November 14, 2013

Why Should Engineers and Scientists Be Worried About Color?

At the core of good science and engineering is the careful and respectful treatment of data. We calibrate our instruments, scrutinize the algorithms we use to process the data, and study the behavior of the models we use to interpret the data or simulate the phenomena we may be observing. Surprisingly, this careful treatment of data often breaks down when we visualize our data.
posted by cthuljew at 11:54 PM PST - 59 comments

Print out the Wright Flyer

On Wednesday, The Smithsonian launched a new 3D viewer on its website featuring a selection of its digitised collection, some of which are also available for 3D printing.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:49 PM PST - 10 comments

Robot does 12 human-years of trial testing in one week.

Robot scientists! A Pretty cool video about research automation from the Wall Street Journal. [slyt]
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:18 PM PST - 10 comments

Outside of all corporate taxation zones

Alfonso Cuarón's "IKEA" [more inside]
posted by zippy at 11:09 PM PST - 31 comments

Economist warns of the coming robot apocalypse

The robots are here. George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen predicts that the trend towards automation will squeeze the middle class further still, and compares its effects on American politics to a too-overlooked 1955 short story by Isaac Asimov.
posted by Jacob Knitig at 10:42 PM PST - 81 comments

Love's Secret Ascension

Love's Secret Ascension: Coil, Coltrane & The 70th Birthday Of LSD. "Author and new Quietus writer Peter Bebergal celebrates the original synthesis of LSD with a thoughtful look at acid and transcendent, magickal music." [Via Technoccult] [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 9:40 PM PST - 32 comments

A rainy commercial by Google India

The India-Pakistan partition in 1947 separated many friends and families overnight. A granddaughter in India decides to surprise her grandfather on his birthday by reuniting him with his childhood friend (who is now in Pakistan) after over 6 decades of separation, with a little help from Google Search. SLYT
posted by esprit de l'escalier at 6:59 PM PST - 50 comments

"Society's order and the orders of society are steamed away..."

A Generation of Intellectuals Shaped by 2008 Crash Rescues Marx From History’s Dustbin [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:10 PM PST - 65 comments

Londyńczycy

From Eastern Europe to the East End
posted by Thing at 5:52 PM PST - 11 comments

"Somebody's gotta stand up to these experts!"

Creationists' Last Stand at the Texas State Board of Education
posted by brundlefly at 5:26 PM PST - 82 comments

How do I news?

The News IQ Quiz by the Pew Research Center. Test your knowledge of prominent people and major events in the news by taking our short 13-question quiz. Then see how you did in comparison with 1,052 randomly sampled adults asked the same questions in a national survey conducted online August 7-14 by the Pew Research Center. [more inside]
posted by jquinby at 5:22 PM PST - 155 comments

A Drop So Insane You'll Suddenly Only Like Movies With Tim Allen In Them

"As a former DJ I hate how most electronic dance music is all about the drop now. To make fun of it, I set out to produce the worst drops of all time. Enjoy." (slsoundcloud)
posted by rebent at 5:16 PM PST - 82 comments

Pshhh​kkkkkk​​rrrr​kaking​kaking​kaking​tshchchch​chchchchcch

GOOGLE BBS TUNNEL
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:50 PM PST - 36 comments

Tree pretty, fire bad

Buzzfeed ranks every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from worst to best. Let the arguments begin.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:40 PM PST - 182 comments

The Last Starfighter

A year ago a mysterious young man going by the name of Starcadian posted a surprisingly masterfully composed music video shot for $200 with half of a discarded movie prop cockpit. Other than a few songs on soundcloud, notably Girls Of Midnight which got some moderate blog attention a couple years ago, he hadn't really been on anyone's radar... [more inside]
posted by emptythought at 3:26 PM PST - 18 comments

I got a bomb in my temple that is gonna explode

Songs from Pearl Jam's 1991 debut album Ten, stripped of all but Eddie Vedder's vocals: Once. Even Flow. Alive. Black. Jeremy. Oceans. Release. Apart from highlighting Vedder's unique voice, phrasing and harmonzing, these vocal mixes expose some interesting studio effects applied to his voice (on 'Even Flow', for example).
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 3:21 PM PST - 39 comments

We infiltrate, we duplicate like cells, we multiply!

"Puerto Rican rappers/rockers Calle 13 continue their fierce criticism of government systems and oppression in their latest track Multi_Viral... [more inside]
posted by jammy at 2:14 PM PST - 6 comments

Übermensch

The 5 Ugly Lessons Hiding in Every Superhero Movie (SLCracked)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:13 PM PST - 75 comments

All of this is Nebraska.

Here’s What Happens When You Ask People To Draw A Map Of The USA From Memory (single Buzzfeed link)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:35 PM PST - 131 comments

Still, highly illegal

Every wondered where your favorite brown liquid came from? Find its starting position on the Bourbon Family Tree. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:34 PM PST - 68 comments

oublio: most popular stuff on the internet

oublio: most popular stuff on the internet "I made a site and I thought MeFi might find it interesting: It shows the most popular image on Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Flickr in real time, as well as the most popular videos on YouTube each day: www.oublio.com. Now you can waste time on social media more efficiently!" [via mefi projects]
posted by xingcat at 1:07 PM PST - 23 comments

Buzzfeed's 7 Fantasic Ways To Distinguish Between Sense And Nonsense

7 Fantastic Ways To Distinguish Between Sense And Nonsense from the listicle kings at Buzzfeed.
posted by blahblahblah at 1:04 PM PST - 36 comments

Death Grips: Government Plates, third aggro/weirdo rap album for free

May 2011: Death Grips appears out of nowhere, releases Ex Military, a free mixtape of noisy, distorted aggro-rap (full album stream on YouTube).
April 2012: Death Grips signs with Epic, releases The Money Store, their first proper album of art-rap/ tech-beat/ psycho-rap/ whatever (YT album stream).
October 2012: Death Grips leak their second album, No Love Deep Web, defying Epic, and sever ties to the label.
July 2013: Death Grips signs to Capitol/Harvest under their own Thirdworlds imprint.
November 2013: Death Grips suddenly drops their 3rd album, Government Plates, for free to download and stream from various sources.
(It's best to consider all audio NSFW) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:09 PM PST - 29 comments

You want the beat?

Tim Derbyshire, owner of London's On the Beat Records, has put his entire store up for bid on eBay. Says the NYT: "[Derbyshire] has decided to retire but would prefer not to just pack up and go. Nor is he keen on having an everything-must-go sale. His preference is to leave the shop as it is, with its stock of singles, albums, posters and 1960s through 1980s memorabilia intact, and turn over the keys to a record fanatic who will run it more or less as he has, since the late 1970s." The buy-it-now price is £300,000.
posted by Clustercuss at 11:54 AM PST - 12 comments

So It All Began With a Giant Lion Turtle and a Guy Named Wan.

Beginnings: Part 1 and Beginnings: Part 2, aired as episodes 19 and 20 in the second season or Book Two of the animated show Avatar: Legend of Korra, and represented a shift from the show's straight forward animation to a style that embraced the aesthetic of traditional East Asian ink drawing/painting and symbolism with a dash of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli charm to tell the background story of the Avatar figure. The result is incredible. [more inside]
posted by Atreides at 11:48 AM PST - 62 comments

A Sailor's Dying Wish

I really don't have anything to add to this. They piped him ashore. CMDCM Grgetich leaned in and quietly told me how significant that honor was and who it’s usually reserved for as we headed towards the gangplank. Hearing “Electrician’s Mate Second Class William Bud Cloud, Pearl Harbor Survivor, departing” announced over the 1MC was surreal.
posted by COD at 11:04 AM PST - 39 comments

I refuse to make a single "gates" or "Flashdance" pun in this title

Bob Dylan is a welder and he makes big iron gates out of scrap metal. You can see for yourself at Castle Gallery in London for the next couple of months. Says Bob: "Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference."
posted by maudlin at 11:00 AM PST - 48 comments

"Now, only humans will play cricket."

The entire nation of India grinds to a halt for the next 5 days, as Sachin Tendulkar competes in his final Test match before retiring. ESPN's CricInfo has a hub of reflections and recollections for the Little Master. [more inside]
posted by Errant at 10:54 AM PST - 14 comments

Suck it, Thoreau

"Kiss Me, I''m Desperate," by Blake Grigsby. But how could anyone who made the world's largest cardboard castle be desperate?
posted by ericbop at 10:08 AM PST - 13 comments

Zuì Zhōng Huàn Xiǎng 7

RetroCollect reports: "...in 2005 ShenZhen Nanjing Technology released a run-down port of Final Fantasy VII for Nintendo's 8-bit system in China. Despite lacking a lot of story elements, gameplay aspects and finesse, ROM hacker Lugia2009 saw potential within the game's code and began using it as a basis to recreate the PlayStation 1 adventure in its entirety...
posted by griphus at 7:16 AM PST - 39 comments

Bridging design techniques

Beijing and Amsterdam-based studio NEXT architects have won first place in a bridge design competition for Meixi Lake near the Changsha capital in Hunan, China. The shape was inspired by the Mobius Strip and Chinese knotting.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:02 AM PST - 17 comments

If you believe...

Rumors of a faked death have been just as much a part of Andy Kaufman's legacy as watching him turn from Foreign Man to Elvis, but if what played out at this week's Andy Kaufman Awards in New York City are actually true, the comedic genius may have pulled off his biggest hoax of all: not just faking his own death, but secretly spending the last 29 years raising a family.
posted by marginaliana at 6:55 AM PST - 132 comments

A Day in the Life of an Art Museum Security Guard

It Is What It Is "If you notice a guard at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis suddenly balancing on one foot or striking a yoga pose, it’s probably just Todd Balthazor limbering up. “I’m stretching all the time,” he said. “You have to do that, or else you are going to stiffen up. We have some elderly workers, and they just walk like trees.” [...] In the strip, “It Is What It Is,” Mr. Balthazor frequently aims graphic barbs at museum guests, like the “photo bomber,” who poses in front of large paintings without considering the art. “They look at it like, ‘This is going to be a great backdrop for my Facebook profile,’ ” Mr. Balthazor said." [more inside]
posted by xicana63 at 6:44 AM PST - 26 comments

All hail the blue green Sun God!

13 Facts About Space That Will Make Your Head Explode. [SLCrackedVideo | Disclaimer: will not make your head explode. But is still interesting!]
posted by quin at 6:15 AM PST - 27 comments

The Biggest Crime in the History of Horology

An audacious museum heist, in which a timepiece made for Marie Antoinette was among a haul worth hundreds of millions of pounds, left police clutching at thin air. It was only when the watch turned up 25 years later that the pieces of the jigsaw began to fall into place. - Marie Antoinette : the queen, her watch and the master burglar
posted by beisny at 5:41 AM PST - 7 comments

Spray Me

Spray On Fabric Spray on clothes every morning! No ironing, no matching the tops to bottom, no "I ate too much last night so now this doesn't fit…"
posted by Yellow at 5:21 AM PST - 60 comments

... but perhaps not the one you were expecting.

Doctor Who is turning 50. There is a minisode. It goes there. If you are a fan, watch it. [more inside]
posted by Mezentian at 4:52 AM PST - 355 comments

Cool bananas

For decades, Iceland has been rumoured to be the largest producer of bananas in Europe. This factoid made the BBC quiz show Q.I. in 2006, and was cited as truth in a Christian Science Monitor article about geothermal energy in Iceland. Now the Reykjavík Grapevine digs deeper and reveals the provenance of this rumour and what truth there is in it (PDF; see page 6).
posted by acb at 4:20 AM PST - 20 comments

Simon Says: "Cthulhu fhtagn"

The Cult of Cthulhu: A Real Prayer For a Fake Tentacle
posted by empath at 12:38 AM PST - 42 comments

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