August 21, 2012
"There's a lot of other singers out there who don't sound anything like they talk ..."
Death Vessel is a modern folk band from Rhode Island. But mostly, it's Joel Thibodeau's astonishing soprano singing voice . [more inside]
Chicago's Murder Problem
With six homicides, Saturday August 18th tied with an unseasonably warm February day for the dubious honor of Chicago's deadliest day, bringing the year's death total to over 340. Chicago is now one of the world's deadliest cities, much worse than the more populous NYC, even earning comparisons to Kabul. Possible culprits include failed urban policies, guns, concentrated poverty, and gangs (and counterintuitively, the fact that some are fractured and poorly run).
"I don't know why I made the raccoons Irish, but it works."
Robin Williams in Concert:
An Evening with Robin Williams (1982)
A Night at The Met: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (1986)
Live on Broadway (2002)
Weapons of Self Destruction (2010) (Alternate link) [more inside]
An Evening with Robin Williams (1982)
A Night at The Met: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (1986)
Live on Broadway (2002)
Weapons of Self Destruction (2010) (Alternate link) [more inside]
If you lived here, you'd be unheimlich now
Computer modeling, along with new materials, has done wonders for contemporary architecture, allowing practitioners to render seemingly organic shapes from inert materials. Mimicking biological shapes could soon cross a threshold: behold Shahira Hammad's proposal for the Westbahnhof train station. Again, before and after.
But if the same tendency is maintained ...
With Rio hosting the 2016 Olympics, a series of ads for a little-known sport have appeared: Rugby: It Will Be Big In Brazil (Youtube) [more inside]
Moe Howard
Moe Howard on the Mike Douglas show:
Niagra
With Ted Knight
With Ted Knight, part 2
Maharaja of Poon
Moe talking about Curly
The hair
College Bound
Over the past few weeks, I, along with ten of my closest friends, have taken turns saying our goodbyes to our college bound kids. For some of us, this was a virgin voyage; for others, it was the beginning of an empty nest. [more inside]
This Warrior's Dream
The drawings of Ron Franciere circa 1962-1988 — "Ron Franciere was something of a mystery to me. Ran into many dead ends trying to find information on him. I posted some images on my website Bighappyfunhouse. I received emails that held a few stories of Ron and his life - but nothing ever lead me to contacting Ron Franciere. Then, I received an anonymous comment on my website."
28 seconds. Living to write about it.
Ex Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant (previously previously previously) reveals struggle with alcoholism, and his thoughts on cyclist's death in new memoir, 28 Seconds. CBC radio "The Current" interview, and CTV tv interview. Allan Sheppard, the deceased's father, asks people to scrutinize Bryant's story.
Agent Scully needs a few good Gentlepersons
Mefi's own Mightygodking takes the April Fool's joke from Comics Alliance ( previously ) to the logical next step with The League Of Extraordinary Gentlepersons: 1996.
They had a Carl Sagan, too
Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa (1928-2012), scientist, television personality, pacifist. The son of a Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, Kapitsa's research drifted from physics into demography and mathematical population modeling, having spoken alongside Sagan in the Club of Rome. Kapitsa is better known, however, as the host of Evident, but incredible, which catapulted him into the figure of a public ambassador of science and eventually the longest-running television host in the history of Russia. Kapitsa also left a minor mark as a filmmaker, with his "Sea of Japan" arriving second to Jacques Cousteau in Cannes.
Pretty Numbers
The Information Is Beautiful 2012 Awards shortlist has been announced. Featuring lists categorized by
- Infographic infodesign
- Data visualisation
- Interactive visualisation
- Data journalism
- Motion infographic
- Tool or website
Welcome to the National Hobo Convention
Every year since 1900, Britt, Iowa, has played host to the National Hobo Convention. In 2008, CBS sent a camera crew. The main event at the four day convention is selecting the Hobo King and Queen. Meanwhile, no one knows where the word 'hobo' originally came from.
The Breaking Bad Art Project
The Breaking Bad Art Project is on exhibit at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles through August 26. [more inside]
A Tweet by Tweet Account of Madness and Pathos in the Air
How To Deal With An “Unruly Passenger” On A Cross Country Flight An independent film producer on a flight from New York to L.A. shares his conversation with a man who was so unstable that the plane had to land early in Denver.
From Reddit subreddit to Amazon bestseller.
"Penpal" - from Reddit subreddit to Amazon bestseller. When Dathan Auerbach, aka 1000vultures, posted the first in a series of beautifully told tales making sense of his unsettling childhood memories on the Reddit subreddit NoSleep ["a place where people post horror stories; there, 'everything is true, even if it isn’t'"], he could have had no idea that by May of this year he would have a Kickstarter project completed and be on the Amazon bestseller lists with Penpal and a range of beautifully produced artwork. [more inside]
Put down the stretcher. You have twelve seconds to comply.
Guardian/Greenwald: US drones are coming back after initial attacks to target first-responder rescuers.
Class of 2016: Mindset
Beloit College examines the cultural backdrop and assumptions of those new college freshpeople headed for, or currently wandering their new college home: Class of 2016 Mindset List
Why climbing should be in the Olympics
An oral history of White Men Can't Jump
You know who really gives kids a bad name?
The award for the best jokes at this year's Edinburgh Fringe has been given to Canadian comic Stewart Francis for this joke:
"You know who really gives kids a bad name?.. [more inside]
Illustrated Covers of British Vogue from 1909 Through 1940
The Art of Vogue Covers details the illustrated covers of British Vogue from 1909 through 1940, including the entire collection of covers between 1920-1930. Most of the work showcased is by seasoned Vogue illustrators Helen Dryden, Georges Lepap, Harriett Maserol, George Plank and Eduardo Benito amongst others. Look for continuing additions at the Flickr set. This is literally just the tip of the iceberg.
"A Polish Village's Secret"
"A farming town hid a Jewish-born teacher during the Holocaust. I went to dig up what it had buried."
Though I grew up in America, I have been visiting my family in Poland since I was a child. But it is only recently, since the great debate began two years ago between [Jan] Gross and [Timothy] Snyder over the causes and extent of Polish co-operation with the Nazis during the Holocaust, that I thought to ask the old people of my family village about what happened during the war. My grandparents mentioned bits and pieces of our family’s World War II history over the years, but it often seemed too painful for them to recall, or as though they wanted the memories to simply be forgotten. When I finally decided to broach the topic with them, my grandmother repeated that she didn’t understand why I cared to dig so deep into the past, why I cared so much about Wladyslaw and his story.[more inside]
Facts Didn't Get In Their Way
Leave It to DEVO
Yarmulke Tan Line
I want to plural, to discuss not the novel but novels, not the future, but futures.
Cynthia Ozick on Henry James: The Lesson of the Master
Cynthia Ozick on Henry James: The Lesson of the Master: ...in earlier days I felt I had been betrayed by Henry James. I was like the youthful writer in “The Lesson of the Master” who believed in the Master’s call to live immaculately, unspoiled by what we mean when we say “life”—relationship, family mess, distraction, exhaustion, anxiety, above all disappointment.
Nasty, Brutish, and Blocky
Minecraft by itself may represent a post-scarcity world, but one poster at the official Minecraft forums conducted a test of what would happen if you took 30 players and constrained their available resources. The Closed Map Experiment. [more inside]
Zombee Watch!!!
Quantum Graphity
The start of the Universe should be modeled not as a Big Bang but more like water freezing into ice, according to a team of theoretical physicists at the University of Melbourne and RMIT University. Results published this month in Physical Review D (abstract) (via ABC Science). [more inside]
"...and some feature the Troopers just fooling around."
David Eger's Cloned Photos recreate famous pictures with Star Wars action figures and imagery. [via]
My Money's on Nolan
Christopher Nolan (mentioned previously) has been a divisive maker of movies. Some have lauded him as "the only working auteur" while others, like David Cronenberg ,and those that agree with him, tend to think he is a mere maker of entertaining genre flicks. Film scholar, David Bordwell, explains why both arguments have merit.
Your Passwords Are Much Weaker Than You Think
Why passwords have never been weaker—and crackers have never been stronger. Ars weighs in on the amazing advances the bad guys have made in password cracking over the last few years. Think you know how to choose something that's safe? The probability is quite high that you don't, even if you're technically ept. [more inside]
Just in case puberty wasn't horrifying enough
The scarily honest animated facts of life for teens A disturbingly blunt and beautifully animated short film about the horrifying changes brought about by puberty. Part of the "Teen Facts" exhibit at the NEMO Science Center in Amsterdam. (via everlasting blort)
I'm thinking we might need a new law of robotics.
The EOL Robot band (previously), consisting chiefly of repurposed obsolete computer equipment, has learned some new songs. Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger". The House of the Rising Sun. Little Drummer Boy.
Mars Wiggles
Mars Wiggles Enhancing Curiosity's imagery from Mars using the wiggle stereoscopy effect. [via mefi projects]
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