March 3, 2010

Roman dodecahedron

The Roman dodecahedron is a mystery. With its beautifully symmetrical twelve pentagonal faces, the Greeks held the dodecahedron with a certain reverance. But the Roman fascination is less clear. Were they used for water pipes? Were they astronomic measuring instrumens? Were they candle stands? It's a mystery.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:58 PM PST - 78 comments

Constants & Variables

Caltech physicist Sean Carroll recently tweeted that he was meeting up with Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. This was posted to the forums at Lostpedia, prompting immediate spoiler complaints ... so Carroll signs up and drops in to the thread to clear up the confusion, also offering some of his thoughts on the use of time travel in the show and referencing a longer blog post he wrote shortly before the start of the final season.
posted by mannequito at 6:22 PM PST - 77 comments

Arun Singhania, Nepalese media Baron, shot dead on 1 March

Arun Singhania, a controversial media baron operating a daily newspaper and chairman of a radio station in Janakpur, Nepal was shot dead 1 March by unidentified gunmen on two motorcycles. The Terai Janatantrik Mukti Morcha and the Terai Janatantrik Party-Madhes reportedly phoned news outlets in the area taking responsibility for orchestrated Singhania's murder.
posted by Tlery at 5:54 PM PST - 4 comments

The Trembling Giant

Pando : The Quaking Aspen [more inside]
posted by quin at 5:10 PM PST - 30 comments

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion

Barack Obama gets a surprise visit in the night from ex-Presidents Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton, Ford, Reagan and Carter to get a few pointers about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and why it's so important.
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 4:20 PM PST - 50 comments

Great Teachers Are Made, Not Born

Doug Lemov is getting some attention for his work at identifying - and trying to replicate - the key things that successful teachers do. [more inside]
posted by mai at 4:16 PM PST - 45 comments

From Distribution to Attention

In Publishing: The Revolutionary Future, Jason Epstein posits "The resistance today by publishers to the onrushing digital future does not arise from fear of disruptive literacy, but from the understandable fear of their own obsolescence and the complexity of the digital transformation that awaits them... The unprecedented ability of this technology to offer a vast new multilingual marketplace a practically limitless choice of titles will displace the Gutenberg system with or without the cooperation of its current executives." [more inside]
posted by netbros at 4:11 PM PST - 19 comments

“You’re going to hell, and it bothers me,” Grisham responds. “What bothers me is you’re going to hell.”

Over the last few days, a fair bit of attention on the web has been focused on Repent Amarillo MySpace YouTube, an organization dedicated to converting Amarillo, TX to the organization's particular brand of Christianity. Their tactics include "Spiritual Warfare" and witnessing, but also appear to involve harassing people who they believe to be sinners. They've even got a map of sinful places in Amarillo, including gay bars, Masonic lodges, rival churches, and other religions' places of worship. But not everybody is all that amused; blogs and websites have started springing up in response.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:43 PM PST - 139 comments

BBC interview with Hassan Yousef's son prior to his book launch

'Son of Hamas' who spied for Israel
posted by Neekee at 2:40 PM PST - 16 comments

TF2 on a Mac?

Hang on: Steam is coming to Macs. Christ. [more inside]
posted by hnnrs at 1:58 PM PST - 114 comments

Like Shopping And Gambling At The Same Time

Why You Should Buy Art. "The world is a vast wasteland of garbage:" Twenty-six reasons by artist William Powhida on a piece of actual art that you can buy. (previously)
posted by longsleeves at 1:57 PM PST - 35 comments

Catholic Charities Denies Health Benefits To Spouses

I am writing to you to inform you of an important change to our group health care benefit plan that will take effect on March 2, 2010 due to a change in the law of the District of Columbia. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese at 1:45 PM PST - 166 comments

30 emerging photographers

Look at the photographers in this year's PDN's 30 class and you'll find a solid refutation of the idea that "everyone is a photographer now."
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 1:04 PM PST - 44 comments

CrocScan

Crocodile mummies from ancient Egypt scanned at Stanford.
posted by gman at 12:51 PM PST - 8 comments

I've written this Space Ritual

Nik Turner was always hawking wasn't he? And he always had the most melodious wind. [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete at 11:20 AM PST - 18 comments

Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom

Jean-Paul LeBreton, level designer for BioShock 2, has written an analysis of the original Doom as well as remade (demade?) a level from BioShock using Doom [design notes].
posted by brundlefly at 11:13 AM PST - 68 comments

Everyone Loves Whales, One Way or Another

Whales are the largest animals on the planet, and when it comes to storing carbon, they act like trees in a forest. A new study suggests that industrial whaling, over the past 100 years or so has released as much carbon into the atmosphere as "burning most of Oregon's forests, or driving 128,000 Hummers for 100 years." [more inside]
posted by Danf at 11:05 AM PST - 43 comments

Sympathy for the (Japanese) Devil

Korean cyber attack on 2-channel An army of Korean netizens apparently attacked the Japanese Internet forum 2chan for their anti-Korean postings, including those targeting Korea’s Olympic gold-medal-winning figure skater Kim Yu-na, causing the site to shut down on Monday (March 1). [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 10:38 AM PST - 43 comments

The Poetry of Reality

New Symphony of Science song! (Via). [more inside]
posted by Lobster Garden at 10:10 AM PST - 11 comments

Out of the West

Out of the West - Clint Eastwood’s shifting landscape. An essay in the New Yorker by David Denby.
posted by chunking express at 9:34 AM PST - 71 comments

NAHBS 2010

In a world where almost all production bikes are made competently and inexpensively in a handful of factories in China and Taiwan, what place is there for the traditional craftsman? The recently concluded North American Handmade Bicycle Show answers that question, with meticulous lugwork, bikes made of bamboo and wood (or just fake woodgrain), unusual designs, (sometimes both unusual designs and bamboo together) and flat-out whimsy. Even accessories received indulgent attention.
posted by adamrice at 9:01 AM PST - 32 comments

Smell like a Man, Man

Old Spice first came out in 1937 and was originally marketed to women and manufactured by The Shulton Company. The men's line came out in 1938. In 1971, the Shulton Group was acquired by American Cyanamid, which then sold to Proctor & Gamble in 1990. [more inside]
posted by schnee at 8:20 AM PST - 111 comments

Judaism is a science fiction religion

Why there is no Jewish Narnia. [more inside]
posted by valkyryn at 8:05 AM PST - 136 comments

Credit CARDs

"I Stopped Denying People." Former Bank of America employee Jackie Ramos appears on the Daily Show last night in a segment covering the sweeping credit card reform the went into effect last week.
posted by lunit at 8:03 AM PST - 188 comments

Fed up with school lunch

Fed Up is a blog by a teacher who has decided to eat the lunch her school serves every day. A Japanese Teacher is doing the same thing.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 6:27 AM PST - 92 comments

Goodbye Footie.

Michael Foot, leader of the British Labour Party from 1980-83 and principally responsible for the longest suicide note in history, is dead at 96.
posted by unSane at 5:59 AM PST - 58 comments

Happy Birthday, Ronald Searle!

The cartoonist Ronald Searle turns 90 today (March 3)! Hurrah for St. Trinians!.
The Cartoon Museum in London opens Searle's first-ever show in Britain. In this interview, Searle , at 90, recalls the bad girls of St Trinian's and his time as a prisoner-of-war and the abrupt leaving of his wife and children. Fleeing to France in 1961, he never returned. His archive was donated to the Willhelm Busch museum in Germany which is also holding a Searle exhibition.
posted by vacapinta at 3:13 AM PST - 21 comments

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