November 3, 2015
The long revolution
The Arab Spring was two centuries in the making. But is the Egyptian revolution any closer to ending the state’s tyranny? [more inside]
Taiwan-China leaders to meet for first time since 1949
Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou and China's president Xi Jinping will meet in Singapore on Saturday---the first meeting between leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait since 1949, when Mao forced the Nationalist regime off mainland China and into retreat into Taiwan. The Singapore meeting set for Saturday has been planned behind the scene for a year.
Already, opposition parties in Taiwan are crying foul, calling for the impeachment of Ma and accusing him of going against mainstream public opinion to meet with Xi.
"My joke about The Maltese Falcon is that the best character is Effie"
Gif Dance Party
"They think women aren't strong enough but we just beat the world."
On 3 November 2015 Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, riding Prince of Penzance to victory on 100-1 odds. [more inside]
The Chopin Project
Musician and composer Ólafur Arnalds (previously) and classical pianist Alice Sara Ott collaborated together on an album of original compositions inspired by the works of Frederic Chopin, recompositions, and renditions of Chopin's sonatas called The Chopin Project, to truly beautiful effect. [more inside]
NOT REAL LIFE
Essena O'Neill was a social media celebrity, with over half a million followers on instagram and deals with brands to advertise their products. She was 16. Then she decided to stop. [more inside]
Yeah, that's right, you like it, don't you?!
C. Spike Trotman (previously, previouslier) went from teen comics geek to porn anthologist and crowdfunded comics publishing guru. But that’s only part of the story - as told awesomely at this year’s XOXO. [more inside]
"I believe that everyone has a life worth saving."
Last year, Laverne Cox read a letter written by a trans woman in involuntary protective custody for a video released by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Cox would later ask the SRLP to take the video down, citing concerns about the inmate's convictions. This is an interview with the woman who wrote the letter, Synthia China Blast.
Century
Alan Moore talks to John Higgs about the 20th Century touching on, among other subjects, Lovecraft, science fiction and piggate (SLYT)
It's the time of the season.
"Imagine creating the best work of your life, some of the best music of its day, and no one cares. Now imagine playing those songs 47 years later to a screaming and loving bunch of fans and getting what seems like a hero's welcome. That's part of the story of The Zombies, who played the classic 1968 album Odessey and Oracle, along with a set of other hits and brand new songs, live in Washington, D.C. last month." Listen to the full concert here.
The first time you break tradition is the hardest time.
"When the monsters of your childhood become faded old people with the fight gone out of them, what do you do? How do you find a way to relate? Do you forgive and try to find a way to interact with who they are now or do you hold onto the tight little ball of yourself you've been protecting all this time?" How do I tell my dysfunctional folks I'm not spending the holidays with them this year? [more inside]
this is a basic civil right
The U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday that an Illinois school district is violating the rights of a transgender student by refusing to allow her the unrestricted use of a girls' locker room. This statement comes one week after the Department of Justice filed a brief supporting Gavin Grimm, a high school student in Virginia who has been denied access to the boy's bathrooms. [more inside]
not the Total Hell Sandwich I'd sort of expected
MeFi's own Greg Nog makes a Dagwood Sandwich. But this is not the comical Dagwood you prefer to remember. This is an ancient, primordial Dagwood, and it is no joke. [more inside]
at the end of the ride everyone is dead except for you, the new champion
An Ode to Living Abroad...and Coming Home.
Peace, Order, and Good Government... Oxford Comma Part of Our Heritage
Interesting infographic/flow chart shows how new Canadian prime ministers are sworn in. [more inside]
"A quotidian object would have a small peephole... "
"The lenses measure less than a centimeter in length; the [often pornographic] photographs glued to them are the size of the head of a pin." The Kinsey Institute talks about Stanhopes, the Snapchat of the 1850s, made of everyday objects such as rings, thimbles and rosaries. [more inside]
Ahmed Chalabi, 1944-2015
The Decay of Twitter
The Decay of Twitter. At some point early last year, the standard knock against Twitter—which had long ceased to be “I don’t want to know what someone’s eating for lunch”—became “I don’t want everyone to see what I have to say.” [more inside]
Discover something new
"It isn’t easy to discover new podcasts. There are just SO many out there. Sometimes the best approach is to simply turn to a friend and say, 'Hey, what are you listening to these days?'" So, NPR has created earbud.fm, a "friendly guide to great podcasts."
Terms & Conditions WILL Apply
Robert Sikoryak is turning the iTunes terms and conditions text into a beautiful graphic novel, a document full of mind-bending legalese that everyone agrees to without comprehension.
A new page appears each day, in which our intrepid hero Steve Jobs dramatically imparts the otherwise soul-destroying passages in various scenes, rendered in the style of different cartoonists. [more inside]
Hell—Nothing Less—And Without End
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