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Basement Beauties. Photographs by Mack Sennett.
comment posted at 9:33 AM on Jun-29-04

Undercity reveals Gotham's secrets as uncovered by a guerrilla historian. [via Anil Dash]
comment posted at 6:02 AM on Jun-27-04

The J.S. Bach Home Page.
comment posted at 6:05 AM on Jun-27-04

The Beecher Family. 'Families that have been influential in American life and culture are often recognizable by their signature names. The Beecher family is an example of one such family whose deep religious convictions and social conscience spanned the nineteenth century and made them prominent historical figures whose impact on religion, education, abolition, reform movements, literature and public life were exceptional. Biographer Milton Rugoff claims that in "two generations the Beechers emerged, along with many other Americans, from a God-centered, theology-ridden world concerned with the fate of man's eternal soul into a man-centered society occupied mainly with life on earth." ... '
comment posted at 5:07 PM on Jun-25-04

"Jesus?" he murmured, "Jesus -- of Nazareth?..." Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, is the only historical figure named in the Nicene Creed -- Coptic saint or eternally damned, his role in the greatest story ever told has been debated by many of history's greatest minds: St Augustine, Dante Alighieri, Tintoretto, John Ruskin, Mikhail Bulgakov, Monty Python. Unfortunately, there is very little historical evidence about him. His role in the death of a certain charismatic Galilean healer and apocalyptic preacher is still being debated today by theologians and historians alike. He is also, of course, the main character of The Procurator of Judea, the classic short story (complete text in main link) by Anatole France. (France's magnificent story has lately been tragically neglected by publishers, even if the author was one of his era's most acclaimed writers in the world -- he won the Nobel Prize in 1921 over Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Thomas Hardy, D.H. Lawrence, and Proust, and when he died in 1924, hundreds of thousands of people followed his funeral procession through Paris). These last 2,000 years of fascination with Pilatus can be explained, some argue... (more inside, for those unwilling to wash their hands of this post)
comment posted at 12:04 PM on Jun-24-04

In the swing states, it's not just the economy anymore, stupid. "The more you talk to West Virginians, the more you stop wondering how Democrats lost the state four years ago and start wondering how they ever won it."
comment posted at 5:22 PM on Jun-22-04

"You people are stupid."

That's what Dave Chappelle had to say to a crowd of 4000 plus after he had walked off the stage in Sacramento in protest. What got the comic so riled up? According to Chappelle, it was audience members who wouldn't "shut up and listen - like you're supposed to." Chappelle then went on to vent his frustration on the success of his TV Show and the extra attention it has brought him.

Chappelle's harshest words thou were addressed to those audience members who worship entertainers and athletes.

"Stop listening to celebrities," he said. "They do what they do for money - that's all. I don't even know why you're listening to me. I've done commercials for both Coke and Pepsi. Truth is, I can't even taste the difference, but Pepsi paid me last, so there it is."
comment posted at 11:58 AM on Jun-22-04

On Cognitive Dissonance
"As a behavioral psychologist, I have studied people's reactions to contradiction and inconsistency. We are capable of convincing ourselves of something, and the more evidence that builds up to contradict us the more we believe it.

For more than 40 years, social psychologists have studied the phenomenon of "cognitive dissonance" - what happens when people have pieces of information on the same subject that are inconsistent. The presence of contradictions is psychologically unpleasant, and people do whatever it takes to resolve the inconsistency."

Many in the field posit that tension between contradictory thoughts and feelings are what constitutes consciousness. It doesn't seem to me this qualifies as it appears to be highly dysfunctional and not a natural and normal tension. What say you who are more qualified?
comment posted at 7:47 AM on Jun-21-04

The Pastiche of a Presidency, Imitating a Life, in 957 Pages This is a very bad review of the Clinton book, soon to be released. My question: why has the New York Times placed a book review on its front page? Would they have done this if the book were given a good review? Is the "paper of record" making a clear-cut statement about its feelings about Clinton? Has any other book review made the front page of the NY Times? I for one plan to read the book. I recall that Edmund Wilson once said: always stick to primary sources rather relying upon what some scholar or reviewer has to say about a book. Finally, Clinton is out of office (alas). How much longer will small and jealous puppies chase after The Big Dog?
comment posted at 3:58 PM on Jun-20-04
comment posted at 6:17 AM on Jun-21-04

The 100 greatest British albums ... and look what came first. Why? I personally don't believe the justification given. And surely the word Rock is missing from the title of the poll because I don't see many other genres mentioned. To be honest, I'm with Miranda Sawyer on this one -- why aren't more girls aloud?
comment posted at 2:42 PM on Jun-20-04

Ray Bradbury is angry. Mr. Bradbury is accusing Michael Moore of lifting the title from his classic science-fiction novel "Fahrenheit 451" without permission and wants the new documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" to be renamed.

Bradbury says he called Dog Eat Dog Films, Moore's production company, six months ago about this issue, and Moore himself finally returned his phone call last last Saturday. Bradbury, who is a registered political independent, said he would rather avoid litigation and is "hoping to settle this as two gentlemen, if he'll shake hands with me and give me back my book and title."

Does Moore need Bradbury's permission to use "Fahrenheit 9/11" or is Bradbury cleverly pulling “a Michael Moore” to get attention for the new edition of "Fahrenheit 451" coming out in eight weeks and remake of the 1966 movie, that is in pre-production for 2005?
comment posted at 2:29 PM on Jun-19-04

So this is the new European world. OK basically there is a new superpower in the world and damned if I can find anyone in my county seems to know or care..... but we're all about one mans untimely grisly death. Compare the world to the US I think this may be a good indicator of the rifts that exist between us and the rest of humanity...
comment posted at 2:15 PM on Jun-19-04

"Don't equate happiness with money"... "Exercise Regularly"... "Have Sex"...
Advice from a German investment bank on how to enjoy life. Taking CitiBank's cynical "Live Richly" ad campaign a step farther?
obilgatory joke "I remember when the bank only gave away free toasters..."
In other news, A bank in India is targeting "sex workers" as new customers,
Insert Sperm Bank Joke Here. heh heh heh... he said "Insert Sperm"...
comment posted at 12:45 PM on Jun-19-04

Juneteenth is today, celebrating the emancipation of all slaves in Texas, on June 19th, 1865, 2 1/2 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. With its lighthearted name and tragicomic origins, Juneteenth appeals to many Americans by celebrating the end of slavery without dwelling on its legacy. Juneteenth, celebrators say, is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday without the grieving. It's become a widely celebrated holiday among African-Americans (but not even known by many whites), and Fourteen states have made it official--is it time for it to go national? Find an event in your state or country
comment posted at 2:25 PM on Jun-19-04

From Terrorist to Community College? Weather Underground (previously commented on here) co-founder Mark Rudd gives an interview to Salon.
comment posted at 5:16 PM on Jun-18-04

Guilty Pleasures (i.e. Def Leppard – “Hysteria”; Justin Timberlake – “Justified”), Essential Albums (i.e. Beastie Boys – “Paul’s Boutique”; The Tragically Hip – “Day for Night” ), and That Damn List Thing (i.e. Everybody Dance Now: 18 Songs That Might Make You Reconsider Disco; Hitched: A 17-Song Tribute to Gay Marriage). Fantastic music related essays and more at Splendid’s “Departments”.
comment posted at 4:04 PM on Jun-18-04

Ray Abeyta. "At first glance, many of Abeyta's works appear to be Spanish colonial paintings dating from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. However, the artist incorporates present-day imagery with Spanish colonial and indigenous elements." A short bio and history here. Here's one of my favorites.
comment posted at 2:08 PM on Jun-17-04

Dear Leo, Dear Mohandas "The longer I live -- especially now when I clearly feel the approach of death -- the more I feel moved to express what I feel more strongly than anything else... the doctrine of the law of love unperverted by sophistries. Love... the highest and indeed the only law of life". The Kingdom of God Is Within You (full text available) is Leo Tolstoy's tractatus of "Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion but as a New Theory of Life", a primer of (among other things) the doctrine of non-violence. Among the many fans of the 1894 book was an imprisoned Hindu barrister, a "half-naked fakir" if you want, a certain Mohandas K. Gandhi who was fascinated by "the independent thinking, profound morality, and the truthfulness" of the book. So he ended up writing fan letters to the great Russian man: who warmly wrote back to his young Indian "friend and brother". The old wise Christian anarchist literary giant and the shy, insecure young man who sparked a revolution: to paraphrase another wise, badly-dressed , pacifist old man, "Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such men ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."
comment posted at 7:22 PM on Jun-17-04

The City of God (#29 IMDB top 250) is a film about life in Brazilian "favelas" (shantytowns) where poverty, drugs, violence and crime rule the streets. At murder rates of more than 40 per 100,000, one person shot every 30 minutes in the city, Rio ranks as the world's most dangerous places along with Cali, Colombia and Johannesburg, South Africa. Rio has over 600 favelas and the crime and violence is becoming so bad corporations are fleeing the city while the military is under direct assault and the prison system is breaking down. Favela guided tours available or see the movie available now on DVD.
comment posted at 6:25 AM on Jun-17-04

pitchformula.com This project combines a computer science background and a songwriting hobby with an unhealthy obsession for popular music reviews. In it, I attempt to come up with a new computer-assisted songwriting method which takes music critics' opinions into account. By writing software to statisically analyze the content of several thousand record reviews from the Pitchfork music website (www.pitchforkmedia.com), I generate a set of compositional guidelines based on the musical preferences expressed by the critics. I then use those guidelines to write and record a couple of original songs, discussing in detail the relationships between the songs and the data that I have collected. [via music (for robots)]
comment posted at 6:58 AM on Jun-16-04

Our discussion of the human condition centers around a basic but seldom accepted or understood idea: We are "asleep", compared to what we could be. We are caught in illusions while thinking we are perceiving reality.
On Waking Up by Charles Tart, who provided my introduction to Gurdjieff. I am currently reading his Living The Mindful Life. As a perusal of his site will reveal, he is interested as well in the psychedelic experience, altered states, the paranormal, psi, out-of-body experiences, near death experiences, remote viewing and the whole woo woo schmear. All these are of less interest to me. He does provide a good introduction to Gurdjieff, however. There are more links within.
comment posted at 7:11 AM on Jun-16-04
comment posted at 1:04 PM on Jun-16-04

One hundred years ago today, 1,358 members of the Kleindeutschland, the German neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, boarded a chartered ferry named the General Slocum for a picnic excursion to Long Island. A fire broke out in the ship's hold while it cruised up the East River, the captain ran the vessel aground on the rocky shores of North Brother Island amid the swift currents of Hell Gate, and when it was all over 1,021 people (mainly women and children) had perished by drowning or from the fire, and it remained the worst single-day New York City disaster until 9/11.
comment posted at 7:20 AM on Jun-16-04

We'll Be Right Back For a full week in February 1972, Mike Douglas (warning: pop-up ads; page design) featured John Lennon and Yoko Ono as co-hosts of his hit afternoon talk show. The accompanying mash-up of counterculture and the mainstream must have been interesting to watch (at least to the Nixon administration). The folks at Rhino Home Video were kind enough to leave behind Stephen K. Peeples' extensive liner notes (see links 2-8 at bottom of page).
comment posted at 1:52 PM on Jun-14-04

Martha Ballard's Diary Includes a transcription of the diary (written between 1785-1812), images of the original MS, and a number of contextual documents and photographs, plus many other things. (Those of you who enjoy old diaries should bear in mind that one of the greatest diarists of them all, Samuel Pepys, has a blog.)
comment posted at 11:25 AM on Jun-13-04

The Emotional Costs of Fidelity
I recently came across Suburban Sex Blog, the blog of a 30-something, married with children, sexually deprived male suburban dweller who posts about the frustrations of having a wife who just doesn't want sex. After reading this entry where his wife tells him to just "get over it" after he confronts her about the complete lack of sexual contact between the two of them for months, I knew I'd found a blog that I'd be checking in on frequently. Guys blogging about their sex lives is nothing new you might think, but instead of filling their blogs with macho bragging about their conquests, there's a growing number of good blogs where married guys are opening their hearts about the insecurities, depressions and fear that goes with trying hard to make a marriage work instead of giving into the temptation of cheating.

After going through some of these issues myself while my wife was going through a period of depression I know first hand how an emotionally distant wife can wreak havoc with everything from one's self-esteem, concentration and general mental well being. These blogs put things into a perspective that many men refuse to share, and many women never even suspect.
comment posted at 9:42 AM on Jun-11-04

Ray Charles is Dead Very sad to hear. My favorite was always "Georgia on My Mind". What was yours? Any personal memories you associate with his music?
comment posted at 1:02 PM on Jun-10-04

The Suicide’s Soliloquy August 25, 1838, the Sangamo Journal, a Whig newspaper in Springfield, Illinois, carried an unsigned poem, thirty-six lines long. It stands out for two reasons: first, its subject is suicide; second, its author was most likely a twenty-nine-year-old politician and lawyer named Abraham Lincoln. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin relates how historians regard a broken off engagement to Mary Todd as the trigger to his famous depression, but it was his perceived failure as politician, she maintains, that fed Lincoln's "black dog". (For his depression, Lincoln probably took "blue mass", a drug prescribed to treat "hypochondriasis," a vague term that included melancholia). Lincoln's medical history file is here
comment posted at 1:11 PM on Jun-7-04

A fairly reassuring self-interview with Karey Kirkpatrick - the American (gasp!) screenwriter tasked with getting Douglas Adams' original script for "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" into filmable condition.

Here's hoping they don't screw it up...
comment posted at 10:00 AM on Jun-4-04

"Don't just do good design; do some good." An initiative to promote socially-responsible projects as initiated within the design community, in small and large scales. And on a tangent, activism has certainly come a long way since Lennon.
comment posted at 1:40 PM on Jun-2-04

The Psychological Sources of Islamic Terrorism
Michael J. Mazarr is professor of national security strategy at the U.S. National War College. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the policy or position of the U.S. government.
comment posted at 9:14 AM on Jun-2-04

Colin Wilson: 'Now they will realise that I am a genius'
comment posted at 6:40 AM on May-31-04

Interview with David Crosby. "The people who run record companies now wouldn't know a song if it flew up their nose and died. They haven't a clue, and they don't care. You tell them that, and they go, 'Yeah? So, your point is?' Because ...they don't care. They're actually sort of proud that they don't care.... Now they're going in the tank, because the world has changed, and they did not change with it...I think the only way to sell records that I know about now that does look really, really, really promising is iTunes."
comment posted at 7:29 PM on May-30-04
comment posted at 6:11 AM on May-31-04
comment posted at 12:47 PM on May-31-04
comment posted at 2:38 PM on May-31-04
comment posted at 7:11 AM on Jun-1-04

The Bakken: A social history of electricity The Bakken is a growing center "for education and learning that furthers the understanding of the history, cultural context, and applications of electricity and magnetism in the life sciences and their benefits to contemporary society." The site includes an illustrated collection of artifacts ranging from static electricity generators and Leyden jars to Victorian therapeutic magnetic belts, and exhibitions on Mesmer and Mesmerism and Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. The institute was founded by Earl Bakken, the co-inventor of the pacemaker.
comment posted at 12:49 PM on May-30-04

"But they don't know about us, and they've never heard of love..." A Million Love Songs--a new mp3 blog hoping to list them all. Songs stay active for a week, and you can contribute too! So far, they're ranging from Tracey Ullman to Britney to Take That to Eddie Fisher to the Supremes and Abba (send your contributions to: amillionlovesongs@hotmail.com)
comment posted at 7:22 AM on May-28-04

Today's news oddity: In October 1973, U.S.-Soviet tensions were peaking over the Arab-Israeli war, and British Prime Minister Edward Heath's office called the White House just before 8 p.m. to ask to speak with Nixon. "Can we tell them no?" Kissinger asked his assistant, Brent Scowcroft. "When I talked to the president, he was loaded." It's funnier if you read the above in Kissinger's voice.
comment posted at 10:43 AM on May-27-04
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comment posted at 1:10 PM on May-27-04

What is the current state of American poetry? Hank Lazer: Perhaps, contrary to the laments, we are now living through a particularly rich time in American poetry—an era of radically democratized poetry...In its anarchic democratic disorganized decentralization, poetry culture has developed in a manner parallel to the computer: the decentralized PC has beaten the main-frame. No one can pretend to know what is out there, or what is next. Who are some of the most notable American poets active in the beginning of the 21st century?
comment posted at 9:36 AM on May-27-04
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comment posted at 12:32 PM on May-27-04

How To Make Friends By Telephone :: a useful how-to book from the 1940's
comment posted at 11:59 AM on May-27-04

Zoot Suit
comment posted at 8:43 AM on May-27-04
comment posted at 9:43 AM on May-27-04

A guide for librarians wishing to integrate comic books into their regular holdings for young adults, and the case for it. Via Linkfilter.
comment posted at 11:17 AM on May-26-04