May 18, 2015
darn it.
Teeny tiny tiki party
Tiny Hamster's Tiny Tiki Party, with tiny albino hedgehog guest. Bonus behind the scenes video showing runner-up hedgie, and the truth of the puddle outside the loo.
Sex and gender doubleshot
17 Pathbreaking Non-Binary and Gender-Fluid Novels | You might be sexually fluid and not realize it — or even care
Yes, now the rains weep o'er his halls/And not a soul to hear
Why The Mary Sue will no longer be promoting Game of Thrones, after the latest episode.[Spoilers, TW sexual assault] [more inside]
Comedy Troupe Performs A New, Original Episode Of 'Seinfeld'
Seinfeld: The Leaning Susan
A full-length, original episode of Seinfeld. The show features uncanny portrayals of the central characters, 90s commercial parodies, and original Seinfeld standup. Even Susan is back. Yes, that Susan.
Performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, NY | March 23, 2015
A full-length, original episode of Seinfeld. The show features uncanny portrayals of the central characters, 90s commercial parodies, and original Seinfeld standup. Even Susan is back. Yes, that Susan.
Performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, NY | March 23, 2015
(⌒▽⌒)
When Birds Squawk, Other Species Seem to Listen by Christopher Solomon [New York Times]
A professor’s hunch is that birds are saying much more in warning of danger than previously suspected, and that other animals have evolved to understand the signals.
Trying to reduce the odds of a catastrophe by .0001%
The academic study of existential risk is being taken seriously. The University of Cambridge has the CSER, with its incredibly distinguished list of members, some of whom you can see speak about the risks inherent in scientific progress, or you can read the summary of why we need to work together to stop doomsday by Prof. Martin Rees. Oxford has the Future of Humanity Institute, headed by Nick Bostrom (fascinating profile of him), which has produced this taxonomy of threats, and has argued that far too little emphasis is placed on the issue. In the US, work is done in thinktanks like the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, which is focused on trying to tame AI, and predict when it will arrive (pdf). Though climate change gets a nod, the main concerns appear to be largely AI (which they are really worried about), nuclear war (chance of happening: between 7% and .0001% a year),threats from technological innovation like biotech or nanotech (pdf).
Sucker Punch: The Music Video
Just how many Sci-Fi / Action movie references are in Taylor Swift's new video "Bad Blood"? IO9 attempts to make a tally of them all.
You can't outrun a bad diet
Our waistlines aren’t expanding because people aren’t exercising intelligently or vigorously enough. You don’t need a new personal trainer, another Insanity workout video or a more aggressive CrossFit regimen. What you need is the truth, and here it is: Exercise — no matter how many gym memberships you buy or how often you wear your Fitbit — won’t make you lose weight. [more inside]
Homemade Lava
A major 7th arpeggio in the key of Bb, with a trill at the end
Inspiration comes to composers in many forms. A musician was recording certain bodily functions for his homesick brother, when happenstance delivered a sublime moment of melody. He ran with it (SLYT).
1%ers are more like 2.5%?
Yesterday's biker gang shootout in Waco, Texas has led to nine deaths, 18 injuries, and 165 arrests. Vox cites a 2013 FBI Report stating that organized motorcycle gangs comprise about 2.5% of gang members nationwide, but represent a larger threat to public safety than their numbers suggest. Plenty of observations have been made about the difference between police reaction to this shooting compared to protests in Baltimore and Ferguson.
Brewing Bad
The Limits of Discourse
Massive Gallipoli Diorama
Pictures of a massive Gallipoli diorama at The Great War Exhibition. These are photos of the diorama of the Battle of Chunuk Bair which opened on May 4 at The Great War Exhibition in Wellington, New Zealand. The brainchild of movie director Peter Jackson, the diorama contains 5,000 54mm (about 2 1/4" inches tall) figures. The figures were sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry and painted by volunteers from New Zealand wargaming clubs. This picture gives an idea of the massive scale of the diorama. Detail shots here and here.
Time Marches On, Algorithmically
Time-lapse Mining from Internet Photos: Paper [PDF] and video by Ricardo Martin-Brualla, David Gallup, and Steve M. Seitz: We introduce an approach for synthesizing time-lapse videos of popular landmarks from large community photo collections.
"I definitely felt Dean was invincible."
On Saturday evening, May 16, BASE jumpers Dean Potter and Graham Hunt died after attempting a wingsuit flight from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot promontory that overlooks Yosemite Valley and El Capitan. [more inside]
The Startup That Wants to Cure Social Anxiety
Joyable’s website, full of affable sans serifs and cheery salmon rectangles, looks Pinterest-esque, at least in its design. Except its text didn’t discuss eye glasses or home decor but “evidence-based” methods shown to reduce social anxiety. I knew those phrases: “Evidence-based” is the watchword of cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, the treatment now considered most effective for certain anxiety disorders. Joyable dresses a psychologists’s pitch in a Bay Area startup’s clothes.
IF YOU CAN’T CRY YOU’RE A LIABILITY
So you gotta go for it. Just do me a favor and FUCK SOME SHIT UP. Surprise yourself, wake up your actors, get wild with your performances, try shit, put in that funky dialogue you’re embarrassed of, in fact, rub your fucked-up-ness all over your scripts, add some shame and embarrassment and glee, and then dare yourself to shoot it, SERIOUSLY, go big or go home -- be a creature unlike any other.Transparent creator Jill Soloway gave an amazing speech full of advice for women in filmmaking a few days ago.
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