Barry Graham's Blog, page 100

It seems to me that a device like this would also be useful for recording police brutality.

criminalwisdom:

THE HELMET OF JUSTICE: SLEEK BIKE HELMET MAKES SURE THAT HIT AND RUN DRIVERS GET CAUGHT»

The seven mini-cameras, secured in the helmet’s air vents with a layer of foam, record video at 30 frames per second with a resolution of 720x480 (that will be upgraded in the next version). They provide a 360-degree view of an accident as it happens. All of the core data is saved in a detachable USB d...

criminalwisdom:

FOX TOSSING

Fox tossing would take place in an arena, usually either created by setting up a circle of canvas screens in the open or by using the courtyard of a castle or palace. Two people would stand six to seven and a half metres (20 to 25 feet) apart, holding the ends of a webbed or cord sling which was laid flat on the ground. An animal such as a fox would then be released from a cage or trap and driven through the arena, across the sling. As it crossed the sling the tosser...

Today is the the 60th anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin. There can be no doubt about the monstrosity of some of his actions, and no doubt that his cult of personality was antithetical to the socialism he espoused, but to simply label him a monster or a megalomaniac is useless.

To anyone wanting to understand what happened, and what went wrong - how he went from poet and gangster to leader of the Soviet empire to paranoid narcissist - I recommend Simon Sebag Montefiore’s biographi...

The last couple weeks, I’ve been re-reading John Berryman’s The Dream Songs, and being shocked all over again by the magnificence of these poems. In this video from 1967, Berryman is interviewed in Dublin by Al Alvarez, and reads Dream Song #14.

Professor Harry Keen, 87, a diabetes specialist for 50 years, and founder of theNHS Support Federation, which aims to protect the founding values of the NHS, still holds a clinic once a week. He recalls a visit to a boy called Billy in his home in the summer of 1948, soon after qualifying. “I received two shillings and sixpence and said I would call back. When I returned the mother informed me that Billy was a lot better. But as we spoke I heard a loud hac...

criminalwisdom:

Mark Drew’s latest art show Deez Nuts mashes up Peanuts comic strip with 90’s rap lyrics.

You might have heard of the Teddy Boys, a 1950s rebel youth subculture in Britain characterized by an unlikely style of dress inspired by Edwardian dandies fused with American rock’n roll. They formed gangs from East London to North Kensington and became high profile rebels in the media. But an importantsub-subculture of the Teddy Boys, an unlikely female element, has remained all but invisible from historical records. MeetThe Teddy Girls.