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Screenwriters find work is dwindling. While screen writers conferences are still enthusiastically marketed all over the country, and eagerly reported on, the working reality for screenwriters these days, is that work is growing ever more scarce. 'This week the Writers Guild of America, West reported that while earnings for screenwriters have bounced back to pre-strike levels' (2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike), 'there is a lot less work going around: employment has fallen 11% in the last three years, with 226 fewer screenwriters working in 2009 than 2006, the year before the 100-day walkout and the lowest level in at least six years.' '"Except for current A-list writers, the picture is as bleak as I've ever seen it," said former Writers Guild President Dan Petrie Jr.' [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 6:34 PM PST - 244 comments

So.. right. You've been enjoying the new IT Crowd episodes but you need more. For a bit of Friday fun, check out the IT Crowd Game! [more inside]
posted by purephase at 5:49 PM PST - 48 comments

FOX Chicago News runs a story that suggests closing down public libraries as a means of fixing the state's ongoing budget issues. The Public Library Commissioner responds.
posted by casarkos at 4:10 PM PST - 77 comments

The Swedish Chef makes Pöpcørn Shrimp. With predictable, but very funny, results. Just so this isn't a SLYT post, here is the Muppets being patriotic (from a few years ago, but still funny and timely).
posted by cerebus19 at 3:51 PM PST - 45 comments

Taylor Swift's hit video for "You Belong With Me" is not well loved, but the changing of a single detail turns it into the heartwarming teen romance it was meant to be.
posted by The Whelk at 3:51 PM PST - 84 comments

Debt buyers have become a multi-billion dollar industry. They buy old debts and then litigate in an effort to collect with little or no evidence. [more inside]
posted by reenum at 3:29 PM PST - 18 comments

We've talked about Mariano Rivera's cutter before. Now you can see why batters find this pitch is so devastating through the magic of a video based on Pitch f/x data.
posted by maxwelton at 3:25 PM PST - 35 comments

Tibetans May Be Fastest Evolutionary Adapters Ever. "A group of scientists in China, Denmark and the U.S. recently documented the fastest genetic change observed in humans. According to their findings, Tibetan adaption to high altitude might have taken just 3,000 years. That's a flash, in terms of evolutionary time, but it's one that's in dispute."
posted by homunculus at 3:17 PM PST - 12 comments

The story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is best known to us from Robert Browning's versified account, here presented in an animated version and here depicted in stained glass. This article from the Fortean Times discusses possible factual bases for the story [hattip: BoingBoing] and this page collects similar accounts from other places.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:42 PM PST - 11 comments

On July 1st, the US Department of Health and Human Services launched the website Healthcare.gov to explain changes that will occur by 2014 because of healthcare reform. It describes the reforms, and also suggests options for those who need insurance. Meanwhile, there are 80 signatures on a congressional petition by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) to repeal the bill via the House. The petition was started with the support of the Heritage Foundation.
posted by mccarty.tim at 2:28 PM PST - 26 comments

Animals as spiritual, and the role of animals in spirituality. "Some religious leaders welcome pets to worship services, memorialize them at death and discuss them as spiritual beings without distinction from humanity" ... "Factory farming, green living among topics sparking discussion." [more inside]
posted by longsleeves at 1:31 PM PST - 20 comments

On the day that John Adams thought would be celebrated as the birth of the United States of America, the Library of Congress reveals that in an original draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson referred to "Our fellow subjects," not "Our fellow citizens."
posted by TrarNoir at 12:18 PM PST - 65 comments

70 years ago today, the Arandora Star was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Ireland by Commander Günther Prien, famous for sinking the HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow. Prien had taken its grey livery to mean the Arandora Star was an armed merchant ship. Instead, it was carrying Italian and German internees to be held in Canada for the duration of the war. [more inside]
posted by Dim Siawns at 11:28 AM PST - 25 comments

The horror of Gallagher
posted by Artw at 11:01 AM PST - 254 comments

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have released their latest models/scenarios ("based on several simplifying assumptions") of the BP spill's impact on coastlines [more inside]
posted by griphus at 10:53 AM PST - 24 comments

The ISS Progress 38 cargo carrier was launched to bring supplies to the International Space Station. The unmanned Russian vessel has experienced problems attempting to dock with the station and has now disappeared from view, spinning uncontrollably.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 10:40 AM PST - 43 comments

Hidden World of Girls: Girls and the Women they Become is NPR's collaborative year-long, ongoing series between The Kitchen Sisters, NPR and listener submissions. The series explores "stories of coming of age, rituals and rites of passage, secet identities—of women who crossed a line, blazed a trail, changed the tide." [more inside]
posted by zarq at 9:36 AM PST - 16 comments

Where Is the Best Throne in New York? This year, two bathrooms in the city — the one in Bryant Park and the one at the Muse Hotel — have been nominated for the best bathrooms in the country. New York has yet to make it to the winner’s circle in the nine years that the Cincinnati-based Cintas Corporation has run the contest. Any restroom in the United States that is open to the public is eligible. Last year, the loo in the Shoji Tabuchi Theater in Branson, Mo., earned top honors. But this year, New York City has a chance to flush the competition, which will be determined by popular vote. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 9:27 AM PST - 23 comments

“The only place to see an aurochs [sic] in nature these days? A cave painting. The enormous wild cattle that once roamed the European plains have been extinct since 1627, when the last survivor died in a Polish nature reserve. But this could soon change thanks to the work of European preservationists who are hoping they can make the great beast walk again.” [more inside]
posted by Think_Long at 8:58 AM PST - 53 comments

Lobster dogs
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:39 AM PST - 31 comments

(E)nter the realm of the Dragon
(I)nstructions
(L)ist Warriors
(Q)uit back to BBS

Your choice, warrior? [E]:_ [more inside]
posted by 256 at 7:37 AM PST - 72 comments

A Nuclear Fireworks Show over Hawaii: With the 4th of July approaching, what could be a more fitting tribute to the American spirit than this awesome pyrotechnical display seen over Hawaii in 1962, when America detonated a 1.45 megaton hydrogen bomb in outer space? Especially considering the circumstances. On the very same day that he announced the discovery of the massive radiation belt surrounding the Earth that now bears his name, American scientist James Van Allen joined the American military in planning a secret project (code named: "Starfish Prime") to see if they could destroy it. According to science historian James Fleming, this all-American project respresents "the first occasion I've ever discovered where someone discovered something and immediately decided to blow it up."
posted by saulgoodman at 7:29 AM PST - 40 comments

The Life of Shelton Doyle Blalock, Everyday American. Doyle Blalock was a son, submariner, husband, mailman, father, gardener, rockhound, artisan, grandfather, and friend: a regular guy with a remarkable life. What makes him particularly remarkable, though, is that his grandson, Lance Dean, created such a thorough record of his life to share with the internet, from Doyle's childhood in Golden Grove, Mississippi, his service as a sailor during World War II, his return to Mississippi and marriage to the lovely Lodena Alexander, to his post-retirement vocation as an artisan, creating "sand paintings" and demonstrating his art. (Links are to images out of context. See the first link for descriptions.) [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco at 6:48 AM PST - 4 comments

The Killer in the Pool. Outside Magazine's in-depth feature on the Sea World trainer death earlier this year, and the history of the business of killer whales. A Whale of a Business is a Frontline resource page on orcas and captivity, and includes a section on Sea World, and one on the debate over capturing/releasing orcas and other whales and dolphins...which includes an excerpt on the danger to trainers--and inhumane captivity conditions--published shortly after Tilikum's first fatal incident in 1991. Previously.
posted by availablelight at 6:32 AM PST - 34 comments

Last week, the UK government announced an end to 'vanity websites in Government', calling for 600 government websites to be closed down, and 50% budget cuts for those which remain. Six days later, the government launches PR exercise website http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk

Also recently launched was Your Freedumb to enable citizens easily see some of the more 'interesting' suggestions on Your Freedom. For example, repeal the Second Law of Thermodynamics, abolish Facebook and Twitter sites and repeal Sod's Law.
posted by i_cola at 6:29 AM PST - 28 comments

Who are they? Jenny Turner looks inside the Institute of Ideas, one of Britain's strangest think tanks, composed largely of entryist Trotskyites turned radical libertarians.
posted by WPW at 5:40 AM PST - 40 comments

In accordance with Executive Order 10865 of 1960 & DoD Directive 5220.6 of 1992 (original PDF), the Department of Defense has published the reasons for granting or turning down applications for Clearance by 444 Defense contractor personnel in 2010 (so far).
posted by scalefree at 5:40 AM PST - 34 comments

There are only 10 days of the World Cup left. The World Cup Final is on Sunday 11th July at 19:30 GMT. Today sees the start of the Quarter Finals, and with only 8 teams left, this is when the pressure really starts. A brief Preview of the Quarter finals: [more inside]
posted by marienbad at 3:53 AM PST - 349 comments

Pleix makes a great case against the death penalty. [more inside]
posted by iloveit at 1:11 AM PST - 101 comments