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Under certain circumstances, granular solids can undergo liquefaction, and start acting like a fluid. If this happens to the cargo you are carrying on your ship, the results can be very bad.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:42 PM PST - 37 comments

What Was Really Happening In Crazy Rich Asians Pivotal Mahjong Scene, Jeff Yang
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:04 PM PST - 15 comments

Playwright and podcast writer Mac Rogers asked his Twitter followers, "Has anyone actually *literally* thrown a book they disliked across a room? So far, there are more than 2,500 replies, with a lot of Chuck Palahniuk, Donna Tartt, Outlander, and The Awakening.
posted by Etrigan at 6:34 PM PST - 205 comments

"No major American crime requires as much travelling as that of stealing rare books from libraries." Rare book-theft expert and author Travis McDade "can name dozens of famous and lesser-known book thieves but here are his top five." [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:47 AM PST - 35 comments

Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer Come for the chill vibes, stay for the celebrity cameos. Illustrated by Justin Richburg.
posted by zabuni at 10:33 AM PST - 38 comments

Inside the Swift, Deadly History of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. "One hundred years ago, the virus infected a third of the world’s population, killing 195,000 Americans in October 1918 alone." [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 10:00 AM PST - 38 comments

Last year, Vice's Motherboard debuted a podcast with science reporter Kaleigh Rogers devoted to talking to the scientists about mysteries they've solved, from the "Sailing Stones" of Death Valley to Antarctica’s Blood Falls. Links to the episodes, their source articles and bonus links below the break. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:51 AM PST - 14 comments

Other Places by Andy Kelly [YouTube] Other Places is a series of short films celebrating beautiful videogame worlds.

“Other Places is a celebration of video game art. A way to appreciate the work of artists, designers, and coders, free of gameplay distractions. The method for producing the videos varies from game to game. The most important thing is accessing a free camera, which allows for bespoke angles and tracking shots. Some games have this built-in – Skyrim [YouTube] and Alan Wake [YouTube], for example – while others require fan-made hacks or config file editing. For Dishonored, which has no freecam hack, I set the game's gravity to 0 and teleported into the air using the 'blink' power. Once I've recorded a lot of raw footage, I edit it together in Adobe Premiere and select a piece of music from the score that I think evokes the game's mood.”

[via: Video Game Tourism] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 5:26 AM PST - 41 comments

Enterprise™ is a non deterministic unnecessarily statically typed Turing-complete programming language. Following on the footsteps of Rockstar, if we make Enterprise™ a real thing, then recruiters and hiring managers won't be able to talk about 'enterprise developers' any more. On top of that, articles about the "Best Programming Languages for Enterprise Development" will lose their meaning.
posted by XtinaS at 3:44 AM PST - 41 comments

Indy Neidell, one of the people behind the very ambitious Great War Youtube Channel, has launched his even more ambitious World War II channel (first video covers September 1 1939 - The Polish German War). As usual the war will be documented week-by week in real time (for the next six years!) and there will be tons of specials on a myriad of WW2 topics. This time, however, Indy and friends will team up with other historians on Youtube to better cover history's largest and most complicated war.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:40 AM PST - 8 comments

Dinosaurs get all the attention, but Cenozoic mammals can give them a run for the money. And they were big, too. Also by the same animator: Marching Dinosaurs - Animated Size Comparison
posted by Transl3y at 12:50 AM PST - 18 comments