February 6, 2010

Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway

Artist Ray Troll (previously 1, 2) and paleontologist Kirk Johnson, the self-described "paleo-nerd duo", have been working as a team ever since they took a road trip across the American West in search of fossils. In 2007, the pair published the book Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway based on those travels. Most recently, they have collaborated with Dr. Elizabeth Nesbitt at the Burke Museum (previously) in Seattle to produce a traveling exhibit by the same name. [more inside]
posted by shoesfullofdust at 9:48 PM PST - 10 comments

Video of your immune system at work

B is bacteria and that's good enough for a white cell!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:58 PM PST - 39 comments

Acts of Contrition

"Coming two weeks after his company began recalling cars by the millions, the short, formal dip, head cast down, suggested regret for causing so much trouble for his customers. But Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder of the Japanese automaker now battling to save its global image from the stain of safety problems, did not deliver the deeper, longer bow that some expected."
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 5:28 PM PST - 81 comments

Eng: F WES-NAF

In Toulon, France, there stands a memorial for 1,297 French sailors, who were killed in July of 1940 when their ships were shelled and sunk in one of the earliest sea battles of World War II. The ships were fired upon by a British task force led by the HMS Hood, and it was no accident: Churchill himself sent the order: Send the French to the ocean floor. [more inside]
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 4:28 PM PST - 49 comments

J. J. Cale is a kind, unassuming god

J. J. Cale is one of those artists* who has been more influential among other musicians than well-known to the public. Here are some live performances of J. J. and band playing Clyde, Cajun Moon, After Midnight, Magnolia, Drifter's Wife, Birds' Song, and Tijuana. Today's Nilsson posting made me think that fondness for these characters is one of the things that binds me to the MetaFilter community. [more inside]
posted by dylanjames at 4:22 PM PST - 21 comments

Is ChatRoulette the future of the Internet or its distant past?

"The first time I entered ChatRoulette — a new website that brings you face-to-face, via webcam, with an endless stream of random strangers all over the world — I was primed for a full-on Walt Whitman experience: an ecstatic surrender to the miraculous variety and abundance of humankind. [...] The first eighteen people who saw me disconnected immediately." [more inside]
posted by Afroblanco at 3:14 PM PST - 124 comments

Wow, a talking fish!

"Wow, a talking fish!" is a cheerfully deranged bit of animation based on an Armenian fairy-tale, starring a poor old fisherman, a talking fish, and probably the most psychedelic wizard ever committed to film.
posted by wanderingmind at 2:19 PM PST - 32 comments

It's not a first-rate love song until somebody dies

How do you like your snow white pillow? How do you like your sheet?
And how do you like the fair young bride that's lying in your arms asleep?

What banks, what banks, are those, my love,
that rise so dark and cold?

And every jow that the dead bell gave
Cried: Woe to Barbara Allen. [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena at 12:35 PM PST - 30 comments

The Tragic Knickerbocker Storm of 1922

The Knickerbocker Theater was an old-fashioned movie palace in Washington, DC designed by Reginald W. Geare for local theatre mogul, Harry Crandall. On January 28, 1922, while patrons were watching Jimmy Durante's film debut in the comedy Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, 28 inches of snow caused the Knickerboof's roof to collapse, killing 98 people, in an event still known as the Knickerbocker snowstorm of 1922. [more inside]
posted by jonp72 at 10:44 AM PST - 23 comments

And they're all from Barcelona

I'm from Barcelona is making the 27 songs from their new album--one from each member of the band, one per day--available for free download, starting last Jan. 27th.
posted by brenton at 9:32 AM PST - 21 comments

You don't have to have a point, to have a point.

Once upon a time in the town of Point, everything - all the buildings, trees, and even the people were pointed. Except for one little round-headed kid named Oblio. "I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.'" – Harry Nilsson" [more inside]
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 9:19 AM PST - 44 comments

Nobody Home

For the past 21 years, across the limitless expanse of the North Pacific, a lonely whale has been singing, calling for a response. There has been none, and there never will. [more inside]
posted by Cobalt at 9:11 AM PST - 88 comments

Pretend Office

Phil Gyford (mefi's own!) realized last year that after he and his friends spent much of their professional lives freelancing, they were missing out on a key part of business life: Office Culture. So he invented his own, launching a synergizing solutioneering company site called Pretend Office complete with stock art. The key component that made the ruse complete was the inter-office @everyone mailing list, which is also online. Through the mailing list, they create the story of the most painful fictitious office on earth. A personal favorite of mine was the Christmas Dinner thread, do step through the conversation.
posted by mathowie at 9:10 AM PST - 21 comments

« Previous day | Next day »