MetaFilter

Tips to be hip ... I like that bit."cope(d) with the indignity of slavery with the cool pose" Although Kylie & (go) Russ (go) could have missed out.
posted by johnny7 at 10:35 PM PST - 32 comments

Utopian Socialism as the Basis of Contemporary anti-Americanism Lee Harris argues in this article that contemporary Marxist movements have abandoned the politically realist methodology that Marx claimed as the basis of "scientific" socialist thought, and have substituted an ad hoc utopianism. Based on this latter belief, they have unwisely shifted the target of their criticism from specific American policies to America the nation itself.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 10:12 PM PST - 25 comments

Interview with Ze Frank - "online performance artist and humorist". A link to the first of his projects, a wildly successful party invite, "How to dance properly" was posted on metafilter in March 2001. "I sent the link to 17 friends ... By Monday it was getting over a million people a day, and I was getting over seven e-mails a minute." See the various stats pages for a funny summary of the contents of some of those e-mails.
posted by atom71 at 8:52 PM PST - 6 comments

Taking a lesson from Robert Mapplethorpe -- Some of Robert Gligorov's subjects might be a little difficult to look at, even though the quality is so easy on the eyes. (A few are NSFW.) I think this one is my favorite.
posted by crunchland at 5:58 PM PST - 29 comments

The Literary Review Bad Sex Prize 2002. A runner-up: "In one fluid movement Herman rolled forward on to his knees, grasped Dorian by the shoulders, and kissed him. Such suction. They were like two flamingos, each attempting to filter the nutriment out of the other with great slurps of their muscular tongues. Adam's apples bobbed in the crap gloaming."
posted by mookieproof at 5:55 PM PST - 22 comments

The shoestring (string and shoe holes) was first invented in England in 1790. But there is nothing so simple that man cannot complicate, and so some calculate the optimal way to tie a shoe, some seek zen enlightenment through shoe-tying, and others craft Shoelace Parables to improve psychological health. Contrarians find their peace by eschewing the tying altogether.
posted by rushmc at 4:06 PM PST - 11 comments

Reader-submitted designs for the WTC I know I'm going to hell for saying this, but some of these are tremendously funny...
posted by oissubke at 3:50 PM PST - 74 comments

Adult Siamese twins plead for separation Doctors in Singapore are considering whether to separate a pair of 28-year-old twin sisters who are joined at the head - an unprecedented operation for adults. Neurosurgeon Keith Goh says he and his team will decide by the end of the year if an operation can be successful. They went to Singapore after hearing about the successful surgery led by Dr Goh on baby twins from Nepal who were also joined at the head. The operation - if it goes ahead - involves separating two brains encased within a single bony structure in the head, Dr Goh said. The twins say they want to be separated because of deep differences between them. "We are two completely separate individuals who are stuck to each other," Ladan, the more extrovert of the sisters, told reporters. "We have different lifestyles," she said. "We think very differently about issues." The twins said that if their situation continues for much longer, they will not "stand it any more".
posted by Coop at 3:17 PM PST - 11 comments

Budget cuts threatening your college athletic team? No problem. Raise $210,000 on eBay.
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy at 3:03 PM PST - 7 comments

What the World Thinks in 2002. How Global Publics View: Their Lives, Their Countries, The World, America. A global poll from the Pew Reaserch Center. via NPR.
posted by the fire you left me at 2:42 PM PST - 20 comments

Canadian Liberals Discover Cost/Benefit Analysis
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:59 PM PST - 28 comments

Not the Italian dunkers again! Suffer the little children. School lunches are awful anywhere in the world but this is just sad. Shouldn't education include food? Why are obesity, gastronomic ignorance and downright bad taste (including the ersatz "foreign" dishes) inculcated at such an early age in America?
posted by Carlos Quevedo at 1:48 PM PST - 54 comments

The New York Times Dining section on pancakes. Not just for Sunday morning breakfast anymore (like we didn't know that already). (reg. req'd, etc.)
posted by PeteyStock at 1:21 PM PST - 24 comments

"Pigman is trying to prove the Caine-Hackman theory. No matter what time it is, 24 hours a day, you can find a Michael Caine or Gene Hackman movie playing on TV." If only he had TV-Now.com, which exhaustively roams schedules for whatever actor or genre you choose. I'm planning an All-Corey month myself. Call me for the shower scene in Dressed To Kill.
posted by Stan Chin at 12:58 PM PST - 36 comments

National Organization for Women v. Scheidler Is being heard by SCOTUS today. The case may decide whether non-violent civil disobedience can be prosecuted under federal RICO laws. Here's the ACLU's amicus brief. And comments from NRO's Rod Dreher.
posted by Ty Webb at 12:57 PM PST - 26 comments

Talking Heads Avoid revealing and discussing issues that may be controversial. Especially so when the stories run counter to the government's "talking points." Yet another reason not to trust mainstream media for relevant and accurate news. Who can we trust to report honestly and without putting personal/corporate considerations first?
posted by nofundy at 12:20 PM PST - 25 comments

Is That an Ethanol SUV? I recently found out that some of the most popular SUVs (Suburban, Yukon, Tahoe, Explorer) are already capable of running completely on Ethanol (E85). The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition website has lists of cars and SUVs that already run on Ethanol. A handy map of refueling locations is also available. It is surprising (and good) to see the large auto-makers tangibly supporting alternative fuels.
posted by jsonic at 11:36 AM PST - 23 comments

The End of the American Era? Well, at least according to that person. However, this guy says that America is the future, and Europe is the past. Is Europe becoming another Soviet Union? These people have something to say about it. What do you think? 20 years from now, who will be leading the world?
posted by eas98 at 11:27 AM PST - 40 comments

Internet Filtering in China, a report from the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School. There's been "a documentable leap in filtering sophistication since September 2002".
posted by liam at 10:40 AM PST - 1 comments

The Index of American Design The National Gallery of Art is showing some amazing watercolors commissioned by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1942 to document a uniquely American cultural heritage of primarily traditional folk art (and employ out-of-work artists). I thought the textile reproductions were particularly stunning in their detailed exactitude (rendering the thread count!) and really put to shame the so-called trompe l'oeil paintings in the east gallery :D
posted by kliuless at 10:26 AM PST - 2 comments

SinkSkim like a concrete canoe. Building a concrete canoe (or its cousin, the cardboard canoe) takes creativity and know-how. The first was made in 1848, they're now computer-designed, light-weight marvels that move through the water as well as any fiberglass or wooden craft. Concrete canoe building is a competitive sport in many university civil engineering departments (Clemson won this year's competition.) Design your own, and enjoy paddling around in a nearby stream, lake or river.
posted by me3dia at 9:18 AM PST - 12 comments

Wal-Mart's Female Trouble
With shopping on many people's minds these days, here's a story detailing charges of worker discrimination practiced at that store everyone knows (it's also America's largest private employer).

An informed consumer is a responsible consumer. Know where your money goes.
posted by mapalm at 9:13 AM PST - 58 comments

GOP Looks To Move Its Social Agenda. And something you can do about it, if you so inclined.
posted by semmi at 8:49 AM PST - 23 comments

"The Brighthouse Institute for Thought Sciences plans to change the marketing world by using modern neuroscience methods to observe and understand the true drivers of consumer behavior. The Thought Sciences team uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), a safe and non-invasive technique, to observe patterns in brain activity that reveal how a person is processing and/or evaluating a product, object or advertisement." (From their press release.) Is this the next logical step beyond focus groups? And does this seem just a little bit creepy to anyone else?
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:32 AM PST - 25 comments

What happens when DNA proves you're not the father of the child you've been compelled to pay to support?
posted by NortonDC at 8:00 AM PST - 63 comments

Bombs found at Dutch IKEA stores. New terror against Ikea's child labour practices?
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:37 AM PST - 20 comments

Your Internet Connection Is Not Optimized! Are the ever-popular fake error message banners illegal? The people involved in the current class action suit against Bonzi Software (makers of the infamous BonziBuddy and several other programs that have been classified as Adware/Trackware and accused of being Spyware) believe so.
posted by c3o at 7:00 AM PST - 27 comments

Free electricity from the phone company. I already knew that phone lines carry an electrical current, but using it to power devices other than telephones is a new one on me. Some of these are useful, some are interesting, and some are pretty ironic. [via boingboing]
posted by shecky57 at 6:20 AM PST - 45 comments

The internet may have given us a whole new access route to big-scale sex gadgets, like adult baby cribs and The Houdini Box, but sex furniture has been around since Botticelli. By Sally Trash.
posted by giantkicks at 1:37 AM PST - 4 comments

Panoramania: Big screen adventures for the discerning armchair traveller. Less discerning small screen 360° fans also catered for.[A companion-piece to mediareport's post below, first link requiring Quicktime.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:32 AM PST - 10 comments