July 12, 2010
"If not now, when? If not us, who?"
Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now. And what we should do about it. (one-page link)
Typhoonized
Typhoonized's You Tube channel has a collection of songs that have been slightly pitch-shifted, and sped up, which gives them a surprising quality all their own. Take Jon and Vangelis - He Is Sailing (original here), or try RYUIKI SAKAMOTO - OKINAWA SONG (Chin Nuku Juushi) and Astrud Gilberto - Agua De Beber. (with sci-fi/fantasy themed illustrations of unknown provenance)
What We Lose In the Fire We Gain in The Flood
The Mynabirds :Laura Burhenn who, like lots of good things these days, comes out of the state of Oregon. Burhenn dishes out powerful white gospel tinged soul with shades of blues and country amid strident pianos, churchy organs, chugging guitars, and crisp percussion horns n’ harmonies. [more inside]
How to open a bottle of wine with a shoe.
Keep Calm and Jiggle On
The day you have been waiting for all year has arrived: the 2010 winners of the Gowanus Studio Space Jell-O Mold Competition have been announced!
Fighting to Return My Obligation to the American Taxpayer
Dirty Medicine — How medical supply behemoths stick it to the little guy, making America’s health care system more dangerous and expensive. [more inside]
The Desert War in Yemen
Is Yemen the New Afghanistan? Al Qaeda may have found the perfect combination of tribal hospitality, chaos and military opportunity. [Photo slideshow.]
Salesmen, Not Scientists
Merchants of Doubt is a new book that reports how a small group of scientists committed to an extreme free-market ideology have been employed by large corporations over several decades to cast doubt on such different environmental issues as the risks of tobacco smoke, the dangers of DDT, the effectiveness of the Strategic Defence Initiative, the regulation of CFCs, and the causes of global warming. A review in the Christian Science Monitor calls this "one of the most important books of the year. Exhaustively researched and documented..."
Gravity is Optional
Physicist Erik Verlinde proposed in a recent paper that the force of gravity can be derived from the principles of thermodynamics. NY Times explains. [Physicist Lee] Smolin called it, “very interesting and also very incomplete.”
Nothing
TREEOSAUR.com
"Like many paleontologists, I believe that T. rex was a hunter: a forest hunter. More specifically, I believe that T. rex used the very same hunting strategy that millions of forest hunters practice today: stand hunting from a tree."
Happy 115th, Mr Fuller!
When he was 32, his life seemed hopeless. He was bankrupt and without a job. He was grief stricken over the death of his first child and he had a wife and a newborn to support. Drinking heavily, he contemplated suicide. Instead, he decided decided that his life was not his to throw away: it belonged to the universe. Buckminster Fuller embarked on "an experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity." If the architect, author, designer, inventor, and futurist Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller were still alive, he would be 115 years old today. Though he died in 1983, his legacy grows on through recordings of his ideas and the Buckminster Fuller Institute. [more inside]
Papyrus, the New Comic Sans
Papyrus Watch exposes the most egregious uses of the played-out Papyrus font by graphic designers, businesses, and blockbuster Hollywood directors, among others. Does its widespread misuse mean that Papyrus is the new Comic Sans?
Crowning Moment of Awesome; Dethroning Moment of Suck
On the coffee table, he's laid out the iconic name tags he and Linda were given, as well as their green seat assignments for the first of two tapings on September 22, 2008, in the Bob Barker Studio at CBS's Television City: 004 and 005 — right down in front, immediately to the left of the four podiums on Contestant's Row. He has the giant white cue card that a stagehand held up — TERRY KNIESS — because most contestants can't hear announcer Rich Fields telling them to come on down above the sound of the crowd. (Terry couldn't.) He also has the operating instructions for the Big Green Egg, "The World's Best Smoker and Grill," which Terry won with a perfect bid of $1,175 from Contestant's Row. It's by the pool out back, and Terry agrees that it's awesome. He has Linda's passport out, just in case, and their marriage certificate, dated April 7, 1972. "I know I would ask to see it," he says.A great Esquire article about the only perfect Showcase bid in the history of The Price is Right. [more inside]
Worlds first regular bulk water shipment by tanker
A Texas company S2C Global Systems has announced that it is moving forward with a plan to ship 2.9 billion to 9 billion gallons of water a year from the small Alaskan town of Sitka to the west coast of India (near Mumbai). If the company succeeds in carrying out the shipments, the deal would represent the world’s first regular, bulk exports of water via tanker. The water will be redistributed to places in India, southeast Asia and the Middle East. The Alaskan town of about 8,000 people could earn up to 90 million a year in revenue.
Hippy Kitchens
Hippy Kitchens are often happy kitchens.
where were you in 1992?
Eric Davidson, lead singer of the New Bomb Turks, has written a book exploring a much-overlooked and oft-imitated genre that he dubs Gunk Punk. We Never Learn came out June 1st 2010. [more inside]
You looped it, you looped it
Click judiciously; the site is called instant epilePSY and not without reason. If you need annoying and occasionally baffling animated GIFs culled from Hungarian music videos, however, you'll be well served. (Some of the loopings are fairly clever.)
Nomadic Milk
Nomadic Milk. Dutch artist Esther Polak uses GPS, white sand, and a robot to explore traditional versus industrial milk economies in Nigeria.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Take Me Out to the Ballgame is an American classic, the "national anthem of baseball." Written by Jack Norworth, with notable versions by Harry Caray and friends. Norworth recently got a new gravemarker, but cemetery rules says no changes could be made without approval from his family. When no family could be found, an empty grave was purchased and set aside for some future "unfortunate soul," who will get a teeny, tiny place in baseball history.
How Facts Backfire
RIP Harvey Pekar
From off the streets of Cleveland, Harvey Pekar pioneered autobiopgraphical comics in the 70s with his self-published American Splendor. His tales of working as a file clerk lead to greater fame, including appearances on David Letterman and a movie about his life. He worked with many different artists, including his personal friend Robert Crumb. Beyond that, he was an inspiration for so many others. Harvey Pekar passed away last night at the age of 70.
But will I be able to build my very own Milla Jovovich?
Show Him the Money
“What we try to do is build an unholy alliance between big guys and little guys." Tom Donohue, leader of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, goes on the record for an unbelievably revealing interview.
I, for one, welcome our new grocery overlords
Once, there was the shooter's sandwich. Now Tesco bring us a new lunchtime delicacy - the Lasagna Sandwich. Hungry for more unorthodox pasta products? Then try a Chicken Tikka Lasagne, or a Lasagna Pie [more inside]
Birth of a booming baby industry
Couples from Western countries, such as Australia, the US, and the UK are turning to surrogates in India to carry their babies. [more inside]
Hypercard for phones?
"What for you bury me in the cold, cold ground?"
Tasmanian Devils rebranded after Warner Bros cartoon 'ruins reputation'. The Tasmanian Devil is being rebranded in an attempt to restores it reputation, which conservationists say has been damaged by the Warner Brothers cartoon. They believe the animal has been depicted as ferocious, aggressive and bloodthirsty and are now trying to give the devils an image overhaul and portray them as shy and retiring in an attempt to convince the Australian public that they are worth saving.
Wild populations of Tasmanian devils are under grave threat from Devil Facial Tumour Disease Previously Discussed Here, a type of contagious cancer that has decimated their numbers by 60 per cent in 10 years.
Polanski Freed
After nine months of custody in Switzerland, Swiss authorities have today ruled not to extradite filmmaker Roman Polanski to the US, where he faces sentencing stemming from sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Polanski is now a free man. [more inside]
Because at least 64 people died?
As Uganda reels following a bombing that killed at least 64 people in Kampala watching the World Cup final, CNN tells us "why the world should care." [more inside]
The Future American Job
These folks in rural Arkansas and Missouri are getting jobs that are often reported as going to India and other countries. Is this a sign of American ingenuity or decline?
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