Sunday, November 25, 2012

A peaceful Sunday night November 25th 2012



Ever had the urge to listen to Polynesian pop music? I think Paul Gauguin would have liked it, when he was in a cheerful mood. Pacific Islands Radio.

Paul Gaugauin, Self Portrait 1889

Abraham Lincoln looking windblown

I strongly recommend watching this PBS video, Boogie Man. It was life changing for me in understanding a lot of today's politics in america. Until recently, I had no idea the incredibly important impact one man had on american politics of the last 40 years, a man named Lee Atwater. He used a concept, created by a political strategist, called Harry Dent, called "the Southern Strategy", which is to frighten white voters, rich and working class into voting for Republicans because of the imagined fear that black Americans are gaining undue power or advantages. This strategy uses coded language to incite racism and fear, words or phrases like "Welfare queens" or, as Romney did, to repetitively mention the idea of Obama "giving things away for free", "free gifts".

Brilliantly said: He used his own cynicism to anesthetize people to what was going on. At the 4:12 point. "Lee" Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican Party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee.


A gaspingly scary ride on a cliff hanging trail. But worth looking at. Get ready to sweat.
One mistake and it's a free fall to your death. Motology's Adam Riemann rides one of the scariest Himalayan trails you'll ever see.



Some weird international group exhibitionism going on here: No Pants Subway Ride 2012




Christmas is coming down the pike. 



Henri Cartier Bresson, INDIA. Maharashtra. Bombay. 1947. An astrologer's shop in the mill workers' quarter of Parel. 


Amazing jumping skills of this cat in Japan. Sheer determination. 



Language speech cadence learned in utero: At 30:33


/// Street stone /// by Alexis Persani, via Behance





Pancake the kitten loves his Doberman

*wipes tears of laughter. Touching the electric fence

Chinese guy blowing 7 balls in and out of mouth



Fascinating the inability to get out of the rigid mindset of magical thinking.

Jesus wept … oh, it's bad plumbing. Indian rationalist targets 'miracles'

Sanal Edamaruku faces jail for revealing 'tears' trickling down a Mumbai church statue came from clogged drainage pipes
A Japanese craftsperson, Makaon, makes fun sculptures out of tin cans
We Make Carpets. Carpets made of unexpected things.
Fork carpet

Fun birdhouses by Ethan Allen Smith

::: Ditology :::




Our Exquisite Corpse works with the Huichol people of Western Mexico to create these beaded skulls

Marvelous movies stills, many of them, and the actual places where they were filmed at Filmography

Marathon Man
The French Connection
The Professional
Klute

Things painted white at Brand Spirit

Friday, November 2, 2012

Day 3 of Sandy, Friday night, Nov. 2nd 2012

Peter Lehrman

Send 10 bucks to help  victims; text "RedCross" to 90999. Takes 5 seconds. I will contribute 10 bucks per retweet.


Some NYC outages could linger into mid-November


Walking Around Manhattan In The Dark via the Gothamist

Looking down.(Michael Morgenstern )
Empty streets. (Michael Morgenstern )
From the corner of Mercer and Prince. (Reuben Hernandez / Reuben Hernandez.com)
Lit up on the corner of Rivington and Essex. (Reuben Hernandez / Reuben Hernandez.com)
The National Guard is here.(Ron Douglas's flickr)
Filling up on fresh water.(Rick McGrath's Facebook)
The Union Square Whole Foods.(Rick McGrath's Facebook)
Looking uptown. (Rick McGrath's Facebook)
Remember that building whose facade fell off as the storm hit? Still off!(Rick McGrath's Facebook)
And this is what is left of the facade.(Rick McGrath's Facebook)
23rd and Eighth Avenue.(Dan Nguyen @ New York City's flickr)
Patrolling the Meatpacking District. (Dan Nguyen @ New York City's flickr)
Fire will keep us warm.(Michael Morgenstern )
Closer to the fire!(Michael Morgenstern )
A taco truck does some business. (John de Guzman's flickr)
Take Shelter!(Rick McGrath's Facebook)



Next week's cover "Undeterred" by Adrian Tomine. Read an interview with the artist: http://nyr.kr/U5enmd




In the 30s, on 2nd & 3rd Ave, still no power. Groups of people walking down to 30th, to lights. Traffic signals already back in business.


Photographs of post Sandy NYC by Guillaume Gaudet
Downtown Manhattan post-Sandy Blackout 

NYC Post-Sandy Blackout. Take 2













A wise but sad decision. New York Times article about this.

After Days of Pressure, Marathon Is Off


Lifeblood of the city will return with the electricity.


 just restored power to 25,000 customers in the  network


 restores power to over 100,000 in , check our feed for network boundaries 

 restores over 65,000 customers on the Lower East Side and East Village areas of  

 has restored 135,000+ in Mnhttn; 122,000+ in Bk; 85,000+ in SI; 75,000+ in Westchester; 39,000+ in Bx; and 29,000+ in Qns. #24/7

South of 42nd St. lights coming back slowly but  still rules.  


NYT news alert: U.S. military to truck 24 million gallons of extra fuel to region hit by 




And in Alabama, Sandy caused sundogs, marvelous rainbows. "It is suspected that the remnants of Hurricane Sandy seeded the upper atmosphere with ice crystals, which result in the bending of light rays into these arcs. Really cool."