February 1, 2013
I don’t believe just doing this means I can be forgiven for what I did.
A couple days ago, Minami Minegishi, a 20 year-old member of the wholesome, innocent idol group AKB48 posted a video of herself, head shaved, tearfully begging not to be fired from the group. What horrible crime did she commit? What awful, unpardonable sin caused her demotion and public humilation? Dating. [more inside]
The Book Covers of Yesterday's Worlds of Tomorrow, Today!
Football has been in open beta for 144 years
Tim Rogers reviews American Football for Kotaku.
"Mr. Koch is survived by New York itself."
"He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the City of New York, and he fiercely loved its people. Above all, he loved his country, the United States of America, in whose armed forces he served in World War II." - a self-written epitaph by the former 105"Hizzoner" passed away on Friday morning at the age of 88, and the New York Times City Room blog spent the day collecting and posting stories about him. [more inside]th Mayor of New York City: Edward Irving Koch.
Quest For Fire
"Quest For Fire" - Not so long ago, in a valley not so far away. w/ Ron Perlman (German version; no subtitles)
H.P. Lovecraft's fantasy novel, as a comic and animated movie
H.P. Lovecraft, inspired by Lord Dunsany (Wikipedia; Project Gutenberg; UPenn online library) and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom (annotated stories online), created the Dreamlands, in which he set the 20+ stories of the Dream Cycle. The longest story was The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Wikipedia), completed in 1927, but unpublished in his lifetime. Comic artist, Jason Thompson, started illustrating the story in high school, then re-drew the story after college, and that comic was semi-animated as a feature-length film. He wrote up his influences for a hidden commentary on the DVD, and expanded it online as The Annotated Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. More Lovecraft sketches and comics online in Thompson's Mockman archive. [Previously: Lovecraft comic adaptations]
Now with more hedgehog!
Fact: Every bowl is super when there's ice cream in it.Not a football fan? Looking for alternatives to the Super Bowl? You're in luck, with Puppy Bowl! [more inside]
Once a guy stood all day shaking bugs from his hair.
Hey Web Surfers! Is your family bugged by roaches? You're not alone. Although people may think roaches like dirty places, even the cleanest homes can have them. Roaches Are Everywhere!
Going Clear Blocked By UK Libel Laws
Ruby off the Rails
What The Rails Security Issue Means For Your Startup summarizes the impact of recent arbitrary-code-execution security vulnerabilities in Ruby on Rails: "What Do We Do When Apocalyptically Bad Things Happen On Our Framework of Choice?"
"The announcement was an honest look at the World As It Should Be."
On January 28th, students and faculty at Haverford College received an email titled "Official Apology to the Undocumented American Community", allegedly written by interim president Joanne Creighton, which promised to "extend the same fair, need-blind admissions consideration to undocumented applicants as is currently granted to documented applicants". The email was a hoax, written by a member of Students for Undocumented
Dreams & Decision Equity Now! (aka SUDDEN) to protest the administration's perceived inaction following a student resolution last February which declared "institutional support for undocumented students and applicants." That same month, a fellow SUDDEN member (and a student at Haverford's sister school Bryn Mawr) was arrested for declaring her status as an undocumented American in front of Philadelphia's Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters. The author of the hoax email, himself a Haverford sophomore, defended his actions in an open letter to the community.
" . . . voted to let rural residents drive a bit drunker"
In rural Ireland, pub business is down due to stricter drunk driving laws. In order to increase business, some counties are considering loosening the laws - in one county, "councilors voted to let rural residents drive a bit drunker."
I ate a dog in Vietnam
Vice details dining on dog in Hanoi. (Trigger warning; pics of roast dog, graphic text). Dog eating is not limited to South East Asia, there's a historical precedent almost everywhere in the world, and is still eaten in parts of Europe. [more inside]
EU migrants robbing pensioners while Britain's flooded give you cancer
The curious lifecycle of Daily Express headlines: health scares, weather scares, EU villainy, migrant scares, pension scares.
It wasn't an aesthetic statement, really.
"American Pastoral" inadvertently reveals Brooks and Halard to be deeply insecure, crass noveau riche, lowballing their renovations by hiring desperate, dirt-cheap Chinese laborers, and whining about maids who can't get to work on time, just because Hurricane Sandy knocked out train service. Where's the Vogue-style profiles of those poor souls? [more inside]
Artificial Rainbows
Michael Jones McKean has figured out how to make rainbows from harvested and reclaimed rainwater. This is the official project website, with images showing it in action, and also the production of the method. [more inside]
Significant hacking activity targeting journalists at large newspapers
The New York Times has detailed a successful 4-month hacking campaign by China, infiltrating its computer systems and acquiring passwords for reporters/employees. The campaign was likely in retaliation for the NYT investigation of the wealth amassed by relatives of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Following the NYT announcement, the Wall Street Journal announced that it too was hacked last year. The Washington Post may also have been infiltrated. Slate asks if this could have a chilling effect on journalists writing about China. [more inside]
What a thought looks like
Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Genetics have succeeded in imaging neuronal activity in a fish's brain. They showed a genetically modified (to enable easier imaging) fish some food and "correlate[d] neuronal activity in the brain with prey capture behavior." The video is short but cool. (A link to the study abstract in Current Biology)
Radiance was her job.
"A "mystery shopper" visits every Pret outlet once a week. If the employee who rings up the sale is appropriately ebullient, then everyone in the shop gets a bonus. If not, nobody does."
The doubtful ethics of the new emotional labor.
Who is Really America's Favorite Football Team?
Transparent Tape Nightmare Fuel
Ever made yourself look monstrous by using transparent adhesive tape on your face? Photographer Wes Naman has taken this to a wonderfully creepy extreme in his Scotch Tape Series. [via]
Yeah, the cat's not going to want to do that.
Luthorcorp- It's a name you can trust!
Calm down, Elmyra.
"there seems to be something going on that isn't kosher"
Earlier this week, Shane Windmeyer of Campus Pride made news with an article about his friendship with Dan Cathy, President of Chick-fil-A: "Dan and Me: My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A". [more inside]
Max Sebald's Writing Tips
"As far as I’m aware, nobody that term recorded Max’s words systematically. However, in the wake of his death, David and I found ourselves returning to our notes, where we’d written down many of Max’s remarks. These we gleaned and shared with our classmates. Still, I wish we’d been more diligent, more complete. The comments recorded here represent only a small portion of Max’s contribution to the class."
The slow motion trainwreck continues
Anniversary of 2nd shuttle disaster
10 years ago today, the flagship of the Space Shuttle fleet, Columbia, broke apart upon its return to earth. [more inside]
Sea. Common Night. Forest. City. Mountain. Private Light. Desert.
"From symbols and notions to literary and religious allusions, this chart contains [W.H.] Auden's view of the world (and of worlds beyond), at least as he envisioned it in the 1940s." [more inside]
Paid in Vibes
Last week a debate erupted in the US comedy community between stand-up comedians (like Kurt Metzger and Mike Lawrence) and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater about the fact that at none of their three theaters pay any of their performers (including UCBEast in New York, which often has Saturday Night Stand-up shows). Other comics such as Chris Gethard eloquently came to their defense. This week two of the founders Matt Besser and Matt Walsh released an episode of Besser's pocast Improv for Humans that goes into details about the club's philosophy, including why they have never taken any money from founding and running the theater. [more inside]
NIAGRA OF CURLS
Has a new and effective treatment for hair loss been found in Japan?
Agent for the treatment of alopecia: US PATENT 20120238498 A1 [more inside]
I HATE SPEECH
Jacket2 has digitzed all 10 editions of Roof magazine, an important publication in the development of language poetry.
Featured poets include (pulled from a quick glance): Robert Duncan, Michael McClure, John Ashbery, Michael Castro, Robert Creeley, Alan Ginsberg, Diane Wakoski, Peter Inman, Octavio Paz.
Try repeating it out loud: VIL-lage VAN-guard, VIL-lage VAN-guard.
Village Vanguard. For 70 years, that alliterative name has swung in 4/4 time, marking the center of the known jazz universe to an international circle of musicians and music fans. Since late 2008, NPR Music has been streaming monthly jazz concerts in their Live at the Village Vanguard series. [more inside]
YOU COMPLETE ME
There are days when you wake up and think that there is no wonder left in this world, no mountains left to conquer, no oceans left to explore, no frontiers left to discover. That, of course, is exactly the day you find yourself in an apartment in Logan Square surrounded by 2,700 VHS copies of "Jerry Maguire."
Walking To Mordor And Back Again
For the release of the Hobbit, Lindsay Ellis of the Nostalgia Chick (previously) has decided to look back at all the LOTR films in order to analyze how they changed genre film-making, expected movie length, extended cuts, the problems of adaptation, and why Eowyn and Merry are made for each other. (Fellowship Of The Ring, Two Towers, Return Of The King Part 1, Part 2) Still need more? Then why not watch Kerry Shawcross and Chris Demarais of Rooster Teeth (previously) try to walk the 120+ mile journey across New Zealand from the filming location of Hobbiton in Matamata to the filming location of Mount Doom, Mount Ngauruhoe in A Simple Walk Into Mordor.
And now someone is using my name
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver gave an interview this week stating, among other remarks, that "we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do." Although he has since apologized for the remarks, the backlash continued yesterday 49ers' linebacker Ahmad Brooks and nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, both of whom participated in the team's widely-praised "It Gets Better" video last summer, have denied ever producing the clip. [more inside]
The Science Of The Cascadia Fault Earthquakes
Those who may have seen articles such as this Discover Magazine article, may want to know more about the Cascadia fault and the possibility of a Fukushima type earthquake [previously: here].
Here is the best summary of the science that led to the discovery of the 1700 earthquake and the history of earlier quakes. Of particular interest is a beautiful piece of data display in Figure 9 that shows the spacing in time and extent of earthquakes over the last 10,000 years based on evidence of tsunamis produced by the quakes.
Finally, here is a great pieces on Surviving a Tsunami should the need arise.
Arms are heavy, mom's spagetti
You can see my house from here.
One volcano, two volcano, three volcano, four!
Four separate but nearby volcanoes are erupting simultaneously on the Russian peninsula. A Moscow film crew has produced an awe-inspiring 360-degree video of the natural fireworks.
The REAL Hipster bands are the ones the poster misspells, amirite?
Coachella Hipster Cred Calculator "Pick out the bands you like and add them up to figure out your hipster cred". (Points determined purely by how far down the daily billing list they are and how large/small type the band name is (with one exception: somebody must really hate the Red Hot Chili Peppers - not that there's anything wrong with that)
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