August 12, 2013
Not Verified
Some surprising subversives on Twitter: Babe Ruth, Michael Jackson, Mahatma Gandhi, Pope John Paul II, Francis of Assisi, Marlin Brando, Martin Luther, Mary Wolfstonecraft, Pablo Neruda, Ann Landers, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Camus, Voltaire, John F. Kennedy, Bill Wilson and Socrates.
Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?
Noah Veltman gives us a comparison of Google Search Suggestions By Country for America, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
"Two drafts later somebody would say, ‘Does he have to die?’ ”
Damon Lindelof uses the story of American folk hero John Henry as an illustrative example of the market pressures on blockbuster screenwriting.
If I Could Just Teach This to You
"Women in hip hop are more important than men in hip hop". KRS-1 recently gave a lecture at Fresno State detailing the very beginnings of hip hop in the early 1970's. Even if you've been following hip hop your whole life, you will likely still learn something incredible about the history of this art form.
The tallest points in Florida: more than Disneyworld
If you ever happen to be in Florida and some challenges you to climb the tallest peak, believing they have you beat because they think Disney World's Expedition Everest is the tallest "mountain" in the state, don't worry! There are more than 50 points that are taller than the summit of Expedition Everest, with it's peak less than 200 feet above sea level. A Summit Post member chronicled their adventures to the four tallest "mountains" in Florida, and included a note about Spook Hill (YouTube; Wikipedia). [more inside]
Daft Signz
Does what is says on the tin. The Artistry of sign spinning.
Horse Opera (starring Cliff Nobles)
You may know The Horse as a groovin' RnB instrumental record from the 1960s. You may know The Horse as a popular marching band tune. But did you ever hear the vocal version? OK then, how about the other vocal version? Ever danced The Mule or The Camel?
Here's the story of how three records were made using the same backing tracks and how a singer named Cliff Nobles became associated with a series of instrumental records on which he does not appear. [more inside]
Here's the story of how three records were made using the same backing tracks and how a singer named Cliff Nobles became associated with a series of instrumental records on which he does not appear. [more inside]
The sea unleashed
Recently surfaced video of the 2011 tsunami in Japan. An incredible 25 minutes of breathtaking power and destruction.
Oh, Zoidberg, at last you're becoming a crafty consumer!
LEELA
A holophonor? Only a few people in the
whole universe can play that. And they're
not very good at it.
A holophonor? Only a few people in the
whole universe can play that. And they're
not very good at it.
Neil Hilborn - "OCD" (Rustbelt 2013)
"How can it be a mistake when I don't have to wash my hands after I touch her?" Neil Hilborn performs his piece "OCD" at the 2013 Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam.
Born and Left/Dust
She Blinded Me ... with SCIENCE!
Our Science Fiction Movies Hate Science Fiction. An intelligent discourse from The Awl about the state of modern science fiction movies. [more inside]
An Oral History of the Breakfast Taco
From Texas Monthly, a brief oral history from Austin of The Most Important Taco of the Day (there is a recipe included!) At Slate, L.V. Anderson comments on the article noting, "Valera’s and Vasquez’s memories are proof that the mainstreaming of Mexican cuisine happened because Mexican immigrants worked hard in the face of racism, not in the absence of racism." The authors' website, Taco Journalism, has taco-related interviews and reviews.
Hyperloop
HYPERLOOP Elon Musk & SpaceX finally reveal their plan for a radical new mass transportation system, Hyperloop.
A Grand Day Out
One of this summer's most popular holiday activities in Bristol is Gromit Unleashed, the Gromit Trail. Wallace and Gromit were created by Nic Park for his graduation film A Grand Day Out from The National Film and Television School. He completed the film after joining Aardman Animations - they took him on before he finished the piece, allowing him to work on it part-time while still being funded by the school. Ever since then, Wallace and Gromit have continued their adventures, and Aardman have continued to document them. Wallace is a Yorkshireman (he was going to be a Lancastrian but the actor who voiced him could only do Yorkshire) who loves Wensleydale cheese, Gromit is his dog. Wallace is a dreamer, a creator of fabulous inventions, Gromit (though mute) his down-to-earth and capable rescuing sidekick.
The Gromit Trail is a series of 80 model Gromits placed in and around Bristol, and the activity is to try and see them all. There's a map, toys, model Gromits and an auction at the end, in aid of Bristol Children's Hospital. [more inside]
fury, tenacity, obsessiveness, and extravagance
On the fifty-eighth anniversary of Thomas Mann's death in 1955, a YouTube playlist with almost all of his top twelve favorite recordings. [more inside]
Has the camera bubble burst?
On his excellent blog The Visual Science Lab professional photographer and author Kirk Tuck give his theory for why camera sales are down almost 43% year over year.
Edna the Inebriate Woman
The BBC broadcast a great deal of socially-aware drama during the 60s and 70s. Two of it's major successes were by Jeremy Sandford. In 1971 Edna the Inebriate Woman featured a harrowing performance by Patricia Hayes and probably opened middle-England's eyes to the problems of homeless people in general and female alcoholism/homelessness in particular. [more inside]
It wasn't the Facebook it was when I was seven.
Something split and new
Njideka Akunyili's acrylic painting over photocopies combines figurative, domestic scenes with the cacophony of globalism and traditional decorative motifs.
What happens when four guys try to cross the Atlantic…in a rowboat
They battle crosswinds and waves that attack from the side, rocking them relentlessly and slamming the oars into the rowers’ shins until they’re bruised and bleeding. They go ashen with seasickness, but Hanssen is the worst. “I can vomit and row at the same time,” he notes cheerfully. -- Rowing across the Atlantic Ocean
The US 'cannot incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation'
Sentencing reform for drug offences is expected be announced by the US Attorney General. Eric Holder will announce Monday that he is mandating the Justice Department modify its policies so that certain non-violent drug offenders will no longer endure “draconian mandatory minimum sentences,” according to excerpts of his remarks to American Bar Association. [more inside]
Even a stopped clock...
"Spot checks and being demanded to show your papers by officialdom are not the British way of doing things. Yes, of course we want to deal with illegal immigration, but what's the point of rounding people up at railway stations if at the same time they're still flooding in through Dover and the other nearly hundred ports in this country.
I'm astonished that the Home Office has become so politicised that they're actually advertising 'another 10 arrested'. Before long they'll be live video-streaming these arrests. I don't like it. It really is not the way we've ever behaved or operated as a country. We don't have ID cards; we should not be stopped by officialdom and have to prove who we are." -- Even UKIP leader Nigel Farage thinks the home office goes too far with its politically motivated immigration raids at railway stations.
I'm astonished that the Home Office has become so politicised that they're actually advertising 'another 10 arrested'. Before long they'll be live video-streaming these arrests. I don't like it. It really is not the way we've ever behaved or operated as a country. We don't have ID cards; we should not be stopped by officialdom and have to prove who we are." -- Even UKIP leader Nigel Farage thinks the home office goes too far with its politically motivated immigration raids at railway stations.
We’re lucky enough to be living in that moment
Another legend passes
Eydie Gormé dies at 84. They met as cast members of the Steve Allen Show in the 1950s, and it was the start of something big. Known ever since as "Steve and Eydie," they became fixtures of Las Vegas and television variety shows. But Eydie had many hits of her own along the way, such as Blame It On the Bossa Nova, and she became famous in Latin America for her Spanish recordings like Amor. [more inside]
These are the riches of the poor
The Smiths Poster Exhibition is at BarcelonaNQ in Manchester until August 31, 2013. It features art from the personal collection of obsessive Smiths fan Marc Capella. The Guardian has a slideshow of some of the more famous pieces.
How Georgetown Law gets Uncle Sam to pay its students’ bills
In the realm of higher ed, law schools are at the forefront of finding creative ways to maximize revenue. Georgetown Law has pioneered an academic Ponzi scheme where they are able to essentially use the Federal loan money given to new students to pay for public interest law graduates' loans.
Under the Sea
The NOAA's Okenaos Explorer is surveying the ocean floor off the East Coast of the United States. Livestream 1. Livestream 2. Livestream 3.
"Texas is heaven for men and dogs, but it’s hell for women and horses.”
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives. "In 2011 the Texas state legislature slashed family planning funds, passed a new sonogram law, and waged an all-out war on Planned Parenthood that has dramatically shifted the state’s public health priorities. In the eighteen months since then, the conflict has continued to simmer in the courts, on the campaign trail, and in at least one PR disaster. Meanwhile, what will happen to Texas women—and their fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands—remains very much unclear."
Stop-and-frisk on trial
Stop and Frisk violated the constitutional rights of New Yorkers, federal judge holds. The ruling comes after the two-month trial in Floyd v. City of New York and finds the tactics and policies of the NYPD in conducting stop-and-frisk systemically violates both the 4th and 14th Amendments of New Yorkers of color. Stopping short of striking down stop-and-frisk more broadly, already upheld numerous times by the Supreme Court, Judge Scheindlin ordered an independent monitor to oversee reforms to the practice.
SunCalc - a solar azimuth calculator
Suncalc is a nifty online app that lets you input a geolocation and a date, and then uses google maps to graphically display the azimuth for the sunrise, sunset, and current time, for that particular date. Example: the sunset for the May 28 Manhattanhenge.
"Some things...can only happen once."
Achilles sat on the shore and looked out to the wine-dark sea
That Homer used the epithet "wine-dark" to describe the sea in the Iliad and Odyssey so puzzled 19th Century English Prime Minister William Gladstone that he thought the Ancient Greeks must have been colorblind. Since then many other solutions have been proposed. Scientists have argued that Ancient Greek wine was blue and some scholars have put forward the case that Homer was describing the sea at sunset. Radiolab devoted a segment to the exploration of this issue, saying that Gladstone was partly right. Another interpretation is that the Ancient Greeks focused on different aspects of color from us. Classicist William Harris' short essay about purple in Homer and Iliad translator Caroline Alexander's longer essay The Wine-like Sea make the case for this interpretation.
'Ploughboy's Lunch, Harry, please'
'The ploughman's lunch is a UK pub meal who's core components are cheese, chutney, and bread. It can also include such items as boiled eggs, ham, and pickled onions, and is accompanied with beer.' [more inside]
More Than Just Books
MetaFilter's own Jessamyn West (jessamyn) interviewed in today's NPR feature, For Disaster Preparedness: Pack A Library Card?
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