5-Second Films

Via

By Patrick Brown | Via | Context (you should be ashamed)

Via | Previously: Take Me Away

Chuck & Beans

See more here.

A series of handy instructions at Pleated-Jeans.

Via

Buttersafe | Via

The 5 Most Ruined Orgasms in Cinema History – [Cracked]

Can Sex Ever Be Casual? – [Psychology Today]

Drifting Nantucket Ghost Boat Comes Ashore In Spain – [Boston]

For more than three years she wandered the sea, devoid of a captain or crew. But last week, she was found off the coast of Spain, about 3,500 nautical miles from her home in Nantucket.

The Queen Bee, a 26-foot pleasure boat, was left to drift after stormy conditions threw her passengers overboard off the coast of Nantucket on Aug. 25, 2008. The ghost boat was found 20 miles off the northern coast of Spain on Jan. 17, the US Coast Guard said today.

The Gmail Logo Was Designed the Night Before Gmail Launched – [The Atlantic]

Ever leave an assignment until the night before it was due? You’re in good company. According to a post on Quora from former Google designer Kevin Fox, Googler Dennis Hwang was up late the night before Gmail launched, working on the email service’s logo.

How To Fight off a Pack of Hungry Wolves – [Slate]

In the new Liam Neeson movie The Grey, a group of oil rig workers must defend themselves from a pack of vicious wolves after their plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. In a scene from the trailer, Neeson’s character threatens one of the animals by brandishing two fistfuls of broken miniature liquor bottles at it. What’s the best way to fend off aggressive wolves?

Pic via

National Geographic | Via

Via

MillHits | Via

A not-so-still interactive gallery piece by Scott Garner, featuring a motion-sensitive frame on a rotating mount:

Years ago I had the idea of a still life painting that wasn’t so still, but could never quite wrap my head around how to build it. After various experiments and explorations, I settled on Unity 3D as the ideal tool to make it happen.

On the hardware side is a custom-framed television connected to a rotating mount from Ergomart. Attached to the back of the television is a spatial sensor from Phidgets, makers of fine USB sensors. On the software side is a simple C application to communicate with the sensor and feed the data to a Unity 3D scene. The scene itself consists of a camera tied to the sensor data with all lights and objects parented to it so they rotate in unison.

Scott Garner | Via

The return of a Nike favorite:

The first shoe to incorporate the Nike Air system, conceived by aerospace engineer Frank Rudy and developed with Nike as from 1977. Two research teams had secretly been working in the New Hampshire factories to solve various problems related with the insertion of compressed air in the intersole: the air capsule had to be stable and without leaks, which implied rethinking the whole production cycle for the application of that particular technology. Those efforts were repaid by the huge success of the first shoes to feature that cushioning system, the Tailwind. Athletes considered them a revolutionary product: many testers even refused to hand back the shoes once they’d completed their trials.

On sale soon at select Nike retailers. More pictures here.

Click to enlarge.

National Post

Joey works the 88-Keys opener from Watch the Throne, in case you wanted to hear what it’d sound like without stadium rap lyrics.

Via

Never married singles between the ages of 20 and 34. More purple, more ladies.

NYCEDC

Headphones.

JasonRichards

From the White House Flickr Account:

In a phone call from the U.S. Capitol immediately after the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama informs John Buchanan that his daughter Jessica was rescued by U.S. Special Operations Forces in Somalia, Jan. 24, 2012.

Official White House photo by Pete Souza | Via

By Alex Ruiz:

I’ve often wondered about how the night sky looked to Van Gogh when he painted ‘Starry Night.‘

This is an homage to him, and to his painting, one of my all time favorites. We see him standing here, looking up at the night sky…probably in awe, as he wondered how he would capture the beauty he saw. As well, this was the view from the sanitarium he was staying at, as it’s well known that the poor guy was quite mentally troubled.

Prints are available here. ($4.95-$76)

6 Hit Songs Written By the Last Person You’d Expect – [Cracked]

#McDStories: McDonald’s’ Viral Marketing Disaster – [Uproxx]

Con Artist Starred in Sting That Cost Google Millions – [WSJ]

Wearing leg irons and guarded by federal agents, David Whitaker posed as an agent for online drug dealers in dozens of recorded phone calls and email exchanges with Google sales executives, spending $200,000 in government money for ads selling narcotics, steroids and other controlled substances.

Over four months in 2009, Mr. Whitaker, a federal prisoner and convicted con artist, was the lead actor in a government sting targeting Google Inc. that yielded one of the largest business forfeitures in U.S. history.

Why The ‘Check Engine’ Light Must Be Banned – [Jalopnik]

It’s pretty easy to dismiss the “check engine” light as just stupid, because, well, it is. I suppose if you thought that the cause of smoke coming from under your hood had something to do with the floor mats, then, sure, the “check engine” light is handy, but beyond that, it’s useless. But that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that the “check engine” light is a tool for the propagation of consumer ignorance about their cars. Which is why it needs to die. Now.

If 2012 Oscar Nominated Film Posters Told The Truth – [The Shiznit] (via)

Pleated-Jeans

Taj Burrow for Billabong | Via

CGPGrey | Via

6 Myths Everyone Believes about Space (Thanks to Movies) – [Cracked]

The 84th Academy Award Nominations – [The Atlantic Wire]

Mitt Romney Is, Indeed, Ballin Outrageous – [The Daily What]

Semi-bowing to political pressure, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his tax forms this morning and — surprise — he’s stupid rich.

How stupid rich? In 2010, Romney made $21.7 million. In 2011, the former Massachusetts governor made $20.9. In both years, the overwhelming majority of his income came from personal investments — capital gains, dividends, and interest.

Related: Various Reactions To The News

What Happens When A Coronal Mass Ejection Hits the Earth? – [Boing Boing]

A geomagnetic storm produces dangerous electrical currents in a manner analogous to a moving bar magnet raising currents in a coil of wire. When a CME hits the Earth’s magnetic field and sends it oscillating, those undulating magnetic fields raise currents in conductive material within and on the Earth itself. The currents that ripple through our planet can easily enter transformers that serve as nodes in regional, national, and global power grids. They can also seep into and corrode the steel in lengthy stretches of oil and gas pipeline.

Chinese Lunar New Year 2012 (Photos) – [In Focus]

Pic via

WHZGUD | Previously: Coffee Break

MovingMindStudio

Famous photographers pose with their iconic photos in Tim Mantoani’s new portrait series, “Behind Photographs.”

Via

Via

Thanks John. | Previously: The Gym

Thanks Geoff. | Related: Ravens Fans React To The Missed Field Goal

Via

Headphones.

Matthijs Vlot | Via | Previously: Hello

By Jeff Rochester | See the rest here.

Via

Chuck & Beans

Via

YES IT DOES ASSHOLE.

Pleated-Jeans

6 Scientific Discoveries That Laugh in the Face of Physics – [Cracked]

SOPA Is Dead. Smith Pulls Bill – [Mashable]

Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

Related: PIPA Also Shelved For The Time Being

Megaupload Execs Denied Bail, Have Some Pretty Baller Vehicles – [TDW Geeks]

Four Megaupload employees, including founder Kim Dotcom and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, appeared in Auckland, NZ district court this morning for a hearing that began the process of extraditing them to the United States to face charges of copyright violations, money laundering and racketeering.

Related: Megaupload Back Up Without A Domain Name

The Invisible Hand Behind Bonuses on Wall Street - [NY Times]

“You know those big paydays on Wall Street?” he says, typically waiting a beat to deliver the punch line. “I have something to do with them.”

Mr. Johnson, a consultant who speaks with a light twang from his native Alabama, has never worked for a bank. Nor will his company, Johnson Associates, pay million-dollar bonuses to any of its 12 employees this year. But as one of the nation’s foremost financial compensation specialists, Mr. Johnson is among a small group of behind-the-scenes information brokers who help determine how Wall Street firms distribute billions of dollars to their workers.

Toothpaste For Dinner

Via

RhettandLink | Via

By Stanley Chow.

Also, here is the trailer for the upcoming I Am Bruce Lee documentary, courtesy of the folks at /Film:

In select theaters February 9th, 2012.

Via

ProPublica | Via

Freddie Wong

6 Fictional Places You Didn’t Know Actually Existed – [Cracked]

11 Famous Movies Lines That Are Constantly Misquoted – [11 Points]

40 People Who Think Facebook Is Google – [BuzzFeed]

FBI Shuts down Megaupload, Charges 7 With Online Piracy – [WSJ]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down Thursday one of the world’s most popular file-sharing websites, MegaUpload.com, and announced the arrest of four of the people behind it in a global crackdown against the suspected online pirates.

Related: Swizz Beats Is The CEO of Megaupload?

The Story Behind the SOPA Blackout – [Mother Jones]

The big studios took on Wall Street—which isn’t known for losing lobbying fights—and won. So this month, when all the big entertainment companies joined forces with Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the US Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s foremost big business lobby, to fight for sweeping anti-piracy legislation, it was almost a foregone conclusion that they would get what they wanted.

Instead, Big Hollywood lost. Here’s how it happened.

Facebook Launches Open Graph With 60 New Partners – [Gizmodo]

What this means is the app-ification of your timeline. The new Open Graph tool will let developers plug into Facebook’s social graph so users can share actions they are taking on other sites. Right now, you can see that when, say, someone listens to a song on Spotify. But with 60 companies doing all kinds of different things, and now it being open to anyone, pretty much anything we do online is going to end up on Facebook. Yay?

Kodak Files For Bankruptcy Protection – [All Things D]

Struggling camera maker Kodak said on Wednesday night that it has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

Kodak said it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in 2013 and intends to conduct business during the restructuring using $950 million in financing from Citigroup. As part of the move, the company said it has named Dominic DiNapoli, vice chairman of FTI Consulting, as its Chief Restructuring Officer.

Clint Eastwood: Real Life Badass – [The Scuttlefish]

Clint Eastwood has been playing bad-asses in movies for his entire acting career, but I had no idea that he was a bad-ass in real life, too.

My friend Chris tipped me off to a pretty incredible story about Eastwood from when he was only 21 years old: the guy survived a plane crash at sea and swam a few miles to shore off the coast of Point Reyes, California, in freezing cold water that is a major breeding ground for great white sharks.

Related: Shit New Yorkers Say, Shit Austinites Say, Shit People Say In Vegas