May 16, 2023
Truant the border collie is the 2023 Masters Agility Champion
Truant the border collies zooms into first place in the 20" class and also becomes the champion at the 2023 WKC Masters Agility show. (SLYT)
This is how San Francisco could die
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed. Doom loop (noun) — A scenario in which one negative development causes another negative development, which then makes the first problem worse. A vicious cycle.: This is how San Francisco could die: [more inside]
No VICE is overtaken except what is common to us all
Vice Media files for bankruptcy as ad business suffers:
Vice Media Group, popular for websites such as Vice and Motherboard, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday to engineer its sale to a group of lenders, capping years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures.
The bankruptcy filing is a fallout of a challenging period for many technology and media companies that have been cutting costs to survive a weak advertising market amid slowing economic growth.
Vice said the lender consortium that includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital will provide about $225 million in credit bid for almost all of its assets and also assume significant liabilities at closing.
"That is, at least, until last month."
The Last Recording Artist, by Jaime Brooks, is a fantastic essay about the birth of radio, Hatsune Miku, Drake, the relationship between artists and commercial product, and—as Brooks themself puts it—"ghostwriters, virtual pop stars, and the world to come."
‘drag Stalin’
Let 3’s decades-long expertise in creating challenging art makes ŠČ the hardest-working single letter in Eurovision history. Initially, Let 3 were satirising communist prudishness and conformity in the last years of Yugoslavia. Images of their early performances show themes which are Let 3 trademarks to this day: huge moustaches, military headwear, and frequent male nudity. Youtuber Eurovision Histories walks us through the meaning of the song Mama Šč! (read the comments for more insights!)
The 4K blackout pod
The Cutest List to Argue Over
Cinnamoroll is currently in the lead in the 38th annual Sanrio Character Ranking, and was the reigning champion for the past three years. Will Cinnamoroll hold onto this position, or will current second place-holder Pompompurin take the crown? Perhaps there will be a dark horse victory from Gudetama or Aggretsuko? Voting is open until May 26, 5PM (Japan Standard Time). [more inside]
It is transportation's answer to the Death Star!
Rotaries, traffic circles, roundabouts... Do you ever just want to rant about roundabouts? Well, you don't have to! Lewis Black, as a professional ranter, has been reading audience-written rants at the end of his shows for years! He is here for you, for all of us really, with The Rant Is Due, Best Of Roundabouts. [18m30s]
“…and by God we got chased…”
An Elderly Shaggy Talks About Mystery Inc Content warning: more moving than you might be expecting it to be. From the brilliant Michael Fry.
A refined parody, for a more civilized age...
Star Wars Characters as Baroque Portraits. [SLYT] [AI] What it says on the tin. 3 minutes long with optional music. Images generated by Midjourney..
They were not just ahead of their time; they were ahead of our time.
Although it’s estimated that 750 women—likely more—fought as soldiers in the United States Civil War, the United States Army once declared that not a single woman ever fought. We know little from the women-soldiers themselves; many, like the men, could not read or write. Scholars rely heavily on obituaries and letters to piece together the stories of how they lived. [more inside]
...he represents a unique kind of masculinity.
50 years after release, Disney’s Robin Hood is still a life-changing furry phenomenon [Polygon] “Part of the unique qualities that made Robin Hood a furry media mainstay comes down to the fact that the title character — a dashing, jovial hero who robs from the rich and gives to the poor — is a fox. [...] From the outside, the film is a laid-back adventure known as much for reusing visuals from earlier Disney movies as for its powerful connection to unlocking personal identities in one subset of fandom. For those of us who aren’t part of the furry community, it may be surprising to realize just how much of an impact Robin Hood has had.”
"The battle of the video bands continues"
The MTV Basement Tapes (YT playlist, promo, full episodes (Frank Zappa, Rick Nielsen)) A showcase of videos by (generally) unknown and (usually) unsigned artists and groups, The MTV Basement Tapes (not to be confused with these Basement Tapes) ran from 1983-86.
Fire retardant kills fish. Is it worth the risk?
Doomed to Remain Timely and Topical
The plot of Mr. President is deceptively simple, with most of the action taking place over a single week. When a half-crazed beggar accidentally kills a particularly brutal colonel in a fit of rage, the president decides to pin the blame on a general and his lawyer, whose political loyalty he has begun to doubt. This sets in motion a series of interlinked schemes and machinations that result in the imprisonment, torture, death, bondage, or general ruination of assorted government higher-ups, who suspect what is coming, and ordinary citizens, who do not. from The Inventor of Magical Realism by Larry Rohter [NYRB; ungated]
Beer Run
A Minnesota man invented a motorcycle that runs on beer. It can run on other liquids as well, but as the inventor says, why not beer?
Just load up the keg... (YT link)
The Weirdest Boats on the Great Lakes
The origin of the iconic Whaleback ship design on the Great Lakes and it’s demise. The whaleback ship and barge design was iconic to the Great Lakes in the Gilded Age and for strange reasons, Puget Sound in Washington state.
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