September 22, 2007
Steven Banks Home Entertainment Center
Go West, Young Orphans
Orphan Trains of Kansas. A collection of histories, personal stories, newspaper accounts, pictures and other references. Beginning in 1854, charitable institutions in New York City began sending orphans on trains to the west to find new families, feeling that the children would fare better out west than on the streets of New York. Orphan trains arrived in Kansas between 1867 and 1930, and some 5000-6000 children were placed in Kansas homes.
How George Bush became the new Saddam
How George Bush became the new Saddam. "Its strategies shattered, a desperate Washington is reaching out to the late dictator's henchmen." [Via Firedoglake.]
hahaha hoo hoo hehehe ha ha ha hee hee
It's the oboes that really brought life to the performance, don't you think?
John Cage's 4'33" has been discussed previously on MeFi, but you might've missed the full orchestral version. [more inside]
Nick Cave, the Black Crow King, is fifty today
NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day, Nicholas Edward Cave [previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot. At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the Boys Next Door [Shivers]. This in turn mutated into the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [Release the Bats | Nick the Stripper]. The Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze. Shortly after Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song - video & solo live | The Mercy Seat - video & live | Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a best selling book, a great screenplay, some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong. But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006, grew a huge moustache and formed Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [No Pussy Blues | Honey Bee]. Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet. [more inside]
Hundred Years' War, Final Phase (1422-1453)
Hundred Years' War, Final Phase (1422-1453) is an old school website focusing on, you guessed it, the last decades of the somewhat accurately named Hundred Years' War. The site has an extensive timeline, a map, summaries of major battles (which include battlefield maps), short bios of major characters and their genealogies, information about the weapons of the time and a list of controversial issues concerning the Hundred Years' War. [more inside]
Rags to Riches to Rags
Watch the K Foundation burn a million quid. Google Video link to the full documentary, skip to 13:30 for the "money shot". [more inside]
I will gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.
Satyajit Das was discussed earlier on Mefi. This interview with him is a great explanation of the financial skullduggery that we're knee-deep in.
Lee Adams (nsfw)
Lee Adams has some films. For example, Apocalypse Noddy. (NSFW) I wish they'd change the soundtrack though
A (Republican) Change of Heart
The Mayor of San Diego has a change of heart. GOP Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego comes out in support of gay marriage.
D’oh
72 scenes from various episodes of The Simpsons, each one beside the movie scene to which they refer (By The Accordion Guy)
You can’t trade with balls of frozen methane.
Unexploded Rocket-Propelled Grenade Impales Army Private in Afghanistan
Featured last night on 20/20, Channing Moss was hit with an rocket propelled grenade while on patrol in Afghanistan. He was impaled through the abdomen by the RPG and an aluminum rod with one tail fin protruded from the left side of his torso. His fellow soldiers worried: Could he blow up and take them with him? For all anyone knew, the answer was yes. Still, over the course of the next couple of hours, his buddies, a helicopter crew and a medical team would risk their own lives to save his. Regardless of your feelings on the war, this is an amazing story of courage. More here and here.
Catholic Church goes green
The Catholic Church is traditionally not seen as a progressive institution, but when it comes to global warming, Vatican City is aiming to become the worlds first fully carbon-neutral state, and the Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations next April to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
The Automated Targeting System, the US government's record-keeping system on travelers
Today's Washington Post: "The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials." [more inside]
Greek Police
Teacher Dude takes photos of Greek riot police who beat him up. Police say he wasn't allowed to photograph them without accreditation.
Just Say No .. to John Stuart Mill
"An open society must be prepared to listen to those who offer a critique of its conventional wisdom—and our conventional wisdom about drugs and addiction should be no exception."
Esmeralda's final fade-out :(
"I knew I didn't look like an ingenue... My nose was too long. I had crooked teeth. I wasn't blond. I knew I looked like a character actress. But I also knew I'd find a way." One of the most accomplished scene stealers in the history of TV comedy, character actress Alice Ghostley, is dead at 81. [more inside]
Rigging a study to make conservatives look stupid
What are you, a gaywad?
Internet Commenter Retirement Party! NSFW language, exploding captcha girl on girl action
Nana-nana-nana-nana - BATMAN!
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