January 24, 2013
"The reason bondage isn't trivial is that trust isn't trivial."
Years before E.L James brought BDSM to a bookstore near you, Nurse Jones wrote The List and posted it to alt.sex.bondage. Funny, touching, truthful and arousing for those so inclined The List changed lives, not the least being Nurse Jones herself. [more inside]
It's never great to let your hair down. Your hair trusted you.
Three hundred and fourteen hilariously deadpan Yelp reviews written by Australian comedian Seaton Kay Smith.
Trenzinho Carreta Furacão
Meanwhile, somewhere on the planet, Captain America, Mickey, Popeye, Fofão and a generic clown bust some moves.
Team Chicken or Team Egg?
Let's Show Them: We're NOT Going To War.
Let's Show Them: We're NOT Going To War. "WHY THE CONVOCATION? This is one of the most effective means for Wisconsin students to serve notice, along with 1,000,000 other students, that WE'RE NOT GOING TO WAR -- ever again!" A protest handbill from the University of Wisconsin, announcing a campus-wide peace demonstration, on April 11, 1940. From the UW Library's compendium of resources on protests and social action at UW-Madison from 1910 through the end of the 20th century.
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Type 2
There are two types of subway riders in the world. Those who wonder, during an idle moment at a station, if they could beat the train to the next stop; and those who attempt to do so. Observe.
The Rules Of The Game
Anne Helen Petersen, the voice behind "Scandals Of Classic Hollywood" (previously) and "doctor of celebrity gossip" gives us an academic rundown of the hows and whys of the last hundred years of Hollywood Star Making, celebrity, PR, marketing, fandom, and scandal management.
and ne'er the twain shall meet.
Felicity show-runner J.J. Abrams is reportedly close to being tapped to direct Star Wars Episode 7. [more inside]
"Roe has been her life, but it's no longer much of a living."
"Better known as the “Jane Roe” in the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, Norma McCorvey has led a conflicted life. Forty years ago, she was at the center of the court decision that famously legalized abortion. Today, she is a zealous anti-abortion advocate." Why did McCorvey turn against the cause she once championed? Tracing the life of an Accidental Activist. Via
Two short films by Matthew Holness
The Snipist - a post-apocalyptic nightmare set in a post-rabies Britain (warning: absolutely bleak). A Gun For George - a short film about crime-writer Terry Finch, author of the 70s Kentish fiction masterpieces The Reprisalizer. [more inside]
My Weekend At A Furry Convention
Kotaku article about, well, a weekend at a furry convention. Of note because it features a short interview with MeFi's own egypturnash (near the end, under "Our Transhuman Future"), plus a pic of her awesome dragon tattoo.
One Day This Chalk Outline Will Circle This City
The Mars Volta is no more, lead singer and self-described 'Latin Danzig' Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced on twitter early this morning. Not coincidentally, this came on the heels of bandmate Omar Rodríguez-López' new band, Bosnian Rainbows, releasing the first track from their upcoming album on soundcloud: Torn Maps. [more inside]
GET QUIZZED IN THE FACE
BILLY ON THE STREET is a show on Fuse network (but made by Funny or Die) in which host Billy Eichner asks random people on the streets of New York (and sometimes celebrity guests) sometimes rude, often unanswerable questions for small amounts of money. If he ever approaches you, remember that the best answer is always Meryl FUCKING Streep (who he met, epically, on Watch What Happens Live.)
Please alert interested parties
"It looks all but inevitable that Twitter, who acquired Posterous last year, will be eliminating the blog platform. This means that all my blogs will vanish, which is a shame, because all my blogs are actually compendiums of very specialized comic book material, meant to be permanent galleries, available forever."
It's never been a better time to be a Japanese shoegazer
While you're waiting for the third My Bloody Valentine album or just their next show why not listen to Yellow Loveless, the newly released, All-Japanese cover of My Bloody Valentine's 1991 classic Loveless? [more inside]
Holland's favorite snack
"Bitterballen are one of Holland's favorite snacks … this deep-fried, crispy, bite-sized ball of meaty gravy is to be eaten with a good, savory mustard." A traditional way to make use of leftovers, recipes for bitterballen are many and diverse. But one thing that (presumably) has never been done before happened this past Monday on Dutch TV, when two presenters cooked up some bitterballen in human fat. (A little more info on the show here.)
Skinring
Designer Sruli Recht creates ring made partly of himself.
Insert snappy pun here
With extensive flooding in Limpopo province the army have been called in to rescue residents from 15,000 escaped crocodiles.
New Assault Weapons Legislation
Dianne Feinstein (D, California) introduced new legislation today to ban assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines. This is the list of 157 specific firearms and firearm types that will be banned if this legislation becomes law.
Redesigning Google: How Larry Page Engineered a Beautiful Revolution
The new Google way is weird, but it's working
Something strange and remarkable started happening at Google immediately after Larry Page took full control as CEO in 2011: it started designing good-looking apps.
Something strange and remarkable started happening at Google immediately after Larry Page took full control as CEO in 2011: it started designing good-looking apps.
Belief in the Unfalsifiable
What would you think if I told you there is an ugly, self-sustaining, omnipotent invisible force that explains everything. It frames every argument, structures language, and every element of human experience.... This article will examine Patriarchy as a theory that is beyond falsifiability. - Naomi J. Chambers
Bonobo : Cirrus
music video weird and wonderful.
The Shukla Test
I’ve been thinking about the Bechdel test for films where a film must have a) two or more main female characters who b) talk for five minutes about c) something other than men. It’s amazing to see that not many films pass this test. So, I’m initiating this now (unless it’s already been done…): The Shukla Test, for books, films and television where a) two main characters who are people who of colour b) talk for five minutes without c) mentioning their race. [more inside]
S is for Spoiler, so you are thus warned
Good Humor
Dramatic moment as Prince Harry runs for an ice cream van during an interview in Afghanistan. [more inside]
A picture is worth 50,000 vacuum tubes.
Possibly the World's First Computer Art? An Atlantic article discusses how in the late 1950s, an anonymous IBM employee made a lady from the pages of Esquire come to life on the screen of a Situation Display Console of a AN/FSQ-7 computer that was part of the SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) project.
Everybody was dressed in his or her best clothes.
in February, 1996, a rocket launch at Xichang failed. Smithsonian Air & Space publishes first-hand account. Xichang Satellite Launch Center at Wikipedia. Previously (comprehensive, highly reccommended).
Some Budding Yeast I Used to Grow
A biologist researcher laments the present difficulty of getting funding for yeast experiments. In song form. With a stop motion animation video. And music by Gotye.
Welcome Home
The American Festivals Project (previously) at the national Rainbow Gathering. This post is NSFW. [more inside]
New Zealand to be 100 percent cat free
It might strike you as a sick Internet joke, but Gareth Morgan isn't kidding. The prominent New Zealand economist and environmentalist wants his country 100 percent cat-free and he's willing to go extraordinary lengths to make it a reality.
Is it a sinister government experiment, designed to brainwash children?
Digging up long forgotten memories for a generation who spent their formative years glued to the boob tube, Memorex is a veritable nostalgia nuke for children of the 80s. Endless beach parties, Saturday morning cartoons, claymation everything, sleek cars, sexy babes, toys you forgot existed, station idents, primitive computer animation, all your favorite sugary cereal mascots, and so much more. An ode to the hyper consumerism and sleek veneer of a simpler time. (previously)
Indeterminate Hikes
"How do we engage technology sustainably and in a way that supports creativity and freedom?... One of the things I try to do... is to somehow interrupt the use of [new and emerging] technologies so that it causes people [an] unexpected and renewed awakening or sensibility of those devices being in our lives." [more inside]
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The Price of a Stolen Childhood [NYTimes.com] When Nicole was a child, her father took pornographic pictures of her that still circulate on the internet.
[more inside]
I want you people to know this will NEVER be made public
Dexter's Laboratory was an animated cartoon by Genndy Tartakovsky known for delightful musical numbers (one episode was an 11-minute-long opera) and genre parodies like The Justice Friends and Dial M For Monkey (and more!), but for years there has been talk of a never-aired episode, Dexter's Rude Removal, in which Dexter and his sister Dee Dee turn hilariously foulmouthed. Needless to say, Cartoon Network never aired this episode, and with the exception of one Comic Con showing, it was never shown to an audience – until now. Adult Swim has kindly put Dexter's Rude Removal on YouTube, for all the world to see.
You wouldn't get that on Daybreak
Winny Puhh, a finalist for the Estonian entry in the Eurovision Song Context, perform live on Estonia's prime breakfast TV show. You might want to turn your volume down a touch. [more inside]
Soon, you too can become a flash drive.
Scientists at the European Bioinformatics Institute successfully encoded several different file formats onto strands of synthetic DNA, which were then sent to an American lab and sequenced to extract the data. Selections included Shakespeare, audio of Dr. Martin Luther King, and photos of their lab. If the idea sounds vaguely familiar, you've probably been reading Dresden Codak.
Abortion in America
The Geography of Abortion Access - Forty years ago Tuesday, the Supreme Court ushered in legal abortion for American women when it decided in Roe v. Wade. Today, states—particularly in the South and Midwest—are eroding that right by legislating hundreds of provisions intended to impede access with burdensome obstacles. To understand more fully the complex state of access to abortion services in America, The Daily Beast identified and confirmed the location of the country’s remaining 724 clinics and calculated the distance from every part of the country to its closest clinic. (more)
Pseudoscorpions In Flight
You don't need to go into the forest to find a creepy scorpion-like arthropod. The pseudoscorpion is a fun little critter who usually lives in the woods but have found bathrooms and kitchens just as hospitable, feeding on pests. You don't have anything to fear from the critters hiding behind your shampoo bottles, but you might wonder how they got out of the woods and into your bathtub? [more inside]
Women in combat
Today, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will announce that the Pentagon has lifted its 19 year old ban on women serving in combat roles in the military. [more inside]
Arachnophobes Need Not Apply
The folks over at Smarter Every Day encountered a Tailless Whip Scorpion, and after showing off its remarkable physiology, they did what anyone would do, and put it on their faces. [more inside]
Doctors Do it in Debt
Let us go down a rabbit hole.
The British Coup Conspiracy In early 1974, the right-wing Spectator magazine predicted “Britain is on a Chilean brink.
In March 1981 the Sunday Times carried an article which indicated that there were suggested preparations for a military coup d’état in Britain in 1974.
2006 BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson.
David Leigh: The Wilson Plot: How the Spycatchers and Their American Allies Tried to Overthrow the British Government.
What If The Coup Against Prime Minister Harold Wilson Been Carried Out?
Cecil King's Plot to Overthrow Harold Wilson.
A biography of Prime Minister Harold Wilson known as Norman John Worthington on his MI5 file.
wiki. This was 1974 Britain. Some background.
In March 1981 the Sunday Times carried an article which indicated that there were suggested preparations for a military coup d’état in Britain in 1974.
2006 BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson.
David Leigh: The Wilson Plot: How the Spycatchers and Their American Allies Tried to Overthrow the British Government.
What If The Coup Against Prime Minister Harold Wilson Been Carried Out?
Cecil King's Plot to Overthrow Harold Wilson.
A biography of Prime Minister Harold Wilson known as Norman John Worthington on his MI5 file.
wiki. This was 1974 Britain. Some background.
"The concept was ambitious. Bold. Insane."
Inside The Greatest Writer's Room You've Never Heard Of
Twenty-five years ago, millions of Americans gathered around their sets to watch the launch of a show that would transform late-night TV. This show would fuse comedy and news, offering desk pieces, taped dispatches from correspondents, and interviews with political figures. It would instruct as well as entertain. Yes, a quarter-century ago, America got its first glimpse of a program that had many similarities to The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. It was called The Wilton North Report. The Wilton North Re-what? Exactly.
Evaluating the impact of international aid, scientifically
International aid projects come under the microscope Clinical-research techniques deployed to assess effectiveness of aid initiatives.
J0hnny ''Gitar'' Wats0n - Livek0nzert 1977
On tour at the height of his powers - a Young John Watson indeed: Johnny ''Guitar'' Watson - Livekonzert 1977 [more inside]
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