January 2013 Archives

January 31

words for snow

Counting Eskimo words for snow: A citizen's guide
posted by aniola at 11:33 PM PST - 44 comments

Yes. Yes it is.

Is Mister Rogers' Neighborhood The Greatest TV Show Ever?
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 11:30 PM PST - 48 comments

B is for Beastie, that's good enough for me

Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop learning: Oscar, Grover, and Cookie Monster rockin' the Beastie Boys' "Sure Shot." [more inside]
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 11:27 PM PST - 27 comments

Arms Manufacturers <3 Game Publishers

Shooters: How Video Games Fund Arms Manufacturers. An investigation into how real life weapons are licensed for videogames, and how those videogames market guns to young people, published by gaming news site Eurogamer.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 9:21 PM PST - 82 comments

Evol's tiny world of apartments

Street artist Evol paints little apartment buildings on utility boxes, concrete blocks, park walls, and art installations (completed, but nothing lasts forever). More on his Flickr collection, or you can see highlights on Twisted Sifter.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:18 PM PST - 14 comments

Maps of global telecommunications

telegeography.com has a nice gallery of zoomable maps of global telecommunications and IT infrastructure, such as submarine cables (1 2), and internet backbones.
posted by carter at 8:00 PM PST - 9 comments

When Mrs Cohen met Mr Peake

In 1939 Mrs David Cohen, president of the Industrial Arts Society of New South Wales, addressed a literary luncheon on the subject of 'her eleven months sojourn in foreign places'. Of particular note was her meeting with a 'twenty-seven-year-old painter-poet, Mervyn Peake'.
posted by misterbee at 7:30 PM PST - 38 comments

My Kingdom for a Beer?

Heineken's "Eurotopia" The theory behind Heineken’s idea is that a larger number of smaller member-states would be easier to govern within a single European framework than a combination of larger states competing for dominance.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:54 PM PST - 33 comments

Winner's History of Rock and Roll

Grantland's Steven Hyden writes the winner's history of rock and roll, in four parts (so far), and charts the death of rock music as a major pop-cultural force in the 21st century by looking at some (not necessarily well-loved) bands that helped to transform it into a Big Business: Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith (and coming up in the next installment, Metallica). Rock isn't dead, by any means. But for better or worse, it ain't what it used to be.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:40 PM PST - 82 comments

Balham, Gateway to the South

Peter Sellers, best known for The Goons, Inspector Clouseau and Doctor Strangelove, also recorded sketches in the 1950s in which he supplied all of the voices. Probably best known is his spoof of the 1950s travelogue, the ode to South London's finest neighbourhood - Balham, Gateway to the South, but the rest is also worth a listen. [more inside]
posted by jontyjago at 4:31 PM PST - 11 comments

I'm calling dibs on the top bunk

A 6* chalet in the ski resort of Oberlech, Austria, has recently opened. The cost to rent it for a week? £231,088 - around $370,000. [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 4:26 PM PST - 91 comments

Return To Knytt

Knytt Underground is the latest indie platformer by developer Nifflas. If its anything like the other Knytt games, Knytt and Knytt Stories, its a gentle Metroidvania that emphasizes exploration and movement over combat. Knytt Underground is out for the PC and, unlike his other games, for the PS3 and Vita.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:03 PM PST - 17 comments

Holland's 9/11 happened sixty years ago today

Sixty years ago today, a combination of an unusually heavy storm in the North Sea and springtide, led to disaster along the shores of Britain, Belgium and especially the southwestern part of the Netherlands, killing 1836 people in the largest modern day flooding the country had seen. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 3:02 PM PST - 33 comments

"How do I shut down Twitter?

HMVs across the world have been closing and losing their business to online retailers so they have been letting a lot of people go. Recently, they fired someone who had access to twitter. They live-tweeted the whole event.
posted by cyml at 2:40 PM PST - 64 comments

Guerilla theatre. May contain actual gorilla.

Founded in 1999 and quickly winning over theatre critics and audiences alike, Abattoir Fermé is an avant-garde collective that was awarded the 2008 Flemish Culture Prize for its "penetrating and ominous theatre." [more inside]
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 2:21 PM PST - 2 comments

Tiago Hoisel is an exceptionally talented illustrator coming from Brazil

Tiago Hoisel is a cool illustrator from São Paulo, Brazil. his work focus on humorous illustrations. interview with him reveal a simple and talented character. examples of his work : 1, 2, 3, 4. more can be found here and here.
posted by Ahmed_Nabil at 2:20 PM PST - 3 comments

TIE Fighter: A Post 9/11 Parable

TIE Fighter: A Post 9/11 Parable
posted by Drinky Die at 1:49 PM PST - 36 comments

More soundtracks for 2013!

DJ Nirso explores the connection between Africa, North and South America with tasteful remixes and mixtapes.
posted by Tom-B at 1:43 PM PST - 1 comment

Is this Volkswagen ad racist?

Jamaican's seem to have no issue with Volkswagen's new Super Bowl ad, others however are of a different opinion, going so far as to deem the content racist.
posted by Cosine at 12:48 PM PST - 126 comments

But, what if the user hasn't done anything?

Most UI/UX experiences seem to concentrate on a busy user, but what if they are not? Empty States addresses how applications handle no content.
posted by Samizdata at 12:28 PM PST - 21 comments

Dolphin Stampede

Earlier this year, a California whale watching boat was pleasantly surprised to encounter a pod of about a thousand common dolphins who decided to check them out. Some fun footage, including from underwater cameras, was used to create this video of the experience. [slyt] [via]
posted by quin at 12:17 PM PST - 14 comments

"It's the biggest privacy breach in our time, and it’s legal"

Your employer may share your salary, and Equifax might sell that data. "The Equifax credit reporting agency, with the aid of thousands of human resource departments around the country, has assembled what may be the most powerful and thorough private database of Americans’ personal information ever created, containing 190 million employment and salary records covering more than one-third of U.S. adults. Some of the information in the little-known database, created through an Equifax-owned company called The Work Number, is sold to debt collectors, financial service companies and other entities."
posted by coupdefoudre at 12:09 PM PST - 39 comments

Nothing happens if you respect the snake

A ten-day trip to the Mato Grosso do Sul to take pictures of anacondas worked out quite well for nature photographer Franco Banfi. (Videos from a similar expedition in 2010.)
posted by rewil at 12:06 PM PST - 8 comments

Modem Love

Remember the sound of dialup modems handshaking? Here's what was happening.
posted by pjern at 12:04 PM PST - 27 comments

"I give God 10%; Why do you get 18%"

Waitress whose co-worker scanned uncharitable receipt from Applebee's customer is fired after story goes viral. [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 11:52 AM PST - 352 comments

Seven Short Stories About Drones

1. Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Pity. A signature strike leveled the florist’s. The Disposition Matrix. Anti-Drone Camouflage: What to Wear in Total Surveillance. Drone City. Books Not Bombs.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:44 AM PST - 12 comments

Please support tiny flower sparkle princess fairies in hip hop.

The new Kitty (formerly Kitty Pryde) EP, D.A.I.S.Y. Rage is out today for your free streaming/download. If'n you wanna tumblrize and girlize and otherwise coyly subvert yr hip hop. ☠DEAD❤ISLAND☠ video. Previously seen on MetaFilter for her Okay Cupid and Orion's Belt videos which sparked heated debates. Noisey has an interview with her, and she's also taking over their twitter for the day. "If her new EP feels like the work of an artist coming into their own, that’s because it is: It’s as cohesive a body of work as the rapper has ever put out, showcasing the crooked self-assurance that it takes to cop to shit like bed-wetting and making a song with a guy who rejected you."
posted by naju at 11:05 AM PST - 27 comments

VR Valiance

Dr. Robin Rosenberg, a clinical psychologist and expert in the psychology of superheroes, has conducted a new study showing that having people fly like Superman in a virtual-reality simulator makes them act more heroic in real life.
posted by obscurator at 10:52 AM PST - 16 comments

"Cemetary Baby" winning video

"Cemetary Baby" - winning video by Kristin Gamez for the Girl In A Coma song.
posted by Ardiril at 9:40 AM PST - 8 comments

The Spy Novelist Who Knows Too Much

"De Villiers has spent most of his life cultivating spies and diplomats, who seem to enjoy seeing themselves and their secrets transfigured into pop fiction (with their own names carefully disguised), and his books regularly contain information about terror plots, espionage and wars that has never appeared elsewhere. Other pop novelists, like John le Carré and Tom Clancy, may flavor their work with a few real-world scenarios and some spy lingo, but de Villiers’s books are ahead of the news and sometimes even ahead of events themselves." (SLNYT)
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:33 AM PST - 26 comments

Life without the hassles of living

Is being cool too much work? Enter CouchCachet, which checks you in to the hottest locations on Foursquare whenever you get home (after checking to make sure your friends have never been). And that is not all: among its other features, it will "tweet lyrics by indie bands that people haven’t heard of, wax poetic about local microbrews that you just discovered at some cool speakeasy and... upload low-fi pictures of 20-somethings in skinny jeans to your Instagram.”
posted by blahblahblah at 9:33 AM PST - 67 comments

The death of bricks-and-mortar retail

Marc Andreessen predicts the end of traditional retail.
Retail chains are a fundamentally implausible economic structure if there’s a viable alternative. You combine the fixed cost of real estate with inventory, and it puts every retailer in a highly leveraged position. Few can survive a decline of 20 to 30 percent in revenues. It just doesn’t make any sense for all this stuff to sit on shelves. There is fundamentally a better model.
posted by beagle at 9:24 AM PST - 112 comments

Don't fail your New Year's Resolution!

A Daruma doll will always remind you of your goal. First read it here then watched it here. Nana korobi yaoki!
posted by xicana63 at 9:21 AM PST - 11 comments

Not pictured: British people

This year's BAFTA Awards are promoting themselves with gorgeous original illustrated posters.
posted by mightygodking at 9:20 AM PST - 11 comments

Lego riddles anyone?

55 Years of The Brick
posted by ersatzkat at 8:10 AM PST - 24 comments

Nuts

Yesterday, the Nielsen Company released a report showing that same-sex partnered households in America shop about 16% more than the average US household. Broken down into categories, Nielsen observes that gay couples drink a ton, while lesbian couples eat an awful lot of cottage cheese.
posted by schmod at 7:39 AM PST - 63 comments

Mascot Bonanza!

Japan attempts to set the world record for the greatest number of mascots dancing at once. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 7:35 AM PST - 10 comments

Cool for cats

James Bowen is a young man for whom life hasn’t always been kind. But a chance meeting on the streets of London where he was selling The Big Issue with Bob, his ginger cat, and Mary Pachnos, a literary agent, changed his life forever. Also Bob has a twitter like all the cool cats.
posted by Mezentian at 7:09 AM PST - 12 comments

Duncan Jones to Helm Warcraft

Hollywood Reporter: "Duncan Jones is taking on Legendary Pictures' adaptation of the popular video game universe" [more inside]
posted by condesita at 7:08 AM PST - 77 comments

NSFW: We like to entertain… ourselves mainly...

NSFW We like to entertain… ourselves mainly… and it’s a comedy show much of the time, with little more than white walls and floorboards for a stage.
''Old Master'' shoots with just a cell phone or ipad. His compositions are definitely outside the norm, all with a cast of volunteers, no models.
This is amateur dramatics with a difference. (NSFW. BDSM, bondage, fetish).
Some of this work is included in this online book.
posted by adamvasco at 7:06 AM PST - 3 comments

A Lifetime of Happiness, Part 2

Ada Laurie Bryant, 97, and Robert Mitchell Haire, 86, were married last Saturday. The two met in 2007 at their retirement community and were widow and widower. They began going on regular lunch dates after they both realized they hate going to dinner alone, even though they knew it meant they might be labeled a "couple" by the other residents. The bride is keeping her name.
posted by winecork at 7:01 AM PST - 21 comments

The stuff of fairy tales

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is the first major video game to be developed by the legendary animation house Studio Ghibli (previously). Reviews are mostly ecstatic, with praise for its music and graphics. And Brainy Gamer speculates that, like Zelda and The Elder Scrolls before it, the game will be remembered because of its connection to the "perilous realm" that J.R.R. Tolkien described.
posted by jbickers at 6:35 AM PST - 33 comments

Pledge Now!

Got an extra wad of cash burning a hole in your pocket, but that NPR fund drive doesn't start for another two weeks? Run out of useful Kickstarter campaigns to back? It's Pledge Weak on the internet!
posted by backseatpilot at 6:32 AM PST - 5 comments

How the 808 got its cymbal sound and inspiration - a brief NAMM tale.

Rhythm King - "Don had been hired by the Hammond organ company to demo its products on the show floor. He was using an Ace Tone rhythm box (which was distributed by Hammond at the time) as his percussion section. "I had modified my Ace Tone to death, changed all the rhythms because none of them fit my style of playing. I also wired it through the expression pedal of the Hammond, so I could get [percussion] accents, which no one was doing then. After the show this man from Japan came up and the first thing out of his mouth was ‘that looks like my rhythm unit but it doesn’t sound like my rhythm unit! How did you do that?’" It was Ikutaro Takehashi, the president of Ace."
posted by marienbad at 4:31 AM PST - 22 comments

Storyboard: Make video files into PDF books

Storyboard was born of my insane desire to consume videos without actually having to watch them. Normally that would involve putting the TV on in the background and ignoring the video while listening to the audio, but what about the reverse? All visual without the audio. On my kindle. via waxy [more inside]
posted by cgc373 at 4:06 AM PST - 25 comments

Essay: Moral Shortcomings in the Technology Debate

Digital and genetic techniques increasingly influence life. Our belief in progress through technology stands in the way of a moral debate on this development. ~ by Rinie van Est
posted by infini at 1:56 AM PST - 24 comments

January 30

Don't Tell Hillary Swank

Hilary/Hillary: The Most Poisoned Baby Name in US History in which Hilary Parker, Ph.D. candidate in Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, uses her statistical mojo to determine just how unique was the drop-off of babies named Hilary/Hillary the year after Bill Clinton was elected President.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:52 PM PST - 83 comments

Pangaea um?

Just how badly does the Mercator projection distort our planet?
posted by special-k at 11:47 PM PST - 49 comments

At Her Feet

wikiFeet is the celebrity feet encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Its users post, rate and ogle the feet of notable women including Britney Spears (1270 photos), Yvonne de Carlo (26 photos), Eva Braun (7 photos) and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (1 photo).
posted by dontjumplarry at 11:11 PM PST - 46 comments

I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Spice Your Soup

Yo La Tengo's 13th album, Fade, marks the first time in 15 years the band has made official music videos. 2 to be exact: the colorful & playfully psychedelic Before We Run, and the serene & educational I'll Be Around. Bon Appétit chats with Ira Kaplan about the use of recipes in the latter video.
posted by mannequito at 11:00 PM PST - 12 comments

Wild is the Windy City

Chicago has been having some fairly remarkable weather lately, even by their standards. On the 25th of January there was more than an inch of snowfall recorded for the first time in 335 days, a new record. Then a surge of warm air from the south brought a temperature of 63 degrees at O'Hare airport on January 29th, a new record for that date, exactly one week after a temperature of 9 degrees was recorded (which, combined with the 35mph winds on that date, produced a windchill factor of about -20f). The current forecast (at time of posting this) calls for a high of only 14f on Friday (Feb. 1st), another significant temperature swing within a few days.
posted by MattMangels at 10:40 PM PST - 36 comments

Peekaboo

Can you find Momo?
posted by Scoop at 8:34 PM PST - 22 comments

Bloomberg has given 1.1 billion to Johns Hopkins

To date, Michael Bloomberg has donated a total of $1.1 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, making him the most generous living donor to any educational institution in the United States.
posted by deathpanels at 8:26 PM PST - 38 comments

my cat is sad

Spencer Madsen wrote a poem about his cat.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:11 PM PST - 49 comments

To build the future, we looked to the past.

"You may find my actions extreme, but for a crew of sufficient numbers, if a suitable destination could be found, no return destination would be needed. Therefore, I have had to improvise, with our ship, with our crew." The goal was to make a short sci-fi film, but without CGI, greenscreens, or other digital trickery, instead relying on camera tricks, miniature photography, and stop-animation. And now it is done: C 299,792 km/s [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:43 PM PST - 39 comments

The Challenge

The Sinner Team is a group of Russians who like bungee jumping and body modifications. They combine the two in interesting ways. THE CHALLENGE is a documentary of their experiences. If you are squeamish about unusual body piercings, you should probably not watch this.
posted by boo_radley at 6:20 PM PST - 19 comments

A PERSONAL TALE OF UNWINNABLE REALITIES

Revenue Canada worker fired for his online customer service game [more inside]
posted by grippycat at 4:11 PM PST - 68 comments

A Mind That Rebelled at Stagnation

In 1984, Grenada Television produced a television series called Sherlock Holmes. The famous detective has been portrayed by numerous people including Robert Downey Jr., Basil Rathbone, and Benedict Cumberbatch, but British actor Jeremy Brett played one of the most holmesian detectives ever put to screen. Brett was known for his passion and skill as Holmes, as well as the humor and grace that he brought to the role. He was accompanied by a Watson played by David Burke, no slouch himself in accompanying the consulting detective. Granada was able to adapt 42 of Conan Doyle's stories during the show's ten year lifespan. Below is the entirety of the series on various youtube channels. [more inside]
posted by holmesian at 3:47 PM PST - 84 comments

Battered Vinyl Retaliates

BBC DJs Mark and Lard show of some of their treasured vinyl recordings which are "particularly hard to find these days in this kind of condition": Mull of *Kintyre, Messing about on the River, Rocking around the Christmas Tree, Bright Eyes (more). NSFW - although somehow they got away with broadcasting it in the middle of the afternoon.
posted by rongorongo at 2:59 PM PST - 13 comments

I am become Hello Kitty, destroyer of worlds: Domestic Cat Holocaust USA

In a report that scaled up local surveys and pilot studies to national dimensions, scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that domestic cats in the United States — both the pet Fluffies that spend part of the day outdoors and the unnamed strays and ferals that never leave it — kill a median of 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year, most of them native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles rather than introduced pests like the Norway rat.
That cuddly kitty is deadlier than you think
See also Feral Cats Kill Billions of Small Critters Each Year
See also The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States
posted by y2karl at 2:50 PM PST - 169 comments

The Streets Aren't Paved With Gold, Even Under All the Vomit

One point needs to be made clear. It's not that the British government dislikes Bulgarians or Romanians; somebody needs to pick up the slack now the Polish builders have become too expensive. They're just worried that people in Budapest or Sofia don't know that Britain is, well, a bit shit, that you can't find a decent goulash for love nor money and that you may just not like it there. So they're proposing an ad campaign to warn of the dangers of living in Britain. Knowning that in this, its darkest hour, their country needs them, Guardian readers have responded in their literal dozens to contribute ad ideas. It's not as if they're short on material, after all.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:12 PM PST - 99 comments

You can easily hear the effects of the horn.

The Ceiling Janus. Just a beautifully designed ceiling-mounted rotating speaker, for instant room-filling psychedelia at the turn of a knob. [more inside]
posted by anazgnos at 12:55 PM PST - 31 comments

it ain't the middle of life but I'm still / lost in the woods

Anselm Hollo, Finnish-born poet, translator, and teacher, has died. A major figure in the poetry avant garde for decades, Hollo was a professor at the Naropa Institute's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Robert Archambeau writes: "Hollo's grasp of the gulf between the sublimity of which poetry is capable, and the absurdities into which poets fall in pursuit of that chimera, a 'career in poetry,' made him the ideal person to hold the title of United States Anti-Laureate, to which he was elected by the Buffalo POETICS list back at the turn of the century."
posted by aught at 12:06 PM PST - 7 comments

Love and a gross misuse of office resources in mid-century New York City

Disney's Oscar-nominated animated short Paperman has just been made available for your viewing delight on the official Walt Disney Animation Studios YouTube channel! [more inside]
posted by brieche at 12:01 PM PST - 84 comments

"In the future, everything will be terrifying."

Dougal Dixon is a scientist, author, and illustrator. While he is most famous for his work on dinosaurs, his books After Man: A Zoology of the Future and Man After Man: An Anthropology Of The Future attempt to explore what might happen in the far future. The Posthuman Art Of Dougal Dixon. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:35 AM PST - 25 comments

Down and Out in Paris and Berlin

Russians without Russia is an elegantly designed digital archive of the magazines and newspapers produced by the Russian exile communities of 1920s and 30s.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:20 AM PST - 12 comments

A TV made from TV remote controls

Chris Shen built a low-resolution video display called Infra using the infrared LEDs of an array of 625 remote controls. [more inside]
posted by exogenous at 9:59 AM PST - 38 comments

Typography Nerds Take Note

Courier Prime , a new, updated, better-looking and free (beer and speech) version of Courier has been released. It's been designed for screen plays but very much suitable for other uses, including documents, the web and mobile applications. [more inside]
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:57 AM PST - 69 comments

PRINTER IS JAMMED. OPEN DOOR, CLEAR FOOD, THEN PRESS OK.

Looking to print your own house, jewelry or dessert? Then check out Engadget's Consumer Guide to 3D printers.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:06 AM PST - 81 comments

The Best Camera is the One You Have With You

A Traveling Photographer is a short video by Kevin Russ, who has been journeying thought the American west taking amazing pictures with his iPhone. [via]
posted by quin at 9:00 AM PST - 19 comments

To caricature and simplify at the same time!

Charley Harper's "minimal realism" contributions to science and art are being celebrated by the graphic design blog Codex 99. Part 1 - Charley and Edie. Part 2 - The Birds. Part 3 - Tin Lizzie and Dinner for Two. Part 4 - The Golden Book of Biology. Part 5 - Bambi and Childcraft. Part 6 - The Animal Kingdom.
posted by ChuraChura at 8:43 AM PST - 10 comments

Flip Book Gangnam Style

Flip Book Gangnam Style
posted by josher71 at 8:26 AM PST - 24 comments

360-degree panorama photo taken atop the world's tallest building

This 2.5 gigapixel panoramic image (zoom) was taken from the top of Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building. It was taken to promote the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award, the world's richest photography award, sponsored and created by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai.
posted by stbalbach at 8:12 AM PST - 66 comments

Lotus 1-2-3 is 30 years old.

Lotus 1-2-3 is 30 years old.
posted by chunking express at 7:34 AM PST - 40 comments

The Face of NFL Fandom on Facebook

With the Superbowl only days away, Facebook conducted a study of its customers' pages to see how NFL team fan representation played out across the site and geographically. Via Gizmodo.
posted by Atreides at 7:27 AM PST - 77 comments

One day at work I fall into brine and they close the lid above me

Simon Rich's sellout, as described by his great-great-grandfather, preserved in brine. [more inside]
posted by benbenson at 6:58 AM PST - 67 comments

Da Cush a Puhson Owl Tee

A complilation of a 2 year old wrestling fan's WWE wrestler impersonations from CM Punk to Kane. (SLYT)
posted by ShawnStruck at 6:56 AM PST - 8 comments

Where I Work

Where I work: LinkedIn recently asked their Influencers to write blog posts showing where they work, and explaining how they work. More than fifty responded - from Craig Newmark to Arianna Huffington to David Cameron. The workspaces range from staid offices to open bullpens, airplanes and hotel rooms, 10 Downing Street, university lecture rooms, a place for emergency naps, and everything in between. At least one of them includes a reminder to floss daily. Take a look: John C. Abell, Lou Adler, Rafat Ali, Steve Anders, Dan Ariely, Richard Branson, Tim Brown, Oliver Bussmann, David Cameron, Anand Chandrasekaran, Emily Chang, Andrew Chen, Deepak Chopra, Kevin Chou, James Citrin, Linda Coles, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Heather Elias, Michael Fertik, Inge Geerdens, Herb Greenberg, Peter Guber, Eric Hippeau, Arianna Huffington, Aaron Hurst, Jeff Jordan, J.T. O'Donnell, Bruce Kasanoff, Tom Keene, Steve Knight, Jordy Leiser, Betty Liu, Michael Moritz, Craig Newmark, Deep Nishar, T. Boone Pickens, Ilya Pozin, Daniel Rosensweig, Naomi Simson, Trish Regan, Steve Rubel, Dharmesh Shah, Colin Shaw, David H. Stevens, Gijs van Wulfen, Martin Varsavsky, Andreas von der Heydt, Jeff Weiner, Geni Whitehouse,
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:30 AM PST - 60 comments

Must Read

On Must Read, you choose the one article you think everyone should read—right now—then share it with a note explaining why. Follow people who post great must-reads, and your timeline becomes a command center for vital reading; you see their current must-reads, and nothing else. [via mefi projects]
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 4:12 AM PST - 14 comments

Jim Nabors - still alive! - married at 82

Gomer Pyle got married to his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, last week. Jim Nabors, aka Gomer Pyle of Mayberry and of the U.S.M.C., also of many records featuring his inimitable voice, particularly this rendition of "The Impossible Dream,", and the national anthem, married his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, last week in Seattle. [First link opens a news window, which can be loud.] [more inside]
posted by goofyfoot at 12:59 AM PST - 87 comments

Retrofuturist 80s Synthwave

Lazerhawk - Redline [SLYT]
posted by Doleful Creature at 12:12 AM PST - 25 comments

January 29

Like pornography, you know it when you see it ...

International Art English (IAE) with its pompous paradoxes and plagues of adverbs is not to be confused with actual English.
posted by philip-random at 11:42 PM PST - 64 comments

Bob and Weave.

Five-year-old boxing practice.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:31 PM PST - 16 comments

LOC amassing tweets at breakneck pace, needs help to make it accessible

The Library of Congress posted a Jan 2013 update on its mission to archive public tweets, announced back in April 2010 (previously). 170 billion tweets so far, adding more than .5 billion per day. Search for a term? Prepare to wait ~24 hours. [more inside]
posted by sundog at 10:53 PM PST - 20 comments

“I think I like Prince so much I would actually “buy” my tickets.”

Siskel and Ebert on Prince.

I know right?
posted by timsteil at 9:39 PM PST - 54 comments

The Book of Coach

"For those who coached under Walsh, Finding the Winning Edge was a study of the genius beyond his playbook. For those who coached against him, it was a window into the mind of their nemesis." -- The Coaching Philosophy of Bill Walsh. The book is now out of print and even a used copy will cost you $1,249.99 on Amazon.
posted by MattMangels at 9:36 PM PST - 10 comments

The Core of FATE

The Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment (FATE) system has produced notable games ranging from the pulp themed Spirit of the Century, to the hard science fiction Diaspora, to the adaptation of the urban fantasy series Dresdin Files, and the high fantasy Legends of Anglierre. However, there's never been a basic, official version of the 3rd. edition core system. Until now. [more inside]
posted by happyroach at 8:43 PM PST - 18 comments

Farewell to a visionary musician and musical thinker

Sadly, it's time to say farewell to a unique and visionary musician and musical thinker who developed and articulated an extraordinary method of directing large-ensemble improvisation with a method that he dubbed "conduction". Mr. Butch Morris has left us, but his ideas will surely reverberate in the hearts and minds of creative musicians and lovers of creative music everywhere.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:27 PM PST - 10 comments

Old Dog, New Bits

SLYT: an octogenarian plays Black Ops and Halo: 4 with his grandson. And really, really gets into it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:15 PM PST - 43 comments

Alternate pressing L and R as fast as you can to fluff these pillows.

Downton Abbey for the SNES. (SLYT, sadly not a real game. via tor.com)
posted by gamera at 6:59 PM PST - 26 comments

Funeral Procession Includes Stop at Burger King Drive-Thru

Funeral Procession Includes Stop at Burger King Drive-Thru
posted by ColdChef at 6:43 PM PST - 30 comments

Diamond and Samberg on Risk Assessment

Jared Diamond argues that we should be more concerned about low risk events that we encounter with greater frequency. Meanwhile, Lonely Island argues that we should be more concerned about low risk events that we encounter with greater frequency.
posted by dgaicun at 6:05 PM PST - 46 comments

Alien vs Predator vs Brown vs The Board of Education

"Hi. My name is Eric. I come up with band names constantly. If you're starting a band, might I suggest using one of these names..."
posted by alexoscar at 5:49 PM PST - 87 comments

August Sings The Habanera from Carmen

For those who like a little WTF? with their opera. [NSFW]. Of course, there's a Making Of video. Also NSFW, and in German.
posted by pjern at 5:42 PM PST - 31 comments

Workers of the world... Relax!

"Because work is unnecessary except to those whose power it secures, workers are shifted from relatively useful to relatively useless occupations as a measure to assure public order." -- The Abolition Of Work by Bob Black [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 4:24 PM PST - 92 comments

Son is clearly going to grow up to be a Bucky the Beaver furry

Vintage Home Computer Ads Revisited
posted by acb at 4:03 PM PST - 26 comments

like, it's FROM a bird, but then there's a bird IN it, i don't even--

Cut feather shadowboxes: feather art by Chris Maynard.
posted by cortex at 3:28 PM PST - 12 comments

METAFILTRVM: NOLI ILLEGITIMI CARBORVNDVM

We've all been there: you need a portentous motto for your new liberal arts college, crack military unit, or world-encompassing secret society, but you just don't speak Latin. No problēma! If the grand list of Latin phrases doesn't have what you're looking for, there's always the Latin Motto Generator. [more inside]
posted by Iridic at 2:22 PM PST - 67 comments

Announcement of the government of Canada

To deter abuse, Canada’s refugee system has changed.
People who have arrived with groundless claims for asylum are removed faster (then before).


The Government of Canada has started a billboard campaign in Miskolc, Hungary's third biggest city, to inform people about the changes of its immigration law. (Many who previously immigrated to Canada used to live in this city and its surrounding area.)

Also, two Global News reports from Canada:

The Outsiders. The harsh realities of being a Hungarian Roma refugee in Canada.

(Previously)
posted by bdz at 2:04 PM PST - 147 comments

Everything is Dinner

Micro-Macro, an animated short film that visualizes the nested scales of the physical universe (a la the Powers of Ten) using stop-motion-animated food. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:00 PM PST - 4 comments

Detailed design notes on Zelda, Castlevania and Mega Man

The blog of video game journalist Jeremy Parish, ToastyFrog GameSpite TeleBunny.net, has four in-depth, stage-by-stage, exhaustive examinations of classic 8-bit game design: Castlevania, Castlevania II, The Legend of Zelda, and Castlevania III. They are required reading for prospective game designers. (Complete links inside. Mega Man fans, look here.) [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 1:49 PM PST - 27 comments

Murmuration

Murmuration (slvim)
posted by grateful at 1:27 PM PST - 4 comments

Yearning to Breathe Free

President Obama called on Congress, in a speech today in Las Vegas, to advance an immigration overhaul that includes a plan “that finally deals with the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are in this country right now.” [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:07 PM PST - 132 comments

Jessica Fletcher, history's greatest monster

Murder happens a lot less in real life than on television, that's a given, but how much less? [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 12:53 PM PST - 96 comments

If this post gets 1 million favourites, I'm getting a puppy.

Ryan Cordell told his kids they could have the puppy they were asking for...if their Facebook puppy request page got one million likes. You can probably guess the result (cute children + plea for cute puppy = viral gold). Cordell says that although he did expect the page would get several thousand visits over a couple of weeks, "I just thought it would kind of peter out at that point," and in a month or two, he and his wife would congratulate the kids on their project and get them a puppy anyway. He didn't anticipate that it would take only seven hours to reach one million likes. Perhaps he should have seen it coming: Cordell is an English professor at Northeastern University whose research in digital humanities includes the study of "viral media" from the 19th century. [Audio interview with Cordell on CBC Radio--starts at 1:01:00 into the episode.] Most importantly, though: photos of Millie, the shelter puppy they adopted! [more inside]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:41 PM PST - 40 comments

A Million First Dates: How online romance is threatening monogamy

A recent Atlantic article magazine raises the question of whether online dating discourages long term commitment. This is not the first time Atlantic has raised concerns about online dating sites. In 2006, the tone of an article on the topic was neutral. Not so much in 2010, 2011, and more recently. But perhaps we just all need more data.
posted by bearwife at 12:38 PM PST - 62 comments

The Factory Floor

Andrew "bunnie" Huang (previously) offered MIT students insight on how to bring electronic designs from paper to manufactured product. He summarized the process in a four part series: The Quotation, On Design for Manufacturing, Industrial Design for Startups, and Picking (and Maintaining) a Partner. [more inside]
posted by rider at 12:19 PM PST - 7 comments

The flicker of the campfire, the wind in the pines...

Girl Scout Camping, 1919. More at the Smithsonian/American History blog.
posted by Miko at 11:21 AM PST - 11 comments

Madam Would-Be Mayor

An early look at Christine Quinn's bid to become the first woman (and lesbian) mayor of New York,
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:34 AM PST - 21 comments

iDon't Believe It

A German store hires an ace salesman to sell its iPads (SLYT)
posted by MuffinMan at 10:08 AM PST - 28 comments

Mark Zuckerberg's Hoodie

It is June 2, 2010 and Mark Zuckerberg is sweating. He’s wearing his hoodie—he’s always wearing his hoodie—and he’s on stage and either the lights or the questions are too hot. … “Do you want to take off the hoodie?” asks Kara Swisher.
“I never take off the hoodie.”
The varied cultural resonances of an unassuming garment.
posted by the mad poster! at 10:07 AM PST - 152 comments

No TP needed

The Baltimore Ravens may be Super Bowl underdogs, but they can probably beat you at cornhole.
posted by ericbop at 9:09 AM PST - 30 comments

Why should women accept this picture of a half-life, instead of a share?

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, which turns 50 next month, transformed the lives of women across America. ... Gail Collins, author and columnist for the New York Times, wrote the introduction to the 50th anniversary edition of The Feminine Mystique. Collins may be best known for her sharp and witty voice on the Times's Op-Ed page. In 2001, she became the first woman to serve as Editorial Page Editor for the New York Times, a post she held until 2007. Collins grew up in the kind of "typical" suburban household Friedan described. But The Feminine Mystique, released when Collins was in college, sparked the second wave of feminism and shaped the landscape Collins would enter into. An Interview with Collins about her own experiences, childcare, the rise of female breadwinners, and what she sees for women in the future.
posted by infini at 8:49 AM PST - 9 comments

The sorry state of Boston sports writers

From the most recent Boston Magazine. "The Boston sports media, once considered one of the country’s best and most influential press corps, is stumbling toward irrelevance. The national media not only seems to break more big Boston sports stories than the local press, but also often features more sophisticated analysis, especially when it comes to using advanced statistics. To put it bluntly, “The Lodge”—as Fred Toucher, cohost of the 98.5 The Sports Hub morning radio show, mockingly refers to the city’s clubby, self-important media establishment—is clogged with stale reporters, crotchety columnists, and shameless blowhards. " There's even a whole blog dedicated to hating Dan Shaughnessy, Dan Shaughnessy Watch, aka the CHB.
posted by Melismata at 8:42 AM PST - 17 comments

X-Mensch

Magneto the Jew
posted by Artw at 8:38 AM PST - 60 comments

The Cyber-Ombudsman

TruthTeller is an ambitious new automated application built by the Washington Post, which fact checks political speeches, ads and interviews "in as close to real time as possible." The prototype is intended to be a complement to the paper's Fact Checker Blog. More on the project from TechCrunch and Poynter.
posted by zarq at 8:24 AM PST - 13 comments

Gnome place like home

Tiny paintings of gnomes have been turning up in the Oakland neighborhoods surrounding Lake Merritt. Some were attached to Pacific Gas & Electric power poles and were in danger of being removed, but the utility has responded to public outcry by granting the gnomes a reprieve. Neighbors and the popular Children's Fairyland are supporting keeping the gnomes around.
posted by agatha_magatha at 8:22 AM PST - 18 comments

Cell Phone Propaganda Posters

Ted Slampyak has created some helpful etiquette posters for cell phone users. [via buzzfeed] [more inside]
posted by quin at 8:08 AM PST - 110 comments

gifs that keep on giving

Illustrator Rebecca Mock has created animated gifs for NYTimes articles ranging from quiet cars on Amtrak trains to observations about Main Street storefronts. She has been interviewed about her process. Don't miss the party.
posted by pwally at 7:58 AM PST - 11 comments

... But you wouldn’t want your mom to see it!

"When you were up there in a plane, you’d get shot at, and you couldn’t call field artillery to support you. You had no ambulance, no medic. There was no tank to come in and run over the enemy. All it took was one accurate aircraft shot, and a plane full of 10 guys was gone. The commanders, for the most part, understood this,” Conway continues, “So there was a little bit more leniency in that regard than there would have been with ground guys. The officers figured, ‘Well, if this guy wants to paint a naked lady on the back of the jacket, what good is it to try to stop him? He could be dead tomorrow morning.’ The main objective was winning the war, not enforcing minor regulations and rules.”
posted by ChuraChura at 7:55 AM PST - 22 comments

Tag, you're it. For a year.

A game of tag between four men has lasted 23 years.
posted by mark7570 at 7:27 AM PST - 52 comments

Cash is (still) King

This week, retailers in 40 states will be allowed to charge fees for the use of Visa or Mastercard credit cards. Know Your Card. While large chains may avoid the new surcharge, it could be up to 4%. This is part of a settlement reached last summer in an anti-trust lawsuit against Visa, Mastercard, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, among others. There are 10 states where surcharging is illegal, but in many of them merchants may offer a discount for using cash.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:16 AM PST - 132 comments

Common Jean Sizes: 34, 32, 36, 30, 38

These Jeans Seem Good to Me.
posted by codacorolla at 6:42 AM PST - 59 comments

We don't need no shovel let the muthaf**ka melt! Melt muthaf**ka, melt!!

Sometimes, there's nothing better to do after a snowstorm than to watch the snow slowly slide off the roof. Do you get a thrill at that moment when gravity trumps friction, and a large slab frees itself, landing on the ground below in a big WHUMPF? Then please enjoy this curation of YouTubery documenting the anticipation and beauty that is the Roof Avalanche! [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 4:11 AM PST - 30 comments

A world accidentally full of triggers

Rhiannon Lucy Coslett, one of the women behind The Vagenda, writes on the phenomenon of the trigger warning.
posted by mippy at 3:28 AM PST - 98 comments

The Real George Orwell

The Radio 4 on the BBC is presenting a month of readings from George Orwell's books. Some of them will only be available for one week from the date of broadcast, so be quick. [more inside]
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:25 AM PST - 5 comments

Videopunk

Videopunk, or, The Zen of KLCS
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:24 AM PST - 1 comment

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind: E. Coli & Cloud Formation

Scientists Find Bacteria Survive at High Altitudes
Study finds significant microorganism populations in middle and upper troposphere
Microbiome of the upper troposphere: Species composition and prevalence, effects of tropical storms, and atmospheric implications
See also Properties of biological aerosols and their impact on atmospheric processes

posted by y2karl at 1:13 AM PST - 17 comments

For the study of nature and the search for truth

Even though you've heard of Darwin, it's quite possible that you're not familiar with Alfred Russel Wallace (previously), co-discoverer of the theory of evolution (a shame; in many respects he's the more interesting of the two!). Fortunately you can now learn more about the man through transcripts and scans of his letters with family and colleagues, which the UK Natural History Museum have just published online. [more inside]
posted by barnacles at 12:15 AM PST - 15 comments

January 28

"Will treaty lead us to form a “Treaty Empire” or a “Treaty Rebellion”?"

Northwest coast native artist, Andy Everson explores pop culture and native rights in his prints. Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw artist Andy Everson's image of a hand holding a feather has become synonymous with the Idle No More Movement, which has shifted the Canadian political spotlight on First Nations issues in recent months (previously). But I predict it is his C3P0, Yoda, and LEGO figurine self portrait giclée prints that will be irresistible to many mefites.
posted by chapps at 9:41 PM PST - 7 comments

The Lady of Orda Cave

The Lady of Orda Cave Two-time world champion free diver Natalia Avseenko ventures deep into Ordynskaya Cave in Perm, Russia, one of the longest and biggest underwater gypsum caves in the world. She dressed as the mythical Lady of the Cave, a spirit who protects divers inside the “natural cathedral”. Orda Cave previously.
posted by apricot at 8:50 PM PST - 13 comments

it's like QWOP for your organs and bones

SURGEON SIMULATOR 2013
posted by boo_radley at 8:33 PM PST - 63 comments

mcbess: cartoon art of bearded men, busty women, and some dead pirates

Welcome to mcbess, a land of odd illustrations in black and white*, something of a dark and dingy take on Merry Melodies, where the men are bearded, and the ladies are toothy, busty (and often topless, in a vaguely NSFW cartoony way). There are also some large-scale illustrations with all those elements, and more. Matthieu Bessudo, aka mcbess, is also in a band, The Dead Pirates, and his art and music met with the video Wood (Vimeo; also on YouTube; more info here). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:12 PM PST - 8 comments

*turns around*

Oh hey, I didn't see you there
posted by The Devil Tesla at 7:54 PM PST - 36 comments

This Post Cures and/or Causes Cancer

The (New) Daily Mail Oncological Ontology Project tumblr, (previously) "an ongoing quest to track the Daily Mail's classification of inanimate objects into two types: those that cause cancer, and those that cure it." Inspired by The Daily Mail Oncological Ontology Project, now defunct.
posted by Scientist at 7:53 PM PST - 7 comments

Old Believers in the wilderness

In 1978, geological explorers in a remote region of southern Siberia made an unexpected discovery: a family living alone, more than 150 miles from the nearest settlement. They had lived in isolation since 1936 and were unaware that World War II had happened.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 6:52 PM PST - 62 comments

"Medicine is a very religious experience"

The New Yorker's take on Dr Mehmet Oz.
posted by hat_eater at 5:47 PM PST - 69 comments

D I C K H A N D

"For the past few years, I have been trying to learn how to do all the various creative and technical things that go into making a video game - programming, graphics, interface, writing, gameplay design - in addition to music and sound, which I do for a living. The 2013 Global Game Jam was this past weekend, and over two sleep-deprived days I completed my first solo project: A game for OS X and Windows where you punch spaceships with your dick. (Probably safe for work, unless your boss considers it inappropriate to see a pink laser beam with a boxing glove on the tip which shoots out of a giant robot's groin.)"[via mefi projects]
posted by ocherdraco at 5:43 PM PST - 13 comments

Baguette-me-nots

Baguette-me-nots (SLTumblr)
posted by yeoz at 4:44 PM PST - 32 comments

Cat Bites Man. Hospital Charges $55k.

Call it the $55,000 cat bite.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:59 PM PST - 200 comments

A Russian Gains Prominence Among Fine Watchmakers

Soviet-era Russia was not a particularly friendly environment for aspiring fine watchmakers. For Konstantin Chaykin, who was born in St. Petersburg in 1975, there was no school where he could learn the craft that he dreamed of pursuing. So he taught himself.
posted by winecork at 2:49 PM PST - 19 comments

Freedom From Famine - The Norman Borlaug Story

A documentary film about Norman Borlaug, the Iowa farm boy who saved over a billion people from starvation. (1:06:47) Americans have little knowledge of one of their greatest sons. Why do schoolchildren in China, India, Mexico, and Pakistan know the name and work of Nobel Peace Prize winner [His speech] Norman Borlaug while so few of his countrymen have never heard of him? How did a dirt-poor farm boy from rural Iowa grow up to save a billion people worldwide from starvation and malnutrition and become the father of the Green Revolution? What were the inherited traits and environmental factors that shaped his astonishing journey and led to successes that surprised even him? What can we learn from his life and views that might help the human race survive the next critical century? [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 12:58 PM PST - 84 comments

If education were free and non-instrumental, what would it look like?

Reading Plato on Death Row (and a follow-up: Capital Punishment and the Specter of Reason)
posted by anotherpanacea at 12:22 PM PST - 7 comments

Learners Rights and the MOOC Wars

The Learners Bill of Rights, a set of “Principles for Learning in the Digital Age,” is the outcome of a twelve-person meeting held in Palo Alto last week to explore the voice of the educated in online learning discussions:
As we begin to experiment with how novel technologies might change learning and teaching, powerful forces threaten to neuter or constrain technology, propping up outdated educational practices rather than unfolding transformative ones.

All too often, during such wrenching transitions, the voice of the learner gets muffled.

For that reason, we feel compelled to articulate the opportunities for students in this brave electronic world, to assert their needs and--we dare say--rights.

We also recognize some broader hopes and aspirations for the best online learning. We include those principles as an integral addendum to the Bill of Rights below.
[more inside]
posted by migurski at 11:02 AM PST - 66 comments

And the operator says Forty cents more, for the next three minutes

Sylvia's mother was a 1972 single by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show that was written by Shel Silverstein that tells the true story of Shel's girlfriend Sylvia Pandolfi Silverstein admitted that there was a real Sylvia, and he did indeed call her mother to learn the shocking truth. He even thought of pulling a Mrs. Robinson and disrupting the wedding, but he came to his senses when thinking about Sylvia's last words to him: "Shel, don't spoil it." She would never become Mrs. Sylvia Silverstein. The video is a short documentary about the song with interviews from Sylvia's mother and Sylvia Pandolfi. [more inside]
posted by Sailormom at 10:50 AM PST - 48 comments

Stanley Karnow, 1925-2013

Stanley Karnow, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and historian, has died at age 87. He won the prize in 1990 for his book In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines (discussed on Booknotes). He is best known, however for his work on Vietnam. His book Vietnam: A History was widely acclaimed and its companion series on PBS, Vietnam: A Television History won six Emmys and a Peabody award and was one of the most widely watched documentaries on PBS. He discussed the war in 2000 in this Salon interview. Needless to say, his reporting was not appreciated by everyone.
posted by TedW at 9:29 AM PST - 9 comments

Intent counts here.

Right now, though, you can google “polyamory” and get a whole lot of nearly-identical polynormative hype articles, and you can meet up with locals who’ve read the same articles you just did, and you can all get together and do polynormative poly exactly the way the media told you to. And if that’s all you ever bother to do then essentially you are selling yourself short. You are trading in the monogamous norm for polynormativity, which relatively speaking isn’t all that much of a stretch, and stopping there because you may very well think that’s all there is (and you already racked up a whole bunch of cool points anyway). You aren’t encouraged to really think about this stuff without any imposed models at all, which means you never get to figure out what actually might work best for you. As such, the most fundamental element of polyamory—that of rejecting the monogamous standard, and radically rethinking how you understand, make meaning of and practice love, sex, relationships, commitment, communication, and so forth—is lost in favour of a cookie-cutter model that’s as easy as one, two, three. The deepest and most significant benefit of polyamory has become increasingly obscured by media representation, and as a result, is getting farther and farther out of reach for anyone who’s just starting out.
the problem with polynormativity, at Sex Geek
posted by davidjmcgee at 9:09 AM PST - 205 comments

Not so much theater as outdoor village, complete with night sky.

A lot of once great [New York movie] theaters have been gutted and repurposed, most often into churches, pharmacies and gyms," writes The NYC Scout in today's installment of Scouting New York. "I’ve stopped in quite a few hoping to find the rare gem that’s survived, but have only been disappointed time and again." Scouting New York has been featured in the blue many times ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 ), but this entry is (literally, at least in my case) jaw-dropping. Just keep scrolling down. [more inside]
posted by Mothlight at 8:50 AM PST - 45 comments

Newegg frees the Shopping Cart

Newegg uses prior art to defeat Soverain. On appeal, prior art is actually considered, years after the initial lawsuit, and patents owned by a company that appears to be more than they are, are invalidated.
posted by juiceCake at 8:32 AM PST - 49 comments

Don't unlock your phone!

It is now illegal in the US to unlock your smartphone. You face up to five years imprisonment and a $500,000 fine. [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:59 AM PST - 151 comments

"Blogging: No Cat Required."

Recently, Geek & Sundry's Story Board Hangout hosted an episode called Life Online: Putting the Meme in Memoir and it featured Wil Wheaton [previously], MeFi's Own John Scalzi, and the Bloggess, Jenny Lawson [previously 1, 2]. It is, naturally, quite entertaining. [via]
posted by quin at 7:47 AM PST - 2 comments

They were your Joey Ramone

Sleater-Kinney's lastest show (The "S" is the introduction. Audio here.) [more inside]
posted by Going To Maine at 7:43 AM PST - 38 comments

Super slomo high-resolution space shuttle goodness

Each space shuttle launch was documented by 125 cameras aimed at its engines, solid rocket boosters, orbiter, and umbilicals. The 45-minute film Ascent compiles the "best of the best": astounding 400 fps footage from three missions (STS-114, STS-117, and STS-124), produced by NASA aerospace engineer Matt Melis, and narrated by Melis and photographer Kevin Burke.
posted by googly at 7:26 AM PST - 27 comments

Disposable Girls, Uninsured Laborers

“Never takes a vacation or holiday. Never asks for a raise. Never costs you a dime for slack time. (When the workload drops, you drop her.)" A brief history of temps. [more inside]
posted by psoas at 7:23 AM PST - 47 comments

Please Feed The Meters

The Next Parking Revolution [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:11 AM PST - 40 comments

He’s not allowed in the oven

46 reasons my three year old might be freaking out. May be familiar to people with small children.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:32 AM PST - 175 comments

"Quantum biology: Do weird physics effects abound in nature?"

Quantum Biology - Disappearing in one place and reappearing in another. Being in two places at once. Communicating information seemingly faster than the speed of light. This kind of weird behaviour is commonplace in dark, still laboratories studying the branch of physics called quantum mechanics, but what might it have to do with fresh flowers, migrating birds, and the smell of rotten eggs? More: Quantum smell' idea gains ground Both BBC.
posted by marienbad at 4:05 AM PST - 56 comments

Ask Lovecraft

HP Lovecraft answers your questions about everything from dating to bagpipes.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:12 AM PST - 47 comments

Pallets

What do you do with all those empty lots that are left after major earthquakes? Gap Filler fills them with temporary community structures like the Pallet Pavillion. [more inside]
posted by aniola at 2:58 AM PST - 14 comments

A German take on IRL Gaming

Camover is a new game from Germany.

The rules are simple: First, organize a crew starting with "Command", "Brigade" or "Cell", followed by the name of a historical figure. ("Van Der Lubbe") is one of many currently in use.) Next: Destroy as many CCTV cameras as possible! [more inside]
posted by dunkadunc at 1:19 AM PST - 45 comments

Blergh!

The Lasting Limberness of 30 Rock. 30 Rock is uniquely skilled at eating its cake and having it, too, while crowing “Isn’t cake ridiculous?” and making you crave cake. 30 Rock ends its seven season run this week. Here's Vulture's thoughts on its 10 Best Episodes. The AV Club's 10 Episodes that tweaked the sitcom formula. And the original pilot with Rachel Dratch as Jenna DeCarlo.
posted by crossoverman at 12:48 AM PST - 56 comments

"Easter Island is not Earth."

The Statues Walked — What Really Happened on Easter Island [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 12:21 AM PST - 30 comments

January 27

Of course God would direct Creation from on top of a fork-lift....

Adapted from the medieval English mystery plays by Tony Harrison, “The Mysteries” was first staged in 1977 at the National Theatre in London under the direction of Bill Bryden. It remained part of the repertoire of the Cottesloe Theatre for many years; the 1985 production was filmed for TV broadcast. [more inside]
posted by e-man at 11:59 PM PST - 3 comments

26 movies in 24 years.

Steven Soderbergh talks to New York Magazine. For a while. About everything.
posted by eugenen at 10:02 PM PST - 26 comments

welcome

MAN - a short animated history of man's time on earth by Steve Cutts. (Via Nag on the Lake)
posted by madamjujujive at 8:17 PM PST - 14 comments

Short Short Story

Manga artist Wisut Ponnimit has created a series of short animated vingettes that are sure to enthrall viewers (links are to the right). To get started, here's Back to Me (grab those tissues) , Morning, and Present. Prepare to say "awww".
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:22 PM PST - 6 comments

"That shape has endured for almost fifty years.”

Magnus Walker and his wife talk about everything. About building exquisite 911s and giving them their own subtle differences - and why he won't do commissions. About moving from London to Los Angeles. About urban renewal and sewing. About big hammers, leather, race car driving, dreadlocks, and "that sensory overload type of thing." [Vimeo, 32:34] [more inside]
posted by Chutzler at 4:26 PM PST - 24 comments

Goddamn you guys! I was really playing groovy!

Crosby, Stills and Nash recorded a great first album. How they got there.
posted by timsteil at 4:10 PM PST - 15 comments

How Grandmother Triode Stole Binary from the Sun

TRIODE.TXT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
a story of people[0xCF36] as told by shaman.Accumulator.Overflows(true)
In the beginning, there were too many numbers, and nobody could tell exactly what they were. Everybody was confused about what was big and what was small, because everything was kind of big, but also kind of small. Nobody knew anything for sure....
posted by filthy light thief at 4:01 PM PST - 21 comments

Huge battle in EVE online

What started out as a few EVE Online alliances forming up PvP fleets last night rapidly evolved into one of the largest PvP battles in the game's history. Reports indicate that a total of over 3,000 players may have been involved in the colossal battle. The video is insane. More on Reddit.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:37 PM PST - 189 comments

Woman Motorists? Ain't that the Berries!

In 1929, three young women (Edith, Dorothy, and Evelyn), ages 23 and 25, went on a three-month-long, 12,353-mile road trip. Learn more about their experience, and follow an effort to recreate the journey, at Three Months by Car. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 1:14 PM PST - 21 comments

I'm different. I'm searching.

"The Turret Anthem" - Portal turrets get their revenge. (SLYT)
posted by i less than three nsima at 1:05 PM PST - 19 comments

Indian cow breeds face extinction

The Desi Cow – Almost Extinct "The idea of the cow, of course, is also emotively charged because of its mythical place in Hindu iconography, religion and culture: it is quite literally worshipped as goddess Kamdhenu: the cow of plenty... Again, this veneration is founded in hard pragmatics. Traditionally, India has been home to some of the most varied stock of cows in the world: the red-skinned Sahiwal that milks through droughts, the mighty Amrit Mahal with swords for horns or the tiny Vechur that stands no taller than a dog."
posted by dhruva at 11:50 AM PST - 46 comments

Christ, What an Asshole: an NPR hour on a word they can't say on-air

To the Best of Our Knowledge does a program on assholes. Much bleeping/blanking ensues, along with a lot of use of "a-word" to describe both word and the persons it names. [more inside]
posted by Mngo at 10:47 AM PST - 34 comments

It’s as if Movie 43 was itself a feature-length F*** You to Hollywood

It's not even February yet and we seem to have our worst movie of the year. [more inside]
posted by philip-random at 10:13 AM PST - 223 comments

Pack 442

Cub Scout Pack 442 of Cloverly, Maryland, has been forced by the BSA National Capital Area Council to remove a non-discrimination statement from its website that included sexual orientation. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:55 AM PST - 124 comments

A Knee Story

On surgery and healing, illustrated on Post-it notes
posted by rockindata at 8:13 AM PST - 11 comments

Bind your own books at home in just 32 easy steps!

A photographic guide to bookbinding.
posted by grouse at 7:55 AM PST - 17 comments

It's not easy being meme: Techno Viking sues creator

You may dance like nobody's watching, but what if your dancing is videoed and becomes the base of an internet meme and subsequent cottage industry, all without your knowledge and without you receiving any compensation for it? Should you have the right to stop this exploitation, or was the artist who first popularised you in his rights to create new artwork based on the original video? That's what's at stake in the lawsuit of the Techno Viking against Matthias Fritsch. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 6:25 AM PST - 66 comments

RPG Infiltration of the Media Continues Apace

A graduating member of The Animation Workshop in Denmark has produced a cool little short film that, like "Adventure Time", seems to owe a lot to Dungeons & Dragons.
posted by Ipsifendus at 6:24 AM PST - 17 comments

From the mouths of babes...

A Pep Talk from Kid President to You
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:16 AM PST - 9 comments

"Most people are not aware how sensitive their writing style can be"

Why Hackers Should Be Afraid Of How They Write. Download JSAN here. (via)
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:46 AM PST - 43 comments

Wuthering Bytes

Kate Bush album covers, reimagined as ZX Spectrum artwork. [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 3:32 AM PST - 17 comments

Loading Noise...

Textures Processing... Loading Perlin Noise... Loading Worley Noise... Loading Terrain... Adding Pretty Lights... Enjoy the Refreshing Taste.
posted by lemuring at 2:40 AM PST - 8 comments

January 26

Baseball Card Vandals

Baseball Card Vandals Baseball cards, vandalized. Slightly NSFW.
posted by davebush at 9:34 PM PST - 28 comments

Adaptive Systems

"Who is Adaptive Systems and where did he come from? How did he have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from molecular biology to European intellectual history? Is it possible he was a famous author or an artificial intelligence? What is he doing now? Is he writing a book? [more inside]
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:58 PM PST - 66 comments

I heard it through the

Vinepeek shows you a continuously updating stream of uploads to vine, a recently launched video clip sharing startup that Twitter acquired last October. Fascinating, mesmerizing 6-second clips of life from all around the world. (via)
posted by yourcelf at 6:56 PM PST - 64 comments

Positive energy YES!

Brody Stevens: Enjoy It! (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) is the story of cult comedian Brody Stevens—his friendship with Zach Galafianakis, his falling out with Chelsea Lately, his infamous "Twitter meltdown" and, of course, his credits.
posted by Lorin at 6:50 PM PST - 13 comments

I ♥ DULUTH, The Story of the Maria Bamford Show

About a year after her participation in the groundbreaking Comedy Central documentary series the Comedians of Comedy, Maria Bamford was on stage at the Friars Club in LA when a heckler began shouting at her. What happened after that isn’t entirely clear, other than Bamford had a breakdown, walked off stage, and disappeared. She was found three months later selling clock radios on the sidewalks of Detroit. A fellow homeless person, who was also a Comedy Central fan, recognized Bamford and eventually her parents were contacted. They brought her back home to Deluth, Minnesota and began to get her help. Maria decided to document her recovery in a series of short videos called The Maria Bamford Show, which were first posted to the TBS networks' now abandoned Super Deluxe Web site. [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan at 4:41 PM PST - 98 comments

A bit of nostalgia for canucks who were kids in the 1970s (youtube vid)

I'd been searching for this for some time and recently discovered that someone had unearthed it. [more inside]
posted by SpecialSpaghettiBowl at 4:04 PM PST - 30 comments

Another Hard Day of Trying to Stay Alive

Almost as soon as we got back to Dash-e Towp, I overheard some U.S. officers loudly complaining about the inability of Afghan soldiers to make appointments on time. Afghan soldiers do have difficulty making appointments on time, it’s true. They also don’t like to stand in straight lines or dress according to regulation or march in step or do so many of the things intrinsic to a Western notion of professional soldiering. When a lieutenant calls a formation of Afghan privates to attention, they will inevitably resemble, as my drill sergeant used to say, “a soup sandwich.” But they will also accept a much higher level of risk than any coalition force ever has. Their ranks are filled with tough and brave men who run toward the fight without body armor or helmets or armored vehicles and sleep on the frozen ground without sleeping bags and dig up I.E.D.’s with a pickax and often go hungry and seldom complain. - A week in the life of an Afghan National Army battalion, on its own in the wilderness. (NYTimes)
posted by beisny at 4:04 PM PST - 13 comments

Carrie and the final frontier...

Trek and the City "Needless to say, the Prime Directive wasn't the only thing Samantha violated that night." (Single Link Twitter Feed)
posted by crossoverman at 3:29 PM PST - 39 comments

55m Down Somewhere Off Maui

Whales off Maui Divers encounter a group of humpback whales (slyt).
posted by jontyjago at 3:09 PM PST - 20 comments

Data Storage in DNA Becomes a Reality

"The researchers began with the computer files from some notable cultural highlights: an audio recording of MLK Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and, appropriately, a copy of Watson and Crick’s original research paper describing DNA’s double helix structure. On a hard drive, these files are stored as a series of zeros and ones. The researchers worked out a system to translate the binary code into one with four characters instead: A, C, G and T. They used this genetic code to synthesize actual strands of DNA with the content embedded in its very structure. The ouput was actually pretty unimpressive: just a smidgeon of stuff barely visible at the bottom of a test tube. The wow factor arose when they reversed the process. The researchers sequenced the genome of the data-laden DNA and translated it back into zeros and ones. The result was a re-creation of the original content without a single error, according to the results published in Nature on Wednesday."
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:33 PM PST - 37 comments

Albert Dubout

Albert Dubout (1905-1976) was a highly popular and prolific French cartoonist and illustrator, whose works were ubiquitous in France from the 1930s to the 1970s: Dubout illustrated books, film posters (notably those of Marcel Pagnol), magazines, advertisements, postcards and some of his cartoons were eventually adapted as a movie. Today, Dubout is best known as the creator of the Dubout couple (movie version; figurine version), consisting of a very large, full-bosomed, dominating, angry-looking wife with a diminutive, hapless and mustachioed husband in tow. Dubout's work is often highly detailed, and images larger than the tiny ones available on the official website are shown under the fold. [more inside]
posted by elgilito at 2:24 PM PST - 2 comments

The Hunter

The many lives of Donald Westlake creator of noir antihero Parker. (Previously)
posted by Artw at 1:47 PM PST - 17 comments

Is Legendary Comic-Book Vigilante “Judge Dredd” Light In The Gavel?

Since first appearing on the scene in 1977, Judge Dredd has been the comic-book world’s answer to Dirty Harry, serving as judge, jury and executioner in a dystopian future. Now, in the latest issue of 2000AD, titled “Closet,” it appears as if the legendary lawman is coming out of the closet. On the first page of the comic, Dredd is shown sharing a passionate kiss with another man, with a caption reading: “I guess, somehow, I’d always known I was gay. I was just too scared to admit it.” Note: these links contain SPOILERS. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:24 PM PST - 81 comments

Good morning

A NASA chronology of wakeup calls in space (PDF).
posted by avocet at 1:23 PM PST - 8 comments

Deep Space Nine. Deep Space Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine (Not Deep Space 8).

"You know, before Star Trek Enterprise, none of the Star Trek shows had theme songs with words. Until now. And so, I present to you, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the theme song, with words." [MMLYT] [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious at 11:35 AM PST - 97 comments

micro cars are the best cars

The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum, located near Atlanta, will close forever today. The collection will be auctioned off in February. Only the virtual tour will remain as a way to see all of these cars together, but now is your chance to collect any one of these unique pieces of automotive history. Who among us hasn't desired a car you could drive into your office? [more inside]
posted by ninjew at 10:48 AM PST - 35 comments

A Great Package Deal

The US Postal Service is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Parcel Post by renaming it "Standard Post". [more inside]
posted by Knappster at 10:32 AM PST - 43 comments

Light Travelling Faster Than Sound

"Most films of nuclear explosions are dubbed. If they do contain an actual recording of the test blast itself.........it's almost always shifted in time so that the explosion and the sound of the blast wave are simultaneous. This is, of course, quite false: the speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound....." Unearthed recently from some Russian archive, this document of a nuclear detonation is one of the few films of its kind that includes a recording of the audio. The sound is not what you might expect.
posted by shackpalace at 10:31 AM PST - 43 comments

This music station is fully operational

Mark Salud on YOURSELF presents.
posted by Algebra at 10:31 AM PST - 1 comment

A Trip to the Moon, a triumph of science and scenic art

In 1889, the Urania Astronomical Society of Berlin put together an illusion of a trip to the moon and a solar eclipse, created with painted scenery, transparent screens, and a variety models, created live before an audience. Three years later, the same show was presented at Andrew Carnegie's Music Hall, as covered in Scientific American, a decade before Le Voyage dans la Lune, the film by Georges Méliès (previously). The stage show was documented in 1897, in Magic; stage illusions and scientific diversions, including trick photography (Archive.org, direct link to Trip to the Moon; also available on Google Books). [via io9, who have a summary of the special effects]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:17 AM PST - 4 comments

Potential employers might not love your Beer Pong trophy

Facewash is the newest app to help people make themselves more attractive in the job search. [more inside]
posted by DoubleLune at 10:15 AM PST - 44 comments

Nikolai Tesla's Planetarium Collection

Owen Phairis, aka “Nikolai Tesla, Man of Lightning”, has a planetarium projector museum near Bear Lake, CA. Cool Hunting takes a tour.
posted by zamboni at 9:50 AM PST - 4 comments

Radially symmetric self-organizing behavior in juvenile canids

Puppy pinwheel [SLYT]
posted by moonmilk at 8:58 AM PST - 29 comments

Slow Motion Sneezing

Sneezing in Slow Motion; somehow simultaneously more fascinating, terrifying, and disgusting than you'd imagine it'd be. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 8:22 AM PST - 27 comments

World's Largest Snowball Fight

While, ostensibly a promotion for a camera company, the world's record for the largest snowball fight was staged earlier this year by Snow Day and benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs of King County. It also looks like it was a lot of fun to participate in.
posted by quin at 8:11 AM PST - 3 comments

Bizarro

Weird Vintage - a tumblr of weird ads, illustrations, and photographs of a vintage or antiquated nature
posted by growabrain at 7:29 AM PST - 29 comments

Bring me more genomes

"If the history of public health has until now been embodied by the map—as in British physician John Snow’s famous map, which allowed him to curb the London cholera outbreak of 1854 and to found, in doing so, the modern field of epidemiology—Snitkin was embarking on a new kind of epidemiology: one founded on the phylogenetic tree." Writing for Wired, Carl Zimmer describes how Evan Snitkin and Julie Segre used genome sequencing to halt a bacterial outbreak at the National Institute of Health's Clinical Center. (via The Feature)
posted by catlet at 7:10 AM PST - 9 comments

A gentleman from sole to crown

Aleksey Vayner, Whose Tale the Internet Mocked, Has Died at 29. A strangely poignant article on his death, from a reporter who had interviewed him in 2010.
Previously -- his viral fame, in 2006.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:55 AM PST - 35 comments

"But what is the sane response to an insane situation?"

My So-Called Stalker [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:23 AM PST - 43 comments

Punk Voyager was built by punks.

They made it from beer cans, razors, safety pins, and did I do this part already?  Whatever.  They loaded it with the most precious artifacts of human culture they could find in Mexican Johnny D-bag’s van. “You gotta make it faster than regular Voyager,” said Red.  “So our culture gets to the aliens before the CIA’s fascist pseudo-culture.”
posted by Tom-B at 3:36 AM PST - 12 comments

January 25

Raider. QB Crusher. Murderer?

Anthony Wayne Smith was a first round draft pick for the Raiders in 1990. Alternately described as a "big old teddy bear" and "[like] a dog [that] is super beautiful, sweet looking, wagging its tail, and it's acting really friendly, but there's something about that dog.... You worry one day he's gonna bite your hand," he faced the usual hassles of an athlete shifting to civilian life when his career came to an end. Then came the arson and murder. Maybe.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 8:22 PM PST - 7 comments

The Longest Hunger Strike

The Longest Hunger Strike "It had been more than a year since Coleman had chewed anything. He’s not suicidal; he’s in prison for something he says he didn’t do. Like 2.2 million people incarcerated in prisons and jails in the U.S., his body is not his own. The only way for him to protest his conviction, to exercise his first amendment rights, he says, is to stop eating solid food."
posted by dhruva at 6:37 PM PST - 35 comments

A Trans Am feels peckish

If you were a hungry 1971 Pontiac, what would you eat? How about a Hemi 'Cuda for breakfast, a Daytona Cobra for lunch, and Kremer 935 K3 for dinner. (Part II) [more inside]
posted by 445supermag at 5:25 PM PST - 46 comments

"Now there's just 3 minutes and 33 seconds left."

Voice Over [SLVimeo]
posted by Chutzler at 5:16 PM PST - 15 comments

...chewed-off face (seems to be a lot of it going around)

UndeadTeds [NSFW?] is a tumblr featuring one-of-a-kind zombie teddy-bears of a graphic bent. Not for the faint of heart.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 5:11 PM PST - 20 comments

"...an enormous erect phallus, and piles of lettuce in the background."

First noticed on tumblr but now available to all, Alex Clayden's paper "Same-Sex Desire in Pharaonic Egypt" which, among other things, tells you about the connection between lettuce and semen and the Ancient Egyptian for "You have a nice ass."
posted by The Whelk at 5:09 PM PST - 26 comments

DIY Drones, or rather, Autonomous Aerial Vehicles

Pretty stunning cockpit perspective footage of unmanned aerial vehicles interacting in close quarters, flying with a range of flyers (Echelon FPV). [more inside]
posted by infinite intimation at 3:29 PM PST - 17 comments

If you liked it, you shoulda put a ring on it.

The Supreme Court of Canada rules that in Quebec, common-law spouses do not have the same rights as married ones. [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 3:17 PM PST - 57 comments

This isn’t spinning, it’s a way of life

Recently, in a candlelit room in Tribeca, a 24-year-old named Zack made a confession. “I’m very open about this, but I’ve been in recovery for the past two years,” he said from a podium, facing a room of two dozen people who looked up at him with approval, acceptance, and even a generosity of spirit. He wore a trucker’s hat over curly blond hair and explained that he was from Florida, an actor and hip-hop dancer (“Woo hoo!” “All right!”). Then he kicked on the music and began pedaling his bike. Inside The Carefully Cultivated Soul of SoulCycle [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:41 PM PST - 52 comments

Big money, small pocket

Gary Comer, the late founder of Lands' End, grew up in Pocket Town on Chicago's South Side. When he visited in 1998, he saw that his neighborhood--home to about 2,000 people (and the city's best blues club)--had fallen on hard times. So he spent $86 million to build schools, affordable homes, and a youth center. Has it helped?
posted by hal incandenza at 2:18 PM PST - 31 comments

GMO Science

Regulators Discover a Hidden Viral Gene in Commercial GMO Crops [more inside]
posted by eviemath at 1:54 PM PST - 63 comments

Patakk

Patakk [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:16 PM PST - 24 comments

"My hatred for Japanese cinema includes absolutely all of it."

"Japanese cinema’s preeminent taboo buster, Nagisa Oshima directed, between 1959 and 1999, more than twenty groundbreaking features. For Oshima, film was a form of activism, a way of shaking up the status quo. Uninterested in the traditional Japanese cinema of such popular filmmakers as Kurosawa, Ozu, and Naruse, Oshima focused not on classical themes of good and evil or domesticity but on outcasts, gangsters, murderers, rapists, sexual deviants, and the politically marginalized." The great Japanese director Nagisa Oshima passed away at the age of 80 last week. Appreciations from the Guardian, Slate, Fandor, Telegraph, NY Times, AV Club, and a few in-depth articles over at Senses of Cinema and Film Comment.
posted by HumanComplex at 1:14 PM PST - 11 comments

88 lines about 44 ____

Inspired by 88 lines about 44 women (official video, NSFW "mondo documentary" footage), here are 88 lines about 44: fangirls, presidents, bloggers, rats, 2011 news stories, sitcoms, men (track 8), Simpsons, yelpers, e-cigs, cars, and mefites.
posted by zippy at 1:03 PM PST - 23 comments

"A large pizza, please."

In 1974, artificial intelligence researchers at Michigan State University made a giant leap forward in computer-aided communication for the handicapped: they used an early text-to-speech system to order a pizza. Spoiler: Domino's hung up on them. [more inside]
posted by supercres at 12:49 PM PST - 32 comments

class and privilege in science

Lack of resources, benign discouragement from well meaning adults, active exclusion by powerful gatekeepers: a classroom scientist discusses things that kill opportunity for inner city youth. [more inside]
posted by el io at 12:13 PM PST - 22 comments

Migration flows across the world

Peoplemovin illustrates the migration flow in and out of the countries of the world. Click on a country's name on the left to see its emigrants stream to countries on the right; click on a country on the right to see where its immigrants come from. Click in between the country lists to see information on top migration origins and destinations, and the largest migration corridors.
posted by ocherdraco at 12:09 PM PST - 14 comments

A Folk Singer with a Cat

Trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis - the new film by the Coen brothers possibly inspired by the album cover for The Freewheeling' Bob Dylan.
posted by Artw at 11:59 AM PST - 49 comments

2012 Fluxblog Survey

Matthew Perpetua (of Buzzfeed) posts his annual survey at Fluxblog: This 10-disc, 191-song mix is a survey of some of the best and most notable music from 2012. [more inside]
posted by Red Loop at 11:52 AM PST - 21 comments

I Need A Beat

LL Cool J , live at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, 1985 (SLYT via Ego Trip).
posted by box at 11:48 AM PST - 21 comments

One dollar at a time

NYT: Larry Selman died Sunday morning of heart failure. He was 70. Larry was the feature of the Academy Award nominated "The Collector of Bedford Street" (wikipedia). [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 11:10 AM PST - 4 comments

Greenland melting

Melting Point Greenland has some sublime hi-def video of, well, Greenland melting. The summer 2012 melt was unprecedented, it alone rose global sea-levels by 1mm. The scientist-run blog Greenland Melting is following. Why Greenland's melting could be the biggest climate disaster of all.
posted by stbalbach at 9:55 AM PST - 43 comments

"Someone is assigned when there is no one else."

The Designated Mourner (2002); a radio adaptation of Andre Gregory's 2000 revival of the Wallace Shawn play, starring Shawn, Deborah Eisenberg, and Larry Pine.
posted by Iridic at 9:20 AM PST - 5 comments

This risotto, does it awaken memories for you?

Blixa Bargeld makes risotto. And dyes it black. [SLYT]
posted by Kitty Stardust at 9:14 AM PST - 48 comments

Modern, Old-Timey Love

"We must never travel separately again.” Author Eve Pell on old, young love.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:07 AM PST - 14 comments

Choosing Not to Be

Interesting article on David Foster Wallace and suicide in the Los Angeles Review of Books.
posted by holmesian at 8:53 AM PST - 48 comments

If it wasn't for my horse...

Why did men stop wearing high heels?* A History of High-Heeled Shoes. [more inside]
posted by ersatz at 8:51 AM PST - 73 comments

An overview of the 16 years of music from Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet

Kieran Hebden recently released a 38 minute long collection of unreleased songs he recorded as Four Tet, between 1997 and 2001, called 0181, to stream or download from Soundcloud. If you like what you hear, in 2011 Hebden "leaked" his first Four Tet EP, which you can stream from Self-titled Magazine's website. If you want to hear and know more of Hebden, venture below the break. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:24 AM PST - 23 comments

"Minuit à Paris" peut manger son coeur!

A collection of color photography and film footage of Paris and the surrounding area - from the early 20th century! - has been made available on the website of the Albert-Kahn Museum.
posted by jph at 8:17 AM PST - 9 comments

The Hermit of the Herald Square Hotel

In 1907, Ida Wood checked into a suite in the Herald Square Hotel. She wouldn't leave the room again for 24 years.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:04 AM PST - 20 comments

Get a Bird's-Eye View of America's Housing Patterns

See the big picture of how suburban developments are changing the country's landscape, with aerial photos and an architect's commentary
posted by blue_beetle at 7:10 AM PST - 94 comments

Take that Gareth Morgan!

15 megaton kittens
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:55 AM PST - 27 comments

Mighty fine storyboards you got there

Chris Sanders (Co-Director of Lilo & Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon) shares several unused storyboards from his upcoming film The Croods.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:45 AM PST - 9 comments

And not like in Batman Forever.

To celebrate the end of the NHL lockout, Toronto recently hosted a game of shinny: superheroes vs. supervillains, with Commissioner Gordon as referee. [more inside]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:38 AM PST - 11 comments

Gaming the black dog

Toward the end of 2008 my own sister Christina, who has suffered depression from a young age, experienced a particularly low period. “I began playing Fallout 3 because I needed a distraction. I didn’t think it would help because I was having trouble focusing on anything for very long. I ended up playing it for 14 hours a day for about 3 weeks.” This might be considered unhealthy – some might want to categorise it as “pathological gaming” – but for Christina it was crucial for getting through the day. “It got me out of bed in the morning. Becoming so involved in the storyline and the tasks gave me a reason to keep on going, and it was so far removed from real life that it made me feel better.” -- Over at Rock Paper Shotgun, David Owen takes a look at the link between clinical depression and gaming, if any and if they might help people cope with it.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:32 AM PST - 36 comments

Parting Moon Shots from NASA's GRAIL mission

Three days prior to its planned impact on a lunar mountain, mission controllers activated the camera aboard one of NASA's GRAIL twins to take some final photos from lunar orbit. The result is some of the best footage of the moon's surface captured so far. [more inside]
posted by quin at 6:25 AM PST - 36 comments

A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters

A huge pile of gorgeous old Thai movie posters from the great blog Asia Obscura. (Previously.)
posted by MegoSteve at 5:40 AM PST - 5 comments

Driving them to Extinction

The Guinea Worm, which causes Guinea Worm disease (or Dracunculiasis) is on track to be the first parasitic disease eliminated. And with only a water filter. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:11 AM PST - 31 comments

Although IMDb warns that short descriptions of less than ten lines may n

"Although IMDb warns that short descriptions of less than ten lines may not be adequately detailed, I believe that a longer description is probably not reasonably possible. I think I have included everything that bears mentioning." Andy Warhol's Eat. Also Kiss. Also Sleep.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:45 AM PST - 7 comments

East India Company?

A recent genetic study suggests that around 2200 BC explorers from India arrived and settled on the continent of Australia. "Unlike their European successors, these earlier settlers were assimilated by the locals. And they brought with them both technological improvements and one of Australia’s most iconic animals." [SLEconomist]
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 1:56 AM PST - 25 comments

An interactive, up-to-date listing of where all the money is.

Revamped visual data on the world's billionaires: Bloomberg Billionaires
posted by molecicco at 1:24 AM PST - 47 comments

January 24

"The reason bondage isn't trivial is that trust isn't trivial."

Years before E.L James brought BDSM to a bookstore near you, Nurse Jones wrote The List and posted it to alt.sex.bondage. Funny, touching, truthful and arousing for those so inclined The List changed lives, not the least being Nurse Jones herself. [more inside]
posted by Kerasia at 11:26 PM PST - 28 comments

It's never great to let your hair down. Your hair trusted you.

Three hundred and fourteen hilariously deadpan Yelp reviews written by Australian comedian Seaton Kay Smith.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 11:24 PM PST - 2 comments

Trenzinho Carreta Furacão

Meanwhile, somewhere on the planet, Captain America, Mickey, Popeye, Fofão and a generic clown bust some moves.
posted by Tom-B at 11:08 PM PST - 6 comments

Team Chicken or Team Egg?

Which came first: the chicken or the chicken egg? Nomenclature for the win! [more inside]
posted by amyms at 11:06 PM PST - 9 comments

Let's Show Them: We're NOT Going To War.

Let's Show Them: We're NOT Going To War. "WHY THE CONVOCATION? This is one of the most effective means for Wisconsin students to serve notice, along with 1,000,000 other students, that WE'RE NOT GOING TO WAR -- ever again!" A protest handbill from the University of Wisconsin, announcing a campus-wide peace demonstration, on April 11, 1940. From the UW Library's compendium of resources on protests and social action at UW-Madison from 1910 through the end of the 20th century.
posted by escabeche at 8:44 PM PST - 38 comments

Add to cart for pricing information

Philippe Dubost's Resume
posted by cjorgensen at 5:21 PM PST - 31 comments

The Rules Of The Game

Anne Helen Petersen, the voice behind "Scandals Of Classic Hollywood" (previously) and "doctor of celebrity gossip" gives us an academic rundown of the hows and whys of the last hundred years of Hollywood Star Making, celebrity, PR, marketing, fandom, and scandal management.
posted by The Whelk at 4:41 PM PST - 7 comments

and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Felicity show-runner J.J. Abrams is reportedly close to being tapped to direct Star Wars Episode 7. [more inside]
posted by sparklemotion at 4:08 PM PST - 404 comments

"Roe has been her life, but it's no longer much of a living."

"Better known as the “Jane Roe” in the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, Norma McCorvey has led a conflicted life. Forty years ago, she was at the center of the court decision that famously legalized abortion. Today, she is a zealous anti-abortion advocate." Why did McCorvey turn against the cause she once championed? Tracing the life of an Accidental Activist. Via
posted by zarq at 4:05 PM PST - 39 comments

Two short films by Matthew Holness

The Snipist - a post-apocalyptic nightmare set in a post-rabies Britain (warning: absolutely bleak). A Gun For George - a short film about crime-writer Terry Finch, author of the 70s Kentish fiction masterpieces The Reprisalizer. [more inside]
posted by dng at 3:43 PM PST - 16 comments

My Weekend At A Furry Convention

Kotaku article about, well, a weekend at a furry convention. Of note because it features a short interview with MeFi's own egypturnash (near the end, under "Our Transhuman Future"), plus a pic of her awesome dragon tattoo.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:05 PM PST - 48 comments

One Day This Chalk Outline Will Circle This City

The Mars Volta is no more, lead singer and self-described 'Latin Danzig' Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced on twitter early this morning. Not coincidentally, this came on the heels of bandmate Omar Rodríguez-López' new band, Bosnian Rainbows, releasing the first track from their upcoming album on soundcloud: Torn Maps. [more inside]
posted by mannequito at 2:39 PM PST - 24 comments

GET QUIZZED IN THE FACE

BILLY ON THE STREET is a show on Fuse network (but made by Funny or Die) in which host Billy Eichner asks random people on the streets of New York (and sometimes celebrity guests) sometimes rude, often unanswerable questions for small amounts of money. If he ever approaches you, remember that the best answer is always Meryl FUCKING Streep (who he met, epically, on Watch What Happens Live.)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:15 PM PST - 17 comments

Please alert interested parties

"It looks all but inevitable that Twitter, who acquired Posterous last year, will be eliminating the blog platform. This means that all my blogs will vanish, which is a shame, because all my blogs are actually compendiums of very specialized comic book material, meant to be permanent galleries, available forever."
posted by misterbee at 2:08 PM PST - 41 comments

It's never been a better time to be a Japanese shoegazer

While you're waiting for the third My Bloody Valentine album or just their next show why not listen to Yellow Loveless, the newly released, All-Japanese cover of My Bloody Valentine's 1991 classic Loveless? [more inside]
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:47 PM PST - 23 comments

Holland's favorite snack

"Bitterballen are one of Holland's favorite snacks … this deep-fried, crispy, bite-sized ball of meaty gravy is to be eaten with a good, savory mustard." A traditional way to make use of leftovers, recipes for bitterballen are many and diverse. But one thing that (presumably) has never been done before happened this past Monday on Dutch TV, when two presenters cooked up some bitterballen in human fat. (A little more info on the show here.)
posted by jbickers at 1:39 PM PST - 40 comments

Skinring

Designer Sruli Recht creates ring made partly of himself.
posted by found missing at 12:52 PM PST - 50 comments

Insert snappy pun here

With extensive flooding in Limpopo province the army have been called in to rescue residents from 15,000 escaped crocodiles.
posted by roofus at 12:42 PM PST - 27 comments

New Assault Weapons Legislation

Dianne Feinstein (D, California) introduced new legislation today to ban assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines. This is the list of 157 specific firearms and firearm types that will be banned if this legislation becomes law.
posted by wormwood23 at 12:36 PM PST - 392 comments

Redesigning Google: How Larry Page Engineered a Beautiful Revolution

The new Google way is weird, but it's working
Something strange and remarkable started happening at Google immediately after Larry Page took full control as CEO in 2011: it started designing good-looking apps.
posted by andoatnp at 12:04 PM PST - 78 comments

Belief in the Unfalsifiable

What would you think if I told you there is an ugly, self-sustaining, omnipotent invisible force that explains everything. It frames every argument, structures language, and every element of human experience.... This article will examine Patriarchy as a theory that is beyond falsifiability. - Naomi J. Chambers
posted by scharpy at 11:56 AM PST - 85 comments

Bonobo : Cirrus

music video weird and wonderful.
posted by maltorrance at 11:50 AM PST - 18 comments

The Shukla Test

I’ve been thinking about the Bechdel test for films where a film must have a) two or more main female characters who b) talk for five minutes about c) something other than men. It’s amazing to see that not many films pass this test. So, I’m initiating this now (unless it’s already been done…): The Shukla Test, for books, films and television where a) two main characters who are people who of colour b) talk for five minutes without c) mentioning their race. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 11:45 AM PST - 65 comments

S is for Spoiler, so you are thus warned

George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire meets Edward Gorey
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:12 AM PST - 33 comments

Good Humor

Dramatic moment as Prince Harry runs for an ice cream van during an interview in Afghanistan. [more inside]
posted by phaedon at 10:55 AM PST - 81 comments

A picture is worth 50,000 vacuum tubes.

Possibly the World's First Computer Art? An Atlantic article discusses how in the late 1950s, an anonymous IBM employee made a lady from the pages of Esquire come to life on the screen of a Situation Display Console of a AN/FSQ-7 computer that was part of the SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) project.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 10:51 AM PST - 16 comments

Everybody was dressed in his or her best clothes.

in February, 1996, a rocket launch at Xichang failed. Smithsonian Air & Space publishes first-hand account. Xichang Satellite Launch Center at Wikipedia. Previously (comprehensive, highly reccommended).
posted by mwhybark at 10:24 AM PST - 7 comments

Some Budding Yeast I Used to Grow

A biologist researcher laments the present difficulty of getting funding for yeast experiments. In song form. With a stop motion animation video. And music by Gotye.
posted by grouse at 10:05 AM PST - 17 comments

Welcome Home

The American Festivals Project (previously) at the national Rainbow Gathering. This post is NSFW. [more inside]
posted by Lorin at 9:46 AM PST - 8 comments

New Zealand to be 100 percent cat free

It might strike you as a sick Internet joke, but Gareth Morgan isn't kidding . The prominent New Zealand economist and environmentalist wants his country 100 percent cat-free and he's willing to go extraordinary lengths to make it a reality.
posted by lungtaworld at 9:45 AM PST - 104 comments

Is it a sinister government experiment, designed to brainwash children?

Digging up long forgotten memories for a generation who spent their formative years glued to the boob tube, Memorex is a veritable nostalgia nuke for children of the 80s. Endless beach parties, Saturday morning cartoons, claymation everything, sleek cars, sexy babes, toys you forgot existed, station idents, primitive computer animation, all your favorite sugary cereal mascots, and so much more. An ode to the hyper consumerism and sleek veneer of a simpler time. (previously)
posted by eric1halfb at 9:44 AM PST - 27 comments

Indeterminate Hikes

"How do we engage technology sustainably and in a way that supports creativity and freedom?... One of the things I try to do... is to somehow interrupt the use of [new and emerging] technologies so that it causes people [an] unexpected and renewed awakening or sensibility of those devices being in our lives." [more inside]
posted by knile at 8:34 AM PST - 14 comments

.

The Price of a Stolen Childhood [NYTimes.com] When Nicole was a child, her father took pornographic pictures of her that still circulate on the internet. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 8:25 AM PST - 47 comments

I want you people to know this will NEVER be made public

Dexter's Laboratory was an animated cartoon by Genndy Tartakovsky known for delightful musical numbers (one episode was an 11-minute-long opera) and genre parodies like The Justice Friends and Dial M For Monkey (and more!), but for years there has been talk of a never-aired episode, Dexter's Rude Removal, in which Dexter and his sister Dee Dee turn hilariously foulmouthed. Needless to say, Cartoon Network never aired this episode, and with the exception of one Comic Con showing, it was never shown to an audience – until now. Adult Swim has kindly put Dexter's Rude Removal on YouTube, for all the world to see.
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:07 AM PST - 55 comments

You wouldn't get that on Daybreak

Winny Puhh, a finalist for the Estonian entry in the Eurovision Song Context, perform live on Estonia's prime breakfast TV show. You might want to turn your volume down a touch. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 7:54 AM PST - 42 comments

Soon, you too can become a flash drive.

Scientists at the European Bioinformatics Institute successfully encoded several different file formats onto strands of synthetic DNA, which were then sent to an American lab and sequenced to extract the data. Selections included Shakespeare, audio of Dr. Martin Luther King, and photos of their lab. If the idea sounds vaguely familiar, you've probably been reading Dresden Codak.
posted by BZArcher at 7:40 AM PST - 22 comments

Abortion in America

The Geography of Abortion Access - Forty years ago Tuesday, the Supreme Court ushered in legal abortion for American women when it decided in Roe v. Wade. Today, states—particularly in the South and Midwest—are eroding that right by legislating hundreds of provisions intended to impede access with burdensome obstacles. To understand more fully the complex state of access to abortion services in America, The Daily Beast identified and confirmed the location of the country’s remaining 724 clinics and calculated the distance from every part of the country to its closest clinic. (more)
posted by Artw at 7:22 AM PST - 25 comments

Pseudoscorpions In Flight

You don't need to go into the forest to find a creepy scorpion-like arthropod. The pseudoscorpion is a fun little critter who usually lives in the woods but have found bathrooms and kitchens just as hospitable, feeding on pests. You don't have anything to fear from the critters hiding behind your shampoo bottles, but you might wonder how they got out of the woods and into your bathtub? [more inside]
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:11 AM PST - 24 comments

Women in combat

Today, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will announce that the Pentagon has lifted its 19 year old ban on women serving in combat roles in the military. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:05 AM PST - 70 comments

Arachnophobes Need Not Apply

The folks over at Smarter Every Day encountered a Tailless Whip Scorpion, and after showing off its remarkable physiology, they did what anyone would do, and put it on their faces. [more inside]
posted by quin at 5:49 AM PST - 33 comments

Doctors Do it in Debt

American physicians do not make as much money as you think...
posted by Renoroc at 5:25 AM PST - 85 comments

Let us go down a rabbit hole.

The British Coup Conspiracy In early 1974, the right-wing Spectator magazine predicted “Britain is on a Chilean brink.
In March 1981 the Sunday Times carried an article which indicated that there were suggested preparations for a military coup d’état in Britain in 1974.
2006 BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson.
David Leigh: The Wilson Plot: How the Spycatchers and Their American Allies Tried to Overthrow the British Government.
What If The Coup Against Prime Minister Harold Wilson Been Carried Out?
Cecil King's Plot to Overthrow Harold Wilson.
A biography of Prime Minister Harold Wilson known as Norman John Worthington on his MI5 file.
wiki. This was 1974 Britain. Some background.
posted by adamvasco at 4:51 AM PST - 37 comments

"The concept was ambitious. Bold. Insane."

Inside The Greatest Writer's Room You've Never Heard Of
Twenty-five years ago, millions of Americans gathered around their sets to watch the launch of a show that would transform late-night TV. This show would fuse comedy and news, offering desk pieces, taped dispatches from correspondents, and interviews with political figures. It would instruct as well as entertain. Yes, a quarter-century ago, America got its first glimpse of a program that had many similarities to The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. It was called The Wilton North Report. The Wilton North Re-what? Exactly.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:33 AM PST - 16 comments

Evaluating the impact of international aid, scientifically

International aid projects come under the microscope Clinical-research techniques deployed to assess effectiveness of aid initiatives.
posted by infini at 2:32 AM PST - 3 comments

J0hnny ''Gitar'' Wats0n - Livek0nzert 1977

On tour at the height of his powers - a Young John Watson indeed: Johnny ''Guitar'' Watson - Livekonzert 1977 [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 1:43 AM PST - 10 comments

January 23

World's largest inadvertent cheese fondue

When a lorry transporting 27 tonnes of Norwegian cheese caught fire in the Brattli Tunnel at Tysfjord, it kept burning for five days, with the tunnel still closed down for traffic. The cheese in question, Brunost, is made by slowly boiling (goats) milk, cream and whey together until the water evaporates and the milk sugar caramalises, which gives the cheese its brown colour. As the Norwegian fire services found out the hard way, its high fat and sugar contents also means it burns well. Something that might have come in useful during the Dutch cheese wars between Edam and Woerden, as immortalised in this commercial; Edammer cheese just couldn't get hot enough.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:02 PM PST - 44 comments

Dem Bones

Skeleton Zone: For all your skeletal needs.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:57 PM PST - 8 comments

This is how we play Scrabble.

We are delighted to present Scrabble enthusiasts everywhere with The Scrabble Player's Handbook, a definitive and free ebook on how to play Scrabble, written by a dozen of the best tournament players in the world. All twelve authors have competed in past World Scrabble Championships and have spent over a year combining their knowledge into this one free Scrabble resource. Definitive. Accessible. Free. What more do you need to know? [Website links to a 6.6 Mb PDF.]
posted by not_on_display at 8:55 PM PST - 25 comments

Now all they need is a replica of "The Wire"

"Almost a decade since the end of the hit American TV series Friends, the show — and, in particular, the fictitious Central Perk cafe, where much of the action took place — is enjoying an afterlife in China's capital, Beijing. Here, the show that chronicled the exploits of New York City pals Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey is almost seen as a lifestyle guide."
posted by vidur at 8:39 PM PST - 37 comments

we love metal and we love unicorns lets party!!!!:)

Unicorns from Hell
posted by unliteral at 8:33 PM PST - 8 comments

Glammed out opulence: Rococo punk through the decades

If gears and brass aren't your thing, and you'd prefer your alternate history to take its influences from 18th century Paris, then Rococo punk might be your scene. But this is no new reaction to steampunk. Oh no, the Boston band The Upper Crust ("Let Them Eat Rock," "We're Finished with Finishing School," "Little Lord Fauntleroy;" previously) go back to 1995, and before them was Malice Mizer ("Illuminati," "Bel Air," "Au Revoir,"), though their visual style wasn't just Rococo glam (as seen here in "Beast of Blood" and "Garnet"). But the grandfathers to all these young punks was Adam and the Ants ("Ant Music," "Kings of the Wild Frontier," "The Prince Charming Revue" [YT playlist]).
posted by filthy light thief at 8:09 PM PST - 45 comments

What's the shape of a falling raindrop?

"When you run molten lead through a sieve and let it fall into a water tank far below, surface tension forms the lead drops into almost perfect spheres." The first purpose-built shot tower was built by William Watts of Bristol, UK, in 1782. America built its first shot tower in Philadelphia in 1808. The tallest shot tower ever built (but not the first in Australia) still stands in the center of Melbourne though now underneath a glass roof. As less costly methods of making shot were discovered these towers closed up shop, some not until the late sixties. Many of these towers have found new purposes as historical sites, art galleries or simply mysterious links to the past. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 7:17 PM PST - 39 comments

The fare is a veritable smorgasbord

We Must Build An Enormous McWorld In Times Square, A Xanadu Representing A McDonald's From Every Nation
"The central attraction of the ground floor level is a huge mega-menu that lists every item from every McDonald's in the world, because this McDonald's serves ALL of them." Previously.
posted by macrowave at 6:16 PM PST - 79 comments

We're not scientists, we just love dinos.

Fuck Yeah, Dinosaur Art!
posted by brundlefly at 6:11 PM PST - 8 comments

Gears to replace flannel on the teenagers of America

Is Steampunk The Next Big Fashion Trend? Time Magazine reports on this new sensation.
posted by mediocre at 5:47 PM PST - 163 comments

Don't call it a Station, It's a Terminal

On February 2nd, Grand Central Terminal turns 100. It's full of history, secrets, the location for many movies, and the site of a major squash tournament.
posted by Xurando at 5:38 PM PST - 6 comments

Octopus Maps

Need quick visual shorthand for an aggressively encroaching political entity? You want an Cartographic Land Octopus! It's a subcategory of satirical maps. More octopus maps here, here, here.
posted by Miko at 5:07 PM PST - 9 comments

The Rise Of Food Fraud

'A new study on food fraud was released Wednesday morning by U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention'. As part of the study, nearly 800 new records - a 60% increase from last year - were added to their searchable online database of food fraud reports at foodfraud.org. 'The new records show that the most commonly fraudulent products are olive oil, milk, saffron, honey and coffee. Tea, fish, clouding agents (used in fruit juices, like lemon, to make products look freshly squeezed), maple syrup and spices (turmeric, black pepper and chili pepper) were also top imposters.' 'Clouding agents were found in 877 food products from 315 different companies.' [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 4:50 PM PST - 87 comments

Merely by the power of his interactive environment

Stephen Lavelle AKA Increpare (mentioned previously, previously, and previously) has recently released some new games recently, as mentioned by Liz Ryerson (also previously). Many of them create vibrant, emotional, affecting environments. The club like dream/nightmare that is Slave of God is written about by Cara Ellison of Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
posted by sendai sleep master at 3:15 PM PST - 9 comments

Armstrong...and the rest all chose to be supermen rather than sportsmen.

In light of Lance Armstrong's recent admissions and the failure of the Baseball Writers' Association of America to elect a single member to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, the New Atlantis examines the era that created people like Armstrong and Barry Bonds and what this subsequent rejection says about us, them, and the sports themselves.
posted by ZaphodB at 3:03 PM PST - 35 comments

ConflictResolution

A lengthy wiki-list of "techniques to avoid or to resolve conflict."
posted by winecork at 1:56 PM PST - 21 comments

Supercomputing in 1983

"The late Dr. John Fletcher describes, in 1983, the history of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's Octopus network." This video describes the history of the laboratory's large computers, from the Univac 1 to the Cray XMP, the evolution of mass storage, high speed printers, the Octopus networking facilities, and the emergence of minicomputers.
posted by FuturisticDragon at 1:18 PM PST - 16 comments

Canine InterWebs.

Two dogs Skype each other. [SLYT]
posted by whimsicalnymph at 12:33 PM PST - 36 comments

It's a Samoan Thing. You Wouldn't Understand.

Ilana Gershon is a professor currently researching how people use the Internet to break up with their romantic partners, but before that she wrote an anthropological study about "strategic ignorance" in Samoan immigrant communities, all of which is just a complicated way of showing that she's the most unusually qualified person on the Internet to comment on the Manti Te'o hoax. (previously)
posted by jonp72 at 11:03 AM PST - 49 comments

Exporting from Lightroom

An Analysis of Lightroom JPEG Export Quality Settings.
posted by The Girl Who Ate Boston at 11:00 AM PST - 41 comments

Hey, you've got your black people in my American TV show!

'I'm a White Girl': Why 'Girls' Won't Ever Overcome Its Racial Problem-an article from The Atlantic with several interesting links on the larger issue of including (or not) black characters into American television.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:48 AM PST - 183 comments

Papercraft animation

Papercraft animation "The latest stop motion music video from animation duo Katarzyna Kijek and Przemysław Adamski for Japanese singer-songwriter Shugo Tokumaru." [via]
posted by dhruva at 9:49 AM PST - 10 comments

Axe Cop: The Movie cannot be far behind

Axe Cop (previously) will be airing as an animated series on Fox, scheduled to start airing on July 27. [more inside]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:41 AM PST - 39 comments

Hell Froze Over

It's cold in Chicago right now. How cold? Water will freeze to the sides of a burning building.
posted by schmod at 9:20 AM PST - 121 comments

Gospel of Intolerance

Gospel of Intolerance - Excerpts of "God Loves Uganda", a feature documentary directed and produced by filmmaker Roger Ross Williams is having its premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film explains how money donated by American evangelicals directly finances the violent antigay movement in Uganda.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:47 AM PST - 46 comments

Instrumental lying by parents in the US and China

The practice of lying to one's children to encourage behavioral compliance was investigated among parents in the US (N = 114) and China (N = 85). The vast majority of parents (84% in the US and 98% in China) reported having lied to their children for this purpose. Within each country, the practice most frequently took the form of falsely threatening to leave a child alone in public if he or she refused to follow the parent. Crosscultural differences were seen: A larger proportion of the parents in China reported that they employed instrumental lie-telling to promote behavioral compliance, and a larger proportion approved of this practice, as compared to the parents in the US. This difference was not seen on measures relating to the practice of lying to promote positive feelings, or on measures relating to statements about fantasy characters such as the tooth fairy. Findings are discussed with reference to sociocultural values and certain parenting-related challenges that extend across cultures. [HTML] -- [PDF] [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 8:16 AM PST - 81 comments

We can all relax...the zombie horde will be eliminated..

"When we need taquitos, we run to Quick Trip" (slyt) Zombie defenders come to an Ace Hardware near you.. [more inside]
posted by pearlybob at 6:39 AM PST - 50 comments

The untouchables

Wall Street's leaders have utterly escaped jail. "There have been no arrests of senior Wall Street executives." Frontline examines why the United States federal government didn't go after the financial titans. (via)
posted by doctornemo at 5:46 AM PST - 157 comments

"It's like, the explosion blew the hair off of his head, and onto his fa

Most of the characters on FX's Archer have appearances that roughly correspond to the actors that voice them, with the notable exception of the main character H. Jon Benjamin's Sterling Archer. The unaired short L'Espion Mal Faît from the DVD extras resolves that.
posted by quin at 5:45 AM PST - 67 comments

Select pictures to color and candy to eat

This year, cartoonist Lynda Barry is Artist in Residence at the Arts Institute of the University of Wisconsin, and her class "The Unthinkable Mind" starts today. This is the poster. This is the introduction to the class. This is the first handout.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:29 AM PST - 55 comments

Nature Has A Formula That Tells Us When It's Time To Die

Here's the surprise: There is a mathematical formula which says if you tell me how big something is, I can tell you — with some variation, but not a lot — how long it will live.
Yunfun Tan illustrates the heartbeat of mother nature in this post on NPR
posted by rebent at 4:29 AM PST - 33 comments

Gayest Cities in America, 2013

Advocate.com has compiled a list of the gayest cities in America. Their eclectic criteria and point system is explained in the article. [more inside]
posted by Sailormom at 4:21 AM PST - 62 comments

I got monsters. How 'bout you?

Mina Caputo began her career as Keith Caputo, founder of the heavy metal band Life of Agony. In the early 1990s the band became huge in Europe, and the teenage Caputo found herself trapped in the life of a macho metal superstar when what she really wanted was to be a nice young lady attending Julliard. She performed as Keith for over 20 years, then in 2010 Niko Bikialo's quietly devastating music video for Caputo's song Got Monsters [brief nudity] put the viewer inside the mind of a transwoman as she struggles to find her place in the world and make a friend of the stranger she sees in the mirror. A year later, Caputo shocked metal fans when she officially announced she was transitioning. [more inside]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:24 AM PST - 14 comments

Why We Abandoned the Public Realm, and Why We Need It Again

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Great Public Spaces
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:16 AM PST - 35 comments

p.s. ppprrrrrr <--best regards

10 years ago marked the debut of Chappelle's Show. Grantland's Rembert Browne pits the 64 most watched sketches on Comedy Central in a tournament to decide the funniest sketch of the 2.something seasons the show produced. (SPOILER warning - the final 8 are linked inside!) [more inside]
posted by mannequito at 1:15 AM PST - 22 comments

January 22

I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture.

In Golden Waters, Fatlantis and Libertopia are Something Awful goon-written short story collections (and a short story) about the predicted failure of libertarian separatist colonies. They're inspired by the Seasteading Institute, a group that wants to build a floating libertarian island (and yes, they did inspire China Mieville's 'The Scar'). They should serve as a warning to Glenn Beck, who intends to create a self-sustaining community called Independence Park. The Goon fiction has already started, but its more likely to succeed than The Citadel, a proposed survivalist gun fortress in Idaho. Bonus SA short story collection: Aluminum Sky, a series about the Malatorans, a group who wanted to build an island where they could put their brains into robot cyborg dragon bodies.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:50 PM PST - 74 comments

Ecce homo

"Footage of Pope John Paul at an indoor batting cage during his 1987 visit to California"
posted by growabrain at 10:29 PM PST - 36 comments

where MAKING THIS HAPPEN

The legendarily shitty webcomic Sweet Bro and Helpful Hella Jeff is now available as a LAVISHLY HEDONISTIC HARDCOVER BOOK that comes with insiteful author notes, fake Subway coubons, and both a 3-foot ribbone bookmark and a lenticular bookmark. The press release goes into more detail about the book's horrendously shitty excesses, including the four separate webcomic legends who were involved in its makings. And there's a preview trailer which is probably unnecessary but still worth it.
posted by Rory Marinich at 10:01 PM PST - 35 comments

The Balancing Act of Being Female; Or,

Why We Have So Many Clothes
posted by eviemath at 8:21 PM PST - 186 comments

Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight

Puppies fall asleep with a little help.
posted by nadawi at 8:21 PM PST - 32 comments

"Islamic men interested in men who live in Tehran"

Actual Facebook Graph Searches.
posted by spitefulcrow at 8:11 PM PST - 69 comments

"The teacher, the hitman, and the questions that remain..."

Nicole Ryan, a Nova Scotia teacher, offered a hit man $25,000 to bump off her husband because the police would not protect her from his abuse (longer, audio only). In her first 2010 trial, where she raised the defense of duress, she was aquitted; the Crown's 2011 appeal of that acquittal was dismissed, and her third 2013 trial resulted in a stay. But the victim didn't go on the stand to tell his side of the story. [more inside]
posted by saucysault at 6:14 PM PST - 69 comments

Why I Love Saturn

Comics visionary Kyle Baker has just put all his creator-owned properties online, to be read for free.
posted by Shepherd at 5:21 PM PST - 42 comments

Like Lazarus with a triple bypass

Amazing Stories, "the World's First Science Fiction Magazine", founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1926 and cancelled in 1995, and resurrected in 1998 and again in 2004 before being cancelled again by Paizo Publishing in 2006, is back -- again. Amazing is now a website, claiming to have "more than 50 bloggers covering the field from more than 50 different perspectives". The idea is to develop an online following and release a print version. Bonus cover galleries from the Golden Age
posted by Mezentian at 5:08 PM PST - 13 comments

Nuclear War: A Guide To Armageddon

Nuclear War: A Guide To Armageddon This 1982 documentary looks at the effects of a 1 MT nuke detonating a mile above London's St Paul's Cathedral. Written and produced by "Threads" director Mick Jackson. Ludovic Kennedy narrates. Previously. Meta.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:05 PM PST - 44 comments

Dark sarcasm

[soundcloud] Classical piano take on Pink Floyd by The Royal Academy of Music Master’s Degree Graduate Aysedeniz Gokcin. -via-
posted by maggieb at 2:57 PM PST - 23 comments

Roll for Initiative!

Dungeons and Dragons Classics -- First Edition. Second Edition. Third and Fourth Editions. Even Basic and Expert sets. Psionics, Magics, Ninja and Samurai, Are you looking for modules? Come on down to DnD Classics! Wizards of the Coast has decided to release D&D sourcebooks as PDFs for your enjoyment and reminiscence.
posted by boo_radley at 2:42 PM PST - 118 comments

momentary unguarded reflection

New Yorkers Caught Checking Themselves Out. Photographer Brad Farwell hid behind a two-way mirror at four different Manhattan locations: the Bowery, Midtown, NoLIta, and the Lower East Side. About 1 in 20, he says, paused to gaze. [more inside]
posted by farishta at 2:42 PM PST - 122 comments

"inventing new characters the way Doritos invents extreme flavors"

Has Slate's well known, some would say even cliched, contrarism jumped the shark, now they've gone so far as to defend Rob Liefeld? [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 2:21 PM PST - 50 comments

When admission of liability is a risk.

Credit Rating Agencies and their role after the Crisis
It was the rating agencies that assigned super safe ("triple A") ratings to complex financial instruments. When these blew up, the agencies accepted no responsibility, claiming they had merely been expressing "opinions".
William J Harrington, who was a senior analyst says he has asked people at Moody's why those responsible weren't fired.
"That would be an admission of liability, I was told.
The Wall Street Journal talks about downgrading the agencies.
posted by adamvasco at 12:44 PM PST - 39 comments

"We want you to take a picture."

This iconic photo of the first Aboriginal woman to enlist in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps was used as a recruitment tool, and "appeared all over the British Empire [in 1942] to show the power of the colonies fighting for King and country." Its original caption in the Canadian War Museum read, "Unidentified Indian princess getting blessing from her chief and father to go fight in the war." Its current caption in The Library and Archives of Canada reads: "Mary Greyeyes being blessed by her native Chief prior to leaving for service in the CWAC, 1942." But as it turns out, the two people in the photo had never met before that day. They weren't from the same tribe or even related and Private Mary Greyeyes was not an "Indian Princess." 70 years after the photo was taken, her daughter-in-law Melanie made sure the official record was corrected. Via [more inside]
posted by zarq at 12:00 PM PST - 13 comments

Don't try to fight it

Dutch TV presenters volunteer to experience the pain of labour at a birthing center. [more inside]
posted by Iteki at 11:10 AM PST - 173 comments

the impossible vocabulary of sorrow

Richard Blanco, a poet, teacher, and engineer, was chosen to be the nation's fifth inaugural poet. He is the author of the collections of poetry "City of a Hundred Fires," "Directions to the Beach of the Dead," "Place of Mind," and "Looking for the Gulf Motel." He is the first immigrant, first Latino, the first openly gay person and the youngest to be the U.S. inaugural poet. The poem he read was "One Today" (full text/analysis)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:07 AM PST - 28 comments

Spoiler: Everyone Dies

The Timeline of the Far Future is a Wikipedia article which serves as a gateway to a ton of fascinating scientific topics on the far edge of human understanding: ~50,000 years from now the Earth will enter a new Glacial period; ~100,000 years from now the Earth will likely have experienced a supervolcanic eruption; ~10,000,000 years from now the East African Rift divides the continent of Africa in to two land masses; ~20,000,000,000 years from now the Universe effectively dies due to The Big Rip.
posted by codacorolla at 10:42 AM PST - 90 comments

We've got it simple, 'cause we've got a band

Trey Anastasio's guitar rig: Part one, part two. Mike Gordon's bass rig: Part one, part two. Page McConnell's keyboard rig: Part one, part two. Jon Fishman's drum kit: Part one, part two. Phish all together: You Enjoy Myself - Madison Square Garden 2012-12-31. Part improvised prog-rock, part classically structured composition, "You Enjoy Myself" is far and away the boys' most played song, clocking in at 557 plays so far. After their 2004 breakup, Trey is apocryphally quoted as saying that he didn't want to go around playing YEM for the rest of his life; in a Rolling Stone interview on the eve of their reunion he reversed on this, saying "I would give my left nut to play that song five times in a row every day until I die." [more inside]
posted by Lorin at 10:38 AM PST - 45 comments

Risk

Two weeks ago, Lee Thompson ("Uncle Poodle" of Honey Boo Boo fame) gave an interview stating that he had successfully prosecuted his ex-boyfriend for transmitting HIV to him. Now, one blogger has come out saying that Uncle Poodle might actually be lying. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:12 AM PST - 33 comments

Journalist and artists labeled as terrorists for creating comic book

In 2010, journalist David Axe spent a month in the Congo reporting on the Lord's Resistance Army. When he returned, he wrote a book titled "Army of God: Joseph Kony's War in Central Africa", illustrated by Tim Hamilton and edited by Matt Bors. The book first appeared online, but the paperback rights were acquired by publisher Public Affairs, with plans to publish an expanded edition in 2013. The deal included an advance, which was wired to Hamilton's account. That's where the U.S. Treasury department comes in. Specifically, The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). [more inside]
posted by dejah420 at 8:22 AM PST - 43 comments

PICK UP THE SOCK, THEN THROW THE SOCK, I'LL CATCH THE SOCK, AND BRING BA

Dogs Like Socks [slyt]
posted by quin at 5:42 AM PST - 35 comments

What, Me Worry?

Every year, Edge.org asks a question. This year's is:"What *Should* We Be Worried About?" The responses are things like "Chinese Eugenics," "We Are In Denial About Catastrophic Risks," "Worry About Internet Drivel," "The Patience Deficit," "The Power Of Bad Incentives," "The Complex, Consequential, Not-So-Easy Decisions About Our Water Resources," and "The Cultural And Cognitive Consequences Of Electronics." They are from people like Nassim Nicholas Taleb, David Rowan, Evgeny Morozov, Kate Jeffery, Vernor Vinge, Bruce Schneier, Alison Gopnik, Steven Pinker, Virginia Heffernan and Simon Baron-Cohen. There are 154 answers. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:13 AM PST - 94 comments

Métafiltre, DemanderMéta and ParlerMéta

For non-anglophones, the English names of worldwide brands, music bands and other cultural items are both ubiquitous and slightly mysterious. Here what the English (plus some German, Spanish and Japanese) names of 52 brands/logotypes and 30 musicians/records look like when very loosely and somewhat lazily translated in French. Some extras can be found in the comments (note: annoying pop-up at the start).
posted by elgilito at 1:04 AM PST - 71 comments

January 21

Saving Zelda

Second Quest is a fully funded Kickstarter comic by David Hellman (the artist of Braid) and Tevis Thompson that attempts to put the criticisms of modern Zelda games in Tevis' essay Saving Zelda (previously) into comic book form. As Tim Rogers says, "People are willing to pay money to make a comic book about Zelda‘s pedantry exist. What a weird time."
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:40 PM PST - 71 comments

The king of love is dead.

On April 7, 1968 - three days after Martin Luther King's assassination - Nina Simone performed the Martin Luther King Suite for the first time at the Westbury Music Festival in NY: Sunday in Savannah, Why (The King of Love is Dead), Mississippi Goddam.
posted by ChuraChura at 8:03 PM PST - 13 comments

There's a lot of bullshit coming from America

"Of the top 100 Swiss companies, 49 give shareholders a consulting vote on the pay of executives. A few other countries, including the United States and Germany, have introduced advisory "say on pay" votes in response to the anger over inequality and corporate excess that drove the Occupy Wall Street movement. Britain is also planning to implement rules in late 2013 that will give shareholders a binding vote on pay and "exit payments" at least every three years. Minder's initiative goes further, forcing all listed companies to have binding votes on compensation for company managers and directors, and ban golden handshakes and parachutes. It would also ban bonus payments to managers if their companies are taken over, and impose severe penalties — including possible jail sentences and fines — for breaches of these new rules."
posted by vidur at 7:45 PM PST - 32 comments

Sex and surveys

"Men across all cultures reported higher sex drives and less restricted sexual attitudes than women, but women were consistently more variable than men in their sex drives. Another important, if not entirely surprising pattern, suggests that these differences are not entirely biological, and are due in some part to social and cultural ideologies." An io9 article looks at the results from a number of sex surveys.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:03 PM PST - 90 comments

Jim Hines Strikes Back. Again.

And now he has a posse. Mefi's Own cstross and jscalzi plus Patrick Rothfuss, Mary Robinette Kowal and Jim Hines posed for a remake of the cover of the Poul Anderson book Young Flandry. Hines promised to remake the cover if his readers raised $5,000 for the Aicardi Syndrome Foundation. They raised over three times that amount and Hines gathered his cohorts and fulfilled his promise. [via]
posted by deborah at 6:21 PM PST - 76 comments

"Untamed Humans" on the Roof of the World

"Moving is what nomads do. For the Kyrgyz of Afghanistan, it’s from two to four times a year, depending on the weather and the availability of grass for the animals. They call their homeland Bam-e Dunya, which means “roof of the world.” This might sound poetic and beautiful—it is undeniably beautiful—but it’s also an environment at the very cusp of human survivability. Their land consists of two long, glacier-carved valleys, called pamirs, stashed deep within the great mountains of Central Asia. Much of it is above 14,000 feet. The wind is furious; crops are impossible to grow. The temperature can drop below freezing 340 days a year. Many Kyrgyz have never seen a tree." Welcome to life at the upper altitudes of the Wakhan Corridor, above the tree line and on the roof of the world. [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:39 PM PST - 28 comments

It's not ridiculous, it's Bullet Time!

Olan Rogers (previously) and Jake Sidwell's ode to gamers, The Lion's Blaze, release a sequel, The Lion's Blaze 2, a ballad for gamers. [more inside]
posted by linux at 3:27 PM PST - 4 comments

The A-Z of Epidemiology:

Germs from Anthrax to Zoonoses. A disturbing bedtime book for kids. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 3:18 PM PST - 15 comments

Q sings The Brony Song

If you are confused by the unexpected popularity of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic cartoon among adults, or the more culturally baffling "Brony" phenomenon, help is at hand! Beloved genre star John DeLance, the voice of Discord, explains this modern pop culture phenomenon in song for a new documentary. (Via)
posted by Mezentian at 3:06 PM PST - 160 comments

Beyond the mechanical turk

Richard Garriott, perhaps better known as Lord British, has a wonderful collection of wooden automata in his house, in his Austin, Texas home Britannia Manor II (complete with observatory, and put up for sale in 2011). Here is an automata museum exhibit courtesy the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in Glasgow. Or perhaps you would like to see more from individual automata artists? Perhaps you find this new-fangled stuff insufficiently respectful of the past: would you like a history lesson (links to the left)? Or might you like to learn how to make your own, out of paper? If all else fails, how about these anti-war automata?
posted by flibbertigibbet at 1:59 PM PST - 12 comments

Start with Pyramids

A handy infographic to determine which order to read the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels in. As a bonus, some alternative suggestions and much more courtesy of Lspace.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:45 PM PST - 96 comments

The Jim Crow violence machine

In on attempted murder . . . According to evidence cited by Diane McWhorter in today's NYT: Bull Connor, eased out but still active, organized a police assassination plot against Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. The conspiracy failed, but it was known to the Birmingham News beforehand. (The News was & is owned by the Newhouse family -- Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, etc). According to McWhorter, the paper also funded and collaborated in police spying on civil rights activists. McWhorter won a Pulitzer for Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. Her point in today's piece is to recall how wide and deep the Jim Crow violence machine operated. Good And Evil In Birmingham
posted by LonnieK at 1:38 PM PST - 11 comments

Add Some More Bourbon - One Day We'll All Be Dead

Saveur's utterly charming "Recipe Comix" features illustrated recipes/short stories by some of the web's best cartoonists covering a wide range of meals.
posted by The Whelk at 1:21 PM PST - 14 comments

It was a "class 13" hotel, meaning bottom line.

The Beat Hotel and neighbourhood as seen through the lens of Harold Chapman.
Another interview with Chapman.
Amongst the photos Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Mirtaud the cat.
The Beat Hotel (wiki) was probably the last Parisian 'Vie de Boheme'.
posted by adamvasco at 11:57 AM PST - 9 comments

All fine architectural values are human values, else not valuable.

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most important architects of the 20th century. He is known for buildings such as Fallingwater, the Guggenheim museum, and the Darwin D. Martin House. One of Wright’s most fascinating houses is Taliesin, his second home. Wright built the home in Spring Green, Wisconsin upon ancestral land given to him by his mother. Wright had fled his home in Oak Park, Illinois after abandoning his family and running off with the with the wife of a client. The Wisconsin home was built as a getaway for Wright and his mistress, but ultimately was the scene of her brutal murder. Wright did not abandon the building, but turned it into a place where young architects could study under the master. In 1937 he created a second home and school at Taliesin West. Fascinating documentary on Wright. Previously
posted by holmesian at 10:33 AM PST - 37 comments

Side effects include FUN

Combining the only two things that women in commericals can talk about in groups, it's Dannon Birth Control on the Bottom. From Yahoo sketch comedy show SketchY, starring twitter queen Megan Amram and a very angry Weird Al.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:22 AM PST - 42 comments

"...redbrick, linoleum-­tiled perdition."

"Most American high schools are almost sadistically unhealthy places to send adolescents." Does the "worst of adult America looks like high school because it’s populated by people who went to high school in America?" [more inside]
posted by zarq at 9:54 AM PST - 173 comments

If you want art, don't mess about with movies. Buy a Picasso.

RIP Michael Winner, director of the Death Wish series among others, restaurant critic, Esure advert star (remix) and clean underpants wearer.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:54 AM PST - 24 comments

"It was Sunday morning, and the Star Trek family were practicing music."

Episode 2: Eggs. Domestic Star Trek fan video from a seven-year-old.
posted by gusandrews at 7:53 AM PST - 22 comments

Badass Mouse is badass.

The little mouse that eats scorpions AND adorably howls at the moon.
posted by Kitteh at 7:15 AM PST - 32 comments

QUIZZES

Is it time to re-value the tiles in Scrabble?
posted by Chrysostom at 6:49 AM PST - 42 comments

Dolphin seeks assistance.

A (presumably) wild dolphin entangled by fishing line approaches divers for assistance. [more inside]
posted by panaceanot at 4:29 AM PST - 32 comments

'as a liberal, I say bomb the shit out of them'

Richard Seymour has a new book out: Unhitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens. It is reviewed in In These Times: Christopher Hitchens Stands Trial
That said, Hitchens’ later years and the enormous celebrity he enjoyed during that period are a case study of just how handsome the rewards are for those willing and able to serve as attack dogs for the dominant powers of their place and time. Hitchens’ main service to the American elite was to employ a combination of innuendo and character assassination to cast aspersion on virtually every high-profile figure critical of American foreign policy after 9/11—a roster that includes Julian Assange, Noam Chomsky, George Galloway, Michael Moore, Harold Pinter, Edward Said, Cindy Sheehan, Oliver Stone and Gore Vidal.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:11 AM PST - 139 comments

Bad Feeling. Behind seeing-thing. In you-place.

Reset is a game about the bizarre, frightening, and exciting possibilities for kink in the cyborg / transhuman future.

via Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 2:44 AM PST - 18 comments

January 20

"You don't play with Martin Luther King Jr."

When Barack Obama is sworn in to office for a second term today, he will use two bibles: One owned by Abraham Lincoln, and second bible, used by Martin Luther King Jr.
Cornel West explains why Obama taking the oath with Martin Luther King Jr's Bible bothers him.
posted by dunkadunc at 9:37 PM PST - 222 comments

Cypherpunks

The Cypherpunk Revolutionary: Julian Assange is a long essay that connects Julian Assange to the pro-cryptography activist cypherpunks and quotes extensively from his old online posts. Further reading: The Cyphernomicon and Assange's MARUTUKKU cryptographic mythology.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:21 PM PST - 28 comments

Words of wisdom from the not-so-distant past

17 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes You Never Hear
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:43 PM PST - 30 comments

Will the real Ian McKellen please stand up?

Perhaps you've seen this youtube video of Hunter Davis's Sir Ian McKellen imitation (if Sir Ian were to perform Baby Got Back). Hunter Davis came to a radio station to do an interview, and then the real Sir Ian called in - but turned out to be fake. And then the real Sir Ian actually called in - or was he a fake too? [more inside]
posted by insectosaurus at 7:43 PM PST - 10 comments

United States, I can't (or can) quit you!

Love the United States? Want to share? Hate the United States? Want to share? Here's your two for one website! [more inside]
posted by Atreides at 5:14 PM PST - 35 comments

"Enjoy your 30 gold coins."

Malaria, a short "motion comic" that bends the boundaries of what that means. "Malaria" is a short film/motion comic by Edson Oda. It's unlike any motion comic you've ever seen, and you need to watch it without knowing what's coming.
posted by HostBryan at 4:37 PM PST - 27 comments

Babes of Wrath

Homelessness activist Diane Nilan and progressive activist and former Green Party candidate Pat LaMarche are embarking on a tour around the southwestern US to call attention to homeless children and youth in crisis. [more inside]
posted by eviemath at 2:05 PM PST - 10 comments

The Reconstructionists

"The Reconstructionists, a collaboration between illustrator Lisa Congdon and writer Maria Popova, is a yearlong celebration of remarkable women — beloved artists, writers, and scientists, as well as notable unsung heroes — who have changed the way we define ourselves as a culture and live our lives as individuals of any gender. Every Monday in 2013, we'll be publishing an illustrated portrait of one such trailblazing woman, along with a hand-lettered quote that captures her spirit and a short micro-essay about her life and legacy."
posted by cheerwine at 2:00 PM PST - 8 comments

“I didn’t want to speak, but I wanted to be like, ‘Hey kids!’ Then I was

Visual artist Nick Cave (not of The Bad Seeds) worked together for months with students across various departments of the University of North Texas to present Heard, a visual and musical burst of vibrancy based on Cave's childhood experiences of colouring in horses and being told by his mother: "It doesn’t matter if it’s pink. If he wants it to be pink, it can be pink.". And not just pink, even.
posted by divabat at 1:29 PM PST - 16 comments

Scapegoated again

"I certainly believe that the White House would like nothing more than to see an end to mass gun murders in America's elementary schools. But the fact remains that gun violence takes place every day, all across this country, at a rate of dozens of deaths a day, and as the leading cause of death among African-American youth. But when the vice president establishes a task force on gun control and violence that includes the media industries that the NRA has once again chosen as their patsies after a particularly heinous and public example of gun violence, all it can do is shift attention away from guns." -- How the video game industry has lost out in the gun control debate.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:54 PM PST - 254 comments

Hanawon: South Korea's Resettlement Program for North Korean Refugees

North Korea has been called the world's most repressive state [previously], but every year, two to three thousand North Koreans manage to escape to South Korea. Recognizing the potential for disorientation among the refugees and disruption for South Korean society, in 1999 the government's Unification Ministry set up a mandatory resettlement program called Hanawon--"one people". (It also screens the newcomers carefully for spies.) Last year, due to growing need, the government opened another Hanawon centre. [more inside]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:28 PM PST - 17 comments

It'll surely come... here it comes again.

The ballad of Red Buckets. "Richard Mason was a high school kid in Boston when he formed his band Insteps and recorded his first songs sounding much like the early Cure. ... Red Buckets began at University of Pennsylvania around 1982, and eventually brought Richard and the band into the context of Crazy Rhythms-era Feelies, the Hoboken music scene at Maxwell’s, Dream Syndicate passing through, and the proto-Yo La Tengo record machine."
posted by mykescipark at 11:50 AM PST - 1 comment

Wild Things

The Bronx Zoo is managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, which boasts of running more than 500 projects in sixty-five countries through global field offices whose employees work to advance sustainable development; address issues of global climate change, health and well-being, and natural-resource use; and pursue other noble-sounding objectives that attest to the totality of man’s dominion over the lesser beasts. [more inside]
posted by latkes at 11:05 AM PST - 30 comments

Advance to blue triple circle!

Take a copy of Monopoly, cover it in lye for a few days, boil from off the bones whatever flesh remains, and give the clean white skeleton a tasteful, minimalist paintjob, and you end up with ONOPO, an extreme reduction of the original boardgame by Metafilter's own Matthew Hollett, aka oulipian. Via mefi projects, hat tip to fastcodesign c/o Rock Paper Shotgun's always-lovely Sunday Papers feature.
posted by cortex at 10:40 AM PST - 55 comments

A material that most liquids won't wet.

"A nanoscale coating that's at least 95 percent air repels the broadest range of liquids of any material in its class, causing them to bounce off the treated surface...". Video of the coating in action.
posted by Evernix at 10:27 AM PST - 47 comments

"I have no data for this."

A Cat’s 200-Mile Trek Home Leaves Scientists Guessing [NYTimes.com] "Nobody knows how it happened: an indoor housecat who got lost on a family excursion managing, after two months and about 200 miles, to return to her hometown."
posted by Fizz at 9:28 AM PST - 104 comments

Religion & Public Schools In the Lone Star State

The Texas Freedom Network reports [pdf] on some of the repercussions of the Texas state legislature's House Bill 1287, which allows for an expansion of the role of religion in the Texas public school curriculum.
posted by Rykey at 9:21 AM PST - 38 comments

Henceforward Shall Be Free

For a stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, designer Gail Anderson turned to a printing technique of the period, the classic wood types of Hatch Show Print (previously).
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:42 AM PST - 7 comments

More "Oriental," like the one in Seinfeld

Why Everybody Films at the Same Damn NY Chinese Restaurant. You know, the one that doesn't actually exist.
posted by Mchelly at 7:25 AM PST - 84 comments

Kaaaaate Buuuuuush

Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights slowed down to 36 minutes long .
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:04 AM PST - 27 comments

Humor is coming

Arya, Sansa and Bran Stark rap and beatbox to the opening credits of Game of Thrones.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:13 AM PST - 18 comments

Sounds like Brazil

Mundo Melhor contains a wealth of video, photos etc related to the contemporary practice of Brazilian music. Site is in Portuguese. Annoying auto-play widget needs to be turned off manually on every page
posted by stonepharisee at 5:07 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

"The Case Against Jogging"

If you've never done the Wingate-cycle test, let me try to explain what it feels like: It feels like your legs are giving birth. It feels like you've got an eight-martini hangover in your calves. Your face contorts like a porn star in an AVN-award-winning threesome scene. You emit noises that resemble feedback at a thrash-metal concert. Maybe your eyes are closed and you're rocking your head back and forth. The upside: It's over in 30 seconds. ... I rode the Wingate cycle as part of my research on a surprising and potentially life-altering theory called high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Think of it as the Evelyn Wood of exercise. The idea is that lightning-quick intense workouts might be as good for you as — if not better than — longer medium-intensity workouts.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:42 AM PST - 79 comments

I Am Not A Mouse

"Escape From Tomorrow" is playing at the Sundance 2013 Film Festival. The black and white movie describes one family man's mental disintegration over a day at Disney's Orlando park. Randy Moore directed the film on-site without the knowledge of Disney. Reviews are generally good, with comparisons to The Truman Show and Eraserhead, though people who have seen it wonder how this will play out legally. [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 2:10 AM PST - 33 comments

January 19

Be true to thine ownself

People have the misconception that a gay person comes out once. It's not true. If you're gay and you're authentic, you're coming out constantly. You're on a business trip, for example. A cab driver asks if you have kids, and you say that you do. Then he asks about your wife. Even though you may be exhausted, you find yourself summoning the energy to have a transformative conversation with a total stranger on whom you are depending to get to the airport and whose reaction you have no way of predicting. It takes a few tablespoons of courage. Every time. But you do it. Because it's who you are, and you've learned long ago not to deny who you are or who your partner is. Because to deny who you are is a betrayal of yourself and the man you love and the children you have together. So you never, ever skirt the issue, no matter how tired or busy you are. You become a Jedi with your truth. Not just the truth, but your truth. Dan Pallotta writes "Never Lie about Who You Really Are" in the Harvard Business Review blog.
posted by infini at 11:52 PM PST - 54 comments

CGBG

In November 2007, a new board game called Yavalath was invented. The rules of Yavalath are simple: Players take turns adding a piece of their colour to a hexagonal board and win by making four-in-a-row of their colour – but lose by making three-in-a-row beforehand. Yavalath has proven reasonably popular as its simple rules allow interesting and surprising situations to develop due to its innovative win with four but lose with three winning condition. But Yavalath is really set apart from the many other board games invented in 2007 by one remarkable fact: Yavalath was designed by a computer programme. [more inside]
posted by rollick at 10:47 PM PST - 19 comments

Raumschiff Orion

Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion [EN] ist eine deutsche Science-Fiction-Fernsehserie, die am 17. September 1966 von der ARD ausgestrahlt wurde, zwei Wochen nach der erste Sendung von Star Trek. Alle sechs Episoden der originalen Serie sind jetzt im Youtube verfügbar:

-Episode 1: Angriff aus dem All

-Episode 2: Planet außer Kurs
-Episode 3: Hüter des Gesetzes
-Episode 4: Deserteure
-Episode 5: Der Kampf um die Sonne
-Episode 6: Die Raumfalle
-Episode 7: Invasion

Aber warte! Es gibt jetzt eine neue Staffel, die einige Jahre nach den Geschehnissen der originalen Serie spielt:

-Episode 1: Angriff auf AE3000

-Episode 2: Die Erde in Gefahr

-Episode 3: In der Höhle des Löwens
posted by dunkadunc at 9:19 PM PST - 32 comments

Battle Beyond the Stars: Seven Samurai... in spaaaaaaace!

If you're sad that there's no Seven Samurai-inspired Star Wars movie in the foreseeable future, or if you want to view James Cameron's first feature film special effects, or early soundtrack work by James Horner, look no further than Battle Beyond the Stars (full film on YT; Wikipedia), Roger Corman's 1980 film that was inspired by Star Wars and Seven Samurai (by way of The Magnificent Seven). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:28 PM PST - 45 comments

Artificial calamari?

If you missed this story, you missed one of the All Time Great stories on This American Life: A while ago, a farmer walked through a pork processing plant in Oklahoma with a friend who managed it. He came across boxes stacked on the floor with labels that said "artificial calamari." So he asked his friend "What’s artificial calamari?" "Bung," his friend replied. "Hog rectum." Have you or I eaten bung dressed up as seafood? Ben investigated. (26 minutes) Dead Ringer. Educational and hilarious. If you prefer, the entire episode.
posted by spock at 6:26 PM PST - 107 comments

DJ Shadow: same as he ever was

On December 14, 2012, DJ Shadow, best-known for his genre-breaking Endtroducing... was booted off the stage in the middle of his set, later tweeting about the incident and his fit there. The venue, Mansion has since issued an an apology, but already has a bit of a reputation for kicking DJs off the stage, having done it to DJ Dennis Ferrer.

So what did Shadow get booted for? Well, why not give it a listen for yourself?
posted by TheNewWazoo at 5:49 PM PST - 106 comments

Stan the Man

A day after Earl Weaver, Cardinal great Stan Musial has passed away. Stan spent 22 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, racking up a lifetime batting average of .331 and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
posted by holmesian at 5:15 PM PST - 45 comments

Totenberg on Sotomayor on NPR

In conjunction with the publication of her autobiography, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sat down with NPR's Nina Totenberg for an extended interview. 1: Sotomayor reflects on her upbringing, her family, and the formative years of her life. 2: Exploring her educational background and her motivations toward excellence. 3: Her post-education career and the path toward her being appointed to the Supreme Court. Audio links and transcripts available for all links. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 4:05 PM PST - 9 comments

A brief history of saturation diving

Today it is an economic and even geopolitical necessity for oil companies, in order to maintain pipelines and offshore rigs, to send divers routinely to depths of a thousand feet, and keep them at that level of compression for as long as a month at a time. The divers who do this work are almost entirely male, and tend to be between the ages of twenty-five and forty. Were they any younger, they would not have enough experience or seniority to perform such demanding tasks. Any older, and their bodies could not be trusted to withstand the trauma. The term for these extended-length descents is “saturation diving,” which refers to the fact that the diver’s tissues have absorbed the maximum amount of inert gas possible.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:54 PM PST - 19 comments

The Secret Life of Super Heroes

The everyday life of comic book legends: grabbing a bite, scratching an itch and getting it on (NSFW). See also: Paper Heroes. Artist: Greg Guillemin.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:20 PM PST - 33 comments

Joey Baron / Live Beeroth x 2 in 1999 / Two solo performances

The Masada track Beeroth with gusto live at Tonic 1999 and with duende at Warsaw Summer Jazz Days 1999 features Mr. Joey Baron. Perhaps Masada's Beeroth is not your thing but you are curious about how Mr. Baron might sound all on his own? Here is a solo at Mózg and on Roulette TV.
posted by safetyfork at 1:06 PM PST - 7 comments

CIL-CCDB

A curated repository of cellular microscopy data [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:05 PM PST - 2 comments

it was not a f***ing Phil Collins song

on the night I laid you down
posted by philip-random at 12:03 PM PST - 24 comments

Earl Weaver, former Balitimore Oriole manager, R.I.P

A scourge to umpires, goad to his players and a delight to fans, Earl Weaver was among the winningest managers in the history of major-league baseball.
posted by goalyeehah at 12:01 PM PST - 25 comments

Cascada

Cascada (single link vimeo) Tangled vines. Endless rain. Dodgy hotel rooms. Mud. Biting flies. Aggressive viruses...Perfection. Is this a vacation? Erik Boomer, Tyler Bradt, Galen Volckhausen, Tim Kemple, Anson Fogel, Blake Hendrix and Skip Armstrong hunt the remote Mexican jungle for the perfect waterfall...and the perfect shot. Paddler and cinematographer alike explore a world beyond the expected. (Music by HECQ and Anson Fogel)
posted by DreamerFi at 11:58 AM PST - 4 comments

No one was actually doing anything

Sophie Schmidt's (Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt's daughter) photo and text impressions of their recent visit to North Korea. As part of the American Delegation that visited North Korea a few days ago (headed by former governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson) Eric Schmidt invited his daughter Sophie, who took some snapshots and posted them with her impressions of the trip. [via HN]
posted by KMB at 11:28 AM PST - 34 comments

INADVERTENTLY AWESOME!!!

One year ago, everyone's favourite extreme sports geezer Tony Hawk launched a youtube channel called RIDEChannel. They're still going strong and one of their most fun features is the Shred-It Card, where viewers submit videos of their own tricks and Tony Hawk & friends score them video game style, paying out high scores in skate shop credit.
posted by 256 at 11:09 AM PST - 13 comments

Deflector Shields are Down To 35%!

Corgi puppy attempts to eat treat. [slyt]
posted by quin at 9:48 AM PST - 42 comments

Lynn Willis

Chaosium has announced the death of Lynn Willis. Willis was creator or co-creator of many boardgames and RPGs, including probably the most influential horror RPG, Call of Cthulhu, and my personal favorite, Ghostbusters. Obituary by Ken Hite.
posted by jiawen at 8:50 AM PST - 53 comments

This is day-to-day, everyday life.

There are four states in this country where there is only one abortion clinic in the whole state , including Mississippi, which is facing the prospect of becoming the first state where abortion access is, effectively, gone. via
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:43 AM PST - 51 comments

30 Screenplays for 2012 Flicks

Links to 30 Screenplays from films released in 2012, including Django Unchained, The Master, Looper, Lincoln, Amour...
posted by dobbs at 7:34 AM PST - 21 comments

Football in Afghanistan

"We're just trying to lead normal lives, doing what we want to do. Why shouldn't we?" The members [of Afghanistan women's national team], who range in age from 16 to 24, are up against widespread resentment from their relatives* and neighbors, and threats from men who disapprove of women playing sports. They managed to participate in an inclusive tournament in Berlin and they registered their first official win as they defeated Pakistan national women's team 4-0 and reached the semi-finals of the 2nd SAFF women's championship in 2012 improving on their past performance (rough 2010 SAFF footage). They're able to practice just three times a week for 90 minutes, occasionally at the stadium (2) or in its gym, but more often at a helicopter landing pad on a base for NATO troops, where practices are interrupted by takeoffs and landings. Players have some outside support from hummel, the sponsor of the women's and the men's team, and have had football clinics in Stuttgart and with Olympic U.S. player Lorrie Fair in Kabul. [more inside]
posted by ersatz at 4:38 AM PST - 8 comments

The Ocean: world's biggest filter.

How can we get CO2 out of the atmosphere? Get it out of the sea first. Making jet fuel from seawater is a pretty cool -- albeit energy intensive -- trick. But applying the same science to scrub CO2 out of seawater, where it is more densely concentrated than in the atmosphere -- and, by doing so, to reduce atmospheric levels of CO2 back to acceptable levels -- that's a game saver. "what would it take to draw atmospheric carbon down to 350 ppm with just this technology? . . . we would require the power of about 700 AP-1000 nuclear reactors. At the Chinese cost of $1.3b apiece and an 80 year lifetime this would cost a bit over $1 trillion dollars. That sounds like a lot of money. But its only about the cost of America’s 2003 Iraq War spread over the century, so I guess it’s a question of priorities."
posted by markkraft at 4:03 AM PST - 67 comments

Episciences Project

Tim Gowers has announced a series of arXiv overlay journals called the Episciences Project that aim to exclude existing publishers from research publication in mathematics. As arXiv overlays, the Episciences Project avoids the editing and typesetting costs that existing open-access journals pay for using article processing charges. The French Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe (CCSD) is backing the remaining expenses, such as developing the platform. [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 3:15 AM PST - 11 comments

Google Ring?

If special hardware can crack all your passwords, if people have a hard time remembering them anyway, if people don't implement them in the first place, it is no wonder Google (with Yubico) is "declar[ing] war on the password." [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:25 AM PST - 73 comments

Viruses That Make Zombies and Vaccines

This week the FDA announced that they were approving a new kind of flu vaccine. Nestled in the articles was an odd fact: unlike traditional flu vaccines, the new kind, called Flublok, is produced by the cells of insects. This is the kind of detail that you might skim over without giving it a thought. If you did pause to ponder, you might be puzzled: how could insects possibly make a vaccine against viruses that infect humans? The answer may surprise you. To make vaccines, scientists are tapping into a battle between viruses and insects that’s raging in forests and fields and backyards all around us. It’s an important lesson in how to find new ideas in biotechnology: first, leave biologists free to explore the weirdest corners of nature they can find. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 1:46 AM PST - 7 comments

Where were the Viking brew houses?

The possibility that a lot of the alleged "saunas" found in Viking settlements may actually have been brew houses, is just one of the topic discussed at the 7th expermental archaeology conference just held in Cardiff. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 12:40 AM PST - 11 comments

January 18

Section Two: Bonus Appendages.

Does having sex with you entail becoming married, whether legally, magically, physiologically, or some other de facto permanent relationship? Y/N If Yes, please describe our new life together.
It's an unpredictable dating world out there when you're a fanfiction protagonist. With the proliferation of anonymous kink memes populated by imaginative, trope-savvy slashers and other fan-writers (usually women), you can never be quite sure when your next amorous encounter in fic may veer into the dubiously probable or physically impossible. Luckily for sexually-active fic-heroes everywhere, fan-writers Coruscera and Linbot have created a helpful meta-fandom survey to ensure your future romantic interludes run smoothly for all partners involved: "Special Circumstances Questionnaire for Sexual Partners (Male): Long Form." [NSFW for explicit sexual language. Possible trigger warnings for discussion of sexual consent and very unusual sexual practices.]
posted by nicebookrack at 10:46 PM PST - 19 comments

Japanese Designers 101

I’ve found that while Japan has always been a significant force in the world of design, not many people are familiar with the names or faces behind the distinct aesthetic. In this edition I would like to briefly introduce some of the notable* industrial designers of the 20th Century that have made meaningful contributions to what we know today as Contemporary Japanese Design. by the ever wonderful Spoon & Tamago [more inside]
posted by infini at 8:58 PM PST - 8 comments

That's the Way...

"Just Try and Make Your Own Gun (Rail or Coil Gun)" with Mehdi Sadaghdar
posted by the_artificer at 8:38 PM PST - 22 comments

RIP Ronald Francis Watts

Peter Watts eulogizes his gay Baptist father.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:38 PM PST - 21 comments

Goodbye Prop Joe

Robert Chew has died.
posted by jindc at 7:57 PM PST - 46 comments

GOOD GIRL

Every time a man throws away his laundry a cat jumps out to grab it.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:16 PM PST - 45 comments

The (other) Jon Brion Show

The basic history is that back around 1999/2000, Jon Brion shot a pilot with VH1 for a variety show that would feature music & comedy of the various performers hanging around LA club Largo at the time (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, etc.) but the network turned it down. So PTA decided to step in and shot his own version of "The Jon Brion Show" via 3 test episodes which he shot and paid for himself, but as far as we know never presented it to the network (or any network) for possibility to air. [more inside]
posted by Red Loop at 5:06 PM PST - 9 comments

Hunt For The Gay Planet

Hunt For The Gay Planet is a game Anna Anthropy made in response to Bioware restricting all same-sex romances in Star Wars: The Old Republic to a single planet that's part of paid downloadable content.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 4:14 PM PST - 83 comments

A Tribute To “The Karate Kid”

A Tribute To “The Karate Kid.” If you liked the movie, this hits the right buttons.
posted by SpacemanStix at 4:12 PM PST - 20 comments

When Dinosaurigami Ruled the Earth

Dinosaurigami!
More Dinosaurigami!
Further Adventures in Dinosaurigami!
Deeper into Dinosaurigami!
We'll have fun, fun, fun, until daddy takes the dinosaurigami away!
Return to the Valley of Dinosaurigami!
posted by brundlefly at 3:50 PM PST - 6 comments

Ohhhh... Canadaaaa...

To some, Canada's greatest guilty pleasure is Poutine (here are 38 variations, all on one page, THANK you Foodbeast) or William Shatner (who is bringing his one-man show to MY town tomorrow evening). But there are things most of us don't know about the Nice Folk to the North. Therefore, a new site for CANADIAN SEX ACTS, kind of a Kanada Sutra. NSFW and age restricted, this new site may have performance problems (insert snarky comment here); if so, just enjoy the list of names of great white north positions (Reverse Rick Moranis, Montreal Meatpie, Five-Legged Caribou...)
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:32 PM PST - 66 comments

Sellwood Bridge

Tomorrow, January 19, you can watch as the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, OR is moved 33-66 feet to the north in order to allow a new bridge to be built in its place, while still allowing traffic to move over that part of the Willamette River while the construction is taking place.
posted by curious nu at 3:25 PM PST - 29 comments

"I never see children. So the animals are my friends."

Born in Africa to French wildlife photographer parents, Tippi Degré had a most unusual childhood. (Possibly NSFW)
posted by DaDaDaDave at 3:19 PM PST - 19 comments

See Monkeys

Thousands of illustrations and photographs for all your primate picture needs. [more inside]
posted by ChuraChura at 2:17 PM PST - 2 comments

Kurt Vonnegut's diagram of how a story works

Maya Eliam does a graphic representing Vonnegut's thesis of story-telling.
posted by angrycat at 1:55 PM PST - 33 comments

"I wanted the world to know my city as I did"

In 1992, Lynn Brooks founded the non-profit Big Apple Greeter program, to help make a visit to New York City seem less intimidating and dangerous to first-time visitors: Pick a date, time and neighborhood, and the organization will match you up with a local who will spend several hours with you, helping you find your way around, teaching you the ins and outs of subways and buses, the cool shops, the great places to eat. (Their site also has some outstanding neighborhood profiles and cultural attraction guides that should be of just as much interest to local residents.) The idea spread, leading to the formation of the Global Greeter Network, which now has greeter programs in cities all over the world.
posted by jbickers at 1:44 PM PST - 13 comments

Diamond Joe, cruising for chicks on Reddit

Diamond Joe Biden did an AMA on reddit today. [more inside]
posted by young sister beacon at 1:38 PM PST - 40 comments

"He was extremely difficult to try and trade records with."

Yazoo Records was founded by J. Nicholas Perls not as a way to distribute Robert Crumb's music related artwork, but as an extension of a serious record collecting habit shared by himself and a handful of other 78-rpm country-blues afficianados. Following in the footsteps of trailblazer Harry Smith and his famous anthology, over the years Perls and a few employees (notably Stephen Calt who wrote many if not most of the brilliant Yazoo liner notes) released dozens of collections of rare sides—from the raunchy blues of Bo Carter to the Hawaiian guitar of Roy Smeck. [more inside]
posted by Lorin at 1:19 PM PST - 21 comments

Modern World Lit

Modern World Lit is a carefully curated library of recommended literary fiction from around the world
posted by Cloud King at 1:19 PM PST - 12 comments

The Distress of the Privileged

As the culture evolves, people who benefitted from the old ways invariably see themselves as victims of change. The world used to fit them like a glove, but it no longer does. Increasingly, they find themselves in unfamiliar situations that feel unfair or even unsafe. Their concerns used to take center stage, but now they must compete with the formerly invisible concerns of others. If you are one of the newly-visible others, this all sounds whiny compared to the problems you face every day. It’s tempting to blast through such privileged resistance with anger and insult. Tempting, but also, I think, a mistake. The privileged are still privileged enough to foment a counter-revolution, if their frustrated sense of entitlement hardens.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 1:18 PM PST - 49 comments

Xiao Xiao

In 2001, Zhu Zhiqiang began uploading a series of martial arts animations featuring stick figures to Newgrounds.com. The name of the series was Xiao Xiao.
posted by Evernix at 12:52 PM PST - 9 comments

I help students learn how to study all types of rocks.

Complex scientific concepts explained using only the thousand most used words in the English language. In the spirit of xkcd's Up-Goer Five comic. (Previously.) Use the Up-Goer Five Text Editor to make your own contributions.
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:54 AM PST - 107 comments

The line between science fiction and true science is often thin

In 1990, Isaac Asimov was working on a TV series to bridge science fiction and science fact, "synthesizing his visionary ideas about where humanity is going." He passed away in 1992, and the series never progressed beyond the pilot, which was re-worked and released as the documentary Visions of the Future (YouTube playlist, via Brainpickings, which calls the video "essentially, the antithesis to the Future Shock [documentary] narrated by Orson Welles"). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:25 AM PST - 12 comments

Ask him about his chickens

Aaron Peterson is a nature photographer and writer based near Lake Superior on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He takes many photographs of bike trips, like this ice biking series.
The rider, Ryan Labar, chimed in with a technical comment.
More of Aaron's galleries.
posted by growabrain at 11:18 AM PST - 5 comments

The Power of Lard

WWII lard washes up on beach at Angus nature reserve. [more inside]
posted by dirtdirt at 11:06 AM PST - 48 comments

Has the cordless telephone been invented

Premiering this week at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, two Youtube video channels! ... [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:56 AM PST - 3 comments

Referred to hereinafter as 'Burglar'

A lawyer provides a detailed analysis of the contract between Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves in The Hobbit. [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 10:50 AM PST - 46 comments

“The cruelty of the ballet world has become surprisingly pathological.”

Bolshoi Ballet Director Is Victim of Acid Attack: [NYTimes.com] "A masked man threw acid in the face of Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the legendary Bolshoi Ballet, on Thursday night, leaving him with third-degree burns and possibly threatening his eyesight, Bolshoi officials said on Friday morning."
posted by Fizz at 10:00 AM PST - 30 comments

I'mma take your grandpa's style.

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - THRIFT SHOP FEAT. WANZ (SLYTN SFW)
posted by cmoj at 9:23 AM PST - 71 comments

So...........here we go again?

Jihad in the Sahara. It is no suprrise that Mali is the latest Muslim country to experience western Intervention. This has resulted in escalation. The north of Mali is as alien to the average soldier from southern Mali as the Alaskan tundra is to a citizen of Massachusetts or Manchester. This is the land where the local Tuareg or Arab in his souped-up turbo 4x4 is king. A map of the various conflicts. In October a der Spiegel journalist spent 2 weeks in the north of the country and in November CS Monitor asked Will Mali be Africa's Afghanistan?
posted by adamvasco at 9:15 AM PST - 75 comments

I want it NOW! I want cake NOWWWWW!

A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL (SLYT) Football knowledge not required.
posted by capnsue at 8:58 AM PST - 30 comments

Remind me to thank John for a lovely weekend

Erth's Dinosaur Petting Zoo has arrived in New York One child's review of the zoo from Ann Arbor
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:31 AM PST - 19 comments

I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Poe.

After a few weeks of well-reported rumors that Lance Armstrong was going to confess, he publicly admitted to years of doping in the first of a two-part interview with Oprah Winfrey. [more inside]
posted by entropone at 8:24 AM PST - 204 comments

Smart Girls Ask Amy

Amy Poehler's YouTube channel Smart Girls has a segment called Ask Amy, where she provides helpful, honest advice to viewers. Unsurprisingly, it is awesome. [more inside]
posted by quin at 7:25 AM PST - 32 comments

A Little Off the Top

"A rough calculation of current rates of soil degradation suggests we have about 60 years of topsoil left." Via.
posted by holmesian at 7:07 AM PST - 68 comments

Transgender Clergy in the Episcopal Church

Last summer, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved a measure affirming the right of transgendered members to be eligible for both lay and ordained ministry. Before the vote, pioneering Episcopal LGBT group Integrity USA distributed copies of "Voices of Witness: Out of the Box" to Convention delegates. The short video profiles several transgender Episcopalians, including clergy, as well as cisgender supporters. In other Episcopal LGBT news, the Dean of the National Cathedral in Washington DC announced last week that the Cathedral would begin celebrating same-sex weddings effective immediately.
posted by Biblio at 5:28 AM PST - 51 comments

"I steal every good idea."

What 'creative' types want us to think they feel bad about. Like the bathroom door confessions of yore but on the internet and you can vote to absolve or condemn each confession. Curiously, confessions about stealing other people's ideas almost all get more 'condemn' votes.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:58 AM PST - 66 comments

The Origins of Neoliberalism

Philip Pilkington writes for naked capitalism: The Origins of Neoliberalism Part I: Hayek's Delusion
Hayek’s entire ideology and career had begun to come apart in the 1930s. His theories were shown to be inconsistent in the academic journals of the time and the practical implications of those theories had shown themselves to be both discredited and dangerous. A man in such a position only has two choices: he can either completely re-evaluate his ideas which, if they were held with unshakeable conviction and constituted a core component of his emotional make-up, as seems to have been the case with Hayek, would have likely resulted in a mental collapse; or, alternatively, he can engage in a massive repression, shut out reality and construct around himself a fantasy world.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:10 AM PST - 136 comments

"All the groupies were at the Led Zeppelin concert."

"Prog Rock Brittania" is a BBC documentary about the great (and/or pretentious) bands that made up the UK's contribution to a somewhat controversial musical genre. Direct link seems to be busted, but Youtube saves the day: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
posted by bardic at 1:49 AM PST - 31 comments

Shotgun wedding

Shotgun wedding (video) in Bir el Ater, Algeria. I don't know anything about this video, but discovered that Bir el Ater was cradle of the stoneage Aterian civilization between about 80,000 and 40,000 years ago.
posted by stbalbach at 1:02 AM PST - 25 comments

You don't need a drop in every track

"Even drum and bass works best when it's a constant, steady assault, those subtle changes that mark one track from the next being the bits that make Bermondsey boys on bail take their shirts off and twist their own jaws into "Z" shapes". Tongue-in-cheek Vice article on the new rave culture in the US
posted by fatfrank at 12:45 AM PST - 87 comments

January 17

Trickle-Down Feminism

"When the National Football League locked out its referees’ union this year, it seemed to delight in exploiting the perceived “women vs. labor” split, putting a woman on the field for the first time as one of the replacement refs. Feminists cheered, labor folks groaned, and those of us who are both buried our heads in our hands, angered by the cynical move, wanting to cheer new ground broken for women but having learned the hard lesson that not all first steps by women are progressive. Whether it’s City Council speaker Christine Quinn in New York City blocking paid sick days or Marissa Mayer taking the helm at Yahoo or Shannon Eastin taking the job of a locked-out worker for less money, we have to recognize that some first steps are taken on the backs of workers, many of whom are also women." -- Sara Jaffe writing about mainstream feminism's obsession with the glass ceiling and corresponding lack of attention for working women's issues: trickle down feminism.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:43 PM PST - 21 comments

Writes upside down!

The Smithsonian Magazine breaks down the history of the Fisher Space Pen, including the old myth about how the Russians just used pencils instead.
posted by mathowie at 8:48 PM PST - 37 comments

Epiphany School - DJ /Rupture mixes

DJ /rupture has made "8+ hours of mixes" available for free download (with a donate button). [more inside]
posted by neuromodulator at 7:53 PM PST - 16 comments

Exposure

According to producer Tony Visconti, the secret nature of David Bowie's latest project was almost compromised by guitarist Robert Fripp, who, he claims, was invited to contribute but declined, and then blogged about it. Fripp, however, claims that he was never asked and never blogged, but concedes that he might have dreamt the rumour into being.
posted by misterbee at 7:24 PM PST - 35 comments

Mexican Drug Cartel Animated Infographic

A short animated infographic that pretty clearly explains the extent of the illegal drug and weapon problem shared by Mexico and the United States.
posted by HuronBob at 6:28 PM PST - 56 comments

Fringe Oral History

"TVGuide.com talked to stars John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop), Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham), Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth), Lance Reddick (Phillip Broyles), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Mark Valley (John Scott), series co-creator Abrams, executive producers J.H Wyman, Jeff Pinkner and Bryan Burk, Warner Bros. President Peter Roth and Fox's Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly about the bumpy road to the series finale, starting with the conception of the show. This is the first in a four-part series. Check out Part 2 and Part 3." (Part 4 is pending.)
posted by hippybear at 6:19 PM PST - 155 comments

lighter of my lifeboat, firearm of my loincloths...

The N+7 procedure modifies text by replacing each noun with the seventh one following it in a dictionary. The N + 7 Machine is a page that implements the procedure for N <= 15 on text that you enter or paste in. [more inside]
posted by TwoToneRow at 6:09 PM PST - 136 comments

" I think it may be a front for a cult."

According to Yelp reviews, a Chicago-area Taco Bell is one of the best dining experience in the city people on r/Chicago over at reddit call it "magical.
posted by The Whelk at 4:59 PM PST - 168 comments

Ground Bud

Two dogs join footballers at Galatasaray - Aalen. (Previously)
posted by griphus at 4:23 PM PST - 21 comments

Fuck Yeah Creepy Victoriana

Sheltered and Safe from Sorrow: Victorian mourning rituals, tombstones, epitaphs, and other creepy things
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:51 PM PST - 19 comments

BECAUSE HE GODDAMN WELL COULD, THAT'S WHY

'News of impending fatherhood affects men in different ways. Some guys pump their fists. Others light cigars. A few flee. When 33-year-old Colin Furze learned that his girlfriend was pregnant, he channeled his paternal excitement into building the world’s fastest baby stroller.' The twin-exhaust, 10-horsepower, gasoline-fueled pram has four gears. And cupholders. And it can accelerate to 50mph in less than 30 seconds. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 3:45 PM PST - 27 comments

Happy Birthday Art!

In 1963 French artist Robert Filliou, a member of Fluxus, proposed a public holiday to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. He decided that art had been invented on January 17th, 1,000,000 years prior, meaning 2013 is Art's 1,000,050th Annivesary! [more inside]
posted by furtive at 3:39 PM PST - 5 comments

Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program is a cartoon-ish game in which you build rockets from pieces and launch/fly them around in a simulated solar system using basic orbital mechanics. It has an active forum, extensive modifications, a whole site dedicated to plugins and mods, and its own subreddit. This youtube video demonstrates the latest version, 0.18. [more inside]
posted by thewalrus at 3:02 PM PST - 49 comments

Spider of the year 2012!

The Meta Bourneti spider is a rare slug eating spider, found throughout the UK and parts of Europe. It lives in complete darkness, and is usually found in caves. It was named European Spider of the Year in 2012. A cluster of them has been found to be living in the pitch black tombs of Highgate Cemetery
posted by bibliogrrl at 2:54 PM PST - 44 comments

"What does Liloing Involve? NO Skill No expensive gear and NO BRAINS."

Liloing: "the art [pdf] of enjoying oneself paddling down a river on an inflatable rubber mattress,* shooting the odd friendly rapid." Groups like Span Outdoors organize liloing trips, and much discussion of liloing can be found at bushwalk.com. (*i.e., a lilo)
posted by ocherdraco at 2:44 PM PST - 18 comments

Learn Korean Easy!

Learn Korean Easy!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:39 PM PST - 45 comments

Soundtracks for 2013

High quality ecletic mixtapes by Luanda Baldijão. Lounge, jazz & rare finds.
posted by Tom-B at 2:24 PM PST - 6 comments

Old Man Look at My Life, I'm a Lot Like You Were

The aging of Obama. "Photos of Barack Obama on Election Night 2008 look like they were taken much longer ago. Now his face has deeper creases and crow’s feet, while his hair has turned white." Maybe damaged cell tips are to blame.
posted by Xurando at 12:37 PM PST - 88 comments

Car-toons, with the emphasis on 'Car'

Cartoon Brew's animation historian Amid Amidi posted an almost-definitive collection of Automobile-themed cartoons from the 1950s and 1960s. [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:15 PM PST - 6 comments

Afterlife 2.0

"Hi-Fi is my biggest passion in life and I will take it to the grave."
posted by obscurator at 10:56 AM PST - 62 comments

Not the Ending, but an Ending.

On January 8th, 2013, the 14th and final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, was released and concluded the the adventure that began nearly 23 years ago (for readers) of Rand, Egwene, Perrin, Nynaeve and Mat. [more inside]
posted by Atreides at 9:32 AM PST - 161 comments

"... Russell has only three degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon"

Bertrand Russell in Bollywood: The Old Philosopher’s Improbable Appearance in a Hindi Film, 1967 [SLYT] "The year was 1967. Russell was by then a very frail 95-year-old man. Besides finishing work on his three-volume autobiography, Russell was devoting much of his remaining time to the struggle for peace and nuclear disarmament. To that end, he sometimes made himself available to people he thought could help the cause. (See our March 2012 post, “How Bertrand Russell Turned the Beatles Against the Vietnam War.”) So when he was asked to appear in a movie called Aman, about a young Indian man who has just received his medical degree in London and wants to go to Japan to help victims of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Russell said yes." [via: openculture.com]
posted by Fizz at 9:19 AM PST - 14 comments

Keen need to think again about quinoa

The costs of importing non-native foodstuffs: Despite the call to vegans in the headline, this is an issue that effects all eaters as international lands are stripped to feed the appetites of more wealthy nations. The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken.
posted by weeyin at 8:58 AM PST - 72 comments

The torture of tedium

When you have severe ADHD, even a simple trip to Ikea can be nearly impossible.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:42 AM PST - 204 comments

Just you, the artist, and some new friends.

House concerts are becoming more popular across the country. In Cleveland, Mechanic Street House Concerts has been hosting six shows per year since 2009, most recently opening their doors to the Shivering Timbers with Tom Evanchuck.
posted by slogger at 8:18 AM PST - 42 comments

Bed, shelter, home, refuge.

The journey with no destination.
"We board in northwest London on a regular bus, with the intention of heading into the heart of the capital, where there is a much greater choice of night buses when it gets later and colder. By now the group seem to have fully accepted my presence and are keen to tell me about their lives. The most pressing question I have is: why? Why would you eschew safety and warmth and comfort for this? It turns out that while a couple of kids might be along for the ride, for most this is their only option.

A boy with huge brown eyes, who is so small he barely looks older than 12, tells me: “I’m allowed home in early mornings to have some food and change my clothes, but I have to be gone by the time my mum wakes up.” When I ask him why, he shrugs, as if the answer is forgotten or irrelevant."
posted by fight or flight at 8:06 AM PST - 33 comments

The Economic League, The Consulting Association, and Worker Blacklisting

The Economic League and the Consulting Association blacklisted workers and sold the information to employers [Socialist Worker link].
"Police held regular meetings with senior members of the blacklisting operation with information flowing both ways"
"Union officials provided information about their own members that ended up on the blacklist files. Ian Davidson MP described this as "the union putting the kybosh on someones employment""
"Kerr and other blacklist spies were sent undercover into union meetings" [more inside]
posted by marienbad at 8:02 AM PST - 4 comments

Critical hit vs. productivity

Brian Posehn has started a new podcast where he plays Dungeons and Dragons with his friends: Nerd Poker. [more inside]
posted by Shepherd at 7:44 AM PST - 33 comments

Shinier, happier people.

Major scaled is a Vimeo user who digitally transposes sad songs into a major key. Here's their cheerful rendition of REM's Losing My Religion. [more inside]
posted by schmod at 7:30 AM PST - 110 comments

2012 in 366 seconds

James Bernal took one second clips every day of 2012 and created a 366 second video of context-free goodness. [a similar previously] [via]
posted by quin at 7:22 AM PST - 28 comments

Mike Seeger & Alice Gerrard. Mike Seeger. Mike Seeger in Concert.

Homemade American Music, a movie by Carrie and Yasha Aginsky: A history of rural southeastern traditional American music, as told and played by Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard. Mike and Alice recount their own involvment with this music, and briefly trace its history as we meet their mentors: the late Tommy Jarrell, Lily May Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotten and many other musicians.
Mike Seeger interviewed (mp3 link) by an inexperienced but eager young Oberlin student in 2003. Mike also plays gourd banjo and jew's harp on air. He talks about Dock Boggs toward the end. Mike Seeger playing (mp3 link) at the Oberlin Folk Festival in 2003. About minute 18 he gives a lesson on playing jew's harp.
posted by OmieWise at 5:44 AM PST - 4 comments

Struggles to think of a title

Can non-Europeans think? So the question remains why not the dignity of "philosophy" and whence the anthropological curiosity of "ethnophilosophy"?
posted by infini at 5:20 AM PST - 59 comments

The sky above the port was the color of Metafilter

Back in 2000, R. Talsorian Games released on their website a series of overviews of what they considered to be classic Cyberpunk movies, along with notes on incorporating their characters and ideas into games. [more inside]
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:42 AM PST - 111 comments

NSFW. Changing female body image through art

The Great Wall of Vagina an exhibition by English artist Jamie McCartney described as a revolutionary with a bucket of plaster.
Included in the exhibition is Physical Photography which brings echoes of Cynthia Plaster Caster.
Then there are Great Wall of Vagina Videos.
For those wanting a cast of their vagina the artist Mearle Gates is the man to turn to.
posted by adamvasco at 4:03 AM PST - 80 comments

Tree Houses and Hotels


Takasugi-an by Terunobu Fujimori

4treehouse by Lukasz Kos

Lake-Nest Tree House and Lantern House by Roderick Romero
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:02 AM PST - 7 comments

January 16

Whips, whiskey, women, work, weapons, cars and cadence. But no hockey.

Jump steady, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Yeah, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Looky yonder Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Whoa Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Yeah, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
She's so rock steady! Bam-A-Lam!
She's always ready! Bam-A-Lam!
Whoa, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam! [more inside]
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:59 PM PST - 51 comments

Cello Fortress By Joost van Dongen

Cello Fortress is a unique combination of a game and a live music performance. A cellist defends a fortress by improvising on his cello. Melodies control the guns, dissonant notes activate the flamethrowers. Players from the audience use game controllers to steer their tanks and attack the fortress. The cellist plays live music, while at the same time controlling the game to be a fun challenge for the players. Cello Fortress is an innovative experiment that blends concert and game.
posted by boo_radley at 10:55 PM PST - 4 comments

Death or plumbing

A young Eddie Izzard contemplates Daleks. (slyt) A famous Scottish cow makes a cameo. Surprisingly funny youtube comments ensue. Related: This Dr. Who themed cookbook is available (as of this posting) as a free download on Kindle. Contains equal parts amusing episode commentary and gross food imagery.
posted by tllaya at 10:36 PM PST - 26 comments

A bomb, H bomb, Minutemen, the names get more attractive

In 1961 US president John F Kennedy started the Community Fallout Shelter Program, advising the use of communal and home-based fallout shelters in case relations with the Soviet Union took a turn for the worse. One brave toy company took up the call and released a dolls' house with its own fallout shelter to keep dolly safe. [more inside]
posted by Mezentian at 8:47 PM PST - 28 comments

How Much Will Your Taxes Jump?

The Wall Street Journal put together this helpful infographic showing how recent tax changes will affect the typical American tax payer.
posted by j03 at 8:47 PM PST - 124 comments

Subspecies Extinction Alert

DNA analysis has confirmed the death, by poaching, of the last Javan rhino in Vietnam. This marks the official extinction of the Vietnamese subspecies of Javan rhinoceros. The entire species is now represented by just 35 individuals from the Indonesian subspecies, all of whom reside in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia.
posted by Scientist at 8:47 PM PST - 52 comments

We are never, ever, ever, getting back together, you lying, cheating ...

Somewhere between his earlier rendition of Go the F**k to Sleep (again on YouTube, NSFW) and Radiohead's cover of Wonderwall comes Samuel L. Jackson covering Taylor Swift.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:42 PM PST - 17 comments

Vintage Fire

Tumblr user Kium found her grandfather's matchbook collection, and has uploaded pictures of their beautiful designs. Part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
posted by codacorolla at 7:14 PM PST - 7 comments

Moonrise Kingdom

An interactive script for the movie, Moonrise Kingdom. Also worth a look is a set of photos by the movie's still photographer, which he posted in a set on Flickr.
posted by blaneyphoto at 6:26 PM PST - 26 comments

A pelican that looks like a urinal

Go home, evolution, you're drunk. A photo of a pelican that looks like a urinal. Brought to you by WTF, Evolution?
posted by escabeche at 6:04 PM PST - 52 comments

Don't sing along at work

My Dick's Double Full​-​Length Release is an album of modified covers, with hits from the 70s-90s. Includes songs like Dancing In My Dick, Fields of Dick, Do They Know It's My Dick?, Baker Dick, and (my favourite) Orinoco Dick. Interview with the band. (possibly NSFW)
posted by rollick at 5:59 PM PST - 37 comments

6 Greatest Guest Star Appearances Of All Time On The Simpsons

Policymic has compiled a list of the 6 greatest guest star appearances of all time on the t.v. shoe The Simpsons. Trying to pick the best cameos from a pool of 500+ episodes is a daunting task, so for the purpose of the following list, one criteria is that the cameo needs to be more than just a celebrity drop-in to the Simpsons' world. Instead the cameo role needs to be central to the episode's storyline; the other criteria is that the appearance has to be funny. [more inside]
posted by Sailormom at 5:40 PM PST - 67 comments

Live Mail Art.

Delivery for Mr. Assange. [more inside]
posted by azarbayejani at 5:37 PM PST - 18 comments

No, we can only take on clients who know how to drive the cars we stock

If cars were rented like we hire programmers.
posted by curious nu at 5:25 PM PST - 47 comments

How do you like your penguin?

'The Southern Ocean Beach Club' is the photo-blog of a chef working at a research station in the Antarctic. The photos are rather beautiful.
posted by secretdark at 4:42 PM PST - 5 comments

A wanton wenche vppon a colde daye With Snowe balles prouoked me to play

Who knew so many awesome snowball fights were immortalized in medieval paintings? [more inside]
posted by Dr. Fetish at 4:05 PM PST - 23 comments

Passing

An Open Letter to the Girl I Pretended To Have a Crush On in Eighth Grade
posted by kenko at 2:42 PM PST - 66 comments

Faking a moon landing is hard

"Did people go to the Moon in 1969? I'm not totally sure. I wasn't on the Moon then. Did they fake going to the Moon? No, I'm pretty sure they didn't, because they couldn't." -- Amsterdam based movie maker S. G. Collins explains why the movie, tv and video technology of 1969 make the moon landing having been faked highly unlikely (slyt).
posted by MartinWisse at 2:24 PM PST - 56 comments

Manti Te'o Girlfriend Hoax

Fans of college football know the inspirational story of Manti Te'o - a Mormon Samoan linebacker from Hawaii, Te'o led Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season this year. A Heisman trophy finalist, Te'o overcame great adversity during the season, playing through the deaths of both his grandmother and his girlfriend. Well, except that, according to Deadspin, the whole girlfriend dying thing was actually just a big hoax. She never existed.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 1:41 PM PST - 346 comments

The Huge Lights in North Dakota

The "Mysterious patch of light in North Dakota" is not so mysterious. Near the edge of the empty western plains there is a massive light source. On some nights North Dakota is almost as bright as the Aurora Borealis.
posted by edgeways at 1:12 PM PST - 39 comments

Life in Inuvik, Northwest Territories

Life in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, lying at the end of the Dempster Highway [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:56 PM PST - 17 comments

Unstoppable

Conner and Cayden Long, 9 and 7 year old triathletes from White House, TN, are Sports Illustrated's 2012 SportsKids of the Year.. They are Team Long Brothers.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:03 PM PST - 10 comments

Love in the Time of Neuroinformatics

"The models we discuss belong to the class of two-variable systems with one delay for which appropriate delay stabilizes an unstable steady state. We formulate a theorem and prove that stabilization takes place in our case. We conclude that considerable (meaning large enough, but not too large) values of time delay involved in the model can stabilize love affairs dynamics." [more inside]
posted by bluefly at 11:02 AM PST - 12 comments

Struggle is the enemy, Weed is the remedy: Marijuana in North Korea

You might be surprised by what we’re about to say: the most tight-lipped, conservative and controlling country in the world is also a weed-smoker’s paradise
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:54 AM PST - 65 comments

Freedom from....

The New York Times asks seven 'experts': Does makeup ultimately damage a woman’s self-esteem, or elevate it? [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:41 AM PST - 257 comments

But not browsing MetaFilter

(BBC) A security check on a US company has reportedly revealed one of its staff was outsourcing his work to China. [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 8:30 AM PST - 79 comments

"If you can skate, you can play"

The You Can Play project was created by GForce sports, former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, and his son Patrick Burke to ensure that LGBT athletes have equal opportunity in professional hockey. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 8:27 AM PST - 11 comments

I'll be your mirror

Pug imitates owner. For a bit.
posted by griphus at 8:13 AM PST - 17 comments

For Amusement Only: The life and death of the American arcade.

But the golden age was destined to be a very short one. Walter Day told writer Tristan Donovan, author of the book Replay: The History of Video Games, that the industry was "off the rails by" 1981, opening more arcades and ordering more machines than its players could ever support. By early 1982, cracks were already starting to show in the newly flourishing industry: that $400 a day machine, Time Magazine reported, was often "sucker bait, dangled to obscure the dreary truths that markets are becoming saturated and that dud games... bring in no money at all."
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:03 AM PST - 42 comments

Next up: Kido shills to fleece a mark.

Kido the Kitty playing (and winning) the shell game [slyt]
posted by quin at 7:20 AM PST - 16 comments

Shall I compare poop to a summer's day?

shakespoope.com
posted by cthuljew at 7:09 AM PST - 35 comments

My Little Pony Wood Automaton

My Little Pony Wood Automaton
posted by ennui.bz at 7:02 AM PST - 22 comments

"Six little tiny shoes, all at one time!"

CHIKARA Pro Wrestling is notable, in the wrestling world, for taking the position that intergender tag matches should just happen whenever men and women want to fake-fight one another - but perhaps this is just part of CHIKARA's particular worldview, which is one that includes a time-traveling knight from medieval times who came to the present day and then formed a tag team with another version of himself from three weeks later who also traveled in time to the present day and the Super Smash Bros., who are very defensive of the original Nintendo Entertainment System. At this year's King of Trios three-day super-event, two all-female teams competed, including the Sendai Girls from Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling. The Sendai Girls made it to the semifinals where they competed against Team Ring of Honor in what was subsequently deemed by many wrestling fans to be the best intergender match yet wrestled in North America. This week, Chikara put the match up free on Youtube.
posted by mightygodking at 5:47 AM PST - 17 comments

Welcome to the world where Sandy Hook didn’t really happen.

On Dec 14th, Gene Rosen found six kids "sitting in a neat semicircle at the end of his driveway. He ran upstairs and grabbed an armful of stuffed animals. He gave those to the children, along with some fruit juice, and sat with them as the two boys described seeing their teacher being shot." Now he's getting phone calls and emails from Sandy Hook Truthers who think that the shooting in Newtown was a government sponsored hoax. [more inside]
posted by dubold at 5:17 AM PST - 341 comments

Cunning Punts

In the English-speaking world , punning is viewed as more of a tic than a trick, a pathological condition whose sufferers are classed as "compulsive", "inveterate" and "unable to help themselves". The BBC on Punning.
posted by marienbad at 4:23 AM PST - 95 comments

"once aroused, it seeks out its object, as hatred does, in its entire"

The Delights Of Disgust
I confess I am disgusted by a great many things about people (and about myself, but let's put that aside). I do not believe it is particularly urgent for me to overcome my disgust, even if I recognize that this emotion must remain entirely separate from my thinking about which laws would be most just. I am disgusted by other people's dandruff, facial moles, food stuck in their beards, yet I do not accept that in feeling this way I am judging those people to be subhuman. I take it rather that humanity, while endearing, is also capable of appearing disgusting.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:56 AM PST - 23 comments

January 15

"This was not a complex killing"

On Monday, a 12-year-old California boy was convicted of the second-degree murder of his father, regional Neo-Nazi leader Jeff Hall. [more inside]
posted by Benjy at 8:47 PM PST - 108 comments

One Nation Under a Brolly

In the 1980s, there were twee bands, and then there was Trixie's Big Red Motorbike. Formed in Shanklin, Isle of Wight in 1981, TBRM were brother and sister Mark & Mel Litten, sometimes assisted by Jim Bycroft on sax and Jane Fish (of The Marine Girls — whose most famous alumna you would have heard if you were alive in the 90s [previously]) on backing vocals. Their sound, lofi, their artwork handmade. Their first single was sent to John Peel [passim], who proclaimed they'd “wipe the floor with the competition” and had them in for two sessions. [more inside]
posted by scruss at 7:47 PM PST - 13 comments

Ghost in the Shell Arise in 2013

Ghost in the Shell Arise 「攻殻機動隊ARISE」 (AnimeNewsNetwork) is the newest anime tv series based on Shirow Masmune's cyberpunk manga which debuted in 1989. The new GITS Arise TV show is produced by legendary Japanese anime studio Production I. G. which has produced all of the Ghost in the Shell animated movies and tv series. [more inside]
posted by gen at 7:27 PM PST - 57 comments

Planned Parenthood moves away from the label "pro-choice."

With the "Not in Her Shoes" video release, and just in advance of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood is reframing the debate about abortion. "...Pro-choice and pro-life labels don’t reflect the complexity of the conversation about abortion, and the way that Americans — especially young people — think and talk about abortion today."
posted by Stewriffic at 4:11 PM PST - 132 comments

Headless Body Found In Dead Island

Dead Island 2: Riptide Edition was going to ship with a statue of a bloody, bikini-clad female torso. The publisher has since apologized while Kotaku wonders what other games should come with severed torsos and Lindy West and John Walker point out the obvious misogyny.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:40 PM PST - 186 comments

“Nosy aren’t you?”

It’s 20 or 30 years ago. You’re working on a videogame. You don’t get any credit for your work, blogs don’t exist, there’s no internet and no fanboys. It’s just you, a crusty old terminal, and got a few spare bytes left in the ROM. What now?
posted by Chrysostom at 3:13 PM PST - 28 comments

the face as a canvas

A Family Affair by celebrated Dutch makeup artist Ellis Faas. Her brother is the model and her daughter created the music. Faas says, "As a late teenager, I visited the Tate Gallery in London and was blown away by a Francis Bacon triptych. It made a great impression on me because of the use of colour - it was unnerving and stunningly beautiful at the same time. Bacon inspired many experiments I did over the years." (via The FaceCulturalist)
posted by madamjujujive at 3:07 PM PST - 6 comments

"STARK MADE HULK BIG PHONE!!!"

Texts from superheroes. (SLTMBLR, does what it says on the tin.)
posted by MartinWisse at 2:06 PM PST - 31 comments

Landing on Titan, now in full color!

It's been just over eight years since the Hugyens space probe separated from the Cassini spacecraft and drifted down to the surface Saturn's moon Titan. Along the way it provided video and sounds of its descent.

Now a 3D visualization of its landing, based on data from the spacecraft itself, has been created.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:00 PM PST - 14 comments

“colorful etymologies...are almost always wrong".

The Whole Nine Yards: Seeking a Phrase’s Origin
When people talk about “the whole nine yards,” just what are they talking about? For decades the answer to that question has been the Bigfoot of word origins...But now two researchers using high-powered database search tools have delivered a confident “none of the above,” supported by a surprise twist: Before we were going the whole nine yards, it turns out, we were only going six.
(SLNYT)
posted by anazgnos at 1:26 PM PST - 50 comments

You'd think this stuff was made of dead trees or something

If you've ever had a door or drawer that sticks during some parts of the year but not others, you have received a practical lesson in seasonal wood movement due to humidity. As the humidity changes, so do the dimensions of a piece of wood - sometimes to the breaking point. [more inside]
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:01 PM PST - 23 comments

Amazon Sounds £13.99

Last One Falling - photographer Amy Connolly documented the last days of a Liverpool branch of HMV whilst working there in 2011, a stark contrast to the images of the flagship store in the sixties and seventies (previously). The chain yesterday announced it was entering administration after 91 years on the high street. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 12:52 PM PST - 28 comments

Facebook's Graph Search

Facebook today announced their Graph Search during a live event at their headquarters. Some say it is Facebook's attempt at taking down Google and taking over web search (they did partner with Bing), but more astute observers see LinkedIn, Yelp, and OKCupid in their crosshairs too based on the live event demos. [more inside]
posted by mathowie at 12:45 PM PST - 79 comments

That rug really tied the room together.

The Dude and the Zen Master is a new book by actor Jeff Bridges and Zen teacher and activist Bernie Glassman, in which the two men spend several days on a Montana ranch discussing the connections between the Dude in "The Big Lebowski" and common Buddhist teachings. [more inside]
posted by flyingsquirrel at 12:39 PM PST - 31 comments

Television police chase gets personal.

Front row seat to a car chase in Inglewood, CA. [SLYT] [more inside]
posted by phaedon at 12:26 PM PST - 28 comments

Is antigingerism a hate crime?

In the New Statesman, Nelson Jones argues that prejudice against red-haired people in Britain should be addressed by hate crime legislation. [more inside]
posted by acb at 11:58 AM PST - 109 comments

How appropriate. You fight like a cow.

The insult swordfighting from LucasArts' Monkey Island series is now available as a standalone browser game. [more inside]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:24 AM PST - 11 comments

Cold, apricot, relaxing satisfaction.

Fresh Prince of Belair run through Google Translate [SLYP]
posted by jaduncan at 10:53 AM PST - 27 comments

RT is not an endorsement

The 14 rules for predicting future geopolitical events
posted by infini at 9:09 AM PST - 42 comments

Eight criticisms not to make about group selection

Group selection, which was once widely rejected as a significant evolutionary force, is now accepted by all who seriously study the subject. There is still widespread confusion about group selection, however, not only among students and the general public, but among professional evolutionists who do not directly study the subject. We list eight criticisms that are frequently invoked against group selection, which can be permanently laid to rest based upon current knowledge. Experts will always find something to critique about group selection, as for any important subject, but these eight criticisms are not among them. Laying them to rest will enable authors to openly use the term group selection without being handicapped during the review process. [HTML], [PDF]
posted by Blasdelb at 8:35 AM PST - 41 comments

The city you can´t drive to.

Iquitos is the largest city with no roads connecting to the outside world. Wiki says it is a city of just under half a million.
Here is a photo set of what is often referred to as the known as the Venice of the Amazon.
If want to know more about some of the indigenous peoples of the area the Iquitos Times has that for you.
In fact the Iquitos Times has much you wanted to know - creatures of the Amazon maybe, and perhaps a bit you didn´t want to know about Peruvian Amazonia.
posted by adamvasco at 8:34 AM PST - 29 comments

Teachers boycott standardized testing

Teachers at two Seattle high schools have decided to boycott a district-required standardized test. [more inside]
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:29 AM PST - 97 comments

Plans for a DIY Industrial Chic Table

Cast Iron Pipe Legs? Check. Thick board top? Check. Basic plans for building this "industrial" table at home? Check.
posted by OmieWise at 8:02 AM PST - 65 comments

Knock out flower show

Stunning floats from holland, made of flowers. Scroll down and click on an image for a photo montage of these great designs. The scale of them! [more inside]
posted by Will Duck at 7:53 AM PST - 8 comments

Tomorrow: NiGHTS into Dreams on the N64

Remember playing Super Mario World on your Sega Genesis? Probably not, considering it's a rather rare bootleg. Well, thanks to the efforts of some determined gamers, you can now play it at home, although only on the Gens Plus GX emulator on the Wii (or through the Gens core via RetroArch.) [via]
posted by griphus at 7:43 AM PST - 34 comments

An Incredible Transition

While going through Facial Feminization Surgery, youtube user iigethii documented the process by taking roughly 1000 pictures over the duration of the three year procedure which she then turned into an amazing video. [stills available at the via]
posted by quin at 7:05 AM PST - 91 comments

Lil B loves you

Lil B' plays with cute animals and raps about why it's okay to cry.
posted by femmegrrr at 6:21 AM PST - 19 comments

They're All Wasted

Meher Baba + Terry Riley = One of rocks most recognizable yet mislabled anthems. [more inside]
posted by Sailormom at 4:16 AM PST - 62 comments

Because snow is too fluffy.

Nicaragua's Cerro Negro is the youngest volcano in Central America. While it has a kind of stark beauty, since this record (and bone)-breaking stunt, most tourists go there for a different reason.
posted by empath at 3:18 AM PST - 21 comments

A Riddle of Positive Ion Proportions

What do cell culture, cooking beans, and soft water all have in common? You just gotta get rid of those pesky calcium and magnesium ions. To transfer cells to a new container, use EDTA to CHELATE IT OUT! To soften those bean skins and prevent the beans from exploding, use salt to ION EXCHANGE IT OUT! To keep your shampoo properly beautifying those tresses, DOUBLE-WHAMMY IT OUT!
posted by sunnichka at 2:54 AM PST - 8 comments

I wanted to be a sky pirate. I don't understand any of this.

Hungover British non-tech journalist attends German tech press conference. Hilarity ensues. [Possibly slightly NSFW. Via.]
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:09 AM PST - 58 comments

Cap'n Crunch Sous Vide

Neal Stephenson has been working with the free online culinary school ChefSteps, including aiding in the design and construction of something called a Gaggle Roaster, and filming this video slicing fruit (and a water bottle) in slow motion with a sword.
posted by mannequito at 2:06 AM PST - 13 comments

The Hunt For "Red October"

An advanced and well-orchestrated computer spy operation that targeted diplomats, governments and research institutions for at least five years has been uncovered by security researchers in Russia.
The highly targeted campaign, which focuses primarily on victims in Eastern Europe and Central Asia based on existing data, is still live, harvesting documents and data from computers, smartphones and removable storage devices, such as USB sticks, according to Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based antivirus firm that uncovered the campaign. Kaspersky has dubbed the operation “Red October.”
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:55 AM PST - 25 comments

January 14

To tell the story to someone else...

In 1974, Leon Leyson was one of a group of Jews who greeted Oskar Schindler when he visited Los Angeles. It was the first time the two had seen each other since the war. He began to introduce himself, but Schindler interrupted: "I know who you are," Schindler said, grinning at the middle-aged man before him. "You're Little Leyson." On Sunday, the youngest name on Schindler's List passed away at the age of 83. "The truth is, I did not live my life in the shadow of the Holocaust," he told the Portland Oregonian in 1997. "I did not give my children a legacy of fear. I gave them a legacy of freedom." [more inside]
posted by zarq at 10:15 PM PST - 34 comments

New Pygmy sounds: Orchéstre Baka Gbiné

Those adventurous listeners among you who've explored some of the further musical reaches of our little planet might have heard, somewhere along the line, some of the amazing polyphony and yodeling styles of the Baka or the Aka Pygmies. The bewitchingly complex rhythmic and melodic interplay we find in these traditional musics is spellbinding and utterly unique, of course, but what are, say, Baka Pygmy musicians doing these days that's a little more, well, *modern*? I thought you'd never ask! Orchéstre Baka Gbiné are doing this. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:36 PM PST - 22 comments

Kids Rock

Here's the second most adorable version of Sweet Child O' Mine ever played. Here's the first (previously). Not Cute enough? Here's little Jonah rocking along with some System of a Down. Kids rock.
posted by billyfleetwood at 8:52 PM PST - 19 comments

A Milestone Year for Media

On the heels of a recent announcement that it will experiment with online pay models, The Atlantic featured sponsored content today from The Church of Scientology, a post entitled "David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year."
posted by Apropos of Something at 7:43 PM PST - 251 comments

Elephant & Giraffe Ridin' with Their Top Down

From the creator of A horse takes it to the limit: An elephant and a giraffe, ridin' with their top down.
posted by A dead Quaker at 7:21 PM PST - 29 comments

The world is a better place with you in it, Clarice

At last night's Golden Globe Awards, actress Jodie Foster was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement award. During her speech, the notoriously private actress touched on the very notion of privacy, her sexuality, and the difficulty of being a public person with a normal life. Reactions have been mixed. [more inside]
posted by mudpuppie at 6:24 PM PST - 202 comments

Level 2 is more worrisome. Level 3 is hair-raising.

"We decided to go on an adventure through the financial statements of one bank [Wells Fargo], to explore exactly what they do and do not show, and to gauge whether it is possible to make informed judgments about the risks the bank may be carrying. We chose a bank that is thought to be a conservative financial institution, and an exemplar of what a large modern bank should be."
posted by vidur at 6:12 PM PST - 14 comments

Jay-Z or Jay-G?

Quiz: Jay-Z Lyric or Line From The Great Gatsby?
posted by book 'em dano at 4:53 PM PST - 39 comments

The Robots Are Coming

All of a sudden, we looked up, and they were there. What if the explanation to the past half-decade --- or maybe the past decade and a half --- of the world’s economic malaise can be explained in one word: Robots. Maybe, in other words, the reason that corporate profits are higher than ever and yet jobs aren’t being created is because we have built machines to take those jobs. Paul Krugman thinks it’s possible.
If this is the wave of the future, it makes nonsense of just about all the conventional wisdom on reducing inequality. Better education won’t do much to reduce inequality if the big rewards simply go to those with the most assets....I think our eyes have been averted from the capital/labor dimension of inequality, for several reasons...But I think we’d better start paying attention to those implications.
So does Kevin Drum:
Here's what I mean. It's quite possible that, say, 50 years from now the production of nearly all goods and services will be automated. And this might usher in a golden age...But what happens while we're busy getting there? Answer: the owners of capital will automate more and more, putting more and more people out of work...The rest of us will have no jobs, and even with all this lovely automation, our government-supplied welfare checks will be meager enough that our lives will be miserable.
And 60 minutes. And so does the Financial Time’s Izabella Kaminska, who’s been writing a series of posts on the influential FT Alphaville blog for more than nine months on the influence of robots on the economy and whether or not an economy can handle no scarcity. FT Alphaville requires registration, but fortunately Kaminska has collected links from across the world of economics and journalism as people attempt to hammer out this problem. [more inside]
posted by Diablevert at 3:43 PM PST - 169 comments

I am such a good spider.

"I'm scratching, and I like to hide." SLYT. NSF arachnophobes.
posted by kinnakeet at 2:39 PM PST - 43 comments

JADED PUNK HULK

JADED PUNK HULK HAS HILARIOUS OPINIONS ABOUT PUNK. JADED PUNK HULK ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS. Brendan Kelly from The Lawrence Arms DENIES HE IS JADED PUNK HULK. JADED PUNK HULK interviews Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem. Part 2.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 2:34 PM PST - 30 comments

Dead Sea Scrolls Go to Court

A brilliant young Harvard Ph.D. faces jail for impersonating a Bible scholar—and rival of his father [more inside]
posted by beisny at 2:27 PM PST - 16 comments

#Transdocfail

Julie Burchill being nasty again about trans people in The Guardian (in an article since replaced by an apology of the editor) is bad enough, as it might provide cover for bullying but much more worrying is the general disrespect and disdain many trans people receive from their own doctors, as documented in stories shared through Twitter and elsewhere. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 1:52 PM PST - 126 comments

Programmer Swears at Computer, Computer Swears Back

IBM's supercomputer Watson (previously) (and more previously) best known for crushing puny humans on the game show Jeopardy, recently began using profanity after researchers - attempting to teach it more nuanced language styles - had Watson memorize the Urban Dictionary. When the adolescent computer began responding to its progenitors' questions with phrases like "that's bulls**t" the irate programmers scrubbed its memory of the foul language. No word yet on whether the supercomputer has been grounded or not.
posted by wolfdreams01 at 1:04 PM PST - 66 comments

This stock picking cat will give you paws

While the professionals used their decades of investment knowledge and traditional stock-picking methods, the cat selected stocks by throwing his favourite toy mouse on a grid of numbers allocated to different companies. [spoiler warning: the cat wins]
posted by latkes at 12:57 PM PST - 27 comments

CBS Requires CNET To Re-vote on CES's "Best in Show"

CBS has been in a dispute with Dish Networks, maker of the "Hopper", a device that allows users to skip commercials on their DVR, seeing it as a threat to their broadcast business model. After the "Hopper" was voted best in show at CES by the editors of CNET, CNET's parent CBS intervened and required a re-vote. [more inside]
posted by modernnomad at 12:38 PM PST - 42 comments

Can't tell the boys from the girls, which must make it exciting for them

Gary Busey explains the social and biological operations of Hobbits. (SLYT)
posted by FatherDagon at 11:42 AM PST - 28 comments

You've heard of avian flu? Yeah: bioweapon.

PoliticsFilter: On whether Barack Obama should fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:53 AM PST - 87 comments

JSTOR Register and Read

The digital library JSTOR has announced its new Register & Read program, under which users unaffiliated with an institution can access "approximately 1,200 journals from more than 700 publishers, a subset of the content in JSTOR. This includes content from the first volume and issue published for these journals through a recent year (generally 3-5 years ago)." [more inside]
posted by jedicus at 6:51 AM PST - 58 comments

Gun-show loophole -- Fact or Fiction?

Ever step into a gun rights discussion and feel bombarded by rhetoric about exactly what the "gun-show loophole" is and how it works (not to mention furious diatribes against the term "assault weapon?) This article from the Nashville City Paper explains it, and illustrates how 'private sale loophole' might be a better term.
posted by jfwlucy at 6:42 AM PST - 257 comments

Nathan Fillion: Master Photobomber

Nathan Fillion is notorious for sneaking into the the background of other people's photos; But here he takes it to an unprecedented level as he repeatedly photobombs a single scene while shooting Firefly.
posted by quin at 6:06 AM PST - 66 comments

Flying Muscle Cars: The Photographs of Matthew Porter

“Honestly, some of it came from watching the closing of the remake of ‘Starsky & Hutch,’ ” Mr. Porter said on a recent afternoon in his studio. [NYTimes link] “They do one of those jumps over the crest of a hill, and it froze, and the lens flared over the hood. And I thought, that’s the picture I’d like to make [NYTimes Slideshow], but I don’t have the budget or the resources to actually stage it.” More photos without Flash. His gallery page.
posted by OmieWise at 5:46 AM PST - 12 comments

If this is the meat, where's the cat?

The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin [more inside]
posted by Daily Alice at 5:16 AM PST - 28 comments

A Rather Extreme Way to Diet

Dean Kamen, inventor of the SegWay, has a new invention out! This one is for dieting, and it sucks food out of the stomach before the body can absorb it. The AspireAssist has not been approved by the FDA, although it's available in parts of Europe. How it works.
posted by barnacles at 3:25 AM PST - 108 comments

Comments Are Important?

Online comments hurt science understanding, study finds [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:53 AM PST - 45 comments

January 13

Coming of Age

Today is Coming of Age Day in Japan, when everyone who has turned twenty in the past year simultaneously gains the right to smoke, drink, and vote. Wherever you are, why not celebrate with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's (previously) latest video, furisodeshon?
posted by 23 at 8:31 PM PST - 47 comments

Steamboat Willie overdubbed with the Koyaanisqatsi theme. [SLYT]

The Disney classic paired with Phillip Glass' classic theme. Oddly unsettling on a number of levels.
posted by baconaut at 8:06 PM PST - 36 comments

Dr. Gross' Criminal Investigation (1906), and Thieves Slang (1962)

Criminal Investigation, a Practical Handbook for Magistrates, Police Officers and Lawyers (1906)
This volume is designed to be a working hand-book for all engaged or interested in Criminal Investigation. It has, by special permission, been translated and adapted from the well-known work of Dr. Hans Gross, Professor of Criminology in the University of Prâg and special lecturer on that subject in the University of Vienna.... Few men are so well fitted, by training and experience, as Dr. Gross to compile a work like the present.... As M. Gardeil, Professor of Criminal Law at Nancy, says, in introducing the French Translation to French Criminalists, Dr. Gross is "an indefatigable observer; a far-seeing psychologist; a magistrate full of ardour to unearth the truth, whether in favour of the accused or against him; a clever craftsman; in turn, draughtsman, photographer, modeller, armourer; having acquired by long experience a profound knowledge of the practices of criminals, robbers, tramps, gipsies, cheats, he opens to us the researches and experiences of many years. His work is no dry or purely technical treatise; it is a living book, because it has been lived."
See also: Slang Expressions Commonly Used By Thieves, from Chapter 8 of the 5th ed. (1962) of Gross's Criminal Investigation.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:00 PM PST - 13 comments

"Sweagledactyl": swan stuffed in giant eagle inside a pterodactyl

Courtesy of that saint of old school gaming and dark god of the underworld Jason Sholtis, who runs the awesome, previously-posted blog The Dungeon Dozen, it's a new adventure to run using the game system of your choice: THE SECRET PARTY-HOUSE OF THE HILL GIANT PLAYBOY (PDF viewer w/ available download). Looting, slaying, and party crashing beckon to the bold!
Also from Sholtis: the one-page dungeon FLESH FOR THE WITCH QUEEN. (PDF viewer with download) [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 5:45 PM PST - 11 comments

Also, you just paid $10 for sugar water and a bag of iffy popcorn

If 2013's Oscar-nominated movie posters told the truth.
posted by mkultra at 5:28 PM PST - 49 comments

What is Art?

Contemporary Art: love it or hate it, this list by Hana Cohn of The 50 Most Iconic Artworks of the Past Five Years is worth a look through the slideshow. Recent Art-Star news-makers are here, along with other interesting works…
posted by ovvl at 4:50 PM PST - 89 comments

Two Men, One Sky: A Flight to the Finish

"THE CLOUDS stretched across the Texas sky like a highway. And soaring along those lanes, lofted nearly 8,000 feet by the hot air rising from the earth, two hang gliders raced in tight pursuit of the most prized feat in this high adrenaline niche sport: farthest ever flown." The NY Times on breaking the hang gliding long distance record.
posted by Long Way To Go at 3:46 PM PST - 12 comments

How to determine if a record breaking calculation of pi is accurate

Q: "I was trying various methods to implement a program that gives the digits of pi sequentially. So, while writing the program I got stuck on a problem, as with all algorithms: How do I know that the n digits that I've calculated are accurate?" [more inside]
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:37 PM PST - 74 comments

The boundaries separating humans and animals disappears

Ashes and Snow [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:53 PM PST - 7 comments

How to talk Minnesota Nice

I grew up in Minnesota, home of a particular passive-aggressive communication style which is summed up nicely by this chart and subsequent comments. Of particular import is the difference between "that's different" and "that's sure different" (though there isn't mention of "that's real different," which I think means just about the same thing) and examples of Minnesota Enthusiastic Neutral. Also worth noting is the classic book by sometime A Prairie Home Companion regular Howard Mohr, How to Talk Minnesotan. [more inside]
posted by larrybob at 1:24 PM PST - 168 comments

Singing the Hits

Yonkers, as sung by Tyler the Creator; Call Me Maybe, as sung by Carly Rae Jepsen; Rack city, as sung by Tyga; Pony, as sung by Ginuwine; U Can't Touch This, as sung by M.C. Hammer; Ignition (Remix), as sung by R. Kelly. HelenRuth31 sings it all.
posted by codacorolla at 1:22 PM PST - 11 comments

Birdstep

Bird sings dubstep [slyt]
posted by special-k at 1:18 PM PST - 27 comments

My favorite food is mex, my favorite thing on weekends is solving for x

Alex Kajitani, aka the Rappin' Mathematician is determined to increase students' understanding of math concepts by "rapping" about them. [more inside]
posted by obscurator at 12:09 PM PST - 6 comments

The Twelve Months, Lolo the Penguin, and other Soviet winter animation.

Today is, of course, December 31st, the new year's eve. And tomorrow will be December 32nd, the day after — December 33rd, and so on, until someone brings me a basket of blooming snowdrops. [more inside]
posted by Nomyte at 11:25 AM PST - 11 comments

List best to be argued about in a pub

"9 Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Come on – of course it was hugely influential. It pioneered national beer distribution around the US, and it set the standard for what American beer was expected to be." Martyn Cornell lists the twenty most influential beers of all time.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:49 AM PST - 83 comments

A draft of the National Climate Assessment report has been released

...and the news ain't good: "Evidence for climate change abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans. This evidence has been compiled by scientists and engineers from around the world, using satellites, weather balloons, thermometers, buoys, and other observing systems. The sum total of this evidence tells an unambiguous story: the planet is warming." Overview letter is here, Executive Summary is here, and the full download is here. [WARNING: Full download runs to 147MB).
posted by BillW at 7:44 AM PST - 192 comments

Controversial anatomy books

Anatomy is a respected medical science, aims at a better knowledgement of human body structures. there were two books in Anatomy that made a lot of controversy, the first one is Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy by Eduard Pernkopf, and the second one is The Anatomical Basis of Medical Practice by by Professors R. Frederick Becker, James S. W. Wilson, and John A. Gehweiler. [more inside]
posted by Ahmed_Nabil at 7:39 AM PST - 18 comments

Helping you maintain

High maintenance: a nameless cannabis delivery guy delivers his much-needed medication to stressed-out New Yorkers in this character-driven web series.
posted by matthewr at 6:46 AM PST - 46 comments

Allen Ginsberg’s Hand-Annotated Photos of the Beat Generation

Hand-Annotated Photos of the Beat Generation. Twenty Five photos from Allen Ginsberg [more inside]
posted by Sailormom at 5:31 AM PST - 19 comments

Arabian Knight

You may remember an animated film from the early '90s. Set somewhere in 'Arabia,' a land of bazaars and minarets, the story featured a bored, harem-panted princess, an orphan boy, a treacherous vizier with bird sidekick, a rotund and oblivious sultan, a blue-skinned magic user, et al. But it wasn't Aladdin - and the movie had started production in 1964 ... [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:37 AM PST - 24 comments

Jousting Fanfic

Jeff Wik irreverently recaps Le Morte Da Arthur
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 1:23 AM PST - 13 comments

January 12

Live Action Toy Story

Live Action Toy Story. The entire movie. [SLYT]
posted by reductiondesign at 11:24 PM PST - 42 comments

Start with a kiss to break the tension?

Russell Brand Interviewed by Marlena Katene. Marlena Katene (theaacjournalist) also does a range of interviews with all sorts of comedians and celebrities.
posted by greenhornet at 9:21 PM PST - 13 comments

8-bit Music

YouTube user "rakohus" uploads his own 8-bit versions of various songs. Enjoy songs by Kanye West, PSY, Nicki Minaj, and other artists in all of their 8-bit glory.
posted by Evernix at 8:42 PM PST - 9 comments

"Mexsicko" City No More

After years of dedicated rehabilitation, the people of Mexico City have transformed from one of the worst environments in the world to one of the "greenest" cities in North America, but there are still challenges to be faced.
posted by BZArcher at 5:22 PM PST - 28 comments

Adult cat, ridin' on a ram

A cat rides backward on a ram.
posted by The Whelk at 5:20 PM PST - 38 comments

R_co's archive of EDM mixes on Soundcloud: "It's good to share"

There is a universe of recorded DJ mixes to sort through, enough to keep you entertained and dancing for years. Souncloud user R_co fills a pocket of this cosmos with thousands of mixes and some live shows to stream and download, spanning styles and decades, from Bob Marley and the Wailers live in 1975, to a Shep Pettibone Mastermix Danceparty from 1983, Mark Farina live in Los Angeles, 1996, or Masters at Work live in Miami at WMC, 2003, and Carl Craig in Ibiza, 2012. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 3:29 PM PST - 25 comments

Platinum coin idea preemptively shut down

The Treasury Department will not mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin to get around the debt ceiling. If they did, the Federal Reserve would not accept it.
posted by bookman117 at 2:03 PM PST - 142 comments

What went wrong and how to fix it.

Stimulus or Stymied?: The Macroeconomics of Recession: An American Economic Association panel discussion on the Great Recession between four leading economists - Paul Krugman (Princeton), Valerie Ramey (UCSD), Harald Uhlig (Chicago) and Carlo Cottarelli (IMF), chaired by Brad DeLong (Berkeley).
posted by moorooka at 1:54 PM PST - 9 comments

Viewing the Earth from orbit changes your perspective

The Overview Effect
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:21 PM PST - 25 comments

Treat your facebook friendships like a marketer

Facebook Friend Analyzer A new, fun way to be creepy [SLYT]
posted by UsernameGenerator at 11:33 AM PST - 30 comments

DO NOT CLICK

Trust Me, You Do Not Want to See This Video of a Giant Parasitic Worm Slithering Out of a Dead Spider’s Stomach
posted by Artw at 11:14 AM PST - 143 comments

Supralude's Near Deaf Experience of Williamburg

That Night In Williamsburg is a neat little motion capture time-lapse (with After Effects) of office lights synced to music. [slvimeo] [via]
posted by quin at 10:53 AM PST - 5 comments

Alaska ISN'T an island?!

Que Sera Sera posts about "Weird incorrect facts from childhood that other people have kept in their heads without reconsidering until the moment it hits them." Lots of people are learning new things in the comments. Via defectiveyeti.com
posted by artychoke at 9:39 AM PST - 611 comments

Gorgeous photos of earth tweeted from the International Space Station

Commander Chris Hadfield (previously!) and Thomas Marshburn are tweeting photos they are taking from the ISS. [more inside]
posted by gingerbeer at 8:29 AM PST - 22 comments

Free Beer: The Truth About Dishonesty

Are you more honest than a banker? Under what circumstances would you lie, or cheat, and what effect does your deception have on society at large? Dan Ariely, bestselling author and professor of psychology and behavioural economics at Duke University visits the RSA to examine the mechanisms at work behind dishonest behaviour, and the implications this has for all aspects of our social and political lives. (28:46)
RSA Animation of excerpts of this lecture and related ones: The Truth About Dishonesty (11:08)
posted by Blasdelb at 6:11 AM PST - 15 comments

"This bout brought in about 2,000 people…in a town of 3,000 people"

Journalists miss the real ($60M) roller derby story. Every time.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:00 AM PST - 45 comments

Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354

"To the world of today the men of medieval Christendom already seem remote and unfamiliar. Their names and deeds are recorded in our history-books, their monuments still adorn our cities, but our kinship with them is a thing unreal, which costs an effort of imagination. How much more must this apply to the great Islamic civilization, that stood over against medieval Europe, menacing its existence and yet linked to it by a hundred ties that even war and fear could not sever. Its monuments too abide, for those who may have the fortunate to visit them, but its men and manners are to most of us utterly unknown, or dimly conceived in the romantic image of the Arabian Nights. Even for the specialist it is difficult to reconstruct their lives and see them as they were. Histories and biographies there are in quantity, but the historians for all their picturesque details, seldom show the ability to select the essential and to give their figures that touch of the intimate which makes them live again for the reader. It is in this faculty that Ibn Battuta excels." Thus begins the book, "Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354" published by Routledge and Kegan Paul. Step into the world of "the first tourist" who made his mark as the world's greatest traveler before the age of steam. [more inside]
posted by infini at 3:27 AM PST - 20 comments

18 down of the 19, which is being treated with 13 15

The Rev John Graham (better known as Araucaria) is the most loved, feared and respected of British crossword compilers. Aged 91, and still at the top of his game, his achievements include the 26-letter anagram that some fans have described as 'the best crossword clue ever'. So it was only natural that he should use a set of cryptic clues in one of his own puzzles to break the news that he is dying of cancer.
posted by verstegan at 1:53 AM PST - 26 comments

Open access, open internet, closed book

Aaron Swartz, web technologist, has committed suicide. First mentioned on Metafilter for his involvement in the standardization of RSS in 2001 as a ninth-grader, most of Swartz's 26 years were devoted to leaving a lasting impact on the web. Swartz co-founded Infogami, which merged with the internet aggregator Reddit, and also founded the Internet activist organization Demand Progress which fought against the SOPA/PIPA legislation. His framework for web servers, web.py, was first released in 2006 when Reddit switched from Lisp to Python and continues to be actively used and updated. In a 2008 attempt to make a public version of the contents of the PACER public court records database, Swartz angered government officials when they learned he had downloaded 20 million articles, which he subsequently made freely available. In 2011 he was indicted for data theft for downloading large amounts from the academic article repository JSTOR. Despite JSTOR's statement indicating "no interest in this becoming an ongoing legal matter," the US case continued with additional charges, to which Aaron pled innocent in September of 2012. [more inside]
posted by Llama-Lime at 1:13 AM PST - 517 comments

Property Rights! In! Spaaa​aaaaa​aaaaa​aaaaace!

Practical, economic development of space — treating it not as a mere borderland of Earth, but a new frontier in its own right — has not materialized. Still, the promise is as great as it ever was, and, contrary to popular opinion, is eminently achievable — but only if the current legal framework and attitude toward space can be shifted toward seeing it as a realm not just of human exploration, but also of human enterprise.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:12 AM PST - 17 comments

January 11

Making a shakuhachi with (and by) feel ...

The Japanese shakuhachi (flute) is not a particularly complex device - not much more than a length of bamboo with 5 holes drilled in it. Might be kind of easy to make one, don't you think? Well at least if you can see what you are doing. In this 11 minute documentary video, meet Kelvin Falconer, who makes shakuhachi from bamboo growing on his property in New Zealand, but who must do so completely by touch (and ear), as he is blind.
posted by woodblock100 at 11:29 PM PST - 3 comments

What a difference a few seasons make.

Less than 20 months after the historic Spring 2011 (previously on MeFi) floods, the Mississippi River may be at similarly historic low levels and flow. Shipping commerce and even drinking water for towns and cities dependent on the Mississippi are under severe threat. [more inside]
posted by paulsc at 11:26 PM PST - 10 comments

Nothing Else Matters

Kathryn Bigelow's striking bin Laden manhunt thriller Zero Dark Thirty arrives in wide release tonight on the heels of a final artful trailer -- one with oddly familiar musical accompaniment. The funereal hymn, a cover of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" (lyrics), deftly recasts the 90s power ballad as a haunting dirge of quiet grief, shattered ideals, and a singleminded focus on revenge, a perfect distillation of the film's profoundly grim thesis. But while the song may be fitting, it wasn't composed for the project -- it's just the latest success story from Belgian women's choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers, whose mournful reinterpretations of classic and modern rock -- catapulted by their rendition of "Creep" in The Social Network -- have made them famous around the world, with star turns in the likes of Homeland ("Every Breath You Take") and Downton Abbey ("With or Without You"). Cover comparison site WhoSampled offers a list of YouTube comparisons between the covers and the originals; look inside for more of their work in movies and television. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 8:31 PM PST - 46 comments

HERadventure

HERadventure -- "What would happen if the societal issues affecting women put other planets at risk? Well, of course, HER, a Black female superhero, would swoop in with a plan to save the universe. HER is central to HERadventure, a science fiction-based, multimedia platform project that interweaves virtual worlds, digital and social media to create a gaming and storytelling experience. HERadventure not only entertains but tackles social issues that permeate the daily reality of many women." [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:58 PM PST - 5 comments

Nicholson Reads Kipling

Jack Nicholson reads Kipling's Just So Stories with music by Bobby McFerrin Part 2
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:47 PM PST - 14 comments

Green ant tea, anyone?

Major Doctor Les Hiddins was survivaling in the wilderness long before Bear Grylls. He did it with compassion, intelligence, and good humour. (No, he isn't dead.) [more inside]
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 6:41 PM PST - 36 comments

Badgering the Publishers? The Publishers Badger You Back!

Shimmer Magazine reveals "The Truth About Rejection Letters" It involves badgers.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:26 PM PST - 3 comments

This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For

US citizens petitioned the White House to "secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016" (previously). The White House (or, more specifically, Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget) responded.
posted by capricorn at 6:21 PM PST - 63 comments

"Only the invented parts of our life had any meaning."

Living Well Is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins is a classic New Yorker profile of Gerald and Sara Murphy, central figures of the Lost Generation social circle in 1920s France. F. Scott Fitzgerald created Dick and Nicole Diver, the central couple of Tender Is the Night, by merging himself and his wife Zelda, with the Murphys. Gerald was a painter of note (examples: 1, 2, 3, 4), whose masterpiece has been lost. After seven years of painting, Murphy stopped, and never restarted, for a host of reasons, from the illness of his son to his closeted gayness. But the Murphys are probably best known for "the special quality of their life." They hosted parties and lived in a villa on the Mediterranean coast and were both painted by many artists, including Pablo Picasso. They were the subject of a recent biography and an essay collection.
posted by Kattullus at 6:17 PM PST - 10 comments

Initializing Motivation Protocol

"It's amazing what can be done with nothing more than a computer, time and a boatload of talent." R'ha is a short film created in seven months by aspiring director Kaleb Lechowski, 22.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:54 PM PST - 15 comments

Don't mock a quokka

When 17th-century Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh encountered what he described as "a kind of rat as big as a common cat" on on island off the western coast of Australia, he quickly dubbed it "Rats' Nest". Despite the insult, these marsupials aren't known to hold a grudge: the Quokkas, native to what is still known as Rottnest Island and nearby isles, are some of the happiest-looking, most inquisitive furry critters around.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:50 PM PST - 25 comments

Patrick Stewart: Poetry, Kissing, Crotch-Grabbing

Patrick Stewart performed with NYC's Improvised Shakespeare Company. Famed thespian Stewart joined five lads from Chicago to perform improvised Shakespeare this past week. The Improvised Shakespeare Company reports that "Patrick Stewart is the coolest person [they] know."
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:45 PM PST - 28 comments

Poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio

Cancerous skull (NSFW for some links of skulls below)
Carved skull
Just some skulls I picked up today from my skull guy...yeah, I have a skull guy”
Tree
Tibetan Ritual Skull
Too many drinks?
Skull Bookshelves Formed with Everyday Items
Crania Anatomica Filigre by Joshua Harker
Lies & persuasions by Kris Kuksi
Lily of the Valley (Welcome BB fans)
A skull made from typewriter parts
Apple & potato skull [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 3:23 PM PST - 30 comments

NEW KINTOBOR VIDEO: DECLARES HIMSELF ROBOTNIK

The intention of making this film was for it to be a spec film, with the primary purpose being to show how a Sonic the Hedgehog film, in a live action environment, can be executed. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:24 PM PST - 46 comments

Revelator is a Revelation!

You may remember this oldie but goodie from 1969: Everybody’s Talkin’ (Harry Nilsson) Now, let’s blues it UP. Zowie! Surely I can't be the last person in the world to hear about the Tedeschi Trucks Band (or can I be?).
posted by spock at 1:02 PM PST - 22 comments

Peter Murphy does interpretive dance to ‘Hollow Hills’

Peter Murphy does interpretive dance to ‘Hollow Hills’ [more inside]
posted by Sailormom at 12:54 PM PST - 25 comments

Unreleased Celebrity Fragrances

27th Precinct by Jerry Orbach: Notes of pepperoni and shoe polish on an instant coffee base. Leathery, minimal, and cost-effective, this fragrance feels like a big, crusty hug...
posted by briank at 12:50 PM PST - 15 comments

Javascript music notation and rendering

VexFlow is an open-source web-based music notation rendering API which utilises the VexTab open specification to render notation as a client-side canvas [githubs 1 2] [tutorials 1 2].
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:40 PM PST - 11 comments

Violence is so good

Quentin Tarantino clashed with News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy during a fractious interview ahead of the London premiere of his new film. Tarantino has previously defended the gore that defines his movies, saying "that's the biggest attraction. I'm a big fan of action and violence in cinema".
posted by Lanark at 12:35 PM PST - 138 comments

An adorable teaching moment

Puppy teaches younger puppy how to go down the stairs. Cuteness ensues. SLYT
posted by lunasol at 12:24 PM PST - 50 comments

The most successful female tournament poker player in history

What It's Like to Be a Woman Who Plays Professional Poker is an Atlantic piece profiling Vanessa Selbst, an amazing poker player who just got engaged last weekend, as well as an examination of the challenges of being a professional poker player in an often hostile and sexist community.
posted by Lame_username at 12:17 PM PST - 21 comments

Roma in Hungary: A Hard Life

The status of Roma in Hungary has been brought into sharp focus with a controversial article [link in Hungarian] by prominent ruling-party FIDESZ member, Zsolt Bayer, in which he says, "a significant part of the Roma are unfit for co-existence. They are not fit to live among people. These Roma are animals and they behave like animals." The Guardian reports on the growing anger at the article, The Hungarian Spectrum, and well-known poet and translator of Hungarian literature George Szirtes weigh in with English translations of some of Bayer’s article. Many leading Hungarian politicians condemn the article. [more inside]
posted by vac2003 at 11:34 AM PST - 59 comments

They're waiting for you Gordon... in the tech demo.

An early alpha build of the genre changing game Half-Life has been leaked on to the internet. The alpha represents the state of the game about a year before its release, and Youtube user MarphitimusBlackimus has uploaded footage of: multiplayer, a technology demonstration, and a playthrough of a very rough single player mode. A bit more information about the leak here.
posted by codacorolla at 10:03 AM PST - 41 comments

"But don't ask me, I just wrote the song"

Eric Idle sings the theme song to Brian Cox's new series Wonders of Life: a remake of the Galaxy Song from The Meaning of Life. 'Nuff said.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:54 AM PST - 11 comments

"There is Not Much Demand for One Twin"

Vivian Brown, one of San Francisco's iconic Brown Twins has passed away. She had Alzheimer's and had suffered a bad fall several months ago. Her twin, Marian has been receiving an outpouring of assistance from fans and friends.
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:41 AM PST - 21 comments

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman: Morgan Freeman [more inside]
posted by gwint at 9:28 AM PST - 27 comments

An Adaptable Accoutrement

A keffiyeh (also known as a kufiya, shemagh, and a ghutrah among its numerous other names) is a scarf commonly used in the Middle East for protection from the weather and elements, as well as for fashion and cultural identification. They are amazingly versatile and can be worn and utilized in many different ways. [more inside]
posted by quin at 9:15 AM PST - 37 comments

The Avengers script in detail

"The screenplay keeps so many balls in the air that everything feels lively and inventive and fun, even when the plot isn’t being forwarded, or especially when the plot isn’t being forwarded. " Todd Alcott, director, actor and screenwriter, is known for his exhaustive analysis of screenplays (previously, previously) turns his eye to the modern Superhero Genre with a complete break down of Marvel's The Avengers Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17
posted by The Whelk at 9:06 AM PST - 60 comments

The many songs of Bertrand Goldberg, architect, artist, visionary.

Bertrand Goldberg is widely known as the architect who builds round buildings, but little is known about his innovative theories of space and his utopian ideas that have generated these sculptural forms. His work speaks with a vocabulary that is still unfamiliar to some and unappreciated by many. Goldberg’s often repeated statement, "for the first time in the history of the world we can build whatever we can think," seems to have been the beacon guiding his career. While many projects have been fully realized, some others have been only partially implemented, but all have grown out of Goldberg’s unique philosophical, aesthetic, and technological thinking.
From the preface to the Oral History of Bertrand Goldberg [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:44 AM PST - 14 comments

appa!

This little girl is really excited to talk to her dad.
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:24 AM PST - 31 comments

Where have all the cowboys gone?

Romance novelist Alisa Valdes' recent memoir The Cowboy and the Feminist describes how she found true love by forsaking her feminist opinions in favor of an assertive, independent cowboy (a staunchly traditional ranch manager) who to her embodied the best masculine qualities. Unfortunately, it turns out that the cowboy's masculine dominance turned into abuse, which Valdes described in a post-breakup blog post. Feminist writer Hannah Rosin, among others, was not surprised. According to Salon's Tracy Clark-Flory, Valdes said she took her post, which tends to contradict her book's message, down at the request of her publisher or agent. (via Lawyers, Guns and Money; warning: possible abuse and rape triggers)
posted by Gelatin at 8:23 AM PST - 105 comments

Enfant Terrible

Enfant Terrible. An interview with the terrifying Antoine D’Agata, a photographer for Magnum.
posted by chunking express at 8:15 AM PST - 4 comments

If Mini-Me took up knitting....

If you take your knitting everywhere and you're getting tired of stuffing the back of an adult-sized sweater and a 100g skein of worsted into your already bulging shoulder bag or backpack, you might try scaling down your knitting projects, as Althea Crome has done. Crome is a miniature knitter, and her projects are so tiny they'd fit into your pocket and still leave room for your cellphone. Her work is not only miniature but amazingly complex and detailed. She makes replicas of historical costumes such as a Queen Elizabeth I sweater, recreates famous paintings or other works of art, or depicts entire scenes, such as an underwater seascape, or Santa and all his eight tiny reindeer flying over a house. You can visit Crome's website, Bug Knits, to see galleries of her work. Crome also knitted some items for the 2009 3D stop-motion movie Coraline, including a sweater for the title character, and she talks about her work and demonstrates her "extreme knitting" in this promotional video for Coraline. If you want to give miniature knitting a shot yourself, you can buy some of Crome's patterns to help you get started, and I wish you the best. All I can think of when I see Crome in action is the time I decided to make ten Barbie outfits as part of a Christmas present for one of my nieces. I got four items done before I cracked and COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. Crome's patience and self-control are astounding, and I bet her children have the most exquisitely dressed Barbies ever.
posted by orange swan at 8:14 AM PST - 13 comments

Are you big in Japan?

On the flat top of a steep hill in a distant corner of northern Japan lies the tomb of an itinerant shepherd who, two millennia ago, settled down there to grow garlic. He fell in love with a farmer’s daughter named Miyuko, fathered three kids and died at the ripe old age of 106. In the mountain hamlet of Shingo, he’s remembered by the name Daitenku Taro Jurai. The rest of the world knows him as Jesus Christ. (previously)
posted by Chrysostom at 7:23 AM PST - 60 comments

White/Black: Photographic Landscapes from Michael Zimmerer

White Horizon
Ash Mountain
posted by OmieWise at 7:09 AM PST - 4 comments

Well, it's eliminated all the woes of the law profession ... right?

"Finland long ago decided to professionalize its teaching force to the point where teaching is now viewed on a par with other highly respected, learned professions like medicine and law. Today, only the best and brightest can and do become teachers: Just one in every 10 applicants are accepted to teacher preparation programs, which culminate in both an undergraduate degree and subject-specific Master's degree." Joel Klein argues that the US should follow Finland's lead and create, essentially, a bar exam for teachers, which would serve to professionalize them in the eyes of society and raise their societal value.
posted by barnacles at 7:07 AM PST - 79 comments

"...it's always good for a scientist to be proven wrong..."

Professor Martyn Poliakoff of Periodic Table Videos fame learns something about burning balloons full of hydrogen via high speed camera footage.
posted by loquacious at 4:37 AM PST - 34 comments

The interesting history of the fork

Medieval tines: A brief history of the fork. There are many further details in this Leite's Culinaria article, The Uncommon Origins of the Common Fork, linked in the post.
posted by daisyk at 4:33 AM PST - 36 comments

I am the gravestone and the photograph - part 2

"After the blast the entire building came down. As the rescue teams and journalists rushed to the scene, a second explosion took place." Hazaras are a religious minority who fled from Afghanistan. They are called infidels by Sunni extremist groups operating in Pakistan, and as an ethnic minority, are easily recognized and targeted. The Pakistani government has done nothing to stop these attacks. Last night, more than 83 people from my community lost their lives. For nothing. [more inside]
posted by legospaceman at 1:34 AM PST - 17 comments

Ecstatic surface design

Pinar & Viola are two Dutch post-internet artists whose work explores new totalitarian impulses and the decadence of global culture through what they call "ecstatic surface design". Pinar Demirdag and Viola Renate’s latest work takes inspiration from popular culture to lambast the absurdity of contemporary society using beach towels. They also cover Turkey's anti-evolutionist showgirls and interpret Frieze through Instagram. NSFW&Sanity warning before... Our website refers to little gif animations, kittens, lolcats, ‘Welcome to my homepage’, glitter, all the little decorations that make our daily lives more beautiful and joyful.
posted by infini at 1:33 AM PST - 13 comments

Houses from beyond the grave.

The latest foreclosure horror: the zombie title
The Kellers are caught up in a little-known horror of the U.S. housing bust: the zombie title. Six years in, thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn't know they still owned after banks decided it wasn't worth their while to complete foreclosures on them. With impunity, banks have been walking away from foreclosures much the way some homeowners walked away from their mortgages when the housing market first crashed.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:07 AM PST - 35 comments

Don't try this at home

How to listen to the radio with plants (and other objects)
posted by dunkadunc at 12:37 AM PST - 8 comments

January 10

Strike One for Comet Apophis

Comet Apophis flew to within 9 million miles of the Earth yesterday. In 2029 it will come around again and get within 20,000 miles (closer than geosynchronous satellites). Then in 2036 it will approach again. At one time it was thought that it had a 3.5% chance flying through a specific keyhole of space in 2029, which would indicate that it would hit the Earth in 2036. But now the odds are calculated to be infinitesimal. Let's hope the astronomer assumptions are correct about that pesky Yarkovsky Effect. [more inside]
posted by eye of newt at 11:22 PM PST - 32 comments

How the Future Changed

Space Cartoons to Space Psychedelia: How Sci-Fi Book Covers Evolved
posted by Artw at 10:54 PM PST - 19 comments

Not THAT kind of virus.

Google uses searches for flu symptoms to track each year's strain's intensity and spread. In 2013, the US is basically doomed. [more inside]
posted by OHSnap at 10:49 PM PST - 86 comments

Nespresso vs Espresso

Can individual human flair and creativity be bettered by the mass-produced and mechanised?
posted by travellingincognito at 7:44 PM PST - 133 comments

Serious Jibber-Jabber

Conan O'Brien's 75-minute discussion with Jack White In which they discuss their early friendship, shared Catholic values, and Jack's love of upholstery.
posted by Optamystic at 7:13 PM PST - 45 comments

Tokenism

The Monopoly game has used the same 8 "base tokens" (car, thimble, boot, scotty dog, battleship, top hat, iron, wheelbarrow) since the 1950s (with a few extras added to "Deluxe Editions"), and since it's been 15 minutes since Parker Brothers' last promotion, they're doing internet voting at their Facebook page to "SAVE YOUR TOKEN". In "American Idol" style, the one with the fewest votes will be replaced by the top-vote-getter among 5 "New Tokens" (robot with mustache, big-ass diamond ring, cat, helicopter, awkwardly-balanced guitar). So far, Scottie Dog has a third of the votes (take THAT, cat people), while Whellbarrow and Absurdly-Oldfashioned-Iron are bringing up the rear. VOTE DAILY to support your favorite "chocking hazard for under 3 yrs. old"
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:43 PM PST - 167 comments

...and, er...meeting someone special, maybe?

Children from around the world share their hopes for 2013.
posted by ossian at 5:39 PM PST - 1 comment

High Impact Bloody Violence

After years of deliberation, Australia finally have an R 18 rating for games, allowing a wider range of games to be legally released in Australia. The first game to be rated R18 will be Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, a Wii U game that will receive that rating due to its 'high impact bloody violence'.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:13 PM PST - 59 comments

And Pranks For All The Fish!

Drive-thru invisible driver prank
posted by spiderskull at 3:07 PM PST - 50 comments

But how can I pull a wheelie???

To satisfy the need for efficient transportation, RYNO Motors has designed a multiple use, self-balancing, one wheel, electric scooter that’s adaptable to wide range of uses including urban individuals, government, and industrial customers. [more inside]
posted by MtDewd at 2:39 PM PST - 39 comments

The Man With a Train in His Basement

Jason Schron loves VIA Rail trains so much that he built a full-size replica of one of their cars in his basement. "His first memory is being lost, at age 2, crying on a Toronto-to-Montreal VIA Rail passenger train. That’s when the obsession began. 'For me, being on the train is … this wonderful cozy comfy space, especially when the weather is terrible outside; it’s sort of this microcosm of comfort,' he says." P.S. It's worth checking out Schron's YouTube video tour embedded in the first link: The Guy With a Train in His Basement.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:36 PM PST - 62 comments

Sheed and Stack in the Big Apple

Sheed and Stack in the Big Apple is a new piece by Grantland's Jonathan Abrams about the NBA veterans Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse
posted by Cloud King at 1:28 PM PST - 5 comments

%-| The difference between us and them

The Depressive and the Psychopath, an article about mental state of the killers responsible for the Columbine high school massacre of 1999.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:44 PM PST - 75 comments

Hat palm palm hat

How to make a palm hat, in two parts. (No audio, but hypnotizing video.)
posted by cthuljew at 12:07 PM PST - 9 comments

Roger Deakins, Perpetual Nominee

Bond film Skyfall has been nominated for its first Academy Awards since 1982. Skyfall was nominated for original score, sound mixing, sound editing, original song, and cinematography. It is also cinematographer Roger Deakins' tenth nomination without a win. [more inside]
posted by troika at 11:51 AM PST - 48 comments

Meet Michael Forsberg, Conservation Photographer

I think it is high time that MeFites meet Michael Forsberg, a Lincoln, Nebraska based Conservation Photographer who works primarily in the Great Plains of North America, once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on Earth. (His bio.) His goal has been to try to capture the wild spirit that still survives in these wide-open spaces and put a face to the often overlooked native creatures and landscapes found there. His hope is that the images can build appreciation and go to work to inspire conservation efforts on the land far into the future. Here is a great 48 minute presentation that Michael gave at the California Academy of Sciences after completing his most recent book simply entitled "Great Plains". In the video he unselfishly shares not just his photographic images but also his equipment and techniques. [more inside]
posted by spock at 11:46 AM PST - 9 comments

Your daily teleport

"Every day a PHP script picks a random spot on the land mass of Earth. The nearest photo to that spot is posted here."
posted by Iridic at 11:29 AM PST - 20 comments

loop-a-doop-a, loop-a-doop-a, loop-a-doop-a, squiggly dot!

Doodle Music [slyt]
posted by ocherdraco at 11:03 AM PST - 8 comments

The smallest Hall of all

For some reason, this year no one was elected to the Hall of Fame.
posted by RogerB at 10:51 AM PST - 65 comments

I thought this summer would last forever.

Spring Break Beach Summer Forever, an unproduced screenplay by Abhay Khosla. [more inside]
posted by Mothra Pisces at 10:33 AM PST - 9 comments

You Can't Say That In English

Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language, and 470 million to over a billion people speak it as a second language (to varying degrees). Even so, there are some words that do not exist in English, even with new word entries periodically being added to the Oxford Dictionary. 25 words that do not exist in English. [more inside]
posted by anya32 at 10:25 AM PST - 127 comments

"Name Withheld" needs to find another letter column

The Comics Buyers Guide was founded in 1971 by Alan Light, morphing over the decades (not in the least due to postal regulations requiring a certain amount of editorial content) into the most widely read industry newsletter, highly influential in its heyday under the editorial guidance of Don and Maggie Thompson in the eighties and early nineties. Now its run has come to an end as it will stop publishing with its March 2013 issue. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 9:28 AM PST - 16 comments

When your house is burning down, you should brush your teeth

The surprisingly touching story of a fire and a broken cat named Domino.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:22 AM PST - 31 comments

Mods, guns and hats

How profitable has it been for Anthony? He, like many of the other contributors, was coy about the exact amount: “Let me answer this as indirectly as possible. I am sure that Valve has a new Lamborghini in the staff car park.”

Modding allows amateur and semi-professional designers to fiddle around with commercially-produced games - anything from adding monocles to crabs to recreating Westeros, all the way to a zombie survival mod more popular than the orginal game. While mods have traditionally been free, Valve's Steam Workshop is a marketplace to sell hats and other items for a selection of games, including Team Fortress 2 and DOTA 2 - both sequels to mods. PC Gamer talks to the modders who are making six-figures sums.
posted by liquidindian at 9:14 AM PST - 22 comments

A Machine that Writes in Time

"La Machine à Ecrire le Temps" from Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz took nearly a decade to develop, with more than 1,200 intricately connected components; including 84 ball bearings, 50 cams and 9 belts. It costs nearly $350,000. What does it do? It writes out the time for you.
posted by quin at 9:09 AM PST - 34 comments

Lost in The Canyons

Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie. The movie in question is The Canyons, the Kickstarter-funded erotic thriller written by Bret Easton Ellis and directed by Paul Schrader. There's no release date yet, but the film does have several retro-themed trailers.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:04 AM PST - 153 comments

Rex Trailer, New England legend, rides off into the sunset

New England legend Rex Trailer, host of Boomtown from 1956 to 1974, has died at 84. [more inside]
posted by bondcliff at 8:39 AM PST - 12 comments

Just when you thought it was safe to avoid Korn

Amazon just announced AutoRip, a service to provide MP3 versions of any song you buy on CD from their store. That's all well and good, but the kicker is that "Amazon is retroactively giving free MP3s to any customer who has purchased an AutoRip compatible CD since its Music Store first opened in 1998". Looks like I'll be knee deep in Blink 182, Cake, and The Spin Doctors again.
posted by mathowie at 8:14 AM PST - 137 comments

Animated History of Nintendo hardware in 2min 12 seconds

Enjoy this delightful short animation which lays out the history of Nintendo hardware ; History of Nintendo.
posted by Faintdreams at 8:09 AM PST - 16 comments

The Frightening Hungarian Crackdown

"The new constitution 'recognizes the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood,' and art that is deemed blasphemous or 'anti-national' is now the target of a full-blown campaign of suppression."
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:06 AM PST - 133 comments

Not in our backyard

Following an incident at Fort Bragg where Lt. Colonel Heather Mack's wife, Ashley Broadway, was told she could not join the Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses, the Marine Corps has issued guidance that spouses clubs operating on its bases and installations must offer membership to the same-sex spouses of gay and lesbian service members. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:54 AM PST - 22 comments

Nordic Odyssey

Beautiful New Yorker video from the deck of an Arctic transport ship.
posted by holmesian at 6:32 AM PST - 5 comments

brrrrr-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-kik-ch-ch-ch-brrrrrr

White boy drops another AWESOME new sick beat!!!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:19 AM PST - 23 comments

You seem to have paid a fairly high price for your happiness.

enchantMOON is a "Hypertext Authoring Tablet" featuring hardware design by Yoshitoshi ABe. For CES the company behind the tablet, Ubiquitous Entertainment, created a series of shorts directed by Evangelion veteran Shinji Higuchi. Some more details about the tablet can be found here and on the official Facebook page. Current details about the UI suggest it takes inspiration from Hypercard and Alan Kay's Dynabook. [more inside]
posted by 23 at 6:03 AM PST - 9 comments

The sale of the century

How We Happened to Sell Off Our Electricity is James Meek's dissection of the systematic re-privatisation of the UK power industry.
Are you an enemy of liberal principles if you question the fact that, when local electrical engineers dig up the roads in London, they’re working for East Asia’s richest man, the Hong Kong-based Li Ka-shing? In north-east England, they work for Warren Buffett; in Birmingham, Cardiff and Plymouth, the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company; in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool, Iberdrola; in Manchester, a consortium of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and a J.P. Morgan investment fund.
posted by scruss at 4:38 AM PST - 20 comments

Undressing But Never Bare

"Outcasts are my kind, they try harder. From strip joints to Burlesque theaters, I went on a quest and met the 'Legends', these dominating characters of the quintessential American art of strip tease. Hours of confidence on tapes, intimate photo sessions, they peel off and reveal the hidden layers of their life with throaty emotion. Their memories reflecting the memories of the land. Vietnam vets and bikers are their loyal patrons..." The Living Art Of Risqué, a photo essay from Marie Baronnet, features portraits of former strippers aged 60 to 95, accompanied by short bio-vignettes in their own words. [NSFW; nudity] [more inside]
posted by taz at 3:04 AM PST - 4 comments

"Corporations are people, Officer!"

'If Corporations Are People, Can They Ride In The Carpool Lane?' [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:45 AM PST - 72 comments

January 9

In Russia ___

The sport of zorbing (previously) originated in the 1990s in New Zealand and is now done around the world. In Russia, zorbs have been adopted as a symbol of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which is being held in Sochi, Caucasus Mountains. However this video of a recent zorb run in Sochi shows it's not always fun and games. [Caution: Shows events leading to a fatality but not actual fatality.] For background and the rest of the story.
posted by stbalbach at 10:34 PM PST - 36 comments

Delusional Downtown Divas

Lena Dunham shows her art-world roots in her 2009 web-series: Season 1 at Index Magazine, Season 2 at delusionaldowntowndivas.com. Meanwhile Season 2 of Dunham's HBO series "Girls" arrives Sunday night, expect online fireworks.
posted by Artw at 9:53 PM PST - 51 comments

Love in the Time of Recession

Vini Reilly, of English post-punks The Durutti Column, had been through a rough couple of years. His friend and mentor (and Factory Records boss) Tony Wilson died, and then the already fragile guitarist suffered a series of strokes. Unable to play, and frustrated in his attempts to secure government assistance, he found himself having to sell his studio gear in order to make rent and pay off debts. Then his nephew decided to rally the fans.
posted by misterbee at 9:43 PM PST - 26 comments

Moonwalk

Just a short, beautiful video of a man walking a highline at Cathedral Peak against the background of a rising moon.
posted by Scientist at 9:19 PM PST - 13 comments

Are Western tourists being poisoned in Asia?

Western tourists (mostly female) visiting Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, and Bali) are ending up dead, likely poisoned. Local officials have blamed the use of the insecticide DEET as an exotic ingredient in so-called "Bucket Drinks", or the use of Chlorpyrifos in hotel rooms. But Deborah Blum, an author and poison expert, doesn't buy into the insecticide theories offered by local officials. She thinks this looks like targeted murders. Since writing about the poisonings, she says she's been contacted by people who claim poisoning foreigners is common in 5-star hotels, and the police and owners cover it up.. A Facebook group was formed not only so that world travelers could share safe travel tips, but also so that notice of the unexplained, and often uninvestigated, deaths could be made public.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:34 PM PST - 75 comments

Buffy vs Edward vs Lionsgate

Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed (previously), a textbook example of fair use, has been removed from YouTube after Lionsgate's attempts to monetize with ads it were met with resistance by the video's creator. "This is what a broken copyright enforcement system looks like." [more inside]
posted by ODiV at 7:59 PM PST - 37 comments

Pepys in reruns

In case you missed it the first time around, on January 1 Phyl Gyford launched another cycle of daily posts by Samuel Pepys, the British diarist who started his journal on Jan. 1, 1660. The previous cycle started Jan. 1, 2003 and finished May 31, 2012. Previously. [more inside]
posted by beagle at 5:56 PM PST - 16 comments

The Improbable is the New Normal

Every minute a new impossible thing is uploaded to the internet and that improbable event becomes just one of hundreds of extraordinary events that we'll see or hear about today. The internet is like a lens which focuses the extraordinary into a beam, and that beam has become our illumination
posted by growabrain at 5:32 PM PST - 26 comments

Fumbled Broadcasting

Which TV markets are condemned to watch the worst American football teams play? SLDeadspin
posted by Renoroc at 5:08 PM PST - 35 comments

"Welcome to Sockpuppet Theater..."

"...on the Internet, a sockpuppet is an alternate account that lets people post anonymously. And that's where we get our drama." Based on, and linked to, actual comment exchanges at LiveJournal, YouTube and elsewhere, performed by some of the top voiceover artists* and lip-synced by... duh, sockpuppets! So obviously they had to call it Sockpuppet Theater. In the words of your host, Jonas Sock, "How Meta.**" [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:18 PM PST - 19 comments

I must admit, I'm impressed at how thorough they are.

"Hiring a nanny is nervewracking. You want someone who's great with kids, who can speak three languages, and who has impeccable virtue, yet you also want someone who will work for free. It's a delicate balance. One Queens, NY couple has a very specific idea of the kind of adult in whose care they will leave their children: a lost soul who's willing to tackle the epic quest of slogging through their 65-question survey."
posted by zarq at 3:32 PM PST - 189 comments

Mushi Mushi

Listen, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take missed calls anymore. (SLYT)
posted by cmoj at 3:24 PM PST - 48 comments

Mirage (n) 2. Something that appears real or possible but is not.

"It looked like any neighborhood tavern in Chicago. The beer was cold, the bratwursts hot."

"The Mirage Tavern was a drinking establishment at 731 N. Wells St. in Chicago purchased by the Chicago Sun-Times in 1977 to investigate widespread allegations of official corruption and shakedowns visited on small businesses by city officials. The journalists used hidden cameras to help ensure that city inspectors caught accepting payoffs for ignoring safety hazards were all properly documented."

Thirty-five years ago this week, the Sun-Times began a 25-part series, which documented its work with government watchdog organization Better Government Association and venerated TV news program 60 Minutes* to capture the shakedowns, shoddy inspections, and graft galore. And now Sun-Times digital editor Marcus Gilmer is reposting every story on the day it ran in 1977 here along with additional reporting and details. [more inside]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:14 PM PST - 12 comments

The Accidental Birth of the 12" Single

"You know why we did [that]? So a DJ could take a lunch break. When you have all three-minute records, you don't even have time to go to the bathroom. Or you just want to stop for a minute. So that's 19-and-a-half minutes of 'I don't have to worry about a thing.' But I didn't do it to create this thing. I just did it to help the DJs out."
posted by .kobayashi. at 2:59 PM PST - 19 comments

A spiritual sequel to Planescape Torment

"Rumours have been swirling for years about a possible sequel to Black Isle’s legendary and powerful roleplaying game Planescape: Torment, but the closure of the original studio and the jealous guarding of the Planescape rights by owners Wizards of the Coast seemed to have put paid to any comeback. But with original Interplay boss Brian Fargo very much back in the RPG business with current studio inXile’s wildly successful Wasteland 2 crowdfunding, everything changes. He and his team have come up with a way to make a new Torment game: this is really happening." [more inside]
posted by Paragon at 2:55 PM PST - 17 comments

The Mi-Go are greater beings than we, but then again, who ain’t?

Brattleboro Days, Yuggoth Nights: an inter­view with H. P. Love­craft on a single postcard.
posted by brundlefly at 2:37 PM PST - 20 comments

Looking Good, Ancient Rome

Amateur archaeologist and "forensic hairdresser" Janet Stephens has discovered how to recreate the Seni Crines, the elaborately braided hairstyle worn by the vestal virgins. Don't miss Stephens' other classical hairstyle videos.
posted by Miko at 2:28 PM PST - 35 comments

Maternal Instinct

Animals Adopting Other Animals (SLYPlaylist)
posted by empath at 2:20 PM PST - 8 comments

Don't worry; it's just ESD!

Don't worry; it's just ESD! (SLYT)
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:05 PM PST - 16 comments

Ava Luna

Ava Luna is a Brooklyn-based band that plays a unique combination of soul and mo-town-inspired jams, with complex rhythms and noisy guitar breaks.
posted by deathpanels at 1:51 PM PST - 6 comments

How theory met practice …and drove it absolutely crazy

Thomas Frank (of What's the Matter with Kansas? and Pity the Billionaire fame) reviews Occupy's burgeoning research program in "To the Precinct Station."
"Dear god why, after only a few months of occupying Zuccotti Park, did Occupiers feel they needed to launch their own journal of academic theory? A journal that then proceeded to fill its pages with impenetrable essays seemingly written to demonstrate, one more time, the Arctic futility of theory-speak? Is this how you build a mass movement? By persistently choosing the opposite of plain speech?"
He also approvingly cites Slavoj Žižek's essay on the dangers and opportunities of the carnival here.
posted by anotherpanacea at 1:48 PM PST - 49 comments

Night City, here we go

Is San Francisco The Brooklyn To Silicon Valley's Unbuilt Manhattan? Much has been said about how San Francisco should build up and become a new Manhattan. (Previously.) Similarly, much has been said about the utterly boring suburban sprawl that is Silicon Valley. (At least in San Jose.) The Awl's Ken Layne points out that there's a lot of underdeveloped land in between that isn't exactly virgin wilderness- and suggests making more out of it: an entire metropolis, in fact. Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic Cities mentions that Redwood City is the neighborhood of the future. [more inside]
posted by Apocryphon at 1:37 PM PST - 115 comments

"A display with the thickness of a sheet of paper"

Yesterday at CES, Plastic Logic unveiled PaperTab, a "tablet" that is thin and flexible like paper. Here's a hands-on video with Time Magazine, and here's another demo. The company had a very public failure three years ago with its cancelled Que tablet (previously), but now says it is focusing on licensing the technology to companies that want to make "the paper of the future."
posted by jbickers at 1:34 PM PST - 29 comments

좋은 하루 되세요 내 친구

North Korea follows only three people on Twitter. One of them, for some reason, is 25-year-old Coldplay superfan Jimmy "Jammy" Dushku.
posted by davidjmcgee at 1:00 PM PST - 30 comments

This will be a SLYT long remembered...

Darth Vader has some trouble hearing through his helmet. [SLYT]
posted by AgentRocket at 12:57 PM PST - 20 comments

Am I dreaming?

Photographer Ronen Goldman recreates images from his dreams.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:32 PM PST - 9 comments

RIP Sol Yurick

Sol Yurick, author of the book that was the basis for Metafilter favorite film The Warriors, has died at 87.
posted by rhiannonstone at 11:59 AM PST - 15 comments

A leftist who experienced the West as the South.

Journalism and Revolution is a review from Dissent Magazine about the biography of Ryszard Kapuściński. This was Neal Ascherson in LRB.
Both of which are very different from Jack Shafer´s take down obituary piece in Slate.
posted by adamvasco at 11:36 AM PST - 13 comments

The Phantom Phonebooth

Whether made of wood or glass, the phone booth stands apart, and is made to stand apart, from the normal flow of life in which it is situated.
posted by EvaDestruction at 10:57 AM PST - 20 comments

'Jazz On A Summer's Day' - a film by Bert Stern

Keith Richards saw it fourteen times, albeit not for it all, which is what you get here:
Jazz On A Summer's Day [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 10:48 AM PST - 8 comments

Don't bait Richard Marx, not in his town

Edward McClelland made a crack on his blog about 80s pop star Richard Marx. He didn't expect Marx to respond....
posted by Chrysostom at 10:45 AM PST - 134 comments

What Turned Jaron Lanier Against the Web?

“I’d had a career as a professional musician and what I started to see is that once we made information free, it wasn’t that we consigned all the big stars to the bread lines.” (They still had mega-concert tour profits.) “It was the middle-class people who were consigned to the bread lines. And that was a very large body of people. And all of a sudden there was this weekly ritual, sometimes even daily: ‘Oh, we need to organize a benefit because so and so who’d been a manager of this big studio that closed its doors has cancer and doesn’t have insurance. We need to raise money so he can have his operation.’ And I realized this was a hopeless, stupid design of society and that it was our fault. It really hit on a personal level—this isn’t working. And I think you can draw an analogy to what happened with communism, where at some point you just have to say there’s too much wrong with these experiments.” [more inside]
posted by philip-random at 10:40 AM PST - 97 comments

Get in the car, it's a lion! Maybe...

Get in the car, it's a lion! Maybe... [more inside]
posted by fuse theorem at 10:04 AM PST - 15 comments

"We don't got no crooks in Petersburg."

"I am currently hiking the 1,700 mile proposed Keystone XL route. I started in Denver, hitchhiked across the Canadian border, took a flight over the Tar Sands of Alberta, and commenced my walk in Hardisty, AB, the northern terminus of the soon-to-be pipeline." Heading southward, Ken Ilgunas is currently in Nebraska. This is his blog chronicling the landscapes, weather, people, animals and everything else he encounters. [more inside]
posted by resurrexit at 10:00 AM PST - 8 comments

“The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings.”

"Release the Kraken!" [Discovery] "Scientists and broadcasters have captured footage of an elusive giant squid, up to eight meters (26 feet) long that roams the depths of the Pacific Ocean." [Video] [Image 1] [Image 2] [Previously] [Previously]
posted by Fizz at 9:54 AM PST - 25 comments

Pools

F**king Cruise Ship (SLYT. Bleeped Cursing.)
posted by Apropos of Something at 9:38 AM PST - 29 comments

British Problems

A few select posts from the politest, most quietly despairing subreddit, r/Britishproblems (background)
posted by The Whelk at 9:31 AM PST - 73 comments

"the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery"

Paul Stankard is a virtuoso with glass. Unlike most of his contemporaries in the studio glass movement, Stankard started as a tradesman, a scientific glassmaker, and his work is not blown, but instead is flameworked. He creates miniature botanicals—at first, exact representations of existing flowers, and now, credible but imaginary plants, complete with human roots. His work, and his day to day life, is influenced a great deal by Walt Whitman. Stankard says, "I'm not wise enough, not educated enough to experience Whitman at his absolute fullest; I have to work at it." And he works at it through glass.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:29 AM PST - 12 comments

What is WRONG with my eyes?

When classes resumed after the holidays, David and Exavier overheard another boy saying he received no gifts for Christmas. "He didn't have a Christmas tree, so Santa didn't bring him nothing," David said. . . . It was then that the two teachers in Room 117 realized what was happening. They were witnessing what Bukosky would later describe in a letter to Principal Wendell Smith as "the most amazing random act of kindness by first-graders."
posted by Madamina at 8:44 AM PST - 32 comments

Permanent vacation to Mars

Mars One is now accepting applications for its Human Settlement on Mars in 2023. Here is how you apply.
posted by rokabiri at 8:41 AM PST - 87 comments

"Untie the shoelaces, the pan goes down..."

Crow attempts cunning distraction to steal a pan. [slyt]
posted by quin at 8:29 AM PST - 55 comments

A London harrier Helps Harry

A London resident named Steven Whyley has just finished running the courses of all of London's Underground routes to raise money for brain cancer research. But because this is MetaFilter, it's interesting to note that he did so in honor of another, younger person who was also raising money for brain cancer -- until he succumbed to the same disease. [more inside]
posted by wenestvedt at 7:44 AM PST - 4 comments

It's the new Macarena... right?

Doom 3 Gagnam Style... in webGL. That is all.
posted by ChrisR at 7:28 AM PST - 12 comments

Vietnam: An Antiwar Comic Book

A comic written by Julian Bond and published in 1967, after he was expelled from the Georgia House of Representatives for opposing the war in Viet Nam. [Warning: n-word is used once as an example of hate speech] [more inside]
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 6:49 AM PST - 17 comments

Planet Four

With the help of Stargazing Live, 10,506 citizen scientists are exploring the surface of Mars like never before.
posted by Dr. Fetish at 6:28 AM PST - 8 comments

Chuck Lorre is breaking our glasses

"The Big Bang Theory is the worst kind of bully – the one that pretends to be your friend and then takes the piss out of you behind your back. It will take your viewership, it will take your money and it will laugh in your face as it systematically puts you down." The Problem with The Big Bang Theory.
posted by mippy at 3:38 AM PST - 257 comments

The Mote in Sauron's Eye

Fomalhaut is a magnitude 1.16 star in the "Piscis Austrinis" or "Southen Fish," and one of the first stars discovered with an extrasolar planet (previously). It has been dubbed "The Eye of Sauron" after a stunning picture taken in 2008 of its debris ring. There was some controversy about the exoplanet, dubbed "Fomalhaut b" though as it turns out, its orbit is stranger than expected.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:39 AM PST - 13 comments

Three-hundred hectares on a single tank of kerosene.

Put it in H. A Tumblr of images (and gifs) from The Simpsons, captioned with classic lines. [more inside]
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 12:39 AM PST - 15 comments

January 8

Blue Sky Mine

An environmental group's hoax e-mail dropped the more than $300 million from share price of Australian mining company Whitehaven Coal. The Australian Greens party has supported the economically destructive attack, drawing ire from the conservative Coalition party.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 11:16 PM PST - 161 comments

It's quite simple, really.

We’ve got ponies, glasses, middies an’ pots, see, the first man said. Now a pony’s four ounces – The second man said, Two to four. All right, two to four. But who the hell drinks two’s? [more here]
Visiting Australia? There are just a few things you need to know when ordering a beer ... [more inside]
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:16 PM PST - 92 comments

Discipline, Punish or Runaway

Run away from Michel Foucault. Cameron Kunzelman is a games journalist and creator. He has made a little web game where you try to evade the French historian. His blog. His twitter. More Kunzelman Previously.
posted by PinkMoose at 9:20 PM PST - 15 comments

Trove

Trove, an initiative of the National Library of Australia, is a vast online repository of digitised books, images, historic newspapers, maps and more.
posted by misterbee at 9:09 PM PST - 4 comments

Literary magazine throwdown

n+1 picks a fight with: [more inside]
posted by eviemath at 8:41 PM PST - 20 comments

Garmin's Edge

Garmin, the well-known navigation company also makes bike computers. Today they unveiled a GPS-enabled bike computer that adds bluetooth to pair with your phone (and piggyback on your network connection). The resulting product video featuring Garmin's pro team riders is a little Hollywood and a little silly showing riders competing virtually against each other but paints a pretty impressive picture for real-time stats, weather, maps, and data sharing among cyclist friends. More at Wired's Gadget blog and a complete review at the DC rainmaker cycling site.
posted by mathowie at 7:54 PM PST - 35 comments

An increase in Cabin Pressure is imminent

Bing bong! This is your captain speaking. This week sees the return of the BBC Radio 4 comedy Cabin Pressure, which follows the trials and triumphs (okay, mostly trials) of MJN Air, a tiny, one-plane, four-person charter airline. It was created and written by John Finnemore, a comedian and writer with credits including Mitchell and Webb, David Mitchell’s Soapbox, and his own sketch comedy radio show, John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme. [more inside]
posted by That's Numberwang! at 7:42 PM PST - 39 comments

The first rule of Banjo Club

In the Banjo Club by Ewan Wardrop
posted by rebent at 7:06 PM PST - 10 comments

Aalto Barragan Calatrava

The ABC of Architects. A bouncy animation of 26 well-known buildings.
posted by painquale at 6:25 PM PST - 5 comments

Teaching Computers to Hear Emotions

New research can detect five different emotions with 81 percent accuracy. [Additional project information].
posted by Evernix at 4:52 PM PST - 21 comments

Everyone wants to pet Riker

Original ST:TNG makeup and wardrobe footage from 1987
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 4:39 PM PST - 83 comments

How RCA Lost the LCD

RCA owned the early patents but failed to commercialize the liquid crystal display
posted by Confess, Fletch at 3:18 PM PST - 16 comments

So high, so low, so many things to know.

January 13, 2013 marks the 125th anniversary of the National Geographic Society. The Magazine is celebrating by taking a yearlong look at the past and future of exploration. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 2:20 PM PST - 10 comments

She was my mother

Jeanne Manford, the former schoolteacher and founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays , has died at 92 years old. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:16 PM PST - 73 comments

New work from George Saunders

George Saunders has released a new book of short stories titled Tenth of December. The short story of the same title has been published previously. Last week, the New York Times Magazine profiled Saunders, and this week, the Paris Review published Saunders' full preface to his first collection of stories. Saunders previously.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 1:24 PM PST - 24 comments

CES 2013

The International Consumer Electronics Show has been hosted in some form or fashion since 1967. But with the absence of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, journalists are asking if the show is still relevant.
posted by zabuni at 1:09 PM PST - 71 comments

This one goes deep purple

It's so hot in Australia they've added a new color to the weather map, a Tasmania-sized deep purple blob 50 degrees or more (123 F). In the USA 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded, smashing through previous records by a healthy margin. 2012 was also the second-worst on a measure called the Climate Extremes Index, surpassed only by 1998. Globally, 2012 is expected to be ranked as the eighth-warmest year on record, with that announcement coming later in the month. "Climate change has had a role in this,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA.
posted by stbalbach at 12:04 PM PST - 126 comments

16 hours = overnight, 64 hours = overweekend, > 7 days = forgotten about

Your scientific Twitter hashtag of the week: #overlyhonestmethods [more inside]
posted by maryr at 11:57 AM PST - 36 comments

Stop Motion Animation

10 damn fine examples of it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:55 AM PST - 18 comments

Mother Goose gone Addams

The Charles Addams Mother Goose
Three blind mice, see how they run!
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Did you ever see such a sight in your life
As three blind mice?
Charles Addams, longtime New Yorker cartoonist illustrates the nursery rhymes of Mother Goose.
posted by caddis at 11:54 AM PST - 16 comments

Hello Stark

Game of Thrones as a couple Seinfeld episodes (youtube links):episode 1and episode 2.
posted by Mojojojo at 11:52 AM PST - 10 comments

Quadcopter finds moose

Fellow Norwegians used a quadcopter in the woods and came up on a moose. The audio when they discover it is funny, even if you don't understand Norwegian.
posted by tingo at 11:50 AM PST - 45 comments

"The problem with photography is that it only deals with appearances."

Duane Michals: An unofficial celebration. From portraitist and pioneer of the photographic narrative [Warning: sidescrolling] to metaphysician and poet, Michals' work has done much to promote the idea of photography as an inventive art form. As a gay artist, an oft repeated factoid about Michals is that he has not been involved in gay civil rights; Michals' response to this claim is simple: "I think anybody who does any piece of art or work on a political subject is an activist. A person has to be what he wants the world to be." [NSFW: Nudity]
posted by Lorin at 11:47 AM PST - 2 comments

Hey what's that down there?

'Meet Sluggo – a green semi-subterranean inhabitant of Ann Arbor, Michigan. This strange little creature first appeared back in 2008 on a sidewalk, and since then started peaking out of walls cracks, chilling on ledges or doing his daily routines all over the town. Turns out, it was drawn by a local graphic artist David Zinn.'
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:41 AM PST - 20 comments

NPR Snap Judgment Performance of the Year 2012

15-year-old Noah St. John won this year's Snap Judgment Performance of the Year for his moving story about his two moms and the moment he thought he might lose the family he had always known. (SLYT) (Snap Judgement previously: 1, 2, 3)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:25 AM PST - 17 comments

Firing on Air Force Kind of a Drag on Navy Career

The U.S. Senate has declined to promote Captain Timothy W. Dorsey to the rank of rear admiral (lower half). Dorsey, currently serving as Navy Reserve inspector general, was involved in one of the more bizarre friendly fire incidents in U.S. Military History, intentionally shooting down a U.S. Air Force jet during military exercises some 25 years ago. [more inside]
posted by kjars at 9:36 AM PST - 70 comments

The uncanny beauty of decayed Daguerreotypes

Daguerreotype portraits were made by the model posing (often with head fixed in place with a clamp to keep it still the few minutes required) before an exposed light-sensitive silvered copper plate, which was then developed by mercury fumes and fixed with salts. This fixing however was far from permanent – like the people they captured the images too were subject to change and decay. They were extremely sensitive to scratches, dust, hair, etc, and particularly the rubbing of the glass cover if the glue holding it in place deteriorated. As well as rubbing, the glass itself can also deteriorate and bubbles of solvent explode upon the image.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:21 AM PST - 17 comments

Do the pug bounce, yeah, do the pug bounce!

Hop, hop, hop, hop goes the little dog.
posted by griphus at 9:10 AM PST - 26 comments

Away, we're bound away, 'cross the wide Missouri...

Tom Waits and Keith Richards record the classic shanty "Shenandoah". From Son of Rogue's Gallery, a new compilation of pirate "ballads, sea songs and chanteys," itself a sequel to the 2006 release Rogue's Gallery (mentioned previously).
posted by Shepherd at 8:28 AM PST - 43 comments

"We need this everywhere, at all times."

Andrew Hales and his sister Jacqueline made videos of hugging strangers at Venice Beach and in Rome. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's can be very heartwarming. [via]
posted by quin at 8:20 AM PST - 109 comments

Unexploding

Fireworks in reverse. [slyt]
posted by OmieWise at 8:07 AM PST - 13 comments

Super Duper!

Pixar Artist Everett Downing's 365 Supers [more inside]
posted by Fleebnork at 7:22 AM PST - 32 comments

Is the Steam Box here?

Valve and Xi3 team up to bring the Piston to CES.
posted by Artw at 7:19 AM PST - 111 comments

"Level four can withstand an AK-47"

Reportero (alternate link) - follows a veteran reporter and his colleagues at Zeta, a Tijuana-based independent newsweekly, as they stubbornly ply their trade in one of the deadliest places in the world for members of the media. In Mexico, more than 50 journalists have been slain or have vanished since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón came to power and launched a government offensive against the country's powerful drug cartels and organized crime. As the drug war intensifies and the risks to journalists become greater, will the free press be silenced? [more inside]
posted by IvoShandor at 7:17 AM PST - 3 comments

An uncivil discussion on gun control

Piers Morgan stares his chief critic in the face. Alex Jones [previously] is a controversial radio DJ responsible for, amongst other things, starting a petition to have CNN's Piers Morgan deported for comments critical of the Second Amendment. Jones was invited by Morgan to debate gun rights on Morgan's primetime show. This is what happened.
posted by LondonYank at 7:15 AM PST - 158 comments

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a 1992 RTS.

Play Dune II in your browser.
posted by zamboni at 6:45 AM PST - 24 comments

Suds for Drugs

How Tide detergent became a drug currency (similar story previously) [more inside]
posted by aerotive at 6:03 AM PST - 75 comments

Can filming one second of every day change your life?

BBC News article: to document the year, Kuriyama filmed one second of video every day. "After just six weeks, I realised I was going to be doing that for the rest of my life," he says.
posted by devnull at 3:41 AM PST - 19 comments

Call Me Maybe × 147

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" layered 147 times a cappella. via waxy
posted by cgc373 at 2:08 AM PST - 63 comments

January 7

"The original shark, it turns out, rotted."

Gold, Golden, Gilded, Glittering - The Unexpected Double History Of Banking And The Art World
In fact, we have long entrusted the task of representing our ideas of value to members of two professions that might seem to have little in common: banking and art. And, in the last seven hundred years or so, it has happened more than once that visual and financial inventors have come up with strikingly similar representations. There is more than a shadow of resemblance between the purchase of the Hirst skull in 2007 and the mortgage-backed-securities debacle that made of Lehman Brothers in the following year one of the great public pictures of vanitas we’ve had. And, when you look further into these intersections, you often find that what is really at stake is a change in the way we feel and understand time.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:46 PM PST - 20 comments

Davy Jones' Video Locker and 66th Birthday

It seems David Bowie recently got a Vimeo account, and is posting lots of videos from across the years on his website. Including one yesterday for his new single, which is being released ahead of his first album in ten years. Way to celebrate your 66th, Ziggy!
posted by not_on_display at 11:00 PM PST - 88 comments

Chicken Soup for the Popular Kids

The Superhero Delusion: How Superhero Movies created the Sad Perfect Badass Messiah, and what that says about America Warning: Contains spoilers for Chronicle on the last page.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:03 PM PST - 50 comments

Word As Image, by Ji Lee

Challenge: Create an image out of a word, using only the letters in the word itself.
Rule: use only the graphic elements of the letters without adding outside parts.
From the mind of Ji Lee [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 6:37 PM PST - 20 comments

Heckling Defended

A Defense of Heckling. The Chicago Tribune defends the indefensible (link closed to comments). Steve Heisler of the Onion A/V Club disagrees. So does Patton Oswalt. A self-confessed former heckler weighs in.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:21 PM PST - 90 comments

ETAION SHRDLCUM

New letter and word frequency counts Peter Norvig has used Google books data to generate new lists of letter frequency, the most common English words and their frequencies, and lots of other fun stuff (though I don't know if forschungsgemeinschaft is really an English word, unless it means forcing a mine shaft). [more inside]
posted by hexatron at 6:20 PM PST - 41 comments

The Science of Sex Abuse

Is it right to imprison people for heinous crimes they have not yet committed?
posted by winecork at 3:50 PM PST - 116 comments

The Costs and Solutions to American Health Care

Three excerpts from David Goldhill's new book on American health care:

Part One: Focus on Health-Care Costs Causes More Spending

Part Two: Obamacare Math Doesn't Add Up to a Healthier U.S.

Part Three: To Fix Health Care, Turn Patients Into Customers [more inside]
posted by hopeless romantique at 2:38 PM PST - 109 comments

Huell Howser, a fine example of California Gold, passed away

Huell Howser, best known as the host of California Gold, passed away today. He was 67. I hope he's up there swimming in the Neptune pool. (previously)
posted by kendrak at 1:54 PM PST - 77 comments

This is the first time that we use this way to do stuffs

Original Animation film Kung Fu Cooking Girls
Wolf Smoke is a small original animation making studio now in Shanghai, China. We have only a few ppl but we trying our best to make great animtion. Kung Fu Cooking Grils is a short story, we made it for testing new cartoon style and methoud of the way of making movies. We did key frames on paper first then used vector software to do the between frames and color painting. This is the first time that we use this way to do stuffs. Over 4000 key frames hand drawing and over 10,000 betweens in this movie. Any suggestion and comment is welcome!
posted by xqwzts at 1:49 PM PST - 15 comments

The Red and the Black

"The lofty vision of a stateless, marketless world faces obstacles that are not moral but technical, and it’s important to grasp exactly what they are." Seth Ackerman for Jacobin Magazine on "thinking concretely and practically about how we can free ourselves from social institutions that place such confining limits on the kind of society we are able to have. Because of one thing we can be certain: the present system will either be replaced or it will go on forever."
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:42 PM PST - 30 comments

Overthinking a Plate of Beans

The five scholars explored the question, “What is the meaning of food?” and debated its role in ethnic and religious tensions. They also examined the possibility that “food, which is something that all of us share, albeit in different ways, can be used to bring people together instead of differentiating between us.” According to Goldstein, one of the most important ideas to come out of the group was that food is a social process rather than a commodity and thus is central to multicultural understanding: “[Food] has to do with how we live and it’s not just an object that we ingest.” Food: History & Culture in the West [PDF], was a 2010 UC Berkley Symposium exploring multiple links between food and culture: [more inside]
posted by byanyothername at 12:14 PM PST - 14 comments

Japanese Woodblock Print Database | Ukiyo-e Search

Starting in the early 1700s and exploding in popularity throughout the 1800s, Japanese woodblock prints depicted the fantastic world of Kabuki actors, courtesans, warriors, and nature. Ever since then keeping track of all of the incredible artwork has been a pain, traipsing between dealer and museum websites, awkwardly shuffling through academic library 'websites', wandering aimlessly through GIS, not to mention all the trouble a patron had to go through to see these before the Internets. Well, The Japanese Woodblock Print Database aggregates prints from a number of museums, dealers, and auction houses into a single resource, searchable by keyword and by image, and thereby provides a shining example of web-accessible art database interface. Enjoy! [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 12:08 PM PST - 19 comments

Boil the Frog

"Boil the Frog lets you create a playlist of songs that gradually takes you from one music style to another. It's like the proverbial frog in the pot of water. If you heat up the pot slowly enough, the frog will never notice that he's being made into a stew and jump out of the pot. With a Boil the Frog playlist you can do the same, but with music." Here's more about Paul Lamere's new project, where he suggests some fun & incongruent playlists to try. [more inside]
posted by flex at 12:00 PM PST - 79 comments

Mobiliario Humano

David Blázquez is a Spanish Photographer whose self portraits have him modelling human furniture. ( Warning: Naked Men no dangly bits)
posted by adamvasco at 11:57 AM PST - 9 comments

You are Muhammed Ali! Wanna meet my sister?

One fine day in 1974, at a school in Greenwich Village, some school children talking about their hero Muhammed Ali get the shock of their lives, courtesy of Candid Camera.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:48 AM PST - 41 comments

One small clarification for a man, one giant scene of drama for mankind

Months after the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, a question arises: when did he think of the infamous quote "One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"? His brother Dean says, in a BBC documentary, it was not made up by Neil after landing on the moon, as the astronaut has said for 40+ years. Instead, Neil asked Dean for his opinion on the quote several months before Apollo 11 even launched.

Newspapers headlines asked "Did Armstrong lie", prompting protest, clarifications and remembrances from space historian Andrew Chaikin and longtime friend Dudley Schuler.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:40 AM PST - 32 comments

"Everything is photogenic once it has been photographed."

Photographer Lewis Baltz came to prominence as part of the loosely knit "New Topographics" movement and its eponymous 1975 exhibition. Largely ignored at the time, it wasn't until Deborah Bright's 1985 essay Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men: An Inquiry Into the Cultural Meanings of Landscape photography [pdf] that critics started examining the movement's significance more closely. Bright called Baltz the "most articulate and complex of the New Topographics artists," a reputation he has lived up to over the years on film, in interviews and as the eminently quotable professor of conceptual photography at the European Graduate School. [more inside]
posted by Lorin at 11:39 AM PST - 3 comments

Secret and Lies of the Bailout

Secret and Lies of the Bailout. "The federal rescue of Wall Street didn’t fix the economy – it created a permanent bailout state based on a Ponzi-like confidence scheme. And the worst may be yet to come." [Via]
posted by homunculus at 11:11 AM PST - 75 comments

Visualization of large scale datasets looks darn pretty

null_sets is a new body of artwork aimed at exploring the gap between data and information. Consisting of a set of images, this project stems from our interest in glitches, code-breaking, and translation. our custom script encodes text files as images, making it possible to visualize both the size and architecture of large-scale data sets through an aesthetic lens. So if you ever wanted to see hamlet as a jpeg and find artistic merit hiding within its code, here's your chance. [more inside]
posted by legweak at 9:18 AM PST - 10 comments

Houndton Tabby

Houndton Tabby is an Etsy store filled with amazing portraits of the Downton Abbey cast, but as cats and dogs. [via mefi projects]
posted by mathowie at 9:10 AM PST - 28 comments

Counterfeit Monkey

> examine mourning dress
A black vintage gown trimmed with much lace and dripping with jet beads.

> wave U-remover at mourning dress
There is a flash of psychedelic colors, and the mourning dress turns into a morning dress. An outfit of striped trousers and fancy coat, such as men sometimes wear to fancy weddings in the morning...

Counterfeit Monkey: a game of word manipulation.
posted by Iridic at 8:51 AM PST - 53 comments

That saw from the side might be.

AskMeFi is (or rather, might be) accused. Metatalk is a beautiful sword (+4 attack). Mefi music is energetic. [more inside]
posted by Iteki at 8:16 AM PST - 63 comments

"Any sufficiently advanced juggling is indistinguishable from magic."

Street performer showing off some amazing skills with a soccer/ football.
posted by quin at 8:00 AM PST - 12 comments

IT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE

OMG! CATS! IN! SPACE!
posted by The Whelk at 7:55 AM PST - 35 comments

Defaced Money

"Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. Defacement of currency in such a way that it is made unfit for circulation comes under the jurisdiction of the United States Secret Service." - source
"Defaced Money" tagged Tumblr posts, 11 more impressive examples of creatively defaced currency, 101 Unusual, Impressive And Illegal Pieces Of Defaced Currency, and some cool guitar picks.
posted by spock at 7:53 AM PST - 7 comments

Is it the terrorists?

Illegals -- Aliens as oppressed or oppressing groups in Avatar, Super 8, Attack the Block and... Alf? (Previously)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:06 AM PST - 47 comments

State of America Print Series

State of America from Julian Montague: I was recently commissioned to create a series of prints for Print Collection.com. The series depicts the surprisingly diverse and slightly strange official insignia of the American states. There are 50 (18x24 inch) prints in the series (titled State of America), including birds, mammals, grains, fossils, minerals, insects and more.
posted by OmieWise at 6:34 AM PST - 12 comments

The Physics of Bad Piggies

The physics of Bad Piggies:  Scale, mass, scale again,  balloons and friction
posted by Artw at 6:30 AM PST - 11 comments

Not My Department

Jacob Appelbaum speaks about resistance in his keynote address at 29c3 (previously : 28c3, 24c3) [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 6:19 AM PST - 42 comments

The Beatles of Comedy

Working up material for the project, Cleese and Chapman took another pass at the car-salesman idea. It had possibilities, Cleese felt, that they had failed to exploit. What if they shifted the action to a pet shop? What if the malfunctioning car became a dead animal? A dog, say. Or a parrot.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:12 AM PST - 75 comments

January 6

Mildly Interesting

/r/mildlyinteresting is where to go if you want things which are, you know, neat. Or pretty cool. Or something else which is better than boring but not quite as intense as fascinating. Things like snow meeting high tide, or uniformly-sized bubbles. A bear face or a llama face on a piece of wood. An observation about Tic Tac containers. A poorly-designed drawer. A belligerent tree. An amusing Google trend. Cross-product branding on cereal boxes. Caution: weirdly effective as a time sink.
posted by Rory Marinich at 11:16 PM PST - 74 comments

"There are many species in the asshole kingdom."

"So what is an asshole, exactly? How is he (and assholes are almost always men) distinct from other types of social malefactors? Are assholes born that way, or is their boorishness culturally conditioned? What explains the spike in the asshole population?" -- The Chronicle talks to two professors, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg and philospher Aaron James, about their recent work on, well, assholes. [more inside]
posted by bardic at 10:04 PM PST - 69 comments

"Until you acquire an education, you will never find out who you really are."

In seventh grade, after school let out, Humaira Mohammed Bachal opened her home in Thatta (Pakistan) to 10-12 friends who weren't allowed to go to school, and taught them what she was learning. By the time she was 16 and ready to take her 9th grade exams, (over her father's objections,) she and four other girls were teaching more than 100 students. Now, her sister Tahira, (age 18,) is principal of the school Humaira founded: with 22 teachers serving more than 1,000 kids in a Karachi slum (yt). All in a country where if you are a young girl in a rural area, you are unlikely ever to see the inside of a classroom, and advocating education for young girls can be life-threatening. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 9:50 PM PST - 14 comments

America's Postmodern Sweetheart(?)

The Dualities of Taylor Swift: Furries, Bo Diddley, and Country Bears in “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:38 PM PST - 47 comments

A small island

Britain from Above was a 2008 BBC TV program that used aerial photography and data visualization to depict British transportation, land planning, police management of public order, ecology and much else. Of particular interest: the effect on the national electrical grid of millions of tea kettles being switched on simultaneously at the end of a popular soap opera airing. [more inside]
posted by grouse at 8:59 PM PST - 17 comments

Many of history’s—and the present’s—irresistible, beautiful women heartbreakers can’t tolerate mere males.

Science fiction pioneer Hugo Gernsback proposed a state-run electronic matching and mating service in 1964.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 8:46 PM PST - 37 comments

One Nation Under a Court Order

What do the songs The Electric Spanking of War Babies, Uncle Jam, Hardcore Jollies and One Nation Under a Groove all have in common? Well, sure, they were all written (with a collaborator here and there) by Mr. George Clinton. But that's not all they have in common. As of now, the copyright in these booty-shaker workouts does not belong to the legendary P. Funk mastermind, but rather to the law firm of Hendricks and Lewis. Funk Classics Seized to Pay Off $1 Million Debt.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:36 PM PST - 34 comments

Can't seem to find the word...

21 emotions English has no word for . Some things "light us up". Some things "leave us cold". Such dim metaphors only hint at the unspoken universe of feeling, dimensions we can only guess that we share. A new infographic explores "untranslatable" feeling-words from other languages.
posted by Twang at 4:17 PM PST - 129 comments

The Value of Culture

The Value of Culture is a five part BBC radio series by Melvyn Bragg (which can be downloaded as a podcast) which explores the modern concept of 'culture' from its roots in mid-19th Century Britain, specifically Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy and Edward Burnett Tylor's Primitive Culture (vol. 2), and exploring the discourse and uses of the concept until the present day. There are five episodes, each a little over forty minutes long, focusing in turn on Arnold and the roots of the concept of culture, Tylor and the anthropological conception of culture, C. P. Snow and the 'Two Cultures' debate, mass culture and culture studies, and then ending with a debate on the value of culture today.
posted by Kattullus at 3:52 PM PST - 11 comments

This is a thing that exists

Godzilla Likes to Roar.
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:14 PM PST - 17 comments

The British and their bizarre view of American

The British and their bizarre view of American. "So, while from afar America may seem, to the Briton, a bewildering and Brobdingnagian phenomenon, close up and personal, the Americans themselves take on the more familiar Lilliputian lineaments of his own countrymen and women." Will Self takes a look at the ambivalent relationship the British has with the USA.
posted by zoo at 3:08 PM PST - 124 comments

Seb Toots Montreal snowboarding run

Commuting Canadian style. Snowboarder Seb Toots (Sebastien Toutant) took advantage of the late December blizzard in Montréal by taking his board to a good launch spot on Mont Royal (Kondiaronk Lookout, according to one Vimeo commenter) and working his way down. Elegant, fluid, hypnotic. Note: Some wildlife may have been briefly bemused or alarmed during the making of this film. No wildlife attempted to eat him.
posted by maudlin at 2:44 PM PST - 28 comments

Beauty matters. Plainness hurts.

Unpacking the Beauty Premium , Borland J & Leigh A, unpub., 2013.
The first Australian study of the financial return to physical attractiveness finds its worth an astounding $32,150 in annual salary, with men of above average looks typically commanding $81,750 compared to $49,600 for men with below-average looks.
Men with below-average looks were 15 per cent less likely than normal to be employed and were typically employed for a 9 per cent lower wage. They were also less likely to be married and less likely to married to a woman of high income.
posted by wilful at 2:37 PM PST - 64 comments

"Rigor should be seen as pluralistic[....]"

Bieberians at the Gate: should non-philosophers judge philosophers?
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:35 PM PST - 28 comments

Vengabus Kei

Two goths do a dance to "Norwegian aggrotech band" Combichrist. Then someone realised it had the same tempo as Cotton Eye Joe and We Like To Party (The VEngabus)
posted by mippy at 1:58 PM PST - 78 comments

Trombone + GoPro

Trombone + GoPro (slyt) (alternate link)
posted by fungible at 12:45 PM PST - 31 comments

Mastaba Snoopy

An Unknown Alien Being acquires a child's forgotten book and mistakenly believes that it depicts proper protocol for interaction with the human world.
The book is a collection of Peanuts comics.
Woodsnoopy 45 stares into your open heart. Her yellow head squirms and pukes up feathers.
It makes you uncomfortable when she looks at you. She makes a demand.
Her demands come often and always create uncomfortably simultaneous feelings of resentment and obedience.
ACQUIRE NICKELS
That is the territory of the Lucy faction. They are the ones who gather nickels. Woodsnoopy 45 is overstepping her boundaries.
Being a mere Woodsnoopy 799, however, you can do naught but obey."
MASTABA SNOOPY
posted by JHarris at 12:43 PM PST - 31 comments

“Hey, do New Year’s resolutions always have to be good for you?”

Norm Macdonald likes to gamble. Gamble money on sports. [more inside]
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:38 PM PST - 36 comments

Healing Kaleidoscope

Emma Kunz was a telepathic healer and researcher. Even though she didn't consider herself an artist, the hypnotic symmetry found in her hand-drawn healing charts is breathtaking.
posted by shackpalace at 12:16 PM PST - 33 comments

the end of history illusion

Why You Won’t Be the Person You Expect to Be (NYT): "When we remember our past selves, they seem quite different. We know how much our personalities and tastes have changed over the years. But when we look ahead, somehow we expect ourselves to stay the same... They called this phenomenon the “end of history illusion,” in which people tend to “underestimate how much they will change in the future.”" (via exp.lore) [more inside]
posted by flex at 11:48 AM PST - 34 comments

"The nature of the photographic process - it is about failure."

"The fact that photographs — they’re mute, they don’t have any narrative ability at all. You know what something looks like, but you don’t know what’s happening, you don’t know whether the hat’s being held or is it being put on her head or taken off her head. From the photograph, you don’t know that. A piece of time and space is well described. But not what is happening."
Legendary street photographer Garry Winogrand with Bill Moyers, 1982 [more inside]
posted by Lorin at 11:31 AM PST - 7 comments

The Boss in je moerstaal

Sintermerte (Old Dan Tucker), En As Ik Achter Lig (If I Fall Behind) and D'r Vandoor (Born to Run) are tracks from the cd Pollux Duit Springsteen, in which the Venlo born singer-songwriter Frank Pollux translates and transplants twelve Bruce Springsteen songs to his hometown's dialect. So instead of walking his mule down the Erie Canal, he has fifteen Poles sticking asparagus in the Sperjesveld. Perhaps surprisingly, it works. -- The full track listing
posted by MartinWisse at 10:11 AM PST - 13 comments

The Existential Adventures of Tim Maia

The Existential Adventures of Tim Maia
posted by Tom-B at 10:09 AM PST - 8 comments

No high fives!

A surprisingly comprehensive animator's guide to King of the Hill. Including: drawing mouths, scenery, lighting, shot composition and other minutiae.
posted by codacorolla at 8:51 AM PST - 60 comments

It never occurs to us that she will listen.

"Jenni Greenwald, please commit suicide." In 1986, John Cook and some fellow eighth grade boys wrote an underground newspaper filled with bullying and racism, targeting other students and teachers in their school. He reflects on this, getting in touch with both his co-authors and victims, in Confessions of a Teenage Word Bully.
posted by Chanther at 8:30 AM PST - 84 comments

Cosplays with Color

Cosplaying While Black
posted by griphus at 7:52 AM PST - 25 comments

Green And Blue Mars

Imagine the planet Mars as you've never seen it before. [more inside]
posted by Kevin Street at 1:39 AM PST - 34 comments

And it's my plan if some great man, Dies with a broken head, Sirs, With much bewail I does detail, His death before he's dead, Sirs!

You wouldn't think so from its trendy shops and restaurants today, but Seven Dials was once one of the worst slums in London. Intended as a smart residential area when its construction was completed in 1710, this cartwheel of streets between Charing Cross Road and Covent Garden quickly declined to become an over-crowded refuge for the city's thieves. It was here that London's thriving trade in gallows ballads made its home.
A collaboration across more than 100 years, from the jobbing hacks writing ballads and selling them at the foot of the gallows to the historical investigation of the British Library's broadsheet collection by MeFi's own Paul Slade, to modern rock, folk, and blues musicians, and then to your ears. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 1:10 AM PST - 9 comments

January 5

"Monsters Have Problems Too": Meet Adam Rex

"Just because you might be a monster, that doesn’t mean life is going to be all terrified villagers and biting. There’s a down side—monsters have problems, too." You may not know illustrator and author Adam Rex, but if you enjoy the idea of The Creature from the Black Lagoon ignoring perfectly sensible advice on eating and swimming, of Hulk at the Tropicana, 1965, or of Frankenstein sitting down with a Dagwood sandwich, you might want to get to know his work. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:02 PM PST - 11 comments

AWESOME & PROOF GOD EXISTS

Miami Connection: Full of ninjas, rock and roll, and tae kwon do action, this 1987 megablockbuster-in-waiting finally hit theaters outside Orlando last year after a serendipitous eBay auction and a proper release by Drafthouse Films.
posted by cthuljew at 10:50 PM PST - 17 comments

Pew, Pew Pew Pew

Here's a cool video of a red hot nickel ball in water. [more inside]
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:22 PM PST - 34 comments

My father didn't fight in the Clone Wars. He was a navigator on a spice freighter.

The Best Of Star Wars: Clone Wars - The CGI Star Wars spin off that made the franchise fun again for young and old reached it's 100th episode today.
posted by Artw at 9:35 PM PST - 35 comments

Water Conservation and Usage Systems

"We need the rain." So I was looking for information on water conservation and usage systems, and I found some useful resources. Here's a forum. [more inside]
posted by aniola at 8:57 PM PST - 3 comments

"You might not have the talent you need. Success may no longer be available to you. Time will bury everything you care about."

Movie critic Matthew Dessem (previously) considers Edward Ford to be the greatest unproduced screenplay in Hollywood.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:54 PM PST - 11 comments

A Mosque Among The Stars...

Islam & Science Fiction is exactly what it sounds like: interviews with authors, art, and more on Muslims and the future. They've also released a book that you can grab for free, A Mosque Among The Stars
posted by artof.mulata at 6:45 PM PST - 26 comments

Convoy Conquest!

Tireless eaters Jenne and Miko set out to try every restaurant along San Diego's Convoy Street. (via Projects) [more inside]
posted by threeants at 6:15 PM PST - 19 comments

Are you awake?

What does it mean to be conscious? The point of view of anesthesiology.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:10 PM PST - 42 comments

There are thousands of kids like me out there. Eventually, it gets better.

"In May 2013, "Asperger's Syndrome" will be removed as a diagnosis from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), leaving "high functioning autism" in its place. I agree with this change. Given the importance of the manual, however, it's caused a lot of consternation and caused me to reflect upon my experiences."—Anonymous
Pedagogy of the Depressed: my experiences as a special ed student in the 1990s, an anonymous Boing Boing article
posted by Toekneesan at 6:10 PM PST - 35 comments

Grab yourself a snack and a glass of orange juice

The Top Ten Hottest Female Sonic [the Hedgehog] Characters: You might not have realized this but the Sonic universe might also be classified as "Hot Chick Heaven". Hotties include Cream the Rabbit, who is "attractive and the size of an average human mother"; Princess Sally Acorn, who not only didn't wear clothes in the comic but also "grew very long hair and married Sonic in the future"; and not one, but two echidnas: "What's better than having a female with cascading quills? How about a female with cascading quills and hair?" Curiously, the list ignores the beautiful Fiona Fox, who readers will remember was Tails' first (robotic) love, and whose rusting prompted the legendary 1995 Tails Miniseries.
posted by Rory Marinich at 4:28 PM PST - 90 comments

When is a unicorn like a garden?

Alison Ann Woodward, aka Alison Wonderland, put together a little art box she called Heirloom that contains an easily disassembled little unicorn, which can then be re-assembled as a little Lewis Carrol-style garden.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:36 PM PST - 8 comments

Review Raja

Review Raja Review Raja doesn’t share his real name with anyone, but he is happy to share the unlikely story of how a white guy who was born in Tweed and grew up in Belleville became Review Raja, a connoisseur of Tamil films, or Kollywood, and a celebrity in the Tamil community in Canada and abroad.
posted by modernnomad at 3:22 PM PST - 8 comments

Fastnet, Force 10

The Fastnet Race is a biennial sailing race from Cowes to Fastnet Rock to Plymouth, in England. In 1979, it was the venue for one of the most famous storms and greatest disasters in yacht-racing history. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:58 PM PST - 9 comments

There are things it doesn't say on the tin.

The customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk's Veet For Men Hair Removal Gel Creme are not for the fainthearted. "Being a loose cannon who does not play by the rules the first thing I did..."
posted by Diablevert at 2:44 PM PST - 69 comments

The man on the ledge is named Dylan Yount.

From the street 100 feet below the ledge, the man barely seems real. He is nondescript, nothing more than white skin with a mild tan, a fit build, and shaggy blond hair. He is a faceless blur. He is anonymous, but will be defined by his final act. SF Weekly chronicles the life of a man whose suicide was cheered on by onlookers and captured by social media.
posted by desjardins at 1:45 PM PST - 72 comments

Steam Powered Giraffe

ATTUNE YOUR EARS TO THE GRINDING GEARS. [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena at 1:34 PM PST - 9 comments

"Dark glasses are like being behind a waterfall - daring and safe at the same time"

The 1992 BBC investigative documentary series The Look, aiming to examine the 'serious side of fashion', is available to watch online. The episodes cover the power of licensing luxury names, who benefits from catwalk shows, how the industry commodifies identity, the story of Yves Saint Laurent, the power of the press, and how fabric itself makes a difference. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 1:00 PM PST - 10 comments

"If you account for my access to academic journal subscriptions, my salary is really like half a million dollars."

This past Thursday, Forbes Magazine published a pair of articles: The Most Stressful Jobs of 2013 and The Least Stressful Jobs of 2013, the latter of which began with the sentence: "University professors have a lot less stress than most of us." 300+ outraged comments (and thousands of sarcastic #RealForbesProfessor tweets,) later they've added a retraction, and linked to a blog post that takes A Real Look at Being a Professor in the US. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 12:32 PM PST - 68 comments

Can you find your dot?

Census Dotmap is the visual representation of all persons counted in the 2010 US and 2011 Canadian censuses (via).
posted by hat_eater at 12:20 PM PST - 22 comments

Gravity is the only glue

"Rock balancing is an art, discipline, or hobby (depending upon the intent of the practitioner) in which rocks are balanced on top of one another in various positions". Here are a few practitioners:
Phillip A. Long
Renato Brancaleoni
Lila Higgins
Adrian Gray
Michael Grab
Terry Robison uses sticks beside stones
Dave Gorman
Peter Juhl shares basic principles
Team Sandtastic stacks rocks when they don’t build elaborate sand castles
Bill Dan has links to other balancers.
Extra: Balanced sand castles [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 11:57 AM PST - 18 comments

I would respect you like CRAZY

For Vanity Fair's Comedy issue, the groundbreaking improvisational comedy duo of Mike Nichols and Elaine May sit down (but don't quite sit still) for their first joint interview in decades.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:21 AM PST - 8 comments

Nobel Prize Library

We introduced UNZ.org before but it's probably worth revisiting for a vein of gold, the Nobel Prize Library (1971), which contains full modern translations of significant works of 20th century literature. For example [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 10:39 AM PST - 4 comments

Back where he otter be

For the first time in more than half a century, there is a river otter living in San Francisco. Photos. Photos and video. [more inside]
posted by Lexica at 10:16 AM PST - 25 comments

"the arts are just a part of the weapons of life"

The poet Jayne Cortez passed away this past December 28th in New York City (New York Times obituary). She started publishing her poems in the late 1960s and in the 70s began performing her poetry backed by music, first in collaboration with bassist Richard Davis, and then backed by her own band The Firespitters. Some of their tracks have found their way to YouTube: I See Chano Pozo, If the Drum Is a Woman, There It Is, Maintain Control & Economic Love Song I, Everybody Wants to Be Somebody, Takin' the Blues Back Home, Talk to Me (for Don Cherry), I've Been Searching, You Can Be and Endangered Species List Blues. Just two years ago she performed solo with her son by Ornette Coleman, drummer Denardo Coleman: Find Your Own Voice, I'm Gonna Shake and She Got He Got. In 1997 she was featured on University of California television network in the series Artists on the Cutting Edge where she read poems and discussed her work. Finally, here's a brief clip from the 1982 documentary Poetry in Motion, where she was interviewed.
posted by Kattullus at 10:08 AM PST - 4 comments

Those silly Dutch errr Germans, losing things...

The Lost Dutchman Mine remains lost, though the body of a man obsessed by it was finally found. Jesse Capen was obsessed by the legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine, and planned a trip to the Superstition Mountains in 2009 to find it and earn his riches. Unfortunately he died in an apparent fall on what was probably his first day there. His remains were finally found.
posted by Eekacat at 9:50 AM PST - 14 comments

The more I look the more I see things that make me want to look away BUT I CAN’T.

Lousy Book Covers
posted by dobbs at 9:27 AM PST - 86 comments

--o---<<|

Happy Thomas Pynchon rumor day! [LAtimes.com] "What's that, you say? America's most reclusive author, Thomas Pynchon, appeared in the news Friday -- not once but twice? Why, yes, yes, he has, surfacing in two unconnected rumours. Conspiracy? Pynchonian? Maybe we should henceforth designate Jan. 4 as Thomas Pynchon Rumor Day." [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 8:39 AM PST - 40 comments

I love nature. I hate pollution

Children's Eyes on Earth 2012 photography contest [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:51 AM PST - 3 comments

Seeing yellow

THE PROBLEM OF THE AMBER SIGNAL LIGHT IN TRAFFIC FLOW (PDF), published in 1959, is the origin of the yellow interval duration equation for traffic lights. But in China, as of Tuesday, yellow lights are now considered functionally the same as red lights, prompting outcries in the local media that it is not only unfair, but actually violates Newton's First Law of Motion. It also violates the history of traffic lights... [more inside]
posted by twoleftfeet at 6:16 AM PST - 47 comments

Persistence prays

Chagos Islanders Lose the European Court Battle but the Struggle Continues Former residents of the Chagos Islands have lost their latest legal bid for the right to return following a European ruling. What next for the islanders? James Wan recaps the decades long struggle and the implications of the latest ruling on the fate of the former residents of Diego Garcia. Previously in 2002, 2003 2006 and some archives.
posted by infini at 2:41 AM PST - 32 comments

NSF/smashthestate

Password Security in Deus Ex
posted by Zarkonnen at 12:42 AM PST - 61 comments

de Dodo doo, de da da da

More dodos than you can shake a stick at! The Dodo Blog: "The influence of dodos in the modern culture, in other words, a blog about dodos." Continued at The Dodo Tumblr.Dodos previously & previously
posted by not_on_display at 12:04 AM PST - 8 comments

January 4

What polar bears seek out when they're tired of Coke

"Cameraman Captures What It’s Like to Be Targeted as Food by a Polar Bear." Does what it says on the tiny, flimsy, Plexiglas shelter with some promising gaps.
posted by maudlin at 9:05 PM PST - 75 comments

"It's a damn Ferrari, brother. Son of a bitch."

Since about 2006 "Mike Terrorista" has been posting videos on YouTube from his Honda motorcycle as MIKE9MMM, keeping up a running commentary and ogling girls while racing though Sao Paulo traffic at high speed. (Note: some swearing in Portuguese) [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman at 8:58 PM PST - 25 comments

The Old Corner Bookstore is Now a Chipotle

"'Personally, I think it’s slightly sad how easy it was to get,' Jessica says, referring to the building. She brightens. 'But everyone at Chipotle was really excited to get this spot because of the history, the chance to be a part of Boston’s history. This is the oldest retail location in Boston.'" (via)
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:21 PM PST - 52 comments

Batman: the Animated Series

Why the opening to Batman: the Animated Series is the best thing ever. [more inside]
posted by curious nu at 7:22 PM PST - 54 comments

Coin of the Realm

An idea to mint a trillion dollar coin is seriously proposed as a desperate legal maneuver against allowing the US government to go into default. [more inside]
posted by Brian B. at 5:51 PM PST - 146 comments

little techie.

little techie. from the mind of a 5-year-old tech geek. [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:22 PM PST - 23 comments

Could I BE having any less sex?

The One Where Someone Calculated How Many People The Friends Slept With and a graph. (via)
posted by crossoverman at 5:13 PM PST - 30 comments

(Possibly too subversive?)

I found Banksy's notebook. These ideas and sketches may one day grace the walls of your local bank, or the book section of your local Urban Outfitters, but until then, here’s a sneak preview:
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:57 PM PST - 76 comments

Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks

See how much money people make in every neighborhood in every city in America with Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks, a map that displays wealth distributions across US cities (and states).
posted by EvaDestruction at 3:36 PM PST - 58 comments

Frosty the Snow Flea

I went skiing today and looked down and the snow was covered with snow fleas. Research at Queen's University (Canada) have sequenced and synthesised the anti-freeze-like protein that allows snow fleas to operate in sub-zero environments.
posted by Xurando at 2:42 PM PST - 24 comments

"We Just Witnessed a War Crime"

The first thing we learned about war re-enactment is that it's fucking terrifying having guns fired at you, even ones loaded with blanks. The second thing we learned is a common re-enactor's dilemma called "The G.I. Effect", which is basically that people playing Americans don't like to die. So sometimes they just don't.
It's Like Vietnam All Over Again, pt 1. Part 2
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 2:33 PM PST - 60 comments

How Blind People Use Instagram

Tommy Edison has been blind since birth. He wants to show you how he uses Instagram (previously).
posted by nadawi at 2:30 PM PST - 15 comments

The Dowager Countess Will Never Walk Alone

Downton Abbey returns to American TV screens this Sunday. Since many Americans have become fascinated with the intricate social dances featured in the English drama/soap, Grantland feels there's an opportunity to provide them a lesson about the equally intricate plot machinations associated with the English Premier League. I give you the "English Premier League to Downton Abbey plot converter." [more inside]
posted by modernnomad at 2:06 PM PST - 28 comments

A declining number of U.S. adults in prison or on probation

After decades of increases, the number of adults in the U.S. who are in prison, jail, on parole, or on probation has declined over the last few years. The pdf of the report from the U.S. Department of Justice is here. Comments from Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution, Reason Magazine's Hit & Run blog, and Keith Humphreys.
posted by Area Man at 2:05 PM PST - 11 comments

Somewhere on the internet, someone thinks that not only can your team trade for Stanton, but it won’t be that hard.

Giancarlo (a.k.a. "Mike") Stanton is one of the most exciting young baseball players in the game today. Known primarily as a power hitter with potential Hall of Fame talent, he has hit some legendary home runs, including one he hit as a minor leaguer that reportedly traveled 500+ ft on its way out of Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium and another that broke the scoreboard at Marlins Park and, at an off-bat speed 122.4 mph, was the hardest hit home run ever recorded by the ESPN Hit Tracker. Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price likened Stanton to a video game "create a player." But recently, when the Miami Marlins dumped five of his teammates in a blockbuster, cost-cutting trade with the Blue Jays (effectively removing them from contention for the near future), Stanton expressed his dissatisfaction publicly, opening up rumors that he might be next to be traded. Internet baseball fans responded by proposing their own hypothetical (and often wildly optimistic) trade ideas, which Ben Lindbergh of Baseball Prospectus kindly compiled into one list: Stanton trade packages proposed by fans of every team on the internet this offseason.
posted by albrecht at 2:03 PM PST - 8 comments

Can a band be any more Metal than this?

The Robot band Compressorhead plays Motörhead's Ace of Spades.
posted by fings at 2:00 PM PST - 33 comments

Gerda Lerner: "In my courses, the teachers told me about a world in which ostensibly one-half the human race is doing everything significant and the other half doesn’t exist. I asked myself how this checked against my own life experience. ‘This is garbage; this is not the world in which I have lived,’ I said."

Feminist historian Gerda Lerner has passed away at 92. An original member of the National Organization for Women, Lerner was a pioneer in the field of women's history, teaching what is thought to be the first women’s history course in the world and later establishing the first women's history graduate program in the United States. She led a fascinating life. [more inside]
posted by Morrigan at 1:40 PM PST - 17 comments

TIRED OF BRAND X?

An insert house provides labels and covers for products in TV and film production to avoid legal problems and Earl Hays Press is the big granddaddy of them all so why not enter an alternate off-brand universe of Butt Beer, Captain Sugarr, and Sports Page today?
posted by The Whelk at 1:20 PM PST - 54 comments

Old Greek Blasphemy Laws Stir Up Modern Drama

"It seems like every time there's a crisis in Greece, there's a search for saviors," Philippos Loizos, a 27-year-old scientist, tells NPR. Loizos set up a Facebook page that criticized a Greek monk as xenophobic and close-minded. Last September, Greek police arrested Loizos and charged him with blasphemy, which carries up to six months in prison.
posted by winecork at 1:19 PM PST - 27 comments

When Wolverine met Freddy Mercury

In 2010, Marvel Comics artist Steve Bunch posted an anonymous page to his blog that featured X-Men frontman Wolverine inexplicably encountering Queen frontman Freddy Mercury, an art submission originally sent to Darren Auck, then head of Marvel's art-correction team, in the 1990s. Portland-based comics artist Colleen Coover read Bunch's post, and in 2012 she decided to do something about it: she decided to recreate the page, adding color (both literal and metaphorical) to the meeting of these two (actual and arguable) mutants. Since then, other comic artists have decided to recreate the historic meeting depicted on that original, baffling/brilliant page: Some are magical; some are professional grade (pages one and two); some are prosaic; some are, frankly, adorable. Not all of them are on Coover's page. Do you hold the secret to this story? Coover would like to see your take: "I invite other artists to do the same, by which exercise we may one day come close to the fictional Truth of the matter."
posted by firstbest at 1:07 PM PST - 39 comments

Carving Eggshells

Beth Ann Magnuson hand-carves intricate, lace-like patterns on eggshells. Videos: Samples / Carving and Etching techniques. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 11:51 AM PST - 6 comments

Beate Sirota Gordon, 1923-2012; "The Only Woman In The Room"

Beate Sirota Gordon, Long-Unsung Heroine of Japanese Women’s Rights, Dies at 89: a NYT obituary relates the fascinating story of a young woman who was just the right person in just the right place at just the right time and managed to strike a blow for gender equality. [more inside]
posted by flex at 11:45 AM PST - 19 comments

Media and the Internet

Andrew Sullivan to have subscribers, causing speculation as to what this could portend for the Internet, new media, and journalism.
posted by bookman117 at 11:43 AM PST - 53 comments

"Come On Down"

The story of a guy who went to LA with one goal in mind, get somebody from his party into Contestants Row on The Price is Right.
posted by COD at 11:15 AM PST - 31 comments

The Bowdlerization of bande dessinée

Europe has a long-standing comic tradition, at least equal to that of America. Beyond Tintin and Asterix, there are hundreds of fantastic titles with astonishing art, most of which never see the shores of the USA. However, when a lucky title does get the nod, something bizarre happens when European sensibilities face American censors. [more inside]
posted by themadthinker at 11:15 AM PST - 39 comments

Christopher Robin is a Sadist

Flash Friday!!! It's Winnie The Pooh Home Run Derby! In Japanese! And insanely difficult!
posted by clorox at 10:59 AM PST - 42 comments

Not so absolute now, are you?

Quantum gas goes below absolute zero. "It may sound less likely than hell freezing over, but physicists have created an atomic gas with a sub-absolute-zero temperature for the first time. Their technique opens the door to generating negative-Kelvin materials and new quantum devices, and it could even help to solve a cosmological mystery."
posted by moonmilk at 9:57 AM PST - 71 comments

Dead Eyes, Hinged Mouth, Never Sleep Again, Dead Eyes, Hinged Mouth, Never Sleep Again...

Talking Heads: The Vent Haven Portraits is a new book by Matthew Rolston which explores the history and style of ventriloquist dummies. Buzzfeed has collected some of the most interesting (and creepy) of the portraits contained within.
posted by quin at 9:05 AM PST - 10 comments

"it's quite clear that there's tons of cultural transmission that's just strictly by observational learning."

How Culture Drove Human Evolution
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:52 AM PST - 40 comments

BIFF WINS AGAIN

Jonathan Chait questions the editorial judgment of the Hill Valley Telegraph in Back to the Future Part II. [more inside]
posted by Cash4Lead at 8:11 AM PST - 62 comments

"Victory as recorded on those screens made them feel like Masters of the Universe."

Eunuchs of the Universe: Tom Wolfe on Wall Street Today: [Daily Beast]
"As America teeters on a cliff, Tom Wolfe draws up a sterling indictment of our unscrupulous financial culture. Twenty-five years after Bonfire of the Vanities, the author returns to Wall Street to see what happened to the Masters of the Universe."
posted by Fizz at 7:41 AM PST - 34 comments

Knitting Behind Bars

Two retired women, Lyn Zwerling and Sheila Rovelstad, have initiated and implemented a program called Knitting Behind Bars at a prison in Maryland. They approached every prison in the area with their idea for a knitting class, and all the prisons refused except the last one, where the prison authorities skeptically agreed to let them try it. And the program has been a success. As the Baltimore Sun reported, "Men literally beg to get in. There's a waiting list.... They want it so much, in fact, that they're willing to be good in order to do it. [Prison warden Margaret] Chippendale has noticed lower rates of violence among the men who knit. "It's a privilege to be in that program," Chippendale says. "It's something that matters and they don't want to do anything to be removed from it." One prisoner, who was serving time for stabbing someone and who was busily knitting a hat, told the reporter, "My mind is on something soft and gentle," he said. "My mind is nowhere near inside these walls." [more inside]
posted by orange swan at 7:37 AM PST - 69 comments

Ex Post Facto

Mondo picks it's alternative movie posters of the year: 1, 2, 3.
posted by Artw at 6:57 AM PST - 19 comments

Keiji Nakazawa, 1939-2012

Keiji Nakazawa, the manga artist and creator of Barefoot Gen (previously),his autobiographical account of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, died on the 19th of December, still living in Hiroshima. His obituary is up on The Comics Journal website, while comics blogger David Brothers adds a more personal note about discovering Barefoot Gen as a preteen.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:16 AM PST - 15 comments

Shake your YouTube hit maker

Dance like no one is watching.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:58 AM PST - 86 comments

THE FOOD WORLD IS ON SOME ILLUMINATI SHIT

20 Things Everyone Thinks About the Food World (But Nobody Will Say) "Needless to say, these are complicated topics, and we can’t do them justice in the space of one list. But they are opinions and issues that we find ourselves circling with friends who work in the industry or follow it closely, and we think they’re worthy of discussion."
posted by bobobox at 5:39 AM PST - 247 comments

Lamo on Lamo

Adrian Lamo talks to a Guardian journalist about Adrian Lamo's feelings about himself, Bradley Manning, and the collapse of linear time. [more inside]
posted by artof.mulata at 5:12 AM PST - 23 comments

Grow More GM, says former anti-GMO activist

Mark Lynas, author of several books on climate change and once a leading figurehead of the anti-GMO movement, has made an about turn on his opinions regarding GM crops. In an address to the Oxford Farming Conference, he stated: "For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment. As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to a healthy and nutritious diet of their choosing, I could not have chosen a more counter-productive path. I now regret it completely. So I guess you’ll be wondering—what happened between 1995 and now that made me not only change my mind but come here and admit it? Well, the answer is fairly simple: I discovered science, and in the process I hope I became a better environmentalist." [more inside]
posted by rattleandhum at 4:41 AM PST - 82 comments

WAY too much coffee...! (or perhaps some other more interesting drug?)

Jake Fried creates animation. In this particular case he utilizes only coffee, whiteout, and ink, layering the drawing in successive images to create a retro/psychedelic trip. I give you "The Deep End"

More here.

(I would suggest that the use of carefully chosen recreational drugs might be appropriate just prior to viewing, but that would be irresponsible of me.)
posted by HuronBob at 4:39 AM PST - 20 comments

Scenes from a Curriculum Vitae: Ike Turner & Associates

On piano at 71: Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
On piano at 20: Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years
On guitar at 34 and on fire at 26: Ike and Tina Turner - Shake·A Fool in Love·It's Gonna Work Out Fine·Please, Please, Please·Goodbye, So Long [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 3:43 AM PST - 11 comments

Begin the begena

Ever heard the other-worldly sound of the Ethiopian lyre known as the begena? It's sometimes referred to as the "Harp of David", since legend has it that it's the same instrument that soothed the Biblical king. Whether that's true or not, there is little doubt that the low pitched, buzzing sound the instrument produces is one of the most unusual to be found just about anywhere. Used to accompany meditation and prayer, Biblical passages and so forth, check out the amazing sound (along with accompanying male or female vocal) here, here, here and here.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:35 AM PST - 13 comments

January 3

Welcome To New Wave Theatre

In 1980, director David Jove created New Wave Theatre, an L.A.-based music show showcasing live performances by California hardcore punk rock bands. [more inside]
posted by Room 641-A at 7:54 PM PST - 13 comments

IT IS A CAT VIDEO

Nikita and Bobo try to get along (slyt)
posted by boo_radley at 6:20 PM PST - 19 comments

You got your MIDI Maze in my Virtual Boy!

Thought you knew everything there was to know about the Virtual Boy? YOU WERE WRONG. [via] [more inside]
posted by griphus at 6:15 PM PST - 30 comments

Banter about Dildoes

What were things like in the bars and shops of the ancient Romans?
posted by Chrysostom at 5:20 PM PST - 50 comments

The War Tourist

Toshifumi Fujimoto is a Japanese tourist. On the Syrian front line (his Facebook page).
posted by elgilito at 4:35 PM PST - 18 comments

And they're worried about the *football team*?

The football team might be harmed! The Steubenville, Ohio football team, parents, and law enforcement and legal staff are not very pleased with Anonymous right now. They've just released extensive details on a terrible case involving team players and other associated personnel... [warning: triggers / rape] [more inside]
posted by bitter-girl.com at 4:11 PM PST - 271 comments

I've drowned and dreamt this moment

You may love Paul F. Tompkins (previously) for his stand up comedy, or his character acting, or his internet hilarity across many media or his startlingly good style, but did you know you can love him in a different way? Namely for his ability to cover Adeles "Skyfall"? (previously) Now you do.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:07 PM PST - 39 comments

Summer solstice is right around the corner

In 2010 the annual midsummer bonfire in Ålesund, Norway broke world's records. For more than 3 months, the youngsters built a 40 meter tall structure, and then burnt it down. More here. [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 2:24 PM PST - 20 comments

Better than "S&M". Guaranteed.

"As part of Radio 1's Specialist Takeover in the first week of January 2013, Benji B delivered a very special show from Maida Vale. A 16 piece string orchestra performed specially arranged scores, written by Grant Windsor, over some of the biggest underground electronic tunes, including the likes of Kanye West, Flying Lotus and Drake." [more inside]
posted by raihan_ at 1:43 PM PST - 17 comments

Haircut Mouse

Haircut Mouse. A short animated film by Michel Gondry.
posted by painquale at 1:30 PM PST - 10 comments

Projectile Shit Vomiting For the Win

The Norovirus: A Study in Puked Perfection, "Each norovirus carries just nine protein-coding genes (you have about 20,000). Even with that skimpy genetic toolkit, noroviruses can break the locks on our cells, slip in, and hack our own DNA to make new noroviruses. The details of this invasion are sketchy, alas, because scientists haven’t figured out a good way to rear noroviruses in human cells in their labs. It’s not even clear exactly which type of cell they invade once they reach the gut. Regardless of the type, they clearly know how to exploit their hosts. Noroviruses come roaring out of the infected cells in vast numbers. And then they come roaring out of the body. Within a day of infection, noroviruses have rewired our digestive system so that stuff comes flying out from both ends." [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 12:32 PM PST - 116 comments

tiaras & so much sparkly

It's Tiara Thursday at The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor, where each week the provenance & history of a different royal tiara is highlighted. You could start browsing from top 15 readers' favorite tiaras or the top 10 ultimate tiara collection, featuring such sparkly as the Danish Ruby Parure Tiara and the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara. [more inside]
posted by flex at 11:27 AM PST - 46 comments

The Force will guide you

The Original Star Wars Trilogy as Maps
posted by dry white toast at 11:24 AM PST - 27 comments

The hunt for the Death Valley Germans

In 1996, a family of German tourists went on vacation in the desert Southwest of the US. They disappeared in Death Valley sometime late July of that year, and despite repeated searches, their remains were not found until 2009. Tom Mahood details how that happened.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:23 AM PST - 162 comments

Undue Burden

Jennie Linn McCormack "isn’t the only woman in recent years to be prosecuted for ending her own pregnancy. But her case could change the trajectory of abortion law in the United States": The Rise of DIY Abortions. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 10:31 AM PST - 63 comments

Pro Patria Racist Abuse

Boateng walks off: Kevin-Prince Boateng, the former Tottenham and Portsmouth midfielder left the field after AC Milan players were abused in a friendly against Pro Patria. On his way from the pitch, Boateng applauded sections of the crowd, who then reacted angrily towards the corner of the ground from which the chants came. It was quickly established that play would not restart and AC Milan's official website said other black players in the Milan side - M'Baye Niang, Urby Emanuelson and Sulley Muntari - suffered abuse. [Video on Daily Mirror Website] BBC report.
posted by marienbad at 10:24 AM PST - 38 comments

Anthony Braxton: Bootlegs

Anthony Braxton offers bootlegs of his shows at his Tricentric Foundation website. We offer many bootlegs for free. 13 bootleg albums are added at a time and the newest batch is always available to the public.
He also offers a subscription plan for his record label, and a huge trove of his writings, among other things. (via this appreciation at The Awl)
posted by OmieWise at 9:01 AM PST - 11 comments

"The best way to honor [Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman] is not with tasteful, funereal reverence but some real attempt to measure the dimensions of the stretch of history they occupied.

In a lengthy back-and-forth discussion about Django Unchained, critics Steven Boone and Odie Henderson discuss the subtleties of Tarantino's racial commentary (as well, as, of course, the more blatant commentaries), their thoughts on Spike Lee's criticism of the film, and Tarantino's vast and nuanced range of inspirations. Elsewhere, Tarantino responds to a critic who called a plot point in Django "harebrained", and what ensues offers an interesting insight into how Tarantino thinks about his characters.
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:16 AM PST - 169 comments

Parakeets in the Produce

"We cannot help but see animals from a human vantage point, and therefore in some sense all the works in the present exhibition are actually about us." Garden Fresh is a photo series featuring animals exploring a grocery store.
posted by quin at 8:09 AM PST - 33 comments

Get the lead out.

Experts often suggest that crime resembles an epidemic. But what kind? Karl Smith, a professor of public economics and government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has a good rule of thumb for categorizing epidemics: If it spreads along lines of communication, he says, the cause is information. Think Bieber Fever. If it travels along major transportation routes, the cause is microbial. Think influenza. If it spreads out like a fan, the cause is an insect. Think malaria. But if it's everywhere, all at once—as both the rise of crime in the '60s and '70s and the fall of crime in the '90s seemed to be—the cause is a molecule.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:45 AM PST - 140 comments

Hi Stu, it is a pleasure to meet you.

Cringeworthy SLYT: Jamie Kennedy produced and hosted a New Year's Eve special on a Los Angeles local station this year. It didn't go that well. [more inside]
posted by jchgf at 6:27 AM PST - 105 comments

It's not all doom and gloom

Tom Spurgeon lists fifty positive comics news stories that happened in 2012.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:01 AM PST - 45 comments

Sweet transformations, as art

Created by using real toffee.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:12 AM PST - 30 comments

Symphysiotomy

“So when I was pregnant and about to give birth, I was expecting kindness, understanding, love. But, by god, was I wrong. They were torturers. They didn’t care. I was a thing. An experiment.” [more inside]
posted by Catseye at 2:43 AM PST - 56 comments

January 2

bang on a saw

Most musical saw players use a bow to coax melodies from their construction-tool-cum-musical instrument, but here's a fellow who taps out his saw tunes percussively. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:48 PM PST - 14 comments

The Royal Mail marks 50 years of Dr. Who

Dr. Who gets a commemorative stamp [more inside]
posted by chapps at 9:58 PM PST - 72 comments

I can haz greatest poems of twentieth century??

The poetry of Pablo Neruda, as read by cats.
posted by daisystomper at 9:36 PM PST - 14 comments

There's No Avoiding Google+

Google is challenging Facebook by using a controversial tactic: requiring people to use the Google+ social network. The result is that people who create an account to use Gmail, YouTube and other Google services—including the Zagat restaurant-review website—are also being set up with public Google+ pages that can be viewed by anyone online. ... The impetus comes from the top. Google Chief Executive Larry Page has sought more aggressive measures to get people to use Google+, two people familiar with the matter say. ... Some users of Google's services are startled to learn how far the integration can reach.
There's No Avoiding Google+ from the Wall Street Journal
posted by Jasper Friendly Bear at 9:24 PM PST - 197 comments

Far Clouds In Stately Formation

The New John Handy Quintet · Naima

Dave Holland Quartet · Conference Of The Birds

John Abercrombie, Jan Hammer, Jack DeJohnette · Timeless

Rob Wasserman, Stephane Grappelli · Over the Rainbow
posted by y2karl at 8:44 PM PST - 15 comments

So I voted for an axe-murderer

A new MP, Gloria De Piero was taken aback by how many people despised her because of her new profession. So she took to the streets to find out why. [more inside]
posted by smoke at 8:05 PM PST - 19 comments

The Frenzy on Fox will be glorious...

Al Jazeera has purchased Al Gore's Current TV, giving them a much wider American audience. However, the deal suffered an immediate casualty when Time Warner Cable Inc., the nation's second-largest cable TV operator, announced it is dropping Current TV due to the deal. "Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service. We are removing the service as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement.
posted by dejah420 at 7:51 PM PST - 75 comments

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. National Collegiate Athletic Association

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett filed a federal anti-trust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association today. Announcing the suit at a press conference this morning, Corbett claimed that the NCAA "seized upon the opportunity for publicity on the backs of the citizens of the Commonwealth". The suit seeks vacation of all of the sanctions levied against Penn State University by the NCAA (previously) after the release of the Freeh Report (previously) on the University's improper handling of allegations of sexual abuse against Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky (previously). Responding to the lawsuit, the NCAA called the lawsuit "an affront to all of the victims in this tragedy". Corbett, who has faced criticism for his slow-moving but ultimately successful investigation of the abuse and his close ties to Sandusky's Second Mile charity, is pursuing the case on behalf of the citizens of the Commonwealth rather than the University, which has stated that it is "committed to full compliance" with the sanctions, and is not a party to the lawsuit.
posted by tonycpsu at 6:55 PM PST - 38 comments

Assumption of parentage

In 2009, William Marotta, donated his sperm to a lesbian couple. Although they did not go through a licensed physician, per Kansas state law, the three signed an agreement relieving Marotta of any financial or paternal responsibility. The women, who co-parent 8 children, broke up in 2010, and the state of Kansas is now attempting to get Marotta to pay child support. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:46 PM PST - 206 comments

"and even when there's nowhere left, no refuge for their pain, they turn to the illusion of travelling" - Kajal Ahmad, translated by Mimi Khalvati

The Poetry Translation Centre pairs living poets from Asia, Africa and Latin America with English-language translators and then puts the resulting translations online. You can browse the poetry by country, language, translator or poet. Besides the hundreds of individual poems, all presented in the original and both literal and poetic translations, many have been recorded in dual readings by translator and poet, and put online as videos or mp3s (look for the microphone or camera icon). There are also podcasts to download, articles to read, and chapbooks to purchase. It is absurd to single out a few poems as favorites, but nonetheless, here are a few that struck me hard, Birds by Kajal Ahmad, translated by Mimi Khalvati, Cataclysm and Songs by Conceição Lima, translated in a workshop, and Survivors by Choe Young-mi, translated by Kyoo Lee and Sarah Maguire (who is the founder and director of the Poetry Translation Centre). If these poems do not hit you, no need to worry as there are literally hundreds more to read. [via The Guardian]
posted by Kattullus at 3:30 PM PST - 5 comments

The sound you hear may be the world's smallest violin

"Las Vegas bookmakers make their money by balancing their risk, but sometimes they simply come out on the wrong side of too many bets." With the regular 2012 NFL season now over and the playoffs about to begin, please take a moment and shed a tear -- or more likely, raise your beer -- as you consider the terrible beating Las Vegas sports books absorbed in 2012. (LAT link, so potentially behind a paywall depending on your number of previous visits in last 30 days.) [more inside]
posted by mosk at 3:06 PM PST - 30 comments

Great sports photos

Sports Illustrated's 100 greatest sports photos of all time.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:52 PM PST - 94 comments

name four vegetables

This past fall, comedians Sara Schaefer and Nikki Glaser (hosts of popular podcast You Had to Be There) had "the amazing privilege" of hiring a writing staff for their upcoming TV show, Nikki & Sara Live. Sara "was flattered and honored when hundreds of people applied. It was a super fun experience, but it was also an incredibly illuminating one. Reading so many packets made a couple of things very very clear: there are some really easy, basic things you can do to improve your chances of getting a job writing for TV." Step 1: Dedicate Your Entire Life to Comedy
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:45 PM PST - 19 comments

Gay Rights In The US, State By State

The Guardian has published a compelling interactive graph about where the 50 United States stand on LGBT rights. [more inside]
posted by ericb at 2:08 PM PST - 54 comments

Lights out, uh-huh (but don't use the) flash, flash, flash!

What City Skies Would Look Like Without Light Pollution. (slAtlanticphotoblog)
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:59 PM PST - 58 comments

It Probably Plays Doom Too

Canonical announces Ubuntu for phones [more inside]
posted by xqwzts at 12:42 PM PST - 179 comments

It's Spanish For Girlfriend

An Amiga computer emulated in your browser, complete with games and demos. [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 11:27 AM PST - 53 comments

Special Guest Stars

In the bicentennial celebration of the historic Battle of Borodino on September 7th, 1812, that saw the Russian Army, despite heavy losses, withstand the attack of Napoleon’s forces, Orion Art multimedia group held a massive festival at Spasskaya Tower in Red Square, Moscow… complete with guest appearance by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
posted by infini at 11:07 AM PST - 7 comments

A time lapse night sight of Paris.

Paris, City of Light [SLVimeo] [more inside]
posted by Chutzler at 10:04 AM PST - 6 comments

The holidays are over!

So you make less than $250,000 $450,000 and think the fiscal cliff deal doesn't affect you? Think again: the payroll tax holiday has been allowed to expire. Here's a helpful table outlining how much more you'll be paying this year. (Previously)
posted by exhilaration at 9:58 AM PST - 236 comments

The full economic impact of Smaug can only be understood by recognizing that the dragon's arrival resulted in a severe monetary shock…

The Macroeconomics of Middle-Earth
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:52 AM PST - 63 comments

The Essential Guide to Dim Sum

The essential guide to dim sum: know exactly how to order thanks to this breakdown of 24 dishes, including photos and Chinese pronunciation.
posted by xingcat at 9:41 AM PST - 114 comments

How Millionaires Celebrate End-of-Days

To commemorate the Mayan Apocalypse, video game tycoon Richard Garriott de Cayeux threw a lavish soiree at his 65-acre spread along Lake Austin, complete with various scenes of imagined end-of-the-world scenarios. - Sonia Smith in Texas Monthly
posted by jim in austin at 9:08 AM PST - 70 comments

We Own Network Scanning!

Network scanning do cost. Recent patent lawsuits have been praised or condemned as fair or absurd. BlueWave Computing fights back against a lawsuit that initially attempted to charge the company $1,000 per employee for a license to some “distributed computer architecture” patent, or basically, if your employees use a scan to email feature in the office, you have to pay a lot of money. Others have been targeted. Stop Project Paperless results.
posted by juiceCake at 8:47 AM PST - 27 comments

a complete history of gerbiling so far

Gerbil-stuffing, urban legends, celebrity gossip, and homophobia: Jane Hu in The Awl with A Complete History Of Gerbiling So Far. [more inside]
posted by flex at 8:36 AM PST - 65 comments

Whenever there's trouble, they're there on the double.

"On a good day, the street maintenance team tasked by the New York City Department of Transportation with roadway repair might fill 4,000 potholes in eight hours. In an average week, they could resurface 100,000 square yards of road. After Hurricane Sandy, their crews removed 2,500 tons of debris. And every day, on a Tumblr called The Daily Pothole, New Yorkers can take a peek inside the workings of a city system few have likely thought about." Storyboard: A Day with New York City’s Pothole Repair Crew. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:20 AM PST - 8 comments

Woese once said of himself and his work that when a wise man points out the moon, only a fool looks at the finger. Let us all be fools if just for a moment .

Microbiology's Scarred Revolutionary(PDF), Carl Woese (pron.: /ˈwoʊz/), a biophysicist and evolutionary microbiologist whose discovery 35 years ago of a “third domain” of life in the vast realm of micro-organisms altered scientific understanding of evolution, died on Sunday at his home in Urbana, Ill. He was 84. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 7:29 AM PST - 26 comments

64 Photos by 64 Photographers

64 Photos by 64 Photographers From Booooooom. Here are 64 photos by 64 photographers that I came across in 2012. These photos weren’t all produced this year, I just encountered them at some point in the last 12 months. Enjoy.
posted by OmieWise at 7:27 AM PST - 20 comments

"What books would be entering the public domain if we [the US] had the pre-1978 copyright laws?"

What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2013?:'Under the law that existed until 1978 … Works from 1956.' Yesterday was Public Domain Day, with many works entering the public domain, depending on jurisdiction. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:29 AM PST - 54 comments

Any little vibration could reduce the whole creaking arrangement into a heap of rubble and ashes.

James Howard Kunstler's forecast for 2013
posted by mhjb at 3:30 AM PST - 97 comments

January 1

Water, water everywhere.

A boat blazes on a remote summer-scorched lake shoreline. Onlookers are helpless to save the boat or prevent the imminent explosion of full gas tanks starting a grass fire. Or not. (SLYT - *Warning Bad Kiwi Language*)
posted by Catch at 8:28 PM PST - 44 comments

Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich · February 5, 2011, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Music for 18 Musicians · Steve Reich
posted by y2karl at 7:53 PM PST - 27 comments

Amid democratic reform, ethnic cleansing

The Rohingya have lived in Burma for generations, as a Muslim minority in a predominantly Buddhist country. The government does not recognize them as citizens. Burmese Buddhists have referred to them as "illegal Bengalis", "viruses", and terrorists. In 2012, over 100,000 Rohingya were forced out of their homes during a violent conflict with Buddhists of the Rakhine ethnic group. The displaced Rohingya now live in refugee camps that they're not allowed to leave. With insufficient food provided, refugees resort to scavenging for grass and plants to survive. [more inside]
posted by problemspace at 7:29 PM PST - 37 comments

Neat stuff

10 Raspberry Pi creations that show how amazing the tiny PC can be "The Raspberry Pi, the $35 credit card-sized computer, has lived an interesting life despite being less than a year old. It has been used to teach programming and host servers, but above all it has provided a near-perfect platform for some of the most fun and interesting hobbyist projects in the computing world. Arcade cabinets, computing clusters housed in LEGOs, musical instruments, robots, and wearable computers are just some of the uses Pi owners have found. It turns out you can do a lot with an ARM processor, GPU, a few ports and GPIO pins, and an operating system (typically Linux-based) loaded onto an SD card. Here are 10 of the coolest Raspberry Pi creations we've been able to find."
posted by bookman117 at 6:39 PM PST - 73 comments

The All-Star NY Knicks Logo That Should Have Been

In the 1990's, Michael Doret was tasked with creating a new logo for the New York Knicks. Here is the story of how his ideas were scaled back to create the logo the team uses to this day.
posted by reenum at 6:20 PM PST - 25 comments

"Fümms bö wä tää zää Uu, pögiff, kwii Ee".

A podcast about Merzbarn, the final project in Cumbria, England of Kurt Schwitters, Collagist, Sound Poet (See previous), Dadaist, Sculptur. His previous project Merzbau had been lost and then found.
posted by adamvasco at 2:27 PM PST - 9 comments

How I Fell in Love with a Schizophrenic

Kas Thomas writes about his "all-in" relationship with Sally, a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yesterday, my true love, Sally, had a psychotic break and went into the (mental) hospital, where she'll probably be for the next two weeks. Today, I'm writing as a means of therapy. Therapy for me. I knew going into this relationship that it would entail ups and downs, and hard work... [more inside]
posted by winecork at 12:39 PM PST - 83 comments

It's time to meet the Mummers

New Year's Eve comes with many widespread traditions. But for those who live in and around Philadelphia, New Year's Day has a tradition all its own: The annual Mummers Parade. Started in 1901, making it possibly the oldest folk festival in the United States, the all day parade features string bands, floats, elaborate dance routines, and fancy brigades - plus about a gazillion feathers. Want to see more? You can watch a live stream of this year's parade here
posted by Mchelly at 12:06 PM PST - 24 comments

Write till your fingers bleed

25 new years resolutions for writers for 2013 (or any other year) by Chuck Wendig.
posted by Artw at 11:48 AM PST - 68 comments

The News-Boy to His Customers

The Carrier's Address In the first two centuries of American newspapering, printers ended the year with elaborately worded decorated holiday messages, often in verse, written in the voice of the printer's boy or news carrier, hinting that the end of year would be a great time for a Christmas or New Year's tip.
posted by Miko at 10:31 AM PST - 1 comment

This is not the Africa you're looking for

What Susan Rice Has Meant for U.S. Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa Right now, Africa is changing with extraordinary speed and in surprising ways, but American policy there remains stale and stuck in the past: unambitious, underinvested and conceptually outdated.
posted by infini at 9:52 AM PST - 13 comments

A Serene Way to Spend Six Minutes

Need some inspiration for the new year? Beautiful Moments is a short video compilation of people and animals doing interesting things at some of the most lovely locations on earth. [slyt]
posted by quin at 8:04 AM PST - 6 comments

Poisoning the Guest

Pill Could Join Arsenal Against Bedbugs You take the pill and go to bed — perchance even to sleep, if you can sleep knowing how patiently bedbugs wait in your walls or mattress, sniffing for the sweet stream of your exhaled carbon dioxide and for your warm skin to grow still. You let them bite you. And then — in a few days — they die.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:46 AM PST - 93 comments

No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

Should A Church Be Treated Differently By The IRS From Other Non-Profits? The Freedom from Religion Foundation has sued the IRS claiming unequal treatment. Secular non-profit companies must file numerous and costly forms and reports to maintain their non-profit status. Religious companies even those that duplicate the functions of the secular non-profit are exempt from such requirements. The FFRF asks (pdf) that the laws be applied equally. Previously
posted by 2manyusernames at 6:25 AM PST - 126 comments

"Life on the Mangubo compound, unlike the world outside the jungle, was both peaceful and egalitarian."

A trip like this may seem strange to you. You could reasonably accuse us of a kind of exoticism. But people travel for lots of reasons. There’s beach tourism, sex tourism, wine tourism. This trip, for me, offered something a lot more interesting: a chance to feed our long fascination with the idea of pre-agrarian society. For 40,000 years, from the rise of behaviorally modern humans until the development of agriculture 9,000 years ago, all of our ancestors had lived somewhat like the Mbuti do today. More than anything, Dan and Chris and I just wanted a glimpse of what that past might have looked like.
Of Men, Okapi, and Rebels, or, looking for Mbuti hunter-gatherers in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:16 AM PST - 6 comments

THE BOSOM BUDDIES OF WASTE

“During the 1920s, the British firm Parker-Holladay created a fictional character named Bill Jones. Mr. Jones’ dispensed his friendly advice to British clerical workers through colorful lithographic posters emblazoned with his get-right-to-the-point maxims." Why not enjoy this collection of can-do, yes-sir business motivational posters before you head back to work?
posted by The Whelk at 5:05 AM PST - 39 comments

Prescription drug deaths

Dying for Relief, an LA Times investigative series about deaths from prescription drug deaths. Part 1, Nov. 11, 2012

Prescription overdoses kill more people than heroin and cocaine. An L.A. Times review of coroners’ records finds that drugs prescribed by a small number of doctors caused or contributed to a disproportionate number of deaths.

Part 2, Dec. 9, 2012
Part 3, Dec. 20, 2012
Part 4, Dec. 30, 2012
posted by OmieWise at 3:39 AM PST - 25 comments