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y2karl (2)

Arkitypo — Using the 26 letters of the alphabet as the starting point, the curators selected a specific typeface that began with each respective letter to develop a 3d alphabet of alphabets. After thoroughly researching the history of each letter, they set out to represent each individual character graphically with elements of its history serving as the foundation. Arkitypo: letter rotations on Vimeo.
posted by netbros on Feb 11, 2012 - 2 comments

Magic Johnson still beating HIV 20 years later 2 decades after being diagnosed with HIV - the virus that causes AIDS, Magic Johnson is still going strong. His foundation is helping others, giving them hope while educating people about the disease.
posted by 2manyusernames on Nov 8, 2011 - 39 comments

Mississippi Bluesman Big Jack Johnson has died. His performances in the documentary Deep Blues are brilliant. He was last surviving major performer featured in the film.
posted by zzazazz on Mar 14, 2011 - 7 comments

Steven M. Johnson is a prolific inventor whose designs revolutionize everything from office apparel to recreational vehicles to basketball. Many of of these inventions are found in his 1984 book What the World Needs Now.
posted by twoleftfeet on May 2, 2010 - 15 comments

London Underground vs Toronto Transit typefaces
posted by mippy on Feb 5, 2010 - 18 comments

It's been a busy week for presidential libraries. The Nixon Library released 200 hours of tape (excerpts) and 90,000 pages of documents (excerpts) that detail his obsessive attempts to destroy his political enemies. The LBJ library released MP3s of dozens of phone calls, including one where he accuses Nixon of treason for stalling Vietnamese peace talks in advance of the 1968 election. Finally, the Reagan Library released 750,000 pages of documents (NYT, reg. req.) to researchers. [more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole on Dec 7, 2008 - 20 comments

...As he pored over the mass of texts and thumbnail photos that the eBay search engine had pulled up on that day in 2005, one strangely worded listing caught Schein’s eye. It read, “Old Snapshot Blues Guitar B.B. King???” He clicked on the link, then took in the sepia-toned image that opened on his monitor. Two young black men stared back at Schein from what seemed to be another time. They stood against a plain backdrop wearing snazzy suits, hats, and self-conscious smiles. The man on the left held a guitar stiffly against his lean frame. Neither man looked like B. B. King, but as Schein studied the figure with the guitar, noticing in particular the extraordinary length of his fingers and the way his left eye seemed narrower and out of sync with his right, it occurred to him that he had stumbled across something significant and rare... the more convinced he became that it depicted one of the most mysterious and mythologized blues artists produced by the Delta: the guitarist, singer, and songwriter whom Eric Clapton once anointed “the most important blues musician who ever lived.” That’s not B. B. King, Schein said to himself. Because it’s Robert Johnson.

Searching for Robert Johnson reveals not only what may be the third picture of Robert Johnson but a Byzantine struggle over his legacy as well.
posted by y2karl on Oct 9, 2008 - 29 comments

Lyndon Johnson believed that his withdrawal from the 1968 presidential campaign would free him to solidify his legacy—but four days later, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
posted by veedubya on Mar 31, 2008 - 8 comments

What'll you find at rum.com, van.com, war.com or cat.com? A more-fun-than-most web quiz from the Mental Flossers about some of the best domain names and who owns them. [more inside]
posted by wendell on Mar 20, 2008 - 15 comments

Boris Johnson, poet.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Nov 9, 2007 - 16 comments

"Even the greatest cities have further greatness in them. I will stand for a greater London and for putting the smile back on London's face." Boris Johnson announces his candidacy for Mayor of London, though he is yet to be endorsed by the Conservative Party. Though decidedly right wing in his views (this clip, perhaps more than any other summarises his view on Europe, for example) his very English brand of buffoonery lends him unique appeal (though not universally).
posted by nthdegx on Jul 16, 2007 - 44 comments

Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson passed away today. During her infancy, a nursemaid commented, "She's as pretty as a ladybird", and that nickname virtually replaced her given name for the rest of her life. Perhaps her most important impact was her efforts to protect American wild-flowers and other natural places. She is also the namesake of the Hill family dog.
posted by Flood on Jul 11, 2007 - 43 comments

2 heads are better than 1 Ever heard of diphallus? Well, now you have. See here as well
posted by bmpetow on Aug 22, 2006 - 31 comments

'The crowd was chanting "We want Boris" as he limbered up, waving his arms like a slightly rusty blond helicopter. The cheers grew and the cry of "Boris, Boris" became irresistible.': [text, video]. Boris Johnson, blogger. Boris Johnson, British MP for Henley-on-Thames. Boris Johnson, sozzled buffoon and proud of it. Boris Johnson, the man who made it cool to be Conservative?
posted by hoverboards don't work on water on May 31, 2006 - 26 comments

Best of the Web American Idol: Going to Greensboro was a gamble for the pop TV show American Idol, but one that has paid off in spades for tart-tongued tornado Rhonetta Johnson, who is billed as a "terrible singer but with a mouth straight out of a pool hall and an ego bigger than Alaska." Rhonetta, who sports a rap sheet as long as her blonde wig, claimed she would become famous, and with the aid of the blogosphere and web sites such as rhonettajohnson.com, she has delivered on her promise, even gaining the attention of Entertainment Weekly, and going overnight from zip to in excess of a hundred pages on Google.
posted by nlindstrom on Jan 27, 2006 - 21 comments

Former Senator Eugene McCarthy dead at 89
posted by nathan_teske on Dec 10, 2005 - 47 comments

The President Calling: American Radioworks (MPR) explores the secret phone tapes of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. AFAIK, the content is all previously available, but online, they've packaged and annotated it for ease of use. It's not exhaustive, but the moments picked out are often illuminating, showing "how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history." You might want to start here.
posted by soyjoy on Nov 20, 2003 - 5 comments

On Sundays West Coast Live I heard an interview with Adam Johnson, the author of Parasites Like Us, a post-apocalyptic novel with a decidedly (if somewhat spurious) anthropological bent. Literary criticism aside, as an anthropologist myself (and die-hard sci-fi reader), it got me thinking of what our vaunted Western culture may have to offer the survivors of whatever catastrophe may befall our civilization in the future. From classic novels like Earth Abides, or even The Stand, writers and storytellers have tried to discern what may be the surviving aspects of culture once all else fails; what it is that has made and defines us as modern humans, and perhaps what it is that will sustain us. So, what is it that would sustain you? What would separate you from the crazed and the mad that seem to populate the annals of post-apocalyptic literature? Or perhaps more specifically, what is it that you value of your culture and your technology that makes it worthwhile to maintain and perhaps fight your way back to?
posted by elendil71 on Aug 18, 2003 - 28 comments

Chalmers Johnson is an provocative proponent of the American Empire theory, indeed. Here are excerpts from his Blow Back: The Cost And Consequences of American Empire

I heard Johnson interviewed on Episode II, War And Conflict In The Post-Cold War, Post-9/11 Era of The Whole Wide World

The Cold War and its central conflict - the physical and ideological battles between the United States, the Soviet Union and their proxy states - imposed a certain logic and consistency on the world. Take that away and add the bloody wars in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East in the ‘90s as well as the terror attacks and warnings of more recent times and you get a very confused picture of a world at war. Is this breaking storm in Iraq about oil, democracy, freedom, empire, culture, water, diamonds, modernizing Islam or nation building in the Middle East? Some, one or all of these things?

It was an excellent program and well worth your listen, either by RA now or mp3 later. (From listening to the radio)
posted by y2karl on Mar 13, 2003 - 15 comments

Another Kaycee Nicole? A celebrated teenage author and Aids sufferer may turn out to be a hoax, concocted by his "mother". (More inside).
posted by liam on Nov 21, 2001 - 17 comments