October 5, 2008

"There will be enormous, enormous losses..."

This American Life gives you Another Frightening Show About the Economy.. The guys who brought us The Giant Pool of Money (previously) explain the credit crunch and why it's so scary. And not in the Halloween fun-to-be-scared sense.
posted by justkevin at 9:04 PM PST - 170 comments

The unbearable weight of sports politics

Sports activism is dead? - so asks Andy Kroll in his review of Dave Zirin's new book, A People's History of Sports in the United States.
"And since the ‘80s, the money, TV time, and narcissism have only increased. Most professional athletes could care less — that is, if they even know at all — that their sponsors’ shoes and jerseys are made in squalid conditions in third world countries."
Author Zirin argues that “[w]e can pretend sports isn’t political just as well as we can pretend there is no such thing as gravity if we fall out of an airplane.” [more inside]
posted by Surfurrus at 7:54 PM PST - 38 comments

Hunch that thang

Hasil was kind of a mythic sort of figure, you know. And sometimes life is never that easy for a myth. -Dexter Romweber (the Flat Duo Jets on Hasil Atkins in the documentary MY BLUE STAR . Hubcap Hunch, No More Hotdogs. [more inside]
posted by nola at 6:29 PM PST - 12 comments

What is a trash-out?

What is a "trash-out?" When you see this, you feel like this. And some music to go along. After Monday, bunker or hunker ?
posted by wallstreet1929 at 6:00 PM PST - 37 comments

Because throwing neckties into the garbage is just so old school

Maybe you've left the corporate world and its dress code behind, you've decided you're not the Avril Lavigne type after all, or you're soon to be unemployed. Whatever the reason, you've got a lot of neckties you no longer wear. What can you do with them? Well, if you still want to wear them in some form, you can make daisy pins, a wrist cuff, a belt or two, a shoulder bag, a wallet or cellphone pouch, a skirt (long or short), a dress, or thong underwear. If you want to have the best dressed dog in your suburb, you can make a dog collar or leash. If you have kids, you can make a snake or cravat cats for them, or teach them how to use old silk ties to dye eggs. If you'd rather decorate the house, you can make baskets, a photo frame, a lampshade, a new chair seat, a floor mat, some throw pillows or some cool quilts. If you want to start getting ready for Christmas, you could make a Christmas stocking, a tree skirt, or an angel. In fact, there are so many ways to make things out of old neckties there's a blog devoted to the topic. Whatever your choice, your days as a corporate peon will be memorialized. As will the peanut butter and jam sandwiches you used to have for lunch.
posted by orange swan at 5:43 PM PST - 23 comments

Online public-domain children's literature

"The Baldwin Project seeks to make available online a comprehensive collection of resources for parents and teachers of children. Our focus, initially, is on literature for children that is in the public domain in the United States. This includes all works first published before 1923." [more inside]
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:20 PM PST - 10 comments

reportage illustration

Overlooked New York, Impassioned New Yorkers from an Artist's Perspective by Zina Saunders, who is now becoming better known for her darkly humorous political images. Her blog on the illustrator blogsite, Drawger. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye at 5:01 PM PST - 18 comments

Lacking Control Increases Magical Thinking

Of Jock Straps and Conspiracy Theories. A new study looks at how lacking control increases the tendency for magical thinking and illusory pattern perception. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 2:20 PM PST - 87 comments

wartime paratrooper dummies and decoys

Burlap paradummies called Ruperts were dropped during D-Day, later depicted in the film The Longest Day. But prior to D-Day, both the British and the Germans had used straw-filled decoys in various locations. Later in the war, the U.S. tested "Oscar" but found him lacking, adopting instead the PD Dummy. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive at 2:04 PM PST - 11 comments

Clean! Jerk! Snatch! Meow!

Japanese Cat Weightlifting (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by essexjan at 1:50 PM PST - 41 comments

Generation Tehran

Generation Tehran A documentary short about the youth of Iran.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 1:46 PM PST - 8 comments

"Napster is refinishing furniture in Portland. He seems really happy."

Internet Party 2: An Intervention For Myspace The sad aftermath of the previous Internet Party Possible NSFW due to smooching.
posted by The Whelk at 1:15 PM PST - 15 comments

The other panda is vomiting a rainbow without photographs

The panda is vomiting a rainbow and photographs.
posted by ardgedee at 12:14 PM PST - 43 comments

What does Chrissie Hynde really do?

Chrissie Hynde: “[A] complete rock star in every sense of the word”? Nope: “I consider myself an animal activist first and my music as more of a hobby that gives me a platform to fight for animals.” [more inside]
posted by joeclark at 6:10 AM PST - 140 comments

Om nom nom nom

A Hunter-killer stalks its prey in your bloodstream.
posted by orthogonality at 5:08 AM PST - 31 comments

Money shots

The fungi fire their spores up to 55 miles an hour–which translates to an acceleration of 180,000 g. Research from the lab of Nicholas Money. Music video by Dr. Money's students. (SLYT) via
posted by Slithy_Tove at 4:20 AM PST - 18 comments

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