June 2016 Archives
June 30
Edsel and Quikster and New Coke, Oh My! (Or Olestra...)
17 Great Failures in New Products and Branding (from established companies that SHOULD have known better). via Consumerist, the Consumer Reports-affiliated blog (and one of their better ideas)
"Christ these are beautiful."
Tilt shift effect applied to van Gogh paintings [imgur]. More tilt-shift fun: "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" Open Director's Cut [YouTube]
On a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me
New York’s Sidewalks Are So Packed, Pedestrians Are Taking to the Streets. A walking city has turned into an obstacle course.
You Belong to the Universe
"And all this story can be recreated solely from her search requests?"
Meerkats can control electronics with their minds.
have guitar will travel
New Trial for Adnan Syed
Adnan Syed, who was convicted in 2000 for the death of Hae Min Lee, and who was the subject of the podcast Serial [previously and originally], has today been granted a new trial.
Pupper popper
The Paintings of Ben Sakoguchi
In a series of colorful, captivating, and often provocative paintings, Los Angeles artist Ben Sakoguchi (b. 1938) examines how baseball, long referred to as America’s national pastime, reflects both the highs and lows of American culture. The son of a grocer and avid baseball fan, Sakoguchi juxtaposes the iconic imagery of vintage orange crate labels from the 1920s to the 1950s with whimsical, eccentric, and sometimes scathing portrayals of America’s beloved sport. [more inside]
Death, Destruction, And Debt: 41 Photos Of Life In 1970s New York
Today, we look at 41 poignant photos that capture a New York City on the brink of implosion...[more inside]
"neighbors inviting themselves over for dinner"
Twitch has just added a social eating category. It's not as unprecedented as it sounds: watching other people eat has been popular in Korea and China for years. "Some viewers tune in for feats of extraordinary eating, others for vicarious gratification during diets. Most commonly, viewers and observers of the phenomenon say that streaming mukbang during mealtime alleviates the melancholy and discomfort of eating alone in a society where shared meals are the fundamental unit of social life."
“Maybe nothing's so unfunny as an omen read wrong.”
Michael Herr, author of Dispatches, dies aged 76. [The Guardian] Michael Herr, the American writer and war correspondent famous for writing Dispatches, described as “the best book I have ever read on men and war in our time” by John le Carré, has died aged 76. Born in 1940, Herr was one of the most respected writers of New Journalism, the novelistic reportage pioneered by the likes of Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote, where the journalist is as much part of the story as their subject. He practised this most famously in his book Dispatches, about his time working as a war correspondent for Esquire magazine in Vietnam between 1967 to 1969.
Airbnb in Disputes With New York and San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb has charmed and strong-armed lawmakers around the world to allow it to operate in their communities. But two cities, Airbnb’s hometown, San Francisco, and New York, the service’s largest United States market, have not been so compliant. On Monday, Airbnb sued San Francisco over a unanimous decision on June 7 by the city’s Board of Supervisors to fine the company $1,000 a day for every unregistered host on its service. If Airbnb does not comply, it could face misdemeanor charges. The suit follows a bipartisan move by New York lawmakers who voted this month to heavily fine anyone who uses Airbnb to rent a whole apartment for fewer than 30 days, a practice that has been illegal in the state since 2010. [more inside]
Pentagon Lifts Ban on Trans Service Members
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has announced that the U.S. military will lift its ban on trans people serving openly. [more inside]
They know everything...
You can see everything associated with your Google account that the company is tracking. Going to My Activities will let you see and delete everything from the YouTube videos you watch to the voice commands you have used in Android. Similar company-provided tools exist for Facebook and Amazon. If you want to go one step further, Just Delete Me helps you remove your accounts from many popular services.
Stop The Hate
49 Celebrities Honor 49 Victims of Orlando Tragedy Hollywood Reporter provides extensive background and photos: Anger and grief were palpable during production on the video, filmed primarily over two days on the 20th Century Fox Studios lot where [Ryan] Murphy produces his substantial roster of shows
Science
Zero to Hero
The Economics of Genius
THIS IS SIMULTANEOUSLY THE BEST AND THE WORST VIDEO IVE EVER SEEN
Independence Day Regurgitation
In which Comic Book Girl 19 tries to explain the plot.
Editor replies to every PR email for a month with 'I love you'
'For an entire month, I decided, I would reply to every single one of my PR emails with the phrase "I love you."' The results are both surprising and delightful.
How is babby formed? How does car get pragnent?
Beans, meet plate. Have you ever been curious about what is going on inside the cars in Pixar's Cars? Want to know where baby cars come from or how cars can die? Look no further.
Here's to cinema's winning streaks
A list from the BFI: 17 rare times when a director made five or more great films in a row. [more inside]
#ausvotes 2016: doubly disillusioned
This Saturday, Australians will head to the polls for the country's 2016 federal election. For most people, it will be a choice between the incumbent Liberal party or the opposition Labor party, but it's possible or even quite probable (scroll down to 'What Vote Will Others Get?') that this election will see a record vote for parties other than the two aforementioned majors. Chief amongst these are the environmentalist-left Australian Greens, who have designs on several seats in Melbourne, and the emergent populist centrist party Nick Xenophon Team, who look poised to pull off a major coup in the state of South Australia—potentially causing a hung parliament, something neither major party wants. Complicating this further is the fact that this election is a double dissolution, meaning that minor parties and independents need a lower vote share than usual to snatch a seat in the Senate. Indeed, this appears likely. (WARNING: ANDREW BOLT.) Whatever the results may be, you will be able to stream them free on ABC News 24, which will have its geoblock lifted from 6 am to midnight AEST for election night coverage. [more inside]
June 29
On a hot day, why drink water? Let ice cold water melt in your mouth!
Listen up I got a brand new invention
Stripping away negative body image
Burlesque as an expression of body positivity [SLYT, TedX Talk]
"That's what makes America special. That's what makes Canada special."
Obama addresses the Canadian Parliament. Includes remarks on Climate Change, Brexit, the US Election, and the War of 1812. [more inside]
Ben Patterson, 29 May 1934 – 25 June 2016
robots - amazon - robots
"I said once to my board—casually, almost as a joke, 'Boy, we’d really be screwed if Amazon bought this company,'" said Welty. [more inside]
Present Shock
Seminal author and futurist, Alvin Toffler, passed away at age 87. Mr. Toffler popularized the phrase “information overload.”
Tibetan Girls, We are in the Process of Losing ‘Plateau Redness’
Memories of Butter
So do the bad people, Frank. So do the bad people.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence has some travel tips for you, citizen. (SLYT) [more inside]
Westeros does not make sense
Westeros has geography problems. The size, armies & populations of the seven kingdoms make no sense - a great demonstration of how numbers in books are written in the magnitude of plot not reason.
Well-seasoned cast-iron pans are the new broken-in jeans
"This is bigger than one woman. This is the only way to use Twitter."
Why I Created The #UnfollowAMan Movement - "I’ve been man-free on Twitter for six months and you can be too. I mean, it can’t make Twitter any worse at this point, right?" Katie Notopoulos, BuzzFeed [more inside]
brrrrm...aaaaaaaaaa
Actually, I know exactly how these people got their harmonicas wedged into their vacuum cleaners, and upon studying these videos, I understand why. [via] [more inside]
Tower of Flame
a comet passing through TV's solar system
"I want to build a robot that will make the streets of Paris happy"
Ten-year-old Eva writes a blog in French about things she does – such as triathlons – and learns – like the symbolism behind hopscotch (Le jeu de la marelle in French). She also writes about programming her fully open-source Thymio robot. She ran into some difficulty coding it, however, and with a usage goal in mind, she applied to the Paris Summer Innovation Fellowship, alongside urban designers, data scientists and hardware specialists. Her application was accepted. [more inside]
a cure for nervous disorders, dyspepsia, and impotence
Displacement for the Many and Homesteading for the Few
"America has always been about displacement for the many and homesteading for the few. Our national optimism allows us to see this as easily as it allows us to deny it. We believe things can change. We believe they already have. We believe it’s up to us, and we believe it’s our fault if we can’t." Carvell Wallace writes about The Negro Motorist Green Book and Black America’s Perpetual Search For A Home for The Toast.
“please enjoy the burnt crust of my epic summer reads...”
A Summer Reading List for Wretched Assholes Who Prefer to Wallow in Someone Else’s Misery by Claire Cameron [The Millions] “By some secret law of lists, “summer reads” often settle on books that are light and fluffy and happy. Like a marshmallow, they are usually too sticky and sweet for my taste. What about a list for us wretched assholes who prefer to spend the summer wallowing in a someone’s else’s misery? On holiday, I cut myself off from my regular writing regime to focus on the people I’m with — I understand this is called “relaxing.” As my real life is relatively drama free, this means I have dangerous spare capacity to obsess over…what? While a happy book might distract me temporarily, it’s far easier to become completely consumed by an epic novel full of anguish.” [more inside]
"...no person shall keep a live rooster, duck, goose or turkey..."
Rolling out the red carpet on the streets of New York comes at a price — those who fail to “submit an official permit application to the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting no less than two weeks prior to the date of the event” can expect to pay up to $24,000 in fines for each unveiling.How Many Of These Strange & Obscure NYC Laws Have You Broken?
DEXYS AT THE IRISH EMBASSY
Dexys (no longer Midnight Runners) are back, and here to introduce them is the Irish ambassador to Britain (his comments seem particularly poignant post-brexit vote, but if you want to skip straight to the music go to 3:45). Can you dig it?
The campaign lurches into the summer
Based on findings from experiments in political science, BuzzFeed News has designed what should be a powerful get-out-the-vote message. With less than a month before the Democrats get their convention started in Philadelphia, speculation on Secretary Clinton's running mate is rampant, and "Bernie Sanders [said] he is prepared for a floor fight at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia if the party doesn’t take more progressive stances on trade, the minimum wage, climate change and other issues in its platform." [more inside]
"[T]reating the world as software promotes fantasies of control"
Seeking paradise: The image and reality of truck art
June 28
Sad Boner Confessionals
"You can tell you’re reading a Sad Boner Confessional when a man is describing the worst trauma of a woman’s life purely in terms of what it means about him. " After the Huffington Post picked up "self-described "Media Activist" Ian MacKenzie's blog post "Love Will be the Death of Us" (warning: Huffpo), author Alexandra Erin (previously, previously) had some thoughts on the narcissistic and self-serving genre of author confessional.
[more inside]
The Spherical Droste Effect, with added twist and recursion
Threshold of Revlation
An Oral History of Angels in America. Isaac Butler and Dan Kois interview Tony Kushner, Oskar Eustis, actors, and other participants in the original production of Angels in America.
How to Build a Straw Bale Garden
When I moved into my new Philadelphia rowhouse, I was determined to grow the vegetable garden that had eluded me all those years in a cramped Manhattan apartment. But reality struck with the first thrust of my shovel: my soil — a cocktail of concrete shards and construction debris mixed with a bit of sand and dirt — was useless. Faced with the expense (OK, and effort) of building raised beds, I decided instead to go cheap and easy: a straw bale garden. [more inside]
Like a warm hug made of syrup and pie...
A Movable Feast
The Surprising History of the Infographic
Clive Thompson and Smithsonian magazine bring us a history of data visualization, including classics from Florence Nightingale to the red-and-blue state divide. Via Kottke.
Place your cat in front of the screen
Cat Game: Mouse Hunt (SLYT)
In Training, photographs of bonsai trees
The Art of Alexander Paulus
The Art of Alexander Paulus - for example: This season on Buy My Shit You Stupid Idiots; A very lucky boy; More trainer please; Tom devouring his Jerry. Some are NSFW.
The Florida Highwaymen, Jim Crow era painters who captured old Florida
If you lived or traveled through the Fort Pierce region of Florida in the late 1950s and throughout the 60s, you may have had the chance to buy a landscape painting from an African American man, with Upson board as the canvas and crown molding as a frame, and the paint might have still been wet. Unable to get their art into local galleries, this rough collective of 26 self-taught artists peddled their wares to local businesses, through neighborhoods and to tourists. Their style fell out of fashion into the 1980s, but some of the painters persisted. Their style gained new recognition in the 1990s, a handful continue to paint to this day. They are known as The Highwaymen, and their art captures the natural, and somewhat lost Florida of the past. [more inside]
When you wish upon a bra...
Victoria Coren Mitchell ponders the unrealistic purchases most women make. Especially the fancy bra.
World's Laziest Wolf Howls
Alawa (the lazy howler) is a captive-born Canadian/Rocky Mountain gray wolf at the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC), a 501c3 non-profit organization, in South Salem, NY. She is one of the four 'ambassador wolves' at the WCC that help teach the public about wolves and their vital role in the environment. [more inside]
Guaranteed to feature a basset hound somewhere
Top Ten Mamoru Oshii Films (that Are not Ghost in the Shell): does what it says on the tin, ten movies, animated and live action, which were directed by Mamoru Oshii, all of which probably offer better entertainment than the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell could.
National, just smaller
"I think now is the perfect time to start (or restart) a local digital news operation. There are few greater gifts in journalism than a blank sheet of paper." In CJR, editor and entrepreneur Jim Brady (@jimbrady) on why and how now might finally be the time for local journalism in the USA to find a business model that works. [more inside]
Of course, none of them compare to "Big McLargeHuge"
To commemorate the 100th episode of "Comedy Bang! Bang!" on IFC, here are the 100 names of Scott Aukerman.
Soviet ingenuity at its finest!
The unintended consequences of tenure timeouts
The bombshell finding was that, when comparing candidates for tenure, the success rate for male candidates increased by 19.4 percentage points after stopping the clock was offered. For women, the rate fell by 22.4 percentage points. [more inside]
My Apartment: George Lois
Video tour of legendary designer George Lois's Greenwich Village apartment. Also in the series so far: Florence Welch, Glenn O'Brien, others.
Legal Troubles
As the rich get richer, trouble continues to brew for law schools in the United States. [more inside]
MONEY FOR NOTHING
Pat Summitt
"The story of women’s basketball is so incomplete without Pat Summitt, it’s almost not worth telling. Not just the winningest coach in D1 history, Summitt is the modern game, her success mirroring its rise, her ascendancy propelling the sport out of obscurity. And now she’s gone." [more inside]
இڿڰۣ-ڰۣ—
The Game of Thrones Graveyard [Slate] [Spoilers] If you watch Game of Thrones, chances are you’ve watched the show kill off a character who mattered to you: a lord, a sellsword, a queen, a knight; someone you loved, or someone you loved to hate. It’s so hard to say goodbye, even when the deceased are fictional. That’s why we’re opening the Game of Thrones Graveyard, where the show’s most well-known characters rest for eternity. Buried in this sacred ground are brave souls who George R.R. Martin took from us too soon, likely by beheading them, filling them with crossbow bolts, slitting their throats, or all of the above. Others lasted far too long and died far too easily considering their depravity. But good or evil, they all touched our lives in some way. Leave a flower for a fallen character.
A plate of Björk and beans
In 1997, Björk interviewed musicians Alasdair Malloy, Mika Vainio, Tommi Grönlund, and Arvo Pärt in a two-part BBC documentary entitled Modern Minimalists - part I | part II
June 27
There's just so much it can't do
Needybot roams the corridors of Wieden+Kennedy, forever seeking help, forever getting stuck, forever searching for a friend.
6 Principles to Make Self-Driving Cars Work for Cities
Get goin'! *slap* *click* *slap* *slap* *click* *slap*
RIP Bud Spencer (born Carlo Pedersoli, 31 October 1929 – 27 June 2016). Italian actor, swimmer, and politician, he rose to international fame playing Trinity's portly half-brother in 1970s spaghetti westerns "They Call me Trinity" and "Trinity is Still my Name", setting off a multi-decade film career with his frequent co-conspirator, Terence Hill.
A short time previous to his death, he confessed the crime
The Westminster Detective Library plans to "to catalog and make available online all the short fiction dealing with detectives and detection published in the United States before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 'A Scandal in Bohemia' (1891)." (This includes fiction originally published in the UK and Europe but reprinted in the USA.) Title, author, date, and full-text searches are all available. At present, the earliest tale available is from 1824. [more inside]
Dinner at the Vulture Restaurant and Other Adventures in Conservation
What do you get when you set a pile of offal and other assorted body parts in a private game reserve in South Africa? An exclusive dining area for the region's vultures (one photo depicts the menu). Keith L. Bildstein, Ph.D., the Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, blogs about his adventures at The Vulture Chronicles. [more inside]
The Sounds of Cash
Auctioneer Beats smoothly slides beats under auctioneers, cuts nice loops, and puts them on Vine so you can be mesmerized.
Jack Lew's old sig: "icing on a Hostess cupcake... Charlie Brown’s hair"
"Jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed as secretary of the Treasury" How Treasury Secretary Jack Lew changed his signature from something cuddly that looked like "Oooooooo" to something that looks like "Paul J Fes." Geithner also had to undergo some signature modification, back in the day. Other US money signatures, for comparison.
Reuben Pickle Dog
But is it...food?
This Twinkie is 40 years old. What it says on the tin, or in this case the glass box.
The irony that this essay is a memoir is not lost on her
The Reluctant Memoirist: Suki Kim, the journalist who spent 6 months undercover in North Korea and wrote Without You, There is No Us talks about the implications of marketing her book as a memoir:
I immediately emailed my editor. “I really do not feel comfortable with my book being called a memoir,” I told her. “I think calling it a memoir trivializes my reporting.” Memoir, after all, suggests memories—the unresolved issues of the past, examined through the author’s own experiences. My work, though literary and at times personal, was a narrative account of investigative reporting. I wasn’t simply trying to convey how I saw the world; I was reporting how it was seen and lived by others.
Welcome to YIMBYtown
The first-ever YIMBY conference took place in Boulder, CO, and drew many attendees who are dedicated to building better cities and more housing (both market-rate and affordable). Those who support the YIMBY movement believe that Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) influence pushes housing costs higher and creates more displacement in cities. While the housing shortage is well-documented in places like San Francisco and Seattle, many other cities around the globe are feeling upward pressure on housing costs as more residents move from suburban areas to cities. [more inside]
Stoya Said Stop.
Stoya on James Deen and Fixing the Porn Industry. "She was one-half of porn’s power couple before she accused her ex-boyfriend James Deen of rape. Now she’s trying to fix the industry from the inside."
Lael Wilcox bikes alone across U.S. in 18 days
Last week, Lael Wilcox demolished the field at the Trans Am Bike Race, a 4400-mile unsupported trek from Oregon to Virginia ("unsupported" means she had to carry all of her own supplies). Wilcox shattered the old women's record by three days and became the first woman and first American to win the race. [more inside]
The Full English Brexit
Brexit: why Britain left the EU, explained with a simple cartoon [Vox] // UK appeals for calm as markets drop, EU leaders huddle [AP] // David Cameron resigns after UK votes to leave European Union [Guardian], Brexit: David Cameron rules out second EU referendum [Independent] // Brexit: Six key questions after Britain's vote to exit the EU [BBC] // Brexit loophole? MPs must still vote in order for Britain to leave the EU, top lawyers say [Independent] // Brexit: Germany rules out informal negotiations [BBC] [more inside]
HB2 is "an undue burden on abortion access"
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Restrictions. In a 5-3 decision the Supreme Court has held that the two restrictions placed on abortion clinics, namely the requirement that all clinics in the state to meet the standards for ambulatory surgical centers, including regulations concerning buildings, equipment and, staffing and also requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital "places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access, and each violates the Federal Constitution". The decision was authored by Breyer and was joined by Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor Elena Kagan. Roberts, Thomas, and Alito dissented. [more inside]
Is Polite Philosophical Discussion Possible?
It is a big part of moral behavior in ordinary situations not to kill people. Yet the morally healthy inhibition against killing people has to be lost, of necessity, in war—even in a morally justified war. It is a big part of politeness—not in the sense of using the right fork, but in the sense of civility—in ordinary situations not to tell another person that she is wrong and misguided about something she cares a lot about, or that she cares about being right about. For brevity’s sake, let’s just say it’s a big part of politeness or civility not to correct people. Yet the civilized inhibition against correcting people has to be lost, of necessity, in a philosophical argument.Is Polite Philosophical Discussion Possible?
“Just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real."
Jesse Williams (Grey's Anatomy) made a powerful acceptance speech at the BET awards, supporting Black Lives Matter and denouncing racism, inaction, and pushback. Full text here for US readers.
Caltech glassblower's retirement has scientists sighing
Caltech glassblower's retirement has scientists sighing (LATimes) “He’s a somewhat dying breed,” said Sarah Reisman, who relied on Gerhart to create 20 maze-like contraptions for her synthetic organic chemistry lab. “There just aren't as many scientific glassblowers anymore, and certainly not ones that have Rick’s level of experience. Even a fraction of that experience, I think, just isn't out there.”
June 26
*whimper, paw, whine*
Blair Braverman (previously) has a litter of newborn huskies at home. She also has a memoir coming out, and she's tired of the kind of questions she gets from sexist interviewers. (Further footage of the interviewers just being complete babies.)
Funky Funday Sunday
Breakestra is a funk band from Los Angeles. A sampling: Come On Over ft. Afrodyete • Getcho Soul Togetha • Joyful Noise • Cramp Your Style • Lowdown Stank • Family Rap • On-air jam at KCRW [via L.A. Taco Radio]
The Inspirational Capybara
Mushroom Medleys
6Password9 DNA1970
An analysis of a worst-case scenario password database reveals patterns. The dataset in question comes from a service where the original programmer created their own "encryption" for storing passwords. Before the site fully converted their password storage to bcrypt, they were hacked. Having access to all the passwords instead of just the "easy" ones allows for additional demographic analysis. Some factoids below the cut: [more inside]
Deepcut - The Shame of the British Army
BBC - Cheryl James: Deepcut soldier's death was suicide, coroner rules - "The death of an army recruit from a gunshot wound to the head at Deepcut barracks was suicide, a coroner has ruled. The head of the army has apologised “unreservedly” to the parents of Pte Cheryl James as he vowed the service would be sure to learn from the inquest into her death at Deepcut barracks. Pte Cheryl James, 18, was found dead with a bullet wound to the head in 1995. She was one of four recruits to die at the base in seven years. Coroner Brian Barker QC said the wound was "self-inflicted" and Pte James fired the gun intentionally. Her father said the family did not believe evidence led to verdict."" [more inside]
Are you ready?
There are two types of travelers in the world; which one are you? — a checklist by Sarah Cooper. [more inside]
Legendary Keyboardist Bernie Worrell Leaves This World
Bernie Worrell aka The Wizard of Woo, was probably the most famous keyboardist you've never heard of.
Born in 1944, Worrell was the kind of sideman who was as influential as some bandleaders. A broadly grounded musician, he grew up playing classical piano and was adept at jazz, rock and R&B. He was a musical prodigy who attended Julliard and received an honorary degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.
As a college student, Worrell played with a group called Chubby & The Turnpikes; this ensemble eventually evolved into Tavares. [more inside]
Why so Sirius and What's Up With The Moon?
While doing an image search I discovered "Horselover Phat's Subliminal Synchro Sphere", landing on a giant page wherein the writer presents ... um, something about Osirus and "... Incorporating Sirius,the Moon, The Truman Show, 9/11, Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Danny Boyle, The Matrix, Harrsion Ford, Ghostbusters, Kevin Spacey, Sigourney Weaver, David Bowie, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Jeff Bridges, Mike Nichols, Chris Carter X-Files etc etc ..."
His very first post from 2009, "...Incorporating Kubrick, Nichols, Carter, Henson, OZ, Baum, Jason, Speilberg, Landis, King Kong ,The Muppets & Revelations " into 9-11 and beyond was also noteworthy. Quite an archive of work to plow through.
WITH VOLUMETRIC GOD RAYS!!
Skyrim Remastered [The Verge] Nearly five years after it first came out, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues to have a very impressive fan base that keeps the game pretty through HD mods. Now it's Bethesda's turn: at its E3 press conference, the company has announced a remastered version of Skyrim coming to PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. [more inside]
Those Who Marriage Equality Left Behind
"I cannot reconcile the divide between two of the biggest civil-rights movements I've covered—marriage equality and Black Lives Matter. How can two such quintessentially American fights occur so near each other yet feel so disconnected? How were the revelers on the steps of the Supreme Court so far from the implosion of a major American city happening just up the street?"
Tweedy live in Melbourne
Tweedy is Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and his 18-year-old son Spencer. The father-son duo's debut album Sukierae, released in 2014, features 20 songs written by Jeff Tweedy with Spencer playing drums. Radio National's live music team caught Tweedy's recent Bluesfest sideshow at the Melbourne Recital Centre. [more inside]
June 25
What to do with extra apricots
I know some of you don't like single-purpose kitchen appliances, but you might make an exception for this recipe. [more inside]
sit back and relax
someone on imgur is making lists of Films You May Not Have Seen:
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen (#2)
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen (#3)
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen (#4)
Films You Actually May Not Have Seen (#5)
Films You Actually May Not Have Seen (#6)
Films You Actually May Not Have Seen 7
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen (#2)
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen (#3)
Actual Films You May Not Have Seen (#4)
Films You Actually May Not Have Seen (#5)
Films You Actually May Not Have Seen (#6)
Films You Actually May Not Have Seen 7
Bill Cunningham 1929-2016
Bill Cunningham, the street fashion photographer who rode his bike all over NYC in that functional blue smock, has died. If you haven't seen this 2011 documentary (previously) you've missed a gem. See also his video channel at the NYT and this New Yorker profile from 2009. His assistant posted this photo to Instagram 2 days ago, saying that Bill was under the weather, but some reports are saying that he was hospitalized after suffering a stroke recently.
100+ years of Holmes & Watson movies, in one vid
As part of the fanworks exchange "A Holmesian Solstice", fanvidder sanguinity made "Something Good (Will Come From That)" (video, 3min16sec), covering "One hundred years of moving pictures about Holmes and Watson." The fifty-four video sources used include Sherlock Holmes stories from several countries, including India, Russia, China, South Korea. The vidder's commentary discusses noticeable changes in cinematography over the past century, how those changes make Holmes and Watson more or less "shippy", re-gendered and chromatic retellings, and contemporary settings versus the "It's always 1895" conceit.
Make sure you’re solving the right problem
"How does an apparently intelligent person end up suggesting a solution that might, at best, constitute unethical medical experiments on prisoners? How does a well-meaning person suggest a remedy that likely constitutes torture?" -- Are the questions Ethan Zuckerman asks, triggered by a particularly dumb article on using Soylent Green and Oculus Rift in prison reform, using it as a kick off point to discuss the wider problem of techno optimism and the inevitable reaction it brings.
“This was not Holocaust education but miseducation,”
Man Who Claimed to Have Escaped Auschwitz Admits He Lied for Years [The Guardian] Joseph Hirt said he fabricated story of being sent to camp and meeting Nazi doctor Josef Mengele to ‘keep memories alive’ about history of the Holocaust. [more inside]
Scientology / Won't save you from the traffic / Ask John Travolta
This afternoon, BART's Twitter challenged Metro Los Angeles to a digital poetry slam — "haikus only" — and after several prodding tweets, Metro obliged. (Previously)
The only true form of eating
German YouTuber Eating with Two Hands insists: "I am of the opinion that eating is only true when done with the motions of our two hands. The invention of cutlery, namely fork and knife, was highly unnecessary." See it in practice: Tasty Fruit Salad (with Goldsaft), Instant Breakfast Cereal and Cheese and Grapes. Tasty!
June 24
From the Bibliophile File
It's just The Tank to us....
You might call it the "small town struggle." The problem tiny communities have with getting noticed. The Tank is an acoustical marvel, a senses-altering experience found nowhere else on earth. A 60′ tall, 30′ across rusted steel water tank – never used – was discovered in Colorado by sound artist and sonic thinker Bruce Odland in 1976. [more inside]
That's All
Le Corndog Royale.
Candidate for weirdest headline this year so far
i'm just here to kinkshame proust
An Investigation of Asparagus Pee: Ben Franklin called it a "disagreeable odour." Marcel Proust praised it as a "perfume." Here we look into the mystery of an odd phenomenon.
Taking A Whole Bunch For The Team
"Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has been dropped into your bubble bath. A bolt out of the heavens. Lie down and scream." [SL Atlas Obscura] So what's it actually like to get bitten or stung by the world's nastiest bugs? Welcome to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. [more inside]
Announcing the Stonewall National Monument
"I’m designating the Stonewall National Monument as the newest addition to America’s national parks system. Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights. I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country – the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one." - President Barack Obama [more inside]
What Happened to 'The Most Liberated Woman in America'?
"A Cautionary Tale of 'Stem Cell Tourism'" [SLNYT]
"Few patients have been as open about their quest for a cure, the money they paid and the tragic consequences as Mr. Gass." [previously, previously]
Excuuuuuuse me... or Excuses me...
Are you screwed? Missed deadline? Don't know what to say to your boss? The internet has come to your rescue with the COP-OUT GENERATION SERVICE. (Also available in Russian) [more inside]
June 23
Dive into the diverse sounds of Clorinde
If you look at nothing more than album titles, you'll get the impression that the duo of the brothers Andreas and Simone Salvatici, who record and perform as Clorinde, pull in a diverse set of sounds, from The Gardens of Bomarzo, named for the Italian park of stone monsters, to The Poetry of Charles B., with song titles pulled from Bukowski. If that's too vague, "Imagine an orchestral and oriental Efterklang reworking “Selected Ambient Works” by Aphex Twin." [more inside]
“They’d tell me, 'Music is a hearing thing. It’s not for deaf people'."
Amber Galloway Gallego is an ASL-based music interpreter who has worked with Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Destiny's Child, Paul McCartney, and many more rappers, R&B stars, and rock bands. Her YouTube channel is chock full of music interpretation for deaf audiences. [more inside]
“You can just imagine the wind whistling in your ears...”
Happy 20th Birthday, Quake by John Romero [rome.ro] “Twenty years. Wow. Where has all the time gone? We've all had many adventures during those years and Quake spawned many a game franchise and/or game company whether directly or through its influence. For this 20th I'm going to share a document created by Joost Shuur called QUAKETALK 95. This Quake FAQ was created on 10/22/1995 to keep people up to date on everything that had been posted about Quake up to that point. People wanted to know what the game was about and information was spread thin all over the place: magazine articles, IRC logs, even in hint books.” [You can download QUAKETALK 95 here.] [more inside]
Spare Me Over
Dr Ralph Stanley has passed at age 89
A 2002 Grammy winner and perpetrator of the high lonesome sound he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.
O Death YT[more inside]
and a star to steer her by
Being on a 61-foot vessel with no engine in the middle of the ocean is, indeed, as tough as it might seem. The Hokule'a is on a mission. Catch them on their east coast tour!
The Ultimate FPP
Ultimate Frisbee is currently having its world championships in London. But before you pass this post by as just a post about an awesome sport...step inside [more inside]
Can the Can
Everybody needs a hobby
Katherine Dey is a Registered Nurse who also likes to make cakes. And comfort dolls. And sculptures. And body art.
It's basically first seaon Serial meets schlocky TV murder mystery
Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder [iTunes] is podcast documentary in ten episodes about the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan in 1987. The main producer, Peter Jukes, is a TV screenwriter and political activist who became obsessed with the Morgan murder and has turned that obsession into a podcast. He is not the only one still interested, as the UK government set up the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel to review the case and look into "police handling of the murder investigation" and "connections between private investigators, police officers and journalists" after years of pressure by Morgan's family. So far there have been four episodes, with new ones coming each week.
what rough beast, its hour come round at last
Validating fodar in the Artic Circle
Tallest Mountain in US Arctic Found Using New Technique A 50 year debate has been settled by collaboration between glaciologist Matt Nolan and champion skier Kit DesLauriers.
WOOOOOOOOOO: the Tangled History of the Oldest Wrestling Championship
Regional rivalries, bad business decisions, money, television, big egos, and sweaty, shirtless men: the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. [more inside]
"Have you ever had a riot?"
The consequences will be wide-ranging if the canal does not deliver.
NYTimes on the newly-rebuilt Panama Canal: "In simple terms, to be successful, the new canal needs enough water, durable concrete and locks big enough to safely accommodate the larger ships. On all three counts, it has failed to meet expectations." [more inside]
Translated, he says: "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, we are winning this."
Iceland is in the European Cup football tournament for the first time. In their last game, they were tied 1-1 until the last minute when an Icelandic attacker made a move and scored. This means Iceland will move on to the next round. Listen to the Icelandic announcer absolutely lose his mind for joy.
Innclusive aims to solve Airbnb's discrimination problem
Airbnb has been accused of discrimination, as Black travelers find it difficult to book reservations under the popular hosting startup. To book on Airbnb, renters must provide real names and photographs. They have taken to Twitter to share their complaints under #AirbnbWhileBlack.
Two tech startups try to address this problem with services called Noirbnb and Noirebnb. They might join forces and rename their company to Innclusive, which will connect welcoming hosts with travelers of color.
Do you wish this service wasn't necessary in the first place?
June 22
If We Wrote Men Like We Write Women
Author Jim C. Hines (previously, previously, previously, previously) once again takes a look at sexism in Science Fiction and Fantasy, this time looking at the written word.
What if you swapped the genders in classic SF&F novels?
What if you swapped the genders in classic SF&F novels?
Spoon Planet: the largest collection of sterling silver spoons online
"The Souvenir and Commemorative Spoon Planet Museum is the largest collection of sterling silver souvenir spoons on the internet. You will find a huge and eclectic mix of unusual silver spoons for your viewing PLEASURE." Spoon Planet started out somewhere on GeoCities, where it lived for a decade before moving to Spoon Planet dot com, where it retains it's Web v1 charm (and some of it's GeoCities-specific code). But we're not here for the layout, we're here for the spoon exhibits! From advertising spoons and African spoons to Yogyakarta flatware and Zodiac spoons, the site includes silver spoons from around the world and across the decades.
Cherry Replica wasn’t a blockbuster per se....
The (menacing) pumkpin is only one of the many novelty keys available on Keypuller a community effort to catalog every computer keyboard key cap ever produced. Please consider contributing and enjoy the small selection of keyboard mods they have. Shopping options, including many other novelty keys available at PimpMyKeyboard. Love this stuff and wondering where your people are? Head over to Geekhack, a very busy forum of keyboard enthusiasts. [previously, via]
Geronimooooo!!!!
Some time in the late 1940s, a very patient, elderly beaver called Geronimo was put in a box, flown to an altitude of between 150 and 200 metres, and tossed out the side of an aeroplane. Over and over and over again. See also: Elmo W. Heter, Transplanting Beavers by Airplane and Parachute, Journal of Wildlife Management, 14(2), April 1950, 143-147.
Bill's Port Smaps
Hand-drawn maps of Negro League teams, defunct NFL teams, the first NHL league, Ukrainian FCs. More maps, hand-drawn and not.
"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Ride your bike there!"
NYC Streets Metamorphosis looks back at the transformation of Times Square, Herald Square, the Brooklyn waterfront and other locations around NYC that are shifting away from their automobile-centric past. From Streetfilms, a part of the Streetsblog network.
UK Goes To Polls In EU Referendum
The day is finally here, the UK decides. BBC: "Britain is set to go to the polls in an historic referendum on whether the country should remain a member of the European Union or leave.
Polling stations are open between 07:00 BST and 22:00 BST.
An estimated 46,499,537 people are entitled to take part in the vote - a record number for a UK election.
It is only the third nationwide referendum in UK history and comes after a four-month battle for votes between the Leave and Remain campaigns.
In common with other broadcasters, the BBC is limited in what it can report while polls are open but you can follow the results as they come in across the BBC after polls close on Thursday evening." [more inside]
The Ups and Downs of the Baltic Dry Index
Though obfuscated by rapid increases in China's shipping fleet, it has reliably predicted economic downturns. [SL New Yorker] It reflects the rates that freight carriers charge to haul raw materials, and has emerged as an unlikely barometer of economic health.
Could a neuroscientist understand a microprocessor?
Studying the 6502 chip using the tools we have available to study nematode brains and the like. The paper (PDF).
Sorry Converse, it's been done
Sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!
"I have found a new way to watch TV, and it changes everything" — Jeff Guo of Wonkblog discusses how his new habit of fast-forwarding TV relates to the history of reading, and considers the role of the content creator in an age of hackable content. (non-WaPo link)
"Polish folk-techno or metalcore with Harry Potter fanfic lyrics. "
If You Do That, The Robots Win: Glenn McDonald, music critic and creator of Every Noise At Once talks about how algorithmic music recommendation happens:
So now I work at Spotify as a zookeeper for playlist-making robots. Recommendation robots have existed for a while now, but people have mostly used them for shopping. Go find me things I might want to buy. "You bought a snorkel, maybe you'd like to buy these other snorkels?" But what streaming music makes possible, which online music stores did not, is actual programmed music experiences. Instead of trying to sell you more snorkels, these robots can take you out to swim around with the funny-looking fish. And as robots begin to craft your actual listening experience, it is reasonable, and maybe even morally imperative, to ask if a playlist robot can have an authorial voice, and, if so, what it is?[more inside]
Orthodox Jews organize against their former high schools
Young Advocates For Fair Education, or YAFFED, is an NYC-based advocacy group of Orthodox Jewish youth and young adults who complain that their limited high school educations left them ill-equipped to support themselves as adults, and demand that the New York City and New York State education departments enforce laws on minimum school standards. Recently the ED of YAFFED co-wrote an op-ed, Why Do Jewish Leaders Keep Ignoring Ultra-Orthodox Education Crisis?
Lotteries were all the rage in eighteenth-century Paris.
Voltaire’s Luck by Roger Pearson [Lapham's Quarterly] “It was once said of Voltaire, by his friend the Marquis d’Argenson, that “our great poet forever has one foot on Mount Parnassus and the other in the rue Quincampoix.” The rue Quincampoix was the Wall Street of eighteenth-century Paris; the country’s most celebrated writer of epic and dramatic verse had a keen eye for investment opportunities. By the time d’Argenson made his remark, in 1751, Voltaire had amassed a fortune. He owed it all to a lottery win. Or, to be more precise, to several wins.”
"I may have learned my lesson, but maybe not."
Are you having one of those days? At least you're not stuck inside a Barney head, right? [more inside]
Legal Bodies
China has very strict controls on moving money out of the country. China's new president, Xi Jinping, has been cracking down on corruption at the highest levels, consolidating his control over the government. What to do if you're a corrupt official worried you may find yourself on the wrong side of the new regime? Buy a Japanese son. Japanese surrogacy ring producing Japanese-citizen babies for Chinese nationals: Part 1, Part 2
And then that’s when I seen the feet coming out the side of the doe
Hunter and apparently uber-Canadian Sean Steele performs a C-section on a pregnant roadkill deer. (Article and pics only, SFW)
Psychology of Fighting: Before, During, and After
This Is Your Brain On War: “There was this police officer in Florida,” he says. “She was shot 10 times, and in the middle of this gunfight she says to herself, ‘I’m getting married in six months and you’re not going to stop me.’ And she killed the two bastards who shot her. She was back on the job a year later. So, yes, these are irrational thoughts, but at the same time, they’re motivating thoughts.”
No bill, no break
Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and more than 40 Democrats are staging a sit-in on the US house floor. Occupiers are demanding a vote on gun control measures. In response, Speaker Paul Ryan has turned off the cameras.
case/lang/veirs
16 year-old-me would probably be disappointed w/39 year-old me
The secret of taste: why we like what we like (slTheGuardianlongread)
Apollo 19
Photos of the unused first stage from the cancelled Apollo 19 being transported to its final resting spot at Infinity Science Center in Pearlington, Mississippi. [more inside]
seinfeld.wad
"Fellow fans of Seinfeld and Doom* [...] After over 100 hours of work, I present to you a replica of Jerry Seinfeld's Apartment from his hit sitcom, Seinfeld! " [more inside]
A New Class Of Living Medicines
Hacking Gut Bacteria Could Be The Future Of Medicine "In new research, biologists and medical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are doing just that by reprogramming gut bacteria to act as “living therapeutics” that can correct the metabolic dysfunctions underlying certain ailments." [...]
“Synlogic is programming these probiotic microbes to consume ammonia or phenylalanine,” Collins explained in a statement. “They are reaching levels that are expected to be clinically meaningful, which is quite remarkable.” Ultimately, Synlogic is looking to create synthetic biotic treatments for not only rare genetic disorders but also for a range of ailments with metabolic components, including autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease and central nervous system disorders.
“Peeing’s queer!” I cried, the modern father’s last lament.
Do you have the votes?
The Shag Map Click the states you've been to, and the states where you've been shagged. If you can get 270 electoral votes, you're a Presidential Shagger! [more inside]
Where Are My Pandas?
Here's a great new game: Find the ThingX among a sea of ThingYs... It began with a panda in a picture full of snowmen. Then a cat in a flock of owls. (YOLO: You Obviously Like Owls) Another panda, hidden among elephants (harder than you'd expect). More pandas among Star Wars Stormtroopers and Black Metal Rockers. Also, for Star Wars Fans and all movie lovers, one Oscar among dozens of C3POs. A literal Easter Egg among bunnies. Some puzzles like these are easier (and less creative) than others. And the latest and greatest: find a certain celebrity/candidate's hair in a pile of tribbles.
The shining
June 21
Tell Me I'm Fat
The way people talk about being fat is shifting. With one-third of Americans classified as overweight, and another third as obese, and almost none of us losing weight and keeping it off. Three different perspectives on being a fat woman in the USA. Coming to terms with being fat, fighting what seems to be a loosing battle and the in between.
Help has arrived
What do you get when you give the directors of such music videos as DJ Snake & Lil' Jon's Turn Down for What [previously] or Manchester Orchestra's Simple Math [previously] a movie to direct? You get Swiss Army Man (trailer). And when you have a movie that features the magical, flatulent corpse played by Daniel Radcliffe, how do you promote it online? With a virtual swiss army man (warning: possibly NSFW for optional* full-screen video bikini-clad women and a .. helpful erection) [more inside]
The Perfect, Perfect Corned Beef
The Satoshi Affair
"He put a gun to our head and pulled the trigger," MacGregor told me. "The world is still going to think we got fooled, but I know the facts. He has the keys." Remarkable (and very, very long) article from Andrew O’Hagan, who for six months shadowed Craig Wright from his escape from Australia all the way through his disastrous reveal as Satoshi Nakamoto.
the mushroom-shaped shifter automatically returns to center
Here's The Problem With Jeep's Recalled Gear Shifter (David Tracy, Jalopnik). See also Consumer Reports' YT video (published May 19, 2016), Fiat Chrysler Recalls Confusing Shifters.
two memes enter
IN THIS CORNER:
Red Hot Nickel Ball vs. Ribeye Steak
Red Hot NIckel Ball vs. Floral Foam
AND IN THIS CORNER:
Hydraulic Press VS Book
Hydraulic Press vs Diamond
THE EVENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR:
Red Hot Nickel Balls vs. Hydraulic Press [more inside]
Red Hot Nickel Ball vs. Ribeye Steak
Red Hot NIckel Ball vs. Floral Foam
AND IN THIS CORNER:
Hydraulic Press VS Book
Hydraulic Press vs Diamond
THE EVENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR:
Red Hot Nickel Balls vs. Hydraulic Press [more inside]
There is a train directly behind this one.
Did I have a stroke or did the mage just heal too hard?
“We learned that people don't like seeing their heroes deconstructed.”
A Hater Tours The JUSTICE LEAGUE Set by Devin Faraci [Birth. Movies. Death.] Have DC Films and Zack Snyder learned from BvS? Devin went to London to find out. [more inside]
that's rough, buddy
Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion: A small asteroid has been discovered in an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth, and it will remain so for centuries to come. [more inside]
Some days....
The Bears Who Came to Town and Would Not Go Away. "This is the story of a place at the edge of the world, where a black bear ventured into a Russian hamlet and attacked a human. One bear became two, two became dozens, and before long no one would leave their home, and no one had any idea what to do."
It doesn't matter
Solstice 2016: It's a Global Solstice Party and You're Invited
Solstice 2016 will be a multi-stream, twenty-four-hour event, covering all of Earth’s time zones, to celebrate the summer solstice. Participants will perform their Solstice art in whatever medium they choose, between the hours of 17:00 and 18:00 in their time zone or create the performance in advance. The program will be finely curated. Viewers around the world will be able to catch individual or simultaneous feeds of the various performances throughout the Solstice period. [more inside]
Trekonomics
The Economic Lessons of Star Trek's Money-Free Society - "[Manu Saadia] points to technologies like GPS and the internet as models for how we can set ourselves on the path to a Star Trek future. 'If we decide as a society to make more of these crucial things available to all as public goods, we're probably going to be well on our way to improving the condition of everybody on Earth', he says. But he also warns that technology alone won't create a post-scarcity future... 'This is something that has to be dealt with on a political level, and we have to face that.' " (via) [more inside]
Enhance
After studying Alien in intimate detail, it’s time to look at the typography and design of Ridley Scott’s other classic sci-fi movie, Blade Runner.
June 20
Brad Pitt, diversity champion
"I don't wanna talk about this. I'm gonna talk about this."
What you are is suspect. What you feel is embarrassing.
Ham4Algorithm
We Wrote an Algorithm to Unravel the Rhymes of Hit Musical ‘Hamilton’ (WSJ) Let's start with the first verse of the musical's opening number. Our algorithm breaks words into their component sounds and then groups similar-sounding syllables into rhyme families, which are color-coded. [more inside]
WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR BITCOIN THIS TIME.
New York Magazine details a hypothetical cyber-attack on New York in an uncomfortably close future. [more inside]
Keep England British Shorthair
#CatsAgainstBrexit. But there's another side to the story.
Some are on the fence about it… [more inside]
"I have wasted my life."
How are we to understand the last line of James Wright's famous "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota?" [more inside]
Driving in a big circle around Iceland
Route One is a 24 hour live broadcast by Icelandic state television RÚV of a drive on the Ring Road, which goes all the way around Iceland. Underneath a procedurally generated 24 hour remix of a new Sigur Rós song called Óveður will be playing. It starts now.
Utah v. Strieff
The Supreme Court has issued its opinion in Utah v. Strieff (pdf actual opinion), holding essentially that an active warrant remedies an unconstitutional stop. [more inside]
The War On Terror meets The Final Frontier
"What does God need with a starship?" What started out as an exploration of televangelism mutated into something else via the notoriously troubled production, and some of the allegory was lost. But now, in the modern world, Star Trek V finally makes sense. This is not the film you were warned about. This is not a film where the Enterprise literally goes looking for God. This is one worth seeing for what it is, what it was meant to be, or at least what it has become. [more inside]
No one sings like you anymore
"they do a damn fine job of describing every buddy cop movie ever made."
Overthinking It! tackles The One-Eyed Spike and the One-Handed Jet of Cowboy Bebop - "Who knew that Cowboy Bebop was basing its characters on Proto-Indo-European mythology? French philologist Georges Dumezil, that’s who!" [more inside]
In the industry, this is known as a "hatchet job"
Daniel Voshart (Twitter) has an axe to grind with VICE, everyone's favorite new-media-gonzo-journalism-lifestyle-possibly-advertising group. His rather adversarial Not VICE series discusses the other side of the company's narrative, from the purported thin line between content and advertising to the murky past of figurehead Shane Smith and the loose journalistic guidelines in their documentaries.
If this is a bit too off-balance for you, check out Wired's 2007 profile of VICE and The Onion's pitch perfect parody, Edge (my favorite: Kisha Nai: Inside The Japanese Subculture Of Ignoring American Reporters Even If They're Rad As Hell).
If this is a bit too off-balance for you, check out Wired's 2007 profile of VICE and The Onion's pitch perfect parody, Edge (my favorite: Kisha Nai: Inside The Japanese Subculture Of Ignoring American Reporters Even If They're Rad As Hell).
This.
“Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting.”
If you won't click AND READ that link, how about this one? (WaPo) Yes, it was satire, but there is a real study, which is just as depressing (via Neatorama.com's 'Miss Cellania', the most reliable source on the Internet. Really.)
If you won't click AND READ that link, how about this one? (WaPo) Yes, it was satire, but there is a real study, which is just as depressing (via Neatorama.com's 'Miss Cellania', the most reliable source on the Internet. Really.)
How we live now: inside the revolution in urban living.
The Guardian presents a 5-part video series about people redefining how to live in busy urban centres. Listed: Toyko, New York City, London, Constitucion (Chile), Los Angeles.
The IF European Intergenerational Fairness Index 2016
"Has Europe let down its young? That is the question the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) strives to answer with the IF European Fairness Index 2016. The IF EU Index 2016 is an attempt to measure how the position of young people changed across Europe over the ten years between 2005 and 2014 by analysing movements in a set of 13 social and economic indicators." [Warning: report is a pdf but is downloadable]
Nine Months in the Bronx
In this six part video series, the BBC follows "22 year old Felicia during her pregnancy as she navigates a welfare system which critics claim puts unfair demands on poor and minority women."
June 19
The Curse is Broken!
After 52 years without a major professional sports title*, the Cleveland Cavaliers have won the NBA championship. [more inside]
A whole new meaning to the term 'fuzz pedal'
Looks like somebody's having a bad dream!
gURL 'hoods
"When I asked women to share their early Internet “safe spaces,” dozens responded to my inquiry talking about how Neopets, AOL chatrooms, fan fiction Tumblrs, X-Files LISTSERVs, LiveJournal communities and more introduced them to comfort on the Internet. Most of these sites were beloved exactly for that same dual sense of security and inclusion members loved — and when that sense was lost, from time or toxicity or something else, the woman who made them moved on to another new place." Julia Carpenter, for The Hairpin: "Sisterhood of the Traveling Safe Spaces: Where women gather online."
My Father's Fashion Tips
My Father's Fashion Tips (SLGQ) Happy Father's Day!
Long and slow and bordering on psychedelic
"We know we're on our own."
A Rare, Risky Mission Is Underway To Rescue Sick Scientist From The South Pole [WaPo] - Candian polar services company Kenn Borek Air will fly a pair of De Havilland[NOAA] DHC-6-300 Twin Otter[wiki] STOL aircraft for the risky rescue mission[CBC] in the pitch black and icy Antarctic winter[National Post] at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station[NSF] [more inside]
African and African American Studies: Introduction to Wakanda
"T’Challa emerged as the fictional representation of those countless dreams denied; the unbroken manhood that Ossie Davis famously invoked after the assassination of Malcolm X. Wakanda symbolized the dreams of black utopias like Ethiopia and South Africa that had grown as the Black Freedom Struggle grew over the twentieth century. In this moment when superheroes become a way to explore contemporary anxieties about activism and authority, the Black Panther provides an opportunity for global audiences to study the traditions of black nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and the variety of African indigenous cultures. Dr. Walter Greason (Monmouth University) took a few minutes to suggest a collaborative exploration of these influences" in the Wakanda Syllabus.
The Fetishization of Excellence
In Excellence R Us: University Research and the Fetishisation of Excellence (commentable version here) the authors "...examine how excellence rhetoric combines with narratives of scarcity and competition and show that hypercompetition that arises leads to a performance of 'excellence' that is completely at odds with the qualities of good research." Inverse interviews one of the authors. Times Higher Education interviews another. [more inside]
Happy Father's Day!
Dads Compete to See Who Can Stack More Cheerios On Their Babies (SLSadAndUseless)
Ann Hamilton's giant loom in Wuzhen
For Art Wuzhen 2016, artist Ann Hamilton transformed an old Chinese theater into a loom. This is the five-minute documentary, (alt link). Its title in Chinese, 唧唧复唧唧, is from a famous poem about the woman warrior Mulan, and refers to the sound of the loom. Hamilton's previous work with textile was presented at the Park Avenue armory in 2013.
Thirty Million, a film about Bangladesh and climate change
Thirty Million (direct Vimeo link), a U.N.-funded half-hour film about the expected effects of climate change on the country of Bangladesh. Radio interview with one of the directors on Radio New Zealand. Bangladesh will lose 70% of its land area if there is a one-meter sea level rise, displacing thirty million people. [more inside]
A fearsome warrior. An absurdly large cute puppy.
After five years and over 250 pages, the Eisner Award Winning webcomic, Battlepug by Mike Norton (previously) has finished its epic tailtale (but with promises of more pug tales to come). It started here. (some NSFW, due to violence, language and nudity, including that of the Narrator)
June 18
Synthtastic
TRONICBOX (twitter) makes 1980s versions of current day pop songs including an absolutely spot on version of Justin Bieber's "What Do You Mean."
...the need for a hard look at the cultures within police departments.
Badge of Dishonor: Top Oakland Police Department Officials Looked Away as East Bay Cops Sexually Exploited and Trafficked a Teenager [East Bay Express] According to a stunning set of allegations, a teenage human trafficking victim in the Bay Area was coerced into sex by at least 22 officers over a six month period. [more inside]
NBA players swat little kids' shots
It is about the small things
City Objects catalogues tiny thoughtful features of various cities around the world, from clocks to ticket machines. In the same spirit as the also great littlebig details, which covers the digital world.
Metrocosm: The History of Cities Visualized
The History of Cities Visualized: Metrocosm
If you can't Instagram it, are you really there?
Performers have had it with your shit: your phone is getting locked up.
by appointment only
The kisses vary in length and intimacy. My subjects are all aware of what I’m going to do ahead of time, but in the moment of the kiss anything can happen. The lipstick mark I leave on my subjects invites viewers to imagine the circumstances surrounding the kiss.The Makeout Project by Jedediah Johnson
Consider Cooking The Lobster
The Food Lab finishes of a week of Lobster talk (how to buy and store, soft shell vs. hard shell) with the definative answer to "How do you cook and shuck a lobster?"
Mumford and Sons meet Baaba Maal, Beatenberg and The Very Best
Arena-folk rockers Mumford and Sons toured in South Africa earlier this year, where they took two days to record new music. The result is their Johannesburg EP (YT playlist with live and studio tracks), with Senegalese singer and guitarist Baaba Maal (documentary playlist), South African pop trio Beatenberg (playlist of live videos), and the team of Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya with British production/DJ duo Radioclit as The Very Best (their original mixtape). More music from the collaborators inside. [more inside]
among those who have least, beat hearts of hope
Maré and Alemão are two of the largest favela complexes in Zona Norte de Rio de Janeiro.
Alemão is home to the Papo Reto journalist collective, an award winning witness partner who are fighting police brutality with smartphones.
In the nearby complex of Maré the photographer Ratao Diniz records the beauty and the pain in stills and video.
In Favela stories some residents of differing ages tell their own histories.
Alemão is home to the Papo Reto journalist collective, an award winning witness partner who are fighting police brutality with smartphones.
In the nearby complex of Maré the photographer Ratao Diniz records the beauty and the pain in stills and video.
In Favela stories some residents of differing ages tell their own histories.
"How do we know you're that good?" "Get in."
Back in January, AV Club started a series called "A History of Violence", which discusses the most groundbreaking action films, year by year, starting with Bullitt in 1968. Last week after ten entries, they have finally circled back to the car chase film and arguably one of the peaks of the genre: Walter Hill's The Driver. [more inside]
In 33 years of late-night replays, I have never seen this person before
"As a replicant which appeared in slightly different situations in at least five episodes in the first series, it could arguably be described as one of the first popular culture memes." Did you know The Young Ones had a fifth housemate? Neither did anyone else.
What It's Like to Meet Annabelle
Luckily for my sanity, Annabelle did not do anything scary while I was in her presence, though I did see a moth flutter by her case at one point, and later, while listening to a recording of the interview, I heard a horrible growl on the tape that was probably my stomach but let's be real, was a demon. I also kept seeing my own movements reflected in the glass and thinking she was coming for me. Being inside the museum also left a musty smell in my hair that I didn't notice until later, when I was back at home watching Curb Your Enthusiasm — maybe not coincidentally, the one about the doll.
Can we save the open web?
As urged by creators and luminaries of the Web at the recent Decentralized Web summit, Drupal founder Dries Buytaert asks the question, Wordpress founder (MeFi's own™) Matt Mullenweg agrees, and Twitter&Medium founder (MeFi's own™) Ev Williams mulls extensively. [more inside]
Music To Rip And Tear By
After initially rocky multiplayer beta impressions, Doom (or Doom 4 or Doom 2016, if you prefer) has turned out to be one of the best single-player experiences of the year. One of the most acclaimed parts of the remake is the crushingly heavy electronic and heavy metal soundtrack (YT Playlist). Composed, produced, and largely performed by Mick Gordon, who also did the soundtrack for Bethesda's Wolfenstein: The New Order, his YouTube channel hosts a two-part making of video showcasing the instruments and thought process behind the new/old sound of Doom.
June 17
"What if I pretended like I didn’t know what nails were?"
When the blogger/home renovator behind Manhattan Nest was hired to work on Olivebridge Cottage, it looked like a cute country bungalow in need of a little rearranging. Ten months later, he's almost viewing the experience as a post-modernist joke. (Blog entries appear in reverse chronological order; I recommend reading the entry at the top of the page, moving all the way down, and working up.)
That'll really grind their corn
Outlander fandom had reached epic levels of drama. William Shatner has intervened as fans harass the actors and production staff . Shatner's assistant has created a website dedicated to fighting online bullying among Outlander fans.
It's not like Outlander fans are alone, One Direction fandom has contributed a lot to the tinhatting phenomenon. Of course, long before 1D, Supernatural fans have always been pretty inventive in their creative take on reality.
PS, we talk about Outlander over here on FanFare, without the drama.
Floating Piers
Smithsonian Magazine goes in-depth with Christo and his new project Floating Piers which will open on June 18 and run through July 3 on Italy's Lake Iseo. His last major installation with with his late wife Jeanne-Claude in New York City's Central Park -- The Gates (2005).
DJ Earworm 2015½
It's halfway through the year so that means it's time for DJ Earworm's Summermash '16!
Naked Friday
all is love
Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary is the best place, both in real life and on the internet. A senior dog rescue with an amazing Facebook page, OFSDS fosters dogs out, but provides a forever home to a large troop of beautiful pups. Fan favorites include fluffbucket Leo, one-eyed Captain Ron, and presidential Mildred
. [more inside]
Cinnabon: Because You're At The Goddamn Airport
Honest Chain Restaurant Slogans. Mostly pithy.
"It is from Wisconsin! How not fancy is that?!"
"At the end of this post I find myself saying, 'You had a lot to say about that.' I am a little judgey of self. There is so much going on in our world, big and little, that I do feel a little silly devoting time and energy to a fizzy drink. But, maybe that’s the root of it. LaCroix is a beautiful escapist beverage. I think that’s why we love it. Crack open a can and just for a minute, you’re on vacation, the world is sane, and it’s all sunshine and sprinklers and rainbows."LaCroix quilt, LaCroix love (single link blog post, Dorie on Tumbling Blocks)
PRAY HARDER
The Bushy Tailed Menace
Slate discusses one of the most pernicious extant threats to our electrical grid, one that costs the US millions annually in power outages...Squirrels. (SLSlate)
‘I’m not black, I’m O. J.’
Why ‘Transcending Race’ Is a Lie [The New York Times] Few American athletes have been as widely beloved as Simpson was. Even today, his popularity seems inconceivable. “O. J.: Made in America,” the ESPN “30 for 30” documentary [ESPN] directed by Ezra Edelman that is airing this week, busies itself with the making of the man at the myth’s center and with the country that helped him become a monster. It’s the best thing ESPN has ever produced. And it answers my question: Simpson’s story is that of a black man who came of age during the civil rights era and spent his entire adult life trying to “transcend race” — to claim that strange accolade bestowed on blacks spanning from Pelé to Prince to Nelson Mandela to Muhammad Ali. Which is to say, it’s the story of a halfback trying, and failing, to outrun his own blackness. [more inside]
The Happiness Gap
Why parents are more unhappy than their childless peers. New York Times article on why parents in the United States are more unhappy than their childless friends and why it might be less about the kids are more about how we support families.
The Queen of Teen Suspense
Best known for her YA novels, author Lois Duncan has died at the age of 82. A prolific writer, her books have thrilled multiple generations and have also been adapted into a few movies you may have heard of. [more inside]
"My sister insisted that the van lifestyle is a major trend. "
You'd Have To Be Crazy
My sister and I are both, in our own ways, like children. When she saw the coat, she ran for it. She picked it up and oohed and aahed over it, turning it this way and that. She showed it to me, and started talking quickly about how much it might be worth. I got embarrassed by how loudly she was talking, and I thought picking a coat up off the ground might be stealing. I was in Seattle to see her; she said she would tell me about what it was like to be homeless.[more inside]
Smash Mouth is not a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder
The first rule of calling Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder is do not call Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder. The second rule of calling Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonderis do not call Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder.
What's going on at Yellowstone?
No, I'm not talking about the "super volcano" that'll destroy the Earth (which is, you know, not likely). I'm talking about all the crazy stuff that's happened there this season, the result of growing numbers of both tourists and wildlife. [more inside]
Ascii to Icon
Happy Friday! Enjoy this neat little toy that let's you make symbols and icon by typing out a grid characters. Brought to you by xqt2, a nobody. [more inside]
他的名字是 John Cena
John Cena holds two minutes of his press conference in Chinese, arguably just as well as Mark Zuckerberg's forays into the language. This is partially due to the fact that the WWE offers its stars a free second language program, but is also indicative of the wrestling promoter's big push into India and China. The company just signed their first Chinese national athlete... and, well, WWE has a large fan base in India.
Temporal Gentrification
"The past is like a foreign country: They have weird McDonald’s specials there. Here, it's a burger with olives and larks' tongues; it's called the McTrojan Deluxe, which makes it sound like there's something sneaky hiding inside it, which if you hate olives is true. I hate olives. But they also serve wine, so I'm drinking lots of wine. It’s unpleasantly packed in the restaurant, but then, it’s packed everywhere." Time Travel tourism takes off in 'Trojan Horses' a short story by Jess Zimmerman [more inside]
Shouldn't you be moisturizing? Megan moisturizes
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 1
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 2
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 3 (Special Birthday Edition)
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 4 (Grad School Panic)
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 2
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 3 (Special Birthday Edition)
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 4 (Grad School Panic)
Woo Hoo!
South Korean girl group Mamamoo has created what might be the catchiest mobile phone advert ever. [SLYT]
"I heard this growl behind me."
Beer can and bears save mushroom picker from hungry wolf: Deep in the wilderness of the Canadian Northwest Territories, Joanne Barnaby and her dog were stalked by a starving black wolf in a twelve-hour ordeal. With the wolf forcing her away farther and farther away from the highway and into the woods, Barnaby resorted to a desperate gambit when she ran across a mother bear who was searching for her lost cub.
Pusheen in Real Life
Julien Therrien has a cat that looks like Pusheen (an internet cartoon cat who has created a merchandise empire). He took advantage of this, and recreated several of Pusheen's digital 'stickers' with adorable and hilarious results. (This page is in French, but is easy to get the gist of) Previous Pusheen
30 Minutes of ‘The Day The Clown Cried’ Surfaces
Lewis wrote, directed, and starred in the movie in 1972 , but he never released the finished product. The reasons given for its disappearance vary, and could overlap; legal battles, rights issues, and the fact that the movie was about Jerry Lewis as a German clown who leads Jewish children into the gas chambers during the Holocaust. [more inside]
The gathering
June 16
Satire in the Arab world
Proving that satire (and/or bad acting) is alive and well in the Arab world, Egyptian television show "Mini Daesh" takes the concept of a prank show to its ultimate extreme, pretending to have Egyptian television celebrities kidnapped by ISIS..
Australian Election-filter: The ends justify the memes
As Australia shudders towards to its Federal election on 2 July 2016, the Guardian considers the gusto (and desperate incompetence) with which politi-tragics have adopted internet memes. [more inside]
Welcome to Congress! Here's your cubicle, telephone and script.
What's a day in the life of a typical elected U.S. congressperson like? Do you imagine various committee meetings, constituent handshaking and House floor voting sessions? Well think again. Members of congress are increasingly expected to spend the majority of their working day holed up in a tiny cubicle in a call center down the street outfitted with a phone, a list of numbers and a telemarketing script. On April 24, CBS's 60 Minutes aired an exposé on the real business of congress: dialing for dollars. [more inside]
It doesn't smell good, but it smells better than it used to.
On Tuesday, the AspireAssist (previously), a non-surgical weight loss device that allows patients to drain up to 30% of the food from their stomachs before the calories are absorbed, was approved by the FDA. Any resemblance to fictitious devices is presumably unintended.
You won't believe what happens next.
We’re all rooting for you and/or plotting against you.
From The Desk Of The Director Of The Cold War Reenactment Society by MeFi's Own The Whelk! [via mefi projects]
If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?
The origins of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Free Bird' are pretty brief. In this 1970 demo (source), you can hear a short version, with the opening question but no piano intro and extended jam at the end. Though they recorded a long version for their debut album, they also cut a short version for the single. But people want "guitar sagas", such as "Whipping Post," by the Allman Brothers Band,and "Smoke on the Water," by Deep Purple, or maybe it was a silly thing to heckle Florence Henderson and other uncool cats. Decades later, people are still yelling "Freebird!" Sometimes people snap back, like Bill Hicks (NSFW), and sometimes people oblige, like Bob Dylan recently. In case that's not enough, there's (always) more! [more inside]
"The cable people tell me, 'People calling in. Do some more polka'"
Polka Spotlight is the 20-year-old TV show where the party never ends . Yes, a couple of full episodes are available, with 100% genuine community access TV graphics!
"Let's drug-test the rich before approving tax deductions."
US Congresswoman Gwen Moore is tired of the "criminalization of poverty." Moore plans to introduce a bill on Thursday that she thinks will even the playing field or, at least, “engage the wealthy in a conversation about what fair tax policy looks like”. The bill, called the Top 1% Accountability Act, would force taxpayers with itemized deductions of more than $150,000 – which, according to 2011 tax data compiled by the IRS, would only be households with a yearly federal adjusted gross income of more than $1m – to submit to the IRS a clear drug test from a sample no more than three months old, or take the much lower standard deduction when filing their taxes. [more inside]
A pleasant place. Everything's nice here.
Need a break? Videoart.lol lets you doodle over Bob Ross videos, along with the rest of the internet. Ahhhh... there we go.
tastiest
How To Cook Shad
Shad no longer enjoys the favor it once did. The world’s greatest herring, its Latin name, Alosa sapidissima, means “the best shad to eat.” whole books have been dedicated to singing shad’s praises. George Washington was fond of the fish, and Thomas Jefferson always had it on his spring menus. Every restaurant from the Canadian Maritimes down to Florida would feature shad and its wonderful roe on spring menus; a few still do. Then, in the 1870s, we brought shad West, and the species surpassed anyone’s wildest dream of success. The Columbia River run numbers 3 million or more, even today. In 1917, the commercial shad fishery netted nearly 6 million pounds of shad here in Sacramento. ...So what happened? The fish stocks are fine here in the West, and, after a long struggle, are recovering in the polluted East. What happened was, in a word, laziness.[more inside]
Now You Can Visit the Oldest Library in the World
al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez, Morocco, is the oldest library in the world, but until last month, only researchers had access to it. Built in 859, the library was a beacon for scholars, poets, and theologians for hundreds of years, but in recent years it had fallen into terrible disrepair. Now a massive, three-year restoration effort hasn’t just revitalized the building – it’s opened an ancient center of scholarship up to a new generation of readers!
The Uncanny Mind That Built Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin invented the world's hottest new cryptocurrency and inspired a movement — before he'd turned 20 - "I think a large part of the consequence is necessarily going to be disempowering some of these centralized players to some extent because ultimately power is a zero sum game. And if you talk about empowering the little guy, as much as you want to couch it in flowery terminology that makes it sound fluffy and good, you are necessarily disempowering the big guy. And personally I say screw the big guy. They have enough money already." [more inside]
The GMZ
"The federal government should establish neighborhood anti-gentrification zones where vulnerable tenants could purchase their apartment buildings away from predatory landlords, according to a policy report revealed today by Democratic State Senator Adriano Espaillat."
rest in power
British Labour MP Jo Cox, 41, was shot and murdered this afternoon during a constituency meeting in Leeds.
Cox was a committed humanitarian and campaigner for Syrian refugees and previously worked on the 2008 Obama campaign. She is the first MP to be killed in 26 years.
You're supposed to email and wait for a reply
What it's like to work for the new on-demand economy.
Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City
Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City: The New York City public-school system is 41 percent Latino, 27 percent black and 16 percent Asian. Three-quarters of all students are low-income. In 2014, the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, released a report showing that New York City public schools are among the most segregated in the country. Black and Latino children here have become increasingly isolated, with 85 percent of black students and 75 percent of Latino students attending “intensely” segregated schools — schools that are less than 10 percent white. [more inside]
Real Life is Marscraft
A young man named Cody with a nervous giggle restores an old mine over the course of 12 videos (and counting).
He also raises bees, builds rockets, makes heavy water, has a homemade experimental greenhouse, and refines precious metals (including platinum from road dust, previously).
And he really, really wants to go to Mars.
When you make an organization, that is a form of expression
A recent profile in, of all places, Bloomberg Businessweek heaped praise on the innovative business model of Tim & Eric’s blooming comedy production company, Abso Lutely Productions — but only dipped a hesitant toe into the actual comedy itself. The profile appraised the comedians’ zeitgeist-establishing sketch show, Tim & Eric’s Awesome Show, with what certainly sounds like a dismissal: “The editing was shaky, the acting was worse, the story lines were threadbare, the lighting and music were epileptic.” ...These surprisingly unflattering moments within supposedly flattering reviews confuse me because, as a pretty dedicated fan... I don’t see anything reflected in the reviews that I actually enjoy about the original work. I see additional, thoughtful, layers in the work of Tim & Eric, but I’ve never seen anybody try to articulate that thoughtfulness. [more inside]
No tomorrows' parties
All Tomorrow's Parties, the independent festival organisation, is shutting down with immediate effect. [more inside]
So inedible, yet so delicious-looking.
Kristina Lechner creates fake food with everyday household objects at her site, Food Not Food. More lovely photos at her Instagram account for the project.
Hey, there, Lonelygirl15.
Lonelygirl15: how one mysterious vlogger changed the internet. The Guardian interviews the creators and actors involved in one of YouTube's greatest virals. Mefi originally discussed the mystery at the end of August 2006. Within a week the truth was revealed.
"Jesus said to them, My wife."
The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus' Wife is an article by Ariel Sabar about his quest to trace the providence of a manuscript fragment in which Jesus refers to his wife. The trail leads from Harvard through old East Germany to the Floridian swingers' scene.
The Privilege of Longer Working Hours
We used to think that as living standards improved, less work would deliver more income and thus more leisure time. But now, more and more work hours are what everyone's after. Because in today's economy, the alternative to working more isn't enjoying quality time with friends and family. The alternative is nothing. The American workplace has basically become a Thunderdome where the victors are rewarded with long hours. How insane work hours became a mark of American privilege by Jeff Spross in The Week [via NextDraft]
The only question is: What are you going to wear?
Lingerie is not Armor - in the latest installment of Women vs Tropes in Video Games Anita Sarkeesian focuses on the sartorial choices made for female characters in video games. Link not safe for work as it contains virtual partial nudity.
June 15
All 12 Star Trek Movies Ranked
Who is this guy anyway, some sort of dog hat expert??
"Well that's a nice coating..."
The Best Dad Deals In The Country!
Frisco's Dad Source is having its annual Fathers Day blowout sale. Read the flyer. Watch the video. Get the Dad of your dreams!
Monte dei Cocci
> WRITE POST ON INTERACTIVE FICTION
IF Only by Emily Short [prev.] highlights the new trend in Interactive Fiction (or Text Adventures, if you were born before 1990) for games that use parsers but also manage to be reasonable simple to play by providing limited options in clever ways. Among the highlights she points out are Kerkerkruip which is a rogue-like interactive fiction game, Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom a "faux-retro adaptation of a nonexistent 1979 text adventure" where you play as a dumb barbarian, and Midnight. Swordfight. in which the story takes the form of a stage play. If you want to get more into the weeds, Short also suggests this interesting article on narrow parsers with many more examples.
“We want you to find yourself on that form.”
Inside Planned Parenthood’s Push For Gender-Neutral Language: From their new Spot On Period Tracker to educational programs and intake forms, Planned Parenthood's national and affiliate offices have been overseeing an evolution of language and terms regarding the biology, gender, and identities of their clients. [more inside]
Makerie Believe
Like it or not, all of our rights are intertwined.
Maybe there’s some woman who has had four abortions and maybe that feels really wrong to you. But my rights are wrapped up with hers, so I have to fight like fuck for her to have as many as she wants—not just for her sake, but for mine, too. If I ever have a daughter, the way things are currently going, she’s going to be fucked if she ever goes through this.From "Interview With a Woman Who Recently Had an Abortion at 32 Weeks"
Chromaqueen
For her 90th birthday, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth selected a striking green outfit to attend the Trooping the Colour parade. A green outfit that lent itself perfectly to chromakey special effects. As always, Twitter was there to help out. [more inside]
Wiener-dog Wednesday!
This beautiful mama-dog-to-be had a maternity photo session. The next day she gave birth to 5 little pups, who were also the subject of their own photo shoot.
Another sweet dachshund family lovingly photographed, this time with tiny knit hats.
Plum Alley
The Men Women Love Rightfully so, others and I wag our fingers at male investors, most especially venture capitalists, who don’t invest in women-led companies. But, what if, rather than shame bad behavior, we rewarded good behavior by recognizing it. That was the suggestion of Deborah Jackson, founder and CEO of Plum Alley, an investing platform that gets capital to the most promising women entrepreneurs and, yes, guys are welcome to join. [more inside]
Most American mass shooters use legally obtained firearms.
A Mother Jones Investigation: Fully Loaded: Inside the Shadowy World of America's 10 Biggest Gunmakers. [more inside]
The lasting legacy of the "rocket girls" of JPL
California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has been central to the US missile and rocket development and operations for decades, and from the beginning that technology's success rested on a corps of expert mathematicians, people known as computers. And from the beginning they were all women, in a time when such opportunities were few and far between. You can find pictures of them, but names have not been well-recorded ... until now. Nathalia Holt found many of those women and wrote about their experiences in her book, Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars. [more inside]
Study Says Cats Understand Physics & Law Of Cause and Effect
...Takagi and colleagues observed that cats tend to stare longer at rattling boxes during the experiment, which suggest that they correctly anticipated the presence of an object based on the container's rattling sound. The felines also stared longer when a turned over box yielded unexpected results that defy the laws of physics. Takagi explained that these animals use a causal-logical understanding of noise or sounds when predicting the presence of invisible objects.Cats Utilize Physics? Study Says Cats Understand Physics And Use Law Of Cause And Effect To Detect Hiding Prey
Van Gogh on Dark Water
These stolen avocados can carry risks
Avocado shortage fuels crime wave in New Zealand
Surging local and international demand for avocados is fuelling a crime wave in New Zealand. Since January there have been close to 40 large-scale thefts from avocado orchards in the north island of New Zealand, with as many as 350 fruit stolen at a time. [more inside]
Surging local and international demand for avocados is fuelling a crime wave in New Zealand. Since January there have been close to 40 large-scale thefts from avocado orchards in the north island of New Zealand, with as many as 350 fruit stolen at a time. [more inside]
Borges & $
The true author of Borges’ fictions was the third man: the broken, middle-aged Borges, the pencil-pusher who toiled away in the basement of a municipal building. He was a working stiff trying to support his family—just like anyone else—trapped in a labyrinth, feeling that his life was somehow a mistake. He is inseparable from the financial struggle he tried so hard not to write about. An essay by Elizabeth Hyde Stevens
June 14
First, it came for the Melomys
The Bramble Cay melomys, Melomys rubicola, a genetically and morphologically distinct species of Australasian native rat found only on a single small island, is now believed extinct. [more inside]
Lin-Manuel flips Love into Tony Award’s "Orlando sonnet"
Charlotte Runcie discovers literary depth -- for those of us who need scholar-interpreters -- "Miranda’s poem reaches a climax with the penultimate couplet (which would have been the final couplet in a more conventional 14-line sonnet):
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.
These two lines show mastery of the form from Miranda. The other lines in the sonnet have five stressed syllables each and are written in iambic pentameter, the meter most famously used by Shakespeare. But in the line “And love is love…” there are three extra syllables... [more inside]
Theropod. Ninja. Champion.
Direct from the Cretaceous, weighing in at approximately five tons, the tyrant of Larimidia, competing to be the one, the only, American Ninja Warrior, it's TTTTTTTTTTTTTT REX!
Phoenix Rises from the Ashton
He's back with a little help from his friends! After life changing events Martyn Ashton, of Road Bike Party fame has returned to what he enjoys most. [more inside]
— the punctuation equivalent of stagehands
Period. Full Stop. Point. Whatever It’s Called, It’s Going Out of Style by Dan Bilefsky [The New York Times] The period — the full-stop signal we all learn as children, whose use stretches back at least to the Middle Ages — is gradually being felled in the barrage of instant messaging that has become synonymous with the digital age So says David Crystal, who has written more than 100 books on language and is a former master of original pronunciation at Shakespeare’s Globe theater in London — a man who understands the power of tradition in language The conspicuous omission of the period in text messages and in instant messaging on social media, he says, is a product of the punctuation-free staccato sentences favored by millennials — and increasingly their elders — a trend fueled by the freewheeling style of Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter
A cover-to-cover parody of the New Yorker
"...a fur-covered furnace"
Eraced
Eraced, an 11 minute student-made documentary about race and diversity at Berkeley High School. [more inside]
See, that right there is a tip-off …
“In 2005, [Pat Kelly] met another 'thought leader' and I asked him how he became a 'thought leader' and he said 'I don't know.'
It was then that I knew I could be one too.” (Alternate Link) [more inside]
It was then that I knew I could be one too.” (Alternate Link) [more inside]
You smell terrible. What's the occasion?
Radiolab̶w
More Perfect is a seven-week long Radiolab spin-off series examining Supreme Court Cases.
- “Cruel and Unusual” examines the history of the death penalty, particularly lethal injection. A related MeFi Post
- “The Political Thicket” digs deep into the drama surrounding the Baker v. Carr redistricting case and the psychological toll it exacted on the justices.
- The next episode airs June 17. Kind of meh on the Radiolab style? Try Amicus for Dahlia Lithwick’s discussions of recent Supreme Court Decisions, the oh-so-dry debates on constitutional law at We The People, or just take your Supreme Court oral arguments straight up from Oyez.
Kim Cattrall: "I'm trying to find out what's at the end of it"
An interview with Q's Shad, on telling the story of facing midlife, as a woman (CBC) Kim Cattrall discusses working through her own questions around mortality through her remake of the BBC series Sensitive Skin.
Play your worries away
Marlon Webb and his friends want to start a movement. A very unusual movement.
Capturing-- or creating-- the too-perfect picture
Photographer Steve McCurry, who made his name working with National
Geographic and is perhaps most famous for his portrait of an Afghan
girl, was criticized by NYT Magazine writer Teju Cole for being
boring, too-perfect, and overly nostalgic. There are some who might disagree with or at least complicate this criticism. But his work has now come
under fire for the level of digital manipulation he uses, as astute
observers have found him editing out background elements or even
people. [more inside]
humans are the problem
Uncovering Forgotten Stories of Hiroshima
Keiko Horikawa is a Japanese freelance journalist whose work, unknown in English translation until now, deals with the value of life and the weight of death. Her two subjects are the death penalty and the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, which has gained new urgency as bomb survivors, the hibakusha, die out after 70 years. Here is a translation of an event promoting her book about the Genbaku Kuyoto, the mound containing the unclaimed remains of approximately 70,000 bomb victims, and her effort to reunite the 815 identified remains with their families.
How to grow a Weetabix
How to grow a Weetabix. James Meek writes in the LRB about food, farming, conservation and the Brexit debate.
And then music happened
- Band practices in the woods, cop appears and decides to join in
- Mom takes the drums for a cover of Wipe Out
- While waiting for Green Day to appear on stage, crowd entertain themselves by singing Bohemian Rhapsody
June 13
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Amateur Auction Theorist
I am inclined to offer Mr. Vieweg from Berlin an epic poem, Hermann and Dorothea, which will have approximately 2000 hexameters. …Concerning the royalty we will proceed as follows: I will hand over to Mr. Counsel Böttiger a sealed note which contains my demand, and I wait for what Mr. Vieweg will suggest to offer for my work. If his offer is lower than my demand, then I take my note back, unopened, and the negotiation is broken. If, however, his offer is higher, then I will not ask for more than what is written in the note to be opened by Mr. Böttiger.
“Canada will not give into their fear mongering tactics...”
Robert Hall, Canadian hostage, killed by Abu Sayyaf militants in Philippines. [CBC.ca] A Canadian man being held hostage for months by a militant group in the Philippines has been killed, sources say. Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf [wiki] had warned it would kill Robert Hall today if it didn't receive a ransom of some $8 million. Sources close to the situation in Jolo, the island where the al-Qaeda-linked group is based, and within Philippine security confirmed Hall's death early Monday to CBC News. [more inside]
Broomgate sweeps curling!
A new broom is causing friction in competitive curling. The new broom, the icePad, is said to offer too much of a competitive advantage, with Olympic Gold Medalist Brad Gushue stating that it "allowed top players too much control to the point where it was actually difficult to miss some shots on line." This year's Sweeping Summit featured significant research on a number of different brush constructions and sweeping techniques, with sweeping changes expected for the broom regulations going forward. [more inside]
Evolution of Horror Movie Poster Designs: 1922 – 2009
You know what grinds my gears?
Maybe you're bothered by three-gear logos. You know, the ones where the three gears all intermesh and wouldn't actually be able to turn, thus ruining the metaphor? Well, it turns out you can create three intermeshed gears that all move together.
“Go to Astoria,” Zizo said. “That’s where the brokers are.”
"Working nine hours a day, food-cart vendors like Zamir take home as little as $400 to $500 for a six-day week. Many are new immigrants hoping to start new lives. During a brief lull in lunch service, Zamir, 22, told me he served as a translator for U.S. troops in Afghanistan before he was wounded and then awarded a visa to settle here. A generation ago, after a few years of hard work and saving, Zamir could have become his own boss. Sidewalk vending was long an option for immigrants eager to improve their lives.
That’s no longer the case. Today’s mobile food vending business is one of day laborers and shift workers who, despite hustling all week long, may not earn minimum wage." - Inside the underground economy propping up New York City's food carts By Jeff Koyen
prices.slippery.traps
Mongolia will become a global pioneer next month, when its national post office starts referring to locations by a series of three-word phrases instead of house numbers and street names. Britain-based startup What3Words has devised a system where the surface of the Earth is divided into 57 trillion three-square-meter locations, each assigned a unique word triplet. An estimated 4 billion people worldwide have no address for mailing purposes, making it difficult to open a bank account, get a delivery, or be reached in an emergency, and What3Words is intended to help solve this problem. [more inside]
The last primary
Tomorrow's primary in Washington, D.C. will mark the final presidential primary of 2016. Then, Secretary Clinton and Sen. Sanders are set to meet Tuesday night. [more inside]
“I’m 60 years old and I can’t remember anything like this.”
The Inscriptions of the Antikythera Mechanism
Researchers have decoded more writing on the 2,000-year-old Antikythera mechanism and found it may have an astrological purpose [more inside]
"Cats can hurt your feelings too" & other fantasy books
Replace all your Esses with Dollar-signs
Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn: at $26.2 Billion (!) this will be Microsoft's largest acquisition ever.
They'll be "issuing new debt" to fund it.
Shares appear to have jumped.
The shade begins
the greatest mermaid war movie never seen
SUNK - "How a Chinese billionaire’s dream of making an underwater fantasy blockbuster turned into a legendary movie fiasco." [more inside]
you should go over to IRL and post a mefi ice cream social meetup
‘Chemophobia’ is irrational, harmful – and hard to break
"We all feel a profound connection with the natural world. E O Wilson called this sensation biophilia: ‘the urge to affiliate with other forms of life’. That sense of connection brings great emotional satisfaction. It can decrease levels of anger, anxiety and pain. It has undoubtedly helped our species to survive, since we are fundamentally dependent on our surrounding environment and ecosystem. But lately biophilia has spawned an extreme variant: chemophobia, a reflexive rejection of modern synthetic chemicals."
It has become conventional wisdom among chemists that “chemophobia” is the root of many people’s trepidation about chemicals. Framing the issue as an irrational fear may not be the best way to improve chemicals’ public image, however.[more inside]
June 12
Tokyo Night Lights
Ass and you shall receive
The word “ass” gives us so much in the way of grammatical delights. As a highly productive new grammatical construction, “-ass” also has rules and boundaries. For example Siddiqi notes that “-ass” doesn’t act like other suffixes that can attach to adjectives, such as those that form adverbs like “quickly.” So while you can say “I run quickly” you can’t say.... [more inside]
We have entire cities discovered beneath the forest that no one knew...
Revealed: Cambodia's Vast Medieval Cities Hidden Beneath the Jungle [The Guardian] Archaeologists in Cambodia have found multiple, previously undocumented medieval cities not far from the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat, the Guardian can reveal, in groundbreaking discoveries that promise to upend key assumptions about south-east Asia’s history. The Australian archaeologist Dr Damian Evans, whose findings will be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science on Monday, will announce that cutting-edge airborne laser scanning technology has revealed multiple cities between 900 and 1,400 years old beneath the tropical forest floor, some of which rival the size of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
How bout some cookin' music, you know what I mean?
On the evening of September 15th, 1976, Jerry Garcia Band played on the ferry S.S. Duchess in New York Harbor. The show was part of a fund raiser for Hell's Angels president Sonny Barger, who was incarcerated at the time. Bo Diddley and Elephants Memory also played. While memories of the evening are spotty amongst attendees, this incredible footage survives.
The art of . . .
The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past - The Art of Conducting: Legendary Conductors of a Golden Era - The Art Of Piano: Great Pianists Of The 20th Century - The Art of Violin [more inside]
Police: 50 killed in Florida nightclub terror attack.
Fifty people were killed and at least fifty-three more were injured in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. According to ABC news, "The shooter has been identified by officials as Omar Mateen of St. Lucie County, Florida, an American-born citizen with Afghani parents." Mateen had previously been considered a person of interest by the FBI in 2013 and 2014. Mateen was shot and killed by police. [more inside]
The River Of Unearthly Delights
Every June, since 2010, the waters of ’s-Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands) provide the venue for the Bosch Parade, a wondrous armada of vessels and objects inspired by the work and ideas of Medieval painter Jheronimus Bosch. [more inside]
Bera, ek Club Sandwich aur ek Chota Peg lao, jaldi!
If you ever had the dal tadka or the Club Sandwich and wondered who to thank, you may want to look at our Colonial Rulers and their second big gift: the Dak Bungalow.
More on colonial food from the British Raj. Recipes. Old recipes. Controversy in Portland. What came back Home. Comparisons. Hang on, deliciousness aside, what is a Dak Bungalow?
June 11
IT'S ALL ABSOLUTELY FINE
Ten Degrees Above Average
Alaska is Having Its Hottest Year Since Records Began - "After a spring that was a full ten degrees hotter than normal, the northern state is on track for the most sweltering year on record." (via) [more inside]
Hold Me Now
Our Wonderful Nature - The Common Chameleon
Our Wonderful Nature - The Common Chameleon In a world where a single chameleon has no natural enemies, this one of a kind creature is destined to hunt for prey.
ebooks_goetia
The Lesser Bot of Solomon offers you endless pages from a text in the style of Ars Goetia and the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. [more inside]
What Is This Thing Called Love?
"There’s no way to know whether Kitty is feeling something or simply manipulating her audience into feeling something, and whether that distinction even matters becomes arguable at a certain point—precisely what Infamous is about. " - for Scene Routes, Mike D'Angelo talks about the opening scene to Infamous.
Controlling the Chameleon-like Oxide
A new way to control oxygen for electronic properties They built a two-layer material: an indium oxide crystal layer on top of a block of yttria-stabilized zirconia. When the researchers applied a small electric field, they watched the electrical conductivity skyrocket by two orders of magnitude along the boundary where the two layers meet.
Tears flowing, cowboy style
(All links very NSFW.) From audiobook mashup artist Tootleg Boy (previously), who brought you The Lord of the Books of the 55 Arse-Hymens of Stone and Pride and Prejudice and 367 Pages of Balls and Young Men, comes the inspirational, patriotic, and incredibly juvenile American Soldier (With A Sniper)
I'm Just A Person
A couple of days later, I stood in front of a mirror and slowly unbuttoned my shirt. When I looked down, what I saw turned out to be just a flat chest with fresh scars on their way to looking healed. My stitches had dissolved. I took my shirt off and stared at myself, thinking, “Lake was right, I can do this.” - Tig Notaro on luck, love, family, friends, fame, stand up, her new book, and life after breasts
"All human knowledge is there—so why can’t everybody access it?"
Will we ever realize the dream of everyone having access to all of human knowledge? Glyn Moody summarizes the open access movement. [more inside]
“Seven people were dancing, three couples and Marcel. Midnight.”
This Week In Fiction: Discovering An Unpublished Story by Langston Hughes [The New Yorker] “Seven People Dancing” is a story by Langston Hughes that was written, most likely, in the early sixties, but was never published. [more inside]
PTSD May Not A Mental Disorder
Recent research suggests that PTSD may be more of a physical issue than a psychological issue.
Would humans remain human on Mars?
I'm not crazy, you are!
Oops. In 2012 a study was published that linked liberalism with social desirability, and conservatism with psychosis. A series of papers were published, some in high profile outlets. Now, they have been retracted. Why? The codings in the data were reversed--liberals were coded as conservatives, and vice-versa. [more inside]
June 10
3 heads of the Black Dog, decades of post-techno and futuristic exotica
Ken Downie, Ed Handley and Andy Turner were mates back in the day, digging into b-boy stuff as it came into England, mixing in sounds from Chicago and Detroit, acid and techno, and making it their own. They released three EPs on their own, and joined Warp Records in 1993 with the iconic album, Bytes, which already showed a fractured nature to the group, with eight different entities attributed for the album and individual tracks, but they wouldn't formally fracture for a few more years. Ken Downie kept The Black Dog, which he named in part for his battle with depression, while Ed and Andy became Plaid. With Plaid's newest album, The Digging Remedy, each now with 11 albums to their names. Read on for more history and tunes. [more inside]
Stop dithering and start dithering
Are you a Sim?
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The Buffalo Hunt
The American bison once faced extinction – now they’re being culled. Native American photographer Joe Whittle attends a hunt held by tribal members [more inside]
"Oh, you go to Hell, Sean."
Actors have to go through a lot of repetitive interviews when they're out promoting a film. So you would imagine they would welcome something totally unique. At least, that's the theory when Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key stopped by the First We Feast YouTube channel several months ago to promote their movie Keanu, discuss their careers... and consume the spiciest chicken wings known to man.
TALES of APPLE ][ GAME CRACKING
The Apple II game Gumball is fairly obscure. Copies are very hard to find in the wild, and cracks are uncommon because of devious copy protection. The brilliant Apple II cracker 4am works at the Internet Archive (previously), and recently broke its copy protection and made it playable online. Along the way he found an easter egg that no one had discovered in 33 years, which was confirmed by the game's developer. [more inside]
Because you catch more flies with honey than vinegar
“The closer you adhere to the most exacting standards of human rights and treatment of prisoners -- what Scharff did -- you will be more effective. Here is a guy who was caught up in a horrible situation he couldn’t walk away from, and his moral standards still allowed him to be successful, perhaps among the most successful interrogators in history.”
Meet Hanns Joachim Scharff, an interrogator for the German Luftwaffe who pioneered interrogation techniques that were intelligent, humane, and also produced significantly better results than the other, much more widely used Nazi interrogation method, physical torture. [more inside]
They're not making any more of it.
100 people/families own approximately 30,000,000 acres of land in the U.S. That's roughly 50,000 sq. miles or the size of New York State. Cable billionaire John Malone comes in at #1 with 2,200,000 acres "because he loves land and his wife loves horses." A close second is Ted Turner with 2,000,000 acres: "His purchase of the Sierra Grande Lodge and Spa brings tourists closer to two of his landmark properties and, ya know, space. Richard Branson’s spaceport is just a quick drive away."
Lifting Bricks
The Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 is the most powerful mobile crane in the world. Here is a 1:16 scale radio-controlled scale model, with 21 motors, weighing 25 kg - built entirely from Lego.
When the world of the grotesque is known and appreciated
William Mortensen was The Photographer Who Ansel Adams Called the Anti-Christ
He was a trained artist who had initially wanted to be a painter, but who ultimately fell under photography’s spell.
He arrived in Hollywood in 1921 accompanied by 14-year-old Fay Wray, and there started by painting and designing backdrops before moving on to Photography.
His subject matter – which veered towards the savage, indecorous, gothic and grotesque made him a pariah among the puritanical new guard in photography.
A biography in two parts.
He was a trained artist who had initially wanted to be a painter, but who ultimately fell under photography’s spell.
He arrived in Hollywood in 1921 accompanied by 14-year-old Fay Wray, and there started by painting and designing backdrops before moving on to Photography.
His subject matter – which veered towards the savage, indecorous, gothic and grotesque made him a pariah among the puritanical new guard in photography.
A biography in two parts.
Some kind of self made TLA releases hell
Are meat raffles the juciest bar trend?
Natalie Zarrelli at Atlas Obscura considers the question. The Minneapolis Star Tribune takes you inside the juicy world of the meat raffle. John M. Glionna visits a meat raffle in Northern Minnesota for the LA Times and blogger Aaron Brown from Minnesota's Iron Range reacts. From 2006, Elizabeth Gilbert recounts her meat raffle experience while visiting relatives in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Gawker files for bankruptcy
Gawker Media has filed for bankruptcy and will be put up for sale: "Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy on Friday, after saying in Florida court that it cannot pay the $140.1 million awarded to actor Hulk Hogan in a case bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel." [more inside]
Storks in the Netherlands
The Stork is a bird that is closely linked to the Netherlands and the traditional Dutch landscape. But it very nearly died out in the Netherlands in the first half of the twentieth century. Many volunteers and the Dutch bird protection society Vogelbescherming Nederland have worked hard for the last forty years to get the stork to come back to the Netherlands to breed. At present, things seem to be going well. The number of breeding pairs has increased, more young birds survive, and the breeding areas are expanding. [more inside]
The current state of CG and motion capture
AICP - 2016 Reel - Dir Cut : a video created using motion capture, procedural animation and dynamic simulations.
Korra 2.0 - Space Lions
Voltron: Legendary Defender returns! From Dreamworks Animation and Studio Mir (of Legend of Korra fame), the 1980s amalgamated hit returns on Netflix in an 11 episode season. Trailer here! [more inside]
Renting in the panopticon
A British startup has created a system for offering landlords continuous surveillance of their tenants' online activity to determine whether they are likely to be asset risks. The system, named Tenant Assured, connects to the tenants' social media accounts and mines their status updates, photos and private messages, feeding them to an algorithmic model, which is claimed to find potential signs of financial stress (which include posts with keywords like “loan” or “staying in”) or crime. The landlord gets an online dashboard, showing the tenant's social connections, and a histogram of their online activity times, as well as flagging up any potential danger signs, as well as a five-factor psychometric profile of the tenant, annotated with what a landlord should look for.
Tony Awards That Let Everyone In on the Joke
This year, Mr. Corden said he hoped to open the Tonys with “a song for, like, the theater kid who lives in Michigan or Nebraska, who just dreams of being on a stage. For them,” he continued, “this night being on TV is everything, and I wonder if we can open our show for them." [more inside]
Mr. Hockey (1928-2016)
Hockey legend Gordie Howe has died. In Gordie's 5 decade career he set records for most seasons and games played as well as #2 for all time career goals.
Fandom Explained
Why We're Terrified of Fanfiction. A response to the assertion that fandom is broken.
All week, Vox has been exploring the world of fandom. [more inside]
June 9
COMPUTER_
?????????????????????????????? You’re A Computer. Can You Pass The Turing Test? ??????????????????????????????(Single link Clickhole game)
Avante Garde Nostalgia
The 1980s in San Francisco was fertile ground for a new type of theater, involving not only performance art but graphics, sculptural artists and musicians. Some astonishing productions were staged every year, each being a collaboration between the various disciplines. After each show had its run it dissolved into memory as only through those specific contributors could the production be realized. This was different than a standard play which existed on paper and could be performed ad infinitum by any number of theater companies. These "multi-media" shows existed only as long as the collaborators worked together. One sensed a specialness to each production, knowing that it would most likely never be staged again. [more inside]
Where’s the original script? Where’s the one we liked?
With everything that kept going wrong, was [directing Super Mario Bros. (the movie)] a tough experience?
Tough? That’s a very mild word. It was a harrowing experience.
Tough? That’s a very mild word. It was a harrowing experience.
Aloha Wanderwell (Baker), with Car and Camera Around the World
In 1922, 16 year old Idris Galcia Hall read an advertisement in the Riviera edition of the Paris Herald caught her eye: “Brains, Beauty & Breeches – World Tour Offer For Lucky Young Woman… Wanted to join an expedition… Asia, Africa…” The pitch came from "Captain" Walter Wanderwell, a Polish national named Valerian Johannes Piecynski who chose a dashing name for an English speaking public. Idris joined him, becoming Aloha Wanderwell, and was soon the "World's Most Widely Traveled Girl," trekked through 43 countries and four continents. She served as a cinematographer, photographer, translator, driver, actress, and seamstress, filmed and wrote detailed descriptions of parts of the world that hadn't been documented yet. Her mode of choice: Model T Ford. [more inside]
Bed & Bees
Sleep with your bees! As detailed in the October 2015 issue of the American Bee Journal, sleeping in a beehive can purportedly have beneficial effects on your mind, body, and planet. Now, Horizontal Hive have published instructions for building your very own horizontal beehive/bed. [more inside]
IMPORTANT: Do not glue the pieces to the cat
It's about baby chickens.
This is the best news for America's animals in decades: In a massive victory for animal rights activists, and for America's chickens, United Egg Producers, a group that represents 95 percent of all eggs produced in the United States, has announced that it will eliminate culling of male chicks at hatcheries where egg-laying hens are born by 2020.
The upstart Humane League has scored another win, due in no small part to its research on the most effective methods of advocacy.
The upstart Humane League has scored another win, due in no small part to its research on the most effective methods of advocacy.
“I come across as very stoic, indifferent, and cold to strangers.”
On the Inside Part I: [Reply All] [Podcast] For years, Paul Modrowski has been writing a blog from inside a maximum security prison. Only thing is, he was arrested when he was 18 and has never seen the internet. Sruthi Pinnamaneni reaches out to him with one small question that alters the course of her next year. [more inside]
'That one actually happened to a friend of mine.'
♫Running errands and stuff♫
A music video for “Sleeping Prophet”, by William Tyler. Directed by Elise Tyler, with Dustin Lane as Director of Photography. [more inside]
A little bit of a boy on the floor
Sunspring is a short film written by Benjamin, a neural network trained on a corpus of film scripts.
(Sunspring previously though the link there has been made private)
The Audition
Why is craft beer so white?
Like many things in North America, beer–and even more so craft beer following in the footsteps of big beer–emerged from a place of privilege, both in the physical, geographical sense and in the symbolic sense: The interesting and locally-made products craft beer fans love are typically borne of beer-makers who still enjoy privileges that are not yet enjoyed by everyone. [more inside]
But does it still cost more?
You're the National Gallery/ You're Garbo's salary /You're cellophane
Happy Birthday Cole Porter! In 1990, Red Hot + Blue, an AIDS benefit album was released featuring covers of Cole Porter's music by an electric array of performers accompanied by a TV special with music videos from the likes of Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders. Notable tracks include "Miss Otis Regets" by the Pogues and Kristy MacColl (video Neil Jordon) "Don't Fench Me In" by David Byrne "You Do Something To Me" by Sinéad O'Connor (video John Maybury) "Have You Evah" by Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop (video by Alex Cox) "From This Moment On" by Jimmy Somerville (video Steve mcclean) and "Ev'ry We Say Goodbye" by Annie Lennox (video by Ed Lachman)
McDonald's: it's the glue that holds communities together
Nh Mc Ts Og - The New Element Names Are Out!
Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 are one step closer to shedding those boring "Un-un-" placeholder names, as the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has announced the names of nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts), and oganesson (Og), repectively. The names are provisional for the next six months for public review and comment. [more inside]
The sounds of starships
The background engine noises of iconic science fiction spaceships can be remarkably soothing. That is why Spike Snell created 12-hour sound loops of the background hum of the TNG Enterprise (prev.), the old Battlestar Galactica (and the new), a Cylon Basestar, the Discovery from 2001, the Heart of Gold, the Millennium Falcon (made from the sound of a P-51 Mustang), Mass Effect's Normandy, Babylon 5, Serenity, and hundreds more. Strangely, these fake space ship sounds don't sound too different from the actual noise on the ISS or space shuttle Atlantis. And if you don't like any of these, you can always generate your own!
Thinking Machine 6
The crumbling glories of Kolkata, "City of Palaces"
Photographer Ritayan Mukherjee documents Kolkata's deteriorating historical mansions in the neighborhoods of Shovabazar, Bagbazar, and old Chitpur, once home to the Bengali economic and culture elite, and the stage for the city's intellectual renaissance of the 19th and early 20th century.
Clogs, spoons, chairs and all of their digits
The Story of India
The Story of India, written and presented by Michael Wood for the BBC, is a six episode documentary that serves as an entertaining and solid introduction to Indian history. All six episodes are available in full (6 hrs). [more inside]
June 8
elseq et al
So one of the great musical surprises of the year was Autechre dropping elseq 1-5, an... album, I think? - comprising five parts, FOUR HOURS in total, of uncompromising, intricately programmed algorithmic music. Not to editorialize, but it's really something. A challenge of an album by any measure, but also deeply rewarding and unutterably gorgeous. While they are usually pretty hermetic, Rob and Sean of Autechre have occasionally proven surprisingly open and willing to explain themselves. In 2013 there was an enormous, 1,500 question AMA on the music site WATMM, and on the heels of the new album, there's a long, wide-ranging interview on Resident Advisor covering their entire history, philosophy, method of working, and much more (spoiler: they'd probably work with Kanye if he called). It's fascinating. Dive in! [more inside]
Tracking Down August Belmont Jr.’s Private NYC Subway Car, The Mineola
August Belmont Jr. builder of the Belmont Racetrack and founder of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT, now part of the numbered NYC Subway lines) had his own private subway car, the Mineola, built for him in 1903. Untapped Cities tracks it down.
''A private railroad car is not an acquired taste,'' wrote Eleanor Belmont, ''One takes to it immediately.''
"Pinto! Get up!" {honk}
Pinto is a horse with an amazing ability to play dead. His owner does not appreciate his talents, since it results in weekly calls from passers-by telling her she has a dead pony. [more inside]
Painting does not provide sufficient security.
I am inspired by three things: decorativeness, motion, and the stillness and expression of individual lines.
(All links NSFW). František Drtikol was a Bohemian photographer who in the 1920s, created nude studies that mingled Cubism, Abstraction and Art Deco.
In 1930 he abandoned live models for cutouts, and in 1935 he gave up photography altogether to return to painting.
Some more of his work with possible repeats.
(All links NSFW). František Drtikol was a Bohemian photographer who in the 1920s, created nude studies that mingled Cubism, Abstraction and Art Deco.
In 1930 he abandoned live models for cutouts, and in 1935 he gave up photography altogether to return to painting.
Some more of his work with possible repeats.
A "kinder, gentler" Reddit?
2001: A Picasso Odyssey
2001: A Picasso Odyssey - '2001' rendered in the style of Picasso using Deep Neural Networks based style transfer. More details.
"It was real, because there was a psychopath onstage."
At Profiles Theatre in Chicago the drama—and abuse—is real. For more than 20 years, actors and crew members stayed silent about mistreatment they suffered at the acclaimed storefront theater. Now they’re speaking up, hoping to protect workers in non-Equity theaters across the country.
“Last year, three million came for the hajj...”
Mecca Goes Mega [The New York Times] A building boom in the city’s sacred center has created a dazzling, high-tech 21st-century pilgrimage. [more inside]
Finally, a quick & easy fashion instructional for beanplating ladies
I Incite This Boardgame to Rebellion
Perhaps you are interested in the Suffragettes. You may even have seen the film Suffragette. However, this may not be enough for you; you may wish to play a strategy game based on the movement. [more inside]
Richard and Anthony
In April of 1975, Richard Adams and Anthony Sullivan sought a green card for Mr. Sullivan, as Mr. Adams' husband. 41 years later, "the green card, granting Anthony permanent resident status in the United States, was issued on the 41st anniversary of his Boulder, Colorado marriage to Richard — a same-sex marriage that remained in the record and which was never invalidated by Colorado officials. "
"He’s the best guy who’s ever lived, apparently."
The Globe and Mail's Mark Medley has written a a choose-your-own-adventure profile of Ryan North, of Dinosaur Comics/Unbeatable Squirrel Girl/getting stuck in a hole fame. See if you can get through the interview without dying!
there was just one guy who was better than him
The Djangobot. (Skip to the end if you just want to hear a computer improvising like Django Reinhardt (and Gonzalo Bergara, Stochelo Rosenberg, and some other gypsy jazz players)).
Correcting Yellowface
But Does The Cat Get A Piece Of The Backend?
How much money does everyone make on a typical $200 Million movie? Find out how much the average paycheck for a Production Designer, Best Boy, Day Extra, Location Scout and even A Cat is for working on your typical summertime blockbuster.
The Last Living Carousel Craftsman in New York
“I never approached this saying, ‘This would be a great skill to have because everybody needs an acanthus carver,’” he says, “but it evolved into a passion that became practical.” Bob Yorburg is the man who saves carousel horses from the glue factory. (Ariana Michelle Igneri for Narratively; warning for the first gif, if you are given to dizziness.) [more inside]
Grace Neutral Explores Korea's Illegal Beauty Scene
British body mod artist Grace Neutral heads to South Korea to compare and contrast their mainstream beauty standards with the (still illegal) underground tattoo scene.
The ultimate vacation home
If a cruise liner can be thought of as a luxury hotel on a ship's hull, then The World would be a luxury condominium on a ship's hull. Displacing 43,524 tons, it contains 165 privately-owned residences ranging from studios all the way up to 3 bedroom apartments. Every residence has a kitchen and a bathroom and internet access, and the ship overall has a pool, a tennis court, six restaurants, a grocery store and a deli, several bars, and no casino. [more inside]
June 7
We are gonna have a cat party!
Koo Koo Kangaroo is one of the strangest bands I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their music video, or why. [more inside]
ioerror may have errored
On June 4th it was announced that Jacob Appelbaum(previously) has stepped down from his role as an employee of the TOR foundation while they investigate charges of inappropriate behavior. The TOR project (previously) anonymizes Internet traffic and is seen as a key tool for dissidents and others who wish to avoid surveillance while using the Internet. Appelbaum has been a key contributor and passionate public advocate for TOR. It is not clear what impact his departure will have on the future of the project.
Usher - Honey Nut Cheerios, Twix; Macklemore - Cracker Jack, Dr. Pepper
This Is How Much Celebrities Get Paid To Endorse Soda And Unhealthy Food FROM NPR: A new study published in the journal Pediatrics describes the lucrative endorsement deals of 65 music celebrities. [more inside]
"Replaced by the simple twist of an Archimedes spiral"
Bill "EngineerGuy" Hammack focuses on one component of the Apollo lunar module. [SLYT] [more inside]
Unknown Man Dies For Unknown Reason
Why did this man travel 200 miles to die in the Peak District? The BBC looks at the unsolved death in December of an unidentified man who travelled from London to Manchester by train only to be found on the moor. The article is a companion piece to a Radio 4 podcast.
"Mr Coates risked life and limb in his stage performances..."
"... since the audience could not, would not, and did not, endure his interpretations of the classics. A riot was the inevitable result, death or serious injury the probable outcome, of these attempts." So wrote Edith Sitwell of the in/famous amateur thespian Robert "Romeo" Coates in her book English Eccentrics, here appreciated by the Paris Review blog. [more inside]
“We need less Gehrys, less Hadids, less bloated egotecture.”
Design for the One Percent by Alex Cocotas [Jacobin Mag] Contemporary architecture is more interested in mega projects for elites than improving ordinary people’s lives. [more inside]
the perfect cockpit for zooming through cyberspace
On Reading Issues of Wired from 1993 to 1995, by Anna Wiener
The start up makes a step stool.
A DAD is helping his DAUGHTER move into her new apartment. They’ve rented a Uhaul, and hired movers, but he lives close enough — they’re from Westchester — that he thought he could come help, even though it’s a weekday, but he’s retired from being a wealthy banker, so he can do that sort of thing.Life, Screenwritten
GPS jammin'
FAA warns of widespread GPS outage. The FAA advisory (pdf). The FAA is warning pilots that there will be several widespread outages of the GPS syste centered on China Lake, California, home of the Navy’s China Lake Naval Weapons Center. A military GPS jamming system? Let the conspiracy theories commence.
That was the most Broadway response
And you could have it all... my empire of flavor...
It's a story of self-destruction, a wrenching reflection at the end of a life lived simultaneously too well and infinitely poorly, a lamentation of the pursuit of one more hit, hoping and fearing that this might be the one that kills you... set to Johnny Cash singing "Hurt".
The Sputnik Awards
The Sputnik Awards are a new prize for speculative fiction. The voting system is not like the other awards. [more inside]
Rad - Getting Crap Past The Radar
Good Dog
Use the Restroom Consistent with Who You are
NYC launches ad campaign reaffirming right to use bathrooms that are consistent with gender Identity. I thought we could use a bit of nice news. Linking to the NYC.gov page, because the comment sections on various news sites announcing this are a bit of a trip, and no one needs that shit.
It's a beautiful day for a horror movie... Let's play two!
Back in 2013, we saw Sadako from The Ring throw out the first pitch at a baseball game in Japan. Then earlier this year, we saw the trailer for the upcoming The Ring/The Grudge crossover movie, Sadako vs. Kayako. You can see where this is going: Sadako throws out first pitch against Kayako at Japanese baseball game. (Via.)
Nova Alea
Nova Alea is a small real-estate speculation game loosely modeled on the rent-gap theory. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. [more inside]
We were wrong about gravity...what do we have wrong today?
We are on the brink of a historic moment...
With 694 delegates up for grabs between five primaries and a caucus, it has been widely predicted that Secretary Clinton would surpass the 2383 delegate threshold needed to clinch the democratic presidential nomination today.
Jumping the gun, The Associated Press is reporting that, by their count, Clinton has already reached this number. Senator Sanders' campaign has condemned the media for its "rush to judgement" and the Clinton campaign has simply said "we still have work to do". [more inside]
June 6
Meet The Ringer
Less than a year after the untimely demise of Grantland (previously), Bill Simmons is back with a new sports and pop culture site, The Ringer. [more inside]
Make America Rage Again
What do you get when you combine the lead vocalists for Public Enemy, Cypress Hill and Rage Against the Machine? Why, you get the brand new supergroup Prophets of Rage. And now with their inaugural show at Whisky A Go Go last week behind them, they've now announced a touring schedule. First stop? Cleveland, July 19th.
Realistic Minecraft
Someone thinks you're pranking them with mämmi
Finnish Nightmares — Comic about uncomfortable social situations, uncomfortable everything. [more inside]
A mere human shall not cast his miserable shadow upon great palaces.
“Where are all the people?” – this question often arises when people see photos of the white-marbled capital of Turkmenistan. Indeed, new Ashgabat looks empty. Huge new buildings lined with marble, wide avenues, parks, gardens, fountains are all there, but there are no people in the city. Ashgabat is divided into two parts – old town and new town. City of the living and the city of the dead.Ashgabat: the city of the living and the city of the dead
wait..I had something for this.
Archer Producers want Jon Hamm to play Sterling Archer in a live action movie. In case you were wondering here is what the Archer models and voice actors actually look like.
Welcome, friends, to League D co-ed recreational indoor soccer.
Think of the beautiful game. Recall the matches that made your heart swell for love of 22 men and a ball: the national rivalries played out on the scale of a football pitch; the sublime coherence of the German juggernaut; the silky passes and jaw-dropping Messi chips that made you hail Barcelona, even as you hated them.
Then forget all that and imagine a bunch of washed up 30-year olds using sports as an excuse to get drunk on weeknights.
Why I Quit My Job to Travel the World
On paper, my life seemed great. I had a dream job, a swanky apartment, and a loving girlfriend. But something was off. I couldn’t bear being chained to my desk in a stuffy office any longer. So I decided to quit and travel the world, bringing only my passport, a small backpack, and... (SLNewYorker)
Translating the U.S. census form into Arabic
The fastest growing language in America provides some special challenges for designers of the 2020 U.S. census form.
My year of buying nothing - six months in
Journalist Michelle McGagh has opted to not buy anything extra for a year. (sltheGuardian) [more inside]
The Best of British Aviation
Le Rendez-Vous 2016
After a grueling club season without major surprises or heartbreak, the best (well, close to half) national teams in Europe meet in France to know who will follow Spain in lifting the Henri Delaunay Trophy in Paris in July 10. This Friday, the Euro 2016 begins. [more inside]
The Result Won't Matter
BBC: "Pro-Remain MPs are considering using their Commons majority to keep Britain inside the EU single market if there is a vote for Brexit, the BBC has learned.
The MPs fear a post-Brexit government might negotiate a limited free trade deal with the EU, which they say would damage the UK's economy.
There is a pro-Remain majority in the House of Commons of 454 MPs to 147.
A Vote Leave campaign spokesman said MPs will not be able to "defy the will of the electorate" on key issues."
A Clockwork Yellow
19-year old French film student Candice Drouet compiled all the Stanley Kubrick references in The Simpsons alongside their original counterpart and captured 25 years of visual references in two minutes. Her visual project, 1.000.000 Frames (100 videos) collects images from all the movies she seen in her life, split into different themes such as loneliness, the sounds of Wes Anderson, and addictions. Much more at Vimeo.
ITS IN THE COMPUTERRRR!!!!!
June 5
The age of soothing imagery and blue liquid is dead.
"You're Next Internet"
Infochammel. Experience the next level of HDTV Info and Non-Engaging Nontertainment 24-7-365-11000 encoded with proprietary Techno-Loc HDTV subliminal positive human behavioral modification frequencies. [more inside]
So when does it start?
Why Ramadan Starts on a Different Day Every Year If you've always wondered, you're in good company... with the estimated 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. But this year, perhaps there may be some kind of agreement, as Islamic scholars agree on a shared lunar calendar for Muslim world. In the meantime, it's Monday in many parts of the world, and marks the 1st day of Ramadan. Here are some countries where Muslims will be fasting the longest. Should you fast the whole length of the day in such places though? But what if you're not a Muslim; just a caring, considerate person. Is there anything you should be doing so you don't come across as insensitive to your fasting friends? According to Saeed Ahmed: Short answer: No.
Long answer: No. But you can earn some cool points if you follow these 10 tips. Other tips in solidarity. [Previously]
The good news is that it doesn’t matter
[A] hopeful, generous, infinitely kind gamble taken by two people who don’t know yet who they are or who the other might be, binding themselves to a future they cannot conceive of and have carefully avoided investigating.
Alain de Botton explains why you will marry the wrong person.
“equally efficient in the visualisation of hidden medieval inks,”
X-Rays Reveal 1,300-Year-Old Writings Inside Later Bookbindings [The Guardian] The words of the 8th-century Saint Bede are among those that have been found by detecting iron, copper and zinc – constituents of medieval ink. Medieval manuscripts that have been hidden from view for centuries could reveal their secrets for the first time, thanks to new technology. Dutch scientists and other academics are using an x-ray technique to read fragments of manuscripts that have been reused as bookbindings and which cannot be deciphered with the naked eye. After the middle ages manuscripts were recycled, with pages pasted inside bindings to strengthen them. Those fragments may be the unique remains of certain works.
Relieve yourself triumphantly
Along with her North Carolina concert, Cyndi Lauper has teamed up with Harvey Fierstein and the cast of KINKY BOOTS to bring us advice - Just Pee! [more inside]
The Outernet
For 60% of humanity, the Internet as we know it does not exist, so we built a new way to share information. [more inside]
Party like a Nederlander
New Years in Holland, and the tradition of Carbidschieten.
bang bang
Our Well-Regulated Milita, Alexander Chee
The Gun Control We Deserve, Patrick Blanchfield
Should We Just Get Used To Mass Shootings?, Michael Paterniti
The Gun Control We Deserve, Patrick Blanchfield
Should We Just Get Used To Mass Shootings?, Michael Paterniti
"Thank you for making a doll like me!"
10-year-old Emma had never had a doll that looked like her, until A Step Ahead Prosthetics made her dream come true in the weepiest video (alternate YT link) you will watch today. [more inside]
the summer of our discontent
The Families That Can't Afford Summer. "The assumption that underlies summer vacation — that there is one parent waiting at home for the kids — is true for just over a quarter of American families."
The appeal of Ron Jeremy at work
Graduate for Jolley
Last fall, Baltimore's Renaissance Academy High School was put on the school district's closure list for poor student performance, though the decision was later reversed. In November, 17 year old senior Ananias Jolley was stabbed in the middle of science class, and died a few days before Christmas. By the end of February, two more students from the school were killed. 65 students graduated this past Friday from Renaissance; among them Ananias' brother, 20-year-old Santonio Jolley, a dropout who enrolled in Renaissance five days after his brother died. This is Renaissance.
June 4
I am become Tiger Beat, Destroyer of Vocal Cords
Ellen Cushing of Buzzfeed drops in on the DigiTour: 7 teenage boys (and one girl) who have become so famous on social media that together, they can sell out arenas and drive teen girls to madness.
Debunking Beer Can Chicken
A Waste of Good Beer, An Inferior Cooking Technique, And Dangerous
In the words of Sterling Ball ... "I think Beer Can Chicken is a religion. We need a little separation of faith and science here."podcast
The untroubled soups of my childhood
All The Reasons Why People Did Not Reply To Your Party Invitation By MeFi's unimpeachably polite The Whelk.
WANTED: sick ass guitar solo for while I do karate in the woods
COMMUNITY WANT ADS — Jeff Wysaski (of Obvious Plant) and some friends wrote a bunch of fake want ads and turned it into a newspaper. Previously.
I guess it's good to have a brick house
Rod Reeves, 42, turns on the spigot and shows how his garden hose, punctured by bullets, now leaks. In last week's three day Memorial Day weekend, 64 people were shot in Chicago, a city of 2.7 million. 6 died from their wounds. Prior to that, there had been 1,177 shootings this year, and some 28,000 citizen phone calls reporting gunfire.
Horse yoga
47 Years of Peace and Love
That couple wrapped in a blanket on the cover of the Woodstock album? Still together. Still in love.
"Russia has not yet reached the zenith of her power."
One hundred years ago today, an enormous Russian offensive begins. The attack surprised nearly everyone, including enemies and the rest of the Russian command.
The massive assault on Austro-Hungarian forces was intended to aid already or soon-to-be hard-pressed Russian allies France, Italy, and Britain, while also hoping to knock an enemy empire out of the war.
[more inside]
The massive assault on Austro-Hungarian forces was intended to aid already or soon-to-be hard-pressed Russian allies France, Italy, and Britain, while also hoping to knock an enemy empire out of the war.
[more inside]
June 3
Stem Cell Therapy Crosses a Threshold
“Live, and be happy, and make others so.”
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family [The Bodleian Library] This exhibition is a collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries and the New York Public Library. Few families enjoy such a remarkable reputation for their contribution to the literature and intellectual life of Britain as the Godwins and the Shelleys. Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family explores how the reputation of this great literary family was shaped by the selective release of documents and manuscripts into the public domain. It also provides a fascinating insight into the real lives of a family that was blessed with genius but marred by tragedy. [more inside]
Muhammad Ali is dead
The greatest died surrounded by family. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016 was an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the history of the sport. A controversial and polarizing figure during his early career, Ali is now remembered for the skills he displayed in the ring plus the values he exemplified outside of it: religious freedom, racial justice and the triumph of principle over expedience. He is one of the most recognized sports figures of the past 100 years.
"Lighthouses... just stand there shining."
A former Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner, who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman was sentenced to six months in jail because a longer sentence would have “a severe impact on him,” according to a judge. At his sentencing Thursday, his victim read him a letter describing the “severe impact” the assault had on her. This article is a powerful but difficult read so please take care if accounts of sexual assault are triggering for you.
No, I swear, it is
People with their pets and phones in the bathroom
It's not a massacre! It's more like a relocation of immigrants...
Germany recognizes the Armenian Genocide after 101 years. Chancellor Angela Merkel, the deputy chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, and the minister for foreign affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier were not present for the vote. In retaliation Turkey has recalled its ambassador and summoned the German charge d’affaires to its foreign ministry.
Periodically cool
Return of the Cicadas is a short film by Samuel Orr about the insects' (surprisingly beautiful) 17-year lifespans. [more inside]
State of the Digital Nation 2016
A sweeping wave of acquisitions has decimated the ranks of independent agencies and formed two clashing clans. On the one side are the giants of advertising and marketing and on the other the titans of management consultancy. Meanwhile the market over which they are fighting is in the midst of a multi-faceted existential crisis.Jules Ehrhardt presents the state of digital ad agencies in 2016, and how they are coping with ad blockers, the rise of apps, and the other massive changes in both media and consumption in the past few years.
Advice to Students from an Iguana
In 2006, a group of students at Xavier High School in New York City were given an assignment by their English teacher, Ms. Lockwood, that was to test their persuasive writing skills: they were asked to write to their favourite author and ask him or her to visit the school. It’s a measure of his ongoing influence that five of those pupils chose Kurt Vonnegut, the novelist responsible for, amongst other highly-respected books, Slaughterhouse-Five; sadly, however, he never made that trip. Instead, he wrote a wonderful letter. He was the only author to reply.
Man, he does what he can, but he's not good enough
On Beyond Zarathustra: A Parody for All and None. What two authors go together better than Dr. Seuss and Friedrich Nietzsche? (A work in progress, but worth sharing early.)
New mysteries. New day. Fresh doughnuts.
Let these chipper YouTube science vids fill you with existential terror. Popular YouTube education channels CGP Grey and Kurzgesagt teamed up to produce a pair of videos designed to cause you to question everything about your existence.
Stop pretending and start eating people
Austin Light is back at it with TV Title Typos, illustrations of tv shows created from well known shows but with one letter missing from the title. (previously he did movie titles, which has been turned into a book!)
Two viewpoints both alike in dignity in fair NYC where we lay our scene
Four fine, odd mixes
(Visible) Cloaks’ Spencer Doran knows how to crate dig (via):
- 2010 : The cult-classic Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo : “Fourth-world Japan, years 1980-1986” Previously
- 2013 : Music Interiors : “Mix of Japanese new-age/ambient/minimalist music… emanating from the corporate infrastructure of the 1980s asset bubble.”
- 2014 : Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo, Volume 2 : “[F]urther investigation into the futuristic spaces in Japanese ambient and pop music from the 1980s…”
- 2016 : Music Interiors, Volume 2: Interni Italiani : “DJ mix of Italian ambient/minimalist/avant-garde music…”
We were a blues rock band from Texas...better than the original Zombies
The True Story Of The Fake Zombies. In 1969, the English psychedelic pop band The Zombies had a surprise hit in the States with "Time of the Season". Since they'd broken up two years earlier, the obvious thing for a promoter to do would be to recruit a bunch of young Texan blues-rock musicians in cowboy hats (including 2/3 of the future ZZ Top), call them the Zombies, and send them on tour. And that wasn't the only fake Zombies band out there.
FUN SPACE WARFARE
“Careful when you go outside or some tenant group will bust you”
"So can you do demolition eviction and then evict the tenants and then not demolish the building?"Real Estate Vampires Plot How To "De-Tenant" Rent-Stabilized Brooklyn
"There’s nothing in there I can see that penalizes you for not demolishing the building," Itkowitz replied.
Carter/Khomeini
BBC: "Two Weeks in January: America's secret engagement with Khomeini: On 27 January, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, the man who called the United States "the Great Satan" - sent a secret message to Washington.
From his home in exile outside Paris, the defiant leader of the Iranian revolution effectively offered the Carter administration a deal: Iranian military leaders listen to you, he said, but the Iranian people follow my orders.
If President Jimmy Carter could use his influence on the military to clear the way for his takeover, Khomeini suggested, he would calm the nation. Stability could be restored, America's interests and citizens in Iran would be protected."
Everybody Into the Pool?
On Wednesday, The New York City Parks Department decided to continue allowing women-only swimming hours at a public indoor pool in Williamsburg, a heavily Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn. An anonymous complaint had previously led the city’s Commission on Human Rights to notify the parks department that the policy violated the law, but supporters of the women's only hours state that disbanding 'Women's Swim' "would be akin to banning Hasidic women from the pool altogether."
David Neat's neat, model model blog
David Neat is a model maker and teacher. Of David Neat, Makezine says "This modest blog may be the Holy Grail of model-making sites."
One of the world's most mysterious diseases
In the late 1950s, Serbian authorities closed grain milling wheels made of lead used by a handful of villages in the Balkans.
They were aiming to eliminate Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN), a kidney disease limited to certain spots along the Danube and some of its tributaries.
They failed, but they weren't the last to fail.
Perhaps no other human disease has generated so many different hypotheses and ideas in an attempt to explain its causal factors.
In 2013, Elif Batuman traveled to the Balkans with her father, a nephrologist who had studied the disease before the region was ripped apart by war. She found medical records destroyed by the fighting, balkanized health services, skeptical villagers, and a handful of scientists who think that the most important clue was discovered in 1992, when two women in a clinic waiting room in Belgium nodded ‘Hello’ to each other. [more inside]
Living with Leopards
Mumbai is home to an estimated 20 million people ... and 21 leopards. The 250,000 residents with homes inside the boundary of Sanjay Gandhi National Park find a way to live with their big-cat neighbours.
inform, but do not inflame
Let Smokers See the Warning They Need [NYT Op/Ed by Joanna Cohen]
Previously: coughin', Warning: Cigarettes are addictive.
Previously: coughin', Warning: Cigarettes are addictive.
songs so full of wonder that they make your heart ache
Whyte Horses are a fantastically jangly, spacey psych-pop group from Manchester, headed up by cratedigging 'B-music crusader' Dom Thomas. They've just (re)released their debut album called Pop or Not and it sounds like nothing else, shapeshifting 'from Turkish psyche to Brazilian trip music, from acid house to electronica to punk rock to guitar classic in a heartbeat'. It stars underground 'no-fi' musician Lispector, who left the band between recording and release. Try out choice cuts The Snowfalls, La Couleur Originelle and Natures Mistakes and if you like what you hear, there's another fourteen great tracks on the album.
June 2
You've never met America, and you oughta pray you never do.
Charlie Daniels' latest promotional video for the National Rifle Association contrasts strongly with the more easygoing persona on display when he recorded Uneasy Rider... [more inside]
Facebook's forays into intent extraction
On Wednesday, Facebook introduced DeepText, a neural network AI engine that can understand text with near human accuracy, including slang and word-sense disambiguation. DeepText's first application will be on "intent extraction" on Facebook's Messenger app. Of course, there are already privacy concerns.
“It’s more like meat than anything I’ve ever seen that wasn’t meat.”
A meatless burger that bleeds vegetable juices just debuted at Whole Foods [The Washington Post] [more inside]
The vultures are waiting to pick your bones
Wow! Check out this supercut of every time Oprah said "The vultures are waiting to pick your bones" on her show! (SL Clickhole)
North vs South Vietnam
Protestant Work Ethic ...for kids!
"None of that for the Boxcar Children, who are so Puritan that Henry worries, out loud, that building a pool on Sunday would be amoral—before Jessie justifies the activity by saying that the pool will help them keep clean. " The Spirit Of Capitalism and 'The Boxcar Children' - Jia Tolentino for the 'New Yorker'
tronc
Publishing giant Tribune is changing its name to... tronc. Originally incorporated in 1847 with the founding of the Chicago Tribune, Tribune owns both the Chicago Tribune as well as the LA Times and numerous newspapers across the US.
Wir leben in der Krise
Via the Princeton Blue Mountain project, 336 issues of Der Sturm (german, but with art)
Der Sturm, originally published weekly, covered the visual arts, and also included fiction, poetry, cultural criticism, and political essays. The magazine became well known for the inclusion of woodcuts and linocuts, including works by Marc Chagall,Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oscar Kokoschka, Franz Marc, László Moholy-Nagy, and others.(via, english)
Excerpts from The Winds of Winter.
The Forsaken (Aeron I TWOW) is a new excerpt chapter from The Winds of Winter, told from the point of view of Aeron Greyjoy. It was transcribed by fans after George R.R. Martin read it to the audience at Balticon last weekend, and it may lend credence to an insane fan theory. This comes a few weeks after he released another chapter from TWOW, this time from the POV of Arianne Martell (a character who isn't on the show) which highlighted the growing divide between the show and the books. GRRM also revealed a new backstory for Brienne of Tarth.
Clueyness: A Weird Kind of Sad.
Clueyness: A Weird Kind of Sad. "Pretty random story for my dad to tell me, right? The reason he did was because it was part of a conversation where I was trying to articulate a certain thing I suffer from, which is feeling incredibly bad for certain people in certain situations—situations in which the person I feel bad for was probably barely affected by what happened. It’s an odd feeling of intense heartbreaking compassion for people who didn’t actually go through anything especially bad."
In France, a Political Football
The French Socialist government is facing increasing unrest over its proposed labor reforms, which may disrupt the Euro 2016 soccer championship. [more inside]
Ergo, jabot.
New praying mantis honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg, equality and frilly neckwear This research establishes the validity of using female specimens in the classification of praying mantises. It is my hope that our work not only sets a precedent in taxonomy but also underscores the need for scientists to investigate and equally consider both sexes in other scientific investigations
Why can't we get these templates in Microsoft Word?
Letter-Writing Manuals Were the Self-Help Books of the 18th Century. Need to kindly but firmly chastise your son for buying a horse? Read the manual.
Slashed Beauties
The anatomical Venus re-examined. “One of the things that makes the Venus so hard for us to understand is that we’ve now divided up all those things in ways that wasn’t divided in the time that it was made... We have this division between art and science, and between religion and medicine, that didn’t exist at that time.” (Photos of nude wax anatomical models that may be NSFW or disturbing to some.)
Every sea of every ruined star
Lytton Strachey, in a sympathetic overview of his life and work, called him the Last Elizabethan. He was morbid, eccentric, and homosexual. His idiosyncratic and macabre style lives somewhere between Shakespeare and Lovecraft. In his short life he composed two complete blank-verse dramas (The Brides' Tragedy and Death's Jest-Book), dozens of shorter fragments, and scores of poems. Today, Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803-1849) is almost completely forgotten.
Mais let's see what those T-Minous is up to
TundaMinous is clips of Thundercats with Cajun English overdubbing. The plot of the eight (so far) episodes has villain Mumm-Roux trying to get his Magnalite pot from the shed out back of Lyoneaux's PaPaw's camp, while Lyoneaux hires the Roberts (Robear Berbils) to build him a screen porch off the carport. Created by Lafayette comedian Ash Reese, the show includes numerous Cajun Country references, including KATC chief meterologist Rob Perillo, and getting in fights outside Cowboy's bar. Some NSFW language.
a code that's difficult to filter whose meaning incites waves of hate
Chronic pot use is as bad for your health as not flossing!
A new study from Arizona State University that followed over a thousand New Zealanders from birth to 38 years of age has found that people who smoked marijuana had no worse health than people that didn't. Except that the pot smokers suffered from gum disease at a higher rate than the general public. So, make that hygienist appointment today!
Yay, multi-dimensional best fit!
Uncovering Big Bias with Big Data, by David Colarusso - "What follows is the story of how I used those cases to discover what best predicts defendant outcomes: race or income. This post is not a summary of my findings, though you will find them in this article. It is a look behind the curtain of data science, a how to cast as case study. Yes, there will be a few equations. But you can safely skim over them without missing much. Just pay particular attention to the graphs." [more inside]
Hot Air Millionaire
Sex. Race. Class. Inequality. Personal branding. Millenials. Selfies. Affordable luxury. Femvertizing. Unattainable beauty standards. And a glass of free champagne. Put it all together and what do you get? $100 million a year in less than a decade. Buzzfeed's Sapna Maheshwari takes a deep dive into the success of Drybar.
Understanding Climate Radicalism
What do climate radicals actually want? An excellent and detailed review at Naomi Klein's latest book "This Changes Everything: Captialism vs The Climate" (Previously) attempts to understand what exactly it is that climate radicals want to do and whether it is sufficient or helpful in tackling climate change.
Elevator pitch: It's like Dukes of Hazzard crossed with ET.
Purple Rain
Amanda Palmer and Jherek Bischoff create a pretty great (IMO) cover of Purple Rain, with proceeds from sale of the song on Bandcamp going to Prince + Shelia E's music education/therapy charity Elevate Hope Foundation. [more inside]
June 1
Wildflower, 16 years in the blooming.
After a couple of teasers, the Avalanches have announced a new album on Twitter, entitled Wildflower. The first single is called "Frankie Sinatra" and has Danny Brown and MF Doom on it. [more inside]
"We were literally dripping with snot in these dishes!"
Low-flying research drones have to watch out for whale snot. Researchers for Ocean Alliance are using DJI's Phantom 4 drone to shadow blue whales in the sea of Cortez, allowing them to capture pictures, video, and — yes — gooey biological samples without disturbing the creatures.
“We just don’t make clay people as well as cats.”
Please enjoy the following inglorious parade of folly and nincompoopery
We wrote the Navy: ‘We think it is inadvisable to land the airplane.’ They came back with one paragraph that said ‘We agree.'”
The 10 worst US aircraft. [more inside]
“She’s creating it, and whatever she creates becomes part of the story.”
J. K. Rowling Just Can’t Let Harry Potter Go [The New York Times] J. K. Rowling always said that the seventh Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” would be the last in the series, and so far she has kept to her word. But though she’s written many new things in the intervening nine years, including four adult novels, she’s never been able to put Harry to rest, or to leave him alone. [more inside]
Because it's 2016 II: Rainbow (and Pink and Blue) Boogaloo
For the first time in history, the pride flag has been raised on Parliament Hill (video), Ottawa. For the first time in history, the Trans Flag has been raised with the Pride Flag at Toronto City Hall.
Ka-Pow Shrimp! : Unlocking Secrets Of Mantis Shrimp's Powerful Claws
Mantis shrimp pack a famously big punch. The same engineering that keeps their hammer-like claws intact could shape a new generation of human body armor. "We knew from previous studies that the impact region allows the mantis shrimp to transfer incredible momentum to its prey while resisting fracture," co-author Nicholas Yaraghi, a doctoral candidate at UC Riverside, says in a press release, "but it was exciting to reveal through our research that the properties of this highly impact-resistant material are created by the novel herringbone structure."
We have portkeys! Boom! Middle of the ocean!
Cartoonist Boulet (previously, previously, related previously) thinks about the problem with all these elaborate traps in adventure movies.
All those without one
For the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is fielding a small team of refugees – between five and 10 athletes who will represent not a country, but all those without one. [more inside]
Here be swamp rabbits.
How old is your map? A handy guide from xkcd.
Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand?
"...The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man." - The primal pull of Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter
An extraordinary madeleine
A few months ago, I opened an email that changed my life. I vaguely remembered an urban myth about a man who throws his wedding ring into the ocean. Ten years later, he sits down to eat fish at a local restaurant, cuts open the fish and there it is. That’s how I felt when I clicked on an email from someone I didn’t know called Keith Rushton. What he said to me was this: “I’ve got your electric guitar.”The Guardian's film critic Peter Bradshaw got rid of the guitar he’d loved as a teenager during a clearout and regretted it instantly. He thought he’d never see it again—then an email arrived ...
“Yeah, and it’s big-a-me, too.”
How a lost Marx Brothers musical found its way back onstage. [SLNYer]
"The most bizarre and often saddest talk show in New York City."
The Chris Gethard Show started at UCB, moved to public access (previously), and can now be seen on Fusion TV and online. It's a talk show, a call-in show, a Skype-in show, a comedy show, an audience-participation show, and a grand, weird, and delightful tv experiment that also isn't afraid to explore mental health issues (previously - cw: suicide.) Season 1 full episodes (22:00 ea.). Season 2 full episodes (44:00 ea.). Wikipedia List of show regulars, characters, and celeb guests. [more inside]
In Defense of Unlikable Women
There is something hypnotic in unlikable male characters that we don’t allow in women, and it’s this: we allow men to be confident, even arrogant, self-absorbed, narcissistic. But in our everyday lives, we do not hold up such women as leaders and role models. We call them out as selfish harridans. They are wicked stepmothers. Seeing these same women bashing their way through the pages of our fiction elicits the same reaction. Women should be nurturing. Their presence should be redeeming. Women should know better. [more inside]
159 days to go. Stay strong
Who Is David French and Is He Running for President? Conservative writer Bill Kristol floats a third party alternative for the US presidential race.
Life after the drug war
"From 2008 to 2012, the city of 1.3 million people was widely deemed the most dangerous place on Earth." And now Juárez is a thriving city with parks where children can play. (SL National Geographic, some graphic imagery)
Dancing about infrastructure
Stretching 57km (35mi) under the Swiss Alps, the Gotthard Base Tunnel officially became the world's longest and deepest active tunnel when it opened for service earlier today, completing a critical link in Europe's rail network. The tunnel's completion was commemorated by an extravagant ceremony and interpretive dance. [The last two links may be NSFW]
Your Soda Doesn't Pop
Michael Bay Presents: The Metamorphosis
Everyone has their own little story (haul away)
"America's Richest Self-Made Women": article by Luisa Kroll / dynamic view with grouping by theme / list [Forbes]
‘Is the city in conspiracy with the mob?’
Gracias, Señor Clemente
Roberto Clemente was a fierce critic of both baseball and American society. "He was as likely to ruminate about civil rights as about the curveballs of Sandy Koufax or Juan Marichal." (May 31st, 2016, was Roberto Clemente Day)
Mining platinum from road dust
In which heat, chemistry and brooms show that road dust contains platinum from the slow breakdown of catalytic converters. [SLYT]
Beautiful and heartbreaking New Yorker photo essay. And fuck cancer.
Fashion Styles That Won't Rip Off Your Flesh
See?
Look-See is a minute-long not-really-narrative-form animated film about a very geometric character stumbling onto other perspectives. By Daniel Savage, designer/animator and also creator/organizer of the previously-on-MeFi Yule Log 2.0. [more inside]
I Was Adopted - When I Was 41
What does it look like when an ideology dies?
You’re witnessing the death of neoliberalism – from within Aditya Chakrabortty comments about the IMF paper titled, "Neoliberalism, Oversold?" that has been making waves. To put it mildly.