May 11, 2010
Snikt!
'80s Obscura
Obscure, overlooked, early '80s new wave/electro/artpunk. JOHN FEKNER CITY SQUAD: Player on left. Try 2 4 5 7 9 11. Or better just listen to them all. Eighties synth wave doesn't get much better than this. Sound collage at the next level. Throbbing synths + icy guitar: Beautiful Skin - Harsh distraction. Gods of psychedelic coldwave, Lives of Angels (Gallis Pole). Trees: Sleep Convention. And Necropolis of Love (yes, that is how we danced in the eighties).
Tzvia Greenfield
Tzvia Greenfield is the first ultra-Orthodox woman to serve in Knesset, the Israeli legislature, representing the left-wing party Meretz. Her 2001 book Hem Mefahadim ("They are afraid,") an attack on rightism and insularity among the ultra-Orthodox, drew death threats. Despite her sharp criticism of the religious community ("The big issue here is a very delicate one. That is children. Large families thirty years ago was six children; now there's 13 or 14 - from one wife. I believes the glorification of bringing as many children as possible is a definite way of ensuring women can't bring their advantages into effect - subjugation.")
she still lives an observant life in the ultra-Orthodox community of Har Nof. "They disagree with my ideas but they know me as religious and halachic person. They cannot see any blemish in my practice except for one thing- we have a dog." At least one haredi denies that Greenfield is Orthodox at all. (The dog comes up.)
Would You Want to Know?
"Starting Friday, Walgreens' shoppers can buy an over-the-counter genetics test from Pathway Genomics at 7,500 stores across the country. Priced at $20 to $30, the kit claims to offer information on users' possibility of developing conditions like Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, or diabetes. Access to the scientific analysis online, however, costs another $79 to $179"* [video | 02:31]. "But doctors and geneticists fear the worst for this new over-the-counter access to genetic testing. With no physician to interpret the results of the test, and no FDA regulation of how results are processed or delivered, there is the potential for consumers to misinterpret what their risk really means for their health and their lifestyle."* [more inside]
Bowie 76: somewhere between Mars and Berlin
Fifty Extraordinary Churches
Inside Mind Control
More than 30 years after it was written, the Pentagon has released a memorandum detailing its involvement in the CIA’s infamous Cold War mind-control experiments. The entire document, as linked to in the article, is available as a pdf.
An exclusive interview with Mr. Robert Dutu
"i accept the fact that i am GUILTY… and will not hesitate to be prosecuted when the law catch up with me… and i know my God will forgive because i pray to him to replenish the pockets of my clients with double of whatever they loss"
Mike Nash has a surprisingly frank chat with a 419 scammer.
bof fri fleu
Given the news that Joe Biden's son Beau had a mild stroke today, perhaps it would be helpful to know the warning sides. FAST was a series of public service announcements from the Massachusetts Department of Health. You could be a hero! HBCH!
Cressbeckler
He first made headlines during the 2008 Presidential election as an electric (but polarizing) third party candidate. Though some considered him a marginal, fringe voice representing the worst of today's far-right wing, it looks like Joad Cressbeckler will be having the last laugh. Today ONN announced that he will be joining their nightly lineup with his own prime-time show The Cressbeckler Stance.
Indecision day UK style
Following days of uncertainty not witnessed since 1974, David Cameron makes a hasty entrance to 10 Downing Street, an hour or so after Gordon Brown made a surprisingly hasty exit. [more inside]
Electric Boogaloo (2): The True Electric Boogaloo
We've seen volcanic eruptions with lightning, heard the musical styles blending modern electro with the (samoan) sasa, and had a few snowclones of the phrasal play from Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (a quick way to tag often unnecessary sequels; exhibits: A, B, C, D, and E), but no sign of the originals. Without further ado, I present The Electric Boogaloos. Float and glide on in for more. [more inside]
Food of the Times: Presidential Gastronomy
Although they admit a mutual fondness for a good burger and fries now and then, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama try to emphasize healthy eating at the White House. In 2009, the White House had its first vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s World War II victory garden. This is quite a change to the meal President Eisenhower sat down to a little more than 50 years ago at the USDA's Beltsville Research Station. Eisenhower's own method of cooking a steak was not on the menu, as the showcase meal featured 22 “new and improved” foods, including modified milk containing increased nonfat milk solids and decreased butter, dehydrofrozen peas, orange juice reconstituted from a dehydrated powder, beef and pork grown with newly discovered hormones and antibiotics added, and “butter prepared, presumably, by the usual methods.” Our national conversation about food goes on and the White House will likely continue be at the center of it. Hopefully, we don’t end up with President Garfield's last meal as a White House canteen staple [recipe, including tip on getting rid of the “troublesome little bones.”] Bon Appetit!
Conan@Google
Conan@Google A 45 minute Q&A session Conan O'Brien at Google HQ. If thought the 60 minutes interview (previously) wasn't funny enough, this is definitely for you.
1 billion people are hungry
While folks ponder the nutritional value of the new KFC "double down" sandwich, around the world 1 billion people go to bed each day hungry, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.)
(BTW, If you define hunger or malnourishment in a different way, 1 billion could be just the tip of the iceberg.)
Today the F.A.O. asked those who find the world hunger situation to be outrageous to join with them and "blow the whistle" on this silent crisis.
MIT's media lab helped them set up an online networking tool to track the global spread of this movement.
Jeremy Irons is on on board... and mad as hell.
The fragility of reputation
Surviving the Age of Humiliation. Jeffrey Zaslow: "It's no longer just celebrities and business executives who need to think about aggressive reputation-protection and face-saving techniques."
3-D != Serious Drama
“We have snakes in the newsroom.”
Rrrrrrrrr!! ROONEY!!!
The ultimate GET OFF MY LAWN collection. Time magazine of all places brings the LOLZ with the ultimate Andy Rooney Top 10. What's a Lady Gaga?
SIM + meat cleaver = Micro SIM
A Moment in Time
A Moment in Time: On April 8, the New York Times Lens photography blog asked their readers and students to take a photo at a particular date and time: Sunday, May 2, at approximately 15:00 (U.T.C./G.M.T.), then submit it for an upcoming interactive online gallery. 13,000 images were submitted, 10,000 have now been posted online. [more inside]
Old-time songster, Henry Thomas
Born in Big Sandy, Texas in 1874, Henry Thomas was one of the oldest black musician who ever recorded for the phonograph companies of the 1920′s and his music represents a rare opportunity to hear what American black folk music must have sounded like in the last decade of the 19th century. [more inside]
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