November 28, 2012

We Expect Art To Suck

Artist Zak Smith addresses the problem of Big Art made by assistants for artists who don't claim to use assistants. good bit starts at 3:40
posted by The Whelk at 11:39 PM PST - 40 comments

"Warning: May cause Pastrami On Rye cravings"

Deli Man Trailer on Vimeo. In 1931, there were 1,550 kosher delis in NYC. Today: 150 Jewish delis in all of North America [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 10:39 PM PST - 30 comments

Man, those Masons are good at making cartoons

Disney has a new cartoon series called "Gravity Falls," created by Alex Hirsch who also created The Marvelous Adventures of Flapjack. It features X-Files style paranormal activity in the titular town in Oregon from the perspective of 12 year old twins, Mabel (voiced by Kristen Schaal) and Dipper. While this alone could cultivate a fanbase, it also helps that the show has secret messages and cyphers for viewers to decode. [more inside]
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:34 PM PST - 70 comments

Imagine a frozen ocean

"Entering into one of the fiercest competitions in existence, I found art."
Sixteen mushers. 120 dogs. An adventure across one of the longest mushing trails in the world: the Beringia, a dog sled race stretching 683 miles across eastern Russia. Twilight on the Tundra [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:16 PM PST - 8 comments

Pulitzer Nominations Are Open

Two alligators, a pole dancer and pot at Olympia area shooting scene [via Wonkette]
posted by HotPants at 8:08 PM PST - 30 comments

The Tax on Unlucky People

Tonight's Powerball lottery drawing was for more than half a billion dollars, the 2nd largest in U.S. history. The Multi-state Lottery Association answers your frequently asked and not so frequently asked questions about the Powerball Lottery with a side of snark. Find out if you won the Powerball Jackpot.
posted by Jahaza at 8:02 PM PST - 74 comments

The flawed science surrounding Diederik Stapel

Press Release The Levelt, Noort and Drenth Committees have published their joint final report of the investigation into the massive academic fraud by Diederik Stapel, a social psychologist, who is known mainly for his work on social priming. English translation of the full report [pdf]. [more inside]
posted by srboisvert at 8:02 PM PST - 11 comments

Bitchslaps of Hollywood

Bitchslaps of Hollywood in thirty-six parts.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 7:45 PM PST - 13 comments

Now the drugs don't work, they just make you worse

Rapid Growth Seen in Addiction to Painkillers The escalating use and abuse of powerful painkillers can be found in rich societies from the UK, across Europe to the antipodes. But the country that really knows all about prescription pill excess, and the human toll it claims, is the US. Americans make up less than 5% of the global population but consume 80% of the world's supply of opioid prescription pills. [more inside]
posted by modernnomad at 7:00 PM PST - 63 comments

Boston's Cocoanut Grove Fire

70 years ago today, 492 people perished in a fire at Boston's popular Cocoanut Grove nightclub. The Cocoanut Grove Coalition offers documents, images, videos, and artifacts of the fire and its aftermath. This fascinating 1995 WGBH clip interviews a variety of survivors, offering a window on the era as well as the fire. Other documents of note: The Boston Library's Flickr photo set and the Library's recently released witness statements and final report. Also noteworthy: Buck Jones and the Cocoanut Grove controversy. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive at 6:55 PM PST - 25 comments

Rock gods at the Library of Congress

Joe Smith interviews Jagger, McCartney, Bacharach....apparently pretty much everyone. Retired American music mogul Joe Smith has donated recorded interviews with a who's who of 20th century popular music to the U.S. Library of Congress, which is posting the digitized audio online. The first batch are up now -- more coming at some unspecified future time.
posted by bowline at 6:52 PM PST - 5 comments

Green Dam Youth Escort

"During his civil lawsuit against the People's Republic of China, Brian Milburn says he never once saw one of the country's lawyers. He read no court documents from China's attorneys because they filed none. The voluminous case record at the U.S. District courthouse in Santa Ana contains a single communication from China: a curt letter to the U.S. State Department, urging that the suit be dismissed. That doesn't mean Milburn's adversary had no contact with him." [China Mafia-Style Hack Attack Drives California Firm to Brink]
posted by vidur at 6:16 PM PST - 12 comments

“Lots of people think we’re crazy. But that’s what it takes to get ahead.”

Ron Johnson, who was responsible for Target and Apple's wildly successful retail chains, is now trying to reinvent the department store from the ground up as J. C. Penney's new CEO: divid[ing] stores into 100 shops that [...] will each be like its own small store. Surrounding the shops will be wide aisles that Johnson calls 'streets.' Along those pathways will be ice cream and coffee bars and wood tables with built-in iPad tablet computers that shoppers can use to surf online. But after quarter after quarter of heavy loss, some analysts think Johnson is destroying J. C. Penney. But they've predicted his failure before. More on Johnson's work with the Apple Store. Johnson himself on what he learned building the Apple Store.
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:02 PM PST - 65 comments

HTTP Status Rappers

HTTP $tatu$ Rapper$
posted by shoesfullofdust at 5:32 PM PST - 17 comments

The Golden Eye.

In Shahr-i Shōkhta, near the Iran/Afghanistan border, archaeologists found the remains of a six foot tall woman who they speculate might have travelled there from the Arabian peninsula. What they do feel sure about, though, is that her golden prosthetic eye was produced there in Shahr-i Shōkhta, also the home of the world's oldest backgammon set; early evidence of brain surgery; caraway seeds; evidence of metal work; an important body of textile artifacts, but apparently no weapons. It is thought to suggest the existence of a major, non Mesopotamian culture. [more inside]
posted by thylacinthine at 5:07 PM PST - 15 comments

A-MAZ-ing!

According to the Sacramento Bee, Huell Howser is retiring. Best known for his public television show, California's Gold and his boundless enthusiasm, Mr. Howser is "retiring from filming new shows or making appearances."
posted by Guy Smiley at 4:19 PM PST - 40 comments

Press X to wubwubwub

[Skrillex Quest]
posted by 2bucksplus at 3:46 PM PST - 52 comments

Allan Arkush's "Rock'n'Roll High School"

Rock 'N' Roll High School, staring the Ramones, is one of the five greatest American films of all time. Well, five best movie musicals? At the very least, the scene of the band rolling down the high school halls and blaring "Do Ya Wanna Dance" with the teen archetypes (cheerleaders, jocks, geeks, etc.) following, clapping and dancing while brewing up the eventual explosion of the school, could be the most transcendent two minutes of any rock movie. - Eric Davidson, introducing his interview of director Allan Arkush
posted by Egg Shen at 3:17 PM PST - 60 comments

"i stole a car" "correction: black guy stole your car"

Do you like Cleverbot, but maybe wished that it was an androgynous jpop boy you could dress up and make your boyfriend? There's an app for tha-- oh no wait, nevermind. [more inside]
posted by justkevin at 3:02 PM PST - 21 comments

Fox in print

Nineteen year old Jade Phillips creates images of foxes by marking up pages from old text books and re-assembling them. More of her work is available on Flickr and her own blog.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:13 PM PST - 21 comments

How corrupt are Ivy League admissions?

The Myth of American Meritocracy. Ron Unz, former publisher of The American Conservative, has challenged many of the magazine's "paleocon" readers with several recent articles on ethnicity (including His-Panic, which questioned links between immigration and crime, and Race, IQ, and Wealth, with a skeptical eye toward that subject). But in his latest (long!) article, The Myth of American Meritocracy, Unz will challenge many kinds of readers, as he makes the case for persistent, extensive ethnic discrimination in Ivy League admissions, which for decades, he argues, has been extremely biased in favor of under-qualified Jewish whites at the expense of well-qualified Asians and non-Jewish whites. [more inside]
posted by dgaicun at 1:25 PM PST - 82 comments

We taught it everything we know, we did everything we could for it. But now it has to find its own path.

Mars Curiosity Rover. A short film by Dan Winters, narrated by members of the team that sent Curiosity on its way. [more inside]
posted by Narrative Priorities at 12:38 PM PST - 11 comments

Nation shall speak unto nation using Objective-C

The inside story of the website that saved the BBC
posted by Hartster at 11:20 AM PST - 14 comments

Jack Kirby Double-Page Spreads

Jack Kirby Double-Page Spreads. A flickr set of double-splash-page spreads by the King of Comics.
posted by marxchivist at 10:42 AM PST - 28 comments

The rain in Spain smells mainly of dimethyl-9-decalol

The smell of earth after rain is called Petrichor, and it is caused by Geosmin, a sesquiterpenoid metabolite with the chemical formula C12H22O. Human sensitivity to geosmin is about 10 parts per trillion. (via)
posted by mrgrimm at 9:48 AM PST - 95 comments

The coalition of tyrants will learn that they are loathed equally by men of all colors.

Remember that what has once been done may be done again. Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers were inspired by the life of his father, Alexandre. However, Alexandre Sr. was not just a handsome swashbuckler or a vengeful former prisoner. The boy who came from Haiti to France as “slave Alexandre” in 1776 had, by the age of 32, become commander-in-chief of the French revolutionary army in the Alps, eventually leading 53,000 troops to victory against formidably trained Austrian alpine forces. [more inside]
posted by Currer Belfry at 9:28 AM PST - 24 comments

Some Of That Soul Searching That We Were Told Was Called For

Bruce Bartlett tells the story of how he lost faith in the Republican Party.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:23 AM PST - 163 comments

"If at any time during my tenure here you find there’s a pattern of owners and owners’ officials singing my praises, you’d better fire me. I’m not kidding."

Marvin Miller, labor economist and former executive of the MLBPA, has died at the age of 95.
posted by Groundhog Week at 9:18 AM PST - 11 comments

"Bippity boppity, it time to get sloppy."

"Wine. The nectar of the gods. But what if your corkscrew mysteriously goes missing?" Here are seven ways to remove a cork from a wine bottle without a proper corkscrew. [slyt] [via] [previously] [more inside]
posted by quin at 9:09 AM PST - 48 comments

Deepwater Horizon, 2 years later

Earlier this month, British Petroleum agreed to plead guilty to 14 violations of law, including negligence causing death and the Clean Water Act. [more inside]
posted by Lemurrhea at 9:07 AM PST - 59 comments

106

One hundred and six environmental activists were murdered in 2011 (pdf, some cases).
posted by jeffburdges at 8:55 AM PST - 5 comments

The Violence

The Violence is a new album by Darren Hayman about the Essex Witch Trials conducted by Matthew Hopkins, where over 300 women were put to death between 1644 and 1646. [more inside]
posted by dng at 8:43 AM PST - 7 comments

Photographer Ken Regan Passes from The Scene

On Nov. 25th, Ken Regan, iconic photographer of rock icons such as Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones (among many others) died of cancer. A spokesperson for his studio declined to give Regan's age, calling him "ageless." A GQ interview from late last year. A gallery of 16 of his images, and another gallery of 25 images. His (Flash required) web site's biography and portfolio. A one hour phone interview (warning: insufferable 3-1/2 minute pre-interview ad).
posted by spock at 8:17 AM PST - 2 comments

The computer /is/ your friend

Friendship is Optimal is not a "My Little Pony" fanfic, but a SF story that starts with a procedurally-generated MLP MMO, and crescendos to what could very well be the Best Possible Outcome if self-optimizing algorithms are given /almost/ the right goals. Some readers are horrified by the implications; some want to move into "Equestria Online" anyway. Whichever camp you fall in, you'll never forget the phrase "satisfy human values through friendship and ponies".
posted by DataPacRat at 8:01 AM PST - 41 comments

The unexpected nature reserve

Twenty miles or so east of Amsterdam, set between the new towns of Almere and Lelystad, and lying five metres below sea-level, is the youngest wilderness I have ever seen. The Oostvaardersplassen is now a vast region of grassland, reed-bed, shallow lake and ragged forest, over 6,000 hectares in extent. Sea eagles and marsh harriers hunt its wide skies, spoonbills and avocets stalk its marshes, and vast herds of red deer, wild ponies and Heck cattle graze its savannah. But 40 years ago, the Oostvaardersplassen was underwater.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:55 AM PST - 11 comments

1/10. Who doesn't love pirates?

How is the new game Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse? Find out for yourself! [more inside]
posted by kmz at 7:46 AM PST - 45 comments

Note: CRM-114 is a Kubrick trademark

A scene-by-scene breakdown of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
posted by griphus at 7:29 AM PST - 39 comments

The Art of Invisibility

The vanishing Ninja.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:18 AM PST - 36 comments

The Palestinian Bid for Statehood 2012

On the 15th November 1988, the Palestine National Council under Yasser Arafat made a Declaration of Independence. The declaration was supported by more than 100 countries, and recognised a two state solution. It led to a UN vote, which was supported by 104 states and voted against by two. Twenty four years later, on the 29th November, and 65 years to the day after the UN adopted the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas is making a renewed bid for Palestinian statehood. [more inside]
posted by MuffinMan at 6:17 AM PST - 148 comments

Hello, My Name is Mud.

Just in time for the holidays: ACME Product Catalog.
posted by Miko at 5:46 AM PST - 32 comments

"God, you owe me a life - a living baby."

Dr. Gisella Perl was a gynecologist living in what is now Sighet, Rumania, when in 1944 she and her family were transported by the Nazis to the death camp at Auschwitz. There, she was forced to work under Joseph Mengele in the camp hospital. After seeing the horrors and abuse leading up to the murder of pregant women, she "decided that never again would there be a pregnant woman in Auschwitz." Gisella Perl: Angel and Abortionist in the Auschwitz Death Camp [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:33 AM PST - 40 comments

Well, we didn't find the droids we were looking for...

Stormtrooper Cops [slyt]
posted by baueri at 12:39 AM PST - 35 comments

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