May 29, 2016

Sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them

The 100 Greatest X-Men Of All Time - as determined (at length) by the Comics Alliance staff.
posted by Artw at 10:41 PM PST - 58 comments

America's War On Teens Out At Night

Between truancy and curfew laws teens can only legally be outside a few hours a day. In the US, the only country with teen curfew laws, millions have been arrested since the 90s for simply walking outside at night, with no strong evidence pointing to a reduction in crime.
posted by blankdawn at 10:33 PM PST - 54 comments

Teach The Controversy

The Verge Review of Animals: Spiders

This column is part of a series where Verge staffers post highly subjective reviews of animals. Up until now, we’ve written about animals without telling you whether they suck or rule. We are now rectifying this oversight. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:11 PM PST - 73 comments

Leyla McCalla: from classical cello to Langston Hughes and Haitian folk

Leyla McCalla is a classically trained cellist who grew up in New York with her Haitian parents. She moved to New Orleans where she performed on Royal Street and learned about the Haitian history of the community. McCalla also joined the Carolina Chocolate Drops and diversified her style and sound. With the combined influence of place and company, she started performing Haitian folk music, which she paired that music with poetry of Langston Hughes for her first solo album, Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes (Soundcloud album stream). That was two years ago, and now she has her second album, A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey (YT, official video for the title track; YT playlist), where she sings in Haitian Creole, French, and English. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:49 AM PST - 7 comments

40 or so studies about human perception in 25-30 minutes. Maybe 35.

Kennedy Elliott, graphics editor at The Washington Post presents a broad, graphics-filled overview of how humans perceive data graphics. [Links to Medium, not WaPo.]
posted by Room 641-A at 10:27 AM PST - 9 comments

The Dark Night Begins

The Dark Night Begins. Adam West hosts Hollywood Palace in October 1966. With Joey Heatherton, a French ventriloquist, Roy and Dale headed to Vietnam, George Carlin with an establishment-friendly set, the Charleston on top of an 80 foot pole, laxatives, cigarettes, cigars, cigarettes, cling peaches. Special telephone appearance from the Riddler. (SLYT)
posted by bendybendy at 8:59 AM PST - 25 comments

Stradivarius also made guitars

Five of them still exist, albeit chiefly as artifacts and inspiration for luthiers. In 2011, luthiers Daniel Sinier & Françoise de Ridder got the job of restoring one of them, a process they describe in some detail. End result, the Sabionari can go back on stage. Here's Rolf Lislevand (and others) making it work. [more inside]
posted by BWA at 8:58 AM PST - 21 comments

Pickpocket scanners

No PIN needed They enter an amount less than $50 and touch their phone to your pocket; money transfers immediately from your account. [more inside]
posted by naight at 8:53 AM PST - 56 comments

The Graves of the Marines I Lost

"In the early hours of Jan. 26, 2005, one of two large Marine helicopters transporting troops for this expanded and therefore riskier mission crashed, killing all onboard: 30 Marines and a Navy corpsman....I promised myself that night that I would visit all 31 grave sites. I needed to get a sense of where these military service members came from: the schools and churches they attended; the streets where they learned to drive; the neighborhoods where many of their families still lived."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:09 AM PST - 9 comments

A rolling blob gathers Omoss

Albert Omoss is an artist who uses computers to explore bodies as rubbery, entangled forms (all likely NSFW) and to make ads and data visualizations. Among other tools, he uses Processing to make hypnotic animations.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 2:56 AM PST - 13 comments

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