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Being the adventures and observations of a field naturalist and an animal photographer - An utterly charming picture of life in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 1896.

St Kilda - "Many theories have been advanced as to the origin of the inhabitants of this lonely rock, and a curious tradition exists as to its acquisition by members of the outside world. The inhabitants of Harris and Uist agreed to make it the prize for a boat race, and accordingly set out to row across the intervening waste of waters. So equally matched were the crews in regard to pluck and endurance that they arrived at St Kilda almost at the same moment. The Uist men, however, led by a few strokes, and hopes of winning ran high amongst them when Colla MacLeod, the chief of the Harris gang, chopped his left hand off and flung it ashore over the heads of his competitors, and secured St Kilda and its satellites to himself and his descendants for all time."

posted by tellurian at 11:02 PM PST - 7 comments

“I never think of my age,” she said. “We don’t die at a certain age. And if people didn’t know they were getting a certain age, maybe the same age their father died or their mother died, I think they’d be better off.”

Nola Ochs, 95, will soon become the oldest person to graduate from college, according to Guinness World Records.
posted by Brittanie at 9:26 PM PST - 18 comments

"It's a great thing about this government... the only people that ever stand up and tell the truth are who? Intelligence officers." George Tenet told his side on 60 Minutes tonight. In case you missed it. [via]
posted by scblackman at 8:44 PM PST - 60 comments

Llaguno bridge is a documentary offering an alternative point of view on some of the violent events that took place in Venezuela during the coup d'etat attempt of 2002 [1]. Some local private television are accused of deliberatedly picking some facts in an attempt to support the ongoing coup ; different videos taken from different angles show how some people were wrongly accused of shooting at unarmed masses of demonstrators. Regardless of political preferences and actual events, it is an interesting documentary on how easily facts can be misrepresented.
posted by elpapacito at 7:08 PM PST - 8 comments

The Maoist internationalist movement is youtubery at its best, feel free to see what should have been the actual stone roses video, stalin visits berlin,moloko bring it back. elsewhere, one becomes aware of the new order.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:41 PM PST - 19 comments

Bill Moyers interviewed Jon Stewart on April 27. The video is on the Moyers' soon-to-be great new site.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 5:04 PM PST - 68 comments

Is it a wok?! An UFO?! No, it's The Hang Drum! With its distinct serene sound, Hang, as it's also called ("Hand" in Swiss German), was created in 2000 in Switzerland by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer after years of research. It's a versatile instrument that can be customized to produce many different musical scales. Want one yourself? Unfortunately, only a few are custom-made each year by Rohner and Schärer. More Hang music? Listen to the Hang radio station. More: videos | music | known artists | a beautiful Hang used by musician Alan Tower
posted by Foci for Analysis at 5:01 PM PST - 28 comments

Roads To Riches (or We've Got a Bridge in Brooklyn to Sell You--Seriously) -- Why investors are clamoring to take over America's highways, bridges, and airports—and why the public should be nervous.--...a slew of Wall Street firms—Goldman, Morgan Stanley, the Carlyle Group, Citigroup, and many others—is piling into infrastructure ... Assets sold now could change hands many times over the next 50 years, with each new buyer feeling increasing pressure to make the deal work financially. It's hardly a stretch to imagine service suffering in such a scenario; already, the record in the U.S. has been spotty. ...
posted by amberglow at 4:49 PM PST - 108 comments

Brass Eye is a hilarious & much missed British parody of "issue" news programs such as 60 Minutes in the U.S. It ran for one year, in 1997 (minus the 2001 special), and only six episodes were produced. Thanks to the miracle of the internets, all six (Animals, Drugs, Science, Sex, Crime & Moral Decline) are available in their entirety via Google Video. If you're unfamiliar with the series, trust me, it's not to be missed. Previous mentions on Metafilter. Discovered Via the good mr hodgman's blog.
posted by jonson at 2:57 PM PST - 48 comments

Melted Freeway
posted by serazin at 1:23 PM PST - 87 comments

Orion Magazine hosts a two-part essay on the environmentalism movement's attempts to fit within free market capitalism, and the problems therein. Part one, The Idols of Environmentalism, focuses on the cross purposes of capitalism and environmentalism, and the apparent impossibility of the two working together. In part two, The Ecology of Work, the focus is on the human impact of the work and consumption culture.
posted by knave at 12:48 PM PST - 27 comments

[scifilter] Scientists use a supercomputer to simulate a biological neural structure "as big and as complex as half of a mouse brain"
posted by delmoi at 9:43 AM PST - 51 comments

Foldschool offers free downloadable PDF patterns you can use to make children's furniture and "fun objects" out of 4mm corrugated cardboard. via
posted by paulsc at 8:13 AM PST - 5 comments

Why waste time on playing roleplaying games or writing pastiches when you can actually worship Cthulhu? Join an existing Cthulhu cult or form your own!. They've got a book and everything! (though it may contain big chunks of wiki-plagarism). As ever, the ability to rock a traditionalist shaved-head-and-goatee satanist look considered a plus.
posted by Artw at 8:06 AM PST - 32 comments

New York Magazine's top five shorts from the Tribeca Film Festival, presented in full, including the 25-minute documentary "Someone Else's War," about third-world contract employees in Iraq. A bit more inside. [via Nerve's Screengrab]
posted by mediareport at 7:28 AM PST - 6 comments

Fugazi on the web: Instrument excerpts, "Suggestion," "Waiting Room," "Shut the Door," "Reclamation," "Long Division," and much more. (previously 1, 2)
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:05 AM PST - 36 comments

Selected Cartoon Introductions from the 1980s [YouTube]
posted by BeerFilter at 6:39 AM PST - 69 comments

The Wu-Tang Clan presents 215 mp3s. (via)
posted by Sticherbeast at 12:13 AM PST - 43 comments