MetaFilter

“The music and lyrics of punk rock provoke among the young fits of aimless rage, vandalism, and the urge to destroy everything they get their hands on. No matter how carefully they try to clean it up, it will remain the most reactionary offspring of the bourgeoisie mass culture.” Pravda Photographs and video of pre-Perestroika/Glasnost punks in the Soviet Union. [Some site images possibly NSFW]
posted by Isadorady at 11:08 PM PST - 22 comments

Orion's Belt is a rap duet between the insouciant twentysomething Kitty Pryde and the cartoonishly vivid RiFF RaFF. The two styles contrast each other hilariously.
posted by Rory Marinich at 10:35 PM PST - 88 comments

The worlds shortest scheduled airline flight is from Westray Island in the Orkney Islands to the nearby Papa Westray Island. You can watch all two minutes of the flight.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:41 PM PST - 67 comments

Dorothy Parker left her entire estate to Martin Luther King, Jr. Her close friend Lillian Hellman, who was the executor of Parker's estate, bitterly contested this decision but lost. [more inside]
posted by bendy at 7:46 PM PST - 36 comments

Though the 'Gangnam Style' music video and the reactions it creates have been mentioned before on MetaFilter, with the video analysed for the deeper socio-economic meanings and context within, to the bafflement of some Koreans and Australian journalists Psy's comeback track continues to climb various music video and song charts while 30,000 fans enthusiastically, and soakingly, sing and do that dance.
posted by Wordshore at 7:19 PM PST - 90 comments

Presenting the FLIZ velocipede, for anyone who's wondering what you get when you cross a German hipster and a wheeled banana.
posted by jimmythefish at 7:19 PM PST - 40 comments

After meeting a grisly end in "It All Means Nothing," Screaming Females guitarist Marissa Paternoster is back for revenge in "Leave It All Up to Me". [more inside]
posted by book 'em dano at 6:40 PM PST - 2 comments

When we started Diaspora two years ago, the project kicked off with amazing reception and support from people that believed in our ultimate goal: giving users ownership over their data. ... Today, the network has grown into thousands of people using our software in hundreds of installations across the web. There are hundreds of pods that have been created by community members, and it has become one of the biggest Github projects to date. ... Today, we are giving control of Diaspora to the community.

Diaspora*, the open social network, is now owned by its user base. [more inside]
posted by rebent at 5:37 PM PST - 44 comments

The American Conservative and the Revolt of the Rich
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:31 PM PST - 62 comments

YOUR QUESTION: You have the ability to, for one night, reanimate any two historical personages (“historical” = “not currently alive”) and have them discuss/debate a topic of your own choosing. Which two historical personages do you choose, and what subject do you have them discuss/debate? (from MeFi's own Jscalzi)
posted by The Whelk at 5:18 PM PST - 136 comments

Matte World Digital, the visual effects studio founded in 1988 (as Matte World) by Craig Barron, Mike Pangrazio, and Krys Demkowicz, created fantastic movie environments through matte painting. A victim of the contracting visual effects industry, Matte World Digital announced their demise with a thoughtful post on their web site.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 5:18 PM PST - 17 comments

OnLive Lost: As founder and CEO Steve Perlman departs, The Verge looks at how OnLive failed and what remains of the revolutionary, restructured cloud-based gaming company. [more inside]
posted by 2bucksplus at 4:54 PM PST - 22 comments

The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History in Toronto, Canada is one of the largest collections of adventure and role-playing games and supplements in existence. [more inside]
posted by Shadax at 4:48 PM PST - 8 comments

Jeff Altman has posted several stunning examples of his grandfather's Kodachrome 40 8mm home movies.

Previously with less, but now with more!! [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf at 4:22 PM PST - 14 comments

While attending the International Fireworks Show in Ottawa, Canada earlier this month photographer David Johnson had his camera in hand to document the night. When Spain’s entry into the competition begin he decided to try something a little different resulting in the photos you see here which are unlike any long exposure firework shots I’ve ever seen.
posted by nickyskye at 4:18 PM PST - 35 comments

Oh now, this really is ridiculously cute. slyt
posted by howfar at 4:14 PM PST - 39 comments

Have you ever wondered what the water temperature off the Kamchatka Peninsula is? What about the wind speed in the Andaman Sea? Or maybe you’re losing sleep over the chlorophyll levels in the South Pacific. Fortunately, all of that information –- and 450 million other data points collected from oceanographic instruments around the world –- is freely and easily accessible thanks to the Marinexplore project. [more inside]
posted by Egg Shen at 4:13 PM PST - 3 comments

Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel - An excellent 90 minute BBC documentary, the story of the legendary country rock pioneer as told by contemporary musicians, family, and friends. It includes rare performance footage. (Via Dangerous Minds) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive at 3:09 PM PST - 17 comments

The South Pole Foucault Pendulum
posted by beshtya at 1:53 PM PST - 42 comments

Paleo by Jim Lawson was a comic book series set during the Late Cretaceous and featuring dinosaurs as protagonists. It was in print between 2001 and 2004, but is now being "reprinted" as a webcomic. [more inside]
posted by brundlefly at 12:34 PM PST - 8 comments

On being a nude model for artists: males (1, 2, 3), females (1, 2, 3, 4).
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:27 AM PST - 66 comments

Sarah Stillman for the New Yorker on confidential informants and the ends they meet -- "Gaither was tortured, beaten with a bat, shot with a pistol and a shotgun, run over by a car, and dragged by a chain through the woods." [more inside]
posted by grobstein at 11:04 AM PST - 84 comments

Alfonso Calza created this video from photographs he took of the streets, desert, ocean, mountains, and ruins of Morocco.
posted by gman at 10:44 AM PST - 5 comments

My Boss Has Body Odour and I Have Sex with My Twin. Four advice columnists — Cheryl Strayed, Cary Tennis, Emily Yoffe and Lynn Coady — talk shop. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 10:24 AM PST - 59 comments

Equality Matters' Carlos Maza goes undercover at the National Organization for Marriage's Student Conference
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:01 AM PST - 77 comments

Winter is coming. Are you ready for some football? In Westeros, they put the "fantasy" in fantasy football. [more inside]
posted by fuse theorem at 9:39 AM PST - 53 comments

Hawk Krall loves hot dogs, sampling and illustrating the nation's finest encased and embunned meats from Tijuana to Maine, and everywhere in between. Hold the ketchup, please.
posted by theodolite at 9:06 AM PST - 39 comments

There are fewer microbes out there than you think. New estimate reduces the number of microbes on Earth by around half. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 9:01 AM PST - 38 comments

Presenting your source for all things iron gall ink. [more inside]
posted by jedicus at 8:47 AM PST - 8 comments

Malcolm Browne, the war correspondent who took one of the most iconic and disturbing photographs of the Vietnam conflict, has died. He was 81. [more inside]
posted by Rangeboy at 7:24 AM PST - 18 comments

Are there as many odd numbers as there are all numbers? Can one infinity be bigger than another? TED Ed and Minute Physics both take a look at some of the mind boggling realities of Infinity.
posted by quin at 5:26 AM PST - 148 comments

'Dark Lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets 'finally revealed to be London prostitute called Lucy Negro' [dailymail.co.uk] "New research claims The 'Dark Lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets was a notorious London prostitute named Lucy Negro or Black Luce - a dark-skinned madam who ran a licentious house in Clerkenwell."
posted by Fizz at 5:25 AM PST - 94 comments

"Our bull is very strong, so let's call him Optimus Prime." A look at the sport of water buffalo fighting in southwest China. (Don't miss the video on the article page.)
posted by mark7570 at 4:55 AM PST - 13 comments

Tunneling in any dense urban environment is an expensive proposition, but the $5 billion price tag for just the first two miles of the Second Avenue subway cannot be explained by engineering difficulties. The segment runs mainly beneath a single broad avenue, unimpeded by rivers, super-tall skyscraper foundations or other subway lines. American taxpayers will shell out many times what their counterparts in developed cities in Europe and Asia would pay. In the case of the Second Avenue line and other new rail infrastructure in New York City, they may have to pay five times as much. Amtrak is just as bad. Its $151 billion master plan for basic high-speed rail service in the Northeast corridor is more expensive than Japan’s planned magnetic levitating train line between Tokyo and Osaka, most of which is to be buried deep underground, with tunnels through the Japan Alps and beneath its densest cities. - U.S. Taxpayers Are Gouged on Mass Transit Costs
posted by beisny at 2:35 AM PST - 104 comments

"I think exotic white people are beautiful and their culture is fascinating. But it upsets me when they tell me, “Wow, you look so white, are you sure you’re not?” I know they think it’s a compliment." -- It's not quite p.c., but exotic white girls is a genuine celebration of white culture by somebody who has long been fascinated by this proud people and their strange ways.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:16 AM PST - 214 comments