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October 31
If you were to make a
huge database of skyscrapers where users could submit their own
isometric drawings, I'd tell you that you'd done a wonderful thing.
If you compiled these isometric drawings in to neat collections (see:
World's Tallest,
New York 1935, and
Evolution of World's Tallest) I would then acknowledge that you had made something of substantive import and value, and extend my sincere thanks.
But it is when you provide a robust and responsive search functionality that allows me to include
any type of structure, and sort by
city, by project status, (eg. "
Built", "
Under Construction", "
proposed", "
destroyed") that I drop to my knees and reverently fellate you while holding back tears.
posted by cadastral at 10:56 PM PST - 40 comments
Do you play Sony DRM-protected CD's on your computer?
If so, you might be wide open in terms of security. It seems that
Sony is installing an almost-impossible to find rootkit on the computers of purchasers of their music. Their
EULA doesn't mention the fact that their "small, proprietary" program goes much too far, managing to bypass security software, firewalls, etc. You might want to do
this, anyway.
posted by solopsist at 5:01 PM PST - 60 comments
Armagetron Advanced
is a free network enabled Tron lightcycle racer for windows, OSX & linux. Attractive graphics and interesting camera controls make up for a fairly difficult opponent skill level. Screenshots
here, download link
here.
posted by jonson at 1:25 PM PST - 11 comments
Anocht Oidhche Shamhna!
(Happy New Year!) Samhain (pronounced Sow-en) or Samhuinn (also pronounced Sow-en I guess) "
was (and is) considered a very magical time, when the dead walk among the living and the veils between past, present and future may be lifted in prophecy and divination." It's also a good candidate for the most important historical holiday in the European pagan calendar.
Isaac Bonewitz's Neopagan.net has a few pages about the
history and
misconceptions & lies about All Hallows Eve from the
neo-pagan perspective . Concerned that he's trying to get you join some loony cult of tree huggers? While you're there, run Mr. Bonewitz through his own
Cult Danger Evaluation Frame and see if you're still scared.
posted by illovich at 9:59 AM PST - 94 comments
Get in the mood for Halloween. To begin, you can
carve a virtual pumpkin . Then, over at
PingRay, "a free, weekly eguide to the Net's best entertainment," there's a scary short film, a voodoo boss doll and talking monster cards to round things out.
posted by WildThang at 9:37 AM PST - 2 comments
Illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico is, for the people coming across, a
dangerous and
not always successful method of trying to live and work here. The Mexican government has published a
booklet (english version) which is distributed with some popular comic books and is designed to both discourage citizens from crossing over and offer advice on the dos and don'ts of safe crossing.
Reactions north of the border to this are
predictably mixed.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 8:42 AM PST - 11 comments
October 30
Death as we know it will die.
If you wish to be a prophet, first you must dress the part. No more silk ties or tasseled loafers. Instead, throw on a wrinkled T-shirt, frayed jeans, and dirty sneakers. You should appear somewhat unkempt, as if combs and showers were only for the unenlightened. When you encounter critics, as all prophets do, dismiss them as idiots. Make sure to pepper your conversation with grandiose predictions and remind others of your genius often, lest they forget. Oh, and if possible, grow a very long beard.
By these measures, Aubrey de Grey is indeed a prophet. The 42-year-old English biogerontologist has made his name by claiming that some people alive right now could live for 1,000 years or longer. Maybe much longer. Growing old is not, in his view, an inevitable consequence of the human condition; rather, it is the result of accumulated damage at the cellular and molecular levels that medical advances will soon be able to prevent or even reverse allowing people to go on living pretty much indefinitely.
posted by sharksandwich at 3:58 PM PST - 43 comments
On this day in 1974
in
Kinshasa, Zaire, 32 year old Muhammad Ali knocked out 25 yead old George Forman and regained the World Heavyweight Title. "
The Rumble in the Jungle was a fight that made the whole country more conscious," Ali wrote at the time. "The fight was about racial problems, Vietnam. All of that." Above all the fight was a demonstration of
Ali's inventiveness in the ring. After dazing Foreman with his trademark quickness in the first rounds, Ali fell back against the ropes, and waved Foreman to come get him. Protecting his head,
Ali let Foreman pound away at his ribs and his gut. "At about the seventh round, I had him beaten, I knew I had him," Foreman recounted after the fight. "He fell on my side and whispered, Is that all you got George? I knew something strange was happening in my life especially because that was all I had." In the eight round Ali came off the ropes and unleashed
a fury of punches against his exhausted opponent.
The dope went down. "I did it," Ali boasted after the fight. "I told you he was nothing but did you listen? I told you I was going to jab him in the corners, I told you I was going to take all his shots. I told you he had no skill. I told you he didn't like to be punched."
posted by three blind mice at 7:57 AM PST - 58 comments
October 29
Global Voices Online.
I was a bit surprised to find that this hasn't been posted. Global Voices aims to foster a more diverse online conversation primarily through spot-lighting blogs written by people all over the world. It started last October and has really picked up steam these last few months.
posted by panoptican at 4:25 PM PST - 9 comments
October 28
Rusty's family tried to accept his kinkier interests. "Father, will you buy me that leash for my birthday?"
"But Patches already has a leash," said Father.
"I didn't want it for Patches," said Rusty.
Father chuckled uncomfortably.
posted by jonson at 8:55 PM PST - 36 comments
Go Rangers
This is the tale of a young man who lost an eye to a suicide bomber in Iraq and THEN joined the U.S. Army Rangers. I don't think that he was busy calling his Mom.
posted by snsranch at 5:56 PM PST - 51 comments
WoWFilter: It's official.
The Burning Crusade debuts today in Los Angeles at
BlizzCon, a company-sponsored event that is also showing off
Starcraft: Ghost. The convention has been sold out for nearly 3 months now. Surprisingly, even after selling out all the tickets, Blizzard went on to announce that
The Offspring will perform (with an opener from
Christian Finnegan), there will be a fully equipped exhibit hall, and the event will take place right next to
Disney Land. The convention opened its doors this morning, and Blizzard promptly put up the official site for the expansion. The only question that remains is: What is the new mystery playable race for the Alliance? My vote is for drunk Panda Ninjas.
posted by thanotopsis at 12:58 PM PST - 43 comments
"Hey Mom its me."
Something my son always said every time he called, but this time his voice sounded unusual. He had a really serious tone in his voice and the automatic gunfire in the background was loud and more constant than usual. My heart began to race and I took a deep breath.
"Hey, I'm trapped on a rooftop and I don't think we are going to make it out of here, so I just called to tell you that I loved you and that I am thinking of all of you."
posted by caddis at 10:47 AM PST - 114 comments
Heiterkeit
(12 meg quicktime movie) is an utterly charming German music video about all the
other fun things you can do lying down. (Yes, it's entirely safe for work, unless your workplace forbids quirky charm.) If you enjoy it, check out
Transsylvanische Verwandte(12 meg quicktime movie), another work by
the same director. For a look behind the scenes of both films, there's this
making-of video. (The making of video is a realplayer file, and it's in German--but I don't speak German, and I got the general idea.) Via
Antville.
posted by yankeefog at 10:03 AM PST - 12 comments
Its official.
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby indicted on two counts of Perjury, two counts of Making False statements and one count of Obstruction of Justice. All of which are felonies. It is expected Libby will tender his resignation today.
posted by SirOmega at 9:48 AM PST - 320 comments
Is the US broken beyond repair?
Columnist Peggy Noonan asks some disturbing questions about the US and its future. Have the wheels come off the trolley and are we headed off the tracks. Can anyone put us back on the tracks or is it too late? A very thought provoking article.
posted by waltb555 at 9:28 AM PST - 117 comments
Death in Sakkara: An Egyptian Adventure
(flash).
An Indiana Jones style web-based game from the BBC's Ancient History department.
Egypt, 1929. Journalist Charles Fox plunges into a darkly sinister world of intrigue, murder and mysticism in the hunt for a missing archaeologist.
Oh yes, it's
really hard.
via Wonderland
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:19 AM PST - 17 comments
October 27
It's Comcastic!
Manipulate and record messages with digital flash-based puppets. All the fun of real marionettes, but without the pesky strings. (The site also features some dexterity tests/games for your mad mousing skillz)
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:56 PM PST - 22 comments
I love to guita-r.
(QT required, but the downloads were pretty fast.) Wha-wha without the paddles. These are videos of past winners and hall-of-famers of US Air Guitar Championships. Makes for a laugh.
posted by countzen at 3:27 PM PST - 12 comments
Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything.
Suggesting specific podcasts might be a little iffy but if you haven't heard Benjamin Walker, you're really missing out. A self-described "radio artist," Walker's delivery immediately jumps out. And once you start to listen to whatever it is he's saying, you'll find yourself angry, fascinated, entertained and/or perhaps enlightened.
posted by panoptican at 1:58 PM PST - 15 comments
Retrieved photos:
This fellow develops film that has been locked away in cameras, often for a long time. Some interesting photos. The commentary under the photos is a bit ... lackluster.
A nice little site to waste a little time with.
posted by edgeways at 12:32 PM PST - 49 comments
GrooOOoovy Halloween Sharity
Tiki-Tim's Exotica Lounge has been posting a fab collection of 60s Halloween novelty records, including Frankie Stein and His Ghouls, Gene Moss and His Monsters, a Munsters album, and other gems. Just the thing to get the party going!
posted by carter at 11:37 AM PST - 7 comments
Newsfilter:
If
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the destruction of Israel, would anybody listen? Apparently this time they are. While vague threats from Iran are a dime a dozen, "Since 1945, the establishment of the United Nations, no head of state which is a member of the United Nations ever called for the destruction of another member of the United Nations, publicly and clearly, as the president of Iran did." according to Shimon Peres, in
demanding that Iran be expelled from the UN for the statement.
Much of the world seems
pretty upset (including the US, who's destruction was also called for on this merry "
World without Zionism" conference), but will it lead to anything, or is it just a ratcheting up of the hyperbole between Iran and the IAEA?
posted by loquax at 10:53 AM PST - 111 comments
You park, they pay
NYC Port Authority found negligent by having parking under WTC. Jury finds terrorists 32% responsible for exploding van there in 1993. 400 plaintiffs seek $1.8 billion, NYCPA will have to pay 100% of the damages that might be awarded.
posted by dand at 10:11 AM PST - 45 comments
RFID+US Passport?
By October 2006, the U.S. government will require nearly all of the passports it issues to include a computer chip containing the passport holder's personal information...
posted by yoga at 8:43 AM PST - 41 comments
Iraqi insurgents are rejecting al-Qaida
in favour of the political process. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad spent 5 days with an Iraqi resistance group during the constitutional vote, and found that al-Qaida involvement in the insurgency-particularly their tactic of targetting Iraqi police and soldiers-is both unwelcome and unwanted. Instead many Sunni are looking toward using the democratic process to achieve their ends.
posted by MadOwl at 6:59 AM PST - 42 comments
October 26
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!
Step right up and see the
Sideshow. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have something here for everyone. See the
freaks of nature, the
mutants, the
human oddities, the
sword swallowers, the
dime museum, a special exhibit of
sideshow banners from the past, and yes, we even have, live before your very eyes, direct from the 21st century, special acts from the
Coney Island Sideshow. And for a small extra charge, a
special section of premier performers including
exhibitions of pugilism, as well as an exhibit of posters from Tod Browning's movie,
Freaks. The circus starts in a little over an hour and a half, so you have plenty of time to see these astounding wonders of the world.
posted by mischief at 7:19 PM PST - 22 comments
Filmgeeks -- and I know there are many on MeFi -- may wish to check out
smallformat, the magazine for Super8, Single8, and 16/9.5/8mm enthusiasts. It's mother is the long-established German magazine of the same name. First issues went out the door only a few days/weeks ago.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:18 PM PST - 14 comments
The American Civil Liberties Union today made public an analysis of new and previously released autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom died while being interrogated. The documents show that detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, beaten with blunt objects, subjected to sleep deprivation and to hot and cold environmental conditions. The documents released today are available online...U.S. Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and IraqThe Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody... "This is the first time they've said explicitly that the intelligence community should be allowed to treat prisoners inhumanely," said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "In the past, they've only said that the law does not forbid inhumane treatment." Now, he said, the administration is saying more concretely that it cannot be forbidden.Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees
posted by y2karl at 1:51 PM PST - 69 comments
LA-DEEEES AND GENTLEMEN!
STEP RIGHT UP! THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! The Strange and Unusual, the Freaks of Nature, the Shocking and the Bizarre! YOU won't BELiEVE your EYES!
posted by crunchland at 11:15 AM PST - 7 comments
"
R2 that seg fault is popping up again, see if you can lock
it down!"
posted by Witty at 8:40 AM PST - 20 comments
October 25
The Acoustics of Gases.
The high-pitched version of your voice that you hear when you inhale helium represents a cool principle. Unlike the speed of light, the speed of sound is quite sensitive to the composition of the medium that it travels through. A gas such as helium that is much less dense than the air we normally breathe and hear in will actually cause the speed of sound to increase, a phenomenon that we perceive as a
Chipmunks-like change in pitch. A couple of scientists have used this relationship between sound frequency and gas composition to
invent an acoustic device for monitoring the gas composition of air. Of course , if you're a canary this is nothing new.
posted by derangedlarid at 8:58 PM PST - 23 comments
Last Post.
Evan 'Darby' Allan, the last of Australia's 330,770 World War 1 veterans, was
buried with full state honours yesterday, closing one of the most dismal chapters in our history. Joining the navy at 14, Darby avoided the bloody horrors of the
Somme and
Gallipoli, which contributed heavily to the over
60 000 Australian war dead and 200 000 total casualties (from a population of only about 5 000 000), but he still played his part in what many historians suggest was the prime cause of 20th century totalitarianism, the second world war and the cold war. And it was all
so pointless. He seemed like a nice bloke, and the reportage has thankfully avoided most of the 'hero' bullshit (I don't think he would have approved).
posted by wilful at 5:34 PM PST - 40 comments
Bad Design Kills
The world is steeped in bad design. As designers we see something every day that makes us cringe or shake our head in disgust. But bad design does more than offend the eye of the designer. It facilitates a poor public perception for what our industry does and at the same time it lowers the perceived value of our services.
posted by ColdChef at 5:13 PM PST - 65 comments
Octacube Sculpture
The stainless-steel Octacube is a striking object of visual art and also a mental portal to the
fourth dimension, a teaching tool, and a research object bringing together many branches of mathematics and physics connected to the structure of symmetry.
posted by thecollegefear at 4:29 PM PST - 27 comments
Do you mix your own?
Welcome to the website dedicated to making mixed tapes and cds. i like to use this site along with
AMG (as a reference tool) to come up with much needed new ideas , and share them with people of similar tastes. just copy the names you find in AOTM (the ones you have no idea who they are) paste in the search engine at AMG and then listen to a sample of music from said group , to see if its your thing or not. here is a
group i was introduced to a few years ago . found them ( you guessed it) on AOTM . when you find a mix you like offer to trade one of your own for it and use
this site or some thing like it to share with your new friend.
posted by nola at 5:35 AM PST - 22 comments
October 24
So long, and thanks for all the thrills.
This weekend, Astroworld (I refuse to prepend "Six Flags") will close its doors. Envisioned in 1968 by
Judge Roy Hofheinz (who also brought us Houstonians a
major league baseball team, and a
stadium in which they could play), the amusement park was where I spent a lot of my childhood in the 70s.
Grass roots movements to save the park have
failed, and thus it's time to say goodbye to the place that played host to one of the
best rollercoasters in the world, a ride that
scared the crap out of me, a
double ferris wheel with a twist, as well as the
Boogie Fog Disco, where I learned how to do The Hustle. All's not lost, as at least I can download the
Texas Cyclone, but I still feel a little misty-eyed for the boy who spent most of his weekends in this magical and wondrous place. Farewell.
posted by WolfDaddy at 8:56 PM PST - 58 comments
