Miss Digital World: "The first online beauty competition, for the most beautiful and glamerous models made using the most advanced 3D graphic tools. Miss Digital World will take place on the internet in a three-dimensional environment. All the contestants will parade along a virtual catwalk, and - of course - there will be a virtual presenter and guests who will help to create the atmosphere of a beauty contest. The model who, at the end of the preliminary rounds, has the highest number of votes from net users, will be crowned on the site in a breathtaking, tear-jerking ceremony." (Teaser)

Burma's military government is waffling again on whether they will release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest for talks on May 17 the pro-democracy party, the NLD. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 has been under arrest again since her motorcade was attacked last summer.

Coming Down from LSD This drug is 'dropping' off the face of the earth, and nobody seems to know why. I've had some memorable times with the stuff, and, though I haven't used any in almost 15 years, I'd hate to see it go. Oh well, there are always flashbacks.

Puzzles + Math = Magic [A] small mahogany coffee cup is firmly attached to a polished wooden saucer. A wooden spoon sits on the plate. So do two white sugar cubes, also made of wood. But can the cup be lifted off the saucer? It seems locked in place. more inside

Chatty Catty [intro] is a chatbot (and blogbot) whose vocabulary, instead of being preprogrammed in, comes from google, in whole sentences. This makes for fun. From Language Log. more inside

It Doesn't, oops, Didn't Matter If You're Black Or White According to a recent study conducted at Dartmouth College, racially biased people take longer to perform tasks when they have to make an effort to control their racial responses and actions. more inside

Hog Heaven: Celebrating 100 Years of the Harley-Davidson. "In 1903, the same year Henry Ford incorporated the Ford Motor Company and the Wright brothers first flew, William Harley and his friends Arthur and Walter Davidson launched the Harley-Davidson Motor Company." more inside

Weightless Animals. Sonic space cartoons. Made from meetings with astronauts and NASA archives by Mandy McIntosh, Kaffe Matthews and Zeena Parkins, programming by Simon Yuill. (Flash, but beautiful. Needs sound, too) more inside

Budding Track Designers With the 1st Middle East located Formula 1 Grand Prix being held in Bahrainthis weekend. Build your own track and then emulate Schumacher.

Curious George: New Users We've have a pretty noticeable influx of new users in the last week or so. As new folks probably weren't around to notice the last times we had a round of introductions, I say it's about time for another one. So how 'bout it, new monkeys? Let's have a short who, what, and where session. Who are you? What do you want to get out of MoFi? Where are you?

More countries' visitors to the USA to be photographed & fingerprinted This is for all non-USians: forget about privacy, and the fear of just how safe and who has access to that data, and whether it really helps security; will this affect your decision over holiday and business travel? How will the vacation and convention industries react to this? more inside

Kaneda model power bike! Ok yes, I'm a big geek and I was in Japan for the opening of Akira way back in '88 so this has a special place in my heart, but even if it didn't, this motorcycle is damn cool. For the Japanese impaired, it breaks down like this: Twin-steering system and 249-998cc water-cooled 4-cycle engine, onboard DVD navigation system and full LED readouts (tach, spedometer, etc...) No price yet, but hey I figure the line won't be as long as the one for the Tokyo Apple store was =) (originally seen at /.)

Oh the pain It's certainly expensive A bit maudlin Shared Sometimes controversial Studied Anthropomorphized Sought and a moral dilemna.

Filter me balls, matey! An amusing way to while away a Saturday afternoon.

The Self-Mummified Buddhist Monks of Japan
The Yamagata prefecture of Japan is home to several temples that house the Buddhist mummies of Japan. These mountain-dwelling ascetic priests of the Shingon sect of the Dewa Sazan voluntarily underwent a long process of slow, painful suicide to mummify themselves in an attempt to break the cycle of rebirth. Meet Daijuku Bosatsu Shinnyokai Shonin of the Dainichi-bo temple and read one blogger

Railgun Blog

The Mi'kmaq: Nova Scotia's dominant aboriginal population (with representation in Newfoundland and Quebec). Learn how to speak their language with a talking dictionary, (toboggan and wigwam are both borrowed words from the Mi'kmaq language), browse portraits from the 1500s to the present, discover their distinctive decorative techniques of porcupine quills on birchbark, and marvel at the fact that the biggest shopping centre in Halifax is still called Mic Mac Mall. more inside

Star Wars Ep II with hand puppets! Uh, the concept is funnier than the actual site.