June 10, 2017

Al fit into one category: Al.

National Review honours its mailroom guy, Alex Batey, who passed away yesterday.
posted by clawsoon at 8:23 PM PST - 40 comments

Animal in the sack

Snuggle sacks for animals are totally a thing. They're easy to make. Or you could just use a pillowcase.

Unrelated, but so damn cute: a fox getting scritches.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:11 PM PST - 23 comments

The Girl In The Yellow Dress

The Girl In The Yellow Dress, by David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson. (SLYT) Animation by Danny Madden. NPR interview.
posted by growabrain at 3:56 PM PST - 13 comments

Asteroids, with LASERS!

Short attention span, let's just jump to the good stuff: Asteroids, with LASERS! The whole video is pretty good though. [more inside]
posted by Chuckles at 3:28 PM PST - 22 comments

“It’s no better since Anita Hill because we don’t have power.”

In Cosby Trial, Treatment of Women by Powerful Men Has Its Day in Court [The New York Times] [Descriptions of Sexual Abuse/Assault] “It’s a familiar and discomforting spectacle: A woman who alleges sexual assault is also put on trial. She is grilled on the witness stand about why she continued to speak with a famous man she now charges with abuse, someone who had the power to shape her future. The man has to defend himself against the possibility of false accusations, and so it’s open season on a woman’s credibility. Andrea Constand’s two days at the center of the Bill Cosby trial captured the dynamics that make sexual assault cases so polarizing and so resonant. Her testimony, picked over by Mr. Cosby’s lawyers, occurred at a cultural moment when accusations of sexual assault or harassment have rocked a media empire, a presidential campaign, Silicon Valley start-ups and countless college campuses.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 12:07 PM PST - 36 comments

What could go wrong?

The Atlanta Braves have a between-innings promotion called "Beat the Freeze", where one lucky fan gets to race a costumed superhero called The Freeze around the outfield. The fan gets a 200 ft head start.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:59 AM PST - 41 comments

Frogs are good indicators of environmental damage.

France's New president, Emmanuel Macron is inviting us to Make Our Planet Great Again. And he's doing it by offering to recruit Climate scientists, teachers, students, associations, and businesses to move to France, offering grants up to 1.5 million euros. This is in direct response to Donald Trump, and the website is also in English for ease of use.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:56 AM PST - 20 comments

What if animals were round?

Rollin' France is the latest animated short from Kyra Buschor & Constantin Päplow, and continues their hilarious series about a world where animals are round. Since their debut on the Blue back in 2012 they've filled a YouTube channel, Rollin' Wild, with many more shorts starring spherical animals.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:40 AM PST - 14 comments

The gorgeous line art abstractions of Andrew G. Fisher

Forgotten Corners is a gorgeous series of pairs of black and white line abstractions and reference photos of architecture and city environments, by artist Andrew G. Fisher. See also the more recent series, incorporating color elements, A Stolen Day on a Stolen Trip. [more inside]
posted by cortex at 11:00 AM PST - 4 comments

No Pain to Infinite Pain

Are chronic pain and the absence of pain the same thing genetically?
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:15 AM PST - 7 comments

Farewell, old chum

Adam West, the ardent actor who managed to keep his tongue in cheek while wearing the iconic cowl of the Caped Crusader on the classic 1960s series Batman, has died. He was 88. “Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans' lives. He was and always will be our hero,” his family said in a statement.
posted by rewil at 9:00 AM PST - 165 comments

Sometimes, I like to braid horse hair, into my pubis

How to speak with an Icelandic accent, or at least one good enough to convince non-Icelanders. [more inside]
posted by acb at 4:58 AM PST - 15 comments

"I see you."

For an entire year, nearly everyone in Hollywood passed on adapting a film version of The Joy Luck Club. Even after Amy Tan’s debut novel became a best-seller, moving 275,000 copies upon its first publication, studio executives argued that no one would want to see a movie about Chinese-American women, especially since no stars were attached to it. Today, while Asian actors continue to be largely excluded from mainstream narratives — brushed aside and told that “non-white stars aren’t bankable” — The Joy Luck Club remains the only Hollywood film to have accomplished what most studios are still afraid to try. This is the story of how Asian-Americans pulled off a movie those in the industry never thought possible and proved Hollywood wrong.
posted by zarq at 12:49 AM PST - 22 comments

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