January 11, 2011

Sony Sues PS3 Hackers

In late December 2010, fail0verflow, a team of European hackers, demonstrated that the Playstation 3's security was fundamentally flawed and managed to obtain the encryption key used by the device (see previous discussion). Utilizing the techniques developed by the fail0verflow team, iPhone hacker George Hotz released the encryption key publically, which enables the execution of arbitrary code on the console. Now Sony is suing both George Hotz and members of the fail0verflow team. [more inside]
posted by nhamann at 11:21 PM PST - 157 comments

Malingsia

There are many types of Reogs in Indonesia but Reog Ponorogo is the most famous. Waroks hold a 50kg singobarong mask in their teeth while performing. Malaysia has attempted to annex the performance.
posted by unliteral at 7:24 PM PST - 6 comments

Sharing, Celebrating and Enhancing the World's Visual Language

The Noun Project collects, organizes and adds to the highly recognizable symbols that form the world's visual language, so they may be shared in a fun and meaningful way. The goal is to collect and organize all the symbols that form our language into one easy-to-use online library that can be accessed by anyone. All the symbols on their site are completely free to download, and can be used for design projects, architecture presentations, art pieces — just about anything.
posted by netbros at 6:42 PM PST - 23 comments

4 Score 7 yrs Ago @union

Not to be outdone by the New York Time's efforts to cover the American Civil War, the Washington Post is offering a blog (too), before and after photographs of the District of Columbia from 1860 to today, a guide to ongoing Civil War events, and for those with a short attention span and a fondness for 140 characters, Tweeting the Civil War (daily events 150 years after they happened as if they were happening today).
posted by Atreides at 6:35 PM PST - 11 comments

A-Z

The Alphabet
posted by cjorgensen at 6:24 PM PST - 17 comments

"For international visitors who see people boarding trains, pulling people off, asking for documents, it feels a lot like East Germany did when I visited in 1980."

Far From Border, U.S. Detains Foreign Students
posted by lalochezia at 4:31 PM PST - 113 comments

Free EP

Happy Holidays from LOW – Free EP Recorded live January 22, 2009 in the St. Catherina Church, Eindhoven
posted by edgeways at 4:22 PM PST - 28 comments

Following the Iron Brush

English-born artist metal-worker Ford Hallam in South Africa recently completed a very special project - at the request of a patron-collector, he created a reproduction of a lost tsuba (Japanese sword guard), transforming scraps of raw metal into this exquisite object. The hugely interesting process was documented in HD video, and you can watch it on YouTube in two parts: [1] | [2]. [more inside]
posted by woodblock100 at 3:57 PM PST - 31 comments

How to photoshop, the rap version

How to photoshop, the rap version [SLCH video]
posted by rxrfrx at 1:29 PM PST - 13 comments

Data Tools of the Fuuuuture ... fuuture ... future ... uture... ture ... re ...

Dataists give their hopes and dreams for data, data tools and data science in 2011. Already, Google has provided Google Refine (previously) to help clean your datasets. While great visualizations can be created with online tools or by combining R (great posts previously), with ggplot2, GGobi, and even Google Motion Charts With R (already built into Google Spreadsheets). Need data? Needlebase, helps non-programmers scrape, harvest, merge, and data from the web. Or if you’re introspective, Your Flowing Data and Daytum provide tools to measure and chart details of your own life.
posted by stratastar at 1:23 PM PST - 19 comments

Kinder Surprise eggs = illegal contraband

Bird said the U.S. government has sent her a seven-page letter asking her to formally authorize the destruction of her seized Kinder egg.
posted by joannemerriam at 12:36 PM PST - 160 comments

His name is a +2 Killing Word

The Dune RPG that never was.
posted by Artw at 12:16 PM PST - 70 comments

Playing card art

♡♢♣ Different kinds of playing card art. [more inside]
posted by zamboni at 12:12 PM PST - 24 comments

Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen product archive, articles, pictures, and museum.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:46 AM PST - 26 comments

Master criminal, or puppet on a dead man's string?

Back in 2003, MetaFilter noted a very strange bank robbery in which the robber was also a particularly desperate victim. Seven years later, the story has become even more gnarled and mysterious, despite the ultimate conviction of a 'mastermind'. The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist. [more inside]
posted by dragstroke at 11:42 AM PST - 45 comments

Unintended consequences

A brief alternate ending to Return Of The Jedi.
posted by hippybear at 11:36 AM PST - 44 comments

Thunderstorms create antimatter.

Late last year antimatter atoms were produced and trapped at CERN. (previously) NASA scientists, using the Fermi Space Telescope, have now observed thunderstorms on earth hurling antimatter into space. [more inside]
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 11:26 AM PST - 24 comments

Now we're going down a different aisle

Ever get the feeling you're being watched? Maybe you're just Paranoid. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:16 AM PST - 58 comments

Wages So Low You'll Freak

In November of 2009, the IWW set up shop in Minneapolis. Similar to their Starbucks campaign, organizers set up the Jimmy John's Workers Union, and began attempting to unionize the employees of local franchises of the sandwich chain, "seeking a pay increase to above minimum wage, consistent scheduling and minimum shift lengths, regularly scheduled breaks, sick days, no-nonsense workers compensation for job-related injuries, an end to sexual harassment at work, and basic fairness on the job.". When local franchise owners MikLin Enterprises refused to meet with employees, union organizers scheduled a National Labor Relations Board election. As allegations of dirty tricks came out, the union lost in a stunningly close vote. The IWW pressed the NLRB to look into the alleged misconduct, and they did.

The earlier vote has been nullified as a part of a settlement between MikLin and the NLRB. The union is resuming its push for official recognition.
posted by Subcommandante Cheese at 11:01 AM PST - 84 comments

The End is Just the Beginning

After the bombs have fallen, the plague has wiped out most of humanity, or the dead have risen and claimed the world as their own, we must go on. The tales of those survivors are told in fiction and film, in many ways with enough to overwhelm you. Enter the apocalypse fans. Post-Apocalypse.co.uk has just under 50 reviews, with a quick note on the rating of each film. Post Apocalyptic Movie Mania has reviews categorized by the way the world ends, along with other p-a related material. But the end of the world isn't always like an Italian Post Apocalyptic Movie (Google cache), sometimes it's quirky and off-beat, in a proto-Monty Python sort of way (rough approximation of Ebert's review of The Bed-Sitting Room) (videos inside) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:01 AM PST - 20 comments

Then as Farce

Following the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others, Peter King (R), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, plans to introduce legislation banning firearms within 1000 feet of a government official.
posted by clarknova at 10:25 AM PST - 210 comments

NASA - The Frontier Is Everywhere

NASA - The Frontier Is Everywhere. A NASA promo video made by a fan. Narration edit and music taken from an older video, though the words are obviously originally by Carl Sagan, from A Pale Blue Dot (previously). [more inside]
posted by kmz at 9:38 AM PST - 12 comments

Creatures born from goo.

If you were trying to decide which online cartoon creation myth you wanted to read today, Nick Edwards's First and Last Project should do the trick. (via) [more inside]
posted by shakespeherian at 9:04 AM PST - 2 comments

Why Football Fathers Aren't Superior

"As a baby, Todd was fed only fresh vegetables, fruits, and raw milk; when he was teething, he was given frozen kidneys to gnaw. As a child, he was allowed no junk food; Trudi sent Todd off to birthday parties with carrot sticks and carob muffins. By age three, Marv had the boy throwing with both hands, kicking with both feet, doing sit-ups and pull-ups, and lifting light hand weights." The Man Who Never Was is a 2009 Esquire profile of Todd Marinovich, whose father programmed him from birth to be a great NFL quarterback. He almost succeeded.
posted by escabeche at 8:19 AM PST - 69 comments

Archaeology from above

HistoricAerials.com contains a surprisingly large database of aerial photography dating back to the dawn of aviation, with a Google-Maps-like interface. [more inside]
posted by schmod at 8:15 AM PST - 15 comments

But what if we just need a point release?

Nervous s/he isn't game to watch midget porn and might judge you for your interest in it? Enter Mojo Upgrade. (contains nsfw text) [more inside]
posted by Busy Old Fool at 7:48 AM PST - 41 comments

Books for good

There is Housing Works in NYC, which raises money for community based AIDS/HIV treatment and housing for the homeless. Here in Chicago we have Open Books, who uses the money raised from selling donated books to run literacy programs and tutoring programs for children. Now Minneapolis is getting Boneshaker Books; an all volunteer run radical bookstore that will house the Women's Prison Book Project and offer bike book delivery.
posted by bibliogrrl at 7:20 AM PST - 17 comments

The tax cut created in the new health care reform law providing small businesses with an incentive to give health benefits to employees is working.

Major health insurance companies around the country are reporting a significant increase in small businesses offering health care benefits to their employees. (via Forbes)
posted by bricksNmortar at 6:48 AM PST - 76 comments

Schoolboard Member Hussein Samatar

Today, the first Somali-American to hold public office in Minnesota, and likely the nation, will be sworn in. But he prefers to be known as African-American. [more inside]
posted by jillithd at 6:33 AM PST - 23 comments

世の中、捨てたもんじゃない

Anonymous "superheroes" are making deliveries to orphanages all across Japan. [more inside]
posted by armage at 6:16 AM PST - 11 comments

Bon à tirer

Gallica (the digital section of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France) has put Charles Baudelaire's heavily annotated proofs of Les Fleurs du Mal on line.
posted by Lezzles at 5:41 AM PST - 10 comments

The Next Great Basketball Jordan?

12-year-old Jordan McCabe will kick your ass on the basketball court, and mine too. [more inside]
posted by bwg at 2:16 AM PST - 59 comments

Tuned in all majors?

How musical are you? ← the test. The BBC is teaming up with researchers at Goldsmiths University of London to find out whether personality or practice creates great musicians.
posted by Gyan at 1:25 AM PST - 79 comments

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