November 29, 2012

Beer based puns are drunk puns, and drunk puns aren't good ones.

There are cooler ways to keep your beer cold than your average promotional koozie. There's the Beeracuda, a "liquid lunch box", the Shakoolie for all your shower beer needs, Growler Koozies and the Doozy, the 40oz koozie that comes with a pocket for your lighter. [more inside]
posted by Grandysaur at 8:45 PM PST - 59 comments

"But lapidary epithets are few./We do not deal in universal rubies."

Vladimir Nabokov reads his poem "An Evening of Russian Poetry." [more inside]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:20 PM PST - 11 comments

The Plough and Potato have had a football team since Roman times, so they must be better at it than modern teams!

A primer in the rhetorical tactics of pseudoscience advocates in the form of an inane pub argument about football.
posted by acb at 5:53 PM PST - 61 comments

"a homeless consciousness"

Susannah Cahalan has a month-long gap in her memory from when she was struck by the little known disease anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Cahalan, a New York Post journalist, wrote an account of her ordeal shortly after it happened, and went on the Today Show to talk about it. Now she has written a book on her experience called Brain on Fire and wants to make people aware of the disease, and that was the subject of a follow-up segment on the Today Show. She is not the only person to have been afflicted. There is more information about the disease and the book on Cahalan's website. She was interviewed at length on NPR's Fresh Air earlier this month. Novelist and essayist Leslie Jamison has a well-written review of Brain on Fire and puts it in its literary context.
posted by Kattullus at 5:28 PM PST - 24 comments

The Ox and Lamb Could Not Be Reached For Comment

On November 21st, Image Books published Pope Benedict XVI's third and final volume in his Jesus of Nazareth series, The Infancy Narratives. In the book, along with discussions of the geneology of Jesus and the account of the annunciation of his birth, Benedict describes the nativity with as much historical accuracy as modern scholarship permits. The reaction in the world press was immediate: [more inside]
posted by ob1quixote at 5:09 PM PST - 116 comments

I listen to color

An artist who was born with achromatopsia, a condition that prevents the cones in the retina from functioning and as a result the world is perceived in black, white, and grey. was fitted with a machine that enabled him to detect color through sound (an "eyeborg"). This artist, Neil Harbisson, describes what it is like to now perceive color in a Ted Talk "I listen to color"(Ted Talk) and a first-person description. Some of his art work includes a sonochromatic Portrait and music. [more inside]
posted by Wolfster at 4:43 PM PST - 7 comments

Jack Whittaker's Powerball tragedy.

The day would come when many West Virginians recalled the story of Jack's Powerball Christmas with a shudder at the magnitude of ruination: families asunder, precious lambs six feet under, folks undone by the lure of all that easy money.
posted by Egg Shen at 3:21 PM PST - 68 comments

On the yearly Pilgrimage to Reichenbach Falls

We are to be led by some kind of Victorian reverend, except not. In fact, the parson is Moriarty dressed in a new costume; though, of course, he’s not really Moriarty, or a parson, or Victorian. Via The Hairpin.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:18 PM PST - 2 comments

"And a very pleasant evening to you wherever you may be..."

Today is the 85th birthday of Hall of Fame baseball announcer Vin Scully. He will be returning next year for his unprecedented 64th season calling games for the Dodgers, in a career reaching back to the team's Brooklyn days and their move to Los Angeles in 1958. The New York Yankees tried to pry him away in the 1960s, but he remained with the team and has become an LA institution. In the 21st Century, he has inspired blog names and tattoos and even dabbled in the online world himself during a game last season -- as an experiment, he asked fans to get a topic trending on Twitter about Dodger catcher A.J. Ellis, "a nice boy." Later in the broadcast he announced sheepishly that Ellis was trending across the U.S. This coming Monday, he will be taking over the team's Twitter feed to answer questions -- tag your tweets #askvin. [more inside]
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:48 PM PST - 23 comments

Saruman reads Burton

Christopher Lee reads the original poem The Nightmare Before Christmas [11m], Tim Burton's storybook which inspired the Henry Selick's stop-motion film. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 2:36 PM PST - 18 comments

Ice on Mercury?

New evidence for water ice on Mercury. (via Bad Astronomy at its new home)
posted by curious nu at 2:19 PM PST - 23 comments

Eating normally is the new black.

"I’m bigger than most people, let alone most nutritionists — but I’m a pretty normal person. And a damn good nutritionist." The Fat Nutritionist wants to help you eat normally again. [more inside]
posted by dontjumplarry at 2:04 PM PST - 140 comments

"The story of Lost makes no sense."

'I pretty much wanted to die', an excerpt from Alan Sepinwall's The Revolution Was Televised.
posted by IvoShandor at 2:04 PM PST - 61 comments

Nothing can come close ....

One of the more memorable things about Moloko are their music videos - or more specifically, music videos featuring Roisin Murphy dancing. [more inside]
posted by chris88 at 1:44 PM PST - 14 comments

"Your app's anti-piracy module, it's not working"

An iOS application developer has come up with an extreme way of fighting software piracy—by auto-posting "confessions" to its users' Twitter accounts. "...Enfour, the maker of a variety of dictionary apps, is auto-posting tweets to users' accounts to shame them for being pirates. But the auto-tweeting seems to be affecting a huge portion of its paid user base, not just those who actually stole the apps." Follow-up. A personal account: Can’t spell “pirate” without “-irate”: on DRM and punishing the customer [more inside]
posted by flex at 1:40 PM PST - 75 comments

Hey

"The bottom line: Obama’s e-mail fundraising team tested hundreds of grabby subject lines. The most successful—“Hey”— brought in millions of dollars." Inside Obama's chatty e-mail fundraising campaign.
posted by OmieWise at 1:14 PM PST - 44 comments

The Soundscapes of Ancient Cultures

Historically, archaeologists have largely ignored acoustical science as a tool for archaeological discovery. This is changing with the advent of acoustic archaeology. “Could the Maya have intentionally coded the sound of their sacred bird into the pyramid architecture? I think it is possible.Hear it for yourself in this video. While this is a pretty astounding feat of architectural engineering, it’s by no means the only example of archaeoacoustics that can be found at Chichen Itza, amongst the mayan people, or throughout the many other cultures who’ve built structures that integrate unique auditory phenomenon to stimulate the senses. [previously]/[previously] [more inside]
posted by nTeleKy at 1:02 PM PST - 23 comments

Trashman Forever

Spain Rodriguez Fought the Good Fight - underground comics artist Spain Rodriguez, most famous for his violent antihero Trashman, passed away yesterday.
posted by Artw at 12:32 PM PST - 30 comments

Still humble?

The Humble Indie Bundle made its name by offering pay-what-you-want pricing for DRM-free, cross-platform collections of independent games, but the latest bundle merits a double-take: it's Windows-only, requires Steam activation, and features seven titles by major publisher THQ. The Bundle has already experimented with music and ebooks, and a past indie bundle included the EA-published Shank. But despite promises that indie games are still "a core of our business," is the latest foray into AAA gaming a step in the wrong direction?
posted by Tubalcain at 12:23 PM PST - 91 comments

A conversation with Suneet Tuli

Gamechanger: $25 tablets, $2 mobile data plans, and zero margins–how the internet is about to gain 3 billion new users and a look inside that world’s cheapest tablet computer, India’s Aakash 2 - includes video.
posted by spock at 12:11 PM PST - 18 comments

Not pictured: Bastion Booger.

In response to WWE.com posting a not-really-that-accurate list of the 50 Most Beautiful People In WWE History (warning: awful slideshow), Brandon Stroud of Withleather assembled an all-star cast of beauty/wrestling experts, including Grantland.com's David Shoemaker, Clark Duke of Hot Tub Time Machine and professional Batmanologist Chris Sims, and with science has composed a a more accurate response list.
posted by mightygodking at 11:48 AM PST - 36 comments

LOLHEHHEHHELLLOOOOO, WORLD

10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10 (a collaborative book by Nick Montfort, Patsy Baudoin, John Bell, Ian Bogost (previously, previously, previously), Jeremy Douglass, Mark C. Marino, Michael Mateas (of Facade), Casey Reas, Mark Sample and Noah Vawter) uses a single line of code as a basis for pontificating on creative computing and the impact of software in popular culture. 10 PRINT's content is available as a PDF (50 MB). Pictures via Casey Reas' Flickr.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:20 AM PST - 47 comments

I: is all you can say is purple? p: yes.

"I moderate jokes on a Kids Jokes website. A lot of joke submissions can't be published because they're offensive, not suitable for children or don't make any sense... so I publish them here instead: Bad Kid's Jokes "
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:18 AM PST - 210 comments

Broadsided

Broadsided Press publishes a new, printable PDF featuring an original poetry & visual art collaboration every month; they've beeing doing it since 2005. You can even become a vector for this distributed, "serendipitous" press.
posted by Miko at 10:05 AM PST - 1 comments

Cory/Shawn 4eva!

It's been confirmed: Cory and Topanga will be returning to TV screens in a new show focused on their daughter and her friends, Girl Meets World. Sadly, Shawn is not yet officially involved.
posted by kmz at 10:04 AM PST - 54 comments

Point of View, Depth of Focus

Scott Eric Kaufman examines the visual rhetoric of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Mad Men, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and more.
posted by Iridic at 9:57 AM PST - 15 comments

Strange, Beautiful and Unexpected

Planned Cities Seen From Space [more inside]
posted by zinon at 9:55 AM PST - 34 comments

Race matters

Manhattan District leader Mark Levine plans to run for a city council seat in 2013, for District 7. The problem? Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a Harlem activist who is also running for term-limited Councilman Robert Jackson’s seat, circulated an e-mail late on November 26th in an attempt to plan a “private meeting” to “discuss the potential damage to the political empowerment of the Black and Hispanic community if Mark Levine, a White/Jewish candidate was elected to the 7th Council District in 2013.”
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:53 AM PST - 9 comments

The Last Resort?

According to multiple sources, as of a few hours ago, Syria has been disconnected from the internet as rebels converge on the capital in an attempt to shut down the airport. [more inside]
posted by empath at 9:14 AM PST - 53 comments

Hope is not a good strategy, in life or in disease research.

An influential US advocacy group has set a deadline to beat breast cancer by 2020. But it puts public trust at risk by promising an objective that science cannot yet deliver. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 8:22 AM PST - 65 comments

PURGE: verb: to make free of something unwanted

An eminent former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary covertly deleted thousands of words because of their foreign origins and bizarrely blamed previous editors, according to claims in a book published this week.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:06 AM PST - 24 comments

Let's Spruce This Place Up A Bit!

Don Cheadle is Captain Planet: Youtube, Funny Or Die [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:07 AM PST - 16 comments

The AP Bans Homophobia

Politico reports that the AP's online stylebook has recently banned the term "homophobia." AP Deputy Standards Editor Dave Minthorn explained "it's just off the mark. It's ascribing a mental disability to someone, and suggests a knowledge that we don't have. It seems inaccurate. Instead, we would use something more neutral: anti-gay, or some such, if we had reason to believe that was the case." Slate's Nathaniel Frank disagrees with the decision stating that in an effort be appear neutral, the AP risks being part of the problem. James Rainey at the LA Times surveys the arguments for and against the decision and notes that homophobia may be the right term in some situations.
posted by Area Man at 6:31 AM PST - 115 comments

1-800-DIP-DIP-DIP-DIP

Hollywood Nailz - Episode One, according to the youtube description is "a nail-biting extravaganza of mostly useless products and pansexual hijinks!!!" Created by Seth Bogart (aka Hunx) and Brande Bytheway.
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 6:19 AM PST - 12 comments

Mannerheim: General of the Czar, Marshal of Finland [1/9]

Mannerheim: General of the Czar, Marshal of Finland [1/9] (In Russian, with English subtitles) [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 4:29 AM PST - 8 comments

Gallicantus

The Geese Book is a lavishly illustrated manuscript of choral music, written for the church of St Lorenz, Nuremberg, between 1504 and 1510. It takes its name from a whimsical illustration showing a choir of geese with a wolf as their choirmaster. The manuscript has now been digitized, and many of the chants recorded, so that you can listen to the music (or even sing along) while following the text. Highlights include Christmas, with a fox and rooster, Ascension Day, with the famous choir of geese, All Saints' Day, with a dragon eating a baby, and the Mass for St Lawrence, with a musical bear.
posted by verstegan at 3:52 AM PST - 8 comments

Some of them are Dreadlock Rasta, Some of them are Baldhead Rasta.

The Harder They Come. It's mostly about music
posted by timsteil at 3:22 AM PST - 10 comments

"20 years holding back a collective tidal wave of jism"

Former college football powerhouse Notre Dame hasn't won a national title in a long time (1988, natch). They have a rabid fan-base (arguably the biggest in college sports) and the largest TV deal in the nation with NBC. This season they came from pretty much out of nowhere to land a spot in the national title game. The problem, however, is that the school and its fans are in fact horrible, no-good people. Presenting Drew Magary's A-Z Hater's Guide to Notre Dame! [more inside]
posted by bardic at 1:42 AM PST - 115 comments

gentle observer

Why People Really Love Technology: An Interview with Genevieve Bell The thing I love about Intel researcher Genevieve Bell is that she finds surprising things by looking at what's left out of the dominant narratives about technology. She finds data that's ignored because it didn't fit into the paradigm of, say, how people adopt technology. The dominant narrative is that young men determine the popularity of phones, computers, websites, and the like. But when Bell looked at the data, the story we told ourselves about how the world worked was not reflected in the numbers. That's why I wanted to talk to her about what gadgets people around the world might be using over the next decade. I figured she was someone who could look past the conventional wisdom and find the missing pieces of the future
posted by infini at 1:10 AM PST - 30 comments

MANPADS proliferation

Surface-to-air missile proliferation in Syria has become something to watch. [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 12:42 AM PST - 48 comments

BNP 2012

Arc’teryx, a high-end Vancouver outdoor clothing manufacturer, is working with the VPD's Homeless Outreach Program on the Birds Nest Project in an attempt to provide the city's homeless population with stylish waterproof capes.
posted by mannequito at 12:35 AM PST - 31 comments

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