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Sunk by their own torpedo? Apparently a few U-boats or subs may have been lost due to a "circular run" of their own swim bomb.
posted by Brian B. at 9:32 PM PST - 36 comments

“We realised that life is too short to read all the books you want to and we never were going to read these ones.” Research confirmed that “many regular readers think of the classics as long, slow and, to be frank, boring. You’re not supposed to say this but I think that one of the reasons Jane Austen always does so well in reader polls is that her books aren’t that long”.

The first six titles in the Compact Editions series are Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair, David Copperfield, The Mill on the Floss, Moby Dick and Wives and Daughters. Each has been whittled down to about 400 pages by cutting 30 to 40 per cent of the text. Words, sentences, paragraphs and, in a few cases, chapters have been removed.

“We realised that life is too short to read all the books you want to and we never were going to read these ones.”
posted by four panels at 9:12 PM PST - 270 comments

The Mathematical Lives of Plants "Scientists have puzzled over this pattern of plant growth for hundreds of years. Why would plants prefer the golden angle to any other? And how can plants possibly "know" anything about Fibonacci numbers?"
posted by dhruva at 9:03 PM PST - 31 comments

Lettermade This ongoing project, started in 1998, is aimed at documenting, appreciating, and recontextualizing vernacular letterforms and typography. (Design dorks rejoice!)
posted by ColdChef at 8:58 PM PST - 7 comments

New supernova is bright. Too bright, in fact.
posted by Citizen Premier at 8:56 PM PST - 21 comments

Goodbye everyone, Since there has been discussion regarding whether or not my posts to this community are relevant, I have decided to no longer post here. I've enjoyed my time here...meeting a lot of you, but I simply find this community's rules too restrictive, and since I write what I feel, without regard to content (Is it sexist? Is it parental? Is it political? Is it, God forbid, all three??), this community will only end up stifling my originality, and I have no intentions of letting myself be censored in this way. i hope you fall off your soap box someday and bust your ass. i'm out of here. i am not sad about it either.
posted by absalom at 7:34 PM PST - 120 comments

Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security "By far the most ambitious and integral project in the burgeoning field of cold war history"
posted by Abiezer at 3:07 PM PST - 3 comments

On this day in 1915 the ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat, which helped turn public sentiment in the US against Germany in The Great War. FirstWorldWar.com is your go to site for all things War to End All Wars related, from how it began to propaganda posters to maps to memoirs and diaries to the weapons and battles to audio and video and to the justly famous poetry of World War One. Also check out the feature articles and encyclopedia.
posted by Kattullus at 2:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Hold on to your talking magic flute, 70s kids... a new, animated H.R. Pufnstuf is on the island. Beatbox reworking of the original theme song included (Before/After). I'm dying to hear what they'll do with Mechanical Boy...
posted by miss lynnster at 1:56 PM PST - 55 comments

Introducing the Forbes corporate org chart wiki (beta). Forbes magazine is conducting an experiment in Web 2.0 to collaboratively map the org charts of corporations including Intel, Apple, Google, & Microsoft. Everyone is encouraged to pitch in, add names or make corrections. And if your company's not already on the list you can always add it.
posted by scalefree at 1:22 PM PST - 39 comments

During the Vietnam War, millions of gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed across regions of the country to destroy forest cover used by guerillas. A photo essay from Slate: On this day in 1984, a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans, who argued that exposure to AO had caused various cancers, birth defects, and other chronic diseases. The settlement came to government benefits of about $1,500 a month until 1997. Yet many Vietnamese victims who also suffer greatly have received nothing from the United States since the end of the war. Some images are quite graphic and not something you want to look at while eating lunch or possibly at work. I know we've done Agent Orange before ( here and here), but this collection of images is rather intense.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 1:14 PM PST - 23 comments

Fake Chinese Gylcerin kills hundreds, possibly thousands. So, if you thought melamine in pet food and food chain animal feed was bad, how do you feel about antifreeze in your medicine? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to drug manufacturers, suppliers and health professionals that counterfeit drug additives have been using diethyline glycol, or DEG (commonly used as antifreeze) as a substitute for glycerin in cough medicine, fever medication and injectable drugs. Hundreds, possibly thousands have been killed.
posted by dejah420 at 12:09 PM PST - 79 comments

Off The Wall Episode 1: "Lady Troubles" Short film with animation by Cal Arts student Alex Hirsch
posted by vronsky at 10:37 AM PST - 29 comments

A good night's sleep with the flip of a switch? A brain zapper to fight sleep deprivation using TMS. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 10:33 AM PST - 47 comments

If you haven't had enough of spork lore, take a stab (and scoop) at this lesson on the anatomy of a spork. This field deserves more research, as here are many species of this elegant icon of minimalist design that we secretly wish we could still use at the dinner table.
posted by vanadium at 9:30 AM PST - 24 comments

"To celebrate the 50th running of the Daytona 500, some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment have created original artwork inspired by the Great American Race." The results look OK for a seven year old, but terrible for everyone else.
posted by sdrawkcab at 9:01 AM PST - 56 comments

Blood In Blood Out. Ira Glass, prison crew leader.
posted by CaptMcalister at 8:26 AM PST - 30 comments

Vancouver woman missing in Syria. Nicole Vienneau has gone missing while travelling in Syria. Her brother, Matthew, has started a blog in hopes of gathering information about what's happened to her. Information has already started coming in from other travellers about her last known whereabouts. via Matthew's interview on CBC radio this morning.
posted by GuyZero at 6:49 AM PST - 68 comments

Bible Fight [Flash game]
posted by thirteenkiller at 6:00 AM PST - 24 comments

18,000 naked Mexicans can't be wrong.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:55 AM PST - 72 comments

Updatefilter: Apparently a poppy was the cause of espionage accusations. As reported here on the blue, some US contractors were apparently freaked out by a novel Canadian coin which featured a red poppy. The coin was issued by the Royal Canadian Mint, an organization that makes Canadian cash as well as currencies for other countries. The Mint, which is definitely worth a tour if you're in Ottawa, won an award for the coin. The coin was issued to honour Canadian war dead; the poppy is the symbol of the Royal Canadian Legion.
posted by Zinger at 5:41 AM PST - 46 comments

Blogger & Podcaster to become a successful blogger online, one must apparently appear in an offline magazine. Ho-kay.
posted by dabitch at 1:24 AM PST - 30 comments

Baby Cakes (created by Brad Neely) gets aggressive at D&D tourney
posted by BostonJake at 1:12 AM PST - 22 comments

Hitotoki.org (Japanese for 'a point in time') is a "new literary site collecting stories of personal, singular experiences in Tokyo." If you've visited Tokyo, please consider sharing a part of your Tokyo experience at hitotoki.org. If you plan to visit Japan, please peruse what will be an interesting collection of personal stories of life in Tokyo.
posted by gen at 12:13 AM PST - 23 comments

Michael Shrieve just a month after his nineteenth birthday played his part in putting Carlos Santana on the road to fame and fortune. Richie Havens wasn't too shabby as first up act. Might as well include Alvin Lee. Three of the best Woodstock moments. All Utoob.
posted by johnny7 at 12:06 AM PST - 29 comments