Tout Puissant Konono N These are musicians who left the bush to settle in the capital and who, in order to go on keep fulfilling their social role and make themselves heard by the ancestors (and, more concretely, by their fellow citizens) despite the high level of urban noise, have had to resort to DIY amplification of their instruments, and to megaphones (conical speakers). This makeshift electrification has provoked a radical mutation of their sound, as it has introduced distorsions which they have integrated to their style. (Quicktime Link included)

Maps of the Muslim World. Linkage from Milad's new blog focussing on Politics, Language and Cultures of the Arab World.

Examples of Engrish from Japan and around the world Bizzare product names, Indecipherable instructions, weird signs and lots of related items from well meaning would-be foreign born english language experts. Personally I would gladly use a toilet paper called Sit and Smile

Infocom Text Adventures Online
'Murrican Monkeys got Monday off. Waste your time with these classics. Leather Goddesses of Phobos, ya'll!

Lovely Online Treasures from the British Library (shockwave). Beautifully done -- you can "flip" through the pages of books as disparate as The Luttrell Psalter, a 16th century medical text, or a Chinese Buddhist scroll printed in 868. The audio commentary is a nice touch.

The Blue Chamber The sequel to Toshimitsu Takagi's Crimson Room and Viridian Room is out. It's shorter than the others, but there's still a walkthrough if you need it.

Hell House Spoof To Be Staged In LA "Hell House, the controversial morality play first staged at a suburban church for Halloween, is set to be spoofed in a new stage production in Los Angeles starting Aug. 28. With Bill Maher playing Satan and Andy Richter as Jesus, the play will use the original play's script and special effects "to lampoon (Christian) fundamentalist beliefs about hell", producer Maggie Rowe said Monday" more inside

The First (network) Email.

The History of The Ding Dong Lounge Oct. 2000: Local police precinct informs Naidich & Nolan that neighborhood is utterly resistant to gentrification. Delighted, they sign lease. Dec. 2000: Renovation of space at 929 Columbus Ave begins with "Inches" magazine centerfold Toby in charge of construction. Ancient pornography discovered in airshaft under miles of used crack vials. Naidich unloads porn on E-Bay, financing mahogany bar.

Calculate your lifespan in minutes. Your life right down to the decimal. Takes only a few minutes to finish and gives a fairly accurate prediction of your health.

Photoblogger Mike from Satans Laundromat gets arrested at the convention.

"I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds..." It's all too easy nowadays to forget how close we came to nuclear war, but it wasn't long ago that two dramatic and shocking depictions of the end aired on television screens across two nations. more inside

An online reprint of "How To Attain The Ideal Sex Life", circa 1940
"I must at the outset ask the reader's indulgence when discussing the intimate details of any one of the functions, which, if we employ the comparative method, are highly important on account of their analogy with the other functions, but in themselves are not very savoury"

Makes your eyes water. Or milk, as the case may be.

Necronomicon - Fact or Fiction The Straigt Dope calls it a fiction of HP Lovecraft. more inside

Speaking of apiarian shenanigans, here's a brief guide to other animal adjectives. Here's a list of the words for animal gatherings (a chain of bobolinks?).

God Almighty, why all this talk, why must We prattle about a handful of dust? The poems of 13th century Turkish mystic and humanist Yunus Emre, poems of divine love and earthly devotion. more inside

Hurricane Blogging more inside

Anansi stories. Him be one fast tinkin' spider, mon.

What Use is Religion? Richard Dawkins considers the issue from a Darwinian perspective. Also of interest, from Jared Diamond: The Religious Success Story. [Via MeFi.]