September 11, 2009

Advanced DOS Strategies

Sit back, relax, and we will take you through a most interesting voyage through your computer and its Disk Operating System
posted by jpdoane at 11:41 PM PST - 37 comments

What's a city without a public library?

As part of what Mayor Michael Nutter has dubbed the "Plan C" budget, the Free Library of Philadelphia (the Pennsylvania city's public library system), chartered in 1891, will close all its branches and cease all services October 2, 2009, unless measures to raise sales tax and delay some pension payments are approved by the State Legislature in Harrisburg. The closing could be a huge blow for a city whose most famous citizen, Benjamin Franklin, founded The Library Company of Philadelphia, the United States' first successful lending library, there in 1731. [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco at 10:37 PM PST - 99 comments

The Other Architect of 9/11

While newly released images of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed have brought "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks" back into the public eye just before their anniversary, it was his skyscraper-hating lieutenant Mohamed Atta who had trained to be an architect before becoming an airborne suicide terrorist. Slate's Daniel Brook goes on a three-part expedition in search of Atta's architectural education, from despised tourist projects in Cairo's dilapidated Islamic Quarter to utopian urban planning for an idealized "Islamic-Oriental City" like Aleppo. [more inside]
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:59 PM PST - 57 comments

An unfunny thing happened

Larry Gelbart, one of the great stage, screen and television writers has died.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:00 PM PST - 35 comments

Shellshocked and awed...

Loved Nanaca Crash? Want to hurl a turtle instead? Toss the Turtle will be right up your alley. Easy concept, shoot turtle from cannon and watch him bounce and blow up as he careens across the screen. Enjoy!
posted by schyler523 at 7:25 PM PST - 23 comments

Fish got your tongue?

Tongue-eating parasite found (with freak-you-out pic) off Jersey coast. Sweet dreams mefites.
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:24 PM PST - 59 comments

Akira Kurosawa

Kurosawa: The Last Emperor documentary by Alex Cox (Repo Man). Featuring Francis Coppola, John Woo, Bernardo Bertolucci, Paul Verhoeven, Arturo Ripstein, Andrei Konchalovsky, Mike Hodges, and Kasuko Kurosawa. 50mins.
posted by vronsky at 6:25 PM PST - 11 comments

Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night

The Black Eyed Peas perform at Oprah's Season Premiere -- 21,000 dancers join in. [more inside]
posted by empath at 6:10 PM PST - 84 comments

Death's Blog

Death's Blog
posted by Joe Beese at 1:40 PM PST - 44 comments

Hippos in Colombia

Colombia Confronts Drug Lord’s Legacy: Hippos "In what ecologists describe as possibly the continent’s most ambitious effort to assemble a collection of species foreign to South America, Escobar imported animals like zebras, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses and, of course, hippopotamuses. Some of the animals died or were transferred to zoos around the time Mr. Escobar was killed. But the hippos largely stayed put, flourishing in the artificial lakes dug at Mr. Escobar’s behest."
posted by dhruva at 11:11 AM PST - 86 comments

seeking to incite select individuals from the public at large, perhaps you

Under the rainbow: an introduction to the off-kilter world of Mark Jenkins. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:53 AM PST - 17 comments

Advertising in the public interest

"What if America wasn't America?" That was the question posed by a series of ads broadcast in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ads which depicted a dystopian America bereft of liberty: Library - Diner - Church. Together with more positive ads like Remember Freedom and I Am an American, they encouraged frightened viewers to cherish their freedoms and defend against division and prejudice in the face of terrorism (seven years previously). The campaign was the work of the Ad Council, a non-profit agency that employs the creative muscle of volunteer advertisers to raise awareness for social issues of national importance. Founded during WWII as the War Advertising Council, the organization has been behind some of the most memorable public service campaigns in American history, including Rosie the Riveter, Smokey the Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and the Crash Test Dummies. And the Council is still at it today, producing striking, funny, and above all effective PSAs on everything from student invention to global warming to arts education to community service.

Additional resources: A-to-Z index of Ad Council campaigns - Campaigns organized by category - Award-winning campaigns - PSA Central: A free download directory of TV, radio, and print PSAs (registration req'd) - An exhaustive history of the Ad Council [46-page PDF] - YouTube channel - Vimeo channel - Twitter feed
posted by Rhaomi at 9:54 AM PST - 69 comments

Alan Lomax at Fyffe

Fifty years ago, Alan Lomax (folk music collector) recorded the first United States Sacred Harp Musical Association convention at Fyffe, Alabama. His recordings, published by the Library of Congress and later reissued by Rounder records, introduced Sacred Harp music to a wide audience outside the South. And, with the influx of many non-traditional singers since then, his recording is one of the best testaments to traditional Sacred Harp singing. This Saturday and Sunday, the United States Sacred Harp Musical Association returns to Fyffe. Get there early--it's going to be crowded. But check Youtube, Flickr and Facebook in the next few days--there's bound to be plenty of modern field recordings of the event. (Previously: Singing School, 'The Lost Tonal Tribe').
posted by wfitzgerald at 8:54 AM PST - 10 comments

Saving Face

Dahlia Lithwick (previously) is trying to write a chick-lit novel in nineteen days.
posted by Iridic at 8:12 AM PST - 63 comments

I am your secret scary friend

Today marks the end of John Allison's webcomic Scary Go Round. [more inside]
posted by explosion at 7:50 AM PST - 42 comments

Why he will not read your fucking script

"I will not read your fucking script."
posted by Artw at 7:46 AM PST - 417 comments

Move over Suez Canal, there's a new route in town

For hundreds of years, mariners have dreamed of an Arctic shortcut that would allow them to speed trade between Asia and the West. Two German ships are poised to complete that transit for the first time, aided by the retreat of Arctic ice that scientists have linked to global warming. Arctic Shortcut Beckons Shippers as Ice Thaws.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:40 AM PST - 24 comments

Tackling life's dailly dilemmas, perplexiing predicaments, and intriguing obstacles

If you can't Ask MetaFilter, try asking What Would Rob Do? In his podcast, "NPR's Rob Sachs talks about life's sticky situations and how turn them into an opportunity for adventure, growth, or at the very least, laughter." Like how to propose, or if that doesn't work, what to do when you run into your ex (Mp3) (turns out being calm and collected beats out feigning not to have made eye contact), how to talk to strangers (Mp3), sing a lullaby (by interviewing Rob Springfield), or how to, you know, avoid, um, Verbal Ticks. Each podcast episode is an interview with one kind of expert or another. Some posts also go on the Monkey See blog as well as a facebook fan page.
posted by pithy comment at 7:21 AM PST - 3 comments

Um, Mike, I think my dogs can do that

As an evolutionary anthropologist, I find it is important to consider the evolution of other speci...OMG PUPPIES Photos! Video! who's a good boy?
posted by device55 at 7:18 AM PST - 38 comments

Beyond war and crisis

Sustainable Security is a website launched this month by the Oxford Research Group "to be an important platform for promoting a better understanding of the real threats to global security in the 21st century and the policies that should be implemented to address those threats at their root cause." It highlights "four interconnected drivers of global insecurity: climate change; competition over natural resources; global militarism; and poverty and marginalisation. Prof. Paul Rogers makes the case for a rethink of the security paradigm.
posted by Abiezer at 6:02 AM PST - 10 comments

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