Neuroscience Gateway - "a comprehensive source for the latest research, news and events in neuroscience and genomics research"
posted to MetaFilter by Gyan at 4:27 PM on October 2, 2006 (6 comments)

The cloud chamber may no longer the particle detector of choice (that would be the bubble chamber) but easy to build yourself (in modern or vintage style) and watch cosmic rays in the comfort of your own home.
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2006 (12 comments)

Line Rider. It is all downhill.
posted to MetaFilter by srboisvert at 5:04 AM on September 24, 2006 (55 comments)

What is this Sketchzilla thing?! It is whatever you want it to be. It's a community art project. It's a funhouse. It's an art gallery. It's a madlib. It's a mad house. It's an html monster. It's a butteryfly ballot. It's the 10 most wanted. It's a flip book. It's noisy. It's the flag of the internet. Oh and it's occasionally NSFW. It is always changing and morphing and mutating in to something new, by you. I can't believe that Sketchzilla was the only surviving member of its species... But if we continue conducting nuclear tests... it's possible that another Sketchzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.
posted to MetaFilter by Sir Mildred Pierce at 10:56 AM on June 14, 2006 (250 comments)

The biology of B-movie monsters ; ancient Greek curse and love magic; the correspondence of Elizabeth I and James VI; Egil Skallagrimsson, poet and killer; the mythology of Harry Potter; Pinocchio's cultural heirs; Tiananmen's legacy; experimental art in China; the question of Hatshepshut's character. Articles courtesy of the Fathom Archive, 2000-2003.
posted to MetaFilter by plep at 6:19 AM on January 15, 2005 (11 comments)

Funny Farm What four-letter word links Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey? A word-association puzzle.
posted to MetaFilter by revfitz at 9:04 PM on September 29, 2006 (24 comments)

Qoolsqool is "a free and open educational resource for educators, students, and self-learners around the world."
posted to MetaFilter by anjamu at 5:38 PM on September 29, 2006 (9 comments)

After reading this ask.me where it appears that a user accidentally outed their sockpuppet, what's the policy about using sockpuppets to skip around the 1 question per week rule?
posted to MetaTalk by drpartypoopercrankypantsesquire at 9:03 AM on September 28, 2006 (182 comments)

Project Nova: on the 9th of September three Cambridge engineering students launched a balloon equipped with a camera and tracking devices. It reached a height of 32km and took 857 photographs during its three hour flight, some showing the curvature of the earth. You can also download a KML file to follow the balloon's flight path in Google Earth.
posted to MetaFilter by jack_mo at 5:50 PM on September 23, 2006 (24 comments)

Hydrothermal vents: More detail on how they are formed. These vents are also known as Black Smokers, undersea hydrothermal vents which contain a mixture of ground water and water that has previously disolved in magma. The water emmited by these vents can be as hot as 400C. The minerals and bacteria found in this water support life in rather extream conditions. They are known to occur in places from from 30 meters to 3,600 meters. Some feel this offers hope of finding life on other planets as there is speculation there are, or where vents on Mars and Jupiter's Europa(bottom of page). Eye Candy: [1][2][3]
posted to MetaFilter by edgeways at 8:20 PM on September 20, 2006 (12 comments)

D. F. Lewis: Weirdmonger. "Lewis is either a genius graced with madness, a madman cursed with genius, both, or neither ... But there is more to Lewis than that. Believe you me, my pretties. Oh yes, much more. Because every so often you catch sight of something stirring beneath the frosted surfaces of his dreamy prose, something brilliant yet dark and brooding, something revelatory, something true, something that were you to see it all in a single glance would burn you to a cinder; but you still want to see; it speaks to you. In sibilant whispers. It tells you something you've been waiting to hear."—SAMHAIN review of BEST OF DF LEWIS. "I have a paranoid sensation that I'm always being followed by DF Lewis ... he's always there to torment me ... I can't get away from him even if I switch genres... Is he for real or did somebody invent him purely to annoy me?"—Problem page of OVERSPACE #13. "Then I turned over the page and AAARGH! DF f**king Lewis again!"—from THE SCANNER #11. "DF Lewis? When he's bad, he's awful, but when he's good there's no-one can touch him."—Rhys Hughes.
posted to MetaFilter by Sticherbeast at 8:16 AM on September 20, 2006 (1 comment)

The Brine Pool, at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, is a salt pond more than 50 meters in length, whose water has such a high concentration of methane gas, that it supports surrounding mussel beds resembling a beach shoreline, around its entire perimeter. Called by some "one of the strangest places on earth", The Brine Pool also provides habitat for hag fish and other creatures who dive into and out of its salty water for cover and camoflage, as well as some weirdo worms that live on the strange frozen methane hydrates that can form in, or adjacent to such pools. In some photos, "waves" can be seen on the "surface" of The Brine Pool, as its heavy salt water remains distinct from the seawater of the Gulf above.
posted to MetaFilter by paulsc at 6:56 PM on September 19, 2006 (38 comments)

Let The Fun Begin! U.S. uploads anti-drug videos to YouTube, hilarity sure to ensue. [look who they popped]
posted to MetaFilter by taosbat at 8:51 PM on September 18, 2006 (79 comments)

Elephant sanctuary. Where do the old, sick and needy elephants go after outliving their “usefulness” in the US? Hohenwald, Tennessee is home to 2700 acres given over to Asian and African elephants. There are some pretty heart wrenching stories in their newsletter (pdf). This is the same state that hung an elephant in 1916 (mefi post). (elephant cam at the sanctuary)
posted to MetaFilter by edgeways at 3:22 PM on September 18, 2006 (29 comments)

US federal income taxes at work. A 2007 version is now available. [previously]
posted to MetaFilter by tellurian at 5:12 PM on September 17, 2006 (37 comments)

In 1961, on the Martha White Show, seven year-old mandolin prodigy Ricky Skaggs performs two songs with Flatt & Scruggs. "Ruby" and "Foggy Mountain Special". [both songs direct to youtube]
posted to MetaFilter by kosem at 11:59 AM on September 16, 2006 (14 comments)

Hippopotamouse - authentic works of victorian surrealism
posted to MetaFilter by MetaMonkey at 9:37 AM on September 17, 2006 (24 comments)

Meet George -- 39, single, quirky sense of humour, looking for friends to chat with online. Last year, he won the Loebner Prize, to bots who can most successfully pass the Turing Test. More here from BBC. How long before we have our own Mefibots?
posted to MetaFilter by amberglow at 5:58 PM on September 16, 2006 (48 comments)

Breathing Earth. A map of the world showing a real-time simulation of the CO2 emissions level of every country in the world, as well as each countries birth and death rates.
posted to MetaFilter by stbalbach at 6:50 AM on September 15, 2006 (24 comments)

The idea behind the Parking art project is pretty simple: once you throw some coins in the meter, you can do pretty much anything with a parking space, right? Rebar decided to try converting some vehicle space into a community space, by laying sod, adding benches and a tree, then letting people enjoy the space for a few hours. [via treehugger]
posted to MetaFilter by mathowie at 8:45 AM on December 17, 2005 (32 comments)

The Net Democracy Guide contains a lot of neat information regarding political activity online. Whether you're a Freeper or prefer DU, this site discusses a lot of the legal formalities regarding political activity online and who is and is not subject to campaign finance laws. via
posted to MetaFilter by Doohickie at 7:30 PM on September 12, 2006 (1 comment)

Logically, the last thing you would think would help a person trapped in a persistent vegetative state is a nervous system is sleeping pill. Illogically, when you do, many of them wake up.
posted to MetaFilter by eriko at 8:29 AM on September 12, 2006 (56 comments)

Mezmerizing videos of Qawwali master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan along with lyrics and translation. More performances at youtube: 1, 2, 3, 4.
posted to MetaFilter by kosem at 3:39 PM on September 10, 2006 (24 comments)

Vintage Drug Ads, Spanish Drug Ads, Japanese Psychiatric Drug Ads
posted to MetaFilter by MetaMonkey at 12:57 PM on September 10, 2006 (11 comments)

The Tao Te Ching in dozens of languages and translations, with a lovely side-by-side comparison tool.
posted to MetaFilter by Wolfdog at 6:35 AM on September 10, 2006 (19 comments)

"364.4 Smoots plus one ear" is the official length of the MIT bridge between Cambridge and Boston. In 1962, pledges to an MIT fraternity were ordered to measure the bridge using the shortest among them, Oliver R. Smoot, as a measuring stick. Since then, members of the fraternity have repainted the marks on the bridge twice a year. Oliver Smoot's daughter Sherry, eventually went to MIT but was not used to remeasure the bridge since she was shorter than her father. Her brother Stephen, also an MIT student, was too tall. Oliver, of course, was just right. He eventually went from being a unit of measure to controlling units of measure: in 2001 he was chosen to be chairman of ANSI and in 2003 he was selected to be president of ISO.
posted to MetaFilter by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:25 PM on September 9, 2006 (53 comments)

How many camels is my girlfriend worth?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Hogshead at 1:50 PM on September 8, 2006 (32 comments)

FSI Language Courses
posted to MetaFilter by anjamu at 1:35 AM on August 17, 2006 (36 comments)

BioVisions at Harvard University presents, The Inner Life of the Cell (Flash 8 Player). Explanation of what you see (It's meant to be fairly accurate).
posted to MetaFilter by semmi at 1:00 PM on September 8, 2006 (27 comments)

Ferret Clothes.
posted to MetaFilter by triv at 4:44 AM on September 8, 2006 (21 comments)

Microcars are cool. (Earlier microcar post )
posted to MetaFilter by mr_crash_davis at 2:44 PM on September 7, 2006 (39 comments)

"Imagine a blend between a National Geographic documentary and a Tex Avery cartoon. This short is a combination of 3D characters and live footage." Five-ish minutes in the life of a ladybug with anger issues. (YouTube)
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 3:02 AM on September 7, 2006 (21 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)

450 Species of homosexual animals and counting ... Fascinating Seed article concerning the existence of homosexual animals and Darwin's conception of heterosexuality.
posted to MetaFilter by AllesKlar at 11:15 AM on June 21, 2006 (236 comments)

Please tell me a book you think everyone should read and why.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by pasici at 9:48 PM on July 20, 2006 (132 comments)

This Iranian American Life "This blog is for an experimental documentary that I am working on this year, where I will be shooting video of my experiences in Iran and creating shorts, interactive installations, and/or videoblogs using the footage from my experiences and the experiences of others."

Iranian-American student Paris Marashi has gone back to Tehran with the goal of documenting her own experiences with family, friends, and about town. She's also giving inexpensive cameras to Iranians to help them document their own experiences. There are only a few posts up at the moment, but it should be stay interesting as time goes on.
posted to MetaFilter by chasing at 4:07 PM on August 8, 2006 (15 comments)

Eat your vegetables, they are good for you. the goal ... it seemed so ambitious at the time! ... was to cook a vegetable, with new recipes and new vegetables, every single day for an entire month. (Why? Because our diets need more vegetables. Because vegetables are too often an after-thought. And because it's easy to get stuck in a veggie rut.) But after a month, it felt like I was just getting started ... and the asparagus was calling. And then ... 365 days of new vegetables and new recipes.
posted to MetaFilter by caddis at 1:49 PM on August 12, 2006 (13 comments)

Science Live site I found this because of the live coverage of the Festival of Science 2006 from Norwich, but found lots of other great links! Great for kids, but good for anyone curious about science. "What if you could watch any popular science lecture you wanted to? What if you could participate in any popular science event? What if you could find out what scientists themselves have to say about the issues that are important in society today? ScienceLive is an initiative that seeks to bring some of the best popular science events (discussions, lectures, interviews) directly to your home, so that you can watch these events whenever and from whereever you can.
posted to MetaFilter by k8t at 12:49 PM on September 6, 2006 (3 comments)

Mapping Medieval Townscapes: a digital atlas of the new towns of Edward I For each town you will find maps and images, as well as historical interpretation, bibliographical information, and access through to a geographical database. (The fancy interactive maps are especially good.) Warning: you'll have to click to agree to some terms and conditions before you can view the site.
posted to MetaFilter by jack_mo at 5:35 AM on September 6, 2006 (6 comments)

ZoophiliaFilter: Would it be wrong to use AskMe to request graphic imagery of a man sodomising a chicken?
posted to MetaTalk by sjvilla79 at 5:40 PM on May 15, 2006 (86 comments)

dg28.com: photographer eduction - 'Technique - Photography is all about light, and digital is no different. I try to light as much of my work as I can, and this was true before "Dig' day"'. Some great photography tips and techniques here, apparently from portrait photographer Neil Turner. Via Civil_Disobedient at Ask MetaFilter.
posted to MetaFilter by nthdegx at 3:54 PM on September 3, 2006 (8 comments)

My son (nine) came across this unnamed, triangular island with airstrips and buildings using google earth. It's quite small, and almost artificial looking, like a built-up atoll. We're pretty sure they've got aliens there. KML file enclosed.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by craniac at 3:17 PM on September 3, 2006 (8 comments)

Making a watch by hand. In these days of “fast” and “convenient” I decided to commence a work of “painstaking” and “craftsmanship”, making my own wristwatch. I have had the idea for a certain arrangement of the watch dial, as on the image at the right, for a while now. My investigations into available movements showed that no production movement would give me this layout. After a long period of indecision and wondering what I was really getting myself into I decided to make my own movement, followed by the case and dial.
posted to MetaFilter by caddis at 2:48 PM on September 3, 2006 (21 comments)

"Please stop the asshattery, love jessamyn" Now there's a song that should be on MeFi Music.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 5:52 PM on August 18, 2006 (41 comments)

Here are four stories by the great Ted Chiang.
posted to MetaFilter by Iridic at 11:26 AM on September 2, 2006 (15 comments)

Mandership is mostly concerned with graphic and industrial design, interface engineering, typography, semiotics, and visualization, but it's more. Learn about how the Declaration of Independence wound up in the Ukraine (did it?) a short history of telephone numbers, book spines, and of course simplicity of design. From the same folks who brought you the Optimus keyboard. (previously)
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 5:35 PM on August 30, 2006 (7 comments)

If you love gourds but can't stand their gourdly shapes, then Dan Ladd is the artist for you. By snatching young gourds from their parents & stuffing them into unyielding molds, Dan ends up with remarkable natural shapes, organically grown sculptures that bear amazing details.
posted to MetaFilter by jonson at 3:44 PM on August 29, 2006 (27 comments)

1,100 Apple II games you can play online. If you are too overwhelmed by your memories to know what to play, some playable classics: Oregon Trail*, Ultima IV*, Archon*, Captain Goodnight and the Islands of Fear*, Drol*, Wings of Fury*, Choplifter *, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?* and Taipan*. Or you can play the first game mod in history: Castle Smurfenstein, a modification of the 1983 original Castle Wolfenstein. What did I miss? [Young whippersnappers can click the asterisks to find out why the game was important. Use the left and right alt keys for joystick buttons, the other instructions are on the site. Emulator only works with IE, sorry. See also this.]
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 12:17 PM on August 29, 2006 (98 comments)

There's a new site, just up and running, that aims to be the YouTube of How-To. Not exactly overflowing with clips just yet, but it could perhaps become a handy web resource, if people really start uploading stuff, and if the folks running it keep pumping out the in-house productions that so far comprise the majority of the site's content. Anyway, it's already the place to go if you want a tutorial on how to make a California roll, or how to hang a door. And if nothing else, some of these clips are just screaming for a mashup treatment. They're calling it VideoJug.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:12 AM on August 28, 2006 (51 comments)

That's the Sound of the Man Working on the Chain Gang Among all genres of American folk music, prison songs may be the most viscerally compelling. They evolved from plantation songs and field hollers of slaves in the American South before the civil war (whose origins can in turn be traced to patterns found in the music of West Africa) but their tone and content is quite different. Limitless in length, bitter and pained, offering little hope of freedom or redemption, these songs were first heard during Reconstruction. Harsh and unevenly enforced laws incarcerated legions of black American men, consigning them to long sentences of labor for minor offenses like insult, fistfighting, and shoplifting. To shore up a tanking Southern economy, prisons leased convict labor to plantation owners as a low-cost replacement for slave labor. When reform efforts brought that to an end, state governments became the contractors. Sweetheart deals awarded lucrative contracts to prisons to provide labor for rebuilding the railroads and highways of the war-destroyed South. Slavery in all but name, these work conditions gave rise to a body of music that is one of the most significant antecedents of the blues. In hundreds of variants, cadenced to axe-fall, hoe stroke, or the drop of a maul, the songs set a working pace a man could sustain from dawn to dusk, while remaining fast enough to satisfy an armed 'Captain' on horseback.
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 11:21 AM on August 27, 2006 (33 comments)