www.Columbusbooks.com A guide to the books stores of Columbus, Ohio.

How Facebook Was Founded

80s teen idol and film star Corey Haim, has died in Los Angeles of an apparent overdose.

BRIDGTON, Maine, February 27 (ESPN) -- It takes a certain kind of confidence for an athlete to wear a cape. You can't just be good. You have to be amazing, as in world champion-caliber amazing. Otherwise, you run the risk of looking ridiculous. Luckily, Christian Housh, better known as Tiger Claw, proved himself worthy of a world title. "I can't say I ever had any dreams of being a four square champion until I found out about the world championships of four square," Housh said. "Then the dream came alive."Bonus: incomplete list of cool rules. Previously on MetaFilter. Previously at a MetaFilter meetup. Get well soon, klangklangston!

8 Unconvential Ways to Be "Buried." We've all heard about strange practices surrounding the remains of the deceased, but even I (who am morbid to a fault) hadn't been aware of half of these.

When Washington D.C. began licensing same-sex marriages last week, this story came out on the paper edition of the Washington Post with this photo on the front page. (WARNING: the photo depicts two men kissing) The paper received complaints from upset readers, some of whom canceled their Post subscription. Andrew Alexander, the Post's ombudsman, responds: "There was a time, after court-ordered integration, when readers complained about front-page photos of blacks mixing with whites. Today, photo images of same-sex couples capture the same reality of societal change."

This post is about two recent(ish) strands of British dance music.
The first is basically a garagey, housey style called UK funky or simply funky (not to be confused with funky house, ridiculous genre proliferation fans!). Although gradually gaining recognition as a distinct style, it remains fairly amorphous - no one's really articulated what makes funky funky, although some have tried. The general consensus, though, is that it's an offshoot of UK garage from the early 2000s, with pattering percussion rhythms imported from soca and elsewhere.

Funky is still largely a London-based sound, but the other style mentioned is more dispersed around the UK. There's even less consensus on a name for this genre, with attempts ranging from the dull (post-dubstep) to amusingly tongue-in-cheek (purple wow sound!). Bristol, with Joker, Gemmy & Guido, and Glasgow, with Rustie (one of whose videos is linked above the fold) and Hudson Mohawke are important outposts. There's also some suggestion of a link with US folk like Flying Lotus and Samiyam (note that this link uses yet another terrible name - wonky).

Some decent resources for keeping up to date with this music:
Rinse FM was a London pirate station, now aboveground and a good source for British dance music of all stripes.
FACT is a magazine with lots of coverage of purple/wonky/etc. - so much, in fact, that yet another nother name for it is fact music.
Hyperdub are a label that started out dubsteppin but have gotten weirder and weirder as time goes on - the site's a bit minimalistic but they do have a mailing list.
Tim Finney and Martin Clark are good writers and fans of funky.
A good chunk of the links in this post have been cadged from a couple threads which are continually being updated by the good folks at ILX.

MLYT:
Geeneus remixes Benga + Coki
Nursery rhyme style
Lady Chann + Warrior One
More Rustie
Ikonika
Hyetal + Shortstuff

(If you're unfamiliar with the term 'nuum as used in a couple of the above links, this is a reasonably short description.)

Raffaella Traniello (Vimeo profile) is an educator and multimedia enthusiast who describes herself as "Animation lover. Linux user. Hungry for clever beauty." She's also committed to bringing free/open source software to the classroom. Her efforts are remarkable in that she achieves pleasant results with community-developed software and involves school children in the production process. Since many users of Linux video editing software -- especially the Cinelerra software package -- are quickly turned off by its opaque interface, Raffaella has also created Cinelerra for Grandma, in which she covers everything from the basics to more difficult subjects like animation.

Ever wonder what professions top the list as the most guilty of infidelity? A dating site for married people surveyed all of their new members last year. Of the 1.9 million folks who signed up, female teachers and male physicians topped the list for their genders.

You know the rules ansd so do I. Now dance!

Galactica: Sabotage is a shot-by-shot remake of the Beastie Boys' Sabotage video, using footage from Battlestar Galactica. Here's a side-by-side comparison.

The driver software for the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a back door. It permits a remote user full access to your Windows system.
According to US-CERT,

An attacker is able to remotely control a system, including the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs. The backdoor operates with the privileges of the logged-on user.

Cats have toilets. Dogs have toilets. Even rats have toilets... but according to the World Toilet Organization, 2.5 billion *people* worldwide still do not have access to sanitation. Peepoo (YouTube video), developed by Swedish entrepreneur, architect and professor Anders Wilhemson, is a new biodegradable single-use toilet that could help grow crops (New York Times). A layer of urea crystals in the bag kills off disease producing pathogens and breaks the waste down... into fertilizer. If you prefer patent-free alternatives, Joseph Jenkins offers Humanure. You can get his Humanure Compost Toilet System Instruction Manual (Direct Download PDF) free of charge. All you need is a bucket, cover materials (sawdust, rice husks or coffee grounds) and the knowledge in his handbook. Peepoo or Humanure? Poo decide.

Ralph Steadman's Alice in Wonderland. Salvador Dali's Alice In Wonderland.

Droops and 8-balls in this man's army shouldn't take unnecessary chances with their lives. Illustrated by Walt Ditzen.
Advice and observations include:
A man is mighty tempted to go along in an overcrowded car.
It is dangerous to stand in the probable path of automobiles.
Common mistakes that result in drownings are: Swimming within 2 hours of eating a heavy meal, plunging into cold water when overheated.
Soldiers have been decapitated by sticking their heads out of railroad car windows, and have lost arms that way, too.

It looked legit and not entirely out of the realm of possibility in today's heated political climate: an anti-gay resolution being introduced in Utah to expel homosexuals from the state. Except that it was an entire, elaborate hoax courtesy of the Yes Men.

Blosics 2 is a physics game. Throw blocks off the stage by shooting balls at them. There are many types of blocks, there are many types of balls. 30 levels to finish. (flash, music/sound effects optional)
Choose the size ball you want to use on the right. The bigger the ball, the bigger the point deduction. Left-click on the orange circle stage, and pull your mouse cursor to aim and increase the throw strength, and release the button to throw. Try to knock off enough blocks to exceed the stage requirement.

Stray Cats in Tokyo as seen by professional photographers.
The group project moved from here, where there are lots more. More from the individual photographers, though not just in Tokyo.

Once upon a time, before boats had motors, the only way to move vessels up the Shennong River (a tributary to the Yangtze River near Badong, Enshi) was for labourers, known as River Trackers, to haul them by hand using heavy ropes along a dangerously narrow ledge hacked from solid rock. And while naked (slightly NSFW).
Being naked was practical, as wet clothes restricted movement and caused chafing, not to mention the clothing itself never lasted very long anyway. Over the years the tradition waned, with trackers wearing clothes to haul tourist boats and while singing folk songs.

But in February 2010, Enshi's deputy party secretary Yao Benchi suggested at a meeting of the local people's congress that a return to the tradition of nude tracking would turn Shennong into a major tourist attraction, an announcement that has generated some controversy.

Yet the trackers themselves don't care about wearing clothes if it makes money. As lead hauler Zhang Houfang told a Wuhan web site: "So long as there is a demand for this from tourists, and they are ready to pay, the majority of rope handlers are happy to haul ropes in the nude. Foreign tourists and amateur photographers find it more interesting."

Soon we may see the return of the Naked River Trackers, which in my mind wouldn't be a bad thing.

Disney restyles "Rapunzel" to appeal to boys. Disney is wringing the pink out of its princess movies. After the less-than-fairy-tale results for its most recent animated release, "The Princess and the Frog," executives at the Burbank studio believe they know why the acclaimed movie came up short at the box office. Brace yourself: Boys didn't want to see a movie with "princess" in the title. Dear Disney: Boys Aren't Stupid, but renaming "Rapunzel" is.

Historian Tony Judt has been the subject of MetaFilter posts before. He has also written an essay on his struggle with ALS that has been debated here. However, it may have taken an article in the mass-market magazine New York to put his race to complete his latest book into perspective.