June 20, 2012
Artists of Angola
'At Angola Prison in Louisiana, model inmates or "trustees" are encouraged to participate in "hobby craft" as a part of their rehabilitation. Hobby craft is an arts program that involves painting, wood & leather working, taxidermy, furniture building, and many other disciplines.In many cases, they are given special workshops, tools and even private studios to work in.The goods are sold to the public at the prison’s annual rodeo and art fair. The money raised is then split mainly between inmates' families and prison administration, with the inmates themselves receiving only a small amount to buy more materials for the next fair. A sad irony is that this rehabilitation will rarely benefit the prisoners in the outside world because 90% of them have life sentences, and will end up being laid to rest at "The Farm."' A photographic essay.
Jumping Bean Robots
A team of Georgia Inst of Technology engineers has published a study of the rolling action of Mexican jumping beans.
"The researchers developed an algorithm of the beans’ behavior, which they then used to program rolling robots to move in a controlled direction."
Abstract here.
Interesting video of bean races included.
This country will self-destruct in 3 .. 2 ..
"McPhee describes two things: how Switzerland requires military service from every able-bodied male Swiss citizen—a model later emulated and expanded by Israel—and how the Swiss military has, in effect, wired the entire country to blow in the event of foreign invasion. To keep enemy armies out, bridges will be dynamited and, whenever possible, deliberately collapsed onto other roads and bridges below; hills have been weaponized to be activated as valley-sweeping artificial landslides; mountain tunnels will be sealed from within to act as nuclear-proof air raid shelters; and much more." (via)
Electricity in Japan
In the year and a half since the earthquake and tsunami caused an industry-wide Japanese nuclear shutdown , Japanese consumers and businesses have been urged to conserve energy whenever possible. Although a few reactors are being brought back online temporarily, the Japanese government has pledged to move away from nuclear power sources. Yesterday the Japanese government announced what may be the world's highest solar photovolatic feed-in tariff at 53 cents per kWh generated. [more inside]
Larry buys Lana'i
Larry Ellison is buying 98% of Lanai, one of the Hawaiian Islands. Best way to protect the island and the commons? or bad precedent and an example of the tyranny of small decisions?
Rio+20; US demurs on equity.
As hopes for the future of multilateral action on the environment are fading, the draft negotiating text of "The future we want", the Rio+20 declaration was leaked, showing where the US delegation was seeking to remove any and all references to equity.
These Are the Books That Make You Totally Undateable
Flavorwire "asked both men and women of various sexual orientations to share the books that they think render their devotees totally undateable". [more inside]
Denigrating the Olympics One Stitch at a Time
The knitosphere is in an uproar after being needled by a US Olympic Committee law clerk who thought it would be a good idea to tell Ravelry to cease using the word "Ravelympics" to describe their summer 2012 knitting marathon for trademark infringement, and because it "tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games". (Last link requires a Ravelry account, but the full text of the letter is here.)
Where should we go tonight?
David Chan has eaten at 6,090 Chinese restaurants. He's eaten at more than 300 Chinese restaurants in New York alone and visited every state. Here's his list of the top ten Chinese restaurants in America, all of which are in California, most in Los Angeles. [more inside]
Welcome to AMERCIA!
"What facts about the United States do foreigners not believe until they come to America? In the episode "True Urban Legends" [originally aired 4.23.2010] of This American Life, Mary Wiltenburg asks refugees to share the rumors they'd heard about America but didn't think were true, only to discover on arrival that they were. Examples include homelessness and Christmas lights." Quora members weigh in. [more inside]
RIP Andrew Sarris
RIP Andrew Sarris, the legendary film critic who popularized the auteur theory in the United States, sparred with arch-rival Pauline Kael, and helped define American film criticism. [more inside]
Ian Hacking introduces Thomas Kuhn fifty years on.
That is the structure of scientific revolutions: normal science with a paradigm and a dedication to solving puzzles; followed by serious anomalies, which lead to a crisis; and finally resolution of the crisis by a new paradigm. Another famous word does not occur in the section titles: incommensurability. This is the idea that, in the course of a revolution and paradigm shift, the new ideas and assertions cannot be strictly compared to the old ones. Even if the same words are in use, their very meaning has changed. That in turn led to the idea that a new theory was not chosen to replace an old one, because it was true but more because of a change in world view. The book ends with the disconcerting thought that progress in science is not a simple line leading to the truth. It is more progress away from less adequate conceptions of, and interactions with, the world. via 3quarksdaily
Why do scammers say they are from Nigeria?
Why Do Online Scammers Say They Are From Nigeria? A research paper from Microsoft argues it's a method of weeding out the savvy [via Slate]. [more inside]
A Case So Cold It Was Blue
"I am lying awake in bed, trying to decide whether or not to have an abortion."
"The only thing that makes my abortion decision different from anyone else’s abortion decision is that some people who are against abortion will think that my abortion is acceptable." Boing Boing's Maggie Koerth-Baker on what she's dubbed "The World's Shittiest Secret Society."
Little Bear Fire
(decisions made easier in this hideous homemade christmas sweater)
In the Studio: The Process of a Painting. Mark Schoening gives New American Paintings a look into his months-long process on a new painting. More on Shoening's Tumblr and Vimeo.
Dance like everybody's watching
4 years later, Matt Harding has a new Dance Video. Here are his older records of Travel around the World: 2008, 2006 and the original from 2004-5. What a life! [more inside]
I've got bad news for you: Your father's dead. But you're safe. And so is the world.
Spider-Man 1969 fan film - "The first ever documented Spider-Man fan film, and the first (unofficial) live action appearance of Spider-Man from 1969! This was produced by Donald F. Glut and was his last amateur film (he had produced many other Marvel fan films before this) before moving on to write for classic cartoons like Transformers and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends." (via)
The Grand Tour of MTB
The 2012 Tour Divide kicked off on the 8th of June. This grand tour takes self-supported cyclists from Banff, AB CA to Antelope Wells, NM, USA along the North American Continental Divide. Riders must endure 4418 km (2745 miles) of dirt and gravel, with over 60,000 meters (200,000 ft) of climbing. If you want to win - plan on riding 16+ hours a day. Participants are now spread across the route, with the leader approaching the Colorado border.
"In general the furnishings are nice; relatively plush and comfortable but the embassy itself is really very small and even the ambassador's office, although pleasant, is not all that roomy."
Julian Assange has breached his bail conditions in London and is currently petitioning for asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy. It is uncertain whether asylum will be granted, though Assange has a personal friendship with Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador. If his asylum bid is successful however, it is unclear how he would get from the safe haven of the six room embassy office to Ecuador without being arrested by British authorities. Such stalemates have happened before. Cardinal József Mindszenty was unable to leave the US Embassy building in Budapest for fifteen years after being granted asylum. The Siberian Seven were a group of seven political refugees who lived in a twelve foot by twenty foot room in the basement of the US embassy in Moscow for five years after being granted asylum in 1978. And in 1989, Chinese scientist and political activist Fang Lizhi was granted asylum at the US embassy in Beijing following the Tiananmen Square Massacre. He lived in the office for thirteen months before being allowed safe passage to Britain. [more inside]
This post is just in time for the annual spaghetti harvest.
In the late 1970s the UK's Anglia Television ran a respected weekly documentary series: Science Report. But when the show was cancelled in 1977, the producers decided to channel Orson Welles in their final episode. The result was Alternative 3. Over the course of the hour, the audience would learn that a Science Report investigation into the UK "brain drain" had uncovered shocking revelations: man-made pollution had resulted in catastrophic climate change, the Earth would soon be rendered uninhabitable, and a secret American / Soviet joint plan was in place to establish colonies on the Moon and Mars. The show ended with footage of a US/Soviet Mars landing from May 22, 1962. After Alternative 3 aired, thousands of panicked viewers phoned the production company and demanded to know how long they had left to change planets. [more inside]
Tried cartoons and comic books / dirty postcards woman's looks / Here was where the money lay / Classic art has had its day.
Jimmy Page is often considered the first electric guitarist to play with violin bow. These days, Jonsí (of Sigur Ros) is the leading proponent of six-string bowing. The E-Bow, a modern-day magnetic invention has even attempted to replicate that sound of horsehair on steel, with popular success. But who did it first? Eddie Phillips. [more inside]
"I love being a turtle!!!"
'Caught in the act: the first record of copulating fossil vertebrates.' [BBC.co.uk] "The remains of the 47-million-year old animals were unearthed in the famous Messel Pit near Darmstadt, Germany. They were found as male-female pairs. In two cases, the males even had their tails tucked under their partners' as would be expected from the coital position. Details are carried in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters."
States of Failure 2012
The 2012 Foreign Policy/Fund for Peace list of Failed States has been published. Included in the report is the visually arresting Postcards from Hell. The complete issue on failed states is here. (Warning, slide shows and articles broken into far too many pages). (2010 Failed States Index on Mefi. 2009) [more inside]
Now Both Less Lonely and More Lonely
In October 2011, Jeff Ragsdale went around New York City posting flyers that read "If anyone wants to talk about anything, call me (347) 469-3173. Jeff, One Lonely Guy." So far, he's received more than 70,000 calls, text messages, and photos. [more inside]
Year of the Berlin-Brandenburg Flughafen Willy Brandt GmbH
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest Live! On Stage! One Entire Day Only!
overdressed: the high cost of cheap fashion
The Afterlife of Cheap Clothes is an excerpt from Elizabeth Cline's book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. 10 facts from Overdressed. An interview with Cline on Salon. Cheap clothing's high cost (infographic). Previously: stuff we don't want. [more inside]
“...and you actually would hate people with zeros in their numbers”
Rotobooth is a rotary phone photobooth - dial in your phone number and it takes your picture, uploads it to Flickr, and sends you a link via SMS. [more inside]
'A childhood that began with a sort of cautious optimism quickly devolved into absolute horse shit.'
One Punch Over The Line
Brian Vander Lee remains on life support, after being hit in the head at a restaurant on Sunday, by Minneapoiis police sergeant David Clifford. Although Vander Lee is expected to live, many do not. One punch homicides are more common than you might think.
"At 9 a.m. the next day, Tuomisto called police and turned himself in."When will I get to tell my story?" he asked from the back of the squad car.
"Fucking one punch," he said. "I don't know how this happened."
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Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom
Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story. While not as famous as Bill Graham's Fillmore Theaters, from 1966 to 1970, Detroit's Grande Ballroom hosted national acts such as Cream, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, and Pink Floyd. The brainchild of Russ Gibb, with help from activist John Sinclair, the Grande provided a stage for local bands like The MC5, SRC, The Rationals, The Amboy Dukes, The Frost and the The Stooges. The Grande had it's own psychedelic poster artists Gary Grimshaw and Carl Lundgren. Leni Sinclair took pictures.
Local boys from the Grande that went on to national prominence included The Bob Seger System, Alice Cooper, and Grand Funk Railroad. [more inside]
Solo hay que saber mirar.
Horacio Coppola has died aged 105.
He was the great master of Argentine photography of the twentieth century, and of Buenos Aires in the thirties.
Here is a video of his work, and some stills and some more.
He was the great master of Argentine photography of the twentieth century, and of Buenos Aires in the thirties.
Here is a video of his work, and some stills and some more.
I think I might be the voice of my generation. Or at least _a_ voice of _a_ generation.
"The world of entertainment still, all too often, values women only as objects of beauty to be placed on screen and ogled. [...] [T]he world is full of other women who have profound, intelligent, often hilarious things to say, and Dunham is very quietly making a space for those voices on TV, in a way that’s revolutionary both in terms of the show’s gender politics and in terms of its presentation. - AVClub critic TodVanDerWerff on "how [the HBO show] Girls challenges the masculine expectations of 'good TV.'" [more inside]
Luis von Ahn's Duolingo - translate the web
Luis von Ahn has spoken about the idea of Human Computation in the past, he's the guy who created ReCAPTCHA's, using those anti-spam tests to help decipher digitized books. Now he has a new idea, Duolingo - learn a language for free while helping to translate text from the web.
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