March 7, 2014
Survival Research Labs makes a proposal to Google
"I want to make fictional worlds, inhabited by large robots and machines, all over the Google campus" Google has recently shown a great deal of interest in robots, snapping up companies right and left. Mark Pauline, a noted expert in the field, offers his services to the search behemoth.
MH370 missing
Malaysia Airlines MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing is missing.
Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day. The flight was carrying a total number of 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members.Rumors that the plane has landed in Nanning, China are debunked. Chinese media had originally reported Vietnamese officials saying they've picked up a signal, but this has also been refuted. There has been no contact nor distress signals, and the case is especially puzzling as the plane lost contact at the safest moment of the flight. [more inside]
Sometimes let the train be late.
I've seen a lot of great bands play public transportation, and TOO MANY ZOOZ is the cream of the crop.
Six Degrees Records: a world of sound, streaming online
Six Degrees Records is a record label based in San Francisco that represents a range of "world music" sounds. You can dig into their discography through official mixes from the label or the usual array of samplers on Soundcloud, or listen to a ton of complete albums from 17 artists and groups on Bandcamp, from Malian guitarist and singer Vieux Farka Touré to the man who made the label, Karsh Kale, who is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre, to the Brazilian singer/songwriter, Céu and the Iranian singer and musician, Azam Ali. If this is all too overwhelming, just grab the free 10-track sampler.
Clever girl...
40 Worst Book Covers and Titles Ever
Exactly what it says on the tin -- 40 Worst Book Covers and Titles Ever These things have got to be real, no one could ever dream this stuff up. [more inside]
DTMFA
Comedian Aziz Ansari has posted a subreddit asking for relationship and dating experiences. Ansari and NYU professor Eric Klinenberg are using the subreddit as part of their research for a new book on modern romance in the US and elsewhere. [more inside]
PASION DEL GALLO INDOMABLE
Concept artist and animator Lindsey Olivares has been seized by a vision. A vision of chicken telenovelas. (scroll past all the chicken pics and sketches for part 1). Part 2, with even more dazzling drawing and hand-lettering. Also be sure to enjoy her gif moments with Nana (or with bicycle) and her lovely student film.
the simple-ish ideas are the best
MEG - PRECIOUS is a music video. Enjoy.
“I loooove the way your fowl little mind works.”
At three, Ron Suskind's son, Owen, was diagnosed with regressive autism and all but lost his speech. A year later, watching Disney's The Little Mermaid, Owen's parents heard him speak again. Reaching My Autistic Son Through Disney. (SLNYTimes Magazine, with video) [more inside]
Forgiveness
Eva Mozes Kor and her twin sister were the victims of medical and genetic experiments at the hands of Josef Mengele in Auschwitz. She recently did an AMA on Reddit.
Work Makes You Sick: Speed Ups on the Academic Assembly Line
Mental health problems are on the rise among UK academics amid the pressures of greater job insecurity, constant demand for results and an increasingly marketised higher education system. [more inside]
The Tragedy of Chrononhotonthologos
SCENE I.
An Anti-Chamber in the Palace.
Enter RIGDUM-FUNNIDOS and ALDIBORONTIPHOSCOPHORNIO, courtiers.
Rigdum-Funnidos: Aldiborontiphoscophornio!
Where left you Chrononhotonthologos?
[more inside]in the 7 kingdoms ain't nobody righteous
Catch the Throne (soundcloud) is a Game of Thrones-inspired mixtape featuring Big Boi, Common, Wale, and others. [more inside]
WHO CARESSSSS!
Don't forget the air hole
Spring Fashion Preview, by Hannibal Burres and friends on Funny or Die's new humor "magazine", The Occasional.
turtle voyage
Sea Turtles' "Lost Years" Transatlantic Journey Mapped for First Time "Researchers' stick-to-it-iveness, along with advice from a manicurist lead to radio tags that tracked baby loggerheads across the Atlantic (full paper) without hindering them"
12/12/72
Photos from a Surrealist Ball at Château de Ferrières, one of the Rothschild family’s gigantic mansions. There is no such thing as the Illuminati.
In defense of the First Amendment
A police officer forcibly escorted Baltimore Sun photo editor Chris Assaf away from the scene of a police-involved shooting on Feb. 21. He had been taking pictures from outside the police lines, but an officer told him he had to move back further. Assaf protested, stating he was within his First Amendment rights to be where he was standing. Another officer then forced him to move. The Sun is posting all of Assaf’s images from the shooting scene as well as photos taken by Sun photographer Lloyd Fox, who witnessed and documented the incident. Lt. Eric Kowalczk, the chief spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, said the department has opened an internal investigation into the allegation. He declined to comment more specifically on the incident, “because we have an investigation and we don’t want to prejudice that.”
(contains some mildly graphic pictures in both links)
Guilt by Association
Debo Adegbile was selected by President Obama to be assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The Senate, aided and abetted by seven Democratic senators, killed his nomination. Why? Because he’s fought for civil rights.
I'd Rather Be Burned As A Witch Than Never Be Burned At All
metro trains
"Yes, I am the Batman."
Victor Vasquez knows NYC commuting can be depressing. As he says, “Standing under someone’s armpit, you just want to get home.” The MTA conductor livens things up with his unscripted announcements on the 1 train.
'After all, great inventions, he says, “always require a little luck.”'
The Invention Of The AeroPress
There’s really nothing bad to say about the device other than the fact that it’s a funny-looking plastic thingy. Then again, its inventor, Stanford professor Alan Adler, is a world renowned inventor of funny-looking plastic thingies; while Adler’s Palo Alto based company Aerobie is best known today for its coffee makers, the firm rose to prominence in the 1980s for its world-record-setting flying discs. This is the story of how Adler and Aerobie dispelled the notion of industry-specific limitations and found immense success in two disparate industries: toys and coffee.
Once you have slept on an island, you'll never be quite the same
Billions and Billions
Cosmos, Carl Sagan's short lived television science program from 1980 was a groundbreaking triumph and firmly established Sagan as a household name. [more inside]
Their Motives were just plain Loco
If you've time to spare, the Unusual Locomotives page is a good index for your perusal. [more inside]
From ME alright? They learned it from watching me!
I assure you, the death notice I'm looking for will be on the front page
Quite unlike many similar Wikipedia entries, the Russian Jokes, Russian Political Jokes and Jewish humor articles are treasure troves of actual jokes and anekdoty.
succulent cupcakes
Succulent cupcakes that look like succulents. And how to make your own!
Big Hairy Woman
With this song, 2 Live Crew basically took the distinctive bass riff from the original Orbison song and changed the lyrics in true Crew style. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. is probably the seminal case for the modern application of the fair use doctrine. The lightning rod was 2 Live Crew and their allegedly parodic use of the "Pretty Woman" song. Instead of dismissing the Crew's claim on the basis that they had used the appropriated material for commercial gain, the court looked at the other factors of permissible fair use and determined that parody was indeed protected fair use, even though the perpetrators gained financially. [more inside]
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