Ever wonder how many variants of jumpsuits there can be? Do mock turtlenecks belong in space? Why is brown the color of respecting alien cultures?
Fashion It So takes on the couture of the 24th century one Next Generation episode at a time.
posted by The Whelk
on Jul 3, 2011 -
32 comments
Is Chillwave the Next Big Music Trend? -
Wiki: Chillwave is a debated genre of music where artists are often characterized by their heavy use of effects processing, synthesizers, looping, sampling, and heavily filtered vocals with simple melodic lines. Its musical predecessors are diverse and include the synthpop of the 1980s, shoegaze, ambient, musique concrète and various types of music outside of the Western World. In this case, nostalgia of 80s synthpop is filtered through a distorted lens, re-envisioning the era in a more vague and lo-fi sense. Just don't
call them that. You can always check in at the
Hipster Runoff (the birthplace of the term) for news about the vaguely new subgenre.
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posted by Christ, what an asshole
on Dec 9, 2010 -
103 comments
Preserved in the cave excavations of
Mogao and listing 1,339 stars the
Dunhuang Star Chart is the
oldest graphical star atlas known to exist. Dated to between 649 and 684 AD, it features two sections. The first consists of 26 diagrams of asterisms (including a recognizable Big Dipper and Orion) and the second contains 12 star maps each showing a 30 degree east-west section of sky in cylindrical projection plus an azimuthal projection circumpolar map. Star positions are accurate to within 1.5 degrees and it includes some stars in the southern sky.
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posted by Mitheral
on Jun 28, 2009 -
10 comments
"Some people hustle pool; some people hustle cars. Then there's that man you've heard about, the one who hustles stars!" Greetings, greetings, fellow stargazers! Looking toward your computer screen today, you'll find
Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer, a five-minute show that has been in weekly production for over thirty years, airing in-betweensies on many PBS stations. Contrary to the
cheeky bio on
Jack's website, it wasn't always easy for Jack to "keep looking up!"
This 9/19/1982 Miami Herald article reveals that he grew up as a sickly boy, eventually meandering to Florida to stumble into his avocation and vocation as Director of the
Miami Space Transit Planetarium, only to watch his life's work almost crumble due to a PR nightmare. Since then, however, things have been much better:
Star Gazer (
originally called Star Hustler, then changed in 1997 due to internet search engines leading people to Hustler Magazine's website) has been nationally syndicated since 1985 (and internationally since 1989), chalking up over 1500 episodes. A
book of his
monthly cartoons has been published. The Astronomical League sponsors
The Jack Horkheimer Award for Exceptional Service by a Young Astronomer. (2008's winner.) So whether you find Jack
avuncular or
creepy, Jack Horkheimer is, to many, the face of popular backyard astronomy.
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posted by not_on_display
on Dec 16, 2008 -
37 comments
A founding father of DIY indie rock, Will Rigby recounts the pilgrimages to locate underground rock legends
Alex Chilton, (during his wry Americana deconstructo anarchy phase), and the 'McCartney' to Chilton's Big Star 'Lennon', the Brydsian Chris Bell. Blogs on bands may not seem to rate but cats with these sensibilities, unlike today, seemed incredibly uncommon then . Also mentioned, the Dbs, Little Diesel, and Mitch Easter. Free Mp3s of the rare 45s included.
posted by celerystick
on May 2, 2008 -
12 comments
Learn to navigate using the stars in 15 minutes! OK, well maybe not navigate, but you'll know exactly where Orion, Betelgeuse, Polaris (the North Star), Cassiopeia, and Jupiter are.
posted by Mave_80
on Jul 26, 2007 -
36 comments