Ken Layne's Blog, page 14

The Official 'Eat The Press' Financial Crisis Retro Reader

The Official 'Eat The Press' Financial Crisis Retro Reader:

Let’s look back to 2008 and briefly tally up the score: No one has been sent to jail, lots of you are still out of work, very few of the errors that led to the collapse have been corrected, and I’m guessing that most of you haven’t even gotten a thank-you card for that time you donated $4.7 trillion of your own wealth to save the world.

Five years into the continuing economic crisis, Jason Linkins has put together this guide to the books (including fiction), movies and other media that told the story of the collapse that turned so many middle-class people into poor people.

My book Dignity made this list, hooray, and I found a lot of stuff I missed when it was published, like this piece by Alex Pareene.

"If you’ve ever tried to eat dinner at a restaurant, but you couldn’t figure out how to..."

“If you’ve ever tried to eat dinner at a restaurant, but you couldn’t figure out how to pay, and also you don’t have anyone to eat with, this app will maybe be for you, who knows.”

- —Sam Biddle, writing about modern problems and businesses.

William S. Burroughs and Joe Strummer, probably 1978?

William S. Burroughs and Joe Strummer, probably 1978?

Imagine being stuck on a plane with LIVE STAND-UP COMEDIANS

Imagine being stuck on a plane with LIVE STAND-UP COMEDIANS:

Hoping to turn the only relaxing part of air travel—the flight itself—into a claustrophobic death of the soul, Virgin Airways is introducing live stand-up comedians to some of its flights. Try walking out on these no-talent schmucks.

erikkwakkel:Medieval Yoda!I encountered this image some time...

erikkwakkel:

Medieval Yoda!

I encountered this image some time ago while browsing (online) a delightful medieval book known as “The Queen Mary’s Psalter". Made in England in the early 14th century, it contains some 1450 drawings and miniatures. Many of them are meant to bring a smile to the face of the medieval reader. This one transcends the centuries and does the same in our day, especially if you are a fan of Star Wars (as I am). There he is: Yoda, who traded his light saber for a spear and is charging towards a medieval Sith Lord on a sturgeon! May the force be with him - he will need it.

Pic: London, British Library, Royal MS 2 B vii. More information (and an additional 1440 images) are found here.

gregrutter:(sakurasenshi)

gregrutter:

(sakurasenshi)

"The CIA reportedly closed its research center on climate change and national security last year,..."

“The CIA reportedly closed its research center on climate change and national security last year, after GOP members of Congress argued that the CIA shouldn’t be looking at climate change.”

- CIA Backs $630,000 Scientific Study on Controlling Global Climate | Mother Jones

Photo

Photo

After the First World War the Surrealists seize on the...

After the First World War the Surrealists seize on the unconscious mind as the basis for artistic creation as does the Expressionist cinema of the 1920s completing the triumph of the imagination over the principle of reality and bringing the spirit of Dark Romanticism full circle and into the modern age. The exhibition features outstanding works not only by Francisco de Goya and Max Ernst but also by William Blake, Carl Blechen, Salvador Dalí, Eugène Delacroix, Caspar David Friedrich, Johann Heinrich Fuseli, Théodore Géricault, Paul Klee, René Magritte and Franz von Stuck from the museum’s own collection augmented by loans from major institutions including the Prado in Madrid, the Chicago Art Institute and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt where the exposition originated.

Just came across this while looking for this picture to use in a blog post. All the stuff I love at my favorite museum, and it ended last month.