September 26, 2016

Bad Science

The Inevitable Evolution of Bad Science "Now, imagine you’re a researcher who wants to game this system. Here’s what you do. Run many small and statistically weak studies. Tweak your methods on the fly to ensure positive results. If you get negative results, sweep them under the rug. Never try to check old results; only pursue new and exciting ones. These are not just flights of fancy. We know that such practices abound."
posted by dhruva at 11:52 PM PST - 15 comments

Scientific Breakthroughs 10 Years On

Where are some of the celebrity molecules featured in past scientific breakthroughs? Science takes the time to follow up. [more inside]
posted by mark k at 9:59 PM PST - 10 comments

Boots (borrowed directly from our cowboy friend)

A week ago GQ published a fashion shoot featuring rock climbers (warning: autoplaying video with sound). Outdoor Research offered its own take.
posted by jedicus at 8:50 PM PST - 34 comments

we are the virus of the new world disorder

CyberFeminism in the 90s and An Oral History of the First Cyberfeminists chronicle a wave of multimedia art that spun out of Australia's VNS Matrix, creators of the CyberFeminist Manifesto and All New Gen, a CD ROM game where "Female ‹cybersluts› and ‹guerrillas,› ‹anarcho cyber-terrorists› infiltrate cyberspace and hack into the controls and databanks of Big Daddy Mainframe, the Oedipal man". (Most links NSFW).
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 8:26 PM PST - 6 comments

you can't just smash a bunch of protons together and hope it sticks.

Iron Man and the Island of Stability - Tony Stark found the Holy Grail of nuclear physics and nobody noticed [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:09 PM PST - 14 comments

Bored? Nothing on TV? Want some happy fun in what's left of September?

3dNES (Windows, Linux) allows you to play NES games with community-added 3d textures. [more inside]
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 7:19 PM PST - 12 comments

Ask him a question: it glances off, he obfuscates, he dances.

Tonight at 9PM Eastern Time, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off at Hofstra University for the first 2016 Presidential Debate. Print out your Bingo cards and tune in to any of the major networks. Alternately, YouTube is partnering with NBC, PBS, the Washington Post, Newsmax, Fox News, Telemundo, and Univision to stream coverage. Twitter is offering Bloomberg coverage and Facebook is streaming ABC and PBS. You can even watch on your Samsung Gear VR or Oculus Rift via Altspace VR. [more inside]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:14 PM PST - 3896 comments

In a battle between a Bald Eagle and a chicken...

A few weeks later they went after the newborn goats.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:25 PM PST - 22 comments

something like a cloud of sound

The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time [SL p4k] [more inside]
posted by holmesian at 1:14 PM PST - 91 comments

#GoodMuslimBadMuslim with Taz & Zahra

#GoodMuslimBadMuslim is a podcast by Taz Ahmed and Zahra Noorbakhsh. [more inside]
posted by one teak forest at 1:09 PM PST - 4 comments

If you put a silk dress on a goat he is a goat still.

Photographer Kevin Horan took portrait photos of goats. Who could say "No" to that face? [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:36 AM PST - 29 comments

What does chameleon really mean?

The word chameleon is often broken down to mean "lion on the ground," which is quite odd for what are generally tree-dwelling lizards. But if you look further at the etymology of its name, it indicates it could also mean "small lion," potentially because some have head-crests that could resemble a lion's mane. Oh, and people in Shakespeare's time thought chameleons ate only air, an idea that can be traced back to Pliny the Elder's description in Natural History. This notion of eating air, or surviving for long periods with no food, also fostered the notion that chameleons represented strength to survive, as possibly referenced in the Bible, so it could be that chameleon really meant "small lion" for its strength, not its appearance. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:25 AM PST - 17 comments

next year's most expensive Hosaka computer

Cyberdeck64 by D10D3
posted by griphus at 9:09 AM PST - 51 comments

How It's Made: Toxic Masculinity

"American Male, a short film [~6 min] from MTV’s Look Different Creator Competition, is a gritty look at how gender norms make it hard for us to be who we really are." [content warning: some violence]
posted by AFABulous at 9:07 AM PST - 81 comments

This garbage of demolishing a record has turned into a fiasco!

As useful as round-ups, retrospectives, and anniversary pieces can be for making sense of historical events, there’s no substitute for going back to primary documents. And an exceptional primary document quietly appeared on YouTube Sunday: the WSNS Channel 44 Chicago broadcast of the July 12, 1979 double-header between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Those baseball games, only one of which was ultimately played, lived on in infamy under a different name: Disco Demolition Night. [more inside]
posted by zamboni at 9:00 AM PST - 138 comments

Happy Birthday, Ms. Andrea

Today, Andrea Dworkin, "radical feminist" would have turned 70 years old. (Trigger Warning: written depictions of rape, assault) [more inside]
posted by Dressed to Kill at 6:39 AM PST - 30 comments

Calligraphy ・Fashion ・Travel

Shunpu is a Tokyo-based Instagrammer who focuses on coffee and Japanese calligraphy.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:19 AM PST - 10 comments

Arnie's Army Left Leaderless :(

Arnold Palmer has died at the age of 87. One of the all-time golfing greats, a world-class philanthropist, and an advertiser's dream was awaiting heart surgery when he passed away on Sunday, 25 September 2016. [more inside]
posted by fairmettle at 2:22 AM PST - 36 comments

« Previous day | Next day »