June 1, 2016
Wildflower, 16 years in the blooming.
After a couple of teasers, the Avalanches have announced a new album on Twitter, entitled Wildflower. The first single is called "Frankie Sinatra" and has Danny Brown and MF Doom on it. [more inside]
"We were literally dripping with snot in these dishes!"
Low-flying research drones have to watch out for whale snot. Researchers for Ocean Alliance are using DJI's Phantom 4 drone to shadow blue whales in the sea of Cortez, allowing them to capture pictures, video, and — yes — gooey biological samples without disturbing the creatures.
“We just don’t make clay people as well as cats.”
Please enjoy the following inglorious parade of folly and nincompoopery
We wrote the Navy: ‘We think it is inadvisable to land the airplane.’ They came back with one paragraph that said ‘We agree.'”
The 10 worst US aircraft. [more inside]
“She’s creating it, and whatever she creates becomes part of the story.”
J. K. Rowling Just Can’t Let Harry Potter Go [The New York Times] J. K. Rowling always said that the seventh Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” would be the last in the series, and so far she has kept to her word. But though she’s written many new things in the intervening nine years, including four adult novels, she’s never been able to put Harry to rest, or to leave him alone. [more inside]
Because it's 2016 II: Rainbow (and Pink and Blue) Boogaloo
For the first time in history, the pride flag has been raised on Parliament Hill (video), Ottawa. For the first time in history, the Trans Flag has been raised with the Pride Flag at Toronto City Hall.
Ka-Pow Shrimp! : Unlocking Secrets Of Mantis Shrimp's Powerful Claws
Mantis shrimp pack a famously big punch. The same engineering that keeps their hammer-like claws intact could shape a new generation of human body armor. "We knew from previous studies that the impact region allows the mantis shrimp to transfer incredible momentum to its prey while resisting fracture," co-author Nicholas Yaraghi, a doctoral candidate at UC Riverside, says in a press release, "but it was exciting to reveal through our research that the properties of this highly impact-resistant material are created by the novel herringbone structure."
We have portkeys! Boom! Middle of the ocean!
Cartoonist Boulet (previously, previously, related previously) thinks about the problem with all these elaborate traps in adventure movies.
All those without one
For the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is fielding a small team of refugees – between five and 10 athletes who will represent not a country, but all those without one. [more inside]
Here be swamp rabbits.
How old is your map? A handy guide from xkcd.
Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand?
"...The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man." - The primal pull of Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter
An extraordinary madeleine
A few months ago, I opened an email that changed my life. I vaguely remembered an urban myth about a man who throws his wedding ring into the ocean. Ten years later, he sits down to eat fish at a local restaurant, cuts open the fish and there it is. That’s how I felt when I clicked on an email from someone I didn’t know called Keith Rushton. What he said to me was this: “I’ve got your electric guitar.”The Guardian's film critic Peter Bradshaw got rid of the guitar he’d loved as a teenager during a clearout and regretted it instantly. He thought he’d never see it again—then an email arrived ...
“Yeah, and it’s big-a-me, too.”
How a lost Marx Brothers musical found its way back onstage. [SLNYer]
"The most bizarre and often saddest talk show in New York City."
The Chris Gethard Show started at UCB, moved to public access (previously), and can now be seen on Fusion TV and online. It's a talk show, a call-in show, a Skype-in show, a comedy show, an audience-participation show, and a grand, weird, and delightful tv experiment that also isn't afraid to explore mental health issues (previously - cw: suicide.) Season 1 full episodes (22:00 ea.). Season 2 full episodes (44:00 ea.). Wikipedia List of show regulars, characters, and celeb guests. [more inside]
In Defense of Unlikable Women
There is something hypnotic in unlikable male characters that we don’t allow in women, and it’s this: we allow men to be confident, even arrogant, self-absorbed, narcissistic. But in our everyday lives, we do not hold up such women as leaders and role models. We call them out as selfish harridans. They are wicked stepmothers. Seeing these same women bashing their way through the pages of our fiction elicits the same reaction. Women should be nurturing. Their presence should be redeeming. Women should know better. [more inside]
159 days to go. Stay strong
Who Is David French and Is He Running for President? Conservative writer Bill Kristol floats a third party alternative for the US presidential race.
Life after the drug war
"From 2008 to 2012, the city of 1.3 million people was widely deemed the most dangerous place on Earth." And now Juárez is a thriving city with parks where children can play. (SL National Geographic, some graphic imagery)
Dancing about infrastructure
Stretching 57km (35mi) under the Swiss Alps, the Gotthard Base Tunnel officially became the world's longest and deepest active tunnel when it opened for service earlier today, completing a critical link in Europe's rail network. The tunnel's completion was commemorated by an extravagant ceremony and interpretive dance. [The last two links may be NSFW]
Your Soda Doesn't Pop
Michael Bay Presents: The Metamorphosis
Everyone has their own little story (haul away)
"America's Richest Self-Made Women": article by Luisa Kroll / dynamic view with grouping by theme / list [Forbes]
‘Is the city in conspiracy with the mob?’
Gracias, Señor Clemente
Roberto Clemente was a fierce critic of both baseball and American society. "He was as likely to ruminate about civil rights as about the curveballs of Sandy Koufax or Juan Marichal." (May 31st, 2016, was Roberto Clemente Day)
Mining platinum from road dust
In which heat, chemistry and brooms show that road dust contains platinum from the slow breakdown of catalytic converters. [SLYT]
Beautiful and heartbreaking New Yorker photo essay. And fuck cancer.
Fashion Styles That Won't Rip Off Your Flesh
See?
Look-See is a minute-long not-really-narrative-form animated film about a very geometric character stumbling onto other perspectives. By Daniel Savage, designer/animator and also creator/organizer of the previously-on-MeFi Yule Log 2.0. [more inside]
I Was Adopted - When I Was 41
What does it look like when an ideology dies?
You’re witnessing the death of neoliberalism – from within Aditya Chakrabortty comments about the IMF paper titled, "Neoliberalism, Oversold?" that has been making waves. To put it mildly.
It starts with...
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