May 5, 2014
Elective Amputation
In pain and forced to use a wheelchair, a young woman opts to amputate her clubfeet. "New prosthetics have made active life possible for many with injuries and congenital defects." [Via]
“You can see why some of the stadium guys like to keep it light."
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle is both a television show featuring stand-up comedian Stewart Lee (previously), and the whimsical clown car in the opening credits of the show’s first season. Lee’s patronizing, repetitive, and defeatist style may appear thoughtful or ironic, but taking him at face value reveals a darker, more interesting picture (NSFW language): [more inside]
Now, Light Our Darkest Hour
As the hype builds for Michael Bay's latest assault on the eyes and eardrums: Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, let's take a walk down memory lane to happier times: Beyond good. Beyond evil. Beyond your wildest imagination. [more inside]
woof along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Happy dogs on the beach! Includes a cat on a surfboard, who also seems happy. Ubiquitous soundtrack. much wag. so splashing.
With tingle tentacles. CE Listed. Made in China.
Decontextualized product labels: "DirectionsforMe provides the information that’s on consumer packages or labels in a simple online format for anyone who has trouble reading the small print including people who are blind or visually impaired." [more inside]
Is your refrigerator running? If it is, it may not keep running for long
The Maytag Man has changed with the times (NYT). Gone is the lonely repair man, and now he is the running refrigerator. The message might well be taken from this 2005 SF Gate article, Disposing with the fix-it guys. In 2011, Consumer Reports posed the question: Repair or replace it? And recently, BBC gave a broad overview of why washing machines are no longer built to last.
Listening west with the sunrise
Global Breakfast Radio aggregates radio stations from across the world, constantly streaming broadcasts from wherever it’s breakfast-time right now. (via)
fiction in the form of art gallery plaques
"Card Tricks by James Hannaham recommended by Jennifer Egan"
"By invoking the existence of artworks involving the gallery space, the people inside it, and the larger world (quite literally), Hannaham performs an ingenious reversal: the subject illuminated by the plaques ends up being us, the reader-viewers. And our experience of reading and viewing them—in what order we choose, in what state we’re in that day or night, in what company, in what mood, in what weather, is the narrative."
"By invoking the existence of artworks involving the gallery space, the people inside it, and the larger world (quite literally), Hannaham performs an ingenious reversal: the subject illuminated by the plaques ends up being us, the reader-viewers. And our experience of reading and viewing them—in what order we choose, in what state we’re in that day or night, in what company, in what mood, in what weather, is the narrative."
“Myer, invest the money with your friend Warren.”
Rabbi Myer Kripke, of Omaha, dies at 100. The New York Times obituary tells the story of the Kripkes and a couple they played bridge with and became friends with, Susan and Warren Buffett. In 1966, they approached Buffett to manage their savings, and they wound up making $25 million, all of which they gave away.
The Times piece also devotes a half a sentence to Rabbi Kripke's son, "Saul Kripke, a Princeton scholar who has been called the world’s greatest living philosopher" (cynics should note that Saul Kripke shot to prominence before his parents were rich).
ALL the Porn
Sony just announced that cassette technology might be the future! With a device that can hold 185 terabytes on one tape. (that's three bluray discs worth of data per square inch.)
Yann Tiersen Secret Concert
57-minutes of a live-stream concert from French composer/musician Yann Tiersen playing from a secret location today. [more inside]
Artist's Notebook: Ramsey Nasser
"Arabic programming languages with the honest goal of bringing coding to a non-Latin culture have been attempted in the past, but have failed without exception. What makes my piece قلب different is that its primary purpose was to illustrate how impossible coding in anything but English has become."
The New Yorker Jigsaw Puzzle
The New Yorker Jigsaw Puzzle. Unjumble the covers.
Just stay off the river...
Dogs.... Dogs playing "Dueling Banjos"
Waiting for the inevitable slow reading movement
How fast do you read? (previously.) The average adult allegedly reads 300 words a minute, but if that's too slow, there are ways to improve it.
"What Girls Are Good For"
Today is the 150th birthday of Elizabeth Jane Seaman, née Cochran -- best known by her pen name Nellie Bly. She is perhaps most famous for her re-creation of Jules Verne's epic Around the World in 80 Days, but this real-life Phileas Fogg did it in a record-breaking 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes, and wrote a book about her adventure. She was a pioneering investigative journalist, brave enough to get herself committed to an insane asylum to expose its practices, which resulted in the book Ten Days in a Mad-House. As she wrote, "I was too impatient to work at the usual duties assigned women on newspapers." [more inside]
Do Pirates Really Go Down with the Ship?
Exactly ten years after one of the most traumatic events in Tulip Time history, festival-goers (and children) are finally afforded a chance to turn a negative into a positive. Plus, the original headlines and the awards-filled aftermath.
Prayers get a new blessing
The Supreme Court ruled (PDF) this morning that the town of Greece, New York did not violate the Constitution by starting its public meetings with a prayer from a “chaplain of the month." [more inside]
How to communicate like Jack Bauer.
Stuff Bach People Like
All of Bach: Every week, you will find a new recording here of one Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1080 works, performed by The Netherlands Bach Society and many guest musicians.
Sometimes you just have to break the rules
I Am Curious (Tweed)
Another day, another Wes Anderson film parody trailer -- this one's for a tasteful, adults-only offering called The Grand Sausage Pizza. (The NSFW tag is for dialogue and premise, rather than nudity.)
Too toxic for "60 Minutes"?
A decade after "Rathergate," 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan was badly duped by a security contractor who claimed to have been an eyewitness to and to have fought in the Benghazi battle that eventually killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and was subsequently asked to take a leave of absence by CBS. CBS itself was forced to apologize. Now, NY Magazine asks "Can 60 Minutes Afford to Take Lara Logan Back?"
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