MetaFilter

Rock 'n' Roll lyrics rewritten in alphabetical order and then you're sposed to guess the song from whence they came. Courtesy of the delightful Matthew Baldwin at The Morning News.
posted by Kibbutz at 10:09 PM PST - 73 comments

When Lolcats meets Go Fug Yourself, hilarity ensues. From the highly entertaining Jezebel. Oh, hai Anna!
posted by Space Kitty at 10:02 PM PST - 33 comments

Obama's Gettysburg Address. Today we saw and heard a preview of our brightest possible American future in Senator Barack Obama's glorious speech. This, then, is what it means to be presidential. To be moral. To have a real center. To speak honestly, from the heart, for the benefit of all. If there was any doubt about what we have missed in the anti-intellectual, ruthlessly incurious Bush years, and even the slippery Clinton ones (the years of "what is is"), those doubts were laid to rest by Barack Obama's magisterial speech today. A speech in which he distanced himself from a flawed father figure, Reverend Wright, and did so with almost Shakespearian dignity and honor. One of the most important speeches on race in decades if not longer. (text) [more inside]
posted by caddis at 9:31 PM PST - 1141 comments

120 pages of old logos, scanned from a 1970s book called “World of Logotypes.”
posted by tepidmonkey at 8:57 PM PST - 20 comments

Match It For Pratchett is a campaign to match Terry Pratchett's donation of $1 million (half a million pounds) to the UK charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Since they started on March 15, they've raised over $34k. [more inside]
posted by joannemerriam at 6:18 PM PST - 12 comments

"Not only are the misuse of rules of engagement in Iraq indicative of supreme strategic incompetence, they are also a moral disgrace." Former Marine Sergeant Jason Lemieux... three tours in Iraq from 2003 to 2006.
posted by Huplescat at 6:14 PM PST - 24 comments

Oh, mighty warrior 'twill be quite a task...Greg Allen reminds us what the mid-century phrase "kill the rabbit" is really all about.
posted by ericbop at 6:00 PM PST - 14 comments

The Hillsong Church has been a controversial church in Australia for quite some time (13mb mp3 link). From questions over its political influence to claims that they were stacking the votes in Australian Idol to concerns about the way it uses its donations, Hillsong continues to inspire much debate over whether it is a force for good or whether it is corrupt. In the latest controversy to surround the church, they are now claiming that they can cure homosexuality. Hardly a first for a Christian church except that Hillsong, which has a strict doctrine that teaches homosexuality is an affliction that can be cured, is so obsessed with ensuring that there are no homosexuals under their roof that it is running the program for its own disciples... even those who aren't gay. Allegedly, they are going so far as to issue "separation contracts" to young women who simply make friends with each other and which prevents any form of physical contact between residents. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:57 PM PST - 94 comments

Hey, get outta bed, you! What? Say you had one too many on Paddy's Day? Well, friend, just down a little hair of the dog and we'll dance it off! That's right! Some jigs, a couple of reels and a hornpipe or two, from Irish button accordion maestros John Whelan, Michael O'Connel, Damien Mullane, and Keith Gildea. And for good measure, Edel Fox on the concertina, and Bobby Gardiner on the melodeon. Just the thing to chase that nasty ol' hangover away! [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:30 PM PST - 14 comments

Can People Regenerate Body Parts? "Progress on the road to regenerating major body parts, salamander-style, could transform the treatment of amputations and major wounds."
posted by homunculus at 3:40 PM PST - 37 comments

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001, inventor of the telecommunications satellite and the only reason most geeks can find Sri Lanka on a map, has died shortly after celebrating his 90th birthday.
posted by Skorgu at 3:15 PM PST - 292 comments

Hands. Twin Tesla coils. Ruler. Ocarina. Ukelele. 7 String bass. Two guitars played at once. Tuba. Trombone quartet. Bassoon quartet. Previously here and here
posted by unSane at 3:14 PM PST - 14 comments

Most well known for his "Obey Giant" street posters, Shepard Fairey has carefully nurtured a reputation as a heroic guerilla street artist waging a one man campaign against the corporate powers-that-be. Infantile posturing aside, Fairey’s art is problematic for another, more troubling reason - that of plagiarism.
posted by dhammond at 2:58 PM PST - 91 comments

Oral arguments were heard today in District of Columbia v. Heller, the first occasion in almost 70 years for the Supreme Court to decide the question, "Just what does the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mean?"
posted by Law Talkin' Guy at 2:26 PM PST - 104 comments

The mysterious podcast
posted by vronsky at 2:00 PM PST - 15 comments

It's art; it's geometry; it's green tech. It's the oloid. [more inside]
posted by No Robots at 12:54 PM PST - 20 comments

The University of South Carolina recently completed an ambitious survey of all medieval texts in the state for an exhibit at the university library. All the works were scanned and archived electronically. However, not only can you view the texts online, you can hear the university's chorus sing (MP3) the musical manuscripts. [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf at 11:54 AM PST - 8 comments

Craig Bierko interviews John Malkovich and touches on his youth and living in foreign countries before improvising a bit around the idea of the thespian working in a fast food restaurant.(May not be SFW. One-link Superdeluxe Video.)
posted by beaucoupkevin at 11:45 AM PST - 9 comments

Tent cities spring up in L.A. With foreclosures rates still rising, shantytowns have started springing up in Los Angeles.
posted by MythMaker at 11:02 AM PST - 81 comments

If you were around between the 1870s and the early 1900s, you were rocking out to the sweet tunes of the organette. Some were ornate wooden boxes played by turning a crank. Cool kids had tiny organette/harmonica hybrids called Rolmonicas that were played by mouth. Other variations included the Celestina, the Musical Casket, the Playasax, the PlaRola, and the Triola mechanical zither among others. Happen to have one? Pull it out of that yard sale! You can still find music for it.
posted by katillathehun at 10:40 AM PST - 8 comments

Reading celebrity toes.
posted by Rumple at 10:09 AM PST - 29 comments

Amazing video of BigDog. Described by its developer, Boston Dynamics, as "The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth."
posted by qldaddy at 8:33 AM PST - 106 comments

Help the police (youtube).
posted by nthdegx at 7:07 AM PST - 34 comments

UK Film Director Anthony Minghella has died.
posted by Mintyblonde at 6:52 AM PST - 52 comments

Sooooo... Macca finds himself £24m ($50m) worse off after his acrimonious divorce from strong woman / mentalist* Heather Mills. Mills also loses her appeal against keeping the text of the ruling private (read it here - PDF), maybe because of her 10 minute diatribe on the steps of the court yesterday, or because of her numerous TV appearances, but probably not because she threw a glass of water over Macca's lawyer, er, alledgedly. But the main point, of course (and thank you Dallas), was - what the heck was she wearing?
(*delete as approporiate depending upon your POV)
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 5:55 AM PST - 84 comments

For over the past year, John Seavey has been reading through Marvel's Essentials and DC's Showcase Presents reprints in order to examine the title comic's storytelling engine. From classic characters to barely-footnotes, much of the bedrock of Silver Age heroes are represented in the column's archives. [more inside]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:50 AM PST - 18 comments

Very recently the Kalenjin and Kisii peoples of Kenya's Olmelil valley began skirmishing over land disputes. Over 20 people have died so far. This type of inter-tribal unrest is nothing new in Eastern Africa. What makes this particular conflict most jarring to western eyes is that it's being fought with bows and arrows (Time Magazine Slideshow, a forum post with many large images inline, [coral cache of same]). You get the feeling that somewhere in Fresno, California Gary Brechter might be pretty wound-up at the moment...
posted by cadastral at 12:25 AM PST - 10 comments

"A day to blow or get blown." The W. H. Auden poem that was too dirty for the New York Times Book Review. (Not safe for work or good taste)
posted by nasreddin at 12:20 AM PST - 67 comments