October 12, 2016
brought to you by Bethlehem Steel
The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson
The Photography of Arthur Rothstein
Links to works of American photographer and chronicler of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985). [more inside]
David Antin, 1932-2016
"So David, when you look up in the sky, do you see poems up there?"
"Not until I put them there."
David Antin died today at 84. [more inside]
"Not until I put them there."
David Antin died today at 84. [more inside]
It's "Mr. Scorpio," but don't call me that, either. Call me Hank.
At the peak of its cultural power and (say many) quality, the eighth season of The Simpsons may have peak-peaked with "You Only Move Twice", which introduced the world to tech mogul-slash-New Agey boss-slash-Bond Bont supervillain Hank Scorpio (voiced (and, in fact, largely improvised) by Albert Brooks). The Ringer's Alan Siegel delves into Scorpio's genesis and shows us why he's more than just a great character -- he's the eerily prescient predecessor of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and their interplanetary dreams.
SNL hasn't been funny in four days.
Jost’s mother is New York municipal royalty. Kerry Kelly is the chief medical officer for the city’s fire department, and thus responsible for monitoring the mounting health care problems of first responders at Ground Zero. [...] Che’s full name is Michael Che Campbell (the middle name is for South American revolutionary Che Guevara). He grew up plenty poor in the Al Smith projects, a thicket of dun brick buildings jammed between City Hall and the East River.Politico's Off Message podcast interviews the hosts of "Weekend Update."
The story of Sam and Penguin Bloom
Responsive pixel art
“We need you.”
Welcome Back, SPY. [Esquire] “Then came the last year: the withdrawal of Stewart and Colbert from Comedy Central, the death of Gawker, the return of Hillary, and especially the rise of Donald Trump. SPY pioneered the exposure and ridicule of Trump back in its day, of course, always referring to him as "short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump"— and in this campaign, astonishingly, that epithet (and the general tiny-hand critique) resurfaced in a big way. As Trump became the Republicans' presumptive nominee, lots more people, pretty much every day, said to me, "SPY really needs to be rebooted, if only just for the election."” [more inside]
Speak up.
Lessons in the Delicate Art of Confronting Offensive Speech. Researchers have detailed the difficulty of confronting prejudice, but they have also found that even the politest of objections – or subtle corrections to loaded words – can almost instantly curb a speaker’s behavior. With a clearer understanding of the dynamics of such confrontation, psychologists say, people can develop tactics that can shut down the unsavory talk without ruining relationships, even when the offender has more status or power: a fraternity president, say, or a team captain or employer. [more inside]
Dragons first
Yup. They're going to put me in a bean can.
July 1939. The world teetered on the brink of war as Hitler menaced Poland. The 11 millionth visitor passed through the turnstiles of the New York World’s Fair. Baseball fans still reeled after Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man” speech at Yankee Stadium. But many Americans could think only of Donn Fendler, a 12-year-old boy lost on Mount Katahdin in Maine, the object of a frantic search and rescue operation that dragged on for nine days, monopolizing the radio airwaves and newspaper headlines. [more inside]
I Was Pregnant, And Then I Wasn’t
There are many administrative tasks to a miscarriage. You have to tell everyone, including your boss and your sister and your husband’s parents. We thought we were in the clear at 13 weeks along, so we had already started telling all of our friends and family, some only a few days earlier. We didn’t have the energy to make dozens of phone calls, so we sent text messages. I felt an urgent need to update everyone who knew, as if I had passed out bad information and needed to correct it as quickly as possible. [more inside]
Tiny groups, big weights
Interesting piece from the NYT, on how one 19 year-old Illinois man is distorting national polling averages: "If you trim the weights, your sample will be biased — it might not include enough of the voters who tend to be underrepresented. If you don’t trim the weights, a few heavily weighted respondents could have the power to sway the survey."
Final Thoughts on Tomi Lahren
Outside of work, she mostly hangs out at home with Grose and the producer’s younger sister, eating pigs in a blanket and watching The Real Housewives; she and her Marine ex-boyfriend broke up when she moved for the job. She doesn’t have time to go out that much anyway, unlike the Dallas “nerds” she describes partying every night on their parents’ money. She never had any of that, and anyway, she has a show to write.Kyle Chayka writes for The Ringer on controversial 24-year-old conservative sensation, Tomi Lahren
I vant to suck your blood: vampire finches, vampire moths and oxpeckers
Vampirism — piercing or cutting animal skin to suck or lap up blood — is known throughout the animal kingdom. Mosquitoes come to mind, plus ticks, mites, vampire bats, and the vampire finch of the Galapagos Islands. But … vampire moths? Wait, let's take a step back, did you say the vampire finch of the Galapagos Islands? Yes. They're a subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch that outnumber every other finch species on all of the islands combined. While they don't seem to bother the adult Boobies whose blood they drink, they may be fatal to chicks* and even crack open eggs. Right, what of those vampire moths? [more inside]
Stranger Things
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" broke around the same time that we started the paper, so that was Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Screaming Trees, everything was going on. Soundgarden. The whole world was moving to Seattle at the time. - Travel back to 1991 for an oral history of The Stranger, now celebrating it's 25th Year as "Seattle's Only Newspaper". [more inside]
"Death, blood and excrement are our life."
Kajetan Obarski is an artist who publishes animated GIFs under the pseudonym Kiszkiloszki. Many rework classic paintings for humorous or gruesome effect (and often both). His most widely-known creations feature a skeletal figure called the Death Fairy. He talks about his work in an interview with Dioniso Punk. [more inside]
Turning on the NES just to listen to the title music again
Musician and Youtube user Luminist is remaking music from the original Metroid using some full-on synths, and it sounds amazing. Title Theme; Brinstar; Kraid's Lair; Samus Fanfare; Item Room.
#cyberpunkworldproblems
Please do not look away from... The Kettle. The Kettle Is Now Calibrating. Data specialist Mark Rittman spent an entire day attempting to set up his new appliance so that it would boil on command (Guardian via, of course, @internetofshit)
Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out
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