September 5

The North Hollywood Bank Job. part two part three part four . Inspired by this famous (and NSFW) scene from Heat, on Feb. 28, 1997, Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr. and Emil Matasareanu attempted to rob a Bank of America in North Hollywood, CA using body armor, automatic weapons and barbiturates. This documentary uses news footage, recreations, interviews, computer animation and a cheesy narrator to explain the chaotic hour that followed. There are some violent images. [more inside]
posted by Bookhouse at 4:12 PM - 6 comments

Today's date? Why, it's...July 11, 2052, and man has been cowering in terror, self-sealed in his own living-tombs since that day of horror in...1952. Remember? 100 years ago, the sky above America turned black...with the dread flight of millions of ferocious, gigantic ants! [more inside]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:18 PM - 23 comments

"Smugopedia is a collection of slightly controversial opinions about a variety of subjects. We offer you the chance to buy a fleeting sense of self-satisfaction at the small cost of alienating your friends and loved ones."
posted by PM at 3:10 PM - 12 comments

Fans of Thin Lizzy/Phil Lynott may be unaware of some recent audio-only you tubery. So, let me school you, as the kids say. Live versions: Opium Trail. Romeo and the Lonely Girl (cool slow version). It's Getting Dangerous. The Pressure Will Blow. Don't Play Around (soundcheck). Demos: Rockula. Waiting for an Alibi. Gay Boys (song from Phil's post-Thin Lizzy band Grand Slam). Got to Give it up. [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein at 2:07 PM - 7 comments

Hubba, Hubba, Hubba [more inside]
posted by Rafaelloello at 1:51 PM - 12 comments

Things To Say During Sex [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 1:22 PM - 57 comments

No really, it's good. It's from Florida's Educational Clearinghouse and students and teachers can use up to 50 pieces of it in a single project without needing any further permission. [more inside]
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:37 PM - 14 comments

Flash Friday: Casual Gameplay Escape is a game where you solve puzzles to escape a room. Some puzzles are more difficult than others.
posted by schyler523 at 12:32 PM - 9 comments

Who you are is what you listen to: Prof. Adrian North of Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University recently published results of what the Beeb calls "the largest study of its kind" linking music listening habits to personality characteristics. His breakthrough conclusions? Heavy metal listeners, contrary to public perception, are not a "suicidally depressed" or a "danger to themselves and society in general. But they are quite delicate things." [more inside]
posted by beelzbubba at 12:05 PM - 51 comments

"Of great concern to me, during those same four days in Denver, they rarely mentioned the attacks of September 11, 2001."
posted by swift at 12:04 PM - 76 comments

Something calming after the frenzied conventions. John Williams and Julian Bream team up to play a guitar duet of Debussy's Claire De Lune.
posted by RussHy at 10:41 AM - 13 comments

What was the mysterious green backdrop behind John McCain last night? Was it an attempt to restart the Colbert/McCain Green Screen Challenge? The lawn of one of his houses? Or possibly just a screw-up?
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM - 124 comments

Genome Quilts "The quilts are visually pleasing, with their strong colors and seemingly traditional design, but they hide and reveal an entirely other construct of information." [via]
posted by dhruva at 8:08 AM - 8 comments

Ever since Napoleon Dynamite became a surprise hit in the summer of 2003, and the subsequent rise of Judd Apatow a trend in sentimental but cynical film comedy was born. But this post isn't about the comedy.. [more inside]
posted by mediocre at 4:20 AM - 60 comments

Russell Tongay cheerfully dropped his preschoolers into the Mississippi River. Two-year-old Kathy made it five miles before he pulled her out. Her five-year-old brother Bubba finally staggered to shore after 22 miles. Merely a warmup, their beaming father told the media gathered on the St. Louis riverbank, for what would be his children's crowning achievement: to swim the English Channel, England to France, a crossing that in 1950 had been completed only four times. And so began the short, sad celebrity of the Aquatots, another chapter in America's morbid fascination with children pushed by parents and coaches beyond overachievement into the realm of abuse and endangerment. [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:36 AM - 28 comments

He was born in 1935, died in 1982, and as a musician didn't have a big hit record until 1974, yet in a 2004 Scottish poll with over 12,000 respondents [here], The Sensational Alex Harvey (aka SAHB) came in at #5 Scottish band of all time, beating out Simple Minds, Primal Scream, and Franz Ferdindand. Combining powerful Bon Scott-style vocals, progressive/blues rock riffs, outrageous stage antics (seen to good effect here), and a background steeped in the UK skiffle band tradition, while relatively unknown in the States, the legendary Alex Harvey remains one of the best-remembered and memorable rock stage performers in the world.
posted by humannaire at 12:07 AM - 22 comments

September 4

Hurricane Tracker lets you see where the big Atlantic storms are, where they've been, and where they're projected to be.
posted by Dave Faris at 10:52 PM - 32 comments

Virtual Vaudeville [shockwave] Watch a 3D simulation of legendary comedian Frank Bush in a vaudeville performance from a variety of perspectives. Switch between any of eight perspectives at any time and read the extensive hypermedia notes to gain a richer understanding of the performance in its historical context.
posted by tellurian at 8:46 PM - 9 comments

Canicross is a dog sport that isn't well known in the states, but is gaining popularity in the UK and Europe. It's a little like running with your dog but a bit more technical, a little faster and way more fun.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 8:41 PM - 29 comments

penaddiction.blogspot.com - a blog about pens, with links to lots of other pens and stationery blogs.
posted by nthdegx at 6:32 PM - 61 comments

Everyone is all abuzz about the upcoming election! But even after introducing an act calling for fixed election dates because "this power allows the governing party to set the time of the election to its own advantage", Stephen Harper has decided to call it quits on the 39th Parliament because it's "dysfunctional" even though he's only three years into his mandate. After all, he can change his mind on fixed elections because he supported them in the first place.
posted by GuyZero at 5:43 PM - 93 comments

In a world turned upside down, what more appropriate abode than an upside down house? All it needs now is, say, a nice statue in the front yard.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:56 PM - 28 comments

The Sleep Medicine Home Page: A comprehensive links and resources one-pager for both professionals and sufferers, resources regarding all aspects of sleep including, the physiology of sleep, clinical sleep medicine, sleep research, federal and state information, patient information, and business-related groups.
posted by nickyskye at 4:01 PM - 11 comments

This past Spring, Oklahoma State Representative Joe Dorman (D-Rush Springs) and State Senator John Ford (R-Bartlesville) joined together to put their bipartisan support behind House Concurrent Resolution 1047, a bill to designate the Official Rock Song of Oklahoma, as to be chosen by the people. As long as the song was written or recorded by an artist from Oklahoma, it would be eligible. The lengthy list of nominees has now been pared down to ten, and the voting has opened online. The finalists vary from Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" (written by Okie Mae Boren Axton) to "Do You Realize," by The Flaming Lips, and my personal pick, Three Dog Night's "Never Been to Spain." [more inside]
posted by Navelgazer at 3:57 PM - 48 comments

Bangkok is under a state of emergency this week as approximately 300,000 anti-government protestors have seized control of government buildings. Thai PM Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency last Tuesday and resists calls for his resignation, offering instead a referendum, as the street fighting continues. Many are worried these protests will hurt Thailand's tourist industry, which makes up 6.5% of its GDP. While some express concern about mob rule, the motivations behind the protests are many: "All we are getting in Thailand is the same vicious circle of corrupt, power-hungry leaders. This system is not working."
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:58 PM - 32 comments

This is a long-awaited update to the previous Palin thread. A LOT has happened since then, which I think deserves additional discussion. The last time Palin's Travels was linked to was 2004 and his most recent book that you could view on the site was Sahara. But now you can read the full texts of two more books in Michael Palin's wonderful travel/adventure series: Himalaya and New Europe. There are also loads of pictures, video (Quicktime req.) and audio clips.
posted by ND¢ at 1:34 PM - 67 comments

(SLYTP-filter) What choreography goes best with Igor Stravinsky's "Dance of the Young Girls" from his Rite of Spring? [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein at 12:54 PM - 39 comments

New Scientist reports today that inhabitants of the former Roman Empire have much lower levels of a gene variant that protects against the virus that causes AIDS - CCR5-Delta32 to be exact. Previously, this genetic mutation had been attributed to the spread of the Black Death.
posted by Lizc at 12:46 PM - 16 comments

La Machine - the troop who brought The Sultan's Elephant to London (previously) - are at it again. This time, it's a gigantic, mechanical spider in Liverpool. YouTube. flickr.
posted by MrMustard at 10:50 AM - 27 comments

The Mutual Tattooed Penis Admiration Society: Really fascinating archival footage from the 1980s of Sailor Sid, Jack Yount, and others. This is old-school tattooing and piercing, anchored in gay and S&M subcultures, just before it went mainstream. NSFW, and there are far more NSFW things a click away on these links. [more inside]
posted by Forktine at 9:33 AM - 44 comments

Out There: People Who Live Without TV. About one to two percent of Americans do not watch television, which it turns out, is a common ground for the very liberal and the very conservative. [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 8:52 AM - 171 comments

Tired of dealing with Amazon and the chains? New in town and wondering where all the best bookstores are? Traveling and looking for a bookstore on your visit? Try the new Publishers Marketplace Bookstore Maps mashup. There you can find all stores in an area, or just the kind you're looking for—e.g. just B&Ns in Pittsburgh or just indies and specialty stores in San Francisco. Notice a store is missing? Tell them so they can add their store to the map. Future plans include adding granularity to the specialty store category so that you can sort by type, such as Mystery, Science Fiction, Used, or Gay & Lesbian.
posted by Toekneesan at 7:51 AM - 24 comments

Bill Melendez worked on such animated classics as Bambi, Fantasia, and Dumbo, and directed an animated version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1979. However, he was best known as one of the animators who brought Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" characters to TV and film. Their collaboration spanned 40 years, starting with the legendary "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and eventually encompassing feature films and insurance commercials. Melendez died in his home on Tuesday morning. He was 91. [more inside]
posted by pxe2000 at 4:23 AM - 29 comments

How One Nearly Forgotten 1920s Publisher's “Little Blue Books” Created An Inexpensive Mail-Order Information Superhighway That Paved The Way For The Sexual Revolution, Influenced The Feminist And Civil Rights Movements, And Foreshadowed The Age Of Information. [more inside]
posted by amyms at 2:00 AM - 27 comments

September 3

   MEFI
   META
+ ASKME
-------
 FILTER
 Each letter corresponds to a number 0-9. The solution is unique. [more inside]
posted by Upton O'Good at 11:44 PM - 26 comments

Comics With Problems Presents the first of a two part series entitled "Dick Hafer was an asshole"
posted by tehloki at 10:48 PM - 53 comments

Lucy and Bart : flash-based transmogrification.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:50 PM - 17 comments

Wish you had a good tapeworm in a jar to go with your new sofa? How about a nice pickled carnivorous sea monster for the mantle? Make your own! [more inside]
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:36 PM - 16 comments

Dick Stacey's Country Jamboree is now available on DVD/CD after years of slowly fading into obscurity. "I was wrong in thinking the Jamboree was a thing of the past," said Dick Stacey, a man whose three gas stations and motel took over sponsoring this uniquely Maine talent showcase on a whim in 1973—and ended up lasting just over a decade. [more inside]
posted by boost ventilator at 7:24 PM - 7 comments

Storyboard is an almost-real-time, behind-the-scenes look at the assigning, writing, editing, and designing of a Wired feature. The Birth of Storyboard is a (minimally edited) video of the conversation that spawned the project. The feature—that will be published in November—is about screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. In the past he has woven the process of creating his work into the work itself, so Wired writer Jason Tanz thought it would make sense to do the same. Looking to promote his directorial debut, Kaufman has agreed to take part in the project.
posted by defenestration at 6:14 PM - 6 comments

A lot can happen in 60 seconds. Such as podcasts of one minute how to's, or technology tips, or even one-minute vacations[previous & ongoing] from the life you are living.
posted by netbros at 5:37 PM - 15 comments

Leo Ornstein is generally considered to have been one of the greatest pianists of the early twentieth century. His performances of works by avant-garde composers and his own innovative and even shocking pieces made him a cause célèbre on both sides of the Atlantic. By the mid-1920s, he had walked away from his fame and soon disappeared from popular memory. And although he passed away in 2002, the internet still remembers him and his amazing legacy of work. At this website dedicated to the artist and his work, you can read all about him as well as listen to many of his scores and MP3s-on-demand. There's also readable sheet music here at the International Music Score Library Project . And there's a register of archived documents spanning Leo's career over at Yale University's website. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:01 PM - 7 comments

The Gulf Coast has just witnessed what's being called the "the largest evacuation in US history", but let's hear from those hardy souls who stuck around NOLA to ride it out, shall we? Hey, where else are you gonna see National Guardsmen (charged with the task of enforcing curfew) put down their rifles and take the stage at a local bar for a little blues jam? And be sure to watch the video that accompanies the article: immensely entertaining!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:53 PM - 16 comments

"Analysis of traffic logs (PDF) of email received by a large UK ISP shows considerable disparity between the proportions of spam received by addresses with di fferent first characters." [more inside]
posted by Knappster at 3:45 PM - 7 comments

Bruce McDonald, respected Canadian indie director, announced his plans last week to make not one, not two, but three sequels to his low-budget 1996 cult favorite Hard Core Logo, essentially turning it into a franchise. Hard core fans will no doubt hope that the films are either great enough to live up to the original, or that it's all a publicity stunt timed for the TIFF premiere of his new film Pontypool, a horror flick about zombies who spread infection through conversation. [more inside]
posted by mannequito at 1:11 PM - 26 comments

A Dutch government commission came up with a plan to prevent flooding in spite of climate change during the next two centuries. Predicting a sea level rise of between 0.65 and 1.3 metres (2.15 and 4.3 feet) by 2100, and up to four metres by 2200, the commission said the chances of flooding multiplied 100-fold with every 1.3 metre rise in the sea level. [more inside]
posted by jouke at 12:49 PM - 34 comments

BBC News is running a weekly ongoing series of articles that describe and illustrate common misconceptions (and manipulations) of statistics using examples from the news and ads.
Lesson 1: surveys. Lesson 2: counting. Lesson 3: percentage. Lesson 4: averages. Lesson 5: causation.
posted by Tehanu at 10:50 AM - 45 comments

An American in Beijing's Detention Facilities (via kottke) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 7:11 AM - 66 comments

Alison Bechdel, creator of the very long-running "Dykes to Watch Out For" as well as the autobiographical graphic novel "Fun Home", may end up best known for her creation/popularization of "The Bechdel Test" (also mentioned on wikipedia). [more inside]
posted by rmd1023 at 5:28 AM - 257 comments

The Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness is being held in, well, Accra until Thursday, three years after the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. [more inside]
posted by YouRebelScum at 4:58 AM - 19 comments

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