August 16, 2013
Book Thieves Beware
Librarians + Beastie Boys = Sabotage (SLVimeo)
The intersection of parasitism and philosophy
The Thoreau Poison - Caleb Crain of The New Yorker takes a closer look at the ideas explored in
Upstream Color (spoilers)
People simply empty out
"They call it '9 to 5.' It's never 9 to 5, there's no free lunch break at those places, in fact, at many of them in order to keep your job you don't take lunch."
America's Oldest Known Petroglyphs
Ancient North Americans gouged elaborate rock art into a heap of big boulders northeast of Reno, Nev., more than 10,000 years ago and perhaps 15,000 years ago. That makes the carvings the oldest known petroglyphs on the continent, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
I don't want to go
Epic Chick Fight
Stunt women Jessie Graff and Tree O'Toole recreate an epic live-action version of Family Guy's original epic chicken fight. (SLYT)
People got their money's worth that night!
Here's the entire show (audio only) from Landover, Maryland, January 15, 1974, by Bob Dylan and The Band.
WHAT DO WE WANT? BAAAAAAA
The buzzer sounds, and the curtains rise; one, two, three, let us begin!
Hitoshizuku x Yama (or Yamashizuku) are producers for vocaloid, a singing voice synthesizer program (previously on mefi). Their most recent compilation album, EndlessroLL, is available on Amazon and iTunes. They seem most fond of Kagamine Rin/Len, but have also released songs featuring other vocaloids. Suzunosuke often does the artwork for their videos. Examples of their works below.
Warnings for: singing robots, high-pitched Japanese voices, catchy tunes, English subtitles, occasional violence, death, melancholy, some mildly NSFW content, and more than a dollop of drama.
- Bad∞End∞Night / Crazy∞nighT / Twilight ∞ nighT - a villager is trapped in a mansion with a bunch of nuts! Can she find the key to survival, or can this only be a Bad End Night? Features the Vocaloid Eight - i.e., all 6 Crypton vocaloids + Gumi & Gakupo. TO BE CONTINUED.
- Alluring Secret ~Black Vow~ - An angel falls in love with a human girl, which is forbidden. But she has a plan.
- Soundless Voice / Proof of Life / Endless Wedge. A girl wants to leave something good behind. A boy grieves.
Matt Taibbi on the Ripping Off of Young America
Ripping Off Young America: The College-Loan Scandal. "The federal government has made it easier than ever to borrow money for higher education - saddling a generation with crushing debts and inflating a bubble that could bring down the economy."
Put your jaws around the baby's head, pick her up, and hug her
Here's a video of a giant baby panda cub being reunited with her mother at the Taipei City Zoo. [more inside]
Not Crate & Barrel, something edgy--like CB2.
She doesn't make much, but she still gets paid - she's a lower level mayoral office aide! (MLYT, last link NSFW).
Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
To start with the beginning: Jack Sheppard was a notorious English robber who inspired John Gay to write The Beggar's Opera (1728). Two centuries later, the German composer Kurt Weill and dramatist Bertolt Brecht adapted it into a musical as a socialist critique of capitalism and the modern world: Die Dreigroschenoper. It was about to open when the lead actor demanded a song to introduce his character. It was this song that would open the play and at its premiere, it was Kurt Gerron who would be the first to sing the Moriat of Macky Messer as the street singer setting the scene. [more inside]
Ye are many - they are few
On this day in 1819, 60,000 people turned out at St Peter's Field in Manchester for democracy...and the Yeomanry turned out for a massacre. [more inside]
Not everything that barks is a lion
Sometimes if the king of the jungle is not available, then use the next best animal
"I fucking hate this industry"
"Developers, both named and those who wish to remain anonymous, tell Polygon that harassment by gamers is becoming an alarmingly regular expected element of game development." (Previously)
Mobots At The Ready
Mo Farah wins 5,000m gold at World Athletics 2013: "Mo Farah's career reached incredible new heights as the Briton became only the second man in history to complete an Olympic and world 'double-double' in the distance events."
$4.99 TO UNLOCK COMMENTS ON THIS THREAD
EA is setting it's hopes for the future on Plant's Vs Zombies 2's "freemium" model, hoping they've done it "the PopCap way". Here's how to play it without paying to win.
Remember that the elephant is only for decoration – you cannot eat it.
Bad Jelly. Trying retro recipes so you don't have to.
(Some images involving fruit may be NSFW. )
What is old is new again: Hot Jazz in New York
How a Swath of 20-Somethings Have Tuned In to 1920s Pop.
New Hot Jazz Is Warming Up(audio link). Looking to catch some live? Check out the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island this weekend, or the New York Hot Jazz Fest on August 25th. [more inside]
Interactive timelines of slang for genitalia
Two timelines with slang for the male and female genitalia, simply titled The Penis and The Vagina.
The timelines are made by Jonathon Green, a slang lexicographer (previously on MeFi). [more inside]
Tasty Rorschach
Nighthawks in the round
In conjunction with the Whitney Museum of American Art's exhibit Hopper Drawing [NYT review], which the museum calls "the first major museum exhibition to focus on the drawings and creative process of Edward Hopper," the museum has constructed a temporary life-size window installation recreating Nighthawks in the Flatiron Building's Sprint-sponsored Prow Artspace. The Flatiron is believed to be one of the real-life inspirations for the iconic diner by Carter Foster, curator of drawing for the Whitney and organizer of the Hopper exhibition. [previously]
You Are The Hero!
"I think the answer is 100 per cent of people cheated! That's what everyone tells us. Do we mind? No." A history of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy game books.
Martin Manley: My Life and Death
Today is August 15, 2013. Today is my 60th birthday. Today is the last day of my life. Today, I committed suicide. Today, is the first day this site is active, but it will be here for years to come.
Inverse Perspective
Syd Mead's Stanford Torus Illustrations for National Geographic got him the job, 40 years later, of designing Elysium for Neill Blomkamp. Mead calls the unique visual effect of these interior drawings, in which the horizon wraps up and over the viewpoint, 'inverse perspective'. This effect, and others like it, have been explored in the concept art for large, rotating, space habitats at least since the early 1960s. [more inside]
Confucius say "Good things come to those who wait"
As part of the preparation for a special exhibition on the history of Chinese food in America, the Smithsonian opens the world's oldest can of fortune cookies. More posts on the exhibit research under the Sweet & Sour tag. [previously]
"Now I earn in a single week the GDP of Mozambique"
Mining heiress Gina Rineheart, Australia's richest person, the fourth wealthiest woman in the world, and not incidentally an advocate for the abolishment of the minimum wage who claims "Africans are willing to work for $2 a day" (and yes we've talked about all this previously previously), now has an anthem: "Sweet Child O' Mines", as performed by the Australian TV show Wednesday Night Fever. For maximum viewing enjoyment, imagine that Rinehart is out there somewhere gnashing and grinding her teeth over it while you watch.
Johnny Cummings is destroying America
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