January 24, 2018
Resisting the Resistance
Candidates Who Signed Up to Battle Trump Must Get Past the Democratic Party First: "The group’s town halls and protests began to draw eye-popping numbers of people and even attracted national attention. With their newfound confidence, Lancaster progressives looked toward local and federal elections. The national press was captivated by the upsets across the state of Virginia in November, but that same night in Pennsylvania, Democrats across the state in local elections knocked Republicans out of seats they’d owned forever. In June, one of their own, Jess King, who heads a nonprofit that helps struggling women start and run small businesses in the area, announced that she would be running to take out Republican Rep. Lloyd Smucker in Pennsylvania’s 16th District... It turned out the Democratic Party had other ideas — or, at least, it had an old idea. As is happening in races across the country, party leaders in Washington and in the Pennsylvania district rallied, instead, around a candidate who, in 2016, had raised more money than a Democrat ever had in the district and suffered a humiliating loss anyway." [more inside]
Brownout
With a provincial election scheduled for June 7 and the incumbent Liberal party reeling from voter fatigue and scandals after fourteen years in power, Ontario Progressive Conservative leader (and previous favourite to be the next Premier) Patrick Brown has resigned the party leadership after allegations from two women that he sexually harassed and assaulted them when both girls were only 18. Brown issued a trembling, teary statement earlier today then fled reporters at the scene. Within minutes of the statement five key members of the Brown campaign had resigned (although at least one appeared to be throwing stones from a glass house). [more inside]
More beats and pieces from Al'Tarba, French abstract/hip hop/beatmaker
If you want some weird music for ... whatever day this is, you might enjoy the madness of Al'Tarba, a self-described French abstract/hip hop/beatmaker, who's on YouTube with weird, dark and cinematic videos, as well as tracks and sets on Soundcloud, plus albums and EPs on Bandcamp, and a proper website to boot.
Ask an Ex-Fetish Artist!
"I started out with more standard niche fetishes- feet, bondage, your usual shit everyone knows about. But over time, word got out that as long as I was paid accordingly, I'd draw just about anything. And so the perverts came and my rent got paid. Here's a list of stories for y'all to choose what you'd like to hear first: 1) I want a salmon in that lady's vagina; 2) Bimbo the Magical Pony; 3) Put a bee cock on that dragon; 4) Cum golems R Us"
Tonight's the night we'll make history, as sure as dogs can fly
Prog-Lite band Styx scores their only #1 album with their 1981 release Paradise Theater [YT playlist ~40m], a loose concept album about the decline of America from the 60s into the emerging 80s. Side A: A.D. 1928/Rockin' The Paradise [video], Too Much Time On My Hands [video], Nothing Ever Goes As Planned, The Best Of Times [video] [more inside]
Hold the pickles, hold the..............................................
Having trouble grasping net neutrality? It is a complex subject, as we have already discussed (previously x 49). Well, fear not: Burger King, of all places, explains it. (SLAdWeek)
I Got Yer Sandwich RIGHT HERE.
Jade Hameister is a 16-year-old student from Melbourne who's just successfully completed the "Polar Quest" - skiing to both the North and South Poles, and across the Greenland Ice Cap, setting a record for being the youngest-ever such explorer. But - she also found the time for a fantastic sass back to her trolls. [more inside]
"If it's me and your granny on bongos, then it's the Fall."
RIP Mark E. Smith, one-off, legend, lead singer, song writer and only constant member of the Manchester band The Fall [more inside]
The Predatory Bank/The Public Bank
“No banking policy could properly address the drive that motivates predatory lending: that those with capital seek to multiply it without laboring themselves. Aggressively capping interest rates doesn’t stop—to return to the words of Gautama Buddha—the “pursuit of gain with gain.” The only way to fully take the predation out of lending practices is to remove the profit motive from financial services altogether.” Shark And Hound, predatory lending and loan sharks in America from the Gold Rush to Payday loans, and a possible way out. [more inside]
"how about a pug with piece of birthday cake on her head?"
@OfficerEdith: One of my purest joys is seeing animals wearing party hats. It's my birthday weekend, please indulge me, I need to see your pictures. Extra points if there's a second picture of said hat being destroyed. (previously; note that some hat-wearers are no longer with us) (the titular pug)
The phantom of the “distracted pedestrian” haunts America
"As it happens, the enormous legal privileges of car drivers are rooted in an earlier anti-pedestrian campaign dating from the early days of the automobile. Historically, city streets had been part of the public realm. Vendors, horse-drawn vehicles, playing children, and public-transit streetcars all used them, but the pedestrian dominated. Crossing the street on foot was a simple matter of walking from one side to another. Due to their mechanical power, fast speeds, and need for large amounts of physical space, cars upset this mix of uses and posed a new mortal danger to pedestrians exercising their right to mobility. So starting in the 1920s, automakers and their allies led a coordinated effort to “socially reconstruct” American city streets, as historian Peter D. Norton writes — shifting responsibility for maintaining road safety away from drivers and onto pedestrians." Who's Afraid of the Pedextrian?
“Saffron is much more expensive than cocaine,”
The Secret History of the World's Priciest Spice [National Geographic] “Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, going for up to $16 per gram—and with good reason. It comes from the dried bright orange-red stigmas of the flower Crocus sativus. But before you go digging up your spring crocus, know that this variety is special because it’s a triploid: it can’t grow in the wild or reproduce without human intervention. The gorgeous purple flower is painstakingly propagated and harvested by hand, and only on the morning it blooms. The more careful the cultivation, the higher the price. Iran produces 85 percent of the world’s saffron, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, thanks to its relatively dry, sunny climate and the agricultural knowledge passed down through generations of farmers. It likely was first discovered in Bronze Age Greece, yet it now grows throughout Europe and Asia.” [more inside]
Prairie home of troubling incidents and workplace relationships
Minnesota Public Radio News has released an independent investigation of Garrison Keillor's conduct. MPR News has been operating at arm's-length from its parent organization. It has unearthed "a years-long pattern of behavior that left several women who worked for Keillor feeling mistreated, sexualized or belittled" but does not detail the specific incident leading to the separation of MPR and Keillor. MPR's president Jon McTaggart also answered some FAQ yesterday about the situation.
maybe the real wall was the one through our hearts.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly says that the President's border wall wall promise was 'uninformed' and that the United States is going to pay for it, apparently sparking a furious Trump to say his plan has "never changed or evolved." Even as Sen. Minority Leader Schumer withdraws offer on Trump's wall, but even the offer indicates How Democrats Stopped Worrying and Learned to Accept Trump's Wall.
Easy enough since The Trump administration has already started building the border wall, and thanks to previous Presidents, Basically, Donald Trump’s Border Wall Already Exists [more inside]
Easy enough since The Trump administration has already started building the border wall, and thanks to previous Presidents, Basically, Donald Trump’s Border Wall Already Exists [more inside]
Tcuzu Joao
Of the more than 200 Jesuits buried in the church of St Paul in Macao, there is one in particular who stands out: João Rodrigues. His profound knowledge of Japan – a country where he spent 33 years of his life – of its people, language, and culture earned the Portuguese man the nickname Tçuzu (Japanese tsūji), or the Interpreter.
He did it for a bet
The wreck of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to bring human cargo to the United States, may have been found in the lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta, north of Mobile, Alabama. [more inside]
No finer tart
The Bakewell Tart, a "great British classic", is an example of English Midlands food, but not a Manchester one. It has a complicated history, was used in a tax case, is maybe or not related to the Bakewell Pudding, is quite sweet, more popular than Eccles Cakes, but is not a Manchester tart. Serve warm with cream, or watch Bezza and Paul eat it. Bakewell itself is a town in Derbyshire. Featured in the GBBO, smiling people oft hunt the tart in the town, while badgers prefer it at night (BBC). Variations from yonder lands include the Australian Bakewell Slice, the Canadian Butter Tart, a prune, raisin and Armagnac variety, the Cherry Bakewell, and the Ecclefechan (SFW) Tart. Or perhaps make a moist raspberry, mulberry or vegan cherry flapjack one.
Dee dee dee dee Dee dee dee dee ah-choo!
Noting the upcoming Olympics, here is the LSO performing Chariots Of Fire at the opening of the London Olympics featuring a rather distracted keyboardist. (SLYT)
Straight Outta Romford
The Floppotron (the musical instrument, not the Disney sequel)
Africa by Toto - - the latest classic song to be performed on the Floppotron, a musical instrument, nay entire orchestra, cobbled together by Polish musician and engineer Paweł Zadrożniak from 64 floppy drives, 8 hard drives, and 2 scanners. [more inside]
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