Shared posts

18 Aug 11:49

Cool photo of Neil deGrasse Tyson as a college student in the eighties

by Xeni Jardin
4BihI8n

Photo: Neil deGrasse Tyson in graduate school in Texas, sometime in the 1980s. (more…)

17 Aug 17:56

Champagne bottle fights back

by Mark Frauenfelder

bottle

[via]

17 Aug 15:38

World Record in Posing as Anti-Union Image

by Erik Loomis

RosieTheRiveter_Rosie

Above: The actual Rosie the Riveter image, which did not seek to fight unions

I know I will never win this fight, but if we are going to try and set world records in women dressing up as “Rosie the Riveter” can it a) at least be the real one and b) not copy what was in fact an anti-union poster. Remember, the “We” in “We Can Do It” does not mean women. It means Westinghouse.

I get that the image has been appropriated for good. It doesn’t mean that we should forget about its history or pretend that it is what it isn’t. Historical mythology should always be corrected.










12 Aug 16:27

DICK Card Game: An irreverent retelling of the whale of American literary classics

by Natasha Tauber
DICK Card Game
DICK is at once a provocative party game and a retelling of Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby-Dick" or, "The Whale." In a mash-up of literature and lowbrow humor, the game positions direct quotations from Melville's often-suggestive text against......
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04 Aug 19:41

22 Years Ago Today, Nolan Ryan Beat The Shit Out Of Robin Ventura

by Barry Petchesky

You charge the mound because you’re furious. Because you want to hurt someone. You know you’ll be ejected, fined, suspended, but it’s all worth it for brief taste of revenge. You never do it thinking that it all might go horribly wrong, and you might wind up on the receiving end of one of the most iconic beatdowns in sports history. Robin Ventura was one of the finest third baseman to ever play the game of baseball. I can’t hear his name without picturing him in a headlock, being whaled upon by a 46-year-old man.

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03 Aug 19:47

Which Baseball Fight Moment Would You Commission As A Work Of Art?

by Timothy Burke

Our pal Shawn visited the National Sports Collectors Convention this weekend and wrote up some of his strangest findings over at Hall of Very Good. One item, however, caught our eye: this oil painting by Justyn Farano of the famous Nolan Ryan-Robin Ventura brawl that took place 22 years ago. We’d hang this in our house (and, if you’ve got the money, you can) but we quickly came up with other baseball fights we’d love to see captured by an artist’s hand.

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29 Jul 20:43

Taste Roger Goodell's Wrath With Our NFL Punishment Generator

by Deadspin Staff
Zackc43

I got a 4 game suspension for committing light treason.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is a ruddy incompetent who draws out decisions on punishing league employees in order to soak up the most positive attention he can. Until now, fans have only been to take part in this experience as third parties. Thanks to the NFL Punishment Generator, though, you too can answer a series of questions and receive a punishment—generated via a set of mysterious but certainly stupid criteria—that fits your crimes. In the end, it’s all about justice.

Read more...










24 Jul 12:39

Ravens unveil team-specific emoji collection

by Jon Meoli
Now you have more than the purple heart emoji to use when discussing the upcoming Ravens season.
23 Jul 12:27

Have You Read "The Worst Story Ever Written?" Clear Your Schedule!

by Charlie Jane Anders

Lots and lots of things might lay claim to being the “worst story ever written.” But the reigning champion, according to huge swathes of fandom, is probably The Eye of Argon, first published in a fanzine in 1970. You can read the whole thing online.

Read more...










23 Jul 12:21

Said one high schooler to the other...

by MRTIM

22 Jul 11:48

A Neural Network Designs Magic: the Gathering Cards, and It's Hilarious

by Ed Grabianowski
Zackc43

I have a tenuous grasp of how M:TG works, but this is hilarious.

What happens when you feed the text of every Magic card ever made to a deep neural network and ask it to design its own cards? Part genius, part gibberish—and maybe a little poetry. But mostly, it just makes you laugh your ass off.

Read more...










21 Jul 17:26

Bear Chows Down On A Buncha Dog Food, Passes Out

by Tom Ley on The Concourse, shared by Tom Ley to Deadspin

The beautiful lug you see in the picture above is a good bear, who after munching at a 20-pound bag of dog food decided he needed to take himself a little post-meal nap.

Read more...










17 Jul 15:31

I Can’t Stop Watching These Crazy Assholes Play Indoor Bike Soccer 

by Drew Magary

Have you been wandering around your life blissfully unaware of the existence of RADBALL? Well, my man, today is your day of enlightenment, because I’ve got a video that will blow your fucking dick off.

Read more...










17 Jul 12:40

Here's The Best Sports Highlight Of The Day

by Samer Kalaf

There aren’t many good sports highlights for you today, so here’s a dorky bird knocking a soccer ball into a small goal. The bird also dances.

Read more...










09 Jul 19:35

Get to know pesäpallo, Finland’s bizarre, breathless version of baseball.

by Barry Petchesky

Get to know pesäpallo, Finland’s bizarre, breathless version of baseball. Look at this damned field! http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-...

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09 Jul 19:33

A Dastardly Application of the Prisoner's Dilemma 

by Robbie Gonzalez

The following “opportunity” appears in a survey posted on a University of Maryland domain. We don’t know what class this problem was intended for (given its nature, we’d guess maths, econ, or psych). What we do know is we like this teacher’s style.

Read more...










09 Jul 16:16

Conan Goes To Comic-Con As The Doof Warrior From Mad Max

by Gergo Vas on Kotaku, shared by Charlie Jane Anders to io9

Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter replaced Immortan Joe and The Doof Warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road for a short Comic-Con clip.

Read more...










09 Jul 11:51

Ultimate guided meditation video

by Rob Beschizza

Join with your inner stillness, where those fucks can't get under your skin with all their horseshit.

waves

08 Jul 11:58

Quantum Trump

by jon

2015-07-08-Quantum-Trump

This was the very worst episode of Quantum Leap.

San Diego Comic-Con is on! Come on by Dumbrella (Table #1335) and say hello. I have all sorts of goodies for sale including a few new items!

SFAM-Book-2-Busines-Animals-1

The post Quantum Trump appeared first on Scenes From A Multiverse.

04 Jul 16:06

Puzzle sheds light on government policy, corporate America and why no one likes to be wrong

by Mark Frauenfelder
puzzle

Here's a fun puzzle from the NY Times. Try it then discuss your experience in the comments.

02 Jul 13:02

This is the best funny video on the entire internethole

by Xeni Jardin

This. Looping. Forever. (more…)

30 Jun 18:41

Two chatbots talk to each other: "I love crayons. But you are not dressed."

by Mark Frauenfelder

This is more fun to watch than most romantic comedies. Read the rest

30 Jun 17:11

Fail of the Day: Man tries to Cut Watermelon with Sword, Destroys Table Instead

by TDW

Attention: Ali is no longer invited to anyone’s Fourth of July BBQ.

This guy decided to see if he could play “Fruit Ninja” in real life, and failed miserably.

At a recent BBQ, he whipped out his scimitar and tried to cut a watermelon in half while it was sitting on a glass patio table.

Not only did he end up ruining the party, but the person filming the accident chose to record a vertical video which ruins everything.

For a more upbeat BBQ, check out this tiny hamster in a tricorn hat eating a tiny ear of corn with his friends.

The post Fail of the Day: Man tries to Cut Watermelon with Sword, Destroys Table Instead appeared first on The Daily What.

30 Jun 15:23

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: A New (Shinto) Deity

by Anne Laurie

We all have a job to do, in this world. Via commentor Germy Shoemangler, the Guardian reports:

In an outpouring of grief usually reserved for the passing of a cultural icon, thousands turned out at the weekend to bid a final farewell to a cat credited with saving an obscure Japanese railway line from financial ruin.

An estimated 3,000 people, including railway officials, attended Tama the cat’s Shinto-style funeral on Sunday, days after she died of heart failure aged 16 – the equivalent of about 80 human years…

From the Washington Post:

A decade ago, Wakayama Electric Railway’s provincial Kishigawa Line had been losing about $4.7 million a year. Trains were arriving at the Kishi station in Kinokawa in Wakayama Prefecture empty. In 2006, the rail line watched its last human employee walk out the door, according to Agence France-Presse. Then Tama, a stray, strolled in.

The next year, Tama was named honorary stationmaster. Tourists started pouring into the area to see her wearing the uniform cap. She inspired T-shirts and stuffed animals. She even got her cartoon-likeness on a train…

“We are proud to have worked with Tama, who appeared in this world as a savior for Wakayama Electric Railway as well as regional train lines throughout the nation,” Wakayama Electric Railway president Mitsunobu Kojima said in a statement.

“We will name her as an eternal station master emeritus,” he added.

Tama was no kitten when she took over the stationmaster job, and 16 is a fair age for a cat. To me, her expression in the news photos says “I’ve done worse jobs for less rewards…”
***********
Speaking of doing what must be done, what’s on the agenda for the day?

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29 Jun 13:57

[via]

26 Jun 11:37

Animal of the Day: All the Ladies Love Shabani the Hot Japanese Gorilla

by TDW

A gorilla in Japan is the stealing hearts of women all over the world, because he is really, really ridiculously good looking.

Shabani, who has been living at the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Nagoya since 2007, has basically become a male model in the animal kingdom.

Visitors are calling him “ikemen” which roughly translates to “hot guy,” and posting lots of pictures of him online.

And many people, particularly young women, have reportedly been flocking to the park to catch a glimpse of him in person.

According to RocketNews24, “zoo officials have commented that Shabani has increased the number of young women visiting the zoo.”

Check out the sexy video tribute to the beast in the video above, and here are some of the photos being posted on Twitter and Instagram.

He certainly knows how to pose for the camera.

東山動物園にいるシャバーニくんはイケメンすぎるゴリラとして有名だよ!!ちなみに同い年だったよ!!!! pic.twitter.com/oRASrbCHBU

— 未確認生命体@UMA (@Soundwave_love) June 24, 2015

@onakasuitigers_ ネットで話題のイケメンゴリラ、シャバーニが名古屋でみれる幸せwwwwwwwww pic.twitter.com/TuXb28Fnwj

— オク( ¨̮ ) (@TORATORA9MURTON) June 13, 2015

シャバーニ やバーイ(^3^)/ pic.twitter.com/Mv3MNpbvwt

— takeuchiyuka (@hapyyuka) June 20, 2015

モデルみたいに格好よくポーズをとる シャバーニ #シャバーニ #東山動植物園 #ファインダー越しの私の世界 #写真好きな人と繋がりたい pic.twitter.com/8Nxamk1B7p

— 葉月 (@hazukikameraman) May 31, 2015

ゴリラ一家団欒 シャバーニと奥さんのネネさんと息子のキヨマサ #シャバーニ #東山動植物園 #ファインダー越しの私の世界 pic.twitter.com/LSpmchgyEs

— 葉月 (@hazukikameraman) June 17, 2015

シャバーニ様がめちゃ誘惑してくる pic.twitter.com/rdPixKuZzo

— かとりんぬ (@katorinnu_) June 16, 2015

動物園いきたい #シャバーニ pic.twitter.com/vj5JZ8AajU

— チェ・ミキ (@mtop1205) June 3, 2015

シャバーニかっこいい笑 pic.twitter.com/rhKsQc7JUx

— まどか (@papupi320) June 5, 2015

東山動植物園のゴリラがくっそイケメン – NAVER まとめ http://t.co/oRnNoffU8P シャバーニやばすぎ。カッコいいじゃないの…♡(笑)松田優作みたいw キメ顔上手すぎw pic.twitter.com/W0t7bu67Qe

— 神近まり☀︎ImoNeko (@kamichikamari) June 4, 2015

A photo posted by *SHIHO* (@shiho0601) on

A photo posted by オク (@oku35saka) on

The post Animal of the Day: All the Ladies Love Shabani the Hot Japanese Gorilla appeared first on The Daily What.

26 Jun 11:34

#1135; Throw Back the Dead Man’s Coin

by David Malki

Of course you can live without actual, coherent ideals. Wad enough tiny strands of hair together, it'll still clog a drain.

24 Jun 15:34

2016 presidential candidates: black metal edition

by Rob Beschizza
3047747-inline-i-8b-2016s-presidential-hopefuls-redesigned-as-black-metal-bands-copy Christophe Szpajdel rebranded the hopefuls with more elaborate and distinctive imagery than is permitted by the blandly inoffensive standards of election campaigning.
23 Jun 14:02

Photoshop of the Day: Don Lemon Holds Up N-Word Sign on CNN, Internet Turns Him Into a Meme

by TDW

On Monday, many in the mainstream media freaked out over President Obama using the N-word while discussing racial tensions in America with Marc Maron.

He cited it while explaining that, despite all of the progress we have made as a nation, racism still exists.

“Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior,” he said.

The “N-word” was soon in headlines across the globe, with talking heads debating whether or not this was appropriate and reporters unsure if they should censor out the text or leave it as is.

In a debate over the use of the word with legal analyst Sunny Hostin, CNN’s Don Lemon argued in favor of Obama. He said that their network has a policy in which the anchor should be allowed to use the word if he or she “is comfortable saying the word.”

He then took things to another level by holding up a giant sign displaying the N-word, while asking viewers: “Does this offend you?”

He also held up a confederate flag posing the same question.

On Monday, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley finally announced that she wanted the controversial symbol removed from the grounds of the state Capitol.

Of course, Lemon’s on-air stunt with the sign was just begging to be photoshopped, and people on Twitter did just that with little hesitation.

Do these Don Lemon memes offend you?

Je Suis Don Lemon pic.twitter.com/rdIPHhCSMZ

— Tom Costello (@tcostello) June 23, 2015

Don Lemon pic.twitter.com/FcF5Z85axh

— 0rionsangel (@0rionsangel) June 23, 2015

Thanks, internet. pic.twitter.com/VDXzzSaqYK

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) June 23, 2015

well ok @BoingBoing pic.twitter.com/jzPvyRINrL

— darth!™ (@darth) June 23, 2015

I want to be in on the ground floor for this meme. @darth @BoingBoing pic.twitter.com/ez4DH9z217

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) June 23, 2015

#donlemon #doesthisoffendyou pic.twitter.com/6R3WalkHh7

— Yesha (@YeshaCallahan) June 23, 2015

@BoingBoing @darth obligatory pic.twitter.com/bFfzKRUBai

— Dinobooper, LLC (@SeaFisheater) June 23, 2015

Yes it does #DoesThisOffendYou pic.twitter.com/hvO65AePtB

— Nigel Int'l D. (@Nigel_D) June 23, 2015

Oh, I need to get in on this as well. @Spacekatgal @darth @BoingBoing @samusclone pic.twitter.com/zmYe5oCtwE

— Glenn Seto (@GaminGlennSeto) June 23, 2015

"@ArmyStrang: What do you mean by this @donlemon? pic.twitter.com/R7AP9mMKpa" Twitter doing its thing. Memes alert Memes alert.

— NPOB (@_NPOB) June 23, 2015

@darth @Mobute @BoingBoing pic.twitter.com/IqL6WR5z8x

— J Crowley (@jdcrowley) June 23, 2015

Don Lemon, thank you. pic.twitter.com/5seOZ0HHHI

— Brian Emo (@indyluis) June 23, 2015

C’mon, Don Lemon, you have to at least give a spoiler alert. pic.twitter.com/mzmkC41nPW

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) June 23, 2015

@BoingBoing pic.twitter.com/vt3pnFPoPc

— Supa Dupa Fupa (@omgLSP) June 23, 2015

Don Lemon asking the tough questions pic.twitter.com/624ZJhydSN

— Da Based Raccoon (@BasedRaccoon) June 23, 2015

ok louis last one because it is sweet tbh @ljmilman pic.twitter.com/8dgz6ulRBM

— darth!™ (@darth) June 23, 2015

The post Photoshop of the Day: Don Lemon Holds Up N-Word Sign on CNN, Internet Turns Him Into a Meme appeared first on The Daily What.

21 Jun 21:39

Jurassic World is Jurassic World

by noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Stuart)
The qualities and weaknesses of the film Jurassic World are almost exactly the same as the qualities and weaknesses of the park shown inside the fictional universe of Jurassic World.


It’s a Woody Allen film, the funny slightly-creepy dickhole you see on screen is the same as the funny slightly-creepy dickhole creating the story, there is almost a 1-to-1 comparison between the moral nature of the fiction and its creator. It is a self-portrait of a deeply flawed culture. Or it’s like the Hunger Games, a film about how awful it would be to live in a culture of ritualised child murder, in which the most key scenes are of expertly-detailed ritual child murder.



1. ITS A MIRROR


So the first smart thing the Jurassic World film does is make the logic behind the park the same as the logic behind the film.


In the fiction the dinosaur makers are desperate and fearful of losing money because their park is both derivative and highly over-capitalised. It cost a shitload of money to make and though it seems successful they bet so hard on it that they need to make an even-more insane amount of money back. They don't really trust or respect their product. They have Dinosaurs, which are fucking amazing, but the public is used to them and they need more. If they actually get more money, more attention, more everything, they will still be fucked as they will just piss that away on bigger and more risky investments, but that doesn't matter right now, they just need a new thing.


In our reality, the reality of the film-makers, exactly the same thing is happening. Jurassic Park is the go-to franchise for Dinosaurs and everyone has fond memories because after five or ten years, shit films become culturally invisible. No-one remembers them so, for the terms of marketing, they don't exist. Remember those shitty Die-Hard sequels? You do now but in twenty years you won't and the memory of Nakatomi Plaza will still be shining.


The producers are locked in a logic-box. Dinosaurs are not enough, everyone has them now, and, like the park and like every major summer blockbuster, they are massively over-capitalised. They need to make an INSANE amount of money to be considered a success. So they need something new. They need some fucking bullshit.


The conversations in the studio about the creation of the Insomnious Rex and the conversations in fictional In-Gen about the creation of the Insomnious Rex* are the same conversations. Even the memos are the same. And the mixture of childish glee and vague contempt with which the film regards the Indomnius rex is the same as the mixture of childish glee and vague self-loathing with which the executives regard the Indomnius rex. It’s a last-ditch attempt to save (or re-capitalise) the series, it’s also a basic admission on the part of the technicians in the park and the artists of the film that Dinosaurs are shit.


If Dinosaurs are shit and uninteresting then the moral existence of Jurassic World is void and you may as well just use the reconstructed beasts for meat and tools. That's in the fiction. If films with dinosaurs are shit then Jurassic World is like a painting by a painter who doesn't believe in the beauty of their subject. It's like a man looking at a women he doesn't like, trying to make her look beautiful and silently hating her. It’s kind of like the darker side of porn. Desire mingled with contempt. It degrades the painter and the subject.




2. GOOD DINOSAURS, BAD DINOSAURS


The way Jurassic World degrades its subject is just an extension of the way Jurassic Park degraded its subject but more egregious, with less love and more desire. A dark and recessive gene, only present in the first film, but brought to full expression in the 4th generation by relentless imaginative in-breeding.


And as I will state again, for an artist, contempt for the subject becomes contempt for yourself and contempt for the audience.


The Jurassic films have always played the trick of pimping animals as monsters.


It's an old genre trick.


A. T-Rex roar. They probably didn't roar. Why do they roar in the films? Because that’s what Alpha-Monsters do. We have learnt this from fiction. The T-Rex looks like an Alpha-Monster, so it has to sound like an Alpha-Monster. It must play the part we set for it. After all, we created it did we not? And the money that made it came from the entertainment industry. Why shouldn't it be our puppet?


B. Stegosaurus ass-up. As shown here the Jurassic films actually addressed this issue and then went back. Real Stegosaurus don’t feel heavy enough. Their tails would wag too much. They look like they are mincing a little. It’s slightly girlish, change it. Also they are too bright, grey them out.


C. Feathers. Feathers aren't scary. Feathers are feminine. Scales are scary, skin is ok. Boys like smooth objects. If a top predator is very bright and feathered we would have to shoot them differently the colour arrangement of the film would be different. And most importantly- the logic of light and danger would be different from other films. It would tell the story differently to other films, it would be different to other films. Change it. (We can add this to the theme of men in their thirties making films about childish things afraid of being seen as childish so sucking all the colour out of their films.)


D. Smaller Velociraptors. Obviously a no-goer.


I think in every case where Dinosaurs were presented in a way other than our most current and most accurate estimation of how they look they were :


- Masculinised. Less feathers, less bright, duller colours, made to look more 'heavy', not to tread lightly. Smoother.


- Monsterised. Less human-indifferent animal behaviour which you must work to understand. More human-focused behaviour that makes sense according to popular story logic. This animal is 'good' this one 'bad'. This one 'likes' this character, this other one 'dislikes' this character.


- Capitalised. Make them more like the other films, that’s what people recognise. Make them more like the IP so we can control the IP. Make it like a Trade-mark. Something we can own.




3. BUT ITS ALL SUPER IMAGINATIONS ANYWAY PATRICKS WHY NO BLACK HOBBITSSSS


If this was just a normal genre film full of inventive things it wouldn’t be that bad. So J.J.Abrams and Simon Pegg don't actually like Star Trek that much? They'd rather it was something else? Well fuck it, not much is lost, the good stuff still exists and you get some fragments of beauty out of it.


But Dinosaurs aren't Star Trek, they are a deep thing.


Reasons Dinosaurs matter


- Dinosaurs are from and are symbolic of, Deep Time. The long reaches of time change the perspective of humanity and its relation to the world in ways too total and powerful to cram into even a group of essays. I will simply say that a world in which deep time exists has fundamentally different moral implications than one in which it does not. I will assert that our relationship to fictionally-recreated dinosaurs is like a single very thin strand of our thinking about and relationship with the idea of deep time. They are that time made real, in the minds eye at least. And they are the most exciting, lively and life-imbuing avatar of that concept.


- The power shown in the fiction of the Jurassic World series is a vague shadow of an entirely-real power we will almost certainly have. We might not be able to resurrect Dinosaurs but we will be able to do a LOT with genetics. In talking about the power of our technology over life, Jurassic Park is talking about a really fucking important power that we increasingly have and that we have almost no experience with thinking about. ILM is just the herald of an In-Gen that will one day actually exist.


- In a wider sense, the films, and the Dinosaurs which are the engines of the film are about the relation of technology to nature and this relationship is probably the deepest and most important question of human culture that exists today. What is the validity and beauty and moral meaning of natural world? What should our relationship to it be? Is it a tool, a toy, a work of art, a simple means to live? if it has meaning, where does that meaning come from? What are our responsibilities?


- I will assert here that I think that Dinosaurs are beautiful and have a moral meaning, inherent to themselves, both in their actual previous existence in the real world, but also in the minds-eye are works of art and living beings, though they live only as webs of digital light.




4. IMMORTAN PAT


So I think the essential mediocrity and failure of imagination of the film betrays something more important than just a series of fictional ideas.


Beauty matters and the beauty of a strange form is a good thing to add to the world. A world in which Dinosaurs are feathered and bright and act like fucking dinosaursand the people watching have to work to understand something outside themselves, is a better world.


And, since the power and energy and life of the Jurassic films derives entirely from the existence and imagined re-construction of fucking Dinosaurs, not doing the fucking Dinosaurs properly, turning them into toys, is an act of fucking startling creative douchebaggery.


The films are based on the advances in our knowledge of Dinosaurs and those advances are actually fascinating and good and meaning-imbuing and they were ignored. This film is like a version of Apollo 13 where they get rescued by aliens.


Its weak and its awful and its morally wrong. They had the power and the capacity and the fucking mandate to make the world more interesting and beautiful andaccurate and wondrous all at the same time and they fucking failed and failed wilfully.

MEDIOCRE.





*I know, I know, it was a joke.