October 18, 2010
My father used to do the same work.
Professional ear cleaners are not always popular amongst backpackers in India. Few realize it's an ancient trade, passed down from father to son. It's also one that may be dying in the face of stiff competition from Q-tips and western medicine. How does one recognize an authentic professional ear cleaner? By his red skull cap, of course.
7 Essential Things that aren't really skills that you can already learn in college
Wired article based on the New Liberal Arts Previously on Metafilter,
here
and here, but now being published in Wired, not just Snarkmarket. Part of a cyclical trend in some corners of the smart set to suppose that college needs a complete reinvention. Look, the New Liberal Arts. These starry-eyed future watchers bring up the very old proposal that higher education is outdated, outmoded and not preparing our students for their lives in the future. They may get their wish, but they might not like the new world without liberal arts 1.0
The dark horse of the campaign
"If you want to marry a show, I'll marry you." Jimmy McMillan, of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, steals the show at an NY gubernatorial debate.
Believing is seeing, seeing is hearing
Is seeing believing? BBC Horizon looks at sensory perception, illusions and the interplay of our different senses. (Full program for UK viewers here). Makes you feel like you've entered The Twilight Zone. [more inside]
"...a spiritually bankrupt soul whose confused mind is [animated] with the genitalia."
AAAHH!
the deep Vermont funk
Write Your Principal
Want to know what your old high school is doing to protect and support its LGBTQ students? Write Your Principal encourages and collects correspondence about anti-bullying efforts between alumni and their alma maters. [via projects]
International Photography Showcase
plsr. — an international photography showcase with dozens of options for filtering, or sorting by photographer, country, best rated, or most viewed. With links to the photographer's personal sites.
Beat the Press
Private security guards working for Alaska Tea Party candidate Joe Miller detained and handcuffed a blogger who was asking questions at a public campaign event in a public school Sunday. Here is remarkable video from the Anchorage Daily News of the security guards trying to strongarm other reporters at the same event. Miller told CNN the blogger was "hounding" him. [more inside]
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt Character Heads
NATO: bin Laden in Pakistan
Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are believed to be hiding close to each other in houses in northwest Pakistan, but are not together, a senior NATO official said. ... al Qaeda's top leadership is believed to be living in relative comfort, protected by locals and some members of the Pakistani intelligence services... The official would not discuss how the coalition has come to know any of this information, but he has access to some of the most sensitive information in the NATO alliance. [more inside]
Life goes non-linear
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science.
'Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong.' Dr. John P. A. Ioannidis, adjunct professor at Tufts University School of Medicine is a meta-researcher. 'He and his team have shown, again and again, and in many different ways, that much of what biomedical researchers conclude in published studies—conclusions that doctors keep in mind when they prescribe antibiotics or blood-pressure medication, or when they advise us to consume more fiber or less meat, or when they recommend surgery for heart disease or back pain—is misleading, exaggerated, and often flat-out wrong. He charges that as much as 90 percent of the published medical information that doctors rely on is flawed. His work has been widely accepted by the medical community; it has been published in the field’s top journals, where it is heavily cited; and he is a big draw at conferences.' [more inside]
Stories about Down syndrome
My Great Story (flash heavy) - The National Down Syndrome Society is building a collection of stories celebrating the lives of the 400,000 people with Down syndrome in the United States. Know someone with Down syndrome? You can contribute too.
'For my artwork, I have to use antique, archaic tools.'
R Crumb talks to the Paris Review about his adaptation of The Book of Genesis, cartoons, LSD, Winnie the Pooh, Terry Gilliam, and some other things.
"Swans wasn’t so bad after all..."
In the 80s and 90s, Swans made music that moved from dissonance to melody, sometimes mixing the two (and with some diversions along the way). They broke up in 1997. [more inside]
The Vistas!
Read any good books lately? How about bad books? With Halloween around the corner, maybe we should take a moment to revisit The Necronomicon. (slyt)
Facebook. Privacy. Again.
The Wall Street Journal's What They Know blog is charged with determining what information marketers are capable of learning about internet users through tracking technology. This weekend, they took aim at Facebook, after their investigation discovered that many popular apps on the social-networking site, including those by Zynga, have been transmitting identifying information in the form of User ID's to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, even if a user has enabled strict privacy settings. Additional analysis. Response post on Facebook's Developer Blog. Forbes' blogger Kashmir Hill asks if the WSJ is overreacting, and Techcrunch notes that the severity and risks of UID transferral are still being debated.
Really Really Old Style
Did the ancient Israelites drink beer? Although at the time beer was consumed by “men, women and even children of all social classes,” references to it in the Bible are scant. Beer production at the time was similar to bread, where wheat and barley cakes were baked then rehydrated to ferment -- a process much like the ancient Egyptian method of fermentation, as found in the Hymn of Ninkasi, which was recreated by Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing. You too can be a part of beer history by brewing your own Archeobeer.
Gravestone Girls
The Gravestone Girls collect and reproduce aged New England cemetery art without damaging the original stones. Not able to attend any of their classes? In the meantime here are some do's and don'ts about collecting rubbings, via the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Your own paper head mask
Remember that amazing giant head papercraft Halloween mask from last year? You can get your own now.
eject
Mmmm, Transubstantiation.
The Fleeing Finns
Record-breaking numbers of Finns leave the national church of Finland following a gay rights panel discussion on TV. [more inside]
Iran 101
Iran – a Primer brings together 50 top experts —both Western and Iranian—to offer comprehensive but concise overviews of Iran’s politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and nuclear program.
Overview.
Editor Robin Wright on The Challenge of Iran [more inside]
Editor Robin Wright on The Challenge of Iran [more inside]
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