August 6, 2011
The Chelsea Hotel of NYC, surviving The Great Depression, fires, deaths, but maybe not a change of ownership
Late July 2011, would-be guests of the historic and storied Chelsea Hotel (also known as Hotel Chelsea or simply The Chelsea) were informed on their reservations were suddenly canceled, in preparation for a year-long renovation project, which some people speculate is a union-busting strategy. Given the concerns for the future of The Chelsea, some came to throw last-minute parties, while long-term tenants held more somber gatherings. On August 1st, current guests were abruptly escorted out, increasing anxieties about the plans of the new owner, elusive real estate investor Joseph Chetrit. Even if this is the end of the era, the hotel's long and varied legacy lives on ... [more inside]
Riots in London
Riots have broken out in the Tottenham area of London Saturday night after a protest over a fatal police shooting on Thursday. A double-decker bus and several police cars have been set on fire, and one policeman is said to be in hospital. Shops have been looted, and several buildings have been set on fire.
BBC and Sky News camera crews have moved away from the scene for safety reasons, but LBC Radio is reporting live.
BBC and Sky News camera crews have moved away from the scene for safety reasons, but LBC Radio is reporting live.
Not just your everyday Gideon.
For sale: Philip K Dick's Bible, with handwritten annotations.
You Got The Love
Decades before "You Got the Love" was covered by Florence and The Machine, it was a little known gospel record originally recorded for an 80's dieting video by Candi Staton. [more inside]
Galax, VA. Old Fiddler's Convention since 1935.
Nothing to do this coming week? Head over to Galax, Virginia to catch the Old Fiddler's Convention, a mountain music festival & competition that has been ongoing since 1935.
Galax, located on Virigina's Crooked Road is in the heart of Virginia's musical heritage trail, a well mapped excursion that takes you way off the interstate's beaten path to experience old time Appalachian music in some of the most beautiful settings in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
If you take the trail outside Galax, make sure you stop at the Floyd Country Store for daily (and nightly) jams inside the store, much like the Fiddler's convention's campgrounds' awesome impromptu jams
But it's just so American!
AMC's Hell on Wheels is an upcoming series created by Joe and Tony Gayton, centered around the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Joe: "I think what a lot of people think of when they think about the Transcontinental Railroad is the contribution of the Chinese immigrants." "But, it’s just so American". So the show focuses on railroad construction from the East, and the Chinese laborers story? They "ended up getting excised". [more inside]
Thailand’s Moment of Truth
Thailand’s Moment of Truth: A Secret History of 21st Century Siam, a massive, multipart, Wikileaks-fueled exposé of the royal family and government of Thailand. Brief overview here. [more inside]
Red state in the red?
Where Federal taxes are raised and spent. "Some American states receive more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes; others receive less. Over twenty years these fiscal transfers can add up to a sizeable sum."
A graph of the United States, color-coded to indicate surplus or deficit.
Dog Days
In Focus: Dogs featuring canine photography from Isabella Rozendaal - On Loving Animals :: Irina Werning - Chini Project :: Dietmar Busse - Dogs of New York :: Bernd Opitz - Dogviews :: John Divola - Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert :: Robin Schwartz - Pets and Strays :: Sean Ellis - Kubrick the Dog :: Nadin Maria Rüfenacht - Nature Morte
Room for one more?
Yes, her hair really was that red. The walls were rose and the doors, gray.
In October of 1951 a fan snuck a color 8MM camera into a taping of I love Lucy. The footage has resurfaced, here intercut with the actual episode.
CS221
Stanford's 'Introduction to Artificial Intelligence' course will be offered free to anyone online this fall. The course will be taught by Sebastian Thrun (Stanford) and Peter Norvig (Google, Director of Research), who expect to deal with the historically large course size using tools like Google Moderator. [more inside]
And I'll Never Have That Recipe Again
Solid Photography
Wrapped in Light -- Using the deep field of pinhole photography, objects painted with a photoemulsion can be illuminated with a panoramic view of their surroundings, then developed and fixed.
"It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution."
Bookfessions: [tumblr] "These are confessions and/or thoughts of a book lover, bibliophile, book addict, reader, lover of literature, nerd..."
Death in a Box.
Cyberwar
Enter the Cyber-dragon. "Hackers have attacked America’s defense establishment, as well as companies from Google to Morgan Stanley to security giant RSA, and fingers point to China as the culprit. The author gets an exclusive look at the raging cyber-war—Operation Aurora! Operation Shady rat!—and learns why Washington has been slow to fight back. Related: Michael Joseph Gross goes inside Operation Shady Rat."
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