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March 2, 2011
Green electricity from the artificial, tethered
ray (the fish, not the beam). Video
here.
posted by megob at 11:55 PM PST - 21 comments
Can you get hooked on diet soda? 'Government surveys have found that people who drink diet beverages average more than 26 ounces per day (some drink far more) and that 3% of diet-soda drinkers have at least four daily. Are these diet-soda fiends true addicts? And if so, what are they addicted to? The most obvious answer is caffeine -- but that doesn't explain the many die-hard diet drinkers who prefer caffeine-free varieties.' But at least it's not sweetened soda with all attendant problems,
such as high blood pressure, so what about artificial sweeteners?
[more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 2:16 PM PST - 180 comments
"Like most committed crystal meth smokers, when he wants to share his pipe Duze does not take no for an answer." Clancy Martin, the author of How to Sell and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine, is hitchhiking from Kansas City, Missouri, to New York City in order to catch the last day of Christian Marclay's The Clock at the Paula Cooper Gallery.
Part I,
Part II [more inside]
posted by not_the_water at 1:13 PM PST - 12 comments
The Modern Art Iraq Archive (MAIA) is a resource to trace, share, and enable community enrichment of the modern art heritage of Iraq. Explore the works by artist, browse through related textual materials, or add your own images or stories to the archive.
posted by sciurus at 11:45 AM PST - 2 comments
In his Oscar acceptance speech, documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson reminded viewers worldwide that "not a single financial executive has gone to jail" for the fraud that created the 2008 financial meltdown. His film Inside Job (on Netflix
DVD) explains, among other things, that the crisis was avoidable. See also the
Inside Job trailer and a subsequent
followup video in which Ferguson says that many sources "mysteriously backed out" before being filmed. He also
spoke at MIT in January.
posted by mark7570 at 9:38 AM PST - 56 comments
"The day with its cares and perplexities is ended and the night is now upon us. The night should be a time of peace and tranquility; a time to relax and be calm. We have need of a soothing story to banish the disturbing thoughts of the day, to set at rest our troubled minds, and put at ease our ruffled spirits. And what sort of story shall we hear? Ah, it will be a familiar story. A story that is so very, very old, and yet it is so new. It is the old, old story of …" the
2012/13 touring production of
Einstein on the Beach.
[more inside]
posted by williampratt at 9:32 AM PST - 21 comments
so the moral of the story is
always wear a condom
because otherwise
you are going to have to resort to an impromptu skull c-section
with a shovel
Myths Retold. [more inside]
posted by KathrynT at 9:32 AM PST - 51 comments
Minecraft mastermind Markus "Notch" Persson has
officially announced his company's next project:
a hybrid online board game/trading card system called
Scrolls. Spearheaded by Mojang co-founder Jakob Porser (
interview) and with backstory penned by Penny Arcade wordsmith Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, the game will consist of turn-based battles between collectible "scrolls,"
illustrated character cards strategically deployed on an abstract gaming grid. In an interesting inversion of the
Minecraft model, the game itself will be free, while updates in the form of additional scroll packs will cost a nominal fee -- a business model gaming analyst Sean Maelstrom decries as
"snake oil." Mojang, for their part, is unafraid and even eager to target an untested slice of the gaming market, and is angling to get their playable prototype of
Scrolls ready for a possible Alpha release this summer.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:50 AM PST - 129 comments
bites "is a unique comprehensive resource for all those with a personal or professional interest in food safety. Dr. [Doug] Powell of Kansas State University, and associates, search out credible, current, evidence-based information on food safety and make it accessible to domestic and international audiences through multiple media. Sources of food safety information include government regulatory agencies, international organizations such as the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), peer-reviewed scientific publications, academia, recognized experts in the field and other sources as appropriate."
(Description from website.) The folks responsible for bites also run the more entertainingly named
barfblog.
posted by cog_nate at 7:06 AM PST - 10 comments
The Japanese word
kōgei (also as
kougei) [工芸], basically translates as 'crafts', or even 'handicrafts'. In many places in the world, such products are generally considered as something lesser than 'arts'. In Japan however ... Please meet Mr. Lionel Dersot, Tokyo resident for 25+ years, who is ready to take you on a (bilingual) survey of some wonderful work in the field, both old and new, at his blog '
The Daily Kogei' -
Un petit détour bilingue dans l'artisanat japonais et bien plus, diffusé de Tokyo.
posted by woodblock100 at 5:55 AM PST - 9 comments
The Hoxton Window Project: “I had no plan, I had no thought, I had a pen and decided to take it for a walk. My brain is a mess, my mind a ball of spaghetti charged with tiny electrical pulses being generated by a team of termites on a treadmill. I put it all up against the glass, I hope it will delight and intrigue and not leave anyone aghast” says window artist
Jon Burgerman.
Frame features the work of digital creative company
Unit 9 at a square in central London.
posted by honey-barbara at 5:22 AM PST - 4 comments
