March 3, 2012
Ezra Klein on corruption in US politics
Our Corrupt Politics: It’s Not All Money. Ezra Klein on corruption in US politics. The key mistake most people make when they look at Washington—and the key misconception that characters like Abramoff would lead you to—is seeing Washington as a cash economy. It’s a gift economy. That’s why firms divert money into paying lobbyists rather than spending every dollar on campaign contributions. Campaign contributions are part of the cash economy. Lobbyists are hired because they understand how to participate in the gift economy.
"You can do precise statistics about what's in your database, and may be completely wrong about the world."
The Body Counter Meet Patrick Ball, a statistician who's spent his life lifting the fog of war. [more inside]
Dun! Dun!
LSD researcher Gary Fisher passes on.
Gary Fisher, early pioneer of LSD research, passed away today. The news was announced by his friend Lorenzo Hagerty, host of the Psychedelic Salon podcast.
Gerald Bostock must be nearly 50 by now
March 10, 2012 will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick album, their first ever #1 album in the US. (Previously, sadly the "very extensive packaging" newspaper link has rotted, but a replacement has happily been found.) And April 2, 2012 will see the release of Thick As A Brick II. [more inside]
Ralph McQuarrie, 1929–2012
Ralph McQuarrie, legendary concept artist for Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and many other projects, has passed away at the age of 82. Previously, here and here.
The War In Chechnya: Diary of a Killer
They screamed and shouted, begging us not to kill them because they had family and kids back home. So what? As if, by contrast, we’d come from an orphanage into this s***hole. We executed them all. Diary of the war in Chechnya. (via) [more inside]
"What did they talk about all those days?"
"The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia" - When historian Timothy Messer-Kruse attempted to edit the Wikipedia article on the Haymarket Affair he ran up against the project's policies and editors. Besides the coverage by Messer-Kruse about his two years trying to edit the article in The Chronicle, linked above, the story has spilled out into other media outlets. An article in The Atlantic, an NPR segment with Messer-Kruse and Andrew Lih, a Reddit thread, Bigthink, and others have chimed in on the situation. Lengthy discussion, and a "good article reassessment", has resulted on Wikipedia.
Walt Lewin's best lines
MIT's beloved professor Walter Lewin is famous for his engaging video lectures on classical mechanics. Here are some of his best lines.
Posible names: "Junction Box", "Dry Riser Inlet", "Jar'o'Nails"
Claressa Shields - Radio Diary Made of Awesome
Claressa Shields, a 16 year old boxer preparing for the Olympic trials, records a radio diary. It's about 16 minutes long.
Flamingos are a go.
Last October, the newly rebranded Miami Marlins released an artist's rendering of a tacky home run celebration structure that would be built in their new stadium, to widespread derision. With the offseason nearing its end, the structure has moved from concept sketch to reality. Initial reactions note that the structure is mind-bogglingly enormous, and maybe actually kind of awesome. Recently, stadium staff gave the structure a test run.
Buy more oregano
The Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi uses a paper bag to illustrate exactly how the sub-prime mortgage scam worked, and how we're still on the hook for the next catastrophe. [more inside]
"when he came along, I just go -- brrrrrr"
Seventy years ago today nine Japanese Zero fighters attacked the North-Australian town of Broome, destroying more than twenty aircraft and killing over eighty people. Only one Zero was lost, shot down from the ground by Dutch flight lieutenant Gus Winckel. [more inside]
The eternal quandary: Eat it or frame it?
Caramel Dragon Lollipop: a street vendor shows off his incredible skill with a ladle by creating an edible work of art.
Scout doesn't move all that much.
Upon a fight in Darien
The Cabbie v. the Morgan Stanley Executive "Those of you who have any degree of contact with the financial blogosphere no doubt caught the news today that one William Bryan Jennings, the co-head of fixed income for the Americas for Morgan Stanley, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, theft of services and intimidation by bias or bigotry and released on bail of $9,500. He has been put on leave." [Via].
Black Flag
WHAT TIME IS IT?!
Do you like Adventure Time? (previously) Do you like 8-Bit Game intros? Then you'll like the 8-bit Adventure Time Video Game Intro.
The Buzludzha monument
A photographer visited the abandoned Buzludzha monument. The Buzludzha monument is located on top of a mountain in the middle of Bulgaria. It's an impressive example of communist architecture that is mentioned in this previous mefi post.
WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE
Together again at last: "Neil Young" and Bruuuuuuuuce are "Sexy and I Know It".
A controversy in bioethics
When Alberti Giubilini and Francesca Minerva published a provocative paper about the ethics of infanticide in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the hostile response they received included death threats. [more inside]
Omni Consumer Products
Welcome to Omni Consumer Products. "First they came for the NHS and I said nothing because I was not sick. Then they came for the disabled people and those on benefits and I said nothing because I had an income and didn’t care what the ‘scroungers’ said. Then they came for the schools and I said nothing because I had no kids. Then they came for the police force with private/public partnerships and for speaking up, I received a baton to the face. The private guards looked at their targets and smiled: dissent down 35% this month." [more inside]
形左实右、形右实左
A Pictorial Guide to China’s Politics: Left v. Right Translation of a neat infographic that does a fair job of summing up some of the broad differences between the left and right in popular Chinese political discourse.
Saturday Morning Cartoons/Breakfast Danish
The Story of Animation is a tongue-in-cheek educational film about the process of animation, aimed primarily at potential animation clients who are more clueless than most about how these toons get made (and how long it's gonna take and how much it's gonna cost). Made by-and-for graduates of the The Animation Workshop, an animation school in Viborg, Denmark, which has posted A LOT of impressive student works on YouTube... [more inside]
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