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Color Scheme Adjust Hue, Brightness, Saturation, Scheme and considerations for Visual Anomalies.
posted by Feisty at 8:45 PM PST - 11 comments

avatar creator [note: flash, alternate link]
posted by crunchland at 7:50 PM PST - 22 comments

Deliberately concealed garments footwear and other items have been found tucked away in buildings, sometimes even wrapped around mummified cats. This project of the University of Southampton's Textile Conservation Centre is developing an online archive of the finds they have made in an effort to raise awareness of this folk custom.
posted by jessamyn at 7:46 PM PST - 8 comments

Webmonkey to close down
Ave, Webmonkey, old friend. You were a great source of new tricks for self-taught old dogs.
posted by planetkyoto at 4:07 PM PST - 25 comments

The Prohibition Party. Wow, these guys could do some serious damage to the presidential election of, say, the 4-H Chapter of North Dakota.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 1:15 PM PST - 20 comments

reBlog -- A web site republishing the best blog posts on art, technology and culture from around the web. Brought to you by Eyebeam, a multimedia atelier here in NYC, and run by a rotating cast of reBloggers.
posted by amberglow at 12:34 PM PST - 6 comments

Bush takes Ecstacy and attends rave "He was jumping around, blowing a whistle, and kept asking me if I had any chewy," says Alison, 19, who danced with the President and his team of advisors at an unnamed club until 4am.
posted by jackspace at 12:29 PM PST - 16 comments

It's that time of year - time for thru-hikers to start the Appalachian Trail! Last year, over 1700 hikers started the hike with only 352 completing the 2,200 mile walk from Springer Mtn, Georgia to Katahdin, Maine. Given that walking the AT takes about six months, most hikers start in March and April so they can finish before winter sets in. With town spread out along the trail, many hikers keep online journals - probably some of the few blogs where what you had for breakfast and what the weather was like make for interesting topics.
posted by borkus at 9:24 AM PST - 23 comments

arcspace. Modern architecture, by name, for you.
posted by the fire you left me at 6:55 AM PST - 8 comments

Photoshop is fourteen years old this month. I am sitting in its hometown and have version 7 on my Gateway. Loretta Lux was trained as a painter and now uses digital images via photoshop for her art. (NYTimes article) News photographers have lost their jobs for using it. Some would argue that photoshop is a new medium and I would agree. I will use it next to shape the images that will promote my sons' landscaping business.
posted by JohnR at 6:25 AM PST - 23 comments

I cried when I hurt myself, until I met the girl who felt no pain.
posted by Oriole Adams at 1:11 AM PST - 35 comments

Dean Didn't Want To Be President In different conversations and in different ways, according to several people who worked with him, Dean said at the peak of his popularity late last year that he never expected to rise so high, that he didn't like the intense scrutiny, that he had just wanted to make a difference. "I don't care about being president," he said. Months earlier, as his candidacy was taking off, he told a colleague: "The problem is, I'm now afraid I might win."
posted by jbou at 12:28 AM PST - 28 comments

From R.E.M. to Whitesnake, by way of Tangerine Dream, Buster Poindexter, and the Bobs, here's what the Mars rovers listen to.
posted by Vidiot at 9:19 PM PST - 11 comments

Nambu: WWII Japanese Handgun Website.
posted by hama7 at 4:14 PM PST - 39 comments

Niche Meets Nietzsche In The Coke Wars: Andrew Barlow's piece on the new Cokes and Pepsis, like all good satire, sounds like the future. Can the mix-your-own Coke on demand be far behind?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:20 PM PST - 29 comments

Flash Game - Bush Shoot-Out Starring President Bush and Condelezza Rice. Take on the terrorists and save the White House.
posted by joeadk at 1:38 PM PST - 12 comments

Novels in 25 Words or Less: A contest at "I Love Books." Here's one entry: "I'm stupid, I'm smart, I'm wicked smart, I'm wicked wicked smart, I'm stupid again. And I have a mouse called Algernon." Some are funny, some are lame, some aren't novels. Give it a whirl.
posted by Slagman at 12:33 PM PST - 42 comments

Current U.S. Administration chooses "smart anti-personnel mines" versus "dumb mines".The U.S. military will stop using always-armed, live landmines after 2010. Some may appreciate this move as a valid step toward..more "intelligent" mines, others disagree. More links inside.
posted by elpapacito at 11:22 AM PST - 23 comments

"XD38" - Nexus Personality A site for multifaceted people who are technical and artistic, verbal and mechanical, rational and intuitive; who are interested in everything; who find themselves to be a kind of natural link between far-ranging, diverse areas of human endeavor.
posted by konolia at 10:58 AM PST - 50 comments

The art of abstraction: 'the idea that anyone who creates anything is a hacker.'
posted by moonbird at 9:40 AM PST - 6 comments

inside Haiti a photo journalist blogs on the conditions in Haiti. No photos yet.
The place is awash with drug money, probably on both sides - Philippe is the former police chief of a town where i've heard reports of people walking down the streets with suitcases full of money, probably not sourced from shaking down shoe cleaners. The chimeres that searched us on the way down from Saint Marc a few days ago were clearly high on some upper, i'd guess coke, amphetamines or both, or maybe crack.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 4:52 PM PST - 26 comments

ultimate flash sonic [note : flash] (alternate link)
posted by crunchland at 4:48 PM PST - 12 comments

The Brave Tale of Katherine Gun, aka The Conscience of the Individual versus the State, aka "How the 'Land of the Free' Stopped Worrying about Legality and Liberty, and Learned to Love Wiretap and Manipulation": "Katharine made the disclosure because she believed that it was necessary to prevent an illegal war in which thousands of Iraqi citizens and British and American soldiers would die or be maimed.""I have only ever followed my conscience," she said. Pentagon Paper's author Daniel Ellsberg described the leak as "more timely and potentially more important than the Pentagon Papers. Truth-telling like this can stop a war." Norman Solomon asks " To what extent is the "special relationship" between the two countries to be based on democracy or duplicity? How much do we treasure the substance of civil liberties that make authentic public discourse distinct from the hollowness of secrecy and manipulation? How badly do we want to know what is being done in our names with our tax money? And why is it so rare that conscience takes precedence over expediency?"
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 3:36 PM PST - 63 comments

Nara Ehon: Japanese illustrated narrative manuscripts.
posted by hama7 at 3:26 PM PST - 4 comments

"Us intellectuals realized a long time ago that no human society could function without heavy-duty jamming all signals that might allow people to see reality. Because reality is so downright horrible we have to jam it tighter than Castro. The only question is who’s going to decide what gets jammed and how to jam it."

The eXile on censorship, why the truth is like kryptonite and how the cast and writers of Will and Grace will end up "at the bottom of a lime-dusted mass grave".
Warning - highly offensive to almost everyone in places.

via The Early Days of a Better Nation
posted by thatwhichfalls at 1:50 PM PST - 16 comments

Wages of hate - anti-gay attitudes damage the economy - conversely, Gay-tolerant societies prosper. Will GOP anti-elitism and the US religious right make the U.S. a 3rd world country? Paul Craig Roberts argues that we're on the fast track, and a Carnegie Mellon study (title link) shows that culturally repressive attitudes in America are driving away the "Creative" class. Virginia Postrel defines this class differently (manicurists and stone cutters) but in Richard Florida's "Creative Class War" (recently on Metafilter), "America is no long attracting creative workers from abroad because it is seen as an intolerant society". More than artists and programmers are shunning the US - scientists are staying away too. In the US, meanwhile, a bifurcation - Americans are geographically self-segregating, choosing to live with those who hold similar beliefs and values.
posted by troutfishing at 12:47 PM PST - 60 comments

White House To Seek Ban On Gay Sex On The Moon
posted by elwoodwiles at 12:38 PM PST - 21 comments

Singing Babies! I don't know what to say about it, but it is worth watching. Babies and young children love it! That's why Singing Babies is now one of the best selling baby videos. It is the most fun and entertaining way to teach your child the classic nursery rhymes and toddler tunes! Research shows that babies benefit from watching other babies. Infants learn to talk by studying the sounds and movement made by the human mouth. SINGING BABIES® creatively combines these research findings in a way that accelerates your child's rate of cognitive development, increases capacity to learn language, and enhances your child's natural musical ability.
posted by Slimemonster at 11:34 AM PST - 17 comments

Looky-Loo. They claim it's art. Is it? Would you be able to "complete your business" in this?
posted by aaronscool at 11:21 AM PST - 19 comments

Telltale Weekly launched today. It's public domain meets Creative Commons meets Ogg Vorbis. Their mission is to build a free audiobook library of public domain texts. Four are available now, but Twain, Chekov Doctorow (Corry, not E.L.) and more are on the way.
posted by turbodog at 10:20 AM PST - 7 comments

Meet Lucy. She sure ain't pretty, but she's certainly unique. Steve Grand (interview 1, 2) one of the brains behind Creatures, has been working for the last three years on building a robot orangutan in his own house. Those is the South Wales area can catch Steve speaking about his experiences next month. Steve may well be a non-establishment genius, but when I see pictures like this, I can't help thinking it's already been done.
posted by nylon at 9:52 AM PST - 6 comments

from the Found Images Department: Animals on the Underground
posted by anastasiav at 9:46 AM PST - 5 comments

D.H.S. - The Series. "... a multimillion-dollar episodic series, will explore the inner workings of the Department of Homeland Security, teaming the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and National Security Administration (NSA) together with "first responders" such as local police, fire and safety administrators." The series is being pitched to prospective networks today and has the full support of President Bush and Tom Ridge. "They love it. They think it is fantastic," say the series' producers at Steeple Productions, located in the Seventh-Day Adventist Community of Zillah, Washington. Not familiar with Steeple Productions? Well, perhaps you might find their four-episode "Creation Vs Evolution" series enlightening.
posted by grabbingsand at 9:42 AM PST - 16 comments

The recent post that revived the rude ‘Rainbow’ kids show sketch reminded me of the our (that is, British) obsession with comic double entendre - the ability to accept the filthiest things as long as there is a parallel innocuous interpretation. I think it is something to do our love for wordplay and subtext, our innate hypocrisy and the belief that sex is, in fact, rather naughty. Perhaps the prime example are the Julian and Sandy sketches that ran on the BBC Radio show ‘Beyond Our Ken’ from 1964-69. Over Sunday lunch, millions (there was ONLY the BBC in those days) listened to two very camp characters saying outrageous things in Polari (underground gay slang). A much earlier prime example is the great dirty joke (it’s the one in blue at the bottom of the page) that got comedian Max Miller (died in 1963) banned from the BBC for 5 years. A more recent case of innuendo is, of course, Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy. Of course the double entendre can also be unintentional.
posted by rolo at 9:07 AM PST - 8 comments

World's most stubborn man dies. Fell in yard, insisted he was fine.
posted by squirrel at 11:56 PM PST - 44 comments

Crucifixion in Antiquity. The Persians may have led the way, while 6,000 Spartacus followers lined the Appian Way. It was cruel, but common.
posted by F Mackenzie at 8:35 PM PST - 23 comments

The Netlabel Catalogue The Catalog is a list, index, directory of music labels which offer you free downloads from their pages.
posted by srboisvert at 7:05 PM PST - 5 comments

"Look at her, brothers and sisters! She's young and sweet and pretty! But never forget...she's Whitey!" The (Abridged) Adventures of Black Lois Lane.
posted by ColdChef at 6:14 PM PST - 10 comments

It's not quite fresh, according to mainstream reviewers polled by Rotten Tomatoes. But Christian Bloggers feel very differently. As one reports, I went into the movie expecting to be moved, but never to the extent that I actually was. But both sides seems to agree the R rating should be taken very seriously.
posted by alms at 6:08 PM PST - 79 comments

The Cat With Hands : disturbing and clever short film for your friday entertainment (6 Mb *.mov, via k10k).
posted by elphTeq at 5:50 PM PST - 15 comments

While there are a million blogs about cheese sandwiches and how lame fifth period trig class is, it's always great to hear when blogs actually help give a voice to those that never had one. Iranian women don't have much say in society, but thanks to blogs, they are now finding they have a voice as they're read by thousands around the world. Of course they've still got some net censorship in Iran, but this is a great start.
posted by mathowie at 5:18 PM PST - 3 comments

Perversion for Profit linking pornography to the Communism Citizens for Decent Literature: Sex Bad, violence Good! I just thought this would be cool to revisit in light of the Mel Gibson, Orson Scott Card Debates. Intersting what They shppw as to show you what YOU should not be looking at. Maybe (NSFW, maybe just NSF-Sanity)
posted by Elim at 3:59 PM PST - 22 comments

Hihoken - Erotic Museums In Japan [NSFW, obviously]
posted by eilatan at 3:46 PM PST - 2 comments

warthog launch [note: flash, LOUD!]
posted by crunchland at 3:18 PM PST - 17 comments

Air traffic controller killed by revengeful father ?? It's a long and sorry story I bet.
posted by johnny7 at 2:27 PM PST - 15 comments

America's Anti-family Experiment. Orson Scott Card weighs in on how same sex marraiges are destroying America. Presented purely for your edification.
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:25 PM PST - 142 comments

Rainbow Innuendo Episode Evidentially Rainbow was a children's show in Britain (Canada?) in the Late 70's - early 80's. (I never heard of it till now here in Ohio.) Anyway, wether this went on the air or whether it was just a gag reel for the cast and crew... I doubt anyone will know. I went out and found the full 16MB MPEG version for downloading, because I love ya. Must be seen to believed. Possibly NSFW. Maybe. Can't believe your ears/eyes? Want to see the script? Here ya go.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 2:13 PM PST - 11 comments

In '24 Hour Quiz', three contestants spend many days in a mini-Big Brother environment ('The Pod') constantly having questions fired at them with no end in sight. 'off the telly' fill in the blanks: "There's no getting away from it, '24 Hour Quiz' is quite the worst thing currently showing on ITV1 (that's even allowing for 'Footballers' Wives'). That it's spread-eagled across the schedules in three separate editions just compounds the agony. This is cheap, worthless television, offering up a huge mallet with which to beat the ITV network. It plays to our worst suspicions about the channel, and that's just annoying. There's nothing about the show that's prepared to confound or surprise, other than its sheer shoddiness." Has anyone else seen this? Is it really the worst gameshow format ever?
posted by feelinglistless at 1:54 PM PST - 8 comments

Neither rags nor riches. Quite a good human interest story from yesterday's Guardian about what happens to clothes after they go in the recycling bin or off to the charity shop.
posted by biffa at 1:36 PM PST - 7 comments

Osama bin Laden capture report false "I don't believe it is closer or farther at any given moment," Mr Rumsfeld told reporters about the prospects of catching Osama Bin Laden. Maybe it's because bin Laden's been pulling 18 hour shifts at the Karachi 7-11
posted by turbanhead at 1:24 PM PST - 18 comments

A Californian's Conception of the Continental US. (Scroll down a bit for the funny fun.) In the tradition of the United States of my Racist Aunt, the World According to America, and perhaps the Aussie Projection. (Link via Anil.)
posted by brownpau at 12:12 PM PST - 15 comments

Corrine Brown shows us racism is alive and well in the US government.
posted by Plunge at 11:09 AM PST - 47 comments

"I don't think that there's any question about the fact that the weapons that they have did not come from Haiti," says Kurzban. "They're organized as a military commando strike force that's going from city to city."

Parts of the rebellion's leadership, such as head of military operations Louis Chamberlain, were leaders in the attempted 1994 Hatian coup that resulted in the use of 20,000 U.S. troops. A coup which, according to the U.N. Human Right Commission, was supported and aided by the CIA. In other words, this wouldn't be the first time that the U.S. has played on both sides of a Haitian military uprising.

Meanwhile, Bush refuses to protect President Aristide's life - and perhaps the lives of thousands of Hatians - citing the opposition's refusal of a U.S. peace plan. Silmultaneously, he issued a harsh pronouncement warning refugee Hatians off from American shores.
"It is clear that the right wing in this country does not support that democracy," said Jesse Jackson, today. "(Bush) is, in fact, supporting overthrow of this government in this hemisphere."
posted by kaibutsu at 11:03 AM PST - 19 comments

Rumsfeld's fighting technique is unstoppable. [via airbag]
posted by mathowie at 10:42 AM PST - 15 comments

Backwards . . . into the future A cab driver in India, who's driven only in reverse gear for the last two years (at speeds up to 85 kph, and without accident), hopes his upcoming trip will bring about peace with Pakistan.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:39 AM PST - 9 comments

Make out a will and letter of instruction in case you die. Get fingerprinted, get your blood samples and obtain dental X-rays so your body can be identified in case you fall victim to attack.

-- Just one of 26 tips how to reduce your chances of being a terror victim. [via bifurcated rivets]
posted by cmicali at 9:57 AM PST - 22 comments

On the Sunny Side of the Street. German animation a la Chaplin (note: rather large 16mb quicktime. Login required - username: metafilter password: metafilter)
posted by gravelshoes at 9:51 AM PST - 1 comment

Best. Airtight. Alibi. Ever. Agence France-Presse said a Taliban source had identified Abdullah Khadr as the attacker who on Jan. 27 jumped on Murphy's jeep and blew himself up. He is the 22-year-old son of Ahmed Said Khadr. "If I was the suicide bomber, I wouldn't be doing this interview with you right now," Khadr told CBC News on Wednesday.
posted by riffola at 9:11 AM PST - 6 comments

Popular social website revealed as college experiment. It seems the regarded Orkut is someone's master thesis.
posted by the fire you left me at 9:04 AM PST - 29 comments

"No war comes without cost, but the cost should be born out of conflict with the enemy, and not because of egregious violations by some of our own troops"
Dozens of American servicewomen serving in the Gulf, Afghanistan and other regions report sexual misconduct, assaults and rapes by their colleagues.
posted by magullo at 7:56 AM PST - 5 comments

Mario Brothers, a tragedy in three parts (1, 2, 3). Potentially more to come, too! Enjoy! (Warning: Flash)
posted by dazed_one at 7:37 AM PST - 19 comments

From the Liberation Journal, Gregory Flanagan's "Libercratic" [?] Website:

Misogyny on TV; Feminazi Propaganda: Portrayals of amazon freaks denigrate and pervert females, attack feminine identity and incite in men a lust for sexual violence...
#4. Charlie's Angels (80s) ... Among the many barbaric and obscene shows, one featured women playing tackle football.
#18. Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (90s) ... the idiotic vampires are just the excuse--their real enemy is femininity.
#25. Xena: Warrior Princess (90s) ... Extreme, obscene violence that provokes in men an overwhelming, obsessive lust to rape and slaughter these bitches.

See also: Misogyny in the Movies, etc etc.
They're out there, folks. This man needs his ass kicked by a "girly girl" martial artist. Or maybe that's secretly what he wants?
(Site hosted and LOTSA POPUPS by directNIC.com. For shame, dierctNIC!)
posted by Shane at 6:24 AM PST - 18 comments

God loves Republicans...
Governor Huckabee of Arkansas, while speaking to the Republican Governors Association meeting pretended to get a phone call from God, who seemed really friendly to the Republicans.
Isn't this blasphemous? And why can't I find any other reporting of this amazing display of religious fanaticism in any other outlet of the "liberal media?" [more inside]
posted by jpburns at 6:22 AM PST - 84 comments

Diesel Global Bad Record Amnesty - Specially trained BAD record DJ’s will be spin the best of the worst albums handed in, and if your BAD record is played then you will walk away with a ringing in your ears and an exclusive Greatest Hips 12" vinyl collection of 12 albums and collectable Diesel record bag, a Diesel Greatest Hips Wall clock or Slip Mat.
posted by boost ventilator at 4:56 AM PST - 10 comments

Amazing photos from the ordinary normal life in Iran by an Iranian-Norweigian who is paying a visit to his family. See the archives: November, December, January, February
posted by hoder at 2:28 AM PST - 7 comments

And then Kofi said 'no way!' and Clare said 'way!' and... British agents bugged conversations of Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraq War. Former Minister Clare Short (who's made some wild claims in the past but presumably wouldn't state something of this magnitude without being sure) read some of transcripts and 'presumes' that this is all legal...
posted by humuhumu at 2:04 AM PST - 24 comments

Howard Stern yanked off six Clear Channel radio stations The kingdom of the self proclaimed king of all media has been trimmed after Clear Channel dropped the Stern show on Tuesday after he allegedly aired sexually obscene and racist material. The offensive exchange reportedly occured when a caller asked ex-Paris Hilton boyfriend (and sex-tape co-star) Rick Salomon if he had ever had oral sex on a black woman. The caller used the N-word to describe the black woman. Then the caller asked Salomon if it tasted like watermellon. Is this grounds to fire the talk show host, or is it more politically motivated and the beginning of the end of free speech... of highly rated powerful talk show hosts who blast the FCC and aren't Republican. entire stern show here. (BitTorrent rq'd)
posted by tsarfan at 1:47 AM PST - 90 comments

Searching for a Virtual World? Then you might want to start with the VirtualWorldsReview.
posted by chaz at 11:47 PM PST - 8 comments

Bob Shamey is a jewelry maker who carves small things into smaller things, including toothpicks & seeds.
posted by jonson at 10:08 PM PST - 2 comments

Birth of a Nation: one of the most controversial films in american history. The film "...was banned in more than a dozen localities (and furthermore has been the most banned film in American history) because of its white supremacist sympathies, racist stereotypes, and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan..." Sex, Sin, and Blasphemy,Marjorie Heins. Given the recent controversy over Gibson's film, where do we draw the line between freedom of expression and censorship? when are these debates influenced by politcal agenda rather than sincere concern?
posted by poopy at 7:41 PM PST - 25 comments

OK, remakes. While channel surfing tonight I noticed that there is a new miniseries on the box called Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital starting soon, on a channel near you. No doubt it will go the way of other King TV Greats, as the trailer suggests (Ed Begley Jr. in another hospital role). I am more interested in the way that it is being marketed - with the explicit "Stephen King" moniker. Similar to other less than stellar US remakes of European originals, (Point of No Return / Nikita, the weird case of Spoorloos / The Vanishing(same director for both), I could go on). Given the explicit reference in the title to King, do you think that people will seek out the original? Can you think of instances where the remake outdoes the original?
posted by grimley at 6:49 PM PST - 24 comments

Putting Campaign Tech and Dollars to Good Use -- It seems the Bush reelection campaign's letter to the editor form is being used for anti-Bush letters too. Just put in your zipcode, select which newspapers you want your letter to go to, and type away! But of course, then they'll have your personal info and a record of what you wrote, should Ashcroft be bored one day. Worth it or no?
posted by amberglow at 6:26 PM PST - 17 comments

The Yurica Report: "News Intelligence Analysis". It seems to be an EXTREMELY leftist website, mentioned but once before. It seems inflammatory, but a few things caught my eye. How about a "Constitution Restoration Act" that would "gut the ability of citizens to sue the government or government officials by reason of that element’s or officer’s acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.” Or how about "The Despoiling of America", How George W. Bush became the head of the new American Dominionist Church/State...quite an interesting take on how Neo-Conservatives are taking the idea of dominionism and sprinting with it. Inflammatory? Hell yes...but incredibly interesting nonetheless.
posted by taumeson at 5:03 PM PST - 15 comments

Stag World Before there was Maxim there were these manly men's magazines from the '50s and '60s. Take that, you metrosexual pansies!
posted by owillis at 4:43 PM PST - 6 comments

The Grey Lodge Occult Review. Issue #10 is online. [Via Disinformation.]
posted by homunculus at 2:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Median's Relief! If you like Little Brother, you should like these three free mp3's from Median. He's in the Justus League too and he's got beats from 9th Wonder, hip hop producer of the moment right now.
posted by Slimemonster at 2:03 PM PST - 1 comment

The vertical nature of New York City has long helped define its image, with families stacked on top of each other and penthouse apartments reaching the clouds. But for generations, tens of thousands of people have made do with another New York reality - the basement apartment - and they literally climb out of the ground to enter the city that is always on top of them. As mentioned in literature, personal ads--and soon to be the penthouse of urban worker housing everywhere.
posted by y2karl at 1:51 PM PST - 11 comments

Welcome to "Ask the White House" -- an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Bush administration officials. Currently taking questions: NASCAR's Michael Waltrip. Pandering doesn't get any more naked than this, does it? (Via TPM)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:01 PM PST - 33 comments

MouseCount counts the number of times you click your mouse--information useful to computer usage studies, ergonomics, repetitive stress measurement, and more. This program saves you the trouble of counting all those clicks yourself! Screw that, I'm just a curious dork. (fyi: link goes to description page only, but the download is a .zip file)
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:42 PM PST - 6 comments

Oral Sex Link to Mouth Cancer
"Although the risk is small and it is more likely to result from heavy drinking and smoking, scientists have uncovered evidence that oral sex can cause mouth cancer."

Bummer.
posted by fenriq at 12:24 PM PST - 39 comments

Dirkon: the Paper Camera, and more at pinhole.cz.
posted by hama7 at 11:34 AM PST - 9 comments

Postcards From The Attic - a beatiful vintage postcard collection
posted by anastasiav at 10:27 AM PST - 3 comments

Walking with Vermeer - stroll through 17th century Delft via movie clips based on original drawings. Or tour his house and studio via a 3D model to see a full inventory of household objects and to get some homely historical perspective on making love, birthing babies or dealing with trash and excrement. And if you want to research further, Essential Vermeer is the definitive resource for everything from historical research to current exhibits.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:50 AM PST - 7 comments

Should dairy farmers be forced to contribute to the "Got Milk?" campaign? At this point, all dairy farmers contribute a per-unit fee to help fund the dairy marketing campaign. Is this just? A recent court decision does not think so. What do you think?
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 8:01 AM PST - 29 comments

Victim of a consumer Rip-off? Victim of bad business practices? Have a deadbeat ex-husband? Want justice? Rip-off Report is a worldwide consumer reporting Website & Publication, by consumers, for consumers, to file & document complaints about Companies or Individuals who ripoff consumers.
posted by Macboy at 5:31 AM PST - 11 comments

"The next thing I knew, his heavy, boneless hand was hot on my thigh." That's the money shot from this article in which Naomi Wolf, author of "The Beauty Myth" and former adviser to Al Gore on alpha male matters, decides 20 years later to accuse ailing Harold Bloom of sexually harassing her at Yale, when she was a senior. Why now? A stunt to put herself in the news? Or perhaps to breathe new life into a moribund city magazine. (While I'm at it, here's Google on the phrase: "boneless hand." Not alpha male at all).
posted by Slagman at 9:40 PM PST - 73 comments

President Putin fires entire Russian government. Sounds very ... dictatorial. Why so little concern in the media?
posted by yevge at 8:41 PM PST - 28 comments

As Attorney General for the State of North Dakota, I am pleased to enclose payment for your claim in the settlement of the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation.
Checks have gone out to people who "purchased prerecorded Music Products, consisting of compact discs, cassettes and vinyl albums, from one or more retailers during the period January 1, 1995, through December 22, 2000." Mine was for $13.86. I think I'll go buy an indie CD.
posted by travis at 8:40 PM PST - 24 comments

Half of young Americans to get STDs - so say several collected studies by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and others. Can the Bush administration's plan to double abstinence-only spending solve this problem? Or can the argument be made that keeping condoms out of the classrooms causes more STDs than prevents?
posted by wfrgms at 7:36 PM PST - 44 comments

Is Salt The New Olive Oil? The New York Times [registration required] thinks so and Peter Hertzmann, on his superb a la carte website, offers an expert analysis of the difficulties of seasoning well. Even the greatest chefs feel insecure with salt, even though most of them would consider it to be, by far, the most important ingredient of all. At least those I've asked. [I always ask them what 3 ingredients they couldn't do without]. It's cheap; it's essential and there are now so many kinds to choose from. Will this current brouhaha be enough to convince the larger population that much is lost in using only the industrial, refined stuff? [Of course, for someone from Southern Europe, olive oil and good sea salt aren't exactly new, so take this with a grain of you know what.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:48 PM PST - 28 comments

That's right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours to either spend or invest in job creation. All you have to do is definitively prove that George W. Bush fulfilled his duty to country. Garry Trudeau, like the rest of us, is weary of the "partisan assault on [Geo W's] character," and is taking brave steps to finally end the liberal accusations...
posted by Shane at 4:20 PM PST - 36 comments

Ashes and Snow. Photography by Gregory Colbert. [Flash, via wood s lot.]
posted by homunculus at 1:34 PM PST - 7 comments

I feel like I have stepped through the looking glass.... first, we have the truly surprising but welcome sight of Michael Howard celebrating cultural diversity in Britain, then we have David Goodhart, editor of Prospect, apparently a magazine of the left, suggesting that perhaps we have quite enough immigrants in the UK for the moment, thank you. Goodhart's article is very provocative and very important, it's a debate that needs to be had and which has most certainly and entertainingly been joined by Trevor Phillips. I love a schism!
posted by Fat Buddha at 1:06 PM PST - 11 comments

Fatemeh Haghighatjou resigned from the Iranian Parliament yesterday. Despite being religious, she was one of the bravest MPs who challenged and criticized the hardliners and especially the Supreme Leader, Khamenei. (More pictures form the parliament on the same day: page one, page two, page three, page four, page five) The mobile picture is taken on the last day of her job at the parliament, by Mohammadali Abtahi, a vice-president of Iran--and a blogger. (His photos are much better than his writings, though.)
posted by hoder at 12:39 PM PST - 5 comments

Saudi Arabia, the leading exporter for three decades, is not running out of oil. Industry officials are finding, however, that it is becoming more difficult or expensive to extract it (weblog safe NYT link). A very readable article that, without even mentioning it, does a good job of explaining what is "the peak of oil". Cornucopians, that should sent shivers down your spine!
posted by samelborp at 12:31 PM PST - 59 comments

How many Americans own passports? Working with passports issued and the US population, it gives an idea of around 20%. Why do so many Americans stay at home?
posted by the fire you left me at 8:59 AM PST - 98 comments

Bush calls for same-sex marriage-ban amendment Pres. Bush called for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage today, blaming "activist judges", the Massachusettes Supreme Court, and the mayor of San Francisco, among others, for attempting "to change the most fundamental institution of civilization."

How this call for an amendment plays out remains to be seen, but Bush is taking a strong stance on this issue, in what some see as another 'big headline' proposal during the election season. What will this mean for the civil rights of homosexuals in this country? And how will voters react in November?
posted by nyukid at 8:51 AM PST - 373 comments

We libertarians can be forgiven for suspecting that legal sanctions against vice are not the concern of normal, healthy human beings. They are the concern of busybodies. And busybodies, for the record, are people who spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what other people do in private. They hatch plans to catch their victims, engage in voyeurism as they peep into windows, and then break into homes and businesses to arrest their prey with the help of professional“busybody enablers”(pdf) called vice cops.
posted by dejah420 at 8:29 AM PST - 11 comments

Dear Mary, your father, recently said he would support adding anti-gay prejudice to the US Constitution, making you and millions of other Americans second-class citizens. As an open lesbian who has worked for years as a public advocate for gay civil rights, you are in a unique position to defend yourself and your community in this dire hour. You're right, this is very personal.
posted by alms at 8:11 AM PST - 12 comments

Into the Wardrobe: a website devoted to C. S. Lewis. [more]
posted by hama7 at 7:21 AM PST - 9 comments

Brian Wilson performed “Smile” last Friday, in its entirety. One of the most anticipated “lost” albums of all time (a great deal of the material was released on other Beach Boys Albums, as well as the “Good Vibrations” Box set). Smile was Brian Wilson’s answer to the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The now legendary tale speaks of Brian’s slow decent into madness and drug abuse during the recording of “Smile,” (for example, when he was recording “Mrs. O'Leary's Cow,” otherwise known as the “Fire” element to Smile, he and the orchestra all had to wear plastic firefighters helmets. When he got home from recording, there were news reports of a huge fire in the area he was recording in, causing him to believe the “vibes” from the music started the fire. Needless to say, he freaked out a bit.) The album was shelved at the last minute, and for decades, Brian either told people that the Smile sessions had been destroyed, or flat out refused to speak of it at all.

Now, after 37 years of wondering, Smile is finally going to be released!!!
posted by Quartermass at 7:21 AM PST - 30 comments

Thanks to PATRIOT Act, FBI wiretaps reach record numbers. 'Thanks to the bundle of anti-terrorism measures known as the USA Patriot Act, the FBI is conducting a "record amount" of electronic surveillance, including the use of wiretaps and bugs, according to an FBI spokesman and a Justice Department budget document. Yet the bounty perpetuates an old problem: The bureau can't keep up with all the information pouring in.'
posted by busbyism at 7:05 AM PST - 45 comments

Mars 3D, without the red & green glasses. The work is being carried out by Antonio Criminisi and Andrew Blake from Microsoft's research labs in Cambridge. The pair have developed algorithms that can take a single flat image or painting and turn it into an virtual environment.
posted by MintSauce at 2:15 AM PST - 11 comments

Don't try this at home. We picked up the drill, the gloves, sterile gauze, sheets of plastic, sodium chloride, hypodermic syringes, sterile wipes, irrigation syringe, etc. etc. After acquiring all that we needed, we set up my best friend's bedroom as the operating room and prepared to perform the operation. While I have heard of this practice before, this article really shows how far some people are willing to go to enhance their consciousness. Apparently this has been going on for some time. First link possibly NSFW due to bloody pics
posted by bashos_frog at 11:52 PM PST - 36 comments

You gave your life to the military, you voted Republican for many years, you say you served in the Pentagon right up to the outbreak of war. What does it feel like to be out now, publicly denouncing your old bosses?

Know what it feels like? It feels like duty. That’s what it feels like. I’ve thought about it many times. You know, I spent 20 years working for something that — at least under this administration — turned out to be something I wasn’t working for. I mean, these people have total disrespect for the Constitution. We swear an oath, military officers and NCOs alike swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. These people have no respect for the Constitution. The Congress was misled, it was lied to. At a very minimum that is a subversion of the Constitution. A pre-emptive war based on what we knew was not a pressing need is not what this country stands for.
LA Weekly interviewsLt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, retired, Pentagon insider present at the creation. Skeletons from the closet tumble.
posted by y2karl at 10:32 PM PST - 58 comments

"To fathom Hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic" - Dr. Humphry Osmond, medical hallucinogenic pioneer and the man who gave Aldous Huxley the dose of LSD that inspired The Doors of Perception recently passed on. To place the man in his milieu, visit Acid Dreams to see an acid timeline and a who's who of the era, stop by the acid blotter art gallery, and if you have the bandwidth, check out the classic video clip of LSD being tested on British soldiers.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:39 PM PST - 16 comments

Walkie Talkie Man
A heck of a yarn of a song.
What promises to be one of the those super over hyped videos, see it now before it becomes passe.
And the song is pretty good too.
posted by fenriq at 6:25 PM PST - 20 comments

An 80s band hires a much younger group of musicians to lipsync in their new video - and it becomes a hit. It's a good thing the music industry isn't all about image...
posted by chumptastic at 6:05 PM PST - 24 comments

"One of the cruellest movies in the history of the cinema." David Denby reviews The Passion of the Christ in this week's New Yorker.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:16 PM PST - 427 comments

The Audio Kitchen. Music, spoken word, conversations, phone messages and anything else recorded — played on a radio program. Most of the material is found in thrift stores and flea markets. [RealAudio required]
posted by pedantic at 2:32 PM PST - 4 comments

Rod Paige Criticizes Teachers Union Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday. Democratic and Republican governors confirmed Paige's remarks about the National Education Association.
posted by Postroad at 1:54 PM PST - 39 comments

Miss the Cola Wars? Now introducing the razor wars. One from Gillette has three blades, and two strips and a 77% awareness without an ad campaign- and is available for free. The other has four blades and is eating market share but the idea may have been borrowed from the competitor. Maybe gillette's solution should be five blades?
posted by drezdn at 1:51 PM PST - 38 comments

Future Hi: Celebrating the rebirth of Psychedelic Futurism. [Via World Changing.]
posted by homunculus at 1:25 PM PST - 1 comment

The MPEG-7 Standard, due for release this spring, has a strong information retrieval focus, including face recognition technology fast enough to locate a scene containing a particular person out of 24 hours of video in one second on a conventional computer.
posted by badstone at 11:27 AM PST - 16 comments

This commercial for Nutrigrain is disturbing & hilarious. Link eggregiously lifted from blort.
posted by jonson at 10:06 AM PST - 53 comments

one web designers experience with US customs and immigration
joost gets a taste of a federal detention center.via newstoday
posted by specialk420 at 8:04 AM PST - 42 comments

Interesting info for even the ardent salad dodgers (via bifurcated rivets)
posted by johnny7 at 7:54 AM PST - 9 comments

Secret Report (drudge) shows Israel has 82 nuclear weapons. With Ariel Sharon's latest [in]actions towards lasting peace, goodwill and calls of corruption, is it time to reevaluate our friends?
posted by omidius at 7:29 AM PST - 27 comments

Currency Den.
posted by hama7 at 7:20 AM PST - 3 comments

On the A46 motorway heading towards Bath, Richard Box has "planted" a field of flourescent tubes powered entirely by the electric field surrounding some overhead power lines. A very cool piece of art, but with a serious background: some people believe that the electromagnetic fields around power lines can cause cancer, while others aren't so sure.
posted by bwerdmuller at 5:59 AM PST - 26 comments

Secret Pentagon report warns climate change "could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy..." The report, ordered by an influential Pentagon advisor but covered up by US defense chiefs for months, warns that it might be too late to prevent future disasters, such as violent storms that may make large parts of the Netherlands uninhabitable. Climate change, the report says, "should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern..."
posted by tranquileye at 8:48 PM PST - 88 comments

This site is edited automatically. Mediamatic, a Dutch inclination toward media and being.
posted by the fire you left me at 8:05 PM PST - 3 comments

CNN In Feb. 8, 2002 I posted a link hoping Arnie's movie career would keep him too busy to become governor. Twenty-one months later he took office, (obviously I was being tongue-in-cheek, I had no idea it would actually happen). It seems he has his sights set pretty high.
posted by tetsuo at 4:30 PM PST - 53 comments

Perceptions of the Shadowy World. The Japanese concept of yami. [Via wood s lot.]
posted by homunculus at 11:28 AM PST - 9 comments

Nano-Knit Technology Dime-sized mittens (and other intricacies) from $85 and up for the wee people.
posted by hypnorich at 11:06 AM PST - 6 comments

Feds rule that DVD X Copy is now illegal. What will become of other DVD burning software? The MPAA considers a major victory, but are the people who may use it legitimately getting the shaft, or will we see an increase in recovery outfits?
posted by JakeEXTREME at 1:00 AM PST - 19 comments

Big Box Juggernauts are taking control of the landscape across North America. How does it impact how we live, and where we live? [Flash]
posted by benjh at 2:52 PM PST - 29 comments

OSHA to whistleblowers: bankers' hours only - Why would part of OSHA's Inspection Database restrict public access to 8 am to 6 pm est, M-F? Confined Space, a workplace health & safety and labor blog, reports on this odd phenomena here and here. OSHA claims that this is to "manage the costs of providing public access to this data." Huh? Can anyone tell me how that would work? I can't ask OSHA since they apparently disable their feedback mechanism on weekends too.
posted by madamjujujive at 2:32 PM PST - 30 comments

Is turnabout fair play?
On Monday Comedy Central will permire it's new show Straight Plan for the Gay Man, a parody of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The so-called "Flab Four" will:

[M]akeover a new gay friend and give him a crash course on the secrets of straight male life -- like hitting on chicks, playing basketball or working a blue-collar job.

The Advocate describes it as "inane" and "borderline offensive" as though it seems its' "sole purpose is to rag on gay men."
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 1:52 PM PST - 56 comments

Out of the shadows. John Cassavetes' dumped and reshot much of the first version of his film 'Shadows'. Critics who were able to compare it to the second 'more Hollywood' version thought it was a very bad mistake, that by censoring the original he was depriving the world of the modern classic and something which could have influenced film makers for years. It disappeared into legend. There was only one surviving print and Cassavetes himself didn't even know where that went. Ray Carney spent decades obessively searching for it, even though he suspected it to be an impossible task. Then he heard that someone might have left it in a box in a subway in the 60s because it wasn't the porn film they had been expecting ...
posted by feelinglistless at 1:05 PM PST - 11 comments

Newsflash: actually useful social-software site. There are many, many (etc., etc.,) sites that have sprung up to represent networks of friends (and friends of friends) on the web. But so what? There's no compelling reason to create or keep these profiles; there's nothing in it for you (just lots of work). But I've stumbled across Mediachest (screenshot) which is a sharing community for books, DVDs, and CDs. You can borrow your friends books and music and movies, and they can borrow yours. It's like a permanent MefiSwap!
posted by zpousman at 12:40 PM PST - 12 comments

Journal of a Schizophrenic

Over the next several weeks I heard the voice every once in a while, but always in the house, when I was by myself. I became used to it, looked forward to it on occasion. I started playing pool with it. We would play a regular game of eight ball, me with the right hand and the voice with the left. I had never shot with my left hand before, but the voice won as often as not.
posted by moonbird at 12:16 PM PST - 32 comments

Museum of World War II.
posted by hama7 at 11:32 AM PST - 1 comment

RumorFilter: Gov. Perry of Texas in bed with his Sec. of State --for real! More on this brewing scandal here, here, here, here, and here. Perry in 2002 called Texas' then-existing/now-illegal sodomy laws "appropriate." And here's a rundown on the rumor and non-response (from the kos link)
posted by amberglow at 10:07 AM PST - 70 comments

How dogs became man's best friend: Dr Hare's hypothesis is that dogs are superbly sensitive to social cues from people...
His experiment was simple. He presented his animal subjects with two inverted cups. Then he hid the cups behind a screen, put a small piece of food under one of them, and took the screen away. The animal had to choose which cup to look under. If the experimenter gave no cue, both species got it right 50% of the time, as would be expected. However, if he signalled in some way which was the right cup, by pointing at it, tapping it, or even just gazing at it, a dog would choose correctly every time, while a chimpanzee would still do only slightly better than chance. [More at Harvard Gazette]
-- My question: are you able to reproduce his results?
posted by MzB at 7:50 AM PST - 21 comments

"Use of wood chippers has not been endorsed by the AVMA as an acceptable means of euthanasia for poultry." This story is old (June 2003), but it sure did catch my eye. There but for the grace of Fargo...go the chickens. Broccoli, anyone?
posted by NedKoppel at 7:30 AM PST - 3 comments

Creative Internet Techniques a large Ohio ISP was shut down by the FBI for "IRC network" violations. If you need to get at your hosted data "please contact the Bureau via email to rwhite3@leo.gov. Make sure to include in your email your name, mailing address, and telephone number with area code."

Does anyone still use IRC? Does anyone intend to "please contact the Bureau via email to rwhite3@leo.gov. Make sure to include in your email your name, mailing address, and telephone number with area code". Does anyone have any ideas what this is REALLY about?
posted by arse_hat at 12:17 AM PST - 27 comments

McManufacturing Jobs
posted by y2karl at 9:57 PM PST - 12 comments

Qveere Eye for thye Medieval Man "Earliest known evidence of a reality series found in medieval vault in eastern Great Britain." [via Zeldman]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:56 PM PST - 7 comments

Talk About Your Customized News on the Web!!!
Insert your own name (or someone else's) to fake news stories from the triumphant to the humiliating (although mostly cruel, tacky or just NSFW). Put Your.Name into the subdomain or use the auto-generator.
via Presurfer
posted by wendell at 8:03 PM PST - 5 comments

Halifax under curfew. The Globe and Mail and the CBC are reporting that the Province of Nova Scotia has placed Halifax, Canada, under a curfew tonight. The city has taken this unprecedented peacetime action to allow the snow plows to deal with the 100cm (~50 inches) of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours. Anyone caught on the streets between 11pm and 7am faces a CDN$1000 fine.
posted by tiamat at 5:25 PM PST - 31 comments

Israelis kill crops to oust beduin
"Nonetheless, government ministers and officials accuse the beduin of "invading state lands" by refusing to be moved from their historic villages. Sharon himself gave a speech shortly before he became prime minister in which he said: "The beduin are eating away at the last land reserve of the state."" - via american samidizat
posted by specialk420 at 2:19 PM PST - 36 comments

An American in Mongolia. A new breed of American soldier—call him the soldier-diplomat—has come into being since the end of the Cold War. Meet the colonel who was our man in Mongolia, an officer who probably wielded more local influence than many Mongol rulers of yore.
posted by kablam at 1:10 PM PST - 7 comments

Rhode Island's nut case governor decided to repeal the Bill of Rights. Fortunately, he got knocked upside the head first. (Obnoxious registration required.)
posted by k.43 at 12:14 PM PST - 16 comments

Justly Married Derek Powazek shares a series of images of same-gender couples who were married in San Francisco over the last week, and sells one stark image in poster form to raise funds for DontAmend.com, an organization committed to fighting the radical right's efforts to add an anti-gay marriage/union amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
posted by Dreama at 12:09 PM PST - 308 comments

Free-Speech Zones come to Boston this July.
Protesters at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston may be confined to a cozy triangle of land off Haymarket Square, blocked off from the FleetCenter and convention delegates by a maze of Central Artery service roads, MBTA train tracks, and a temporary parking lot holding scores of buses and media trucks.

Under a preliminary plan floated by convention organizers, the "free-speech zone" would be a small plot bounded by Green Line tracks and North Washington Street, in an area that until recently was given over to the elevated artery. The zone would hold as few as 400 of the several thousand protesters who are expected in Boston in late July.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:56 AM PST - 54 comments

There are an amazing bunch of costumes available at this japanese site. Some of the best are the godzilla, clown, and werewolf. The masks and wigs aren't bad either [via misterpants]
posted by mathowie at 10:52 AM PST - 12 comments

Jean Dubuffet, the founder of the Art Brut movement. The site is not "brut".
posted by liam at 10:34 AM PST - 4 comments

Rejected 9/11 Memorial Designs are now online. All 5,201 of them. My favorite is the apple on a spike. Some question the taste of designs that use ghostly jet planes, pez dispenser-like structures or giant red question marks as motifs. Luminaries such as the inventor of the artificial heart and Marky Mark participated. Maybe there's an overlooked work of genius in here. Or maybe not.
posted by Slagman at 10:08 AM PST - 17 comments

For the adventurous reader Dispatches From The Vanishing World a collection of environment themed travel articles by Alex Shoumatoff. Observe the "skeed row" behaviour of The Alcoholic Monkeys of St.Kitts, or travel to the worlds largest swap almost twice the size of England in the Amazon, this site presents magazine articles by Alex over the last 30 years as seen in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Rolling Stone.
posted by stbalbach at 9:32 AM PST - 6 comments

King of Cambodia supports gay marriage, says that transvestites should be accepted by society
And here I was thinking that old patriarchs were conservative. Cambodia apparently is quite conservative when it comes to GLBT issues, but I wonder if this will change, especially as the king is well loved?
posted by tomcosgrave at 9:27 AM PST - 16 comments

Eddie Clontz, longtime editor of the Weekly World News, creator of Ed Anger, Bat Boy and other semi-real totems of society's fuzzy underbelly, is dead at 56.

The fact that I had to find this out in The Economist, of all places, makes me madder than -- than -- than George S. Patton at a Peace Rally.
posted by chicobangs at 8:02 AM PST - 26 comments

Draw your boss and stick it to the man. Pixel-haired boss drawrings sans the ephemeral commentary of kid art.
posted by pedantic at 7:15 AM PST - 3 comments

Disappearing the Dead: 'casualty agnosticism', and the Idea of a `New Warfare' A new report ( See Boston Globe story ) by the Project on Defense Alternatives details how, in promoting it's "New [sanitized] Warfare" concept, the Pentagon has refused to release it's estimates of civilian casualties and sought to "sink the whole issue of war casualties in an impenetrable murk of skepticism" (also with the aid of Psyops campaigns). This has, the report claims : 1) made the postwar stabilization in Afghanistan and Iraq far more difficult and 2) damaged the U.S.' international reputation. [ via Cursor ]
posted by troutfishing at 6:47 AM PST - 37 comments

Art Brut.
posted by hama7 at 6:28 AM PST - 6 comments

"Don't Vote: Blog" is the message to supporters of reform in Iran, as today's parliamentary elections are marred by mass disqualification of reform candidates by religious authorities and protest resignations by sitting parliamentarians (via Joi Ito.) Check IranFilter for English-language posts and updates. Will this be the blogosphere's finest hour to date?
posted by hairyeyeball at 5:44 AM PST - 8 comments

DRUMMERWORLD: The DrumSolo Collection - from Steve Gadd to Dave Weckl. [via codemode.org]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 4:54 AM PST - 6 comments

ChavScum "A humorous guide to Britain's burgeoning peasant underclass" is a website devoted to a particular "style" of a section of british society (similar to the US "Trailer Trash"). Some of the discussions in the forums vary from the hilarious to the deeply offensive. Meanwhile the Independent ask is chavspotting just harmless fun or a sinister new form of snobbery?
posted by brettski at 3:52 AM PST - 43 comments

Is Alex Ross Trying Too Hard To Be Eclectic? It's a great article but, imho, a few false notes are struck here and there. Can you love classical and popular music at the same time? Classical types always like the same popular stuff (Dylan and Pink Floyd, of course) and popular types always like the same classical stuff (Wagner, Puccini, Mahler) but somehow the suspicion remains that one's heart can't be in two places at once. There's something ingratiating and icky about attempts to pretend "it's all music". It isn't, is it? Also, God forgive me, 20 is way too late to start listening to Pop.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:35 AM PST - 50 comments

Friday Flash Fun. Grow weird things on a weird planet... weirdly. via boing-boing
posted by seanyboy at 1:38 AM PST - 25 comments

Lost Liberties? Salon has an interesting two part series on the tensions between antiwar protesters and law enforcement. Part 1: "Outlawing dissent: Spying on peace meetings, cracking down on protesters, keeping secret files on innocent people -- how Bush's war on terror has become a war on freedom." Part 2: "A thousand J. Edgar Hoovers: State and local police are taking it upon themselves to investigate antiwar activists -- and in the computer age, the threat to our civil liberties is even greater than it was in Hoover's day." Does Protester = Criminal?
posted by homunculus at 12:53 AM PST - 2 comments

Our top story tonight: John Edwards and John Kerry both beat Bush in polls and in "totally unrelated news" the search for Osama Bin Laden intensifies and in "other totally unrelated news" the new Election Assistance Commission assured the states that they would expedite the distribution of $2.3 billion dollars in federal funds for new voting booth equipment
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:09 PM PST - 19 comments

clarinet databases - what has 2691 composers under 2725 names, 6564 titles under 6684 names, comprised of 7669 publications and representing 8022 sets of instrumentation? the clarinet composition database. the site also features a searchable discography of important clarinet recordings.
posted by quonsar at 10:40 PM PST - 3 comments

The 2003 Pazz & Jop results are in! Apparently it was the year of hip hop (sort of), in both albums and singles. Country music gets kudos for being so "cocksure" in a world of uncertainty. Acoustic jazz scores a big win with The Bad Plus coming in at number 60!
posted by boltman at 9:57 PM PST - 10 comments

History Today made me laugh. Why had I never heard of Newman and Baddiel before? (I suppose because I'm American and my English friend hadn't sent me that link until today.) Don't read the transcripts, watch the videos.
posted by boredomjockey at 9:37 PM PST - 11 comments

This site will change your life! Well, I don't know about that but I certainly found this part of it interesting. Is it me or does the graph chart look like the days MeFi was offline?
posted by Lynsey at 8:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Get infected by the Bathroom Mania! Kisses the sexy urinal
posted by hypnorich at 7:54 PM PST - 9 comments

Flowers for all!!! "Today a coworker of mine had a thought to send flowers to a random couple waiting in line at SF city hall. He called a florist and they agreed to do it. He told them to deliver to any couple -- it didn't matter who -- standing in line to get married, with his blessing. The card will read simply "With love, from Minneapolis, Minnesota." Once they understood, they were very touched and thought it was a great idea. He told another co-worker who did the same thing. And now we want to start a movement. Wouldn't that be cool if people from all over the country, gay, straight and otherwise, started sending flowers to the people waiting in line to get married. Call it The Big Gay Bouquet call it Flowers from the Heartland. Call it whatever you want, but help us get this off the ground. Call Flowers on the Bay at 888-217-9119 and order a bouquet to be delivered tomorrow at noon. And Tell all of your friends to do it. Because straight or gay, we believe and we know many people who believe, support and celebrate the right to marriage. And we'd like to show it. We'd like to see all of the people standing in line with flowers of support from all over the country."

Apparently, flower shops in San Fran are starting to get overwhelmed...
posted by matty at 7:52 PM PST - 42 comments

"Each Gum Blonde is 100% chewed bubblegum on a plywood backing. No paint or dye is used. The colour is inherent to the gum - the mixing of colour takes place inside the mouth during chewing using an endless variety of flavours ...."
posted by anastasiav at 6:47 PM PST - 8 comments

Brain fingerprinting is about to take centre stage in a last-chance court appeal against a death-row conviction in the US." The technology was developed by Dr. Lawrence Farwell, one of Time Magazine's "100 Innovators who may be the Picassos or Einsteins of the 21st century." Is this a positive development for humankind (after all, it may clear innocent accused of their alleged crimes, or uncover dangerous terrorists), or is it yet another scary advancement in the government's encroachment on our privacy ? I personally think Philip K. Dick, author of "Minority Report" may have been more of a prophet than we ever knew. (See this link as well).
posted by F4B2 at 7:15 PM PST - 10 comments

The Suffragists Oral History Project has collected and transcribed oral histories from leaders and participants of the American women's suffrage movement. Suffragists Speak has audio clips of Alice Paul. [Via rebecca's pocket.]
posted by homunculus at 7:10 PM PST - 3 comments

Middle East Enders (3.94mb JPEG), courtesy of SpaceImaging.com's gallery. Other wowsers include Singapore, Venice and the pyramids.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:55 PM PST - 11 comments

Front lines in the Virus War. The virus wars are here and getting worse. Read the blog by the warriors on the front line.
posted by filmgeek at 6:46 PM PST - 1 comment

Mac Insider Folklore Bill [Gates] responded that "No Steve , I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox, and you went in to steal the TV, and found that somebody else had stolen it. So you say, "hey, that's not fair. I wanted to steal the TV". Jobs vs. MS Windows, The Mac Unveiling and other interesting tidbits from the pre-Mac era at folklore.org.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 5:16 PM PST - 5 comments

Boy discovers self kidnapped fourteen years earlier. Mother then arrested. Yes, CNN.com link but a damned weird story.
posted by xmutex at 4:17 PM PST - 14 comments

Online Prayer Labyrinth This is an online translation of the Cathedral Labyrinth created by London alternative worship groups Grace, LOPE, and Epicentre. It is currently touring UK Cathedrals during 2001 - 2003. Youth For Christ are running/hosting the tour. The original is described as 'an interactive installation for spiritual journeys'. It consists of a pathway mapped out on the floor for visitors to follow. During this journey participants pause and listen to a piece of music and a meditation. They also undertake some symbolic action or ritual.
posted by konolia at 2:14 PM PST - 4 comments

Rules for Having an Affair. A great read for you starry-eyed newlyweds!
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 2:14 PM PST - 68 comments

Case mod, matrimony style; a geek's marriage proposal [with pics]
posted by moonbird at 2:04 PM PST - 16 comments

Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, said in a statement issued today.--would you believe the scientists or the people's (almost) choice? May need free reg for NY Times.
posted by Postroad at 1:50 PM PST - 28 comments

10 Easy Steps to Objectivism. When you have achieved true Objectivistivity, join Friend Bear on a visit to the Objectivist Theme Park, so that you too can be one with Ayn Rand's Floating Head.
posted by brownpau at 12:26 PM PST - 42 comments

Papers, please! On March 22, the Supreme Court will hear a case that will answer whether or not citizens have to provide identification whenever police demand it.
posted by Irontom at 12:18 PM PST - 43 comments

The Pencil Pages :: An Introduction to Pencils and Pencil Collecting
with gallery, pencil geek humor, pencil trivia, and much more
posted by anastasiav at 10:44 AM PST - 3 comments

Go get your free iTunes from Pepsi Tilt the bottle 25 degrees and look for random letters (winner) or AGAIN (loser).
posted by srboisvert at 10:12 AM PST - 28 comments

DJ Danger Mouse has been making waves recently with his Grey Album that cross-pollinates the music of The Beatles' classic White Album with the lyrics and delivery of Jay-Z's recent swan song, the Black Album. The results? "One of the more interesting pirate mashups ever done." (Pitchfork). "Most ambitious remix." (Village Voice). "As fun as it is daring." (Boston Globe). "Ultimate remix record." (Rolling Stone). Not surprisingly, EMI is far from amused by the unsanctioned and unapproved project and the limited release will no longer be distributed. So, download it now (or check out these Real Player samples).
posted by boost ventilator at 10:05 AM PST - 92 comments

ping pong [note: shockwave]
posted by crunchland at 9:58 AM PST - 10 comments

The postmodern Church. Called "emerging" or "postmodern" churches, they are diverse in theology and method, linked loosely by Internet sites, Web logs, conferences and a growing stack of hip-looking paperbacks. Some religious historians believe the churches represent the next wave of evangelical worship, after the boom in megachurches in the 1980's and 1990's.
posted by the fire you left me at 9:51 AM PST - 18 comments

Polaroid warns: Don't shake the pictures! (from FauxFox News, among other sources). Giving me an excuse to link to these classic collections of warnings and disclaimers (Don't forget Happy Fun Ball!), not to mention this collection of intentionally altered Celebrity Polaroids.
posted by wendell at 9:50 AM PST - 12 comments

Smoking banned from the Irish workplace (including pubs) from March 29th
Looks like all of us smokers will have to comply. Personally, I can't wait for the ban to come in as it will be further incentive for me to fight the addicition. Hopefully the ban on smoking at my office will mean it'll be easier to stop. All that said, I wonder how it's going to be enforced? The way I see it, the only way it could be properly enforced is through the public being prepaired to report transgressions to those charged with enforcing the law. Maybe the fear of that will make sure that business owners see to it that their workplaces are smoke free.
posted by tomcosgrave at 8:17 AM PST - 21 comments

It's common for pregnant women to dream they've given birth to an animal. According to a report by the New York Post, Winston Churchill's parrot is still alive. Charlie, a 104-year-old blue and gold female macaw, lives in southeast England and likes to curse Hitler. In the first century, Pliny the Elder claimed that mustard would improve lazy housewives. All of these "facts" and more can be found in the Mr. Smarty Pants Archive.
posted by ColdChef at 8:00 AM PST - 9 comments

CNN reports Dean to suspend campaign.
posted by tranquileye at 6:32 AM PST - 82 comments

Muppet News Flash: Disney Buys Muppets Jim Henson had long considered a partnership with the Disney Company, but never was able to work a deal. Now that the Comcast offer has been rejected, Disney is looking to expand its entertainment offerings. But with Pixar and Disney splitting, is this merger the House of Mouse's attempt to revive its "synergy" or just another cultural gem for Eisner to strip mine?
posted by jazon at 6:27 AM PST - 26 comments

Perhaps it says something about the intellectual sophistication of ancient cultures that some of the most entertaining games in existence are thousands of years old: backgammon, Go, mancala... The now-ubiquitous chess is a relative newcomer, dating back merely 1400 years. One wonders whether Boggle or Monopoly will withstand the test of time so well.
posted by letourneau at 5:41 AM PST - 17 comments

How much is the cost of living in Tehran, Iran? Also look at some other vital statistics about the non-Arab country.
posted by hoder at 12:35 AM PST - 17 comments

Dental History. Anesthesia was discovered by dentists (attributed to Horace Wells and William Morton). Gold filling has been in use since the 15th century.
posted by tboz at 10:53 PM PST - 16 comments

I Love Death [warning: potentially NSFW, Flash, and Music] [via The TechLawAdvisor and Blort]
posted by anathema at 8:05 PM PST - 23 comments

Women in Afghanistan are still widely oppressed, opium production is flourishing, Kabul is running out of money, and elections may have to be postponed (Karzai denies this). Afghanistan is still a mess.
posted by homunculus at 6:19 PM PST - 52 comments

These are your daddy's comics Ever wanted to see Orphan Annie engaged in bestiality? How aboutPopeye the Sailor Man ramming a door to splinters with his massive phallus? Just a couple of the odd little things that passed for erotic art in not too long ago.
posted by Grod at 6:00 PM PST - 15 comments

Harold and Maude. We hold on his wretched face as his mother's hysterical cries are heard in the background. Harold moves his head and listens. He breaks into a sly, satisfied grin.
posted by thebabelfish at 3:41 PM PST - 42 comments

Arakimentari: A Documentary Film and Journey Into the Mind Of Photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. [some nudity + salacity]
posted by hama7 at 2:22 PM PST - 1 comment

Traffic Island Discs is a radio programme [on Resonance FM] about music, people and spaces. We roam the streets looking for people wearing headphones, stop them, and interview them while recording whatever they are listening to. The result is a half hour tour of an area of London, heard through people's personal tastes and rhythms. The site has the archived shows [Broadband (or save as mp3s)]. [via City of Sound]
posted by Blue Stone at 1:16 PM PST - 5 comments

DEA wants to reclassify low grade painkillers as morphine equivilants. The DEA, in all it's wisdom, has decided that the next target on the "war on drugs" is hydrocodone, the most commonly used prescription pain killer in the country. "Ah," you say..."but surely there's congressional oversight for that sort of radical change in the Drug Schedule." But you'd be wrong. Funny old world when the budget and staff keeping getting bigger and bigger and the only way they can win a battle is to chase the arthritic.
posted by dejah420 at 1:08 PM PST - 33 comments

Bush Yoga.
posted by me3dia at 12:49 PM PST - 12 comments

Stewardess ID'd Hijackers Early, Transcripts Show - Gail Sheehy offers a gripping read that details flight crew heroics on Flight 11, and one that points to many questions still unanswered. And in a view of the terrible events from the ground, Firehouse.com presents 22 extraordinary stories told by firefighters who were in or around the WTC. (Be forewarned that these are strong narratives.)
posted by madamjujujive at 12:21 PM PST - 42 comments

A concerned reader in St. Louis just might be Dave Eggers. A weekend glitch on Amazon Canada allowed people to see the true secret identities behind reviews on the site. [NYT Link]
posted by drezdn at 10:26 AM PST - 30 comments

leadholder.com :: the online drafting pencil museum
posted by anastasiav at 9:12 AM PST - 11 comments

muse cube. A nice place for the beautiful.
posted by the fire you left me at 7:59 AM PST - 15 comments

The San Francisco Chronical has an observance on the 10th anniversary of the death of Randy Shilts. His second book, And the Band Played On opened my eyes to the AIDS epidemic, as I am sure it did to a lot of straight people. I was amazed to see him pilloried in the gay press as being a traitor to his "kind." My understanding is that this disfavor arose from his assertion that aspects of the hard-won sexual freedom enjoyed by many gay men were also killing them. Anyone want to weigh in on this?
posted by Danf at 7:32 AM PST - 25 comments

The history of the BBC
A chronological history of everyone's favourite broadcaster, from Guglielmo Marconi to Ricky Gervais.
posted by Mwongozi at 7:22 AM PST - 6 comments

How not to re-enact your favourite movie Two girls take their love of Thelma and Louise too far. Laws aside, what scene from a movie would you live out if you had a choice?
posted by Jubey at 7:01 AM PST - 33 comments

The 213 Things Skippy is No Longer Allowed to Do in the U.S. Army including:
* Not allowed to operate a business out of the barracks.
* Especially not a pornographic movie studio.
* Not even if they *are* 'especially patriotic films'
posted by Irontom at 5:16 AM PST - 11 comments

She claimed to be a sporting champion whose brave and public battle against cancer turned her into a national hero across France. But when Florence le Vot was asked to become the patron of a charity to tackle the disease her conscience finally got the better of her.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:07 AM PST - 10 comments

Get out of the Crimson room. [flash]
posted by xmutex at 9:51 PM PST - 33 comments

Chalghi's Online collection of Iraqi music The Best way to understand others cultures is to listen to thier thoughts and baring that, thier music. For whats it's worth, Not sure if I saw this on Boingboing, Fark,Blort or what, But I can't take credit for finding it only sharing in here..
posted by Elim at 9:04 PM PST - 4 comments

This Presiden't Day , the First Cat would like to ask you some questions.
posted by TimeFactor at 8:22 PM PST - 10 comments

Police seize Vietnamese farmer's unlicensed, homebuilt helicopter This NYT/AP report convinced me that globalization truly dooms that American middle class pitted against such dedication. Yankee tinkering once provided a foundation for the North American industrial revolution. But now:' The farmer said he won't give up, vowing to sell his house or 25 acres of land if that's what it takes to get the license. "If I cannot do it, my children or my grandchildren will do it,'' he said. '
posted by troutfishing at 8:11 PM PST - 38 comments

I'd like to introduce you to Norman Finkelstein. A Jew whose parents were survivors of the Warsaw ghetto and various concentration camps, he is one of a handful of modern Jewish scholars who wants to "maintain the integrity of the history of the Nazi holocaust". I was introduced to him when I read his book The Holocaust Industry, which reminds us that "its central dogmas sustain significant political and class interests. Indeed, The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon." Indeed.
posted by taumeson at 8:02 PM PST - 30 comments

A very good tribute from the Guardian regarding the life and legacy of philosopher-comedian Bill Hicks.

It is compelling and significant that the final words on Hicks's last record, Rant In E-Minor, are a prayer: "Lift me up out of this illusion, Lord. Heal my perception, so that I may know only reality."
posted by moonbird at 6:58 PM PST - 93 comments

What Basic Foodstuffs Do You Always Keep At Home For Delicious, Impromptu, Quick Emergency Meals? A well-stocked pantry/larder/fridge is essential for lazy cooks who can't be bothered to go out for fresh foods and yet are able (and like!) to throw together a wonderful repast at a moment's notice. The list in the link is a bit extreme but nonetheless admirable. But what are the real essentials and what can you do with them? [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:58 PM PST - 47 comments

Bill Miller wants to start a family. He looks to be serious. Idiosyncrasies, indeed.
posted by bonheur at 6:26 PM PST - 35 comments

Voynich manuscript detemined to be a hoax ... maybe? Discussed here previously, this cryptic document has been intriguing researchers worldwide. In December scientists determined that the text could have been produced using a Cardan Grille and look to known prankster and alchemist Edward Kelley as the likely agent of this deception. But the question still remains, is it encoded gibberish, or encoded something else?
posted by jessamyn at 6:20 PM PST - 11 comments

Reprocessed images from the Soviet exploration of Venus.
posted by homunculus at 6:10 PM PST - 9 comments

Geopathic Stress , otherwise known as negative earth energies, black streams or earth rays, have become acknowledged as a hazard to health.
posted by quonsar at 6:10 PM PST - 15 comments

This link does not involve dogs or turtles (mutants, ninjas or otherwise). Rather, it's an insightful interview with Bishop Gene Robinson, conducted by a divinity school student. [more inside]
posted by emelenjr at 6:05 PM PST - 6 comments

Teenage Mutant Ninja Pornography (Windows Media, 3MB, not safe for work)
posted by aaaaa at 5:46 PM PST - 22 comments

What do HIV, breast cancer, dental plaque, and stem cells all have in common? Why, you can wear them! as a tie, a lovely scarf, or even underwear! The Infectious Awearables collection will definitely be catching...spreading like an epidemic...infectious and charming! (via Blue's News)
posted by WolfDaddy at 1:11 PM PST - 2 comments

Update: Maher "Mike" Hawash, former Intel software engineer, who was previously discused here & here, was sentenced in Federal court yesterday.

Of the five men sentanced, Maher recieved the lightest term of eight years.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:59 AM PST - 26 comments

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an non-proprietary, XML driven alternative to flash that can be easily modified using a text editor. People are starting to make games, maps, and other interactive stuff. Is this the future of the web? (You need an SVG plug-in to view this content.)
posted by joeadk at 9:14 AM PST - 24 comments

War Rugs woven by Afghanis often depict tanks, planes and guns, but a new set of imagery has appeared recently: the WTC in flames. More in this Forbes article.
posted by me3dia at 9:02 AM PST - 11 comments

explore the future [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 8:53 AM PST - 9 comments

Richard Roeper tells it like it is: Catholics are being persecuted. "And no other religious group gets bashed with such frequency."
posted by 111 at 7:16 AM PST - 89 comments

Queen of Suffering: A Spiritual History of Korea, by Ham Sok Hon
posted by hama7 at 6:43 AM PST - 4 comments

Research Vs. Religion: Scientists Win Lawsuit Against Native American Tribes The 9,000 year old remains, found in Kennewick, Washington in 1996, will be made available for study, rather than being buried by tribes who had hoped to assert the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in this case.
posted by mcgraw at 6:40 AM PST - 18 comments

...The Rolling Stones released their Four Flicks DVD in Canada on an exclusive distribution basis, limiting availability of the Four Flicks DVD to only one retailer, thereby excluding HMV and all other retailers from making this product available to their consumers....HMV responded by indicating that if its consumers were not good enough to have access to the Rolling Stones new product in HMV stores, then the Rolling Stones were not worthy of having ANY of its products in HMV’s stores...HMV would now like to solicit your opinion as it decides its next steps with regards to its position...
posted by boost ventilator at 6:26 AM PST - 16 comments

What Are The Odds Against Hamlet? This wonderful piece, representative of British academia at its best, most tongue-in-cheek, inclusive and playful, still presents a problem which wasn't (probably can't be) solved. What are the odds that it could be taken seriously? Mathematicians and literary theorists enter at their peril. The rest of us can feel free!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:23 AM PST - 5 comments

If you get your protest, then you ‘ve got to have your subpoena! "I've heard of such a thing, but not since the 1950's, the McCarthy era," said David D. Cole, a Georgetown law professor. "It sends a very troubling message about government officials' attitudes toward basic liberties." (NYT article)
posted by acrobat at 5:52 AM PST - 9 comments

Pro and con arguments about the iPod. The Pro argument: It changes our relationship to music. It creates an in-group marked by instantly recognizable white earbuds. The Con argument: It changes our relationship to music. It creates an in-group marked by instantly recognizable white earbuds.
posted by Slagman at 10:42 PM PST - 77 comments

Cat family being photographed depicts cats--dressed and bipedal--enacting a mundane human situation in a Swiss, or, at least, European setting. It is, in other words, your stereotypical Alfred Mainzer Dressed Cats Series postcard. I have collected them in a desultory way over the years but never thought to Google Alfred Mainzer until tonight.*
*Note that all of these are personal sites and two are Tripod and GeoCities hosted, so treat kindly and tread gently. No direct links, please. coughmaybemirrothemcough
posted by y2karl at 9:26 PM PST - 4 comments

For two decades, Peter Belt has been selling $75 pens, $750 alligator clips, "Quantum Cream" and "foil", and other somewhat pricey and *ahem* unconventional products to audiophiles, claiming these will improve the sound of their fancy hi-fi systems. Unsurprisingly, some are skeptical; however, others seem quite convinced.
posted by kickingtheground at 9:01 PM PST - 11 comments

Convicted killer wins stay. The 9th Circuit Court feels that justice would be better served by being more sure that Cooper is actually guilty of the 4 murders he was sentenced to die for (followed from here). Considering the amount of controversy over evidence handling in this case, I think that they're right.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 8:53 PM PST - 9 comments

Kerry OK with amendment against gay marriage if the "language" is OK. On NPR today, (Audio file located at the bottom of the page) Kerry allowed for the possibility of supporting just such an amendment. More inside...
posted by EmoChild at 5:51 PM PST - 57 comments

Disney ends Special Needs Passes If Snopes says it, it's so....
posted by konolia at 4:13 PM PST - 29 comments

The Lysergic Art of Anthony Ausgang. Cartoon characters painted in technicolor.
posted by dydecker at 4:11 PM PST - 1 comment

You think you've got it bad? That nice Tony Blair has set up a new UK-style FBI which will be ruthless in fighting organised crime. Saviour of freedom Blair says, "the system is struggling against a presumption that you treat these crimes like every other type of crime and that you build up cases beyond reasonable doubt".
posted by biffa at 2:51 PM PST - 14 comments

The Zoology Dragon. "Rather than, as has previously been thought, a slow process of evolution, we now know that all animals were created by the Zoology Dragon. Unfortunately, we also know that the current Zoology Dragon is a bit shit." [Flash.]
posted by homunculus at 2:27 PM PST - 10 comments

I am the smartest man in the world! Has anybody read this guy? His bio carries a lot of hype, and looks a bit interesting.
posted by prototype_octavius at 12:46 PM PST - 16 comments

AA pilot asks for faith of his passengers. Air flight can be intimidating as it is - especially when your pilot has a nagging desire to introduce you to God.
posted by lightweight at 10:07 AM PST - 89 comments

vr tour [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 7:22 AM PST - 13 comments

"I can make your life very difficult..." In January, journalists posing as regular citizens attempted to review documents under Florida's open access laws. 43% of all requests were denied, and in some cases volunteers were lied to, harassed or even threatened by government officials.
posted by Irontom at 7:19 AM PST - 27 comments

Software innovation is dead. I have to agree that there hasn't been anything truly exciting coming out of the software community as of late, at least anything that is going to change the way we do things like e-mail and P2P did.
posted by archimago at 7:07 AM PST - 34 comments

CleanTV (currently in the early stages of construction) is this guy's new web site. It will log instances of "offensive" material shown on broadcast television, enable offended TV viewers to send email directly to local station owners and management, and/or send emails to the station's local and national advertisers. What happens to advertisers who ignore the email campaign and continue to sponsor shows that CleanTV deems offensive? - "If an advertiser continues to support offensive advertising, they will be targeted for local and national boycott. On the local level, newspapers are notified of the boycott and CleanTV volunteers will demonstrate at the advertiser's place of business until the advertiser decides to rescind their support of offensive programming."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:00 AM PST - 16 comments

Electronic music buffs cite Radiohead's Kid A as their best work. How many know that Idioteque, arguably the stand-out track owes a debt to Paul Lansky, sampling as it does Lansky's Mild Und Leise [mp3 file], a track composed in 1973 on an IBM 360/91 mainframe. I didn't. Should you find your interest piqued, you might want to read an interview with Lansky. If that was then, this is now: The excellent music video to Zeal [Quicktime] by Plaid, which, although a very different beast, is an excellent indicator of how far electronic music has come. [Probably NSFW].
posted by nthdegx at 5:33 AM PST - 42 comments

Psychophysical spaces - the tuberculosis sanatorium of Paimio, Finland from the beginning of thirties. Explore Alvar Aalto's soothing Scandinavian functionalism on a detailed virtual tour.
posted by inkeri at 3:21 AM PST - 5 comments

World's First HCI Rap from OK/Cancel, the human computer interaction/interface design comic.
posted by joshua at 12:40 AM PST - 7 comments

Comrade, is Piglet revisionism getting you down? Don't be an enemy of the people. Brush up on your Maoist theory with the Mao of Poo.
posted by alidarbac at 11:23 PM PST - 5 comments

Have a region free DVD player? Just love movies? DVD Beaver reviews DVDs and compares releases from different countries so you can be sure you're getting the best print/audio available.
posted by dobbs at 9:37 PM PST - 10 comments

Minne de vergine are rounded marzipan confections made by nuns in honor of St. Agatha, a Christian martyr who is the patron saint of bellmakers. Not safe for the Superbowl.
posted by Slagman at 9:20 PM PST - 7 comments

whatsthedownload.com "If we download from one of the many cool legal sites no problem." and "Music downloading ain't a black and white issue."
posted by hypnorich at 8:20 PM PST - 36 comments

Penguin Magic is a magicians' supply vendor with a nice bonus: almost all the tricks/props/gimmicks have videos of professional (well, competent, at the very least) magicians performing the tricks/props/gimmicks in question. (This is quite well done.) Everything is categorized--street tricks, close-up tricks, levitation, et cetera--and apprently this magic thing is serious business. The feats are slick, the instructions are largely on DVD, and the community does not expose any secrets . . . but that's what keeps you looking, right?
posted by littlegreenlights at 8:01 PM PST - 7 comments

Harmon Leon invades Blind Date.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:32 PM PST - 19 comments

"My mother is insane. Like, one of those ladies-you-see-on-the-local-news insane. Since it's inevitably going to come up I'll get out of the way that I am too, but at least I take a full dose of my medication... Anyway, let's take a tour of our house."
posted by tranquileye at 12:18 PM PST - 74 comments

What to Rent Computers now recommending movie rentals to people.
posted by AVandalay at 11:09 AM PST - 24 comments

Cannabis sweets on sale in UK "He said he had sold almost 500 of the sweets in the last week alone" "They contain a hemp extract and I am perfectly within my rights to sell them."
posted by Mwongozi at 10:48 AM PST - 11 comments

A Short History of the Sex Film. Safe for work.
posted by plep at 10:26 AM PST - 3 comments

An elderly enemy combatant of the state has been denied entry into the United States for our safety and the republic is strong thanks to the decision. Who was it you ask? 77 year old Ibrahim Ferrer and five bandmates nominated for Grammies won't be allowed in the US today. Avowed communist Ferrer (lead member of the terrorist group "Buena Vista Social Club") said "I am not a terrorist. I couldn't be one. I am a musician." but don't believe him, he's a communist after all and a damn good one at that. Red Dawn!
posted by mathowie at 10:20 AM PST - 64 comments

Country Studies: a comprehensive description and analysis of the country or region's historical setting, geography, society, economy, political system, and foreign policy.
posted by hama7 at 7:21 AM PST - 11 comments

Spot the fake smiles. Can you tell the difference between a fake smile and a real smile?
posted by seanyboy at 1:54 AM PST - 43 comments

Feds win one in the war on anti-war activists A federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists. In addition to records about who attended the forum, the university has been ordered to divulge all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum. Subpoenas were also served on activists who attended the forum at the school.
posted by dejah420 at 10:02 PM PST - 43 comments

Killing the Buddha: a heretic's bible is on a "Tent Revival" book tour and I suspect it would be worth checking out. Did anyone catch the readings in Austin or Phoenix USA?
posted by sudama at 8:51 PM PST - 7 comments

In Defense of Football. Which has been hit hard this week. [via a MeFi comment by boltman]
posted by weston at 7:35 PM PST - 40 comments

If you like breasts and freedom, you might want to check out a new movement to Boycott the Grammys. The site links to various essays in support of Janet and opposition to the FCC and corporate reactions to the event. I suppose they want to send a message to advertisers by skipping it but it'll probably be about as effective as the class-action suit at accomplishing anything.
posted by mathowie at 2:33 PM PST - 89 comments

Two U.S. Combat Officers Speak Out. "What I want to say as my final statement to America is 'Stop letting your proud men and women die so senselessly. If we are going to die for our country let it be for something we can really be proud of. I just don t see us making the US any safer from terrorists because of what we are doing in Iraq. Bring us back home so we can defend the US from real threats to our shores.'" "Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. I am proud to serve my country and even die for it. I know the risks of putting on the uniform and accepting command. But damn it, if we are going to die, make it for something that really is helping to defend the US. I agree that we are dying senselessly for an idea of democracy in Iraq that the US government will never really let happen. I just want to be able to look back on my service with total pride and that is not really what I feel right now. I hate the ones in power that have made me question my sense of duty and honor."
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 2:26 PM PST - 82 comments

Birds do it, bees do it... homosexual attachment and lovemaking are widespread in the animal kingdom, say biologists like Bruce Bagemihl, author of "Biological Exuberance." [For a longer, better-edited version of the same article, go here, but NYT reg. required.] Not everyone agrees, particularly those apt to quote the Bible to justify claims of a "natural revulsion to perverse sex."
posted by digaman at 11:29 AM PST - 83 comments

Coast Guard pulls over floating, propeller equipped '59 Buick driving to Miami - manned by Cuban refugees. "For four of the 11 people on board, it was not the first thwarted attempt to leave the communist island in a bizarrely converted vintage vehicle." (from ABC news) Last year, they tried to do the same thing in a converted '51 Chevy Truck: "The crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter could not believe their eyes...Chugging along at a steady 13 kilometres per hour in the Straits of Florida was a bright-green 1951 Chevrolet truck...." (link to story, as reprinted in Free Republic, alas ) Sadly, the Coast Guard sunk the Buick - which looked a bit like a WW2 amphibious landing craft. Here's a picture, on the blog of a Christian Evangelical (scroll down for story) who argues that the refugees are worthy of a special exception to US immigration laws, for their pluck and innovative brilliance.
posted by troutfishing at 10:55 AM PST - 23 comments

Russell Means goes Republican. Strange times indeed.
posted by kablam at 10:07 AM PST - 9 comments

Southeast Asian Monuments: A Selection of 100 Slides. ''100 slides of monuments in Mainland Southeast Asia ( Burma, Thailand,Cambodia, Vietnam, selected from the collection of Marijke J. Klokke, are presented here ... '
posted by plep at 2:13 AM PST - 2 comments

Art In Ruins chronicles the economic and cultural transformation of Providence, Rhode Island through the eyes of artists, architects, and urban planners.
posted by PrinceValium at 2:04 AM PST - 3 comments

The Church of Daler
posted by oissubke at 10:41 PM PST - 9 comments

Muted Tones is a collaborative music project where a different "curator" picks out ten minutes of their own music once a month, and after seven months they have a full CD-sized collection of content (complete with blog posts by curators as well). The first one is done and they're almost done with the second one. There's a lot of variety and great artists I've never heard of in the mixes. It's sort of a public CD swap that anyone can listen in on and it's probably totally illegal it's really cool.
posted by mathowie at 2:37 PM PST - 15 comments

Good weekend project: start your own Internet radio station with peerCast. Mentioned here, very cool.
posted by tranquileye at 2:26 PM PST - 4 comments

Geoducks! Pronounced "gooey-duck"!
Go, Geoducks go! Through the mud and the sand! Let's go! Siphon high, Squirt it out! Swivel all about! Let it all hang out!
~from the Evergreen State College Fight song. Everything about that Pacific Rim anomaly the glorious Geoduck. Happy Friday!
posted by evilcupcakes at 1:36 PM PST - 23 comments

Best cover letters, ever. "Nothing has ever excited me the way that Dictatyping has. Nothing has ever moved me with such force."
posted by majcher at 12:54 PM PST - 19 comments

Do you remember that one kiss, the one that blew your socks off, that changed the world, that put you in a new state of mind? Awkward yet adorable, inevitable, or intense - talk about your favorites.
posted by jearbear at 12:02 PM PST - 40 comments

MacBand has just launched and looks like the perfect fit for budding Garageband musicians. The site hosts songs you've created in Garageband and everything's under a Creative Commons license, so music collaboration with loops, samples, and whole songs from people you've never met will be possible on this new community.
posted by mathowie at 11:26 AM PST - 13 comments

Shop At Home TV Network salesdroid hurts self. You take a guess at what it ensues.
posted by xmutex at 11:15 AM PST - 40 comments

Hey, shut up, I can't hear! What else will 99¢ get you from the iTunes Music Store? Nothin', that's what.
posted by marzenie99 at 10:59 AM PST - 30 comments

throw rocks at boys! silly friday flash fun
posted by eatdonuts at 10:33 AM PST - 41 comments

Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks. The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.
posted by GernBlandston at 10:05 AM PST - 39 comments

Pull up! Pull up! Several detailed Quicktime VR tours of aircraft and spacecraft cockpits, from the National Air & Space Museum. [QTVR plugin required, natch.]
posted by stonerose at 9:41 AM PST - 6 comments

Zooooooooom. Videos of common objects zoomed seemlessly to the near-atomic level. [RealVideo with audio commentary]
posted by gwint at 9:36 AM PST - 9 comments

I am Blogger, hear me roar! (3.1mb PDF) - A new study shows that "Online Political Citizens are not isolated cyber-geeks, as the media has portrayed them. On the contrary, OPCs are nearly seven times more likely than average citizens to serve as opinion leaders among their friends, relatives and colleagues. OPCs are disproportionately “Influentials,” the Americans who “tell their neighbors what to buy, which politicians to support, and where to vacation...” " They are “canaries in the mineshaft for looming political ideas” and tend to be more young, white, single, college educated, and affluent than average. I just feel so influential. Now where's the friggin paycheck...
posted by troutfishing at 8:37 AM PST - 16 comments

Baby's 'second head' to be removed by surgery "This parasitic formation is fed by and drains off the blood supply system of [baby’s] head." "This is medical history,"... The condition, known formally as Cranio Pagus Parasiticus, is extremely rare, with only seven other cases ever reported.
posted by dfowler at 8:35 AM PST - 42 comments

Oh snap, things for Kazaa and the parent company just took a turn for the worst as an Australian court served the company with a "search and seize" order. I'm guessing that's like a search warrant in the US, where the authorities have free reign to go through your stuff looking for evidence linked to a crime. Surprising that this happened as a result of no apparent court case, but who knows if it will cause any long term damage.
posted by mathowie at 8:28 AM PST - 22 comments

Joseph P. Smith had a criminal record dating back to 1993, now suspected of kidnapping and murdering eleven year old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Smith had a history of "second chances." How typical is this, or is this just a case of hindsight being everything?
posted by SentientAI at 7:40 AM PST - 23 comments

This guy has more credibility than an effete intellectual like me when it comes to talking about violence and football (as opposed to music and breasts).
posted by kozad at 6:40 AM PST - 18 comments

Fight Back! James Saldana from Southern Illinois University has created a anti-RIAA parody called Fight Back! "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister replaces "I Fought the Law". Go here: http://nmc.siu.edu/~pepsi/ There are also mirrors up, so hopefully it doesn't get shutdown too quickly. Pulled from iPodLounge
posted by meanie at 6:05 AM PST - 4 comments

The Skeptic's Dictionary is a wonderful resource for all sentient individuals: 'A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions (and how to think critically about them)'. It's where I send people when they start telling me nonsense. It is also a jolly good read: try the entry for natural, for example. And some entries, like the entry for IQ and race, verge on the profound. There is a print edition, but the extensive internal and external site linkage makes reading the collection online a particular joy. While The Skeptic's Dictionary has been referred to before on MeFi, the link made the site out to be a cornucopia of Urban legend-style oddities, like Snopes. Which I thought was a shame: not dissing Snopes, but the Skeptic's Dictionary delivers a firm grounding in critical thinking as well. This post is dedicated to all of my relatives who chipped in to buy shark cartilage tablets and several fifty-dollar pamphlets full of testimonials after my father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and who probably still think the worse of me for not contributing to their folly.
posted by chrisgregory at 6:01 AM PST - 28 comments

touchy-feely. Small oil paintings on chalkboards of sock puppets, each expressing a different emotion.
posted by homunculus at 12:28 AM PST - 16 comments

Man short on funds, mails himself home. Judge not amused, fines him $1,500. More background info here. Robbed of the Darwin Award.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:43 PM PST - 28 comments

The Quorum After Ricin, anthrax, plane crashing into the Capital--there've been several serious threats to our Congresspeople in the last couple of years and, despite having a couple of bills introduced to rectify the matter, we still have no program in place to manage an emergency that deprives us of a quorum. Norman Ornstein explains (and though link is NYT, no babies required as payment). I know, I know, but it really does matter.
posted by billsaysthis at 8:18 PM PST - 16 comments

Remember Dooce who lost her job for her blog? She's just given birth to a daughter. With Mimi Smartypants' recent adoption, and Defective Yeti expecting in a few weeks, there seems to be a bit of a blogger baby boom underway.
posted by arielmeadow at 6:37 PM PST - 37 comments

John Kerry, Garage Rocker? Record geeks have uncovered that John Kerry played bass with the Electras, a Ventures-style instrumental band formed at St. Paul's Academy of Concord, NH. Strangely enough, George W. Bush also has a connection to the sub-subgenre of 1960s garage bands, known as "prep rock." When he attended Andover, Dubya was allegedly a "clapper" with the frat rock band, the Torques, although prep rock aficionados generally prefer other Andover bands, such as The Rising Storm and the Satans.
posted by jonp72 at 6:23 PM PST - 21 comments

the separate cinema archive has for almost three decades been the only source dedicated to the art and fascinating history of African Americans in film. The archive of over 25,000 movie posters, lobby cards, stills and material from over a dozen foreign countries, spans the past century of important historic black cinema.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:31 PM PST - 3 comments

Ron Suskind, previously discussed when his Paul O'Neill co-authored tell-all book came out last month, caused quite a stir due to some of the sensitive documents he used in the book and displayed on TV. Well now he's gone a bit farther, releasing all source documents online and in the public domain. He's also asking other government officials to help add to the document database and claims new documents will continue to be added. My favorite so far is the one to O'Neill from a admin official telling him to be "monotonously on message!"
posted by mathowie at 5:31 PM PST - 13 comments

This (windows media) movie taken from a French variety show is pretty cool/kooky/amazing. It's a guy wearing a suit covered in small horns, all honking different keys, and he can play the classics by jumping around and hiting the right notes.
posted by mathowie at 4:39 PM PST - 22 comments

Do no evil... it looks like Orkut would like to 0wn your data. And although the piece is heated, everyone did get incensed over Microsoft's near-identical passport policy. And I know you invited types like Orkut...
posted by bonaldi at 3:50 PM PST - 28 comments

Frog Scoot? The FBI appears ready to point fingers in the Plame affair, at Senior Administration Officials Lewis Libby and John Hanna. TPM reports that the intial charges against Hanna may be intended to induce him to name higher-ups. Will this really go down before the election?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 1:27 PM PST - 18 comments

"Evolution" Allowed to Remain in Georgia. "I made the decision to remove the word evolution from the draft of the proposed biology curriculum in an effort to avoid controversy that would prevent people from reading the substance of the document itself," [Georgia State Schools Superintendent Kathy] Cox said in a statement. "Instead, a greater controversy ensued."

A follow-up to this January 30 post.
posted by grabbingsand at 1:14 PM PST - 17 comments

Things We Will Never See On Star Trek
posted by Orange Goblin at 11:34 AM PST - 39 comments

The Hundred Dollar Hamburger. A pilot's guide to fly-in restaurants.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:33 AM PST - 16 comments

Najaf, Iraq - Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, survived an assassination attempt Thursday when gunmen opened fire on his entourage, a security official in his office said...
Of related interest from Juan Cole: Reformers implore Sistani to Intervene in Iran Crisis Ali Nourizadeh of the Saudi newspaper ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports today that more than 400 Iranian writers and cultural figures, along with some members of parliament, have penned a letter to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Najaf, requesting that he express his opinion on the "massacre of democracy and the transformation of parliamentary elections into a mere stage play."
See also The Shiite Surge for further background. We are living in interesting times.
posted by y2karl at 11:18 AM PST - 15 comments

Exiting Deanspace: As one who has watched with growing nausea as the Howard Dean campaign has smacked up against primary reality and disintegrated, this lengthy article offers some useful truths. While the post mortem is far from over, this cogent analysis by Clay Shirky from "Many 2 Many" points out how so many of us could have been so blinded by the process . . . while still having reason for hope.
posted by mooncrow at 10:54 AM PST - 18 comments

Catch some waves... for free! Wi-Fi Freespot will help. Via my roommate's co-workers, who keep sending this round e-mail circuits. I don't know why they include me. I hate technology.
posted by WolfDaddy at 10:12 AM PST - 7 comments

How much is your personal information worth?
personal data toolkit [ via newstoday ]
posted by specialk420 at 9:08 AM PST - 13 comments

Can't Get No Satisfaction - This unassuming essay (it's in a state of half-decay with missing figures) is a fascinating (and accessible) overview of phase transitions in NP systems (it explains those terms). In other words: complex physical systems and difficult problems in computing are related. The seminal paper is here, and this is a list of other essays by the same author (links at foot of page).
posted by andrew cooke at 8:57 AM PST - 4 comments

Comprehensive collection of photo tutorials. There are a lot of great photo instruction sites out there, I found this one to be exceedingly helpful, with a wide range of well written tutorials and tips. Some of my favorites, meteor shower photos, blended exposures, color theory, street photography, and on location shooting.
posted by jonah at 8:30 AM PST - 13 comments

Four California activists were arrested Tuesday while protesting the case of Kevin Cooper, set to be executed in less than a week. Gov. Schwarzenegger denied a clemency hearing for Cooper (the first time such a hearing was denied since California re-instituted the death penalty in 1978), despite ample evidence shedding doubt not only on the fairness of Cooper's trial, but also his alleged guilt. Kevin Cooper is asking people to protest for his life.
posted by sudama at 7:51 AM PST - 68 comments

The legend of Tecmo Bo lives on (Salon link) along with the mysterious QB Eagles, Jerry Rice in his pixelated prime, and Lawrence Taylor stuffing field goals and extra points. Tecmo Bowl brought us some of the greatest video game athletes of our time, not suprisingly it still has a devoted following.
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:39 AM PST - 16 comments

Cidade de Deus. Possibly the best Brazilian film ever made.
posted by the fire you left me at 7:30 AM PST - 20 comments

Return of the Son of the Bride of Bush's Guard service A detailed Globe examination of the records in 2000 unearthed official reports by Bush's Guard commanders that they had not seen him for a year. There was also no evidence that Bush had done part of his Guard service in Alabama, as he has claimed.
posted by GernBlandston at 5:31 AM PST - 60 comments

Janet Jackson's breast has become the most searched-for image in (Lycos) net history, even beating searches for 11 September. Nice to see everyone has their priorities straight.
posted by MintSauce at 4:57 AM PST - 47 comments

Stickee is a British design firm that takes the concept of the corporate tour literally. It's rather fun to explore and the site detail is impressive. (note: flash site and pop-up stoppers need to be disabled to take the tour.) via One's Web.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:55 AM PST - 7 comments

virtual playa ~ a digital Blackrock City using Microsoft Flight Simulator.
posted by crunchland at 11:15 PM PST - 6 comments

Students for an Orwellian Society. Also: The complete Newspeak dictionary and American Newspeak. I love Big Brother!
posted by jdroth at 10:56 PM PST - 8 comments

Affordable housing? Modernist prefab dwellings. [via coudal]
posted by btwillig at 10:33 PM PST - 5 comments

This Amazing Software changed my life... Then they asked me how they could get it for themselves. Imagine if you had a way to achieve the wealth you've always wanted. What if you could drift off to sleep knowing that happiness and good fortune was yours and it was as simple as clicking a button ? SpellKaster is the exciting new software that uses the advanced power of Radionic Energy to make all of your dreams and desires come true. [WARNING : RADIONIC ENERGY IS A POWERFUL FORCE. THIS SOFTWARE IS NOT TO BE USED FOR ANY MALICIOUS OR ILLEGAL PURPOSES.]
posted by azul at 9:45 PM PST - 17 comments

Rules for Being a Republican. (~wink~)
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 8:16 PM PST - 51 comments

Asian Tradition in Architecture.
posted by hama7 at 8:07 PM PST - 2 comments

The Buddhabrot Set is a re-visualization of the Mandelbrot Set, created with a rendering technique invented by Melinda Green, who further extended it to create the Buddhagram. [Via MonkeyFilter.]
posted by homunculus at 6:07 PM PST - 15 comments

GoogObits - "You're only dead if you're forgotten"
posted by anastasiav at 3:18 PM PST - 4 comments

With its latest security update Microsoft has disabled the ability to pass username:password pairs in URLs. If you usually use this format for connecting to your site via either FTP or HTTP, it will no longer work after you install this update.
posted by johnnydark at 12:55 PM PST - 32 comments

Knee surgery for fun and profit! An educational and good use of Flash for kids.
posted by studentbaker at 11:57 AM PST - 17 comments

Pizza Party USA. Matthew "Yeti" Baldwin has an excellent initiative for what America the Beautiful can do with our -- our! -- Leap Days, for just $3 an American.
posted by brownpau at 11:33 AM PST - 26 comments

Li'l G n' R - the first ever Guns N' Roses Kids Tribute Band. Check the audition video here (quicktime). They're playing CBGB's in a couple of weeks. Only $5, c'mon NYC MeFi'ers....one of you has to go and report.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:09 AM PST - 20 comments

Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks At Them -- in the latest iteration of crude preteen fashion, some girls are sporting anti-boy slogans as part of that "faux girl power" look. Further corrosion of civility...or are boys in fact smelly?
posted by serafinapekkala at 11:07 AM PST - 78 comments

Bush/Condi '04? A grass-roots conservative movement is trying to effectuate the Democrats' worst nightmare: Condoleeza Rice as Bush's running mate in '04. Conspiracy theorists, set your Dick-Cheney-convenient-heart-attack-countdowns now.
posted by PrinceValium at 9:23 AM PST - 95 comments

Man's inhumanity to Man Here is a project that young elementary school children are undertaking in order to visualize what 6 million dead humans would seem like. I and others are ciruclating this call for help so that the school, the kids, and you can all be involved in a worthwhile project. Read about the project and ask yourself what it would take of your time and effort to help these youngster learn.
posted by Postroad at 9:11 AM PST - 13 comments

Al Sharpton... Republican stooge? A Village Voice investigation finds that his presidential campaign is being financed and staffed by Roger Stone, "the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount in 2000." Article details some interesting financing arrangements and reveals that Stone has bragged that he gave Sharpton the ax handle he waved at a NAACP meeting to denounce Democratic racism. Sharpton wants to teach the Democrats a lesson (as he did in helping to elect Republican Mike Bloomberg mayor of New York), and Republicans are anxious to help create a division with black voters. But black voters must have seen through him, refusing to give him the South Carolina victory he needed to speak for them at the convention.
posted by Slagman at 8:59 AM PST - 52 comments

Mass. High Court Rules for Gay Marriage. In a follow-up to this thread, the Mass. High Court rules that only full, equal marriage rights for gay couples - rather than civil unions - would be constitutional. This opinion was requested by the state senate leading up to next week's consideration of an amendment that would legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
posted by Stynxno at 8:55 AM PST - 48 comments

Dean is out of cash. Somehow he blew through $40 million and still managed to leave the first Super Tuesday without a first or second place finish, anywhere. No mistake about his Meet the Press interview, though, which was felt as an incredibly strong and persuasive performance. It's obvious that Dean overestimated his grass-roots support, which has currently dried up, but the amount of publicity he has generated is surely a huge advantage. Two options come to mind: blow out the Washington Insiders (as he alluded to in his latest interview), or become more of a traditional candidate.
posted by BlueTrain at 8:40 AM PST - 69 comments

Remembrance of Books Past, by Ray Bradbury
"Why not a sequel to 'Fahrenheit 451' in which all the great books are remembered by the Wilderness People and are finally reprinted from memory. What then?"
"Wouldn't it be," he continued, "that all would be misremembered, none would come forth in their original garb? Wouldn't they be longer, shorter, taller, fatter, disfigured, or more beautiful? "
[if possible, use the Wall Street Journal link - subsription required]
posted by MzB at 7:19 AM PST - 24 comments

The Occidental Tourist: The West is the pest, according to a cracking, provocative article from wise old Ian Buruma, and wily occidentals who gingerly try to sidestep the shit and try to make the U.S. take all the blame may be underestimating their involvement. [Via Arts & Letters Daily.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:18 AM PST - 13 comments

Cory Doctorow's new novel, Eastern Standard Tribe, has been released. You can buy the book through traditional means, or, as with his last novel, you can download the entire book for free with no obligation to purchase. Doctorow is a fine novelist and living the principles he espouses with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He has also written a short essay explaining the rationale behind the free distribution.
posted by stevengarrity at 5:55 AM PST - 26 comments

Sleepy City. Incredibly cool photos of urban Australia.
posted by arha at 2:57 AM PST - 15 comments

Police dog suspended for potential racism. It seems that for some time now, Dolpho, a police dog in Pennsylvania, has been singling out black children, which, in the eyes of officials is clearly a sign of racism, and they are calling for an end to his active duty -- not to mention an end to his life.
posted by poorhouse at 12:27 AM PST - 34 comments

If the poor get richer, does the world see progress? The global "consumer class", defined by those who make $7,000 or more in local currency, is growing quickly but making it even more difficult for the worlds poor to get ahead. 1.7 billion belong to the consumer class while over 3 billion survive on less than $2 a day. Will the growing tide of new consumers in the developing world contribute to the solution of global poverty or simply add to the problem?
posted by stbalbach at 10:42 PM PST - 26 comments

Got bacon? If you love bacon like I do -- and I know you do -- you'll find yourself wishing you had a ecological AND pipe-friendly way of disposing of All That Grease. Add lye + water, and if you don't go blind, you have soap.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:16 PM PST - 21 comments

Artnode: Contemporary Danish Art
posted by hama7 at 5:45 PM PST - 5 comments

"I Have a Gentil C**k." A rooster that is, but Apple may not have realized that when they altered the title on iTunes (iTunes link.) The song (sample: Real Audio, Windows Media), arranged by Carol Wood, is a 14th-15th century medieval love song, a variation of the aube. It may have inspired Chaucer's description of Chantecleer in the Canterbury Tales. [Via Digital Medievalist, SFW unless you work for Apple.]
posted by homunculus at 5:28 PM PST - 10 comments

Texas Pharmacist Refuses Emergency Contraception for Rape Victim. Should the pharmacist be punished?
posted by EmoChild at 4:12 PM PST - 63 comments

The Day the Music Died. Charles Hardin Holley. Rest in peace. A remarkably influential songwriter/performer/producer who left us so much in such a short time.

Plus, this guy and that other guy.
posted by geekyguy at 4:03 PM PST - 6 comments

Sensitive Light photographic images from Smoke to Hoverflies. via Jerry Kindall
posted by Feisty at 11:05 AM PST - 15 comments

How We Are Fighting the War on Terrorism: IDs and the illusion of security IDs and the illusion of security Bruce Schneier at sfgate.com writes about why ID checks are ineffective.
posted by tbc at 9:32 AM PST - 18 comments

"fleet owners of a tanker companies" = the new evil doers?
what kind of questions do yesterday's discovery of ricin in the capitol, and the january 9th article ask about our "war on terror"? [ initial link via TPM ]
posted by specialk420 at 9:14 AM PST - 28 comments

The Exorcist Experience: U.S. soldier pops The Exorcist into his portable DVD player and discovers that he's right there, where the opening scenes were filmed. Now the Army (and movie director William Friedkin) plan to back an Exorcist-themed tourist attraction. Admission will be $2 or $5 with a kabob lunch.
posted by Holden at 9:14 AM PST - 14 comments

A MyDoom Worm Blog F-Secure, the firm that claims to have cracked the MyDoom virus in two hours, is blogging the MyDoom virus outbreak.
posted by NedKoppel at 9:12 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

All Hail The Ayatollah Of The 21st Century Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Iraq is the spiritual leader of the Shi'ia Muslims in Iraq and seems to be a force to be reckoned with as his clout grows. He now has a website and questions can be submitted. We particularly like his views on oral sex:
Question: "I am really sorry that I have to ask this type of Question. But Since I grew up in a western country; I really don't much about our religion. And I can't ask this Question to my parents due to subject matter. Brother my question is, can we have an oral sex before or after the sexual intercourse or can we have oral sex at all? Is it haram? "
Answer: "Oral sex act is permissible with the consent of both husband and wife provided that no liquid gets into the mouth."
posted by turbanhead at 8:12 AM PST - 37 comments

Mieskuoro Huutajat are the "Men's Choir Shouters," formed in 1987 in Oulu, Finland, by a group of young men who clearly had nothing better to do. The idea was to dress about 20 men in black suits, white shirts and black rubber ties, and train them to shout some of the most beloved songs in the Finnish song heritage. Since then they've branched out a bit. Check out their version of the Star-Spangled Banner. Apparently, they are currently performing on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean, shouting at a stranded ice-breaking ship.
posted by carter at 8:12 AM PST - 12 comments

Dad Kills Known Sex Offender Dad's in-law is caught in a possible compromising situation with 2 year old daughter, and having a history of sex abuse, dad immediately beats the registered sex offender up, and kicks him out. Takes girl to hospital, no penetration. Later on, he decides to gun the man down in the street with 9 bullets. Vigilante justice? Karma? Two wrongs don't make a right?
posted by Keyser Soze at 9:54 PM PST - 108 comments

Minimum wage is San Fransisco is now $8.50. Minimum wage in New York City is $5.15 per hour. Minimum wages from around the United States.
posted by the fire you left me at 9:15 PM PST - 114 comments

The scum behind the spam "These anti-spammers, most of them are unemployed people. . .No life, miserable. They thrive on attention. They have their little newsgroups, and they argue with each other. They're their own worst enemies. I used to care what they think, but not anymore." Now, presumably, Scott Richter may have Metafilter to add to his list of projected insecurities.
posted by crasspastor at 8:58 PM PST - 37 comments

Cure for Cancer: 72 hours of sex! A leading tantric sex guru who says he has counseled Whitney Houston, Princess Diana and Michael Jackson claims he "heals" women of terminal diseases such as cancer by sleeping with them -- 2,000 of them in 40 years, and his wife doesn't mind.  
posted by Slagman at 8:29 PM PST - 14 comments

"What a blessing it is that sanitary protection is now worn internally". Adverts from women's magazines of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Also: Persil and Bovril ads and a smattering of ads of yesteryear [Sensitive content here].
posted by nthdegx at 5:11 PM PST - 5 comments

RealOne without the spyware The BBC, being a public service broadcaster, are forbidden from advertising. However, their internet streams are in Real format - the player of which is not known for being ad-free. The BBC have done a deal with Real to provide a "clean" version of RealOne (Windows only) - only available from the above link.
posted by Mwongozi at 4:33 PM PST - 31 comments

Gallery of old Japanese Bank Notes and coins.
posted by hama7 at 3:52 PM PST - 2 comments

An encounter with the polygraph. A soldier and translator describes the consequences of failing an FBI polygraph examination. [Via TalkLeft.]
posted by homunculus at 3:37 PM PST - 10 comments

A yellow submarine. A beautiful and soothing shockwave submarine simulator. (via B3ta)
posted by Ljubljana at 2:59 PM PST - 23 comments

Blinky Links for Blogs
AllGuinness has come up with a relatively easy interface to generate the HTML to create a very cool and intuitive way of signifying the links between your blog and the others they link to.
It allows others to easily see the interlinking by mousing over one blog, all the others linked to it in the list will light up like a Christmas tree.
posted by fenriq at 10:58 AM PST - 13 comments

I love websites and communities that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the internet. Couch Surfing is just about the most useful site in the world for a wandering college student. You can quickly see what countries offer a couch, there are profiles for each participant with past testimonials and friends lists, and you can even map your travels and where you want to go.
posted by mathowie at 9:42 AM PST - 9 comments

Age Maps - photographer Bobby Neele Adams fuses two photos of the same person from different points in their life, with an unsettling effect. He uses the same technique for couples, a unique portrait idea for you all you coupled Mefites. (nsfw, bare breasts) His Broken Wings series is also worth noting.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:34 AM PST - 16 comments

"A pint? That'll be three quid and a criminal investigation." From Fark. What's the line in the sand? Is there one?
posted by effugas at 4:17 AM PST - 19 comments

BBC documentary interviews ex-North Korean concentration camp boss. Kwon Hyok explains, 'I witnessed a whole family being tested on suffocating gas and dying in the gas chamber. The parents, son and and a daughter. The parents were vomiting and dying, but till the very last moment they tried to save kids by doing mouth-to-mouth breathing.' Now Pyongyang's gone nuclear, can anything practical be done about this? Can it be legitimately argued that we have no moral right to intervene, even if we could, as it doesn't threaten us?
posted by Pericles at 2:09 AM PST - 67 comments

Superbowl ad, online at ifilm Is it just me, or did the ads seriously suck this time?
posted by delmoi at 11:01 PM PST - 53 comments

James Tiptree's short story The Last Flight Of Dr. Ain has come to mind a number of times since the avian flu hit the news.
posted by y2karl at 9:00 PM PST - 12 comments

Janet Jackson pops out of dress at Super Bowl; CBS Apologizes. Note that this happened during Justin Timberlake's lyric of "I'm gonna get you naked by the end of this song." ..."It was not intentional and is regrettable," said Timberlake. Please direct all complaints to Viacom (owners of CBS, which aired the Super Bowl, and MTV, which produced the half-time show), if you felt offended. Me? I was pleased — it was one of the more entertaining half-time shows I've seen. Who needed the Lingerie Bowl?
posted by Down10 at 8:22 PM PST - 241 comments

PAIR UP FOR PEACE PRIZE It is possible to see the war against Iraq as a good thing,finally, but this Orwellian War is Peace seems a bit strange: :Tony Blair and George Bush have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for waging war on Saddam Hussein. They have been put forward by a Norwegian politician who said ousting the dictator had reduced the threat of a war with weapons of mass destruction."
posted by Postroad at 7:33 PM PST - 25 comments

Germaine Greer Doesn't Live In Australia Because She Loves It Too Much: What is it about ex-pats - and particularly Australian ex-pats, when they're as intelligent, witty and vocal as Greer, Robert Hughes, Clive James et al. - that makes their justifications for exile ring so hollow? [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:16 PM PST - 38 comments

Truck Driver's Gear Change Hall Of Shame - a site devoted to gratuitous key changes in pop songs
posted by Orange Goblin at 3:44 PM PST - 34 comments

The Washington Post has one of the better articles about nanotechnology that I've seen, providing both a view of the billions of dollars of investment in the technology, and the concerns of environmentalists and consumer health advocates. The article predicts upcoming regulatory battles over how and when this technology should be released. Perhaps one of the brighter points of light is that concerns have shifted away from the superlative grey goo (IMHO: if a grey goo was chemically possible, bacteria would have done it already) towards the possible risks of disease due to exposure. Rice University has a page devoted to current information on research regarding nanotechnology and health.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:53 PM PST - 18 comments

Television thief (64) still in jail after 33 years , parole denied 25 times while same board releases murderer after 10 years. Justice?
posted by omidius at 1:04 PM PST - 27 comments

"Let's say 1 cookie equals $10 billion..." Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream) and TrueMajority explain the federal budget with Oreos. [Flash.]
posted by homunculus at 12:49 PM PST - 21 comments

Camping with the Sioux: The Fieldwork Diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher. 'In the Fall of 1881, Alice Fletcher traveled to Dakota Territory to live with Sioux women and record their way of life, accompanied by Susette La Flesche, an Omaha Indian, and journalist Thomas Henry Tibbles... '
More online anthropological collections from the Smithsonian, including selections from William Duncan Strong's 1933 Honduras Journal, and Kiowa drawings.
posted by plep at 10:50 AM PST - 3 comments

Tune Recycler will take unwanted Pepsi/iTunes promo caps and give them to independent labels.
posted by Mick at 10:05 AM PST - 15 comments

24 hour garage people HEY KIDS ! check out this happening place that plays the sonic flower grooves of the sixties 24/7 !
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:34 AM PST - 17 comments