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posted by porn in the woods at 7:53 PM PST - 49 comments

Eudora Welty at 23
March 15, 1933
Gentlemen,
I suppose you’d be more interested in even a sleight-o’-hand trick than you’d be in an application for a position with your magazine, but as usual you can’t have the thing you want most.
posted by Stewriffic at 4:05 PM PST - 23 comments

In 1994, The Shawshank Redemption made just $18 million at the box office. It got seven Academy Award nominations, but won zero. And yet, it has become one of the most consistently profitable movies there is, including providing some of its actors with what Bob Gunton (the evil Warden Norton) calls "a very substantial income" in residuals. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 4:00 PM PST - 188 comments

This month, the US Public Health Service released (PDF) the first comprehensive clinical practice guidelines for PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) which outlines the criteria for determining a person’s HIV risk and indications for PrEP use. (PrEP FAQ) The CDC states, "When taken consistently, PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92%. PrEP is much less effective if it is not taken consistently." The FDA's approved drug — Truvada — that was previously approved for H.I.V. treatment in 2004, is now approved it for prevention of HIV transmission. (Truvada previously) [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:14 PM PST - 30 comments

Politically Incorrect was an American late-night, half-hour political talk show hosted by Bill Maher that ran from 1993 to 2002, first on Comedy Central and then on ABC. Four guests (usually including at least one comedian) would debate topics across the political spectrum in what Maher once described as “The McLaughlin Group on acid.” Of the 1300+ episodes produced, 190 can be viewed on YouTube. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 1:52 PM PST - 66 comments

Purportedly anti-terrorism Fusion Centers allowed police, military and "private sector partners" to share material about surveilling the nationwide Occupy protests [more inside]
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 1:48 PM PST - 34 comments

Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga discuss writing the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale. [more inside]
posted by audi alteram partem at 1:45 PM PST - 43 comments

A meteor shower that has never been seen before is expected to hit tonight and into the morning, and it could be spectacular. Camelopardalids may be your 1st and last chance to see shooting stars from Comet 209P/Linear. NASA predicts it will peak from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. ET Saturday morning, but says "outbursts" could happen any time all night.
[more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 1:00 PM PST - 58 comments

Piketty findings undercut by errors -- The Financial Times analyzes the data and calculations that Thomas Piketty used to support his result in his book "Capital in the 21st Century", and discovers that some of the data was "adjusted" and some of the formulas contain fudge-factors. When those things are removed, the calculations show that there hasn't been any significant change in wealth inequality in Europe since 1970. [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:33 PM PST - 129 comments

"This began my quest to find as many of the first 100 Citibikes as possible." [more inside]
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 12:08 PM PST - 6 comments

From the BBC. Ed Houben from the Netherlands helps couples of all kinds have the children they desire. The catch? No catch! No contracts! He helps them the good old fashioned way, and relies on good faith to protect himself against future claims for financial assistance. [more inside]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:51 AM PST - 34 comments

Doing verbal battle at the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:21 AM PST - 54 comments

Minecraft in Space: NASA embraces the space simulator Kerbal Space Program with the Asteroid Redirect Mission patch.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:17 AM PST - 39 comments

Archaeology, Anthropology and Interstellar Communication is a free book (PDF) from NASA. The premise is that communication with alien lifeforms will have some (cautious) analogues to interpreting past cultures, and to the work that anthropologists and linguists do cross-culturally. Among the 16 chapters are: Beyond Linear B - The Metasemiotic Challenge of Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Learning To Read - Interstellar Message Decipherment from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives; and, Mirrors of Our Assumptions: Lessons from an Arthritic Neanderthal.
posted by Rumple at 11:05 AM PST - 27 comments

The Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and recently voted Britain's favorite building of the past 175 years, has been devastated by fire. While the stone exterior of Mackintosh's greatest architectural masterpiece may survive, Mackintosh's interiors are presumed lost.
posted by scody at 10:53 AM PST - 71 comments

The two-day Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) graduate showcase at NYU was a madhouse, with some 100 projects on view, ranging from groundbreaking innovations to timely trinkets. But the most talked about project by far was Peiqi Su's "Penis Wall" - an array of 81 robotic phalli that rise and fall in response to the stock market. Official Vimeo account for the project - Thesis presentation - in depth How-it-was-made production blog. (Slightly NSFW if your work doesn't like white, plastic, abstract dicks.)
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 AM PST - 14 comments

Why owning your own power plant might not be crazy (from rmi.org)
posted by flabdablet at 8:41 AM PST - 37 comments

26 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico and 2,150 feet underground, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) brings new meaning to the phrase "built to last". The world's third deep geological nuclear waste repository, WIPP was designed to house radioactive material for 10,000 years. The primary challenge (keeping hazardous waste IN) was tackled by engineers. But for the secondary challenge - keeping living creatures OUT - the goverment recruited a team of geologists, linguists, astrophysicists, architects, artists, and writers. The job description included the words "the knowledge necessary to develop a marker system that will remain in operation during the performance period of the site - 10,000 years". Stymied by inevitable linguistic and orthographic drift, the group has discussed a wide array of ideas, some more fabulously demented than others (artificial moons, a nuclear containment-centric priesthood, a landscape of massive granite thorns). They intend to submit their final plan by 2028. [more inside]
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:58 AM PST - 88 comments

I can’t help wondering how many other, noncosmetic, nonashiness-related parts of your lives are so completely different that they’d make you ask each other, “For what!?” ...What I think is most fascinating about your question is the reminder that sometimes we simply have no idea what’s going on with other people from different backgrounds. Forget stereotypes and biases related to stuff we talk about all the time—we have actual, huge blind spots where it never occurred to us that our experience might not be the only one.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:38 AM PST - 199 comments

Amazon is deprecating books published by the French publisher Hachette after Hachette refused to drop wholesale prices to Amazon in recent negotiations. Per the NY Times, Amazon is reporting delays on Hachette books, increasing their prices, and suggesting alternatives. Hachette has maintained silence on the issue to their authors but royalty statements and examining their listings on Amazon reveals the truth. Affected authors and their professional associations are speaking out to pressure Amazon. Meanwhile, Amazon is raising the stakes by refusing to accept pre-orders for some books on Hachette imprints, including those by popular authors like Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).
posted by immlass at 7:34 AM PST - 83 comments

O Human Star, an ongoing webcomic by Blue Delliquanti, is a near-future science fiction family drama about robots, relationships, identity and finding a place for oneself in the world. [more inside]
posted by Narrative Priorities at 6:52 AM PST - 11 comments

When looking at a face, Perrett concludes, “I think because we are busy processing one side at one time, we don’t notice the left-right differences.”
posted by sammyo at 6:51 AM PST - 22 comments

Prison of Oz: Staying Human in an Ohio Prison Dorothy, something of a diva, let the laughter subside. Then she started to sing with a voice of resounding beauty about a land she once heard of in a lullaby, about chimney tops and lemon drops and wanting to fly away. "Why oh, why, can't I?" [more inside]
posted by EvaDestruction at 6:11 AM PST - 6 comments

The Center for Otherworld Science, a comic about three women in hazmat suits, interpersonal workplace dynamics, and a cryptozoology institute with questionable ethics. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by metaBugs at 5:39 AM PST - 8 comments

If you remember Oolong, this is the internet test for you! [via b3ta.com] (Also, worth clicking on background!)
posted by marienbad at 3:56 AM PST - 78 comments

What zombie trees tell us about the world's worst nuclear disaster: in the abandoned forests around Chernobyl the trees that died in the accident are still standing because all the bacteria and fungi died off and hasn't come back, according to research done by Timothy A. Mousseau.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:43 AM PST - 47 comments

Watch These 15 Incredible Basketball Shots
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 12:12 AM PST - 10 comments