June 13, 2011

The Iraq War - There's No Tellin' Where the Money Went

Today's Los Angeles Times reports on over six Billion dollars that can not be accounted for during the Iraq war and is now believed to have been stolen. [more inside]
posted by Poet_Lariat at 9:44 PM PST - 143 comments

Homebrew? Not in Alabama or Mississippi.

Think making beer at home is legal? Depends where your home is.

In 1978, US President Carter signed H.R. 1337, which, among other things, provided an exemption from excise taxes on up to 100 gallons of homemade wine and beer annually. It was still up to the individual states to decide whether or not to allow their citizens to brew.

33 years later, homebrewing is a very popular hobby, legal almost all states.

Except Mississippi and Alabama. [more inside]
posted by Marky at 8:38 PM PST - 72 comments

More Judges Say DOMA Unconstitutional

Today, Judge Donovan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles ruled [link is to pdf of decision] that DOMA is unconstitutional. 19 judges join his opinion. [more inside]
posted by insectosaurus at 8:24 PM PST - 35 comments

There aren't enough of me to go around

The Japanese can now give you a doll with your own face on it. Danny Choo shows us the process.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:02 PM PST - 48 comments

A melancholic metal take on the Process Church

Several Hymns sung by The Process Church of The Final Judgment, a religious group that worshipped both Christ and Satan, was rumored to be related to Charles Manson, and eventually became the Best Friends Animal Society, have been covered by Sabbath Assembly, producing a nostalgic psychedelic gospel project. Here is a interview of the band, from Terrorizer magazine. In Mefi: The Process on two funkadelic album covers.
posted by Tarumba at 7:09 PM PST - 19 comments

It's Gettin' Real at The Whole Foods Parking Lot

Whole Foods Parking Lot A rap about the extreme challenges people must face every day in their quest for organic kale and biodynamic kombucha. If you don't like rap, don't worry Whole Foods provides opera, hipster marching bands, strange dancing babies and Bollywood. If you just like naturally-grown peaches and quiet while you shop, there is always a freezing flash mob.
posted by melissam at 7:07 PM PST - 29 comments

Jubilation Day

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers prove that music videos are truly for the birds.
posted by hippybear at 6:56 PM PST - 21 comments

Live And Learn

Louis Menand of the New Yorker looks at the competing theories of education: that it is to create more well-rounded individuals vs. teaching someone what they need to know to get a job.
posted by reenum at 6:13 PM PST - 68 comments

He put a ring on it, and it felt like a kiss

Endless Noise turns Beyonce's Single Ladies into a tribute to the girl groups of Motown.
posted by The Whelk at 4:58 PM PST - 25 comments

I think Lulzsec is a pretty cool guy. eh hacks US Senate and doesn't afraid of anything.

LulzSec (twitter account) have hacked senate.gov. The group has previously hacked Bethesda, Pron.com, FBI affilliates amongst others. Although some argue that LulzSec represent the catalyst to improve IT security, this message to the Senate seems likely to provoke a more direct investigation: [more inside]
posted by jaduncan at 3:32 PM PST - 141 comments

"What we’re about to do is redefine what the American family is. And that’s a good thing."

"This is it." This week, the final push is on for marriage equality in New York and it looks like the state is closer than ever. [more inside]
posted by Anonymous at 2:22 PM PST - 274 comments

The Future’s So Bright

Augmented reality has come to advertising. Holograms are being used on the catwalk. And, reminiscent of Star Trek’s holodeck, Japanese scientists are working on making projected light touchable.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 1:38 PM PST - 38 comments

From tampons to couches, this baby destroys them all.

This machine destroys EVERYTHING. (SLYT)
posted by Captain Cardanthian! at 1:12 PM PST - 158 comments

Fa de fus time, God taak to me de way I taak.

De Nyew Testament. Gullah [also, previously] is a creole language spoken by about a quarter-million people in the Eastern United States. For decades, Bible translators worked to translate the Bible into the Gullah language. The full, HTML New Testament is available online, but a print copy can be ordered online.
So den, oona mus go ta all de people all oba de wol an laan um fa be me ciple dem. Oona mus bactize um een de name ob de Fada God, an de name ob de Son, an de name ob de Holy Sperit. 20Oona mus laan um fa do all wa A done chaage oona fa do. An fa sho, A gwine be dey wid oona all de time til de time end.
--De Good Nyews Bout Jedus Christ Wa Matthew Write, 28:19-20
This post was inspired by recently reading that Clarence Thomas grew up speaking Gullah, and thinking about the implications of growing up with very little written tradition in your own language.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 12:48 PM PST - 88 comments

Time and Beauty Bombs

A Doctor World: A beautiful mashup of Doctor Who and A Softer World. (Note that some posts contain major spoilers for "A Good Man Goes to War.")
posted by rhiannonstone at 12:42 PM PST - 29 comments

Turns out we ARE hosting an intergalactic kegger down here

The twin Voyager probes launched by NASA in 1977 have discovered something new in the heliosheath at the edge of the solar system: it's frothy out there. Video. Press Release. Via. Voyager: Previously.
posted by zarq at 12:35 PM PST - 33 comments

Situations like this are why the phrase "Oh, snap!" was invented.

Using a fake Facebook profile, Angela Voelkert got her ex-husband David to admit that he “planned to move somewhere warm with his kids, that he was still going to his next court dates, and would take off soon after” and ask his new teen-aged friend “to find someone at your school, there should be some gang bangers there that would put a cap in her ass for $10,000. I am just done with her crap!” Unfortunately for Angela, David was a step ahead and thoroughly played his ex-wife. All charges have been dropped and they are still Facebook friends.
posted by -->NMN.80.418 at 12:25 PM PST - 143 comments

Cowned

Is Cone-ing the new Planking? Let's hope so. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:16 PM PST - 54 comments

Ubiquitous & overlooked

The Unsung Heroes of Biscuit [cookie] Embossing: On Oreo, Hydrox, and other imprinted cookies. (Also Freemasons.)
posted by shakespeherian at 12:10 PM PST - 15 comments

Italy June 2011 referendum

Italy's PM: can I privatize water supply, guarantee private investors a minimum 7% ROI on investments in water supply infrastructure, avoid showing up at scheduled court hearings and build a few nuclear plants, please? NO, you can't, answered nearly 30 million italians (95% of the voters, 57% of the people that held the right to vote) in the latest italian national referendum, whose final results are just about to be published (italian). [more inside]
posted by elpapacito at 11:39 AM PST - 22 comments

Space Rubbish

Space Rubbish Take asteroids, add in an upgrade system and more realistic rock fracturing and you get the frantic experience of Space Rubbish. (Flash)
posted by boo_radley at 10:40 AM PST - 19 comments

How edumacated is your state legislature?

How edumacated is your state legislature? (sorry, U.S. only) The Chronicle of Higher Education takes on the issue of how educated U.S. lawmakers at the state level are/should be. [more inside]
posted by JanetLand at 10:17 AM PST - 56 comments

"We are under more of a moral obligation to try very very very hard to develop compassion and mercy and empathy."

‘A Frightening Time in America’: An Interview With David Foster Wallace
posted by timshel at 9:34 AM PST - 50 comments

"F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds"

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.
posted by Trurl at 9:27 AM PST - 46 comments

Frenzy Mackenzie

RIP John Mackenzie, scottish director who was probably best known for the classic British gangster thriller The Long Good Friday. He also directed A Sense Of Freedom (The Jimmy Boyle Story) and Just A Boy's Game, The Elephant's Graveyard and Just Another Saturday among others for Play For Today. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:04 AM PST - 15 comments

Project Thirty-Three--Vintage Record Jackets

Project Thirty-Three "The seemingly infinite number of vintage record jackets that convey their message with only simple shapes and typography never cease to amaze me. Project Thirty-Three is my personal collection and shrine to circles and dots, squares and rectangles, and triangles, and the brilliant designers that made them come to life on album covers."
posted by OmieWise at 7:55 AM PST - 19 comments

Doom and Gloom on Young Adults' Bookshelves?

Is contemporary young adult fiction too dark for its intended audience? Meghan Cox Gurdon, writing in the Wall Street Journal thinks so. Publishers Weekly blogger Josie Leavitt disagrees, as does YA author Sherman Alexie. Other reactions here and here. Via The Reader's Advisor Online Blog.
posted by Daily Alice at 7:46 AM PST - 150 comments

The Football Pantheon

The Football Pantheon is a new website by football journalist Miguel Delaney. The aim of the website is to "present objective lists of the greatest clubs, players, countries, managers and so much more." The first entry is a very impressive list of The 50 Greatest European Club Sides, which breaks down the various legendary teams, from the late 19th Century until today, and ranks them according to their achievements.
posted by Kattullus at 7:34 AM PST - 17 comments

Money and politics in the First State

It started with a warehouse in the town of Milford. Now the investigation of Delaware businessman Christopher Tigani has expanded from a shady land deal to $200,000 in illegal campaign contributions to everybody from state legislators to Vice President Joe Biden. [more inside]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:53 AM PST - 29 comments

Tomorrow, if anyone asks you what happened at the Tonys, you can say this: Neil Patrick Harris said it all

If you missed the 2011 Tony Awards ceremonies, you can read a live blog or five (WSJ, Backstage.com, Broadway World (read from top to bottom, Twitter-style), Broadway Direct (also Twitter-style)), check out the Wikipedia Page, or just let the evening's presenter Neil Patrick Harris summarize the whole thing in 2 minutes 20 seconds in a spoken word/rap (transcript). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 6:08 AM PST - 41 comments

"My life, my death, my choice."

Terry Pratchett starts process to take his own life. Sir Terry Pratchett, the fantasy writer who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2008, said yesterday he had started the formal process that could lead to his own assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. The fantasy writer Terry Pratchett says he has received consent forms requesting assisted suicide but has not yet signed them. [Previously] [Previously]
posted by Fizz at 5:56 AM PST - 133 comments

Jean Genie

Jazzin' For Blue Jean is a 20 minute long David Bowie music video directed by Julian Temple.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:53 AM PST - 34 comments

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