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O.J. Simpson convicted of twelve counts of kidnapping, armed robbery. Background for this case. This conviction comes on the 13th anniversary of his acquittal for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldstein.
posted by Guy Smiley at 11:15 PM PST - 85 comments

Election woes: Or, why not to discount 26 year old lawyers.
posted by oxford blue at 10:49 PM PST - 27 comments

From grainy stills to gorgeous high-resolution portraits, from intimate pairings to stark contrasts, and from old standbys to little-known surprises, The Planetary Society's Earth galleries offer a rich collection of stunning photography and video footage of our world as seen from both planetary spacecraft and geostationary satellites. It is a vista that has inspired many a deep thought in the lucky few that have seen it firsthand [previously]. Oh, and the rest of the Solar System is pretty neat, too.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:34 PM PST - 9 comments

Remember the Fifties? For a certain generation, who could forget those golden innocent days as depicted in shows like Happy Days, Grease and the band Sha Na Na. But it turns out that vision of the 50's is mostly fantasy and never existed, largely invented by a group of Columbia U students around 1969. [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 9:50 PM PST - 61 comments

If you missed the VP debate last night, you might enjoy this video of VP debate highlights in song and dance by Michael Gregory. (Also available: Running From Your Shadow, presidential debate highlights in song and dance.) DLYT
posted by MegoSteve at 9:08 PM PST - 12 comments

It’s been a long, weird and expensive week all over. Why not stay in tonight and watch guys (mostly) with long hair playing strange and difficult music from a long lost decade? [more inside]
posted by philip-random at 6:17 PM PST - 47 comments

The John Mobberly Story (parts one through four) about a Confederate Guerilla who terrorized Loudoun county Virginia and the Harpers Ferry area, as written by blogger Neddie Jingo. [more inside]
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:47 PM PST - 8 comments

Escapes in inner tube in "the slowest getaway ever" . [more inside]
posted by fiercekitten at 3:50 PM PST - 31 comments

While the Wall Street financial crisis gripped the world Icelanders woke up one day to find that the Icelandic state had forcibly taken over the country's 3rd biggest bank, Glitnir. The worry is now that one of the two larger banks could also fail and the state wouldn't have the resources to do anything as the two remaining of the big 3 have assets totaling 10 times the GDP of Iceland. While the Central Bank claims it was the only option in a bad situation, prior bad blood between one of the Central Bank's directors, a former Prime Minister, and the main owner of Glitnir have some wondering if Icelanders have just been witness to "the biggest bank robbery in Icelandic history." [Warning: The story you are about to read may make you reconsider the verisimilitude of soap operas]
posted by Kattullus at 3:48 PM PST - 25 comments

A housing boom and bust, interbank lending rates reaching record highs, people losing faith in complex financial instruments, a stock market crash. We've seen it all before... The Great Depression of 1929? No, the Panic of 1837...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:08 PM PST - 33 comments

Opertus Lunula Umbra. Kinetic sculpture by Choe U-Ram. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 1:48 PM PST - 4 comments

Project Vote 2008 aims to repair "vote caging" [discussed previously] by compiling Google spreadsheets of affected households. Check your own status, and alert friends or neighbors you find there that their voter registration status is at risk for "alleged or actual deficiencies." [more inside]
posted by jayCampbell at 1:31 PM PST - 27 comments

It's the commons, our right of birth
And to you who would own everything all around the Earth
Our future is your downfall, when we cut this ball and chain
You who'd sacrifice the public good for your private gain

posted by finite at 1:30 PM PST - 11 comments

What happened to Dorcas Snodgrass? I don't know who did this research on this nurse, but she's haunting me and the articles hint at a tragic mystery but leave many unanswered questions.
posted by chickaboo at 12:16 PM PST - 25 comments

Boy goes on "rampage" at Aussie zoo, killing rare reptiles and feeding them to a crocodile. [more inside]
posted by educatedslacker at 10:31 AM PST - 308 comments

Steal *MY* laptop, will you? Now I can track you down like the pathetic dickmonkey you are. Wish you could sneak up on the asshole who stole your laptop and beat the crap out of him/her with a baseball bat? Now you can! Thanks to the beauty and glory of open source and OpenDHT, researchers at University of California, San Diego and University of Washington have created free software that enables you to track down your missing laptop. The Mac OS version even has an option to capture photos of the aforementioned scumbag so you can know your victim before you beat him/her senseless. (Note: I'm not saying that you *should* beat someone up for stealing your stuff, I'm just saying you *could*.)
posted by Geekyblonde at 9:35 AM PST - 40 comments

In 1684, the French Crown didn't send Quebec its yearly allotment of currency. Yet, the soldiers needed to be paid. [more inside]
posted by QIbHom at 9:30 AM PST - 18 comments

The 14th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition has been released. History of the competition. Previously on Mefi. Emily Short reviews this year's entrants. [more inside]
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 7:44 AM PST - 21 comments

Strategery is a unique hedge fund.
posted by infini at 6:37 AM PST - 25 comments

Some people look like celebrities. Some people look like their pets. Some people look like monkeys or Kenny Rogers or old lesbians or video game characters. But I just want someone who looks like my parent so eventually we can look more like each other. (Obviously previous stuff: here and here and here. Familiarity breeds similarity!)
posted by twoleftfeet at 6:13 AM PST - 21 comments

Vintage poison labels. "One year I put them on the cocktail glasses at my Halloween party." Via BoingBoing (no Katamari/papercraft/steampunk/DRM content).
posted by mattholomew at 3:41 AM PST - 29 comments

"You are negative bastards, the pair of you." That is about the most innocuous thing Joe Kinnear said in his first press conference as interim manager of Newcastle United. [more inside]
posted by ninebelow at 2:03 AM PST - 34 comments

Ludomancy: Storyteller, I wish I were the Moon, The Trials, and Night Raveler and the Heartbroken Uruguayans. Flash gameplay experiments by Daniel Benmergui. windows bonus: Stars over Half Moon Bay and The Marriage by Rod Humble
posted by juv3nal at 12:48 AM PST - 2 comments