November 25, 2010

TSA revenge screenings

TSA holds woman captive as revenge for her complaint against them. [more inside]
posted by Joh at 10:12 PM PST - 386 comments

The Mourners

The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy provides fully-rotatable images of the pleurants (mourners or "weepers") from the tomb of Jean sans Peur ("John the Fearless"), sculpted by Juan de la Huerta and Antoine le Moiturier. The site also allows you to rotate the full tomb. This tomb was conceived in the style of the one designed for Philippe le Hardi ("Philip the Bold"), designed and begun by Jean de Marville, with pleurants executed by Claus Sluter (probably) and his nephew, Claus de Werve. For a brief overview of support for the arts at the Court of Burgundy, see the Met.
posted by thomas j wise at 7:21 PM PST - 8 comments

Weird beautiful eyelashes

Weird yet beautiful. The links on the page are good too, especially paper art.
posted by maiamaia at 5:36 PM PST - 6 comments

Food of the Gods

Mast Brothers [vimeo 8:48] — They began their voyage in their apartment, using a homemade machine to process cacao beans. Over time they cultivated their creation, sourcing beans from family farms in Madagascar, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Each bar is handmade with incredible reverence for the process and history of chocolate. They are bound in ornamental papers and golden foil like a collection of rare books. Each bar offers its own story of flavors, and no two are exactly alike. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 4:23 PM PST - 30 comments

The Gentle Art of Japanese Murder

I asked Igari to help me deal with the fallout from the book. After much discussion, he and his two colleagues came up with a plan. His parting words were: “It’ll be a long battle. It’ll take money and courage, and you’ll have to come up with those on your own. But we’ll fight.” On August 28th, his body was found in his vacation home in Manila, wrists slashed. Time of death unknown. It’s been ruled a suicide. Personally, I believe he was killed. I probably will never be able to prove it. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 4:21 PM PST - 23 comments

(Almost) Frozen in Time

"In all my slow-motion work so far, I’ve used a static camera to capture a high-speed event. But, I wondered, what would happen if the camera was the fast-moving object? For instance, if you use a 210fps camera at 35mph, on playback at 30fps it’ll seem to the observer that they’re moving at walking pace- but everything observed will be operating at 1/7th speed." [more inside]
posted by gman at 2:31 PM PST - 44 comments

The Warlocks of Firetop Mountain

An Illustrated History of Games Workshop and Fighting Fantasy - Jackson and Livingstone - audio, sans illustrations. The story of how Steve Jackson (not that Steve Jackson) and Ian Livingstone kickstarted tabletop roleplaying in the UK and founded a gaming behemoth that is very different today.
posted by Artw at 11:31 AM PST - 43 comments

Some a these girls lately aren't into the movies.

Chloe retells the story of a Brooklyn man asking her out. "The way that he asked me out was amazing, and I'll never forget it for the rest of my life. I'm going to share it with you now." [slyt]
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:41 AM PST - 116 comments

Stoichiometry is a harsh taskmistress

Sustainable Growth is an Oxymoron Text of an outstanding talk that explains clearly why the idea of "sustainable growth" is impossible in the finite system that is the earth; how the compact energy-delivery system of fossil fuel is equivalent to mind-blowing amounts of free human labor, which cannot be sustained indefinitely; and why it's imperative for scientists to help humanity find ways to go back to "liv[ing] on the sun in real time." [more inside]
posted by Sublimity at 7:54 AM PST - 95 comments

RIP Sleazy

Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, formerly of the bands Coil, Throbbing Gristle, and Psychic TV, passed away in his sleep last night at his home in Bangkok. [more inside]
posted by mkb at 6:51 AM PST - 70 comments

Orgasms! Sex! Biology!

"We don't use the word 'vagina'. Because, it's the Latin word for 'sheath'. Yes, as in a sword. (Somewhat NSFW) Virgie Tovar, the writer, blogger, sexuality educator and academic looks at UC Berkeley's Female Sexuality class and asks whether one class can change the way women see their bodies and their educational experience. More on DeCal at UC Berkeley.
posted by parmanparman at 6:34 AM PST - 195 comments

The Real McCoy

As Americans raise a glass today to family and absent friends they do not have to worry if they are drinking The Real McCoy.*
"Bill" McCoy, was an American sea captain and rum runner during Prohibition. Originally from Daytona, he cut his ties and moved North when My mom passed away, my wife left me, and my bulldog died.
The foe was the Coastguard; the smugglers normally had sail.
The Halifax Historical Museum is now running an exhibition about him; and here is a preview of a documentary with an interesting review and some publications about Rum Running.
(* your interpretation may vary).
posted by adamvasco at 4:14 AM PST - 4 comments

I, for one...

Ants mimic liquids
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:11 AM PST - 27 comments

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