December 12, 2010

Plastic State of Mind

I enjoyed Green Sangha's Plastic State of Mind.
posted by serazin at 10:03 PM PST - 13 comments

Everything is better with Velociraptors

Raptorize: every week is raptor week. Via photographi-ca on Flickr. [more inside]
posted by bwg at 10:02 PM PST - 20 comments

Target Tokyo

Japan Air Raids "is an ongoing project to build a digital archive dedicated to the international dissemination of information about the World War II air raids against Japan." They have seeded it with quite a bit of material (e.g. Target Tokyo, narrated by Ronald Reagan in the documentary and propaganda section) and promise there is much more to come. [Warning, some images may disturb] [via]
posted by unliteral at 9:13 PM PST - 21 comments

Stephen Kanner, a quiet cosmopolitan

Stephen H. Kanner, FAIA. The late architect Stephen Kanner made wonderful buildings in Los Angeles.
posted by xowie at 7:12 PM PST - 7 comments

Dr. Seuss does Star Wars

Dr. Seuss does Star Wars. Transmogrifications by Seattle cartoonist Adam Watson.
posted by nrobertson at 6:57 PM PST - 25 comments

Bring It On.

An anonymous hacking outfit called "Gnosis" has infiltrated Gawker Media, hijacking the front page and leaking the company's internal chat logs, source code, and content databases along with the usernames, email addresses, and passwords of over 1.3 million users (including Gawker staff). The attack, which was motivated by what the group describes as the "outright arrogance" with which the company's bloggers taunted anonymous imageboard 4chan (semi-previously), affects every site in the Gawker network, including Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, Jezebel, Deadspin, Jalopnik, and io9. While most of the leaked passwords are encrypted, more than 200,000 of the simpler ones in the torrent file have been cracked, and the links between account names and email addresses are in plaintext for all to see. Since the integrity of Gawker's encryption methods remains in doubt, it is recommended that anyone who has ever registered an account on any Gawker property change their passwords immediately, especially if the same log-in information is used for other services.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:55 PM PST - 314 comments

Porky in Wackyland vs Dough for the Do-Do

Porky in Wackyland vs Dough for the Do-Do... A trippy side-by-side comparison of two surreal cartoons : one by Robert Clampett from 1938, and the other a color remake from Friz Freleng in 1949.
posted by crunchland at 6:44 PM PST - 17 comments

Zeitgeist 2010

Google presents: Zeitgeist 2010: How the World Searched, based on the aggregation of billions of search queries people typed into their search engine this year. Accompanying YouTube Video
posted by zarq at 6:24 PM PST - 12 comments

Cruel to be kind?

In May 2010, New Zealand introduced a new Animal Welfare Code effectively banning the kosher slaughter of animals, or “shechita”. Agriculture Minister, David Carter, rejected a recommendation from advisers that Jewish ritual slaughter of livestock be exempted from animal welfare rules under the Bill of Rights - which provides for freedom of religious practice. The new welfare code had a requirement that all commercially slaughtered animals first be stunned, and forbade the importation of raw kosher poultry. Carter argued the Code was required on humane grounds, citing a study that said the animals suffered pain. A study which Dr Temple Grandin has subsequently criticised. Jewish law prevents stunning on the basis that this is, in fact, cruel to animals. Halal meat in New Zealand is stunned prior to slaughter. The Jewish community contested the Code through the courts as a direct attack on the freedom to practise Judaism in New Zealand. Bans on ritual slaughter inevitably raise the ugly spectre of anti-Semitism. In November, immediately before the case was due to be heard, Carter made an abrupt u-turn. The practice of shechita on poultry was declared no longer illegal while the Government also agreed to negotiate the ban on sheep. New Zealand Jews will still have to import beef from Australia, where shechita is allowed. The reversal raised the ire of animal rights groups, and raised questions about Carter's motivations in considering the ban. Previously.
posted by szechuan at 6:19 PM PST - 75 comments

The must-see WikiLeaks documentary

WikiRebels, the first in-depth documentary about WikiLeaks has (rather appropriately) been leaked to the web and is now available on Youtube. (Part 2 3 4).
posted by SkylitDrawl at 6:18 PM PST - 11 comments

The Truth about Suicide Bombers?

Growing evidence suggests suicide bombers may be just ... well, suicidal. The idea is controversial and contentious, to be sure, but there is a small but growing movement among social scientists that the reasoning behind suicide bombing might be more mundane than religious "fanaticism" or "deluded" ideology. [more inside]
posted by zooropa at 5:58 PM PST - 22 comments

...but what does this have to do with Brett Favre?

You may have heard that the weather in the midwest has been somewhat inclement. Hoping for a scoop, FoxNews left their cameras running in the snowed-under MetroDome last night. The result was somewhat dramatic.
posted by jadayne at 5:30 PM PST - 68 comments

The Flip Side of Western Do-Gooderism

Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do: A damning report says that well-intentioned westerners do little to alleviate the lot of poverty-stricken children in developing countries. See also this article about the flip side of Western do-gooderism.
posted by fernabelle at 4:37 PM PST - 68 comments

"Desperately Seeking Susan" [Sontag]

"Desperately Seeking Susan" [Sontag] [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese at 3:44 PM PST - 14 comments

Awkward Pregnancy Photos

Awkward Pregnancy Photos
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:01 PM PST - 85 comments

Shiny Dangly Twinkly Temptation

Simon's Cat Vs. The Xmas Tree (previously) - The Battle Between Christmas Trees And Cats Continues.
posted by The Whelk at 12:00 PM PST - 47 comments

What happened to Qantas flight QF32, or: How to fly an A380 with three engines and a balky computer

Two hours just to sort through the error messages. What happened to that Airbus A380 (Qantas flight QF32) whose engine caught fire in mid-air between Singapore and Sydney in November 2010? One of the five crewmembers on the flight deck recounts the story, which centres on airplane computer systems as much as on keeping tons of metal in the air. [more inside]
posted by joeclark at 11:23 AM PST - 41 comments

A "tired sheep salesman and his wife" discover the West.

"Rock Springs is a mining town - coal mainly. All the men who lived here in town were not shaving in honor of the Frontier Days Celebration and did they look terrible. We heard that a prize was to be given to the one who had the best growth of alphaalpha on his mug." -- The travel scrapbooks of Ruby and Sam Anglund, 1935-1956. [more inside]
posted by heurtebise at 11:17 AM PST - 5 comments

Weasels Ate My Flesh!

Men's Adventure Magazines is a blog inspired by the 1956 "Weasels Ate My Flesh" cover of Man's Life, featuring hundreds of covers from "Men's Adventure" magazines from the 50s and 60s. (some blog entries have a little bit of illustrated partial nudity here and there) [more inside]
posted by empath at 11:14 AM PST - 26 comments

Strong at Any Cost

On a rainy August morning in 2007, the news rippled through New Jersey’s law enforcement ranks, officer to officer, department to department. Joseph Colao was dead. Today, it’s clear Colao was more than just a doctor, friend or confidant to many of the officers. He was their supplier. The first in a three-part Star-Ledger series on the secret world of steroid use by law enforcement officers and firefighters.
posted by valkane at 8:50 AM PST - 76 comments

San Francisco Symphony

Keeping Score is designed to give people of all musical backgrounds an opportunity to explore signature works by composers Hector Berlioz, Charles Ives, and Dmitri Shostakovich in depth, and at their own pace. The interactive audio and video explores the composers’ scores and pertinent musical techniques as well as the personal and historical back stories. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 8:42 AM PST - 7 comments

"Where my foot steps, that is patrimony."

The Ocucaje desert in Peru is one of the richest marine fossil sites in the world. Now that it is starting to draw attention from the outside world, questions are being raised over who should be allowed access to the treasures. [more inside]
posted by arabelladragon at 8:10 AM PST - 2 comments

Nerdsex Stocking Stuffers

Don't know what to buy your sexy nerd for Christmas? Maybe he/she would enjoy a customizable Cthulhu sex-toy. Or a "fully interactive" Na'vi experience. Or a steampunk death-ray. Or a ride on a silicone Gryphon. (All links NSFW)
posted by hermitosis at 8:01 AM PST - 71 comments

Brad DeLong explains economics

What Do Econ 1 Students Need to Remember Most from the Course?
What Do Econ 1 Students Need to Remember Second Most from the Course? [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 7:40 AM PST - 101 comments

Music from Saharan Cellphones

Sahel Sounds is the blog of ethnomusicologist Christopher Kirkley, a.k.a. MeFi's own iamck. It's about the contemporary music of the Sahel, which is the Southern border of the Sahara, focusing on West Africa. It has long been a region of great musical ferment. The most famous musicians today are Tinariwen (previously), but there's a great deal more out there. Kirkley travels around trading music, Western songs in exchange for Saharan, which he mostly receives off cellphone memory cards. Kirkley has made three compilations, Sahelsounds, the Promo CD and Music from Saharan Cellphones volumes 1 and 2 (the numbers link to downloads). Kirkley has also collected and recorded videos. The Guardian interviewed Kirkley on the subject of cellphones' effect on Saharan music, which he has written about. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork was prompted by one of Kirkley's collections to write about musical scarcity in today's infoglut society. Besides the collections, there are a lot of other songs on the blog, the entire archive is wonderful and worth reading through.
posted by Kattullus at 6:04 AM PST - 12 comments

Houston we have ignition

Blastoff! SLYT slow motion shuttle liftoff. (Up to 60,000 frames per second)
posted by troll on a pony at 5:49 AM PST - 27 comments

1984 in 1954 (Watch the 1954 BBC adaptation of Nineteen Eighty Four)

Nigel Kneale's adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four was one of the most controversial television programmes of its time. Broadcast live, it made "unusually extensive and imaginative use of filmed inserts (14 in total). These sequences bought time for the more elaborate costume changes or scene set-ups, but also served to 'open out' the action." And now you can watch it too! The full version is currently on Youtube. Short of the John Hurt film released in 1984 being posted online, the 1954 BBC TV adaptation is about as doubleplusgood as it gets for now. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:00 AM PST - 12 comments

Jul-hadi

Two Explosions in Central Stockholm. A car bomb and apparent suicide bomber. [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 1:19 AM PST - 69 comments

The Original MoonWalking

Occasionally here on MetaFilter, the subject of an FPP 'drops by' to add information or respond to comments. That happened to Robert Krulwich the other day over on his blog 'Krulwich Wonders ...'. In one of his posts he had wondered why the first lunar astronauts had only walked less than a hundred yards from their lander. Who better to drop by and give him the answer but Mr. Neil Armstrong ...
posted by woodblock100 at 12:44 AM PST - 59 comments
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