October 30, 2018
RIP
Cyriak (previously) is dead. ...DEAD tired of not releasing anything while working on his book about a horse that tries to destroy the universe (trailer)! So he's released RIP, his variously whimsical and... Cyriakian 21st century take on Disney's 1929 Silly Symphonies short The Skeleton Dance.
Welcome To Antarctica!
Back after a ten year (more or less) hiatus, Wally and Osborne is a family-friendly comic about an Adelie penguin and a geographically-confused polar bear cracking wise and chilling out at the coldest place on Earth. [more inside]
If we're strong for once, it could get contagious.
Guster has a new album coming out in January, and we get to hear a few new songs now. In fact, here's the first third of the album available to listen to now: Look Alive [current single], Don't Go, Hard Times [(rather clever) lyric video]. [more inside]
Some churches...
More brooding than Hayden Christensen
World's largest deep-sea octopus nursery discovered, in which up to 1000 female Muusoctopus robustus were keeping their eggs.
“Our heads were on the penny first, of course,"
These Writers Are Launching A New Wave Of Native American Literature, Anne Helen Petersen, Buzzfeed
With two highly anticipated books, Terese Marie Mailhot[@TereseMarieM] and Tommy Orange[@thommyorange] are part of a new generation of indigenous writers, trained in a program that rejects the standards of white academia.[more inside]
"Denying death is denying life."
Thoughts About Life and Death [NSFW], a series of paintings by Chilean artist Fernando Gómez Balbontín, explores ideas about our need to confront, or at least come to terms with, death. (via, also NSFW)
In every shot, there is an owl
"Through knowledge to justice!"
A new episode of the Making Gay History podcast (previously) covers the life and work of Magnus Hirschfeld, a pioneering researcher and gay rights activist who founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in 1897, and whose Institute for Sex Research was destroyed by the Nazis in 1933. The episode is accompanied by a full transcript, along with photos and links to resources and related stories. Among these is an account of the final years of Hirschfeld's lover, Li Shiu Tong, in Vancouver, B.C.—and how, in 1993, a Vancouver man discovered Hirschfeld's death mask, papers, and other artifacts in a garbage bin.
[sound of individual quietly sobbing to himself]
On January 15, 2009 US Airways flight 1549 departed LaGuardia airport on its way to Charlotte. Roughly three minutes into the flight they struck a flock of large winged rats Canada geese, which caused a loss of thrust from both engines. This was uncharted territory. In short, this crew went from routine to having a very bad day in just a few seconds. This is where I try to imagine myself in that situation.
Frank Stahl: An Interesting and Diverse Life on the Prairie
Francis Marion (Frank*) Stahl was born in Ohio [on 23 May 1841] and moved to Kansas in 1857. He rode the Santa Fe trail twice, prospected in Colorado, fought in the Civil War, served as chief of police in Topeka, and was a leader in the Kansas temperance movement. (Click here for a short bio.) The materials [here] are in his own words. Also included is information on his family history and original documents that chronicle his life. Enjoy seeing a bit of his world through his eyes. [more inside]
"Serial-killing hoodlum dead in prison"
James "Whitey" Bulger, 89, killed in a West Virginia prison.
(Credit for title: Mefi's Own™ adamg's blog entry)
He won the lottery. His brother is William M. Bulger, former Massachusetts state senator and University of Massachusetts president. And he was one of Boston's most notorious gangsters, on the run for 16 years until captured in 2011.
Tons of coverage at the Boston Globe (article limits); here's their timeline, and their news story of his death, and his obituary.
"You Know What I Am? I'm a [] Nationalist."
"It doesn't matter if it's 100% accurate. This is the play." Eleven worshippers were killed, and six others injured, at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in what is thought to be the worst anti-Semitic attack in recent US history. Trump’s caravan hysteria led to this (Adam Serwer, Atlantic) Stop trying to understand what Trump says and look at what his followers do (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate) Why did synagogue suspect believe migrant caravan is Jewish conspiracy? Maybe he watched Fox News (Slate) Synagogue Killings Mark a Surge of Anti-Semitism (The Atlantic) Thousands Signed a Letter Saying Trump Was Not Welcome in Pittsburgh He plans to visit anyway. Shooting victim’s family shuns President Trump in Pittsburgh as top officials decline to join him (WaPo) [more inside]
“Shoulder to shoulder...”
How Do You Move A Bookstore? With A Human Chain, Book By Book [NPR|Books] “When October Books, a small radical bookshop in Southampton, England, was moving to a new location down the street, it faced a problem. How could it move its entire stock to the new spot, without spending a lot of money or closing down for long? The shop came up with a clever solution: They put out a call for volunteers to act as a human conveyor belt.”
Changed ‘Personal Freedom’ to ‘Doughnuts’ (Reason: More Recent Data)
A map of International Number Ones, Because Every Country is the Best at Something (according to data) from Information is Beautiful in 2016, with some 2017 updates
"It is designed to do what it is doing"
That’s right: “Your Body Is a Wonderland” is not music.
67 different editions of Now That's What I Call Music! have been released in the US (not counting Christmas or Now Esto Es Musica! Latino variants) since the concept was brought to our shores in 1998. For your convenience, they have now been ranked according to a highly scientific proprietary formula. Is a snapshot of twenty songs (or so) radio hits from 2013 going to outperform the one from 2003? Is Rolling in the Deep by Adele more representative of its time and place than Clocks by Coldplay? Did Jennifer Love Hewitt ever do something that, now, we call music?
Condensed Milk Toast
When I think of a childhood sandwich that creates the same enthusiasm that PB&J does for many Americans, it has to be a Hong Kong-style sweetened condensed milk sandwich.
Another recipe.
Another recipe.
my kid could program that
The First AI-Generated Portrait Ever Sold at Auction Shatters Expectations, Fetching $432,500—43 Times Its Estimate [more inside]
A veritable treasure trove of old footage
The Library of Congress has unveiled its new National Screening Room, a free collection of digitized historical films, commercials, newsreels and other clips from the 1800s until the end of the 20th century and capture a broad range of American life. Notable films include home movies by the songwriters George and Ira Gershwin; issues of the “All-American News,” a newsreel intended for black audiences in the mid-20th century; and a selection of instructional films about mental health from the 1950s.
Hat tip to Sara Aridi @ NYT .
The children that you see in there are just completely skin and bones.
The Tragedy of Saudi Arabia's War - "In Yemen, an economic war has pushed millions to the brink of starvation." [cw: starving children] (via) [more inside]
More animated book covers
Henning M. Lederer's continuing series of animated vintage geometric book covers.
[more inside]
The social media Fordlândias
This is how we radicalized the world. "This era of being surprised at what the internet can and will do to us is ending," writes Ryan Broderick of BuzzFeed News, after the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil. "The damage is done. I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that I’ll probably spend the rest of my career covering the consequences." [more inside]
The essence of a nightmare
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