Headbutler Jesse Kornbluth makes an exceptional job of finding artists, current or past, that never achieved worldwide fame, but should have. Nick Drake, who killed himself at the age of 26, is another of my discoveries through Headbutler. If the guitar makes you gently weep, listen to Day is Done, & Time of No Reply, & ‘Cello Song & Pink Moon (made famous in the Volkswagen commercial)
Who is Karen Carpenter, really? [Letters of note]
Kim Gordon wrote this evocative letter to Karen Carpenter, she of “The Carpenters” fame, who died at the age of 32 of anorexia nervosa.
When / why did eating become a competitive sport? [Article, Video]
I saw this visualisation of the fastest hot-dog eater Joey Chestnut on Tableau’s Viz of the Day – he downed 69 hot-dogs in 10 minutes. The video made me want to throw up – even though ESPN packages it up as “Sport Science”!
He lost both legs on the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, took his first steps a few days ago [Pics]
Jeff Bauman. Stories such as these very rarely get back into mainstream news.
Me and my metadata.. Ethan Zuckerman [Article]
Since you & I have nothing to hide, we shouldn’t be too worried about all the snooping into our digital lives by government or commercial interests, right? Allow Ethan Zuckerman to explain.
The dead are no longer welcome at their own funerals. So how can the living send them on their way? [Article]
Thomas Lynch is a poet, essayist and undertaker. Reading this article, another one on death, from the perspective of the “business” that is a funeral parlour, especially true in the West, is worth your time.
Profiling cellphone users [Article]
Haiwatha Gray in the Boston Globe about the profiling of cellphone users
As we live our lives, we leave behind a vapor trail of information: the places we go and how fast we get there, the people we talk to, the stores where we shop, taverns where we drink, churches where we pray.
Powerful computers in our purses and pockets are now recording that data. The cellphone is not just a communication device; it is a diary. And with the data from millions of these diaries, businesses,
government agencies, and scientists are learning how to forestall medical crises, identify emotional problems, prevent the spread of infections diseases, or simply sell more pizza.
Photographs you’ll never see in mainstream media [Photo, article]
Discovered this from the link pile that Doc Searls shares very regularly….. 15 photographs from Egypt that you’ll never see from the mainstream media.
The Sachal Studio Orchestra – Take Five [Video]
Another incredible adaptation by the Sachal Studio Orchestra – the Paul Desmond written Take Five, & made famous by the Dave Brubeck Band – watch this blissful performance
The Sachal Studios Orchestra was created by Izzat Majeed, a philanthropist based in London. When Pakistan fell under the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq during the 1980s, Pakistan’s classical music scene fell on hard times. Many musicians were forced into professions they had never imagined — selling clothes, electrical parts, vegetables, etc. Whatever was necessary to get by. Today, many of these musicians have come together in a 60-person orchestra that plays in a state-of-the-art studio, designed partly by Abbey Road sound engineers.
Philosophy & death [Article]
I discovered one of my favourite stories in a Khalil Gibran collection:
A rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death, who had threatened him. He begged his master to give him his fastest horse so that he could make haste and flee to Tehran, which he could reach that same evening. The master consented and the servant galloped off and the horse.
On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?” “I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here, when I had planned to meet him tonight in Tehran,” said Death.
This article by Julian Baggini, who is trying to come to terms with his father’s demise, reminded me of it. Not an easy read, but who said you’d find only easy reading here?