June 15, 2012
July 4 is coming up!
What happens when a fireworks factory catches on fire? This happened recently in Russia, but it's happened before in Germany and England and the Netherlands and Thailand and Dubai and Denmark. [more inside]
This is my book. There are many like it, but this is mine.
In 1989 the Japanese Government passed the Media Betterment Act, permitting censorship of any media deemed to be harmful to society. On the basis of the imperative for libraries to resist any attempts at suppression of free speech, local governments created an armed resistance force to combat censorship. The conflict between the government and library forces continues to 2019, where the story of Library War begins. [more inside]
Humanity escapes the solar system.
Voyager I is now leaving the heliosphere, and is entering interstellar space. "With absolutely no attempt at hyperbole at all, it is fair to say that this is one of - if not the - biggest achievement of the human race. For, as we speak, an object conceived in the human mind, and built by our tools, and launched from our planet, is sailing out of the further depths of our solar system - and will be the first object made by man to sail out into interstellar space."
"Microchips. Lots of them. Implanted in the brains of consumers."
WE VS. THE NIGHT(Vimeo):
'Three longboarders flex down a winding mountain face in the cold of the night, equipped with nothing but a couple headlamps to tear through the darkness. As they battle their way through each turn, they fall deeper into an un-explored realm of stoke.' [more inside]
Stretch Abdomenstrong
A rare photograph of a honeybee stinging a man, with its abdominal tissue trailing behind, was more than 100 years in the making.
Pop quiz: Do you know what Warchild holds in all those pockets? WAR.
Nearly five years after creating their Internet- and Mefi-favorite essay describing 40 terrible drawings by 90s-defining comic artist Rob Liefeld, Progressive Boink goes once more unto the breach and publishes "40 MORE Of The Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings."
Who redraws the Watcher, man?
Rosemary Mosco - naturalist & cartoonist
Rosemary Mosco is a field naturalist who draws bird & nature comics: "bird and moon" (previously), "ghosts of the northeast woods", "bird sound mnemonics", "birds are gross", "evolution sucks". Her bi-weekly comic strip Wild Toronto ("It cleverly observed and taught us about the animals and plants that live in our city") ran on Torontoist for some months in 2008; she has an illustrated collection of 55-word stories as well (previously mentioned). Her website, flickr, & tumblr.
Edged weapons are not pretend lightsabers.
Today's I09 has a guest column by John Clements titled "Swordfighting: Not What You Think It Is." And it isn't. [more inside]
I'm coming back with a friend, and you will be very sorry!
Conan O'Brian, at the end of 4 days of broadcasting from Chicago, sends "the nicest, most polite person we know"--Jack McBrayer, who plays the rube Kenneth on 30 Rock--to The Wiener's Circle, notorious as much for the vulgar insults served up by its hostile staff as for its hot dogs. When things don't go so well for meek Jack, he calls in some backup.
China takes another step into space
China has announced it will launch Shenzhou-9 on Saturday morning at 6:37am EDT. The space mission will feature the country's first manned docking with Tiangong 1, a mini space station; the first Chinese woman to go into space, Liu Yang, and Jing Haipeng, the first taikonaut to venture into space twice.
Juu'nen hayain da yo!
"Designed to be understood easily, these training videos are meant for new players and for those who want to see what's new in Final Showdown." As part of their promotion for Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, released June 5/6 for PSN and XBLA, SEGA created surprisingly good tutorial videos to ease new players into the gameplay system of the latest iteration of AM2's Virtua Fighter series. [more inside]
When visiting ebay, be sure to keep your speakers on.
"STOP! This is NOT a DVD! STOP! This is NOT a DVD! STOP! This is NOT a DVD!"
British Columbia court legalizes assisted suicide
The British Columbia Supreme Court has struck down a ban on physician-assisted suicide, in a whopping 1415-paragraph decision. [more inside]
Kittydar
Revolutionary new web technology detects cat's faces in any picture.(Does not support IE)
Book Burning Party to Save a Library
Award winning campaign saved the Troy, Michigan Library. The library needed to pass a .7% tax increase to stay open. Anti-tax crusaders (*cough* Tea Partiers *cough*) took over the conversation to get it voted down. So, faced with dwindling prospects a group supporting the library worked with an advertising agency to develop a provocative campaign to get the tax increase passed. [more inside]
The unglamourous side of skateboarding
The harsh reality of being a skateboarder (hypnotic slyt)
Road to Valor
Gino Bartali achieved fame by winning the 1938 Tour de France, but what he did on his bike during the war is what made him a real hero. [more inside]
Reading Along the Lines
Underground New York Public Library, a photo tumblr of NYC Subway riders and the books they read.
Isle Royale's Wolf Population: on the Brink of Extinction
Isle Royale is a 206 square mile island in Lake Superior, over 15 miles from the mainland. Most years, it is isolated from the mainland. The moose and wolf populations of Isle Royale are isolated, and wholly interconnected with each other.
In the last decade there has been a decline in the wolf population on Isle Royale. Recent evidence shows that the wolf population has collapsed. [more inside]
In 'unusual' turn, Cook County state's attorney supports lawsuits questioning constitutionality of gay marriage ban
"The fight for same-sex marriage rights in Illinois took an unprecedented turn Thursday as Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez conceded that the state's ban on gay marriage violates the Illinois Constitution, essentially agreeing with a pair of lawsuits her office was expected to oppose. It marks the first time a state has refused to contest a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of a gay marriage ban. The Illinois attorney general's office, which would be next in line to defend the state's constitution, already had announced plans to file a brief in support of the lawsuits brought by Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois."
New York History
New York finally starting to reveal her secrets to me as I walk around, thanks to past and present contrasting pictures at Manhattan Unlocked
and a collective block by block history.
Why the British are on average 3 stone (42 lbs) heavier than in the 60s
The Dream
President Barack Obama's administration will reportedly announce Friday that it will stop deporting and grant work permits to nearly 1 million immigrants who entered or remained in the United States. The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.
Patient 23
"Adrian Owen still gets animated when he talks about patient 23. The patient was only 24 years old when his life was devastated by a car accident. Alive but unresponsive, he had been languishing in what neurologists refer to as a vegetative state for five years, when Owen, a neuro-scientist then at the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues at the University of Liège in Belgium, put him into a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine and started asking him questions. Incredibly, he provided answers."
Angry Melting Zombie Face with Worms. Spinning. Also: Snakes.
Ghosst(s) is a disturbing and intriguing animated video short by French artistic collective Lorn. [via]
Forging a Sashimi Knife
In protest over the ongoing commodification and bureaucratization of education
On Thursday 26-year-old Michael Vipperman walked up to the podium during University of Toronto's Convocation Hall ceremonies, held up his 'no' sign and said, "I hereby renounce this degree." [more inside]
Please RT
The view from over here.
Der Spiegel has two interesting recent articles about America.
The President of Disappointments - How Obama Has Failed to Deliver (single page)
Barack Obama entered the White House as a savior. But he hasn't delivered. The ideological chasms in the US are as deep as they have ever been, with Republicans blocking the president at every turn. Who is responsible for his failure?
'Our Political System Is Basically Dysfunctional' an interview with David Gergen who was Ronald Reagan's PR Director
Barack Obama entered the White House as a savior. But he hasn't delivered. The ideological chasms in the US are as deep as they have ever been, with Republicans blocking the president at every turn. Who is responsible for his failure?
'Our Political System Is Basically Dysfunctional' an interview with David Gergen who was Ronald Reagan's PR Director
Imagine one percent, 129000 times
"Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%" - author Andrew Hyde reviews the take for the most popular digital publishing platforms
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