September 27, 2008

Japan in the Space Elevator race

Japan is showing renewed interest as another contender in the race to build the world's first space elevator. Japanese scientists believe they can complete the project with an optimistic trillion yen budget, and are sponsoring an international conference (no English) this November to draw up a timetable. [more inside]
posted by p3t3 at 9:41 PM PST - 61 comments

A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?

Captain Beefheart documentary BBC, 1997, narrated by John Peel.
posted by vronsky at 9:00 PM PST - 38 comments

What Art Students Are Up To

Student artwork from the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL. Departments include computer animation, photography and digital imaging, interior design, and others. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 8:25 PM PST - 19 comments

Heads Above Water

Laura Sanders paints realistic portraits of people swimming with their heads above the water. [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein at 6:59 PM PST - 47 comments

Next, run with scissors.

Judge a book by its cover. See if you can guess the Amazon rating.
posted by prefpara at 6:49 PM PST - 42 comments

collections of images

Beautiful, vintage children's books from the Netherlands. If you click on the cover you can get close-ups of the entire book, page by page. 655 picture books from 1810 to 1950. Some examples: The Willows l Bellaroontje l Flower Children l The Circus l The Sparrow and the Starling. There are 67 extraordinary collections in The Memory of the Netherlands. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 1:05 PM PST - 22 comments

If the Bar can get any lower...

Sami al-Haj, The TV cameraman, 38, was never charged with any crime, nor was he put on trial; his testimony makes it clear that he was held in three prisons for six-and-a-half years – repeatedly beaten and force-fed – not because he was a suspected "terrorist" but because he refused to become an American spy. There is the worrying fact of medical complicity in his torture. (previously 1, 2) [more inside]
posted by adamvasco at 12:55 PM PST - 75 comments

Zoom into Aluminium

Accomplished by seamlessly blending images captured with different photo and microscopy techniques – and some deal of illustration – delve deep into the matter, from the hair above to concrete, steel and more in the Weird, Weird Science Channel. Via forgetomori
posted by Tube at 11:39 AM PST - 7 comments

Interview Sarah Palin

Realise your life-long desire and interview Sarah Palin
a markov-your-own-adventure by metajack
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:35 AM PST - 97 comments

Paul Newman is dead

One of the great ones in movies has left us. Paul Newman died friday at the age of 83. BBC reports it was cancer. Not only a great actor, he was a great supporter of wonderful humanitarian causes.
posted by lometogo at 7:28 AM PST - 280 comments

Lyonesse - shadow island of the Atlantic

In Tennyson´s epic poem Idylls of the King, Lyonesse is the place where the final, epoch-shattering battle between Mordred and King Arthur takes place. In the older Arthurian romances, Lyonesse is the birthplace of Sir Tristan, and it is supposed to have bordered Cornwall in the southwest of England. No historical evidence of Lyonnesse has been found, and the academic consensus seems to be that the French author of the Prose Tristan got his British geography catastrophically wrong, and that he really meant Lothian in Scotland. There are, however, those who believe that Lyonesse was a real realm which once reached from the Scilly Islands to Land´s End. The people of Penzance and southwestern Cornwall certainly seem fond of stories about sunken lands, church bells in the deep, and drowned forests. According to family legend, the ancestor of the local Trevelyan family was a sole survivor who rode across the causeway to Cornwall as Lyonesse crumbled into the sea behind him.
posted by the_unutterable at 5:26 AM PST - 14 comments

He Chose ... Poorly.

Survive the Outbreak: Interactive zombie movie. At certain points of the movie you will be prompted to make a choice. What would you do? You'll most certainly die, but at least you get to come back and try again. *NSFW due to profanity.
posted by bwg at 5:18 AM PST - 48 comments

« Previous day | Next day »