July 14, 2015
Documenting Death Inside Syria's Secret Prisons
Smuggled Photos Document Thousands Of Detainee Deaths In Syria - "The photos are graphic. They were smuggled out of Syria by a regime photographer - a military officer - who had the job of documenting the deaths of some 11,000 detainees. Activists put the photos online, and Syrians are searching them for missing loved ones." (previously)
All of the commenting, none of the comments.
"When a user submits a comment, echochamber.js will save the comment to the user's LocalStorage, so when they return to the page, they can be confident that their voice is being heard, and feel engaged with your very engaging content. It does not make any HTTP requests. Since LocalStorage is only local, you and your database need not be burdened with other people's opinions."
semicolon tattoo
“A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life." [more inside]
it is straight, and it is hard
"The desert snail at once awoke and found himself famous"
In the mid-1800s, a snail spent years glued to a specimen card in the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum) before scientists realized it was still alive. What became of this snail? Ask Metafilter found out! [more inside]
The papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Metafilter's Own™ Adam Savage has a tradition (2014, 2013, 2012) of taking an incognito floor walk through Comic-Con clad in an elaborate costume. This year he upped the ante, bringing Colonel Chris Hadfield (yes, that Chris Hadfield) along with him, both of them clad in replica 2001 spacesuits.
It’s the anti-‘I Kissed a Girl,’ which is a good thing.
"Lovato's song, on the other hand, is all about desire. She wants the girl because she wants the girl. Her perspective is that of a newbie, but that doesn’t make her a tourist; when she says 'Even if they judge / Fuck it,' she's going through the same process most every queer person has had to go through. Mostly, though, the song is about pop music's favorite topic: being attracted to someone hot." Demi Lovato's 'Cool for the Summer': The Next Great Gay Anthem?, Spencer Kornhaber for The Atlantic [more inside]
"The morning Jeff Goldblum came over and we sang at my piano."
Sarah Silverman and Jeff Goldblum sing "Me & My Shadow" (Note: Quite adorable, but also shot vertically. You've been warned).
A Victorian "Rosetta Stone"
Charles Dickens (of previously, previously, previously, &c.) was, of course, a novelist. But he was also a journalist and editor, most importantly of Household Words (1850-59) and All the Year Round (1859-70; continued until 1893). As in many Victorian periodicals, the articles in All the Year Round appeared anonymously, meaning that later scholars have had to piece together (and guess at) authorship using correspondence, stylistic comparisons, and so forth. Well, until now. [more inside]
white privilege, white audacity, white priorities: Strange Fruit #1
J. A. Micheline on The White Privilege, White Audacity, and White Priorities of STRANGE FRUIT #1:
I was hardly surprised to find that for every white person who says something racist, there is always either (a) a white person to tell the other white person that they're wrong or (b) a black person to say nothing and show no resistance. (b) happens only once, while (a) happens pretty much throughout the work. It's a perspective common to stories of racism written by whites — in order to make white audiences comfortable, white creators (of any medium) frequently show that "not all whites" were pro-slavery or racist. It is simply inconceivable to write a story in which every white person is racist, because, in their minds, how could that possibly be true? You set the Klan up, the obvious racists, just to knock them down with white saviors, to remind readers/audiences that whites are still good people and knew better and wanted to help.[more inside]
Signposts or weathercocks
After the recent rout of the Labour Party by the Scottish National Party (SNP), at the age of 20, Mhairi Black became the UK's youngest MP since the Reform Act of 1832. Her maiden speech to the House of Commons is a witty, sharp, unsparing account of how Labour failed Scotland and the UK, generally.
Lady Drawers: Growing Season
Sarah Becan, one of the best food-focused comics creators in the business, worked on some comics for Truth-Out.org's Ladydrawers series.
* Roots and Migrations looks at how food culture and traditions came to the United States.
* Stinging Nettles: Holding on to Indigenous North American Food Culture takes a peek at the food culture and traditions of North America before colonization - and what it takes to keep them alive today.
* Food and Freedom explores US food policy.
Melissa Mendes adds to the series with Cultivation: Shifting People of Color's Access to Land Use and Cultivating Policy.
* Roots and Migrations looks at how food culture and traditions came to the United States.
* Stinging Nettles: Holding on to Indigenous North American Food Culture takes a peek at the food culture and traditions of North America before colonization - and what it takes to keep them alive today.
* Food and Freedom explores US food policy.
Melissa Mendes adds to the series with Cultivation: Shifting People of Color's Access to Land Use and Cultivating Policy.
Sour Dough: Airbnb's impact in San Francisco
In a five-part series, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carolyn Said examines Airbnb’s impact in San Francisco. (Previously) [more inside]
The Web We Have to Save.
The Web We Have to Save. SLhoder: "The rich, diverse, free web that I loved — and spent years in an Iranian jail for — is dying. Why is nobody stopping it?" (h/t mkb, via ...uh... facebook.)
“What was thrown off the bridge really isn’t that important.”
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin’ cotton, and my brother was balin’ hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered out the back door, “Y’all, remember to wipe your feet!”
And then she said, “I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.”
(Movie trailer, previously, previouslier) [more inside]
I was out choppin’ cotton, and my brother was balin’ hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered out the back door, “Y’all, remember to wipe your feet!”
And then she said, “I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.”
(Movie trailer, previously, previouslier) [more inside]
Because The Internet Is Made Of Cats
“If something can’t be done with x-S, then it probably shouldn’t be done
As the first in our In-Depth Retrospective series, we’re going to dive headfirst into the tale of this long-lost attraction, discussing the history and lore that surround it. As time marches on, fewer and fewer guests can actually recall what Alien Encounter was like, so we’ll walk you through the harrowing experience from the entrance doors to the exit and then discuss what brought about its demise. Could Alien Encounter have found a new home at Disneyland Resort? What of the original attraction remains today? Let’s look back together.[more inside]
A hex on your hexagonal airline seating!
The suggested patent on hexagonal seating. Airlines love the idea of cramming more people into a plane, despite the horror of potentially being forced into eye contact and even closer proximity to strangers.
“don't leave me high, don't leave me dry”
Rare Footage Surfaces of Thom Yorke Performing "High and Dry" With Pre-Radiohead Band [YouTube] [Video]
The origins of Radiohead's 1995 single "High and Dry" dated back to Thom Yorke's short-lived pre-Radiohead band Headless Chickens. The band only played a few shows and released one song. Redditors pointed to some rare footage of a young Yorke performing the song with that band in the late 1980s (via CoS). Video shot at Exeter University's Lemon Grove.
Not like this
Sure, G.A.R.F.I.E.L.D. was funny. And who doesn't love "The Pebble"? But with the latest installment in the Monster Factory series, pushing character creation in videogames farther than ever intended, have Justin and Griffin McElroy gone too far? Behold: Truck Shepard, human(?) Spectre, nightmare fuel. [more inside]
Book Graphics
The Book Graphics blog collects thousands of gorgeous covers and illustrations, with special emphases on Russian artists, fairy tales, and antiquarian books.
New Horizons reaches the ninth planet in our solar system
50 years to day after Mariner IV gave humanity its first closeup glimpse of another planet, the New Horizons spacecraft brings us our first close up image of Pluto. [more inside]
Happy Birthday, MetaFilter!
Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
Not loading
When you speak—and when you are heard—you are committing a political act
It’s true that my detective is physical—she is sometimes criticized for being too physical, for courting danger and taking her lumps. Her main function, though, is to speak, to say those things that people in power want to keep unsaid, unheard. Her job is to advocate for those on the margins. It is her speech that unleashes a physical reaction against her: she does not provoke the powerful by punching their noses, but by speaking when they want her to be quiet.The Detective as Speech: Sara Paretsky talks about the origins of V. I. Warshawski in the context of Second Wave Feminism's high point and why it's important to have female heroes who didn't become detectives out of unresolved trauma.
« Previous day | Next day »