December 6, 2017
There is No Depression in New Zealand
Chariots Of Fire
Vangelis, 1981 [YT playlist] Side A: Chariots Of Fire; Five Circles; Abraham's Theme; Eric's Theme; 100 Metres [which on the album runs directly into] Jerusalem. [more inside]
the hominid
Don’t write off Sasquatch. Let’s research him
Bigfoot Anatomy - "Sasquatch is just a legend, right? According to the evidence, maybe not, argues Jeffrey Meldrum--a position he holds despite ostracism from his fellow anthropologists and university colleagues" [more inside]
Bigfoot Anatomy - "Sasquatch is just a legend, right? According to the evidence, maybe not, argues Jeffrey Meldrum--a position he holds despite ostracism from his fellow anthropologists and university colleagues" [more inside]
La plus grande bête qu’on ait jamais vue
In late-1820s Paris, women wore their hair in towering horn shapes, people pasted giraffe-themed wallpapers on their homes, fabric was manufactured in spotted patterns, and one of the most popular colors was “giraffe yellow.” Everything was “la mode à la girafe.” The cause of this frenzy for the African mammal was the arrival of a dainty young creature from Sudan: the first giraffe in France.
It really is a plastic model of a severed tongue
Just as Facebook’s algorithm rewarded shocking, useless news in the past year, it’s doing the same to Wish, an app now known for selling what its CEO calls ‘plastic tongue things.’ Over the past few months, Wish ads have dominated Facebook by hawking bizarre items like hamster leashes, giant human-sized balls of yarn, toenail extenders, mysterious car goo, and a myriad of other strange things for extremely low prices. But to those businesses who rely on Facebook ad inventory, Wish ads are no laughing matter: Facebook’s Algorithm Hijacked This $8 Billion Company to Sell Cat Blindfolds
“It gave you information about controls, but it did more than that,”
A Eulogy for the Video Game Manual [Cultured Vultures] “There is something quite cold and sterile about video game packaging today. Sure, the artwork is occasionally nice and cases are becoming smaller, sleeker – easier to store on the shelfs. But there is just something a bit off about them. They are merely methods of storing the disc or cartridge, which sounds an odd thing to criticise, given that is their primary function, though it seems justified. I think most would agree that the removal of the instruction booklet is one thing that is missed most.” [more inside]
America's Radical Asian Activists
Well-written article about the role Asian activists have played, both in defense of their group and in explanation of it. Stereotypes abound: hard-working, educated, etc. versus conformist, weird. The newspaper "Gidra" played a very visible role for the activists, starting in the 1960s. I've pulled the link to the Densho Archives that preserves the issues. Gidra archives
Farmer suicide crisis in the US
Sir Toby Toblerone, purest cat of the internet
Sir Toby Toblerone the cat [Facebook page] cannot walk at all. He was adopted by a British couple who makes sure he has a happy and adventurous life. Toby is often seen around town bundled up (complete with bobbly tam o'shanter), eagerly watching for trains and construction equipment. He likes trainspotting, chicken slices, and "booby cuddles," and dislikes "soggy moggy days." Sometimes his dad sings him songs about trains [Facebook video].
The Sounds Of Silents
INSERT WITTY LEDE HERE
The Cambridge News, a small local paper thought they had a big, lurid headline splashed over their latest issue about "sex lair" schools. Instead, what they got was the printing instructions for the headline, in 100 point font as specified. [more inside]
Traffic flow measured on 30 different 4-way junctions
A soothing six minutes of traffic flow simulations using traffic mods for the game Cities: Skyline. (slyt)
One man's quest against debt collectors and resellers
Streaming NOW: 50 Hours of Electronic Music
Always On is a 50-hour Youtube livestream of electronic music and beats featuring female, nonbinary, and transgender performers from 17 countries, sponsored by Moogfest. The NYTimes has more on Moogfest in May, the livestream, and celebrating these amazing artists. (Stream started at 12PM EST, so should run until 2 PM EST on Dec. 8.)
DEVO, Eno, Bowie, Holger Czukay
Mark Mothersbaugh says he's found tapes of (most of) DEVO jamming with Brian Eno, David Bowie, and Holger Czukay. The news dropped at a Bowie-focused even Mark spoke at in New York City. Daniel Maurer was there and has the details. Holger Czukay, bassist for Can, recounted his experience of the session in a short essay on his website.
In addition, Mark also claims to have found the 24 track tape and Brian Eno's production notes for Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!, which include additional tracks with Eno's synth, and additional vocals by David Bowie.
No word on any potential release yet.
On Reading and Books
On Reading and Books
Nineteenth-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer digs deeply into reading, writing, and publishing from his idiosyncratic perspective in this essay from his book Parerga and Paralipomena. (Alternate link)
Nineteenth-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer digs deeply into reading, writing, and publishing from his idiosyncratic perspective in this essay from his book Parerga and Paralipomena. (Alternate link)
Today is the One hundredth Anniversary
The Halifax Explosion. Previously. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic has some good links. Another previously.
FPPs Full of Women
Who wants to learn about some rad women from history? I do! Here are some sources to get your daily dose of women across the ages, in whatever format your eyes, ears or brain prefers. If no other, give The History Chicks a whirl, but there are lots more ways to learn the stories of women who have made an impact. [more inside]
The best restauraunt in London
Eggs a la Peds? no problem! How to get to #1 on Tripadvisor while actually not serving actual food.
Mailsploit: now is the time for increased email dilligence (and fakes)
‘Mailsploit’ Lets Hackers Forge Perfect Email Spoofs (Andy Greenberg for Wired) -- as summarized on the Mailsploit website
TL;DR: Mailsploit is a collection of bugs in email clients (over 30 applications) that allow effective sender spoofing and code injection attacks. The spoofing is not detected by Mail Transfer Agents (MTA) aka email servers, therefore circumventing spoofing protection mechanisms such as DMARC (DKIM/SPF) or spam filters... In addition to the spoofing vulnerability, some of the tested applications also proved to be vulnerable to XSS and code injection attacks.[more inside]
People who live in glass villages...something something
Finland has long been home to a vibrant glass industry and renowned glass artistry. To take one example, there are the glass birds of Oiva Toikka. Watch a three-part interview about his art here : Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. The Nuutajärvi glass village was established in 1793, and remains a centre of Finnish glass artwork and production today. The glass company Iittala was founded in 1881 and is known for - among other work - Alvar Aalto 's designs. Aalto was also an architect of some note. You can watch the creation of an Aalto vase here. Iittala also holds a biennial international glassblowing competition, the Iittala Cup. Watch as glassblowing gets competitive, below the fold... [more inside]
"When you go under 4mph it'll explode!"
'Welcome to Milk Float Corner, to the best of my knowledge the only site on the web dedicated to "our friends electric" - the humble milk float. Designed for reliability, durability, and quietness of operation, milk floats are also pollution-free as they glide around during the early hours...' [more inside]
Lightning in a bottle
Transient is a short film by Dustin Farrell, with an arresting mix of dramatic weather timelapses and super-slow-motion lightning strikes. (via Colossal)
Sunday Night, after Ed Sullivan and competing with Bonanza
50 years ago, the hot new TV show was "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour". Many of the people involved (Tom, Dick, the producers, writers Rob Reiner, Steve Martin, Mason 'Classical Gas' Williams, Bob Einstein before Super Dave, and a host of others) have contributed to an 'oral history' of the show, most famous for being cancelled after 3 seasons for being "too controversial". [more inside]
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