Last night I had a dream that I was using a computer program that could create a recipe from a song.  Basically, you would load a song into the program, and it would identify all the instruments, textures, and dynamics of the song, and then create a recipe that corresponded to these things.  The crazy thing was that when I or anyone else ate food that came from these recipes, we knew immediately what the song sounded like, and even what the lyrics were.  I woke up this morning wondering what a french horn or even the sound of Sinatra’s voice might taste like if they could be made into flavors.  

I am kind of hoping that someone tries to make a meal to go along with various songs, and invites me over to eat it.  

newsweek:

wardrox:

How far removed from the real world do you have to be to think publishing, with no warning, a graphic image of a dead or dieing dying person covered in blood is fine? Newsweek’s Tumblr even calls the posting of the grotesque image “a necessity in an age of media-driven rumors”.

No, Newsweek, it fucking isn’t. Unless you think your readers are knuckle dragging, celebrity-masturbating, morons. Are your Tumblr followers people unable to understand something without you pushing an image of a corpse in their face?

I can only assume the people in charge of the Tumblr feeds for both Newsweek and The Atlantic live in some corner of an office, detached from the real world in some kind of bubble. The kind of bubble where reason and logic, common sense and common decency become warped by deadlines, hits, spin and hype.

I hate the internet sometimes.

Link here, warning: graphic.

Edit: I should probably point out the reason I name Newsweek and The Atlantic specifically is because they’re the two publications I follow on Tumblr who posted the image.

Edit 2: Newsweek have posted a video of “Muammar Gaddafi’s corpse being kicked through the streets of Sirte”. And I kid you not, they say “We’re posting it because many others have”. That is not a good reason.

Edit 3: The Guardian’s website has the image on its front page. Anyone going online to read the news in the UK will have that image unavoidably shown to them. Am I completely out of touch with what’s acceptable?

We didn’t mean to offend anyone with what we published here yesterday regarding Gaddafi’s death. We chose to do so because those images bear witness to the historical events that unfolded in Libya as the months-long rebellion overran the remaining walls of a fallen dictatorship.

These images, while graphic, were broadcast on multiple TV networks (CNN and al-Jazeera to name two) and led the front-pages of newspapers around the world. If we abstained, would that be “the high-road?” Or would we be missing out on covering a slice of history, and failing to convey the whole story to you guys? Keep in mind: we aren’t chasing deadlines on tumblr.

Occasionally the photographs and videos coming out of the Arab Spring uprisings just straight up suck. From them, we’re reminded of the absolute brutality of humanity. But, at the end of the day, Gaddafi, Ben Ali, Mubarak are out of power. That’s a direct result of the prevalence of camera phones, and the very fact people like you were able to witness the violent crackdowns on protesters in nearly real-time. It’s only fair that goes both ways.

As a matter of personal preference, I don’t usually reblog things; this, however, seems important.  Wardrox is absolutely right in what he says.  While I get that Newsweek and The Atlantic were doing their jobs as journalists in recording a moment of history, all they had to do is insert a page break with one of those “click here to read more (caution: graphic)” kind of links.  The fact that they just posted the images and videos of Ghaddafi’s dead and dying body for everyone to see, with no warning suggests to me that they have no respect for their readers.  I am not saying they shouldn’t have reported these aspects of the story, I am saying that they should have hidden the pictures behind a page break, or a link of some sort.  

I really hate that Newsweek tried to defend their actions by saying, “Occasionally the photographs and videos coming out of the Arab Spring uprisings just straight up suck. From them, we’re reminded of the absolute brutality of humanity.”  What a ridiculous thing to say!  It’s like someone going to a bullfight and saying “I only go because it reminds me of how people shouldn’t be cruel to animals.”  And then, telling their friends to go as well.  Or, for another analogy, it’s like going out on a date with some guy who tells you he has a huge porn collection, but only because he thinks it is good to be reminded of how tragic it is that porn removes love from the act of sex.  Then to top it off, he has already started playing one of his dvds so you can see exactly what he means!  

you lick your lips driving home from her father’s house
and you know
if you could have her
your body would be truthful
and all the terrible things that followed your birth
would be negated—
even the flaw you will not admit is always on your mind