April 30, 2014
Anthem of Dystopian America
Following in the footsteps of other songs switching up minor keys and major keys, Chase Holfelder's Star-Spangled Banner in minor key is particularly haunting.
The madness of the suburbs: who knows it but you?
Rob Ford is entering rehab
Following a new (audio) tape of Rob Ford drunk and swearing at a bar and a new (video) tape of his smoking crack in his sister's basement both earlier this week, the Toronto Mayor has announced that he will be taking a leave from his campaign to attend rehab. [more inside]
I wanted to incorporate the city and its inhabitants into my filmmaking.
No Your City
In a city of over 8 million people, it is impossible to walk the streets without running into interesting New Yorkers with unique relationships to the city. Whether it is Don Ward, the best shoe-shiner in Manhattan or Te'Devan the 6'7" Nomadic-Jewish-Healing-Freestyler. Everyone has a story that is worth hearing, but unfortunately most of them go unheard. New York City is the busiest place on earth and it is rare for someone to take a few minutes out of their schedule to stop and chat with a fellow New Yorker.
No Your City is an 8-part documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of these extraordinary New York City inhabitants. [more inside]
Math or Maths?
Math or Maths? A few minutes with Dr Lynne Murphy (an American linguist in England) should clear this right up. Via Numberphile.
Murphy, Murphy, burning bright
Font samples
Font samples from an 1892 specimen book (i.e. a type catalog for printers). They're a lot more interesting than "The quick brown fox..."
The Great Works of Software
There is nothing.
"Drowning in Problems" is a new incremental/clicking game by Notch, the creator of Minecraft. [more inside]
Chase declares war on porn
Various outlets are reporting that, over the past month, Chase Bank has sent out letters to American porn actors that their Chase accounts will be closed as of May 11.
One actress describes discovering her account had been closed without notice.
Chase Bank has remained quiet about their actions (other than to tell the customers that their accounts were considered "high risk"), leaving many to wonder why this has happened, seemingly out-of-the-blue. There are indications that the DOJ may be involved.
The Eternal Ingénue
SF/F legend Connie Willis pours a preview of a near-future version of the story of backstage back-stabbing, " All About Eve" with "All About Emily" for Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
Terminally ill man throws himself a wake at NOLA jazz fest
Given word that he has a few months left to live, a man with lung cancer decides to throw a wake at the New Orleans jazz fest. Everyone at the party wore nametags with brief descriptions of their backgrounds. The honoree of the night, Louis Misko, wore one that was, like the man himself, abrupt and unflinching:
"The Louis," said the message written in red marker. "Soon to be deceased."
Gaunt, but smiling, Misko circulated through the crowd, relishing conversation with his guests at Pascal's Manale restaurant, most of whom he expected never to see again. He was holding his own memorial, in advance of his death from lung cancer.
A Eulogy for Twitter
The Atlantic: "Something is wrong on Twitter. And people are noticing. Or, at least, the kind of people we hang around with on Twitter are noticing. And it's maybe not a very important demographic, this very weird and specific kind of user: audience-obsessed, curious, newsy. Twitter's earnings last quarter, after all, were an improvement on the period before, and it added 14 million new users for a total of 255 million. The thing is: Its users are less active than they once were. Twitter says these changes reflect a more streamlined experience, but we have a different theory: Twitter is entering its twilight." [more inside]
When power evaporates and you’re just a 61-year-old without a job
"You resigned, though your office is the office that actually started this investigation. This would not have come to light unless your office would’ve started it. But as the leader at the top, you resigned. And people that were directly there making the decisions, signing onto the warrants, going through these fraudulent contracts, they’re still there."Two years after Martha Johnson resigned from her position as the head of the General Services Administration following an investigation of wasteful spending under her leadership, what is her life like now? Lillian Cunningham writes for the Washington Post's On Leadership blog about life after a scandal.
Piecewise linear functions are magic
Like a ticking whale bomb
The world is headed for a post-antibiotic era
WHO’s first global report on antibiotic resistance reveals serious, worldwide threat to public health. "The world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill." - Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security. [more inside]
maybe this could've gone in my last post
Ever thought about making ramen in your hotel's coffee maker? Well, this lady cooks everything in her coffee maker (also available in svenska). [more inside]
I think you're incredibly brave to be a cisgendered woman in this world.
Janet Mock turns the script around and asks a cisgender woman the private / invasive questions trans people are asked regularly. [more inside]
How to not let the internet know you're pregnant
"And finally, I'm actually here today to win the 'Most Creative Use of Tor' award," she said, followed by roars of laughter in the audience. "I really couldn't have done it without Tor, because Tor was really the only way to manage totally untraceable browsing. I know it's gotten a bad reputation for Bitcoin trading and buying drugs online, but I used it for BabyCenter.com."-- How Janet Vertesi tried and hid her pregnancy from the internet and big data. (Direct link to her presentation.)
goodbye bob
Bob Hoskins, legendary British actor, has died aged 71. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (clip), Hook (clip), Mona Lisa and The Long Good Friday, where he delivered one of the best movie endings ever. [more inside]
It was a night like any other night...
A bump on the head, a mysterious femme fatale and a strange encounter on a windswept peak all add up to a heck of a night for Manny Brot, Private Eye. Watch as he tries his hand at saving the dame and getting the cash! Shudder at the mind-bending geometric riddles! Thrill to the stunning solution of The Case of the Missing Fractals. (SLYT via via)
s/camel/_/
Right now someone who works for Facebook is getting tens of thousands of error messages and frantically trying to find the problem before the whole charade collapses. There's a team at a Google office that hasn't slept in three days. Somewhere there's a database programmer surrounded by empty Mountain Dew bottles whose husband thinks she's dead. And if these people stop, the world burns. Most people don't even know what sysadmins do, but trust me, if they all took a lunch break at the same time they wouldn't make it to the deli before you ran out of bullets protecting your canned goods from roving bands of mutants.
Flaws Only A Protagonist Could Have
“I just want to be normal,” she said, even though she had amazing powers and a super-family and was mega-gorgeous and better than normal in every way and the entire book would be terrible if she were normal and she had no conception of what normal was to begin with.
Open your mind or YCKMA!
“Beyond Appearances – The diversity song” is a series of portraits of supposed outcasts, and aligns wrong first impressions – because you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Open your mind or… you can kiss my ass! (NSFW, SLYT] [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »