August 5, 2011

27b/6

"No way! Thieves are in the open, and a moral person must sneak around, this is turning things upside down! I don't care what others do, I must correct the meter. Please help me find a way." (via reddit)
posted by Ritchie at 10:52 PM PST - 56 comments

PATRICK BERRY

⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞⃞ A Puzzle Father leading prestidigitation to a cluster of drupes.(7,5) [more inside]
posted by Cold Lurkey at 9:28 PM PST - 3 comments

1977 televised tribute to the Beatles.

In 1977, Rolling Stone magazine turned 10 years old. To celebrate, they put together a TV special, which included "A Day in the Decade" -- a star-studded, 15-minutes-long tribute to the Beatles. [more inside]
posted by chowflap at 9:26 PM PST - 68 comments

Oh My God! I Was Wrong! It was Serling All Along!

In 1963, French novelist (and former secret agent!) Pierre Boulle, released a smashing new Sci-Fi novel called La planète des singes (Monkey Planet in the UK). Like his previous 1952 bestseller, Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï (Bridge Over the River Kwai), the book was adapted into a classic film - and eventually a franchise of some note. Interested in how Boulle's sociopolitical satire became one of the iconic films of our time? You can read some of the backstory about Serling's involvement with the project, then have a look at the various drafts themselves and final shooting script. [Previously].
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:59 PM PST - 12 comments

That truck driver....

That truck driver you flipped off? Let me tell you his story.
posted by nevercalm at 8:27 PM PST - 105 comments

Math interview podcast

Strongly Connected Components is a podcast of interviews with mathematicians. Hear complexity theorist Scott Aaronson (of Shtetl-Optimized), Tom Henderson (of Punk Mathematics) algebraist Olga Holtz of UC-Berkeley, master combinatorist Richard Stanley of MIT, and many more.
posted by escabeche at 7:02 PM PST - 5 comments

Drugs Are Like That

Anita Bryant wants to tell your kids about drugs using LEGOs
posted by The Whelk at 5:45 PM PST - 59 comments

The Siskel & Ebert Vault

Starting tonight, Ebert Presents At the Movies will begin airing full episodes of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s original PBS show, Sneak Previews. Taking a break from reviewing movies, co-hosts Christy Lemire and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky will introduce and discuss the episodes. Hungry for more classic Siskel & Ebert? Try the invaluable, Ebert-approved SiskelandEbert.org, a growing archive of home-taped episodes of Sneak Previews and At the Movies. [more inside]
posted by alexoscar at 4:34 PM PST - 21 comments

U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade Expected This Weekend

Markets declined sharply this week in preparation for a U.S. credit downgrade by Standard & Poor's ABC news felt confident to break the news of the U.S. government preparing for an expected S&P down grade sometime after market close this weekend. [more inside]
posted by Poet_Lariat at 3:38 PM PST - 685 comments

She was Jewish, but to live she needed a Christian name.

A Holocaust survivor raised a fist to death. 'Leon Weinstein survived the Warsaw Ghetto. But it is the story of the little girl that he wants to tell.' 'He lay Natalie on their front step. Tears ran down his cheeks. You will make it, he thought. She had blond locks and blue eyes. They will think you are a Gentile, not one of us. Walking away, he could hear her whimper, but forced himself not to look back until he crossed the street. Then he turned and saw a man step out of the apartment. The man read Weinstein's note. He puzzled over the baby. Cradling Natalie in his arms, the man walked half a block to a police station and disappeared inside.' [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 2:40 PM PST - 29 comments

Ramen Noodle, The Wonder Poodle

Ramen Noodle, the two legged poodle, has a kitten. (youtube) [more inside]
posted by zamboni at 1:52 PM PST - 30 comments

You have to laugh. And count the money.

The Worst Gig We Ever Played: Musicians on their on-stage lows. (previously)
posted by HumanComplex at 1:32 PM PST - 75 comments

#FF @frendfromhs just meeee hahahahaha

You know that one Friend From High School? She just found you on twitter.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:27 PM PST - 156 comments

Studies Show Posture Affects Pain Tolerance and Hormone Levels

"According to a study by Scott Wiltermuth, assistant professor of management organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, and Vanessa K. Bohns, postdoctoral fellow at the J.L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, adopting dominant versus submissive postures actually decreases your sensitivity to pain. " [more inside]
posted by uniq at 12:12 PM PST - 9 comments

The man who killed Pluto doesn't DESERVE those sweaters!

FOX has greenlit an update of Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (on Hulu, previously) co-produced by Sagan's widow Ann Druyan and Seth MacFarlane, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, which will air in Fall 2013. [more inside]
posted by Apropos of Something at 12:06 PM PST - 95 comments

Shivering Trunks

Shivering Trunks is Natalia Brożyńska's debut film. The four-minute animation has quickly become a cult favourite in Poland.
posted by beshtya at 11:48 AM PST - 19 comments

No one hears you scream but these mythological figurines

NASA's Juno spacecraft launched this morning and is en route to Jupiter (launch video). Equipped with microwave, ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light detectors Juno will investigate the origins, atmosphere, and magnetosphere of the Solar System's largest planets over one year beginning with its arrival in 2016. Using its awesome solar-powered technology Juno will show Jupiter's magnetic field in detail never before seen. We probably won't hear much from Juno again until 2013, when it makes a fly-by of Earth. You can follow Juno on Twitter, so if it types out its scream, someone will hear it. Also screaming traveling aboard Juno are three very special LEGO mini-figurines.
posted by IvoShandor at 10:56 AM PST - 35 comments

East meets... South?

You've never heard bluegrass quite like this! Featuring Red Chamber and the Jaybirds.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:55 AM PST - 22 comments

We don't need no img tag!

Asciiflow will let you draw ASCII art with a mouse and skip a lot of painstaking space-bar-hitting.
posted by ignignokt at 10:22 AM PST - 52 comments

The Mix Tape of the Gods: made to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per second, now traveling 300 million miles per year

August and September 2011 mark 34 years in the journeys of Voyager 1 and 2. The two scientific probes, progeny of the Mariner program, were sent out to survey this solar system and beyond. Voyager 2 completed the Grand Tour in 2009 (excluding Pluto), and Voyager 1 is getting closer to interstellar space (previously). Both scientific probes were sent out in with a time capsule from 1977, golden records secured in plain view on the outside of the Voyager Spacecraft. These greetings from earth (alt links: Coral Cache, Archive.org) were recorded in the form of 116 images, a collection of sounds of this planet, greetings in 55 languages (YT), 27 songs from around the world, and brain waves of Ann Druyan, then recently engaged to Carl Sagan. For all that work, the "Mix Tape of the Gods" almost didn't get sent into space because of some last-minute writing in the run-outs. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:20 AM PST - 26 comments

Did Obama get what he wanted?

With the conclusion of the debt ceiling debate ending in another defeat for liberals, the emerging narrative is that Obama is weak, a poor negotiator who was out-maneuvered by Republicans and forced into the agreement because of strategic errors. But Glenn Greenwald tells a different story: [more inside]
posted by AlsoMike at 9:48 AM PST - 254 comments

There goes the neighborhood...

Hipsters on the Hudson. The NYTimes is at it again, reporting on "Hipster Sprawl" (??).. yes, I made up that term.
posted by ReeMonster at 9:47 AM PST - 58 comments

Send Congress To Boot Camp

Lt. Gen. Russell Honore has a solution to the increasing splintering and radicalization of Congress: send all the members of Congress to boot camp and keep them there until they recognize their duty to America.
posted by reenum at 9:44 AM PST - 56 comments

The Earth Is Flat (to a certain approximation)

Old Theories As Limits of New Ones -- Theoretical physicist, Lubos Motl, takes a brief tour through the history of physics, and explains the simple mathematical relationship of old theories to the theories that replace them.
posted by empath at 9:20 AM PST - 18 comments

“A film should be like a stone in your shoe.”

The Convenience Trap: What the changes at Netflix reveal about an insidious trend.
posted by hermitosis at 9:11 AM PST - 121 comments

Life Before the Dinosaurs

Art is seven years old and really likes life before the dinosaurs. And he thinks arthropods are really cool.
posted by silby at 8:31 AM PST - 27 comments

unleashing killer blood-sucking zombies

How the US media marginalises dissent [more inside]
posted by infini at 8:28 AM PST - 68 comments

"I want kids to find out that reading is the best entertainment there is."

Renowned Science Fiction author William Sleator has passed away at the age of 66. [more inside]
posted by griphus at 7:40 AM PST - 40 comments

Comics by Anne Emond

Comiques is a comic about "life's little trivialities" by Anne Emond. Her main subjects are her family, cat, friends, New York City and random musings. It is mostly drawn from life though her work sometimes tends towards the fantastic. Here is a short video interview with her which also features some candid shots of her cat and here's a longer interview on more technical matters. Finally, here are some random favorites: Pug, Celebrity Look-alike Generator, Irrational Rage Comic, Umbrella, Writing a Detective Story?, The Best Karamazov, Ode to the Avocado, Top of the Morning to You and The Day I Realized I've Never Tried to Dress My Cat in People Clothes.
posted by Kattullus at 7:17 AM PST - 15 comments

"It's terminal!"

How to get a head start on Caturday this week.
posted by Kitteh at 6:54 AM PST - 21 comments

The Electric Radiance of Los Angeles.

LA Light is a hauntingly beautiful multiple angle time lapse short of LA by night. Shot over six months by Colin Rich, whose high altitude Pacific Star balloon imagery has featured previously on the blue.
posted by Ahab at 4:42 AM PST - 16 comments

Splitting atoms at home

Can you split atoms in your kitchen? "My project is to build a working nuclear reactor. Not to gain electricity, just for fun and to see if it's possible to split atoms at home..." [scroll down to the bottom for the beginning of the experiment]. [more inside]
posted by Sijeka at 4:14 AM PST - 104 comments

Grandma party!!!

GRANDMA PARTY!
posted by loquacious at 3:27 AM PST - 29 comments

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