July 14
How Nespresso got Ground Down
“What Nespresso have done is create a lot of benign bullshit around coffee ...but people enjoy the bullshit.” Ed Cumming tells the story of how Nespresso's rise and, perhaps now fall. The story of how scum became crema. [more inside]
Why we the people must "dominate the streets."
I've Seen a Future Without Cars, and It's Amazing - "Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?" (previously: 1, 2) [more inside]
July 13
There's a song on the album called "Pizza Power," after all
How the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a rock band.
"it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance"
"On Tuesday November 11th, 1975, the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister and appointed Malcolm Fraser as a caretaker Prime Minister." Now, "A new row over the republic is set to ignite as secret letters reveal the role of Buckingham Palace in the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975, with a key historian expecting the papers to expose decades of false claims." [more inside]
Hoppy
Jumping Hoppers in SLOW MOTION! “ Leafhoppers, treehoppers, planthoppers, and froghoppers are all insects in the order Hemiptera that are some of the fastest jumping animals on earth! They are also super-common, so I collected a bunch and filmed their jumps in slow-motion!”
Fly the condor skies!
Andean condor can fly for 100 miles without flapping wings: World’s largest soaring bird flaps wings only 1% of time in flight, study shows. " “The finding that they basically almost never beat their wings and just soar is mind-blowing,” said David Lentink, an expert in bird flight at Stanford University, who was not involved in the research."
Nature journaling and conservation
The John Muir Laws blog features lots of educational resources about nature journaling and sketching in a variety of mediums, intermixed with conservation information. Also offers resources for educators. [more inside]
You're so fucking special I wish I was special
90's Festival Line-Up Generator Randomly generates a line-up for a UK Rock festival from the nineties. Refresh for a new set. Click on a band name for some live footage of the band.
Blue Cities, Blue Lives
Betsy Hodges, former mayor of Minneapolis: "Democrats have largely led big and midsize cities for much of the past half-century. Yet the gaps in socioeconomic outcomes between white people and people of color are by several measures at their worst in the richest, bluest cities of the United States. How could this be?" [more inside]
Hyperpartisan Sites Masquerading as Local News
Across the United States, sites with dramatic partisan slants purport to be local and state news media as seen here. Left-leaning sites focus on state news, while hard-right sites are filling the gap created by the collapse of local newspapers. Many of the 450 sites on this list are operated by just 5 business entities. Is there a site like this near you? Check the map to find out.
College football’s leaders are answering the wrong questions
Ryan Nanni of the college football website Banner Society says, "The football part’s not safe until the college part is." [more inside]
July 12
The Secret History of Washing Machines
Lee Maxwell, the owner of the most comprehensive collection of washing machines walks us through the overlooked history of this iconic appliance.
He runs the Washing Machines Museum in Eaton, Colorado with over 1600 washing machines. Videos here.
Tired of the view out your windows?
Step 3: Add in a beautiful melody, but remember the random swells.
How to Sound Like Different Composers in 3 Steps (SLYT). Classical violinists Brett Yang and Eddy Chen of TwoSetViolin have fun with the musical tendencies of twelve composers. [more inside]
Massive Attack call for global change in new EP Eutopia, and beyond
After posting cryptic images on Instagram (Meaww), Massive Attack recently released ‘Eutopia’, a new audio-visual EP featuring three different collaborations, recorded in three different cities during lockdown, with three different messages: Massive Attack x Young Fathers + Professor Guy Standing (CNBC), a co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network (Wired.co.uk) and long-time proponent of Universal Basic Income (UBI) // Massive Attack x Saul Williams + Professor Gabriel Zucman (The Hill), inventor of the US “Wealth Tax” policy (Ekathimerini) // Massive Attack x Algiers + Christiana Figueres, head of the UN climate change convention when the Paris agreement was achieved in 2015 (The Guardian). [more inside]
Falling Hard
We don't know how to navigate parasocial relationships. (SLMedium) Are you, or someone you love, a member of a fandom? More specifically, a fandom of a personality on the Internet? Then you're part of a parasocial relationship -- a relationship that involves an audience. And chances are, at one point or another, that person you follow, who may hold more power over you than you realize, will fall. It's happened before, as it did with podcaster Alastair Stephens, and it will happen again. Here's some advice on recognizing the potential problems and establishing boundaries to to protect yourself. (CW: talk of sexual and other misconduct.)
You see the sign? Well can you read it??
There are a lot of old corporate training videos on Youtube, but only one stars Joan, the demon checkout clerk of Elmhurst, Illinois.
He noticed strange creatures emerging from the sheet music
A Dangerous and Evil Piano Piece - "In the years that followed its début, [Erik Satie's] 'Vexations' outgrew its status as a curiosity. It became a rite of passage." (previously: 1, 2)
Ultra-Extreme Intensity, Low Excitement
The Day After Terrorized 100 Million Viewers With Vision of Nuclear War
What they watched didn't really qualify as entertainment; Meyer stated he had no desire to make a "good" movie but a deeply affecting public service announcement. "It has Lawrence, Kansas, wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia. It is powerfully done—all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed. ... My own reaction was one of our having to do all we can to have a deterrent and to see there is never a nuclear war." Ronald Reagan, writing in his journal, having seen the movie before it aired on ABC. [more inside]
Heart - Heart
1985 was a ridiculously strong year for music. This past week, we missed the July 6, 1985 release of Heart's first album for Capitol Records, Heart [YT playlist]. It was the band's biggest hit album release, eventually being certified quadruple platinum in sales. Side A: If Looks Could Kill, What About Love [video], Never [video], These Dreams [video], The Wolf [more inside]
Interested in Mechanical Automation?
Ever wonder how we made all these crazy machines do all their crazy machine things before computers came along? Wonder no more as Alec (AKA, Mr. Connectify) from “Technology Connections” explore the inner workings of a Wurlitzer 3400 series jukebox from 1970. (23 min long YT vid).
Found via a post of an open side view of an antique calculator from here
His Youtube channel
A second channel
July 11
Bobby Banas and The Nitty Gritty
On the Judy Garland show (1964), six dancers do their thing to Shirley Ellis's The The Nitty Gritty (gif) (longer version). One is Bobby Banas, who would dance in West Side Story, appear in Mary Poppins and Down and Out in Beverley Hills, dance The Leopard in Get Smart, would kiss Marilyn Monroe, and dance again to Bill Haley and his Comets.
Precious
A stranger than fiction Roman ring mystery thread. In which a golden signet ring portraying the Goddess Venus and belonging to one Silvianus is (allegedly) stolen by one Senicianus, a curse tablet to that effect deposited at the Temple of Nodens, and the ring subsequently lost and found again, possibly inspiring one of the greatest tales of all time.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Turkey turning Hagia Sophia back into mosque Hagia Sophia was built as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453 and changed the city's name to Istanbul.
All you ever wanted to know about guitars, with Steve Earle
In lockdown at his home in Tennessee, Steve Earle, the original hardcore troubadour, tells us about his guitar collection. This is a series of short, YT videos by Steve Earle where he picks a guitar from his collection to tell us about, he rambles a bit about stuff and sings a song which highlights the properties of the particular guitar he's chosen to showcase. His occasional failure to switch between cameras is endearingly incompetent, but the man sure knows his gee-tars. [more inside]
For sale: Scottish isle with old house, wallabies included
You can own your own Scottish isle for £500,000 — the price of a London flat (House Beautiful). Specifically, Inchconnachan Island (Google maps) in Loch Lomond, 40 km (25 miles) northwest of Glasgow. That price includes permits to replace the derelict 1920s timber bungalow (Forbes) with a 5-bed lodge house, boathouse and pier, but residency is limited to 60 days per year. Also, your neighbors will be feral wallabies (Atlas Obscura). [Via Mltshp, and an article from The Guardian]
UK Digital Festival of Archaeology
My dear, sweet child, that's what I do. It's what I live for.
Julie Murphy on how the Little Mermaid’s Ursula is her ‘Revenge Body’ icon. "The revenge-body trope asserts that for a fat woman to avenge herself and to prove to her bullies once and for all that they were wrong about her, she must lose weight. Only then will her vengeance be fully realized. Essentially, the fat woman must become something she is not in order to prove that she was worthy all along. With her tentacles, back rolls, and red lips, Ursula isn’t waiting for a revenge body. She already has one." [more inside]
Scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history
Over a number of days in July 1995 Bosnian Serb forces systematically murdered around 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys.
Even as remains continue to be identified, denialism is moving from far-right fringe into mainstream . It is time to fight back against Bosnian Genocide denial.
Bosnian Muslims feel shunned by Europe. AlJazeera spoke with some survivors.
Srebrenica ~ Genocide in eight acts. (TRIGGER WARNING). A brief encapsule.
Even as remains continue to be identified, denialism is moving from far-right fringe into mainstream . It is time to fight back against Bosnian Genocide denial.
Bosnian Muslims feel shunned by Europe. AlJazeera spoke with some survivors.
Srebrenica ~ Genocide in eight acts. (TRIGGER WARNING). A brief encapsule.
Hot Tires… Hot Burgers!
Bigtop Burger is a clown-themed food truck. These are their adventures.
Stove
Elk
Kid
Zomburger [more inside]
"we hold the government to its word"
In a momentous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that about half of the state of Oklahoma is "Indian country", jurisdictionally within a Native American reservation, and thus that the state must honor the treaties which set aside this land for Native peoples, last establishing Creek Nation boundaries in 1866. [more inside]
Interview with maker Laura Kampf
[Festool] German maker, designer and YouTuber Laura Kampf delights half a million fans all over the world on YouTube with her unique and individual creations, which all follow the same motto: "The process is the product". There is a new video every week – and a new project to marvel at on YouTube and Instagram. Laura Kampf previously on Mefi.
Angry, educated and rich
Intra-Elite Competition: A Key Concept for Understanding the Dynamics of Complex Societies - "Elites are a small proportion of the population (on the order of 1 percent) who concentrate social power in their hands."[1] (via; previously) [more inside]
July 10
Two Cats and 500 Balls in a Ball Pit !!
Listen with me if you want to live
Really, it all depends on how you like your soundtrack album for 1984's The Terminator. The original (rather limited run) release was 35 minutes long (YouTube album link, not a playlist) and was half score and half weak 80s pop. The 1994 "Definitive Edition" (Definite Edition?) (YT album link) was entirely the score, and runs about 72 minutes.
HIDEY HEY ...
"My muse is not a horse"
Cooking with a Cheiranthus cheiri
Hi!Welcome to my site! My name is Andrea, and I'm a registered dental hygienist, living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have a major obsession with food as you can probably already guess. Stay, browse, and I hope you'll find something you'll want to try. [more inside]
devotees say it takes 12 minutes to shake, but most agree 3-4 is enough
A "fizz" is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of cocktail. Its defining features are an acidic juice (such as lemon or lime) and carbonated water. There are a few variations on this recipe: Gin fizz, Sloe gin fizz (purple fizz). Here's a bit more about the history of the Ramos gin fizz, and here's how to make one. [more inside]
How Nandini Jammi flipped the script on the founder of Sleeping Giants
"I’m leaving Sleeping Giants, but not because I want to. ... I want to show you how a woman of color almost disappeared from the movement she built, and what you can achieve when you refuse to follow the rules your white male “leader” sets for you," she writes in her Medium post that details how co-founder Matt Rivitz denied her the title of "co-founder", refused to create an email address for her, left her out of meetings, campaigns, and even award ceremonies. At her lowest point, she wanted to quit. But in a stunning strategic move, she took control of her own brand instead. [more inside]
if you cover something up, you create a sense of desire
Does Wearing a Mask Make You Look Hot? (GQ): A semi-scientific investigation.
How to reopen schools safely
Many schools have been shut down to limit the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing parents to quit their jobs (if they work outside the home), or to juggle child care and distance learning while working from home. How can schools be reopened safely? Eight Steps to Reopen Schools, by a former CDC head and two former US secretaries of education. [more inside]
[Before Carol] People Were Making Change Out of Tackle Boxes
"I think Carol was probably the second-best marketer in the history of the business, behind only Stan Lee. Carol's greatest strength in being in charge of the then-nascent direct sales department was in building up and stabilizing the retailers." An oral history of Carol Kalish, who made an indelible impact on the comics industry as Marvel's Direct Sales Manager in the 1980s. [more inside]
Talking Science
The Royal Institution in London has been hosting a series of science lectures. The next two deal with quantum mechanics and space weather respectively. In September it will be the science of fireworks. The lectures, held in the Institution's venerable lecture hall regularly sold out pre-pandemic. These online lectures are donate-what-you-can. Previous lectures covered the mathematics of gambling, black holes, superconductors, the neuroscience of consciousness, science & racism, body illusions, the myth of magenta..... [more inside]
"Failure to disperse"
"After an hour in a holding cell, the handcuffs still on, somebody again put leg irons around my ankles, and connected the two with a piece of chain pulled tight around my stomach." UK newspaper The Independent’s Chief US Correspondent Andrew Buncombe describes what happened to a journalist covering the shutdown of Seattle's CHOP protest. [more inside]
Today, the Yaqui catfish...is functionally extinct in the United States.
"The only catfish native to the Western U.S. is running out of water - The Yaqui catfish was going extinct. Then came the border wall." More than just an article about an endangered fish, the piece goes into the complicated ties between colonialism, resource exploitation, international borders, tribal rights, and climate change.
Single link High Country News. They allow 4 free articles a month for non-subscribers.
The Outbreak of Euphoria is as Sudden as it is Unexpected
According to the BBC, "pop music is getting faster (and happier)." [SL BBC, evidence is from the UK pop charts]
MARMOSET KNOCK YOU OUT
Metal, Meat, and Bone
Infamous anonymous music collective, The Residents, have released their 47th (or so) album, Metal, Meat, and Bone: The Songs of Dyin' Dog. The album is a collection of re-interpretations of blues songs by little-known Louisiana blues musician Alvin Snow, AKA Dyin' Dog, who had a connection with the group from their early days in Shreeveport... or, is it? [more inside]