August 4, 2009
Where do you get your health insurance from?
A simple question shows how complex the issue is. Chris at "Cynical C" asks his fellow citizens where they get thier health care (insurance) from and the incredible diversity of the current options and situations is immediately apparent. Quite spontaneously (but surely not unexpectedly), the question of "How much does it cost you?" becomes an essential part of the answers. Outsiders opine and tell stories and commiserate. [more inside]
Judith Thurman and Her Wild Women
In April of 1932, an unlikely literary débutante published her first book. This is how The New Yorker's Judith Thurman begins the tale of one Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the enduring Little House series. Those who have read the series may enjoy this glimpse into the story behind these stories, shedding some light on the lives of Laura and her daughter beyond the place where Wilder's books ended.
You say poe-TAY-toe.
Forvo: All the words in the world, pronounced by native speakers. At the time of this post, the tally stands at: 327,492 words; 239,165 pronunciations; in 220 languages; with 25,040 users submitting.
What is Right?
Which of these fribbles looks more intelligent? Please click the link and decide before you read [more inside]
Invitation to a Beheading
In the wake of allegations from ex-employees at Blackwater/Xe, founder Erik Prince is now under investigation for murdering federal informants. [more inside]
In Which I Ruin Rashomon For Everyone, Forever
With the initial belief that there is no story, or at least no fluid story behind the events of the events of the classic Kurosawa film Rashomon, MeFi's Own Shepherd set about diagramming the movie in an attempt to figure it all out. Join him as he, in his own words, Ruins Rashomon For Everyone, Forever. [via mefi projects]
Girl on the Verge
Love Me is a heartbreaking photo essay that follows the life of a 17 year old girl living in extreme poverty in Southeastern Ohio. [more inside]
Facebook for Poetry
ReadWritePoem was a multiuser poetry blog until July 31, when it turned into a social network for poetry with forums, groups, subblogs and more.
Giddyup, Gene!
Charles Nelson Reilly by "Weird Al" Yankovic and JibJab
Tony & Tupac
Visiting the Netflix Warehouse
you feed my appetite in ways i can't explain
Outing An Online Outlaw
The Smoking Gun turns the table on a group of pranksters allegedly responsible for terrorizing strangers over the phone: Outing An Online Outlaw describes how the group leader used skype, an unprotected wifi connection and his mothers bedroom to engage in what TSG calls "an orgy of criminal activity."
Coffee or tea?
Do you qualify to be a UK Citizen? From the looks of Twitter it seems that many UK Citizens don’t.
Bill Clinton to the rescue
Bill Clinton makes secret trip to North Korea, wins pardon and apparent release of two captive US journalists. Jailed reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, employees of Al Gore's Current TV, were arrested for spying in March and had recently been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. The remarkable development is likely to boost to Clinton's battered image. [more inside]
Pecha Kuc-
Ignite is an opportunity to pack into a theater and watch people geek out in 5-minute prepared talks (15 seconds per slide, auto-advance) on all kinds of topics. Maybe there's one coming up near you. [more inside]
Heath is alive like Tupac
The music video for Modest Mouse's new track King Rat was released today. Interestingly, it was directed by Heath Ledger two years ago, and released posthumously. Apparently, there's another one coming up. It has described as looking "like exactly the kind of thing that someone might come up with after spending a couple of months rocking Joker makeup and pretending to mutilate people."
The video contains a little cartoon goriness, so be warned.
Studying the plastic soup
Discovered in 1997 by oceanographer Charles Moore, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 3.5 million tons of trash, 80% of which is plastic.
Moore is the founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which is conducting ongoing research into the patch. Blog from their current expedition on the research vessel Alguita.
The Scripp's Institution of Oceanography is also studying the patch. Blog from their SEAPLEX expedition.
greatgarbagepatch.org tracks community efforts to stop trashing the ocean.
Previously: [1, 2].
End of the line
"We wanted to believe"
For a time the Internet's own poster-child for irrational exuberance and underwater mortgages, Casey Serin (previously discussed on Metafilter), the blogger behind iaminforeclosure.com and millionairebychristmas.com, is interviewed by WalletPop about his future plans... which include living in a van and panning for gold. The real-estate market in the US continues to present post-apocalyptic stories.
She should sue because 70,000 dollars later, she's still ignorant.
Jobless College Graduate Sues Because She's Still Jobless A recent college graduate is suing her alma mater for $72,000 -- the full cost of her tuition and then some -- because she cannot find a job.
Splat No More
Childrens' cable television mainstay and media brand Nickelodeon is rebranding as "The Nick" with a new splat-less logo. [more inside]
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware that jaups in luggies: But, if Ye wish her gratefu prayer, Gie her a Haggis!
Just nae call i' English! Food historian Catherine Brown has announced that Haggis, the traditional Scottish dish, was invented in England rather than Scotland. Scottish butchers have dismissed the daft claim. But just in case she turns out to be right, there's always... curry? [more inside]
A wife doubts her husband's doubt about their marriage.
What would you do if your husband of many years, with whom you had created a family and with whom you led what you considered to be a successful life, suddenly said he thought he no longer loved you? One woman's approach: refuse to believe it. Not everyone agrees.
Play God in the bedroom.
NSFW: Genesis, a high concept line of sex toys, one for each of the days of Creation. (via, previously)
We are such stuff: As dreams are made on
"Theatre," says Professor Lorraine Moller, Artistic Director of Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, in her foreword to Laurence Tocci's The Proscenium Cage [pdf], "may well be one of the few antidotes to the de-humanizing climate of prisons." The use of theater in prisons has many forms: from projects designed to let prisoners tell their own stories as shown in the Austrian film "Gangster Girls" (trailer in German), to the elaborate, high-concept costume dramas of Italy's Compagnia della Fortezza. Some base their work on Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, others on Moreno's Psychodrama, but many programs use a more direct approach: put on classic plays, and let the play do the illuminating. That's the approach of Shakespeare Behind Bars, the troupe at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in LaGrange, Kentucky. Watch the entirety of Shakespeare Behind Bars, a compelling 2005 documentary that follows the troupe for a season as they produce a production of The Tempest. [more inside]
Pizza Hut. Taco Bell. Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
I'm at the Pizza Hut! What? I'm at the Taco Bell! What? I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell!
You buy it you like it.
Bargain Barn, Bargain Barn.
This will not Orwell.
The Daily Express reports on a UK Government Announcement to expand the use of Family Intervention Projects. However, the Daily Express exaggerates the report somewhat, the article stating (apparently wildly incorrectly) that the UK Government "plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV supervision in their own homes". Other reports in the UK press make no mention of CCTV. Nonetheless, the alarmist Express article is widely picked up and discussed on the internet, pushing many people past 10 on the Orwellometer. Then Mefite FfejL uses Twitter to ask Ed Balls, the minister responsible, if the CCTV aspect of the Express article is accurate. [more inside]
Spacehack
Spacehack "A directory of ways to participate in space exploration. Interact and connect with the space community."
For the Unemployed, the Day Stacks Up Differently
How are Americans spending their time? An informational graphic from The New York Times.
Wondermark on Postmarks
David "Wondermark" Malki was curious about how important the dates on the stamps printed by an APC (Automated Postal Center) are. Here are his findings.
« Previous day | Next day »