February 28, 2010

Orbital XX

Comics artist Philip Bond draws female astronauts.
posted by Artw at 11:32 PM PST - 32 comments

That High Lonesome

Bluegrass, it's said was invented by Bill Monroe,(yt) but where would bluegrass have been without the banjo style of Earl Scruggs?(yt) Together they created a sound that has become known as Bluegrass. In 1945 George Elam Scruggs joined up with Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, two years later Scruggs left to form a group with Lester Flatt(yt), but not before gifting Monroe with the amalgam that was and is Bluegrass. Other players like Chubby Wise born 1915, Lake City, Florida(yt), and bassist Howard Watts became known as the "Original Bluegrass Band". [more inside]
posted by nola at 8:21 PM PST - 19 comments

Some good viewing

Have you checked out Crackle lately? If not, you may want to go ahead and check out a couple of these goodies; The Bannen Way, Angel of Death starring Zoë Bell, or Star-ving with David Faustino and Corin Nemec. [more inside]
posted by P.o.B. at 6:46 PM PST - 19 comments

Iconography of Contagion

About a hundred years ago, public health took a visual turn. In an era of devastating epidemic and endemic infectious disease, health professionals began to organize coordinated campaigns that sought to mobilize public action through eye-catching wall posters, illustrated pamphlets, motion pictures, and glass slide projections. An Iconography of Contagion.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:05 PM PST - 18 comments

Now this is stepping!

The Shattuck Crack Squad (be sure to turn on your sound) started in 1882 as the "Far Famed Fancy Drill Squad" at Shattuck School, a military prep school in Faribault, Minnesota. It has included famous members, such as Marlon Brando. Based on a drill manual developed by John J. Pershing, the squad marches using the "Zouave" step at 250 steps a minute and uses Springfield 45-70 breech-loading rifles from the Civil War era (pdf). They have won many drill competitions, and their performance is thrilling and fascinating. It even has its own Facebook page. [more inside]
posted by Mental Wimp at 5:31 PM PST - 18 comments

Bohemian Suburb Rhapsody

Veteran Australian pop satirist New Waver, best known for covers of pop songs rewritten from a pessimistically neo-Darwinian point of view, has a new album out. Titled Bohemian Suburb Rhapsody, it looks at the subjects of gentrification, the explosion of revivalist styles in "hip" music, contemporary white-collar culture, the ideology of the "creative class" in the post-industrial age and the resulting oversupply of cultural products, through the medium of cover songs and musical montage. The album is free for dowloading from New Waver's web site; there is a more detailed explanation here, and a video for the song "Hey Dude" (which explains the dynamics of gentrification through the medium of a Beatles cover) here.
posted by acb at 5:21 PM PST - 14 comments

Hold Your Horses! with a Pearl Ear-ring

A Survey of Western Painting with Song Attached (SLYT)
posted by tigrefacile at 3:40 PM PST - 16 comments

kabaddi kabaddi kabaddi kabaddi kabaddi...

Kabaddi is an ancient team sport, originating in South Asia, that requires nothing but an open area and a bunch of people [wikipedia]. It combines the skills of tag and wrestling with the ability to hold your breath while doing so: raid your opponents' side of the court, tag as many of the defenders as you can, and then run back to your side, avoiding the defensive tackler--all in one breath, while chanting "kabaddi-kabaddi-kabaddi". [extended rules].
Footage: [ 2006 World Cup (with music) • 2005 World Cup 1 2 320049 minutes of footage from a Tauranga, NZ tournament • From the USA 1 2 ]
"Kabaddi Kabaddi" by Babbu Mann from the film HasharAnother song
The British Army uses Kabaddi as a recruiting tool.Representing Team MeFi
posted by not_on_display at 3:24 PM PST - 35 comments

AFOL A Blocumentary

AFOL A Blocumentary. Passion combines with creativity in this documentary that features a selection of AFOLs (Adult Fans Of LEGO) from the Pacific NorthWest. [30 minutes, Vimeo, via Kempa.com]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 2:19 PM PST - 14 comments

Cockeyed's Photographic Height/Weight Chart

rob cockerham presents: the cockeyed.com photographic height/weight chart. (about)
posted by dunkadunc at 1:40 PM PST - 20 comments

SR-71A Flight Manual

Online SR-71A Flight Manual. Included in sr-71.org's excellent Blackbird Archive is a scanned copy of the actual "Dash-1" flight manual for the famous SR-71A reconnaissance plane. [more inside]
posted by FishBike at 12:52 PM PST - 65 comments

David Bailey's World of Escher-like Tessellations

David Bailey's World of Escher-like Tessellations
posted by Wolfdog at 12:48 PM PST - 10 comments

I feel like my whole life is ridiculous really.

"We only smash stuff outside." A SLYT illustrating the perils of mixing art and Judge Judy.
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:29 PM PST - 28 comments

The Data Deluge

According to one estimate, mankind created 150 exabytes (billion gigabytes) of data in 2005. This year, it will create 1,200 exabytes. Data data everywhere and possibly too much to drink?
posted by Glibpaxman at 12:28 PM PST - 21 comments

Books! How we will miss you.

Of the bookshelves I’ve inspected in my life, two stand out as particularly consequential. [more inside]
posted by spindle at 11:12 AM PST - 77 comments

Keli Carender has a pierced nose.

You might mistake her for the kind of young person whose vote powered President Obama to the White House. You probably would not think of her as a Tea Party type. But leaders of the Tea Party movement credit her with being the first. “She’s not your typical conservative,”, “She’s an actress. She’s got a nose ring. I think it’s the thing that’s so amazing about our movement.” Her fiancé, Conor McNassar, urged her to channel her complaints into a blog, which she called Liberty Belle. It was not enough. She's been profiled by NPR. Some of her articles can be found in American Thinker. [more inside]
posted by VikingSword at 10:58 AM PST - 229 comments

Queen of Sheeba's town house abandoned.

Dating back to 6 Centuries before Common Era; Sana'a ( some photo links borked ) in Yemen will become the World's First modern Capital City to Run Out of Water. Apart from drought Yemen's lack of water is a direct result of growing the stimulant Qat. (wiki ). Yemen is well on its way to becoming the world's next failed state.
( History and Qat related.
posted by adamvasco at 9:01 AM PST - 31 comments

White Sorority Girls win Step Off

An all white-girl Arkansas sorority's win in an Atlanta step competition has started a fiery debate over whether or not white girls should be allowed to win in a traditionally black step competition. Sprite, the sponsor of the show, ended up having to award two first place winners, claiming there was a scoring discrepancy.
posted by mad_little_monkey at 8:12 AM PST - 172 comments

Big Brother: The Sequel

The Patriot Act was originally signed into law by Bush in 2001, following 9/11. This bill gives law enforcement agencies the power to search your email, telephone records, medical records, record your telephone conversations, without your consent. It's allowance of indefinite detention of immigrants has been a major point of criticism from opponents. Today, President Obama, who previously promised to protect our civil liberties, has quietly extended the bill for another year.
posted by Malice at 7:50 AM PST - 108 comments

Debunking the myth of Lady Jane Grey

Debunking the myth of Lady Jane Grey. And it's not just that Guildford was never as beautiful as Cary Elwes. [more inside]
posted by jb at 7:31 AM PST - 16 comments

33 billion dollars sitting on the lawn

33 billion dollars worth of useless aerospace machinery. High-res Google Earth photo (1600x1471)
posted by Clementines4ever at 4:14 AM PST - 92 comments

Pavement: So much style that it's wasted

Tomorrow, in Auckland, mellow jazz docents Pavement will play their first live show in a decade. A week later, Matador Records will release the band's first-ever best-of collection, Quarantine the Past. But what about all the B-sides, live takes, and rarities that didn't make the cut? An extensive selection follows, but you can start with these superb live recordings from their last tour: Gold Soundz, Range Life, Here. (Previously.) [more inside]
posted by cirripede at 2:36 AM PST - 36 comments

The Twain Shall Meet

Asia Snapshots "is a blog that examines topics in Asia through the perspectives of interesting people interviewed by a group of bloggers in Mainland China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and more." Meet Gao Qingrong and family, who along with seven other households are part of an organic farm co-op in Anlong Village, Sichuan. Or there's the tale of how one of the bloggers met Jun Jun, a male prostitute in Beijing; an encounter with Silang Laji, a road maintenance worker in Kham, a Tibetan region of China; and Gege, an enterprising journalist in Chengdu.Via
posted by Abiezer at 1:21 AM PST - 4 comments

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