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A few rather mundane numbers have turned into international chart toppers by being blessed as the 'official song' of the FIFA World Cup^TM or being on the 'official album' and getting airplay as the theme songs for local TV broadcasts. I think this trend started during Italia '90. Neither I, nor FIFA can remember any official songs from Mexico '86 or Spain '82. While Anastacia's Boom is this year's FIFA designated 'official song;' I like Tejano singer Jennifer Peña's upbeat Vamos al Mundial, the theme song for Univision's World Cup broadcast. What's the theme song of your local World Cup broadcast? Is it any good?
posted by tamim at 11:58 PM PST - 11 comments

30 days to a more accessible website This series is entitled "30 days to a more accessible weblog", and it will answer two questions. The first question is "Why should I make my weblog more accessible?" If you do not have a weblog, this series is not for you. The second question is "How can I make my weblog more accessible?" If you are not convinced by the first answer, you will not be interested in the second.
posted by mikewas at 9:00 PM PST - 10 comments

I Told you the whole idea of “Hindu militants” was laughable. The eXile's 'war nerd' turns in another fantastically upsetting, yet dead true column. My favorite line: "Congratulations on shooting that Fortuin guy, the only interesting Dutchman in the past 200 years! Can’t have people like that running around!"
posted by GriffX at 8:49 PM PST - 6 comments

Last week was a good week for aliens and a bad week for cows.

UFOs visited sacred sites and tourist attractions in Sri Lanka, Chile declared an official UFO tourism zone, and Scotland claims to have the most reported sightings each year.
much more inside...
posted by joemaller at 8:33 PM PST - 5 comments

How many more accounting scandals to go? A recent show "Bigger than Enron" on Frontline leads me to wonder, "How MUCH bigger than Enron?" Responses from viewers on that website include a number of accountants for big firms that insist that these practices are everyday business in accounting and that we have a lot more of this coming. Are we actually in the middle of the biggest market crash since 1929? What do you think? Just how bad could it get?
posted by muppetboy at 6:30 PM PST - 35 comments

Non-religious Israeli settlers are financially trapped, argues a sympathetic Tel Aviv University professor. He slams Ha'aretz Daily for constantly urging Jewish settlers to just move out, "as if people who somehow managed to buy a cheap housing unit in a settlement could simply leave it behind and buy another house somewhere else." Seems that for a lot of settlers, financial benefits like reduced income taxes and generous loans are more important enticements than appeals to biblical righteousness. Too bad the "doubly cheated" and heavily villified settlers can't get any financial help when they decide to move back. The solution? "Jews in America and world-wide should therefore use their money to support settlers who wish to leave the occupied territories and return to Israel."
posted by mediareport at 5:59 PM PST - 11 comments

Sound to make an army flee A NEW sonic weapon being developed for the Pentagon makes use of one of the most fearsome sounds known to humans: a baby crying. The article also talks about use for crowd control. If I were a club owner, I'd buy one so that everyone clears out expiditiously. Clear them out like cockroaches when the lights come on!
posted by Modem Ovary at 5:52 PM PST - 14 comments

Captain America - Black Man. Marvel has had its share of classics and stinkers this year - but this historical look how Captain America might have come to be sounds really smart.
posted by clango at 5:47 PM PST - 5 comments

Is Univision's coverage of the World Cup, like, way better than ESPN's or what?
posted by brookish at 5:24 PM PST - 16 comments

Brazil is in some trouble. So the question must be asked, can globalization be an extension of imperialism? If so, in this case, is it? If not, how would one explain the current crisis felt in Brazil and all of Latin America?
posted by BlueTrain at 5:18 PM PST - 3 comments

Musicians are really smart. They have larger and more sensitive brains than non-musicians, and their collective IQ is much higher. They have 130% more grey matter in one area of their auditory cortexes. The question of how this explains Ozzy Osbourne nonwithstanding, I'll bet if you're really, really smart, you could be one of the new members of Men Without Hats. Must be very knowledgeable in midi, sequences, and sampling.
posted by iconomy at 4:59 PM PST - 18 comments

Karakuri trick Boxes Brought to you by one of the Karakuri craftsmen. Beautiful and intricate, you may also need some patience. RF-4 by Iwahara, for example, requires 324 moves to open (also featured at the Puzzle Museum)! Lest, you confuse these with Burr puzzles, you must know your puzzle-types.
posted by vacapinta at 3:23 PM PST - 7 comments

God Bless America Day : Let me detail for them all the ways in which this idea is just wrong. Or is it?
posted by RJ Reynolds at 2:54 PM PST - 29 comments

Intellectual Freedom Issues,
from the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Roundtable.

"Intellectual Freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas."

American Library Association Code of Ethics: "We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted."
posted by sheauga at 2:47 PM PST - 5 comments

Blue Springs, Missouri, is receiving federal funds for "Gothic Culture Research." "The funding for the proposed gothic program will supplement existing services already in place and allow the city to target additional 'at risk' youth in the gothic culture." Apparently, gothism is a "gateway" culture that may lead to harder stuff.
posted by me3dia at 2:17 PM PST - 15 comments

"America As It Was: A Tour Of The USA In Vintage Postcards" is a vast, amazing collection, quaintly presented by my new heroine: an Atlanta real estate agent and church volunteer called Pat Sabin who dreams of one day visiting Chicago and whose(some would say surprising) love for all things webby is an example to us all. Please don't be put off by the homey graphics and folksy language - it really is a rich, rich resource! [My favourite postcard turns out to be from James Lilek's New York collection. Go figure. All I can say is God bless the meetings of unlikely minds!)]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:05 PM PST - 5 comments

The UN Atlas of the Oceans provides information on a wide range of topics relating to the world's oceans, such as geography, economic uses and environmental issues (here's a BBC article about the atlas.) Another nice site about the oceans is the Blue Planet web companion to the gorgeous Discovery/BBC TV series of the same name. Sadly, the threat to coral reefs may soon rob the oceans of some of their more spectacular biological diversity.
posted by homunculus at 11:46 AM PST - 1 comments

Is your library unpatriotic? The FBI has now started checking library records. According to the USA Patriot Act, the FBI can research library records, all they have to do is prove a diluted form of probable cause to a secret court. Some librarians say they will resist the attempts by the FBI to view the reading histories of their patrons. If you think your local librarian is being unpatriotic or subversive, please send them hate mail, report them to the FBI.....
posted by insomnyuk at 11:22 AM PST - 76 comments

The Classic Typewriter Page. A gorgeous site to behold (and informative). Everything and anything you ever wanted to know about the classic typewriter. Before you ask, What's a typewriter?, check out this site.
posted by jacknose at 11:16 AM PST - 10 comments

The engine canna take any more, captain! So, we're going to ground the fleet. I guess our friends in the space station are just going to have to wait until NASA is done checking under the hood.
posted by dwivian at 10:48 AM PST - 6 comments

HOLY MOTHER OF BACON! French fries?!?! Cancerous!?!?
posted by jcterminal at 10:20 AM PST - 36 comments

I can have my own Gorn head? Sweet! A memorabilia company is auctioning off tons of Star Trek original props, scripts, costumes, etc. You can finally own Capt. Pike's chair (which my dentist also has, I think), memos that made jerk sci-fi authors very angry, the big seat itself and, of course, Frank Gorshin's pants.
posted by ice_cream_motor at 8:54 AM PST - 8 comments

I don't know about you, but I won't feel truly secure until the Office of Homeland Security has its own logo. The White House is still just using the presidential seal: boring. The Patent Office's entry has a nice retro feel to it, but some might find it too menacing. The USDA's is maybe a bit too subject-specific. What do you think: should we keep it simple, or go with something a little more strongly stated? What sort of design would make you feel secure?
posted by ook at 8:43 AM PST - 22 comments

Auto-organic backlinking in Blogspace
Jon Udell has an intriguing article describing the automatic backlinking used by Disenchanted and other sites. For example, if you link to a Disenchanted article, it automatically links back to you. Udell writes:

More than economy is at work here, though. Offering backlinks is a strategy that furthers the ambition of every blogger to engage other minds. It does so by enlarging the surface area and altering the shape of the posted article, which is the unit of information currency in blogspace.

What a groovin' idea. I like that the backlinking is automated, essentially creating new networks of knowledge with every post. Is anyone else doing this? It seems that if this "feature" were included in existing blogging engines, it could change the shape of the net.
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Link courtesy of Kairos News
posted by mecran01 at 6:48 AM PST - 22 comments

Is the FBI dragging it's feet in the anthrax investigation? It appears they have reason to do so. Dr. Barbara Rosenberg presents a compelling argument that the likely homegrown terrorist is known but revealing his identity could be embarrassing to the government.
posted by nofundy at 6:22 AM PST - 26 comments