The past 24 hours of MetaFilter
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- Pith
Why we should not make mean log of wealth big though years to act are long (.pdf) by Paul Samuelson. (via)
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:39:07 -0800
- The Camel Toe Report
The Camel Toe Report [some onsite ads NSFW, certainly questionable at best] is dedicated to documenting camel toe sightings in the wild. Rate My Camel Toe goes one step beyond, offering viewers the opportunity to weigh in on the "best" and "worst" camel toes. Even celebrities get camel toe from time to time.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:26:55 -0800
- Heebie Jeebie filter
Giant snails are parasite carriers, agricultural pests, good pets and totally delicious and nutritious! What more could you ask for in a slowly invading slimy overlord? Just be sure to protect your brains.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:44:10 -0800
- A reveview of : The Trap: What happened to our dream of freedom
A review of The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom, episode 1. BBC very recently aired the first episode of three by Adam Curtis , the author of The Power of Nightmares [prev] and The Century of Self. As far as I understood, the author advances that some
attempts to implement "sustainable freedom" in our world may be founded on a politically-unarguable, oversimplifying and sometimes paranoid assumption that people almost constantly behave in a selfish way ; we may be suffering the undesiderable consequences of forcing a model to fit one assumption , actually reducing our freedom.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:12:25 -0800
- George Lange's Best of 2006
Photographer George Lange compiled his favorite work from 2006 in a mesmerizing slide-show, well-worth a few minutes of your time.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:33:51 -0800
- A scanner hungry
Hi-res food scans (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, via)
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:11:52 -0800
- Perinatal Hospice Programs
Living With a Dying Baby. "Families can choreograph their child?s very brief life with their family . . . Sometimes they may have a matter of minutes, so they decide beforehand who can hold the baby, who will cut the umbilical cord, who will hold the baby when you know he is going to die."
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:29:21 -0800
- From Star to Dust.
2 July, 1958 - 13 March 2007. The Stardust Hotel/Casino was reduced to dust (youtube) at 2:30 am this morning.
Initially opened in 1958 as the first low-budget property on the strip (rooms cost $6 a night), it (and the Westward Ho nearby) has been demolished to make room for a 5,300 room $4B ultra-luxury resort named Echelon, currently the second most expensive property development in Nevada (behind Project City Center down the road).
One of the few remaining remnants of old Vegas, it was mob-owned/operated until at least 1984 (when the gaming commission levied a $3M fine for skimming), and is probably best known as the setting for the mostly nonfiction book/movie Casino.
Over the years, it could lay claim to having the largest casino, the longest pool, the most rooms (twice), the largest neon sign, the only drive-in theater, the largest fine ever levied by the gaming commission, and the most consecutive live performances by Wayne Newton. It was also one of the last properties on the strip to use the more expensive metal-centered gaming chips.
Arrivederci.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:43:51 -0800
- Bombs and books on Mutanabbi Street.
The Bookseller's Story, Ending Much Too Soon. Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post writes about Mohammed Hayawi, "a bald bear of a man," who ran the Renaissance Bookstore on "Baghdad's storied Mutanabi Street." Back in 2005, Phillip Robertson wrote a Salon article about Al Mutanabbi Street, "Baghdad's legendary literary cafe, the Shabandar, " and Hajji Qais Anni's stationery store: "Hajji Qais had been on Al Mutanabbi street for 10 years and the vendors all knew him... He wore a beard and was also known as a devout Sunni who had no problem hiring Shia workers or spending time with Christian colleagues." Both Hayawi and Hajji Qais were killed by bombs, the cafe has been gutted, and the street that "embodied a generation-old saying: Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, Baghdad reads" is no longer its old self. "When the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258, it was said that the Tigris River ran red one day, black another. The red came from the blood of nameless victims, massacred by ferocious horsemen. The black came from the ink of countless books from libraries and universities. Last Monday, the bomb on Mutanabi Street detonated at 11:40 a.m. The pavement was smeared with blood. Fires that ensued sent up columns of dark smoke, fed by the plethora of paper." Two views of a part of Baghdad that doesn't make the news much.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:14:04 -0800
- "The sun descending in the west, The evening star does shine;"
Have you ever wondered what a solar eclipse would look like from space? The STEREO
(Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) has just sent back its view (awe-inspiring video included). It has also sent back some gorgeous pictures of our sun (and the McNaught Comet). For more media, check out the other galleries (including some 3D images). For more about the project, see NASA's STEREO homepage. Be sure to also stop by the Johns Hopkins University STEREO Page, where you can download a mission guide (pdf), view animations, watch a video of the launch, or even make your own papercraft STEREO model (pdf). You can also learn more in six minute segments with their series of short educational videos.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:12:27 -0800
- Earn Ben Stein's Money
Terribly Exciting Interesting article from Ben Stein, regarding business, the economy, and the American middle class. and just when I thought I figured him out..
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:50:45 -0800
- General Motors Heritage Center houses four decades of GM's electric drive vehicles
General Motors Heritage Center houses four decades of GM's electric drive vehicles (via Digg)
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:16:25 -0800
- I Have In Me The Last Unanswered Question
Why Do You Stay Up So Late? An interactive, illustrated poem. [note: sound and flash animation]... From the wonderful Born Magazine, "an experimental venue marrying literary arts and interactive media." A previous project from Born Magazine was featured on Metafilter in 2004.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:46:33 -0800
- Le beatbox royale.
Beatboxing in France? Who knew? (warning: lots of YouTube coming up.) The Art of Noise had their Beat Box (and live) . It's all good and well but maybe this beatbox is just a bit more interesting. There's even a very well documented history behind it. The Fat Boys did it, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh did it and we've already seen Super Mario Beatboxed with a flute. Roxorloops takes another turn. And even more French beatboxing.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:58:17 -0800
- a word that belongs to the media-linguistic system
Subvertr. Progess.
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 08:43:30 -0800