November 24, 2009
1) my nephew's ok, 2) there's a dead body at the main gate, 3) US denies responsibility for bombing in Afghanistan.
Wikileaks to release over half a million pager intercepts from 9/11. "Messages in the archive range from Pentagon and New York Police Department exchanges, to computers reporting faults to their operators as the World Trade Center collapsed." They're going to start posting them at 3am this morning.
Music to cook your turkey to...
Thanksgiving. you know what that means. But this year, Arlo's got some competition from The Band. Scorsese's film 'The Last Waltz' chronicled their final show at the Winterland (1976-11-25). We've discussed the movie, and the album before, but that wasn't the half of it! The whole show was more than 4 hours, and thanks once again to wonderful guys at Wolfgang's Vault we can now listen to the whole damn show!
Feminism with atheism: two great tastes that go together.
Tomes of ancient lore
Although it's commonplace nowadays to assume that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was the primary source of inspiration for Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax when they created the world's first tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, a careful examination of the game suggests otherwise... James Maliszewski on The Books That Founded D&D. Some disagreement.
The Private Part of a Self-Important Self-Description
Hey, lego!
Your Looks and Your Inbox
"This week we will be confronting a fact that, by definition, haunts the average online dater: no matter how much time you spend polishing your profile, honing your IM banter, and perfecting your message introductions, it’s your picture that matters most." (Previously 1 2 3)
Opera in Focus
La Gioconda, Tristan und Isolde, The Pearl Fishers, Il Trovatore, and Rigoletto — enacted with 16-inch rod puppets. [more inside]
Accidental cartographers
“Some squirrel nibbled the continent of South America on one of my pumpkins. It’s freaking me out.” A collection of accidental geographies. The phenomenon is known as "cartocacoethes," and may explain why some old maps are not maps at all. via StrangeMaps [more inside]
U.S. Census Worker Hanged Himself in Kentucky with the Word "Fed" Scrawled Across His Chest
Cancer survivor, teacher, single father, and part-time U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman was found dead September 12, hanging from a tree with the word "FED" written on his chest. It was actually a suicide. (Previously)
Circle of death :(
It is not the most chilling portrait of a murderer
It may be the worst police sketch ever: "The head is shaped like a rugby ball, the lips slide to one side, the nose is phallic, the ears are missing and the hair is having a very bad day." But it led to two arrests, and one television station, in order to protect the identities of the arrested, seemed to think it was a good idea to superimpose the illustration on top of the faces of the suspects.
The Insiders
"I began bringing a camera along to work, photographing my surroundings. And as this project progressed and I slowly learned my craft, I became increasingly fascinated with other photographers who had been in a similar situation, those who had found themselves recording their own jobs: The Insiders [A tiny bit NSFW] ."
Cockeyed gets its costume on
Rob Cockerham is no stranger to giant Halloween costume projects (and no stranger to MeFi). Every year he famously chronicles his costume builds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) including everything from idea to final design. This year we not only get to see how his "Money you save with Geico" costume went together, he also published shots from other bay area halloween costume builders (now that's a sub-genre) including the awesome Tauntaun that beat him and the Transformers Bumblebee costume that took ten months to create and went all the way to win in Las Vegas costume contests.
An All New Muppet Video
The Muppets Cover Queen An all-new, original Muppet video. (SLYT)
Time-Lapse Favs
Chad Richard creates ground-breaking time-lapse photography with HDR techniques. For example, his recent compilation video Time-Lapse Favs. His weblog, Time Traveler, includes tutorials and samples. [more inside]
Plant Sex.
Pollen, pollen everywhere. The article isn't bad, but it's the photo gallery that is truly fascinating.
The Crazy World of andernestborgnineasdominic!
THE BQE
Prelude On The Esplanade| Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes| Movement I: In The Countenance Of Kings| Movement II: Sleeping Invader| Interlude I—Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation| Movement III: Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise| Movement IV: Traffic Shock| Movement V: Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns| Interlude II: Subi Power Waltz| Interlude III: Invisible Accidents| Movement VI: Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges| Movement VII (Finale): The Emperor of Centrifuge| Postlude: Critical Mass | The Sleeping Red Wolves
Aerial Imagery
Scotland's National Collection of Aerial Photography includes a plethora of pictures of Scotland, notably Edinburgh and Glasgow, seen from above, many dating back to WWII. But there are also photographs of wartime European cities and images of elsewhere from the Aerial Reconnaissance Archives.
« Previous day | Next day »