Blog – page 13 of 16

Yadhav started as a small commercial venture that only propped up his dairy business. In the beginning, at least, he offered a straight deal to the drug-addled and destitute potential donors that he picked up at Gorakhpur’s bus and train stations. The $3 he gave for a pint of blood would buy food for several days. It was illegal, but it was also easy money. Yadhav could easily turn over common blood types for $20 quick profit, while rarer groups could fetch up to $150 a pint. It didn’t take long for the situation to deteriorate. As his operation grew, he got tired of trolling the city’s transit points. So Yadhav offered the donors a place to stay. With the men under his roof, it was only a matter of time before he took control of their fates though a mixture of coercion, false promises, and padlocked doors. The blood business got so big that he needed help. He took on a former lab technician named Jayant Sarkar, who had experience running an underground blood farm in Kolkata before he was chased out of the city in the late 1990s. Together Yadhav and Sarkar grew into one of the main blood suppliers in the region. The business concept was similar to that of Yadhav’s milk farm. The two were so interrelated that he kept the cowsheds and human sheds next to each other to economize on space.

— Book Excerpt: Exposing India’s Blood Farmers - Wired Science - Wired.com

How to stay creative:

Or if you need a few more (or prefer to read rather than watch videos):

Do you remember how good Michael Jordan was? In case you forgot…

Michael Jordan - How Quickly They Forget (MJ vs Lebron) (by lcmj23)

Angry Birds Live (by lifeisforsharingDT)

nowadays no one was treated differently on grounds of gender; but older people insisted that you have to pay attention to how people behave, not what they say. The arrival of a baby boy is greeted with celebration, the birth of a girl with condolence. Official statistics say that newborn boys outnumber girls by 118 to 100 in spite of the fact that, according to my friends, boys cost more. Parents have to start saving to buy a house or a flat for a son from the day of his birth, because no man has a hope of marrying unless he can provide a home for his bride—and girls can afford to be increasingly picky these days, in this as in much else.
==========
The past played no part in Chang’s conversations with the factory girls who had migrated from their villages to operate the assembly lines that produce the clothes we wear, the computer parts we need, the shoes, hats, handbags, games and gadgets that make the Western world go round. They work up to 13 hours a day, live in cold, dirty, overcrowded dormitories and eat poor food. They have no free time, health insurance, holidays or pension provision beyond the paltry state minimum. Three years ago their average wage was between 500 and 800 yuan—roughly £50-80—a month. Today, a shortage of labour means that young women in their 20s, the elite of the migrant workforce, can earn three times as much, or more. They return to their villages at New Year bearing gifts: anoraks, trainers, sweets and toys for the children, pretty jackets for their mothers. They also inject unprecedented sums of money into the rural economy. Young unmarried women now subsidise their parents, pay for the education of younger brothers and sisters, distribute handouts to elderly relatives, and command growing respect from the village as well as from their families. Some go back home to settle, bringing capital and know-how. A friend told me about her female cousin who returned to farm the land in the village where their grandparents lived in a mud house with paper windows. People like this are beginning to put up glass-and-stone two-storey houses in the country, conspicuous proof of an alien world of development and enterprise. Factory girls may look victimised to outsiders, who take them to be helpless, ill-paid and insecure, easy prey to sexual and financial exploitation, stuck on the lowest and most vulnerable level of society. “But that’s not how they see themselves,” says Chang. In their own eyes they are proud, resourceful, energetic risk-takers at the cutting edge of a social revolution.
==========
Heads always nodded in my audience when I said that all of us have bones to bury, things that are never talked about in families, things a whole nation might prefer to forget. People in China now dismiss their ugly memories just as people all over Europe dismissed the Holocaust for many years after the war. “Children can’t bear to remember what happened to their parents,” says Xinran, who recorded the life stories of men and women in their 70s and 80s in “China Witness” (2008), the only one of her books that remains banned today even in translation. Buck insisted that our grandparents’ world belongs also to us. The past made us what we are now, and we forget it at our peril. At the end of my last talk at Nanjing university, a student pointed out that burying the bones has a further meaning in China, where the dead are traditionally returned to the earth from which they came so that they may find peace. He might have added that it is only when the past has been acknowledged and accepted that it can finally be laid to rest.

— WOMEN IN CHINA: A SOCIAL REVOLUTION - More Intelligent Life

James Abbot McNeil’s Whistler’s Mother recreated in balloons by Larry Moss.

(via If It’s Hip, It’s Here: Airigami: The Fine Art of Balloon Sculpture by Larry Moss.)

(via BMW Powered Twin-Rotor Hoverbike - Gear Patrol)

(via Robbie and Bobby - Tattoos are Like Cats)

Newspaper map

Big Willie Medley (Will Smith A Capella Multitrack) - Matt Mulholland Cover (by mattmulholland26)

I think he spend a bit too much time with the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire at the beginning, but then it get fun. Matt Mulholland might be Will Smith’s lost twin.

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) (by logreproduction)

Illustration: Oscar Ramos Orozco (via How to Create a Captivating Presentation :: Tips :: The 99 Percent)

How to make a movie that sells. (via The Successful Movie Formula -)

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but certainly feel free to pick a wine by its label.

“Unless you have an extensive knowledge of regions and grapes, the wine you choose is simply not going to matter all that much. What’s the worst that can happen? Unless it literally tastes like those sweat socks that wine people insist on using as a flavor comparison, you still end up with a bottle of wine you can drink. And last time I checked, a bottle of wine will get you nicely buzzed with your friends over the course of an evening no matter what you choose. So why not choose based on the label?”

It’s no surprise to me that I’ve already fallen behind with this project to share the highlights from what I’ve been reading each week. But its better that I have fals starts now, early on, before I get many people tuning in than once I have an audience.

So, here it is my reading highlights from the past few weeks with links to sources:

DNA/How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet (douglasadams.com)

When you pump your own gas at the filling station are you working for the gas station or for yourself? Are all those people waiting in line behind the ATM machine more highly evolved bank customers or just nonpaid bank tellers? When you take a pregnancy test at home, are you a savvy self-helper, or part of the HMO’s plan to reduce costs? The answer, of course, is both.

— New Rules for the New Economy

Nighthawks of the Living Dead (by Profound Whatever)

MI6 attacks al-Qaeda in ‘Operation Cupcake’ - Telegraph

(via The Force is Strong with The Muppets at Disney Parks « Disney Parks Blog)

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

— Desiderata (via with heart wide open: things to be desired)

Michael Jackson vs Mr. Bean (by Pascal Blais Animation Studio)

Weezer - Paranoid Android (by weezer)

RICE KRISPYHENGE (via hello : brock davis)

WeatherSpark - Weather Graphs, Maps & More

BBC Nature - In Pictures: Top ten new species discovered this year

Profile portrait done in embosses disposable roasting pans and trays.

profiles project (byidan x)

Eddie the Great Gray (by Snyder Art)

Top Ten Myths About the Brain - Science & Nature - Smithsonian Magazine

Kid casting in Arrested Development:

kidcasting:

“Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and (seemingly) random motion.”

Pendulum Waves (by NatSciDemos)

(via Chart Showing The Average Life Spans of Animals)

JELLYFISH LAKE, PALAU (by Sarosh Jacob)

Ronen’s Lifesize Ballerina Music Box (by Ronen V)

Bikes Make Life Better – Projection Art (by peopleforbikes)

Scenes from China - Alan Taylor - In Focus - The Atlantic

(via Cross Section Views of Leica Lenses)

A Quick Tour Of Flippin, Arkansas: Pics, Videos, Links, News

The real chain of command for our nuclear arsenal.

(via Chain of Command)

Swiss “Jetman” flies over Grand Canyon (by swissinfovideos)

Never confuse education with intelligence.

Possibly the most awesome bookmark every.

Manipulating play pit balls with a huge electro magnate.

F5 2011 RE:PLAY Film Festival. Inductance (by Physalia Studio)

Click through to see the full sized version. (via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

— Arthur C. Clarke: Seth’s Blog: An end of magic

I haven’t seen this one in the store yet, but it’s a wine I’d try. (via Punch in the Face : Serious About Wine)

Cinemassacre’s Top 10 Jackie Chan Fight Scenes (by JamesNintendoNerd)

How to Shoot a Rifle - The Art of Manliness

Signs of Hope in Alabama’s Tornado Wreckage - Alan Taylor - In Focus - The Atlantic

This is the second installment of my reading highlights from my Kindle. This one is much more digestible than the first. Again, I’ve included links to the originals. Enjoy.

Understanding America-Exceptionalism – The Heritage Foundation

Added on Monday, May 09, 2011, 12:47 PM

The original Mt. Rushmore design had the presidents depicted from the waist up.

The Technium: Tech Shopping Rules of Thumb

PEOPLE ARE AWESOME (by Hadoukentheband)

(via Dogs in the news - The Big Picture - Boston.com)

Vintage Photographs of Moscow 1909 - a set on Flickr

The best way to sabotage chances for upward mobility of a youngster from a single-parent household, who resides in a violent slum and has attended poor-quality schools is to make it unprofitable for any employer to hire him. The way to accomplish that is to mandate an employer to pay such a person a wage that exceeds his skill level.

— Minimum Wage’s Discriminatory Effects by Walter E. Williams on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent

laughingsquid:

Human Bicycle

It is truly incredible what your brain does when it sees this collection colored squares.

illillill:

In the medical literature, the vocal “cord” is a mere “fold,” a piece of gristle that strives to reach out and touch its twin, thus producing the possibility of sound effects. But I feel that there must be a deep relationship with the word “chord”: the resonant vibration that can stir memory, produce music, evoke love, bring tears, move crowds to pity and mobs to passion. We may not be, as we used to boast, the only animals capable of speech. But we are the only ones who can deploy vocal communication for sheer pleasure and recreation, combining it with our two other boasts of reason and humor to produce higher syntheses. To lose this ability is to be deprived of an entire range of faculty: it is assuredly to die more than a little.

— Christopher Hitchens: Unspoken Truths - Culture - Vanity Fair

Frank Sinatra Slang

This is a short animated film about a boy and girl seeing light for the first time on a dark and desolate planet.

Its a film from students at Sheridan College 2010: Sean Calligan, Jen Bamford, Hail Kim, Nosa Ott, Cassandra Piesz, Morghan Peressini, Vanessa Stefaniuk, Derek Spencer, and Eddie West.

Sun Day (by Derek Spencer)

Death Cab For Cutie’s “Home Is A Fire,” video by Shepard Fairey and Nicholas Harmer (by boingboingvideo)

Gnome of the living dead. Etsy artist dougfx, from Seattle created this scary lawn ornament. It would be best for Halloween, but is still cool any time of year. (via Zombie Garden Gnome Walking Dead by dougfx on Etsy)

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car (Boyce Avenue & Kina Grannis acoustic cover) by boyceavenue.

This song has such powerful lyrics, full of hope in the midst of hopelessness. The song demonstrates the importance of having a fast car.

A Hoth Realtor Addresses Some of the Concerns Being Raised Over His Decision to Turn Han Solo’s Deceases Tauntaun Into a Modest Studio Apartment.

Angry Birds - Chrome Web Store

Respectful Yo Mama Jokes.

there’s a hole in my heart

teachingliteracy:

by amberlawn

lionskeleton:

(by Nathan Sawaya)

Massive LEGO sculptures — creations so big that they cannot go unnoticed … The shock value increases when these sculptures are placed in environments and contexts where no-one is expecting to see a big “toy.”

Word is Van Gogh loved bacon, but decided paint was a better medium for posterity (via Bacon Starry Night @Craftzine.com blog)

A few months ago, I decided to buy a Kindle. Really, I combined a gift card and credit card points towards getting the toy. It’s been great. Since I got it in the mail, I’ve been using it for all of my reading. I don’t know if it’s made me read more, but it has a wonderful feature that lets me highlight and export text right from the device, letting me see what has struck me in what I’ve read.

Taking this a step further. I’m now going to share what I’ve been reading here. Ideally, I’ll keep this updated weekly, but you know how life is. I’ll do my best to include links to the articles from the web or to links to where you can find the source of the book I have excerpted. I have cut down significantly on the highlights represented. I do not feel compelled to share everything I’m reading, but want to leave behind a good collection of the more significant passages. Also, I’ve maintained the original order of the highlights, so there is going to be some jumping around from article to article.

Where the Wild Jedi’s are. (via Latest doodle - “till Luke said ‘BE STILL!�… on Twitpic)

Amazing force:

“Complete destruction of House No. 1, located 3,500 feet from ground zero, by an atomic blast on March 17, 1953, at Yucca Flat at the Nevada Proving Ground. The time from the first to last picture was 2.3 seconds. The camera was completely enclosed in a 2-inch lead sheath as a protection against radiation. The only source of light was that from the bomb. In frame 1, the house is lit by the blast, by frame 2 the radiating energy has set it on fire, and the remaining frames show the rapid disintegration of the house by the blast wave.” (U.S. Department of Defense) (via http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/05/when-we-tested-nuclear-bombs/100061/)

This is a great art installation, but would also make for a cool party trick. (via Cut Chair - Peter Bristol)

WSJ SafeHouse – Share Confidential Documents

Artist Al Farrow creates sculptures out of ammo and gun parts. The one above is made from Bullets, Guns, Glass, Shot, Steel, Bone, Antique Textile. See more on his website. (via Al Farrow Reliquaries Cathedral)

A black and white forest is colored in vibrant hues under our eyes except for one sad little panda, which sets off the compassion of an imaginative little boy.

TIJI “COLOUR” HD (by AKAMA)

In honor of Star Wars Day… May the Fourth be with you. (via Jeremy Messersmith - Tatooine by ashram6)

(via Quotes « Bits Of Wisdom)

merlin:

adamisacson:

The Idiot (on my soon to read list).

Shadow Puppets

Here’s a fun little poem that could easily be referring to the use of cell phones. Plenty of people feel this way if they misplace their phone…

I Left My Head

BY LILIAN MOORE

Most Liked Pictures of 2009 Picture Gallery on CollegeHumor - Funny Pictures, Funny Videos, Funny Links!

An Update is Available for Your Computer - sticky comics

(via Bacon Toothpaste - Uncrate)

Why no one thought of this before is beyond me. If I have to brush my teeth a few times a day, it should be with something I love.

Photograph of an analog alarm clock - disassembled and neatly arranged. (via GraphicHug™ – Everybody Needs a Hug » Todd Mclellan) Click through for more neatly arranged, but fully disassembled objects.

Teddy Roosevelt VS. Bigfoot by ~SharpWriter on deviantART

Sign of the times…. « Richard Wiseman’s Blog

Eat, Buy, Beauty: via www.kottke.org

Dancing at the Weber wedding. (Something I made from some photo booth images.)

xkcd: Audiophiles

Space Jam

Water Sculpture (by Shinichi Maruyama)

Brain Oddities: Spelling is Irrelevant to Comprehension - The Big Picture

My father was killed my ninjas. Need money for Karate lessons. (via 30.media.tumblr.com)