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Introducing the real Harlem Shake

Melissa Harris-Perry asks members of the media to cease and desist calling the viral video “the Harlem Shake,” and introduces the originators of the Harlem Shake, the Crazy Boyz and the Harlem Shakers.

The latest podcast from RadioLab, which takes on the weirdest subject matter.

There are few musical moments more well-worn than the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. But in this short, we find out that Beethoven might have made a last-ditch effort to keep his music from ever feeling familiar, to keep pushing his listeners to a kind of psychological limit.

Students Promote Bread and Roses Strike – Zinn Education Project »

Sociology, history, gender studies, political science classes, and the freshman honors program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell spent several weeks learning about the 1912 Lawrence, Mass., textile strike.

iridessence:

girljanitor:

Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found

The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier.

The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves.

You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.

Oh god. I could cry.

This was my “driveway moment” this morning. I loved learning about the local nature of these remedies and the communal nature of the venues.

EnlargeLibrary of Congress
A soda fountain in south Texas in the early 20th century. Modern mixologists are discovering old recipes and forgotten flavors of the soda fountain era.
text size A A ASeptember 1, 2011
If you’re hankering for something new to drink — something more interesting than the usual cocktail or soda — you may want to look to the past. Way back in the 19th century, pharmacists and soda-jerks created all sorts of exotic, lip-smacking sensations by mixing fizzy mineral water with unique blends of sweet syrups and bitters.

“The soda fountain was once an equivalent to the local saloon,” says Darcy O’Neil, the author of Fix the Pumps, a history of the golden age of soda fountains. In 1875, he explains, there was a soda counter in almost every American city.

By dusting off these old recipes and publishing them, he’s helped launch a bit of a renaissance. From New Orleans to Boston, Nashville and Washington, D.C., mixologists are serving up this style of drinks.
EnlargeMaggie Starbard/NPR
Phosphates and bitters, a mixture of herbs steeped in alcohol, are part of the revival of old-timey soda fountain drinks at places like PS7’s in Washington, D.C.

The trend reflects a shift away from the industrial soft drinks most of us grew up with, says Melissa Abbott, director of culinary insights at the Hartman Group, a consumer trends consultancy. “Old-timey sodas represent the movement toward higher quality — meaning seasonal, small-batch, local, even organic,” she says.

read more, including recipes

The Constitution came about precisely to enable a newly large government — a national one — to tax all Americans for the specific purpose of funding a large public debt. Neither Alexander Hamilton nor his mentor the financier Robert Morris made any bones about that purpose; James Madison was among their closest allies; and Edmund Randolph of Virginia opened the Constitutional Convention by charging the delegates to redress the country’s failure to fund — not pay off, fund — the public debt, by creating a national government.

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William Hogeland “The Founding Fathers would have hated the debt ceiling” - War Room - Salon.com 8/1/11

William Hogeland is the author of the narrative histories “Declaration” and “The Whiskey Rebellion” and a collection of essays, “Inventing American History.” He has spoken on unexpected connections between history and politics at the National Archives, the Kansas City Public Library, and various corporate and organization events. He blogs at http://www.williamhogeland.com.

soupsoup:

Who Raised The Debt Ceiling?

Palin: I didn't `mess up' Paul Revere history - Yahoo! News »

Sarah Palin must have thought we were talking about Paul Reverse!

Double Facepalm

One palm is not enough.

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press – Sun Jun 5, 4:56 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin insisted Sunday that history was on her side when she claimed that Paul Revere’s famous ride was intended to warn both British soldiers and his fellow colonists.

“You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?” “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace asked the potential 2012 presidential candidate.

“I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere,” replied Palin, a paid contributor to the network.

“Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there. That, hey, you’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have,” she added. “He did warn the British.”