Guardian article on Christian Marclay, avant-garde turntablist, in advance of his upcoming Barbican retrospective. "You could say that Marclay is obsessed with records.... But it would be more accurate to say he is obsessed with examining the way mass-produced objects act as filters, intercepting the signal as it travels from a source to the organs of sense. 'For me the record is this strange object that has completely transformed the way we think about sound. First of all it turned sound into something material that you can hold in your hand, and it turned it into a commodity you can make money with, which pretty much changes everything.'"

Blue Christmas: "Our goal here is to provide you information on [what businesses] gave what to what political party this last election cycle.... The long term goal is to help reduce corporate money from politics; this is not a geographical boycott." In the interest of being non-partisan, feel free to also consider this page as "Red Christmas".

Follow the Money: How John Kerry busted the terrorists' favorite bank. "As the presidential campaign enters its final stretch, Kerry's BCCI experience...reveals [his] foresight in fighting terrorism that is critical for any president in this age of asymmetrical threats. As The Washington Post noted, 'years before money laundering became a centerpiece of antiterrorist efforts...Kerry crusaded for controls on global money laundering in the name of national security.'" more inside

The Amazing World of Keith Norval. Whimsical oil paintings I saw over the weekend and wanted to share -- this one especially.

The Great Escape. Stephen Hawking has changed his mind, and lost a bet. He now believes it's possible for information to escape from a black hole. more inside

Intelligent MIDI Sequencing with Hamster Control. Cornell engineering student designs a MIDI sequencer controlled by six hamsters. Audio (wav, mp3) and video (avi) examples available. more inside

The Sine Fiction series is an electronic music project in which "each release is an invented soundtrack to a notable science fiction novel." The catalog currently includes compositions based on Orwell's 1984, Asimov's Foundation, Burroughs's cutup trilogy (Nova Express, The Soft Machine, The Ticket that Exploded), Calvino's Ti Con Zero, and the Strugatsky brothers' Roadside Picnic, among others.

Build your own time travel machines. Schematics available for the Biotronic Oscillator, the Chronological Time Reflector, and the Demat Cannon, among others. Plans and diagrams emailed to you for $20; the Hyperdimensional Resonator comes fully assembled for $590. Note: highly experimental!