July 20, 2013
On Alfred Mainzer Cats Dressed As People Postcards, Take Two
Well, as the old links are all now dead, I guess that it's time to repost On Alfred Mainzer Cats Dressed As People Postcards... [more inside]
What It Would Look Like If You Dropped Manhattan Into the Grand Canyon
Through the use of Photoshop, Swiss photographer Gus Petro shows us what it would look like if Manhattan was dropped into the middle of the Grand Canyon.
The Vegas Hotspot That Broke All the Rules
“What would happen if some of those ‘priests’ in white robes started chasing you at 60 miles an hour?” Frank asked. “What would you do?” And Sammy answered, “Seventy.” The Moulin Rouge: The Vegas Hotspot That Broke All The Rules. Smithsonian Magazine on the brief life but long-lasting legacy of Las Vegas' first racially integrated casino.
Italy is in deep, deep trouble. Who will save it?
Bill Emmott, former editor of The Economist, is an Italophile who could no longer stand by and watch the country he loves so dearly go down the tubes. [more inside]
China's Black Market City
Chen Mingyuan has lived here all his life, but he still gets lost every time he drives into Wenzhou. “All the roads in this town were built by businessmen, so none of them make any sense,” Chen says as we back out of what we just discovered is a one-way street. For the last 30 years, private citizens in this southeastern China metropolis have largely taken over one of the least questioned prerogatives of governments the world over: infrastructure. Is Wenzhou, the richest city in China's richest province, a libertarian paradise?
"But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl."
18 years ago yesterday, on July 19, 1995, Clueless was released in theaters. Directed by Amy Heckerling and based on Jane Austen's novel Emma, it became known for its fashion and quote-ability, and has an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [more inside]
San Diego Comic-Con Memories: more than just comics
If you look at the attendance of San Diego Comic-Con, you'll notice that it started shooting up in 2000, you might be tempted to think it was because Hollywood finally found Comic-Con. But you'd be wrong, and you'd be overlooking decades of movie promotions, from the first Superman trailer and the Alien promotion in the late 1970s, to the (mostly) cult films featured in the early 1990s. io9 has some images from the early days, and you can spend hours (or days) perusing through Comic-Con memories.
Writing On Not Writing
Comedian Stewart Lee gave an hour long talk earlier this year on the place of writing, or not writing, in standup comedy. Last week, the UK comedy website Chortle took some of his comments mentioning comedians who use writers, and stirred up a minor controversy. Lee has since released a statement to clarify the context.
Alas Smith
RIP Mel Smith, British comedian, actor, writer, director and producer. First coming to fame in the ground-breaking Not The Nine O'Clock News he went on to make Alas Smith And Jones with Griff Rhys-Jones. He produced many theatrical productions and directed several films including The Tall Guy and Bean. He also played the albino in The Princess Bride. (Previous) [more inside]
The Dean of the White House Press Corp
Helen Thomas (Previously and Previously and Previously), who covered ten different administrations in her 49 years in the White House Press Corps (and maintained her rabble rouser image with both Republican and Democratic administrations), has died at age 92.
The World's End
The First Post, The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands, The Good Companions, The Trusty Servant, The Two Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King's Head, The Hole in the Wall, THE WORLD'S END
The Injured Coast
Teju Cole (previously) live-tweeted on Friday his trip across the Slave Coast from Lagos, Nigeria to Ouidah, Benin.
Not Lying
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples , has swept the Eisners, taking home awards for Best Continuing Series, Best New Series and Best Writer. Here's why you should be reading it.
The Maple Leaf, but not forever
Before the 1980 Act of Parliament which made O Canada the national anthem of Canada, the anthem was functionally God Save the Queen, but there was another patriotic song which served as the unofficial anthem: The Maple Leaf Forever. The song was written by poet Alexander Muir in October of 1867 to celebrate the confederation of Canada in July of that year and was famously inspired by a silver maple which stood in his front yard on Laing St in Toronto. Last night's storms brought the tree down, after a century and a half. [more inside]
London Underground in the 80s
Moog Family Feud
Robert Moog's personal archives of notes, plans, drawings and recordings were donated to Cornell University Library by his wife this week and will be housed in the library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.
The donation came as a surprise to non-profit Moog Foundation in Asheville, which led by one of his daughters and has spent the last 8 years preserving his archives of instruments, photos and papers, reel to reel tapes, recordings and prototypes, with preservation grants from the GRAMMY foundation and had been working towards opening a ""Moogseum"" with the archives.
A personal statement from Moog's daughter on the Transfer of Bob Moog's Archives. [more inside]
Chaconne from Bach's Partita no. 2 for violin, on the hammered dulcimer
Chaconne from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita no. 2 for violin (BWV 1004), played on the hammered dulcimer by Mihail Leonchik. Youtube.
Neutrino and meson breakthroughs
While perhaps not quite as errm climactic as yesterday's news of pitch dripping in Trinity College, physics news dripping out of Stockholm reveals that
The Super Kamiokande T2K group has verified with great certainty that neutrinos oscillate among 3 flavors in flight (which could help explain what happened to the antimatter in the universe), and CERN has used the LHC to measure the decay time of the rare B sub s meson, ending a 25-year search.
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