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Meltdown at Three Mile Island (Documentary)

As I type this, there are at least two nuclear reactors in serious danger of meltdown in Japan. I think they are already in partial meltdown. I don't know, because nuclear reactors are tough things to get inside, and Japan's nuclear regulatory agency is spending most of its time trying to avert disaster rather than speculating on what might be happening (this doesn't stop lots of pundits, myself included, from weighing in). For the latest, check this page from the IAEA. But despite the headlines, we... READ ON

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Mister Rogers and His Lifetime Achievement Emmy (Get Ready to Cry at Work)

In 1997, Fred Rogers was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmys. His acceptance speech is one of the most gentle, moving, humble, and powerful statements I've seen in a long time. Even the way he accepts the award from Tim Robbins -- in a gentle, curious manner, just standing back and calmly smiling at the crowd -- it's amazing. As the clip ends, his standing ovation begins. From Esquire, an account of the moment: [Mister Rogers] went onstage to accept Emmy's Lifetime... READ ON

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The Late Movies: 9 Performances of John Cage's 4'33"

John Cage's musical composition 4'33" ("four, thirty-three") is considered among his best -- Cage himself thought it was his most important. The work contains three movements, all of which contain no musical sounds at all, although the piece is intended to be performed by trained musicians. There is some time between the movements, so that people may become settled again and prepare for the next movement. During the actual performance, musicians are instructed in the score (yes, there is a score) not to... READ ON

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Phantom of the Floppera (Floppy Drive Orchestra)

Want to see how much music can come out of two 3.5" floppy drives and two 5.25" floppy drives? Check this out: From the creator's YouTube notes: Test run of my (d)iskette (O)rgan doing Toccata & Fugue. People have made floppy drives sing before, but this is my personal take on it. Features two 3 1/2" drives and two 5 1/4" drives connected to a PIC18f14k50 microcontroller. It interfaces to any MIDI source via MIDI over USB. Straight MIDI would also be possible with an additional small... READ ON

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Ray William Johnson's Zombie Love Song

Hey, even zombies need a little love on Valentine's Day, don't they? Ray William Johnson (of =3 fame) thought so, and wrote this, er, killer song to prove... READ ON

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Robot Orders Scone, Leaves Big Tip

Today's completely true weirdness: a telepresence robot orders a scone from a coffee shop in Mountain View, California. The robot is given the scone, pays for it, and turns out to be a good tipper. Now, part of what's remarkable about the following video is the whole bit about the robot (which is completely controlled by a person -- that person is visible in a screen on the robot's "face" and speaks with coffee shop patrons and employees via a mic/speaker/camera combo). So we're not talking about... READ ON

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Josh Groban's "The Best Tweets of Kanye West"

Kanye West's Twitter feed is legendary. Sometimes profane, always bombastic, often awesome -- if you can keep up with the intense volume of the tweets, you're in for a treat. Some gems from the last few weeks: 26 Jan - "NO ALCOHOL BEFORE TATTOOS" 23 Jan - "I just threw some bassoon on this muthaf---a" (portion redacted) 21 Jan - "I would like to thank Julius Caesar for originating my hairstyle" 17 Jan - "I'm one of the most considerate people in real life. Maybe over considerate. Over... READ ON

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Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

Werner Herzog's latest documentary is about the Chauvet Cave, which is remarkable primarily for its cave paintings -- dating from the ice age, the paintings are surprisingly detailed, and some show a sort of "painterly" quality. In some cases, this effect is achieved by etching and gouging the cave walls and working with natural contours on the cave walls, so the art interacts with available light (which presumably would have been torches or other fire). You can't just show up at the Chauvet Cave and... READ ON

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The Late Movies: Horrible Alarm Clocks

We've written about unusual and annoying alarm clocks before -- but we've never brought you a Late Movies video roundup of them. What follows is truly annoying and horrible. Good morning! Chicken Alarm Clock Posted by our own Ransom Riggs, this chicken's screams are a terrible way to start your day. Cat Alarm Clock Oddly similar to the chicken above, this thing basically yells at you until you shut it off. The video's author writes: "An amazing and annoying cat alarm clock from a... READ ON

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Desert Bus: This is a Long Driving Game for Someone With Nothing To Think About

Desert Bus is a horrible, horrible driving game -- and it was meant to be. In the game, you're tasked with driving a bus from Tucson to Las Vegas. The trick is, you have to drive the bus in realtime, at a maximum speed of 45mph -- which means that the trip takes eight hours of continuous gameplay to complete (and there is no "pause" feature). The steering wheel pulls slightly to the right, so you have to sit there and actually "drive" the whole time. Upon completion of the trip, you get one point.... READ ON