Most Favorited Posts in the Past 24 Hours (7 days, 30 days, 12 months, all time)
Here's a quick guide to what the numbers mean. Subscribe
More Americans work in museums than work in coal
You already know who. It’s white people in general and white men in particular, and especially white Protestant men, some of whom are apparently dismayed to find out that there is going to be, as your mom might have put it, sharing. The history of this country has been written as their story, and the news sometimes still tells it this way—one of the battles of our time is about who the story is about, who matters and who decides.Rebecca Solnit talks about the myth of the real America and whose stories are treated with respect and whose are not.
Letting Mother Nature reclaim prime farmland
Too many men
Men outnumber women by 70 million in China and India. The consequences of having too many men, now coming of age, are far-reaching: Beyond an epidemic of loneliness, the imbalance distorts labor markets, drives up savings rates in China and drives down consumption, artificially inflates certain property values, and parallels increases in violent crime, trafficking or prostitution in a growing number of locations. [more inside]
Armenians on the verge of a regime overthrow
The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, changed the constitution so that Armenia went from a semi-presidential state to a parliamentary one. Then he made himself Prime Minister immediately after his last presidential term. Armenian citizens, led by Internet-savvy opposition leaders under a coalition called Yelk (Way Out), dominated by the Civil Contract Party, now number possibly more than 150,000 people (~5% of the population) in the streets and more engaging in acts of disobedience from their homes. [more inside]
Like Choose Your Own Adventure, but with miniatures
In BoardGameGeek's 18 years of existence, cataloging and judging board games from all over the world, only seven games have occupied the #1 overall position. The newest is Cephalofair Games' Gloomhaven, a super-ambitious legacy game that plays like Dungeons and Dragons using cards instead of dice. It weighs more than 20 pounds, costs around $200, and comes with more than 100 branching adventures for the players to hack and slash their way through. Reaching BGG's #1 position is particularly amazing for a game that isn't actually on the market yet (not counting the the two Kickstarter campaigns). FiveThirtyEight's senior board games correspondent Oliver Roeder takes a look at why it may be hard for any game to break Gloomhaven's hold on the top spot.
the sioux chef
Chef Sean Sherman on creating an indigenous kitchen in the modern world.,
committed to revitalizing Native American Cuisine and in the process we are re-identifying North American Cuisine and reclaiming an important culinary culture long buried and often inaccessible. [more inside]
Jamón Ibérico Southern Style
An organic farm in Georgia received Spanish hogs a few years ago and they should be ready to release next year. Will it really be as good as the fabulous Spanish ham? We'll see.
Content warning: hog butchery
Fit doesn't have to be synonymous with thin.
The Truth about Tanks on the Western Front
To give you a general sense, in April of 1945 the Germans have about 90 tanks on all of the Western Front. All tanks, everything, Panthers, Panzer IV, Tigers. They had a handful of Tigers. They had about 400 other armored vehicles, assault guns, Stug III and things like that. So they had just short of 500 armored vehicles on the entire Western Front, from the North Sea all the way down to Bavaria and Southern Germany. At that point in time the United States had 11,000 tank and tank destroyers, to give you some sense of the disparity in forces. - - Popular historian Stephen Zaloga gives an interview discussing armored warfare in Western Europe during the Second World War for Tank and AFV News. [more inside]
Photo sharing site passed around
Flickr is now owned by Ludicorp Yahoo! Altaba Oath SmugMug, "acquired" in a deal for undisclosed terms. About the purchase, SmugMug's CEO states, "It sounds silly for the CEO to not to totally know what he’s going to do, but..." The Learn More page announcing the change of hands does not explain anything but it does feature photos of a food fight and clowns.
Just Like Pigses At Black Masses
Black Sabbath's War Pigs;
Faith No More Pigs;
Cake (No) War Pigs;
DJBassedOut's Disposable Dubstep War-Piggery (via Metallica);
OhLordsYeah Of The Rhymes' Black Riders. (Spoilers: Legolas will kick their asses) [more inside]
Without you it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces
In 1997, Trent Reznor put together a fever-dream of a soundtrack album for David Lynch's film Lost Highway. Over 20 years later, it still has the same power it had when first released. [If you can listen to this album as a single work rather than broken up, I recommend that.] Side A: I'm Deranged (Edit) (D. Bowie), Videodrones: Questions (T. Reznor), The Perfect Drug [video] (Nine Inch Nails), Red Bats With Teeth (A. Badalementi), Haunting & Heartbreaking (A. B.), Eye (The Smashing Pumpkins) [more inside]
The Unbeatable Magician and the Indomitable Prodigy
Japanese novelist Yoshiki Tanaka's sprawling 10-volume space opera, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, was published from 1982 through 1987. Additionally, 5 volumes of side stories were published from 1984 to 1989. While the novels only recently became available in English, the series became well-known outside of Japan through an anime adaptation that began in 1988 and did not conclude until 2000. The series has also been adapted to computer games, manga, and the stage. Most recently, a new anime adaptation, Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, started airing in April, 2018. [more inside]
So Here's Your Future
The Thermals have officially disbanded. Every album put out by The Thermals was a haven for punks and partiers, parents and kids, and outcasts of all stripes. Their albums were stuffed to the edges with intellectual rumination, melodies packed around bass lines, and a newfound sense of a life lived. (analogue.io) After 15 years on the scene, Portland, Oregon indie rockers The Thermals are packing it in. (consequence of sound)
The Portland trio called it quits this week, but for many, they leave behind a fiery legacy that can’t be put out. (flood magazine) [more inside]
Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook Is a Match
"We came ... to try to understand the forces of social disruption that have followed Facebook’s rapid expansion in the developing world" NYT's Amanda Taub and Max Fisher reports on how Facebook as a platform has galvanised sectarian violence. Some might not agree with the assessment, like Jesse Walker, but for scholars in the field like Zeynep Tufekci, this makes a coherent argument.
Meanwhile on Twitter: The 'botmageddon' in Southeast Asia || A researcher at the Digital Forensic Research (DFR) Lab of the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank said over 17,000 bots tweeted content related to the Malaysian election over the last week.
The Pope's Long Con
Preacher Danny Ray Johnson rode the Trump train to the Kentucky House of Representatives by posting racist anti-Obama memes on Facebook and posing as a 9-11 (and L.A. Riots) first responder. Investigative podcast The Pope's Long Con, from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Louisville Public Media, methodically dismantles Johnson's long series of lies and abuses. A heroic journalistic effort and engaging listen that examines how a serial scammer was able to rise to power. [more inside]
It’s Coming Through A Crack In The Wall
“Rather than shy away from being called a socialist, a word conservatives have long wielded as a slur, candidates like Mr. Bynum are embracing the label. He is among dozens of D.S.A. members running in this fall’s midterms for offices across the country at nearly every level. In Hawaii, Kaniela Ing, a state representative, is running for Congress. Gayle McLaughlin, a former mayor of Richmond, Calif., is running to be the state’s lieutenant governor. In Tennessee, Dennis Prater, an adjunct professor at East Tennessee State University, is running to be a county commissioner.“ Yes, I’m running as a Socialist, why candidates are embracing the label (NYT) Congress is wealthy, the people are not - How to get more working-class candidates like Kerri Harris to run for office (The New Republic). One out of every five Americans has taken part in a rally, speech, or protest in the last two years. (The Nib)
Holiday with spies: come for the windsurfin, stay for the refugee rescue
“We have obviously failed.”
After watching the Larry Kramer documentary In Love And Anger, writer Eric Thurm found the most memorable moment to be an angry speech by author David Feinberg about the movement as a failure. (The speech starts at 11:09 of this old AIDS Community TV Video.) He has written a meditation on the man and his rage for The Outline. [more inside]
GORDON'S ALIVE!!!
Richard Herring 'interviews' Brian Blessed (slyt, nsfw swearing, discussions of the sexual antics of gorillas and bellowing)