May 3, 2012
Uncatchable
George Wright, America's most elusive fugitive, ran for forty years. He ran from the cops after escaping from prison. He ran from the feds after the most brazen hijacking in history. He ran from the authorities on three continents, hiding out and blending in wherever he went. It was a historic run—and now that it's over, he might just pull off the greatest escape of all.
"I like almost all styles of music. I believe that there is music for every mood, every occasion. All except for country music."
Name a style of music you dislike and Reddit's hivemind will try to change your mind. Or most probably it'll confirm that your musical tastes are not that easy to change.
Suppose a human and The Hulk were cylinders...
Kittens! Live in your area! Ready to chat now!
Fixation
Fixation is a prequel to The Company Of Myself (previously). Smoking is a core game mechanic. [more inside]
NyQuil nightmare version of Disasteradio
The band/artist is called Kristmann Op, the song is called Hátt fjall,The video of the song is an autotuned alien disco futuristic dreamwave delight
“He just has some things on his mind he’s trying to work out.”
Why Noah Went to the Woods: He was a proud Marine who survived three brutal tours in Iraq and had plans to redeploy with the national guard. But when 30-year-old Noah Pippin vanished inside Montana’s remote Bob Marshall Wilderness, he left behind a trail of haunting secrets—and a mystery that may never be solved.
"The Pippins were alarmed. Given their son’s strict adherence to his moral code, a scenario in which Noah had intentionally shirked his military duty was nearly inconceivable. After several calls to his phone went straight to voice mail, they began to investigate, discovering that they knew far less about their son than they had imagined."
He says it like he's found a lost kitten.
The superhero origin story of Joss Whedon goes like this: A GQ interview with Joss Whedon.
Off the Grid and other stories
"There are growing number of people who have decided to live light on the earth to not be a part of problem anymore. I spent the last few years with four of them striving for harmony with nature in the most pristine corners of United States." Photos by Eric Valli, but they don't have captions. Check out his other photo sets on the site.
V'Ger is that which seeks the Creator
In 2273, after having been thought lost in a black hole, Voyager 6 returned to Federation space as V'Ger, the massive and menacing spaceship at the heart of Star Trek: The Motion Picture... Designing the Living Machine - concept art for V'Ger, Redesigning the Walk to V’Ger, The Lighting and Photography of Star Trek's "V'ger", working on the interior of V'ger, V'ger External View, V'Ger - Spock Mindmeld Model Piece (scroll way down) (may contain Darth Vader and Miss Piggy), animating the "V'ger Probe", V'ger rear view.
Japanese painted manhole covers
This Adventurous and Terrifying World, with James W. Buel
James William Buel was a journalist, author, and editor, who was born in 1849 in Golconda, Illinois, and died in 1920 in San Diego, California. In his life, he traveled the world, writing and illustrating adventure tales about the wilds of Africa and the American West, and other exciting parts of the world. Many of his books are on Archive.org, ranging from America's Wonderlands, as delineated by pen and camera and Mysteries and Miseries of America's Great Cities, embracing New York, Washington City, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and New Orleans; to Russian Nihilism and Exile Life in Siberia, with over 200 splendid engravings, and Sea and Land [microform] : an illustrated history of the wonderful and curious things of nature existing before and since the deluge (including a great number of creatures who apparently found joy in terrorizing and devouring people).
Kitty, Kitty!
Kentucky v. King revisited
Remember Kentucky v. King from last year? The mis-reported conclusion was that police could enter a home without a warrant to prevent destruction of evidence based on hearing movement after knocking. A week ago the supreme court of Kentucky published (pdf) its revisiting of the case given instructions from the US supreme court, and found in favor of King (via): [more inside]
A Strange Light In The Sky
In the wee morning hours of September 20th, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill drove down New Hampshire's Route 3, through the Franconia Notch, and into the UFO history books. Five years later, John G. Fuller's account of their story, The Interrupted Journey, became the most well known alien abduction case of all time. Fuller's book was adapted into a made-for-TV movie in 1975.
The book and movie brought the "Greys" into the public consciousness as the quintessential UFO occupants, although it has been alleged by skeptics that the Greys themselves were inspired by an episode of the TV show The Outer Limits.
Last year, the state of New Hampshire erected a historical marker at the site of the alleged abduction.
Skeptics and believers have been debating the case for decades now. Interestingly, a UFO enthusiast named John Oswald published an account in 1980 that claimed "Mrs. Hill was unable to 'distinguish between a landed UFO and a streetlight'", which even included a photo of said streetlight. It was not until 2007 that a science fiction writer who lives in the area where the "abduction" took place published an article which reveals the real "UFO" and puts forward a plausible explanation. [more inside]
Acid Madness
September 1st, 1859: The Week the Sun Touched the Earth
Boston telegraph operator, (to Portland telegraph operator): "Please cut off your battery entirely from the line for fifteen minutes."
Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected."
Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?"
Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. Current comes and goes gradually."
Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the batteries, as the Aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble."
Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?"
Boston: "Yes. Go ahead." — Ars Technica covers the story of the Great Auroral Storm of 1859, and the awe it inspired.
Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected."
Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?"
Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. Current comes and goes gradually."
Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the batteries, as the Aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble."
Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?"
Boston: "Yes. Go ahead." — Ars Technica covers the story of the Great Auroral Storm of 1859, and the awe it inspired.
More Dutch men served in feldgrau than in khaki
Tomorrow is remembrance day in the Netherlands, as the dead and victims of World War II and beyond are honoured. Each year at the national memorial service at the Dam square in Amsterdam a poem is read by the winner of the school competition organised by the remembrance committee. This year there was controversy as the winning poem was about a Dutch volunteer for the Waffen SS, which was not appreciated by the Auschwitz survivors organisation, which threated to boycott the procedings. In the end therefore the poem was scrapped, but it had already laid bare a sore spot in Dutch history. [more inside]
Beyond the Serpent's Grasp
On Sunday, April 29, 2012, composer Joel Goldsmith, son of famous film composer Jerry Goldsmith (Jerry's MeFi Obit Post from 2004), passed away at 54 of cancer. [more inside]
Strange Bedfellows
They talk about conquest and speak in militaristic jargon. They study propaganda and mind control. The Southern Poverty Law Center has linked their communities with hate groups. Who are they? Pickup Artists. [more inside]
Death of a Salesman
The revival of Death of a Salesman starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman is taking Broadway by storm. It's directed by Mike Nichols and also stars Andrew Garfield. It's one of the theater's most respected works. But there's a bittersweet irony with this revival. "Tickets for the original run, in 1949, cost between $1.80 and $4.80; tickets for the 2012 run range from $111 to $840. After adjusting for inflation, that’s a 10-fold increase, well beyond the reach of today’s putative Willy Lomans." "Certainly few middle-class people, or at least anyone from any “middle class” that Loman would recognize, are among the audiences attending this production."
“Where you at, Wayne? Where you at, Ye?”
Hello, my name is Adair and I'm here to recruit you. Texas rapper Adair Lion's song bluntly calls out homophobia in hip hop. He explains the inspiration for the song: "But I thought NO... This needs to be dialoged... this has to be said... this should be accepted.... and they deserve for someone to let them know that they aren't wrong... I NEED TO SAY IT BLUNTLY. "
Why women deserve flaky free spirits, too.
"He'd Zooey Deschaneled her, hard. He was a manic pixie dream guy." (Via Nerve.com, potentially NSFWish). Looks like the MPDG has some competition. Includes opinions from HelloGiggles, website of Alpha-MPDG Zooey Deschanel.
Melvil Dewey Rap
Hi! My name is Melvil Dewey! Nice to meetcha, how you doing? (SLYT). Meet the International Library Hip Hop Superstar and Library Journal Mover and Shaker (literally). 597.3 - SHARKS!
Better to burn out
A fan-forced rocket stove with an inbuilt thermoelectric generator that can charge your GPS as you cook a meal using a few handfuls of twigs for fuel: the BioLite camp stove (via Blue Economy, via Big Ideas, via ABC Radio National)
Future tech
Give the US credit
"In other words, credit has become America’s welfare policy," says Sheldon Garon, Princeton University professor and author of Beyond Our Means: Why America Spends While the World Saves. The US savings rate currently = 3.8%, while the Euro Area savings rate = 13.7%[pdf]. [more inside]
"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising." ~ Mark Twain
Don't judge a book by the ad on its cover. [Guardian.co.uk] Chalk it up as another brilliant innovation – or a sign of the impending apocalypse – as China Daily reports that publishers are making space on the front covers of books for advertising. Apparently the "first book to carry an advertisement" is an account of the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, written by his mother, which was published in March adorned with "the logo of a well-known Chinese textile manufacturer".
MK Occupy Minnesota
"The report indicates that police patrol downtown Minneapolis looking for impaired people, then drive them to a testing facility in Richfield for examination of their capabilities while intoxicated. But in some cases where no previously impaired people could be found, police seduced prospective participants with drugs. The study has been ongoing since early last month." [more inside]
"If you call a cop, you should get a cop"
Kellog Brown & Root are bidding for a £1.5bn contract to run key policing services in the (UK) West Midlands and Surrey. [more inside]
No Difference Between Flesh & Cloth
"I've put together a small collection of this preproduction art, along with a few of Judith's models, to illustrate a little of what [David Cronenberg's] Total Recall might have been..."
The Avian Flu: Transparency vs. Public Safety
"Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets." After an extensive, months-long debate, one of two controversial papers showing ways the H5N1 "avian" influenza virus could potentially become transmissible in mammals with only 3 or 4 mutations was published in Nature today. The journal included an editorial on the merits and drawbacks of "publishing risky research" with regard to biosafety. The debate included an unprecedented recommendation by The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to block publication -- a decision they later reversed. (Via: 1, 2) Nature's special report has additional articles, including interviews with the teams behind both papers.
"You must never lower yourself to being a person you don’t like."
Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Ladin Sidelined?
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has released its analysis of 17 de-classified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid where Osama Bin Laden was killed. They also released the documents themselves, available in the original Arabic as well as in English translation. A Pastebin version of the English translations has been posted for easy searching.
Happy National Day of Reason!
British Council Film Collection
The British Council Film Collection "is an archive of over 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. Preserved by the BFI National Film Archive and digitised by means of a generous donation by Google, the films are now yours to view, to download and to play with for the first time." A couple of essays and case studies also already up, with more to come.
Munch's "Scream" sets auction record
The art market entered a new phase on Wednesday evening when “The Scream”, a pastel drawn in 1895 by Edvard Munch, was sold for $119.92 million at Sotheby’s auction of Impressionist and modern art. The winning bid, which came by telephone, set a world record for any work of art offered at auction. [more inside]
Kermit <3 Amy
Years after his first (albeit veiled) public cry for help Kermit once again uses song to deliver a poignant message. [via mefi projects]
The Wisdom of the Crowd
Fabrice Muamba returns to Bolton Wanders. Six weeks after suffering a cardiac arrest in the middle of a football game against Spurs (which left him 'clinically dead for 78 minutes'), Bolton Wanderer's Fabrice Muamba walks out in front of his home crowd before last night's game against Spurs. BBC Sport have the video... and I think I have something in my eye.
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