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Viking invasion ends as longship sails home. The Sea Stallion From Glendalough, a replica Viking longboat (previously), is returning to Denmark.
posted by homunculus at 10:25 PM PST - 13 comments

Leonard Nimoy ruins Joni Mitchell. Johnny Cash redeems Gordon Lightfoot. The Donnas render Men Without Hats ever so slightly less ridiculous. The CBC assembles a list of great (and sub-great) covers of Canadian songs. And a happy Canada Day to you.
posted by bicyclefish at 9:20 PM PST - 65 comments

Red Karaoke is a free social network for music lovers, offering more than 14,000 songs for karaoke enthusiasts, and tools that enable users to record their own video and audio files.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 9:16 PM PST - 15 comments

30 years ago, Richard Brautigan's last collection of poems, June 30th, June 30th, was published. [more inside]
posted by ikahime at 7:59 PM PST - 24 comments

Chief Justice Roberts (mis)quotes Bob Dylan* in his dissent on Sprint Communications Co. v. APCC Services, Inc., making this the first known time that a Supreme Court Opinion has used a "rock song to buttress legal opinion," according to Alex B. Long of the University of Tennessee. Mr. Long knows a thing or two about this**, having authored [Insert Song Lyrics Here]***, a Washington & Lee Law review Article on the subject of Pop Music in legal writing. The article is funny†, insightful, comprehensive in its musical background††, and surprisingly knowledgeable about good taste in writing.††† [more inside]
posted by Navelgazer at 6:57 PM PST - 43 comments

Most people have heard of Body for Life. Do you know about the guy behind it, Mr. Big? [more inside]
posted by P.o.B. at 6:33 PM PST - 14 comments

Joseph Szabo has been photographing his teenage students for the past twenty-five years, and has perfectly captured the ambivalence of that time of life. Samples from his books: Almost Grown, Jones Beach, Teenage, and Rolling Stones Fans.
posted by dobbs at 5:43 PM PST - 20 comments

If you like those giant plush microbes but maybe they're a little too life-sciencey for ya, perhaps you would like The Particle Zoo instead.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 2:01 PM PST - 34 comments

"Meat Vision" allows Bacon Boy to propel sausages and corn dogs out of his eye sockets - A young man's art therapy produced a hero, Bacon Boy, and has been chosen by the Tacoma Museum of Glass as part of a traveling exhibit, "Kids Design Glass". [more inside]
posted by nomisxid at 1:49 PM PST - 15 comments

Wal-mart/Sam's Club and Costco are in the process of switching to a re-designed milk jug. [more inside]
posted by dirtdirt at 12:53 PM PST - 194 comments

The Bullitt chase entirely geocoded. (Previously.)
posted by miss lynnster at 12:14 PM PST - 37 comments

The Journal of Footballing History is a scholarly journal about the history of football (soccer) all over the world. You need to register (or "subscribe" as JOFH calls it) but it's free. Gloriously, gloriously free. After you've subscribed you can enjoy articles on matters such as France's footballing culture, a back and forth about the state of African football, a pair of articles about Euro 2000 and what England's dismal failure at that European Championships tells us about the national side and on shooting from free kicks. There are also short histories of kits, boots, passing and squads and a book review section.
posted by Kattullus at 10:48 AM PST - 21 comments

I'll bet if you aren't Polish you've never heard of Jerzy Duda-Gracz. Poor guy doesn't even have an English Wikipedia page [pl], even though he's the most popular post-war painter [pl] in his homeland. Come inside to see some of his work. [more inside]
posted by Meatbomb at 9:43 AM PST - 17 comments

Please take your meds. Here's some cell minutes if you do. Or hmm, how about a chance for $10 or $100 if you take your meds? No? Well fine - it's your funeral, and then maybe we can just give you a lil somethin to take those organs off your hands. [more inside]
posted by cashman at 8:59 AM PST - 20 comments

Did a 'dream team' of biblical scholars mislead millions? [Chronicle of Higher Education] You may recall the curfuffle over the gnostic "Gospel of Judas" (previously). The National Geographic's documentary premiere "attracted four million viewers, making it the second-highest-rated program in the channel's history, behind only a documentary on September 11. . . . However, it's a perfect example, critics argue, of what can happen when commercial considerations are allowed to ride roughshod over careful research. What's more, the controversy has strained friendships in this small community of religion scholars — causing some on both sides of the argument to feel, in a word, betrayed."
posted by spock at 7:48 AM PST - 142 comments

Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project ― the grizzly bear has had a threatened status for more than 30 years now. Several zones have been established in the northwestern U.S. and Canada to monitor recovery. Kate Kendall of the USGS led a project to investigate recovery through DNA monitoring of the bears. Since the funds dried up, Kate and her team have used remote cameras to capture some interesting footage of bears and other wildlife.
posted by netbros at 7:37 AM PST - 9 comments

Gene Weingarten, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his story on Joshua Bell's busking stunt in a D.C. subway station, tells the story of an earlier busker performing in similar circumstances. With a spooky surprise ending: [more inside]
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:12 AM PST - 28 comments

Jesse van Dijk paints fantasy and science-fiction scenes. Some of these paintings include a little shot of narrative about the astonishing imagined worlds they depict. His work has appeared in a mediocre PSP game and won a Gnoman Workshop challenge. Mr. van Dijik does his thing with Photoshop, and this is how he does it.
posted by EatTheWeek at 7:06 AM PST - 23 comments

Find a short wave radio and before long you should be able to tune into The Lincolnshire Poacher - the station plays an introduction comprising part of the eponymous folk tune followed by a robotic female voice reading strings of numbers: listen! So called Numbers Stations have been a mysterious constant of short wave radio for several decades. The Conet Project [previously 1, 2, 3] has made a collection of the recordings available allowing you to listen to "Ready! Ready! 15728", "The Buzzer" (especially mysterious), "Gong Station Chimes", "Magnetic Fields" and many others.... [more inside]
posted by rongorongo at 6:31 AM PST - 66 comments

There's just something so pleasing about watching a mixed freight train go by. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:26 AM PST - 63 comments

Historical fact follows historical fiction. Lick your fingers to turn the page. [more inside]
posted by WPW at 2:18 AM PST - 10 comments

Pictures of 100 poems by 100 poets, explained by a Wet Nurse - Hokusai's pictures describe what the poems do in the head of a wet nurse. With high resolution scans.
posted by tellurian at 11:39 PM PST - 9 comments

Toronto Game Jam posts the entries and winners of their 2008 Competition. [more inside]
posted by Lord_Pall at 11:33 PM PST - 4 comments

Preparing the Battlefield: The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.
posted by homunculus at 10:00 PM PST - 147 comments

Hundreds of police, firefighters, paramedics and even utility workers have been trained and recently dispatched as "Terrorism Liaison Officers" in Colorado and a handful of other states to hunt for "suspicious activity" — and are reporting their findings into secret government databases.
posted by Mr_Zero at 8:51 PM PST - 55 comments

Agile Mobile Hostile [ Mov. file] A year with Andre Williams the documentary. The wiki entry, some clips from the film. [more inside]
posted by nola at 8:42 PM PST - 11 comments

1999: Researchers at Wake Forest University discover an incredible oddity: a mouse resistant to many forms of cancer. The resistance is found to be inherited (Pubmed link). 2006: They show that cancer resistance can be transferred (Pubmed link) to non-resistant mice. 2008: They've found that the resistance is mediated through blood cells called granulocytes, and that some humans potentially have the same ability to resist cancer. Now they need your help. [more inside]
posted by greatgefilte at 7:49 PM PST - 20 comments

The original Emo. Wikipedia states that much of Emo Philips' standup comedy "stems from the use of paraprosdokians and garden path sentences." And, while there are plenty of quotes to support this, it doesn't quite do justice to the man who wrote the best God joke ever--it's in the way he delivers these lines. Experience true Emo here, through these links which I like to call, "Audio and Video Clips from Emo Philips' Website." [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 5:56 PM PST - 72 comments

"Your anger just earned you a car wash, ma'am." Gas prices in California are hovering around an upsetting $4.58 per gallon. One gas station in the Bay Area is offering stress relief: a chance to dunk a Shell employee and an Express Rant for an Express car wash. The owner, Bobak Bakhtiari, tells NPR: “Cashiers are trained to really encourage all forms of expression during the rant. Well, except for throwing a chair through the window.”
posted by msamye at 4:36 PM PST - 137 comments

Low Plains Drifter is an award-winning short film featuring artistically photographed 8" custom and kitbashed action figures in painstakingly crafted scale sets. It's the first of a series of Wee Westerns, the latest project from Jason DeWitt, a man who believes very strongly that toys are for playing.
posted by MegoSteve at 4:18 PM PST - 3 comments

In March 1944, Nazi Germany occupied its ally Hungary and immediately began preparing the extermination of Hungary's Jews. A small band of diplomats from neutral countries and the Red Cross put their lives at risk to try to smuggle as many Jews as possible out of Hungary from under Adolf Eichmann's nose. While Raoul Wallenberg remains the best known of these "Righteous among the Nations", there's no doubt that the most intriguing character was Giorgio "Jorge" Perlasca. [more inside]
posted by Skeptic at 3:59 PM PST - 4 comments

Felicidades España! [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:49 PM PST - 25 comments

Remember They Rule, the now-stale site from 2004 that mapped connections between executives and corporate boards? OK, now remember NNDB, the constantly updated collection of unsubstantiated dossiers on "Notable Names" of all sorts? Behold the NNDB Mapper; a They Rule-like visualization tool that integrates the entire database of people and connections. It's fun for conspiracy theorists, gossip hounds and political junkies alike. [more inside]
posted by contraption at 3:27 PM PST - 6 comments

Joss Whedon's latest project is a family affair. Seems that Mr. Whedon got a little bored during the writer's strike and called up some friends and family to help him make a low-budget web-series:

The story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to. Featuring Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny and a cast of dozens. Written by Joss Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, and Zack Whedon. Directed by Joss Whedon. Produced by David Burns, Michael Boretz, and Joss Whedon. Music by Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon. Lyrics by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen. Score and Orchestration by Jed Whedon.

Make sure to watch the trailer, and read Joss' announcement. And if you're so inclined, there's an official MySpace page, and a fan page.
posted by vertigo25 at 3:09 PM PST - 91 comments

Canadian military to gays: Join us! They're even setting up recruiting booths at Gay Pride events (when they are allowed) Note that CBC moderators deleted some of the comments on that first link, but you get a hunch on what they said from the other comments. You may also have heard about two gay soldiers who wed on a military base.
posted by SSinVan at 2:47 PM PST - 15 comments

Jean Shepherd has been mentioned before but WFMU's Beware of the Blog has finally dug out an mp3 of Shepherd himself telling the story of "I, Libertine" (mp3 link) (wiki). I, Libertine was a literary hoax that began as a practical joke. Shepherd asked his listeners ("the Night People") to go into bookstores and ask for a book that didn't exist. Fueled by bewildered bookstore owners and distributors, I, Libertine eventually did end up as a genuine bestseller, proving his point that the process of choosing bestsellers was flawed.
posted by krautland at 2:17 PM PST - 11 comments

Nazi German Bunker in my Garden: "[...] the previous owner told us that there was a tunnel built by the germans during WW2. He said it was big enough to drive into, [...] So I traced some WW2 reconnaisance photos of the property, which appeared to show the entrance road to my bunker. [...] And that's where the quest began....." (Original thread here, first link is to condensed but more readable blog.)
posted by orthogonality at 1:38 PM PST - 23 comments

On this page
you can make a choice
out of several little stories
in different languages.
Most of them however can be enjoyed without speaking the used language.
posted by carsonb at 11:12 AM PST - 1 comment

The 25 Greatest Electronic Albums of the 20th Century. From the instrument that was created by Leon Theremin, to the Moog Guitar that's been named after the legendary Bob Moog (the inventor of the Moog Synthesizer), Electronic music has come a long way since its early days. YouTube [a, b, (extreme caution advised: graphic images of death, destruction and 9/11 c), d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y] (Previously mentioned here, here, here, here, here and here)
posted by hadjiboy at 10:36 AM PST - 84 comments

Dancing tango to Eminem [more inside]
posted by ruelle at 9:03 AM PST - 47 comments

Canada has apologised for forcing more than 100,000 aboriginal children to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools aimed at assimilating them. Controversial former Minister Kevin Annett has written two books on the subject of residential school abuse in Canada [Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust and Love and Death in the Valley]. Unrepentant - Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide reveals Canada’s darkest secret - that the Canadian residential school system, the Christian churches along with state authorities implemented a policy of genocide against Canada's native population. Related: Deliver Us From Evil
posted by chuckdarwin at 8:39 AM PST - 28 comments

Women's rights: What's in it for men? - "Women in rich countries largely enjoy gender equality while those in poor countries suffer substantial discrimination. This column proposes an explanation for the relationship between economic development and female empowerment that emphasises changes in the incentives males face rather than shifts in moral sentiment. Technological change that raises demand for human capital may give men a stake in women's rights." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 7:48 AM PST - 29 comments

Christiane F was a 1981 German film that portrayed the life of young heroin addicts growing up in 1970's Berlin. Notable for the collaboration of David Bowie, the film became well known for its realistic portrayal of drug use. [more inside]
posted by panboi at 5:01 AM PST - 28 comments

Miss Neddy's tea blog — all about tea. Insightful and pleasant tea commentary from Singapore.
posted by Wolof at 4:08 AM PST - 13 comments

webofdeception.com is a bizarre, timecubesque linkdump maintained and updated by private investigator and domain squatter Joseph Culligan. In addition to sleazy dirt-digging on various celebrities and politicians, Culligan also includes a huge resource list of links to databases and public-record searches. [more inside]
posted by sergeant sandwich at 3:08 AM PST - 14 comments

The New York Moon is an internet-based publication adhered to the lunar phases. It is a collection of experimental, reflective, and imaginative projects produced with every other month’s full moon. In the current issue visit the 6th Borough interactive map to discover imaginary precincts, find ephemeral street sculptures on The Trash Map, browse sketches of the moments in between Waiting, or redesign your neighborhood in Blueprints. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 3:03 AM PST - 7 comments

Anthony Powell is a photographer based in Antarctica. In addition to his photography, he's shot some excellent time-lapse video of the Southern Lights and a Day in the Life of Antarctica.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:47 PM PST - 6 comments

Behold the raw, elemental beauty of the world's first monolithic integrated circuit, aka microchip, made by Nobel-laureate Jack Kilby in 1958 when he worked at Texas Instruments. The third anniversary of his death was last week.
posted by not_the_water at 10:41 PM PST - 11 comments

Major League Eating: The Game. Coming soon to a Wii near you! I was first made aware of this game during an interview with Bill Shwartz of Mastiff games (mp3 audio download) during an episode of Relentless, a weekly show on Hardcore Sports Radio. Relentless has decided to protest the Beijing Olympics by covering sport eating during any time the Olympics would normally be discussed. The show is featured on satellite radio, and it's definitely NSFW.
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:53 PM PST - 20 comments

Death of a legend.
posted by homunculus at 9:44 PM PST - 44 comments

Connecticut's Have a Nice Life is responsible for one of the year's most acclaimed, highly conceptual albums this year, Deathconsciousness. The two discs (entitled The Plow That Broke The Plains and The Future, respectively) feature music spanning over five years of collaboration between the two artists, and are accompanied by a 75-page booklet on medieval Italian heretics in lieu of liner notes. Combining elements of shoegaze, new wave, ambient drone, post-rock, experimental industrial, avant-garde dark metal, and electronic music, and citing references such as My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division to their credit, the original and only pressings sold out within hours. Full stream of all 85 minutes available here. Direct mp3 samples here and here. [more inside]
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 7:03 PM PST - 34 comments

The NHS at 60. The National Health Service is 60 on July 5th. Take a look at documents, audio and video related to the birth and growth of this "radical plan."
posted by fire&wings at 5:47 PM PST - 5 comments

The story behind Harpo Marx's "Gookie" face. (See 2:16.) [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster at 5:13 PM PST - 20 comments

Bush had Karl Rove. But the original wiretapping President needed brains too. Introducing Kevin Phillips. He predicted the prolonged Republican dominance of Washington 1970-present and advised the Ford and Reagan presidencies. He predicted a more liberal 1990s and when the Bushies killed his party he became uttery disgusted. Recently he spoke about the influence of the christian right, our addiction to oil, and America's debt (public and private) at the University of California Santa Barbara. [more inside]
posted by Parallax.Error at 12:25 PM PST - 57 comments

The Colbert/McCain Green Screen Challenge
posted by Xurando at 11:58 AM PST - 43 comments

Fifty Norwegian artists (including the national symphony orchestra KORK), who recorded Prince covers in honor of his 50th birthday June 7, have been slapped with a lawsuit by the short-tempered star. For now, all 81 songs can be previewed free on C+C Records' website, and some are also available on MySpace in streamable medley form. Source.
posted by astruc at 11:20 AM PST - 43 comments

RIP Tartan Films. The UK-based film distribution company has gone into administration, laying off it's entire staff. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:20 AM PST - 28 comments

FUBAR
posted by Mblue at 5:45 AM PST - 15 comments

The Employable Web Designer ― Andy Rutledge at Design View constructs a list of suggestions to help aspiring designers better craft their own preparedness and, if necessary, adjust their degree plans toward a more effective and responsive result in the web design field. (previously) [more inside]
posted by netbros at 1:07 AM PST - 39 comments

Whether you want to learn to lace shoes, tie shoelaces, stop shoelaces from coming undone, calculate shoelace lengths or even repair aglets, Ian's Shoelace Site has the answer!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:47 PM PST - 22 comments

There have been many efforts at measuring Azeroth, and MeFi's own Hogshead has the latest, which not only determines the land area but also touches on the geophysical properties of the planet's most populated fantasy world.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:32 PM PST - 16 comments

Tentacles and Cosmic SF - Ann and Jeff VanderMeer on the art of Lovecraft. [more inside]
posted by Artw at 10:35 PM PST - 14 comments

In the market for a new house? This one comes complete with upgraded tile, Berber carpet and a European wife.
posted by socalsamba at 10:28 PM PST - 39 comments

No Country For Raising Arizona. Parallels between two Coen Brothers movies. Via.
posted by amyms at 10:23 PM PST - 30 comments

Avebury. A short, trippy 8mm film shot around the Neolithic stone circles and henge at Avebury, Wiltshire. [Via BB]
posted by homunculus at 9:10 PM PST - 6 comments

Hey! You got your Office in my Battlestar! You got your Battlestar in my Office! Wait a minute...
posted by Navelgazer at 8:45 PM PST - 10 comments

Identify the candy bar by its cross-section.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:21 PM PST - 79 comments

Justine Dream Experiment (NSFW)
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 6:53 PM PST - 55 comments

From the dryly professional US National Fire Protection Agency (who write the US national electrical code among other things), to the 1998-ish web stylings of The 911 Site portal page, there's a lot of fire/firefighter related content on the web. [more inside]
posted by rmd1023 at 6:02 PM PST - 8 comments

Marian Bantjes, typographer, designer, and Layer Tennis competitor, received a 419 spam email and turned it into this print. [more inside]
posted by heeeraldo at 5:31 PM PST - 7 comments

Our wonderful nature is a hilarious 5-minute animation about the mating rituals of the water shrew. The action starts at around 1:30. Other gems found at the bitfilm 08 Digital Film Festival include "The post-it note prison".
posted by sour cream at 2:17 PM PST - 12 comments

Atmospheric vortex engines : or, more evocatively, giant, human-controlled tornados. [more inside]
posted by louigi at 1:32 PM PST - 39 comments

Tomorrow, Björk, Ólöf Arnalds and Sigur Rós are teaming up for a free concert - Náttúra - which aims to raise awareness of the proliferation of aluminium smelting plants in Iceland. Held in a large park near the centre of Reykjavik, will be broadcast live on the Nat Geo Music and all of the performances will be in broad daylight with Iceland’s dramatic rolling scenery providing a perfect backdrop to what is expected to be one of the biggest concerts the country has seen. The festival also aims to publicize Andri Snær Magnason's book Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual to a Frightened Nation, an Icelandic bestseller about the environmental situation that will be published in an English translation next month. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin at 12:51 PM PST - 38 comments

Casual Collective has been linked before[Previously, and Previously-er], but they have some more recent, well-crafted games. [more inside]
posted by owtytrof at 12:07 PM PST - 19 comments

The operation was a success, but the patient is now a mere mortal. When she was born, her neighbors considered her a gift from God and lined up to receive her blessing. However, her parents, who wanted her to have a normal life (and refusing an offer to sell her to a circus) , found a doctor and a hospital who would operate on Lakshmi for free. [more inside]
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:45 AM PST - 15 comments

Where the hell is Matt? The 2008 version is oddly moving. Be sure to watch the high quality version. (Previously)
posted by monospace at 11:33 AM PST - 100 comments

Since 1945, one of the great wineries of the world, Château Mouton Rothschild, has commissioned great painters, sculptors, and artists to illustrate their wine labels. [more inside]
posted by mattbucher at 11:04 AM PST - 13 comments

10 Rare Clouds. 20 Cool Clouds. NASA clouds. List of Cloud Types (wiki). previously
posted by swift at 10:46 AM PST - 28 comments

Is speculation a prime cause of high oil prices? Yes, No, Maybe. (Very Wonkish)
posted by Xurando at 8:38 AM PST - 94 comments

Over a half century ago, legendary Swiss photographer Robert Frank snapped their picture as he was wrapping up what would become a groundbreaking outsider's perspective on the U.S., his two-year photo project entitled simply The Americans (previously on MeFi). 51 years later, now that the Indianapolis Museum of Art is opening TODAY an exhibit pairing all of Frank's 83 images from The Americans together with the original scroll of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," friends and relatives have identified the couple who had never known they were so iconic! (via)
posted by Misciel at 7:45 AM PST - 20 comments

Crates are falling out of the sky. Push them off the platform. Keep doing it until one of them crushes you. Which it will. Soon. [more inside]
posted by yhbc at 6:57 AM PST - 47 comments

Hello, McFly?! Don't you know that the McFly 2015's people have been buzzing about for years seem to finally be arriving in a few weeks? Auto-Lacing? Not quite, but there's flywire! Glowing? Well, no. But you could set your wallet ablaze.
posted by cashman at 5:21 AM PST - 28 comments

The US Federal Reserve has allowed ... its credibility fall "below zero". Barclays Capital said in its closely-watched Global Outlook that US headline inflation would hit 5.5pc by August and the Fed will have to raise interest rates six times by the end of next year to prevent a wage-spiral. "This is the first test for central banks in 30 years and they have fluffed it. They have zero credibility, and the Fed is negative if that's possible. It has lost all credibility." [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 5:16 AM PST - 56 comments

Too busy to watch all of the great videos over at Ted (or, for that matter, read all the posts about TED here on the blue?)? Ted has you covered: Ted Top Ten.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:42 AM PST - 22 comments

Meet Dmitri. He's a complete catch. Women approach him 6-7 times a day.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:58 PM PST - 178 comments

Plate tectonics early in its history have been suggested as an explanation of Mars' unsymmetrical shape. Multiple impacts [pdf] have been proposed. Or possibly, it's the result of a single, highly energetic impact....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 11:21 PM PST - 7 comments

The popular online trading site eBay is one of the many companies that wants to have its own domain name. [more inside]
posted by finite at 10:21 PM PST - 69 comments

728 ton pendulum in action: Taipei 101's tuned mass damper during the Sichuan earthquake. [Via The Long Now Blog]
posted by homunculus at 8:58 PM PST - 51 comments

Welcome To The Future Where we drive around in things like this and get 230 miles to the gallon, all for under 30k.
posted by socalsamba at 8:11 PM PST - 69 comments

Beyond Life with Timothy Leary
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (OMPS)
Space Ghost interview
           More Audio
Timothy Leary's Last Trip
Getting High - The History of LSD
LSD - The Beyond Within part 1 part 2
           More Video
...As well as letters, a ridiculous amount of photos, and more at The Leary Project. [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 5:56 PM PST - 26 comments

Vacations in Alberta's Oil Sands. Courtesy of Greenpeace.
posted by gman at 4:53 PM PST - 54 comments

One Post Wonder. A collection of amazing blogs that only lasted one post. (Via.)
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:47 PM PST - 38 comments

Many people are up in arms (heh) over the Supreme Court's decision regarding gun control, but rather less press is being given to another opinion handed down today: Davis v. FEC. The issue was the constitutionality of the "Millionaire's Amendment", which allowed for political candidates facing self-funding challengers who intended to spend more than $350,000 to raise more money from individual donors than they would otherwise be allowed to do. In a 5-4 decision, the court found the law unconstitutional. [more inside]
posted by Bromius at 3:55 PM PST - 16 comments

"I’m Charlie Cappa floating through his nightclub in a sharp Italian suit in MEAN STREETS, Henry Hill being lead through the back door of the Copacabana to a table right in front of the stage in GOODFELLAS, or Ace Rothstein at the dead center of the frame as he walks through the Tangiers in CASINO. I’m also Michael Barnes and I am walking through Atlanta Game Factory on a summer day three years ago. Imagine the Ronettes or the Rolling Stones on the soundtrack and you’ve got a pretty good picture of what it felt like to walk into AGF at the peak of its powers. All my life I wanted to be a game store owner." Gameshark has just posted the tenth and final installment of the strange saga of the rise and fall of the Atlanta Game Factory.
posted by arcanecrowbar at 3:50 PM PST - 13 comments

Flash friday late night thursday fun: Hedgehog Launch [more inside]
posted by roofus at 3:39 PM PST - 27 comments

Birthright Israel , funded by the Israeli government and Jewish philanthropists, provides free all-inclusive 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. The program's goal is to promote Israel along with general Jewish unity and engagement. The blog Jewlicious has a category about these trips. (Scroll down past many promotional entries for the interesting stuff.) Some question its efficacy and results, while some Jews subvert the program. The trips end with a "Mega Rally" featuring entertainment, giant inflatable Stars of David, and speeches by dignitaries including PM Ehud Olmert. Here is video coverage (FLV) of the most recent rally. There is also a satirical Something Awful report.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 3:10 PM PST - 43 comments

Bill Gates files a bug report: "There's not a day that I don't send a piece of e-mail ... like that piece of e-mail. That's my job."
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:06 PM PST - 66 comments

My Bloody Valentine recently completed a staggering series of concerts at London's legendary Roundhouse venue in Camden. [more inside]
posted by Mintyblonde at 2:53 PM PST - 27 comments

Picturing the Museum: The American Museum of Natural History Photo Collection.
posted by peacay at 1:39 PM PST - 13 comments

Real Military Flix. Documentaries, combat clips, full-length movies. For all your warporn needs. Iraq/Afghanistan firefights. The Great War etc..
posted by stbalbach at 1:15 PM PST - 6 comments

"If I make enough money now, I can quit and do what I really love later." "If I just think hard enough, I'll finally figure out what I want to do with my life." "I know people in this career path lose their souls, but I'll be different." "What if I try a new career, and it turns out I don't like it?" Po Bronson tackles some of the thoughts that keep people from pursuing a career they would really love. The article (one-page version) is based on his New York Times bestseller, What Should I Do With My Life? The writing is several years old, but the question seems to spring eternal.
posted by vytae at 9:45 AM PST - 195 comments

The video for Naive New Beaters' song "Live Good" has a mind-blowing amount of green-screen going on, to good effect.
posted by mathowie at 9:26 AM PST - 31 comments

Claiming "complete rip-off" of their iconic image and sound, Devo are suing McDonald's over the "New Wave Nigel" included with the American Idol Happy Meal. See the video of Nigel in action. "They didn't ask us anything," Gerard Casale told Australian Associated Press. "Plus, we don't like McDonald's, and we don't like American Idol, so we're doubly offended."
posted by porn in the woods at 9:08 AM PST - 105 comments

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch (that's MCA to you) says you got to fight for your right... to make movies? [more inside]
posted by Cochise at 8:54 AM PST - 15 comments

Two takes on the immediate future of the electric car: we are either "Going Nowhere Fast" (if you ask a petrolhead from Top Gear magazine) or we are witnessing "The End of the Petrolhead" (if you ask The Economist). A bestiary of current and planned models includes TeslaMotors (now in production), Fisker Automotive (who are being sued by Teslamotors), the GM Volt (due 2010), The Lighting Car Company, the plug in Prius, the GWiz (now slightly less squishy apparently), the Corbin Sparrow, a few (vapory?) models from Zap! and the wondrous Sinclair C5.
posted by rongorongo at 8:43 AM PST - 67 comments

Two Current correspondents are the first American journalists to venture into Mogadishu, Somalia after the infamous 1993 incident when two U.S. military Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by Somali militia. They film one of city street gun markets to show how easy it is to buy an AK-47, a machine gun or even RPG launcher. Their full-length video report Mogadishu Madness reveals the country under the self-proclaimed government of the Islamic Court Union, which was later overthrown with the help of the United Sates.
posted by Surfin' Bird at 8:18 AM PST - 33 comments

Branded in the 80's: Peel Here From the obvious to the obscure to the downright frightening, Peel Here documents the collectible stickers of the 80's and related ephemera.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:55 AM PST - 42 comments

Heller v. District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court's first actual interpretation of the Second Amendment, has just come down. In a 5-4 decision, the Justices ruled D.C.'s comprehensive handgun ban to be unconstitutional. Antonin Scalia writes for the majority.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:46 AM PST - 361 comments

ASIMO Conducts The Detroit Symphony Orchestra
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:37 AM PST - 26 comments

In an intriguing blog entry the mysterious jasminembla muses about the man in the moon, and his relationship with thorns, linking finally to a most remarkable collection of sourced and footnoted Victorian Moon Lore authored by a Rev. Timothy Harley, 1885. In the "Man in the Moon" section, we learn that, indeed, the man in the moon has been traditionally linked with thorns, variously being exiled to the moon for stealing a bundle of brambles, strewing brambles on the path to church to hinder the pious, or cutting wood on the Sabbath, among other infractions - and that this folktale has existed since at least 1157, when an English abbot asks, in Latin, "Do you not know what the people call the rustic in the moon who carries the thorns? Whence one vulgarly speaking says, "The Rustic in the moon / Whose burden weighs him down / This changeless truth reveals / He profits not who steals." Furthermore, no less a personage than Shakespeare has mentioned the thorny situation of the poor man in the moon... and most interesting, perhaps, the rather convincing theory that the bramble-burdened man in the moon may very well be an older "Jack" of Jack and Jill fame, who did not steal, but was stolen by the moon, along with his sister. [more inside]
posted by taz at 5:46 AM PST - 19 comments

According to a new report, children in Sweden are becoming increasingly concerned by their parents' internet habits. "This summer she has been sitting up all day and all night and she forgets what's important to me. And when she's not at the computer she's like a lost soul. She just looks straight ahead and says nothing. I'm not doing so well." Dr Jerald Block from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland is pushing for internet addiction (and its three subtypes: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations and e-mail/text messaging) to be included as a common disorder in the next update of the DSM (DSM-V). "The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them. They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer... It's much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games..."
posted by chuckdarwin at 2:24 AM PST - 66 comments

toneshared is a library of free mobile phone ringtones made by electronica/alternative musicians. From the subtle to the mashed to the downright annoying.
posted by nthdegx at 2:08 AM PST - 18 comments

But where are the flying cars?
posted by troubadour at 9:32 PM PST - 56 comments

Behold ACM-R5, the Amphibious Robot Snake. [Via grinding.be]
posted by homunculus at 8:45 PM PST - 28 comments

Most Americans are aware of their Miranda rights, the most important of which may be the right to remain silent. Apparently, many people don't take advantage of that right. Professor James Duane makes some compelling arguments why you should, and Officer George Bruch agrees. Of course, if you choose to ignore their advice and have something to hide, you will be going up against pros in interrogation. Good luck.
posted by procrastination at 7:47 PM PST - 55 comments

Knee Bouncers: something fun for the itty bitty ones. [more inside]
posted by Pater Aletheias at 7:41 PM PST - 25 comments

"Pashe Keqi recalled the day nearly 60 years ago when she decided to become a man." In today's New York Times: an account of the twilight of an ancient Albanian tradition that permitted young women to forever pledge to live as men -- swearing completely off sex and marriage in exchange for greater social, political, and economic freedom. A last few women who took this step are still alive, and still treated as men by their communities.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:23 PM PST - 47 comments

Citations on the fly. WorldCat previously, the world's online largest catalog of library holdings, got its own Facebook page in early 2008. That was pretty cool, but now WorldCat has upped the ante again by introducing another Facebook app called CiteMe. Using CiteMe, Facebook users can look up any item in WorldCat (there's over 1 billion of 'em) and get its properly-formatted citation (choose from APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, or Turabian styles) instantly. For more than a few citations, you can still build a bibliography of any size in your favorite style, directly on the WorldCat site.
posted by Rykey at 5:59 PM PST - 23 comments

Hacker Photos, 1990-1993. [via]
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:24 PM PST - 36 comments

Sharing means caring, right? Well, Masao would like to share with you his techniques for cooking Torta di ceci which is a type of Italian cake. If beverages are your thing, perhaps you'd like a nice glass of Sambuca exotic fruit punch, some peach juice, or something he calls his "Super Energy Raisin Juice". More of a hot dog or sausage person? Well then, our buddy Masao has got that covered for you!

In all fairness, these video clips might ruin your appetite so be aware of that in advance.
posted by GavinR at 4:51 PM PST - 20 comments

While in Torrington, Alberta you can visit the world famous Gopher Hole Museum. The museum features dioramas of taxidermied Richardson’s Ground Squirrels in humorous situations.
posted by Tube at 4:40 PM PST - 12 comments

A few days ago a post appeared on the Something Awful forums noting a curious website called Notes to Mary. The notes are a series of threatening letters from a high schooler named Robert to his crush, Mary. The goons figured out pretty quickly that they had an ARG on their hands and went to work on solving the puzzle. Several other forums picked up on the game. Robert began interacting with players, sending them strange messages and several series of numbers that appeared to be some sort of code. A Flickr pool was started. Players even created an IRC channel to swap clues and information in real time. The Notes to Mary site offered a link to a login. All effort was made to crack the user/pass combo. Finally, several days after the game began, users were finally able to log in. The game was solved. The players would be rewarded for their hard work. Where did the login lead? Here. [more inside]
posted by lysistrata at 4:07 PM PST - 35 comments

The Fulgurator. By using a flash detector and a high-powered flash of its own the Fulgurator can project images that are only seen when photographed. "This procedure is very inconspicuous, since it takes place within a few milliseconds." A short video of the Fulgurator in action shows its usage and the results.
posted by GuyZero at 3:35 PM PST - 29 comments

Trying To Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon Who is Jack Sheldon? You may remember him as Merv Griffin's comedic trumpet-wielding sidekick, or the indelible voice on School House Rock (etc.), but musicians know him as a jazz giant. Unlike his close friend and collaborator, Chet Baker, Jack Sheldon survived the demons of drugs, alcohol and unspeakable personal tragedy...
A documentary film by Penny Peyser and Doug McIntyre. (multiple YT clips in description; official site contains Flash audio)
posted by LinusMines at 2:07 PM PST - 6 comments

"It's somewhat fitting that a man named Charles Bird King--a name both eminently European yet vaguely Amerindian--would depict the natives of the American East (Creek, Crow, Seminole, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iowa, Fox, Winnebago, etc) at a time when there was a semblance of parity (parody of parity?) between the Old and New Worlds. This was expressed in the dress of natives as well as many whites who lived among them: European brass gorgets and artfully knotted cravats around the neck of a men with painted faces and feathers in their hair. The synthesis is breathtaking: both fierce and fey. It's a damn pity the European influence eventually crushed the Native--this could very well have become our national mode of dress." Lord Whimsy.
posted by vronsky at 12:56 PM PST - 8 comments

Cute quiz: Name the Simpsons characters. Also: US states, countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America, periodic table of elements. More.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:39 PM PST - 74 comments

The New York Times article, Rethinking the Country Life as Energy Costs Rise , is just one of many articles documenting the apparent demise of suburbia. Unlike the notable Atlantic article which focused mostly on the mortgage bubble (previously), these more recent articles are beginning to focus of the rising cost of gas and transportation in general. (Previously) Is this the beginning of The End of Suburbia as predicted by the curmudgeonly James Howard Kunstler? (Discussed previously here and here.) Or are Americans simply readjusting their lifestyles to fit current economic limitations?
posted by Telf at 12:18 PM PST - 99 comments

Remember that thread where everybody posted their survival tips for the middle ages? (previously) Well, this singer/songwriter named Hillel compiled those tips and made them into a song. [more inside]
posted by Afroblanco at 11:56 AM PST - 18 comments

Design plans for the much talked about High Line in NYC were unveiled today. It has been hotly anticipated as one of the most distinctive public projects in generations.
posted by aletheia at 11:16 AM PST - 26 comments

Using OmniFocus to manage a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons character sheet. Nerds. Dungeons and Dragons. Obsessive overuse of Mac software.
posted by Artw at 10:41 AM PST - 87 comments

Measuring depravity. The Depravity Scale is an international research effort that aims to scientifically standardize the definition of legal terms such as "heinous", "atrocious", "evil" , and "depraved" according to input from the general public. But is the Scale itself, er, a bad idea? [more inside]
posted by stinkycheese at 10:01 AM PST - 54 comments

A Mid-summer Night's Story - one of hundreds of novels, poems, and tales in English translation at Suat Karantay's Contemporary Turkish Literature pages. Also: Turkish Poetry in Translation (the side-by-side translations of Dağlarca are particularly well-done), and selected stories of childhood & youth from Turkish authors in the mid 20th century.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:52 AM PST - 4 comments

Adventures in Stock Photography - David Schwimmer's Secrets of Natural Posture, I smell Pulitzer, The simultaneous quadratic face nutrition delivery system, Scenes from the battleground of sexual selection #3,344, Nuffield the rubbish hypnotist, Doctors & Doctoring #1, A Cavalcade of Thumbs... What is Adventures in Stock Photography?
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:52 AM PST - 40 comments

"For U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963, the rights holder needed to submit a form to the U.S. Copyright Office renewing the copyright 28 years after publication. In most cases, books that were never renewed are now in the public domain. Estimates of how many books were renewed vary, but everyone agrees that most books weren't renewed. If true, that means that the majority of U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963 are freely usable." How do you know? The renewal copyright records have traditionally been scattered and hard to access, but Google - with the help of Project Gutenberg and the Distributed Proofreaders painstakingly typed in every word - has just released a single database as a freely downloadable XML file.
posted by stbalbach at 8:23 AM PST - 53 comments

In great news for all fans of the dearly departed sitcom Arrested Development, Jason Bateman appeared on his friend's show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and confirmed that an Arrested movie is being worked out. (MSNBC video link. He talks about Hancock for a bit first; good stuff starts at 4:16.) And another special guest is there to share the announcement... [more inside]
posted by supercres at 7:04 AM PST - 128 comments

The Fly: The Opera. [more inside]
posted by waraw at 5:58 AM PST - 16 comments

"Wow, a new user... That's Great! We'd be happy to show you the ropes!" a PSA on conversation starters in forums and comment threads online that have never been heard or used before. Brought to you by Red Vs. Blue.
posted by Del Far at 4:36 AM PST - 17 comments

Back in the 80s DiC produced a cartoon, aired in syndication and on ABC Saturday Mornings, called "The Real Ghostbusters." Based on the popular action-comedy movie, it more-or-less continued the adventures of Ray, Egon, Winston and Garfield Peter through seven seasons of supernatural shenanigans. It could have been a mere cash-in, but there was something more to it. It aspired to realism, at least as much as possible. It was story-edited by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5. (He also worked on He-Man and Murder She Wrote!)
This may explain the second season episode, written by Michael Reaves and rife with Lovecraft references, in which the Ghostbusters face down the Cthulhu cult. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
posted by JHarris at 3:29 AM PST - 64 comments

The Great Moon Hoax of 1835. During the last week of August 1835, the New York Sun published a six-part article about the discovery - purportedly by renowned astronomer Sir John Herschel - of fantastical life on the moon, including herds of bison, blue unicorns, "a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers, and a race of winged humans living in pastoral harmony around a mysterious, golden-roofed temple." The public's reaction was a mix of credulity and skepticism. Read the full text of the serialized articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
posted by amyms at 11:12 PM PST - 36 comments

The National Geographic Flashback is a section where the magazine publishes old pictures from its archives. There are many strange and wondrous pictures. Some of my favorites include: turtle riding, cooking with verbs, moving the lawn at Stonehenge, Robert Peary at the North Pole, artist along the Dordogne, cannibal fork, Great Pyramid of Khufu lit up by 6500 bulbs and flying car.
posted by Kattullus at 10:35 PM PST - 11 comments

How Smart Is the Octopus? [Via Pharyngula]
posted by homunculus at 8:40 PM PST - 57 comments

The rumors are true. Outage-plagued Twitter really has been raising money and today announced that they'd closed their funding round. Venture firm Spark Capital doled out some cash as did Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. Twitter, however, ain't saying how much money was raised. (It's reportedly around $15 million.) CNET helpfully points out how the press release from Twitter that announced the news went out of it's way to mention that the company will -- hold the presses -- someday be supported by an actual revenue model: "To reach our goal, Twitter must be reliable and robust. Private funding gives us the runway we need to stay focused on the infrastructure that will help our business take flight."
posted by not_the_water at 8:24 PM PST - 78 comments

Apple's Album Art screensaver, recreated for Windows. I saw this on someone's Powerbook today and got jealous. Luckily, some developer decided to make this, for all the Windows users feeling left out.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 6:59 PM PST - 14 comments

"One in five U.S. workers regularly attends after-work drinks with co-workers, where the most common mishaps range from bad-mouthing another worker to kissing a colleague and drinking too much, according to a study released on Tuesday."^* And "why do workers go to happy hour? The majority (82 percent) of workers report that they attend happy hour to bond with their co-workers, while another 20 percent find it to be a great way to network. Fifteen percent of workers said they attend to hear the latest office gossip, while 13 percent only go because they feel obligated to be there. One-in-ten workers (11 percent) use happy hour as a way to bond with their boss" [more inside]
posted by ericb at 4:03 PM PST - 76 comments

Equatorial Guinea is more than your average headline-making, human rights-eschewing African nation. Likening the country’s uneasy street-silence to that of Pyongyang, deported journalist Peter Maass reveals an unparalleled culture of fear blanketed by an international media blackout. But for the Whitehouse, ExxonMobil and Teodoro Obiang—Equatorial Guinea’s torturous leader—the poverty, abuse and dead-quiet are business as usual.
posted by dead_ at 3:38 PM PST - 13 comments

God is an Astronaut is an instrumental post-rock trio hailing from Ireland. Formed in 2002, they started their own record label, Revive Records, to release their debut album The End of the Beginning. With heavily layered melodies, their music is beautiful and dynamic. They've released three videos Fragile, The End of the Beginning, and From Dust to the Beyond. My personal favorites include Forever Lost and Frozen Twilight. More of their songs can be heard on their Last.fm and Myspace pages. Link to their official website here.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 3:17 PM PST - 40 comments

The Silver Swan is a life-size musical automaton built in 1773 from silver and glass, now housed in the Bowes Museum in County Durham. [more inside]
posted by fire&wings at 3:02 PM PST - 17 comments

Fables of the Reconstruction. According to a new GAO report [PDF of full report], the surge has resulted in security gains and reduced violence in Iraq, but the political goals the surge was supposed to buy time for mostly haven't happened. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:02 PM PST - 32 comments

The Itch: The New Yorker's suprisingly interesting Annals of Medicine article which includes the story of a woman whose scalp itched so badly she scratched through it. And then through her skull.
posted by nevercalm at 2:26 PM PST - 88 comments

Los Angeles-based photographer Andrew Bush mounts a camera on the side of his car to capture freeway drivers in the southwestern United States. [more inside]
posted by dhammond at 2:22 PM PST - 33 comments

Pete Seeger and Majora Carter sit down together and bridge the generational gap with a discussion on environmentalism, activism, history, and music. [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 1:52 PM PST - 19 comments

Last week, Genepax Co demonstrated a car that it says runs on water. Video of the demonstration is here. [more inside]
posted by never used baby shoes at 1:11 PM PST - 71 comments

The Website is Down! is a short movie based on tech support horror stories. (Movie may have NSFW language and imagery)
posted by achmorrison at 1:09 PM PST - 38 comments

Project Genesis - "It's destined to be the world's largest cruise ship—when launched next year, Royal Caribbean's US$1.24 billion Project Genesis will be 1,180 feet long, and carry 5400 passengers (6,400 at a pinch). It's the most expensive ship in history, and it's longer, wider and taller than the largest ocean liner ever built, (Cunard's QE II), 43 per cent larger in size than the world's largest cruise ship, (Freedom of the Seas [previously]) and remarkably, bigger than any military ship ever built, aircraft carriers included. In a world where choice of amenities count, Project Genesis has yet another trump card—in the the center of the ship is a lush, tropical park which opens to the sky." cf. The Lilypad
posted by kliuless at 1:03 PM PST - 81 comments

Pecha Kucha - get to the point. 20 slides in 20 seconds. Talk about what you want. Your city probably has a night for it.
posted by Extopalopaketle at 12:37 PM PST - 17 comments

"Using the power generated by a high-pressure CO2 gas system and mechanical ram, Yauner managed to get his toast to pop up about seven feet into the air—which was enough to set the record." The Moaster is the highest-popping toaster in the world. Video evidence is provided.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:20 AM PST - 23 comments

LEGO is full of WIN - Roo Reynolds' Interesting 2008 talk.
posted by nthdegx at 11:17 AM PST - 26 comments

Diane Rehm talks to Jeff Sharlet [more inside]
posted by vhsiv at 11:12 AM PST - 27 comments

1,000 Beasts by Aeron Alfrey
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 10:51 AM PST - 18 comments

95% of degree courses in video gaming at British universities leave graduates unfit to work in the industry, according to Games Up?, an organisation set up to address the UKs video games skills shortage. Maths skills are a particular weakness.
posted by Artw at 10:11 AM PST - 71 comments

Rémi Gaillard leaves a trail of befuddled witnesses and victims in his wake. [more inside]
posted by Dave Faris at 9:52 AM PST - 41 comments

"the circumstances in which I came by this object were so morally ambiguous that I cannot quite think of it as theft." Boris Johnson, mayor of London, a war criminal?
posted by patricio at 9:47 AM PST - 35 comments

"When my daughter Alison was born, in the tradition of a new parent, I began to photograph her, initially in a separate and private body of work. However, in the process of documenting Alison's growth, I developed a passionate interest in human relationships and capturing intimate moments in the lives of family and friends...." A haunting photographic essay from Jack Radcliffe.
posted by dersins at 9:42 AM PST - 42 comments

Man fined for stuffing 13 people in a Volvo. Big news story today in Wales about a man fined and banned from driving for driving around Llandudno with 12 passengers in his Volvo. There's a handy little film attached so you can see just how difficult this is. Great to see license fee money being used for such hard-hitting investigative journalism like this, silly season's come early. Giving the current fuel costs in the UK, expect to see more of this OTT car pooling.
posted by Dio at 8:58 AM PST - 44 comments

Here is a handy guide to the various attitudes towards gay marriage from religious denominations. (previously)
posted by netbros at 8:25 AM PST - 159 comments

Lookybook lets you browse full versions of children's picture books, like The Other Side by Hungarian-born illustrator Istvan Banyai, or Alphabeasts by Wallace Edwards.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 8:21 AM PST - 5 comments

Here for your delectation are the Web Flash Festival 2008 finalists and winners. I know we are supposed to post the best of the web. I know we are not supposed to editorialise. But… but… CRIKEY! Even the best is execrable. What's going on in the Flash world? [requires flash]
posted by tellurian at 7:44 AM PST - 22 comments

"Tests have shown that oxytocin reduces anxiety levels in users. It is a hormone that facilitates social contact between people."
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:50 AM PST - 56 comments

Tennis, anyone?
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:53 AM PST - 15 comments

Do you enjoy classic 2D platformers? Then boy, are you in luck! The indie game community is thriving, and a good majority of its games are exactly that. I've spent many hours playing these unique, beautiful, and often exceptional projects, and there's quite a few - more than I can count on my fingers! - that could stand toe-to-toe with the finest contemporary games. Inside is a list of some of the greatest indie platformers, based on community recommendations and my own experience. Enjoy! [more inside]
posted by archagon at 3:28 AM PST - 48 comments

A cute puppy (not Ugly) who hops like a bunny because she has no front legs is loved very much and given model airplane wheels.
posted by orthogonality at 2:37 AM PST - 39 comments

When television attacks.
posted by loquacious at 1:14 AM PST - 39 comments

"There is no reason that the Internet should be lawless," President Nicolas Sarkozy told his cabinet, as Culture Minister Christine Albanel presented a new bill designed to encourage responsible use of the Internet. The legislation would set up a new administrative body that would receive complaints from the music and film industry and track down offenders through Internet service providers. An e-mail warning would be sent to suspected downloaders followed by a registered letter. After two strikes, offenders would risk losing their Internet subscription for up to a year. "We know that we are not going to eradicate piracy 100 percent, but we think that we can reduce it significantly," Albanel told a news conference. [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 12:55 AM PST - 142 comments

It's been almost a year since Roger Ebert responded to Clive Barker on the debate over whether games can truly be "art." In support of Mr. Barker's position, here are some of the most artistic moments from games in recent years - the tragic, the trippy, the Saturday mornings, the darkly comic, the downs and the ups, and the rare phyrric victory. [more inside]
posted by Navelgazer at 10:03 PM PST - 124 comments

The Man Without a Face - "A Jehovah's Witness who for decades refused all surgery on his horrific facial disfigurement has been given hope by a British doctor and new medical technology." from the Telegraph.co.uk. (Possible NSFW or bad for the squeemish)
posted by blue_beetle at 9:28 PM PST - 71 comments

A cat with no face is nonetheless loved very much. Let's be blunt, Chase the cat is a surprising creature. When she was only a few weeks old, she lost her face in a car accident. While this link isn't exactly NSFW by any use of the term, she is a disfigured cat - no face, no eyelids - and at first she's a little hard to look at. However, she is in no pain and she is obviously well loved and well taken care of. Chase is currently "employed" as a therapy cat, so that people can "feel just as great about themselves and realize that not everyone looks perfect and that is OK."
posted by Sticherbeast at 8:57 PM PST - 74 comments

The hardest race you've never heard of: Primal Quest 2008 kicked off today in SW Montana. Using only a map and compass, teams of 4 have up to 10 days to run, kayak, mountain-bike, riverboard and climb over 500 miles of wilderness. Sleeping is not required by the rules. [more inside]
posted by dolface at 7:04 PM PST - 18 comments

10 Amazing Tree Houses from Around the World: Sustainable, Unique and Creative Designs. 15 (More) Amazing Tree Houses from Around the World: Unusual, Ecological and Inspired Designs.
posted by homunculus at 5:00 PM PST - 17 comments

The Hawaiian Kingdom Government is back up and running. This monarchy, deposed in 1898, rules from the Iolani Palace, in which Hawaii's last native queen ruled and was later imprisoned.
posted by baphomet at 4:51 PM PST - 78 comments

Philip Pullman interviewed about the ideas behind "His Dark Materials" [YT,1 hour, South Bank Show,parts 2,3,4,5,6,7]. Inside, and hidden from those who don't want spoilers, are links relating to the ideas raised and about the books generally. [more inside]
posted by rongorongo at 4:40 PM PST - 83 comments

1200 kilometers southwest of Acapulco lies the only atoll in the eastern Pacific: one of France's most isolated overseas possessions. First named for an English pirate/buccaneer/privateer, written about here by one John Harris in 1744, the island has changed hands numerous times: claimed by France as part of Tahiti, claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The island remained uninhabited until 1906, when a British and Mexican mission began mining guano (still in demand today, though sources can now be found a little closer to home). The atoll was thought to have been polished off entirely by an earthquake rumored to have sunk the islands outright in August of 1909. [more inside]
posted by mdonley at 4:29 PM PST - 11 comments

Today we'll see Dave go back in time. Most of the retro Nickelodeon love goes to You Can't Do That On Television, but let us not forget about the show that gave us the Hurry-Up Machine, a pre-Full House Dave Coulier, Hern Burford, and the Burping Chili Men. It's Out of Control! [Previously] [more inside]
posted by Servo5678 at 3:21 PM PST - 29 comments

Wikipedia Updater Fired For Scooping NBC on Tim Russert's Death -- "When Tim Russert collapsed ten days ago, his colleagues at NBC held off reporting the news for almost two hours so his family wouldn't hear about it from the media....The news appeared on Wikipedia 40 minutes before the NBC report, with all of the verbs in Tim's entry changed from present tense to past. It appeared on the New York Times's web site 5 minutes before the NBC story. It zipped around Twitter all afternoon. According to the New York Times, the person who updated the Wikipedia entry 40 minutes before NBC reported it worked at Internet Broadcasting Services, a company that provides web services to TV stations including NBC affiliates." [more inside]
posted by ericb at 2:26 PM PST - 74 comments

Breakdown. First-hand accounts of the impact and stigma of mental illness. Moving subject matter presented in a way that updates traditional newspaper reporting.
posted by GuyZero at 1:05 PM PST - 18 comments

A stash of charmingly goofy adventure book covers from Christopher "MGK" Bird. [more inside]
posted by Pronoiac at 12:33 PM PST - 19 comments

A Dispatches documentary Gaza: The Killing Zone shows the shocking reality of seemingly ordinary Palestinians caught in the crossfire between Hamas and Israeli forces. Feels almost like a sci-fi movie about some fictional totalitarian regime. Hard to believe it's their everyday life. WARNING: contains scenes of graphic violence, which you may find disturbing.
posted by Surfin' Bird at 9:45 AM PST - 65 comments

MagCloud enables you to publish your own magazines. All you have to do is upload a PDF and they take care of the rest: printing, mailing, subscription management, and more.
posted by FunkyHelix at 9:13 AM PST - 42 comments

Read this excerpt of Richard Sennett's The Craftsman. Listen to him on the Diane Rehm show or peruse this interview with Laurie Taylor. Discuss.
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:43 AM PST - 25 comments

Happy Birthday, Anne Carson! The iconoclastic modern poet who published the arresting, compulsively readable Autobiography of Red turned 57 this weekend. [more inside]
posted by zoomorphic at 7:27 AM PST - 9 comments

Every issue of The Times published between 1785-1985, digitally scanned and fully searchable. (Via Wordorigins.org.)
posted by languagehat at 6:50 AM PST - 45 comments

Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Withdraws MDC From 'Sham' Poll. Apparently he agrees with Mugabe's claim that only God can remove him from office. Prev Zim.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:43 AM PST - 65 comments

Amy Winehouse has Emphysema. The 24 year old artist, whose career has netted multiple awards but has often been overshadowed by her drug use, now faces a lung condition that can be slowed but never reversed, with effects ranging from shortness of breath to cyanosis and heart faliure.
posted by Artw at 1:47 AM PST - 291 comments

Record player + video camera = Phonographantasmascope, animator Jim LeFevre's extension of the zoetrope. "It is all live action and works by using the shutter speed of the camera rather than the rather irritating stroboscope methods other 3D Zoetropes use."
posted by nthdegx at 12:38 AM PST - 15 comments

George Carlin Dead at 71 Not sure if I really want to make a joke out of this one, but why not post your favorite quotes and routines of his.
posted by Del Far at 10:14 PM PST - 411 comments

The Spertus Museum/Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies has just canceled Imaginary Coordinates due to complaints that some of the artwork (NSFW: nudity, disturbing imagery) in the exhibit had an anti-Israeli slant. [more inside]
posted by hydrophonic at 10:08 PM PST - 45 comments

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. Example. (via)
posted by blue_beetle at 8:54 PM PST - 27 comments

The Skins They Carried. Military tattoos in the age of Iraq. [more inside]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:52 PM PST - 32 comments

"I began to realize that "robots"-- in all their various forms-- can really be seen as a symbol of a larger relationship between people and technology." In 1988, Frederick Schodt wrote about the Japanese fascination and use of robots in his book Inside the Robot Kingdom, curious by the disparities between American and Japanese manufacturing processes . In 1988, the American public wasn't ready for the book, or for robots. Today, Japan still has embraced robotic automation in a way that arguably no other country has. For more similar topics, Mangobot is a column that reports on Asian futurism.
posted by artifarce at 7:22 PM PST - 22 comments

It's 1881. You're real estate speculator James Lafferty, and you've just bought a large parcel of empty, scrubby shoreside land just south of Atlantic City. Problem is, it's cut off from the AC streetcar line by a deep tidal creek. How do you entice potential buyers to make the trek over the inlet and look at your property? Build a giant elephant, of course. Capitalizing on the celebrity of P. T. Barnum's famous Jumbo, Lafferty built 65-foot tall Lucy the Elephant, the first of three giant elephants Lafferty built (followed by Cape May's Light of Asia and Coney Island's Elephantine Colossus). He even took out a patent on the very idea of buildings shaped like animals. Though threatened by decades of neglect and rot, the Save Lucy Committee began preservation efforts in 1970, moving her to her present site and giving her a complete restoration. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 5:01 PM PST - 21 comments

Pakistan’s Phantom Border. "Pakistan is often called the most dangerous country on earth. Increasingly, its people would agree. Despite nearly $6 billion in U.S. military aid for the border region since 9/11, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and homegrown terrorist groups have eroded the border with Afghanistan, inflicting a steady toll of suicide bombings. Going where few Westerners dare—from Taliban strongholds to undercover-police headquarters—the author sees what’s tearing the country apart."
posted by homunculus at 4:55 PM PST - 24 comments

screamyGuy: Random Acts of Programming [created using Processing]
posted by brundlefly at 4:39 PM PST - 8 comments

I apologize in advance for linking to Cracked.com, internet leader in lame lists, but this 3-minute video sketch works for me: The Real Reason Guns Are Dangerous. [more inside]
posted by wendell at 3:39 PM PST - 61 comments

"Bishop contends that as Americans have moved over the past three decades, they have clustered in communities of sameness, among people with similar ways of life, beliefs, and in the end, politics. There are endless variations of this clustering—what Bishop dubs the Big Sort—as like-minded Americans self-segregate in states, cities—even neighborhoods. Consequences of the Big Sort are dire: balkanized communities whose inhabitants find other Americans to be culturally incomprehensible; a growing intolerance for political differences that has made national consensus impossible; and politics so polarized that Congress is stymied and elections are no longer just contests over policies, but bitter choices between ways of life. " Article about the book from the Economist. Book's Website. A review.
posted by wittgenstein at 11:21 AM PST - 49 comments

Who killed the semicolon? Paul Collins fingers a 19th-century culprit; Trevor Butterworth finds an American anitipathy to this troublesome punctuation mark. [previously] [via]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:16 AM PST - 68 comments

Jimmy Rodgers' blue yodel series started in 1927. He started with Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas). My favorite covers were by the Everly Brothers and by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. There's even a hip hop cover.
posted by RussHy at 11:01 AM PST - 10 comments

Ugly [single link photobucket post]
posted by orthogonality at 9:31 AM PST - 141 comments

StarWarsCrawl.com. Generate your own Star-Wars-style opening crawl.
posted by Prospero at 7:50 AM PST - 41 comments

On June 22, 1985, Air India flight 182 left Montreal en route to Delhi with 329 passengers aboard, most of them Canadian. Four hours later, an explosion in the baggage compartment destroyed the plane, killing all on board. Premiering tonight on CBC television, this documentary (trailer) recounts the final hours, days and weeks before the plane disappeared off Irish radar screens. It reveals the story of how Canada’s first major counter-terrorism operation failed to thwart the conspiracy and details the errors that resulted in the world’s most lethal act of aviation terrorism before Sept. 11. (previously on MetaFilter) [more inside]
posted by netbros at 7:21 AM PST - 31 comments

Playmobil Online Archiv - Playmobils archive of every toy they've ever produced, from it's start in 1974 onwards. It's only available in German, but even non-German speakers can appreciate gems like this awesome tiger tamer or these Mexican bandits, odd anachronisms like the chimney sweep or the figures for recreating the American civil war. [more inside]
posted by Artw at 11:24 PM PST - 29 comments

Capitol Words allows you to see what the most often used word was on any given day in the U.S Congress. [via mefi projects]
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:55 PM PST - 23 comments

Remembering the Hollywood 10 .   "At rare intervals, there appears among us a person whose virtues are so manifest to all, who has such a capacity for relating to every sort of human being, who so subordinates his own ego drive to the concerns of others, who lives his whole life in such harmony with the surrounding community that he is revered and loved by everyone with whom he comes in contact. Such a man Dalton Trumbo was not." (The background/history.) Then there is the opposing view.
posted by spock at 6:45 PM PST - 34 comments

"Cultures at the far edge of the world" (YT) and "The worldwide web of belief and ritual" (YT). Two TED talks by anthropologist and explorer Wade Davis (previously) on the diversity of the world's indigenous cultures and their beliefs, and the richness of the "Ethnosphere," which he describes as "the sum total of all thoughts and dreams, myths, ideas, inspirations, intuitions brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness." [Via Mind Hacks]
posted by homunculus at 4:50 PM PST - 12 comments

Watch the story. Still photography and narrative as documentary.
posted by tristeza at 4:27 PM PST - 7 comments

The late, great Tony Wilson is being honoured today with a 24-hour long "intelligent" conversation in Manchester, England. Wilson was a musical Svengali par excellence. He co-founded Factory Records, helped discover both Joy Division and the Happy Mondays and has been credited with reviving the city that was cradle to the industrial revolution. [more inside]
posted by MrMerlot at 1:46 PM PST - 15 comments

Snail mail isn't that slow, unless you use real snails.... As part of a "slow art" project, Vicki Isley and Paul Smith of Bournemouth University have attached radio frequency identification chips (RFID's) to three gastropods, Austin, Cecil and Muriel. The RFID's will pick up your mail as the carriers amble past an electronic reader and deliver it when (in just a few days! ...or weeks ...or months....) they slip past a second reader.... RealSnailMail! [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 10:37 AM PST - 15 comments

The black backs by and on which the fortunes of the New South were built:

On March 30, 1908, Green Cottenham was arrested by the sheriff of Shelby County, Alabama, and charged with “vagrancy.”... Cottenham’s offense was blackness.... [After a brief trial] Cottenham... was sold. Under a standing arrangement between the county and a vast subsidiary of the industrial titan of the North — U.S. Steel Corporation — the sheriff turned the young man over to the company for the duration of his sentence.... he was chained inside a long wooden barrack at night and required to spend nearly every waking hour digging and loading coal. His required daily “task” was to remove eight tons of coal from the mine. Cottenham was subject to the whip for failure to dig the requisite amount, at risk of physical torture for disobedience, and vulnerable to the sexual predations of other miners.... Forty-five years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves, Green Cottenham and more than a thousand other black men toiled under the lash at Slope 12.

— from the Introduction to Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II. The book's website includes reviews of the book, an excerpt of the Introduction, and an extensive photo gallery that includes disturbing images of enslaved and tortured prisoners. [more inside]
posted by orthogonality at 1:12 AM PST - 94 comments

For those still wondering what the hell Joe Cocker was singing in 1969 at Woodstock in his landmark version of "A Little Help From My Friends", this hilarious video"transcription" (with some visuals added to the footage) should help. For purists, the original unedited version here.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 11:02 PM PST - 62 comments

A young girl is saved from being buried alive. NSFW [more inside]
posted by sluglicker at 10:19 PM PST - 36 comments

Wars around the world have killed three times more people over the past half-century than previously estimated, a new study suggests... The researchers estimate that 5.4 million people died from 1955 to 2002 as a result of wars in 13 countries. These deaths range from 7,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 3.8 million in Vietnam. According to Obermeyer, the estimates are three times higher than those of previous reports. Data from this new study also suggests that 378,000 people worldwide died a violent death in war each year between 1985 and 1994, compared with 137,000 estimated at the time.

ABC News: Study: War Deaths Grossly Underestimated
The study: Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme
Related: Measuring deaths from conflict
posted by y2karl at 9:06 PM PST - 47 comments

The classic arcade game Dragon's Lair is turning 25 and Don Bluth has a deal for you. For one week only, if you buy a copy of Dragon's Lair for DVD, PC, or Blu-Ray from the online store at DigitialLeisure.com you can have it signed by Don Bluth as well as designer Rick Dyer, and animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. The new cleaned up version looks sweet! I hear it looks really great on Blu-Ray. I can remember drooling over it when I saw it played on the TV show Starcade. There was even a Saturday morning cartoon based on the game. If you spent any time in an arcade during the mid-80's you'll probably recall the attract mode which is one of the most memorable ones in the history of arcade games. I still have it burned into my brain. Need a walkthrough for the game? Well, the website Dragon's Lair Project has that covered.
posted by GavinR at 8:53 PM PST - 54 comments

Unusual snow globes by Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz. [via]
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:35 PM PST - 8 comments

US Traffic & Road Sign Test. Five part, 30 questions each, multiple choice test on US road, highway and traffic signs. Results include inline scoring and explanation of each sign. [more inside]
posted by Mitheral at 8:23 PM PST - 73 comments

After breaking up with his band, Justin Vernon retreated to his father's cabin in the northwoods of Wisconsin to recuperate over the winter. [more inside]
posted by Kibbutz at 8:07 PM PST - 56 comments

Did you happen to see those "making-popcorn-pop-with-a-cellphone" clips that showed up at the end of last month on the toobs? Well, WIRED wrote about it, and a kajillion copycat clips showed up in about the time it'd take to, you know, make some popcorn. Turns out it was a viral, natch, as a cursory search will reveal. But just today a clip appeared that explains how the actual stunt was pulled off. Well, anyway, as you've probably guessed by now, this is all just an excuse to link to Popcorn. Yep, Popcorn. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:01 PM PST - 42 comments

A recently divulged casualty of the Iowa floods (previously covered on Mefi here) is the Mighty Wurlitzer organ at the Paramount Theater. The pictures are pretty awful, and the video is even worse. If you grew up in Cedar Rapids any time in the last 80 years, you'll have heard the Wurlitzer on at least one occasion. Cedar Rapidians are vowing to "Return and Rebuild". [more inside]
posted by thanotopsis at 4:36 PM PST - 4 comments

A new crop circle formation in Wiltshire depicts the first 10 digits of pi. [more inside]
posted by casarkos at 2:55 PM PST - 95 comments

Mashup artist Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, is another artist to try the 'pay whatever you want' Internet release model. However, his 55-minute album consists of over 300 samples from other artists, with many current and past hits. No stranger to current controversies in copyright, Gillis also appeared in the documentary Good Copy Bad Copy. Previously. [more inside]
posted by uaudio at 2:32 PM PST - 44 comments

Colors have many names. The online color thesaurus will recognize 20,000 of them (and let you see which is most popular). You can also browse a page of colors and associated names (yes, "goose turd" and "dead Spaniard" were once common color names). Of course, the most popular color names probably come from our childhoods. [more inside]
posted by blahblahblah at 12:20 PM PST - 29 comments

Flash Friday: If you enjoyed GemCraft (recently posted by juv3nal), you'll want to stop by towerdefence.net, catering to all of your tower defense needs. With a hundred Flash games and ten downloadable ones, you're sure to find something you like. [more inside]
posted by greenie2600 at 12:19 PM PST - 15 comments

Green screen or not? The latest advertisement for incumbent Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota is raising questions about whether his wife (actress and model Laurie Coleman), shown drinking coffee with him presumably in their home, was anywhere near her husband during the shoot. The controversy might amount to nothing more than the many terrible photoshop disasters we've all seen before if it weren't for all the rumors about the state of the marriage between Senator Coleman and his wife, where she resides, and the growing internet accusations and general political hackery over the new advertisement. [more inside]
posted by Muddler at 12:06 PM PST - 74 comments

Requiem for Ferris Bueller (SLYT)
posted by OmieWise at 11:52 AM PST - 46 comments

How to catch a mouse without a mousetrap. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 11:13 AM PST - 49 comments

As we were talking about Joke Theft, here's an interesting case. It appears that the Daily Show may have stolen a joke from Penny Arcade. [more inside]
posted by Caduceus at 10:01 AM PST - 105 comments

In May 2006, we discussed switch pitcher Pat Venditte on MetaFilter. Many wondered: what kind of bizarre game-theoretic catastrophe would occur when the switch pitcher faced a switch hitter? Two years later, it has come to pass. (video)
posted by escabeche at 9:20 AM PST - 78 comments

The Fatherland of Apples Orion Magazine chronicles "[t]he origins of a favorite fruit and the race to save its native habitat." More about the origins of the apple and wild apples by Michael Pollan, Jake Fleming (PowerPoint), William J. Bramlage (PDF), Linda McCandless (with the germplasm repository catalog here (PDF)) and Barrie Edward Juniper (Google Books preview).
posted by cog_nate at 8:59 AM PST - 15 comments

Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system. Georgia Rep. John Barrow ran ads accusing his party of wanting to "cut and run in Iraq," and was one of the Blue Dogs to send a letter to Pelosi asking to be allowed to vote to give the President warrantless eavesdropping powers and to give lawbreaking telecoms amnesty (previously). Barrow faces a July primary challenge from State Senator Regina Thomas, whose policy positions more closely match Obama's views and the views of the Democratic base in that district. Despite this, Obama has taped a radio ad in support of Barrow.
posted by joannemerriam at 8:51 AM PST - 124 comments

Project Dalek: Alan has deliberately 'beefed up' the dome. From a child's eye view it looks like half an inch thick battle armour but the dome is really only four millimetres in thickness. This looks more substantial when viewed from underneath - an angle from which children often see Daleks. [more inside]
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:37 AM PST - 26 comments

Abrupt climate change is popularly thought of in the movies. But new Greenland ice core findings show two huge Northern Hemisphere temperature spikes occured prior to the close of the last ice age some 11,500 years ago, with a 22-degree-Fahrenheit spike in just 50 years. These followed a massive "reorganization" of atmospheric circulation taking just one or two years. "We know such events are in Earth's future, but we don't know when .. we are speeding blindly down a narrow road, hoping there are no curves ahead." [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 8:03 AM PST - 21 comments

To kick off the northern hemisphere's summer solstice, an old favorite from the original Eddie Cochran, The Who, Van Halen, Blue Cheer, Brian Setzer, T. Rex, Bruce Springsteen, yes, even Hanson. But wait, last but not least, Alvin and the Chipmunks.
posted by netbros at 6:51 AM PST - 25 comments

Little kids are cute.
posted by danep at 5:29 AM PST - 35 comments

Will Photographing Same-Sex Ceremonies Hurt or Help Your Wedding Photography Business? Wedding photographer Sean Cayton wonders how to deal with gay weddings. "If you're thinking, 'I just won't do same-sex weddings because I don't need the headache,' it's not that simple." via
posted by Poagao at 1:57 AM PST - 334 comments

Elvis rode to fame on one of her covers and Janis got rich on her signature song, but you haven't truly heard Hound Dog or Ball & Chain until you've experienced Big Mama Thornton belting them out. A seminal blues figure who could play the harp with the best of them, she was true original. In her heyday, Willie Mae was a 6-foot tall, 350-pound, gun-toting crossdresser who led a rough and colorful life and took no guff whatsoever. Emaciated but still powerful, she gives a final raw and expressive performance of Ball & Chain and Hound Dog shortly before her death in 1984. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive at 12:24 AM PST - 21 comments

FridayFun: This game is absolutely ridiculous, but you'll enjoy it anyway! (Via)
posted by P.o.B. at 9:31 PM PST - 33 comments

Shockwave Friday Fun - Tank Ball 2. (previously) [more inside]
posted by Samuel Farrow at 7:49 PM PST - 16 comments

NASA Phoenix probe finds evidence of frozen water on Mars
posted by elpapacito at 6:40 PM PST - 94 comments

"Happy Birthday to You" is the best-known and most frequently sung song in the world. Many - including Justice Breyer in his dissent in Eldred v. Ashcroft - have portrayed it as an unoriginal work that is hardly worthy of copyright protection, but nonetheless remains under copyright. Yet close historical scrutiny reveals both of those assumptions to be false. [Full pdf here.] [via] [more inside]
posted by dersins at 4:54 PM PST - 57 comments

The Milgram Experiment Today? "Students commonly assume that, even if Milgram’s famous experiment sheds important light on the power of situation today, were his experiment precisely reproduced today, it would not generate comparable results. To oversimplify the argument behind that claim: The power of white lab coats just ain’t what it used to be. Of course, that assertion has been difficult to challenge given that the option of replicating the Milgram experiment has been presumptively unavailable — indeed, it has been the paradigmatic example of why psychology experiments must be reviewed by institutional review boards ('IRBs'). Who would even attempt to challenge that presumption? The answer: Jerry Burger, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University. With some slight modifications, Burger manage to obtain permission to replicate Milgram’s experiment — and the results may surprise you." [Via MindHacks]
posted by homunculus at 4:35 PM PST - 60 comments

"I've switched from building my own installations to painting ones I've found". NewArt Tv interviews artist Cindy Tower at one of her many makeshift studios in the industrial ruins of East St. Louis, where she's covertly creating paintings as part of her Workplace Series. "We need to find a way to sell more paintings so I can hire you full time", she tells her bodyguard, Edgar. Until then, most days she makes do with a dummy. [more inside]
posted by stagewhisper at 3:41 PM PST - 9 comments

I love nicely done home-built aircraft. I discovered Mark Langford's website over a year ago but forgot to bookmark it. Thankfully, I recently found it again. His dedication (obsession?) is obvious. I can't get over how many parts he custom built for his plane. He suffered an engine failure in his Corvair engine at one point, and I loved how he took the engine apart afterward and gave a full rundown about what happened.
posted by eratus at 2:58 PM PST - 8 comments

In 1930, Eric Sevareid and Walter Port embarked on a wild adventure when they launched a canoe at Fort Snelling on the Minnesota River and paddled over 2200 miles north to Hudson Bay. Sevareid later documented their story in the book Canoeing with the Cree. The book has since served as inspiration for young adventurers. Two such men, Colton Witte and Sean Bloomfield, departed on their own trek on April 28, 2008. The pair made it to Hudson Bay on June 17, 2008, in only 49 days. They aren’t the only ones to follow in Sevareid’s and Port’s footsteps – Scott Miller and Todd Foster made the same journey in 2005.
posted by cabingirl at 2:24 PM PST - 7 comments

Jonathan Golob at Dear Science.org has a series of posts up about nuclear power. Topics include: The physics behind nuclear power, the inner workings of a reactor, nuclear radiation, nuclear waste, the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and the future of nuclear power. Also in a truncated podcast form. [more inside]
posted by Weebot at 2:06 PM PST - 2 comments

Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno and Knocked Up for glamorizing young unwed mothers. But principal Joseph Sullivan knows at least part of the reason there's been such a spike in teen pregnancies in this Massachusetts fishing town.
posted by swift at 1:59 PM PST - 204 comments

Zoomii. An interesting interface for Amazon. [more inside]
posted by chunking express at 1:51 PM PST - 31 comments

The warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty will be voted on tomorrow in Congress. The bill pushed through by Democratic Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer is looking likely to pass. [more inside]
posted by Static Vagabond at 1:26 PM PST - 115 comments

If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the results would not be pretty.
posted by Artw at 1:13 PM PST - 51 comments

An old professor of mine used to ask graduating students, "What is the single most important true proposition or fact (not theory) that you learned in university?" This question has been aimed at many fields, and social scientists have long and famously struggled to find good answers, while scientists have had a large number of options, and those who study the humanities wonder if they can even answer similar questions. What is your most important (or interesting) fact?
posted by blahblahblah at 11:53 AM PST - 98 comments

Ray Romano sings. SLYT. I'm sorry. That is all.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:51 AM PST - 28 comments

March 3rd, 1976 - June 19th, 2008. RIP GTS FinnJet. [more inside]
posted by Lord_Pall at 11:48 AM PST - 9 comments

The YES Dance [YT mix, NSFW] [more inside]
posted by humannaire at 11:05 AM PST - 19 comments

New York City in (mostly) black and white. A huge collection of photos starting in the 1880s—some beautiful, all fascinating. Previously.
posted by cerebus19 at 10:04 AM PST - 18 comments

Sorry I Missed Your Party. Pictures of other people's parties from Flickr, with commentary. (Some images NSFW.) (Via.)
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:45 AM PST - 60 comments

Andrew Bird dishes on recording in the Wilco Loft. Roseanne Cash discusses the songwriting process, and follows up a bit later. Darrell Brown talks about everything, and Suzanne Vega laments being a two-hit wonder. They are all part of the wonderful Measure for Measure blog from the New York Times.
posted by timsteil at 9:27 AM PST - 11 comments

CBC Filter: I guess parenting in Canada ain't what it used to be. The Senate wants to make spanking your children illegal and a Quebec judge quashes a dad's grounding of his 12-year-old daughter.
posted by thejimp at 9:26 AM PST - 144 comments

Searchme is a search engine that displays results as images of web pages.
posted by xod at 9:10 AM PST - 22 comments

Calling your personal online radio station the best of everything seems designed to provoke controversy. But in this case it's just one "mature consumer" taking a stand against big media and youth oriented marketing. Be sure to read the about page. [more inside]
posted by Grod at 9:08 AM PST - 24 comments

The Smithsonian has a Flickr page as part of the Flickr Commons program. So far there are 6 sets, Portraits of Scientists and Inventors, Portraits of Artists, American Celebrations, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, People and the Post and Smithsonian's First Photographer, featuring the work of Thomas William Smillie. [via The New Yorker's Book Bench]
posted by Kattullus at 8:55 AM PST - 9 comments

New Kiribati "...will future climate change refugees become a new caste of service sector workers inhabiting a sort of Floating Hotel & Duty Free Mall ... ?" Small island states are on the front line.
posted by nthdegx at 8:16 AM PST - 3 comments

"We like to play gladiator. You know what I mean? Let two gangs beat each other up without weapons, and the winner gets to deal on the corner. Or, we grab a bunch of muggers, or maybe two crews who steal cars, and tell them, “Okay, you all fight each other — the one still standing gets to avoid jail.” I know: it sounds awful, but believe me, this really works."

Cops tell Freakonomics "the things that cops do to keep the peace that no one wants to know about.”"
posted by plexi at 7:44 AM PST - 89 comments

Are men boring?
posted by djgh at 7:20 AM PST - 162 comments

Break-dancers Floating in Space French photographer Denis Darzacq is back with a new collection called Hyper. You may remember his previous collection called La Chute.
posted by mikearauz at 7:12 AM PST - 11 comments

Photo Graduates Online - from source magazine - some good stuff (ymmv).
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:00 AM PST - 4 comments

In a world where one company single-handedly created the online DVD rental industry, what happens when they turn against their own customers? Netflix has announced the cancellation of its Profiles feature. This means no more separate rental queues for different people in a household. Since the announcement, it took less than 24 hours for SaveNetflixProfiles.com to launch, bloggers are furious, and the real hardcore fans are absolutely livid. Who will triumph, and who will break?
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:45 AM PST - 122 comments

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! A "board game" where you gather a gang of girls in the roaring 20s and taunt, fib, & flirt your way to high school domination! [more inside]
posted by juv3nal at 12:40 AM PST - 10 comments

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: The Abridged Script [probably contains spoilers]
posted by desjardins at 9:04 PM PST - 66 comments

code_swarm, an animated visualization of open source software project commits. e.g.: Python.
posted by signal at 8:56 PM PST - 18 comments

Slangin' Liquor in the Hood From the site: A look into the everyday dealings of a 34 year old liquor store owner and his crew in the "hood." Gangs, trailer parks, alcoholics, methheads, crack heads (yeah they still exist)....I read somewhere that this profession makes the top 5 regularly among the most dangerous jobs. But me, I ain't scurred. [more inside]
posted by The ____ of Justice at 8:48 PM PST - 21 comments

R.I.P., Arizona Parking Solutions. Guy parks car without displaying his pass. APS boots car. Guy dollies car into his garage and invites APS to reclaim their boots. Or not; their choice: either way, they can't tow, he won't pay the fine, and he really doesn't need to be driving the car. This catch-22 upsets the owner. And eventually APS goes off the deep end, booting nearly everyone's car in the community. The media becomes involved. And we become witness to a business owner suiciding his own business.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:55 PM PST - 123 comments

Today marks the official 8-language launch of 350.org and the start of global action against climate change. But what does this 350 number even mean? As author Bill McKibben and a chorus of scientific voices suggest, it means everything to the planet. If we want an earth at all, we'll need an Earth at 350.
posted by dead_ at 7:05 PM PST - 6 comments

Big Bad John.
posted by nooneyouknow at 6:15 PM PST - 9 comments

Nick Sanderson, ex-lead singer of UK art rockers Earl Brutus, has passed away. Earl Brutus were one of the most overlooked bands of the Britpop era, Sanderson himself being a swaggering hybrid of Jarvis Cocker and Mark E Smith. If you've not heard any of their music, just listen to (and watch) Come Taste my Mind (YT), and have a taste of the Brutus.
posted by hnnrs at 4:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Nicolás Guagnini has produced an art book entitled 77 Testicular Imprints. You can see an example here. Not everyone is impressed (scroll to #4). [more inside]
posted by rooftop secrets at 4:27 PM PST - 49 comments

Yale Environment 360 is an online environment magazine from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. It has a lot of great material, like "Biodiversity in the Balance" by Carl Zimmer and "Carbon’s Burden on the World’s Oceans" by Carl Safina and Marah J. Hardt. [Via Zimmer's blog The Loom]
posted by homunculus at 4:16 PM PST - 6 comments

Artist Tasha Tudor is dead at age 92. Born in 1915 to an inventor and a painter, Tasha has been a quirky fixture in the childrens' publishing world for more than half a century. She lived an anachronistic life in Vermont, raising goats and chickens, caring for the small herd of Welsh Corgis that appeared in many of her books, and maintaining a small arts-and-publishing business that sustained her and her family for years. When she died, she said, she wanted to return to the 1800s as a sea captain's wife. Here's hoping she's inhaling sea air now.
posted by verb at 3:27 PM PST - 18 comments

The Barnett Shale, the largest onshore natural gas formation in America, is transforming Fort Worth, TX and surrounding areas. [more inside]
posted by punkfloyd at 1:35 PM PST - 44 comments

Footloose. No, not the movie, and not the song, but the continuing mystery of feet washing up in the Strait of Georgia. Previously, previously and previously.
posted by Neiltupper at 12:53 PM PST - 90 comments

To treat, or not to treat? Samuel Golubchuk is 84 years old, in a coma on life support in a Winnipeg hospital, and the subject of ethical, religious, and legal debates. Three doctors have refused to continue providing care, while one has stepped in, potentially keeping the intensive care unit in operation.
posted by Paid In Full at 11:51 AM PST - 41 comments

The first known recording of a digital computer playing music, recorded by the BBC in 1951. The music played on a Ferantti Mark 1, one of the first commercial general-use computers, and was entered via punchtape and played on a speaker usually used for making clicks and tones to indicate program progress.
posted by Artw at 10:49 AM PST - 14 comments

H.A.R.O., or "Help A Reporter Out," is the brainchild of Peter Shankman (aka skydiver on Twitter). Embracing the philosophy that "Everyone is an expert on something," HARO matches reporters and authors up with sources through the simple process of a sign-up form. Seems like a good match for all the experts here on MeFi. [more inside]
posted by misha at 10:39 AM PST - 47 comments

William Deresiewicz examines the pitfalls of an Ivy League education Apparently, the Ivies prepare you for... mediocrity.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:28 AM PST - 186 comments

The United States Conference of Mayors will take place from June 20th-24th in Miami, FL. The agenda (pdf) includes rising energy costs, housing, water, transportation, street crime, public schools, gangs, health care quality and costs, secure airports and ports, illegal guns, drugs, and immigration with a special focus on climate protection initiatives. Not to mention speakers Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton. [more inside]
posted by lunit at 10:11 AM PST - 2 comments

Insult generators have been done previously (here and here), but there's something about this one that makes me smile. If you don't think so, you're a Thighbone Cooking Doodle Drinker.
posted by aftermarketradio at 10:05 AM PST - 33 comments

Please turn off the lights. The founders of flickr are joining the executives leaving Yahoo. Caterine Fake left Friday; Stewart Butterfield will leave July 12th.
posted by timeistight at 9:23 AM PST - 61 comments

Oops! Swiss national broadcaster SRG turned back time on Monday when, while broadcasting an Austria/Germany soccer match, it offered subtitles accompanying Germany's national anthem that mistakenly included the "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" lyrics, a verse popular under Nazi rule but ignored since the fall of the Third Reich. The melody, Das Deutschlandlied, comes courtesy of Joseph Haydn, who penned the ditty in 1797. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:20 AM PST - 35 comments

A Turkish Celebrity, Bulent Ersoy; a popular singer of Ottoman classical music, has gone on trial charged with attempting to turn the public against military service. What makes this a bit different is that Bulent is a 56 year old transexual. It has been suggested in local daily news that this is the Revenge of the oppressed sexual identity. Here is Bulent Ersoy performing as a man and as a woman. [more inside]
posted by adamvasco at 7:03 AM PST - 20 comments

Is that Jupiter or Saturn? Or perhaps a picture of extrasolar planets? Nope, it's one of Jason Tozer's beautiful pictures of soap bubbles. The Creative Review blog has a post about how Tozer took the pictures. [more inside]
posted by Kattullus at 6:28 AM PST - 14 comments

Gnar Wars = Star Wars + Snowboarding. (SLYT awesomeness). Better quality video. Creator's website.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:42 AM PST - 20 comments

The King of the Ferret Leggers Reg Mellor has been a hero of mine ever since I first heard of him, maybe ten years ago. A total whack-job, it's true; a hero nonetheless. I've been a member here for a while and hadn't posted anything, thought of Reg, searched and found nothing posted here about him; I'm hoping some of the rest of you will enjoy reading about him as much as I have.
posted by dancestoblue at 1:30 AM PST - 25 comments

These "track boards," or "fix push" boards, were initially developed to be raced in the velodrome, and differ from traditional skateboards in one major way: the rider can never coast. A brief documentary on the increasingly popular fix-push skateboard culture and its roots in San Francisco's Mission district. [more inside]
posted by whir at 9:38 PM PST - 54 comments

"This film is so bad that I feel compelled to make a spoiler-laden list of its most laughably terrible parts rather than review it." - Christopher Orr reviews spoils M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" to save people from having to watch it. The film is getting the worst reviews of Shyamalan's career. Which is saying something.
posted by crossoverman at 8:03 PM PST - 253 comments

Pig lost! Boss say that it Grunk fault. Say Grunk forget about closing gate. Maybe boss right. Grunk not remember forgetting, but maybe Grunk just forget. Boss say Grunk go find pig, bring it back. Him say, if Grunk not bring back pig, not bring back Grunk either. Grunk like working at pig farm, so now Grunk need find pig. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 3:37 PM PST - 35 comments

Accidental Astrophysicists: "They started with algebra and ended up learning about gravitational lensing (PDF)." [Via linkfilter]
posted by homunculus at 3:35 PM PST - 22 comments

Cyd Charisse passed away today at 86. Part of the MGM Golden Age, she first started out in minor roles usually as a dancer (1:52). It wasn't until the Gotta Dance routine with Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain did she begin to get meatier roles. [more inside]
posted by spec80 at 2:58 PM PST - 49 comments

The Bicycle Tutor is a site with lots of video tutorials designed with a sole purpose; to teach you how to fix your own bicycle. [via mefi projects]
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:46 PM PST - 29 comments

"Patriotic" and Republican Products at Republican Market.
posted by mrducts at 2:27 PM PST - 118 comments

Dogs in wigs
Dogs in wigs
Dogs in wigs
Dogs in wigs
Dogs in wigs
This is a little weird.
Mouseover text for more info.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 2:11 PM PST - 19 comments

The National Traffic Scorecard ranks the 100 most-congested metropolitan areas in the United States. Number one? Los Angeles, naturally. [more inside]
posted by backseatpilot at 1:23 PM PST - 52 comments

Via The Friendly Atheist and the New York Times, this blog post and this article explain two instances of a very, very unsettling new phenomenon. [more inside]
posted by kldickson at 12:41 PM PST - 89 comments

How to nap, a cheat sheet from the Boston Globe. Via [more inside]
posted by jbickers at 12:25 PM PST - 29 comments

A major new release: Firefox 3 is now out in your language. (RC3 is said to be identical to the Final 3.0.0.0 version). Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade to Firefox 3. Firefox 3 Versus IE 8 Beta An opposing view: Hold Off on Firefox 3 (the chicken!). Alternative view? Flock catches up with Firefox 3. PS: (As you might expect from something expected to set a World Record for number of downloads today, he Mozilla sites are currently getting crushed, apparently ).
posted by spock at 10:57 AM PST - 242 comments

Will Wright's Spore creature creator free trial, mac and PC. Video demo.
posted by Dave Faris at 10:50 AM PST - 97 comments

Tony Schwartz passed away on June 15. [more inside]
posted by ddaavviidd at 10:23 AM PST - 8 comments

Are you allergic to WiFi? Some residents of Sante Fe, NM certainly think they are and they want to take away municipal WiFi to sate their delusions.
posted by socalsamba at 9:49 AM PST - 91 comments

Have you ever wondered what a real IPA tasted like after the long, hot journey to India? Pete Brown found out. [more inside]
posted by uncleozzy at 9:31 AM PST - 53 comments

Keith Law's Ten Common Home Cooking Mistakes. Law, better known for his sports writing, lists ten pitfalls the home chef can fall into and how to avoid them.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:17 AM PST - 72 comments

Earlier this year, the US Fish and Wildlife service opened an inquiry into the possibility of adding all snakes of the genera Boa, Python and Eunectes to the Injurious Species List. [more inside]
posted by WinnipegDragon at 8:32 AM PST - 11 comments

Blessed be Baconhenge.... (via)
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:25 AM PST - 15 comments

Lets play the Album Cover Game! [Flash]
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:23 AM PST - 27 comments

Le réseau - Starting in the late 19th century, Belgian Paul Otlet envisioned the basics of a human powered Wikipedia and Google. He created a 12 million item database on index cards and accepted queries via mail or telegraph. The article describes his work and the Mundaneum museum in his honor. Be sure to watch the video. There is a full documentary on Otlet as well.
posted by Argyle at 7:15 AM PST - 8 comments

The Girl Effect.
posted by sveskemus at 7:07 AM PST - 59 comments

GrifBall! Red Vs. Blue's Sarge and Caboose introduce the rules. A sample match: Bungie Vs. RvB. Context: Since the release of online multiplayer first-person shooter Halo 3, Bungie have allowed players to customise maps with the placement of objects, weapons, spawn points etc. using the Forge feature. Combined with customisable rule sets, unusually innovative custom games are possible. [more inside]
posted by nthdegx at 6:16 AM PST - 4 comments

The hyperbolic crochet coral reef has come to London. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:03 AM PST - 14 comments

Homosexual brain resembles that of opposite sex. As announced yesterday in the Swedish Newspaper Dagens Nyheter, researchers at the Stockholm Brain Institute have published the results of a study conducted using PET scanning showing that homosexual men showed brain similarity with heterosexual women in their amygdala connections, which process certain emotions, as did homosexual women and straight men. [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 3:19 AM PST - 88 comments

Wholphin: DVD Magazine of rare and unseen videos Delightful and unexpected collections of videos. There's a lot here. Let me show you a few of the videos that caught my eye: The Country, a short animated film based on a whimsical poem by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. The Strongest Man Drink all Day The Crying Game (AKA The Competition, Take 1) (with surprise ending)
posted by boo_radley at 9:15 PM PST - 14 comments

Rare Kishore Kumar Songs is a website dedicated to the music of legendary Bollywood playback singer and comic actor Kishore Kumar. There are hundreds of songs, many with other Bollywood legends, such as Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar. There are also songs by Kishore's son Amit. All songs and videos are in Real Player format and in low quality.
posted by Kattullus at 8:07 PM PST - 9 comments

"Q: What the hell is this site about? This is a site about urban exploration in the Ozarks." Abandoned water slides, underground tunnels, abandoned buildings and half-demolished malls throughout Missouri were all once fair game for this blog, and remain fair game for those who post in Underground Ozarks' forums.
posted by limeonaire at 7:59 PM PST - 25 comments

We've discussed dead malls before. But did you know that the world's biggest mall is also its deadest?
posted by Afroblanco at 7:10 PM PST - 36 comments

In the 1930-40s there was an interracial, all woman swing band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. They are not exactly forgotten. There is a book, a movie, a black history month public radio special and a tribute album devoted to them. Ladies and gentleman: the International Sweethearts of Rhythm (YouTube). More audio files here. Photo 1, 2 [more inside]
posted by shothotbot at 6:55 PM PST - 7 comments

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were the first to wed in California -- again. Martin and Lyon are best known for founding the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the U.S. Congratulations, Del and Phyllis!
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:18 PM PST - 53 comments

The Washington Post give the Associated Press the banhammer. It seems the A.P. doesn't like some blogs for using its headlines and excerpts. It's fair use, but A.P. disagrees. NYTimes take. [more inside]
posted by zardoz at 5:33 PM PST - 50 comments

Diableri, Machinalia and Neurotica. Illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff (previously) from his book As I See.
posted by homunculus at 3:10 PM PST - 11 comments

Glassdoor: an inside look at companies from those who know them best.
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:04 PM PST - 25 comments

NYC Waterfalls -- On June 26th, four waterfalls will go up around New York City. Designed by Olafur Eliasson and paid for, in part, by the Public Art Fund. Rendering of what they will look like here.
posted by brooklynexperiment at 12:47 PM PST - 22 comments

Legendary special effects artist Stan Winston has passed away from cancer at the age of 62. From Mr. Roboto to the Terminator to Iron Man, he leaves an almost unparalleled body of work.
posted by dersins at 12:12 PM PST - 62 comments

HotPads has one of the cooler interfaces to the real estate world. Especially worth looking at are the heat maps that show you scary, scary foreclosure rates across the country and the rent ratios that tell you whether it is worth buying in a particular area, among lots of other data.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:09 PM PST - 23 comments

Teach the Controversy. Because we know that the earth sits on giant elephants which in turn ride an even gianter turtle. [more inside]
posted by cerebus19 at 11:25 AM PST - 74 comments

Baby Bust! After 200 years of exponential population growth, and just four decades after overpopulation doomsaying began filling the bestseller lists, the First World is suddenly gripped with underpopulation hysteria. The governments of the developed world have always maintained an interest in birthrates and procreation, but the reasons why are changing, and the ensuing demographic debates about gender, race and culture are "ideologically fraught and scientifically questionable."
posted by amyms at 10:42 AM PST - 120 comments

Lagerfeld Confidential documents the daily life of everyone's favorite eccentric fashion mogul and head of Chanel: Karl Lagerfeld (warning: peacock terms). Guaranteed to be brimming with more karlquotes than you can wave a fan at. [more inside]
posted by Count at 10:13 AM PST - 16 comments

Farming with Dynamite Do stumps, clay or tired old soil have you down? Let "Red Cross" dynamite come to your rescue. (A blast from the past via ) [more inside]
posted by caddis at 9:04 AM PST - 33 comments

This is what happens when you ask a bunch of fifth-graders to write a play about slavery. The teacher claims the only advice he gave them was "Keep working, it isn't good enough." [via] [more inside]
posted by marxchivist at 8:56 AM PST - 44 comments

Steampunk recumbent. That is all. I'm speechless but awed.
posted by fixedgear at 8:32 AM PST - 92 comments

Guantanamo: Beyond the Law From the table of contents: "An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad." A few pieces are already up -- "We got the wrong guys", and "'I guess you can call it torture'" -- and more will be released as the week goes on. The project also includes a database of detainees and their stories of detention, documents acquired during the investigation, video and a whole lot more.
posted by cog_nate at 8:09 AM PST - 45 comments

Optical illusions and why they look that way.
posted by OmieWise at 7:15 AM PST - 26 comments

A close reading of the text of Volume One of Marx's Capital in 13 two-hour video lectures by David Harvey. (Two online so far) David Harvey is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York. He has been teaching Karl Marx's Capital, Volume I for nearly 40 years. Marx biographer Francis Wheen speaks on NPR as to why the book remains required reading.
posted by Abiezer at 6:35 AM PST - 46 comments

Forgotten Architects: In the 1920s and early 1930s, German Jewish architects created some of the greatest modern buildings in Germany, mainly in the capital Berlin. A law issued by the newly elected German National Socialist Government in 1933 banned all of them from practicing architecture in Germany. In the years after 1933, many of them managed to emigrate, while many others were deported or killed under Hitler’s regime. Pentagram Papers 37: Forgotten Architects is a survey of 43 of these architects and their groundbreaking work. [more inside]
posted by sveskemus at 5:38 AM PST - 10 comments

Anyone who thinks Porter Wagoner's twisted, echo-laden psycho-classic The Rubber Room is worth blogging about is someone after my own heart, and anyone who can introduce me to tunes like Voodoo Voodoo and Midnight Stroll is someone I'm gonna make a MetaFilter post on. That's just the way it is. And it just so happens that this particular blog, The Essential Ghoul's Record Shelf, is the new project of MeFi's own beloved, web-prolific Astro Zombie, whose strange and wonderful tunes y'all should listen to as well.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:25 AM PST - 27 comments

The Kanye West Beat Drop. A number of the web's best rap blogs get together to post and chronicle the best of Mr. West's impressive and extensive history of producing, ghost producing, and the stories around many of the songs. [more inside]
posted by cashman at 8:50 PM PST - 24 comments

From the minds that brought you this, Cubescape is the chance to do your own little isometric projection drawings. I have some favorites. (See hover-overs)
posted by CuJoe at 8:31 PM PST - 11 comments

You won't find Donkeyskin in many modern fairy-tale anthologies, perhaps because it concerns a girl so beautiful that her own father wanted to marry her. But don't worry, she dresses up as a donkey and escapes! Made famous by Charles Perrault, the story has many variants--Catskin, Allerleirauh, Thousandfurs, The She-Bear, All Kinds of Fur--and has been subject to many interpretations. The tale was illustrated by several of the great gift-book illustrators, including Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Gustave Doré, and the less well-known R. de la Neziere. (More R. de la Neziere here and here.) Oh, and here's a sexy one. [more inside]
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 4:09 PM PST - 38 comments

Satellites Document War, Destruction From Outer Space. The AAAS's Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project uses high-resolution satellite photography to detect and call attention to human rights violations.
posted by homunculus at 1:47 PM PST - 13 comments

Afuganisu-tan is a simple and impossibly cute manga illustrating the background and development of conflict in Central Asia. In which we learn that "Afuganisu-tan gets picked on a lot and has bad luck." Also, "Meriken is a superhero fanatic and has a tendency to think her version of justice is right for everyone." [more inside]
posted by hellopanda at 1:43 PM PST - 34 comments

Iron Mountain Jewelery rescues an orphaned fawn. (via Cute Overload) [more inside]
posted by joannemerriam at 1:39 PM PST - 14 comments

Gore Vidal on The New York Times Magazine. On McCain: "Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?". On WFB's death: "I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred". [more inside]
posted by falameufilho at 1:17 PM PST - 118 comments

High performance kart racing is frequently misunderstood to be bumper-car-like "fun park" or "trailer park" karting in the US. [more inside]
posted by screenname00 at 12:44 PM PST - 20 comments

Al Green sits in with Chicago (SLYT with a massive side order of awesome).
posted by timsteil at 12:43 PM PST - 29 comments

"The lamp's glow was very weak compared to the blue glow emancipating from the basement." And while the award for best book review ever certainly goes to young Chaz Moore, the contest for worst book ever written presents some competition. And so as not to offend anyone, here's the obligatory honorable mention.
posted by odasaku at 12:39 PM PST - 43 comments

As a child, illustrator Rafa Toro adored the creepy Monstruos Diabolicos sticker collection. As an adult, he's giving the whole set a fresh look. [Via]
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 10:44 AM PST - 9 comments

Photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933) was an important figure in the pictorialist photography movement in late 19th and early 20th century New York. The first woman to embark on building a "gallery of illustrious Americans," Ben-Yusuf attracted to her Fifth Avenue studio many of the most prominent artistic, literary, theatrical and political figures of her day. See the first exhibit ever on her photography at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC (through Sept. 1), view the online exhibit or read the book.
posted by gudrun at 9:32 AM PST - 3 comments

The Underground Railroad refers to the effort -- sometimes spontaneous, sometimes highly organized -- to assist persons held in bondage in North America to escape from slavery. Historic places along the Underground Railroad are testament of African American resolve. One of those places is Lycoming County, PA. Freedom means a hard, dangerous trek. Do you try it?
posted by netbros at 7:36 AM PST - 26 comments

Stupid Design Neil deGrasse Tyson gives a short view from the other side of the coin. (SLYT)
posted by Benny Andajetz at 7:30 AM PST - 40 comments

The "Most Beautiful Goat" competition. SIx pictures from the Mazayen al-Maaz this year in Riyad.
posted by 31d1 at 11:58 PM PST - 55 comments

1964 means the Beatles. But listen to the other #1 hits that year! No wonder Douglas Adams broke into the matron's room. Via my second favorite music blog.
posted by Tlogmer at 10:30 PM PST - 55 comments

The Scholar Ship , an international floating university stewarded by top universities in Morocco, the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Mexico, USA, and Ghana, have temporarily suspended all voyages due to lack of funds - mainly caused by the withdrawal of main sponsor and initiator Royal Caribbean International. The program ran two voyages in 2007 and 2008 before shutdown. Alumni and prospective students on Facebook and Ning are busily sourcing options to revive the organization, while Semester at Sea is offering spaces to students who were accepted for the now-cancelled voyages. [more inside]
posted by divabat at 9:07 PM PST - 9 comments

GemCraft Flash Tower Defense goodness. Neat little rpg/upgrading touches in between maps. Lots of maps with some epic bosses thrown in every once in a while. [more inside]
posted by juv3nal at 8:39 PM PST - 32 comments

This is Guy Alpha™, a salesman and delivery person for the Pleasure Factory™. He can transform into Super Hot-Man™ with the help of the Alpha Mind-Power Robe™ stored within his sidekick, Zed Suit™, a walking and talking robotic suitcase. [more inside]
posted by unSane at 7:51 PM PST - 29 comments

Full of contemplative creatures and sleepers, Bruno Torf's Australian sculpture garden began with just fifteen life sized terracotta sculptures. Today there are over one hundred and fifteen pieces on display and Bruno is still making regular additions. Dive on in. Via
posted by cashman at 1:11 PM PST - 6 comments

E. D. Hill has company. Jamison Foser of Media Matters for America summarizes how Obama is treated by the press. (via Jay Lake) [more inside]
posted by joannemerriam at 12:22 PM PST - 118 comments

We've talked about BMI as a metric for health, and possibly laws regulating health. What about waist measurment? [more inside]
posted by P.o.B. at 11:50 AM PST - 20 comments

Should Michael Reagan be free to say this on syndicated radio? Should Mark Dice be free to say this (NSFW audio) on his website? [more inside]
posted by an egg at 11:44 AM PST - 162 comments

I Love My Life The Way It Is. A collection-in-progress of unscratched scratch-off lottery tickets, the project is the brainchild of Ali Alvarez, who hopes to collect at least 8000 tickets, enough to fill a 12x12 room from floor to ceiling. Alvarez is soliciting donations of unscratched tickets from volunteers around the world, and has posted pictures of some of the ones received so far. The idea of an unscratched lottery ticket makes some people "a little crazy," but Alvarez hopes the collection will cause people to explore the ideas of "getting your hopes high, dreaming, escaping, and then usually being let down." Via.
posted by amyms at 9:09 AM PST - 75 comments

How space toilets work. They've come a long way. They sure don't look like the one in my house. What happens when they break? NPR explains the logistics of the repair process. Oh thank heavens, it's working again.
posted by desjardins at 8:24 AM PST - 10 comments

Have you been salmoned? I just met a stranger from Denver via the process of salmoning, in which a chatbot initiates an unexpected two-way conversation between two (apparently random) nicks, giving them both aliases ending with "salmon," and leaving both parties confused. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:42 AM PST - 26 comments

WAAALT! For fans of ABC's show LOST: Keeping track of Michael's annoyingness since....
posted by Fizz at 5:30 AM PST - 43 comments

'Today I reviewed (again) the guy who takes pictures of his tools ... every single screwdriver in his tool box' ... a day in the life of a microstock photograph reviewer.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:15 AM PST - 26 comments

Everybody Dance Now
posted by Xurando at 5:40 PM PST - 60 comments

The Dark Side of Literacy - Indian education reform organization Shikshantar, who aims to encourage concepts of "Swaraj", or self-rule in local education, argues that current education and literacy models do not take into account local cultures and languages and gives too much credit to the Western alphabet. They also argue that there are many serious flaws in what they describe as UNESCO's campaign of "McEducation For All".
posted by divabat at 4:49 PM PST - 46 comments

"The pervasive narcissism and cartoon chest-thumping of young black culture no longer jibes with what's essentially a sacrificial game. Basketball hawks the individual star. Football offers glamour jobs like quarterback, running back, receiver. For baseball, meanwhile, sacrifice is an actual statistic: The best fail in 70 percent of their at-bats. 'The thing about baseball is that it's such a team sport,' Philadelphia's Rollins told Sports Illustrated. 'And when you're in the inner city, it's all about being the man, about establishing your strength as an individual. So how can you be the man? You want that ball in your hands with three seconds on the clock to take the shot, or you want the football under your arm. That's how.'

Race, class, families, fathers, and baseball: Where Have All the Black Guys Gone?
posted by mudpuppie at 4:02 PM PST - 61 comments

Scanners that see through clothing installed in US airports. Good news! No more testing. Time to roll these puppies out. It's OK though, seriously guys. See we're gonna blur the faces when we look at their sexual organs, so everything's cool. K? Prev.
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:27 PM PST - 183 comments

Tim Russert dead at 58.
posted by swift at 12:47 PM PST - 243 comments

Plains Indian Ledger Art is a website devoted to the art that Plains Indians developed in the latter half of the 19th Century when they got access to paper and modern painting tools. The gallery has 14 different ledgers, including the famous ledger by Black Hawk. The ledgers depict all kinds of scenes, amusing, violent, mythical, mundane and lots of other facets of life for the Plains Indians. There is also a short history of ledger art but for a bit more information read Drawing on Tribal History by Inga Kiderra.
posted by Kattullus at 12:10 PM PST - 12 comments

We've heard about the crystal skulls recently, thanks of course to the latest movie in the Indiana Jones franchise. As posted previously on MeFi, are they pre-Columbian, modern European, or from another world? Well, you don't have to take somebody else's word about them, when you can also check with folks who've handled them personally! The British Museum staff are constantly engaged in their own research projects, not least of which is a detailed extensive investigation into the two large skulls from their own collection and the Smithsonian.
posted by Misciel at 12:10 PM PST - 11 comments

The Cosmic Womb: Recently published findings from researchers with the Imperial College London’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering seem to bolster the case for extra-terrestrial sources for the origins of life on Earth. (A PDF of the published results can be downloaded here, if you want the technical specifics.) [more inside]
posted by saulgoodman at 12:08 PM PST - 27 comments

Many photos of the same thing
posted by cillit bang at 11:53 AM PST - 24 comments

Quiz: Who is more homophobic? Religious zealots or Rappers?
posted by spec80 at 10:37 AM PST - 85 comments

Product Placement Banned in U.K. Minister says it 'contaminates programs'.
posted by jeremy b at 10:26 AM PST - 43 comments

Bald Eagle Attacks Swan | Eagle vs Goat [YT] | Eagle vs Fox | Eagle vs Sandhill Crane | Golden Eagle vs Deer [YT] | Eagle vs. Eagle [YT] | Hawk vs Pet Mouse [YT] | Eagles vs Human Children | Eagles vs Our Primitive Ancestors | [more inside]
posted by LarryC at 10:26 AM PST - 35 comments

Earth2100.tv is a project by ABC (video preview) to solicit ideas from the public and experts about the dangers facing world in the next 100 years. "The world’s brightest minds agree that the “perfect storm” of population growth, resource depletion and climate change could converge with catastrophic results. We need you to bring this story to life."
posted by stbalbach at 8:14 AM PST - 25 comments

Friday Flash Java Fun - 'Building Houses With Side Views' Entertaining Java game/exercise/doodad. [more inside]
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 7:19 AM PST - 31 comments

Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green. Last month, Wired published what it called "10 green heresies" which makes the case for urban living, intensive forest management and, er, air conditioning, among other things.
posted by nthdegx at 7:09 AM PST - 119 comments

Once again, David Byrne plays the building. [more inside]
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:17 AM PST - 37 comments

42 days and a resignation. The day after the British Labour government narrowly won a parliamentary vote to extend the time that the police can hold people for questioning without charge from 28 days to 42 days, Tory frontbench MP David Davis has resigned his seat. David Davis is a senior member of the main parliamentary opposition party - who strongly opposed the 42 day bill - and has stepped down to fight a by-election for his own constituency to start a debate over "the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government". [more inside]
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:41 AM PST - 39 comments

I LOVE YOU CHEETOS
posted by loquacious at 3:34 AM PST - 74 comments

Gasoline prices fixed. 11 Quebec companies and 13 individuals were charged today in a gas price fixing scheme. The Competition Bureau conducted a lengthy investigation into the allegations. [more inside]
posted by never used baby shoes at 10:37 PM PST - 31 comments

Tetris has changed over the years. The latest game mechanics are well-documented and allow for techniques more complicated than those of us used to earlier iterations could possibly imagine. And of course, you can have it any way you want it. [via]
posted by silby at 10:02 PM PST - 36 comments

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road with Dr. Teeth and friends [more inside]
posted by wheelieman at 8:44 PM PST - 35 comments

Taking a look through this site, I can see why bird watching is such a popular hobby. From the common to the bizarre to the downright adorable. this site has a little... no, scratch that, a whole lot of everything. I suggest starting at the family list on the lower left hand column of the main page and trounsing about for a spell; it's good for the soul.
posted by ignorantguru at 8:41 PM PST - 12 comments

Goodbye Seattle! Hello Oklahoma! Get ready for the NBA's newest team, the Oklahoma City SuperSonics! Whither Seattle basketball? Methinks not.
posted by parmanparman at 7:58 PM PST - 75 comments

Goodbye alt.* Andrew Cuomo claimed that his office found child porn on 88 newsgroups--out of roughly 100,000 newsgroups that exist. In a press release, he took credit for [Verizon's] blunderbuss-style newsgroup removal by saying: "We are attacking this problem by working with Internet service providers...I commend the companies that have stepped up today to embrace a new standard of responsibility, which should serve as a model for the entire industry." Verizon eliminates the entire alt. subset of usenet. Today, the alt.* hierarchy is by far the most populous on Usenet.
posted by caddis at 7:07 PM PST - 143 comments

The Light-Painter of Mojave D: An Interview with Troy Paiva (previously) about his photography and his new book, Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration. [Via BLDGBLOG]
posted by homunculus at 6:50 PM PST - 5 comments

"On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School [Oceanside, California] to announce some horrible news: Several students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend. Classmates wept. Some became hysterical. A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax — a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving." While the school defends its actions, some students are protesting: "Death is real. Don't play with our emotions." [more inside]
posted by ericb at 5:13 PM PST - 136 comments

Save Budweiser! – An American beer titan may be bought up by evil Europeans, only you can save it!
posted by Artw at 4:59 PM PST - 127 comments

RestoftheMovie.com will probably be taken offline pretty soon, since it seems like they show full (screener) versions of current movies (like Kung Fu Panda and Ironman) in streaming format, so you'll probably want to check it out sooner rather than later.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:02 PM PST - 33 comments

Kindertrauma is about the movies, books, and toys that scared you when you were a kid. It’s also about kids in scary movies, both as heroes and villains. And everything else that’s traumatic to a tyke! [more inside]
posted by stinkycheese at 3:37 PM PST - 64 comments

In a five-to-four decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that detainees at Guantanamo Bay have a constitutional right to habeas corpus review:

Security depends upon a sophisticated intelligence apparatus and the ability of our Armed Forces to act and to interdict. There are further considerations, however. Security subsists, too, in fidelity to freedom’s first principles. Chief among these are freedom from arbitrary and unlawful restraint and the personal liberty that is secured by adherence to the separation of powers.[...] Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law. The Framers decided that habeas corpus, a right of first importance, must be a part of that framework, a part of that law.

Decision, Summary, Analysis
posted by anotherpanacea at 2:54 PM PST - 112 comments

With over 35,000,000 visitors a year, it could be argued that it is the busiest museum in the world. Yet most people are there to catch a plane. [more inside]
posted by oneirodynia at 2:13 PM PST - 8 comments

A woman ovulates during surgery for a partial hysterectomy, and it's caught on film.
posted by streetdreams at 1:48 PM PST - 77 comments

Hoping for the best for Mefites in eastern Iowa. I was CR born and raised, and just watching the feed on KCRG is ...disturbing. It looks like the height of the Cedar River is estimated at 25.4 feet, and it hasn't crested yet. They've lost a railroad bridge downtown so far, and the news feed keeps tracking the rise of the river by standing outside the studio and watching the water approaching. [more inside]
posted by thanotopsis at 1:16 PM PST - 53 comments

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the ill fated Sunday Times Golden Globe round the world solo sailing race. Of the 9 starters, only 1 finished. The race featured courage, madness, and a cast of characters out of a book. The mad Donald Crowhurst, the enigmatic Bernard Moitessier, and the eventual winner Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.
posted by Xurando at 1:13 PM PST - 17 comments

In 1876, the US celebrated the centennial with an International Exposition. The centerpiece of Machinery Hall, and the source of power for all the machinery therein, was the world's largest steam engine. A beam engine (previously), it produced 1400 horsepower and was built in a mere 7 months when other bids to provide motive power proved inadequate. [more inside]
posted by DU at 11:58 AM PST - 19 comments

Picturing America is a website by The National Endowment for the Humanities which aims to make great American art readily available to children, adolescents and everyone else who wants to take a look. Some personal favorites: Charles Sheeler's American Landscape, Childe Hassam's Allies Day and Martin Puryear's Ladder for Booker T. Washington. John Updike gave a speech at the opening which can be read here. [via Edge of the American West]
posted by Kattullus at 11:04 AM PST - 5 comments

"This all would have never happened if their windows were closed." Runner up: "I didn't feel like a creep," he said. "I didn't feel like a Peeping Tom. I felt like this type of thing happens a lot."
posted by setanor at 10:22 AM PST - 204 comments

These days, spice is integral to ideas of kimchi in both the West and Korea—it’s always a funny game trying to convince various restaurant ladies here that I can, in fact, eat kimchi without spewing two ribbons of fire from my nostrils, thereby singing the wallpaper and confirming their suspicions that we white folks are just a bunch of food pussies. “Maeun-kot” (“spicy shit!”), they say, making flamey-flamey motions with their hands; “Yes,” I say, “Maeun umshik-ul chal mogoyo” (“I can eat spicy food, no lie, please stop looking at me like I’m a recalcitrant goat who’s about to try to eat a roll of barbed wire”).
posted by jason's_planet at 10:03 AM PST - 63 comments

Are you, like many others this summer, considering avoiding the costs & hassles of pricey foreign or domestic travel by having a "staycation" at home? Daily Show commenter John Hodgman (ably backed by Jonathan Coulton on the strings) enumerates the benefits of a "Holistay" (much better name) to help you make your choice.
posted by jonson at 9:37 AM PST - 39 comments

In City of Shadows, Alexey Titareno uses long exposures to create an eerie effect.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:09 AM PST - 35 comments

Remember the heterosexual AIDS pandemic? There isn't one outside of Africa. Actually, there never was. Well, at least not for straight people.
posted by falameufilho at 8:40 AM PST - 81 comments

Baby please don't go, baby please don't go, baby please don't go down to New Orleans, I love you so, baby please don't go.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:06 AM PST - 24 comments

Blackboards were wiped after use: they were meant for immediate communication, not for record. Even as they were being used, their messages were continuously revised, erased and renewed. But when Einstein came to Oxford in 1931, he was already an international celebrity. After one of his lectures a blackboard was preserved and has become a kind of relic. It is the most famous object in this Museum. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 7:37 AM PST - 50 comments

So you'd like to see daily photographs taken in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area? You can start with What I'm Seeing and supplement your viewing with the following sites. [more inside]
posted by whir at 7:30 AM PST - 10 comments

It began when Mr. Klinsky threw in his two cents, a vague request that a poem he had written for and about his family be lodged in a wall somewhere, Ms. Sherry said, “put in a bottle and hidden away as if it were a time capsule.”
Sometimes when you make a simple suggestion about the remodeling of your $8.5 million 5th Ave. apartment, the designer goes a little overboard. In an awesome way. Don't miss the slideshow.
posted by Who_Am_I at 7:03 AM PST - 81 comments

Epic Theft? Epic Fail. "Steve Bovis, Tim Croucher and Laurence Francis, all from Maidstone, have dreamt of seeing Limbo of the Lost played across the globe since they first started discussing the game 10 years ago."* Conceived in the 90s as an Amiga 1200 title, the three Kentish lads went with the PC for the decades-deferred realization of their creative dream. Unfortunately, the long-delayed release of Limbo of the Lost is leaving reviewers with a profound sense of deja vu, as if they've seen this game somewhere before ... [more inside]
posted by grabbingsand at 6:08 AM PST - 39 comments

Once home to the Naval Shipyards, L'Ile de Nantes now houses the workshop of Les Machines de l'Ile. The 12m high Elephant made its debut last year (although a predecessor was spotted 3 years ago) and is the first of 3 major projects to be undertaken. [more inside]
posted by jontyjago at 3:24 AM PST - 8 comments

Unicorns are real! Well sort of... Maybe not the first time though. (Previous mefi unicorns)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:05 AM PST - 19 comments

Ping.fm lets you update your social network statuses, blogs and microblogs simultaneously from one place. The current sign-up beta code is "tastyping". [more inside]
posted by nthdegx at 2:23 AM PST - 28 comments

Wrath, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, Sloth

Don't forget your display!

Made by: Hamilton Design

(via)
posted by sir_rubixalot at 11:51 PM PST - 21 comments

Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome is a rich and innovative geographic database that projects Vasi's 18th century engravings of Roman architecture onto the contemporary map of Giambattista Nolli [previously] with supplementary modern satellite, photographic and mapping overlays together with copious background detail. The work was undertaken by researchers at the University of Oregon (announcement) [via]
posted by peacay at 11:21 PM PST - 3 comments

What would have evolved in 10,000 years? Feral cats have long-established colonies on the islands of the Galapagos chain.
posted by longsleeves at 8:15 PM PST - 73 comments

Beijing 2008: China's Olympian Human Rights Challenges. This website was set up by Human Rights Watch to monitor human rights issues in China during the run-up to the Olympics. "This is a historic opportunity for China to show it has the confidence to make tangible and sustainable progress in ensuring basic human rights for its 1.3 billion citizens." [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 6:45 PM PST - 33 comments

Starshine - catch the stars with your comet by clicking on the centres of gravity at the right times. Short, relaxing, charming Flash game.
posted by divabat at 6:33 PM PST - 17 comments

[NSFW]"The following program is in living color and has been rated X by the Vietnam academy of maggots. The purpose of this program is to bring vital news, information and hard acid rock to the first termers and non-re-enlistees in the Republic of Vietnam. Radio First Termer operates under no Air Force regulations or manuals. In the event of a vice squad raid this program will automatically self-destruct." Radio First Termer was a pirate radio show broadcast by "Dave Rabbit," an anonymous USAF sergeant, for 63 hours between January 1st and 21st, 1971, out of the back room of a brothel in Saigon, gracing the dial at 69 MHz and 690 AM. Fearing reprisal from his superiors, Dave Rabbit then shut Radio First Termer down and, after returning to the States, went back to living a normal life. 34 years later, while helping his son on a homework assignment, Dave came across old recordings of his show. He's since revived his old persona via podcast, and has also brought Radio First Termer back to the warzone--to Baghdad, Iraq. [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 6:13 PM PST - 11 comments

A fairly convincing website for a fake airline added to the outrage some felt in Philadelphia when newspaper ads promised airfares based passengers' weights. "Philadelphia to L.A., $2.25/pound" read the ads.
posted by polysigma at 6:01 PM PST - 88 comments

Once upon a time, movies were made that parodied broadcast television, advertisements and all. I knew there weren't many, but really, this was all I could find: The Groove Tube Tunnelvision Kentucky Fried Movie UHF Amazon Women on the Moon (Links are to YouTube trailers of variable quality) [more inside]
posted by hexatron at 5:03 PM PST - 53 comments

Before and after sattellite photos (along with much more information) of the effects of climate change over the past 30 years are available through UNEP's (the United Nations Environment Programme) Atlas of Our Changing Environment (Via)
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 2:14 PM PST - 27 comments

U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals Chief Justice Alex Kozinski [wiki] is currently adjudicating a remarkably hardcore obscenity case.  He is currently facing his own obscenity case as well, having allowed public access to NSFW or illegal-for-minor-viewing material posted on his own vanity website, as reported in the LA Times.  Although he maintains that the material's posting was just innocent fun, he clearly knows his way around the internets.  Kozinski is a prolific and well-regarded essayist, and is occasionally mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee.
posted by rzklkng at 1:48 PM PST - 96 comments

As Oregon struggles with diversity, one young man from Corvallis takes a cue from Improv Everywhere and invites you to meet a black guy. [via swpl]
posted by Stynxno at 12:50 PM PST - 57 comments

The record has finally been set for an Onion article (video, actually) to turn into real life. It's now a real game. You can download it. It's free. time: about 1 day. The subject is MMORPGS (pronounced 'more pigs') and how popular they are. (more inside for descriptions) [more inside]
posted by Miles Long at 12:11 PM PST - 26 comments

The short films (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of Scott Blaszak.
posted by rooftop secrets at 11:59 AM PST - 8 comments

Out of Step With Allies, U.S. Defends Freedom to Offend NYT article [more inside]
posted by lalochezia at 11:52 AM PST - 136 comments

Portraits of Phone Sex Operators by Phillip Toledano.
posted by chunking express at 11:04 AM PST - 55 comments

From the Improv Everywhere people comes the Urban Prankster blog to keep track of delightful shenanigans around the world.
posted by CunningLinguist at 10:46 AM PST - 21 comments

Philips brings us the future of shaving.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:36 AM PST - 101 comments

Vantiki is the work of Hawaiian artist Henrik Van Ryzin. His specialty is hand-crafted, one of a kind Tiki Mugs, each with their own special twist. [more inside]
posted by self at 10:28 AM PST - 5 comments

How much sleep do you really need? Six and a half to seven and a half hours. People who sleep eight hours a night are 12% more likely to die in a six-year period than those who sleep less. If your new lack of sleep means you get tired mid-afternoon, recent research says the solution is, shockingly, to nap. And if you can't nap, at least learn the optimal way to dose yourself with caffeine.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:59 AM PST - 64 comments

"I wanted to ask for survival tips in case I am unexpectedly transported to a random location in Europe (say for instance current France/Benelux/Germany) in the year 1000 AD (plus or minus 200 years). I assume that such transportation would leave me with what I am wearing, what I know, and nothing else. Any advice would help." How to rock the Middle Ages with your bad 2008 self.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:22 AM PST - 231 comments

She was 82. He was 95. They had dementia. They fell in love. And then they started having sex.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 8:34 AM PST - 91 comments

Colorful Allusions
Though printed in black and white, great literature is bursting with vibrant colour. In these rebus-style puzzles, color words and parts of words have been replaced with colored boxes.
posted by carsonb at 7:58 AM PST - 8 comments

Death were a proto-punk trio of black Jehovah's Witnesses based out of Detroit back in 1974. They were almost signed to Columbia, but bailed on the label when Columbia wanted them to change their name. Instead, they self-released a 7" which is now quite a collector's item, influenced as it was by, “Iggy and Stooges, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and The Who”. But the story doesn't end there. Recently, Bobby Hackney, whose father played in Death along with two of his uncles, learned of the band and, lo and behold, his dad found the master tapes for their unreleased full-length in his attic. Is a new chapter in punk rock history about to be written?
posted by stinkycheese at 7:52 AM PST - 35 comments

"While her six brothers and sisters messed around in the mire, she stayed on the edge shaking. It is thought she might have mysophobia - a fear of dirt." This little piggy is afraid of the mud. Cuteness ahoy.
posted by yeti at 7:22 AM PST - 41 comments

ilovebacteria.com explains science to people who do not necessarily have a scientific background. You'll find a selection of DIY experiments like egg osmosis, and strange facts like the ever popular why does asparagus make your wee smell? And don't forget to meet the microbes.
posted by netbros at 5:16 AM PST - 9 comments

With flagrant disregard for their waistlines and their own gustatory limitations, Giles Coren and Sue Perkins (known as The Supersizers) have been going back in time to the diets of their ancestors for the (education?) amusement of the general public (well, people who watch BBC Two). Restoration | Edwardian | Victorian | Wartime | Seventies [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:26 AM PST - 29 comments

Lorenzo Semple, 84, has been a screenwriter for more than 50 years; his credits include "Papillion," "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor." Marcia Nasatir, 81, is a longtime agent and production executive, was the first female VP of production at United Artists, and produced films like "The Big Chill" and "Hamburger Hill." Together, they are the "Reel Geezers," offering irresistible film reviews on YouTube. To wit: Superbad, Iron Man, Sex and the City, Lars and the Real Girl, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood. [more inside]
posted by jbickers at 3:35 AM PST - 27 comments

What is a Munchy Box? In the west of Scotland, in the towns and villages surrounding Glasgow, there is a delicacy available in some of the more discerning fast-food outlets. It’s called the Munchy Box (sometimes just Munch Box) and it’s a sight to behold.
posted by armoured-ant at 3:12 AM PST - 91 comments

The world's largest ball pit? 400,000 black plastic balls, one reservoir, thousands of happy goths. Other unusual things being filled with balls: the Spanish Steps, Rome, a co-worker's cube, San Francisco. (videos)
posted by Leon-arto at 11:46 PM PST - 43 comments

With all the crystal skulls, nazca lines and such at the box office these days now might be the ideal time to reacquaint yourself with the theories of Erich von Däniken. What better way to do it than by watching William Shatners Mysteries of the Gods ( Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10)(MULTI LINK YOUTUBE SHATNERFEST)
posted by Artw at 10:00 PM PST - 28 comments

While Gerorge Soros and Jim Rodgers predict one of the worst recessions for the US, Americans seem to look for exit options in form of a second citizenship. [more inside]
posted by yoyo_nyc at 9:09 PM PST - 128 comments

Tourists black out reflective retinas in snapshots before printing them, and millions of people refer to strangers they’ve never spoken to as friends, because they’ve connected through a social-networking platform. [...] It should come as no surprise, then, that singers sometimes choose to correct recorded flaws in pitch with modern software, like Antares’s Auto-Tune.

Sasha Frere-Jones on auto-tuning, in The New Yorker. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:09 PM PST - 98 comments

This Ecstatic Nation. Learning from Emily Dickinson after 9/11. [Via wood s lot]
posted by homunculus at 6:36 PM PST - 13 comments

Take the Funny and Run , a history of notorious joke-thieves from Milton Berle and Robin Williams to Denis Leary, Carlos Mencia (previously) and Dane Cook.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:35 PM PST - 52 comments

Top Tourist Spots Americans Can’t Visit. Some will take this as a challenge.
posted by LarryC at 5:56 PM PST - 55 comments

Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish. Apparently, they're not the first. Although they might be the first to do so without tools. I, for one, want some sashimi.
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal at 5:46 PM PST - 23 comments

Ariana Page Russell: My own skin frequently blushes and swells. I have dermatographia, a condition in which one’s immune system exhibits hypersensitivity, via skin, that releases excessive amounts of histamine, causing capillaries to dilate and welts to appear (lasting about thirty minutes) when the skin’s surface is lightly scratched. This allows me to painlessly draw patterns and words on my skin, which I then photograph. Images (click skin one or skin two). Interview.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:45 PM PST - 33 comments

In the 1980s, Richard Lenski hypothesized that his research team should be able to watch random mutations and natural selection taking place in a lab by observing a bacteria population over many generations. In 1988, beginning with a single bacterium, he started several replicate colonies. Recently, after 33,127 generations, his team has observed natural selection.
posted by Tehanu at 4:36 PM PST - 55 comments

How much of the Oil Shock of 2008 is peak oil, and how much just speculation? Will the cavalry ride to the rescue?
posted by ilovemytoaster at 3:06 PM PST - 49 comments

Like it or not, religion is at the forefront of the 2008 US Presidential elections. The Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life previously cited in MeFi threads examines many of the current intersections of religion and politics, domestic and abroad.
posted by Rykey at 1:47 PM PST - 30 comments

Vegan girl, 12, 'has spine of 80-year-old.' The youngster, fed on a strict meat- and dairy-free diet from birth, is being treated at Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children. She is said to have a severe form of rickets and to have suffered a number of fractured bones. [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 1:31 PM PST - 237 comments

I’ve seen men in fur suits masturbating on stuffed animals. I’ve seen high heels stepping on snails. I’ve seen women farting on birthday cakes. I’ve seen guys wearing white socks in two inches of water in the bathtub. I’ve seen a tutorial on how to jack-off with a pair of Keds. And I’ve seen some weird stuff, too. Isn’t there a line of some kind, where it just stops being sexy to anyone? And the answer it seems, is no.... Because there is sexually explicit salmon hentai. NSFW. Via FG blog.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:41 PM PST - 83 comments

Robert Pinsky writing about Zork. Yes, I know its super old.
posted by juv3nal at 12:25 PM PST - 15 comments

How to Butcher a Chicken. From killing to plucking to gutting and freezing, Herrick Kimball takes the budding poultry farmer step by step through the process.
posted by Chrischris at 12:20 PM PST - 33 comments

Walkenworks
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:24 AM PST - 28 comments

Learned handmade plates. For all your law-themed collectible plate needs. [more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:41 AM PST - 12 comments

"A venal, dysfunctional government." That is how the San Francisco Chronicle describes the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq. Now an investigation by the BBC's respected Panorama TV program estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq. But they are not allowed to report fully because of US gagging order.
posted by Susurration at 10:19 AM PST - 40 comments

Are cellphones ruining concerts? If they're not going off in the middle of a performance, they're constantly strobe-lighting the musicians. Of course, there are plenty of other ways you can ruin a concert.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:27 AM PST - 150 comments

NYT asks: What's your recipe deal breaker? Deep frying? Requiring a helper? Standing overnight? Lifehacker readers chime in with the recipes that stop them cold.
posted by divabat at 5:30 AM PST - 137 comments

Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen - YouTube animations of Maurice Sendak's classic childrens' books.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:40 AM PST - 39 comments

Subivor - People should have more protection than a necktie, their shirt or paper towel to cover their mouth, nose and eyes. They need Moist Towelettes too. [via]
posted by tellurian at 11:05 PM PST - 41 comments

Budget Hero
posted by anotherpanacea at 8:34 PM PST - 37 comments

NetClassixFilter: The next time you're standing clueless in the greeting cards section of your local drugstore franchise, you'll be wishing you'd visited the Gallery of Unfortunate Greeting Cards instead. For all your holiday needs: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Weddings, 4th of July, Hallowe'en, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and of course, Washington's Birthday. [via Cap'n Wacky] [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 8:33 PM PST - 18 comments

Impeach Bush. Dennis Kucinich has introduced 35 articles of Impeachment against George W Bush on the floor of the House of Representatives.
posted by crossoverman at 7:24 PM PST - 196 comments

It's like gunning the engine of a car. The recent documentary Unnatural Causes examines the health consequences societal inequalities have on people. The PBS series has a couple dozen embeddable video clips exploring atomic testing, Native American Health, Latino Health and more. One clip examines why when African women come to the U.S., within one generation, their daughters suffer higher rates of premature babies and poorer birth outcomes. One group is putting hundreds of millions of dollars into alleviating health disparities in 14 communities across the country. [more inside]
posted by cashman at 6:32 PM PST - 11 comments

The Museum of Nature by Ilkka Halso. [Via Ectoplasmosis!]
posted by homunculus at 6:30 PM PST - 7 comments

For decades, showman Tommy Bartlett ran a Wisconsin Dells "Thrill Show" featuring waterskiers performing all sorts of stunts on Lake Delton. His bumperstickers were on the station wagons of tens of thousands of families across the midwest. This summer, Lake Delton is no more.
posted by timsteil at 5:50 PM PST - 38 comments

Warren Buffett bets a hedge fund manager $1 million that the S&P 500 will outperform hedge funds over the next 10 years. Buffett has argued vociferously, sometimes using parables, that the smartest way for the average person to invest is to put money in simple no-load index funds. The bet is being overseen by the Long Now Foundation's Long Bets, where previously Ted Danson has won a bet about the Red Sox and Brian Eno one one politics. And there's more on the Long Now blog, which is generally interesting reading.
posted by blahblahblah at 2:22 PM PST - 62 comments

Those new, cheap iPhones? Read the fine print. Those new features? Might be just industry changing.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:04 PM PST - 246 comments

At last, a study on video games that is grounded in common sense. Two scientists say their results can best be summed up in one word: relax. It's okay for kids to play videogames. What's more, parents can enjoy gaming with their kids. The relationship between videogames and violence is anything but causal. One interesting finding: those middle school boys most likely to bully others are the ones who play no videogames at all.
posted by misha at 1:28 PM PST - 52 comments

Boss Bitching is a user driven social content website that allows anonymous postings of stories about bosses.
posted by Fizz at 1:04 PM PST - 14 comments

When people think of Soviet culture in the Stalin era, jazz usually isn't the first music to come to mind. But it was there, and some of it was pretty good, whether adapting Western standards, partying with a Russian twist, or just being adventurous. If that's a little too old-school for you, try some Soviet funk.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 10:54 AM PST - 14 comments

Is Barack Obama the Messiah? After all, it may explain the logo. Maybe he's just a light-worker, "who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet." This could just be all hootenany from the press, like Chris Matthews, who called BO the "New Testament." But, as always, there are unbelievers.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:50 AM PST - 126 comments

Star Trek: The Animated Series + Shatner (previously) "singing" (previ|ously) Common People (previously) = THIS.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:06 AM PST - 40 comments

Stomp Tokyo's Scott Hamilton has completed 100 Movies/100 Days, in which he watched and "reviewed"... uh, 100 movies in 100 days. Many of the reviews are scarcely a paragraph, but quite a few are witty and insightful (particularly the last line of his Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull review).
posted by cog_nate at 8:48 AM PST - 33 comments

Ever used a slice of bacon as a bookmark? How about a hundred dollar bill? For every reader who has grabbed something close at hand and slipped it into a book, it seems there's a patron of a used book store who has found it.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:09 AM PST - 37 comments

Sucking CO2 out of the air has long been a holy grail for solving global warming; Richard Branson has promised $25m to anyone who succeeds. Of course it's already been done, but the amount of energy required doesn't make it net carbon positive. Now a team in Arizona, led by Klaus Lacknet under the company of Global Research Technologies, says it has made a significant breakthrough that massively reduces the amount of energy required - the "project has reached the stage where it is quite clear we can do it." The planned prototype, which will be finished in two years, will cost $200,000 USD, be smaller than a shipping container and be capable of eliminating around 1 ton of CO2. Even if it works many hurdles remain but it portends a cooler future for air-capture technology.
posted by stbalbach at 6:08 AM PST - 76 comments

"With each passing year records have gotten louder and less dynamic ...This all comes down to the moment a consumer hears a record, and the fear that if the record is more dynamic, the consumer won't know to just turn up the volume."
posted by jbickers at 4:45 AM PST - 94 comments

While the wild crowd call it "Woodstock for Central Bankers", others get festivities off on a sour note, referring to it as "Understanding Inflation and the Implications for Monetary Policy". Regardless of what your invitation to this party reads, it starts today, Monday June 9th on the 50th anniversary of The Phillips Curve, a previously discredited forecasting tool which may be revived by Ben Bernanke at The Federal Reserve. [more inside]
posted by Mutant at 4:01 AM PST - 6 comments

Oskari Tammelin picks up where he left off. Jeskola Buzz, a flexible and formidable (and free) piece of music composition software created in the late 90's by Oskari, had its growth unexpectedly stunted by a hard drive crash. Oskari indicated no immediate desire to continue the project at the time, but users of the software were so enamored with it they continued to create plug-ins, enhancements and hacks to pick up where the program left off. Oskari made the replay code available to those who wanted to develop software around the Buzz engine (for a price) and soon a number of Buzz clones followed, including variations for Mac and Linux. And so the Buzz community ran...until last week...
posted by deusdiabolus at 10:39 PM PST - 22 comments

"In the early 1970s, the artist Chris Burden pioneered a kind of sculpture that explored boundaries few people would care even to approach." The artist has had himself (in two of many examples...) nearly electrocuted and shot; some of his later and lighter work includes building complex model bridges and reconstructing a "Speed of Light Machine". He created a ghost ship, uninhabited and self navigated, and continues to surprise with his latest work.... [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 7:45 PM PST - 23 comments

Randy Pausch, Barbara Kingsolver, Barack Obama, and J.K. Rowling inspired the hell out of Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Wesleyan, and Harvard graduates this year. If you're a big fan of pomp and circumstance, you'll also want to check out these: Chuck Norris at Liberty University, Samantha Power at Pitzer College, and Michelle Nijhuis at Reed College. [more inside]
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:21 PM PST - 35 comments

So do you want to see some amazing talent? [more inside]
posted by pearlybob at 7:07 PM PST - 40 comments

Bill Moyers Vs. Fox News The Fox News stooge was unaware that he was messin' with a Jedi. Joseph Campbell would be proud.
posted by Optamystic at 6:43 PM PST - 101 comments

The 2007 Feltron Annual Report . via
posted by signal at 5:16 PM PST - 13 comments

Google News from a Better World (via)
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 4:13 PM PST - 49 comments

Trainrider : How to surf on a train - at 330 km/h.
posted by GuyZero at 3:14 PM PST - 20 comments

Sir Norbert Smith - A Life. [more inside]
posted by IndigoJones at 2:52 PM PST - 2 comments

In Bed With Chris Needham (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) A BBC video-diary documentary from 1991 depicting the trails and tribulations of a teenage metal fan as he tries to knock his band, Manslaughter, into shape for its first gig, with many digressions into his philosophy of life along the way. Some NSFW swearing. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:46 PM PST - 12 comments

Often referred to as “sope”, meaning something magical inhabited by powerful evil spirits, albinos have long been the victims of discrimination in Africa (scroll up). Although Tanzania recently nominated an albino MP, they are being killed and mutilated to support a growing trade.
posted by gman at 11:11 AM PST - 66 comments

The horrifying crimes of Joseph Fritzl shocked Austria and the world. Recently two essays explored Austrian literature in an attempt to understand what cultural conditions could foster such monstrosity. Nicholas Spice, in Up from the Cellar, explores the work of Nobel Prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek and her dissection of male violence. Ritchie Robertson searches for antecedents in Josef Fritzl's fictive forebears. [via The New Yorker's Book Bench]
posted by Kattullus at 10:29 AM PST - 63 comments

Phoenix Wright argues about relativism in animated gift form ...and the thrilling conclusion.
posted by juv3nal at 9:05 AM PST - 42 comments

Special Containment Procedures lists a collection of unusual, bizarre and often disturbing objects. [more inside]
posted by panboi at 8:36 AM PST - 27 comments

Barack vs Clinton, a cool interactive graphic... What matters when it comes to which candidate people voted for? Race definitely mattered. Income matters sort of. And education. From the NYT, a fine piece of interactive illustration.
posted by storybored at 8:22 AM PST - 53 comments

you've got new postcrossed mail You have heard of geocaching. You have heard of Bookcrossing. Here comes Postcrossing. The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you'll receive at least one back, from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world. [more inside]
posted by Baud at 8:00 AM PST - 19 comments

Change Your Mind Day 2008
posted by davar at 2:47 AM PST - 31 comments

Smart Shorties is a new CD being marketed to teachers that takes the beats from popular rap songs and rewrites them to the multiplication tables, with the intent of improving kids' math skills. Forbes has a nice roundup on it's history, and NPR has done a featurette on it as well At the very least, it's certainly worth a listen for the chuckle potential, but in addition to that, it's an interesting example of the now-booming Edutainment industry, something that not only spans CD's, but also computer games and even standalone video game consoles.

also, Smart Shorties is certainly not the only "Hip-hop in the classroom" product out there, nor is it the first.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:10 AM PST - 37 comments

What Is A Species? "To this day, scientists struggle with that question. A better definition can influence which animals make the endangered list."
posted by homunculus at 12:12 AM PST - 11 comments

Searching for animatronics that'll take you out and do you right? Long beyond their glory days, renowned Showbiz Pizza house band, The Rock-afire Explosion, is attempting a comeback. Not that they haven't tried before, but this reunion is driven on multiple fronts: the refocussed creator Aaron Fletcher, the head (and tail) of Creative Engineering; accomplished custom performances by Chris Thrash (previously on Metafilter) and his fellow fan programmer/collectors; and a cameo in the technicolor orgy of an MGMT music video. (Noticed on the fittingly titled Gorilla vs. Bear.) [more inside]
posted by pokermonk at 7:58 PM PST - 27 comments

Paul Nicklen grew up in the Arctic, and his photography is amazing...A short, narrated presentation on the National Geographic site.
posted by HuronBob at 6:39 PM PST - 23 comments

The Caribbean Monk seal is officially extinct. It's the first seal extinction attributed to human activities, though it may not be the last.
posted by owhydididoit at 5:40 PM PST - 131 comments

Designers spend about 90% of their waking life in front of a computer, so the most appealing genre for a wallpaper would be one that has beautiful design mixed with the all important aspect of being outdoors. At their best, desktop wallpapers bring animation to often lifeless computer screens, reflecting the personality of the user and acting as a calling card for creative talent. The Desktopography Project first arrived in 2005 as a place to download nature / topological themed wallpapers with edits from selected designers. They have just released their 2008 library.
posted by netbros at 5:01 PM PST - 39 comments

NURSE CHILD WANTED, OR TO ADOPT -- The Advertiser, a Widow with a little family of her own, and moderate allowance from her late husband's friends, would be glad to accept the charge of a young child. Age no object. If sickly would receive a parent's care. Terms, Fifteen Shillings a month; or would adopt entirely if under two months for the small sum of Twelve pounds. This kindly nineteenth-century advertisement had a hidden meaning. If a woman paid her adoption fee to a baby farmer and handed over her infant, no one ever had to worry about that baby, ever again. [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena at 4:23 PM PST - 38 comments

The Prague Bible (1489) is a splendid three-volume MS of the Tanakh, once in the possession of Enlightenment luminary Moses Mendelssohn. There are several other beautiful examples of medieval and early modern Hebrew MSS online, including the Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts collection (New York Public Library), the Illuminated Haggadah Exhibit (Klau University), selections from Moses Maimonides' Moreh Nevukim (Leiden University), and the Prato Haggadah (Jewish Theological Seminary). See also the introduction to the Hebraic Collections at the Library of Congress.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Wildman Steve Brill: The man who ate Central Park. Once arrested by undercover park rangers in a sting Wildman Steve Brill has been foraging in public spaces, including Central Park, for over 26 years. [more inside]
posted by Stewriffic at 2:35 PM PST - 21 comments

The antithesis of the sexless marriage: 365 days of getting it on, and on, and on. "Let's say you and your spouse haven’t had sex in so long that you can’t remember the last time you did. Not the day. Not the month. Maybe not even the season. Would you look for gratification elsewhere? Would you file for divorce? Or would you turn to your mate and say, 'Honey, you know, I’ve been thinking. Why don’t we do it for the next 365 days in a row?'" And of course, how could this be complete without books chronicling all the ins and outs of the experiments? (NYTimes article, may require registration.)
posted by Forktine at 2:23 PM PST - 70 comments

Liberalisation's children. The Financial Times interviews seven 24-year-old Indians, all of the average age but of very different circumstances.
posted by goo at 2:19 PM PST - 6 comments

Wine jelly. Yes, wine jelly. It isn't bacon flavored, but you can make it yourself and its damn good. Distilled beverages can also be made into jellies, though they tend to be mixed with fruit juice.
posted by sotonohito at 1:55 PM PST - 11 comments

The public shaming of Orange County billionaire Henry Nicholas continues apace. While his financial crimes may not have drawn more than a passing reference, his drug use and other, more unsavory acts, have gotten widespread coverage -- as early as last year. Perhaps, it's because Nicholas was famously involved in supporting tough sentencing laws (his sister was murdered by her boyfriend in 1983.) However, some of the "tough on crime" policies he has backed as recently as a few months ago are said to unfairly worsen the punishment for those who commit crimes much less serious than those for which he was just indicted.
posted by noway at 1:15 PM PST - 22 comments

Long revered for its value as a fertilizer, and as a raw material for explosives, guano is the dried droppings of various birds and bats. The New York Times has published an excellent account of the Peruvian harvest of this valuable resource including a multimedia slideshow. Guano was superseded by synthetics in the early part of the 20th century, due to the development of the Haber Bosch process, which fixed atmospheric nitrogen. An attempt to harvest bat guano from a Grand Canyon cave in the late 1950’s was beset by technical problems and was ultimately unsuccessful. The remaining structures at the canyon rim are now a tourist attraction.
posted by Tube at 12:45 PM PST - 13 comments

Veteran sportscaster Jim McKay dies. The host of ABC's Wide World of Sports for forty years, Jim also called the 1980 Miracle on Ice. However, he will probably be best remembered for being thrust into the role of news journalist during the 1972 Munich Games.
posted by never used baby shoes at 12:20 PM PST - 25 comments

"Imagine the year is 2053 and homosexuality were accepted to the point of being of no importance. Now, is the deviate allowed to continue his pursuit of physical happiness without restraint as he attempts to do today? Or is he, in this Utopia, subject to marriage laws?" The same-sex marriage debate in ONE magazine in 1953. [via]
posted by Pater Aletheias at 10:30 AM PST - 40 comments

Meet Adam Chodikoff. He's the guy that finds those before and after videos, where politicians contradict themselves, for The Daily Show.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:54 AM PST - 33 comments

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the iconic American folk song The Wabash Cannonball was written as a tribute to an actual train, but in fact, in an interesting case of life-imitates-art, the actual train name was inspired by the song. The Lake Erie, Wabash, and St. Louis Railroad Company was formed in 1852, but there was no train called the “Cannonball” when the song was first sung late in the 19th century. There have been many, many, many wonderful versions through the years, but I think Roy Acuff pretty much owns it, wouldn't you say? [NOTE: See hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:49 AM PST - 20 comments

The BBC investigates the carbon trading scheme and finds it flawed. Article and podcast MP3.
posted by DarkForest at 5:13 AM PST - 19 comments

When Humans Punch Aliens: The Video Remix. A tribute to our diplomatic encounters with alien life forms.
posted by farishta at 12:26 AM PST - 31 comments

Kiki and Bubu! Austrian art collective monochrom presents the adventures of two sock puppets. Part One: Kiki and Bubu and The Shift. "Bubu wants to know why his dad is busy all the time. And Kiki explains him why... because of the neoliberal shift." Part Two: Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege. "Bubu ran into a bunch of liberals and they gave him a book. They said if he doesn't read it, they're going to beat him up. But Bubu can't read! And so Kiki helps..." [Via BB]
posted by homunculus at 12:00 AM PST - 6 comments

"There are few physicians today who can relate to the 'bad old days' before Roe vs. Wade. I can." A doctor who has seen the days before abortion was legalized relates his experiences and reminds us why abortion must remain safe and legal.
posted by kldickson at 9:46 PM PST - 188 comments

Until 400 years ago, the Ainu controlled Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main islands. Today they are a small minority group of Japan. They are a hunting and fishing people whose origins remain in dispute. Long before the people who would come to be known as "the Japanese" completed their migrations from the Asia mainland, the islands of Japan were already inhabited by a race of people known as the Ainu ("human"). On this northernmost island, (Hokkaido), in the "snow country," there still may be found remnants of this once proud and vigorous people who roamed the Japan islands long before the Japanese themselves arrived.

More links inside [more inside]
posted by dawson at 8:15 PM PST - 35 comments

As the Seattle PI notes "Paul Allen's 'Flying Heritage Collection' of 15 planes, mostly dating from the 1930s and '40s, is noteworthy both because of its rarity -- several are the only models of their kind remaining -- and its condition -- almost all of them have been refurbished so that they can be flown." [more inside]
posted by maxwelton at 4:27 PM PST - 27 comments

The Grand Tour is back, and this time it's in York. [Previously]
posted by djgh at 4:05 PM PST - 9 comments

It seems the Belgian "party" NEE's move towards film has ironically lead them into public service announcements and political activism for net neutrality; again using a sexually charged pun, but now directed at Virgin media.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:53 PM PST - 3 comments

IQ might not be as static as science originally believed.
posted by socalsamba at 3:33 PM PST - 50 comments

Garkov -- Garfield + Markov chains [via mefi projects]
posted by not_on_display at 3:31 PM PST - 53 comments

Inspired by the discussion of the remix of Nude, I dug up some other musical hardware (it seems that scanner engineers really like classical). Here's the earliest example of this silliness I could find.
posted by drfu at 2:55 PM PST - 7 comments

You're a couple in your 20s, with twin girls. Desiring to have just one more child, your fertility treatments result in sextuplets. You are the Gosselin family and your reality TV show is about to start a 4th season. You have your admirers and of course, critics.
posted by jaimev at 2:45 PM PST - 78 comments

McDonald's Line Rider Commercials^* [more inside]
posted by ericb at 1:27 PM PST - 32 comments

New Allegations Have Surfaced that the US Is Effectively Holding Iraq's Oil Revenues Hostage to Force through a Proposed Long-Term Strategic Alliance, Raising New Questions about the US' Committment to an Independent, Self-Governing Iraq. The Deal, Which in its Current Form is Said to Provide for an Indefinite American Military Presence and Blanket Immunity from Iraqi Law for All American Troops and Civilian Contractors, Is Understandably Not All That Popular with Many Iraqi Citizens. Iraqi Lawmakers Have Also Expressed Doubts about the Deal. (IRAQ WAR/POLITICS FILTER.)
posted by saulgoodman at 1:12 PM PST - 79 comments

Captured Monsters, a classic monster movie screencap blog. [more inside]
posted by zamboni at 11:34 AM PST - 15 comments

Wired: "In February, a B-2 stealth bomber crashed in Guam. Now we know why. And we've got video of the scene." (good stuff starts around 1:20)
posted by stbalbach at 11:08 AM PST - 123 comments

What, no Phở King? BWE's Top 50 Punny Store Names.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:07 AM PST - 80 comments

"The Magazineer is a blog about magazine design and print culture, written by people who love, and make, magazines." {The most recent entry is by Jess, actually.}
posted by dobbs at 10:30 AM PST - 8 comments

"'Uncle Adolf' referred to William Patrick as 'my loathsome nephew'." Willy Hitler, the son of Adolf Hitler's half-brother Alois Hitler, Jr., is one member of Hitler's extended family, although he wasn't easy to track down. After WWII, he changed his name and tried to live a private, secret life in the United States. Now, his three sons, relatives of Hitler living normal, regular American lives, have decided to never marry and let their family line die with them. [more inside]
posted by Ms. Saint at 9:40 AM PST - 77 comments

Zimbabwe: Holds diplomats (after threatening to burn them), suspends aid, bans opposition rallies.
posted by Artw at 8:52 AM PST - 70 comments

While western banking institutions continue to reel from the credit crunch, Islamic banking, with assets approaching one trillion dollars, is growing at roughly 20% pa by offering Sharia compliant - and only Sharia compliant - financial products. But compliance to Sharia law in matters financial is not easy (previously). [more inside]
posted by Mutant at 8:40 AM PST - 40 comments

I would have added this to the original post save for the fact that it's closed now. Anyway, this entry to the Radiohead Nude Remix Competition is innovative, interesting, awesome and nostalgic enough to warrant it's own FPP... I bring you Nude, played on ZX Spectrum, Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer, HP Scanjet 3c and a Hard Drive array, the work of video artist James Houston.
posted by benzo8 at 7:55 AM PST - 47 comments

The male rejection of adulthood is now the dominant attitude in Hollywood comedy.

The center of attention is usually a guy, his buddies and his toys. He will, most of the time, be nudged toward responsibility, forgiven for his quirks and nurtured in his needs and neuroses by a woman who represents an ideal amalgam of supermodel and mom.
posted by plexi at 6:37 AM PST - 153 comments

A Day In The Afterlife of Philip K Dick - An Arena documentary first broadcast by the BBC in 1994 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:40 AM PST - 31 comments

Are you neurotic?
posted by divabat at 3:29 AM PST - 72 comments

Attention Geeks and Hackers: Uncle Sam's Cyber Force Wants You! [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 11:55 PM PST - 29 comments

"I have never had an accident where I have pressed a button and accidentally sent seven chapters into cyberspace, never to be seen again. And have you ever tried to hack into my typewriter? It is very secure," says author Frederick Forsyth. In the computer age, people still love typewriters. BBC News Magazine examines why, with some interesting comments after the article. Via.
posted by amyms at 11:04 PM PST - 78 comments

Russian car magazine "Autoreview" has posted photos of a 1978 Korean Air Lines (KAL) forced landing to accompany an article about the Land Rover Defender pickup that was used to haul equipment at that time. Apparently, Korean Air Lines is not amused (Korean) by this effort to dig up the past. More photos. Via the always awesome Marmot's Hole. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 9:28 PM PST - 13 comments

Five years and 800,000 images went into producing a 4 gigapixel mosaic image of the galactic plane, which when printed out is 180 feet long. But it has been made browser-sized by GLIMPSE, the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire, the research group which, along with MIPSGAL, created the image: A Glimpse of the Milky Way.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:42 PM PST - 13 comments

This fun Japanese contact juggler's clip is proving popular lately, but he is not the first Japanese practitioner of the art to surface online. Here are several more highly entertaining Japanese contact juggler clips worth watching: one, two (starts about 1:06), three, four, five. (all via the highly entertaining Ministry of Manipulation's blog). [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive at 8:13 PM PST - 27 comments

Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the "missing pyramid" of a pharaoh and a ceremonial procession road where high priests carried mummified remains of sacred bulls.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:08 PM PST - 13 comments

Silence! It's the opposite of speech. But that doesn't mean it communicates nothing. [more inside]
posted by sluglicker at 6:07 PM PST - 34 comments

Inflatable Electric Cars When it arrives (hopefully in 2010) it will apparently be able to 2500 miles per charge.
posted by socalsamba at 3:17 PM PST - 50 comments

"Day Ten - Cervix low and closed. Notice blood spot near os and brown clot near cervix (right). Possibly from vigorous intercourse earlier that day (not mittelschmerz as I am not ovulating yet)." First link has graphic photos that may be NSFW.
posted by pwb503 at 2:30 PM PST - 106 comments

While many ailments are considered terrifying, Lesch-Nyhan is the stuff of nightmares. An extremely rare genetic neurological disorder with no cure, it often compels its victims to self-mutilate, even when they understand that doing so causes them harm. Richard Preston used Lesch-Nyhan as a plot device in his best-selling thriller The Cobra Event, and went on to write a fascinating article about the disease, its sufferers, and its implications for human behavior in the New Yorker. [PDF]. [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 2:29 PM PST - 35 comments

For Those Who Tried To Rock is a blog about the bands that never went anywhere, for example. Urbicide, The Tribulations and Only One. The band photos are usually accompanied by mp3s and short testimonies, such as this one about Soft Option: "Flock of Seagulls owned Liverpool when we came together but we were really Depeche Mode fans. Trouble was, we only had one Synth – the Roland pictured above – so on the more complicated songs we covered like Everything Counts (see cassette below) I had to play parts on a Melodica – the small keyboard you blow into. It was my Mother's idea. We went to an all boys school, so the gigs were boys only, which meant we did not get laid but the nights we played were some of the greatest of my adolescence." [via Carrie Brownstein's Monitor Mix]
posted by Kattullus at 1:49 PM PST - 50 comments

Mapping Iran's Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere. [more inside]
posted by chunking express at 1:42 PM PST - 4 comments

123 mm = 12 stacked CD cases. 6 miles = 30 Eiffel Towers. 5 acres = 11 ice hockey rinks. Sensibleunits.com converts any length, area or mass into real objects.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:19 PM PST - 34 comments

Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence. Phase II Report on Public Statements [PDF] and Phase II Report on DoD Policy Office [PDF]. This may come as a shock, but most of what the Bush Administration said about Iraq wasn't true. Republican co-chair Bond, Kit Bond, says the reports are "political theatre." [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 12:15 PM PST - 70 comments

The Meaning of Box 722. Letters to Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois in reaction to the 1966 civil rights bill, particularly the federal ban on racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing. At the time, Chicago was the most segregated city in the north, with boundaries enforced by mob violence. By Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland. When I started researching NIXONLAND I knew the congressional elections of 1966 would form a crucial part of the narrative. They'd never really been examined in-depth before, but by my reckoning they were the crucial hinge that formed the ideological alignment we live in now. Via Brad DeLong.
posted by russilwvong at 11:46 AM PST - 15 comments

In an Instant. "Would a doctor come right here?" David Steiner, 65, reflects on how the night of June 5, 1968, changed his own life forever. (LA Times reg. req.)
posted by scody at 11:41 AM PST - 24 comments

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Coporation) has decided to not renew a licensing agreement for the Hockey Night in Canada theme music (Youtube link).
posted by jeffmik at 11:24 AM PST - 55 comments

America's for sale. Just ask Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. With the U.S. economy in shambles, Paulson just spent four days touring the Middle East, hat in hand, looking for investors to bail us out. Specifically, on Monday, Paulson met with heads of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world's largest "sovereign wealth fund" with roughly $875 billion in assets, and encouraged them to buy American businesses. Mortgaging America by Eric J. Weiner (LA Times Op Ed) [more inside]
posted by ornate insect at 11:15 AM PST - 42 comments

The Safeguard system consisted of three primary components, a Perimeter Acquisition Radar, Missile Site Radar and Remote Sprint Launchers. Boullée in North Dakota [via]
posted by xod at 10:49 AM PST - 12 comments

A squirrel enjoys a nice cracker, to the tune of "If This Is It" by Huey Lewis. Strangely satisfying. [more inside]
posted by jbickers at 10:24 AM PST - 101 comments

German advertising agency .start has created an ad campaign for Burger King Europe complete with various tray liners (1 2 3 4), an interactive website, and TV commercials.
posted by gman at 10:15 AM PST - 41 comments

because it's famous brother day on Mefi, Doug and Jeffrey, just 2 brothers with Beatle haircuts.
posted by celerystick at 8:52 AM PST - 23 comments

The Morgan Museum currently have an exhibition featuring the 1517 Prayer Book of Claude de France, a gorgeous miniature (2.75 x 2 inches) illuminated manuscript, together with the Prayerbook of Claude's mother, Anne de Bretagne. [via]
posted by peacay at 8:40 AM PST - 9 comments

WGN-TV's Tom Skilling is legendary Chicago weatherman with an equally famous brother. While Sam Zell's ownership of Tribune Corporation has ruffled the feathers of many, even a mefite, it's very clear who is running the company.
posted by timsteil at 7:58 AM PST - 13 comments

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
posted by Del Far at 6:46 AM PST - 37 comments

Bletchley Park: A WWII juggernaut. It decrypted German Enigma (try one!) and Japanese messages on an industrial scale in huts and blocks, had an outpost in Mombasa, and built one of the first modern computers (it helped that Alan Turing was on staff). Now a diverse museum with or without a funding problem, it generated yet more intrigue in 2000 when an Enigma was stolen, and hosts a rebuilt, working Colossus that launched a cipher challenge. Beating it wasn't easy! [more inside]
posted by jwells at 5:16 AM PST - 36 comments

The Reality Tests. "A team of physicists in Vienna has devised experiments that may answer one of the enduring riddles of science: Do we create the world just by looking at it?"
posted by homunculus at 11:40 PM PST - 82 comments

Mark VandeWettering makes telescopes, and has written a set of guides for those who would like to build their own. Francis O'Reilly has made a similar set of guides, except as a series of videos.
posted by Upton O'Good at 9:59 PM PST - 13 comments

Maps: Finding our place in the world is an exhibit at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, and it runs until this Sunday June 8. That page contains images of a few of the maps. One of the many great things included is an animated map of the US Civil War in 4 minutes (one week per second, timeline noted at bottom, casualty counter rolling in bottom right corner - info about this animation) The exhibition book was previously linked here; that site includes higher-resolution versions of some more of the maps. I was floored by all the stuff they have; in terms of the rarity of the stuff in it, and the geek-delight factor, I think it's probably the best gallery show I've ever seen. [more inside]
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:48 PM PST - 24 comments

Vanity Fair has a typically excellent article out -- "How the Web Was Won," an oral history of the Web. Even if you're familiar with ARPANet, Metcalfe's Law, Pearl Harbor Day, the VC rush, whatever -- the story told by the often-animated people at the center of the whirlwind is an enlightening and entertaining experience. And for those of you don't know the history of the Internet, learn it! This is part of your heritage now. [more inside]
posted by spiderwire at 9:02 PM PST - 19 comments

From the Bookstalls of a Nigerian Market. Onitsha Market Literature consists of stories, plays, advice and moral discourses published primarily in the 1960s by local presses in the lively market town of Onitsha [in then-newly-independent Nigeria]... In the fresh and vigorous genre of Onitsha Market Literature, the commoner wrote pulp fiction and didactic handbooks for those who perused the bookstalls of Onitsha Market, one of Africa’s largest trading centers. Examples: How To Write And Reply Letters For Marriage, Engagement Letters, Love Letters And How To Know A Girl To Marry, Learn To Speak 360 Interesting Proverbs And Know Your True Brother, Struggle For Money [All full-text links are in pdf format, and some are quite large]. With links to additional resources.
posted by amyms at 7:59 PM PST - 25 comments

"In this rare documentary, Satyajit Ray talks about his films. Part 1, 2, 3. Satyajit Ray... is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and letters, Ray studied at Presidency College and at the Visva-Bharati University. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves during a visit to London. He directed thirty-seven films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali, won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Document at Cannes film festival"
posted by vronsky at 7:04 PM PST - 7 comments

Do Your Strip: A hopeful book and exhibition where 70 artists and illustrators invent a character, provide instructions on how to draw it, then create the first comic adventure. Exhibit-goers would then create additional stories with their favorite characters. All the characters, instructions, and first strips can be seen here [pdf]. [more inside]
posted by artifarce at 6:04 PM PST - 4 comments

Since 1997 ThrustSSC holds the World Record for land speed, going as far as to officially break the sound barrier - something that the Budweiser Rocket claimed doing much earlier, but under unoffical circumstances - or outright suspicion and disbelief. With Thrust SSC looking like something out of a Podracer lineup, the inboard and outboard video is something to behold. While workman-like and almost boring in calculated precision, it can get hairy. [more inside]
posted by loquacious at 5:52 PM PST - 25 comments

Tom Dula was a real person. Who knew? The Kingston Trio's version of Tom Dooley is the most famous. It says here that Doc Watson's great-grandparents were the Dooley's neighbors. They say Ann Melton confessed before she died... "Folk music is serious business."
posted by RussHy at 5:17 PM PST - 14 comments

The (U.S.) National Weather Service has released its report on a strong tornado that occured in Iowa the evening of May 25th. On the evening of May 25th, 2008 a tornado rated at EF5 (estimated wind speed was around 205 MPH!!) obliterated half of the town of Parkersburg, Iowa. Eight people have died, and 70 were injured. Here is a PDF containing incredible pictures of the damage (taken by employees of the NWS during their survey). [more inside]
posted by ArgentCorvid at 5:03 PM PST - 36 comments

Later this year, geophysicist Dan Lathrop's DIY Planet Earth will be filled with liquid sodium, weigh in at 26 tons, and will be spun-up to 80mph at its equator in an effort to discover how the earth's magnetic field is generated. Currently undergoing tests, even those can be pretty impressive.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 4:42 PM PST - 34 comments

Enough is Enough: A Thinking Ape's Critique of Trans-Simianism. [more inside]
posted by tybeet at 2:14 PM PST - 52 comments

The Black and White Minstrel Show was a (very cheesy) British variety series that ran Saturday nights on the BBC for twenty years. Hard to believe that it was still on the air as late as 1978. A live show, "Memories of the Minstrels ," toured the UK to packed houses in 2004 and 2005. The show was performed white-faced and featured the stars, medley's and costumes from the original TV series. Previously. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster at 1:53 PM PST - 43 comments

bomomo is a fun little drawing tool that creates some pretty interesting brush patterns using a variety of physics and mouse behavior. You can even save your finest works (Firefox and Safari only though) [via mefi projects]
posted by mathowie at 1:34 PM PST - 38 comments

Theives bypassed all security systems by simply posing as the security company on the phone These days as a robber dealing with high-tech security systems it seems that it's not about being a hacker or having loads of money to pull off a heist, its about making a phone call, having bear spray, and waiting for a guard to go on smoke break. [more inside]
posted by figTree at 1:30 PM PST - 42 comments

A teeny-tiny bloggie about itty bitty kitties. A foster parent of (usually) motherless kittens at the Tacoma Humane Society, Laurie Cinotto's blog IBKC has developed a following among ailurophiles through occasional shout-outs from Cute Overload. [more inside]
posted by lleachie at 12:46 PM PST - 31 comments

ESPN's Paul Jackson tells the tale of 10-Cent Beer Night and the ensuing riot in Cleveland on June 4, 1974.
posted by togdon at 12:25 PM PST - 27 comments

Is it Art? The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama [more inside]
posted by Xurando at 11:56 AM PST - 72 comments

Giant Vulva Bicycle Taxi. [via Jalopnik]
posted by GuyZero at 10:59 AM PST - 57 comments

Encyclopedia Repulsica, a/k/a The Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking (1972 edition): A peanut butter and lettuce sandwich, with a pickle on top • The Weiner Tiara Bake • Watercress Frappé (with optional radish rose) • How not to serve a Hamburger • [These, and many more, via a blog-full of eye-and-gut wrenching (and occasionally sublime) offerings from MeFi's Own™ Mael Oui, a/k/a Curly Wurly] [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 10:56 AM PST - 40 comments

The Banyan Tree Foundation promised to take donations from contributors to be redistributed to worthy Canadian recipients. The foundation also gave donors inflated charity receipts for tax declarations, and donors were encouraged to borrow money to contribute even more, and did... from a company now owned by Banyan Tree president Robert Thiessen. Now, the money has stopped flowing, and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has called the organization a "sham" and is going after Banyan donors for past charity receipts totalling more than CAD$100 million. [more inside]
posted by Shepherd at 9:02 AM PST - 12 comments

OK, I got yer muhfuggin Single Link You Tube post right here. That's right. Now you tell me that's not amazing. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:47 AM PST - 88 comments

God Save The Thief (automatic download) is a mashup of The Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" and Wolfmother's "Joker and The Thief" mixed by The Illuminoids.
posted by jason's_planet at 6:50 AM PST - 22 comments

Rachida Dati, France's Minister of Justice, faces a difficult position after a judge annulled a Muslim marriage because of lies over the wife's virginity. [more inside]
posted by djgh at 6:46 AM PST - 29 comments

Timewarner has set a precedent by creating tiered internet use that is capped at certain levels. Pricing will be about $29.95 per month for a 5 GB monthly cap to $54.90 per month for a 40 GB cap.
posted by ejaned8 at 6:39 AM PST - 63 comments

War is Boring.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:56 AM PST - 21 comments

Here's your chance to bake bread like a master. Cookingbread.com. The detailed step-by-step instructions include photos to help guide you through each bread recipe, from start to finish. You will find many different kinds of recipes for bread machines, or family classics such as cheese bread and banana bread. I just made some cracked wheat this past weekend. Also includes printable recipe cards. So get baking. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 5:41 AM PST - 15 comments

Take Britain’s favourite poem and add it to Scotland’s other national drink and here’s the result (mildly NSFW). [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:54 AM PST - 26 comments

By its own admission the US government is currently detaining at least 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons, and information suggests up to 80,000 have been ‘through the system’ since 2001.

even 200 years ago, there was a general insistence that prisoners be charged with and convicted of a crime before they could be condemned to the lower decks of an aging naval ship.

( prison hulks previously ).
posted by adamvasco at 3:33 AM PST - 43 comments

Humble abode: Loftcube // Rucksack House // Micro-Compact Home // Superadobe // Zigzag Cabin // Tree Sphere // Mirador // La Petite Maison du Weekend _ all via.
posted by nthdegx at 3:07 AM PST - 17 comments

You know the feeling that something is on the tip of your tongue? It offers deep insights into the nature of the mind. [Via The Frontal Cortex]
posted by homunculus at 11:30 PM PST - 24 comments

It's official. Obama has won the Democratic Party nomination for the US Presidency. In response, McCain has launched a "verbal sortie" against him and the media has already begun disecting Hillary's campaign.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:18 PM PST - 948 comments

Big Buck Bunny - a fantastic animation. It's also on YouTube, but the download is so much better.
posted by tellurian at 7:14 PM PST - 23 comments

Video of a man going totally beserk in a Russian office. Cellphone video here, w/ audio.
posted by loquacious at 5:22 PM PST - 165 comments

Build a robot for less than $50! Create your own evil robot of doom! Make an adorable red ladybug bot! Or a coat-hanger bot! Or another $50 robot! Or a 2-hour, $85 bot excellent for beginners! [more inside]
posted by jbickers at 5:17 PM PST - 13 comments

"I can only answer in the negative: I want them not to read The New York Times, while subscribing to The Financial Times." The New York Times book review asks various writers for their suggested required reading for each of the three presidential candidates.
posted by patricio at 1:01 PM PST - 42 comments