July 31, 2013
I have to be clear. Clear as glass.
"Echo Point" is a chilling, sound-rich supernatural radio drama written by Australian author Louis Nowra. Originally aired on BBC Radio 4, it is now available on SoundCloud via producer/director Judith Kampfner. [more inside]
The Commodore 64: it's a pretty good computer, it has a lot of features
Let's go back to 1982 and let Jim Butterfield not only tell you about the Commodore 64, but really show you what it's all about, in a two hour demonstration and training video that takes you from opening the box to coding with the Commodore. (on YouTube, and with a different intro on Archive.org) [more inside]
Final Moments of Karl Brant
The Final Moments of Karl Brant. "In the near future, a neurologist and two homicide detectives use experimental brain taping technology to question a murder victim about his final moments." [Via]
Arachnophabulous
For Men, and People Interested in Pretending to be Men
Urinal Man asks players to choose the optimal urinal in a bathroom, and then grades their choices.
I found a cup of tea in a window of the Prince Hotel
You might want to check out this video primer first, just to get the idea, or you might just want to dive in and zoom, zoom, zoom into the Tokyo Tower Gigapixel Panorama
It Don’t Gitmo Better Than This.
It Don’t Gitmo Better Than This. Inside the Dark Heart of Guantánamo Bay By Molly Crabapple.
Who gets to speak, where, in front of whom, and about what
Why the controversial (and somewhat backfired) Lauren Green interview of Reza Aslan is is about more than just Fox News idiocy.
Congratulations Newlyweds
Marriage equality comes to Minnesota and Rhode Island at midnight, August 1, and the Minnesota DFL state senators wanted to congratulate their same-sex newlywed constituents. [more inside]
Bears, Mountain Cougars, and Biting Goats, OH-MY!
Nature is neat, so let's all go on a Neature Walk! [slyt]
Customer Service: It Gets Worse
Remember when Dan Savage started a campaign to convince LGBT teens that "it gets better"? It's a noble cause, but sadly there's still a huge subset of the population out there for whom it will only get worse...
Moses Sumney - Irreplaceable
LA-based singer-songwriter Moses Sumney performs his song "Replaceable" in a single-take video shot by famed director Brian Cross, aka B+. Recommended if you like loop pedals (previously-ish) &/or soul music. [more inside]
Not Featured: "Waterlillies" or "The Kiss"
Abbie the Cat, 1997 - 2013. He had a posse.
Abbie the Cat [Has a Posse] passed away on Tuesday, July 23, 2013. Started in 2001, the blog of Abbie the Cat was sometimes irregularly updated, but almost always written from Abbie's point of view. Readers were warned of Abbie's impending death on July 22 by Rob, Abbie's owner. (Previously.) [more inside]
"They didn't know what they were doing, so they tried everything"
"No one will be admitted after the start of the FPP."
We are watching
In a new batch of slides from an NSA presentation (originally leaked by now fugitive Edward Snowden), Glenn Greenwald of the Gaurdian goes into great detail about NSA tool "X-Keyscore" information gathering system, which allows the NSA to view "nearly everything a user does on the internet", including Skype, Facebook chats, and other social media activity. [more inside]
Next you'll be telling me The Record Peddler is back
Once upon a time, there was a little yellow house in Brampton, just northwest of Toronto, that housed what we used to know as CFNY. (Americans: think WKRP, but without Bailey Quarters.) Before it turned into the slick abomination 102.1 The Edge, CFNY was the commercial station that (along with community/university stations CIUT and CKLN) supported new and independent music. But starting at noon today, Indie 88 will be inheriting CFNY's mantle, except that kids these days don't wear mantles, so they will have Alan Cross in place as their Guidance Counsellor instead, which is way better than any silly old mantle. They're promising a pretty eclectic playlist, but for the next 12 minutes, this is the one song you'll hear (if you can actually pull in a signal on your terrestrial radio).
Iconic
work it, McDreamy!
Why don't we find men sexy when they're presented in pinup poses considered sexy for women? Photographer Rion Sabean's Men-Ups! project is "... aimed at reversing the stereotypes created by society, begging the questions, why is it sexual for a female to pose one way, and not sexual for a male? Why is it considered more comical or unsettling for males to act the more socially defined feminine?"
Fictitious Minneapolis street addresses: A guide for writers.
Let’s say you’re a writer, working a novel set in Minneapolis. Your protagonist arrives home after a long day of doing whatever it is your protagonist does all day. To this point, you’ve been very specific with local landmarks and a general feeling of the city — your protagonist rides the 21A, eats breakfast at the Grand Cafe, and meets his or her attorney in an office on the 12th floor of the Rand Tower. All good so far. You’ve set the scene very effectively. People are going to say, “This is a great Minneapolis novel" after they read it. However, the time has now come for you to insert a specific street address into the text. You like specifics, and you need a real-sounding mailing address for, say, a situation where the protagonist receives a mysterious letter. How will you accomplish this? Here you have a problem. You only have two options, neither one very good. [more inside]
Women are writing science-fiction! Original! Brilliant!! Dazzling!!!
100 great science fiction (short) stories by women, with links to the stories where available, as compiled by Ian Sales out of irritation with a 1978 anthology of great science fiction stories in which only five had been written by women.
John le Carré on The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
John le Carré on The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Interview recorded for the BBC Proms Literary Festival. Includes actor John Shrapnel reading extracts (SLYT). It's slightly longer than the version which appeared in that night's concert interval and includes audience Q&A as well as pictures.
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