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Emily Flitter profiles Matt Levine (NYT), the author of Money Stuff, a free newsletter with 150,000 subscribers. “Mr. Levine’s favorite subjects include insider trading statutes, bond-market liquidity and the ubiquity of securities fraud, but his columns are never boring. They may be the only entertaining words a financial markets professional reads all day.” [more inside]
posted by adrianhon at 11:55 PM PST - 18 comments

Two stories about making shocking decisions to use color to change our perceptions. "The Regime of Austerity" by Veronica Schanoes (2009, science fiction): "These days there are a lot of gray people walking around in bright blue coats with green shoes. Lately it's become popular to use color on the inner walls of your home." "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1832, allegorical/romantic/dark/didactic fiction): "On a nearer view it seemed to consist of two folds of crepe, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things." Kind of a Johnny Cash "Man in Black" vibe on that one. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 5:48 PM PST - 4 comments

Toots Hibbert & the Birth of Reggae
posted by y2karl at 4:10 PM PST - 7 comments

Colin Purrington broke into his snack cake stash from 2012, and it turns out Twinkies aren't immortal. He sent his findings to some scientists, and learning ensued!
posted by thoughtful_ravioli at 3:14 PM PST - 29 comments

From 1968, Glenn Gould - How Mozart Became a Bad Composer. [SLYT]
posted by clawsoon at 2:50 PM PST - 34 comments

Director Rachel Pony Cassells was in charge of the visual score [Ed. note: 40-minute music video] for harpist Mary Lattimore’s new album Silver Ladders

The images and edit were created very intuitively. Mary and I were an isolation pod, and this was I think for both of us our first times leaving LA and the confines of our homes for many months. This score will always be a document of this very isolated and strange moment in time.

posted by Going To Maine at 1:43 PM PST - 3 comments

... might be just what you need today. Puddles Pity Party. [more inside]
posted by sjswitzer at 12:32 PM PST - 32 comments

Before it was a movie, Mars Attacks was a set of 55 narrative trading cards, depicting the brutal invasion of Earth by aliens and the equally vicious Earthman reprisal. Here's all of them. (cw: graphic violence, sexual assault, racism, a dog gets fucking melted, seriously be warned)
posted by theodolite at 8:44 AM PST - 94 comments

October 16, 2020 marks the 52nd anniversary of the Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. After winning the 200-meter dash, American runners Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) took the medal stand and raised gloved fists during the playing of the US national anthem (link to YouTube). To their right on the medal stand was Australian sprinter Peter Norman (silver). [more inside]
posted by wicked_sassy at 7:40 AM PST - 9 comments

From our friends at Defector, the strange tale of the mayor of Anchorage.
posted by zenon at 6:33 AM PST - 27 comments

Remember the days when you could still get away with not having good special effects? Through the Dragon's Eye, the 1989 educational British educational fantasy series. Storylords, the 1984 educational US educational fantasy series. (More from the greater Look and Read series of which Through the Dragon's Eye was a part below the fold.) [more inside]
posted by BiggerJ at 4:56 AM PST - 11 comments

Breaking with long apolitical traditions, The Lancet, Science, Scientific American, New England Journal of Medicine and Nature have published editorials critical of the Trump administration.
posted by adept256 at 2:28 AM PST - 19 comments

Start Your Christmas Cake Now! Get it in the oven! As Christmas Day is only ten weeks away, it is time (still time, or traditionally) to contemplate either the construction of the cake centrepiece, or the purchase of same. Which to choose? Go with Delia or Mary? Cognac or brandy to the rafters? Do you want it moist or beautifully moist or brandy-moist or very moist in your mouth? Perhaps an old-fashioned look? Or Hebridean? Or add marmalade or soak the fruit in alcohol for a few days or ten or even longer? Don't forget to regularly feed the cake alcohol. Eat with a slice of cheese, perhaps some Wensleydale or a bit of Cheshire. Alternately, some christstollen, or a panettone, and consume while listening. (sorry the first Christmas post is late this year)
posted by Wordshore at 1:24 AM PST - 20 comments