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Making a Banana Foster the hard way
Man dons latex mask embedded with exploding bananas [SLYT] You're gonna love this or I will be chased from this site with pitchforks. The Internet is a harsh mistress.

Ron Asheton, R.I.P.
Ron Asheton, influential guitarist and bassist for The Stooges and Destroy All Monsters, has passed away at age 60.

A moment of great courage
Palestinian girl, Israeli soldier. It made me remember 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests.

The Obama-Bigfoot Connection
In 1996 a man known only as "Bugs" rocked the cryptozoology world with the claim that during the 1970s he was part of a hunting party in the Texas panhandle that shot, killed & buried two adult Bigfoots. Bugs turned over a copy of his map to radio talk show host Art Bell & was never heard from again, despite pleas to step forward from prominent members of the Bigfoot community. All that chang...

A Formal Debate About George W. Bush With Some Unusual Players
On December 4, 2008, at NYC's Symphony Space, NPR's Intelligence Squared program conducted an Oxford-style debate. As their future debate schedules in Australia, England, and America show, the propositions of such debates are routinely phrased strongly to provoke debate, and this was no exception. The motion that was put forward was: "Resolved, that Bush 43 is the worst President of the last ...

Moore's Law, Illustrated
A nice photogallery, with descriptions, illustrating the progress of Moore's Law from a 1958 single-transistor Texas Instruments integrated circuit to the anticipated 2009 AMD Phenom II, with 758,000,000 transistors.

Another Day, Another Dispute at Facebook
A NEW FACEBOOK CONTROVERSY A NEW FACEBOOK CONTROVERSY has developed, this time over photos of women breastfeeding their babies. But Facebook is standing firm.. The protesters have also formed a Facebook group, of course, Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding Is Not Obscene. It's not the first controversy at the social networking site and this blog documents activities, rumors and news about Facebook....

2008 Film Preservation picks on Internet Archive
Each December, the United States National Film Preservation Board chooses up to 25 films they deem worthy of taking special action to preserve in the Library of Congress. It?s a new year, and that means 25 more films are welcomed in the vault of the National Film Registry. Three of the 2008 picks can be viewed on Internet Archive as well as nearly 40 picks from years past.

Bicycle Museums
I like old bicycles. High-wheelers, choppers, BMX bikes, mountain bikes and old ten-speeds. Especially personal bikes from personal collections. I like 'em all. Also Queen videos. (Previously.)

Meet the Composer
If you've ever enjoyed Steve Reich's Different Trains, John Adams' Nixon in China or Harry Partch's The Bewitched, you probably have Betty Freeman to thank. Freeman supported the works of such composers as Philip Glass, John Cage and Witold Lutoslawski (and many, many more), often early in their careers. She was a photographer herself, and the subject of David Hockney's Beverly Hills Housewife....

A Guardian interview with Lynndie England
A Guardian interview with Lynndie England (of Abu Ghraib notoriety).

DOWNLOADING IS WRONG
A new trojan is on the loose. It doesn't install any harmful adware/spyware, but does block both mininova and the Pirate Bay.

Buddy, can you spare a dollar?
The historic inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama is two weeks away, and vendors are making a mint selling memorabilia. But be warned: the commemorative coins you see being advertised are not official. A relatively new $1 coin series does feature US presidents in chronological order (previously), but getting Americans to use $1 coins hasn't been easy. Remember Susan B. Anthony, Columbus...

Livejournal circling the drain?
Is the death of Livejournal immanent? After being bought by a company in Russia just over a year ago, Livejournal may be on the rocks. They've just announced big , big layoff of tech folks at Livejournal. allegedly with no severance for or warning to the employees. If you want to back up your livejournal, here's a couple of ways: ljdump ljarchive (see also the post here)

Cats + ramen = win!
Cats and noodles - what's not to like? Neko Rahmen has both, featuring Taishou, a cat who runs a ramen shop. Neko Rahmen was originally a comic strip, then a series of short animes (English-subtitled 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13), and now there's a live-action movie, featuring a cameo by a famous cat.

Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds.
After a year of research spanning four continents and interviews with dozens of people across the internet, Dancing Ink Productions will release their findings from the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project on Thursday, January 29.

Isn't that special?
The Top 50 Movie Special Effects Shots.

GIMME GIMME GIMME!
Kure Kure Takora was a Toho produced, short form children's television show from the Japan in the early 1970's. Meet the Cast: Kure Kure Takora, aka Gimme Gimme Octopus; his closest friend, the coin vomiting squash Chonbo; jellyfish bully Tororo; Monro, the sexy walrus who gets around; Debura,the grizzled and world-weary badger; Biragon, lazy trust-fund iguana; and last but not least, the pick...

Yes, even MS Comic Sans
Enter some text and see it written in all the fonts installed on your system

Online Game Manuals (for free!)
Bought a video game second hand and found it doesn?t have a manual? Or have you been thinking about that great manual that came with that copy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past you owned years ago and wouldn't mind taking a look through it again? Well, help is at hand! Vimm offers you heaps of free pdf manuals from retro systems as old as the Atari 2600 and as recent as the N64! Meanwh...

So There
Do you have something to say, but never had the chance to? Founded in late 1997 and originally published August 15th, 1998, So There has stood as a testament to your daily lives for over five years.

Geek Affairs
Paul and Storm have been discussed on MetaFilter before. Now they're trying to determine who should be named President Obama's Secretary of Geek Affairs. Vote in the Lobot bracket, and check out the results for the Jor-El, Bombadil, and Do'Urden regions.

One Button. Endless Possibilities.
OMG! It's THE NEW MACBOOK WHEEL! Squeeee!

I live my life like there's no tomorrow.
You loved David Lee Roth singing Running With the Devil unaccompanied, amirite? Well, then you're going to TOTALLY love the David Lee Roth Runnin' With the Devil Soundboard.

The bubble to end all bubbles?
The cover of a major financial publication warns: If you're holding U.S. Treasuries, GET OUT NOW! As has been noted previously, investors have headed for the financial equivalent of a bomb shelter -- U.S. Treasury bills and notes -- triggering an epic rise in prices and pushing yields (which move inversely to prices) to zero. Now, with a weakening dollar and gold prices holding steady, some s...

A story of Hollywood... as you always knew it would be.
This is the story of Lylah Clare. Overnight, she became a star. Over many nights, she became a legend. Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10, Pt. 11, Pt. 12, Pt. 13

Christine Maggiore has died
HIV/AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore has died. Maggiore, who tested HIV+ in 1992, was a prominent skeptic of the scientific consensus that HIV causes AIDS. In 2005, she sparked a debate on parental medical obligations after her 3-year-old daughter was found to have died of AIDS-related pneumonia. Orac at Respectful Insolence mourns both the personal tragedy of the Maggiore family and the larg...

What's A Web Magazine Really Worth?
What if The Huffington Post isn't worth $200 million, but say $2 million? There's a lot to love in this article, including key Nick Denton quotes on the Huffington Post's valuation.

Eco-Friendly Christmas Tree Disposal - Just Add Elephant!
Baby Elephants Eat Christmas Trees : in Germany, baby Elephants are put to work eating five fir trees apiece each day. You say you want MORE baby elephants? Playing the harmonica. On the beach. Learning to walk.

Lake Michigan Stonehenge
A year and a half ago, a professor of underwater archeology at Northwestern Michigan University discovered a pattern of stones 40 feet below the waters of Lake Michigan. The story has been surprisingly under-reported, given that the Stonehenge-like structure is potentially estimated to be 10,000 years old. One of the stones even appears to have a mastodon carved on it.

Thriving in the Age of Collapse
Thriving in the Age of Collapse. (Via Bruce Sterling's State of the World 2009.) Previously.