September 13, 2011
Noah and the Whale: five years' time...
It's been exactly five years since Charlie Fink and his musical band of friends - his brother Doug on drums, Tom "Fiddle" Hobden on violin, Matt "Urby Whale" Owens on harmonium and bass and Laura Marling on backing vocals - first appeared on the London nu-folk circuit, their moniker a conflation of a famous indie film and its director: Noah and the Whale. [more inside]
“We have lit one candle today,” he said. “It’s going to be a bonfire pretty soon.”
Bob Turner, "a little-known Republican businessman from Queens" (who is also a former producer for the Jerry Springer show) has become the first Republican elected to New York's Ninth Congressional District since the 1920's. Democrats traditionally have a 3-to-1 advantage over Republicans in the district, which makes this upset even more ... upsetting. Many consider the loss of a Democratic stronghold to be a referendum on the Obama Administration itself. Nate Silver with more analysis. [more inside]
Ready, set... DRAW!
Doodle Or Die! A massively multiplayer Pictionary-style game. Your drawings are used as fuel for the next player's guesses, which are then used as suggestions for the next player's drawings, which are then used for the next player's guesses, and so on. [more inside]
Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan
Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan, 3rd Edition (not to be confused with Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major's Lifetime Reading Plan, 4th Edition) [more inside]
Inertia, Not Progress Defines the Decade After 9/11
Coming Apart: After 9/11 transfixed America, the country’s problems were left to rot. "No national consensus formed around 9/11. Indeed, the decade since has destroyed the very possibility of a common narrative."
photos from war torn Afghanistan
Burke + Norfolk. Photographs from the War in Afghanistan, by John Burke and Simon Norfolk (previously).
Hours of Quality Entertainment
you sold your souls, and you’re going to continue selling them
For all the outrage, the real scandal is not that students are getting illegally paid or recruited, it’s that two of the noble principles on which the NCAA justifies its existence—“amateurism” and the “student-athlete”—are cynical hoaxes, legalistic confections propagated by the universities so they can exploit the skills and fame of young athletes. The tragedy at the heart of college sports is not that some college athletes are getting paid, but that more of them are not.
(The) Kindle
The Kindle is changing its name to ... Kindle. W(T)F?
Creed Crusher, or Spiritual Mill for Pulverizing Creeds &C.
Creed Crusher, or Spiritual Mill for Pulverizing Creeds &C. is an 1867 poster by Dr. T. L. Lewis. In it, a pair of cherubs grind the religious and educational institutions of 19th-century against a an allegorical globe of philosophy dominated by the Great Ocean of Spiritualism. Below, Lewis quotes himself no less than four times.
Similarly weird is the anthropomorphic map of Europe by Schmidt. (Both via the Big Map Blog previously)
High Speed Rail in China
How Fast Can China Go? On June 30, China had the first official run of a $32 billion high-speed train line between Shanghai and Beijing. "Faster (820 miles in 288 minutes) and sleeker than any other, the needle-nosed CRH380A symbolizes China’s accelerating pace, even as it faces questions about safety, and taps into an ancient rivalry with Japan." On page four, the article discusses what happened less than a month afterwards on July 23rd: the country's first accident involving a bullet train that killed 40 people near Wenzhou. As a result, 54 high speed trains were recalled, train speeds were reduced and an overhaul of the high-speed rail system was launched by Chinese authorities. [more inside]
There's only one kind of airport in these parts.
'Wi-fi refugees' shelter in West Virginia mountains There are five billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide and advances in wireless technology make it increasingly difficult to escape the influence of mobile devices. But while most Americans seem to embrace continuous connectivity, some believe it's making them physically ill. [more inside]
First they came for the tea drinkers...
Hot on the heels of the stunning revelation that Twining's had changed the 180-year-old recipe for Earl Grey tea, the Telegraph continues its reporting on the decline of British civilization with word that HP Sauce -- condiment of choice in millions of bacon butties around the United Kingdom -- has been brought "in line with changes in consumer tastes."
"This country is at a critical crossroads"
Massive Evangelical movement spearheaded by right wing activist pastors to affect the 2012 election. There's 'a growing movement of evangelical pastors who are jumping into the electoral fray as never before, preaching political engagement from the pulpit as they mobilize for the 2012 election. This new activism has substantial muscle behind it: a cadre of experienced Christian organizers and some of the conservative movement's most generous donors, who are setting up technologically sophisticated operations to reach pastors and their congregations in battleground states.''"The Christian activist right is the largest, best-organized and, I believe, the most powerful force in American politics today," said Rob Stein, a Democratic strategist who recently provided briefings on the constituency to wealthy donors on the left. "No other political group comes even close."' [more inside]
We Swiss are famous for chocolate and cheese
Extreme tidying up. Swiss artist/comedian Ursus Wehrli (auf Deutsch) sorts his alphabet soup, makes living histograms out of his fruit salad, and in his TED talk poured Pollock's paint back into the can.
Elizabeth Warren to enter Senate race
Elizabeth Warren will announce her entry into the Massachusetts Senate race tomorrow morning. Warren, who created, but was not confirmed to head, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is seeking to replace Scott Brown (R), who won Ted Kennedy's seat in 2010. Brown remains rather popular in Massachusetts, and Democrats weren't at all confident any of the current candidates had much chance to knock him off. The hope is that Warren and her pro-consumer bona fides can ride the expected wave of high Democractic voter turnout in the general. [more inside]
The Marvels and the Flaws of Intuitive Thinking
The Marvels and the Flaws of Intuitive Thinking, an Edge Master Class with Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. Follow-up discussion with Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, and Steven Pinker. (previously)
Windows 8 developer preview
According to PC Magazine, Microsoft will release a developer preview of Windows 8 at 6pm Pacific time. [more inside]
This am not Bizarro News
to flies on one blow
Datamachine slow? To get back the original speed on Your hard drive it's necessary to Defragment it. There are several of different species of software to make this happen, but the most excellent way to do it is a hardware defragmentation. You'll only need some basic data-mechanical-skills to be able to defraggle your motherdisc!
Climate Reality Project
"24 Hours of Reality will focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.” — Al Gore on the worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. The Climate Reality Project will live stream starting at 7pm CT on September 14. [more inside]
The Most Interesting Man In The World… Is Russian
He rides with biker gangs! He shoots whales with a crossbow! He does piano recitals for charity! He bends frying pans with his bare hands! It's Vladimir Putin, Action Man. [more inside]
Of course it has the Keswick Pencil Museum
Nerdy Day Trips aims to bring you the best in disused power stations, abandoned nuclear bunkers, lighthouse museums and solar observatories from around the world.
Wanna see something cool?
The Midnight Show riffs on Twilight and advertises cars while giving
NSFL advice and teaching us how to love our dogs, but not our children. Most importantly they keep us safe with their PSAs
You Don't Own Me
Quincy Jones sat in the Tenafly, New Jersey den of 16-year-old vocal student Lesley Gore, playing demo after demo, looking for the right song to cut for her first record. Out of over 200 tapes, Jones and Gore had moved only one to the "maybe" pile, and so that song, It's My Party, was recorded on March 30, 1963 in a Manhattan studio. After the session Mercury president Irving Green warned Gore not to get her hopes up, but Gore gratefully told him that it had been a great experience anyway, and it was okay if he didn't want to release it. However, later that evening Jones learned that Phil Spector had just recorded "It's My Party" for The Crystals, so Jones rushed back to the studio to press 100 test copies of the single and immediately mailed them to key radio stations across the country. [more inside]
Reaper, Reaper
The Cartoon Color Wheel
The Cartoon Color Wheel Somebody with too much time on their hands created a color wheel of cartoon characters ... now I'm curious to know the pantone number for Grape Ape.
The Gift to Humanity That Keeps on Giving to Lawyers
The Authors Guild, the Australian Society of Authors, the Union Des Écrivaines et des Écrivains Québécois (UNEQ) along with 8 individual authors (including Fay Weldon) has sued the university consortium HathiTrust over its plans to allow internal institutional access to book scans that HathiTrust members received from Google which HathiTrust believes to be orphaned works. As usual, MeFi's own James Grimmelmann has the best analysis of the suit.
The bottom of the pyramid
U.S. Poverty Rate, 1 in 6, at Highest Level in Years (NYT) - An additional 2.6 million people slipped below the poverty line in 2010, census officials said, making 46.2 million people in poverty in the United States, the highest number in the 52 years the Census Bureau has been tracking it, said Trudi Renwick, chief of the Poverty Statistic Branch. That represented 15.1 percent of the country. The poverty line in 2010 was at $22,113 for a family of four. (related)
What if we treated the rest of science like climate science?
Sure, the diamond planet is real....if you believe the liberal media.
One of the scientists involved in making this discovery (actual abstract here) discusses how his experience would have been different if he was a climate scientist. [more inside]
An invitation to rebellion, and your window to weight gain!
For China, yesterday marked the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Chinese at home and abroad gather to worship the Moon Rabbit, carry paper lanterns, and eat mooncakes. From its humble beginning as an agitprop-stuffed pastry, the mooncake has become a strong futures commodity in the People's Republic. Accordingly, authorities are stepping in; apparently everyone wants a piece of the pie cake.
Ludum Dare 21: Escape
Ludum Dare is an annual video game development contest where the contestants have 48 hours to complete a game. This year's theme was Escape and 599 games were submitted. The winning solo and team created games have been announced. You can download all games and even view their source code. If you want to experience the awesomeness of real-time game development, check out the time-lapse videos. [more inside]
I'm gonna buy me a airplane...
Good morning little schoolgirl, good morning little schoolgirl, can I go home with you? Tell your mama and your papa, I'm a little schoolboy too.
Also the little guy is really squat and cute and I like him.
Flash Fun Friuesday! In The Painter, you have to shoot paint around an empty world in order to find your exit.
Note: there is a slight loading problem. If it doesn't load the first time, refresh the page and it should be just fine.
Note: there is a slight loading problem. If it doesn't load the first time, refresh the page and it should be just fine.
How well do you see color?
I'm Only Going Over Home
Remembering Bill Monroe, the “father of bluegrass,” on what would have been his 100th birthday. [more inside]
The nature and wildlife photography of Nicolas Dory.
Greece sinking fast
Yields of 2-year Greek government bonds have been skyrocketing today, and are currently at 76%. Credit default swaps show Greece with a 98% chance of default. Confidence in the Eurozone as a whole has been tanking recently after a series of setbacks that leave a political solution looking increasingly unlikely. There was a timely, gloomy discussion on RT yesterday on European and worldwide political/economic prospects
So like one, two, red, blue, I’ll call this one “fish”!
How is holiday formed?
Today is the 0x100 th (or, in decimal, 256th) day of the year, which makes it Programmer Day. Programmer Day is a day to celebrate Programmers and thank them for all that they do. Or don't do? Unless that's Programmers' day., or is it Programmer's Day? [more inside]
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