May 14, 2019
He was always fine with it, and this was before Ellen DeGeneres.
'NYPD Blue' Star Bill Brochtrup on How Steven Bochco Pioneered Gay Characters on TV "Steven came up with this idea for a character who was openly and unapologetically gay. That was way ahead of its time," Brochtrup says of the prolific showrunner, who died Sunday at age 74. [Hollywood Reporter, April 2018, in remembrance of Bochco after his death]
Doggerland: an Atlantis (of sorts) of the North Sea
Scientists are mapping an underwater region (The Guardian) that connected Britain to Scandinavia and continental Europe (National Geographic), about the size of the Netherlands. Called Doggerland*, the submerged "former heart of Europe" is touted as a northern Atlantis (CBS News), though little is known of the human habitation of the region, even though the sunken area was identified in the early 20th century. Interest intensified in 1931 when a fishing trawler operating east of the Wash dragged up a barbed antler point (Norfolk Heritage). [more inside]
RIP Stanton Friedman
Stanton Friedman (1939-2019) One of the fathers of modern UFOlogy, Friedman was the first civilian investigator of the Roswell Crash, wrote the book on Betty and Barney Hill, fought Philip Klass on national TV, and likely owned many suspenders. He was a tireless speaker on the subject of Flying Saucers- watch this documentary made about him in 2012 to see him in action.
On my back was a tiny man dressed like a bumblebee
My thoughts are drowned, and shipwreck seems sweet to me in this sea.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Virtual Archaeology Museum - "In the course of oil and gas exploration, BOEM has discovered many amazing shipwrecks. Each shipwreck tells a story of our shared history and provides a mystery to uncover. BOEM would like to share these mysteries with you by providing access to new 3D modeling never before possible using video publicly available from NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research."
Um, corrosive?
"I got tired of waiting for Weezer to release another good album so I made one myself." That'd be Zerwee, a 4-song EP by not-actually-Weezer musical person Billy Cobb.
mannerist finance
Art Speculators Bid to Lose [WSJ]- "David Geffen, Peter Brant and other collectors pledge to bid on art they want but new third-party backers[Economist] aim to reap fees by getting outbid; ‘they don’t know what they’re doing’"
Are Auction Guarantees the New Private Sales? Yes, for Art Sellers Who Don’t Want to Get Ripped Off // Why Guarantees Are Actually Good for the Art Market [more inside]
Are Auction Guarantees the New Private Sales? Yes, for Art Sellers Who Don’t Want to Get Ripped Off // Why Guarantees Are Actually Good for the Art Market [more inside]
to come forth, show itself, open out, emerge, reveal
This Hyperallergic article by Jasmine Weber has still photos of the exhibit by Michael Bradley; visit the Puaki website for the full artist's statement and some amazing and moving videos.
Straight from the CAT-alogue!
The Library of Congress has released a set of free to use cat images selected by LOC staff experts.
So Glad We Had This Time Together: RIP the great Tim Conway
Actor and comedian Tim Conway, best known for his work on "The Carol Burnett Show," died on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, according to his publicist. Conway was 85. [more inside]
US Culture and Geographic Restaurant Patterns
... what is the taco capital of the US? What is the exact longitude where Chinese food eclipses tacos? What about regional preferences, such as the South‘s affinity for BBQ? We reached out to Google for answers, and they provided an anonymized dataset based on actual restaurant visits. A 2018 exploration from The Pudding, which includes a great interactive chart at the end that allows one to choose from a variety of foods (such as sandwiches vs. Japanese food) and view their relative geographic popularity across the US.
Quiet Spoon Club
Master Carver Barn the Spoon plies his trade, silently carving beautiful spoons from start to finish:
Human rights lawyer targeted using WhatsApp
The Facebook-owned WhatApp messaging app was exploited to spy on a human rights lawyer (NY Times). Coverage in Wired and TechCrunch. [more inside]
Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild
“The Tiger King: that’s how [Joe] has marketed himself and lived his life...But here’s the thing with kings—they start to believe they’re above the law.” He called himself the Tiger King and plastered his face on highway billboards in Texas and Oklahoma. He bred big cats, bears, baboons, and more. He lived, with a parade of partners, on the grounds of his private zoo. He threatened a rival with murder—repeatedly, on YouTube—and tried to hire a hit man to do the deed.
Mommy, when I pee in the ocean it gets fuller.
"What is an X? An empty set, a place-holder, a nothing..."
The New York Times Style section has published a multi-article package on Generation X -- its style talismans and its impact on the wider world. [more inside]
will spend the cold winter months nestled into the moss
Melbourne zoo hatches plan to save southern corroboree frog Containers holding more than 1,600 of endangered species’ eggs placed in remote areas of Mt Kosciuszko national park [The Guardian]
JON, I REQUIRE LASAGNE.
Garfield, Only He's A Nightmarish Monster Starring In A Game Boy Game [YouTube] “Last year, just in time for Halloween, Lumpy made some short animations based on artist Will Burke’s nightmarish Garfield sketches. Fast forward to May 2019 and he’s just finished work on a complete 13-minute video, presented in the style of the grossest Game Boy game ever made.” [via: Kotaku]
It Means ‘The Good Land’
“For most of his twenty-four years as mayor, Hoan lacked a sympathetic majority on the city council. But he won over many colleagues by showing it was possible to both expand public services and balance the city’s budget. In 1932, however, voters installed a leftist majority on the council, and Hoan was emboldened. At a time when many cities resorted to violence to intimidate striking employees, Hoan pushed for a law that allowed the mayor to close any factory if the employer refused to negotiate with the workers. He asked Milwaukee’s voters to support municipal ownership of the city’s electric power system and streetcars. They rejected the idea in a referendum, but other cities around the country embraced it.” What Milwaukee Can Teach the Democrats about Socialism
Percolation applied to pertussis, protons, and proposals
Going Critical is Kevin Simler's interactive essay / exploration about the flow of diseases, ideas, and other transmissible stuff.
How we made Parks and Recreation
Food Chain (This Meal Is Brought to You By...)
"Taking as our premise that there might be a fascinating food-chain story behind each and every ingredient that goes into all the stuff we eat, we set out to track our daily grub as far back as we could... The goal of this exercise wasn’t to tally food miles or weigh the pros and cons of agribusiness (though obviously those subjects demand constant and exhaustive scrutiny) but simply to trace the origins of things we modern eaters have largely learned to take for granted — and to acknowledge the seed breeders, fish processors, tomato canners, lime importers, and truck drivers who make it happen." Where an Entire Day’s Worth of Food Came From, by Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld, Grub Street).
That Looks Rather...
In a tweet this morning, Adult Swim dropped a teaser trailer for Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky’s newest animated series, Primal. (SLTwitter) [more inside]
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