August 26, 2016
Are the kids alright?
Season six of American Horror Story premieres in the US on September 14th. Unlike previous seasons of the anthology, however, FX is keeping this season's theme under wraps, teasing the audience with no fewer than 19 promos, each depicting a different potential show (which themselves reference different horror movies.) [more inside]
Syria's worst case scenario is the current one.
Syria’s Paradox: Why the War Only Ever Seems to Get Worse. " The average [civil war] now lasts about a decade, twice as long as Syria’s so far. But there are a handful of factors that can make them longer, more violent and harder to stop. Virtually all are present in Syria." [more inside]
Don't take this sitting down.
A brief history of chairs by architect and professor Witold Rybczynski covers the fascinating (really) history of chairs, the subject of his new book Now I Sit Me Down. He has also written about the lack of thoughtful design in airline seats and how architects have struggled to create the perfect chair (researching this article apparently inspired the book). Don't miss the photographs of the 7 chairs that changed the world.
Sorry to Bug Ya
Yesterday, "A crazed woman trying to sell crickets and worms on a D train suddenly threw them all over the crowded car, sending it into chaos during the evening commute." "The air conditioning shut off and the screaming passengers were all stuck inside the sweltering car with the woman, who then treated them to antics for half an hour as the crickets jumped on passengers. The worms just wriggled on the floor."
Today, actress Zaida Pugh admits she staged the incident, calling it a "a performance art piece meant to highlight the way people with mental and emotional health issues are treated."
Pretty Polly Parrot Portuguese
This Brazilian duo of guitar and parrot are pretty good, but birds and guitars are not unusual. [more inside]
“an ahead-of-its-time innovation and an exactly-of-its-time decadence”
The Legend of the Choco Taco [Eater] “For just about everyone other than the French inventor of the Cronut, the Choco Taco [wiki] is the stuff of nostalgic summer sweet tooth obsession — the most beloved and innovative of all the American ice cream "novelties." Its acolytes are legion. Restaurant pastry chefs and boutique scoop shop owners regularly pay homage.”
"Everybody dies with loose ends"
Poet Max Ritvo has died at 25. His "Poem to my Litter" appeared in the New Yorker in June. His debut collection, Four Reincarnations will be published in October by Milkweed Editions.
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Semi-Submersible Heavy Transport Vessels
Is The Texas AG Leading A Nationwide War Against Transgender People?
Most of the media focus on Transgender rights up until now have been on "Bathroom Bills" that are being presented across the country, yet in doing so, we are, as Chase Strangio, Staff Attorney for the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project states, ...ceding the terms of this conversation to the people who want to expel trans people from public life and write us out of existence."
But is that really happening? Are there people who want to write trans people out of existence? [more inside]
But is that really happening? Are there people who want to write trans people out of existence? [more inside]
I Came From Nothing
Known as much for his flamboyant style as his prolific output, rapper, singer and weirdo Young Thug [prev] has released a new commercial mixtape (can we call commercial mixtapes albums already?). The project title No, My Name Is JEFFERY asserts a new identity, and the music continues to twist the Atlanta trap sound in new and strange directions. "I always had a Michael Jackson mentality…The message is to go back to who I really am. I really am Jeffery. That’s really my swag." Oh, and the cover art is wild.
Anne Boleyn was a Pointy. Jane Seymour was a ROUND.
How Cuts to Public Universities Have Driven Students Out of State
NYT: "Declines in state support for public universities have helped reshape the geography of public college admissions, leading many students to attend universities far from home, where they pay higher, out-of-state tuition. An analysis of migration patterns among college freshmen shows the states students leave each year and where they go." How does your state measure up? [more inside]
Uber Risky
These days, everybody's betting on Uber. In the firm's seven years of existence, it has attracted nearly $15 billion dollars in funding via a nearly-unprecedented 14 rounds of investment. While Uber's management have made it intentionally difficult for small investors to own shares of the company, big investors are betting on Uber in droves. All this led Quartz's Steve LeVine to wonder — What if they're wrong? Can somebody make the opposite bet? Is it even possible to short Uber? [Spoiler: Basically, no.]. Earlier this year, Uber announced its expansion into subprime lending, and on Thursday, announced that it had lost $1.2 billion in the first half of 2016.
Be a Reporter!
Up until last year, the Newseum in Washington, D.C. had a YouTube channel (preserved at NewseumArchives) that uploaded every video made by visitors who went the the museum's "Be a Reporter!" exhibit and recorded themselves doing a TV news segment. Or practicing their golf swing. Or saying hi to their moms. Or contemplating the abyss. Sage Boggs of Mic has been tweeting out some of the highlights.
Clearly just an excuse for a cool URL
Time to Statham Punch is a helpful reference if you want to know how long it takes in a given movie for Jason Statham to punch someone, "ideally in the face". [more inside]
Little People, Big Woes in Hollywood
The Hollywood Reporter takes a longform look at the history and current status of little people in Hollywood, from the 124 dwarfs (not dwarves) who played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz to Peter Dinklage's Golden Globe speech where he called for viewers to google Martin Henderson, a little person who was paralyzed after being picked up and thrown to the ground by a drunk outside a bar. [more inside]
How hot is too hot?
The Food Lab teams up with Adam Savage's (MeFi's own) Tested to find the perfect method for searing steaks.
Philly train station's iconic flipping departures board will be replaced
Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is home to one of the few remaining "split-flap display" departure boards. The flipping, clicking board, which is managed on four desktop computers running Windows 95, will soon be replaced by a digital display. Other stations' split-flap display boards have been replaced by digital displays that try and mimic the look and sounds of the original. Aficionados and nostalgics, take note: the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg may be acquiring 30th Street's board. Interested in seeing a split-flap board in action before they're all gone? Wikipedia has a list of remaining boards around the world.
Fart Touch
University of Chicago writes a letter to its incoming freshmen
The University of Chicago does not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces'. [more inside]
Utah doom
Salt Lake City progressive doom band SubRosa play a three-song set at Hellfest 2014. [Fat of the Ram, 0.04; Ghosts of a Dead Empire, 15.40; The Usher, 27:50.] [more inside]
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