September 12, 2014
Did the money do any good?
From Horizon To Innocence
U2's thirteenth studio album Songs Of Innocence was released for free download via iTunes this week (with surprisingly good reviews and some naysayers). And of course, some controversy about how it was distributed... But it's been 5 1/2 years since the release of their last album. What on earth have they been up in the meantime? [more inside]
Imagine she's all about that bass and you're going to hear her roar.
Kate Davis performs 3 covers:
feat. Postmodern Jukebox - Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass
at New York Humane Society - Katy Perry's Roar
and three years ago on the Lennon Bus - Imagine
[more inside]
feat. Postmodern Jukebox - Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass
at New York Humane Society - Katy Perry's Roar
and three years ago on the Lennon Bus - Imagine
[more inside]
Reaffirming My Faith in the Young
The Most Punk Rock Diary Entry Ever. Discovered by Jason Isbel, as reported by Badass Digest.
Potential Hydrogen Production Breakthrough
100 Bass Riffs ... but no Big Bottom
100 Bass Riffs: A Brief of Groove on Bass and Drums. From the folks at Chicago Music Exchange who previously brought you 100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N' Roll).
Giving "Four Eyes" A Whole New Meaning
Misogyny and the Atheist Movement
Will Misogyny Bring Down The Atheist Movement? "The continuing debate over a murky sexual encounter at a 2008 convention for cheekily anti-establishment skeptics underscores a broader dilemma: How can a progressive, important intellectual community behave so poorly towards its female peers?"
Police Within Reach
Reddit: Somalia Of The Internet
In response to criticism over the banning of infamous subreddit TheFappening, where private photographs of women (both celebrities and not) were being circulated, Reddit chief Yishan Wong released a controversial op-ed stating that Reddit considers itself "not just a company running a website where one can post links and discuss them, but the government of a new type of community." T.C. Sottek, writing for The Verge, asserts that if this is the case, then Reddit is assuredly a failed state. [more inside]
S is for Stand, Still, Stay, Silent and especially Sundberg
"Stand Still, Stay Silent" is the follow-up to Minna Sundberg's successful webcomic "A Redtail's Dream" (previously), but instead of a 550 page Finnish fantasy tale, it's a post-apocalyptic but still very Scandinavian story intended to run for years. After 10 months of almost-every-weekday pages, she has taken a short break for the end of 'Book One' and it's a good time to catch up. (SPOILERS INSIDE, but reading from the beginning is still strongly recommended) [more inside]
"In terms of beer, cutting 1 metre of the board cost 54.3 litres of it."
"I’m unable to continue my campaign for re-election as your Mayor."
When last we checked in with Toronto mayor Rob Ford, he had just come back from a stint in rehab. The ensuing summer found him apparently clean and sober, although still with an aura of scandal (last weekend he was subpoenaed in an extortion case) and despite great efforts, polls had Ford trailing by more than ten points in the race in August. Earlier this week, things took another shocking turn when he was admitted to hospital with an abdominal tumour. With 2:00 PM today as the deadline for candidates to add or remove their names to or from the ballot, many speculated on how Ford's health concerns would affect the race (the two candidates polling in fourth and fifth bowed out of the race in the last two weeks). This morning, hours before the deadline, Ford announced he was withdrawing his name from the mayoral ballot, but he would be running for city council. He has asked his brother and erstwhile campaign manager, rookie councillor Doug Ford, to run for mayor in his place. [more inside]
Let’s talk about margins
Seven hours they had talked and they could have gone on until dawn.
We were each other’s firsts. I was 16, a stressed-out immigrant kid, she was the daughter of Colombian Catholics who were quite fond of the church’s policy on pre-marital sex. So it took us quite a while to awkwardly, semi-defeatedly concede to each other that we had run out of excuses to avoid sex. “This weekend?” I said grimly. A very sweet Guardian piece called "My parents helped me to lose my virginity" by novelist Boris Fishman.
The (Silk) Road to Hell is paved with noob mistakes
The FBI has recently released details on how the Silk Road black market was taken down. [more inside]
Where have you gone John Williams? A nation turns its lonely ears to you
Even the theme to Gilligan's Island? Yes.
Adon Olam is a 12th century Jewish hymn traditionally sung at the end of Sabbath services in both Ashkenazic and Sephardic congregations. Maybe you’ve heard Uzi Hitman’s disco version, which electrified the 1970’s. But what may be most inspiring about the prayer is that it can fit to pretty much any melody. Here it is to Pharrell’s Happy. Here it is to Gilbert and Sullivan's Modern Major General. Here’s the Cups song. Even Amazing Grace. [more inside]
The Bezier Game
The President has nothing but free time, Toby
Is rape the price to pay for migrant women chasing the American Dream?
"Little by little, the time passes, and then... well, it's not that you enjoy working here. It's that the situation meets a need." (TW: sexual assault, rape) [more inside]
Donald Winnicott at the BBC
Donald Winnicott, the British pediatrician and psychoanalyst, was notable in the mid-20th century for his empathy and recognition of the complexity and resilience of the mother-child bond. In the late 40s he recorded extensively for the BBC, and the resulting broadcasts made his term "good enough mother," and his advice about parenting, influential throughout England. There is a short (2 min) snippet of him talking at BBC 4, but the full show about Winnicott's broadcasts and influence is on YouTube. [more inside]
Psst, Venus. What's up with those holes in your atmosphere?
Venus Express, ESA's first spacecraft to the planet, has been having a good ol' time skimming the surface at an altitude of 81 miles , finding rainbows and investigating those holes in the planet's atmosphere.
These manuscripts ain't gonna illuminate themselves
Model books, examples for medieval scribes to copy from and adapt in their work, are like illuminated manuscripts in concentrated form. A post from medieval historian Erik Kwakkel's excellent new blog, a longform complement to his excellent Tumblr (previously).
A Post About Buzzfeed and Tinder? Just, Ew, No. Moving On
A Buzzfeed writer exercises her semiotics and gathers a bunch of stock photos to recreate Tinder, the quick glance social dating app, to find out why we swipe. [more inside]
DEA private contractors?
The fight to cleanup the environmental damage to forest land by illegal grows, has evidently spilled over to legal grows on private land, when armed private contractors dropped in by helicopter cut down a medical marijuana plot.
In pleasanter anniversary news...
Hey, remember when Oprah gave everyone in her audience a new car (previously)? It was ten years ago tomorrow.
Rise Up Singing Project by Matthew Vaughan
Here are many videos of songs from the Rise Up Singing songbook, a song reference book described as a large collection of chords and lyrics to folk songs, topical songs, children's songs and rounds as well as some showtunes and country, rock and blues songs all meant to be sung aloud in groups. It's a pretty invaluable resource to songleaders, and useful for anyone who likes to sing with friends or strangers. Rise Up Singing is most useful when you already know the tune, which is where ALL THESE VIDEOS come in:
[more inside]
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