May 27, 2016
Scaling the Heights in China
To attend class, backpack-carrying pupils from Atuler village in Sichuan province must take on an 800-metre [2,600-foot] rock face, scrambling down rickety ladders and clawing their way over bare rocks as they go. (SLGuardian with internal link to original reporting in Chinese)
Football anthems and soccer songs, including one by Pop Will Eat Itself
There are a ton of football (soccer, for the US hooligans) songs and chants (Wiki category), enough to warrant a 4 CD compilation of "hit anthems" back in 2010, with such notables as Come On England and Goldenballs, which got both 4-4-2 and Bell and Spurling on Top of the Pops for their respective songs. But what about those lads who petitioned (but failed) to have FIFA get the Italian pornstar-turned-MP Ilona ‘Cicciolina’ Staller to present the 1990 World Cup trophy, Pop Will Eat Itself? They had their turn on TOTP with their unofficial World Cup anthem, Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina (SFW music video).
When you grow up hearing," Yeah, but you're one of the good ones"...
You don't choose to be the Cleverman. You get chosen. The similarities in Australian politics, literature, cinema and television to the United States are striking at times. One man's erasure has become inspiration for a tv show with the first ever Australian Indigenous superhero on the national broadcaster. Youtube link
Treasure Hunt
“I still think you could do something that no one has ever done before.” - the story of Kit Williams and Masquerade, a children's book of illustrations that also served as clue to the location of a golden hare, and, despite an ignoble end to the competition, kicked off a crazy off treasure hunting books and videogames in 1980s Britain.
I root for Yellow
The free physics simulator Algodoo is used to create (among many other things) soothing marble race videos. But once you've got colored balls racing each other, why not take things to the next level? Introducing the Algodecathlon and the Algicosathlon
“Its been the same ol’ thang, I swear the game don’t change”
“Safe”- MC Dumbfounded [NSFW Lyrics] [YouTube] Rapper Dumbfoundead Tackles Hollywood Racism in Amazing New Video [via: New York Magazine]
Average Roman worker died at 30 with bad bones
Almost 2,000 working-class Roman skeletons excavated over the past 15 years show high rates of broken bones, arthritis, and bone cancer, even though the average age of death was only 30. They probably mostly ate stale bread and rotting grains, unlike the "the rich inhabitants in Pompeii - a city of expensive villas and plush domuses" who "generally avoided hard labour and ate a varied diet." The full study is available as Bones: Orthopaedic Pathologies in Roman Imperial Age. "A multidisciplinary team including orthopaedists, paleopathologists, radiologists and medical historians has evaluated the major groups of bone disease in the population finding out incredible cases and picture of ortho-traumatologic pathologies in a pre-surgical era." [more inside]
Free State of Jones
The True Story of the 'Free State of Jones': A new Hollywood movie looks at the tale of the Mississippi farmer who led a revolt against the Confederacy (Smithsonian Mag). Newton Knight has always been a controversial figure. "This controversy was fueled in part by Knight's postwar marriage to a formerly enslaved black woman, which effectively established a small mixed-race community in southeastern Mississippi."(Jones County, Mississippi) [more inside]
Nuts about doughnuts
Officer Edith
“I told Pierre that hedgehogs love baths but he said no, People love hedgehogs having baths. There is a difference.” Officer Edith is: a) a green parrot, b) the office bird and mascot of San Francisco Animal Care & Control, and c) the persona behind what may be the best account on twitter dot com. [more inside]
When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter...
On July 22, 2013, Geraldine Largay stepped into the Maine woods and disappeared without a trace. The 66-year-old had been hiking the Appalachian Trail alone, and failed to make a scheduled meet-up with her husband. Her body was found over two years later, on October 16, 2015, just a 10 minute walk from a trail that turns into a dirt road. On Thursday, the Maine Warden Service released its files on her disappearance, revealing that she had survived for nearly four weeks before succumbing to starvation and exposure.
Momma!
RIP cartoonist Mell Lazarus, who wrote Miss Peach and Momma. NY Times obit. He also wrote two books, including The Boss is Crazy, Too. [more inside]
#BamForHam
The New York Times reports on the one Hamilton performance people might not be aware of - on the softball field as part of the Broadway Show League. (SLNYT)
"And the survey says... MY WEENIE"
World’s Deepest Flying Insect Lives in Darkness with No Food or Sex
Ursine Hammock Hijinks
A Progressive’s Style Guide
"Every day I experience how language can bring people together and build power. But language can also be divisive, dangerous, and exclusionary... I got to work on a Progressive Style Guide, (pdf) that would help guide fellow campaigners and writers in the progressive movement on using inclusive language."
Tabarnak! Tabarnak!
Don't Choke.
On Monday, Dr. Heimlich, at 96 years of age, finally used his maneuver to rescue a choking victim.
Bergoglio really should have gone for Lando II
The Brexit threat to Spain's little Britain
'Cause hydration is so ill
Making The Grades
How one California university faked students’ scores, skated by immigration authorities — and made a fortune in the process. Buzzfeed News covers allegations of grade faking (and more) at Northwestern Polytechnic University.
here to bury Salon, not praise it
The Curious History of “Tribal” Prints
simultaneous pursuit of wisdom and motherhood
Hungarian philosopher Zsófia Zvolenszky details her experiences of giving talks at philosophy conferences with a small child, starting when said daughter was 5 months old. [more inside]
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