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In the sticky jungles of South America, a mysterious spider crafts towers out of silk—confounding scientists with its intricate creations…Now, a new video of spiderlings hatching from one of the towers collected in Ecuador's Yasuní National Park might provide some clues about these spiders' secret lives. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:19 PM PST - 27 comments

Acid Techno/House producer TB Arthur (@jeparleacid) made a minor splash in 2014/15/16 due to a mysterious/contrived backstory, periodic single releases, a mix for Boiler Room Upfront, and a live session at Smart Bar.
For the holidays, Mr. (Ms.?) Arthur has a new release for all the producers out there: “Psychedelic Cookbook” is a 100% Royalty Free Sound Library created in TB Arthur's analog studio: over 900 MB of basslines, beats, percussion, synths, vocals, tops & more. All the inspiration you need for building your own original tracks in any DAW or hardware sampler.
Need ideas? Try Bandcamp’s list of 30 tracks to celebrate the 30th anniversary of acid house or FACT’s list of the 20 best Acid House records ever made.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:11 PM PST - 17 comments

13-year-old Aisholpan's quest to capture and tame a golden eagle - " 'This afternoon we are going down the mountain to steal an eagle for Aisholpan. Do you want to film that?' ... It's a heart-stopping scene: a young girl with plaits jauntily tied with pink ribbons makes a terrifying descent while an angry mother eagle circles menacingly overhead." (via)
posted by kliuless at 9:41 PM PST - 16 comments

John Michael Talbot and his brother Terry Talbot teamed up with the London Chamber Orchestra to merge classical guitar, folk music, Gregorian chant, Queen-style layered vocals, and full orchestral arrangements into a Christmas album that I've been listening to since the early 80s: The Painter. [YT playlist, ~30m, so sorry about the commercials] [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:04 PM PST - 3 comments

Wonder and worry as a Syrian child in Canada transforms [slNYT] The Mohammads were from a particularly conservative village in Daraa Province. Their union was arranged by their families and governed by clear tenets. Back home, Eman Mohammad, 36, did not leave the house without asking her husband’s permission. She did not socialize with men who were not relatives. Women in the village did not drive. Against the odds, and Abdullah’s initial reluctance, she had worked as a nurse, one of only a few women in her circle to be employed outside the home after having children... [more inside]
posted by modernnomad at 8:06 PM PST - 31 comments

Comedy clubs name their top moments from 2016.
posted by anothermug at 7:27 PM PST - 15 comments

Often referred to as The Date Rape Song, these singers have renovated Baby It's Cold Outside. Lydia Lisa and Josiah Lemansky's remake of Baby it's Cold Outside. and this: Another couple with a slightly different take on the song.
posted by BoscosMom at 4:58 PM PST - 76 comments

Sony Pictures Television and Norman Lear are in talks to remake episodes of All in the Family and three other classic Lear sitcoms.

The idea currently being discussed by Lear and Sony executives would be to have new actors recreate classic episodes of the shows, working from the original scripts, and package them as short, six-episode anthologies.

Lear has some experience remaking All in the Family episodes. Three pilots were filmed for the show, only one of which made it to air. [more inside]
posted by Knappster at 3:43 PM PST - 26 comments

Pardon Edward Snowden is not about Edward Snowden. A short story by Joseph O’Neill, in this week's New Yorker [more inside]
posted by Stanczyk at 1:42 PM PST - 9 comments

The CIA has put a bunch old maps onto flickr. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb at 12:55 PM PST - 10 comments

The Prenda Law Saga has finally turned criminal. John Steele and Paul Hansmeier were arrested Friday and charged with 18 counts of fraud, perjury, and money laundering in a wide-ranging indictment [.pdf]. Prosecutors allege "an elaborate scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in copyright settlements by deceiving state and federal courts throughout the country". [more inside]
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:42 AM PST - 29 comments

Build a fully functional electronic replica of the world famous German Enigma machine. Enjoy this documentary playlist related to the Enigma.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:19 AM PST - 6 comments

Legend of Funaná The funaná sound is a specific one, an important one to the islands of Cabo Verde, and one never better than coming from the fiery, masterful hands of Bitori. One origin story states that funaná developed when the Portuguese tried to spread Western music styles by introducing the accordion, an attempt to pull Cabo Verde closer, culturally, to Europe. If that is the truth, it’s a plan that backfired gloriously.
posted by infini at 11:12 AM PST - 5 comments

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a forthcoming sandbox game for the Nintendo WiiU (maybe not) and (forthcoming) Switch consoles. Originally revealed in 2014, this 19th Zelda game is much anticipated; the more recent trailer (recommended) adds detail, a few more demos here, and a glimpse of playability, with much more analysis previously. Zelda games often review-score highly; previous. (Oh, and Happy Snowboarding Holiday)
posted by Wordshore at 10:48 AM PST - 20 comments

Team of guys forging a giant metal flange, using a giant hammer. (SLYT)
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:46 AM PST - 53 comments

A short video , without music or voiceover, showing how tennis balls are manufactured.
posted by Fig at 7:23 AM PST - 51 comments

... and get settled in with Longread's best stories of 2016.
posted by carter at 6:03 AM PST - 7 comments

Breaking things is easy. "Machine learning has not yet reached true human-level performance, because when confronted by even a trivial adversary, most machine learning algorithms fail dramatically. In other words, we have reached the point where machine learning works, but may easily be broken."
posted by escabeche at 3:49 AM PST - 36 comments