Kyle Wrather: Blog

thomaswheatley: For 35 years, Your DeKalb Farmers Market, the...

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:58:49 -0400

For 35 years, Your DeKalb Farmers Market, the 140,000-square-foot grocery store with more than 800 employees from more than 40 countries, has changed the way metro Atlanta has shopped and cooked. It will only get bigger. Much bigger.

(Photo by the wonderful Dustin Chambers)

Read of the day.

Ron Swanson may know this by heart. (via The Periodic Table of...

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:37:00 -0400

Ron Swanson may know this by heart.

(via The Periodic Table of Meat)

This Kid Has A First Amendment Right to Shave San Antonio Spurs...

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:34:01 -0400

This Kid Has A First Amendment Right to Shave San Antonio Spurs Forward Matt Bonner’s Face Into His Hair

This is a worthwhile argument … and that haircut is amazing. Behold!

(Via ThinkProgress)

jessethorn: HELLO, COMPUTER! Computer?

Fri, 18 May 2012 06:26:39 -0400

jessethorn:

HELLO, COMPUTER!

Computer?

This day in history: 1987 - I was born.

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:56:48 -0400

This day in history:

1987 - I was born.

Cameras!

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:54:33 -0400

Cameras!

The power of the pentatonic scale with Bobby McFerrin. (Via...

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:06:16 -0400

The power of the pentatonic scale with Bobby McFerrin.

(Via SwissMiss)

Morning Music Recommendation: Let My Love Open The Door (E. Cola...

Tue, 01 May 2012 08:03:01 -0400

Morning Music Recommendation: Let My Love Open The Door (E. Cola Mix) - Pete Townshend

"A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed..."

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:44:44 -0400

“A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.”

- John James Audubon (b. April 26, 1785)

brittanyforks: Tim Cook Awesome.

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:31:08 -0400

brittanyforks:

Tim Cook

Awesome.

Saturday Music Recommendation: The Dutchess & The Duke -...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:35:31 -0400

Saturday Music Recommendation: The Dutchess & The Duke - “Reservoir Park”

RAISE THE TITANIC! The book by Clive Cussler (which I remember...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:04:42 -0400

RAISE THE TITANIC!

The book by Clive Cussler (which I remember seeing on my parent’s bookshelf) and 1980 movie, “Raise the Titanic” were both made before the titanic was found at the bottom of the Atlantic.

This morning in #ATL’s Piedmont Park, things were looking...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 08:13:39 -0400

This morning in #ATL’s Piedmont Park, things were looking pretty beautiful.

Science Terms That Could Be Indie Band Names

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:42:42 -0400

*(An incomplete list)*

The Covalent Bonds
Progeny
Golgi Apparatus
Moraines
Heritable Traits
Chronostratigraphy
Quantum Foam
Van Allen Belt
Mass Spectrometry
Mole
Hiatal Hernias
The Subduction Zones

What Podcasts do you listen to?

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:00:05 -0400

I listen to a lot of podcasts, so I thought I’d make a list of some of my favorites and maybe a little bit about why I like each one.

Jordan, Jesse, Go! -Hosted by Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris, this is one of the few free-form podcasts that is actually listenable. Full of obscure pop-culture references and running jokes, it’s a lot of fun.

Risk! -Created by Kevin Allison (comedian from The State), Risk! features celebrities and everyday people sharing crazy, scary and sometimes unbelievable stories. It’s a lesson in both the craft of storytelling and the weirdness of the human experience.

WTF with Marc Maron - There’s a reason this is one of the most popular podcasts. Maron’s introspection and self-deprecating wit adds a new layer to all of his interviews with comedians, comics and celebrities. He achieves a level of intimacy in his interviews that many trained journalists never learn.

Slate Podcasts - I could probably spend a whole post just talking about these. Slate was one of the first publications to go all-in on podcasting programming and it shows. With tight, intelligent and interesting conversations covering a wide variety of subjects including politics, culture, sports, women’s issues, books and others, Slate has it covered. Here are a few of their ‘casts.
- Political Gabfest
- Culture Gabfest
- Hang Up and Listen
- XX Factor (every other week)
- and more.

This American Life - Another obligatory podcast. Ira Glass is one of the best and it shows with every show.

Radiolab - Forget the interesting stories and interviews, I could listen to this for the sound design alone.

Filmspotting - For movie fans, this is an intelligent and engaging look at both the newest blockbusters, indie releases and also looks back at some of the best movies from the past. They’ve also started an occasional mini-show which covers the newest streaming movies from Netflix, Hulu and more.

On The Media -As a journalism/media nerd, I love this show. Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone deftly discuss and examine the hot media topics of the week while pulling no punches. They also monitor the cutting-edge changes in technology that affect the way we understand and take in media and news. Great show.

Doug Loves Movies - Another movie podcast, This classic humor ‘cast from Doug Benson features him and his comedian and celebrity friends discussing and joking about films and playing fun movie-related games.

The Nerdist - Chris Hardwick, Matt Mira and Jonah Ray host this romp through nerd-dom discussing a wide range of things from movies to TV, video games and more. They also have a variety of celebrity guests.

Left, Right and Center (KCRW) - At a brisk 30 minutes, this is one of the better political roundtable shows. Featuring commentators from a variety of political discussion, the show prides itself on grown-up and polite discussions. Mostly free of talking-points and empty rhetoric, it’s a thought-provoking listen.

99% Invisible - Created by Roman Mars, this brief (but always great) show focuses each episode on an amazing, but often overlook masterpiece of design, ranging from technology to architecture.

Opinion: Why Instagram photos cheat the viewer by Nick Sten (CNN.com)

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:26:03 -0500

Opinion: Why Instagram photos cheat the viewer by Nick Sten (CNN.com):

While interesting, I can’t help but see Stern’s argument that camera apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic as defensive and a little deceptive. He says:

“Any news photographer worth his or her salt will tell you that the best camera is one that lets you take the photo unencumbered by the technicalities of the process. A camera that lets you record the scene with the light and shadows as it lies before you, and to produce an image that brings the emotion of the scene to the viewer — one that lets you take the photograph naked.”

But this seems a little off. The saying goes “The best camera is the one you have with you” (The artist/photographer Chase Jarvis even made a book about this) and the ubiquity of mobile phone cameras allows more people to be in more places and the chances of capturing a symbolic or significant moment increase exponentially because of it. Think of this like the proliferation of home movie cameras and their impact on news coverage. We would never have the Zapruder film of JFK’s assassination or the Holliday’s video of the Rodney King beating if it weren’t for personal videos, and I don’t see how mobile photos are that much different. Instagram and Hipstamatic may add a level of twee manufactured retro-ism, but as long as they’re not actively changing the content of the image and not just the content’s framing, I don’t see the problem. Is this unsettling for professional photographers? Probably, but professional photographers also have access and skills that set them apart from the iPhoned masses. Just like hobbyist bloggers vs. publication journalists, it’s the access, experience and know-how that earns the professional photographer his/her paycheck, not that their products (whether articles or photos) are “more real”. References: “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You” Chase Jarvis: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Camera-One-Thats-You/dp/0321684788 Zapruder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapruder_film Holliday: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Beating_with_batons:_events_on_the_Holliday_video

thepoliticalnotebook: joshsternberg: The MLA has come up with...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:37:39 -0500

thepoliticalnotebook:

joshsternberg:

The MLA has come up with a way to cite a tweet. But…not every academic uses the MLA format. Many social sciences use the APA format.

The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal writes about the MLA’s approach to Twitter citation.

Nerdbait. And awesome.

YES.

lukehackney: Rob Ager’s analysis of the spatial...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:09:38 -0500

lukehackney:

Rob Ager’s analysis of the spatial inconsistencies in Kubrick’s The Shining. An excess of astute examples of inconsistencies (doors that lead nowhere, windows that shouldn’t exist, phantom rooms, etc.) backs the argument these were deliberately constructed to disorient and confuse the viewer.

Part two found here.

This just blew my mind.

thepoliticalnotebook: Ira Glass has some great advice about...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:54:25 -0500

thepoliticalnotebook:

Ira Glass has some great advice about creativity. Absolutely applicable to journalism….

“Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me, is that all of us who do creative work… that there’s a gap. That for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good? OK? It’s trying to be good. It has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer.”

Via lens culture.

Preach, Ira Glass.

How Humans Cause Tornadoes and Hailstorms Whoa…

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:46:29 -0500

How Humans Cause Tornadoes and Hailstorms

Whoa…