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September 2007 Archives
September 30
Beatrice Coron is a paper cutting artist, who has a wonderful collection of paper cutting links, including images of
her own work, the extraordinary cut paper art of
Hina Aoyama,
Kako Ueda,
Masaaki Tatsumi,
Virginia Rose Kane,
Drew King,
Rick Jones,
Andrea Dezsö,
Bette Burgoyne,
Justine Smith and papercutting art from
around the world.
[more inside]posted by nickyskye at 9:03 PM PST - 12 comments
A little over 30 years ago singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell had her limo driver conduct her to the humble home of
bluesman Furry Lewis. Joni was out to cop a little inspiration, which she apparently did, as she subsequently named a
song after him. At that point, the name of Furry Lewis was suddenly made known to millions of people who'd never heard of him before.
Perhaps a few of those folks even sought out Lewis'
recordings. Course, back then there were no CD reissues, no YouTube, no mp3s floating around in the ether. But
you can check out
Mister Furry Lewis now: no need to have your limousine take you to the ghetto! Oh, but as far as Joni's tune, well, Furry
wasn't all that pleased about it.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:00 PM PST - 48 comments
Seriously pissed? How about serious change? Decades from now, no one will accuse our generation of
not protesting enough, but you'll probably be making excuses for
how we did it. No offense to those who
have protested this way- your heart's in the right place and you've probably given lots of time and money to doing the right thing- but what if you're not helping? What if hundreds of thousands of people turned out in their very best, most serious clothes, with no puppets, no "clever" home-made signs, and no instruments?
It's worked before. As
Matt Taibbi put it in AdBusters (previously on MeFi), "Next thing you know, you’ve got guys on stilts wearing mime makeup and Cat-in-the-Hat striped top-hats leading a half-million people at an anti-war rally. Why is that guy there? Because no one told him that war is a matter of life and death and that he should leave his fucking stilts at home." These things always
start small, but who knows? This is serious- let's act like it. If you wouldn't bring it or wear it to your grandmother's funeral,
leave it at home.
posted by paul_smatatoes at 11:10 AM PST - 168 comments
"Find Good Food Near You. Want fresh, locally grown food, but don't know where to find it? The LocalHarvest community level map makes it easy to find sustainable farmers, farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture projects (CSAs) in your area."posted by dersins at 10:02 AM PST - 21 comments
"I've hidden myself and covered myself for too long. Now I want to show myself fearlessly, even though I know my body arouses repugnance. I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is." French Comedienne
Isabelle Caro, 27, an anorexic who weighs just 68 pounds, was displayed on Milan
billboards (NSFW) for
fashion designer Nolita as the city celebrated fashion week. The prevalence of eating disorders within the
fashion industry have only recently been
addressed officially, however
Georgio Armani has complained that since Caro isn't a model herself it proves
"even people who take no notice of fashion get anorexic." posted by miss lynnster at 9:47 AM PST - 116 comments
"John Adams and Abigail Smith Adams
exchanged over 1,100 letters, beginning during their courtship in 1762 and continuing throughout John's political career. These warm and informative letters include John's descriptions of the Continental Congress and his impressions of Europe while he served in various diplomatic roles, as well as Abigail's updates about their family, farm, and news of the Revolution's impact on the Boston area." The Adams Electronic Archive has transcripts [
example] as well as high-resolution scans [
example] of the letters. You may be familiar with some snippets of their correspondence from the movie musical "1776" (
"Til Then" and
"Yours, Yours, Yours" scenes on YouTube).
posted by amyms at 9:25 AM PST - 17 comments
The Suan shu shu (筭數書) is an ancient Chinese collection of writings on
mathematics discovered together with
other texts [
Chinese, incl. image of bamboo slips from same excavation] when in 1983 archaeologists opened a tomb at Zhangjiashan in Hubei believed closed in 186 BCE. Main link includes a downloadable full translation with commentary of this earliest extant Chinese work on mathematics by noted China scholar
Dr Christopher Cullen.
posted by Abiezer at 7:38 AM PST - 9 comments
Be difficult. Be compelling. But above all—
be contrary.
A brand new debating site. Not a lot of content yet, but it seems to have potential.
posted by signal at 7:08 AM PST - 18 comments
Meet
Uma Khurana, a government school teacher in Old Delhi, who was almost
lynched after rumours that she had forced her students into prostitution started doing the rounds, was vindicated when it was discovered that the sting operation to frame her was a
scam.
posted by hadjiboy at 3:59 AM PST - 4 comments
September 29
The Trap. Are you a young, college educated liberal who can't afford health care or a place to live? In his new
book,
Daniel Brook says you are getting screwed by being forced to choose between a job that you would actually like or selling out so you can have a middle class lifestyle.
posted by afu at 10:08 PM PST - 114 comments
Here's a seemingly simple physics problem: an airplane taxis in one direction on a moving conveyor belt going the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?
The debate rages on and on and on....
posted by zardoz at 9:47 PM PST - 248 comments
“War Made Easy" is a documentary with Sean Penn narrating, and is based on a
book by
Norman Solomon . This is an award winning expose on how the American Public has been led into a 50-year pattern of government deception and spin, dragging the United States from one war
into another. Remarkably this film exhumes archival footage of official
distortion and exaggeration from LBJ
to George W.
Bush, revealing in stunning
detail how the American
news media have
uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations. Brutally persuasive this film presents disturbing examples of
propaganda from those we want to believe in.
posted by Rancid Badger at 12:39 PM PST - 51 comments
Basra Diary (Google Video)
"Last year, I completed my first tour of duty, in Basra, southern Iraq. I kept a video diary. This is the film I made, which details the experiences of both myself, and my colleagues, told in my own words."
posted by Mwongozi at 5:37 AM PST - 25 comments
Triumph of the Nerds is a 1996 three-part documentary recounting the rise of the personal computer, including interviews with Gates, Wozniak and Jobs, among others. It was originally produced for British television, and aired on PBS in the USA.
Part One:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Part Two:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Part Three:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6. Transcripts
here. After you watch, you can play the
"Guess the Computer" game.
posted by amyms at 2:35 AM PST - 19 comments
When
Conrad O. Johnson heard
Otis Redding in concert in the year 1967, he was inspired to bring the kind of explosive energy he felt from that performance to the high school band he was charged with leading. He wanted to lead not only the best high school stage band in Texas, but the best high school stage band in the world. And with the
Kashmere Stage Band, it's arguable that that's
exactly what he did. Check out the Texas Thunder Soul.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:11 AM PST - 19 comments
September 28
... After take seventeen, Dylan heeds the producer Johnston’s advice to start with a harmonica swoop. Crescendos off of an extended fifth chord, led by Paul Griffin’s astonishingpiano swells (“half Gershwin, half gospel, all heart” an astute critic later wrote), climax in choruses dominated by piano, organ, and Bobby Gregg’s drum rolls; Robbie Robertson’s guitar hits its full strength at the finale. Intimations of the thin, wild mercury sound underpin rock & roll symphonics. Johnston delivers a pep talk before one last take—“keep that soul feel”—and Gregg snaps a quick click opener, and fewer than five minutes later, the keeper is in the can.
Mystic Nights - The Making of Blonde On Blonde In Nashville An account of how the many strands of that thin, that wild mercury sound were woven. And the
annotation goes on.
Via email via St Urbain's Horsemanposted by y2karl at 10:15 PM PST - 36 comments
Build your dream home. Answer a page of questions and real fortune-tellers on a steady diet of tea leaves and tarot cards will show you the house of your dreams.
posted by Mitheral at 10:03 PM PST - 15 comments
When Pigs Fly: Jackie Chan and Ani DiFranco? The Fixx covering Nancy Sinatra? Devo sings "Ohio"? You won't believe your ears.
The "back" button is directly below the album cover.posted by St Urbain's Horseman at 6:26 PM PST - 26 comments
McHenry and his "roommates" -- GOP Rep Patrick McHenry (NC), co-owner of a DC home with Scott G. Stewart, former chair of the College Republican Nat'l Cttee (and bilker of many senior citizens), received a DC home-ownership reduction improperly. McHenry's actual home in North Carolina was apparently also home to quite a collection of young men:
(convicted fraudulent voter) Michael Aaron Lay, Neil Everett Capano, Matthew Allen Hamilton, and
(multiple violations, including "death by vehicle") Jason Jent Deans. Also, McHenry's 04 consultant Ralph Gonzales was one of the men involved in a recent FL murder/suicide, and links to
Robert Drake, the killer (political work in NC and escort service connections), are still being documented. Stay tuned!
[more inside]posted by amberglow at 2:14 PM PST - 67 comments
1897,
Eastland, TX. A cornerstone was being laid in the foundation of the
new county courthouse (to replace the
old county courthouse, not to be confused with the
original county courthouse). People put various items in the hollow space in the marble, time capsule style. Just before they sealed the box court clerk Ernest Wood (E.E. to his friends), acting on a whim, grabbed a
horny toad that his son, Will Wood, had picked up on the way in to town and placed it in the box.
Entombed forever. But...31 years later, 1928. Eastland, having decided it needed a NEW new courthouse, was about to demolish the old one. Someone recalled the time capsule, and the unfortunate horny toad, and 3,000 people showed up to see the poor dead lizard.
"As a county official held up the dusty reptile, his leg twitched, and then his whole body came alive." [more inside]posted by dirtdirt at 9:23 AM PST - 22 comments
Seachd (English title: The Inaccessible Pinnacle)
[main movie site, incl. embedded video. Loads of resources on Gaeldom] is the first Scots Gaelic feature film to receive mainstream distribution. Despite
good reviews,
BAFTA won't be nominating it for a foreign-language Oscar. Not that they thought a different film was better,
it seems they just couldn't be arsed.
posted by Abiezer at 5:42 AM PST - 16 comments
September 27
The Crooked House is a pub in the UK's West Midlands built on coal mining land. Severe subsidence over time caused a 15 degree shift from the left wall to the right. Faced with the choice of repairing the damage or abandoning the structure, the owners took a different tack - buttresses now hold the building in place, and it remains at a permanent slant. Higher
resolution photos here.
Via.
posted by jonson at 11:16 PM PST - 13 comments
Abuse of creative commons. So Virgin has followed in the footsteps of
Viacom by stealing
a photo from a Creative Commons directory, and using it without proper attribution. Unfortunately the victim is suing Creative Commons instead of Virgin, claiming the license was deceptive.
posted by gandledorf at 9:45 PM PST - 76 comments
Billions over Baghdad. "Between April 2003 and June 2004, $12 billion in U.S. currency—much of it belonging to the Iraqi people—
was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Some of the cash went to pay for projects and keep ministries afloat, but, incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed. Following a trail that leads from a safe in one of Saddam's palaces to a house near San Diego, to a P.O. box in the Bahamas,
the authors discover just how little anyone cared about how the money was handled."
posted by homunculus at 3:15 PM PST - 50 comments
Starbucks saved his life , and now Tom Hanks is saving his bank account. A
story of a middle-aged man with a successful career in
advertising, was fired from his high-paying job, was divorced by his wife, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and found himself getting
back to basics working for $10.50/hour at Starbucks, finding himself, and
loving it. How does he manage to deal with such a huge downgrade from his previously life? Well, turns out it doesn't matter too much, as it's soon
to be a movie starring Tom Hanks.
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 2:50 PM PST - 77 comments
Want to teach the youngsters (or parents, or yourself) how to avoid
phishing scams?
Anti-Phishing Phil is an online-game that uses Phil the fish to teach just that.
Apparently it's more successful than a tutorial with the same information.
posted by dr. moot at 2:04 PM PST - 8 comments
September 26
New York Stories with Martin Scorsese, Nick Nolte, ROSANNA Arquette, Richard Price, Steve Buscemi, Larry David, Coppolas, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Soho - 1989.
And this
beautiful aurora video.
posted by vronsky at 5:09 PM PST - 31 comments
Never in History Have Generals Revolted Against a War Like They are About IRAQ. "I (insert name), having been appointed a (insert rank) in the U.S. Army under the conditions indicated in this document, do accept such appointment and do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God."
Unlike the
enlisted folks, officers only swear an allegiance to the Constitution.
posted by augustweed at 1:31 PM PST - 50 comments
Braving Alaska is a fantastic 1992
National Geographic special that may make you want to move to Alaska. Focusing on a handful of U.S. families who have moved from the cities in the lower 48 to handmade homes above the arctic circle and now receive their mail by bush pilot maybe 3 times a year, living hundreds of miles from their nearest neighbor, and exist entirely of their own capability, the documentary is a fascinating view of life WAY off the grid. Presented here in a YT playlist of six segments, there are more great moments (from sawing through the frozen fish to the enumeration of meals made from Moose) than I can list.
posted by jonson at 1:25 PM PST - 22 comments
September 25
Through a Lens Darkly - on September 4, 1957, when 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford tried to enter Little Rock Central High, she was blocked by the National Guard and surrounded by a screaming mob of 250:
"Lynch her! Lynch her!" "No nigger bitch is going to get in our school! Get out of here!" "Go back to where you came from!" Looking for a friendly face, she turned to an old woman, who spat on her.
Photos. Dramatic
news footage. Ernest Green, another of the Little Rock 9
recalls the first day of school.
[more inside]posted by madamjujujive at 10:03 PM PST - 48 comments
Bush and Aznar pre-Iraq Invasion-- Transcript of their private conversations in Crawford, Feb 22, 2003:
"Quedan dos semanas. En dos semanas estaremos militarmente listos. Estaremos en Bagdad a finales de marzo", le dijo a Aznar. ("2 weeks. In 2 weeks we will be ready militarily. We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March", he told Aznar.) Consider this historical documentation.
Full transcript here, and audio clips in first link.
[more inside]posted by amberglow at 7:50 PM PST - 46 comments
"And I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between [Harlem's famous]
Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship....It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun...And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all." 1968? Nope.
Bill O'Reilly in 2007.
[more inside]posted by ericb at 6:20 PM PST - 95 comments
Indiana's Sardina. The New Pornographers of the '90s, the Sardinas released two fantastic albums full of mixtape fodder. Now everything they've got, including some live gems, is up online.
posted by klangklangston at 1:43 PM PST - 21 comments
Manifold is an amusing Flash game with a deceptively simple goal; get your character to the exit. There are obstacles, and there's a tool of sorts to help you surmount those obstacles. The tool is a gravity sphere that can be used to slow your character's descent off a steep drop, or propel you in the air over a chasm, etc.
posted by jonson at 1:01 PM PST - 28 comments
In 2006 scientists sent a container of salmonella to space and kept an identical container on Earth under similar temperature conditions. Bacteria from both strains were fed to mice, and the "space germs", having undergone 167 gene changes, were
3 times more likely to make the mice sick.
posted by reformedjerk at 11:43 AM PST - 48 comments
The Octopus in the Cathedral of Salt is an investigative essay by
Phillip Robertson with pictures by photojournalist
Carlos Villalon on the link between the Chiquita banana company and Colombian paramilitary organization
AUC. Excerpt:
We were drinking Aguilas and the night was winding down and I was half-listening to the conversation. Everyone else had gone downstairs. Carlos turned to me and said, “Is there anything you want to ask him before he goes home?” “I want to know if he heard anything about a shipment of guns that arrived at the Chiquita docks.” Years had passed, but it was worth a shot. “Sure,” Lorenzo said, “I was there. I supervised the unloading of the rifles.” [more inside]posted by Kattullus at 8:02 AM PST - 8 comments
September 24
A Kurdish-controlled Iraq? The goal of human society, ibn Khaldun thought, was the development of culture and the sciences.
For a variety of reasons, namely "geopolitical reality," it'd never work, but a poli-sci friend of mine did call it "philosophically interesting and compelling even."
posted by kliuless at 6:01 PM PST - 30 comments
So, it seems like (
almost) everyone is watching
Heroes. But if you want more, Heroes doesn't have to just a hour of screen time a week. The weekly
'graphic novels' offer
backstory [
PDF] to familiar faces, fill in
plot holes [
PDF] and
introduce* [
PDF*] new characters, they've even continued during the haitus. But Heroes' impressive online presence encompasses more than just comics...
Spoilers for S1 throughout, mild spoilers for S2 (casting, new characters, some plot), I've asterisked the most spoilery.
[more inside]posted by featherboa at 11:01 AM PST - 69 comments
Nicolas Chorier takes stunning photos of a wide range of subjects and themes using
Kite Aerial Photography. Be sure to click on the India link on the editions button as well as Uzbekistan.
Another Frenchman,
Arthur Batut (click "Le cerf-volant) took the first Kite Aerial Photograph in 1888. Here are some
resources should you wish to try this out.
posted by adamvasco at 4:53 AM PST - 7 comments
"Hey look at this shiny trinket, I think I'll pick it up and see what it---OH GOD MY FACE."
A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.
posted by null terminated at 12:29 AM PST - 77 comments
September 23
Co-creator of Spider-Man,
Steve Ditko is famous for
weird,
distinctive art,
his 1966 departure from Marvel Comics, and granting
very few interviews in the course of his
decades-
spanning career, preferring to let
creations such as
The Creeper, the
Objectivism-
inspired Mr. A, and
Squirrel Girl speak for him.
Okay, Squirrel Girl not so much.
Jonathan Ross turns the spotlight on the artist in the
BBC4 documentary,
In Search of Steve Ditko. Did they find him?
Well, that's
The Question, isn't it?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 1:03 PM PST - 26 comments
The Crossing is a new FPS game where single-player and multiplayer modes meld in one. At any point, any Non-Player-Character might not be an NPC at all, but another Player. It is likely that, as in a game of tag, players will just take turns to be "it" like Agents in the Matrix, but... wouldn't it be great if we could all be "it" at the same time?
Quantum Gaming might just be the way to model such a swarm of gamers.
[more inside]posted by kandinski at 7:15 AM PST - 30 comments
In an effort to deflect the inevitable onslaught of NewsFilter/ElectionFilter posts on our beloved Blue, I humbly recommend
Wonkosphere, "designed for all political writers and bloggers, media people in newspaper, TV, and radio, political workers, activists, and political junkies who need to stay on top of the 2008 Presidential race but can't spend all day searching for the hottest and most relevant material."
posted by GrammarMoses at 5:56 AM PST - 26 comments
September 22
Orphan Trains of Kansas. A collection of histories, personal stories, newspaper accounts, pictures and other references.
Beginning in 1854, charitable institutions in New York City began sending orphans on trains to the west to find new families, feeling that the children would fare better out west than on the streets of New York. Orphan trains arrived in Kansas between 1867 and 1930, and some 5000-6000 children were placed in Kansas homes.posted by amyms at 10:00 PM PST - 30 comments
NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day,
Nicholas Edward Cave [
previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot. At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the
Boys Next Door [
Shivers]. This in turn mutated into
the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [
Release the Bats |
Nick the Stripper]. The
Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze. Shortly after
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song -
video &
solo live | The Mercy Seat -
video &
live |
Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a
best selling book, a
great screenplay,
some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong. But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006,
grew a huge moustache and formed
Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [
No Pussy Blues |
Honey Bee]. Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to
Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the
finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet.
[more inside]posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 4:59 PM PST - 98 comments
Featured last night on
20/20, Channing Moss was hit with an rocket propelled grenade while on patrol in Afghanistan. He was impaled through the abdomen by the RPG and an aluminum rod with one tail fin protruded from the left side of his torso. His fellow soldiers worried: Could he blow up and take them with him? For all anyone knew, the answer was yes. Still, over the course of the next couple of hours, his buddies, a helicopter crew and a medical team would risk their own lives to save his. Regardless of your feelings on the war, this is an amazing story of courage. More
here and
here.
posted by bluesky43 at 11:09 AM PST - 27 comments
The Catholic Church is traditionally not seen as a progressive institution, but when it comes to global warming, Vatican City is aiming to become the
worlds first fully carbon-neutral state, and the Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations next April to
deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
posted by stbalbach at 8:53 AM PST - 81 comments
Today's Washington Post: "The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials."
[more inside]posted by ibmcginty at 8:45 AM PST - 81 comments
"An open society must be
prepared to listen to those who offer a critique of its conventional wisdom—and our conventional wisdom about drugs and addiction should be no exception."
posted by daksya at 8:23 AM PST - 50 comments
September 21
How big is your crockus? In cutting edge neuroscience news, a new part of the brain has recently been identifed by the enigmatic
Dr. Crockus. Described as "the detailed section of the brain, a part of the frontal lope," the crockus is apparently four times larger in females than in males, which is why girls see the details of experiences while boys see the whole but not the details.
[more inside]posted by homunculus at 8:40 PM PST - 43 comments
Something to Hüsker :
Bob Mould,
Grant Hart and
Greg Norton live with
Joan Rivers on the Late Show. Also live versions of the Byrds'
Eight Miles High,
The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill/I Apologize,
Pink Turns to Blue,
Every Everything, Makes no Sense at All, Ticket to Ride,
New Day Rising,
These Important Years, Every Everytime, and a video for
Don't Want to Know if You Are Lonely.
posted by psmealey at 8:24 AM PST - 68 comments
Like free music? Like Blogs? Try putting them together:
To start, search
Hype Machine and
Elbo.ws to find music you like. Then start following the links and blog-rolls, and before you know it, you'll have dozens of blogs just begging to give you songs to download. If you like indy dance music like I do, here are some blogs to get you started:
Digital Eargasm,
Missing Toof,
Palms Out Sounds,
These Rocks Pop,
Kiss Atlanta,
Resonator Magazine,
Fluo Kids,
Discobelle,
Disconapposted by empath at 8:16 AM PST - 24 comments
Alex Beim's Zygote is a lightweight inflated ball that responds to pressure: Tap it or squeeze it and the internal LEDs react. The balls can act as input or output devices by being linked to a central computer, as
Daniel van Tijn did
here to make crowd-generated music. (See also:
Dorkbot.)
posted by GrammarMoses at 5:34 AM PST - 14 comments
September 20
4 Brothers Beats.
This is a tribute to all the original music that built hip-hop – the best beats in soul, funk & jazz collected by four brothers. An amazing collection of out-of-print releases from the 70s and 80s.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:59 PM PST - 18 comments
Particle accelerator experiments show that the
neutron has a negatively charged exterior, a positively charged middle, and a negative core.
Abstract from Physical Review Letters.
posted by russilwvong at 8:23 PM PST - 44 comments
The Greatest Interviews of the 20th Century according to The Guardian. The interviews are with Princess Diana, John Lennon, Marlon Brando, Dennis Potter, Francis Bacon, Marilyn Monroe, Sex Pistols, Malcolm X, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Margaret Thatcher and Fidel Castro. You know who else is interviewed? That's right, Nixon.
Oh, and there's a Hitler interview, too. Apparently he likes tea. So do I. Funny ol' world. [via Neil Gaiman]posted by Kattullus at 1:50 PM PST - 32 comments
"Tammy Wynette was quite wrong when she sang 'Sometimes it's hard to be a woman'. It's not. It's always hard to be a woman. Especially if you're a man." Hard-hitting journalism from
The Daily Mail. [more inside]posted by miss lynnster at 9:48 AM PST - 55 comments
Vietnam Then/Now. The enormously talented photographer courtneyutt traveled to Vietnam with her father, who served in 1970-1971. courtneyutt turned his Vietnam photo album into a rephotography project, revisiting
pagodas,
roundabouts,
waterfalls, etc. etc. Ain't never been there, but I can tell you, Vietnam has really changed.
Nothing warlike here -- she says, "my father was mostly interested in buildings! which makes sense, because after he returned from vietnam he became an architect." (See previous rephotography projects on mefi
here and
here. Nothing as personal as courtneyutt's.)
posted by dbrown at 8:52 AM PST - 8 comments
Randy Pausch is a
pioneer in virtual reality, a
computer science professor, a
Disney Imagineer, an
innovative teacher, and the co-founder of
the best video game school in the world. One year ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and after a long and difficult fight
he's been given just a few more months to live. This week he gave
his powerful, funny, and life-affirming last lecture to a packed auditorium at Carnegie Mellon University, entitled "How to Live Your Childhood Dreams".
The WSJ's summary, and
a direct link to the complete video of the lecture (2 hours, and unfortunately streaming WMV). Warning: hilarious jokes about dying.
posted by xthlc at 8:13 AM PST - 30 comments
The National Journal opened its
Political Stock Exchange site this week, creating a free, play-money version of the various political market sites. New users get $10,000 in virtual money to bid on real-life options, including all Senate races, the first round of primaries, potential VP selections, and the margin of Bush's approval rating by the end of the year.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 7:40 AM PST - 17 comments
TED presentation: "Filmmaker
Deborah Scranton talks about and shows clips from her documentary
The War Tapes, which put cameras in the hands of Charlie Company, a unit of the National Guard, for one year in Iraq. The soldiers' raw footage and diary excerpts tell a powerful, unsettling story of modern war.
posted by McLir at 12:56 AM PST - 6 comments
September 19
Recently an opinion writer for
The Age, Catherine Deveny unleashed a firestorm of sorts when she wrote an article entitled '
Why Do Some Wives Still Change Their Names?'. The reaction to her article (from both men and women) was strong; so much so that in a recent follow up article entitled
'I Don't Give A Stuff What You Do. I'm Paid To Write What I Think' , she jokingly wrote that it had had the effect of reducing her readership to three. But when an article penned by a professional comedian employs such pointed rhetoric along the lines of "
Insecure or conservative or stupid women are bowing to the wishes of their husbands", can she truly claim surprise at the level of vitriol her article generated or is this simply a case of an opinion writer trying to get opinions?
posted by Second Account For Making Jokey Comments at 9:01 PM PST - 98 comments
The Flat Earth Society considers the notion of a round earth to be a conspiracy. Flat earthers
turn to the Bible to support their claims. A
map of the flat earth (oddly similar to the
UN logo), where
N is the central open sea, I, the circular wall or barrier of ice, L, the masses of land tending southwards, W, the "waters of the great deep," surrounding the land, S, the southern boundary of ice, and D, the outer gloom and darkness, in which the material world is lost to human perception.
A 3D view of the
Zetetic universe.
You know who else thought the earth was round?posted by desjardins at 7:54 PM PST - 39 comments
"Sleeper": Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Has anything changed?posted by caddis at 6:58 PM PST - 11 comments
Depicting Europe, an essay in The London Review of Books by UCLA history professor Perry Anderson, criticizes the European Union as a neo-liberal economist's wet dream and unthinking lackey of the United States.
[more inside]posted by Kattullus at 1:40 PM PST - 21 comments
You need organs, they need homes. "We are a domestic and international adoption agency where parents are free to adopt a child who is a perfect match (up to 18 yrs) for the transplant of one or more “non-essential” organs to be donated to one of the adopting parents or your own children. Your new son or daughter would give you their heart, if it was possible, but a lung, eye or three feet of intestine might be enough to prove that love."
[more inside]posted by mathowie at 11:16 AM PST - 73 comments
For the town of Hanover, NH, home to Dartmouth College, one could expect academic integrity to be a cornerstone. But a
high school cheating scandal has shaken the town's foundations and
divided the community. On an evening this past June a group of students at
Hanover High School [video] used stolen keys to break into a teacher's filing cabinet, walking away with multiple mathematics exams. Five days later, another group stole chemistry finals.
As many as 60 students may have had a role in the thefts, either helping to plan them or receiving answers from the stolen exams. Police investigated and a local prosecutor has filed criminal charges against nine students. "Parents of the accused are furious and frantically trying to reduce charges to violations that carry no criminal penalties, penalties they say could
harm their children's chances of attending college or securing employment....some residents [are] laying blame squarely on the nine accused students - dubbed "the Notorious Nine" - while others have questioned whether the intense competitiveness of 750-student
Hanover High forced students into positions of having to cheat."
posted by ericb at 11:06 AM PST - 77 comments
A gay Republican news story that you probably didn't read about in the paper: In late August,
Ralph Gonzalez--Republican strategist, former Georgia GOP executive director, and
"political powerhouse"--was
murdered (along with his roommate, David Abrami, another Republican political consultant) by Gonzalez' "friend" and former Marine Jason Robert Drake. Characterized as the result of a "lovers' quarrel," it's a bizarre crime story that should've made at least a ripple in the national news, given some other
recent incidents. But it never did.
[more inside]posted by cowboy_sally at 10:59 AM PST - 30 comments
September 18
Despite
ongoing legal issues,
Robert Sylvester Kelly continues to reign as an icon of commercial rap/r&b. His 'direct' approach to lyrics - that behind the
bizarre metaphors and often
hilariously tasteless statements that have been the key to his longevity - also shines through in some of his
biggest hits. Kelly's
piece de resistance,
Trapped In the Closet, which recently released 10 new 'chapters,' takes his penchant for crude storytelling to new heights. Featuring love-triangles, -pentagons, and -octagons, not to mention a well-endowed 'midget', the soap-like series is being credited with the creation of a new genre of music video. Not one to let the strange allure of his work speak for itself, Kelly describes TITC as "
my alien."
posted by whahappen?! at 11:29 PM PST - 16 comments
The
Cooperative Extension Service, founded in 1914 in the US by the Smith-Lever Act, was established in concert with the
land-grant universities to develop practical applications of agricultural research, and spread them to farmers and others throughout the country. As part of this education program, the extension programs have produced and collected an extraordinary amount of practical advice, easily accessible to the layman...
[more inside]posted by Upton O'Good at 8:20 PM PST - 12 comments
Ian Buruma reviews
World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism, by senior neo-conservative
Norman Podhoretz, in the New York Review of Books.
The key to Podhoretz's politics seems to me to lie right there: the longing for power, for toughness, for the Shtarker [strong man] who doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything, and hatred of the contemptible, cowardly liberals with their pandering ways and their double standards. Since Podhoretz, himself a bookish man, can never be a Shtarker, his government must fill that role, and not give a damn about anyone or anything. [more inside]posted by russilwvong at 5:37 PM PST - 51 comments
Hatred and Profits: Getting Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan (50 page pdf).
Steven Levitt, of freakonomics fame, along with
Roland Fryer, has just released a new academic paper that assesses the rise and fall of the KKK from a variety of perspectives.
From one of the authors ...It details the rise and fall of the Klan in the 1920s. Incredibly, the Klan had millions of members at that time, and most of them were reasonably well-educated. Based on a variety of data sources, we argue that, despite its size and education levels, the group nevertheless had little measurable impact on society or politics...posted by jourman2 at 5:20 PM PST - 12 comments
His father was a minister in the Apostolic Church, but, after a series of arguments about his son's womanizing and heavy cocaine use he ended up
shooting his own son down.
The biggest of
Motown's solo artists.
Marvin Gaye often struggled with his brother-in-law,
Berry Gordy over his desire to pursue different creative choices rather than following the tried and tested commercial formula.
[more inside]posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:00 AM PST - 32 comments
Last Wednesday, residents of the Ulyanovsk province of Russia took the day off work in celebration of their newest holiday,
Sex Day.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:06 AM PST - 42 comments
"Dr. Nalini Ghuman {is} . . . a citizen of the United Kingdom and a professor of music at Mills College in Oakland, California. In August 2006 Dr. Ghuman was detained upon her return to the United States."
And nobody knows why.
[more inside]posted by fourcheesemac at 6:07 AM PST - 123 comments
September 17
Resolve.org is a site devoted to providing support, both emotional and practical, to people struggling with infertility issues. The immediately apparent benefits to visiting would be their informational documents and errata, but of at least equal value are the bulletin boards where you can talk with other people dealing with infertility, whether it's for the sake of venting, chatting or just to have someplace you can go where you don't have to hear the words "well, adoption isn't so bad..."
posted by shmegegge at 11:40 PM PST - 66 comments
"
Pet custody disputes have become an increasingly common fixture in divorce cases." Related: "
Animal lawyers are careful to distinguish themselves from animal rights advocates... These lawyers are concerned primarily with getting the legal system to acknowledge that animals have an intrinsic value beyond mere property."
posted by amyms at 10:15 PM PST - 15 comments
Tasers are the new black. University of Florida student gets
tasered while police try to restrain him for "disrupting a public event" at an open mic when he brazenly began dogging John Kerry about the state of the 2004 election, Bush's potential impeachment, and Kerry's affiliation with the Skull & Bones Society. Video of the incident
here and
here.
Echoes from
this incident a little less than year ago.
posted by Mach3avelli at 5:40 PM PST - 476 comments
As of September 18 at midnight, access to all of the
New York Times website will be free.
In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain.posted by russilwvong at 5:02 PM PST - 81 comments
Land of the free. So long as you don't wear unapproved pants. The racist angle kind of surprised me; I would think people would be outraged on the basic principle alone.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:50 PM PST - 88 comments
Fueled by Rice - Five recent grads from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's Unviersity recently set off from Beijing to
bike across Asia and Europe. The
goal of their bike trip is to spread international good will on the local level and advocate reducing carbon emissions and living slower-paced, more enjoyable lives. Along the way they will bike through rural areas and play
music in villages. As they travel, the group is posting
photos, a
blog, and will attempt to get a podcast up and running. They've even got the site up in
Chinese, though the site
seems to be blocked for most folks in China.
posted by pithy comment at 12:15 PM PST - 11 comments
The Face2face project. JR, an
"undercover photographer", and Marco, a technology consultant, had 41 people - israelis and palestinians - mugging for the camera and plastered the
huge, unavoidable pictures on both sides of the Israeli West Bank barrier, pair by pair : one israeli, one palestinian, both having similar jobs and posing in a similar fashion (+an imam, a rabbi and a christian priest). See also the
trailer (YT, other videos available on the main site).
posted by elgilito at 8:56 AM PST - 15 comments
Socially conscious rap and hip hop may be making a comeback, but it seems to be doing so at the expense of stereotyping and bigotry. Videos like
Read a Book (hilarious) and
Serve Below Zero may be intended to send a “good” message to the black community, but it’s hard to ignore blatant racist undertones (or overtones) in the lyrics and images.
[more inside]posted by FeldBum at 8:05 AM PST - 63 comments
The first
OzBus left
London last night. A latter day
Magic Bus, the new service will cover 15 000 miles in 12 weeks and cross 20 countries before reaching it's destination. Follow one pasenger's journey
here.
posted by brautigan at 3:42 AM PST - 49 comments
An
espalier is a plant trained to grow flat against a wall, fence, or trellis. Developed by the Romans, they were popular in Middle Age Europe as a
source of fruit in castles and monasteries because they could be grown against the keep's stone walls leaving open space unencumbered. Now they are an excellent choice for apartment and condo dwellers with
small yards. For larger yards
espaliers can be used as a
decorative feature, to provide
shade or to increase the
variety of trees under cultivation. University of Florida
PDF detailing the technique.
posted by Mitheral at 1:52 AM PST - 16 comments
September 16
After a spell of listening to my usual morose and rustic alt. country, and classic rock, my daughther cheers me up today with the light-on-the-testosterone phenomemon that is
Mika!. Happy happy joy joy. thumbs up here. Compare with the darker, and more underground low budget contemporary answer to David Bowie,
Bobby Conn. Bound to get comments from pop star lovers.
posted by celerystick at 7:19 PM PST - 37 comments
Google launches a site dedicated to the upcoming Australian Federal Election with Youtube channels from each party, electoral boundaries integrated into Google Maps, a search engine to allow you to view what each candidate has said on a range of issues, from immigration to interest rates, news from your electorate, and graphs of media activity on candidates and issues. Australians have been lacking a comprehensive political resource like the UK's
The Work For You, and Google has brought it one step closer.
Unfortunately, many of the resources are in the form of gadgets you add to your iGoogle homepage, rather than standalone applications.posted by Jimbob at 6:57 PM PST - 29 comments
"California has a decision to make. We either brace ourselves for long-term [water] cuts that threaten our economy and our very way of way of life, or we invest in a solution to fix the
[San Francisco Bay] Delta and expand our
water toolbox so we can meet future challenges head-on.”
[more inside]posted by salvia at 5:19 PM PST - 41 comments
Today marks 30 years since Marc Bolan died. In the five years since
this post, YouTube has come along to offer us videos of a whole slew of
T. Rex songs:
20th Century Boy,
Telegram Sam,
Jeepster,
Hot Love,
Children of the Revolution,
Ride A White Swan,
Solid Gold Easy Action,
Metal Guru, and of course
Bang A Gong (Get It On). Also,
Born To Boogie, Ringo Starr's documentary about T. Rex, has gone from "hard to find" to
available on DVD.posted by kimota at 5:18 PM PST - 16 comments
Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists.
[YouTubeFilter, via] [more inside]posted by carsonb at 10:22 AM PST - 32 comments
Picking Up Women 101, courtesy of the Internet. (
warning: Youtube linkfest) Author
Neil Strauss (The Game)
introduces us to the concept.
Celebrated PUA
Mystery (of VH1's '
The Pick Up Artist' fame) shows us
some of his
moves and
espouses. (Conan O'Brien makes
light of it all.) Self-described 'nerd' Ross Jeffries (who claims to be this inspiration for
this character) sells his line of
Speed Seduction using a hypnosis-based strategy called
NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) to get into girls' panties. You might want to check out a more straight-forward approach, highlighted by UK Channel 4's 'Speed School.' (parts
1 2 3 4 5).
[more inside]posted by Mach3avelli at 1:21 AM PST - 245 comments
European Stamps claims to have pictures of nearly 80% of all postage stamps issued in Europe. But if you're searching for an image of what is perhaps the world's most valuable stamp, often referred to as 'Philately's Greatest Error', you'd best look elsewhere. Like
here, specifically.
posted by Effigy2000 at 1:00 AM PST - 9 comments
September 15
"When youth culture becomes monopolized by big business, what are the youth to do? I think we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture...the first step to do is destroy the record companies."
1991: The Year Punk Brokeposted by TrialByMedia at 11:16 PM PST - 81 comments
Here Is Jazz Old Time Online17,877 Real Audio streams of public domain jazz recordings, 17,147 of which are available as mp3 downloads for $5 for 3 months. Run a search on a favorite and see what they have. Man, all those Don Redman sides--I may just break down and get a Paypal account. Hate Realplayer ? Well, fight the power and use
Real Alternative aka
Media Player Classic instead.
posted by y2karl at 1:14 PM PST - 20 comments
Why do men pee standing up? To summarize, the author thinks there's too much messy splatter when you stand up. He makes this point by starting with an Adam and Eve story, then clarifies that he too used to pee standing up, then discusses possible reasons, then shares a messy personal story, then writes another paragraph, then another, then another ...
posted by jragon at 11:38 AM PST - 107 comments
Rowan Atkinson Multiple link YouTube post Some of Atkinson's greatest hits over the years:
Amazing Jesus,
Welcome to Hell,
Conservative Conference,
Smut,
With Friends Like These,
Fatal Beatings,
a day in the life of the invisible man,
Beekeeping (w/ John Cleese),
Blackadder explains how the first Wold War started,
Blackadder explains the Russian Revolution,
Blackadder on a secret mission and a serious interview
with Michael Parkinson.
[more inside]posted by psmealey at 7:54 AM PST - 66 comments
He said "From what I can see, there are basically two types of people who use the Internet regularly-- the ones who write blogs and participate in sites like Flickr and MySpace, and there are the ones who only lurk and read what others have written. The problems with the ones who 'participate' are too many of them think anything that happens in their lives will interest the world. What they had for dinner at the restaurant, what stores they visited when they went shopping yesterday, who they talked to on the phone. The Internet has in unexpected and important ways democratized the airwaves. But in doing that, it also opened the floodgates of superficial, uninteresting sludge that fills up most peoples' lives." I had written something similar to those sentiments a long time ago on this blog so it was interesting to hear similar conclusions coming from someone else. He also said one of the distressing things he realized via web surfing was how lonely middle class people are and how much need there is in them to download the trivia of their lives on someone. From the website of
Jonathan Carroll.
posted by landis at 1:47 AM PST - 105 comments
September 14
Ghetto Capitalists At once an outsider and a welcome participant in the ghetto economy, he found that he was suddenly part of “a vast, often invisible web” of economic exchange. That web supports the residents of Maquis Park and adds a strange sort of order to their existence, tempering chaos and adding predictability to the lives of Chicago’s poor. For the most part, the people he meets seem eager to trade. It’s just that much of what they’re trading isn’t going to meet with the approval of a law-and-order Republican or a bleeding-heart Great Society Democrat.posted by jason's_planet at 6:36 PM PST - 29 comments
Brad Laidman critiques the findings from the Centre For Public Health at Liverpool John Moore University
report [pdf] 'Elvis to Eminem: quantifying the price of fame through early mortality of European and North American rock and pop stars.'
[more inside]posted by tellurian at 8:32 AM PST - 25 comments
September 13
Step by Step How do you define private property? Apparently the city council of Belmont, CA has their own definition.
posted by brandz at 4:56 PM PST - 169 comments
One should speak only when one may not remain silent; and then speak only of that which one has overcome—everything else is chatter, "literature," lack of breeding. My writings speak only of my overcomings: "I" am in them, together with everything that was hostile to me.
On January 3, 1889,
Friedrich Nietzsche walked into the Piazza Carlo Alberto in Turin and saw a horse, fallen, beaten brutally by its master. Nietzsche embraced it, and thereafter never regained his reason. The story might be
mythical, or
borrowed. If so, it is hardly alone; myths about Nietzsche--
his Nazism,
his syphilis--seem to confirm his dictum that
"truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions." But separating the
man from the
myth is impossible: Nietzsche was
Zarathustra, he was
Heraclitus. Like his ancient antecedents, he spoke in
aphorisms and
hymns, in
fragments; like a bird, he fled
south for the winter.
"Only a fool, only a poet..."posted by nasreddin at 1:27 PM PST - 74 comments
Glacier surfing. Filming in Alaska in 1995, photographer and surfer Ryan Casey looked at the huge waves kicked up by calving glaciers – up to 30 feet high, breaking on an ice shelf 18 inches deep, surrounded by tumbling chunks of ice as big as buildings – and thought,
I bet you could surf that. A month ago, Hawaiian big-wave surfers
Garrett McNamara and Keali’i Mamala
did it.
(YT)posted by gottabefunky at 1:23 PM PST - 32 comments
Marry Our Daughter
"Our 15 year old daughter Mary wasn’t very popular and did nothing but mope around the house bringing everybody down, so we decided to marry her off through your site. Now our house is a lot cheerier and we love our new swimming pool and Jaccuzi! We’ve told our youngest that when she turns 15 we’re going to marry her off too!"
posted by ozomatli at 10:09 AM PST - 75 comments
There's a whole lotta Mefiers interested in the upcoming
Led Zeppelin reunion, and it got me to thinking, let's pay a little visit to the Poet Laureate of the blues,
Mr. Willie Dixon. After all, without him, there wouldn't have been a
Whole Lotta Love, or a
Bring It On Home, or... hell, there might not have been any Zep
at all... His music has been
interpreted and
reinterpreted by an
astonishing number of
musicians. The man wrote a
whole lotta songs. Oh, and, he played a little bit of
bass, too. He was a whole lotta
great.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:19 AM PST - 28 comments
September 12
You can blow out a candle. But you can't blow out a fire.
Steve Biko died 30 years ago today.
posted by Alec at 5:05 PM PST - 40 comments
No PC should be without MS DOS 5 - apparently because it has mouse support, a full-screen editor, and an utterly inexplicable
music video. Guaranteed to save you at least 45K!!!
of RAM, that is.
[more inside]posted by Afroblanco at 1:24 PM PST - 55 comments
The Color of Top Grossing Movies. A movie’s theatrical poster is only a very small part of the larger marketing and hype machine that turns movies into spectacular blockbusters, but as part of a whole, they are fairly representative of the “image” of any given movie. So, as an exercise in color trends, and to see if any significant pattern emerged, I decided to break down the colors of 25 posters — the top 5 of each MPAA category.posted by brain_drain at 11:44 AM PST - 35 comments
The bad news is that you're controlling a lone, unarmed tank against countless enemies, and your fuel is limited. The good news is that you're completely indestructible, and can destroy the bad guys by hurling your own tank into them.
Play Indestructotank!posted by Faint of Butt at 8:51 AM PST - 27 comments
Broken Faces [Flash site] During 2006, photographer Denis Rouvre travelled throughout France to cover a majority of the TOP 14 French (French national championship) rugby matches all the way to the finals. He was given locker room access to take these intimate and striking shots.
via SpoFi. [more inside]posted by psmealey at 8:02 AM PST - 29 comments
I think....that unicorn love is a beautiful thing, and that if you find a spicy sexy unicorn stud muffin and want to let him fill you with his magical glittering seed, that is just fantastic. Probably NSFW.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:18 AM PST - 89 comments
An obituary for Lord Michael Pratt a classic British toff. Despite his expertise on
Central European country houses it seems he will be best remembered as:
"one of the last Wodehouseian figures to inhabit London's clubland and...an unabashed snob and social interloper on a grand scale." Many more hilarious and unkind details about his schooling:
"He was sent to Eton, having already acquired the rotund shape that would stay with him for the rest of his life.", and his boozing:
"He was also a leading light in another Oxford club called the Snuff Committee, the sole purpose of which was to take snuff and drink port. Membership was by invitation only; the only stipulation was that one had to be the son of a landowner." Wags are already describing it as
"the least hagiographic obit ever published".
posted by roofus at 4:30 AM PST - 51 comments
September 11
Homeland Insecurity. "What happened to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which Democratic leaders promised to make one of their top legislative priorities? What are the most deadly potential terrorist targets no one talks about—and who's lobbying against securing them? What's the one measure that could improve our chances of preventing an attack—without costing a penny? Why are the 2008 presidential candidates—Republicans and Democrats alike—nowhere on this issue? In this seven-part series Mother Jones' senior correspondent James Ridgeway examines how the government has let homeland security languish since September 11, 2001, with dire consequences."
posted by homunculus at 6:00 PM PST - 51 comments
Dr Evermor's Art Park featuring the world's largest scrap metal sculpture, the
Forevertron, is one of the most impressive metalwork collections I've ever seen. Great write up on the place over at Neatorama with tons of pix.
posted by jonson at 2:46 PM PST - 15 comments
BeaterReview was formed to help the depreciation-averse enthusiast and automotive bottom-feeder alike find gold in them thar' mountains of rust.
posted by punkfloyd at 11:06 AM PST - 49 comments
In an experiment reported in the journal
Nature Neuroscience, scientists at NYU and UCLA demonstrate that political orientation is related to basic differences in cognition - how the brain processes information. Psychological studies in the past found conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments while liberals are more "open to new experiences." The latest study finds these traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.
[more inside]posted by uaudio at 9:00 AM PST - 57 comments
The
Zephyr, a solar powered plane, has smashed the record for the
longest duration un-manned flight, staying aloft with engines running for 54 hours. This was just a test run at the US military White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, according to the UK developers, "You ain't seen nothing yet". Meanwhile in Switzerland, development continues on the
Solar Impulse, which has a goal of flying around the world, manned(!), by 2010.
posted by stbalbach at 6:53 AM PST - 11 comments
A recent article in Reason magazine discusses a World Bank report that comes to some unexpected conclusions, not the least of which is that "human capital and the value of institutions (as measured by rule of law) constitute the largest share of wealth in virtually all countries." Worldwide, the study finds, "natural capital accounts for
5 percent of total wealth, produced capital for 18 percent, and intangible capital 77 percent." In other words, rich countries are not rich because they have cheap natural resources (or exploited those of other countries), they are rich because of their social institutions.
[more inside]posted by woodblock100 at 4:27 AM PST - 31 comments
The very great Joe Zawinul has passed at 75 Accordionist, proud Austrian, composer of
Mercy, Mercy,
In a Silent Way, and
Birdland, associate of Miles, McLaughlin, Cannonball, Hancock, and Shorter, arguably the father of world music, Zawinul has left the building.
posted by Wolof at 4:22 AM PST - 43 comments
September 10
Meet Lee Mercer. He wants to be the next U.S. president, and he's "solved every crime in America and the world for the last 15 years dating back to before Christ."
posted by rollbiz at 8:32 PM PST - 71 comments
"Self Control" is a song written by Giancarlo Bigazzi, Steve Piccolo, and Raffaele Riefoli in 1983; like many well-written pop songs, good musicians and production can make it better, but bad musicians have to work hard to destroy it. Without comment on which is which, here are five versions:
RAF (1983, performed by one of the song's credited writers);
Laura Branigan (1984);
Soraya Arnelas (2006--this version reached #1 on the Spanish Hot 100); the Danish dance band
Infernal (2006); and
Caramelle featuring Nitro (2007, from a German label).
posted by Prospero at 8:05 PM PST - 23 comments
Darwin's Deadly Legacy illustrates how Charles Darwin caused the Holocaust. This documentary, from
the late Dr. James Kennedy and his Coral Ridge Ministries, features not only rare, Bigfoot-esque glimpses of the notoriously camera-shy
Ann Coulter, but also Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project. Of course,
Dr. Collins hates everything about the documentary and claims that his footage was simply spliced in under false pretenses, and even
Michael Behe distances himself from the entire production, disagreeing as he does with its central tenets. Oh, and the ADL is pissed, but when aren't they? Anyway, not even arch-conservative websites with "We Need Alan Keyes For President" interstitial ads
think the documentary is worth very much.
And it seems that Hitler himself had a grand old time pimping out Christianity and denying that we came from apes. (
More,
more.) So
watch the fucking trailer and
learn yourself some history.
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:38 PM PST - 69 comments
Brigid Berlin makes today's
hollywood train wrecks look lame.
"In the early 70s, I went to Woolworth's and bought a jigger so I could have just one getting-dressed drink. By the time I left the house, I'd had 20. One time, I was in a hairdresser under the dryer getting bored. I went to the bar across the street in my rollers and had a glass of white wine. Then another glass of wine and another. I can't remember anything else until I woke up in a Howard Johnson near La Guardia Airport. And there were pancakes and maple syrup. There was a cute boy in the room watching Kids Are People Too. I think I thought that Andy would put him on the cover of Interview. He didn't."
posted by bustmakeupleave at 11:31 AM PST - 14 comments
The
I AM University honors all religions, Spiritual teachers, Spiritual paths, Spiritual texts, gurus, yogis, Masters, Spiritual centers, schools of thought, mystery schools, channels, healers, prophets, saints, sages, Spiritual leaders, counselors, philosophies and psychologies, all of humanity, all Kingdoms, and all Light, Love and Power Workers around the world! The I AM University seeks to offer an integrated and balanced approach to Self and God Realization. If what has been given inflames within you a spark of inspiration and aspiration to dedicate your life to the evolution of consciousness, both personal and planetary, then it will have served its purpose and bear the fruit it was intended to.
[more inside]posted by ozomatli at 10:56 AM PST - 19 comments
Some more great french guitar players.
Nelson Veras first came to France to meet Pat Metheny (he was 14 then, it has been documented on video by Frank Cassenti) but upon meeting
some other jazzmen , he decided to stay in France and to experiment in
various settings.
Robert Crumb isn't exactly a "great french guitar player", but his decision to move to France (his or his wife's decision) and later his responsability in the creation of
Les Primitifs du Futur has played a part in the rebirth of ancient french styles ("musette") and the renewed interest in old jazz and blues forms.
[more inside]posted by nicolin at 2:35 AM PST - 9 comments
An Unholy Act. This is the story of when two Jews disagree. Nothing new there. But a violent confrontation at UCLA brings to light the emerging divide among American Jews in regards to the most contentious issue of modern Jewish identity: Israel.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 1:18 AM PST - 60 comments
September 9
Here are some ways to shrink your unnatural water- and gas-guzzling lawn and plant something that is beautiful and requires
no water usage, no mowing, and is more likely to attract more interesting wildlife. With
this much lawn in the U.S., and
incessant water shortages, and
other water issues and
wars in our present and looming in the future, why not go native? Naturally, there are
objections, since local ordinances often don't allow for natural prairie lawns, and the neighborhood stick-up-butt committees are
quick to remove things they consider eyesores. What is your lawn worth to you?
posted by taursir at 10:59 PM PST - 64 comments
[Her] prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or "the Family"), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to "spiritual war" on behalf of Christ,... The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan.
Whose prayer group?
Hillary Clinton's.posted by orthogonality at 9:07 PM PST - 122 comments
Writer's Links. Write better, or at the very least, more authentically, with this list of hundreds of resources for writers of all shades. For example, writing a jazz age screenplay? This guide to
1920's slang will be handy. Need help getting your procedural legal drama accurate? Try the
Jurisdictionary. Enjoy tormenting your readers? This list of
Tom Swifties will do the trick nicely.
[more inside]posted by jonson at 8:47 PM PST - 14 comments
Struck out on those Streisand tickets? Sick of getting stuck with the once-a-year folding chairs at the back of the shul?
Here's the
auction you've been waiting for! 2 front row seats at
Temple Emanu-El of South Beach, not only for this
high holidays, but for you to pass on, in perpetuity, from generation to generation. Bidding starts at a paltry 1.8 million dollars.
posted by ericbop at 7:21 PM PST - 24 comments
Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi was born on 1926 in Hamburg and grew up in Nazi-Germany. He dreamed of joining the Hitler youth but besides best efforts was always rejected. But you can see him here wearing a
swastika.
[more inside]posted by yoyo_nyc at 5:27 PM PST - 26 comments
The Final Cut. "I never thought the end would come like this -- with me holding the end of my life's passion in one hand and a foot-long Italian sub on wheat in the other." The side of the NFL you rarely see: former Redskins lineman Ross Tucker tells his story.
posted by bijou at 3:56 PM PST - 84 comments
Ruttmann vs. MilantAlexis Milant has composed scores for three experimental animations realised by Walter Ruttmann.
The pleasure in watching and [listening to] this come from the reactivity in the same temporality between sound and picture. [more inside]posted by carsonb at 10:11 AM PST - 8 comments
A heroic sculpture of explorer Christopher Newport recently unveiled at the university of the same name is
drawing criticism because of the decision of the university and the sculptor to depict Newport with his right hand manfully resting on his unsheathed sword--even though he lost that arm two decades before the founding of Virginia. Sculptor Jon Hair ("AMERICA'S MOST HIGHLY COMMISSIONED MONUMENTAL SCULPTOR"
according his website) isn't winning any friends with his explanation of the blunder. "I wouldn't show an important historical figure like this with his arm cut off . . . We don't show our heroes maimed."
[more inside]posted by LarryC at 9:55 AM PST - 61 comments
September 8
Salvador Dali and
Walt Disney collaborated in 1946 on the short animation Destino. Disney had concerns about some of the graphics and it was never released. Lost for 56 years, it was restored in 2003 and has not yet been released for wholesale distribution. Tommorrow is your last chance to see
it at the
Dali and Film exhibit at the Tate Gallery.
Previously.posted by Xurando at 1:43 PM PST - 26 comments
Don't you know that I'm toxic? Toxic has you controlling a clean-suit wearing bomberman across destructible platform mazes in search of glowing green canisters, powerups and enemies to bomb the living bejesus out of. The chiptune soundtrack is pretty nice, too.
posted by boo_radley at 12:40 PM PST - 30 comments
