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Travelogue of Havana, Cuba in the 1930s. Posted to YouTube by the great Travel Film Archive (previously), apparently filmed by André de la Varre, an associate of Burton Holmes (previously).
posted by jjray at 10:50 PM PST - 6 comments

Back to the Hugos is a series by Sam Jordison of the Guardian Books blog where he reads and reviews old Hugo Award winners. He was once skeptical of the literary quality of science fiction but then started to examine the validity of the critical orthodoxy and is now a firm convert, as this review of The Man in the High Casle demonstrates, and now even goes to science fiction events. Among the other books he's covered so far are A Case of Conscience by James Blish, Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner and the latest review is of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. It's not all sunshine and roses though, The Big Time and The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber don't appeal to him and the dreadfulness of They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley makes Jordison doubt the value of democracy, at least when it comes to selecting litearary award winners.
posted by Kattullus at 10:42 PM PST - 40 comments

Alan Moore, the Northampton Wizard, as you've never seen him before - SLYT, Spanish with subtitles.
posted by Artw at 10:06 PM PST - 29 comments

The Hypothetical Library, a part-time book cover designer collaborates with a wide range of amazing, contemporary writers on a project outside of their normal body of work.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 9:30 PM PST - 7 comments

Sam Harris's talk on morality at TED has sparked a debate on whether science can have anything to say about moral problems. Harris, a prominent author and outspoken atheist, makes the politically incorrect assertion that there are right and wrong answers to questions of morality (as opposed to the concept of moral relativism), and that the methods of science can be used to determine them. [more inside]
posted by knave at 8:32 PM PST - 162 comments

My brother found this deer alone and malnourished when it was a tiny baby. My family bottle fed the baby, named Theen, until he was eating grass. Several months later he's very socialized with people, our black lab, and our cats. He is free to wander if he likes and we've seen him with several herds of whitetail and axis deer. Apparently he fits in just fine with them. He frequently comes back to the house to eat some catfood and play with our dog, Buddy. He doesn't care much for deer corn. One dog. One deer. One ball.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:31 PM PST - 55 comments

Our Solar System as Music Box. Speed it up to hurry pluto along, or slow it down to make it a sweet lullaby to contemplate the heavens with.
posted by snsranch at 6:53 PM PST - 38 comments

What you need are photos of Michael Buble Being Stalked By A Velociraptor.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:49 PM PST - 73 comments

The physics of Mothra
posted by elephantday at 5:56 PM PST - 28 comments

Steampunk Wheelchair. via
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:53 PM PST - 28 comments

Always Split Test (Even if you’re a bum): A marketing experiment to benefit the homeless, or a homeless experiment to benefit a marketer? Online marketing blogger "Brian" puts his talent to work by making a better sign for a homeless man.
posted by circular at 4:42 PM PST - 89 comments

Researchers at MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have identified two "morality centers" of the brain. In two separate experiments, they have shown a correlation between a particular part of the brain and the ability to make moral jusgments related to intent to commit a crime. In one experiment, patients with brain damage in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain don't consider hypothetical perpetrators to be morally responsible for their actions. In another experiment (noted on NPR today) the researchers showed that they could switch off the moral judgment function by applying a magnetic field to the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) of the brain. The TPJ has also been implicated in "out of body experiences", both in cases of brain damage and by artificially stimulating the area.
posted by darkstar at 4:41 PM PST - 32 comments

In honor of what would have been the Man in Black's 78th birthday last Friday, Flavorwire presents 78 Things You [Probably —Ed.] Didn't Know About Johnny Cash. Number 14: During his act in the 1950s, Cash flaunted a killer Elvis impersonation. Number 36: An ostrich attack in 1983 left Cash with five broken ribs and internal bleeding. [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco at 4:33 PM PST - 22 comments

Escher Circuits. What if you could compute the output of complex algorithms just by viewing an image?

Our everyday visual perceptions rely upon unfathomably complex computations carried out by tens of billions of neurons across over half our cortex. In spite of this, it does not “feel” like work to see. Our cognitive powers are, in stark contrast, “slow and painful,” and we have great trouble with embarrassingly simple logic tasks. Might it be possible to harness our visual computational powers for other tasks, perhaps for tasks cognition finds difficult? I have recently begun such a research program with the goal of devising ways of converting digital logic circuits into visual stimuli – “visual circuits” – which, when presented to the eye, “tricks” the visual system into carrying out the digital logic computation and generating a perception that amounts to the “output” of the computation. That is, the technique amounts to turning our visual system into a programmable computer.

posted by scalefree at 2:57 PM PST - 57 comments

What's the matter with Sweden? How public funding for the arts has turned countries like Sweden into Meccas for indie music.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:57 PM PST - 41 comments

Ricky Martin is a fortunate homosexual man.
posted by greekphilosophy at 1:42 PM PST - 219 comments

Is your breakfast giving you cancer? "Chances are, you started your day with a generous helping of folic acid. For more than a decade, the government has required enriched grains — most notably white flour and white rice — to be fortified with folic acid, the synthetic form of the B vitamin folate. Many food manufacturers take it further, giving breakfast cereals, nutrition bars, and beverages a folic acid boost, too. Yet, historic reviews have linked too much folic acid to an increased cancer rate. [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 1:38 PM PST - 63 comments

Thinking of getting an iPhone? There is an alternative, you know. It's a bit complicated, but this video will help you understand how to use it. (SLYT)
posted by grumblebee at 1:37 PM PST - 58 comments

In the loosely related fields of planetary science and apocalyptic fiction, the phrase “minimum orbit intersection distance,” or MOID, describes the closest point of contact between the paths of two orbiting objects. Most vividly invoked whenever an asteroid encroaches on our corner of the solar system, that bit of jargon also has its aesthetic uses. Consider the coordinates of Neil Young and Miles Davis on the evenings of March 6 and 7, 1970, at the juncture of East Sixth Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan.

Mapping the intersections of Miles Davis and Neil Young.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:24 PM PST - 21 comments

There are five great permanent tidal whirlpools in the world: off of Maine, the Old Sow Whirlpool has supposedly sunk ships; Japan's Naruto Whirlpools can be seen from space; Corryvreckan, off of Scotland, is the third largest; next is the original Maelstrom in Norway, which inspired Poe's story; and the most powerful of all is the Norse Saltstraumen [video]. All of these pale in comparison to the whirlpool formed in 1980 on Lake Peigneur in Louisiana, where a drilling rig penetrated a salt mine under the lake and 3.5 billion gallons of water drained away in three hours through a swirling vortex, as can be seen in this documentary excerpt.
posted by blahblahblah at 1:13 PM PST - 24 comments

Is Thailand Falling Apart?
The Battle for Thailand is ongoing and pragmatism has given way to dogmatic intransigence. In february talk of the next coup was raising political temperature; with rural Thailand simmering with anti-government rage.; and so Thailand’s Red shirted protesters went ahead with a Blood protest rally.
posted by adamvasco at 12:59 PM PST - 27 comments

Leaked CIA Report: "Public Apathy Enables Leaders To Ignore Voters" (pdf / Scribed link here) outlines possible public relations / propaganda strategies to shore up public support in Germany and France for a continued war in Afghanistan.
posted by zarq at 12:58 PM PST - 18 comments

Once Upon A Time In Norway (MLYT). An oral history of the early days of Black Metal. (via) [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:44 PM PST - 13 comments

Major League Baseball's opening day is less than a week away, so here are some videos to whet your appetite:
The shot heard 'round the world/The Giants Win the Pennant!
Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run, 1960 World Series
Hank Aaron hits home run number 715
Carlton Fisk waves it fair
Willie Mays: "The Catch." [more inside]
posted by starman at 12:00 PM PST - 63 comments

“Toronto Critics Praise Egoyan Stinker” blares the headline at Onion manqué URNews. They’re talking about Chloe (IMDB; official site), the new film by Canadian cinéaste Atom Egoyan that opened on 2,400 fewer U.S. screens than Hot Tub Time Machine. Critics are focussing on how Toronto plays itself for once – in the Globe and Mail, the irascible Liam Lacey panned the picture, then talked mostly about buildings and settings. Architecture porn... or lesbian porn? “Chloe turns from quiet family drama to loudly awful erotic thriller” is one gloss, but let’s let Choire Sicha adjudicate: “There is no less crude way to put this. Julianne Moore can act with her bosom.… The movie of course ends in absolute hysterics. Charles Busch couldn’t have plotted it better were he writing a sequel to Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.” [more inside]
posted by joeclark at 9:33 AM PST - 133 comments

Sure, you've heard that the Discovery channel's parent company will give Sarah Palin a show on The Learning Channel, but did you know that Levi's pitching an Alaska-based reality show called "Levi Johnston's Last Frontier?" Meanwhile, Bristol is going to appear on ABC Family as herself.
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:15 AM PST - 146 comments

Being looked upon as feebleminded is something I have been forced to endure my entire life. What an extremely difficult hole to have to climb out of, to fight for your own intelligence.
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 7:46 AM PST - 41 comments

"Ian Huntley gets his own jacuzzi and a gym in jail" - SLYT song about everyone's favourite middle-market British tabloid. (via lmg)
posted by roofus at 7:35 AM PST - 21 comments

Seven are arrested in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana in FBI raids linked to Christian militia group Hutaree, an extremist antigovernment group whose members are "preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive", after threats to Islamic organisations.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:33 AM PST - 201 comments

I penned the suckiest movie ever - sorry! Writer J.D. Shapiro apologises for Battlefield Earth the recent winner of the Razzie for Worst Picture Of The Decade.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:52 AM PST - 193 comments

"Surrounded by darker, deeper ocean waters, coral atolls often glow in vibrant hues of turquoise, teal, peacock blue, or aquamarine. Belize's Lighthouse Reef Atoll fits this description, with its shallow waters covering light-colored coral: the combination of water and pale corals creates varying shades of blue-green. Within this small sea of light colors, however, lies a giant circle of deep blue. Roughly 300 meters (1,000 feet) across and 125 meters (400 feet) deep, the feature is known as the Great Blue Hole." (Massive NASA image of the atoll). [more inside]
posted by bwg at 3:16 AM PST - 24 comments

At least 35 dead in attacks on the Moscow subway. "Yuri Syomin, the head of the Moscow prosecutor's office, said the attacks had almost certainly been carried out by suicide bombers who boarded the metro at the height of the rush hour." Speculation is rampant as to the source of the attacks, with Ingushetia, Chechnya or Agastarn.
posted by rodgerd at 2:06 AM PST - 80 comments

LGBT conference forcibly shut down by hardline Islamists. Last Friday, in Surabaya, Indonesia, a mob of 150 occupied the hotel where an ILGA-Asia conference was taking place. [more inside]
posted by micketymoc at 1:36 AM PST - 27 comments