August 4, 2013
Calcium Nitrogen Carbon Erbium: makes cancer, it makes cancer
Who needs to wait a week for the Final Eight when instead one can just watch Breaking Bad: The Middle School Musical? [more inside]
HOLD ME CLOSE
Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Will Forte & Ed Helms made the new Mumford & Sons video. The results are.....amazing.
BART's tax shelters
The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon, originally released in 1956, by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse, won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. A 34 minute short, filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris.
The film received a 95% rating on RottenTomatoes. And, although it's been mentioned in comments once or twice here at MetaFilter, I don't believe it's ever been linked.
Find your favorite 6 year old kid, make some popcorn, open a bottle of wine, champagne might be best, sit back, and enjoy. You'll find it a fantastic conversation starter with your little one.
Possible FBI infiltration of TOR
In a crackdown that FBI claims to be about hunting down pedophiles, half of the onion sites in the TOR network has been compromised, including the e-mail counterpart of TOR deep web, TORmail. FreedomWeb, an Irish company known for providing hosting for Tor "hidden services" -- services reached over the Tor anonymized/encrypted network -- has shut down after its owner, Eric Eoin Marques, was arrested over allegations that he had facilitated the spread of child pornography. [more inside]
PORCELAINia
Thirsty koala
Waaah waaah waah wah!
Fly Me to the Moon on Otamatone. What is an Otamatone? It's a cute little musical toy that sings. Also: Otamatone metal. [more inside]
In a world...
It’s been hailed as a “bone-crushing 6 minutes of awesome” by Adweek and “so spot-on, you’ll want to watch it twice” by Crushable. Slate calls it the “epic movie mashup to end all movie mashups” and Canada.com dubs it the “greatest, most epic movie trailer ever made.” Thing is, it’s not actually a movie trailer. It’s lots and lots and lots of movie trailers. [via Time]
These are the voyages of the starship 2511
The Solarnauts could've been a groovy, British Star Trek but unfortunately the pilot was never broadcast. Produced by Roberta Leigh and Arthur Provis, starrring John Garfield as "Power" and Derek Fowlds as "Tempo", it's now available in all its Gery Andersonesque glory on Youtube.
March or Be eaten by your friends
Band members must continually move to avoid being eaten by similarly deprived conspecifics. If you're a swarming Mormon cricket (Anabrus simplex), marching is the only way to avoid being eaten by the individual who is just behind you. Tips to deter your cannibal buddies from turning you into dinner: 1) Move 2) Move!!! 3) Keep your body axis parallel to the flow 4) Beware of females (shorter version). Cannibalistic interactions during swarming behaviour have also been observed in desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) (looks paywalled but actually free).
A New Era for Iran?
Iran has a new president, Hasan Rouhani, does that mean there might be hope for a thawing in diplomatic relations? In his inaugral speech Roughani urges an end to sanctions and promises a new era. While the White House response seems cautiously optimisitic US Senators have been pressing for tougher sanctions.
Monk takes devotion to new heights
Maxime the monk lives on a pillar. When he wants to step down out of the clouds, the 59-year-old scales a 131-foot ladder, which takes him about 20 minutes. Photographer Amos Chapple heard about Maxime while working in the country of Georgia, and when he first arrived and asked to go up, he was told no. Chapple stayed and prayed with the men at the base for four days before he was told he could ascend the pillar. [more inside]
Bruce Sterling on Manning and the blast shack.
"This scene is straight outta Nikolai Gogol." Chairman Bruce reflects on Manning, surveillance, the history of computing, the character of cypherpunks, the Russian and American states, and more.
Julius Chambers, pioneering civil rights attorney, 1936-2013
Julius Chambers forever changed public education in the United States (and through it, American society) Although his biography includes a storied law career, being president of the North Carolina NAACP, and being president of North Carolina Central University, Julius Chambers is best known for arguing the Supreme Court case Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education which led to busing for integration first in Charlotte and then in school districts throughout the country. This federal ruling stated that it was not sufficient to remove laws requiring segregation but rather policies must be implemented to actively integrate public schools. [more inside]
Business clients can be poor with the simple task of sending email
Sometimes, it is hard to resist sending to a customer a link to last year's article What’s so good about email? from Rory Sutherland who, in his day job, is Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather UK. Elsewhere, Sutherland does not say too much at Twitter, but some links and remarks make him worth a follow. Some Sutherland thinking at TED is fun and provoking.
It's on
Kevin Rudd has visited Yarralumla and has asked the Governor General to issue the writs for an election to be held on September the 7th.
The ABC's coverage starts the coverage with Vote Compass - Where do you stand (as if you already didn't know)?
Faifax has offered this handy ready reckoner.
News Corp Australia? Well they are calling on the services of Col Pot to ensure that Voting compasses and ready reckoners point in only the right direction, and to ensure that News' editors - rely on their instincts
300 Game Mechanics (give or take)
This is my attempt to document three hundred different gameplay concepts of my own creation. Sean Howard, creator of the webcomic A Modest Destiny, started publishing ideas and examinations of game mechanics once a day in 2007. After fifty days he quit the daily schedule, but he's up to 168 ideas and also has a small collection of prototypes and free-to-use pixel art. [more inside]
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