It’s the 4th of July in the USA! To honour the occasion, make an effort to seek out and enjoy an American cultural product or consumer item.
150th anniversary of Gettysburg. Check out these photos of veterans gathering at the 50th anniversary. (via AndyMac)
So, so perfect: all the American flags on the moon are now white.
Twelve Tones. A half hour video about music, patterns, shapes, and stuff. I haven’t watched it yet but Hugh Dingwall says it’s amazing and I clicked around in it a bit to figure out what it was and every bit that I watched was really interesting and made me want to see more. So. Try it.
How I taught myself to code in eight weeks (via mundens)
Why this vintage Masters of the Universe figure still smells bad three decades on (via DavidR)
Jason Everman, the guy who was thrown out of Nirvana just before they were hugely famous and then Soundgarden just before *they* were hugely famous, has an interesting story to tell about those events and what came next for him.
Artist refashions Barbie to real teen-girl proportions. It looks really weird, and also awesome. (Yes I’m linking to an article on Stuff.co.nz, which amazingly enough covered this ahead of all my other much trendier sources. First in NZ for your Barbie-related news needs!)
Like many, I snorted at and shared the image of a CNN panel discussion with the on-screen graphic, “N-Word vs. cracker: which is worse?” When you can’t even say one of the words, you have your answer. But now this clip from that discussion is also being shared, and it’s well worth watching. Levar Burton (best known internationally for Star Trek TNG) discusses how he was raised, and raises his kids, to follow a set routine when stopped by police to avoid being brutalised.
Revising your writing again? Blame the modernists.
Jamie Oliver read his first book recently. I posed a question on Facebook: if one of your friends wanted to read a book for the first time, what book (on your shelf) would you offer? Loads and loads of people made cool suggestions.
Jack Kirby comic artstravaganze: loads of his amazing double-page spreads. It’s kind of obvious why he was the King, looking at all these jammed together like this. (via Dylan)
The impossible “literacy” test once required of black voters in Louisiana. (via Nick Tipping)
Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe. Ingenious!
Pac-Man as survival horror game (via Sonal)
My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter
Laurie Penny: I was a manic pixie dream girl
Asher Wolf: I was never a manic pixie dream girl
Read ’em both. (Second one via Gem Wilder.)
C-3PO rapping. How did I never know about this?
And finally, the Unipiper has upped his game… OF THRONES. This makes no sense.