warm & punchy: it has been seven years since michael dahlquist died
silkworm is my favourite band, ever.
i first heard silkworm in 2006. what i heard, specifically, were their first two records as a three-piece, after the departure of excellent guitar dude & songwriter joel rl phelps.
firewater and developer both perfectly set the mood for their…
Jesus.
‘Easy’ parking spots for women introduced by German mayor
Matthew Day for the Telegraph:
Spaces in a new car park in the Black Forest town of Triberg now come with male and female symbols. The spaces for women are wider and well lit, while those for men are close to concrete pillars and can only be reversed into.
Explaining the policy, Mayor Gallus Strobel said it was a natural decision because men are better at parking than women.
… Mr Strobel, who denies accusations of sexism, also pointed out that 10 spaces were reserved for women as opposed to just two for men.
See, it’s funny because misogyny.
All you need to know is:
Go right now.
In case you missed it earlier this week, there’s a new episode of Postmodem. Which, if you don’t remember, is the podcast I do with Patrick Thomson and Phillip Bowden. It also showed your sister a nice time with dinner and a movie, no funny stuff.
On this latest episode we talk about programming a little but also comics, hipsters, music and probably some other stuff that I’m forgetting. If you enjoy this blog you’ll definitely like Postmodem
Little change in Dutch euthanasia post-legality
AP report:
The frequency of doctor-assisted euthanasia in the Netherlands has changed little since the longstanding practice was legalized in 2002, according to a new study.
A summary published Wednesday on The Lancet magazine’s website said that “in 2010, of all deaths in the Netherlands, 2.8 percent were the result of euthanasia. This is higher than the 1.7 percent in 2005, but comparable with (levels seen) in 2001 and 1995.”
The Netherlands was the first country to nationally legalize euthanasia, so these numbers are the first we’ve ever had for this kind of thing.
Today, on the first and only episode of Bizarre Video Games Saturday here on Nullary Sources, comes a lengthy video showing off the PlayStation game Paranoiascape. Paranoiascape is a first-person horror pinball game designed by Screaming Mad George, who’s done special effects for movies like Predator.
Iwant wrote up the game for Hardcore Gaming 101, but it must be seen in motion.
Fantastic Superchunk set from 2010. Here’s part 2. Thanks to Phillip for introducing me to these guys and for the link to the concert. Recommended to any fans of Dinosaur Jr. or Guided by Voices or early Pavement.
Residents in bid to stop Olympic missiles on roof
Jill Lawless writing for the Associated Press:
Residents of a London apartment tower went to court Monday in a bid to stop their rooftop from being used as a missile base during the Olympic Games, saying the deployment in a densely-populated area could make the building a terrorist target.
The British military plans to deploy surface-to-air missiles at six sites around London as part of a vast security operation for the July 27-Aug. 12 games. But residents of the 17-story Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, say they were not consulted about the move.
I can barely imagine having a missile battery installed on the roof of my place. That would be pretty cool but also really dang horrifying.
The only way I can describe Grouplove’s cover of “Party Hard” is by saying it sounds like Syd Barrett and Guided By Voices teamed up to cover an Andrew W.K. song. Good God.
New papers deal huge blow to NASA-backed finding on arsenic-based life
John Timmer, Ars Technica:
NASA scientists had found evidence that life on Earth could rely on alternate chemistry, one that replaced the phosphorus used in many biomolecules for a chemical relative that is usually toxic: arsenic.
… Researchers quickly identified a number of holes in the initial analysis, both logical and experimental. Less than six months later, Science published a series of responses to the original paper that raised significant questions about its accuracy. Now, the topic is back in the pages of the same journal. Two labs have obtained the original arsenic-tolerant bacteria and shown that some of the original paper’s conclusions are completely off-base.
It would’ve been cool if the results were validated, but hey: that’s science. The scientific process works, you guys.