September 21, 2015

Hope is the thing with fur

"Before we enter into the question of cat videos, we must talk about cats themselves. Cat videos are the crystallisation of all that human beings love about cats, the crux of which is centred in the fact that cats are both beautiful and absurd. Their natural beauty and majesty are eternally just one tiny slip away from total humiliation, and this precarious condition fills us with a sympathetic panic and delight, for it exactly mirrors our own." Maria Bustillos on how cats won the internet.
posted by Athanassiel at 11:20 PM PST - 42 comments

Take *that*, assholes

A Modest Proposal - David Sedaris talks about the pros and cons of getting hitched
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:07 PM PST - 30 comments

Woodblock GIFs

Japanese woodblock prints re-imagined as animated GIFs. (via Giant Cypress)
posted by jedicus at 8:57 PM PST - 13 comments

End the silence

The Hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion Is Challenging The Stigma Of Abortion [more inside]
posted by triggerfinger at 8:57 PM PST - 46 comments

sidecarcross

You ever see a motocross race?
You ever see a motocross race WITH SIDECARS?! [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:33 PM PST - 21 comments

Fukushima.

This photographic documentary is not intended to tell the story of the events surrounding the disaster yet again. [...] It is not earthquakes or tsunami that are to blame for the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, but humans. [...] As in the Chernobyl case, it was a human, not technology, that was mainly responsible for the disaster.
posted by slater at 8:30 PM PST - 5 comments

Ryan Adams covers Taylor Swift's 1989

1989 as covered by Ryan Adams (except "Clean", for some reason). Blank Space is my favorite. It's available on iTunes (including "Clean"). You can read an interview with him or read about the backstory in USA Today.
posted by Kattullus at 5:09 PM PST - 86 comments

A vast ocean underlies the ice on Enceladus

Cassini Finds Global Ocean in Saturn's Moon Enceladus. "A global ocean lies beneath the icy crust of Saturn's geologically active moon Enceladus, according to new research using data from NASA's Cassini mission." The discovery of a global ocean beneath its icy rind makes Enceladus an even better potential extraterrestrial incubator than previously thought. [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 4:26 PM PST - 30 comments

3D print your own speculum

Meet the GynePunks, activists who are making reproductive healthcare more accessible by using open source tools to make centrifuges, microscopes, and speculums.
posted by faethverity at 4:12 PM PST - 33 comments

“Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers.”

In Defense of Hufflepuff [The Atlantic] The much-maligned house of the Harry Potter series doesn’t get nearly enough attention or praise for its egalitarian ethos. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 3:12 PM PST - 142 comments

Nuu-chah-nulth Territory

In 2014, flagging tape was discovered in the old-growth forest of the central Walbran Valley that concerned citizens feared were marking out proposed cutblocks - but the logging company, Teal Jones, denied having any logging plans in the area. Then in 2015, Wilderness Committee Vancouver Island Campaigner Torrance Coste obtained maps from the company showing that they were indeed planning to log eight cutblocks of ancient forest surrounding the iconic Castle Grove. Now the fight is on to save the Walbran Valley's remaining ancient forests. Meanwhile on the nearby Sunshine Coast, protesters have blocked roads into old-growth cutblocks, prompting speculation of a War in the Woods part 2.
posted by mannequito at 2:48 PM PST - 21 comments

RIP Feminist Porn Pioneer Candida Royalle

On September 7, Candida Royalle died of ovarian cancer at the age of 64. [more inside]
posted by janey47 at 1:54 PM PST - 19 comments

President Scott Walker will not be a thing

Guardian: Scott Walker 2016 presidential campaign in crisis after plunge in polls. BBC: Scott Walker drops out of US 2016 presidential race. New York Times: Scott Walker Said to Be Quitting Presidential Race. Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel: Campaign woes prompt Scott Walker to drop out of race. The Onion: Aides Rush On Stage To Rotate Scott Walker Back To Direction Of Audience.
posted by Wordshore at 1:46 PM PST - 240 comments

Onward, intrepid hero.

New York rat drags a slice of pizza down subway steps. Insert joke about inferiority of your preferred regional pizza here.
posted by phunniemee at 12:36 PM PST - 112 comments

Locked Tight

In fact, women have never once asked me why my account is locked—and unlike some of my male editors, they’ve never recommended opening it up. They understand that the online world has become a horror show, and that men largely drive that horror.
Stacey May Fowles: I am afraid of men on the Internet.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:32 PM PST - 102 comments

You’ll Never Know

A video has emerged of a man serenading his wife of 73 years on her deathbed with a song she sang to him as he went to fight in the Second World War.
posted by gman at 12:32 PM PST - 26 comments

How to master Ms. Pac-Man

Here's David Manning's YouTube videos illustrating how to make use of ghost AI quirks on the fly while playing in Ms. Pac-Man: Ghost Behavior and On Grouping. It's excellent for building an intuitive sense of how to play the game which, because of random aspects, cannot be reliably beaten with patterns as with Pac-Man. [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 12:12 PM PST - 7 comments

Subject: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT (BEN CARSON)

Lawyers for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson recently sent a cease and desist letter (pdf) to CafePress. The reason? To halt sales of all unauthorized Ben Carson For President products, based on the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act, The Lanham Act, Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Copyright Infringement, state misappropriation and privacy laws." [more inside]
posted by 1367 at 11:14 AM PST - 59 comments

they paved paradise put up a parking lot

Parking sign company goes meta: Free Parking Infographic
posted by aniola at 11:01 AM PST - 33 comments

You know, for the kids! And the future.

STEM education meets Guinness Book of World Records with world's largest bridge built from toy construction set 'A lot of engineers have probably grown to like engineering through playing with toys like Meccano.'
posted by Michele in California at 10:33 AM PST - 15 comments

"For all things wood!"

We've heard before about the Wood Database, which lists detailed information ranging from crushing strength to odor to sustainability for close to 200 different types of wood. But now, the project has a beautifully simple Pinterest page as well. You can browse images of burled wood, striped wood, golden wood, and even pink and purple wood - and every image links back to the database, if you want to find out more. [more inside]
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:22 AM PST - 16 comments

Is popular Atheism racist?

In the wake of the national furor over the arrest of a high schooler over a digital clock, one prominent atheist ponders if this wasn't part of some elaborate plan this whole time. [more inside]
posted by runt at 10:09 AM PST - 346 comments

Alarmingly high proportions

"There's a popular narrative about poor families and fast food: They eat more of it than anybody else. It’s dangled as evidence for the high rate of obesity among poorer Americans -- and talked about even by some of the country’s foremost voices on food. "[J]unk food is cheaper when measured by the calorie, and that this makes fast food essential for the poor because they need cheap calories," wrote Mark Bittman for The New York Times in 2011 But there’s a problem with saying that poor people like fast food better than others. It’s not true."
posted by almostmanda at 9:35 AM PST - 37 comments

First Listen: Cast Recording , 'Hamilton'

"This is musical theater made by someone who knows rap to be all our cultural lingua franca, whose sense of humor is legible to people like us. It is songwriting done within rap's regulations and limitations. It's a work of historical fiction that honors the sentiments of rap, a play off collective memory that feels overwhelming personal." NPR is now streaming the Cast Recording of the hit broadway play Hamilton (previously).
posted by DynamiteToast at 9:22 AM PST - 182 comments

The Forgotten Battalion

In Unit Stalked by Suicide, Veterans Try to Save One Another. The Second Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment (2/7) was deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2008. During eight months of combat, the unit killed hundreds of enemy fighters and suffered more casualties than any other Marine battalion that year. When its members returned, most left the military. Seven years later, at least 13 of the 1200 members of that battalion have killed themselves in the interim: two while on active duty, the rest after they left the military. That is nearly four times the rate for young male veterans as a whole and 14 times that for all Americans. (This story discusses self-harm, suicide and suicidal ideation. Some readers may find the content disturbing.) [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:40 AM PST - 9 comments

Rose-coloured glasses about the charm of cities in the past?

In praise of dirty, sexy cities: the urban world according to Walter Benjamin (slGrauniad)
posted by Kitteh at 8:18 AM PST - 16 comments

St. Paul & The Broken Bones

I heard the debut record from this band when it came out a little while ago and thought it was cool, but it didn't make a lasting impression. However, this video featuring the band performing a house concert in France really blew me away! Skip ahead in the video to about 1:10 in to get to the actual concert: St. Paul & The Broken Bones live at some house in France!
posted by nangsta at 8:11 AM PST - 15 comments

Wait, wait, have you written this down? Aren't you a writer?

SOUNDS LIKE YOUR NEXT STORY!: a short play with infinite scenes by Rebecca Makkai.
posted by divined by radio at 8:05 AM PST - 5 comments

Rescuing Ghosts

Rescuing Ghosts is a short, emotional animation to the music of Fox Amoore.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:38 AM PST - 3 comments

Kim Jung Gi is fast on the draw

Check out Kim Jung Gi doing a quick sketch - most impressive.
posted by zeoslap at 6:40 AM PST - 16 comments

All the feels

The Emotions Of Pixar (SLVimeo)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:25 AM PST - 8 comments

No hotdogs. Ever.

With the Canadian election coming in under a month, it's time for some Super Gay Campaign Advice. (round 2)
posted by Theta States at 6:11 AM PST - 12 comments

One tiny warm spot in the center, and a narrow ring of mediocrity around

When shopping for a microwave oven, bring a box of appalams and cook four of them for 30 seconds. (via What if? xkcd via this amusing ELI5 about a microwave-resistant gnat)
posted by elgilito at 4:59 AM PST - 38 comments

Why Do We Admire Mobsters?

We don’t glamorize all violent crime; no one holds the Son of Sam or Charles Manson in high regard. (It’s hard to imagine their descendants gathering for a celebratory dinner at a steakhouse.) So why are Al Capone, Lansky, Arnold Rothstein, Luciano, and their ilk held up as mythic figures, even heroes of a sort, not just by their families but by the general public? Why are members of the Italian mafia treated more like celebrities than unsavory criminals?
posted by ellieBOA at 3:59 AM PST - 95 comments

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