December 2010
29 posts
the past recedes...
electronic money counters and rebok pumps. a one armed chaldean man with a fade. scrap metal. dilapidated casinos. the sight of cold breath obscuring the crackling salt rocks under scuffed shoes. multicolor bubble letters skillfully painted on highway underpasses. gold link chains, ll 80’s dookie style. classy budweiser ‘great kings of africa’ promotional mirrors decking the...
Almost 30 robots have started teaching English to youngsters in a South Korean city, education officials said Tuesday, in a pilot project designed to nurture the nascent robot industry. The robots, which display an avatar face of a Caucasian woman, are controlled remotely by teachers of English in the Philippines — who can see and hear the children via a remote control system. “They...
In 2010, the U.S. added 937,000 jobs; Foxconn, the Taiwan-based maker of nearly every consumer electronic product you wanted this year, added 300,000.
thundersnow...
has trapped me in detroit for the week. stranded. no flights. might miss JA.
google ngram data battle!
raekwon vs ghostface
hipster vs gentrification
queens vs manhattan
graffiti vs street art
bitches vs hoes
Search-engine giant Google has a new tool for exploring 5.2 million books it has digitized, and not just in English but also Chinese, French, German, Russian and Spanish.
But unlike its Web search function, this tool, called the Ngram Viewer, goes through the 500 billion...
the wudos band - killa bees live
8 blends...
The Italian street artist Blu, whose anti-war mural was removed from the wall of the Geffen Contemporary building last week before the public could see it, has called the destruction of his mural by the Museum of Contemporary Art a form of censorship. Others say it was spectacularly bad planning on the part of the museum, which did not receive a proposal from the artist in advance of...
Top Baker’s Dozen Albums Of 2010…
here are the albums i liked the most in the past year, the two thousandth and tenth of our lord (and my left tibia). i’m too busy dealing with various international security crises at the moment to write reviews for each of these albums this year. instead, i’m going to review each release by employing explanatory, resonant ghostface killah lines that nicely elucidate their overall...
According to a cable that was supposed to remain classified until 2030, back in January, the State Department sent its highest-level operatives to sample the arepas, or “Venezualan-style thick cornmeal tortilla” at the opening of Hugo Chavez’s new, government-run restaurant chain, “Arepera Socialista.”
arepa diplomacy! now that is a foreign service career...
“You’ve got to stop this war in Afghanistan.”
– Richard Holbrooke’s last words. (via cajunboy)
ruminations on americana (photo essay)
i believe, the following pictures accurately depict the american dream…
sonido martines - track 5
bronchitis rebajada,...
Visa and Mastercard might be competitors but they share at least two things in common – they both decided to cut off donations to Wikileaks through their services, and both of their websites have been knocked off the net in retaliation.
the attacks (are) historic in how well-organized the attackers are (the organizing site includes an FAQ, a propaganda operation and a radio station). It’s also...
“I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces — my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that.”
Buried deep in the Wikileaks files is the U.S. government’s objective to steer many African countries toward the use of genetically modified agriculture. In a document outlining priorities for intelligence gathering in Burundi, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo and others in the region, one objective is “Government acceptance of genetically modified food and propagation of genetically...
“don’t dwell on it. you’ll start wondering if you could have stopped...”
– the secret in their eyes
putin and his oligarch mafioso cronies and the emir and his gulf petrol dollars had fifa in their pockets. disgusting.
russia, whatever. good for them. enjoy the extortion and blinding vodka.
but qatar, really?
it’s like 142 degrees in qatar, a country with a deplorable human rights situation for woman, ethinic and religious minorities, gays, and foreign laborers. drinking is severely...
“i had survived in this town for twelve years now, while others had chickened...”
– colin broderick, orangutan
Brides-to-be compete in challenges to earn plastic-surgery procedures in a quest to win their ultimate dream wedding
saw a preview for this last night. it’s both grotesque and genius. as quintessentially 2010 americana as trampling people and threatening to shoot them at a big box store on black friday and all, but, wow, really?