September 1, 2017
The Rise of Baking Powder
The history of baking powder Is incredibly dramatic. And
before baking powder hit the scene in 1856, making cake was not a piece of cake
. Read about it in the book, Baking Powder Wars.
Reading Of Will - approx. 1985
Rowan Atkinson Sketch - single link youtube
Haiku Masters Forgotten Postcards
Found in a NYC junkshop, these postcards were sent to Cor Van de Huevel, a noted haiku poet, by another noted haiku poet named Arizona Zipper. Well, I couldn't resist the lure of those names, could I? Cor was well-known for his readings in the beat clubs of the 1960s. But Arizona Zipper! Now, he's also known for his haiku, especially in the looser form he and Cor used, not so strict as the 5-7-5 format. The first thing I found about A.Z. was Renku Jazz-ku an article about a collaboration between Bob Richardson, jazz drummer, and A.Z. trying to meld haiku and jazz; they both loved Ella Fitzgerald's scat. [more inside]
All-women band from San Francisco back to rocking
The Ace of Cups were contemporaries of all the big late-60s bands from San Francisco's Summer of Love that you've heard of. They were an all-women band and they opened for Jimi Hendrix. They were never signed and didn't release music at the time, but there's a 2003 CD release of old recordings. Four members of the band are playing together again and recording a new CD, 50 years later, as shown in this 8-minute video from KQED.
Ethics in Journalism
Bird photographer of the year
@realtonytiger I'd fuck that tiger
"America has this back-ass-wards Calvinist streak where calling for the expulsion and genocide of non-white races is just a difference of opinion," Boivin said. "But making a sex joke at a corporate mascot who paid money to advertise to you is cause for censure."
This Guy Was Suspended From Twitter After He Sexually Harassed Tony The Tiger (Buzzfeed)
This Guy Was Suspended From Twitter After He Sexually Harassed Tony The Tiger (Buzzfeed)
There's No Such Thing as a Good Dog
Wes Siler, Outside magazine's lifestyle columnist, writes about what it takes to be a good owner:
People love to tell me how lucky I am to have a good dog like Wiley. But they’re dead wrong—there was no luck involved. Wiley’s good behavior and good temperament are products of four years of hard work, nothing else. The more people who understand this, the more people there will be who have "good" dogs too.
Have you encountered huge gelatinous blobs floating in the water lately?
That blob may in fact be a bryozoan. In Vancouver, British Columbia, bryozoans - also known as "dragon boogers" - were recently found in Stanley Park's Lost Lagoon. [more inside]
Gaslighting is just another tool in the fascist's psychological arsenal
Protest poetry & the grandson of Idi Amin Dada
African Literary journal Brittle Paper interviews the director of the documentary Someone Clap For Me. Director Luciana Farah describes making the film about the youth poets as "observing young birds teaching each other how to fly." Originally a 10 minute short film, the feature film (official trailer) was supported in part by director Mira Nair's Maisha Labs, a non-profit training initiative for emerging East African filmmakers. (via) [more inside]
The boondock saints is bad, but the scathing documentary...
A Serf on Google’s Farm
After the think tank incident, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo reflects on running a business at the mercy of behemoths:
Google can say – and they are absolutely right – that every month they send checks for thousands and millions of dollars to countless publishers that makes their journalism possible. But Google’s monopoly control is almost comically great. It’s a monopoly at every conceivable turn and consistently uses that market power to deepen its hold and increase its profits. [more inside]
When the Levee Breaks
National treasure Spencer Hall's annual musings on college football. This year covering Hurricane Harvey, life amid racism, isolation within the crowd, and "an Ivy League bankruptcy case from Queens."
So you have a few stuck pixels... Could be worse
Sometimes damage to a lens or camera body can be hard to detect. But then sometimes the damage is caused by the nuclear furnace of a star.
if you’re different on any axis you’ve got a slight edge
Biologist George Church talks about his narcolepsy and the benefits of neurodiversity He is thinking more and more about the huge, and healthy, variation in how human brains function. The neurodiversity movement argues that brains that differ from the norm are not necessarily disordered and in need of treatment.
He hasn’t tried any of the drugs typically prescribed to treat narcolepsy. Stimulants help patients work harder but seem to reduce creativity. “I decided I already work hard enough, and creativity is everything for me,” Church said.
Safety, Respect, Dignity
"Despite the advance scheduling and little room for change or spontaneity that Access-a-Ride demands of its customers, lack of predictability is the service’s hallmark trait. .. Access-a-Ride users have no idea which direction our rides will travel in or how many stops will be made before our destinations. In picking up and dropping off passengers on those rides, a meandering city tour is not uncommon — including riding past your destination only to ride back down to it." (via Longreads)
"A glutinous mass, endowed with a malignant will"
Octopuses are the closest we can come, on earth, to knowing what it might be like to encounter intelligent aliens. Amia Srinivasan in the LRB. (Previously on the strangeness of octopi.)
Evil doers get scoopsed
Lyd Fama draws comics about her girlfriend Meg's unfair advantages, being ace and having Paul Hollywood sealed in their closet. Together they also have a gay let's play channel on Youtube.
Neoliberalism: the idea that swallowed the world
Go with the flow
Elements, an abstract experimental art film of abstract experimental (virtual) art by Maxim Zhestkov. More here.
You are literally breathing a narcotic every moment
At sea level, air is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen; at hyperbaric pressures, nitrogen becomes a narcotic, but continues to have effects at lower pressures. Substitute nitrogen with another breathable gas, such as helium, and human reaction times to visual and auditory tests improve by 9.3%. Conclusion: breathing air leaves everyone slightly intoxicated at every moment.
Theatre of War
"Once upon a time, Brookman shared his talents—which along with breathing fire included pantomiming, accordion playing, juggling, and acrobatics—at local carnivals, weddings, and children’s birthday parties across England. What led him to Mogadishu more than three decades into his career was an idea so far-fetched that it just might be true: There are some things only clowns can do."
The man in the middle.
RIP longtime character actor Richard Anderson, 91. First appearing in movies including Forbidden Planet, he then spent all his time running between the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.
Bionic wiki previously.
Variety obit.
You're not welcome in Australia.
A prominent anti-vaccination speaker has been denied a visa to enter Australia. "These people who are telling kids, telling parents that their kids shouldn't be vaccinated are dangerous people," said Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. He previously refused a visa to person Chris Brown, based on his domestic violence record. Applicants for a visa to enter Australia are subject to a character test.
The Blind Traveler
The Blind Traveler: How James Holman felt his way around the world to become history's most prolific explorer.
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