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"For those of us who prefer to spend our days enjoying things, it is a fact of life: Lots of disagreeable people like things that might otherwise be pretty cool." Ruined By Its Fans attempts to quantify how much fans are able to ruin everything.
posted by NoraReed at 11:55 PM PST - 70 comments

"The chili pepper does not want to be your friend. It wants to hurt you so badly you turn it loose," writes Mary Roach. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb at 11:36 PM PST - 27 comments

The Right to Evade Regulation: How corporations hijacked the First Amendment.
posted by homunculus at 11:12 PM PST - 13 comments

Save The Date by Paper Dino Software starts out as a dating sim visual novel, but becomes rather something else. Windows Mac Linux downloads. [more inside]
posted by juv3nal at 11:01 PM PST - 14 comments

Magdalena Bors constructs and photographs fantastical landscapes in domestic spaces. Her site doesn't make it easy to link specific images, so check out the different galleries under Images.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:13 PM PST - 4 comments

Franck Goddio, an underwater archaeologist, shares the explorations of three recently re-discovered cities off the coast of Egypt, including Alexandria (1997 NOVA documentary *), Canopus, and Thonis-Heracleion (the Egyptian and Greek names for the city, not to be confused with the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis). A new documentary on Thonis-Heracleaion was produced for the Franco-German TV network, Arte, and you can watch the German version here. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:11 PM PST - 16 comments

"How a Waka Flocka Flame Concert Ended My Marriage and Saved My Life": Where a woman goes to a concert headlined by the artist called "the most attention-starved character in hip-hop" known for making "brute, no-nuance bangers" [(previously)] and comes out with a new perspective on life and her failing marriage. [more inside]
posted by raihan_ at 6:45 PM PST - 73 comments

Orson Scott Card's Unaccompanied Sonata [Google Books], which he has called one of his favorite short stories, is an darkly enchanting tale about a boy who, at a young age, is taken from his family and brought to a house deep in the forest...
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:06 PM PST - 41 comments

A group of young girls in black and white tights perform a trippy dance......to the popular tune of German folk-rock polka band Hiss.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:48 PM PST - 19 comments

In the days following 9/11, knowing they would soon have time for little other than anti-terrorism activities, FBI agents arrested Ana Montes, a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst later convicted of espionage for spying on behalf of the Cuban government. Over the course of her "meteoric career" she became the agency's lead analyst for Cuban military affairs, despite having been recruited as an agent before even applying for the DIA post. [more inside]
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:45 PM PST - 14 comments

On "Geek" vs "Nerd"
posted by cthuljew at 4:48 PM PST - 82 comments

Will Campbell, the only white person present at the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, friend of Klansmen, and iconoclast preacher, has died at age 88. [more inside]
posted by willF at 4:46 PM PST - 10 comments

Hullloooo, this is Scott Manely! He likes making tutorial videos of Kerbal Space Program, a space flight simulator game. After more than a few design suggestions from his father, who's an engineer, Scott decided to let him 'show me how it's done' and design a spaceplane.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:17 PM PST - 30 comments

OK Go helps NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts move to their new digs across town.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:04 PM PST - 10 comments

The hot ticket in Dallas this past Saturday night was for the Ira Glass talk at the Winspear. But the hipper ticket was in the nearby Kessler X+ section of Oak Cliff, where Matt Tolentino and his Singapore Slingers shared a bill with Kristy Kruger that blew the roof off the beloved Kessler Theater. Ira, a pal of Kristy's, showed up after his own gig and danced his ass off.
posted by azaner at 3:40 PM PST - 15 comments

Three-year-old boy explains why he won't eat his octopus. (slyt)
posted by pjenks at 3:07 PM PST - 73 comments

New Jersey Children Forced to Shun Sad, Friendless Bear.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:26 PM PST - 73 comments

Feel adrift in the home renovation store? This screwdriver business leaving you confused? Billy Bragg (and Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee, and many others) feel your pain. (Vevo version)
posted by maudlin at 1:13 PM PST - 21 comments

Patent trolling is viewed by many as modern scourge on the software industry that arguably does not stimulate innovation, but stifles it. The drumbeat has been getting louder for action against the practice. Today, the White House has announced that it is ready to take action. Previously
posted by Didymium at 12:51 PM PST - 180 comments

It seems that Philadelphia CBS 3 anchor Nicole Brewer and meteorologist Carol Erickson utterly despise each other, and are not shy about showing it on the air.
posted by DecemberBoy at 12:50 PM PST - 59 comments

"So. I get it. The world used to agree with you. You used to be able to say things like, “I really like those lady writers in this industry, especially in swimsuits!” and your fellow writers, editors, agents, and other assorted colleagues would all wink and grin and agree with you, and Asimov would go around pinching women’s asses, and it was so cool!" -- Kameron Hurley is not amused by the ongoing sexism problems in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America or the idea that criticism of this is censorship. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 11:45 AM PST - 287 comments

Our American Pravda. A provocative essay on the flaws of the American media by the editor and publisher of the American Conservative, Ron Unz, containing:
allusions to conspiracy theories
condemnation of Soviet spies (and a kind word for Joe McCarthy),
criticism of the FBI,
approving quotations of Paul Krugman,
fresh questions about the moral character of John McCain and his fitness for office,
disapproving descriptions of the Obama administration as "Bush's thrid term,"
and a broadside against the selling of the Iraq war calling it the "greatest strategic disaster in United States history." [more inside]
posted by Diablevert at 10:54 AM PST - 46 comments

Glenn Gould on and off the record. The Russian Journey. Extasis. Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. The Goldberg Variations (1955), (1981). The Well-Tempered Clavier. Beethoven Sonatas. The Idea of North. TL;DW: Gould plays Bach
posted by seemoreglass at 10:30 AM PST - 19 comments

An interview with Greg Lukianoff, founder of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education where he tackles that fine line between harrassment and sharing an opinion.
posted by Leezie at 10:25 AM PST - 34 comments

If you pay them money, partisans will tell you the truth. (via Marginal Revolution)
posted by shivohum at 10:03 AM PST - 32 comments

To document the amazing beauty of the moment, Photographer Brady Dyer had his girlfriend Emma take a 360 panorama at sunset from their rooftop in Florence, Italy, it ended with unexpected sweetness. [slyt | via]
posted by quin at 8:20 AM PST - 66 comments

In Defense of Henry Kissinger - The 20th Century's Greatest 19th Century Statesman [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:09 AM PST - 92 comments

The Finnish welfare state gives every parent a box for their child. While so many politicians gnash their teeth and "think of the children", while cutting benefits or ignoring the massive number of kids dying from firearms, the Finns give every expectant parent a box. The box contains everything a parent needs to get started, including the box to sleep in (with a little mattress), and has been credited by public health officials with massively reducing infant mortality.
posted by petrilli at 8:08 AM PST - 144 comments

Ugly Belgian Houses
posted by KokuRyu at 7:34 AM PST - 70 comments

Kristin Beck, a former Navy Seal who was once a member of Seal Team 6, has just published a memoir Warrior Princess in which she describes her journey to coming out as transgender. Reports on the book and Beck are at the Atlantic Wire and SOFREP. [more inside]
posted by Area Man at 6:42 AM PST - 97 comments

Black Americans were nearly four times as likely as whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates (SLNYT)
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:50 AM PST - 89 comments

'Kindness' covers all of my political beliefs. A new cartoon from Gavin Aung Than's Zen Pencils inspired by the late, great Roger Ebert. (Zen Pencils previously)
posted by NoMich at 5:48 AM PST - 21 comments

A jury has awarded teacher Christa Dias $170,000 in an anti-discrimination lawsuit in Ohio against the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:03 AM PST - 105 comments

"All of man’s problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone." [more inside]
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 1:43 AM PST - 64 comments