June 22, 2018

The VVisdom of Crowds

11 horror movies that critics loved but (Rotten Tomatoes) audiences hated versus 12 horror movies that (Rotten Tomatoes) audiences loved but critics hated.
posted by Artw at 11:28 PM PST - 65 comments

Ya smell that? Somethin’ stupid’s about ta happen!

"A few years back, I worked for a small, questionably honest used car dealership and repair shop. I'm a service writer, which means I'm the interface between customers (who are idiots) and the technicians (who are mostly felons). Think Tom Smykowski from Office Space. I will warn you ahead of time, I am not the hero of my stories, just the protagonist. There are no heroes in the car industry - we are all villains in our own ways." u/36055512 regales r/talesfromtechsupport with stories about Dishonest Used Car Dealership. [more inside]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:00 PM PST - 70 comments

"Mom! Dad! It's evil! Don't touch it!"

Giant Hogweed Can Cause Burns And Blindness — And It’s Arrived In Northern Virginia [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 8:57 PM PST - 52 comments

Brass Against The Machine

Wake Up from Brass Against
posted by latkes at 8:45 PM PST - 14 comments

“...embraces the old by shaping it with a modern aesthetic.”

Octopath Traveler’ Brings it Back to JRPG Basics [Goomba Stomp] “The original Final Fantasy set the JRPG standard: heroes of good unite to combat the forces of evil. The NES’ limitations necessitated a simplistic approach, but there’s no denying it was an effective one. As time passed, more games added to the laundry list of JRPG tropes. Players took on the roles of brighteyed youths yearning for adventure or stoic warriors heeding the call of duty. There’s a certain charm and familiarity that comes with revisiting these stories in different forms. Octopath Traveler, the upcoming Square Enix game on the Switch, capitalizes hard on that. However, rather than relying on nostalgia to prop itself up, Octopath factors it into its own unique design.” [YouTube][Game Trailer] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 6:14 PM PST - 19 comments

Don't play with nature boys, it'll sort you out!

The Mahlongwa River needs to be in that Ocean RIGHT NOW! Watch as a tiny trickle turns into a raging torrent. Part One and Part Two
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:15 PM PST - 26 comments

Sitting in skirts

When designing a conference, who do you expect to be on stage? What do they need?
I was recently set to co-host an event. I wore a cute blue dress that ended just at my knees. This, I soon learned, was a mistake. My male co-host and I were seated on two tall stools. As he chatted up the audience, the dress slowly crept up my legs. I spent the entire event balanced precariously at the edge of the stool, legs crossed, trying not to move too much so I wouldn’t inadvertently flash the audience. When I thought maybe nobody was looking—which made no sense, since there were only two of us on stage—I lightly tugged my dress down.
[more inside]
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:12 PM PST - 40 comments

I don't want to break it apart

ちえのわ feat.峯田和伸 (Chie No Wa, or Wisdom Ring, feat. Kazunobu Mineta) - Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra [SLYT]
posted by Freeze Peach at 2:03 PM PST - 13 comments

We call them otmorozki

No alcohol, weekly training sessions, and an unwavering dedication to fighting football fans: the life of a Russian hooligan, as told to an unsuspecting English fan (reporter) in Moscow
posted by sammyo at 1:53 PM PST - 14 comments

SHORTWAVEMUSIC

ShortWaveMusic (2005-2013) was a global sound project and documentary series which aimed to preserve the sound of regional and international broadcasting around the world. Recordings include low-power and community stations, pirate and clandestine transmissions, and traditional international broadcasters. (previously)
posted by OverlappingElvis at 1:49 PM PST - 4 comments

Up with vegetable soup... down with plastic soup

In the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, sellers and manufacturers of foodstuffs are experimenting with different ways to reduce plastic packaging. Free plastic shopping bags are already a thing of the past in, among other countries, the Netherlands; as a result, more and more Dutch shoppers show up with their own reusable bags, and usage of plastic bags has dropped by 71%. [more inside]
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:32 PM PST - 29 comments

robot security system

robot security system
posted by zippy at 12:26 PM PST - 7 comments

Fodor's No List.

Though in the business of selling travel to people, long-time guidebook company Fodor's is now also advising you where not to go. The inaugural list in 2017 told us what was too dull or crowded or full of Zika virus to rate a visit, and where you should go instead. The 2018 list is more focused on the damage that too much tourism is doing to a number of areas and places that don't rate getting your money because of human rights issues. [more inside]
posted by JanetLand at 12:01 PM PST - 60 comments

The first glimpse of Kubrick’s genius

Stanley Kubrick was 17 when he joined Look magazine in 1945 as a staff photographer, shooting feature stories all over his hometown of New York City. He spent the next five years working on stories that focused on New Yorkers and their daily lives. Looking back at Kubrick’s early photos, one can get a glimpse of what he would he eventually become.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:45 AM PST - 9 comments

Words to piss you off

Why Do We Hate Certain Words? The curious phenomenon of word aversion.
posted by strelitzia at 11:40 AM PST - 125 comments

4,000-year-old stew

Teams from Yale, Harvard, and elsewhere recently met up to try recipes recorded on ancient Babylonian tablets, possibly the oldest surviving recipes in the world. “Having an understanding of what the food is supposed to feel and taste like is very important,” says Lassen. “We didn’t know what we were looking for. When we were recreating one of the recipes I kept thinking they were doing this wrong, ‘this is not how I would make this.’ And then when it had boiled for a while it suddenly transformed itself into something delicious.” [more inside]
posted by praemunire at 11:04 AM PST - 39 comments

The Warrior Pose

How to become a certain kind of man.
posted by MovableBookLady at 10:53 AM PST - 73 comments

The dog does not die.

A big swift car squealed its tires and jerked his wheel, the car nearly tipping up on two tires as the vehicle narrowly missed the family pet. “Dammit, but I won’t be a symbol for the suffocatin’ and murd’rous weight of capitalism and the myth of the American Dream on the day laborer and migrant worker by killin’ your pup with my sportscar!” the driver screamed out his window, giving the whole Joad family the finger. And he wouldn’t. Everythin’ else — ev’ry death an’ loss an’ unjustice an’ tragedy an’ animal for the next 400 pages or so would basically drive that point home — but at least the whole time, through everything, the Joads had their beloved dog. He wasn’t very good symbolism, but he was a very good boy.
posted by ChuraChura at 10:23 AM PST - 7 comments

LAist Returns (And Here's a Post About the Thomas Guide to Prove It)

Remember late last year when the jerk new owner of Gothamist and DNAInfo shut down his string of hyperlocal news sites? The one in LA has been resurrected (LAist) and today it reminds us of the book all Angelenos of a certain age owned. [more inside]
posted by notyou at 10:14 AM PST - 24 comments

Jerry O'Connell loves North Bay

Jerry O'Connell loves North Bay, Ontario... and North Bay seems to love him back. Jerry spent last summer in Ontario's "Gateway to the North" filming the TV series "Carter" and became a local favourite and a city ambassador. [more inside]
posted by sevenyearlurk at 9:20 AM PST - 27 comments

Matt "Guitar" Murphy, passes away at the age of 88

Matt "Guitar" Murphy, one of the last links to the heyday of Blues Scene in the 40's and 50's Chicago, passes away. [more inside]
posted by indianbadger1 at 9:13 AM PST - 19 comments

Please give this post five stars or I could be banned

Many chain restaurants have tabletop tablets that let restaurant customers rate their servers. But what happens when you give your waiter 4 stars ("satisfied") instead of 5 ("highly satisfied")? Their hours can get cut, and they can be moved to less lucrative roles in the restaurant, which can lower their weekly paycheck by hundreds of dollars. What about when you rate an Uber driver 4 stars? The driver can be put on probation, and eventually deactivated. If the service wasn't perfect, what is the morally right thing for the consumer to do? (Spoiler: You rate drivers 5 stars. Always. Unless they truly, royally suck.) (previously) [more inside]
posted by AFABulous at 9:07 AM PST - 138 comments

This Is Going Well

It's time for another episode of Dorktown, and in this episode, SB Nation editor/national treasure Jon Bois and compatriot/fellow stats dork Alex Rubenstein discuss the Houston Rockets' love for the trey, how it got them to the heights of the NBA...and how it broke their heart in Game 7 of the conference finals. (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:02 AM PST - 1 comments

"... take a shot every time you experience a meme real time ..."

Tumblr user alloverthegaf plunks down $4AUD to watch "The Fellowship of the Ring" for the first time and liveblogs it. [more inside]
posted by hanov3r at 8:36 AM PST - 26 comments

Humane society tests group habitat for shelter dogs

A shelter in Golden Valley, Minnesota is testing out housing for dogs where they can interact with each other, instead of being housed separately. "Instead of housing animals individually, the new space allows for up to six dogs to live together in a shared room. Each still has their own den, where they rest and eat, but for much of the day they live and mingle with one another in an open play area. And when potential adopters visit, they're more likely to see a dog's true personality." [more inside]
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:43 AM PST - 26 comments

10,000,000 Patents

On Tuesday the 19th of June, the US Patent Office granted it's 10,000,000th patent. Inventor Joseph Marron and patent assignee Raytheon Company received this patent for a “Coherent LADAR Using Intra-Pixel Quadrature Detection,” which improves laser detection and ranging (LADAR). A new patent cover was released at SXSW in anticipation of this event, originally anticipated to occur at some point this summer. The USPTO has created a special website, 10 Million Patents, with a timeline of the intellectual property process (sliced bread, Hedy Lamarr, the Slinky!). [more inside]
posted by librarianamy at 7:14 AM PST - 20 comments

Toy Stories

Portraits of Children and their Toys Around the World - From China to Zanzibar, kids proudly pose with their treasures.
posted by like_neon at 7:11 AM PST - 7 comments

SLIM to SCUM

Multimillion-dollar lawsuits, a haze of booze and hash, a marriage gone very wrong and a lifestyle he can’t afford - The Trouble With Johnny Depp
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:31 AM PST - 83 comments

I have no idea how these cats got themselves into the water, or why

A man saves a kitten stranded on a flooded street in Tallinn. A cat is pulled up from the river Liffey by a lifebuoy. A fisherman catches two kittens swimming in the Warrior River in Alabama. A Swedish seaman rescues a cat stuck on the HSC Gotlandia II.
posted by Vesihiisi at 6:11 AM PST - 15 comments

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