Culture Buzz To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, here are some stunning images of the event that brought the United States into World War II. And allow us to use the occasion to thank our veterans for their service and sacrifice.
Culture Buzz Urban decay has never looked so beautifully eerie. Hashima Island, or Gunkanshima (meaning “Battleship Island,” so nicknamed for it's nautical shape), was a former coal mining community established in 1887. The mine was shut down in 1974 and the city abandoned. Now it has a new nickname: Ghost Island.
Culture Buzz Aliaa Maghda El-Mahdy is a 20-year-old political activist from Cairo who has gained infamy in Egypt for posting the following nude photos as a feminist statement against radical Islamic oppression. Pot, consider yourself stirred.
James and Daniel are identical twins. What sets them apart is that one is white and one is black, and a population geneticist at Edinburgh University says this is a more common occurrence than one would think among Jamaican fathers. “Most Caribbean people, though black-skinned, have European DNA because in the days of slavery, many plantation owners raped female slaves, and so introduced European DNA into the black gene pool,” says Dr. Jim Wilson. “The Caribbean father will have less European DNA than African DNA, so it's more likely he'll pass on African DNA – but rarely, and I've worked it out to be around one in 500 sets of twins where there's a couple of this genetic mix, the father will pass on a lot of European DNA to one child and mostly African DNA to the other. The result will be one white child and one black.” (via guardian.co.uk)
Culture Buzz Jean Barrie, the “Editress of Woman's Fair Magazine,” gives a “plain girl” a makeover by adding eyebrows, eyelashes and lipstick.
Culture Buzz No, these aren't from the photo booth at last week's Vice party in Brooklyn. These are from Olathe, Kansas during the Eisenhower Administration. This was the first Octobeard. (via dangerousminds.net)
Culture Buzz Although I'd like to believe I am relatively courageous, my suburban-bred bravery falls far short of these daredevils. I'm glad blogging doesn't require me to hang out on construction beams up in the clouds, even though that would be fairly badass.
Culture Buzz Here's a collection of turn of the century photos of men being affectionate with each other. Gay or not, these are pretty cute.
Culture Buzz An incredible story. Vivian Maier was a nanny who lived in Chicago for most of her life and passed away in 2009 at the age of 83. Little more is known about her, except that she was an avid street photographer. Her work was discovered at an auction in 2007, more than 100,000 negatives and undeveloped rolls of film, sold by a storage facility who were cleaning out her locker for delinquent rent. Here is a small sampling of Vivian Maier's stunning work from the Maloof Collection, spanning from the 1950s to the 1970s. Many of the photos, if they had any information at all, only provided a year and/or city.
Culture Buzz A collection of the most confusing/unexplainable photos from my Tumblr blog, Black & WTF.
Celebrity Buzz As well as some other parts of her body in the latest issue of Out. The tattoos make her crotch look like a Masonic lodge.