January 17, 2009

Thinkin of a master plan

They acquired Polaroid's old equipment, factory and now seek your support. "The Impossible mission is NOT to re-build Polaroid Integral film but to develop a new product with new characteristics, consisting of new optimized components, produced with a streamlined modern setup. An innovative and fresh analog material, sold under a new brand name." They have just 12 months. 7 Challenges (to come). Sign up to be informed and help. [kangol tip] [more inside]
posted by cashman at 11:23 PM PST - 24 comments

miniature interiors

Carving a snuff bottle for painting. Types of snuff bottle painting: slide show. Step by step process of painting inside. A painting in its cultural setting. Some contemporary images: Tornado on the highway l aurora. With a special 90-degree-angle paintbrush used to paint inside glass or crystal objects, artists can achieve exquisitely unique paintings.Some of the painting tools used: the bamboo pen l writing brush l lily magnolia. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 10:32 PM PST - 3 comments

MeFi guidelines expert assures me this is Best of the Web

Journalism and complex public issues - a British newspaper editor's travails
posted by Gyan at 10:21 PM PST - 8 comments

Studies In Getting Smacked

Three psychology experiments that raise ethics questions because of the danger they posed to the research assistants. (via) [more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:24 PM PST - 38 comments

We are encased in a world of light and cloud

Photos of shadows in the clouds over Austin. via bldgblog
posted by signal at 8:21 PM PST - 24 comments

Hiroshi Sugimoto

"Developing a low-quality aesthetic is a sign of serious fine art." Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer most famous for blank seascapes and photos of empty theaters that aren't really empty. In a 2005 interview he talks about the relation of his work with Duchamp, Man Ray, and the mathematics faculty of Tokyo university. He won the 2001 Hasselblad prize and his photographs of plaster models of mathematical surfaces have appeared in the New York Times. But his work has never really broken out to a mass audience. Until now.
posted by escabeche at 8:03 PM PST - 21 comments

The sounds of a tiny plastic Buddha

Nebraska-born musician Christiaan Virant was in Beijing performing drone-like ambient music with his Chinese collaborator Zhang Jian, under the name FM3 (mostly in Chinese); as pioneers of the electronic movement in China, most of their money came from sound installations at art galleries, which entailed wiring up rooms with sound equipment. Mulling a simpler and cheaper way of doing this, Virant was wandering around a Buddhist temple in southwest China when he spotted a little plastic box on the altar (one such possible example), piping out loops of the tinny, digitized chants played endlessly at such places. Intrigued, he found two of the devices in the temple gift shop and bought both. The idea of an instant sound installation was born. That was almost four years ago. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 5:25 PM PST - 26 comments

illustration / comics

old comics and illustration (-v-)
posted by vronsky at 5:20 PM PST - 14 comments

National salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter

Peanut butter recall - hundreds sick. Federal health authorities on Saturday urged consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods that contain peanut butter until authorities can learn more about a deadly outbreak of salmonella contamination. It appears that retail peanut butter in jars is safe. So far, more than 470 people have gotten sick in 43 states, and at least 90 had to be hospitalized. At least six deaths are being blamed on the outbreak which is believed to have started at a Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America that ships peanut products to 85 food companies.
posted by dejah420 at 4:51 PM PST - 73 comments

This site is starting to wear on me.

I wear your shirt - The trifecta for Silly Saturday single link posts. [more inside]
posted by bjork24 at 3:41 PM PST - 37 comments

PAMELA IS THE DNA OF WORLD WIDE WEB!!

ULTIMATE GIRL AND CELIBRITY WOMAN -PAMELA ANDERSON - NETSCAPE 1.0 BABE Technology!
posted by humannaire at 3:01 PM PST - 48 comments

what the luck

OMG (SLYT)
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 2:23 PM PST - 74 comments

This music video is MONEY.

"Money" is a completely AWESOME music video of a track by N.A.S.A. (North America South America), a DJ collective featuring Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon plus many famous guest artists, including, on this track alone, David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, & Z-Trip. (Other tracks by N.A.S.A. feature the likes of Tom Waits, M.I.A., Gift of Gab and Kool Keith.) The video features the artwork of Shepard Fairey, who has been discussed previously here. The video was directed by Paul Griswold and Syd Garon (who also did this great video for DJ Qbert and this one for Dan the Automator, which features some nice Gilliamesque touches.)
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 2:08 PM PST - 15 comments

The End of an Error.

With George W. Bush's presidency coming to a close David Letterman on last night's The Late Show bid farewell to his recurring segment "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" with a video montage [4:00] of clips. Another compilation of clips [4:49].
posted by ericb at 1:53 PM PST - 39 comments

Purple Rain, Swedish Dansband Style

Larz Kristerz plays "Purple Rain". For some reason, Prince hasn't sued them. Yet. [more inside]
posted by iviken at 1:46 PM PST - 25 comments

Billionaires have more sons

Billionaires have more grandchildren through their sons than through their daughters, because the status advantage is more reproductively valuable to the sons. Therefore, it would be adaptive for the mothers of their children to bear more sons than daughters. But surely that can't be; mothers can't control the sex of their children. Oh but so it is: billionaires have 60% male children. [more inside]
posted by grobstein at 1:21 PM PST - 69 comments

Help a Fellow Out

Making decisions, as we all know, is hard. One way to get out of them is to let other people make them for you. [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein at 12:55 PM PST - 45 comments

John Thurlow's Web Sites for Kids & Teachers

John Thurlow's Web Sites for Kids & Teachers. The Thinking page of this treasure trove of kid-safe sites includes links that are also appropriate for adults who just like to play around, such as Funderstanding's Roller Coast Simulation, and Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions. [more inside]
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 12:24 PM PST - 2 comments

The Great Pyramid of Giza was a Pulse Pump

The Great Pyramid of Giza was a Pulse Pump. (.com) You know, for free energy. Inspired by the work of Ram Pump inventor and "Pharoh's Pump" author Edward J. Kunkel, The Pharoh's Pump Foundation is dedicated to general pyramid pump awareness and answers many relevant questions. For instance: Is this Pharaoh's Pump stuff hallucinations of a raving maniac? [more inside]
posted by ph00dz at 12:13 PM PST - 25 comments

Circumvention of Bell's Throttle Monster: three alternatives.

On November 20th, the CTRC made a landmark ruling that defeated the CAIP's plea to stop Bell's conjuration of the Deep Packet Throttle Monster. However all was not lost, as consumers of Bell's copper pipes can take solace in three recent developments that aim to reclaim the pipes for We, the little guy. hooray! [more inside]
posted by tybeet at 11:01 AM PST - 28 comments

Exponential, what it do?

Division: Work it out! - these girls be spittin the math.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:01 AM PST - 42 comments

Please enjoy the stone sculptures of Hirotoshi Itoh

Please enjoy the stone sculptures of Hirotoshi Itoh
posted by boo_radley at 9:27 AM PST - 14 comments

When Polly is in Charge

"The animals all think he's Margaret when he speaks. He loves ordering them around and commanding them – it's very surprising. He's not frightened or scared of them at all."
"Parrot mimics owner's voice to boss around her other pets "
posted by davidstandaford at 8:19 AM PST - 43 comments

So, how would I go about laundering money?

If the Government is running a larger than usual Ponzi scheme, then developing your own abilities to launder money cannot be far behind. So, how would I go about laundering money?
posted by wallstreet1929 at 7:09 AM PST - 29 comments

Survival in The Sky

Known as Black Box in the UK, Survival in the Sky was a four-episode 1996 series about commercial aviation accidents and the investigation of their causes. (Two additional episodes were filmed in 1998.) Not currently available on DVD, five of the six episodes are available in their entirety on YouTube (links within). [more inside]
posted by maxwelton at 1:16 AM PST - 12 comments

Taibbi reviews Friedman's latest

A review of Thomas Friedman's latest book, Flat, Hot, and Crowded, by Matt Taibbi.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:17 AM PST - 109 comments

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