August 13, 2012
Things change....
Then and Now Photography...
Pick your side. Pick your history.
"Some date the crisis to August 9 2007, the day it became clear that Europe’s banks were up to their necks in US housing debt. The ECB flooded markets with €95bn of liquidity. It seemed a lot of money then. The term “trillion” was still banned by the Telegraph style book in those innocent days. We have since learned to swing with the modern dance music from central banks." [Five years on, the Great Recession is turning into a life sentence]
"Baby Got Back" Sung By the Movies
Clips from 295 movies [and TV shows] used to recreate Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" (SLYT) [more inside]
Life is a book that we study; some of its leaves bring a sigh
In my unending search for just the right vintage images for our articles, I have looked through thousands of photographs of men from the last century or so. One of the things that I have found most fascinating about many of these images, is the ease, familiarity, and intimacy, which men used to exhibit in photographs with their friends and compadres. Male Affection: A Photographic History Tour
Brent Grulke, creative director at SXSW, has passed away at age 52
Brent Grulke, creative director at SXSW, has passed away at age 52. A friend of Grulke writes this memory, indicating the cause of death was cardiac arrest while having oral surgery.
shrim++p
Shrinp.com is a site that does very little and does it well. Stick anything after the domain name (shrinp.com/shrimp! shrinp.com/puggle! shrinp.com/metafilter!) and you'll get a helpfully labeled image of maybe that thing, or maybe not so much that thing, who can tell? The internet, it's very mysterious. Built by our very own 31d1. Approximately as NSFW as you try to make it.
The Oldest Living Cosmo Girl Has Left Us
Author and longtime Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Helen Gurley Brown has died at the age of 90. [more inside]
Current state of evidence on whether climate change is causing recent extreme weather events
Is climate change causing our recent extreme weather events? (pdf). A panel of eminent climate scientists lays out the current state of what we know, and what we don't know yet, in this forthcoming paper. Jason Samenow (of the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog) nicely summarizes the key points. [more inside]
You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you. Isadora
The USPS issued new stamps commemorating four American dancers, including Isadora Duncan, for Dance Day last week. A group of Duncan dancers gave an impromptu performance at Dupont Circle In DC in honor of the event. The 135 anniversary of Duncan's birth and the 85th anniversary of her death are both being commemorated this year. Although Isadora has been called the Mother of Modern Dance, she is often remembered for her unconventional life and death as much as her art. [more inside]
Johnny Pesky has left the park.
Johhny Pesky, longtime member of the Boston Red Sox has passed away at the young age of 92. More famous for the right field foul pole named after he hit one of his only 6 Fenway Park home runs as it swung around the pole, the erstwhile manager spent nearly his entire 73 year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox. Much like teammate Ted Williams Johhny left baseball during his prime to fight in World War Two
George Dennehy, Armless Guitarist, Performs 'Iris' With The Goo Goo Dolls
You Could Chop Down Some Trees Or Build A Cabin Or Something
Yesteryear's Tools is an Internet Magazine that concentrates on hand tools, the toolmakers and the tool distributors that operated mostly between the mid-1800s and mid to late-1900s. Particular attention centers upon the markings and labels of such makers and distributors, specifically those that can be classified as manufacturers and/or major distributors. [more inside]
Olympic Yarnbombing!
A Yarn of Olympic Proportions "Residents of Saltburn, in North Yorkshire, are scratching their heads today after a mysterious 'yarnbomber' wrapped the town's pier with a 50-yard scarf stretching out along the railings.
The impressive garment features woollen athletes competing in various Olympic events, from synchronised swimmers to rowers and cyclists, and has delighted young and old alike as the town discusses the good yarn." [more inside]
"Grief bacon."
The Oval Office apple bowl
In Barack Obama's Oval Office, there is a bowl of apples. Undemanding, it silently witnesses history in ways large and small.
Really, really hi-res printing
The highest possible resolution images — about 100,000 dots per inch — have been achieved, and in full-colour, with a printing method that uses tiny pillars a few tens of nanometres tall. The method, described today in Nature Nanotechnology, could be used to print tiny watermarks or secret messages for security purposes, and to make high-density data-storage discs. [more inside]
The Bully Pulpit
Late last month, after vocally anti-gay evangelical author and blogger Jonathan Merritt's essay defending Chick-Fil-A appeared in The Atlantic, Azariah Southworth outed Merritt on his blog. An interview with Merritt about his sexual orientation. Follow-up column from Southworth: Why I outed a Christian star. [more inside]
Taxes and inequality
The comparative experience thus suggests that for inequality reduction, it is the quantity of taxes rather than the progressivity of the tax system that matters most. Affluent countries that achieve substantial inequality reduction do so with tax systems that are large but no more progressive than ours [America's]. [more inside]
Beizhing or Bei Jing?
James Fallows, in a series of interesting blog posts, questions the typical English pronunciation of China's capital city arguing that "the "jing" in Beijing is pronounced basically like the "jing" in Jingle Bells. It's essentially the normal English j- sound. What it's not like is the Frenchified zh- sound you hear in "azure" or "leisure," or at the end of "sabotage."" One reader suggests, "My working theory about "Beijing/bay-zhing" is that at some deep, unconscious level, English speakers secretly believe that all foreign languages are French and should be pronounced as such in the absence of instructions to the contrary." Another reader argues, "Major cities and countries have historically had different names in different languages, and these names serve a good purpose by being easy to pronounce and identify in the languages where they are used. There is really no more reason to say "Beijing" in English than "München" or "Moskva."" [more inside]
How to walk your dog
Puppy Parkour [SLVideo]
Yo, I’m going to deconstruct the hell out of this.”
Released in 2004, Obsidian's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords ("KOTOR 2") was said to be a good game, crippled by the push to get it out in time for the 2004 holiday season. Beside the frequent bugs, a huge amount of story content was cut from the game, but remained on the discs. Now, three years after its inception, The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod has been completed. The goal? To get "the best possible chance to get the full experience Obsidian tried for when making the game." Rock Paper Shotgun has high hopes: "If you missed it the first time, you really should check it out. It’s ... Chris Avellone (who?) and co really going to town on Star Wars." [more inside]
NYTimes Anxiety series
"We worry. Nearly one in five Americans suffer from anxiety. For many, it is not a disorder, but a part of the human condition. This series explores how we navigate the worried mind, through essay, art and memoir."
The New York Times is running a series of short memoirs written by sufferers of anxiety disorder. From the ways anxiety affects daily life to what happens when it's part of a marriage, many different angles are explored.
(Previously)
Better Off Without Each Other?
Would the Northern and Southern United States be better off making it official (again)? Chuck Thompson thinks so [1][2].
Juggalos vs. The FBI
At the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos, the Insane Clown Posse announced their intention of suing the Federal Bureau of Investigation over their recent designation of the ICP fan base as a hybrid gang. The band established Juggalos fight back to gather information regarding government harassment of the Juggalo population.
The Narco Tunnels of Nogales
If everyone had kept quiet, it could have been the most valuable parking spot on earth. Convenient only to the careworn clothing stores clustered in the southern end of downtown Nogales, Ariz., it offered little to shoppers, and mile-long Union Pacific trains sometimes cut it off from much of the city for 20 minutes at a time. But the location was perfect: In the middle of the short stretch of East International Street, overshadowed by the blank walls of quiet commercial property, the space was less than 50 feet from the international border with Mexico.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Martini* (*and we're glad you asked)
Q: OK, I'm ready for the long answer now.
A: A highly vocal minority of Martini drinkers, the Prescriptivists, insists that the short answer is in fact the only answer...
19th Century Prostitution
A Guide to Houses No Gentleman Would Frequent, and more artifacts of history and archaeology that shed some light on the largely-unwritten world of nineteenth-century prostitution in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, and Paris, among other locales. Lest it appear too amusingly salacious, the miserable side.
Do you feel lucky, punk?
Polygonal Portraiture
If I could turn back the boats I'd give them all to you
A Government-convened expert group has suggested that Australia return to the so-called Pacific Solution to deal with its asylum-seeker conundrum, and break a political impasse. [more inside]
The Physics of physicality
WIRED has been running a fascinating series: Olympic Physics: Can Runners Benefit From Drafting?, Scoring the Decathlon, New [Swimming] Platform Is No Chip Off The Old Block [more inside]
The boat with two captains sinks.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy sacks the head of the Army. Hussein Tantawi (head of the Egyptian Army and SCAF) has been dismissed as the Egyptian president asserts his power over the traditionally dominant military. Morsy has also cancelled the SCAF memorandum keeping legislative powers with the military council, and it's widely thought that the fight over that will end up at the constitutional court again. If the cancellation stands, Morsi will also have almost complete control of the constitutional drafting process.
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