"Creatures are out there that can control brains." [pdf]

The women "spent more money on clothes and were consistently rated as more attractive", but were "less trustworthy and had more relationships with men". The men become "less well groomed undesirable loners who were more willing to fight". All "are at greater risk of being involved in car accidents". Why? Something has its tentacles in their brains. They probably got it from that cuddly old species, the domestic cat, which the parasite infects by making infected rats "almost taunt" the cats into eating them.

Parasites in the brain alter their host's behavior. It's not just video game fiction. Various multi-host parasites make their living by making their hosts less ambulatory and less willing to explore, by castrating them and making them less cautious of predators, or by forcing their hosts to stay out all night so as to be eaten in the morning. These parasites offer yet another example of how stupidly clever evolution can be, and raise questions about how free "free will" really is.
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 7:18 AM on June 10, 2005 (80 comments)

We'll all end up as wormlike web-based life forms in the bass players online literary dihorrea. Iggy and the Stooges' hilarious rider.
posted to MetaFilter by drezdn at 11:30 AM on October 5, 2006 (31 comments)

Last week, a textbook example of irony occurred in Houston. Last week was also Banned Books Week.
posted to MetaFilter by joannemerriam at 3:33 PM on October 2, 2006 (79 comments)

Architectures of Control in Design. A blog examining product designs intended to restrict or enforce behavior. In the built environment, we see speed bumps and roundabouts with intentionally obscured visibility; in the digital environment, we see various species of DRM and trusted computing; and in other commerical products, we see car hoods only openable by licensed dealers, printer cartridges for only one sort of printer, and a set of shoes for children which detects the amount of steps they take in a day and translates that activity into the amount of TV they may watch. The control may be for economic reasons, for reasons of safety, or even simply to enforce social nicety - and for each of these reasons are the implications worth regarding . [via the excellent things]
posted to MetaFilter by Sticherbeast at 4:44 AM on September 14, 2006 (27 comments)

Your favorite movie stars and the roles they didn't get. Edward James Olmos instead of Christopher Llloyd? JODIE FOSTER INSTEAD OF CARRIE FISHER?!
posted to MetaFilter by WolfDaddy at 7:54 PM on September 28, 2006 (44 comments)

Van Morrison - where do I start?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by pdb at 1:55 PM on September 28, 2006 (36 comments)

Banned Books Week -- 25th anniversary year. How to deal with a challenge, what you can do generally, and of course, lists, and more lists. Captain Underpants is a more recent entry, i notice.
posted to MetaFilter by amberglow at 9:52 PM on September 25, 2006 (42 comments)

What are your favourite pasta recipes?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by oxford blue at 9:13 PM on September 24, 2006 (36 comments)

What's it like being morbidly obese?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Bookhouse at 8:12 PM on September 24, 2006 (53 comments)

Is there anything USB drives can't do? PortableApps has dozens of applications from Open Office to Firefox, that will run from a USB key (and there are other applications as well), or you can run an entire Linux or Windows installation from your drive, or just steal passwords. And don't forget the weird gadgets (here is a slideshow), including cool USB rechargable batteries, missile launchers [Google Video], and, of course, the ultimate USB hub.
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 11:16 AM on September 20, 2006 (23 comments)

London meetup: shall we do one soon, chaps?
posted to MetaTalk by hugsnkisses at 4:48 AM on September 8, 2006 (60 comments)

Flickr MiniCards Finally, a business card that won't make you look like one of those douchebags that likes to hand out business cards.
posted to MetaFilter by BuddhaInABucket at 12:45 PM on September 19, 2006 (68 comments)

This song is called mathowie's community blog, and it's about mathowie, and the community blog, but mathowie's community blog is not the name of the community blog, that's just the name of the song. - lyrical brilliance by It's Raining Florence Henderson, with extra bits of artistic license taken in the studio. - Arlo-esque lead vocals by French Fry, aka my brother Alex.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 10:40 PM on September 3, 2006 (142 comments)

Word is starting to drive me insane. Is there any way to force it to use only the styles I defined, and not clutter the list with every minute variation of those styles?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Harry at 2:11 AM on September 16, 2006 (6 comments)

An obsessive compulsive cat flushes a toilet for three minutes.
posted to MetaFilter by boo_radley at 4:15 PM on August 9, 2006 (32 comments)

David Watson's CADTutor, which deals with AutoCAD, PhotoShop, and several other design programs, is one of the most elegantly-designed tutorial sites I've ever seen.
posted to MetaFilter by koeselitz at 11:59 AM on September 7, 2006 (7 comments)

Bush Pilot? [Google video]
posted to MetaFilter by owhydididoit at 2:44 PM on September 6, 2006 (26 comments)

Daniel Levitin is a musical neurologist. His new book, This is Your Brain on Music, has an intriguing premise, and a very entertaining website.
posted to MetaFilter by owhydididoit at 2:33 PM on September 5, 2006 (12 comments)

During his downtime on early worldwide tours with DEVO, Mark Mothersbaugh began illustrating on postcards to send to his friends, which he still creates, and has been creating every day for over 30 years. It's an obsessive habit/hobby which still yields anywhere from one to a couple dozen new postcard-sized images per day.
posted to MetaFilter by furtive at 7:25 AM on September 3, 2006 (11 comments)

My first book!

It's about ubiquitous computing - a post-PC paradigm for computing in which information processing systems are deployed everywhere around us, all but imperceptibly.

This means things like smart buildings, smart furniture, smart clothing...even smart bathtubs. Networked street signs and self-describing soda cans. Gestural interfaces like those seen in "Minority Report." The RFID tags now embedded in everything from credit cards to the family pet. Even entire cities, like Korea's New Songdo, designed from the ground up to integrate all of these systems.

I ask how these systems might change us, and how we might shape them to our benefit. I've tried to keep the book accessible and nontechnical; it's pitched to the smart generalist who's interested in understanding how "information processing dissolving in behavior" is already reshaping our lives, transforming our understanding of the cities we live in, the communities we belong to - and the way we see ourselves.

I'll be giving away a few copies when I give a talk on the book at SXSW in Austin on March 12th, but it's also available for order on Amazon right now at the above link. Enjoy!
posted to MetaFilter Projects by adamgreenfield at 7:33 AM on February 9, 2006

Starting over filter: how do I find out what I'm wired to do?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by orangemiles at 10:56 AM on August 28, 2006 (14 comments)

What else should I put on my salad? These days, I've often been making a salad that consists of mesclun greens, ripped up red plums, and chunks of fresh mozzarella. It's very delicious but I'd like to add some ingredients. What would go good on top of this/amongst this? My imagination is failing me.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Aghast. at 6:12 PM on August 8, 2006 (41 comments)

The Importance of Punctuation. A single misplaced comma in a 14-page contact costs Rogers Cable a couple million dollars, and could have cost them tens of millions. Remember, folks, punctuation has meaning!
posted to MetaFilter by five fresh fish at 8:37 AM on August 7, 2006 (56 comments)

What's playing? What songs are playing on the radio right now and where, an interactive map. Less fun, but much more useful is the site's ability to look up a station and tell you what songs they recently played. (via J-Walk)
posted to MetaFilter by caddis at 8:42 AM on August 1, 2006 (17 comments)

I am a 49 year old man, and I have no close friends. Over the course of my life I’ve had a few friends at a time, but no close ones. The reasons are mysterious to me: I make a conscientious effort to be friendly and interested in others and to be trustworthy. Nonetheless, I am almost always on the social periphery.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by peabody at 3:17 PM on July 29, 2006 (38 comments)

The Size of Our World. A brief study in pictures of the relative sizes of some astronomical bodies.
posted to MetaFilter by Eideteker at 10:49 PM on July 27, 2006 (47 comments)

Super Serif Bros. -- From the creator of Hapland.
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 6:04 AM on July 20, 2006 (17 comments)

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted to MetaFilter by kyleg at 12:42 AM on July 14, 2006 (181 comments)

Low quality stomping country music recorded drunk and presented here in it's straight-from-the-desk unmixed format. Came out pretty good. Nice rattly drums.
posted to MeFi Music by Jofus at 7:42 AM on June 30, 2006 (39 comments)

Jangly, wistful guitarpop as requested.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 8:03 AM on June 30, 2006 (30 comments)

Inspired by the deep fried bacon double Quarter Pounder? Behold the deep fried brat in all its monounsaturated glory.
posted to MetaFilter by Galvatron at 2:51 PM on June 25, 2006 (50 comments)

What is the most important thing your father ever taught you, either explicitly or through example?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by craniac at 7:45 AM on June 18, 2006 (98 comments)

Sir David Attenborough, naturalist and pioneer of the nature documentary, turned 80 last month. To mark the occasion, Britons were asked to choose their favorite Attenborough moment and of all the memorable scenes, his recording of the lyrebird came out on top. In this clip the bird mimics neighboring birds, several cameras, car alarms, and perhaps most impressively, loggers with chainsaws. (wmv, qt)
posted to MetaFilter by ewagoner at 11:10 AM on June 8, 2006 (47 comments)

Brit comedian Rob Newman presents his 'History of Oil'.
posted to MetaFilter by piscatorius at 9:27 AM on May 29, 2006 (63 comments)

Looking for examples of title cards from silent films, and the fonts used thereof.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by gravelshoes at 2:17 AM on May 18, 2006 (5 comments)