MetaFilter

Long time Parks and Recreation writer and recurring character, inventor of the Humblebrag, curator of the goofiest segment on Comedy Bang Bang, and very sexy drummer for the joke band Don't Stop Or We'll Die, Mr. Harris Wittels passed away today suddenly. He will be missed. (Many links extraordinarily NSFW) [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:28 PM PST - 73 comments

The betting market in Las Vegas isn’t much different from Wall Street. Fed by rumor, speculation and greed, teams, like investments, can grow hot or cold for no good reason. Moving lines is remarkably similar to market bubbles. Walters insists that “[b]etting on a ball game is identical to betting on Wall Street.” Walters even claims that he has lost a lot of money in the markets and thinks the Wall Street “hustle” is far more dangerous than that in Las Vegas. It should be no surprise then that many Wall Streeters have gambling histories, most prominently Ed Thorp. For more information, read Scott Patterson’s excellent book, The Quants. I even know a few.

Gaming The System by Robert P. Seawright [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:49 PM PST - 13 comments

"It's not just that feminist ideas may be more accessible when packaged in a clever Internet meme. It's also that, for decades, opponents of the movement have painted feminists as unattractive, humorless, man-hating, lesbian militants. And we tend to find our feminist messengers more persuasive when they challenge these stereotypes." Can Feminist Ryan Gosling Really Make Men More Feminist? [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:49 PM PST - 44 comments

Mashable's 'The Watercooler' YouTube channel teamed up with Sesame Street to bring us two marvelously Muppety short videos in two days.
First, Cookie Monster visits New York's museums and has deep thoughts about food (via Reddit's r/showerthoughts).
Then, in a scene very reminiscent of a certain Oscar-nominated movie, Muppeteer Caroll Spinney deals with his most famous alter ego in "Big Birdman"
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:31 PM PST - 18 comments

A Chicago detective who led one of the most shocking acts of torture ever conducted at Guantánamo Bay was responsible for implementing a disturbingly similar, years-long regime of brutality to elicit murder confessions from minority Americans. Part one. Part two. This is not the first time the Chicago police have been accused of torture.
posted by AceRock at 6:26 PM PST - 39 comments

Cable TV is speeding up its shows slightly to show you more ads. The Wall Street Journal has more including a side-by-side comparison video a sharp eyed viewer made of a "Seinfeld" episode.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:04 PM PST - 87 comments

His homes would give feudal-age rulers property envy. There’s the 28-bedroom, 32-bath, 12,500-square-foot French-inspired home in Brentwood that has an actual moat around it. The 30,000-square-foot European manor in Beverly Park. The 40,000-square-foot home with a 8,500-square-foot guest house in Beverly Hills.

Nearly becoming a teacher, he turned to California and became King of the Megamansion.
posted by four panels at 4:16 PM PST - 63 comments

Bridge: the greatest card game. [more inside]
posted by The Ted at 4:15 PM PST - 63 comments

It could have been the greatest television show ever. Conceived by Harlan Ellison. Ben Bova acting as technical advisor. Special effects genius Douglas Trumbull was on board. Scripts and storylines had been contracted from Phillip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank Herbert, Joanna Russ, Thomas M. Disch, Alexei Panshin and A.E. van Vogt. Keir Dullea starred. (Dave from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Guest stars: John "Baltar" Colicos (Battlestar Galactica), Walter Koenig (Star Trek) and Barry Morse (Space:1999). And then it all fell apart. In all, 16 deliciously terrible episodes of The Starlost were made. Was it the worst science fiction series ever? Watch and decide for yourself! [more inside]
posted by zarq at 2:03 PM PST - 119 comments

What pushes scientists to lie? The disturbing but familiar story of Haruko Obokata. The spectacular fall of the Japanese scientist who claimed to have triggered stem cell abilities in regular body cells is not uncommon in the scientific community. The culprit: carelessness and hubris in the drive to make a historic discovery.
posted by daisyk at 2:01 PM PST - 26 comments

East Texas town fights attempts to commemorate the 1910 Slocum Massacre. Fort Worth writer E.R. Bills' book on the Slocum Massacre adds momentum to the decades-long push by survivors to have it acknowledged and memorialized. [more inside]
posted by emjaybee at 1:58 PM PST - 31 comments

"You need to know who Billy Wilder was. You need to know the names of people who are no longer alive. Because it’s very important—it’s what our history is made of. You need to see the movies the way they were—with the racism, the violence, and the censorship. All the things that let you see what the movie past had been so you understand where we are! But really nobody’s interested in that right now. Their interests are so bifurcated." - An interview with Joe Dante (Part 1, Part 2)
posted by brundlefly at 1:54 PM PST - 18 comments

Have you ever wanted your own teeming swarm of vermin? Do you enjoy compulsively clicking on buttons and watching numbers go up? Then Swarm Simulator is the game for you!
posted by escape from the potato planet at 1:29 PM PST - 19 comments

"The new dawn lights the eastern sky; Night shades are lifted from the sea": British and French ships entered the Dardanelles and opened their attack on Turkish forces, one hundred years ago today. This bold naval assault, planned by Winston Churchill, will falter, leading to the brutal Gallipoli campaign, an Allied defeat and Turkish triumph. [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 1:29 PM PST - 19 comments

Is it the Year of the Sheep, the Goat, or the Ram? February 19 marks the Chinese New Year (and simultaneously Lunar New Year holidays in Vietnam, Tibet, Mongolia and Korea). As many people know, there is a 12-year animal zodiac cycle in the traditional Chinese calendar: the Year of the Horse has just ended. But what exactly is the animal sign for the year that is just now beginning? [more inside]
posted by andrewesque at 12:56 PM PST - 45 comments

Alan Sepinwall sits down with Parks & Recreation creator Mike Schur to walk through the origins of all the tiny details of Pawnee, IN. Part 1, Part 2. (Obviously, here there be spoilers.)
posted by Navelgazer at 12:27 PM PST - 51 comments

The Sneeze column, Steve, Don't Eat It! Although most of this material was written in the early 2000's, I'm surprised when I talk about it and people look at me like I'm crazy. The Sneeze was an ambitious and funny blog full of insights about life, parenting, humor and also had solid reporting on gross food items that are still available in grocery stores. Steve ate weird and gross stuff so we don't have to.
posted by bobdow at 12:26 PM PST - 44 comments

The 10 worst misconceptions about medieval life that you would get from fantasy books debunks a number of fantasy-novel myths, inspired by this terrific Reddit thread where historians discuss high fantasy novel tropes [prev]. Some of the greatest misconceptions were around combat in the Middle Ages, which apparently included exotic weapons - like the scorpion bombs used in ancient warfare. [pdf] Also see the Medieval People of Color site to see some other dimensions of Middle Ages diversity that are often missing from fantasy novels. And, of course, a tip of the hat to the venerable and hilarious Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:04 PM PST - 99 comments

Climb into hell. For you are a Brother Coleman and Hell Is Your Business.™ [SLCH]
posted by Librarypt at 11:40 AM PST - 3 comments

The Ghost in the MP3 [warning, flashing imagery] — "moDernisT" was created by salvaging the sounds and images lost to compression via the MP3 and MP4 codecs. The audio is comprised of lost mp3 compression material from the song "Tom's Diner" famously used as one of the main controls in the listening tests to develop the MP3 encoding algorithm. Here we find the form of the song intact, but the details are just remnants of the original. The video is the MP4 ghost of a corresponding video created in collaboration with Takahiro Suzuki. Thus, both audio and video are the "ghosts" of their respective compression codecs.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:28 AM PST - 24 comments

Several years ago (2011?) Stephen Fry sat down for an internet interview with the members of Big Think. The result was an eloquent off-the-cuff laying-out of Fry's background and outlook on life, full of gems of insight and advice. You can watch highlights of the interview by scrolling down here, or you can watch the full hour-long shebang via YouTube.
posted by hippybear at 11:20 AM PST - 26 comments

We could, as a country, look at the root causes of homelessness and try to fix them. One of the main causes is that a lot of people can't afford a place to live. They don't have enough money to pay rent, even for the cheapest dives available. Prices are rising, inventory is extremely tight, and the upshot is, as a new report by the Urban Institute finds, that there's only 29 affordable units available for every 100 extremely low-income households. So we could create more jobs, redistribute the wealth, improve education, socialize health carebasically redesign our political and economic systems to make sure everybody can afford a roof over their heads.

Instead of this, we do one of two things: We stick our heads in the sand or try to find bandages for the symptoms. This story is about how Utah has found a third way.

Scott Carrier reports for Mother Jones on Utah's simple, cost-effective approach to ending homelessness: "finding and building apartments where homeless people can live, permanently, with no strings attached. It's a program, or more accurately a philosophy, called Housing First." [more inside]
posted by divined by radio at 10:59 AM PST - 118 comments

The new music video by Sleater-Kinney features the Belcher children dancing to 'A New Wave'.
posted by dinty_moore at 10:44 AM PST - 42 comments

What's It Like To Live Without Electricity? Ask An Indian Villager One study has found that India’s indoor pollution contributes to disabilities and early death to a greater degree than tobacco, high blood pressure and heart attacks. “It disproportionately impacts those who are indoors a lot, which is women and children” [more inside]
posted by Michele in California at 10:44 AM PST - 7 comments

A very silly trapeze. (SLYT)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:23 AM PST - 8 comments

MB(ecket)TA: Samuel Beckett quotes on photos of Boston's snow. Frankly, a little too real right now.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:21 AM PST - 75 comments

Bizarre martian plumes discovered by amateur astronomers -- I favor H.G. Wells' explanation: "Why the shots ceased after the tenth no one on earth has attempted to explain. It may be the gases of the firing caused the Martians inconvenience. Dense clouds of smoke or dust, visible through a powerful telescope on earth as little grey, fluctuating patches, spread through the clearness of the planet's atmosphere and obscured its more familiar features." [more inside]
posted by 0rison at 9:19 AM PST - 28 comments

Jim O’Rourke Live in Tokyo in June of 2014 [Part 1] [Part 2] Jim O’Rourke Plays “Women of the World” (Live on Christmas Day, 2013). Jim O’Rourke at Work on the Grizzly Man Soundtrack; Special Appearance by Werner Herzog. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 9:04 AM PST - 7 comments

Can amateur journalism bring justice to Rio’s favelas?
From last year: Digital Inclusion and the Ninja of News
Media Ninja ; and here in it´s native Portuguese is a decentralized communication network that produces and disseminates content based on collaborative work and online sharing and is supported by Oximity.
(Oximity Mission Statement) and Previously.
posted by adamvasco at 9:04 AM PST - 2 comments

When you watch the Putin Show, you live in a superpower. You are a rebel in Ukraine bravely leveling the once-state-of-the-art Donetsk airport with Russian-supplied weaponry. You are a Russian-speaking grandmother standing by her destroyed home in Luhansk shouting at the fascist Nazis, much as her mother probably did when the Germans invaded more than 70 years ago. You are a priest sprinkling blessings on a photogenic convoy of Russian humanitarian aid headed for the front line. To suffer and to survive: This must be the meaning of being Russian. It was in the past and will be forever.

Gary Shteyngart watches a week of Russian television.
posted by theodolite at 8:23 AM PST - 26 comments

So what is wrong with listening to the drumbeat, to the endless calls to protect ourselves against the coming plague – against Ebola from Africa and bird flu from Asia? Is it possible that a huge pandemic could erupt from some as-yet unknown pathogen? Is apocalypse lurking out there, among rats or monkeys, or bats or flying squirrels or birds? The Black Death shows that you can never say never: there might be an animal pathogen out there that, under the right circumstances, can evolve and maintain both virulence and transmissibility among humans as well as animals.
posted by ellieBOA at 8:10 AM PST - 23 comments

Alan Cumming, the Gay Men's Health Crisis and GLAAD present the Celibacy Challenge. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:46 AM PST - 25 comments

Quiz: what mental disorder do you have? (adjusted for scientific accuracy)
posted by Artw at 7:42 AM PST - 27 comments

Wired's first-ever sex issue:

• strange, vivid nudes meant to tap into your emotions
• young, attractive, and totally not into having sex
• according to hollywood, the future of sex is super awkward
• the sex talk you never had with your parents
• 10 extreme close-up photos of everyday objects
• your dick pics are about to be all over the internet
• virtual-reality porn is coming, and your fantasies may never be the same
• animal sex is dangerous and horrifying. so why does sex exist at all?
• penile strain gauges and other strange devices of sex science
• renaissance sex positions reimagined as dreamy erotica
• japanese sex hotels cater to all kinds of fetishes, even hello kitty s&m
• two revolutionary new sex toys, plus 14 top-selling dildos

posted by and they trembled before her fury at 7:08 AM PST - 41 comments

It's been revealed that Lenovo preinstalls "Superfish", a piece of malware which -- among other things -- opens a monstrous security hole. This affects most Lenovo computers sold in the last two years. [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:05 AM PST - 184 comments

Among web-publishing tools, I see Medium as the equivalent of a frozen pizza: not as wholesome as a meal you could make yourself, but for those without the time or motivation to cook, a potentially better option than just eating peanut butter straight from the jar.

Matthew Butterick talks about the strengths and weaknesses of Medium as web publishing medium. (His entire site is arguably essential reading for those interested in practical typography.)
posted by MartinWisse at 6:59 AM PST - 36 comments

Oliver Sacks, on learning he has terminal cancer.
posted by HuronBob at 4:33 AM PST - 42 comments

Post-rock band 65daysofstatic play a live soundtrack to a video of space adventure game No Man's Sky.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:01 AM PST - 9 comments

Can you learn to be an expert at table tennis in a year? That's what Sam Priestley, 25, from Wimbledon, London attempted to find out. With his friend Ben Larcombe, a table tennis coach, the aim was to reach the top 250 in the UK.
posted by salmacis at 2:29 AM PST - 14 comments