December 21
In his day, no translator was more important, or more prolific
There is, though, a catch. I have been referring to Mansouri as a “translator.” But by contemporary standards, the most popular translator in the history of Iran translated hardly anything at all. Most of his works are a hodgepodge of source text mixed with his own additions and musings, which he offered so generously as to sometimes overwhelm the original. In some cases, the author of the book Mansouri was supposedly translating didn’t even exist. He would write something of his own, then make up a French name and publish his work under the fictive author’s byline. Many would say that one of the most popular literary figures of twentieth-century Iran was a full-blown charlatan. from In Search of Zabihollah Mansouri [The Yale Review]
He's mysterious, scary and feathered — and he brings presents
He's mysterious, scary and feathered — and he brings presents to outback kids.
While many Australians await the arrival of Santa Claus, some kids in outback Australia are celebrating with their own unique Christmas icon, Wangkarnal the Christmas Crow.
December 20
Creative Computing
"The more we go online, the less we show up in person."
Welcome to the human doom loop "Throughout the pandemic, the media focused on the idea of the “urban doom loop,” in which remote work would kill downtowns, triggering a downward spiral of reduced services that would cause people to leave cities. What went overlooked has turned out to be the bigger and even more consequential story: the human doom loop, a cycle in which people stop connecting in real life, reducing the quality of in-person activities and the physical realm itself, further discouraging IRL activities, and so on. Nearly five years after the pandemic, it’s not the real estate we need to worry about. It’s us."
Classical KING FM 98.1
The Keith Richards Connection
Today, Keith Richards turns 81. It’s a hopeless cliche to talk about all the stuff that Richards has survived, so I’m not going to do that. I’m just going to say that Keith Richards is now 81 years old. He is one year younger than Joe Biden and three years older than Donald Trump. To celebrate Richards’ big day, Susanna Hoffs and Elvis Costello have gotten together to cover “Connection,” a song from the Rolling Stones’ 1967 album Between The Buttons.
Got crabs? Otters maybe the solution.
Southern sea otters are an unexpected solution to invasive European Green Crabs that have been ravishing eco systems on the west coast of North America.
Winter cycling in Winnipeg: "My world is so much bigger now"
Commuting to work by bicycle in the winter can be a challenge - especially in the (arguably) coldest city in Canada. But that doesn't stop Daniel Perry, professional double bassist in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. [more inside]
Tiny handfish babies delight scientists
At just a few millimetres in length, tiny handfish babies delight scientists.
They may look a little like popcorn, but these baby red handfish are giving hope for the species' survival.
Drew Magary's yearly hate-post!
The 2024 Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog Festivus Airing of Grievances season has officially started!
Casual Viewing
Netflix’s movies don’t have to abide by any of the norms established over the history of cinema: they don’t have to be profitable, pretty, sexy, intelligent, funny, well-made, or anything else that pulls audiences into theater seats (sln+1) [more inside]
Burning Bright
Tasmanian tigers are extinct. Why do people keep seeing them?+ Maybe because they... aren't extinct? As well as searching for thylacines himself, Forrest Galante has been reviewing sightings of them for years. Tiger sightings have a long history in Tasmania and on the Australian mainland. Could it have been hiding out in New Guinea all along? [more inside]
Beefsteak Charlie's
Beefsteak Charlie promised, "You're gonna get spoiled". Beefsteak Charlie promised, "I'll feed you like there's no tomorrow." And with unlimited shrimp - plus unlimited beer, wine, or sangria - there wouldn't be. [more inside]
countdown to shutdown
First, an unelected businessman tanked the budget proposal that would keep the government's lights on a bit longer, prompting ecstatic talk of promotion to Speaker of the House. Next, a businessman who is not yet President made a budget proposal, but like most of his businesses, it fell through. Deep divisions are already beginning to show. Now the race is on: Can Congress come up with a budget they can agree on, by midnight tonight? If not, it's going to be a dark Christmas.
I am but a man like yourselves
It's Friday in the Muslim world, and that means... it's time to read or recite Surah al-Kahf (the Surah of the Cave) ! [more inside]
The Winter Solstice at Newgrange
At the prehistoric passage tomb of Newgrange, built around 3200 BCE, the light from the rising sun at the winter solstice shines along the 19m passage to the wall of the tomb, illuminating the triple spiral carvings. There is a livestream of the event from 8.40am on the 21st (I think that's 3.40am Eastern Standard Time and 12.40am PST). Last year's recording is here. [more inside]
If he doesn't win, I can't put on camera what the flag is going to say.
Once in a Lifetime: Argentina is a four-part documentary look at fan culture in Argentina in the lead up to the country's World Cup win in Qatar. It's the latest work by Eli Mengem who has done stellar previous work in documenting football culture with his Derby Days series. If the 2+ hours for Once in a Lifetime: Argentina is too big an ask, maybe have a gander at the Derby Days episode on the Superclásico (55 mins). [more inside]
The stunning depth of knowledge this silence covers
These crises never seemed to outstrip the capacity of Melville’s story to offer some illustration and commentary, if not relief. One routine assignment was to formulate a conceptual question about the primary text, then to analyze the way two literary critics have approached dimensions of the question, and finally to propose an analytical response to the question which converses with these critical views. This assignment led many students toward the field of disability studies. The backdrop of the pandemic brought to the fore the investment in ideas of complex embodiment within “Bartleby.” As I modeled the assignment for my socially isolated, increasingly anxious, and depressed students, what emerged from the story and two works of literary criticism about it was a model not just for writing but also for living in a liable, contingent world. from Bartleby’s Insights on Complex Embodiment for a Post-Pandemic World [CommonPlace] [more inside]
December 19
Just a little bit more toward the goal of a complete OpenStreetMap
StreetComplete: OpenStreetMap surveyor app. An Android app that gives you a friendly interface to help build OpenStreetMap by answering questions as you walk around. Populate surface types, where crosswalks are, if there are trash cans, and so on. (The FAQ mentions both that an iOS version is in the works and there are some alternatives there.)
The Ghosts in the Machine
"Spotify, I discovered, not only has partnerships with a web of production companies, which, as one former employee put it, provide Spotify with 'music we benefited from financially,' but also a team of employees working to seed these tracks on playlists across the platform." Liz Pelly investigates the growing problem with so called ghost artists on Spotify for Harper's.
Tracking collars uncover secrets of critically endangered Aussie icon
Tracking collars uncover secrets of critically endangered Aussie icon. The habits of the northern hairy-nosed wombat have been a mystery until now, thanks to the animal equivalent of a fitness tracker.
Begotten
Reclaiming the Third Place
“Each year we find ourselves having less social interaction, and we are starting to realize that getting to know people outside of home and work does not just happen on its own,” he said. “We have to be intentional about meeting and talking to others.” from Gen Z Grew Up Chronically Online. Now, They're Craving 'Third Places. [more inside]
The truth is out there...in your neck of the woods
This week Otherworld released Episode 107: The Expedition, which features the story of a young woman and her friend spotting a strange creature near her family's ranch land in east Texas. They enlist the help of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, an organization dedicated to field investigations into sightings of squatches, as well as documenting stories and evidence in the extensive BFRO Database, and cataloging the latest in Bigfoot hypotheses and research. If you are up for some camping and hiking, a field research expedition might be right for you!
Or if want a bit lighter Bigfoot podcast fare, check out the Bigfeets podcast, brought to you by the incredible comedy writers on 1-900 HOT DOG, the absolute last comedy website on the internet. It's the world's only watch along podcast of Mountain Monsters, the which follows the hillbilly Bigfoot-hunting AIMS Crew as search for mysterious Appalachian anomalies.
Samuel Smith's Old Brewery
"He said he had been outside and heard somebody swear. Then he turned to the girl behind the bar and said, ‘Shut this bar and get these out.’" The Arlington is now shuttered. How one eccentric man owns 200 pubs in the UK where swearing and phones are banned. [more inside]
10 INPUT "ENTER TRANSACTION",CS: GOSUB 1000
Annoyed by Windows ads, AI and upsell? Macs too expensive? Upgrade cycle got you down? Truth is, you don't really need a lot of computer for many purposes, a fact known by Hilligoss Bakery in Brownsberg, Indiana, which for decades has used Commodore 64s as their cash registers.
Applies an ax to a job calling for a scalpel
Justice Served
"It's the choices we make that define who we are, not our abilities."
Google Maps helps catch alleged killers
Google Maps helps catch alleged killers as it snaps man loading car with suspected body. Spanish police say a Google Street View image allegedly showing a man loading a bag into a car has helped them make two arrests in a murder case.
Portal Explorer
What happens if you put a portal in a portal? [YouTube, 21min] ...this is my solution to this problem and in this video we will see what's inside of this, what a portal is, how portals can move, how it works, why there is no singularity and what will happen to the object inside ... For this video I wrote a program called Portal Explorer that draws portals using ray tracing. In Portal Explorer, you can put a portal into another portal and explore everything shown in this video by yourself!
John Barton’s “Playing Shakespeare”
In 1982, while working with 21 Royal Shakespeare Company members, including Judi Dench, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen, Roger Rees, Patrick Stewart, and David Suchet, John Barton recorded nine workshop sessions for London Weekend Television. - Wikipedia --- 1: The Two Traditions
2. Using the Verse
3. Language & Character
4. Set Speeches & Soliloquies
5. Irony and Ambiguity
6. Passion & Coolness
7. Rehearsing a Text
8. Exploring a Character
9. Poetry & Hidden Poetry [more inside]
Still providing our customers with free light, heat and energy
Not just unbroken, but alive and well
Tattoos, unlike scars, you get to choose. And each tattoo I have is full of so many of my own choices — each of them represents such an important part of me. When I get a new tattoo, it’s like me saying: I want my story told in this color, and this size, in this location, that looks like this, and reminds me of this, and this, and this. So, where my actual scars might reflect these moments of powerlessness? My new scars, the way I choose to mark my body up with tattoos.... I feel this deep PURPOSE in it. I feel the most amazing sense of self. from The Hard Part Out Loud by Oksana Masters [CW: abuse (and survival)] [more inside]
December 18
A model-led push for change has split Melbourne's life-drawing scene
A model-led push for change has split Melbourne's life-drawing scene. Life modelling attracts people from all walks of life to showcase their bodies, but some in the industry say a reckoning is due for artists who overstep boundaries.
US Senate bans affirming care for trans military kids
Today the US Senate voted to pass a defense bill that bans coverage of gender-affirming care for the transgender children of military service members. The vote passed 85-14, with 37 Democrats joining the Republicans in supporting the bill. [more inside]
murder will out
Remember back in the early 2020s when life was easy and we had nothing to worry about but deadly murder hornets? Well, good news! We don't even have to worry about them anymore, at least in the US: The USDA reports the murder hornet is now eradicated.
Do-It-Yourself McRib
The McRib is back. But you impugn and derogate the sandwich. Then make your own. The Food Wishes guy can show you how. So can Joshua Weissman.
Names in upper left
A Cryptid's Carol is the latest episode of the The Forest Jar web series (previously)
At the beginning of this year my life was normal. I was just your typical witch with regular 9 to 5 job interviewing myths, legends, cryptids, and other creations of the human mindThe first year of The Forest Jar is summarized here or can viewed in its entirety here
"We're not going to let somebody take away my sparkle." "Solid advice."
Every October 18th since 2017, rising pop songstress Billie Eilish has sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair to answer questions about her career, her life, and her state of mind, and to reflect on her previous answers. An interview was recorded in 2023 but not released, so this year's entry covers a two-year span in which she made her acting debut, won her 2nd Oscar for Best Original Song, released her third album, and "had a lot of good sex." [more inside]
"Never get out of the goddamn sleigh"
🐈⬛🤘🏽 Lucky 13th Weekly Female Fronted Metal 🤘🏽🐈⬛
So, you probably know this but Linkin Park has a new vocalist and you might have heard their new songs like Over Each Other but have you heard Emily Armstrong's previous band, Dead Sara? Here's their absolute banger Weatherman. [more inside]
Complaints about 2024?
Top 100 complaints about 2024: Just in time for Festivus, the Tampa Bay Times has irritations you may not have even thought of. Enjoy the petty! [more inside]
Kris Kringle! No! Do not give him coal!
Christmas Rhapsody, posted to MeFi Music in 2008 by the amazingly talented doubtfulplace, is actually the best holiday song ever. That is all.
Hell is other truss connectors
The Invention that Accidentally Made McMansions. Architecture youtuber Stewart Hicks breaks down how a simple invention you've probably never heard of transformed the American residential landscape.
Stranded in São Tomé
They Missed Their Cruise Ship. That Was Only The Beginning. Nine stranded passengers made a mad dash across Africa to meet back up with their boat.
He's Dual Wielding!
Woodwind virtuoso Pedro Eustache, aka Flute Guy, gives a whirlwind tour of his instruments featured in the 2024 Game Awards game of the year medley. [more inside]
A vision of middle class futurism has ossified into expensive nostalgia
Amid Northern Virginia’s carefully-manicured lawns and oversized garages, one residential neighborhood stands apart. Designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollin Hills was founded as a modernist enclave for artists, free spirits, and various other oddballs who didn’t quite fit in a typical postwar suburb. As the community celebrates its 75th anniversary, it has slowly transformed from bohemian hideaway to highly sought-after neighborhood in one of the most affluent metro areas in the country. from When Suburbia Was Weird [The American Conservative]
Unwritten words
Ending the Patriarchal Bargain and finding new ideals we can live by.
"What happens when the fundamental things no longer apply? What is a man to a girl who can buy herself flowers? [...] Here's the thing: the material basis of the patriarchal bargain is breaking down, and it has been for about two centuries. This was obvious in 1988, when Kandiyoti coined the term "patriarchal bargain," and that breakdown has not abated a whit in the intervening decades."