January 26, 2016

60% of the time it works every time

Austin Powers-style Chicago condo untouched since the 1970s hits the market. It's got a little touch of Ron Burgundy and Brian Fantana in there too. A steal at $158,000. The listing at Zillow.
posted by GuyZero at 10:43 PM PST - 82 comments

Wide Open

New Chemical Brothers video, in which dancer Sonoya Mizuno (Ex Machina) undergoes an unusual transformation. Directed by Dom & Nic.
posted by Artw at 10:40 PM PST - 21 comments

In praise of slow cycling

We had the opportunity to cycle in a number of North American cities in 2015, including Washington D.C., Montreal, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. And it was through the mixed experiences of sharing their streets with locals that we began to observe a seldom-discussed measure of a city’s bike-friendliness: the speed at which its cyclists travel.
posted by aniola at 10:04 PM PST - 41 comments

Ridealong: The Flotilla That Will Cross The Galaxy

~900 players will spend 3 months crossing the galaxy in Elite: Dangerous.
posted by curious nu at 8:22 PM PST - 30 comments

Lucha Underground Becomes More Comicbook-Like

As a preliminary to Season 2 of Lucha Underground, comicbook.com is featuring a comic book story bridging the first and second seasons. If you're not already familiar with the show, here are Five Sites Offering Reasons to Watch.
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:29 PM PST - 4 comments

Flitetest

Flitetest is a project that makes RC flight fun. Their Youtube channel includes 'Crazy Projects' like the Super Circle Plane. [more inside]
posted by carter at 6:54 PM PST - 8 comments

Medium allegedly blocked in Malaysia

On January 20th Medium received a takedown request from the Malaysian Government over a supposedly false report on the Malaysian Prime Minister and corruption by the Sarawak Report, a whistleblowing news organization whose main site was banned in Malaysia. When Medium Legal requested clarification, such as official court documents and proof of the report's falsehoods, instead of providing such documentation, Malaysia blocked Medium.
posted by divabat at 4:44 PM PST - 25 comments

I am a slut.

I am a slut. SLYT A slam poem from Savannah Brown
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:17 PM PST - 13 comments

/boggle

Warcraft [YouTube] [Trailer]
“The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: Orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people and their home. So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something.”
[more inside]
posted by Fizz at 3:35 PM PST - 156 comments

Dead, but they'll be back

The new mayor's shallow pockets, the abandoned fairgrounds, and the battle for New York City -- Stereogum explains how and why there's a new music festival on Randall's Island this summer.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:18 PM PST - 11 comments

Eureka! I've invented the road trip!

From 1914 to 1924, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and nature writer John Burroughs took off every summer to "rough it" (shaving was forbidden), camp on the roadside, and visit the country's most beautiful places by automobile, creating a media sensation and kicking off the tradition of the Great American Road Trip. [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:46 AM PST - 34 comments

Werner Herzog has made a documentary about AI and technology

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World - "With interviewees ranging from Elon Musk to a gaming addict, Werner Herzog presents the web in all its wildness and utopian potential in this dizzying documentary." (via)
posted by kliuless at 11:42 AM PST - 25 comments

Finally, someone solves "The Shining" + chickens = ???

Since Kubrick's death, the world has wondered about his rumored obsession with "remastering" The Shining in the same way that Lucas did his original trilogy.

Finally, a trailer for his magnum opus — albeit significantly more, well…chicken-based — is now available: The Chickening (SLYT)
posted by ArmandoAkimbo at 11:38 AM PST - 27 comments

Not a hoax!

Abe Vigoda, Sunken-Eyed Character Actor, Dead at 94 [more inside]
posted by incomple at 11:36 AM PST - 180 comments

Charity Light on the Edge

"East Charity Shoal Light is an offshore lighthouse located near the Saint Lawrence River's entrance in northeastern Lake Ontario, due south of the city of Kingston, Ontario and approximately five miles (8.0 km) southwest of Wolfe Island. It is on the southeast rim of a 3,300-foot-diameter (1,000 m) submerged circular depression known as Charity Shoal Crater that may be the remnants of a meteorite impact." It sold for under $26,000 in 2009.
posted by valkane at 11:34 AM PST - 2 comments

The Birth of a Nation(wide Release)

Actor, director, producer, financier, and all-around dynamo of talent Nate Parker spent years working to bring Nat Turner's story to the big screen -- and just shattered Sundance records by selling his well-reviewed and rapturously received debut film The Birth of a Nation for $17.5 million, the largest sum in the festival's history. [more inside]
posted by sallybrown at 11:25 AM PST - 26 comments

Wherever this flag is flown

In November, Brian Donohue of NJ.com asked for submissions to redesign the New Jersey state flag. He received almost 400. (photo gallery is in video form, with music) [more inside]
posted by kimberussell at 10:30 AM PST - 64 comments

The Answer Is What's Poppin'

Behold Cyriak's (previously) new video for Meow the Jewels (previously) : "Meowpurrdy feat. Lil Bub, Maceo, Delonte".
posted by Maecenas at 10:18 AM PST - 30 comments

Ninja Eagle on Stilts - The Secretary Bird

Secretary birds can be found striding through the grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa. They cut a striking and unmistakeable profile, with light grey bodies, black wing tips and shorts, a red mask, and a crest of black quills. The latter, according to one dubious-sounding hypothesis, look like the quill pens that secretaries once tucked behind their ears—hence the bird's name. A more plausible alternative is that “secretary” is a bastardization of the Arabic “saqr-et-tair” for “hunter bird.” [more inside]
posted by narancia at 10:15 AM PST - 12 comments

"It was a sad fate for them and I pity them. So I hope, do you"

Charles Farrar Browne, the Sometimes-Racist Father of Standup Comedy [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:46 AM PST - 7 comments

Earned Media

After sifting through more than 100,000 hours of broadcast television coverage and counting, the Internet Archive last week launched its new, free Political TV Ad Archive website —PoliticalAdArchive.org — with more than 30,000 ad airings archived. This new resource will bring journalists, researchers, and the public resources to help hold politicians accountable for the messages they deliver in TV ads. [more inside]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:20 AM PST - 12 comments

No Toilets for the Homeless

The inability to use a toilet isn’t just embarrassing. According to the 2015 No Right to Rest Report, a collaborative study by scholars and homelessness advocates in Colorado, it represents a public health crisis. For example, Stolte explained, the dearth of toilets and places to wash exacerbates health problems like body lice, skin infections, gastric illnesses, prostate and bowel issues, and the spread of communicable infections. (slMedium)
posted by Kitteh at 8:33 AM PST - 68 comments

Dekoven Presents: Super OTW!

DeKoven, who generally used only his last name, tended to wax enthusiastic over every piece of music he selected for play. He characterized many of them as ''OTW,'' Out of This World. OTW was only the bottom step of a set of escalating accolades which included ''Super OTW,'' ''Super Super OTW,'' and occasionally ''OTG'' (Out of This Galaxy), ''OTU'' (Out of This Universe) and ''OTC'' (Out of This Cosmos). Other phrases DeKoven used included "Remember, even a 3 by 5 inch index card can be used as a post card!" or at the conclusion of a broadcast when soliciting donations for his ''Barococo Society,'' he would always remind his listeners when addressing their letters ''....please skip the Sir or Mister when mailing me. Just capital DeK-o-v-e-n. I see this as an anachronism, especially in the Arts.'' He also reminded listeners that ''I am a lone wolf...'' about his endeavor...
And now, we give you the incomparable DeKoven, maven of the Baracoco... [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 8:13 AM PST - 8 comments

Spreadsheets for Developers

Thinking about learning a new programming language? How about a functional language with support for test-driven development and a snazzy visual interface, already deployed on millions of computers around the world? I'm speaking, of course, about Excel. In a 2014 Strange Loop talk, Felienne discusses the virtues of the Excel programming language (which is Turing complete, if you were wondering).
posted by jedicus at 7:57 AM PST - 73 comments

Have You Tried Just Holding Your Breath?

Good news, everyone! Oxygen has been linked to lung cancer. [slnyt]
posted by mittens at 6:46 AM PST - 51 comments

The most Australian Interview ever. (slyt)

Full Manlyness A couple of Australian Heroes stop a convenience store robbery. So Australian. [more inside]
posted by helmutdog at 6:42 AM PST - 36 comments

Iran Is Back in Business

The Great Race—for what a Western ambassador in Tehran described as “the last gold mine on Earth”—has begun. With eighty million people, Iran is the largest economy to return to the global marketplace since the Soviet Union’s demise, a quarter century ago. It urgently needs to refurbish its crumbling infrastructure. Unlike Eastern Europe, however, Iran is flush with cash, after gaining access to a hundred billion dollars in oil revenues that had been locked in foreign banks during sanctions. [NewYorker] [more inside]
posted by Sir Rinse at 6:34 AM PST - 19 comments

George Hotz Is Taking On Google And Tesla By Himself.

The first person to hack the iPhone built a self-driving car. In his garage.
posted by ellieBOA at 6:32 AM PST - 32 comments

A few seconds closer to Midnight?

Today The Doomsday Clock will have its time recalibrated. In 2015 the scientists set the hands to 23.57 - "due to climate change, the modernization of nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia, and the problem of nuclear waste." Is the apocalypse closer or further away? Watch the result live at 13.30 EST. There's really only one way it can go.
posted by 0bvious at 6:31 AM PST - 7 comments

And the minute she saw me, she was like, "Oh my God, I get to go home."

The state said a 19-year-old with an intellectual disability wasn’t equipped to look after her baby and whisked the newborn off to another family just after birth—a decision the mother was ready to fight. But how smart do you have to be to raise a child?
[more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 6:27 AM PST - 29 comments

"A tour de force of dropped R's"

Late Night's Seth Meyers (previously) has released the trailer for Boston Accent, the most Boston movie of all time. [SLYT]
posted by Room 641-A at 6:17 AM PST - 37 comments

Did Michael Jackson write the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3?

The Michael Jackson Video Game Conspiracy
posted by gauche at 6:12 AM PST - 7 comments

A: Invent a dog spacesuit

41 of the trickiest questions Google will ask you in a job interview [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:01 AM PST - 77 comments

"Pinball Palace was a small, almost hidden place...

...tucked between the Jerry Lewis Movie theater and a specialty bra shop. From the outside, it looked forbidden and dangerous, two things that combined to point a beckoning finger at me.
Gina opened the door and I followed, knowing that this was exactly the kind of place my parents warned me about."
-- Michele Catalano, on the lost age of pinball.
posted by JHarris at 6:00 AM PST - 18 comments

Report All Obscene Mail to Your Local Potsmaster

collectpostmarks.com is a US-focused introduction to the hobby of postmark collecting. The site includes a detailed how-to guide for collecting USPS postmarks, a calendar of time-limited pictorial postmarks (gleaned from the USPS Postal Bulletin), and a gallery of postmarks to whet your appetite. [via mefi projects]
posted by Westringia F. at 5:30 AM PST - 10 comments

The Flat Earth Rapper

Two days ago, semi-famous rapper B.o.B. (no, not that BOB) began posting to his Twitter account a series of tweets and pictures in which he declared his belief that the earth is flat, not round. (And yes, believing that the earth is flat is a real thing.) B.o.B.'s twitter rant caught the attention of the internet's chief of science police, Neil deGrasse Tyson, who tried to change B.o.B.'s mind with the presentation of some well-intentioned facts. Undeterred and unconvinced by deGrasse Tyson's efforts, B.o.B. spent the day whipping up a diss track. Let the rap battle over a flat earth begin.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:28 AM PST - 139 comments

Girih Tile Designer

Girih Designer [more inside]
posted by scruss at 4:46 AM PST - 16 comments

Phantom haunts the ice cream section of your 24 hour grocery store

Literary Witches, a new comic by Katy Horan and Taisia Kitaiskaia, author of Ask Baba Yaga.
posted by dysh at 4:34 AM PST - 3 comments

Strength, Perseverance, Integrity, Resilience, Inspiration, Trust

Yesterday the Coxless Crew, a team of four women, completed their unsupported row across the Pacific. It took them 257 days to travel 8446 miles in three stages - San Francisco to Hawaii, then to Samoa, and completing their journey at Cairns. They travelled in a 29-foot long pink boat called Doris. [more inside]
posted by Stark at 4:22 AM PST - 11 comments

"We have found a way to treat others how they want to be treated"

".. after 70,000 kilos of washing ... we realised it is so much more. We can restore respect, raise health standards and be a catalyst for conversation.

Orange Sky Laundry is a world first not for profit mobile laundry service. Launched in July 2014 by this years Young Australians of The Year Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, giving the homeless an opportunity to have their clothes laundered- and perhaps more importantly, the chance to sit down and have a chat with friendly, thoughtful and compassionate volunteers. [more inside]
posted by Philby at 12:23 AM PST - 8 comments

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