March 3, 2016

This is the simple story of one man's enduring passion.

The Maker
posted by unliteral at 9:44 PM PST - 16 comments

It will end where it began. According to one of the definitions of 'bega

This is how it begins. I mean, THIS is how it begins. I mean, THIS is ho-- oh, for crying out loud. THI-- THIS is how it begins. And this is how it ends: Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie has been greenlit. (Some background.)
posted by BiggerJ at 9:42 PM PST - 5 comments

The ground begins to move at 11:44 AM on a Thursday in April.

A 5-part "science fiction" story of what life in Portland might be like after The Big One. (SLVice)
posted by skycrashesdown at 4:56 PM PST - 51 comments

Never, ever photograph anything you feel lukewarm about.

Lisette Model took up photography in 1933 after studying painting as a student of Andre Lhote.
Her first teacher was the now little remembered Rogi Andre briefly married to André Kertész (previously) and perhaps best now known for her pictures of Jacqueline Lamba (later Jacqueline Breton) naked and underwater. It was Rogi Andre who told her Never, ever photograph anything you feel lukewarm about, only what you are passionately interested in.
In 1938 Lisette moved to Manhattan and there became a photographer of New York.
More on Lisette Model via the wonderful masters of photography blog.
posted by adamvasco at 4:51 PM PST - 2 comments

42 steps to conquering executive function problems (in 68 easy steps).

Step 63: Panic. All jesting aside, executive function skills are important. The ability to start new tasks, switch easily between tasks, pause before responding to something, and plan for the future all seem like small, simple things. But many people struggle painfully with them, especially when difficulty with them is treated as a personal failing. (Turns out it's more complicated than that.)
posted by sciatrix at 3:58 PM PST - 102 comments

A brief cultural analysis of Trader Joe's

Everything at [Trader Joe's] is suggestive of a time when life was supposedly simpler, more traditional (e.g. homogeneous) — long before the big-box superstore, parking lots the size of football fields, and the proliferation of brands in the aisles and on social media.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 3:29 PM PST - 144 comments

Nothing ſucceeds like long s

This Chrome extenſion replaces the unſightly "terminal" or "ſhort" s with the elegant "long" ſ according to the rules of ſtandard uſage. [more inside]
posted by Iridic at 2:56 PM PST - 37 comments

Rent a flat, run a shop (no word on whether there's a cat)

Planning a trip to Scotland and want to get away from boring old Edinburgh, maybe just catch up on your reading? Think about staying in Wigtown, "Scotland's National Book Town". Specifically, think about staying in an apartment above The Open Book, an actual book shop. It's only £28 per night, with a minimum stay of 6 nights. Oh, and one other requirement: you will be running The Open Book, with the help of professional booksellers and volunteers. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 11:47 AM PST - 47 comments

New hosts for America's Test Kitchen announced

As foretold by comments in this previous thread, CCO Jack Bishop announced today that Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster are the new hosts of America's Test Kitchen. [more inside]
posted by ndg at 10:54 AM PST - 52 comments

Men's College Basketball

George Mason. Cinderella. Ten Years After.
posted by josher71 at 10:54 AM PST - 8 comments

“Rose Quartz” and “Serenity” present a far more nefarious situation.

The Propaganda of Pantone: Colour and Subcultural Sublimation. Pantone’s choice of “Rose Quartz” and “Serenity” as the 2016 Colour of the Year is the most insidious move by this colour-industrial-complex since “Blue Iris” in 2008. As with “Blue Iris”, Pantone has once again mined the subcultural landscape and used their monopoly within the creative industries to propagate their colour properties to the world. Previously & more.
posted by apathy0o0 at 10:39 AM PST - 76 comments

The right to die

On the evening of April 20, 2000, Al Purdy drank a glass of Chilean wine laced with Rohypnol. Murphy’s Law offered one last demonstration of its quirky power: the wine was corked. He sipped it anyway, in the company of his love of almost 60 years. There was no rush, no timetable. The last piece of music he heard was Paul Robeson’s best rendition of “Ol’ Man River”—his favourite singer performing one his favourite songs. [more inside]
posted by sevenyearlurk at 9:06 AM PST - 107 comments

the most beautiful and perfectly finished floating church in the world

The Floating Church of the Redeemer 1848-1853.

"It was the sight of the floating gothic church making her way up and down the Delaware River, with banners flying from her 75′ foot steeple, that inspired New Jersey’s Bishop George Washington Doane to write the missionary hymn Fling Out The Banner. The church could seat as many as 600 worshippers for a Sunday service. This number rarely must have been reached, as the families of mariners and longshoreman frequently left early due to seasickness." [via] [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 9:05 AM PST - 6 comments

Rise Up and Sing Along with YouTube

Want to be part of a singalong, but don't know the tunes? Presenting the YouTube playlists for the Rise Again Songbook, a one-stop shop for group sing-ins: Ballads & Old Songs; Peace; Hope & Strength; Country; Dreams and Mystery; Family; Dignity and Diversity; and British Invasion. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:04 AM PST - 7 comments

Internet on Fleek

Internet Map 2015 Such great beauty you have internet!
posted by ArticTusk at 8:34 AM PST - 14 comments

A eulogy for the Futures

Remember this scene in Ferris Bueller's Day off? Those were the open outcry commodity trading pits at the Chicago Board of Trade, which were founded in 1848 and finally shut down last July, replaced entirely by computers. These were four guys (and one woman) in the funny coloured jackets: An oral history of the pits. (Compiled by John McDermott for MEL Magazine, a medium publication) [more inside]
posted by Diablevert at 8:29 AM PST - 10 comments

"All we can do is hold our hearts."

Building a hydro-electric dam on a bed of water-soluble gypsum was never the best idea, but engineers kept it under control for thirty years by filling any holes that appeared in the bedrock with cement (a process known as grouting). Now the repair workforce has fallen by 90%, the bedrock is getting weaker, the sluice gates are jammed, and spring meltwater threatens to burst the dam and send a wall of water twenty metres high flooding towards the cities downstream. [more inside]
posted by rory at 8:27 AM PST - 35 comments

Not if, but when

Hell and High Water. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. It’s home to the nation’s largest refining and petrochemical complex, where billions of gallons of oil and dangerous chemicals are stored. And it’s a sitting duck for the next big hurricane. (Non-interactive text version)
posted by zabuni at 7:47 AM PST - 16 comments

Need An F-4 Phantom?

Get on down to Cal's bargain used fighter jet lot.
posted by veedubya at 7:42 AM PST - 22 comments

New Zealand flag referendum enters final stage

New Zealanders have begun voting in the second stage of a referendum on whether to change their national flag. The alternatives are between the current flag, with the Union Flag emblem, and a new variant with the iconic Silver Fern. The referendum will run through March 24. Previously.
posted by graymouser at 7:41 AM PST - 38 comments

Scot Campbell Paints Windows

Who needs vinyl letters or printed posters? Portland artist Scot Campbell paints store windows the old-fashioned way, and shows you how he does it. (MLYT)
posted by overeducated_alligator at 7:32 AM PST - 9 comments

That stuff went everywhere

Ghostbusters trailer (Original film trailer) (MLYT)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:36 AM PST - 308 comments

The Paper-less Doll

To promote the upcoming Toronto Comic Arts Festival, renowned Canadian webcomicker Kate Beaton (previously here) made a poster showing her as a paper doll with various Festival-attending outfits (including some cosplay - maybe her cutest work since Fat Pony). To make it more appropriate for a Star of the Internets, cartoonist/game-designer Kim Hoang made it into the interactive online TCAF Kate Beaton Dress Up!
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:44 AM PST - 21 comments

The dental drill predates the wheel -- but was it safe?

Despite our rapidly advanced dental technology, the idea of dental drilling still scares many of us today. Now imagine your teeth being drilled by Neolithic tools and our ancestors suddenly appear a great deal braver than us. They must have known the true fear of a trip to the dentist.
For BBC Earth, Colin Barras investigates the evidence for the existence of dentistry in prehistoric times.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:54 AM PST - 20 comments

The Most Important Election Of Your Lifetime

Samantha Bee schools us all on the truly most important election of your lifetime. [~7min]
posted by hippybear at 1:02 AM PST - 28 comments

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