The Curse of Tom Wolfe: What Went Wrong for the Magazine Story. I'm trying to break into magazine writing, and as I'm wont to do when I'm trying something new, I'm reading lots about the topic. In the process, I just came across this, and found it interesting (and dismaying). more inside

Curious George: It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, he bumped his head and went to bed and couldn't get up in the morning. Was the old man dead? Did he, like, die? Did bumping his head cause some kind of lesion? Is that why he couldn't get up in the morning?

Scorsese does Pennebaker does Dylan does Dylan
A feature length Dylan-narrated documentary 'No Direction Home' is set for television/dvd release soon. There's also a parallel release of a double-cd soundtrack -- The Bootleg Series Vol.7 -- and a scrapbook.

Pay attention folks. In 2012, this guy will be the Republican candidate for president.

Bay Area Meetup! It took a visit from #1, a couple of SoCal monkeys, and a bunch of MeFites to drag you from your hiding places last time. I have faith that we can do it again without resorting to such extreme measures. more inside

Have you ever wanted to make a webcomic? Now you can. [via mefi] more inside

Ligers . . . for real!

100 people who are screwing up America When the list starts with Michael Moore and doesn't even include G.W. Bush... via

The Laugh Judgement Ship of Fools, the sensible face of British Christianity, seeks to collect the most outrageous and offensive religious jokes before a proposed new law bans them. Nicked from the Guardian's Newsblog

Take that first train to Nashville, and I'll meet you at the station. Jonathan Demme will be shooting a concert film of Neil Young next week in Nashville. So, here's your chance to become a speck in the audience, maybe get yourself on imdb. And it's Neil, man! NEIL! more inside

Curious George: Enterprise-level web hosting There are a couple of web hosting threads already around, but they have been aimed at inexpensive personal web hosting. I'm wondering about the kind of web host that would provide hosting and tech support for a reasonably large company. It would need to be redundant, guarantee 24-hour access, the usual sort of thing... So, how does your company manage web hosting? Or, alternatively, who would you go to for hosting if you were to become a company?

50 SciFi Works That Socialists Should Read This is China Mieville's list -- I haven't read most of these, and am wondering which are worthwhile and which aren't.[via Woods Lot]

The origin of mass may not be in the postulated existance of the Higgs boson, a top quark condensate or any other alternate model. Two researchers suggest a theory pertaining to inertial mass can been extended to include gravitational mass, involving the non-relativistic zero-point field. more inside

Holy crap! Is that pretty neato-keen or what!?

Worst. Excuse. Evar. If one has a phobia of being in a car with someone else driving, why would one become an instructon/tester for the DMV? And how does groping underaged breasts help with said phobia?

CG: Jumping the gun Really getting ahead of myself here. In about 6 weeks, I'll be a father. I'd like my child to start learning a new language. But which? French may be the most useful within Canada, Spanish the most useful within the hemisphere, and Mandarin is likely the language of the future, but not necessarily within the next generation. If I'm going to start playing tapes and CDs while baby sleeps (and mommy lets me), which should I concentrate on? (I speak poor French, passable Spanish, and a wee smattering of Mandarin, if that helps)

Functionalism at Forty (PDF) A very engaging and accessible Reductionist critique of Functionalism as it enters its fifth decade. "What is Functionalism?" you ask? Well...

Balancing Point. "A short film that is played entirely in reverse and involves the "reverse destruction" of balanced rock sculptures. There is one character in the movie that appears to magically create these sculptures. Although the film is played in reverse it appears as the man who is doing his magic is going forwards in time." You can see stills from the film, as well as the full Quicktime movie.

Return of the London meetup Ah Summer, the season of Pimms and mellow hose-pipe bans, close bosom-friend of the maturing triumph over the Aussies in the cricket... It's getting to be that London meetup time of year again, don't you think? Of course you do! more inside

Liam's Pictures from Old Books Over 680 scanned images, engravings and pictures from old books, all public domain, most with multiple high-resolution versions.