The London Transport Museum has 100 years of posters online, searchable by artist, decade, theme.

How the mighty have fallen. The worlds formerly Only Ass Kicking Machine is now just an Ass Kicking Machine.

This isn't such a bad idea. I'd pay for a hackable Model A.

What would the world look like if everyone lived like you?

Kasparov on modern Russian power
(New Yorker, where you should also check out "Mapping Manahatta" that explores Manhattan island, pre-urbanization)

Science of boomerangs

Unearthing a designer's 1980 portfolio (DesignObserver)

How Sputnik helped launch the field of Computer Science 50 years ago.
(ComputerWorld)

Fabiano Busdraghi's Antarctic Photography
Amazing.

Extreme Rich/Poor divides
(deputydog, who also (accurately) lists the most repulsive buildings on earth)

Tim Noble and Sue Webster's Junk Shadows
(via Daily Awesome)

Book Autopsies (biobliopsies?)

Creationist imbecile on 'The View' isn't sure whether or not the world is flat.

Unfortunate name that this company went with.

Florida Student Tasered by police at Kerry Forum

This is how the America treats its engineers. You can bet the Chinese don't have to deal with this bullshit.

“Sir, this is an improvised electronic device. You will never be allowed to fly with this.”

I responded to many questions with information about my occupation, circuit theory up to and including Ohm’s law, and a discussion of the market for bicycle power meters. But they still would not let me fly with the programmer. I had to leave it behind.

Another fantastic Olbermann op-ed. "Promoting Failure in the Bush Administration" (youtube)
(via truthout)

Most Americans think that founders intended a Christian nation

And the founders saaaaaid!...

George Washington, 1st President (1789-1797)
"... the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion ..."
Source: The "Treaty of Tripoli," negotiated and signed by the First
President of the United States, on November 4, 1796

John Adams, 2nd President (1797-1801)
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it.
Source: A letter to Thomas Jefferson, May 15, 1817

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President (1801-1809)
"Christianity ... (has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ... Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers ..."
Source: Six Historic Americans, by John E. Remsberg

James Madison, 4th President (1809-1817), often called the Father of
the Constitution:
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
Source: Letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774

Benjamin Franklin:
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."
Source: "Toward the Mystery"

Thomas Paine (1737-1809):
"I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to
that book (the Bible)."
The Age of Reason, Part 1, Section 5

Thomas Jefferson:
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot ..."
Source: Thomas Jefferson letter to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814. ME 14:119

Thomas Paine (1737-1809):
"The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."
From The Age of Reason

Zefrank tells you how to act convincingly
(where you should also play every second and experience how long a second really is)

Public lettering - a walk in central London

Death of Form
This also explains how we went from soul, jazz, country, and blues to "jam bands"

Opacity.us is a great guide to urban ruins and abandoned locations.

[Quote of the day (hell... possibly the year)]
Hindu hardliners say the project will destroy what they say is a bridge built by Ram and his army of monkeys.

Jerry Byrd and Marty Robbins on steel and rhythm. Nice story on origin of the steel at beginning.

ArtRage - a cheap ($25 for full edition)/free alternative to Painter

I need several thousand of these links

Index of British Pub Toilets (via the venerable Bifurcated Rivets)

Roast coffee in a popcorn popper

Some unreal shadow puppets.

Gene Sequence - all in a single interactive poster

Gallery of old-time paper moon photos (flickr, courtesy of drawn)

Liberal, Conservative brains different
(conservative brains were detected?)

Rock and Roll: The early days (google video, 58 mins)

The Dark Side of the West: 17 Truly Grim Westerns (avclub)

Philosophy/Vertigo (popmatters)

A bizarre Victorian collection of whale illustrations from bibliodyssey. why the hell not?

Gallery of Book Labels

Model Railroad slums

Good NYTimes article on Rick Rubin's bid to rebuild Columbia records

Masons, EndTimes, and FreeMasons converge at the Denver International Airport
(via metafilter)

Weidner explains that some high-level factions in Masonic society may be using the murals to alert the general population to the earth-shattering political and environmental changes in store for 2012. Either that, or those factions are amazingly arrogant. Because for Weidner and other conspiracy experts, the symbolism is as explicit as a manifesto.