July 8, 2017

Van Helsing needed bananas instead of garlic

Fruit, bat? [more inside]
posted by Gorgik at 11:27 PM PST - 12 comments

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?

Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary (previously) now has two livestreams, one in the Gathering Room and the other Outside. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:53 PM PST - 23 comments

badddiiie 🌈🎱🦋⛈ stealing your man since 1928

She's an Instagram influencer with more than 3 million followers, been featured by two major cosmetics lines, turned heads when she wore a bedazzled nude bodysuit to the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, and written a new Guide to Life book. She's Helen Ruth van Winkle, better known as Baddiewinkle, an 88 year old great-grandmother who has always been a rebel, and would like to be a role model for older people. Badddiiie got her (re)start when her great-granddaughter saw her in a pair of cut-off shorts and a tie-dye shirt and said, "Let's make a picture, Grandma, you look awful cute today," and posted it to Instagram.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:48 PM PST - 5 comments

The Guardian's Readers' Editor is finally back from vacation

Over six months ago The Guardian published a story purporting to expose a "backdoor" in WhatsApp. The EFF wrote that "it's inaccurate to the point of irresponsibility to call this behavior a backdoor", and over seventy cryptographers signed a scathing open letter explaining the huge flaws in the Guardian's story, but they were met with almost total silence. Meanwhile, even Teen Vogue managed to get the story right. MeFi's own Maciej Cegłowski (fomenter of online drama, who runs the bookmarking site Pinboard on the side) wouldn't let it go, and now finally the Guardian has issued a non-retraction retraction where they decided to "amend" the article instead. Maciej is still not impressed, but unfortunately the damage has already been done. Much like the debunked vaccine/autism link, this story could have literal life-and-death consequences by casting doubt on the Signal protocol and pushing dissidents and leakers to use much more insecure communications like web forms and email.
posted by karlshea at 7:31 PM PST - 43 comments

We have the technology. We can rebuild the lost wooden toboggan.

How do you rebuild a childhood memory when no working models or plans for it exist? Piece by piece, and year by year. "Coaster enthusiasts thought the rebirth of the Flying Turns wooden toboggan coaster at Pennsylvania’s Knoebels amusement park might never happen. The family-run park in tiny Elysburg spent eight obsessive years building and rebuilding a faithful replica of the slow, squat and serpentine coaster that disappeared from the amusement park landscape more than four decades ago." Whee! [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:35 PM PST - 8 comments

Satan Today You Are Found in AIDS

music video SLYT, watch it once for the musician, and then again and again for the background. [contains distant happy nudity]
posted by Buntix at 5:21 PM PST - 20 comments

THEY’RE GIVING AWAY FREE HOT DOGS!!!

A night/morning at the ballpark A 1st person account of a Nationals game that went into the wee hours of the morning thanks to a long rain delay.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:50 PM PST - 22 comments

“Every battle makes us stronger!”

Doomfist Finally Comes To Overwatch [Kotaku] “At long last, Overwatch’s gauntlet-wearing villain Doomfist is seeing the light of day. The new character has been teased since before publisher Blizzard even released Overwatch, and now, players can finally try him out on Overwatch’s public test region. Doomfist [Developer Update] [Origin Story], whose real name is Akande Ogundimu, is a cybernetic offense character whose hand cannon gauntlet knocks opponents down. Blizzard writes, “In addition to dealing ranged damage with his Hand Cannon, Doomfist can slam the ground, knock enemies into the air and off balance, or charge into the fray with his Rocket Punch. When facing a tightly packed group, Doomfist leaps out of view, then crashes down to earth with a spectacular Meteor Strike.”” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 12:34 PM PST - 46 comments

A show where an interviewer interviews interviewers about interviewing

The Turnaround with Jesse Thorn is a limited-run podcast that interviews world class interviewers about how they do what they do. Running throughout this summer, it has already featured Ira Glass, Susan Orlean, Audie Cornish, Marc Maron, and Larry King, with more to come including Werner Herzog, Anna Sale, Katie Couric, and Terry Gross. The podcast is a co-production with the Columbia Journalism Review, where you can find edited transcripts of each episode. (And yes, Jesse is mefi's own YoungAmerican.)
posted by ocherdraco at 12:06 PM PST - 35 comments

Who let the dogs go to the dogs?

Toronto has a new dog fountain. It's a fountain with dogs. It's a fountain for dogs. Would you like to see some more dogs in the fountain?
posted by jacquilynne at 10:18 AM PST - 49 comments

Norway's "trollpikken" has been [insert phallic pun here]

Norway's "troll penis" -- a phallic-looking rock formation that made international headlines after it was apparently lopped off by unknown vandals -- was standing back up to attention as of Friday. After it was vandalized, local residents started a crowdfunding campaign to rebuild the rock, and eventually raised 226,000 kroner (around $27,000). The reattachment work was apparently successful, although tourists will have to wait a week before they can see the formation in order to allow it to fasten properly. Cement, glue and metal fastenings were used to re-attach the Trollpikken, or "The Troll's Penis," to the cliff.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:21 AM PST - 25 comments

That's Ms. Badass to you

Sheila Michaels, Who Brought ‘Ms.’ to Prominence, Dies at 78
posted by bq at 8:59 AM PST - 29 comments

"He says he coded the Bulls to always throw a brick at the last second"

The Oral History of NBA Jam. Sports Illustrated gathers the original developers for a look back at NBA Jam, a 1993 arcade title from Midway Games. [more inside]
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:58 AM PST - 9 comments

If You Don't Buy This Stock Photo, We'll Kill This Dog

Dark Stock Photos is the Twitter account that Twitter truly deserves, with the absolute worst stock pic offerings from Getty, Shutterstock and others, featuring guns, knives, blood, alcohol, cocaine, suicide, anger, sadness and a David Cross lookalike with an inflatable sex doll. Something for all your nightmare needs. [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:58 AM PST - 23 comments

....TCELES B HSUP

Stemage (of Metroid Metal fame) got to playing around with reversing some classic NES tunes to see if they sounded as interesting backwards. Some yes, some no, which he explores on his blog.
posted by curious nu at 5:56 AM PST - 7 comments

Women without parole

"I have no sentence at all now—I was waiting for resentencing for a sentence. None of it makes any sense.” (SL: The Nation. Warning: article contains descriptions of violence, abuse, and rape). Nineteen states have eliminated mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles entirely and hundreds of people have been resentenced to lesser terms since, but most have been unsure of their rights. While the Supreme Court decisions eliminating life without parole for juveniles have been hailed as victories of criminal-justice reform, some states are dragging their heels when it comes to giving juvenile lifers their day in court. [more inside]
posted by stillmoving at 3:03 AM PST - 9 comments

« Previous day | Next day »