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Andy Rehfeldt (previously) is at it again -- here's his latest, the death metal version of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". It works the other way, too... for example, the Radio Disney version of Slayer's "Angel of Death". Andy specializes in these types of musical reboots.
posted by not_on_display at 11:19 PM PST - 16 comments

Essentially two-hand-touch taken to bloodsport level, with two 25-minute halves, a mostly running clock, and referees to nominally control the mayhem, it's the closest these weekend warriors will come to professional sport, though many are high-caliber athletes.
posted by MoonOrb at 10:49 PM PST - 7 comments

John Richard Boyd was a U.S. Air Force F-86 and F-100 pilot. Indeed, at the elite Fighter Weapons School he was arguably the best pilot and instructor in the world during his tenure. Boyd could make jet fighters do “impossible” things and simultaneously out-think adversaries. As a result Boyd gained the moniker “40 Second Boyd” because he quickly defeated all challengers in simulated aerial combat.

from a review of “Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War” by Robert Coram. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:38 PM PST - 31 comments

"Bracket bolts the book open to the page 'LIFE, WITHOUT BIRTH AND WITHOUT END, EMITTING LIGHT!'"

A collection of tampered-with books for sale.
posted by glass origami robot at 7:46 PM PST - 11 comments

In the years since the financial crisis, central banks across the world have struggled to stimulate adequate aggregate demand. Most mainstream economists agree that this is due to inherent impotence of monetary policy at the zero lower bound, although some, including some central banks, now say that the effective lower bound, though finite, is below zero. The Swiss and Danish central banks are currently testing that idea. [more inside]
posted by PMdixon at 7:22 PM PST - 31 comments

According to a British linguist's research on Twitter users in the U.S. (direct link to 55-page PDF), what do young Southern black women and young Northern and Western white men have in common? They're "lexical innovators" whose slang creation skills are on fleek. [more inside]
posted by fuse theorem at 6:57 PM PST - 71 comments

A statement posted to the Russian space agency’s website said a meeting of the Roscosmos science and technical council considered Russia’s future human spaceflight plans, favoring the continued use of the International Space Station until 2024.

Then Russia plans to remove its modules from the International Space Station to form an all-Russian complex in orbit.
posted by Artw at 5:15 PM PST - 54 comments

Lead Paint. It's been noted here before, but here's a new lead->crime connection, based on barn color:
Red (Iron oxide) good.
White (Lead) bad.
Here's where and when. And the year-old gasoline-soaked earlier Mother Jones citation [more inside]
posted by hexatron at 4:18 PM PST - 32 comments

"In recent months, a number of writers and photographers have begun to utilize Instagram beyond its common use as an application that enables the creation, stylizing, and sharing of personal photographs to a particular group of friends and acquaintances, and rather as a journalistic tool. In particular, writers like Jeff Sharlet (#Nightshift // A Resourceful Woman ) and photographers like Neil Shea have paired their photos with short narratives, constrained to 2200 characters by Instagram’s caption limit. The effect is similar to that of “Flash Fiction”—short, impactful self-contained stories—except that these stories are true and paired with a photograph of the subject." [more inside]
posted by zarq at 4:08 PM PST - 9 comments

Men in miniskirts take stand for women's rights in Turkey Turkish men have taken a stand with a simple, unconventional approach to combatting violence against women— miniskirts. (TW: Sexual assault and murder) [more inside]
posted by Michele in California at 2:30 PM PST - 10 comments

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote it for the smooth harmonies of the Mills Brothers in the 1935 film Broadway Gondolier. Fats Waller popularized it with more spark and swing soon after, and Art Tatum performed a blistering yet tuneful version that same year. Young heartthrob Frank Sinatra crooned it in 1945, and 11 years later Mel Tormé crooned it some more. Thelonious Monk had a humorous take on it in 1964, while 1968 saw two wildly different versions from Oscar Peterson and an actual Lulu. Need more? Here's The Four Freshmen, Leon Redbone, and Ellis and Branford Marsalis. TV loves Lulu too! Sanford and Song on Sanford and Son, and Circe on the Justice League (voiced by Broadway singer Rachel York). But here's what happens when Lulu's back on Sesame Street. (With introduction by Mr. Hooper, Bob, Susan, Matt Robinson's Gordon, and a very orange Oscar.)
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 1:11 PM PST - 4 comments

meet the unlikely Airbnb hosts of Japan
posted by and they trembled before her fury at 12:33 PM PST - 58 comments

How Madden Ratings Are Made (SL538)
posted by box at 12:01 PM PST - 11 comments

"Foregrounding the back of Martin Luther King’s head, Selma’s poster is an act of protest in itself. But as a recent book on black movie poster art shows, many past poster designs have obscured, caricatured or edited out black actors altogether." Isabel Stevens writes on black movie poster art at the British Film Institute (BFI).
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:14 AM PST - 9 comments

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta: The document we're publishing is interesting in that, in the early stages of the Ukrainian political crisis — that is, before Yanukovych's escape from Kyiv and the "Bandera junta" coming to power — it perscribes detailed, step-by-step justifications, as well as political and PR logistics, for the intervention by Russia in Ukrainian affairs and the tearing of Crimea and the eastern regions from Ukraine. [Google translated] Although the actual course of the Ukrainian drama made some adjustments, there is overall a strikingly high degree of coincidence between this project and the subsequent actions of the Russian authorities. [more inside]
posted by Kabanos at 11:07 AM PST - 68 comments

The Chicago Police Department has been since "the late 1990s" operating a secret, off-the-books black site at Homan Square where prisoners can be disappeared to to be interrogated and tortured. [more inside]
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:42 AM PST - 132 comments

Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald recently did an AMA on Citizenfour, their Oscar winning documentary about Snowden and the NSA scandal. Among the highlights is Snowden discussing the relationship between people and their governments and how enforcing the law too well actually can have severe drawbacks.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:40 AM PST - 26 comments

The secret life of superhero toys. [more inside]
posted by sparklemotion at 10:30 AM PST - 4 comments

The secret life of a public library security guard.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:10 AM PST - 21 comments

Why Are People Still Surprised That Aquaman Is A Badass?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:42 AM PST - 64 comments

POWER/RANGERS (NSFW), a short "de-boot FAN FILM" from director Joseph Kahn. Featuring Katee Sackhoff as Kimberly/Pink Ranger and James Van Der Beek as Rocky. [more inside]
posted by zombieflanders at 8:04 AM PST - 40 comments

A new genre has emerged, the mock jihadi video. This involves short clips with ISIS-ish sound tracks layered on for shocking and/or comic effect. [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 6:57 AM PST - 34 comments

Today is the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Tinker vs. Des Moines. Two high school students refused to remove the black arm bands that they wore to school on December 11, 1965 as a form of silent protest and in mourning of those lost in the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court agreed with their right to express their political opinions, stating "Students don't shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates." This was also the decision that stated that expression of an idea need not be verbal or written in order to be covered under the umbrella of free speech. [more inside]
posted by batbat at 6:56 AM PST - 21 comments

"We need to deal with the fact that our kids are starting to go through puberty much younger than they used to," said Sandals, Education Minister. [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 6:08 AM PST - 70 comments

Another way of looking at this is that all Premier League clubs already receive more money from their domestic league TV deal than all but 5 other European Clubs: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter and Milan. When the new Premier League deals starts in 2016/17, this list will reduce to just Real Madrid and Barcelona – and even that is in doubt following La Liga’s decision to move to collective bargaining, where the top club will only be allowed to receive 4 times more than the lowest club.

The Swiss Ramble analyses the Premier League's new domestic television rights deal.
posted by MartinWisse at 3:58 AM PST - 57 comments