Audacious Curiosity

explore-blog: Flannery O’Connor reads ”A Good Man is Hard to...

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 05:38:24 -0500

Flannery O’Connor reads ”A Good Man is Hard to Find” in a Southern accent so delicious you could drink it

gourmet: Inside the Tobasco Factory Miles of sugarcane fields...

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:45:56 -0500

Inside the Tobasco Factory

Miles of sugarcane fields fly by as we drive to Avery Island, a journey punctuated only by glimpses of sagging stilted houses that have seen more than their fair share of hurricane winds and flooding. It is the middle of nowhere, and yet, it just may be the center of the universe for lovers of hot spice. For here, some 30 miles south of Lafayette and 140 west of New Orleans, is where Tabasco sauce is born.

keep reading

text and photos by Sara Bonisteel

The Believer Logger: Interview with Rae Armantrout

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:57:33 -0500

The Believer Logger: Interview with Rae Armantrout:

believermag:

This is the fifth stop on poet Ali Liebegott’s pilgrimage across America to the Emily Dickinson house. Along the way, she interviewed female writers and poets, including Maggie Nelson, Amy Gerstler, Claudia Rankine and Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. Here is interview #5, with Rae…

Photo

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 05:52:39 -0500

kqedscience: Science fiction travel posters help you pick your...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:48:15 -0500

kqedscience:

Science fiction travel posters help you pick your next off-planet vacation

via io9

theatlantic: Mapping the World’s Most Seductive Shrines to...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:57:34 -0500

theatlantic:

Mapping the World’s Most Seductive Shrines to Coffee

T.S. Eliot, quite possibly the greatest English language poet of the 20th century, oh-so eloquently reflected on the passing of time by saying, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” So have we Thomas, so have we. From the borough of Brooklyn to Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, and every other hub buzzing with creative productivity, we suspect that if they’re not all jump starting their days with Nespresso at the crack of dawn, they’re fueling their weary world with the rich, velvety, caffeinated goodness of some damn good direct trade, shade-grown beans roasted on vintage gear, pulled by an expert hand.

See more. [Images: Paulina Sasinowska/Visua, David Joseph/dezeen, Jelani Memory/Coava, CLUBANTIETAM; Tasting Adventures, Masao Nishikawa/The Design Home]

leviathan8: Comet SWAN Pictured above, Comet SWAN showed a...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 05:59:02 -0500

leviathan8:

Comet SWAN

Pictured above, Comet SWAN showed a bright blue-green coma and an impressive tail. Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) was discovered in June in public images from the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) instrument of NASA and ESA’s Sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft. Comet SWAN’s unusual orbit appears to be hyperbolic, meaning that it will likely go off into interstellar space, never to return.

Credit: Michael Jäger & Gerald Rhemann

posthorn: GIF animation of an MRI scan of broccoli; via...

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 17:50:28 -0500

posthorn:

GIF animation of an MRI scan of broccoli; via Colossal, who has more scans posted.

theatlanticvideo: A Terrifying X-Ray World in Which All...

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 11:55:09 -0500

theatlanticvideo:

A Terrifying X-Ray World in Which All Predators Have Human Skeletons

Hominid, a haunting animated short, uses composite images of real pediatric and veterinary x-rays to create hybrid creatures — exotic beasts with recognizably human skulls. Brian Andrews, a San Francisco-based artist, began creating still images and then worked with a team of animators to bring them to life.

theatlantic: In Focus: Destruction Comes to Aleppo Warfare and...

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 05:51:30 -0500

theatlantic:

In Focus: Destruction Comes to Aleppo

Warfare and chaos have come to the ancient streets of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Rebel groups battling Syrian government forces moved into the metropolis in recent weeks, in an effort to liberate it from the control of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Fierce street battles and air attacks followed, leaving behind a shattered city, strewn with charred rubble and bodies in many places. An estimated 30,000 Syrians have already been killed in the past 18 months of civil war, and as many as 700,000 will have fled the country by the end of 2012, according to the United Nations.

See more. [Images: AP, Reuters]

laughingsquid: HotTug, A Wood-Fired Hot Tub Boat

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 19:05:48 -0500

laughingsquid:

HotTug, A Wood-Fired Hot Tub Boat

tiefighters: OMG illustration by James Olstein

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 11:48:19 -0500

tiefighters:

OMG

illustration by James Olstein

expose-the-light: Magnificent Eruption On August 31, 2012 a...

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:56:18 -0500

expose-the-light:

Magnificent Eruption

On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled away from the sun at over 900 miles per second. This movie shows the ejection from a variety of viewpoints as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), and the joint ESA/NASA Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: :http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11095

humanscalecities: Via Taras Grescoe London Transport did the...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:00:02 -0500

humanscalecities:

Via Taras Grescoe

London Transport did the math…in 1969. (And with gorgeous graphics.)

laughingsquid: Star Wars & Dr. Seuss Mashup Illustrations...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:58:11 -0500

laughingsquid:

Star Wars & Dr. Seuss Mashup Illustrations by Jason Peltz

theatlantic: ‘Free Speech’ and the 1st Amendment Aren’t Always...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 05:54:07 -0500

theatlantic:

‘Free Speech’ and the 1st Amendment Aren’t Always the Same Thing

Americans seem curiously unaware that, in many countries, thoughtful, modern, secular-minded people don’t reject free speech — they reject the claim that it protects The Innocence of Muslims.Under the most advanced legal norms in their countries, free speech doesn’t include the right to incite hatred against racial or religious groups.

American society has made choices about which kinds of speech to permit and which to forbid. Since the mid-1960s, we have protected most racial and religious hate speech, even while we reject threats against individuals, incitement to immediate violence, and “fighting words.” Most of those choices, I think, are good ones. Attempts to silence hate speech may begin with good motives; but, over time, they tend to silence discussion, not to foster dialogue.

But that American view isn’t the “essence” of free speech. Much of the advanced, democratic world questions it, not from ignorance but from painful experience.

Read more. [Image: AP]

npr: shortformblog: Beer “Science”: We’re pretty sure we won’t...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:00:13 -0500

npr:

shortformblog:

Beer “Science”: We’re pretty sure we won’t be the only ones to look at this chart and think “Hey, that’s a load of crap!” That being said, considering its based on responses from previous political surveys, we can’t exactly say it has zero basis in reality. So where does the National Journal think you fall on the political spectrum, how accurate are they, or did they leave your favorite brew out entirely? source

Are you a bipartisan beer drinker? — rachel

rhamphotheca: cognitivedissonance: BOOM

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:32:22 -0500

rhamphotheca:

cognitivedissonance: BOOM

nprfreshair: Stephen Colbert returns to Fresh Air today to talk...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:15:38 -0500

nprfreshair:

Stephen Colbert returns to Fresh Air today to talk about his new book, “America Again.”

But remember when the tables were turned earlier this year? A good opportunity to look back at Terry’s interview on “The Colbert Report”.

(In case you’re wondering, Stephen is standing on a chair here.)

weakenings: This is off the Bermuda Triangle, where 16+ ships...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:58:27 -0500

weakenings:

This is off the Bermuda Triangle, where 16+ ships washed up on a sand bar. The mystery is still unsolved

perf