I can't believe it's April already. O_o;
CURRENT FAVORITES:
The Glitch Mob, "Animus Vox"
Dirty Three, "Moon on the Land"
Dirty Three, "Rain Song"
Miike Snow, "Vase"
Retribution Gospel Choir, "The Stone (Revolution!)"
Shearwater, "Star of the Age"
Hope everyone had a great Easter/Passover! Our Easter weekend was pretty laid-back and not all that eventful; this afternoon we went to my aunt and uncle's house for Easter dinner, which included kielbasa, meat pie, babka bread, artichoke casserole, and a few other things (they also served deep-fried turkey and sweet potato casserole, but I didn't have those). My aunt and uncle also had a couple of their friends over; it's a bit rough whenever these friends come to their events because I'm supposed to act like I care about them even though I never see them anywhere else and I wouldn't hang out with them willingly, but things went pretty smoothly today. We also went to my dad's mom's house this evening to keep her company for a little bit, like we usually do whenever there's a holiday around. And on Friday my parents and I had dinner at Dusitra, the local Thai restaurant. Definitely one of the best meals I've had in a long time. The previous times we've been there, the food was okay but nothing to write home about; however, because the restaurant is under new management now, we decided to try it out again, and this time we certainly didn't regret it.
Nothing else all that interesting has been going on lately, so here's another quick linkdump:
-- Fan-made Legend of Korra merchandise (YESPLZ 8DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD)
--Education and Its Discontent (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- This piece was written by a professor, poet, and counselor at my alma mater, and in a lot of ways reflects a lot of my own feelings about college, what college is supposed to accomplish, and what it's actually doing to students and society in general. To a certain degree, I understand why students would view their education and getting a diploma in purely economic terms -- for most people, college is a huge investment, and it usually requires financial aid, so it's obvious that there'd be an impulse to want concrete, tangible results to come out of that investment. Still, his central criticism -- that colleges don't produce the "change agents" and "creative thinkers" we need -- is still worth considering.)
--Unmasking the democracy promoters (a short-but-sweet article about how much the U.S. government covertly tries to push other countries into becoming democracies, instead of encouraging democracies to flourish from within those countries)
--A 13-year-old's slavery analogy raises some uncomfortable truths in school
--What if American democracy is just an illusion? (Want to know why it's so hard for sweeping changes to occur in the U.S.? This opinion pieces raises a few interesting points)
--What will the future look like? Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 (a bit depressing, but lots of interesting food for thought, and very intelligently written)
--Rihanna calls a fan ugly on Twitter, then claims cyberbullying (Apparently Rihanna has forgiven Chris Brown re: his domestic violence and even collaborated on a song with him -- there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, since it helped with her recovery process and all that. Her life, her body, her decisions -- they ought to be respected, even if you don't agree with them. But when a fan took reasonable issue with her publicly collaborating with her abuser, Rihanna started harassing her, then claimed she was the one being harassed. Um. ._.,)
--The rise of autism: social contagion or environmental causation? (the article ultimately claims it's the former)
--Industrial pollution linked to so-called "natural" disasters
--Map shows what a Fukushima disaster in the U.S. would look like
--More power for women = less climate pollution
--Some fungi found to eat pollution right out of the soil
--"Artificial leaf" eyed as holy grail in energy research
--3D solar structures could create more power in smaller spaces
-- New frog species discovered in New York City (so cool!)
--The myth of eight-hour sleep
--Search for strange new worlds won't end in November after all
--Doing nothing: An experiment in norm-breaking
--How the Internet is ruining your brain (DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:) [link removed by request of ForensicPsychology.net]
--The next time someone says the Internet killed reading books, show them this
--The power of young adult fiction: "Authors taking risks isn't kid stuff" (whatever you do, don't read Joel Klein's response to this opinion piece unless you like making yourself really angry -- he's the same douche who wrote a racist, xenophobic "humor" article about Indians in Time magazine two years back)
--Mesmerizing wind map is the coolest-looking weather map ever
-- Tek RMD could make wheelchairs obsolete
--Yutyrannus, a giant tyrannosaur with feathers
--Odds are, you probably don't exist
--A keyboard made of ..... bamboo?!
--Wood chip art by Sergei Bobkov
--10 awesome alien illustrations from Wayne Barlow
--Short film: "No Robots" (beautifully done)
Originally posted at http://quadruplify.dreamwidth.org/129219.html || Comments on original post:
The Glitch Mob, "Animus Vox"
Dirty Three, "Moon on the Land"
Dirty Three, "Rain Song"
Miike Snow, "Vase"
Retribution Gospel Choir, "The Stone (Revolution!)"
Shearwater, "Star of the Age"
Hope everyone had a great Easter/Passover! Our Easter weekend was pretty laid-back and not all that eventful; this afternoon we went to my aunt and uncle's house for Easter dinner, which included kielbasa, meat pie, babka bread, artichoke casserole, and a few other things (they also served deep-fried turkey and sweet potato casserole, but I didn't have those). My aunt and uncle also had a couple of their friends over; it's a bit rough whenever these friends come to their events because I'm supposed to act like I care about them even though I never see them anywhere else and I wouldn't hang out with them willingly, but things went pretty smoothly today. We also went to my dad's mom's house this evening to keep her company for a little bit, like we usually do whenever there's a holiday around. And on Friday my parents and I had dinner at Dusitra, the local Thai restaurant. Definitely one of the best meals I've had in a long time. The previous times we've been there, the food was okay but nothing to write home about; however, because the restaurant is under new management now, we decided to try it out again, and this time we certainly didn't regret it.
Nothing else all that interesting has been going on lately, so here's another quick linkdump:
-- Fan-made Legend of Korra merchandise (YESPLZ 8DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD)
--Education and Its Discontent (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- This piece was written by a professor, poet, and counselor at my alma mater, and in a lot of ways reflects a lot of my own feelings about college, what college is supposed to accomplish, and what it's actually doing to students and society in general. To a certain degree, I understand why students would view their education and getting a diploma in purely economic terms -- for most people, college is a huge investment, and it usually requires financial aid, so it's obvious that there'd be an impulse to want concrete, tangible results to come out of that investment. Still, his central criticism -- that colleges don't produce the "change agents" and "creative thinkers" we need -- is still worth considering.)
--Unmasking the democracy promoters (a short-but-sweet article about how much the U.S. government covertly tries to push other countries into becoming democracies, instead of encouraging democracies to flourish from within those countries)
--A 13-year-old's slavery analogy raises some uncomfortable truths in school
--What if American democracy is just an illusion? (Want to know why it's so hard for sweeping changes to occur in the U.S.? This opinion pieces raises a few interesting points)
--What will the future look like? Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 (a bit depressing, but lots of interesting food for thought, and very intelligently written)
--Rihanna calls a fan ugly on Twitter, then claims cyberbullying (Apparently Rihanna has forgiven Chris Brown re: his domestic violence and even collaborated on a song with him -- there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, since it helped with her recovery process and all that. Her life, her body, her decisions -- they ought to be respected, even if you don't agree with them. But when a fan took reasonable issue with her publicly collaborating with her abuser, Rihanna started harassing her, then claimed she was the one being harassed. Um. ._.,)
--The rise of autism: social contagion or environmental causation? (the article ultimately claims it's the former)
--Industrial pollution linked to so-called "natural" disasters
--Map shows what a Fukushima disaster in the U.S. would look like
--More power for women = less climate pollution
--Some fungi found to eat pollution right out of the soil
--"Artificial leaf" eyed as holy grail in energy research
--3D solar structures could create more power in smaller spaces
-- New frog species discovered in New York City (so cool!)
--The myth of eight-hour sleep
--Search for strange new worlds won't end in November after all
--Doing nothing: An experiment in norm-breaking
--How the Internet is ruining your brain (DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:) [link removed by request of ForensicPsychology.net]
--The next time someone says the Internet killed reading books, show them this
--The power of young adult fiction: "Authors taking risks isn't kid stuff" (whatever you do, don't read Joel Klein's response to this opinion piece unless you like making yourself really angry -- he's the same douche who wrote a racist, xenophobic "humor" article about Indians in Time magazine two years back)
--Mesmerizing wind map is the coolest-looking weather map ever
-- Tek RMD could make wheelchairs obsolete
--Yutyrannus, a giant tyrannosaur with feathers
--Odds are, you probably don't exist
--A keyboard made of ..... bamboo?!
--Wood chip art by Sergei Bobkov
--10 awesome alien illustrations from Wayne Barlow
--Short film: "No Robots" (beautifully done)
Originally posted at http://quadruplify.dreamwidth.org/129219.html || Comments on original post: