December 16, 2011

At Play In Fields Of Hex

Released yesterday, dabblet joins an array of live sandbox tools designed to prototype, test and share webcode that includes JSFiddle and CSSDesk, while bringing some advantages of its own.
Other useful resources: w3clove validates an entire site, rather than page-by-page; JQuery Air teaches you how to use the framework directly in the browser; domain.nr finds clever TLDs for your site, and Sequel Pro is a nice, free, native, open source MySQL editor for OS X. If you’re more the old-school dead-tree type, there’s always The Manual.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 11:28 PM PST - 9 comments

Maggie and Terre Roche's "Seductive Reasoning"

Maggie and Terre Roche started performing professionally in the late '60s, just a little late for the folkie boom but also a bit too distinctive to blend easily with the singer-songwriters of the early '70s, even when they became acolytes of Paul Simon and recorded backup vocals on There Goes Rhymin' Simon. By 1975, they had their own album on CBS, with tracks produced by Simon (and backed by the Oak Ridge Boys and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) and ex-Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith... Seductive Reasoning is not completely a folk nor a country album, which no doubt hurt its commercial potential... Songs such as "West Virginia", "Down the Dream", and "The Mountain People" touch on early joy and disillusionment/disappointment, while "Jill of All Trades" and "The Burden of Proof" reflect a few more years of life under one's belt and the smoothing out that can come with them. "Underneath the Moon" and "Wigglin' Man"... are more straightforward getting-laid songs, funny as hell... while several of their albums have been as good as Seductive Reasoning, none were better. Nor did they have to be. - Todd Mason (previously) [more inside]
posted by Trurl at 9:52 PM PST - 29 comments

Boston Tea Party

238 years ago this evening… in response to the Townshend Act, and the East India Company… a few colonists had a Tea (link) Party (link).
posted by jabo at 8:24 PM PST - 53 comments

Visit Sweden.

Swedish Citizens Now Control @sweden Twitter Account. Curators of Sweden is based around the idea that no single voice can represent the country, so a slew of guest Swedish curators will do the best job to portray the national character. One Swedish citizen will have control of the @sweden handle each week.
posted by sweetkid at 7:35 PM PST - 34 comments

There is no political subtext

Greens Survive only when Reds Die
posted by rodmandirect at 7:06 PM PST - 25 comments

The only thing it lacks is John Lithgow

There's Hard Rock, Soft Rock, Punk Rock, Folk Rock, Progressive Rock, Alt Rock, Art Rock, Acid Rock, Indie Rock, Grunge Rock, Schoolhouse Rock, 30 Rock, and now there's Third Rock, an internet radio station "powered by NASA", yes, NASA. (Think of it as 'New Music' with commercials for something you already like)
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:48 PM PST - 20 comments

The Bugle is in the bin.

After 176+ episodes, satirical podcast The Bugle with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman will no longer be published by The Times. [more inside]
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 6:25 PM PST - 60 comments

Game Club 199X

Here is Game Club 19XX, a new monthly podcast from Hardcore Gaming 101 (previously) in which knowledgeable gamers discuss playing through old video games without FAQs or walkthroughs. Episode 1 is on Snake's Revenge, the forgotten NES sequel to Metal Gear. (MP3 download from MediaFire, 1:27:32)
posted by JHarris at 6:11 PM PST - 10 comments

A Very Calvin and Hobbes Christmas

A Very Calvin and Hobbes Christmas Nifty little YT short recreating some of the classic Calvin and Hobbes snowmenagerie.
posted by ironjelly at 5:59 PM PST - 19 comments

Buncha muncha cruncha humans

Dear Humanity, I'm afraid I have some bad news. Nature wants to eat you. SLTumblr. NSFPeople who are frightened of pictures of terrifying organisms.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:17 PM PST - 81 comments

Spill, Then Poof

When you send people passwords and private links via email or chat, there are copies of that information stored in many places. If you use a one-time link instead, the information persists for a single viewing which means it can't be read by someone else later. This allows you to send sensitive information in a safe way knowing it's seen by one person only. Think of it like a self-destructing message, a One Time Secret.
posted by netbros at 4:11 PM PST - 37 comments

Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen.

30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself
posted by gauche at 2:11 PM PST - 158 comments

Layaway In A Manger

From Michigan to Nebraska, from Washington State to North Carolina, anonymous donors have been paying off "layaway" tabs for holiday-shopping families.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:16 PM PST - 82 comments

The Secret Life of Sam Hurd

It just hasn't been a good month for the Chicago Bears. First they lost Jay Cutler and Matt Forte to injuries, and yesterday wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested in an undercover drug sting, after an investigation that began in July 2011.
posted by SisterHavana at 12:50 PM PST - 62 comments

that pile of books looks like something I recognize

From architect/designer Luis Urculo, a short film in which iconic buildings are modeled with everyday objects: Covers (vimeo) [more inside]
posted by Prince_of_Cups at 12:32 PM PST - 5 comments

Eat your Ouka, kids.

Flash Friday: Gamerswithjobs calls Nekogames' OUKA a "very minimalist experience, offering the simplest rules possible in a video game...(i)nstead of a long sentence or paragraph explaining things, or even a tutorial video, when you click the “Hint” button the game simply lays part of the level’s inner workings bare. It’s a testament to the simplicity of the game that this works so well." Just click the symbol, that's all. [more inside]
posted by mreleganza at 12:24 PM PST - 34 comments

Mr Jobs comes to Lund

In 1985, Apple started the "Apple University Consortium Europe" collaboration program, and one of the first universities to enroll was that of Lund, Sweden. To celebrate the collaboration, Apple CEO Steve Jobs came to Lund - and a 16 minute film of his visit has now been found and been made available by the University of Lund. You can see the clip here (.mov).
posted by mr.marx at 12:23 PM PST - 5 comments

Let a thousand flowers bloomberg

Americans Elect is an organization creating a ready-made slot on the 2012 presidential ballot for an unnamed independent ticket, thus removing the biggest barrier to a 3rd party challenge. (Donald Trump suggests himself.) The NYT thinks they'll qualify in all 50 states. They say they want a non-partisan, mixed-party ticket. Some on the left see a cabal of shadowy millionaires with ties to the FBI, CIA and military behind it. Team Obama is concerned.
posted by msalt at 12:14 PM PST - 93 comments

One Brick to Rule Them All

Lego Picks Up Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Licenses [more inside]
posted by Vindaloo at 11:36 AM PST - 80 comments

A bright spot, with watercolors

What you need is a splash of color!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:12 AM PST - 17 comments

Every single day. Every game you play. Every click you make....

The concept behind VoyURL is simple: A browser plugin records your every click, which you can then choose to share publicly in a real-time feed. Their website analyzes and shows you your online history in customized infographics, to identify patterns, recommend content and help you learn more about the way you use the internet. You can see the browsing history of all users in one giant timeline or follow a specific user. The service is currently in beta, but you can slip in here or here. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 10:59 AM PST - 38 comments

Sinusitis or brain-eating amoeba, you decide!

We've talked about using neti pots in the past. From Louisiana comes this cautionary instruction on proper technique!
posted by Runes at 10:52 AM PST - 77 comments

Making Boxes ... Like A Boss

"You've seen boring unboxing videos. How about a cool boxing video?" A Korean postal worker demonstrates his superior packaging skills [SLYT].
posted by bayani at 10:23 AM PST - 45 comments

The Stars of Famicom Games

Chris Covell translated a Japanese social studies book about the making of Super Mario Bros. 3.
posted by ignignokt at 10:18 AM PST - 10 comments

"Le futur du rock en France a un nom : il s'appelle Izia."

Back in Town is a song by Izia, a French rock band fronted by and named for Izïa Higelin. Even though she comes from a showbiz family, the band initially found little favor on French radio. But after a string of blistering live performances all over France, the self-titled first album became a hit and won a couple of awards at the prestigious Victoire de la Musique ceremony, where Izia performed the song Let Me Alone. There are a bunch of live performances online, including of Life is Going Down, a cover of AC/DC's Touch Too Much and a duet with Iggy Pop. This past November, sophomore album So Much Trouble was released, featuring such songs as the title track, On Top of the World, and my favorite, Baby.
posted by Kattullus at 10:10 AM PST - 9 comments

Breathing life back into games

Gamasutra's Top 10 Indie Games of 2011 [more inside]
posted by OverlappingElvis at 10:07 AM PST - 19 comments

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! I WILL EAT YOUR SOULS! Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! I WILL EAT YOUR SOULS! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo! I WILL EAT YOUR SOULS!

Oldest and Fatherless: The Terrible Secret of Tom Bombadil (previous)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:04 AM PST - 89 comments

Non Uncaged

Last month How Did This Get Made (previously) held a live panel discussion of Superman III, a movie that started as a bizarre pitch involving everyone from Brainiac to Supergirl and Mr. Mxyzptlk, and ended up as a Richard Pryor vehicle. However for some truly crazy stories you may want to skip ahead to part II, where they are joined by Jack O'Halloran - Non from Superman I and II, boxer and son of the head of Murder, Inc. - who talks at length about his life, the movies, and choking Christopher Reeve.
posted by Artw at 10:01 AM PST - 30 comments

The jive is hip, don't say hep, That's a slip of the lip, let me give you a tip - Don't you ever say hep, it ain't hip, NO, IT AIN'T!

Three Soundies and one collage:
Handsome Harry The Hipster - Harry "The Hipster" Gibson
4-F Ferdinand - Harry "The Hipster" Gibson
Opus 12EEE - Harry "The Hipster" Gibson
Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs Murphys Ovaltine ? - Harry "The Hipster" Gibson
That last song would prove to be his undoing. [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 9:31 AM PST - 14 comments

It's a window *and* a metaphor of your life!

In 1999 MTV launched Downtown, an animated slice of life show about young people in Manhattan's Lower East Side based on interviews with non-actors (Pilot part 2 part 3 ) created by animator Chris Prynoski (Daria, Beavis And Butt-head, Metalocalypse). Despite an Emmy nomination, the show was cancelled after one season (with one unaired episode). Like so many MTV shows, licensing complications prevented it from reaching DVD, meaning the only way to watch the show was to e-mail Chris directly. Until someone uploaded the entire series to Youtube.
posted by The Whelk at 8:38 AM PST - 18 comments

It's his friend's laugh that makes it.

As he starts to ride towards the camera, you just know it's going to be an awesome maneou-
S (stupid) LYT
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 8:17 AM PST - 34 comments

For the sake of the children

In the state of Virginia, it is now legal for licensed adoption agencies and foster facilities to discriminate on the basis of a potential parent's sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, disability, political beliefs, or family status. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:30 AM PST - 60 comments

There's got to be a better pun than "Class War," right?

The Face of Student Debt: Natalia Antonova stopped paying when she realized that it was the loans or her child. (The response has been telling.) Kristin Rawls demands solidarity. Glenn Reynolds says colleges should pay for defaulters.
"The proportion of freshmen and sophomores at four-year colleges who will default on federal loans over their lifetime is estimated at between 19 and 31 percent, depending on the type of loan and when it was written, the [DOE's] Office of Inspector General wrote in a 2003 audit."(doc)
posted by anotherpanacea at 5:14 AM PST - 223 comments

Massacre feared in Kazakhstan

Seventy feared dead and five hundred wounded by riot police in Zhanaozen, west Kazakhstan. Workers in the oil town have been on strike since May; protests (YT) during independence day celebrations escalated into clashes with security forces. Latest reports suggest protesters are gathering again and 1,500 marines are moving in.
posted by Abiezer at 5:05 AM PST - 23 comments

25 Incredibly Detailed Black And White Portraits of the Homeless by Lee Jeffries

Black And White Portraits of the Homeless "Lee Jeffries' career began as a sports photographer, capturing the beautiful game of football in Manchester. Then a chance meeting with a homeless woman living in the streets of London changed his life forever. He has since dedicated himself to capturing gripping portraits of the disenfranchised. Shooting exclusively in black and white, Lee Jeffries’ 135+ pictures can be viewed in his Flickr Photostream. The majority are closeup portraits with incredible detail. Each photograph exudes so much raw character and depth, you find yourself studying each shot with great intensity."
posted by parrot_person at 3:50 AM PST - 42 comments

The minor fall and the major lift

This week, a reality show contestant performed a song once described as an "epic, gospel-tinged ballad of desire and rejection, love and sex, God and man, failure and transcendence, the inevitability of death and triumph of the spirit against the greatest odds". Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. [more inside]
posted by szechuan at 3:28 AM PST - 73 comments

indecision + vulgarity + location-aware browsing = booze

Where the fuck should I go for drinks? [more inside]
posted by grouse at 1:08 AM PST - 92 comments

Eduardo Barreto 1954 – December 15, 2011

Comic book artist Eduardo Barreto, best known for his work on such DC titles as New Teen Titans and various Superman projects, not to mention his work on the Judge Parker newspaper strip, has died at the age of 57. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 12:45 AM PST - 8 comments

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