March 7, 2015
“Mission accomplished!”
indoor model plane championships
Damoiselles and danger
Maybe you know Tom Jones' theme from Thunderball. Funny thing: before they decided on that track, there was "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" sung by Shirley Bassey. And also sung by Dionne Warwick. And somewhere along the line, Johnny Cash had a turn at writing a Thunderball theme. Welcome to the wonderful world of James Bond themes that never were. [more inside]
Leveraging the synergy of ligatures
Shame and Ideology
"My business is built on everlasting trust.”
"a tomb in miniature for our souls”
The death of writing – if James Joyce were alive today he’d be working for Google: [Guardian Books]
There’s hardly an instant of our lives that isn’t electronically documented. These days, it is software that maps our new experiences, our values and beliefs. How should a writer respond? Tom McCarthy on fiction in the age of data saturation.
The Big Melt
Comparing photographs of glaciers from the 1920's to today: Repeat photography is a technique in which a historical photograph and a modern photograph, both having the same field of view, are compared and contrasted to quantitatively and qualitatively determine their similarities and differences. The following sections depict how this technique was used at a number of locations in Alaska... to document and understand changes to glaciers and landscapes as a result of changing climate. [more inside]
"It appears that the author takes the word for an insult"
Are they going to say this is fantasy? -- Ursula K. LeGuin answers Kazuo Ishiguro's anxiety about his latest novel.
Why Would Anyone Want to Kill Brianna Wu?
"What anyone can see by looking closely at Wu is an entrepreneurial archetype. She's not a countercultural artist like Quinn or a crusader like Sarkeesian." Inc. profiles Brianna Wu.
The piece mentions Wu's being interviewed for the movie GTFO, a documentary on women and video game culture. The New York Times has just run a feature on the film and its director, Shannon Sun-Higginson.
The piece mentions Wu's being interviewed for the movie GTFO, a documentary on women and video game culture. The New York Times has just run a feature on the film and its director, Shannon Sun-Higginson.
Did you like 'Starlost'?
Rocket Boy was a short-lived Canadian TV series. Starring Dave Thomas, Ron James, and an assortment of Thomas' SCTV comrades. Sadly, the series is not displayable on the internet. [more inside]
Or maybe it's about ethics in moon tourism
"In Creatures Such as We, living on the moon is lonely, and stressful, and exhausting. Video games have always offered you an escape to a better life. The easy, happy life you wish you had. Which makes it so frustrating when the game you’ve been playing ends badly. But you have a chance to figure it out, because the next tourist group is the game’s designers. You can debate with them about art, inspire them with the beauty of outer space, get closer to any one specific designer in particular, and finally find out how to get the ending you always wanted.[more inside]
What happens when Queen Elizabeth dies
Since ascending to the throne in 1952, the monarch has seen 12 Prime Ministers serve Britain, and lived through another 12 US Presidents. For at least 12 days — between her passing, the funeral and beyond — Britain will grind to a halt. It'll cost the British economy billions in lost earnings. The stock markets and banks will close for an indefinite period. And both the funeral and the subsequent coronation will become formal national holidays, each with an estimated economic hit to GDP of between £1.2 and £6 billion, to say nothing of organisational costs.
Obama Selma Speech
President Barack Obama delivers a speech to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March in Selma, Alabama.
BuzzFeed's self-congratulatory Dutch oven
"Or don’t. But please. Detox. Throw your phone in the fucking East River. DELETE YOUR TWITTER." The Concessionist, an advice column for the Awl written by Choire Sicha, fields "the letter that encapsulates the millennial age": I Hate Myself Because I Don't Work For BuzzFeed. [more inside]
LaVern Baker: Big Voice, Indomitable Spirit
LaVern Baker had a strong, soaring voice and scored hits such as Jim Dandy, Tweedle Dee, and I Cried A Tear. She also did some well-received duets, such as You're The Boss with Jimmy Ricks or Shake A Hand with Jackie Wilson.
Her life wasn't as smooth as her voice, though; her hits were constantly ripped off by a white singer, and when she went to Vietnam to entertain American troops, she came down with pneumonia and was left behind by the others on the tour. "She described the fantastical saga that ensued: "I didn't know what to do, who to go to. The tour was gone and I was in a strange country where telephone service was practically nonexistent. I hitched with farmers on wagons to Bangkok…. I'd had to slog through rice paddies in water up to my shoulders in some places to get to Bangkok, so by the time the Marines got me to the base I'd had a relapse."" The difficulties were just beginning..
MCD Centennial
Conservancy district 100 years old The Miami Conservancy District was the first of its kind in the world. It was used as a model for the much more famous Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as other conservancy projects in several states. [more inside]
Women of Aviation Week: March 2-8
Since the 1980s, the female pilot population has been stagnating at unbearably low levels. Out of more than 1 million pilots worldwide, there are only 50,000 female pilots. Other technical fields in the air and space industry are equally lacking female presence.
Women of Aviation Week Worldwide celebrates women's aviation history and encourages girls and women to get out and 'be the majority' at your local aviation site. [more inside]
Queen Nzinga: Angola's answer to Queen Elizabeth I
Nzinga Mbande (1581-1663) was a powerful queen and guerrilla commander in what is now modern day Angola. She is best remembered for a story about her first meeting with Portuguese leaders, who slighted her by providing her no chair upon which to sit. Famously, she ordered one of her maids to kneel on all fours and sat upon the maid's back while she conducted negotiations. However, the focus on this story belies Nzinga's accomplishments as a canny politician who successfully consolidated an effective power base despite starting from a very unstable position. [more inside]
Star Trek movies (ships only)
Youtube user ThomasHuntFilms has edited down the original Star Trek movies (i.e. no Abramsverse movies) to just the scenes with ships only. [more inside]
eight legs, no bones
Watch a large octopus depart a boat through a very small gap. [SLYT]
Bring on the Mole Women!
Suffering Parks and Recreation withdrawal after last week's series finale? Still heartbroken that 30 Rock is off the air? Vaguely worried about the Yahoo version of Community scheduled to arise later this month? Well, good news: Tina Fey's new show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt debuted on Netflix last yesterday. [more inside]
'I like art by men better.'
New York Magazine on MoMA's identity politics and gender balance. Art Basel Miami Beach gender balance by the numbers. The White Review on gender balance in the London gallery scene. Georg Baselitz in Der Spiegel:
As always, the market is right. [...] Women simply don't pass the test. The market test, the value test. Women don't paint very well. It's a fact.Collectors still pay more for male artists. [previously]
"He used to really get on my tits."
No Judgement Zone
After witnessing a transgender woman in the women's dressing room at Planet Fitness, Yvette Cormier made comments and complaints to other exercisers every day for a week. Rather than changing their established gender identity non-discrimination policy, Planet Fitness cancelled her gym membership for violating their "No Judgement Zone." [more inside]
The Garden of Alla(h): Hotel, Party, Radical Hotbed
in the 1920s and 1930s, the hottest spot in Hollywood was The Garden of Alla(h). In the mid 1920s, the actress Alla Nazimova turned her mansion into a hotel and surrounded the pool with cottages rented to famous actors, artists, musicians, mobsters, and writers. It was a legendary for its parties, affairs, feuds, and star power. It was also a "radical hotbed". [more inside]
Refuge Restrooms
Refuge Restrooms is a crowdsourced website that works to help trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming people find safe restrooms. They've recently launched an iPhone app, with an unofficial (and with-ads) android app already out. [more inside]
It's Radioactive Saturday!
Watch some U-238 decay in real time. The sample is placed in an alcohol cloud chamber, and transilluminated by a strip of LEDs. Hypnotic, after a while. After about 40 minutes, the sample begins to be coated by alcohol fumes and many of the emissions are absorbed on the surface.
Tampons against trafficking
Pivot: A Tool to Empower Human Trafficking Victims
Pivot provides rescue information to human trafficking victims without detection by their captors. Ordinary-looking sanitary pads are distributed by activists and healthcare providers to suspected victims. Hidden inside each pad is an insert with rescue information and a trafficking hotline number. A victims accesses the insert in the privacy of a restroom, detaches the phone number (disguised as a fortune-cookie tab), and flushes the rest of the insert in the toilet.[more inside]
Don't Look Away Now, the Climate Crisis Needs You!
If enough of us decide that climate change is a crisis worth of Marshall Plan levels of response, it will be. [more inside]
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