December 21, 2009
Feminism calls for gender revolution
Transphobic feminism makes no sense, argues Laurie Penny For decades, the feminist movement has been split over the status of trans people, and of trans women in particular. High-profile feminists such as Germaine Greer, Jan Raymond and Julie Bindel have spoken out against what Greer terms “people who think they are women, have women’s names, and feminine clothes and lots of eyeshadow, who seem to us to be some kind of ghastly parody”. Some prominent radical feminists have publicly declared that trans women are misogynist, “mutilated men”.
Bergen to Oslo from your armchair
On 27th November, Norwegian broadcaster NRK broadcast a 7.5 hour documentary showing every minute of the scenic train ride between Bergen on the Norwegian west coast, crossing the mountains to Oslo. Now, after removing all extraneous interviews, music clips and fancy trickery from the documentary, they are offering the entire, clean, 7 hour continuous front-camera version for free Creative Commons download. All 22Gb of it. Here's a fantastic 10 minute taster on YouTube.
Stop Motion From Europe
2009 Retrospective in Google Wave
Jazzuo's contemporary game page
Jazzuo makes strange (often NSFW, often incredibly difficult, always utterly bonkers) games. Most look to be windows only. Here's an interview with him.
Every Day The Same Dream
The (nuclear) path not taken
Nuclear engineers are never taught about the other kind of nuclear reaction. But a working prototype was built over 40 years ago. "The thick hardbound volume was sitting on a shelf in a colleague’s office when Kirk Sorensen spotted it. A rookie NASA engineer at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Sorensen was researching nuclear-powered propulsion, and the book’s title — Fluid Fuel Reactors — jumped out at him. He picked it up and thumbed through it. Hours later, he was still reading, enchanted by the ideas but struggling with the arcane writing. “I took it home that night, but I didn’t understand all the nuclear terminology,” Sorensen says. He pored over it in the coming months, ultimately deciding that he held in his hands the key to the world’s energy future." [more inside]
Two words: business school.
Sounds from Nine Countries
9 Countries was recorded on location in Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Tibet, India, Egypt and Greece between October 2005 and March 2007 by Tom Compagnoni. What you hear has been entirely assembled from these field recordings, no additional samples used.
A mashup / sound-collage / ambient / documentary album by Wax Audio.
A mashup / sound-collage / ambient / documentary album by Wax Audio.
Regex Dictionary
Regex Dictionary - for those times when you want a web-based dictionary you can search with regular expressions.
Parkour + juggling + wushu + cigar boxes + ...
Parkour + juggling + wushu + cigar boxes + ... (SLYT) Aung Zaw-Oo's 2009 show reel.
And All Will Turn to Silver Glass
Mexican modernist silversmith Antonio Pineda has died. Here are some samples of his work. A photo rich interview with him in Taxco dates from 2005.
Like Lunar Lander Likes? You'll Like This
Gaming under the microscope
Jamin Brophy-Warren wrote various features for the Wall Street Journal until he found a niche. This fall he left WSJ and devoted himself full-time to gaming, drafting insightful analysis of games and the technology propelling them forward . Last week, he authored an interesting piece on free flash games with crummy graphics and no story for Slate's gaming club.
Busking into your living room
Chester Zoo would like to forestall requests for its big cats’ urine: it asks us to make clear that it does not in fact sell either tiger or lion urine.
The Kingpin
An exposé of the world's most notorious wildlife dealer, his special government friend, and his ambitious new plan. [more inside]
Santa has a posse
Most American elementary school kids will tell you about who they think Santa is friends with. Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, and the elves come to mind, as well as many of the Rankin-Bass characters that have become cultural institutions. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Make space on your mantle for Zwarte Piet and Krampus decorations! [more inside]
My pen is mightier than your pen!
The Top 10 Literary Feuds Of The Aughts, as compiled by Toronto journalist and author Shaun Smith. [more inside]
Somebody should have left their brain in San Francisco
San Francisco - the Worst-Run Big City in the U.S. Despite its spending more money per capita, period, than almost any city in the nation, San Francisco has poorly managed, budget-busting capital projects, overlapping social programs no one is certain are working, and a transportation system where the only thing running ahead of schedule is the size of its deficit. [more inside]
Chowned
While many Linux users cite the system's security against malware, the appearance of malware disguised as a screensaver reminded everyone that no system is 100% safe. Ubuntu users were quick to identify the virus, identify the perpetrators, and create a fix, but this isn't the first time this has happened, and will in all likelihood not be the last. The criticism in the community is directed squarely at the user base: "In general the lesson to be learned is if you want a secure system, don't download any software outside the official package sources without at least looking at the source code first."
DIY Computational Photography
Visual Business Cliches
Find the visual business cliches in this holiday poster from XPLANE. Boil the Ocean. Low-hanging Fruit. Drink the Kool Aid. Find the Strawman. (big PDF you really have to zoom in to appreciate).
Rethinking organ donation policy
In response to shortfalls in organ donation, policy is undergoing a serious rethink in several countries. In Australia, the government has just lifted a ban on animal-to-human transplants. In the UK, the Chief Medical Officer has called for presumed consent, while in Israel a new law gives donor card carriers a legal right to priority treatment if they should require an organ transplant. Many are looking to Spain, which leads the world, having seen the number of deceased donors per million people - a commonly used benchmark - increase from 14 in 1989 when a new system was put in place to 34.2 last year. Interestingly, people committing suicide have a higher rate of donating organs than average.
Jewish Exorcisms
“We got a bit excited because we realized that people have collected lots of dybbuk stories, but our fragment describes a real event, where you see how they come together and pray in order to exorcise the ghost from a widow,” [more inside]
The number of foreign women detained as drug mules in Brazil has soared.
"I knew I could be arrested, even die, because with these things you expect everything. But at that moment I was so desperate about the money, and to do something for my life." [more inside]
Best. Rescue. Ever.
Tthe U.S. Coast Guard has announced the 2009 list of its top 11 videos. These 11 videos are considered finalists for the video of the year and each video is a tribute to one of the Coast Guard's eleven missions. Beginning today (Dec. 21, 2009) the Coast Guard will highlight one video per day on its "Compass" blog. People are invited to vote for video of the year via YouTube's rating and comment system. The voting will end January 8, 2010. (Previously)
Whirld of Kelly
I love Walt Kelly's art work. I also love the comic strip created by Walt Kelly called Pogo. Man I wish Pogo was still around. Walt Kelly was a great artist and created a wonderful comic strip. Check this blog out that was created by a Kelly fan.
Fembot
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