September 22, 2012
A Breath Of Fresh Aire
In 1975, composer/drummer Chip Davis, bass player Eric Hansen, and keyboard player Jackson Berkey introduced the world to the unclassifiable mix of classical, jazz, rock, and synthesizer music known as Fresh Aire: Prelude; Chocolate Fudge; Interlude I; Sonata; Interlude II; Sara's Band; Fresh Aire; Rondo; Interlude III; Pass The Keg, Lia; Interlude IV; Mist. [more inside]
LEGO Great Ball Contraption (Layout 2012.9)
Mes Aynak
Golden Buddha, Hidden Copper. "Twelve years after the Taliban blew up the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas, a Chinese mining firm -- developing one of the world's largest copper deposits -- threatens to destroy another of Afghanistan's archeological treasures." Campaign to Save Mes Aynak.
"Every moment dies a man, Every moment 1 1/16 is born."
Charles Babbage, Victorian mathematician and "father of the computer", suggested a small change for accuracy in Tennyson's poem "The Vision of Sin" in this letter.
JFK Recordings
"The story came straight from Kennedy himself." "Though even some of his closest aides did not know at the time, Kennedy recorded more than 260 hours of Oval Office conversations, telephone calls and dictation into his Dictaphone. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation has culled the highlights into a new book of annotated transcripts and two audio CDs. Some of audio portions will be available online."
Please note the recording links on the left side of the page.
Last One is Tops
All 32 NFL Quarterbacks and their Muppet Doppelgangers. Single link Buzzfeed.
Natural progression.
Steve Ditko's Mr. A
Mr. A debuted in 1967, in the third issue of Witzend, a collection of more artistically fulfilling side projects by mainstream comics professionals led by Wally Wood. In his very first panel, the Objectivist hero addresses his readers directly, stating his case that in moral life, there are no shades of gray, only evil or good, black or white. The hero stares at us, blank, emotionless. There’s a montage around him showing that his calm face is actually a metal mask, and that evil is truly disgusting. At the story’s end, Mr. A. beats up a nasty juvenile delinquent, ironically named Angel, and then allows the kid to fall to his death from a city rooftop. - Pat Barrett [more inside]
Hokusai's Great Wave
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is probably the most iconic Japanese artwork in history, often used to illustrate tsunamis, and scientists have attempted to analyze what kind of wave it depicts. The woodprint is part of the 36 Views of Mount Fuji series, which depicts the famous mountain from different spots in Japan. The artist who made the Great Wave, Katsushika Hokusai, created thousands of images, many of which can be viewed online, such as in the internet galleries of the Museum of Fine Art and Visipix (Visipix' Hokusai page). Besides woodprints, Hokusai produced sketchbooks he called manga, one of which, number twelve, can be flipped through on the Swedish Touch and Turn website.
Fiesta Forever.
World Rhinoceros Day!
"In March 2012, following the brutal attack of three rhinos by poachers seeking horn, Dr. William Fowlds, the wildlife veterinarian treating the rhinos, contacted WitmerLab for insight into the anatomical structure of the horn, skull, and nasal cavity of rhinos. The poachers had used machetes to hack off the horns, leaving deep wounds in the face and exposing the delicate mucous membranes of the paranasal air sinuses and nasal cavity." The result of this partnership was the Visible Interactive Rhino. For more rhinoceros anatomy, check out photos from a rhinoceros dissection from What's in John's Freezer? (previously). [more inside]
The Clock to La Côte
Nymwar. Nymwar never changes.
Facebook takes the next step in the Nymwars [background explaination link]: now FB now actively prompts your friends to anonymously snitch on your use of the 'wrong' name/nym accounts.
Far better or worse, with US veteran Taylor Morris
These photos are about Taylor, who lost most of his limbs in Afghanistan, and his girlfriend Danielle. It is a love story, told only in 22 pictures. Background story via Taylor's friend, photographer Tim Dodd.
The rising sea
Vanua Levu, population 130,000, is the second largest island of Fiji. It is also the home of the village of Vunidogoloa, one of the fist villages in the world forced to relocate due to climate change. The entire nation of Kiribati could be next.
Recently, a Kiribati man was denied immigration status in New Zealand as a "climate change refugee".
"I played so much tragedy and woe on stage that in the end, the woe is on me as well."
When Satire Conquered Iran: [NYR Blog] Molla Nasreddin, an early twentieth-century Azerbaijani magazine that “attacked the hypocrisy of the Muslim clergy, the colonial policies of the US and the venal corruption of the local elite, while arguing repeatedly for Westernization, educational reform, and equal rights for women.” [more inside]
Who loves ya? Scott Bradlee, apparently.
Scott Bradlee is probably best known around the internet for his ragtime reinterpretation of classic 80's hits (previously), but that's certainly not the only thing he's done. There are the relatively straighter covers, for example. And then there's the other stuff. [more inside]
“Keeping the public informed since the 20th Century”
From 1915-2003, the National Office of Importance carried out its statutory public duty “to inform, insist and admonish” on behalf of the British Government. [more inside]
Click me. Not.
Pirate Party Politician Doesn't Want You Pirating Her Book. Senior German Pirate Party board member Julia Schramm has a vision for a utopian Internet: a "huge library" where "the knowledge and stories of all people are united, collected and archived" free of charge and free of "disgusting" intellectual property. [more inside]
Werner Herzog directs a mini-documentary about The Killers
Red Pill or Blue Pill? First, take off those 3D glasses.
The drugs don't work : a modern medical scandal - "The doctors prescribing the drugs don't know they don't do what they're meant to. Nor do their patients. The manufacturers know full well, but they're not telling."
Saiidi Zamzam
"The bookful blockhead ignorantly read" - Alexander Pope
A Short History Of Book Reviewing's Long Decline: 'By the time of the first quote “book-review,” criticism had been in circulation for centuries—long enough for writers to know how it can sting. Understandably, then, the critic’s skepticism of an artist's genius has invariably existed alongside the artist's doubt over the critic's judgment.' [more inside]
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