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There are times when having a fully developed brain can almost seem like an impediment. Are babies more aware of the world around them than adults are? Can "thinking like a baby" lead us to be more in tune with our creativity and our ability to learn? Scientists have taken a new look inside the baby mind, which is "unfocused, random, and extremely good at what it does."
posted by amyms at 11:47 PM PST - 38 comments

The Fatal Attraction Method of Debt Collection.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 11:37 PM PST - 51 comments

*Kimba*
posted by vronsky at 8:51 PM PST - 37 comments

It's on Facebook. It's also on MySpace. It even has a Twitter page. The White House is in the 21st century.
posted by pyramid termite at 8:23 PM PST - 37 comments

James Corbett, a California high-school educator of twenty years, has been found guilty of violating the establishment clause of the first amendment. The lawsuit (PDF) was brought to a U.S. District Court on December 12th, 2007 by student Chad Farnan and his parents with the aid of the legal group 'Advocates for Faith and Freedom' against Corbett and the Capistrano Unified School District as a result of comments made which were critical of Christianity. During the sixteen month legal battle, hundreds of students in support of the teacher demonstrated outside the school while the Farnan family appealed to opinion outlets like 'The O'Reilly Factor'. [more inside]
posted by cgomez at 8:17 PM PST - 122 comments

"Maybe, just maybe, we've found the next Mozart." Not just a six year old virtuoso, but a composer as well, Emily Bear seems likely to keep us listening longer than most precocious child pianists. As one tv talk show host has learned, as a composer Emily is both speedy and prolific.
posted by washburn at 7:58 PM PST - 52 comments

Karaoke Party. A web-based karaoke game that lets you pick a song, sing it with backing instrumental and vocals, track whether or not you're singing the right note at the right time, and gives you points if you do. [more inside]
posted by Hildegarde at 6:52 PM PST - 12 comments

After his ninth heart surgery, Mackie's doctors had him on 15 different medicines. But the side effects made life miserable. So one day he quit taking all 15 and decided to spend his final days doing something he always wanted to do. He used the money he would have spent on the prescriptions to give away 300 harmonicas, with lessons included. "I really thought it was the last thing I could ever do," he says. [more inside]
posted by 445supermag at 6:34 PM PST - 26 comments

Tag! You're It! The Brooklyn Museum is inviting its user community to tag its online collection.
posted by Miko at 3:19 PM PST - 26 comments

I came across this at youtube while looking for a visual to illustrate "strong teeth" in an e-mail. Just had to share: Woman crosses Time Square by her teeth, circa 1932.
posted by BoscosMom at 2:53 PM PST - 26 comments

It's always great excitement to see a rainbow. If you're lucky enough to have your camera with you, even better. But there's more to it than just being in the right place at the right time. How to Photograph a Rainbow gives us some pointers so our pictures can look like these. As a last resort, if you have a great photo opportunity but no rainbow: Add A Realistic Rainbow To A Photo In Photoshop.
posted by netbros at 1:33 PM PST - 27 comments

“Everyone knows I’m keen on love songs, so it was a perfect fit for me to write a love song for the 25th anniversary of Chicken McNuggets. " says Keith Sweat, currently the top story on 365Black.com, McDonald's website touting its 'deep roots' in the black community. "Like the unique African Baobab tree, which nourishes its community with its leaves and fruit, McDonald's has branched out to the African-American community nourishing it with valuable programs and opportunities."
posted by unSane at 12:57 PM PST - 123 comments

Tracy White is a webcomics pioneer, having produced TRACED ("lived, written and drawn by me. guaranteed 95% true.") since 1996. There's also the docu-comic Babble Fish, about God revealing himself in the form of a fish to an upstate NY Hasidic community, and her contribution to For Real, a comic documenting the lives of immigrant teens in NYC. You can also follow her work on YouTube and Flickr, where she posts selections from her upcoming book.
posted by not_on_display at 12:07 PM PST - 2 comments

At the mostly abandoned Moffett Field in an abandoned McDonald's, digital archeologists attempt to restore, recover and archive abandoned high resolution imagery and data from previous manned Moon missions, using an abandoned Ampex 2" tape drive found in a chicken coop - the last working machine in the world, restored by the last man alive capable of rebuilding the heads. This is likely only part of their weird story.
posted by loquacious at 11:54 AM PST - 66 comments

Would you eat a stack of 16 sugar cubes? SugarStacks makes it clear how much food you're having with your sugar. The McDonald's chocolate shake is particularly disgusting.
posted by up in the old hotel at 11:02 AM PST - 100 comments

For those who might be unaware: One of the great basketball games concluded last night in thrilling fashion during triple overtime. It is only par for a series that has gone into overtime for the fourth time in games in six games (one of which was double OT, and last night's aforementioned triple OT). The heroic moments and failures of players are too numerous to count at this point, but five of the six games have been decided by 11 points... TOTAL. On Saturday 8PM EST, what is arguably one of the greatest series ever, will conclude with the final game 7. [more inside]
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 10:55 AM PST - 56 comments

Charlie plays. Charlie explores. Charlie bites. Charlie relaxes. Charlie sleeps. Charlie loves. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese at 10:47 AM PST - 41 comments

A Japanese study finds a link between lower suicide rates and traces of lithium in the drinking water. While the study's findings are "intriguing", external relations director Sophie Corlett of Mind warns that lithium is toxic, and that further research is needed.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:31 AM PST - 17 comments

Flash Friday: Crush the Castle. Use a trebuchet to bust up various castles, squashing the regal inhabitants.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 10:19 AM PST - 40 comments

Everybodies favorite tower defense game has a major new release Desktop Tower Defense just released a Pro edition. It's got new graphics, new creeps and multiplayer. If it's Friday it must be fun and flash!
posted by Bonzai at 10:11 AM PST - 34 comments

Pick the perp.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:00 AM PST - 55 comments

The First of May Jonathan Coulton's ode to the 'coming' of spring (SLYT). NSFW language. Coulton's Last.fm page. More MP3s here. Coulton wrote the 'Still Alive' song from Portal and also works with John Hodgman. Jon on Twitter.
posted by daHIFI at 9:20 AM PST - 21 comments

A recent Nielsen study which has been circulating the web indicated that 60% of Twitter users quit the social networking site after just one month--music to many Mefite's ears. But as one reporter noted, the study didn't take into account any of the third-party applications, (like Tweetdeck) through which many users access their Twitter feeds. Just three days later, Nielsen responds with a revised study purportedly them into account.
posted by misha at 9:14 AM PST - 86 comments

William Eggleston...an American(a) photographer takes intensly colorful photographs of junk, hotel rooms, road sides. Its been done by lots of photographers, and unintentional imitators, but he's made a real name for himself. So much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.
posted by celerystick at 9:13 AM PST - 17 comments

Prostitution is legal in two states: Nevada and Rhode Island. Some legislators in Rhode Island have been trying to close the loophole for years, to no avail. Yesterday, for the first time, the bill took a huge step toward passage. [more inside]
posted by lunit at 8:02 AM PST - 65 comments

The PEW survey recently released; summarised by Andrew Sullivan reveals that evangelicals are most likely to approve of torture.
This survey coincides with Harpers May edition lead article ( presently behind a subscription firewall) extracted here. The article is by Jeff Sharlet - (previously: How the Christian right is reimagining U.S. history). The two are not unrelated. The division of the world into God's people and Satan's people enabled the Bush Administration to support the most devilish behavior imaginable, all in the name of righteousness, as shown by General Boykin then Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
posted by adamvasco at 7:39 AM PST - 181 comments

Stephen Wolfram discusses Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine - at the same time Google Adds Search to Public Data, viz: "Nobody really paid attention to the two hour snorecast" -- like a cross between designing for big data and a glossary of game theory terms -- on Wolfram|Alpha (previously), yet the veil is being lifted nonetheless: "[on] a platonic search engine, unearthing eternal truths that may never have been written down before," cf. hunch & cyc (and in other startup news...) [via] [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 6:42 AM PST - 29 comments

Jack and Meg did it first. Audioslave did it poorly. The Hives tried to do it by rote. The Flaming Lips did it best while simultaneously Moving To Florida. It's been done in Mario Paint and on a ukulele. But the latest people to attempt it? Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys.
posted by namewithoutwords at 6:11 AM PST - 108 comments

Video for Matt and Kim's "Lessons Learned" [NSFW]
posted by bardic at 3:50 AM PST - 90 comments

On April 28, Clifford May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, was interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. It was about torture. The interview lasted three times longer than what was eventually aired, but the full-length video is online and quite fascinating, if a bit shouty. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. [more inside]
posted by Scattercat at 1:13 AM PST - 76 comments