March 26, 2014

Once Upon A Time In Shaolin

"Why Wu-Tang Will Release Just One Copy Of Its Secret Album"... [more inside]
posted by artof.mulata at 9:50 PM PST - 51 comments

Democracy At Work

Who Needs A Boss? "Historically, worker co-ops have held the most appeal when things seem most perilous for laborers. The present is no exception." The New York Times examines the worker co-operative as a model that supports job security and eliminates inequality.
posted by deliciae at 9:39 PM PST - 43 comments

Recorded autopathographies

Healthtalkonline.org is a database of hundreds of interviews with patients afflicted by various conditions, ranging from ethnic experiences in mental health to Alzheimer's to experiences with being a clinical trial subject to cancer. It also includes a section on youth experiences with illness.
posted by gemutlichkeit at 8:05 PM PST - 1 comments

Lucky there's a Family Guy... who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

A mashup of 43 iconic cartoon theme songs, performed by Ensemble ACJW at Carnegie Hall. How many can you name?
posted by Pizzarina Sbarro at 7:48 PM PST - 14 comments

Slow Life

Slow Life: time-lapse, macro video of corals and sponges by Daniel Stoupin [previously]
posted by brundlefly at 4:26 PM PST - 18 comments

“Anyone can fall through during a momentary crisis.”

With suicide on the rise (previously), the directors of the Golden Gate Bridge are finally considering the construction of a $66 million safety net. That is, if the funding completely comes through. Opponents believe the net will be an eyesore and will simply lead people to other locations/methods.
posted by ReeMonster at 3:49 PM PST - 108 comments

Cúmbia do Sabiá mixtape

Yes, there’s cumbia in Brazil!
posted by Tom-B at 1:05 PM PST - 14 comments

Why are Christians so concerned about sex?

Why are Christians so concerned about sex? When English interpretations of the New Testament talk about ‘sexual immorality’ they are really translating the Greek word porneia (πορνεία), it’s used almost every time the topic of sex comes up and often when talking about the worst sins in general. If you can really grok what Paul was talking about as he uses the root for the word over and over again (it appears 32 times in the New Testament) then the rest falls into place. Now porneia has always been translated into Latin as fornication, while being understood by many conservatives to just be a 1:1 stand in for ‘any sexual expression not between husband and wife’. However, Porneia in post-classical Corinthian Greek did not mean generic sexual sin, or even sex outside of marriage, at all exactly and neither did fornication in actual Latin. The truth, like in many things, is a little bit more complicated and a lot more interesting. TRIGGER WARNINGS AHEAD FOR DEPICTIONS OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN CLASSICAL GREECE, ALSO AN NSFW VASE. (SFW version) [via mefi projects]
posted by jaduncan at 12:45 PM PST - 116 comments

These monsters are destroying everything and everyone we hold dear!

Real-life Marge Simpson by photographer Alexander Khokhlov
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:35 AM PST - 21 comments

She will melt your face and warm your heart

Li-sa-X is an adorable 8 year old Japanese girl who plays rock guitar covers (youtube channel)
posted by roaring beast at 10:53 AM PST - 45 comments

Eaglecam 2014

Three bald eagle chicks recently hatched on Catalina Island, just southwest off the coast of Long Beach, California. Now you can watch a live cam of the mother and her hatchlings. [UStream] [more inside]
posted by mykescipark at 10:41 AM PST - 20 comments

The SHSAT is a diagnostic, the canary in the coal mine.

Bill De Blasio blamed the lack of racial diversity in New York City's top high schools, such as Stuyvesant, on the standardized admissions test, and campaigned on ending it. The New York Times has written pieces reminding of it. But the parent of a biracial son attending Stuyvesant has a different argument: that the problem is not with the test, but with the substandard education system that dominates much of New York City.
"By having these pathetic SHSAT results publicized year after year, it shines a light on just what an awful job inner city schools are doing educating those students who can’t afford to buy their way out of a broken system, either through private schools or private tutoring centers. If the specialized high schools’ racial balances were “fixed,” we might be tempted to consider the problems they expose 'fixed,' too."
posted by corb at 8:36 AM PST - 166 comments

Watching Team Upworthy Work Is Enough to Make You a Cynic. Or Not.

Watching a curator crank out headlines is a bizarre experience, insofar as it’s almost indistinguishable from watching people toss out parodies of Upworthy headline styles—either way, the mind runs immediately to stock phrases like “you’ll never believe,” “you’d be wrong,” or “everything wrong with [topic] in one [piece of content].”
Nitsuh Abebe visits the Upworthy offices.
posted by frimble at 8:15 AM PST - 85 comments

"Americans whisper the word Alzheimer's because their government...

...whispers the word Alzheimer's." Seth Rogen (yes, THAT Seth Rogen) gives a moving speech about funding for Alzheimer's research.
posted by Kitteh at 7:56 AM PST - 65 comments

Patatap!

Patatap might be the most fun you can have mashing a keyboard.
posted by oulipian at 7:44 AM PST - 24 comments

Why I’m Jealous of My Dog’s Insurance

Why I’m Jealous of My Dog’s Insurance (SLNYT)
posted by deathpanels at 5:07 AM PST - 115 comments

WHERE'S ITS SCROTUM?!

Though Llewyn appears stuck, he’s the nomad always ecstatic in his circumlocutions. He’s on a road to nowhere but at least trudging on a path to somewhere. The rest of the world marks time, gliding smoothly along the straight line of the future, arrested comfortably in the steady flow of the ever-present, and being naively present relieves one from the nightmare of history. Maybe the materialization of Dylan’s music in the final minutes, when it wasn’t there in the beginning, is another sign that Llewyn’s time has passed, and it’s time to, um, face the music. Like clockwork he goes into the alley to confront the shadowy figure, and takes his punch (this time not saying “I’m sorry?” before the fist collides with his face, however). Consigned again to this cesspool, he doesn't stay down but ascends through iron bar shadows and follows his bellicose aggressor, who gets into a cab and drives off. Llewyn looks on somewhat wistfully, not saying “farewell” in accord with Dylan but rather says “Au revoir”—indicating they’ll see each other again. At that quiet utterance the cab’s wheels screech and turn a sharp corner. The linear trajectory forward is thwarted and Fate's Emissary will inevitably come around again. The Orbital Noose: Inside Llewyn Davis
posted by timshel at 4:23 AM PST - 25 comments

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