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A Highly Irregular Children’s Story: David Gates reviews The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine, a children's book by Donald Barthelme. [Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 1976]
posted by Lorin at 10:54 PM PST - 5 comments

Because, at 1:32 am, you need to feel a bit of the Rhythm of Life.
posted by HuronBob at 10:35 PM PST - 47 comments

Refuse to share a pencil, reject a boy, say no to your imprisoned dad — all of these can get a teen girl killed in El Salvador's gang war - "Aby, whose best friend disappeared, is still staying at home. Her latest aspiration is to be the director of NASA." Warning: Some of the depictions and images in this story are graphic. [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 9:41 PM PST - 21 comments

WeWork Used These Documents To Convince Investors It’s Worth Billions
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:41 PM PST - 43 comments

For three years, Mother Jones has been litigating a defamation suit over a piece that drew attention to the political activites of wealthy billionaire Frank VanderSloot. "This was not a dispute over a few words. It was a push, by a superrich businessman and donor, to wipe out news coverage that he disapproved of. Had he been successful, it would have been a chilling indicator that the 0.01 percent can control not only the financing of political campaigns, but also media coverage of those campaigns." [more inside]
posted by sciatrix at 6:19 PM PST - 30 comments

In August, Mara Willaford and Marissa Johnson disrupted a Social Security rally in Seattle and upstaged Bernie Sanders. This week, they gave their first local interview to Real Change, a weekly progressive newspaper sold by self-employed vendors, many of them homeless.
posted by bq at 3:41 PM PST - 21 comments

The tragic tale of Mt Everest’s most famous dead body is part one of a two part BBC article centered around the story of Tsewang Paljor, known as "Green Boots", whose body has remained for 20 years near the summit where he died. Part two is Death in the clouds: The problem with Everest’s 200+ bodies [more inside]
posted by danny the boy at 3:28 PM PST - 78 comments

MeFi's own The Whelk reviews common pasta shapes for The Rumpus. I can only assume he recused himself from judging conchiglie due to the family resemblance. [via mefi projects]
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:39 PM PST - 121 comments

Kowloon Walled City exist in the space between the atmospheric gloom of Neurosis, the sludgy twang of late-period Godflesh, and the echoing space of Low. Kurt Ballou of Converge interviews Scott Evans of KWC on the process of recording their excellent new album Grievances.
posted by Existential Dread at 12:17 PM PST - 17 comments

Jason Baca has been the cover model for over 400 romance novels. What is his life like? "Things get a little weird" he admits. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 10:22 AM PST - 138 comments

...as someone who is invisibly sick, I often feel pressure around the clear boundaries I have in my head of what my disease really means, and how to convey that to others
posted by lonefrontranger at 9:40 AM PST - 12 comments

"One broader implication of this is that no one should take the NSA seriously when they say they are only collecting “metadata” on whom someone contacts, rather than the content of the communication. Social network metadata is incredibly powerful." How to tell whether a Twitter user is pro-choice or pro-life without reading any of their tweets
posted by COD at 9:23 AM PST - 48 comments

The trailer for the Coen Brothers' "Hail Caesar!", a caper set in Golden Age Hollywood, has been released.
posted by The Whelk at 8:56 AM PST - 123 comments

Chick-fil-A and the Politics of Eating: In recent days, the complicated politics of urban consumerism have been playing out most visibly, with the arrival of Chick-fil-A, a totem of red-state habits, in New York City. Created by a conservative Christian child of public housing, S. Truett Cathy, in Georgia, in the mid-20th century, Chick-fil-A has come under fire during the past few years over comments made by the founder’s son Dan Cathy, the company’s president, in opposition to same-sex marriage. [more inside]
posted by wondrous strange snow at 8:46 AM PST - 268 comments

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet "for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 8:42 AM PST - 5 comments

In case you have any spare cash lying around. "I could hear the pedal squeak every time John Bonnam hit the bass drum."
posted by freakazoid at 8:40 AM PST - 83 comments

The Jefferson Grid (SLIG) [more inside]
posted by cirrostratus at 8:07 AM PST - 6 comments

Thirty-three civilians showed up to Paisley Park late last night. [more inside]
posted by jillithd at 8:05 AM PST - 13 comments

@sadtopographies: An Instagram account cataloging the most unfortunately named places on Earth, from Shades of Death Road in New Jersey to Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya (or "Where the devil urinates") Hill in Australia and everywhere in between.
posted by Cash4Lead at 7:53 AM PST - 12 comments

On Pop-Up Porno, dating horror stories are lovingly animated as pop-up books.
posted by frimble at 7:52 AM PST - 10 comments

Yes, he would have turned 75 today. Links abound. Here are a few.
posted by Sir Rinse at 7:35 AM PST - 34 comments

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Launches Three-Year Shakespeare Translation Commissioning Project [Oregon Shakespeare Festival]

OSF is commissioning 36 playwrights and pairing them with dramaturgs to translate 39 plays attributed to Shakespeare into contemporary modern English between now and December 31, 2018. By seeking out a diverse set of playwrights (more than half writers of color and more than half women), we hope to bring fresh voices and perspectives to the rigorous work of translation. Play on!

[more inside]
posted by Fizz at 6:24 AM PST - 54 comments

Did you mark Fluffernutter Day yesterday? Part of the cuisine of New England, a fluffernutter is a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, usually served on white bread. The name was invented by an ad agency in 1960. Also called a Liberty Sandwich, it been proposed as the official state sandwich of Massachusetts. There are many variations e.g. Reese's Pieces and Nutella, and... [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 4:50 AM PST - 83 comments

Jim Dickinson was a musician, producer, and writer based in Memphis. A lifelong curator and steward of American music until his death in 2009, he fronted the band Mud Boy & the Neutrons and contributed to albums by Sleepy John Estes, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Albert King, Big Star, the Replacements, and many others. [This] essay...was adapted from his memoir The Search for Blind Lemon. [more inside]
posted by ellieBOA at 4:29 AM PST - 6 comments

I’ve been given instructions for my meeting with Sananda Maitreya. 1. Please don’t mention the name “Terence Trent D’Arby”, as it is painful for him. 2. Please don’t make any comparisons with Prince regarding his name change, which occurred in 1995 after a series of dreams. 3. Please don’t ask him things like, “What songs do you think would make a good single from your new album, Rise of the Zugebrian Time Lords?” “I was killed when I was 27”: the curious afterlife of Terence Trent D’Arby
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:55 AM PST - 36 comments