March 11, 2014

Tehran Times - Iranian Street Style Blog

Carry cash, take the metro and always look at people's feet – Araz Fazaeli, who lives in Paris but runs the street style blog Tehran Times with a team in Iran, offers his tips about how to make the most of the capital.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:49 PM PST - 20 comments

Coconuts, the National Hobo Convention, and a cat.

(USAFilter) Beatlemania was ignited in the U.S. by a teenage Marylander. And some other facts about your home state.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:35 PM PST - 47 comments

"Pain or damage don’t end the world, or despair or f*cking beatings."

A Lie Agreed Upon: David Milch's Deadwood (SLVimeo, NSFW). A video essay by film and TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz, narrated by Jim Beaver and edited by Steven Santos, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the show's premiere. [more inside]
posted by zombieflanders at 6:02 PM PST - 81 comments

They'll be playing poker next

Chien drôle mange à table [slyt]
posted by mattoxic at 4:43 PM PST - 20 comments

"Tell them to be careful - the police."

7 month old baby pulls tail of cat. Cat scratches baby. Father of baby kicks cat butt. Then things go rapidly downhill between the 22 pound house cat "with a history of violence" and the family... [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 3:38 PM PST - 148 comments

Round One. FIGHT.

Street Fighter: The Movie -- What Went Wrong (via)
posted by davidjmcgee at 3:13 PM PST - 118 comments

Online Physics Class Taught By Brian Greene

Brian Greene is now offering an online course on the theory of relativity. There are two versions of the class, one with math and one without. Additional information was provided during Greene's recent Ask Me Anything on reddit, during which he agrees with a redditor who recommends Leonard Susskind's "Theoretical Minimum"(previously) as a good preliminary.
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:07 PM PST - 43 comments

Mesdames et Messieurs, il est temps d'élection!

On April 7th, Quebeckers will head to the polls because of a snap election called by the PQ minority government. Of course, as in this part of Canada, election time is never without controversy. Between Liberal leader Phillippe Couillard touting the benefits of bilingualism and CAQ leader Francois LeGault presenting his budget if his party is elected, it all pales to this past weekend's announcement that Quebec media oligarch Pierre Karl Peladeau is running in a riding for the Parti Quebecois. [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 1:40 PM PST - 106 comments

Blowing the whistle on improperly finding competent to stand trial

Melody Jo Samuelson, a staff psychologist at California's Napa State Hospital (Previously), recently won a million-dollar judgement against the state and her supervisors. She had been told to declare mentally ill patients competent to stand trial. [more inside]
posted by larrybob at 1:35 PM PST - 19 comments

The check is in the post

Last Friday, Chipotle filed a lawsuit against Frank Ocean for failing to deliver a song he was due to record for an ad campaign. Ocean was paid in advance but apparently thought he was promoting responsible farming, not Chipotle’s brand. Ocean responded on Tumblr with This.
"Pure Imagination" was eventually recorded by Fiona Apple (previously) but has been criticised and parodied due to its greenwashing of Chipotle’s real-life meat sources.
posted by Lanark at 12:45 PM PST - 76 comments

"I guess [you] don’t care about hard work or loyalty," said the manager.

My Life as a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish, and Cheap
posted by cosmic.osmo at 11:27 AM PST - 244 comments

Richard Nixon and Donald Kendall: Pepsi in Russia and South America

It has been said in half-jest that Pepsi was the official soda of the Cold War. Vice President Richard Nixon shared a Pepsi with Soviet Russia's Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, at the opening of the "American National Exhibition" in Moscow on July 24, 1959, after the famous "Kitchen Debate" (CBS newscast on Archive.org; transcript with two photos from the day). But how was it that Pepsi was the only Western soda-pop available there that day? Look to Donald Kendall, a long-time pal of Richard Nixon, who starting out in 1947 selling fountain syrup in New York, and rose through the ranks to be President of Pepsi Cola International by 1957. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:24 AM PST - 13 comments

Reporter Nils Horner, 51, killed in Kabul

Nils Horner was killed on the street early this morning. Here is a short article in English from a Swedish source. [more inside]
posted by Namlit at 11:20 AM PST - 13 comments

"A Defining Moment"

United States Senator Dianne Feinstein Publicly Accuses C.I.A. of Spying on Congress. 'The chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday accused the Central Intelligence Agency of improperly removing documents from computers that committee staff members had been using to complete a report on the agency’s detention program, saying the move was part of an effort to intimidate the committee.' 'Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the chairwoman of the committee, suggested on the Senate floor that the agency had violated federal law and said the C.I.A. had undermined Congress’s constitutional right to oversee the actions of the executive branch.' [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 10:28 AM PST - 165 comments

"As I hold this controller in my hand, I feel a connection...."

Herzog Plays: Dark Souls 2 [SLYT]
posted by Fizz at 10:21 AM PST - 21 comments

Journalist Matt Power Passes in Uganda. RIP

From writing about Tree-Living Anarchists to a recent GQ story on Drone pilots, Matthew Power wrote "The kind of stories I've gotten to do have involved fulfilling my childhood fantasies of having an adventurous life." He had an adventurous life and brought us along with him. RIP.
posted by history is a weapon at 9:02 AM PST - 19 comments

101 Uses For A Sanitary Towel

A collection of reader 'Top Tips' from UK 'true life' magazines. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 8:55 AM PST - 40 comments

"One travels far to discover what was at home all along."

World Lite is a polemic against 'world literature' published last year in the magazine N+1. It is the latest salvo in a long-running debate about the term. M. Lynx Qualey of Arabic Literature (in English) gave a response to N+1, and so did Poorva Rajaram and Michael Griffith in Tehelka, N+1 responded to both, and the article was discussed at the Hay Festival in Dhaka. The N+1 article references Franco Moretti, who framed the contemporary version of the debate when he published Conjectures on World Literature and More Conjectures in 2000 and 2003 respectively. [more inside]
posted by Kattullus at 8:25 AM PST - 9 comments

"I really like polyhedra."

Polyhedra and the Media - On the new polyhedra of Schein and Gayed, and mathematical journalism.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:24 AM PST - 20 comments

Love is the Answer

Vasa Real, a central Stockholm high school with special classes for Jewish pupils was covered in Nazi graffiti on Monday morning, leaving a parent in tears and fearing the rise of fascism in Europe. [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 6:14 AM PST - 44 comments

The medieval version of the celebrity autobiography

"Margery Kempe was a self-proclaimed holy woman, visionary, mystic and medieval pilgrim. She is also unique because although she was not proficient at reading and writing, she was determined to record her visions, journeys and spiritual experiences. She dictated her book to a scribe of which only one copy survives, now housed in the British Library. Nearly everything we know about her comes from her book." -- Susan Abernethy writes about a woman we only know about because she wrote a tell-all autobiography.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:55 AM PST - 18 comments

people actually watch this show?

Between Two Ferns [previously] welcomes President Barack Obama.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:39 AM PST - 135 comments

Rest in power.

Arguably the most successful UK trade union leader of our time, the tireless Bob Crow, General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union has passed away.
posted by Mistress at 4:10 AM PST - 38 comments

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