April 18, 2011

The Story of the First Tornado Forecast

"Are you going to issue a tornado forecast?" [asked the general]. We both made abortive efforts at crawling out of such a horrendous decision. We pointed out the infinitesimal possibility of a second tornado striking the same area within twenty years or more, let alone in five days. "Besides," we said, "no one has ever issued an operational tornado forecast." [more inside]
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:44 PM PST - 9 comments

MONKEYS! RIDING DOGS! HERDING SHEEP!

Team Ghost Riders [more inside]
posted by Minus215Cee at 11:38 PM PST - 12 comments

Memoirs of the Great Patriotic War

A collection of first-person accounts of the men and women who defended the Soviet Union against the Fascist invasion, and eventually participated in the race to Berlin. via the War Nerd
posted by pompomtom at 9:56 PM PST - 22 comments

Write Your Name In Japanese

ヘヤ メタフィテレ! ヰテ ヨウ ナメ イン ジャパネセ! [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:50 PM PST - 50 comments

They're making up their own shows, that might be better than TV

Waffle shop is a place to eat waffles, and also a live streaming talk show. [more inside]
posted by idiopath at 9:49 PM PST - 14 comments

Holy Rollers!

Holy Rollers (the documentary) Card-Counting Christians.
posted by klausman at 7:14 PM PST - 24 comments

You're no rock and roll fun

"From then on, the difference became clear. It’s the male band members who don’t take you seriously, and when you get upset with how you’re treated, ask you if you’re menstruating. It’s the promoters and planners who screw you, then call you a diva when you assert yourself. It’s the kids who don’t talk to you after your set, but talk to your male bandmates because they assume you’re only there for show. It’s the people who think you’re sleeping with the guitarist, the people who assume you’re queer, or the journalists who mention your weight in reviews. It’s every single time a producer has told me I can’t play guitar on my own record because “sweetie, you’re not a studio musician” or “sing it again, but naked.” Mariel Loveland from Candy Hearts and Lauren Denitzio from The Measure [SA] discuss sexism in modern punk rock. For further reading there's Jessica Hopper's classic essay Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t. Previously.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:56 PM PST - 39 comments

I am the coin

IAMTHECOINIAMTELLINGTHISSTORYIAMINAGRIDCONSISTINGO
FTWENTYTHOUSANDCOINSAGRIDTWOHUNDREDROWSLONGBYONEHU
NDREDROWSHIGHEACHCOINISALETTERTHEREARENOSPACESANDN
OPUNCTUATIONMARKSTHEREISAHIDDENCLUETOHELPYOUFINDME
[more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:43 PM PST - 45 comments

Join a research expedition to Antarctica

Join a research expedition to Antarctica's Mertz Glacier. Stunning photos, videos, interactives. [more inside]
posted by puffl at 5:33 PM PST - 7 comments

CLOP CLOP CLOP CLOP

Pony Polka!
posted by furiousxgeorge at 5:31 PM PST - 26 comments

Furniture that really is da bomb.

"Estonian sculptor Mati Karmin creates mind-blowing furniture made out [sic] from sea mines." That is all. [more inside]
posted by kinnakeet at 4:22 PM PST - 23 comments

Sharing the road

The economic case for on-street bike parking (they are not just for the folks in Portland).
posted by aniola at 4:01 PM PST - 40 comments

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears....

The Science of Why We Don't Believe In Science. Or How To Win An Argument: Try Not To Rely on Facts. MotherJones investigates what recent research can tell us about how we reason (or don't).
posted by Diablevert at 3:50 PM PST - 46 comments

The KO Hip Hop Cello-Beatbox Experience

Cellist Kevin Olusola incorporated beatboxing into a piece called Julie-O. [more inside]
posted by gman at 3:14 PM PST - 16 comments

Culling and surrender

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything. The vast majority of the world's books, music, films, television and art, you will never see. It's just numbers.
posted by crossoverman at 2:44 PM PST - 89 comments

Austin Breed's art games

Austin Breed is a 19-year-old game designer. His works are typically said to fall under the "art game" genre but are in fact better understood as interactive experiences that deal with everything from the idea of faith to the emotional turmoil of long distance relationships. Here are my favorites: Distance, A Mother in Festerwood, Sweatshop Boy, Good Fortune. [more inside]
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 2:43 PM PST - 16 comments

Tax Facts Hardly Anyone Knows

9 Things The Rich Don't Want You To Know About Taxes - "4. Many of the very richest pay no current income taxes at all: Paulson made himself $9 billion in fees in just two years. His current tax bill on that $9 billion? Zero... 9. Other countries do it better: no one in Germany or the rest of the modern world goes broke because of accident or illness" (via) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 1:41 PM PST - 194 comments

The best of Google Video on MetaFilter

As discussed over the weekend, in less than two weeks the millions of videos uploaded to six-year-old erstwhile YouTube competitor Google Video will no longer be viewable. Though a download button has been added to each video page for easy back-up, that will only be available though May 13th, and the company will not be offering transfer service for users with YouTube accounts. The search giant has been slowly winding down the service over the years since their billion-dollar buyout of YouTube, controversially revoking purchased content (with a refund) in 2007 and disabling new uploads in 2009. The shutdown is a big blow to the web video ecosystem, as Google Video was one of the few major services to allow free hosting of long-form video, including the content for many popular MetaFilter posts. But all is not lost! Reddit users have organized a virtual potluck to share the most interesting and unique videos not available anywhere else, and the Archive Team, preserver of doomed web properties like Geocities (previously), is partnering with Archive.org to back up as much content as possible. In that spirit, click inside for a list of some of the most popular Google Video-centric content posted here over the years. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 1:32 PM PST - 54 comments

On the Media in Egypt

NPR's On the Media dedicated its hour this weekend to the new Egyptian media landscape (direct MP3 link). [more inside]
posted by domnit at 1:23 PM PST - 5 comments

Prehistoric Beast

"Prehistoric Beast" (1984), a film by Phil Tippett [more inside]
posted by brundlefly at 1:11 PM PST - 8 comments

Eat the Titanic? Or, Biological Relay Chat.

In 2000, microbial ecologist Roy Cullimore and Charles Pellegrino (author of Ghosts of the Titanic) discovered that the Titanic was being eaten by an extremeophile super-organism, transforming the steel into huge pillars of rust. [Previously, regarding the Titanic.] [more inside]
posted by mephron at 12:56 PM PST - 17 comments

Nouveau Shamanic: The Nicolas Cage Method

Nouveau Shamanic: The Nicolas Cage Method. "I had realized that I’d developed my own style and process and school of acting which is called Nouveau Shamanic..." — Nicolas Cage, 1964-
posted by chunking express at 11:27 AM PST - 159 comments

I am not a Rajneesh

"The tale is stranger than fiction." begins the opening line of The Oregonians retrospective "Rajneeshees in Oregon The Untold Story." The cult, began by sex guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh came to a self-rule a rural part of Oregon that battled with the native residents of the area. The conflict lead to a bio-terror attack on the residents of The Dalles to sway the outcome of a local election, global manhunts, and jail. [more inside]
posted by wcfields at 10:38 AM PST - 100 comments

Secret FBI UFO document not so secret

As part of making documents available following Freedom of Information Act requests, the FBI has set up The Vault, including documents on unexplained phenomenon. One document in particular, the Guy Hottel memo, had some proclaiming "these are the real life X-Files." Except it's not - the document is real, but the report was based on a hoax that is known by many UFO debunkers.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:38 AM PST - 12 comments

Fork it Over!

Oracle didn't see this coming. There were some significant concerns when Oracle took stewardship of Sun's open source projects like MySQL and OpenOffice, and these concerns led to contributors to OpenOffice asking Oracle to fork over control of the project. Oracle refused. [more inside]
posted by juiceCake at 6:57 AM PST - 108 comments

Dark Art by Anton Semenov

The disturbing yet beautifully illustrated world of Anton Semenov. [more inside]
posted by Gator at 5:54 AM PST - 8 comments

Gonna ruin some socks on you

The Wank Bank SLYT from the fine folks of Burnistoun
posted by mippy at 3:17 AM PST - 26 comments

Peeps Show V

Peeps Show V: This year's winning diorama depicts the dramatic rescue of 33 mine workers in Copiapo, Chile | Vote for your favorite | Marshmallow Peep Art | Peeps Show IV |Peeps Show III | Peeps Show II | the first Peep Show | Peepshi (Peep sushi) | Peepsicles | Peep Modernist - The Best Peep Art Creations. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 1:16 AM PST - 21 comments

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