October 28, 2010
Aiden is a 5 year old artist with leukemia
Aidan is a 5 year old boy who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. Aiden really loves monsters, both dressing up as them, and drawing them. His family has is selling his artwork to help with medical expenses. [more inside]
Calvin & Hobbes Playroom Murals
Staying in a homeless shelter is no fun, especially for little kids. But a bright and sunny playroom can make it a little more comfortable, especially with Calvin & Hobbes murals on the walls. [more inside]
Greetings from the Uncanny Valley!
Meet Actroid-F, the "world's first true Android", unveiled this month at a laboratory fair at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Designed to be used as an observer in hospitals to gauge patient reactions, the robot can replicate surprisingly subtle facial movements. Previously.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
Earlier this year, the Washington Post exposed the increasing size of the US intelligence community: 1,931 private companies, 10,000 offices, and hundreds of thousands of employees (previously). Today we have a better picture on how much it's costing taxpayers: 80 billion every year. [more inside]
Don't Sweat the Technics
After 38 years in production, the Panasonic Corporation has decided to discontinue the Technics SL-1200. [more inside]
Republicans in Orange County are not the same as Republicans in Nebraska
With the U.S. Midterm elections less than a week away, we can expect to hear more about the Red State/Blue State dichotomy. Journalist Dante Chinni and political scientist James Gimpel are among those who maintain that it's not that simple. They say we are a patchwork nation and divided U.S. counties into 12 categories: Boom Towns, Campus & Careers, Emptying Nests, Evangelical Epicenters, Immigration Nation, Industrial Metropolis, Military Bastions, Minority Central, Monied 'Burbs, Morman Outposts, Service Worker Centers, and Tractor Country. Find out how they classified your county. [more inside]
The Changing of the Guards: Naheed Nenshi
In stark contrast to the recent results of the Torontontian mayoral results, last week, Calgary, the third-largest "municipality" in Canada, elected the country's first Muslim mayor, Naheed Nenshi. [more inside]
The Subway to UCLA
Despite an exploding department store that resulted in nearly two decades of Federal tunneling bans, non-existent local funding, and the tenaciousness of Beverly Hills residents, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has selected a route for the Purple Line Subway Extension. [more inside]
Rescued hummingbird
Rescued hummingbird. (SLYT)
Protect the London rabbit
A 3.5m picture of a rabbit is going to be painted over in two weeks, if Hackney council get their way (a slightly clearer picture). The street artist ROA painted the picture with the permission of the building's owners last year, but the local council have said that it's a blight to the local area. ROA has done lots of other pictures of large animals around the area. [more inside]
AMA's RUC operating on dollars
Shadofax at MovingMeat has an interesting writeup about two WSJ articles on the AMA's RUC and warring specialities. [more inside]
Creature Feature
The dhole, the maned wolf, and the Tibetan sand fox are just three of the creatures featured at The Featured Creature, a neat (and not overly serious) wildlife blog. There are even some that aren't canids, I think. [more inside]
Steam Punk
Captain Sensible travels on the historic Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch steam railway to Dungeness [more inside]
Fainting Goat Kittens
Charlie and Spike are two kittens with Myotonia Congenita, also known as fainting goat syndrome. [more inside]
Touched by an Angel
"We appreciate all the support that fans have shown for 'Caprica' and are very proud of the producers, cast, writers and the rest of the amazing team that has been committed to this fine series. Unfortunately, despite its obvious quality, 'Caprica' has not been able to build the audience necessary to justify a second season." - The Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica has been cancelled, and it's final episodes consigned to 2011. As ever there is debate as to what went wrong, though it looks like one complaint, the shows relative lack of action, will be addressed by the next spin-off: Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, set during the war years of a young William Adama.
Take On Me. Take Me On.
Chris Stangl's Exploding Kinetoscope
This may only occur to the obsessive student of The Parent Trap, but once the subtleties are noticed, hints start stacking up, and a creeping sense of the mythic pervades the film...Join Chris Stangl, King of the Beanplaters, as he obsessively studies The Parent Trap, Little Shop of Horrors, Beetlejuice, Teen Wolf, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and more.
The Revolution will not be sold monthly, at least if it wants to survive
An Innocent Man
After 18 years in prison on false charges, Anthony Graves walked out a free man yesterday. This recent Texas Monthly article by Pamela Colloff played a major role in bringing awareness to his case. [more inside]
Mother Leeds' Spawn, Geotagged
One wall was destroyed, many more were built.
Ever wonder how the folks who make all those cool Lego creations get all those pieces? It's not because they buy multiple sets to get thirty or so cheese slopes. They go to Bricklink, where hundreds of sellers offer up individual parts you can get in pretty much any quantity. Bricklink was started by Daniel Jezek in 2000 (it was originally called "BrickBay" but someone pressured him to change that) and is at the top of every Lego enthusiast's list of bookmarks. Jezek passed away suddenly on September 24th at the age of 33. His memorial page on Bricklink reveals that his was not an ordinary life, as this Americanized entrepreneur was born in Communist Czechoslovakia. The Lego Community would simply not be what it is without Dan Jezek.
If You Build It, They Will Come.
Imagine as basket filled with billions and billions and billions of eggs
We are nearing the end of a golden age of astronomy as more than a dozen space observatories reach their end of life in a few years. The only replacement on the horizon is the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2014. Due to its enormous complexity and ever-rising costs, the JWST has starved other projects of funding. The fate of an entire generation of cosmologists and astrophysicists rests on its success.
Chatroulette for Street View
MapCrunch.com Google Street View Randomizer. Try the slideshow.
The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine
"You fornicate and make a lot of children. You drink and you eat pork. Most of the children that you have are marked with spots and blemishes… these children that you have are bastards,” - a cautionary tale for anyone getting married or renewing their vows in a country where they do not understand the language. [YT video]
Embrace the Beast? You betcha!
Gay Tea Party Witch Sex: Three tales of erotic political fiction (relatively SFW)
VICTOLY!
Hardcore Gaming 101 -- the blog previously responsible for an in-depth examination of Pre-Street Fighter II Fighting Games -- presents A Brief History of 2D Fighting Games.
Wow. Just Wow.
Godwinize THIS, suckas.
Why do they cover Paul's songs but never mine?
Cover Me - A blog about cover songs. Started out as a college radio show in 2006, now a website! Includes: A recently unearthed Weezer cover of Toni Braxton's 'Unbreak my Heart', 5 Good Covers of Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' (with one by MeFi favorite Pomplamoose), covers of songs from the Radiohead album Kid A (one by an a cappella group!)
"I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one."
'Marilyn Monroe' neuron aids mind control. "Volunteers fade famous images in and out using a brain-machine' interface. People have used mind control to change images on a video screen, a study reports. The volunteers, whose brains were wired up to a computer, enhanced one of two competing images of famous people or objects by changing firing rates in individual brain cells."
El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha
El Quijote Interactivo is a site from the Biblioteca Nacional de España displaying the 1605 edition of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote.
You can of course turn pages and zoom in and out. But, you can also search text, get a map of Don Quixote's travels, read associated books and expert commentaries, forward through 50 editions of the book, listen to music referenced by Don Quixote and, yes, share pages with your Facebook friends.
This Youtube video walks you through it.
You can of course turn pages and zoom in and out. But, you can also search text, get a map of Don Quixote's travels, read associated books and expert commentaries, forward through 50 editions of the book, listen to music referenced by Don Quixote and, yes, share pages with your Facebook friends.
This Youtube video walks you through it.
Pakistan SCBA's New President
What you're probably doing right now...
Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking.
Barack Obama with Jon Stewart
I can't live up to your expectations all of the time. Sometimes I'm going drink six miniature bottles of rum and then draw horses.
Allie Brosh (previously 1 2 3), drunk liveblogs (live drunkblogs?), on internet expectations, being a role model, and burritos as compared to fighter jets.
Huckabee/Torche 2010
Torche is an absolutely incredible stoner metal band from Miami whose pop sensibility has earned them a lot of fans recently. Apparently Mike Huckabee is one of them.
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