Samhain Greetings! 
Happy invoicing!
- Infographic Of The Day: Yahoo Mail's Mindblowing Computing Power - "Checking your email has become something as reliable as turning on your water faucet. But there is, in both cases, a quiet history of ingenuity and infrastructure that works so flawlessly that it can be taken for granted. And, in the case of your email, that infrastructure is un-freaking-believeable." An overview of Yahoo! Mail's very cool real-time visualisations of activity across its network.
- Victorian sex factoids - an examination of some of our probably-wrong received wisdom about Victorian sexuality.
- Jeff Jarvis: The Game is Up - In case you missed it, there's been a lovely online spat over the last couple of weeks as a result of Evgeny Morozov's scathing review of Internet pundit Jeff Jarvis's new book, Public Parts (Warning: print-version link, due to paywall). Milo Yiannopoulos sums up the situation nicely in this article: "You have to feel sorry for Jarvis. Admittedly, he holds himself in curiously high regard, which can be grating. And he certainly never passes on the opportunity to congratulate himself. But as he squirmed uncomfortably, attempting to discredit and dismiss Morozov, instead of addressing his opponent’s criticisms head-on, you realised that this was a populist, middle-brow author being brutally kneecapped by an academic with a vastly superior arsenal. What hope did he have? Jarvis takes great pleasure in underscoring his academic credentials, but not all professors are made equal, and this felt like Daffy Duck being decapitated by Immanuel Kant."
- The Northern Line tunnel – bombed and flooded in 1940 – and still sealed shut - "Just before midnight on the 9th September 1940, sailors up on deck of the cargo sailing ship, Seven Seas were watching an air raid by German bombers over the Charing Cross railway bridge when an explosion hit the river and a large wave struck the ship. A few moments later, a large fountain erupted out of the River Thames that lasted for about half a minute before dying away... the bomb had indeed smashed through the roof of the Northern Line tunnel – or more specifically, a long since abandoned loop of the Northern Line under the Thames that had been in use for just a few years before being sealed shut." Excellent account of a forgotten bit of Tube history by Ian Mansfield (whose blog is full of other interesting stuff about obscure aspects of London).
- Best Before - A 90-year-old lady cleans out her larder. My mother had a tin of this treacle until some time in the 1980s:
- Why 'Fantasia' Mattered—Just Ask Gunther Schuller - "Needless to say, snobs of all kinds have long taken a dim view of "Fantasia," with its dancing mushrooms and cavorting hippos. Not so Mr. Schuller: "I hope [Stravinsky] appreciated that hundreds—perhaps thousands—of musicians were turned onto 'The Rite of Spring' (and by implication lots of other modern music) through 'Fantasia'..." Terry Teachout on the importance of classic works inspiring popular culture.
- One minute, you’re relaxing on holiday... - "The next, someone contacts you to tell you that you’re in the Daily Mail and you soon realise that whilst you were out of the country someone had grabbed your life, twisted out of all recognition and published it to the world." Kevin Arscott of butireaditinthepaper on the lies and distortions the Mail chose to inflict upon Hayley Quinn.
- 7/7: London's unsung heroes - "The events of July 7 2005 saw an incredible rescue operation by the fire, police and ambulance services. But it was London Underground's Emergency Response Unit who were first on the scene. On call 24 hours, these men carry out the most critical and dangerous work on the tube - yet none recieved honours after the bombings. Joining them on a night shift, Time Out finds modesty and grim humour among these remarkable professionals."
- The Benjamin Franklin Effect - "The Misconception: You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate. The Truth: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm." Benjamin Franklin turned a political enemy into an ally by asking to borrow a book from him. Weird.
- Backstage - "The backstage rider, presented to promoters by every touring act, details specifications on stage design, sound systems, lighting, as well as an artist's wish list--from travel and billing to dressing room accommodations and meals." The Smoking Gun has a growing collection of them, for artists ranging from The Beatles to all those who aren't The Beatles.
Happy invoicing!
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