July 27, 2016

"Like most fedora wearers, he had a lot of inexplicable confidence."

Starbucks wants its baristas to wear fedoras and other awful hatsThe fedora is meme shorthand for so many things, but perhaps most succinctly, it conveys the attitude of a male with poor hygiene, a Reddit addiction, and the firm belief that women keep putting him in the "friend zone" while dating assholes despite the fact that he's a "nice guy"—which is a thin cover for immature and often repellent ideas about gender roles. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:55 PM PST - 389 comments

And the greatest of them all -- WrestleMania 23

Deadspin's Samer Kalaf spends entirely too much effort on explaining why Stone Cold Steve Austin's "Stone Cold Stunner" finisher is the most important wrestling move of all time. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 6:54 PM PST - 18 comments

Where should I pitch my tent? With whom?

The Vatican entered the sex education business this week with some free online lesson plans. "Under the title "The Meeting Place" and built on the image of the tent, this educational path accompanies the young people as they learn to understand of themselves as persons, called to live relationships with one another, with dignity and respect. The discovery of the plan of God, who calls each person to love, is the culmination of six units that compose this path."
posted by Stewriffic at 3:03 PM PST - 45 comments

explore.org

The Definitive Ranking of Livestream Wildlife Cams [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:26 PM PST - 18 comments

The Lock and Key Library

In 1909, Julian Hawthorne (Nathaniel H.'s dashing, reckless son) released a wildly eclectic anthology called The Lock and Key Library: ten shotgun blast volumes of mystery, detection, horror, suspense, crime, decadence, and romance, comprised of stories, novel excerpts, folktales, and memoirs gathered from Russia, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, Tibet, Iran, the Ottoman Empire, India, Arabia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Germany, France, England, Ireland and the United States. [more inside]
posted by Iridic at 1:55 PM PST - 7 comments

4:30PM, On a Wednesday, Philadelphia PA - The Gang Rigs the DNC Primary

The DNC 2016 fight song landed last night featuring: Aisha Tyler, Alan Cumming, America Ferrera, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Chrissie Fit, Connie Britton, Elizabeth Banks, Ellen Greene, Esther Dean, Eva Longoria, Garrett Clayton, Hana Mae Lee, Ian Somerholder, Idina Menzel, Jaime King, Jane Fonda, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, John Michael Higgens, Josh Lucas, Julie Bowen, Kathy Najimy, Kelly Jackle, Kristin Chenoweth, Mandy Moore, Mary McCormack, Mary-Louise Parker, Mike Thompkins, Nikki Read, Rachel Platten, Renee Fleming, Rob Reiner, Shelley Regner, Sia, and TR Knight.

It was the culmination of an eventful night including a roll call featuring Larry Sanders personally putting in a delegate vote for his brother, Bernie and the roll call finishing up with Bernie Sanders nominating Hillary Clinton by acclamation.

Also, it almost didn't officially end. [more inside]
posted by Talez at 12:31 PM PST - 3254 comments

The 1976 Montreal Olympic Games 40 years on

On the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the Montreal Gazette is running an extensive retrospective series on the preparations for, legacy of, and notable moments at the games. [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:05 AM PST - 19 comments

16 bit air horns

Can the origin of grime actually be found in a SNES game?
posted by selfnoise at 11:05 AM PST - 16 comments

How to «open» microchip and what's inside?

We love microchips. That's why we boil them in acid and cut them up with a dremel.
posted by carter at 10:29 AM PST - 28 comments

Richard Thompson (1957-2016)

Cartoonist Richard Thompson (Cul de Sac, Richard's Poor Almanac) has passed away at the age of 58 due to effects from Parkinson's Disease.
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:29 AM PST - 54 comments

I just hope the furniture is Scotchgarded

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bod (slMaisonneuve)
posted by Kitteh at 10:02 AM PST - 5 comments

#ManBooker2016

Man Booker Prize Announces 2016 Longlist: The longlist, or ‘Man Booker Dozen’, for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize is announced today. This year’s longlist of 13 books was selected by a panel of five judges: Amanda Foreman (Chair); Jon Day; Abdulrazak Gurnah; David Harsent and Olivia Williams. It was chosen from 155 submissions published in the UK between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, first awarded in 1969, is open to writers of any nationality, writing originally in English and published in the UK. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 9:41 AM PST - 11 comments

Ice Bucket Challenge funds ALS Breakthrough

Want some good news for terrible times? It seems the Ice Bucket Challenge viral fundraiser for ALS research has yielded identification of a common gene amongst 15,000 ALS patients. It's still early days for this research, but it's progress: progress funded as the result of a viral phenomenon.
posted by hippybear at 9:38 AM PST - 27 comments

This is not a pipe

From a Pineapple to a Six-Pack, 23 Buildings that Resemble the Things They Sell
posted by bq at 8:55 AM PST - 40 comments

Life and Loss in South Sudan

In the public hospital in Maiwut, a town 400 kilometers north-east of the capital, Juba, doctors and nurses work around the clock to help those in need. ... Health facilities and critical services like water and electricity are often disrupted or destroyed completely. The hospital in Maiwut is basic. The only available electricity comes from diesel-powered generators that occasionally cut out, a fact of life that can prove deadly. [more inside]
posted by Bella Donna at 8:51 AM PST - 5 comments

peace and quiet

This Is Your Brain on Silence
posted by infini at 8:50 AM PST - 30 comments

Project Value

"As we enter complex discussion in Canada about doctor-assisted suicide, we worry that Canadians are only getting one side of the disability story – that death is a natural choice for these poor suffering disabled people. But this story doesn’t speak to the experiences of many with disabilities. This project seeks to explore a different perspective; to share stories and experiences that contradict the narrative that disability is a fate worse than death." [more inside]
posted by clawsoon at 7:55 AM PST - 33 comments

The Weed Route

In the winter of 1980 The Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) abandoned almost 2000 miles of track between Miles City, Montana and Cedar Falls, Washington -- part of a passenger and freight shipping route known as the “Pacific Coast Extension.” Today, what's left of the Extension is "cut up among different railroads and the best engineered rail line through the rugged Rockies and Cascades is but weeds and trails, a vital transportation artery no longer available to shippers and the American economy." But in August 1980, before it was abandoned, two former locomotive firemen and engineers spent $400 to rescue a track-maintenance railway car, a 1952 M-19 Fairmont Speeder, from a scrap heap in a Maine train yard. They used it to travel the route and took photos along the way. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 7:42 AM PST - 20 comments

Two weeks, eight attacks, 247 lives

"There is something of a journalistic routine each time terror erupts. Cover the news, of course, and put it into geopolitical context. Capture the drama of the scene. Pursue every tidbit about the attackers. And, perhaps most wrenchingly, try to showcase the human suffering... It never feels like enough. During what seemed like a particularly intense spate of attacks back in March, we decided it was not enough... We decided not to move on but to look back... to show terrorism’s human toll."
posted by ChuraChura at 6:47 AM PST - 38 comments

Spicy-vs-tangy semantics

If My 3 Little Kids Reviewed Family Dinners
posted by Mchelly at 4:11 AM PST - 30 comments

"You have a constitutional right to be a dumbass"

Justin Roiland - the voice of Adult Swim's Rick and Morty - reenacts a truly ridiculous court transcript from a Georgia county courtroom, as Rick and Morty. (NSFW) [more inside]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:48 AM PST - 44 comments

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