September 20, 2017
The fact is, a river of piss runs through art history.
"Of course, the angels, being angels, feel no relief as they piss. They get their celestial jollies by raining a little holy water on us, but they know nothing of urination as a physical urge. If you want to enjoy some real salt-of-the-earth pissing, Lebensztejn reports, you have to skip ahead to 1600." [more inside]
"Who was Joan of Arc?" "Uh, Noah's wife?"
The real St Louis gun battle behind “Duncan & Brady”
A cop called Brady drives up in his electric car, determined to kill someone. He enters a gambling joint, walks up to the barman – whose surname is Duncan – and tells him he’s under arrest. Duncan responds by shooting Brady in the chest at point-blank range, killing him instantly. The only explanation we get for any of this is that Brady’s “been on the job too long”. That’s the tale told by the classic murder ballad Duncan & Brady, and it contains a lot more truth than you might imagine. The date was October 6, 1890, and here’s what really happened. [via mefi projects by Paul Slade] [more inside]
September 19. 1985, 2017
32 years to the day after the infamous and memorable September 19, 1985 earthquake, and two weeks behind a recent one in Oaxaca called the "strongest in 100 years" , Mexico suffers a deadly earthquake that has severely affected Mexico City, plus towns in the states of Puebla, Morelos and Estado de Mexico. [more inside]
🎵 Spider paws, spider paws, so much cuter than spider jaws 🎶
Turns Out Spiders Have Tiny Paws, And It May Change The Way You Look At Them (adorable paws only, no full spider images)
The future is African, and it's wearing Maki Oh.
Alexis Okeowo in the New Yorker on West Africa's most daring designer:
Osakwe’s collection earlier this year was inspired by what she described as a “middle-class Nigerian girl going on a booty call.” In Lagos, that girl usually travels by the yellow danfo buses that career through the streets, and has practical problems to consider...“What is seduction to her? It’s not a pretty journey,” Osakwe said. “How does that middle-class girl get it on? Because sex is so taboo, but we know we’re all fucking like rabbits.” The answer, Osakwe reasoned, is clothing that is erotic but protective—not a short skirt and heels but a long, strapless red dress, evoking the traditional wrapper, that can easily be dropped in the act of seduction. Though she hesitates to tell Nigerian buyers that she draws inspiration from sex workers, clients see her clothes as an illicit escape: a chance to feel more exciting, less restrained.[more inside]
They're shaping me into something gaudy and lethal.
Following a tease on Instagram last night, it's been confirmed that HBO placed a pilot order for a Watchmen series. Somewhat controversial screenwriter Damon Lindelof heads the writing room. [more inside]
Sci-Fi Roots of the Far Right
Martin Wong: visionary realist artist
Today a retrospective of the art of Martin Wong (1946-1999) opens at the Berkeley Art Museum. The touring show originated at the Bronx Museum (NYT review), and its travels to the Bay Area represent a homecoming for the art of Wong, who was raised in San Francisco's Chinatown. He did set design for Cockettes spinoff the Angels of Light. He moved to New York in 1978, collaborated with his partner, writer Miguel Piñero, collected graffiti art (that collection is now at the City Museum of New York), and collected thousands of items including ceramics. He moved back to San Francisco after he was diagnosed with AIDS. His legacy is commemorated by the Martin Wong Foundation.
The GREAT Place
On the eve of The Good Place's season 2 premiere, Kristen Bell has released the video of the rest of the gang responding to finding out about the finale. Spoilers in the link/video.
"Say, that really DOES whip the llama's ass!"
Planes, Trains and Elephants: David Shepherd (1931-2017)
David Shepherd, artist and conservation activist, has died aged 86. Best known for his depictions of African wildlife such as The Ivory is Theirs, he was also a renowned aviation artist and painter of steam engines. [more inside]
Also, it's like 350 bucks on eBay
Want to spend a few hours on a wargame? Well, you definitely do not want to unroll the 10-foot board that comes with The Campaign for North Africa, because not only will you need to find nine friends, but y'all are likely to spend upwards of 1500 hours playing what Richard Berg, the game's designer, called "wretched excess... but it was designed specifically as such." [more inside]
Lillian Ross 1918-2017
Lillian Ross, who became known as the consummate fly-on-the-wall reporter in a six-decade career at The New Yorker, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 99. [more inside]
Skimmer Scanner
Card skimming (previously) is a practice where thieves will place a secondary card reader over the primary card reader of a gas pump, which will then collect and store the information of any card used at that pump. As this scam proliferates, more and more scammers are using cheap skimmers that they buy off of the Internet, which they do not configure, making them detectable through the Bluetooth capabilities of your average smartphone. An open source (GitHub) app called the Skimmer Scanner (Android only, available through the Play Store) automates this process even further, and its author provides an in-depth tutorial about card skimming, and how to avoid it.
"The desire for different food is UNREAL ..."
He presented himself as ”Erik Hallberg”, a political refugee from the l
25-year-old Patrik Hermansson went undercover with American and British Nazis for a year. He presented himself as ”Erik Hallberg”, a political refugee from the left-wing dictatorship of Sweden. [more inside]
The Hidden Jewels of Appalachia
Appalachia has the greatest diversity of salamanders in the world, but since they largely live underground, many of the people who live in the region are barely aware of how many of the amphibians are around them. The US's National Zoo had an exhibit a few years ago on Appalachian salamanders, including this short film on salamanders, their role in the ecosystem, and how threats to the environment affect them.
Make way for the skinny men with the determined faces
Two things emerged from the rubble of Mexico City after the devastating 1985 earthquake that killed 30,000 people: the first one is the national spirit of solidarity and compassion that compels every Mexican to drop everything and rush to help those in need. The second one is the Topos. [more inside]
So why is topology important?
Understanding the brain using topology: the Blue Brain project. The brain is one of the main mysteries of medical science so this is huge! For me the most exciting part of this is that the researchers build their theory through the lens of Algebraic Topology and I will try to explain the main players in their game here. [more inside]
The last Nazi hunters
Since 1958, a small department of Germany’s government has sought to bring members of the Third Reich to trial. A handful of prosecutors are still tracking down Nazis, but the world’s biggest cold-case investigation will soon be shut down.
“I'll take two.”
Tomb Raider [YouTube][Official Trailer] “From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Tomb Raider is the story that will set a young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. The film stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl) in the lead role, under the direction of Roar Uthaug (The Wave), with Oscar-winner Graham King (The Departed) producing under his GK Films banner. The film¹s production begins on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the wildly popular videogame franchise from Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.”
Please Make Yourselves At Home In My AirBnB And Have Sex
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