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Here's an odd unforeseen consequence of the Columbian drug trade: fishermen along Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast have been been getting rich off of "white lobster"—cocaine dumped overboard by Columbian drug traffickers that, through a fortuitous arrangement of sea currents, washes ashore. [more inside]
posted by Weebot at 10:32 PM PST - 17 comments

Closeted gay GOP elected official with an anti-gay voting record #756,394 --(Special Halloween Edition!) GOP Washington State Representative Richard Curtis says he’s not gay, but police reports and court records indicate the Republican lawmaker from southwestern Washington dressed up in women’s lingerie and met a Medical Lake man in a local erotic video store which led to consensual sex at a downtown hotel and a threat to expose Curtis’ activities publicly…. He resigned today.--Curtis is the third conservative lawmaker in just as many months to resign amid allegations of soliciting gay sex.
Bubbling up--and being sat on--by the DC Press Corps is a potentially devastating sexual scandal involving a leading Presidential candidate.
posted by amberglow at 9:07 PM PST - 143 comments

An excellent resource for connoisseurs of facial hair that is firmly above-the-lip. Also good for people interested in amusing blogs, vintage photography and glossaries. [more inside]
posted by MadamM at 6:30 PM PST - 21 comments

This year, give them crickets. (via)
posted by AloneOssifer at 6:25 PM PST - 9 comments

"The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me, and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven." Johnny Cash's last performance on July 5, 2003 at the Carter Family Fold. Folsom Prison Blues, I Walk The Line, and Ring Of Fire.
posted by EarBucket at 5:00 PM PST - 25 comments

Everybody's favorite hate mongering church just got hit with an $11 million fine by a jury that found they had invaded a family's privacy and inflicted emotional distress when they picketed a Marine's funeral. [more inside]
posted by brevator at 4:58 PM PST - 113 comments

Not enough random context-free images in your life? Try Pizdaus! [nsfw]
posted by MetaMonkey at 4:54 PM PST - 29 comments

Junior General is intended to promote the use of historical simulations as a tool for teaching history by providing free resources that anyone can use. To go with their teaching scenarios they make available thousands of paper solders for download and printing. Everything from stone age primatives thru Myceneans, Confederate gunboats to US Iraq infantry and futuristic Cyber Assault Droids. Also available are accessories like castles, houses, trenches, battering rams and hangers.
posted by Mitheral at 4:47 PM PST - 10 comments

Spooky halloween sounds via wfmu. "Talk about a budget label classic! I was first introduced to this LP by Jack Diamond. Side 1 is pretty standard horror sounds, but Side 2 is where the magic is found! I love these remarks by a friend which pretty much sums it up: "Side 2 of this album is unlike other Halloween sound effect records floating around in that it is all theremin! And get a load of those track titles?! It sounds as if someone let a 5 year old kid noodle around for a while. It's super scary!"
posted by vronsky at 4:06 PM PST - 9 comments

National Novel Writing Month (seen before) starts Nov. 1. The goal: complete a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, Nov. 30. If you'd like to start, or are otherwise working on a novel, Sean Lindsay and others would like you to please stop. [more inside]
posted by kurumi at 3:57 PM PST - 42 comments

Eating disorders aren't just for women. While commonly understood as a condition that hits women, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia can be and are devastating (to say nothing of 'underdiagnosed') for men, too. This is the story of Jeremy, an 88-pound 36-year old guy. [more inside]
posted by norm at 2:56 PM PST - 29 comments

Yesterday, Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party for conspiring to prevent him from running for president in 2004. The lawsuit alleges that defendants used “groundless and abusive litigation” to bankrupt Ralph Nader’s campaign and force him off the ballot in 18 states, and names as co-defendants the Kerry-Edwards campaign, the Service Employees International Union, private law firms, and organizations like the Ballot Project and America Coming Together that were created to promote voter turnout on behalf of the Democratic ticket. According to attorney Carl Mayer from the team that filed the suit, interviewed this morning by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, "what this lawsuit will do, and the importance of it is, is to set a precedent so that the two-party monopoly system that shuts out minor parties in a way that other Western democracies never do, that this will set a precedent to prevent this type of intimidation and harassment."
posted by finite at 2:07 PM PST - 236 comments

"The Great God Pan," by Arthur Machen. "The Beckoning Fair One," by Oliver Onions. "Green Tea," by J. Sheridan LeFanu. "The Boarded Window," by Ambrose Bierce. "The Horla," by Guy de Maupassant.
posted by Iridic at 12:26 PM PST - 15 comments

The Web Is Agreement: a poster (large, huge) designed by Paul Downey.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:59 AM PST - 22 comments

Body fat causes cancer according to a scary report from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund that reviewed 7000 studies. Obesity creates "a low-grade chronic inflammatory state" that promotes cancer. This report seems more foreboding than others of its ilk, e.g.: "Even small amounts of excess body fat, especially if carried at the waist, increase risk." Drinking is also carcinogenic: better limit yourself to 2 drinks a day if you're male and 1 if you're female. (Of course, breathing is also bad, and so is sunlight. ) Conclusion: you can live a really long time if you don't like to eat or drink, though you want to avoid taking this to extremes.
posted by cogneuro at 11:15 AM PST - 115 comments

The 2007 Frédéric Bastiat Prize for Journalism has been awarded to Amit Varma (economics journalist for Mint and writer of the interesting India Uncut blog). Clive Crook (Atlantic & FT) was second. The Prize was developed to encourage, recognise and reward writers whose published works elucidate the institutions of the free society, including free trade, property rights, the rule of law, freedom of contract, free speech and limited government. [more inside]
posted by patricio at 11:08 AM PST - 1 comments

Groovy Dancing Girl #2. via [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 11:04 AM PST - 61 comments

Looking for Halloween music, but want to avoid the cliché and overplayed Thriller and Monster Mash? (YouTube Links) Three Halloween "mix tapes" have been posted over at the AMG blog: 1, 2, 3. (Samples included.) Or, here's another option. (Halloween mixtapes were also discussed recently, on AskMefi).
posted by zarq at 11:02 AM PST - 15 comments

On May 23, 2007 a multi-disciplinary team of scientists announced (YouTube, 70mins, 7-parts, part1-1 is a summary) the finding of physical evidence strongly suggesting that, around 12,900 years ago (10,900 BC), a massive Shoemaker-Levy type comet hit the atmosphere, air burst over the Great Lakes region of North America and probably engulfed much of the continent in a fireball and subsequent firestorm with catastrophic effects for life and climate. [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 10:54 AM PST - 23 comments

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of mankind" - H.G. Wells
posted by phrontist at 10:45 AM PST - 22 comments

"In the streets on Halloween, there's something going on ..." What better day to celebrate the German power metal band Helloween?
posted by jbickers at 10:06 AM PST - 9 comments

Nardwuar The Human Serviette. Who is Nardwuar? Nardwuar is a singer, DJ, VJ, record label impressario, and patriot. Perhaps most infamously though, he is an interviewer, and it is there his true genius shines. Nardwuar has interviewed everyone from Snoop Dog to Jean Chretien (it was in fact Nardwuar who got Chretien to utter that famous line about pepper). [more inside]
posted by stinkycheese at 10:02 AM PST - 18 comments

"We would pull over cars that had college bumper stickers, because we knew college kids often partied with marijuana...we would pull over 'Vietnam Vet' plates, because a lot of our vets developed a habit over there...I would look for Mexicans. I would look for black people. It works." A former Texas narcotics officer is selling a DVD that can teach you how to avoid arrest. (Unless you're black, Mexican, a veteran, or a college kid, presumably.) Youtube. More youtuberance.
posted by dersins at 9:08 AM PST - 46 comments

Taking care of an incredibly alien-looking, yet impossibly cute anteater isn't easy — in fact, it's a lot of aard verk!
posted by dmd at 8:50 AM PST - 26 comments

Looking to rent or buy? You can check out the schools and inspect the foundation all you want, but only Rotten Neighbor cares to warn you about your potential community. [more inside]
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:33 AM PST - 52 comments

Dakou ("Saw Gash") CDs are shipped to China to be dumped in landfill sites. As you might expect, they don't always make it to the tip. [more inside]
posted by GeckoDundee at 8:27 AM PST - 12 comments

Plus ça change... (that's a 15941x261 pixel, NSFW-ish jpg).
posted by Wolfdog at 7:39 AM PST - 46 comments

"The vast tar sands of Alberta in Canada hold oil reserves six times the size of Saudi Arabia's. But this 'black gold' is proving a mixed blessing for the frontier town of Fort McMurray, fuelling both prosperity and misery. As the social and environmental toll mounts, Aida Edemariam reports on the dark side of a boom town" - Mud, Sweat and Tears.
posted by chunking express at 7:21 AM PST - 45 comments

Little Batman. Like Batman, but little. He fights crime. He likes bats. Sometimes he misses mom and dad.
posted by piratebowling at 7:07 AM PST - 40 comments

Monks march again in Burma. Approximately one hundred Buddhist monks marched in protest oif government policies in the central city of Pakokku yesterday. One monk who spoke to journalists claims more marches will be organized. Will we see a resurgence of the mass marches--and crackdowns--of August and September?
posted by Anonymous at 5:55 AM PST - 18 comments

Looking some some ideas for cool jack o'lanterns? These free templates could help. From HP, Dremel (scroll down), eHow, DLTK, Pumpkin Masters, Hershey's , Reader's Digest and SpookMaster. Or watch the videos on the Do It Yourself Network for more carving tips and tricks.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:49 AM PST - 16 comments

The Fine Art of Japanese Pen Spinning Crazy Japanese experts show their amazing spinning skills. Here's a handy instructional video so you can get your start. A little digging reveals that web resources on this ancient discipline (known in Japan as "rōnin mawashi") indeed are plentiful
posted by psmealey at 3:13 AM PST - 29 comments

Plans are afoot for a US version of Spaced the seminal British zeitgeisty eve-of-the-Millennium sitcom that packed in huge numbers of film homages while turning the traditional man-and-woman-in-flatshare sitcom scenario on its head. The makers went on to make Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. [more inside]
posted by electriccynic at 2:42 AM PST - 81 comments

Steve Ballmer dressup flash game for Halloween.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:06 AM PST - 11 comments