December 2, 2019

There once was a note, pure and easy...

Forty years ago today, 11 young people lost their lives outside Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati waiting to see The Who. The Who Tragedy, as it was known, was one of the worse incidents in the history of rock and the fallout resulted in wide-ranging changes to the concert industry that reverberate to this day. [more inside]
posted by codex99 at 11:22 PM PST - 35 comments

Tom Hanks as the human equivalent of a Labrador retriever

My dog Winston, a 1-year-old pit bull mix, is a sleek, muscular beast at the peak of his physical abilities. According to the well-known rule by which we convert one dog year into seven human years, Winston is about the same developmental age as my 6-year-old twins. But in contrast to Winston’s athleticism, the twins are clumsy, cuddly little goofballs with a lot of growing up to do. Now, new research by a team of geneticists and biologists at the University of California, San Diego and elsewhere explains the discrepancy. […] By their calculation, Winston isn’t 7; he’s pushing 30. Wapo | non-Wapo
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:49 PM PST - 5 comments

What are we doing this week to ruin sports for men?

ESPN's Katie Nolan finally joins the secret society of women in sports media.
posted by ChuraChura at 10:19 PM PST - 8 comments

The Best Of Jon And Vangelis

Yes singer Jon Anderson and Greek synth pioneer Vangelis did a few albums together in the 1970s and 80s before releasing the compilation The Best Of Jon And Vangelis. It's a pretty good overview of their time of collaboration, although certainly people will have favorite album tracks not featured here. Side A: Italian Song, I'll Find My Way Home, State Of Independence, One More Time, A Play Within A Play [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 7:53 PM PST - 18 comments

Riot Games Settles Sexism and Harassment Suit

Riot Games will pay every female employee of the last 5 years out of a $10million settlement fund. [more inside]
posted by rhizome at 4:04 PM PST - 19 comments

Adam's Apples

Adam's Apples is a blog by someone who is a really big fan of apples. My favorite thing is dipping into any of the over 300 reviews of apple varietals, with loads I've never heard of like Evercrisp (honeycrisp x fuji mix?!), the Canadian Strawberry, or a three-star exceptional apple worthy of a quest: the Macoun. The best part might be the comments sections, where other fans of apples post their lengthy tasting notes as well.
posted by mathowie at 3:12 PM PST - 30 comments

A Disney Monopoly Is A Problem (According To Disney's Recess) [18:31]

Disney nearly has a monopoly in the film industry. Let’s talk about that with a little help from TJ. Excellent additional reading in the description of the video as well.
posted by ef99 at 2:53 PM PST - 5 comments

Warning: Take in small doses

Things that everyone in your field knows and nobody in your industry talks about because it would lead to general chaos. - Twitter thread started by Myk Bilokonsky. [more inside]
posted by tommasz at 2:22 PM PST - 92 comments

Jamie Lee Curtis Has Never Worked Hard a Day in Her Life

The actress on addiction, beauty standards, famous parents, writing kids’ books, and her encounters with Bette Davis. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 12:25 PM PST - 29 comments

Ecce magnum opus

Researchers in Germany have been working on the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae since the 1890s. They hope to finish in 2050, but that might be optimistic. [SLNYT]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:45 AM PST - 16 comments

Does Who You Are at 7 Determine Who You Are at 63?

In 1964, with “Seven Up!” Michael Apted stumbled into making what has become the most profound documentary series in the history of cinema. Fifty-five years later, the project is reaching its conclusion.
posted by Mrs Potato at 11:29 AM PST - 14 comments

Lil BUB has gone home

The runt of a feral litter in rural Indiana, Lil BUB brought joy to people around the world with her unique and adorable appearance and demeanor, and squonks. After a fight with a "persistent and aggressive" bone infection, BUB went peacefully in her sleep on December 1st. [more inside]
posted by jzb at 10:36 AM PST - 55 comments

Open Upstair's

'Laziness has won': apostrophe society admits its defeat (The Guardian): "Fewer organisations and individuals are now caring about the correct use of the apostrophe in the English Language. We, and our many supporters worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!" The Apostrophe Protection Society was started by John Richards, a former newspaper reporter and sub editor, in 2001. "When I first set it up I would get about 40 emails or letters a week from people all over the world. Many were saying how it was about time that we had something like this," he said. "But then two years ago it started to tail off and nowadays I hardly get anything." (BBC) The APS site will remain online " for some time for reference and interest." [more inside]
posted by not_the_water at 9:48 AM PST - 48 comments

How The Alt-Right Is Like An Abusive Relationship

Innuendo Studios, the YouTube channel run by Ian Danskin, has been focusing on a single project - The Alt-Right Playbook, in which he dissects the strategies the alt-right uses, with his most recent episode focusing on recruitment. In a recent session recorded at Solidarity Lowell, Danskin discusses his research on the topic, as well as how the alt-right emulates both abusive relationships and cults - and how it differs. (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:33 AM PST - 5 comments

Live in Lesotho

On December 28, 1980, Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba performed before a crowd of 75,000 in Lesotho, an enclaved country entirely within the borders of South Africa, in a historic concert that confronted and unnerved South Africa's white supremacist regime. Masekela and Makeba, long exiled from their home country, would not return home to South Africa for another decade. The initial print-run of the concert record was only a few hundred and soon fell into obscurity; today, nearly 39 years after the historic concert took place, the concert record is being re-issued.
posted by sugar and confetti at 8:02 AM PST - 3 comments

AI dictionary, from cybertriumph to wringie, and beyond!

AI Dictionary is a Twitter bot that tweets a . I wanted to see how much OpenAI's language model actually knew, so I tried to get it to define words... but I accidentally had it set to 'random', not 'best'. [via mefi projects] Semi-related: OpenAI’s GPT-2: the model, the hype, and the controversy (Towards Data Science), and Experimenting with OpenAI’s Improved Language Model (short post on Medium), which notes "The public at large will need to become more skeptical of the content they consume online." [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:30 AM PST - 31 comments

a morbid fascination with their strange appearance

“Vomit Art” or resin inclusion pieces are frequently found in thrift stores. Once a popular mid-century home décor item, the pieces went out of fashion and were left to collect dust on secondhand store shelves. Until now.
posted by sciatrix at 7:05 AM PST - 51 comments

🖱️⌨️🎮🤏🏾

Stay comfy: games you can play with a hot mug in one hand [Rock Paper Shotgun] “Winter brings out a part of me that immediately seeks a mountain of blankets in which to burrow. Even in my seasonally confused state of Texas, the weather has tended towards the chilly and left me with little excuse not to have a kettle boiling interminably as I layer on socks and pull the biggest comforter from the top of the closet. But this presents a problem likely familiar to other cozy connoisseurs: how does one game while properly bundled? I will admit it does limit possibilities considerably. That’s why I’ve curated a small selection of games perfectly playable while your other hand keeps coffee or tea always within sipping range.”
posted by Fizz at 5:17 AM PST - 14 comments

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