September 21, 2012
"This is the best time. The next 2 or 3 thousand years will be fantastic!"
In 2005, the Discovery Channel aired Alien Worlds, a fictional documentary based on Wayne Douglas Barlowe's graphic novel, Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV." Depicting mankind's first robotic mission to an extrasolar planet that could support life, the show drew from NASA's Origins Program, the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest Mission, and ESA's Darwin Project. It was primarily presented through CGI, but included interviews from a variety of NASA scientists and other experts, including Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, John Craig Venter and Jack Horner. Oh, and George Lucas, too. Official site. Previously on MeFi. [more inside]
Princess -- Darling Nikki
Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum, AKA Princess, perform Darling Nikki with The Roots on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. (apologies if this is blocked outside the US)
Konna yume wo mita.
[Contemporary Okinawan author] Medoruma cuts an odd figure. He plays the recluse but is also an angry writer, powerful and loquacious. His work is at times beautiful, and at others horrifying, often in quick succession…
My money's still on Sammy & Dean
Inspired by previous Road Rally races such as The CannonBall Run, a modern incarnation of the cross-country rally has emerged. Since 2007, the Fireball Run has taken place, with its 2000+ mile course varying from year to year. More than just a road race, the Fireball Run bills itself as an "Adventur-rally", relying more on cleverness than sheer speed. Organizer's compare it more to a "scavenger hunt", suggesting that a knowledge of history and local trivia are more valuable than driving skill. (in fact, racers are monitored so as not to be allowed to drive "unsafely.") [more inside]
B.U.F.F. Dudes on YouTube
You may know Scooby, The Hodge Twins, Tiger Fitness, and the Florida Fitness Twins. Now meet the new guys! A fitness model and his family of filmmakers have started B.U.F.F. Dudes, one of the newest bodybuilding channels on YouTube. You've gotta dig the Thor Workout.
No to the brigades!
"Fierce fighting broke out on Friday night after crowds trying to storm the Benghazi base of a militia blamed for the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens came under fire", reports Chris Stephen in The Guardian. [more inside]
Stanley in Space
Our home food dispenser broke and I had to wait 20 seconds at the check out counter, such inefficiency.
50 years of The Jestons and Why the show still matters. It was September 23, 1962 when ABC aired the first episode of The Jetsons. This was ABC's first color program and while it only lasted a single season, its impact, influence, and popularity is still felt today. Many of the predictions portrayed in the series are coming true.
Cooking with drag queens
What do tostones, pumpkin pie flan, and egg nog have in common? Not much, except that you can learn how to make them by watching these drag queens' instructional videos.
Of course it's David Alan Grier
"Wagging my tail SO HARD right now!"
Tech company neurowear - the same people who brought you brainwave-controlled cat ears - "is now using NeuroSky's brainwave-reading headgear to suss out your emotional state and share it with your friends" on Facebook and Twitter, along with your physical location. As an added bonus, hook it up to Shippo, a tail you can wear that will wag at different speeds depending on your mood.
New Babylon Five Steam Punk Style
Bruce Boxleitner thinks he can sell a Steam Punk Saga to the Networks Lantern City exists in a parallel universe where the Victorians survived and the style of that period permeates their milieu. The site is not very old and Boxleitner has put some money behind this along with Trevor Crafts co producer he worked with Boxleitner on Smokewooda TV comedy pilot "It's Parks and Recreation Meets Tombstone." [more inside]
Italian Circus Giraffe escapes
An Italian Circus Giraffe escapes near Bologna. The circus staff gives chase, and eventually the big guy/gal is subdued by tranquilizers. Regrettably, it died later of cardiac arrest. (Photo slideshow on CNN).
The Baby Died - Morbid Curiosities found in Old Newspapers
A fellow tried to impress his friends by fitting a billiard ball in his mouth - he died. A young woman laced her corset too tightly - she died. A woman fell down the stairs, which caused one of her hairpins to penetrate her skull - she died. And, of course, many people had horrible encounters with mill and farm machinery. Predictably, they died. (warning-occasionally graphic descriptions of death and dismemberment, mostly from the late 19th century). [more inside]
To infinity & beyond
Photos of the Flight Deck (cockpit) of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, fully powered for one of the final times, by young former NASA photographer Ben Cooper
The "Twilight Zone: The Movie" deaths
"Employers could get waivers to work kids later than that but Landis did not seek one. The exact reason for this failure later became a matter of intense dispute. Either he thought he would not get the waiver because the hour was too late or he knew he could not get approval to have kids around a helicopter and explosives." [more inside]
Elmendorf tower said something large just fell off your airplane
Freight Dogs are cargo pilots, often flying under less-than-ideal conditions. An audio interview with the author Michael Walker.
Book Title: Author Name
Book Title: Author Name. Political thriller, erotica, sword and sorcery, cookbook, lock-picking manual, travel guide? Doesn't matter. Book Title: Author Name.
"We didn't ask, 'Are you seeing monsters and aliens?' They were telling us that."
PBS Newshour brings the science on bath salts (previously). Contains graphic descriptions of awesome laboratory experiments. via BoingBoing
It's a Different Nick Cave
Nick Cave's Soundsuits: Calling up echoes of wild beasts, Carnival dancers, maskers and shamans, the "soundsuits" made of a wild diversity of materials by visual artist and dancer Nick Cave have life beyond the gallery. They're designed to be used in performances and 'invasions,' creating a sense of mystery, playfulness and joyful moments of community.
Hexagon
Flash Friday Fun: Hexagon
Snicker-snack
Boojum, a spacefaring Cthulhu Mythos story run through the filter of Lewis Carroll by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (Interview). A sequel in the same universe, Mongoose, Appeared in the Ellen Datlow edited anthology Lovecraft Unbound. An audio of Mongoose is available at the Drabblecast (part 1, part 2), as well as a further sequel, The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward (part 1, part 2)
Are you a bad enough dude?
Tool-assisted speedruns seek to create a perfect run by using tools such as slow motion, scripts and manipulation of random numbers. A few TASs have appeared on the blue before, but it's easy to get lost in the archives of TASvideos. The pages of popular videos and notable videos are useful here. You could browse by platform or use the tabs to sort the videos by various statistics. A good starting point might be Actraiser (yt), a hybrid of sidescroller and city simulation, which has been subtitled so that you can understand the choices made by the author (click on the 'closed captions' button). Some of the most impressive TASs take advantage of glitches: watch Link complete Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (yt - no cutscenes) by supersliding, bomb jumping, and eschewing boss keys or a long game like Super Mario 64 (yt) completed in 5 minutes in a no-stars run. However, sometimes watching a longer, competent run like Donkey Kong Country 2 (yt) 102% is just as fun. Here are some recommendations. [more inside]
Margaret Wente ^C ^V and the Canadian Media Silence
Popular Canadian columnist Margaret Wente is facing accusations of plagiarism -- but why isn't the media on the case? [more inside]
Playing ping pong in China
"Finding my way in Beijing was tougher than I'd ever imagined. But sharpening my skills at a local youth academy for ping-pong—a game at which I'd dominated friends back home for years—seemed like an opportunity not to suck. So what if it meant beating up on little kids at the school and old men in the park? This would be my key to assimilation. Nice plan—but then I stared down the pre-teen pong machines and got my first real taste of China's national pastime."
Newscat reacts
It's Friday. Don't you deserve some animated gifs of cats reacting to a variety of topical, news-gathering situations?
Politician apologizes, is autotuned, creates beauty
Nick Clegg is so, so sorry. (YT) During the last British general election, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was riding high on a wave of popularity (previously). [more inside]
Pyridomycin: nature's isoniazid
Drug-resistant and "extensively" resistant strains make containment and treatment of tuberculosis ever more difficult. Fortunately, researchers based in Switzerland have (re-)discovered a naturally-made antibiotic called pyridomycin, which will kill isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis bacteria.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, went on sale 75 years ago today. The first printing, by Allen & Unwin, was for 1,500 copies (which now fetch a premium at auction); the first reviewer, the son of the publisher, was paid a shilling. Through a contorted publishing history, exact or even approximate sales figures are unknown; "over a hundred million" is often quoted. [more inside]
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