October 2011 Archives
October 31
I dressed up as Martin Luther for Halloween
Besides Halloween, today also marks another holiday: Reformation Day. On October 31st, 1517 (warning: auto-playing video) Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, Germany essentially starting the Protestant Reformation. [more inside]
Spike Milligan, Medical Reformer
Spike Milligan, Medical Reformer: another delight from Letters of Note.
Meet the natives of England and America
Not content to keep funding expeditions of Westerners to learn about Tanna, in 2007 the National Geographic funded an expedition of five men from Tanna's Prince Philip movement cargo cult to visit England, stay with families, and eventually meet Prince Philip himself whom they revere as the son of their God. Jimmy, who was a member of the expedition and the narrator for the film has posted the video on his youtube account. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
In 2009 the Travel Channel aired Meet the Natives: USA, which brought five men from another group from Tanna to the United States. Their tribe within Tanna reveres Tom Navy, an American World War II sailor who generations ago had taught the inhabitants to live in peace. The Tanna ambassadors were taken across, visiting five states, and eventually meeting former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and verifying with him that the spirit of peace taught by Tom Navy lives on in the current U.S. President, Barack Obama. While visiting with a family on Fort Stewart, a US Army Major-General conferred a World War II Victory Medal and an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal upon the chief in representation of the contribution the people of Tanna in World War II. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Be sure to look for Jimmy's responses to questions in the mercifully uncharacteristic youtube comments [more inside]
Mister Sports, Mister Action, Mister Jim Ed Poole
Sign, drive, default, repossess and resell
In this little-known but fast-growing corner of the auto market, dealers command premium prices for road-worn vehicles and finance the sales at interest rates that can top 30%.
Alex Cox's "Repo Man"
Alex Cox: REPO MAN was made as a "negative pickup" by Universal at the time when Bob Rehme was head of the studio. At the time, the big deal over there was STREETS OF FIRE, and nobody really noticed our film [8 MB PDF] at all. Which was lucky for us, since Bob Rehme had "green-lighted" a film which was quite unusual by studio standards. (previously)
Erasing Hate
A reformed skinhead, Bryon Widner was desperate to rid himself of the racist tattoos that covered his face - so desperate that he turned to former enemies for help, and was willing to endure months of pain in a journey from racism to redemption. [more inside]
Drive-By Quiltings
Quilt + Overpass + Cowboy-hatted photographer speeding by = Drive-By Quiltings
Neither as complete as an encyclopedia nor as baggy as a treasury.
After the, aheh, weirdness surrounding Ann Vandermeer's departure from Weird Tales (Previously), Jeff and Ann Vandermeer have now released the succinctly titled compendium of weird fiction, "The Weird," covering 100 years and 750,000 words of weird fiction.
The hitherto-silent "companion site," Weird Fiction Review, launches today, revealing itself to be a bit of an all-purpose blog about fiction as well as general strangeness and affiliated oddities. [more inside]
Paraglider vs. Eagle.
This is why a prefer being under a canopy with a cutaway handle.
Subject presents with insatiable appetite for human flesh.
What can neuroscience teach us about zombies?
A pair of neurology blogs go over nine common symptoms: Aggression, Lumbering Walk, Memory Loss, Aphasia, Capgras-Delusion, Impaired Pain Reception, Locked Attention, Flesh Addiction, Insatiable hunger, Conclusions.
Jews, People with Mustaches, and Divorced People
America in Primetime is a four-part PBS special on four character archetypes that define contemporary television and interviews tons of writers, producers and actors from a set of defining shows. The first episode, Independent Women (which you can stream from their website) aired last night, gaining measured reviews from Bitch and the AV Club. Future episodes: Man of the House, The Misfit and The Crusader.
Is man not entitled to collect $200 when he passes Go?
Free, print-and-play Bioshock Monopoly. That is all.
Power as a political and aesthetic category is a collection of fetishes.
Views of Power is a project by Konrad Pustoła which reframes the point of view of the most powerful and influential people in Krakow, Poland by positioning photographs taken from those persons' office windows and posting them on billboards throughout the city. Some discussion on the project at New Art.
Bringing the toys home
The Sheriff's Office in Montgomery County, Texas near Houston has become the first law enforcement agency to buy a weaponizable Shadowhawk MK-III UAV. [more inside]
Palestine accepted into UNESCO.
Despite political pressure, UNESCO has approved full membership for Palestine. Opposition remains and a major funder may withdraw.
WoodTreks - A Wood Working Video Blog
WoodTreks is a well-produced video blog about traditional woodworking with hand tools. Many of the videos are aimed at the beginner. [more inside]
the truth about the 1 percent
The last ten minutes of SOCIETY (the movie) is revolting, disgusting, horrifying and completely unsuitable for work, children, decent folk in general, and particularly anyone named Billy. [more inside]
@TNG_S8
A Pale Lady
The remarkable occurrences of which I am about to write were related by certain French persons of sound sense and unimpeachable veracity, who happened to be in Berlin a few weeks before the outbreak of the European War. The Kaiser, the most superstitious monarch who ever sat upon the Prussian throne, sternly forbade the circulation of the report of these happenings in his own country, but our gallant Allies across the Channel are, fortunately, not obliged to obey the despotic commands of Wilhelm II, and these persons, therefore, upon their return to France, related, to those interested in such matters, the following story of the great War Lord's three visitations from the dreaded ghost of the Hohenzollerns.From "Wilhelm II and the White Lady of the Hohenzollerns," by Katharine Cox, as reproduced in S. Mukerji's charmingly digressive Indian Ghost Stories.
NetNostalgia Forum – Television (local)
does anyone remember this kid’s show “I think Candle Cove ran for only a couple months in ’71, not ’72. I was 12 and I watched it a few times with my brother. It was channel 58, whatever station that was. My mom would let me switch to it after the news. Let me see what I remember.”
You Want to Track Me? Here You Go, F.B.I.
Giving the F.B.I. What It Wants. "A Bangladeshi-born artist and academic is mistakenly detained at the Detroit airport. He doesn’t get mad. He gets even." [Via] [more inside]
Don't have nightmares
The Nightmare Man was a four part BBC sf/horror drama about some... thing slaughtering the inhabitants of a remote Scottish island. [more inside]
All Hallow's Read: because there aren't enough traditions that involve giving books
"This Halloween, give somebody a scary book, to read. That's it. That's the idea. It's going to be a tradition." It's an idea Neil Gaiman came up a year ago. It's called All Hallow's Read, with a website and everything, which has book recommendations of all sorts, plus stickers, bookmarks, cards, and a small story you can print off, as well as a poster contest for next year's event. [more inside]
The X-Ray Cafe
The lifeblood of Portland OR's music scene in the early 1990's was an all ages club called the X-Ray Cafe. Here is their story.
"Clay and many magazine people told me not to include a lesbian article in the first issue—and so, of course, we did."
The December 20, 1971 issue of New York Magazine came bundled with a 40-page preview of the first periodical created, owned, and operated entirely by women. The first issue sold out in eight days. 40 years later, New York Magazine interviews Gloria Steinem and the women who launched Ms. Magazine. (single page version.) From the same issue: How the Blogosphere Has Transformed the Feminist Conversation [more inside]
The zombies are us
Zombies: The Invertebrates
Wasps create cockroach zombies, viruses produce zombie caterpillars, deep-sea zombie worms live off decaying whale bones, South American flies 'infect' ants with brain-sucking larvae.
I want you to meet my wife.
"The Thing on the Fourble Board" is a nicely creepy episode of the fantasy/horror radio program "Quiet, Please". You can stream or download it from the link. Originally broadcast on August the 9th, 1948, it's widely considered one of the best episodes of the series. (Here's an archive.org MP3 mirror, also.) [more inside]
No one goes to the euphemism on a night like this
You've probably all seen or read Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1 2 3). But did you know about its Halloween sequel, Halloween Is Grinch Night? The first Dr. Seuss special to feature music from Joe Raposo, it has finally been released on DVD. Or you can watch it on YouTube (1 2).
I vant to track your bleh
At no point in Bela Lugosi's iconic role in the 1931 film Dracula does he make the sound "Bleh!" So why is "Bleh!" so deeply associated with Dracula in popular culture? Followup with more examples.
"Our concern about marijuana is based on what the science tells us about the drug's effects."
The White House recently opened a website entitled We the People: Your Voice in Our Government, "[a tool which] provides you with a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country." They have issued a response to a petition to Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol.
October 30
Challenging ALL MeFites
Eulogy For Steve Jobs
The New York Times have published the eulogy Mona Simpson delivered for her brother Steve Jobs at his funeral, which includes his last words. Now it you'll excuse me, I think I have something in my eye...
Hey Pinky, What Do You See?
David Lynch's debut album, Crazy Clown Time, is streaming in its entirety on NPR first listen until November 8th. That is all.
New! And Improved! Buy Now! Half off! Limited time offer! Fortified with 11 vitamins and minerals!
Melt your brain into goo on an overdose of crass 80s consumerism and TV without the TV shows at 80sCommercialVault. Superbowl 19 commercials. Commercials from Jaws. Saturday morning commercials. Daytime / evening commercials. [more inside]
Have a Who Hallowe'en
Released today: The cast and crew of Doctor Who (Tennant era) lip-dub to The Proclaimers song "I Wanna Be (500 miles)". You will never be sad again. Also released today: John Barrowman, Catherine Tate, and David Tennant thank Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner for a great run on Doctor Who....in song.
A China Skeptic
There is this perception that the only China skeptics are foreigners. Let me tell you that is completely wrong. The debate within China is much more interesting and much more ferocious than the debate outside of China about problems with the growth model.
Michael Pettis is a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets. Here he talks about China's economic prospects.
The hyper-realistic FPS game simulator
The Gadget Show has created a hyper-realistic FPS game simulator using tons of custom hardware and software, and recently released Battlefield 3.
Myra Hindley
My purpose here has been to inquire into mediated understandings of Hindley, and to question how popular texts delineate between the deeds of a human being and the way those deeds are culturally inscribed. The task is neither conclusive nor complete, for monsters are illusive. There is always some part of them that evades both enunciation and comprehension.
In Memory of Chinatown Fair Arcade (1958-2011)
"Rather than adopting the popular perspective on gaming as a way of escaping life, engaging in violence or being antisocial, the film focuses on the gamers’ pure joy in their hard-sought achievements, the thrill of high-level competition, the significance it gives their lives, and the communities they create." Jon Rafman's (previously, and previously) Codes of Honor. Text and Video. [more inside]
Streisand on the Judy Garland Show
The Judy Garland Show, 1963: Barbara Streisand sings Rodgers and Hart's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
No one would have believed in the middle of the 20th Century that human affairs were being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than Man's...
Reservoir ball pit
For millennia, man has yearned to block the sun (with black plastic balls). If an un-covered public water reservoir contains bromide, sunlight will combine the bromide with the chlorine used for reducing bacteria -- thus poisoning the water with carcinogenic bromate. Blocking the sunlight is the answer, but building a permanent cover for a huge reservoir is very costly. The solution for LA-area reservoirs, a few years ago: cover the entire water surface with millions of floating "bird balls", in effect turning the reservoir into a 10+ acre ball pit. [more inside]
Pray for us, we need it.
There was Planking, and before that there was something else (you fill in the blank), well now let me introduce you to the latest internet meme, Tebowing
Haunted by the sound of one foot tapping
An excerpt from bODY_rEMIX/ gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS by Sadler's Wells - London Dance House (NSFW, very small nipple tassels & illusion of nudity) [more inside]
Try putting a lightbulb in a glass of milk
Microwhat is a website where people microwave stuff, just to see what it looks like after 60 seconds on setting 9. [warning: blinky]
Pandit Chitresh Das and the Art of Kathak
Pandit Chitresh Das is a renowned performer of Kathak, one of the classical dances of India. His company's YouTube channel features some striking examples of his work and that of his students: 1 2 3. (Uploads from other users include 1 2 3.) In recent years, he has collaborated with tap dancers like Jason Samuels Smith and Chloe Arnold on India Jazz Suites and India Jazz Progressions.
Organic Materials and Esthetic Shapes
Cedric Laquieze is a sculptor specializing in unusual creatures like fairy flowers and goddesses made from organic materials.
Synecdoche, Kharkov
The Movie Set That Ate Itself. Five years ago, a relatively unknown (and unhinged) director began one of the wildest experiments in film history. Armed with total creative control, he invaded a Ukrainian city, marshaled a cast of thousands and thousands, and constructed a totalitarian society in which the cameras are always rolling and the actors never go home.
Layer displayer
Tilt is a Firefox add-on that lets you visualize a web page's DOM (document object model) in 3D. In effect, you can see all the layers in a web page stacked upon each other with this. [more inside]
Have New Yorkers have always been rude?
Government surveillance changes in India
Research In Motion has established a surveillance facility in India following a authorities applying pressure. Google, Skype, Twitter and Facebook are also under pressure to provide greater surveillance assistance. [more inside]
WAN WAN
Wanwanlink weaves together a sequence of motion in realtime, using fragments of archival footages that are being collected daily. When a human figure appears on the screen, the sound is deliberately distorted into a slow 'wan wan.' This project, with a theme linking to classification and dependency, shall continue to be developed for a very long time. (Footages featured on this website belong to the public domain. Clips were downloaded from http://www.archive.org/).
"What are you doing outside there?"
COSBY NIGHTMAREZ [SLYT] David Lynch-esque Cosby Show mashup.
Look out for the burgeoning Indian metal scene
Hello Lovers!
People from Portland OR will already know about the majesty of Roger Nusic. Besides putting ketchup on salads and wearing a gold cape and shorts when he performs, he also writes some good jams.
Hey Playa, Welcome 2 the Roger Nusic Arousal center - U can Laugh, Sing, Dance & pray 2 the Lord Jesus, Holla!
Some Roger Nusic jams: CAN I COME IN AND SEE YOU?
WHAT IS THE NAME?
"Wanna be a member, wanna be a member?"
Bimbo the Dog never had it easy. First, he was forcefully initiated into a sadistic, subterranean, won't-take-no-for an-answer, candle-headed cabal. Then he was punched in the face by his own creation (among others), and summarily run out of town, where he was taunted by tombstones and other undead entities. *all YouTube links* [more inside]
October 29
Blood Bros, for all your training needs
Sonic Screwdriver
6 ounces hidden inside more than 22 metric tons
On July 13, 2010, a cargo container arrived in Genoa, Italy from Saudi Arabia. It was emitting torrents of radiation. No one knew what was inside. And no one knew what to do next.... [more inside]
Stop hypnotizing me sheep dancers and sheep dancer song
This is a 2 minute single link youtube video entitled Thanks, Smokey! . It has dancing, hoodies, surprises and I don't know why it is called 'Thanks, Smokey!'. God bless. (NSFW)
Tales From The Far Side
in 1994, Gary Larson's Far Side came to life on television in the form of an animated Halloween special like no other. Tales From The Far Side only aired once, and the television version differs from the not-easily-located DVD version. You can read more about this dark and hilarious animated classic courtesy of Vinnie Rattolle's, and find a copy of the television version for your very own holiday viewing.
Avería
If 'male' and 'female' were no longer true, then what was?
Thinking critically about transgender issues, a podcast by Juliet Jacques, author of the Guardian's Transgender Journey series. [more inside]
In this white darkness, we will take the place of everything
Just wait till we're alone together. Then I will tell you something new, something cold, something sleepy, something of cease and peace and the long bright curve of space. Go upstairs to your room. I will be waiting for you... As a rare October blizzard drifts a blanket of white across the Northeast just before Halloween, what better time to settle in and read (or watch) Conrad Aiken's most famous short story, "Silent Snow, Secret Snow." About a small boy who increasingly slips into an ominous fantasy of isolation and endless snow, it could be viewed as a metaphor about autism, Asperger's syndrome, and even schizophrenia before such conditions even had names. In addition to the 1934 short story, the tale has also been adapted as a creepy 1966 black-and-white short film (also at the Internet Archive) and as a Night Gallery episode (1, 2) narrated by Orson Welles. Or for a more academic take, see the essay "The Delicious Progress" examining Aiken's use of white as a symbol of psychological regression.
GOOGLIZE
Magic cards with googly eyes . Also, Pokemon cards with googly eyes. Other things with googly eyes. More other things with googly eyes. (Via Ask Surprise [warning: PONY].)
Sick
Sick. Parts 11, 12, 13, and 14. [NSFW] An incredibly dark, raw, self-aware, and often insightful look into the depressed mind of a cartoonist evaluating his life.
The Last Act of the Notorious Howie Spira
The Last Act of the Notorious Howie Spira. The conventional shorthand for what George Steinbrenner did wrong, in press accounts of the mudslinging-and-extortion scandal, is this: The Yankees owner had an "association with Howard Spira." It made Spira sound menacing—this known gambler, this criminal element. He was the embodiment of the Yankees owner's dark side: Steinbrenner the Nixon bagman, the convicted-and-pardoned felon. Under questioning in court, Steinbrenner described their relationship in ominous terms. Did Spira "destroy" him? "As far as baseball is concerned, yes," Steinbrenner said. "He did a very good job."
Breaks and Beats from Tino Corp CEO, Tino, and just in time for the holidays!
"Hello friends, my name is Tino. Do you like the drums? Great man! I love them!" As CEO and principal artist, Tino launched [Tino Corp] the label with a series of instructional albums called Tino's Breaks, which teach a new style of drumming with each installment. Straight from their factory to you, six volumes of breaks, from mambo (YT) and dub (YT), to hallowe'en music (YT) and Christmas dubs (Grooveshark). [more inside]
Ads in digital magazines: double dipping or lifeblood of the industry?
Marco Arment, creator of successful link-saving, ad-stripping service Instapaper, takes aim at web and iPad magazines for "double dipping": charging customers and still displaying ads. Magazine industry insiders and supporters respond that ads are vital to keeping magazines affordable and are easy to skip in digital form anyway. With Apple's recent launch of Newsstand already looking like it could revolutionise the magazine industry, should ad-allergic users accept them in digital magazines as a necessary evil? Or could publishers feasibly figure out a new business model that doesn't require ads?
Sixth annual BCLA Halloween Costume Surf Contest
"Just to see all the creatures on a wave is wild." Local coverage of the sixth annual BCLA Annual Halloween Costume Surf Contest in Newport Beach, CA. [more inside]
Just what it says on the tin.
Shostakovich: the string quartets
“Today we have a new group of satirists who, at the same time that they bite the bourgeoisie, use only their lips, but not their teeth”
While he was contributing to the New Yorker as Syd Hoff, he was also contributing to the Daily Worker and New Masses as A. Redfield — the pseudonym he adopted for his radical work, The Ruling Clawss (Daily Worker, 1935) a collection of surprisingly relevant cartoons.
Internet killed the television star
YouTube (Google) is spending $100 million dollars to create 25hrs a day of new original content. Intending to compete with cable TV, they'll have 100 "channels" with regular series and well-known talent. The channels are being developed "specifically for the digital age," which sounds like they're trying to create a new type of media, they compare it to the advent of cable television. There's a graveyard of ideas like this that failed, but maybe YouTube is different this time. First channels show up in a few weeks, most appear in 2012.
Overwatch
Disappointed by the new, real time FPS direction of X-COM? Tired of waiting for Xenonauts? If you want your Laser Squad style squad based tactical action right now why not try Xenosquad?
What makes for a good UI font?
Ian Hex writes about the features that make for a good UI typeface by comparing and contrasting five different fonts (Segoe UI, Lucida Grande, Ubuntu, Helvetica Neue, and Droid Sans) . He also links to a great post on the making of Azuro. Left out of the race was Nokia Pure.
Google, Wyden, Kirk, and Chaffetz
American law enforcement demands for Google users’ personal information surged by 29 percent during the past six months according to Google's transparency report. [more inside]
Grabbing A
The California—based Oakland Institute released a report earlier this year that documents some of the problems caused by the acquisition of land by foreign firms, including Indian ones, in Ethiopia and other African countries. Putting this global trend of ‘land grab’ under the spotlight, the report highlights the social and environmental costs of this phenomenon that have been largely overlooked by the media. Outlook interviewed Anuradha Mittal, the India—born—and—educated founder and executive president of Oakland Institute, to find out why she thinks India ought to share part of the blame of causing “depravation and destitution” in Ethiopia. text via Outlook [more inside]
How's about that, then? Now then, now then. Goodness gracious. As it appen's. Guys and gals. Jewelry jewelry... etc
RIP Sir Jimmy Savile, English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality. Quite a personality. [more inside]
"The people I know who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue." ~Chuck Palahniuk
Is reading on the loo bad for you? [Guardian] Filthy habit or blameless bliss? A public health study by Ron Shaoul lifts the lid on toilet reading once and for all.
Sticky thing
Self-control
Behind these castle walls is an incredible amount of self-control.
Qantas locks out workers
In response to industrial action over wage disputes with 3 unions - aircraft engineers, baggage handlers, and other ground staff - Qantas has announced that it is grounding its international and domestic fleet immediately and indefinitely.
October 28
Hack the world!
A McAfee researcher has demonstrated that certain Medtronic insulin pumps can be remotely controlled without authorization. An unscrupulous hacker could, for instance, command the pump to release its full load of insulin, which would kill the diabetic.
Metalachi
Just Following Orders
VanHalen Belt
Just in time for Friday Flash Fun: VanAssteroids. Watch out for Sammy!
Good Evening. Please Come In.
A week after Halloween in 1969, the great Rod Serling debuted a new television program. Night Gallery [more inside]
Missilebreak Outvaders
Flash Friday Fun, if it's still Friday where you are: Missilebreak Outvaders is a nicely done mashup of Space Invaders, Breakout and Missile Command. [more inside]
Your Recess Was Never Like This
Armstrong is an online graphic novel in 3 parts (with more potentially to come), each on a long-scrolling 'infinite canvas'. 1, 2, 3. It has everything, Superheroes, Zombies, Pirates, Cowboys and Cooties. Cooties? Well, it is set in a playground full of 4th graders. [more inside]
Local Twitter Slang, And All That Jawn
The Awl takes a look at how Twitter has allowed local slang to go global, and the unhappiness this causes for some.
What is wrong with bicycle helmets?
First he gave me flowers...
"Signature domestic legislative achievement."
Public support for the new healthcare law has dropped significantly, with just 34% of Americans viewing the law favorably, the lowest level of support since the president signed the law in March 2010. A new survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, deals a blow to the Obama administration as Republican presidential candidates keep up their pledges to repeal the president’s signature domestic legislative achievement. 'Much of the decline appears to have been driven by faltering support among Democrats, just 52% of whom said they view the law favorably, down from 65% a month earlier. Support among independents dropped from 36% to 32%. And support from Republicans fell from 14% to 11%.' [more inside]
More Mayo, Hold the Kermode
More Mayo is the podcast version of BBC's Simon Mayo Drivetime. Mayo is best known outside of the UK as one half of the Mayo and Kermode's Film Reviews. The centerpiece of the More Mayo podcast is the confessions, where listeners write in asking forgiveness for past transgressions. They are often funny and sometimes jaw-dropping (such as the first one in the latest episode). The podcasts are generally around a half an hour long and contain three or four confessions and a short interview with anyone from huge celebrities to debut novelists to children. The podcasts are available to download for 30 days.
I am not signing a release
David Blaine is a Demon From Space Part 4
Since the first video in 2006 there have been a Part 2 and Part 3. [more inside]
Ashkenazy plays Chopin
Préludes Op. 28 by Chopin, played live by Vladimir Ashkenazy. This must have been recorded around 1980, when he was touring with these pieces. No. 1-6 [more inside]
"Try not to think too hard."
"You must always be appearing. If you are not appearing, you are disappearing" -- José Mojica Marins, "the murderer of Brazilian cinema"
In October 1963, the Brazilian movie writer, director, and actor José Mojica Marins was having trouble with a movie he was working on, and fell asleep at the dinner table. He dreamed of being dragged to a cemetery by a creature in black, who showed Marins his own tomb stone, with the dates of his birth and death (YT: 9 min). That dream lead to the creation of Zé do Caixão (anglicized as Coffin Joe), the main character in Brazil's first horror movie, and Marins' first big movie success: À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (YT: 1hr 22min w/English subs) (At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul). This was one of the up-ticks in a life of some ups and lots of downs for the South American Roger Corman or Ed Wood (NYT), and the birth of a character who would become Marins public persona. [more inside]
Lana Del Rey
Lana del Rey sings "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" and just got signed to Interscope. But she's also known as "failed mainstream artist" Lizzy Grant, a "gangster Nancy Sinatra," and "the lie we like to tell ourselves." Here she is at the 2011 Q Awards.
“Such excess of passion is quite out of fashion”
Krafty Kuts, Halloween Minimix, BBC Radio 1
Minimixes have become a fixture of Annie Nightingale's BBC Radio 1 show, but this week's is seasonally appropriate as Krafty Kuts does a not-quite-seven-minute mix that romps through multiple genres, all to celebrate that spookiest of holidays. [more inside]
All parents are welcome to come by on Wednesday afternoon to help us make candles and decorate skulls
Dear Mountain Room Parents... a tale for Day of the Dead / Halloween.
Yu'pik dancer Maryann Sundown passed away this week.
Maryann Sundown, a master of Yu'pik dance, passed away this week at her home in Scammon Bay, Alaska. (second article) Sundown was a crowd favorite at the Cama-i Dance Festival, often making jabs at popular culture to great comedic effect. Even though her dancing slowed over the years, she still lit up the stage, even at her last performance at 92.(Maryann Sundown with the Hooper Bay Dancers) [more inside]
Vintage Black Glamour
Vintage Black Glamour: an underexplored avenue of 20th century beauty and style.
Showcase of Creative Inspiration
We and the Color is a blog about creative inspiration in art, graphic design, illustration, photography, architecture, fashion, product, interior, video and motion design. Also on Flickr.
Why are you so angry at her for being a sexy... giraffe?
"For the last two weeks, people have been like, "talk about sluts on Halloween!" And at first I didn't even really want to make this video because you, my friend, are talking to a slut on Halloween. But because people kept bombarding my social media platforms with requests for me to do a video on sluts on Halloween, I'm gonna do a video on sluts on Halloween. But I'll tell you one thing right now: you're not gonna like it."[more inside]
(nsfw language, her avatar is a lingerie pic, plus it's a single-link vlog post)
Black Girl In Suburbia Documentary Trailer
Mr. Romance
In 1994, international super-stud Fabio Lanzoni released an album entitled Fabio After Dark. For the first time, his fans could hear his musing on love, romance and beauty any time they wished. Oh, and he sang, too.
No Mr Bond I expect you to swim.
Tropical Island Paradise is a tasteful design study for what could be your next mega-yacht - oh and it has a volcano.
OMG! Meiyu
Meet Jessica Beinecke. Her Chinese fluency and her bubbly personality make her a minor celebrity among young Chinese speakers. Her videos covers topics such as: Yucky Gunk ,which went viral. Fist Pumping. Badonkadonk. Yo, Homie. Mexican food. And her Thing. Brought to you by the Voice of America.
A slideshow of churches made of bones
Just something to kick off the Halloween weekend. I totally want that chandelier....
On Handwriting.
The Hudspith Steam Bicycle
Do you like steam engines? Do you like bicycles? Then you'll love the Hudspith Steam Bicycle. [more inside]
Alternative process photography and science meet at the Getty
Dusan Stulik and his colleagues at the Getty institute are taking a very much closer look at alternative photographic processes – a molecular-level-look, that may even change history. Here is a NY Times profile of Stulik and the GCI.
Wikipedia: Happy. Confused. Sad.
Wikipedia has an experimental feature called Feedback Dashboard that allows new editors to leave a brief comment and a mood of 3 choices: Happy, Confused, Sad. It's sort of addictive to scroll through as people discover Wikipedia and reactions.
October 27
Cardinals Force Game 7
The Texas Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series for the first time in their 40-year history in Game 6 Thursday night. Twice. [more inside]
Earth Time
Google Earth Clock is a digital clock assembled from views of the planet that resemble numbers. (Not for the vertiginous; requires the Google Earth plugin). [more inside]
Party of Lost Children
The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was a popular children’s birthday-party venue that was run out of several locations in North Toronto in the 1980's. Whisked away in a hearse, throngs of elementary-school children were led through a "magical underground kingdom" by teenaged attendants, participating in whipped-cream fights and shopping-cart bumpercars, with no parents allowed. [more inside]
The galaxies are waiting.
In 1974, Sun Ra and his Arkestra released a film. In which he plays cards with a pimp and travels through space and time. There is social commentary. And music. He also made an album with the same name. [more inside]
Whaleback Ships of the Great Lakes
The SS Christopher Columbus was the only Whaleback ship ever built for passenger service. [more inside]
Cinderella, Cinderella, Night and Day it's Cinderella
You probably know the Perrault version. And chances are, you haven’t been able to escape the Disney version. Maybe you know the slightly-darker Grimm version, or even the original story of Yeh-Shen. Maybe you’re a fan of musicals, and love Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella or Sondheim’s Into the Woods. But chances are, there’s a bit about this classic story you don’t know yet… [more inside]
The future is amazing.
The future according to Microsoft.
World Order - 2012
Genki Sudo's group World Order have released a new music video set in Mexico with their trademark choreography. [more inside]
Richard Garriott de Cayeux aka Lord British is moving house
Lord British has put his mansion, Britannia Manor II, on the market. Richard Garriott de Cayeux, creator of the Ultima franchise, astronaut, geocacher and regular guest star in his own games as Lord British (or, in the future war MMOG Tabula Rasa, General British) has listed his Austin home, Britannia Manor II. [more inside]
Arvo Pärt
[Arvo] Pärt’s mature style was inaugurated in 1976 with a small piano piece, “Für Alina”, that remains one of his best-known works. It is governed by the compositional system that he called “tintinnabuli,” derived from the Latin word for “bells.” The tintinnabuli method pairs each note of the melody with a note that comes from a harmonizing chord, so they ring together with bell-like resonance. [more inside]
The biped robot which rides on a bicycle by Dr. Guero
Oh hi! You're here just in time for a trifecta of things we love: Cute little robots, fixed gear bicycles, and single-link YouTube posts! I hope you like it!
We're all made of star stuff
Carl Sagan famously said that we are all made of star stuff. In his vision the basic building blocks of life were jettisoned into interstellar space by the massive explosions of stars going supernova. Now scientists from Hong Kong University have claimed that the results of their latest study(paywall), published in Nature, indicate that stars can create complex organic compounds on the very short timescale of weeks. [more inside]
Not the usual Allie Brosh.
Adventures in Depression. Allie Brosh is back with a new Hyperbole and a Half post on the topic of her own depression. [more inside]
The Fear You Can Hear
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater aired weeknights from 1974 to 1982. Here are all 1,399 original episodes , free to stream or download. [more inside]
From Piggi Hedron to Mario DeNiro
Alfred Hitchcock's Angry Birds and other movies-based-on-video-games the way they should be done (Duck Hunt & Donkey Kong) from the G4 people. (SL3Videos, NSFW language, gore)
Nomen est Omen
The U.S. House of Representatives has drafted their version of Senator Leahy's Protect IP Act, renaming the bill the E-Parasites Act. Among other changes discussed previously, the bill now makes internet service providers and websites liable for activities of their users that infringe upon copyrights, effectively overturning parts of the 13-year-old Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"Self-propagating, self-justifying, entirely an end in itself."
The Sad Odyssey of the F-22: America’s Big Broken Toy [SLGM]. 'The F-22 has been okayed to fly again, after being grounded, cleared, grounded, then cleared once more—all within a year. And yet, the Air Force hasn't fixed the plane's life threatening flaw. It doesn't seem like it cares.' [more inside]
Parros Still Wins
Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, back from vertigo, debuts his new mask in a tribute to Movember.
Chicks With Guns
Hazel, the band
Hazel were one of the forgotten bands of the “grunge” years.
Much more info here at about the band (and a ton of other stuff) at the site of the band’s dancer, Fred Nemo.
A sampler:
1.Supersonic
2.J. Hell
3.Comet
4.Boog
5.Day Glo
Dwarfs and orange condoms
This year the Games Media Awards in the UK were sponsored by a little know chain of shops from the North East, Grainger Games, looking to increase their profile... well following the last night's events they are pretty well-known now. Cue a next-day banning and apologies from Grainger and the organisers
Art of household management
A Planetary Crisis Is A Terrible Thing to Waste There are striking similarities between the current economic and ecological crises — both involve indulgent over-consumption and a failure to consider the impacts on future generations. But it’s not too late to look to new economic and environmental models and to dramatically change course. opines Der Spiegel environmental journalist, Christian Schwägerl
"Gotta peel the banana before you can eat it!"
How the Joy of Sex was illustrated. [BBC] Forty years ago, a London publisher was working on a groundbreaking sex manual - a "gourmet guide" to sexual pleasure, with copious and detailed illustrations. But how could this be done tastefully and legally?
Columbia invites Genocide denier Dodik to give a lecture, uninvites protesters
Columbia University Prevents Bosnian Americans from Attending Dodik Lecture Columbia university invited Milorad Dodik, president of the republika Srpska (a Serb republic within Bosnia and Herzegovina) to give a lecture on 10/25/2011.
Dodik is an adamant denier of the massacres of Sebrenica and has said in the past that they were staged.
Outraged, the Congress of North American Bosniaks registered to get the required invitations, and were turned away.
Time Tree
TimeTree is a public knowledge-base for information on the evolutionary timescale of life. A search utility allows exploration of the thousands of divergence times among organisms in the published literature. A tree-based (hierarchical) system is used to identify all published molecular time estimates bearing on the divergence of two chosen taxa, such as species, compute summary statistics, and present the results . . . For those interested in published summaries of relationships and divergence times of major groups of organisms (family level and above), see the authoritative synthesis The Timetree of Life.
Here are some examples to get you started: Humans and Chimpanzees diverged 6.3 MYA; Giraffes and Dolphins diverged 58.3 MYA; Cats and Mice diverged 95.2 MYA; and Dogs and Fleas diverged 777.8 MYA. [more inside]
Here are some examples to get you started: Humans and Chimpanzees diverged 6.3 MYA; Giraffes and Dolphins diverged 58.3 MYA; Cats and Mice diverged 95.2 MYA; and Dogs and Fleas diverged 777.8 MYA. [more inside]
Human Resource 3,766,707,775
Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean
The 13th century wreck of an invading Mongolian ship that fell victim to a famous typhoon known in Japan as the "kamikaze" or "divine wind" has been found off the country's southern coast. [more inside]
Sometimes I suspect the correct answer is Halloween IN Williamsburg
Single Serving Tumblr of the Day: Halloween or Williamsburg?
Excusez-Moai
The Easter Island Statue Project: a glimpse at what's going on from the neck down.
We have to pay attention to the stupid stuff right in front of us.
Why not space? We've previously looked at Do The Math's assessment of energy use and economic growth. But could going to the stars allow us to escape?
‘My magnificent new [red] hair’
In a daring rejoinder to the kind of anti-ginger prejudice (previously) that can fictionally manifest itself as gingercide, one brave redhead gets his hair did, going from suedehead to fashion plate in “nine long months.”
Abortion Access Worldwide: A Reference
Since 1988, the Center for Reproductive Rights has compiled a visual map of the laws regulating abortion throughout the world. Earlier this month, they released their 2011 Map in pdf and updated their online World Abortion Laws Map in a new interactive format which allows country comparisons and provides text of abortion laws for certain countries. (Via Good: Can I get an Abortion Here? The Abortion Rights Map of the World)
Zizek on Charlie Rose
"Never in my life did I dance or sing - the obscenity of gestures...I just cannot do it" - In a predictably outrageous interview, Slavoj Zizek goes on Charlie Rose and discusses Stalin, Zionism, Kung Fu Panda, Niels Bohr and Occupy Wall Street, among other things.
Barbara Sher on how to find and do what you love
Inspired by Steve Jobs' admonition to find what you love to do and not to settle? Barbara Sher has been teaching people the importance of finding and doing what they love, even when it might be multiple things--all without saccharine positive thinking--for decades, starting with her bestselling book (now free online) Wishcraft. (Youtube channel, Discussion forums)
"You know I can't grab your ghost chip!"
She Was A Camera
She Was A Camera. Melissa Gira Grant writes about camgirl culture. (NSFW?)
We are the hipsters of the Church of Jesus Christ! (of Latter-Day Saints)
Today's New York Times has an article about young Mormons finding a way to live their values while remaining socially "with it" -- by turning to hipster culture.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that played bongos and overthrew the tables of the anti-capitalists.
St Paul's canon Giles Fraser resigns over plans to forcibly remove Occupy London protesters from outside the cathedral. A debate is building up about the role of the church and which side of the capitalist argument they should be on.
VisualCortexFilter: Hubel and Wiesel have a chat
Professors David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel (Nobel Prize 1981; Hubel's lecture; Wiesel's lecture) are responsible for "accidentally (YT)" (other movies) discovering a fundamental property of how the visual areas of the brain process information: single neurons respond to lines and edges of objects in visual space (pdf). This was an enormous leap forward in our understanding of visual cortex, and demonstrated that a cortical neuron can form outputs that are more complex than any of its inputs. They went on to pioneer the field of plasticity (or learning) in cortex. Here they sit together for an hour and chat about the early days of exploring the visual cortex.
Get ti fuk yi baw bag
Voice recognition technology don't do Scottish accents. Really! Apple's new iPhone voice recognition technology, Siri, is having trouble with the Scottish accent. It has trouble with simple phrases like can you dance for me? and boot your bawz and how many miles are there in ten kilometers? and create a remainder.
What's your slavery footprint?
"But you don't hire Picasso and then tell him how to paint."
When we did "Beat It," Michael came in the van with us to scout locations. I remember saying, "I'm hungry, let's stop for a pizza." Michael said, "Oh good, I've never had a pizza." This is a 25-year-old man who'd never had pizza. Now he wasn't accessible like that. He was a superstar, but then he became a deity.I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution is a hugely readable and fun new oral history of the first decade of MTV. Veteran music writers Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum interviewed many of the era's major players, putting a microscope on the biggest, weirdest, and most memorable videos of the time, and [Pitchfork is] thrilled to present the following excerpt.
October 26
a new meaning for the term 'drum head'
Can the human head itself function as a percussion instrument? Why, yes! Yes it can!
"We just wanna see - YOU STUPEFIED!"
You've seen the popular LMFAO's Party Rock, but have you seen Potter Rock? The Christmas light show? How about the Pokemon! or Indian versions? Speaking of Indian parodies, have you seen Thriller recently?
Why do we sleep?
Free as in Free.
"If you buy bus or train tickets for me, do not give my name! Big
Brother has no right to know where I travel, or where you travel, or
where anyone travels. If they arbitrarily demand a name, give a name
that does not belong to any person you know of. If they will check my
ID before I board the bus or train, then let's look for another way
for me to travel." Richard Stallman's rider. Via.
One minute and 18 seconds of pure joy
Assault on the Minibar
In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents... It's the big one! Andrew Leman reads The Call of Cthulhu for the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Previous readings include The Haunter of the Dark (previously), From Beyond (previously), The Picture In The House, The Cats of Ulthar and Cool Air. But who is behind the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast? g33k of the w33k interviews Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer.
Did McDonalds cause the decline of violence in America?
Arrrrrrrrcheology!
Blackbeard's cannon has been salvaged off the North Carolina coast after 300 years, as part of the Queen Anne's Revenge project. [more inside]
"It gets better" is not enough
He's usually kinda funny. Not this time. Rick Mercer's rants are well known in Canada. They're hilarious, though biting. What set him off? The suicide of Jamie Hubley, a 15 year old kid who liked to cover Lady Gaga, among others. [more inside]
How Leonard Cohen got his song.
Leonard Cohen's speech from his acceptance of the Prince Of Asturias Award for Letters, whereby he details a moving yet previously untold story about where he received his inspiration. [transcript]
Nokia World kicked off in London today
"We comb our hair each morning. We pick you up from school. We would always send you a birthday card. But it’s not enough.” Nokia's President and CEO Stephen Elop opened Nokia World with this frank assessment of his company - although he has been known for franker assessments in the past.
Despite having created the most popular operating systems in the world for dumbphones (S40) and smartphones (S60), the Finnish giant has been a cause for concern in recent years, withdrawing from the lucrative US smartphone market and struggling to profit from sales of inexpensive phones to the developing world, while reviewers lamented the wasted opportunities in the form factor and hardware quality of phones like the Tron-tastic N8. [more inside]
When you ask what Perry's true nature is – the first and principal thing that defines him – there's just one answer: favors.
The Best Little Whore in Texas Matt Taibbi on Rick Perry.
Amazing! Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth
It started because of an odd ad for denture containers, Tooth Garage (for sanitary, safe parking of false teeth), and became one of the gags in Marvin Glass' collection of novelty products (whose gags would include fake vomit [prev], Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, and more [prev] ); usually an inexpensive prank item or toy, but valuable when used as a promotional item for The Rolling Stones: Yakity-yak Talking Teeth, the history.
Biker rescues a calf from a canal.
NYC 1978-1985: A Fantastic Flickr Photo Set
That is all
Orgy of the Dead
Opt-out?
Visa and MasterCard have decided to start selling information about your purchasing history to advertisers. [more inside]
This cake is not a lie
Have you every wanted to try GLaDOS' chocolate cake or S’Jirra’s Famous Potato Bread with a Nirnroot Salad? We've got Starkos straight from the streets of Hillys, and steak skewers prepared in Inaba's finest lunch stops. If you're thirsty we've got some NukaCola Quantum or Lon-Lon Milk, and there's always FK in the coffee. All these recipes and more from your favourite virtual worlds can be found at Gourmet Gaming
Nullius in verba
The Royal Society , publishers of the world's oldest peer-reviewed scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, has made their journal archive free to access. [more inside]
Nailettes
There are around 30 ancient Egyptian obelisks left in the world. A guide to the obelisks still standing (and some Roman copies), including a timeline of their construction.
"“I feel more like myself when I’m out running,” Chase-Brand said. “I’m a good animal.”
"...officials warned that a woman who ran a more ambitious distance might cause her uterus to fall out." [NYTimes] On Thanksgiving Day, Dr. Julia Chase-Brand, 69, plans to run a 4.75-mile race in Manchester, Conn., where the presence of women will be plentiful and unremarkable. Fifty years ago, when she and two other women ran there the first time, it was a widely publicized act of civil disobedience that became a pioneering moment in female distance running in the United States.
My mind disappeared. When it came back, it was not the same…
I am a quirky young woman whose Mind went Pop. I was 26 when a stroke took away my limbs and speech. [more inside]
"The stakes here are huge."
What happens in Pakistan may yet be the most enduring legacy of 9/11 and the hunt for Bin Laden. 'President Obama ordered a review of all intelligence on the region by a veteran CIA officer, Bruce Riedel. "Our own intelligence was unequivocal," says Riedel. "In Afghanistan we saw an insurgency that was not only getting passive support from the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, but getting active support."' ISI the Pakistani intelligence agency is actively training and transporting suicide bombers into Afghanistan. [more inside]
"I started by failing"
We all get drowned in paperwork from time to time, but imagine your job required you to go through three miles of paper, identifying quasars and interference from radio signals, by hand?
As a 24 year old grad student, Jocelyn Bell did just that. And what she found was called the "greatest astronomical discovery of the twentieth century." [more inside]
Iconoclast, Fashion Symbol, Bookbinder, Legend
"There has never, ever been a period in the history of mankind where you have as much conformity as you have now, and yet every person is under the delusion that they are an individual. I'm not. I'm trying to fit in. " So says Michael O'Brien, victorian bookbinder, sage of Oamaru, snappy jacobian dresser and all around good guy. Working in the historic district in the pacific's last remaining Victorian harbour he has inspired a whole traditional craft community around him.
NeverSmell.com
NeverSmell.com "A community for people who can't smell and an educational experience for people who can." [more inside]
NOT OKAY
Burton Holmes, Inventor of the Travelogue
The Burton Holmes Archive has information about Burton Holmes, the travel writer who became the first person to make filmic travelogues. More importantly, they also have a lot of film clips by Holmes and his associate, André de la Varre, who was also a great travelogue maker himself. Watching these clips is not quite time travel, but it is as close as we can get. Take a look at Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1926, Lake Michigan in 20s, Cairo in 1932 and the 1955 Rio de Janeiro carnival. The later films have sound and narration, but I prefer the silent ones. [Burton Holmes previously, André de la Varre previously, and the Travel Film Archive, which runs Burton Holmes site, previously]
Police raid and mass arrests at Occupy Oakland
For weeks, Occupy Oakland had been developing into a miniature city in Frank Ogawa Plaza—renamed Oscar Grant (previously) Plaza by the occupiers—in front of City Hall:
Still, seven days into the protest and there is no longer any room for tents on the plaza’s large lawn. Tents are squeezed together so tightly that in many areas there is no room to move in between them, for me in my wheelchair or for someone who walks. There is more access to the community tents. There is a free school, an art station, a Sukkot tent, a medical tent, a children’s area, a people of color tent, and a quite remarkable food station, where huge batches of soups and beans are made, and tea, coffee, and healthy snacks seem to be abundant. The various projects the camp is working on include installing solar panels, and reclaiming parts of the park as a community garden.Early yesterday morning the occupation was forcibly evicted by Oakland police. Last night, occupiers marched to reclaim the plaza and were again attacked by police using tear gas, flash grenades, bean bag rounds, and possibly rubber bullets. [more inside]
—Sunaura Taylor writing in the excellent Occupy! An OWS-Inspired Gazette from n+1 magazine (PDF, quote from page 21)
the bonds (and bounds) of trust
Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies (ted/yt) - "We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust." (previously)
The Singularity and the economy
When the machines take over, how will people make a living? Paul Allen: Futurists like Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil have argued that the world is rapidly approaching a tipping point, where the accelerating pace of smarter and smarter machines will soon outrun all human capabilities. They call this tipping point the singularity, because they believe it is impossible to predict how the human future might unfold after this point. Once these machines exist, Kurzweil and Vinge claim, they'll possess a superhuman intelligence that is so incomprehensible to us that we cannot even rationally guess how our life experiences would be altered. Vinge asks us to ponder the role of humans in a world where machines are as much smarter than us as we are smarter than our pet dogs and cats. Kurzweil, who is a bit more optimistic, envisions a future in which developments in medical nanotechnology will allow us to download a copy of our individual brains into these superhuman machines, leave our bodies behind, and, in a sense, live forever. It's heady stuff. [more inside]
Mmmmmmeeeeeeow!
An exceptional talent, no matter how you define it.
So. While hunting for a live performance of a song from the Beatmania IIDX series, a totally sweet primarily-piano piece known for its near-impossibility to play as a video game, much less on real instruments, I stumbled upon this incredible version, performed by the phenomenal TeppeikunViolin and his lovely pianist assistant.
Of course, it turns out that beyond just having RIDICULOUS chops on the violin, he's also a nerd in the best sense. Not only has he done a great violin cover of the internet sensation "Bad Apple!!", he's also done a cover of the music from the original Legend of Zelda that must be seen, a cover of Super Mario Bros. that makes subtle reference in the background, as any good Japanese Nintendo fan should, to "Kintamario," and a little something he calls "Tetris being played on a Game Boy with a dying battery" that absolutely must be seen to be believed.
Growing Old Gothically
An article in the Guardian asks why do so many Goths stick with their subculture through their adult lives, through career, parenthood and well into middle age. [more inside]
Not Getting Any
"Offstage, with his Fleshlight in his hand, 'D-Bone', who will be flown to Austin to compete in the Air Sex finals next month, didn't break character. 'I feel fantastic,' he said. 'It's always a pleasure to be the best air-fucker in the city. I'm going to have tons of chicks over at my place tonight, with lots of cocaine and drugs.'"--L.A. Weekly covers the Air Sex (Regional) World Championships (kinda NSFW)
People Are Awesome
People Are Awesome (2011 Vers. SLYT)
October 25
Can mandatory social media service save America?
Can mandatory social media service save America? Edward Boches is Chief Innovation Officer (formerly Chief Creative Officer and Chief Social Media Officer) at Mullen, a full service modern advertising agency. [more inside]
Riddles of the Paranormal, with Xanthony O'Harbinger
"Portland, Ore-gone. A city where everyone knows things before you do." Featuring Rainn Wilson, Mayor Sam Adams and those Portlandia folks. Either shilling for the new Colin Meloy book, or just referencing it. IT'S SO IRONIC, WHO CAN TELL?!?! Ahem. YouTube link. Enjoy.
Incentives And Cultural Bias Fuel Foster System
"Because you know most babies don't cry ..." "In South Dakota, Native American children make up only 15 percent of the child population, yet they make up more than half the children in foster care. An NPR News investigation has found that the state is removing 700 native children every year, sometimes in questionable circumstances. "
Another Side of Pakistan
An unusual new Pakistani band's first single courts controversy, and provides a window into a side of Pakistan rarely seen in Western news. The Beyghairat Brigade musically satirizes the politics of Pakistan, and goes viral. [more inside]
Bangkok Floods
Bangkok is facing the worst floods it has seen in over 50 years. This nice little animated video helps you make sense of the overall situation and the possible impact (Thai audio, English subtitles)
The Fruit of Dionysuis Thrax
Databases of Life Experiences
experienceproject and Is It Normal? invite and share people's stories of literally any life experience, from trivial to all-important, from people missing their dogs to procrastination, from experiences with LSD to stories of having given birth, and from being the other woman to belly button phobias, walking in circles while listening to music, and much more.
Gen Xers Lead Happy, Balanced Lives
Gen Xers Lead Happy, Balanced Lives - the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research publishes a 'surprisingly positive portrait' of GenX. Here is the full report on the cohort study (PDF).
13 Days When Music Changed Forever
The San Francisco Symphony’s radio project, The Keeping Score Series: 13 Days When Music Changed Forever, is about musical revolutions—about the composers, compositions, and musical movements that changed the way people heard, or thought about, music. Each program explores the historical backdrop and the musical precursors to the revolutionary change, as well as the lasting influence of that moment in music history. [more inside]
Archimedes Palimpsest exhibition
News up on the Archimedes Palimpsest , now being exhibited at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. [website] [previously]
No real than you are!
Today, an eight foot tall Lego man washed up ashore in Siesta Key Village, Florida. This is not the first time this has happened. The figures are the creation of Ego Leonard, an enigmatic figure in his own right.
A Farewell to Arms
The B53 wasn’t just any old megabomb. It was the first bunker buster. U.S. nuclear doctrine called for it to be delivered over suspected underground Soviet command-and-control facilities. The dumb bomb wouldn’t destroy them so much as it would destroy everything remotely near it, leaving — literally — a smoldering crater. That was the U.S. plan for “victory” in a nuclear war right up until the implosion of the Soviet Empire. (related) [more inside]
But will it blend or float and can I eat it?
"Before you make a complete fool of yourself when you send a link to your friends,
colleagues or twitter followers (or post it to Metafilter) use ISITOLD.COM to make sure it's fresh enough." May not work on some long urls.
=== That's "IS IT OLD", not "IS I TOLD". ===
=== That's "IS IT OLD", not "IS I TOLD". ===
"I only play the piano, but tonight God is in the house" -- Fats Waller, on Art Tatum
"Art Tatum was [one of the two] dominant piano players of the 1930s, astounding everyone with his technique, most especially other piano players, who were convinced he was playing the impossible" -- Chick Corea, hosting a segment on the largely overlooked Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. If that display of skill and improvisation has you interested, here are a few documentaries about the mostly blind piano man who made other pianists question their instrument choice, yet often left the public at large overwhelmed (or unimpressed): Toledo Stories: The Tatum Legacy (YouTube, 28 minutes) :: Art Tatum - The Art Of Jazz Piano (YT, 52 min.) :: Art Tatum: A Talent Never to Be Duplicated (NPR, audio only, 11 min.) :: Art Tatum, 'The Musician's Musician' (NPR audio, 54 min.) [more inside]
Haunted Air
"The perishing of fabrics and the rotting of early rubber, due to chemical instabilities and damp conditions, create new and sinister, puzzling abnormalities. Time and repeated wear have caused a beautiful metamorphosis, never intended or imagined by the maker."
Haunted Air: "A glimpse of how the old, weird America celebrated All-Hallows Eve."
Zombie in a Penguin Suit
Poignant 7-minute tale of, well, the title says it all (SLYT). Fantastic quality for a short film.
The Closest Thing We Have To A 99 Percent Movement Comedy
Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress on why CBS's new show 2 Broke Girls is the closest thing we have to a 99% Movement Comedy.
Nest Learning Thermostat
Nest is a "brave new thermostat" from one of the creators of the iPod. It learns from your temperature adjustments.
Doctor Volga, forgive me!
CHARGEMAN KEN episode 35: DYNAMITE IN THE BRAIN (Youtube, 5:19)
...in which our poorly-animated, generic 70s anime boy superhero finds a unique way to thwart the villains' plans. (Via the excellent let's anime.) [more inside]
...in which our poorly-animated, generic 70s anime boy superhero finds a unique way to thwart the villains' plans. (Via the excellent let's anime.) [more inside]
“You’d chase them under the tank, back and forth, like you were chasing a cat,”
Inside the Mind of the Octopus:
"The heavy lid covering her tank separated our two worlds. One world was mine and yours, the reality of air and land, where we lumber through life governed by a backbone and constrained by jointed limbs and gravity. The other world was hers, the reality of a nearly gelatinous being breathing water and moving weightlessly through it."In exploring the world and personality of the octopus, a journalist relates his interactions with a Giant Pacific Octopus and provides a look at the remarkable intelligence of the short lived cephalopods. [via]
Panopticon
MapCrunch, which transports you to a random location in Google Street View, has been featured on the blue before, but now it sports a selection of geographically refining tools and almost two thousand strange, lovely, and occasionally moving views submitted by users and curated by the shadowy "Nick." [more inside]
The Golden Age of Music Video
The Golden Age of Music Video blog, chock full of "amazing true tales from Music Video's greatest era (1976-1993), is written by Stephen Pitalo, a music video historian currently writing a book with interviews of more than fifty music video directors who shot iconic clips during the genre's heyday."
Smokin'
I moustache you a questchin
Backstreet Warlocks
Dan Meth tells the tale of "five final warlocks; exiled to a barren hellscape and plotting their vengeance against Kralox" .. using the classic storytelling technique of editing/overdubbing the Backstreet Boys. Original music video. Warning: stoner weirdness.
The Picasso of Picassos
Two historically significant artists merging unrelated genres for no defined reason.
If these cagey tunesmiths had consciously tried to make a record this simultaneously dull and comedic, they'd never have succeeded; the closest artistic equivalent would be what might have happened if Vincent Gallo had been a script consultant for The Room.Chuck Klosterman is not fond of the new Lou Reed/Metallica album.
what is this i don't even
"Big Bad Wolf" - Duck Sauce. NSFW. Possibly not safe for life. Also on Youtube but I've seen versions disappear.
New York City....
"Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, maybe we should control the population to ensure the survival of our environment." Sir David Attenborough
Population to Reach 7 Billion This Week. As experts wait for the human population to reach 7 billion this week, some estimates claim even larger growth by the end of the century. One forthcoming United Nations report estimates that the number of humans on the planet may reach 15 billion -- more than double current levels, according to The Observer.
The $300,00 T-shirt
Threadless has created a t-shirt line for UNICEF in which the shirts cost the same as what's depicted on them. So this one, of a cargo flight, costs $300,000. This one, for insecticide-treated mosquito nets, might be more in your price range.
Music is the answer.
Do you like listening to DJ mixes? The Mixes DB has tens of thousands of them, going back 30 years, broken down by genre, radio show, club, artist. Most pages have the mix embedded. Here are the most popular. [more inside]
Women are more likely to watch a video with a hot guy in it
Rethink Breast Cancer has released Your Man Reminder, a smartphone app that reminds the user to give her breasts some TLC. And that reminder is brought by hot, shirtless man-candy.
Getting a job in 2011 America - fun times! *sarcasm*
Mapping Baltimore's Addiction
Makes me want to go hunting for secret art.
A fore-edge painting (previously, but it's been a while) is a painting on the edges of the pages of a book that can only be seen when the pages are fanned out. Marist College has a nice history and introduction and the Boston Public Library has an impressive gallery.
a world without humans...
android dreams
Time-lapse video of Tokyo set to the Blade Runner soundtrack. That is all. (SLVimeo)
Does crime still pay?
Support for atheist clergy
A year and a half ago we discussed Daniel Dennett's study of clergy who had lost their faith. In the meantime, he and Richard Dawkins have teamed up to start "The Clergy Project," an online community for clergy who are considering leaving the ministry because of their loss of faith, and former clergy who have already made the transition out. [more inside]
We have created a society that honours the servant, but has forgotten the gift.
How our 'divided brain' shapes our behaviour, culture and society. Iain McGilchrist explains, in a new animation from the RSA. Previously and previously.
Chasing democracy..
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting starts in Perth, Australia on the 28th October. CHOGM Action Network have planned a peaceful protest. Police have been granted special powers. Protest organisers have been put under surveillance and their homes raided. Twelve have been issued with orders excluding them from designated Security Areas. One has already been arrested and charged because his job happened to be in the area. Prisons have been advised to prepare for a large spike of inmates. Still, police are confident they are ready for a Chaser (previously) style stunt.
We're all bozos on this bus
There are few better ways to understand political candidates than their campaign buses. [more inside]
October 24
Hanover Historical Texts Project
Hanover Historical Texts Project is a collection of primary source texts from ancient times to the modern era in English translation. There is a great number of interesting texts, for instance accounts of Zeno, he of the paradoxes, the diary of Lady Sarashina, a lady-in-waiting in Heian era Japan, a letter from Count Stephen of Blois and Chartres, a crusader writing to his wife, Arthur Young's travels in France before and during the Revolution, a report by the American ambassador in St. Petersburg on March 20th, 1917, immediately after the February Revolution, and finally Petrarch's letter about his graphomania. That last one is from what is perhaps my favorite part of the website, a trove of Petrarch's Familiar Letters. But there's much more in the Hanover Historical Texts Projects besides what I've mentioned.
A factor of 40
"I'm no pusher. I never have pushed [taxicab medallions]."
Last month, The Atlantic reported that since 1980s, the price of a metallic NYC taxi license has grown four-times faster than the average home or a brick of gold, claiming it to be a wonderful "inflation hedge." This report proved prescient; on Friday two such medallions (which merely represent the taxi's license) just sold for $1 million apiece — a 42% increase just since August. Also on Friday, mere hours after reading the newsstand headlines, Midtown Manhattan resident Tom Poteat
looked down to see a medallion, unattached to its taxi, lying on the sidewalk.
A rasher by any other name would taste as delicious
Corpsegrinder sings at BlizzCon
BlizzCon, the monumental annual event that Blizzard Entertainment puts on every year, just wrapped up this weekend. It concluded with a massive party and concert, during which George Fisher was at one point invited on stage. Mr. Fisher is also known by his stage name "Corpsegrinder" and is the singer for heavy metal band Cannibal Corpse. In order to introduce him to the audience, this snippet of an interview with him was played (YT link). In case it's not totally clear what's getting beeped out, here's the unedited version (YT link, NSFW language). [more inside]
The most terrifying song imaginable
Halloween light show complete with grinning pumpkins. Warning: LMFAO.
Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot the first
All The Pretty Horses
Meet the contraption that wants to replace Central Park horses. NYCLASS and Ban HDC are two groups pushing for the change; the many unfortunate incidents involving carriage horses over the years (including one just today) have inspired a bill that would end the practice, and also a documentary about the treatment of the horses.
Corgi don't give a shit.
What's better than 90 pictures of Corgis? 90 pictures of Corgis in costume.
The Best Thing Since Sliced...
"Long ago Occidental man acquired a definite preference for raised bread instead of cooked cereals and flat breads. Bread reigned over the ancient world; no food before or after exerted such mastery over man. The Egyptians, who invented it, based their entire administrative system on it; the Jews made bread the starting point of their religious and social laws. The Greeks created profound and solemn legends for their Bread Church of Eleusis. And the Romans converted bread into a political factor. They ruled by it, conquered an entire world by it, and lost the world again through it. At last the day came when Jesus Christ made consummate all the spiritual significance that had become attached to it, saying, 'Eat! I am the bread.'" (Reinhart, Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy and Unholy History). (Google Books)
The Romans ruled through bread and circuses; "bread" (and "dough") are money, and the "bread-winner" is the head of the household. The next big invention is always "the greatest thing since sliced bread" Wheat, Rye, Brioche, Challah, Matzo, Limpa--a look inside the long and fascinating history of bread. [more inside]
Dropbox
How Dropbox said "No" to Steve Jobs and lived happily ever after. (So far.)
Art = Life
With almost 2,000 posts, I Heart My Art has a deep archive of contemporary art, vintage photography and creative videos.
Long hair, beards... That's not the face of the resistance!
Tarzan and Arab are budding filmmakers from the Gaza strip. The identical twins (who studied fine art and photography) have never seen in a movie in a theater, or been in a gallery. In fact, until last month, they had never left Gaza. Inviting them to the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas proved to be a "colourful journey", which is also the title of their short movie (trailer) about Palestinian infighting. Short interview with the brothers (includes tips about filming in Gaza). Longer interview (about inspiration and hopes, includes the full short). Via AintItCool, where additional info can be found about their current stay in the US.
Kanye West Lyrics + Saved by the Bell
Trey Gets Stoned
The "South Park" creators get the "South Park" treatment OBVIOUSLY NSFW 27-minute SLYT
Boom Bip: from abstract hip-hop to spooky sounds of black magic from the turn of the 19th century
Bryan Hollon, better known by his musical handle Boom Bip, is probably recognized for two drastically different sounds: abstract hip-hop from his early Mush Records days, and his Mercury Prize-nominated Neon Neon collaboration with Gruff Rhys. Add to that a new inspiration: black magic from the turn of the 19th century. What does that sound like? Let Boom Bip walk you through his new album, Zig Zaj. Step behind the deep red velvet curtains for a peek at the history of Boom Bip. [more inside]
(defun moment_of_silence (print "*"))
John McCarthy, AI pioneer, ACM Turning Award winner, National Medal of Science winner, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Stanford University and inventor of the Lisp programming language passed away suddenly last night at the age of 84.
Shari'a Law via democracy
Pakistan's pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulam-i-Islam Party (JUI) has denounced the armed struggle by Islamist militants. "It is a unified decision of all the religious parties in Pakistan enshrined in this document that we call for an unarmed struggle within legal and constitutional limits," (via RFERL)
Vancouver aims to "end homelessness by 2015"
Vancouver aims to "end homelessness by 2015". Officials have been working over the years to reduce the city’s homelessness, and in July passed an ambitious plan that targets eliminating street homelessness by 2015 and creating nearly 40,000 new units of social, rental, and condo housing by 2021.
The plan is aimed at building multiple types of housing to address shortages, but the first three years focus mainly on supportive and social housing. It calls for 3,650 units of such housing, 1,700 of which are already funded and in either the planning or construction phase. According to city councilor Kerry Jang, the need for this type of supportive housing has skyrocketed in recent years.
Pay Attention, Kiddo!
In anticipation of the upcoming 20th anniversary re-release (and gargantuan money sink opportunities) of U2's Achtung Baby!, Q Magazine (UK) is issuing their December issue with a bundled CD of covers of every track by big name stars. You can find a couple of them now for listening online -- Damien Rice doing One, Garbage doing Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, and Jack White doing Love Is Blindness. [more inside]
It's Pronounced, 'Mee-shell'
Michele Norris is temporarily stepping down from All Things Considered until her husband's new role as Senior Adviser to the Obama Campaign is complete in 2012. [more inside]
Wikileaks
Citing "an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade" that "has destroyed 95 percent of our revenue," WikiLeaks has announced that it is suspending publishing operations and may have to close.
Hey Nonny Nonny
"Bellwether Pictures is proud to announce (PDF) the completion of principal photography: Much Ado About Nothing. A film by Joss Whedon, based on a play." Announced by near simultaneous tweets from various members of the cast and crew, it seems Whedon used his 2-week vacation from some other small film to shoot an adaptation of the Bard's play at his house. One of the more amazing details is how this was all kept under wraps, and pretty much all mainstream coverage is based on fan sites and Twitter. Based on the press release, the movie will be hitting festival circuits next year, which means 2012 will have 3 Whedon releases: this, The Avengers, and The Cabin in the Woods. [more inside]
Win, place, and show
Daily Racing Form: from nags to doping! Horse racing is one of the oldest pastimes, with wagering on the nags following closely after. Betting intelligently requires either a good eye or an available record of past performance. Originally a Chicago newspaper, this periodical gives the tout the inside scoop on past performances. The monumental digitization of this paper brings a new light on racing sport. And they're off and running...
Don't change my Google Reader backlash
So Google recently announced that changes are coming to Google Reader. One of the upcoming changes is that Reader is losing its own, loved by many, social sharing in favor of Google+: "They're also removing the ability to consume shared items in Reader, so you'll have to go to G+ to read them. I'm fine with G+ being the plumbing for all of Reader's social features, but to force you to go to G+ to comment and read shared items seems shortsighted."
This news has not fared well with many of Reader's users. [more inside]
If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia
The Mexican Mafia has significant operational control only within prisons, yet manages to tax street gangs at rates of 10-30% of revenues. It has become a kind of government. A PDF of the corresponding journal article exists here.
The c, the c!
Here is a nice wee video that visualises special relativity; not by imagining the viewer to be travelling very fast, but rather by imagining the speed of light to be very slow. The creators of the code used to generate the images in the video have a rather accessible paper explaining the physics behind it here, and a page full of other lovely relativistic odds and sods here.
Shakespeare in Code
The forthcoming film Anonymous, which posits the Earl of Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's plays, has scholars bemoaning the immense effort wasted over the years (NYT) pursuing bogus theories of Shakespearean authorship. On the other hand, one of the 20th century's greatest cryptographers got his start searching for secret messages from Francis Bacon in Shakespeare's plays.
Scaling the Heights
Aquaculturalist creates observation tower for fish. Fish enjoy the view. SLYT Who knew that fish liked to get high? [more inside]
Executive With Schizoaffective Disorder Uses Job to Cope
A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills. “I feel my brain is damaged; I don’t know any other way to say it,” Ms. Myrick said. “I don’t know if it’s from the illness, the medications, all those side effects or what. I only know that I do need certain things in my life, and for a long time — well, I had to get to know myself first.” (Nytimes link). Keris Myrick is also on the board of NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"FAME is a fickle food / Upon a shifting plate, / Whose table once a Guest, but not / The second time, is set."
A Coconut Cake From Emily Dickinson: Reclusive Poet, Passionate Baker. [NPR.org] Poet Emily Dickinson withdrew from society for most of her adult life. And yet, she was known to lower a basket full of cakes from the window of the home she rarely left to crowds of expectant children on the street below. The Poet's House in New York City put on exhibit an original manuscript of a Dickinson cake recipe that contained coconut. That recipe calls for the following ingredients.
1 cup coconut,
2 cups flour,
1 cup sugar,
1/2 cup butter,
1/2 cup milk,
2 eggs,
1/2 teaspoon soda,
1 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Walter Isaacson's 60 Minutes Interview
Walter Isaacson, author of a just-released authorized biography of Steve Jobs, talks to Steve Croft of 60 Minutes [single-page view] about his brilliant, mercurial, often difficult subject.
Black on Murdoch.
Pot meet kettle: Conrad Black describes Rupert Murdoch.
Jeff Atwood On Parenthood
Jeff Atwood, co-founder of StackOverflow/StackExchange (previously) is also fairly well known for blogging about programming and human factors. Today he wrote a post about Parenthood.
Salman Rushdie, Unafraid
Looking back on the past, Haaretz interviews Salman Rushdie, who discusses the upcoming film adaptation of Midnight's Children, analyzes the Arab Spring, and reflects on the controversy caused by the publication of The Satanic Verses: "British Airways refused to accept Rushdie as a passenger, fearing the plane would be blown up in midair. A Pakistani film portrayed the writer as a pro-Israel alcoholic who murders Muslims. British censorship prevented the film's screening, but Rushdie, always a fierce advocate of freedom of expression, demanded that it be shown." Previously on MeFi: Rushdie (2, 3); Haaretz.
October 23
"I’ll honor who you are and come to you."
Dr. Jim Withers practices street medicine in Pittsburgh, PA. Operation Safety Net provides house calls to the homeless - to meet them on their terms. [more inside]
Now you can add a Stanford Bunny to all your wedding photos
→ → ↑ ↑ ↑
A Game About Game Literacy (Flash, some strobe on later levels)
That day, they were perfect
A man finds out the story of his parents' second date. [Warning: may cause dust to be attracted to your eye]
So You Think You Can Dance Your Ph.D.
In this annual contest, each dance must be based on a scientist's Ph.D. research, and the scientist must be part of the dance. Biomedical engineer Joel Miller has won Best Ph.D. Dance of 2011. The crowning ceremony will be held at TEDxBrussels in Belgium on November 22, 2011. No word yet on whether the winning choreography will be performed. Previously danced here.
150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Telegraph
150 years ago, a primitive Internet united the USA. "Long before there was an Internet or an iPad, before people were social networking and instant messaging, Americans had already gotten wired. Monday marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental telegraph. From sea to sea, it electronically knitted together a nation that was simultaneously tearing itself apart, North and South, in the Civil War. Americans soon saw that a breakthrough in the spread of technology could enhance national identity and, just as today, that it could vastly change lives."
I always dreamed of a Unified Scene
Folk-punk, Orgcore (UD definition) and Dadpunk are all names for a new wave of earnest, authentic rock that draws its roots from The Clash, Billy Bragg, The Pogues, Social Distortion and Bruce Springsteen. In England, its best represented by Frank Turner, the former singer of hardcore band Million Dead. His anthemic songs about life on the margins of fame, poetry, death, inspiration and the power of rock and roll have made him famous in England, leading to an upcoming show at Wembley Arena. He follows in the footsteps of British folk-punk pioneers Leatherface. [more inside]
Corporate training videos: Where pop music goes to die.
Hot drinks! [SLYTs all the way down] One wonders why a late-80s fast food chain felt the need to have all their training videos sung as middle-of-the-road hip hop and R&B songs. [more inside]
Happy 200th, Franz!
Yesterday was Franz Liszt's 200th birthday. Celebrate by watching performances of his most famous piece, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, by Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker or perhaps Bugs Bunny. Or maybe you prefer something less cartoonish?
Dealing with Gavin Tanner
[SLYT, 2:47, AUS] "So you're thinking about dealing some weed? Well, I'm Gavin Tanner, pretty much the best dealer there is. So, listen up, and I'll tell you how you can be an awesome dealer, too."
Hey! we have a common cause
Though seemingly worlds apart, the Occupy folks and the Tea party people find they have shared concerns The far Right and the far Left might just discover that they have reason to band together and expand their demands for some basic changes in the way things are done in our country.
Bullseye
A while back, Gawker broke the story of a former manager suing Target as part of a series about life at the notoriously anti-union store. Since then many more employees have come forward with stories about "The sketchiest place I've ever worked." (Target Previously)
Pilobolus Dance Theater
What is the only professional, modern dance company to grow directly out of a college modern dance class? ... What is the only professional modern dance company directed by not a singular choreographer, but rather a group collaboration, using improvisational techniques? The answer to... those questions is the world famous dance company, Pilobolus. (links nsfw - previously) [more inside]
To me that’s backwards! Humans, Autochthony, Earth, and a home for us all at the end of the Universe.
Time lapse videos can be breathtaking, lovely, and a joy to watch… but they can also show you something you may not have thought about before. Before I even read the caption for Murray Fredericks’ video called "IRIDIUM", I knew it was filmed in the southern hemisphere. Can you guess how? [more inside]
Bill Evans Trio 1965
Now you know me as Dirty Spaceman, yeah!
Bad Lip Reading's parody video Dirty Spaceman has been removed by YouTube following a DMCA takedown request by Universal Music Group. (previously) [more inside]
An MP3 player that became your buddy
The iPod turns 10 Today marks the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the iPod. Touted in a low-key presentation as a player that would let you carry 1000 (!) songs in a player the size of a pack of cards (!), the 1st gen model didn't really impress techies (or mefi), though consumers quickly fell for the stylish white and stainless player. In the ensuing years, Apple kept plugging away at new models, and today, few even remember that Apple was late to this game. (previously)
A Queens Garbageman and an Endangered Language
Sunday Morning Cartoons
Too many great animated music videos lately for SLYTs, so here's a Multi-Link Mostly-Vimeo...
"Fantasy", Song by DyE, Video by Jeremie Perin
NSFW as it goes from naughty to nightmare in record time. [more inside]
"Fantasy", Song by DyE, Video by Jeremie Perin
NSFW as it goes from naughty to nightmare in record time. [more inside]
Yes, but where is Nala?
Something wicked delicious this way comes
12 Bottle Bar, a site dedicated to classic cocktails for the home bartender, have transformed themselves in the run up to Halloween. Now they are... 13 Bottle Bar: Blood, Booze and Beyond, in which they review classic horror and post terrifying cocktails inspired by it. [more inside]
Absolutely shagged.
Next, rubber gloves at the supermarket checkout
People generally associate the TSA with airport security…but now , starting in Tennessee, we have moved on to other forms of transportation, such as highways, buses and railways That's why Tennessee is the first State to partner with TSA to do random checks on highways.
October 22
How the Potato Changed the World
Charles C. Mann on How the Potato Changed the World. Photo Gallery. Video. Alfred Crosby Interviewed on the Columbian Exchange.
Barbarian from Beyond the Clouds Collects Tribute from Barbarians Beyond the Seas.
The Eunuch Admiral: A Ming cup leads to a Berkeley scholar and the marvelous tale of China’s greatest seafarer.
GeekGirlCon Power!
Outside Consensus Reality
In 2003 and again in 2009, Director Andy Glynne, with Mosaic Films and BBC4 created Animated Minds, a series of animated documentaries to express the subjective experiences of various kinds of mental health disorders. [more inside]
Hervé This
Reconstructing nostalgic childhood food at Grant Achatz Next Restaurant. Background on 'Eater'. Previous menu of 1906 Paris. The business behind Next. Moléculaire!
Everything is a remix, but you gotta start with something
So you want to try and remix someone else's songs, but all you have are a random collection of instrumentals and acapellas to work with. Fret not! First, you can find inspiration from the folks who share their reworkings at Tea's Björk Remixes, as there aren't many Björk acappelas to start with, but they still find a way. Then check out the Acapella Archives blog, for a lot of indie hip-hop acapellas and more vocal tracks. If you've browsed those archives, you might notice a link to Beastie Remixes, a community for remixers of Beastie Boys. They have an acapellas page which has more than just vocal tracks: there are also copies of show vinyl, with the tracks that the Boys have used to back up their live shows.
Save us, Wonder Woman!
Gory images of Gaddafi. Exotic pets being slaughtered. The EU on the verge of a financial meltdown... Your 90-second mental health break, courtesy of Lynda Carter.
LA vets demand housing at giant VA campus
There are an increasing number of homeless military vets living in Los Angeles. The VA in Los Angeles has a 400 acre parcel of land meant to house vets. Slight problem: the VA has decided to lease the property to various area businesses instead of using the land for its intended purpose.
The Big Shroom
Tying it all together for those on the right
Karl Denninger (founding Tea Party member, origin of teabag idea, Obama-voter, supporter of OWS) breaks it down for his right wing readers: Even better, the press reaction, especially from the right wing, can be counted on to get this wrong and claim that the government had stolen capitalism. The truth is much simpler: The taxpayer was just plain robbed by the government and banks acting together.
Throwing molten iron for fun and profit
Pirate Driving
"I had to drive with only one eye open as the camera was blocking my other eye, quite tricky," he said. Luca DiGrassi tests an eye-level camera in an old Toyota F1 car.
"It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize"
The Economist wants to know: Are four new translations of Homer’s “Iliad” a bit much? After nearly 3,000 years, does the “Iliad” really need translating again?
60 Second Adventures in Thought
60 Second Adventures in Thought is an animated series exploring famous thought experiments. More on: Hilbert's Paradox of the Grand Hotel, Schrödinger's cat, the Grandfather Paradox, the Chinese Room Argument, the Twin Paradox, and Achilles and the Tortoise. [more inside]
The other 1%
YAD KCOL SPAC
OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!! EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!!!!
October 21
High Five
(Every single link: NSFW!) Today was International Fisting Day. "For as long as I’ve done porn, distribution companies and retailers have banned the act of fisting in the films I’ve been in. It feels like it’s always been this way, but that’s not true. It’s only been a little over a decade." Queer porn icon Jiz Lee and auteur Courtney Trouble cant show real sex in mainstream porn. Why? [more inside]
Nadim Damluji, Tintinologist
Hello! My name is Nadim Damluji and I am an aspiring Tintinologist. Nadim Damluji received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, and just finished a year of blogging and retracing Tintin's steps in Belgium, France, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and China to study Hergé's famous series as a form of Orientalism. [more inside]
"IT TOOK 'EM A YEAR TO CHEW THE GUM ! !"
9 Ideas From Around the World to Fix the American Economy
9 Ideas From Around the World to Fix the American Economy. "People in the U.S. confuse big government and small government as the only two models. What we need is smart government". Selected economic and social policies that actually work - from Germany, Brazil, Israel, Canada, Australia, China, Thailand and Singapore.
Are you Fond of Cycling? Why Not Cycle for the King?
Welcome to the Birmingham Small Arms & Military Bicycle Museum. Always wanted to bicycle with your rifle? Observe the 1942 BSA military Mk. V Roadster. Also featuring the "Airborne", the Airborne folding Paratrooper, the Peugeot Captain Gerard folding bicycle, the Lady Back tandem model T64 with Watsonian sidecar and, many more. See the many vintage posters and learn the exciting history of the soldier-cyclist.
GEGS (9, 4)
Derek Crozier was an idiosyncratic crossword setter who, under the pseudonym Crosaire, ran the Irish Times cryptic crossword singlehandedly for almost 70 years. He died in April 2010 at the age of 92, having compiled over 14000 daily crosswords. The last puzzle completed before his death, number 14605, runs in today's Irish Times. [more inside]
Here, use cream
Rick Genest covers his full body tattoo.
Twenty-six-year-old fashion model Rick Genest, who starred in Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" video and walked Thierry Mugler Men's Fall 2011 runway, puts Dermablend's concealers to the test in the brand's "Go Beyond The Cover" campaign.
A team of three makeup artists worked in just one day using about 4 tubes of Dermablend Professional Leg and Body Tattoo Primer and Leg and Body Cover to conceal Genest's skeletal tattoos from the waist up. In the jaw-dropping, three-minute clip, we see the final result.
E-Sword: The sword of the lord with an electronic edge
For more than a decade E-Sword: The sword of the lord with an electronic edge has been the standard electronic bible available as freeware to anyone with a computer. E-sword is a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to get to know the bible better, whether you are reading from a devotional, historical, critical, or literary standpoint; or just have a habit of getting into arguments with street pastors, doorknockers, or religious relatives and like to win. [more inside]
10 Years since Grand Theft Auto III
10 years since GTA 3 Grand Theft Auto 3 was released on 22nd October 2001 and everything we ever thought we understood about videogames changed. [more inside]
He Inspired Duff Beer
20 Years Later: Duff McKagan [of Neurotic Outsiders / Velvet Revolver / GunsNRoses] and Adam Curry recently sat down and had an interesting conversation in app format
Anything You Can do I Can do Better
In honor of William Shatner's latest album (Previously here and here): here are a few surprising and cross genre covers. Some work well, others are Tiny Tim. Track info and links to the originals inside. [more inside]
The NoDeficits club
How the Austerity Class Rules Washington. Tracing the origin of a political meme. (Via Paul Krugman.)
Microlawns
Microlawns. Very small patches of grass.
You nincompoop.
YouTube Insult Generator. Enter a keyword or phrase, and the Insult Generator will trawl YouTube for relevant videos, and pull insults from those videos. Wired write-up. [via]
It takes some Sachs to raise a villiage
The Millennium Villages, launched in association with the Millennium Development Goals (wiki) adopted by the UN in 2000, recently received a grant of $72 million to continue its work. In a post on the always interesting Guardian Poverty Matters blog, a group of poverty researchers has recently summarized their findings that the project did not plan for a rigorous evaluation, and thus we will not know if they worked. Jeff Sachs, the scholar most strongly associated with the MDVs, disagrees. The blog Development Impact (which, in fairness, is basically all about randomized controlled trials in development) weighs in here and here.
The Human Slingshot
This is THE original human slingshot developed by the Pope family in Hobble Creek Canyon, UT. Just a couple posts and some bungee cords. Filmed with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Bathos
Bathos. A simple puzzle game. Avoid reading spoilers! Players may want to avoid this thread until finished with the game.
Dear Herman, Choose it! Choose to be gay yourself
Dan Savage tells Herman Cain to prove that being gay is a choice. (Not really safe for work.) Dan Savage Previously on Metafilter.
Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?
Why are computer voices mostly female? Apple's 1987 vision of a computerized personal assistant was originally male. Siri's voice is female in the US and Australia, but male in the UK and France. [more inside]
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
The Solitary Walker - a blog (mostly) about walking.
They know they're not viewers.
Week after relentless week, Mike and Tom Eat Snacks continues to push the boundaries of snack-driven podcasting. Their full archives are available on iTunes, or on SoundCloud. [more inside]
The global reach of social networks
Social network popularity around the world in 2011 as determined by Google search statistics. [more inside]
(I'm Sorry Momma) I'm A Wild One.
Live From The House Of Blue Leaves, It's The 5. 6. 7. 8.'s! This all-girl Japanese punk/surf rock trio is best known in the west for performing "Woo Hoo" in Kill Bill Volume One, but two other performances were filmed during shooting, "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield " and "I'm Blue" (Music starts at 3:01)
Bonus Material:
(I'm Sorry Momma) I'm A Wild One.
Teenage Celopatra
Hanky Panky
Bomb The Twist
Roadrunner
Interviewed on Chic-A-Go-Go
Science is trippy
Try the honey badger!
48 hours. 120 developers. One winning game. Take a peek inside the madness of a 48-hour game development contest, where ramen and caffeine rule the day.
An End to Endless War in Sight?
Obama Announces Full Troop Withdrawal from Iraq by Year's End. Confirming reports that emerged last week that the US does not plan to maintain a residual troop presence in Iraq, the US will pull out of Iraq completely by the end of 2011, bringing to a close a bloody chapter in international history that first began in March 20, 2003. With other recent reports that the administration is considering a faster withdrawal from Afghanistan in the aftermath of Osama Bin Laden's death at the hands of US special forces in May of this year, an end to America's longest running military conflict also seems likely to come soon.
Hollywood occupied with financial crisis
"Attack me in the comments section -- GO."
Jane Pratt (formerly of Sassy Magazine and her eponymous Jane,) launched a website for women: xojane, earlier this year. Last week the site's Health and Beauty Director wrote a blog post explaining that she never uses condoms, birth control pills, or other contraception (for fear of becoming fat) and instead relies on the emergency contraceptive Plan B to prevent pregnancy. And a segment of the internet exploded. (Her responses to some of the comments seem a bit clueless for someone with her title.) Critics have noted that the post was filled with "ignorant" "inaccuracies and misconceptions" about womens' health, sex, Plan B and other forms of birth control. [more inside]
MafiAA cronyism & harassment
A FOIA request by Christopher Soghoian revealed that Obama administration officials, including Copyright Czar Victoria Espinel, Biden’s deputy chief of staff Alan Hoffman, and criminal prosecutor Lanny Breuer, negotiated the deal between ISPs and copyright holders to punish subscribers whose IP addresses participated in copyright infringement. [more inside]
"Nothing prepares you for this. Nothing is rehearsed or written down."
How a Man Can Grieve for a Deceased Friend -- from The Art of Manliness; an ongoing chronicle of masculinity in the 21st Century.
Phibers from the Philippines
Manila folders (the common paper good, not the Filipino contortionists) are made from the fiber of the abacá plant. Sometimes called "Manila hemp" due to its origin in the Philippines, it is not a true hemp because the fibers come from the leaf petiole, not the bast fibers (sourced from the phloem or inner bark) of the plant. The petiole layers, called "tuxies", are stripped off using a tuxying knife and separated either by hand or mechanically. Abacá (Musa textilis) is a relative of bananas and plaintains (both also Musa species). Other than its utility for making the aforementioned common cream-colored office product (also available in non-folder form as "oak tag" or "tag board"), abacá is resistant to salt water and therefore valued for cordage (especially hawsers) and nets. It is also used to make a fabric called Sinamay (often used to make hats) and other common products like rugs and twine (with the coarser outer fibers) and tea bags, filter paper, vacuum cleaner bags, and other papers (with the finer inner fibers.)
Tulip market sees uptick.
"But still, polycythaemia vera – what was that? A disease that sounded like a Greek goddess spliced with an East End pub-landlady..."
Will Self: The trouble with my blood. [The Guardian] Diagnosed with a rare blood disease, author Will Self has to endure weekly 'venesections' in hospital. He reflects on illness, addiction and mortality. [Will Self - Previously].
Thanksgiving Timelapse
First they came for the hippies
Protesters in the Occupy Melbourne camp have been physically removed by riot police ahead of the Queen's visit to the city next week. The violence has prompted the small sit-in to escalate into a march of thousands through the city's central business district. [more inside]
Old(est?) working seismograph in the U.S.
Inside the Favelas
October 20
Still Waters Run Deep
The upcoming sandbox action game Saints Row: The Third has been getting attention for being a blast of anarchy and absurdity in a mostly staid gaming landscape. However, indie game developer and blogger Anna Anthropy argues that Saints Row 2 is has some exciting ideas about gender and gender presentation and allows for a much broader range of characters than the usual gruff action hero clones. A live action Saints Row 3 ad suggests it too will have this customization.
Creative. The most important least important thing.
AdWeek presents vintage photographs from advertising days past, from the MadMen era and earlier. See photos of copywriters, creative directors, secretaries and account directors from Grey, BBDO, McCann, and other agencies frequently name dropped in Mad Men (many of whom are still around today).
It's Decorative Gourd Season
Because it's Fall, f*ckfaces. Realizing that McSweeney's is disfavored on MeFi, and that many will have seen this before, I offer this nonetheless. Because it's that time of the year, and goddamit, it's funny.
Norman Corwin, 1910-2011, poet laureate of radio of the 1930s and 1940s
"In radio there was never a term equivalent to boob tube or couch potato." — Norman Corwin, writer, director and producer in the golden age of radio, has died at the age of 101. [more inside]
Complete recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas
Artur Schnabel was the first pianist to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. He would not be the last. [more inside]
One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure
Treshr makes it easy to give things away, or, the other way around, find free stuff. Everyone has stuff they don’t need anymore. Maybe your child outgrew their old clothes, or you moved to a new place and have old furniture to get rid of. Whatever it is you’re looking for, someone somewhere is trying to throw it away. Treshr is basically a search engine for Freecycle, a nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. [via] [more inside]
What are you doing this Halloween?
Australians actually love Indians
Is the alcohol message all wrong?
Is That Cupcake Vegan or Just Butter- and Egg-Free?
Vegan bakeries are churning out increasingly tasty treats. Due to the negative connotations associated with veganism, many of these bakeries are forced to keep their vegan identities on the down low.
Thanks, Friedrich
How to fail at digital publishing
Warhammer maps galore
The Super Huge, Detailed Map of the Warhammer Old World is exactly what it claims to be. 29952 by 22528 pixels in size, it covers all of the Old World area of the Warhammer Fantasy setting. The map was made by Gitzman, who has made lots of other maps of the Warhammer Fantasy world, hosts a WFRPG podcast and has a bunch of other resources to help game masters and players in that setting. He had help from Andreas Blicher, whose site has even more maps of the Old World, and Alfred Nunez jr., who has even more maps, articles and resources for people interested in the Warhammer Fantasy universe.
There's No "We" in Fan
Here's the deal: If you don't play for, or you are not an employee of, the team in question, "we" is not the pronoun you're looking for. "They" is the word you want.Why "We" is the most overused term in sports.
(That's 9% Income Tax, 9% Sales Tax, 9% Corporate VAT)
Effect of Herman Cain's proposed "9-9-9" tax reform plan on average household tax liability. Cain is leading the field of GOP Presidential candidates in polls of Iowa, South Carolina and Florida. Previously 1 2
Jonit: have the beat tell the story
Here's a little musical journey. Let's start with Sherlock's Daughter, a dream-pop group of Brooklyn-based Aussies. From this, extract the keyboardist and electronics wizard Jonti Danilewitz, creating: D'Animals, then simplified as Danimals. It started as a solo outing, but turned into a group, who produced an odd single (which spun off an animated music video under the name Djanimals). The group also won the chance to work with Mark Ronson and a bunch of well-known musicians, producing a single with a video. Spin out a bit further, and Jonti is on his own (again), releasing a mixtape "album" from his private collection, and most recently signing with Stones Throw Records, where he has finally released his solo debut album (streaming online). Bonus tangents inside. [more inside]
Machines of Paper and Wood
Building a Computer 1: Numerals - recently my kids have been asking me about how computers work. I like to give in-depth answers to such questions, so we set out on a quest to understand how they work... Follow-up parts 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15.
It took braaaaaaains.
Throwing that NPR weight around
NPR doesn't like affiliate reporters participating in OWS. Lisa Simeone, host of World of Opera and Soundprints, which you may have heard on your local NPR station, had been speaking to the press at Occupy DC. NPR is calling her a "spokeswoman for Occupy DC" and is taking this very seriously. Simeone has been fired from Soundprints, with World of Opera still up in the air.
IT IS A BIG DEAL. IT IS A VERY, VERY BIG DEAL.
...IN THE MIDNIGHT LINE THE OTHER NIGHT THERE WERE ABOUT 90 GUYS ALL STANDING AROUND READY TO BUY. AMONG THEM, A FEW RANDOM GIRLS INTERSPERSED WHO RIGHTLY LOVED THE LAST GAME AND ARE NOW GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH A REALLY, REALLY STRANGE TONE. OH SURE, CHANCES ARE THEY’RE USED TO MOST OF THE SEXISM IN VIDEO GAMES, BUT THIS IS A SPECIAL KIND OF ORNAMENTAL. THIS IS STEALTH SEXISM. SOMETHING FAR MORE INSIDIOUS THAN THE NAKED PANDERING OF DUKE NUKEM.Gender roles among contemporary comics characters has been scrutiized in the wake of DC Comics' rebooting of its product line (previously), as well as in its prior days of stuffing damsels inside refrigerators. But the latest writeup on the Male Gaze's role in superheroics has emerged from the irradiated brow of...The Hulk. And not Feminist Hulk, nor Drunk Hulk but...well, the one who analyses movies.
NASA's new ride
NASA is designing a spiffy new rocket, the Space Launch System, which will lob people and cargo to the moon, an asteroid and eventually Mars. [more inside]
There isn't one cabal. There's a 147 of them.
Muammar Gaddafi killed in gun battle.
Muammar Gaddafi killed in gun battle. With multiple news sources now confirming, and Reuters now re-stating Al Arabiya's claims that the body is in Misrata, and with news that his hometown of Sirte has finally fallen, it appears that this phase of the revolution may be drawing to a close.
"Not if anything to say about it I have."
Speak like Yoda, did you? May have we. [HuffPo] "New research published in the the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the "proto-human languages" of 50,000 years ago resembled the speaking patterns of a certain wise, green Star Wars character."
It used to mean a bundle of Mongolians
Is it ever OK to use words like 'mong' or 'spaz'*? Ricky Gervais has inspired controversy by use of the word many feel is a slur against disabled people, prompting reactions from his peers and bloggers. He argues that words change their meaning over time. [more inside]
The science of baseball's magical necklaces
Flula does not understand idioms
German DJ Flula Borg does not understand why you would shoot fish in a barrel, does not understand the logic of rock, paper, scissors and definitely does not want to shoot the shit. [more inside]
October 19
Mathamatical!
He even got "Bismillah" wrong.
The first official video has been released from William Shatner's new album. It's not "F**k You" or "Iron Man." No, it's an... indescribable "cover" of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Amor Vincit Omnia
A couple married for 72 years dies holding hands, one hour apart. The inseparable couple was engaged and married within 12 hours in 1939, on the day Norma Yeager graduated from high school, May 26, 1939.
Dear Me
Dear Me -- celebrity letters to their younger selves. Stephen King, Gene Hackman, Gillian Anderson, James Belushi, Alice Cooper, John Waters, Sandra Bernhard, Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, and Kathleen Turner.
Here at the Green Dragon...
Wheels within wheels
The best known packings of equal circles within a circle. Best packings with 1-12 circles. Best packings with 49-60 circles. Best packings with 1093-1104 circles. Also, circles whose areas form a harmonic series. Circles in an isosceles right triangle. Or generate your own circle packings. (Background for beginners: circle packing. Background for experts: circle packing.)
The word cocksucker does get thrown around a lot
Wes Anderson: I knew Bill Murray had my back from the first time I saw him standing on top of that rock, wearing a cowboy hat.
The director and part of the cast of the Royal Tenenbaums talked about the movie at the New York Film Festival, where there was a special 10th anniversary screening. They had a lot to say about Gene Hackman, mostly of the 'well, at least he didn't kill any of us' variety.
Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter"
The familiar '70s query, "Is it art or porn?," took on a whole new dimension with The Night Porter (NSFW), a stylish and astoundingly seamy fusion of erotica and stark concentration camp trauma. While many subsequent films, mostly Italian, took the Nazi sexploitation route to unbelievably tastless levels, Liliana Cavani's treatment remains more problematic. More concerned with mood and characterization than cheap thrills, the film is nevertheless extremely kinky and shocking enough to prove that its R rating is the product of a ratings system far different than the one we have now. [more inside]
Recommended by Nine Out of Ten Hippies
Many of us weren't born yet, but those who were, see 1968 was a pivotal year in US history. The 1968 Exhibit. Everything you wanted to know about 1968 but were afraid to ask.
Whole lotta Winslow
Have a Coke and a Smile (assuming you have any teeth left).
You know those Coke Freestyle machines? Where you can make your own combos? Like, 127 of them? [more inside]
Exotic animal debacle in Zanesville
Wild Animal Escape From Ohio Farm Like 'Noah's Ark Wrecking' "Jack Hanna says the scene of wild and dangerous animals running from an eastern Ohio farm after their owner freed them and killed himself was 'like Noah’s Ark wrecking.' [more inside]
The jumpers are all one size and pattern, but the penguins will have a choice of colors.
Skeinz is a yarn store. Their current newsletter is sending out a request for penguin sweaters due to the oil spill off New Zealand. Surprisingly, knitted wear for penguins is not a new thing.
Filler text that really ties the room together
Lebowski Ipsum The Big Lebowski-flavored lorem ipsum text generator. Somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd see in any a those other places, and in English too.
The Avengers...Sweded!
You’ve probably read all the stories you ever want to about killer sows from outer space, but mine is a little different …
The Sobering Saga of Myrtle the Manuscript. A cautionary tale.
This Year’s Hot TV Trend Is Anatomically Correct
There has been a noticeable uptick in the use of the word "vagina" in network TV shows, reports the NY Times.
Such a heavenly way to die
The book covers at Paris's famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore come to life in this stop-motion collaboration between director Spike Jonze and designer Olympia Le-Tan, Mourir Auprès De Toi (To Die By Your Side). [more inside]
The Curious Incident of the Dalek in the Night-time
The Dalek of the Rings. The Dalek of the Flies. Pride and Prejudice and Daleks. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Dalek. The Dalek of the Baskervilles. The Dalek at Pooh Corner. And many more illustrations by Kathleen Jennings.
Stinson Reliant and the Mail Pick-Up Service
From May 12, 1939 to June 30, 1949, a fleet of Stinson Reliants were used for a unique form of mail pick-up and delivery: skyhooking. Similar in notion to the mail-on-the-fly and mail cranes used along rail lines, the Reliants would fly low, deposit one load of mail and pick up the next, without stopping, providing mail service to rural communities. The Smithsonian National Postal Museum has a 39 minute documentary presentation on YouTube, but it's a guy talking over powerpoint slides, which is pretty dry. Instead, here is a modern news report with interviews of a skyhook pilot and old newsreel footage.
"Buddy Holly taken to outer R&B space by Timbaland"
Phone home
Publisher embraces community
Penguin announces a cover contest for John Green's An Abundance of Katherines. John Green, one half of the VlogBrothers (previously on metafilter), is also a Young Adult novelist. His upcoming book, The Fault in Our Stars, has topped pre-order lists since its title was announced in June of 2011, thanks in no small part to Green's promise to sign all pre-ordered copies of the book (150,000 total, as determined by his publisher).
Since the upcoming novel's title release, fan-made covers have made the rounds on Tumblr, some for which Green has expressed admiration himself. As it turns out, Penguin went with a professionally-designed cover for TFiOS, but has also announced a contest to determine which fan-made cover it'll use for the next printing of Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines.
Blind girl runs with help from guide dog
Inspiring story of the day: Legally blind high school girl runs on the cross country team with help of her guide dog. via
"It may be possible to keep your entire cake while explaining to any nearby hungry people just how reasonable you are."
Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance (scroll down)
Fantastical Radiography
"Radiography is more than a technique. It is rather a teknè; that is the only possible "means" to read reality, through matter rather than light." Benedetta Bonichi makes art using X-rays. [more inside]
One guy, three cups.
Cups and Balls. Andrew Musgrave at Ye Olde Magick Blogge gathers videos of, and comments on, 28 versions of the oldest trick in the book. [more inside]
Blue scarves extra
Shame on you! Wear the green scarf! Do not put the green scarf in your schoolbag. Don't back down! Proudly wear the red scarf!
“It's easy, after all, not to be a writer. Most people aren't writers, and very little harm comes to them.”
Julian Barnes Wins the 2011 Man Booker Prize. [Guardian] Fourth time lucky for Julian Barnes, who wins the Man Booker prize 2011 for his novel The Sense of an Ending after missing out on three previous occasions.
October 18
On Asperger's, Extradition, and National Security
Gary McKinnon is a Briton whom the US is trying to extradite to face charges that he hacked into a number of US Government networks, mostly NASA and military, to search for evidence of extra-terrestrial life and leave threatening messages. His efforts took 2,000 Government computers out of service for three days. McKinnon admits guilt and wishes to be tried in the UK. His case has drawn international media attention on two fronts:
1. Should Asperger's be considered a mitigating circumstance in determining guilt, a la the insanity defense?
2. Is the UK-US extradition treated lopsided in favor of the US? A judge-led UK panel says no. [more inside]
Blue Jeans and Band T-Shirts
My Band T-Shirt is a new blog where people can send in photos and stories about their band shirts. The author recently talked about band shirt's importance in musical subcultures. But what are the rules of wearing a band shirt?
BlackBerry cuts made roads safer, police say
Too soon?
Generation X hasn't had a real voice since Axl got fat.
Chris Poole on self expression online
Google and Facebook would have you believe that you're a mirror, that there is one reflection that you have, this one idea of self. [They believe] that what you see in that mirror is what everybody else sees. But in fact we're more like diamonds, you can look at people from any angle and see something totally different. - Chris Poole, AKA Moot, founder of 4Chan and Canvas, from his speech at the Web 2.0 Summit on self-expression through social networking. [more inside]
Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Brainstorm
It is, in fact, something you would have to use Facebook to understand.
Take This Lollipop personalizes the classic trope of the cyberstalker via Facebook. “When you see your personal information in an environment where you normally wouldn’t, it creates a strong emotional response,” [TTL director Jason Zada] said. “It’s tied into the fears about privacy and personal info that we have now that we live online.” [more inside]
Where the night's so bright, I gotta wear shades.
The Midnight Sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months near the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. This short, time lapse film was shot in June 2011 over 17 days and incorporates 38,000 images. The photographer/videographer traveled over 2,900 miles throughout Iceland. Midnight Sun (SL-vimeo, via) [more inside]
Stuxnet II: Electric Duqu
A year after the infrastructure-attacking Stuxnet worm was discovered in Iran, a new piece of malware using some of the same techniques (but apparently with different goals) has been found infecting systems in Europe. The new malware, dubbed “Duqu” [dü-kyü], appears to have been written by someone with direct access to the Stuxnet source code.
Now that you are here
Arik Einstein is probably the greatest singer that Israel ever had. Since 1959, his voice & melodies embodied the best that Israel ever produced. His songs are nostalgic to the core, and listening to them always rekindles in most Israelis the sad, beautiful promises of their childhood.
Today he released a new song, called ‘Now that you are here’, to mark the release of soldier Gilad Shalit.
(Previously)
Angry Birds With FLIR
"We finally flew our first thermal camera flight yesterday afternoon. About 10 seconds after launch my co pilot looked at the screen and said something like, 'We now have our very own predator drone'" A rice farmer in Louisiana had a real problem, feral pigs were coming out of the woods at night, into the rice fields, tearing up his crops and causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. The only solution is to bring in hunters to shoot the pigs.
Hunting feral pigs in waist high rice plants, in the dead of night, is very difficult. You have to be within 10 feet of them to shoot them and it can take hours to stalk them down. So the farmer calls his brother, an Electronic Warfare engineer who flies RC airplanes as a hobby.
$5000 worth of electronics, including a $4500 infrared camera, are installed on a $80 model airplane, and the Dehogaflier is born!
Biting back at Malaria...
A new malaria vaccine has been shown effective in large-scale field trials. After decades of disappointment, researchers think they're finally on track to unleash the first practical vaccine against malaria, one of mankind's ancient scourges.
In the world's first large field trial of an experimental malaria vaccine, several thousand young children who got three doses had about 55 percent less risk of getting the disease over a year than those who got a control vaccine against rabies or meningitis. [more inside]
VICTORIAN SEX MYTHBUSTERS
We are the 98% ... of a theropod skeleton
The most well-preserved dinosaur fossil ever found in Europe was recently announced: a 98 percent intact juvenile theropod that will be on public display this month in Munich.
I eat roadkill
I eat roadkill. Meet Jonathan McGowan, who has spent 30 years eating only roadkill. The conservationist makes owl curries and rat stir fries because he doesn't like the way farmed animals are treated.
Put the needle on the record when the drum beats go like this...
I Was There When Acid House Hit London and This Is How It Felt by Charles Mudede
LMS
LIKE MAH STATUS: Miles Jai on an all-to-common social media annoyance.
Troubled Waters ahead - Bridge Out - 500FT
Thieves steal entire bridge in New Castle [PA]. Motivated by the high premuim for recycled metal, and perhaps an entrepreneurial spirit, brothers Alexander and Benjamin Jones were arrested on charges of deconstructing and selling an entire bridge in rural Pennsylvania for scrap. "This is a national problem," says Trooper Joseph Vascetti, an investigator with the Pennsylvania State Police. "Every police agency in the country is having a problem with it."
What happened to Evony?
VLA no more
Rename the VLA (Very Large Array)! The famous desert radio telescope, made of a bunch of independently movable giant satellite dishes, has just finished a ten-year upgrade and they're holding a contest to pick a new name in celebration. Deadline December 1. (via Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy, which mentions another naming contest, for schoolkids in the US to pick a name for the GRAIL satellites)
Real Housewives of South Boston
The Real Housewives of South Boston (NSF... well, anybody, really.)
Disconnect co-founder: 'People will pay for tools to protect privacy'
How Zombies and Superheroes Conquered Highbrow Fiction
This Recording compiles their favorite Pauline Kael actor descriptions
Postcards From All 50 States
The Great Tech War of 2012
The Great Tech War of 2012: Apple v. Google v. Amazon v. Facebook
“I found myself wishing more and more that I too could have been — could be — your patient.”
"Sybil Exposed": Memory, Lies and Therapy. Debbie Nathan's new book explains why "Sybil" probably did not have multiple personalities [nytimes link]. Did Dr. Cornelia Wilbur inadvertently create the condition she had intended to treat?
Top 40 Data
The Billboard Wayback Machine is an interactive that lets you explore the Billboard charts spanning from 1964 to 2011
October 17
Occupy Wall Street, how it started
Occupy Wall Street started informally through social media. But who and how? Gilad Lotan has reconstructed the origin of #OccupyWallStreet for Reuters.
Six Characters in Search of an Author
The Strange World of Gurney Slade was a "sitcom" starring Anthony Newley (previously). Airing on British television in late 1960, the show's self-reflexivity, bizarreness, and deep experimentation was truly ahead of its time for television. All six episodes are available on YouTube. [more inside]
Surely this..
A new BBC Documentary titled This World: Spain's Stolen Babies alleges that up to three hundred thousand Spanish infants were stolen from their mothers at birth over a fifty year period, and then sold by the Catholic Church through illicit adoption services.
Everything's out of whack again.
Playboy and Hunter S. Thompson
The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright
The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright: Why the Current Crop of Twentysomethings Are Going to Be Okay
One-stop publishing.
Amazon.com has taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers. “Everyone’s afraid of Amazon. ... If you’re a bookstore, Amazon has been in competition with you for some time. If you’re a publisher, one day you wake up and Amazon is competing with you too. And if you’re an agent, Amazon may be stealing your lunch because it is offering authors the opportunity to publish directly and cut you out."
(Some adventures in self-publishing.) [more inside]
My Kid Was An Honor Student At The Punk Rock Academy
The Other F Word (trailer) is a new documentary about punk rock fatherhood. Blog Musical Urbanism argues that it mostly focuses on the materialistic Southern California punk rock scene.
Many Lives, Furnished in Middle-Period Moorcock
Intrigued by the trolley problem? Here is a link to the full text of Michael Moorcock's 1971 SF novel Breakfast in the Ruins. Moral conundrums at the end of every chapter for you. [more inside]
World Radio Network
Welcome to the World Radio Network, a 24-hour stream tailored for various global regions (in a variety of languages) featuring news and social programming from all around the world. There are a variety of ways to listen, from the internet to AM radio. [more inside]
New York Subway, 1980s
It's as if chocolate was a ninja turtle and peanut butter was your nose
Paris, 17 October 1961
Today is the 50th anniversary of the Paris massacre of 17 October 1961, when the city's police under Maurice Papon murdered dozens if not hundreds of Algerians who were demonstrating peacefully against the curfew they were living under. A number of commemorations were held in the city. For French speakers, an hour-long 1991 documentary on the massacre, Le silence du fleuve, can be viewed in its entirety on Médiapart. (The title means 'the silence of the river': many of the dead drowned after being thrown in the Seine.)
Clichés Never Get Old(er)
The Hippocratic Oath of a Photographer circa 1937. Still relevant today. HEY YOU WITH THE CAMERA! STEP AWAY FROM THE EGG!
1 button or 2? Answer: No buttons
"What kind of a**hole enters his game in the IGF before it’s done and then decides to delay release for 2 years?" The creator of Monaco discusses the philosophy of one or two buttons in gaming. His answer: None.
(NSF People who don't like Penny Arcade.)
Quantum Levitation
Sapphire + Superconductor + Gold + Saran Wrap + Liquid Nitrogen + Magnets = Quantum Levitation. [more inside]
Help Wanted: Busybodies With Cameras
People in Korea now have a new vocation available to them: snitching on other civilians for cash payouts from the government.
Flask Awards +10 CHA
Why it's MC Frontalot (Previously, Interviewed by Metafilter) has a new music video, "Critical Hit" which imagines the future of his career as a D&D game.
The Mysterious Stones of Bologna
In 1602, a cobbler strolling outside of Bologna discovered a colorless stone with the curious ability to "accumulate light when exposed to the sun and to emit it in the darkness." His lapis solaris was to be the chemical sensation of the century. [more inside]
Pons-Brooks
A reanalysis of historical astronomical observations suggests that Earth
narrowly avoided an extinction event just over a hundred years ago in 1883. [more inside]
Temporal Anomaly of The Week
The Cynic's Corner, abandoned in 2003, features a handful of reviews for various Star Trek TV franchises, as well as Andromeda (ostensibly a Roddenberry project) and Babylon 5. Each review covers a variety of topics, including the Temporal Anomaly Of The Week, Spatial Anomaly Of The Week, Unexplained Mystery Of The Week, and the War Crime Of The Week. An entertaining read, and serious time sink, for anyone currently skipping past Lwaxana Troi episodes on Netflix Instant.
Bicycling the Globe at a Bargain
35 days, 2822 miles through 9 states at a cost of $252.51 ($7.21 per day). George 'the Cyclist' Christensen spends a good part of each year bicycling through a different country and wild camping in places like Iceland, Turkey, China, the foot of Mt Fuji and around Lake Victoria; And writing about his travels on his blog from libraries and internet cafés. For the past eight years, too, he has also followed the Tour de France after first watching upwards of 70 films [in 12 days] at the Cannes Film Festival.
Pay to play, pay to win
"The days when you could buy a videogame one day and get an expansion a year later are, sadly, lost in time. Instead, it seems there's a constant bombardment of DLC and microtransaction items all vying for our credit card numbers. They're in everything, from MMORPGs through to singleplayer shooters, and it's only getting worse as time goes on." - An investigation into microtransactions and gaming.
"Re-organizing" a Canadian institution.
The government of Canada has decided to end the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk system for the sale and export of wheat and barley. This has been on the Conservative agenda for some time now, despite some claims that farmers support the Wheat Board. Many are suggesting that the repercussions could stretch beyond wheat farmers; including concern for the town of Churchill, known mostly for the local bear population, which does 95% of their port business through the Wheat Board.
A history and primer of the Wheat Board.
Previously
It's co-op week on metafiler?
A history and primer of the Wheat Board.
Previously
It's co-op week on metafiler?
Cold Night In The Potteries
There is one argument that has taken the soccer world by storm: Can Barcelona win on a cold, windy, night at The Britannia Stadium, home of Stoke City?
Conceived by Andy Gray (talked about on the Blue before) when he said: “I don’t know if Barcelona have ever gone to a place like the Britannia Stadium and suffered the kind of onslaught from Tony Pulis’ team of long throws and free-kicks or been up to a place like Blackburn and been beaten up by their long ball into the box.”
There has certainly been analysis of this thorny question.
Of course, Stoke is in the Europa league this year. If they were to win the competition and advance to a Champions league spot, we might actually see this fixture.
Reel History of Britain
The Reel History of Britain, a BFI/BBC co-production, brings archive film into the nation’s living rooms. The footage shown in the series has been selected from the hundreds of thousands of films and programmes preserved in Britain’s film and television archives. We are complementing the series by making many of the films featured in The Reel History of Britain available online in their entirety, alongside expert commentary from the nation’s archive curators.
Centenarian completes full marathon
Feeling tired today? Back a little sore from that yard work? Morning run left your knees aching? Maybe you just had a lazy weekend. Well, in case you aren't frustrated enough with yourself for what you're (not) accomplishing, enjoy the story of Fauja Singh. Yesterday, the 100 year old became the oldest person ever to complete a full marathon, finishing the 42 km Toronto Waterfront Marathon in under 9 hours (beating his personal target). [more inside]
Big Food Makes Big Finance Look Like Amateurs
"Agribusiness is concentrated to a point that would make a Wall Street master of the universe blush. Vast globe-spanning corporations, many of them US-based, dominate the industry."
Tom Philpott, writing in Mother Jones, says Big Food makes Big Finance look like amateurs
women's self defence
Judo Jymnastics SLYT
Occupy George
Occupy George is an attempt to convey the current wealth distribution of the United States by using dollar bills as a medium. But is it legal?
Hate mail from in front of the iron curtain
During the cold war Wartburg and Skoda exported cars from the Eastern Bloc to the United States. An action that was . . . controversial. One dealership received both love and hate mail.
The Co-op Wars
"Think of 'co-ops' and you might conjure up images of bulk food stores and tie-dye wearing hippies. But in the 1970s, co-op wars raged in the Twin Cities, dividing communities and fracturing the young movement. In this documentary, producer Maria Almli interviews those who were there. Learn how the co-op wars began--when a secretive group in support of Marxist principles began retooling operations for the newly emerging hippie grocery stores--and how members found themselves in the midst of a car bombing and violent takeovers."
A look at the heated, sometimes violent conflict over the direction of the co-op foods movement from Minneapolis/St. Paul's KFAI Radio. [more inside]
Three Minute Thesis
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition challenges higher degree students (PhD and MPhil) from Australia and New Zealand to communicate their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience. Contestants are judged according to communication style, comprehension and engagement criteria. Here's the 2011 Winner, Matthew Thompson (University of Queensland): Suspects, science and CSI. [more inside]
October 16
Is this the way they say the future's meant to feel?
Jarvis Cocker interviewed in the Guardian. "Music's changed in that way. People still listen to it, but it's not as central, it's more like a scented candle. It sets the mood."
Old School not so Old.
You have to get used to the Internet. It’s not the best place to play ball a lot of the time.
Who is that old dude with Elmo?
Elvis Costello sings A Monster Went and Ate My Red 2. (slyt)
"Three months later, the seven youngest children were sent to an orphanage. The family was never reunited."
"Family working in the Tifton Cotton Mill. Mrs. A.J. Young works in mill and at home. Nell (oldest girl) alternates in mill with mother. Mammy (next girl) runs 2 sides. Mary (next) runs 1½ sides. Elic (oldest boy) works regularly. Eddie (next girl) helps in mill, sticks on bobbins. Four smallest children not working yet. The mother said she earns $4.50 a week and all the children earn $4.50 a week. Husband died and left her with 11 children. Two of them went off and got married. The family left the farm two years ago to work in the mill." [more inside]
Wheel of Misfortune
Wheel of Misfortune: The Zodiac of Horror. Austin Coppock gets freaky and fun with archetypes found within the horror genre and astrology.
RIP Dan Wheldon
Two time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon has died of his injuries after a 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. [more inside]
And won't hubby have a time when he has to carry one!
This marvel of technology is both a mobile phone (with a flip-top case!) and a portable music player, a fashionable item that modern women will want to carry around the streets. The recommended accessories are an umbrella and a fire hydrant, because it's 1922. From the vaults of British Pathe (see also). [more inside]
Mosquitoes Must Die.
Dennis Ashbaugh (previously) makes art exploring our human relationship to science, biotechnology and genetic research. He also doesn't like mosquitoes very much.
Serra, Andre, diSuvero, Judd, Heiser, and deMaria all have made great work in 3D. Also I had considered the 7 billion people on the planet, each of whom, has probably had the personal experience of being “bitten” by at least one mosquito and they could be a rather large audience for my work. I continued working on and refining the traps for two more years.The mosquito traps are "ready," and can be viewed here.
"I don't like it in here. It's gross."
The Percentages
The Percentages: A Biography of Class. An autobiographical essay about growing up in the working class (as the author defines it) and then meeting the middle class (again, as the author defines it). This is so far outside my experience that I can't even summarize it properly, but it's worth reading.
The Insiders
Jamie Johnson, a heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, uses his family connections to gain a critical insider’s perspective and remarkable unguarded interviews of those who hold 50% of America’s wealth in two self-made documentaries: The One Percent (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) and Born Rich, along with a Vanity Fair blog. From the other side: Elizabeth Warren, The Woman Who Knew Too Much. [more inside]
The Geology of Omaha Beach
D-Day's Legacy: Remnants of invasion linger in beach sands - an analysis of the debris left in the sands at Omaha Beach from D-Day. [more inside]
"... the album has an ebb and flow, much like the ocean near which it was recorded in North Carolina."
Balance, directed by Jay Buim, is a beautiful music video about two hitchhikers trying to get to the beach. The music comes from the latest album by NC/MD band Future Islands: On The Water. [more inside]
I DEMAND TO BE HOUSEWARMED!
Dan Harmon shares pics of the notes and diagrams from the writers' room for this week's highly praised Community episode, "Remedial Chaos Theory."
Bill Clinton talks to Simon Schama
"You can’t convert the ideologues because they don’t care what the facts are. With the world as it is, you have to fight the fight you can win, and the fight you can win is economics."
Bill Clinton talks with Simon Schama about the state of American politics. [more inside]
Bill Clinton talks with Simon Schama about the state of American politics. [more inside]
Feel the warmth
A commercial. But a commercial featuring two of MetaFilter's favorite things: knitting and stop motion animation. Also, there's a cat. The making of.
The Phantom Tollbooth At 50
"You may not see it now, but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else. . . . Whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.” 50 years ago, "The Phantom Tollbooth" was published.
Lobbying expenditure by sector
Have a look who is coming up on top! Lobbying expenditure in the United States by sector. [more inside]
F*ck You! Pay Me!
F*ck You! Pay Me! Customers not wanting to pay for work done (or pay less than what was originally agreed to) is a common problem that many business owners run into. In this 40 minute video, Mike Monteiro, a web designer, and his lawyer offer advice on how to get clients to pay up. The talk is aimed at freelancers and small firms that provide creative services. Note: There is some swearing in this video. [via Ask Mefi]
"He is, it goes without saying, a popular, popular man at dinner parties."
Playa Time Lapse Project
Matthew Goodman created a time-lapse video showing five weeks of Burning Man using a Canon EOS 500D set up on Razorback mountain to snap 8,000 12-megapixel photographs. Here's how he did it.
It's a beautiful day to fly or die
"Could robots ever be trusted to write original novels, histories, scientific papers and sonnets?"
Do Androids Dream of Electric Authors? [NYTimes.com] "So who was Lambert M. Surhone? Just looking at the numbers, you could argue that he’s one of the most prolific creators of literature who ever lived. But was he even human? There are now software programs — robots, if you will — that can gather text and organize it into a book. Surhone might be one of them."
October 15
Man Made Beauty, By Accident
"They look as if they were taken on another planet, or at least on the set of a new and very expensive science fiction movie. Yet these pictures are of the Fly Geyser which is very much of planet earth."
Melbourne Childrens Hospital Meerkats
SWITCHED BODIES WITH JOE BIDEN
M.F.K. Fisher's "How to Cook a Wolf"
[M.F.K. Fisher's] "How to Cook a Wolf" reads like an issue of Lady's Home Journal, if the editorial staff were taken over by a philosopher with an empty stomach, a slightly tipsy poet and your mischievous, foxy grandmother who once kept many lovers. (related) [more inside]
Food for thought
"Somehow, we all end up in the same place, chasing the same trends while drinking the same drink while staring at the same app on the same phone." Jonah Lehrer (previously 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) looks at the drive for distinctiveness via a recently published study [PDF] by Jonah Berger and Baba Shiv. "The point is that our most essential desires are weirdly intertwined, which is why it’s interesting that making people think about distinctiveness has such a big impact on how badly they crave food."
When Digital Shaming Goes Too Far
Meyer paid without leaving Liss any gratuity. He then took his rudeness a step further, by writing at the bottom of his bill, "P.S. You could stand to loose [sic] a few pounds."
Understandably hurt, Liss did what anyone would do in this day and age: She took her anger to her computer. She posted a photo of Meyer’s receipt onto her Facebook page and wrote underneath it, "[T]he best part is he was dressed like that gay kid on Glee. Yuppie scum!" [more inside]
The Strategy? "Pitch Swift."
The Invisible Fastball. "Six decades ago, a minor league pitcher accomplished something we'll never see again." (Single page version)
Dragon Age: Redemption
Now available for online viewing: the first episode of the new webseries by Felicia Day and her production company Knights Of Good, in association with Bioware -- Dragon Age: Redemption.
Whale Fall
Look! Up in the Air! It's...Camera Ball?
Take 36 mobile phone camera modules and put them in this and throw it in the air and you get this. Action video of Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera (seen at the top of the page). [more inside]
Another tumblr blog
Another mind numbing tumblr blog- shit siri says. Apparently Apple Purposely Gave Siri Some Attitude. Here is a cnet demo of siri on youtube.
It's starting to get freaky....
Underwater methane seeps may host ecosystem that nourishes shark eggs. It has been understood for some time that deep water methane seeps nourish bacteria far from the reach of photosynthesis. As part of the food chain worms and clams eat the same bacteria far from the reach of photosynthesis. Now, underwater photos from two locations on the globe show fertilized shark, ray, and skate eggs nestled in the worms nourished from the bacteria far from the reach of photosynthesis. [more inside]
It's all Moneyball now.
It's all 'Moneyball' Now
"You didn’t have to spend the day dancing around the drum circle in Zuccotti Park to see Game 5 of the Yankees-Tigers division series in New York — with its constant cutaways to those slick-suited men hunched over their BlackBerrys in the Legends Suites — as more than just a baseball game."
"You didn’t have to spend the day dancing around the drum circle in Zuccotti Park to see Game 5 of the Yankees-Tigers division series in New York — with its constant cutaways to those slick-suited men hunched over their BlackBerrys in the Legends Suites — as more than just a baseball game."
Jay Smooth expounds the doctrine of gotnosensitivism
Mark my word, they won’t want anything you can give them....except Facebook
Bernard Pras’ Amazing Assemblages
French artist Bernard Pras arranges objects to look like images of other things when viewed from afar. For example, he’s recreated Hyacinthe Rigaud’s portrait of Louis XIV using toilet paper and junk food. You can view his portfolio by clicking on the galerie link on his website.
Jazzy, traditional, ambient Turkish music
Taksim Trio is a super-group from Istanbul composed of Hüsnü Senlendirici, one of the greatest clarinet players alive, Aytac Dogan on qanun (zither) and Ismail Tuncbilek on saz (long necked lute). More of their music that can be found on Youtube. A glowing Album review & some background. Their Myspace.
Aretha, 1968, Stockholm
In the year 1968, at the height of her powers, one of the greatest singers America has ever produced was in Stockholm, where she served up a breathtakingly powerful and characteristically soulful performance that, lucky for us, was filmed by Swedish television. You know who I'm talking about, of course. "Lady Soul" - parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. [more inside]
SAUSAGE MAN WINS ACCOLADE
GUNMAN SEEN OFF WITH MUG --- DEALER SOLD TEA TO COPS --- MICE FORCE PENSIONER OUT OF HOME --- Just another day for the South London Press. [more inside]
October 14
Do you want to know a secret?
If you met Phil Pressel at a party anytime over the past half-century, he couldn't tell you what he did for a living. If you were his wife, you didn't even know where he was staying on those mysterious business trips. Today, after 46 years, the man who made the camera that prevented a war finally got to show off his magnum opus.
Futuristic Urban Mega-Structures
Disappearance
The Lord of Excess
"I've been called over the top," Steinman says. "How silly. If you don't go over the top, you can't see what's on the other side."
James Richard Steinman is best known for
his collaborations with artists such as Meatloaf (Paradise by the Dashboard Light,) and Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart. His songs have been covered by artists such as Barbara Streisand(Left in the Dark - here's Steinman's original.) Barry Manilow (Read 'Em and Weep, here performed by Meatloaf) Air Supply (Demo with Rory Dodd on vocals) And of course, many of us have seen the “literal versions of his videos for Making Love out of Nothing At All, I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) Total Eclipse of the Heart, inspired by his flamboyant, theatrical style, which does lend itself to parody.
But of course, there is much, much more. [more inside]
a desert, and not in an enchanted forest
"I wonder whether the endless fake cultural wars around identity politics are the main reason we have been able to ignore the tech slowdown for so long." - Peter Thiel, The End of the Future [more inside]
APPLE.MOV
Fan Animation about Applejack The My Little Pony eating many, many apples (NSFW sound, Not Safe For Bronies in general)
Sunrise, Sunset
Sheldon Harnick, lyricist for many hit musicals including Fiddler On The Roof, has written new lyrics for Sunrise, Sunset to make it appropriate for use at same-sex weddings [NYT].
It's the Eye of the Tiger
Photographer Suren Manvelyan posted a gallery of close-up photos he took of animals' eyes. [more inside]
A city of justice, a city of love, a city of peace
Indicting a Bishop and a Diocese in Missouri
Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have been indicted by a Jackson County, MO grand jury on misdemeanor charges of failure to report child abuse. Finn is the highest-ranking Catholic official in the U.S. to face criminal prosecution in a child sexual abuse case, and faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine (the diocese only faces the fine). Both Finn and the diocese entered not guilty pleas. [more inside]
Spiral Art
10 Lost Bowie Tracks
Despite multiple reissue campaigns, some David Bowie gems remain out of print – here’s ten of the best.
Friday Fun Mini Rock
Friday Fun - Mini Metallica (SYLT)
The Renowned History of Little Goody Two-Shoes. Commonly called, Old Goody Two-Shoes. (No mention of drinking or smoking.)
The term is common enough: Goody Two-Shoes, one who is possibly too good and too nice (Google books). But the original children's tale is worth a read, if nothing else to appreciate the hard life of the original (fictional) little Goody Two-Shoes. Here is a facsimile reproduction of the 1766 edition, with an introduction giving some account of the book and some speculations as to it's authorship (Google books scan of an 1882 publication). More versions and tangents inside. [more inside]
A tale of corruption, love and Pork Chop
Jeff Smith, fallen star of the Democratic Party (and subject of a documentary) got hot on Twitter while he was behind bars. Now he's back with an endearing tale of prison love.
Marred Record
Yesterday, Politico reporter Kendra Marr was forced to resign her position after New York Times writer Susan Stellin alerted Marr's editors to similarities between her transportation policy story published Sept. 26 and Marr’s story published Oct. 10. An investigation by Politico into Marr's work found 7 instances of likely plagiarism. Marr, who was formerly a reporter for the OC Register, San Jose Mercury News and the Washington Post, had logged 409 stories (scroll down for list) with Politico during her time there. The outlet has issued a statement. Poynter has a thorough rundown, indicating that more of her articles may come under scrutiny. [more inside]
Doodle Art is back!
Doodle Art posters are back. Thanks to jbickers on the green this Christmas will be a throw-back to one of my favourite childhood activities: colouring in Doodle Art posters! I'm so psyched that these are available again.
Mexican Film about 2012
Too late to fix it in post
From the bankruptcy beat: Kerner Optical shut down. The original Industrial Light and Magic (in a building labeled "Kerner Optical" to hide from industry snoops and avid fans), the practical effects (in contrast to computer effects) shop became a department of a diversifying ILM, which sold it off in 2006. It struggled along on the margins of bankruptcy before filing for Chapter 11 early this year and closing for good in August, its final words a bitter letter about an uncooperative creditor. The Kerner Optical site (entirely in Flash) is still up, where you can see its credits (up through 2008) and view its demo reel.
Souvenir hounds and budding SFX shop owners can have a blast at the liquidation auction, and bid on a box of skulls, a pizza oven, studio props, stage props, leftover models, and tons of shop tools.
Souvenir hounds and budding SFX shop owners can have a blast at the liquidation auction, and bid on a box of skulls, a pizza oven, studio props, stage props, leftover models, and tons of shop tools.
God puts all the pictures on the internet, even the bad ones, as he loves all of us, even the bad people
Something Awful Forums has an active thread where adults draw kids conceptions, mostly about animals. Some of them are cute, others are gloriously bizarre. Also in the same vein: Axe Cop [Previously].
Born into this
If you've ever had those moments where you try to hit undo for something that just happened in real life, or had the impulse to hit control+c to duplicate something on a piece of paper, you might enjoy watching this 1-year-old, for whom a magazine is an iPad that does not work.
How and where to find giants on the internet
The Tallest Man collects information and photographs of giants. Despite its title, it includes giants of both genders. "My goal is to build an online image database of giants from 7'2" and upwards. Initially I had 7'6" as my lower criterium, but as so many of the famous touring sideshow giants from the past were below that height, I have lowered the height to be able to include Cliff Thompson, Eddie Carmel, Jim Tarver and Siah Khan." Perhaps you can help identify an unknown giant? Many have already been identified.
"I hope this is all just incompetence."
The statistical error that neuroscience researchers get wrong at least half the time. Ben Goldacre of Bad Science explains this mistake, which was made in about half of 157 academic neuroscience papers in which there was an opportunity to make it. The culprit doesn't seem to be any specific journal, since the sample included five different neuroscience journals.
Ballard Geocoded
A map of the locations in JG Ballard's fiction . Click a marker on the map to read the relevant text.
The Greatest
Senna is a documentary about one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time (if not the greatest) - Ayrton Senna - and covers his career, personality and untimely death at the age of 34. [more inside]
So many buckets of blood
It's Happy Wheels, the motorcross physics flash game featuring buckets of blood, harpoons, and over-the-top violence, and where you can play as "Irresponsible Dad" or a host of other characters. And there is a level creator. Crazy enough that videos of people playing the game are among the most-viewed on YouTube. [Warning: As mentioned, buckets of blood]
How the religious right censored the UK media – Christian Mothers’ Union head appointed as ‘expert’ by David Cameron
I WILL find the princess and slay the dragon - I swear!
In the spirit of the Monkey Island saga's point-and-click interface and quirky, anachronistic humor, comes the Flash-based tale of Nick Toldy and the Legend of Dragon Peninsula. Cry havoc and release the dogs of retro and homage!
"I Will Never Again Harm Another Human Being"
Over the objections of federal prosecutors and Ronald Reagan's family, John Hinckley, Jr. is on the verge of freedom. "Which should prevail—the belief that anyone who tries to kill a President should never be free? Or a judicial system that rests on laws that spell out pathways to wellness and freedom for people deemed mentally ill when they commit violent acts?"
They're not Tesco's. They're mine.
Tesco usually sells Terry's Chocolate Oranges for £2.75. Yet, in a scene reminiscent of US show Extreme Couponing, a UK 'daily deals' site discovered a glitch that meant shoppers got them for 29p each. And boy howdy, did they get them.
Friday Flash Fun: Tesshi-e escape games
Friday Flash Fun: Japanese designer Tesshi-e makes beautiful, evocative, maddening escape games. Most recent among them is Escape Hotel 4. You may like to check into rooms
3, 2 or 1. Or perhaps you'd prefer to escape from the tatami room, the small bar, the hexagon room, the dome room or the restroom. Examine every item carefully, because nothing is quite as it seems. Expect a lot of lateral thinking and a sprinkling of maths. And before you leave, be sure to take one last look for the Happy Coin: Happy coin will bring happiness to you!! English-language reviews and walkthroughs are here.
October 13
The Muppets
Oh, so THAT'S what Girl Gamers Want!
"Are you a lady? Then finally there’s a game for you! While too many games are pretending that ladies enjoy the same things as men, like shooting, building cities or exploring alien worlds, Lady Popular properly recognizes what it is that makes a true, strong, independent lady: shopping, hairstyles, and having a boyfriend."
John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun gives a no-holds-barred review (NSFW) of the game Lady Popular.
John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun gives a no-holds-barred review (NSFW) of the game Lady Popular.
The Paint Factory of Blombos
For the last few decades, discoveries at Blombos Cave near Capetown have been pushing back our timeframe for the earliest known periods of complex human thought. Henshilwood et al have now discovered a 100,000 year old ocher paint factory at the same site.
Corporate fraud / Benford's law
One way to measure corporate fraud is look at reported numbers and see if they follow Benford's law - number sets that are manipulated usually deviate from Benford's law. A recent analysis of all public companies over the past 50 years has shown a steady upward deviation, strongly suggesting there is more corporate fraud now than ever before (peaked in 2008). [more inside]
The Lean Publishing Manifesto
Lean Publishing is the act of self-publishing a book while you are writing it, evolving the book with feedback from your readers and finishing a first draft before using the traditional publishing workflow, with or without a publisher.
It's Like Fighting Both Sides Of A Mirror
Long before the disastrous musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Marvel released the concept album Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero. The album featured everything from 70's rock to a doo-wop tribute to Gwen Stacey, a theatrical track about Doctor Octopus and the rousing title track and Count On Me . Rock Reflections of a Superhero has been recapped by comic bloggers like Chris Sims, Gone & Forgotten and Tales To Mildly Astonish.
"Big Bang" in Belarus
Watched every episode of the "Big Bang Theory" and still want more? There's always Belarus's unauthorized copy of the show, titled "The Theorists".
Fake English
Skwerl is a short film in which the dialogue sounds like what a person who speaks very little English might hear. Be sure to turn on the closed captioning and choose "Transcribe Audio". (Previously)
The Nauscopy Wizard of Mauritius
In 1782, a French colony in the Indian Ocean prepared for a rumored assault by British ships. Before the governor's reconnaissance ship could report back on the flotilla, however, a member of the local engineering corps reported that the group of ships had changed course. Etienne Bottineau claimed to be the inventor of a whole new “science” that he called nauscopy: “The art of discovering ships and land at a great distance.” [more inside]
"Someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.”
Blog 'em, Dano!
Director, writer, and raconteur, Peter Bogdanovich has a blog where he talks movies -- and you better believe it's called BLOGDANOVICH. [more inside]
Is this a god dam?
Rising 726.4 feet from its foundation, Hoover Dam was constructed in five years, beginning in 1931 and completed in 1936. Take a look back at its construction and history. Via The Browser.
Occupy Everything
After deftly calming negative press coverage of his administration's handling of the Wall Street occupation by announcing that protestors may remain at the privately held public park in lower Manhattan which they have held for 26 days, Mayor Bloomberg has told the activists that they must vacate the premises by tomorrow (Friday) morning at 6AM for "cleaning." [more inside]
Emma Frost can be a problem
The results of the Women Working in Comics survey are in. Meanwhile Comics Alliance has asked creators how comics can do better at female characters. (previously, previously)
"Then who opens the pickle jar?"
All The Single Ladies - "In the cover story for the November issue of The Atlantic, which just came online, 39-year-old writer Kate Bolick explains why she hasn't gotten married and why many of her friends haven't either." (via The Hairpin: an email interview and a link to a video interview with the author)
The 60 Coolest Television Title Sequences
Stubborn as a Muledog
Gus, the bulldog, decides he wants his pool inside the house.
Lingua Canis Domestica
NOVA hosts a test to see how well you speak dog. Originally in association with Dogs Decoded, which is available to watch for the next week via NOVA's website.
Metal Machine Models
"We'll be fine."
GQ: The Man Who Sailed His House. On the third day after the Japanese tsunami, after the waves had left their destruction, as rescue workers searched the ruins, news came of an almost surreal survival: Nine miles out at sea, a man had been found alone, riding on nothing but the roof of his house. [more inside]
CINEMETRICS
Reality Sucks
A "remarkably ill-conceived car ad campaign", General Motors tells students to "stop pedaling. . . start driving". GM backpedaled and pulled the ad, according to ABC news (and others).
Pay Poor Tax: $12
If you're occupying a financial center, you might want to pass the time with a game of Monopoly. Though Hasbro gives ahighly contested "official history" asserting that the game was invented by an unemployed Philadelphia man, it actually originated 30 years earlier as The Landlord's Game, an anti-capitalist protest against the movement of wealth from poor to rich via real estate profiteering. Designed and patented by a Georgist Quaker woman, Elizabeth Maggie, in 1904, it was published by her Economic Game Company, but also spread far and wide - including in circles of socialist-leaning academic economists like Scott Nearing - as a hand-drawn and independently printed folk game. [more inside]
Can't you hear that boom?
After starring in a giant hit youtube video singing Nicki Minaj's Super Bass, 8 year old Sophia Grace Brownlee (and her somewhat less talented sidekick) came on Ellen Degeneres's show yesterday to perform, and meet/upstage their idol. [more inside]
All work and no play makes Jack a neurotic boy.
The decline of play. As a society, we have come to the conclusion that to protect children from danger and to educate them, we must deprive them of the very activity that makes them happiest...
This really is our only option out there.
Harrisburg City Council votes 4-3 in favor of Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection. Pennsylvania's capital city filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors Wednesday, becoming the third city to file this year. In August, Central Falls, R.I. filed for bankruptcy protection after retired city workers refused to accept an offer to cut their pensions. In March Boise County Idaho became the first municipality for seek Chapter 9 protection. [more inside]
Dr Pepper Blew?
Is Dr Pepper Ten's "NOT FOR WOMEN" marketing Sexist, Satirical or just Stupid? Well, the first commercial for the new low calorie soda is very tongue-in-cheek (yes, he yelled out "Catchphrase!"). But the brand's Facebook page actually excludes women (did you know Facebook can do that?), yet a marketing executive has bragged that 40 percent of the people trying it ARE women (who apparently can't read the signs saying NO WOMEN). The soft drink biz is watching to see if it works. Of course, if the Dr wants to raise the stakes, Slacktory.com has some ideas for ads (including "Grow A Penis", "Make Me A Sammich" and "We put Netflix in charge of our marketing decisions...")
October 12
It is Margaret you mourn for.
In 2000, acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan directed his first film, the critically acclaimed You Can Count on Me, which among other things kickstarted the career of Mark Ruffalo. In 2006, Lonergan got $12 million to film his follow-up, called Margaret, and starring Ruffalo, Anna Paquin, Jeannie Berlin, Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Allison Janney, and Kieran Culkin. Then things got ugly. [more inside]
Live Action Voltron Short Film (3 minutes)
放射能が降っています。静かな夜です。
It's raining radiation. It's a quiet night. We are well into autumn. And despite the growing sense in the Tokyo metropolitan area that things are now all right -- with train services back to pre-disaster schedules and the regret we once felt over our wasteful consumption of electricity dissipating -- Fukushima remains a war zone. [more inside]
PERVOCRACY
The Pervocracy is a kinky, feminist sexblog. Holly writes about her experiences as an active member of the BDSM community, a partner in a polyamorous relationship, and an all-around completely horny slut. She also writes editorials from a sex-positive feminist perspective, advice on sexuality and kink, and humorous critiques of sexism online and in the media. [more inside]
There’s no way we’re gonna die tonight / If we shout loud enough they can’t turn out the light
Double Dagger are were a guitar-less punk band from Baltimore. They made incredible music (slyt). [more inside]
Why?
A Harvard oncologist answers the question (and more): Why did Steve Jobs choose not to effectively treat his cancer?
How is Banjo made?
The literature of the Siege of Leningrad
I am not going to try now to open the eyes of the world to the Leningrad Blockade. What I will write about here is less ambitious and somewhat more promising: the literature of the siege. [more inside]
Zorya & More From Amanita Design
Tomas 'Floex' Dvorak, the music composer for Amanita Design's Samorost series and Machinarium, has released an album called Zorya (free stream). It can be purchased here.
In other Amanita Design news, Machinarium is now available for the iPad, and a teaser is now available for their new game, Botanicula. Samorost 3 is also in development.
Dennis Ritchie has died
According to breaking news, Dennis Ritchie, inventor of the C programming language, co-author with Brian Kernigham of the famous book on it, and creator with Ken Thompson of the Unix operating system, has died. [more inside]
WARNING: contains bacon. also possibly hipsters.
Ever wonder what breakfast in Pakistan looks like? How about Uganda? According to some hostellers, breakfast in Pakistan typically involves Aloo Paratha, perhaps with a side of salty buttered tea to dip it in. In Uganda, it's katogo, this particular example being green (non-sweet) cooking bananas, mixed with cow organs. [more inside]
Like A Batman Out Of Hell
Batman: The Musical was going to be written by Meat Loaf songwriter Jim Steinman and premiere in 2001. It was never finished, but demos and lyrics to many of the songs survive, as well as MP3s on Steinman's blog. Several of the songs such as Seize The Knight, In The Land of The Pig The Butcher Is King and Cry To Heaven were officially recorded and released by Meat Loaf.
Frank Kameny, LGBT Pioneer, has passed.
Pioneer and tireless activist for the LGBT civil rights movement, Frank Kameny was fired from his job as an astronomer for the US government in the late 1950s because he was gay. He co-organized the Mattachine Society of Washington, campaigned for equal treatment of gay employees in the Federal government, was the first openly gay candidate for Congress and worked to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The Library of Congress holds his papers, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History includes in its collections Kameny's picket signs carried in front of the White House in 1965, his home has been made a DC Historic Landmark, and a street near Dupont Circle was declared Frank Kameny Way in 2010. In 2009, John Berry, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, formally apologized to Kameny on behalf of the United States government.
Frank Kameny died on National Coming Out Day this October 11, 2011. [more inside]
"P.S. I would like to start with 'The Myths' by Robert Graves."
Way-oh-way-oh-way-ooo-aaa-ooo...
In the early 1960s, East German Karl Peglau came up with the idea to put hats on pedestrian crossing signal figures. To commemorate the 50th anniversary, Der Spiegel has posted pictures of two dozen crossing signals from around the world.
For the rooster in your kitchen
Metafilter (rightfully) loves sriracha. Now the folks at America's Test Kitchen have obsessed over how to make it at home so you don't have to. [more inside]
We are the one percent. We stand with the 99 percent!
The Black Death Revealed
DNA from the teeth of medival corpses confirm that the Black Death was caused by Yersinia pestis. [more inside]
Truman pointed out the disadvantages of the job including low pay and asked her if she could afford to take the job. She replied, "Can I afford not to?"
On the front of every United States Federal Reserve Note, there appear two signatures: that of the Secretary of the Treasury, and of the Treasurer of the United States. Take a look at any note printed since 1949 and you might notice a pattern: since that Treasurer, a Kansan named Georgia Neese Clark, that office has been exclusively held by women.
Apple - Introducing GLaDOSiri on iPhone 4S
Horror's Hopyard
Horror movie blog Arbogast on Film is counting down the days of October with studies of 31 cinematic screams. Considered thus far: shrieks from The Tingler, The Pit and the Pendulum, Two on a Guillotine, Macchie Solari, The Black Cat, Monster House, The Silence of the Lambs, She Demons, The Thing, L'Amante del Vampiro, The Nesting, and Witchcraft. [more inside]
"Google+ is a Prime Example of Our Complete Failure to Understand Platforms"
"Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product." "Last night, high-profile Google engineer Steve Yegge mistakenly posted a long rant about working at Amazon and Google’s own issues with creating platforms on Google+...The most interesting part to me, though, is Yegge’s blunt assessment of what he perceives to be Google’s inability to understand platforms and how this could endanger the company in the long run." It's quite long, but there's some interesting insight - all the more because it wasn't initially intended to be made public. (via SiliconFilter/via G+) [more inside]
Inside The Collapse
The Boston Globe's Bob Hohler gets to the bottom of the Red Sox's epic collapse: Inside are tales of alienated potential MVP candidates, pitchers playing video games and eating take out chicken and biscuits instead of being in the dugout, and older players chasing statistical glory.
"You wouldn’t go to a restaurant that hasn’t been reviewed. Especially in the era of Internet dating, why would you go on a date with a person who hasn’t been reviewed?” NY-based founder Tom Padazana
Rate your EX. ExRated's mission is to empower singles by giving them character reviews of potential dates, and allow them to express themselves through multiple choice reviews designed to help them realize what went wrong in the past and how to make the right dating choices in the future. How does it work?
#OpSyria : Telecomix vs. Assad
BlueCoat Systems (Sunnyvale, CA) has been exposed selling surveillance equipment to the Syrian government in violation of U.S. trade embargoes. The Telecomix hacktivist 'cluster' anonymized and released 54 gigabytes of Syrian censorship log data, collected from seven of the fifteen Bluecoat SG-9000 proxies used by Syrian government telco and ISP STE. Telecomix has also been providing Syrians with Tor and VPNs, offering support via IRC (#telecomix, #opsyria), and providing DNS service for The Pirate Bay. (see also : reflets.info tags opsyria and telecomix) [more inside]
"Food is very important here," said Hazan of the parents federation, "and we can't have children eating any old thing."
"We absolutely have to stop children from being able to serve those sorts of sauces to themselves with every meal. Children have a tendency to use them to mask the taste of whatever they are eating."The French government, in an effort to honorably represent traditional Gallic cuisine to its schoolchildren, has banned the indiscriminate application of ketchup during school meals, reserving it only for the once-weekly serving of Gallic fries. [more inside]
"It begins with a knock at the door."
Final Salute. Between 2004 and 2005, "Rocky Mountain News reporter Jim Sheeler and photographer Todd Heisler spent a year with the Marines stationed at Aurora's Buckley Air Force Base who have found themselves called upon to notify families of the deaths of their sons in Iraq. In each case in this story, the families agreed to let Sheeler and Heisler chronicle their loss and grief. They wanted people to know their sons, the men and women who brought them home, and the bond of traditions more than 200 years old that unite them. Though readers are led through the story by the white-gloved hand of Maj. Steve Beck, he remains a reluctant hero. He is, he insists, only a small part of the massive mosaic that is the Marine Corps." The full story ran on Veteran's Day, 2005 and won two Pulitzer Prizes: one for Feature Photography, another for feature writing in 2006. A nice single-page version of one section: Katherine Cathey and 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey (via.) The Rocky Mountain News closed in 2009. [more inside]
Daniela ‘GypsyFly’ Lao on the experience of being a professional ‘girl gamer’
He's more machine now than dog
80 Blocks from Tiffany's: they were criminals, but they were also charming
80 Blocks from Tiffany’s was what The Warriors, the cultish and campy Hollywood street gang movie involving roller skates and a race to Coney Island, could never be. It was real. Shot over the course of a couple of weeks in the summer of ’79 (as the seeds of hip-hop culture were slowly sprouting in the BX), 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s, produced by Lorne Michaels [and directed by SNL director Gary Weis], veers away from the social commentary typically associated with gang exposés. Instead, the 60-minute documentary focuses on the personalities behind the news reports, including a tough NYPD detective from the Bronx Youth Gang Task Force and a sympathetic community activist. Quoted from the introduction to an interview with Gary Weis.
Things to do with a frisbee
You must have heard about frisbee, a flying disc based pastime, haven't you? Throwing a flying disc can be more exciting than you think. You can try to break one of the world records (there's a record for 1-year olds and a challenge for 102+ years old women). Alternatively, you can play some competitive games, including some well known ones like ultimate and some you probably haven't heard about: buttgutts, a game of immense skill played between two teams of one to ten players each. The objective is to hit the oppostition's butts with discs.
The Rebirth of One Eyed Jacks: The Impact and Legality of Sweepstakes Cafes in the USA
Internet Sweepstakes Cafes have opened in strip malls and retail areas throughout United States of America in the 2000s to become a $10 to $15 billion industry. [more inside]
Edison, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrocution
When New York State sentenced convicted murderer William Kemmler to death, he was slated to become the first man to be executed in an electric chair. Killing criminals with electricity “is a good idea,” Edison said at the time. “It will be so quick that the criminal can’t suffer much.” He even introduced a new word to the American public, which was becoming more and more concerned by the dangers of electricity. The convicted criminals would be “Westinghoused.”
Hedging the Apocalypse
Hedging the Apocalypse: Dornith Doherty’s documentary images of seed-saving facilities.
October 11
Now Robert Buckman, there's an atheist I could never get tired of hearing from!
Solutions for the U.S. economic crisis
Political revolution, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street notwithstanding, what actual policy steps could be taken to prevent the U.S. from falling into a Japanese-like decade of stagnation (or worse)? Economists from the New America Foundation offer a rather balanced, clearly articulated, and comprehensive proposal: The Way Forward. [more inside]
And Miles To Go Before I Sleep
"My name is Stephen T Millhouse and I am walking 1,460 miles " Former Marine, Stephen T Millhouse, is walking from Montana to Los Angeles to raise awareness about homelessness and money to help them. You can see his route here and follow along on his blog if you like. In the 90's he was living in Los Angeles and was trying his hand at becoming an actor but by 2001 he was homeless and living in his car. [more inside]
И така, по така, а така
Rafael Aguilar always wanted to make a difference, and for more than two years the he has done just that in eastern Europe. On Monday, the 25-year-old returned to Bregovo, Bulgaria, where he has been teaching English to students in grades 1 through 12, to extend his stay for a third - and final - year as a Peace Corps volunteer. He plans to continue working toward improving his students’ understanding of the English language. Aguilar’s return to the village of 1,500 residents that he has called home since 2009 comes weeks after he made a star appearance on X Factor Bulgaria singing in Bulgarian. [more inside]
Conjugal duels.
"The 1894 book Revolted Woman: Past, Present, and to Come by Charles George Harper is hideously, horrendously sexist," and is reviewed by David Malki! of the inestimable Wondermark. (Wondermark previously, and more fun true stuff as tagged there).
Put the smooth stone where?
Ridiculous Tips For A Miserable Sex Life: Each month like clockwork, men's and women's magazines hit the newstands, bursting with terrible sex and dating advice. And each month, we pick out the stupidest tips and make fun of them.
Getting Away with Murder - The Impunity Index
Getting Away with Murder - The Impunity Index. The Committee to Protect Journalists' 2011 Impunity Index spotlights the 13 worst countries where journalists are slain and killers go free. The CPJ is also behind the International Press Freedom Awards. This year's awards are taking place in New York, Nov 22nd. The recipients are:
Mansoor al-Jamri - Bahrain.
Natalya Radina, Belarus.
Javier Arturo Valdez Cárdenas, Mexico and
Umar Cheema, Pakistan.
"I think Italy owes us an apology"
Coolest intro Eva
Barcelona studio Dvein has made a gorgeous sequence for the titles of Kike Maíllo's first full-length film, Eva
It Was A Pleasure To Burn
6 Reasons We're In Another 'Book-Burning' Period in History isn't the usual Cracked list. S Peter Davis talks about his job walking through library warehouses and destroying tens of thousands of often old and irreplaceable books.
The Ladder of Abstraction
The Ladder of Abstraction does an amazing, Tuftian job of illustrating the convergence of science, engineering, and intuition that is involved in tackling the difficult problems of today's systems and software. [more inside]
Michael Cuddyer: OF/IF/Photography
Baseball fans might know Michael Cuddyer as the versatile right fielder for the Minnesota Twins, but he's recently taken up photography and posted beautiful photos of ballparks (and their hidden corners) where he's played on his Flickr photostream.
ton 80!
Google has introduced Dart "a new class-based programming language for creating structured web applications" [more inside]
An extended fugue state ramble about the shape of comics and, God, I don't know, a dozen other things.
Why people like digital comics: you can charge for them, and they look pretty on an iPad. Why people like webcomics: they're free. - Warren Ellis looks at The Broadcast Of Comics.
Rebooting the Justice League and the Legion of Doom
Arron Diaz of Dresden Codak (previously previously previously) has created new versions of both the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, complete with new origin stories and powers. I especially dig the explanation of kryptonite - scroll down to Metallo for the scoop. :
Gilad Shalit to Be Released
Ira Glass Sex Tape
Zimmerman Telegram 2.0?
Following a months-long investigation, the Department of Justice has announced the existence of a well-funded plot "conceived, sponsored and directed" by "high-ranking members of the Iranian government" to assassinate Saudi Arabian ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir on U.S. soil in conjunction with informants in Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas.
The "Hollywood" plot, revealed in an afternoon press conference and described in a detailed 21-page complaint [PDF], is alleged to have involved an attack on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C.
One suspect, naturalized American citizen Arbab Arbabsiar, has been arrested, while co-conspirator and Quds Force member Gholam Shakuri remains at large.
Iranian officials were quick to label the charges a "fabrication" intended to distract from America's economic troubles.
Ride Like the Wind (only faster)
Three years ago, a question was posed to two Internet forums. Could you build a wind powered vehicle that could travel downwind, faster than the wind? The lines were quickly drawn and the battle was on, including here on the blue. It took nearly two years for the debate to be settled, and on July 2, 2010, what seemed impossible was achieved. The answer is yes, you can.
To ensure no one misses out on John Mayer ever again!
What Facebook needs to do to make Facebook Music what it should be: notes on building one true catalog of music.
Phoenix Jones No More!
Phoenix Jones, the real life superhero who's been in the news (and previously on the blue) for his vigilante work in Seattle, was arrested for pepper-spraying four people outside a nightclub... and his secret identity revealed. [more inside]
Let's have a paaaarty!
Red Solo Cup! I lift you up! Let's have a party! Toby Keith's new music video has to be seen to be believed. Including a guest appearance by mefi favorite, Craig Ferguson!
Enhanced enhancement
From Alchemy to Chemistry back to Alchemy
In this three part series from the BBC, Professor Jim Al-Khalili discusses the history of the elements. [more inside]
Pegasi, Dinosaurs, and Lightning Bolts
Welcome to Gassigns.org, the online collection of gasoline logos from photos and maps. I began this project in 1996 by scanning some images of my small collection of roadmaps,and photographing some of the gas stations I saw during my travels.Since then, many people from all over the world have kindly donated photos, map scans, and information about gas stations from their area. We are presenting them here for history's sake, lest they be forgotten in the world of ever-changing gasoline brands.
On The Tip of Rama's Bow
India's Lost Southern Border: Somewhere near the town of Mandapam on peninsular India, India's vast rail network is at its closest to the sea-coast; indeed, it crosses a 2.4 kilometre stretch of the sea, and then extends for another 12 kilometres, before terminating in an ancient temple town, Rameswaram(YouTube), close to the impressive Ramanatha Swamy temple around which the town is centered. Another 20 kilometres through an increasingly rough terrain brings us to a forgotten fishing hamlet, Moonram Chathiram, before bringing us to some ruined buildings, abandoned rain-tracks, a submerged temple and a ruined church.
Welcome to Dhanushkodi(YouTube). Till tragedy struck on the night of December 22nd 1964, this was India's only border-town in the south. [more inside]
It's Marrow That I Love
Amit Gupta needs a bone marrow transplant, and to increase chances of finding a match, Seth Godin offered a $10k bounty to whoever donated to his friend. There was only one problem. The offer was illegal. The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 made it "felony punishable by up to five years in prison" to offer financial incentive for bone marrow donation. The Institute for Justice has sued the US Attorney General to overturn this restriction (commentary). [more inside]
Cannon Films
Under the stewardship of Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon Films was responsible for many of the worst - and a few of the best - movies of the 1980s. Along the way it won an Academy Award and enriched the language. (previously) [more inside]
This is why you wear a helmet!
Guy has a close encounter with some wildlife during a mountain bike race. (SLYT)
Forever Al1
Internet Story (SLVimeo): Actually a Chaucerian horror.
I could not stand it any longer
Back hurting from sitting at a desk reading Metafilter all day? Trying standing up for your rights! Or, just walk it off.
We are the 53%
We are the 53% - the conservative response to We are the 99%. Every American has a story and an opinion. Amazing diversity on display. The LA Weekly looks for commonality. [more inside]
"Footnotes are the finer-suckered surfaces that allow testicular paragraphs to hold fast to the wider reality of the library." ~Nicholson Baker
Will the E-Book Kill the Footnote? [NYTimes.com] 1. Short answer: "Yes" with an "If," long answer: "No" --
with a "But."
Dale keeps bugging me to be his Facebook friend
How to Win Friends and Influence People, published in 1936, (now in PDF!) is one of the top 10 best selling self-help books of all time. But some of the advice - Smile! Remember the person's name! - doesn't translate to modern social-networking times. The new version has been updated for the digital age, but may have lost some of its homespun virtue. [more inside]
ioerror
The google and sonic.net emails of Tor developer Jacob Appelbaum (ioerror) have been obtained by the DoJ using a secret court order, which both companies sought to unseal and sonic actually fought in court. Sonic's CEO Dane Jasper said that challenging the order was "rather expensive, but we felt it was the right thing to do." Appelbaum has repeatedly been harassed by boarder agents when entering the U.S. and his twitter account was subpoenaed [more inside]
Jewish Problems
This is a special collection of problems that were given to select applicants during oral entrance exams to the math department of Moscow State University. These problems were designed to prevent Jews and other undesirables from getting a passing grade. (via Hacker News)
October 10
Driving a car can be pretty bad for your financial health
Synesthesia With A Hex Code
ColorJack is a color designer sandbox that takes Color Scheme Designer (previously) several steps beyond. It has the standard color wheel, and outputs to web, PhotoShop, and Illustrator, with the ability to "see" those same hues under various conditions of color blindness... and then you get truly creative areas, like the Color Piano and Color Galaxy. Also related: Colrd.
Science publishing: The trouble with retractions
A half-century ago, in New Rochelle...
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the debut of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (chosen "All Time Favorite Sitcom" by the readers of a blogger who used to Write and Produce M*A*S*H and Cheers, fergunisakes), there was a salute/reunion staged by American Cinematheque at which series creator Carl Reiner (aka Mel Brooks' straightman) told of the genesis of the show (if you have problems with the video, here's someone else's written account of the same thing) and Dick Van Dyke sang (with backup) the never-broadcast words to the show's iconic theme song. [more inside]
"...coppers are easy to write for; they tend to run on rails."
Snuff, Sir Terry Pratchett's 50th book (and 37th Discworld book) will be released in the U.S. tomorrow, and Neil Gaiman has interviewed him for Boing Boing. [more inside]
Mikey can't go left. Clearly he is at the edge of the screen.
From 1992 to 1993 Nickelodeon aired a gameshow called "Nick Arcade" which was all about videogames. Upon reflection, it's much stranger than I remember it being. [more inside]
MegaMash, retro videogame mashup
MegaMash: someone got some R-Type in my Mario! And then got some Bomerman in my R-Type/Mario! And then they got some Tetris... you see where I'm going with this. Review at Play This Thing.
Italian American Sikh Female Taxi Driver
Life as an Italian American Sikh Female Taxi Driver Maria Provenzano Singh is an ordinary Italian American woman who married a Sikh man and became a taxi driver.
Verb: Look
Hundreds of backgrounds from classic LucasArts adventure games including Maniac Mansion, The Dig, Full Throttle, and Monkey Island. They are displayed in their original resolution.
A Different Path
Jon Ronson posts a response he received regarding his recent book The Psychopath Test. (previously, via)
The Aarne-Thompson Classification System
Originally published by Finnish forkloristAntti Aarne and expanded by American Stith Thompson and German Hans-Jörg Uther, the Aarne-Thompson Classification System is a system for classifying folktales based on motifs. [more inside]
Straight, No Chaser
One of America's most idiosyncratic musical geniuses was, of course, the great Thelonious Monk (Wiki), and what better way to celebrate his birthday today than viewing (in its entirety!) an excellent documentary on the man and his music? Straight, No Chaser
Ain't too proud to beg
The sign-holders are a minority among the [Detroit's] vagrants and homeless. They're the handful with enough drive and dedication to spend hours standing in one place, making a sales pitch. They could probably succeed at a real job somewhere with such determination. But who's going to hire a depressed guy with three teeth, a felony record and a drinking problem?
So sign-holding becomes their career. And it's a demanding one. They have to be sellers of something that's not a product, isn't a service, and has little benefit for the customer other than perhaps inner satisfaction. They have to sell their misery. And though almost none of them have actual jobs, make no mistake — this is hard work. Here are the stories they tell.
Memoires of a Heroin-head
"On the 28th October 1975 my mother gave birth to a heroinhead - that was/is me.
My father was a young Glaswegian junkie nicknamed Puggy. I was born with heroin in my veins. 7 years after my birth, my father was brutally murdered by infamous British serial-killer Dennis Nilsen.
[more inside]
There's nothing to see here I'm only a husky...
Rushing the Halloween season
Time for ridiculous animated Halloween music again? Why, yes, yes it is. But this time -- thanks to Youtube -- in MULTILANGUAGE. это Хэллоуин -- ! [Many MLYT] [Previous Disney multilanguage dubs thread] [more inside]
What People Eat
The golden parking pass!
An esteemed UC Berkeley tradition is to award Nobel prize winners free parking. Every Nobel prize winner who works at the UC Berkeley campus is awarded the "Nobel Laureate Parking Permit," that allows the holder free parking on campus; a precious and scarce thing, not unlike the Nobel Prize. [more inside]
'Perhaps their complacency is justified.'
Special report: China's debt pileup raises risk of hard landing. 'When China announced a nearly $600 billion package to ward off the 2008 global financial crisis, city planners across the country happily embarked on a frenzy of infrastructure projects, some of them of arguable need.' 'Barclays Capital has predicted a global recession would trigger a "hard landing" in China, with gross domestic product sinking well below the 8 percent mark seen as the minimum for assuring enough job creation to keep up with urban migration. A severe economic slump would depress land sales, a vital source of funding for local governments, and make their debt load even more precarious.' [more inside]
David Tannenberg, U.S. organ builder
"Oldest surviving organ built in the colonies." Built by David Tannenberg. Its restoration was just completed a few weeks ago. [more inside]
Anonymous is up to something again.
Anonymous (or parts of Anonymous) want to hack the NYSE today. Anonymous is recruiting for an action against the New York Stock Exchange. ABC news reported that the threats started last week and other sources are indicating that Anonymous itself has been hacked. Investors don't seem to be worried.
Stories Behind Deliciously Bad Album Covers
The Museum of Bad Album Covers has been featured on the blue before, but did you ever wonder who those people on the covers were and what the heck they were thinking? Mental Floss has the stories behind 10 of the best of the worst.
Paging Mr. Lovecraft to the white courtsey phone...
"I give thanks for those who disagree . . . yet know that we are one in Jesus Christ.”
On Saturday, Scott Anderson became the first openly gay person to be ordained as a minister by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the nation's 10th-largest denomination. But the ceremony actually marked his second ordination, after he was forced to step down from the pulpit, under threat of blackmail, 20 years before. At the time, Anderson had donated his pastoral stole to the Shower of Stoles Project, including over 1000 items representing LGBT people of faith barred from the ministry. Saturday's ceremony also marked the first time that a donated object was returned to its owner. [more inside]
I thought we were going to see Drive Angry. In 3D.
A Detroit woman has filed suit against the makers of the Drive, because the movie's trailer led her to believe the film was a Fast and Furious-style action romp and not a Cannes-award-winning art-house meditation on violence. [more inside]
We see the Earth, now.
On September 30, 2011 at 11:08am, Derek Deville's Qu8k (pronounced "Quake") launched from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to an altitude of 121,000' before returning safely to earth. Above 99% of the atmosphere the sky turns black in the middle of the day and the curvature of the earth is clearly visible. Direct video links inside. [more inside]
The Nuremberg Chronicle
The Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the earliest printed books. The author, Hartmann Schedel, sets out a history of the world as understood at the time, relying heavily on the Bible. It is perhaps best known today for its wealth of images (some favorites: Creation of Birds, Map of the World, Half Horse, Stoning of St. Stephen and Apocalypse). The Beloit College website has a lot more information about the book and its context. They even have an English translation which is fully searchable.
As You Wish
The Princess Bride cast reunion. One unfillable hole in the reunion was the dearly departed Andre the Giant. [more inside]
Paleo Logic + Evolutionary Psychology ≠ Modesty
Predictors of Being Cheated On: For Women, Predictors of Being Cheated On: For Men, Is Tanning Even Attractive?, The Semiotics of Meat, Sexual Selection Reversal: The Rise of Male Choosiness, Three Ways to Get Academic Journal Papers and Scientific Studies for Free, Big Butts and Breasts: What Sir-Mix-A-Lot Got Wrong About Beauty and Attraction and many more interesting, opinionated, and divisive essays found at Evolvify. [more inside]
It's alive!
The beta version of the SFE (The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction) has just gone live (blog - What is a beta text? Some philosophy, Some history…)
I'm gonna find you, Crow Dickerson
MTV has posted a crapload of twenty-year-old Liquid Television shorts on their site. Watch all the Aeon Flux shorts, Joe Normal, The Running Man or Jac Mac and Rad Boy among others. Don't worry, though, your favorites will still not be available on the site.
DJ Zhao
DJ Zhao brings contemporary and classic dance music together from all five continents, with focus on Africa. While his DJ sets reach from culture centers to remote areas of the globe, and from now back through the ages, DJ Zhao’s remix and mashup work directly connects “East” and “West”, acoustic and electronic, traditional and hyper-modern. Equal parts ethno-musicologist and booty shaker, Zhao is an ambassador of boom not only talking about, but demonstrating through raw sound experience, the underlying unity of all earth cultures and peoples. [more inside]
Is there a David Foster Wallace character in Jeffrey Eugenides' new novel?
"Madeleine encounters Leonard in the lit crit seminar. He's a hulking, attractive guy who alternates between silence and bursts of intellectual virtuosity. He chews tobacco. He wears a bandanna. He's David Foster Wallace." (via Slate) [more inside]
The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.
"Leer aber sexy?" The Detroit-Berlin Connection
WDET- Detroit Public Radio: "Detroit and Berlin are iconic cities; symbols of cultural and economic domination, as well as of collapse, and (potential) rebirth. Detroit and Berlin have ideological similarities that go far beyond industrial power. As beacons of culture, Detroit and Berlin have both been on the cutting edge of arts activities. Berlin is a crossroads of European film, art, music and food; Detroit is a center of African-American culture, with global credibility in jazz, techno, and emerging cultural expressions." Audio Preview. [more inside]
1953 Motorcycle Tour of Europe
In the Summer of 1953 my father Geoffrey Gander and his friends set off on their annual Motor Cycling holiday around Europe. (Warning: hi res black & white photos of vintage Brit bikes, alps and roadside tea abound.) [more inside]
"Pangloss deceived me cruelly when he said that all is for the best in the world."
One reason optimists retain a positive outlook even in the face of evidence to the contrary has been discovered, say researchers. [more inside]
Hamburger
"There was no sleight of hand; each bite was cut open, pushed back together, then dropped on a table. The goal was to see moist white meat when it bounced." Inside the world of tabletop directing - the people whose job it is to make food look delicious.
X Factor vs Charity
Is all publicity good publicity? Rhythmix is a UK music charity that works with vulnerable young people. The name is trademarked. Rhythmix is a band created last week by the X Factor in the UK. Sim Co want to trademark it. The show seems to believe all publicity is good publicity. The Charity says "it is obviously wildly inappropriate, whatever the legalities, for a group on the X Factor to share the name of a charity working with bereaved young people, young people with learning difficulties, young people in prison". The show admits it knew about the Charity, but went ahead anyway. The Internet is annoyed.
October 9
"Cute 'n cuddly, boys, cute 'n cuddly."
The Penguins of Madagascar is a funny, fast-paced, and family-friendly cartoon series that you may not be watching... yet. [more inside]
"Speak In Tongues"
OWL FOND OF EVERYONE
All I want is to be left alone in my average home... But why do I always feel I'm in the twilight zone?
In August 2011, 35 ACLU affiliates filed 381 requests in 32 states with local law enforcement agencies seeking to uncover when, why and how they are using cell phone location data to track Americans. So how long do American cell phone carriers retain information about your calls, text messages, and data use? According to data gathered by the US Department of Justice, it can be as little as a few days or up to seven years, depending on your provider. (Via / More)
Horton Fails His Sanity Roll
DeviantArt artist DrFaustusAU has been hard at work on a Dr. Seuss-inspired adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Call Of Cthulhu. It's not finished, but you can see what he's done so far: Cover, Page 1, Pages 2-3, Pages 4-5, Pages 6-7, Pages 8-9, Pages 10-11.
Crops still don't pick themselves
We discussed the impact of Georgia's immigration law previously. Apparently their neighboring state Alabama decided they needed one even tougher. The impact on businesses
mirrored what happened in Georgia. Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is challenging the law. Some estimates on the economic impact.
Dreams of a Life
Joyce Carol Vincent, 38, died in her North London flat in 2003; her skeleton was found three years later, on the sofa; the television was still on, and a pile of unopened Christmas presents lay on the floor. The story was mentioned briefly in the press, but then forgotten. Now, filmmaker Carol Morley has tracked down and interviewed people who knew her before she retreated and reconstructed her story, all the more tragic because of the deceptively promising life it showed. [more inside]
Erosion footage
Affordable Furniture For Your Five-Dimensional Home
M.C. Escher Meets IKEA for some impossible items you WISH you could buy. Of course, this isn't a totally new idea, in fact, even an IKEA fansite has played with the concept. (Dedicated to anyone who ever suspected the assembly instructions were written in an alternate reality) But sometimes, even without intending, a do-it-yourselfer can achieve something pretty close. And now, IKEA itself has embraced the Escher influence in one ad. [more inside]
Aggressively ironic and ostentatiously sloppy
An Indian-American rapper and his crew are making serious waves in the hip hop world. A profile of Himanshu Suri (Heems) and his group - Das Racist.
Hoover Hush-Up
Though the posters and trailers promise quality performances, Clint Eastwood's biopic J. Edgar seems intent on skirting certain issues in the former FBI director's personal life. The JEH Foundation is already denying the "rumors" louder than ever, but so far there's little indication that they've got anything to fear beyond a little hand-holding. QUEERTY asks: if Clint Eastwood is cool with homos, why is he freaking out about J. Edgar not being a gay movie? Despite the tame promos, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black insists that the gay subplot makes up "about a third" of the story. Meanwhile, an upcoming memoir by former Hollywood pimpster Scotty Bowers is rumored to contain a firsthand account of a gay weekend getaway with Hoover and company.
wear dogwood like it’s yo’ bling
Astronauts who got creative about their experiences
Over 500 people have traveled into outer space. While many have written books about the experience, only a few have used more creative means to express what they saw and felt. Here are a few: [more inside]
Somewhere
As he sings, the walls of the apartment begin to move off, and
the city walls surrounding them begin to close in on them. Then
the apartment it self goes, and the two lovers begin to run,
battering against the walls of the city, beginning to break
through as chaotic figures of the gangs, of violence, fail around
them. But they do break through, and suddenly-they are in a world
of space and air and sun. They stop, looking at it, pleased,
startled, as boys and girls both sides come on. And they, too,
stop and stare, happy, pleased. Their clothes are soft and pastel
versions of what they have worn before. They begin to dance, to
play: no sides, no hostility now; join, making a world that Tony
and Maria want to be in, belong to, share their love with. As
they go into the steps of a gentle love dance, a voice is heard
singing. [more inside]
The H2O Gate Blues
In 1973 a struggling America was still dealing with the watergate scandal. The than 24 year old Gill Scott-Heron wrote a topical song that still applies today. It is called H20 Gate Blues.
What if Tim Berners-Lee Had patented HTML?
Francis Gurry, the Director of the UN's WIPO, claims the web would have been better if Tim Berners-Lee had patented HTML and licensed it. He does so on camera and in front of shocked members of the Internet Society and CERN. Ironically, exactly this thought experiment came up for the web's 20th birthday on this August 6th.
For a more rigorous perspective, three Boston University School of Law faculty have shown that lawsuits by non-practicing entities, aka patent trolls, have cost technology companies half a trillion dollars of lost wealth over the past two decades, with little benefit to small inventors, instead reducing the incentive to innovate. [more inside]
For a more rigorous perspective, three Boston University School of Law faculty have shown that lawsuits by non-practicing entities, aka patent trolls, have cost technology companies half a trillion dollars of lost wealth over the past two decades, with little benefit to small inventors, instead reducing the incentive to innovate. [more inside]
The Map, the Territory and Google Street View
Welcome to Darklands
In 1992, MicroProse published their first and only CRPG: Darklands. Set in medieval Germany, the game gives a lot of immersion, from its innovative lifepath system for character generation, to its use of period music, to the importance of knowing your saints, to tatzelwurms, quite fearsome dragons and raubritters. The game play is good, with lots of different ways of handling any conflict and a semi-realtime combat system. The game is also fundamentally open-ended; while there is a main plot (spoilers), it's possible to ignore that thread and keep playing for years. [more inside]
Law Schools Found Misrepresenting Jobs Data
Over the past couple of months, there have been a series of scandals that have rocked the legal education community. First, there were tandem lawsuits against Thomas M. Cooley School of Law and New York Law School for misrepresenting jobs data. Then, Villanova University and the University of Illinois were found to be fudging their employment numbers. A legal team is now preparing to sue 15 different law schools because of misrepresentations made to students regarding job and salary data.
Sympathetic Voices Addressing Concerns about the Occupy Everywhere Protests
As the protests begun by Occupy Wall Street begin to spread and gain a foothold in the public consciousness, many question the movement's apparent unwillingness to focus its outrage into a coherent platform of demands. Meanwhile, others question whether the demographics of the protesters themselves are truly representative of the so-called 99 percent (previously). Why the lack of focus, and what is to be done to keep the movement growing and moving forward? [more inside]
Dinner Fights Back
I am NOT gettting out of this car because I am SCARED of that TURKEY!
Showcase of Beautiful Fashion Illustrations
Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting.
The Nostromo model from the first Alien movie sat outside in the rain for over two decades before it was bought by The Prop Store in 2007. They sent it to Grant McCune Design to restore it to its previous glory. Part one of the video detailing the restorations and then part 2, part 3 and part 4.
Note that the embedded video in the main link is a shortened ten minute version of the twenty minute four part series.
Applesource?
Did Dropping Acid Make Steve Jobs More Creative? Awkwardly omitted from his many obituaries, Steve Jobs said that "doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." Was his experience (portrayed in this reenactment) the source of his creativity?
Multiplayer HTML5 audio game goodness
Plink! A multiplayer music experience by DinahMoe. Like ToneMatrix, but with friends (or complete Internet strangers!).
October 8
Now I understand why Manchester has such a passion.
Making pens
OK, I'll Be That Spokesman
Amaizing Field of Dreams
"One was trying to go to school; the other didn’t want her there."
Together, Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan starred in one of the most memorable photographs of the Civil Rights era. But their story had only just begun. “True reconciliation can occur only when we honestly acknowledge our painful, but shared, past.” – Elizabeth Eckford.
(Hazel would) have liked to have had her own sticker, one that said, ‘‘True reconciliation can occur only when we honestly let go of resentment and hatred, and move forward.’’
Approval Rating Rollercoaster
You would be hard pressed to find an article about Obama that didn't mention approval ratings. Ditto during Bush's presidency. This interactive graph lets you compare approval ratings over time for presidents since Truman (article itself is dated but the chart is current). This graph offers less interactivity but adds some historical points of context.
"Each day we do another one — at least one."
Patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital are finding messages written to them in huge letters when they look outside their windows. The Ironworkers Local 86 crew assembling the frame of the hospital's new seven-story expansion building next door have been spray-painting greetings to them on the steel beams. "The new building’s skeleton is alive" with more than 50 names: "greetings to Kitty, Colby, Kyle and Istvan. To Violet, Seth, Josh and Austin. To Rachel, Adam, Gillie-Jane and Christofer." Photo Gallery. Local television news segment. (Via)
Women of the Future, 1902
My name is LUCA, I live on the ocean floor.
Scientists have come closer to finding the common ancestor of all Earth life. The last common universal ancestor (LUCA) is an idea that goes back to Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and whose existence is supported by the fact that all Earth life is based on DNA. But the tantalizing search is getting closer, primarily based on the question, "Which features of the archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes can be traced back to their common ancestor, LUCA?"
Poop Splash Elimination
A Twonky is something that you do not know what it is.
Who Watches The Robots?
Longform investigative journalism remains awesome
According to national statistics, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes. Vanguard correspondent Mariana Van Zeller travels to Rosebud reservation in South Dakota to investigate the alarmingly high incidence of rape and sexual assaults. What happened to 19-year-old Marquita, and how can the reservation's understaffed police force keep it from happening again? Candid interviews with her family members, classmates and police reveal many of the disturbing social attitudes and behaviors that lead up to her death.
It is one of many compelling guides to the kinds of lives most never see in Current TV's season before last of Vanguard. (previously) [more inside]
Eagle!
Eagle, in glorious high-speed HD resolution. [SLYT]
"Bundestrojaner"
Chaos Computer Club analyzes government malware The Chaos Computer Club got their hands on something they think is the fabled “Bundestrojaner” – the software the German government is using for computer surveillance. F-Secure announced they’ll add that software to their list of malware.
300 Tracks, 60 minutes, one file.
Royal Sapien's Stacked combines 300 tracks from multiple genres into one dense, heady mix. Artists included range from Mark Mothersbaugh to Orbital with visits by Janet Jackson, Underworld, M83 and Undisputed Truth. [more inside]
the difference between power and electricity
The failure to fix electricity infrastructure in Afghanistan. IEEE Spectrum published a damning investigation into the ongoing incompetence, corruption, and waste of the USAID and its murky cost-plus contracts, some 'so vague that it did not require the contractor to provide "specific deliverables with concrete delivery dates."' [from here] Not surprisingly, they spend a lot of money. previously
Bonus: there is a kitten on the front page!
Pianorama is minimalistic online radio service playing piano music 24/7 and with no ads. Frontage is in Russian, but it doesn't matter: just press little 'play' button to start listening.
Landscapes: Volume Two
Beautiful motion controlled time lapse video of landscapes in Arizona and Utah by Dustin Farrell.
What did they wear Down Under?
What kind of uniform did prisoners transported to Australia in the 19th century wear? How did you keep yourself in underwear despite WWII rationing? Check out the Australian Dress Register--it's more than just dresses!
The Power of Compassion
Can't Beat A Bit Of Bully
You don't need a visa on Google+
The Dalai Lama was prevented from going to South Africa for Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday by visa problems. So they used Google+ to "Hangout" instead.
Gauche the Cellist, a Japanese short story and animated movie
Gauche the Cellist [Google video, 63 minutes] is based on a story [Japanese; English translation #1, #2] by Kenji Miyazawa, one of the most-loved poet/storytellers in Japan (Miyazaki and Takahata love his works, and have been influenced by him). The movie was made as an independent project by a Japanese animation studio, OH Production (wiki), and took 6 years to complete. It is rather difficult to make a Kenji story into a movie because there are many Japanese just waiting to rip you apart if you screw up, but Gauche has been highly acclaimed, and is considered one of the best Miyazawa movies (IMDb). The story is about a cellist, Gauche, who becomes a better cellist by interacting with animals who visit his home every night. *
Just Win, Baby.
Al Davis, 1929 - 2011. The owner of the Oakland (Los Angeles, then Oakland again) Raiders was one of the most important figures in U.S. sports history, known as much for his cantankerous relationship with fellow owners and city leaders as his team's success on the field. Davis also hired the first black head coach of the modern era, the first Latino coach and the NFL's first female CEO. Moreover, the Raiders morphed into a worldwide brand as the team’s colors, swagger and anti-establishment ethos became linked with the hip-hop scene that was permeating South Central Los Angeles.
Syd Dale, Legend of Library
There is no questioning Syd Dale's [mid-60s UK NSFW] place amongst the legends of library music. ... his lavish big band inspired compositions were quickly brought to the public's attention through their use in countless t.v. shows and advertisements. Much of his work could be as classed as easy listening however Dale was also adept at incorporating elements of funk and spy jazz.* [The music of the 1967 Spider-Man animated TV series - to which he so memorably contributed - has been discussed previously.] [more inside]
October 7
KernType, a kerning game
KernType is a game where you put your kerning skills to the test.
City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program manages information about hundreds of murals that have made Philadelphia famous. Muralfarm.org is the site where information about the growing body of public art created by the Mural Arts Program has been planted. Pictures and detailed information about murals can be searched by artist, theme, date, location, neighborhood, and other key terms. [more inside]
Octopi Wall Street
Mitch Feels Lucky, Makes Harry's Day
Last night, the Unites States Senate voted successfully to invoke cloture (end debate) on S.1619, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed a series of motions to suspend the rules in an effort to force a vote on President Obama's American Jobs Act [PDF]. That's when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) nuked the Senate. [more inside]
Eventually, you'll have to pull it together.
make yourself cry. listen to that song, the one you used to listen to when you lay between someone’s sticky arms.
Well, sure, it's all downhill that way
"Storytelling is inherently dangerous. Consider a traumatic event in your life. Think about how you experienced it. Now think about how you told it to someone a year later. Now think about how you told it for the hundredth time. It's not the same thing. Most people think perspective is a good thing: you can figure out characters arcs, you can apply a moral, you can tell it with understanding and context. But this perspective is a misrepresentation: it's a reconstruction with meaning, and as such bears little resemblance to the event." Charlie Kaufman: Why I Wrote Being John Malkovich. [more inside]
Arkansas Town VS. Classic Sitcom - Who's Correct?
Starfire as portrayed here is porn for kids. You know what I mean. Feh.
Jim Shooter, the comics writer and former Marvel Editor-in-Chief has weighed in on DC's comic relaunch, The New 52.
Shooter is no stranger to controversy regarding his tenure at Marvel and has received his share of criticism over his handling of female characters. He also claims his analysis is more about the writing and artwork but nevertheless, he has added this comment to the chorus of complaints about the handling of DCs female characters and female fans:
"But, let it be known, personally, I didn’t like the way the female characters were portrayed. It’s not that I think that there is anything, any situation or any type of character, male or female, that cannot be done if it is done with rare excellence and surpassing skill. The problem is that, too often, comic book writers and artists who belong in creator kindergarten think they’re already Ph.D’s."
[more inside]
"But, let it be known, personally, I didn’t like the way the female characters were portrayed. It’s not that I think that there is anything, any situation or any type of character, male or female, that cannot be done if it is done with rare excellence and surpassing skill. The problem is that, too often, comic book writers and artists who belong in creator kindergarten think they’re already Ph.D’s."
[more inside]
My Stillborn Child's Life After Death
"Before I let go of my little boy, I needed to spend time with him. So I brought him home, and our journey began."
Hovering over a cut in the earth.
Levitated Mass. A 340-ton granite boulder will be transported 60 miles by freeway and set on a 456-foot cement ditch at the L.A. County Museum of Art.
Many rights groups withdraw from the Pickton inquiry
An inquiry has been set up in BC in response to the poor response by the police to missing women from the Robert Pickton case. (Previously 1, 2, 3, 4.) Many smaller groups, such a drop-in centre for sex workers in East Vancouver and First Nations groups have withdrawn amidst allegations that the inquiry is fundamentally biased towards protecting the police, and larger groups such as Amnesty International and the BC Civil Liberties Association have also withdrawn in support. [more inside]
Occupy Portland protest clashes with marathon
Organizers for the 40 year-old Portland Marathon arrived at the start/finish area this morning to find the area held by the Occupy Portland protest. [more inside]
Like what you see?
Friday silliness: Brilliantly Sarcastic Responses to Completely Well-Meaning Signs.
ROCKS FALL EVERYONE DIES
How to hatch a dinosaur
How to hatch a dinosaur: 'So making a chicken egg hatch a baby dinosaur should really just be an issue of erasing what evolution has done to make a chicken. Every cell of a turkey carries the blueprints for making a tyrannosaurus, but the way the plans get read changes over time as the species evolves.' [via]
America's evolving alterntive educational system
Celebrating pornographers who go the extra mile when set dressing classroom porn and actually write something on the blackboard. What do they write, and is it correct? (NSFW? No screenshots contain nudity, but Justice Stewart would know it if he saw it)
If Einstein might be wrong about relativity, how can we really trust any scientist?
In a recent Op-Ed piece on the Wall Street Journal, author, journalist, public speaker and generally inquisitive fellow Robert Bryce offered up following analogy in his discussion of climate change science: "If serious scientists can question Einstein's theory of relativity, then there must be room for debate about the workings and complexities of the Earth's atmosphere. " And the internet took it from there, in the form of comics, the Twitter hashtag #WSJscience, and plenty of science-minded blogs and sites a-plenty.
Both Kinds
"They are part of our future."
Libya's National Transitional Council has gotten used to uncovering Moumar Gadhafi's perplexing objects and bygone lifestyle-detritus (previously), though rarely have these objects been sentient and requiring immediate care. When the NTC arrived in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, they encountered his abandoned menagerie of rare-breed animals. Accordingly, the reserve has been taken over by fighters loyal to the NTC, together with volunteers stirred by the animals' plight. One such volunteer, [w]ith a doctorate in international relations, Mohamad Al Majdoub makes an unlikely curator for Gaddafi's animals, but he feels that caring for the menagerie is all a part of forging a free Libya. "We have to protect it," said Majdoub. "They are part of Libya's patrimony. They are part of our future."
Some sadistic jerk off session
Lexi Alexander director of the so-bad-it's-legendary Punisher: War Zone gives an in-depth interview with Paul Scheer (with Patton Oswalt) for his podcast, "How Did This Get Made?" [more inside]
Dwarfstar Games
Most of Dwarfstar Games' microgame ouvre, including the solo adventure Barbarian Prince, is available for authorized free download.
Barnes and Noble Pulling DC Graphic Novels From Shelves
We've all gotten used to the idea that certains movies will be available only on certain cable channels, that certain albums will be available only via certain webstores, etc. However, it does seem a little bit stranger of an idea when applied to hard copy books. And yet...
Yes, more Simon's Cat. Yes, it's really good this time!
UNIVAC
To meet this need for high speed data processing, the scientists and technicians of the Eckert-Mauchly division of Remington Rand have created a miracle of electronic development: UNIVAC! [more inside]
China Girls / Leader Ladies
Girls on Film is a surreal short film starring a huge cast of China Girls / Leader Ladies. (previously) [via mefi projects] [more inside]
"There dwell the Sea King and his subjects."
The Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot will sink his statue of Hans Christian Andersen into Odense Harbor this Saturday, and pull it out again next year on Andersen’s birthday. The Guardian "Artist Jens Galschiot's bronze sculpture of the fairytale author has stood in Odense town square for the last five years. According to Galschiot, the city was planning to make it part of The Storyteller's Fountain, a larger sculpture intended to be placed in the centre of Odense, honouring the Danish author by recreating the stories he wrote."
Is Cooking Really Cheaper Than Fast Food?
Nobel Peace Prize for 2011.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen share the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".
How to Make Hip Hop Hits
The Hampshire Bunny Massacre & Other Tales
Take That, Hippies
November 2007 -- Barack Obama: "[I]f the science and the doctors suggest that the best palliative care and the way to relieve pain and suffering is medical marijuana then that's something I'm open to ... But I want to do it under strict guidelines. I want it prescribed in the same way that other painkillers or palliative drugs are prescribed." [more inside]
The Creative Class is a Lie
The dream of a laptop-powered "knowledge class" is dead. The media is melting. Blame the economy -- and the Web This is something I've been thinking about for some time, and voila!, here's a really good piece to back up my assumption that the expansiveness and multiple profusions of creative freedoms made possible by the Internet has helped bring down a large swath of "creative types", just as it has enabled others. This is a worthy and provocative read, and will be part of a Salon series that looks into the "hollowing out" of the creative class. [more inside]
October 6
Happy Ada Day!
Ada Day appreciates and commemorates women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with events all over the globe. A few links to start the celebration: Ada Lovelace, The Origin. Women@NASA (previously). Ladies Learning Code. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper explaining nanoseconds to David Letterman. AstronomyCast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Hedy Lamarr and other female inventors.
Falcon Punch!
Super Smash Land is a free PC demake of Nintendo's popular Super Smash Brothers crossover fighter. It imagines the game as a cart for the original monochrome Game Boy. More of a PC fan? The latest version of Team Fortress 2 demake Gang Garrison was released a few months ago. If you prefer just to look, there are some gorgeous demake mock-ups made by Junkboy. Previouisly.
Museum of Mathematics, NYC
R.I.P. Professor Derrick Bell
Derrick Bell, Law Professor and Civil Rights Advocate, dies at 80. Bell was a pioneer of critical race theory and the first tenured black professor at Harvard Law School. Bell was also a lover of gospel music, and hosted an annual gospel choir concert.
How things work, Big Ben department
As part of a comprehensive site on the workings of the UK Parliament, you can explore in detail the mysteries of Big Ben. Don't miss: [more inside]
Photo of the day
This is a collection of obsessive photo projects conducted over years or decades.
Charles Napier, 1936-2011
unfortunately, i don't know what else to do with my life
Incredibly smooth-voiced singer/songwriter Jay Brannan covers Adele's Someone Like You on acoustic guitar. (The post title is from his website.)
It's for you!
It's a ring-tone! It's place-based community art! Well, you don't have to choose any more. In Locally Toned, artist T. Foley sources sound in the wild to create hundreds of unique ringtones.
Sundrome No More
Known as The Sundrome , I.M. Pei's Terminal 6 at JFK Airport (b. 1970) has been slated for demolition.
A Clumsy Martian, Indeed
Margaret Atwood defines science fiction "Is [the term science fiction] a corral with real fences that separate what is clearly 'science fiction' from what is not, or is it merely a shelving aid, there to help workers in bookstores place the book in a semi-accurate or at least lucrative way? If you put skin-tight black or silver clothing on a book cover along with some jetlike flames and/or colourful planets, does that make the work 'science fiction'? What about dragons and manticores, or backgrounds that contain volcanoes or atomic clouds, or plants with tentacles, or landscapes reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch? Does there have to be any actual science in such a book, or is the skin-tight clothing enough? These seemed to me to be open questions."
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
Now That You're Big - a guide for the pubescent, in the style of Dr. Seuss (slightly NSFW)
Aberrican Me - Ross Capicchioni
It's called Jurassic Park, eventhoughmostofthedinosaursinitareactuallyfromtheCretaceousPeriod
The Baron does these things
In Issue 391 of the Batman magazine published by Editorial Novaro there is a Flash adventure titled "The Flash Stakes His Life On You." This comic is the most important literary argument of recent months. The Flash vs. Gurdjieff by Alejandro Jodorowsky. bonus craziness: The comics journal talks to Alejandro Jodorowsky (Sample answer: "This question is too long and annoying for me. I stop to fart.")
The last of the famous international playboys
"The Beatles and the Rolling Stones rule pop music, Carnaby Street ruled the fashion world...and me and my brother ruled London." Reginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organized crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s. [more inside]
The Walk Again Project
Body suit may soon enable the paralyzed to walk. "In a busy lab at Duke University, Dr. Miguel Nicolelis is merging brain science with engineering in a bid to create something fantastical: a full-body prosthetic device that would allow those immobilized by injury to walk again. On Wednesday, Nicolelis and an international group of collaborators declared that they had cleared a key hurdle on the path toward that goal, demonstrating they could bypass the body's complex network of nerve endings and supply the sensation of touch directly to the brains of monkeys."
Better Dead than Red
A glimpse inside the Republican Party's little known Red Map Project: "Last fall, we worked together and achieved unprecedented success with the RedMap Project—an effort to capture legislative majorities across the country in preparation for the decennial redistricting process that will redraw districts for 2012 and beyond. The result was the pick up of an unprecedented 20 legislative chambers and over 700 seats." [more inside]
O poeta é um fingidor
13+ ways of looking at Fernando Pessoa's "Autopsychography".
The Cruiskeen Lawn, Daily
Give us this day our daily Myles. Sir Myles na gCopaleen's daily column, the Cruiskeen Lawn, ran for 26 years in the Irish Times. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Brian O'Nolan, the man behind na gCopaleen (and whose novels in English - At Swim Two-Birds, The Third Policeman, and The Dalkey Archive, were published under the name Flann O'Brien) the Irish Times is republishing a column a day for the month of October. [more inside]
AHH NOT FLICKR, ANYTHING BUT THAT
Going through the Nightmares Fear Factory in Niagara Falls will cause you to face your greatest fear - getting caught screaming your face off.
Don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright; But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night
Deja Vu
EVERYTHING IS A REMIX tackles the truly numerous amount of references, call-backs, remixes, quotations, scene mimics, and inspiration parallels found in The Matrix (via) [more inside]
Warning, may contain nuts
The contestants on the grand final of the BBC's The Great British Bake Off were upstaged by the brief 'explicit' appearance of a squirrel. This has apparently shocked a nation. (possibly NSFW unless you work in a zoo/farm/park/pet shop etc)
War Photos Tumblr
Once Upon a Time in War is a photographic retrospect of the Great War, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam and the War on Terror.
"Fear and Self-Loathing in Las Vegas"
In 1971, Hunter Thompson first published Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in Rolling Stone. Forty years later, The Daily’s Zach Baron revisits the piece and the town in which it was born, chasing Thompson's ghost through crazy desert car races, a dying local economy and a massive and menacing hacker convention known as DEFCON. (previously)
"Even if you ignore the embarrassing ceremony and clichéd platitudes, few of these awards actually reflected genuine quality or what is happening in mainstream genre publishing today."
British Fantasy Award winner returns prize; Sam Stone hands back award after criticism of judging process. [The Guardian] "Controversy has riven the 40-year-old British Fantasy Awards, with the winner of the best novel prize handing her award back just three days after it was bestowed.
But the organisation and presentation of the awards has been drawing criticism since then, culminating in Sam Stone, the winner of the best novel award – named after American writer and editor August Derleth – announcing yesterday that she is giving it back.
The biggest attack on the awards was delivered by editor and anthologist Stephen Jones, who on Tuesday posted a lengthy blog decrying the organisation of the BFAs and making several allegations against awards co-ordinator and British Fantasy Society chairman David Howe."
"Once there was a shock that left behind a long, shimmering comet tail."
Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer has been awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature. His poetry has been translated into more than five dozen languages and is the living poet who has been translated most into English. He received the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2007, and the award page is a pretty extensive source of information. Below the cut I'll include a few of his poems that I've found online, but the best place to start is the poetry section of his website, where you'll also find an interview, video, audio and a list of English translations. Tom Slegh wrote an appreciation of Tranströmer and Mary Karr and Christopher Robinson discuss him briefly on Poetry Fix, and read two of his poems. [more inside]
Survivial of the fittest school of economics?
October 5
Man Up!
eep op ork ah ah
Elusive quadruple rainbow photographed for first time.
You've seen a double rainbow, if lucky a triple, but never a quadruple rainbow. Until now (?). [more inside]
Steve Jobs, RIP
National Lampoon: 52¢ on the dollar
Fans of National Lampoon Magazine circa 1970 might remember the iconic Trots and Bonnie comic strip. Recently Jeff Kay (previously) asked the cartoonist, Shary Flenniken for an email interview. She unexpectedly answered his questions in a 4 part video response. PT1 PT2 PT3 PT4 [more inside]
A peak behind the curtain: the making of Disney animation
Journey back to the late 1930s, and see how Walt Disney cartoons are made, with a focus on that groundbreaking new Disney title, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Now let's dash ahead a few decades, to watch Ed Wynn and Jerry Colonna as they inspire the animators in a test-run of dialogue from Alice in Wonderland, synced with final animation for comparison.
States' Rights Meet Gun Rights
Even as medical marijuana activists in states like Arkansas, Ohio, and Massachusetts look to legalize medical use in 2012, the ATF has sent letters to gun shops in existing medical marijuana states. The letter says that shop owners cannot sell guns or ammunition if they have "reasonable cause to believe" that the customer is a drug user, even if their use is legal under state law -- and that having or even mentioning a medical marijuana card constitutes reasonable cause. The entire text of the letter can be viewed here. [more inside]
Science fiction writers have a job, and it's time to do it
The Hieroglyph Project. Neal Stephenson: SF needs to stop mucking around with steampunk and dystopia, and start making decent roadmaps for a future where we all want to live. Previously
The best a man can get, for 8 months at a stretch.
Don't worry, on YouTube there are videos of thrifty men* willing to share their secrets on extending the life of your disposable razor blade. [more inside]
♬I want to ride my bicycle/ I want to [text while riding] it where I like♬
Most states have enacted laws banning texting while driving. The New York Times even featured a game testing simulated drivers' attention. Chicago, one of America's more daunting traffic hubs, will now be extending the prohibitions to non-motor vehicles. The City Council today passed an ordinance prohibiting bicyclists from texting while moving. [more inside]
Risky Risk
Risk, the game of World Conquest, has been a feature in mainstream boardgaming for decades, but is not usually well thought of by more serious boardgamers. Several recent editions have been better received, but the latest iteration (out sometime later this year) may be the most divisive yet. In Risk Legacy, each game played will permanently change the board and rules based on who won and how. Are boardgamers ready and willing to alter their boards with permanent markers and stickers and tear up unchosen cards? Some early reviews have been positive, but opinion is still divided. The designer answered some questions on BGG as well.
So the world may be mended.
Dark Souls, the spiritual sequel to 2009's Demon's Souls (previously 1, 2) and heir to the King's Field series of games, is out in most of the world this week. Reviews have been excellent, sales have been surprisingly robust; Dark Souls was the top selling title in Japan last week, with 279,567 copies sold, compared to an estimated 40,000 for Demon's Souls first week of release.
From Software has taken an interesting approach to players who somehow acquire the game early: rather than banning the player outright or limited online features, From Software is embracing Dark Souls' unique multiplayer model, sending super leveled invaders into player's games to hunt them mercilessly. [more inside]
David Bedford RIP
“I was on the road playing keyboards with these bands, fighting off the groupies, and then the next night I would be in the Festival Hall doing some plinky-plonk music to an audience of about four.” David Bedford, composer, keyboardist and orchestrator died on October 1st. From working with Kevin Ayers to Mike Oldfield to Ursula Le Guin to Roy Harper and even Madness, he trod a strange, singular path that was governed more by the need to feed his kids than you might think. He even managed a no 1 classical album in the UK. This, unfortunately, wasn't on it.
The Lost Yankee
Kei Igawa arrived in the US with a lot of fanfare in 2007. After failing miserably with the Yankees, he was sent to the minor leagues. Since then, he has existed in an uncomfortable limbo, not completely part of either world.
"I tried to get killed in Birmingham and go home to God because I knew it would be better for you in Birmingham"
Civil Rights leader Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth passed away this morning at the age of 89. [more inside]
You're blind baby. You're blind to the facts.
Miss Representation is a film by Jen Siebel Newsom about the images, representations and media constructions that shape American society in a harmful way for women. It explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence that result. Shorter trailer here. [more inside]
Dominoes, move over.
This is a stick bomb. This is an AWESOME STICK BOMB. This is an awesome kid showing you how to make your own stick bomb. This is another really great stick bomb, but it's not done by that awesome little kid, so it's not nearly as cool.
Worthy of Dethklok
Uncle Ben's Farmyard Courthouse
In the cold open for this week's RadioLab (Loops), Jesse Thorn (MeFi's own) commemorates one of the craziest, most unconventional comedy bits in modern memory: Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler's "Kristen Schaal is a Horse", a sketch that starts out funny, then turns decidedly un-funny, then becomes hilarious. Ten minute version. Schaal on The Sound of Young America.
Fortunately, Atlas Shrugged is not one of the choices
Treasures of the Bodleian. Oxford University's Bodleian Library will move into a substantially renovated home in 2015. In preparation, it has put online a selection of highlights from the collection, ranging from papyri to Penguins. You can vote for your favorite treasure, and the top vote-getter will go on display when the library reopens.
Your wikipedia is currently not available.
In a protest against the Wiretapping Act that is set to be discussed in parliament this week, the Italian edition of Wikipedia has been blocked, with all access being redirected to a single page statement (also available in five other languages); so far no timeframe for the protest action has been stated. Comment in support by Wikimedia on this unprecedented initiative; an editor leaves in disagreement; other users discuss.
Bookseller/Zine Publisher/Free Speech Hero
"Born Shigeyoshi Murao in 1926, he was universally known as Shig. His playful demeanor—not to mention his signature beard, Pendleton shirts, Royal Air Force exercise vest, horn-rimmed glasses, and bowler—rendered him unforgettable. But that did not make him easy to know.
Shig, who died in 1999, is largely remembered for an event that occurred on June 3, 1957, when two undercover agents from the San Francisco Police Juvenile Squad showed up at City Lights to buy a seventy-five-cent book of poetry." [more inside]
Erasure
While their song Always may be forever enshrined in the minds of a generation of Adult Swim fans as the theme to the online game Robot Unicorn Attack, 80's synth-pop duo Erasure are still around, touring and putting out albums after 26 years.
Their 14th studio album, Tomorrow’s World, was released in the UK on Monday (October 11 in the U.S.), along with an official video for its first released song, When I Start To (Break It All Down). A (better) non-autotuned version labeled "Rehearsal Video" is on YouTube. (An abbreviated history of their work, with official music videos and links to several concerts, can be found within.) [more inside]
Their 14th studio album, Tomorrow’s World, was released in the UK on Monday (October 11 in the U.S.), along with an official video for its first released song, When I Start To (Break It All Down). A (better) non-autotuned version labeled "Rehearsal Video" is on YouTube. (An abbreviated history of their work, with official music videos and links to several concerts, can be found within.) [more inside]
They blinded me with science
As was not widely reported, The Rodale Institute has just published the results of a 30-year study that claims that -in terms of yields, economic viability, energy usage, and human health- organic farming is better than conventional farming, and they have the data to prove it.
What happened to hypertext fiction?
All This Remains
Top ten American columns in history
John Avlon, senior political columnist for Newsweek-The Daily Beast, created an informal poll listing 15 historically vital columns, basing the sample on research for his new book, Deadline Artists: America’s Greatest Newspaper Columns. He passed the list around the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and they and a public poll on their web site ranked the top 10. The winner was Ernie Pyle's The Death of Captain Waskow. All 15 columns are available for download in a PDF file.
Henry Hargreaves: Bacon Alphabet and Toasted
"I believe it more than...other...stuff."
Music is a book/app/documentary film by photographer/film-maker Andrew Zuckerman (previously). Similar in format to Zuckerman's film Wisdom, Music features interviews with musical luminaries both fully- and not-so-luminous. [more inside]
October 4
Phil Collins' solo efforts seem to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying in a narrower way, especially No Jacket Required and songs like "In the Air Tonight" and "Against All Odds"
"Patrick Bateman was me. I was Patrick Bateman…" - Bret Easton Ellis interviewed.
Malignant Narcissism Or Middle-Aged White Dudes Constantly Boning Down?
An American writer hasn't won the Nobel Prize for Literature since 1993 (Toni Morrison). Slate's Alexander Nazaryan tells us why: "The rising generation of writers behind Oates, Roth and DeLillo are dominated by Great Male Narcissists — even the writers who aren’t male (or white)."
Occupy Williamsburg AMIRITE?
Even Witches Like To Go Out Dancing
There's a new crop of Australian bands that take inspiration from old blues, but twist the music in a strange fashion. The trend may have started with CW Stoneking (Jungle Blues, Love Me Or Die), who channeled the old bluesmen despite being a young man. Its continued on to Sydney's Snowdroppers, who started out as a house band for burlesque shows and kept that dirty sensibility up with songs like Rosemary , Do The Stomp, and their signature tune Good Drugs, Bad Women (lyrics NSW). Frequent Snowdroppers touring partners Gay Paris add a Southern horror twist (House Fire In the Origami District, My First Wife? She Was A Foxqueen! ) and an antic stage energy. Some of the bands relay on gimmicks, like Adelaide's The Beards, who sing about how you should consider having sex with a bearded man and point out that if your dad doesn't have a beard, you've got two moms. The Beards recently performed at the World Beard and Mustache Championships. Horror-country-rockers Graveyard Train have picked up the torch dropped when Sydney psychobilly masters Zombie Ghost Train (Graveyard Queen) disbanded. Graveyard Train tunes like Mummy, Ballad for Beelzebub , Tall Shadow and Dead Folk Dance combine cheerful Misfits horror theming with stompy country. Most of the singers from this loose scene are joining forces in Sydney this week to pay tribute to Tom Waits.
In a democracy, it's your vote that counts. On Sesame Street, it's your Count that votes. Ah-ah-ah!
The Best of #OccupySesameStreet. Since its launched two weeks ago, the #OccupyWallStreet movement has gone national, spawning copy-cat demonstrations in far-flung locales like Tulsa and Boise. Its members have serious concerns--about income inequality, the influence of large corporations in our political system, and their own financial futures. The #OccupySesameStreet movement? Not so much.
Google collects data. A lot of it.
RIP Bob
East Village photographer and all-around good guy Bob Arihood passed away last week. Bob chronicled the struggles and changes of the Tompkins Square Park neighborhood in photographs both online in his blogs, Neither More Nor Less, and Nadie Se Conoce , sold pictures and columns to the New York Times, and was often found on 7th St and Avenue A, in front of Ray's newstand, hanging out with a wide assortment of local characters. He documented the lives and experiences of the folks most people attempt to pass without making eye contact. He knew all their names and their stories. [more inside]
Exploiting Fear
Hangin' Up The Ears
Leonard Nimoy made his final appearance at a Star Trek convention in Chicago this past weekend. Speaking for nearly an hour, Nimoy reminisced about his career and his involvement in the convention scene for many years. He thanked the fans for helping keep Star Trek alive during the "dark years" after its 1969 cancellation until its return a decade later with the first motion picture. Nimoy continues to work, and may or may not reprise his role in the next Star Trek movie, so it's not quite farewell to that green-blooded pointy-eared Vulcan half-breed, but now maybe he'll have more time to eat all that salsa, or maybe just not do anything at all.
C. Peter Wagner explains the New Apostolic Reformation
In a follow-up to her previous show on the New Apostolic Reformation (which we discussed previously on MetaFilter), Terry Gross interviews C. Peter Wagner for a full episode of Fresh Air. [more inside]
Less data viz, more dinner viz.
Taste Buds is a visualization of complementary flavors, sourced from patterns found in lots and lots of recipes. For those of us not blessed with a chef's instincts.
After the Final Curtain
After the Final Curtain: Photographically documenting neglected and abandoned theaters throughout the United States. [via]
On Monday, me and some dudes are gonna tailgate outside the Kellogg School of Management before the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is announced.
"I remember back in the '90s, when I first heard about their discovery of cell receptors activated by pathogenic microorganisms. I was in this bar called Alumni Club on Clark Street in Chicago. It's gone now, which is fine because it was terrible. Doesn't matter, I guess, but me and my buddies had just polished off a mound of wings and, like, seven buckets of Corona when this dude comes in blabbing about the critical role dendritic cells play in adaptive immunity. I almost kicked the hell out of him on the spot, but I have to admit the slides he brought made me a believer." Dennis O'Toole uses the Nobel Prize to satirize sports commentary in hilarious fashion. (SLNPR)
Only a few weeks late
In 1987 Apple predicted a complex language voice assistant built into something called the Apple Knowledge Navigator, a tablet computer. With today's announcement of the refined (and integrated) version of Siri, it appears they were less than a month off.
The Manga of Miyazaki
If you recognize the name Hayao Miyazaki, it's most likely due to his anime films. But along with his involvement in animation, Miyazaki has produced some manga and illustrated story books. Part of the reason his work in still images is less known is lack of translation and distribution. That's where the fans come in, digging up and translating many Miyazaki works, back to his first published manga, which was a serious serialized work, in 1969-1970. [more inside]
Inside the Russian Short Wave Enigma
UVB-76 is a Russian short wave station that has enthralled and mystified enthusiasts for decades.
Reading this post will destroy your soul
The Motif of Harmful Sensation (or as TV Tropes calls it, the Brown Note) is a recurring idea in literature: physical or mental damage that a person suffers merely by experiencing what should normally be a benign sensation. The phenomenon appears in both traditional and modern stories. [more inside]
Bridge of Signs
Most people know that Venice has long been threatened by chronic flooding, but in recent years the Queen of the Adriatic has faced a rising tide of a different sort: advertising.
From the Doge's Palace to St. Mark's Square to the bittersweet Bridge of Sighs -- named for the grief its splendid views once inspired in crossing death row prisoners -- immense billboards lit late into the night now mar the city's most treasured places.
Allegedly built to cover the cost of restoration work in the face of government cutbacks, the ads have brought in around $600,000 per year since 2008 -- a fraction of the shortfall -- and show no sign of going away any time soon. Their presence prompted a consortium of the world's leading cultural experts led by the Venice in Peril Fund to air an open letter demanding the city government put a stop to the placards that "hit you in the eye and ruin your experience of one of the most beautiful creations of humankind." Mayor Giorgio Orsoni, for one, was not moved, saying last year "If people want to see the building they should go home and look at a picture of it in a book."
Ohhh Pretty Woman
Margaret "Peg" Hughes took to the stage in 1660, as Desdemona, in Shakespeare's Othello. Samuel Pepys thought her "a mighty pretty woman."
In ur bookmarks, tagging ur fanfic
The restructuring of Delicious offended a large subset of its users- the slashfic fangirls. [more inside]
"You are all individuals!" "I'm not!"
You need a permit (PDF) to use amplified sound in New York City. Which the #OccupyWallStreet protesters haven't got. So they've come up with a unique solution for transmitting their message - the human microphone.
"They Shall Not Pass - No Pasaran!"
"As the sun rose on that fateful day, thousands of blackshirts gathered in the cool morning air, trading jokes and cigarettes. Their boots and belts were well-polished. Those with peaked caps wore them at no angle but the true. The Union’s flags hung limply on their poles, waiting to be unfurled and waved in the faces of the fearful public. Hundreds of policemen – also, in a technical sense, in black shirts, boots and belts – formed up alongside the Fascist column, determined to escort them on an errand that none thought wise or good but which no one had said was illegal.
The signal was given. The march began. It was October 4th, 1936"
It has been 75 years since the battle of Cable Street, when "people in the East End of London stopped Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists marching through Cable Street, in Stepney, then a mainly Jewish area. A slogan from the Spanish Civil War, a popular anti-fascist cause of the time, was widely used: They Shall Not Pass - No Pasaran!" [more inside]
The signal was given. The march began. It was October 4th, 1936"
It has been 75 years since the battle of Cable Street, when "people in the East End of London stopped Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists marching through Cable Street, in Stepney, then a mainly Jewish area. A slogan from the Spanish Civil War, a popular anti-fascist cause of the time, was widely used: They Shall Not Pass - No Pasaran!" [more inside]
The Search for a More Perfect Kilogram
The official SI definition of a kilogram is "equal to the mass of the international prototype," a cylinder of nine-tenths platinum and one-tenth iridium, forged in the 1880s. "Le Grand K," as the prototype is affectionately known, is the basis not only for the measurement of mass and volume, but of force, energy, and luminosity—and since the 1940s, Le Grand K has been losing weight. Now scientists are trying to redefine the kilogram in terms of fundamental constants—and in doing so, perhaps fulfill the 18th-century promise of a universal, fundamental system of measurement "for all people, for all time."
Folding was considered not unusual at all
The medium of choice during the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War (1941-45): triangular letters [more inside]
Dr Ralph Steinman, father of dendritic cells and first posthumous nobel prize winner since 1961
In 1973, while working as a young post-doc in Zanvil A. Cohn's laboratory in Rockefeller University, Ralph Steinman described a completely new immune cell within the lymphoid organs of mice (original paper can be read here). Based on it's distinctive shape, with it's many branched projections, he named the cell "dendritic cell" (derived from the Greek word for "tree").
Such began a prolific and illustrious career, devoted to the further understanding of these cells, which transformed the way the world understood how the immune system worked. Yesterday, Dr Steinman was awarded the The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011 "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity". Tragically, he had died just three days earlier of pancreatic cancer, and never learned that he was to be awarded science’s top honour. [more inside]
E.M. Cioran
Cioran's literary elitism is unparalleled in modern literature, and for that reason he often appears as a nuisance for modern and sentimental ears poised for the lullaby words of eternal earthly or spiritual bliss. Cioran's hatred of the present and the future, his disrespect for life, will certainly continue to antagonize the apostles of modernity who never tire of chanting vague promises about the "better here-and-now." ... If one could reduce the portrayal of Cioran to one short paragraph, then one must depict him as an author who sees in the modern veneration of the intellect a blueprint for spiritual gulags and the uglification of the world. Indeed, for Cioran, man's task is to wash himself in the school of existential futility, for futility is not hopelessness; futility is a reward for those wishing to rid themselves of the epidemic of life and the virus of hope. Probably, this picture best befits the man who describes himself as a fanatic without any convictions--a stranded accident in the cosmos who casts nostalgic looks towards his quick disappearance. - Tomislav Sunic [more inside]
Tacit racism and sexism
The Implicit Bias & Philosophy International Research Project brings together philosophers, psychologists, and policy professionals to study unconscious biases against members of stigmatized groups. The recommended reading page collects recent scholarly articles available for download. (Previously)
Kicking Queen
Brianna Amat, 18, of Pinckney High School in Ann Arbor, kicked the game-winning field goal against rival Grand Blanc on the same night that she was crowned homecoming queen (SLNYT).
Niall Ferguson: The 6 killer apps of prosperity
Over the past few centuries, Western cultures have been very good at creating general prosperity for themselves. Historian Niall Ferguson asks: Why the West, and less so the rest? He suggests half a dozen big ideas from Western culture -- call them the 6 killer apps -- that promote wealth, stability and innovation. And in this new century, he says, these apps are all shareable. [more inside]
October 3
...a fundamental element of human nature LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Hey, leave my father out of this!
On May 25, Betty L. Prentis passed away in West Palm Beach, FL at the age of 89. Mrs. Prentis was preceded in death by her husband of 41 years, Edmund "Ned" Prentis, in 1997. Prior to her marriage, Betty Luster had enjoyed a long career as an actress and dancer on stage in London (where her career got started in 1938), Broadway, Miami, and Philadelphia.
In her last acting role before marrying Ned, Betty performed in a promotional film sponsored by C.G. Conn, makers of brass band instruments. The 1956 (or 1957) film, "Mr. B Natural," is undoubtedly the most infamous of the shorts to ever air on Mystery Science Theater 3000, so as a final tribute to Betty, it's time to snap on those tights and torment young Buzz for one last time.
Turns out balloon hats connect us all
Nice shades, Doofus.
Hank Williams Jr. was removed from Monday Night Football on ESPN after a bizarre and rambling appearance on Fox & Friends this morning. The noted political analyst and future senator compared the President to Hitler, and later referred to the President and Vice President as enemies. [more inside]
Dissolve my Nobel Prize! Fast!
Dissolve my Nobel Prize! Fast! It's 1940. The Nazis have taken Copenhagen. They are literally marching through the streets, and physicist Niels Bohr has just hours, maybe minutes, to make two Nobel Prize medals disappear.
scary bikers like beer
This ad from a beer company raises interesting questions about acceptance and prejudice. What would you do?
Jacuzzis everywhere.
But yeah seriously, what about teh menz
“What About The Men” is a term of occasional derision and dismissal in feminist circles, used by those who either don’t want conversations about women’s issues constantly derailed, or perhaps sometimes don’t want to provide space for men’s issues.
They’re hijacking and reclaiming the phrase with a little tongue-in-cheek mockery at those who use it, since they think that men and men’s issues should have a bigger role in feminism, and that, additionally, men need spaces dedicated to their issues as well. So it’s not “What About The Men” to chase the guys out; it’s “No, Seriously, ‘What About Teh Menz?’” to bring them back in to the feminist fold. (FAQ)
For a 10 second minute introduction to what inspired this blog’s creation, read our seminal piece, Who Cares About Men’s Rights?. [more inside]
Amanda Knox convictions overturned, to be freed immediately
Amanda Knox freed by Italian appeals court An Italian appeals court has thrown out the 2009 convictions of herself and her co-defendent, and has ordered Amanda Knox to be freed immediately.
This time with little elephant-looking things.
At long last, Factory Balls 4 is complete. Go forth and create, my friends. (One, two, three, xmas.)
"The easiest way to use Real Fonts on your website"
Typekit, the subscription based Web Font service founded by Jeffery Veen, has been aquired by Adobe.
California Busted?
Michael Lewis' newest piece of financial disaster tourism came out a few days ago, relating his take on California's Bond problems. Some think that he didn't interview the right experts in the field and that the lesson of the city of Vallejo have already been internalized by city managers.
Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy code, governing municipal bankruptcies has been used less than 600 times since 1937. This means that the case law is still relatively undeveloped. Only in 2009 did it become clear that municipalities could void union contracts for public workers. [more inside]
Henry + Glenn = 4ever
Four friends who collectively call themselves Igloo Tornado wrote a series of fictional tales of the love between Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig, plus some jokes from their Satan worshiping neighbors, Daryl Hall and John Oates. This land of make-believe is contained in Glenn & Henry Forever. There isn't a preview in one handy location, but various interviews, reviews, and blogs have posted some of the comics (more: Henry has no shoes, Hall & Oats play D&D, a postcard from Henry to Glenn, and a page from Danzig's diary). Danzig, often the butt of internet jokes, was not thrilled. His thoughts were made into a final comic. Oh, and there's an anti-Christmas animation special/advert. And a gallery show with more artists joining the fun.
Poor Folk Bows
Concerned about getting reasonably priced free-range grass-fed protein? Why don't you make your own archery bow, atlatl, slingshot or sling?
CROSS DRESSING FOR SIX YEAR OLDS!
With the Ontario provincial election campaign still extremely close (warning: PDF link) in its last days, the Conservative party sends out a gay-baiting and trans-baiting direct-mail ad. [more inside]
"I hear that guy's ass has it's own congressman!" - Jimbo Jones - The Simpsons
Chris Christie Is Fat. Who Cares? "What is it about fat that turns otherwise smart people into complacent fools? No, this isn’t a new discovery about the supposed health risks of obesity: it’s an observation about how the sight of a fat body can transform people like Michael Kinsley and Eugene Robinson—writers whose work I usually admire—into bigoted know-nothings, spouting absurd prejudices they would mock if they were aimed at almost any group other than fat people."
I leave all that I own to my cat Guppy.
The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike (or possibly a roguelike-like) that pits a naked crying boy whose only initial weapon is his tears, but can be upgraded with loads of self-mutilating items, against random rooms of disturbingly mutated creatures (may be nsfw) in a quest to kill his mother before she kills him. [more inside]
Tax incentive.
Denmark introduces world's first food fat tax. 'Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world's first fat tax - a surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat. Butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed food are now subject to the tax if they contain more than 2.3% saturated fat.' [more inside]
"You...are my number one...GUY."
Chris Sims is a former comic book store employee. David Uzumeri is a computer scientist. Together, they fight crime review the shit out of Batman film canon in an 18-part series they call Cinematic Batmanology, covering all the major theatrical releases from Tim Burton's franchise-reviving 1989 film (start there) up through Christopher Nolan's recent The Dark Knight, with a couple of odd tangents along the way. [more inside]
I’ve swung far from the straight and narrow path of straight photography
(NSFW) In all of my years of work with the lens (since 1906) I've dreamed of and loved to work with the human figure - to embody it in rocks and trees, to make it part of the elements.
The Glory of the Open - Camera Craft - April 1926.
At a time when decent Christian women in the U.S. were expected to be modest and to achieve fulfillment in motherhood, Anne Brigman was trekking up into the mountains in trousers…a scandal in itself…carrying a heavy pack of camera equipment. There she shucked off her pants and societal expectations, and she entered into a pagan world inhabited by dryads and nixies...and there she made art. Anne photographed herself, her sister, and friends using California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to backdrop a liberated woman decades ahead of her time.
YouTube slideshow. She was championed into the Photo Secession movement by Alfred Stiglietz, and she was the only woman member from west of the Missouri.
The Glory of the Open - Camera Craft - April 1926.
At a time when decent Christian women in the U.S. were expected to be modest and to achieve fulfillment in motherhood, Anne Brigman was trekking up into the mountains in trousers…a scandal in itself…carrying a heavy pack of camera equipment. There she shucked off her pants and societal expectations, and she entered into a pagan world inhabited by dryads and nixies...and there she made art. Anne photographed herself, her sister, and friends using California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to backdrop a liberated woman decades ahead of her time.
YouTube slideshow. She was championed into the Photo Secession movement by Alfred Stiglietz, and she was the only woman member from west of the Missouri.
The answer, my friend, is blowing in Wyoming
The best wind in America is in Wyoming. It is a door-snapping, heart-pounding wind that barrels in from the west, chasing the truckers along Interstate 80 as they race to make Omaha by nightfall. It is sometimes described with words ordinarily associated with dark chocolate or exceptional pinot noir. It has been called dense, world-class, consistently extraordinary, special, and fabulous.. Advocates of wind power though are faced with a conundrum. [more inside]
Remember when music television actually played music videos?
It has been nearly a decade since VH1 cancelled "Pop Up Video," but at noon ET today the show returns with 60 new episodes. Their first video: Britney Spears' Til the World Ends. The program's new incarnation will also allow viewers to DIY their own "pop up" videos and share them on Facebook and Twitter." [more inside]
Eye robot
Plaid (previously) has unveiled Scintilli, their new album . The compact disc-format includes a listener-assembled CD "masoleum." Dreambox, an illustrator, muralholic, and Toyota Camry Time Machine operator, collaborated on Plaid's new video: "At Last" (YT).
In competition with reality
This must be the place.
There's no place like home. It's where we live, work and dream. It's our sanctuary and our refuge. We can love them or hate them. It can be just for the night or for the rest of our lives. But whoever we may be, we all have a place we call home. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is a series of short films that explore the idea of home; what makes them, how they represent us, why we need them. [more inside]
I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
A series of emails released through a Freedom of Information Act request shine light on collusion between the United States government and TransCanada, a corporation building a controversial pipeline from the Canadian Athabasca oil sands into its southern neighbor. The controversy extends beyond the currently poor safety record for delivering oil between the two countries, and beyond the environmental and health consequences of the oil extraction process for locals and the cost of climate changes it will contribute to, all the way to legal wrangling between Canadian media and Saudi Arabia over the "death panels"-like term "ethical oil", based upon a conservative group's advertising that argues that the purchase of Canadian-sourced oil is a morally superior act, because of oppression of women and human rights violations by the Saudi kingdom.
Alain Resnais' "Night and Fog"
A manuscript deciphered
The “Copiale Cipher” is a 105 pages manuscript containing all in all around 75 000 characters. Beautifully bound in green and gold brocade paper, written on high quality paper with two different watermarks, the manuscript can be dated back to 1760-1780. [...] the manuscript is completely encoded.[more inside]
October 2
History of Visualization of Biological Macromolecules
History of Visualization of Biological Macromolecules. Wonderfully self-explanatory. See especially the Early [1966!] Interactive Molecular Graphics Movie Gallery and the On-Line Museum. These are the progenitors of Blasdelb's cool post.
I Am Your Father
Dad films his four year old son's reaction to 'Empire Strikes Back' reveal.
The world's fastest computers
The top 500 supercomputers in the world, in rank order, as of last June. The top entry on the list uses 548,000 SPARC64 cores and burns 10 megawatts. No word on what the air conditioning plant looks like.
Hello, Sweetie!
River Song: Her Story is a 14 minute long segment from the series finale of BBC Three's Doctor Who Confidential which presents Professor Song's story in HER chronological order. Narrated by Alex Kingston. Spoilers, sweetie! Spoilers!
♫ "The first and only freely-available, industrial-scale dataset for research on popular music and audio analysis" ♬
"The Million Song Dataset is a freely-available collection of audio features and metadata for a million contemporary popular music tracks." It's about 288 GB but you can download a smaller subset of 10,000 songs selected at random to get a taste. Curious what you'll get? Check out this example track description. [more inside]
I am surprised they have the time, what with all the mustache twirling and damsel distressing
Bloomberg markets report Koch Brothers Flout Law - Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales. Apparently, they knew this story was coming and began pre-butting it last week.
Fuel For Fun
Literally
Today, during a panel discussion for the New Yorker Festival featuring the entire cast of Arrested Development and creator Mitch Hurwitz, it was announced there would be another season, leading to a movie. [more inside]
Amy works entirely without a paintbrush.
Life Starts Here
Life Starts Here is a collection of short stories about people either directly or indirectly involved in the video game industry. You may know the author, Duncan Fyfe, from his blog Hit Self-Destruct, which ran from 2007 to 2009. [more inside]
Act on Instinct
End of Internet reached: Family in basement covering Command and Conquer theme. (slyt/cat)
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The Sadist State
Might as well face it, you're addicted to i
In a New York Times op-ed called "You Love Your iPhone. Literally." branding consultant Martin Lindstrom says that his fMRI experiments show that iPhone users' brains "responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member ... they loved their iPhones." The piece has drawn intense criticism from neuroscientists, who have called it "complete crap", "terrible, terrible", and "truly hideous".
The September Issue
September seemed to be a good month for nu-disco and synthpop DJ mixes. While Cinnamon Chasers, Penguin Prison, Cosmonauts and Mustang all included the name of the month in their releases, Justin Faust probably takes the top spot with his punch, ecstatic The Brisket Biscuit Mixtape, followed very closely by Anoraak's Night Colors Mix. [more inside]
The Bolshoi Simulation - visualization of dark matter
Visualization of the dark matter in 1/1000 of the gigantic Bolshoi cosmological simulation, zooming in on a region centered on the dark matter halo of a very large cluster of galaxies. ... The Bolshoi simulation is the most accurate cosmological simulation of the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe yet made (“bolshoi” is the Russian word for “great” or “grand”). (The Formation of the Milky Way and its Neighbors is cool too.)
Add one more thing to the list of stuff we take for granted!
29 years old and hearing myself for the first time SLYT "I was born deaf and 8 weeks ago I received a hearing implant. This is the video of them turning it on and me hearing myself for the first time :)"
October 1
Arthur Penn's "Night Moves"
[Arthur Penn's Night Moves] does belong to a traditional, indeed obsolescent genre, but the distance it keeps from it (not an ironic or critical distance, just a distance) is such that genre-related expectations become irrelevant. Most of the time, the story line seems to meander aimlessly, taking in extraneous material, doubling back, going round in circles (the aimless is deceptive, a smoke screen obfuscating the complex, rigorous organization of an exceptionally well-structured script). The "mystery" aspect of the plot is dealt with in the most peculiar, topsy-turvy manner, withholding not the solution of the problem but the problem itself until the very end, when, in a dazzling visual tour de force, both are conjured up almost simultaneously. - Jean Pierre Coursodon [more inside]
Beauty Queen Sister
Indigo Girls' 14th album, Beauty Queen Sister, will be released on October 4th. You can hear it now in its entirety thanks to Folk Alley. [more inside]
The Last March of the Ents
17th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition
The 17th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition has begun (voting is open until November 15.) Most of the games can be played online in your browser; all are available for download. Meanwhile, the intfiction forum has chosen the Top 48 Interactive Fiction games. [more inside]
I kept the dogs shut in babe, but I think that I escaped
Marian Call, Alaskan singer-songwriter known for I'll Still Be A Geek When Nobody Thinks It's Chic, has released Something Fierce, a fan-funded album. Listen to the whole thing. Lyrics and liner notes. Listen to her previous albums, Got To Fly and Vanilla.
Women in Electronic Music
"Daphne Oram was the first woman to direct an electronic music studio, the first woman to set up a personal studio and the first woman to design and construct an electronic musical instrument." [previously: 1, 2, 3] [more inside]
He Was a Crook
"Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man sh*tting in his own nest. But he also sh*t in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand." Hunter S. Thompson eulogizes Richard Milhous Nixon.
Big Dumb Objects
Here comes a Lion... oh yes, it's a Lion...
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba! It's been nearly two decades since that glorious savanna sunrise, and once again The Lion King is at the top of the box office. It's a good chance to revisit what made the original the capstone of the Disney Renaissance, starting with the music. Not the gaudy show tunes or the Elton John ballads, but the soaring, elegiac score by Hans Zimmer which, despite winning an Oscar, never saw a full release outside of an unofficial bootleg.
Luckily, it's unabridged and high-quality, allowing one to lay Zimmer's haunting, pulse-pounding, joyful tracks alongside the original video (part 2, 3, 4), revealing the subtle leitmotifs and careful matching of music and action.
In addition, South African collaborator Lebo M wove traditional Zulu chorals into the score, providing veiled commentary on scenes like this; his work was later expanded into a full album, the Broadway stage show, and projects closer to his heart. Speaking of expanded works, there were inevitable sequels -- all of which you can experience with The Lion King: Full Circle (download guide), a fan-made, three-hour supercut of the original film and its two follow-ups.
Want more? Look... harder... [more inside]
What? No Hut-Sut Rawlson on the Rillerah?
A brief history of lyrics that aren't lyrics (1964-2008) SLYT
yeah, I'm kinda disappointed they didn't start at an earlier date, with all the potential doo-dahs, shooby-doos and weem-a-ways...
yeah, I'm kinda disappointed they didn't start at an earlier date, with all the potential doo-dahs, shooby-doos and weem-a-ways...
The Iceman aka The Razor Blade aka The Master of The Telecaster
Hours of video performance in celebration of the birthday of Texas Blues guitar master Albert Collins, October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993.
'Biblical Womanhood' A year of living by the book
As an evangelical Christian, Rachel Held Evans often heard about the importance of practicing "biblical womanhood," but she didn't quite know what that meant. Everyone she asked seemed to have a different definition. Evans decided to embark on a quest to figure out how to be a woman by the Bible's standards. For one year, she has followed every rule in the Old and New Testaments. (FAQ) Her project is set to end today. [more inside]
"Which business owner is right?"
Why big business needs unemployment benefits. 'Many business leaders are shrugging off the forthcoming expiration of extended unemployment benefits, but they may regret it. In this downturn, every little bit of extra money in consumer pockets counts.' 'Steve Burd, the CEO of Safeway (SWY), told an analyst during the company's last earnings call that he did not think temporary benefits provided a meaningful boost to consumer confidence. "There are those that would argue that unemployment benefits, the longer they are, the longer people stay unemployed," said Burd, whose supermarket chain did $41 billion in sales last year. The CEO went on to cite the theory that extending unemployment insurance artificially props up wages, slowing the pace of economic recovery.' 'Some Republicans have already come out against renewing the emergency aid. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is currently running for president, recently said that he thought it was "fundamentally wrong to give people money for 99 weeks for doing nothing."' [more inside]
"On the playground, at the store, walking on the streets. They creep us out, and make us sick to our stomachs. I'm talking, of course, about Ginger kids."
The war against red-haired males. [Time.com] Cryos International, the world’s largest sperm bank, recently announced that it will be turning away redheaded donors at the door. The company’s red-haired sperm supply is full up, and not often called upon. Clinic director Ole Schou told a Danish newspaper that parents are inclined to select donors who are physically similar to themselves, and red’s rareness makes it an unpopular choice.
A landscape of the mind
''Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains'' is the greatest surviving masterpiece by Huang Gongwang (黄公望 1269-1354), one of the Four Yuan Masters; considered one of the finest of all Chinese paintings, it served as a model and inspiration for many subsequent literati artists. The scroll suffered fire damage in the early Qing and was divided into two parts. This summer, a special exhibition at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan reunited these two portions of Huang's masterwork for the first time in 360 years.
"Unfortunately, his NBA career will probably be derailed by a complete inability to understand or carry out the fundamentals of defense."
Not Dopey, not Grumpy, not Doc, not Bashful, not Sleepy, not Happy
Achoo, Achoo, Achoo Not Dopey, not Grumpy, not Doc, not Bashful, not Sleepy, not Happy
'The most excellent painter that England hath yet bred'
Britain's finest Baroque portraitist , on a par with Frans Hals, has been all but forgotten, but a new BBC documentary and associated website seek to address that. William Dobson, 1611-46, was painter to Charles I's court during the English Civil War, and the turmoil of the period meant that much of his biography and even the names of the subjects of his portraits were lost. But many of his portraits have survived, and they're astonishing. [more inside]
The Space of Imagination
Dr. Dan Durda [bio; vita] is a veritable Renaissance Man, having hobbies that others would call careers; most notably, he is an accomplished astronomer, jet pilot, cave diver, and Fellow of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.
Oh yeah, about that art stuff -- there's a lot [more inside]
Oh yeah, about that art stuff -- there's a lot [more inside]
seeking sunken ship, shrinks study stories
Two Aussie psychologists studied the 66-year-old testimony of 70 German sailors rescued after their boat sank. The ship which sank it, the HMAS Sydney, also sank ... taking 645 sailors with it.
After analyzing the stories the shrinks - knowledgeable in the vagaries of storytelling - found that the Germans weren't lying. They crowdsourced the stories, sat down together with a map of the Indian Ocean and ...
After analyzing the stories the shrinks - knowledgeable in the vagaries of storytelling - found that the Germans weren't lying. They crowdsourced the stories, sat down together with a map of the Indian Ocean and ...