August 14, 2010
News Arts Argument
frontsection.net is a tasteful, politically right-on and truly curatorial take on aggregating web content. Careful, combined with an MF habit, this is going to eat up a lot of hours. Although the site is MetaFilter-inspired, all links are the fruit of one intrepid reader whose work, it must be admitted, sometimes grinds to a halt for up to a week at a time.
I prefer the view I had yesterday.
Raising Chicago: An Illustrated History. Lilli Carré takes a look at an unusual civic project: 'Mid-19th-century Chicago was an emerging titan of agribusiness, a burgeoning transit hub, a potential star of the Midwest—and a disease-infested swamp in danger of being reclaimed by Lake Michigan. By 1855, with roads knee deep in sludge, city hall faced a massive undertaking: hoisting Chicago out of the muck by raising the streets and structures as much as 14 feet.' More about the raising of Chicago. (via)
Elderly and missing
“Living until 150 years old is impossible in the natural world,” said Akira Nemoto, director of the elderly services section of the Adachi ward office. “But it is not impossible in the world of Japanese public administration.”
Up until the end of July, no one knew how many people over the age of 100 were missing in Japan. Now, officials are scrambling to check on the elderly. [more inside]
You'll Be Missed, Ms. Lincoln
Not just a singer, but a songwriter. Not just an actress, but an activist. Abbey Lincoln helped to push the expectations that the jazz loving public had of jazz vocalists beyond the stereotype of sexy chanteuse delivering someone else's lyrics. From sexy and sultry (as in this clip from "The Girl Can't Help It") to quirky and passionate to elegant and expressive, Ms. Lincoln was a true original in every sense of the word. [more inside]
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Max Fleischer's Superman (1941-1942) In the early 1940s, Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons gave the Man of Steel an Art Deco flair and plenty of robots to defeat. Here's a brief history and some episodes of the cartoon (Previously)
That Was the This Week's Finds That Was
The 300th issue of This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics will be the last. It is not an exaggeration to say that when John Baez started publishing TWF in 1993, he invented the science blog, and an (academic) generation has now grown up reading his thoughts on higher category theory, zeta functions, quantum gravity, crazy pictures of roots of polynomials, science fiction, and everything else that can loosely be called either "mathematical" or "physics."
Baez continues to blog actively at n-category cafe and the associated nLab (an intriguingly fermented commune of mathematicians, physicists, and philosophers.) He is now starting a new blog, Azimuth, "centered around the theme of what scientists can do to help save the planet."
The Language of Food
The Language of Food is a blog with only four entries, but each one is an excellent, well-researched essay on, yes, food and language: ketchup, entrée, dessert, and ceviche. The author, Dan Jurafsky, teaches a parallel course at Stanford, the syllabus for which you can peruse here. via (mefi's own) honestengine.blogspot.com
ABBA spelled backwards...
(TYLM) There are actually many ABBA fans who believe their songs sound good even played backwards (and ABBA haters who think they sound better backwards). So, of course, there are now Backwards ABBA music videos on YouTube*: "eM nO ecnahC A ekaT", "emaC uoY erofeB yaD ehT", "emaG ehT fO emaN ehT", "llA tI sekaT renniW ehT", "sleeH revO daeH" "suoV-zeluoV", "yenoM yenoM yenoM" [more inside]
21st Century Vampires
"These are like pioneer times in publishing"
Dorchester Publishing (an original paperback publisher that distributes the Hard Case Crime series and is home to Leisure Books, which is "the only mass-market house with dedicated lines for Westerns [four books a month] and horror [two books a month]," and which also publishes a romance line that features six to eight titles monthly) will transition to an e-book only model. Perhaps only temporarily? Perhaps not so temporarily after all! Currently, e-book sales account for just 12% of Leisure's business, and their overall sales saw a 25% loss over the course of 2009. Popular horror novelist Brian Keene has already jumped ship from the house, citing lack of payment for his work.
Not exactly pole dancing.
Monster Commute
Monster Commute: A webcomic about the hell that is driving to work in the cute Orwellian steampunk monster-infested mirror universe of Monstru. [more inside]
Free-as-in-beer jazz
NPR is streaming the sets from the Newport Jazz Festival. Highlights include Dave Douglas' Brass Ecstasy, Marshall Allen with Joe Morris and Matthew Shipp, Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound, and Rez Abbasi.
Among the Flutterers
Among the Flutterers: In this long, thoughtful essay for the LRB, Irish novelist Colm Tóibín examines the relationship between the Catholic church and homosexuality.
I WILL NOT TURN IT DOWN, LAUREN FELSENSTEIN!
Ving Rhames gives a rather eccentric radio interview to promote his latest film. (SLYT) (Pepsi Piranha)
Ja-va-ooh-la-la
I Was Raised Right
Retroblogging
Retroblog - the web version of one American student's year abroad, 1988-89
Beans and ?
Ampersand Food Groups by Dan Beckemeyer.
Gay Jewish Magicians Kill Nazis
Of Course I've Read This, Way Easier to Watch Than Read, This Is The First Book I've Read In Six Years and more delightful Better Book Titles.
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The Menstruation Machine: an invention created by artist Hiromi Ozaki. "As a female designer I had one big problem I wanted to solve. "It’s 2010, so why are humans still menstruating?" "Fitted with a blood dispensing mechanism and lower-abdomen-stimulating electrodes, the Menstruation Machine is a device which simulates the pain and bleeding of an average 5 day menstruation process of a human (As a female designer I have done my best to simulate my own, at least)." Also: Menstruation Machine - Takashi's Take is a music video about a boy ‘Takashi’, who builds the menstruation machine in an attempt to dress up as a female, biologically as well as aesthetically, to fulfill his desire to understand what it might feel like to be a truely 'girly' girl. He determinedly wears the machine to hang out with his kawaii friend in Tokyo, but…"
Reverse evolution?
New old photos from behind the scenes at Twin Peaks
Paula K. Shimatsu-u, who worked behind the scenes at Twin Peaks, has a book coming out with previously unpublished photos from on and off the set. Wired has a gallery that boasts, among other delights, Michael Horse reading a book beside a deer's head, and Sheryl Lee with Sherilyn Fenn wearing, respectively, a lovely bobble cap and a very fetching jumper.
Pro Wrestler Lance Cade Dead at 29
Another professional wrestling death. Former WWE wrestler Lance Cade has died at age 29 of apparent heart failure. This brings the number of professional wrestling performers who have died before the age of 50 since 1985 to 77.
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