January 15, 2017

Recent SF/F/H short fiction online

Tables of contents have been published for upcoming best SF, fantasy, and horror collections edited by Neil Clarke, Gardner Dozois, Paula Guran, Rich Horton, and Jonathan Strahan. The Nebula Award suggested reading lists (previously) for novella, novelette, and short story are well-populated. BestSF.net has selected its shortlist. At Strange Horizons, Rachel Swirsky has comments on her favorite short fiction of the year. And at r/Fantasy, the Stabby Award winners have been announced. Many stories suggested by these sources can be read for free. [more inside]
posted by Wobbuffet at 11:12 PM PST - 8 comments

God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves a̵̧͏n̶͢o͠t͞h͝e̸͢r̶̛

27 of the Best (and Most Hideous) Face Swaps of 2016. You have been warned.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:19 PM PST - 33 comments

History of the Turnspit Dog

The Best Kitchen Gadget of the 1600s Was a Small, Short-Legged Dog
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:05 PM PST - 33 comments

On Food and Cooking and Science

Dinner with Harold McGee
posted by Lycaste at 3:42 PM PST - 20 comments

The Greatest Show on Earth is Done

The Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus will have its last shows in May, after 146 years in the United States. It appears that many of the employees will be out of work and the animals will be going to shelters.
posted by pyramid termite at 1:37 PM PST - 131 comments

Mellbergs Customs: Swedish vintage custom cars

Leif Mellberg was a Swedish custom car designer during the 60s-90s. He mainly worked with Saab and Volvo cars, such as the gorgeous SAAB 900 turbo 16 EV-1 or Mayo P1. The site's in Swedish but the pictures say it all really.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:05 PM PST - 8 comments

Do Teens Know Music from the 90s?

Teenagers try to guess the song and artist from popular 1990s songs. Sample dialogue: "I wasn't even born yet!" (1990s music part 2, part 3. Related: Do college kids know 1980s music?)
posted by AFABulous at 10:35 AM PST - 171 comments

I give it 5 out of 5 Ellens! (Awesome musical instrument reviews)

Ellen Angelico is a multi-instrumentalist/"utility player" in Nashville TN. She also does hilarious reviews of musical instruments and vintage clothing for sale at Fanny's House of Music. For those who like music, musical instruments, quirky personalities, have shopped in a music store, worked in a music store, or even just looked at weird vintage stuff. [more inside]
posted by gorbichov at 9:41 AM PST - 16 comments

Ponzi Supernova

“At one point, he cornered the hot chocolate market,” Fishman told MarketWatch. “He bought up every package of Swiss Miss from the commissary and sold it for a profit in the prison yard. … He made it so that, if you wanted any, you had to go through Bernie" ... “He’s a star in prison. He stole more money than anyone in history, and to other thieves, this makes him a hero,” said Fishman, a journalist who spoke with Madoff extensively. Bernie Madoff manipulated the market for hot cocoa mix at his prison [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 8:58 AM PST - 43 comments

"You look out here and it's a second Rome"

Capitalism without opposition is left to its own devices, which do not include self-restraint. The capitalist pursuit of profit is open-ended, and cannot be otherwise. The idea that less could be more is not a principle a capitalist society could honour; it must be imposed upon it, or else there will be no end to its progress, self-consuming as it may ultimately be. At present, I claim, we are already in a position to observe capitalism passing away as a result of having destroyed its opposition—dying, as it were, from an overdose of itself.
Wolfgang Streeck, How Will Capitalism End?, New Left Review, 87 (May–June 2014). [more inside]
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:23 AM PST - 53 comments

« Previous day | Next day »