May 7, 2012
The honeybees are still dying
This Week In 'What Is Wrong With Black Women'
Nichelle Gainer (whose Vintage Black Glamour blog was seen previously on MeFi) responds insightfully to a NY Times editorial by author Alice Randall called "Why Black Women Are Fat."
Let's Not Fuck, Shall We
Here’s the thing, ladies: I don’t want to have sex with you. Michael Ian Black discusses the cultural message of the male libido and how it differs from his experience.
I am Tits.
You gotta crawl before you ball.
Grandpa Was A Baller The weird, wonderful tales of an early NBA player, who happens to be my grandfather.
Keep Your Joy.
When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
He considered himself an artist, but his work, while popular and incendiary, showed little talent or originality. Later in life he took up working with precious metals, and that would be the craft he’s remembered for, but earlier in his career he printed his own engravings, or his version of the work of others. Earlier this year at Brown University’s John Hay Library, something very rare was discovered. One of Paul Revere’s prints depicting the Baptism of Christ was found tucked in an old textbook. While not a particularly valuable work or great art, this rare print does tell us a bit about the man as an artist, and about his faith. [more inside]
Hook Up Your Slurry Tube And Chow Down
io9 asks the question: When and Why did Science Fiction drop the ubiquitous "Dinner in a pill" device?
$250,000
How ‘Mad Men’ Landed The Beatles. Apple Corps licenses a Beatles track to Lionsgate for use on last night's Mad Men. It's the first time a Beatles master recording has been licensed for use on a television show.
The Distance of the Moon
In honor of this Saturday's Supermoon, a story from Italo Calvino about a time the moon was even closer. And a short film based on the story. (Hebrew w/ English subtitles)
clever clave
“If anyone can move Afro-Cuban music into greater visibility, it’s [Pedrito] Martinez.” [more inside]
Spider silk nanostructure one silly nanometer more amorphous
Untangling the mysteries of spider silk
See also Total X-Ray Scattering of Spider Dragline Silk
See also New internal structure of spider dragline silk revealed by atomic force microscopy.
See also Atomistic model of the spider silk nanostructure
See also Total X-Ray Scattering of Spider Dragline Silk
See also New internal structure of spider dragline silk revealed by atomic force microscopy.
See also Atomistic model of the spider silk nanostructure
Chomsky publishes new book, Occupy
Noam Chomsky has released a new book -- Occupy -- through Zuccotti Park Press. In Occupy, Chomsky discusses how a real democracy would work, how we can separate money from politics, and why everyday Americans are deciding to protest.
AlterNet recently posted an extensive interview with Chomsky, who claims America and Europe are committing economic suicide. Chomsky's focus on the OWS movement comes at the same time as coverage on the alleged Cleveland bridge bombing conspirators' close association with Occupy Cleveland.
AlterNet recently posted an extensive interview with Chomsky, who claims America and Europe are committing economic suicide. Chomsky's focus on the OWS movement comes at the same time as coverage on the alleged Cleveland bridge bombing conspirators' close association with Occupy Cleveland.
dadadadadada....puppets.....da da..da da..da da
The female members of the Dada movement are not so well known.
Sophie Taeuber was into puppets as was Hannah Höch; 2 & 3 and Emmy Hennings. Taeuber and Hennings were both heavily involved in Cabaret Voltaire.
A brief history of Radical Puppetry (Hannah Höch previously).
Sophie Taeuber was into puppets as was Hannah Höch; 2 & 3 and Emmy Hennings. Taeuber and Hennings were both heavily involved in Cabaret Voltaire.
A brief history of Radical Puppetry (Hannah Höch previously).
She's been to Earth. She didn't care for it.
"Historical dramas have a lot in common with science fiction when you consider how alien/exotic the settings might seem to a contemporary audience. As a kind of squeakquel to the Arthur C. Clarke maxim; “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” I’d like to assert that any sufficiently different set of social mores in a historical context is indistinguishable from an alternate universe. Consider the following bizzaro dimension: limited electricity, paranoia related to class struggles, shifting loyalties, and rigid caste system. Could it be Battlestar Galactica? Yes, But it’s also Downton Abbey!" [more inside]
"What appears as discipline or “tough love” from one perspective often appears as abuse from another."
On Tiger Moms: "What the controversy surrounding Chua demonstrates, however inadvertently, is that parenting techniques are always grounded in basic assumptions about the way things are and what matters to us. And they are always guided by some answer to the most fundamental of ethical questions—how to live?" [more inside]
Popping my piece with no probable cause
Slaughter Rico, perhaps best known for a gritty and inspired (but very-much slandered) manic YouTube performance [lyrics] is a low-key rapper from Philadelphia who has cranked out some pretty amazing contributions to the underground hip-hop community [freestyle video]. [more inside]
O'Sullivan: Master of the Fallen Years
"As the Nazis approached Paris, the American Colony broke camp & abandoned the city like rats from a sinking ship. Behind them they left a frail, elderly, impoverished, homeless Irish-American who, as a young man, had been an heir to wealth, a close friend to Beardsley & Wilde, & the only important American in the 1890s Aesthetic movement of England & France. He was Vincent O'Sullivan, one of the world's great authors of horror fiction..." [more inside]
Dialing Back
Hear how popular music has changed from 1940 to today with the Radio Time Machine. Choose a year and hear samples of songs from the top of the Billboard 100 (or full songs if you're logged in to Rdio).
Call Me Maybe: Viral? Totally
4 (to 6) easy steps to viral fame through pop music: 1) write and record a catchy pop song, 2) get radio play for your song, and 3) get Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to hear your song, so 4) they tweet about enjoying your song. Bonus steps to further fame: 5) make a video that has a twist ending, which 6) people (including Bieber and Gomez) cover and remake and share online for further fame and fortune. Thanks to all this, Carly Rae Jepsen's pop dance song has moved beyond Canada, and is charting all over the world. If that's not enough, NPR's Ann Powers has further thoughts on the pop hit and its video. [more inside]
In brightest day, in blackest night, the basic layout, is sketched in light
à-peu-près rock et toujours brillant
Telerama Concerts Privé, recorded live in Paris: Wilco - Bonnie Prince Billy - The Shins - Jonathan Wilson
Oniongate
Undoubtedly, at some point in your life, a recipe has told you to brown or caramelize some onions for 5-10 minutes. As many frustrated cooks have found through experience, this step of the recipe is a damned lie. In fact, the now-ubiquitous suggestion of 5-10 minutes isn't even a remote approximation of the amount of time it takes to brown an onion; Alton Brown and Julia Child weigh in on the matter, suggesting that the task can take anywhere from 45 minute to an hour. [more inside]
"You've got another tortoise that's so small, it's vanished?"
In 1962, Yorkshire man Brendon Grimshaw bought the island of Moyenne in the middle of the Indian Ocean for £8000. He has since dedicated his life to turning it into a tropical paradise; including planting over sixteen thousand trees, building nearly five kilometers for nature paths, and reintroducing over 100 land tortoises. It's now the world's smallest National Park. [more inside]
A Rare Insight Into Kowloon Walled City
Must...resist...editorial...comment
That politician got amnesia again. Kim Dotcom, of previously fame, has released a videoless youtube 'video' of a rap song he created with with Black Eyed Peas producer and songwriter Printz Board, about 'anonymous' donations he made to a local politician.
His dissertation was a slam dunk
We Who Are ABout To Bug Out Salute You
We Who Are About to Bug Out Salute You
Rutherford B. Hayes.... brought the troops home and ended Reconstruction, with the almost unanimous support of the nation’s liberal establishment. They too fought politically against slavery before the Civil War, risked their lives to emancipate its victims, and, too soon, couldn’t wait to bug out of the South.
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