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Vol Libre, by Loren Carpenter: "I made this film in 1979-80 to accompany a SIGGRAPH paper on how to synthesize fractal geometry with a computer. It is the world's first fractal movie. It utilizes 8-10 different fractal generating algorithms. I used an antialiased version of this software to create the fractal planet in the Genesis Sequence of Star Trek 2, the Wrath of Khan. These frames were computed on a VAX-11/780 at about 20-40 minutes each."
posted by cortex at 3:16 PM PST - 18 comments

What is a Wilbury, and how does it Travel? These questions will not be answered in The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys [25m]. But the story of a few friends getting together to jam a bit is still worth checking out. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 3:07 PM PST - 6 comments

In How American Culture Ate the World [The New Republic; ungated], Dexter Fergie reviews Sam Lebovic's new book, A Righteous Smokescreen.
posted by chavenet at 11:57 AM PST - 11 comments

Welcome to Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge!
posted by geoff. at 9:19 AM PST - 21 comments

On Tuesday, Republican Governor Spencer Cox vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender athletes from participating in girls’ high-school sports (the second Republican Governor to do so (NYT link) this week). In doing so, he wrote a (perhaps surprisingly) thoughtful letter in an attempt to appeal to the humanity of his fellow legislators.

Yesterday, the Utah House and Senate overrode his veto.
posted by fight or flight at 8:18 AM PST - 41 comments

He is one of our great actors. Also one of our most inscrutable, most eccentric, and most misunderstood. But as Cage makes his case here, every extraordinary thing about his wild work and life actually makes perfect ordinary sense. [SL GQ]
posted by ellieBOA at 8:10 AM PST - 23 comments

On March 21, 2022, the number of known exoplanets passed 5,000 according to the NASA Exoplanet Archive. The music is created by playing a note for each newly discovered world. The pitch of the note indicates the relative orbital period of the planet. Planets that take a longer time to orbit their stars are heard as lower notes, while planets that orbit more quickly are heard as higher notes.
posted by adept256 at 6:35 AM PST - 9 comments