August 25, 2013
Balance from Within
Knit the planet!
In June 2013, the Allegheny County Council approved the yarn bombing of the Andy Warhol Bridge in Pittsburgh, in celebration of Warhol's 85th birthday [previously mentioned on MeFi]. On 11 August, 1800 volunteers blanketed (heh) the bridge in 3000 feet of hand-knitted panels. More photos and behind the scenes. [more inside]
The Match Maker
The Implosion of Hollywood
Dear Dylan
Wonkblog has a new advice column called "Dear Dylan" where Dylan Matthews answers the usual advice column staples using game theory, mathematics and charts.
"the coal operators hired private planes to drop homemade bleach bombs"
"On August 25, 1921, the largest labor insurgency in American history and the largest civil uprising since the Civil War began in Logan County, West Virginia when 10,000 miners and their supporters went to war with 3000 coal mine executives and their hired thugs. The Battle of Blair Mountain is one of the least known major events in American history." -- America's long labour history, even such spectacular events like the Battle of Blair Mountain, is largely unknown, but historian Erik Loomis is trying to change that with his This Day in Labor History series for Lawyers, Guns and Money.
Holy crap, harmony
On August 23, 2013, voice teacher Sarah Horn went with her friends and family to see Kristin Chenoweth (previously on Metafilter) in concert at the Hollywood Bowl. When, after intermission, Ms. Chenoweth asked if anyone in the audience knew Wicked's "For Good", Sarah Horn volunteered that she did. What happened next (closer video here) has gotten more than 300,000 views since it went up Friday night.
Death of a Skeptic Crusader
Across three decades, his goal was to drive a scientist’s skepticism into the heart of India, a country still teeming with gurus, babas, astrologers, godmen and other mystical entrepreneurs. Dr Narendra Dabholkar, a former physician, was assassinated at age 67 earlier this week in the city of Pune. From Times of India: "Since 1983, he was confronted time and again by many religious and spiritual gurus, and faced several threats and even physical attacks. But he rejected police protection for himself. 'If I have to take police protection in my own country from my own people, then there is something wrong with me,' he used to say. 'I'm fighting within the framework of the Indian constitution and it is not against anyone, but for everyone.'"
Mind Your Manners
Mind Your Manners is only the 14th music video from Pearl Jam across their 23 year career. It was directed by Danny Clinch, and includes animations from Andy Smetanka. [more inside]
Cat belts out Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"
'Just a small-time cat, livin' in a lonely world.' Cat puppet. Journey lyrics.
Can Logic Be Rationally Revised?
Here is a video of the philosopher Graham Priest giving a talk at the 2012 Conference on Paradox and Logical Revision. He addresses three questions. Can logic be revised? If so, can it be revised rationally? If so, how? [more inside]
Let’s not complicate things unnecessarily.
RIP Julie Harris
Actress Julie Harris, best known for roles in the film East of Eden and on television's Knots Landing, has died at the age of 87. [more inside]
As the Sabres Rattle
Patrick Cockburn: Syria's Civil War is complicated and from the LRB in May:
The quagmire is turning out to be even deeper and more dangerous than it was in Iraq.
Did Syria gas its own people? The evidence is mounting.
The Guardian postulates that it was Assad's ruthless brother who mastermind alleged the Syria gas attack.
Did Syria gas its own people? The evidence is mounting.
The Guardian postulates that it was Assad's ruthless brother who mastermind alleged the Syria gas attack.
In search of the perfect cup of coffee at home
"We were roommates, Marine infantry officers, perpetually sleep-deprived from the training, the planning, the preparations for war. Back then coffee was little more than a bitter, caffeine-delivery system. It was just what we needed to stay awake. We were missing so much." And so begins the story of two former marines and their quest for the perfect cup of coffee. [more inside]
Studio 360's Battle of the High School Bands
U.S. public radio program Studio 360 held a battle of the high school bands. Listeners were asked to submit tracks recorded by bands they were in during high school. The submissions, which were recorded in six different decades, are on a Soundcloud page. The judges, Andrew W.K. and Thao Nguyen selected the winning song, The River, which was made by three young women from the Nashville area who go by Bea, Rita & Maeve. You can hear their song and a cover created by Andrew W.K. and Thao Nguyen here. The show also created two volumes of mixtapes of the best submissions.
Boiled Alive
'There’s more lobster out there right now than anyone knows what to do with, but Americans are still paying for it as if it were a rare delicacy.' Also, from 2004: David Foster Wallace goes to the Maine Lobster Festival. Via)
Clitoroplasty isn't rocket science
Portrait of a self portrait
In two days, Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series vol. 10 will be released. The 12-minute promo video that's currently streaming at Amazon is full of enticing audio snippets of Dylan in fine vocal form, as well as talking heads from Self Portrait producer Bob Johnston and collaborators David Bromberg and Al Kooper.
Lisbon Burning
Twenty-five years ago, in the pre-dawn of August 25, 1988, a fire started in downtown Lisbon's Carmo
Street and quickly spread to Garrett
Street and others, destroying a total of 18 buildings of the
Chiado. Two people were killed, and 73 were injured (60 of them
firemen). Between 200 and 300 people lost their homes. Several of the
historical shops were lost. In terms of the extent of the city
affected and number of destroyed buildings, the Chiado
fire is considered the worst disaster to strike the city since
the 1755
Lisbon Earthquake. A rebuilding project directed by Portuguese
architect Siza
Vieira has, to a great extent, returned the area to its former
glory. The exterior look of the buildings were restored, while the
interiors have been completely renovated. [more inside]
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