July 19

China is making a concerted effort to colonize Africa with dire consequences for Africans. In protest to China's involvement in Darfur's genocide, Steven Spielberg has resigned as Artistic Director of the Beijing Olympics.
posted by MetaMan at 11:03 PM - 15 comments

Festejo? ... Festejo! [more inside]
posted by Rubbstone at 3:07 PM - 12 comments

Most people are familiar with welding metal, but it’s entirely possible to weld plastic. There are a surprising number of ways to weld plastic, but first you will need to identify what kind it is. The smell of burning plastic is a particularly effective diagnostic. This man is welding with hot air. Many instructional videos are made by companies whose products are featured in the video, like this somewhat surreal demonstration of speed tip welding. Perhaps the most low-tech method is with a soldering iron.
posted by Tube at 2:57 PM - 24 comments

Larry Groce has been producing Mountain Stage in West Virginia for 25 years. This weekly radio and public television program has been broadcasting the best mountain music in Appalachia, usually from the WV Cultural Center. This month NPR began distributing the show nationally in the U.S. Also, last year Mountain Stage began archiving podcasts of the programs ... many, many hours of wonderful mountain music. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 2:23 PM - 7 comments

The Dana Carvey Show lasted for only a handful of episodes on ABC in the spring of 1996. but produced more than its share of memorable sketches, thanks to a talented writing staff (with Charlie Kaufman among others), and a cast including Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, and Robert Smigel. Some highlights for the Hulu-impaired: Leftover Beatle Memories - Skinheads from Maine - Germans who Say Nice Things - First Ladies as Dogs - Waiters who are Nauseated by Food
posted by Silune at 2:08 PM - 43 comments

Bicycles are the most efficient mode of transportation; walking is a distant second, followed by crowded vans and motorcycles, with everything else being relatively equal. This may change soon. WSJ online jokingly tests a new plug-in electric bike versus a standard racing model.
posted by Brian B. at 12:10 PM - 55 comments

Early Twentieth Century Russian Drama and From the Ends to the Beginning: A Bilingual Anthology of Russian Poetry are both products of Northwestern University Slavic Department. The former is devoted to Russian theater from the 1890s through the 1930s and focuses on the visual aspect of theater, with images of costumes, set designs and photographs of stagings. The latter is a collection of 250 poems, both in Russian and English translations ranging from the 18th Century to the modern day. There are some amazing images from the history of Russian drama, such as Kazimir Malevich's designs for Victory over the Sun and a quicktime video of actors doing Meyerhold's biomechanical exercises. The Listening Gallery of russianpoetry.net has over 75 recitals of poems, including Vladmir Mayakovsky reading his own And Could You? and a reading of Velimir Khlebnikov's famous Invocation of Laughter.
posted by Kattullus at 11:09 AM - 8 comments

The Mehterhane or Mehter, as they are often known, are thought to be the oldest military marching band in the world. Starting around the 13th century, the band accompanied the Ottoman empire troops (Janissaries, or yeniçeri, roughly meaning "new troops" and were comprised mostly of young men from the Balkans) into battle, spreading their music along the way and influencing western classical composers like Mozart and Beethoven. [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete at 10:44 AM - 13 comments

Have some yip-yips with your weekend. [mlyt]
posted by shadow vector at 9:54 AM - 26 comments

The žižkov television tower in Prague was pretty weird looking to begin with, since 2000 it's gotten much stranger...
posted by Artw at 8:20 AM - 36 comments

Coming in at just under $860,000, the take for the recently auctioned estate of James Brown fell well short of the two million that Christie's had hoped for. You'll want to browse the collection for yourself, of course. If I had the extra scratch, I'd have sure bought this.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:46 AM - 21 comments

Meet Brent Rinehart: Conservative Republican. Active Christian. Roads Scholar. NOT a homosexual pedifile. [PDF] The controversial mix of comics and politics are back in the news this week. So are Oklahoma's homophobic politicians, with the amazing comic book adventure of Brent Rinehart. [more inside]
posted by Dirjy at 12:05 AM - 78 comments

July 18

Totem Destroyer ... a puzzle game where you strategically remove blocks in order to lower a golden idol closer to the ground. Get it within 3 squares from the bottom, but not touching it, and you move on to the next level. (via)
posted by Dave Faris at 11:37 PM - 26 comments

Meet the World's Greatest Distance Zorber [what's zorbing?], some dude who put ten rattlesnakes in his mouth?, the rellepS drawkcaB tsetsaF s'dlroW, TheWorld'sFastestTalker, and a host of others who are the World's ____-est via the Guinness World Records podcast. [all links are in .mp3 format except to the main site.]
posted by not_on_display at 9:57 PM - 4 comments

One Step Beyond - The Sacred Mushroom. A 1961 episode of One Step Beyond investigates whether or not psilocybin mushrooms can give you extra-sensory perception. Part 2, Part 3. [Via Neurophilosophy]
posted by homunculus at 9:35 PM - 23 comments

In a time before the Prius, the custom conversion van ruled the roadways. Pushing the boundaries of the airbrush form, testing the limits of mobile interior design, featuring the latest in automatic pink leather bed, compact toaster, 8-track, and love machine technology, the 70s van was celebrated in song and cinema. You started with a factory model, new or used, and ended at a place limited onlyby your creativity, your budget, and your old lady's patience (NSFW). Ford could make you a man.If push came to shove, you could even live in your van. It was fantasy on wheels: van-tastic, man. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 9:14 PM - 40 comments

Br. Cesare Bonizzi, "the heavy metal friar"(watch out for the volume on that last link), says he was inspired by the energy of Metallica and that he is not trying to convert anyone to Christianity, but rather to "convert [listeners] to life" and get them to live their lives "full stop."
posted by homelystar at 9:12 PM - 15 comments

Pictures (and a video) of a leopard attacking and killing a crocodile.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:48 PM - 31 comments

What's YOUR Pew News IQ? (not to be confused with the New Zoo Revue, even though it rhymes) We've discussed Pew's surveys about news knowledge before, but this time you can test yourself. Just 12 eeeee-zeee questions (not 100). Wendell got them all correct. Can you? [more inside]
posted by wendell at 8:15 PM - 80 comments

This scale was first brought to my attention by the blog "The Unwound Road". It appears someone took the original 1930s rating scale and posted it to Flickr. From there it was a natural progression to Internet quiz. So, how would you rate as a husband or wife in the 1930s? Answer 100 true or false type questions and find out!
posted by polysigma at 6:45 PM - 24 comments

Browse the demise of Starbucks' stores in this searchable list of all 600 closures.
posted by plexi at 2:40 PM - 165 comments

They started out as spritely saplings, but something went horribly wrong.... The lucky ones merely got a little funny, the others became tormented, monstrous. Creepy Trees.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 1:32 PM - 17 comments

My favorite poet, Kay Ryan has been named United States Poet Laureate. [more inside]
posted by Peach at 1:31 PM - 37 comments

The Pram Museum
posted by anastasiav at 12:57 PM - 12 comments

MIT TechTV [beta]. Like YouTube for braniacs (minus the scandalous invasion of privacy).
posted by Rykey at 9:44 AM - 8 comments

Listen, can you hear them talk? They might be soft spoken, and not easy to get along with, but they can still command (previously) our respect. Read how they are looked after around the world, and the stories which affect their daily lives. Also, here (pdf) is a comprehensive study of their living conditions in different kinds of societies across the globe.
posted by hadjiboy at 9:39 AM - 8 comments

Charles Cohen improvises on the very rare Buchla Music Easel synthesizer.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:26 AM - 18 comments

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has photographed Earth from 31 million miles away. NASA has woven the images together, creating a video of Earth as the moon orbits around it. Videos: 1 | 2 [.mov]. [more inside]
posted by ericb at 9:04 AM - 73 comments

The developers of the long awaited vaporware title masterpiece, Duke Nukem Forever, had previously expressed their disdain for the E3 game conference, calling it "irrelevant nowadays," but in a surprise move they showed up for the conference and released this stunning four minute trailer for the three new handheld Duke games that are in development. "Duke Nukem Trilogy trailer redefines awesome," declares joystiq.com
posted by CheshireCat at 8:49 AM - 90 comments

Mario is at bat, man! Just in time to handle your jones for singalong fan bonding, to speak the heretofore unspoken truths of super jawesome classic film themes. Also he dresses up, like it's, um, Halloween.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:41 AM - 11 comments

Type is art. Take little pieces of letterforms and make something new.
posted by signal at 8:01 AM - 10 comments

Friday Flash Fun [more inside]
posted by DU at 7:47 AM - 52 comments

Hellenica is an encyclopedia of Greek culture, from classical Hellas, through the Byzantine Empire until the modern day, though its focus is on antiquity and especially the science and technology of Ancient Greece. Featuring technical diagrams and explications, there's no better site if you seek information on gigantic galleys, now obscure great Greek mathematicians, the last still working Ancient lighthouse and gears and how they were used by Archimedes and other ancients. This is not to denigrate other sections of the site, such as the page on the Olympics (including a Google Map of the site of the games), biographies of ancient, Byzantine and modern Greeks, the warring and healing of the Byzantines or the overview of Greek literature, taking in antiquity, the medieval era and modern times. That said, Hellenica is at its finest when treating science and technology.
posted by Kattullus at 6:21 AM - 8 comments

Busted Wonder ― The cartoon art of Charity Larrison and Kieron Gillen.
posted by netbros at 5:24 AM - 9 comments

Winding their way down from California, they lost a few agents. Two were arrested in Albuquerque after they allegedly forced their way into the home of an elderly couple and beat them to death, raping the wife first.... Then, in West Texas, a van flipped, killing one agent and injuring three others. That's seven agents out of commission. That's about a $2,800 loss per day. After they turn in their cash and receipts, two agents, a pudgy girl and a lanky guy, hit the parking lot for a smoke.... It's a blast, they say. You lie all day to sell subscriptions, and you unwind afterward with some smoke. You tell the customers that you live a few streets over, that you go to the local school and play on the soccer team, that you just sold subscriptions to their neighbor, and the idiots buy it because by now you've got it down to a science. And on to the next town. And the next.
posted by orthogonality at 5:12 AM - 67 comments

A recently uncovered musical experiment by Delia Derbyshire predicted the sound of modern dance music three decades before it became fashionable. [more inside]
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 2:54 AM - 37 comments

The San Francisco Department of Elections has qualified our initiative. The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco has won its ballot initiative to honor George W. Bush: Should The City And County of San Francsico Rename The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W Bush Sewage Plant?
posted by three blind mice at 2:11 AM - 65 comments

Something awful in a new CBC anthem. The CBC's Hockey Night in Canada is one of the highest-rated programs on Canadian television. It's something of a national shrine to our beloved sport. For the past 40-odd years, it's had a distinctive theme which most Canadians could hum. After something of a fiasco, the CBC lost the rights to the theme. They're running a contest to replace the venerated theme. A Something Awful forum user composed a truly dreadful entry ("mostly comprised of cat and sheep sounds, baby cries, and gunshots/explosions"), and got the community to 'vote it up' on the Anthem contest site. You really need to hear the awfulness to truly appreciate it. [more inside]
posted by dbarefoot at 12:30 AM - 64 comments

July 17

A corpse flower is blooming right now and you can watch. In addition to smelling like rotting flesh, the flowers are beautiful, and their scientific name means "misshapen giant penis."
posted by tits mcgee at 8:53 PM - 29 comments

Surtsey was first observed on November 14, 1963, as a pillar of smoke on the water some ways south of Iceland. The very next day lava and tephra broke the surface of the Atlantic and by May, 1964 the formation had grown to 2.4 km². Over the next three years lava eruptions continued, coating the loose debris in a hard shell and protecting it from erosion. An island born. Naturally, Surtsey has been under close scientific observation since its emergence, and courtesy The Surtsey Research Society you can read published reports on the geology and biological colonization of this new earth.
posted by carsonb at 8:41 PM - 9 comments

The Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin to PLAY CHESS wit. WuChess.com is the worlds first online chess and Hip-Hop community. You can create and share profiles with your friends and triumph over enemies on the 64 squares. Not just against people in your neighborhood but from all over the world. Play live chess with people from all over the world and get your learn on. Blog.
posted by ColdChef at 5:24 PM - 30 comments

It looks like a cigarette. It smokes like a cigarette. But it's actually the e-cigarette, and it might be the future of smoking. [more inside]
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:18 PM - 80 comments

More worries in New Orleans, this time from the Police Department. Within three weeks, Police Superintendent Warren Riley (as seen on the left) has suspended three NOPD officers in separate incidents: one for leading Crescent City Connection police on a high speed chase which ended in one pursuit officer grazed by the fleeing car and another slapped (video). One involved an off-duty officer brandishing a gun at a children's camp and shouting expletives, apparently even backed up by responding officers, according to witness accounts. Another was suspended for wearing the wrong colored shirt on the day he retired, a punishment Riley sees as appropriate as a "consequence of his actions".
posted by kuperman at 4:17 PM - 28 comments

The 10 Greatest Misspelled Tattoos, according to The L Magazine.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 3:54 PM - 70 comments

An inspirational update to the story of Jason McElwain.
posted by kyleg at 3:02 PM - 5 comments

Too polished? Too clean? Too much of a run of the mill action movie for my liking. But hey, I guess its only the first trailer....
posted by Mintyblonde at 3:02 PM - 214 comments

A couple recent documentaries have accurately shown how China is changing and developing at lightning speed. The People's Republic of Capitalism speaks mainly of China's all-consuming economic growth and its ramifications. I was riveted by Frontline's Young and Restless in China and Frontline World: Jesus in China. These show the struggles of the Chinese to keep up with the changes, deal with their hypocritical government and define their beliefs in a society still riddled with corruption.
posted by wundermint at 1:39 PM - 30 comments

From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley. [Via Plep - NY]
posted by homunculus at 12:20 PM - 3 comments

Pakistani Investors Stone Exchange Pakistan investors stormed out of the Karachi Stock Exchange, smashed windows and cursed regulators after the benchmark index fell for a 15th day, the worst losing streak in at least 18 years. [more inside]
posted by rough ashlar at 11:44 AM - 29 comments

Eusociality - its what bees, ants, and all those other insects that divide into workers, drones, and queens do. But naked mole rats (which are not related to moles or rats) are one of only two mammal species that follow the same pattern, with their cousins Damaraland mole rats as the only other eusocial mammals. They're also nearly cold blooded, impervious to pain, and feed their young on their own feces from the time they're a month old until they can eat the giant tubers that make up most of their diet.
posted by sotonohito at 11:08 AM - 39 comments

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