May 10, 2006

AIM Pages

You have all dropped your MySpace profiles and jumped to AIM Pages, haven't you? [via]
posted by tellurian at 11:09 PM PST - 48 comments

I guess freedom ain't free.

Have your war and heat it too? As the war approaches the $350 billion mark, Cass Sunstein notes: "For the United States, the economic burden of the Iraq war is on the verge of exceeding the total anticipated burden of the Kyoto Protocol." Costs may rise as high as $10 trillion. At least we know it wasn't about oil: in a good year, Iraq makes about $14 billion on fossil fuels. (via)
posted by anotherpanacea at 9:06 PM PST - 28 comments

Odd but fun short films...

The odd films of Neural Surfer. I've yet to watch them all but my fave so far is Little Things that Jiggle: Richard Feynman and Atomic Physics {google vid}, which is part of the Philosophy in less than five minutes (sometimes) series.
posted by dobbs at 8:34 PM PST - 10 comments

Left-Right Alliance?

John Birch Society Member calls for a Rebel Alliance in this fascinating article on those opinions jointly shared by both conservatives and liberals. I didn't expect to read this from someone I consider so far to the right.
posted by jfrancis at 7:47 PM PST - 33 comments

Just some things to make us laugh...

Funny Stuff. Laughing usually doesn't hurt but even when it does it can help you stay healthy and happy too! Other than the obvious *ahem*, is there anything the internet is better for than laughing yourself into a coughing fit? If you like jokes, or puns (that one is awesome - by the way), or people setting their faces on fire (my personal favorites), it's all out there.
posted by twjordan at 7:37 PM PST - 11 comments

In his cups, too, he had fitful but almost demoniac inspirations for hidden truth

Another black eye for ID (youtube link): Zoologist Dan-Eric Nilsson of the University of Lund in Sweden explains how the complex human eye could have evolved gradually from a primitive light-sensitive eye-spot. Via Swift.
posted by flabdablet at 7:17 PM PST - 50 comments

This is fiction

Writing has been around for a long time, but that doesn't mean we've mastered it yet. Want to make fiction? Perhaps it makes itself, perhaps it makes you... Self reference breeding infinite hyperrealities. Which world will you choose?
posted by 0bvious at 6:27 PM PST - 9 comments

But What About Us? Student Photographs from the Corridor of Shame

"But What About Us? Student Photographs from the Corridor of Shame" is a traveling photography exhibit that follows up on “Corridor of Shame: the neglect of South Carolina's rural schools" [wmv], a 58 minute documentary that tells the story of the challenges faced in funding an adequate education in South Carolina's rural school districts. The documentary tracks the evidence presented on behalf of eight school districts in Abbeville County School District v. The State of South Carolina [pdf]. The exhibit is a powerful demonstration to the needs still unmet in South Carolina's rural schools. Only five pictures and captions are on the website now, but most of the pictures appear inside with permission from the copyright holder.
posted by ND¢ at 6:12 PM PST - 28 comments

redefining the zeitgeist or something!

Google Trends is really cool. Yes, it's yet another google project, but you can compare so much pointless stuff with it!
posted by blacklite at 6:03 PM PST - 122 comments

Straddle the line in discord and rhyme, I'm on the hunt I'm after you...

Hungry like the wolf. In his state-of-the-nation address, Vladamir Putin took a swipe at the Bush administration, saying that Russia should build "a strong, reliable home because we do see what's going on in the world. . . Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat. It's eating without listening to anyone. And by all appearances, it's not going to listen . . . Where is all this pathos about the need to fight for human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests? Here everything is possible. There are no limits."
posted by insomnia_lj at 4:01 PM PST - 25 comments

spooky fluids!

Order from chaos! Fill a cylindrical bucket with water and make it so the bottom can spin. At certain speeds, stable regular polygonal shapes will spontaneously form at the turbulent surface of the water. See the video. [2.6MB avi] [via last week's PRL]
posted by sergeant sandwich at 3:14 PM PST - 28 comments

Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy
posted by reklaw at 2:35 PM PST - 59 comments

No More Black and White

No More Black and White. An article in the Washington Post about a census report released today shows that 45 percent of children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities, with Hispanics the largest group. Interestingly enough, as Andrew Sullivan notes, among the under-5 population only 4% are black, a trend he's seen in the time he's lived in Washington D.C. ("It's only gotten whiter and browner.") This has happened/is happening perhaps most dramatically in New Orleans (previously).
posted by fugitivefromchaingang at 2:30 PM PST - 40 comments

or he doesnt fly away....

The Little Bird Flies Away animation short by Veronica Ibarra. also, the Cooking Set.
posted by trishthedish at 1:05 PM PST - 10 comments

The Magical Number Seven

The Magical Number Seven Psychologist George A. Miller on the human limits for processing and remembering data. It is a little dramatic to watch a person memorize 40 binary digits in a row without error.
posted by Lanark at 11:37 AM PST - 14 comments

Luttig resigns Fourth Circuit post.

Luttig Resigns. Judge J. Michael Luttig, long considered a front-runner for a Supreme Court nomination, at least until he was passed over by President Bush, has resigned his position on the Fourth circuit. Luttig will take over as general counsel to Boeing. Read Boeing's press release and Luttig's resignation letter [pdf].
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:28 AM PST - 29 comments

Gum Blondes

Gum Blondes Celebrity portraits done in chewed gum. By artist Jason Kronenwald.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 8:46 AM PST - 31 comments

Undercover Surrealism

George Bataille's Documents—a short-lived but influential journal conceived as a 'war machine against received ideas'—has inspired an exhibition, Undercover Surrealism (Flash with sound).
posted by jack_mo at 5:32 AM PST - 8 comments

Live here and now.

Living without Numbers or Time...
The Pirahã people have no history, no descriptive words and no subordinate clauses. That makes their language one of the strangest in the world -- and also one of the most hotly debated by linguists. [via aldaily.com]
posted by moonbird at 4:27 AM PST - 43 comments

Every little helps

British supermarket giant Tesco recently posted profits of £2m ($3.73bn), like most modern employers it decided to reward its employees for their hard work: by giving them a free meal in the staff canteen worth £1.40 ($2.60). Others were offered sausage rolls and tuna sandwhiches. Does this make Tesco the most tightfisted corporation of all time? Or are their others equally parsimonious? Or even worse?
posted by MrMerlot at 2:04 AM PST - 67 comments

You spell 'honor' like a Brit!

Spinner Disk A flash site with Einstein, penguins, ninjas, narwhals and a dinosaur. What more could one want?
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 1:12 AM PST - 20 comments

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