October 24, 2013

When is a screw not a screw: An examination of fastener nomenclature.

The difference between a bolt and a screw is a controversial topic. Confusingly, even some screws can also be bolts. Thankfully, the department of homeland security is on the case. The DHS notes, perhaps predictably, that "international standards are not necessarily applicable" to the US. In conclusion, fasteners are a land of contrasts.
posted by empath at 11:06 PM PST - 91 comments

"A song is either good to start with, or it's bad."

SBPCh ("Samoe bol'shoe prostoe chislo", Russian for "The Biggest Prime Number") is a St. Petersburg-based band that combines indifferent, low-key rapping with charming synth-and-acoustic-guitar arrangements. Their live shows are chaotic and involve handing out cheap instruments to audience members first; their recorded music is stripped-down and friendly. I first discovered them through Birthday and Beasts on Far From Moscow's Apples compilation—to me, it sounds like something out of the tetherball scene in Napoleon Dynamite. The Three of Us is a more driving song with an unusual balance of instruments; the album it's on, Flash Card, is generally pretty terrific. (The opening song, Russian Music, makes me pretty damn happy.)

Far From Moscow has written about them a number of times. Their article The Strange Advantages of Indifference talks about SBPCh's recording process and musical philosophy:
Key here is the notion of "awkwardness." In other words, all members of SBPCh feel that honest expression, either on stage or in the studio, never comes from a clamorous display of bold, brash statements, even when they're made with confidently wielded technology. Quite the opposite: veracity and candor should come in humble forms.
posted by Rory Marinich at 9:10 PM PST - 5 comments

the purity myth

Lately, it seems like everyone's talking about Molly: MDMA rebranded for a new generation of gyrators. However, Molly is much safer than Ecstasy, the electronic dance music scene's prior party favor, because it's pure. Right? [more inside]
posted by changeling at 8:24 PM PST - 94 comments

San Francisco’s most glaring contradiction

San Francisco Magazine visits the Tenderloin: "Barring a seismic shift in city politics, the TL is not going to gentrify the way that similar neighborhoods have in other cities. Not next year. Not in five years. Maybe never. For better or worse, it will likely remain a sanctuary for the poor, the vulnerable, and the damaged—and the violence and disorder that inevitably comes with them. The thousands of working people, seniors, and families, including many Southeast Asians, who make up a silent two-thirds majority of the Tenderloin’s 30,000 residents will remain there. And so will the thousands of not-so-silent mentally ill people, addicts, drunks, and ex-cons who share the streets with them—as well as the predators who come in from the outside to exploit them. The Tenderloin will remain the great anomaly of neighborhoods: a source of stubborn pride for San Francisco, or an acute embarrassment—or both."
posted by porn in the woods at 7:58 PM PST - 50 comments

Doctor No

What doctors would not do
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 7:48 PM PST - 53 comments

Raquel Welch: Space-Girl Dance

Raquel Welch: Space-Girl Dance
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:46 PM PST - 29 comments

Dr. Arjun Srinivasan: We’ve Reached “The End of Antibiotics, Period”

For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and covers of magazines that talked about “The end of antibiotics, question mark?” Well, now I would say you can change the title to “The end of antibiotics, period.
posted by Memo at 7:01 PM PST - 82 comments

Do What They Say And Everything Will Be Okay

A music video about the awesome rocking power of respecting authority
posted by The Whelk at 6:44 PM PST - 38 comments

Do you folks like coffee

In a move eerily reminiscent of Dethklok's performance of the Duncan Hines Coffee Jingle (albeit at the opposite pole), Metallica will be performing in Antarctica. Just as the fictional death metal band partnered with a fictional coffee brand, Metallica bring their increasingly cartoonish presence to an audience "...of fans from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico who enter a contest through Coca-Cola Zero." Oddly, the band will be performing inside a dome on the Carlini Argentine Base with no amplification, and the performance will be transmitted to fans through headphones. [more inside]
posted by Existential Dread at 6:23 PM PST - 18 comments

"Statlas also makes it easy to spot the littler plays"

Statlas, a way to visualize baseball. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:04 PM PST - 4 comments

You old fishface you

This 419-Million-Year-Old Fish Has the World’s Oldest Known Face What makes it remarkable is everything that’s come after it: It’s the oldest known creature with a face, and may have given rise to virtually all the faces that have followed in the hundreds of millions of years since, including our own.
posted by maggieb at 3:09 PM PST - 32 comments

Worst Beatboxer Ever.

Worst Beatboxer Ever. (slyt)
posted by katinka-katinka at 2:57 PM PST - 32 comments

You Suck, Sir

"My students are funny. Sometimes, it's intentional."
posted by holmesian at 2:25 PM PST - 101 comments

Screen to Page

Five Great Comic Book Adaptations Of Movies (And One That’s Just Really Cool But Kind of Terrible)
posted by Artw at 2:20 PM PST - 28 comments

You are it. No, you are it. Hey, you are really it. You are it...

The double album Daydream Nation, by Sonic Youth, turns 25 this month. The first single from the album, Teen Age Riot, "was about appointing J Mascis as our de facto alternative dream president". Other songs were about author William Gibson's "cyberpunk" literary concepts ("The Sprawl", or (maybe) about Joni Mitchell ("Hey Joni"). The album has been reissued previously in 2007, and today on facebook, the band announced " the original 2xlp and cd will be back in print in early 2014 along with more early sonic youth lps + cds".
posted by Cookiebastard at 2:06 PM PST - 42 comments

His comments are no longer in his pocket

It has been ten years since Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" (previously) hit theaters. And though the notoriety and fanbase of the film has grown in that time, information on the man behind it has not. Greg Sestero, who was perhaps the closest to Wiseau and the project, has just published "The Disaster Artist" on his work with the film. The Dissolve has a lengthy review/analysis for your enjoyment.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:50 PM PST - 69 comments

"Ray Collins, we love you!"

Los Angeles, late 1962. A bar-band's guitarist invites a drunken carpenter on-stage to sing "Work with With Me Annie". Louie Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
 
As we approach the twentieth anniversary of the death of Frank Zappa, let us pause to celebrate the life and ponder the fate of Mother Ray Collins, who passed away last December.
 
Ray Collins was one of Zappa's earliest collaborators, the Mothers' lead vocalist, an under-appreciated contributor to the Mothers' sound (and to "conceptual continuity"), one of a very small number of people to share song-writing credits with Zappa, carpenter, taxi driver, dish washer, world-class procrastinator, a perennial "where are they now" subject since 1968, and finally unofficial Village Greeter of Claremont, California. [more inside]
posted by Herodios at 1:11 PM PST - 30 comments

I'd like to propose a new MeFi holiday tradition

Tired of the treacly sweet bonhomie of the upcoming xmas season? Then it's time for Takanakuy! It's a festival from the Peruvian highlands designed to work out the past year's differences with a little sockety-boom! And Takanakuy isn't just for the menfolk anymore. Women are just as eligible. Even kids can get into the act! Just watch out for the refs with the whips, they are not afraid to use them. Here's Vice's take on the whole megillah. With plenty of drinking before and after to sooth smushed mushes, I can see this soon becoming a long-standing MeFi tradition! No more long, drawn out MeTas, just a couple of shots and a couple of pokes to the kisser, ending with a hug and more booze. All is settled. Until next xmas!
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 1:08 PM PST - 11 comments

Racism, Band Names, and Trademarks

"In fact, the implication is that if we weren’t Asian, there wouldn’t be any problems because people wouldn’t associate our name with an obscure racial slur. And while it’s true that the people in the band can be identified by a band’s name, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the members literally embody the name of the band. No one thinks ’The Rolling Stones’ are literal masses of undulating rock or that ’Led Zeppelin’ is a metallic reincarnation of the Hindenburg blimp.” [more inside]
posted by hopeless romantique at 1:06 PM PST - 38 comments

Potential

Juárez Correa felt a chill. He’d never encountered a student with so much innate ability. He squatted next to her and asked why she hadn’t expressed much interest in math in the past, since she was clearly good at it. “Because no one made it this interesting,” she said. -- Wired reports on a teaching method finding success in Mexico
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:36 PM PST - 30 comments

Sold out

"Future historians, pondering changes in British society from the 1980s onwards, will struggle to account for the following curious fact. Although British business enterprises have an extremely mixed record (frequently posting gigantic losses, mostly failing to match overseas competitors, scarcely benefiting the weaker groups in society), and although such arm’s length public institutions as museums and galleries, the BBC and the universities have by and large a very good record (universally acknowledged creativity, streets ahead of most of their international peers, positive forces for human development and social cohesion), nonetheless over the past three decades politicians have repeatedly attempted to force the second set of institutions to change so that they more closely resemble the first. Some of those historians may even wonder why at the time there was so little concerted protest at this deeply implausible programme. But they will at least record that, alongside its many other achievements, the coalition government took the decisive steps in helping to turn some first-rate universities into third-rate companies."
posted by MartinWisse at 11:48 AM PST - 9 comments

Don't Be That

For the past decade, the Men's Rights Movement has been gaining traction on the Internet—and growing ever more radical in its attacks on feminists. R. Tod Kelly explores whether a movement where moderates are marginalized can ever break into the mainstream.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:54 AM PST - 188 comments

Artist somehow makes her sleeping babies even more adorable

Do babies dream when they sleep, or they simply rest peacefully? Queenie Liao, an artist and a mother of three boys, has shared the adventures that her child Wengenn dreams of during his sleep. Combining artistry and imagination with photography, Queenie has created captivating photos using plain cloths, stuffed animals, and other common household materials to create the background setting.
posted by Tevin at 9:50 AM PST - 22 comments

“You know what you are, you franchise bastards.”

When the announcement had been made that Wimbledon FC would be moved to Milton Keynes, to later be rebranded MK Dons, a meeting was called by Wimbledon fans. Toward the end of a charged meeting in the Wimbledon Community Centre, Kris Stewart, then chair of the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Club, realized that the fans had no chance of hanging on to their club and that no amount of protests would stop the franchise moving to Milton Keynes. In that moment Stewart made his walk through the crowd toward the microphone. “I’m tired of fighting,” he said before issuing a spontaneous rallying cry that has become legendary among fans of AFC Wimbledon. “I just want to watch football.” (SLTheMorningNews)
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:35 AM PST - 9 comments

Meet the Groundpounders

This week, thanks to the end of the government shutdown, the Marine Corps will put on their 38th marathon. Four men, Mel Williams, Al Richmond, Will Brown, and Matt Jaffe, will attempt 26.2 for the 38th time.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:45 AM PST - 7 comments

Skull and Bones gangs of New Orleans, a Mardi Gras tradition from 1819

Doors cracked, and people peered out at the apparitions on the street. Most of the grown-ups smiled and said “Good morning”, or “Happy Mardi Gras!” Kids peeked around their parents, looking thunderstruck. “Get up outta that bed! It's Mardi Gras morning!” the bone men yelled, “You gotta get your life straight!” One of the less well-known traditions of Mardi Gras in New Orleans are the Skull and Bone gangs who come out in the early morning. Their mission, besides the celebration of Mardi Gras, is to seek out small children and warn to live their lives rightly least the skull and bone spirits should have to come to them too soon. The tradition lives on, continuing what began around 1819, now mingling with the "younger" traditions of the Mardi Gras Indians and the Baby Dolls. For more history, check out Gumbo Ya-Ya, a collection of Louisana Folk Tales, on Archive.org
posted by filthy light thief at 8:25 AM PST - 15 comments

Well reem, innit?

The Only Way Is Essex was the first of a new wave of scripted reality shows in the UK, inspired by their popular US equivalents. Yet what started as a riff on the old joke of the bimbonic 'Essex Girl' has somehow had an impact on linguistics (including a dictionary entry) and what we think of as beautiful. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 8:16 AM PST - 32 comments

"Wikipedia is strangling itself"

MIT's Technology Review Charts the decline of Wikipedia.
posted by Diablevert at 8:08 AM PST - 99 comments

Star Trek Meets Monty Python

Star Trek Meets Monty Python. (SLYT). Extremely silly.
posted by Optamystic at 8:04 AM PST - 20 comments

The Lady with the Fairy Fingers

Cliff Edwards (possibly) serenades "one of the half-dozen best manipulators in the history of magic", Suzy Wandas. [via] [more inside]
posted by Think_Long at 7:55 AM PST - 3 comments

Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth;

Can you tell the difference between a dog and a wizard?
posted by theodolite at 7:51 AM PST - 36 comments

"This moustache is a Movember moustache."

To kick off the men's health awareness project Movember, Nick Offerman presents, How to Grow a Moustache and Great Moments in Moustache History.
posted by quin at 6:51 AM PST - 58 comments

Brand Vs Paxman

BBC Newsnight's political bulldog interviews English comedian Russell Brand. [more inside]
posted by Caskeum at 5:17 AM PST - 121 comments

droplet [small]droplet[/small] [small][small]droplet[/small][/small] etc

A droplet of water hitting more water at 2500fps. [slyt]
posted by panaceanot at 5:13 AM PST - 22 comments

Angel Haze Finally Does Justice To Macklemore’s “Same Love”

Angel Haze, who last year described her pansexuality to the Guardian and who was previously featured on metafilter for her heart-wrenching rap that transforms Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet" from an adolescent boy's angry confessional to a young woman's crushing autobiography[ALL KINDS OF TRIGGERS], has released her version of Macklemore’s “Same Love” (Previously) (Previouslier), which just slays with its honesty and vision.
Same Love by Angel Haze
[more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 2:03 AM PST - 45 comments

Candy Box 2

Candy Box 2 is out. (candy box previously)
posted by juv3nal at 1:58 AM PST - 211 comments

...unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle...perhaps...

"...What I have to say is very simple and very short: He's the greatest director I've had the good fortune, pleasure and honor to work with up to this point. It'd take too long to explain. He's wonderful. He knows more about cinema than anyone. He's the greatest director I know, the greatest cameraman, the best at framing and lighting, the best at everything. He's a living encyclopedia of cinema."
-Alain Delon

Le Samouraï: Jean-Pierre Melville's Work of Art

via the best film blog to ever exist, Cinephilia and Beyond
posted by timshel at 1:27 AM PST - 9 comments

"Mandatory jail time for crowdsourcing or crowd-judging."

We need better implementation, not more ideas. In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Kevin Starr argues that prizes are a distraction and don't actually lead to more innovation.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:29 AM PST - 10 comments

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