December 20, 2009
"Help me out White Wanda."
The Nashville Portraits
Born and raised in New Jersey, Jim McGuire was an unlikely country music-lover, but one song changed all that. McGuire was twelve years old on the day he heard Hank Snow’s “Spanish Fireball” for the first time, and he instantly fell in love with country music forever. Music has since been a huge part of McGuire’s life—a muse for his photography—The Nashville Portraits. [more inside]
The last announcer plays the last record. The last watt leaves the transmitter. Circles the globe in search of a listener.
The end of (big) radio? Citadel, the 3rd largest in the US, announced chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Even Clear Channel, the largest US broadcaster is seeing a huge decline in revenue. Failed innovation and an increasing disenfranchised listenership coupled with massive revenue declines are increasingly showing the decline of the medium as a whole.
Milorad Pavic, RIP
he of the weird al hair and santa claus beard
Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted: The Life and Death of Brittany Murphy "Part of the shock surrounding Murphy's death is clearly related to her age, though it may also be attributed to the fact that Murphy has been in the public eye for over 15 years, starting out in Hollywood when she was 14... It's something we've watched progress this entire decade: young women who are held up as the next big thing (Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears) and then brushed aside or openly mocked after they no longer fit an expected mold. It is both a story of self-destruction and mass-destruction, the business of creating and destroying a star; sometimes it's caused by internal forces, and sometimes it's fed by the rest of the world."
Alabamas Homeboys
Homeboy Industries (gang intervention organization) visits Alabama Village in Prichard Alabama. Videos, photos and an essay describe their visit.
Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region
A new photograph from the Hubble shows the largest stellar nursery in our galactic region. Click on the picture for a larger image.
Gory & Defeated? Never!
It's getting close to Christmas, and for many people that involves putting a train set running around the tree. Seasonal displays of elaborate layouts are popular as well this time of year. One man had the ultimate train set. [more inside]
The Love of Lust
The Love of Lust: "The emancipation of social mores has played a bizarre trick on men and women. Far from giving free rein to the joyous effervescence of the instincts, it has only replaced one dogma with another. Reined in or forbidden in the past, lust has become mandatory."
The Far-Reaching Consequences of Bad Science
Mumps has stricken New York, in the U.S.'s largest outbreak of the disease since 2006. [more inside]
Repent! (With money)
Feel guilty about some of that terrible code you've inflicted on the world? Worse Than Failure (formerly the Daily WTF) introduces bad code offsets for purchase to atone for your crimes. [more inside]
"Do not be alarmed. We are here to protect you."
The Nerds of Paradise
The Nerds of Paradise: a new webcomic from Dale Beran, the writer of A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible (Previously).
Biters Welcome
Steve Markwell runs a dog shelter in Forks, Washington for "dogs you'd rather see dead." Markwell, a 34 year old formerly from Orange County, runs the Olympic Animal Sanctuary. The dogs he takes in have long histories of biting, often to the point of serious damage, and would normally be put to death under many states' laws. For example, one recent arrival is Snaps, who was forced by his owner to viciously bite two women in Washington. Markwell has won both applause and some criticism from those who do not believe dominance or alpha dog theory are as successful in managing dogs as kindness.
The Computer Graphics Revolution circa 1978
Pundits - Do Keep Up!
Embrace the web! It’s the same mantra that we hear day in, day out, from various sources; always those who have a vested interest in convincing us that artists are not doing so. These people seem to be the pundits, or people who want music to be free, and artists to make money in other ways - either by touring or by ‘monetising their experiential awareness’. Are these people the only people in the world who don’t receive a thousand spams a day from bands on Myspace, from people on Facebook suggesting that they become a fan, from dullards on twitter?
"Don't Bring a Gun to a Snowball Fight."
In Washington D.C. yesterday a snowball fight was organized via Twitter. About two hundred people showed up at 14th. and U Streets and were having a fun time. Some cars got caught in the crossfire. The driver of a Hummer was not pleased. He got out of his car and brandished a gun. A 9-1-1 call was made. Police responded to reports of a man with a gun. It turns out that the Hummer driver is a plain-clothes D.C. detective. Detective Baylor admitted to pulling out his gun. [more inside]
Bicycle Highways
Copenhagen: Come see "the busiest bicycling street in the Western world", and lots of other you-gotta-see-them-to-believe-them features including bike counters (featuring digital readouts), LEDS, double bike lanes (for passing) and giant hot pink cars. Bicycle Highways may be coming to your town. [more inside]
Metastasis
SffMeta - Metacritic for Science Fiction.
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