EYECANDY is a labor of love for the people. It’s something to enjoy and learn from. It’s not something you should gatekeep— It was made to blow the gates open. It’s forever WIP. It’s never 100% accurate. It’s a little messy. It’s for you.
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 1:23 AM on May 3, 2023 (13 comments)

The biggest concern is whether there will be enough elevator music for the entire ride.
posted to MetaFilter by tafetta, darling! at 6:33 AM on May 2, 2023 (49 comments)

"Maybe we are now reaching a point where the language of psychology is starting to be appropriate to understand the behaviour of these neural networks." - llya Sutskever, Chief Scientist of Open AI.
posted to MetaFilter by EarnestDeer at 6:21 PM on May 1, 2023 (123 comments)

“Four-Byte Burger” is a mellow video by Stuart Brown (@XboxAhoy on Youtube, but going by the shorter “Ahoy”) about his favorite piece of pixel art (“Four-Byte Burger” by Jack Haeger), how the original image file is “lost”, and his process for creating a “copy”.
(Haeger is still alive and was working for American Pinball as of 2021. The video doesn’t mention this, and he may have the original.)
posted to MetaFilter by Going To Maine at 1:20 PM on April 23, 2023 (9 comments)

I Saw the Face of God in a Semiconductor Factory [ungated] - "As the US boosts production of silicon chips, an American journalist goes inside TSMC, the mysterious Taiwanese company at the center of the global industry." (part of wired's 'let's get physical' series; previously: 1,2)
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 6:54 AM on April 21, 2023 (16 comments)

SLTwitter from Robert Komaniecki: "I teach college music theory, but I'm also a new dad. I decided to combine my professional and personal identities and make a thread of music for babies where the adult musicians went way, way harder than they had to."
posted to MetaFilter by itsatextfile at 5:41 AM on April 21, 2023 (42 comments)

Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart: (Archive) A WaPo analysis of the C4 dataset used in training large language models like ChatGPT, LLaMA, and others.
posted to MetaFilter by Cash4Lead at 9:59 AM on April 19, 2023 (60 comments)

District judge Kacsmaryk's legally indefensible ruling on mifepristone. (Single link Substack). "Essentially the district court’s reasoning is this: the FDA seems slow and bad, so as a kind of revenge against the FDA, let’s allow plaintiffs to bring suits that are plainly time-barred! This isn’t really “law” in any conventional sense of the word."
posted to MetaFilter by spamandkimchi at 5:00 PM on April 15, 2023 (16 comments)

This is a short film kickstarted from a webcomic about a gang of misfits running an undercover speakeasy in 1927 St. Louis sourcing more bootleg whisky. Their opposition is happy to stop them from doing so violently. Oh and they're all anthropomorphic cats.
posted to FanFare by flamewise at 8:24 AM on March 31, 2023 (5 comments)

Here are some interesting youtube videos in the 10-20 minute range. Why Clip Art Was Everywhere.... Until It Wasn't. by Linus Boman. How to turn your Neighborhood into a Village by Andrew Millison. How Small and How Big do Houses Get? and How much room do you need to live comfortably? By Stewart Hicks. "Weird Stuff in a Can #147: Tumeric Golden Blend" by Atomic Shrimp
posted to MetaFilter by rebent at 7:47 AM on March 18, 2023 (13 comments)

Joe (Jamie Foxx), a musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul (Tina Fey) learning about herself.
posted to FanFare by DirtyOldTown at 6:42 PM on December 25, 2020 (35 comments)

The story of the 2007-2008 credit and housing bubble collapse, seen through the eyes of a handful of misfit financial investors who predicted it would happen. Based on the book by Michael Lewis.
posted to FanFare by zarq at 4:38 PM on December 28, 2015 (42 comments)

Chronoscope World is a time machine to explore the history of the world by browsing maps dating back to 14th century B.C. More than 4,200 high-resolution maps can be displayed in a maps application on the correct geo location. You can just browse the world map or browse cities of the world.
Here's San Francisco with 4 historical maps overlaid on the current city.
Here’s Amsterdam with 10 historical maps. Hint: The slider on the right controls the transparency of the overlaid map.
The site also includes special projects such as mapping the travels of Alexander Humboldt
Want an overview? The site's creator made a short video.
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 8:46 AM on April 12, 2023 (7 comments)

An endless animation of floor 796 of a huge space station.
posted to MetaFilter by Sebmojo at 4:04 PM on April 10, 2023 (30 comments)

"To get you started, here’s an incredibly rare recording of the entire Wilhelm Scream recording session". "Not an 'ow'.... a real scream....". The Wilhelm Scream previously and previously.
posted to MetaFilter by cashman at 5:16 PM on April 8, 2023 (13 comments)

Reps. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), Justin Jones (D-Nashville), and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), now being called "The Tennessee Three," have faced expulsion from the TN General Assembly since Monday, for breaking decorum rules to join gun violence protestors (gift link) after they were not permitted to speak in the Chamber, on March 30, in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville on March 27.
posted to MetaFilter by joannemerriam at 1:56 PM on April 6, 2023 (66 comments)

Brandon Johnson has defeated Paul Vallas in a close race; here is reporting on ward-by-ward turnout and voting. In a race that was sort of a Teachers Union versus Police Union showdown, the teachers won.
posted to MetaFilter by kensington314 at 10:34 AM on April 5, 2023 (22 comments)

Major news outlets predict Janet Protasiewicz will win Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election (CNN), "flipping majority control in liberals’ favor in what could be the most consequential election of the year with abortion access, election rules and more on the line."
posted to MetaFilter by kristi at 7:51 PM on April 4, 2023 (51 comments)

Thinking About AI - "So where do I think we are? At a place where for fields where language and/or two dimensional images let you build a good model, AI is rapidly performing at a level that exceeds that of many humans."
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 7:42 AM on April 2, 2023 (110 comments)

Surely this.
posted to MetaFilter by Ahmad Khani at 3:10 PM on March 30, 2023 (589 comments)

Dyson gripped the top of a stone bollard; Wagner continued to look away. The film caught a stance that suggested majestic indifference to the poorer boys at their side, as though these boys were subjects as well as spectators. The moment passed, the morning moved on. The photographer and the local boys disappeared and the Wagner car at last rolled up. The match began.

—Five boys: the story of a picture by Ian Jack [archive link] is an essay exploring the history of the famous 1937 photograph Toffs and Toughs by Jimmy Sime, and the lives of the five boys in it.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 4:25 AM on March 29, 2023 (26 comments)

Dan Olson (aka Folding Ideas) on Decentraland, the Metaverse, and the shitty grift at the center of the (meta)universe. A long, excellent YouTube video that is also something of a spiritual sequel to Olson's Line Goes Up, also featured on the blue.
posted to MetaFilter by Kybard at 7:20 AM on March 27, 2023 (60 comments)

Gomps, short for "Generic Online MultiPlayer System", is an in-development tool that will add rudimentary multiplayer functionality to any of the thousands of games made in Unity. Here's a short video of the tool working in Firewatch, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Ynglet.
posted to MetaFilter by May Kasahara at 10:42 AM on March 24, 2023 (5 comments)

Rebecca Solnit: How to meet the climate crisis? Redefine 'abundance.' [ungated] - "Much of the reluctance to do what climate change requires comes from the assumption that it means trading abundance for austerity, and trading all our stuff and conveniences for less stuff, less convenience. But what if it meant giving up things we're well rid of, from deadly emissions to nagging feelings of doom and complicity in destruction? What if the austerity is how we live now — and the abundance could be what is to come?"[1,2,3,4]
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 7:26 AM on March 20, 2023 (40 comments)

This CT Scan site is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got all this stuff wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 5:07 PM on March 19, 2023 (12 comments)

You want squares in triangles? Erich's got 'em! You want triangles in squares? Erich's got 'em! Squares in squares?? Erich's got those, too! How about L's in circles? Triangles in circles? Right triangles in squares? You know Erich's got 'em! Packing! Tiling! Covering! Come on down to Erich's Packing Center for all this and related problems!
posted to MetaFilter by Lirp at 10:33 PM on March 17, 2023 (16 comments)

The Algorithm That Transformed The World - "The Fast Fourier Transform is used everywhere but it has a fascinating origin story that could have ended the nuclear arms race."[1,2,3,4]
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 11:11 PM on March 16, 2023 (11 comments)

If the suit still fits… “This year, we’re bringing Jonathan Demme’s groundbreaking 1984 Talking Heads concert film STOP MAKING SENSE (newly remastered in 4K!) back to theaters worldwide.”

In honor of the re-release, here's a newly remastered version of my original post from 2011, with updated links and additional info.
posted to MetaFilter by kirkaracha at 1:02 PM on March 16, 2023 (52 comments)

Don’t tell Locke what he can’t do.
posted to FanFare by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:02 AM on March 25, 2023 (3 comments)

A plane crashes on a remote island. Mysteries ensue.
posted to FanFare by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:36 AM on March 19, 2023 (22 comments)

I’m just back from an amazing trip to Italy. I’d like to read a vivid, informative, popular history of Rome.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cheapskatebay at 6:16 AM on March 15, 2023 (7 comments)

OpenAI announce ChatGPT (alt via nitter.net) with ... an unquantifiable amount of more.
posted to MetaFilter by k3ninho at 1:16 PM on March 14, 2023 (154 comments)

If you saved $1 a day for a year, do you know how much money you'd have? Roughly $30.000.
posted to MetaFilter by signal at 11:19 AM on March 14, 2023 (40 comments)

The rise of EMPRESS - How one woman turned the pirate underworld on its head, waged a solo war against the entire game industry (and won), went mad with power, started a messianic cult based on high school-level philosophy, and faked her own arrest to spite her rivals and haters
posted to MetaFilter by buffy12 at 7:26 PM on March 13, 2023 (44 comments)

Come see how the Academy handles the Will Smith elephant in the room, whether anyone dances in the aisles to "Naatu Naatu", and count up how many Oscar's go to EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.
posted to FanFare by EmpressCallipygos at 3:46 PM on March 12, 2023 (142 comments)

In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried is a short story by Amy Hempel. It is about friendship and its sad, exhilarating limits.
posted to MetaFilter by storybored at 8:51 AM on March 10, 2023 (8 comments)

Kasey Chambers covers Lose Yourself (h/t to CoverMe)
posted to MetaFilter by Gorgik at 9:12 PM on March 8, 2023 (17 comments)

On a secluded part of the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD, is a large stone wall. But it’s not just any stone wall, it is the Wall of Many Stones, a long running stone weathering experiment. Can’t get enough stones? There is a searchable catalog where you can explore the stones from your home state ( and some countries)
posted to MetaFilter by rockindata at 12:35 PM on March 7, 2023 (21 comments)

Sumplete is a math-logic web browser game where you delete numbers so the rows and columns in the grid correspond to the totals. Sumplete was apparently designed, coded and named by ChatGPT; more in Neowin and Gigazine.
posted to MetaFilter by Wordshore at 8:40 AM on March 7, 2023 (33 comments)

Actor Jake Phillips does Mark Antony's "Brutus is an honorable man" eulogy from Julius Caesar in a US Southern accent and people from the South comment on what that lends the monologue. And: several Tumblr users collaborate to translate the eulogy: "Friends, mutuals, countrymen, do not scroll past; I come to cancel Caesar, not to stan him..... But Brutus says he was problematic; And Brutus is an honourable man." (via hobo-rg)
posted to MetaFilter by brainwane at 8:55 AM on March 6, 2023 (26 comments)

The Best of the Worst Cartoons Ever was an episode of the early Cartoon Network show Toon Heads, it is said to have been unaired for posing several Hanna-Barbera productions as bad in some way. It had been preserved by animation historian Jerry Beck (who co-wrote it) and recently uploaded to YouTube by Jerico Dvorak. Here it is, 43 minutes of tremendous cringe.
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 5:05 PM on March 4, 2023 (132 comments)

So I read an article that stated Disney made a contract blocking takeover by the Florida government. The article states: That declaration is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England,” according to the document. Why? Is it a joke? Is there some legal reason?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Literaryhero at 4:10 PM on March 29, 2023 (14 comments)

[TRAILER] Harold Crick is a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he hears a mysterious voice narrating his life.
posted to FanFare by hanov3r at 8:39 AM on February 28, 2023 (14 comments)

Curious about what exactly goes on during a surgical procedure but too squeamish to watch a video of the real thing? Doctor/Youtuber TheBreakfasteur (and her 3-year old assistant) has you covered with her Playdough Surgery series. Total knee replacement. Hernia repair. Cochlear implant. Coronary artery bypass.
posted to MetaFilter by gottabefunky at 12:57 PM on February 27, 2023 (38 comments)

One week ago, Microsoft unveiled Bing Chat, a web search interface based on a “next-generation” version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology (previously). Now Bing Chat is getting weirdly defensive and lying when presented with evidence about its own nature.
posted to MetaFilter by mbrubeck at 5:27 PM on February 14, 2023 (105 comments)

Browse around the Infinite HD to see what using a Mac in the mid 1990s was like.
posted to MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:01 PM on February 12, 2023 (63 comments)

This page generates nonsense words based on a frequency list of phonemes as they occur in legitimate English words. Generated words are checked against a list of approximately 500,000 English words. An actual word may slip through occasionally but it should mostly generate pronounceable gibberish.
posted to MetaFilter by Etrigan at 12:04 PM on February 10, 2023 (57 comments)

Modern D&D leaves much of the world building to the DM these days. But back in the era of First Edition AD&D, the DM had a chart for everything, as this collection of charts from the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide illustrates. (SLGizmodo)
posted to MetaFilter by NoxAeternum at 2:23 PM on February 8, 2023 (46 comments)

What the Hell is Going On Inside Those Neural Networks? Chris Olah: "...the question that is crying out to be answered is, how is it that these models are doing these things that we don’t know how to do?...How do these systems accomplish these tasks? What’s going on inside of them? Imagine if some alien organism landed on Earth and could go and do these things. Everybody would be rushing and falling over themselves to figure out how the alien organism was doing things. You’d have biologists fighting each other for the right to go and study these alien organisms. Or imagine that we discovered some binary just floating on the internet in 2012 that could do all these things. Everybody would be rushing to go and try and reverse engineer what that binary is doing. And so it seems to me that really the thing that is calling out in all this work for us to go and answer is, “What in the wide world is going on inside these systems??” Related: How Chat-GPT Actually Works
posted to MetaFilter by storybored at 1:23 PM on January 9, 2023 (59 comments)

How the Internet filled up with wrong ideas about the origins of the iconic dummy text.
posted to MetaFilter by Etrigan at 2:00 PM on February 5, 2023 (23 comments)