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"A man walked past our bench holding a single cucumber." A letter from Detroit by Mark Benelli walks you through today's Detroit. [more inside]
posted by HuronBob at 10:40 PM PST - 41 comments

It became necessary to finish this thing. A U.S.-funded 'ally' has carried out one of the largest massacres of protesters since the 1989 assault on Tiananmen Square. At least 525 people (and counting and counting) have been killed since Egypt's police and army attacked two sit-ins in support of ousted president Muhammad Morsi on August 14th. Armored cars, police officers, and soldiers marched on the protests in Nasr City and Giza, opening fire with birdshot, tear gas, and live ammunition. It only gets worse from here. [more inside]
posted by ecmendenhall at 10:37 PM PST - 144 comments

What if Episode II Were Good? (Previously)
posted by Navelgazer at 9:07 PM PST - 42 comments

In 1931, Gladys Maud Cockburn-Lange, presented some amazing photos from her deceased husband's days as an RAF pilot in World War I. They were hailed as "the most vividly realistic of all the air records that came out of the war," as they were taken from a camera that was mounted on the plane (example photos). The photos were published in British newspapers in 1932 and years to come, and bound with the diary of the pilot in the book Death in the Air: The War Diary and Photographs of a Flying Corps Pilot. Except it was all a hoax. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:50 PM PST - 5 comments

John Franzen: Each line, one breath
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:40 PM PST - 15 comments

Spoon in underwear saving youths from forced marriage. "As Britain puts airport staff on alert to spot potential victims of forced marriage, one campaigning group says the trick of putting a spoon in their underwear has saved some youngsters from a forced union in their South Asian ancestral homelands." [more inside]
posted by kmennie at 8:21 PM PST - 18 comments

Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect whose work includes 'temporary' structures (YT) made from cardboard tubes. His work blurs the distinction between temporary and permanent, and includes designs that focus on cost effective and liveable shelter after natural and human disasters. Now, two-and-a-half years after the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake destroyed the city's cathedral, the Cardboard Cathedral has been opened. [See also: 1 2 ]
posted by carter at 8:15 PM PST - 5 comments

In the Twitter war between the fans of One Direction and The Who, who wins? Does it really matter that One Direction members weren't even born util 10 years after It's Hard?
posted by theichibun at 7:06 PM PST - 101 comments

Making Music with a Möbius Strip : "It turns out that musical chords naturally inhabit various topological spaces, which show all the possible paths that a composer can use to move between chords. Surprisingly, the space of two-note chords is a Möbius strip."
posted by dhruva at 6:37 PM PST - 16 comments

"So, after reading all his sexts and stuff, it’s basically impossible for me to not hear every single thing Anthony Weiner says as some sort of horrible half-assed double entendre sexty come-on. So I cut together a few of his recent public statements to demonstrate why I laugh every time he speaks." (SLYTP)
posted by The Whelk at 4:40 PM PST - 53 comments

Apparently Chris Froome just rides this way. (SLTumblr)
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:35 PM PST - 19 comments

Released today on Steam, Gone Home has garnered praise for its deeply affecting narrative, stripped-down design and a unique aesthetic steeped in 90's nostalgia and riot grrl culture. "When I played Gone Home I had the stunning realization that there could be a game for me. Someone can make a game for me." -Leigh Alexander. "It’s touching, unsettling, deeply honest, and enormously compassionate. -Rock, Paper, Shotgun. "Gone Home is an epic story, but its definition of epic is far removed from how we usually talk about scope and drama in games. It’s epic, personal and revelatory to the people involved, and that’s why it’s so special." -Giant Bomb. Polygon's 10/10 review. How Gone Home's design constraints lead to a powerful story. The Fullbright Company's Journey Home.
posted by naju at 3:21 PM PST - 197 comments

So much rain fell on Australia during 2010-11 that global sea levels dropped, rather than normally rising. Australia has large basins from which rainwater doesn't drain (well). Australia is giving it back as evaporation and sea levels are on the rise again thanks. The record breaking rainfall was attributed to global warming.
posted by stbalbach at 2:03 PM PST - 30 comments

A sentence from her novel History of Emily Montague is the earliest OED citation for "literally" used to mean "figuratively." Frances Brooke may be responsible for negatively impacting the English language by actioning a disconnect between a word's definition and its usage. Google was called a traitor to the English language for recognizing this use. Others are suggesting that since we've totally busted the English so much we probably shouldn't even use the word "literally" anymore.
posted by ChuckRamone at 2:01 PM PST - 141 comments

"So, here's the thing. If someone forces you to do something sexual, then it's not your fault. You don't have to feel guilty or ashamed for doing something "dirty" or taboo, or for being with someone villainous or forbidden, or for being a sexual creature or having sex in the first place. This is one reason people (including me) write noncon-themed stories—to overcome or bypass or interrogate that guilt or shame through a fictional character we may or may not identify with." -- Force Me, Please talks about non-consensual sex scenes and their appeal (or not) in erotic and fan fiction. (nsfw)
posted by MartinWisse at 1:08 PM PST - 37 comments

National Geographic takes some amazing photos and video. (SL National Geographic, requires Flash) Takes quite awhile to load but worth it.
posted by bearwife at 1:07 PM PST - 17 comments

A wise man with a deep understanding of world and eerily prescient and accurate thoughts. Post-NSA revelations, 1984 seems even more real and possible. Reading this letter gives a view into George Orwell's thought process and he really impresses. [more inside]
posted by TheLittlePrince at 12:14 PM PST - 130 comments

Charles Mingus trained his cat to use the toilet. Toilet training your cat is not a new phenomenon, as Youtube will testify. Everyone* has an opinion on how best to convince your cat to use the commode instead of a litter box. This week, the Billfold explores the possibility of saving money on cat litter by getting Muffin to use the commode. But the buried treasure in the article is Charles' Mingus' guide to toilet training your cat. [more inside]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:04 AM PST - 45 comments

Ladies and gentleman, presenting the Watermelon Kids of China. That is all.
posted by pixlboi at 10:33 AM PST - 29 comments

Earlier this week, Big Sean released Control (7:32), a song that features a second verse from Kendrick Lamar and a third verse from Jay Electronica. Kendrick's two and a half minute verse was pretty standard fare in hip hop - bragging, saying he's the best, displaying talent on the mic. But in just 3 days, the rap world's response to Kendrick's verse has been almost unprecedented. [more inside]
posted by cashman at 10:22 AM PST - 478 comments

Raised by two drug addicts with virtually unlimited wealth, Georgia and Patterson survived a gilded childhood that was also a horror story of Dickensian neglect and abuse. They were globe-trotting trust-fund babies who snorkeled in Fiji, owned a pet lion cub and considered it normal to bring loose diamonds to elementary school for show and tell. And yet they also spent their childhoods inhaling freebase fumes, locked in cellars and deadbolted into their bedrooms at night in the secluded Wyoming mountains and on their ancestral South Carolina plantation. While their father spent millions on drug binges and extravagances, the children lived like terrified prisoners, kept at bay by a revolving door of some four dozen nannies and caregivers, underfed, undereducated, scarcely noticed except as objects of wrath.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:11 AM PST - 54 comments

Via the Smithsonian: For the first time in 35 years, a new carnivorous mammal species has been discovered in the American Continents. Native to the cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia, the olinguito is the newest member of the raccoon family. [more inside]
posted by flyingsquirrel at 9:35 AM PST - 27 comments

ISPs often don't say why a website is blocked and court orders are rarely voluntarily published. So when sites are blocked, it's really hard to find out why. 451 Unavailable is here to help ISPs make it clear why websites are blocked and to encourage courts to publish blocking orders. [more inside]
posted by jenkinsEar at 8:46 AM PST - 30 comments

1) Go to any old YouTube video.
2) Type "1980".
3) DEFEND THIS VIDEO FROM ATTACK. FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

(For those of you on tablets or mobile, it looks like this.)
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:23 AM PST - 32 comments

The latest Humble Bundle is a collection of 8 AAA games from EA. Retail price for these games is $215 but, with the Humble Bundle, users can set their own price at anything starting from $1. Humble Bundle has received some flak previously for partnering with big brands, with many arguing that they had abandoned their original purpose of promoting indie game developers. EA however, in a likely attempt to stave off such criticism, has agreed to have 100% of proceeds from this bundle go to charity.

So what's in it for EA? Three of the games in the bundle can only be redeemed through Origin, EA's proprietary digital distribution framework which has thus far had very little success at competing with Steam. Unfortunately, Origin does not seem to be up to handing the influx of new users.
posted by 256 at 7:17 AM PST - 139 comments

A photograph of breaker boys that changed history for millions of kids in America, who worked grueling lives as child laborers. What Charles Dickens did with words for the underage toilers of London, Lewis Hine did with photographs for the youthful laborers in the United States. Library of Congress collection of over 5,000 Lewis Hine child labor photos. Kentucky 1916. Previously. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 7:11 AM PST - 6 comments

Sherlock Holmes gets to be brilliant, solitary, abrasive, Bohemian, whimsical, brave, sad, manipulative, neurotic, vain, untidy, fastidious, artistic, courteous, rude, a polymath genius. Female characters get to be Strong. - I hate Strong Female Characters.
posted by Artw at 6:51 AM PST - 115 comments

This article covers the US drone program. It looks at the pilots of drones, the decisions to use a drone, their highly effective short terms goals vs long term potential blowback and whether drone strikes are legal.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:47 AM PST - 51 comments

If you're not already in the mood for bacon fat, you might find yourself craving it anyway, just as soon as it hits the pan. Cause it's a slow simmering, juicy slab of swamp doo wop just right for easing across the kitchen floor to. Or the juke joint floor. Or just about any floor. Aww, have mercy! By the way, I mean this kind of Bacon Fat. Mmmm-mmm! Hungry for more? Alright then, there's... [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:04 AM PST - 11 comments

Professional wrestling's relationship with homosexuality and non-heteronormative presentation has long been downright hostile: from Gorgeous George in the 1950s, to "Pretty Boy" Pat Patterson in the 1970s, "Adorable" Adrian Adonis in the 1980s, Golddust in the 1990s, the infamous Billy and Chuck in the 2000s, and even Orlando Jordan in the 2010s, wrestlers who present as effeminate or who "might be gay" have always been portrayed as heels, drawing boos from the crowd. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the suggestion of female homosexuality has been called upon only to titillate. And although former performers like Patterson and the late Chris Kanyon publicly acknowledged their homosexuality after their active careers had ended, and though the WWE recently hired openly-gay retired professional golfer Jane Geddes as VP of Talent Relations, there hasn't been an active, out WWE Superstar until now, when Darren Young, asked if he thought there was a place for a gay wrestler, told TMZ that he's "gay ... and happy."
posted by uncleozzy at 5:20 AM PST - 40 comments

Dr.Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - I'll Play The Fool
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band -- Cherchez la Femme
Then, later, in a guerrilla video to the original recording,
CoATi MuNDi -- Que Pasa / Me No Pop I
then, after that,
Coati Mundi with Kid Creole & The Coconuts - CoatiMundi's Que Pasa/Me No Pop I
Kid Creole & The Coconuts - I'm A Wonderful Thing Baby [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 12:57 AM PST - 7 comments