How Ferguson showed us the truth about police

Metallic Flesh

Italian photographer Guido Argentini takes the human form to a whole new level with his photos of painted dancers.

How a $47 Shrimp Treadmill Became a $3-Million Political Plaything

Over the past few years numerous media stories have surfaced about how hard-earned taxpayer dollars are supporting scientists who run shrimp on treadmills: Forbes.com listed shrimp-treadmill research as wasting $3-million in taxpayer dollars, AARP produced a nationally distributed commercial of lab-coat-wearing scientists running shrimp on treadmills to equate the lack of federal support for retiree health-care services to money spent on shrimp-treadmill research, and Mike Huckabee linked the National Science Foundation’s funding of shrimp-treadmill studies to limited military spending.
(David Scholnick, The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Word War III: The Inside Story

Here's a little real talk about the book publishing industry — it adds almost no value, it is going to be wiped off the face of the earth soon, and writers and readers will be better off for it. 
(Matthew Yglesias, Vox.com)

Don’t Waste Any Tears on the Democrats

If we progressives hold any hope for the 2016 election year, we'll need to replace Harry Reid. He's outclassed by even the likes of Louie Gohmert.

There are a thousand and one reasons the Democrats lost control of the Senate, but the main one is this: They didn’t stand for a goddam thing.The GOP ran on a single talking point — “We’ll stop Obama” — whereas the Dems couldn't even work up the guts to admit they voted for the man.
What a bunch of empty suits, lacking vision, courage, values, goals — indeed, lacking any sort of apparent dream other than that of being elected to public office.
It’s become a commonplace to criticize President Obama for failing to lead.  I call bullshit on that.  What happened is that his party has failed to follow. (Far from Brooklyn)