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from
mefi
"The pervasive narcissism and cartoon chest-thumping of young black culture no longer jibes with what's essentially a sacrificial game. Basketball hawks the individual star. Football offers glamour jobs like quarterback, running back, receiver. For baseball, meanwhile, sacrifice is an actual statistic: The best fail in 70 percent of their at-bats. 'The thing about baseball is that it's such a team sport,' Philadelphia's Rollins told Sports Illustrated. 'And when you're in the inner city, it's all about being the man, about establishing your strength as an individual. So how can you be the man? You want that ball in your hands with three seconds on the clock to take the shot, or you want the football under your arm. That's how.'
Race, class, families, fathers, and baseball:
Where Have All the Black Guys Gone?
posted to MetaFilter by mudpuppie
at 4:02 PM on June 13, 2008
(62 comments)
"The latest 'must-have' in the world of plastic surgery is the
'designer vagina'. As if we didn't have enough to worry about (bikini-line waxes, highlights, Botox injections), it seems we're now meant to be worrying about our vaginas
not being pretty enough. Labia-envy is apparently rife, if you believe the ads in many women’s magazines. And like those who head for the hairdresser clutching pictures of Jennifer Aniston, many women are now taking copies of Playboy to their plastic surgeons, saying:
'I want one like that'." Price list
here. Sort of previously discussed
here. [First link SFW; others questionable.]
posted to MetaFilter by mudpuppie
at 12:56 PM on June 3, 2005
(100 comments)
"On March 18 [1937] students prepared for the next day's Inter-scholastic Meet in Henderson. At the gymnasium, the PTA met. At 3:05 P.M. Lemmie R. Butler, instructor of manual training, turned on a sanding machine in an area which, unknown to him, was filled with a mixture of gas and air. The switch ignited the mixture and carried the flame into a nearly closed space beneath the building, 253 feet long and fifty-six feet wide. Immediately the building seemed to lift in the air and then smashed to the ground. Walls collapsed. The roof fell in and buried its victims in a mass of brick, steel, and concrete debris. The explosion was heard four miles away, and it hurled a two-ton concrete slab 200 feet away, where it crushed a 1936 Chevrolet. Of the 500 students and forty teachers in the building, approximately 298 died. Some rescuers, students, and teachers needed psychiatric attention, and only about 130 students escaped serious injury. -- From the Handbook of Texas Online. (
Other accounts,
personal recollections, and
photos .)
It was one of the worst disasters in Texas history. With Texans' love of superlatives,
why is this a story no one tells? [more...]
posted to MetaFilter by mudpuppie
at 3:03 PM on March 18, 2005
(35 comments)
A
Vancouver couple were only recently identified as victims of the Asian Tsunami. While they didn't survive, their
photos of the approaching wave did. (First link includes info on how to donate to family's memorial fund.)
posted to MetaFilter by mudpuppie
at 4:03 PM on February 23, 2005
(47 comments)
A year ago, NYT reporter Nicholas Kristof purchased two Cambodian prostitutes (discussed
here).
Today, he's published an
update, along with a multimedia presentation about the girls' lives.
posted to MetaFilter by mudpuppie
at 3:17 PM on January 19, 2005
(19 comments)
Some stories are longer than others.
In the early 1900s,
Burro Schmidt spent 32 years (or 38, depending on your source) digging a
1/2-mile tunnel through a Mojave mountain. Why? Because it was easier than hauling his gold and his burros down the back road.
"Solely, he labored long days.... The tunnel was solid granite, which needed no shoring, except at the entrance to the tunnel. Being at 4200 foot elevation there was a shortage of oxygen, making his labor even more difficult. He was trapped many times by falling rock and injured as many times."
(But the story doesn't end with him.
More >> )
posted to MetaFilter by mudpuppie
at 5:37 PM on January 11, 2005
(11 comments)
