July 31, 2016

“He's done awful things to people and he'll do awful things to you.”

Split [YouTube] [Trailer] Directed by: M Night Shyamalan. Starring: James McAvoy, Haley Lu Richardson, Brad William Henke. While the mental divisions of those with dissociative identity disorder have long fascinated and eluded science, it is believed that some can also manifest unique physical attributes for each personality, a cognitive and physiological prism within a single being. Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.
posted by Fizz at 4:14 PM PST - 148 comments

The return of Claressa Shields, the 1st gold medal women's boxing champ

Four years ago, WNYC published a series titled Women Box: Fighting to Make History (start at the beginning), looking at some women who would take part in the first year that women's boxing was an official Olympic sport. 16 year old Claressa Shields, a junior at Northwestern High School in Flint, Michigan (16 min, audio) was part of that history, probably the biggest part: she won. Four years later, you probably haven't seen her as much as you might have seen other gold medalists, because it's hard to get promotions and sponsors when you're a tough woman who fights, but she's back to fight again.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:08 PM PST - 19 comments

Photosynthetic Solar Cells

Breakthrough solar cell captures CO2 and sunlight, produces burnable fuel “The new solar cell is not photovoltaic — it’s photosynthetic”
posted by Michele in California at 1:16 PM PST - 47 comments

Xerox Alto: Restoring the Legendary 1970s GUI Computer

Startup incubator Y-Combinator acquired a Xerox Alto and Ken Shirriff is currently in the process of restoring it to working condition.

Overview of the Alto and Its Place in History
Day 1: Power Supplies and Disk Interface
Day 2: Repairing the Display
Day 3: Inside the Disk Drive
Day 4: Microcode Tasks and Trying To Boot
"Hello World" in the BCPL Language (Precursor to C) on the Alto Simulator [more inside]
posted by Pong74LS at 1:00 PM PST - 25 comments

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Protections For LGB People

"Sexual orientation discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people can only come from the Supreme Court or Congress, the federal appeals court in Chicago rules." [sl-buzzfeed article] [more inside]
posted by marienbad at 12:39 PM PST - 22 comments

Pun based politics

Prefer your political analysis in the form of a circa-2000 wordpress blog? Hate Nate Silver's professional formatting? Like numbers and Take a gander at born to run (the numbers), including musical hot takes, In-depth coverage of large-scale political events, deep dives on the electoral college, and accurate predictions.
posted by The Ted at 12:33 PM PST - 3 comments

25,000 Feet Without a Parachute

Watch Luke Aikens jump out of a plane at 25,000 feet without a parachute.
posted by chavenet at 11:17 AM PST - 77 comments

Hail Satan! Now, who wants a juicebox?

Hey kids! Tired of those boring after-school Christian clubs? Why not try something a little different? [more inside]
posted by tau_ceti at 10:37 AM PST - 29 comments

Straight Outta Oz

Todrick Hall has been here before, but he recently released Straight Outta Oz as an ambitious visual album on YouTube. It's a Wizard of Oz allegory about his life growing up as a gay black teenager and his rise to stardom. It also features some great singing and dancing, and he's touring with a live version now. [more inside]
posted by JZig at 10:09 AM PST - 8 comments

I've got yer credentials right here.

35 Classy Slang Terms for Naughty Bits from the Past 600 Years [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:49 AM PST - 36 comments

They’re personable, they’re entertaining, they know their names.

Like to watch baby tortoises eating watermelon, strawberries, or tiny pancakes? They've become a huge problem.
posted by AFABulous at 8:20 AM PST - 25 comments

The Guantánamo Failure

Connie Bruck in The New Yorker: Why Obama Has Failed to Close Guantánamo
Congress is blamed for preventing the President from fulfilling his pledge. But that’s not the whole story.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:38 AM PST - 47 comments

Thinking About Causality

Causation can be separated from antecedent conditions only if we can control them. This is a thought provoking essay by Joe Boswell on the notion of searching for the cause of cancer or the reason a marriage failed. It reaches back to Bertrand Russell's idea that science is the search for antecedents not causal relationships.
posted by ObeyDefy at 3:49 AM PST - 32 comments

"It appears this is my first entry in two years."

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind timeline
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 1:15 AM PST - 15 comments

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