October 13, 2016

Every cognitive bias exists for a reason

You are almost definitely not living in reality because your brain doesn’t want you to.
Use the Cognitive Bias Codex [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:54 PM PST - 30 comments

♪♫ One of modern history’s most reviled inventions ♪♫

Auto-Tune — one of modern history’s most reviled inventions — was an act of mathematical genius. The pitch correction software, which automatically calibrates out-of-tune singing to perfection, has been used on nearly every chart-topping album for the past 20 years ... But often lost in this narrative is the story of the invention itself, and the soft-spoken savant who pioneered it.
posted by ShooBoo at 9:25 PM PST - 74 comments

Irish People Attempt American Accents

Irish People Attempt American Accents
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:52 PM PST - 59 comments

OMG OMG OMG

Great White Shark Cage Breach. What it says on the tin.
posted by whimsicalnymph at 5:52 PM PST - 48 comments

Start Your Week with a Map!

"Every Monday morning, we will post a new map on this site. The maps will be unlabeled, uncaptioned thematic maps with no scales or legends.... For each week’s map, your job is simple: figure out what data is being presented by the map. To solve the map, you have to find the clues on it and come up with an explanation that ties them all together." [more inside]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:16 PM PST - 73 comments

do not mistake a desire to avoid violence for the inability to deal it.

United Nations to Name Wonder Woman Honorary Ambassador [Comic Book Resources] In the DC Universe, “Wonder Woman [wiki]” has long acted as an ambassador from her native land, but soon the Themiscyran Princess will take on the role for real when she becomes UN Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls. According to a statement released by the UN, the official announcement of “Wonder Woman’s” new title will be made at an event held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Friday October 21.
posted by Fizz at 4:04 PM PST - 18 comments

City of Women

What if the New York City subway map paid homage to some of the city’s great women? It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” is a song James Brown recorded in a New York City studio in 1966, and, whether you like it or not, you can make the case that he’s right. Walking down the city streets, young women get harassed in ways that tell them that this is not their world, their city, their street; that their freedom of movement and association is liable to be undermined at any time; and that a lot of strangers expect obedience and attention from them. “Smile,” a man orders you, and that’s a concise way to say that he owns you; he’s the boss; you do as you’re told; your face is there to serve his life, not express your own. He’s someone; you’re no one.
posted by strelitzia at 3:15 PM PST - 4 comments

"And we think 'Ooh, this is it, this is the end.'"

I have often puzzled and puzzled
about what it must be like
to go to sleep and never wake up,
to be
simply not there

Memento Mori is a short film by Sebastian Linda with narration by Alan Watts. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:59 PM PST - 6 comments

Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016)

The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness. It was 25 million years old.
posted by brundlefly at 1:57 PM PST - 78 comments

“Five hundred years of the vulgar tongue”

Today marks the launch of Green’s Dictionary of Slang Online, a digitized version of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, which originally appeared as a three-volume book in 2010. Everything that was in that book is available here, plus the fruits of over five more years of research… [T]he evolving database will be able to reflect the on-going additions and improvements that make it a unique resource. (Coverage at Language Log, Slate, and Quartz, and a June interview with Green in The Daily Beast.)
posted by Going To Maine at 1:42 PM PST - 7 comments

"Because what I’ve really done is I’ve ripped out the core of chess.”

What is a chess game stripped of openings and normal patterns of play? It's Really Bad Chess, an iOS game by designer Zach Gage that randomizes the placement and quantity of pieces in each game. "[T]here's no concept of 'beginner’s luck' in chess because there's no luck in chess!" said Gage. "I wondered what would happen if I just struck down that balance in the stupidest way possible." [more inside]
posted by not_the_water at 12:31 PM PST - 29 comments

Does the string “…CATCAT…” appear in the DNA of Felis catus?

Well, does it?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:12 PM PST - 20 comments

If the kids are united then we'll never be divided

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced today that she would call a second referendum on independence if the UK opts for a hard Brexit. Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced today that she would call a second referendum on independence if the UK opts for a hard Brexit. Addressing the UK prime minister, Teresa May, she said: If you think for one single second that I’m not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland’s interests, then think again. [more inside]
posted by stevedawg at 10:58 AM PST - 126 comments

“To be a jester is, and always has been, a serious matter.”

Italian playwright Dario Fo died this morning at the age of 90. [more inside]
posted by spheniscus at 10:39 AM PST - 19 comments

New Jersey Transit, a Cautionary Tale of Neglect

"The story of how the nation’s third-busiest commuter railroad declined so rapidly is a tale of neglect and mismanagement that represents an ominous symbol of the challenges facing mass transit systems across the United States in an era when governments are loath to raise taxes." On September 29, a New Jersey Transit train headed into the Hoboken terminal crashed, killing one woman, and injuring 108 others.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:21 AM PST - 28 comments

Ignore boastful monuments and landmarks, go straight to haunted houses

Colin Dickey has spent a lot of time traveling the country searching for local ghost stories and haunted places, and from those experiences he shares thoughts on the Winchester Mystery House and the spinster trope in ghost stories (Google books preview), the glaring omission in ghost stories about Richmond, Virginia, the origin of the Native American burial ground trope in ghost stories, how a ghost story can evolve and the craziest story heard while researching the book*. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:18 AM PST - 7 comments

TISDAG time to party!

You've punned your way through IKEA before - but has it ever got your panda twerking? [more inside]
posted by progosk at 9:12 AM PST - 10 comments

German top court backs EU-Canada trade deal CETA

BBC: "Germany's Constitutional Court has rejected a legal challenge to the EU-Canada free trade deal (CETA) from campaigners who call it undemocratic. The campaigners object to the fact that parts of CETA will be implemented before all national parliaments in the EU have voted on it. EU trade ministers are to vote on CETA next week. It requires unanimous support. If they all approve it, the deal can be signed on 27 October. CETA would remove many trade barriers."
posted by marienbad at 7:26 AM PST - 18 comments

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, 1927-2016

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand has passed away at the age of 88. [more inside]
posted by bluecore at 5:47 AM PST - 53 comments

Ever-blackening kraut clouds choosing not to break

Kandodo McBain's Lost Chants/Last Chance [Spotify] is a collaboration between three members of long-running Bristol psych band The Heads and John McBain of early Monster Magnet. [more inside]
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:38 AM PST - 1 comments

Bob Dylan is the 2016 Nobel laureate in literature

The Swedish Academy has given Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in literature.
posted by Kattullus at 4:06 AM PST - 266 comments

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