Daft Punk-Get Luck featuring Pharrell Williams
From an interview with Daft Punk on NPR:
Daft Punk On ‘The Soul That A Musician Can Bring
(thanks/via: NPR)
Watch The Dream is Now Documentary about the Dream Act. Support the DREAM (sadly a birth date required to sign the petition).
(thanks/via: The Dream is Now)
The greatest Dodger of all time: Sandy Koufax
What began with a simple question from sports writer Houston Mitchell: “Who are the 10 greatest Dodgers of all time?” turned into a massive wave of feedback, with 12,231 ballots surging in. And after a lengthy wait, we can finally reveal that the top Dodger of all time is legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax.
What made Koufax so great (beyond his victory on our ballot):
Koufax was the first pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards (1963, ‘65 and ‘66), as well as the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote (1963, when he went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA). Many people will tell you that the greatest pitcher in baseball history was Sandy Koufax on four days’ rest. Second greatest? Sandy Koufax on three days’ rest.
As for the rest of the top three, the groundbreaking Jackie Robinson came in second, and the longtime voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully, took third.
Many thanks to everyone who sent in a ballot, and feel free to check out the rest of the top-ranking Dodgers here!
Photos: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times, Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images
(thanks/via: latimes)
Piano Works 13 by Julien Martorell
”Piano Works 13” is two minutes of hypnotic dancers moving to gentle piano, and a dash of calligraphic motion design.
YES please!
(thanks/via: vimeo)
A great cover of the Daft Punk song Get Lucky by Daughter. At Doug Fir Lounge in Portland on March 18 the LA 21-22.
Oh, incidentally/by the way can we possibly hope to communicate if English doesn’t mean the same thing on either side of the pond?
(thanks/via: English to English)
Oh REALLY?! Memory problems?
(thanks/via: liberalsarecool)
Bahrain: Detained Activists Allege Torture
Since late April, 2013, in separate cases, Bahraini security officials have allegedly tortured a prominent rights activist and a woman arrested for protesting the Formula 1 grand prix race in April, including with electric shocks, and forced them to sign confessions. The allegations emerged two weeks after the Bahraini authorities indefinitely postponed the visit of the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report, issued in November 2011, concluded that five people detained in connection with protests earlier in 2011 had died as a result of torture in custody.
Dubai Timelapse (by dimid)
Pretty amazing considering most of the construction has taken place only in the very recent period.
Accusations of bias have flown during both Republican and Democratic administrations. Four days before the 1992 election, for example, Branch Ministries of Binghamton, N.Y. took out full-page advertisements in major newspapers stating that “Bill Clinton is promoting policies that are in rebellion to God’s laws.” The ads were a brazen violation of tax law, which requires 501(c)(3) organizations such as churches to stay out of election politics. Nevertheless, when the IRS moved to revoke the group’s tax status, the church accused the agency of bowing to pressure from the Clinton administration.
During the 2004 presidential campaign, a minister unleashed a diatribe from the pulpit of All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., against George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. After the election, the IRS opened an investigation of the 501(c)(3) church. Although All Saints Church ultimately kept its tax-exempt status, leaders claimed the legal defense cost more than $200,000 and openly wondered whether political influence triggered the investigation.
—IRS targeting the Tea Party: A history of tax agency scandals from Slate Magazine
Funny that conservatives didn’t complain about IRS targeting All Saints Church in Pasadena under Bush (note it was not a diatribe, read text here). In retrospect the church’s criticism of fabricated arguments for invading Iraq was insightful and a public service.
More reporting on this issue, The Real IRS Scandal from TIME:
…the IRS does need to crack down on political groups masquerading as social-welfare organizations. Many of the nonprofit groups who claim 501(c)(4) status either flout tax law or flirt with the murky line between electioneering and issue advocacy, all while using their tax-exempt status to conceal their donors…(source)
More on this issue an article titled The Real IRS Scandal from the Los Angeles Times .
Joseph Stiglitz, in the New York Times
From: Joseph Stiglitz’ column titled Student Debt and the Crushing of the American Dream, New York Times
(thanks/via: liberalsarecool and New York Times)
What Is It About Bees And Hexagons? : Krulwich Wonders
Solved! A bee-buzzing, honey-licking 2,000-year-old mystery that begins here, with this beehive. Look at the honeycomb in the photo and ask yourself: (I know you’ve been wondering this all your life, but have been too shy to ask out loud … ) Why is every cell in this honeycomb a hexagon? (read the article here)
(thanks/via: NPR)
