January 9, 2012
Matthew Yglesias on how the Federal Reserve works
Fed Up. Matthew Yglesias explains how the Federal Reserve System works, and why progressives should care. A more recent column: What is "Austrian economics"? (And why is Ron Paul obsessed with it?) And the Economist has a roundup of heterodox economic theories: Austrian economics, neo-chartalism/MMT (previously), and market monetarism.
The Hobbit 1966
Sometimes when you are fishing, weird things happen
53 year old Donna Chen was out walking her dog when she was struck and killed by 22 year old Blake Talman. Her dog, a vizsla, ran off despite his injuries. He was rescued by a fisherman quite some distance away - and more than half a mile at sea.
Nigerian General Strike
Some context for today's general strike, the Occupy Nigeria movement, and growing frustration over government corruption in Nigeria.
Read all about it
Hubii is a map based newspaper browser. Filter by category, language, time or region or use the heatmap. [blog]
Doug Wimbish! Doug Wimbish!
The Secret Life of Books
"After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago, my wife and I decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto. Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books."
Outside Magazine on Livestrong - Valid criticism or concern trolling?
Fish protection finally
"Probably the most important conservation statute ever enacted into America’s fisheries law".. as of 2012, all 528 federally managed fish species now have imposed catch limits. The US is arguably the first country in the world to do it. This means every species has a hard limit of how many fish can be taken - not just how many per-boat or angler - an absolute cap on the total number (actually by weight). The law was enacted in 2006 under a policy forged under President George W. Bush and finalized with President Obama's backing.(previously)
American sentenced to death in Iran for espionage
Iran announced today that it had sentenced Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, 28, to death on charges of spying for the CIA. Hekmati, an American of Iranian descent who formerly worked as a translator for the U.S. military, claims that his trip to Iran was to visit his grandmother. Hekmati is the first U.S. citizen to be sentenced to death by Iran since the 1979 Revolution and has been imprisoned since August. [more inside]
The Longest Game of Hide and Seek Ever
Notes From Guantánamo
My Guantánamo Nightmare. Lakhdar Boumediene was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for seven years without explanation or charge until his case made it to the Supreme Court, leading to a decision which bears his name and his release ordered by a federal judge. The NYTimes has his and another account from another former detainee: Notes From a Guantánamo Survivor. [Via]
*=*=* TOTALLY PLANNED *=*=*
Battlestar Galactica RPG contains spoilers for Battlestar Galactica (the good one).
Game of Thrones RPG contains spoilers for Game of Thrones (season one).
Man vs Wild RPG contains spoiled meats.
Jersey Shore RPG spoils our cultural legacy.
Previously, RPG Heroes are Jerks.
Game of Thrones RPG contains spoilers for Game of Thrones (season one).
Man vs Wild RPG contains spoiled meats.
Jersey Shore RPG spoils our cultural legacy.
Previously, RPG Heroes are Jerks.
This is forever.
Montana Supreme Court takes on the US Supreme Court
Last week Montana's Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to essentialy ignore Citizens United. Even Justice James C. Nelson one of the 2 dissenters had this to say about the Citizens United decision:
"Corporations are not persons. Human beings are persons, and it is an affront to the inviolable dignity of our species that courts have created a legal fiction which forces people — human beings — to share fundamental, natural rights with soulless creatures of government,"Of course the prediction is an overturn of the Montana ruling, but some hope that now given the real world examples of the modern SuperPac Justice Kennedy will at least revisit some of his earlier justification. (the ruling in question: Western Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Attorney Generalpdf)
Dave, it's your Father
All of the "voicemails" on this site are reenactments and reinterpretations of [my father's] calls including actual subjects and topics broached in his recorded messages and wholly fictional scenarios that would fall squarely in his wheelhouse. Enjoy.
Topics include being on the lookout for a package, trying to find hidden goods, and spousal abuse.
Topics include being on the lookout for a package, trying to find hidden goods, and spousal abuse.
wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle yeah
A dramatic reading of "Sexy And I Know It" by Ira David Wood. (Slightly NSFW original video by LMFAO.)
Fus Rooooooooooh YEAAAAAAH!
Although the Creation Kit mod development platform for Skyrim (previously) is still a few days from being released, intrepid modders have been working with edited game files to achieve mixed results. One of those results is the "Macho Dragon Mod" (download link). [more inside]
Julius Neubronner: apothecary, inventor, and a pioneer of amateur film and (pigeon) photography
Julius Neubronner, born in Germany in 1852, was the son of Wilhelm Neubronner. Wilhelm carried on the family-run pharmacy and had introduced rapid medicine delivery by way of carrier pigeon (Google books). Julius continued the family practice, including pigeon-delivery. As a young boy, Julius was interested in the then-newly invented cameras, and his hobby and his career merged when a once-punctual pigeon took was waylaid a month. Interested to find the source of the delay, Julius placed a miniature camera on the pigeon to see where it went. The effort was successful, and he improved upon the design, patenting a panoramic pigeon-carried camera that resulted in novel photos. Julius is also distinguished as an early German experimenter in amateur silent film. His recordings, including daily life, historic events, and film magic, were restored in 1996 (Google Quickview; original PDF).
"I want to report a rape"
Few audience members, except film buffs, realized that the recent silent film THE ARTIST used Bernard Hermann's score from Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO as the soundtrack for its climactic scenes. But Kim Novak, Jimmy Stewart's co-star in the older film, sure did. Oh, boy, did she ever.
Atomic Toys
The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (Geiger counter sold separately) was one of many rad atomic toys available for inquisitive young minds living in the US.
No future
Punk's Not Dead. The revival of punk in couture fashion and elsewhere
Everything Is Ruined 5.0
"When I was a child, I went hiking and found a lake."
"These were the freaks of nature, the Barnum and Bailey of nature."
"Birds with teeth, snakes with fingers, and humans with apelike hair - these are ancestral traits that pop up regularly in nature," Abouheif explained. "But for the longest time in evolutionary theory, these ancestral traits were thought to go nowhere - slips in the developmental system that reveal things from the past."
In other words: make way for the SUPER-SOLDIER ANTS. [more inside]
Seriously? Shit.
Who's your favourite? (SL-interrogation-of-cute-babies-YT.)
The Good, the Bad, and the Billy Joe Tolliver
Carles of Hipster Runoff discusses the relationship between mediocre quarterbacks and office jobs:
The most intense forms of competition, stress, conflict, and insecurity that most of us will ever feel take place at work. We embrace mediocrity as a safety net to alleviate our minds from these uncomfortable thoughts, and hide from the idea of heightened accountability and expectations. Instead, we choose to live vicariously through other people we don't know who are actually 'special.' Athletes, technological entrepreneurs, and other people who are recognized for being legitimately 'gifted and talented' serve as our daily inspirations and escapes. While society tends to praise greatness and unique achievement, the public ceremony of 'exposing' mediocrity provides us with the opportunity for humor and hyperbole that inspires a dark breed of empathy and fan interest.
Priorities, priorities
The Photographs of Your Junk (will be publicized!) (SLYT) Masterful modern social commentary.
She sounded like Saturday night on a Sunday morning.
"She sounded like Saturday night on a Sunday morning. Patsy on Jesus. Elvis without the pelvis." is how the liner notes for The Glory Road, the Numero Group's 2005 reissue of Fern Jones' classic album Singing a Happy Song start. When her album was recorded, the session musicians had just played Elvis's 1958 sessions. Later, Jimmie Davis and Johnny Cash both covered one of Fern's songs (I Was There When It Happened(YT)). Much of the information on the web, including this brief piece from The Oxford American about Fern, these images from her revival days, and other history comes from the website maintained by her daughter. Fern's daughter is interviewed about her mother here (mp3), with musical clips included. NPR reviewed the reissue in 2005 when it came out. [more inside]
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