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Grand Royal is shutting down! the label, started by the beastie boys in 1993, is officially no more.

"This is one of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make," said co-founder Mike Diamond a/k/a Mike D of Beastie Boys. "Over the years the Grand Royal family had grown to include some of the most talented musicians and staff in the business. It’s tragic that the same growth has also produced an overhead and infrastructure that can no longer viable."

truly a sad day for independent music!
posted by mcsweetie at 11:33 PM PST - 31 comments

Strategery for Kids! Just like the real white house website, except done in fingerpaint. Come learn about Ofelia, who loves great american authors almost as much as she loves daydreaming. Beware of the cat, 'cause she's got a mean line of questions waiting for you. There's also some well-developed questions and answers with W, Cheney is shown exercising, and hey! put a coaster under those things!
posted by mathowie at 9:46 PM PST - 16 comments

Chandra Levy disappearance solved? A deaf man with a serious mental illness who cannot speak was wrongly jailed for nearly two years in the nation's capital even though minor charges against him were dismissed, prison officials said on Friday... Department of Corrections Director Odie... was ... quoted as telling the Post: ``It was kind of unbelievable to me that we could hold a guy for nearly two years who should not have been there,'' he said. Color photographs with arrows and pictures and a paragraph on the back to follow...
posted by dchase at 9:23 PM PST - 7 comments

High Speed Photography is truly amazing. Who knew a water drop collapses like a racquetball?
posted by riffola at 8:55 PM PST - 8 comments

Bougainville Rebels, PNG Sign Comprehensive Autonomy Deal
The deal, following two years of dialogue and almost a decade of violence, will culminate in a referendum on independence in 10 years. When fully implemented, it will give Bougainville broad autonomy in legislation, judiciary, and its own police force. Bougainvilleans fight for secession stems from PNG's distribution of revenue from gold mines on the island. Kabui's remarks at the signing emphasized the Bougainvillean identity and culture that autonomy would protect.
posted by rschram at 8:01 PM PST - 5 comments

Aren’t there some topics where the "E-Z", at-a-glance, bullet-point riddled, dummies/idiot's format seems terribly ironic, rather inappropriate, or fundamentally at odds with the subject matter? Not to mention random.
posted by katexmcfly at 7:26 PM PST - 20 comments

At a loss for the right word? This is an artful way to find another way to say what you mean.
posted by hockeyman at 6:52 PM PST - 18 comments

The web in your inbox. You want to surf. But your friends want to get together to play Werewolf. You can have it all. Search with Tracerlock and The Informant and when you can break away to check your email, you'll find links waiting. Did they find an interesting link for you? Then use GrabPage to have the page sent to you as an email attachment.

Surfing with email is cool. But why stop there? Why not do everything by email?
posted by otherchaz at 5:36 PM PST - 4 comments

Sometimes my faith in the world is restored. Not that a girl playing NCAA Division I football is going to change the world, but at least life's not all bad. Check out her teammates in the photo, they look genuinely psyched.
posted by o2b at 4:19 PM PST - 13 comments

Ladies, the Lord is no longer available for dates except in the afterlife.
I was really shocked to read about this, as I thought this guy was long since dead. It seems that Jesus, from Jesus.com was involved in an accident this morning in Westchester Pennsylvania. I'm going to Church.
posted by DragonBoy at 4:06 PM PST - 33 comments

In 1999, every company worth its salt was trying to figure out how to pretend that it was a "dot com". Now even the real dot-coms who have survived and prospered (they an't all dead, you know) are trying to figure out how to pretend that they aren't really like that. It's a sign of the times.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 3:29 PM PST - 5 comments

Cringely's insight deepens with this new article on Excite@Home's troubles. Is broadband here to stay? If so, is it going to go anywhere? Three years from now, what will the options be and what kind of performance can be expected?
posted by bloggboy at 3:24 PM PST - 5 comments

Ladies beware! It appears that foul contraption, the brassiere, is not only constricting, but holds up women's natural defenses against toxins. Surely, this article will give feminists of the bra-buring ilk the support they need to lift and separate their message from the din.
posted by CRS at 1:52 PM PST - 24 comments

Fighting feeping creaturism. Following in the wake of "abandonware" sites, here's a chance to perform that much-needed downgrade in order to escape bloat/adware/etc. What's your favourite software relic?
posted by holgate at 12:48 PM PST - 33 comments

Freak Watcher's Textbook. I am glad I waited to get the textbook before looking at freaks (or freaks eating cats). Now with this professional guide, I can watch like a pro. I assume Sally Struthers will be adding "Freak Watching" to her list of accredited courses.
posted by rev- at 12:37 PM PST - 10 comments

Eyewitness News, Reporting From Your Living Room. KVDA, a Spanish-language television station serving the San Antonio, TX community, hopes to revitalize community-based journalism. Ordinary people report the news live from their homes using high-speed Internet connections and web cams. Trinity University Communications Professor Rob Huesca says, "People are closer to the event than journalists can be, and that the expertise they bring is the expertise of real life, not the expertise of detachment, impartiality, balance, and the rest of journalists' values." (more)
posted by kathryn at 12:26 PM PST - 11 comments

i¿!?i
posted by Kino at 11:03 AM PST - 29 comments

Someone is a werewolf. Someone ... in this very room. About six months ago someone sent me the URL for this terrific party game called Werewolf, and my friends and I have been playing it regularly ever since. The rules are simple, it doesn't require any equipment (except for some cards) and I have yet to meet someone who doesn't truly enjoy the game. It's only drawback: after an hour of so of play, you will no longer trust any any of your friends. Print out the rules, stick 'em in your pocket, and if you find yourself in a group of 7+ people this Labor Day Weekend give 'em a whirl -- you won't be disappointed.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 10:11 AM PST - 22 comments

Doesn't it rain enough already ? Looks as though the British government had becomed tired with Englands beautiful year round weather and thought its citizens would be happier if it rained a tad more. Unfortunately they over did it a bit and thirty five people died in the floods that ensued...
posted by zeoslap at 9:44 AM PST - 4 comments

In the midst of being indignant over the death of the BeOS, Scot Hacker talks about Microsoft's OEM license with hardware vendors. Although Microsoft claims the terms of the agreement are a "trade secret," preventing it from making appearnce in the DOJ circus, apparently it prevents OEMs from installing any non-Microsoft OS along side a Microsoft OS... If true, the "browser integration" thing's just a minor annoyance - this would be monopolistic and anti-competitive... via rc3.org
posted by m.polo at 8:18 AM PST - 9 comments

Does this take your fancy? Or perhaps this does. Or this? Old comic book ads featuring OJ SIMPSON defaced by a range of naughty, should-know-better uk webloggers (and their friends). Darren's still taking submissions, so if you'd like to add your intepretation to this, this, this, this, this, this and this, then feel free. Warning: May Cause Bleeding.
posted by barbelith at 7:57 AM PST - 8 comments

Fight back against sneaky scumware like TopText and Surf+, with this Javascript code by Gary Rosenzweig of CleverMedia. The code detects the scumware's presence, pops up a message letting the user know they're carrying a parasite, and then surveys the user to find out if they knew about it. In the first day of operation on his site, he discovered that 3.67% of his visitors had either TopText or Surf+ installed, and more than 90% of these visitors did not know until they were told. (Link to the Javascript code is at the bottom of the article.)
posted by cfj at 7:37 AM PST - 6 comments

We're getting some new cable channels in Canada, and one of them is PrideVision, the world's first gay, lesbian, and bisexual television network. Even ten years ago, would anyone have thought we'd someday see programmes like Closeted Hollywood, Dyke TV, Queer as Folk, and Metrosexuality on North American television? And as a category 1 service, Canadian cable companies are required to make PrideVision available as part of their digital service.
posted by tranquileye at 7:00 AM PST - 14 comments

Smart young kids and too much freedom do not mix well. A girl prodigy at the age of 14 goes to university. She becomes mixed up in drugs, alcohol and sex. The parents sue school for lack of supervision. Is it really the school's job to look after her? Don't the parents have some responsibility here?
posted by aj100 at 6:19 AM PST - 56 comments

NASA raises funds through photographing vineyards. 5 bucks an acre? That's probably a pretty good price for both sides.
posted by meep at 4:37 AM PST - 3 comments

Interview with crew of the International Space Station [realaudio] on BBC's "Today" programme. The crew describe their bird's eye impressions of the environmental damage that mankind is doing to it's biosphere. If Denis Tito can get there, surely we could get Dubya up there to take a look-see for himself...?
posted by blackbeltjones at 2:41 AM PST - 11 comments

The American Worker: Labor Day is coming up, so its an opportune time for the AFL-CIO to release a poll saying how unhappy workers are. But is this just a by-product of a (basically) stagnant economy with the drumbeat of layoffs ever present, business running roughshod over their employees, employees not realizing how good they have it - ready to sue at the drop of a hat, or business as usual? (plus: Unions in Hollywood doing their own thing)
posted by owillis at 2:00 AM PST - 49 comments

Dave Winer offers us 2 views of the scripting world in 2005. He says that 'in one view, we are all inside Microsoft's box, sharing a common set of libraries and object hierarchies. In the other, we use our favourite tools and runtimes, our communities stay independent.' Frighteningly, he may well be absolutely right. What a great diagram; it reminds me of drawing when I was a kid.
posted by Atom Heart Mother at 12:04 AM PST - 17 comments

Googled for goofing. College kid outlandishly fakes contest submission, winning token prize for a valiant, if not silly, effort.
posted by paddy at 9:17 PM PST - 14 comments

Fetuses may be able to feel pain as early as 20 weeks gestation. "Members of the Medical Research Council's (MRC) expert group on fetal pain, led by Professor Eve Johnstone of Edinburgh University, say the finding could have important implications for the treatment of thousands of very premature infants born every year." It frankly makes my pro-choice conscience squirm a little, too.
posted by RylandDotNet at 7:24 PM PST - 42 comments

Jigzone - Another great place to waste time at work. The page features a java applet that lets you put together different jigsaw puzzles. I just started working tech support this week and the first day the person that was training me told me about this site. So far it has saved my sanity many a time.
posted by bytecode at 5:50 PM PST - 7 comments

When you least expect it, a story from life.
posted by vanderwal at 5:47 PM PST - 10 comments

Abercrombie & Fallacies “And there’s the group of guys playing football wearing only boxer shorts and boat shoes, because what self-respecting masculine guy wears shorts or a shirt, or needs any kind of traction on wet grass, when playing football?”
posted by joeclark at 3:53 PM PST - 19 comments

Timbuk2 is a webshop which lets you build your own messenger bags online. Customatix does the same for sneakers (and I believe Nike does too). What other products are available for customization (and purchase) online in the same manner?
posted by dagny at 3:26 PM PST - 22 comments

Elian Gonzalez may return to the US. with Castro May show up at UN for Children's Day, with Castro. Will Bush show up with Michael Jackson?
posted by Postroad at 2:55 PM PST - 8 comments

Michael Dertouzos has left us. The M.I.T professor behind the World Wide Web Consortium and the 'Information Marketplace' concept died on Monday at the age of 64. (more inside)
posted by kchristidis at 2:23 PM PST - 3 comments

National Geographic Traveler has put together a list of 50 places in the world you should visit in your lifetime. I'm not as well traveled as I'd like to be, so I really don't know if these places are as impressive as they sound. Did they leave anything out, or does that just about cover it?
posted by Jairus at 2:19 PM PST - 40 comments

White Bread Blues Why is it that stuff closest to the truth is the funniest? I think I qualify as the guy with the knife, although my cereal doesn't talk to me - well not since we had that argument this morning.
posted by Option1 at 1:48 PM PST - 7 comments

"My son is not a bad boy" has become a cliche. But what's the right thing to do when a loved one does something wrong? What about something VERY wrong? What is a parent's proper response?
posted by marknau at 1:21 PM PST - 29 comments

Diamonds in the rough. ESPN lists the top ten most hated NFL players of all time as selected by you, John Q. Public! Just looking through this, it's a sick reminder that we pay/paid murderers, cocaine addicts, and wife beaters more money in a year than we'll ever see in our lives. What ever happened to sportsmanship and being a role model, anyway? Or just plain not killing people, for that matter...OJ!...*cough, cough*...
posted by fusinski at 1:11 PM PST - 7 comments

Good reason to move. (Or not, as the case may be.) Lessee, if I make $45k per year and own a little house in Athens GA I'd have to make $67K in Atlanta, $89K in DC, $133K in SF, $150K in Manhattan. No wonder all my friends who did move to Manhattan are all stark, staring bonkers now.
posted by jfuller at 1:04 PM PST - 32 comments

Think having the past six years of your Usenet excesses archived and available at Google Groups is embarrassing? Intent on creating "the most complete archive possible" of netnews posts, Google is looking for collections of posts prior to 1995; they already have most of 1992.
posted by tranquileye at 1:03 PM PST - 12 comments

Latest Internet/Email Worm found by anti-virus company, Central Command, whom then sent out the press release announcing the worm along with information on how to purchase their anti-virus software. Is it just me, or does this cry, "Let's create a worm and then announce it along with links to buy our software!"
posted by physics at 1:01 PM PST - 4 comments

Spammers stoop to new low. I received an unsolicited spam this week from MonsterHut, extolling the virtues of their "products" which are "email marketing" (they're a spam cannon). After reporting it at Spamcop, I received an interesting email from their bandwidth host. It seems that before they could cancel MonsterHut's account for violating their terms of service, MonsterHut began suing them. The worst part? A judge granted MonsterHut a temporary restraining order, forcing Paetec to keep their site online while they continue spamming. How far will spammers go to get their word out? When's it going to stop?
posted by mathowie at 12:47 PM PST - 15 comments

Don't register for contests at work? Man wins new BMW...for his employers. While this case actually makes sense, i could see situations where employees could win prizes on company time and have a problem. I would be So bummed out.
posted by th3ph17 at 11:00 AM PST - 12 comments

Are the rights of states unfairly impacting commerce? It isn't just Ford selling used cars that is being curtailed, kafkaesque laws regarding the direct shipment of alcohol across state lines also result in less consumer choice. Where is the middle ground?
posted by machaus at 10:28 AM PST - 12 comments

"What would you like to know? ActiveBuddy finally delivers their first real infobot, AgentBaseball. Use IM to find baseball scores, standings, player stats, player info, team stats, team info, xtra bases, and sports news.

Wanna try it? Just add AgentBaseball to your buddy list and send it a message with "hello".
posted by Brilliantcrank at 9:15 AM PST - 19 comments

It's a Sad Day in the Neighborhood. Mister Rogers Hangs Up That Cardigan. Combined with the death of Charles Schulz last year, I feel like my youth is slipping away. How has Mr. Rogers affected your life?
posted by Hankins at 8:51 AM PST - 38 comments

Fictionline sounds like a scam but isn't: pay a small reading fee and win a thousand bucks if they publish your story. The plain design seems aimed more at writers than readers, but it's an exciting new concept in the glut of online lit mags.
posted by muckster at 8:39 AM PST - 11 comments

What a fantastic conspiracy theory. This article basically accuses the Department of Justice of taking Dmitry Sklyarov hostage. It has convinced me, although admittedly that doesn't take a lot.
posted by Atom Heart Mother at 8:38 AM PST - 7 comments

It isn't the circus YOU remember... Why would the head of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey hire a former top CIA honcho to torment a hapless freelance writer for eight years? Plus, some goodies on the Felds family - makes for a long but interesting read... Interesting... I always knew there was a reason people feared clowns but now it seems you need to fear the circus??? What has the world come to, I ask you???
posted by gloege at 8:19 AM PST - 7 comments

why technology is failing us [and how we can fix it] (at Shift Magazine) is a call to arms for bored geeks. We made it through the Internet Revolution and realised that it really didn't change a whole lot about the way we actually live. Chris Turner suggests that the Next Big Thing could very well be environmentally friendly technology. Think about it: We had reams of venture captial money to make the world at large aware of the new medium, and we got to play the entire time. We can do it again, and this time we can literally change the world.
posted by cCranium at 7:54 AM PST - 28 comments

Louis Joy, a corporate motivator and teamwork author, responded to his wife's restraining order Friday with a kamikaze plane attack that destroyed his house the next morning at 7:45 a.m. Overlooked detail of plan: His wife and daughter were not home at the time.
posted by rcade at 7:24 AM PST - 16 comments

Rapatronic photographs are eerie when you realise what the subject matter is. They leave me with a hole in my guts - the way I felt the time I experienced a total solar eclipse, only in this case the aftertaste is negative, rather than positive wonder. More here.
posted by southisup at 5:30 AM PST - 17 comments

101 Dave Eggers Jokes, a.k.a. 101 Side-Splitting Jokes of Staggering Hilarity. Parody or mean-spirited attack? You be the judge. Have you ever been the target of a website parody or attack?
posted by dutchbint at 4:42 AM PST - 41 comments

Doing science by stealth Scientists have found a way of subverting the error checking mechanisms of web servers to allow them to perform calculations without the owners permission. This "Parasitic computing" could potentially use the internet as a single giant distributed computer.
posted by astro38 at 3:54 AM PST - 5 comments

Redbird reefs of the coast of Delaware (NYTimes). When I came back from vacation, I was surprised to find that using old NYC subway cars as artificial reefs was being put into action (with a great pic of the cars being pushed off barges). NYC gets creative in getting rid of its trash, but this is the most creative way I've heard of yet.
posted by meep at 3:36 AM PST - 3 comments

Scott Adams helps to design the ultimate cubicle. Oh, the irony. According to The Register,
"So has Adams sold out, or what?
On closer inspection, this whimsical parlay could well be a physical extension of the Dilbert strip. How else to account for the 'sun indicators', or as the blurb says:-'Regardless of the weather outside, sunlight travels across your space, glowing and fading with the rhythm of the day.' Yes, to remind you of the futility of your miserable, rabbit hutch existence, of course."
posted by jetgrrl at 1:46 AM PST - 9 comments

"Now, I know those tax returns were around here somewhere..." 40,000 tax returns and payments lost somewhere in Pittsburgh. The inefficient and incompetent federal government at work once again? Nope. Private industry contractors at fault this time.
posted by owillis at 11:41 PM PST - 3 comments

The tax bill was based on conservative ideology: not only did it offer the largest rate breaks to the richest people, but it had the explicit purpose of reducing the activities of the federal government.
posted by semmi at 10:21 PM PST - 21 comments

"The gremlin in Falling Hare (who, let us reiterate, is *not* Wendell Willkie) has an elegant flying helmet/plane tail design and a Benny Rubin-like laugh." The Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion covers the heyday of Merrie Melodies and Loony Toons, with capsule biographies of Warner Brothers animators, explanations for no-longer-obvious cultural references, and brief notes on the characters. No design to speak of, but a wonderful resource for anyone searching for a list of WB cartoons that parody Cab Calloway, arguing about whether Elmer Fudd predates Yosemite Sam, or just wondering what the heck Marvin the Martian's given name was.
posted by snarkout at 9:50 PM PST - 29 comments

Unocal seems responsible for driving up gas prices by taking shameless advantage of regulations and patent law. Why did our government get ambushed by a basic loophole that any first-year lawyer would think of? Maybe it's involved with too many things to do anything right?
posted by marknau at 6:41 PM PST - 8 comments

from "Ray Bradbury is on fire!" in today's Salon: "Kerosene-spraying firemen aside, a closer look at the 1953 novel [Fahrenheit 451] shows Bradbury nailed the new millennium perfectly. There's interactive television, stereo earphones (which reportedly inspired a Sony engineer to invent the Walkman), immersive wall-size TVs, earpiece communicators, rampant political correctness, omnipresent advertising and a violent youth culture ignored by self-absorbed, prescription-dependent parents."
posted by moth at 6:39 PM PST - 21 comments

Given the recent cinematic floppery of late, I was pleasantly surprised when I came across an article about real-world Artificial Intelligence that was written in a solid down-to-Earth manner about some very technical concepts. If you're into AI it should be worth a look to you. How would you like to have a computer that learns and adapts? Heh...how'd you like your computer to pout because you won't buy the latest processor? ;}
posted by Spanktacular at 4:30 PM PST - 5 comments

Have you ever wondered about your sexuality? If you're like me, no. But, you might want to mosey over here and check on it anyway. Who knows what happened to it since the last time you looked? This quiz attempts to guess your sexuality based on the answers you give to multiple choice questions. There's a AI program behind it that grows more intelligent as more people take the quiz.
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:48 PM PST - 53 comments

Hitting all 50 by 30. Have you come close? Do you keep track? How many countries and continents have you racked up?
posted by mathowie at 3:17 PM PST - 101 comments

Does the G-Spot Exist? Be careful, this could be a touchy subject.
posted by msacheson at 1:23 PM PST - 62 comments

This is not the proper way to say happy birthday Man has his package stolen on his birthday. Can anyone think of a worse birthday present?
posted by tj at 1:12 PM PST - 13 comments

was: Computer Programmer, now: Tigerman. In San Diego, some jerk spent $150,000 to tattoo his face, file his teeth into points, etc. Why, you are clearly asking? Because he wants to be a cat. Dude. Spend your dot-com cash on something constructive, like jackelope ranches or x10 cameras.
posted by rev- at 11:55 AM PST - 34 comments

Man who started campfire charged with two counts of murder Got a few questions for any legal scholars in the house. In a nutshell: How does a guy who neglected to put out a fire wind up getting charged with murder when two pilots accidentally crash into each other? The un-nutshelled version inside.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 11:45 AM PST - 9 comments

Egged on by Crowd, Woman Leaps From Bridge She survived and is in critical condition. There's also an astonishing photo of her fall from the bridge.
posted by msacheson at 11:44 AM PST - 39 comments

Entrapment?
posted by preguicoso at 10:16 AM PST - 41 comments

Damn that pacific! Can anyone help these lovebirds cross the pacific?
posted by adnan at 10:08 AM PST - 23 comments

Read what Newt does. Or not. Newt Gingrich offers his book reviews on Amazon. Who knows, maybe he is saving up his associates fees for a barbecue grill.
posted by machaus at 9:51 AM PST - 2 comments

There's a situation arising right now, between Australian, Norwegian and Indonesian governments. The issue? A Norwegian freighter laden with 438 Afghan asylum seekers, stranded in the Indian Ocean. Today, Australia elite commandos seized control of the Norwegian-owned "Tampa" and its human cargo and ordered the ship to return to international waters. Norwegian authorities, on the other hand, are appealing to Australian authorities to help the refugees and the crew onboard "Tampa". What should be done here, if anything, and by whom? And what about the situation in Afghanistan, that is causing these people to escape from there in the first place? (More: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
posted by dagny at 9:22 AM PST - 52 comments

Rude Software Installation I clicked on a link that needed Shockwave 8.5 installed. Silly me, I said okay. After the download, the installation program nicely closed all of my open IE windows without first asking, creating a splendid loss of work for me!! Thanks Macromedia!! I'm now going to be on the lookout... What other software programs act rudely, creating defaults, shutting down your browser windows, or assigning themselves to extensions without first asking?
posted by yarf at 7:59 AM PST - 34 comments

got repetitive stress disorder? no you don't.

could the Bush administration piss me off any more? (more inside)

via Signal vs. Noise
posted by o2b at 7:57 AM PST - 31 comments

Banned books are nothing new, but this is just ridiculous.
"Those modern classics and seven other books have come under routine fire for profane language, unpleasant racial themes and references to homosexuality." Considering this , why is it an issue. [see no evil]
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 7:27 AM PST - 52 comments

Hurry!! The Dot.Com Gold Rush Is On! Zooooooooom!
posted by webchick at 7:24 AM PST - 13 comments

After a Klan rally at the capital in St. Paul, two twenty-something men decide to go out and beat up a 4-year old. what the f@#$%?
posted by jnthnjng at 6:59 AM PST - 17 comments

Stile has hit the fan. His "Kitten - It's what's for dinner" video has finally attracted the attention of PETA, et al. Oddly enough, they seem non-plussed. Unlike much of MeFi's response, PETA is seeking to censor and prosecute.
posted by NortonDC at 6:56 AM PST - 77 comments

Software Libre! Local and national governments around the world are legislating in favor of open source, in a challenge to US corporate (read Microsoft) dominance. A liberating movement, or too much government intrusion?
posted by liam at 6:06 AM PST - 10 comments

This weekend's DialTones is yet another fascinating "found sound" performance. (Let's just hope Andras Schiff's not in attendance.)
posted by Fofer at 3:55 AM PST - 3 comments

Remember George Carlin's 7 words you can never say on tv? Well, make that three, because four of TV's seven dirty words have now become part of the television lexicon. What's your favorite word?
posted by Rastafari at 10:00 PM PST - 51 comments

Brain Cells Used To Make Working Semiconductor "This is the first direct functional interfacing of a living neuronal network with an electronic semiconductor chip," said co-author Dr. Peter Fromherz of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, in an interview with Reuters Health. "It is a further step on our road to combine the elements of brains and computers," he added.
posted by Alwin at 9:22 PM PST - 2 comments

This amazing weapon was fired by a helicopter into the third floor of a building and was so accurate it actually decapitated its target without harming the other tenants.
posted by semmi at 9:12 PM PST - 58 comments

Warning!! This will consume hours of your precious time: Help the lego trashbot for the good of mankind. The first few levels are relatively easy, but see if you can get past level 17 in six moves or less - it nearly killed me. Link courtesy of iamcal.
posted by aladfar at 7:45 PM PST - 23 comments

David Blaine is the man. I really don't believe in magic but I believe in David Blaine, he is unreal. Blaine is putting on a show this Sunday on TLC at 9:00est. We have talked about him before and most are impressed, if you haven't seen him and you want to see some mind blowing magic, check it out.
posted by me myself and i at 6:48 PM PST - 28 comments

AOL rules. Not really. But this page is good for a muffled snicker.
posted by jcterminal at 5:55 PM PST - 24 comments

Roll Your Own DSL "But why would you even want to do such a thing? Well maybe DSL isn't available in your area. Maybe you want a significantly cheaper alternative to a T-1 line. Or just maybe you and the kid down the block want to play networked games at warp speed."
posted by frykitty at 4:07 PM PST - 9 comments

Uh-oh! We're almost out of IP addresses! The current IP (Internet Protocol) only allows approximately 4.3 billion addresses to be assigned, yet demand in 2006 may be for 7 billion addresses or more? Do we make a tough upgrade to IPv6 or force greedy Class-A users to hand over blocks?
posted by wackybrit at 2:40 PM PST - 27 comments

If I had my own weblog, I'd write more about what this story of one woman's coma (spotted on World New York) means to me. I'll just say that I love my wife and fear ever facing a crisis such as the one described in this husband's extraordinarily well written story. If you want to think deeply about life and the people you love and have some time and tears for the introspection, take a read.
posted by msacheson at 2:35 PM PST - 22 comments

How to cook rice in 9 easy steps. Evidently it involves race cars, a dash of Japanese anime, and X games music. Or something. I must admit I'm confused, and more than a little scared.
posted by sassone at 2:11 PM PST - 14 comments

Happy Burning Man, everybody!
posted by maura at 1:25 PM PST - 13 comments

Ardent Twin Peaks fanatics are rallying behind Operation: Creamed Corn, in efforts to convince New Line to release the deleted scenes hand-picked by David Lynch from Fire Walk with Me. Will it work? I sure hope so.
posted by brittney at 1:17 PM PST - 14 comments

Oh, God, here we go again. Maybe he can go next door and ask Wilson for some advice?
posted by sassone at 11:38 AM PST - 39 comments

Record Company Manipulates Results of MTV's "Total Request Live" Not surprising, really. As much as I loath what MTV has become (there was a time when they played less commercial videos with some redeeming qualities), wouldn't it be interesting to spoof votes and get a video by a interesting group onto TRL.

Watching mindless teens scream for a video by, say, Dream Theater, Dismemberment Plan, or Shudder to Think?
posted by 4midori at 10:23 AM PST - 52 comments

Bernie for mayor! Kramer For Mayor! NY has a lot of choices for mayor.
posted by chainring at 9:43 AM PST - 6 comments

Implicit Attitude Tests are a way to find out how biased you are regarding race, age, and gender. The results can be spooky.
posted by muckster at 9:37 AM PST - 15 comments

Ed Norton and Cameron Diaz in Boo.com: The Movie. Why, god, why? Can any good come of such a thing?
posted by Sapphireblue at 9:23 AM PST - 23 comments

Sundance is a little ski resort about twenty minutes up the road from me... it's quiet during the winter, and a great date in the summer ...and aside from it's eponymous (and off-site) film festival, who would have guessed that it was so famous? Do you have any local favorites in your neck of the woods... places that are surprising local hotspots (a la "a prophet in his own country")?
posted by silusGROK at 9:01 AM PST - 6 comments

Arnold had a full grill in Total Recall, but Hopes for manned — and especially a "womanned" mission to Mars — might hinge on teeth. The bone-weakening effects of zero-gravity environments might lead to permanent tooth loss, says a government dentist. via Slashdot
posted by adampsyche at 8:56 AM PST - 11 comments

Doggie-bag use is up - Must be an economic downturn (via Fark). Want to know what the Fed is up to before everyone else? Have a look at the Greenspan briefcase theory. Takeout orders in Washington DC are up? Must be a war!

Anyone know of other 'indicators' like these? No, Groundhog Day doesn't count.
posted by jwells at 8:02 AM PST - 10 comments

What do you get when you mix a zealous Christian, 12 blow-up dolls, and a toga party? It's just too strange, but it might have been the rapture for one woman...
posted by atfrost at 8:02 AM PST - 7 comments

The reviews for the 2GHZ Pentium 4 are out.
posted by machaus at 6:30 AM PST - 9 comments

"we will have no representative there, so long as they pick on Israel" (exact Bush quote) Is it better to just not show up, or to go there and talk? Then we may be skipping another U.N. conference because they mention "children's rights & abortion". This seems more like the kid taking his ball and going home as opposed to the most powerful country on earth...
posted by owillis at 12:54 AM PST - 63 comments

"They all look the same to me!" Just by looking, can you tell a Chinese person from a Korean? Or a Japanese? Take the Asian Aptitude Test and find out.
posted by phichens at 11:40 PM PST - 45 comments

Get the skills to tend the grill. Grand Royal present an Inspirational Guide to all things BBQ, featuring tips from the guy who did the backstage cooking at the original Woodstock.
posted by Foaf at 10:30 PM PST - 6 comments

The Whole World Toilet Paper Museum
Because you've never really lived until you've seen toilet paper autographed by Barbara Walters.
posted by Spirit_VW at 10:25 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Increasingly, London is its bars. Twenty-seven new drink portals open every week. Luckily Chris Morris has sorted through the chaff to give us the definitive London bar guide.
posted by davehat at 9:33 PM PST - 7 comments

This interesting mini-series about the human face on TLC (via BBC), claims that technology and the Internet are replacing face-to-face contact, but without much needed facial expressions that play a crucial role in communication. No doubt, this is why we THINK OF CAPITAL LETTERS as "yelling" and use :) and :P in online communication. Where do you see online communication in 10 years?
posted by canoeguide at 8:35 PM PST - 17 comments

The Little League World Series: Part 2 The controversy continues...
posted by sassone at 8:32 PM PST - 14 comments

I thought I was the only one who giggled at the name of this British sweet treat. Traditionalists balk at changing the name, but supermarkets report sales lags because folks are embarrassed to ask for it. What would you re-name this dessert?
posted by Oriole Adams at 5:30 PM PST - 24 comments

Is it just me (again), or does Ann Marie Smith, the next in line to Gary Condit, look bizarrely like Wendie Malick in a wig?
posted by Neale at 5:20 PM PST - 16 comments

Oops. Where did the surplus go? It' fascinating how MSNBC bends over backward to make it sound as if both parties shared blame equally rather then pointing straight at Bush's outrageous tax cut.
posted by muckster at 5:05 PM PST - 36 comments

Internet Explorer 6 final is out for windows. Hopefully they've worked all the bugs out from the public beta. They're claiming full 100% standards support for DOM level 1 and CSS 1 (it only took five years!), though time will tell how accurate that claim is.
posted by mathowie at 4:05 PM PST - 64 comments

Guess the Poll, Win $5000.00 FJ
Fijilive.com (with the Fiji Post) is hosting a contest to guess who will be the next prime minister. Voting for parlimentary elections began on Saturday in Fiji, with few observed problems. Charges of intimidation, illegality, et cetera fly back and forth. Someone circulated some pamphlets that said paraphrasedly "a vote for Chaudry is a vote for bloodshed." Mahendra Chaudry was the Labor prime minister deposed while being held hostage in May last year. Several of those involved in that abortive, yet destructive coup are also running under their own banners. They seem to have split the ethnic Fijian vote (approx 51% of the population) more than anything.
posted by rschram at 3:52 PM PST - 2 comments

Bad Software . Has anyone ever seen Gigex? Its a Download delivery helper for the PC. Thru PCGamer.com. I just tried to dl a demo for a game and Gigex tried to help me. It helped me by completetly locking up my PC. A reboot launches Gigex again which freezes everything again and again. What to do about obnoxious software 'helpers'?
posted by darkpony at 1:41 PM PST - 25 comments

Apparently the Web is getting less eclectic. The basic gist is that the Web, once a vibrant and quirky place, is just becoming a repository of dullness and repetition with such an overabundance of information that people tend to stick to sites that they know and love. What's your take on it?
(Thanks to Zach at Thinky.org for the link.)
posted by bshort at 12:28 PM PST - 34 comments

If you were to assassinate someone what weapon would you choose? Some poison or maybe a sniper rifle. Well L. Piyasena decided to try something different, assassination by bus.
posted by bytecode at 10:42 AM PST - 30 comments

Back to two tin cans and a string? With so many of the broadband providers going down (and with it, their service), will the promise of broadband ever be fulfilled, or will consumers decide we can get by without it?
posted by msacheson at 10:20 AM PST - 34 comments

The Onion: The Movie? In an internal memo posted to Fucked Company this morning, The Onion's Publisher/President Peter Haise (allegedly) says they're working on a sketch comedy movie with David Zucker. Considering Zucker's filmography, this could be really, really great, or really, really terrible.
posted by waxpancake at 10:09 AM PST - 20 comments

Dark Tower V Prologue available at Stephen King's official website. Apparently, King is "hoping to press on to the very end and publish the remaining volumes all at the same time. That probably means three books, one of them fairly short and one of the other two quite long." If he continues the increase in quality that he established with Wizard and Glass, we'll be in for quite a treat.
posted by tallman at 10:08 AM PST - 23 comments

Argentine Peso Crashing, Provinces Pay in 'Patacon'
The new scrip will be accepted, officials hope, until the recent US bailout makes it possible to print pesos. The IMF posted 8B dollars last week, at which time 'patacon' was being used in ATMs (Surprise!) I like the above articles noting that it "fits into a wallet like money" --- was there ever a case of design problems in emergency paper currency?
posted by rschram at 9:41 AM PST - 6 comments

A rare (in the US) view of the conflict in Israel from the point of view of a Palestinian. His conclusion: young men are making suicide attacks because "death is a better option than the life they are leading." Meanwhile, Sharon's long term plan is to make things even worse for the Palestinians.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:24 AM PST - 94 comments

Free Anime! Manga Entertainment will stream their new release Blood: The Last Vampire on the Web for 24 hours Tuesday, while simultaneously showing the film at theaters in Los Angeles and New York. They will then sell DVDs of the movie online and in retail stores. [More inside.]
posted by Dirjy at 8:41 AM PST - 28 comments

Brothel Goes Live on Net RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Rio de Janeiro's Vila Mimoza (Pamper Village) brothel is propelling the oldest profession in the world into the 21st century. Within the next two weeks, the Vila Mimoza prostitution cooperative, just north of downtown Rio, plans to launch a Web site (http://www.vilamimoza.com.br) aimed at luring customers and making the "village'' a major stop on the tourism trail. Oh boy. Not much different than porn sites, but the "sex workers' labor movement in the 1970s" history tidbit could be interesting.
posted by adampsyche at 8:29 AM PST - 1 comment

No more Muzak™ and classic rock? "The [IBM] interns collaborated on something called Hold Freedom, a way to ease the tedium of being on hold while waiting to talk to a human. The program enables callers placed on hold to listen to news, music of their choice, enter a chat group with other customers or even make another phone call without losing their place in the queue. The choices would be based on personal profiles that the customers had previously completed on the call center to phone company's Web site." (Also cool that the idea comes from summer interns.)
posted by tippiedog at 7:39 AM PST - 9 comments

As Carlo Giuliani's anti-globalization martyrdom continues apace, an object-throwing youth has killed a NATO soldier in Macedonia. Tie game?
posted by rcade at 6:43 AM PST - 15 comments

US drone lost over Iraq - It seems it's only a matter of time before they shoot down a piloted plane (even if by accident). What are we still trying to accomplish over there and what would the reaction be if they succeed?
posted by revbrian at 5:44 AM PST - 15 comments

I'm jaded. Nothing surprises me anymore. Except maybe zinc.
posted by jbushnell at 9:33 PM PST - 16 comments

No $250 million dollar crybabies here. The Little League World Series has been much more engaging than the pro game to me - mostly because the kids are there to play baseball as opposed to the ego and salaries that permeate MLB. (the broadcast, on the other hand, is the usual commercial b.s. with things like the "Bubblicious Lineup")
posted by owillis at 4:09 PM PST - 22 comments

Daema kicks some serious ape butt The sequels to Pierre Boulle's original Planet of the Apes novel are, apparently, leaving something to be desired. Lets invent some and raise the tone, shall we? Planet of the Jeeps: An astronaut lands on a planet and gets rammed in his Nissan Micra at an intersection by a Simian driving a Sport Utility Vehicle. Director Tim Burton gets slated by the critics - "Good Science Fiction should show us things we've never seen before".
posted by RichLyon at 1:50 PM PST - 18 comments

She didn't feel the same way, and that was that. Crush.nu has formally ceased publishing stories. Jack mentions the possibility of a book (for which you are able to send submissions right now), but the project as it was on the web is no more than its archives. I know it hasn't been updated in quite a while, but I'm going to miss it terribly all the same. What will you miss most about it?
posted by moz at 8:34 AM PST - 7 comments

Dave Winer rewrites "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" - In which he muses in an undergraduate manner about why IT is so male-dominated, offering up such gems as "Men are the artists of our species, women are the infrastructure". As you'd expect, this hasn't gone down with some. The gas is on, let's flick the zippo...
posted by GrahamVM at 8:01 AM PST - 63 comments

stopping football holigans in the gambia security forces banned from football tourney - "the beating of some of the footballers, team officials and supporters of the opposing team which resulted in the admission to hospital of a footabller and the serious wounding of some supporters is a total violation of fair play and can no longer be entertained by the committee." well you've got to draw the line somewhere
posted by quarsan at 7:48 AM PST - 7 comments

Please help me, I'm falling I nearly cried into my breakfast when I read this article - because I thought it was about me. The usual path after university is into a well paid job and a fulfilling future. But a growing number are leaving university, even with high marks, with little idea of how life works and what to do next. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
posted by feelinglistless at 7:31 AM PST - 62 comments

Internet banned in Afghanistan. "The ministry of communication is duty-bound to make the use of the Internet impossible."

And a good thing too. Damned heretics.
posted by aflakete at 3:31 AM PST - 19 comments

Mugabe's secret plan to evict all whites Robert Mugabe plans to expel all white farmers from Zimbabwe before next year's elections, according to a secret document obtained by The Telegraph. [...] Entitled Operation Give up and Leave, it reads: The operation should be thoroughly planned so that farmers are systematically harassed and mentally tortured and their farms destabilised until they give in and give up.
posted by dagny at 2:22 AM PST - 29 comments

Singer Aaliyah Killed in Plane Crash

R & B singer and actress Aaliyah died after a small plane that was to carry her and eight others back to the United States crashed after takeoff in the Bahamas, authorities said.

I keep typing a description here. and erasing it. I don't know what to say. This is beyond awful. :(
posted by mcsweetie at 11:05 PM PST - 68 comments

As funny as a sitcom set in a concentration camp. So, your dad was into sex play and amateur "photography." Oh, yeah, and he was a celebrity. And he died under mysterious circumstances. Would the thought ever occur to you to charge folks to take a gander at your pop "gettin' it on?" This is several levels of creepy-from low level "huh, that's odd" all the way up to "oh, god I didn't need to see that!" levels of creepy. Link not safe for work, unless you work at a place where they encourge you to look at celebrities getting hummers.
posted by ColdChef at 10:59 PM PST - 13 comments

Uh, guys? It's just a damn game. Three different stories on the same page about people taking games far too seriously. I love my video games as much as the next person, but the closest I've come to injuring myself (or others) was getting an hour or two less sleep on the weekend from playing Civilization too much. Does anyone have any personal stories about games (video, board or card) unexpectedly causing injury?
posted by Grum at 9:48 PM PST - 27 comments

Up, Up, and Away! It's Captain Viagra to the rescue! Take a look as our hero is shot into action from his trusty megagun, Straightshot.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 9:43 PM PST - 3 comments

Wandering Camera doesn't strike you with quality of the pictures, but with sheer volume and coverage. I've only been to SPb once, and didn't see nearly as much as what's covered in the albums. Rather than to capture the best visuals of a site, it puts you into its atmosphere.
posted by azazello at 6:19 PM PST - 3 comments

Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be freelancers Maybe I should get my plumber's license?
posted by sassone at 4:45 PM PST - 6 comments

Should Teachers be Tested? In Ontario there is a power struggle between the provincial government and the teachers union over whether teachers should be subjected to testing to ensure they are current on their subject knowledge. Personally, I have enjoyed every ironic complaint of the teachers that testing is unfair. It seems to me that they are failing the test before even taking it when they implicitly claim that testing is good for the students but bad for them. What do you think?
posted by srboisvert at 3:44 PM PST - 15 comments

Netscape 6.1???? Have you tried it? Do you like it? Should we get Mikey?
posted by thunder at 10:09 AM PST - 33 comments

The Little Ninja. A beautiful Flash series, one of the best I have stumbled across in my travels around the web. The music, artwork and production are all top notch, and Ninjai's voice is just spellbinding. Anyone know of any other high-quality flash comics like this one?
posted by skinjob at 9:37 AM PST - 20 comments

Why can't you people keep an eye on your instruments? Vintage violin left in a cab. A different, rare, $40,000 violin left in cab. A $4 million, 1673 Stradivarius cello left in a cab. A $35,000 violin bow left in a cab. And of course, Yo-Yo Ma's $2.5 million, 266-year-old cello, left in a cab.
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:11 AM PST - 10 comments

Not many still-practiced sports existed at the dawn of recorded history. Sumo wrestling is one of them. I've been trying to learn more about Sumo lately, and with the Aki-Basho tournament coming up next month, now is the time to follow along on the web as the drama unfolds.
posted by machaus at 8:55 AM PST - 5 comments

Do you know me? "I am a white male, Caucasian, about five feet, nine inches. I weigh 150lbs. I have no visible marks on my body. I have no memory of any events prior to waking up in the hospital in November of 1999."

"Philip Staufen" has naturally dark brown hair and he has brown eyes. He doesn't have any tattoos, distinguishing marks, or scars. He is a Vegan and has a digestive disorder called Celiac.

"Philip Staufen" is living a nightmare.
posted by o2b at 7:40 AM PST - 29 comments

Are there limits to Freedom? Liberty means responsibility, said Betty Knowles Hunt in 1951. "The answer, and the only answer, is for all of us to educate ourselves to the responsibilities as well as to the benefits of freedom. Perhaps as a people, we are not morally strong enough to be free. If that is the case, then we shall certainly lose our freedom, and it will not matter much what "ism" supplants Americanism. But this will not prove that our free way of life was not the best way. It will only prove that we were not worthy of it. " What a spoil sport. Best sell the SUV, eh?
posted by RichLyon at 3:01 AM PST - 6 comments

Golf course: men only PGA golfer Fred Couples is helping build a golf course open only to men. Is this any different from a womens-only gym, or more sinister?
posted by owillis at 12:22 AM PST - 35 comments

This comment made me wonder what your favourite "project that never quite happened" was.
posted by johnny novak at 11:08 PM PST - 10 comments

Apparently wildcard DNS is a trademark violation now. Yahoo is suing the owner of the sex.com domain, because the latter uses wildcard DNS. This means that if you type "yahoo.sex.com" (or "anything.sex.com", for that matter) in your browser, you get taken to sex.com's main site. Yahoo is suing because that it could cause the public to mistakenly believe that the sex site "is connected with, sponsored by, or approved in some way by Yahoo," and therefore constitutes trademark infringement.
posted by RylandDotNet at 9:14 PM PST - 19 comments

Speaking of childhood stars, did you know the death of Dana Plato involved lesbianism, satanism, aliens, and heavy drug use? Ok, maybe not the 'alien' thing, but we won't know until someone actually ORDERS the book. (btw, you can find this site atthis url as well.)
posted by jcterminal at 6:25 PM PST - 7 comments

Just a Reminder That The White House is Occupied by a Clueless, Dangerous Man I'm not sure what to add, except I wish he would just resign. And that I wish the median national IQ would rise into the low 90's.
posted by ParisParamus at 6:18 PM PST - 60 comments

A Rememberance of Things Traumatic: 93...93...WPAT: Parent's Muzak From Childhood Perhaps the Mefi demographic is a bit young for this one, or perhaps there are others out there who were traumatized by elevator music outside elevators in the 1960's and 70's? If this rings familiar, think twice before listening to the links on this site. (via the New York Radio Message Board)
posted by ParisParamus at 4:54 PM PST - 8 comments

Proof that lame child actors grow up to be lame adult actors. With lame web sites.
posted by o2b at 1:38 PM PST - 90 comments

Polygamist Going to Big House PROVO, Utah (AP) - A Mormon with five wives and 30 children was sentenced to five years in prison Friday in Utah's biggest polygamy case in nearly 50 years. Tom Green, 53, also was ordered to pay $78,000 in restitution to the state for welfare payments fraudulently collected by his family.

now he gets to be the wife.
posted by adampsyche at 12:07 PM PST - 37 comments

Running Man for real? Reality TV takes one more step closer to that plateau we're all awaiting. (Found on the Warren Ellis Delphi Forum.)
posted by matt8313 at 11:27 AM PST - 15 comments

The bronze medalist in steeplechase threw a moon after his race and had his medal stripped at the Canada games. Is it fair to penalize him as much as a drug offender in sports would be penalized, or should his medal be reinstated following an apology?
posted by mikel at 10:45 AM PST - 20 comments

metafilter parody. no comment from me, i'll leave that to everyone else.
posted by will at 10:32 AM PST - 1727 comments

What do you say when it's raining and sunny at the same time? In Abkhaz, "the devils are getting married." In Amharic, "the hyena is giving birth." In Arabic, "the rats are getting married." In Dutch, it's a "fair in hell." In Galician, "the Devil goes to Ferrol." And so on...
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:12 AM PST - 70 comments

Liddy Dole does a Hillary (or a Cheney)....registers in a state where she hasn't lived so she can run for office in that state.....now, granted, once upon a time Elizabeth Dole did live in North Carolina, but it was decades ago. Do you suppose the Republicans will cry out with the same moral outrage they did when Hillary decided to run for Senate? Can we all just accept that this stuff happens all the time on both sides (RFK, Bush the Elder, Hillary, Dickie C, and now Liddy)?
posted by briank at 9:44 AM PST - 12 comments

Legalization?!? Try "zero tolerance" taken to a whole new level

"Older Americans tend to give in to peer pressure," Lakewood said. "They just do what their doctor tells them because they want to 'be cool' or 'live,' and win their doctor's approval.

In my own defense, I got this via email rather than directly from the source, but I was four paragraphs in before the light went on. Is there any idea so unbelievable that you immediately know Bush wouldn't support it?
posted by ToasterKing at 7:53 AM PST - 14 comments

Michael Jackson. The man, the myth, the legend, just spent 30 Million Dollars recording a new album; has two upcoming shoes at MSG in NY where tickets are as high as $2500; and has a schedule so tight he can't even squeeze in a little time for N'SYNC. Is he really worth all that?
posted by remlapm at 7:24 AM PST - 32 comments

Planet X spells doom for Earth in 2003. This has been showing up in my inbox lately. Just figured I should share it and, y'know, save us all. (Continued inside.)
posted by dnash at 7:18 AM PST - 21 comments

The Web site Registered to Vote or Not? lets you search New York's voter registration database using a last name and birthday to see the address and party you are registered under. It also doesn't do anything to stop you from looking up Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Monica Lewinsky and countless others.
posted by rcade at 6:49 AM PST - 16 comments

Conformity rules in cyberspace ... countering expectations that near-anonymity would encourage actions outside social norms. An Australian research team entered chat rooms and staged situations (a somewhat skeptically viewed practice, though the article doesn't mention it). Now they're studying users' reactions to avatars of different races and genders -- and for control purposes, a chair: Initial results show that most people approach the female character first and that some of those approaching the chair ask for a sex specification or assume it is female.
posted by dhartung at 6:17 AM PST - 8 comments

Atlantic Monthly has dubbed Joe Clark "the king of closed captions" for 25 years of volunteer work to improve the quality of captioned TV programming and other accessible media. Who else on MetaFilter has a double life as an altruistic hobbyist?
posted by rcade at 5:56 AM PST - 4 comments

Ho ho ho. Straight from the horse's mouth. The Conservative Party is racist after all. Embarrassment for Iain Duncan-Smith's attempt to become leader of the UK Conservative Party as it emerges that one of his backers is a supporter of the racist British National Party. Is Edgar Griffin right to say that his views are widely shared by Conservative Party members? (And by extension, Republican Party members.)
posted by salmacis at 3:19 AM PST - 13 comments

I think I just melted my irony meter. The radically innovative new plan at VA Linux is to reach profitability by selling proprietary software. (Larry Augustin has invented Microsoft!) But not just any software; they're going to sell the software which operates SourceForge, one of the largest repositories of open source software in the world. And this is now going to become the core business; they may even change the company name. I can't wait to see what the folks on SlashDot think of this! (VA Linux also operates SlashDot.)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 10:38 PM PST - 17 comments

Just FYI, it's entirely possible for a human to survive exposure to the vacuum of space for a limited time without any permanent damage -- as long as you expel all the breath from your lungs to avoid an embolism. Horrifying scenes of sudden explosive decompression or immediate freezing are, as far as I can tell, a myth. (In other words, Mission to Mars got it wrong, 2001 got it mostly right. But that's no surprise now, is it?) Link via BadAstronomy. Love that site.
posted by brownpau at 8:27 PM PST - 15 comments

Ramon's 'LetMeStayForADay' Project Going Well. Wired presents a nice article covering Ramon's progress so far. Currently in Norway, he is anxious to find places to 'stay for a day' in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Can you help?
 
And will anyone sponsor him for a flight to the US? We shall see.
posted by wackybrit at 7:52 PM PST - 2 comments

Fakeintosh - Have you ever wanted to run Mac OS 8 on your PC, but couldn't? Well now you can with this flash animation. I'm amazed at how detailed it is.
posted by bytecode at 6:29 PM PST - 14 comments

JKF didn't give a damn about the moon, just wanted to beat the Soviets. Newly released tapes reveal that President Kennedy didn't really have 2001 – A Space Odyssey in mind when he pushed for the Apollo program. "The President wanted it made clear that it (Apollo) was 'the' priority program — not only for NASA but for the entire government — with the desired result being that the United States would beat the Russians to the moon."
posted by Brilliantcrank at 4:52 PM PST - 20 comments

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Haikux “When you have non-text ¶ Provide text equivalents: ¶ Text repurposes” | “Give user control ¶ For changing views of pages ¶ The user laughs last”
posted by joeclark at 4:19 PM PST - 7 comments

Air rage terrorist in the waiting, or cranky old man? I can understand flight crews taking every caution with their captive audience, but will the new "zero tolerance" policies make for an airline police state, where shoddy treatment is the norm, and passengers dare not speak out Or Else?
posted by Oriole Adams at 3:57 PM PST - 27 comments

Stile has managed to finally offend the world Now, I like odd things, but this was the last straw. For those who haven't seem it, it is an mpeg of a man cutting the head off of a live kitten and then eating it. The best part of this link ( I couldn't watch the vid all the way through ), are the e-mail responses. Anyway, we all seem openminded here, was he in the wrong to post the vid? (Link not safe for work)
posted by remlapm at 2:00 PM PST - 154 comments

Windows RG (really good edition)
posted by quonsar at 1:52 PM PST - 9 comments

Amazing stuff in glass artist Dale Chihuly's latest installation at the V&A Museum in London. He continues to amaze me. I envy those who can experience it in person.
posted by abosio at 1:34 PM PST - 28 comments

"Protrude, Flow" A most amazing artistic endeavor - metallic filings dumped in oil to make magnetic liquid, and the fun that ensued afterwards. Make sure to check out the video as well! (from memepool)
posted by skinjob at 1:21 PM PST - 11 comments

More Elvis Goodness from Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi, who recently released a CD of his favorite Elvis tunes. What's next, a collection of Dubya's favorite Garth Brooks tracks?
posted by dogmatic at 1:17 PM PST - 3 comments

Oops, I guess we missed Elvis' return (and so did everyone else). This guy claims to have met the ghost of Elvis, and that 'The King' wrote songs for him from the grave. Need a bigger laugh? Then check out the audio clips on the home page.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has most definitely left this universe!"
posted by Sal Amander at 12:56 PM PST - 6 comments

"Jesus and Sports go together like peanut butter and jelly." But remember, once you apply elephant dung it becomes sacreligious. (via Dr. Boom)
posted by black8 at 12:47 PM PST - 20 comments

Yahoo slideshows. These showed up during MeFi's absence. I personally favor them over the "Most Viewed Images" list. Workers beware, it's effortless to blow an hour or so checking out all of the neatly organized topics.
posted by winterdrm at 11:58 AM PST - 10 comments

Brooklyn Tenant Is Charged With Murdering City Marshal "As the marshal, Erskine G. Bryce, lay injured and disoriented, the police said, Ms. Jones bounded down the steps, beat him with an aluminum rod and stripped him of his .380-caliber pistol. The attack ended, the police said, only after she splashed him with a flammable liquid, took out a cigarette lighter and set him afire." (Free NY Times registration required)
posted by dayvin at 11:18 AM PST - 29 comments

Nano-art. Japanese artist builds a sculpture of a bull that can only be seen with an electron microscope. It's the size of a single red blood cell. Next? Christo will wrap the head of a pin in pink tissue paper, I assume.
posted by rev- at 9:27 AM PST - 12 comments

Nintendo delays U.S. launch of GameCube Nintendo has pushed back the U.S. arrival of its new GameCube video game console by nearly two weeks, with executives saying they intend to avoid the shortages and frustrated consumers that marked the debut of Sony's PlayStation 2 last fall.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 9:17 AM PST - 20 comments

New Calvin and Hobbes book! "Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995" will reprint the 35 sunday strips that are being featured at the 2001 Festival Of Cartoon Art at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. While not really a 'new' book, it will include "an essay by Mr. Watterson about his work on the strip, plus his comments on each of the strips in the display." This is a treat for fans because Mr. Watterson is an extremely private individual, and has given no interviews or produced any new work since Calvin and Hobbes left us, December 31, 1995.
posted by o2b at 9:09 AM PST - 11 comments

Yucca Mountain Can Meet EPA Radiation Standards, DOE Reports - But there's more to the story WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a new report assessing the performance of the proposed high level nuclear waste disposal site at Yucca Mountain against strict safety standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report concludes that the Yucca Mountain site "would likely meet" the agency's radiation protection standards.
posted by Wicker at 8:57 AM PST - 4 comments

Microsoft support letters from dead people : Bill, "I can see dead people, and they all seem to like me"
posted by tomplus2 at 8:18 AM PST - 5 comments

Has anyone seen this hosting company before? They seem very cheap but I have no idea whether they are reliable.
posted by ecvgi at 6:50 AM PST - 17 comments

In defense of flamewars Bravest thing I’ve read all year. ‘Rules against all flaming favor politicians and passive-aggressives. These people are experts at sticking the knife in subtly. When the victim yells out in pain, the politician/passive-aggressive feigns innocence and claims he/she is the victim and the true victim is the aggressor.... ¶ Rules against all flaming discriminate against those whose communication skills are less developed. A brilliant writer can pillory an opponent without seeming to. A less-skilled victim of such an assault knows that he/she is being attacked, but can’t muster the same subtlety in response.... ¶ The worst thing you can do is to post something like “Please take your flames off list”... People flame on list because they feel that their reputations have been sullied publicly. Telling them to take it off list is just like telling them to shut up and take it’
posted by joeclark at 6:38 AM PST - 22 comments

More google ???: phone/address listings (with a map right to your house!), and (useless) news headlines which contain search terms (some screenshots in case they are just testing).
posted by sylloge at 4:45 AM PST - 13 comments

General Zod's homepage "You are very wise to visit my web page and pay tribute. You may not be aware of this but the Bush monarchy is no longer in office. They have been replaced with my new order. Read on and you'll discover that I am a peerless master of politics, spearheading a generous and benevolent administration (meaning, of course, that you are allowed to live)."
posted by allaboutgeorge at 2:07 AM PST - 10 comments

Anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder. While I understand that these disorders exist, the skeptic in me tends to believe that the seemingly increasing diagnoses are more a symptom of our culture's need to blame external causes for behavior versus personal responsibility. Is this a post-60s/80s "Me" thing or am I way off base?
posted by owillis at 11:29 PM PST - 40 comments

I enjoy introducing my friends to the web and weblogging and I am quite fond of watching them play with the medium without prior knowledge of the weblog community and it's "rules". It's fascinating to see what they produce when they are not told to "Write everyday about what happens in your life and then link to things you found while surfing". One such friend is Karen Wright who has taken to her website perceiving.org with a style that is very much her own. Somehow it feels more literary, more story-centric, less about links and more about life. What do you all think? How have "the rules" effected your writing?
posted by shmuel at 10:07 PM PST - 30 comments

Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, let me rock you Chaka Khan... Chaka Khan is still alive and all she wants to do is sell you chocolates [via popbiznatch].
posted by mathowie at 5:37 PM PST - 6 comments

Who needs 204 keys? I know I do. Damned shift keys. [via the big H.]
posted by jcterminal at 3:30 PM PST - 19 comments

How do they do it? The Guardian sent their reporters to the four corners of the world to review...underground railways. The findings prove predictably that anything is better than The London Underground. In Prague for example: "Not long ago, a man paid for adverts to be put up in all 940 trains, pleading with his girlfriend to take him back. Czechs understand the romantic potential of the metro and it has found its way into a fair amount of the nation's modern literature. "
posted by feelinglistless at 3:24 PM PST - 22 comments

It was Fantasia in C Minor with mobile phone, beeping watches and coughing and sneezing accompaniment." Andras Schiff (a wonderful, wonderful pianist, who I've been lucky to hear in concert) had enough of the background noise and left the stage at the Edinburgh festival until people turned off their phones and cleared their throats. Over-reaction, or justified against rudeness? And have you ever experienced something similar at a play/concert/gig?
posted by holgate at 12:44 PM PST - 52 comments

What the f__K?!!!
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones!??? Is this really going to be the title? Apparently it has pissed off many fans.
posted by Sal Amander at 12:32 PM PST - 50 comments

Sick of being beaten to a pulp in bar-room scuffles? Feeling bruised, battered and almost defeated? Learn how to take a punch and turn your life around. This serious advice page includes such gems as 'Move toward the blow, not away from it..', 'Avoid taking the punch in the nose, which is extremely painful', 'do not flinch..', and little-known defence manoeuvres such as '3. Attempt to deflect the blow with an arm' and '4. (optional) Hit back with an uppercut or roundhouse'. Goodluck warriors: Your equipped.
posted by Kino at 12:32 PM PST - 13 comments

Ask Google? For $3, Google staffers will research any question you might have and e-mail you the response. Not a new concept, obviously, but Google has a habit of improving radically on old ideas. Feel free to post your questions and their responses inside.
posted by waxpancake at 12:08 PM PST - 36 comments

History Wired is the new interactive web project from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, that lets you browse the various collections by topic, by timeline, or both. It's based on the SmartMoney "Map of the Market".
posted by JParker at 11:49 AM PST - 5 comments

yet another "those dang dotcommers" article i'm tired of all these "how the mighty have fallen" articles. When do we get to talk about something new??
posted by christina at 10:11 AM PST - 16 comments

To stop the credit bureaus from releasing your personal info without your knowledge, call 888-567-8688. To stop your bank, brokerage firm, credit union, etc., from doing the same, you'll need to send a letter. More info in comments.
posted by JParker at 9:25 AM PST - 16 comments

Napster refuses to die, promises viable business model which you can now download for free. Someone tell these people that the dot-com "I've got no way of paying you anything other than stock options" boom is over. If I have to pay for the service of downloading software from a central server, the P2P model is useless. Morons.
posted by rev- at 9:12 AM PST - 3 comments

The Salon Death March continues. I personally thought the nadir was the cover story last week featuring a photographer reminiscing about almost nailing Marylin (not work-safe), but no...now Salon has dared to crawl into the underbelly of this country and expose the horror of...hippie parents. Good to see the most high-profile online magazine tackling these hard-hitting issues. How's that stock price doing again?
posted by solistrato at 8:06 AM PST - 65 comments

One of these things is just a bit unlike the others: The Wired Rave Awards (whatever they are) category list includes a "Cultural Innovator" category to select a person who is "changing our creative landscape. A talent whose work has a profound effect on our culture." The names:

• Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• David Chase and James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
• Evan Williams, Blogger
• Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy
• Thomas Krens, Director of Guggenheim Museums Worldwide

I don't know where to start.
posted by werty at 7:34 AM PST - 45 comments

State Rep. Forwards Racist E-mail A state representative forwarded an e-mail to fellow lawmakers this week that claimed, "Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity....There's a lot of it that's truth, the way I see it," Davis said. "Who came to this country first -- the white man, didn't he? That's who made this country great."

i don't know about you, but i feel dumber for having just read that story.
posted by adampsyche at 7:17 AM PST - 25 comments

Lottery Madness Grips the Delusional Nation
Odds of winning Powerball: 80 million to one
Odds of dying in an airplane crash: 7 million to one
Odds of being hit by lightening: 600,000 to one
Odds of perishing in a California earthquake: 600,000 to one
Odds of dying in an automobile accident: 20,000 to one

While legalized gambling may suck, at least your life is priceless?
posted by yarf at 7:14 AM PST - 29 comments

But "the biggest thing," he said, "is not having a heartbeat."
posted by tweebiscuit at 6:59 AM PST - 20 comments

Finally, some genetic modification I can sink my teeth into! Wired reports this morning that an Australian researcher has identified the genetic characteristics for "tenderness" and "toughness" in cow muscle tissue. Aussie cattle ranchers are already gearing up to produce animals that result in more tender, juicier beef. I'm drooling already.
posted by briank at 6:01 AM PST - 14 comments

Fred Hoyle, alas not in a steady state anymore. RIP.
posted by blackbeltjones at 10:39 PM PST - 3 comments

Cleanup on Stage 1 (1.5 MB MPEG) Somebody get Steve Ballmer a towell. Has all the legal pressure pushed him to the edge? Scary.
posted by brian at 10:33 PM PST - 28 comments

Ben Brown once had this thing called Teeth Magazine. I don't know how long it lasted. But visiting ye olde Glassdog, I saw a random adzert for it. Intrigued, I clicked on it. And it's a bit different now. Anyone else have funny lapsed-domain stories?
posted by solistrato at 9:48 PM PST - 16 comments

New Addiction? You bet. 3-D Pong using shockwave. It's pretty sweet. I feel like I should be listening to the soundtrack of "Tron" while I play it.
posted by jcterminal at 9:21 PM PST - 19 comments

Mideast Myths Exploded. It's becoming clear who wants peace and who wants unending killing.
posted by semmi at 8:12 PM PST - 80 comments

Quit blaming men. An opinion of my favorite writer. Quote: The novelist Doris Lessing yesterday claimed that men were the new silent victims in the sex war, "continually demeaned and insulted" by women without a whimper of protest.
posted by acridrabbit at 7:33 PM PST - 24 comments

Accordion Dreams is a great new PBS show that I just got to see a preview of on my local Texas station. Try to catch it when it comes out nationally on August 30.
posted by bjgeiger at 7:30 PM PST - 5 comments

Nick Hornby reviews the Billboard Top Ten. Quote: We have been told often enough that to disapprove of gangsta rap is pointless, middle class, and smug, like disapproving of modern urban life itself. Nevertheless, one is entitled to feel queasy about the enthusiasm for and endorsement of the gangsta life audible on "The Saga Continues . . ."
posted by acridrabbit at 5:42 PM PST - 19 comments

Bring back the classic cut!
An online petition to bring back the old "V-shaped canyon" style.
posted by riley370 at 3:49 PM PST - 26 comments

Tales for the L33+. Because the l33+ need to understand classic literature, too.

Chris has done several other Flash movies, and you can download Tales for the L33+ from the listings page as a ZIP file, if you decide you like it and want to watch it again and again while saving his site from the same bandwidth-sucking fate as that one song with the squirrel and the weeeeeeeeee! and the strife and the Ron Jeremy and all that.
posted by jason at 3:09 PM PST - 1 comment

Lego meets Monty Python & The Holy Grail : a scary synthesis of geek culture from Tim Drage and Tony Mines of Spite Your Face Productions.
posted by nathan_teske at 2:43 PM PST - 6 comments

Karma Ghost! There are a couple of animations on this site, but this one rocks my socks.
posted by o2b at 2:19 PM PST - 12 comments

A treatment program for the chronic cannabis user. Do you think chronic use of weed actually does this to you? Or is it all just more anti-drug propaganda?
posted by bytecode at 1:44 PM PST - 34 comments

Transmission - this is the best (storming use of bog standard - works in Netscape - javascript) site I've seen in ages (via Shift via Play with the Machine) (warning: I'm no web designer, so you trendy people in black out there are free to tell me this is tired old cliche).
posted by andrew cooke at 1:23 PM PST - 27 comments

So long my friends, farewell goodbye
I'd love to stay and play and sing for awhile,
But it's time to hit the road and say goodbye
So long farewell goodbye
....maybe
posted by thewittyname at 12:54 PM PST - 2 comments

Ding dong the witch is dead. Tomorrow, Jesse Helms will announce his retirement. Unfortunately, he has two more years left to his term
posted by mudbug at 12:43 PM PST - 16 comments

You loose, but it's not your fault. I wonder if a winter edition of monopoly will come out because of this.
posted by tiaka at 12:08 PM PST - 17 comments

Mystery Image inserted into HBO shows? Derek & Heather noticed this odd image - inserted for a single frame - into a couple of different shows on HBO. Kindall seems to think he's seen it before as well. It looks familiar to me, but only in an odd detached way. Any guesses or clues?
posted by kokogiak at 11:15 AM PST - 27 comments

First we discovered games make kids smarter. Now they're telling us that it's destroying our children. So which one is it? I'm a little concerned seeing as I used to be quite the gamer when I was young, and even now continue playing several hours of Counter-Strike every night and when I have kids, I wouldn't discourage them from playing. What do you think? (found on a discussion on csnation)
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 10:51 AM PST - 13 comments

The state of Minnesota decides to fight distracted drivers by putting up billboards. Next up: A new state committee to check programs for irony before they're made public.
posted by mrbula at 9:44 AM PST - 7 comments

words! words! words! is a new magazine launched by our favourite texan-in-new-zeland ben brown. billing itself as a "street guide for modern literature", the first issue features articles by many talented online writers and is only $8 (with shipping) with a pay pal account. if you want to help spread the "word!", download the pdf flyer and paste it to cars, walls and people.
posted by will at 9:18 AM PST - 6 comments

Hotmail Hacked Now everyone can gain access to your e-mail for Viagra orders, penis enlargements, and diploma purchases. Giddie up! (via penismighter)
posted by aaronchristy at 9:17 AM PST - 10 comments

Forget Judge Judy. Meet i'm right your wrong. Now YOU can be the jury. Got a gripe with some chancer? Are they being seriously boneheaded over an issue? - Don't break their snidey nose.. virtually SUE them. Put your case online and let a bunch of fellow netheads decide. That should sort it good n' proper. Order.. Order..
posted by Kino at 9:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Israelis (who else?) prepare to bring a new life into the world. One that will hopefully pass the Turing test.
posted by o2b at 9:01 AM PST - 8 comments

Home schooling goes mainstream (cover story of Time). Although the article is appallingly poorly-written (does Time have editors anymore?), it points to double-digit growth with only a few anecdotal chestnuts about "socialization" to throw against the trend.
posted by MattD at 8:12 AM PST - 59 comments

Man Chops Off Testicle in Job Protest LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - A Peruvian man who last year sliced off his penis to draw attention to his jobless plight on Monday chopped off one of his testicles in front of the parliament building, police and hospital officials said.

for the love of all that is sacred and pure, i can't come up with the mandatory witty comment on this one.
posted by adampsyche at 7:38 AM PST - 27 comments

Donald Woods, the South African writer, editor and anti-apartheid activist has died after succumbing to a two year illness. It feels right that MeFi too should mention it and pay its respect.. [...]
posted by Kino at 7:35 AM PST - 3 comments