September 17, 2013
Grays the Mountain Sends
Bohemian Gravity
Tim Blais, a physics graduate student at McGill University, performs an a-capella version of his masters thesis to the tune of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. [more inside]
TechNinja
What is the fashion known as techninja? The basis is the high-tech materials popular with hikers, bikers, and climbers, but worn as street wear. It takes inspiration from a military aesthetic, from science fiction (NSFW), and Goth Ninja. Want to know more? Here's a guide (2, 3, 4, 5), and here's some inspiration (pinterest, tumbler, 2). [more inside]
Podcast from Mike Duncan about revolutions
Revolutions is a new weekly podcast by Mike Duncan, who is best known for the History of Rome podcast, though he also writes comics. There are two episodes so far of Revolutions, a short introduction to the series and one on Charles Stuart, king of England.
The Surprising Science Behind Napping
"Over the years, napping has gotten a bad rap, becoming a sign of laziness or weakness, especially during the workday. Yet, according to a growing body of scientific research, napping can actually be a very good and very smart thing to do. How so? Napping can help refresh the mind, make you more creative, boost your intelligence, and even help you live a longer, healthier life. Studies over the past decade have confirmed all of this and more, and napping is slowly gaining acceptance as a part of a healthy lifestyle, even in some corporate offices. Whether you're ready to jump on the nap-happy bandwagon or just learn more about the research being done on the practice, read on as we share the science behind the need to nap, interesting research into napping, and a scientist-approved method for taking the ideal nap."
Just not right when their ads are better than our TV shows...
But, we can still dream
"I have been mindfucked before, but never with such sweetness" —YouTube
Finnish jazz pianist + beat boxer + guitarist = Iiro Rantala's Shit Catapault. Equal parts hilarious, bouncy, groovy, and unexpectedly moving.
Richmond's-out-of-his-room-he's-not-in-his-room
Eiji Toyoda, Promoter of 'Toyota Way,' Dies at 100
Eiji Toyoda, architect of the “lean manufacturing” method helped turned the automaker Toyota, into a global powerhouse and changed the face of modern manufacturing. 'In almost six decades with the company he helped transform a tiny spinoff of a textile loom maker into the world’s biggest automaker. Early on, he helped put Toyota at the forefront of a wave of automobile production in Japan, pushing it to bolster its lineup, first by adding compact vehicles and sports cars in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s he initiated the development of luxury models to compete with the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, culminating with the Lexus brand in 1989.' [more inside]
Herein lies the peace of God.
It was Ben who introduced me to A Course In Miracles. He was part of a self-help group that ran workshops based on a couple of popular New Age spiritual philosophies. Ben credited this group with his ongoing recovery from a mysterious undiagnosed chronic pain and illness, and he encouraged me to embrace it as a cure for whatever it was that caused me to spend so many of my days unable to get out of bed."Failing a Course in Miracles," Anne Ouellette, The Toast
It will shock you how much this... happened.
Aviatrixes: female aviators from the earliest years of powered flight
"In the early days of human flight, a new word entered our lexicon: "aviatrix," the female version of "aviator." These women were true pioneers, although if you asked them, they would probably tell you they were just adventurous and loved flying -same as the men who took to the air in those days." Mentalfloss profiles seven women from the first decades of airplanes. If you'd like more tales of adventure and daring, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum website has a section on women in aviation, as does the San Diego Air and Space Museum (related Flickr gallery). [more inside]
I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, Day One!
How, against all odds, Time Bandits got made. Somehow in the face of a universe that seems dead set against it Terry Gilliam continues making movies today, the latest being Zero Theorem.
And there was wailing and gnashing of teeth
Once upon a time, typographical practice was anarchy. Printers put in all sizes of spaces in haphazard ways, including after periods. Then, a standard emerged: the single space after a period. Unfortunately, the evil typewriter came along, and for some unknown reason, people began to put wider double spaces after periods. Typographers railed against the practice, but they could do nothing. [more inside]
The Lies of Artists
"She mentioned the East Coast dealer by name and said, 'He's—is he my dealer?'"
In The Lies of the Artists, art writer Jen Graves explores the lies artists tell to sell their work.
It's Not Slash Fic If It Actually Happened
the sacrifice bunt should have vanished
Why Do Baseball Players Still Bunt So Damn Much?
It’s the most maddening and demonstrably ineffective strategy in baseball and has been for quite some time. So why do teams keep doing it?
It’s the most maddening and demonstrably ineffective strategy in baseball and has been for quite some time. So why do teams keep doing it?
"Federation Comics Group: 15 cents"
Artist Juan Ortiz has gone back to all eighty episodes of the original Star Trek series and created retro posters/book covers for each of them. He naturally has a full color book available for purchase, but you can also browse through them on his tumblr, which also contains posters for all twenty-two episodes of the animated series.
Focus On the Logo to Boot (First Time?)
Dreamspace is an animated cyberpunk comic-presented-as-visual-novel/adventure-game by artist Cryoclaire (potentially NSFW; artistic nudity) about networked psychedelics, consciousness expansion through underground social networks and gorgeous trippy neon GUIs. Like most cyberpunk fiction, the characters are all sunny, cheerful personalities, everyone has a good time and absolutely no one winds up crippled, dead or insane by the end.
Get Ready, Get Set....
How to Empty a Swimming Pool (SLYT)
Only Real Journalists Allowed
Who's a 'journalist'? People who can afford to be- and absolutely not Julian Assange. A US Senate panel has approved legislation to protect journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources. The proposed law defines 'journalism' by profession, and not by practice- shutting out citizen journalists while protecting corporate media.
Lifting the Veil
A judge in the UK has ruled that a Muslim woman can stand trial wearing the niqab, but must remove it when giving evidence. Following the ruling Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, praised the judge for his "sensitivity and clarity", while Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society condemned the decision, saying "We will be complaining to the Office of Judicial Complaints and...asking senior legal officers to make visibility throughout court hearings mandatory". [more inside]
Why make a big deal out of nothing?
Jackson Landers tells a brief story about getting bit by a black widow
Beating out Eden Wood and Honey Boo Boo for the Crown....
The first-ever Miss Uzbekistan is one of 110 pageant queen hopefuls in the 63rd Miss World Competition. The only problem? Apparently, nobody in Uzbekistan seems to know how 18-year-old Rakhima Ganieva won her crown. [more inside]
The New Diaspora: African-American Babies Adopted Outside of the US
Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy
Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy - A short essay on happiness, reality, frustration, and generational expectations.
This one's dedicated to all you's who ride bicycles.
Citi Bike BMX [slyt]
This isn't a joke... IS A MIRACLE!!!
Every night somebody's talking about something real
"2013 has brought an unprecedented wave of new late night shows, some more formally innovative than others. But years before The Colbert Report, another topical show occupied its coveted post-Daily Show spot. A mix of the roundtable debates of Politically Incorrect and the unpredictability of live standup, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn was possibly the purest form of comedy ever on television."
Cats love to attack paper. Today, paper fights back.
“I never know what the inside looks like"
Takayo Kiyota turns rolled sushi into another kind of art. When cut, what looks at first like lumps of rice covered in seaweed becomes faces, fetuses (in different stages of development, depending on where you cut the roll), and iPhones . Also, blue poop with flies. The artist's page (in Japanese). [some sushi-rice based nudity, which is a sentence I never thought I would write].
The map is not the story
The Book Globe has mapped the settings of all the 267 novels nominated for the Booker Prize since 1969.
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