July 20, 2011

The Library of Congress documentary

The Library of Congress (1:30m), a tour documentary by C-SPAN.
posted by stbalbach at 11:32 PM PST - 8 comments

Ideas + Energy = Change

DO Lectures: a smaller, gentler TED, with annual conferences in Wales and the US. Every twenty-minute conference presentation is available as free online video. A sampling: Tim Berners-Lee on how the web just happened. Peter Segger on soil. David Allen on optimizing your brain.  A complete list of presenters. The Do Village blog.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 11:18 PM PST - 11 comments

A tool to test myself

Letters from Johns. Letters from Working Girls. Letters from Men Who Watch Pornography. Three projects from Susannah Breslin.
posted by vidur at 11:08 PM PST - 16 comments

Pakistan's Middle Class Extremists

Why Development Aid won't solve Radicalism "The data revealed four findings that undermine common wisdom about support for militancy in Pakistan...Overall, the findings suggest that arguments tying support for militancy to individuals’ socioeconomic status -- and the policy recommendations that often flow from this assumption -- require substantial revision."
posted by stroke_count at 10:52 PM PST - 6 comments

The Artway Project

The Artway Project - Alexander Artway photographer, adventurer - Throughout his life, Artway made photographs. He left an archive of over 5000 negatives and prints of Russia, New York, Philadelphia, and more - each one meticulously crafted and beautifully conceived. Most were made during the 1930's and range from iconic images of Manhattan to earthy illustrations of his Russian family working the land. New York 1930 -1938 - On the Deep Blue Sea - Russia 1927 - 1936 - Nudes (NSFW)
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 7:20 PM PST - 4 comments

Can he swing from a thread? Take a look overhead

The trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man reboot has been released. But does it rip off the 2008 videogame Mirrors Edge?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:57 PM PST - 192 comments

Soviet Literature Summarized

Sovlit.com is a very large and comprehensive site dedicated to the literature of the Soviet Union (both official and dissident), with summaries (fans of the genres might find the examples of Soviet science fiction and spy novels to be particularly interesting), biographies, and even some full translations of short stories from authors such as Isaac Babel, Vasily Grossman, Yevgeny Zamyatin, and others.
posted by a louis wain cat at 6:43 PM PST - 10 comments

O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love, what a beautiful Pussy you are!

Often attributed to Rossini, the «Duetto buffo di due gatti» ("humorous duet for two cats") is a popular performance piece for sopranos. [more inside]
posted by Nomyte at 6:31 PM PST - 11 comments

Abel Gance "Napoleon" Screening With Live Orchestra in March/April 2012.

Abel Gance "Napoleon" To Be Screened With Live Orchestra in March/April 2012. Kevin Brownlow partially restored version of Abel Gance's 1927 epic "Napoleon" was released in the late's 70's and early 80's. Initial viewing were shown with a live orchestra. Francis Ford Coppola had the distribution rights in the US and had his father, Carmine Coppola score the film. Brownlow's friend Carl Davis scored the European version. This along with other distribution issues lead to problems holding up any future release of any newer versions in this country until now.
posted by goalyeehah at 6:16 PM PST - 12 comments

Normal

U.S. Census Data for California: Married Couples with No Children are now the largest number of households, at 26%. 'New census figures show that the percentage of Californians who live in "nuclear family" households — a married man and a woman raising their children — has dropped again over the last decade, to 23.4% of all households. That represents a 10% decline in 10 years, measured as a percentage of the state's households.' [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 5:42 PM PST - 57 comments

Marriage in America

Divorce rates are higher than ever? Think again. A large majority—92%—of children whose families make more than $75,000 a year live with two parents (including step-parents). At the bottom of the income scale—families earning less than $15,000—only 20% of children live with two parents. Of those who first tied the knot between 1975 and 1979, 29% were divorced within ten years. Among those who first married between 1990 and 1994, only 16.5% were.
posted by lohmannn at 4:53 PM PST - 40 comments

Time to update your moon charts for the solar system.

Pluto may have been downsized in 2006, but it's still living large, moon wise: A fourth moon has been discovered orbiting the dwarf planet.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:11 PM PST - 82 comments

CLOUDed judgment

The chief of the world's leading physics lab at CERN in Geneva has prohibited scientists from drawing conclusions from a major experiment. The CLOUD ("Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets") experiment examines the role that energetic particles from deep space play in cloud formation. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General of CERN, said in an interview: "I have asked the colleagues to present the results clearly, but not to interpret them. That would go immediately into the highly political arena of the climate change debate. One has to make clear that cosmic radiation is only one of many parameters." [more inside]
posted by thescientificmethhead at 1:40 PM PST - 40 comments

One-man band

'A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of musical instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical contraptions.' Giulio Carmassi such a multi-instrumentalist. He uploads to YouTube jazz tunes & evergreens he records in his home studio. He often write, perform, sings, shoot & edit himself the whole productions. He also has a professional career.
posted by growabrain at 12:44 PM PST - 27 comments

Someone I Never Met

The Grandy Man: the story of Yankees All-Star Curtis Granderson's bond with the family of Brian Bluhm, a Detroit Tigers fan and blogger, gunned down in the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:44 PM PST - 6 comments

GQ Magazine Goes Down

GQ Gaffe in naming Boston Worst Dressed City: GQ Magazine in its "The 40 Worst-Dressed Cities in America" described Boston as suffering "from a kind of Style Down Syndrome" (since redacted). In a constructive response, Dr. Brian Skotko responds, "Mock my pants, not my sister." [more inside]
posted by plinth at 12:42 PM PST - 106 comments

It Takes Two (Argentines) To Tango

There is a crisis in Argentina due to foreign dancers' increasing proficiency in the tango, allowing them to defeat locals in important competitions.
posted by reenum at 12:25 PM PST - 29 comments

Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

Gamers, have you ever looked in the sci-fi aisle of your bookstore and wondered how there could possibly be novels set in the worlds of "Gears of War" or "Doom," but nothing in the richly imagined distopia of Bioshock? Have you fed your Art Deco obsession with Ryan-inspired fan fiction, wishing for something more? Wish no longer: Bram Stoker Award winner, sci-fi novelist, punk rocker, Blue Oyster Cult lyricist, etc. John Shirley has written the first official BioShock novel, "BioShock: Rapture," which hit store shelves yesterday. An excerpt of the book, which is a prequel to the first game, is offered here from publisher Tor. [more inside]
posted by jbickers at 12:16 PM PST - 63 comments

"Under Title IX, a woman is entitled to equal access to everything on a college campus. That includes being safe."

In response to campus advocates and new directives from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, Stanford University has lowered the evidence standard for cases of sexual misconduct from "beyond a reasonable doubt" to a "preponderance of the evidence". This move, which applied immediately and took effect during then on-going proceedings, was met with praise from students("If the new Standard of Proof bothers you, there’s an easy solution: don’t sexually assault people"), but has proved controversial among civil liberties organizations ("a shocking disregard for fair procedures on campus"), academic scholars ("a declaration of martial law against men...and a betrayal of the Title IX equity law"), and alumni ("The President’s recent decision is all the proof I need to know that the University shows little respect for the rights of students"). [more inside]
posted by Chipmazing at 12:13 PM PST - 126 comments

Geek Panic!

John Siracusa's (27,000 word) review of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. [more inside]
posted by mazola at 10:55 AM PST - 223 comments

The Case Against the Grand Egyptian Museum

Mohamed Elshahed writes in Jadaliyya about the many problems with the museums of Egypt, including their conflation of "Egyptian history" with "ancient Egypt", their tendency to address themselves to tourists rather than Egyptians, their recent domination by the influence Zahi Hawass (who has resigned as Minister of Antiquities for the second time in five months, after having first left his post in March over the looting of archaeological sites during the recent uprising), their poor organisation and shadowy finances and, not least, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities' use as a torture site during the protests in Tahrir Square.
posted by Dim Siawns at 10:42 AM PST - 12 comments

The NFL star and the brain injuries that destroyed him

Before the former American football player Dave Duerson killed himself, he asked that his brain be left to researchers studying head injuries among athletes.
posted by jonesor at 10:19 AM PST - 105 comments

The Eli Porter Documentary

People's Champion: Behind the Battle (The Eli Porter Documentary) [via] [more inside]
posted by AceRock at 9:48 AM PST - 7 comments

WTF Utah?!? I can't have a stiff drink?

Utahs liquor laws loosen, change, yet still seem the same (NYT) [more inside]
posted by handbanana at 8:45 AM PST - 109 comments

Sleepy Man Banjoy Boys: not at all like the Jonas Brothers

Let me introduce you to the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, fans of the Earl Scruggs style and sound. Don't be fooled by their name or their youth, as they have two speeds: fast and faster. Their name comes from their youngest member, Jonny Mizzone, who often played the banjo on a bed. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:22 AM PST - 17 comments

iTerm2 - Mac OS Terminal Replacement

Although Apple's OS X operating system is making inroads with power users, providing Apple style and usability over a FreeBSD-derived UNIX-certified architecture, many find the built-in terminal emulator sadly lacking both UNIX feel and Apple polish. Fortunately, MeFi's own jewzilla has picked up the ball on the most popular third-party Terminal replacement, iTerm, and rolled out something altogether new and wonderful: iTerm2. [via mefi projects]
posted by Mr. Anthropomorphism at 8:04 AM PST - 86 comments

Evidence-Based African First Aid Guidelines and Training Materials

Evidence Based, Culturally-relevant African First Aid Guidelines and Training Materials, from researchers at the Belgian Red Cross and Stellenbosch University. [more inside]
posted by The White Hat at 8:00 AM PST - 3 comments

I feel like I know what terpsichorean means, but I don't actually remember.

How many words do you know?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:34 AM PST - 258 comments

Sweatshop - a new game for kids!

Sweatshop is a new educational game for teenagers from Britain's Channel 4. Produced by Littleloud, Sweatshop aims to teach teens about the working conditions behind their clothes through a mixture of frenetic, tower defense-based arcade levels set in a contract clothing factory and factual inserts between levels. [more inside]
posted by running order squabble fest at 7:24 AM PST - 19 comments

Moirism voyeurism

Comedian Stewart Lee clarifies his view of comedian Michael McIntyre following a Jan Moir (the very same) article in the Daily Mail (itself a culmination of coverage elsewhere), which included for me the definitive out of context quotation... [more inside]
posted by nthdegx at 7:20 AM PST - 35 comments

The History of the Pizza Box

The History of the Pizza Box
posted by ShooBoo at 7:18 AM PST - 34 comments

BRC

The Black Rock Collective released their third zine free in digital format earlier this month. A group composed of artists with disparate styles gathered from all across the globe. Previous work includes shows with Threadless and custom sets of playing cards.
posted by mean cheez at 7:17 AM PST - 6 comments

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Pop Pilgrims : "When the AV Club Travels, we always make time to visit pop culture landmarks. If something memorable happened in the world of film, tv, books, or music, we want to go there. We're not just tourists, we're POP PILGRIMS." [more inside]
posted by crunchland at 4:51 AM PST - 13 comments

If you've seen these videos before you'll enjoy watching them again

571 is out. I don't have time for the longest video ever on youtube. 48 hours is too much. 36 hours, 24 hours,... too much. 13 hours? Too long! I don't have time for 10 hours. On the other hand, this film seemed all too short. It reminded me of another film with some guy and a cat (although Part 2 was better) which I think I saw in an abstract movie about food. [more inside]
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:56 AM PST - 24 comments

Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline

Naomi Klein, David Suzuki, Wendell Berry and others invite you to come to Washington DC and get arrested in an ongoing protest that aims to stop the Keystone XL oil pipeline from being constructed.
posted by mhjb at 3:22 AM PST - 24 comments

Fucking wanker!

"F**king wanker!" "Wanker!" "You f**king wanker!" "You f**king wanker! You tosspot!" "You stupid wanker!" "I am not a wanker!" "F**king are!" And the classic, "Wuuuarrrrgggh!" Ladies and gentleman, I bring you deranged Bristolian electric bicyclist Taypet21's YouTube channel. [more inside]
posted by hnnrs at 1:52 AM PST - 65 comments

You, you got what I need.

The History of Rap - Part 2 - w/Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake, The Roots. (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by sharkfu at 1:12 AM PST - 29 comments

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