November 6, 2015

Be afraid! Spider Sith Lords!

Peacock Spiders with light sabers! [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:35 PM PST - 14 comments

gutted

One family fights to win their house back in the Wayne County foreclosure auction after being scammed by a sub-subprime entrepreneur
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:12 PM PST - 17 comments

Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline

Possibly spurred on by TransCanada's request for a delayed decision, Obama has rejected construction of the long-contested Keystone XL pipeline. [more inside]
posted by crazylegs at 3:32 PM PST - 82 comments

The real Faraday could've fought a 10-year-old Nic Tesla when he was 75

The mysterious Faraday Future (yes, that's the real name), has already hired 400 top automotive engineers (such as the former director of manufacturing for Tesla) and is building a $1B facility to create a new type of electric car as soon as 2017. But what is Faraday Future? Some think its part of Apple's secret "Titan" car project (which will have electric license plates!), while others think it is "China's response to Tesla." The auto industry is changing fast, as, also within the last 24 hours, Toyota started investing $1B in AI and Local Motors rolled out their latest 3D-printed car design.
posted by blahblahblah at 2:05 PM PST - 54 comments

Listen closely, we'll only play this once (and very fast)

The Extreme Minuet is "the world's fastest coin-toss orchestra of 43 people" performing one of Mozart's minuets in about 3 seconds, then played back at a much slower speed to hear the performance stretched to its usual length and speed. [SLYT, Suntory commercial shot with Phantom 4K camera] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 1:18 PM PST - 28 comments

"We failed you."

"In a closed-door meeting Thursday night, Yale University’s apologized to a large group of minority students for the school’s failure to make them feel safe on campus." [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:25 PM PST - 149 comments

Recurrent neural network for generating stories about images

This experiment explores how to generate little romantic stories about images, using neural-storyteller, a recently published experiment by Ryan Kiros.
posted by signal at 12:21 PM PST - 10 comments

I'll take the sheath style with a brush train in taffeta

17 surprisingly useful diagrams for narrowing down your wedding dress shopping Buzzfeed - where else?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:01 AM PST - 21 comments

Boing, boing, boing

See drops of water 'trampoline' higher and higher At first, the drop rested motionless on the surface, but at around a twentieth of normal atmospheric pressure it suddenly jumped up. After a short leap the droplet eventually landed on the surface again, only to jump up again—even higher than the first time.
posted by Michele in California at 10:53 AM PST - 5 comments

Remember the Alamo

Watch Ozzy Osbourne Tour the Alamo 33 Years After Urination Arrest. [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:45 AM PST - 16 comments

“Seduce The Milky Way”

Do you like uplifting monologues over drum beats and synths, intercut with shots of urban environments from different angles that follow a pedestrian? Then you might enjoy the video for Hieroglyphic Being and J.I.T.U Ahn-Sahm-Buhl’s “Fuck The Ghetto / Think About Outer Space”.
Hieroglyphic Being’s own story of overcoming homelessness in Chicago to become a successful experimental DJ was covered in a short documentary for Resident Advisor’s ORIGINS film series.
Previously, previouslier
posted by Going To Maine at 10:23 AM PST - 3 comments

The Monster Project

With decreasing emphasis on creative arts in schools, The Monster Project is a collaborative project between elementary school kids and skilled artists from around the world, where kids draw monsters from their own imagination, and the professional artists take their own spin on it. The goal, according to the projects founders, is "to help children recognize the power of their own imaginations and to encourage them to pursue their creative potential."
posted by Karaage at 10:20 AM PST - 31 comments

Adventure of a Lifetime (at age 80)

Attempting to be the oldest person to paddle the Mississippi River from source to sea (and in World Record time) Dale Sanders is not your average 80-year-old. Meet Dale Sanders. The intro to the story (in an audio nutshell). The 170 videos uploaded to his YouTube channel to document his trip (in oldest to newest order). He also did it to raise awareness for juvenile diabetes. His "Source to Sea" Facebook page and a link to his blog.
posted by spock at 10:02 AM PST - 5 comments

The First, But Not The Champion

For six and three-quarters seasons, no contestant had ever made it to Mount Midoriyama, the insanely difficult Stage Four of American Ninja Warrior, the grueling ultimate-obstacle-course reality show, despite the incentive of a $1 million prize for doing so. Then, in season seven, not one but two people completed the entire course, with TV cameraman Geoff Britten completing the course first, then Isaac Caldiero, a "professional nomad," beating Britten's time. Since the rules of the show state that only the fastest competitor to beat Mount Midoriyama gets the prize money, Caldiero got the million dollars and Britten got nothing - but he seems to be okay with it.
posted by mightygodking at 9:23 AM PST - 66 comments

“Solar-wind erosion is an important mechanism for atmospheric loss,”

NASA Mission Reveals Speed of Solar Wind Stripping Martian Atmosphere [mars.nasa.gov] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 8:54 AM PST - 42 comments

I'm not one to speak out on the LDS church... But this has gone too far!

Mormon Church makes same-sex couples apostates, excludes children from blessings and baptism
More details in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Mormon Church Bleeding Members Over Gay Marriage
posted by andoatnp at 8:33 AM PST - 259 comments

"I don't know what that is." "You know... Gabagool."

How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained.
posted by bondcliff at 6:40 AM PST - 105 comments

"a voiceless cry is often the most powerful one"

"Child sex abuse victims face a dilemma. To be recognized as victims, they cannot remain silent, but they must be silent enough to seem authentically hurt." -- US Federal prosecutor Sarah Chang talks about how expectations about how child abuse victims should act hinders prosecution of their abusers. Note: there are no explicit descriptions of abuse mentioned in this story, but this is still about child abuse, so take care.
posted by MartinWisse at 3:35 AM PST - 13 comments

TPP: Made in America

Here's the Deal: The Text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership by Barack Obama - "In other words, the TPP means that America will write the rules of the road in the 21st century." (PDFs; previously) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 3:21 AM PST - 109 comments

If This Is The Future, Where Is My Jetpack?

Jetman (previously, previously, previously) and wingman over Dubai in formation flight with A380 (YouTube). Behind the scenes video. Discussion by Emirates of the flight planning involved in ensuring, among other things, that they didn't reenact the sad fate of Stratogale as seen in The Incredibles.
posted by Major Clanger at 2:55 AM PST - 16 comments

The World Through My Eyes

Native American artist George Redhawk creates eerily beautiful gifs even though he's legally blind. With help from computer software, the designer utilizes the art of gif-making to show others how he sees the world as a man who suddenly lost his sight.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 1:36 AM PST - 11 comments

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