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The Ghazal is a kind of poetry, originally of pre-Islamic Persian origin, consisting entirely of couplets, called "sher," that share (no pun intended) an end rhyme. Well-liked especially in India and Pakistan, the difficult-to-master form has experienced a surge of popularity among, of all people, white Canadians. Spurred by the breathtaking poems of the late John Thompson, contemporary writers like Phyllis Webb and Eric Folsom have created a interesting hybridized verision--"The Bastard Ghazal". That's not, of course, to ignore Kiran Ahluwalia, an Indian-Candian ghazal singer who hews more closely to the form's origins.
posted by maxreax at 10:59 PM PST - 13 comments

Rice, the rocket. Secretary of State shares fitness tips with early-morning DC news. Next week: Cyclin' with POTUS (schedule subject to change).
posted by rob511 at 10:11 PM PST - 17 comments

Vlad gives his views on the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As the anthem of Phystech promises, "we will disperse, when the time comes, in all the world, from Dolgoprudny"
posted by tellurian at 10:04 PM PST - 3 comments

How Sub-Pixel Rendering Works: a method of anti-aliasing, sub-pixel rendering (or ClearType as Microsoft calls it) exploits the fact that pixels on LCD screens are actually made up of three sub-pixels: red, blue, and green. By constructing fonts using the sub-pixels, the results are arguably smoother lines and easier-to-read type. Sadly (or happily) CRTs benefit little, if at all, from the technology.
posted by falconred at 9:51 PM PST - 33 comments

So ODD it just HAS to be funny. (via)
posted by Doorstop at 9:14 PM PST - 32 comments

At this Larry King interview and in other places, Jon Stewart is getting ready for his very big "before and after" moment. In one week he will go from hosting a sort of anti-establishment "basic cable" talk show to hosting the very establishment (of some sort at least) Oscars viewed by usually at least 40 million people. Despite what most of us me-fiers might think, Stewart is sort of unknown outside his core devotees and especially for a Oscar host -- unlike Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and even Chris Rock -- he has never been responsible for a hit movie. Moreover, his ratings (at 1.1 -- or about two and half million people a night) would place him at about the sixth most seen cable news "show" -- behind Greta, Shepard Smith, Hannity, Larry, and, of course, the factor. Now, that's a very wealthy, influential 2-3 million viewers that policy makers and advertisers love, so it's not chicken change but you can still understand what the Oscars might mean for fans of Jon. For people who believe Stewart is the only effective keeper of a liberal flame, you can only hope he will continue to impress on the bigger stage. However, some people are getting worried -- a la the NYT and the New Republic which is already claiming Stewart is losing his bite in order to please Hollywood and that he might not be so funny in the first place.
posted by skepticallypleased at 7:39 PM PST - 77 comments

Scratch one Enzo Ferrari. Dodgy Swedish game-maker kisses Malibu telephone phone at 162mph.
posted by soiled cowboy at 6:27 PM PST - 44 comments

Somebody made a funny. (the funny is a series of fake christmas cards with stories)
posted by snsranch at 5:29 PM PST - 13 comments

One of the great virtues of the internet is the manifold ways in which it has revolutionised the arts. The postmodern works of contemporary artists Pomme & Kelly (Google Video), when viewed together in context, form a striking example of a well-placed critique of popular culture, and modern living at large. The zeitgeisty meta-irony of their seemingly content-free interpretations of popular songs are only enhanced by the fact that, in a clever keeping with style, they blog about it as well.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:09 PM PST - 30 comments

Say what you want about Tom Monaghan, he thinks big. He built a big company, he's got a big agenda , he wanted to build a big Jesus, and now he's building a whole new town. That would be the town of Ave Maria, Florida, -- home to Ave Maria University, , but that's not all - welcome to America's newest mini-theocracy: "You won't be able to buy a Playboy or Hustler magazine in Ave Maria Town. We're going to control the cable television that comes in the area. There is not going to be any pornographic television in Ave Maria Town. If you go to the drug store and you want to buy the pill or the condoms or contraception, you won't be able to get that in Ave Maria Town." aturally, this has run him afoul of Florida's ACLU.
posted by contessa at 4:26 PM PST - 101 comments

Hamlet on the Ramparts is a public website designed and maintained by the MIT Shakespeare Project in collaboration with the Folger Shakespeare Library and other institutions. It aims to provide free access to an evolving collection of texts, images, and film relevant to Hamlets first encounter with the Ghost. More inside.
posted by matteo at 3:34 PM PST - 11 comments

Getting Away with Murder A new Human Rights First report [PDF] "provides the first comprehensive accounting" of the 98 cases of detainees who have died in US custody in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2002. "Thirty-four deaths were homicides under the U.S. militarys definition...Only 12 deaths have resulted in any kind of punishment." Most of the people behind the abuse have been promoted. The Washington Post concludes that, based on the report, US policy seems to be that torturing a foreign prisoner to death is excusable, but getting photographed doing it will get you in trouble.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:59 PM PST - 16 comments

So if you run the CD in your personal computer, by the end of it, the Minnesota GOP will not only know what you think on particular issues, but also who you are. --a cd being sent out to home by the Minnesota GOP is polling people who use the cd, sending their personal info, including name, address, and phone, among other info, back to party headquarters. No privacy policy or statement identifying what the cd does is visible anywhere: ...As far as I could tell, nothing tells you that the answers are about to be e-mailed or otherwise transmitted to the Minnesota GOP. So you finish, and then the phone rings. "Hello, Mr/Mrs. Voters, it's Joe and I notice you support gun control and the marriage amendment, would you like to donate some money to us?" That might startle the person who may have thought he/she was viewing the presentation in the privacy of the computer room. ...
posted by amberglow at 2:36 PM PST - 80 comments

Creative Home Engineering is a registered contracting company that adds value to homes by integrating silent, automated, hidden passageways. [note: flash]
posted by crunchland at 1:55 PM PST - 31 comments

Windows Live Local Orgasmically merges street level imagery with satellite to create virtual streetwalks (For Seattle or San Francisco anyway)
posted by marvin at 1:49 PM PST - 24 comments

PIGS IN SPACE!!!! ok, well not actually in space. But flying pigs, er pig, old school. (Flickr photo set)
posted by edgeways at 1:28 PM PST - 21 comments

Anti-Hippie Action League
posted by dios at 12:46 PM PST - 130 comments

Laurie Pycroft , age 16, took a year off school to build websites and futter about on the Internet. When animal rights campaigners waged a series of protests against a new biomedical research lab being constructed at Oxford University - with the extremist group Animal Liberation Front threatening buildings, students and staff as "legitimate targets" - Laurie decided to form Pro-Test, an organisation in support of animal testing, and stage a counterdemonstration to the monthly anti-testing demo at Oxford. The result: On 25 February, at least 700 protestors, eminent scientists, politicians, and students showed up. So did the media.
posted by By The Grace of God at 12:29 PM PST - 74 comments

US Troop poll results in: 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately. In other news, 58% of Americans think the troops should stay. Back to the troops: 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly to retaliate for Saddams role in the 9-11 attacks, 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq.
posted by caddis at 12:15 PM PST - 74 comments

Whereas: Dada is a virgin microbe which penetrates with the insistence of air into all those spaces that reason has failed to fill with words and conventions. .

The mayor of Lawrence, Kansas proclaims February 4, April 1, March 28, July 15, August 2, August 7, August 16, August 26, September 18, September 22, October 1, October 17, and October 26, 2006 as International Dadaism Month.
posted by billysumday at 12:12 PM PST - 58 comments

Flickr: The Musical (Google video). Random lyrics inspired by random images fom Flickr. A wonderful & worthy effort by Jonathan Coulton, subject of this previous Mefi post.
posted by squalor at 11:56 AM PST - 23 comments

Exclusive: Dubai ports firm enforces Israel boycott [Defenders of the Bush/Dubai deal argue that we ought to be fair and not be racist in being anti-Arab...that is "un-American."] "The parent company of a Dubai-based firm at the center of a political storm in the US over the purchase of American ports participates in the Arab boycott against Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.....Moreover, the Post found that the website for Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone Area, which is also part of the PCZC, advises importers that they will need to comply with the terms of the boycott....
posted by Postroad at 11:30 AM PST - 61 comments

Black man, white woman, black baby...? So the song goes, but when two of those babies got together as adults, the already shaky formula of racial outcomes was shown to be fallacious by a million-to-one event: the birth of black and white twins. An interesting aside of a media event, to be sure... but underneath the surface lurks an interesting subversion of the intuitive basis of race itself. What race is anyone? Then again, are you sure? I ask because it's amazing how not sure you can be.
posted by illovich at 11:28 AM PST - 47 comments

Effa Manley. Pioneer then. Pioneer still.
posted by grabbingsand at 11:03 AM PST - 6 comments

The Sarong Theorem Archive is the premier online repository for pictures of mathematicans in sarongs proving theorems.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:50 AM PST - 24 comments

British comedian Linda Smith dies of cancer. Linda Smith, president of the Humanist society and a regular on BBC Radio 4's flagship comedy shows such as The News Quiz and Just A Minute, plus her own A Brief History of Timewasting, her wonderfully deadpan style and the ability to transform moaning into an art form will be missed by many.
posted by ceri richard at 10:23 AM PST - 31 comments

"My Barbarian's rock-operatic ouvre synthesizes music, art and theater through site-responsive spectacles, videos and recordings." Their videos are a hootwatch their epic "Unicorns L.A." (quicktime) for the Breakfast Club moment.
posted by goatdog at 9:10 AM PST - 9 comments

Foshata! Write your own English subtitles to Japanese commercials.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:03 AM PST - 8 comments

Disappeared In America. DISAPPEARED is a project by the Visible Collective/Naeem Mohaiemen that uses films, installations, & lectures to trace migration impulses, hyphenated identities and post-9/11 security panic.
posted by chunking express at 8:46 AM PST - 5 comments

Offensive cartoons aren't limited to Islam. Others: 1,2,3,4, 5. The cartoonist's name? (wait for it) Christian Keesee. In the current environment, Radford's Whim Internet Magazine is getting "exciting" media attention.
posted by spock at 8:45 AM PST - 56 comments

The Lost Kingdom of Tambora, Pompeii of the East, was recently uncovered by an oceanographic team from the University of Rhode Island and Indonesian researchers. The kingdom was buried when Mount Tambora violently erupted in 1815, and set the conditions for 1816, the Year Without Summer. It was not the first, or last time, that a volcano eruption affected the world.
posted by Atreides at 8:00 AM PST - 15 comments

For the past few days I have been mainly totally jealous of the guys in this video (linked google video). It features Toronto's Team Ryouko performing martial arts and breakdancing moves that look lifted straight out of beat-em-up computer games. I wish this (linked google video) was me on the beach (rather than this). Some more here.
Others doing similar stuff include "Martial Arts Trickz" from bilang.com which despite a pretty lame name are capable of some amazing things (linked google video, few more).
(yesterdays post on breakdancers reminded me of how jealous I am of these kinda guys because they appear to me to be so free of gravity)
posted by 13twelve at 6:24 AM PST - 33 comments

The Shock Absorber Bounce-o-Meter is *definitely* NSFW, but sure is a lot of fun. Choose your cup size, then your level of activity, and you will be presented with naked breasts, breasts in a normal bra and breasts in the Shock Absorber bra side by side...all the while doing some exercise to get things jiggling.
posted by gren at 5:58 AM PST - 53 comments

Venezuela bad, Colombia good
Founded in the 1980s by landowners and powerful drug dealers, the paramilitaries carried out numerous massacres in villages they considered sympathetic to the rebels and were blacklisted by the U.S. State Department as terrorists. In recent years, however, the militias put their rebel-fighting efforts on hold to smuggle narcotics, extort businesses and engage in other illegal activities.

Strange how the White House decides which countries are "friends" and which are not. What exactly are the criteria?
posted by nofundy at 5:36 AM PST - 21 comments

Fresh is best. "It's like drinking their youth."
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:58 AM PST - 48 comments

Was U.S. Patent Number 7,000,000 reserved for DuPont? The USPTO issues utility patents every Tuesday. Patent numbers are normally assigned sequentially first to the week's general and mechanical inventions, next to chemical inventions , and finally to electrical inventions. In the Official Gazette (OG) published on February 14th, there was gap in the list of the list of electrical patents where the patent number 7,000,000 was supposed to be. And at the very end of the list of chemical patents you find U.S. Patent 7,000,000 assigned to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Just random chance, I wonder, or perhaps just another indication of the ability of corporations to influence U.S. government agencies?
posted by three blind mice at 1:32 AM PST - 40 comments

The Six Thousand: 6000 [well, at least twenty or so right now] intriguing people you want to meet online before you die, edited by Cliff Pickover. My fave right now? Asya Schween.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:13 PM PST - 41 comments

Pictures of the Year Gallery posted. A few may be familiar to those who read this previous post, but still very much worth seeing.
posted by ig at 7:22 PM PST - 17 comments

The Catseye - similar to Botts' Dots, [Wikipedia talk] is in the final 10 for the Great British Design Quest.
posted by tellurian at 6:24 PM PST - 12 comments

Jeffrey Lewis: Iran & the Bomb. A comprehensive examination.
posted by panoptican at 6:10 PM PST - 42 comments

More point-n-click Flash puzzles, this time in a series: Escape to Obion, episodes one, two, three, and four.
posted by Gator at 6:06 PM PST - 7 comments

"Call for Entries: The Ultimate Food Shoot Challenge. The idea is simple, take one of the gray and eerie government meal packets ... unpack it, arrange it, light it and shoot it to look as scrumptious as it could ever hope to be.

As you can see... in the right hands, this can be done with remarkable grace."

Evidently the images will be used for a 2007 calendar, with proceeds to benefit The People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition. Registration deadline April 15.
posted by cloudscratcher at 5:52 PM PST - 30 comments

A previously unbroken Enigma code has been solved by a group of hackers. After just over a month of effort, the M4 group, using distributed computing, cracked a 60 year-old German naval code. The message: "Forced to submerge during attack." There are lots of other interesting historical codes that still remain mysteries, however. Lots of Enigma goodness in an earlier post.
posted by blahblahblah at 4:50 PM PST - 16 comments

When was the last time your country's minister of Justice expressed his policies in rap form? Here's the Dutch justice minister's Piet Hein Donner's debut on the mic (mp3). [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:39 PM PST - 19 comments

On your mark, get set, bring out your dead! Commemorating the deceased, Manitou Springs style. More pictures here.
posted by Hesychia at 2:39 PM PST - 8 comments

Kristine Larsen: Before and After 9/11
posted by matteo at 2:01 PM PST - 71 comments

Art Frahm gets an update. Ever wanted to see Art Frahm's vintage pinups modernized? With some of those outrageous "Goth Girls" as models? Your wait is over! Now you can see for yourself what happens when those girls in their fishnet stockings and those scandalous dresses have their knickers accidentally fall down to their ankles. (No nudity.)
posted by CrunchyFrog at 1:58 PM PST - 34 comments

Slow Life is a Japanese movement that eschews the fast-paced consumption of modern urban life for the slower pace of farming and small villages. It emphasizes self-reliance, sustainability, and the appreciation of leisure. From some perspectives, it can be seen as a reaction to hazards in the modern world or as a peer to Shinto and modern schools of thought.
posted by mikeh at 1:55 PM PST - 21 comments

NSA continues TIA (Total Information Awareness) program under different name "Total Information Awareness Lives On", a Democracy Now follow up on a 2/23 story from the National Journal. This was reported earlier in the Christian Science Monitor US Plans Massive Data Sweep Another Newsweek story, Wanted: Competent Big Brothers talks about TIA activities continuing under a program called TOPSAIL.
posted by notmtwain at 12:55 PM PST - 25 comments

Pictures of a guy in a blue shirt. More Inside
posted by dios at 12:37 PM PST - 61 comments

Concerned (Half-Life 2 comic)
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 12:09 PM PST - 38 comments

And the great ones keep dying. RIP Dennis Weaver.
posted by ed at 11:26 AM PST - 44 comments

In the "debate" over the War on Drugs, there's a lack of nice quantitative data presentation in one place. Brian C Bennett aims to rectify that. From trends in alcohol initiation relative to legal age limits, to investigation of the deaths classified by CDC as marijuana-induced. There are lots of charts, as for cocaine purity over the years, or treatment admissions, or arrest trends. The site map is your quick guide to the 2000 charts & articles.
posted by daksya at 11:24 AM PST - 18 comments

Unseen. Unforgotten. The Birmingham News recently discovered previously-unpublished photos of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The site includes audio interviews with some of the photographers and a PDF of how the photos appeared in the newspaper.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:24 AM PST - 13 comments

Crazy breakdancers from Korea - one minute of annoying lead in followed by two and a half minutes of cool moves.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:12 AM PST - 23 comments

If Microsoft designed the iPod box. (Faster YouTube) Fanboys of all stripes can agree: it's funny. Via Digg.
posted by fungible at 10:42 AM PST - 75 comments

Maki Kawakita is a Japanese photographer living in New York. She shoots in a hyper-realist style, but her subject matter is another story. Lots of pop culture, some corporate surrealism, and even an occasional model worthy of her own post on MeFi. One or two images on her site are NSFW, and some others are just vaguely disturbing . More here, here and here.
posted by bashos_frog at 9:50 AM PST - 4 comments

Firefox really is amazingly extendable, but perhaps too much so.
posted by mathowie at 9:39 AM PST - 59 comments

Diebold whistleblower busted for whistleblowin'. Stephen Heller, who leaked classified information showing how Diebold illegally used uncertified voting machines in California in 2002, is being charged with sundry computer crimes by the LA County DA's office.
posted by delmoi at 8:20 AM PST - 53 comments

Never Mind the Bollocks.
posted by bardic at 7:39 AM PST - 81 comments

Really, the Olympics still mean something. No they don't: "They are a random collection of winter activities, most of which have their own world championships anyway, which should suffice." Not even a Lindsay Lohan hookup story could save these games.
posted by js003 at 6:55 AM PST - 109 comments

Last week US District Court Judge A. Howard Matz ruled against Google and found them to be in copyright violation for thumbnailing images from the soft core magazine/site Perfect10 (NSFW)... more inside
posted by cedar at 5:47 AM PST - 36 comments

How to Follow Soccer in Europe. A handy comparison of American sports leagues and European soccer. Also: The competitions. Going to the game.
posted by Ljubljana at 1:41 AM PST - 64 comments

...you can follow a complaint (maybe). Your daily dose of outragefilter. Video courtesy of South Florida's CBS 4.
posted by Kwantsar at 11:31 PM PST - 142 comments

A Cello Rondo A cello piece digitally combined from 37 different cello parts all played by the same musician. With funky video. [Qucktime, 45mb], [Quicktime, 22mb]. Other formats available through the link. via Digg.
posted by ontic at 10:04 PM PST - 17 comments

Bubble Rings are like smoke rings, except they exist under water, and they are made of pure, clean air instead of smoke. Though normally seen in dolphins, here's a video of a beluga whale blowing a bubble in a Japanese aquarium. Nice, but is it culture?
posted by dhruva at 9:38 PM PST - 12 comments

Hey man, good flash games take time. And apparently, so do bad ones. On the Cheese*Enjoyment scale this one is off the charts. I LOLd.
posted by Paris Hilton at 9:03 PM PST - 12 comments

Ten things evolutionists can do to improve communication. Speaking as a battle-scarred survivor of a few battles over evolution on teh Interweb, I plead guilty to ignorance of a few of these rules. But I wonder, too, what good any of these would do in the grand scheme of things: could we expect Creationists to act as honorably, or as honestly? And what would the Flying Spaghetti Monster think?
posted by micketymoc at 6:56 PM PST - 167 comments

Here are some nice fractal desktop pictures.
posted by obeygiant at 5:03 PM PST - 38 comments

Added to the rolls of those that passed away this weekend. Octavia E. Butler Sci Fi writer, MacArthur Genius grant winner... And as she wrote. "I'm a 53-year-old writer who can remember being a 10-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an 80-year-old writer. I'm also comfortably asocial -- a hermit in the middle of Seattle -- a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive."
posted by edgeways at 2:50 PM PST - 64 comments

The things I will not do when I direct a Shakespeare production, on stage or film. "32. I will not employ a conception of Caliban which would require him to wear a ghastly furry costume reminiscent of a hypothetical offspring of Chewbacca and the Wolf from Into the Woods." "358. If cast members, especially fairies, are supposed to sing, I will make sure they can actually sing before opening night." Some of these appear to have been agreed to through bitter experience. I don't know about you but I'd like to add 400. I will not set A Comedy of Errors in a climbing frame which is meant to represent a lunatic asylum and have lookalikes played by the same actor in both parts as if has a split personality (watching that show was possibly the longest two hours I've spent in a theatre).
posted by feelinglistless at 2:48 PM PST - 90 comments

For the women of South Dakota: an abortion manual --building on the history and expertise of Jane, , an underground referral and abortion-providing group in Chicago in the 60s, Molly provides the vital info women in South Dakota (and maybe elsewhere soon) need.
posted by amberglow at 12:28 PM PST - 133 comments

'You really liked it, huh? You really thought it was good?'
He regaled one friend with memories of being in the womb, took another shopping for jerseys in Paris, and said he regretted calling his play Godot. As the centenary of his birth approaches, 'Beckett Remembering Remembering Beckett'. More inside.
posted by matteo at 8:36 AM PST - 16 comments

Congressional Oil spokesman goes after Citgo. In Washington, Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton (R-ExxonMobil) has launched an investigation into Citgo. But he is not investigating whether any of the oil giants are engaging in price gouging at a time when gasoline and heating oil casts are skyrocketing. Instead Barton has set his sights on the only oil company that actually dared to lower its prices last year - at least for the poorest Americans. Last week Barton demanded the Venezuelan-owned company Citgo produce all records, minutes, logs, e-mails and even desk calendars related to the companys novel program of supplying discounted heating oil to low-income communities in the United States. The Citgo program, which began late last year in Massachusetts and the South Bronx, provides oil at discounts as high as 60% off market price.
posted by mountainmambo at 7:45 AM PST - 88 comments

Oranges & Apples Digital photography is amazing and impressive in many ways, but if you choose it over film, expect to make sacrifices. I've assembled articles here exposing these sacrifices. I do this not to make a case for film, but to temper the popular view that advances in digital photography have now made film obsolete.
posted by Lanark at 7:10 AM PST - 78 comments

Dora Maar was immortalized by Picasso in many portraits, one of which is up for auction this May. Tho many are familiar with her face, fewer are aware that she was a respected surrealist photographer in her own right. An exhibit at the Musee Picasso in Paris documents the stormy and artistically rich decade of their relationship via the contents of Dora Maar's estate.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:58 AM PST - 9 comments

National Pancake Day. Free pancakes at IHOP. Yes, it's real. Happy Shrove Tuesday.
posted by fixedgear at 4:45 AM PST - 44 comments

"It's not the robbery that separates the amateur from the professional. It's the way you deal with the money afterwards." A fascinating analysis of the Tonbridge heist.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:43 AM PST - 20 comments

The Century Of The Self. It's a documentary, and the four parts are available at archive.org [2][3][4] -- with a higher quality bittorrent option [via mindhacks]. The program is about the use of psychoanalytical techniques to manipulate and control the "bewildered herd", "engineering consent" in a world fraught with "irrational impulses" [more inside].
posted by gsb at 12:43 AM PST - 16 comments

Last Saturday, a woman and her four-year-old son climbed a fence to get a closer look at two black bears in the care of the non-profit Maymont Foundation. Bear bites boy.
posted by emelenjr at 11:51 PM PST - 54 comments

(Use the torrent.)
Toy Story 2: Requiem
posted by Tlogmer at 11:03 PM PST - 17 comments

The Worlds First Cell Phone Feature Film. Sony Ericsson sponsored the film by providing W900i cell phones. The cheap medium allowed for a very loose shooting style, with multiple cameras constantly rolling, freeing the actors to experiment and improvise.. the footage looked "fabulous" when blown up to 35mm.
posted by stbalbach at 10:59 PM PST - 12 comments

US Border Patrol attempts to build a wall between Mexico and the US. Coyotes are not worried Mexico is already coming up with plans around it and the Americans are already coming up with a way to not pay for it.
posted by subaruwrx at 10:27 PM PST - 42 comments

Another favorite old actor has shuffled off the mortal coil. I will always remember Darren McGavin best as The Old Man, Ralphie Parker's father, in the best Christmas movie ever made (so says I!), but he had a long and active career in films and television.

Sigh. I hope there is lots and lots of turkey in heaven, and that the Bumpuses' dogs are nowhere to be found.
posted by John Smallberries at 9:07 PM PST - 50 comments

US as Lord of War in Rwanda?
posted by pwedza at 8:15 PM PST - 15 comments

"My name is Gudo Wafu Nishijima, a Buddist Monk, who is 86 years old, and recently because of my old age, I finished my Buddhist lectures, which were held at many places for many years, and so I decided to open Dogen Sangha Blog, to express the Buddhist thought. It might be very short sentences, but I would like to continue it as far as possible almost every day."

The blog of Zen Master Gudo Wafu Nishijima, founder of Dongen Sangha Buddhist group. Learn from his video, How to Practice Zazen, or read some of Nishijima Roshi's lectures and articles, including the interesting talk, Zazen, A Better Way of Experiencing Pain.
posted by MetaMonkey at 5:01 PM PST - 44 comments

Massive Multiplayer Pong
posted by furiousxgeorge at 4:34 PM PST - 24 comments

Inspector Wombat, a point-and-click Flash puzzle game somewhat clumsily translated from the German. Inspector Wombat has a seemingly-bottomless sack in which to store all the random crap he picks up, like banana peels, his lady friend's stereo system (dude, she's standing right there. Ever try asking?), and tasty foodstuffs somebody left in the street. Your object is twofold: Find and apprehend the kooky blackmailer who's messing with the museum director, and fix the museum's paintings which have mysteriously gone all wonky (hint: it's because of evil, unhappy bacteria).
posted by Gator at 3:18 PM PST - 3 comments

Call him Mr. Limpet, Mr. Furley, Wormie, Les Calhoun, or Barney Fife. Actor Don Knotts has passed away at 81.
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:46 PM PST - 129 comments

Looking for an ego boost? The fine people over at The Screenplay Agency are the place for you! No logline too stupid, no script too poorly written! Are you tired of agency after agency telling you that they don't want your 20 year old screenplay about how much you love peanut butter just because "It doesn't make any sense, and is written with crayon on a pile of dirty gym socks?" I know I was! Until I found out about The Screenplay Agency, who promptly accepted every criminally copyright infringing idea I threw at them until I just KNEW I was every bit as good I writer as I've always told myself I am. And all they asked of me was approximately $250 in fees paid to coverage agencies no one has ever heard of and which seem to be owned by the same company that owns The Screenplay Agency! Sure, you've heard of publishing scams like Publish America (part 2) thanks to the diligence of sites like Making Light and our own thread on the matter, but The Screenplay Agency is totally different! For one thing, they only ~~rip you off~~ boost your ego through screenplays. Now, some ~~legitimate screenplay writers~~ high and mighty hollywood types have gone and pranked this excellent automated delusion reinforcer. But don't let those spoilsports spoil your sport! (God, I am such a great writer. No wonder they loved my screenplay!) Go ahead and generate your own rave reviews!
posted by shmegegge at 1:59 PM PST - 14 comments

Meet the Loremo. Up until now high efficiency vehicles have looked a little bizarre, to say the least. Recently the Toyota Prius (in its 2.0 form) brought HE cars more into the mainstream, but the Loremo looks to beat it hands down. Having lightened the car as much as possible -- it weighs a paltry 450kg, less than half a ton -- engineers were able to bring its fuel consumption down to 1.5l/100km, or over 150 mpg. And make it look pretty good. And bring the cost down to less than 11,000 euro. The company says it'll be available in 2009, but are they for real? (via digg)
posted by clevershark at 1:38 PM PST - 48 comments

John T. Reeds analysis of Robert T. Kiyosakis book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad'. [cache] Kiyosaki has spun a business empire off his book, including follow up publications, TV appearances and columns that make suprisingly broad statements about what's worth doing.
posted by Firas at 12:52 PM PST - 24 comments

Simply mad about the boy. I've learned my lesson from these gay-themed novelty records from the Sixties. I'd rather fight than swish.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:03 AM PST - 22 comments

The National Archives of the United States and Google have announced a pilot project to digitize historic films and make them available via Google Video for free. The project's initial offering of 101 films include NASA documentaries on the spaceflight program, samples of United Newsreels from World War II, and early films from the Department of the Interior highlighting public works such as the construction of the Hoover Dam and the work of the National Park Service. Also of note is the earliest film in the National Archives holdings, an odd compilation circa 1894 containing Carmencita's Spanish Dance, boats being pulled upstream, people crossing a bridge, and Japanese women playing stringed instruments (on silent film, of course...) last link is direct to video, 2 minutes 46 seconds in duration
posted by edverb at 9:37 AM PST - 24 comments

China Pictures is a free picture site featuring [thousands of ] pictures throughout China, including pictures of China's major cities and tourist attractions as well as pictures of Chinese people and their daily life. You will find not only pictures of the famous Great Wall of China, the forbidden City and the Terracotta Warriors, but also pictures from the unbeaten path as far as Guizhou, Xinjiang, Tibet and other places.
posted by Postroad at 8:21 AM PST - 7 comments

The Asana Index. There are literally 1000s of asana variations in Hatha Yoga. We are attempting to collect the most descriptive pictures of these asanas from all over the Internet, published materials, and individual donations, listing them in an alphabetical index. (via chattering mind)
posted by matteo at 8:19 AM PST - 7 comments

Feeling frustrated at work? This little flash game lets you be Joe IT, avenger of the oppressed in offices everywhere. Best of all, you can't lose ... unless you actually try this at work.
posted by pyramid termite at 7:17 AM PST - 16 comments

Slashdoc - a nice shiny web site where you can ~~swipe~~ read various essays.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:47 AM PST - 44 comments

Secret tunnels may give any Tom, Dick, and Harry a way out in the movies, but Hollywood only scrapes the surface of serious pick and shovel work throughout history. The lure of freedom, overconfidence, or sheer persistence combined with much ingenuity has empowered good and evil schemes alike. Some hidey holes are mysterious and some are uncovered, but it's always a tough job for tunnel rats to keep the bad guys from digging in.
posted by cenoxo at 3:27 AM PST - 17 comments

Gunkanjima or Battleship Island is 480 x 160 meters and was home to more than 5000 people. Abandoned for more than 40 years it is a microcosm of 20th century industrial development. A soundtrack to the photos. Or take the multimedia tour. Urban exploration.
posted by arse_hat at 12:22 AM PST - 18 comments

From the Hands of Slaves: Common products of forced labor. [Via MoFi.]
posted by homunculus at 12:08 AM PST - 18 comments

Over 1300 people have jumped to their deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge since it was built in 1937. Is it time to stop just filming them and install a net or fence-type "suicide barrier" to keep these people from killing themselves? Student-studies at Berkeley argue that barriers are effective. And Mary Zablotny, mother of a jumper, wants to know: "what kind of monster would stand there before me and tell me that aesthetics are more important than my son's life." Opponents argue that suicide is a public health issue that requires a holistic response, and is ill-addressed by simply blighting public landmarks, offering some - ahem - innovative alternatives. [some previous discussions]
posted by scarabic at 6:39 PM PST - 123 comments

Reasonable people are capable of thinking about complex issues without resorting to simplistic oversimplifications. These two scholarly types discuss what seems obvious but lacks traction amongst most people. What can be done to make these voices heard and more importantly, accepted?
posted by mulligan at 5:15 PM PST - 35 comments

Tom Baker does 'Video Killed The Radiostar' Poigniant application of the new BT Text service. [via]
posted by feelinglistless at 4:21 PM PST - 51 comments

The Hype Machine tracks MP3 blogs so you don't have to.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:15 PM PST - 24 comments

Hello and welcome to Weird Meat(.com).

I've eaten dog, cat, rat, cockroach, camel penis, bee larve, scorpions, spiders, night hawk, and pre-born duck embryo without feeling ill. Can't say the same for Taco Bell or McDonalds.

Also see Ox Knee and One Day Old Chicks for more wonderful articles documenting the Weird Meat experience.
posted by benhugstrees at 3:22 PM PST - 44 comments

Ohio Senator: Bar adoptions by the GOP ---In response to Ohio Senator Hood's bill to bar adoption by gays and lesbians, one Senator uses humor to counter hate: ...To further lampoon Hood's bill, Hagan wrote in his mock proposal that ``credible research' shows that adopted children raised in Republican households are more at risk for developing ``emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, and alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities.' However, Hagan admitted that he has no scientific evidence to support the above claims. Just as ``Hood had no scientific evidence' to back his assertion that having gay parents was detrimental to children, Hagan said. ...
posted by amberglow at 2:58 PM PST - 29 comments

US Sgt enlists Canadian hackers to take down weblog? Apparently a US chaplain posted some information about visiting a base that doesn't exist. Some networking people are concerned and since Canada's hockey team was out early in the Olympics, thought some Canadian hackers may be able to help...
posted by Coop at 2:43 PM PST - 9 comments

A few years ago, Sam Brown of explodingdog.com started drawing red robots (including my personal favorite). Other people started drawing similar red robots, and Sam collected links to them. Back in 2001, I posted to MeFi about the phenomenon. Then I forgot about it. But the meme continued to expand. Now, if you do an images.google.com search for "red robot," you get dozens and dozens of Sam Brown bots. The bot also shows up on Flickr. He also comes in blue, green and pink. And perhaps some other flavors.
posted by grumblebee at 2:34 PM PST - 17 comments

Tetrod is a jigsaw puzzle and a four-sided domino game mixed together. -- Java puzzle game; choose 3x4, 4x4, 5x4, or 5x5.
posted by Gator at 2:32 PM PST - 9 comments

Ninja and Zombie A short film and internet serial about the daily lives of a ninja and his roommate, a zombie. Episodes are available on the site or via podcast feed. [via mefi projects]
posted by boo_radley at 2:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Rephotographing Atget: Eugene Atget photographed Paris from 1888 until his death in 1927. Christopher Rauschenberg retraced Atget's steps in 1997 and 1998, photographing the same scenes, and documents his project in a gallery at Lens Culture. The gallery includes an audio discussion of the project. [more inside]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:02 PM PST - 19 comments

Marcus McKinney was arrested Wednesday for the gang-related shooting of Michael Jacola at Orange Park High School in Jacksonville. Florida. Marcus was caught because left his photo on his Myspace.com profile alongside various comments about belonging to a gang.
posted by tapeguy at 12:31 PM PST - 40 comments

Venezuela bans US Airlines. The Chavez government announced yesterday that as of March 1st, Continental and Delta will no longer be allowed to fly into Venezuela, and American's flights will be restricted significantly (allowing AA to continue their Miami to Caracas route, which is the same one that Aeropostal flies to the US). We've talked about Chavez in the blue before, and this may be simple political posturing in an effort to open more routes for Aeropostal and other Venezuelan airlines, but between this, and the recent comments by Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice and Porter Goss, are we looking at a new low in US/Venezuela relations?
posted by toxic at 12:08 PM PST - 45 comments

Feet Meat. {Probably NSFW}
posted by dios at 11:18 AM PST - 49 comments

Max Rodenbeck reviews a new collection of Osama bin Laden's speeches and a biography by Peter Bergen. David Cole discusses the US side of the conflict, reviewing the latest book by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon: "--when it comes to fighting the decentralized threat of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism, Benjamin and Simon maintain, the best defense is not a good offense, but a good defense." More on al-Qaeda: Rodenbeck, MetaFilter.
posted by russilwvong at 10:57 AM PST - 1 comments

Ukulele Ike. We know his quavering, tentative, high tenor voice from his voice work as Jiminy Cricket, but Cliff Edwards -- aka Ukulele Ike -- was much more than that. Wikipedia offers a brief introduction to the man, his life, his works, and his lonely death. But, to my tastes, the best introduction to this once hugely popular singer is the man's own voice (mp3 links).
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:47 AM PST - 5 comments

The story of an autistic basketball player in his first game (youtube video) is an amazing story. It's worth the three minutes and you might even shed a tear of joy by the end.
posted by mathowie at 10:44 AM PST - 94 comments

Have you ever thought "B u s h s h o u l d r e a d t h i s b o o k". Anatomy of a meme.
posted by stbalbach at 9:54 AM PST - 32 comments

My eensy-beensy alma mater in eastern Wisconsin currently has the only undefeated men's basketball team in the nation. This is not just in the NCAA, but in the NAIA as well. It's a Division III team, and its only loss this season didn't count--it was to Division I UW-Madison in an exhibition game. Like most Division III schools, Lawrence offers no athletic scholarships whatsoever. Its immediate past president, Richard Warch, in a 1987 speech at the NCAA national convention, controversially called for abolishment of all athletic scholarships.
posted by gillyflower at 9:53 AM PST - 15 comments

Columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author Art Buchwald is dying. On today's The Diane Rehm Show on NPR, he was interviewed in the Washington hospice he has moved to, about many topics, including his decision to suspend treatment for his advanced kidney disease, and live out his life in hospice.[more inside]
posted by paulsc at 8:47 AM PST - 18 comments

What if the South had won the war? Professor and director, Kevin Wilmott, brings you his vision of a Confederate victory with C.S.A. The Confederate States of America. Not quite Harry Turtledove, NPR examined Wilmott's satirical look at a not quite so possible future and offered their opinion of it. Trailer, anyone?
posted by Atreides at 7:48 AM PST - 356 comments

I'm no dancer, but I'm fascinated by the Dance History Archives. The index of dance styles is comprehensive, and the individual entries provide everything from history to related music links. (Jitterbug, May Pole, The Watusi) There's a short glossary, an index of dancers, a voluptuous section on burlesque (including some great NSFW pictures), an archive of posters (Josephine Baker!), and so much more. The list of Dancer Related Celebrities is pretty extensive (Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth), although there's no Jennifer Grey, so I guess Baby got put in a corner after all.
posted by OmieWise at 6:46 AM PST - 17 comments

London's mayor suspended for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.
posted by atticus at 6:34 AM PST - 66 comments

Only in Tucson can the Mayor and his wife get rear-ended by a stagecoach. It all happened during the annual Rodeo parade in downtown Tucson. There is a fantastic made for TV video of it attached this story.
posted by Guerilla at 6:23 AM PST - 15 comments

Black Box Voting has completed their analysis of log files from Palm Beach (FL) county voting machines stemming from the Nov 2004 general election. You know it's not good news when the article starts with: The internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night.
posted by taumeson at 6:18 AM PST - 96 comments

We all have a lot of questions that are very hard to answer. Like how to prepare cereal, how to prepare a Pop Tart correctly, and how to walk like a ballerina. Luckily, wikiHow is there to help us dummies.
posted by a47danger at 6:05 AM PST - 16 comments

Samarra is in the news. The modern city is small, but built on the colossal ruins of the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Google Earth reveals amazing details of the ancient city, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world.
posted by grahamwell at 5:04 AM PST - 16 comments

UAE, Jolted by Port Deal, Is Key Western Arms Buyer The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the centre of a growing controversy over its proposed management of U.S. port terminals, is one of the world's most prolific arms buyers and a multi-billion-dollar military market both for the United States and Western Europe.
posted by Postroad at 4:57 AM PST - 57 comments

On this date in 1848, The Communist Manifesto was published. Howard Zinn: "I dont see much point in abstract theorizing or getting into arguments about Marxism, Leninism, etc. ... Theoretical analyses are useful but not crucial. There is a lot of wasted time in such endeavors, but not all is wasted. Marxs Communist Manifesto was a theoretical analysis, immensely useful and inspiring. His first volume of Das Kapital was useful too. His second and third volumes, and his Grundrisse, were probably a waste of time!" Informal Poll: How many of you have actually read the entire Communist Manifesto? (I haven't.)
posted by mickeyz at 3:57 AM PST - 42 comments

Twilight for Black Farms. An interesting topic at NPR. Photos. Audio. Essay.
posted by dgaicun at 2:55 AM PST - 6 comments

Einstein was a very clever man, but dear lord did he write some weird things on his blackboard... (It's Friday, it's Fun, it's not Flash. Never mind...)
posted by twine42 at 2:54 AM PST - 22 comments

Odd Supernova Amateur and professional astronomers rejoice , point your telescopes at RA: 03:21:39.71 Dec: +16:52:02.6 to watch a new phenomenon that could turn into a supernova explosion
posted by elpapacito at 2:30 AM PST - 17 comments

One in five Americans consider themselves "holy", according to a recent poll by the Barna Research Group.
posted by bcveen at 1:52 AM PST - 52 comments

It has always amazed me what people will do for free and how much innovation goes on outside of the commercial videogaming industry. Gamehippo, Caiman, Acid-Play, Noodan and Planet Freeplay collectively have thousands upon thousands of freeware games of varying quality, with everything from Super Mario clones to completely original titles.
posted by pancreas at 1:48 AM PST - 3 comments

It was only a matter of time before someone recorded "Cheney's Got a Gun" and made it into a Flash cartoon. Or the Dick Cheney Quail Hunt game. After all, he's our Notorious V.P.
posted by Soliloquy at 11:54 PM PST - 13 comments

Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State University's beloved basketball coach, is back on the sauce. Sutton, 69, is the winning-est active coach in the NCAA, but like other basketball legends, he's no stranger to controversy or tragedy. Sutton previously spent a stint in rehab in the late 1980s.
posted by Brittanie at 10:40 PM PST - 8 comments

Will Malcolm Gladwell's blog be as good as his New Yorker articles and books? Will it be better? I'm always fascinated when "big name" people start blogging. Will he be interesting and personal, dry and professional, or will the blog crash and burn?
posted by cmaxmagee at 9:47 PM PST - 34 comments

tea-bagging ruined my life a ruinous teabag incident
posted by obeygiant at 9:38 PM PST - 107 comments

"Kowloon Walled City resembled a living, breathing creature, born from its inhabitants over its long lifespan." "...occupying an area of approximately 200 by 150 metres. Most of the 500 buildings in the City, housing almost 50,000 residents" (MI)
posted by arse_hat at 9:28 PM PST - 28 comments

The Terrain Engine Project is a nicely documented series of posts about writing a terrain engine from scratch. The author doesn't detail the actual code, instead covering some general problems involved in rendering decent-looking terrain that doesn't require mega-1337 hardware. It's pretty interesting, even for non-coders.
posted by Lirp at 8:52 PM PST - 11 comments

The Mr. Hetero contest. by this guy.
posted by es_de_bah at 7:17 PM PST - 29 comments

Nigga Pleez!
posted by Mijo Bijo at 7:17 PM PST - 34 comments

I apologize to those who have found this site looking for solutions to their companion's pain and suffering.
posted by betaray at 6:16 PM PST - 37 comments

From Inner Sounds to Astro Sounds Session guitarist Jerry Cole made several albums of instrumental surf rock as the leader of Jerry Cole & His Spacemen, but after playing on sessions that produced the Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, he realized he had to adapt to new musical trends. In the summer of '66, Cole responded by bringing several session buddies together to record The Inner Sounds of the Id, a psychedelic studio creation that was at least a year ahead of its time. The story might have ended there if the producer hadn't stolen the Id's session outtakes... (more inside)
posted by jonp72 at 5:00 PM PST - 8 comments

The other religious riots. While much of the world's press has covered the Muslim cartoon riots, not nearly as much ink has been spilled over the continuing violence in Nigeria. A good analysis of underlying factors here. A Shell report points to oil as a proximate cause of violence as well. For oil companies, this may not be a bad thing. (If I was more interested in trolling, I'd have framed this as "Christian Leaders Fail to Condemn Religious Violence." The real world's a little more complex).
posted by klangklangston at 4:56 PM PST - 15 comments

Kiva allows users to sponser small business enterprises in developing countries through flexible loans. By getting repaid and reinvesting, it's a really cool way to give a sustainable gift that keeps on giving.
posted by rollbiz at 4:28 PM PST - 30 comments

(COMICS NERD FILTER) Have you, like me, ever imagined that that somebody could convince a woman that looks remarkably like Katee Sackhoff to portray Power Girl in a fan film about Kara's search for a "real job?"

Imagine no more. Ambitious for a fan film, quite entertaining and the rewards for True DC Comics Fans are quite abundant.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 4:22 PM PST - 23 comments

The New Deal Network from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute has articles, photographs, and other collections of material about the Great Depression and the New Deal. There are selections from the slave narratives collected by the Federal Writers Project, an account of the Harlan County mine wars from John Dos Passos, and enough stuff to ~~waste time~~ keep busy for days.
posted by dilettante at 3:46 PM PST - 8 comments