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November 29, 2006

Avant-garde YouTube; Lou Reed writes; Afghani disembowelled for teaching women; Mozart radio; Ugly animals

Elevate yourself: UbuWeb becomes The YouTube of the Avant-Garde:

UbuWeb has converted all of its rare and out-of-print film & video holdings to on-demand streaming formats à la YouTube, which means that you can view everything right in your browser without platform-specific software or insanely huge downloads. We offer over 300 films & videos from artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Vito Acconci, Pipilotti Rist, Jean Genet, The Cinema of Transgression, Richard Foreman, Terayama Shuji, Paul McCarthy Jack Smith, Carolee Schneeman, John Lennon and hundreds more -- of course all free of charge.

(Links fixed. Thanks to Oscar Martinez for the heads-up that they were broken.)

Also Jorge Luis Borges, Merce Cunningham, Man Ray and around 150 others.

UbuWeb has amazing stuff -- check out the Resources link at the right of its homepage -- an mp3 of Ethel Waters singing That Da Da Strain (lyrics) , Patti Smith performing a poem, Parade.

Also worth bookmarking there: Aspen no. 3: The Pop Art Issue, which includes, among other notable reads, The View from the Bandstand: Life Among the Poobahs -- The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed on rock and roll music.

One problem: My high-school French has faded away, but here's Dali, in French. And an interview with a cat, in French -- and the cat sounds like it has strong opinions, worth hearing.

Scum: Disembowelled, then torn apart: The price of daring to teach girls, in the U.K. Independent.

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

Mr Halim was one of four teachers killed in rapid succession by the Islamists at Ghazni, a strategic point on the routes from Kabul to the south and east which has become the scene of fierce clashes between the Taliban and US and Afghan forces....

Firefox on steroids: Firefox begins as a browser but extensions turn it into an indispensable tool for whatever you want it to do. This surfer, who may have downloaded all the extensions, posts an amazing screenshot of this bulked-up browser.

Mozart radio: All Mozart, all the time. From Swedish site SR Mozart,

To celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday SR launches a new service on the Internet: SR Mozart - a channel dedicated to the music of Mozart. Here you can listen to most of Wolfgang’s important works: symphonies, concertos, sonatas, masses, serenades and divertimenti, trios, quartets and quintets, plus a large selection of arias, duets etc from almost all of his operas. A total of nearly 400 pieces are being rotated, 24 hours a day. Click ”Lyssna nu” to listen and ”Spellistor” to view the playlist for the entire day (and future days).

The "Lyssna nu" link on that SR Mozart page opens a little window and starts playing Mozart.

Not too cute: Shelley Powers points to Ugly Overload, the animals who'll never make it into the saccharine Cute Overload. There's a Flickr photoset if you want to skip the text.

The photo is of a kitten:

This kitten is a kohona sphynx, one of only a few cats that bear the hairless genetic trait that has only been found on Hawaii. See folks, even paradise can produce abominations.

Staring us in the face: How mirrors can light up the world: Scientists say the global energy crisis can be solved by using the desert sun. The Guardian, (U.K.),
CSP technology (concentrated solar power) is not new. There has been a plant in the Mojave desert in California for the past 15 years. Others are being built in Nevada, southern Spain and Australia. There are different forms of CSP but all share in common the use of mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays on a pipe or vessel containing some sort of gas or liquid that heats up to around 400C (752F) and is used to power conventional steam turbines.

The mirrors are very large and create shaded areas underneath which can be used for horticulture irrigated by desalinated water generated by the plants. The cold water that can also be produced for air conditioning means there are three benefits. "It is this triple use of the energy which really boost the overall energy efficiency of these kinds of plants up to 80% to 90%," says Dr Knies.

This form of solar power is also attractive because the hot liquid can be stored in large vessels which can keep the turbines running for hours after the sun has gone down, avoiding the problems association with other forms of solar power.

Without comment:

The stunning size 12 model branded 'too fat' for TV competition

Clueless in America: Feeding the tapeworms of desire

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:35 AM | Permalink