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Benula Bensam, not having landed a summer job, decided to attend the Rajat Gupta trial. She felt that some of the judge's evidentiary rulings were incorrect, and so sent him three letters. The judge, Jed Rakoff, was not amused.
posted by reenum at 8:28 PM PST - 119 comments

Kelly Beatty of Sky & Telescope magazine has introduced the first entirely new Moon globe in 40 years using high-resolution data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). You may know LROC as the satellite that showed us the remains of the Apollo missions (previously). One nice detail is that they got the Moon's asphalt-like color correct.
posted by dirigibleman at 7:24 PM PST - 16 comments

A study in the Journal of Parisitology tells of a woman who complained of pain in her cheek after eating parboiled squid. Turns out that some forms of squid can still inseminate, even after cooking.
posted by Isadorady at 6:56 PM PST - 80 comments

The U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane came back to Earth today (June 16) after 15 months in orbit on a mystery mission. [more inside]
posted by Bonzai at 6:46 PM PST - 38 comments

10 bets that you will always win is a video collection of clever tricks (& science) from Richard Wiseman's Quirkology YouTube channel; see also top 10 quirky science tricks for parties, 10 more science stunts for parties, another 10 quirky science stunts, and 5 amazing mind tricks (previously: 10 practical jokes). Wiseman is a psychologist, magician, and author who created LaughLab: the scientific search for the world's funniest joke; the final report & top jokes* are available here (PDF) and over 1000 LaughLab jokes (all clean!) here (also PDF). Previously: his research on luck. (via voices + gizmodo)
posted by flex at 5:57 PM PST - 16 comments

"You are in a spooky cave. Lying on the floor you can see a skull covered with cobwebs and there are rats scurrying through the shadows bent on who knows what acts of unhygiene. You shudder and clutch your terrapin to you for comfort. You review the poor life choices that led you to this unwholesome spot. On a walking holiday in the hinterlands, you foolishly walked off the designated walking path and struck out on your own. In a deep scary forest you saw the cave entrance and in a moment of rash curiosity ventured in. Little did you suspect what was about to befall... Now in your dismal predicament you deplore the neglect and slovenliness around you and prepare to leave. But just then there comes the faint sound of singing drifting out of the depths of the cavern. It seems... somehow familiar... Curiously, you venture in that direction, descending deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth as sinister stalactites drip around you and evil bats wheel overhead and shriek like your ex-wife when you had suggested playing certain harmless dressing-up games with her. At the end of the tunnel you come to a rotting oak door with rusty iron hinges. The handle is in the shape of a skull! From behind it you hear a vaulting tenor voice singing forlornly...

The Roy Orbison in Clingfilm Adventure Game, by Ulrich Haarbürste [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 5:47 PM PST - 23 comments

The Graphics Interchange Format is 25 years old. Originally released by CompuServe to replace RLE - a file format which was limited to black and white only, the GIF (which you're probably pronouncing incorrectly) evolved over the next 25 years - first gaining color, then better color, then the ability to repeat itself, and finally an adoring audience willing to take GIFs to the next level.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:39 PM PST - 86 comments

Shards of Equestria is a set of 270 fan-made Magic: The Gathering cards based off of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. (made by MeFi's own XQUZYPHYR, via Projects)
Savage Worlds of My Little Pony (PDF version recommended, requires Savage Worlds game system books) is a roleplaying game based on the show, using Pinnacle Games' Savage Worlds system. Notable for its tenent against violence, which punishes characters who pursue violent solutions to problems.
MLP: Roleplaying is Magic (PDF) is another roleplaying game using a custom system.
MLP: Clash of Realities is a miniatures combat game played on computer. Game system plugin for Lackeyccg. Setup instructions
MLP: Fighting is Magic is a slick-looking, upcoming fan-made fighting game. Demo videos: Applejack test, general demonstration, Fluttershy is not OP
Ponykart is an upcoming, fan-made Mario Kart-style driving game. Demo video.
My Little Investigations is an upcoming, fan-made Phoenix Wright-style investigation adventure game. Playable demo.
Cutie Mark Crusade is also a work in progress, and a more traditional adventure game. Playable demo. Demo video.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris at 4:20 PM PST - 41 comments

A Remade Tabloid Image of Houston’s Last Meal [NYTimes.com] That gruesome photograph of Whitney Houston’s last supper, first posted on TMZ shortly after her death, stuck in the visual memory of the German photographer Thomas Demand. “The proliferation of that kind of image at the time when she was not even in the coffin amazed me,” Mr. Demand said. “It amazed me that it would ever have been released.” So he decided to recreate it.
posted by Fizz at 1:42 PM PST - 39 comments

21 Years Later, Aung San Suu Kyi Receives Her Nobel Peace Prize. After two decades spent mostly under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has finally delivered her acceptance speech in Oslo for the Nobel peace prize she was awarded in 1991.
posted by homunculus at 1:04 PM PST - 12 comments

Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., repeatedly lobbied Tony Blair to invade Iraq. In the days leading up to the invasion, Tony Blair's Director of Communications wrote that "(Blair) took a call from Murdoch who was pressing on timings, saying how News International would support us, etc. Both TB and I felt it was prompted by Washington, and another example of their over-crude diplomacy. Murdoch was pushing all the Republican buttons, how the longer we waited the harder it got." The phone call in question took place just days before a crucial vote on Iraq, and was one of three personal calls from Murdoch that Blair received in that week alone. Blair recently testified, admitting an "unhealthy" level of closeness with Murdoch, oftentimes communicating more with him than with his own ministers. In the first 19 days following the invasion of Iraq, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News averaged 3.3 million viewers, a 236% increase from the weeks preceding the war. Huge increases in newspaper sales were seen throughout his global media empire, with advertising revenue soaring to record levels. That empire now faces serious calls for it to be broken up.
posted by markkraft at 12:34 PM PST - 62 comments

One VisaFacebookCard to rule them all: Forget selling ad space. Facebook should be selling credit, argues The Daily Beast's Steven Weiss.
posted by Diablevert at 12:25 PM PST - 17 comments

Use Thomas Pynchon's fictional postal service for gnostic communication. Find the muted horn.
posted by chavenet at 12:24 PM PST - 11 comments

In the wake of their grunge-y breakout hit "Creep" and the success of sophomore record The Bends, Thom Yorke and the rest of Radiohead were under pressure to deliver once more. So they shut themselves away inside the echoing halls of a secluded 16th century manor and got to work. What emerged from that crumbling Elizabethan castle fifteen years ago today was a shockingly ambitious masterpiece of progressive rock, a visionary concept album that explored the "fridge buzz" of modernity -- alienation, social disconnection, existential dread, the impersonal hum of technology -- through a mosaic of challenging, innovative, eerily beautiful music unlike anything else at the time. Tentatively called Ones and Zeroes, then Your Home May Be at Risk If You Do Not Keep Up Payments, the band finally settled on OK Computer, an appropriately enigmatic title for this acclaimed harbinger of millennial angst. For more, you can watch the retrospective OK Computer: A Classic Album Under Review for a track-by-track rundown, or the unsettling documentary Meeting People is Easy for a look at how the album's whirlwind tour nearly gave Yorke a nervous breakdown. Or look inside for more details and cool interpretations of all the tracks -- including an upcoming MeFi Music Challenge! [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:06 PM PST - 69 comments

Ralph "Soul" Jackson is celebrating the release of his first full-length LP, The Alabama Love Man. He's been making the record with some help from friends and admirers for more than three years. But Jackson has been recording his brand of soul music with little success for more than forty years. [more inside]
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:19 AM PST - 5 comments

The U.S. National Institute of Heath has urged steps to curb growth in "training" positions in biomedical research (report). [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 10:19 AM PST - 39 comments

Westlife singer Shane Filan has been declared bankrupt after owing €5.5m due to the collapse of the Irish property bubble. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:12 AM PST - 3 comments

STEADYo - a motion tracked yo-yo provides a different look at some amazing tricks. [via]
posted by quin at 9:23 AM PST - 8 comments

It's queen Elizabeth II's official birthday today and she celebrated by making Grant Morrison, writer of St Swithins Day, in which the protagonist sets out to kill Maggie Thatcher, as well as The New Adventures of Hitler, depicting Hitlers adventures in Liverpool being serenaded by Morrisey, a member of the Order of the British Empire. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 7:34 AM PST - 104 comments

Happy Bloomsday! [more inside]
posted by Catchfire at 7:05 AM PST - 38 comments

Ditching School to Whistle is a delightful 15-minute look at some absolutely amazing whistlers who converge yearly on the little town of Louisburg, North Carolina. To whistle. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:56 AM PST - 20 comments