December 5, 2012

American Science Language

[LydiaCallisFilter] Signing Science
posted by cthuljew at 11:42 PM PST - 14 comments

happiness, longevity, and good fortune

The citrus fruit called Buddha's hand or fingered citron, which "looks like a cross between a giant lemon and a squid, and can perfume a room for weeks with its mysterious fragrance," is currently in season in the northern hemisphere. Lacking pulp and juice, it does have long, pointed "fingers" full of curious non-bitter white pith. The skin is yellow and smells like flowers and bright lemon. [more inside]
posted by purpleclover at 10:29 PM PST - 45 comments

IDK my bff CT?

Nicki Minaj? Nope, Chuck Testa.
posted by boo_radley at 9:50 PM PST - 40 comments

Sergei Parajanov: exploring the poetic potential of the cinema in the Soviet Union

Georgian-born Armenian, Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) was a controversial director in the Soviet era. At first he followed the state mandated style of Socialist Realism, but in 1964 he broke out into his own style with Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (YT), a dream-like film that combines expressionistic camera techniques, ethnography, and the logic of folktales. The film won almost every, award in sight on the 1964 film festival circuit, but it was also of the restrictive Soviet approach to the arts. The film was banned by authorities, but Parajanov did not return to realism, and instead paid tribute to the Armenian troubadour Sayat-Nova ("King of Songs" in Persian). The Color of Pomegranates (1968) is a film that sought to portray Sayat-Nova through images inspired by his life and poetry. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:01 PM PST - 9 comments

A vast array of vaguely interesting stuff

Vaguely Interesting stuff. Here's two to get you started:
Calling from the grave - If you ever felt slightly claustrophobic using a traditional BT telephone kiosk, this might be down to its unique architectural history – the design of the UK’s world famous red telephone boxes was inspired by a nineteenth century tomb.
Mass trespass - The Duke of Devonshire’s gamekeepers were on high alert. A left-wing group had been agitating in the Derbyshire village of Hayfield, threatening to “take action to open up the fine country at present denied us.” Their target was Kinder Scout, part of the Duke’s extensive moorland estate in the Peak District. But if they wanted to trespass on His Grace’s land, they would have to get past the gamekeepers.
posted by unliteral at 8:30 PM PST - 6 comments

"Can you tell me why I am a cat, please?"

The Bear was found on a motorway, lost all his fur (twice), got poisoned, had a hole ripped in his throat, lost chunks of ear and went awol for six weeks. But at 17 he's still going strong - The cat with 17 lives
posted by Artw at 8:16 PM PST - 29 comments

Elisabeth Murdoch (nee Greene), 1908-2012

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, AC DBE, wife of Sir Keith and mother of Rupert, was an outspoken philanthropist. She died overnight in Australia, aged 103.
posted by wilful at 8:01 PM PST - 16 comments

O modernista

Word from Rio de Janeiro is that Oscar Niemeyer, celebrated Brazilian Modernist architect, co-architect of the UN headquarters in New York, and designer of its capital city, Brasília, has passed on at the age of 104. The NYTimes obituary has links to his famous buildings in Brazil, but a more comprehensive link of Brasília can be seen at a 50th anniversary retrospective at Wallpaper.
posted by stannate at 6:48 PM PST - 27 comments

MuchLoved

When everything was unknown, they were there. / When anything could happen, they were there. MuchLoved is Mark Nixon's series of photographs of well-worn transitional objects.
posted by Egg Shen at 6:21 PM PST - 19 comments

End of the world

Australian PM says the world is ending
posted by b33j at 6:10 PM PST - 85 comments

Paleographic Maps

Ron Blakey makes paleogeographic maps of the ancient world.
The paleogeographic maps show the varied landscapes of the ancient Earth through hundreds of millions of years of geologic time, including distribution of ancient shallow seas, deep ocean basins, mountain ranges, coastal plains, and continental interiors. Tectonic features shown include subduction zones, island arcs, mid-ocean ridges and accreting terranes.
posted by zamboni at 5:19 PM PST - 14 comments

Tests and the Dead

A recent German television documentary, Tests and the Dead, has revealed that, between 1983 and 1989, the East German government sold its citizens to Western pharmaceutical companies for research, with firms such as Hoechst and Sandoz having paid the cash-strapped dictatorship as much as €430,000 for the ability to test experimental drugs on selected patients in special clinics. The patients were not informed of the tests, and at least several have died as a result of their treatment.
posted by acb at 4:22 PM PST - 21 comments

“It’s, I’m, uh … it’s an erotic epic poem.”

Who Was the Real Woman Behind “Nine and a Half Weeks”? [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 4:05 PM PST - 11 comments

NFLreboot

Designer Matt McInerney is setting out to redesign every logo in the NFL as an uncomissioned fun side project. He's up to 20 of them and the results so far are pretty damn good. Fast Company has a bit more about the project.
posted by mathowie at 3:40 PM PST - 72 comments

Goldberg: 1 - Newton: 0

Isaac Newton vs Rube Goldberg (SLVimeo) [more inside]
posted by vidur at 3:39 PM PST - 5 comments

"I'm very tired of not standing up for what I believe in."

The Last Ounce of Courage. [more inside]
posted by anewnadir at 3:26 PM PST - 27 comments

Simpson gangnam

81-year-old Senator Alan Simpson does a decent gangnam while encouraging you to do something better with your time and social web skills.
posted by anothermug at 3:12 PM PST - 21 comments

The wheels on the bus go meow meow meow...

My Cat is a Bus. [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 2:39 PM PST - 34 comments

I Think You Might Like It?

First there was Grease. Then there was Two of a Kind. And now, at long last, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta have reunited once more, to produce... well, this. [more inside]
posted by something something at 12:44 PM PST - 204 comments

So many nuts to crack!

It is Christmas Eve (or the 7th night of Chanukah), and the Stahlbaums are having a lavish party in Germany, or Harlem, or 1770s Washington, DC, or a 1970s-esque retro-future, or a cabaret or any number of times and places ... and then the magic happens! [more inside]
posted by ChuraChura at 12:20 PM PST - 11 comments

"This post, dear reader, is 100% about cats."

Screw organic chemistry, I'm just going to write about cats. James Ashenhurst uses (sometimes highly unorthodox!) cat pictures to explain topics in stereocatmistry, starting with On Cats, Part 1: Conformations and Configurations. [more inside]
posted by beryllium at 11:31 AM PST - 43 comments

RIP Jazz master Dave Brubeck.

I am devastated to read that jazz master and Kennedy Center honoree Dave Brubeck has died. His influence on jazz was wide and profound. His frequent collaborator and the composer of one of the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s best known tunes, “Take Five,” Paul Desmond, said of the sound of his alto sax, “"I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini." Brubeck was well-known for his use of differing time signatures, again referencing “Take Five” which was in 5/4 time and another example, “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” in 9/8 time. Desmond passed away in 2005, and Brubeck has left the earthly plain to join him in the Heavenly Jazz Band. RIP. (MLYT)
posted by Lynsey at 9:54 AM PST - 182 comments

Backup Tut and other decoy spatial

Backup Tut and other decoy spatial: creating a duplicate of King Tut's tomb
posted by Cloud King at 9:30 AM PST - 8 comments

"it's such a thrill to add a filter, lo-fi, lo-fi"

Look At This Instagram (Nickelback parody) (video, ~3 min.)
posted by flex at 9:22 AM PST - 45 comments

It's Hard Not to Love a Christmas Song with Two Kazoo Parts

Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey, The Roots, and some guests peform All I Want for Christmas is You with classroom instruments (their Call Me Maybe previously).
posted by Copronymus at 8:35 AM PST - 53 comments

Now hear Friedrich Hayek sing a song of savings....

Deck the Halls with Macro Follies: EconStories.tv is at it again, with their signature brand of musical Austrian economics lessons poking fun at Keynesian stimulus. Sings Thomas Malthus: ♫Silent Night♫ No shoppers in sight... ♫ The general glut has caused our plight ♫ Spend your money to clear our shelves! ♫ In consumption we'll save ourselves! ♫ Underconsumption is born—I view your savings with scorn...♫ (previously, previouslier) Still no NGDP-level targeting songs, sadly.
posted by anotherpanacea at 8:33 AM PST - 15 comments

“a board sign which announced in fading paint but one word: STORE. Just in case the traveler might be in some doubt.”

Harrods, in the bustling heart of London, is in a good location for a shop. So is the Macy’s in Herald Square, which boasts of serving 350,000 New Yorkers every day at Christmas time. Whereas down at the Mulka Store, in the furthermost reaches of South Australia, George and Mabel Aiston used to think themselves lucky if they pulled in a customer a week.
The Loneliest Shop In The World [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:39 AM PST - 23 comments

"I have downloaded the Moose! My computer and I are happy! My husband is miserable!"

Talking Moose lives! [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 7:22 AM PST - 63 comments

Impossible boy directs Impossible Girl

The video for musician Kim Boekbinder's song 'Gypsy', which was directed and edited by The Whelk [via mefi projects]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:00 AM PST - 30 comments

The ethics of taking a picture

Yesterday, the New York Post published a dramatic image on its cover of a Queens man just seconds from being hit by a Q train after being pushed by another man who is now in custody. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:51 AM PST - 180 comments

ITU

At its WCIT meeting in Dubai, the UN's ITU has quietly approved a collection of RFCs called 'Requirements for Deep Packet Inspection in Next Generation Networks' (Y.2770) designed to standardize broad spectrum traffic sniffing. The European Parliament recently passed a resolution against the ITU asserting exactly this sort of control over internet standard.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:29 AM PST - 25 comments

Cthulhu awaits for another day...

The Bloop is a mysterious recurring sound in the world's oceans that has puzzled many over the years (previously). Now scientists think they know the answer: icequakes.
posted by zardoz at 3:05 AM PST - 30 comments

Welcome to San Francisco. Now what the hell are you doing here?

San Francisco can become a world capital. First it needs to get over itself.
posted by MattMangels at 2:54 AM PST - 227 comments

And then she showed me the back room where she took all of her clothes off.

Edward Scissorhands - Filming Locations - 20 years later [more inside]
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 2:32 AM PST - 23 comments

Tantric Negotiating

Yesterday was Day 80 of the NHL lockout, with the situation looking pretty grim after a failed intervention by US federal mediators. Then on Monday, WBZ-TV Boston's Steve Burton surprised everyone by leading off his segment with this bombshell. Tuesday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Union Director Don Fehr took the unusual tactic of stepping back to allow owners and players to negotiate directly. With the annual Board of Governors meeting happening Wednesday and a press conference scheduled afterwards, NHL insiders across twitter are expressing cautious optimism that the puck will soon be dropped.
posted by mannequito at 2:18 AM PST - 73 comments

"Tell me, Jigglypuff, when did you last let your heart decide?"

Professor Oak and Jigglypuff sing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. [SLYT] CAUTION: amateur voice acting, general silliness ahead
posted by Rory Marinich at 12:06 AM PST - 22 comments

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