April 9, 2013
Franklin Christenson Ware (b. 1967), known professionally as Chris Ware, is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, notable for his ‘Acme Novelty Library’ series and the graphic novels ‘Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth,’ and ‘Building Stories.’ His works explore themes of social isolation, emotional torment and depression.
His works tend to use a vivid color palette and are full of realistic, meticulous detail. His lettering and images are often elaborate and sometimes evoke the ragtime era or another early 20th-century American design style. Ware often refers to himself in the publicity for his work in self-effacing, even withering tones. He is considered by some critics and fellow notable illustrators and writers, such as Dave Eggers, to be among the best currently working in the medium.
Continue reading →
Posted in Art, Humor, Language |
1 Comment »
April 9, 2013
In psychology-related slang, control freak is a derogatory term for a person who attempts to dictate how everything around them is done. The phrase was first used in the late 1960s — an era when great stress was laid on the principle of ‘doing one’s own thing’ and letting others do the same.
Control freaks are often perfectionists defending themselves against their own inner vulnerabilities in the belief that if they are not in total control they risk exposing themselves once more to childhood angst. Such persons manipulate and pressure others to change so as to avoid having to change themselves, and use power over others to escape an inner emptiness. When a control freak’s pattern is broken, ‘the Controller is left with a terrible feeling of powerlessness … But feeling their pain and fear brings them back to themselves.’ Continue reading →
Posted in Health, Money |
1 Comment »
April 9, 2013
Culinary name is the name of an ingredient when used in the kitchen for preparing food, as opposed to their names in agriculture or in scientific nomenclature. Some are used because they sounds more attractive than the real name, or because a cheaper ingredient can be linked with a more expensive one. The culinary name may also refer to a way of cooking or to a region, or using a particular ingredient.
Additionally, name given on a menu may be different from the culinary name. For example, from the 19th until the mid-20th century, many restaurant menus were written in French and not in the local language. Examples include veal (calf), calamari (squid), scampi (Italian-American name for shrimp), and sweetbreads (pancreas or thymus gland). Culinary names are especially common for fish and seafood, where multiple species are marketed under a single familiar name.
Continue reading →
Posted in Food, Language, Money |
Leave a Comment »
April 9, 2013
‘Tastes like chicken‘ is a common declaration used when trying to describe the flavor of a food. The expression has been used so often that it has become somewhat of a cliché. As a result, the phrase also sometimes gets used for incongruous humor by being deployed for foods or situations to which it has no real relevance. As an explanation of why unusual meats would taste more like chicken than common alternatives such as beef or pork, different possibilities have been offered.
One idea is that chicken has a bland taste because fat contributes more flavor than muscle (especially in the case of a lean cut such as a skinless chicken breast), making it a generic choice for comparison. Also, chicken reportedly has lower levels of glutamates that contribute to the ‘savory’ aspect of taste known as umami; processing or tenderizing other meats also lowers glutamate levels and makes them taste more like chicken. Continue reading →
Posted in Food, Humor, Science |
2 Comments »
April 9, 2013
Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss, and to easily maintain a steady indoor air temperature. Earth sheltering is popular in modern times among advocates of passive solar and sustainable architecture, but has been around for nearly as long as humans have been constructing their own shelter.
The expression ‘earth-sheltering’ is a generic term, with the general meaning: building design in which soil plays an integral part. More specifically, a building can be described as earth-sheltered if its external envelope is in contact with a thermally significant volume of soil or substrate (where ‘thermally significant’ means making a functional contribution to the thermal effectiveness of the building in question). Continue reading →
Posted in Technology, World |
Leave a Comment »
April 9, 2013
B-O-B is a ‘wildly successful’ series of sex education videos covering the practice of a woman penetrating a man’s anus with a strap-on dildo (known as ‘pegging’). The first of the two videos, which was released in 1998, became the best selling video to date for ‘Good Vibrations,’ a sex-toy company. The videos star sexologist Carol Queen, who discusses pegging and also demonstrates the practice with her lover.
The videos also contain footage of other couples engaging in the practice. The porn star Chloe appears in the second video; as she is best known as an anal queen, her use of a strap-on dildo is a ‘role reversal.’ Sex columnist Dan Savage, who popularized the term ‘pegging,’ originally offered ‘bob’ (short for ‘Bend over Boyfriend’) as one of two alternatives for the term. Continue reading →
Posted in Education, Sex |
Leave a Comment »
April 8, 2013
One aspect of how women are portrayed in popular culture is a purported rivalry between blonde and brunettes. The rivalry in American society dates back to at least 1875 when the first female professional baseball players were assigned to teams according to their hair color.
Baseball historian John Thorn notes that blonde and brunette baseball teams barnstormed the country in the late 1800s. A more contemporary example is the gridiron football game called ‘blondes vs. brunettes powderpuff football,’ a charity event that raises money for the Alzheimer’s Association. The annual contests were started in the fall of 2005, in Washington D.C. Continue reading →
Posted in Humor, Love |
Leave a Comment »
April 8, 2013
The Shouting Hill is a hill in the Israeli controlled portion of the Golan Heights. During the Six Day War, Israel captured the majority of the heights. The Shouting Hill is located close to the ceasefire line that separates Syrian controlled territory and the territory occupied by Israel. The hill is situated near the Druze village of Majdal Shams; community members were separated after the war.
Very few visits were allowed between the families from both sides of the ceasefire line. Israel and Syria are still in an official state of war. There is also no telecommunications or mail allowed between the sides. As a result families come to the hill from both sides of the border to see and talk (actually shout into megaphones) to their relatives on the other side. However, with the advent of mobile phones, people don’t do this as often, except on special occasions like weddings or when they want to see each other and they use binoculars.
Posted in Politics, War, World |
1 Comment »
April 8, 2013
A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches where individuals wear black clothing, scarves, sunglasses, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing and face-protecting items. The clothing is used to conceal marchers’ identities, allow them to appear as one large unified mass, and promote solidarity.
The tactic was developed in the 1980s in the European autonomist movement’s protests against squatter evictions, nuclear power, and restrictions on abortion among other things. Black blocs gained broader media attention outside Europe during the 1999 Seattle WTO protests, when a black bloc damaged property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other multinational retail locations in downtown Seattle. Continue reading →
Posted in Money, Politics, World |
Leave a Comment »
April 7, 2013
Leaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a political resistance strategy in which small, independent groups (covert cells), including individuals (solo cells), challenge an established adversary such as a government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from non-violent disruption and civil disobedience to bombings, assassinations and other violent agitation. Leaderless cells lack bidirectional, vertical command links and operate without hierarchical command.
Given the simplicity of the strategy, as well as the fact that it is difficult to stamp out, leaderless resistance has been employed by a wide-range of movements, from terrorist and hate groups, advocating on a range of issues like animal-liberation, radical environmentalism, anti-corporatism, anti-abortion activism, and resistance to military invasion or colonialism.
Continue reading →
Posted in Politics, War |
Leave a Comment »
April 3, 2013
‘The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations’ is a 2006 book by Ori Brafman (author of the 2010 book ‘Click: The Magic of Instant Connections’) and Rod Beckstrom (President of ICANN); it is an exploration of the implications of the recent rise of decentralized organizations such as Wikipedia, Grokster and YouTube.
The book contrasts them to centralized organizations, such as Encyclopædia Britannica. The spider and starfish analogy refers to the contrasting biological nature of the respective organisms, starfish have a decentralized neural structure permitting regeneration, whereas spiders have in a hierarchical nervous system. Continue reading →
Posted in Language, Money, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
April 3, 2013
Copwatch is a network of activist organizations that observe and document police activity. They believe that monitoring police activity on the streets is a way to prevent police brutality. The stated goal of at least one Copwatch group is to engage in monitoring and videotaping police activity in the interest of holding the police accountable in the events involving assaults or police misconduct.
Copwatch groups also hold ‘Know Your Rights’ forums to educate the public about their legal and human rights when interacting with the police, and some groups organize events to highlight problems of police abuse in their communities. Copwatch was first started in Berkeley, California in 1990. Continue reading →
Posted in Politics |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 