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"Here are ten lesser-known heroes of WW2 who are a reminder to us all that even when it feels like it’s hopeless (or when it feels like the world is being run by a madman) that you are not powerless: there are always things you can do." [more inside]
posted by freethefeet at 11:05 PM PST - 9 comments

Six years, 62,450 oil paintings by 115 artists, 94 paintings (Colossal), 600 letters (Slate), 3,000 litres of oil paint (great overview), and one movie about the life of Vincent Van Gogh (trailer). Loving Vincent was first filmed (behind the scenes feature), then artists painted every scene in his style, to create a loving homage (BBC) to the artist's life and work. IMDB -- Loving Vincent's website.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:24 PM PST - 7 comments

Very, very few insects are viviparous, meaning they give live birth. Among them is the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. Thankfully (?), the entire process -- gross, but also pretty cool -- can be seen on youtube.
posted by Rinku at 9:42 PM PST - 26 comments

Even the dogs are sad.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:31 PM PST - 14 comments

Now, I never paid any attention to this. I had no interest in reading an obscure spy novel just because Trump liked it. But then over Christmas after the election, I was visiting family in Bozeman, Montana. And there it was, in a used bookstore: The Twentieth Day of January. THEORY OF EVERYTHING: And? Is it good? “JOSH GLENN”: No, it’s terrible. The plot is ridiculous. [more inside]
posted by cgc373 at 2:54 PM PST - 73 comments

Siddhant Adlakha, writing at "Birth. Movies. Death", recounts an extremely perplexing interview with the Chairman of India's Central Board of Film Certification, nearly a year after first writing about that Board's erratic censorship practices here.
posted by Ipsifendus at 12:27 PM PST - 14 comments

Physicist Enrico Fermi famously arrived at the approximate strength of the Trinity test explosion by dropping pieces of paper and watching how far they drifted. Estimates with little or no data are now called Fermi problems, including the famous "How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?" and the Drake equation. Fermi Questions has been an event in the Science Olympiad, a competition in American K-12 schools, where competitors must estimate amounts such as the number of playing cards it would take to equal the mass of Betelgeuse (2x10^34, or twenty decillion). Practice your wild estimates at FermiQuestions.com (tutorial here).
posted by Etrigan at 9:43 AM PST - 47 comments

You think he just runs around screaming, randomly shoving a microphone into peoples' faces? Think again. Now in its fifth official season on truTV, the unique Billy on the Street is still one of the strangest shows on television — a delightful alchemy of pop culture, celebrity, performance art, and social anthropology. [more inside]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:39 AM PST - 28 comments

A kiki is a party, for calming all your nerves. We're spilling tea and dishing just desserts one may deserve.
posted by Evilspork at 8:29 AM PST - 21 comments

The United States of America has a wide variety of biomes, and in all of them today there are baby animals learning how to be animals.
Forest: Bobcats have to learn a lot of things, to climb and play and survive in the wild* but they don't have to learn manners. *Note video includes images of bobcat eating prey. [more inside]
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 8:28 AM PST - 7 comments

Ruby Sea Dragon filmed in the wild for the first time (film of sea dragon itself starts at 1:11) [more inside]
posted by Catseye at 5:08 AM PST - 18 comments

Browser game developers Marek and Marcin Rudowski, creators of the beautifully illustrated Trader of Stories fantasy adventure games Bell's Heart and A Grain of Truth, have decided to treat those games as side stories for a proper series, starting where it all began (at least, all the protagonist can remember) in Chapter One.
posted by BiggerJ at 4:56 AM PST - 3 comments

The struggle between an international band of medievalists and the Catholic Church over the fate of a mostly unknown Birgittine convent library established in 1491 has the outlines of a Dan Brownian thriller. Add in Vicar General Monseigneur Peter Beer, prioress Sister Apollonia Buchinger, musicologist Viveca Servatius, and exclamations like "Altomünster is the holy grail", and you would be forgiven for assuming you're reading fiction. But this is all to real. After an academic conference at the Altomünster Abbey (blogpost about it by Bevin Butler) in late 2015, the Münich Diocese forbade access to the library. Medieval Histories has more, and Anita Sauckel of Mittelalter interviewed Prof. Volker Schier about his campaign to gain access to the library and preserve it intact.
posted by Kattullus at 4:31 AM PST - 25 comments

Mike Frizzell surrendered himself voluntarily to police in 1993. He confessed and served his time and refound himself. In 2009, he was interviewed for a Seattle radio show, telling his story. Those interviews have been newly expanded over a series of 5 epic episodes that include questions from friends and internet strangers, and interviews with key figures in the life of Drew McFrizz. If you like long form podcast storytelling, you can begin with The McFrizz Files, Part One: How It All Began [1h32m] [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 4:23 AM PST - 3 comments

Mark Fisher, blogger, editor, and cultural theorist, Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmith's, University of London, and author of Capitalist Realism (2009) died suddenly on 13 January 2017. He was 48 and leaves a wife and young son. [more inside]
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:17 AM PST - 24 comments

Assuming no last-minute surprises, while the White House transitions the son of a Leòdhas emigrant will take the Oath and become the next POTUS in Washington D.C. today (security gates open at 6am, ceremony begins at 11:30am), as part of the 58th Presidential Inauguration (events began yesterday). Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath; the Lincoln Bible and a family bible will be used. Clarence Thomas will administer the Oath of Office to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Many Democratic lawmakers are boycotting the inauguration; security is tight, and selfie sticks, drones and drums are not permitted. Some artists are performing at the inauguration and after events. The day after, the Women's March takes place in D.C. and many other cities and towns. Channels showing the inauguration, the 2009 and 2013 ceremonies, and Obama's 2008 victory speech.
posted by Wordshore at 3:01 AM PST - 3344 comments

London-based blogger Diamond Geezer was astonished by a painting by Bob Dylan of a pier in Norfolk, Virginia. Mostly because it seemed to be based on a photograph that he'd taken of Blackpool Pier. [more inside]
posted by Stark at 2:24 AM PST - 13 comments