September 26, 2013

The Future Gets Closer, Part VI

DARPA has funded the next generation of bionic legs and DIY brain scanners. Next up: drone submarines and a hypersonic spaceplane. [more inside]
posted by StrikeTheViol at 8:34 PM PST - 24 comments

The prodigal son returns

It's been determined that near-Earth Asteroid J002E3 is actually the third stage of the Saturn V used by Apollo 12. It was in solar orbit, but recently was captured temporarily by the Earth and made 6 orbits, then escaped again. Animation here.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:51 PM PST - 65 comments

CHECKSUM ERROR. CONTINUE? (Y/N)

Decrypting Rita is a sci-fi comic with robots. It's pretty cool. Decrypting Rita is a slice-of-life comic with regular people. You might like it. Decrypting Rita is a fantasy comic with dragons and hat ladies. It's a little experimental. Decrypting Rita is set 120 minutes into the future, in the here and now, in your teenage brother's D&D campaign, in a place called the Skylands. It's also scrolly. Decrypting Rita is a comic by mefi's own egypturnash. It's worth reading. [via mefi projects]
posted by ocherdraco at 5:00 PM PST - 16 comments

Cat-Friend vs Dog-Friend - part 2

More reasons why you might not keep your friends around if they acted like your pets. [more inside]
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 4:55 PM PST - 20 comments

"A bit of distance between the breathing and the pooping"

True facts about the sea pig.
posted by anothermug at 4:55 PM PST - 30 comments

Evolved design

Unleashing Genetic Algorithms on the iOS 7 Icon - In the pursuit of something just a bit tighter than Marc Edwards' superellipse approximation, Mike Swanson applies genetic algorithms to the task of making a better button-making script.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:20 PM PST - 19 comments

A WAY TOO SCARY GAME

Catachresis is an 8-bit-looking indie flash game of cosmic horror and some bureaucracy and bickering with colleagues. The launch trailer provides a selection of the reactions you will likely experience while playing it.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:17 PM PST - 25 comments

"the most elaborate asshole simulation system ever devised..."

"Once upon a time, playing a GTA game was like sitting next to your offensive Republican uncle at Christmas dinner. He was definitely a dick but also smart and interesting, and his heart was fundamentally in the right place. These days Uncle GTA is a billionaire with an unchanged shtick, and he seems a hell of a lot more mean-spirited than before."
A letter to Niko Bellic about Grand Theft Auto V
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:15 PM PST - 157 comments

FIP Radio

In 1971 Jean Garetto and Pierre Codou began to dream of a radio station that could calm even the drivers stuck on the Paris Périphérique. It would play wonderful, unexpected music chosen by people who knew their onions. The tracks would be drawn from diverse genres and chosen to seque enchantingly. There would be no jingles, commercials or self-aggrandising DJs - not even defined programs - just some announcers chosen for their mellifluous voices but paid to mostly stay quiet. The result was - and is - FipRadio. Fans have included residents of Brighton in the UK who enjoyed an illegal re-transmission of the station for many years - and journalist David Hepworth who describes the thrill of hearing "a voice you want to marry whispering words you can't understand". Listen! [more inside]
posted by rongorongo at 1:55 PM PST - 29 comments

SEPTEMBER 1977

VOYAGER: a web comic by Jed McGowan [via]
posted by brundlefly at 1:53 PM PST - 5 comments

Truvada protects users from HIV with a 99% success rate

"Not enough gay men realize there’s an HIV-prevention pill."
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:21 PM PST - 46 comments

"The truth is that I intend never to write a negative book review again"

The very fact that reading and writing are in jeopardy, or simply evolving, means that to try to put the brakes of old criteria on a changing situation is going to be either obstructive or boring. In our critical age of almost manic invention, the most effective criticism of what, in the critic’s eyes, is a bad book would be to simply ignore it, while nudging better books toward the fulfillment of what the critic understands to be each book’s particular creative aim.
Lee Siegel buries the hatchet-job.
posted by RogerB at 12:29 PM PST - 50 comments

I am an actor, so I can play everything.

The 10 Most James Franco Lines in James Franco’s New Novel
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:13 PM PST - 56 comments

Takes a steady hand

Wax Nostalgic, a Tumblr featuring tiny sculptures made from crayons.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:02 PM PST - 7 comments

Hello yes this is a bird

I am a birdsrightsactivist and fight against antibird sentiment. tree
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:18 AM PST - 62 comments

The Great Marijuana Crash Of 2011

What’s going on in Colorado is an outstanding case study in what happens when a black market becomes a legal one, and it’s something we probably won’t see again in any of our lifetimes.
posted by latkes at 10:52 AM PST - 172 comments

Da ba dee da ba daa

Listen up: Here's a story about Eiffel 65's 'Blue'. (Direct link to the music video.)
posted by kmz at 10:14 AM PST - 58 comments

The third act in the triple-fucking of ordinary people by Wall Street

Looting the Pension Funds: All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers. By Matt Taibbi. [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 10:10 AM PST - 46 comments

The Privilege to Play

A High School football coach in Roosevelt, Utah has suspended the entire football team. Roosevelt Utah, might not be a big place, but they have big ideas.
posted by whimsicalnymph at 9:41 AM PST - 86 comments

Patent Trolls Generating Negative Karma

Yoga International, publishers of a similarly-titled magazine, recently migrated to an all-online content. As part of their new technology platform, they have been providing online yoga instruction utilizing a visual recording of a standard yoga classroom set-up. YogaGlo, providers of on-line yoga classes, sent Yoga International a cease-and-desist letter claiming that their recently filed patent application covers the type of view being filmed for an on-line yoga class, and that Yoga International is in violation. [more inside]
posted by scblackman at 9:35 AM PST - 21 comments

In Utero, in utero

"If a record takes more than a week to make, somebody's fucking up." Take a moment to read the letter that Steve Albini sent to Nirvana prior to the recording of 1993's In Utero. It puts everything in context, encapsulates the spirit of the album, and makes a case for it better than a thousand 20th anniversary encomiums could. [more inside]
posted by naju at 9:26 AM PST - 68 comments

My God, it's full of dots!

New Scientist magazine has posted a nifty interactive infographic that illustrates how many Earth-like planets might exist, based on observations from the Kepler Space Telescope. The orbital observatory has catalogued 151 exoplanets based on examination of 0.28% of the sky. [more inside]
posted by Gelatin at 8:24 AM PST - 34 comments

On matters of life and death (and animals assumed to be hoaxes)

The male 'Duck-billed Platypus' has venomous spurs on its hind legs. [more inside]
posted by panaceanot at 7:44 AM PST - 41 comments

Wrong way

Canadian Meredith Fitzmaurice did not expect to win last weekend's Run for Heroes Marathon, mostly because she was aiming for a 1:28 half. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:40 AM PST - 20 comments

As if someone has stuck 8-bit Mario into Grand Theft Auto V

"Often the protagonist of an Important Novel of the Latter Half of The 20th Century is male, and is a thinly veiled version of the author. So thin of a veil. A veil so thin is it possible to discern whether the author was circumcised. Also, he often displays a particular stomach-turning combination. He regards women as, one the one hand a mere necessary evil, not things one would be inclined to befriend or discuss life with, and on the other hand, beings of terrible power that make one very angry indeed." -- Belle Waring takes aim at a particular kind of novelist, the canonical important American late 20th century novelist and his 21st century would-be heir. (More background: it's all Jonathan Franzen's fault.)
posted by MartinWisse at 7:26 AM PST - 56 comments

Some things never really change.

Re-creating ridiculous family pictures. Guess what we'll be doing at the next family gathering.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:56 AM PST - 22 comments

"...you can stop it. You don’t have to watch it."

The Doubleclicks, of geek-girl anthem "Nothing To Prove" [previously], have just released a "A Love Song for Internet Trolls" to kick off the start off their weekly song Wednesday project. [via]
posted by quin at 6:51 AM PST - 5 comments

Primordial Complete Jaw

"The majority of fossil discoveries worth publishing about can either strengthen previous studies or dish out little parcels of new data. These allow us to slowly piece together the history of life on Earth, but do not significantly rock the boat. But every now and then you are confronted with a jaw-dropping specimen, a fossil that says, “forget the textbooks, THIS is how it happened…” Momentous discoveries like Lucy the Australopithecus and the first batch of Chinese feathered dinosaurs that unleashed a tsunami of new information, bringing sudden clarity to our view of the distant past, and forcing us to rethink what we thought we knew about evolution. Now joining their ranks is a little armoured fish called Entelognathus, described in Nature by an international team of researchers led by Prof. Zhu Min at IVPP, Beijing." [more inside]
posted by Akhu at 6:46 AM PST - 12 comments

Combustible Heads!

"Oh damn - you must've got one of them combustible heads, I read an article all about them - You're On Fire" - Official video from They Might Be Giants. [more inside]
posted by memebake at 4:59 AM PST - 33 comments

Don't leave us! You are our Jesus. We are brothers.

"Our brother asked us to be his best men for his wedding. We knew the hardest thing would be doing a traditional best man’s speech, because we would cry too much. So instead, we made a music video - a plea not to leave us! Which he did, regardless." Presenting We Are Brothers by Baddy Paris and Rufus Starlight in the tradition they know best, 80s glam rock.
posted by Leucistic Cuttlefish at 4:48 AM PST - 19 comments

Distance equation

  1. It is strange, in my opinion, that the insurance market has evolved so, that so few individuals understand the fundamentals of the medical insurance plans they are insured under."
  2. Among the 19% polled who are uninsured, nearly four in 10 don't realize the law requires them to get health insurance next year. Among young people, whose participation is seen as crucial for the exchanges to work, just 56% realize there's a mandate to be insured or face a fine.
  3. Health policy is an extremely personal and complicated topic... Observing historical patterns of attempted healthcare reform and backlash towards these reforms, we may begin to understand what is keeping such a prominent and promising nation from enlisting a social contract of health.

posted by four panels at 12:16 AM PST - 172 comments

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