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New Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Weak User Engagement Fast Company summarizes a new study from RJMetrics that looks at public posts, +1s, replies and reshares on Google+. It concludes "the average post on Google+ has less than one +1, less than one reply, and less than one re-share." Google replies that public posts are a poor metric of user activity; Fast Company replies that "Google has refused to provide clear figures and metrics for its social network's active user base" and links to Danny Sullivan's "brilliant rundown of Google's lack of transparency on the subject" - If Google’s Really Proud Of Google+, It Should Share Some Real User Figures.
There was also Wil Wheaton's recent angry "Oh, go fuck yourself, Google" rant in response to a recent experiment replacing YouTube's "like" button with a Google+ button for a small number of users, thus requiring them to sign up for Google+ before they can 'like' a YouTube video. Is Google Forcing Google+ Down People’s Throats?
posted by mediareport at 7:53 PM PST - 209 comments

Wendy Carlos is best known for Switched-On Bach, the best-selling album that popularized the Moog synthesizer, and the soundtracks for A Clockwork Orange and Tron. But what she calls her "most important album" is the 1986 recording Beauty in the Beast, whose experiments with instrumentation, tonality, and scaling are described in these two PDF reproductions of contemporary articles from Keyboard magazine. [more inside]
posted by Trurl at 7:25 PM PST - 30 comments

On 27 May, UK protest group Take The Flour Back intends to destroy an open air GM wheat trial at Rothamsted Research, a public institution. A small attack was made on 20 May. Understandably, scientists involved in this research are concerned about the threat, launching a PR program to explain the research [original ACRE advice recommending the trial] and opening a petition against the protests.
posted by wilful at 6:56 PM PST - 132 comments

Scandanavia And The World: A web comic of outrageous national stereotypes bluntly portrayed by cute little cartoon bobbleheads, that will nonetheless help outsiders learn to differentiate among the Nordic countries. With explanatory text.
posted by Diablevert at 6:18 PM PST - 48 comments

Sneaking Into Pantone HQ: "While the Pantone meetings are traditionally secret, I was invited to the Summer 2013 meeting on the condition that I not reveal the colorists’ identities." (An older, brief interview on Pantone forecasts.) For Summer 2013: forecast overview - palette descriptions - palette colors. (via good.is: ...the Ethics of Color Forecasting)
posted by flex at 6:08 PM PST - 40 comments

“Old age isn’t a battle, it’s a massacre.” A son’s plea to let his mother go.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:28 PM PST - 63 comments

Putting a law degree to good use: a Deputy Attorney General of the State of Hawaii responds to a request for Barak Obama's birth certificate from the Secretary State of Arizona. (Scroll down for the actual correspondence.)
posted by alms at 4:25 PM PST - 152 comments

Day Z is the best thing I’ve played so far this year. On my first go, I bled to death in the dark, alone on a forest trail. [more inside]
posted by Sebmojo at 2:59 PM PST - 59 comments

The art house review/criticism series Brows Held High decided to tackle Nicolas Roeg/David Bowie's 1976 The Man Who Fell To Earth by reviewing it as a karaoke medley of Bowie's greatest hits.
posted by The Whelk at 2:34 PM PST - 12 comments

One Hospital | Hundreds of Stories. A YouTube Playlist. Experience a day in the life of a public hospital (Highland Hospital) in Oakland, CA at a moment of profound change to the nation's economy and its healthcare system. [more inside]
posted by cashman at 2:29 PM PST - 7 comments

The Sunlight Foundation, an organization dedicated to transparency in government, has analyzed 17 years of Congressional speech (per the Congressional Record) and found that the Flesch-Kincaid grade level of speech on the floor of the House and Senate has dropped by nearly a full year in the last decade. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 2:02 PM PST - 39 comments

"I want to know how I am a small press, if I am outselling Robin Hobb and Terry Goodkind and Tolkien?" Fantasy author M.R. Mathias has a disagreement with Fantasy-Faction.com.
posted by Avenger50 at 2:00 PM PST - 68 comments

Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal published a comic entitled "Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived.." Alex Knapp at Forbes responds with "Nikola Tesla Wasn't God And Thomas Edison Wasn't The Devil" Inman responds to the response very succinctly. (the oatmeal previously)
posted by rebent at 1:08 PM PST - 98 comments

Zamrock is a largely forgotten musical movement, born from a newly independence still trying to find stability. The sound is a mix of local sounds with heavy, bluesy and psychedelic rock, usually sung in English, the constitutional language for Zambia. Unfortunately, little of the history is written, and those who were there are fewer each year. Last year, Emmanuel Kangwa “Jagari” Chanda, the co-founder and lead singer for WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc), was interviewed for two hours (Vimeo; transcript; source) and recorded a radio show with 14 Zamrock tracks. The South African newspaper Mail & Guardian have an article with more history and interview snippets with Jagari, whose stage name is an Africanisation of Mick Jagger's name. (via) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:04 PM PST - 16 comments

Being deaf. A young programmer's personal account of being the only deaf employee at a startup.
posted by bitmage at 11:33 AM PST - 70 comments

Anti-JFK coloring book from the early 1960s. Talking Point Memo has posted photos of the New Frontier Coloring Book, a conservative satire of the Kennedy administration, discovered by a TPM reader. [more inside]
posted by Cash4Lead at 9:54 AM PST - 42 comments

Following the announcement of plans to replace the Disability Living Allowance, eliminating benefits to 500,000 people via new criteria and the already-controversial Work Capability Assessments, and concerns that the change will undermine the legacy of the Paralypmic Games, public transit access to the Olympics for wheelchair users is put to the test (autostart video). For reference, the TfL suggests form Trafalgar Square to Stratford takes 35-40 minutes without accessibility considerations and approximately 50 minutes using wheelchair accessible routes. [more inside]
posted by hoyland at 9:47 AM PST - 30 comments

On what would have been his 40th birthday, Ego Trip posts 10 Notorious B.I.G. Videos You Must See.
posted by box at 9:46 AM PST - 23 comments

Al Rose Promotions is proud to present our Encore Presentation.....
A teaser trailer for PT Anderson's forthcoming The Master.
posted by timshel at 9:26 AM PST - 44 comments

Mysterious Universe is more than just the site hosting a weekly podcast that covers the weird and unexplained. From UFOs and Men in Black to Bigfoot and Mothman (with the Shadow People and Black Eyed Children lurking somewhere inbetween), the Mysterious Universe website sifts through the news and personal accounts that crop up on sites such as Crytomundo, Phantoms and Monsters, and Your Ghost Stories so you don't have to. Though the podcast was almost brought down by the menance that is the Dibbuk Box, it is now in its seventh season and, like the site itself, shows no signs of slowing down. [more inside]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:20 AM PST - 16 comments

California Resale Royalty Act declared unconstitutional. The only Droit De Suite Law in the U.S. is now defunct. It was signed into being by Gov. Jerry Brown in 1976..... previously [more inside]
posted by snaparapans at 9:17 AM PST - 52 comments

In five minutes, Dan Benjamin graciously and honestly recollects and signs off the 120-episode technology/Apple podcast The Talk Show. (can't listen? summary of remarks). Benjamin co-hosted TTS with writer John Gruber, who on Friday controversially announced he was taking the show to Mule Syndicate alone.
posted by michaelh at 8:59 AM PST - 44 comments

The fish pendant, on Philip K. Dick’s account, began to emit a golden ray of light, and Dick suddenly experienced what he called anamnesis: the direct perception by the mind of a metaphysical reality.
posted by xammerboy at 8:10 AM PST - 111 comments

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012's first semi-final begins tomorrow at 3 PM EST (12 PM PST). Watch it online, and listen to the songs (below the jump). [more inside]
posted by LSK at 7:31 AM PST - 204 comments

Sarah Esteje does amazing ballpoint pen and pencil illustrations of animals. [more inside]
posted by quin at 7:07 AM PST - 14 comments

The teaser trailer for the twenty-third James Bond feature, Skyfall has arrived. [more inside]
posted by beaucoupkevin at 6:24 AM PST - 133 comments

Joyce Banda, who was recently sworn in as Malawi's first ever female president has announced plans to repeal her country's laws against homosexuality in her first state of nation address. She said: "Some laws which were duly passed by the august house... will be repealed as a matter of urgency... these include the provisions regarding indecent practices and unnatural acts." More than two-thirds of African countries have laws criminalising homosexual acts with imprisionment, abuse and even murder being served as punishment to generally widespread public support. This, coupled with Malawi hosting the African summit in July makes Banda's move all the more laudable.
posted by jamiemch at 6:08 AM PST - 25 comments

Robin Gibb, CBE, has died at 62 of colorectal cancer. The Guardian pays tribute in words and music. [more inside]
posted by lwb at 4:36 AM PST - 65 comments

The Internet is going crazy for 19 (or 16? or 17? Definitely not really 13) year old Florida rapper Kitty Pryde’s track “Ok Cupid.” [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:13 AM PST - 220 comments