Webmeister Will writes:
Walter Mac Mazzieri, Teatrino del flauto nano, 1972 (from the cover of Rock Progressivo Italiano: The Complete Discography). Italian prog covers are always insane.
link: A Journey Round My Skull
Recent Posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Cover Art by Walter Mac Mazzieri
Haint Blue
Bright Prussian blues, pasty greens, muted periwinkles, rich aquas and pale violets; yet they are all one color, united by a name and an ancient tradition. Haint Blue originated in the deep American South.
Today, in cities and towns throughout the south, one will find these blues and greens tints on shutters, doors, porch ceilings and windowsills, gracing many historic homes. The pretty blues and greens compliment any grand old Victorian mansion, but the first painted strokes of Haint Blue adorned not the homes of the rich, but the simple shacks of African slaves.
link: Curious Expeditions
Borges Visits the Tigers
Buenos Aires, 1908. Borges and his sister Norah at the Zoo. The Zoo was one of Georgie's favorite places, and he was fascinated by the tigers most of all.
link: Borges - Image Gallery
Russian Confederate Money
During the Civil War in Russia more than 3000 various denominations were issued, they were valid and accepted either over the whole territory of the former empire or in some of its regions. Some of the currency notes were really incredible and some were simply weird. Their names related to the area where they were used or to the names of local government’s heads.
link: English Russia » Money of the Revolution
That Hitler Jet Again
Top stealth-plane experts have re-created a radical, nearly forgotten Nazi aircraft: the Horten 2-29, a retro-futuristic fighter that arrived too late in World War II to make it into mass production.
The engineers' goal was to determine whether the so-called stealth fighter was truly radar resistant. In the process, they've uncovered new clues to just how close Nazi engineers were to unleashing a jet that some say could have changed the course of the war.
Turtles Jam the Runway in Spawning Season
A runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down briefly Wednesday morning after at least 78 turtles emerged from a nearby bay and crawled onto the tarmac.
Grounds crews eventually rounded up the wayward reptiles and deposited them back in the brackish water farther from airport property, but not before the incident disrupted JFK's flight schedule and contributed to delays that reached nearly 1 1/2 hours.
"Apparently, this is something the tower has experienced before," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters. "I guess it's the season for spawning."
link: Turtles crawl on runway, delay flights at JFK - Salon.com
Concept Architecture: the Tornado
The Tornado Tower is a spectacular modern and unique design that is characterized by a rotating facade, which generates power from high altitude winds. The exterior of the tower is outfitted with curved fins that harness the wind to generate clean energy to power the arts center and the surrounding city as well. Pairing function and aesthetic, the roof of the tower boasts an undulating sea of pearls that meld into clouds, from which unparalleled views of the city are possible.
link: Inhabitat » Tornado Tower Features Energy Generating Facade
US Image Abroad
Tom Schaller writes:
In 2008, Barack Obama presented himself as a fresh face on the scene not only to Americans but to citizens of the world. Given his racial identity and name, he certainly wasn't the kind of president people around the world expected to win the presidency. Traveling in four very different countries on behalf of the State Department last year to talk about the presidential election--Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and South Africa--most people I met expressed two sentiments: one, that they wanted Obama to win; and two, they were convinced Americans would never elect him.
Now that we have, has global opinion about Obama and the United States changed accordingly? According to a new poll of citizens from 20 countries (including the United States) by World Public Opinion.org, the respective answers are "yes" and "no": Obama is viewed mostly positively, but attitudes toward America generally are not improving much, if at all, in most countries.
link: FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Is Obama Improving America's Global Image?
Massachusetts Challenges DOMA in the Courts
Massachusetts sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to seek federal marriage benefits for about 16,000 gay and lesbian couples who have wed since the state became the nation's first to legalize same-sex marriage.
The state is challenging the constitutionality of the federal 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, saying it denies "essential rights and protections" to married gay couples.
The federal government is interfering with the state's "sovereign authority to define and regulate marriage," said the lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston. It calls the law "overreaching and discriminatory."
link: Massachusetts sues U.S. over gay marriage rights | U.S. | Reuters
Gang Violence Escalates in Ciudad Juarez Despite Military Presence
In Ciudad Juarez, corrupt police still openly work openly for gangs despite ubiquitous army patrols. And local newspapers constantly show images of bullet-ridden vehicles and bleeding bodies on busy streets.
After a few quiet weeks, the city's death tally from cartel violence has risen to 900 this year, compared with 800 in the first six months of 2008.
In one recent case, a man who phoned a drug hotline to report suspicious goings-on near his home disappeared and was found tortured into a coma in an SUV that crashed into a tree.
The battered body had a note with it reading: "This is what happens to those who ring 060." The man died of his injuries.
link: Army feeble as murders surge in Mexico drug war city | International | Reuters
Quiet Opening: Museum of Chinese in America
The newly expanded, newly relocated Museum of Chinese in America has chosen to open the doors of its new home on the edge of Chinatown quietly and gradually as it settles in over the summer. But it aims to make a big statement once it’s fully moved in about the role that Chinese immigrants and their descendants have played in constructing American society.
“The long-term goal is to create a national museum that will also be a cultural anchor” for Chinatown, said S. Alice Mong, the museum’s just-hired director. “There is a lot to do, we have many stories to tell, but we begin with this new building, which will allow us to have the programs to go along with what we envision.”
link: Museum of Chinese in America Opens Its Doors, Gradually - NYTimes.com
Book Review: Richard Holmes, "The Age of Wonder"
William Herschel, the German-born, star-gazing musician who effectively doubled the size of the solar system with a single discovery in 1781, was not regarded as a scientist. That word had not been coined during most of the era that will now be known, thanks to Richard Holmes’s amazingly ambitious, buoyant new fusion of history, art, science, philosophy and biography, as “The Age of Wonder.” And Mr. Holmes’s excitement at fusing long-familiar events and personages into something startlingly new is not unlike the exuberance of the age that animates his groundbreaking book.
The Master Approaches: Miyazaki, No Fan of US Culture, to Appear in Los Angeles
When the schedule of events for the 40th Comic-Con International fan convention is announced on Thursday, it is expected to include something quite rare, even for a gathering that has pretty much seen it all: an appearance by Hayao Miyazaki.
Mr. Miyazaki, regarded by many as the world’s greatest maker of animated films, does not seem to crave publicity. He was a no-show at the Oscars in 2003, when his “Spirited Away” won for best animated feature.
And he has not been quick to visit this country. “I think he has an image of the United States as a culture that isn’t that helpful to the world,” offered Duncan Williams, chairman of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
link: Hayao Miyazaki, Anime’s Master, to Visit San Diego Comic-Con - NYTimes.com
Chinese Crackdown in Xinjiang Even Worse than in Tibet
Tom Doctoroff writes:
For a few reasons, the Communist Party's response is likely to be harsher, and even more sustained, than last year's response to the Tibetan uprising.
First, the degree of Uighur cultural repression has been, over decades, even greater than in Tibet. So anger at officialdom is more pronounced. "Internal immigration," carried out en masse since before the Cultural Revolution, has flooded the region with Han Chinese. They now constitute the majority of every major city and represent over 75% of the Xinjiang population. (The Tibetan ratio is no more than 50/50.) As someone who has travelled a few times to Urumqi, Xinjiang's largest city, and Kashgar, an old Silk Road outpost near the border of Afghanistan, I was struck by the dominance of all things Han. (To boot, a peek into windows makes disparity in disposable income glaringly apparent.) . Unlike Lhasa, where Tibetan and Chinese districts coexist (uncomfortably) side-by-side, the Uighur areas have been "surrounded," almost asphyxiated. True, every town boasts the sights and sounds of Central Asia -- chants at mosques, the jangle of exotic bazaars, naan bread wheels and lamb kabobs -- but they are not omnipresent. Bland Chinese-style avenues bulldoze their way through city centers. In Lhasa, on the other hand, vast urban expanses project a distinctly Tibetan flavor - color explodes everywhere -- despite the conspicuous presence of Chinese police and apparatchik.
Second, the outside world's familiarity with Xinjiang and Uighur plight is low. The region has never been romanticized in film and literature and only a few foreigners have visited. There are no transcendent architectural wonders a la Tibet's Potala Palace that capture Western imagination. There is no roving ambassador, no Dalai Lama, to elicit sympathy for compromised values. Therefore, the global community's response will be muted, led by diplomats and human rights groups, rather than CNN, bloggers and an indignant mass of activists. The issue will, sadly, fade quickly from the world's moral radar screen. The Party will have significant room to maneuver.
Third, the American "war on terrorism" - replete with kangaroo military courts and torture-extracted confessions - will make it more difficult for the West defend the interests of Uighur demonstrators, whom the Party has branded "terrorists." Yes, there are a few separatists amongst the agitators, some of whom advocate violence as a means of advancing independence. The majority, however, want equal opportunity and protection under the law, and nothing more. But American Geneva Convention violations will lead to relatively sotte voce diplomatic condemnation.
Finally, and most critically, Chinese people "fear" Uighurs more than Tibetans. The former is unfamiliar, an "alien nation." The latter, on the other hand, is a hot tourist destination. (Tibetans practice Buddhism and their appearance is not starkly different from the Han.) The people expect their government, first and foremost, to protect the country from danger. Most mainlanders view the unknown as a threat to stability and unity, a sacred national imperative. If the Party is seen as "soft" in dealing with the uprising, it will lose credibility -- even legitimacy -- in the eyes of many citizens, including new generation types, perhaps the most nationalist group of all. Despite a universal belief that the "autonomous region" is an inalienable part of China, denizens of Xinjiang are regarded as outsiders. Their religion, Islam, is "foreign," associated with violence. (Only the Hui, an assimilated and geographically scattered Muslim minority, have been accepted as "real" Chinese.) Ethnically, the Uighur do not resemble Han. Their eyes are rounder and lighter. Their skin is olive, not "yellow." In smaller towns, the Uighur, a Turkic people, do not speak fluent Mandarin due to a culturally tone deaf, memorization-driven education system.
Iran: 500 Remain Jailed
Iranian Commander says 500 demonstrators still detained Over 2,000 individuals have been arrested since the start of the demonstrations, 500 of which remain in detention, according to the Chief Commander of the Armed Forces. He said, “we will release 100 of the arrested within the next two days.” “The reason that the remainder of the arrested have not been released is due to the fact that many of them have committed acts of property damage and hence they must face prosecution,” he added.
link: niacINsight
Disintegrating State: Guinea-Bissau
“The election won’t end the problems,” said Cheik Malaine, a 26-year-old who works at a downtown stationery store, as rocking goumbé music blared from the ruling party’s building next door. “The problem is the army,” he said, looking down.
Antonio Armando, a teacher, said angrily: “It’s not possible, to live in a state where there are killings all the time. We practically have no state.”
A leading political scientist, Flavien Fafali Koudawo, said, “The day after the election will be the same as the day before.” Then he began laughing, explaining it as “the humor of desperation.”
The state “is in a phase of deliquescence,” said a former justice minister, Carlos Vamain. “The state has been dismantled.”
link: Nation in Disarray Holds Few Hopes for Vote - NYTimes.com
O Arizona: Sheriff Joe Won't Play
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office will not cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice in an ongoing investigation into whether the office uses racial profiling, Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced in a news conference Tuesday.
Arpaio said he's halting all interviews between his staff and DOJ investigators.
The sheriff claims the DOJ is investigating his office for political reasons, not because of racial profiling; according to Arpaio, the Democrats in Washington don't agree with section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows local law enforcement agencies to assist with illegal immigration enforcement efforts.
link: Arpaio To DOJ: 'Don't Pick On Me' - Politics News Story - KPHO Phoenix
Monkey See Grammar, Monkey Do Grammar
Studies on monkeys have revealed clues about the evolution of language.
In the journal Biology Letters, researchers said that cotton-top tamarins are able to spot if the order of syllables in a word is "wrong".
They familiarised the monkeys with two-syllable terms, and recorded their reaction to words that were not consistent with that syllable pattern.
The team says the work illustrates how many animals use patterns that have become intrinsic to human language.
And this provides evidence of the "non-lingual" origin of certain aspects of language, the group told BBC News.
link: BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Monkeys recognise 'bad grammar'
Election Continues to Reverberate in Iran
“The events of the June 2009 elections in Iran have largely stripped the Islamic republic of Iran of its republican claim and completed the process that was initiated by the presidential elections of 2005,” said Rasool Nafisi, a professor at Strayer University who follows events in Iran.
The competing poles of Iran’s system have produced a fight-to-the-death ethos. Compromise is not just elusive but a sign of weakness.
link: News Analysis - In Iran, a Struggle Beyond the Streets - NYTimes.com
Test-Tube Sperm: A Scientific First?
Scientists in Newcastle claim to have created human sperm in the laboratory in what they say is a world first.
The researchers believe the work could eventually help men with fertility problems to conceive.
But other experts say they are not convinced that fully developed sperm have been created.
Writing in the journal Stem Cells and Development, the Newcastle team say it will be at least five years before the technique is perfected.
link: BBC NEWS | Health | Scientists claim sperm 'first'
Plants that Want to Burn
Olivia Judson writes:
But here’s the odd thing. Many plants that live in places prone to fire are highly flammable — more flammable than plants that live elsewhere. This has led some to speculate that these plants have actually evolved to cause fires: that they “want” fire, and have evolved features that make it more likely that a spark will become a flame, and a flame will become a fire. I call this the torch-me hypothesis.
link: On Fire - Olivia Judson Blog - NYTimes.com
Untangled: Marc Johns
Marc Johns creates whimsical drawings filled with dry wit and humour. Whether it’s a man with branches growing out of his head that need pruning, or a pipe that’s trying to quit smoking, his characters are simply, sparsely drawn, yet speak volumes with just a few strokes of the pen.
link: bagger: Marc Johns
