“Religion offers the best example of charity’s identity crisis. Here, you’re meant to be charitable to please God. And if you do, He might throw a few favors your way. Turns out everyone wants something. But what do the charitable ones want? Aside from good drinking water, digestible nutrition, some human rights, sanitation, aside from school even? They want to keep the one thing that almost intrinsically vanishes in the trade off: their dignity. Continue reading…
(via fwmj)

Jay-Z wrote a “letter” to MTV half thanking them for his placement at the top and asking why Eminem wasn’t included on their annual Hottest MC List. I don’t feel any particular way about Eminem or any other rapper on or not on this list, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at this letter.

MTV, Thanx for this nod of appreciation. Although I don’t strive to be ‘hot’ for any particular year, I thank you for the acknowledgment. My whole goal is to be recognized as the best ever. I created the term ‘best rapper alive’ as a sign of respect to my fallen comrades (Biggie and Tupac). I believe I’ve allowed a significant grace period, and I believe I would not be respecting myself if being the absolute best was not my goal, and that’s why I continue to push myself until exhaustion … salute.

Sidebar: Kanye moment if I may … Eminem?!?! I think you do the credibility of this list a disservice if you don’t thoroughly explain his omission. As of this second he has the highest selling rap album of the year and a scene stealing verse on the best ‘posse’ cut of the year . (*Hands mic back to Taylor Swift … and nobody was harmed, I apologize in advance.)

An interesting list of things the internet (and user-friendly technology) is destroying. From record stores to polite disagreement, it’s interesting to see what has thankfully become obsolete and what will truly be missed. (via the telegraph)

The extinction of the female MC didn’t happen overnight, nor will it be fixed overnight. Let’s examine the history of females on the mic, how we got to where we are, and how things might get better. Continue reading… (via averagebro)

A study in compulsive hoarding
Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Collyer (October 3, 1885 – March 1947) were two American brothers who became famous because of their snobbish nature, filth in their homes, and compulsive hoarding.

The brothers are often cited as an example of compulsive hoarding associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as disposophobia or ‘Collyer brothers syndrome,’ a fear of throwing anything away. For decades, neighborhood rumors swirled around the rarely seen, unemployed men and their home at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street), in Manhattan, where they obsessively collected newspapers, books, furniture, musical instruments, and many other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to protect against intruders.

Both were eventually found dead in the Harlem brownstone where they had lived as hermits, surrounded by over 100 tons of rubbish that they had amassed over several decades.

How a man made over $7 million of the most convincing phony money in the history of the US Treasury using an HP ink-jet printer and office supplies from Staples. (via psfk)

Every year, thousands of adults decide to disappear, walking out the door with no plan to return and no desire to be found. (via fiomaravilha)

An enlightening (and upsetting) article in the New York Times last week about the state of property owning non-profit dance organizations in New York City. It seems this incredible recession and the real estate crisis is bringing many of NYC’s essential dance centers to the brink of collapse.

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Home Is Where You Hang Your Debt
By CLAUDIA LA ROCCO

DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP celebrated its 40th birthday with a boisterous party in its gleaming, four-story Chelsea home on 19th Street. Performances erupted in the stairwell, the terrace, even the revolving door. The place pulsed with a beyond-capacity crowd. The year was 2005, and the message was clear: Full steam ahead.

Fast-forward to the present, and the steam has run out. The deficit mushroomed after the workshop opened its new space, in an 11-story mixed-use building that it helped finance through a successful capital campaign, in 2002. That deficit largely accounts for the organization’s $4.2 million debt. It must raise more than $400,000 by June 30, the end of its fiscal year, simply to pay its expenses. Read on.