July 24, 2010

Tastes like effeciency.

TabCandy. A new way to intuitively browse the web.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:02 PM PST - 122 comments

WISE: Beyond Hubble

On July 17th, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite completed its first survey of the entire sky viewable from Earth. After just seven months in orbit, WISE -- a precursor to the planned James Webb Space Telescope -- has returned more than a million images that provide a close look at celestial objects ranging from distant galaxies to asteroids. The first release of WISE data, covering about 80 percent of the sky, will be delivered to the astronomical community in May of next year, but in the meantime we can see some of the images and animations that NASA has released to date: Galleries (containing just a small selection of images): 1, 2, 3, 4. Videos and Animations: 1, 2 [more inside]
posted by zarq at 10:15 PM PST - 11 comments

Ricardo Meets Aaron

Aaron Copland. If you think you've never heard his music, you're wrong (here's the same piece played on the organ). You can hear an interview with the composer here. And, though it's really hard to see a live performance of his opera, "The Tender Land," you can watch it on YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. If you want to know more about Copland, watch this documentary. Then there's this analysis of "Billy The Kid." Oh, I could go on and on. I could even post this link to a cool animation set to Copland's "Hoedown." (Yeah, yeah: "Beef. It's what's for dinner.") But the real reason I made this post was to talk about my favorite Copland piece, "El Salon Mexico." I found this clip of Ricardo Montalban playing it. Yes, THAT Ricardo Montalban. And he's RIPPING UP THE PIANO. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee at 9:57 PM PST - 29 comments

She said no, but I could tell she wanted to.

A St. Louis woman lost her lawsuit yesterday against Girls Gone Wild. She was dancing in a bar while the crew was filming, and repeatedly refused to flash her breasts, saying "No, no" to the camera. Her top was then pulled down by another woman, and the footage was used without any signed release or the woman's consent. After deliberating for 90 minutes, the jury decided that "Through her actions, she gave implied consent... She knew what she was doing." (Previously.) (Previously.)
posted by karminai at 8:17 PM PST - 235 comments

avenging Blackwater: 'worse than Hiroshima'

"To produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened." Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009 (pdf) suggests the use of depleted uranium by US forces (who also used white phosphorous) might be the cause of soaring rates of cancer and birth defects among citizens of Fallujah. (more DU on the blue)
posted by grounded at 7:20 PM PST - 98 comments

The Most Epic Race Ever?

Alberto Contador of Spain has solidified his third win of the Tour de France, edging out Andy Schleck of Luxembourg with a lead of 39 seconds after the penultimate stage today. The two have ridden an exciting Tour, with last year's winner Contador challenged by the evenly matched Schleck. [more inside]
posted by wundermint at 7:14 PM PST - 44 comments

The Flow

Let Yourself Feel and Nokta and Reincarnation: just a few samples from hundreds you'll find on the vfxstuff channel at Vimeo.
posted by netbros at 4:47 PM PST - 8 comments

9 million pounds of flying meat

17 Atlantic states want to capture alive then kill and and bury 450 000 Canada Geese. Norman Spinrad says that it's a lot of meat so we should eat them.
posted by bru at 2:18 PM PST - 164 comments

Alex Higgins RIP

Alex Hurricane Higgins has died after a long battle with throat cancer. R.I.P.
posted by RegMcF at 1:02 PM PST - 20 comments

Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!

These are all the Twinkie Denial Conditions described in my “Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!” Designer’s Notebook columns. Each one is an egregious design error, although many of them have appeared in otherwise great games.
posted by Joe Beese at 12:51 PM PST - 110 comments

"See, people say this movie has a Daft Punk soundtrack. No, this Daft Punk album has a Tron movie."*

San Diego's 2010 Comic-Con International [YT] is so TRON-ed-out that it is being referred to as Comic-TRON. And to be fair, the new TRON Legacy trailer which debuted at this year's Con—with its CGI-powered young Jeff Bridges—almost looks good. But hype aside, for many the real star of the TRON movie is the soundtrack by robot-rock superstars Daft Punk. New tracks appeared this week.
posted by humannaire at 12:28 PM PST - 56 comments

Look at my pinwheel and see what I've found

Perhaps, if you are in your 30s, you have remembered a tiny catchy tune all your life, but can't put your finger on what exactly it was. Perhaps it is the theme to the adventures of two French toddlers left alone with a superbly jazzy little soundtrack in a surreal stop-motion land of Mondrian: Chapi Chapo. Avec un tresor! Une perruque! Un Martien! Et un tribute album! And many more!

[MLYT, sweet]
posted by Countess Elena at 11:58 AM PST - 28 comments

Steampunk Internet

Before the Internet, TV, or radio, there was the Telephone Newspaper [more inside]
posted by chrisulonic at 11:46 AM PST - 5 comments

Brick City

The entire five-part television documentary series Brick City is currently available through Netflix streaming. The four and a half-hour Sundance Channel documentary chronicles the summer and fall of 2008 in the city of Newark, New Jersey. Among the people the series profiles are Cory Booker, mayor of Newark and subject of the great documentary Street Fight; Garry McCarthy, the white, Bronx-born police director whose innovative measures have reduced the murder rate in the city; Ras Baraka, a charismatic poet and activist who is also the principal of Newark Central High school; Jayda Jacques, former Blood gang member who now mentors young women in Newark; Jiwe Morris, author of the book War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption; and many other interesting Newark residents like the Street Doctor and Ali Muslim. The series has often been referred to as a sort of real-life version of The Wire, and has been well-received by critics
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 8:56 AM PST - 15 comments

Learning to underthink a plate of beans.

On Self-Delusion and Bounded Rationality A short story by M.I.T. faculty member Scott Aaronson about a woman whose rationality got in the way of her happiness. [more inside]
posted by Obscure Reference at 8:52 AM PST - 94 comments

Death and the Sea

Obituaries editors probably belong by the sea. The cries of seagulls are their music, fading into infinity, and the light-filled sky bursts open like a gateway out of the world. The elderly gravitate there, shuffling in cheerful pairs along Marine Parade or jogging in slow motion past the Sea Gull Café, intent on some distant goal. Their skin is weathered and tanned, as if they have fossilised themselves in ozone to keep death at bay. They wear bright trainers, young clothes. But they have shifted to the shore here, or in Bexhill, or in Eastbourne, as if to the edge of life, and each flapping deck-chair reserves a waiting-place.
Ann Wroe, obituaries editor of The Economist, muses on mortality and the sea in the latest correspondent's diary, a series of articles by various Economist writers. You can read the magazine's obituaries here, including a recent one of former obituaries editor Keith Colquhoun. [Ann Wroe previously]
posted by Kattullus at 8:08 AM PST - 8 comments

"Eat SCRAD, rustbucket!!"

Spacegirl Comic by Travis Charest (via concept ships)
posted by Artw at 8:01 AM PST - 31 comments

"They were not true, those dreams, those story books of youth..."

Dream Voices: Siegfried Sassoon, Memory and War: artifacts, manuscripts, and illustrations from the diaries and notebooks of the World War I poet, currently on display at Cambridge University Library (exhibition blog), with an accompanying Picasa gallery, and audio slideshow from the BBC.
posted by steef at 7:58 AM PST - 8 comments

Rough justice in America

Too many laws, too many prisoners - Never in the civilised world have so many been locked up for so little. [previously] (via nc)
posted by kliuless at 7:42 AM PST - 29 comments

A Village Lost and Found

Brian May of Queen and the London Stereoscopic Company
posted by puny human at 7:41 AM PST - 11 comments

So you just won the World Cup...

Thierry Henry is one of the biggest stars in Association Football. With AS Monaco, Arsenal, FC Barcelona and the French national squad, he's won about every trophy that there's to win: 1996-97 French Ligue 1, 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000, 2003-2004 English Premier League, and the unprecedented 2008-2009 "perfect season" for Barcelona: Spanish Copa del Rey, Liga, and Supercopa, European Champions' League, European Supercup, and Club World Cup. He's also won a large number of French, English and worldwide "Player of the Year" accolades. However... [more inside]
posted by Skeptic at 5:52 AM PST - 54 comments

The gravestones of Maramures

Metafilter's own zaelic has a blog. For a long time I've been addicted to this blend of music, treyf food and travelogue, but my greatest vicarious pleasure in ages has been in a graveyard.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:17 AM PST - 24 comments

Makes Disturbances Melt Away?

In a pilot Phase II study of PTSD sufferers with a median of 19 years since diagnosis, MDMA-assisted therapy resulted in 10 out of 12 patients no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria. [more inside]
posted by daksya at 12:33 AM PST - 88 comments

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