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Squid can't hear, but that doesn't mean they can't react to music. [more inside]
posted by 23 at 11:38 PM PST - 19 comments

Tim Parks has two interesting articles at the NYRB: Does Money Make Us Write Better? and Does Copyright Matter?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:31 PM PST - 48 comments

"... with the break-up of the Soviet Union, Baikonour, now part of Kazakhstan, had to be leased by Russia from the Kazakh government, and suddenly looks less and less like a long term solution to the future of space exploration."
posted by barnacles at 10:17 PM PST - 7 comments

[Some links may contain images and language NSFW] An article on The Daily Dot (previously) about tinhatting, or the belief amongst certain fans that two celebrities are meant to be together but are being kept apart by nefarious forces, has sparked vitriol from the fans of the One Direction pairing known as Larry Stylinson. [more inside]
posted by toerinishuman at 10:16 PM PST - 92 comments

Les Mis + political parody = One term more Soon Election Day will dawn, We were meant to hold this seat! At the ballot box of freedom, Unemployment's in retreat! Now the battle lines are drawn, And Detroit's back on its feet! Will you take your place with me! The time is NOW the vote is NEAR! One Term More!
posted by badego at 9:25 PM PST - 14 comments

"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now." Lance Armstrong ends his fight against the US Anti-Doping Agency. This will most likely lead to a lifetime ban from competitive sports and possibly the loss of his 7 Tour de France victories.
posted by Bluecoat93 at 8:29 PM PST - 214 comments

Engineers at Rose Hulman design a pretty cool prosthetic arm for a kid according to his specs (4min, video). Looks like it's part of a program to connect students with kids in need that has produced similar projects in the past.
posted by mathowie at 8:05 PM PST - 9 comments

"Be relentless. All over the world, people are working harder than you." Unsentimental advice from poet and memorist Sarah Manguso about building a career as a writer. (via FSG Work in Progress.)
posted by escabeche at 7:50 PM PST - 42 comments

Hubble's hidden treasures "Hubble has made over a million observations since launch, but only a small proportion are attractive images ... but the vast amount of data in the archive means that there are still many hundreds of beautiful images scattered among the valuable, but visually unattractive, scientific data that have never been enjoyed by the public. We call these pictures Hubble’s hidden treasures, and a few months ago, we invited the public to look through Hubble’s science archive to help us find them."
posted by dhruva at 7:21 PM PST - 21 comments

Boingboing has the short version of a sad story in which some young independent designers have an unexpectedly successful Kickstarter for a novel idea for a pen. Young designers turn to Joiga, an American-Chinese manufacturing firm that "minimizes the risk of turning an idea into a market-ready product." Joiga underdelivers, causing massive delays for the designers. One year later, a new "men's gift" company offers a bad copy of the designers' pen made with the same plans at the same factories. The sad and sorry punchline? The manufacturing company and the men's gift company are run by the same guy, Allen Arseneau. Long version at Notcot.
posted by cloudscratcher at 7:07 PM PST - 52 comments

Yiddish Curses for Republican Jews (Single-link Jewish Humor)
posted by neroli at 5:46 PM PST - 33 comments

Fans of flora versus undead violence rejoice! Plants versus Zombies 2 has been announced for Spring 2013. However all is not well at PopCap games, with a recent layoff of 50 employees, or 10% of its staff, citing the increased popularity of Free-to-play, social and mobile games. Somewhat stickily amongst those reported laid off was Plants vs. Zombies creator George Fan.
posted by Artw at 5:41 PM PST - 27 comments

Michael Guy Bowman covers Tricia Yearwood's How Do I Live and Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing. The music videos will be mostly incomprehensible if you haven't read Homestuck (previously 2 3). [more inside]
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:21 PM PST - 13 comments

The Saga of Tim & Freya : Comedian Janey Godley's real-time reportage of a breakup on a train. [more inside]
posted by exceptinsects at 4:35 PM PST - 40 comments

The U.S. Camel Corps was a short-lived experiment run by the U.S. Army before the Civil War, the result of two decades of support for importing and utilizing the foreign pack animal by George H. Crosman and some of his friends and colleagues. More than 70 camels were brought from the Middle East and southern Europe, along with 5 camel drovers from Greece and Turkey, arriving in Texas in 1856. A select few of that bunch made the trek across "unexplored territory" from El Paso to the Colorado River, with camels faring the best among the group of men, horses, and mules. When James Buchanan became president in 1857, there were numerous changes in command, including the commander of the Army in Texas, who "was outraged when he discovered a herd of camels under his command." By the time the Civil War started, the Camel Corps was dissolved and forgotten, but both the animals and the drovers would leave their mark in the West. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 4:05 PM PST - 25 comments

Some early reviews of Windows 8: "The worst computing experience I've ever had." "A technological, ideological and functional failure." "I’ve felt almost totally at sea — confused, paralyzed, angry, and ultimately resigned to the pain of having to alter the way I do most of my work." (previously) [more inside]
posted by Egg Shen at 3:54 PM PST - 283 comments

Pizzapartment. (SLYT)
posted by beaucoupkevin at 3:54 PM PST - 38 comments

I had chosen a team to save that couldn't possibly be saved in real life. And here they were, in real life, being saved.
Brian Phillips of Run of Play, looks at the surreal fate of the real Pro Vercelli, the team he steered to footballing glory in Football Manager 3 years ago.
posted by juv3nal at 2:15 PM PST - 26 comments

Ten vintage advertisements that definitely wouldn't fly today.
posted by gman at 1:12 PM PST - 103 comments

"It's true that my background is a bit convoluted, but let me try my luck at clarifying these matters once and for all. I was born in Oslo, Norway, the son of a Volvo factory worker and part-time ice-fisherman."
—Between Barack and a Hard Place: My First Hundred Days by Baroque Yo' Mama

A parody written by a young Barack Obama for the satirical Harvard Law Revue.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:06 PM PST - 60 comments

Water Wigs.
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 11:53 AM PST - 11 comments

Fear of a Black President. 'As a candidate, Barack Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with America’s original sin, slavery. But as our first black president, he has avoided mention of race almost entirely. In having to be “twice as good” and “half as black,” Obama reveals the false promise and double standard of integration.' An article by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
posted by Spinneret at 11:33 AM PST - 138 comments

the mixtape recession mac miller's got 99 problems but a [censored] aint one. [more inside]
posted by xcasex at 11:28 AM PST - 6 comments

The violin player in the Stopera. The man trying to catch the tram near the Marnixstraat. The little lumberjack. The fondled breast on the Oudekerksplein. The small, disappearing, reappearing bronze statue of a man lying on his back, in the same pose as Theo van Gogh was found after his murder. All bronze or iron statues found in Amsterdam which have one thing in common: nobody knows who made them. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 11:27 AM PST - 15 comments

The Rise And Fall Of Grunge Typography.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:44 AM PST - 45 comments

Jonathan Cohn compares the effects on Medicare from the Affordable Care Act with the proposals being promoted by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
posted by reenum at 10:38 AM PST - 28 comments

In Siberia, several frozen human burials dating to 2,500 years ago have intact skin with elaborate tattoos. Warning: link contains graphic pictures of dead people.
posted by Rumple at 10:36 AM PST - 36 comments

Six years ago, Hold Me Now -- an AMV for the anime Princess Tutu -- won best of show at Anime Boston. Edited to the song Håll Om Mig by Nanne Grönvall, it was enthusiastically passed around among anime fans, many of whom had never seen the show before and knew little or nothing about it. Princess Tutu has since gained moderate popularity, and many of its fans cite Hold Me Now as their motivation to seek it out. [more inside]
posted by Narrative Priorities at 10:29 AM PST - 17 comments

"Gawker has obtained a large cache of confidential internal financial documents from more than 20 secretive hedge funds and other investment vehicles in which Mitt Romney has stashed his considerable wealth." Ongoing attempts to digest and analyze the dense contents are here.
posted by mkultra at 10:09 AM PST - 161 comments

Ars Technica broke the news and Nintendo confirmed it. The 24-year run of propaganda rag and childhood staple Nintendo Power will end in December 2012. Kotaku has a eulogy from published Super Mario Bros. high-score holder Cliff Bleszinski. Here's another high scorer you may have heard of. And remember when a 15-year-old J. Scott Cambpell was featured in its pages? Meanwhile, the Penny Arcade Report credits Nintendo Power with introducing the JRPG to the West, Slate picks their favorite letters, and Tiny Cartridge reprints a bittersweet note from a 76-year-old gamer. Over on YouTube, Patrick Scott Patterson compiled a tribute video featuring an interview with beloved Nintendo employee, Game Master and president of the Nintendo Fun Club, Howard Philips. You might remember him from his starring role in Nintendo Power's comic Howard & Nester. Are you getting all nostalgic but your parents threw out your back issues ten years ago? Community scanning project Retromags has the hookup.
posted by griphus at 9:46 AM PST - 47 comments

12 Years ago, The Avalanches released the album Since I Left You. The Album, a dreamy mix of samples, turntablism, and live instrumentation was largely considered a masterpiece, appearing numerous "best of" lists. Anticipation of their follow up album has been going strong for over a decade, but in spite of teases, live dates, and mix tapes, nothing has materialized.

Until now. Last night, The Avalanches released a new demo called "Cowboy Overflow of the Heart," featuring a spoken word performance by The Silver Jews' David Berman.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 9:23 AM PST - 27 comments

In 1972, an early version of best-selling novelist Lois Gould's X: A Fabulous Children's Story was published in Ms. Magazine as part of its monthly "Stories for Free Children" feature. In 1978 it was expanded and turned into a wildly delightful children's book with a distinctive illustration style, critiquing gender expectations in infancy and childhood. The New York Times, for which she wrote, has more about her in her obituary, while Google Preview has some history on the publication of X, now in print only as part of the 2008 anthology Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:16 AM PST - 6 comments

A girl upon the shore did ask a favour of the sea;
"Return my blue eyed sailor boy safely back to me.
Forgive me if I ask too much, I will not ask for more,
but I shall weep until he sleeps safe upon the shore."

For nearly 20 years, Newfoundland group Great Big Sea have been creating acoustic Celtic folk-rock covers and interpretations of traditional Newfoundland and Labrador sea shanties, folk, fishing and party songs, which draw from the island's rich 500-year-old multicultural (Irish, English, Scottish and French) heritage. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 9:00 AM PST - 49 comments

Undecided voter? Look no further. (SLYT)
posted by overeducated_alligator at 8:28 AM PST - 22 comments

What’s a Monkey to Do in Tampa? [SLNYT]
posted by AwkwardPause at 8:05 AM PST - 21 comments

D'oh!
posted by unSane at 8:04 AM PST - 14 comments

SLDA Art, with a ballpoint pen.
posted by TrinsicWS at 8:04 AM PST - 21 comments

Here's Kira the dog, having fun swimming with wild dolphins. [slyt]
posted by quin at 6:04 AM PST - 47 comments

I Was A Teenage Narc. (via Unfogged)
posted by Elementary Penguin at 4:59 AM PST - 54 comments

The S.H.A.M.E. Project. Featuring Adam Davidson (picked up by the New York Observer and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), Malcolm Gladwell (previously on Metafilter), Jeffrey Goldberg, Arianna Huffington, and Steven S. Levitt (of Freakonomics fame).
posted by jhandey at 4:44 AM PST - 72 comments

Paul Mason of Newsnight writes in praise of bokeh.
posted by beshtya at 3:55 AM PST - 36 comments