October 19, 2010

Streetcar-Mounted Film Cameras (and more)

San Francisco 1906, Barcelona 1908, London 1927. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 8:27 PM PST - 49 comments

LGBTQ Spirit Day

Add some purple to your outfit today! October 20th is LBGTQ Spirit Day. Show your pride by remembering those who have taken their lives because of gay bullying
posted by WhiteWhale at 8:20 PM PST - 140 comments

Bacteria 'R' Us

Bacteria can communicate with each other, take concerted action, influence human physiology, alter human thinking, and work together to change their environment. The bacteria in your gut are talking to each other, and to you, and you are talking back to them. The mind boggles. [more inside]
posted by exphysicist345 at 7:16 PM PST - 55 comments

virtual wendy lets her hair down.wmv

wendyvainity makes 3D animations and puts them on YouTube. They are strangely captivating. [more inside]
posted by codacorolla at 7:05 PM PST - 44 comments

Mr. Babbage's Analytical Engine

A project to build Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. John Graham (blog) has setup a pledge to build a working version of the Analytical Engine, successor to the Difference Engine(Prev) it was to be a real steam powered programmable computer.
posted by Long Way To Go at 3:26 PM PST - 27 comments

"I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell (previously) today challenged her Democratic opponent Chris Coons on his statement that the Constitution disallowed the integration of religion into the federal government, asking, "Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?" [more inside]
posted by phaedon at 2:34 PM PST - 362 comments

Welcome to Silicon Valley

"I’ve never been so frustrated by something that I wanted to be excited about, and where I wanted to see the light bulbs go off, and just hearing (to my ears) empty, meaningless, self-referential chatter."
This year's buzz word in the Valley is "gamificaton." [more inside]
posted by victors at 2:28 PM PST - 51 comments

What's going on behind those keys

We've previously discussed the minutiae of computer keyboards, and now overclock.net has a detailed guide to their innards.
posted by bitmage at 1:41 PM PST - 54 comments

Goodbye Mr. C.

"Marion and I have not climbed Mount Everest, or written the great American novel. But we've had the joy of raising two wonderful kids, and watching them and their friends grow up into loving adults... and I guess no man or woman could ask for anything more. To happy days." Tom Bosley, TV's Howard Cunningham, has died at 83 [more inside]
posted by evilcolonel at 1:32 PM PST - 68 comments

Anung Un Rama

"I've gotten a reputation for incorporating Lovecraft stuff into my work, but I've never sat down and done a straightforward tribute to him. That's what this Whittier story is." - After admirable efforts by Duncan Fedredo and Richard Corben, and spin-off work by Guy Davis, Mike Mignola returns to drawing Hellboy.
posted by Artw at 1:11 PM PST - 34 comments

This Is Another Fine Mist You've Gotten Me Into

"The mist — visible only under ultraviolet light — carries DNA markers particular to the location, enabling the police to match the burglar with the place burgled. Now, a sign on the front door of the McDonald’s prominently warns potential thieves of the spray’s presence: 'You Steal, You’re Marked.'"
posted by Scoop at 11:54 AM PST - 65 comments

Could Horse Pucky Save Us All?

Life in a Post-Scarcity World a.k.a., 5 Reasons the Future Will Be Ruled by B.S. (SLCRACKED; via) [more inside]
posted by tybeet at 10:37 AM PST - 104 comments

State Fair season is over, but it's almost time for Halloween!

Llamas have a long history living alongside humans as pack animals, and as a food source. But did you know they can also be clowns or teletubbies or eagles? More information about Llamas.
posted by Makwa at 10:28 AM PST - 29 comments

Bishop to King 7. Checkmate, I think.

Artificer Rick L. Ross presents the Blade Runner-inspired Sebastian's Immortal Game chess set and the box it came in. [more inside]
posted by griphus at 10:22 AM PST - 14 comments

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?

Make your own customized paper sundial. This website creates a PDF based on your location so that you can easily print out and make a paper sundial.
posted by exogenous at 9:41 AM PST - 18 comments

þǣre cwenes Ænglisc

The BBC presents a wee Flash gubbins that discusses the history of the English language in ten parts.
posted by Dim Siawns at 8:12 AM PST - 15 comments

The Gulf Between Us

The Gulf Between Us. Stories of terror and beauty from the world's largest accidental offshore oil disaster. Six months on, Terry Tempest Williams gives us a trenchant report on the BP spill, for Orion magazine.
posted by HumanComplex at 7:58 AM PST - 4 comments

One last good bye before I take my .45, shoot a hole in the sky, rip it open and climb inside.

Eyedea: A Life Cut Short. On Sunday, Michael "Eyedea" Larson's mother confirmed on Facebook that her son had passed away over the weekend. Eyedea was a talented and well-respected indie rapper with Rhymesayers. [more inside]
posted by TrinaSelwyn at 7:25 AM PST - 40 comments

The Iraq War: the path to war

The Iraq War: was there even a decision? "Perhaps most revealing ... is what is missing--any indication whatsoever from the declassified record to date that top Bush administration officials seriously considered an alternative to war. In contrast there is an extensive record of efforts to energize military planning, revise existing contingency plans, and create a new, streamlined war plan." The National Security Archive at George Washington University has released a set of documents from the US and British archives related to the Iraq war: Part I, Part II, Part III. Political scientist Russell Burgos (who served in Iraq):
... there is indeed a kind of inevitability about the confrontation, but it was an inevitability created by domestic politics rather than 9/11. In my estimation, the origins of the "path to war" are found in the Republican Revolution of 1994; I will suggest that from 1996 to 2000, Iraq policy was not about Iraq - it was about an increasingly strident partisan attack on President Bill Clinton in which "Iraq" was not a subject of deliberate policy but was a synecdoche for "Clinton's failure."
Historian Robert Jervis also comments. Via H-DIPLO.
posted by russilwvong at 7:01 AM PST - 42 comments

Things I don't have to think about

Scalzi's at it again with another great post. "Things I don't have to think about" - thoughtful piece of writing from John Scalzi about privilege and how it impacts us all. The comments are worth the read as well.
posted by leslies at 6:33 AM PST - 104 comments

Man-meeting Tips

Katherine Cahoon, author of The Single Girls Guide to Meeting European Men, breaks down the how (and why) of...Meeting European Men everywhere: at the Beach, the Club, and at the Running Of The Bulls.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:14 AM PST - 74 comments

Well, it would help scale back nuclear proliferation...

Twice now, Mythbusters has tackled the story of Archimedes' "heat ray." Twice now it's been busted. So who could have persuaded them to revisit it a third time? ...President Barack Obama. [more inside]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:34 AM PST - 127 comments

The tiger holds its breath

Representatives of more than 190 countries will try over the next two weeks to save some of the world’s most delicate and diverse species and ecosystems threatened by pollution, exploitation and habitat encroachment. If they are to succeed, they must safely navigate the minefield separating rich and poor nations that has so far defeated initiatives on climate change. The UN will try to convince nations that it is in their financial interest to do so, but time is running out. One in five plants, one in five mammals, one in seven birds and one in three amphibians are now globally threatened with extinction — including the tiger, whose global population now stands at an estimated 3,200. Next month’s Global Tiger Summit in St Petersburg could be the last chance for the tiger. The World Wildlife Fund wants you to help.
posted by londonmark at 2:56 AM PST - 19 comments

Ooh baby, when that human music plays I don't know why...

"The Soft Boys came into my head in Cambridge, in the hot, dry summer of 1976 while punk was being conjured up by a small group of artists and villains in London...." [more inside]
posted by Rangeboy at 1:11 AM PST - 25 comments

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