April 17, 2010

Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization

Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization - David Eagleman [video]
posted by MetaMonkey at 9:08 PM PST - 65 comments

Come visit the big bigot

The 90’s were a pretty foul decade for anyone that didn’t want to groom some stubble and rock out. Our Trent had no hesitation, good for him. Depeche Mode managed to get a bit of beard on as well. The rest of us had to find jobs in advertising. Music took a swerve backwards as a flood of ‘alternative’ and ‘indie’ guitar bands jangled their way through territory that had been explored long ago, settled and populated with malls. I know, I used to work on album covers for major label compilations of “20 BANDS THAT SOUND LIKE NIRVANA”.
Tom Ellard (of the now defunct Severed Heads) has a blog. Topics include Kurt Cobain, academic conferences, piracy, privacy and contemporary experimental music. [more inside]
posted by Syme at 8:23 PM PST - 59 comments

Redesign of the Daleks

With Matt Smith making his US debut as Doctor Who tonight, showrunner Steven Moffat gives an interview to Tor.com. Meanwhile in the UK viewers have just had their first sight of a controversial new Dalek redesign.
posted by Artw at 6:27 PM PST - 270 comments

"You just don’t see that kind of dedication to trivial matters anymore.”

"Hostages Rescued By Courageous Racist" and other news from the First-Person Observer.
posted by empath at 3:56 PM PST - 38 comments

Nike ad campaign blends shoes and remixes.

Here's a video (YT) from Nike's newest Japanese ad campaign with DJ/musician Daito Manabe and friends remixing Also sprach Zarathustra—with shoes (and some help from Ableton Live). Daito Manabe's blog [in Japanese] offers some additional photos. (via Engadget)
posted by reductiondesign at 3:28 PM PST - 12 comments

SurvivaBall

Worried about climate change? Don't sweat it. Technological. Profitable. And, dare we say, beautiful.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 3:21 PM PST - 15 comments

Daryl Gates' real legacy

You may have heard about Romeo Agents, the male employees of the East German Ministry for State Security (also known as MfS or Stasi). They were unleashed on female federal employees in West Germany, with whom they began long-term relations and then began using as sources. That tactic has apparently been used in the United States as well; David Cay Johnston writes about the real legacy of Daryl Gates, the former chief of the LAPD. Gates died Friday. [more inside]
posted by krautland at 3:10 PM PST - 38 comments

Fergie Olver Will Haunt Your Dreams

Fergie Olver was a well-known Canadian sportscaster, who used to hang with the likes of Wayne Gretzky. When not working on Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts, he co-hosted the 80s game show Just Like Mom with his wife, a former Miss Canada. Like fellow game show host Richard Dawson, Olver had a penchant for kissing his contestants on the lips. One problem: his contestants were prepubescent girls. The results are more than a little unsettling.
posted by kalimotxero at 12:39 PM PST - 77 comments

The danger of a single story

Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie on the danger of defining a place or a people by a single story. From TEDGlobal 2009 and via Feministe.
posted by peacheater at 12:30 PM PST - 8 comments

Lace schools

Lacemaking in 19th-century Britain relied heavily upon child labour. Large numbers of children attended 'lace schools' from an early age, working long hours in miserable conditions. An 1860s parliamentary report on child labour describes their world. [more inside]
posted by Catseye at 10:43 AM PST - 15 comments

Turn Almost Anything into a "Theremin"

Drawdio: A Pencil that Lets You Draw Music
posted by brundlefly at 9:06 AM PST - 30 comments

Crack shack or mansion?

Crack shack or mansion? [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 8:44 AM PST - 84 comments

Terrorism that's personal

Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies. graphic pictures under the fold
posted by desjardins at 8:13 AM PST - 56 comments

Fish fly?

Scott Stapp sings "Marlins Will Soar."
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 8:06 AM PST - 44 comments

Womb with a view

Eighteenth century obstetric engravings by Jan van Rymsdyk Dutch illustrator van Rymsdyk (also spelled van Riemsdyk) was working in England when he made 31 engravings for William Hunter's The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus. Recent research suggests Hunter and his fellow pioneer of obstetrics William Smellie may have been responsible for the murders of some 40 pregnant women in order to gain corpses for their anatomical research.
posted by Abiezer at 6:41 AM PST - 18 comments

"I still hope and believe there’s no possibility of an afterlife."

Antony Flew has gone to meet his maker. Or not. Previously, on "the world's most notorious atheist who changed his mind." Flew was a philosopher who was known as the originator of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. Some doubted the conversion was what it seemed to be. Antony Flew on the afterlife.
posted by availablelight at 6:14 AM PST - 41 comments

A Quiz

Death Metal Lyric or William Blake Quote?
posted by wittgenstein at 5:50 AM PST - 12 comments

The universal punchline?

Can it be that all cartoons resolve to one common sentiment?
posted by pjern at 4:49 AM PST - 41 comments

dotfiles

dotfiles.org is a place to upload, download, and share your dotfiles.
posted by vostok at 3:09 AM PST - 29 comments

words fail me

CK Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business in the University of Michigan passed away on 16th April 2010 after a brief illness. His core competency was strategic insight and vision and his legacy to the world, the concept of the Bottom of the Pyramid, which changed the way big business viewed the teeming, huddled poverty stricken masses of the former third world as micro-innovators, micro-producers and so, micro-consumers in their own right. Among others, his work inspired Ratan Tata as the Nano turned conventional wisdom of automobile manufacturing on its head and paved the way for Indian industry to focus on the high volume/low margin potential of their domestic market. In 2009, he was named the "world's most influential thinker" . Though not uncriticized for his theories on the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, one can acknowledge his role in overcoming the "tyranny of dominant logic" that the poor should not simply be recipients of charity but demanding customers in challenging environments. RIP, sir. {previously, previously}
posted by infini at 2:50 AM PST - 14 comments

Predator vs Kurt Vonnegut

Predator vs *: Na'vi, Tintin, Punisher, Batman, Jason, Ewoks, Spiderman, Power Rangers, Alien, Wikipedia, Wikipedia vs Predator, Robocop, Predator.
posted by zippy at 1:04 AM PST - 20 comments

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