January 17, 2012

You may be eligible for a cash reward

This notice is here to tell you not to remove this notice.
posted by latkes at 11:46 PM PST - 134 comments

Ying-Ling? I thought that was Chinese?

Everyone knows America's Oldest Brewery is D.G. Yuengling & Son (and daughters) of Pottsville, PA (and Tampa, FL) This family owned brewery was established as the "Eagle Brewery" in 1829 by a German immigrant named David Gottlob Jüngling. After the original brewery burned down in 1831 it was relocated to its current location. It was built into a mountain with caves dug into the side, a common practice to preserve beer and to achieve the cool temperatures required to make lager before refrigeration. Yuengling spent most of its history as a small regional brewery and only began to attract national attention years after the launch of Yuengling Traditional Lager in 1987, which went on to become the flagship product of the company and now accounts for 80% of Yuengling's production. On the strength of that growth, and with other brewers being bought out by or outsourcing production to foreign companies, Yuengling has now passed The Boston Beer Company to claim the title of America's largest brewing company as well. In this globalized beer era where giants war for market share, products from America's new largest brewer are only available in 14 states.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 8:56 PM PST - 113 comments

David Wants To Fly

German filmmaker David Sieveking had just finished film school and was a huge fan of David Lynch. How could he pass up the opportunity to see Lynch when he came to speak about creativity and how to unlock it? How could he possibly fathom that the lecture would lead him on a five year voyage into the world of Transcendental Meditation, viewing the movement from within and without, with an accepting and then a critical eye, and ultimately would lead him on a journey to the source of the Ganges and yield a feature-length documentary, Sieveking's first movie? For a limited time, David Wants To Fly can be viewed at the Link TV website in its entirety. [~95min]
posted by hippybear at 8:54 PM PST - 7 comments

I Have a Hard Time Saying It

On the latest episode of Marc Maron's WTF, comedian Todd Glass publicly came out for the first time, and talks movingly about the fears of being typecast that kept him in the closet.
posted by Apropos of Something at 6:44 PM PST - 59 comments

No two days sound the same.

"The following is a short demonstration of Quintronics' latest musical invention called The Singing House. This drone synthesizer can be installed into any building in order to provide its inhabitants with a pleasing chord that is constantly changed by the weather." Brought to you by the maker of The Drum Buddy. [more inside]
posted by crunchland at 6:26 PM PST - 18 comments

Aleksandr Petrov, Russian paint-on-glass animator.

The gray Cherkassian cow lived alone in a shed attached to a railroad attendant's tiny house on the vast Soviet grasslands. The cow had a calf, and the railroad attendant's son liked the calf very much. Then the calf was taken away and the cow became very melancholy. She never had a chance to tell her story. This is her story. (Contains Russian animation.) [more inside]
posted by Nomyte at 6:13 PM PST - 6 comments

John Lennon's cats

John Lennon's cats
posted by Ardiril at 6:13 PM PST - 24 comments

"Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb."

The attacks from both the right and the left on [Obama] and his policies aren’t out of bounds. They’re simply—empirically—wrong. ... Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008. Andrew Sullivan writes an intriguingly optimistic piece on why he thinks and hopes that Obama will be re-elected this year.
posted by WalterMitty at 4:58 PM PST - 328 comments

Flying and autism

A Philadelphia program is bringing families, airport employees and airlines together to help autistic kids fly more comfortably. [more inside]
posted by chela at 4:40 PM PST - 7 comments

A Million Wisconsinites Petition to Recall Scott Walker

A Million Wisconsinites Petition to Recall Scott Walker: "Petitions with the names of 1 million Wisconsinites were submitted to state elections officials today, in a move that will jump-start the process of removing the nation’s most notorious antilabor governor from office... In all, close to 2 million signatures were submitted Tuesday, building the historic in-the-streets popular uprising that rocked Wisconsin in 2012 into a electoral uprising that has the potential to rock the politics not just of the state but of the nation in 2012. The movement to oust Walker will have secured the support of a higher percentage of eligible voters than has ever before sought to recall an American governor." [more inside]
posted by flex at 4:32 PM PST - 106 comments

The Omnivore's dilemma

The Hatchet Job of the Year Award, sponsored by The Omnivore, is looking for 'the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the last twelve months'. The shortlist includes Geoff Dyer on Julian Barnes ('excellent in its averageness'), Lachlan Mackinnon on Geoffrey Hill ('he is wasting his time and trying to waste ours') and Jenni Russell on Catherine Hakim ('if you should pass it in a bookshop, pick up a copy and drop it somewhere where nobody's likely to take an interest in it'). Mary Beard, another of the shortlisted candidates, insists that 'it's not actually a prize for skewering .. it's for honest as well as entertaining book reviewing, that isn't afraid to go beyond deference, to call a spade a spade'. [more inside]
posted by verstegan at 4:22 PM PST - 21 comments

flashback

The year was 1969, and even the people who made commercials for the International House of Pancakes were on acid.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:52 PM PST - 77 comments

GO EAGLE. GO EAGLE.

Teach Thee How to Curtsy by Sir Jarlsberg
posted by azarbayejani at 3:15 PM PST - 18 comments

The Mimic Method

The only way to become fluent in a language is to actively mimic the speech sounds of native speakers. Idahosa (ee-DAO-ssah) Ness has developed a language learning system based on music and mimicry.
posted by unliteral at 3:14 PM PST - 49 comments

10 Alternative Book Covers/Film Posters

10 Alternative Book Covers/Film Posters to celebrate the launch of the Penguin Design Award 2012.
posted by Pilly at 3:12 PM PST - 10 comments

So. Many. "Anti-cassettes."

Sleeves Received is a collection of the best-designed finds from The Wire's mailbag. (via thingsmagazine)
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:40 PM PST - 8 comments

"I keep the tank in Wales, I don't bring it down my road..."

Between 1987 and 2000, MTV Europe broadcast Party Zone, charting the frontier of European electronic music. For a primer, check the frenetic "megamixes" of featured artists on Party Zone's exclusive R&S Records (alive and well). On a more coherent note, Party Zone occasionally featured live performances by Orbital, Mouse on Mars (1,2) and others. Video (and occasional) Interview jockey Simone Angel even sat down for a chat with Richard D. James [1h10m, interpsersed with heretofore unseen videos and live performances]. [more inside]
posted by obscurator at 2:35 PM PST - 1 comments

I want Carl Kasell's voice on my home answering machine, too!

Julia Wertz has been posting comics thrice-weekly about her life in San Francisco and then Brooklyn for the past 5 years. Sometimes they're sad. Sometimes they're hilarious. And sometimes they're just strange. [more inside]
posted by lunasol at 2:23 PM PST - 15 comments

Happy at 100

Karsten Thormaehlen captured the wisdom and joy of aging by photographing centenarians. [more inside]
posted by gman at 2:22 PM PST - 7 comments

Alan Attraction

Here comes Alan Measles - WW2 hero turned benign dictator turned Godhead. Guru, muse, art critic, raconteur. In his capacity as minor deity he resides in a hand-tooled Louis Vuitton traveling shrine, and embarks on a pilgrimage to Bavaria to make peace with the Germans, in his custom-built personal conveyance. In his entourage are his devoted minion and bodyguard, and some other bloke named Alan. In London this weekend? Pay your respects to Alan's stunt-doubles in the Kenilworth AM1, and purchase Measles memorabilia from the gift shop. [more inside]
posted by Elizabeth the Thirteenth at 2:14 PM PST - 3 comments

Waggle waggle waggle waggle yeah

The Waggle Dance of the Honeybee (7:29, YouTube) is a short documentary that elaborates upon Karl von Frisch's honeybee waggle dance translation.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:02 PM PST - 10 comments

Surfing the Apocalypse

Apocalypse Later, Surf Now - A short, beautiful video of people enjoying themselves as the world ends.
posted by quin at 1:59 PM PST - 14 comments

This is what Madeline did

"I shot a little video every day of 2011 on my Canon Powershot, then I edited it all down to a little over a second each." (SLVimeo)
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:49 PM PST - 38 comments

I've no intention not to mention

Screaming Females are a 3-person self described "rock/rock/rock" band from New Jersey featuring Jarrett Dougherty on drums, King Mike Abbate on bass, and Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals. They're not incredibly famous and they're probably not on the cusp of a string of number 1 hits, but they put on a mean show and they've got a new album in a couple of months if rock/rock/rock should happen to be your thing. [more inside]
posted by sandswipe at 12:28 PM PST - 33 comments

Tearbending in excitement

Hopefully you've already seen the sneak peak, and maybe you saw the leaked opening credits. With a 2012 airdate now promised (Twitter, Nickelodeon 2012 teaser), several scenes have been recently leaked (MAJOR SPOILERS) from the first episode of Avatar: The Legend of Korra. (Previously.)
posted by kmz at 12:03 PM PST - 34 comments

Is It Me?

Hello (slv)
posted by jontyjago at 11:14 AM PST - 25 comments

Lucas Moves On

George Lucas on his retirement, Red Tails, and future pursuits (in love and film). SLNYT
posted by Atreides at 10:52 AM PST - 121 comments

The fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest / But all they got left is this guy called West

Here's never before seen footage of a teenage Kanye West performing at the Double Door in Chicago in 1996 (YouTube) Want to go farther back in time? After posting the 1996 video DDotOmen readers uncovered footage of a 12 year old West, performing "His Name Means Love," a poem he wrote in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, at Vanderpoel Elementary School in 1990. (YouTube) [more inside]
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:42 AM PST - 15 comments

The Annotated Jagger/Bowie "Dancing in the Street"

...there’s some desperation to this junk version of “Dancing in the Street,” with both parties trying to affirm their A-1 celebrity status. One of the more pernicious effects of the whole Live Aid/Farm Aid/Band Aid spectacle was to cement the hierarchy of the “legend” rock acts and a smaller tier of anointed successors from the slightly-younger generation (Tom Petty, Sting, Dire Straits, U2). It was the height of the Boomer Counter-Reformation. The late Eighties would see the over-publicized returns of everyone from Steve Winwood to the Monkees to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, to a revamped George Harrison to a MOR version of Pink Floyd to Robbie Robertson pretending that he was Peter Gabriel (a version of Gabriel who couldn’t sing) to an all-star Yes and a Zeppelin-sampling Robert Plant, culminating in the return of the “revitalized” Stones in 1989, the touring company now reincorporated into a gleaming multinational. As Marcello Carlin said back when Popular covered this single: “Suddenly we were once again reminded who in pop and rock mattered and who didn’t…With their massacre of “Dancing In The Street,” Bowie and Jagger seemed to relish rubbing it in.“
-The Annotated Jagger/Bowie "Dancing in the Street"
posted by anazgnos at 10:35 AM PST - 180 comments

Gove's gong hunt

With the UK struggling through continued dismal economic prospects so grim they are even damaging such an august a tradition as the Indian restaurant, perhaps a new Royal Yacht to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee will cheer everyone up?
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:32 AM PST - 31 comments

Darwin's 'lost' fossils found in a gloomy corner of the of British Geological Survey

British scientists have discovered a “treasure trove” of Charles Darwin fossils that have been lost for more than 150-years. | 'I spotted some drawers marked "unregistered fossil plants",' he recalls. 'I can't resist a mystery, so I pulled one open. What I found inside made my jaw drop!' Inside were hundreds of fossil plants, polished into thin translucent sheets known as 'thin sections' and captured in glass slides so they could be studied under a microscope. | The British Geologic Survey has images 33 of the "Lost Fossils" online. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 10:24 AM PST - 15 comments

It's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power...

The Gay Rights Movement in 7 minutes. [SLYT]
posted by schmod at 10:20 AM PST - 25 comments

Figure Drawing Training Tool

Gesture drawing from home: a convenient tool for practising figure drawing
posted by rollick at 10:07 AM PST - 16 comments

Borderlines

"Countries are defined by the lines that divide them. But how are those lines decided — and why are some of them so strange? Borderlines [a New York Times column by Frank Jacobs of Strange Maps] explores the stories behind the global map, one line at a time." The latest in the series: "The Loneliness of the Guyanas," and the inaugural essay, "In Praise of Borders."
posted by ocherdraco at 9:49 AM PST - 17 comments

President Colbert, the lobbyists are here to see you

Why Citizen's United isn't the problem, and why Stephen Colbert is missing the mark. [more inside]
posted by postel's law at 9:35 AM PST - 88 comments

Christiania goes Wall Street

Copenhagen's Christiania squatters, famed for their anti-free market ways, are selling shares in their community so they can buy it from the government. What do you get for your investment: "a symbolic sense of ownership in Christiania and the promise of an invitation to a planned annual shareholder party." As one squatter calls it, "ownership in an abstract form." According to the Copenhagen Post, after striking a deal with the state this summer, Christiania residents now need to raise 76.2 million kroner (almost $13 million) to buy the majority of the area’s properties and an additional six million kroner to rent adjoining green spaces. The first 43 million kroner (or approximately $8 million) is due on 15 April 2012. Several prominent people have purchased Christiania Shares, including Margrethe Vestager, minister of the economy and interior, and Mogens Lykketoft, president of parliament. The shares are available for purchase online (Text source)
posted by infini at 9:25 AM PST - 22 comments

i have the weirdest high right now

Which is easier to buy: Viagra or Marijuana?
posted by DU at 8:28 AM PST - 62 comments

The future sure looked better when we were in the past, didn't it?

Most people have heard of Daniel Lanois for his production work with U2 and Brian Eno but he started his climb to fame with a little band called Martha and the Muffins who had a monster hit song. [more inside]
posted by ashbury at 7:49 AM PST - 39 comments

I'm Human

I'm Human A video by the students of Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama. Featuring the students and faculty of Liberty Middle School, Bob Jones High School, and James Clements High School; and the music of Sigur Rós. (SLYT)
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:48 AM PST - 12 comments

Warning: includes content by Richard Littlejohn

Journalism warning stickers
posted by unSane at 7:40 AM PST - 33 comments

Storm in a tea state

Shakespeare's The Tempest banned by Arizona schools
posted by Artw at 6:38 AM PST - 131 comments

"Where are ya, ya spongy yellow delicious bastards?!"

Twilight of the Twinkie?: [infographic] Twinkies Maker Hostess Files for Chapter 11 Protection. [Wall Street Journal] [Previously]
posted by Fizz at 3:54 AM PST - 59 comments

The ObserverTree

On Dec 14, 2011 Miranda Gibson climbed 200ft up a tree in Tasmania. She hasn't yet come down. [more inside]
posted by Kerasia at 2:09 AM PST - 30 comments

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