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15 year old Indian boy performs a Caesarean Section on pregnant woman in presence of his Doctor parents. Father stands by his son—and says he did nothing wrong.
posted by hadjiboy at 11:46 PM PST - 58 comments

It's been nearly 50 years since the beginning of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), an 18-month period of scientific activities and discoveries that ran from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. Both the US and the USSR launched the world's first artificial satellites during the IGY (Sputnik 1 and Explorer 1). Other achievements of the IGY included the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts and the mapping of mid-ocean ridges. The IGY also inspired at least one artistic endeavor: Steely Dan's Donald Fagen wrote his 1982 solo song "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)" [YouTube] as an homage to 50s optimism.
posted by amyms at 11:20 PM PST - 14 comments

A games and economic theory argument against intellectual property. Watt's on first in academic paper.
posted by klangklangston at 10:09 PM PST - 42 comments

Two words: Hip Hop and Theremin. Turns out the weird, spooky sci-fi noise machine plays all sorts of good music: Video Killed the Radio Star, The Legend of Zelda and sometimes, in the right hands, it speaks of a man's love of White Castle.
posted by generic230 at 9:46 PM PST - 27 comments

The American Film Institute decided the need for more money an update to their 1998 list of the 100 Greatest Movies was so pressing that they made a new list. Ebert (and friends) ask where's Fargo?. The IHT wonders why the past decade has only spawned four new, worthy movies. And, generally, no one seems super excited about it. (some links go to wikipedia to avoid registration on AFI's site).
posted by ztdavis at 9:30 PM PST - 88 comments

The concept of alphabetization was invented at the Great Library of Alexandria in the third century BC, with words grouped by first letter. It wasn't until 1053, in the Elementarium doctrinae erudimentum that recursive alphabetization (where "Aab" comes before "Aac" and after "Aaa") appeared in rudimentary form. You'd think that by now we'd have the process down, but controversies still rage. Does "sea foam" come before "seaborne"? Does "Michael Jackson" come before "Nick Cave"? Throw in international characters and an occasional foray into ASCIIbetical order and it's no wonder the alphabet can be so frustrating.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 6:50 PM PST - 62 comments

Powernap MP3s.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:19 PM PST - 16 comments

Incarcerex
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 6:19 PM PST - 30 comments

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has declared that the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory is a national emergency. He has announced a sweeping takeover of powers from the Territory Government in response to the crisis outlined in the Little Children are Sacred” report [6mb PDF] Some say knee-jerk and ill thought through, some say return to the bad old days of white paternalism, yet say there are many other issues confronting Aboriginal people. Why act now after 10 years in power, and a host of similar reports? Could it be an approaching federal election?
posted by mattoxic at 5:14 PM PST - 73 comments

Spoiling Harry Potter: Hacker claims to have spoiled the last Harry Potter book with a technique called spear phishing. "We make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring ... It's amazing to see how much people inside the company have copies and drafts of this book." Let's see if we can discuss spoilers and spear phishing without actually spoiling anything here. Warning: The Wired link is safe, but it contains a link to the purported spoiler.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:55 PM PST - 82 comments

William Shatner hawked Commodores. IBM tried the cast of M*A*S*H, but without Alan Alda, who played Atari. Bill Cosby was a Texas Instruments man. Compaq gave us some funny ones with John Cleese. Bill Bixby pushed Tandy with a straight face. Buzz Aldrin, The Pointer Sisters, Tommy LaSorta, and Tip O'Neil pitched the Amiga. I guess I should include George Plimpton's Intellivision spots. Apple's covered by everyone else. Who did I miss?
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 3:35 PM PST - 42 comments

Life sadly imitates art in Austin, Texas. Followup. [Sorry, initial link may require free registration.]
posted by ubiquity at 3:27 PM PST - 41 comments

A gay boy wished for a planet full of unicorns, Planet Unicorn, Unicorn Planet! Episode: two, three.
posted by milarepa at 1:27 PM PST - 52 comments

"His dream is to produce a full-length gay, disco tribute to Canadian Rock legends, Rush." It certainly wouldn't be the first question-mark-in-the-air-above-the-head-inducing tribute album - that's a pretty long list, and includes the hip-hop tribute to Phil Collins, the bluegrass take on Metallica (so good they had to make two of them), the lounge tribute to Eminem, the hillbilly tribute to AC/DC, a hairmetal tribute to the Beatles, a goth tribute to David Bowie, um, a string quartet tribute to Clay Aiken, and more Dylan cover albums than you can shake a rolling stone at.
posted by jbickers at 11:34 AM PST - 46 comments

Mefite Fans of rock concert posters are probably familiar with gigposters.com, but here's an interesting list of over 20 other individual designers concert posters sites with tons of designy goodness.
posted by jonson at 11:14 AM PST - 21 comments

Man fired for saving life. Follow-up here.
posted by Snyder at 10:51 AM PST - 418 comments

"I'm all outta dollars, you got any Berkshares?" Several Great Barrington, Massachusetts businesses have developed a local currency to promote local business.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:46 AM PST - 34 comments

Sure, reading is great, but books are fun to look at, too
posted by nuclear_soup at 8:17 AM PST - 37 comments

Mississippi Delta folks talking about tamales.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:00 AM PST - 34 comments

Norilsk is a big city in northern Siberia. On the permafrost. It was built by slave labor in the 1930s. Norilsk Nickle, a very profitable company, wants you to invest there. Some think it's a hell hole. Others think it was the downfall of the Soviet economy.
posted by MarshallPoe at 5:34 AM PST - 30 comments

Applications for UK visas are being denied for ridiculous reasons, says an independent monitor report. Among the reasons: never having been on holiday before, "failing to complete pivotal areas of Section 6", and "plan[ning] a holiday for no particular purpose other than sightseeing. BBC readers contribute their stories - from potential bridesmaids being told that they were only going to marry English men like their sister was doing, to not having good enough German.
posted by divabat at 1:11 AM PST - 61 comments

John Fahey - 1969, Part 1
John Fahey - 1969, Part 2
John Fahey - 1969, Part 3
John Fahey - 1969, Part 4
See also The Thong Club
And Previously
Via FaheyGuitarPlayers
posted by y2karl at 12:59 AM PST - 35 comments