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Pro and con arguments about the iPod. The Pro argument: It changes our relationship to music. It creates an in-group marked by instantly recognizable white earbuds. The Con argument: It changes our relationship to music. It creates an in-group marked by instantly recognizable white earbuds.
posted by Slagman at 10:42 PM PST - 79 comments

Cat family being photographed depicts cats--dressed and bipedal--enacting a mundane human situation in a Swiss, or, at least, European setting. It is, in other words, your stereotypical Alfred Mainzer Dressed Cats Series postcard. I have collected them in a desultory way over the years but never thought to Google Alfred Mainzer until tonight.*
*Note that all of these are personal sites and two are Tripod and GeoCities hosted, so treat kindly and tread gently. No direct links, please. coughmaybemirrothemcough
posted by y2karl at 9:26 PM PST - 4 comments

For two decades, Peter Belt has been selling $75 pens, $750 alligator clips, "Quantum Cream" and "foil", and other somewhat pricey and *ahem* unconventional products to audiophiles, claiming these will improve the sound of their fancy hi-fi systems. Unsurprisingly, some are skeptical; however, others seem quite convinced.
posted by kickingtheground at 9:01 PM PST - 11 comments

Convicted killer wins stay. The 9th Circuit Court feels that justice would be better served by being more sure that Cooper is actually guilty of the 4 murders he was sentenced to die for (followed from here). Considering the amount of controversy over evidence handling in this case, I think that they're right.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 8:53 PM PST - 9 comments

Kerry OK with amendment against gay marriage if the "language" is OK. On NPR today, (Audio file located at the bottom of the page) Kerry allowed for the possibility of supporting just such an amendment. More inside...
posted by EmoChild at 5:51 PM PST - 60 comments

Disney ends Special Needs Passes If Snopes says it, it's so....
posted by konolia at 4:13 PM PST - 30 comments

The Lysergic Art of Anthony Ausgang. Cartoon characters painted in technicolor.
posted by dydecker at 4:11 PM PST - 1 comments

You think you've got it bad? That nice Tony Blair has set up a new UK-style FBI which will be ruthless in fighting organised crime. Saviour of freedom Blair says, "the system is struggling against a presumption that you treat these crimes like every other type of crime and that you build up cases beyond reasonable doubt".
posted by biffa at 2:51 PM PST - 14 comments

The Zoology Dragon. "Rather than, as has previously been thought, a slow process of evolution, we now know that all animals were created by the Zoology Dragon. Unfortunately, we also know that the current Zoology Dragon is a bit shit." [Flash.]
posted by homunculus at 2:27 PM PST - 10 comments

I am the smartest man in the world! Has anybody read this guy? His bio carries a lot of hype, and looks a bit interesting.
posted by prototype_octavius at 12:46 PM PST - 16 comments

AA pilot asks for faith of his passengers. Air flight can be intimidating as it is - especially when your pilot has a nagging desire to introduce you to God.
posted by lightweight at 10:07 AM PST - 90 comments

vr tour [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 7:22 AM PST - 13 comments

"I can make your life very difficult..." In January, journalists posing as regular citizens attempted to review documents under Florida's open access laws. 43% of all requests were denied, and in some cases volunteers were lied to, harassed or even threatened by government officials.
posted by Irontom at 7:19 AM PST - 29 comments

Software innovation is dead. I have to agree that there hasn't been anything truly exciting coming out of the software community as of late, at least anything that is going to change the way we do things like e-mail and P2P did.
posted by archimago at 7:07 AM PST - 34 comments

CleanTV (currently in the early stages of construction) is this guy's new web site. It will log instances of "offensive" material shown on broadcast television, enable offended TV viewers to send email directly to local station owners and management, and/or send emails to the station's local and national advertisers. What happens to advertisers who ignore the email campaign and continue to sponsor shows that CleanTV deems offensive? - "If an advertiser continues to support offensive advertising, they will be targeted for local and national boycott. On the local level, newspapers are notified of the boycott and CleanTV volunteers will demonstrate at the advertiser's place of business until the advertiser decides to rescind their support of offensive programming."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:00 AM PST - 17 comments

Electronic music buffs cite Radiohead's Kid A as their best work. How many know that Idioteque, arguably the stand-out track owes a debt to Paul Lansky, sampling as it does Lansky's Mild Und Leise [mp3 file], a track composed in 1973 on an IBM 360/91 mainframe. I didn't. Should you find your interest piqued, you might want to read an interview with Lansky. If that was then, this is now: The excellent music video to Zeal [Quicktime] by Plaid, which, although a very different beast, is an excellent indicator of how far electronic music has come. [Probably NSFW].
posted by nthdegx at 5:33 AM PST - 42 comments

Psychophysical spaces - the tuberculosis sanatorium of Paimio, Finland from the beginning of thirties. Explore Alvar Aalto's soothing Scandinavian functionalism on a detailed virtual tour.
posted by inkeri at 3:21 AM PST - 5 comments

World's First HCI Rap from OK/Cancel, the human computer interaction/interface design comic.
posted by joshua at 12:40 AM PST - 7 comments