February 9, 2015
I’m Autistic, And Believe Me, It’s A Lot Better Than Measles
Spider-Man comes home
Spider-Man is Marvel's marquee character, but due to licensing agreements has long been the subject of films produced by Sony Pictures and could not be featured in films produced by Marvel Studios.
Until today.
Stripped of tenure for a blog post
"Stripped of tenure over a blog post." John McAdams, a tenured politics professor at Marquette University, has been terminated for publishing a blog post critizing a philosophy graduate student, by name, for telling an anti-gay-marriage student he could not make "homophobic comments" on the subject in class, in a conversation the student surreptitiously taped and shared with McAdams. The graduate student was subsequently flooded with hate mail and threats, and has moved to a different university. The case recalls that of Steven Salaita, who was either fired from or unexpectedly un-hired to a tenured position at the University of Illinois after a series of fiery tweets critical of Israel and its war conduct, which some called hate speech. Salaita is now suing the university. Can tenured professors be fired for what they say on social media? Should they be? [more inside]
We can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood.
Coming off a successful Kickstarter campaign, Innuendo Studios has released a really interesting piece of video game criticism, that is somewhat about Call of Duty, but also about the problems with reviewing video games; and it gets better as it goes on. Previously by Innuendo (and enjoyed by MeFi), an engaging meditation on Phil Fish, and the problems of internet fame.
big ass changes, y'all, big ass changes
You say you don't t like jazz? Too much harmonic complexity just winds up making everything sound like scrambled eggs? Well, I've got something gonna make you change your mind. Right here.
Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance
The sequel to classic b-movie Samurai Cop had a successful Kickstarter that ended September 2014.
Here's the recently released trailer for Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance.
With the full original cast (including Robert Z'Dar) none other than Tommy Wiseau playing the villain, and an amazing lineup of b-movie favorites, porn actresses and aged heavy metal musicians providing support. They thought he was dead. He was just coolin' off.
Welp, there went my productivity...
Color Tiles is a simple, yet fiendishly addictive game.
You Have Your Mother's Eyes
Moviepilot puts together a chronological sequence of (selected) scenes from Severus Snape's arc throughout the Harry Potter film series.
... and Alabama makes 37.
It's marriage day in Alabama.
The Supreme Court refused to stay the marriage equality decision in Alabama, and couples started to marry today (lots of amazing adorable pictures throughout). [more inside]
An Oral History of Laurel Canyon in the 60s and 70s
JONI MITCHELL: Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live and they'll tell you California. Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live and they'll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live and they'll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live and they'll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live and they'll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain. [more inside]
Data Visualization: Gendered Language in Teaching Reviews
"Gendered Language in Teacher Reviews: This interactive chart lets you explore the words used to describe male and female teachers in about 14 million reviews from RateMyProfessor.com." Created by Ben Schmidt, a professor at Northeastern University, the chart lets you enter specific words to see how they correspond with the professor's gender and teaching discipline. Schmidt provides more background on his blog. Feministing compares the results for "genius" and "bossy."
But it was a beginning
Early this morning, viewers of the FXX network were treated to an unheralded TV pilot for a show based on Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time (previously on Metafilter). Adapting only the first six pages of the 13,000 page series, it appeared just two days before film and TV rights were due to revert to Jordan's estate. Jordan's wife and editor has stated that the pilot was filmed without the knowledge of anyone involved with the estate, which casts doubt on producer Red Eagle Entertainment's plan to continue the series.
Proof that The Beatles traveled through time, from 1964 to 1994
Over 50 years ago, The Beatles arrived in New York for their first US visit, but what if ....
Having departed Heathrow on the 7th February 1964, John Lennon, in a playful mood, ordered the pilot to divert the plane via the Bermuda Triangle. Newly declassified documents reveal that Pan Am Flight 101 disappeared from US radar screens shortly after midday, local time. At great expense we have obtained – from reliable Russian mafia sources – an MP3 copy of the black box recorder of that ill-fated Boeing 707. This indicates that as far as those aboard the plane knew, after experiencing severe cyclonic turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean, they re-routed towards New York, believing themselves to have narrowly avoided aeronautical disaster. But on arriving at JFK airport, they were stunned to learn that they had arrived in the year 1994.That's the premise of An Adventure To Pepperland Through Rhyme & Space, a two-hour ill-trippy musical adventure with golden era hip-hop musicians, from P.E. to Spoonie Gee, Tha Liks to Hieroglyphics and Large Professor to Salt n Pepa, courtesy of Tom Caruna, also the artist behind Enter the Magical Mystery Chamber (previously, and still online)
Previously Tested on MetaFilter
A Jewish magazine is testing an unusual solution for toxic internet comments. I think we can all agree that this proposal is ridiculous. Please leave your toxicity in the comments.
"I Think It's Time. Again."
25 years after first seeing light as a 6-page story in RAW(Prev), Richard McGuire expanded his time and space-spanning Here to a 300-page novel. In Five Dials Magazine's 35th issue, Richard McGuire Makes a Book, "sketches, notes, phrases, inspirations, paintings, lists and photo collages used to create the essential Here," are presented for your enjoyment and edification. [more inside]
Heroic Devices
The University of Glasgow's French Emblems project hosts thousands of 16th century woodcuts and etchings. The archive boasts an unusually thorough metadata scheme, allowing you to browse cryptic images of beards, birds in cages, pointed fingers, triumphal conquerors, and fabulous animals, among many other categories. [more inside]
He may not be the Yeti we deserve, but he's the Yeti we need.
As the city of Boston is continually getting buried under record breaking amounts of snow, one Yeti attempts to bring a little joy.
Welcome to the world, little lizard guy
Baby chameleon hatching. That is all.
Their last record was nominated too - for Best Comedy Album.
It got lost in the Kanye vs. Beck hoopla, but metal fans are fuming that "joke band" Tenacious D took home last night's "best metal performance" Grammy for their cover of Dio's "The Last in Line." The comedy duo beat out such metal mainstays as Anthrax, Mastodon, Motorhead and Slipknot.
My kid could make that!
BitchCoin conforms to both Chartalist and Metallist readings
What is BitchCoin?
BitchCoin is a digital currency backed by the photography of Sarah Meyohas at a fixed exchange rate of 1 BitchCoin to 25 square inches of photographic print. This rate of exchange will not change, even if the value of the photography increases. As her work changes in value over time, so will the relative value of BitchCoin. [more inside]
BitchCoin is a digital currency backed by the photography of Sarah Meyohas at a fixed exchange rate of 1 BitchCoin to 25 square inches of photographic print. This rate of exchange will not change, even if the value of the photography increases. As her work changes in value over time, so will the relative value of BitchCoin. [more inside]
"The global elite is basically looking for a safe-deposit box."
"The global elite is basically looking for a safe-deposit box."
Last July, NYMag published a lengthy piece on rich foreigners hiding hard-to-track money in NYC Real Estate (prev)
This weekend, the NYTimes began publishing on "Towers of Secrecy" with the first in several deeply-researched pieces on the very rich, very shady figures buying high-end real estate in Manhattan: Stream of Foreign Wealth Flows to Elite New York Real Estate. [more inside]
Microtonal Wall
1,500 speakers, each playing a single microtonal frequency, collectively spanning 4 octaves. [more inside]
"We are a marketing team with very limited hardware experience."
The Kreyos Meteor Smartwatch has an extremely impressive feature set: Voice and gesture controls. Full integration with iOS, Android, and WP8. Shockproof, waterproof, accelerometer and activity tracker built in. Not a hard product to sell; In fact, it's a marketing person's dream. But after an extremely successful Indiegogo ($100,000 goal, $1.5 million raised) it was time to build the things, and they had no clue how to do it. [more inside]
Lebensader ✿
'Can you say something about your support mechanisms and funding?'
Optimism of Intellect
Thanks to a new wave of small intellectual magazines, an infectious buzz has returned to public debate in the United States. Roman Schmidt talks to David Marcus who, as a new editor at Dissent, is well placed to provide the lowdown what's driving this genuinely critical movement.[more inside]
Lossless, lossless, lossless
"You know how every once in a while you buy the $40 bottle of wine instead of the $8 one, thinking you're gonna have a special dinner or something?" Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson wrote over instant message. "And you get home, and you make the salmon or the pasta or whatever and you light the candles? And you pour the wine, swirl it like they do in Sideways so that it looks like you know what you're doing... you bring it to your lips and after smelling it—it smells like wine—you have a sip? And it's like… yeah, I guess this tastes good or something, but really it just tastes like wine?"The Pono Player is kinda like that, but for music."
Good evening, how may we help you?
When Children With Autism Grow Up
"I was 23 and needed a summer job; he was 21 and needed full-time support. He’s one of an estimated half million people diagnosed with autism who are soon becoming adults — and who society is entirely unprepared for." (Note: graphic description of sexual abuse; SL Buzzfeed)
Tech Behind Bars: Inside the prison system’s illicit digital world
Jails and prisons are supposed to be technological dead zones. In all but the laxest minimum-security facilities, cell phones are banned for inmates, as are personal laptops, tablets, and other Internet-connected devices. Federal prisons have implemented CorrLinks or TRULINCS, e-mail systems that allow inmates to send monitored messages to pre-approved contacts. But the wider Internet remains off-limits. In many prisons, the most up-to-date device approved for ordinary inmate use is the pay-phone. [more inside]
insufficient context, scale, frequency or scope
"Instead, most current systems, almost without fail, do the opposite. Moderators responsible for content and complaints, regardless of gender, are making decisions based not just on the information they are reviewing, but on the way in which the information flows – linear, acontextual and isolated from other incidents. They are reliant, despite their best efforts, on technical systems that provide insufficient context, scale, frequency or scope. In addition, they lack specific training in trauma (their own or users) and in understanding gender-based violence. " -- "Silicon Valley sexism: why it matters that the internet is made by men, for men", by Soraya Chemaly, The New Statesman
Director/filmmaker Mamoru Oshii interviewed at TIFF 2014
Mamoru Oshii, writer/director/filmmaker of famous anime such as Mobile Police Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell (both the original movie as well as the sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is interviewed at TIFF 2014. [more inside]
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