The man who survived both atomic bombs

BBC - Man survived both atomic bombings:

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on 6 August 1945 when a US plane dropped the first atomic bomb.

He suffered serious burns and spent a night there before returning to his home city of Nagasaki just before it was bombed on 9 August.

Is this good luck or bad luck?

Rare footage of Sergei Prokofiev

bramley88:

The Russian translates thus:

Prokofiev is being asked: "Sergei Sergeevich, maybe you will tell our viewers about your work?"

He replies: "Well, right now I am working on a symphonic suite of waltzes, which will include three waltzes from Cinderella, two waltzes from the War and Peace, and one waltz from the movie score "Lermontov." [The War and Peace] has just been brilliantly produced in Leningrad, where the composer Cheshko (?) made an especially noteworthy appearance as a tenor, giving a superb performance in the role of Pierre Bezukhoff. Besides this suite, I am working on a sonata for violin and piano [no.1 in f minor], upon completion of which I will resume work on the sixth symphony, which I had started last year. I have just completed three suites from the Cinderella ballet and I am now turning the score over to copyists for writing the parts, so that most likely the suites will already be performed at the beginning of the fall season."

I liked the little spaz-montage at the end.

via Jessica Duchen's classical music blog

David Byrne interviews himself

One must never underestimate the power of a good hairdo.

ca. Stop Making Sense

via TUTTI FANNI, TUTTI COSI

Philip José Farmer (1918-2009)

Philip José Farmer, January 26, 1918 - February 25, 2009. R.I.P.

P.J. Farmer moved peacefully to a new Tier this morning. He might also be found roaming about Riverworld, or the Wold Newton Universe.

stray bullets

Exploring a ‘Deep Web’ That Google Can’t Grasp Beyond those trillion pages lies an even vaster Web of hidden data: financial information, shopping catalogs, flight schedules, medical research and all kinds of other material stored in databases that remain largely invisible to search engines.... Now a new breed of technologies is taking shape that will extend the reach of search engines into the Web’s hidden corners. When that happens, it will do more than just improve the quality of search results — it may ultimately reshape the way many companies do business online. (via) (prev)

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci discovered in Basilicata What may be a hitherto unknown portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in middle age shows that the Renaissance genius had piercing blue eyes, a long nose and long greying hair with a droopy moustache.

A design for life (The history of the smiley face symbol) Feelgood corporate logo, acid house icon and txt msg emoticon: one chirpy yellow emblem has kept grinning since the first summer of love. Jon Savage celebrates the life of Smiley.

Q&A: Dennis Hopper I don't spend a lot. Most of my art collection I got by trading it or through knowing the artist. I got Andy Warhol's first soup can painting for $75. I lost it to my first wife.

Golden Eagle Nomads

The Golden Eagle Hunters of Mongolia

Photographer John Delaney travels to the remote reaches of Asia to document a dying Kazakh skill

Zombie Lincoln....

...is an interesting search term.


















There's the odd Photoshop job, or two.... (via)


















Uncyclomedia Commons














Refacing Government Tender















I liked emancipation of the zombie presidents featuring, from left: James K. Polk, Richard Nixon, Martin Van Buren and Abraham Lincoln....


















...and, of course, Zombie Lincoln on the Moon.

Happy Birthday Hammer!

Today’s History Lesson - Baseball Immortality, Four Bases at a Time:

Born in the midst of the Great Depression on February 5, 1934 and raised in poverty in a still-segregated South, Henry Aaron would rise to become a legendary superstar, a symbol of all that is good about the game of baseball, and a class act.

Great Balls of Fire!

Received this from my buddy Crow via email:

Verducci (in Joe Torre's new book) writes that Clemens’s usual pregame preparation included taking a whirlpool bath at the hottest temperature possible. “He’d come out looking like a lobster,” Yankee trainer Steve Donahue told Verducci. Donahue would then rub hot liniment all over Clemens’s body.

“Then Donahue would rub the hottest possible liniment on his testicles,” Verducci writes. “He’d start snorting like a bull,” the trainer said. “That’s when he was ready to pitch.”

originally from Bronx Banter

Lux Interior (1948-2009)

photo: Ann Summa

Cramps founder Lux Interior dies at 60

Buddy Holly: Rare and Unseen photographs

TIME: Buddy Holly: Rare and Unseen photographs

These are worth a look. He was so very fresh-faced and photogenic.

Ken Nordine Tribute

“Ken Nordine, yea I know that guy, I heard his voice 1000 times, he’s the guy in the bus station that says “go ahead I’ll keep an eye on your stuff for you,” and you see him the next day walking around town wearing your clothes. He broadcasts from the boiler room of the Wilmont Hotel with 50,000 watts of power. I know that voice, he’s the guy with the pitchfork in your head saying go ahead and jump, and he’s the ambulance driver who tells you you’re going to pull thru. He’s the guy in the control tower who talked you down in a storm with a hole in your fuselage and both engines on fire. I heard him barking thru the Rose Alley Carnival strobe as samurai firemen were pulling hose. Yea he’s the dispatcher with the heart of gold, the only guy up this late on the suicide hotline. Ken Nordine is the real angel sitting on the wire in the tangled matrix of cobwebs that holds the whole attic together. Yea Ken Nordine, he’s the switchboard operator at the Taft Hotel, the only place in town you can get a drink at this hour. You know Ken Nordine, he’s the lite in the icebox, he’s the blacksmith on the anvil in your ear.”

—Tom Waits

Be sure to check out the tribute to the great Ken Nordine over at Uncertain Times v.ii. You might have to scroll down a bit to find the posts.

update: just enter "Nordine" in the search window and all of the posts will come up.

Shaker Visual Poetry

Sacred roll [untitled booklet], 1840-43. Anonymous. Ink and watercolor on paper.

UBUWEB - Shaker Visual Poetry (Gift Drawings & Gift Songs):

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing — called "Shakers" — originated in England in the mid-eighteenth century and soon centered around the person of Ann Lee (Mother Ann, or Mother Wisdom, or simply Mother), who became "the reincarnation of the Christ Spirit … Ann the Word … Bride of the Lamb." The group practiced communal living and equality of the sexes, along with a reputedly complete abstention from sexual intercourse. After persecutions and jailings in England, Ann brought them to America in 1774, where for many years they thrived on conversions, reaching a maximum size of 6,000 before their demise in the twentieth century.

Between 1837 and 1850 ("known as the Era of Manifestations") the Shakers composed (or were the recipients of) "hundreds of … visionary drawings … really [spiritual] messages in pictorial form," writes Edward Deming Andrews (The Gift To Be Simple, 1940). "The designers of these symbolic documents felt their work was controlled by supernatural agencies … — gifts bestowed on some individual in the order (usually not the one who made the drawing." The same is true of the "gift songs" and other verbal works, and the invention of forms in both the songs and drawings is extraordinary, as is their resemblance to the practice of later poets and artists.

thanks to On An Overgrown Path for the reminder

Frank Zappa documentary (1971)

(HollandDoc)

directed by Roelof Kiers

A long play at 54:32, but a "don't miss" for fans. Frank talks about his youth, his interest in explosives, his musical influences, and the establishment of The Mothers of Invention, amongst other things - including a glimpse into the world of the Zappa family. Film-wise, this is the most up-close look into his life that I have seen to date.

via Kill Ugly Radio

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)

Andrew Wyeth, Painter, Dies at 91

Double Bummer

I'm Learning To Share: This week's Double Bummer; Ricardo's gone, McGoohan too.

the in crowd shares a taste of their usual excellence.

Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009)

Be seeing you...













Patrick McGoohan, creator and star of the cult classic The Prisoner, has died aged 80













R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner's TV Visionary













Remembering 'The Prisoner' creator/star Patrick McGoohan













Patrick McGoohan, RIP













images via AMC

Watch all 17 episodes of The Prisoner, free and legal

stray bullets

Is the US too big to fail? Why are investors rushing to purchase US government securities when the US is the epicentre of the financial crisis? This column attributes the paradox to key emerging market economies’ exchange practices, which require reserves most often invested in US government securities. America’s exorbitant privilege comes with a cost and a responsibility that US policy makers should bear in mind as they handle the crisis. A bit arcane, but worth it, if you can slog through. (via)

A way with words: Lexical wizard Henry Hitchings on the crazy history of our language It's rather nerve-racking, interviewing an acknowledged master of the English language. I tell Henry Hitchings that I feel as though I'll have to take extra care with my choice of words. "Don't," he says briskly, as he ushers me into his book-lined 13th-floor Bermondsey flat. Fortunately, his attitude to language is anything but stuffy, snobbish or prescriptive.

Art sleuth: Museum director also helps nab the bad guys She now routinely goes once a month to The Fortress, the vault where U.S. Customs keeps valuable confiscated goods, ''just to see what they have.'' She reviews photos of artifacts on her computer, and, if she determines more investigation is warranted, she goes to see the items in person. If they are valuable, Damian and the government follow up with an archaeologist from the country to which the artifacts belong. If the case merits prosecution, they contact government authorities as well.

Restaurateur tracks down bill dodgers on Facebook An Australian restaurateur left holding a hefty unpaid bill when five young diners bolted used the popular social network website Facebook to track them down -- and they got their just deserts. (via)

'Mummy, can I phone the pirates?' One of the biggest frustrations facing journalists is being unable to get through to people on the phone. But as Mary Harper discovered, contacting the Somali pirates on the Sirius Star turned out to be child's play. (via)

also:
Shipwreck in Antarctica: Part 1 - Discovering we are sinking (via)
William Friedkin: We're all Dirty Harry now
A Year of Parking Tickets (map of NYC with block-by-block stats - one block had over 10,000) (via)
How to: Transfer Music from One iPod to Another
Quiz: TS Eliot
Patti Smith’s favourite books (via)
Huge glossary of drug slang (via)

viddy:
Lucian Freud on 'Diana and Actaeon'
1964 U.S. anti-China propaganda
Kerouac Scroll Unrolled (via)
Fifty People, One Question: New York (seemed somewhat more superficial and materialistic than the first) (via)
Interesting new synth interface
Orbital to reunite! (plus video of Chime from their farewell set - they are amazing live, more than this video could possibly convey)

Living Africa

Fighting elephants, Savute, Botswana

Steve Bloom - Living Africa

Living, breathing and bleeding.

via New Scientist

China: Portrait of a People

Tom Carter traveled around China for two years and photographed thousands of people in all 33 provinces and autonomous regions. I look forward to checking out his book, China: Portrait of a People. You can watch a preview on YouTube.

via Danwei