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Two recent reports on immigration in the UK, a published study on its economic effects, and an expert panel report on its and public service consequences, paint very different pictures. Not that the press need logic or evidence: they made their minds up about those Poles a long time ago, like people did about the West Indians, Bangladeshis and Jews . Is a rational debate on immigration even possible?
posted by athenian at 11:45 PM PST - 19 comments

Tame Iti, Maori activist, is no stranger to controversy - with his full facial moko he has a face you won't soon forget. But is he a terrorist? Recently, the New Zealand Police force carried out a series of "raids" against a "training camp" in the north island, in the first use of the Terrorism Suppression Act, legislated in 2002. The act itself is not without it's critics but the country seems divided about the raids. Deluded extremists? Harmless Activist? or Real Threat? Some have claimed the raids are politically motivated, enacted by a police force with a declining public image. The whole case is racially loaded [more inside]
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 10:25 PM PST - 17 comments

Mirror prank. (YouTube, SFW)
posted by loquacious at 9:14 PM PST - 45 comments

Way too much thought about tentacle porn on this page, which details the history, current usage, and 'media' coverage of what to many seems the extreme of internet porn weirdness. Also covered are Lovecraftian stories, trinkets, movies, bestiality-inspired poetry and modern pictorial porn (this is weird porn, NSFW, I'm warning you). Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bleach my mind.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:43 PM PST - 41 comments

Stephen Barnwell makes meticulous bills for fictional worlds, such as the Dream Dollars of a lost Antarctic colony, complete with symbolism and backstories. He has introduced several new, more politically controversial fictional currencies for less ideal worlds: the United States of Islam, the State of War, and the Empire of America. He is not the only artist who imagines currency, there are the beautiful notes of Kamberra and the strange work of JSG Boggs [prev] who hand-draws almost real bills that subvert the lines between money and art, occasionally running into issues with the Secret Service on the way. On the borders between reality and fantasy is the new currency developed by foreign exchange specialists Travelex, the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, introduced to solve some of the problems in money in space, and which may actually be used by space tourists. [prev.]
posted by blahblahblah at 8:07 PM PST - 18 comments

Genocide: An inconvenient truth "The Armenian genocide bill has been attacked by both the right and the left -- and it may make matters worse. But it's necessary." [Cookie.]
posted by homunculus at 7:55 PM PST - 56 comments

How do you see time? Florentine graphic designer Camilla Torna is collecting hand-drawn personal visions of "time." It started as a personal collection from friends and students in the 1990s. In 2006 it was on-line with a submission form. Submissions are can be sorted by theme words, style or age of artist. Ages range from those in their first decade of life to those in their 70s. (Via Information Aesthetics)
posted by mmahaffie at 7:49 PM PST - 9 comments

My roommate is such a dick! (portions probably nsfw)
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:58 PM PST - 28 comments

World's Largest Things including the world's largest collection of the world's smallest versions of the world's largest things, in a mobile museum. Seen previously, but much expanded -- now on Flickr, blogspot, lomohome, and friendable on MySpace. I found it while trying to look up this ball of postage stamps.
posted by jessamyn at 5:51 PM PST - 9 comments

"No notice was taken by the press of artist-writer Sheri Martinelli's death in November 1996, unfairly ignoring the significant role she played in the cultural history of our time." Just to drop a few names. Nin. Pound. Parker. Gaddis. Cummings. Bukowski. Brando. A staggering roll-call for a life almost forgotten.
posted by rudster at 4:29 PM PST - 14 comments

At a time when fed-up American citizens are petitioning Congress to end the imprudent financial practices that caused the housing bubble sub-prime mortgage crisis liquidity crisis impending recession -- including the banning of SIV's and refusing any bailouts for Wall Street, banks, or mortgage companies -- the United States Treasury Department has just announced the creation of a giant-mega-ultra SIV called "M-LEC" made up of assets from several of the largest American banks. Already unofficially nicknamed "Sivie Mae" (or worse, "the Frankenstein Fund"), it would be an off-balance-sheet way for these banks to pool and price the ABCP's that they've lately been having trouble pricing and thus selling -- i.e. the liquidity crisis. [more inside]
posted by Asparagirl at 4:24 PM PST - 82 comments

If Google was designed for Google.
posted by armoured-ant at 3:55 PM PST - 36 comments

Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema - David Bordwell
posted by hama7 at 3:02 PM PST - 9 comments

Los Angeles Uber Alles. A passionate argument (by mefi's own bldblog, no less) for why Los Angeles is the greatest city in America. Dissenters, please see the more inside: [more inside]
posted by jonson at 2:10 PM PST - 284 comments

Melba Jackson has long been the terror of local Christian radio hosts and various sports programs. Her contributions have tickled many a listener, wondering exactly who this elderly woman from a rural area is, exactly. Turns out she isn't a she at all, but a very talented and shy young man by the name of Brother Russell. [more inside]
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:40 PM PST - 26 comments

Roy Orbison in cling film ... and now, in print. "Any self-respecting bookshop should have a Clingfilm Wrapping section and the book will most likely be located there." Confused? Read the original story, followed by MeFi's first encounter (of many) with this phenomena in 2003.
posted by grabbingsand at 12:03 PM PST - 23 comments

If a seller told me his house was haunted, would I be obligated to disclose this information? You think disclosure of ghosts is funny? The fact is, a Haunted House falls into the characteristic of "stigmatized" housing. Disclosure of this information, and the laws surrounding it, are typically up to the state. Some Agents have written columns on how to tame your ghosts so that the house sells. Of course, some ghosts can be very helpful and promote the property value for you. Would you live in a haunted house? [more inside]
posted by thanotopsis at 11:25 AM PST - 79 comments

The amount of Afghan land used for growing opium is now larger than the combined total under coca cultivation in Latin America - Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. No other country has produced narcotics on such a deadly scale since China in the 19 th century. Opium in Afghanistan: Eradicate or subsidize? [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 10:27 AM PST - 34 comments

The Moby Quotient [I]n the late 1990s, the techno artist Moby, as hip as they come, openly boasted of having sold every track of his breakthrough album "Play" to an advertiser, or to a film or TV soundtrack. The album should perhaps have been called "Pay." In homage Bill Wyman of Hitsville has dubbed his formula for determining the offensiveness of a rock-based advertisement. (accompanying article)
posted by caddis at 9:14 AM PST - 139 comments

The Nobel Foundation sheds some on the missing Nobel Peace Laureate--Mahatma Gandhi.
posted by reformedjerk at 8:51 AM PST - 50 comments

WWI-era aviation photos (page 2): Biplanes and triplanes and Zeppelins-- oh my!
posted by dersins at 8:16 AM PST - 27 comments

Pop Songs 07 is a blog by Matthew Perpetua, founder of Fluxblog, in which he is attempting to write about every R.E.M. song eventually. With the recent release of Stereogum’s tribute to Automatic For The People, Drive XV, (free mp3s of covers of every track on the record by a range of indie rock acts) he was asked to write an essay about the album: Sweetness Followed: 15 Years After Automatic.
posted by ND¢ at 7:57 AM PST - 53 comments

Want to know the story behind those iconic drawings used by the Wall Street Journal for their mug shots? The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has the scoop. (The site's layout is not the best, but it's worth digging around.) You can see how two artists render the same portrait of Yahoo's Jerry Yang. And read about how the first rendering of Gorbachev left out his signature birthmark. An artist named Kevin Sprouls started it all. Lately, Slate wonders if George Bush is looking a little frowny.
posted by veggieboy at 7:57 AM PST - 13 comments

French jazz guitar is often mistaken for swing guitar, or gypsy style guitar. It's true that great french guitarists, like Bireli Lagrene or Christian escoudé, are still playing in this style. But curiosity is a trademark of most of the French guitarists, and even Bireli Lagrene gave a try to various kinds of jazz. French guitarists have been attracted to Be Bop from the start (btw, even Django has been). Maybe you've heard of Sacha Distel ? [more inside]
posted by nicolin at 6:34 AM PST - 6 comments

John Fahey - Fare Forward Voyagers
John Fahey - Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Phillip XIV
Clips from a 2 hour performance at the Euphoria Tavern in Portland, Oregon from 1976. Among the cognoscenti at FaheyGuitarPlayers, the consensus is that these clips display Fahey in rare form on a very good night.
Apart from Fahey, Bohemia Visual Music aka Mike Nastra, the contributor of these clips, provides an interesting assortment of way too hip YouTubery offerings including, among others, Spike Jones, Dimandas Galas, Gene Krupa, Tuxedo Moon, Sun Ra, Pere Ubu and the Holy Modal Rounders.
posted by y2karl at 5:36 AM PST - 9 comments

The greybeards of the U.S. foreign policy establishment have spoken out to the Bush Administration telling it what it needs to do to have a successful Mideast peace summit: advocate a return to '67 borders, Jerusalem as capital of two states, solution of refugee problem with financial compensation to Palestinians, security guarantees for Israel. Signatories of the statement include Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft, Nancy Kassebaum, Carla Hills, Thomas Pickering, Ted Sorensen and Paul Volcker. A pretty formidable bunch. [more inside]
posted by richards1052 at 1:35 AM PST - 87 comments

Soapy Smith was "the king of the frontier confidence men." Born Jefferson R. Smith, he gained the nickname "Soapy" after running a successful scam that the Denver newspapers dubbed "The Prize Package Soap Sell Swindle." He ran criminal enterprises in Colorado and Alaska until his death at the hands of vigilantes in 1898. Every year his descendants hold a wake in his honor. His story has inspired several books and movies. The Soapy Smith Preservation Trust maintains an extensive archive of his life and times.
posted by amyms at 1:04 AM PST - 20 comments

"Darling, I have a headache, why not use your robot?"
posted by bicyclefish at 12:51 AM PST - 107 comments