March 3, 2009
Surveillance Self-Defense
The SSD Project. "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created this Surveillance Self-Defense site to educate the American public about the law and technology of government surveillance in the United States, providing the information and tools necessary to evaluate the threat of surveillance and take appropriate steps to defend against it." [Via]
Transsexual in Iran
Duck Duck Click
What the Duck? a comic strip about a duck photographer.
I was sad, and this cheered me up.
Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort is a 2001 documentary film about the final year in the life of Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual. Eads, diagnosed with ovarian cancer, was turned down for treatment by two dozen doctors out of fear that treating such a patient would hurt their reputation. You can watch the film here, part 1 through 10.
Hazy petrol nights, crimson sun on traffic lights
"There's sickly pop, there's cheesy pop and then there's the Lightning Seeds brand of pure shiny pop." The Lightning Seeds mixed slick production with equally compelling melodies and lyrics, and produced a number of critically acclaimed albums in the 1990s. Now there's a new album coming out - their first since 1999's Tilt. [more inside]
Bad paintings of Barack Obama
.... and I love them all Considering artistic interpretation, Barry never looked better. [more inside]
Poor Stock Photo Use
Asthma and tv watching may be linked, which is interesting by itself, but eagle eyes will note a strange choice of a photo of child watching television. Remember this guy?
The Road to Nowhere
We're on the road to nowhere and when we get to the end of this road, nowhere is exactly where this expedition begins.
Only 22 people have ever skiied unsupported to the North Pole, none of them American. Starting today, John Huston and Tyler Fish hope to become the first. If all goes according to plan, they will reach the North Pole in 55 days. They will be blogging from the ice. [more inside]
Peace: Still a Man's Thang
In 2001, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1325 on Women's Role on Peace-Building and Security, calling for increased participation by women in conflict resolution and peace negotiations.
Eight years later, "in terms of signing the peace documents and being at the peace table and involved in the peace-making operations, 1.3 percent of all the signatures in the world on these peacekeeping documents have been rendered by women." (Stephen Lewis, former UN special envoy), and as of 2007, women constituted only 1% of peacekeeping military personnel. Could increasing women's participation also help reduce sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers?
Crowdsourcing Activism
A startup is proposing a new model for harnessing the power of the web for activism that gets results: bite sized actions, under written by corporate sponsors.
LOL Asteroid.
Asteroid in the Sydney Morning Herald. An asteroid as big as a ten-story building passed by Earth. What do you think should have been done about it? It came within 600000 km of our atmosphere.
Richard Nixon watched 'All In the Family'
Done means Done
Bre Pettis makes things. He likes to get things done. He likes when you get things done. Do you like to get things done? Then check out the Cult of Done Manifesto.
Tuesday is Francis Ford Coppola Day
After creating four successive masterpieces in the 1970s, culminating in the tortured production of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola began the 1980s by directing "a romantic comedy, a musical
fantasy and an erotic love story set amidst the neon glitter of Las Vegas on
a Fourth of July weekend." [more inside]
The Bethnal Green Disaster
On March 3rd 1943, the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War killed 173 people, including 62 children. During an air-raid alert, the noise of a new anti-aircraft battery panicked the crowd trying to get into the shelter at Bethnal Green tube station. In the dark, wet conditions, someone tripped and fell at the foot of the stairs, blocking the pathway and knocking others over in a domino effect. More and more people continued to pile in at the top leading to a massive and deadly crush. [more inside]
Tom Gauld
Neutral Power FTW
World War II: Simple Version. (SLJPG)
Hey, some of us are reading here.
Readability is a wonderful bookmarklet that strips away all the surrounding cruft on a page so you can focus on the content.
this product reverberates a maximum amount of info known as the web
These mosquitoes, they hum..in harmony
Truce In their seminal paper "Flying in Tune: Sexual recognition in mosquitoes", Gabrielle Gibson and and Ian Russel from the University of Greenwich discovered an inspiring phenomenon: male mosquitoes change their buzzing frequency to match that of a female mosquito. This synchronization brings their wing beats to within a millisecond or less of one another. The authors suggest that this phenomenon facilitates the mosquitoes' ability to copulate mid-flight. We take advantage of this phenomenon to engage the mosquitoes in song, inspired by the North Indian classical vocal tradition of Dhrupad.
Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.
Smell the spaghetti
The drama behind the making of The Godfather is nearly as intriguing as the movie itself. A recent Vanityfair piece recounts "how the clash of Hollywood sharks, Mafia kingpins, and cinematic geniuses shaped a Hollywood masterpiece." A follow-up article tells of a fateful dinner between the film's stars and members of the famous Genovese crime family. [more inside]
Cuss all you want, but only around men, horses, and cows
Rush: 2012
Democrat's efforts to paint Rush Limbaugh as GOP leader pay off. Since Rush Limbaugh famously stated that he wanted Obama to fail, Democrats, led by President Obama, have been trying to paint him as the intellectual and spiritual head of the GOP. Eyeing his low 25% approval rating amongst independents, they have hoped to equate the Republicans with Limbaugh. [more inside]
1 in 31.
A new report by the Pew Center of the States finds that 1 in 31 U.S. Adults is currently under Community Supervision. (Full report pdf). Georgia currently tops the charts, with 1 in 13 adults under correctional control. [more inside]
Treasures unburied
You know, I really like it.
Royksopp are celebtrating 10 years as a duo with a new album called Junior. Kicking off the celebration, a video for their new single Happy Up Here, featuring a live-action battle between humans and space invaders! [more inside]
Camilo José Vergara
Invincible Cities "Hundreds of color photographs of Richmond, California, Camden, New Jersey, and Harlem, New York, intended by the artist to be part of a 'Visual Encyclopedia of the American Ghetto.' The photos depict the built environment of these cities as they change over time (1980s-2005). Website features a detailed introduction and databases of photos from each city with interactive maps." [via] [more inside]
I Write, They Answer (Usually)
What if you wrote to Alpo to ask if they have a senior citizen's blend, or to the AARP to inquire about the living status of Abe Vigoda? And what if they wrote back? That's the purpose of Jackassletters.com, part mischief, part mayhem, from MeFi's own cjorgensen. History has demonstrated the fun of hoax letter writing, for instance Kitty Piddle Soda from Avery's Beverages. Someone has to carry on the tradition. Tweaking the noses of power and fame. (via MeFi Projects)
Cast in Stone
This NSFW slideshow helps serve as an introduction into the sometimes ribauld art of the Gargoyle. Here's your site index for the silent orgy complete with an interactive UK map should you wish a more personal experience with stone exhibitionists or Sheela Na Gigs ( previously 1; 2; )
Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land
The Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land is a comprehensive spatially-referenced database of current archaeological knowledge of all periods of Levantine history and prehistory. Spatial search is a good entry point, as are the Palestine Exploration Fund historic maps. You can also search by time period or dig into the many ancient Empires of the area. Or just look at everything in the database. The site is a work in progress, but a cool one powered by a consortium of over 30 professional archaeologists. May require Google Maps. via
Kind of Blue turns 50
As jazz fans know, fifty years ago on March 2, 1959, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb met at the Columbia 30th Street Studios in NYC for the first session of Miles new album, Kind of Blue. (Link goes to the 50th anniversary collector's box set edition page at amazon.) It was the touchstone for many other future recordings bearing its mighty influence and it fostered several high profile careers, and a new modal sound for jazz. Kind of Blue went on to be certified platinum, selling 4 million records, the most ever for a jazz album. Bill Evans had left the band in late 1958, but was called back by Miles for the sessions, which included his new pianist Wynton Kelly on one track only, Freddie Freeloader. The tunes they did that day, "So What", "Blue in Green" (written by Evans, though credited to Miles) and "Freeloader" all became standards as did "All Blues" from the April session. Documentaries and entire books have been written on this one album alone. The phenomenon lives on. (previously on AskMeFi, but just on Trane and Miles.)
Helium, as depicted in wood
Around 1965ish, artist Joel Rothberg created a series of woodcuts illustrating Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars (gutenberg link), the first book in the John Carter series. In the series, Rothberg detailed Carter killing his first Thark; a herd of thoats; and Carter winning Dejah Thoris. Via. [more inside]
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