Human Affairs
Occupy The Dept Of Justice
by Nick Glossop on May 20, 2013
Victims of illegal foreclosures and other outraged citizens have taken their protest to the doors of the US Department of Justice today, armed with furniture as well as banners, anger and wit.
Barricades coming down, couches coming in, banks stole our homes, so we’re moving in.
For color commentary, with photos, follow Alexis Goldstein on Twitter (it might not make the TV news), or check out her story-fication of …
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Victoria Day Doo Dah
by Nick Glossop on May 20, 2013
Happy Victoria Day!
(And to our readers outside Canada, psst, it’s Victoria Day) Queen Victoria: longest reigning British Monarch, first to be crowned Empress of India (a tad presumptuous), last of the House of Hanover, longest-lived British monarch until Elizabeth II recently surpassed her. Victoria’s reign saw 20 British governments come and go, and her name is evocative of the height of Empire, of the flowering of British sciences, letters …
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Cakewalk
by Malcolm Parker on May 14, 2013
It must be Friday. Two colleagues are making rounds of the cubicles. They carry thin cardboard boxes, limply open, full of slices of spongy and creamy cake wrapped in cellophane. A friend with a camera follows. You take a piece of cake and you have your picture taken with the cake giver.
It’s the cake giver’s last day at work and this is the tradition. It’s been a few weeks …
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Are You A Hippie, And If Not…Wherein Not?
by Nick Glossop on May 14, 2013
In this 1968 episode of Firing Line, William F. Buckley and sociologist Lewis Yablonsky attempt to put Hippie-ism, in the persons of a gooned and pugnacious Jack Kerouac and Ed Sanders of the Fugs, under the microscope. A stilted sort of hilarity ensues. Buckley smirks, Kerouac blunders, swinging wildly, Yablonsky drones and Ed the Fug, alone, emerges with personal dignity intact.
Via Open Culture
William F.: Do
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Legendary Maritime folksinger and feminist Rita MacNeil has died, at the age of 68
by Michelle Lovegrove Thomson on April 17, 2013
The Cape Breton singer died on Tuesday as a result of complications from surgery. She recorded 24 albums over her career, and her song “Working Man” will live on as an evocative and emotional tale of mining-culture in the mid-Twentieth century. I would describe her sound as Celtic showtunes, or 80s adult contemporary imbued with local flair. MacNeil’s Christmas TV specials were a delight. At the core of each song—the …
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BC Film And Television – All Quiet On The Western Front?
by Gaalen Engen on April 17, 2013
A precipice has been steadily building over the last five years and with the collapse of the global economy, parity of the Canadian dollar and an aggressively competitive marketplace, BC’s film and television production industry is teetering on the edge of it. What used to be the third largest producer of film and television in North America next to Los Angeles and New York is now slipping past fifth place. …
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Explosions Rock Boston Marathon
by Tony Longworth on April 15, 2013
Two people were killed – including an 8-year-old boy – and at least 100 were injured as two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, today.
The attack occurred without warning, and the devices appear to have been planted in the spectator section. Boston Police have no information on who was responsible at this point, but they are not ruling this out as an act of terrorism. …
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Why the Vatican? Because Mussolini
by Nick Glossop on April 14, 2013
CGP Grey provides a pithy tour of the worlds only elected, non-hereditary, absolute monarchy.…
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Tears For Madam Medusa
by Nick Glossop on April 8, 2013
Richard Thompson ~ Mother Knows Best
So you think you know how to wipe your own nose
So you think you know how to button your clothes
You don’t know shit
If you hadn’t already guessed
You’re just a bump on the log of life
‘Cos Mother knows best
She tells everybody she was born in a ditch
She backcombs her hair till she looks like a witch
Wolves in
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Elvis Costello on Margaret Thatcher
by Andrew Loewen on April 8, 2013
Her life’s work long since accomplished, and her ideological legacy our present, it seems the octogenarian biological life form of Margaret Thatcher (unable to attend the Royal Wedding) may not be long for this world. While her death is unlikely to be met by orgiastic throngs of gleeful, flag-waving patriots, many will not be sad to see her go even if her legacy endures. So then, …
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The Coronation of Justin Trudeau, Liberals’ First Post-Political Leader & Facebook Crush
by Laurence Miall on April 8, 2013
In some respects, Justin Trudeau is a lot like Barack Obama. Those that like him like him because they can project their own ideas onto him. Being around him is like breathing in air that is momentarily transubstantiated into stardust, like water into wine. Breathing that rarefied air, you start to believe this handsome devil might have transformational powers. “I want hope.” Zing! Trudeau has hope… “I want change.” Zing! …
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A Fibonacci Cèilidh
by Nick Glossop on April 5, 2013
The mathusiasts at Numberphile go all Braveheart with a Fibonacci sequence tartan and accompanying skirl.
Dance (wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous) critters!
Fun fact: At the Battle of Stirling Bridge, William Wallace arranged his defensive shiltrons in Fibonacci sequence. The numerous but innumerate English invaders were baffled as well as defeated there. …
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