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For the first time, photographs have leaked out from inside the Nauru immigration detention centre. Reopened in 2012, the detention centre houses between 500-600 people, mostly of Iranian background, who are attempting to seek asylum in Australia. The centre was most recently in the news following riots that destroyed much of the facility's infrastructure. Conditions at the center have been criticised by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights as "unbearable".
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 10:35 PM PST - 31 comments

Sleepy, sleepy ostriches. According to this PLOS One article, "the amount of REM sleep in ostriches is greater than in any other bird." Here's a simplified article about that study, featuring video of three of the ostriches from that study experiencing [well-labelled] slow-wave and REM sleep. Here's one tired ostrich, succumbing to slumber around 0:50. And here's the cute baby ostrich who just can't stay awake. If this all's making you snoozy, you may need an ostrich pillow.
posted by not_on_display at 9:51 PM PST - 10 comments

The Odon childbirthing device Argentinian car mechanic Jorge Odon saw this party trick. It occurred to him it could help with difficult births. It seems he may be right.
posted by holist at 9:34 PM PST - 49 comments

Unbrella is everything bad about umbrellas, improved. Once you see its innovations (dry side out when closed, water repelled away from you as you close it, stands on its own) you'll wonder like I did why no one thought of this decades ago. [more inside]
posted by mathowie at 9:27 PM PST - 53 comments

U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff on "Why Have No High Level Executives Been Prosecuted In Connection With The Financial Crisis?" Judge Rakoff, a federal trial judge who sits in the Southern District of New York, writes: "[M]y point is that the Department of Justice has never taken the position that all the top executives involved in the events leading up to the financial crisis were innocent, but rather has offered one or another excuse for not criminally prosecuting them – excuses that, on inspection, appear unconvincing."
posted by jayder at 9:08 PM PST - 28 comments

Who says our friends to the north are too polite to cause trouble ? Sometimes, they like to go out for a rip eh. (slyt)
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:03 PM PST - 49 comments

Do you love to play a well crafted video game, and are also interested in learning more about The Ashes? Then this video commentary is not for you. (SLYT, blue language)
posted by Brocktoon at 7:52 PM PST - 16 comments

Skeptics Gone Wild: Navigating America’s Conspiracy Theory Culture

But trying to explain away anyone’s specific conspiracy belief, or conspiratorial thinking in general, misses the point—the point being that there’s no longer anything especially irrational about believing that shadowy actors are subverting American democracy. Think of that CIA dispatch, advocating a propaganda campaign against the suspicious. Picture the president, slumped forward in the back seat of his limousine, a bullet through his neck. As he lays dying something new is being born, a creeping miasma of suspicion that will spread across Dallas, across Texas, across America.

[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:27 PM PST - 80 comments

Little girl does karaoke to "Earth People" by Dr. Octagon (SLYT).
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:25 PM PST - 15 comments

Imgur began as a photo sharing site to be used by Redditors. It now outpaces Reddit in total traffic. What's next for the site?
posted by reenum at 7:18 PM PST - 20 comments

Dancing is fun, if it's by the pool, on the porch (previously), or on television in front of millions. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:10 PM PST - 2 comments

The 33 Most Important Bunny Gifs on the Internet. (Via Buzzfeed. They can stop now, they have won the Internet.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:51 PM PST - 21 comments

Now available, Nine Inch Nails: Tension 2013 [~90m], a concert film at Staples Center, Los Angeles on November 8, 2013. Also, Nine Inch Nails 2013, Pt 2, a behind the scenes look at preparation for the tour. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:24 PM PST - 28 comments

Interview with a Santeria Priestess
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:22 PM PST - 9 comments

A YouTube user has uploaded an earlier cut of Jim Henson and Frank Oz's The Dark Crystal (with characters designed by Brian Froud). Some scenes are re-ordered, there is some different dialogue and the narration has been removed. It didn't perform well in testing, so changes were made to the version we all know and love. A threatened sequel, to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, is on hold. [more inside]
posted by Mezentian at 4:59 PM PST - 33 comments

Horse Master is a Twine text adventure game made by Tom McHamry. It's about becoming a master of horses, and has been described as "body horsehorror" and like living "inside a fever dream". John Campbell of Pictures For Sad Children has written a review entitled "Horse Master Class Anxiety Dream Review". (Warning: review will make no sense until you play the game.)
posted by Maecenas at 4:51 PM PST - 30 comments

Laurie Penny interviews Neil Gaiman on his career, success and influence.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 4:46 PM PST - 11 comments

"My friend Nick and I planned another prank. We thought it would be funny to scare a couple of friends while they were hanging out with some girls. We drove over to their house and crept up to the living room window with ski masks pulled down over our faces and realistic-looking water guns in our hands..." Participants in We Are All Criminals tell stories of crimes they got away with. via [more inside]
posted by postcommunism at 4:14 PM PST - 24 comments

Nelson Mandela has died peacefully at home at age 95. The Globe and Mail has a good roundup of information and resources about his life. The PBS Newshour already has a show online about his life and moments after the news broke even The Onion chimed in. Rest in peace, Madiba.
posted by mathowie at 3:10 PM PST - 361 comments

Before Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, before Blade: The Series or even the execrable Power Pack, the Marvel television universe was populated by few aside from Spider Man and The Incredible Hulk. Until 1990, when NBC and Marvel decided to make a movie that should be admired for its audacity is nothing else, "The Death Of The Incredible Hulk". And true to word, by films end both David Banner and The Incredible Hulk are dead.
posted by mediocre at 2:48 PM PST - 43 comments

Puppet recreation of the drug den shootout from the brilliant Dredd (2012). NparticularlySFW owing to voluminous slow-mo blood jets and flagrant use of Paulstretch. Recreated shootout starts at 2.05.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:44 PM PST - 17 comments

When you are typing away at your computer, you [apparently] don’t know what your fingers are really doing. [more inside]
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:00 PM PST - 56 comments

State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax. The policy goals are contained in a set of funding proposals obtained by the Guardian. The proposals were co-ordinated by the State Policy Network, an alliance of groups that act as incubators of conservative strategy at state level.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:18 PM PST - 163 comments

King James Programming – "posts generated by a Markov chain trained on the King James Bible and Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs." SLTumbler
posted by tss at 1:09 PM PST - 17 comments

Meetin’ WA is a film-interview conducted by Jean-Luc Godard of his “old friend” Woody Allen, in 1986. With JLG-style editing (and JLG-style trolling??). Previously
posted by zbsachs at 1:06 PM PST - 2 comments

Christmas Cats TV is "an eight-hour streaming video of a 'cat lady' and an elf hanging out with cats — some of them in holiday sweaters." (Direct link to site - autoplaying music)
posted by desjardins at 12:48 PM PST - 36 comments

"I’ve always loved space and the planets. I’ve seen a few 'human planets' sets done by other artists and most of them are pretty literal in the human department. I wanted to try making something more androgynous and godlike." [more inside]
posted by Narrative Priorities at 12:27 PM PST - 25 comments

"Dinosaurs! WTF? is a blog devoted to exposing dinosaurs for the murder oriented monstrosities they were, promoting preparations for the likelihood of their return, and outing those people who support the dinosaur agenda."
posted by brundlefly at 12:05 PM PST - 15 comments

Insomnia causes depression as much as depression causes insomnia: Three surprising points from a fascinating episode of KQED Forum [audio, no transcript] with guest Dr. Michelle Primeau of the Stanford School of Medicine.

• Insomnia has long been taught to be a symptom of depression, but in many cases is a cause of depression.
• CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is an effective treatment for both insomnia and depression.
• CBT can be more effective and longer lasting than sleeping pills

For those averse to audio (like me, normally), the NYT also covered the research in print:

First story: Treating Insomnia to Heal Depression,

Follow up a couple of days later: Double Effectiveness of Depression Treatment by Treating Insomnia,

Two readers (both psychiatrists) respond, and

A NYT editorial.

[more inside]
posted by Hello Dad, I'm in Jail at 11:53 AM PST - 22 comments

Clocks is a set of generative art pieces written in gazelle (a lisp (written in elisp!) that compiles to javascript) with the help of processing.js. Best viewed in Chrome.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:21 AM PST - 13 comments

"Over time, it has become clear that anti-negativity is a worldview of its own, a particular mode of thinking and argument, no matter how evasively or vapidly it chooses to express itself. For a guiding principle of 21st century literary criticism, BuzzFeed's Fitzgerald turned to the moral and intellectual teachings of Walt Disney, in the movie Bambi: 'If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.'"
posted by josher71 at 9:43 AM PST - 106 comments

Theatre critic Mark Shenton has been fired from the Sunday Express for having brought the company into disrepute after naked images of him were posted on a gay website behind a paywall. Richard Desmond, the owner of the Sunday Express is also the owner of Television X, the UK's most popular pornographic TV channel.
posted by the latin mouse at 9:16 AM PST - 50 comments

Monster Of The Week (previously), the X-files recap comic by Narbonic creator Shaenon K. Garrity presents a guest-artist filled tribute to one of the strangest episodes of TV ever: Thirteen Ways Of Looking At Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'.
posted by The Whelk at 9:06 AM PST - 20 comments

The city is a fountain that never stops: it generates its energy from the human interactions that take place in it. Unfortunately, we’re getting to a point where many of New York’s citizens have been excluded from this equation for too long. David Byrne comments on New York's hospitability to creative types.
posted by shivohum at 8:40 AM PST - 86 comments

Mouses Houses 'Pictures from my own private mouseland' (tumblr) [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:37 AM PST - 19 comments

Forget the pony, forget the teddy bear -- this kid wants a little thing that can turn into anything at anytime.
posted by flyingsquirrel at 7:44 AM PST - 169 comments

Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell has been known to hurl wooden pencils from the tower of his castle to the stone courtyard below.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:44 AM PST - 20 comments

The Homeschool Apostates by Kathryn Joyce. Via The Toast.
posted by zeptoweasel at 7:29 AM PST - 178 comments

For over 17 years Furtherfield gallery, London, has been working in practices that bridge arts, technology, and social change. As its physical and online territories expand to include a new 'Commons' lab space curator, director and critic Marc Garrett reflects on the gallery's rich history, arguing that art from beyond the mainstream exhibits an ever burgeoning oppositional agency. [prev-iously]
posted by 0bvious at 7:10 AM PST - 1 comments

Hall Pass: An Oral History of Kids In The Hall
posted by Optamystic at 7:08 AM PST - 47 comments

Katniss Everdeen Kills Everything. Warning: arrows hitting people.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:53 AM PST - 24 comments

The imminent Childish Gambino album 'Because the Internet" (as rumored, recorded at Chris Bosh's house) leaked over the weekend so the rapper/actor provided a streaming link to an iTunes site so that his fans could hear it while supporting him. The record features songs about: Oakland, World Star Hip Hop (in reaction to being shot at in Atlanta), being The Worst, and Death (so much death).
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:45 AM PST - 22 comments

“American Mariachi,” by photographer Greg Miller and writer Peter Short, tells the story of how Southern mariachi bands like Mariachi Mexicanisimo de Atlanta tour the region, “playing to audiences of immigrants and learning to please the gringos at the same time. As Short so beautifully puts it, ‘Tradition and culture sustain themselves not through purity and absolute preservation, but through introduction and acceptance.’”
posted by ob1quixote at 3:30 AM PST - 19 comments

Because who is perfect? Disabled mannequins will be eliciting astonished looks from passers-by on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse today. Between the perfect mannequins, there will be figures with scoliosis or brittle bone disease modelling the latest fashions. One will have shortened limbs; the other a malformed spine. The campaign has been devised for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by Pro Infirmis, an organisation for the disabled.

Busty Mannequins and an Inflated Sense of Beauty in Venezuela In Venezuela, women are confronted with a culture of increasingly enhanced physiques fueled by beauty pageants and plastic surgery. - The New York Times [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 2:31 AM PST - 26 comments

Though humans often liken themselves to top predators such as lions, a new study (paywalled) used FAO data to calculate the human trophic level (HTL), i.e. the position of Homo sapiens in the food chain, and found that humans are actually on a par with anchovies and pigs with an average trophic level of 2.21 (vs 1 for plants to 5.5 for bears and orcas). Values vary by country, from 2.04 in the 97% plant-eating Burundi to 2.57 in the 50% fish-loving Iceland. As meat consumption is growing in countries like India and China, mankind is globally becoming more carnivorous and has been improving its trophic level by 3% since 1961. [more inside]
posted by elgilito at 2:09 AM PST - 31 comments