April 28, 2015
better than hyperfacts
Gymnasium locker rooms may never be secure again
It turns out just about anyone can open a Masterlock combination lock in under two minutes, in eight tries or less. ArsTechnica has the story. See how it's done.
Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory...
Because going to the store buying things online is such a chore. First there was the monolith to put on your coffee table and allow to listen to everything you say. Now comes Amazon's most aggressive move yet towards frictionless purchasing: logo-emblazoned physical buttons that buy things. Plus an SDK that makes your other things buy things, without your input. [more inside]
I - VT
Vermont Public Radio reports that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will announce his run for the Democratic nomination for US President. Other sources - among them, the Guardian and the Washington Post - have confirmed the scoop.
Spoiler: they sleep a lot
The news is full of awful things right now, so turn it off and watch this livestream of day-old kittens and their mother. These little guys are being fostered by the people at tinykittens.com, where you will never run out of squee.
she certainly didn't fit the profile of a bank-robbing desperado
the most horrifying chapter in European colonization
Dancing with Cannibals is an historical novel available as an ebook. From the Mefi Projects description page: "Never before has there been a novel about the genocide in the Congo Free State written in English by an African writer. Dancing with Cannibals would seem to have been influenced by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (which is also set in the Congo during the Belgian regime) and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, but Dicho Ilunga has not read either of those books. Ilunga’s writing is largely absent a European context. Ilunga describes his literary training as coming from the Zairian writers that he read in school and from two novels by Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho who Ilunga says has an African style." [more inside]
What it Says on the Tin, Collect Cats
A highly addictive and adorable Japanese Smartphone Game Available for both IOS and Android and exclusively in Japanese, it's pretty easy to navigate, and a clearer explanation of how to play can be found here.
How Photography Was Optimized For White Skin
"the lighter you were, the more likely it was that the camera got your likeness right.” "In film photography, color balance has a lot to do with the chemical composition of the film. For many decades, color film in the United States was calibrated to highlight Caucasian skin tones. This was the most fundamental problem. With an unusual degree of skill and attention, a photographer could compensate for the biases in most stages of production. But there was nothing they could do about the film’s color balance. When the famous New Wave filmmaker Jean Luc Godard was commissioned to make a film about Mozambique, he reportedly refused to use Kodachrome film -- the most popular color film at the time. He complained the film, developed for a predominantly white market, was 'racist.'"
“Has the Department of Education learned nothing?”
Following up on the story of the Corinthian 15 (previously on the blue), Corinthian Colleges has formally ceased operations and is selling or shutting down its campuses. In the meantime, the US Department of Education has helpfully provided a list of "viable transfer options" [PDF]. Minor problem: some of those for-profit schools are also under investigation. [more inside]
Lucero Tena, maestro of castanets
Lucero Tena (Spanish) has amazing rhythm and control, as seen and heard in her dancing, tapping, clapping and snapping, but she is best known for her mastery of the castanets, used in accompaniment to a solo guitar along with her dancing, and perhaps more impressively, as a solo instrument in front of an orchestra there in a piece specifically written for her and her castanets. She may not dance any more, but her skill with the castanets is still astonishing. If you're lucky, you can catch her in a live performance.
Evolution Lab
"What could you possibly have in common with a mushroom, or a dinosaur, or even a bacterium? More than you might think. In this Lab, you’ll puzzle out the evolutionary relationships linking together a spectacular array of species. Explore the tree of life and get a front row seat to what some have called the greatest show on Earth. That show is evolution." Evolution Lab is a educational game created by the Life on Earth Project and NOVA Labs
"the only thing that’s haunted in this game are the characters"
The best video game of the past summer is Gone Home. The best story of the past summer is Gone Home. Consider it the newest addition to the canon of narratives that achieve Munro’s vision—even if it came in a shape no one was expecting.Why Alice Munro Should Play "Gone Home": The Video Game as Story and Experience -- by Carmen Maria Machado. Bonus: "strange and seductive stories" -- Sofia Samatar on Carmen Maria Machado's own fiction
An inefficiency in the market of underemployed, educated people
Welcome to the main artery into creative or elite work—highly pressurized, poorly recompensed, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes menial secretarial assistance.
A Fraction of a Death
TEN YEARS TO MIDNIGHT. Jon Bois (previously) follows up on last year's agonizing, slow death of the NBA with its perfect, beautiful opposite. [more inside]
"I don’t need to defend my credentials."
Imagining a Safer Space: Building Community & Ending Harassment in Punk
I recently got harassed in a pretty terrifying way at a punk venue in Austin, Texas. I used my experience as inspiration for a piece that examines why and how harassers are allowed to continue operating within the punk community, as well as how to establish community norms that holds them accountable for their actions.[via mefi projects]
Looking at shipwrecks from the sky
Nyaaaaaaaaarm.
Frankie is a sphynx (hairless) cat. She enjoys treats. Sometimes she is cold and needs a sweater. (MLYT, turn up the volume) [more inside]
The Forgotten Dead
Pennsylvania's oldest and largest is 400 acres. The oldest in New Jersey is now "trapped in the 19th century." NYC turned many into parks. What happens when a cemetery goes under? [more inside]
Gamergate gets the profile it deserves
“But before he emptied the contents of Quinn’s private life into the gaping maw of a bloodthirsty Internet, back before he instigated the most vicious online backlash against feminism in a generation, there was a first date.”
Zachary Jason writes about Eron Gjoni's break-up and his subsequent actions in Boston Magazine: Game of Fear: What if a stalker had an army?
Zachary Jason writes about Eron Gjoni's break-up and his subsequent actions in Boston Magazine: Game of Fear: What if a stalker had an army?
Did Anyone Guess Her Secret?
Actress and game show panelist Jayne Meadows has passed away at the age of 95. Meadows, whose career spanned over six decades, came from a showbiz family - her husband, Steve Allen, was an early television star and the first host of The Tonight Show, while her sister, Audrey, earned stardom for her role as Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners. [more inside]
Caution: This is ARt
♫ 🎹 ♬
Alabama Shakes - Don't Wanna Fight [YouTube] From the new album "Sound & Color", live on Saturday Night Live. Previously.
Songs for the Dumped
If there is Guilty Pleasure, this is Guilty Pain. Dylan admits he’s very self-conscious to find emotional refuge in music that “isn’t even good.” It’s embarrassing to admit that during messy, adult heartbreak we often regress back to adolescence, to the same exact tools (even down to the 9-minute Something Corporate song) that helped us get through it the first time.--When we are heartbroken, why do we turn to the music we loved as teens?
... statistically similar terms like “elderly people remain frisky”
The Words the Media Industry Prefers MeFi's own Paul Ford ( previously, a few times )writes another article about the internet and media and data and meaning.
What is "one of the coolest gigs you could ever hope to land?"
What's it like to be one of the Jeopardy! clue writers? The A.V. Club interviews Billy Wisse, who has worked at Jeopardy! as researcher, proofreader, and writer since 1990, and as head writer since 2011.
"Vanilla Latte for MegaFiller"
What's My Starbucks Name is like a bad barrista simulator, showing all the ways they can get your name WRONG.
roasted by dumbbelldupe
roasted by dumbbelldupe
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