February 5, 2018
Ten Guitars & the Māori Strum
How an Engelbert Humperdinck B-side became New Zealand’s unofficial national anthem. The Secret Life of Ten Guitars (RNZ, 24’11, radio programme) [more inside]
A virtual trip to the Ghibli Museum
If you can't make it to the Studio Ghibli Museum (Museo d'Arte Ghibli) in Japan (Google streetview), you can take a (low resolution, mostly text) tour or see someone else's video recording of a tour (no audio, but good video, with some stroboscopic animations), or enjoy three audience recordings of the exclusive shorts: Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess (Vk.com), Water Spider Monmon (Daily Motion), and Mei and the Kittenbus (Daily Motion, with English subs). If that last shuttery video is hard to watch, enjoy the soundtrack and two similar (YouTube) but different videos (Bili Bili) with stills of the short.
Prolific character actor John Mahoney passes away at age 77
“The theater is my brothers, my sisters, my father, my mother, my wife." The actor died Sunday in Chicago after a brief hospitalization, Paul Martino, his manager for more than 30 years, reported. The cause of death was not immediately provided. Mahoney had never married, and did not have any children. Born in Blackpool, England, he made Chicago his adopted home. [more inside]
the most 90s thing to come out of 2018
The song and music video of the remix of Bruno Mars' Finesse with Cardi B sounds and looks like it came directly from 1992, but it was released in January 2018.
Intel smart glasses
Hands-on with Intel's new smart glasses. By shining a low-powered laser into your retina, the glasses can get all sorts of information without pulling out your phone. previously
Couch to 80k words in 10 minutes of writing per day
What the heck is going on at Newsweek?
Last month, agents of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office raided Newsweek's headquarters and seized more than a dozen of the company’s servers. Last week, BuzzFeed News reported that the company had engaged in “fraudulent online traffic practices." That same week, Newsweek Media Group co-founder and chairman Etienne Uzac and his wife Marion Kim, NMG's director of finance, both stepped down - amid increasing allegations about their ties to a controversial fundamentalist Christian church. And today, it was announced that Newsweek had gutted its editorial staff, firing Editor in Chief Bob Roe, Executive Editor Ken Li, and several reporters - all of whom had recently been reporting on Newsweek's recent legal troubles.
Rustic pâté, after Frank
The cast-iron terrine took up space on the shelf for more than seven years, sitting there like a big blue brick, inert and largely undisturbed. Maybe I’d dusted it a few times, during seasonal cleaning frenzies. But I’d never once used it for its appointed purpose: to make pâté. Making pâté was Frank’s thing, not mine.
28 Years Later
The Berlin Wall fell 10,316 days ago—meaning that as of today, it's now been gone for as long as it stood. Coincidentally, on the eve of this anniversary came news that a previously forgotten 260-foot segment of the original wall had been rediscovered in the northeast Berlin neighborhood of Pankow. [more inside]
Japanese Prints of Western Inventors, Artists and Scholars
We have to put the whole show on the field in six minutes.
Ever wondered what it takes to produce a concert-like experience in a football stadium with only 6 minutes to set the stage? Let sound engineer Patrick Baltzell tell you all about it... [more inside]
Da-Da-Da
Nearly 17 years ago Metafilter was introduced to Tunak Tunak Tun. And now, AN EPIC METAL VERSION by Bloodywood. [more inside]
"I’ve been declared unqualified to speak truthfully about my own life"
In the SFF world of the last several years, the so-called "Sad Puppy" and "Rabid Puppy" campaigns (previously), ostensibly about ethics in science fiction--but more often involving targeting authors and fans from marginalized groups--have been causing controversy. An anonymous blogger named Camestros Felapaton has become known for extensive and well-sourced criticisms of the Puppies and the authors that are responsible for organizing them. In a post at a collaborative blog run by several Puppy authors, Puppy organizer Brad Torgersen publicly accused the husband of author Foz Meadows of being Camestros. Based on some initial "detective work" of Lou Antonelli, who previously tried to sic law enforcement on author David Gerrold, the Puppies began a series of increasingly disturbing attacks aimed at both Camestros and the Meadows family. [more inside]
The Man Who Tried to Take the Violence Out of War
Gene Sharp, 1928-2018. The founder and former director of the Albert Einstein Institution dedicated his life to the study of nonviolent political struggle, and his books have been used as virtual how-to manuals by pro-democracy activists around the world. ("I would rather have [Sharp's book Civilian-Based Defense] than the nuclear bomb," Audrius Butkevicius, the former Lithuanian defense minister, once said.) Appreciation for Sharp from Slobodan Djinovic and Srdja Popovic (leaders of the anti-Milosevic movement in Serbia), Timothy Gee, and Jesse Walker.
Well, for once, the rich white man is in control!
This is the latest chapter in the US Politics megathread. POTUS says memo vindicates him. Members of both parties in Congress say it doesn't. Several Eagles players are declining the White House celebratory trip after winning SuperBowl. Release the memohounds!
« Previous day | Next day »