Some people see the news spatially. Here's another newsmap based on Google News, while this one graphs the most emailed photos from Yahoo News.

Lyrical, George: Monkey Music Monday Madness! Grime (Warning! 2x large mp3s), a groundswell of tech-savvy, "urban" music producers, centered in East London (where it's called Grime) and South London (Dubstep). Since the release of Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner Grime blew up worldwide throughout 2003, with its blend of heavy square-wave basslines, hardcore drums, mobile phone ringtones, and manic mc'ing. more inside

AIDS "a plot" more inside

ROLL KATAMARI, ROLL!
It's been said before by those with more knowledge and power than me; but I gotta tell you: Katamari Damacy is the hardest to find, weirdest and coolest movie link game I've played in years. On top of that, the music is WONDERFUL! Still don't get it? Try the comic. If you see a copy, snag it. You won't be disappointed.

Shakeskin is a gallery of shaken faces.

Pearl Jam perform "Masters of War" (originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan in 1963) on "The Late Show" with David Letterman (32MB .mov file). File hosted by Michael Moore, of course.

The Genome in Black and White (and Gray) Is there a genetic basis for race? A recent MetaFilter discussion seemed adamant that the answer is no. But this NYT article takes an evenhanded approach, demonstrating multiple examples of the reality and usefulness of the reflections of racial ancestry in genes but emphasizing that it is far from a complete science. more inside

The Matrix! Vision! Reality! FERRETS. Recently, a University of Rochester scientist sat a bunch of ferrets down in front of a TV and had them watch “The Matrix.” He discovered that their visual cortexes worked like crazy even in the total absence of visual stimulus. (He observed this as the ferrets were watching Keanu Reeves emote. Wait, no, they were in a dark room.) Here’s the implication: more inside

Psychotronic Sex Crystals! Stamina Ball! And don't forgot your handy Sacral Chakra-Tuned Quartz Crystal Singing Bowl™!! YES!! I'm on the shining path to hyperpotency! (All links SFW.)

Curious George Michael Drosnin made a fortune selling books that essentially just grepped the Bible for funny patterns. Is there any software - for Mac preferably, but Windows at a push - that enables one to do similarly for English texts? Why, you ask, would I want to do this? Simple. So I can throw Project Gutenberg at it to find rude words hidden in big books.

GOP oversight: Somehow, an oversight at Republican headquarters in West Virginia results in the GOP calling up registered Democrats and attempting to convince these registered voters that they're not allowed to vote this election. Despite the fact that this is an obvious accident, the local authorities over-react by giving the culprit a stern lecture.

The Observer Magazine has a lengthy article about MoFi's favourite bonkers dictator. more inside

Scientists discover a new group of giant apes in central Africa, which could be a new species of primate.

...to protect and advocate for sex-trade workers. A much-needed guild that many labour leaders and sex-trade workers have been working toward for some time. The health care and safety benefits alone are worth it -- best of luck to all who have a direct stake in this.

A guide to snowflakes

Zoom more inside

Jacques Derrida dead. Does anybody have the faintest idea what he was on about? Was it all rubbish?

Curious George: Vector maps? Are there any sources for free vector form (Adobe Illustrator, Postscript, etc) maps that I can use for quick personal projects? I have been looking through Google and can only find companies selling the files at ridiculous prices. Am I screwed?

Mike's Amazing Cakes Check out the galleries. Cakes shaped like Austin Powers, a knight in armor, a luxury cruise liner, an Italian villa, paint cans, a violin, and more. Just astonishingly well done. My favorite is the cake made to look like a slab of steak for a vegetarian's birthday. [via] more inside

In Asia, elephants are losing out against man. Some people are trying to help them, though. I think it would be nice if we could offer some elephants a new home in North America.