November 13, 2009
Animated Stereoviews of Meiji Japan
A globe I can shake
TSA is cracking down on snow globes. Although now a terrorist threat, traditionally snow globes have stood for Elvis, Jesus, and the American flag.
War Photographer
David Guttenfelder is the chief Asia photographer for The Associated Press. Recently, he has been focusing his lens in Afghanistan. Photographer Collection: David Guttenfelder in Afghanistan and On Assignment: Afghanistan.
The Vending Machine God and the Housing Bubble
Was the housing bubble caused by
very low long-term fixed-rate mortgages? Or was is due to a national, get-rich-quick obsession? Or
Did Christianity Cause the Crash? [more inside]
EyeWriter Initiative
"The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people, who are suffering from ALS, with creative technologies." [more inside]
Birds. Photos. Movies.
Hiroshi Watanabe
Hiroshi Watanabe -- Love Point::Suo Sarumawashi::Ideology in Paradise::"I see angels every day"::Kabuki Players::Japanese Studies::Northern Places::Species Among Us
"All durin' the game was a little mist."
Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden (SLYT). MetaFilter is no stranger to the late Dock Ellis and the legendary no-hitter he pitched under the influence of everyone's favorite indole phantasticant (previously: 2001, 2005, 2008), but this animation takes the story to a new level.
"Terraforming would be to create an uncontained planetary biosphere emulating all the functions of the biosphere of the Earth" M.J. Fogg
NASA scientists claim to have found significant amounts of water, after successfully bombing the moon last month. This may have implications on possible Terraforming efforts as well as NASA's goal to understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe. What might it look like?
The 1st Ammendment, the Internet, and a Served Debt
Wikipedia is being sued for publishing the names of two convicted killers. Wolfgang Werlé and Manfred Lauber killed well-known German actor Walter Sedlmayr in 1990. They were convicted of the crime in 1993 and sentenced to prison, and recently released. Under German law, publishing the name of a criminal after he has served his sentence is considered an undue infringement of privacy, and is illegal. Accordingly, the German Wiki removed the names of the killers off the page discussing the murder --- but the English language version of wiki, based in the US and operating under the First Ammendment, has not. Now the killers' lawyer has sued the Wikimedia foundation to get them to remove the names. [more inside]
Snap!
Don't! Mess! With! A! Snap! Diva! A clip from the 1989 documentary Tongues Untied which is about black gay identity. (via)
Meat is Murder is Movie
Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home Tribe of Heart's first film, "The Witness", was an eye opening look at how one man's whole life was changed by an encounter with a kitten. Their new film, "Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home", tells the story of a group of farmers coming to grips with the realization that they can't continue to make a living from the suffering of animals.
Ninja Cat II: Electric Boogaloo
Ad Hoc at Home Recipes
A collection of links to recipes from Thomas Keller's latest cookbook Ad Hoc at Home, including crispy braised chicken thighs with lemon and fennel, blowtorch prime rib, leek bread pudding, brownies, and the famous buttermilk fried chicken.
غزل گفتی و در سفتی بیا و خوش بخوان حافـظ
Thousands of people who play setar in Iran are against me,” he said. “They say why add two more strings to the instrument? But I don’t get upset with them.
Hafez Nazeri, son of renown Persian singer Shahram Nazeri, is an Iranian setar player and composer. Tomorrow night, he will be the first Iranian composer to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert will feature a new instrument invented by Nazeri: the Hafez. [more inside]
Hafez Nazeri, son of renown Persian singer Shahram Nazeri, is an Iranian setar player and composer. Tomorrow night, he will be the first Iranian composer to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert will feature a new instrument invented by Nazeri: the Hafez. [more inside]
No Military Commission For You
Guantanamo Bay detainee Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, along with four others, now faces trial in federal court in New York. The United States is seeking he death penalty. "This is definitely a seismic shift in how we're approaching the war on al-Qaida," said Glenn Sulmasy, a law professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Mohammed was water boarded over 180 times: it is unclear if his confession will be admissible.
Russell Jones, aka The Ol' Dirty Bastard, aka Ason Unique, aka Osirus, aka Big Baby Jesus, aka Dirt McGirt, aka Joe Bananas, aka Ol' Dirt Schultz. Always for the children.
Five years ago today Russell, also known as The Ol' Dirty Bastard, passed away in a recording studio in New York City while finishing what was to be his final album. [prev] He is remembered by those close to him. [more inside]
I can't believe she's explaining it's many use's.
Unclaimed land
Looking to found your own Independent Republic of Metastan? Land is hard to come by,
and barring sudden volcanic activity,
they're not making any more of it. The Law of the Sea (1982)
says that the ocean can't be claimed, and Outer Space Treaty of 1967 puts the moon off-limits.
But your fledgling nation still has a couple of choices of unclaimed land parcels:
Bir Tawil between Egypt and Sudan,
and Marie Byrd Land (lower left) in Antarctica. [more inside]
Horrible Turn
Fans of Dr. Horrible take note: there is a prequel. And it's fan-made. And it's good. Really really good. YouTube (ten segments) and higher-quality Vimeo available for your viewing pleasure.
The script is always better than the movie
I'm on a Boat
If you're like me, you're in the market to buy yourself an island-sized boat, but you're not satisfied with the world's current inventory of formulaic, fuel-guzzling, cruise-ship-like mega-yachts. You might want to consider picking up a WHY 58x38, which offers 36,000 square feet of living space, a 120-foot "beach," three decks, and an 80-foot interior pool, topped by a vast solar panel array. It won't break your budget -- at a mere $151 million, it doesn't even crack the top four most expensive yachts in the world! [more inside]
the future of fuel?
Using photosynthesis to power hydrogen production
Researchers have found that if they insert platinum nanoclusters into the photosynthetic machinery of bacteria, one acre could produce an amount of hydrogen equivalent to 79 gallons of gas per day. [more inside]
Researchers have found that if they insert platinum nanoclusters into the photosynthetic machinery of bacteria, one acre could produce an amount of hydrogen equivalent to 79 gallons of gas per day. [more inside]
Jerry Fielding
Jerry Fielding (1922-1980) was one of cinema's most distinctive voices in the 1960s and especially '70s, the perfect musical complement to the films of Sam Peckinpah*, Michael Winner, Clint Eastwood and others. His scores are marked by modernism and intricate orchestrations but also a poetic beauty and intensity—an appropriate accompaniment to the decade's strange and often sad (but never sentimental) criminals and antiheroes, be they in westerns (The Wild Bunch) or crime films. He was, however, capable of numerous styles (he was a former Vegas bandleader), and wrote a great number of scores (from sticoms to dramas to sci-fi) for television. - Film Score Monthly [more inside]
One Aggregated TV Site To Rule Them All
Clicker is a site that collects all available streaming videos, movies and television shows and gathers them all up in one nice neat little bundle for your searching and viewing pleasure. [more inside]
100 tons heavier than Black Sabbath
The Carillon is the most massive musical instrument in the world. Carillonneurs bang out heavy metal with their fists loosely clenched. It will leave your ears ringing. (Yes, it's bells. Big bells.)
A Vivid Illustration of the Greatness of our Motherland
Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union? Eleven. That's Ridiculous. It's not even funny.
Nevermind all that.
After the 2005 Kelo (previously) decision, granting the city of New London, CT the right to seize dozens of homes to make way for a luxury development including a hotel, stores, and condominiums next to a Pfizer research facility. The Kelo House itself was spared - moved to another part of town. The rest were demolished. The planned development? It never happened. All that's left are empty fields. Oh, and the research facility? Pfizer just announced they'll be closing it
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