October 11, 2011
Now Robert Buckman, there's an atheist I could never get tired of hearing from!
Solutions for the U.S. economic crisis
Political revolution, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street notwithstanding, what actual policy steps could be taken to prevent the U.S. from falling into a Japanese-like decade of stagnation (or worse)? Economists from the New America Foundation offer a rather balanced, clearly articulated, and comprehensive proposal: The Way Forward. [more inside]
And Miles To Go Before I Sleep
"My name is Stephen T Millhouse and I am walking 1,460 miles " Former Marine, Stephen T Millhouse, is walking from Montana to Los Angeles to raise awareness about homelessness and money to help them. You can see his route here and follow along on his blog if you like. In the 90's he was living in Los Angeles and was trying his hand at becoming an actor but by 2001 he was homeless and living in his car. [more inside]
И така, по така, а така
Rafael Aguilar always wanted to make a difference, and for more than two years the he has done just that in eastern Europe. On Monday, the 25-year-old returned to Bregovo, Bulgaria, where he has been teaching English to students in grades 1 through 12, to extend his stay for a third - and final - year as a Peace Corps volunteer. He plans to continue working toward improving his students’ understanding of the English language. Aguilar’s return to the village of 1,500 residents that he has called home since 2009 comes weeks after he made a star appearance on X Factor Bulgaria singing in Bulgarian. [more inside]
Conjugal duels.
"The 1894 book Revolted Woman: Past, Present, and to Come by Charles George Harper is hideously, horrendously sexist," and is reviewed by David Malki! of the inestimable Wondermark. (Wondermark previously, and more fun true stuff as tagged there).
Put the smooth stone where?
Ridiculous Tips For A Miserable Sex Life: Each month like clockwork, men's and women's magazines hit the newstands, bursting with terrible sex and dating advice. And each month, we pick out the stupidest tips and make fun of them.
Getting Away with Murder - The Impunity Index
Getting Away with Murder - The Impunity Index. The Committee to Protect Journalists' 2011 Impunity Index spotlights the 13 worst countries where journalists are slain and killers go free. The CPJ is also behind the International Press Freedom Awards. This year's awards are taking place in New York, Nov 22nd. The recipients are:
Mansoor al-Jamri - Bahrain.
Natalya Radina, Belarus.
Javier Arturo Valdez Cárdenas, Mexico and
Umar Cheema, Pakistan.
"I think Italy owes us an apology"
Coolest intro Eva
Barcelona studio Dvein has made a gorgeous sequence for the titles of Kike Maíllo's first full-length film, Eva
It Was A Pleasure To Burn
6 Reasons We're In Another 'Book-Burning' Period in History isn't the usual Cracked list. S Peter Davis talks about his job walking through library warehouses and destroying tens of thousands of often old and irreplaceable books.
The Ladder of Abstraction
The Ladder of Abstraction does an amazing, Tuftian job of illustrating the convergence of science, engineering, and intuition that is involved in tackling the difficult problems of today's systems and software. [more inside]
Michael Cuddyer: OF/IF/Photography
Baseball fans might know Michael Cuddyer as the versatile right fielder for the Minnesota Twins, but he's recently taken up photography and posted beautiful photos of ballparks (and their hidden corners) where he's played on his Flickr photostream.
ton 80!
Google has introduced Dart "a new class-based programming language for creating structured web applications" [more inside]
An extended fugue state ramble about the shape of comics and, God, I don't know, a dozen other things.
Why people like digital comics: you can charge for them, and they look pretty on an iPad. Why people like webcomics: they're free. - Warren Ellis looks at The Broadcast Of Comics.
Rebooting the Justice League and the Legion of Doom
Arron Diaz of Dresden Codak (previously previously previously) has created new versions of both the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, complete with new origin stories and powers. I especially dig the explanation of kryptonite - scroll down to Metallo for the scoop. :
Gilad Shalit to Be Released
Ira Glass Sex Tape
Zimmerman Telegram 2.0?
Following a months-long investigation, the Department of Justice has announced the existence of a well-funded plot "conceived, sponsored and directed" by "high-ranking members of the Iranian government" to assassinate Saudi Arabian ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir on U.S. soil in conjunction with informants in Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas.
The "Hollywood" plot, revealed in an afternoon press conference and described in a detailed 21-page complaint [PDF], is alleged to have involved an attack on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C.
One suspect, naturalized American citizen Arbab Arbabsiar, has been arrested, while co-conspirator and Quds Force member Gholam Shakuri remains at large.
Iranian officials were quick to label the charges a "fabrication" intended to distract from America's economic troubles.
Ride Like the Wind (only faster)
Three years ago, a question was posed to two Internet forums. Could you build a wind powered vehicle that could travel downwind, faster than the wind? The lines were quickly drawn and the battle was on, including here on the blue. It took nearly two years for the debate to be settled, and on July 2, 2010, what seemed impossible was achieved. The answer is yes, you can.
To ensure no one misses out on John Mayer ever again!
What Facebook needs to do to make Facebook Music what it should be: notes on building one true catalog of music.
Phoenix Jones No More!
Phoenix Jones, the real life superhero who's been in the news (and previously on the blue) for his vigilante work in Seattle, was arrested for pepper-spraying four people outside a nightclub... and his secret identity revealed. [more inside]
Let's have a paaaarty!
Red Solo Cup! I lift you up! Let's have a party! Toby Keith's new music video has to be seen to be believed. Including a guest appearance by mefi favorite, Craig Ferguson!
Enhanced enhancement
From Alchemy to Chemistry back to Alchemy
In this three part series from the BBC, Professor Jim Al-Khalili discusses the history of the elements. [more inside]
Pegasi, Dinosaurs, and Lightning Bolts
Welcome to Gassigns.org, the online collection of gasoline logos from photos and maps. I began this project in 1996 by scanning some images of my small collection of roadmaps,and photographing some of the gas stations I saw during my travels.Since then, many people from all over the world have kindly donated photos, map scans, and information about gas stations from their area. We are presenting them here for history's sake, lest they be forgotten in the world of ever-changing gasoline brands.
On The Tip of Rama's Bow
India's Lost Southern Border: Somewhere near the town of Mandapam on peninsular India, India's vast rail network is at its closest to the sea-coast; indeed, it crosses a 2.4 kilometre stretch of the sea, and then extends for another 12 kilometres, before terminating in an ancient temple town, Rameswaram(YouTube), close to the impressive Ramanatha Swamy temple around which the town is centered. Another 20 kilometres through an increasingly rough terrain brings us to a forgotten fishing hamlet, Moonram Chathiram, before bringing us to some ruined buildings, abandoned rain-tracks, a submerged temple and a ruined church.
Welcome to Dhanushkodi(YouTube). Till tragedy struck on the night of December 22nd 1964, this was India's only border-town in the south. [more inside]
It's Marrow That I Love
Amit Gupta needs a bone marrow transplant, and to increase chances of finding a match, Seth Godin offered a $10k bounty to whoever donated to his friend. There was only one problem. The offer was illegal. The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 made it "felony punishable by up to five years in prison" to offer financial incentive for bone marrow donation. The Institute for Justice has sued the US Attorney General to overturn this restriction (commentary). [more inside]
Cannon Films
Under the stewardship of Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon Films was responsible for many of the worst - and a few of the best - movies of the 1980s. Along the way it won an Academy Award and enriched the language. (previously) [more inside]
This is why you wear a helmet!
Guy has a close encounter with some wildlife during a mountain bike race. (SLYT)
Forever Al1
Internet Story (SLVimeo): Actually a Chaucerian horror.
I could not stand it any longer
Back hurting from sitting at a desk reading Metafilter all day? Trying standing up for your rights! Or, just walk it off.
We are the 53%
We are the 53% - the conservative response to We are the 99%. Every American has a story and an opinion. Amazing diversity on display. The LA Weekly looks for commonality. [more inside]
"Footnotes are the finer-suckered surfaces that allow testicular paragraphs to hold fast to the wider reality of the library." ~Nicholson Baker
Will the E-Book Kill the Footnote? [NYTimes.com] 1. Short answer: "Yes" with an "If," long answer: "No" --
with a "But."
Dale keeps bugging me to be his Facebook friend
How to Win Friends and Influence People, published in 1936, (now in PDF!) is one of the top 10 best selling self-help books of all time. But some of the advice - Smile! Remember the person's name! - doesn't translate to modern social-networking times. The new version has been updated for the digital age, but may have lost some of its homespun virtue. [more inside]
ioerror
The google and sonic.net emails of Tor developer Jacob Appelbaum (ioerror) have been obtained by the DoJ using a secret court order, which both companies sought to unseal and sonic actually fought in court. Sonic's CEO Dane Jasper said that challenging the order was "rather expensive, but we felt it was the right thing to do." Appelbaum has repeatedly been harassed by boarder agents when entering the U.S. and his twitter account was subpoenaed [more inside]
Jewish Problems
This is a special collection of problems that were given to select applicants during oral entrance exams to the math department of Moscow State University. These problems were designed to prevent Jews and other undesirables from getting a passing grade. (via Hacker News)
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