September 8, 2012
Operation Flood
India mourns Dr Verghese Kurien who passed away today at age 90. If you have eaten butter in India, or been able to add a spot of milk to your tea, then you've experienced the impact of Operation Flood — the largest dairy development program in the world. Operation Flood helped India become the world's largest milk producer by 2010–11, with close to 17 percent of the global production. Gujarat-based co-operative, the "Anand Milk Union Limited", often called Amul, was the engine behind the success of the programme. While much more can be said about Dr Kurien's work with dairy farmers, cooperatives, milk production as well as his awards and honours, his best known legacy is perhaps the creation of the Amul brand. The little girl who knew just how to poke India's funny bone has her very own Previously.
all the motels were overflowing with groupies
The Rolling Stones rock Warhol's East Hampton Pad, Montauk 1975 - Half way through the tour, Truman Capote met the group in Kansas City. In tow was his new best friend, Lee Radziwill. The mix of rock royalty and Fortunate Four Hundred did not work well. Jagger hated Capote’s mincing manners, and Capote called Mick – "…a scared little boy… about as sexy as a pissing toad." Stones guitarist Keith Richards welcomed the cultured Radziwill by banging on her hotel door that night, screaming "Princess Radish… C'mon you old tart, there’s a party going’ downstairs!"
Vidoes on Health and Medicine
The Medical School at the University of California, San Francisco “presents Mini Medical School for the Public, a series of programs providing an opportunity to learn about health and the health sciences directly from UCSF faculty members and other nationally-recognized experts.”
Videos particularly geared toward integrative medicine and healthy living can be found here. (Most of the videos are between sixty and ninety minutes long.) [more inside]
It's a Happening, Who Cares About Book Theives?
John Locke builds, installs, and creates libraries in payphone booths in New York City. “There aren’t a lot of people out,” he said. “You can just go down, find a good booth, carry it out, latch it in. It takes seconds. And then just fill it up with books and let’s wait and see what happens.”
The rotten, foaming, decaying art of Michel Blazy
Michel Blazy is a French artist who "attempts to create multi-sensorial and changing spaces and sculptures to show the uncertainties of our condition". His Post Patman show in 2007 was truly designed to be experienced by all senses, designed with "the organic, the perishable, the mould-making." Some was pretty benign, like the atomic mushroom made of 91 kilos of soy noodles and the chocolate chickens. Then there are the piles of rotting orange peel halves and the truly fragrant wall painted with mashed potatoes and beetroot purée. His newest installation was much more pleasing to the senses: Bouquet Final was a wall of foam fountains in a 13th century structure, le Collège des Bernardins. More of Blazy's work at Galerie Art Concept.
Rereading Stephen King
Rereading Stephen King Guardian columnist James Smythe has read everything Stephen King has ever written – and now he's revisiting each novel in chronological order. First: a young girl with some dangerous powers [previously] [more inside]
Cult of the Alien Gods
The Lovecraft Connection (yt) - Jason Colavito's theory that the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft is the source of all Ancient Astronaut mythologies, via Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier's The Morning of the Magicians.
"I looked for you on the Trident."
The Tower Of Joy, an adaptation by comic book and storyboard artist Jeff McComsey of one scene from A Game of Thrones.
Hitchcock can get away with murder.
Hitchcock frets not at his narrow room. David Bordwell takes a look at Dial M for Murder, its roots in filmed theater and its dealing of the conventions of 3D filmmaking.
Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen"
Next week, for the first time in 22 years, PBS will televise the four dramas of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle on consecutive nights - a rare opportunity to encounter in the manner intended "the most ambitious and most profound work of art ever created". [more inside]
Why have just faries in your garden?
The British like their hedges and shrubs. They like to train and trim them into interesting shapes, some more successful than others. [more inside]
"My kids have forgotten what it's like to even be in a car."
'Princess Scientists' Stir Controversy
“Feminine stereotypes historically have haunted women scientists, including Rosalind Franklin, a co-discoverer of DNA. In his 1968 account 'The Double Helix,' James Watson, one of the genetics pioneers who had relied on Franklin's work, unflatteringly recounted Franklin's lack of lipstick and her unwillingness to dress in a more feminine manner.
But the idea of combining 'beauty and brains' may represent progress of sorts. Two decades ago, Teen Talk Barbie was telling young American girls, 'Math class is tough.' The Miss Rikei Contest stands directly opposed to that message, as does Ebbel Angle's encouragement of young girls who want to become princess scientists.” (LiveScience.com)
Goblin vs Brad
Nekrogoblikon - No One Survives (SLYT) (NSFW)
I saw a dead bird flying through a broken sky
Lawn and garden products company Scotts Miracle-Gro will pay $12.5 million in fines for poisoning bird feed and violating pesticide laws, officials said Friday. [more inside]
And ten thousand nerds said "...really?"
50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James is threatening a Coventry-area housewife with legal action for throwing 50 Shades-themed sex toy parties. Says James' agent: "You can’t just hijack something someone else owns." Which is, to say the least, a little ironic. (50 Shades previously on the blue. Also.)
You can’t hurt babies or old people!
Don't go up there! You're a silly cyclist.
Silly Cyclists: The Video Series. Silly Cyclists was created by Gaz, a cyclist from London. The series features footage from Gaz and other cyclists showing silly, stupid, or extremely ill-considered decisions by cyclists around the world. Each episode features a top-ten countdown of Silly Cyclists, followed by a Savvy Cyclist. [more inside]
Bridging World History
Bridging World History. Moving far beyond a "names and dates" survey of world history, this course from The Annenberg Foundation "is inquiry-based, integrated, and recursive, and uses video, Web, and text materials to provide a comprehensive and interactive learning experience." Explore world history in 26 units that feature videos (courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting), text, audio, primary source materials, course guides and activities for students, and a nifty World History Traveler [Flash] pathfinding tool that examines various facets of history in greater depth. Once you're done with world history, you can check out the gazillion other subjects Annenberg offers.
"So think about what you would want to know from someone who was actually there."
In school, most grades have a favorite teacher. For Rockport-Fulton Middle School's seventh grade, it's Bobby Jackson. He teaches Texas History. (Via) [more inside]
Take U everywhere
Hey girl. You want me to Take U Shopping? How about I Take U To Da Movies? Maybe later I can Take U 4 A Dinner? Ur Boy Bangs has all major date activity covered.
Compliance
"If people walk out are they abandoning Becky? If they stay are they symbolically complicit in the awful events Becky endures?" Craig Zobel's (Great World of Sound (previously), Homestar Runner (previously)) new film Compliance explores a notorious string of disturbing prank calls (previously). The film has enjoyed almost universal acclaim from critics, but its audience reception has been... complicated.
"No to brainwashing!"
Tens of thousands of protestors have been gathering outside the Hong Kong government headquarters every night since the start of the new school year to protest the introduction of "moral and national education" classes at primary and secondary schools. At the forefront is Scholarism, a student group led by 15-year-old Joshua Wong. [more inside]
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