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Doing Business in Japan
posted by oceanjesse at 9:53 PM PST - 21 comments

How to Cook Vegetables. How to Flavor with Spices. How to Flavor with Fresh Herbs. How to Maximize Flavor using the Flavor Star. An international guide to Aromatics.
posted by storybored at 8:37 PM PST - 60 comments

Lake Nokoué is a rather large lake (20 km/~12.5 mi wide, 11 km/~6.8 mi long) in the southern part of the West African nation of Benin. In the northern portion of the lake, there is what looks like a large flooded town (Google maps). This is Ganvié, which was established in the 16th or 17th century as a means to escape the Fon people, who were at that time were involved in the slave trade. Because the Dan-homey or Dahomey religion forbade the Fon warriors from entering water, the lagoon was a safe territory. Ganvié has a population of around 20,000 people, largely living in stilt houses, making it likely to be the largest lake village in Africa. For a view of the village, Kuriositas has collected a number of great photos of "the Venice of Africa."
posted by filthy light thief at 2:34 PM PST - 23 comments

T-shirt company Threadless have been running an annual cake competition to bake a cake based on one of their t-shirt designs since 2009. The standard has been very high in all years, but perhaps these are all a little unscientific for you. Fear not: one of this year's entries dissects the biology of one of the gentlest inhabitants of America's three-fingered parallel universe, Springfield. Detailing ribs, muscle fibre, brain and bowel, this anatomical cutout of Ralph Wiggum has come far from red velvet cake and swiss meringue buttercream it's made from. [more inside]
posted by ambrosen at 2:08 PM PST - 31 comments

Requires Hate, aka Benjanun Sriduangkaew, is a multiple, serial & proven bully, liar & manipulator says fantasy author Juliet McKenna. She and other authors (like Ian McDonald) are taking up arms in the controversy around the machinations of one writer that are shaking up the SFF publishing world. [more inside]
posted by Omnomnom at 1:18 PM PST - 154 comments

Shubham Banerjee is an inventor who earlier this year unveiled a braille printer that he was able to assemble with a Mindstorms LEGO kit and a few very inexpensive odds and ends from the hardware store. Here he is presenting a demo of the device in action. He has named the device a Braigo and has created a startup company with the intention to refine the design and put it on the market. Earlier this week, Intel Capital announced it would invest in the company. And what's the kicker to this story? Banerjee is only 13 years old.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:08 PM PST - 6 comments

Twin Cities TV station KSTP ran a story alleging that Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges threw gang signs titled "Mpls. Mayor Flashes Gang Sign with Convicted Felon; Law Enforcement Outraged." Shawn King suggests it's an early frontrunner for most racist news story of 2014. Commentator Nekima Levy-Pounds points out that the media went to tired stereotypes instead of telling the actual story of civic engagement. Images tagged #Pointergate have proliferated online. Former Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe refuses to weigh in, saying he "can only deal with one 'gate' idiocy at a time", despite the fact that this one actually is about journalism ethics.
posted by larrybob at 12:49 PM PST - 88 comments

The Mysterious World of the Deaf (Single Link The New York Review of Books)
posted by andoatnp at 12:42 PM PST - 10 comments

How might President Obama's leadership style be rooted in his psychology? Psychoanalysts Nasir Ghaemi, Samuel Barondes, and Justin Frank venture opinions, and writer Robert Merry applies a framework from political psychology. (psychoanalyst Drew Westen, previously)
posted by shivohum at 11:38 AM PST - 17 comments

Cleaning a vinyl record with wood glue. "This trick works because the glue and record are somewhat chemically similar, so the glue only sticks to stuff that's not supposed to be there."
posted by quin at 11:18 AM PST - 78 comments

This 80s Aerobics video synchs up eerily well to "Shake It Off"
posted by The Whelk at 11:11 AM PST - 86 comments

A Parable.
"Hey do want to hear an album of spoken word poetry raps?"
*everyone looks uncomfortable*
"It's by a white girl from...England? With uh, garage beats?"
*everyone gets on to a spaceship and flies into the sun"
"Her name is Kate Tempest (previously). There's stories, about dating and generally being disaffected and drinking too much? And she utterly kills it live. Her old band was decent but, this is, like next level."
*no-one is left on earth but Common. He is wearing sunglasses as the sun flares.* *He nods his head.*
Common: "This is dope."
Mike Skinner (he's there too): "Well rude innit. Let's get a kebab mate."
F I N
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:57 AM PST - 13 comments

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in King v. Burwell, invalidating subsidies through the federal healthcare exchanges, despite the lack of a Circuit split.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:51 AM PST - 213 comments

How My Little Pony Became a Cult for Grown Men and Preteen Girls Alike
posted by Artw at 10:37 AM PST - 120 comments

The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase's Worst Nightmare. "Meet the woman JPMorgan Chase paid one of the largest fines in American history to keep from talking." [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 10:15 AM PST - 43 comments

Wes Anderson intends to build a theme park with Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. Or so claims his introduction to Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia, a new book collecting the best of the Devo frontman's work as a visual artist. Skeptical readers may see this as mere hyperbole meant to direct praise at Anderson's frequent collaborator. But then, you'd have doubted the Wes Anderson cruise too, no? FastCompany helps out by proposing a few rides. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:50 AM PST - 17 comments

Sophia Loren explains the famous photograph of her and Jayne Mansfield. Sophia Loren: 15 Photos of My Life
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:36 AM PST - 28 comments

Friends, family, and co-workers reminisce before the camera in the biographic documentary I Don't Know Jack [~1h30m], about the life and career and character of Jack Nance, best known for playing Henry Spencer in Eraserhead and Pete Martell in Twin Peaks.
posted by hippybear at 9:15 AM PST - 4 comments

In 2010 administrators at the Black River Wastewater Treatment facility in Baltimore, Maryland sought help for a massive 4-acre spider colony that had been established in the building. This .pdf of the resulting report describes, with pictures, the immense collection of spiders. With over 35,000 spiders per cubic meter, and web silk that (when swept aside) coiled to the size of a "fire hose", the massive web is a sight to behold. In the news previously, a massive group of spiders colonized part of a Texas park in 2007. Here is a video of a spider colony in Brazil, and the accompanying Wired article describing the phenomenon (previously). Spiders are typically solitary creatures, but some species will band together when the prey is numerous or large enough.
posted by codacorolla at 9:15 AM PST - 75 comments

Decoupage! was a 1989 Los Angeles-area public access show produced by Kathe Duba and hosted by Summer Caprice. The original concept was an emulation of early 70s sydicated talk shows such as The Mike Douglas Show and Dinah! and featured elaborate sets, sourced from hours of scouring thrift stores. Also, there are wigs. Lots of wigs.

Many of the guests were culled from the L.A. club and arts scene, including Redd Kross, Phranc, and Fred Willard. The show returned to the airwaves in 1997 as Decopage! 2000 and featured a spoken-word performance by Exene Cervanka (using her real last name, Cervankova) and Karen Black singing "Bang Bang" with back-up band L7.

• Direct link to the Decopage! You Tube Channel

[via]
posted by Room 641-A at 8:50 AM PST - 11 comments

Janus was nominated for three “Best Fanzine” Hugos in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Jeanne Gomoll was nominated for two “Best Fan Artist” Hugos in 1978 and 1980. Janus and Aurora were the most prominent feminist science fiction fanzines of their time. With the exception of Amanda Bankier’s fanzine, The Witch and the Chameleon, which ceased publication in 1976, Janus and Aurora were the ONLY fanzines with this focus.

The full archives of Janus & Aurora, the feminist science fiction fanzine created by the people who went on to create Wiscon, the feminist sf convention.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:00 AM PST - 6 comments

Can Minor Languages Make Revolution?, Sarah Kendzior, The Common Reader.
posted by nangar at 5:17 AM PST - 5 comments

What happens when a group of adorable but destructive martens is unleashed on an Audi A3 Cabriolet wired with cameras throughout? Teutonic quality control produces viral gold, that's what. (SLYT Audi/GoProBlue, but with martens.) [more inside]
posted by spitbull at 4:57 AM PST - 49 comments