September 23, 2012
Burning Mercury Thiocyanide Will Amaze You
Moon Dream
Dan Roam reminisces about walking into a Russian bookstore in 1993 and picking up a one-of-a-kind item...
" But if you do things, all that can happen is you succeed or fail.”
"On the morning of Saturday September 8th a suicide attack in Kabul claimed the lives of a number of young Afghans." Four of the six youth killed were part of the NGO Skateistan. Previously, the film "To Live and Skate in Kabul."
SIX SEASONS!
And A Movie?: 'Why is it so important to the fans that there be a film adaptation of the franchise they love?'
DSC 180
Circa 2005, Steve Jobs was introducing a new feature to iTunes and he called them podcasts! Unfortunately, during the LIVE presentation Adam Curry was not happy with his Mac!! Priceless!
Croudsourcing Democracy
Finland is about to start using croudsourcing to create new laws: Earlier this year, the Finnish government enabled something called a "citizens’ initiative", through which registered voters can come up with new laws – if they can get 50,000 of their fellow citizens to back them up within six months, then the Eduskunta (the Finnish parliament) is forced to vote on the proposal.
Now this crowdsourced law-making system is about to go online through a platform called the Open Ministry. The non-profit organization has been collecting signatures for various proposals on paper since 1 March, when citizens’ initiatives came in, but a couple of days ago the government approved the electronic ID mechanism that underpins the digital version of the platform. That means it can now go live on 1 October.
Now this crowdsourced law-making system is about to go online through a platform called the Open Ministry. The non-profit organization has been collecting signatures for various proposals on paper since 1 March, when citizens’ initiatives came in, but a couple of days ago the government approved the electronic ID mechanism that underpins the digital version of the platform. That means it can now go live on 1 October.
"Prosecco's basically the same thing," he said dismissively.
The Hatred of Sound
When a Chomp or a Slurp Is a Trigger for Outrage For some people with misophonia, the simple sounds of someone eating can send them into an instantaneous, blood-boiling panic-filled rage. A basic fight or flight response can result from just a wide range of sounds such as breathing, typing, finger tapping and more. Most of the sounds would barely be noticed by your average person. The disorder was diagnosed in 2001 so many doctors are unfamiliar with the disorder and will often misdiagnose those afflicted with mood or anxiety disorders.
David Simon ReasonTV interview
Last week Reason Magazine posted a 20-minute video interview with David Simon (The Wire, Homicide, Treme and more) on its web site. On his personal blog Simon accused the Reason editors of "shanking" the interview by selectively editing the video in favor of "banter and quick reposite", and sacrificing context and complete arguments to the extent that the interview seems "incoherent." In response to Simon's comments Reason has posted the full 1 hour 20 minute audio of the interview. (direct link to mp3 audio)
Henry Miller's "The Books In My Life"
They were alive and they spoke to me! That is the simplest and most eloquent way in which I can refer to those authors who have remained with me over the years. - Henry Miller, The Books In My Life [more inside]
Do the work Indiana Jones couldn't be bothered with
Between 1922 and 1934 archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum embarked on a large scale excavation of the Mesopotamian city of Ur, one of the world's earliest cities. That excavation generated a huge mass of documents (lettres, field notes, dig report etc.) and now you can help to digitally transcribe them.
"Are we the baddies?"
Danish author Sven Hassel (Wikipedia, official site) has passed away at the age of 95. (Danish - Translation) Hassel fought for the Germans during WWII and became famous after publishing Legion of the Damned, a semi-autobiographical account of the war. He went on to write thirteen more books following the adventures of his convict battalion, incuding Wheels of Terror which in 1987 was made into the movie The Misfit Brigade staring Bruce Davison and David Patrick Kelly (clip). He will be remembered fondly by all who browsed the bookshelves of charity shops as young men.
Jan Svankmajer: "Succumb totally to your obsessions; Keep interchanging dream for reality and vice versa"
"Jan Švankmajer is a major figure of contemporary East European animation whose surrealistic, often macabre work owes more to the nightmarish visions of Kafka and Buñuel than to the sunny daydreams of Walt Disney and his creative progeny. Noted for investing otherwise ordinary objects with ominous overtones, Švankmajer reached his widest audience to date with a feature-length adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" (1988) which blended animated and live-action footage--a technique he had earlier used to hair-raising effect in "Down to the Cellar" (1983)." -- TMC. Often credited with influencing the Brothers Quay, they hadn't actually seen his work until relatively late in their careers, as they mentioned in an introduction to their documentary on Švankmajer (YT playlist). More of Švankmajer inside. [more inside]
The Solid Time of Change
Yes's Close To The Edge (quite possibly, progressive rock’s defining masterwork) has turned 40. [more inside]
Audrey Blue
"On the 23rd day of the month of September...in an early year of a decade not too long before our own...the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence." [more inside]
Life in a Cheap Suit
High Tech's Dirty Little Secret
"Of all the things the Internet was expected to become, it is safe to say that a seed for the proliferation of backup diesel generators was not one of them." Power, Pollution and the Internet [sl NY Times]
Roller Coaster Tycoon in real life
Creepy photography
Creepshots and revenge porn: how paparazzi culture affects women (The Guardian, UK)
"What unites creepshots [on Reddit], the Middleton photographs, the revenge porn websites," says Franks, "is that they all feature the same fetishisation of non-consensual sexual activity with women who either you don't have any access to, or have been denied future access to. And it's really this product of rage and entitlement"[more inside]
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