March 30, 2022
How marbles are made
The Incredible Satisfying Birth of a Marble: MetaFilter’s own Andy Baio falls down a rabbit-hole of marble factory videos and marble contraptions.
Pepsi Nitro!
A statement from Pepsi says that “some people still cite heavy carbonation as a barrier to enjoying an ice-cold cola.” Comes in vanilla flavor! "Nitro Pepsi Vanilla smells almost like a candy store, sugary and sweet. And the taste is notably smoother than regular Pepsi, as if the fizz and bubbles have all been kneaded out of the drink. Pepsi promised a “nitrogen-infused cola that’s actually softer than a soft drink,” and well, that’s what I got. I love vanilla and I would choose that version over regular Nitro Pepsi."Interested? Get your free Pepsi Nitro at Wal-Mart!
These boots were made for narrative photographic essaying
100 Boots is a narrative work of photographic art by Eleanor Antin, made of 51 postcards over the course of 1971-1973, telling a visual story of a collection of rubber boots making a pilgrimage from San Diego to New York. Additional bits at MoMa; kadist.org; getty.edu.
Performative solidarity in the digital space
In 2021, an elderly white woman dying from COVID-19 made a death bed confession that as a child she had falsely accused a Black boy of touching her inappropriately. Her accusation lead to a lynching and house burning. Tens of millions of people saw the TikTok video. Five million liked it. Historian and expert on the topic Stacey Patton points out that this particular story probably didn't actually happen and explores why white people were so eager to believe it and share it. [Includes frank discussions of both real and made-up racial violence.]
some of them happy endings and some decidedly not
Good news for Residents fans and game nerds. If you missed out in 1995 on their classic cd-rom game Bad Day on the Midway, now you can have a lousy time too at Midway amusement park, thanks to the laudable efforts of Max Wegner. You can download the game and play like it's 1995, or just read about Timmy and the other characters. Come right in! See Lottie the Human Log and the other attractions! But watch out for murderers and that RED RAT PLAGUE. [more inside]
Off to Berlin!
How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student Mackenzie Fierceton was championed as a former foster youth who had overcome an abusive childhood and won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Then the University of Pennsylvania accused her of lying. SLNYer. [more inside]
A Bookstore Revival Channels Nostalgia for Big Box Chains
“Reports are sketchy at this point”
“The plan was to simulate a nuclear terrorist incident and explore how every agency would react and whether they would cooperate. To enhance the verisimilitude of the war games, the U.S. government went so far as to record a fake news broadcast about a nuclear bomb exploding in Indianapolis.“
#train24
Remember #bus24? That was last year, when @politic_animal set out to find out how far one could travel in 24 hours by bus from London. This year, it's "the obvious sequel: #train24. What is the furthest point I can get from St Pancras in 24 hours?". Spoiler: the route for now has been through France and Germany, and then of course you'll have to follow along to see where it ends! Bon voyage!
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