April 17, 2013

'Cause the Union Makes Us Strong

On May 16, 1934, the Teamsters local 574 of Minneapolis, Minnesota called for a strike to stop all truck deliveries in the city not run by union workers. This 1981 documentary tells the story in the workers' own words. Part 1, part 2.
posted by cthuljew at 10:48 PM PST - 6 comments

Just Gone

RIP Scott Miller of Game Theory & The Loud Family [more inside]
posted by ryanshepard at 10:19 PM PST - 74 comments

Like talking on the phone, but a thousand times more thrilling!

Ever heard of the Voice-O-Graph? Just STEP IN and RECORD YOUR OWN VOICE! RECORDING PLAYED BACK AND DELIVERED TO YOU WITHIN TWO MINUTES ! And now, thanks to benevolent rock god Jack White, you can do it TODAY!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:19 PM PST - 13 comments

Battle Of The Alt-Comedy Stars

Tuna the Movie is an independent comedy from 2000 starring the then-unknown Louis C.K and Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson). The movie has been uploaded in full by its writer Adam De Coster . Via, via.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:36 PM PST - 1 comments

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Unless you have a camera, of course, in which case there are some amazing shots.
posted by Athanassiel at 7:26 PM PST - 16 comments

Tomorrow Is Waiting

"She also found herself liking Kermit a lot more than she'd expected to. Anji had never really watched the Muppets before; her parents, like most parents she knew, had treated TV as only slightly less corrupting an influence than refined sugar and gendered toys. But The Muppet Show was really funny—strange, and kind of hokey, but charming all the same. She ended up watching way more of it than she needed just for the project. "Tomorrow Is Waiting", a short science fiction story by Holli Mintzer, published in Strange Horizons.
posted by brainwane at 7:19 PM PST - 29 comments

Real world touchscreen interface for interactive documents and books

Touchscreen interface for seamless data transfer between the real and virtual worlds - Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a next generation user interface which can accurately detect the users finger and what it is touching, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system, using objects in the real world.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:58 PM PST - 18 comments

(SLDFWYT)

David Foster Wallace discusses ambition, perfectionism, tennis and teaching in an interview with Leonard Lopate from the PBS Digital Studios series Blank On Blank.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 4:48 PM PST - 12 comments

"how much of this distress existed pre-Sandy?"

After Sandy, a great and complex city reveals traumas new and old. "Occupy Sandy" represented a disaster cooperativism in opposition to "disaster capitalism" (previously: 1, 2, 3) [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:24 PM PST - 4 comments

My Bucket List...

America's 10 most alcoholic beers
posted by Renoroc at 4:21 PM PST - 91 comments

Does my voice really sound like that?

For this year's National Poetry Month, the Poetry Foundation has set up a SoundCloud group called "Record-a-Poem." They're inviting people to record themselves reading their favorite poems. (via) [more inside]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:59 PM PST - 21 comments

Dali's Demon Bride

That Salvador Dali fell victim to his Russian wife Gala's lust for domination and very young men is no longer a matter of conjecture....some terrifying new facts, which reveal in more detail and depth than ever before how and why this quintessential Surrealist—the master of the soft watches—allowed himself to be destroyed by one of the nastiest wives a major modern artist ever saddled himself with. Art critic John Richardson examines Dali's life with Gala [PDF, should be SFW]. This article originally appeared in Vanity Fair in 1998.A slightly edited version of the article illustrated with different photos [NSFW]. [via Nag On The Lake]
posted by CCBC at 3:46 PM PST - 48 comments

Bad character. Or just Character, depending who you ask.

Evangelical Abstinence-Only speaker Pam Stenzel speaks at George Washington High School in West Virginia. Feeling that Ms. Stenzels rally included a lot of intentional untruths, Student Body Vice President Katelyn Campbell protested the rally. Principal George Aulenbacher retaliated, threatening to report Katelyn to the college she had been admitted to as a student of "bad character." The school in question, Wellesley, responded.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:25 PM PST - 74 comments

Gun control amendments defeated

Despite widespread popular support, on April 17th, 2013, the US Senate voted to defeat four legislative amendments that would strengthen background checks for gun purchases and place a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Victims and survivors of victims of recent shootings who were in the Senate audience were heard to yell "Shame on you" at legislators as the final votes were tallied.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:53 PM PST - 291 comments

You Are Now Revolt-ing With-- Enjolras & Marius

Tom Hooper's Les Miserables in the style of will.i.am's 'Scream and Shout' ft Britney [more inside]
posted by cendawanita at 1:13 PM PST - 19 comments

Wikipedia Live Monitor

Wikipedia Live Monitor is an experimental site that scans Wikipedia edits real-time searching for frenzied editing sessions. Matches are compared with "plausibility checks" on Facebook, Google etc.. to see if there is something in the news, thus quickly pinpointing unexpected events.
posted by stbalbach at 12:52 PM PST - 17 comments

I have trouble getting past the first page.

@UnfinishedS is a Twitter feed in which comedian Gavin Speiller posts the first pages of his unfinished screenplays, covering genres such as science fiction, family dramas, mysteries, financial dramas, mob movies, alien invasion films, heist pictures, spy thrillers, biopics, and everything in between.
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:04 PM PST - 17 comments

Aleatoric

Do you like music? Do you like entropy? Do you have Spotify? If so, then go here to listen to a song chosen completely at random. It might even be good!
posted by theodolite at 10:37 AM PST - 20 comments

Yes, we have video of baby goats.

Adorable frolicking Baby Pygmy Goats
posted by The Whelk at 10:32 AM PST - 29 comments

This system sucks

So now it turns out I need around 1,500 readers to get that $5 for my hypothetical site. Say I want to pay myself $500 for the month. It’s not a ton of money. I need 150,000 page views. That jumped right up there, didn’t it? Now look at sites that employ a number of highly skilled, professional writers that are full time and making a livable wage. You’re suddenly looking at millions and millions of page views required to keep everything afloat, much less expand.
Ad-blockers, the games press, and why sexy cosplay galleries lead to better reporting.
posted by griphus at 10:23 AM PST - 119 comments

Kevin Krigger and the Sport of Kings

"Black jockeys once dominated the Kentucky Derby, winning 15 of the first 28 titles between 1875 and 1902. They were former slaves and their sons – a vestige of colonial times, when planters owned both horses and riders. Post–Civil War, they were the country's best riders, but the narrow window opened by Reconstruction was slammed shut by Jim Crow. Even in Northern cities, white jockeys and officials ran black riders off the track, whitewashing their legacy. Churchill Downs was completely segregated throughout the 1950s. On May 4, 29-year-old jockey Kevin Krigger looks to reverse that history at Churchill Downs, riding Goldencents, an early top-10 favorite trained by Doug O'Neill (who trained last year's winner). Krigger is just the second black jockey to compete in the Derby since 1921, and the first from the U.S. Virgin Islands." Via Men's Journal
[more inside]
posted by girlmightlive at 9:53 AM PST - 5 comments

"That's when Han DROPS CHEWBACCA'S SEVERED HEAD onto the floor! Yes!"

Tasked with filibustering a town hall meeting in Parks and Recreation, Patton Oswalt improvised an eight minute monologue pitch for the next Star Wars movie -- which somehow grows to include the X-Men, the Avengers, the Greek pantheon, and Chewbacca getting a robot ("I'm thinking spider") body. (SLYT)
posted by finnb at 9:11 AM PST - 114 comments

Insects in Flight

Insects in Flight, a flickr set. [more inside]
posted by dhruva at 9:08 AM PST - 4 comments

An experience beyond limits... pain and pleasure, indivisible...

We Have Such Films To Show You - Damned souls cortex and griphus have been condemned to the infernal torment of watching all 10 Hellraiser movies, and wish to share their explorations of the further realms of experience with you in their new podcast. [via mefi projects]
posted by Artw at 8:48 AM PST - 161 comments

Form doesn't always follow function

The Alternative Limb Project provides highly detailed prosthetics that either blend in with the body or stand out as unique pieces of art. The Project's custom prosthetic limbs — such as the flowered leg and the snake arm — are created by special-effects artist Sophie de Oliveira Barata (you can see her in her London studio here). Per the project's website, an alternative-style limb can help to "break down social barriers, delight the eye and provide an unusual talking point."
posted by flyingsquirrel at 8:02 AM PST - 43 comments

NZ becomes first country in Asia-Pacific region to approve gay marriage

New Zealand legalises same-sex marriage, becoming the first country in the Asia-Pacific region and the 13th country to do so. The bill was passed with a wide majority, with 77 votes in favour and 44 against. "In our society, the meaning of marriage is universal - it's a declaration of love and commitment to a special person," said Labour MP Louisa Wall. The declaration of the vote was followed by a waiata.
posted by arcticseal at 7:47 AM PST - 72 comments

Just the way things are little guy

It Will All Hurt [Part 2, Part 3] is "a weird, sad, silly, sketchy, fantasy adventure strip with magic and science-fiction and some fighting action." By Farel Dalrymple [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:33 AM PST - 5 comments

Robert Adams

Robert Adams delivers book reviews as lectures. TVO's Big Ideas posts the videos on the internet. So far, they have posted lectures on: Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Aravinda Adiga's The White Tiger, Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and Elie Wiesel's The Forgotten.
posted by smcg at 7:07 AM PST - 3 comments

Where are all the right-wing stand-ups?

Stewart Lee asks "Where are all the right-wing stand-ups?" after BBC Radio 4's commisioning editor Caroline Raphael recently admitted they struggle to "find comedians from the right" on shows such as The News Quiz.
posted by dng at 6:59 AM PST - 166 comments

A work of significant scale.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your pleasure please behold Leviathan [click image to advance to next image], a work by Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais in Paris. Contemporary Art Blog link here. [more inside]
posted by shakespeherian at 6:30 AM PST - 22 comments

Probably not really safe for... anywhere.

Turn empty water bottles into alcohol fueled rockets. [slyt]
posted by quin at 6:14 AM PST - 34 comments

ReCISPA

The TechNet trade association has been lobbying for CISPA, a bill the EFF describes as a “misguided cybersecurity bill that would create a gaping exception to existing privacy law while doing little to address palpable and pressing online security issues” (previously). Google's Eric Schmidt signed TechNet's letter supporting CISPA. [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 12:45 AM PST - 68 comments

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