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Balance from Within is a robotic, self-balancing sofa by artist Jacob Tonski. (via @golan)
posted by gwint at 8:29 PM PST - 17 comments

In June 2013, the Allegheny County Council approved the yarn bombing of the Andy Warhol Bridge in Pittsburgh, in celebration of Warhol's 85th birthday [previously mentioned on MeFi]. On 11 August, 1800 volunteers blanketed (heh) the bridge in 3000 feet of hand-knitted panels. More photos and behind the scenes. [more inside]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:36 PM PST - 27 comments

Bobby Riggs, The Mafia and The Battle of the Sexes.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 5:03 PM PST - 44 comments

The American film industry is in trouble. Does this mean the end of the blockbuster as we know it?
posted by rcraniac at 4:32 PM PST - 343 comments

Wonkblog has a new advice column called "Dear Dylan" where Dylan Matthews answers the usual advice column staples using game theory, mathematics and charts.
posted by reenum at 2:17 PM PST - 30 comments

"On August 25, 1921, the largest labor insurgency in American history and the largest civil uprising since the Civil War began in Logan County, West Virginia when 10,000 miners and their supporters went to war with 3000 coal mine executives and their hired thugs. The Battle of Blair Mountain is one of the least known major events in American history." -- America's long labour history, even such spectacular events like the Battle of Blair Mountain, is largely unknown, but historian Erik Loomis is trying to change that with his This Day in Labor History series for Lawyers, Guns and Money.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:13 PM PST - 40 comments

On August 23, 2013, voice teacher Sarah Horn went with her friends and family to see Kristin Chenoweth (previously on Metafilter) in concert at the Hollywood Bowl. When, after intermission, Ms. Chenoweth asked if anyone in the audience knew Wicked's "For Good", Sarah Horn volunteered that she did. What happened next (closer video here) has gotten more than 300,000 views since it went up Friday night.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:23 AM PST - 104 comments

Across three decades, his goal was to drive a scientist’s skepticism into the heart of India, a country still teeming with gurus, babas, astrologers, godmen and other mystical entrepreneurs. Dr Narendra Dabholkar, a former physician, was assassinated at age 67 earlier this week in the city of Pune. From Times of India: "Since 1983, he was confronted time and again by many religious and spiritual gurus, and faced several threats and even physical attacks. But he rejected police protection for himself. 'If I have to take police protection in my own country from my own people, then there is something wrong with me,' he used to say. 'I'm fighting within the framework of the Indian constitution and it is not against anyone, but for everyone.'"
posted by storybored at 11:18 AM PST - 43 comments

Mind Your Manners is only the 14th music video from Pearl Jam across their 23 year career. It was directed by Danny Clinch, and includes animations from Andy Smetanka. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 10:35 AM PST - 19 comments

'Just a small-time cat, livin' in a lonely world.' Cat puppet. Journey lyrics.
posted by angrycat at 10:13 AM PST - 30 comments

Here is a video of the philosopher Graham Priest giving a talk at the 2012 Conference on Paradox and Logical Revision. He addresses three questions. Can logic be revised? If so, can it be revised rationally? If so, how? [more inside]
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 9:55 AM PST - 22 comments

5 Math experts split the check. From Math with Bad Drawings.
posted by zabuni at 9:53 AM PST - 26 comments

Actress Julie Harris, best known for roles in the film East of Eden and on television's Knots Landing, has died at the age of 87. [more inside]
posted by DRoll at 9:10 AM PST - 16 comments

Patrick Cockburn: Syria's Civil War is complicated and from the LRB in May: The quagmire is turning out to be even deeper and more dangerous than it was in Iraq.
Did Syria gas its own people? The evidence is mounting.
The Guardian postulates that it was Assad's ruthless brother who mastermind alleged the Syria gas attack.
posted by adamvasco at 8:30 AM PST - 527 comments

"We were roommates, Marine infantry officers, perpetually sleep-deprived from the training, the planning, the preparations for war. Back then coffee was little more than a bitter, caffeine-delivery system. It was just what we needed to stay awake. We were missing so much." And so begins the story of two former marines and their quest for the perfect cup of coffee. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:28 AM PST - 60 comments

U.S. public radio program Studio 360 held a battle of the high school bands. Listeners were asked to submit tracks recorded by bands they were in during high school. The submissions, which were recorded in six different decades, are on a Soundcloud page. The judges, Andrew W.K. and Thao Nguyen selected the winning song, The River, which was made by three young women from the Nashville area who go by Bea, Rita & Maeve. You can hear their song and a cover created by Andrew W.K. and Thao Nguyen here. The show also created two volumes of mixtapes of the best submissions.
posted by Area Man at 7:15 AM PST - 6 comments

'There’s more lobster out there right now than anyone knows what to do with, but Americans are still paying for it as if it were a rare delicacy.' Also, from 2004: David Foster Wallace goes to the Maine Lobster Festival. Via)
posted by zarq at 6:02 AM PST - 62 comments

High hopes: the UFO cult 'restoring' the victims of female genital mutilation [more inside]
posted by moody cow at 4:41 AM PST - 28 comments

In two days, Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series vol. 10 will be released. The 12-minute promo video that's currently streaming at Amazon is full of enticing audio snippets of Dylan in fine vocal form, as well as talking heads from Self Portrait producer Bob Johnston and collaborators David Bromberg and Al Kooper.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:18 AM PST - 23 comments

Twenty-five years ago, in the pre-dawn of August 25, 1988, a fire started in downtown Lisbon's Carmo Street and quickly spread to Garrett Street and others, destroying a total of 18 buildings of the Chiado. Two people were killed, and 73 were injured (60 of them firemen). Between 200 and 300 people lost their homes. Several of the historical shops were lost. In terms of the extent of the city affected and number of destroyed buildings, the Chiado fire is considered the worst disaster to strike the city since the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake. A rebuilding project directed by Portuguese architect Siza Vieira has, to a great extent, returned the area to its former glory. The exterior look of the buildings were restored, while the interiors have been completely renovated. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 12:04 AM PST - 2 comments