April 26, 2010
Henry
A Vision of Britain Through Time.
A Vision of Britain Through Time Sections on Travel writing, Statistical Atlas, Historical maps and Places among others.
He felt his teeth shatter.
Eric Belanger, of the Washington Capitals defines "never give up" attitude by getting hit in the face, losing several teeth (including pulling one out with his bare hands), and returning to the ice to finish out the game.
In To Africa
A Glimpse of the World
All across Africa, new tracks are being laid, highways built, ports deepened, commercial contracts signed -- all on an unprecedented scale, and led by China, whose appetite for commodities seems insatiable. Do China's grand designs promise the transformation, at last, of a star-crossed continent? Or merely its exploitation? The author travels deep into the heart of Africa, searching for answers. [more inside]
All across Africa, new tracks are being laid, highways built, ports deepened, commercial contracts signed -- all on an unprecedented scale, and led by China, whose appetite for commodities seems insatiable. Do China's grand designs promise the transformation, at last, of a star-crossed continent? Or merely its exploitation? The author travels deep into the heart of Africa, searching for answers. [more inside]
The sound of faces flapping
Super slo-mo documentary film camera put to nefarious use (warning: Flash and audio). 105 fans of the NZ band Shihad were filmed with a Phantom HD camera while strapped to a chair and surprised with blasts of air and water at 40x slower than real life for this music video.
ARCHItecture teleGRAM
Why don't rabbits burrow rectangular burrows? Why didn't early man make rectagular caves?
Archigram are amongst the most seminal, iconoclastic and influential architectural groups of the modern age. They created some of the 20th century's most iconic images and projects, rethought the relationship of technology, society and architecture, predicted and envisioned the information revolution decades before it came to pass, and reinvented a whole mode of architectural education – and therefore produced a seam of architectural thought with truly global impact.The Archigram Archival Project is an online, searchable database of all the available works of Archigram [and much, much more] for study by architectural specialists and the general public. [more inside]
Flakespeare
Unwords.com maintains a collection of words that individuals and other apostrophascists have made up at some point in time to adjectize things that aren't associated with a term in the English language, or to describe them with a term that is a fuzzword, or to describe things that make one ghastipate... a fictionary, if you will. [more inside]
Another Sarah Palin Thread...
There are many Lady Gaga parodies online, but this one is particularly topical. Scott Brown and Sarah Palin in Senate Vote.[SLYT]
Queer Kids
"This will go down in the history books as the Earth Day blowout"
The fire is out on the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon. But since the rig sank last Thursday, Coast Guard officials believe about 13,000 gallons (7,400 bbl) of crude oil per day is coming out of the exploratory hole drilled by the rig, about 41 miles offshore from Plaquemines Parish, LA. "An early suggestion that damage would be minimal because the fire was consuming most of the fuel 'does have the potential to change,' BP official David Rainey told the New York Times." [more inside]
A magnet won't work on plastic, bananas or girls.
In 2001, Marc Bertrand was tasked by the National Film Board of Canada with creating 26 one-minute films about science. The only constraints were that he had to use both archival footage and animation. The result was Science Please!
And because the NFB is awesome, you can watch all 26 of them online: Part 1 | Part 2 | Or, in French [more inside]
And because the NFB is awesome, you can watch all 26 of them online: Part 1 | Part 2 | Or, in French [more inside]
4 8 15 16 23 42
Here, There Be Spoilers: As "L O S T" Ends, Creators Explain How They Did It, What’s Going On. (Previously on MeFi)
Cuchi-Cuchi
Her full name is María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Rasten, but she's better known to the world as Charo. According to Wikipedia, "One of Charo's regrets is that because of her flamboyant stage presence, she has been overlooked as a serious guitar player." So here' some Charo on guitar: [more inside]
The Tea Party's Brew
The Tea Party's Toxic Take on History (single link Slate) The piece has interesting internal links. The points about history distortions are at the end. Here's a little more about the author. The Tea Party is a significant preoccupation for him.
Previously (briefly!) on Metafilter, but taken down at poster's request.
Archive of US Government Films
The Story of Dynamite (1925) and The Story of Gasoline (1924): two unusual silent films from the enormously varied and fascinating PublicResource.org's youtube channel. [more inside]
There's one more thing: you can all have one.
Mickey Rourke: Genghis Khan?
In the grand tradition of John Wayne1, Mickey Rourke is in talks to play Genghis Khan in an upcoming biopic. [more inside]
Hooray for bubblegum cards!!
After the gum is gone, you still have the bubble gum cards. Browse a collection of scanned cards from the 1960s (Ugly Stickers and Ugly Names), 70s (Monster Initials, Marvel Super Heroes) and the 80s (Pee Wee Herman). The initials series have word generators (IE only!): Love Initials, Mod Initials, Monster Initials (similar, previously). [via] [more inside]
The Gathering of the Juggalo Parody Videos
Fools' Gold: An Oral History of the Insane Clown Posse Parodies. "[T]he group is enjoying a resurgence in attention, if not popularity, from a wave of Internet comedy videos poking fun at their music and their legions of harlequin-faced fans, who call themselves Juggalos... Here, Insane Clown Posse, the writers of “Saturday Night Live” and the creator of “Juggalo News” retrace the path of this unlikely media circus."[previously, previouslier] [more inside]
And Their Eyes Were Watching YouTube
Happy 5th birthday YouTube! WYNC's Brain Lehrer Show has put together a list of their favorite videos form the last 5 years. Mostly political - some pandas.
M.I.A. has a Punishment Park-style music video.
Cos I'm a Gypsy, are you coming with me?
She recently made a speech at the Speech at the Oxford Union; her philanthropy gets a big “pass” from aidwatchers.
She tells the Wall Street Journal about it, and she’s spending millions on schools in her home country and beyond. Also she has some wealthy friends joining her.
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll and Pies Descalzos the foundation she founded when she was 18.
Paul Morley shows off
Showing Off is a series of videos, audio clips and articles in which noted music journalist and Frankie Goes to Hollywood mastermind Paul Morley explores various facets of music. Each month has a theme, [warning: most links have autoplaying video] Michael Jackson, Kraftwerk, classical music, disco, The Beatles, folk music, The X Factor, the Noughties, the next big thing, UK hip hop, jazz, and dance. Here is some of what's on offer: MeFi faves Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip on hip hop, These New Puritans' Jack Barnett, Johnny Marr on folk (parts 1, 2), but isn't all just interviews, there are also a lot of performances, e.g. Michael Nyman and David McAlmont, Badly Drawn Boy, Susanna Wallumrød covers Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, and Cornershop cover Norwegian Wood.
Cards That Punch Back
The Super Punch Tarot is nearing completion! This deck is a group effort illustrated by dozens of artists (including our own The Whelk's spin on the Two of Wands), organized by John Struan.
From floppy to hard
The floppy disc is about to go to the great slot drive in the sky. Japanese sales of floppies have dropped from a record 47 million disks in 2002 to 12 million in 2009. So why not use those discs to make a bag, celebrate dead media by hacking together a Game Boy and a 3.5" drive, or admire the sleeve of New Order's Blue Monday? [more inside]
Our Man in Yemen
Her Majesty's Ambassador to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen Timothy Torlot survived a suicide bomb attack earlier this morning. The explosions which occurred approximately 800m from the British Embassy on Thaher Himiyar Street occurred at around 08.10 local time. Tim Torlot has been in the media in recent months due to his somewhat surprising personal affairs – namely moving his pregnant mistress into the official residence. To add flames to the fire Jennifer Steil - an American journalist has done what journalists do and written a memoir covering her time in Yemen and the affair. This in a deeply conservative country where adultery is punishable with death by stoning and the human rights record is poor. Yemen is deemed a high risk country and it is known the ambassador travels with an armed British Protection officer and an armed Yemeni Protection officer whenever he leaves the residence. Yemen recently namechecked in the second Live leaders debate by the Prime Minister as another territory of concern will come under the spotlight once again.
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