June 27, 2019
That armrest isn't what you think
When is the last time you saw a flat bench? No armrest breaking up the middle? That's by design and the design is to prevent homeless people from using the bench to sleep. Welcome to the world of hostile architecture. From window spikes to "modern art" sculptures over exhaust grates, hostile architecture is everywhere, if you know where to look. Of course, once you start seeing it, it's impossible to miss just how wide spread it is.
Let's Get Dirty
This Saturday is International Mud Day from the World Forum Foundation. The World Forum Foundation is an international organization focused on connecting early childhood educators to improve the lives of children everywhere. International Mud Day began as an event between two sister schools, one in Australia and one in Nepal, and has since spread throughout the world. You can see Instagram posts of the celebrations from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. [more inside]
Where were you when time collapsed?
Without the confines of linear time, the rain does not bother me. Out of habit I wear a raincoat, but when I’m soaked it’s not unpleasant — it just is, like everything now. It’s never cold or warm. It’s the perfect neutral temperature that so many years of climate control sought to obtain. I ride my bike under the laden clouds, along routes I’ve deemed to be safe: past the marina, where the moorings of boats both real and remembered moan and creak in the river’s sway; along one stretch of empty highway, where shimmering ghost houses teeter on knotweed hills, ghost children in their windows, ghost wives hanging laundry, ghost steelworkers forever climbing down rickety stairs to the mills. A short story by Tess Allard.
Pregnant woman shot, charged with murder of unborn, shooter goes free
Marshae Jones of Birmingham was five months pregnant when she was shot, by another woman, in a dispute about the baby's father. Ebony Jemison shot Jones in the abdomen. The mother survived the shooting, but it resulted in a miscarriage. A grand jury didn't return an indictment, and Jemison was not charged. Police then determined that Ms. Jones started the fight, and was therefore responsible for the death of her unborn child. [more inside]
It’s an actual penguin now! An emperor penguin!
Fine and Dandy
Zack McLeod Pinsent is making the rounds with a short and sweet BBC video featuring himself, a posh gentleman who has been making his own clothing in Victorian style since he was 14. [more inside]
no Wakefield can lie to another Wakefield
“Man,” Alice said, “brown-headed man and brown-eyed, what are you to us?”
The dark heart of Sweet Valley High: "Their Handsome Father, Ned Wakefield" [more inside]
"I will be heartbroken if it gives up the ghost."
Given an unlimited budget, a keen cook could drop tens of thousands of pounds on the kitchen of their dreams. Yet often, even in the most smoothly finished set-up, it is tried-and-trusted, bashed-up equipment that we rely on the most. We asked some of our leading chefs and cookery writers to share which old gizmos and gadgets they cherish. (Tony Naylor, Guardian)
2019 Women's World Cup Quarterfinals
Women's World Cup Quarterfinals:
Today:
Norway vs England
Tomorrow:
France vs USA
Saturday:
Italy vs Netherlands
Germany vs Sweden
[more inside]
Norway vs England
Tomorrow:
France vs USA
Saturday:
Italy vs Netherlands
Germany vs Sweden
[more inside]
The Pleasures Of Creation
“What will happen,” Morris asked, “with all this country beauty?” What an appalling waste, he thought, of land exploited by absentee profiteers “for the sake of villa-dwellers’ purses.” But the greater outrage was the injustice and indignity inflicted on godlike beings.” The Romantic Socialism of William Morris. (Commonweal)
May the Guard prevail!
Mouse Guard is a New York Times Bestselling, Eisner & Harvey Award winning
comic book series written and illustrated by David Petersen. It was being developed into a movie by Fox, but with the company being bought out by Disney, the project was cancelled in April of 2019, two weeks before production was to begin, with a vague hope of finding a home elsewhere. Unfortunately on 6/26 director Wes Ball confirmed the project is dead, but released a 10 minute demo reel/pre-visualization of what the movie would have "felt" like. With that, screenwriter Gary Whitta has posted his screenplay for the movie, while composer John Paesano has uploaded one of his early drafts of a soundtrack theme. A few artists have been posting concept art at the Twitter hashtag mouseguard.
He wears fur, it gets cold out there
Earlier this month, the FBI Records Vault finally released its records on one of the Pacific Northwest's biggest mystery, and posted a tweet with link and a single word: Bigfoot. 40 years ago, Cue Byrne, who at the time was director of the Bigfoot Information Center and Exhibition in The Dalles, Oregon, asked the FBI to analyze ‘Bigfoot’ hair, and never heard back. Until now. (Washington Post) [more inside]
Nobody Cares What Happens After the Lights Dim
“We look at them as 'surprise mechanics'.”
EA Says Loot Boxes Are 'Quite Ethical and Quite Fun' [Vice Gaming] “The United Kingdom’s House of Commons grilled representatives from Electronic Arts and Fortnite developer Epic Games for two and a half hours on June 19. It didn’t go well for Epic and EA. When MP Brendan O'Hara asked if loot boxes were ethical, EA took issue with the term itself. [...] Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports Committee grilled EA and Epic on a wide range of topics—from crunch, to game addiction, to loot boxes, to hate speech—and EA and Epic spent the inquiry dodging questions, avoiding responsibility, and admitting to not always following the law. Along with Hopkins, EA’s UK County Manager Shaun Campbell, Epic’s Director of Marketing Matthew Weissinger, and General Counsel Canon Pence sat for questioning.” [YouTube][Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee][2:19:08] [more inside]
A certain Essexion of society
The invention of Essex is an article by Tim Burrows discussing the place that Essex plays in British society and self-perception, its link to class prejudice and the sometimes tenuous relationship between imaginary Essex and the actual bloody place.
touched by his noodly appendage
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