November 2016 Archives
November 30
a garden city for the future
Interview with WOHA – a Singapore-based architectural practice: "We aim at merging the megacity project from the past with the idea of a garden city for the future. We want our cities to be cozy, comfortable, natural, and domestic. Our ideal is to create a comfortable garden suburb experience and then replicate it vertically through a megastructure for everyone to enjoy... The beliefs that man is separate from nature and cities are separate from countryside are obsolete. In the Anthropocene era, the whole world is a managed landscape. The only way to preserve nature is to integrate it into our built environment." (via) [more inside]
T H E VV E S
The Witch as a Wes Anderson movie (Single link YouTube fake trailer)
Chicago's Neofuturists lose "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind"
Today, Greg Allen announced that he was letting the license lapse at the end of 2016 for the Neofuturists of Chicago to run his licensed show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Well, technically, he unilaterally announced that the show was ending via a press release, without telling the Neofuturist board or staff. The Artistic Director of the Neofuturist ensemble released a response indicating that they were blindsided. [more inside]
jude law sex pope
Jude Law is starring as Pope Pius XIII in new series The Young Pope [trailer]. Law plays 47 year old Lenny Belardo, an American, and former Archbishop of the Diocese of New York. The series also stars Diane Keaton, Cecile de France, Silvio Orlando, Javier Camara, and is directed by Paolo Sorrentino. The series is a joint production of Sky, HBO and Canal+. [more inside]
Judicial committee unanimously recommends to remove Judge Camp
Federal Court Justice Robin Camp, who asked a woman during a rape trial why she could not keep her legs together and called her 'the accused' several times, has been recommended to be removed from the bench, after an initial request from Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley. (The report is quite long but written in clear English.) [more inside]
Creator of the Big Mac Died
Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98 "Jim Delligatti, the McDonald’s franchise owner who invented the Big Mac, died on Monday at his home in Fox Chapel, Pa. He was 98. The death was confirmed by his son Michael.
Mr. Delligatti, who opened the first McDonald’s in western Pennsylvania in 1957, owned about a dozen franchises in the Pittsburgh area by the mid-1960s, but he struggled to compete with the Big Boy and Burger King chains.
He proposed to company executives that they add a double-patty hamburger to the McDonald’s menu, something along the lines of the Big Boy, that could put a dent in sales of Burger King’s Whopper."
Me: This is just clickbait from a week ago. Me to Me: Make an FPP!
Evil Kermit: The Perfect Meme For Our Terrible Times. More Evil Kermit Memes Not related to Bert is Evil.
"Who would have thought of posting pictures of weapons and dogs?”
Incredible discovery of 40,000-year-old tools for art and engineering
Ars Technica: "Humans began making paint and glue at roughly the same time with the same tools. Evidence from a cave in eastern Ethiopia has revealed something extraordinary about the origins of symbolic thought among humans." [more inside]
#ForçaChape
On November 28, Chapecoense, a small club from Santa Catarina in Brazil was boarding a flight headed to Medellín, where they would face Atlético Nacional in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana (the CONMEBOL second-tier club trophy). A few hours later, the day ended in tragedy as the plane crashed on the mountains outside the host city, killing 76 of the 81 on board. The flight included the squad and staff, but also 21 journalists covering the big game, and early reports claim it ran out of fuel on the approach and was facing electrical problems. [more inside]
"For you are now the last of the Kai—you are now the Lone Wolf"
Joe Dever, best known as the author of the Lone Wolf fantasy gamebooks, has died. For those looking to remember his legacy, Project Aon has a wealth of Lone Wolf material including the Grey Star series and the once-rare Magnamund Companion. It also contains some of Dever's other gamebooks. [more inside]
It's like the Chilean miners only there's only one and it's a manatee.
Rescue operations are currently underway for a manatee stuck in a storm drain in Jacksonville, FL. Watch live now!
Haranguing Chad: How Nickelback became pop’s ultimate punchline
This week, reports the Charlottetown Guardian, police in Kensington, Prince Edward Island threatened to force impaired drivers to listen to Nickelback while locked in the back of a police cruiser. But, reports the UK Guardian, "they’re hardly the first band to be turned into a punchline that doesn’t require a set-up. Sting’s career has suffered for years from the notion that he is some kind of tantric sex god, based on a throwaway comment he made in a 1990 interview."
Like it's proud of itself.
Cue The Kitten Logo (Grant Tinker 1926-2016)
Grant Tinker was one of the best known and most successful producers of network television shows of the 1970s and 1980s, and also the man who rescued NBC after the disastrous years of Fred Silverman's chairmanship. He founded MTM Enterprises in 1970 to create a television property for his then-wife, Mary Tyler Moore. [more inside]
Your chance to begin again (insurance included)
Itching to get off-world for some reason? United Launch Alliance has, well, launched Rocketbuilder, a one-stop interactive desktop/mobile tool to select, configure and cost your next ride to orbit - or beyond. [more inside]
Sale into the 90s
History can repeat itself. Why not philosophy?
"Democratic man loves freedom; the desiring part rules his soul yet there is nothing but desire to distinguish which objects of desire to pursue and nothing to keep desire in check. The freedom that initially accompanies democracy makes it a possible home for all types of men, even philosophers, but according to Plato this very unrestrained freedom inevitably degenerates into mob rule and rampant license, a condition ripe for tyrannical man to step in as a demagogue promising order and change. Tyrannical man is the logical conclusion of this decline in the soul as he is completely a slave to his passions and projects his lack of self-mastery or self-control onto the world as a blind need to control others and satisfy his insatiable appetite." [more inside]
Heart-Shaped Red Pill
The couple never forgot how lucky they were, or as Fidden put it, “how difficult it must be for someone who is single and who also has this understanding and awareness and these truths.” Where would such a person find love, especially given that they are even more ostracized from society than Aine and him? Then it hit him: “Wow, what a fantastic business idea! Let’s go and do it! So that’s what we did.”
Longreads investigates the loves lives of Truthers, with a little help from Rob Brotherton, conspiracy theorist theorist. Another take from Vice is a little less sympathetic. [more inside]
"Code reviews are for improving code quality and morale"
Sean Hammond, a developer at Hypothesis, writes about code review in remote teams.
The Understudied Female Sexual Predator
According to new research, sexual victimization by women is more common than gender stereotypes would suggest. Two years ago, Lara Stemple, Director of UCLA’s Health and Human Rights Law Project, came upon a statistic that surprised her: In incidents of sexual violence reported to the National Crime Victimization Survey, 38 percent of victims were men––a figure much higher than in prior surveys, Results published here[Fulltext]. Intrigued, she began to investigate: Was sexual violence against men more common than previously thought and who were the perpetrators? Other men? Women? In what proportions? Under what circumstances? [more inside]
Time spent with cats is never wasted
A cat’s sandpapery tongue is actually a magical detangling hairbrush (WaPo) — …you may be wondering why cat grooming mechanics matter. There are two big reasons: First, it might add insight to the field of soft robotics, which, among other things, is about making robots that can move through small spaces for search-and-rescue missions or surgeries. Second, it might help make a better brush that, Noel said, could herald “new ways to clean deeply embedded dirt in your carpet to wound cleaning advances in the medical field.”
(alternate link for non-subscribers, lacks video of cat licking a blanket)
“You don’t have to eat it,” she offered. “Just make it pretty.”
After my mom gently inquired about, as she put it, “your male modeling career,” and I told her I was working on a story, she let out a sigh. “Oh,” she said. “I was worried there was some massive insecurity going on.” My baffled friends also had questions. “First, you look boss. Congrats,” my friend Dave wrote in a comment. “Second, what is going on?” Confessions of an Instagram Influencer (Bloomberg)
How to Hide $400 Million
When a wealthy businessman set out to divorce his wife, their fortune vanished. The quest to find it would reveal the depths of an offshore financial system bigger than the U.S. economy. By Nicholas Confessore in the New York Times Magazine
A description of the camp and protests
But I wanted a circular pancake
November 29
AKIRA: How To Animate Light
"Our most detailed view of Earth across space and time"
Google has released an update to their Google Earth Timelapse feature that provides for a longer time horizon and a much greater level of detail than has been previously available. [more inside]
Don't be a glasshole
Mozilla and the Tactical Technology Collective have created a popup storefront in lower Manhattan called The Glass Room: Looking Into Your Online Life. Situated somewhere along the education—art spectrum, The Glass Room provides "a place to consider how you use technology and how those behind technology use you" (as put on the landing page). Resources include a variety of workshops about technology and privacy, along with a book of leaked passwords and other art installations.
“Throw a grenade in the middle and post the results,”
Diving Into One Dishonored 2 Player's Obsession With “Explosive Orgies” [PC Gamer] “Videogames aren't just for entertainment, they are also the foundation for scientific research. For years players have been asking questions like "How many tanks does it take to stop the train in GTA 5?" [YouTube] or "How many people can I lure into a pool of electrified water?" [YouTube] You know, the difficult inquiries that really further us as a species. But sometimes science goes too far, as might be the case with one player and their obsession with "explosive orgies." What started as a little joke has spiralled into a madness to test the limits of what Dishonored 2's physics engine can handle. His name is 'Fattydude66' and he originally posted a screenshot to Reddit entitled "Is this one of the orgies the Duke loves so much?" It was a morbid jab at Luca Abele, the Duke of Serkonos, an oppressive ruler who offhandedly mentions a certain affinity for orgies during Dishonored 2's story. Fattydude66 was so committed to his joke that he spent an hour piling up 80 unconscious bodies, four dead ones, and two wolfhound. But that's where things got a wee bit dark. [.gif]”
Tech, phones, capitalism, dopamine
“The world is turning into this giant Skinner box for the self, The experience that is being designed for in banking or health care is the same as in Candy Crush. It’s about looping people into these flows of incentive and reward. Your coffee at Starbucks, your education software, your credit card, the meds you need for your diabetes. Every consumer interface is becoming like a slot machine.”
Raw eggs and the single life
Emma Morano celebrated her 117th birthday today. She was born in the 1800's and credits her longevity to a diet of raw eggs and being single.
Fire on the Mountain
Suffering from exceptional drought conditions, the areas around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park haven't seen significant rainfall since September. Wildfires have ravaged the southeast for the last few weeks, however, starting on Wednesday, November 23, a fire near the summit of the Chimney Tops trail in the GSMNP caused Park officials to close the trail and surrounding others.
The fire spread from the park to areas near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and as of 4 PM EST on November 28, an evacuation order was issued for areas of Gatlinburg. [more inside]
She started her own firm. "That way, I could be the lawyer I'd needed."
"A lot of the people called to legal-services work are do-gooders, and they are a little passive and meek. They don't have that fierceness that Carrie has." Margaret Talbot profiles Carrie Goldberg for The New Yorker: The Attorney Fighting Revenge Porn [more inside]
Are you a holly-jolly, a semi-purist, a purist, or a liturgical purist?
I’ve got to get one frame where his damn private parts are covered!
Deadspin's David Davis takes a look back at the iconic photo of sports' first streaker (not counting the Olympics). Ian Bradshaw's snap of a naked Michael O'Brien at an England-France rugby match was named the World Press Photo of the Year for humor and won several other awards.
The Big Bell Test needs your help
The Pixar of the North
Keep the Change: The Beads that Bought Manhattan
The story of the purchase of Manhattan is one of the most contentious and oft-disputed stories in American history. That modest sale has gone down in history as the biggest swindle ever perpetrated.... But what may be the most surprising fact about the whole transaction is that in 1626, and for a long time afterward, both parties were very happy with it.The complexities of navigating the economics of desire, an excerpt from Aja Raden's Stoned: Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World [Amazon].
Altered Carbon: The Diamond Age
Turning radioactive waste into diamond batteries. A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol have grown a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive field, is able to generate a small electrical current. They've built a prototype using Nickel-63 as the radiation source.
The next step is to take nuclear waste and turn it into diamonds to create radioactive diamond batteries. [more inside]
With cool wind in his hair, David Foster Wallace wrote
Do you want a pet tardigrade? They're basically tiny Pokemon.
Tardigrades or "waterbears" are cute tiny nigh-indestructible 10-legged beasts that prefer to live in wet environments but can also survive the hard vacuum of space. They sound exotic, but they're probably right there in your own backyard. The Stanford Tardigrade Project has an easy guide for finding your own pet waterbears. There are several videos showing what you will see when you find them.
Lego Technic Rope Braiding
Use Lego Technic for all your rope braiding needs (SLYT).
November 28
In space, no one can hear you flush.
NASA wants you to help astronauts deal with their poo in space: We can put a man on the moon but we can’t deny our bodily functions, no matter who you are. So the world’s leading space agency has put up a $US30,000 ($AU40,300) award for anyone who can come up with the most innovative “space poop” solution. [more inside]
Turns out the fault actually does lie in the stars.
The life in Peterborough
Amateur street photographer Chris Porsz wandered the streets of his native Peterborough for hours in the 70s and 80s, capturing brief portraits. After rediscovering his trove of photos, he was inspired to recreate some of the shots for his second book, Reunions (SLBuzzfeed).
5% approval
South Koreans urge resignation of Park Geun-hye (Al Jazeera)
If verified, this is the largest protest in South Korean history. [more inside]
If verified, this is the largest protest in South Korean history. [more inside]
I got it...I got it...I got it.... I ain't got it.
GivingTuesday
Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, a marketing ploy for sure, but one I'm fully behind. But who should you give to? TinySpark helps answer those questions. [more inside]
“It's such a horrible game, though.”
The True Story Of Nintendo's Most Coveted Game [ESPN] “The game calls out to collectors. It is seductive because of its rarity but also a testament to the darker side of a hobby reaching new heights of popularity. It isn't a good game. It's a boring game. Released in 1987 by the Japanese company Bandai, Stadium Events [wiki] was made for a piece of peripheral hardware called the Family Fun Fitness mat. Playing it required jumping on the mat's sensors to emulate running, the characters in the game sprinting, hurdling in accord with how fast the player could go. The graphics weren't anything special. The easiest way to play was to give up running and crouch in front of the pad and slap your hands on the sensors as fast as possible -- cheating.”
I'd Like To See You Do Better
You have just been appointed as all-commanding leader of a major country. You have control over the monetary, fiscal, and foreign policy of your country ... As all-commanding leader, you have different indicators available that show you the health of your economy. But choose wisely. There are consequences for every decision you take. The End Game?, a choose-your-own-adventure from UBS.
“You’re Welcome.”
Full clip of Dwayne Johnson’s big song from the Disney movie Moana, penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which chronicles the achievements of Hawaiian demi-god Maui in riduculously cheery manner.
Strangers
Late Night Work Club presents STRANGERS. The Late Night Work Club is a loose, rotating collective of indie animators. Previously.
Om
Some of our typical options are baseball bats, golf clubs, two-by-fours.
Since 2011, the Anger Room in Arlington has offered its visitors (ages 18 and up) the ability to pummel, pound, splinter, shred, and straight-up smash the hell out of all kinds of stuff as a way to relieve stress. Similar businesses include the Smash Shack in Jacksonville, NC, a pair of Rage Rooms in Toronto -- North York and downtown -- and Tantrums LLC in Houston, along with the soon-to-be-christened Break Room in St. Paul, MN and Smash Room in La Crosse, WI. It's way more relaxing than yoga. [more inside]
You can do better than that, Andorra
A travel company has compiled a map of nearly every country's tourism slogan, from sublime ("Travel in Slovakia - Good idea") to simple ("Remarkable Rwanda" right next to "Beautiful Burundi") to historically boastful (Mozambique's "Come to where it all started" and Egypt's "Where it all begins") to the trying a little too hard ("Incredible !ndia" and Wales' "#findyourepic"). (via kottke)
One Hundred Years Of Men Taking Off Their Shirts
It seems obvious that a man without a shirt in a national magazine, a widely distributed film still, or viral image on the internet is sending a message about masculinity. What’s less obvious, however, is how those messages have changed — and in an era seemingly saturated with shirtlessness, how much they communicate about the desperate need for masculinity to forcefully, aggressively, unceasingly reassert itself. [slAnneHelenPetersen@Buzzfeed] [more inside]
F*ck Work!
What if jobs are not the solution? An essay on the nature of work, its evolution as a cultural linchpin, its role in the human psyche and how it does/does not define us in an atmosphere of increasing social volatility. [more inside]
2016, the year that keeps taking: Doug Edwards, co-writer of Wildflower
A member of two seminal BC bands, Chilliwack and Skylark, dies of cancer. I remember first hearing Wildflower on local Vancouver AM station CKLG in the middle of an insomniac night. It was more of an FM tune in those early-70s years, so at first the radio station probably wouldn't chance playing it during the day, saddled between the likes of Grand Funk Railroad and Donny Osmond. For years I never knew the story behind the song, and was only vaguely aware of a connection with the rockier band Chilliwack. And, yes, that's the David Foster in Skylark.
November 27
Picturing the Americas
During the early years of the nineteenth century, as nations in the Americas gained and asserted their independence, pictorial representations of the landscape forged visions of the whole hemisphere. Landscape imagery of the period shows how we are connected by a shared pan-American history, but also underscores the differences between our respective national identities based on our relationships to the land.Picturing the Americas features over 100 landscape paintings from Tierra del Fuego to the High Arctic. You can explore the site by theme, by timeline, by artist, and by map.
"I have always been partial to pee."
I’ve studied all the body’s fluids and used each in diagnosing disease, and urine stands out in the wealth of information it grants about a patient’s condition. (WaPo) Conceived in the kidneys — a pair of bean-shaped organs tucked away in the abdomen’s rear — urine runs down the ureters and is conveniently stored in the bladder, from which it is gathered in plastic cups for testing. Urine analysis is performed frequently enough by physicians to have earned the shorthand “urinalysis” — no other bodily fluid can claim to be on a nickname-basis with the medical profession. (alternate link for non-subscribers, but no stock photo of a pee cup) [more inside]
overwhelmed by all the ancient color
How a workshop uses digital technology to craft perfect copies of imperilled art: The Factory of Fakes [more inside]
Who Killed Alberta Williams?
Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams? is an 8-part podcast series from the CBC investigating the murder of Alberta Williams. [more inside]
We're digging a hole
Cards Against Humanity, the company that brought you a party game for horrible people and billboards mocking Donald Trump, have another holiday project for 2016. The holidays are here, and everything in America is going really well. To celebrate Black Friday, Cards Against Humanity is digging a tremendous hole in the earth. Behold: The Holiday Hole. [more inside]
Wave your hands in the air like you don't care
Word Up! by Cameo was a hit single in 12 countries in 1986-87. The funk and R&B song, which sampled the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, was written by band members Larry Blackmon and Tomi Jenkins. The video featured LeVar Burton from Roots and ST:TNG, and a codpiece designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Also available as GIFs. Word Up! has been covered across a range of genre by artists including Gun, Mel B, Korn, Little Mix and Willis. Lyrics below the fold... [more inside]
Would you like some pizza, deer?
Dominos is training reindeers in Japan to deliver pizza over the holidays by pulling sleds full of pizza across snowy roadways too treacherous for delivery bikes. The company says they’re learning their new jobs on the grounds of a driving school and will be ready to start work in December. This idea is way cooler than that time Dominos tried delivering pizza by drone.
It's been a long week. Listen, and exhale.
One day I will make a semi-megapost on hip-hop supergroup, Haiku D'Etat, The Freestyle Fellowship, and their associated acts. On this Sunday morning, however, I've just compiled a short playlist of groovy songs to help ease you into a relaxed, wake-and-bake state of mind: (Previously):
AyeM Ray-DIO - Sunshyne ~ Abstract Rude - The Solution feat. Slug & Brother Ali ~ Haiku D'Etat - Poetry Takeover ~ Abstract Rude - Yep ~ Haiku D'Etat - Los Dangerous ~ Haiku D'Etat - Wants vs. NEEDS ~ Abstract Rude & Tribe Unique - Coolin
AyeM Ray-DIO - Sunshyne ~ Abstract Rude - The Solution feat. Slug & Brother Ali ~ Haiku D'Etat - Poetry Takeover ~ Abstract Rude - Yep ~ Haiku D'Etat - Los Dangerous ~ Haiku D'Etat - Wants vs. NEEDS ~ Abstract Rude & Tribe Unique - Coolin
"Shepherd, don't move." "Won't go far."
Ron Glass, who played Ron Harris on "Barney Miller" and Shepherd Book on "Firefly," has died at 71. [more inside]
Flushable
“If there’s a bathroom, there should be a toilet. And if there’s a toilet, it should flush. It’s these little pieces of seemingly pointless interactivity that maintain the illusion of being inside a functional other place, not just a place-shaped box.” - What virtual toilets can teach us about the art of game design
Ride the tides of Titan!
"Saturn's largest moon might be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live" Charles Wohlforth and Amanda R. Hendrix urge some of us to consider becoming Titanians. (via) [more inside]
Eight years later
people have asked me many times if I thought about my characters, and if so, what they were up to. And I would have to be honest. No, I didn’t think about them, and I had no idea what they were doing.But last week they all started flooding back.
November 26
Scientific Motherhood
A well-stocked and carefully curated medicine cabinet conveyed care and successful home management, while an overstuffed or unconsidered one ran afoul of received ideals of motherhood. Yet while women were responsible for the cabinet’s care and contents, certain products essential to their own health and hygiene were long thought to be inimical to it.A feminist cultural history of the medicine cabinet, an interview with Dr. Deanna Day.
Do Pilots Dream of Electric Geese?
Pilots and flight attendants on flights longer than about 10 hours are required to have places to sleep. On the longest-haul flights, these are required to be flat and isolated from passengers. Want to take a peek at where your flight attendants and pilots sleep when taking you from New York to Mumbai or Dubai to Panama? I'll bet you do! [more inside]
Things just wanna have fun
Fulfill your heart’s desire to go to Australia in Yamaguchi Prefecture!?
Connecting to the divine feminine
The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, operating since 2006, trains women to become Jewish ritual leaders by tapping into earth-based spiritual practices that they believe harken back to pre-rabbinic Judaism.
While it has attracted its share of criticism for being kind of "pagany,", its graduates regularly go on to positions of leadership, communal or religious, and bring the lessons they learned while studying there.
The Story of the Self Destruction of Deutsche Bank
For most of its 146 years, Deutsche Bank was the embodiment of German values: reliable and safe. Now, the once-proud institution is facing the abyss. SPIEGEL tells the story of how Deutsche's 1990s rush to join the world banking elite paved the way for its own downfall.
The Pleasure City, London, A.D. 2500
The physics behind the deadly 1919 Boston Molasses Flood
On January 15, 1919, in Boston's North End, a 50-foot-tall tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst, unleashing a deadly wave that rose nearly 25 feet high at one point. The disaster killed 21 people and injured another 150. Nearly one hundred years later, an analysis carried out by a group of Harvard fluid dynamics physicists explains how "cold temperatures and unusual currents conspired to turn slow sticky goop into a deadly speeding wave." [more inside]
The 2016 Song
NSFW: a bit sweary; also reminders of bad 2016 things. Flo and Joan are British-born and Canadian-based sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey who improvise, write and play songs (Wanderlust, Save the Bees, It's Alright) on the comedy circuit. Their latest, The 2016 Song, has quickly gone viral. [Facebook][Twitter]
A whiff of medieval city stank
Historian Mike Dash explains just how awful medieval cities smelled.
“...just pull this out of your tackle box and you can have a coffee”
'Bripe' A Coffee Brewer for Outdoor Enthusiasts in the Shape of a Pipe [CBC.ca] Two Ottawa-area entrepreneurs have created a coffee brewer for outdoor enthusiasts in the shape of a pipe, or as they call it, a bripe. The coffee machine is made of copper with a stainless-steel filter and stem. It requires a blue flame lighter or a candle to heat water to brew coffee or tea. Tim Panek got the idea while hiking in Costa Rica. "I was dying for coffee," he said. "I wanted to make something you could use with just a lighter."
Going West, where books come to life.
Going West is a short stop-motion film by Anderson M Studios for the New Zealand Book Council. Based on Maurice Gee's novel of the same name, it uses paper cut from the actual book to highlight an excerpt in stunning detail.
November 25
Fidel Castro, 1926-2016
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films presents
Despotism (1946) A 70 year old educational short, still of interest today. (10 minute slyt, previously)
Decorate the tree the way we deserve
This place sunk a long time ago
Black Friday has cast its sinister shadow across the US once again, releasing a plague of deep discounts and demanding waves of senseless sacrifices to the god of Commerce. Why not celebrate by touring the desiccated ruins of classic American shopping temples from the comforts of your own home with Dan Bell's Dead Mall Series? Featuring the smooth sounds of Dan Mason, Washed Out and more! [more inside]
OK, 2016, are you done yet?
Pauline Oliveros, great American Composer, May 30, 1932 – November 25, 2016 Oliveros coined the term deep listening, and defined it as a discipline. [more inside]
Understanding orgasm begins with a butt plug.
Nicole Prause (Wikipedia) studies the science of the connection between our brains and our genitals. This sometimes gets her into lots of trouble, but she couldn’t care less. Her study that indicated porn "addiction" was more like a high sex drive than true addiction (previously) generated calls for her to be fired. Her study of women's penis size preferences was the first to use 3-D printed phalluses.
Her current study asks the question "How do women really know if they are having an orgasm?" [more inside]
Her current study asks the question "How do women really know if they are having an orgasm?" [more inside]
Our first Magic 8-Ball president.
While book-reading president-elect Donald continues to tweet and finally speaks with the New York Times, he also generates news: property in Argentina, conflict of interests and the foreign Emoluments Clause, Foundation tax returns, NASA funding, New York protection costs and disruption, flip-flopping, the Climate Accord, a musical, ending the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and not attempting to prosecute Hillary. New appointments include DeVos as education secretary and Haley as U.N. ambassador, with Michael Flynn tapped as national security advisor. Beyond Trump Tower, the results in three states may be challengeable or challenged, and in the ongoing count, Hillary's popular vote lead exceeds two million (live spreadsheet). [more inside]
GPS collars, camera traps, and something called a "beakometer"
All of them.
The writing staff of the comedy Workaholics has been compiling all of the worst lines you can possibly use in a show: How Many of These Joke Clichés Are You Guilty of Using?
Trying to challenge some of our settled assumptions
Reith Lectures 2016 by Kwame Anthony Appiah. 'I hesitate to disagree with even the Gandhi of legend, but I believe Western civilization is not at all a good idea, and Western culture is no improvement.' [more inside]
Opt Outside with REI and get out in state parks, for free
Last year, the outdoor equipment retailer REI announced its stores will remain closed on Black Friday. It's doing it again this year, and they're paying their employees for the day and encouraging them to spend it outside. For everyone else, 13 states are waiving admission fees at some or all of their state parks, joining 9 states that have free basic admission every day.
I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it
Since we all know that the day after Thanksgiving is Math Friday, and we all need to know matrix multiplication for our everyday lives, it's perfect that we now have this lovely tool.
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
From The Columbia Journalism Review
Covering Trump: An oral history of an unforgettable campaign. and Did Trump’s scorched-earth tactics mortally wound the media?
“The media as it used to be thought of is just not that important anymore. It doesn’t matter that some people were doing good work because… we’re just talking to ourselves and people who already agree with us.”
Covering Trump: An oral history of an unforgettable campaign. and Did Trump’s scorched-earth tactics mortally wound the media?
“The media as it used to be thought of is just not that important anymore. It doesn’t matter that some people were doing good work because… we’re just talking to ourselves and people who already agree with us.”
'Here's the story of a lovely lady...'
Florence Henderson, famous as TV mom Carol Brady, died on Thanksgiving. She was 82.
November 24
A Canonical List
Fictional Clerical Detectives. "I take clerical detectives to mean any detective with a significant church or religious background, so I include not only priests (male and female), ministers, monks, nuns, ex-nuns, a Shaker, two rabbis (and rabbis' widows and ministers' wives), a church administrator, and a clerk of a Quaker Meeting, but choirmaster/organists, religously inspired policemen, Buddhists, Muslims, and even a few witches. "
Links to each nun can be found on the linked page (scroll down) [more inside]
A Mathematician's Perspective on the Divide
Brilliant mathematical doodler Vihart on ways to heal our country's divide. (Just the video) Wherein the success of Trump is examined with a unique and relatively hopeful perspective.
Come on people. Its "just" typography.
These quotation marks are why I have "trust" issues. Apostrophe's can be abused. A missing comma? Fucking a dude, can't beat that.
"This is a weird way to earn a living."
Andy Kershaw just spent 45 minutes interviewing The Band's Robbie Robertson. BBC Radio posted the full audio of their chat online as a free downloadable mp3 this morning, and it's fascinating. Among the topics Robertson discusses are a memorable early Hawks gig in Jack Ruby's Texas club, dealing with audience hostility on Dylan's first electric tour, taking the Stones' Brian Jones to a gig by the then-unknown Jimi Hendrix, his memories of the Woodstock festival, 1970s drug madness in the music industry, The Band's legendary farewell at The Last Waltz and why a touring musician's years are like dog years. Both men are clearly enjoying themselves here and Kershaw can be heard cackling like a mad witch at Robertson's best anecdotes.
From One Caucus to Another
Sandra Jansen recently left the Progressive Conservatives to join the NDP in Alberta, primarily due to the right-wing PCs becoming more extreme. On Tuesday she read aloud some examples of the abuse she has received and called for a fight against it. As a result, she's been assigned a security detail.
Gävlebocken 2016 - The Goat Stands Again
Over the past 12 hours or so the world's favorite flammable object, the Gävle Goat, has been assembled again in Sweden. Watch the 24-hour live cam, or follow him on twitter or Instagram. Will the goat survive until New Year's Day? [more inside]
#HAM4BEY
Hey, you got your Beyoncé in my Hamilton! No, you got your Hamilton on my Beyoncé. [SLYT]
Duck Outfit Comforts Goat
Now, whenever Polly has an anxiety attack, Lauricella puts her into the duck costume, and voila — instant calm. [more inside]
How a British town became a hub for online porn and poker
Still economically devastated by the closure of its steelworks in 1980, "The residents of Consett are key cogs in a booming online industry. A Reuters investigation has found they have served as directors of more than 1,000 businesses: poker games, pop-up get-rich-quick schemes, vendors of colon cleansers and healthfoods, and much more."
MST3K Turkey Day Marathon
In anticipation of the launch of Season Eleven, ShoutFactory is doing an MST3K Turkey Day Marathon, with both Joel Hodgson and new host Jonah Ray. It's starting at Noon EST. Maybe you'd like to tune in for Robot Roll Call?
Manhattan's Area 51
Titanpointe, the NSA's spy hub located in a windowless AT&T skyscraper in New York.
My poore hert bicomen is hermyte
"Today's poem is very simple and is studied by French middle school students as an introduction to Old French." The author is "an unlikely poet" who was born on November 24, 1394, and whose words form the text of Claude Debussy's Trois Chansons de Charles d'Orléans. But he also wrote in Middle English (selections; full text).
November 23
I Was a Teenage Nazi Wannabe
New Republic Article: The alt-right is a loser's poor fantasy of what a radical revolution looks like. I should know. By Jacob Bacharach.
Can I make it more complex?
Eric Standley creates complex geometric sculptures from hundreds of layers of laser cut paper. The process came about somewhat by accident.
Overtime Exempt
Federal Judge halts Obama's overtime rule. Due to go into effect December 1st, the rule would increase the minimum salary an employee would have to make to be considered overtime exempt.The future of the law under a Trump presidency is unclear.
🐼🐶 Panda Puppy
Panda Puppy! 🐼🐶 [SLYT]
Why Cops Are Raiding Arcades Over a Fishing Game
There's a line of arcade video games, with names like Fish Hunter, Dragon Hunter and King of Treasures, that are increasingly being targeted by authorities as gambling devices. You may have one in a local game room (set to dispense tickets probably) under the name Harpoon Lagoon. [more inside]
New York is introducing workers' rights to the Gig Economy
Freelance isn't Free Act passes with 51 votes Gig Economy, meet Workers' Rights. Workers' Rights, meet Gig Economy.
Pleased to meet you. [more inside]
"A" for effort
Icing in Sin City
After several months of waiting, followed by an additional several weeks of waiting for reasons nobody was quite clear on, and then a few more minutes of waiting while they tried to figure out how to get their video to play, the NHL’s newest expansion team finally has an identity. The Las Vegas To-Be-Determineds are dead. Long live the Vegas Golden Knights. [more inside]
Heee!
One Moment
"One Moment," A New Video From OK Go. (Facebook Link - that's the only place its currently hosted) Background notes and full credits here.
Worthwhile Holiday Weekend Viewing
In his new four-hour series, BLACK AMERICA SINCE MLK: AND STILL I RISE, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America—and our nation as a whole. [more inside]
your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs.
"I watched Addams Family Values for the first time when I was 11 years old. I don’t think I’d seen the first movie, or knew that it existed. That year, I dressed up as Wednesday Addams in the Thanksgiving scene for Halloween. My four best friends were all blonde and I hadn’t even noticed. When people made comments about what a sweet Pocahontas I was—people were less political then—I told them, “No, I’m not Pocahontas. I’m Wednesday as Pocahontas.” I wanted to be her in that scene, the one where she stops everything and tells everyone how the Thanksgiving story really goes. The one where she sets everything on fire." (By Alexa Carrasco for Paste Magazine)
Hopper and Hamilton Receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom
On Tuesday, President Obama awarded Margaret Hamilton and Grace Hopper the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Margaret Hamilton helped write the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo project. Grace Hopper created the first compiler for a computer programming language.
There are many Thanksgiving stories to tell
The Pilgrims are often depicted in popular culture as wearing only black and white clothing, with large golden buckles on their shoes and hats and long white collars. This stereotypical Pilgrim, however, is not historically accurate. The Pilgrims, in fact, wore a wide variety of colors. Mayflower History and Plimoth Plantation have more information on and examples of authentic Pilgrim and Wampanoag clothing, to correct just a few of the numerous issues with common depictions of early Thanksgiving celebrations (previously) that can be addressed through updated discussions and depictions of Thanksgiving celebrations. [more inside]
The 100 Most Influential Photos of All Time
Time magazine presents what it believes to be the 100 most influential photos of all time, from Joseph Nicéphore Niépce's 1826 View from the Window at Le Gras (the first known permanent photograph) to Nilüfer Demir's Alan Kurdi (a three-year-old refugee from Syria washed up on a Turkish shore). WARNING: Many of the images are of violence, death, loss, and their aftermath.
The internet era of fun and games is over
Network security expert Bruce Schneier notes that if everything has a computer in it, then everything IS a computer. That has serious implications for security. [more inside]
Theater Was Anything but Polite
In 1801, Washington Irving wrote of attending the theater in New York City, where he was assaulted by apples, nuts and gingerbread thrown from the “gallery gods” — the people sitting in the cheap seats at the top of balcony — onto the heads of those in the audience below. [more inside]
The enormous pop-up clinic trying to bridge America’s health divide
The UK is watching you
While we have all been diverted by other things, Edward Snowden tweeted last week that "The UK has just legalized the most extreme surveillance in the history of western democracy. It goes farther than many autocracies."
He is referring to the Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as the Snooper's Charter, which has passed Parliament and is now set to become law in the UK. Here's a Wired overview.
ZDNet: "civil liberties groups have long criticized the bill, with some arguing that the law will let the UK government "document everything we do online". It's no wonder, because it basically does".
Guardian: Extreme surveillance' becomes UK law with barely a whimper [more inside]
He is referring to the Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as the Snooper's Charter, which has passed Parliament and is now set to become law in the UK. Here's a Wired overview.
ZDNet: "civil liberties groups have long criticized the bill, with some arguing that the law will let the UK government "document everything we do online". It's no wonder, because it basically does".
Guardian: Extreme surveillance' becomes UK law with barely a whimper [more inside]
Blame is apportioned appropriately
Unix History Repository. The history and evolution of the Unix operating system made available as a revision management repository, covering the period from its inception in 1970 as a 2.5 thousand line kernel and 26 commands, to 2016 as a widely-used 27 million line system. The 1.1GB repository contains about half a million commits and more than two thousand merges.... The project aims to put in the repository as much metadata as possible, allowing the automated analysis of Unix history.
November 22
Race in China
Who is Chinese? The Upper Han. "China today is extraordinarily homogenous....Unless someone is the child of a Chinese national, no matter how long they live there, how much money they make or tax they pay, it is virtually impossible to become a citizen. Someone who marries a Chinese person can theoretically gain citizenship; in practice few do. As a result, the most populous nation on Earth has only 1,448 naturalised Chinese in total, according to the 2010 census. Even Japan, better known for hostility to immigration, naturalises around 10,000 new citizens each year; in America the figure is some 700,000."
Revenge of the tabloids
Rocked by the phone-hacking scandal and haemorrhaging readers, the rightwing tabloids seemed to be yesterday’s news. But now, in Theresa May’s Brexit Britain, they look more powerful than ever, Andy Beckett, The Guardian
I don't know if Steve Axford is a fun guy but his fungi photos are fun!
Steve Axford photographs fungi. Fungi that is blue, orange, yellow, and purple. Fungi with gills and without. And not just fungi, but also other living things around the world.
"I gave my eye to the coyote in the flour sack"
‘The Door Noises Made Us Deaf’: An Oral History Of ‘Star Trek’ The Onion sister site Clickhole is back with another oral history—this time of Star Trek.
In case you missed the earlier editions:
- Mad Men
- OK Computer
- Michael Jordan's flu game
- Pixar
- Harry Potter movies
- Friends
- The Blueprint
- The 2000 election
- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
First Try!
You Make It, We Skate It! Does what it says on the big cardboard box: The Braille Skateboarding crew opens a package at the beginning of each video, they put together a skateboard with the components inside, and then they skate it. The first one was a deck made from billet aluminum. They built another board with machined wheels | A Lego deck | Ultimate carpet board | Baseball wheels | Bouncy ball board | Bearings for wheels | 3D-printed trucks | Glass deck! (Plexiglass deck!) | Crocheted grip tape | Aaron Kyro lifelike deck | Magnetic wheels | Skateboard stilts | Tree stump deck | Barrel board | Memory foam deck | Scooter deck | Supermini deck | Hockey puck wheels | (partial) Best of... it just keeps going! The ingenuity is extensive and the skill impressive. Keep an eye out for games of SKATE (or SK8 depending on time limitations).
The scariest things in the grocery store.
This guy tastes the things you will still be able to find in the store three years after the start of the zombie apocalypse. A whole chicken in a can. Breakfast in a can. Potted meat, (the worst sounding list of ingredients.) And canned ground beef.
"Diversity is beautiful" (Potentially NSFW)
The Vulva Gallery is a series of illustrations by Hilde Atalanta of all kinds of vulvas - celebrating the vulva in all its diversity all over the world. Also on Instagram.
Photos of a lesser-known ecosystem
The Secret World of Bog - a photo essay about the beautiful boglands of British Columbia's outer coast.
a uniform chorus of desperation
"In 2015 alone, Women on Web*, the Dutch not-for-profit, received more than 600 emails from US women looking for a way to end their own pregnancies. (The group does not send abortion drugs to the US, because the US does not outright ban abortion.) Women on Web agreed to share scores of these emails with the Guardian, providing an unprecedented window into the lives of women who feel they have no other option but to end their pregnancies themselves." [more inside]
Prose and then code
"Eve is a programming language and IDE based on years of research into building a human-first programming platform. From code embedded in documents to a language without order, it presents an alternative take on what programming could be". Repository.
Glasses, Kilts, and the Basketballers Who Wear Them
The mid-2000s saw the NBA reeling in the aftermath of the Malice at the Palace. Feeling alienated by the rise of expressions of hip-hop culture among NBA players, corporate sponsors were threatening to leave the league in droves. In order to bridge the growing gap between the league and its financial base, David Stern and the NBA’s white leadership commenced an all-out assault on the symbols of blackness sported by the hip-hop generation, with a dress code as its chief weapon.[more inside]
Settle in: its going to be a long winter
The hygge conspiracy: If this is the year in which globalisation has been found wanting by millions, hygge appeals to an earlier age, an imagined past, where one could take back control or make a country great again. [SL GuardianLongRead]
Club of Rogue
Roguelike Celebration 2016 schedule and links to all talks. I missed this, but there was a Roguelike con of sorts back in September in San Francisco. There are a bunch of interesting talks about everything Roguelike. E.g. Procedural generation, Markov Chain text generators etc.
Even somewhat recluse developers Bay 12 of Dwarf Fortress fame gave a talk about the inspirations for their hilarious patch note simulator.
The recordings can be found on Youtube and Internet Archive
November 21
Mr. Night Has a Day Off
From Lithuanian animator Ignas Meilunas. Just a cute little two minute video that will improve your happiness level. Be sure to watch all the way until the end!
What it says on the tin, and 20% more free!
10cats [previously 9cats] is a youtube channel devoted to an evergrowing household of cats. They like boxes , a lot of boxes, just way too many boxes. Now they are over a dozen, with this cute kitten that demands your attention. If you need a cat video, this might just be for you. [MLYT] [more inside]
The silent walker
Gondola is a character with a pair of legs, a head, and not much else. He watches as the seasons go by. [more inside]
The novel imitates life, where the short story is bony, & cannot wander.
William Trevor, Watchful Master of the Short Story, Dies Aged 88. [The Guardian] “The Irish author William Trevor [wiki], one of the greatest short story writers of the last century, has died at the age of 88. Trevor, the author of more than 15 novels and many more short stories, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize four times, most recently for The Story of Lucy Gault in 2002, the same year he was awarded an honorary knighthood for his services to literature. He also won the Whitbread prize three times and frequently contributed short stories to The New Yorker magazine.” [more inside]
What happens when you flush a bunch of sodium down the toilet?
Pretty much what you would expect. This is the same toilet that Cody's Lab used to flush 240lbs of mercury. It gives its all for Science when Grant Thompson (of Backyard Solar Death Ray fame) invites Cody to a flush-a-thon.
Earthquake sparks Japan tsunami warning
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake off eastern Japan near Fukushima prefecture has prompted a tsunami warning of possible 3m (10ft) waves. [more inside]
Hold Up to Consent
Everybody plays as a creature made of male genitalia in this game: a flaccid penis, a pair of inflated testicles, and an anus. (NSFW because come on now)
Personal memories encoded during a fugue are generally never recovered
He appeared out of nowhere. He had no name, no memory, no past. He was the only person the FBI ever listed as missing even though they knew where he was. How could B.K. Doe remain anonymous in the modern age’s matrix of observation?
(Benjamin Kyle previously on MeFi)
(Benjamin Kyle previously on MeFi)
When the world falls apart, some things stay in place.
Waiting for the board game version
If you’re worrying about the state of your mortal soul, this handy graphic by François Georgin could help you. [more inside]
🎶 Dah dah, dadada dah dah, dadada dah dah, dadada daaaah 🎶
CineFix's Homemade Movies serves up creative remakes of your favorite movies, trailers and original songs. Every episode is an exact shot-for-shot remake created at home without any visual effects. Deadpool trailer (side-by-side comparison.) Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer (comparison.) Raiders of the Lost Ark opening scene (comparison.) Aliens power loader scene (comparison.) Many, many more of your nerdy favorites, including behind-the-scenes and how-to videos at their YouTube playlist.
That's not very mature
We even got turned down for an armpit at one point in time.
“It smelled like death”: An oral history of the Double Dare obstacle course:
This Wednesday night, Nickelodeon will air a special commemorative episode of Double Dare celebrating the show’s 30th anniversary year. Summers will return, along with announcer John Harvey and production assistant Robin Russo. In the spirit of that super sloppy reunion, The A.V. Club set out to discover the origins of the obstacle course, the show’s most memorable and popular segment.
Kate Bush - And Dream of Sheep
The video, released today, for And Dream of Sheep. Originally on her 1985 album Hounds of Love (also on that album: Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting), this was filmed for showing during her 2014 concerts. Also, on the BBC iPlayer, Kate's recent interview (summarised) and her new live album; also, a teaser for the album. Bonus: Sat In Your Lap, Army Dreamers, Wuthering Heights, Babooshka, The Sensual World, Moments of Pleasure.
You have to deal with the powerless
Means of Descent. An interview with Robert Caro, author of The Power Broker and the series The Years of Lyndon Johnson. An examination of power, getting things done, and the human costs of doing so. [more inside]
Color One Tear Black
The lowrider was born during the mid-twentieth century in the barrio of East Los Angeles. More than just a car, lowriders are the avatar and centerpiece of one of the most enduring Mexican American subcultures. While white American muscle car enthusiasts sought high speed, their Chicanx counterparts were building cars intended to go "low and slow," designed for cruising rather than racing. But what would cruising be without a soundtrack to match? Hazy and soulful group harmony is the music of choice. [more inside]
Bee movie but
Bee movie trailer but every time they say bee it gets slower
The entire bee movie but every time they say bee it gets faster
The bee movie trailer but it's censored
The bee movie trailer but every time it says bee it ends [more inside]
The entire bee movie but every time they say bee it gets faster
The bee movie trailer but it's censored
The bee movie trailer but every time it says bee it ends [more inside]
November 20
OPERATION FANG
You ever perform dental surgery?
You ever perform dental surgery ON LIONS?
Before Whale Chugs and Teku Glasses
When Did Rarity Start to Equal Greatness in Beer? Today, however, Duvel doesn’t even graze the “Top Beers” list. While it’s still well-regarded, by now its acclaim has been buried under a dogpile of state-of-the-art hoppy pale ales, imperial stouts and fruited sour ales. In fact, in the years since I started considering myself a “beer geek” (and the term became part of the lexicon), the craft beer industry has shape-shifted remarkably, especially among the cognoscenti. But how, exactly?
a trouble of the land
The Seven-Decade Transnational Hunt for the Origins of a Strange Indian Disease "Zeroing in on the genesis of the Kyasanur forest disease was, at one point, called “possibly the most dramatic epidemiological detective story of our time.” This is that story."
The Next Step for Neuromorphic Chips
How To Call Your Reps When You Have Social Anxiety
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!
Everyone thinks farts are funny. Underwater farts (NSFW) are better. Slow-motion underwater farts are better still. But nothing compares to 120fps slow-motion underwater naked farts (also NSFW unless you work with naturists). [more inside]
"I will never again release a song I don't like."
NY Magazine: How Sting’s daughter sabotaged her music career so she make it on her own as an anonymous — until now — DJ.
Sumner is rock royalty. But being born into bohemian privilege is complicated, especially in the UK. “There are a lot of great things about the English music scene, but they have an obsession with taking down their own,” says Andrew Wyatt, a friend and collaborator of Sumner’s who is also the frontman of the band Miike Snow. Or, as one prominent executive at a prestigious British label put it: “I’m not rooting for her, and no one is rooting for her.”GQ: We're pretty sure Sting's kid Eliot Sumner is from the future. [more inside]
History don't repeat, it rhymes
“Fascism cannot be explained only in terms of fanaticism, the history of the places where it gains a lodging must be taken into account.” — Northwest author Robert Cantwell, 1939Starting in late 2015, Knute Berger of Seattle's Crosscut magazine began a lengthy series on the historical roots of fascism in the Pacific Northwest. [more inside]
TDOR
"We deserve to feel like it is not just trans people who are moved and outraged by the culture of violence and abuse towards us here and around the world.", Paris Lees, on the Transgender Day of Remembrance. [more inside]
A version of Akira
The making of a cookbook
The Adventures of Fat Rice started as a neighborhood restaurant (which got big) serving a cuisine few had ever tasted from a place many had never heard of. The short version: The chefs got an agent and a book deal. The long version is a look at how one cookbook came together, from writing the proposal, to developing the recipes, to designing the inside and cover. [more inside]
Psithurism is the best ism
Psithurism is the sound of rustling leaves, or the sound of wind passing through a group of trees. For example, spend ten hours listening to the woods of Pennsylvania, or an hour listening to the golden aspen forests of Arizona. Caution! Forest and wood recordings often include bird, animal and other natural sounds, may be relaxing and distracting from the human world.
November 19
“The demons are scared of you. They’re running away from you.”
Doom Composer Mick Gordon: A Chat About Dissonance, Making Music Responsive, and How Doom 2016 Ended Up Getting a Metal Soundtrack. [PC Gamer] “Back when Bethesda and id Software were making announcements about the recently rebooted Doom [wiki], one of the hints that it might end up decent was confirmation that Mick Gordon was onboard to compose the soundtrack [YouTube]. His work on Wolfenstein: The New Order and Killer Instinct is cherished among those games’ playerbases, and the intensity of both owe a lot to his anarchic (but still impressively subtle, when it needs to be) approach to getting visuals and music swinging to the same beat. Based in Australia, Gordon’s been around for a while. He’s worked on two Need For Speed games, as well as Shift 2 Unleashed and ShootMania Storm, to name a few examples. Currently he’s working with Arkane Studios on its Prey reboot, which—as he relates below—will mark a departure from his recent, foot-to-the-floor audio rampages.” [Previously.]
The Art of The Colonel's Bequest
Today I present to you time-lapses of background art from a Sierra On-Line classic The Colonel's Bequest. Until the VGA era Sierra stored background art for their games in a vector format, which allows for it to be displayed step by step to essentially see how it was created by the artists. Please enjoy this gorgeous, dark, and detailed art set to the beautiful MT-32 music from the game.
The Little Gray Wolf Will Come
Inside the world of the greatest living animator and the masterpiece he knows he may never finish
Cinephiles of Moscow, your evening’s entertainment: Yuri Norstein, 74, white-bearded, small, stout, urbane, rumpled, and mischievous. Sitting in front of a pale gold curtain, with a bump on his nose the size of a pistachio shell. Considered by many to be a great, if tragically self-defeating, Russian artist. Considered by many to be the finest animator in the world.
Plane? I don't need no stinking Plane!
While there are many aces of the air enshrined in history, perhapps the oddest aerial victory came when 2d Lt. Owen Baggett shot down a Japanese Zero fighter with a pistol, while hanging from a parachute in mid air.
Who Will Command the Robot Armies?
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Surprise Motherfucker is a catchphrase associated with James Doakes (played by Erik King), a recurring character from the Showtime television drama series Dexter. Celebrated for its overly confrontational attitude, image macros of Doakes featuring the phrase have been since used on imageboards and forums in response to someone else’s comment.
Watch as Darius Benson pushes the envelope of the meme: Surprise motherfucker. [more inside]
Watch as Darius Benson pushes the envelope of the meme: Surprise motherfucker. [more inside]
The Lost Sky
On Friday, singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop released the lead single and video from her upcoming LP Memories Are Now: The Lost Sky [more inside]
The Art of Recording
Soundbreaking is an 8-part documentary series about the art of producing records, featuring both legendary and lesser-known producers like Quincy Jones, Linda Perry, Don Was, RZA, Brian Eno, Questlove, and of course George Martin. [more inside]
Sharon Jones, May 4, 1956 to November 18, 2016
Sharon Jones, the Grammy-nominated soul and funk singer With Dap-Kings, died following her "heroic battle against pancreatic cancer" at the age of 60.
Jones recorded six albums with the Dap-Kings, but it was her exhilarating live shows, which functioned as equal parts Baptist church revival, Saturday night juke joint and raucous 1970s Las Vegas revue, that showcased the singer's unparalleled energy. In venues filled with people half her age, Jones was the most dynamic person in the room, bolting onstage and commanding the crowd like her idol James Brown. It was homage without mimicry; respecting the soul and funk elders that defined the genres while displaying seemingly boundless vitality.Sharon Jones, previously. [more inside]
"The first thing that came to my mind was Psycho"
Australian luthier Stephen Gilchrist explains how he went about restoring Gibson F5 Mandolin #70281, the first such Gibson instrument to be signed by Lloyd Loar on June 1, 1922. [more inside]
Looking presidential
Amsterdam-based Turkish designer Guney Soykan charts the faces of world leaders. "He decided to bring together a visual record of the people chosen to run their countries – however democratically – over the past 50 years, creating a sort of time-lapse composite photo of one face made up of slivers of all the former leaders. The results vary, from the tiny splinters of men in Turkey's tumultuous political atmosphere to the creepy continuity of North Korea". (via)
US State Abbrevs.
A Gary Gulman comedy routine [YT] recommended by Patton Oswalt [FB] touches on the history of US state abbreviations [PDF], first defined in 1831 [Int. Arch.], occasionally [ibid.] revised [PDF], and finally reduced to two letters each soon after the introduction of Zone Improvement Plan codes [Flash/MP4].
Make it so, Number One.
NASA's long awaited paper, Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Closed Radio-Frequency Cavity in Vacuum, has passed peer review and been published in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)’s Journal of Propulsion and Power. The takeaway? They consistently measured 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt of thrust in a vacuum with no apparent reaction mass. Several potential sources of error were considered and examined. If the results are replicated and not the result of error our current understanding of physics would be shattered. [more inside]
The Deep Could Hide Monsters, But They Were Made By Man
Unfathomable: Sunken treasure, death-defying adventure, sibling rivalry: How Charles and John Deane Invented modern deep-sea diving and saved the British Empire [more inside]
November 18
"To be in Unicode. That is my main goal.”"
The Alphabet That Will Save a People From Disappearing - "“Why do Fulani people not have their own writing system?” Abdoulaye Barry remembers asking his father one day in elementary school. The variety of writing styles made it difficult for families and friends who lived in different countries to communicate easily. Abdoulaye’s father, who learned Arabic in Koranic schools, often helped friends and family in Nzérékoré—Guinea’s second-largest city—decipher letters they received, reading aloud the idiosyncratically modified Arabic scripts. As they grew older, Abdoulaye and his brother Ibrahima began to translate letters, too.
“Those letters were very difficult to read even if you were educated in Arabic,” Abdoulaye said. “You could hardly make out what was written.”
So, in 1990, the brothers started coming up with an alternative. Abdoulaye was 10 years old; Ibrahima was 14." [more inside]
Dissolving the Frame
Baldwin is trying to convey in one image both his sense of space and height and his view of the ground. The execution is not entirely successful. Nevertheless, the attempt is significant. In combining phenomenological and visual sensations, Baldwin is responding to the extraordinary new conditions of flight.Lily Ford on how balloon flight transformed out idea of landscape. Part 2.
What else are you going to do with all that cat hair?
Cats. In hats. Made from their own hair.
Sun sets in Barrow AK for the last time Friday
At 1:31 p.m. Friday the sun set in Barrow, Alaska for the last time. Ever. Or at least, it set for the last time while the city is named Barrow. [more inside]
The arctic air temperature is 36 degrees F warmer than normal
As the Arctic settles into polar night, scientists are noticing that something has gone horribly wrong. Sea ice levels in at the North Pole are at a record low—but even more startlingly, air temperatures are 36° F (20° C) higher than normal across the region.
At the same time, north-central Asia is experiencing equally abnormal temperatures, but in the opposite direction. There’s a cold spell looming over Siberia.
Nihilistic Teddy Bear: Message for Dark Days
"ssssssssss"
Giant Roaches Can Grow Big Testicles When They Need Them. Regrettably, yet fascinatingly, true.
As long as there's sex and drugs, I could do without the rock & roll
The year is 1992, and They have returned. (Trailer). There were interviews: David Letterman, Arsenio Hall, Charles Gibson. There were appearances: Headbangers Ball, Rockline with Martha Quinn (Part 2 only. Part 1 was DMCAd. Quite exciting, this computer magic!) But then there was the concert: The Return of Spinal Tap at The Royal Albert Hall, with special guests The Folksmen, Bob Geldof, Kenny Rogers, and many other surprises. If you're Australian, don't forget your Rock 'n Rolls.
“Cheers, love! The cavalry’s here!”
Overwatch and Dark Souls 3 win big at this year's Golden Joystick Awards. As does The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. [PC Gamer] “The winners of the 2016 Golden Joystick Awards [YouTube] have been revealed, with the coveted Ultimate Game of the Year title going to the grossly incandescent Dark Souls 3. Elsewhere, Overwatch took home the most awards of the evening, including Best Original Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Competitive Game of the Year, Best Gaming Moment, and PC Game of the Year.” [more inside]
Police have not yet shot the white foam
Mysterious white foam floods Santa Clara. A torrent of whiteness flooded Martin Ave in Santa Clara this afternoon. Authorities maintain "the foam is not dangerous." (It's AFFF and not really mysterious)
A little relaxation couldn't hurt right now
A sentry watching for hundreds of miles, alone on the plain
The pyramid at the end of the world: In rural North Dakota, a small county and [a group of Hutterites] are caught in a stand-off over a decaying piece of America’s atomic history.
The Art of Mending
20 Years of The Rock
Twenty years ago this week, the Rock burst forth onto the nation's television screens in his first wrestling match, and nothing would ever be the same. [more inside]
I still wake up and remember who is the President-elect
A week since the post-truth 2016 US elections and Donald is attempting team selection with Reince Priebus becoming the Chief of Staff (Onion), while Steve Bannon is the Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor and Jeff Sessions could be the Attorney General. Election result analysis continues, including Barack's reaction, rural voters and insiders, as does consideration of the approaching 2018 mid-terms. Post-election, hate crimes have increased and a tally is being kept, while Black Lives Matter issues a statement. There are issues with fake news, and with vote counting in Arizona and Supreme Court control in North Carolina. Meanwhile, down ballot election results bring good news for liberals, Twitter does something, and voters swap media bubbles. Relevant events in the near future include the minority House elections, the Trump University litigation trial (maybe), the Louisiana Senate race runoff, the Electoral College vote and probable climate collapse. [more inside]
Behind You
A single serve Tumblr of small self-contained horror stories in cartoon form. Some are animated, but all are wonderfully unnerving.
"There's no real way around EVE's brutality"
There's a fairly well-established pattern of events that surround MMOs transitioning to a free-to-play model. First, the existing players freak out and try desperately to convince the game studio not to do it. Then the articles about the death of that MMO begin appearing in the gaming press. Then the studio insists that "no, no, everything's fine." Then the layoffs and server shutdowns begin. So why is it that when EVE Online developer CCP announced that they were going F2P, it was met by near-universal enthusiasm from the player base? Well, EVE has always been a little different. [more inside]
Cooking/Maryland/History
A Maryland Food History Blog: 300 Years of Black Cooking in St. Mary’s County---Free State Oyster Omelet ---Interview with a Maryland Waterman---Mrs. Kitching’s Clam Chowder
Tim, we're not calling her 'Luke'.
An Oral History of Spaced: "Spaced came from our own flat-share experiences, but also in the wake of Friends in the mid-90s there had been a few copycat shows in Britain that were supposedly about young lives, and we just didn't feel represented in those shows at all – they were all fairly attractive people hanging around in brightly-lit wine bars, talking about shagging. We felt a bit affronted by that..."
" I remember filming the scene when I shot the zombie's head off with a shotgun and thinking, 'This is going to be on after Friends.' " [more inside]
Hieronymus Bosch, reimagined.
A three minute video of a different kind of place. (Single link - vimeo. Possibly NSFW). Hieronymus Bosch created some of the weirdest art. This is a tribute video of sorts. There is some sound with the video. Very trippy and mesmerizing.
Give Sarcasm a Chance
Wasted Rita is a Portuguese artist, based in Lisbon, born with a natural tendency to provoke, using sarcasm as a weapon and the power of full-time thinking to write about the most common things of all possible things: life and human beings, the inbetweeners, and the all arounders. . [more inside]
Templar, Illuminati or Dragon?
Sean Charmatz is an animator, writer and actor best known for his work on Spongebob Squarepants. He left the show in 2013, and amongst his current projects is The Secret World Of Stuff. [more inside]
Dey make take oooooor lifes, bud they woll nefer tayk ur freeedum!
Accent Analysis. A well executed accent can be the sharpest tool in an actor’s toolbox. But when an accent is off, everyone notices. An analysis of movie accents.
Turned upfield, made a football move
Subject has posted on the blue.
New subject has entered. Welcome! (please turn on your sound)
Guess What?
Apple Brings Back the Peach Butt Emoji Finally, a change we can believe in.
November 17
The Forgotten Concentration Camp
"Nobody knows about Ravensbrück at all. Nobody ever wanted to know from the moment we came back." Journalist and author Sarah Helm reconstructs the history of the only Nazi concentration camp for women.
(Previously: 1, 2, 3)
Grandma Texts Wrong Teen for Thanksgiving, Now They'll Eat Together
A teenager from Arizona will be breaking bread with strangers this Thanksgiving after someone's Grandma invited him via wrong text message... "I said, 'Hey, why not ask for a plate since the offer was still there,'" Jamal said.
The woman answered, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do ... feed everyone."
Sand's End
“Did these writers...not think about the implications of their words?”
Prominent Authors Face Backlash Over Letter to UBC Over Steven Galloway Firing [Toronto Star] “A rift in Canada’s literary community has deepened after dozens of prominent authors called for an independent investigation into the University of British Columbia’s firing of Steven Galloway. Joseph Boyden wrote and circulated an open letter [UBC Accountable], signed by Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel and others, which raised concerns the university’s process to investigate “serious allegations” against Galloway was secretive and unfair. Galloway, who was chairman of the school’s creative writing program, was fired in June. The letter has sparked an online backlash, with former students who say they witnessed misconduct by Galloway and outside observers expressing concerns it would silence and intimidate complainants.” [more inside]
Did you notice the bear?
Evgeni, Michail and Semyon
"In 2001, Belgian police called curators at one of London’s top museums and told them that two J.M.W. Turner paintings valued at $35 million had been recovered in a sting operation. Lost since 1994, the Tate Gallery scrambled to get a professional down to Antwerp to see them.
Sitting at home in Berlin a few days later, Evgeni Posin was reading an article in the newspaper about two men arrested for trying to pass off the Turners as original. He knew immediately the paintings were fakes. How? Because he and his two brothers had painted them."
Evgeni Posin works with his two brothers Michail and Semyon in Berlin. They are originally from Russia. The three are the first family of Art Forgery. [more inside]
Evgeni Posin works with his two brothers Michail and Semyon in Berlin. They are originally from Russia. The three are the first family of Art Forgery. [more inside]
The Age of Pain
In one respect, today’s emotional politics is the inverse of the 1960s. Back then, people were coming to define themselves by their pleasures: their sexual desires, consumer preferences, lifestyle choices. Today, many are coming to define themselves by their pains: past traumas, mental illnesses and chronic health conditions ... One culprit always stands out in public discussion of these trends: digital technology.In The Age of Pain, New Statesman (15 November 2016), Will Davies (Goldsmith's, University of London) discusses the politics of pain and its intersection with digital technologies.
Life in the Plague Years
"On the first of December, three decades after the disease first hit the city, the New York City AIDS Memorial will open at ground zero of the epidemic — St. Vincent’s hospital in Greenwich Village, now closed, where patients once flooded the rooms and spilled out into the surrounding corridors, turning the genteel facility very suddenly into a kind of war zone. All told, more than 100,000 New York men, women, and children have died of AIDS, and the memorial is built in their names. But it reminds us, too, as all memorials do, of how much has already been forgotten."
The American Thanksgiving
Fifteen families share with the New York Times their traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Recipes for all are collected here.
United Airlines: here to make flying more unpleasant than it already is
Beastie Boys + Daft Punk = Daft Science
Daft Science. Toronto producer Coins (bandcamp; facebook; twitter) made an album of Beastie Boys remixes using only Daft Punk samples. All eight resulting tracks are stream- or downloadable for free. (via Dancing Astronaut)
November 16
Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom.
Most people consider mushrooms to be the small, ugly cousins of the plant kingdom, but theirs is a surprisingly beautiful and wonderful world waiting to be explored. Steve Axford shoots mushrooms from around the globe in addition to the ones found in his native Australia. Martin Pfister lights them from behind with tiny LEDs. Vyacheslav Mishchenko shoots mushrooms along with various creatures. And time-lapse photography shows the eerie power of the fruiting bodies bursting through the soil.
Pluto's Heart
"Binzel suspects that Pluto’s “heart,” particularly its left ventricle region, called Sputnik Planitia, was created by an impact with another object in the Kuiper belt, an asteroid belt near the edge of the solar system. That impact gouged out a piece of the surface of Pluto, making the crust very thin at the point of impact. Underground water, kept warm by Pluto’s radioactivity, then flooded this area of thin crust like water in a blister. This formed the extra mass that caused Pluto to reorient itself so the impact zone faced away from Charon." [more inside]
Some kind of ...
Effective and ineffective ways of addressing racial bias
German Lopez reports for Vox on recent research about methods for addressing bias and prejudice.
"As much as it might seem like a lost cause to understand the perspectives of people who may qualify as racist, understanding where they come from is a needed step to being able to speak to them in a way that will help reduce the racial biases they hold."
2016 National Book Awards
Tonight, the National Book Foundation will honor and celebrate some of the year's best American literature at the 2016 National Book Awards ceremony. Hosted by Larry Wilmore, the event will be livestreamed, or you can follow on Twitter at #NBAwards. If you can't wait for bookish goodness, the recording of last night's readings by the finalists is available; Young People's Literature finalist Nicola Yoon called it one of the most inspiring nights of her life. This season hasn't been without controversy, however: the various ways the awards reflect the current state of publishing have been criticized but also defended.
Librarians on the planning commission!
Public In/Formation
for decades. They have raucously debated how to accommodate all kinds of online behavior, and have developed tools for promoting free speech and open access while discouraging illegal activity and shielding patrons and staff from offensive images. They have tested policies and procedures — time limits, download caps, and content filters — for ensuring that resources are shared fairly. The information commons is messy, and negotiating such issues is part of living in a robust democracy. What works in the public library can work on the street.[more inside]
Where can we get some drugs?
Isaiah Lopaz is an American artist living in Berlin. After years of racist comments, he printed some of them on t-shirts and asked a friend to photograph him wearing them around Berlin.
Whooooooooooo knows?
The 15-year-old legal proceedings against author Michael Peterson for the alleged murder of his wife, Kathleen, constitute one of the more notorious and extensively documented criminal cases of our time. It has provided fodder for two Dateline segments, a Lifetime movie, an expansive documentary film series, and dozens of true-crime television episodes and podcasts. It is lurid, tinged with drugs and alcohol, replete with an ongoing extramarital affair with a prostitute, and soaked in blood—lots of blood. It also spawned a criminal defense theory that sounds like a punch line: The owl did it.
Beware Romans bearing gifts...
Hell Freezes Over: Microsoft Joins Linux Foundation as a Platinum Member. In another twist that 2016 has to offer, the closed-source software giant has allied with the foundation, 15 years after former CEO Ballmer called it "cancer".
Mystery over Dutch WW2 shipwrecks vanished from Java Sea bed
Three warships sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942 have largely disappeared from the sea bed. [more inside]
Official Nintendo Seal of Quality
To coincide with the release of the NES Classic, Nintendo has published a small trove of NES instruction manual scans. (Make sure to click "printed manual.") via
What Was the Nerd?
Today’s American fascist youth is neither the strapping Aryan jock-patriot nor the skinheaded, jackbooted punk: The fascist millennial is a pasty nerd watching shitty meme videos on YouTube, listening to EDM, and harassing black women on Twitter. Self-styled “nerds” are the core youth vanguard of crypto-populist fascist movements. And they are the ones most likely to seize the opportunities presented by the Trump presidency.Willie Osterweil identifies how "The myth of the bullied white outcast loner is helping fuel a fascist resurgence."
Everybody get up, it's time to slam now
It was twenty years ago today
Michael Jordan taught the toons to play
They've never gone out of style
Even though we thought we’d wait a while
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years
Bugs et cetera vs. the Monstars again
Michael Jordan taught the toons to play
They've never gone out of style
Even though we thought we’d wait a while
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years
Bugs et cetera vs. the Monstars again
Is that BANANA FAMILY on my screen
Google's "AI Experiments" include several different ways that you can use machine learning to brighten up your life. Get Giorgio Cam to rap to you about pictures you take with your phone or webcam. Sick of CAPTCHAs? Turn the tables and see if the computer can guess your drawing with Quick, Draw! Or satisfy a need you never knew you had and make a totally sick drum beat out of fart noises, camera shutters and tiger roars with Infinite Drum Machine.
Improvisational hymn singing from the Scottish Isles
Noel Meek writes about Gaelic psalm singing and includes several recordings from the 1970s and 80s. A precentor sings the opening line from a hymn, and then the congregation joins in, improvising on the melody. With the decline of the Scottish Gaelic language the tradition is fading and lives primarily on the islands of Lewis and Harris in the Hebrides. Here is a video from Back Free Church on Lewis and a BBC radio documentary on Gaelic psalm singing by Ken Hyder.
With a ruby coloured hand he'll reach in and grab your gland
He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru. From the amazing world of Deviant Art comes DrFaustusAU (previously) who has created an almost pitch perfect mashup of Nick Cave's classic song and Dr Seuss. We'll soon be whispering his name through this disappearing land.
November 15
B is for Boxer
After being told she's not allowed on the new couch, Bella the boxer decides to voice her opinion. Dexter enjoys Strauss. Baxter tolerates bunnies. Junebug and her puppies take a nap. (Boxers previously and previously)
🎼 Smelly cat, smelly cat 🎶
Although the cat sort of looks like she’s smiling or grimacing when she takes a big whiff, the act of opening the mouth and drawing up the air to the Jacobson’s organ is called the flehmen reaction. Essentially, the cat is opening her mouth to suck in the air into the Jacobson’s organ and take a really deep sniff of the odor." [SLYT] (h/t)
“It’s remarkable, and it’s valuable.”
BBC Series Planet Earth II Will Be Unparalleled, Says Attenborough [The Guardian] “A lone eagle soars high above craggy mountain tops, the tips of its wings lifting lightly in the wind. A lemur leaps from tree to tree in a dense forest, the camera following the animal with every bound. An enormous grizzly bear wriggles his back against a tree, as if caught in an embarrassing dance. This is planet Earth, but not as you have ever seen it before. That’s because, more accurately, it is Planet Earth II [YouTube], the latest – and perhaps most spectacular – blockbuster nature series the BBC has ever made. Ten years after Sir David Attenborough narrated the channel’s groundbreaking epic Planet Earth, the 90-year-old broadcaster has returned for part two, a lavish six-part series that will screen on BBC1 from Sunday 6 November. Shot over three years in 117 filming trips to 40 countries, it is one of the first series to be fully filmed in the latest UHD and HDR formats, according to the BBC, and features countless sequences that could not have been achieved without new, ultra-lightweight cameras and drones.” [more inside]
Bob Dylan isn't Black
Mose Allison (b 11-11-1927 d. 11-15-2016) dead at age 89
American jazz pianist, singer, and composer Mose Allison died today at his home in Hilton Head South Carolina. He combined a sophisticated soloing style on the piano over deceptively simple changes, with ascerbic, dryly humourous, often political lyrics sung in a voice that reflected his upbringing in the Missippi Delta.
In addition to a six decade long career as a jazz musician, Mose Allison's records inspired many future British rock musicians, particularly Pete Townsend of the Who.
New York Times
Rolling Stone
Mississippi Blues Trail
Fan Site
Biography (from his site) [more inside]
In addition to a six decade long career as a jazz musician, Mose Allison's records inspired many future British rock musicians, particularly Pete Townsend of the Who.
New York Times
Rolling Stone
Mississippi Blues Trail
Fan Site
Biography (from his site) [more inside]
Free Hope
Rebecca Solnit, perhaps most famous for honing in on the phenomenon of "mansplaining," is offering her book on activism Hope in the Dark for free.
I'm a kniiiiiiiiiiiiife...
All 92 episodes of the seminal animated talkshow Space Ghost Coast to Coast are now available for free streaming on Adult Swim. [more inside]
Alberta: kinda like if Texas and North Dakota had a baby
You don't plan to capture history, but you do anyway.
Marti Friedlander, 1928 - 2016, photographed New Zealand's prime ministers, athletes, musicians, artists, regular people, landscapes, protests, ceremonies. She died on Sunday. [more inside]
Rumble in the Fish Market
The World Chess Championship is currently taking place in NYC The current champ is Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who is a bit of a celebrity. His challenger is Russian wunderkind Sergey Karjakin currently the number 9 ranked player in the world, but winner of the 2016 candidates tournament. [more inside]
I choose you, Utagawa Hiroshige!
The cast of M*A*S*H reunited to sell IBM computers in the '80s
"Hey, everybody, the new computers are here!" It's almost not as bad as it could have been. But it's not exactly good either.
Hope on a napkin
Each day, Meaghan Elderkin draws a different feminist hero on a napkin — along with one of her famous quotes — and tucks it deep within her 4th-grader’s lunchbox.
The Inhumans Hit the Very Big and Small Screens
Marvel's The Inhumans will be an 8-episode live-action drama series on ABC, spinning off from Marvel's Agents of Shield. The first two episodes will be filmed in IMAX and premiere as a theatrical release on commercial IMAX screens in September 2017. [more inside]
Vampire accuses baby of killing victim
The most ridiculous patch notes from 10 years of Dwarf Fortress. Here's how DF plays these days with some addons.
November 14
City Boy
TOKYO CULTURE STORY|今夜はブギー・バック(smooth rap) in 40 YEARS OF TOKYO FASHION & MUSIC
/
'A chronological music video that compilates 40 years of Tokyo fashion and music from 1976 to 2016.'
Hang On To Yourself
Masturbation Euphemisms From Around The World — toss your own in here, too.
Ubuntu 12 exploit through NES ROM hacking
A new 0day vulnerability has been discovered for an older version of Ubuntu, exploitable through unexpected means, by using a specially-constructed NES ROM, in conjunction with the NSF audio format, leading an emulator to escape its expected memory region and execute outside instructions.
Democracy suffers if our news environment incentivizes bullshit
Hyperpartisan Facebook Pages Are Publishing False And Misleading Information At An Alarming Rate. The rapid growth of these pages combines with BuzzFeed News’ findings to suggest a troubling conclusion: The best way to attract and grow an audience for political content on the world’s biggest social network is to eschew factual reporting and instead play to partisan biases using false or misleading information that simply tells people what they want to hear. This approach has precursors in partisan print and television media, but has gained a new scale of distribution on Facebook... [more inside]
47 Years Longer than the Average Raccoon Lifespan!
Ranger Rick magazine turns 50! Beginning publication in 1967, the NWF's flagship children's publication has been introducing kids to wildlife for three generations. At Classic Ranger Rick, explore the history of the magazine's look to get your nostalgia gland going, or check out early artists like Lorin Thompson and Alton Langford. Or enjoy some glorious photography it's featured through the years.
"...it's all a sham; a way to get drug addicts out of Puerto Rico."
The Air Bridge: A paid one-way ticket from Puerto Rico to mainland American cities, including Philadelphia, promises heroin-addicted citizens good treatment at resort-like estates and even jobs; but many end up at unlicensed and unregulated treatment centers and wind up addicted on the streets or even dead.
"Free bananas in the NHS staff kitchen!!!"
Today, someone or something sent a "test" email to NHS staff. Unfortunately to rather a lot of NHS staff - between 850,000 and 1.2 million. A few of whom sent reply-all responses. Chaos ensued, though it is unclear whether bananas were involved.
Goddamnit 2016
Bal Diwas
The 14th of November has been celebrated as Children's Day in India since 1964. Also known as Bal Diwas, it is Chacha Nehru's birthday.
The Problem We All Live With
56 years ago today, 6 year old Ruby Bridges walked up the steps of the William Frantz Elementary School and into history, on the first day of integrated schools in New Orleans. [more inside]
Please beware of overly friendly squirrel
In retrospect, the only reason I did not want a pet squirrel was that it simply hadn’t occurred to me to want one. On some level this isn’t surprising: It’s against the law to own a pet squirrel in many states, and as charming as they seem from afar, it is also technically true that they are rodents. How many people keep squirrels as pets? Who knows. It’s safe to say, though, the number is not very high, since most people would sooner settle for a more traditional pet than risk coming across as crazy. But looking at squirrels on Instagram awoke something in me.
The Inexplicably Ubiquitous Phenomenon of 'Woods Porn'
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Indigo Girls!!
Tig Notaro closes her recent Carnegie Hall show with an epic audience troll. (Yes, it's blatant pandering to throw MeFi a Tig Notaro post. I don't care. When she's not selling out Carnegie Hall, she played my town's little penny ante community center last year. There are so many reasons why I love the hell out of Tig Notaro. Here's one more.)
I prefer stories about squalor.
J.D. Salinger gave the television producer Peter Tewksbury permission to adapt “For Esmé—With Love and Squalor,” and a movie was nearly made. (Single link to a New Yorker article.)
It’s a bird, a plane, a SUPER MOON!
November 13
Guess who else needs naps?
China-Japan-Russia-S.Korea Plan New Grid
Entrepreneurs in China, South Korea, Russia, and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that seeks to create the Asia Super Grid. It will transmit electrical power from renewable sources from areas of the world that are best able to produce it to consumers in other parts of the world. The idea is dependent on development of an ultra-high voltage grid operating at more than 1,000 kilovolts AC and 800 kilovolts DC over thousands of kilometers. It envisions interconnecting grids across regions, nations, and even continents with a capacity of over 10 gigawatts. [more inside]
"Just be cool and act like we planned to do this."
Two cats get the same idea and end up, well, you'll see [SLYT]
Native American Ethnobotany Database
A Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of Native American Peoples, Derived from Plants.
Solving unconcious bias one step at a time...
Unconscious bias is particularly insidious, and most simple methods developed to address it typically work for only a few days, if at all. Of the approaches tested in a 17,000 person study, only 8 techniques appear to lower bias temporarily, and many of those require the rather troubling method of both raising empathy for the minority group and creating negative associations with the majority group. In fact, simply educating people about negative stereotypes can actually increase stereotyping. The problem is still being worked on, and researchers are optimistic. In the meantime, it can be best to avoid triggering bias at all: blind auditions can reduce bias in settings like orchestras (though maybe not in technical hiring, where the problem appears to be that disadvantaged groups give up sooner). It can also help for people from advantaged backgrounds to speak out when they see racism or bias: a just-published study shows that if a "high-follower white male" calls out a harasser on Twitter, there is a drop in overt racist behavior. You can also become aware of your own biases through the Implicit Association Test.
Turns out it's some DJ's fault
YouTube Muppet researcher Joshua Gillespie recently shared some findings from a dive into Disney’s Muppet-related domain names, after coming across one little gem.[more inside]
The Master is With Us Always
Tom Neyman, best known as "The Master" in the film Manos: The Hands of Fate has passed away at age 80. The news comes from his daughter, Jackey Neyman Jones, who played Debbie in the legendary Z-Movie riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000. MST3k Fansite Satellite News reports as well. [more inside]
RIP, Master of Space and Time
Leon Russell collaborator with Joe Cocker and Elton John and a fine performer in his own right has passed on at 74
The Lawsuit That Could Save the Planet
A while ago, several kids brought a lawsuit against the Obama administration for potentially ruining their futures with climate change. They just won the right to go to trial. If Obama’s people settle it before Jan. 20, “… Such a settlement would result in a court order that the Trump administration would then have to abide by — it could attempt to overturn the order, but that could take years.” If Obama doesn't settle, the case goes on to Trump. The main lawyer involved is an Oregon mom who has founded Our Childrens’ Trust to continue the litigation.
Something to do with drawing close
Laurie Scheck's "Dostoevsky’s Empathy" and Maria R. Bloshteyn's "Rage and Revolt: Dostoevsky and Three African-American Writers": two engaging articles made available online this week to commemorate Dostoevsky's birthday.
The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself: after the US election
Several days after the 2016 US election, president-elect Donald Trump is holding meetings, interviews and starting to build his administration team. His positions on issues such as mass deportation, tax and foreign policy are the cause of speculation; election positions on the ACA are possibly partially rolled back, but against bleak forecasts environmental positions seem to stay as they were, to the concern of scientists. Elsewhere there is discussion of why Hillary lost to Donald, such as James Comey's involvement, rural voting patterns, swing state perceptions or voter rights and suppression, while the Democratic Party consider who should lead them forwards. Meanwhile, protests occur in several US cities, there is speculation about Trump being impeached, the electoral college is under further scrutiny, and Kate McKinnon and Dave Chappelle on SNL. [more inside]
7.5 quake "rocks whole country" of New Zealand
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake centered near the inland South Island town of Hanmer Springs, New Zealand has been felt (literally) throughout both major islands of the nation. A tsunami warning was downgraded late this morning. Major damage has been seen in the Christchurch and Wellington areas (photos), and deaths have been reported in Kaikokura. Massive aftershocks continue to shake the country. A massive incoming storm threatens to hamper relief efforts. Live updates here.
SNL goes poignant
Rather than easy Trump impressions/jokes, Saturday Night Live went with a stunning cold open and captured/addressed a lot of sadness and angst in three minutes. [more inside]
New Rubik's Cube World Record of 4.74 seconds
Rubik's Cube mastermind Mats Valk set a new world record over the weekend at the Jawa Timur Open in Indonesia. "Valk, 20, managed to break the existing record of 4.90 seconds, set last year by 14-year-old Lucas Etter, with a blistering time of 4.74 seconds."
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes
Familiar Pattern
Rev. William Barber’s Moral Message Moving Forward, a post-election press call ( Youtube, 45 min audio only. Barber previously ) covers a lot of ground, built around his observation that the “…victory has been heralded as an unprecedented political upheaval. But we must understand history and know that the reactionary wave that swept across America this past Tuesday is not an anomaly in our history. It is instead an all too familiar pattern in the long struggle for American reconstruction.” [more inside]
November 12
The Pulsating Spider
The mystery of the pulsating spider : "During my years in the field, I had recorded numerous instances of micro-movements in spider abdomens. While most are just really tiny unnoticeable movements on the spider's heart line, one particular spider stood out with swirling or pulsating movements in the abdomen and visible with the naked eye."
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
The band Francobollo released their song "Wonderful" with an animated video about a jealous ball of pubic hair. Yes, that's exactly what it's about. It's downright goofy, then turns a little scary, and barely on the edge of SFW. (Text and link courtesy of [Mefi's Own] Miss Cellania.)
Building "sandcastles" is a bit of a test...
Calvin Seibert builds modernist sand castles. "Nature will always be against you and time is always running out. Having to think fast and to bring it all together in the end is what I like about it.
I rarely start with a plan, just a vague notion of trying to do something different each time. Once I begin building and forms take shape I can start to see where things are going and either follow that road or attempt to contradict it with something unexpected."
Folk Music In America, compiled by Dick Spotswood
“Folk Music in America” is a series of 15 LP records published by the Library of Congress between 1976 and 1978 to celebrate the bicentennial of the American Revolution. It was curated by librarian/collector-cum-discographer Richard K. Spottswood, and funded by a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. The music, pulled primarily from the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song (now Archive of Folk Culture), spans nearly a century (1890-1976) and virtually every form that can be considered American music. This includes native American songs and instrumental music, music of immigrant cultures from all over the world, and uniquely American forms like blues, jazz and country.Folk Music in America [more inside]
Why Should Virginia Bear It?
No amount of casting people of color disguises the fact that they’re erasing people of color from the actual narrative.
Hamilton: not as revolutionary as it seems [more inside]
Hamilton: not as revolutionary as it seems [more inside]
Knit love in the dark
Anna Hrachovec shows us a tiny knitted gnome's response to this past week.
Electronic Self-Protection
How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour "In this article, I will show you how you can protect yourself by leveraging state-of-the-art encryption. In a single sitting, you can make great strides toward securing your privacy." [more inside]
Meanwhile in the U.K...
The last walkie for Walnut the Whippet. Hundreds of people joined a dog owner when he took his beloved but poorly whippet Walnut on a final walk.
Strategy for calling your representatives
Emily Ellsworth once spent six years working as a staffer for Congress, and she tweeted about the ways to contact them that she observed were most effective for making a difference. She collected her tweets on Storify, here. [more inside]
November 11
Portland Protests
Portland protests For the fourth night, protests continue in Portland. KGW is broadcasting live.
Everybody needs a nap.
Why Captain Jellico Is Actually Pretty Awesome
Shia LaBeouf Freestyles 5 Fingers of Death with Oswin Benjamin
"We asked 86 burglars how they broke into homes"
KGW of Portland, Oregon, sent questionnaires to 86 people convicted of burglary and currently serving time, asking how they picked targets, what they looked for, and how they carried out their thefts. Two notable points: they always knock first, and a car in the driveway or a radio or TV left on are big deterrents.
The Fellatio Modification Project, etc.
The Fellatio Modification Project; The Cunnilingus/Anilingus Modification Project; Dolphin Eroticarium; Pet's Pettings: some concepts/projects by the Taiwanese dentist & new media artist Kuang-Yi Ku. Note: all links are NSFW.
TAD
While undeniably contemporaries of seminal '90s Seattle groups like Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Nirvana, TAD diverged from their peers. While the term "grunge" served as a pitifully poor catch-all for the not-quite-metal and not-quite-punk sounds coming out of the city at the time, the flannel-flying oddball quartet of Kurt Danielson, Steve Wied, Gary Thorstensen and Tad Doyle started out wanting to make the ugliest music they could, albeit imbued with an insular sense of humor. For their transgressive approach, TAD were beloved by their peers, playing and touring alongside them all over the world as their modest city rose in stature as the new model for rock’s future.
[more inside]
We are all defeated by the garbage in our own way.
It’s the most Desert Bus-iest time of the year!
In less than 24 hours, a group of Canadian Internet sketch comedians will begin playing the most boring video game for over five days straight for the 10th year in a row. [more inside]
African Languages in a Digital Age
Challenges and opportunities for indigenous language computing
Localisation is a new and growing field of inquiry. This book identifies issues, concerns, priorities, and lines of research and is intended as a baseline study in defining localisation in Africa
*single link full book
November 10
Himmelsscheibe: The Nebra Sky Disc
In 1999, two men with metal detectors unearthed one of the most significant finds of modern archaeology: the Nebra Sky Disc, a 30-cm bronze disc inlaid with gold depicting the sun, moon, stars (including the Pleiades), and arcs that apparently represent sunrise and sunset at the solstices at Mittelberg Hill in Germany, and a holy sun boat symbol, dating from 1600 BCE or earlier. Because the illicit finders sold the disc on the black market, skepticism about its authenticity abounded for several years before scientific investigations confirmed it was a legitimate find and possibly the oldest concrete depiction of astronomical phenomena ever found. (The looters were seized by police in a sting operation in a bar in Switzerland, sentenced to prison, appealed, and got longer sentences.) [more inside]
It may very well be game over.
Recent climate studies predict that global temperatures could raise as much as 7C within our lifetimes, putting Earth on the fast track to a full Venus atmosphere.
Wheeeow
Cat likes broom rides (don't we all?)
Safety Pins and Paper Clips against Racism
After Brexit, Tolerant Britons Adopted a Simple Symbol of Solidarity.
In response to the open environment of hatred, people across the U.K. are now wearing safety pins — and tweeting pictures of themselves wearing them — in an act of solidarity with immigrants.Via Jason Kottke [more inside]
We have lost one of music's most revered and prolific visionaries
to express what is ultimately mysterious and ineffable
The last post on Facebook by San Antonio artist Jim Harter (d Oct 2015 aged 74) was a quote from Sadhguru,
“Life is neither a gift nor a punishment. It is just a phenomenon that you need to learn to ride.”
In the 70´s Harter created concert posters for Austin’s Vulcan Gas Company and Armadillo World Headquarters, as well as other counter-culture establishments.
Some of his poster plates were hand coloured.
His book Initiations in the Abyss: A Surrealist Apocalypse was published in 2001.
Here are a few more of his collages.
“Life is neither a gift nor a punishment. It is just a phenomenon that you need to learn to ride.”
In the 70´s Harter created concert posters for Austin’s Vulcan Gas Company and Armadillo World Headquarters, as well as other counter-culture establishments.
Some of his poster plates were hand coloured.
His book Initiations in the Abyss: A Surrealist Apocalypse was published in 2001.
Here are a few more of his collages.
You need a little bit o' Souls to put you right
Young Hollow, there are but two fan-made Dark Souls web comics in this post: Lordran & Beyond and Karniz's Many Deaths In Dark Souls. But only a true monarch can click such links. Very few, indeed, have read the previous Dark Souls posts on MetaFilter. And yet, your journey is far from over. Half-grown Hollow, have you what it takes, truly?
Tintype Type Celebrity Portraits
Celebrity portraits that look like old tintype photos. Yes, its a mindless, silly post with old timey looking photos of celebs, but its all that I can manage this week.
Dump the Electoral College
The National Popular Vote Twice out of the last five elections, and five times total, the candidate who won the majority of the popular vote lost the election for president. In the last election, almost all of the campaigning for president happened in just 12 "swing" states. If you are not in one of those states, your vote for president doesn't matter very much. This is because of the way that states send their electors to the electoral college, where (except in Maine and Nebraska), all of the electors of a state are allocated "winner take all". But it doesn't have to be that way. The Constitution (and Supreme Court) has left it up to the states to decide how to choose their electors, as long as they do not discriminate. They can do it any way that they want. Ten states (CA, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, RI, VT, WA), plus DC, with 165 electoral votes have signed onto the National Popular Vote. If states with 105 more electoral votes sign on it takes effect. It essentially does away with the power of the electoral college and moves to the winner of the popular vote becoming president. [more inside]
High housing costs? Yuck. New idea? Yea!
Homeownership Rates Drop to Historic Lows; Middle Class Feels the Strain of Rising Rents The fledgling U.S. housing recovery lost momentum last year as homeownership rates continued to fall, single-family construction remained near historic lows, and existing home sales cooled, concludes The State of the Nation’s Housing report released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. In contrast, rental markets continued to grow, fueled by another year of large increases in the numbers of renter households. However, with rents rising and incomes well below pre-recession levels, the U.S. is also seeing record numbers of cost-burdened renters, including more renter households higher up the income scale. [more inside]
Stories from Hawaii
Offshore Podcast, a collaboration between PRX and Honolulu Civil Beat, is "a new immersive storytelling podcast about a Hawaii most tourists never see." Season 1: A Killing in Waikiki presents the story of two killings, 80 years apart, that highlight the race and power struggles in "the most multicultural place on the planet." [CW: sexual assault, racism, violence] [more inside]
I Am A Warrior Forged In Ice And Iron, And I Will Take No DAMB Baths!
The whole world is wondering: what's wrong with the United States?
"We've come tonight to bring you some joy, some happiness, some inspiration, and some positive vibrations. We want to leave you enough to last you maybe the next six months." Eight years ago this month, soul/pop/gospel music legend Mavis Staples released a live recording titled Live: Hope at the Hideout. Recorded in Chicago's tiny Hideout Lounge, these thirteen songs of protest, hope, and defiance feature Mavis with a stripped down, raw and swampy three-piece band and just a handful of back-up singers. You can stream the entire album here (YT) and all things considered, you really should. [Alt link: stream from her record label's site]
Fat Cats
Hurry, Gather Your Companions
With Adventure Time ending in 2018, the void has already been pre-emptively filled by The Legend of Lucky Pie, a Chinese series that caused a stir upon its initial discovery when it was thought to be a televized Adventure Time knock-off, but which is actually being made by a small team with the goal of fighting the ‘tacky’ and ‘trite’ animated shows usually shown in Chinese media. Episode 1 (turn on YouTube subtitles if not already on; others have subtitles in video): Who Makes That Voice? Episode 2: The Zodiac Maze. Episode 3: If It's The Last Thing I Poo (and recent English dub). Episode 4: Coming Soon.
After the 2016 US election
The 2016 US election is over and most of the results are in. Barring incident, Barack Obama (#44) will hand over to Donald Trump (#45) at noon on January 20th 2017; transition activities are underway. Following a relentless campaign, Hillary Clinton conceded and called for unity. The Republican Party has also secured the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as electing more governors. Voter suppression during the election continues to be an issue. Reaction to Trump's victory has ranged from protests to shock, and there are many questions about what he will do in office regarding issues such as Obamacare. Some are drawing parallels between the election result and Brexit. The press is also contemplating the future of the Democratic Party and their road ahead. [more inside]
November 9
From Ancient Times to Afghanistan
The United States Military Academy, West Point, has posted more than a thousand military campaign maps used in their course "History of the Military Art". These are organized into Atlases, such as the Korean War and the Chinese Civil War.
There is no sincerer love than the love of food.
Food Decoration Fails — when your meal looks worse than you feel.
"It's special to know that people I don't even know will take the time"
In Providence, Rhode Island, people blink lights every evening to bid goodnight to patients in a children's hospital. And not just people, but a hotel, night club and library blink their lights too. The tradition goes back to 2010 and was started by cartoonist Steve Brosnihan.
Adventure cats
Some cats like to surf and some cats enjoy snow. Some cats like dogs and some like hiking. [more inside]
It will kill you. Even if it takes the rest of your life
Previously, we've seen the trailer for GINOSAJI, The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon. That was seven years ago, and now Richard Gale brings you ... the full movie! Due at some time in 2017. [more inside]
"a staggering work of talent and attention to detail"
From episode five, season two of Hibike! Euphonium, Kyoto Animation presents Kitauji High School Concert Band's performance of Crescent Moon Dance, with
the explanation on how they got the technical details almost entirely right while still leaving the overall performance on a level to be expected from a talented high school band. [more inside]
String Quartets
Oppressed by weltschmerz in the light of recent events? Staring out at leaden November skies? Then why not listen to a string quartet? So much fine music has been written for the enduring and flexible line-up of 2 violins, viola & cello, much of it anguished, sombre & tormented! One might begin near the beginning in the relatively cheerful & sunlit world of Joseph Haydn’s Op. 20 quartets (1772): here’s no. 4 from that set. A tip-of-the-iceberg selection of others… [more inside]
November 8
Election Night II: Load Balancing Boogaloo
The US Election night isn't over, but the server's capacity to serve tonight's original election thread is, so we're kicking open a new one right here. Hold on to your butts, folks, and be good to each other; see also a MetaTalk logistics thread, and you can hang out in Chat for more free-form chatter; let's try to keep this focused on updates about the national race. [more inside]
What's in a name?
Your name as an infographic - neat facts presented cooly.
For me: THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 4 PERSONS NAMED 'MY NAME' IN THE UNITED STATES. IF YOU DON'T LIKE PEOPLE NAMED 'MY NAME' YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO NEW HAMPSHIRE (NONE LIVE THERE).
For me: THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 4 PERSONS NAMED 'MY NAME' IN THE UNITED STATES. IF YOU DON'T LIKE PEOPLE NAMED 'MY NAME' YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO NEW HAMPSHIRE (NONE LIVE THERE).
"Let's Elect the Women"
Dateline Jackson, WY. 1920. A special town meeting was called to address the numerous challenges facing Jackson (pop 307). Faced with a do-nothing local government more concerned with growing their businesses and ranches than improving the community itself, the town's women aired their grievances.
Perhaps as a joke, or out of frustration caused by the list of complaints submitted by the ladies, one of the men offered a solution: “Let’s elect the women.” [more inside]
2015 Nissan Tsuru vs. 2016 Nissan Versa
A car-to-car test between a 2015 Nissan Tsuru, the least expensive sedan sold by Nissan in Mexico, and a 2016 Nissan Versa, the least expensive sedan sold by Nissan in the United States. {SLYT}
[more inside]
A stunning string quartet created through brainwaves
Activating Memory is a composition for a string quartet with each of the instruments’ parts generated in real time through a Brain-Computer Music Interfacing (BCMI) program. [more inside]
Modi vs black money
Centre scraps Rs. 500, 1000 notes. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the immediate abolition of the 500 and 1000 rupee notes. [more inside]
Nobody Wins
After a year of tense anticipation, the day of reckoning is finally here. GWAR turns in a special Election Day contribution to the AV Club Undercover series, taking on AC/DC's "If You Want Blood, You Got It." This year's performance interpolates Boston's "Foreplay" as an intro, as well as two special election-themed guests. NSFW: extensive silly costume gore, some nudity, general bombastic ridiculousness. (previously)
Fantasy. Or as capitalism prefers to call it “market research."
The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Issue a Press Release: Audrey Watters, a folklorist by training, examines the storytelling techniques of technology forecasting (especially ed-tech forecasting): If you repeat this fantasy, these predictions often enough, if you repeat it in front of powerful investors, university administrators, politicians, journalists, then the fantasy becomes factualized. (Not factual. Not true. But “truthy,” to borrow from Stephen Colbert’s notion of “truthiness.”) So you repeat the fantasy in order to direct and to control the future. Because this is key: the fantasy then becomes the basis for decision-making.
Senators, Representatives, and Referenda
State election results, get yer state election results here! Thirty-four Senate seats are up for re-election, of which 11 are competitive: AZ, FL, IL, IN, LA, MO, NC, NH, NV, PA, and WI. You can follow House races to judge whether it's a "wave" election. Referenda are all over the map (ha!) but here's a few highlights, with special focus on pot, DC statehood, and everything California. If you want to talk about Clinton/Trump, head on over to the presidential post.
Of the people, by the people, and for the people: US election day
Today, the United States of America will - hopefully - determine its 45th President and 48th Vice President. Going into election day, Hillary Clinton holds a poll lead [538][YouGov][Time] over Donald Trump. Early voting has been busy, and voting has concluded in three New Hampshire towns. In addition to the presidency, there are elections for the Senate and the House and lots of local ballots - discuss in the "Senators, Representatives, and Referenda" thread. Polling stations close at various times, subject to queues and court orders. It is unclear when a result is likely; blanket coverage includes TV networks, the New York Times, Guardian, BuzzFeed on Twitter, YouTube and the BBC, though many say Pantsuit Nation is where it's at. [more inside]
November 7
Who you gonna call? Hayalet Avcıları! - Found in Translation
After experimenting with "Ottoman Star Wars" for his graduation thesis portfolio, Istanbul artist Murat Palta created a series of illustrations for classic Hollywood films in the style of Ottoman miniatures, including, among others - The Godfather, Alien, Ghostbusters. Rich in detail and full of humor, he extends his attempt at 'combining global with local, traditional with contemporary...', by turning to classics of Western Literature - Don Quixote, Lolita, Harry Potter.
Das Booty
RIP Product 19 ...................
"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't discontinue this cereal," one fan wrote on Kellogg's community boards a few months ago. " I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cereal!" The Long Death of Product 19, the Most Beloved Cereal You've Never Heard Of [more inside]
A shot of scotch
"As a bomber pilot in the Marines, Jonathan Mendes flew more than 100 missions in World War II and then more than 70 missions in the Korean War. He trained John Glenn and Ted Williams. " Yesterday, Jonathan became the last and oldest finisher of the New York City Marathon.
“Kill the chicken to frighten the monkey.”
Writing on the Wall: Disappeared Booksellers and Free Expression in Hong Kong [Pen.org] provides the most comprehensive account to date of the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers [wiki: Causeway Bay Books Disappearances] in late 2015, and gives special attention to the worrying cases of booksellers Gui Minhai and Lee Bo, both foreign nationals who were seized by Chinese agents across borders—in Thailand and Hong Kong, respectively—in violation of international law. This unprecedented action reflects a dangerous escalation of China's tactics to silence dissidents even beyond its borders. [Full Report] [Executive Summary] [在此处阅读中文版执行摘要] [.pdf] [more inside]
"Music equals good..."
Vita and the Woolf are a newish duo enjoying growing, deserved acclaim. Vita and the Woolf are Jennifer Pague and Adam Shumski, and they're riding a rising tide of acclaim for their carefully layered songs and intense performances.
You know, it never seemed like we were really recording
The album cover is a picture of two middle-aged black people, seated on folding chairs. The woman is in her late thirties, the man in his mid-fifties. She wears a plain print housedress and a wry expression; the man’s white socks are rolled at the ankles. A trumpet is on his lap, supporting his folded arms. There is no written information on the cover other than the name of the record label: “Verve,” it says. “A Panoramic True High Fidelity Record.” On the spine is the album’s title:
"Ella and Louis.”
Radioactive, long-lived; small traces in nature, no uses, radwaste
Janet Reno, 1938-2016
Janet Reno dies at 78. She was the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney General. Here are Time's six things that she will be remembered for (spoilers): the first woman, the Waco siege, prosecuting the 1993 WTC bombers, being open about her Parkinson's disease, intervening in the Elián González case, and being played by Will Ferrell on SNL.
"So, Let’s Build A Professional Soccer Team From Scratch..."
Last year, Dennis Crowley (co-founder of mobile social networks Dodgeball and Foursquare) decided to invest in a sports team. But instead of going the NBA route of Mark Cuban or Steve Ballmer, Crowley started Kingston Stockade Football Club, a 4th-tier soccer team in upstate New York. Crowley wrote about the establishment of the semi-pro club just before the season started in May, and recapped the season and how his assumptions fared against reality last month.
Why video games bore some people.
"my friends want not to be repulsed, to recognize their own tastes, and to find depth." In a reflection/manifesto Brie Code explores non-game-playing audiences and how to design games for them. [more inside]
Gracie For President
Tumultuous times, 1940. FDR of the Democratic Party vs Willkie of the Republican party.
And then there was Gracie of the Surprise Party. [more inside]
Calling All Cows
Watch Swedish artist Jonna Jinton summon a herd of cows in less than a minute using only a high-pitched, traditional Scandinavian singing technique known as kulning. [more inside]
Known Unknowns
Known Unknowns is a high school ghost investigation text adventure game by interactive fiction author Brendan Patrick Hennesy (previously 1, 2) with character illustrations by Izzy Marbella. The first chapter is available now...other to follow later, I guess? [more inside]
Albert for President
November 6
Prokofiev-Romeo and Juliet.
Prokofiev-Romeo and Juliet. He manages to be both old and young simultaneously - ages ago. Prokofiev that is. Valery Gergiev, brute, actuates, reaches and manages strength and childish enthusiasm via the LSO. (Romeo and Juliet, No 13 Dance of the Knights).
It might be the best movie of the year, and it's a Black gay love story
"Blessed and protected by the hand of God.”
The American Civil War is perhaps the most exhaustively studied period in the history of the United States, but there are still some stories that have slipped through the cracks or have been subtly washed from the pages of America’s past. One such rarely examined fragment is that of the Great Revival and the Coming of the Natural Man. [more inside]
♪♫ The world turned upside down. Finally, it's US election week.
574 days since Hillary declared she would run, and 2 days left for the frontrunner and all of us till election day. While the world watches e.g. [Guardian] [RTE] [Denmark] [Russia] [Sweden (lonely)] and [France], analyses, reacts, or organizes election parties [Australia] [New Zealand], the polls bounce around but generally favor Hillary, the UK bookies, other odds and an increasingly angry Nate also still favor Hillary, and Politico only sees three narrow paths to victory for Donald. Meanwhile, the Democrats get the vote out, it's not been the best of years for Trump's New Jersey chum (also November 10th 2015), there are fears of an election "cyber attack", political phrases are becoming fatigued, celebrity social media remains divided, Mr Kaine duets with Mr Bongiovi, and Hillary and Donald (in Reno) near the end. [more inside]
Reaching for the Divine
Around the world, people keep reaching out for something to sustain us. Enjoy these mantras, prayers, hymns, and chants. [more inside]
Jean Jacques Perrey has died, the world is a little less silly now.
A pioneer in electronic music and composer of the tune that is used for the intro to Futurama. He was known as a innovator and experimented with electronic music and tape splicing since the early 50's. His music was used in the electric light parade at disneyland and the sampled bee version of "Flight of the Bumblebee" is a work of tape splicing magic.
I knew him from a album I picked up at a thrift store ,and actually met him at a release party put together by RE Search Magazine.
He was a incredibly charming and and made a point of telling me to "always stay happy".
Check out "In sounds from way out"
I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before ya
Take a lovely hike with your new Scottish basset hound friends through: Belwade Farm Estate, Burghead Bay, Cullen Bay, Hazlehead Park, Tentsmuir Forest, Crathes Castle, Balkello Wood, Loch Kinord, Gartmorn Dam, Glen Tanar, the Hermitage, and Forfar Loch.
Agrindus Come Round: Eating Your Ethics or Mouth On the Money
Eating Right, Harper's, by John Herron I think that the metaphor of seeing ethics in terms of a supermarket array of consumption decisions is all too pervasive in contemporary society. -- Philosopher Paul B. Thompson [more inside]
The humpbacks have been talking...
David Neiwert on Facebook tonight points to the Lime Kiln hydrophone, "...for an hour and a half and seem as though they'll be there for awhile. It's unbelievably beautiful." Three hours are posted on Soundcloud. [more inside]
November 5
it is the All Your Base Are Belong To Us game yes
Over a century of sporting agony ends in Chicago
After one hundred and eleven years, Ireland have finally beaten the New Zealand All Blacks, with a fantastic 40-29 win at Solider Field today. Ireland, who narrowly lost the last last time the two teams met, broke the current world champion All Black's 18 game winning streak. [more inside]
The Afterlife of a Ballerina
At age 16, Alexandra Ansanelli was anointed a prodigy. By 22, she was a principal for the New York City Ballet. At 26, she was a principal for the Royal Ballet. By 28, she had given it all up.
"People thought it was a really weird school"
Uni High tapped into the pop-psych teachings of the ’70s to create one of the most bizarre curriculums of the era: Sex, Drugs, and Textbooks: Inside L.A.’s Most Controversial Educational Experiment by David Kukoff, L.A. Magazine
The 2016 Purdue Engineering Gift Guide has Dropped
111 Games, toys, books, and apps for future engineers, reviewed by current engineers. This year's guide includes notes on diversity and teamwork. [more inside]
I never said that
Downtown Tom
This is not an election post!
This American Life hooked up musical theater composing teams with journalists to penetrate the inner thoughts of three public figures during this chaotic time: "A Better Way" (Paul Ryan) sung by Neil Patrick Harris, composed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen); "Party Guy" (Reince Priebus) sung by John Ellison Conlee, composed by Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson); "Seriously" (Barak Obama) sung by Leslie Odom, Jr, composed by Sara Bareilles (Waitress). [more inside]
4K fisheye fly-through of ISS
Would you like to see an ultra-high-definition fly-through of the International Space Station, shot with a fisheye lens? Video is 18 minutes long.
“But I do not think anyone can save us from the wrath of nature.”
Delhi Closes Over 1,800 Schools in Response to Dangerous Smog [The New York Times] “For the first time ever, more than 1,800 public primary schools in India’s capital will close on Saturday to protect children from exposure to dangerous levels of air pollution, the authorities said on Friday. The decision affects more than a million children. A thick, acrid smog has settled over the capital over the past week, a combination of smoke from burning crops in surrounding agricultural states, fireworks on the Hindu festival of Diwali, dust and vehicle emissions. Levels of the most dangerous particles, called PM 2.5, reached 600 micrograms per cubic meter in different parts of the city this week, according to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. Sustained exposure to that concentration of PM 2.5 is equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day, said Sarath Guttikunda, the director of Urban Emissions, an independent research group.” [more inside]
Inhale…Exhale…Evolve
Sit back, relax and soothe your frazzled nerves with Tony Bennett and dance company Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu: "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" [more inside]
Putting on shows, playing with glitter, and selling stuff.
Tish and Snooky tell the story of how they founded Manic Panic, starting as a punk store on St Marks in the East Village.
My Phil Collins story begins in 1981
"In the Air Again," in which the author describes the redemption arc of her lifelong love/hate/love relationship with the man and his music. [more inside]
November 4
The rhythm of the one
The Story of Funk - One Nation Under A Groove is a 2014 BBC documentary about the birth and evolution of funk music. [SLYT]
Climate goals rapidly moving out of reach
Ars Technica: "UN report: climate goals rapidly moving out of reach." Paris Agreement made progress, but 2°C warming limit takes much more. [more inside]
all of the above statements are mine, written on this date, and true and
Well, like most anyone looking to get ahead in natsec punditry, [Robert Caruso] is a big fan of going to war.
How hard is it to con people in Washington, D.C.? Easier than you might think, considering it’s the place where things like nuclear war get decided.A disturbing case study in the "national security" commentariat's appetite for talented Mr. Ripley's (Brendan James for Deadspin). [more inside]
Clean cracks help improve the smoothness of everyone’s experience.
Bewildered residents wonder why toilet paper is being spread all over town. Toilet paper is used to keep newly-applied tar in smaller cracks and off our shoes, bikes, and cars. Single-ply only.
at least I won't die of dysentery
A Syzygy, for you Scrabble players
On November 14 the moon will be closer to the Earth than it has been in 70 years, creating a massive "supermoon." [more inside]
“We just don’t think you’d work on TV.”
Joan Rivers’s Remarkable Rise to (and Devastating Fall from) Comedy’s Highest Ranks: "In the new biography Last Girl Before Freeway, writer Leslie Bennetts explores the peerless career of comedian Joan Rivers. Here, Bennetts revisits Rivers’s darkest hour, along with her shining moments in the high-flying 1960s and 1970s." (SL Vanity Fair)
Busted: America's Poverty Myths
On The Media has completed Busted: America's Poverty Myths -- a 5-part series on poverty in the US and reporting about poverty. It begins with #1: The Poverty Tour [link to episode page, 25m, transcript available] [more inside]
Ahoy, ye scurvy dogs! Are you eating your spinach and lemons?
Limestrong is a slightly cheeky but also totally serious attempt to prevent and end scurvy, based in part on an ill-fated Sunkist ad campaign from the 1970s. That was just one of the company's many odd forays into fighting scurvy and sell more California citrus with an awkward nod to the present culture, like Just1.com (1998) and Scurvy Boy Television (2000; both archived sites hosted on Internet Archive), radical marketing approaches for this conservative group. Just like scurvy boy was adopted by cheeky Gen-Y skaters and such in the late 1990s, Limestrong self-promotes through desktop images, photos of cats wearing fruit helmets, and more. [more inside]
why is running so white?
The first 600 miles is the hard part
From Kottke.org, a quick story about the Quintuple Anvil Triathlon, which is five Ironman triathlons over the course of five days. And then he finds out about the Triple DECA Ironman, which is thirty triathlons over thirty days. [more inside]
🎶It's a Felony, of the fi-irst de-gree, cookin' pot browniiii-eees.🎶
The law firm Hutson & Harris of Waco put together a funny and informative song about the consequence of getting busted with pot brownies in Texas. Their Youtube channel has more, including "Please Shut Up!," and "Miranda."
Once in love, I'll be the death of you
25 years ago, Loveless was released. The seminal record that influenced a movement, also known for allegedly almost bankrupting pre-Britpop Creation Records over dozens of recording studios and producers that couldn't match Kevin Shields vision among other legends makes a quarter of a century today. [more inside]
One week in God’s Country at Creation, the biggest Christian music fest
I was at a Sheetz eating mac 'n' cheese bites, considering my faith—or lack thereof—on my way to a Christian rock festival in rural Pennsylvania. My interests in the Creation Music Festival and reasons for being there were layered. As a music editor who'd noticed a lot of artists becoming more vocal about their beliefs (rappers like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, and Chance the Rapper, who earlier this year released an album that was essentially a banging hip-hop gospel record), I wondered if there'd been a change in the long tradition of Christian music sucking. I also wanted to know what it's like when tens of thousands of Christians gather in the name of rock 'n' roll, a genre steeped in and born of a tradition of substance abuse, sex, and rebellion. Like, do people smoke weed? But most dauntingly, I wanted to better understand why I left this faith. But if I'm being honest with myself, all the other questions were just excuses to answer this last one.
Why do Colleges have so much art?
The Important Role of Art on College Campuses Thoughts on the role of the campus museum (SLTheAtlantic) [more inside]
Conversations with Tyler
Tyler Cowen is an economics professor and chairman / general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Since April 2015, he has been hosting "Conversations with Tyler", lengthy, one-on-one podcast interviews with "thought leaders from across the spectrum — economists, entrepreneurs, authors and innovators. All have one thing in common — they are making an impact on the world because of their ideas." His latest is with Steven Pinker. [more inside]
Rise Up Remix
While the rest of the Hamilton Mixtape doesn't drop until December 2, you can get a taste today, with "My Shot" (feat. Busta Rhymes, Joell Ortiz & Nate Ruess) (lyrics here) and Kelly Clarkson's "It's Quiet Uptown." [more inside]
“It’s a dog you can ride.”
Where’s the Love for Donkeys? [The New York Times] “About 5,000 years ago, 10 donkeys were laid to rest in painstakingly constructed brick grave chambers at a site connected with one of the earliest Egyptian kings. They were buried in a place of importance, “where the highest lords would be,” said Fiona Marshall, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis who studies the domestication of donkeys. Because of their importance in trade across the Sahara, she said, donkeys had “superhigh status.” Unfortunately, even the most passionate defenders of donkeys recognize that the animal they love gets little respect in the wider world today.”
7 Reasons So Many Guys Don’t Understand Sexual Consent
7 Reasons So Many Guys Don’t Understand Sexual Consent "I've spent two solid decades trying to deprogram myself, to get on board with something that, in retrospect, should be patently obvious to any decent person. Changing actions is the easy part; changing urges takes years and years. It's the difference between going on a diet and training your body to not get hungry at all."
That resonated with me.
Romano Hänni
Romano Hänni makes beautiful hand-printed books. For example [PDF links]: Typo Picture Book; Typographic Notes (i); Typographic Notes (ii); The Book with the E.
Apply yourself to supply your wealth
The Universal Right to Capital Income - "If a universal basic income is to be legitimate, it cannot be financed by taxing Jill to pay Jack. That is why it should be funded not from taxation, but from returns on capital." (via) [more inside]
Two Mummified Ancient Cave Lion Cubs Found
For more than 30,000 years, northern Russia's cold permafrost has preserved the small bodies of two furry and wide-pawed cave lion cubs... The two mummified cubs, nicknamed Uyan and Dina after the Uyandina River where they were found, were just about 1 week old when they died, likely crushed by "extensive collapse of the sediments in the den," the study's researchers wrote in a summary of their research. The report was presented as a poster here on Wednesday (Oct. 26) at the 2016 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.
SIBERIA'S FROZEN CAVE LION CUBS: DNA, CAUSE OF DEATH & OTHER SECRETS
November 3
"You Are So Beautiful"
Turkish travel photographer Rotasiz Seyyah has a project whose idea is simple: he tells the people he meets that they're beautiful and captures their responses. [more inside]
Ducksters!
Here is our giant list of jokes, puns, and riddles for kids. Check out each joke category to find the type of joke, pun, or riddle you are looking for. Also: history, biographies, geography, science, and more.
"If we had to do that at Rifftrax it would truly drive me insane."
A couple of days ago Kevin Murphy of Rifftrax & MST3K screened some 16mm shorts online. No riffs, just films. One of them that he cut off halfway in was called "The Baggs." It's about two living sacks of garbage and the beard guy who tries to catch them.
Oh look, it's on YouTube (12m). To explain more would be to deny you the wonder of discovery. [more inside]
Oh look, it's on YouTube (12m). To explain more would be to deny you the wonder of discovery. [more inside]
How to election profit-make
David Rees, famed cartoonist (also political cartoonist), author and pencil-sharpener, TV host, and mashup artist, is also now the host of a podcast, along with a childhood friend, devoted to betting on PredictIt. [more inside]
tofu misozuke
I am just so in love with tofu misozuke that I thought I would share a recipe with y'all since they say it's hard to find, even in Japan. Think: tofu with bite like “Roquefort at the limit of ripeness” [more inside]
"So what have you been up to... for 20 years?"
Choose life. Choose Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and hope that someone, somewhere cares. Choose watching the Trainspotting 2 trailer and talking about it on Metafilter.com. Choose your future.
A Carmen Medley...........
...............performed by eleven talented young ladies From the BBC Proms in 2013
Allegiant’s History Of Scary Midair Mechanical Failures
Thousands of people flew Allegiant last year thinking their planes wouldn’t fail in the air. They were wrong. All major airlines break down once in awhile. But none of them break down in midair more often than Allegiant. A Tampa Bay Times investigation — which included a first-of-its kind analysis of federal aviation records — has found that the budget carrier’s planes are four times as likely to fail during flight as those operated by other major U.S. airlines. [more inside]
The Children of "Runaway Train"
Elon Green unpacks the history of some of the kids featured in the iconic and haunting video for Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train." TW: Discussion of child abduction.
WONDER - POWER - COURAGE
In the second official trailer for Wonder Woman, Diana of Themyscira takes on "the war to end all wars," and Steve Trevor is the handsomest distressed dude. Here's a trailer breakdown and three new posters!
After birth babies’ guts are rapidly colonized from their moms'.
4. More people die of sepsis in the US than HIV, Prostate Cancer and Breast Cancer combinedClick through for more One Health Day Fun Facts from the University of Illinois Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the College of Veterinary Medicine! All Fun Facts include references! [more inside]
The World's Oldest Startup Airline
For seven years, a 747 sat at Willow Run Airport (airport code: YIP) near Ypsilanti, Michigan. For most of that time, it was the sole member of the fleet of Baltia Airlines, which was established in 1989.
[E]ven though the company is still extant and still raising capital, it has never flown a flight, has never earned any revenue, and has recently given up on its only airplane.
Minor annoyances, near misses, small failures
UNSATISFYING: a beautiful animation of life's littlest disappointments from Parallel Studios. Parallel is running a contest for other little disappointment animations here.
Nonexistent New York
The New Yorker reviews and shows images from Never Existed New York: plans and renders for megastructures and utopian fantasies that never came to pass. Atlas Obscura rounds up more designs and drawings
After AfterEllen
via Buzzfeed: Why Aren’t Advertisers Interested In Selling Stuff To Lesbians? It’s not good enough to put a lesbian couple in an ad but then fail to support LGBT employees or events like pride celebrations. Absolut vodka and Subaru were advertising with queer messaging in queer publications when no one else would. “There a lot of brands I am die-hard loyal to because I’ve seen them at events,” said Grace. She says there are companies she feels she can trust thanks to their LGBT marketing. “When I go to a Marriott, I know I won’t have to worry about being discriminated against, I know the person behind the desk won’t ask me and my wife if we want two beds.” (Previously)
What's So Gay About Yuri!!! on Ice?
Just five episodes into its run, Yuri!!! on Ice has caught fire as a standout production that just so happens to be irrepressibly gay in subject matter, bolstered by the enthusiasm of squealing fangirls and LGBT otaku alike. [..] What makes Yuri!!! on Ice any different from the heaps of anime packed with various flavors of homoeroticism that we get with every new season anyway?Jacob Hope Chapman examines the long history of gay subtext and queerbaiting in anime and why Yuri!!! on Ice looks to be different. (For a start the current world champion figure skating approves.)
Too many cooks
Why we are suing Christopher Kimball Previously on the Blue, America's Test Kitchen's bow-tied overlord Christopher Kimball leaves America's Test Kitchen for milkier pastures. Seems now that all is about to curdle. [more inside]
You're going to need a new obsession in a week anyway.
Society Game is a TV show similar to Survivor, but smarter, funnier and Korean. Twenty-two people are divided into two societies. One elects a leader by secret ballot, the other installs theirs via popular revolt. The two societies compete daily in a head-to-head challenge: the leader of the winning team gets to distribute prize money; the leader of the losing team must select a member to eliminate. From the same production team behind The Genius. Here are some preview clips, and here's an interview with the charismatic cast. [more inside]
November 2
Roadside Picnic in Poughkeepsie
Spill Zone, a comic by Scott (author of "Uglies") Westerfeld, with art by Alex Puvilland and colouring by Hilary Sycamore. Updated weekly, anticipated completion May 2017.
Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality
John K. Samson has finished the Virtute song series
In 2003, The Weakerthans, fronted by John K. Samson, released One Great City! On the album was a song named Plea From A Cat Named Virtute. [more inside]
Data-Driven Baking Excellence
The Spreadsheet Secrets of Great British Baking. Contains time management advice, simulated Excel spreadsheets, and possible spoilers for this season The Great British Bake Off.
Where the Heck is Matt? 2016
Where the Heck is Matt? After a successful Kickstarter, Matt dances his way around the world again. [more inside]
Binary System
There are no straight women in RimWorld, as in, there are no women only attracted to men. Instead, every single non-gay woman in the game has some chance of being attracted to another woman. As for the men, it works a little differently. - RockPaperShotgun takes a look at the code for RimWorld and how it defines gender roles.
Paid £80 million a second. Never even done a war.
The Football Association and the Scottish Football Association are defy a ruling by FIFA banning players from Britain wearing commemorative poppies during the England v. Scotland match on 11th November. The British Prime Minister has called Fifa's decision 'utterly outrageous' while cartoonist David Squires provided a slightly different take on the way football commemorates the dead.
Elsewhere, West Brom and former Wigan Athletic player James McClean has explained in the past why he has refused to wear one.
Afrofuturism 419
Dear Mr. Sir:
I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. He is in good humor, but wants to come home. In the 14 years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $15,000,000 American dollars. This is held in a trust at the Lagos National Savings and Trust Association.
Tronc if you want to save journalism
Busy year for Michael Ferro. Bought Tribune Publishing. Renamed it tronc. Endured ridicule. Tried to sell to Gannett. Failed. Up next: Figure out how to make money in newspapers. [more inside]
♪♫ Ev'ry day you fight, like you’re running out of time
Just six days left before the election. Rebounding from FBI Director Comey's resumption of the email investigation (previously), Hillary has been galvanizing her base, while Trump has adopted an unusual strategy of encouraging people to change their vote. [more inside]
An unexpected visitor at Hakodate...
The spiders hiding in the Finnish Museum of Natural History
"In around 1963, curators became aware of the presence of some kind of exotic spider in the museum. Following a sudden explosion of sightings in the winter of 1970, they decided to carry out a systematic search, which revealed an infestation on the whole ground floor of the building. There were spiders everywhere; in cupboards and drawers, on desks and shelves and behind pictures on the walls."
It was 1982. We were young. There was only one urinal.
It is my brother's and my shared belief that a single fast food meal eaten on or about June 6, 1982, ruined the relationship between us in a way that we still don't understand, and from which we have yet to recover. Please bear with me as I set the stage for this incident—an incident which I believe, in its sum, to be as tidy an aperçus as can exist for the essence of siblinghood.Chris Onstad (yes, that Chris Onstad) on Carl's Jr., and the Thing That Happened There
50,000-year-old human settlements in Australian interior
"In a stunning discovery, a team of archaeologists in Australia has found extensive remains of a sophisticated human community living 50,000 years ago. The remains were found in a rock shelter in the continent's arid southern interior. Packed with a range of tools, decorative pigments, and animal bones, the shelter is a wide, roomy space located in the Flinders Ranges, which are the ancestral lands of the Adnyamathanha. The find overturns previous hypotheses of how humans colonized Australia, and it also proves that they interacted with now-extinct megafauna that ranged across the continent."
My building looks a little small
“Can you make my building taller?” Mr. Trump asked. No, he was told. “Well, can you make the G.M. building shorter?”
While the practice of misnumbering floors in some of the city's most opulent buildings has been going on for some time, ''Donald Trump is the father of this." New York City's Buildings Department does not object, so long as the floors are counted accurately in the building’s certificate of occupancy.
While the practice of misnumbering floors in some of the city's most opulent buildings has been going on for some time, ''Donald Trump is the father of this." New York City's Buildings Department does not object, so long as the floors are counted accurately in the building’s certificate of occupancy.
"The Simpsons" by the data
The Simpsons by the Data:
Analysis of 27 seasons of Simpsons data reveals the show’s most significant side characters, a pattern of patriarchy, declining TV ratings, and more.
New England: Complaining about the weather since the beginning
The first American folk song written in English is a list of New England's Annoyances as felt by early Puritan colonists. One historian argues that the song was written in 1643 by Edward Johnson, who also founded the MA town of Woburn and authored the first printed history of New England. Another cover to listen to.
"It’s so hard for me to sit in there and hear his voice."
Recorded just before the death of Phife Dawg in March, “We Got It From Here, Thank You For Your Service” is heavy with his presence.
Loss haunts A Tribe Called Quest’s first album in 18 years.
The uncertain history of Hollandaise: dueling stories of a tasty sauce
Hollandaise sauce might sound like a typical Dutch delicacy, however, it isn’t from the Netherlands at all, and instead was originally called Sauce Isigny (Google books) after a town in Normandy, Isigny-sur-Mer, known for its butter and other dairy products, but was renamed Sauce Hollandaise in World War I when butter was imported from Holland. Or was it? (Gb). When the once exiled Huguenots returned from northern Europe back to France, they may have brought a creamy, lemony sauce known as Sauce à la Hollandaise, as listed there in François Marin's 1758 cookbook Les Dons de Comus, and similarly in The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Isabella Beeton as "Dutch Sauce for Fish," and "Green sauce, or Hollandaise verte" (Archive.org). [more inside]
it's twice as hard to swallow when you know precisely what the pill is
Broadly takes a deep dive into the racist and sexist history of keeping birth control side effects secret. The Atlantic follows up with an examination of the different stakes of male and female birth control: "...it makes perfect sense that women would be willing to endure all kinds of side effects in exchange for, essentially, freedom. Being able to control whether and when they become pregnant has opened up so many opportunities for women, opportunities that men already had greater access to by virtue of being men. Men's careers, men's bodies, men's control over their own lives, have never been at stake in the same way."
I just called to say...
Stealth Cell Tower is a project by Julian Oliver that blends art, technology, and awareness using a disguised office printer.
November 1
Words of love and baseball
For Jack, Harry, Ronnie, and Ernie With the Chicago Cubs in the World Series for the first time in 71 years, generations of fans are leaving words of remembrance on the walls of Wrigley Field.
developers! developers! developers!
Michael Tsai collects reviews of The New MacBook Pro and The State Of The Mac from Apple's MacBook event on 27 OCT.
"The solar-power amendment on Florida’s ballot is a slick, oily fraud"
Leaked audio has revealed "political jiu-jitsu" used by big utility companies in their portrayal of a proposed amendment to the Florida constitution. A campaign in favor of the amendment has been deliberately deceiving voters into believing Amendment 1 is pro-solar. In an enlightening October 2nd speech to conservative groups, Sal Nuzzo, VP of the James Madison Institute, boasted about misleading the public into thinking that Amendment 1 - appearing on Florida ballots as Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice - would protect solar energy in Florida. [more inside]
364 days for you to top these costumes
Magic Wheelchair is a nonprofit organization that makes Halloween costumes for kids in wheelchairs, making their wheelchairs part of the costume.
UFO: Enemy Octagonal
Let Emotion Be Your Guide
We, as human beings, wanted to hear other human beings tell us about the difficulties of caring for a mother with Alzheimer’s disease. We wanted to know what it felt like to receive a cancer diagnosis after a long journey to many doctors across a spectrum of specialties. We wanted to understand what we could do, in any small way, to help make these Worst Days minutely less horrible, less terrifying, and less out-of-control. We knew that the client was behind the two-way mirror, concerned about the website navigation, but we also knew that we were going to get to someplace much more important and meaningful by following wherever these stories took us.
6.25 gigabytes from 3 billion miles away
Man Without a Movie Camera - Brows Held High
Man Without a Movie Camera - Brows Held High Kyle Kallgren's video essay on Leos Carax's Holy Motors (HM, previously)
Languages of NYC
Is it a man's, man's, man's, man's world?
At Crooked Timber, philosopher Harry Brighouse links to an article from Law, Ethics and Philosophy that features a provocative article by Phillipe Van Parijs. In “Four Puzzles on Gender Equality,” Van Parijs observes: There are dimensions along which men seem to be disadvantaged, on average, relative to women. For example, they can expect to live less years; in a growing number of countries they are, on average, less educated than women; they form an electoral minority; and their greater propensity to misbehave means that the overwhelming majority of the prison population is drawn from their ranks. These disadvantages, if they are real, all derive from an unchosen feature shared by one category of human beings: being a male. Does it follow that these advantages are unjust? [more inside]
We've got a book for that
Challenge accepted!
Cat Posts On Tumblr That Are Impossible Not To Laugh At (SLBoredPanda)
Dang, Antarctica Is Tiny
The 2016 Good Design Grand Award has been awarded to Hajime Narukawa's AuthaGraph World Map, a new projection of the Earth's surface onto a two-dimensional space that more accurately represents the sizes of continents and oceans (the Mercator projection "stretches" details farther from the equator, resulting in an greatly oversized Greenland and undersized Africa, among other issues).
It's time to bake a cake
BBC News: As the sun rises over the Old World Levain (OWL) Bakery in Asheville, North Carolina, a heady, warm scent of spices floats through the air outside. In the kitchen, bakers Susannah Gebhart and Maia Surdam are working with sourdough culture, dried fruit, butter, sorghum syrup and generous measures of sherry and whisky to revive an American tradition. Bon Appetit: Werner opted for an earthy rye and buckwheat base, with bourbon-bolstered stone fruits, and a toothsome mix of poppy seeds, flax seeds, and cocoa nibs. Miscovich chose an egalitarian version filled with currants and spices, minus the booze, so that everyone can partake. Actual recipe and another recipe, and a related 2014 song from Eurovision. [more inside]
Deftly appealing to fear, nostalgia and resentment of elites
The ruthlessly effective rebranding of Europe’s new far right. "These parties have built a coherent ideology and steadily chipped away at the establishment parties’ hold on power by pursuing a new and devastatingly effective electoral strategy. They have made a very public break with the symbols of the old right’s past, distancing themselves from skinheads, neo-Nazis and homophobes. They have also deftly co-opted the causes, policies and rhetoric of their opponents. They have sought to outflank the left when it comes to defending a strong welfare state and protecting social benefits that they claim are threatened by an influx of freeloading migrants."
Trick or treat purse first
After a post from the blog "Raising My Rainbow" went viral, about a little boy named CJ who was planning to dress up as Bob the Drag Queen (winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, Season 8), for Halloween, CJ got a surprise buddy last night for trick-or-treating.
The Writer Who Was Too Strong to Live
Jennifer Frey drank herself to death. "Frey was a can’t miss kid in sportswriting in the early 1990s. Just months out of Harvard, she was subjected to a high-profile episode of sexual harassment on the job. In response, Frey spoke forcibly and with righteousness for her gender and her profession in print and on national television as the controversy over women in locker rooms crested." [more inside]
Brian Eno's 2015 John Peel Lecture
The next U.S. President is going to face the Colorado River problem
Seven southwestern states as well as Mexico are dependent on water from the Colorado River. That water is shared based on rules set out in the Colorado River Compact of 1922. Due to a 16 year-old drought in the Southwest and an expiring agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, the next president is going to have to deal immediately with the possibility of major cuts to the Colorado River water supply. People have been arguing for years about reforming the system, but the question is: how? [more inside]