DJ Phono – There’s Confetti In My Shoes
Here’s a nice lazy house track by DJ Phono (member of Deichkind) to kick off your Friday night. Very thick and sirupy:
Archive for May 27th, 2011
Spanish Riot Police Vs. Protesters
World Press Photo material – riot police in Barcelona clashed with protesters of the 15-M movement today:
Nazis Trained Army Of Talking Dogs
Talking Nazi dogs? Seems like something from a very campy movie (like Iron Sky, about Nazis from outer space). Yet, if we are to believe TIME Magazine, the Third Reich actually had dog training facilities meant to teach mankind’s oldest friend the skill of language.
It seems like all the weird facts about Nazi Germany are depleted, and therefore stuff like this comes up. But apparently, in the 1920s you had ‘new animal psychologists’ who believed animals were as smart as humans, who were co-opted by the Nazis. In a Tier-Sprechschule, dogs were trained to talk. Trainers claimed that one dog could spell his name on a board, and another could bark ‘Mein Führer’ when Hitler’s name was uttered.
In his new book Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, Cardiff University historian Jan Bondeson mines obscure German periodicals to reveal the Nazis’ failed attempt to breed an army of educated dogs that could read, write and talk. “In the 1920s, Germany had numerous ‘new animal psychologists’ who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication,” he writes. “When the Nazi party took over, one might have thought they would be building concentration camps to lock these fanatics up, but instead they were actually very interested in their ideas.”
According to the book, scientists envisioned a day when dogs would serve alongside German troops, and perhaps free up SS officers by guarding concentration camps. So to unlock all that canine potential, Hitler set up a Tier-Sprechschule (Animal Talking School) near Hanover and recruited “educated dogs” from throughout the country. Teachers claimed a number of incredible findings. An Airedale terrier named Rolf became a mythic figure of the project after teachers said he could spell by tapping his paw on a board (the number of taps represented the various letters of the alphabet). With that skill in hand, he mused on religion, learned foreign languages and even asked a noblewoman, “Can you wag your tail?” Perhaps most outlandish is the claim by his German masters that he asked to serve in the German army because he disliked the French. Another mutt barked “Mein Fuhrer” when asked to describe Hitler. And Don, a German pointer, is said to have imitated a human voice to bark, “Hungry! Give me cakes!” in German.
Holy Other – With U / Feel Something
We posted about the Mancurian/Berlin outfit Holy Other before: ghostly, dark ambient dub/house music that is very delicately crafted yet also powerful. Check three great tracks here.
Now, Holy Other has released an EP called With U, with some (for me) new tracks on it. Check out ’With U’ and ‘Feel Something’. Again: lots of drones, Burial-like rave and R&B elements, synths, but also very smooth and dark. Imagine hearing this coming from huge speakers in a dark, forgotten cellar underneath a club somewhere.
Hey You! What Song Are You Listening To?
For some reason, this video makes me very happy. Going around New York City asking people what song they’re listening to. Such a simple concept. I also always wanna ask people what song they’re listening to, but never dare to.
And, damn, my iPod recently went broke and I’m really missing it.
Star Wars Vs. Withnail And I
This is not gonna be funny if you don’t know the movie Withnail and I. And since almost nobody outside of the UK does, you’re not gonna think this is funny.
Withnail and I, though, is one of the most brilliant, hilarious and well-composed movies ever. It’s up there with The Big Lebowski in that class of movies of which every single line is quotable, and that lends itself to re-watching it over and over again.
So here’s the scene in which Luke Skywalker meets Yoda on Dantooine, with the lines of Danny the drug dealer from Withnail and I edited in.
“The joint I am about to roll requires a craftsman and can utilise up to twelve skins. It is called a Camberwell Carrot.”
Mannenmelk
…the fuck. Dit moeten we niet willen met zijn allen: een man die elke dag zijn tepels aansluit op een handkolf in de hoop dat zijn melkklieren actief worden (ja die hebben mannen ook). Het schijnt dat een redelijk percentage mannen ervaring heeft met spontane afscheiding van melk uit de tepels (gebeurt vooral tijdens puberteit en adolescentie), dat is al erg genoeg, maar deze man zoekt het dus zelf op:
The more I learned about male lactation, the more curious I became. I’m 33 years old and single in New York City, a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and George Costanza—if there’s such a thing as a male biological clock, mine has started ticking. I know I can’t birth a child myself, but what if I could bear one to suck at my bosom? Could my rudimentary mammae yield a copious supply of milk?
…
“I might actually be able to do this,” I thought to myself. It all sounded straightforward—I just needed a big surge of prolactin. Where would I get it? Prolactin isn’t commonly available as a pill or shot, but there are some prescription meds that stimulate its production. Drugs like Reglan (metoclopramide) and Motilium (domperidone) are prescribed to women who have difficulty producing milk or have adopted a newborn and want to breast-feed. They come with potential side effects including insomnia, nervousness, and a movement disorder that causes irrepressible twitching.
The problem is, these pills aren’t typically prescribed to 33-year-old writers who just happen to be curious about filling their chests with milk. When I asked a lactation consultant for advice, she was hesitant to provide any. Breast-feeding is still stigmatized in many parts of America, she said, and she didn’t want to worsen its reputation. She also reminded me that while I could give myself a pharmaceutical boost, it would require a doctor’s approval. I could have tried more aggressively to procure some Reglan, but as I imagined myself dealing with increased mood swings, possible depression, and my body twitching out of control, I became afraid.
Fortunately, there’s a more natural way to stimulate milk production. When a baby (or a non-baby) sucks on a nipple, the movement activates mechanoreceptors that connect to the brain and stimulate the pituitary gland. Adoptive mothers can use a breast pump to access this nipple-based lactation process: A standard pumping schedule can take up to two months and ideally involves pumping each breast every three hours around the clock. Here’s the rub: Men have the same receptors in their nipples as women, so the pumping method should work just as well for us.
…
It was strange to apply a breast pump for the first time. My nipples aren’t accustomed to regular stimulation, and though I felt like I was defying the natural order, pumping was surprisingly pleasant. Nipples are filled with nerve endings, after all, and the gentle upward tug of the pump was both comforting and erotic.
…
And then I realized I was missing something essential: a child. For all our assumptions about breast-feeding, the one abiding truth is that it exists to nourish and comfort new life. The walls of gender could be broken down, but without a child to benefit, what was the point? I’d read with great interest the anthropologist Barry Hewlett’s account of his time with the Aka Pygmy tribe in central Africa, where fathers suckle their children when the mothers are away. Not all of the men lactated, but they seemed to understand the gesture is as important emotionally as it is physiologically. Aka men are within reach of their children 47 percent of the time—more than for any other group in the world, according to Hewlett. That sounded beautiful to me. But without a child of my own, I couldn’t compare myself to the Aka. Good reader, I lost heart.
Noem me een ouderwetse, rolbevestigende macho, maar dit gaat me te fur. Misschien dat ze op de Echte Mannenbeurs een stand kunnen openen met melkkolf-apparatuur voor mannen.
