May 21

The AI-Box Experiments. The hypothesis: "A transhuman can take over a human mind through a text-only terminal." Does Artifical Intelligence create moral monsters (PDF) ? Can we create friendly AI?
posted by desjardins at 3:12 PM - 4 comments

Michael Pollan: Cannabis, Forgetting, and the Botany of Desire. Also, a transcript (pdf).
posted by AceRock at 2:53 PM - 1 comment

The first video game based on the internet's most prominent gaming comic, Penny Arcade is released today. [more inside]
posted by Caduceus at 2:40 PM - 11 comments

Slow Motion Punches to The Face
posted by phrontist at 2:19 PM - 19 comments

Canadian author Lesley Choyce and his family share their extended encounter with a surfeit of skunks in a short documentary, avaible on YouTube in three parts. [more inside]
posted by CKmtl at 2:10 PM - 1 comment

The Cool Nerds. It's hip to be square, or something.
posted by fixedgear at 1:25 PM - 55 comments

Uncle Oinker's Bacon Scented Bacon Print Tuxedo. A dry-clean-only opportunity for all MeFis to wear their bacon obsession on their sleeve this prom/grad/wedding season!
posted by grounded at 12:31 PM - 18 comments

Xenophobic violence breaks out in Johannesburg and around South Africa. The victims of these attacks have been primarily poor foreigners living in townships and shack settlements. Durban-based shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (previously) have posted an incisive and informative response. More coverage of the events here and here. Photo galleries here and here.
posted by huffa at 12:10 PM - 7 comments

Soon, state delegates will meet in Denver to conclude a contentious competition and nominate a presidential candidate. No, it's not the Democratic National Convention. It's time for the Libertarian National Convention! Check out the schedule of events and possible seminar topics. Some find the very idea hilarious. Others are watching with more serious interest to see how the outcome may affect John McCain's campaign.
posted by Tehanu at 10:53 AM - 54 comments

The classic post-pub television program of the nineties, In Bed With Medinner had a simple format - Bob Mills would present and comment on clips from the many documentaries he had made over the years. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:54 AM - 8 comments

The Hierarchy of Disagreement: Based on Paul Graham's essay "How to Disagree" (prev), the diagram ranks the types of arguments that can be made. Not quite the same as logical fallacies but a useful guide to measure whether you're making a good argument or if "you are an ass hat".
posted by GuyZero at 9:47 AM - 32 comments

The Most Curious Thing (follow-up of sorts) by Errol Morris. Fuzzed up indeed.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 9:09 AM - 20 comments

Last.fm is inviting subscribers to test the new Last.fm beta. Features include a fully visible library down to individual tracks and charts updated in real time. People seem to dislike the new visual design. There's more discussion at the Last.fm beta group.
posted by nthdegx at 8:30 AM - 35 comments

Tom Waits interviews Tom Waits. A charmingly rambling (but what else would you expect?) interview in advance of his PEHDTSCKJMBA tour. Includes these tantalizing words: I’m doing songs with them I’ve never attempted outside the studio. via reddit.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 8:23 AM - 14 comments

Catchpenny Mysteries of Ancient Egypt Explained by Larry Orcutt.
posted by owhydididoit at 8:03 AM - 6 comments

A 15-year-old in London is being prosecuted for holding a sign calling Scientology a "cult", during a peaceful demonstration (0:55-1:40). The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" ... The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology. The City of London Chief Superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for "raising the spiritual wealth of society" during the opening of its headquarters in 2006. Last year a video praising Scientology emerged featuring Ken Stewart, another of the City of London's chief superintendents via
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:12 AM - 87 comments

Worried that contemporary academic poetry isn’t difficult and weird enough? Then check out this YouTube’d performance (which might be NSFW for some) of Hot White Andy by Keston Sutherland, poet, academic and J.H. Prynne disciple. [more inside]
posted by Mocata at 7:08 AM - 9 comments

Wedding photographers captured the exact moments of the earthquake in Sichuan, China. [more inside]
posted by spacesbetween at 5:59 AM - 52 comments

YouTomb MIT project that tracks youtube file deletions for aledged copyright infringement. They do not host the deleted files, fyi.via wired [more inside]
posted by asok at 5:43 AM - 16 comments

Playing Dirty: Greenpeace vs Nintendo, Microsoft, et al. "The Greenpeace scientific report Playing Dirty states that video games consoles have tested positive for hazardous chemicals and materials such as polyvinyl chloride, phthalates, beryllium and bromine." [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin at 5:37 AM - 25 comments

Still paying a monthly fee for an MMO? Free-MMOs boasts an exhaustive (exhausting?) list of games that are free to join, free to play; try the excellent dungeon crawl Gods of Time, or the odd abandonware homebrew Ultima 6 Online.
posted by jbickers at 3:10 AM - 21 comments

Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience - “massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland.” Here's a quick roundup of some commentary. (last link with concept design sketches)
posted by infini at 1:29 AM - 31 comments

Geohashing: "As you may have noticed, today’s comic contains an algorithm for converting dates into local coordinates. For a given day, you can calculate what that day’s coordinate is for your region. Dan has put together a tool for calculating a day’s coordinates and show it using Google Maps." [more inside]
posted by Anything at 12:04 AM - 26 comments

May 20

YouTube on YouTube . . .
posted by huckhound at 11:02 PM - 9 comments

As of 2010 Steven Moffat will be replacing Russell T. Davies as lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who. In 2005 Davies revived the series, which had been dormant (bar the odd US co-production or audiodrama) since 1989, for BBC Wales. It won awards and was successful enough to spawn the spin-offs Sarah Jane Adventures and the popular-in-America Torchwood. He is replaced by Moffat, one of the regular writers on the show, whose highly acclaimed episodes have won a number of awards and nominations. "I applied before but I got knocked back 'cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven. Anyway, I'm glad the BBC has finally seen the light and it's a huge honour to be following Russell into the best - and the toughest - job in television. I say toughest 'cos Russell's at my window right now, pointing and laughing."
posted by Artw at 9:33 PM - 79 comments

The Art of Matt Furie (many images NSFW)
posted by puke & cry at 9:18 PM - 21 comments

F R DOUBLE E D - D O M spells FREEDOM [Youtube, perhaps NSFW]. In 1967, photographer William Klein created what is possibly the most surreal cinematic political satire imaginable: Mr. Freedom. Featuring production design outlandish enough to later inspire Beck and Pizzicato Five, the film went on to bewilder French critics and tank at the box office. Today, Criterion makes Mr. Freedom available on DVD for the first time in America as part of the strange and wonderful box set, The Delirious Fictions of William Klein.
posted by eschatfische at 9:14 PM - 12 comments

Annoying Software : A Rogue's Gallery. (single-page version). Software that makes us hate the internet and wish it had never been invented. High on their list : Adobe Reader, Java, RealPlayer, and Flash. [more inside]
posted by Afroblanco at 7:17 PM - 107 comments

Michael Bluejay: ...... Who says he almost always rides a bike, tried to expose the cult he was born into, (Aesthetic Realism), is concerned about pedophiles in the nudist community, played with the Ben Folds Five, and can tell you really really effective ways to save electricity? Why, its some guy called Micheal Blue Jay and his densly information packed web site of practical millenial knowledge and other fascinating factoids. Kind of Ben Franklinesque.
posted by celerystick at 6:31 PM - 19 comments

Dan Treacy and his band Television Personalities have had a long and storied history. Here's a nice little documentary (part one, two, three, four) on 'em. [more inside]
posted by item at 5:22 PM - 9 comments

Operation Orca - Springer, Luna and the Struggle to Save West Coast Killer Whales (1) They Shoot Orcas, Don't They? (2) Era of the Orca Cowboys (3) How Not to Ship a Whale [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 4:25 PM - 4 comments

Marijuana harvesting like you've never seen. Brought to you by the same folks that unpacked your iPhone (not really).
posted by msaleem at 2:49 PM - 37 comments

The [US] National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its 21st annual list of the nation's Most Endangered Historic Places. Among them: Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, (where Linda Brown tried to register for school, resulting in Brown vs. Board of Education); New York City's Lower East Side; California's State Parks; Philadelphia's Boyd Theatre, and several others. The previous 20 years of Most Endangered Historic Places can be found in the Archive. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 2:28 PM - 16 comments

Mehdi Kazemi is granted asylum in the UK. Mehdi, now 20, was studying in the UK when Parham (his boyfriend) was arrested for the crime of homosexuality by the Iranian government. Mehdi was named by his boyfriend and warned he was liable to arrest on his planned return. The UK Home Office denied him asylum [despite a thoughtful campaign by human rights campaigners] - because it was said he had overstayed his student visa and was therefore not seen as genuinely seeking asylum. So he escaped to the Netherlands. That's where it gets complicated. [more inside]
posted by dash_slot- at 1:43 PM - 17 comments

Ruminations on the Borderlands of Cartography, or: What is not a map? "..as far as animals with map-like blotches on them, they don't get in the tent as family, but we might consider letting them in as entertainers." [via]
posted by peacay at 1:43 PM - 10 comments

The Last Roundup. "Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law?" [Via]
posted by homunculus at 12:25 PM - 97 comments

Edward Kennedy has malignant brain tumor A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics' most enduring figures. "He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the doctors for the 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement. [more inside]
posted by photodegas at 12:19 PM - 94 comments

When Malcolm McLaren was managing Stuart Goddard (alias Adam Ant), there was one song that Adam says he listened to over and over -- Burundi Black. You can definitely hear the influence. [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein at 11:47 AM - 30 comments

Until recently, earthquake lights were folklore. It wasn't until the phenomenon was captured in photographs, taken during the Matsushiro earthquake swarm in Japan between 1965 and 1967, that the seismological community acknowledged their occurrence. The precise mechanism is unknown. A stunning example was captured on video thirty minutes prior to the Sichuan earthquake.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 11:02 AM - 65 comments

Ze Frank asks when the first time you saw your parents as just being human was.
posted by muthecow at 10:42 AM - 84 comments

The rapid growth of electronic trading since 1976 has benefited equity market participants by improving competition, reducing cost and increasing liquidity while insuring better pricing.

One unexpected side effect has been the recent emergence of "dark pools of liquidity", or the secret stock market. [more inside]
posted by Mutant at 10:14 AM - 19 comments

Why do New Yorkers seem rude? A quirky and interesting article about the culture of New Yorkers.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 10:04 AM - 157 comments

Australians celebrate their national football championships with a bloody frogs vs. cockroaches football game online! (The cane toad is a symbol of Queensland football...)
posted by destinyland at 9:17 AM - 9 comments

Ernie Fosselius, writer/director of Hardware Wars and more recently creator of the Mechalodeon, also created a brilliant parody of Apocalypse Now: Porklips Now. YouTube: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:11 AM - 10 comments

Stemming from a lawsuit that has gone on for several years, a recent Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. government must make bills with distinguishable tactile features to benefit the blind. While the U.S. government disagrees, the judges say: "The government might as well argue that, since handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask for help from strangers, there's no need to make buildings wheelchair accessible." Not all blind people agree with the decision. [more inside]
posted by jabberjaw at 8:59 AM - 74 comments

Ever notice how some words just sound like what they mean? Like how a distant star really does seem to sparkle. Words like mumble, twist, and squeamish. Jospeh Bottum describes them well: "They taste good in the mouth, and they seem to resound with their own verbal truthfulness... More like proper nouns than mere words, they match the objects they describe. Pickle, gloomy, portly, curmudgeon--sounds that loop back on themselves to close the circle of meaning. They're perfect, in their way." But he tries to coin a new term for them when some already exist. [more inside]
posted by AceRock at 8:45 AM - 56 comments

What makes married men want to have affairs? A provocative look at an age-old question from New York Magazine.
posted by you just lost the game at 8:17 AM - 164 comments

When programmers kill. [pdf] In 1982, Atomic Energy Canada, Limited, introduced the now-infamous Therac-25, a solely software-driven successor to its earlier medical linear accelerators. Six patients received massive amounts of radiation, and three died, before AECL was compelled to supplement the (faulty) software-only error-checking with hardware interlocks to prevent overexposure. [more inside]
posted by enn at 7:55 AM - 16 comments

6 hours til Eurovision 2008 begins (well semi-final round 1 begins in 6 hours). After last year's extensive Eurovision discussion, let's see how 2008 does. There are a number of Eurovision blogs and many of the bloggers are hanging out in Belgrade. Not in Europe? You can watch online as well. [more inside]
posted by k8t at 6:25 AM - 32 comments

Amazing Animations: Morphing, Graffiti, Mixed-Media, Sand (also from Ilana Yahav and Ferenc Cakó), Paint-on-film, Paint-on-glass, Pinscreen & The Greatest Stop-Motion Movie of All-Time. (Some reposting, but it's worth watching again. trust me.)
posted by FeldBum at 4:09 AM - 6 comments

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