October 12, 2019

meehkweelimankwiki myaamiaki aancihseeciki

"173 years ago this week, the United States government began the forced removal of Myaamia people from our historic homelands in the Wabash River Valley. On October 6, 1846, Myaamia people boarded canal boats near Iihkipihsinonki ‘the Straight Place’ (Peru, Indiana) and on the next day loading concluded near Kiihkayonki ‘Fort Wayne, Indiana.’ All told, in just over a month of forced travel, over 320 Myaamia people were moved via canals and rivers to Kanza Landing (Kansas City, Missouri) in the Unorganized Indian Territory. At least seven Myaamia people died on the journey and many more died over the following winter." [more inside]
posted by Not A Thing at 10:18 PM PST - 8 comments

The poop knife was never meant for pigs

When, some weeks ago, I was first contacted by an online scientific publication asking me to review a submission on the subject of “shit knives”, I initially thought it was a hoax or some kind of practical joke. On the face of it, I couldn’t believe that a team of scholars would take on the “shit knife” as a scientific challenge. I meant no disrespect, but at a time when the entire world of the Inuit is literally melting beneath them, I found it hard to accept that any serious scholar, even the most reductionist, would exhaust time and money in such a pursuit. [more inside]
posted by GoblinHoney at 6:21 PM PST - 32 comments

By The Team Who Brought You CHESS and Kristina från Duvemåla

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the male half of ABBA and composers for legendary (for various reasons) musical CHESS and renowned Swedish musical Kristina från Duvemåla composed the music for the 2013 hit theater production Hjälp sökes (Help Wanted). Here's a television filming of the musical from 2014 (in Swedish, no subtitles) [1h47m, plot summary in above article]. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 2:36 PM PST - 11 comments

Derren Brown

Adam Green profiles British mentalist Derren Brown for the New Yorker.
posted by wittgenstein at 12:30 PM PST - 45 comments

Nice Is Different Than Good

“The fact that DeGeneres is so eager to make the case that her fancy friends can be ideologically different from her reminds me of a quote credited to Italian communist Antonio Gramsci that goes, “The historical unity of the ruling class is realized in the state.” Ellen DeGeneres’s George W. Bush Debacle Is a Lesson in the Drawbacks of Assimilation Politics (Teen Vogue) “No sooner did Shimunov’s video hit the internet on Tuesday afternoon than mass takedown notices began to appear, with claims of copyright infringement. And as history has proven time and time again, the more that somebody litigiously tries to prevent some devastating video from being seen, the more interest anyone has in it.” This remix of Ellen’s pathetic defense of George W. Bush is devastating (Fast Company)
posted by The Whelk at 10:19 AM PST - 132 comments

California Businesses can no longer force arbitration

California finally bans forced arbitration at work. Millions of workers just won the right in California to sue their bosses. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday that outlaws forced arbitration, a common business practice that US employers use to stop workers from suing them for sexual harassment, discrimination, and wage theft. He also signed a bill that extends the amount of time employees have to file workplace civil rights complaints under state law. Starting in January, businesses can no longer force workers to sign arbitration agreements, which are usually buried in the stack of hiring documents for new employees. These clauses, which are now common, require workers to waive their right to sue their employers for labor violations, discrimination, sexual harassment, and more. Instead, workers must resolve complaints through private arbitration, a quasi-legal forum with no judge, no jury, and nearly zero government oversight.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:43 AM PST - 24 comments

Pictures from June 4

"Massacre" is the title of this gallery of images from Tiananmen square in 1989. [CW: graphic content]
posted by ChrisR at 8:34 AM PST - 10 comments

How to inlay Grace Kelly's eyes on a guitar.

Ben is a master luthier. He supports his art by teaching and making custom guitars by hand. A patron requested Grace Kelly's eyes on the fretboard. Ben also documents his personal projects. Crimson guitars.
posted by adept256 at 7:01 AM PST - 18 comments

Standing For Us All

"The call came in on the afternoon of Monday 7th October. Shane Balkowitsch would have little under 24 hours to plan a 15-minute wet plate photoshoot with Greta Thunberg at Standing Rock. Naturally, the first thing he did after getting off the phone was to start packing his studio up into the back of his truck — including his portable darkroom." (Shane Balkowitsch previously)
posted by octothorpe at 5:54 AM PST - 18 comments

How little we are, clung to the river's edge

Richard Dawson is a singer from Newcastle upon Tyne. Although his Wikipedia entry lists him as a folk musician, his music strays more widely than that - taking in punk, world music, hints of Captain Beefheart and Derek Bailey, possibly even progressive rock. His 2017 album, Peasant was Quietus' album of the year for that year. Each song tells a different story of someone living in the sixth century kindom of Bryneich (where Newcastly is now). Shot through with humanity and wit, they detail the minutiae of people's lives - “a panorama of a society which is at odds with itself and has great sickness in it, and perhaps doesn’t take responsibility – blame is going in all the wrong directions” as Dawson himself has put it. His new album, 2020, does the same for residents of Newcastle today. [more inside]
posted by Grangousier at 3:59 AM PST - 12 comments

Fireworks replacements?

Firefly Drone Shows are FAA Approved, Customizable, Precisely Choreographed Shows
posted by growabrain at 3:59 AM PST - 20 comments

How many European cities can you name?

After the US version (previously), the hyper-addictive game is back, this time challenging your knowledge of Europe.
posted by KTamas at 3:09 AM PST - 104 comments

Weird Tales from the 20th Century

Elvia Wilk, "Toward a Theory of the New Weird" (LitHub, 5 Aug. 2019), building on late 20th C. stories like Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape" (1990; PDF) and Kathe Koja's "The Neglected Garden" (1991): "Weirdness is a confrontation with the nonhuman. Weird knowledge does not deny the capacity of the human mind and body to produce knowledge, but it does not reduce the world to human subject experience either. Unlike science fiction—in which there is a rational explanation for everything—and fantasy—where magic explains it all—weirdness hovers between poles of explainability." [more inside]
posted by Wobbuffet at 2:10 AM PST - 6 comments

Sub 2 hour marathon run by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya this morning

Eliud Kipchoge makes history by running sub two-hour marathon Kipchoge achieved the feat with a team of 41 in-and-out pacemakers, seven at a time, whose positions were guided by lasers projected on the road from a support car in front. These assisted conditions, and the fact the run was not part of an open event, mean his achievement will not count as an official world record.
posted by Mrs Potato at 1:36 AM PST - 31 comments

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