December 31, 2013
Healthy cities: public health and urban planning
A new Report on the State of Health + Urbanism (pdf) from MIT looks at the relationship between urban planning and public health, with some surprising findings. The cities covered are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. [more inside]
very origin, such meme
On February 12, 2010, a photograph of a rescue dog was posted on a blog in Japan. Three and a half years later, that photo changed western popular culture.
"congress shrugged"
If it weren't for the 1976 Copyright Act, copyright on work would expire after 56 years - which would have meant that Kerouac's On The Road, the original 12 Angry Men, and Elvis's All Shook Up would be public domain by today.
Music for New Year's Eve
ABBA - Happy New Year, Wendy & Lisa - The Closing Of The Year, Otis Redding & Carla Davis - New Year's Resolution, Harry Connick, Jr - What Are You Doing New Years Eve?, Dan Fogelberg - Same Old Lang Syne (okay, the lyrics say "Christmas", but it's totally a New Year song) [more inside]
The cold never bothered me anyway
Go-Go-Hockey-Gopro
Jacco Gardner's Cabinet of Curiosities: psych-baroque-pop
Here's a little something old to bring in the new year: Jacco Gardner and his debut solo album, Cabinet of Curiosities (Grooveshark streaming tracks; full album on YouTube). Why? Because it's a delicious platter of ornate, lushly orchestrated, psych-inflected "soft rock" or "baroque pop" and if you didn't know better, you might guess it was made in the 1960s, not in 2012. The album was created almost solely by Gardner, who played all the instruments except the drums. For live shows, the 25 year old multi-instrumentalist had to enlist more help, as you can see in this live set from Lowlands, and two more, from Ancienne Belgique and at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). [more inside]
This way lies madness.
The problem with time.
"This is my team. This is C O P R A."
Michel Fiffe contemplates life After COPRA, the 12 part monthly comic which he wrote, drew, published and distributed himself throughout 2013. A brutal, action-packed follow up of sorts to Fiffe's bootleg Suicide Squad comic Deathzone it managed to do a better job of evoking the spirit of Ostrander and McDonnell than DC's own efforts and become one of the top comics of 2013. Fiffe talks more about the expeirence in his Exit interview with Comics Alliance.
It's about a sociopathic sexual predator with a vagina
Is Alissa Nutting's 'Tampa' the most controversial book of the year? Or just the most controversial of the summer?
The Madness Of The Planets
I am a staunch believer in leading with the bad news, so let me get straight to the point. Earth, our anchor and our solitary haven in a hostile universe, is in a precarious situation. The solar system around us is rife with instability.[more inside]
Don't Sweat The Technique
Rap Idiot
Rap Genius is a lyrics site that allows its users to annotate lyrics with additional data and criticism. The site has become a touchstone in the hip-hop community: various prominent rappers have signed up for accounts to explain their own lyrics, it's been profiled and discussed in the NYT, and has raised $15 million in venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz. The founders have talked about expanding the site's annotations to other topics. Then came last Sunday, and the SEO. [more inside]
"I only hope Michael Schumacher pulls through..."
"...so that he can see all of the nice things people are saying about him." Like this.
Michael Schumacher, arguably one of the greatest auto racers ever, is fighting for his life after a freak ski accident on Sunday in Grenoble. [more inside]
new data visualization site: vizynary
There are only a few posts since September 2013, but three of them are pretty cool: state-to-state migration in the United States in 2012; last two popes' word clouds and diff word clouds; real estate price movements in New York City. [more inside]
I’m sure you‘ll love to read these answers. Happy reading!
Matt Berry is the Toast of London
Toast Of London stars Matt Berry (IT Crowd, Snuff Box, Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place) as troubled theatre actor Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it. With a recent divorce, a highly controversial play to perform every night, a shell shocked army officer for a brother and an audition in a prison - it’s turning into another very busy day for Toast in this, the pilot episode for the Channel 4 series. [SLYT] [NSFW] [more inside]
Heck, it's Tex-Czech!
If you're going to listen to a brass band play a waltz, it might as well be a joyously exuberant one, with a unabashed sense of humor and a firm conviction that notes were made to be bent. Right? Oh, and it might as well be played, by, say, a Texas Czech (yes, a Texas Czech) band. Right? OK then, here's Circling Pigeons Waltz by the Joe Patek Band of Shiner, Texas. [more inside]
Ain't That Texas Cookin': The Pitmaster's Wisdom
"Kreuz Market is the most famous name in the most famous barbecue city in Texas. Founded in 1900, it has for decades been an exemplar of the classic German meat-market style of Texas barbecue and one of the first places mentioned in any list of the state’s best joints. Since 1987, its legendary pits have been watched over by Roy Perez, a Lockhart native who has become perhaps the most recognizable face in Texas barbecue." An interview with pitmaster Roy Perez. [more inside]
Peter Scott (1947-2013), developer of HyTelnet
Peter Scott (February 14, 1947 - December 30, 2013) worked in the Systems Department of the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Canada) Libraries from 1976 to 2005. One of the early library weblog writers, Peter is most well known for HyTelnet, an interface for Telnet services he developed from 1990. In his 1991 video, Peter demonstrates a later version of HyTelnet, while an archive lists the resources available through the service. [more inside]
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