March 30, 2013

DEA Trap

Alfred Anaya Put Secret Compartments in Cars. So the DEA Put Him in Prison.
posted by spiderskull at 11:42 PM PST - 175 comments

Let's big dance!

Are you still confused by Ukraine's 2007 Eurovision entry? [more inside]
posted by Nomyte at 9:31 PM PST - 21 comments

Addio a Enzo Jannacci

Enzo Jannacci, a father of Italian rock and roll, jazz musician, actor, writer, comedian, and doctor had a 50+ year career in Italy. He died yesterday of cancer at the age of 77. His biggest hit song, 1968's Ho Vista un Re (I Saw a King), written by the 1997 Nobel Prize winner for Literature Dario Fo and Eugenio Esposito, was banned on RAI TV and radio, due to its subversive lyrics. Jannacci performed and worked until illness forced his retirement in 2011, though still beloved by Italians of all ages.
posted by droplet at 8:05 PM PST - 3 comments

There is some conundrum in there which no amount of science can answer

But as whisky scientists point out, it’s not really like that. Water has no influence on malt whisky flavour; barley can come from anywhere, provided that it delivers satisfactory spirit yield; and, in many cases, the newly made spirit is taken by tanker from its beautiful, peaceful, lonely distillery surroundings within a couple of weeks of distillation. It’s then aged in uglier, less peaceful but more logistically sensible locations in central Scotland.
Flavour in malt whisky is attributable to the malt specification, to brewing and distilling practices and to wood-ageing regimes [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:53 PM PST - 41 comments

“Thinking about science leads to [endorsing] more stringent moral norms”

Christine Ma-Kellams and Jim Blascovich. Does “Science” Make You Moral? The Effects of Priming Science on Moral Judgments and Behavior. PLOS One, 6 March 2013. (Salon) [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 4:25 PM PST - 19 comments

"I thought I was the only gay person in the world for a long time."

The county where no one's gay. The 2010 Census of Franklin County Mississippi shows no same sex couples. (pdf). CNN videographer Brandon Ancil and human rights columnist John D. Sutter tried to determine if the census was wrong, and see if they could find gay men and women willing to speak about "what keeps them hidden." Video
posted by zarq at 4:19 PM PST - 54 comments

A town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes

Photos of Manhattan after the blackout caused by Hurricane Sandy.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:37 PM PST - 21 comments

The fabled Dr. Hans Sachs Poster Collection

...is universally described as being the most significant collection of its type in existence (scroll down). About 4500 posters from a collection of around 12500 were recovered from Germany recently and auctioned (view here) during three sessions in NYC. Day 2 and Day 3 of the auctions for more Plakatstil.
posted by indices at 3:25 PM PST - 12 comments

Nas' Illmatic, redone by Funky DL as Jazzmatic

British hip-hop producer/rapper Funky DL has a freebie for you: Jazzmatic, Nas' Illmatic redone as a jazz album from the late 1930s.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:55 PM PST - 15 comments

I ate one roach and made a lot of money

Tyler the Creator's new album "Wolf" streaming on Soundcloud. [more inside]
posted by klangklangston at 1:58 PM PST - 16 comments

"Avengers Assimilate"

"All of which is admirable, but that's not actually the speech Havok gave. Havok's speech makes a huge leap from, "my minority identity doesn't define me" to a rejection of minority identity. Havok is a mutant, but he says the word is divisive and that it represents everything he hates. He asks people not to use it. He is, definitively and explicitly, self-loathing about his identity." -- Comics Alliance's Andrew Wheeler talks about the identity politics in the new Marvel comic Uncanny Avengers. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 1:21 PM PST - 54 comments

There was a dead cockroach in my gin and tonic.

Trip Avisaargh - a tumblr collection of links the best (worst?) and most memorable reviews on the travel site Trip Advisor. Sales Pitches! Statues! Manager responses! (more!) It can't get worse! Mr. Toilet House! Bonny Old London! Palaces!
posted by The Whelk at 10:56 AM PST - 39 comments

They say if you look into its eyes, you can see hell itself

The Creepiest Easter Bunny photos ever [more inside]
posted by dobbs at 10:16 AM PST - 55 comments

Harriet the Spy, Queer Hero

"Reading Harriet the Spy today as an adult, I find a queer subtext throughout. Not only is Harriet the quintessential baby butch, but her best friends, Sport and Janie, run exactly contrary to gender stereotypes. Sport acts as the homemaker and nurturing caretaker of his novelist father, while Janie the scientist plans to blow up the world one day. It was as if Fitzhugh was telling us kids back in the sixties that you didn’t have to play by society’s rules, the first lesson a queer kid has to learn in order to be happy."
posted by mokin at 9:15 AM PST - 74 comments

What does it mean to create a new work of art in the digital age?

Judge Rules William Eggleston Can Clone His Own Work, Rebuffing Angry Collector. The U.S. District Court has dismissed collector Jonathan Sobel’s lawsuit (PDF) against photographer William Eggleston. The collector objected to Eggleston's selling new, larger-format editions of the famous dye-transfer images that the artist first produced in the 1970s and early 1980s.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:51 AM PST - 28 comments

CrimERRR!

VOISEOVER: In a Citey wher thers Somuchcrimes , theDetetcive is onthe Case... DETETCIVE: Stop crimeing! VOISEOVER: But Oneproblam... Crimer! (Single link Twitter feed.)
posted by oliverburkeman at 6:07 AM PST - 61 comments

Human astrocytes injected into mice improve learning.

As reported at SingularityHUB human astrocytes were engrafted into neonatal mice. The study found that the human glial cells which were once thought of as filler cells for the brain "differentially enhance both activity-dependent plasticity and learning in mice."
posted by saber_taylor at 5:39 AM PST - 11 comments

The One Woman Screwing Up North Dakota’s Plan to End Abortion

As the only abortion-performing clinic in North Dakota, Red River is the main target [of North Dakota anti-choice legislative efforts]. An average of 25 abortions take place here each Wednesday. That’s why [Tammi] Kromenaker has found herself the focal point of the national debate this week, the latest target amongst a host of state-by-state attempts to do away with a woman’s right to choose.
posted by barnacles at 3:36 AM PST - 73 comments

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