October 16
October 15
The fish men see her still, their Annie, in the hide-and-seek shadows of South Street. She’s telling her dirty jokes and doing anything for a buck: hustling newspapers, untaxed cigarettes, favors, those pairs of irregular socks she’d buy cheap on Canal. She’s submitting to the elements, calling out “Yoo-hoo” to the snow and the rain and her boys. Annie and Gloria: Death of a Fulton Fish Market Fixture.
posted by dersins at 5:11 PM - 11 comments
"… if I ever have to see this gurning little maggot clicking into faux reverie mode again – rising from his seat to jazz-slap the top of his piano wearing a fake-groove expression on his piggish little face – if I have to witness that one more time I'm going to rise up and kill absolutely everybody in the world, starting with him and ending with me.".
Charlie Brooker, the UK Guardian's TV 'critic', calls it quits.
posted by lalochezia at 2:28 PM - 56 comments
In 2007, Beck, then the host of “Glenn Beck,” on CNN’s Headline News, brought to his show a John Birch Society spokesman named Sam Antonio, who warned of a government plot to abolish U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, “and eventually all throughout the Americas.” Beck told Antonio, “When I was growing up, the John Birch Society—I thought they were a bunch of nuts.” But now, he said, “you guys are starting to make more and more sense to me.”
A secret history of Glenn Beck, by way of Robert Welch, Willard Cleon Skousen and the John Birch Society. From the
New Yorker.
posted by gerryblog at 12:42 PM - 34 comments
During his campaign, skeptics warned that Barack Obama was nothing but a "beautiful loser," a progressive purist whose uncompromising idealism would derail his program for change. But as president, Obama has proved to be just the opposite — an ugly winner. Over and over, he has shown himself willing to strike unpalatable political bargains to secure progress, even at the cost of alienating his core supporters. This bloodless, if effective, approach to governance has created a perilous disconnect: By any rational measure, Obama is the most accomplished and progressive president in decades, yet the only Americans fired up by the changes he has delivered are Republicans and Tea Partiers hellbent on reversing them. Heading into the November elections, Obama's approval ratings are mired in the mid-40s, and polls reflect a stark enthusiasm gap: Half of all Republicans are "very" excited about voting this fall, compared to just a quarter of Democrats. But if the passions of Obama's base have been deflated by the compromises he made to secure historic gains like the Recovery Act, health care reform and Wall Street regulation, that gloom cannot obscure the essential point: This president has delivered more sweeping, progressive change in 20 months than the previous two Democratic administrations did in 12 years. The
Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson argues
The Case for Obama.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 11:30 AM - 139 comments
Robotic privacy curtain, "My workshop is located in an old storefront with a big window facing towards the street. In an attempt to create more privacy inside, I’ve decided to install a small but
smart curtain in that window." (More
here)
posted by geoff. at 11:27 AM - 14 comments
"[London investment analyst Rupesh] Shingadia’s journey to fame began when London Daily Mail photographer Mark Pain captured
an amazing image of Tiger Woods botching a chip shot on the 18th hole during the Ryder Cup competition. But all anyone talked about was the googly-eyed guy in the gallery behind Woods, wearing a ginger wig, Groucho Marx mustache and chomping on an enormous cigar ... [He] purchased his costume online to dress up as one of his favorite golfers, Spanish pro
Miguel Angel Jimenez."
* He's become a
Photoshop celebrity.
[more inside]
posted by ericb at 10:48 AM - 14 comments
The Center for Sexual Health Promotion, Indiana University, has investigated in 2009 sexual practices in the USA. The results are reported in this month's
Special Issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. (The
full text is available behind a short anonymous online survey.)
[more inside]
posted by knz at 9:40 AM - 14 comments
"The first thing that needs to happen, I think, is to get these people out of their homes," a man wearing a bespoke blue-striped shirt, a Hermés tie patterned with elephants and Ferragamo loafers
said recently. But, maybe Wall Street doesn't understand
why foreclosure fraud is so dangerous to property rights? And, the Obama administration doesn't understand why
HAMP has been a
portrait in failure for homeowners (in eight parts
I,
II,
III,
IV,
V,
VI,
VII,
VIII.)
posted by ennui.bz at 9:04 AM - 93 comments
Bye bye Big Mal. Malcolm Allison, one of the most flamboyant characters in English football, has gone to the players' lounge in the sky. He certainly knew what sold, with his signature cigar, fedora and sheepskin coat, and also
laid on a pretty good bath. But all that stuff aside, he was a
well-respected manager, and will be fondly remembered by Manchester City fans (
you can read the fans' tributes here, and leave your own if you are so inclined) for leading them to glory in the late 60s and early 70s. The world is a lesser place without him.
posted by Myeral at 7:37 AM - 2 comments
The latest crisis in South Korea is not coming from its northern neighbor. The country is reeling from
the soaring price of kimchi. China responds with
concern. "The politics editor of a major South Korean newspaper called the kimchi situation "a national tragedy,” and an editorial in Dong-a Ilbo termed it “a once in a century crisis.”
previously
posted by Xurando at 7:04 AM - 23 comments
The UN's FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) have announced that they believe rinderpest, an frequently fatal viral disease that affects livestock and wild ruminants, to have been eliminated. This is only the second virus, after smallpox, to have been wiped out.
The BBC and
the Guardian discuss the story in brief, and
Science has a slightly more in-depth look at it. The FAO themselves have put up an
interesting history of the disease and its treatment.
posted by Dim Siawns at 6:07 AM - 15 comments
Monica Potts on Louis CK and privilege: "For the most part, people of color are the ones who initiate serious discussions about race and privilege in the public sphere -- and in the world of comedy ... Some white comedians, like Sarah Silverman, tend to joke
about racism, making fun of white people and their ignorance in ways that shock and offend. ... But Louis' comedy is about being a white man -- and about how others view white men. He doesn't accept ignorance as a point of view. Moreover, this isn't the occasional stand-up bit; a significant number of his jokes are about race, class, and gender."
[more inside]
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 5:56 AM - 72 comments
Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie
resurfaced some of Microsoft's history in a recent post on his
personal blog. In a sealed packet in his office, he uncovered the original press kit for Windows 1.0 and decided to put the
documents online. It's a fascinating look into the beginnings of computing and into a technology that has fundamentally changed our world. from
Yahoo News.
posted by Blake at 5:23 AM - 31 comments
Andrew Fraser was a successful Victorian barrister until he was
jailed for drug trafficking. The investigation against him was led by Detective Sergeant Malcolm Rosenes, but before Fraser entered prison Rosenes was charged with
drug trafficking and conspiracy, for which he himself was later imprisoned. In an unlikely twist, Rosenes later approached Fraser to write an account of police corruption in Victoria.
The book has been
withdrawn from sale in Victoria, allegedly because it identifies informers and a "protected witness", but the publishers
say that the material is old news that is
publicly available (pdf), while Fraser suggests that the government wishes to avoid any embarrassment immediately before a State election.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:28 AM - 10 comments
October 14
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