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“In a world being torn apart by international conflict, one thing is on everyone’s mind as they finish watching the nightly news: 'Man, this would make a great game.'”...um, yikes. Playing headline based games could put you in some uncomfortable shoes indeed. I've played wargames that made me really want to not be in a real one - maybe this needn't be as vile a concept at it seems at first blush. But maybe games can't give the nuanced, serious treatment of such topics as, say, movies such as Benini's "Life is Beautiful"
posted by freebird at 11:52 PM PST - 14 comments

McDonalds CEO Puts McJob in Mainstream. By taking Merriam-Webster to task for including McJob ("low paying and dead-end work") in its latest Collegiate Dictionary, McDonald's CEO Jim Cantalupo has ensured that yet another disparaging fast-food web-fed meme joins the venerable "You want fries with that?" If this had been Fox, I would have said it was intentional.
posted by mischief at 10:45 PM PST - 47 comments

Vice Fund. Put your money where your black heart is.
posted by srboisvert at 8:02 PM PST - 7 comments

Overclocked Remix is the home of some fantastic game music remixes in a variety of styles - from relaxing piano to higher tempo hybrid affairs. Have a rummage and a listen..
posted by Mossy at 6:45 PM PST - 7 comments

Many common food plants contain noxious and toxic antinutrients designed to ward off predators, including humans. Tomatoes and Potatoes for example contain Glycoalkaloids which cause a Depressed central nervous system; kidney inflammation; carcinogenic; birth defects; reduced iron uptake. Can Genetically Engineered strains increase these naturally occuring antinutrients and toxins? (more inside)
posted by stbalbach at 6:45 PM PST - 26 comments

Princeton University Eating Clubs A walk down Princeton's Prospect Avenue leads visitors to illustrious clubs like The Tiger Inn and Colonial Club. Ramen be damned!
posted by keli at 12:08 PM PST - 19 comments

It seems that Halliburton is one step closer to getting caps on the Asbestos claims against it. And so what? Well, this is for its units DII Industries and Kellogg, Brown, and Root. KBR might seem familiar because it's the subsidiary that won the 7 billion dollar no-bid Iraq contract for services. And again, so what? Well, the asbestos caps are part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. That's right....the SAME EXACT subsidiary that was just awarded a 7 billion dollar no-bid contract filed for bankruptcy in March.

Positively Machiavellian.
posted by taumeson at 9:41 AM PST - 16 comments

Anarchist Twelve Traditions of Alcoholic Anonymous. "Over the course of this short text the author shows beyond any reasonable doubt that Bill Wilson, the sainted pioneer of Alcoholics Anonymous, was a semi-closeted fan of Peter Kropotkin, the all-but-forgotten anarchist-communist writer and revolutionary."
posted by jester69 at 9:23 AM PST - 11 comments

Anima: A fascinating archive of the ways early photography was used to give the illusion of motion, as well as information on the evolution of optical toys and early cinema.
posted by anastasiav at 9:18 AM PST - 5 comments

Clay Shirky smacks syllogism around. Nice criticism of the semantic web and the present (and increasing) hype of the "semantic web revolution". The most damning part of the essay is the part about languages and categories being deeply intertwined with worldview and with culture—if there's no good definition for the word "bachelor" (see), how can there be an encoding of "friend", "lover" (see article for the classic AI example of "John loves Mary") or anything else that isn't zipcode?
posted by zpousman at 6:59 AM PST - 62 comments

Early Manuscripts at Oxford University. 'This site provides access to over 80 early manuscripts now in institutions associated with the University of Oxford. Please read the information about using this website. '
'Between 1995 and 2000 the Early Manuscripts Imaging Project created high resolution digital images from manuscripts which were selected as major treasures from their respective libraries, to create wider availability for originals which may otherwise be too fragile for handling. '
posted by plep at 12:52 AM PST - 5 comments