1) Classic movies painted as Ottoman miniatures.
2) The six male characters women never get to see in movies. so many story ideas here.
4) Facial expressions of Olympic figure skaters. G forces take quite a toll.
5) Using two colors, this map shows where 50% of the GDP of the USA comes from.
6) A comic about economics and trade agreements. TW: mixed in with a lot of good information is some shitty treatment of Tea Partiers.
1) An alternate history of “Flappy Bird” a successful game that was pulled from sale because of the gamers abused its creator.
2) Marvel opens its image archive and api to the public. I’m pretty sure this is cool, and if I were ten years younger I might understand why.
3) Calvin and Muad’Dib. Calvin & Hobbes cartoons with quotes from Dune to replace the dialog.
4) Teddy Roosevelt’s 10 Rules for Reading. Sensible guy.
5) Male artist creates art show with woman’s art, doesn’t feel he needs to name her.
6) An Infinity of Alternate Batmen.
7) Deleted.
1) Supervillain lair in Joshua Tree for sale. So incredibly gorgeous.
2) Here’s that bad advice you were looking for.
3) Frito-Lay crowdsources potato chip flavors, with the expected results.
4) Scientist who took on pesticide finds his reputation under assault from the corporation who makes it.
5) “Motherfuckers live in places that don’t exist, and it comes with a map. My God.” Ice-T records the audiobook for a Dungeons and Dragons novel.
6) The case for a big budget Hawkman movie. Video.
It’s obvious the guy writing this is a photographer, but I’m not sure if he’s a journalist, activist, or curious citizen. In any event, his own words:
via Sherwood Smith
1) A 1600-Year-Old Viking Board Game.
2) Thor is the New Superman. Yet another screw-up by DC.
3) 160-Year-Old historical documents deliberately destroyed in North Carolina. Covering up old crimes? There are followup posts.
4) 4 Things I Learned from the Worst Online Dating Profile Ever.
5) The top 20 most annoying book reviewer cliches and how to use them all in one meaningless review.
6) Here’s Exactly How Much the Government Would Have to Spend to Make Public College Tuition-Free.
7) “There’s a book inside of you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Not Christmas-related. Isn’t that a relief?
1) Skyrim mod replaces dragons with Thomas the Tank Engine. Video. Maybe that should be in a story seeds post.
2) Mountain goats climb nearly vertical dam for the salt.
3) Iron Moon. Video. via Kurt Busiek.
4) The world’s largest mall has an occupancy rate of less than 1%. via Fred Hicks.
5) How long it takes a typical worker to earn as much as their company CEO makes in an hour.
6) Story Corps, Animated. Video. If you have been listening to Story Corps here and there, you’ll know why this is something not to be missed. If not, Story Corps is a project where two people sit with a microphone to permanently record (for the Library of Congress) a personal story from their lives. If the news has you thinking people are mostly awful, Story Corps will change your mind.
1)
Coca Cola comes to France, 1950. By Mark Kauffman pic.twitter.com/GdQetIHQI6
— ClassicPics (@History_Pics) December 23, 2013
2) Ten Things Food Banks Need But Won’t Ask For. At first I thought it was a little late for me to be posting this, but then I smacked my forehead. People are hungry all year round, not just during the holiday.
3) At first, I thought this was satirical, but when I saw that it was Conservapedia, I believed it. Those people are too far gone to satirize: Extreme right wingers rewriting Bible because it’s not conservative enough.
4) Why Marketers Fear The Female Geek. As a marketing category, “geek” is not truly going to come into its own until every kind is welcomed.
5) U of C study demonstrates that “drug-sniffing” dogs do not actually sniff drugs. What they actually do is respond to the K9 officer’s signals on when to alert, essentially giving police the power for warrantless searches.
6) Downtown Seattle’s PERSON OF INTEREST technology. Okay, so it’s not quite POI, but what the SPD has installed (and won’t talk about) is creepily invasive.
1) 16 People talk about the things they didn’t know about the U.S.A. until they moved here.
2) A girl draws self-portraits before and during an LSD high.
4) Fate Core Kickstarter price breakdowns, in detail.
5) Attn: Screenwriters: Man makes explosive from items purchased in the post-TSA area of an airport. h/t @hradzka
6) Yearbook photos of heavy metal and rock musicians.
7) A long study that measured the harmful effects that video games have on kids.
You know what’s fun? A government empowered to steal your personal belongings (your car, your house, your cash, your jewelry) for trumped up reasons, and makes it impossible to get them back. And it’s all perfectly legal.
Even better, if you’re curious about a real-life villain that would be too smarmy for fiction, just read through to the very end. Team Drugbust! Team Jesus! If you’re on those teams, you can do anything at all and you’re still a virtuous person.
Grr.
1) A male comic artist puts out webcomics under a female name and sees things from the other side.
2) Saddled with student loans in the U.S.? There are ways to get rid of them without paying.
3) The best places to build wind and solar power by the map, and it’s not where you think.
4) Best way to out a superhero’s secret identity: UV gun. Superhero tan lines.
5) The Machete Order: How to watch the original Star Wars films and the prequels in a way that doesn’t suck too much. h/t LJ user blackhanddpants
6) William Gibson on the visual and thematic virtues of PACIFIC RIM.
7) Vanishing literature: more evidence that our copyright terms are too long.