From the Department of Things We Need to Do More Often, here’s the Iranian air force re-enacting Ayatollah Khomeini’s return from exile to Iran in 1979 with a cardboard cutout.
(Photo by Ruhollah Yazdani for the Mehr News Agency via Reuters, via MSNBC’s PhotoBlog.)
Ohio building with ties to Wright brothers eroding
Lisa Cornwell for the AP:
The [Wright] brothers rented space for their first [bicycle] shop from 1892 to 1893 at the site where a vacant building now stands, according to Edward Roach, historian with the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.
The city-owned structure — the Gem City Ice Cream Co. building — contains three exterior walls of the two-story building that housed the brothers’ shop, said Roane Smothers, principal planner for Dayton and part of its Landmark Commission staff.
Dayton officials say demolition of the Gem City building might be necessary because it is falling apart and attempts to find someone to provide the money and a viable plan to rehabilitate it have been unsuccessful.
Sad story, but as you can see from the photos accompanying the article, the building is in serious disrepair.
What happens if you use police composite sketch software on descriptions of characters from literature? This is what happens.
Josefina Vazquez Mota bids to become Mexico’s first female president
The Telegraph:
Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year-old economist, became the first female presidential candidate from any of Mexico’s major parties when she convincingly won the National Action Party’s primary.
Excellent.
Mrs Vazquez Mota said that she had experienced sexism first-hand during her campaign.
“One of the hardest questions I have been asked is ‘How will you manage the army if you are having menstrual cramps?’” she told a Mexican newspaper.
What.
Lori Zimmer, Inhabitat:
This new McDonald’s ad that appeared on the side of the road in California has more staying power than any regular billboard because it’s actually illegal to remove. The sign is actually the result of a seed bombing where the shape of the famous golden arches is made up of yellow California Poppies.
Letters of Note: To My Old Master
Letters of Note posted this amazing telling off by ex-slave Jourdon Anderson of his former master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, after the colonel requested Jourdon return to work for him:
Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to.
And that’s not even the best part. Read it.
As journal boycott grows, Elsevier defends its practices
Josh Fischman, writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education:
A protest against Elsevier, the world’s largest scientific journal publisher, is rapidly gaining momentum since it began as an irate blog post at the end of January. By Tuesday evening, about 2,400 scholars had put their names to an online pledge not to publish or do any editorial work for the company’s journals, including refereeing papers.
The boycott is growing so quickly—it had about 1,800 signers on Monday—that Elsevier officials on Tuesday broke their official silence to respond to protesters’ accusations that they charge too much and support laws that will keep research findings bottled up behind a company paywall.
As of the afternoon of the 7th, the online pledge is up to 4,524 people.
With the rise of the internet and along with it the arXiv, the issue of free access to (publicly-funded or otherwise) scientific papers has slowly fomented and come to a head. While arXiv provides access to preprints (i.e. un-peer reviewed copies of papers) it’s difficult to find and search for the final versions of older articles. And if you do find what you’re looking for, there’s no guarantee the paper will remain there long-term.
It’s the Milk Truck, spreading the message that nursing mothers have the need and the right to feed their infants in public.
Jill Miller, an artist and mother, said she got the idea after the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh asked her to do a project of her choice last year.
I like to think I’m pro-breastfeeding, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is easily the most garish thing I’ve seen this year.
Photo by Keith Srakocic for the AP.
The brain-meltingly amazing trailer for Angelmaker. ‘nuff said.
Harkaway is the author of the previously-linked “Gone-Away World” — Angelmaker is available now from Amazon UK. I am so excited for my copy to arrive, holy shit.
Opening credits for the Wilco documentary “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” — set to an acoustic version of the song by the same name. Fantastic.