MetaFilter

'Loss is difficult at any time of life. It can be particularly difficult for teenagers, who are still navigating their way, sometimes clumsily, toward adulthood. They know they need help, but are sometimes reluctant to ask for it. And often, because of their youth, their loss may be the first death they have ever known.' For a year, a reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer sat in on meetings of a grief group at Archbishop Moeller high school, for boys who had lost a parent... and learned The Rules of Grieving.
posted by zarq at 8:52 PM PST - 27 comments

...James is, of course, overshadowed by the most famous bluesman of them all: Robert Johnson... Few can resist the legend that he sold his soul to the devil, was poisoned by a jealous lover, and died a young genius's death... Skip James' mythos is less compact than Johnson's. James survived his misspent youth, and the story of his later years provides plenty more of the kind of misery that fueled his music. Where Johnson supposedly cut a single, grand deal with the devil—trading his soul for mastery of his form—Skip James seems to have struck deal after deal and never come out ahead. In a way, James' story is the truest story of the blues: He led an open wound of a life, and all he got for it was minor-league, post-mortem stardom.

Skip James' Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

See also Mississippi John Hurt & Skip James on WTBS-FM 1964 [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 8:32 PM PST - 17 comments

How to get ahead. Again and again. Moths and butterflies are just flying gonads that make new caterpillars. Caterpillars are feeding machines with one primary purpose: eating enough food to build the body of a future moth or butterfly. A caterpillar stuffs itself with food, but eventually is limited by its exoskeleton, which is rigid and can’t grow. ‘Pillars deal with this by splitting their external skin, shedding it, and making a new, bigger exoskeleton so they have room to grow. For some reason, this species of moth caterpillars keeps their heads and build themselves a strange “hat” that gets taller as they grow.
posted by srboisvert at 5:34 PM PST - 16 comments

The Seattle Public Library has set a new record for the longest domino chain... made of books (full video)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:05 PM PST - 21 comments

Click the button to get a virtual private server. [more inside]
posted by jenkinsEar at 4:47 PM PST - 63 comments

Midas is a puzzle game by Wanderlands. (Flash)
posted by oulipian at 4:46 PM PST - 19 comments

Jake Yapp presents the whole of Radio 4 in 4 minutes. (SYLT)
posted by Cannon Fodder at 2:47 PM PST - 32 comments

Fifteen years ago this month, the WB network premiered what they heralded as the first animated miniseries: Invasion America. [more inside]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:14 PM PST - 14 comments

New York City (and elsewhere) has lost its damn mind for a little something called: the Cronut. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:59 AM PST - 136 comments

OB298 — A Preliminary Atlas of Drone Strike Landscapes. This is part of the Murmuration Festival of Drone Culture.
posted by homunculus at 11:11 AM PST - 34 comments

Videos of a chimp, elephant, and leopard giving birth or taking care of young, relying on instinct and what looks like pure love. [more inside]
posted by whalebreath at 10:52 AM PST - 9 comments

Giant rubber duck coming to Pittsburgh The large rubber ducky already made its debut in Hong Kong. Now it's headed to the Steel City. Watch out, yinz!
posted by kbennett289 at 10:28 AM PST - 28 comments

You may know him as simply Paul F. Tompkins from Mr. Show with Bob and David or Best Week Ever but fans of now-defunct Comedy Death Ray Radio, Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast, and the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series know that there is more to him than meets the eye. Much, much more. [more inside]
posted by Room 641-A at 10:20 AM PST - 36 comments

What do you do with 55 gallons of lube? George Takei knows. Scroll down for his scintillating review.
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:52 AM PST - 58 comments

Internet slideshows got you down? Deslide!* [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:27 AM PST - 36 comments

See string svengali Eddie Peabody drive three count 'em THREE ladies crazy with his smooth-as-silk strumming on three count 'em THREE exotic instruments: Strum Fun, for sure! And not only was ol' Eddie a suave lady's man, he was surely one of the best violinists (when it comes to bird calls, anyway) of his day! And what say we drop in and watch the wild and crazy guy strutting his stuff, doing a bit of crooning, banjo picking, toy-violin sawing and who knows what else, with His College Chums. We'll close it out with Eddie and the Beachcombers, as the irrepressible picker and grinner demonstrates some newfangled *electrified* instruments! Thanks, Eddie, and keep on plucking, baby!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:42 AM PST - 13 comments

Classical Sculptures Dressed As Hipsters
posted by escabeche at 5:52 AM PST - 42 comments

MOOOOOOOM, I'M BOOOOOOORED Really? Didn't I just give you and your sister that thing that adds like 180 tracks to Mario Kart Wii? YEAH BUT SHE'S NOT AROUND AND MARIO KART REALLY BENEFITS FROM ANOTHER PLAYER Well, maybe I could play with you? COME ON MOM YOU'RE, LIKE, OLD OR SOMETHING So? What's your point? I WANT SOMETHING THAT'S JUST AS MUCH FUN BY MYSELF, BUT ALSO FOR WII, AND IDEALLY IT SHOULD ALSO HAVE OVER A HUNDRED LEVELS BECAUSE THAT PART IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT [more inside]
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:24 AM PST - 60 comments

Project Kronos: is a documentary film set in the not too distant future, following a mission to achieve interstellar space travel. As the mission unfolds with extraordinary results, the scientists find themselves dealing with a much bigger agenda.
posted by lemuring at 2:17 AM PST - 15 comments