The fifth of November: the day Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the English Parliament in 1605, and the day Anonymous threatens to destroy Facebook in 2011. More »

B. Vikki Vintage is a blog (and an Etsy shop) highlighting vintage images of African Americans. After the jump, a walk through fashion history. One of the greatest fallacies about history is the belief that what is commonly presented to us as our past is somehow a complete history. Somehow, the realities that millions of Americans lived were white-washed from history books and often do not return. B. Vikki Vintage's blog is valuable in that it reminds us that the American experience was broad and all-encompassing. These students are walking to a Negro College Aid function, while still fashionable. Love the dress on the right. I have nothing to say but: bad-ass. Back when homecoming was an event. This scene took my breath away. It belongs in a Turner Classic Movie. At some point, petticoats came back in style. We even had pulp comics (which I am now obsessed with). Some things never go out of style. I'd put this on and happily walk out the door. This type of pose - allowing the fabric to billow around the body - was super popular. It appears in many of the homecoming photos on the B. Vikki vintage site. The caption reads "What a difference a year makes!" As we transitioned from the 50s into the 60s, the Afro began to be a popular hair style option. Her look is part-Mod, part-Twiggy, all fabulous. Fixed up and looking sharp in suits, gloves, and heels. And of course, Coca-Cola got in on the action. Sarah Vaughn was doing her thing. And so was Dinah Washington. All this happened while women were working on breaking down barriers in all aspects of life. And while we were fighting segregation. As Restructure puts it so well: "People of colour are not a story of suffering . . . Or resistance. We are multifaceted." What is important to remember that only by finding all the pieces will we, as Americans, have a clear understanding of our whole history. There are many people who were here, living, breathing, loving, dancing - and their stories have been deemed unimportant. I'm most familiar with African-American history, but there is also an Asian American History, a Latin American history, an Indigenous history - all of which overlapped with popular culture and helped to create our American tapestry. To be written out of history is one thing - to do so in a way that the contributions of others are completely forgotten is another. As Threadbared points out, there's still so much more to find.

Firefox/Chrome/Opera/IE: I've never found Google Calendar to be particularly unattractive—until I compared it to the sleek, clean look of Google Calendar with the Helvetical user script, that is. Helvetical has a very similar design aesthetic to previously mentioned Helvetireader, a Helvetica-themed Google Reader customization. It's easy on the eyes and drops out a lot of the clutter of Google Calendar while keeping all of its functionality in tact. Helvetical works with any browser that supports custom user scripts, which—in theory, at least—includes Firefox with Greasemonkey, Chrome with user scripts enabled, Opera, and IE with previously mentioned IE7Pro. (We've only tested it in Firefox.) If you give it a go, let's hear how you like it in the comments. Helvetical [I am Ad Taylor]

A bevy of classic LucasArts games are coming to Steam over the next month, LucasArts Games announced this morning. First news of the announcement came from LucasArts' Twitter feed: "So lets see who will be happy: LucasArts has partnered with Steam. Digital adventurey goodness." The back-catalog hitting Steam's PC on-demand gaming service includes LOOM, The Dig, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Star Wars Battlefront II. "This effort is going to make it possible to introduce a whole new generation of gamers to LucasArts' classic games," said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts. "It also gives more people a chance to play our games by making them available long after they've disappeared from store shelves. We hope our fans are as excited as we are about our plans and we can't wait to share what's coming next. This is just the beginning." The first round of releases will hit Steam on July 8 and includes these titles: • Armed and Dangerous • Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure • LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure • LOOM • Star Wars Battlefront II • Star Wars Republic Commando • Star Wars Starfighter • The Dig • Thrillville: Off the Rails The partnership is the latest in LucasArts' push to revitalize their older portfolio of games. Tomorrow, Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island game series hits the PC, delivering a new storyline that will unfold across five monthly episodes. On July 15 LucasArts publishes The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, a re-imagined version of the first game in the series that adds updated high definition graphics, a re-mastered musical score, and full voiceover to the classic adventure game originally launched in 1990. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will be released on Xbox LIVE Arcade and PC via Steam and "other online distribution channels." LucasArts teased the announcement late last week on Twitter saying that "amazing news" was coming Monday and that they were "super excited." "You have no idea how tough it is not to start yelling about it! But it's secret! Until Monday!" The news, they say, will be "awesome news for old school fans." They later said that the news wouldn't be tied to a specific IP. LucasArts Games Twitter

As the federal government debates health care reform, the health insurance industry has some news for us. They're not going to stop canceling people's policies after they get sick. Nope. No way. Rescission, or cancellation of a health insurance policy after coverage is in place, can happen when insured people give incorrect or incomplete information when applying for insurance. This can be outright fraud, or something as simple as a woman forgetting to mention taking acne medication in the past when she's diagnosed with breast cancer. Companies are happy to collect premiums until their customers get sick—then they investigate, and cancel the policy if they can. In testimony to Congress today, CEOs of major health insurance companies admitted that their companies will not limit rescission to cases of clear fraud. "When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). "But when times are bad . . . some insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise, at a time when most patients are too weak to fight back." "I think a company does have a right to make sure there's no fraudulent information," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.). "But if a citizen acts in good faith, we should expect the insurance company that takes their money to act in good faith also." Late in the hearing, Stupak, the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show "intentional fraud." The answer from all three executives: "No." It's sort of the GM private jets moment of the health care debate, isn't it? Only the stakes are much higher. Health insurers refuse to limit rescission of coverage [LA Times] (Thanks, /jc!) (Photo: pavel)

Those disappointed in the name change vote of Butt Hole Road'll be happy hearing it's not the only hilariously unfortunate street name. Here's ten more to add to the list of world's street signs making your internal ten-year-old laugh below. [via Swick] Butt Hole Road One of our favorites, Butt Hole means "watering hole" in an older form of English. Cock Hill Lane We assume a rooster roamed these parts. Cockburn Street Pronounced coh-burn, if you pronounce it with a hard "k" sound it's because you didn't wrap it up. Dumb Womans Lane Ann Coulter has to live somewhere. Slutshole Lane Slut used to mean "mud" and therefore this is mud shole lane. Take too many trips down this road, though, and you'll end up on Cockburn Street. Economy Road Oh no, we're in the red! Even worse: it's a cul-de-sac. No Name Street After reviewing these other names, we think this was the safe way to go. PeePee Falls Street One more reason why you should always wear a hat. Penis Road The "Pen Is Mightier." Blueball Avenue We don't care how much it hurts, avoid Slutshole Road. Titman Road Who isn't?

This holiday weekend, Amazon quietly made some changes to their sales ranks, removing selected gay and lesbian books from the site-wide rankings and from some search results. What books were "selected" and speculation as to why they were selected has led to an online uproar. Besides the one thing they have in common, the de-ranked books are all otherwise diverse, ranging from romance novels to serious nonfiction books; policy analysis to teen novels. Amazon should have learned by now that they really can't do this sort of thing these days unnoticed. When author Mark Probst noticed popular gay romance novels disappearing from the sales rankings and contacted Amazon about it, they explained their logic thusly: In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. Oh. Well, that explains it...hey, wait a minute! Why are books with little to no sexual content flagged as "adult" and losing their position in the sales ranks? Why do much dirtier books about heterosexual characters or people still have their sales rank? What, exactly, is Amazon up to here? It's unclear, and that's making people mad. Writers on Livejournal are building a comprehensive list of de-ranked books, and a Google bomb campaign is also afoot. I can't wait to see how very seriously Amazon will take this tomorrow. But hey, at least all books about homosexuality haven't been removed from search results: Amazon de-ranks so-called adult books, including National Book Award winner [LA Times] Amazon Censorship - Who is affected? [Livejournal] Amazon Rank Google Bomb [Smart Bitches, Trashy Books] #Amazonfail [Twitter] Thanks to everyone who sent this in! (Photo: CarbonNYC)

Police say that the owner of the Poloros Restaurant in Mineola, NY had a hidden surveillance camera installed in the ceiling tiles of the women's bathroom. The device, which was used by the owner to watch customers and female employees alike, was spotted by a customer, who notified police. The camera was wired via cable to his private office in the basement, where the owner could view the video on a monitor, according to police. The owner has been arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree unlawful surveillance. Cops: Restaurant owner had camera in bathroom [Newsday] (Photo:Google Streets View)

Your nominations are in and the teams have been seeded, all that's left to do is vote! Without further ado, the Official WCIA Committee would like to present... The 2009 Worst Company In America bracket! The companies were nominated by you, the readers, and we did our best to seed them according to the number of nominations. [PDF]

The Associate Press says that 30 states have cut deals with bailed out banks like JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America to distribute unemployment benefits on debit cards instead of paper checks. The catch? All of these programs have fees — and in some states the cards are mandatory. The AP talked to one recently laid off worker who paid $6 in fees to access $80 of her unemployment money. "It's a racket. It's a scam," Rachel Davis, a 38-year-old dental technician from St. Louis who was laid off in October, told the AP. Why are the banks doing this? The programs have the potential to be a huge source of revenue. Bank collect interest on the money before it is withdrawn, transaction fees of 1 to 3 percent whenever the cards are used at a store, ATM fees, fees to speak to a banker, fees to make withdrawals at a branch, and even overdraft fees. Here's the math: In Missouri, for instance, 94,883 people claimed unemployment benefits through debit cards from Central Bank. Analysts say a recipient uses a card an average of six to 10 times a month. If each cardholder makes three withdrawals at an out-of-network ATM, at a fee of $1.75, the bank would collect nearly $500,000. If half of the cardholders also dial customer service three times in any given week (the first time is free; after that, it's 25 cents a call), the bank's revenue would jump to more than $521,000. That would yield $6.3 million a year. Here are some more examples of the type of fees charged to users of these cards. Jobless hit with bank fees on benefits [Yahoo!] (Photo:The Cornballer)

This a freakin' awesome cartoon that explains how the credit crisis began, played out, and exploded in our face. I know you've seen and heard a million of these by now, but this one is highly visually engaging and entertaining, enough so I could see it being used in the classroom and kids not getting (too) bored. Graphic designer Jonathan Jarvis. Especially good is how it explains leverage. It does miss out on a few details, like how shady mortgage brokers would push even prime borrowers into subprime mortgages because the fees were better. Or how BBB rated CDOs would also get split into their own tranches, with the top one getting a AAA rating just like the one the BBB was derived from. But you have to streamline some of the information to make a compelling 11-minute information, and whatever is lost in fine-grain is made up for in lucidness. Go to the video on Vimeo to see the really nice HD version. The Crisis Of Credit Visualized [jdjarvis via Boing Boing]

Here's something that you don't often see — a Dunkin Donuts employee got so mad at a guy who decided not to wait for his coffee (because it was taking too long) that he left the store, pulled out a folding knife, and slashed the customer's tires. All. Four. Of. Them. After that, the Dunkin Donuts guy went back inside and resumed serving the other customers. Apparently, he could not be reached for comment by the AP, and like hell we're going to try to call him. Police: Doughnut shop worker slashes man's tires [AP] (Photo:Morton Fox)

Consumerist is looking for a freelance Assistant Editor 5-10 hours/week to process our tipline, time of day is flexible, responding to readers and notifying the writing team of post-worthy stories. The ideal candidate is a self-starter with the discipline to work remotely, possessing excellent writing skills, a thorough understanding of Consumerist's style, ethos, and editorial direction, and a passion for consumer blogging. This six-month position, which can translate into posting opportunities, offers a very small stipend. Email your resume and an a 500+ word essay to jobline@consumerist.com on the following: Are consumers winning or losing the battle for better customer service? Support your thesis with stories and techniques from The Consumerist archive. Deadline: Feb 25.

That's baby faced, 13-year-old father Alfie Patten, 15 year-old mother Chantelle Steadman, and their newborn baby Maisie. During the baby's first days out of the hospital, Patten and Steadman spent their time caring for the baby and playing Saints Row II. From UK tabloid The Sun: The four-footer — who looks no more than eight — said: "I know I'm young, but I plan to be a good dad." As he went on the PlayStation with 15-year-old girlfriend Chantelle Steadman, he added: "I think we'll be good parents. I'll have to work extra hard at school." Chantelle looked up from 18-rated action game Saints Row II to admit her first night out of hospital since having 7lb 3oz daughter Maisie had been tough and had left her "in a daze". Saints Row II? Wait just a second. How they hell did they get Saints Row II?! That game is for adults, not kids. Adults. These two are so not ready for Saints Row II. Nobody doubt their sincerity in wanting to play Saints Row II. They're too damn young. Somebody tell their parents before it's too late! Aside: When I was 13, I had a paper route. Feeding, nappies... and PlayStation [The Sun]

The Dog Show has hit New York. This is the space in which an introduction should go, but instead: OMG! Puppies! Someone is living a more luxurious life than you are. While the jacket and the woman are amusing, one has to wonder if the dog is in on the joke. A little privacy, please? Gah! Chihuahuas are my kryptonite. Cant. Type. Losing. Brain. Function. Must. Squee!!! Gigi knew that she and Scruffy were from different worlds. "Hi! Have we met? There's something about you… It's like we're soulmates!" This just doesn't seem appropriate. "Ahh. This is the life." "Make sure they know that I asked for a soy caramel latte, and that this is the second time they have messed it up. If I had thumbs, I would do it myself." "Being gorgeous is a tough job, but someone's gotta do it." "No, I'm sorry, I will not make love to the camera." Aww, with a lineup this cute, they're all winners, right? Relaxing before show time? What is the backstory here?!!?!

I watched the Who Killed The Electric Car documentary last night and was thunderstruck by the "ad" that GM made when California made them make electric cars against their will. If you want to sell a car, you put a hot person in it and shoot them skidding at high speeds across desert plains. This was like trailer for a sequel to The Ring. Elongated shadows of a family spill across across pavement at a canted angle while a spectral chorus moans in the background. "How does it go without sparks or explosions?" asks the voice over. Right when it says "explosions," the camera moves in on the baby carriage shadow. Then it fades to black, and when it fades back in, near where the baby carriage was there's an explosiony-looking pock-mark on the ground. You don't have to have a PhD psychology to figure out that they were trying to scare consumers away from buying electric cars. GM EV1 TV Commercial 1 [YouTube] Who Killed the Electric Car? [Netflix]

Do you play games for more than 3 years? I do! I still like Super Mario 3, and that's no lie. Well, if you are like me, you might be concerned about the fact that the PC version of Gears of War shipped with DRM that automatically made the game unplayable after 1/28/09. Ars Technica says: Gamers who tried to play Gears of War on the PC Thursday ran into a slight snag: it seems that the digital certificate that allows the game to run expired on January 28, 2009. Basically that means if you keep your PC's clock up to date, you can no longer play the game. The official Epic forum is ablaze with complaints about this issue, as the still-kicking community becomes enraged. "I had this problem this evening, I had to change the date and time (from PM to AM) and I am able to get in just fine," one frustrated gamer posted. "I also changed it back to the current date and time and it didn't work. Change it back to yesterday AM and it works fine... EPIC games won't be on my list anytime soon...." If you want to continue playing the game, you can adjust your system clock while waiting for a presumably forthcoming patch. Of course, if you pirated the game, you don't really have a problem. Gears of War DRM screwup makes PC version unplayable [Ars Technica] (Thanks, Mike!)

The original Star Trek only managed to make 80 episodes before running out of Dilithium. Not enough! So we mixed up the show's most frequent plot twists, to create a foolproof Trek story generator. Design by the amazing Stephanie Fox.