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The Insect Close-ups Flickr Pool is full of fascinating pictures. There are all kinds of wonderful images to be found, of spiders, ladybugs, hornets, aphids, grasshoppers, worms, water striders and those superstars of the insect world, bees and butterflies. You can also search a map for pictures by location. If you want to take your own bug photographer Mark Plonsky has written a short how-to guide. He has taken some pretty great photographs of insects himself.
posted by Kattullus at 10:31 PM PST - 14 comments

Chinese Democracy, the sixth studio album by Guns N’ Roses, is being released this Sunday, after over a decade of delays. Chuck Klosterman liked it. John Pareles from the New York Times did not. You can decide for yourself by listening to it here. Or you can pick it up this Sunday at Best Buy. But make sure you collect your free Dr Pepper. [more inside]
posted by emd3737 at 8:00 PM PST - 122 comments

Fire in the sky - a meteor burns up somewhere over Western Canada. Really impressive video here, another video, TV news with more footage here.
posted by Artw at 6:52 PM PST - 69 comments

Psst. Hey, wanna know secret? YouTube is offering 720p HD streaming on select videos. [more inside]
posted by tracert at 6:08 PM PST - 19 comments

It took me a second to realize what this was, but amazed I had to continue looking at Batman and Robin, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the Pop Art Blonde. Face painting was never like this in my day.
posted by salishsea at 5:44 PM PST - 25 comments

You guys! Psyched about that whole Watchmen movie thing (previously, we've touched on Watchmen briefly, like, once or twice?), kinda wanna read the book, but you just can't see fitting a 400-page comic into your busy, busy schedule? Fortunately for you, there's The Condensed Version. (Via the often NSFW Journalista.)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:40 PM PST - 59 comments

The Tone Generation is a radio series by Ian Helliwell 'looking at different themes or composers in the era of analogue tape and early synthesizer technology'. The original globe-trotting series: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, USA, Canada, Rest of World. Bonus programmes: Expo 58, The RCA Synthesizer. All links are to MP3 files, except the first one. Alternatively, you can slurp down the lot in one go by subscribing to the podcast feed.
posted by jack_mo at 3:15 PM PST - 4 comments

Super Stacker. Flash Friday fun with a physics-based stacking game. (Via JIG).
posted by afx237vi at 2:28 PM PST - 16 comments

Saved by Zero Kills (slyt) [via Consumerist] [more inside]
posted by owtytrof at 2:10 PM PST - 45 comments

People with closed eyes [more inside]
posted by Glow Bucket at 2:02 PM PST - 18 comments

Despite sagging paperback sales in the publishing industry, romance novels -- and particularly hen lit -- fiction featuring older female heroines -- are thriving. In 2006, according to Romance Writers of America, 26.4% of all books sold were romances, generating $1.37 billion in sales. In hen lit aka Matron literature, heroines typically are over-40, widowed grandmothers whose romance yearnings are secondary to family, work, and hobbies.
posted by terranova at 1:40 PM PST - 29 comments

The 7 Greatest Stories in the History of Esquire Magazine via [more inside]
posted by Knappster at 12:41 PM PST - 28 comments

Somali pirates have captured a Saudi oil tanker, demanding a $25 million ransom. Somali pirates are well known and active - as of 30 September, 12 vessels remained captive and under negotiation with more than 250 crew being held hostage. But this time they may have gone too far: by capturing a ship of a Muslim nation, the pirates have drawn the ire of Somali Islamist fighters, who have vowed to combat the pirates. The pirates say they're just doing it for the cash, while some report they're living large. Who are Somalia's pirates anyway?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:25 PM PST - 63 comments

"Ham Radio is a life long learning experience. You never stop learning." Don, W3RDF, is a CW enthusiast who shares with us his love of a hobby that has been a source of many friends from around the globe. With Solar Cycle 24 just beginning, the Ham Bands have been heating up with activity. Perhaps you might want to listen to what they are saying.
posted by jackspace at 12:00 PM PST - 31 comments

The Worst Day of My Life. SLYTP
posted by adrober at 10:48 AM PST - 146 comments

This is my Milwaukee (SLYTP-esque) [more inside]
posted by cobra_high_tigers at 10:39 AM PST - 59 comments

DIGG ATTACK is a game. Lead a small band of good guys (small bluish dots) in a struggle to flee from Digg Stories. Requires your browser support the canvas tag.
posted by boo_radley at 10:18 AM PST - 14 comments

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: --- The Turbaconducken.
posted by empath at 10:10 AM PST - 73 comments

Pilot School. A nice collection of teevee show pilot scripts. Observe the embryonic state of many of the classics of the past few decades, including Buffy, The Wire, Hill Street Blues, Battlestar Galactica, The Sopranos and The West Wing. [more inside]
posted by Bookhouse at 9:41 AM PST - 29 comments

Hello.
posted by monospace at 9:07 AM PST - 80 comments

Acko.net is the web home of Steven Wittens, designer of AVS presets for WinAmp, as well as the current Bluebeach theme at Drupal.org. Steven also dabbles in programming; for instance his Farbtastic jquery color picker. Be sure to watch his blog for development jewels like Projective Texturing with Canvas.
posted by netbros at 8:22 AM PST - 15 comments

19-Year-Old Commits Suicide on Justin.TV. [previously.]
posted by chunking express at 6:50 AM PST - 129 comments

Sex: wot's the big deal is a sex exhibition for kids currently taking place at the Cité des Sciences in Paris. Pre-teens can learn about love, puberty, making love and making babies, and they can also experiment a little bit. The show is based on Willies: a user's guide (in French: Le zizi sexuel) by Swiss comics creator Zep, and features the rising star of French playgrounds, Titeuf (NSFW unless you're a French preteen)
posted by elgilito at 6:34 AM PST - 42 comments

In a new twist on trademark disputes, the federal goverment wants to confiscate the trademark of the Mongols Motorcycle Club. The Wall Street Journal (among other people)weighs in.
posted by TedW at 6:26 AM PST - 25 comments

You know, I want you to pick up on this. You know, these lyrics are something else. Just dig this. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:11 AM PST - 20 comments

The White album turns 40.
posted by sleepy pete at 5:16 AM PST - 112 comments

Fringe Friday: Did you know that a fringe around the flag indicates martial law? Any sovereign citizen knows better than to accept the jurisdiction of the American War Flag! Or wait--is it really Old Glory that bows to martial law? Fly your Civil Flag with pride!
posted by shii at 5:02 AM PST - 39 comments

People want to kiss alligators and crocodiles. They do it in Costa Rica and Lousiana and Mississippi. Why do many otherwise normal people want to kiss alligators?
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:35 AM PST - 24 comments

Auditorium is a musical flash game where you influence a stream of particles with gravity-based nodes. A steady stream of particles past a collector enables a layer of music. Good fun! Via Jay is Games
posted by closetphilosopher at 1:54 AM PST - 15 comments

Mongo the Magnificent. "Out of nowhere, believing that it is good for the soul to have one insane idea a day, whether you need it or not, the notion of a dwarf private detective came to me [...] I considered such a character bizarre and absurd, unworkable and unpublishable, and thus a waste of time to spend and length of time trying to develop it. I kept searching, but the damn dwarf just wouldn't go away. [...] It was to be a satire. Halfway through, I discovered a key to the man's character was a simple quest to be taken seriously, for dignity. That touched me, and I started over again, this time doing it "straight" (or as straight as I'm able). I gave Mongo dignity, and in return he gave me a career. The diverse background was, I thought, necessary in order to properly equip him in a "world of giants"."

George C. Chesbro, RIP [more inside]
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 12:25 AM PST - 18 comments

Depression 2009: What would it look like? "Lines at the ER, a television boom, emptying suburbs. A catastrophic economic downturn would feel nothing like the last one." [Via]
posted by homunculus at 12:15 AM PST - 48 comments

Pardon the turkey.
It is unverified that the turkey was ever vetted to be the national bird.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:01 AM PST - 80 comments