August 20, 2015
I thought, Oh my god this is really a jail
Behind the Wire is an oral history project documenting the stories of men, women and children who have experienced Australian mandatory detention over the past 22 years. It seeks to bring a new perspective to the public understandings of mandatory detention by sharing the reality of the people who have lived it. [more inside]
No, not emoji-only web browsers.
Eric Andrew Lewis has created a fun, novelty website that converts pictures into emoji mosaics. It has received some press-release-style coverage at Gizmodo, Cosmopolitan, TIME, and other sites.
Make The NOISE!
Take one rotten 1980 Mini 1000 and one Toyota Celica GT-Four and use all their guile, cunning and skill to graft them together to create a Frankenstein’s monster of a car. [more inside]
Run! Run, fat boy, run!
We created a live action first-person zombie shooter in our garden - then invited unsuspecting people on chatroulette, omegle and skype to take control. [Behind the Scenes] [via]
And down and down and down and down you go
7.5 Million Wasps
As well as founding the field of sexology, Alfred Kinsey was an avid entomologist who collected 7.5 million specimens of gall wasps and plant galls. After his death his collection was donated to the American Museum of Natural History.
Through 50 States in 70 Days (with an American flag)
The NFL's current mantra -making football safer - is silly and pointless
"Based on that definition, how many concussions do you think you've had?" she asked. Borland paused. "I don't know, 30?" he said finally. "Yeah, I think 30's a good estimate."
With youth football enrollment in decline, increased research expenditures to make football safer, and further troubling developments with former players, Chris Borland's high profile retirement after a promising rookie season seemed to mark a turning point for the NFL (previously). [more inside]
With youth football enrollment in decline, increased research expenditures to make football safer, and further troubling developments with former players, Chris Borland's high profile retirement after a promising rookie season seemed to mark a turning point for the NFL (previously). [more inside]
Virtually Abandoned Places
Touring abandoned college campuses, Second-Life style. What happened to the virtual-world dreams of a decade ago? Patrick Hogan of Fusion investigates, and finds a pirate ship, Test Questios [sic], and defunct certification programs. Get comfy. [via ArsTechnica]
The Country's Largest Mental Health Hospital
The Cook County Jail, the nation's largest single site jail, recognizing that it handles the largest number of mentally ill people of any facility in the country, has been taking steps to help the mental ill in its cells. Last month, Nneka Jones Tapia, a clinical psychologist who previously ran the mental health program at the jail, was appointed as the executive director.
Many of these improvements were put in place after a damning 2008 report by the US Department of Justice. Sheriff [more inside]
How about four seasons and EIGHT movies?
Hollywood's reboot-a-palooza continues with the recent release of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", based on the classic 1960's television series starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. However, this is far from the first time the property has been in theaters. [more inside]
The most efficient way to move around in the forest canopy
'Base Jumping' Spider Soars from Rainforest Treetops "They immediately right themselves, which means they turn dorsal side up [back facing the sky], and they essentially sail over towards the tree trunk — kind of like a Frisbee that's not spinning," Yanoviak said. The spider glides down headfirst for about 16 to 26 feet (5 to 8 meters), before hitting the trunk of the same tree from which it just leaped, he added.
Flowetry in motion
2009 UK Slam Poetry Champion Hollie McNish, aka Hollie Poetry, questions our attitudes on immigration with Mathematics. [more inside]
"No observable talent is required to gain admission to AAU"
Black Arts: The $800 Million Family Selling Art Degrees and False Hopes: The Stephens family has amassed an impressive fortune - the kind of fortune where you name your yacht after yourself - through their for-profit art school The Academy of Art University. Headed by "Doctor" Elisa "The Princess" Stephens, the AAU is being increasingly criticised for leaving students in debt (an estimated $45 million in 2013-14) and exploiting loopholes in funding requirements. [more inside]
"Are Lawyers Getting Dumber?"
Bloomberg wonders why last's year Bar Exam pass rates were notably lower. Officials who administer the national multiple-choice portion of the exams said this was a predictable result of the lower credentials of the test-takers when they entered law school versus those of earlier entering classes. Deans of lower-ranked law schools whose accreditation (and federal loan eligibility) depend in part on Bar pass rates don't like that answer. (Earlier this week, the WSJ noted the growing debt of law students, the expanding programs which reduce payments and ultimately forgive balances, and suggests the latter is now starting to drive the former: some people are only borrowing because they know they won't have to repay in full.)
Social Justice Witcher
I wanted to see if instead I could play a character whose interests were a bit less tedious than being some empty, unquestionable Nietzschean superman. I wanted to test the so-called freedom of what is clearly the most groundbreaking open world game of our generation, to see if I could reject the usual triple-A heroism and play a character who is sensitive, humble, committed to social justice rather than self-aggrandisement. I wanted to play a male character who could be an actual ally to the empowerment of his female co-stars, a-la the new Mad Max, rather than just the tough guy who saves them. I wanted to immerse myself in this world committed to freeing its inhabitants from their miserable feudal bondage, rather than just saving the day and making sure that the system can survive.
I wanted to play a hero that Gamergate couldn’t wank over.
"This is B.S., but you're trying to make me think it's true."
Pregnant? Scared? Need Options? Too Bad: "The majority of pregnancy-center staff I've met are Evangelical Christians who say they're dedicated to helping women escape a cycle of premarital sex and spiritual pain. Yet at the conference, Heartbeat speakers coached center staff to scrub their websites of Christian references. Speakers also recommended pregnancy-center staff to discourage women and girls from not only abortion but also contraception by emphasizing disproven "negative consequences" and encouraging "sexual integrity," meaning sex only within heterosexual marriage. All of this is supported by tens of millions of federal and state dollars." [more inside]
It stands for "Special Person Entering the World... Egg Yolks"
In 1990, the Fox network was looking for a sitcom to become the next Cosby Show. So initially, David Mirkin, Adam Resnick and Chris Elliott pitched Get A Life as "What would Dennis the Menace be like, at age 30?": a show starring Elliott as a likeable, wisecracking 30 year old bachelor who lives with his parents, has a job as a paperboy and is beating the system by refusing to grow up. But once they had a green light.... [more inside]
Well… maybe it isn’t beauty in EVERY direction
it's mostly pee i think
Pitch Perfect was an inside job
A mind-blowing breakdown of the symbology and politics of Pitch Perfect. The most radical and honest film of our time. (SLYT)
DNA sculptures in London
Gaming's silent heterogeneity
While more girls are (silently) enjoying games than you might think, many still feel cultural pressure to unlearn that love. Is this reinforced by an orthodoxy about who the "core" gamer is? Let's hope not.
Can you add faster than a 5 year old
CMA is a "brain development program designed to develop higher learning capability and aims to promote mental arithmetic, enhance memory, boost creativity, and increase focus using the principle of Abacus". Watch some kids from The Philippines calculates in seconds, using their fingers. (SLYT)
Making a State By Iron and Blood
The creative apocalypse that didn't happen
Steven Johnson looks into concerns that the internet would destroy creators. He finds that while some bad things happened, "economic trends suggest that the benefits are outweighing the costs."
By the time we drop Deez Nuts on them, they’re pretty deep into the poll
Deez Nuts, the Independent candidate from Iowa, is polling at 9 percent in North Carolina for President of the United States. Sadly, Deez Nuts does not appear to exist. But Brady Olson does [...] Brady Olson is 15 years old. He filed to run for the President of the United States with the FEC on July 26 as Deez Nuts.Presidential Sensation Deez Nuts Is a 15-Year-Old Iowa Farm Boy
amusements and anarchism
What is this, a pub for ants?
Feel like spending 20 minutes watching somebody build an elaborate dollhouse-sized bar today? Here you go.
“'Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice.”
A Mad Hatter’s Mashup Party: Reimagining Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with public domain and CC-licensed art. [Medium]
The Public Domain Review has invited a dozen Lewis Carroll experts to annotate a special version of the story with lots of fun trivia and facts about the book and its author. You’ll find their comments in the margin notes. We’ll be publishing two new annotated chapters here each week for the next six weeks.[more inside]
Una poca de gracia
Google Translate's real-time sign translation [Word Lens] vs. La Bamba. Plus a link to a video interview with creator Otavio Good about how it works.
Shutdownify is shutting down
"It is with tremendous regret that I must announce the shutdown of Shutdownify"Once the darling of the neo-dot-com era, Shutdownify (Shutdown Notice as a Service) is no more after failing to secure additional funding. What a long, strange journey it has been.
The Village Where Men Are Banned
The Village Where Men Are Banned (and accompanying photos). Julie Bindel at the Guardian writes about the Kenyan village of Umoja, where for 25 years, since the village was founded by survivors of sexual assault, only women and their children have lived.
GCHQ and Me
United States of Emoji
Let's get small.
Apparently, Оркестр "Тагильские гармоники can be translated in two ways: one is "welcome to accordion Hell", and the other is "hey, all you accordion players, while you play your accordions, watch me play these INCREDIBLY TINY accordions that I pull out of buckets!"
Sympathy for Harper {/}
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