MetaFilter posts tagged with Mark

“There is no question about that.”

roomthreeseventeen — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:59:57 -0800

Late Friday night, a young man named Mark Carson was killed, shot point blank, in Greenwich Village. Carson's death was the 22nd anti-gay hate crime in New York so far this year, and the fifth this month. Carson was shot on 6th Avenue and 8th St., just blocks from St. Vincent's Hospital, which closed in 2010. He was brought to Beth Israel, about a mile away, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The suspect, 33 year old Elliot Morales was caught immediately after the shooting. NYPD now reports that before the shooting, Morales was seen spewing homophobic remarks at Annisa Restaurant staff and threatening to put a bullet through a bartender’s forehead if he called cops. More: Say his name: a vigil for Mark Carson A poignant recap of Saturday night's vigil HuffPo: Equality's Brutal Backlash: The Murder of Mark Carson and the Rise in Violence Against Gays HuffPo: Mission Not Accomplished: The Anti-Gay Murder of Mark Carson Should Be a Wake-Up Call Washington Post: Being gay can (still) get you killed

Obliged Subjects

vozworth — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:34:01 -0800

Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of England from 1 July 2013. He will succeed Sir Mervyn King. via Counterparties: Canada’s wonkiest export-Felix Salmon previously furthermore

We're all like, worms, man! Everything that's ever existed on earth, just one big connected worm!

kaibutsu — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:58:13 -0800

Jay Mark Johnson takes two dimensional photographs, like just about everyone else. But he's chosen an unusual pair of dimensions: One in space, and one in time. Slate article, artist's webpage.

You’ll never be Chinese

gen — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:12:42 -0800

UK expatriate in China, Mark Kitto, who previously ran a publishing business in China that the state took over and wrote a book about that experience, is leaving China where he has lived for 16 years.

Modern day mainland Chinese society is focused on one object: money and the acquisition thereof. The politically correct term in China is “economic benefit.” The country and its people, on average, are far wealthier than they were 25 years ago. Traditional family culture, thanks to 60 years of self-serving socialism followed by another 30 of the “one child policy,” has become a “me” culture. Except where there is economic benefit to be had, communities do not act together, and when they do it is only to ensure equal financial compensation for the pollution, or the government-sponsored illegal land grab, or the poisoned children. Social status, so important in Chinese culture and more so thanks to those 60 years of communism, is defined by the display of wealth.

Smokin'

atomicmedia — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:47:47 -0800

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Cigarette is back! "Chief of Staff Mark Block talks about Herman Cain's Presidential Campaign and urges people to act because together we can elect Herman Cain!" 35 years ago, maybe. Today, it's very odd.

Paging Mr. Lovecraft to the white courtsey phone...

Diablevert — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:52:19 -0800

"We believe the kraken may have killed them and drawn its potrait with their bones."

Mark Twain's Advice To Little Girls

Fiasco da Gama — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:13:48 -0800

[Mark Twain] did not squat down to be heard and understood by children, but asked them to stand on their tiptoes—to absorb the kind of language and humor suitable for adults.

Did he get fired for using the word dick, or for calling the president a dick?

msali — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:49:04 -0800

Mark Halperin, currently of influential political site The Page, founder of groundbreaking Washingtonian blog, The Note, has been a journalist and political analyst for twenty years. Until yesterday, he was a popular talking head at the MSNBC network. Halperin drew criticism and landed himself out of a job after calling President Obama "a dick" on the air. Reactions are delightfully mixed. Of course, Halperin has already apologized.

Real life imitates art?

SylviaAspevig — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:30:32 -0800

Pontypool is Canadian director's Bruce McDonald zombie (?) flick about language virus. In real life, Toronto's Global News Mark McAllister suffers a bizarre on-air episode on Wednesday, reminiscent of the CBS Serene Branson.

Fuck the police

handee — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 06:18:55 -0800

Activists in the UK are currently rather angry about the news that undercover cops have been sleeping around in order to infiltrate largely peaceful environmental groups - one officer even married an activist. "Everybody knew it was a very promiscuous lifestyle," ... "You cannot not be promiscuous in those groups. Otherwise you'll stand out straightaway.".

Happy Birthday, Alan Moore

Alvy Ampersand — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:21:55 -0800

"Alan Moore is a writer and magician from Northhampton. He's a stranger to hairdressers and worships his very own god in his very own way, blurring the lines between religious belief, magic, and the power of the creative imagination. If you film him from strange angles, you can make him look very sinister." It is his fifty-eighth birthday. The beard is pushing 40. You can celebrate Alan Moore's birthday by watching a 1987 profile from the program England, Their England. Or you may enjoy browsing a collection of occasionally NSFW strips Moore created under the pseudonym Curt Vile, or, as Jill de Ray, some Maxwell the Magic Cat. Or you might want to curl up with your favorite Moore-penned comic book and read along with some annotations. Perhaps you would enjoy Neil Gaiman's spot-on impression of Moore, or Moore's MAD-inspired parody of Frank Miller's Daredevil ^Previously. Maybe you would like to read a classic Moore yarn from 2000AD or a bleakly prescient collaboration with Don Simpson, , an amusing one-page with the late Harvey Pekar, or Moore's remembrance of Pekar, or whatever the hell this is, with Mark Beyer. More Mooreana can be found at glycon and fourcolorheroes.

take this content and shove it, I ain't workin' here no more

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:36:20 -0800

"The mark of a real writer is that she cares deeply about literary joinery, about keeping the lines of her prose plumb. That’s what makes writers writers: to them, prose isn’t just some Platonic vessel for serving up content; they care about words. Any chief product officer who says “quality online does not equal craftsmanship” is channeling the utilitarian gospel of the managerial class, an instrumentalist vision of journalism that presumes writing, online, is just a turkey baster for injecting content into the user’s brain." Mark Dery, on writing for the web.

Fracking cattle (cylon cattle?)

The3rdMan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:00:16 -0800

Fracking cattle Mark Bittman, foodie and (accidental) BSG punster.

Steroidera

uaudio — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:10:35 -0800

Retired MLB star Mark McGwire admits taking steroids. In an interview with ESPN, McGwire admits he used injectable steroids*, but for injuries. He claimed he could hit home runs without them. In 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa achieved national fame for their home run-hitting prowess in pursuit of Roger Maris' single season home run record; McGwire would break the record and hit 70 home runs that year. McGwire is in the news after denying steroid use in 2005 in front of the US Congress. Now he is attempting a return to professional baseball as a hitting coach. Side effects of steroids may include backne, rage, tripling in size, and destroying the Major League Baseball single season home run record.

One Gentleman's Quest to Find His Goddess

everichon — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:22:46 -0800

Mark is looking for his Goddess. From Mark's site: My Global Vision addresses and integrates a large number of disciplines. Its ultimate goal is to greatly reduce human suffering on planet Earth. It is deep, complex, and mind-boggling. Here is its title and table of contents: The Political Manifestation of World Peace and World Joy — A Grand "Symphony" to Be Performed by the Light Workers of Planet Earth.

Transformation of Computers and the Computer Industry into the LIGHT.
Transformation of Science into the LIGHT.
Transformation of Health Care into the LIGHT.
...and so on and so forth.

Give me your poor, your tired, your startups

jourman2 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:04:40 -0800

The Mark Cuban's Stimulus plan. You must post your business plan here on my blog where I expect other people can and will comment on it. I also expect that other people will steal the idea and use it elsewhere. That is the idea. Call this an open source funding environment. If its a good idea and worth funding, we want it replicated elsewhere. The idea is not just to help you, but to figure out how to help the economy through hard work and ingenuity. If you come up with the idea and get funding, you have a head start. If you execute better than others, you could possibly make money at it. As you will see from the rules below, these are going to be businesses that are mostly driven by sweat equity. I will invest money in businesses presented here on this blog. No minimum, no maximum, but a very specific set of rules. The first round of funding has been announced.

The Last Ace

billysumday — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:36:00 -0800

"American air superiority has been so complete for so long that we take it for granted. For more than half a century, we’ve made only rare use of the aerial-combat skills of a man like Cesar Rodriguez, who retired two years ago with more air-to-air kills than any other active-duty fighter pilot. But our technological edge is eroding. ... Now we have a choice. We can stock the Air Force with the expensive, cutting-edge F‑22—maintaining our technological superiority at great expense to our Treasury. Or we can go back to a time when the cost of air supremacy was paid in the blood of men like Rodriguez." - The Last Ace, a feature article in this month's The Atlantic by author Mark Bowden.

Beyond Platitudes

ninebelow — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:53:23 -0800

Thought For The World is an alternative to the BBC's much mocked Thought For The Day. Contributors include the author and broadcaster Muriel Gray, the philosopher AC Grayling, agony aunt Claire Rayner, Jonathan Bartley of the religious think tank Ekklesia, Guardian Columnist Polly Toynbee, comedian Mark Thomas and Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints.

flipyourwig — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:05:34 -0800

Mark Twain was the first to talk about using fingerprinting in criminal cases. His 'Life on the Mississippi', published in 1883, contains a collection of essays and short stories. One such story concerns a man who had attempted to catch the killers of his wife and child by using fingerprint evidence. Mark Twain was evidently greatly interested in the subject. He had made a study of finger and hand marks. Fingerprinting wasn't commonly used to identify criminals in the U.S. until around 1903.

101 is the tastiest number

dersins — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:42:48 -0800

101 20-Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics (NY Times link irritatingly spread across multiple pages) from Mark Bittman, who also gave us 101 20-minute appetizers and 101 10-minute meals.

Jason Freeny, unlocking the mysteries of the Gummi Bear.

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:46:48 -0800

Overlooked or ignored for far too long by the medical establishment, twisty balloon dog anatomy and gummi bear anatomy are just two of the crucial areas that Moist Production's Jason Freeny is working to bring wider attention to. He's also to be commended for his tireless efforts in raising awareness of Disney character suicide and death by unexplainable circumstance. And there's free downloadable desktops, kids! [1 or 2 of the pages at Moist maybe NSFW] By the way, you might want to check out some of the other artists (working in somewhat similar veins) that appear on Freeny's "Top Friends" at his MySpace page. That's how I discovered Mark Bannerman, for example, whose work is quite delightful.

"They Just Called Me a Spaz"

fourcheesemac — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:33:54 -0800

Mark Toorock demonstrates the art of Parkour. (Wash. Post video) And there is an associated article (Wash. Post). Parkour has been discussed previously on MeFi. {BugMeNot logins for WaPo if needed.}

Big man with a big heart does his part

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:26:54 -0800

Mark Wallinger has won the Turner Prize for 'State Britain' his recreation of Brian Haw's Parliament Square peace protest. Although for the prize exhibition (this year out of London for the first time) Wallinger showed a video of himself dressed in a bear costume. The seems to be at least one critic's choice although not everyone agrees. Wallinger had previously been short-listed for the prize in 1995 for work exploring his interest in horse racing. Although he is probably best know for the Christ sculpture 'Ecce Homo', and religious themed videos he has produced an eclectic set of work including a TARDIS sculpture.

"My father was one of the finest sportswriters of his generation. But his legacy is more complicated than that."

amyms — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:20:06 -0800

Forgive Some Sinner. "With age 70 bearing down hard upon him, Dad had by then written for better than 40 years, during which he had become celebrated, later disgraced, and I would like to think ultimately redeemed... Good as some of his old stories are, it always seemed to me that his own was better than any of them; I only wish he had written it himself." Mark Kram Jr. examines his late father's complicated legacy.

Pretty much devolved by this point.

item — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:43:25 -0800

It's 1984. Let's spend 32 curious minutes with Devo as they convince us to purchase a Pioneer Laserdisc system.