February 14, 2015
Happy Birthday, Maple Leaf!
Today is the fiftieth birthday of the Canadian flag. Questions have been raised, however, as to why the federal government has more or less ignored it. [more inside]
Love Tokens from the Thames
Top, Bottom, Left, Right
Tony Zhou looks at the quadrant system with scenes from Nicolas Winding Refn’s film Drive, geometric staging with Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, and character decision with Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer. [more inside]
...a substantial target worth hitting
On the night of 13/14 February 1945, RAF Bomber Command carried out a raid on the city of Dresden, the capital of Saxony, Germany. For all intents and purposes, this was a standard mission undertaken in much the same way as any other sortie...
Warning - some graphic images inside
...and flies, and flies, and flies...
After qualifying with over 245 metres, Peter Prevc, the Slovenian ski jumper, breaks the world record and becomes the first ski jumper to jump / glide / soar for a quarter of a kilometre. Alternatives here and here.
The Gaeneviad
It's like a bad movie plot, only IRL.
"Kaspersky Lab says it has seen evidence of $300 million in theft from clients, and believes the total could be triple that." The New York Times reports that hackers have pulled off the first successful bank heist from banks in Russia, Japan, the U.S., and Europe. [more inside]
"...safe, somewhat organic, and guaranteed to improve your life."
I'll eat you up, I love you so
Shortly after meeting my wife, she introduced me to the nuanced meaning that the Spanish word nervio had acquired in the lexicon of her family. As used in their Chilean home, the word could be defined as a feeling of such intense affection that one trembles or grits his teeth with restraint so as not to harm the object of his affection. I have heard others allude to the sensation in seemingly bizarre phrases such as, "It's so cute [that] I want to squeeze it to death." I often ask people about nervio. For those like me who have experienced it frequently throughout their lives, a complete definition is unnecessary and the word fills a void in their vocabulary. With others, my description is often greeted with bewilderment. Having never felt such a sensation, it is hard for them to imagine.More? Tagalog's gigil, corporal cuddling, and some scientific insights into the "cute aggression" phenomenon
Fictional Hungarian euro banknotes
Homeward
When Hugo Lucitante was a boy, his tribe sent him away to learn about the outside world so that, one day, he might return and save their village. Can he live up to their hopes? [more inside]
Beyond Gandhi and King
The Secret History of South Asian & African American Solidarity. South Asians and African Americans have been standing up for each other for over a century -- and continue to do so. Race politics, shared heritage, and issues of caste and class are among the few examples of interconnected history that largely go untaught in the U.S. [via mefi projects]
From the golden age of hypertext
The Big Fun Glossary: “Big Fun began its life as the home of the Malvern Girls, three young adults from the Philadelphia Suburbs. From its initial disastrous housewarming and continuing on through the worst winter on record and into a spring infested with ticks, flies and cicadas, Big Fun, a stately yellow farmhouse in rural Central Virginia, saw many interesting sights: impromptu punk rock concerts, Dextromethorphan chug-fests, Nomadic Festivals, nazi skinheads, and (most importantly) record alcohol consumption. Like most tight social groups, Big Fun had its own language, history and collection of in-jokes. This website is designed to grant you access to the inner workings of this remarkable youth culture as it actually functioned in the mid-90s.” [more inside]
Had to "put my oar in" my Valentine
Valentine's Day Cards of the Late 1800's and Early 1900's (Tillie's Antique Chatter)
A Flowering of Affection: Victorian Valentines Day Cards at the Lilly Library (Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington)
History of the Card
Victorian Valentine's Day Cards - in Pictures (The Guardian, from The Laura Seddon Collection held by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Special Collections)
A Victorian Treasury's piece on Esther Howland (1828-1904), Mother of the American Valentine
National Valentine Collectors Association
An antidote for saccharine: Vinegar Valentines (Pinterest)
A Flowering of Affection: Victorian Valentines Day Cards at the Lilly Library (Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington)
History of the Card
Victorian Valentine's Day Cards - in Pictures (The Guardian, from The Laura Seddon Collection held by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Special Collections)
A Victorian Treasury's piece on Esther Howland (1828-1904), Mother of the American Valentine
National Valentine Collectors Association
An antidote for saccharine: Vinegar Valentines (Pinterest)
A Scar On The Map
Judge Carlton Reeves sentenced three young white men in the murder of an innocent black man. But first, he had something to tell them. [more inside]
A cappella Cardiacs
A cappella renditions of songs off the Cardiacs album Sing to God, aka the best album you've never heard of. The original double album (Part I, Part II) is arguably the band's magnum opus, inspiring (among other things) parts of Radiohead's OK Computer; these renditions capture some of the glorious derangement of the originals, and add all manner of delightful innovations to the material. Don't miss: Fiery Gun Hand, Insect Hoofs on Lassie, Wireless, Dirty Boy, Nurses Whispering Verses.
Drawing me back through night’s dark maze
U Suck
Would I argue with the Federal Reserve
Youe life time earnings and something you probably do not want to hear. People projected to earn the median amount will see their earnings grow 38 percent from the time they're 25 to when they turn 55; those in the 95th percentile will see their earnings grow 230 percent over the same period; and those in the 99th percentile will see their earnings grow 1,450 percent. That may seem obvious—those at the top of the wealth differential were probably propelled there by astronomical earnings growth, not a streak of flat earnings. The Fed report, however, points out that the steepest pay increases happen early. "Across the board, the bulk of earnings growth happens during the first decade,"
Fortunately for me mine took the upward swing after 23 years of employment. There is still hope.
Go obscure, out-of-print, feminist, progressive, female authors!!! Woot!
Drinking My Way Through the Literary 1930's : "The backbone of this blog is the amazing and unfortunately out-of-print book, So Red the Nose. To this 1935, somewhat tongue-in-cheek recipe book, thirty bestselling contemporary authors submitted original cocktails, based around their own original works ... My mission, then, is to recreate 29 of these cocktails ... and combine them with their namesakes, ... discovering which books are classics tragically forgotten and which are better left to collect dust in library basements." [via mefi projects] [more inside]
Alaaf!
Carnival in the Netherlands starts tomorrow. Carnival in the Netherlands is called Carnaval, Vastenavond or Vastelaovend, and is most celebrated in traditionally Catholic regions, mainly the southern provinces North Brabant and Limburg. Dutch Carnaval is officially celebrated on the Sunday through Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday, but in many places, festivities have started earlier. 'Alaaf' is a traditional greeting, only used during Carnaval. [more inside]
The world is forever spawning Damned Things
So! The "bird" category has (somewhat culture specific) internal structure. For example, most Americans will agree that a robin is a better example of a bird than an albatross, and an albatross is a better bird than an ostrich. (And while bats are not birds, they are better birds than horses are, and horses are better birds than refrigerators are; so the gradations continue to some extent outside the category boundary).Let's talk about category structure and oppression: how the way we think about categories feeds into social oppression and justice.
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