December 8, 2012
Marvelous Mavelous
Mavelous is an open-source web/HTML-based ground control station for amateur UAVs/DIY drones. It is the first open-source ground control station that lets you control your drone from your tablet or even your phone. (Related: 1 2 3) [via mefi projects] [more inside]
"The data that we actually used."
Rosalind.info is a website with bioinformatics problems inspired by Project Euler (previously, previouslier.) [more inside]
"The statistics don't matter, until they happen to you."
"Premature babies born at the edge of viability force us to debate the most difficult questions in medicine and in life. After just 23 weeks of pregnancy, Kelley Benham found herself in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with a daughter born so early neonatologist doctors would call her a "micro preemie." New technologies can sometimes keep micro preemies alive, but many end up disabled, some catastrophically so. Whether to provide care to these infants is one of the fundamental controversies in neonatology. This is the story of how Benham and her husband, Tom French, made the difficult choice: Fight for the life of their micro preemie baby or let her go?" [more inside]
DON'T BE A CRAPPY PACKAGER
Chow.com tells you how to ship cookies and other treats for the holidays: "You don't want to ship any cookie or baked good that won't hold up for three to five days sitting around your house in the container you plan to ship in. Not sure? Do a test batch and see what happens." [more inside]
RIP Nicholas Johnson, author of Big Dead Place
Nicholas Johnson, author of Big Dead Place: Inside the Strange and Menacing World of Antarctica, committed suicide on November 28, in West Seattle. His friend and former roommate Jason Anthony (mentioned in the acknowledgements of Big Dead Place) has written an obituary. An obituary from the book's publisher, Feral House. An adaptation of Big Dead Place remains in development with HBO. Previously.
Rebel Radio '98
In April 1998, Ninja Tune duo Up Bustle & Out traveled from Bristol to Havana. They were greeted by legendary flautist Richard Egües, who would be their guide to meeting and recording a number of Cuban musicians over the next two months. The result was the two-volume Rebel Radio: The Master Sessions, an adventurous meeting point between 'the smokeyness of Bristol and the coolness of Havana'. UB&O's Rupert Mould kept a journal which he would later publish as The Rebel Radio Diaries.
Peter Jackson's "Braindead"
Between Peter Jackson’s penchant for cartoonish unserious gore and Bob McCarron’s off-screen makeup effects manipulations, Braindead achieves something that approaches inspired genius in the heretofore unknown artform of human carnage. The film is filled with moments of joyous slapstick tableaux... And then there is that moment where Braindead finally breaks through to achieve a transcendentally surreal glory of excess where Tim Balme wades into battle against the zombies armed with a lawnmower, drenching an entire room in showers of blood. (Braindead holds the record for the greatest amount of artificial blood ever used in a film). The film is a work of perverse genius. - Richard Scheib
Warning, academic in the house
I am BUSY today, far too busy for a rant, but then I felt one coming on, and was worried I might end up with a migraine if I tried to stifle it. You know how it is. So let’s talk about sexism in history vs. sexism in fantasy. [more inside]
Wie??
Polish names are hard for Germans. The Danish language is hard for the Danes. Singing in French is hard for New Zealanders. (MLYT) (Previously: An English-esque song that is hard for English speakers.) [more inside]
Marty Reisman, table-tennis champion, dies at 82.
Following the slope formula of a morbid turn of mind is not the only reason to orbit the obits.
Every now and then, the reading's well worthwhile! Marty Reisman, 82, a Wizard of Table Tennis, Dies.
Pictures of a Giant Otter Eating a Watermelon
Ottermelon So tasteless he cries.
In Soviet Middle Earth, Adventure finds you!
The subtitles aren't accurate, but that shouldn't stop your enjoyment of this Russian adaptation of 'The Hobbit'.
Another National Anthem
For everyone who's thinking about assassins today, I offer up Sondheim and Weidman's take. [more inside]
Let the branding wars begin
The University of California recently released its design for a new logo, and has launched an extensive visual rebranding campaign around it. Though the aim of the new logo is to convey a spirit of modern innovation, detractors feel it lacks the gravitas of the old seal, likening the new logo to a Swedish cake roll, and have started a petition to halt the change to the University's visual identity.
"so Manu got into his head a utopia"
The band Mano Negra are here introduced by MTV Europe in 1990. They are today best known for having been the original band of singer Manu Chao, but they were a pretty damn good band in their day. The band went from strength to strength but broke apart in 1993 after building a train and bringing ice to Macondo (or its inspiration, the city of Aracataca, Colombia). Manu Chao talks briefly about the trip here. His father, respected novelist and journalist Ramón Chao, accompanied his son's band and wrote a book describing the journey, which has been translated into English as The Train of Ice and Fire. The publisher of the translation, Route Online, made a YouTube playlist of related videos. The most interesting and substantial one has Ramón sharing a number of stories from the voyage (subtitled in English).
Behold!
On the screen of the Romantic Motor-Vu drive-in theater on 33rd South in Salt Lake City, Charlton Heston, as Moses in the The Ten Commandments, throws his arms wide before what appears to be a congregation of cars at prayer. Originally published on December 22, 1958 in Life Magazine.
More from J.R. Eyerman: Behind the Scenes of a Stanley Kubrick 's Spartacus'.
(Previously on M-F)
More from J.R. Eyerman: Behind the Scenes of a Stanley Kubrick 's Spartacus'.
(Previously on M-F)
Beating the pants off design hands down for best post it use
Not that kind of girl.
I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you, Lena Dunham's $3.7 million dollar book proposal.
Baby-boom Daydreams
Douglas Bourgeois is a living "visionary imagist" artist from St. Amant, Louisiana, a small town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Bourgeois paints in a hyper-detailed magical realist style, often featuring pop culture icons and everyday objects, and more recently exploring threats to Louisiana's environment. A 2003 traveling exhibit of Bourgeois's work was accompanied by a catalog, Baby-Boom Daydreams. Bourgeois also designed the 2008 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage poster featuring Irma Thomas (scroll down for an image of the original Katrina-inspired painting American Address).
IT IS FINALLY OVER
Metallica ends Napster feud: "Metallica has announced its entire back catalogue is to be made available on music streaming service Spotify, ending a 12-year feud with Napster co-founder Sean Parker.
Drummer Lars Ulrich appeared on stage with Mr Parker, a Spotify investor, to discuss their bitter legal battle that took place in 2000."
Christmas Tree Science
Happy holidays, everyone!
SPAUN of the living
The simulated brain - "First computer model to produce complex behaviour performs almost as well as humans at simple number tasks." [1,2,3,4,5,etc.]
"The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth." ~ Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring: "Widely considered the most important environmental book of the 20th century, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring has been reissued after 50 years. Margaret Atwood considers its impact and legacy."
Farewell, Space Spider.
Nefertiti, the jumping space spider, has died. Neffi (whose name means "the chosen one") apparently adapted from the typical hunting behavior of a redback jumping spider to that of her microgravity environment, "sidling up to her prey instead of leaping onto it". [more inside]
Concentrate and ask again.
Do you know the story behind the Magic 8 Ball? Without a doubt
Can you tell me about the magic inside? As I see it, yes
Can I put it back together using my own magic? Signs point to yes
Can I make my own Magic 8 Ball digital app instead? Most likely [more inside]
Can you tell me about the magic inside? As I see it, yes
Can I put it back together using my own magic? Signs point to yes
Can I make my own Magic 8 Ball digital app instead? Most likely [more inside]
doom ka doom ka, doom ka doom ka, doomdoomdoomdoom ka
Hard-of-Hearing Culture?
The dividing line between being deaf and hard-of-hearing is naturally somewhat fuzzy to most people: the paper "Personal and Social Identity of Hard of Hearing People" by Mark Ross argues that the distinction should be made on the basis of whether the person in question "developed their linguistic skills primarily through the auditory channel, and if they are capable of comprehending verbal messages through listening alone." Yet, this definition brings up new questions: while the role of Deaf culture is well understood as a factor in the development of a social identity in those growing up deaf, is there a similar phenomenon of "hard-of-hearing culture"? And how do those growing up hard-of-hearing develop a social identity? [more inside]
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