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.
Wide Open
New Chemical Brothers video, in which dancer Sonoya Mizuno (Ex Machina) undergoes an unusual transformation. Directed by Dom & Nic.
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.
Ridealong: The Flotilla That Will Cross The Galaxy
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.
Flitetest
Flitetest is a project that makes RC flight fun. Their Youtube channel includes 'Crazy Projects' like the Super Circle Plane. [more inside]
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.
I am a slut.
I am a slut. SLYT A slam poem from Savannah Brown
/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]
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.
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]
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)
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)
Finally, a trailer for his magnum opus — albeit significantly more, well…chicken-based — is now available: The Chickening (SLYT)
Not a hoax!
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.
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]
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]
The Answer Is What's Poppin'
Behold Cyriak's (previously) new video for Meow the Jewels (previously) : "Meowpurrdy feat. Lil Bub, Maceo, Delonte".
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]
"It was a sad fate for them and I pity them. So I hope, do you"
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]
No Toilets for the Homeless
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]
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).
Have You Tried Just Holding Your Breath?
Good news, everyone! Oxygen has been linked to lung cancer. [slnyt]
The most Australian Interview ever. (slyt)
Full Manlyness A couple of Australian Heroes stop a convenience store robbery. So Australian. [more inside]
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]
George Hotz Is Taking On Google And Tesla By Himself.
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.
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]
"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]
Did Michael Jackson write the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3?
A: Invent a dog spacesuit
"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.
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.
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]
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.
Girih Tile Designer
Phantom haunts the ice cream section of your 24 hour grocery store
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]
"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]
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]
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