September 4
Mac and Chase, pen pals forever
Chase Utley Responds to Mac's letter from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mac wrote a letter to Chase Utley five years ago and Chase finally responds.
Teaching naked
I had my students fill out mid-semester evaluations last fall. No big deal, just answer these four questions: 1) What am I doing to help you learn? 2) What could I be doing better to help you learn? 3) What are you doing to help yourself learn? and 4) What could you be doing better to help yourself learn? I had them turn the evaluations in anonymously to allow more genuine feedback. Later that afternoon, I started going through the responses. It was encouraging to see that, in general, responses to the first two questions indicated I was getting better, which was gratifying given the amount of time and energy I spent re-developing the class. For the most part, students were surprisingly honest when responding to questions 3 and 4, showing they understood their responsibility in their progress, or lack thereof. Somewhere towards the end of the ~160 evaluations, I came across one that answered question #2 with: “Teach naked.” [more inside]
Is there an arsehole gene?
A (youtube, some language that is NSFW) 'documentary' about the discovery of a new gene responsible for arseholish behaviour. Enjoy.
September 3
I Am a Ski Train Polka Master
A polka band that accompanies a yearly
ski train.
A musk ox farmer.
A bush pilot.
A Native youth Olympian
These are some of the subjects covered in the new web series Indie Alaska.
Each episode aims to capture a colorful aspect of life in Alaska, whether it be someone's work, art, or play.
A collaboration between Alaska Public Media and
PBS Digital Studios. [more inside]
Fleen.
Fleen is among McSweeney's Eleven Lunchmeats I Have Invented.
Fleen is a tool for doing stuff with the geometry generated by the kisrhombille tessellation.
Fleen is a webcomic insider's webcomic blog about webcomics.
Fleen is a sci-fi epic set 6.4 billion years in the future.
10 minutes to master, a lifetime to enjoy...
What skill can learn right now in 10 minutes that will be useful for the rest of my life? Is a Quora thread that goes beyond the usual "life hacks" (though it has them, too) to include some neat skills [Quora requires registration, but links go to direct sites]. Learn to read Korean, eat a chicken wing properly, fold a t-shirt, become a better Google searcher, crack an egg with one hand, whistle with your fingers, learn to speed read (the most popular answer), use the peg system to remember things, and learn to change a tire. [more inside]
If we want it to fall silent, aren’t we yearning for the end of self?
If perception of sound depends on our state of mind, then conversely a state of mind can hardly exist without an external world with which it is in relation and that conditions it — either our immediate present environment, or something that happened in the past and that now echoes or goes on happening in our minds. There is never any state of mind that is not in some part, however small, in relation to the sounds around it — the bird singing and a television overheard as I write this now, for example. [more inside]
Showdown at the Airport Body Scanner
So George Clooney had an awkward stage?
25 Celebrities When They Were Young. You'll be surprised by how much this surprises you.
"I always had low self-esteem. I never thought I'd get anywhere."
So-Called Curried Soul
After more than 40 years, the great CBC Radio interview show As It Happens has changed its theme music. Moe Koffman's original has been remixed by Josh Dolgin (aka Socalled). The story (with a link to the new version).
A Real Unbreakable Comb?
Chemists at Duke University have developed a new plastic that becomes stronger with mechanical stress. [more inside]
Looks are not deceiving.
People who look young for their age 'live longer'. 'Danish scientists say appearance alone can predict survival, after they studied 387 pairs of twins.' 'It might be that people who have had a tougher life are more likely to die early - and their life is reflected in their face.' 'The bigger the difference in perceived age,' 'the more likely it was that the older-looking', though there may be a threshold effect present. [more inside]
"I was ... working on something else but last night I dreamt of R'lyeh"
The title of Allen Williams' website, "I Just Draw," undersells his works. These are no idle doodles, but rather, as Guillermo del Toro wrote: "Entire worlds flow from Allen Williams' pencil and brush. Creatures and characters more twisted and full of humanity than our imagination dares to conjure. He is an incredible draughtsman and a true original mind." You can see more of Williams' works on his blog. Click on the images to enlarge them. [more inside]
The candidacy of Motravias King
The North Carolina Board of Elections has unanimously overturned a decision Pasquotank County Board of Elections barring barring an Elizabeth City State University senior Montravias King from running for local office. The County Board had ruled that King's on-campus address couldn't be used to establish local residency. [more inside]
"Now the only thing they farm is wind.”
Layin' Near the Lights
Byegone is a lovely, minimal music video by Michinori Saigo, from the new record Repave by Justin Vernon and Collections of Colonies of Bees collaboration Volcano Choir.
We've come a long way since 1996
Ever wondered what patient zero was when it comes to internet memes? Look no further than Mr. T Ate My Balls. (archived GeoCities) Come for the low resolution, poorly MS-Painted images. Stay for the inevitable knockoffs.
Gracht
Gracht is a short stop motion animation movie about the perils of moving house in Amsterdam, created as a graduation project for the Utrecht School of Arts in Hilversum.
What's Killing Poor White Women?
For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why.
“Since the day I was born, I never saw such misery.”
“I have read in my earlier years about prisoners in the revolutionary war, and other wars. It sounded noble and heroic to be a prisoner of war, and accounts of their adventures were quite romantic; but the romance has been knocked out of the prisoner of war business, higher than a kite. It's a fraud.” [more inside]
The Story of Film
The Story of Film: An Odyssey is a documentary in 15 parts which documents the evolution of the medium from first steps of silent film to the present day multi-national blockbuster (trailer). This amazing work is currently available on Netflix, but will also be playing on TCM starting this month (full schedule available at the bottom of this link).
How Two Newspaper Reporters Helped Free an Innocent Man
I had never been so confident of a convicted defendant’s innocence. And I never imagined nearly 12 years would pass before Cook County prosecutors would admit the truth and dismiss his conviction. But it finally happened. On June 28, 2013, Daniel, who was arrested at age 17, was released at age 38, having spent more than 20 years behind bars. [more inside]
The Naked Chef? More like The Knob-end Chef.
"Oliver suddenly began insulting the very people he was trying to market his new products to, and once he started saying condescending things he couldn’t stop." So many previouslies.
"I've never been angry enough at a phonebook..."
Impress your friends, coworkers, and random people on the street! How to Rip a Phone Book in Half!
pardon me, but your building melted my car.
"The owners of the 37-story tower known as the Walkie Talkie in the City of London financial district are investigating a light beam cast by the building that’s so intense it melted parked cars." Jaguar owner Martin Lindsay was none too pleased by this evidence of the laws of physics. And architect Rafael Vinolyapparently hasn't learned from his previous hair-scorching design error in Las Vegas.
Good ol' Captain Kirk, he no like Miley's twerk
I got rhythm
Henry Hey did it to Bush and Palin. Drewsif Stalin did it to the "Have you ever had a dream?" kid. And now Dan Weiss has done it to auctioneer Ty Thompson. There's music in people's words.
Moral sentimentalism
"Moral sentimentalism is one of the principal ways in which our bourgeois society checks impulses towards radical change." From Jacobin, on the detrimental social consequences of the belief that morality is entirely about personal choice and responsibility.
Adventures in Guarddogging
The True Story About Who Destroyed a Genetically Modified Rice Crop
Did you hear that a group of 400 angry farmers attacked and destroyed a field trial of genetically modified rice in the Philippines this month? That, it turns out, was a lie. The crop was actually destroyed by a small number of activists while farmers who had been bussed in to attend the event looked on in dismay.
Visionary pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine and animal rights
Juliette of the Herbs is a beautifully filmed lyrical portrait of the life and work of Juliette de Bairacli Levy: world renowned herbalist, author, breeder of Afghan hounds, friend of the Gypsies, traveller in search of herbal wisdom and the pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine. A list of Juliette de Baïracli Levy's books. Cythera Island
Michael Hastings
September 2
Tom and Jerry
One plus two plus two plus one.
“Something Terrible Has Happened Here”: The Crazy Story Of How “Clue” Went From Forgotten Flop To Cult Triumph. (previously)
The scrupulous gadabout genius
Ronald H. Coase, Nobel Laureate who Devised Coase Theorem, dies at 102
Ronald Coase, the author of two of the most influential articles in economics died September 2 at the age of 102. In the 1961, in an article entitled "The Problem of Social Cost," he came up with the now famous "Coase Theorem" which is often used as the starting point of thinking about transaction costs and the necessity of certain rules and regulations when these costs are too high for individual agents to bear by themselves. Coase's work led to the development of various fields of research in economics and law. New Institutional economics (Oliver Williamson), Social Choice Theory (Duncan Black) and the Law and Economics movement in legal studies.
"I zigged when I should have zagged."
Tommy "The Duke" Morrison, grand nephew of John Wayne, former WBO heavyweight champion, co-star of Rocky V, and, later, supporter of the HIV Denial movement, has passed away at 44. [more inside]
Secret Fore-Edge Paintings Revealed in Early 19th Century Books
"A few days ago Colleen Theisen who helps with outreach and instruction at the Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa shared an amazing gif she made that demonstrates something called fore-edge painting on the edge of a 1837 book called Autumn by Robert Mudie. Fore-edge painting, which is believed to date back as early as the 1650s, is a way of hiding a painting on the edge of a book so that it can only be seen when the pages are fanned out. There are even books that have double fore-edge paintings, where a different image can be seen by flipping the book over and fanning the pages in the opposite direction. When I realized the book Theisen shared was only one of a series about the seasons, I got in touch and she agreed to photograph the other three so we could share them with you here."
Let’s try and see if that HDTV will fit in my trunk.
The truth is the human race has never been better off. We live in an age of plenty. The problem is one of distribution: Instead of being used for the benefit of all, that plenty is exploited for the benefit of a select, privileged few, who profit from polluting and in some cases sabotaging the commons.
If a rich person has something you need, you should take it. And if a big corporation has something you want, you should steal it. Instead of paying retail prices when you go to a chain store, just don’t pay. After all, you earned it. [more inside]
artists in their own words
Painters on Painting - 1972 documentary on the New York Art Scene 1940-1970, directed by Emile de Antonio. It spans American art movements from abstract expressionism to pop art via conversations with artists in their studios. Including Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell and others. (via Bibliokept) [more inside]
Or, you can text me. Whatever.
she risked everything to be kind
12 Minutes of Freedom in 460 Days of Captivity
"When I describe what happened to me on Aug. 23, 2008, I say that I was taken. On an empty stretch of road outside of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, out of the back seat of a four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi by a dozen or so men whose faces were swaddled in checkered scarves. Each one of them carried an AK-47."
Behind the Cover Story: Sara Corbett on Collaborating With Amanda Lindhout to Tell a Harrowing Tale
"When I describe what happened to me on Aug. 23, 2008, I say that I was taken. On an empty stretch of road outside of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, out of the back seat of a four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi by a dozen or so men whose faces were swaddled in checkered scarves. Each one of them carried an AK-47."
Behind the Cover Story: Sara Corbett on Collaborating With Amanda Lindhout to Tell a Harrowing Tale
RIP Frederik Pohl
Noted science fiction author, editor, and SFWA Grand Master Frederik Pohl has died. His granddaughter announced the news via her twitter account. Pohl was born in 1919 (the same year stainless steel was patented and a year before the first commercially licensed radio station in the US) and after nearly a century of imagining the near and far future, and sharing that with the world, he was still updating his blog [previously] on a regular basis until his death.
The STEM Crisis is a Myth
Breaking News!
Where is Parsifal? Misplaced film from BFI's 75 Most Wanted
In 1983, the film Where is Parsifal? was screened at Cannes and then it disappeared, more or less. BFI included it on their list of 75 most wanted films. The Telegraph summarized the "lost" title as "a farce loosely based on Molière’s Tartuffe, whose turbocharged cast includes Tony Curtis, Orson Welles and Donald Pleasence," but BFI noted that "the reviews were generally dreadful." In reality, the film wasn't so much lost as it was misplaced and/or over-looked. It has been available in Australia on VHS, and director Henri Helman kindly donated his personal 35mm print, with French subtitles, to be preserved in the BFI archive. But perhaps more interesting than the "lost" status of the movie is the people involved in its creation. [more inside]
Beasts of the Past
“One day, we looked around and realized that almost no one is making tokusatsu anymore,” said Shinji Higuchi, one of a handful of Japanese directors who still have experience in the genre, having directed three movies in the 1990s featuring the giant fire-breathing turtle Gamera. “We don’t want this technique to just quietly disappear without at least recognizing how indebted we are to it.” - The last days of the rubber-suit monsters.
Charley says look what the welfare state can do for you
The "Charley" films were produced in 1946 - 1947 and released from 1948. There were eight films in total, looking at the new towns, schooling, the National Health, building up exports and working for heavy industry. Charley had his own chirpy theme tune, and opening titles, in which he would ride across the screen on his bicycle, writing out his name. And each film was billed as being part of an ongoing series, so you knew there were others to view and learn from. [more inside]
flown in to Japan to assess the damage done by Godzilla
As Thomas Pynchon's new novel Bleeding Edge's Sept. 17th release date approaches, New York Magazine's Vulture blog offers a capsule biography of the man. (SLVulture) [more inside]
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