Favorites from Blazecock Pileon
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Wavepot dot com
Wavepot is an online waveform editor and basic DAW programmable in javascript.
Choose a project on the right hand side to get started tweaking. Simple Sine is the most basic example, and projects like "ice cream" and "late morning" have complex patterns and bassline examples.
The new old Aphex Twin album
Richard D. James’ Caustic Window LP (MLYT)
After a successful kickstarter campaign fans get the goods
The Adventures of Snowdenbot
Inside Edward Snowden’s Life as a Robot.
"Since he first became a household name a year ago, Edward Snowden has been a modern Max Headroom, appearing only as a face on a screen broadcast from exile in Hong Kong or Russia. But in the age of the telepresence robot, being a face on a screen isn’t as restrictive as it used to be." Indeed: Snowdenbot performs tele-diagnosis and offers aid to reporter who had first epileptic seizure.
IXS Enterprise
What would a warp-drive ship actually look like? Artist Mark Rademaker has unveiled a set of concept images imagining what a faster than light spaceship would really look like based on theoretical done by Harold White and NASA on an Alcubierre Drive. Video lecture.
Pop quiz, hotshot
On the occasion of Speed's 20th anniversary, Hitfix presents an oral history of the movie, as told by the people on the bus.
California K-12 Teacher Tenure System Struck Down
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu said that the laws governing K-12 teacher job security were unconstitutional.
Treu declared the rules governing K-12 teacher tenure in California were unconstitutional because they affect predominately minority and poor students, allowing incompetent instructors to remain in the classroom. He said in the decision that the protections "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' fundamental right to equality of education." He went on to say that the evidence for this "shocks the conscience."
The decision ends the process of laying off teachers based solely on when they were hired. It also strips them of extra job safeguards not enjoyed by other school or state employees. And, lastly, it eliminates the current tenure process, under which instructors are either fired or win strong job security about 18 months after they start teaching.
The case was brought by a Silicon Valley group, Students Matter.
The suit has highlighted competing views of teacher tenure.
The decision has lead to significant and spirited debate over K-12 teacher job protections.
Empires love their dissidents foreign
Molly Crabapple talks Snowden, Pussy Riot, and Cecily McMillan: "Cooing over foreign dissidents allows establishment hacks to pose like sexy rebels—while simultaneously affirming that their own system is the best.
The dissident fetishist takes a brave, principled person, and uses them like a codpiece of competitive virtue.
The Kremlin loves (American) whistle-blowers. The State Department loves (Russian) anarchist punks."
The Kremlin loves (American) whistle-blowers. The State Department loves (Russian) anarchist punks."
3 iPad Airs, and 17 Gold Bars
2014 iPhone Photography Awards
"All images must be taken with an iPhone, iPod or an iPad. The photos should not be altered in Photoshop or any desktop image processing program."
Nothing to see here. Move along
A week later she got back to me and said do you really want all of these deaths? I said I do. She told me I would be charged for each record. Then she asked me did I realize the enormity of the numbers of deaths there?”It had long been known children had died in the Mother and Baby home for "fallen women" in Tuan Galway, but it was not until local historian Catherine Corless started investigating that it became clear that between 1925 and 1961, 800 children were buried in a mass grave on the site, possibly inside a septic tank.
The registrar came back with a list of 796 children. “I could not believe it. I was dumbfounded and deeply upset,” says Corless. “There and then I said this isn’t right. There’s nothing on the ground there to mark the grave, there’s nothing to say it’s a massive children’s graveyard. It’s laid abandoned like that since it was closed in 1961.”
Wrong Number
This Hotline Miami 2 trailer has insipred this Source Filmmaker remake of the same trailer with TF2 characters.
How To Fall Up While The Nation Falls Down
Tim Geithner says he doesn't know how he went from a "mediocre student" to leading the response to the "largest destruction of GDP in world history."
His resume highlights were from addressing economic crises in developing countries in ways that correlated strongly to increasing poverty and reducing growth. His main response to critics of his "bailout the top" approach is that disaster was the only alternative.
Turnin' and tossin' a-tossin' and turnin' through space
Star Trek scenes of crews reacting to collisions and/or explosions + video stabilization software + soundtrack from Lil Jon = Turn Down for Trek.
Reduced highway mpg in a 1-year-old car. What gives?
2013 Subaru Crosstrek XV got 32-33 highway mpg last year. Now it gets 28.
“It is the year 2001. You’re on your way to a space station…"
2001: A Space Odyssey -- A Look Behind the Future.
In 1966, Look magazine released a documentary on the making of Stanly Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and the science featured in the film. Vernon Myers, the publisher and president of the magazine, bookends the documentary, announcing that Look would feature the film in its magazine to coincide with its then-1967 release date. If you remember, Kubrick got his start in photography working for the magazine as a young man, so it makes sense that his former-employer would want to feature his upcoming film.
The Roosevelt Hotel Record Convention.
New York’s golden era had hip-hop luminaries digging in the crates at the legendary Roosevelt Hotel Record Convention.
Record dealer John Carraro reflects on introducing old music to the likes of Pete Rock, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Large Professor, Buckwild, Diamond D, Prince Be, Mr. Walt, and DJ Clark Kent, among others.
Without your space helmet, Dave?
Comedian and voice actor H. Jon Benjamin redubs the voice of HAL 9000 during a guest appearance on the Late Night Basement live show in Brooklyn.
Arnie Roth
Remember when Captain America had a gay best friend?
Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou 1928 - 2014
HOT PUPPY
How can I keep my dog cool during the summer months during walkies when it is still over 90 degrees out during the night?
Who are the choreographer and director of this mystery video footage?
The dance and visuals in this video continue to represent for me the summit of a certain kind of excellence after several years of repeated viewing.
Is there another pedal-forward electric bike besides the Electra Townie?
I was considering buying an Electra Townie Go, the electric version of the Townie, but I've gotten some feedback that it's ridiculously overpriced for an electric bike ($2200+ where most electrics are less than $1500) and that the battery is very weak. Are there other pedal-forward electric bikes?
Words fail
How can I support my bereaved friend?
Famous Names, Lost Interviews
blankonblank.org takes unheard interviews with famous musicians, innovators, authors, Hollywood stars and cultural icons and animates them. Interviews include everyone from Johnny Cash to Carol Burnett, Tupac Shakur to Farrah Fawcett, and Tim Gunn to Al Jaffee. blankonblank.org previously and previously. (Most interviews are ~5 minutes long.)
An Elegant Weapon For A Less Civilized Age
They were the finest European swords the day, superior to almost any other on the battlefields of the Viking Age. Made from steel no one in Europe would know how to make until the Industrial Revolution. Stronger, more flexible, almost magical in combat, engraved with the mysterious name "+ULFBERH+T" by unknown makers, these swords were the both fearsome weapons and incredibly expensive prestige possessions. Only 171 have every been identified. And no one had made one from start to finish, using only hand tools, for over 900 years.
Real Pornhub comments. Spinning right round, baby right round.
Like cheesy 3D animation and PornHub comments? Here you go!
"All Good Things..." 20 Years Later
Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga discuss writing the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale.
"Everyone On Wall Street Is A Dick."
The two-day Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) graduate showcase at NYU was a madhouse, with some 100 projects on view, ranging from groundbreaking innovations to timely trinkets. But the most talked about project by far was Peiqi Su's "Penis Wall" - an array of 81 robotic phalli that rise and fall in response to the stock market. Official Vimeo account for the project - Thesis presentation - in depth How-it-was-made production blog. (Slightly NSFW if your work doesn't like white, plastic, abstract dicks.)
I don't respect you, but I can't break up with you
Lack of respect is the number-one relationship-killer, right? So what do you do when you work with someone you don't respect on a very small team?
Snowing, even!
Go to the window for what? Just ask GiGi if you need to know the weather. She'll tell you. It's no trouble, what else does she have to do with her days anymore?
One Newark?
Almost four years after Mark Zuckerberg made a very well publicized 100 million dollar donation to Newark, NJ schools, and two years after the Newark Teachers Union agreed to a new merit-pay based contract, the current superintendent of schools, Cami Anderson is attempting a new education reform initiative called One Newark. Ironically, the plan has deeply divided the city, and last night members of the the Newark Students Union staged a sit-in at the Board of Education meeting, demanding Anderson resign.
Humping a playmate during a romp...
Decades of scientific research suggests that beneath dogs' seemingly frivolous fun lies a hidden language of honesty and deceit, empathy and perhaps even a humanlike morality.
"It is at times difficult to see past the shrillness of the debate"
A federal judge in Oregon has overturned that state's ban on same sex marriage, opening the door for couples to begin getting married immediately. (PDF)
These machines don't chant and sing
Railroad track today is laid by such monsters as the Plasser & Theurer SVM1000 Infranord, and specialized work trains renew old track (out with the old, in with the new in one pass)
Re-Thinking the Game of Monopoly
K. Mike Merrill at BigThink has some ideas on how to modernize Monopoly while helping players better understand the nature of our financial system.
Gag me with a spoon
Poolside Radio
is a bizarre slice of the 1980s in a browser. Strange old clips of 80s movies combined with 80s synth music and a lovely pastel palette make for a good time.
One Bucket, One Dog
No one loves his bucket more than Charlie
This is my bucket. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My bucket is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My bucket, without me, is useless. Without my bucket, I am useless. I must run with my bucket . I must with my bucket, be better than my enemy who has another bucket. My bucket is a dog, even as I am a dog, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its roundness and its red color. I will keep my bucket clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...Before God, I swear this creed. My bucket and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our yard and the yard with the cat next door. We are the saviors of my life . So be it, until victory is ours and there is no enemy, but peace!
Notes From the New Wave Queer Underground
Southern Belles, Latchkey Kids, and Thrift-Store Crossdressers. Worth a click if only for the photos of a teenage RuPaul.
The Court finds Idaho’s Marriage Laws unconstitutional
A federal judge in Idaho has issued a ruling (PDF) declaring Idaho's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, and today denied Gov. Butch Otter's motion for a stay on her decision overturning Idaho's ban on same-sex marriages.
Chocolate and water DO mix!
Molecular gastronomy at its most basic: Chef Heston Blumenthal makes chocolate mousse in five minutes using nothing but chocolate and water. (Heston Blumenthal (previously, pre-previously) [SLYT]