Michael Wolf: A German photographer in China

Quietly marvelous stuff. The link jumps right into a series on Hong Kong architecture of dizzying quality.

Believe Me, It's Torture

So, ole Hitchens still has some relevance… and guts (plenty, too):

Here is the most chilling way I can find of stating the matter. Until recently, “waterboarding” was something that Americans did to other Americans. It was inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). In these harsh exercises, brave men and women were introduced to the sorts of barbarism that they might expect to meet at the hands of a lawless foe who disregarded the Geneva Conventions. But it was something that Americans were being trained to resist, not to inflict.

You see: he underwent the procedure.

'Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy'

Oy. Consider this:

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman’s hat advertising a Scottish police force’s new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims. (…) The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.

Now, one could say a lot of things about this story — for example: it is a frigging picture, for crying out loud. Or one could wonder what else is unclean and thus should removed from public view (bats, hyenas, it seems; pigs, of course — no more ads for bacon in public.) Islamophobia Watch spins it quite differently: they seem to rather agree that there are reasons to be upset… Whatever.

American town finds drug agent is really an impostor

So: has the movies rights been auctioned off yet??

Blackwater affiliate seeking legal relief in sharia law

Stupefyingly unbelievable — no shame whatsoever.

The Center for Southern African-American Music

They have a lot of interesting sounds worth listening to here…

Beautiful Black and White Photography

That much is true: there is some seriously beautiful photography there. But why so shy about the black and white part:

If you’ve been following Smashing Magazine for a while, you know that almost all posts from the Monday Inspiration series are pretty colorful and eye-catching. This post is an exception. Compared to colorful designs where catchy colors help the design to stand out, in black-and-white designs the ability to stand out depends only on its ability to communicate rather than on its appealing visual presentation.

Nevermind. This article led me to the site of one Nuri Bilge Ceylan whose series “For My Father” cannot possible fail to move the viewer.

Black and white or not, as is the case.

How our vegan diet made us ill

Holly Paige thought her family’s food regime would boost their health – but stick-thin legs and rotten teeth made her think again…

Mama is no fool. As further evidenced:

There were other oddities: “I remember going to the supermarket and buying butter for my older children. Lizzie, who had never had butter in her life, would grab the packet and gnaw into it,” says Paige. “It was really disconcerting. I would be thinking, ‘What is going on? Here is this purely fed child – why would she need to do this?’

Well, at least she came to her senses in time.

Ms. Clinton, a feminist candidate?

I note that Ophelia Benson says something that I and the wife have been saying to each other, but not aloud: Hillary was not the feminist candidate. Or the experienced one, either.

As the wife likes to add: that whole stand-by-your-man thing, right? Is that the feminist message?

Way back when, my old mother used to claim that the world would be better off if more women were in charge. I always countered with Indira Gandhi and Maggie Thatcher. Not I would not agree that the world could not use more feminine values in those in charge.

goosh.org - the unofficial google shell.

Google — the way it should have been…

Verve Photo: The New Breed of Documentary Photographers

Some really nice stuff here.

Michael Eastman: Vanishing America

Astonishing photos from an American dreamscape. Via kottke.

Lacanian Jokes of the Day

‘Lacan is in bed with two of his former patients. “Isn’t this unethical?” they ask him.
“No, but it is a bit perverted,” Lacan replies, “considering that I’ve been dead for 27 years.”’

Haha — there are a few other worth a chuckle.

John Lydon: 'I'm fat, I'm 50 and I'm back'

Not so rotten no more (has California-style pearly whites), also “amassed a considerable fortune on the property market” — but, as we always knew, a very smart and sensible person. A nice interview.

Security Beat

Via Jens Alfke, we find this gem: some has-been and/or wanna-be SF writers giving advice about, well: eh, stuff (as in: “Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants.”)

Reminds me why I always found that SF lit had a slightly queasy smell about it…

Is Barack Obama Muslim?

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

“I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.”

I was recently reminded, once gain, how wonderful a resource poets.org is. This one, one gem among the many, lets us hear Langston Hughes’ powerful voice.

All the President's Nazis (real and imagined): An Open Letter to Bush

Perhaps, finally, and now that Mr. Bush has opened that can of worms: there lurks a pretty story about grandpa…: “President Bush’s grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, government documents show.” Relevant? Perhaps. At least Mr. Bush should clean his own house some…

Gossip Grrrl Beth Ditto Takes Full 'Control'

Nice interview. Beth is cool.

Clinton-Wallace mix 'n' match

“Match the quotation with the angry white male!” Ouch…