruction was also called for on this merry "World without Zionism" conference), but will it lead to anything, or is it just a ratcheting up of the hyperbole between Iran and the IAEA?
posted by loquax at 10:53 AM PST - 111 comments

You park, they pay NYC Port Authority found negligent by having parking under WTC. Jury finds terrorists 32% responsible for exploding van there in 1993. 400 plaintiffs seek $1.8 billion, NYCPA will have to pay 100% of the damages that might be awarded.
posted by dand at 10:11 AM PST - 44 comments

Knitting Pattern Hall of Shame This site appears to be where all the really bad patterns get held up to all the ridicule they deserve. I’ll be kind and say that these designers must have meant well. After all, there must be a certain demand for that perfect pattern to make for the gay pride parade or your favourite knitting fetish bar or to get one through those days of abject self-hatred. Every designer has trouble remembering that not every woman is 5’10 and 115 pounds. And it’s really kind of heartwarming that they try so damn hard to sex up knitting. But knitters, before you make any of these, please remember a few basic rules: one’s knitting project should not land one on an endangered species list, give one retina burn or a heightened cholesterol level, or house more than six people. And if your boyfriend dumps you when you give him this for Christmas, rest assured that you’ll get custody of it. (via MonkeyFilter, courtesy Melinika).
posted by orange swan at 9:30 AM PST - 27 comments

RFID+US Passport? By October 2006, the U.S. government will require nearly all of the passports it issues to include a computer chip containing the passport holder's personal information...
posted by yoga at 8:43 AM PST - 41 comments

Assembler is a compilation of exclusively foreign, obscure and unreleased video game consoles, as well as strange hybrids, developer units and something you might have found in the Sears catalog ten years ago.
posted by setanor at 8:24 AM PST - 10 comments

The Art of Mark Bryan :The Metal Man, The First 1000, giddyup. At the Solomon Dubnick Gallery.
posted by OmieWise at 7:12 AM PST - 8 comments

Iraqi insurgents are rejecting al-Qaida in favour of the political process. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad spent 5 days with an Iraqi resistance group during the constitutional vote, and found that al-Qaida involvement in the insurgency-particularly their tactic of targetting Iraqi police and soldiers-is both unwelcome and unwanted. Instead many Sunni are looking toward using the democratic process to achieve their ends.
posted by MadOwl at 6:59 AM PST - 41 comments

Newsfilter: Miers withdraws herself
posted by cillit bang at 6:07 AM PST - 156 comments

Mystery of the Scream. In August 2004, two armed and masked robbers pulled off a stunning daylight robbery when they entered the Edvard Munch museum in Oslo and pulled The Scream and Madonna off the walls in front of stunned visitors and carried them out of the museum. Although suspects have been identified, no charges have been filed, no arrests have been made, and the paintings remain missing. Last week, the museum gift shop began selling a children's board game called Mystery of the Scream where players assume the roles of art thief and police. Not everyone was amused. Kaare Berntsen, artistic director of Oslo's Kaare Berntsen Gallery, said "In principle I find it a bit in bad taste to make a game out of the theft of The Scream." Yesterday, bowing to pressure from the Norweigan government, the museum pulled the game from the shelves.
posted by three blind mice at 5:22 AM PST - 15 comments

Although originally posted in 1999, Tales of Mere Existence bears a repost, as the site has been updated since then with lots of new and hilarious films and comics about "stuff you think but don't talk about." (QT)
posted by amro at 10:14 PM PST - 13 comments

88 years in the making. The Chicago White Sox have swept the series.
posted by wfrgms at 9:51 PM PST - 74 comments

Are Texans Poised to Ban All Marriage Altogether? A group opposed to the Texas anti-gay-marriage ballot initiative is pointing out that the language in Proposition 2 (one of nine proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution up for a vote November 8) might actually ban all marriages: gay, straight, whatever. The group -- Save Texas Marriage -- is organizing phone banks, offering signs and fliers, and pointing to language in the measure that would ban "any legal status identical or similar to marriage" without specifying that the ban would apply to gay persons. Prop 2 supporters, of course, are crying foul.
posted by mmahaffie at 7:27 PM PST - 55 comments

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up and see the Sideshow. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have something here for everyone. See the freaks of nature, the mutants, the human oddities, the sword swallowers, the dime museum, a special exhibit of sideshow banners from the past, and yes, we even have, live before your very eyes, direct from the 21st century, special acts from the Coney Island Sideshow. And for a small extra charge, a special section of premier performers including exhibitions of pugilism, as well as an exhibit of posters from Tod Browning's movie, Freaks. The circus starts in a little over an hour and a half, so you have plenty of time to see these astounding wonders of the world.
posted by mischief at 7:19 PM PST - 22 comments

How to learn about difficult things
posted by iffley at 7:19 PM PST - 26 comments

Rolling Bomber Special! [Embedded Video] Those Japanese... they have a knack for combining the bizarre with the strangely compelling.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:34 PM PST - 31 comments

Artist Jesse Reklaw takes people's descriptions of their dreams and turns them into four-panel comic strips. Similarly, The Dream Project turns descriptions into movies. Until we figure out how to record dreams in real time, this is the next best thing. Updated weekly. Submit your dream (or apply to illustrate one yourself). [props]
posted by mowglisambo at 5:47 PM PST - 9 comments

The Great Italian Yellowcake Scam. Three- part translation of a three- article series in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that "attempted to reconstruct the who, where and why of the manufacture and transfer to British and American intelligence of the dodgy dossier for war." [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:42 PM PST - 16 comments

Filmgeeks -- and I know there are many on MeFi -- may wish to check out smallformat, the magazine for Super8, Single8, and 16/9.5/8mm enthusiasts. It's mother is the long-established German magazine of the same name. First issues went out the door only a few days/weeks ago.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:18 PM PST - 14 comments

Merlin Mann's 43 Folders podcast is hilarious.
posted by nthdegx at 2:27 PM PST - 48 comments

The American Civil Liberties Union today made public an analysis of new and previously released autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom died while being interrogated. The documents show that detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, beaten with blunt objects, subjected to sleep deprivation and to hot and cold environmental conditions. The documents released today are available online...
U.S. Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq
The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody... "This is the first time they've said explicitly that the intelligence community should be allowed to treat prisoners inhumanely," said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "In the past, they've only said that the law does not forbid inhumane treatment." Now, he said, the administration is saying more concretely that it cannot be forbidden.
Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees
posted by y2karl at 1:51 PM PST - 68 comments

If Fox News had Been Around Throughout History... We've learned that Greeks are in fact hiding *inside* the horse and will be attempting to infiltrate the city of Troy after nighfall... via essays & effluvia
posted by jasper411 at 12:50 PM PST - 40 comments

Aibo-Life : a page for people who love their Aibos way too much. Linked is the media page with photo galleries, videos of tricks, and terrifying visions of expressionless robo-raves. (shades of the furby-bending chorus)
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:40 PM PST - 7 comments

Indian Techie Flamewar [yes via 204.11.50.136]
posted by srboisvert at 12:18 PM PST - 23 comments

Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman raped by village order, is now in Madison, Wisconsin, at the invitation of Glamour Magazine, to receive an award honoring her struggle for women's rights. Nicholas Kristof, of the New York Times, broke her story to the world, calling her "one of the gutsiest people on Earth." She is in the United States despite an attempt by President Pervez Musharraf to bar her from traveling, because the visit might tarnish the country's image. Her "crime" was previously discussed on MetaFilter.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:58 AM PST - 27 comments

LA-DEEEES AND GENTLEMEN! STEP RIGHT UP! THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! The Strange and Unusual, the Freaks of Nature, the Shocking and the Bizarre! YOU won't BELiEVE your EYES!
posted by crunchland at 11:15 AM PST - 6 comments

Babycal Throw A simple and enormously addicting game. Consider yourself warned.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:02 AM PST - 35 comments

We believe that a power greater than Sid Meier can restore us to sanity. Yeah, World of Warcraft may currently be ruining your life, but I'd bet good money that over the long haul Civilization and other games by Sid Meier have ruined more lives than that upstart. Don't give in! NO MORE TURNS!
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:38 AM PST - 77 comments

A statue of Tommie Smith and John Carlos was recently unveiled at San Jose State University. Smith and Carlos were (in)famous for their raised fist protest on the medal podium at the 1968 Olympics, for which they paid a heavy price.
posted by rocket88 at 9:19 AM PST - 49 comments

"R2 that seg fault is popping up again, see if you can lock it down!"
posted by Witty at 8:40 AM PST - 20 comments

Labour Party charlies cock-up smoking ban plans. Despite years of very public debate on what seems like a fairly straightforward subject, it now looks like the UK government will be forced to rethink its plans to introduce a smoking ban in public places across England and Wales. Research in places where bans are in place all support the claims for health benefits, and the Scottish Parliament is taking the lead in the UK by introducing a total ban next year, so why can't the Labour Party make up its mind? If you're tired of waiting for the government to take action, this site lists smoke-free restaurants and hotels around the world.
posted by londonmark at 5:50 AM PST - 119 comments

Critical to Attend London Critical Mass this Friday. 11-year-old London Critical Mass is under threat thanks to the new SOCA laws - that's the Serious Organised Crime Act, which we all realise was drafted for precisely this kind of thing. The Metropolitan Police distributed letters at last months ride and threaten to turn a peaceful, non-political non-demonstration into exactly the opposite. Inevitably this month's ride is set to be the biggest yet. It is reminscent of the on-going Manhattan farce (mefi) and also Milwaukee.
posted by criticalbill at 2:20 AM PST - 67 comments

The Starbucks Cup. An icon of taste and excess. On one hand, it's honored by the National Recycling Coalition for adding post-consumer recycled content (wow, 10%!). On the other hand, it's announced that the cups will soon feature religious nuggets from Rick Warren, author of the Purpose-Driven Publishing Empire. What gives?
posted by billder at 11:50 PM PST - 66 comments

Congratulations, you have just volunteered yourself to be part of this game. The aim is simple: get to the end !
posted by jonson at 11:48 PM PST - 44 comments

Wal-Mart urges Congress to raise minimum wage and "unveiled a series of initiatives designed to present a kinder, gentler face for the world's biggest retailer... exploring ways to use the company's heft and resources to have a more positive impact on society." In its bid to turn over a new leaf, Wal-Mart also announced it's going green and lowering health care costs for its workers. Is this a new sign of rethinking the social responsibility of business where the kind of growth matters as much as the amount? Or is it right to be skeptical of it as a ploy to help open more stores like its critics charge?
posted by kliuless at 9:02 PM PST - 59 comments

The Acoustics of Gases. The high-pitched version of your voice that you hear when you inhale helium represents a cool principle. Unlike the speed of light, the speed of sound is quite sensitive to the composition of the medium that it travels through. A gas such as helium that is much less dense than the air we normally breathe and hear in will actually cause the speed of sound to increase, a phenomenon that we perceive as a Chipmunks-like change in pitch. A couple of scientists have used this relationship between sound frequency and gas composition to invent an acoustic device for monitoring the gas composition of air. Of course , if you're a canary this is nothing new.
posted by derangedlarid at 8:58 PM PST - 23 comments

Climbing Eiger ... 40 years after your father died trying - New docu-drama from Yahoo - pretty gripping.
posted by RonZ at 8:01 PM PST - 19 comments

Autumn Omakase - A Tasting Menu from Tatsu Nishino. A nine course primer to one chef's exploration of seasonal Japanese cooking. Provided as a lushly illustrated, freely downloadable 64 page pdf.
via
posted by boo_radley at 7:37 PM PST - 15 comments

I don't think enough people appreciate the comic possibilities of suicide anymore. (via memepool)
posted by es_de_bah at 7:27 PM PST - 18 comments

Last Post. Evan 'Darby' Allan, the last of Australia's 330,770 World War 1 veterans, was buried with full state honours yesterday, closing one of the most dismal chapters in our history. Joining the navy at 14, Darby avoided the bloody horrors of the Somme and Gallipoli, which contributed heavily to the over 60 000 Australian war dead and 200 000 total casualties (from a population of only about 5 000 000), but he still played his part in what many historians suggest was the prime cause of 20th century totalitarianism, the second world war and the cold war. And it was all so pointless. He seemed like a nice bloke, and the reportage has thankfully avoided most of the 'hero' bullshit (I don't think he would have approved).
posted by wilful at 5:34 PM PST - 40 comments

Bad Design Kills The world is steeped in bad design. As designers we see something every day that makes us cringe or shake our head in disgust. But bad design does more than offend the eye of the designer. It facilitates a poor public perception for what our industry does and at the same time it lowers the perceived value of our services.
posted by ColdChef at 5:13 PM PST - 61 comments

Until now, the last World Series team without a black player was the 1953 New York Yankees. (via SpoFi)
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:32 PM PST - 85 comments

Octacube Sculpture The stainless-steel Octacube is a striking object of visual art and also a mental portal to the fourth dimension, a teaching tool, and a research object bringing together many branches of mathematics and physics connected to the structure of symmetry.
posted by thecollegefear at 4:29 PM PST - 27 comments

"We believe everything should be free!" Oolsi is a new zine about free tools, self-learning and living free. Won't somebody just make a new Whole Earth Catalog already?
posted by mingusmingus at 1:35 PM PST - 31 comments

Darth Vader Butter Sculpture. This was featured at the Tulsa State Fair, as one their annual butter scultpures. We've got Darth on our minds, right up there with the ultimate father figure while still making the usual dorky fan art (balloons, balloon masks).
posted by beezy at 1:30 PM PST - 21 comments

Gamer Br is a documentary of the gaming scene in Brazil (has English subtitles). A seemingly odd place for video gaming, it's garnered a conference, national tournament to make it to the world tournament, and actual worldwide champions. They also have an interesting console economy from which Sega still rules. Of course, banning video games doesn't help much.
posted by cleverusername at 12:33 PM PST - 7 comments

What does modern history have to teach us about the age of American empire? The final chapters of the British Empire offer lessons and parallels aplenty. Empires don't last forever, and the combination of martial victory, popular ennui, and liberal anti-patriotism is a dangerous mix for a superpower.
posted by four panels at 12:23 PM PST - 40 comments

All known idea generation methods.
posted by signal at 11:44 AM PST - 13 comments

Discover the goodness that is Hack A Day -- DIY geekery of all sorts awaits you: vacuum forming • Infrared web cams and digital cams • robotic helicopter • Telemarketer Interception System • Jacob's Ladder • Dobsonian telescope [pdf] • prison tatoo gun • TIG welder • parallel and serial port sound • LCD projector • FM transmitter [tripod] • computer-controlled glider • jet-powered beer cooler • retro wooden laptop • White Trash hoverboard • refrigerator speaker cabinet • tornado machine [pdf] • fog machine • LED Pimp Bed • seismometer • persistence-of-vision game system • webcam telescope • racing game controllers • Segway • laser projectors • flamethrower • bagpipes and hours upon hours of time wasting others.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:41 AM PST - 20 comments

Set the Arcs in Motion [Flash game]
posted by Gyan at 11:29 AM PST - 42 comments

No surprise: Warmest September (globally) since record keeping began, according to NOAA, 1.13 degrees above the 1880-2004 long term mean, with land temperatures more than 5 degrees F above normal across large parts of Asia and North America. Ocean temperatures were third highest on record.
posted by stbalbach at 10:33 AM PST - 45 comments

I Want It That Way Hilarious videos of two Chinese boys lip-synching. Also these.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:55 AM PST - 18 comments

Mr Angry & Mrs Calm. This illusion will BLOW YOUR MIND.
posted by smackfu at 9:48 AM PST - 42 comments

Sony drops 250,000 superballs on San Francisco in a crass attempt to distract you from the outrageous price of flat-screen TVs. [quicktime, direct link here]
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:31 AM PST - 44 comments

The 25 Most Shocking Moments In Film History. Poop eating. Involuntary ear amputation. Shocking revelations. But did they forget any? (Spoilers ahoy!)
posted by you just lost the game at 8:52 AM PST - 141 comments

Test Your Knowledge of Islam. Also: Understanding Islam, Ramadan 101, Mrs Muhammad, Healthy Fasting. Other useful links here.
posted by matteo at 8:20 AM PST - 30 comments

"[A] nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale" are the words Charles Laughton used to describe the only film he directed, The Night of the Hunter (1955). Although James Agee is credited with helping to write the script, most critics agree that Laughton discarded Agee's effort for his own interpretation of the novel on which the movie is based. A fascinating series of rushes survive from the making of the film, showing Laughton's rapport with the actors and his own interpretations of the characters. In 2003 a detailed description of the making of the film was published as Heaven and Hell to Play With. Ebert on the movie. Margaret Atwood on the movie.
posted by OmieWise at 8:19 AM PST - 26 comments

"Because I publicly humiliated this lick-spittle senator Norman Coleman..." Storming Norm Coleman just doesn't know when to stop. He has aired new claims against George Galloway. Galloway, not surprisingly, has fought back, begging to be charged with perjury. Earlier was certainly entertaining, get some popcorn for this round. And get ready for even more uses of the word lickspittle.
posted by allen.spaulding at 7:45 AM PST - 51 comments

Wha be tha blake prevy lawe
That bene wantoun too alle tha feres?
SHAFT!
Ya damne righte!

(Obligatory secondary links).
posted by swift at 6:12 AM PST - 21 comments

Do you mix your own? Welcome to the website dedicated to making mixed tapes and cds. i like to use this site along with AMG (as a reference tool) to come up with much needed new ideas , and share them with people of similar tastes. just copy the names you find in AOTM (the ones you have no idea who they are) paste in the search engine at AMG and then listen to a sample of music from said group , to see if its your thing or not. here is a group i was introduced to a few years ago . found them ( you guessed it) on AOTM . when you find a mix you like offer to trade one of your own for it and use this site or some thing like it to share with your new friend.
posted by nola at 5:35 AM PST - 22 comments

The Animated Gif Strikes Back
posted by srboisvert at 4:00 AM PST - 33 comments

Gen H-4 The world smallest co-axial helicopter (Japanese site) with video here [wmv]. {via}
posted by tellurian at 1:18 AM PST - 28 comments

So long, and thanks for all the thrills. This weekend, Astroworld (I refuse to prepend "Six Flags") will close its doors. Envisioned in 1968 by Judge Roy Hofheinz (who also brought us Houstonians a major league baseball team, and a stadium in which they could play), the amusement park was where I spent a lot of my childhood in the 70s. Grass roots movements to save the park have failed, and thus it's time to say goodbye to the place that played host to one of the best rollercoasters in the world, a ride that scared the crap out of me, a double ferris wheel with a twist, as well as the Boogie Fog Disco, where I learned how to do The Hustle. All's not lost, as at least I can download the Texas Cyclone, but I still feel a little misty-eyed for the boy who spent most of his weekends in this magical and wondrous place. Farewell.
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:56 PM PST - 58 comments

Unraveling thread now reaches VP Cheney (NYTimes) and Reuters, (for those of you desiring a reputable news source.)
posted by spock at 8:55 PM PST - 131 comments

The machine that makes you a savant. (NY Times, No registration copy here) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation sounds sketchy at first, but there is growing evidence this device developed for brain mapping can change and maybe even enhance mental functions, and may (or may not) be especially useful against depression. The results of the first major US trials will come out in 2006, as discussed in this MIT Tech Review article (PDF). Are you ready for one at home?
posted by blahblahblah at 7:19 PM PST - 43 comments

Rosa Parks, RIP
posted by amberglow at 7:05 PM PST - 192 comments

Ubisoft's demo of the new King Kong PC game comes with a lovely surprise: StarForce copy protection software. Starforce installs a device driver with no warning, and many users have complained that it causes system instability. It also appears totally contrary to the idea of allowing users to copy the demo between one another (effectively robbing Ubisoft of free advertising). As with any form of copy protection it appears StarForce is simply an annoyance to the casual user, while the dedicated pirates are well on their way to cracking it.
posted by pivotal at 6:06 PM PST - 38 comments

Transform New Orleans into the World's First Arcology? The good Doctress Neutopia has a new mission: New Orleans is to be rebuilt as Arcosanti writ large. Perhaps one of the remaining Monster Truck Neutopians will lend a backhoe? Get the FAQs and the counterFAQs on the inventor (back around 1994) of the world's first online religion, and join the lovolution! (and I can't believe DN has never appeared on MeFi before, but thus sayeth the Search)
posted by Creosote at 4:35 PM PST - 29 comments

White House orders The Onion to stop using Presidential Seal. Via The Trademark Blog. see also 18 USC §713
posted by anathema at 4:33 PM PST - 64 comments

CBC Radio - Canada's publicly-owned broadcaster, has some amazing websites devoted to Canadian musicans of all varieties. Check out NewMusicCanada for the main database of artist information and streaminig music (realplayer). For alternative tunes, check out the weekly podcast hosted by Grant Laurence at CBC Radio 3. Or, you may prefer Folk, World , or even Country music . Of course, being a bilingual country there's the francophone music site too. And finally, if you'd like to see some live Canadian music, you can check out CBC's Concert listings. Soon, check out CBC Radio 3 on Sirius Radio Canada!
posted by SSinVan at 3:48 PM PST - 17 comments

British Board of Film Classification - the BBFC is a non-governmental industry body responsible in the UK for rating films depending on their content. Their site provides listings of recent film and video classifications (even in RSS format!), along with guidelines for each classification possible. There's also an interactive children's version (with an article on how the last Harry Potter film was rated), and one aimed at students (with case studies regarding 'controversial' films such as A Clockwork Orange and Crash.

And they have their own private cinema...
posted by robzster1977 at 3:19 PM PST - 7 comments

British public information films. A couple of months back, there was a post about an online exhibition of British propaganda films from WWII. Now, the UK National Archives, who appear to be slowly working their way through the decades, have posted some public information films from the 40s and 50s. BBC News discusses the history of public information films, particularly the famous "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases" (available in Windows Media (sigh) here). My favourite is this optimistic look at how the new towns developed after the war were going to be just *great*. I grew up in a new town - Hemel Hempstead. Let's just say it didn't quite work out that way.
posted by athenian at 3:04 PM PST - 2 comments

Characterizing a Fogbank. A prominent analytic philosopher discusses whether postmodernism is worth taking seriously.
posted by painquale at 1:40 PM PST - 97 comments

noitulovE - Rewind the rhythm of life, find the purpose of evolution?
First link direct to Quicktime, second to lyrics, third to lauding press release
posted by nelleish at 1:35 PM PST - 18 comments

New startup Peerflix is starting to generate press attention as a clearinghouse for peer-to-peer DVD trades; it's being called "eBay meets Netflix". With an idea that obvious, you'd think someone would have thought of it before, and they had - it was called WebSwap, but it didn't last that long...
posted by runkelfinker at 11:46 AM PST - 24 comments

FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations ...Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view...
posted by Postroad at 11:43 AM PST - 14 comments

Take this opportunity to get involved. November 2nd - A day of protest With possible indictments of senior Bush aides this week Bush has to be feeling the pressure. Reports point to a down and disillusioned president.
posted by Chris_awesome at 11:02 AM PST - 73 comments

America is now $8 trillion dollars in debt. That's nearly $27,000 per citizen, or almost $61,000 per taxpayer. A little over three years ago the total stood at $6 trillion.
posted by justkevin at 11:00 AM PST - 83 comments

The White House nominates Ben Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan. Works at Princenton, got his doctorate at MIT, currently has several economic related papers out. Apparently actually has a job relating to economics, and wants to drop dollar bills out of a helicopter Well, cut taxes if we enter a deflationary period -- which is just as sexy.
posted by geoff. at 10:14 AM PST - 58 comments

Wikipedia v. Encyclopædia Britannica. Wikipedia is a much loved resource on the internets, but often comes under criticism regarding its accuracy. In this article (The Faith-Based Encyclopedia) the criticism comes from a former Editor in Chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Turn about is fair play. Just the facts ma'am. [via Found on the Web]
posted by caddis at 8:41 AM PST - 76 comments

Were you left as ambivalent as I was by the introduction of the iPod Video? Did you think, "well, it's kinda cool, but why would anyone really want it?" Well, Mark Morford thinks he has the answer. [text-only, but may contain trace amounts of NSFW; via obscurestore]
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:57 AM PST - 36 comments

The debut album from Goblin Cock, titled Bagged and Boarded releases tomorrow. Goblin Cock is: Lord Phallus (aka Rob Crow of Pinback and Optiganally Yours), guitar and voice; Bane Ass-Pounder, guitar; King Sith, bass; Braindeath, drums; and Loki Sinjuggler, keyboards. [“Stumped”, mp3]
posted by ijoshua at 7:37 AM PST - 53 comments

Meet Anne Rice, Christian novelist.
posted by plexi at 7:37 AM PST - 68 comments

The Process Church of the Final Judgement, is quoted on two Funkadelic album covers. In his book The Family, Ed Sanders claimed that Charles Manson took his inspiration from The Process, leading to a lawsuit that resulted in the excision from subsequent editions of the material describing the cult's influence. Here is the redacted material. Whatever the truth about Manson and The Process Chuch, it was a time of cults.
posted by OmieWise at 7:29 AM PST - 11 comments

Under Foot and Between the Boards in the Laurential Library "Within the Laurentian Library, the enigmatic masterwork of Michelangelo, there exists a complex geometric pavement that is hidden from view, little known about and shrouded with mystery...Why had an immensely complicated pavement been constructed, only to be covered over?"
posted by dhruva at 11:22 PM PST - 13 comments

Amazing Stories ... every cover of this seminal sci-fi pulp magazine, from 1926 to 1967, plus.
posted by crunchland at 11:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Hurricane Tracker A god-like view of current hurricane activity.
posted by Muirwylde at 9:36 PM PST - 18 comments

Brent Scowcroft "Breaks Ranks" with George W. Bush
Longish excerpts from Jeffrey Goldberg's forthcoming article in The New Yorker.
posted by Kwantsar at 8:26 PM PST - 18 comments

You assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk! The first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has already killed 61 people in the Far East, has been identified in Britain. Scientists confirmed last night that a parrot, imported from Surinam in South America, contracted and died from the disease while in a quarantine unit in southern England.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:44 PM PST - 34 comments

If You're a Christian, Muslim or Jew - You are Wrong - A rant over at the Huffington Post.
And let's be clear about this, it IS a rant, and a beaut at that. But it's a sentiment that's run through the head of everyone who isn't a member of the three mentioned groups. No one in the mainstream media says things like this, I wonder why?
The post is made. Let the emphatic agreements, and the vicious denials... begin!
posted by JHarris at 4:30 PM PST - 256 comments

Double Plus Ungood --so there's this soldier in Iraq with a blog, All The King's Horses. He usually complains a little, tells readers about what he does, talks about the stop-loss thing that's keeping him in Iraq, etc. So, the Operation Truth site posts something by him, and the next thing you know, the blog is dead, and an unwilling public apology and retraction and statement of support for Bush and his leadership is posted. ... it breaks my heart to say that this will be my last post on this blog. I wish I could just stop there, but I can not. The following also needs to be said: For the record, I am officially a supporter of the administration and of her policies. ...
posted by amberglow at 3:29 PM PST - 77 comments

Photo gallery of European storm drains. Giant, intimidating & beautiful, 148 photos in all.
posted by jonson at 3:10 PM PST - 15 comments

The 'missing masterpieces' (of literature).
posted by stbalbach at 2:55 PM PST - 16 comments

Hooyah! "I imagine being a government contract killer who has taken an active role in an illegal and immoral invasion and occupation must be somewhat stressful. The poor - dears. My heart is struggling real hard to bleed here." Lots of folks agree with that apparently. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman at 1:06 PM PST - 51 comments

As Brazil Votes to Ban Guns, NRA Joins the Fight. Today an estimated 122 million Brazilians will vote in a national referendum on whether to ban the sale of guns and ammunition to private citizens.
posted by furtive at 12:00 PM PST - 89 comments

The Barrison Sisters, a vaudeville act of double entendres, would raise their puffy dresses to their knees and ask the audience, “Would you like to see my pussy?” They would reveal a kitten positioned in a pouch in their underwear. Here is a script from one of their performances. Lona Barrison, the group’s sultry leader, was involved in many affairs in Europe, including such auspices as Kaiser Wilhelm II, and also posed for mild erotica and a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. The Machinson Sisters were imitators from England.
posted by luckypozzo at 11:56 AM PST - 13 comments

Where'd the remaining 27% go. Researchers in Germany have finished a survey that tells them how people spend their time. With an average life-span of 78 years most time is spent sleeping with the least time spent making new people. Number crunching this research [direct image link] reveals:

5.12% 4 years housework | 0.96% 9 months washing and ironing | 1.71% 16 months cleaning | 2.78% 26 months cooking | 6.41% 5 years eating and drinking | 7.05% 66 months watching television | 0.53% 5 months diy | 8.97% 7 years at work | 0.96% 9 months commuting, plus | 0.64% 6 months traffic jams | 2.14% 20 months in school | 1.71% 16 hours orgasms | 0.05% 2 weeks kissing | 32.20% 24 years 4 months sleeping | 0.64% 6 months sitting on the lavatory | 0.05% 2 weeks praying | 1.92% 18 months shopping

So where does the rest of the time go.
posted by Schroder at 11:43 AM PST - 23 comments

Erection Photographs. What it says. "This site contains research information on penile erections. It also contains photos of erect penises. The text information is not sensational and the pictures are not pornographic. They are provided to allow anyone who feels they need this information (or is just curious) to see the natural variation that exists in male erections." Of particular (or prurient) interest is the Hard-Soft Gallery. Big-time NSFW (or rather: smallish, average and very occasionally big).
posted by jokeefe at 11:37 AM PST - 68 comments

How Babies are Made in Germany. A book for children. (Possibly NSFW.)
posted by thebabelfish at 9:47 AM PST - 55 comments

Office of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's webpage. Via Billmon
posted by afu at 8:26 AM PST - 22 comments

Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex with You. That quack Dr. Phil says that while sex is only 10% of a marriage, it's 90% when you're not getting it. Or words to that effect. There's some truth to that. This site discusses, from woman's point of view, why a wife might not feel like sex--often for years at a time. She also goes into greater detail (with insights taken from her own life and experience) such issues as some causes and what a man can do.
posted by John of Michigan at 8:09 AM PST - 54 comments

Soda Can Museum.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 6:54 AM PST - 14 comments

Not your Mother's pumpkins - A repost via xmutex, but who wouldn't want to carve conjoined twin or a radioactive pumpkin? I did the puking pumpkin last year and it was a hit with the kids.
posted by CoolHandPuke at 6:52 AM PST - 8 comments

"This book isn't as good as Harry Potter in MY opinion, and no one can refute me. Tastes are relative!" A review of Orwell's 1984 on Amazon, from a list compiled by Matthew Baldwin at The Morning News with a selection of the funniest one-star reviews of books from Time's list of the 100 best novels.
posted by funambulist at 6:42 AM PST - 98 comments

James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, calculated that on this day in 4004 BC the Universe was created by God. His magnum opus, Annals of the World, has recently been republished. An overview of Ussher's methodology and an account of the man by Larry Pierce, who prepared the new edition with his wife Marion. Bishop Ussher also figured in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Some people dispute Ussher's adherence to what the Bible says.

But let's not listen to the partypoopers and instead wish the Universe a Happy Birthday!
posted by Kattullus at 2:15 AM PST - 25 comments

The Use of Computers in Movies. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, will have easy to understand graphical interfaces. Those that don't, have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:25 AM PST - 60 comments

BWI -Blogging While Intoxicated ... a little less dangerous than DWI, for the most part ... Can you discern a DWI rant from a sober one? What makes many famous writers alcholics? ... and somebody compiled an Amazon list of Top 13 Works of Fiction Dealing with Alcoholism ... .... hick ....
posted by celerystick at 10:38 PM PST - 19 comments

Taiwan ignores drug patent - To save its people from a dangerous flu, Taiwan is synthesizing a vaccine without permission. This bears a striking resemblance to a classic moral dilemma of Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Kohlberg's theory is not without criticism, including gender bias, Western-centric thinking, and external validity. Simply knowing a person's decision doesn't tell you about their stage of development; you have to know the reasoning behind it, which is hard to come by in real world situations. Conversely, knowing a person's stage of moral development (even harder to come by in the real world) does not reliably predict their decision (moreso at the higher levels). Nor does Kohlberg's theory scale to what choices societies themselves make. Decision Making is a booming field of research, but how much research is being done on morality and group decision making? Not much. (initial article via /.)
posted by Eideteker at 9:32 PM PST - 33 comments

The *Original* King Kong Model is Animated One Last Time (large Quicktime video).
posted by JPowers at 8:52 PM PST - 16 comments

Nova Science Now recently ran a segment on lightning (quicktime, real, and windows video here). I figured that subject was over and done with shortly after Franklin flew a kite, but it turns out we don't really know exactly what causes a bolt to start. The coolest part of the segment was these researchers in Florida. Scientists know how hard it was to observe, monitor, and even find lightning bolts, so these guys built their own rig. High-powered model rockets attached to a couple thousand feet of wire, which is grounded to larger metal structures on the ground. The result? Shoot a rocket into a storm cloud and you get instant lightning you can count on, measure, and control.
posted by mathowie at 8:22 PM PST - 29 comments

Streaming Japan. Taka Yamada's Brovision.com is a beautiful and voluminious personal video diary of Japanese life and culture. Talk with a geisha, climb to the top of Mt. Fuji, or float a paper lantern down the river. Alternately, you can check out Video-link Japan, watch some television... or ignore all that and share your favorite J-links instead.
posted by insomnia_lj at 7:17 PM PST - 7 comments

Halloween Hangman (via my dad)
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:11 PM PST - 17 comments

The Sunday Telegraph reports that a secret survey commissioned by the British Ministry of Defence shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi citizens support attacks and fewer than one per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country.
posted by saketini99 at 6:57 PM PST - 36 comments

When science meets art. Science writer Simon Singh was annoyed with the lyrics to British singer Katie Melua's latest single. He rewrote them to be scientifically accurate, and she sings the unfortunate result (RealAudio file).
posted by smackfu at 5:21 PM PST - 21 comments

Beyond Discovery - illustrations of the path from research to human benefit
posted by Gyan at 5:21 PM PST - 6 comments

The Pixel Plant offers 150 Pixel Fonts for between Free and 45 cents each.
posted by dobbs at 4:18 PM PST - 5 comments

It's almost time for the annual "Christmas Is Under Attack" declaration spewed by Fox News. This is the 10th anniversary of my favorite strawman argument. John Gibson delivers the first shot in this phony culture-war battle with an action packed new book to defeat the anonymous liberal secularists out to destroy Santa.

From Amazon: John Gibson, a popular anchor for the Fox News Channel, has been digging up evidence about the liberal activists, lawyers, politicians, educators, and media people who are leading the war on Christmas. And he reveals that the situation is worse than you can imagine.
posted by DougieZero1982 at 3:15 PM PST - 70 comments

Etsy.com A colorful new way to shop. For those of you who don't know what you want, but know exactly what color you want it in.
posted by kindle at 3:04 PM PST - 14 comments

The Beauty of Afghanistan Remembered is a wonderful photo essay by Joanne Warfield, who went to Afghanistan in 1977 before the Russian invasion. Her photos portray a land and people that probably don't even exist anymore.
posted by Edward King at 1:59 PM PST - 11 comments

MC Hammer visits Google. And there he is, blogging something. Wait, so this means MC Hammer has a blog somwhere?
posted by Count Ziggurat at 11:50 AM PST - 28 comments

I know there's always been a dearth of particularly strangely named or just altogether strange means of taking in caffeine. Seriously, geeks will apparently buy caffeinated anything! However, I don't think I've seen anything quite as awesome as Steven Seagal's lightning bolt energy drink!
posted by twiggy at 11:12 AM PST - 42 comments

Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Friday that homosexuals cannot be treated differently. In what conservative homophobes decry as another instance of judicual activism, the Kansas Supreme Court unanimously struck down a state law that punished underage sex more severely if it involved homosexual acts, saying "moral disapproval" of such conduct is not enough to justify the different treatment. In the decision the court ruled: 1. K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-3522 violates the equal protection provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and § 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights. 2. The equal protection violation inherent in K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-3522 is cured by the severance of the words "and are members of the opposite sex" from the statute.
posted by three blind mice at 8:52 AM PST - 66 comments

Myggis & Pie (embedded video). SFW.
posted by nthdegx at 2:29 AM PST - 19 comments

OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!!
EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!!!!
posted by Jairus at 9:50 PM PST - 501 comments

A Picture is Worth 1000 Brains. Tonight, an event took place on one of the new Role Playing Player Versus Player servers for World Of Warcraft. One of the more eccentric guilds on the server decided to hold an event in honor of the game's official seasonal holiday "Hallow's Eve." Trading in their regular characters for level 1 zombies, they named themselves unpronounceable names (seeing as zombies lack proper tongue and jaw), gathered by the hundreds, and descended on the human fortress of Stormwind. More pics can be found in the official WoW forums. Happy Hallow's Eve, everyone! Brains!
posted by thanotopsis at 9:24 PM PST - 21 comments

First hand report and photos as Hurricane Wilma smacks the holy bejesus out of the Cancun/Cozumel area.

"The Mexican government did a great job in evacuating thousands of tourists in a small span of 10 to 12 hours. For tourists the evacuations were mandatory. Though the shelters may be uncomfortable, they are safe. I wouldn't worry to much if you have friends or relatives here, they may not be able to communicate for the next few days, but they are safe. The winds are now EXTREMELY powerful, the noise is loud, the building is shaking, and the storm seems to be very angry. This building is built to code, and is probably one of the safest in the hotel zone, so we are not to worried, but small family homes must be in shambles. I will try and keep these updates coming as long as I can."

posted by jcterminal at 9:07 PM PST - 15 comments

50 Years of Eurovision --pics, video, info on 14 of the best(?) songs ever performed in the contest. Tonight they're picking the Number One of all time.
posted by amberglow at 8:57 PM PST - 31 comments

Glaucoma [w/Flash audio. NB: mouse-over bottom-left for Elvis. Obviously]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:44 PM PST - 16 comments

Stunningly beautiful photo of Dione and Saturn with rings. Such a sensation of depth and grandeur. Thanks, Cassini/JPL/NASA. [animation] [planetary photojournal entry] [B/W mirror from kokogiak] [now you play fun Flash spaceship game].
posted by brownpau at 8:40 PM PST - 18 comments

Tools for Surfing Porn with Firefox. My fav: the PaNIC extension which "hides porn quickly."
posted by JPowers at 8:13 PM PST - 26 comments

Interactive Autopsy [Flash]
posted by Gyan at 5:13 PM PST - 13 comments

Okie Noodling... why not take it straight to the fishies! Noodling, aka tribbling, hogging, or hand fishing is the art of catching catfish using your hand as bait (or your arm for the big ones). These guys root around river banks like muskrats in search of their quarry, but sometimes encounter snakes, snapping turtles, or beavers. Imagine having a 30 to 60 pound catfish chomp on your arm! If you are ever inclined to get in touch with your animal side, this is a pretty good place to start.
posted by philmas at 4:53 PM PST - 16 comments

GooGhoul! Search tool for hayrides, festivals, haunted houses and other Halloweeny things in your zip code.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:34 PM PST - 4 comments

I'm the 24,519,565 richest person on earth! According to the Global Rich List, which says I make more than 99.506% of the people alive today. Only 24.5 million people between Bill Gates & myself...
posted by jonson at 2:18 PM PST - 90 comments

"A quoi ça sert l’amour?" 28m quicktime, because it's a worthy successor to the cake-bearing bunny. (via)
posted by of strange foe at 11:11 AM PST - 24 comments

PRANGSTGRÜP: Startup Sound [via Engadget]
posted by cmicali at 10:54 AM PST - 22 comments

Harriet Miers, Ben Barnes, and an "eye-popping amount of money." Harriet Miers may have given "Bush skipped out on the TexANG"-accuser Ben Barnes a golden parachute in an effort to keep him close...and quiet.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:40 AM PST - 71 comments

Dick Waterman takes photographs of musicians. Choose a genre from the menu at the top of the page. The photos are good, but going through the Javascript interface allows you to read about each picture. In this photo of Dylan and Baez, Waterman captured Baez crying because Dylan was ignoring her. In this photo of Rev. Gary Davis, Waterman shows Davis sleeping with his guitar held vertically on his lap. And check out young John Fahey with Son House.This gallery of Seven Guitars was connected to Angus Wilson's play of the same name. My favorite is Elizabeth Cotten. Here's an NPR interview with Waterman.
posted by OmieWise at 10:35 AM PST - 10 comments

Barnacle Press :: Amazing Archive of Vintage Comic Strips
posted by anastasiav at 10:16 AM PST - 18 comments

Co-winner of the Nobel prize in economics Robert Aumann of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem gave a very interesting interview about how he became interested in economics, math, and the "topology of bagels." How he applied logic from the Talmud to bankruptcy and other economic events was described nicely at Slate here.
posted by Adamchik at 10:13 AM PST - 4 comments

"This is a game of skill, designed not only to challenge one's hand-eye coordination, but to stimulate strategic thinking as well."
posted by sciurus at 9:55 AM PST - 23 comments

Why do we always seem to expect the worst from some people? By now, it's common knowledge that media reports of widespread looting, violence and sexual assault in the wake of Katrina's strike on New Orleans were grossly exaggerated, but why? Some might attribute such distortions to unconscious bias, offering up some hope of alleviating racial tension by bringing unexamined racial biases to light; still others see the problem of racial tension as an intractable one, leading inevitably to an all-out clash of cultures--even finding "evidence" of the inevitably of such a conflict in the unlikeliest of places. Still others seem especially eager to bring all these tensions to a head. What's really going on these days? Is racial tension ultimately a political problem or, as some suggest, a psychological one?
posted by all-seeing eye dog at 9:46 AM PST - 35 comments

Fitzmas is coming!... isn't it? Can you stand the anticipation? Could this major holiday turn out to be a big letdown? (Remember, "Fantasies of Cheney being indicted and Bush as unindicted coconspirator are just that at this point--fantasies.") But that doesn't mean we can't be ready with Fitzmas carols or Indictment Bingo, which Wonkette proposed and BackupBrain has now rendered as an actual randomized Fitzmas Bingo card for playing along at home.
posted by soyjoy at 9:27 AM PST - 45 comments

The Simpsons are going to... the Middle East! As a treat for viewers during Ramadan, Dubai-based network MBC has dubbed 30 episodes of the Simpsons into Arabic. But in order not to offend their audience, this version of Our Favorite Family is, well, a bit different; for instance, Homer (rechristened Omar) doesn't eat bacon or drink beer. Speculation about the fate of other characters abounds, One Angry Arab is not impressed.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:42 AM PST - 28 comments

Flock is a being called a 'social browser'. It's been available to a select group of beta testers for a while, but today a developer preview of Flock was released to the public. Based on the open source Mozilla codebase, Flock integrates and synchronises with del.icio.us, Flickr and various blogging tools such as Blogger and Wordpress. Amongst other features, tags can be added to favourites and aggregated RSS feeds can be built and viewed from within the browser. There's been a mixed, if somewhat encouraging reception from the Web 2.0 crowd. Is this the future of browsing, or a plaything for early adopter geeks?
posted by davem at 8:10 AM PST - 50 comments

Faith in Chaos. Photojournalist Pep Bonet (previously mentioned in this excellent post) has won the 2005 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, a $30,000 prize, to support his project on post-war Sierra Leone. The W. Eugene Smith Grant was founded in 1976 to provide financial freedom to photojournalists working on long-term projects in the humane tradition of W. Eugene Smith. Past winners have included Stanley Greene, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Sebastiao Salgado, Eli Reed, Eugene Richards and Gideon Mendel. More inside.
posted by matteo at 7:35 AM PST - 5 comments

Stanford iTunes is a service from Stanford University that allows the public access to free speeches, lectures, forums, and more via iTunes. Want more academic audio content? Check out the University Channel at Princeton or the Havens Center at UW-Madison.
posted by trey at 6:27 AM PST - 37 comments

The Wire This award winning CBC radio series incorporates interviews, music and sound to explore the impact of electricity on music, from Edison to Caruso to Les Paul to Bjork. Exhaustively researched and beautifully produced, it's somewhere between a documentary, a remix and a music show. The home site has excerpts, playlists, and the remix from each show, but you can listen to all eight episodes in their entirely at PRX (you'll need to login first).
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:26 AM PST - 16 comments

Rotel (German) is a way to travel the world and go off the beaten track without leaving the comfort of your... bus. Some of the buses are in two parts, so the accommodation trailer can be left behind for day trips, and some are four-wheel drive, to go off-road. More pics: Algeria, Mongolia, Argentina, Serengeti. Those goofy buses remind me of the Red Couch. More inside.
posted by Turtle at 6:04 AM PST - 12 comments

The Valve Page Featuring exceedingly old radios, televisions, and other old electronics from the UK.
posted by Mwongozi at 5:38 AM PST - 9 comments

Lenin Statues around the World. Reason 1: It is a tribute to cool propaganda statues and the work of the sculptors. Reason 2: Very likely the typical tourist picture taken by a westerner visiting mother Russia would be: To make that touristic one standing beneath Lenin and imitating him pointing out the way to the perfect society with his giant hand while the other hand is holding his ridicolous but cute cap. When shooting your picture the locals laugh and laugh and some drunkards might even yell at you for taking this, in their mind, very stupid picture. (sic)
posted by three blind mice at 1:37 AM PST - 29 comments

OPB: The mother of all beers. Says artist Toi Sennhauser, "By adding a trace amount of my vaginal yeast to regular brewer's yeast, my 'Original Pussy Beer' pays homage to beer's ancient creators from 'the cradle of civilization.'" [more inside (heh)]
posted by fatllama at 7:32 PM PST - 132 comments

Halloween Webcam - kill Frankenstein View over 7,000 Halloween Lights and a giant inflateable Frankenstein. Turn the lights on and off - or better yet, decide if Frankenstein lives (inflate him) or dies. What do the neighbors think of this?
posted by RonZ at 6:34 PM PST - 12 comments

Art of the States - American composers and their music. Real Audio streams of complete works.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:53 PM PST - 4 comments

Level editor for Super Mario World.
You'll need a SNES emulator and a Super Mario World ROM.
(Ctrl+right-click to insert objects.)
posted by Tlogmer at 3:51 PM PST - 17 comments

World's 2nd Conference on Dominionism "Dominionism is an influential form of fundamentalist religion that believes that in order to fulfill biblical prophecy, "godly Christians" must take control of the levers of political and judicial power in America in the near future....The goal of this seminar is to examine the power and influence of a religious and political movement that questions the separation of church and state, and that aims to establish a biblical society governed by biblical laws." NYC's CUNY Open Center holds the 2nd ever conference of Domionism this weekend, Friday Oct. 21 through Saturday Oct. 22. Be there or be, well, dominated !
posted by troutfishing at 3:29 PM PST - 49 comments

rectuMTV Fairly twisted music video (Qtime) from the Taiwanese group Loh Tsui Kweh Commune. Definitely NSFW. Starts off innocently enough but goes downhill pretty quick. It's official people, MTV is so last millennium!
posted by Mr Bluesky at 3:26 PM PST - 27 comments

With the Air Force One Pavilion opening at the Reagan Presidential Library this week, President Bush is coming to L.A. But that's not the big news. The big news is that the 405 freeway (one of 3 major arteries in this city) will be closed for four hours both tonight and tomorrow morning. During rush hour. More inside.
posted by sarajflemming at 1:49 PM PST - 62 comments

The 2004 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Red List of Threatened Species.
posted by Gyan at 1:35 PM PST - 6 comments

[Mugshot filter] The Hammer is tanned, rested, and ready... to kick some partisan-hack a**! But seriously folks, has Tom DeLay ever looked better in his life? Book 'im, Danno -- and don't muss that fabulous hair!
posted by digaman at 1:32 PM PST - 58 comments

Were these the original mountian bikers? Forget about Marin County in the late 70's. The real pioneers were members of the 25th Infantry Regiment who did a little riding in Montana. They are also the subject of a book titled Iron Riders and a PBS documentary called The Bicycle Corps.
posted by fixedgear at 1:23 PM PST - 14 comments

Infantry Journal: Articles from the professional journal of the American ground fighter. Counter-mortar operations. Quick Reaction Forces. Snipers. Lessons Learned.
posted by atchafalaya at 12:15 PM PST - 5 comments

Ted Allen interview! The food and wine expert on Queer Eye has a new cookbook out, and he talks to Slashfood about...well, everything: favorite foods, music, books, beer, birds, and other things.
posted by braun_richard at 11:17 AM PST - 15 comments

Microsoft WSYP A very exciting and promising new technology coming from Redmond. [movie - .asf (windows media)]
posted by H. Roark at 10:58 AM PST - 20 comments

From Arlene to Wilma. Very cool little NASA visualization of the 21 named storms from the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:20 AM PST - 30 comments

WWII soldier found frozen in ice. (pics)(video)
posted by xowie at 9:09 AM PST - 46 comments

The Bush administration is backing a US Senate resolution to stop the UN in its plans to try and move some control of the Internet away from the US -- A new resolution introduced in the U.S. Senate offers political backing to the Bush administration by slamming a United Nations effort to exert more influence over the Internet. Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota, said his nonbinding resolution would protect the Internet from a takeover by the United Nations that's scheduled to be discussed at a summit in Tunisia next month.
posted by zouhair at 7:54 AM PST - 101 comments

Got questions about the Funk Mob? This is the place to go. The Motherpage covers everything P. Funk, from an extensive faq, through an incredibly detailed discography, to a bibliography that can lead to years more reading.
posted by OmieWise at 6:38 AM PST - 28 comments

Welcome to the internet's busiest one-person medical site. I'm Ed, "the pathology guy". He's not a postmodernist but he's an experienced lecturer and autopsy pathologist and an all around cool cat.
posted by pieoverdone at 6:28 AM PST - 19 comments

U.S. soldiers videotaped desecrating Taliban corpses. The bodies were positioned to face Mecca and burned -- an act of desecration that violates Islamic burial rites and the Geneva Conventions. A U.S. PsyOps specialist broadcast an inflammatory message to the nearby town in order to incite an attack. "Attention, Taliban, you are all cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."
The video aired last night in Australia, but hasn't surfaced yet in the U.S. It won't be long, though.. "Wow, look at the blood coming out of the mouth on that one, fucking straight death metal."
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:18 AM PST - 233 comments

It just keeps unravelling ...Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made". I suppose now we have extra proof of the bumbling and fumbling of GWB, but now it's almost overkill.
posted by Kickstart70 at 9:24 PM PST - 54 comments

Tracks of Swimming Dinosaur found in Wyoming The tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur have been identified along the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that covered Wyoming 165 million years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student.
posted by hostile7 at 9:22 PM PST - 15 comments

The Parents Television Council has released their list of the top 10 worst shows for family viewing. The Fox network led the way with six of the ten shows, Family Guy, American Dad, The War at Home, The O.C., That 70s Show and Arrested Devlopment. The PTC also released a top-nine list of shows that are family friendly (they claim they couldn't find a 10th show to complete the list), leading the way is Three Wishes and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They also accuse Fox of being deceptive with their marketing of their Sunday night lineup, and using cartoons to pedal the "filth" to children.
posted by SirOmega at 8:22 PM PST - 56 comments

"Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color Printers". Does this creep anyone else out? Some more pictures of the code. It gets scarier: "But Seth Schoen, the EFF technologist who led the organization's research, said he had seen the coding on documents produced by printers that were at least 10 years old." So who knows how long this has actually been going on?
posted by vodkadin at 7:27 PM PST - 45 comments

Climate Mash (Flash, silly). A project of Clear The Air.
posted by homunculus at 7:19 PM PST - 9 comments

"But nine seasons on, South Park is a bona fide cultural phenomenon that has risen above its own raunch to become an up-to-the-minute social commentary on some of the most controversial issues of the day." A NY Times piece on SP as a significant cultural signpost.
posted by JPowers at 6:38 PM PST - 60 comments

Looks like George W Bush's Hague Invasion Act might need amending to become a Madrid Invasion Act, following a Spanish court order for the arrest of three US soldiers in response to the "Palestine Hotel" incident. [newsfilter].
posted by wilful at 6:32 PM PST - 20 comments

Those crazy Scientologists are at it again. This time, a New Zealand website owner has been ordered to relinquish his clever domain name, scienTOMogy.info under threat of legal action. The site, an ugly-looking collection of links to other Scientology-debunking websites, serves as a clearinghouse for information about one of the church's most notorious members, Tom Cruise. CoS claims the domain is similar enough to their official website address to be confusing to Internet users.
posted by wakko at 4:23 PM PST - 42 comments

Aardman Animations Showreel featuring old commercials, new commercials, and shorts. Elsewhere: Creature Comforts (plus behind-the-scenes stuff). [via]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:04 PM PST - 6 comments

Transparent Billboards Kasia Kesicka, at the Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in Poznan, creates a commentary on public space in various cities in Poland for his MFA final project in Photography. The result, mirroring the transparent laptop trick, is stunning and poignant {flash}
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:55 PM PST - 36 comments

Arrest warrant issued for Tom Delay. A Texas court issued a warrant today for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's arrest, and set an initial $10,000 bail as a routine step before his first court appearance following indictments for money laundering and crimimal conspiracy. Lawyers for Tom Delay scrambled yesterday in negotiations with Texas authorities in an attempt to have Mr. Delay avoid the indignity of public arrest and handcuffing.
posted by three blind mice at 1:29 PM PST - 79 comments

"Yo Butt Aint Made For That!" Unintentionally hilarious sermon given by sassy black preacher who blames lesbianism for his sons inability to get a date for the prom. Rev. Willie F. Wilson of Union Temple Baptist Church is well known for being a polarizing figure. However, it appears that rampant lesbianism has not impaired Hamani Wilson’s dating life.
posted by skjønn at 12:36 PM PST - 70 comments

The Psychology of Tyranny - A 1971 Stanford University experiment seemed to prove that power corrupts, and absolute power corrects absolutely - and perhaps recent world and national events would bear that out. But is it really power that's the problem? A recent study [more from researchers, here] from the Universities of St Andrews and Exeter suggests that it isn't power - but the failure of those who are anti-tyranny to themselves exercise appropriate power and to work together - that is more to blame for tyranny's results. If true, what needs to change to push back against tyranny in the world today? [first post, btw]
posted by muckalucka at 11:59 AM PST - 22 comments

Some nifty 3D models for test-driving the Universal 3D capabilities of Adobe Reader 7.
posted by nthdegx at 11:54 AM PST - 13 comments

Firefox 100 Million Downloads
posted by webmeta at 11:36 AM PST - 55 comments

Apple announces Aperture: their answer to the professional photograph editing market. I wonder what the folks at Adobe think about this? I know I'm just aching for something, _anything_ to compete with Adobe — as its customer service went down the tubes a few years back.
posted by silusGROK at 11:05 AM PST - 85 comments

Whistle-Blower or Troublemaker, Bunny Greenhouse Isn't Backing Down Another trouble maker can't keep her mouth shut !Bunny Greenhouse was once the perfect bureaucrat, an insider, the top procurement official at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Then the 61-year-old Greenhouse lost her $137,000-a-year post after questioning the plump contracts awarded to Halliburton in the run-up to the war in Iraq. It has made her easy to love for some, easy to loathe for others, but it has not made her easy to know.
posted by Postroad at 10:31 AM PST - 23 comments

Creationist author Michael Behe: "Astrology is a scientific theory". If, that is, you use his definition of theory. Behe, you may recall, is the grand high poobah of "intelligent design", the theory that states that somebody (who totally doesn't have to be God) created designed all life on Earth. It seems the latest iteration of the Scopes Monkey Trial isn't going so well for Mr. Behe. Even the courtroom audience is laughing at him.
posted by darukaru at 10:09 AM PST - 62 comments

"Undeclared Global Weather War" : you're now living in a bad James Bond flick Yeah, I know: a Hoagland morass.'Cept there's that damn pending weather mod bill in Congress, the anomalous "tuning fork" patterns that seem to guide recent hurricanes ( see main link, esp. Ophelia footage ) , the USAF document, "Weather as a Force Multiplier", the '97 quote by Secretary of defense William Cohen..... Is somebody lobbing Hurricanes at the US ? Weather sure has been weird, I'll say that. Could it be......TeslaFinger™ ?
posted by troutfishing at 9:58 AM PST - 52 comments

Madison Man is no longer John Doe. If you read the article noting every occurrence of the word "Madison" and how each differs from the others you'll see why I find this nifty. (I think they'll eventually decide it was suicide.)
posted by davy at 9:49 AM PST - 17 comments

If you liked the Kleptones and other posts about mashups, you might have caught "raiding the 20th century" in early 2004. Well, DJ Food has completely updated it for 2005 and now clocks in at a full 59 minutes of monster mashup mix madness. Download the mp3 here and enjoy the eclectic sonic landscape.
posted by mathowie at 9:43 AM PST - 14 comments

The proposed Trinity River Calatrava Bridge in Dallas. As part of an urban renewal and ecological renewal project called the Trinity River Corridor Project, the city of Dallas has contracted with famed architect Santiago Calatrava to design a landmark bridge. The massive project, in addtion to the three signature bridges, is supposed to create right downtown two lakes, a forest, wetlands, outdoor recreation and overall economic renewal to Downtown Dallas. Of course, this massive renewal project depends large part on public funding. Some discussion exists whether large scale public works projects should be undertaken on the public dime. (Previous discussion of Calatrava)
posted by dios at 9:27 AM PST - 14 comments

What a Tangled Web We Weave ...
posted by nofundy at 9:01 AM PST - 6 comments

Remember our good pal from NowThatsFuckedUp.com, the one who was trading war photos from soldiers for access to his amateur porn site? Well, looks like he's traded the whole shebang for a stint in the Polk County Jail for some 300+ counts of obscenity charges. Held on $151,000 bail, he (or his hood friends outside da joint) have set up a new site - http://www.freechris.org - with significantly less homegrown pr0n and corpse shots, and significantly more whining for donations to dude's legal defense fund, starting at $2.
Personally, and in pure technical terminology, I find the whole thing to be really "icky," yet, maybe it's a good thing that people can see the reality of war SOMEWHERE, since the fine folks of the fourth estate don't seem too interested in the word "reality", unless it's followed by the word "television." Either way, there are free speech issues at play here as well it seems. As Voltaire so wiselely stated: "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to be a douchebag."
posted by stenseng at 8:43 AM PST - 38 comments

Werner Von Wallenrod's Fun Page of Novelty Rap Records [Warning: animated jellybeans & embedded audio] • Includes reviews of albums by: Joe Piscopo, Rich Little, Rappin' Granny, Rappin' Principal, Rappin' Rambo, Joe Pesci, 2 Live Jews, Rodney Dangerfield, Arsenio Hall aka 'Chunky A', The '85 Chicago Bears, Mel Brooks, Elvira & more.
posted by hall of robots at 7:57 AM PST - 17 comments

hoops & boobies (ever so slightly NSFW)(large-ish download)
posted by tarantula at 7:43 AM PST - 15 comments

Secret information concerning the Black American Troops. We must prevent the rise of any pronounced degree of intimacy between French officers and black officers. We may be courteous and amiable with these last, but we cannot deal with them on the same plane as with the white American officers without deeply wounding the latter. In August 1918, the French liaison officer at the American Expeditionary Force Headquarters gave his fellow officers a primer in US-style racial segregation, urging the military and civil authorities to implement similar procedures on French soil, as the local populations were felt by US authorities to be much too friendly towards American Black troops (PDF, page 13) (see also the first chapter of Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light). This memorandum, however, was never distributed and other similar leaflets were eventually destroyed by the French government. One soldier of the 93rd Division wrote his mother: These French people don't bother with no color line business. They treat us so good that the only time I ever know I'm colored is when I look in the glass.
posted by elgilito at 6:49 AM PST - 18 comments

Grandmas protest the war in Iraq and get the cuffs Funny, great story. We tried to ring the bell at the booth, but no one answered," Wile said. "I saw a head poke up from behind the counter every once in a while and then duck back down. I don't know what they were afraid of. Maybe they don't know how to deal with a bunch of grannies."
posted by mountainmambo at 5:36 AM PST - 76 comments

Sixty years ago today, artist N.C. Wyeth died when the car he was driving was hit by a train. He illustrated a long shelf of children's classics, including Robinson Crusoe, Last of the Mohicans, and of course Treasure Island. Wyeth was also the patriarch of an artistic family, including his son Andrew and grandson Jamie. He honed his craft at Howard Pyle's school of illustration. You can take a virtual tour of his studio, and see the original paintings at the Brandywine River Museum.
posted by marxchivist at 4:53 AM PST - 12 comments

Come on, the inventors of The Spazz had to realize they weren't choosing the best name for a wheelchair. And such thoughtful marketing: "Have you been dreaming of that unique custom wheelchair that would not cost you an arm and a leg?" [more inside]
posted by allen.spaulding at 4:48 AM PST - 37 comments

Think your bum don't stink?
posted by SharQ at 2:57 AM PST - 40 comments

Discography as iconography of a po-mo epoch. Relayed from Boing2 because it's the glorious visual epitaph for GenX nostalgia. I'm almost crying over here, and activating eBay.
posted by objet at 9:34 PM PST - 14 comments

Pine Lake Films
Steven Dempsey (bio) makes gorgeous short nature films (more here) in the wilds around Seattle using a digital videocamera and techniques that give video a film-like appearance. The videos linked on the bio page are also worth viewing.
posted by planetkyoto at 7:24 PM PST - 10 comments

What do you pay for dsl/broadband? (salon.com article) Next time you sit down to pay your cable-modem or DSL bill, consider this: Most Japanese consumers can get an Internet connection that’s 16 times faster than the typical American DSL line for a mere $22 per month. Across the globe, it’s the same story. In France, DSL service that is 10 times faster than the typical United States connection; 100 TV channels and unlimited telephone service cost only $38 per month. In South Korea, super-fast connections are common for less than $30 per month. Nations as diverse as Finland, Canada, and Hong Kong all have much faster Internet connections at a lower cost than what is available here. In fact, since 2001, the U.S. has slipped from fourth to 16th in the world in broadband use per capita. While other countries are taking advantage of the technological, business and education opportunities of the broadband era, America remains lost in transition. How did this happen? Why has the U.S. fallen so far behind the rest of its economic peers?
posted by halekon at 5:45 PM PST - 115 comments

The coolest broccoli/cauliflower you will see today. Those with a green thumb can grow their own but I would be content to merely eat it.
posted by hindmost at 4:57 PM PST - 32 comments

Why outing Plame mattered. If you wonder what's really at stake behind all the media buzz around the Fitzgerald indictments, read this lengthy and cogent analysis by Stratfor's no-nonsense George Friedman. "Rove and Libby had top security clearances and were senior White House officials. It was their sworn duty, undertaken when they accepted their security clearance, to build a 'bodyguard of lies' -- in Churchill's phrase -- around the truth concerning U.S. intelligence capabilities... The minimal story -- that they talked about Plame with a reporter -- is the end of the matter."
posted by digaman at 4:23 PM PST - 86 comments

a few thousand science fiction covers is a flash presentation of thousands of SF magazine covers from the fifties through today, arranged chronologically from left to right, and grouped by color from top to bottom.
posted by jonson at 4:00 PM PST - 12 comments

Be in the "Republican Values" TV Show Featuring President Bush, and the Wit & Wisdom of Sean Hannity Coming soon to Fox and CNBC. (possibly a hoax.)
posted by rodney stewart at 4:00 PM PST - 11 comments

Slawesome calls itself "e-mail for your voice" - it's a new web-based service which combines elements of audio blogging and webmail. Messages can be private or public - at least one bleeding-edge blogger is already using it to make voice posts. And it's been built using Ruby on Rails - so it's got to be good, right?
posted by runkelfinker at 2:54 PM PST - 14 comments

$250,000 award - if you can prove Darwin's theory of evolution.
posted by snark9 at 2:49 PM PST - 117 comments

Early New Zealand Books Online Keyword searchable texts, all illustrations, and links to images of original pages. The collection currently comprises 20 books (23 volumes) including the majority of those published in the first half of the 19th century. It is hoped to expand the collection over the next few years to cover more significant nineteenth century books.
posted by Catch at 2:41 PM PST - 14 comments

Pobediteli: Soldiers of the Great War. In this year of the 60 Anniversary of the Victory we wish to personally thank the soldiers of the Great War living among us, and tell the story of their heroism.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:38 PM PST - 9 comments

Cheney to step down in favor of Rice? Don't hold your breath. Play a round of Indictment Bingo if you need to pass the time sorting through all the stories flying around, but don't hold your breath.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 2:32 PM PST - 34 comments

How do we know he didn't invent the thing?
posted by kafziel at 2:28 PM PST - 18 comments

The Society for the Prevention of Abuse towards Zeppo Marx is a grass-roots, international organization dedicated to ensuring that Zeppo Marx is remembered as the inventor, sex symbol, atomic bomb technician, dangerous street fighter, and mob-connected businessman that he was... not to mention the brilliantly subtle comedian he may have been . So, forget about that slanderous episode of Buffy, and raise a toast to the great man.
posted by yankeefog at 1:26 PM PST - 25 comments

A fatwa here and a fatwa there and before you know it, you're reading the Soccer Fatwa.
posted by bashos_frog at 1:23 PM PST - 40 comments

A View from the Back of the Envelope - approximations and the fun behind them.
posted by Gyan at 10:49 AM PST - 25 comments

Jack Thompson, well-known anti-videogame violence crusader, recently submitted a modest proposal to the game industry: Make an ultraviolet game of his creation featuring, but not limited to, urinating on the brain stems of slain fictional game industry members, and he will donate $10,000 dollars to charity. Of course people leapt at the chance, and of course, Thompson backed out. So then Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade donated the $10,000 dollars to charity themselves in Thompson's name. Thompson's response? Call the cops! No wonder the National Institute on Media and the Family distanced themselves from him.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 10:26 AM PST - 77 comments

Sheer genius.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:27 AM PST - 45 comments

What's next — Soft Target Attacks : Aerosol mists of biohazards in public places, like shopping malls. Or the National Mall in Washington DC on Sept. 24th of this year (see also: Salon story). Coincidentally (?) the University of New Mexico and Cerus Receive $23 Million to Develop Tularemia Vaccine (the agent detected on Sept. 24th). More terrorism scare released now to distract from the Plame indictments soon to come?
posted by spock at 9:26 AM PST - 26 comments

Flash Tuesday(?) Lasers, mirrors, splitters, refractors, bulbs and bombs. All you need is a little geometry to light the bulbs.
posted by caddis at 9:25 AM PST - 21 comments

Decline of armed conflicts primarily due to UN peace efforts: study Good news, however you attribute it. (more inside)
posted by dreamsign at 9:22 AM PST - 14 comments

The 2005 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index is out. (Last year's report discussed here.) This time around, there are notes on the methodology (short, long, both pdf). Iceland wins, with Chad a distant 158th.
posted by goatdog at 9:20 AM PST - 6 comments

Horrton Hears a Heart. Poe + Seuss = this.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:12 AM PST - 8 comments

The Torture Question tonight on PBS by far, television's most in-depth look at how the controversial interrogation policy evolved after a major power struggle within the Bush administration. (via Rocky Mountain News) The problem, of course, is that it's often the things we'd rather not think about that we most need to hear, especially when those things are actions taken in all of our names with an eye toward making us safer. Ellen Gray Watch a preview here.
posted by tvgurl at 8:54 AM PST - 41 comments

Many San Franciscans, when returning to the city after a trip, will tell you the first thing they want after they get back is a burrito. With features like reviews, playoffs, and a monthly newsletter, burritoeater.com is your resource for finding your slab in The City. What? Oh, I guess they have burritos in other cities, too, huh.
posted by greasepig at 8:51 AM PST - 34 comments

Artnet's top 300 searched-for artists. Updated monthly. With previous placements next to this month's. Warhol and Picasso seem pretty stable up there but, Holy Horse Race, Batman! Where'd Mark Chamberlain come from?
posted by gilgamix at 7:27 AM PST - 9 comments

Call the aliens using first intentional intergalactic communication system. Just $3.99 a minute, though prospective callers should know that they aren't really breaking new ground. Do you need inspiration about what historic message to send? The first commercial telegraph message was the poetic "What hath God wrought?" The first telephone call was the famous "Come here Watson, I want to see you." The first email, rather boringly, announced the availability of email. Stuck on the first word? Follow the path of Edison, who coined the word "hello" as a telephone greeting over Alexander Graham Bell's "Ahoy Ahoy." (Audio version) Just hope that you don't receive a collect call in return.
posted by blahblahblah at 6:54 AM PST - 14 comments

How the snail crossed the bridge. (via)
posted by moonbird at 6:38 AM PST - 15 comments

Words invented by the Simpsons , as found on Wikipedia. Some soul with too much time on their hands has taken up the task of listing all the nonsense words invented on the Simpsons. The number of words from this list that I use on a daily basis is ASTOUNDING.
posted by antifuse at 2:00 AM PST - 86 comments

Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years as selected by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:03 AM PST - 32 comments

The Solar Decathlon 2005 winners announced. The Solar Decathlon brings together 18 teams of college and university students from around the globe to participate in an unparalleled solar competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home.
posted by mathowie at 10:39 PM PST - 9 comments

Warlords of Afghanistan
Author and illustrator Matt Weems covers the usual suspects from both within and from outside this embattled country, as well as several figures not as well known. Oh, and you can buy coasters.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:34 PM PST - 5 comments

The CommonCensus Map Project is redrawing the map of the United States based on your voting, to show how the country is organized culturally, as opposed to traditional political boundaries. It shows how the country is divided into 'spheres of influence' between different cities at the national, regional, and local levels.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:59 PM PST - 11 comments

Os Mutantes on Brazilian TV. Os Mutantes, Brazilian counterculturalists and one of the greatest psychedelic bands of all time, perform on the Brazilian television show Som Pop- TV Cultura in 1969. Torrent file here.
posted by Sidthecat at 8:51 PM PST - 20 comments

The Online Archive of California brings together historical materials from a variety of state institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. These materials include letters, legal documents, manuscripts, works of art, diaries, and historical photographs. Thousands of photographs.

From just the Bancroft Library at Berkeley: Artistic homes, 1887-1890, agricultural laborers, 1906-1911, the San Francisco earthquake and fire, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Quentin Prison, and war relocation camps. And that's barely scratching the surface.
posted by Gamblor at 8:09 PM PST - 5 comments

"What did you do to my Intelligent Synthesizer?" Wonderful collection of DIY sound gizmos from Mike Walters at Mystery Circuits. Includes the Pena-Tron, the Electronic Earthball and detailed instructions for the Moog Source Membrane Switch Cure. Most recent: The Melloman, a hilariously elliptical DIY Mellotron. [note: 3rd, 4th and 8th links are mp3s] [via]
posted by mediareport at 7:04 PM PST - 7 comments

hand paintings by Guido Daniele that apparently are not photoshopped; 3D sidewalk art using clever long-distance perspective; and some cool art samples created by hand or mouth, from paralyzed folks of The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.
posted by ember at 6:23 PM PST - 15 comments

Peter Feigenbaum is a model train enthusiast and Yale architecture student who designed & built a more realistic urban world for his train to go through. Full photo gallery here.
posted by jonson at 3:31 PM PST - 48 comments

The art of black and white photography is not dead, but more and more developers / films are left by the wayside. And then someone comes along, and makes a database of 1500+ combinations of developers and black and white films. If the combination isn't in the database, it uses a series of formulae to calculate a likely developing time.
posted by SharQ at 3:05 PM PST - 37 comments

On Nov. 5, 1916 five Wobblies (probably really twelve) and two citizen deputies were killed during the Everett Massacre. The Wobblies had traveled up from Seattle in order to support a mill strike. The first link is the to the Everett Public Library, where there are also mug shots of wanted Wobblies and a great page of I.W.W. propaganda posters. The University of Washington also has a nice set of primary sources on the massacre, including great contemporary newspaper accounts of the tragedy. At the I.W.W. Reading Room you can scroll down to PDF files of The Everett Massacre, a History of the Class Struggle in the Lumber Industry - by Walker C Smith, 1916. (Sorry, no anchor tags.)
posted by OmieWise at 1:15 PM PST - 42 comments

Last Best Chance is a docudrama that shows the threat posed by vulnerable nuclear weapons and materials around the world and underscores what the stakes are. The plot: al Qaeda terrorists steal nuclear material to make bombs, and then sneak them into the US. The 47 minute film airs tonight on HBO, and is also available as a free DVD. More interesting are the powerful figures behind the film. It was produced by The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to reduce the global threats from WMDs. NTI's board is co-chaired by Ted Turner and Sam Nunn (D-GA). The hope is that appealing directly to the public will force politicians to act. The film and its creators were profiled yesterday on CBS News Sunday Morning.

(And to help our discussion here, they've even provided a discussion guide.)
posted by clgregor at 11:55 AM PST - 21 comments

Where were you 16 years ago at 5:04 pm PST? I was in this building in downtown San Francisco, one of the City's oldest skyscrapers. In our office, we had turned on the radio to listen to Game 3 of the World Series between the A's and the Giants, known as the "Bay Bridge Series". We didn't know the Bay Bridge was about to collapse. [More inside.]
posted by trip and a half at 11:41 AM PST - 72 comments

Sign Sign everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind. Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign? (lyric) Good signs, questionable signs, bad signs.
posted by caddis at 9:18 AM PST - 11 comments

The Curiously Strong Survival Kit.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:45 AM PST - 42 comments

On Oct. 3, the day the Miers nomination was announced, Mr. Dobson and other religious conservatives held a conference call to discuss the nomination. One of the people on the call took extensive notes, which I have obtained. According to the notes, two of Ms. Miers's close friends--both sitting judges--said during the call that she would vote to overturn Roe.
posted by four panels at 8:09 AM PST - 164 comments

Update: Tai Shan is not Butterstick.
posted by about_time at 8:01 AM PST - 10 comments

Gulu Walk. Every night, up to 40,000 Ugandan children "commute" by foot into city-centres so that they may sleep on the street, or in hospitals, churches and aid centres. They are sent by their parents in an attempt to escape the Lord’s Resistance Army, the armed militia in a civil war that has for years been stealing kids from their homes, turning them into soldiers, servants and sex-slaves. On October 22nd, raise awareness by marching in a Gulu Walk, in 41 cities from Halifax to San Diego to Serbia to Gulu itself. Learn more via photo essays [BBC/LA Times/indie], a radio documentary, and videos. [previously on MeFi] Please spread the word.
posted by Marquis at 7:19 AM PST - 13 comments

Jesus has inspired more bad music than anyone else in history [Windows Media File | Mirror #1 | Mirror #2] Mark Fox, the man who swallowed Lil' Markie, live in Miami.
WFMU's "Beware of the Blog" compiles more of the Lil' Markie oeuvre, curated by Otis Fodder.
posted by jenleigh at 7:02 AM PST - 60 comments

Explorion is a goldmine of travel accounts, from Hakluyt's Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation and Bartram's Travels Through North &South Carolina, Georgia, East &West Florida,the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws to the Journals of Lewis and Clark and Washinton Irving's Astoria; Or, Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The Rocky Mountains and Dickens's Pictures from Italy and Lafcadio Hearn's Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan (from which I took the post title) to... well, find your own favorites. There's an astonishing amount of stuff there. "Of course you will act according to your own plans, and do what you think best—but FIND LIVINGSTONE!"
posted by languagehat at 6:46 AM PST - 13 comments

Like Everyday
"I am a woman and I live in Iran. I am a photographer and this is the only thing I know how to do."
posted by anastasiav at 6:39 AM PST - 15 comments

RealSuicideGirl. Probably one of the few members that has her visage at the center of an art exhibit. Taking the 'fashion goth' to heightened levels of realism.
posted by gsb at 3:17 AM PST - 29 comments

thanx for letting me fuck your dad --PATTON
posted by angry modem at 2:31 AM PST - 60 comments

A series of photos showing a multiple bike pile-up. [slow loading - no gore]
posted by tellurian at 12:43 AM PST - 19 comments

The birth of Hurricane Wilma? Tropical Depression 24 is expected to become Tropical Storm Wilma by Monday, and forecasters are predicting that it will turn into the Gulf of Mexico, where water temperatures and other conditions are favorable for it to develop into a large, slow moving hurricane. Oil futures have already started going up in response to the threat.
posted by insomnia_lj at 12:34 AM PST - 44 comments

Jeff Dowd of the Seattle Seven is the model for The Dude in The Big Lebowski
posted by y2karl at 11:56 PM PST - 43 comments

BLDG|BLOG :: architectural conjecture :: urban speculation :: landscape futures
posted by stbalbach at 11:11 PM PST - 11 comments

The 64 faces of Mario. Luigi? Suprisingly, not as much of a clothes horse.
posted by Gamblor at 7:53 PM PST - 20 comments

3.141592653589793238462643383279 [Quicktime; some mild language and wizard-related violence]
posted by neckro23 at 6:12 PM PST - 59 comments

Ed Bacon, friend to skaters, died Friday. He presided over a successful urban renewal campaign (a rarity), yet leaves behind a complex legacy in the city he loved. [bugmenot]
posted by deafmute at 6:05 PM PST - 18 comments

His hand had been blown off in Iraq, his body pierced by shrapnel. He could not walk. Robert Loria was flown home for a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he tried to bear up against intense physical pain and reimagine his life's possibilities
...
But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing.
...
posted by zouhair at 2:58 PM PST - 64 comments

Baron Winston of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: Why do we believe in God?
posted by thirteenkiller at 2:28 PM PST - 26 comments

Spam Stock Tracker Haven't you ever been just a little curious if you could "D0UB1E Y0UR |M|0|N|E|Y| EVERY WEEK!!!" like the the email said? [via NPR's Marketplace]
posted by trinarian at 11:19 AM PST - 35 comments

The politics of fear 101: Meet the Fundies! The Texas senate is about to vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage AND civil union. Here are some of the proponents in their own words.
posted by threehundredandsixty at 10:47 AM PST - 72 comments

One of the most fascinating species in Bangkok are surely the ex-pat Teaching English as A Foreign Language (TEFL) teachers, as this diary will attest. Englishdroid is a similarly bleak look at TEFL dealing with those everyday aspects aspects of teaching like shagging students, and the cringe inducing The Satanic Units - The Course Book From Hell. If blogs are more your bag, just check out the Tefl Daily Grind, with gloomy reports inside the frontlines of hopeless Thai school beaurocracy. If you still fancy trying your hand at teaching in Thailand, why not check the place that offered you 300 dollars a month isn't on THIS list. Could it be unscrupulous agencies are raking in millions of baht sending fly-by-night foreigners to teach English at public schools, or the certificate forger shops setup next to police stations. ...and if Bangkok's not your bag there's always the restive South, where teachers are in great demand.
posted by ldma at 10:10 AM PST - 30 comments

The end of all other anonymous proxies? The only disadvantage I found - it's one-time login, if you disconnect, next time you'll have to get another user/pass pair. But vpnsecurity.org is charging $40 monthly...
P.S. Correct link is https://vpn.google.com/getpass/ but I couldn't use https in URL field.
posted by snark9 at 9:50 AM PST - 29 comments

Meet 42 casualties of the current Administration --they didn't die in Iraq, or New Orleans, but were beleaguered administrators, managers, and career civil servants who quit their posts in protest or were defamed, threatened, fired, forced out, demoted, or driven to retire by Bush administration strong-arming. From Bunny Greenhouse to Richard Clarke to General Zinni to lesser-known folks like James Zahn, who was prohibited on no fewer than 11 occasions from publicizing his research on the potential hazards to human health posed by airborne bacteria resulting from farm wastes. A very wide-ranging list, covering everything from Public Health to War to Terror and Torture to Education to...
posted by amberglow at 8:35 AM PST - 28 comments

Big beetles (Breed your own! They're cuddly!), tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes, various butterflies and moths.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:46 AM PST - 18 comments

New Games Journalism (a Wikipedia definition for the uninitiated), appeared on MetaFilter last December with a link to the now legendary 'Bow, Nigger' article. In the first quarter of 2005 the buzz surrounding the phenomenon grew. Articles like This is Why Your Game Magazine Sucks got the attention of the Guardian, who examined the role of NGJ in a February article. In March, they linked to ten unmissable examples. At about the same time, the movement got its very own publication, The Gamer's Quarter; and in June PC Gamer wrote an open letter to the gaming community requesting articles about, well, anything really.
posted by nthdegx at 3:25 AM PST - 17 comments

Is the modern GOP a repackaging of the old Whig party? (archive link) The blend of businessmen's aversion to government regulation, down-home cultural populism and Christian moralism that sustains today's Republican Party is a venerable if loosely knit philosophy of government dating back to long before the right-wing upsurge that prepared the way for Reagan's presidency. A few pundits and political insiders have likened the current Republicans to the formidable, corporate-financed political machine behind President William McKinley at the end of the 19th century. The admiration Karl Rove has expressed for the machine strengthens the historical connection. Of course, the Whigs couldn't hold their disparate coalition together in the face of the slavery issue. What might undo the current disparate coalition in the GOP?
posted by caddis at 3:16 AM PST - 27 comments

Hey, kids, let's watch a cartoon! May I present The Ship That Never Came In by Kim Deitch, comix genius. It's a piece with his magnum opus Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Both, as Time magazine's comix critic Andrew Arnold notes, focuses on Ted Mishkin, a talented animator whose gifts can never quite overcome his curse. His curse is Waldo, a mischievous cat who walks on his hind legs. Waldo may be a delusion or he may be real, but only Ted can see him. Wotta concept!  More inside ? Fuckin' A !
posted by y2karl at 9:16 PM PST - 15 comments

Wildlife and Nature Photography by Miguel Lasa. Wow. (via)
posted by hortense at 7:54 PM PST - 18 comments

Jonathan Mann has created the greatest work of fine art since the invention of the piano...The Super Mario Brothers Opera. Sadly, the show tonight in LA is probably over, but you can still experience the magic from the comfort of your own home.
posted by cmonkey at 7:37 PM PST - 15 comments

"I have now made my own flexible dolphin monofin, look at the drawing and the pictures. When I am in the pool I really look like a too large fish ;-)))." Isn't "monofluke" more appropriate? (Via)
posted by brundlefly at 6:49 PM PST - 13 comments

MIT Media Lab's Counter Intelligence Group, which develops innovative kitchen designs, has created a machine that makes dishes on demand and recycles them after diners have finished a meal. The dishes are made from food-grade, nontoxic acrylic wafers, which are shaped into cups, bowls and plates when heated, then resume their original wafer shape when they are reheated and pressed.
posted by Shanachie at 6:48 PM PST - 14 comments

Former Nashville Music Venue Manager Files Lawsuit in Seattle Against Comedian and “Arrested Development” Actor David Cross and Sub Pop Records for Copyrighting his Likeness on “Shut Up, You Fucking Baby!” which was Nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Album of the Year in 2003. With video.
posted by mr.marx at 5:23 PM PST - 33 comments

Skyline-New-York-City.jpg [this is big]
posted by 31d1 at 5:16 PM PST - 73 comments

"Too much information running through my brain. Too much information driving me insane!" ~ Too Much Information: The Police I was fanatical about the band as a teenager. One common piece of trivia about the band and its members was -- the band's founder and drummer, Stewart Copeland, is the son of a former CIA agent (now deceased). I never did give much thought to what his father, Miles Copeland Jr., actually did for the CIA until tonight. This spook was spooky.

He quite the CIA in 1953 to work for Booz-Allen Hamilton then rejoined the CIA in 1955. Now THAT'S interesting. He strongly supported George Bush Sr., who was CIA director in 1976, and disdained Carter. Copeland had knowledge of (and possibly involvement with) the delay in the release of the U.S. hostages in iran. He even founded the political support group called, 'spooks for Bush.' Oh . . . another Bush connection: Copeland was also involved in the oil industry after leaving the CIA (again) in 1957. More Copeland/CIA knowledge or involvement: manipulating Syrian Elections / participated in coup in which Syrian colonel Husni Za'im seized power / WATERGATE! / MK-Ultra / Church of Scientology / The Baath Party in Iraq / Thatcher's election. It's interesting what he had to say about The Sabotage of the Presidential Campaign of Senator Edmund Muskie 1971-1972

Was there any spook(y) business behind the scenes during the band's tour of third-world countries in the early 1980s. Who else was embedded with the band's tour crew? What about Ian, Miles III (the band's manager), or Stewart? At least Sting pulled the plug on "Brand New Day" from the Bush campaign. How much did Sting's knowledge of Copeland influence the tongue-in-cheek song, "Murder by Numbers?"
posted by augustweed at 3:17 PM PST - 58 comments

Judith Miller Speaks!
In a 5,800 word article New York Times reporters finally tell the story about their fellow reporter Judith Miller. She tells her story regarding her testimony in the CIA leak investigation. Among many things, she says: "W.M.D. - I got it totally wrong" and that she can't recall who gave her Valerie Plame's name. She is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the New York Times effective immediately.
posted by ericb at 3:11 PM PST - 67 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 at 12:48 PM PST - 95 comments

[Newsfilter] Riots in Toledo, OH have broken out after Neo-Nazis gathered to take back the city. Their goal was to overpower the local predominantly black gangs in a demonstration march. Violence broke out and the march never took place; instead, the gangs began rioting. Fox News is covering it.
posted by spiderskull at 12:47 PM PST - 53 comments

Music photography goodness - some UK-based photographers with plenty of image galleries of rock and pop bands: Peter Hill (also see his livejournal for more pics), Ami Barwell, Michael Williams, Scarlet Page, Graham Smith (on livejournal too), Emma Porter, and the already mentioned Andrew Kendall (lj). Also UrbanImage which licenses the work of several photographers and has sections on jazz, hip hop, grime, reggae, punk, etc. as well as travel photography and other cool stuff (free registration required to access single galleries and images).
posted by funambulist at 11:54 AM PST - 5 comments

Concealed hearing devices of the 19th and 20th centuries. Great images in this delightful exhibit of wacky yet charming devices like auricle headphones, dentaphones, concealed beard receptors, barrettes, jewelry, hats, and acoustic chairs.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:32 AM PST - 20 comments

"Tim Kaine says Adolf Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty." Or so say Republican campaign ads supporting Jerry Kilgore, Virginia's attorney general, in his bid to become that state's new governor. Tim Kaine, the Democratic lieutenant governor, says his moral objections to capital punishment are rooted in his Roman Catholic faith. "Solidly pro-life" Jim Kilgore, endorsed by the Virginia Society for Human Life and National Right to Life political action committees, accuses Kaine of being an "anti-death penalty activist who cannot be trusted to oversee the death penalty in Virginia." This is important to Virginians. Based on the number of executions carried out under the post Furman laws, Virginians are second only to Texans in their fondness for execution. As attorney general, Kilgore tried to expand the kinds of crimes that would be eligible for the death penalty. Tim Kaine reassured voters, "That's why I personally oppose the death penalty. But I take my oath of office seriously, and I'll enforce the death penalty . . . because it's the law."
posted by three blind mice at 2:59 AM PST - 42 comments

Never store your honey in a birdfeeder for safe keeping. That's the FIRST place they look!
posted by jonson at 1:09 AM PST - 28 comments

Big Box Mart. More info on big boxes. Some rules for shopping in big boxes. A short history of America before the big boxes arrived.
posted by thedailygrowl at 12:20 AM PST - 37 comments

Squirrels on crack. When squirrels attack. Squirrel fighting in Iraq. Squirrel you smack. Send in your squirrel feedback.
posted by hindmost at 7:34 PM PST - 29 comments

Biopresence creates human DNA trees by transcoding the DNA of a human within the DNA of a tree in order to create "Living Memorials" or "Transgenic Tombstones".
posted by stbalbach at 6:36 PM PST - 20 comments

How to build a Deep Space Network station. Via: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
posted by loquacious at 6:23 PM PST - 4 comments

These days you can get your self-published book printed on-demand, anything you want on a single t-shirt or mug, and a CD pressed of the indie band that only three people have heard of. Seems like the only medium that's missing is movies, but oops, now we've got that too. IndieFlix accepts masters from independent filmmakers, puts the title up for rating and discussion, and lets people order DVDs full of movie that would be hard to come by otherwise. Filmmakers get a third of each sale to put towards their next work of genius.
posted by endquote at 4:42 PM PST - 12 comments

What of Iran's nuclear program? That was not a pressing concern for the young people I met. None of them raised the issue in conversation with me. When I asked them about it, they fell into two groups... Yet both insisted with equal vehemence that an American or Israeli bombing of nuclear installations, let alone an Iraq-style invasion, would be a wholly unacceptable response to Iran's nuclear ambitions... A perceptive local analyst reinforced the point. Who or what, he asked, could give this regime renewed popular support, especially among the young? "Only the United States!" If... whatever we do to slow down the nuclearization of Iran does not end up merely slowing down the democratization of Iran; and if, at the same time, we can find policies that help the gradual social emancipation and eventual self-liberation of Young Persia, then the long-term prospects are good. The Islamic revolution, like the French and Russian revolutions before it, has been busy devouring its own children. One day, its grandchildren will devour the revolution

Soldiers of the Hidden Imam
posted by y2karl at 4:34 PM PST - 32 comments

Why is Marijuana Illegal? Many people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug. The actual story shows a much different picture.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 2:39 PM PST - 120 comments

Longest lab experiment
posted by dov3 at 2:07 PM PST - 21 comments

Unexpected Downside of Wind Power - Wired reports on the shutdown of wind power turbines along Altamont Pass in California. Wind power is seen by some as an alternative to burning fossil fuels; yet these turbines are being shut down over environmental and ecological concerns. Some of the concerns about turbines are that they endanger bird migrations, yet others say that they are not a problem for bird migrations. It's not just a question of the ecological footprint, though. The entire environmental impact has to be assessed for any project. Hydroelectricity is not without its effect on ecosystems, either (Scroll down to "Ecosystems and Large Dams", about 40% of the way down).

If even green or renewable energy sources cannot be accessed without a significant adverse environmental impact, how can we meet our energy needs? Reducing consumption is only approaching the problem from one side. How do you properly gauge the environmental impact of a project and when is it okay to give it the green light? Or are we being oversensitive and should we let natural selection handle the birds that can't adapt?
posted by Eideteker at 1:40 PM PST - 39 comments

Our Australian cousins do make jokes about us Kiwis having sex with sheep - so even we can see the humour in this story.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 12:24 PM PST - 70 comments

Toss your camera.
posted by spock at 11:49 AM PST - 44 comments

How Bob Iger Saved Network Television - Mark Cuban explains how the Apple/Disney deal for content on the video iPod is a huge turning point for the entertainment industry.
posted by Argyle at 11:24 AM PST - 69 comments

War Photographer is an awesome, viking-filled flash animated music video directed by Joel Trussell for musician Jason Forrest. (quicktime) via
posted by maryh at 10:28 AM PST - 22 comments

It is with great regret that we place our PC Collection up for purchase. We being The Freeman PC Museum, not to be confused with any of these. Move over, leicester codex?
posted by Eothele at 10:17 AM PST - 14 comments

Egg Run and the Amazing Dare-Dozen. Flash Friday egg games. via Jorn
posted by caddis at 10:14 AM PST - 5 comments

Here are three things that can help your brain grow new cells.
It's no wonder college makes you smarter.
posted by Mr_Zero at 9:50 AM PST - 33 comments

Happy Sunshine Story Time. It's a one note joke, but it made me laugh. Possibly moderately NSFW for cartoonish nudity.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:49 AM PST - 13 comments

The Ironman Triathlon based in Kailua Kona, Hawaii, involves a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile marathon. This Saturday, Robert McKeague, at age 80, hopes to be the oldest person to finish Ironman Hawaii.
posted by Hanover Phist at 9:44 AM PST - 20 comments

Music is nothing.
Sound could become music.
The end must be in the beginning,
and the beginning in the end.
I am here because I am not here.
Music lives in the eternal now.
Music is the now becoming now.
What I learned from Sergiu Celibidache, by Markand Thakar. More inside.
posted by matteo at 9:31 AM PST - 6 comments

No... F---- you. Over the course of several months a Florida librarian received unsolicited facsimile transmissions from one particular fax blaster. The number for removal and the number to fax back the advertisements for health insurance, mortgages, hot leads, selling my business and so on just happened to be in his local zrea code. Using super librarian skills and secret librarian tools he sought (legal) revenge, and won. Moral of this story:
1) Don't screw with the librarian
2) Libraries- take action on your unsolicited faxes- they are illegal.
3) Reference tools are your friends!
posted by Blake at 9:30 AM PST - 70 comments

Daniel Craig = Bond, James Bond
Daniel Craig has been announced as the sixth James Bond in the remake of Casino Royale, the next movie in the long running series of over-the-top spy movies.
We'll see how he performs but he's got some mighty big shoes to fill and fill (with a big Happy Birthday to you!) and fill and fill and fill.
posted by fenriq at 8:07 AM PST - 87 comments

thepartyparty.com hosts a set of mindblowingly amazing mixes using the recorded speech of American political figures -- mostly President Bush, but others, like Hilary Clinton and Gov. Schwarzenegger, both make appearances. It's a brilliant exercise in free speech, using the words of the administration against them, especially in the middle and later parts of Who's The Nigga? (Streaming m3u and downloadable mp3.) And did I mention it rocks? Because it rocks- after it breaks your head completely. You must listen to this.
posted by blacklite at 7:02 AM PST - 28 comments

Ruin Your Childhood! Dr Claw's face in my mind was ALOT better.
posted by elemenopee at 1:57 AM PST - 73 comments

Of all the humorous stuffed rodents in the "novelties" section of customcreaturetaxidermy.com, I can't decide whether my favorite is the squirrel full o'whiskey (with the removable head for decanting) or the "mouse trap gag" (see, the gag is, it looks like a disgusting dead mouse in a trap, when in reality... oh, wait...).
posted by jonson at 10:49 PM PST - 23 comments

ArtsConversations , the archives of the C/IAF's Netropolitan Museum.
Browse works of art, sculpture, photography (some NSFW) , and more. [via->via->via chunky bacon]
posted by woj at 10:40 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Bush teleconference with troops staged. Nothing in the article says who is responsible for organizing the staged question and answer session, The White House, military officials, or others in the defense department. Just that it infact was staged, and that the troops were coached for 45 minutes prior to the actual teleconference. When Bush, in an unscripted move, asked an officer if he had anything to say, he stammered through a sentence, in stark contrast to the well put together responses to all the other questions, thanking the President and saying, "I like you." More PR from the Bush administration.
posted by SirOmega at 10:40 PM PST - 163 comments

Sorry, gotta go! There are cows going by, our team just scored, and I can't stop coughing!
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:31 PM PST - 8 comments

Singing Fish - The search engine for audio and video.
posted by dobbs at 9:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Seen something like this on one of your credit or debit cards recently? 09/25 DIGITAL AGE 888-529-98 CYPRUS, SE $24.99 Join the crowd. You might remember something from earlier in the summer, when CardSystems Solutions reported a security breach that had gone on for months. Or maybe you remember a bit of more recent news, when "a California judge ruled Friday that Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. don't have to send individual warnings to thousands of consumers whose personal account information was stolen during a high-tech heist uncovered earlier this year."

My family was hit on three different cards from three different banks in less than a week. Doesn't seem to matter if you ever used the card online or not. Any guesses where "Digital Age" is getting all these valid credit and debit card numbers? Anyone? So, please, check your statements and be prepared to cancel your card immediately if you've been hit, too. Nothing good will come of these criminals being able to make additional charges against your accounts, using different shell companies to hide themselves, continuing to do this sort of thing for years
posted by RKB at 8:04 PM PST - 27 comments

Bush Ignores Generals and Admirals, Again Once again, President Bush is ignoring the good advice of the most experienced military officers, and endangering our troops in the process. A host of retired flag officers are asking the Supreme Court to stop Bush's military tribunals because it destroys our moral credibility abroad.
posted by expriest at 7:20 PM PST - 16 comments

"Cheap, paper-thin TV screens that can be used in newspapers and magazines have been unveiled by German electronics giant Siemens. The firm says the low production costs could see the magazine shelves in newsagents come alive with moving images vying for the customers' attention as they move along the aisle. The new technology caused a sensation when it was first made public this week at the Plastics Electronics trade fair in Frankfurt....the new screens, which are literally paper thin, can do everything a regular TV screen or computer monitor can do, but cost a fraction of the price....one square metre of the material costs around £30 [US$53], and scientists working on the screens said they should be available by 2007." -- more...
posted by ericb at 7:17 PM PST - 53 comments

Catholic church warns of the danger of fundamentalism. "The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: 'We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.'" (via flambingo)
posted by lbergstr at 6:05 PM PST - 50 comments

Send A Birthday Greeting To Laura Bush courtesy of the (previously linked but always fascinating) Presidental Prayer Team. Here's Mine: Happy Birthday, Mrs. Bush! You and The President are the greatest! I hope Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are "cool" — as do the rest of us!
posted by Superfrankenstein at 5:58 PM PST - 14 comments

Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize
posted by semmi at 5:43 PM PST - 14 comments

Happy 60th Anniversary, Worker's Party of Korea (.swf)
posted by mr.marx at 5:12 PM PST - 27 comments

Gone by 2040: Religious Hierarchy, Japan's Passivity, The Chinese Communist Party, Auto Emissions, Monogamy, The Euro, The War on Drugs, Sovereignty... To mark their 35th year in publication Foreign Policy magazine asks 16 influential thinkers which ideas, values, or institutions will be gone by the year 2040. Also discussed on NPR radio today.
posted by StarForce5 at 3:23 PM PST - 50 comments

You know that ranger job in the National Park Service that you're gonna apply for as soon as you get through school or quit waiting tables? Fuhgeddaboutit, unless you've pledged your loyalty to the Ba'ath party President's Management Agenda and its roster of "faith-based and community initiatives," "competitive sourcing," etcetera, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton's "4C's," which seem to have to do with communication, consultation, cooperation, conservation, and Clinton-bashing. (Oh, sorry, that's 5 C's. It's just that Norton can't seem to stop denigrating "the previous administration" -- while advocating drilling in ANWR -- for such absurd ideas as banning snowmobiles from Yellowstone.)
posted by digaman at 3:18 PM PST - 18 comments

lacitedesmortes - documentary on women murdered in ciudad juarez -- lacitedesmontes.net is not in English, but through its flash presentation and navigation, it should explain enough about the brutality of the unfortunate events that took place in Ciudad Juarez. Since 1993, almost 400 women and girls have been murdered and more than 70 remain missing in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico. While the region's law enforcement as well as state's attorney general were either incompetent or corrupt, more than a dozen women's rights groups were created to solve the murder as well as to stop the violence in the region. Thanks to international organizations such as Amnesty, UNIFEM, and IACHR, the number of violent murder on women in the region has degreased for a while, however, the battle still continues. More resources here.
posted by grafholic at 2:34 PM PST - 11 comments

NSA gets patent on locating the physical location of web surfers "There are still many advantages to knowing the physical location of a party one is dealing with across electronically switched networks. For example, in the realm of advertising, knowing the geographic distribution of sales or inquires can be used to measure the effectiveness of advertising across geographic regions." Advertising, mmm hmmm.
posted by jeremias at 2:30 PM PST - 24 comments

Silicon Zoo: Where's Waldo? Hiding in the silicon patterns of a computer chip. Michael Davidson has found a collection of microscopic art hidden by chip designers. This practice has been going on for decades, and the hidden images range from the iconic to the commemorative to the bizarre. Be sure to read the fine print. [See also this CNET story] (via)
posted by stopgap at 2:05 PM PST - 12 comments

In the last three years there had been about 13 similar coincidences - a political downturn for the administration, followed by a “terror event” - a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning. We figured we’d better put that list of coincidences on the public record (.mov.)
posted by The Jesse Helms at 1:32 PM PST - 34 comments

How To Contact Celebrities.
posted by cribcage at 12:48 PM PST - 38 comments

NHL Academy. Become an NHL star at home, at your own pace. [flash + sound ]
posted by srboisvert at 11:59 AM PST - 12 comments

The solution?
posted by threehundredandsixty at 11:44 AM PST - 29 comments

Jim Anchower's homepage is now up. He lists his favourite bookmarks.His employment application and other stuff.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:58 AM PST - 20 comments

POP goes the weasel? "A number of Iraqis apprehended two Americans disguised in Arab dress as they tried to blow up a booby-trapped car in the middle of a residential area in western Baghdad on Tuesday. Residents of western Baghdad’s al-Ghazaliyah district told Quds Press that the people had apprehended the Americans as they left their Caprice car near a residential neighborhood in al-Ghazaliyah on Tuesday afternoon (11 October 2005). Local people found they looked suspicious so they detained the men before they could get away. That was when they discovered that they were Americans and called the Iraqi puppet police. Five minutes after the arrival of the Iraqi puppet police on the scene a large force of US troops showed up and surrounded the area. They put the two Americans in one of their Humvees and drove away at high speed to the astonishment of the residents of the area. Quds Press spoke by telephone with a member of the al-Ghazaliyah puppet police who confirmed the incident, saying that the two men were non-Arab foreigners but declined to be more precise about their nationality.
posted by rough ashlar at 10:16 AM PST - 120 comments

A campaign by Yale University law students – going all the way to the Supreme Court – helps free 300 people held without trial at Guantánamo.
posted by caddis at 10:09 AM PST - 11 comments

WXPN listeners have picked the 885 best albums of all time. In a follow-up to last year's list of the 885 best songs of all time (commented on here), Philadelphia's WXPN has polled its listeners to come up with the top 885 albums and is playing three tracks from each. The countdown is continuing as I type this. I have no doubt the entire Metafilter community will agree on the selections. Here's my prediction for #1.
posted by Man-Thing at 9:58 AM PST - 124 comments

After nearly being wiped out by a fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica), that was first identified in 1904, the American chestnut is attempting to make a comeback with a little help from its fungus-resistent Chinese cousin ... and maybe you. [more inside]
posted by terrapin at 8:31 AM PST - 18 comments

"Killer in Our Midst : Methane Catastrophes in Earth's Past and Near Future" (a free net book) - During the greatest extinction pulse known to have happened in the history of life on Earth - the Permian catastrophe - 90% of then existing species perished. This astonishingly well written, authoritative, free book may be the most important thing you will ever read on the net or off of it : it explains in great detail an inevitable Methane catastrophe, if humans do not stop adding CO2 to the Earth's atmosphere, during which "not only would a considerable percentage of existing plants and animals be killed off, but a large percentage of the human population as well" (or the whole species). In the worst scenarios the atmosphere itself could become poisonous to Oxygen breathing life. Mundane laws of physics, expressed in impending Methane Hydrate release, dictate to humanity : cut CO2 release or perish. Simple.
posted by troutfishing at 8:22 AM PST - 38 comments

God forgives Whippers. If you burn the flag, it is Jerry Falwell's obligation to whip you. In fact, he believes that the Lord will forgive him if he does so. (.wmv video link)
posted by Hands of Manos at 8:12 AM PST - 58 comments

Is there any real possibility of an after-life? Some argue that belief in the after-life is an inherently unfalsifiable proposition. Others argue that science has already ruled out the possibility. Buddhism takes a radically different view, embracing a conception of the after-life far different from any found in the Judeo-Christian faiths. What about the possibility of Eternal Recurrence, as proposed by Nietzsche? Just what do we mean when we speak of the "after-life" anyway?
posted by all-seeing eye dog at 7:47 AM PST - 127 comments

In lieu of flowers, please send acerbic letters to Republicans.
posted by taumeson at 6:22 AM PST - 25 comments

Color Makes it Real. Hundreds of color photos from World War I. The site is in French, the interface is horriable, but the pictures can be haunting. Click on the links under Accés aux images for the pictures. Via beautifulstuff.org
posted by ShawnString at 6:01 AM PST - 20 comments

It's Pinter. The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to the English writer Harold Pinter, “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”.
posted by Termite at 4:12 AM PST - 34 comments

Could this be the first ever blogging drama? The World of Margaret has been running all week on Radio 4's Woman's Hour. An extremely funny play about a retired couple who take up blogging in their retirement, it is serialized and will be online until the end of the week. Each day's episode is listed at the right hand side of the page.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:08 AM PST - 15 comments

Is it OK to use a patio heater?
posted by johnny novak at 2:37 AM PST - 48 comments

Coin Collectors Divided over New Bush Half Penny: "Each half cent will cost about 0.81 cent to mint, creating an unnecessary deficit every year," detractors complain.
posted by three blind mice at 2:04 AM PST - 22 comments

Concrete Ships Toward the end of the First World War, and during the Second World War, the United States commisioned the construction of experimental concrete ships.
posted by dhruva at 1:49 AM PST - 25 comments

If you wanted to spend $100 on a 512 mb capacity mp3 player with no screen, you could buy an iPod shuffle, or you could get a player in the form of a PEZ dispenser. Developed by a stay-at-home dad who documented the design process on a sadly defunct blog, the only drawback is that it doesn't dispense candy.
posted by kyleg at 1:24 AM PST - 5 comments

The Secret Intelligence Service, aka MI6, now has its own website. MI5 has had one for a while, and apparently now gets most of its job applications that way.
posted by Phanx at 12:11 AM PST - 17 comments

Jack Thompson (1992 ACLU Censor of the Year) is an outspoken critic of violent video games. (Previously on...44150 and 44309) His recent "A Modest Video Game Proposal" offers $10,000 to the first game company which "creates, manufactures, and sells" a video game with the (fictional) premise of a father wreaking horrible vengeance on the video game companies whose twisted creations drove his son to bloody murder. More info (@wikipedia)
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:42 PM PST - 32 comments

What you watch Tucked deep inside a massive bill designed to track sex offenders and prevent children from being victimized by sex crimes is language that could put many Hollywood movies in the same category as hardcore, X-rated films. The provision added to the Children's Safety Act of 2005 would require any film, TV show or digital image that contains a sex scene to come under the same government filing requirements that adult films must meet.
posted by halekon at 7:53 PM PST - 41 comments

An interview with Margaret Atwood. [Sometimes bad interviews are the most interesting.]
posted by furtive at 7:30 PM PST - 30 comments

Rock paper scissors.
posted by Tlogmer at 5:38 PM PST - 27 comments

What would it take to revolt? There has been lots of debate, lots of outrage - both false and real, justified and not, over the various foibles of the current administration and President Bush (too numerous to list here). There has also been talk about revolution, uprising, impeachment, etc, and I wonder - theoretically - just would it take for a modern individual to engage in active revolution? This for me might be it. Fortunately at least one republican representative and perhaps 69% of U.S. households are with me.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:09 PM PST - 126 comments

"The year is 2010 and the European Union has rejected Turkey. Fascist governments have come to power in Germany, Austria and France and are inciting violence against resident Turks and Muslims. A vengeful Turkey joins forces with Russia and declares war against the EU. Turkish commandos besiege Berlin, obliterate Europe and take control of the Continent.

"Some critics will be quick to dismiss 'The Third World War,' a new futuristic novel by a 30-year-old Turkish writer, Burak Turna, as the wild imaginings of a conspiracy theorist and literary shock jock - and in many ways it is."

Turna is also the author of Metal Storm, which revolves around a US invasion of Turkey. Both books have been runaway best-sellers.
posted by brundlefly at 4:28 PM PST - 52 comments

Visualization of particle physics [via]
posted by Gyan at 3:30 PM PST - 5 comments

"Keith, Keith, I'm only 31!" Those were the last words of Johnny Gammage, a black motorist who died just inside the city limits of Pittsburgh, when he was pulled over by police from from some of the Steel City's wealthiest, whitest suburbs, some time between 1:47 and 2:10 AM, 10 years ago today. It made national headlines at the time, but now you won't even find "Johnny Gammage" in Wikipedia--and while the nation fixes on a more recent incident, even the city that was torn apart by the scandal of it is passing the tenth anniversary virtually unnoticed.
posted by jefgodesky at 2:43 PM PST - 37 comments

World's Nation's Tallest Jenga Tower Nerd builds amazing Sears Tower out of 15,000 Jenga blocks, complete with blinking antennae.
posted by 40 Watt at 2:33 PM PST - 16 comments

Secrets of the Mystery House. If you like the Winchester Mystery House, you might be interested in a tour guide's insider view, presenting fascinating tidbits that you don't see on the official tour. Or these old-timey photos of the house, allegedly dating as far back as 1906. The less skeptical among you might enjoy these guaranteed authentic ghost photographs taken in the House, as well.
posted by agropyron at 12:49 PM PST - 24 comments

George W. Bush freefall. [flash]
posted by xmutex at 11:25 AM PST - 65 comments

The Origin of the Noodles? Neolithic noodles unearthed in China or were they planted there to test our faith?
posted by Flitcraft at 11:20 AM PST - 15 comments

New 30GB iPod capable of playing video on a 320x240 display. Get it at $299 before the hordes arrive at the Apple store. Sketchy on-the-scene reports (ThinkSecret, Gizmodo, iPodLounge Live). There's also a new iMac and some software updates that, to be honest, no one was watching for. Please let the new wider and thinner iPod design still fit comfortably in my front pocket.
posted by geoff. at 10:47 AM PST - 173 comments

People who want to bomb places they can't find on maps (video).
posted by leapingsheep at 10:14 AM PST - 41 comments

A beautiful collection of Robots built out of junk. Imagine if all those things you see everyday that make you think "that sort of looks like a face, right?" stood up on two (or three) feet. ------- [note: I promise, this is in no way a self-link. I only discovered this website last night while egotisticallly googling my own name. No relation!]
posted by JBennett at 8:09 AM PST - 22 comments

DisasterFilter: 1250 dead, hundreds of thousands homeless. Though it pales in comparison to the death toll in Pakistan, and though it’s not as close (or visible) as the damage done by Rita and Katrina, the devastation due to Hurricane Stan has been, well, devastating in rural Guatemala, especially around Lake Atitlan.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:37 AM PST - 10 comments

Celebrating the life of John Peel: as we approach the first anniversary of John Peel's death, the BBC are preparing for the first John Peel Day on 13 October (marking the day of his last ever Radio 1 show). Things kick off with a concert tonight at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (broadcast tomorrow night on Radio 1) and over 300 gigs across the country. Meanwhile, Radio 4 will be broadcasting a special edition of Home Truths from John and Sheila's home in Suffolk on 22 October, including the naming of a locomotive diesel at Bury St Edmonds.
posted by ceri richard at 7:15 AM PST - 13 comments

Infinite Crisis begins today. In 1985, DC Comics released Crisis On Infinite Earths -- arguably the biggest retcon engine in comicbook history. The goal of the Crisis maxi-series was the unification of disparate DC timelines and dimensions (designated as numbered or lettered Earths) into a single universe. Beloved heroes died and new heroes emerged. Twenty years later, DC is putting all of its heroes and villains back in harm's way with Infinite Crisis. Building steam from plot elements in last year's critically-acclaimed Identity Crisis (written by NYT Bestselling Author Brad Meltzer) and a quartet (1, 2, 3, 4) of related mini-series published over the last six months, Infinite Crisis (penned by Geoff Johns) promises to be just as jarring as the original Crisis. So jarring, in fact, that flagship characters of the DC Universe will be pitched forward in time, a year into the future. To account for the lost time, a weekly series called 52* will start in May of 2006. And when the dust settles, DC will start progressing all of its characters and stories in real time.
posted by grabbingsand at 6:29 AM PST - 52 comments

A new television series ["Beautiful Maidens"] being broadcast around the Middle East tells the story of Arabs living in residential compounds in Saudi Arabia and the militant Islamists who want to blow them up so they can collect their rewards in heaven - 72 beautiful virgins. One of the show's writers, Abdullah Bjad, is a Saudi and self-described former militant who was consulted on religious aspects of the script. He said that just before one of the 2003 attacks on a residential compound in Saudi Arabia, an attacker who was in contact with his superiors was "heard on the mobile phone counting down the seconds to the 'beautiful maidens.' His last words were: 'One second to the 'beautiful maidens.' He then blew himself up."
New Syrian TV show angers some Arabs • But what will a woman have when she enters paradise?
posted by jenleigh at 6:14 AM PST - 83 comments

I/O Brush is a new drawing tool to explore colors, textures, and movements found in everyday materials by "picking up" and drawing with them. Video here.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 6:09 AM PST - 6 comments

An essential upgrade for iPod nano owners. Note that the 200gb capacity enables you to store about 50 000 pieces of music. If this capacity is filled with illegal mp3s, you can be fined up to 75 Million USD. That aside, the upgraded nano is a thing of beauty.
posted by grahamwell at 4:39 AM PST - 22 comments

Pre-announcing Google Wallet. A Pay-Pal competitor from the little search engine that could...
posted by jonson at 12:50 AM PST - 44 comments

"Romantic"...or "Neo-National-Socialist" Realism? If the following representations can whatsoever be called 'realist', then wherefore the campy ideological vulgarity of their subject matter, which make Leroy Neiman's works - yes, you may remember him accurately from the notorious Burger King collection of the late 1970's - seem as profound as Salvador Dali (156 MB - and "obscene" - MPEG file)? To wit: "Romantic Realism, the movement which renews the high esthetic standards and techniques of pre-20th century ateliers, brings a rebirth of comprehensibility, beauty, romanticism and stylization to contemporary subject matter." Linked from Instapundit. (Do political posts rendered as purely aesthetic questions merit "newsfilter" warnings? Consult the zeitgeist! And apologies for the question sounding like the title of a Paul Zindel play.) Qu'est-ce que c'est, le 'degenerate art', vraiment?
posted by objet at 11:21 PM PST - 32 comments

Syriana is a new "peak oil" movie (following in the tradition of The Deal and Oil Storm). However unlike those movies it is a big budget Warner Brothers film, starring George Clooney. But perhaps even more interesting is the production company behind it called Participant Productions whose goal is to create films not just for passive entertainment but that inspire viewers to get involved in the issues.via The Oil Drum
posted by stbalbach at 9:40 PM PST - 15 comments

Did Dick make him do it? The Huffington Report claims that both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomsburg News are working on stories indicating that Vice President Dick Cheney is the target of the special prosecutor's investigation into Plamegate. George Stephanopoulos also recently claimed that a source close to the investigation told him that Cheney and Bush were involved in discussions on how to handle the Wilson affair that may have led to the leak. Meanwhile, Cheney's chief spokesman has left the country until October 26th, two days before the conclusion of the grand jury investigation.
posted by insomnia_lj at 7:23 PM PST - 91 comments

Archimedes Death Ray: Idea Feasibility Testing. Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire. The story has been much debated and oft dismissed as myth. TV's MythBusters were not able to replicate the feat and “busted” the myth. MIT students rock!
posted by mrkredo at 5:35 PM PST - 52 comments

Citizen journalism gets vetted, and the people of Greensboro101 etc. bite back. Should the new outlets emulate old-style papers or to each her own?
posted by Julie at 3:23 PM PST - 16 comments

Evidence for Intelligent Design [via]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:44 PM PST - 73 comments

Classic Aardman (of Wallace and Gromit fame) animation stuff up in flames
posted by magullo at 12:35 PM PST - 21 comments

With gas prices rising, SUV sales (16-20 mpg city) have been declining. What are some alternatives for urban commuters? Prius (56 mpg) and other hybrid vehicles. SmartCar (50 mpg city; available in Canada, but not the US) and other microcars. Electric motor scooters and bicycles. Electric cars like the General Motors EV1 seem to be stalled, although people are working on a battery-powered SmartCar. What about hydrogen vehicles? In the medium term, MIT's Laboratory for Energy and the Environment doesn't think they'll outperform hybrids (full report). A comparison of fuel-cell and battery electric vehicles gets into some of the details of how they work.
posted by russilwvong at 12:31 PM PST - 83 comments

Last week, a woman was forced off a Southwest Airlines flight for wearing a t-shirt. The shirt in question bore the phrase "Meet the F*ckers" and an image of US President Bush, VP Cheney and Condoleezza Rice. The passenger, Lorrie Heasley, refused to remove it after other passengers complained. Apparently "Southwest rules filed with the FAA say they can remove a passenger that is offensive, abusive, disorderly or violent or for clothing that is "lewd, obscene, or patently offensive," but the airline says the curse (not the political message) led to her being asked to leave. Ms. Heasley is now speaking with the ACLU to see if she can initiate a lawsuit, but the NYTimes checked with experts in constitutional law and they don't think she has a case.

Well, the makers of the t-shirt have responded: "If any T-Shirt Hell customer is kicked off of any commercial airline flight simply for wearing one of our shirts, we will provide you with alternate transportation to get you to your original destination. This transportation includes, but is not limited to, the T-Shirt Hell corporate jet."
posted by zarq at 12:26 PM PST - 215 comments

Kingpins Bowl & Brew, in Athens, GA, is one of those "hipster- and family-friendly" small town places where locals of all ages get together. It's got a bar. It's got bowling. It's got an arcade. And on Saturday evening, it had Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe, the original members of REM, reunite and play a "impromptu" seven song set in the arcade. It was only the second time since Berry left the band in 1997 that the original members played together.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:51 AM PST - 48 comments

UfoMaps.com utilizes the Google Maps API to display UFO incidents across the United States. Bonus: for more UFO-related audio, video, documents & images, AreaDownload provides a huge archive.
posted by hall of robots at 10:04 AM PST - 16 comments

Beethoven's Ninth -- the score.
posted by matteo at 9:47 AM PST - 42 comments

Fun & Joy is a addictiing little mindless game. Don't let the fact that it was probably written for younger ones stop you from zoning out. See also. [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 9:39 AM PST - 24 comments

Terrorist attack on Georgia Tech campus. A bomb explodes on the East Campus of Georgia Tech within a mile of the Centennial Olympic Park where Eric Rudolph , in another act of terrorism, set off an explosive device during the 1996 Summer Olympics. This is a terror attack on one of America's leading research institutions supporting the War on Terror. This a terror attack on the institution designing safer cars against roadside bombs for the military. This is a terror attack on an institution whose security services are closely aligned with the Department of Homeland Security. This is a terror attack on the first university in the deep south to admit African Americans without a court order. This is a terror attack on institution whose freedom loving football team is struggling to recover from two consecutive losses after a 3-0 start. It is an act of terror on American soil. Where is George?
posted by three blind mice at 9:32 AM PST - 101 comments

NEGADON!! "NEGADON - the Monster from Mars" is a "digital monster film", a film for the future. Similar in execution to the short film which eventually spawned "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", Negadon is a 100% computer-generated short which has been cleverly designed to look like the old Japanese man-in-the-rubber-suit monster movies of the 50's. Even the posters look the part.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:51 AM PST - 19 comments

Hundertwasserhaus. Designed by Austrian architect and artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser for free because "it was worth it" and owned by the city of Vienna, the Hundertwasser House is a tourist site, social and political gathering place, and a piece of art. With no straight lines or flat surfaces, bright colors, and organic low rent apartments, the Hundertwasserhaus is a truly unique version of public housing.
posted by dios at 8:25 AM PST - 21 comments

"Please, I've done everything I'm supposed to do, can't I go home now?" Kurt Vonnegut at 82.
posted by tranquileye at 8:22 AM PST - 52 comments

Who Lost Gordon Bunshaft's Travertine House? 1) Widow of Lever House architect Gordon Bunshaft wills art filled modernist house (+ 2.4 East Hampton property) to The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). MOMA takes art, sells modernist house to Martha Stewart. MS guts house, lets rot, transfers ownership to daughter who sells it. New owner tears down modernist house, left with 2.4 acres of waterfront property.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:52 AM PST - 17 comments

Does AOL's acquisition of Weblogs, Inc. make financial sense? Yet another excellent quantitative analysis from Tristan Louis, who seems to spend a lot of time digging for numbers relating to the so-called blogosphere -- see also his granular analysis of what distinguishes A-list from B-list bloggers and another analysis more specifically examining Technorati links, as well as his analysis of the sort of cash Gawker is paying out which was discussed here earlier. Whatever the price investors don't seem to be hitting the panic button at the deal.
posted by clevershark at 7:45 AM PST - 5 comments

Sketchplanet.com "is a new web service based around sketches. Taking some obvious cues from Flickr (e.g. tags, ability to comment etc.) Sketchplanet is an online sketching network where people can draw whatever they like, add titles, comments, tags, save favourites and more."
posted by gen at 6:54 AM PST - 17 comments

We've discussed the Ashton Kutcher's voicemail problems, though many Mefites quickly caught on that it was fake. The media, it seems, wasn't so smart. The whole thing, it turns out, was an elaborate stunt created by the same guy who gave us The Credit Card Prank. It was the media and the people leaving the voicemails who ultimately got punk'd, but in the end, Ashton surrendered anyway. It's quite possible that by making this post I'm the most punk'd of all. I no longer know what's real and what's fake.
posted by bondcliff at 6:31 AM PST - 33 comments

The amorality of Web 2.0. Partially inspired by a Wired profile, that asks "Could it be that the Internet - or what O'Reilly calls Web 2.0 - is really the -successor to the human potential movement?" And of course, it's not a bubble if one calls it a bubble.
posted by gsb at 5:44 AM PST - 65 comments

So. What will happen when our computers get good enough
posted by Tlogmer at 3:26 AM PST - 30 comments

Outside staircases. Doors. Stacks of stuff. People sleeping outside. And more. Mainly in Yokohama. Photographs by Tom Gally.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 3:18 AM PST - 9 comments

The Savage Young Beatles. Photos of the boys from the 1950s and early 1960s. An early color photo. The first photo as the Beatles. All from The Beatle Source, a collection of photos, music and acetates. via the Presurfer.
posted by caddis at 8:05 PM PST - 44 comments

CronyJobs.com
"Apply" now to secure a lucrative career both decrying and luxuriating in the spoils of Big Government! No experience necessary! Don't miss your chance to suckle greedily at America's soon-to-be-bankrupt bureaucracy teat!
posted by fenriq at 4:26 PM PST - 38 comments

CribCandy.com is a thumbnail blog of cool stuff for your house, like Uncrate, but just for house related purchases.
posted by jonson at 4:12 PM PST - 29 comments

Today in the Netherlands, public broadcaster BNN aired the first episode of sex- and drug-themed television show "Spuiten en Slikken"; the punning title translates to either "Shoot Up & Pop (Pills)" or "Squirt & Swallow". [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:39 PM PST - 21 comments

Who is the Real JT LeRoy? A search for the true identity of a great literary hustler.
posted by mr.marx at 2:35 PM PST - 28 comments

Does dark matter exist? Dark matter has been suggested as a solution to the galaxy rotation problem where individual stars don't seem to rotate the way Newton's laws would predict. Now, some scientists are saying that observations fit with Einstein's general relativity, without any dark matter needed. I just find it amazing that no one has tried this yet.
posted by delmoi at 1:48 PM PST - 44 comments

It was a dark and stormy night on some distant planet. Thog's Masterclass collects only the finest, most well-honed clunky sentences and mixed metaphors the science fiction community produces. Eat yer heart out, Bulwer-Lytton. [via the website at the end of the universe]
posted by arto at 12:58 PM PST - 19 comments

The most interesting pieces of pop music trivia (that you know are 100% false.) For example,

With the exception of 1990's Fourth of July, every Galaxie 500 song released has the exact same opening five seconds.

"American Pie" songster Don McLean is ironically both Canadian, and allergic to pastry.

Rapper 50 Cent Blasts Colonel Oliver North for role in Iran Contra Affair

posted by The Jesse Helms at 11:27 AM PST - 64 comments

Staten Island Ship Graveyard. A fascinating gallery of photographs of abandoned and decaying ships.
posted by dersins at 10:26 AM PST - 19 comments

Fred and Ethel resurrected as corporate shills "Through the magic of Hollywood, famously tightfisted Fred (William Frawley) and his irascible wife, Ethel (Vivian Vance), are brought back to life in a series of entertaining vignettes," California-based PacifiCare said in a release about its new television advertising campaign. Using body doubles, voice impersonators and computer-generated imagery, the national TV ads that will premiere in mid October will enable the two long-dead actors to "speak" once more. And, oddly enough, they'll be talking about PacifiCare's new drug plan.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 9:54 AM PST - 39 comments

Global warming -- the upside: the entrepreneurs poised to make millions from new ports and shipping lanes in the formerly ice-bound Arctic circle. A fascinating New York Times article on the international land-grab following the news (reported here, discussed here, whitewashed here, et. al.) that the polar ice caps and Siberian permafrost are melting. Goodbye Gulf Stream, hello Club Med Santa-style -- first SUV to the North Pole wins!
posted by digaman at 9:24 AM PST - 52 comments

Hardcore Faith. Actor Stephen Baldwin on his skateboarding ministry and why it's OK to call the Lord 'dude.'
posted by matteo at 8:39 AM PST - 125 comments

The 2005 Nobel Prize for economics goes to Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling. Marginal Revolution has a wonderful set of posts that link to various related resources, like a summary of Aumann's work or Schelling's views on global warming.
posted by daksya at 7:53 AM PST - 17 comments

Warning: Geek Hype Alert! Artima.com has just launched a new on-line magazine, Ruby Code & Style. They already host Web `zines for two long-time, corporate powerhouse languages, C++ and Java. For their next subject one might have expected them to go with Python or perhaps Perl, but instead they picked Ruby.

Need more proof Ruby's time has come? The Fifth International Ruby Conference, to be held this week in San Diego, CA, is sold out. The attendance is triple what is was last year. Any readers of Slashdot here likely do not need yet another mention of Ruby on Rails, which has spread like wildfire. But Agile Web Development with Rails is currently in the top 500 over-all sales rank on Amazon, and currently #2 in the Computers and Internet Programming section.

While MeFi tends to focus on more socially-broad topics, I know there is a cadre of geeks here. So, tell me: Is this it for Perl, Python, and PHP? Are the P* languages to be sent packing? Or is this swell of Rubymania just a passing fad, the results of overblown blog hype? And what other programming languuages might be lurking to become The Next Big Geek Thing? (I'm still waiting for Lisp to assume return triumphant.)
posted by Ayn Marx at 6:36 AM PST - 86 comments

Gem sweater / missed connections.
posted by swift at 6:27 AM PST - 14 comments

The Times Higher Education Supplement's World University Rankings [link to PDF]
posted by Gyan at 6:20 AM PST - 15 comments

SOS or Safegaurd Organic Standards is what the Organic Consumers Association is calling their effort to protect the USDA's National Organic Program's organic food standards adopted in 2002. A rider attached to the 2006 agriculture appropriations bill and sponsored by the Organic Trade Association contains changes to the standards that in their view will make "technical corrections" to the national organic standards. This became necessary in their view after a 73-year-old organic blueberry farmer from Maine named Arthur Harvey won a court appeal against the USDA, arguing that federal regulations guiding organic food standards were less stringent than the original legislation had intended. This issue is splitting the organic standards lobbying community. Or perhaps this has been in the works for sometime as large corporate food producers have moved to take advantage of the rapid growth of the organics market. (more inside)
posted by flummox at 10:12 PM PST - 14 comments

Balance the baguette without hitting the croissants. [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 7:52 PM PST - 15 comments

Is the Blair government creating another dodgy dossier? Following Tony Blair's recent outburst accusing the Iranian government of supporting attacks on British troops, a team are being dispatched to Iraq on a hunting expedition, in the hope of proving him right. Meanwhile, a prominent neo-con who served as the Iraq desk officer for the Office of Special Plans is telling the British that only the threat of force will tame Tehran. Sound familiar?!
posted by insomnia_lj at 6:18 PM PST - 75 comments

And you thought librarians were stuffy. (should be SFW, though some flesh does show)
posted by malaprohibita at 6:05 PM PST - 38 comments

Six Drinks that Changed the World. Beer, Wine, Coffee . . . Their impact upon the history of the World. via GeekPress
posted by caddis at 5:34 PM PST - 49 comments

What poetry should I read while drinking what whiskey?
posted by kenko at 3:34 PM PST - 42 comments

An odd hurricane season becomes odder. Meet Vince, the 23rd tracked topical low, and the 21st named storm of the near record setting 2005 Atlantic Hurricane season. But, where is he? Not here. Not even way over here. No, Vince is way over here -- and is headed towards Spain. Of course, this isn't the oddest place for a tropical cyclone. There was Catarina last year, forming the first hurricane ever recorded in the South Atlantic, and never mind what, to all eyes, appears to have been a hurricane in the Mediterranean Sea.
posted by eriko at 1:56 PM PST - 28 comments

Orsten or stinkstone (it smells like rotten eggs), is a limestone nodule that has preserved Cambrian fossils extremely well. Scanning Electron Microscopic images of the fossils reveals incredible detail.
posted by obedo at 11:39 AM PST - 8 comments

UNICEF bombs the Smurfs. UNICEF recently launched a campaign to teach schoolchildren about the horrors of war. Among the efforts are a mini-cartoon, where, yes, the Smurfs are bombed (Warning: Video file, strong images, Smurfs don't kick in for 40 seconds, most of which are dedicated to limbless children. NSFW or small children). I couldn't understand the language the movie is in (Dutch?), but the Smurfs say it all.
posted by huskerdont at 10:56 AM PST - 31 comments

My cell was 8 ft by 6 ft, the same size as the detainees’ cages at Guantanamo. It was my turn to be humiliated every time I was taken to have a shower. Naked, I had to run my hands through my hair to show that I was not concealing a weapon in it. Then mouth open, tongue up, down, nothing inside. Right arm up, nothing in my armpit. Left arm up. Lift the right testicle, nothing hidden. Lift the left. Turn around, bend over, spread your buttocks, knowing a camera was displaying my naked image as male and female guards watched. It didn’t matter that I was an army captain, a graduate of West Point, the elite US military academy. It didn’t matter that my religious beliefs prohibited me from being fully naked in front of strangers. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t been charged with a crime. It didn’t matter that my wife and daughter had no idea where I was. And it certainly didn’t matter that I was a loyal American citizen and, above all, innocent... I knew why I had been arrested: it was because I am a Muslim.

James Yee: An American in chains It's OK to demonize the 'Other' if the Other is a Muslim.
posted by y2karl at 9:46 AM PST - 163 comments

"I haven't been in a concert hall in 4 billion years". Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, 54, had been excited about an invitation to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic in action at Disney Hall. "The anticipation is horrible". He'd started showering daily at a shelter, to gussy himself up as much as possible. Nathaniel was a music student more than 30 years ago at the Juilliard School when he suffered a breakdown. Today, as he continues to battle the schizophrenia that landed him on skid row, he plays violin and cello for hours each day in downtown Los Angeles, lifting his instruments out of an orange shopping cart on which he has written: "Little Walt Disney Concert Hall — Beethoven." After the Philharmonic's rehearsal, Ayers has played Disney Hall -- the real one, this time. Without the bow at first, picking the strings with his right hand, Bach's Cello Suite No. 1: Prelude. Several Philharmonic staffers heard the music and wandered over, peering in to see a man of the streets, tattered and elegant, close his eyes and drift into ecstasy.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 9:13 AM PST - 14 comments

Over 19,000 dead in earthquake in South Asia
posted by Snyder at 4:21 AM PST - 66 comments

You can't POSSIBLY be serious. The fact that modern breakfast foods (or at least, foods normally associated with breakfast) have expanded to include items such as cereals whose marshmallow content threatens to outweigh the actual nutritious content, slightly more nutritious items covered in frosting, and of course, the wide variety of chocolate flavored items, cereals, milk, muffins, and so on. But that's just breakfast. Now, however, we're getting into personal hygiene. And that may just be Snakes On A Plane dangerous.
posted by deusdiabolus at 1:33 AM PST - 33 comments

Adventures of an International Male - For almost 30 years a curious clothing catalog has sold ruffled pirate shirts, pink sleeveless suits, and sequined black capes to a seemingly invisible public. What’s it like to go through life in a mesh top?
posted by well_balanced at 1:06 AM PST - 43 comments

What life would look like if you lived inside a plastic water bottle. Details on this interesting panoramic QTVR here.
posted by jonson at 11:12 PM PST - 17 comments

Don't forget to save your receipts! Mark Thomas (creator of the Payphone Project, previously discussed on Metafilter here) has been saving his for years.
posted by dersins at 9:14 PM PST - 14 comments

Pixel Fest - "Here's the game: can a group of random people, each contributing a teensy weensy bit, make a coherent piece of art/design/garbage purely through the influence of the work itself?" A time-lapse video of the project so far can be seen here (heavy load time)
posted by hypersloth at 7:48 PM PST - 20 comments

Like top-10 lists? The fifteen most incompetent Bush administration appointments.
Newsfilter, and reg. required. But this article is a thing of utter transcendent beauty. You have not heard of most of these people.
posted by Tlogmer at 2:40 PM PST - 50 comments

Moon type, an embossed typeface invented by Englishman William Moon in the middle 1840s, seemed to have won the fight to bring reading to the blind. Online Moon type generator here. It was based on simplified Roman text, was easy to use by all, and once enjoyed the status as the most popular embossed typeface in the world (failed night writing system withstanding). Until Louis Braille developed his system, that is.
posted by luckypozzo at 2:12 PM PST - 21 comments

White House Tapes has audio files and transcripts of presidental conversations between 1940 and 1973, including FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:06 PM PST - 16 comments

A Happy Ending -- Days after Katrina struck and the levees broke an AP photographer took a photograph depicting a frail, elderly woman in a wheelchair -- her withered white hand clasping [a little girl's] tiny black hand," as they were being rescued from the New Orlean's convention center. The photo was "published on front pages around the nation, and the pair became a symbol of the disaster." The two are fine and living together -- along with the girl's grandmother -- as a new family in Houston.
posted by ericb at 12:38 PM PST - 22 comments

Since Sliced Bread: A union-sponsored contest to find and develop ideas to improve the U.S. economy - the winner will receive $100,000. Entries range from virally-spreading an anti-exploitation shame meme to increasing US world domination. Other greatest ideas since sliced bread include your own personal jesus toast, corporate logos on toast, and Liberty.
posted by Rumple at 12:12 PM PST - 6 comments

Cow beats the crap out of dogs. Cows are mean.
posted by bigmusic at 11:52 AM PST - 64 comments

Dobson vs. the miniature Dachshund : the musical ( subtitle : "The Will To Whip" ) OK, it's not really a musical. But it should be : in a slice 'o life piece of high camp from "Focus on the Family" head and author of numerous books on parenting, including "Dare to Discipline" and "The New Dare To Discipline", Dr. James Dobson recounts an epic battle, belt in hand, to dislodge his 12 lb Dachshund from atop a fuzzy toilet seat cover. Dobson also advocates the disciplinary beating of chidren, but not those younger than 15 months. The Dachshund has sinced passed away, ending "a fifteen-year-love affair between man and dog".
posted by troutfishing at 10:29 AM PST - 81 comments

Soviet Calculators
posted by anastasiav at 9:56 AM PST - 16 comments

Pickled jack-o-lantern - just in time for the hollidays
posted by growabrain at 9:24 AM PST - 14 comments

Wrestling with Diane Arbus "She set up no lights, just pulled out her Rolleiflex, which was half as big as she was, checked the aperture and the exposure, and tested the flash. Then she asked me to lie on the bed, flat on my back on the shabby counterpane. I did as I was told. Clutching the camera she climbed on to the bed and straddled me, moving up until she was kneeling with a knee on both sides of my chest. She held the Rolleiflex at waist height with the lens right in my face. She bent her head to look through the viewfinder on top of the camera, and waited".
posted by matteo at 9:11 AM PST - 25 comments

Godey's Lady's Book. A 19th century American ladies' magazine, which contained poetry, engravings and articles. "It was a novel enterprise at the time, and few thought it would outlive the first year of its nativity. It soon became apparent, however, that its management was in the hands of one who knew the want of the time, and had the tact and taste required for its supply."
More here.
Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of 'Mary had a little lamb', who petitioned President Lincoln for a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day, was an editor of the magazine.
posted by plep at 7:06 AM PST - 14 comments

Perhaps you'll recall DARPA's Grand Challenge where autonomous vehicles competed in a off-road race for $1,000,000 but most barely made it off the starting blocks? Yeah, well, they are doing it again this year for $2 million this time. Just one thing: Don't bet on Princeton. [last two links .MOV]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:11 AM PST - 18 comments

Make Your Own Law Psst, Newsfilter
Assemblyman Jimmy Meng wants his Flushing, New York constituents to submit their best ideas for new legislation. The best proposal will be introduced as a bill in Albany.
posted by fenriq at 12:24 AM PST - 25 comments

The Human Flower Project "From the mourners of a Neanderthal man buried with flowers in 60,000 B.C.. to today’s megawatt floral designers on HGTV, people have turned to flowers out of anxiety, necessity and joy."
posted by dhruva at 12:07 AM PST - 2 comments

Draw on your computer screen with your hands. A touch-screen art program of sorts. I don't own a Mac but this would make me rethink that. [Embedded QT alert]
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:54 PM PST - 38 comments

Welcome to Supr.c.ilio.us, the World's First Social Social Tagging Site Tagging Site™. This is the place to come to tag all those other tagging sites. (But...is it Web 2.0 Or Not?)
posted by Jimbob at 8:03 PM PST - 27 comments

Flickr Memry blends the classic memory game with Flickr images. Enter a subject tag, play memory (4x4 or 6x6), and then view or mail the originals if you like. (flash)
posted by hypersloth at 7:38 PM PST - 14 comments

Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency have won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. (previous)
posted by Silune at 5:24 PM PST - 29 comments

Personal Pandemic Preparedness Plan.
posted by stbalbach at 4:52 PM PST - 53 comments

Dizzy was looking forward to the round-the-world cruise. When he told the other yolkfolk about the good deal he found, they wondered just what lay ahead of him... A standalone PC emulation of the Commodore 64 version of Treasure Island Dizzy, by Eighties programming prodigies the Oliver Twins.
posted by greycap at 12:11 PM PST - 13 comments

Vote for Your Ruler: "Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty."
posted by alms at 11:38 AM PST - 27 comments

Interesting "New Yorker" article about online extortion via DDoS attacks. Call me naive and underinformed, but I had little understanding of how this works. "In the most common scenario, the bots surreptitiously connect hundreds, or thousands, of zombies to a channel in a chat room. The process is called “herding,” and a herd of zombies is called a botnet."
posted by dersins at 11:03 AM PST - 34 comments

Google Reader. Google has launched a news reader at the Web 2.0 conference.
posted by gen at 10:43 AM PST - 53 comments

Classic arcade games, listed by title and location!. Find out where the nearest Donkey Kong is in Idaho, or the closest Pole Position to New Hampshire. Or add your own favorite games/locations to their every-expanding database. Cool.
posted by ericbop at 9:28 AM PST - 23 comments

Another Starwars kid? (AVI, no sound)
No, this man claims to be a Spetsnaz instructor, being deadly with an entrenching shovel. "The Spetsnaz soldier loves his spade. He has more faith in its reliability and accuracy than he has in his Kalashnikov automatic.".
posted by springload at 9:23 AM PST - 40 comments

Cowboy Action Shooting. Old West fantasy gunfighting competitions. Antique guns, frontier aliases, and period costumes. That's right, costumes. Oh, dear lord, the costumes.
posted by Gamblor at 9:14 AM PST - 25 comments

Harold Pinter at 75. In One for the Road, the protagonist is Nicolas, a whisky-sodden interrogator who has brought in a family for questioning (and, it is implied, raping and torturing). In the short, sharp shock of The New World Order, we eavesdrop on a conversation between two torturers, held over the top of their mute, blindfolded victim's head ("We haven't even finished with him. We haven't begun."). In Ashes to Ashes, the interrogation of Rebecca by Devlin takes a sinister turn as we learn that her ex-lover participated in state-sponsored violence. In Mountain Language, a sadistic guard plays power games with a group of mountain dwellers, who are forbidden from speaking in anything but the language of the state. In Party Time, Pinter lampoons the smug security of the middle classes, portraying an insufferably élite party which carries on regardless of the violence and terror on the streets outside.
Now, for Pinter's 75th birthday, some of the tormentors and the tormented so potently etched in his later plays are assembled together in a new dramatic work with a musical setting by the composer James Clarke.
posted by matteo at 9:03 AM PST - 12 comments

Networking on the Network Started over 10 years ago, long before social web apps became ubiquitous, Phil Agre's Networking on the Network was an introduction to professional networking, using the internet, for graduate students.
The document has grown and evolved to encompass 90 pages of widely applicable advice on building professional relationships and helping others do the same. Much of what he writes is applicable to surviving in any institution.
Reading it feels like being taken aside by an expert practitioner who tells you, "Pssst....hey buddy, here's how things really work."
posted by mecran01 at 8:47 AM PST - 12 comments

An early VoIP casualty. Think VoIP is a new phenomenon, and talking to people with Skype or Free World Dialup is incredible? Ten years ago, Onlive! put the Onlive! Traveler -- a collaborative VoIP product that's amazing even today -- into beta. With Traveler, a Windows95 (!) PC, a decent graphics card, a SoundBlaster and a dial-up Internet connection, you could not only chat with a friend, but participate in collaborative chats with the avatars of multiple friends in various 3-D rendered worlds. The avatars' lips even moved with your voice (.mpg movie). You could talk worldwide, for free. But even though Onlive! was around well before the boom, they were an unfortunate dot-com casualty, as Traveler never quite took off. Perhaps Traveler was doomed by the limited connectivity available in the mid 90's, or perhaps it was doomed by its occasionally creepy, fantastic 3-D designs -- but due to a number of collaborators, the Traveler still lives on today on a series of servers, and the (free) software still works on modern Windows PCs.
posted by eschatfische at 8:38 AM PST - 13 comments

Llareggub! Dylan Thomas reading Dylan Thomas and host of others (Shakespeare, Milton, Yeats, Auden, Hardy, and more). 11 volumes of mp3s on Salon, reached after watching a Salon premium ad. [via boingboing]
posted by carter at 8:17 AM PST - 12 comments

Man Sentenced to Death in Alabama. but not just any old death sentence. This is the fellow who killed two cops and a police dispatcher, then blamed his actions on Grand Theft Auto, which is a popular video game. Alabama, the state whose residents fought so hard to keep the 10 commandments on display in a courthouse. Maybe they should have been allowed to display that monument, to remind them that murder is a crime - no matter how you dress it up.
posted by the theory of revolution at 8:12 AM PST - 63 comments

Monkey Dude. Fast paced is an understatement.
Be sure to also check out Streets of Fire for the catchiest soundtrack ever, and Rambo III to relive the glory that was Sylvester Stallone stickfighting.
Some Friday Flash Fun
posted by Edible Energy at 7:27 AM PST - 19 comments

Research by dumb, ignorant Yankees on national stereotypes.
posted by Gyan at 6:16 AM PST - 30 comments

30,000 photos in the online archive of the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, a non-profit initiative from the University of Virginia, offering a large database of texts, audio, video, images, maps, bibliographies, journals, links and other resources for Himalayan studies.
posted by funambulist at 5:13 AM PST - 7 comments

Unwed mothers have difficulty finding 'good' husbands What is to be done? The many children born under such condtions repeat this pattern and malthusian-like place increasing burdens upon society. Causes? Solutions?
posted by Postroad at 4:03 AM PST - 103 comments

With admiration, Scooter Libby.
posted by digaman at 2:33 AM PST - 40 comments

Hot Wheels. The 2005 Hot Wheels Convention is going on right now. There are a few days left if you are within easy reach of Irvine, CA. That forty years later some "kids" still love these cars amazes me.
posted by caddis at 9:22 PM PST - 19 comments

Bling Bling Barbie.
posted by swift at 9:00 PM PST - 45 comments

World Toy Camera Day October 22, 2005 (via toycamera.com)
posted by PenguinBukkake at 9:00 PM PST - 7 comments

Fisher College sophmore Cameron Walker apparently didn't like a campus cop and posted about it on a forum at Facebook, a college networking site. He talked about watching the cop closely and trying to set the cop up which is admittedly some dodgy stuff, but is it worthy of expulsion from the university for his off-site comments?
posted by mathowie at 8:03 PM PST - 38 comments

Flying lawn mower (link to .wmv). Alas, FlyingThingz.com has won my vote for making the most inspired-yet-useless invention of the decade. I'd buy one, but I'm allergic to freshly cut sky. The witch might be cool for Halloween, tho.
posted by jeremy b at 7:50 PM PST - 17 comments

The Right Reverend Dr. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, aka Reverend Ike, is, today, perhaps best known for being name-checked in the title song of Parliament's third album, but he's been around for a long time, preaching the gospel of "Thinkonomics," a get-rich-quick scheme rooted in the Holy Scripture. The Rev. makes no apologies for the opulence of his Harlem church, or for his many multicolored Rolls Royces; no one walks so perilously the fine line between fraud and holy man as he. Hear audio and see video (.wmv) of some of Ike's sermons and decide for yourself.
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:32 PM PST - 12 comments

The Evanion Catalogue at the British Library has a huge collection of high-res images (mostly advertisements) relating to Victorian entertainment and everyday life. I had the most fun browsing the subject index. I couldn't resist the Abnormalities - Human category, where I found a poster advertising The Frog Man. Some more mundane things also. Something for everyone here.
posted by marxchivist at 7:11 PM PST - 7 comments

Meebo.com. Web based chat (alpha) for all the main IM protocols.
posted by machaus at 5:29 PM PST - 22 comments

Livemarks. Watch Del.icio.us live.
posted by srboisvert at 4:15 PM PST - 17 comments

BBC confirms the story That box on his back, that earpiece? He's never said exactly how God talks to him, only that He does ....
posted by hank at 3:33 PM PST - 131 comments

America the Free You poor people don't need a dictatorship for a government, you keep yourselves in line very well. How many other examples are there of this? Dixie Chicks CD burning...Others??
posted by SSinVan at 3:16 PM PST - 68 comments

NYC Subway Warning The New York Police Department is investigating what it deems a credible tip that 19 operatives have been deployed to the city to place bombs in the subway, and security in the subways will be increased, sources told ABC News. Also here.
posted by R. Mutt at 3:01 PM PST - 104 comments

So, the US Army is having trouble meeting it's recruitment goals, and is lowering the bar for admission to try and make up the shortfall. Another tactic they are apparently trying is sweetening the deal with 3 free (FREE!!!) iTunes downloads if you agree to talk to a recruiter. It'd be foolish NOT to sign up, frankly!
posted by jonson at 12:37 PM PST - 55 comments

A surprise from Al Gore: I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse . I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America's fabled "marketplace of ideas" now functions. How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or a family member in the last few years remark that it's almost as if America has entered "an alternate universe"? I thought maybe it was an aberration when three-quarters of Americans said they believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on September 11, 2001. But more than four years later, between a third and a half still believe Saddam was personally responsible for planning and supporting the attack.
posted by Shanachie at 12:37 PM PST - 79 comments

The Great Canadian Mileage Run 2005 - Air Canada is currently selling a 2 month unlimited flights in North America pass for $7000. This guy is blogging his way to 1,000,000 Aeroplan Miles.
posted by jeffmik at 12:35 PM PST - 30 comments

Make Your Own Totally Sweet Mario Question Blocks
Because its Really Awesome
We could all use a PowerUp from time to time. And PosterChild (warning link to website that time forgot) would like to show you how to make your own. Top site briefly mention in this thread. And one among many Mario fansites.
posted by fenriq at 12:01 PM PST - 23 comments

“The Puberty Pals.” [Flash, NSFW] This teaser animation for the “upcoming” feature film, Puberty: The Movie was produced by The B-Squad and The Toilet, who brought you “Leave it to Bush,” and voiced by Amy Sedaris, of Strangers With Candy.
posted by ijoshua at 11:23 AM PST - 19 comments

Al-Qaeda, Meet al-Salsa Salsa music is sweeping the arab world, especially as played by Amr Diab, hailed by an Abu Dhabi taxi driver as "the Ricky Martin of the Arab World." But unlike Ricky Martin, Amr Diab combines Latin rhythms in an appealing mix with guttural Arabic lyrics. It's the type of cosmopolitan fusion that might now be welcome in Iran's growing but barely-tolerated music scene.
posted by teaperson at 11:14 AM PST - 21 comments

The U.S. President speaks to the nation. With an approval rating hovering in the low 40 percentile, the sting of conservative hostility to his Supreme Court nomination Harriet Miers fresh on his jaw, and another deadly day in the Occupied Territories, George Bush summons the courage to approach the microphone to present yet another new rationale for his war: "Some call this evil Islamic radicalism. Others militant jihadism. Still, others Islamo-fascism... we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with unalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world."
posted by three blind mice at 11:04 AM PST - 193 comments

We See Things Differently - a 1989 story from the perspective of an Arab visitor to a future, run-down America. By Bruce Sterling, science fiction writer and one of the founders of cyberpunk. Besides his science fiction, Sterling is also known for his 1992 book The Hacker Crackdown, available free on-line, and the Viridian Design Project. He's also an entertaining science writer; here's a column he wrote on bacterial resistance.
posted by russilwvong at 11:00 AM PST - 28 comments

On July 13, 1865, one of the most celebrated institutions in the United States, the American Museum, burned to the ground. But thanks to the wonders of technology, it has been rebuilt—sort of—on a Website called The Lost Museum... As it was managed by Phineas T. Barnum, the original American Museum was located in lower Manhattan and presented an ever-growing collection of wonders across five floors, ranging from "cosmoramas" and wax figures, to aquariums and live-animal specimens, to "moral representations" in the Lecture Room.
Via the incomparable Common-place's Finding Barnum on the Internet.
posted by y2karl at 10:31 AM PST - 8 comments

Shoes of local and national rock n' rollers. It all started one day when we were sitting around talking about how much we love each other, how much we love rock n roll, and how much we love shoes, when Amy exclaimed "That's IT!!! We need to make a web site that combines our love of rock n roll and shoes.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:41 AM PST - 12 comments

Downhill Battle Labs: One "poorly paid" coder vs. the powers that be. previously mentioned, nonprofit Downhill Battle, having spun off the Participatory Culture Foundation/DTV TV Project ( "DTV is a new, free and open-source platform for internet television and video." ) has many other open source projects underway. DownHill Battle Labs projects include "Local Ink": "Enter your zip code, write a letter, and send it to the op-ed pages of newspapers in your area, and/or your representatives in Congress.", "Battle Cart": "...shopping cart for small operations. The catalog and the cart sit on the same screen....With a PayPal account, you can start selling things on a website in just a few minutes." Blog Torrent ( see: Metafilter 37204) a P2P Legal Defense Fund, and a Local Wi-Fi filesharing package. And more.
posted by troutfishing at 8:14 AM PST - 7 comments

"Mom, you're not going to like this." A mother of a U.S. soldier tells her son about the latest Iraq torture admissions, only to be told that his unit routinely beat and abused Iraqis. "...suppose you visit an Imam and you want him to call off IED attacks in his neighborhood. If you just go in and ask him politely, he'll tell you he'll try to help; but, he won't . . . But, if you go to that same guy and beat him up thoroughly, then ask him to knock off the attacks, he'll respect you and he'll try to help. . . ." The mother reports that her son was "under the impression that the conduct was in line with military policy."
posted by insomnia_lj at 7:40 AM PST - 172 comments

Now that they're being sued on racketeering grounds, the RIAA says "to hell with appearances" and files suit against a 14-year-old girl. Candy Chan might have succeeded in getting charges against her dismissed, but in claiming victory, she probably didn't have much of an idea that the music cartel would proceed to file suit against her 14-year-old daughter specifically requesting that the court appoint a "legal guardian" for her. Whatever happens in this case, it'll probably be less embarassing than some of their previous cock-ups.
posted by clevershark at 5:48 AM PST - 73 comments

Intelligent Design on trial! The ACLU of PA is blogging the current trial in Dover, PA between the parents of students and the local school board which wants to teach students Intelligent Design. Over at The Panda's Thumb, they're also keeping track of the goings on. The main ACLU website has statements from most of the plaintiff's experts in the case, including this long, well-supported pdf from philsopher Barbara Forrest, whose testimony is being used to dismantle the canard that ID is not Creationism. Over at the Legal Affairs Debate Club Beckwith and Laylock argued, last week, about whether teaching ID is legal. For background: this 2002 special report from Natural History Magazine on Intelligent Design Creationism.
posted by OmieWise at 5:46 AM PST - 80 comments

AOL is buying Weblogs, Inc! Reuters and Paidcontent.org say it's for at least $25 million.
posted by braun_richard at 4:53 AM PST - 27 comments

pointingit comments on links between an architectural photo database and Google Earth. (Windows only, at the moment). Mac users will have to content themselves with looking at the galleries.
posted by tellurian at 12:33 AM PST - 2 comments

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is a Finnish Star Trek spoof made over seven years by some three hundred volunteers. You can view the trailer and download the full movie (Finnish with English subtitles) via Bittorrent. Be sure to check out the behind the scenes gallery.
posted by wfrgms at 12:31 AM PST - 10 comments

In 1907, Samuel Perry Dinsmoor began construction of his log cabin...out of concrete and stone. The Civil War veteran and sometime Populist politician also built himself a stone mausoleum with a glass-topped concrete coffin. Virtually everything at the Garden of Eden (Lucas, KS) is made out of concrete, including its American Flag.
posted by Captaintripps at 9:14 PM PST - 11 comments

The Biologia Centralia Americana Project Using taXMLit (pdf) to document biological life in Central America. Explore the contents in both pictures and words. For pictures, zoom doesn't seem to work yet but enlarge does.
posted by obedo at 8:12 PM PST - 1 comment

Snake eats alligator, then explodes
posted by philcliff at 8:01 PM PST - 77 comments

The town of Riviera Beach, FL is considering the use of eminent domain to relocate 6,000 poor, predominantly black citizens to make way for a yacht club. More fallout from the previously discussed Kelo vs. New London decision.
posted by knave at 7:41 PM PST - 20 comments

[newsfilter]Espionage in the White House. First known W.H. spy in modern history.[/newsfilter]
posted by brittney at 7:25 PM PST - 39 comments

From Baltimore to the Bush. Until 2003, the Baraka School in Kenya was home to 20-40 underachieving teenagers from inner-city Baltimore. As Time Magazine reported in 2000, the experiment was not without complications, ranging from curriculum deficiencies to disciplinary issues. PBS also did a short piece on Baraka the same year.

By 2002, though, things were shaping up. The Baltimore City Public School System found that students at Baraka improved markedly in their academics. One alumnus is an up-and-coming hip-hop star.

Baraka was closed indefinitely in 2003 due to terrorism-related security threats. But a new documentary, The Boys of Baraka, recaptures the essence of the place, its successes and its failures alike.
posted by greatgefilte at 7:12 PM PST - 8 comments

The International LSD Symposium is being held on the 100th birthday of Albert Hofmann, the first person to synthesize and dose themselves with the substance. Along with being held in the town in which it was discovered, the convention will cover topics ranging from the counterculture movements of the 60's to the LSD policies of Soviet-era Eastern Europe. Some believe that when taken correctly, LSD can be used as a form of therapy, while others contend that it induces psychosis. Whatever the reality, LSD has had a profound impact upon drug users, mainstream society and even the CIA.
posted by borkingchikapa at 7:09 PM PST - 19 comments

"Virtual Virus Sheds Light on Real-Life Behavior." A researcher at Tufts University's Center for the Modelling of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Nina Fefferman, is studying the behavior of World Of Warcraft players during the recent plague that broke out in Ironforge (discussed on Metafilter here.) But Dr. Fefferman is not the first academic to study MMORPGs seriously. Edward Castronova, an economist, arguably pioneered the field with his 2001 paper Virtual Worlds, in which he argues that the economy in Everquest produced a GNP per capita somewhere between that of Russia and Bulgaria. (He has followed up that paper with many more on similar subjects.)
posted by dersins at 6:29 PM PST - 9 comments

The Wartime Ninth. "Berlin. October 7, 1944. In the Beethovensaal a concert is about to begin, but the theater is empty, relieved of its usual audience studded with Nazi elite. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is on stage, awaiting its cue. Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler stands awkwardly on the podium. The vague meandering of his baton summons the first shadowy note of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony. A Radio Berlin engineer starts his Magnetophon. The most extraordinary orchestral recording of the century has just begun". More inside.
posted by matteo at 4:15 PM PST - 21 comments

AOL Time Warner's Road Runner ISP has placed a nationwide blackout of all of Alex Jones' websites nationwide. If you can't read that link . . . your ISP has probably blocked it.
posted by augustweed at 4:02 PM PST - 63 comments

"If Harvard had too many Asians, it wouldn’t be Harvard, just as Harvard wouldn’t be Harvard with too many Jews or pansies or parlor pinks or shy types or short people with big ears." Malcolm Gladwell on the Ivy League business.
posted by semmi at 2:13 PM PST - 47 comments

You see a large shipping crate. It has been wrapped in chains and secured with a stout padlock. Curiously, each link is engraved with the letters "BSA." (more inside)
posted by Malor at 2:07 PM PST - 23 comments

Studs Terkel, lengendary historian and radio host pays a visit to Democracy Now! today. Audio and Video, as well as the transcript of this historic interview are here. Also, the WBAI pledge drive is this week too, please give what you can.
posted by wheelieman at 1:57 PM PST - 16 comments

The 1918 strain of flu lives again. Newsfilter or not, according to a paper published in Science, a team of U.S. researchers has managed to recreate the Spanish flu. Bits of the original virus were taken from the remains of victims from that outbreak and reconstructed in mice. To the surprise of probably no one, the 1918 flu has several elements common with bird flus and was probably originally avian in origin.
posted by staresbynight at 12:01 PM PST - 45 comments

HDTV broadcasts contain an extra couple of inches of screen real estate on either side of the picture that are cropped out of the standard defintion broadcast of the same show. Most shows don't do anything special with that space, since the vast majority of viewers don't receive it, but NBC's My Name Is Earl did last night.
posted by jonson at 11:42 AM PST - 38 comments

Welcome back NHL. Today marks the first day since June 7th, 2004 that an NHL hockey game has been played. Much has changed since then: team lineups, goalie equipment, even the painted lines on the ice. There is plenty of hype this year with phenom Sydney Crosby on the ice, The Great One behind the bench, and SHOOTOUTS!. Will the fans come back, and can the NHL live up to the hype?
posted by afx114 at 11:28 AM PST - 92 comments

Are computers counterproductive to a child's development? Wittenberg University education professor and former computer teacher Lowell Monke thinks so, and has written a provocative essay arguing that, among other things, computers render children "less animated and less capable of appreciating what it means to be alive, what it means to belong in the world as a biological, social being," and "teach children a manipulative way of engaging the world.” His polemic is partially supported by evidence (.pdf academic paper; BBC gloss here) indicating that, above a certain threshold, computer use is correlated with lower test scores. The latest salvo in the continuing debate over education and the culture of simulation.
posted by googly at 11:25 AM PST - 42 comments

This is the Zodiac speaking...I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me. David Fincher's upcoming movie on the Zodiac Killer aims for historical accuracy and uses witnesses, survivors, detectives and reporters as consultants. A detective who worked on the original case says, "their investigation was deeper than anything I did at the time," and the filmmakers claim to have uncovered new evidence, but Fincher says, "What we've learned...we want to keep for our film." The case was deactivated in 2004. The killer sent taunting letters to the police and the media. (Podcast of interviews with a detective and a reporter who received a letter from the killer.)
Apparently the Zodiac Killer isn't a fan of the 1971 movie about the case, but he may have been inspired by a Charlie Chan movie [mp3]. Dirty Harry is loosely based on the case.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:58 AM PST - 24 comments

" Jim's ghost was in my ear, and I felt terrible". Like all top classic-rock franchises, The Doors can exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song "Break On Through (to the Other Side)" to hawk its luxury SUVs. To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, drummer John Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time "some deodorant company wants to use 'Light My Fire.' "
posted by PenguinBukkake at 10:35 AM PST - 112 comments

The Online Guide to Traditional games has a short history with pictures of many games that were in existence prior to 1900 and are still played today. Some, like Mancala, much prior to 1900. Also collected by the same author are the rules for many of the games.
posted by Mitheral at 9:39 AM PST - 9 comments

Yahoo Inc. Acquires Upcoming.org - a social event calendar to manage your events, share events with friends and family, and syndicate your calendar to your own site.
posted by webmeta at 9:20 AM PST - 25 comments

If you are going to Fall, well this is the place... I started visiting the orchards and farms of northern Utah a few years ago, to take my Dad out for drives, and to take pictures. I met many farmers up there, and came to love the front of Willard Peak, and the amazing canyons, water drainage, warm western rocky slopes; that make the best peaches anywhere. Perry, Utah has a mountain behind it, that is a sight to behold, and to the West is the National Migratory Bird Refuge. Shane Whitlock has covered this area pretty well, he is an enthusiastic photographer and chronicles the small town of Perry, the rodeos, the birds, the animals and the great fortune of small town existence.Here is my Dad's best friend's, barn. Mantua, Utah. Usually, the Utah "outsiders" see, is the red rock canyons of the southern part of the state. Northern Utah with the Great Salt Lake, and the Wasatch and Uinta mountain ranges is continuously elegant season to season, and peopled with all kinds of wonderful, tame and wild life.
posted by Oyéah at 9:08 AM PST - 20 comments

Female Brains Need Less Hair Girls going to public schools in Togo have been ordered to shave their heads by the country's Education Minister. It's supposed to make them concentrate on school work instead of looking cute.
posted by chai-rista at 7:39 AM PST - 45 comments

Bring New Orleans Back. The sparsely populate city is grasping for a means to recovery, as even today the mayor laid off half of the city work force.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:32 AM PST - 29 comments

October 3-9 is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week. "Like hurricanes, when a pandemic occurs can not be accurately predicted. Nonetheless, that which can be done in advance should be done, because eventually something will happen. Planning can only help, even if at the local level it can’t prevent." (Avian Flu previously discussed here, here, here and here.)
posted by grabbingsand at 6:34 AM PST - 13 comments

The end of church AND state..from now on just church. [click the listen button] The Salvation Army has just won a court case that says they can hire and fire people based on their religion. Even though the Salvation Army gets a large amount of money from the government. Your tax payers dollars being used to discriminate. Of course this is not the first time the Salvation Army has shown its true colors. Maybe this is a trend. This marks a victory for Bush, if they had lost this rulling his entire faith based program would have fallen apart.
posted by stilgar at 4:42 AM PST - 88 comments

With the apparent theft of ancient maps from Yale and the Getty admitting to displaying stolen antiquities from Italy, what does the blackmarket antiquities trade look like?
posted by raaka at 3:53 AM PST - 18 comments

PictureHistory - a source of American historical photographs
posted by Gyan at 2:07 AM PST - 6 comments

Much ado about Henry Neville
posted by Substrata at 2:05 AM PST - 13 comments

Mesh. UK Channel 4's Digital and Interactive Animation Finalists.
posted by srboisvert at 12:32 AM PST - 2 comments

AskPhilosophers what they think about philosophical problems! A philosophical version of Ask MetaFilter. Not much is up yet, but the lineup of panelists is brimming with top-notch academics. Hopefully the site will take off.
posted by painquale at 11:56 PM PST - 11 comments

Harriet Miers -- keeper of the President's skeleton closet. In the run-up to George W. Bush's 1988 campaign, Bush's people paid Harriet Miers $19,000 to review his military records, which are, to this day, mysteriously incomplete. This wasn't the first time Miers has been accused of helping protect Bush's military record. She was also accused in a lawsuit of using a Texas Lottery Commission contract to buy the silence of former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes about the assistance that he gave in placing Bush in the Air National Guard. Barnes kept that secret until 1999, when he was forced to testify under oath about his involvement in getting Bush a position in the Texas Air National Guard.
posted by insomnia_lj at 10:16 PM PST - 50 comments

"F**k you, I'll fly the cash myself to the Bahamas." Cheney's 2004 RNC Speech...subjected to hermeneutic video-remix treatment by a few blessed souls (or is it "buncha folks"?). For all of Dick's big talk, tho, Lynne's coda cameo constitutes the true "money shot". (Main link: 10MB QT, hosted by Crooks & Liars.)
posted by objet at 8:56 PM PST - 23 comments

The RESCU Foundation is a non-profit organization established to promote financial relief and comfort to renaissance festival participants and their families who have experienced medical disruptions and subsequent extreme difficulties. Renaissance festivals have existed for over 30 years. Helping people has been around longer. The thousands of participants who have worked shows know that the value of a community is dependent upon its level of caring. The few that have finally brought RESCU into existence have done so because so many have voiced the need for such an organization.
posted by jcterminal at 7:44 PM PST - 54 comments

Evidence of the "Milky Sea" -- The mysterious ocean glow described by Jules Verne in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and observed by sailors has been confirmed by recent satellite photos. On many occasions over the centuries, mariners have reported witnessing surreal nocturnal displays where the surface of the sea produces an intense, uniform, and sustained glow that extends to the horizon in all directions. Although such emissions cannot be fully reconciled with the known features of any light-emitting organism, these so-called "milky seas" are hypothesized to be manifestations of unusually strong bioluminescence produced by colonies of bacteria in association with a microalgal bloom in the surface waters. Because of their ephemeral nature and the paucity of scientific observations, an explanation of milky seas has remained elusive. Here, we report the first satellite observations of the phenomenon.
posted by billysumday at 5:28 PM PST - 36 comments

introducing plantic : plastic from plants - packaging and display trays made from renewable resources, are compostable, and most interestingly, dissolve when in water.
posted by grafholic at 3:55 PM PST - 30 comments

Harriet Miers's Blog!!! Silly parody web site in the tradition of the Jeff Gannon blog (related: see Knot Jeff Gannon) and the short-lived Osama blog (not too many internet cafes in Baluchistan apparently), or light-hearted response to this really obvious bit of astroturfing by FOBs (friends of Bush) known to bend the truth a little to help out a pal in need?
posted by clevershark at 3:26 PM PST - 20 comments

Mary was just an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life - the type of life just about any girl of that time would lead. She had a normal family, and was engaged to be married to a humble carpenter named Joseph. And then she got a visit from the angel Gabriel and was transformed into a scripture-quoting action figure. (Don't forget to learn how to use).
posted by nobody at 3:04 PM PST - 37 comments

Paul Pena has died. Recognizable mostly as the subject of Genghis Blues, his incredible success teaching himself Tuvan throat singing will hopefully not be completely overshadowed by having written Steve Miller's hit "Big Old Jet Airliner." His early recordings, which never caught on (or necessarily came out), earned him favorable comparisons to Hendrix, and are available at his website.
posted by Eothele at 1:35 PM PST - 34 comments

pem Hov jaj Haw'choHnIS 'eng 'ej Haj. ghoch vIghaj; 'ej pa' muDmo' jIbel. chay' Sesame He vIghoS? SIbI' jIHvaD 'e' yIDel.
posted by brownpau at 1:23 PM PST - 46 comments

“The real world is simply too terrible to admit; it tells man that he is a small, trembling animal who will decay and die." “The defenses that form a person’s character support a grand illusion, and when we grasp this we can understand the full drivenness of man. He is driven away from himself, from self-knowledge, self-reflection. He is driven toward things that support the lie of his character.” Words of Ernest Becker, here summarizing Gestalt therapy and his own existential perspectives in Growing Up Rugged.
posted by semmi at 12:52 PM PST - 26 comments

Nipsey Russell, comedic "poet laureate of television," dead
The opposite of pro is con
That fact is clearly seen
If progress means move forward
Then what does Congress mean?
posted by me3dia at 12:19 PM PST - 33 comments

Bush Considers Military Role in Flu Fight If the flu (say) breaks out in New Jersey, why not use the New Jersey National Guard. Just what is the guard for? Simply to be sent overseas for our bringing freedom to nations not having what we believe we have?
posted by Postroad at 12:18 PM PST - 56 comments

So, there will be a movie made from the video game Halo , which is bad. But it's being Exec. Produced by Peter Jackson, which is good.
posted by jonson at 11:37 AM PST - 71 comments

As old man winter approaches once again, and some of our minds turn to thoughts of flying through the air and sailing down mountains atop our trusted skis, what is there to do for the next month or so before most of our favorite resorts actually open for business? I present to you an assortment of new ski movie trailers, enjoy. [all sorts of Quicktime]
posted by garethspor at 10:43 AM PST - 11 comments

for the bookmarks - free browser-embedded antivirus [IE only, I assume Windows only]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:57 AM PST - 28 comments

Victorian and Edwardian photographs: A large collection from the Roger Vaughan Picture Library
posted by Gamblor at 9:32 AM PST - 14 comments

"The line of men, women and children included no whites or African-Americans, he said." _{Mr. Rivera said he had been sleeping in a tent outside the large shelter building since Hurricane Katrina struck just over a month ago, flooding his second-story apartment in nearby Pass Christian and destroying all his belongings, including a pickup truck. "I lost everything I own in the storm. But they said they didn't care. They told us that if we didn't leave they would return on Friday with buses to take us away," he said.}
posted by delmoi at 8:45 AM PST - 85 comments

Monty Python Scripts from every episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
posted by caddis at 8:32 AM PST - 59 comments

How happy are you? Today's NYT has a great article on alternate methods of analyzing the overall well-being of a country, focusing on Bhutan, the largely Buddhist country whose king put forth an alternative to the capitalist-centric Gross Domestic Product: Gross National Happiness. Not only does it fit in with Buddhist ideals, but organizations like the World Values Survey have come to some (not-so) surprising findings regarding the correlation between wealth and happiness. There are similar movements cropping up around the world, such as Australia's Genuine Progress Indicator, which attempts to quantify non-material progress rather than rely on subjective interpretations of happiness. How do you measure your own happiness?
posted by mkultra at 8:21 AM PST - 49 comments

NASCAR? F1? Pah! Now we're talking Rocket Racing!! Apparently not content to sit idle, the founder of the Ansari Space X-prize , Peter Diamandis, has launched a rocket racing league. While this sounds pretty amazing in itself, here's the real clincher: it's scheduled to start its first race in September 2006.

According to the press release: the RRL will see Grand Prix-style races between rocket planes, flown by top pilots through a "3D trackway" just 5,000ft (1,500m) above the ground. Pictures here (make sure to click the concept links on the same page). BBC Story here.
posted by Mave_80 at 6:37 AM PST - 22 comments

Ning is a very cool thing. 'Sign up. Build new social apps. Use new social apps.' [via Torrez]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:16 AM PST - 25 comments

It's celebrity award season. I'm curious as to who people think will get the next few. Personally, I'm going to go with Jagdish Bhagwati for Economics and Oxfam for Peace. I've got no clue on literature. Place your bets. Who are your hot picks?
posted by allen.spaulding at 5:08 AM PST - 7 comments

Running on Fumes -- a fascinating essay by the Nation's Sasha Abramsky on what rising gas prices will do to poor exurban communities.
posted by digaman at 4:34 AM PST - 165 comments

Americans, German win nobel prize for physics. They won for for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique, which among other thing allows them to measure the speed of light to such accuracy that it is now used as the definition for the meter, see if the laws of physics were the same at the beginning of time, and make gps satellites work much better.
posted by stilgar at 4:01 AM PST - 5 comments

Ronnie Barker , stalwart of UK comedy acting, dies aged 76. Best remembered for quite a few hit comedy shows, for me his best work was the evergreen Porridge. Who could forget the Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town?
posted by biffa at 2:18 AM PST - 40 comments

Microsoft retools processes in order to become more agile in their development processes. Yeah, it's probably just a big PR blowjob for Vista, but I was fascinated about the process they undertook to make their development work a more smoothly (and the amount of code that got thrown out). Like Microsoft or hate 'em, it's quite an interesting (though repetitive in parts) article.
posted by antifuse at 2:09 AM PST - 35 comments

High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery rendered in software is only half the story if your monitor can't actually display that full dynamic range. Bit-Tech has an excellent article on an actual HDR-capable display brought out by a crowd called Brightside Technologies (formerly Sunnybrook Technologies).

Needless to say, you want this. And it can be had, for the bargain price of $50000 USD.

Here's more on various HDR Display technologies. Brightside HDR is also covered at HardwareSecrets and Toms Hardware Guide. The Max Planck Institut has their take on HDR, Hyperfocal Design has a few good links if you're interested in trying your own hand at HDR content creation, and here's Brightside's own take on HDR and gaming.
posted by crocos at 2:08 AM PST - 35 comments

Time machine for sale. Not too novel, no, but the answers to the questions are great. "Its reassuring to me to know that it all works and i was on the right track. i alot of people thought i was dreamin, and said I was crazy and a dick head. the spatial retemporalizer was added after I sold it so can't help there."
posted by Wataki at 1:39 AM PST - 13 comments

Martian dust devils (gif movies) NASA’s Mars rover Spirit has caught a bevy of dust devils racing across the surface of Mars.
posted by dhruva at 10:27 PM PST - 18 comments

What if being gay were a disease?
posted by missbossy at 10:18 PM PST - 102 comments

His entire oeuvre soon began to attract the attention of the leading New York art critics: The weird world of Glen Baxter
posted by .kobayashi. at 10:14 PM PST - 8 comments

The family trees of American politicians - There are those with very long blue blood pedigrees, and there are those with very short and unknown pedigrees. There are also some surprises, like a certain Democratic senator and possible '08 Veep pick being somewhat closely related to the current Veep, or that certain ex-mayors have family trees that were apparently a bit inbred back in the old country. Other fun tidbits: Newt Gingrich's father was illegitimate, John Kerry is related to the rabbi who created the Golem of Prague, Pat Buchanan is related to both FDR and Marilyn Manson, Wesley Clark's father was a Kohan, Martin Luther King was born Michael Louis King, and Gary Hart was born Gary Hartpence, which was in turn derived from an ancestor named James Eberhart Pence. (more non-politicians here)
posted by Asparagirl at 9:40 PM PST - 18 comments

Frederick August Kittel, known as August Wilson , passed away yesterday. The playwright wrote tremendously strong plays wining the Pulitzer Prize in both 1986 for The Piano Lesson, and in 1985 for Fences. 2005 saw the production of the finial play (Radio Golf) in his cycle of 10 plays examining African-American experience in the 20th Century in the United States. Broadway will honor him by dimming the lights tomorrow (Oct 4th). As well, on Oct 17th, the Virginia Theatre on Broadway will be renamed for Wilson. A 1990 audio program from MPR about Wilson. (RealAudio, 54 mins). Thank you Mr. Wilson
posted by edgeways at 8:18 PM PST - 9 comments

Video from the Lotus team. People from Lotus car design team have found a bloke who owns 6 years old Russian “Lada” and decided to give it a complete makeover.
posted by mrkredo at 7:53 PM PST - 33 comments

Plancher de Jeannot: Jeannot moved his bed to the dining room, next to the stairs, and began carving the oak floor: 'Religion has invented machines for commanding the brain of people and animals and with an invention for seeing our vision through the retina uses us to do ill...
posted by R. Mutt at 6:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Are cars stolen in the US used in Iraq suicide attacks? The FBI's counterterrorism unit has launched an investigation of US-based theft rings after discovering some vehicles used in deadly car bombings in Iraq were probably stolen in the United States.
posted by soiled cowboy at 6:40 PM PST - 31 comments

Monday Flash Fun - A simple, but fun shell game. How quick are your eyes?
posted by knave at 6:24 PM PST - 21 comments

A young, average intern looking for a research project and an older, oft-ridiculed pathologist from an Australian hospital were scoffed at for a decade for daring to challenge the conventional wisdom that stomach ulcers were caused by stress and diet. It took the intern's self-promotion skills, and a extraordinarily bold move of ingesting a large quantity of the Helicobacter bacteria they believed were the dominant cause of ulcers, giving himself severe gastritis and subsequently curing it with only fairly standard antibiotics, before the medical world started taking notice. Despite the ongoing resistance of an 8 billion dollar industry in over the counter heartburn medication, the two have been finally rewarded with a Nobel Prize for uncovering the easily diagnosed bacterial cause and fairly simple cure of over 90% of peptic ulcers.
posted by DirtyCreature at 6:05 PM PST - 33 comments

Revisiting Spore (audio interview with Will Wright) - also video of Will Wright talking at GDC on content creation issues (Scroll down, and registration required for the video).
posted by ginbiafra at 5:55 PM PST - 9 comments

Roy Moore – the “Ten Commandments Judge” – has announced his intentions to run for Governor of Alabama. Moore has followed closely in George Wallace’s shoes both as a judge (each began court with prayer) and with attention getting antics. As The Atlantic noted recently, “In style if not in substance, Moore's religious populism is a lineal descendant of the race-baiting that propelled Wallace to the statehouse a generation ago.” Here’s hoping level heads prevail in Alabama in ’06.
posted by wfrgms at 3:47 PM PST - 50 comments

A second Texas grand jury has indicted The Hammer on money laundering charges.
posted by aburd at 3:45 PM PST - 51 comments

700 hobo names as read by John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise (accompanied by Jonathan Coulton on the git box).
posted by tristeza at 3:08 PM PST - 10 comments

Paranoia Time!
CIA drops Big Bad Bio Bombs on anti-war protesters???
posted by squalor at 2:30 PM PST - 50 comments

Welcome to EUROBAD '74, an exhibition of Europe's worst interiors of 1974.
posted by atomicmedia at 2:09 PM PST - 48 comments

"It was a terrible time." (bugmenot) "50 years ago, Rhode Island suffered through its last -- and worst -- polio epidemic." [more inside]
posted by paulsc at 2:05 PM PST - 2 comments

Enluminures is a French archive of images from illuminated manuscripts. It has digital galleries covering war, eating in the Middle Ages, and the hunt, as well as several other subjects. (Note the tiny page indicators at the top of the galleries.) Most of the images are available through the search page, however, which includes not only subject, title, creator and type of decoration indexes, but also the ability to look only at one library's contributions. Other threads about illuminated manuscripts here.
[Unfortunately, this French site uses Javascript to link to images and I couldn't figure out a way to present examples here.]
posted by OmieWise at 1:10 PM PST - 8 comments