Russian Sledges

As a new series of BBC’s Sherlock revives the great detective after his apparent death at the hands of Moriarty in ‘The Empty Hearse’, Andrew Glazzard investigates the domestic and imperial subterfuge beneath the surface of Sherlock Holmes’s 1903 return to Baker Street in Conan Doyle’s ‘The Empty House’.

Earl Reinink has added a photo to the pool:

pheasantwood has added a photo to the pool:

As the light fades, snowy owl alights on the frozen shoreline of Shell Beach, Shelter Island, NY. Taken January '14.

Staying in the East Village.

An article in the Vancouver Sun suggested, in part, that Las Vegas bartenders are embracing cocktail craftsmanship with such renewed seriousness that even the venerable St. Marks Place bar PDT is angling for a spot on the strip. Not so, proprietor Jim Meehan tells Grub Street. "We've never considered it," he says, adding that he did, however, write the drinks menu for the American Express Centurion Lounge at the Las Vegas McCarran Airport. [Vancouver Sun]

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: rumors, cocktails, jim meehan, pdt

Kiss your Meatspace-Anonymity goodbye: Eine kommende Mobile App gleicht Fotos per Gesichtserkennung mit Social Media-Profilen ab und schickt den Namen von Fremden inklusive Links zu Facebook und Twitter und Dating-Sites. Auf ihrer Website drohen sie schon mit: „this is just the beginning“. Bring out the Creeps!

An upcoming app for Android, iOS, and Google Glass called NameTag will allow you to photograph strangers and find out who they are — complete with social networking and online dating profiles.

Spot someone out and about that you want to identify, and you can capture their face using your device’s camera. The app will send the photo wirelessly to NameTag’s server, where it will compare the photo to millions of online records and return with a name, more photos, and social-media profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where the person (or their friends) might have publicly posted photos of themselves.

Facial recognition app matches strangers to online profiles (via Algopop)

The chicken is indeed local.

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have signed a cookbook deal with Clarkson Potter to write the official Portlandia Cookbook, which will have 50 recipes presented through the show's various hyper-local-conscious and small-batch, handcrafted-food-obsessed characters. This likely means some freegan stew, artisanal popcorn, and pickled everything. Maybe there'll be a few recipes for those with severe food allergies — Armisen himself has a bunch in real life, after all. Publishers Marketplace (subscription only) reports the book will be out this fall. [PM]

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: bookshelf, carrie brownstein, cookbooks, fred armisen, portlandia

rolanddagget:

Strengite

popular shared this story from tor.com / frontpage_full.

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With the Eleventh Doctor now passed into Whovian memory, it would seem that the Era of River Song has ended as well. And while it should be bittersweet, it is also honestly something of a relief.

Let me be clear—I happen to love River Song. Well, let me be clearer... I love what River Song might have been. And it’s telling that what she became is a symptom of everything that fans are lately bemoaning about Doctor Who.

[Hello, Sweetie]

The mysterious introduction to River Song in season four’s “Silence in the Library”/“Forests of the Dead” two-parter leaves a trail of clues that paints a fascinating picture of her relationship with the Doctor. We find out that she knows the Doctor intimately, that they might even be married, that he comes whenever she calls him, that she’s an archaeologist with a taste for adventure and her sexuality has more in common with Captain Jack Harkness than any other character on the series. (Remember, she states that Mr. Lux is the only remember of their expedition that she doesn’t fancy and that she’s dated androids before. Not too picky, then.) We know that her Doctor is a future incarnation, and it seems possible that she has bounced off of other versions as well, given her lack of surprise at running into Ten.

What makes River interesting is the fact that she is remote for the Doctor. Rather than living on the TARDIS, we learn that she is largely in charge of their time together; she calls the Doctor, he attends, they run off and enjoy the time. Then he deposits her back where she was. It was potential for the Doctor to have a relationship with a companion that was nearly angst-free. If River didn’t travel with him fulltime, there was no danger of losing her too quickly. The next time a note reached him on the psychic paper it could have been three days from the last trip for her, but decades for him.

In River’s introduction, she has all the power: she is the one who calls the Doctor, she is the one who scolds him when he’s being obstinate, she is the one who rallies the group and moves them along. In a telling move for the Davies era, it is she who grabs the Doctor’s hand when the first run together, not the other way around. She is taking him on as a companion in that first meeting. Ten is so moved by her near-death plea to preserve their time together, to never rewrite a word, that the loss of her hurts him as though he has known her for centuries. We’re left with the impression that she is one tough act to beat.

Then River returns.

And she’s still feisty and competent and one step ahead. But everything that makes her special, that recommended her from the get-go is stripped away from her step by step in the service of complex plotting. It starts with the revelation that she is in prison for a terrible crime—the murder of the Doctor. He’ll come when she calls, certainly, but only to free her from the tedium of a dark cell. So much for having a life of her own on the other side. To make things more involved, the Doctor finds out that River has a closer connection to him than he had anticipated; she’s the daughter of his current companions. And then she is kidnapped as an infant and brainwashed to kill him. So River essentially spends her formative years with an existence that orbits around the Time Lord. She has no ambitions of her own, no purpose beyond his destruction.

Once River realizes that killing the Doctor might be a mistake, she promptly gives up all of her regenerative energy to save his life. (You can’t really blame her for the choice; she’s just beginning to recover from her conditioned psychopathy and her parents essentially tell her to save him.) So she winks away thousands of years of her own future for a man she really doesn’t know, having no idea how that’s going to turn out for her. And then in order to get to know that man she saved better, she becomes an archaeologist... so she can find out everything possible about the Doctor.

Let me reiterate; River Song’s occupation as an archaeologist is retconned so that it’s all due to her obsession with a man who is nearly a stranger to her. Not because she adores history, or loves to explore, or needs to answer unanswerable questions. It’s because she doesn’t know her future boyfriend all that well, and textbooks are the easiest place to find him at the start.

Because outside forces still want her to do the job she was programmed for from birth, River is press-ganged to kill the Doctor once again. But rather than let that happen—she went to school to learn to love the guy, come on!—she decides that she’d rather destroy the universe than fulfill that function. But the universe has to be righted, so to appease her, the Doctor agrees to marry her.

So to put it another way, their marriage is not due to any sort of trust built or great romance between them. It is to mollify River the way one might a tantrum-throwing child. “Hey, if I put on a fake ceremony and agree to make you important to me, will you not let every living thing die? Thanks.” Didn’t River get her education in the 51st century? Isn’t is possible (or even likely) that 3000 years from now there will be passages and rights outside of the marriage that allow people to show their affection for and dedication to each other? But apparently being the Doctor’s wife is everything that she was ever hoping for, and she promptly puts the timeline right once they give their ‘I do’s.

In addition, River Song’s sexuality is practically never addressed again. Who knows about those liaisons that she claims in the future? They’re clearly irrelevant once her importance to the Doctor is established. Which isn’t to say that River Song’s sexuality ever needed to be important to her character—but establishing a person with a wide range of tastes in that regard and then proceeding to ignore those tastes once that person is in a heteronormative relationship… well, it sort of leaves a bad taste in the mouth. As though it was used in the first place to make her ever-so-intriguing and then discarded as soon as she finally had the man in her life.

River’s journey, while heartbreaking, exists as a simple countdown. When we first meet her, she is surprised to find that Ten doesn’t know her, and that lack of recognition is immediately painful. But once we get to the heart of that dilemma in Season 6, we learn that River has always existed in this odd limbo with the Doctor, waiting for the inevitable point in their history where he knows her less and less with each encounter. Her confusion in their first meeting no longer plays—it should have been resignation, perhaps, but not the shock that we see in the Library. Is she just acting, then? We know she is pretending through half of her time with Eleven and Amy because there are things she is not allowed to reveal for fear of confusing the whole timeline.

Everything that makes this character interesting and dynamic is pared down so she makes a good mystery, something to fit into Steven Moffat’s puzzle box universe. What’s distressing is that every time he explains a bit of her away, we’re left with the clarified image of a woman who is entirely defined by her relationship to one person, specifically to one man. And while the Doctor does clearly have feelings for River, they are not of the same caliber, not nearly so encompassing. So on top of all this, she’s putting all of her life’s energy (quite literally) into a person who doesn’t focus the same sort of passion on her. It diminishes River, makes her so much less than she seemed in the beginning, an adventurer with her own plans and dreams, someone who the Doctor had to respect and acquiesce to on occasion. Because Gallifrey forbid the Doctor ever has to answer to anyone other than himself.

And this is in keeping with many problems fans pick out as Steven Moffat continues building his own mythology with the show. The Weeping Angels, one of the most terrifying villains on television after a single appearance, have now been reduced to gimmicky pop-ups that barely hold up under scrutiny. They are meant to “kill you nicely,” but suddenly in Season 5, they have an army and will blow a hole in the universe. One of them is the Statue of Liberty, and can apparently amble through New York City without being seen by a single person. Angels are waiting in a forest to grab Clara in “The Time of the Doctor” because… just because. Because scary. Because danger. Danger that has nothing to do with the central plot of the episode.

The Silent Silence arc is the same. Those besuited fellas desperately needed explaining. So in the twilight hour we get something to grab onto—Why are they working with an organization that wants to kill the Doctor? They were commandeered by a splinter sect of a religion that we’ve never heard of previously. A religion with a great deal of power that we’ve never seen before. A one-off, the same as the splinter sect that snapped the Silents Silence up (because we only find out that Madame Kovarian and her cohorts are a religious lot in “A Good Man Goes to War” and it is never really brought up again). These ideas are not laid out ahead of time—they are decided in the moment, for whatever the plot needs to create a lot of explosions and heroism.

Take this example: The Pandorica will open and Silence will fall. Except then the Pandorica did open and there was no Silence, so now… Silence will fall when the Question is asked! Except it didn’t the first dozen times we were told that the Question was Doctor Who, so now… the Question comes on the Fields of Trenzalore, at the Fall of the Eleventh? These aren’t clues—they are morphing tag lines to keep people interested and guessing. But they have to shift every time the story shifts and no longer accommodates the same mystery.

The same as most details surrounding River Song’s entire character.

Which isn't to say that there are no affecting moments on the show where River is concerned—it’s quite the opposite, in fact. But those moments are not grounded in any sort of devotion to her continual development as a character. You see the frustration, don’t you? It’s easy to gloss over, to just watch and enjoy, but on more careful inspection you find that nothing means anything. Everything just gets written over for a bigger speech, more tears, another world/universe saved because the Doctor is brilliant and that’s what he does. And the Doctor is brilliant, but so are the people he loves. So are Amy and Rory, so is Craig, so were Sarah Jane and the Brigadier, Rose and Martha and Donna, so is Captain Jack Harness. So is River Song.

So was River Song. But she never quite showed us her real potential. We never got to see her date an android or excavate a lost civilization or save an entire species because the Doctor comes when she calls and no one else.

And that’s the woman I feel cheated out of knowing.

---

Emily Asher-Perrin still loves the River Song she thought she was going to meet. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.

houghtonlib:

A deck of marked cards, showing the keen eyesight required to detect the marking. The cloverleaf pattern in the center indicates suit, depending on the position of the gap. The points of the star indicate number—one is printed more lightly than the others, starting with ace in the one o’clock position. The cards shown in the animation are the four of hearts, three of clubs, two of diamonds and the ace of spades.

SG 3102.106.1

Houghton Library, Harvard University

Eccentric Chinese millionaire Chen Guangbiao, the irrepressible publicity hound who says he wants to buy the New York Times (or, failing that, the Wall Street Journal) is earning international guffaws with this business card. In particular, Chen’s claim to be “Most Charismatic Philanthropist of China,” is generating particular ridicule on Chinese social media, reflecting citizens’ broad mistrust of philanthropy, which has become synonymous with corruption and fraud.

One blogger (registration required)—among tens of thousands on Sina Weibo and other forums who chimed in about Chen’s new card and the attention it is getting—contrasted him with the recently deceased Hong Kong entertainment mogul Run Run Shaw, who gave generously to hospitals and schools on the mainland. “If you compare Chen and Run Run, you’ll see the difference between true charity and pseudo-charity. What Chen leaves to this world is just a bunch of noise and gimmick,” the user said. Another blogger responded: ”I’ll give you another title: Most Shameless Person in China.”

High-profile charity work doesn’t have a great reputation in China, where as many as a third of registered charity groups don’t meet international standards for transparency, according to a government report last year. China’s Red Cross infamously misused donations for Sichuan earthquake victims in 2008, and recently Chinese media have questioned whether actor Li Yapeng is profiting from a fund (link in Chinese) for children with cleft palates.

Chinese media have also accused Chen of faking donations. In 2010, Chen claimed to have donated 1 million yuan (about $165,000) to China Foundation of Human Rights for relief work in Haiti, but reporters with the China Business Journal found that the organization didn’t exist.

Thus, it’s not a surprise that some say Chen—whose charity work includes personally rescuing earthquake victims, giving cash to villagers, and most recently, paying for reconstructive plastic surgery for burn victims—cares most about appearances. As we wrote, it wasn’t until Chen became famous that his recycle waste business began to win lucrative government contracts. Perhaps Chen should just focus on one of the other titles on his card: “China’s Foremost Environmental Preservation Demolition Expert.”

Gang Yang contributed additional reporting.

Sirota’s approach to the instrument owes something to recent trends in Baroque playing. She can keep her bow-hand light and her left hand still, for a gin-dry sound.

There are plenty of reasons for art and music lovers to visit Grace Cathedral: John De Rosen murals, a replica of Lorenzo Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise," two labyrinths, a Keith Haring altarpiece and a 44-bell carillon. For nearly a year, Anne Patterson, the cathedral's 2013 artist in residence, has provided yet another reason. Patterson, a New York installation artist and director, is responsible for "Graced With Light" - a music-inspired installation that features nearly 20 miles of multihued ribbons cascading from the church's vaulted ceiling arches. The piece - which was to be on view through early fall last year - has proven so popular that it will stay up until the end of February.

What is a fabliau, exactly? The French dictionary says simply that it is a medieval story in verse, “popular in character, most often satiric.” But “broadly” may be a fitter word than “exactly,” since the broad humor of the Old French fabliau calls a spade a spade. “The Cunt Made with a Spade” (Du con qui fu fait a la besche) can stand as Exhibit Number 1, being the very first of the fabliaux in this thousand-page, twelfth- to fourteenth-century compilation. Understood, as it is again (and again and again) when we encounter—to continue with the c-word—“The Cunt Blessed by a Bishop,” “The Knight Who Made Cunts Talk,” and “Trial by Cunt.” Enter “The Mourner Who Got Fucked at the Grave Site,” flanked by “The Fucker.”

Trick Dog bar in San Francisco has launched their latest menu. This time it's an an astrological horoscope wheel, with a different drink for each sign. Here's the back of it: And here are the drinks - click through the images for them all:

[Visit Alcademics.com for the full post.]

Chinese students from wealthy families have been pouring into American colleges in record numbers. One of their favorite American destinations is metropolitan Boston and its many elite schools—especially Harvard University, home to the progeny of Communist Party leaders like president Xi Jinping, Jiang Zemin, and the now-disgraced Bo Xilai.

An article in the January issue of the Chinese-language edition of GQ praises the influence of Chinese “Bostonian” alumni, but has inspired derision on social media for its way that it has idealized the city, and its implication that the city’s college graduates are building the future of China.

The article’s Chinese author, international student Shen Danqi, writes, “The young Chinese people graduating from Boston’s top-notch schools will make an impact on their motherland 20 years from now.” After all:

There’s no other place in the world like Boston, where so many top-notch U.S. college are aggregated…Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, Babson—and also  the largest density of Chinese international students. They are the sons and daughters of the privileged class, the middle-class or even from poorer families. But in Boston, they are equal, temporarily.

Shen, a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, is particularly hopeful about the entrepreneurs coming from the area’s schools:

• Yang Linfeng an Eton College and Harvard University graduate and former associate with the Boston Consulting Group. Yang started Sunshine Library, an NGO that wants to bring “tablet-based learning” to rural China by distributing free tablets to thousands of schools.
• Ping Chuan, a Boston University graduate. He started a global pro-development group for young Chinese and  took a gap year to start a school in Shanghai. Fujen Summer School is designed to prepare Chinese students for the US’s Ivy League colleges, and features Ivy League professors, including Richard Billows, Columbia University’s dean of History and Harvard professor of literature Matthew Kaiser.
• Liu Xiao, a Babson College MBA graduate. He started a kebab-truck that plies the Boston streets, selling lamb kebabs, Chinese “meat sandwiches” and cold noodles.

Many of the rest of China’s over 200,000 students now going to school the United States were not impressed. As one reader on Zhihu, the Quora-like Chinese Q&A site, grumbled:

The labeling ‘Bostonian’ is questionable. Bostonian is merely a descriptive and neutral word, but the categorization in this article makes the word superior and conveys a tone of moral judgement.

On Renren, a Facebook-like social media site, Feng Chucheng, a political science student at UC Berkeley, complained that it was misleading and shallow to equate Boston with idealism and entrepreneurship:

The fact that “Bostonian” is published on GQ actually says something about this article, it’s written to target those people who love to define their lives by labels and occasionally  put on the pretense of idealism.

It may be hard to find anyone in the city of Boston to refute the GQ’s article’s premise. Encouraging entrepreneurs, after all, is part of Boston’s growth strategy for 2014.

Biostatistics PhD candidate Alyssa Frazee was tasked with teaching her sister, an undergraduate in sociology, how to use R. She had only one hour.

Once you load in a dataset, things start to get fun. We learned a whole bunch of stuff from this data frame, like how to do basic tabulations and calculate summary statistics, how to figure out if you have missing data, and how to fit a simple linear model. This part was pretty fun because my sister started leading the session: instead of me saying "I'm going to show you how to do this," it was her asking "Hey, could we make a scatterplot?" or "Do you think we could put the best-fit line on that plot?" I was really glad this happened — I hope it meant she was engaged and enjoying herself!

This is the nice thing about R. There are so many built-in functions and packages that you can get something useful with a few lines of code, and you don't really even have to know what a function is to get started (although you should eventually). Then you can go as far down the rabbit hole as you want.

"Name a redeeming quality of hip-hop. I want to know anything about hip-hop that has been good for this country. "And it's not—before you get carried away—this has nothing to do with race. Because there are just as many hip-hopping white kids and Asian kids as there are hip-hopping black kids. It’s a problem of a culture that values prison more than college; a culture that values rap and destruction of community values more than it does poetry; a culture that can’t stand education. It’s that culture that can’t get control of itself."

CNN

Insane Clown Posse sues FBI for labeling 'Juggalo' fans a gang CNN Los Angeles (CNN) -- Insane Clown Posse and four fans are suing the FBI for designating the rap duo's followers as gang members. FBI analysts, using law enforcement and media reports of crimes committed by people wearing "Juggalo" tattoos and clothing, ... Insane Clown Posse Sues The FBIantiMUSIC.com Hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse sues US Justice, FBI over gang IDReuters Insane Clown Posse sues FBI over gang listingSan Jose Mercury News Houston Chronicle all 286 news articles »

Earlier this week, the city of San Francisco reached a detente with the Silicon Valley tech firms whose private buses have become a major source of traffic and civic discord. For several years, companies like Google and Apple have been running what amounts to a parallel private transportation network – with much nicer amenities – from the heart of the city to their far-flung campuses, often using public bus stops in the process. And the congestion has only grown worse as protesters have descended on the buses as a symbol of the mixed blessings of a new tech boom.

Now, under an 18-month pilot agreement, the tech companies and shuttle operators will have to acquire – and pay for – permits to use some designated public Muni bus stops (the busiest stops won't be available to them). And the shuttles will be required to yield to Muni buses while they're there. The city has said the average permit will likely cost each company around $100,000 per year, a figure that will surely prompt more dispute over what constitutes a "fair share" for private use of public infrastructure.

Nancy Scola describes the rest of the details over at The Shared City:

Beyond that, there’s a bid in the plan to identify buses according to which company is responsible for running them — despite the moniker, not all the shuttles belong to Google. The city, [Mayor Ed] Lee said, will also get data from the companies that it can use in future planning, a point of contention that has emerged again and again in debates over quasi-public, quasi-private transportation. (Uber’s fight to operate in Washington D.C., for example.) The city will also share that data back with shuttle bus operators.

Part of the public fascination (or scorn) with these buses has stemmed from their opaque nature. Even the city admits that it's had a hard time keeping tabs on exactly how many shuttles are operating, how many people they carry, and where their routes run. The private network has also been the source of much rogue mapping.

San Francisco will now no doubt get a better sense of the extent of this private transportation system. And then maybe we'll be able to better judge the net impact of these buses in taking private cars off the region's roads, while enabling so many people to live so far from their jobs (or, rather, enabling companies to locate so far from their desired workers).

In the meantime, Google is already at work on its next foray into commuter services: It's reportedly launching a ferry shuttle.

Top image from a protest in San Francisco in December: FLickr user cjmartin.

Elena Ruehr Summer Days (2013)* Ken Ueno Hapax Legomenon, Concerto for two-bow cello (2013)* Frances-Marie Uitti, cello David Rakowski Piano Concerto No. 2 (2011) * Amy Briggs, piano *World premiere Gil Rose, conductor The Score Board is a group of New England-based composers serving as BMOP's vanguard of composer-advocates through volunteerism, direct support and activities, community-building, and curating BMOP's annual Club Concert series.

Someone has to update this to the present. I'm pretty sure we're headed towards a bearded peak, if we're not at the top already.

GBVS would like to invite you to the year 1910 to enjoy an afternoon of vintage ice skating in downtown Boston. Get out your (winter) glad rags and meet us at the Frog Pond skating rink in Boston Common. Skating is only $5. Rentals are $9 and there’s discounts for children. If you’ve never skated before give it a try or feel free to sit and watch the festivities! The time period for this event is the Rag Time years of the early 1910’s. The century is still young and it is a time of great change. America is first considered a world power, the Model T is everywhere and there are other amazing advancements in transportation such as large ocean liners and aeroplanes. Immigration is escalating and there’s talk of war brewing in Europe. Let’s take a break from our hectic lives and enjoy an afternoon of winter fun. After skating we will be strolling over to the 1868 Jacob Wirth Restaurant. JW’s is an affordable Boston restaurant with a great beer selection. I’ll reserve some tables for a large group at 5pm. Dress up as best you can for this era, no one’s judging! Wool and tweed are definitely a great choice. Long overcoats vintage or modern look the same and will keep you plenty warm. And don’t forget your muff! If you want to go full tilt, vintage skates can be found at flea markets for $5 or free in your parents attic! (Skate sharpening available at Frog Pond.) I will be posting pictures for inspiration!

If you have been an avid reader of my posts here on MOD (and why wouldn't you be?), you must surely know that I have kind of a major lady boner for David Bowie. His constant transformations, even up until today, have made him one of the most influential and admired artists in the world, and he is still pushing the boundaries of music and fashion at the age of 67. Happy Birthday, David Bowie, and here's to many more! (And a show in Portland, maybe?)

Images gathered from Tumblr, most from here.

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“When Seattle Public Library lifted its ban on guns in early November, officials there said they had done so because patrons had complained. Internal library emails reveal that there was just one patron complaint in several years – a man with a Yahoo email account who didn’t identify himself as either a patron or Seattle resident. That man, Dave Bowman, lives in Seattle and has a library card (which he uses, he noted in an email to KUOW), and said that he demanded the policy change on behalf of all gun owners. He described himself as “neither a conservative, nor liberal, but a libertarian.” (via KUOW)

Whether the States will ever see the original director's cut of Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer, or only the hacked up version The Weinstein Company wants to screen, only time will tell. But the drama hasn't dampened our excitement for Tilda Swinton's lunatic villainess, highlighted in this new international trailer.

Read more...

Alexis Madrigal and Ian Bogost for The Atlantic reverse engineered the Netflix genre generator, analyzed the data, and then made their own. Then they talked to Todd Yellin, the guy at Netflix who created the micro-genre system. It's no accident when you see altgenres like "Visually-striking Goofy Action & Adventure" and "Sentimental set in Europe Dramas from the 1970s" in your browser.

The Netflix Quantum Theory doc spelled out ways of tagging movie endings, the "social acceptability" of lead characters, and dozens of other facets of a movie. Many values are "scalar," that is to say, they go from 1 to 5. So, every movie gets a romance rating, not just the ones labeled "romantic" in the personalized genres. Every movie's ending is rated from happy to sad, passing through ambiguous. Every plot is tagged. Lead characters' jobs are tagged. Movie locations are tagged. Everything. Everyone.

That's the data at the base of the pyramid. It is the basis for creating all the altgenres that I scraped. Netflix's engineers took the microtags and created a syntax for the genres, much of which we were able to reproduce in our generator.

Be sure to play around with Bogost's generator at the top. It will amuse.

With its delicate anise flavor and crisp, refreshing texture, fennel is a natural addition to salads, but transforming it from dense bulb to thin slices can be daunting if you've yet to do it before. Not to worry! We've got your back - keep reading to see just how easy it is to break it down.

The Middle Eastern countries are stereotyped and misunderstood and we need to work on understanding their cultures.  Just as an example, it is important to remember the differences between Islamics and Muslims, and how not all of them believe in Allah or Arabism. 

Weaver and designer Adele Stafford has taken the concept of farm-to-table and applied it to textiles. As she explains, "I've built a model that puts the farmer at the heart of what we're doing and relies on the expertise of other makers—pattern makers, tailors, designers, photographers—as a way of building a collaborative industry. I'm the weaver, but it takes this team to make the work happen."

Adele graduated from RISD in 1999 and spent the following five years in Rhode Island living in an old mill town along the Blackstone River that had one time been an important part of the domestic textile industry. Now based in Oakland, California, she found herself with direct access to farmers producing cotton and wool. As she explains, it was a visit to Northern California's pioneer organic cotton grower Sally Fox where "I saw a clear opportunity to make products that embody the stories of domestic fiber farmers with a unique approach to the way that they work."  Adele launched Voices of Industry last month and was part of our Remodelista Holiday Market in San Francisco where almost all of her pieces sold out. You can view her limited-edition designs at Voices of Industry and contact her directly to receive notice of her next production: each month she's able to create 15 to 20 pieces of work.

Photography by Brian Ferry. 

Above: Cloth 6 of 7, Warp 1, a design that can be used as a throw, wrap, or scarf; $465. 

Above: Cones of organic naturally colored yarn on display. Adele tells us, "In a weaving class, I was introduced to Sally Fox's cotton and couldn't believe that it grew in such a spectrum of colors."

Above: Adele hand weaves on a mechanical loom. Every piece comes with a record of the farmer who grew the fiber, the warp on which it was woven, and the order it appeared on the loom. 

Above: Views from the Voices of Industry studio in Oakland. When Adele lived in an old Rhode Island mill town, she avidly researched the history of the region and came across the story of Sarah Bagley, a factory loom operator during the mid 1800s who organized the first all-womens' labor reform movement and edited its publication, The Voice of Industry—the namesake for Adele's company.

Above: Painter Afton Love models Shirt 1 of 7, Warp 1, the Voices of Industry signature shirt, sewn from a single piece of woven cotton with selvedge-edged sleeves and a pleated shoulder; $390. "We are influenced as much by the modernist heroines, like Anni Albers, Agnes Martin, and Sheila Hicks, as we are by traditional textile makers like Harris Tweed and Swans Island," says Adele.

 

Above: Wooden shuttles and other weaving implements in Adele's tool kit.

Above: Cloth 6 of 7, Warp 1 worn as a wrap. 

Above: The source for Voices of Industry's organic cotton: Sally Fox's California fields.

For more Studio Visits, see Small Trade Company Gets Big, Accidental Doll Maker Jess Brown, and London Artist Sue Williams A'Court at Home.

fluxmachine:

sassybirds:

TERRENCE

I know I typically blog dark and moody things here, but I’d like to take a small break from that to bring you a new, lighter project of mine: sassybirds.

There are a lot of cool animal gif blogs out there, but only at sassybirds.tumblr.com can you exclusively find gifs of the sassiest birds mother earth has to offer.

FOLLOW SASSYBIRDS HERE

Cool!