November 9, 2013
"Stop at nothing... Betray, violate, cause enormous harm."
"I listen to Ira’s show on and off, because I think they do the best work there is in that form. But This American Life has inspired this proliferation of programs where people tell their stories, and I think it’s gotten—there’s too much of it. I find it annoying, because it’s very uneven. Now it just seems like everybody’s telling a story, and it’s beginning to sound narcissistic, and I’m thinking, Who gives a shit about your story? You’re just another person telling your story. How many do we need?" Joe Frank interviewed by Jonathan Goldstein for The Believer [more inside]
And yes, the file extension is ".arr"
Pyret is a new programming language for teaching from Brown University that blends Python, Racket, and OCaml. [more inside]
Now Let Us Mourn Together: A Brief History of Disaster Songs
"Welcome to ‘Disaster Songs in Canada.’ This website serves as a vehicle to present the Canadian disaster songs that three academics have collected and are currently studying....Incidents in songs range across time, from the pre-confederation era, such as the New Brunswick blaze of 1825 (“The Miramichi Fire,” credited to John Jardine), to the 2009 Cougar helicopter crash off Newfoundland (“Fall into the Ocean,” by Mark Frost)."
Come with me down the rabbit hole to the strains of songs about mine collapses, sinking ships, broken bridges, train wrecks, earthquakes, floods, and more. [more inside]
"Wenn sie Juden sind, können wir nichts machen"
Tonight marks the 75th anniversary of the November Pogroms throughout Germany, known as Kristallnacht. @9Nov38 is live-tweeting the events of the night (in German.)
Kaiju come pre-grown.
Mighty Morphin Jaeger Pilots (SLYT)
Where would be the fun in watching a driverless Formula 1 race?
Brad DeLong, recently installed at Equitablog, lays out a future (wonkish) where the returns to capital keep increasing relative to labor: "What do we people do to add value? Eight things... [more inside]
My Father's Long, Long Legs
My family lived on the southern edge of a certain Midwestern industrial city in an old house, old enough that its basement still had a dirt floor.
I was not yet old enough to openly question a parent's behavior, but certainly old enough to recognize its oddness, when my father began digging.
I was not yet old enough to openly question a parent's behavior, but certainly old enough to recognize its oddness, when my father began digging.
A Police Chief Tries to Reform the System from Within
"Let's say you have neighbors complaining about a drug house on the corner," he says. "They don't feel safe. It's a menace. Now, you could do a long investigation, culminating in a big raid. But in the meantime, the neighbors still have to live with the menace. Why not just send two uniformed cops to the house that same afternoon? They knock. They say, 'Hey. Knock it off.' The drug dealers pick up and leave. No guns drawn, no raid. Which approach will have a more immediate effect on the neighborhood?" - Salt Lake City police chief Chris Burbank's efforts to reform policing.
Bill Ingalls: 25 years of photography for NASA
If you've seen images of NASA, you've seen the work of Bill Ingalls, Project Manager and Senior Photographer for NASA Headquarters, who started out as an intern with NASA, and has worked now for the agency for 25 years. You can see a ton of images on the NASA HQ Photos account on Flickr (plus non-NASA photos on his personal Flickr account), and he even has a few short videos on Vimeo. You can read about NASA photographers, including Ingalls, and hear Bill talk about his work with NASA and photography in general in this 365 Days of Astronomy podcast (related: the super moon photo, and Neil deGrasse Tyson's response to the super moon hype).
What Wastelands Lacked in Creature Comforts...Made Up for in Epiphanies
Denis Forkas Kostromitin is a Russian artist that considers himself to be a modern symbolist painter (symbolism mentioned previously). The dark and dreamy quality of his work has lead him to be a frequent collaborator with metal musicians. Here he explains the process that led to the cover of Horseback's Half Blood and recently he was commissioned to create the cover of Polish blackened death metal stalwart, Behemoth's, new album, using lead singer Nergal's own blood.
When a Tree Fell in the Forest
Redwood Saga (1946) — Once upon a time, how tiny lumberjacks with tools and muscle power fell the big ones.
Girl with a pearl earring and an iPhone
Combining famous historical paintings with images of 21st century technology, Art X Smart has transported them into another time. [more inside]
White Hurricane
100 years ago a storm on the Great Lakes sank dozens of ships I found it a riveting story. "It reads like the tale of the Titanic times a factor of at least a dozen. Freighters thought invulnerable to the weather cracked in two. Hundreds of sailors drowned. Sad farewell messages tucked inside glass bottles washed up on Lake Superior beaches. The “White Hurricane,” a cataclysmic storm which pounded Michigan 100 years ago this week, was quite simply the biggest, deadliest natural disaster ever to hit the Great Lakes. It’s also one of Michigan’s most epic tales. "
Come along and ride on a fantastic voyage
Travel posters for imaginary destinations, from Ryhope Wood to the Dream Archipelo, with side jaunts to e.g. the end of the earth and the wreckage of the Nomad.
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