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.

Art Deco book covers

How vinyl records are made - parts 1 and 2

Inside the FBI Wiretap Net (Wired)
Gotta love that good ole'-fashioned American ingenuity! There's no problem that a dream and $40M in the right well-connected hands won't solve.

This guy made himself a really nice audiophile turntable for $50.
(Attn audiophile people who spent $6k on a Swedish boutique model - don't email me griping about specs or the benefits of cold forged titanium alloys over wood. It satisfies the basic requirements)

Sail through the northwest passage unimpeded by ice. For the first time, like, ever.
This puts Exxon in a strange position. My bet is that they continue to deny global warming while running their supertankers through the new route, then issue a press release about how continental drift shifted the ice or something.

Leona's dog gets $12M inheritance - more than all of her grandkids combined (2 got nothing)

I'm trying to find the permission form required for this
In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."

Klutch's art on vinyl

I love the idea of these minicards. I'm going to have to think up a game or something.

95 Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship

20's toasters
from toastercentral

When the puppet master departed, the puppet collapsed in a heap.
(Salon on Gonzalez' resignation)

The Great Iraq Swindle (RollingStone)
It was an awful idea, perhaps the worst America has ever tried on foreign soil. But if you were in on it, it was great work while it lasted.

Rock

Floating light bulb

Uberorgan - just what it sounds like
Vid of same:

Cover browser

Rich, Richer; Poor, More (sfgate)

More Bush Administration Villainy - measure this week to permanently legalize mountaintop coal mining - where mountaintops are blasted and rubble is dumped into streams.

Environmental activists say the rule change will lead to accelerated pillage of vast tracts and the obliteration of hundreds of miles of streams in central Appalachia.

“This is a parting gift to the coal industry from this administration,” said Joe Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment in Lewisburg, W.Va. “What is at stake is the future of Appalachia. This is an attempt to make legal what has long been illegal.”

Google does space in the new version of Google Earth

Capturing the Idgit Vote

A nice gallery of automotive stop and turn signals from the 20's-30's
from the Old Crow BellyTank Blog that tracks the making of a Bonneville racer from a WWII surplus fuel tank.

Creation Museum, meet Unicorn Museum

Internet commenter business meeting (slightly nsfw)

Top 10 most expensive paintings of all time
(via designobserver)

Glamping - apparently for effete neo-yuppie types

"We're just not the camping kind of people. We don't pitch tents. We don't cook outdoors. We don't share a bathroom. It's just not going to happen. This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons."

Something Awful's big chat stings

RaGnArOk: what law did i break!

Detective Don Gombo: ALL LAWS OF HUMAN DECENCY BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY ASPCA ACT 4433-23 WHICH STATES AND I QUOTE FROM MEMORY: "ATTEMPTS TO ILLEGALLY DOWNLOAD FILES OR FILEZ IS A CRIME AGAINST THE INTERNET AND YOU ARE BOUND BY LAW"

White at r255g255b255.net
Blue at r023g075b158.net
Yellow at r254g245b006.net
Black at r000g000b000.net
Pink at r243g197b208.net
Red at r213g037b053.net
Green at r006g146b071.net

Adidas film series on color, via laughingsquid

More Talk Less Rock (OnionAVClub)

The software awards scam

Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys - "My Sinful Days are Over"

Data Visualization: Modern Approaches

Los Straitjackets - Casbah (live)

Kids review the OLPC

Chris Matthews loses his mind in 3-minute insane rant. We can only assume that this lunatic outburst was a prelude to his stripping down and rocking back and forth in fetal position while babbling more incoherent nonsense before being mercifully tranquilized by handlers.

Ha! Zoom all the way on Google Moon.
China might soon be able to provide better closeups.

Bush Regales Dinner Guests with Impromptu Oratory on Virgil's Minor Works
(onion, alas)

Paul Weller and Graham Coxon - This Old Town

The Art of Ward Kimball (via boingboing)

Kithaus modular office space (via coudal)

Phil Spector vs. The Wall of Sound (DesignObserver)
Until 1966, Phil Spector possessed perfect command of his material; he was an unstoppable machine, churning out “little symphonies for the kids.” The early hits with the Crystals, Darlene Love and the Ronettes were designed through fanatical attention to detail—angling microphones, stuffing drums with bricks—then filling Gold Star Studios with musicians and instruments—pianos, guitars, brass, strings. Spector started the recording sessions late and worked his singers and musicians overtime, ordering members of the Wrecking Crew, many of them virtuoso jazz guitarists, to play eighth notes again and again, wearing them down until you couldn’t tell any one sound from another.

[Double Nickles Past Pickle Park] Trucker Slang

BeyondWeird

Mr. Starostin has posted a ridiculous number of record reviews, that are entertaining to read.
The Jam is "class C"? C'mon George!

Some beautiful oils on William Wray's blog
(via drawn.ca)

["WE HAVE ARMAGEDDON!"] Amazing Cramer meltdown on the fed and the sub-prime fiasco. (CNBC, youtube)
"Will somebody come on TV and tell the truth about how bad it is!?"

Your Congress just passed another outrageous Bush domestic spying law. (Wired)
Internet and phone service providers now have 6 months to implement a permanent spying architecture into their service infrastructure. Thanks for nothing, Democrats. More on the outlandishly named "Protect America Act" here.

The truth about deniers (msnbc)
... As she left a meeting with the head of the international climate panel, however, a staffer had some news for her. A conservative think tank long funded by ExxonMobil, she told Boxer, had offered scientists $10,000 to write articles undercutting the new report and the computer-based climate models it is based on. "I realized," says Boxer, "there was a movement behind this that just wasn't giving up."

Our Town (NYTimes Magazine)
It’s in places like Carpentersville where we may be witnessing the opening of a deep and profound fissure in the American landscape. Over the past two years, more than 40 local and state governments have passed ordinances and legislation aimed at making life miserable for illegal immigrants in the hope that they’ll have no choice but to return to their countries of origin. Deportation by attrition, some call it. One of the first ordinances was passed in Hazleton, Pa., and was meant to bar illegal immigrants from living and working there. It served as a model for many local officials across the country, including Sigwalt and Humpfer. On July 26, a federal judge struck down Hazleton’s ordinance, but the town’s mayor, Lou Barletta, plans to appeal the decision. “This battle is far from over,” he declared the day of the ruling.

Joshua Davis's Dynamic Abstraction

Institute of Official Cheer

Chinese Virgin Mary-themed urinals?

Always judge an album by its cover (guardian)

Fine Diner to RiffRaff: Tipsy Tales of 4-Star Benders (NYTimes)

It happens even outside the confines and privacy of the restrooms?

“Oh, yeah, in the dining room, all over the table, on their dinner companions,” Mr. Bastianich said. “You’ve never seen that?”

Um, no.

“Well, you go out to restaurants a lot,” he said. “Maybe you’ll run into it before you’re done. Hopefully, you won’t get splashed.”

Field guide for office politicos

Latte art
I hate being snobbish about things like coffee, but this site makes me want some of the fancy stuff.

Audi has some cool adflash with Rhythm of Lines

Cut-out papercraft from the early 20's (via drawn)

Feds raid Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens' house looking for "Series of Bribes"

Sao Paulo Brazil is now billboard-free. Skeletons remain.

Extremely difficult Nina Simone interview. Wow. (via metafilter) (mp3)

Chocolate Rain (youtube)

Hank Snow - A Fool Such as I and One More Ride

3D representations of city populations

The Cool and Strange Thrift Store Complilation (via fmu)

Stephen Gill's back sides of Billboards

Texas Governor appoints a creationist to head the state Board of Education.
Texas Freedom Network president Kathy Miller … noted that in 2003, Dr. McLeroy was one of four board members who voted against proposed high school biology textbooks because he felt their coverage of evolution was “too dogmatic” and did not include possible flaws in Charles Darwin’s theory of how life on Earth evolved from lower forms.

Me, Simpsonized.
Eh.

Surfers from space Google maps is going hi-res. Found via this great site featuring odd google maps searches.

[Sounds good... What are the hours?] FBI plans on building a network of U.S. informants
"It's probably a good sign they are not adopting CIA recruitment techniques wholesale," said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, an expert on classified programs. U.S. intelligence officers abroad can use bribery, extortion, and other patently illegal acts to corral sources into working for them, Aftergood noted. "You're not supposed to do that in the United States," he said.

Bush lambastes government-funded healthcare - right after receiving a colonoscopy performed by a taxpayer-funded team of doctors flown in to Camp David for the procedure. (sfgate)

Bush told an audience in Nashville last week that the Senate bill is "the beginning salvo of the encroachment of the federal government on the health care system." He said he'd veto any such legislation making its way to his desk.

That's a fine how-do-you-do for a guy who had five growths removed from his colon on Saturday largely at the government's expense and had them promptly examined by government experts at the government-run National Naval Medical Center.

[More government idiocy] Congress: P2P networks harm national security

Habenero sends kid from cocky to owned in 10 seconds. (vid)

5 Ballpark promotions that went wrong (mentalfloss)
What went wrong: Believe it or not, a lot of people wanted to see disco records destroyed. 50,000 people showed up at the gates and many who were turned away at the gate tried to climb the walls of the stadium to get in. The crowd, who were reportedly heavily under the influence, soon realized that records could double as Frisbees, which naturally led to fans throwing firecrackers and drinks. When the demolition moment came, the explosion was bigger than expected and ended up ripping a hole in the outfield grass. Thousands of fans ran onto the field to join the mayhem, burning banners and throwing objects. The batting cages were even destroyed in the riot.

Doonsbury's War (Washington Post)

The Magical Grasp of Antiques (NewYorker)

Iraq hasn't even begun (LATimes)
In an article for the Web magazine Open Democracy, Middle East specialist Fred Halliday spells out some regional consequences. Besides the effective destruction of the Iraqi state, these include the revitalizing of militant Islamism and enhancement of the international appeal of the Al Qaeda brand; the eruption, for the first time in modern history, of internecine war between Sunni and Shiite, "a trend that reverberates in other states of mixed confessional composition"; the alienation of most sectors of Turkish politics from the West and the stimulation of authoritarian nationalism there; the strengthening of a nuclear-hungry Iran; and a new regional rivalry pitting the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies, including Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas, against Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

For the United States, the world is now, as a result of the Iraq war, a more dangerous place. At the end of 2002, what is sometimes tagged "Al Qaeda Central" in Afghanistan had been virtually destroyed, and there was no Al Qaeda in Iraq. In 2007, there is an Al Qaeda in Iraq, parts of the old Al Qaeda are creeping back into Afghanistan and there are Al Qaeda emulators spawning elsewhere, notably in Europe.

A nice gallery of home-welded cruiser bicycles including this front-wheel drive model. My fave.

The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is just a myth and Guantanamo Bay is practically a holiday camp. The annual cruise organized by the 'National Review,' mouthpiece of right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans.

Neocons on a Cruise: What Conservatives say whey they think we aren't listening.
"Of course, we need to execute some of these people," I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers through the sand lazily. "A few of these prominent liberals who are trying to demoralise the country," she says. "Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that's what you'll get." She squints at the sun and smiles. " Then things'll change."

Hollywood Grateful Dead movie coming...

The Jive is back from break.

Thomas the Tank Engine goes Revolutionary Collectivist (Buyo)

Buzzcocks - What do I get?

Just like mom used to corrugate. The Chinese are getting out of control with this shit.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Play Peak Oil before you live it (New Yorker)

$225K parking spot in Manhattan (NYTimes)

Typography in the sky
(auf Deutsch)

Baby Wooly Mammoth found intact in Northern Siberia

"Not by wrath does one kill, but by laughter."
Neitzsche Family Circus pairs a random Family Circus cartoon with a random Neitzsche quote. Postmodern existentialist hilarity ensues.

Bush orders Surgeon General's office to censor or bury public health news. (NYTimes)

Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.

And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name.

“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.

The Special Olympics is one of the nation’s premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedys have long been deeply involved in it.

Michael Moore tears shit up on CNN.

Give 'em hell, Mike.

Pencil jewelry

Another Lawnchair balloonist

Motorcycling around the world

Everything I Need To Know About Web Design I Learned Watching Oz
(A List Apart)

Determined to Reinspire a Culture of Innovation (nytimes)
But learning and investment are not enough, Dr. Wulf says. An innovation economy depends on intellectual property law, tax codes, patent procedures, export controls, immigration regulations and factors making up what he calls “the ecology of innovation.” Unfortunately, he argues, in the United States too many of these components are unworkable, irrelevant, inadequate, outdated or “fundamentally broken.”

More Cheney analysis in The Darksider (New Yorker)
With an avalanche of examples, Gellman and Becker show how Cheney successfully pushed tax cuts for the very rich that went beyond what even the President, wanly clinging to the shards of “compassionate conservatism,” and his economic advisers wanted. They show how Cheney’s stealthy domination of regulatory and environmental policy, driven by “unwavering ideological positions” and always exerted “for the benefit of business,” has resulted in the deterioration of air and water quality, the degradation and commercial exploitation of national parks and forests, the collapse of wild-salmon fisheries, and the curt abandonment of Bush’s 2000 campaign pledge to do something about greenhouse gases. They also reveal that it was Cheney who forced Christine Todd Whitman to resign as the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, by dictating a rule that excused refurbished power plants and oil refineries from installing modern pollution controls. “I just couldn’t sign it,” she told them. Turns out she wasn’t so anxious to spend more time with her family after all.

Organization fetish (mojones)
American women would rather organize their closets than lose weight, according to a 2005 Rubbermaid survey.

Simplest unicycle ever (gizmodo)
I'm pretty sure I need one of these asap.