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Darkly funny flash Friday, click on the image, recent works: Public Opinion, Penis Envy [nsfw], World Peace, Crime and Punishment, No News and Year of the Pig by Dutch artist, Han Hoogerbrugge. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 10:58 PM PST - 14 comments

In August of 1820 one of the most beloved poets of his age came to the defense of another poet who was fast slipping into obscurity after a string of flops and a barrage of devastating reviews. That poet receding into oblivion? John Keats. That mightily loved poet? Barry Cornwall. Barry who?! Barry Cornwall was the nom de plume of solicitor Bryan Waller Procter, who won the admiration of a great many, including no lesser a reader than Pushkin. You can acquaint yourselves with this now almost wholly forgotten literary figure by reading volume 1 of his 1822 Poetical Works or other texts by and about him on Google Books. As for Keats, well... Keats is everywhere.
posted by Kattullus at 10:24 PM PST - 11 comments

Morton Sobel, co-defendant with Julius Rosenberg, acknowledges spying. Confirms Julius Rosenberg participated in spying, Ethel Rosenberg likely framed. National Archives releases transcripts.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:33 PM PST - 22 comments

Flash Friday Fun: Maze Stopper 2, help your character reach the flag first by placing obstacles for your opponent(s). You are scored by how much faster you are than your opponent. There is a "Freeze" tool to make placing obstacles easier. There is a walkthrough for when you get stuck, and if you're anything like me you will.
posted by schyler523 at 7:11 PM PST - 11 comments

Imagine if you were the only person on earth; if no one else could understand you except yourself. No matter how hard you tried, you could never make contact with the outside world, not for long at least. This is the life of a Schizophrenic. Here, in a simulation created to understand what a typical trip to the pharmacy is for a patient suffering from Schizophrenia [previously], you will experience for a few minutes what life is all about for people afflicted with this disease. (via) [more inside]
posted by hadjiboy at 6:55 PM PST - 54 comments

Iraqi heavy metal? Sure, there's Acrassicauda. They're named after a scorpion. The Guardian has an informative article about them. There's been a movie made about them, which the New York Times has written about. Four members of the group, more recently based in Turkey, were seeking refugee status. Are they any good? I dunno, I guess so, but I''m not all that keen on metal, myself, so I'm not the best person to ask. Just go listen to 'em at their MySpace page.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:52 PM PST - 14 comments

Onesie are classically trained artists from Oklahoma. As such they make shorts like Big Brown Beautiful Bear "a sweet little song " Beautiful Day, and much more . Enjoy, I think.
posted by nola at 6:47 PM PST - 4 comments

It's all in your mind. Suggestive photos of innocent things. (Probably NSFW.) [more inside]
posted by Quietgal at 6:35 PM PST - 48 comments

Portal, Atari 2600 style. [more inside]
posted by jbickers at 5:48 PM PST - 16 comments

The Florentine. Niccolò Machiavelli, the man who taught rulers how to rule.
posted by homunculus at 5:35 PM PST - 11 comments

Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle. John Darnielle (of the Mountain Goats) and Kaki King perform a song, sung from the point of view of Toad from the Super Mario Brothers video game franchise.
posted by PM at 2:54 PM PST - 59 comments

Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness [more inside]
posted by sixcolors at 2:41 PM PST - 20 comments

Did you grow up anticipating sports where death would be likely, if not certain? Almost certainly played by convicts, possibly with robot limbs? And which would be even more likely to have chainsaws and flamethrowers not usually found in the sports of today? Those We Left Behind’s look at Future-sports of the past, in videogames, movies and comics is for you!
posted by Artw at 1:43 PM PST - 41 comments

Cats I am near. Stick a postcode or address in below, and we'll show you cats near it.
posted by joelf at 1:28 PM PST - 43 comments

The Attorney General of Wisconsin, JB Van Hollen, is suing the state Elections Board to remove from voting rolls all voters whose registered names & addresses don't match the records at the Department of Transportation. [more inside]
posted by echo target at 12:49 PM PST - 103 comments

Support Our Poops
posted by swift at 11:55 AM PST - 38 comments

LHC Webcams. There's been a lot of LHC news lately but a less-publicized series of Compact Muon Solenoid proton collision tests is scheduled for today, and CERN has been kind enough to set up a live streaming webcam to watch the CMS in action. (There's also a view of the parking lot but I think that's more so underground-bunkered LHC staff can see the weather.) It's fairly dull viewing but if you're interested in the science of it all, it's great nerdy fun. Maybe you'll even see a black hole or two. ;)
posted by brownpau at 11:44 AM PST - 22 comments

An 81-year-old man walked out of his house in suburban Boston yesterday and found a baby left on his doorstep. John Tuckerman was going outside to check the temperature before running an errand, and discovered a very newborn baby in a tote bag with a note. It's standard local news stuff, but I'm sharing it with you because the Newton, MA police released the 911 call that Tuckerman made and it's worth a listen.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:10 AM PST - 112 comments

Squirrel: It's what's for dinner.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:07 AM PST - 42 comments

"I moved here, primarily, to have the bigger, stronger, runway," Travolta explains, "then built a taxiway to the house that would endure the weight of the 707."
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:56 AM PST - 87 comments

Ken Levine, creator of Bioshock, gives a funny and inspiring speech about growing up geek before the internet and the era of 'geek chic'. (SLGV, and annoying age check)
posted by mattholomew at 10:48 AM PST - 22 comments

RIP Nagi Noda (1973-2008) Amazingly talented art director/music video director. Sentimental Journey. Hearts on Fire. She's My Man. Her website of collected works, Uchu Country. Antville thread with a beautiful story from Aaron Stewart-Ahn is here.
posted by setanor at 10:29 AM PST - 9 comments

According to a recent international survey, there remains no global consensus regarding who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. "On average, 46 percent of those surveyed said al Qaeda was responsible, 15 percent said the U.S. government, 7 percent said Israel and 7 percent said some other perpetrator... The U.S. government was to blame, according to 23 percent of Germans and 15 percent of Italians." The poll was collected by World Public Opinion, a neat website filled with various polls about interesting topics.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:18 AM PST - 131 comments

Craigslistindex graphs data pulled from Craigslist listings. [more inside]
posted by Korou at 8:50 AM PST - 13 comments

You may have heard about Google's new Chrome browser (previously). Did you know that where it really shines right now is on speed, especially with rendering JavaScript? vs Firefox, IE, Safari. vs Opera. video vs Firefox. and also vs IE, Firefox on tests other than JS handling. Not bad for being in beta, at version 0.2.
posted by tybeet at 8:12 AM PST - 73 comments

The New York Times has finally come out and said it - marriage is about money.
posted by plexi at 7:28 AM PST - 58 comments

Now I know how to Criticize Lin Piao and Discredit Him Completely, next time won't you join with me? Lots of other great covers on this site, but this one takes the (happy kids marching with rifles) cake. (via)
posted by ericbop at 7:06 AM PST - 16 comments

John McCain was trained as a fighter pilot. Fighter pilot training is greatly influenced by John Boyd, who developed the OODA loop theory, which some say General Petraeus has adapted to the ground in Iraq, the real reason "the surge" appears successful. The OODA loop has been applied to business, computer security and now it appears that McCain is applying it to politics with some success. [more inside]
posted by jrishel at 6:46 AM PST - 98 comments

Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17, 2010....

Manna, by Marshall Brain of pop-sci emporium HowStuffWorks.
posted by kid ichorous at 6:21 AM PST - 58 comments

10-year-old Dalton Sherman of Dallas, Texas is an impressive young public speaker. (SLYT)
posted by pjern at 4:11 AM PST - 46 comments

Uncle Sam & 911: "Listen man, I think I have to move on…" (cartoon)
posted by Surfin' Bird at 1:48 AM PST - 71 comments