October 18, 2009

Enrico Caruso, remastered for free

Enrico Caruso Remastered. Aside from his musical skill and his tempestuous character, he was also known in the English-speaking world as a gentlemanly public figure, and patriot.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 9:18 PM PST - 18 comments

Superfreakonomics: It's getting hot in here.

The Freakonomics follow up, Superfreakonomics, contains a chapter on climate change that lives up to the best selling contrarian style of authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. However actual climate scientists were not pleased with the chapter. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the book "repeats tired global cooling myths," "unfairly trashes climate models" and "advocates rolling the dice on unproven technology" among other faults. They have also been accused of misquoting climate scientist Ken Caldeira. Levitt and Dubner respond to their critics, Global Warming in SuperFreakonomics: The Anatomy of a Smear. [more inside]
posted by afu at 8:22 PM PST - 128 comments

Two Chinese Brothers

"This is a novel born out of the intersection of two eras. The first is a story of the Cultural Revolution, a time of fanaticism, repressed instincts, and tragic fates, similar to the European Middle Ages. The second is a story of today, a time of subverted ethics, fickle sensuality, and every kind of phenomena, even more like the Europe of today. A westerner would have to live four hundred years to experience the vast differences of the two eras, but a Chinese would only need forty years for the experience." Yu Hua's Brothers, a sprawling, foul-mouthed, comic-historical epic, and the best-selling novel in China's history, is available in English. [more inside]
posted by escabeche at 8:03 PM PST - 25 comments

Cowboy Desperado.

First-person base jumping in Switzerland. Stick with it, as the horizontal movement across the rock face using the gliding bodysuit will blow your mind.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:57 PM PST - 76 comments

JERRY JACKSON OMG

OMG JERRY JACKSONS WEBSIGHTS THE WEBSIGHT OF POPELAR ANIMATER JERRY JACKSON
posted by Beautiful Screaming Lady at 5:59 PM PST - 27 comments

Corey Arnold

Photography of Corey Arnold: Human Animals ll Arcticness ll Fish-Work Bering Sea ll Fish-Work Norway
posted by vronsky at 4:08 PM PST - 18 comments

Mos Eisley spaceport... It's a-

Classic Movie Lines, with Peter Serafinowicz. Now with Mos Eisley spaceport re-edit.
posted by Artw at 3:07 PM PST - 27 comments

52 Weeks, 52 Religions

"For 35 years, I attended the same religion. When I left, I realized I didn't know the first thing about what other faiths believe. So I decided to find out the only way I know how: Go ask. For 52 weeks, I'm setting out to visit 52 different religions. Christian to Muslim, Buddhist to atheist, I'm going to attend their services, discuss faith with their leaders, and bring it all back to you." (via)
posted by sabira at 2:54 PM PST - 86 comments

The Fate of Derivatives Regulation

Last week the House Committee on Financial Services approved legislation to regulate derivatives. Some critics contend that the legislation does not go far enough, and there is fear that there are too many exemptions to the rules: reforming the $42 trillion market for credit swaps is crucial if taxpayers are to be protected from future rescues of institutions deemed not only too big but also too interconnected to fail. [more inside]
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 1:48 PM PST - 30 comments

AAAAAAAHHHH

X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 30 Seconds. (SLYT)
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:54 PM PST - 52 comments

Use the $2, Track the $2, $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100

Use the ($2) Two / Track the ($2) Two (and the $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100) [more inside]
posted by MrBCID at 12:28 PM PST - 42 comments

Mad Props

There was a typewriter repairman in North Hollywood, California. He couldn’t believe it when all of a sudden someone deposited 24 vintage typewriters on his doorstep and said, “Make them look new.” He probably hadn’t had that much work in the last 25 years. He was probably just about ready to hang up the “Going out of business” sign and cursing the arrival of the laptop computer when all of a sudden here I come with 24 typewriters. The Collectors Weekly interviews Scott Buckwald, propmaster for Mad Men.
posted by dersins at 12:24 PM PST - 44 comments

Vintage Graphics Resource

Grain Edit is focused on classic design work from the 1950s-1970s and contemporary designers that draw inspiration from that time period. Site content includes interviews, articles, designers’ libraries, as well as examples of rare design annuals, type specimens, ephemera, posters and vintage kids books from their bookshelves.
posted by netbros at 11:53 AM PST - 5 comments

Invocation for the Judgement Against and Destruction of Rock Music

Elizabeth Clare Prophet died last Thursday at age 70, from Alzheimer's. In the 1970s, she helped found and led a New Age doomsday cult, the Church Universal and Triumphant, and predicted (in the 80s) a nuclear strike inside the United States that led all her followers to do the compound/weapons stockpiling thing in Montana. Also of interest is the Smithsonian/Folkways recordings of her cult, Sounds of American Doomsday Cults, Vol. 14 which contains many fascinating and insane chanting tracks, most notably the Great Divine Rector's Call, which was sampled to hilarious effect by Negativland and Mylo. [more inside]
posted by fungible at 10:24 AM PST - 34 comments

Obechi!

Obechi: Languid Sunday afternoon catching-dots-in-circles Flash fun from the maker of Boomshine.
posted by Copronymus at 10:22 AM PST - 13 comments

Scrimping on the Future

Information is stimulus, confusion is contraction.
posted by kliuless at 9:12 AM PST - 15 comments

10 years on, The Cluetrain Manifesto

In April, 1999, The Cluetrain Manifesto went live as a web site, followed shortly thereafter by a hardcover book version, and now, a 10th anniversary book edition. [more inside]
posted by paulsc at 2:17 AM PST - 36 comments

Have fun storming the White House!

"Join in NOW and help Capture Obama and the renegade Cong. Defeat the Union Troops and other allies of the former President and help safeguard American Freedom. " It's the online survivalist game/wish fulfillment entitled "2011: Obama's Coup Fails" (via) [more inside]
posted by bardic at 12:36 AM PST - 172 comments

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