November 7
November 6
Satire has long been part of discourse, with
written records going back to the Ramesside Period of Ancient Egypt, and two primary classifications of satire
originate with the Roman satirists Horace and Juvenal. Other notable
historic figures have also been authors of significant satire, but
not always with much appreciation.
News satire furthers the awkward stance with public, as
the public may read satire as an outrageous truth, and be angered instead of amused. The Daily Show, and Jon Stewart in specific, ranks well in
the fractured world of current news programming, and the show was noted in the New York Times as "
a genuine cultural and political force"
(previously), but you don't have take their word for it.
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism studied the content of The Daily Show for an entire year (2007), providing interesting (if slightly dated) details on the show. That year included their
much-viewed coverage fo the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. And in
poll results published July 24, 2009,
Jon Stewart was voted America's most trusted newscaster, apparently filling the position
previously held by Walter Cronkite. But is it because Stewart is
one of the few journalists willing to ask the hard questions or
has America been won over by "cheap laughs"?
posted by filthy light thief at 1:51 PM - 43 comments Take your nose on a stroll down memory lane with vintage perfumery.
The Vintage Perfume Vault features fragrance reviews and articles on perfume history.
Perfume Shrine offers articles on perfumery including essays on the science of fragrance and aroma materials, interviews with perfumers and industry professionals, trend-watching.
Inspiration in Perfumery profiles Henri Robert, Andre Fraysse, Ernest Beaux and Edmond Roudnitska. More about olfactory delights from
1000 Fragrances.
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posted by netbros at 8:17 AM - 23 comments Night witches. "Russia's three all-female air regiments flew more than 30,000 missions along the Eastern Front in WWII. At home they were known as Stalin's Falcons, but terrified German troops called them the Night Witches."
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posted by shetterly at 7:18 AM - 32 comments
November 5
Russell Brand talks to Dawn French about comedy, revealing a peculiar and compelling intelligence apparently gleaned from TV and substance abuse. Part
1,
2,
3,
4 [YT]
posted by mhjb at 10:48 PM - 14 comments Norman Strike is blogging the 1984-85 U.K. miners' strike. From
his account of the "Battle of Orgreave" (June 18, 1984):
There was the coke works in the distance, squatting on the land and belching out smoke from Yorkshire coal. A black line of police spread across the yellow field in front, with horses to the rear and sides. . . . I began sprinting up the field, trying to avoid the slower lads. I made it to safety but was horrified at what I saw as I looked back down the field. Dogs were biting lads whilst others were being truncheoned by pigs and either led away or dragged away! It was a disgusting sight and one I never thought I’d see in this country. I’ll never forget it but worse was to follow.
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posted by chinston at 7:42 PM - 9 comments
From The Titusville Morning Herald of June 17, 1866, "Our attention has been called to a series of experiments that have been made in the wells of various localities by Col. Roberts, with his
newly patented torpedo. ... The torpedo... is lowered into the well, down to the spot, as near as can be ascertained, where it is necessary to explode it. ... The object of the torpedo is to clean out all the deposits at the bottom of the well."
In the western Pennsylvania oilfields of the second half of the 1800s, "shooters" were men who set off
nitroglycerin charges in wells to get the oil flowing again.
Tales of Destruction relates stories and legends of this absurdly hazardous job.
Additional notes here, in
Samuel Pees's Oil History.
(Previously)
posted by tss at 5:51 PM - 4 comments Boys dared to grow their hair and girls dared to wear mini skirts and in Korea indecency officers patroled the street with scissors and rulers, publicly cutting hair too long and checking if skirts were too short. Shin Joong-hyung, was there with his 70s hit,
Beauty, as were other musicians and artists like
Sanullim and the
Key Boys.
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posted by kkokkodalk at 5:35 PM - 10 comments Such are the contradictions that seem to riddle not just Gladwell's thinking but the thinking on Gladwell's thinking, and perhaps even the thinking on thinking on that, and it is precisely these slippery but substantive contradictions that have allowed Gladwell to tout his revolutionary "big ideas" without couching them in anything so mundane as a logical, well-supported or otherwise sound argument. Gladwell for Dummies.
posted by defenestration at 3:46 PM - 93 comments
Bobbie E. Burnett is suing her employers, the Free Library of Philadelphia, for discrimination. She's been employed there for nearly 20 years, but transitioned to a female gender identity in 2001, at which point she says discrimination set in.
"Slurs hurled at Burnett by some staffers include 'freak,' 'man in woman’s clothing' and 'nigger,' according to the suit. On one occasion, when Burnett expressed wishes for a nice weekend to a coworker, the employee responded with, 'Burn in hell,' according to the lawsuit."
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posted by booknerd at 11:29 AM - 63 comments
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