July 17, 2014

Beyond "Scarface" and Cigars

How to Eat Like a Cuban
"It wasn't until I was adopted into an enormous Cuban-American family, thanks to my fiancé , that I learned how to spot the Cubans—and now that I can, I see them everywhere. In three years, my extremely white self has gone from not being able to pronounce dulce de leche (don’t match those ch sounds—that’s a basic move) to knowing that I like my arroz con pollo asopao (a soupier preparation that ends up almost risotto-like).

Some of the stereotypes are true: Cubans love to party, and they can eat. Backyard pig roasts are the traditional way to celebrate pretty much any special occasion—this is a country whose two greatest exports (if they could export them) are cigars and sugar.

Bottom line: If you find some real Cubans, it's in your best interest to make friends, fast. Here's what you need to know to keep up without looking like a chump."
[more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:42 PM PST - 32 comments

"... If your hat is correct, it can compensate for a world of faults."

Lilly Daché (c.1893-1989) was one of the most prolific and influential milliners of the twentieth century. Her hats adorned almost every star in Golden Age Hollywood - from Marlene Dietrich to Carmen Miranda to Loretta Young, setting millinery styles for decades. [more inside]
posted by julen at 9:33 PM PST - 12 comments

Equal parts righteous indignation and pickle juice

A brief history of houses built out of spite.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:13 PM PST - 33 comments

No Joy In Baseball World

For 20 years, he was the biggest name in youth baseball. His coaching popularized a new wave of analysis, while his instructional videos entranced a generation of professional players and fans. And those iconic TV commercials turned him into a pop-culture phenomenon. Then, as suddenly as he arrived, Tom Emanski was gone.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:11 PM PST - 4 comments

"People are being told 'what happens in the field stays in the field"

NPR reports on a recently-published PLOS ONE article describing sexual harassment and assault perpetrated on (overwhelmingly young, female) researchers in the field.
In a survey of scientists engaged in field research, the majority — 64 percent — said they had personally experienced sexual harassment while at a field site, and 22 percent reported being the victim of sexual assault.
posted by deadbilly at 7:24 PM PST - 43 comments

Illustrated Skills of the Traveller, Physician, Sailor, Martial Artist

The Art of Shen Ku is a rambling, eccentric website displaying pages of an illustrated instructional book of the same name. The site is roughly divided into four topics: Traveller, Physician, Sailor, and Martial Artist. It features heavily notated illustrations that demonstrate everything from using healthy breathing techniques and using aloe vera to learning martial art hand strikes, avoiding shark attacks, making survival shelters, and navigating. The author, Zeek, seems to be a sailor who spent much time in Asia. [more inside]
posted by ShanShen at 7:21 PM PST - 10 comments

Get 'Soused' with ScottO))) - firing back at Lou Reed & Metallica?

Pitchfork: "A few weeks ago, 4AD confirmed that musician Scott Walker and drone metal outfit Sunn O))) would release a collaborative album. Today, the two parties have announced that album. It's called Soused, and it's due out September 22 in Europe and 23 in North America." [more inside]
posted by porn in the woods at 7:13 PM PST - 28 comments

A People's History of Tatooine

"What if Mos Eisley wasn’t really that wretched and it was just Obi Wan being racist again?"
posted by gauche at 7:02 PM PST - 42 comments

A1 vs. A2 milk

You're Drinking the Wrong Kind of Milk: "The A1/A2 debate has raged for years in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe, but it is still virtually unheard of across the pond. That could soon change..." [more inside]
posted by flex at 7:00 PM PST - 42 comments

There may not be money in the future, but you will live on Likes

Gamasutra describes one indie game developer's experience of creating a game (Redshirt) that satirizes social networking, and includes a playable race of 'sexy alien babes' who can suffer sexist comments from NPCs. When a player complained that this was unwanted and triggering, and the developer apologized and added a trigger warning tothe game, the developer received criticism as if she'd compromised her creative vision. [more inside]
posted by AaronDaMommio at 6:46 PM PST - 13 comments

Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction

Microsoft Just Laid Off Thousands of Employees With a Hilariously Bad Memo, Robotic letter is an unfortunately normal example of how companies talk to employees.
posted by KokuRyu at 6:22 PM PST - 95 comments

Artist Recreates Childhood Scribbles

Artist Telmo Pieper created digital paintings of drawings he made at age 4.
posted by Bugbread at 6:12 PM PST - 6 comments

How much more black could this be? The answer is none. None more black.

One step closer to the Disaster Area stuntship. "It's so...black!" said Ford Prefect, "you can hardly make out its shape...light just seems to fall into it!"
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 5:45 PM PST - 78 comments

TRIBES. TRIBES. TRIBES.

Before the release of Tribes 2, IGN interviewed the band Motley Crue about the theme song that they'd been contracted to do: "Then this new game came up, Tribes 2, and it was very up Motley Crue's alley. It was high-energy, very intense. We actually wrote music specifically for the game, as well as taking a few tracks off of the new album, and we're extremely excited about it. Now they're actually going to digitize us and put us in the game." The deal appeared to fall through, and the song was lost to time. However copies still exist on the Internet.
posted by codacorolla at 5:18 PM PST - 10 comments

Evolution is wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.

Understanding creationism: An insider’s guide by a former young-Earth creationist [more inside]
posted by brundlefly at 4:46 PM PST - 13 comments

Cool drinks for hot weather

Summer Drinks Around the World: 12 Regional Specialties You Might Not Know
When choosing a summertime bracer, it's all too easy to fall in the same old ruts: I know that I, for one, tend to chug ice-laden seltzer like it's going out of style, opting for a chilled Negroni when I want to go the booze route. But this summer, I've vowed to branch out and explore some of the other refreshing drinks that are enjoyed around the world. From a Colombian beer-and-soda refresher brightened with citrus to a palate-cleansing South Indian yogurt drink, here are twelve lesser-known hot-weather libations from around the world.
posted by Lexica at 4:33 PM PST - 28 comments

Social Media Meets Genetic Research

What do you do if your child has a condition that is new to science? After describing the effects of his blog post, he told the crowd that it was inevitable that parents of children with other newly discovered diseases would form proactive communities, much as he, Cristina, and the Wilseys had done. Vandana Shashi believes that such communities represent a new paradigm for conducting medical research. “It’s kind of a shift in the scientific world that we have to recognize—that, in this day of social media, dedicated, educated, and well-informed families have the ability to make a huge impact,” she told me. “Gone are the days when we could just say, ‘We’re a cloistered community of researchers, and we alone know how to do this.’ ” [more inside]
posted by Michele in California at 3:30 PM PST - 6 comments

"Because your wardrobe is a pretty complex organism."

How to assess the quality of garments: a beginner's guide (part 1, part 2, cheat sheet).
Why you don't have anything to wear.
How to build the perfect wardrobe: 10 basic principles.
Building a capsule wardrobe 101.
And much, much more at style blog Into Mind.
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:05 PM PST - 80 comments

All hail the Owl Liberation Front of Central Iceland!

Which early Christian heresy are you? [more inside]
posted by gingerbeer at 12:46 PM PST - 112 comments

The Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery

The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is an annual weekend conference discussing food, its history, and culture. Since 1981 the papers presented at the Symposium have been collected into a conference volume called the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, most of which have been made available for free in their entirety via Google Books. Each volume consists of about 25-40 papers surrounding the theme of that year's Symposium (e.g. Eggs, Authenticity, or The Meal). [more inside]
posted by jedicus at 12:04 PM PST - 8 comments

"It's the only thing that I've really been good at."

He played with everyone from Muddy Waters to John Lee Hooker, and played a midnight set at Woodstock. American blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter died Wednesday, he was 70.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 11:47 AM PST - 42 comments

this is all just theory

The Freedivers Who Eavesdrop On Whales
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:22 AM PST - 15 comments

And now it's Florida \o/

Monroe County Circuit Judge, Luis Garcia, has ruled that a provision in the Florida Constitution that outlaws same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. [more inside]
posted by Sophie1 at 11:01 AM PST - 74 comments

Here's to the Lady Who Lunched

Elaine Stritch, star of stage and screen, has died at the age of 89.
posted by rmd1023 at 10:08 AM PST - 90 comments

Bras for Trans Women: Controversy and Resources

Award-winning Austin lingerie shop Petticoat Fair specializes in hard-to-fit bra sizes. Recently a trans woman was turned away from the shop and started social media protest and boycott campaign, swamping the store's Yelp page with negative reviews. The owner issued a controversial apology and plans to meet with the Transgender Education Network Of Texas to work out a better policy. The story started to percolate through national news and commentary and sites. Meanwhile, the original complainant has called off the official boycott and the store has promised to issue a new policy in the near future. [more inside]
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:54 AM PST - 125 comments

Mobile Phones

In 1929, the Indiana Bell Telephone Company decided to build a new office building. Rather than demolishing the old building, on the advice of Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., they moved it. [more inside]
posted by zamboni at 9:53 AM PST - 18 comments

I Don't Care If You Like It

Rebecca Traister writes at the New Republic on being tired of women's choices, accomplishments, and existence being measured by barometers which are "calibrated to dude," as exemplified by a recent Esquire piece. [more inside]
posted by Stacey at 9:43 AM PST - 62 comments

The CD Case: like discovering that Hollywood is financed by VHS hoarders

The Case for CDs -- as CD sales continue to plummet, Grantland's Steven Hyden takes a "glass-half-full perspective" on those numbers, discusses format nostalgia, and the five types of albums that justify the continued existence of CDs. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:08 AM PST - 98 comments

MH17

According to Malaysia Airlines, they have lost contact with flight MH17, in Ukraine, near the Russian border. The plane is reported to have originated in Amsterdam, with 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board. Multiple news organizations are reporting that the plane was shot down in an area where "the Ukrainian government has been fighting pro-Russian rebels."
posted by helloknitty at 8:58 AM PST - 1235 comments

"Jesus, What a Tramp!"

"I'm Not a Tart: The Feminist Subtext of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men" - Actress Leighton Meester examines Steinbeck's intent in writing, and audience reaction to, her role as Curley's wife in Of Mice and Men: "If this woman is purely a victim, why is she so hated? And if she is truly harmless, why is she so threatening?"
posted by sallybrown at 8:56 AM PST - 10 comments

Don't lick the paintbrush

Journal of Art in Society tells the story of the most unusual pigment: The life and death of Mummy Brown. [more inside]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 7:21 AM PST - 13 comments

Gordon College and the city of Salem, MA

In the wake of the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby ruling (previously), Gordon College -- one of the most conservative colleges in Massachusetts -- became the only higher educational institution to request a presidential exemption from current nondiscrimination laws against LGBTQ people. This action has not been without controversy, both from within the college community and without. Most notably, Salem mayor Kim Driscoll has terminated the school's contract to maintain the Old Town Hall building due to the school's discriminatory stance (PDF).
posted by pxe2000 at 7:05 AM PST - 81 comments

The Destruction of the Triabunna Mill

In the July issue of The Monthly, John van Tiggelen tells the tale of “The Destruction of the Triabunna Mill and the Fall Of Tasmania's Woodchip Industry,” detailing how “How the end of Gunns cleared a new path for Tasmania.” [more inside]
posted by ob1quixote at 6:55 AM PST - 12 comments

Scientists name new species of Puerto Rican water mite after JLo

The music of the Bronx, New York-born entertainer who has Puerto Rican roots was a hit with the group while they wrote about their findings, biologist Vladimir Pesic said. via
posted by ellieBOA at 4:24 AM PST - 7 comments

I never master these skills, because I am the wrong man for the job.

I killed At The Movies. The dueling critics format outlived Siskel, the more natural on-air presence of the two. So why didn’t it outlive Ebert?
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:02 AM PST - 38 comments

8 Irresistible Food Blogs From Sub-Saharan Africa

Food is life. It unites us all. Here at Global Voices, we love food, so we bring you eight yummy food blogs from Sub-Saharan Africa.
posted by infini at 2:33 AM PST - 20 comments

A tale of two tubas

A series af amusing vignettes, filmed by the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. [YTPL]
posted by pjern at 1:55 AM PST - 10 comments

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