June 7, 2017
Frederick Law Olmsted: from anti-slavery reporter to public place maker
20 years ago, the New York Times published an article titled Carving Green Out of Urban Gray, in which Richard B. Woodward elevates Frederick Law Olmsted's parks as well-aging works of art, with Central Park as "perhaps the finest public art ever created in North America". To expand the scope of what Olmsted accomplished, Olmsted's Trip appeared in The New Yorker, where Adam Gopnik laid out a slightly abbreviated story of how a very vocal and influential anti-slavery news reporter turned into one of the best known designers of public spaces, and tied the creation of Central Park as "a democratic playground, a liberal common, the ideal anti-plantation." [more inside]
Ten excellent reasons to look up
Distinguishing character assassination from accountability
From Jo Freeman and Joanna Russ through today: several writers consider aspects of "call-out culture" or "pile-on culture" (as eviemath suggested we call it), especially in the context of how individuals and groups take or charge each other with responsibility and power within communities. [more inside]
Low-Country Rice Production, Then and Now
Rice is an important ingredient in Southern cooking and part of its identity. All over the Southern lowlands, rice and its production has been vital since the 1700s. The main article discusses the resurgence of old types of rice, how important it used to be, how it was made, and who's making it now. Most of this article is discussing South Carolina rice fields. I've added some information on the rice plantations of North Carolina low country, around Wilmington NC rice in low-country NC
Kitten Rescue: Los Angeles Edition
The Sjoerd Koopman Collection of Postcards of Libraries
The Sjoerd Koopman Collection houses approximately 1000 postcards of libraries in the United States. You can browse the collection here. Part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Digital Image Collections. [more inside]
WARIO IS ONE THICC BIH
Baron Von Thunderclap for Mid Sussex: The 2017 UK General Election
After many leaflets of debatable accuracy, and many parties and 3,303 candidates (post title) of varying likelihood of winning, it's time for a nice cup of tea and another jolly splendid UK election (current map). There's been professional messaging, swearing at schoolchildren (related pitfalls), spaniel smelling, posters, demonstrations (nsfw), polling drama, Moomins and the return of Ed, chips, angry and warmongering and peaceful Brits, fake estate agents, stiff British humour, strong and stable, casual xenophobia and family canvassing. But it's now down to Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn or Nicola Sturgeon or Tim Farron or Mr Fish Finger for UK PM. Elsewhere, the Wessex Regionalists are standing in Devizes, while the Yorkshire Party are standing in 21 seats across t'county... [more inside]
Would you like some statistics with your whisky?
Does it go honk?
Believe it or not, Polygon produces lots of great video content that don't feature any brothers. SEO Play is perhaps the greatest of these, where host Simone de Rochefort answers your pressing questions on today's hottest games. Please Retweet documents Polygon video producer Patrick Gill's Sisyphean effort to have Nintendo retweet a very good picture of Toad. A recent series has Russ Frushtick and Simone guide each other playing games blindfolded in Fold Yeller, leading to moments exciting, frustrating, and triumphant. [more inside]
The Story Behind MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA's Troubled Five-Year Development
"Almost immediately, fans asked how this happened. Why was Andromeda so much worse than its predecessors? How could the revered RPG studio release such an underwhelming game? And, even if the problems were a little exaggerated by the internet’s strange passion for hating BioWare, how could Andromeda ship with so many animation issues? I’ve spent the past three months investigating the answers to those questions."
It's like America's Cup for Dirtbags
Thursday, June 8th. 0500 PST: The Race to Alaska starts in Port Townsend, WA. There is one rule: no motors allowed. First place wins $10,000. Second place wins a set of steak knives. This year there is an additional prize: once you cross the finish line, you can sell your boat (no matter what your 'boat' is) for $10,000.
"The whimsy will continue until morale improves."
“Ah, now you make sense!”
As the Trump-Russia scandal continues to unravel, no one blinked when former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, “It is in [the Russian people’s] genes to be opposed, diametrically opposed to US and western democracies.” Excuse me? I had no idea that my DNA depended on an outdated, racist clash of civilizations. Tell me, sir: as a Russian-American Jew, will medical tests show trace amounts of Fifth Column in my blood?American Russophobia is real — and it’s helping Putin.
In Oregon, A Struggling County Just Shut Down Its Last Public Library
On May 31, the last public library in Oregon's Douglas County closed and locked the doors indefinitely.
In November, voters rejected a tax measure – which would have cost the median home in the county a little less than $6 a month – to keep the libraries open. Smaller library branches shut down throughout the spring.
This is the latest in a series of cuts to government services in the county fueled by residents who reject all taxes on principle. The sheriff's department no longer answers emergency calls 24 hours a day, and the county clerk is concerned about the county's ability to conduct elections.
Gay/bi black men in the US have the highest rate of HIV in the world
Why? (SLNYT) Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using the first comprehensive national estimates of lifetime risk of H.I.V. for several key populations, predicted that if current rates continue, one in two African-American gay and bisexual men will be infected with the virus. That compares with a lifetime risk of one in 99 for all Americans and one in 11 for white gay and bisexual men. To offer more perspective: Swaziland, a tiny African nation, has the world’s highest rate of H.I.V., at 28.8 percent of the population. If gay and bisexual African-American men made up a country, its rate would surpass that of this impoverished African nation — and all other nations.
Explore Armenia’s Medieval Monasteries in Interactive 360° Panoramas
Today, the Armenian landscape is dotted with spectacular churches, the most notable of which date back to the medieval period... Today, many of these historic monasteries are still off the beaten path, perched overlooking vast gorges or hidden away in forested valleys. This is part of what the 360GreatArmenia VR app and website is trying to solve for by making virtual tours available from anywhere. ... the project has captured more that 300 virtual reality tours of ancient sites within modern Armenia.
Brutality to some of this country's most vulnerable
Native lives matter - a movement emerges "No one knows why, but when he heard the sudden blare of sirens behind him, Daniel Covarrubias began running. The 37-year-old was walking home from the St. Clare hospital in Lakewood, Washington, on April 21, 2015, after getting treatment for side effects from his pain medications. His backpack full of beadwork, a craft that he had started a few years ago in an attempt to reconnect with his Native heritage, Covarrubias dashed into a nearby lumberyard, scaled a 25-foot-tall stack of wood and crouched, trying to hide."
I pulled up to the house/in my six-four
A seamless mashup of >150 songs by >100 artists into one seamless four-minute track: The Hood Internet - 40 YEARS OF HIP HOP [slYT]
"douchebagery at a double black diamond level"
ARE THEY NOT THE PICTURE OF PACT-MATES? THIS COULD BE YOU AND ME
The adventures of Antler Guy and Neighbor Steve
I have the feeling that the families get along great except for Steve. Like, the wives are baking (questionable) brownies together, the kids are playing together, Antler Guy occasionally takes Son and Timmy to school (no car, just carries them in huge swinging strides through a nexus of ungoldly sights in a swirling netherworld shortcut. Sometimes they stop for McDonalds). Hell-wife gave them a potted Audrey Jr., Steve’s wife (who I now christen Sharon) gave them a begonia. One time Steve tries throwing holy water but all Antler Guy does is thank him, saying that no, Antler Guy isn’t Catholic but it’s the thought that counts, he is so kind to water his creeping deathshade vines regardless.
Titanic at Cherbourg
Art's Titanic Model. The. Most. Amazing. Titanic. Model. To. Date.
That's not what I meant by "doggie bag"
As the country goes to hell in a handbasket, enjoy 17 Pictures That Prove Dogs Are Just Meant To Be Carried, Not Walked. Want more? How about The 50 Best Dogs In Bags On Instagram. (Dogs in bags on the subway previously)
I'm partial to ketchup Doritos to my eternal shame
A definitive ranking of Canada's best ketchup chips (s/l Chatelaine)
Come down into the depths
Ocean Networks Canada is showing live footage of their two submersibles - Hercules and Argus , live all day. Let's explore the deep together!
The Myth of the Kindly General Lee
The strangest part about the continued personality cult of Robert E. Lee is how few of the qualities his admirers profess to see in him he actually possessed.
Work To Ruin Someone's Day
"Rallies are fine. I’m not suggesting we retire the rally, but let’s remember what political theater actually does and does not accomplish: marches are for morale, protests are for pathos, but strikes? Strikes are for getting the goods, and that requires organizing workers. The hub of political power is not academia; it is not the internet; it is not the media, or comedy, or romance, or friendship, or art, or theory. It’s the workplace." All Worked Up And Nowhere To Go, Amber L'ee Frost on the limits of current protests and a path to an effective future.
Poet on the Shore
Poet on the Shore is an AI-empowered autonomous robot that roams on the beach. It enjoys watching the sea, listening to the sound of waves lapping on the beach, the murmurs of the winds, children’s conversing, and the incessant din of seabirds. Most of the time, it roams alone to listen and feel. Sometimes, it writes verses into the sand, and watches the waves wash them away.
IBM MBIs (Moves Back In)
The technologies transforming our lives
The design of everyday life (it's a book!) by [mefi's own] Adam Greenfield - "Quite simply, we need to understand that creating an algorithm intended to guide the distribution of civic resources is itself a political act. And, at least for now, nowhere in the current smart-city literature is there any suggestion that either algorithms or their designers would be subject to the ordinary processes of democratic accountability." (via)
Title Drops
Title Drops, a supercut of characters saying the name of the film they're in.
The Barbie Blues
Meep to Meep Websites
Beaker Browser is an experimental decentralized browser that lets you create (and fork) websites whichl exist on a peer to peer network insteaqd of a traditional server. "It creates sites on demand, for free, and then shares them from the device. No servers required." Here's a video talking more about it.
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