February 9, 2009

The salvage of flight 1549.

The salvage of flight 1549.
posted by docgonzo at 9:47 PM PST - 76 comments

Bunkers

The Frightening Beauty of Bunkers.
posted by homunculus at 8:35 PM PST - 24 comments

Adkisson pleads guilty, has nothing to say.

"This was a symbolic killing," Adkisson wrote. "Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book. I'd like to kill everyone in the mainstream media. But I knew these people were inaccessible to me. [more inside]
posted by Optimus Chyme at 8:07 PM PST - 91 comments

Genuine random numbers, generated by radioactive decay

HotBits is an Internet resource that brings genuine random numbers, generated by a process fundamentally governed by the inherent uncertainty in the quantum mechanical laws of nature, directly to your computer in a variety of forms. HotBits are generated by timing successive pairs of radioactive decays detected by a Geiger-Müller tube interfaced to a computer. (Warning: random sounds.)
posted by parudox at 7:46 PM PST - 41 comments

All the swear words from The Sopranos

Every Swear Word from The Sopranos there is nothing left to be said, other than NSFW...
posted by HuronBob at 6:08 PM PST - 69 comments

The Future Is A Giant Smelly Series Of Tubes. In Space.

Behold the mundane wonders of the space age. NASA offers a four-part hi-def tour of the International Space Station. [via] Cynical-C [more inside]
posted by awenner at 5:36 PM PST - 11 comments

Staring into the abyss

$550 Billion Disappeared in "Electronic Run On the Banks" (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by up in the old hotel at 5:24 PM PST - 49 comments

Pissed forth by gods!

And you thought Pepsi's redesign was just crappy. Well no. According to this ridiculous internal document (6MB, PDF), apparently leaked from their ad agency, the sugar-water's rebranding was 5,000 years in the making, and molded by the same elemental forces that shape the very cosmos.
Warning: Hilariously meaningless corporate drivel inside. [via]
posted by Silky Slim at 4:49 PM PST - 179 comments

Double Muscle

Holy Cow! (SLYT)
posted by cjorgensen at 4:29 PM PST - 46 comments

This is Why You're Fat

This is Why You're Fat.
posted by empath at 4:29 PM PST - 114 comments

Obama DOJ continues Bush secrecy on torture

Obama's Justice Department has endorsed its predecessor's claims that the details of the extraordinary rendition program are "state secrets."
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:42 PM PST - 148 comments

Sign language bunny. Pages!

Sign language bunnies. Does exactly what it says. It's bunnies. Teaching you sign language. [more inside]
posted by essexjan at 2:22 PM PST - 21 comments

Here's the Beef

Joe Sedelmaier showed us where the beef is, and in doing so, revolutionized television advertising (aside from spawning a Clara Peller 7" and influencing the 1984 US elections). Here are some of Sedelmaier's greatest moments: Wendy's: Soviet Fashion Show | "Parts is Parts" • FedEx: "You can't count on anything these days!" | The Classic Speed Talker (John Moschitta, previously) • Pearson's Salted Nut Roll (with Godwin effect) • Fibreglas Pink (Canada) • Kaypro ComputersAlaska Airlines • Clara Peller in Jartran Truck RentalHayworth Furniture SystemsGMAC FinancingAnd for those missing individually, Youtuber jerry7242 has posted a reel of 30 minutes' worth of Joe Sedelmaier's commercials in four parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (#4 includes an interview with Joe Sedelmaier) Enjoy! [more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 2:14 PM PST - 8 comments

Crapping out

Trump Entertainment is about to run out of the third extension of its debt payments. Station Casinos is offering its investors as little as 10 cents on the dollar in a pre-packaged bankruptcy. Wynn Resorts is cutting staff hours and bonuses to avoid layoffs. MGM Mirage may see a default rate of 30% on its City Center condominiums. Harrah's long-term debt has doubled. There are no more traffic jams on the Strip. Oh... and the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City had to settle a $70 million sexual harassment lawsuit brought by its beverage servers. In short: times are tough.
posted by Joe Beese at 12:53 PM PST - 61 comments

If it ain't broke, fix it.

I like watching videos of people riding fixed gear bikes in the city: Empire, MashSF, Macaframa, Fast Friday, Bootleg Sessions, Lucas Brunelle's crazy vids (linked on MeFi before). Don't like videos? Try Fixed Gear Magazine (pdf of vol 1 and vol 2) or CogMag (dead tree mag, but excerpts from each issue are on their site).
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 12:51 PM PST - 54 comments

Almost had fight at school.

This is the real line-a-day diary of a young farmgirl in 1937. [more inside]
posted by cashman at 12:35 PM PST - 32 comments

The Best Off the Web

Alec Duffy won all rights to Sufjan Stevens' song "Lonely Man of Winter" in a contest (traded for the rights to his winning song). Rather than sell or blog it, he's having private listening parties with a handful of guests each Wednesday night in Brooklyn through Feb. 25th. Here's why. You can hear his winning entry, the vaguely Magnetic-Fieldsy Every Day Is Christmas, but so far, he has kept Stevens' song offline. Some people are angry about these "little asshat tea parties." The closest most of us can get are listener descriptions from Annie Scott ("lovely"), and Jessica Suarez ("gorgeous"). [more inside]
posted by msalt at 12:09 PM PST - 94 comments

High Five Escalator.

"For [Improv Everywhere's] latest mission, Agent Lathan gave out 2,000 high fives by standing next to a subway escalator during the morning rush. Five additional agents spread out along the adjacent stairs, holding signs that prepared commuters for the upcoming high five fun. Enjoy the video first and then check out the mission report and photos."
posted by teamparka at 11:39 AM PST - 67 comments

"...And all for the want of a horseshoe nail."

Picture a three-guy trading floor. They would call a carrier,... [and] manually move trunks in and out of route by issuing SQL commands against the Veraz's Oracle database.... Let me write that out for you: One ass-hat residential customer with a 20yo telephone with four extra buttons did thirty million dollars in damages in less than one night. Anyways, that's how the company went bankrupt... and about 6000 or so people ... all got laid off.
posted by orthogonality at 9:21 AM PST - 97 comments

"Journalists' children deserve to be fed" -- a plan to save the NYT

Steve Brill has a crazy idea that just might work. Would you pay a modest annual fee (about the cost of a magazine subscription) to read the New York Times online, if it means the survival of the world's greatest newspaper, er, news-gathering organization? It's an interesting idea.
posted by nance at 8:24 AM PST - 174 comments

But who will marry the new servers?

Remember Mrs. Wall? You may enjoy this recent documentary about objectum-sexuals.
posted by prefpara at 7:31 AM PST - 30 comments

Dancing with the Woz

The Woz: Alpha geek, Apple cofounder, business leader, ballroom dancer. [more inside]
posted by ardgedee at 6:55 AM PST - 25 comments

How About Some Sexual Harassment With Your Mozzarella Sticks?

How About Some Sexual Harassment With Your Mozzarella Sticks?
posted by expriest at 5:55 AM PST - 98 comments

The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

How to raise money for the Shirley Jackson Awards? Why, a Lottery, natch. The Shirley Jackson Awards, established in 2007 to reward "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic" is holding an online lottery beginning today and continuing through February 23 to raise funds for the program. Participants can buy $1 digital lottery tickets for any of 51 donated prizes from authors, editors, artists, and agents. Which prize will draw the most interest? Perhaps an autographed computer keyboard from Neil Gaiman? Or the chance to be Tuckerized in an upcoming work? [Tuckerization explained] Or ... star in a porn role? [more inside]
posted by taz at 4:58 AM PST - 32 comments

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